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"Professor, can I ask you something?" I asked. Sort of ruining the point of the question but it still stood.

Oscar's eyes rolled slightly and he shuddered a little as Ozpin's spirit took him over while he sat in a desk chair. "Ms. Rose, of course you can. I hope to get that into you by now. Perhaps practice shall make perfect."

"Right."

I'd cornered him in his and Oscar's room in Atlas Academy. It was near ours. In the same wing, even. The ex-headmaster was the only person I'd seen with his own room, though.

"It's about Cinder Fall, the fact that she's two maidens."

"Yes?"

"Well now that she's both spring and fall and the power always goes to the last person on their mind when they die…"

"The last able candidate or someone random." The professor continued for me. He let me press on when I was ready.

"Right, doesn't that mean the spring and fall maidens are one now? Forever? The powers will be together now until…"

"Yes. Perhaps they will be. I have a bit of a plan in this regard. Won't you join me? Rather than sit out in the hall."

I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"Ms. Rose I intend to use my magic to split the powers of fall and spring once more."

"But I thought you'd exhausted your magic."

"For anything large, this is certainly true. I couldn't recreate the maidens nor any one of them. And perhaps gifting powers as I did your uncle and aunt would be too taxing as well. But for the purpose of splitting powers which already exist I believe I have strength enough."

He poured a glass of water in front of him on the desk from a pitcher. "Imagine this glass as the maiden vessel. In this case, Cinder Fall. Now imagine the water inside is the maiden powers."

He poured from the glass into another and slid it across the table to me. I giggled a little and took the glass. I sipped on it.

"Just as so, I believe I can separate the powers of the maidens easily without needing to recreate them. Then however, another question arises. What to do with those powers once Cinder no longer has them. Even the best case scenario has some issues that need to be ironed out."

"I'll do it," I told him. "I'll be fall or spring."

"Ah." He said. "And you think I'll ask you to? A touch arrogant don't you think?"

"Jaune brought it up. He said that you were grooming us, my team, for it."

"And perhaps I was," He conceded. "Jaune was fairly sharp, while he was with us."

"He was smarter than he ever gave himself credit for," I agreed.

"I would prefer to impress upon another of your teammates the powers, Ruby."

"Not me? Why? Is it because of Jaune?"

He raised a hand and I went silent. I took a drink from my glass of water.

"No, it isn't because of Jaune. It's because of your eyes."

"My powers?" I asked.

"Yes. Too many eggs in one basket, you see? If not two members of your team then perhaps Penny Polendina and one of team RWBY. That would play with Ironwood's plan to make Winter the winter maiden. She could work well with both the member of your team and Winter Schnee," he lectured.

"But not me."

"I would prefer not. No. While you are already a target of Salem, I would question adding to that by making you one of the maidens. It does not seem a sane plan."

"Speaking of plans, Professor, I've been meaning to ask. What is your plan to defeat Salem?"

"I intend to keep the relics from falling into her hands. And unite the world while I can."

"But that's not defeating her. That's you winning."

"Is there a difference?"

"I meant stopping her. She has to be stopped."

"Much like myself Salem is doomed to walk Remnant until the relics are united. There is no way to stop her as such."

"I don't understand."

"Much like me. She is immortal."

"So she would keep transferring, if we killed her."

"My girl," he paused and took a deep breath. "I promised not to lie to you. I also promised to tell you the whole truth."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that she is not immortal the way I am. She does not reincarnate. Instead, her body is nearly invincible. She's capable of inhuman regeneration."

"What?" Oscar interrupted Ozpin before I could say something. "Why didn't you tell me?" He made them sound schizophrenic as he did.

"There has been much to go over. We've been preparing to split fall and spring once more," Ozpin said, voice almost pleading with Oscar. "You need to learn the magic required of you. Before Cinder Fall arrives once more."

"So you don't have a plan to win?" I asked. They turned back towards me.

"I have many plans to win. I have even more plans to not lose. But I have no plans of killing Salem. It is impossible, but that does not mean we have lost. That does not mean it is over for us."

"But she has the relic of knowledge," I protested.

"Does she? Then why were we assaulted by agents of her's looking for it? I think it's safe to say that wherever the relic is, Salem does not have it. At least not yet. And we are looking for Jaune Arc." Ozpin tapped his cane on the floor. "These are confusing times. I admit that they are dire, but we have not yet lost. Now, do you have any other questions for me?"

I shook my head.

"Very good. The plan is to keep the relics and maidens out of her hands until humanity is ready. That is my plan to win. We are not directionless. We move with purpose. And when Cinder Fall strikes again we will be ready to defeat her. As you have several times. All is not lost. Remember that."

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I found my teammates and I shared with them what I learned from Ozpin.

"Salem is… immortal?" Blake asked.

I nodded. I didn't know what to think.

"Then… it's hopeless," Yang murmured.

"Not per se," Weiss countered. "Ozpin's immortal too. And his plans get foiled all the time. Just look at Haven and Beacon."

"So what? She's foilable but unbeatable?" Yang asked.

"He said more. He said he was going to ask two of you to become the new spring and fall maidens," I told them.

"Jaune was right," Weiss breathed. "But not you? Ruby?"

"He said that because of my eyes that would be putting too many eggs in one basket. Those were his exact words," I replied. "He said he would ask me if the rest of you said no. He also brought up Penny as an option."

"And… what did you tell him, Ruby?" Blake asked.

"I told him I would do it, if he couldn't find another candidate."

"Ruby…" Blake growled.

"What? Fighting Salem is the right thing to do."

"You're hardly well, still getting over Jaune. You need to think this through," Weiss said.

Coming from her the words bit deep. She had the right to say that more than any of my other teammates. I looked away and wanted to pull my hood up. I sniffled once but I wasn't going to cry. I wasn't.

"But if she's immortal and she has the relic of knowledge doesn't that make us screwed?" Yang asked.

"That's what I said. He said we shouldn't be so sure that Salem knows where the relic is because of the girls that attacked us."

"Jaune's sisters. Maybe," Weiss said. "It's a good point. No one knows where Jaune is."

"Don't you two start that again." Yang looked between Weiss and I.

"Please," Blake agreed with Yang. "Jaune betrayed us. Just like Adam betrayed me. The sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be."

"It doesn't make any sense. By all accounts." Weiss's nostrils flared at my sister. "It's not our fault that things don't add up."

"Let's not devolve into Jaune-talk again." Yang held up both hands. "Which one of us is becoming a maiden."

"I'll do it," Weiss said. "The magic may be easiest to disguise as my semblance. At least more than the rest of you. Especially if my sister becomes the winter maiden. Both living huntress Schnees would have the same or similar powers."

"And Penny will take the other half?" Yang asked.

"Is that okay?" I wondered.

"It's probably what she was built for, all things considered," Blake said.

"Ozpin only groomed us but Ironwood had her made for this purpose," Weiss agreed. "It's probably why her project got greenlit. The maidens."

"Kinda scary when you put it like that." Yang worried her lip. "Being born for it."

"I'll talk to her about it," I said. "I'll make sure she's okay with it."

"Wait but Cinder has both spring and fall. Won't they transfer to the same person?" Blake asked.

"That's what I went to talk to him about. He said he was going to split the power with his magic. He wasn't really specific on the details," I informed them.

"That's magic for you," Yang reclined, putting both hands behind her head as she rested back on her bedding. "It's obscure and makes no sense. Hey Weiss could you replicate the powers of a maiden with enough dust if you had it?"

"Probably. Maybe Professor Goodwitch could too. It would take quite a bit of dust, though, that's just going off of what we saw Cinder do with her air magic. We're also not sure what all she's doing with dust or with her semblance. We don't even know what her power really is."

"Good enough. I suppose that it makes sense for you to take it then. It'll just look like your semblance but with dust," Yang returned.

"I keep forgetting that Cinder has a semblance on top of being two maidens," Blake said. "How are we going to stop her?"

"We could keep using Ruby's eyes. That seems to be working," Yang muttered.

"How does the power with your eyes even work, Ruby?" Blake asked.

"I'm not really sure. It seems to be all instinctual. What I've done with it," I reached up like I was going to touch my eyes and my hands hesitated near my brow.

"Like what you did to the dragon?" Weiss asked.

"Just like that. I don't really know how I'm doing it."

"But it worked at Haven. It drove Cinder back when I thought she was going to burn us all to a crisp," Yang said. "Emerald had to carry her out of there."

"Speaking of, Emerald's semblance is also very dangerous. The illusions." Blake waved a hand in front of her eyes. "She could get any one of us."

"And we don't know what Mercury can do either. Yang you fought him at the tournament. Was there anything that felt like his semblance," I asked.

"Not really. He was just good."

"Who fought him at Haven?" Blake asked.

"Jaune," Weiss and I said together.

"Ugh," Blake managed.

"And me, for a bit again," Yang said.

"At least Tyrian is dead," Weiss muttered out of the corner of her mouth. She leaned her head on her palm.

"At the cost of a new, more dangerous Roman Torchwick. Cloud Strife sounds like an actual fighter," Blake murmured. "And Neapolitan is out there with him right now. That's how he's staying at large."

"Who else is there? Hazel and those girls who attacked us in Argus?" I asked.

"I think that's it." Yang said. "I mean, aside from, you know, Jaune."

Blake threw her pillow at Yang's head. "You brought him up this time."

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"Not that I'm bored," I sounded exasperated even to my own ears, "but why can't we just use an airship to take these supplies out to Amity."

"The components for Amity's construction are far too heavy. All that weight would require precious dust we should be saving for the launch itself. And the Grimm that will come after," Penny said with her usual enthusiasm.

"It just makes for a long, very long supply run."

"At least the tundra is scenic."

"Totally."

I started to doze off. The truck was rumbling along just right for it. A dull melody that was putting me right to sleep.

"Ruby!" I startled awake at Penny's voice. "I just wanted to say how excited I am to be working with you in a professional capacity. As friends!" She giggled a little.

It was a touch infectious and I laughed too. "Me too, Penny."

"Relationships are so interesting. And varied."

"Speaking of friends. Have you been able to make any new ones? Since, you know…" I trailed off.

"Now that I'm the official protector of Mantle I don't really have a team any more. General Ironwood says I don't have time for friends."

"Oh uh… how do you feel about that?"

"I feel like I wish I could do both the things I need to do, and the things I want to do. Is that normal?"

I laughed a little. "That's about as normal as it gets Penny."

We were quiet for a while.

"Ruby…" she trailed at the same time I said "Penny."

"You first," she said.

"Uh, okay. I talked to Ozpin the other day. We talked about making you one of the maidens. My team and I discussed how you were probably built with that in mind. I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you, though."

"I understand your worry, Ruby. But I am more than up for the task. Either spring or fall, I don't really mind."

"Well, okay if you're sure. What was it you were going to ask about?"

"I was going to ask how you were with your relationships, Ruby. You asked after mine after all. It seems like something a friend would do."

"Well what did you mean?" With Penny it was hard to be sure.

"Well you have had a boyfriend now. What was that like?"

"It was uh good." I wasn't quite sure what she was looking for.

"I've never had a boyfriend of my own. I've never talked to the General about it, either. Or my father."

"I wasn't very good at talking to my family about it either. Romantic stuff that is. It took me forever to tell Yang and by the time I did… well I didn't so much as tell her so much as she caught us."

"Caught you?"

"We were just kissing." I sounded a touch defensive. "I mean, it was going places if I had my say in it but we were just kissing when she walked in on us. She found out that way."

"Going places? Had you and Jaune been places before then?" If not for the emphasis I wasn't sure Penny would have understood what I meant. Instead she seemed to hunch down a little and her eyes were bright and curious.

"A handful of times." I confessed to her. Looking away from her eyes. I smiled a little. Crimson riding on my cheeks.

It felt good to talk about it though. Girl to girl.

"Ruby! That was scandalous of you. What happened next?" What was scandalous was Penny's attempt to dig for information.

I laughed. It was a touch funny in retrospect. Plus her blatant attempt to live vicariously through me was endearing. "Yang pulled him off of me and slammed him into a wall."

"So… he was on top of you, then." Penny gasped. Putting both hands over her mouth. "And your sister just ripped you apart."

I nodded. "I'd been trying to wrap my legs around him but...And Jaune just sort of stood there looking dazed. It wasn't because of being slammed into the wall. He's fairly robust. He was just sort of out of it because we'd been kissing. I might be a good kisser. You could, like, see it." I laughed.

"Ruby!" She gasped again. "Do you mean… his…?"

I nodded, laughing a little more. "Through the hem of his pants."

"Was he… was he large?" Penny phrased awkwardly, blushing whisper.

"I think so. Not so much until he was inside. If that makes any kind of sense. Then it seemed like he was huge but in a good way. A really awesome feel good kind of way."

"Ruby!" She gasped a third time. She was smiling and blushing. Her father had really gone all in on making her blush anatomically correct.

I laughed some more.

"Is everything alright up there?" My uncle called from the back.

"We're fine!" We said at the same time through giggling voices and thick blushes.

"Penny are you… are you built, down there?" I asked in a whisper.

"I'm designed to one day have children. If I so choose. With the right upgrades as pregnancy goes on. My father thought it was important."

"He told you?"

"Oh yes. He gave me the talk. He thought it was important that I have the freedom of expression that having children is. The eggs are from donors which were engineered. And I don't quite have a monthly cycle. But other than that things are roughly the same."

"You don't have a cycle? Brag about it, you queen."

"Ruby!" She giggled again. I did too.

"How roughly the same are we talking about here?" I laughed.

"Ru-by!" She broke into hysterics. She wiped a tear from her eye. "The same enough."

We laughed for a long time in muted giggles as the truck rumbled along.

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-WG