Authors Note: Sorry for this being uploaded later than usual, got distracted this morning and forgot to upload before going to work.

Ozpin took a sip from his coffee, attempting to use the action to help him think. While it wasn't quite able to offer him the secrets of the universe, it did afford him some clarity and strength of mind as he prepared for the discussion to come.

The wizard always hated these kinds of discussions, no matter how necessary or often they may have happened.

"What can you tell us of her combat ability?" James, as ever, was straight to the point.

Qrow made a show of pulling his flask out and taking a long swig, much to the General's annoyment.

"She did good for her age, but I've seen better." Qrow turned from the window. "She was fast, and she's a pretty strong fighter, but she was caught off guard and beaten by Torchwick of all people."

Glynda was quick to come to the defense of her student. "Torchwick is not an easy opponent, he was once a very promising huntsman and he has several encounters with professional hunters."

"Doesn't matter." Qrow responded. "No matter how tough Torchwick might be, the people who took down Amber are stronger."

Ozpin was forced to sigh at the mention of her name. Amber had been a truly powerful huntress in her own right, even before the maiden powers had been transferred to her. She wasn't the most talented in melee but she had a mind and heart unlike many who choose such a life.

She had been one of his brightest pupils and his failure to protect her still weighted heavily on his mind. Ozpin attempted to hide his emotions in a drink of coffee, though, judging by the look from Glynda, he hadn't quite managed it.

"Overall I think she did ok… I also think she would die in a fight with whoever attacked Amber." Qrow was as blunt as ever. "I don't think she's ready for this."

"No one is ever truly ready." James turned towards Ozpin. "Especially a student."

Ozpin sighed at the memories of their arguments. "I can not in good faith accept Miss Schnee as our first choice."

The General looked like he wanted to argue and defend his suggestion but restrained himself. "At least allow her to be a fall back choice, in the event that Nikos says no."

Ozpin considered the idea for sometime. "We shall see, James." It wasn't the answer he wanted, but he accepted it for now at least. "What else can you tell us of the battle, Qrow?"

"The girl's semblance is out." Qrow took another swig from his flask. "It was out the second she started tossing Paladins around. If you were hoping that that secret would help her you can give up on it. The enemy have to have gotten word."

"Then we must reconsider some of our old candidates." Ozpin kept his frustration hidden only due to lifetimes of practice.

"Scarlatina?" Glynda asked.

"Perhaps…" Ozpin was reluctant to go any further in detail however, there was far too much to think on at the moment. He needed time to compose himself and think. "What of the scroll you found?"

The sudden topic change didn't go unnoticed but there were no complaints.

"Torchwick's." Qrow set the item down on the desk. "Or at least that's where blondie said he found it."

"Torchwick is a professional." James said. "I find it strange to think he left it in the open where it could be found."

Ozpin took a drink of his coffee to buy himself time to think.

"When we got there it was pretty clear they weren't ready to go." Qrow explained. "Probably planned to destroy it or something, got sidetracked with the whole 'our base is under attack' thing."

"Unlikely." Glynda responded. "He's avoided capture for years, in part due to his skill, but also due to his intelligence."

Ozpin set his mug down. "Perhaps he wanted us to find it." The room was silent for a moment. "It's only a theory of course, but perhaps he finds his involvement just as unpleasant as we do."

"You think he's trying to betray whoever is behind this?" Qrow was the first to consider his idea.

"Perhaps, though I doubt he would offer much if we were to question him." Captured or not, Torchwick would likely never simply tell them what they wished to know.

"If that's the case why hasn't he given us anything in his interrogation?" James asked. "If he wants his boss to lose, why not tell us who they are?"

Qrow scoffed. "Probably because you're interrogating him."

Ozpin hummed. "Perhaps, but most likely he is trying to play both sides."

That got the room's attention.

"He doesn't know whose going to come out on top." Qrow was as quick as ever. "He wants to make sure he's on the winning side before it comes time to end."

The room was silent for a moment as they thought. James stood up, turning towards them.

"If you'll allow me to take the scroll…" He asked despite knowing the answer, this was a job for the Atlesians. "I'll get my best working on it. If that will be all, I'd rather not wait."

"I believe that will be all for today." Ozpin stood from behind his desk. "It has been a pleasure, old friend."

"As always." Ironwood turned and headed for the door.

Qrow waited for the elevator door to close before speaking. "Prick."

Glynda sighed. "Must you always speak ill of him?"

Qrow nodded in affirmation before taking another drink from his flask. "If you don't need me for anything else, I'll be going."

"Actually" Ozpin started. "There was one more thing." Qrow looked displeased with that fact but made no attempt to leave. "Your nieces team, I would like you to train them." Qrow did not look pleased. "And team JNPR as well."

The man sighed, attaching his flask back to his hip. "Any particular reason?"

"They seem to get into more trouble than most people their age." Ozpin took a second to think before continuing. "I would rather them be prepared when rushing off into danger, and regardless of the candidate we choose it is very likely both teams will become involved."

Qrow's face settled into something between a grimace and pride at the fact his nieces were so skilled. "Yeah, yeah. No need to try and guilt me into it."

"That was not my intention."

"I know Oz, I know." Qrow turned towards the elevator. "I guess I'll go hunt them down now, better to start as soon as possible."

"I look forward to seeing their performance during the tournament." Ozpin brought his mug to his lips, finishing off what remained of his beverage.

Qrow smirked, no doubt at the memories of his own Vytal days. "Oh, it'll be a performance all right." He waved as the elevator door closed. "Take care Oz."

The door closed and the two people remaining in the room sat in silence for a time.

"I don't like it, she isn't ready." Glynda was the one to break the silence. "No matter her experience, or how useful her semblance, I still think we should try for an older team."

Ozpin sighed. "I wish that were an option Glynda, I truly do." He stared down into his empty mug. "There is much work to be done to prepare for Vytal, unless you have anything else to add?"

The deputy headmistress of Beacon Academy sighed and the wizard couldn't help but agree. They were about to be busy, very busy indeed.

"Ugh…" Jaune felt his body slowly dragged him out of his slumber. He could feel the pain in his head begin to surge before his aura tried to mitigate it. It didn't do very much of course, aura never really stopped pain, just the permanent damage that came along with it.

Still the cool feeling of his aura pooling in one part of his body at least helped to mitigate it somewhat. An icepack probably would have been just as good.

"Rise and shine." He wasn't certain who was yelling, but the sudden volume caused him to jolt and reach for his sword. He missed of course, instead succeeding in throwing his arm out and hitting it on the wall.

Jaune felt his body shutter. "Why?" He felt that it was a very good question to ask, even as he attempted to curl back into a ball beneath the blankets.

Said blankets were ripped away from him and the cold air of their room forced him to wake up, at least enough that he couldn't simply roll back over and sleep.

"We have training to do!"

"Nora, that was mean." The ever calm, and somehow still too loud, voice of Ren rang out from somewhere off to the side.

Jaune cracked his eyes open, wincing as the light seemed to hammer him down into his bed. "Please… the light… it burns."

"The light? Nora, close the blinds." The light dimed and Jaune was able to see somewhat, it still hurt mind you, but he could at least function now.

The first thing he was able to see was Nora's face mere inches away from his own. "So… have fun last night?"

Jaune groaned at the sound of… sound. "I… can't really remember."

Most of last night was a blur to his mind, he could remember some vague things. The drink he had been throwing back, strawberry sunrise, Yang's favourite and apparently his as well. He could remember fighting… a lot of fighting, and he could also remember Yang on top of him.

He didn't want to say any of that of course. Nora would probably take that last part the wrong way or at the very least they would tease him about it. He wasn't certain he could take that at the moment, not without his head splitting open.

Instead he decided to play the amnesia card.

Nora's features drew up into a pout as she stepped back from him some. "Aww, I wanted to hear how you and Yang ended up sleeping together."

That was something he did not remember… at all. In fact, he was fairly certain nothing like that had happened… mostly certain…

His panic must have been visible, because his partner felt the need to jump to the rescue. "Yang and you made it back to the door and fell asleep leaning against the wall mid kiss." Jaune felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment. "Ruby was the one to notice first."

In that moment, Jaune wished his headache would have the kindness to kill him already. Not only had he kissed a girl to sleep, said girls sister had been the one to find them.

"Here." His partner held something out and Jaune took it without hesitation. "I've heard water helps."

Jaune was already halfway through the bottle before she had finished talking. It helped a bit but not as much as he would have liked.

"Thanks Pyr, I owe ya." Jaune stood slowly, making his way to the bathroom. "I… may have overdone it a bit for my first time." Not that it had been an unpleasant experience, it was just the present that made him hate himself.

"What are partners for?" She was as perfect as ever.

The bathroom was still warm when he finally made it there. Whoever had taken the last shower had clearly only just gotten out and he had to fight the urge to curl up on the floor and sleep.

It took a monumental amount of willpower to turn the shower on and begin the process of undressing from the clothes he had worn the night before. By the time he was out of the shower his head had mostly cleared up, though the lingering headache was still present.

Pyrrha was kind enough to toss him his clothes and he emerged from the bathroom feeling as fresh as could be expected. It was both better and worse than he had expected.

Nora clapped as he stepped out.

"So what was that I heard about training?" He asked. "Or was I just imagining that?"

"Mr. Branwen offered to help team RWBY train in light of the Mountain Glenn mission." Pyrrha explained. "They invited us to come along."

"Damn, I was hoping I imagined it."

Pyrrha wasn't the only one to giggle at his misery. He couldn't help but smile at himself. The night before, what little he could remember of it, had been… special, unique, and something so very Yang.

He made a mental note to do it again sometime, maybe even see about taking some of their team along with. Not Nora though, he didn't think anybody was prepared for that.

"Did they say what time?"

"Now, essentially." Ren looked at his scroll before standing. "We need time to stop off at our lockers and pick up our weapons. After that we need to head directly to one of the outdoor arenas."

Jaune fought back a groan and, putting on his best smile, stepped towards the door. "What are we waiting for?"

Authors Note: Nothing fancy this chapter, some filler between chapters, some comments from characters, and the such.

The next chapter is proving to be a bit of a pain so heads up that next week might either be late or a little lower quality. We'll just see how it goes.

Hope ya'll enjoyed and always remember to drop a review.

Sincerely SE