Author's Notes: Bonus chapter! Was on a roll.

Music Choices: Possibility by Autoheart

Edit: Portal Fix

Eclipse

Chapter 54

The White Rook

Part VI

Nine hours previously…..

Summer was having a very bad day.

It had all started when she'd woken up in the middle of the night, when Raven had gotten up and dressed to go for 'a walk'; and when she didn't come back, Summer had eventually gone to look for her, because there were literal psychopaths running around with badges and Raven had a poor history of avoiding trouble.

And then, she'd found her.

Her and Sigyn both, in the middle of an auraless bloodbath, attempting to apparently kill one another. She'd separated them, and found herself so angry at the pair she could barely even speak.

Apparently, her girlfriend had gotten it into her head that fighting it out with Summer's sister was the only way to get said sister to stop trying to pick a fight. Which was literally just giving Sigyn what she wanted in the first place!

You don't fight with Sigyn when she's in this mood, because she doesn't deescalate! Ever!

She just escalates! One way escalator, straight to the top floor! There's no pausing, there is no slowing down, you can't get off at the food court! Just straight up, until you're both trying to furiously beat each other's heads into the concrete!

Which is exactly what happened and exactly what she had been trying to prevent - but nooooo! Raven's not gonna ask HER why she is letting Sigyn burn herself out before trying to talk some sense into her! She's just gonna jump into it and start swinging, damn the consequences! Because of fucking course she is!

Summer could have murdered them both, she was so furious.

Well, she could have yelled a lot and said a bunch of really unnecessary stuff that she didn't actually want to say. So she'd left mad and laid awake mad and constantly glanced at the dorm room door mad as the minutes turned into hours; until she had to get up and get dressed mad, and the boys awkwardly tried to figure out why she was mad and she had had to keep herself from taking it out in them, because it wasn't their faults she was mad-

It was a disaster.

Summer hated being angry to begin with, and this entire stupid thing was driving her up the wall!

Then the little shits sat with each other all day and avoided her! Which, she'd asked for space and time to cool off, she had asked for that or at least that's how she'd meant it.

But she had not meant "Don't come home" or "Avoid me at all costs!", because that always made Summer even more upset and insecure and Dust damnit -

She knew she wasn't communicating what she wanted or needed from either of them very well, at all. Sigyn knew better, of course, but she was scared Summer was going to chew her out for using fucking Jorogumo webbing on Raven in a fight - gods, she had wanted to throttle her when she'd seen that cut - and she probably should chew her out! She had known that Sigyn had stolen some from dad's Witchfinger stache - or worse, she'd bought it on the black market - and Summer hadn't said anything about it, and this is what Sigyn'd used it on? Her girlfriend?!

The little shit! Ugh!

And freaking Raven could always take things so literally sometimes! She'd take "Give me space" as "Just don't fucking come home"! Which wasn't fair, or what Summer had even wanted, and now Summer was worried she'd freaked Raven out or something by being so angry and she hated it! She was always worried that she was too much to deal with as it was and was scared of expressing things like anger, because what if she got too angry and scared people? Which, she knew, was also bullshit, but it was a legitimate fear of hers!

And then things got so much worse.

She had spent lunch with Qrow in the Library, trying to collect herself and not dump her problems on him. He hadn't pried or attempted to play armchair shrink with her, either; mostly they just watched silly videos on their scrolls and checked out cute peoples butts, though Summer hadn't been very enthusiastic about it.

But! It had kinda helped slow her down, so she could relax a little. By the time they'd gone to their last class with Arc, she was feeling like she could have a levelheaded conversation with both her sister and her partner about everything that had happened, even if she was still quite pissed off at them.

They'd taken their normal seats. Tai had shown up with ARSN, and joined them; everyone seemed to be in much better spirits than previously, and were actually joking and playing with each other again. It was putting her at ease, to see she hadn't created a permanent rift by telling ARSN everything.

Class started.

Raven did not appear.

Professor Arc promptly noticed and asked Summer where she was, because it was Summer's job to know where her team was; and Summer had had to lie and said Raven had eaten the lasagna at lunch, and everyone had nodded in sympathy or giggled and class continued uninterrupted.

While Arc was busy monitoring the sparring below, Summer kicked the back of her sister's chair. Sigyn turned around, a knowing, nervous simper already on her face.

"Where?" Summer whispered menacingly.

"I don't know," Sigyn pleaded in a loud whisper, trying to be quieter than normal lest she summon the paladin's wrath. "She left at lunch, I swear I didn't touch her - Taiyang, you saw, back me up here!"

Summer glanced at her boyfriend, far more gently, and Tai nodded, looking serious but still composed.

"She finished a little before us, but I honestly thought that we were just getting a bit too loud and that she needed to take a break," he admitted sheepishly, drumming his fingers in thought. "Up to that point, she seemed down, but mostly ok. She did leave a bit fast and didn't say goodbye. But again, that's totally normal Rae behavior."

That was totally normal Rae behavior; but missing class, without informing at least one of them she'd be doing so? Was not.

Her gut insisted something was wrong, but she was also emotionally compromised at the moment and did not want to make any rash decisions that would put her team in the line of more trouble than they already were.

She didn't want to escalate the situation; but the machinations of the King's Service, and in particular Regalia and Verdant, were still fresh on her mind.

"Reinhardt," Summer glanced down at the technopath. Reinhardt flinched, grinning nervously over his shoulder.

"Yesss?"

She paused as Arc looked up at them, her sharp, blue eyes narrowing a little in suspicion. Summer smiled and held her gaze evenly; Joan gave her a bemused squint, before a loud crash caught her attention. One of the duelists had been flung into the hardlight barrier, his aura shattering as he slid to ground with a squeaky groan. The barrier itself sustained heavy damage as well. The little paladin barked a series of reprimands at the other combatant, who was jogging over to check on their partner, and looked very frightened that they were about to share a similar fate.

They needed to hurry. Joan was not stupid, and had a bullshit barometer that could detect STRQ antics from 200 nautical miles out. Joan would also be concerned if one of them was missing and unaccounted for, because she knew they were technically all in danger still from the Service and had insisted Summer report anything magical or suspicious to her that she spotted in the area, to ensure everyone's safety going forwards. Summer had agreed.

But she didn't want to label her girlfriend as missing until she had verified that Raven was, in fact, actually missing; and not hiding away somewhere to collect herself or playing hooky.

"Can you use your drones to ensure she's somewhere safe please?" Summer asked. It wasn't really a request. Argent raised an eyebrow at her but seeing the look on her face, decided to not call her out on it just yet.

"Uhhhh," Reinhardt glanced at his teammates for assistance, and seeing there was none forthcoming, sighed miserably. "I mean, I can. But...I'm not going to?"

Sigyn's eyes widened, changing color rapidly as she shot her teammate a warning look. Argent and Natalia shared glances.

"I see."

Sigyn was shaking her head rapidly, throwing hand signals.

"Is there a problem?" Summer asked, her voice deceitfully cool.

Reinhardt cleared his throat and fidgeted, looking around nervously.

"Uhhhh - look. Summer? I dunno if Raven wants us to know where she's at? Annnd, ya'll are kinda, like, fighting? Sooo-"

Sigyn nearly climbed over Natalia's lap to shake him. Summer could feel her heart rate elevating, as well as her other senses, her hackles rising; she pushed the growl down in her chest that was starting to bubble up. In part, Summer recognized that Reinhardt was just trying to be a good friend to Raven and respect her privacy, which was sweet; however, the wolf in her saw this as him choosing to put her pack in harm's way, and at the moment? That aspect was largely dominant.

"Reinshutup - Shut up! No, shut your pie hole!" Sigyn hissed, trying to cover his mouth.

"Fuckin Stopit - ow, don't pinch me! Itisnotmyfault you areintrouble-"

People were looking their way. They looked away quickly enough, but once Arc was done cleaning up that mess in the arena, she was definitely going to notice.

"Stop it," she interrupted the pair of them and they stopped mid-squabble, before bringing her voice down so there was no chance of it carrying to unwanted ears. "Rein? I'm not trying to spy on her. There is an organization of genocidal, magical shitheads still out to get revenge on us for messing up their evil bullshit. I need to know she is safe on campus. If you don't help me? I will have to go physically look for her - whether I want to or not, whether we are fighting or not, which is none of your business - because Professor Arc is also aware of the genocidal, magical shitheads looking for their chance to get our asses, and is going to ask me again here in like five seconds where she is at. Understand?"

Reinhardt looked flustered and uncertain, but before he could really respond, Qrow stood up.

"Right, y'all stay here. I got it," he insisted, craning his neck to look down in the arena.

Professor Arc was returning, having helped mop up the boy who had become a metaphorical pancake on the barriers. His partner was helping him hobble up the steps, the first sparks of returning aura healing his limp; they were still apologizing profusely.

Summer and Taiyang shared a look, each trying to reassure and comfort the other instinctively, before Summer nudged Qrow gently. The scythe-wielder gave her a smirk, his own form of reassurance.

"There's only two places she'd be, three tops," he muttered to her under his breath. "If she's not there, we'll go through the drone footage or somethin. But I'm sure she's fine."

Summer nodded, exhaling softly.

"Remember, please, that this is Tournament Dueling! It is not Grimm or Advanced Combat! You are not trying to bloody kill or dismember your classmates! And stunts like that will get you disqualified in a real match - if I don't kill you for it first, Quincy!"

"YesProfessorArc!" Quincy squeaked, bobbing their green, half-shaved head. Quincy and their team were second year transfers - literally the only second year transfers willing to come to Beacon after the events of last year. "It won't happen again, I'msorry!"

"Hey, Professor!"

Professor Arc looked up at him, still looking irritated at having to explain all this for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, Mr. Branwen?"

"I gotta go to the bathroom," Qrow shoved his hands in his pockets.

Joan gave him a droll look, as people in the auditorium giggled nervously.

"...Did you also eat the lasagna?" Professor Arc asked dryly, the portrait of patience.

Qrow smirked and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeaaa."

More giggles. Joan sighed, longsufferingly.

"Why would you - nevermind," the Professor shook her head in dismay. "For future reference! If any of you eat the bloody lasagna before my class again, I will make you run wind sprints! And then you can clean up the mess yourselves - Go! Get out!"

She pointed towards the door, and Qrow saluted, hustling out the door to a chorus of childish snickering. Joan met Summer's eyes briefly, and Summer knew that the Professor had not in fact bought Qrow's or her bullshit about the lasagna whatsoever; they maybe had ten more minutes before Professor Arc demanded Summer go take Raven to medical or produce her physically, and if she couldn't, then it was going to be a problem.

At this point though, Summer didn't care if Professor Arc was ticked off at them. She just wanted to make sure that she was safe - that they all were safe.

Her ears drooped a little when she thought no one was looking; but Taiyang lay his arm over her own on top of the desktop, pressing closer. She leaned into him, focusing on the heat he radiated and the comfort of his solid weight next to her. He kissed her temple, and she pressed into the sensation.

"It's gonna be ok," he murmured into her hair.

She nodded a little, exhaling softly. She believed him. She just wanted things to be ok faster.

Things were still not ok.

Qrow didn't return in five or ten minutes. He sent a message to the group chat, however, while he was out searching.

Garbage-Gull13: Not in Room or Library. Checkin Amosa's.

Vanilla_Dragon: Amosa doesn't give us fake chits anymore, he's scared of Arc now :(

Garbage-Gull13: Yea. Not for fakin.

Moon^^Chaser: You think she's actually sick?

Garbage-Gull13: She's been real anxious. Amosa has stuff to help.

Summer felt her stomach sink guiltily.

Vanilla_Dragon: But she wasn't doing the feather-touchy stuff? And how are you so fast?! That's a fifteen minute walk!

Garbage-Gull13: Portals keep firin up fast and ghostin. Happens when her anxiety is real bad, she don't like me to mention it. Had two pop in the Library at lunch for half a sec, and then when I was in the restroom before class. And I flew, Tai. Duh.

Summer winced, frustrated with herself. She hadn't heard any portals, she'd been listening to a dumb, loud music video, trying to drown everything out.

Vanilla_Dragon: Hey yea, I think that happened while we were at lunch together? I thought I heard one open, but I didn't see it - and don't fly on campus, dude!

Moon^^Chaser: Don't fly on campus! Don't shift on campus!

Garbage-Gull13: Uh oh. Here I go shiftin again.

(*)

/ )

/ "

Moon^^Chaser: ᶘ ͡°ᴥ͡°ᶅ You guys are giving me a literal aneurysm.

Garbage-Gull13: Better than a literal hernia.

Vanilla_Dragon: ^.=.^ That's true. Those really make ya pucker.

Summer shot her boyfriend a half-glare and Taiyang smiled innocently.

"Miss Rose?"

Summer's ears twitched as she glanced up; Professor Arc was still at the observation podium, watching the two pairs below her sparring. She waved her down without looking up. Summer sighed, gave Taiyang's warm hand a parting squeeze for luck, and strode down the steps as confidently as she could, wolf ears high.

The pair was far enough away from the other students that no one could eavesdrop on a quiet conversation unless they were a faunus, and there were no other faunus students in range. Professor Arc made some critiques as the duelists panted and wove below, before addressing Summer.

"Where are your teammates, Summer?" Joan asked, eyes serious but not urgent.

She considered lying again, but from the expression Joan was giving her, she knew that would be the wrong choice; it was also something she felt would endanger them more than it would protect them. She didn't need to protect her team from Arc.

Arc was their ally.

"Qrow is looking for Raven," Summer admitted quietly. "We haven't seen her since the end of lunch."

Joan nodded, pausing to bark an instruction to one of the girls and her partner, before giving her her full attention again.

"Alright. You are STRQ's leader and Raven is your partner," Joan continued, her voice still firm but calm. "Why don't you know where she is?"

Summer swallowed a little, but managed to keep it professional.

"We had a fight. I...we were giving each other space."

Professor Arc nodded again, brisk but non judgmental.

"Ok. These things happen. But? You still need to have tabs on your teammates whereabouts during the school day, even if things are very uncomfortable. Especially considering the current circumstances," Joan adjusted something on the scoreboard without even looking away, having spotted something in her periphery and made a note of it.

"I know that," Summer bobbed a little, glancing up at Taiyang, who looked ready to come down there as well. She smiled at him reassuringly and he settled down, but only a little. "It's um - Her and Qrow can both be….they really like their privacy. And I asked for space earlier, and I think she took that too literally? That and it's hard - I have to be aware of our personal boundaries, and our relationship boundaries, team leader and partner boundaries and I don't want to overstep accidentally, and it. It's been a really bad day."

Joan appraised her, but not unkindly, folding her arms as the buzzer sounded and two people's aura's fell below fifteen percent. The combatants stopped however, so Arc didn't need to intervene or make any comments.

"I remember how difficult that all can be," Arc smiled a little. "Being team leader is hard enough on its own. Add in a partner with ah, some antisocial tendencies, and it can be extremely trying to keep things running smoothly."

Summer's eyes widened a little, as she thought about being in Joan's shoes, trying to wrangle a young Nwyfre while going through training at Beacon.

Nwyfre still kinda intimidated Summer at the best of times, the woman's sharp edges being not only finely honed, but genuinely reveled in. She'd softened up to Tai and herself a little now, especially after the raid on the King's Service; but even so, Summer had no clue how Joan could have managed her partner in a school setting.

"How did you do it?" Summer whispered conspiratorially. "Without strangling her?"

Joan chuckled outright, waving another set of four down onto the arena; a few of the students were eying their laughing Professor with concern. Summer realized that many of the people here had never seen Arc genuinely laughing, and it probably disturbed them on some level.

"Oh, there were many close calls," Joan sighed, still smiling a little. "But I grew up with Nwyfre, in a shared, difficult situation. I came to Beacon already knowing what made my partner tick, and where her edges and hurts came from, because I was there for it all since childhood; just like she was there for mine. I already had the troubleshooting manual for dealing with her; you are having to create your own on the fly. So what worked for us, won't necessarily work for you two. That and your, ah, situation is more emotionally complicated."

Summer's ears drooped a little.

"But that's not a bad thing," Joan patted her shoulder. "Complex isn't bad. You just have to become better at communicating with one another. Especially when it's uncomfortable."

Summer's fingers splayed in frustration, though she managed to keep her voice down despite her emotions.

"That's the thing though - it's like she doesn't want to communicate or maybe she feels like she just can't. Sometimes it's like I'll turn around for five seconds and look back? And bam! Here's a whole bunch of things she's been hiding from me or the team, and then I get upset cuz I think I'm failing or doing something wrong and then it makes it all worse and - "

"Summer?" Joan prompted gently.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Summer sighed, rubbing her face.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. Look," Joan adjusted the arena's barrier's, making them taller to compensate for one of the combatants Semblances below. "It may be, that this issue in particular? Is not something you can help her with right now. It might be something she needs to talk about with someone in a less...personally vulnerable environment."

Summer's face said it all, really.

"Ohh, nooo. Um. I really think that would go over really badly. She doesn't trust most of the staff, and I can't just suggest that to her right now after everything, she'll deff take it the wrong way - and she won't talk to a civilian either, because of like, everything else-"

Arc made a reassuring gesture before Summer could continue.

"I'm not telling you to order her to go to counseling or see a psychiatrist," Arc promised. "No one's going to make her do anything of the sort. That would be disastrous and not at all helpful."

Summer relaxed a little.

"When things calm down today, though, I might float the idea of someone she can talk to, if she feels she needs to," Arc said, turning back to the arena. "Especially if things continue on the same course."

She hesitated.

"I won't mention this conversation," Arc promised, giving her a wry glance. Summer exhaled in relief. "Now: go find your team. And if you can't, or it is something you think is more serious, come back and we'll go from there. You also have my scroll number."

"Yes, Professor," Summer made to leave.

"Oh, and Summer?"

She paused. Arc was smiling at her.

"If you need someone to talk to, yourself? My door's always open."

She felt her throat tighten a little, much to her embarrassment, before she nodded quickly and hurried away up the steps; Tai didn't even need her to say anything, hopping over the back of his chair to join her as she rushed out the door.

Garbage-Gull13: Not at Amosa's. Drones?

Moon^^Chaser: Reinhardt's still in class. Arc cut us loose, I told her what was going on - I'm going to track her, so we're heading back to the cafeteria.

Vanilla_Dragon: I tried calling her scroll, and it didn't go through. She either has it turned off, or is somewhere without signal. We're right next to the tower though so that doesn't make sense.

Garbage-Gull13: Fuck!

Moon^^Chaser: ?

Vanilla_Dragon: Dude?

Garbage-Gull13: Portal!

Moon^^Chaser: Go through it!

Vanilla_Dragon: Dude?!

Garbage-Gull13: Fuck! It closed! Was all wonky and glitched out!

Vanilla_Dragon: Thaaaat's not good...

Moon^^Chaser: Meet us at the Cafeteria.

Garbage-Gull13: ETA 3 min

Summer filtered through the scents, eyes closed as she methodically blocked out every category that did not qualify as 'human' and 'feminine'. The hallways outside the cafeteria had seen a lot of traffic of feminine humans, but they were pretty easy to pick through to find the one she wanted, as the vast majority of them smelled like Kingdom or Settlement, and not the wilds. She started walking briskly, following the path Raven had taken maybe an hour previously while Taiyang and Qrow followed behind Summer, refraining from distracting her.

She'd been weaving a lot. Summer followed her footsteps, weaving serpentine over the tile - she'd been pushing through other students, pursuing, hunting-

"She was following someone," Summer stated, drawing another slow breath as they rounded the corner. "Like, booking it after them."

"Can you tell who?" Taiyang asked, moving up next to her. "A few of the freshmen teams left right before she did in the cafeteria, what if it was one of them?"

"And we're headin straight for the freshmen classrooms," Qrow drawled, glancing around. "Lookin like a safe bet."

Summer huffed even deeper, glad that the hall was empty. There had been several freshmen teams that had passed through here before Raven and then -

She opened her eyes. She could hear something.

Music.

Song and light began spinning in her head, illuminating the paths before her and in the surrounding planes that intersect and layered with Beacon -

"Yo. Your eyes are glowin," Qrow observed helpfully.

"Aetheri," Summer's voice vibrated dangerously, and her vision expanded. She could see the Mirrorways that surrounded and wove together and between normal-space; she hummed instinctively, sending out tremors through the planes around them, illuminating the trail left behind by the aetheri that had apparently possessed the audacity to abduct her partner in the middle of the damn hallway, during lunch break.

She strode forwards, zeroing in on something that shimmered brightly in her enhanced vision, before stooping and picking up a dropped mirror piece. It had Raven's scent, but was tied to this other aetheri, one of their personal pieces going from the smell and the song-light that radiated into her palm.

I recognize this - I know who this is!

"They - no, she lured Raven," Summer observed, her voice going cold and silver. "Intentionally, from the cafeteria to here, and when Raven realized it was a trap, she tried to throw this piece away. But she was still in the aetheri's range. And this mirror was pre-spelled to take a person to a specific location in the Mirrorways."

Oh gods, she's in the Mirrorways-

The boy's eyes were large and round, looking over her shoulder. She didn't need to look over her shoulder to know who it was. The fresh scent of coffee and aftershave drifted over the scent-tracks she had been following.

"Very good, Miss Rose. I believe that's exactly what happened."

Summer turned to address their Headmaster, her eyes still glowing. Ozpin smiled, glancing at the three of them as he held his coffee mug close.

"But let's take this to my office, shall we?" Oz continued, gesturing. "I think we've had quite enough supernal incidents on campus to last us the rest of the decade."

Summer didn't budge, and neither did Tai or Qrow.

"Sir. I need to go get them," Summer insisted, her tone brokering no argument.

She could see more of his aura - his full astral corona - like this; there were weird trailing emerald and gold streaks that seemed to smear across the dimension of time itself, along with twisted spires, antlers and gears that branched out in a hundred different directions, into a dozen astral and spiritual realms. He had wards and countless running scripts of spellwork woven into his astral form, creating a living spell-network so complicated that Summer couldn't identify what it all was or what it all meant.

She knew, however, that what she was looking at? Was not fully human nor faunus, and possibly never had been. Or perhaps he just...wasn't anymore.

Just what the heck is he? How did he hide THIS from us the entire time!? And I'm not even seeing all of it! Holy-

Oz smiled at her. He possibly had more than one mouth to smile with, if that insane astral form was anything to go off of.

"Not to worry, Miss Rose," the entity that was Oz declared mildly. "I've already seen that they'll be coming to us, and on their own two feet. Both your partner and her...well. New friend. Are going to be ok. But first, we should get somewhere a bit more secure. And while we wait for them to join us, perhaps go over some rules regarding magic use in the hallways. Namely, please do not use magic in the hallways."

She held his stare for a long moment, before cautiously acquiescing, still stunned by what she was witnessing alone.

Looking back on this moment over the years, Summer would never be sure if she'd made the right decision or not.