Hello again, everyone! Rubles here with another chapter of MotSS! I just want to say YAY that I've finally fixed the story's grammar issues. It took me a few months to do so (between getting the motivation to write the new chapter AND to update each chapter's grammar), but it's done. To my readers, thank you for being patient for this new chapter.
Speaking of, this chapter is the last transition chapter — the last one before we start to see events we can recognize from canon. Leading off from last chapter, the group is taking a little bit of time to mentally prepare themselves for the meeting with the Headmaster. There's...not much more I want to say about it without spoiling anything in it, so that's all you'll get about it!
I hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you guys. With the stuff I have to be thinking about in this story, between 3 and 4 weeks is a good amount of time for me to upload chapters. I hope it's not too slow for you all, but I'm doing it this way so I don't burn out my imagination too quickly. I have many things planned for this story, but I need for everything between to be just as good as those moments.
By the way, there's something of a reference I put in this chapter. It should be easy to find if you know what to look for.
Anywho...that's pretty much it! See you guys when the next chapter comes out. Until next time~

~Chapter 4~

The trip to Mistral's shopping center, despite how it appeared from the doors, didn't take very long. With a large series of stairs (incredibly durable stairs, Qrow thought absentmindedly) built into the mountainside, making it to ground level and then the vendors took no time at all. As they walked, Nora mentioned that Haven Academy is up the mountain, so they'd begrudgingly need to take the stairs again after they finished in the city.

As they collectively nodded, they found themselves at the stalls. From fruits and meat to weapons and Dust, many different items were displayed throughout the area. Many other civilian luxury items, like clothing and jewelry, were also in stock. Many people walked and talked around them, living their own lives and discussing their own gossip with not a care in the world. Qrow let himself give a small smile, happy that people were still able to find a form of peace even with the Grimm threat at their borders.

"Ooh, Uncle Qrow, look!" Ruby said excitedly, beaming childishly as she swerved her head at each shopping center. "They have weapons! Oh, and there's a smithy, I've been wanting to get some maintenance done on Crescent Rose for a while now...oh, and there's–"

"Rubes, slow down a bit," Qrow said, placing a hand on her head as though to prevent a possible injury from occurring, "we're just here to cool off before seeing the Headmaster, nothing more. We have plenty of time for heavy shopping later, 'kay?"

"Alright, Uncle Qrow," she replied with a pout, although her smile never left her face as she turned to the rest of Team RNJR. "So who's going with who?"

"Nora and I were thinking of walking through here together," said Ren, "if you want, you can walk around together with Jaune."

"Actually," Jaune said, "I want to talk to Qrow about something. I'll only be a couple minutes, and then I'll get Ruby from you guys?"

Ren and Nora looked at each other with a small frown, but upon seeing the expression on Jaune's face they nodded. Ruby glanced at Jaune with a worried look in her eyes, but she followed the two as Jaune and Qrow walked to a less crowded area.

"What'd you want to talk about?" Qrow asked.

"You could probably guess."

"I could, and I think I already know what you want to ask, but I'd like you to ask me straight."

Jaune sighed. "Have you, um...have you seen Pyrrha yet?"

"Nope, though to be fair Summer's currently the only one I've seen. I thought that with it being Mistral I'd have seen at least one other than her, but no dice."

"I had a feeling...I just had to check. I mean, you did just get it but I just thought she would've shown up by now..."

The two stood in a short silence, with Jaune looking slightly uncomfortable. Qrow sighed as well. "It's not easy, is it?"

"...No. It's not. And...and it'll never be. She's gone, Qrow. She...she was right there. She kissed me and then walked right to her death, and she was right there and I couldn't do anything. She was right there in front of me, and I stupidly let her go to fight that monster. And now we're about to walk in and greet the one who sent that bitch to Beacon like he's an old friend...?

"You're damn right it's not easy," he continued, clenching his fists in barely-controlled anger while he glared at the ground. "I want nothing more right now than to punch you and Ozpin and Ironwood and anyone else who had a say in it for forcing that burden on her. But I just...most of all, I just want Pyrrha back." Jaune's voice cracked, and his eyes were closed with a few tears streaming down. "I want to go to Beacon with her standing there waving awkwardly to me, I want her to be training me into the ground until I'm exhausted, I...I wanted to hold her back and keep her from martyring herself because no one else could do anything to Cinder. And now I can't...but you know what's worse?"

"What?" Qrow asked solemnly.

"That I know you've gone through the same thing, hell you've gone through even worse than I have. Ruby...she didn't have to tell me, but she told me that you and her mom were close. You've been having to keep all this hate bottled inside you for this long...and if it were me, I would have gone crazy a long time ago."

"I...I know, Jaune."

"Qrow," Jaune asked, looking up to the man, "I'm going to kill Cinder. I'm going to make her pay for every slight she's inflicted on humanity until she begs for death. And...I know, somehow, that it's not what Pyrrha would want, but I don't care. Cinder needs to pay, and she will pay."

"She and the rest of them will, kid," Qrow said. "And I'll do what I can to find your girl. If she has anything on Cinder, it'll make things a lot easier."

"You're...not trying to talk me out of it?"

"Nope. You're going through your own pain, and I know better than most people that the only way to get closure from a friend's murder is to take down the murderer. Hell, what could I say to sway you from what you want to do when I can't even follow that same advice? Just...don't let it take over your life, alright kid? Take it from the guy who's ignored his own advice his whole life: you have a bunch of friends in the same boat as you who want her taken out just as badly if not more than you do. Don't push 'em out like I did mine, Jaune."

Jaune looked at him quizzically. "You're being oddly philosophical for someone who's supposed to be permanently half-drunk. You've been a lot more philosophical since...well, since Summer happened. You think that has something to do with it?"

Qrow laughed. "Maybe. I guess I've been a bit more open lately, what with everything going on lately and Ruby finally starting to grow out of her shell. And yeah, I guess getting to see and talk to Summer again's been giving me some kind of closure. The gods know I need something to be happy about after the years of shit I've been through, even if it comes in the weirdest ways."

Jaune smiled widely, the corners of his mouth stretching awkwardly like they had been unused to the action for a long time. "That's true. We all need something to be happy about these days. Let's just hope that this thing with Lionheart doesn't go pear-shaped."

"Just be prepared for anything. Speaking of, I think Ruby's been waiting long enough for her tour guide."

"Oh, r-right. I guess I've kept her waiting long enough. Stay safe then, Qrow!"

"Same to you, kid...he's got it so bad for her," Qrow muttered after the boy ran off. In the corner of his eye, he saw Summer floating towards him with a neutral look on her face. "How's everything going, Sum?"

As good as expected, which is to say we're still pretty screwed. But at least the children aren't being tailed by Lionheart's students right now.

"You're sure?"

Yep, she said, popping the "p", it's a wonder what you're capable of noticing when you don't have to worry about others noticing you. And there hasn't been anything out the ordinary following them, luckily.

"Describe ordinary."

Ozpin didn't tell you, huh? Well, there are a bunch of spy organizations throughout the city of Mistral, the most dangerous of them known as "Little Miss Malachite's Spiders".

"I know about 'em. But Oz assured me that they wouldn't be a problem. They look out for themselves before their customers."

And who'd logically be their biggest customer right now, if he decided to hire their services?

"That'd be Leo-oh. But...would he even be willing to spend that much on us, though? He betrayed us, sure, but they don't come cheap."

Fear is a great motivator, Qrow. And while Lionheart betrayed us, he obviously didn't do it because he wanted to. Ozpin wouldn't have put any trust in him in the first place if he was like that. And I don't think Salem has any problems with forcing Lionheart to use Haven's funds for her benefit.

"Doesn't make it any better."

No, it doesn't. But at least we have a sliver of hope here.

"Hmm...you said the Spiders were the most dangerous spy organization."

Correct. They mostly keep any other groups from forming, but there's one group that's managed to survive even until now. They're not very well-known — which would be the main reason they haven't been eliminated yet — but they are known to their customers to have somewhat positive morals. A dangerous thing to have for a group of assassins, but–

"It's also our best chance at staying safe. What're they called?"

The Dusk Hawks. And they live up to that name, so don't even think about getting on their bad side.

"Right, right..."

Qrow, I'm serious. With the stakes as high as they are right now, you five can't afford to piss them off. It's cliche to no end, but humanity's survival may well depend on how things go with the Hawks.

"I know, Sum. I'm just..." Qrow wearily sighed, slumping his back against the wall he was leaning on, "I don't know how we're gonna get out of this. Oz is gone, Leo defected, the kids have been going through so much shit that I'm worried they'll outdo us in mental scarring by their retirement...and if Yang's gotten out of her funk, she's more than likely hunting for Raven, and only the gods know how that's gonna go."

All we can do is have faith in them, Fi. And help them become stronger for the days to come.

"Okay, seriously? You still call me that silly nickname?"

You know I never took into that "bad luck" spiel. Why shouldn't I give you a name that doesn't have a reminder of that? Besides, I think Fiyero is a good, quality name.

"It's complicated and no one would remember it. Except you, apparently."

That's why I shortened it to Fi, birdbrain. Besides, Fiyero sounds like "fire". And what the kids need more than anything right now is a light to guide their way.

"Let's hope they don't stand too close to the flame then, or they might get burned."

Qrow, please, you know your Semblance can't actually be bad luck–

"Drop. It."

Summer sighed. Fine. But we're talking about this later. For now, we should get to watching the kids. It's almost time.

"Alright. You go on ahead, I'll catch up in a sec."

...'Kay. But Qrow, please, she said, floating closer to him so she was practically in contact with him, take your own advice. You have the kids, and you have me. Think on it.

As Summer floated off, Qrow put his hand up to his face. "Of course she was listening in, why am I not surprised?"


"This city really is beautiful," Ruby commented, spinning around to view everything she could. "The trees, the houses, the waterfall, the vendors, the people walking and talking so peacefully with each other. It's kinda like Vale before everything happened, but different in a way."

"It seems...off, somehow," Ren said. Ruby turned her head to look at him, confused.

"Yeah," Nora continued, discomfort in her eyes, "I didn't really notice from the mountainside, but it's awfully sparse right now. At least from what we remember."

"That's right, you two were from...you must have come here after that, right?"

"Y-Yes," Ren shakily replied. Ruby could tell how uncomfortable he still was talking about Kuroyuri, even with the Nuckelavee's death. Ruby mentally swore to do what she could to help him get over it.

"When we were last here," Nora said, "Monday was always the busiest day of the week — no exceptions. Prices were always at their lowest every Monday, so people came to buy. No one, and I mean no one had room to walk through here back then because it was so packed. Compared to what it used to be, it's like a ghost town now. I doubt there'll even be anyone here tomorrow, selling or buying."

"Oh..." Ruby said awkwardly, before she perked up, "I guess that just means we should do some shopping now instead of after our meeting. I know I'm getting low on ammo for Crescent here, and with what you're saying now's the best time to restock. Especially if...y'know, stuff happens."

Ren agreed. "You're right. I didn't realize until we left...I mean, until we arrived in Mistral, but I'm nearly out of Dust for StormFlower. It wouldn't be wise of us to let our inventory stay depleted when we have the perfect chance to fill it up."

"And I need to polish out some dents on Maginhild," Nora inserted, "though...that'd be better saved until after we get moved in our new place."

"Yeah, I was thinking about getting Crescent Rose worked on but she could wait for a bit. She took a couple heavy hits but — oh, Jaune! How'd your talk with Uncle Qrow go?"

Jaune waved, walking up to the three from a little ways down the street. "Hey guys. Yeah, the talk was...pretty good, I guess. You guys want to go shopping?"

"We're gonna stop by to get some Dust first, and then we'll split up for a bit and meet back here?" Ren suggested.

"O-Oh right!" Jaune stuttered embarrassingly. "You two want to spend some time — right, of course we can split up!"

"That's not what I...well, you do have a point," Ren replied. "But I think it'd probably be best to save our time alone for when we're actually safe. B-But if Nora wants to do some sight-seeing, I won't object."

"Maaaybe~" Nora purred suggestively. Upon seeing the transfixed expression on Ren's face, she let out a loud laugh and grabbed his arm. "Come on, lover boy. Let's do some shopping!"

As Nora started dragging her still-dazed boyfriend to the Dust stall, Ruby and Jaune stared at them with their mouths open. Without removing her eyes from the two, Ruby blatantly stated, "Wow...Ren's whipped." Jaune, still in his own daze, couldn't help but agree with her statement as they followed the couple. After they finished buying some Dust (a lot less than they hoped, unfortunately), they split up into two groups to do their own things.

As a blushing Ren and smirking Nora made their way to an area nearer to Mistral's waterfall, Ruby and Jaune took some time to look through some more stalls. As they walked back and forth throughout the street, Jaune noticed that Ruby always kept looking at one selling clothing. Not one to ignore his curiosity (and amusement), he dragged her over to it and watched her eyes gravitate towards a pair of ballet slippers.

"You thinking of getting that?" Jaune asked her.

She bit her lip and looked down awkwardly, as though caught in some misdeed that he apparently didn't know she'd committed. "N-No, sorry. It's nothing. We should go get a bite to eat before we see the Headmaster."

She walked away briskly, looking very distracted as she walked over to a stall that clearly didn't sell food. Jaune looked back curiously at the shoes, asking for their price as he felt for his wallet. As he looked inside, he grimaced slightly at how little money he had...but thankfully there was enough. As he gave the woman a smile and most of his Lien, he took the ballet slippers from the shop and stashed them in the pocket of his Pumpkin Pete hoodie.

For several minutes, Ruby and Jaune walked throughout the street again, with Jaune's wallet crying out in agony at the pastry he was holding in a small bag. When Ruby noticed the ballet slippers missing, her eyes widened and then shrank in sadness. Jaune thought about revealing he'd bought them already, but gave her a one-armed hug instead. He didn't expect her to lean into his side in response, but he silently appreciated the action nonetheless.

"SO!" yelled Nora behind them, startling the two into separating from each other. "It looks like you two were busy~"

"Not as much as you two apparently were, if Ren's expression is anything to go by," Jaune countered.

"Uh, wha, hm," Ren muttered distractedly, before focusing his eyesight on the bag in Jaune's hand, "did you buy cookies?"

"Heh, very subtle Ren," Jaune laughed, "yep, I got some for us and Qrow. My wallet's running a bit low now, but it's nothing a few Grimm bounties can't fix."

"Think we should get back to Uncle Qrow and head on up to the Headmaster, then?" Ruby asked.

The group donned a serious expression at her words, but they nodded all the same. As they walked back the way they came, they saw Qrow leaning back on the side of a building, looking in their direction. He glanced disinterestedly down at the bag, before his eyes then lit up at the offered cookie in Ruby's hands. He thanked her and took the treat, eating it slowly.

"Are we heading up there now or getting the place prepared first?" Nora asked.

Qrow tilted his head in the direction of the mountainside, atop which Haven Academy was located. "Up there first," he said, "we're already pushing it a bit on time, and we don't want to look that rude to him."

"Are we really going to do this, then?" Jaune asked him.

"We haven't got much of a choice. And you kids sadly can't skip out on this lecture, so you better be on your best behavior."

"We're talking to who, now?" Ruby replied, wearing a satisfied smirk as he scoffed facetiously.

"Glad to see you all got some time to unwind. Especially this half of the group," he commented, pointing a thumb at Ren and Nora who blushed slightly when the rest of the group giggled at his words.

"We did. Thanks for giving us some time, Uncle Qrow."

"Thank me tomorrow after I drown this meeting out of my mind..."

"Oh?" Ruby asked, surprised, "where'd you go, then?"

"A bit of watching you kids, another bit of scouting around. Speaking of, remind me to talk with you all about something serious later. Right now's not the time, 'specially since we should be making our way to Leo, but it's stuff you'll need to know as soon as possible."

The four Huntsmen-in-training nodded. As the five gathered their courage for the walk — and the climb — ahead, they all collectively felt in their souls that there was a dark storm brewing no matter what they had planned.