A canvass of midnight blue, dotted by countless stars. Azures blanketed in heavenly jewelled auroras, Quinn sat amongst - held up by a VSM constructed chair drinking tea, high above the kingdom's alabaster exterior, at least the more affluent part. It being a landmass floating above the earth, held up by gravity Dust, anchored to the land by gargantuan cables lodged into the ground.

"Nice view, eh V?" Quinn looked over the frozen expense of Atlas, [It is indeed, sir] a VSM unit floated up next to him, [More tea?]. Lifting up his cup, "Of course."

Taking a sip, "So what now? We're done with Dust, and I can't use Aura, so that's pointless. I have everything I wanted from Remnant, at least I think so... Did I miss anything?"

[No, sir. You should be alright to leave, you do not have any obligations here. Though, maybe you'll be interested in the Relics?]

"Oh yeah! The Relics! We know that Knowledge is with Ruby, but the rest? No. Should we even go for them anyways? It would be troublesome if Salem caught wind of us. An unknown factor."

Whirring, [I would not worry about that, sir. Reports from the unit you passed, show that it only activated on the train crash and the Leviathan Grimm, and just to protect, not attack.]

Gazing into the distance, "Hmm... did it record Knowledge's ...uh... 'energy signature'?"

[Yes, sir. It is comparable to Dust but more in tune to Aura. It is incredibly noticeable when using the right equipment. Luckily for us, we have that.]

"Good, good. Then we'll research the Relics then. It would be nice to know how they function" Grinning to himself, "Maybe even get a connection to those two brothers."

Noticing a glint of silver on the distance, Quinn started, "Well, looks like they're here. Should probably greet them, need to tell James though, he's gonna want to find out where I've been. Don't wanna have to deal with Winter right now."

[Not to worry, sir. I have already informed the General about your absence and that Ozpin is arriving.]

Quickly finding himself at the docks, Quinn calmly set up a seat and desk to prop his feet over and carried on drinking his tea. "This is some excellent tea, chamomile if I'm not wrong." Watching the Bullhead land, "You think they'll want some?"

The Bullhead touched down, and 10 individual exited the vehicle, RWBY, JNR, Oscar, Qrow and another, a short old lady with a mechanical construct over what would be her eyes. "Hey! It's Maria! Damn, I knew she was short but shorter than Neo?"

"Oh! They noticed me." Taking another sip of his drink, Quinn waited for the large group to approach him. "Hey, guys! How's it going?" he greeted, "Want some tea?"

"Hello, Mr Quinn," Ruby answered offering a smile "No tea thanks, how are you doing?"

Ordering the unit with her, Quinn returned "Not bad, unlike you guys... jeez, fighting a Leviathan, eh?"

"And how would you know that?"

Facing the origin of the voice, "Relax Qrow, this bad boy records everything around it." Quinn explained, patting the unit, "You're welcome, by the way."

"Oh, yes! Sorry." Thanked Oscar, "It really helped."

Standing up and dusting his pants, "Of course, " deconstructing the table and chair, "I told James you guys are here, he should be at his office. I asked him to get you guys rooms at the Academy."

"Thank you." The kids replied.

"Don't mention it. Qrow should know where to go." Turning to the short woman and offering a bow, "And it is an honour to meet the Grimm Reaper herself, an unfortunate thing to lose one's sight."

"Oh? You know of me? That's a surprise; usually, the younger folk are not interested in old people like me."

"Heh, older than I look, ma'am, " Checking the time, "Anyways, I'm late for something, see you guys later." With that Quinn left for the research lab, ears pricking up from a comment from one of the group, "Older than he looks?"

Arriving at the RnD lab, Quinn headed towards the doctor's station, offering greetings to those he passed. "Hey, doc! Where's Penny? I have something she might want to see."

"Good evening, Quinn. Penny? She should be at the - "

"Father Quinn!" At the sudden, a ginger rocket burst into the station, attaching itself to Quinn, squeezing him with the force of a locomotive. "V!" Quinn thought, immediately, his body flashed a silent purple encased in a protective layer, "Thank you."

"Evening Penny. I've got a surprise for you." Quinn laughed, patting her head, "It should be at James' office in a few, do you want to go together?"

"A surprise?! Oh, most wondrous days! A surprise! Thank you, Father Quinn. Of course, I would like to go with you." she replied, jumping to her feet and started towards Ironwood's office.

"Heh."

Walking side by side down the halls of Atlas Academy, Penny inquired, "So Father, what is this surprise you have prepared?"

Chuckling to himself, "Penny, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

"I suppose..."

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon," standing in front of Ironwood's door, voices can be heard from the inside, "We're already here anyway."

Knocking on the door and waiting shortly before entering the room, Quinn asked Penny to wait outside the door. "Hey, James! Are Qrow and the rest here? I got a surprise for them, you would know what it is."

"Quinn? What are you doing here? Winter is supposed to be with you."

"Bah! Don't worry about it." abashedly redirected Quinn turning to face the now noticed Ruby, "There you are! I got something to show you. "Penny!"

The aforementioned girl entered the room and when eye-contact was made between Ruby and Penny, a small moment of silence permeated across the room, both eyes' slowly tearing up when Ruby initiated the first reaction, "PENNY/Ruby!"

With that Ruby, using her Semblance, rushed towards Penny, knocking her down, tears of joy carving her path, splattering the ground. Babbling from Ruby, and confusion from Penny. The rest of team RWBY quickly got out of their shock and tentatively approached the duo.

Grinning at the reunion, Quinn mentally commanded a VSM unit to discretely approach the Relic hanging on Ruby's hip and to replace it with itself and to store the real Relic in another unit. "That was way too easy, " Quinn thought, "Good for me, not for them."

"Well," Quinn announced, "This has all been well and good, but I'm gonna hit the sack." Looking at Penny directly before exiting the room, "Have fun now."

"Let's get back to the skies, eh?" stepping on several units, Quinn commanded the VSM to fly directly up to where they were prior, zooming past the towers that were Atlas Academy. "Do you think she'll know what we want to find out?" wondered Quinn. [Probably everything about this world, but nothing else.]

Stopping his ascent, Quinn commanded the VSM to construct a small platform to stand on and the same chair to take a seat. Seated down, Quinn grabbed ahold of the Relic of Knowledge, "Record everything, especially the time stop effect, I may be able to use it as a base for time travel." Observing the golden lamp known as the Relic, Quinn narrowed his eyes and whispered its name. "Jinn."

The world stopped. Silence. Winds cease to howl, smoke stops to a halt. The skies froze and the stars halted. Readings - cold. Sensations - normal. Peculiar. [Time stop readings completed.] Fantastic. The Relic moved, floating out of Quinn's hand, slowly spinning in place as it flew a few feet in front of him. Stopping in place, still spinning, light blue smoke spilling out of every inch of the Relic, twisting with the Relic as it gained velocity and volume.

A voluptuous female figure emerged from the smoke - floating in ethereal grace, solidifying it into a dress. Hair of navy blue shines through, plump lips of similar hue and skin of lighter blue. Golden chains materialise, encapsulating her ankles and wrists, a belt of gilded gold, circlet enchained, hooped earrings and choker gold.

Elven features pointed ears, iris of blue and sclera black. Eyes of aged and wisdom gained, young yet old, a soft gaze but sharpened glint. A smile of contempt adorned her face, knowing visage and friendly aura.

She looks at Quinn and starts, a curious look besets her face as she spoke, "I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer - "

"One more question." Quinn interrupted her as he took his seat, muttering to himself, "Interesting, very interesting," Observing Jinn and taking note of the curious expression she wore, "You seem to have a question yourself."

Raising an eyebrow, "Observant. But no," She laughs, "I may have questions, but it isn't my purpose."

"Purpose is arbitrary. Do what you want." Quinn pointed out, gesturing for a cup of tea, "Aren't you curious about me? I'll answer it if you ask."

Growing silent and contemplative, Jinn relented, "Very well, who are you? You are hidden from my limited omniscience. Either you are the future itself, something I cannot glean from, or something else."

Chuckling to himself, "Not from the future, haven't got that far yet. Definitely something else." Sip, "Before I answer you, my question. Enlighten me on everything you know. What do you know?"

Eyes widening in the presence of such a magnitudinous question, "I know many things, past and present. I don't think your mind can contain such information." Jinn warned.

"Don't worry about it. I'll deal with the backlash. I may not be able to retain everything, but that is why I have this little guy."

[Appreciate it, sir]

"Very well."

"Hold on. Actually, just transfer everything you currently know in this unit." Holding one out in front of Jinn, "Should be easy for you."

"Very well."

"That is a lot of data. Your title of Relic of Knowledge is not unfounded, I see. Good. Now, you asked who I was?"

"Yes."

"I am Quinn, Baethan Quinn. That is who I am, and who I shall be until I deem myself no longer worthy of such a name. Before me, I was a simple man, holding a name of such commonality, I have forgotten it to the sands of time. What I did, was what every sentient being will do. Reach perfection. And that is all I am. A man, a foolish man who counselled himself to attain his goals, ultimately reach them, and regretted my decision constantly."

"Reach your goals?"

"Yes. The biggest mistake of my life." Noticing Jinn's face, "Don't ask. You will regret it too."

"Very well. The final question has been asked for this century. And so I shall retreat back and answer once again in a hundred years."

"Fair enough, it would delay Salem. Can't believe Ozpin didn't think of this."

With that, Jinn retreated back in the Relic, and the world began to move once more. "Nice lady, could do with some clothes though," Quinn commented to the VSM, "Delete everything not related to what we need, should cut down a lot of things."

[Yes, sir]

Looking back down to the academy, "Better switch this back, with the fake one." Commanding the VSM, "Surround the Relic, copy its image and displace yourself with the decoy. Come back immediately."

[Right away, sir.] A unit then consumed the Relic, taking it within itself, and with two flashes of purple and the unit seemingly replicated itself. "Anything interesting happened?"

[No, sir. It has literally been 5 minutes. None of the people had noticed the switching of the Relics.]

"Good," gazing into the nightly horizons, "We should probably leave now, we have nothing left to do here. We should head to Salem. Should be interesting to see exactly how the Grimm are formed."

[You could always look at the records, sir.]

"Nah, that's good, and all but nothing compares to looking at events directly. Also, a chance to talk to the 'bad guys' who could pass that up?" Quinn waved away, "I have you to protect me too, remember?"

[Alright then, sir.]

"Anyways, " waving his hand to open a console to look at a world map, "Where are they located anyways? On the map."

[South-west of here, sir. That dragon-shaped continent, the darkest part is where Salem is.]

"Spooky stuff my guy. Let's go then." Waving his hand, a unit flew up in front of him and opened a portal, before entering the opening, "Maybe work on the speed, eh?"

[Of course, sir. But you're gonna have to do that. I can only manipulate the code, not entirely rework it.]

"Yeah. Well, onwards and upwards."

Entering the portal, Quinn noticed the sudden shift in both lighting and atmosphere. The clear dark navy night skies of Atlas gave way to the harsh red clouds and blackened skies of the Land of Darkness. The ground was barren and bleak, portions of it jutting out in random order. Pillars of dark purple crystals dotted the land.

Breathing in, Quinn noticed that the air was unusually humid and warm for a place beset in darkness. "Interesting, " observing the crystal pillars, "Are these Dust crystals?" Walking up to one of them, Quinn formed a small knife to scrape out a small piece of the pillar, "It looks like Dust... but it seems inert..."

Grabbing hold of a unit, Quinn began to slowly slice off more pieces of the pillar to study, placing them within the unit itself, "Maybe I can pass these off to Polendina, as a gift."

[Sir, a black pool is located about a kilometre away from here. Highly likely to be a Grimm spawning location.]

"Right, right, just let me finish with this pillar."

[Sir, you're on a different one, you completely mined out the previous one]

"Fine, fine. Set a unit to continuously mine out pillars."

[Of course, sir. Would you like to teleport to the pool or travel manually]

"Well, the pools get more and more common the closer we are to Salem's castle. It wouldn't be wrong to assume that she would have an easier time to notice us approaching. We gotta be quiet this time."

[Of course, sir... So, Quad-Bike?]

"Quad-Bike"

"Making my way downtown, ridin' fast, gainin' class, and I'm gone now."

[Sir, though the bike has sound suppression on it, you don't. So, please.]

"Bah! Whatever." Exhaling loudly, pressing a button on the bike, "Auto-pilot... So, bring up the time-stop readings."

A unit opened up, revealing a screen with graphs, charts, tables, calculations, recordings. "Hmm... ok so the actual relic itself is the thing that provides the energy that Jinn uses to move the user of the Relic to experience time to be stopped."

Pressing a video recording on the screen, "But how? And where is it getting the energy?" Looking closely, "Just before time stopped, the Relic flashed gold, but Jinn produced blue energy, primarily, so where did the gold come from?"

[Maybe an energy boost provided by the two Brothers, sir?]

"Perhaps, perhaps." Looking up, Quinn noticed a small dark patch of land, it's movements similar to liquids, "Slow down, we're here."

Slowing to a stop, jumping out and sitting down. Quinn observed the pool of darkness. It's voided visage, Quinn noted, not apathetic as the Place, more violent, malevolent in nature. But a crying centrepiece paradoxically deep within. Tears were shed in the creation of the pool. An effort, done in vain, but an effort nonetheless.

It's jealous, angry, looking for something not found. "Sad, really. A god who cried and did his best to match another. Pity was given when appreciation was needed. A flawed creature made from a union."

[Sir, something is coming out of the pool.]

Rising from the pitiful depths, a relatively small beowolf crawled its way out of the pool of black and began trekking north of its position. "I'm guessing that Salem's castle is located towards the north of here."

[Would not be wrong, sir.]

"Well, the coast looks clear, we could probably get a sample of the water. Should be interesting to see." Walking out of his hiding place, Quinn approached the pool, slowing down the closer he got to it.

Kneeling over the pool, Quinn took a whiff of the water, "Acidic scent... now, taste... "

[Sir.]

"Hm?"

[No taste. Don't. Sir]

"..."

Forming a few test tubes and stoppers, Quinn began collecting the liquid. "So, we should head on over to Salem's castle, poke around a bit and see if we can get an audience with her."

[Of course, sir. However, I recommend that you use a better defensive system. The anti-kinetic field is good, but direct spatial, and if we're not careful, chemical effects may still harm you.]

"Yeah... too bad I'm still technically an organic." growing a contemplative look, slowly grinning, "Heh... that's an idea..."

[Sir, no.]

"...

AN

Sorry about the slow updates, exams are coming up and the IB program is just... why...

Welp.