Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.

CHAPTER 9

A few days after settling into Mistral, Rot sat in the bedroom he shared with Qrow. Looking down at his hands as if he could see, he used his semblance to retrieve his hat, placing it on his head, he winced. He'd been a fool to fight Tyrian the way he did. Coughing into his hand, Rot felt specks of something warm… Blood… The tumors were getting worse.

Team RNNJRS had finally made it, after Clayton was released from the hospital, he rejoined his team, and together they were prepared to find the answer's they so desperately sought. Walking through the central courtyard of Haven academy, the young hunters and their elder chaperones made their way to the headmaster's office. Qrow looked around the school grounds as they walked… Not a soul in sight. "Where is everybody?" Ren asked, as they entered the administrative offices.

"Well, classes aren't really in session right now." Jaune said.

"Something's wrong." Qrow said, moving slightly faster to the headmaster's door. Jaune looked at Clayton, and the gorilla faunus unslung his shotgun, and checked the chamber. Qrow let Clayton approach the door. The large boy tested the door handle to find it was locked, then raised his shotgun to indicate he was going to breach. After a nod from Brawnwen, Clayton blew the lock, and kicked in the door. With guns raised, everyone let out a surprised shout, as Leonardo Lionheart jumped in fright from the other side of the door. The headmaster passed out, and everyone looked down at the man.

"So much for being one of Ozpin's best." Clayton said, earning a smack in the head from Ruby, who had to hop slightly to hit him.

"Qrow? You nearly scared me half to death." Professor Lionheart said, as he got up.

"Scared you? You were supposed to meet us outside. Where were you?" Qrow asked.

Leo looked confused then checked his watch. "Ah, time must have slipped away from me." He said.

"Where is everyone?" Nora asked.

Leonardo attempted to deflect the question. "Ah, these must be the students you told me about." He said, earning introductions from the young huntsmen and huntresses. "A pleasure to meet you all. Leonardo Lionheart at your service. I'm afraid most of my students and staff are away until classes resume." Leo said, earning an outraged response from Qrow.

"What!" Brawnwen asked. "Leo you can't be serious, who's guarding the relic?" Leo looked over Qrow's shoulder "Don't worry, I filled them in on the way." Qrow said. Leo looked at Qrow, his nerves getting the better of him.

"Filled them in?" The lion asked with trepidation. Clayton looked around, and just cleared his throat.

"Awkward." Nora whispered loudly...

A plan had been made. Our young huntsmen and huntresses would soon set out to retrieve the Spring Maiden, who's powers allowed her to open one of the four vault's containing the relic of Knowledge. "Ok, I'm not the only one that think's this is batshit crazy right?" Jaune asked, as Team RNNJRS, Qrow and Rot left Haven. "Clayton's still sick from Tyrian's venom, we're retrieving the Maiden in three weeks, which is not enough time for us to prepare to fight a small army, and the entire time we're gone, Mistral is going to be completely defenseless." Jaune said, listing off the issues with their hastily put together plan.

"Not completely defenseless, the citizen's militia will be able to provide basic border security for the time being, but either way, we need to get Spring to safety. If Salem's goons get to her first we'll be looking at the mother of all information leaks if they decide to attack Haven." Qrow said.

That didn't exactly make Jaune feel any better. Suddenly he got a chill up his spine when he heard the new voice. "Aside from the crunched timeline, we'll be more than sufficient enough to deal with Spring and Raven herself. If I can teach Ruby how to use her eyes in three weeks we'll be equipped to deal with her magic, and if you all improve even just 10 percent, the Branwen's numbers will mean nothing. Aura or not, they are no huntsmen." Rot said, appearing from nowhere.

Jaune sighed. "Guess we'll be training then." He huffed.

The JNPR of Team RNNJRS was going over a potential battle strategy for their upcoming fight in three weeks, which consisted mostly of Jaune trying to figure out if there was any stealthy way to raid the bandit camp. Qrow had gone out drinking, and Rot… Well he disappeared all the time, so no one really questioned where he went… Clayton and Ruby had "gone to bed early" and so that left team JNPR to answer the door when there was a knock. It was a boy…

"I found him!" It was also Qrow… A very drunk Qrow, but nevertheless it was Qrow. He seemed unusually giddy about something, and the second he pushed past the boy that had escorted him home, he started drumming on the open door and the walls before back diving onto the couch, shouting "STAGE DIVE!" Causing one of the legs to break, and for him to fall to the floor.

In a bedroom on the second floor, Clayton and Ruby were jolted awake when the two heard what sounded like breaking furniture and shouting coming from the living room of the house they were all renting. Quickly separating, jumping out of bed, and hastily making themselves somewhat decent, the two grabbed their weapons from the corner, and rushed downstairs, Clayton jumping clear over the banister, and Ruby warping her way past him.

They were met with stares of confusion, disbelief, and one farm boy who had a nosebleed the second he saw Ruby… Incidentally, being "decent" in a home defence situation ment whatever you threw on while freaking out in the dark. Instantly Ruby froze, having only a tee-shirt on. Clayton, in his boxers, axe raised, and flashbang ready to be unpinned with his teeth, shuffled in front of Ruby, as she started backing up stairs to fix her wardrobe malfunction.

Author's note.

The best home defense is being naked with a flashbang and a tomahawk, second only to a musket, and a mounted cannon. Mostly filler before we get to Volume 4 Part Two's final... Which is mostly going to be more filler before we travel back to Patch for the beginning's of Part Three. In either case Rot's cancer seems to be getting worse, and Ozpin has returned.