Chapter 1
Haven
"The City of Mystral."
Qrow said walking through a tunnel with RNJRS.
"It's about time, whose idea was it to walk again?"
Nora asked while whining a little.
"Wasn't mine."
Shade responded.
"Though i will admit i hope we don't have to walk that far for a very long time."
"And we were fine, only one of us almost died."
Ruby said while looking at Qrow.
Qrow looked back at Ruby.
"Hey."
Nora looked at Ren.
"Hey,"
Ren responded.
"I mean a few of us did almost die when Tyrian and Yuki attacked."
Shade said, causing everyone to look at him.
"Hey, I'm just saying."
They looked away from him and kept walking.
'Ok that's cold.'
Shade thought.
"So how much farther to Haven Academy?"
Jaune asked.
"Almost there,I figured I'd take you kids on the scenic route."
Qrow said as he pushed open doors revealing the city.
Ruby went ahead of them.
"Wow, look at all the weapons."
Shade looked around.
"Well you weren't kidding, this is definitely the scenic route."
"They really made use of these mountains."
Jaune said
"Every inch."
Qrow added.
"Stay away from the lower levels, the higher you go the nicer it gets."
"And we are going up!"
Nora shouted.
Meanwhile..
Dawn was meditating on the airship she and Weiss were on.
Weiss was talking to the pilot when a signal appeared on the radio.
"Is everything ok?"
Weiss asked.
Dawn opened her eyes and looked at the pilot.
"I don't know, we still shouldn't be picking up broadcasts this far from Mistral."
"Mayday Mayday! We're a small passenger flight and the Huntress is down! Were not equipped to deal with this!"
Several explosions were heard before the transmission cut out.
Dawn shook her head.
"Were going to help them right?"
Weiss asked.
"What? No, I'm trying to avoid them."
The pilot said.
"But they'll die."
Dawn walked up to Weiss.
"It would be too late to help them by the time we get there."
"But we could"
"No Weiss, we can't save everyone, you need to accept that."
"And besides"
The pilot spoke up.
"If we picked up their transmission, i'm sure someone else did too"
Dawn nods.
"He's probably right."
She said.
But this was a lie.
Dawn knew those people were probably dead and there was nothing she or Weiss could do to prevent that.
'Sometimes people die and there's nothing we can do about it.'
Dawn thought to herself as the ship flew away.
Back in Mistral…
The group made their way to Haven Academy.
They were in a courtyard of some kind.
Shade looked at his gauntlets and the blades in them.
'We made it you two, we finally made it.'
He thought to himself while remembering the Fall of Beacon.
His shoulder twitched a little and Shade took a few deep breaths.
The others were ahead of him.
Ruby looked at Shade before he walked back to them.
She knew he wasn't in the best condition.
They went inside a building.
"Hello?"
Ruby shouted.
Qrow went ahead of them.
"Maybe try louder?"
Nora said to Ruby.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone here."
Ren stated.
"There's only a few people here."
Shade said.
"I can tell."
"Well i guess school hasn't started yet."
Jaune said
"No this isn't right."
Qrow said before running ahead.
They followed him before he stopped in front of a pair of doors.
"Get ready."
Qrow said as he readied his weapon.
The rest did the same.
He kicked the doors open revealing Lionheart, the Headmaster of Haven.
"Ahhh!"
He screamed.
"Ahhh!"
The others screamed, excluding Shade who just shook his head at this.
Qrow fell on his back.
Lionheart put his hand over his heart before falling on his back as well.
"Uh Professor Lionheart?"
Ruby asked.
Lionheart sat up and looked at Qrow.
"Qrow! For crying out loud! You nearly scared me half to death!"
"Still better than fully dead."
Shade said
Qrow sat up
"Me? Why weren't you waiting for us at the entrance?"
He looked down at Lionheart.
Lionheart took a watch out.
"Oh right, apologies.Guess time slipped away from me."
"You do know scrolls are a thing right?"
Shade asked.
"I know I prefer the old fashioned way."
"Not in this day and age."
Lionheart got up.
"Where is everybody?"
Nora asked as she and the others put their weapons away.
"Ah you must be the student Qrow mentioned."
"Yes sir. Ruby Rose."
"Jaune Arc."
"Nora Valkyrie."
"Lie Ren."
"Shade Leaf."
"Ah the Shadow Manipulator, i've heard quite a lot about you. Have you reached the second stage yet?"
Lionheart asked Shade.
Shade looked confused.
"What Second Stage?"
"Oh nevermind. I am Leonardo Lionheart at your service."
He bowed to the team.
"I'm afraid most of my staff is currently away until classes resume"
"What?!"
Qrow interrupted him.
"Leo you can't be serious. Who's guarding the relic?"
"Qrow the children."
Lionheart looked nervous.
"Yeah we know all about this already."
Shade stated.
"So how about we skip the shock that we know, move on and get to business."
Back in Menagerie…
Erika was still outside when she was shaken out of her state by Ghira and Sun shouting.
She sighed and went inside to see Blake walk inside calming her Father and 'Friend'.
Erika went to Blake a little later to see what was going on.
They were on a balcony outside.
"Sometimes I wish things were easier."
Erika said
"Same."
Blake stated.
"So Ilia when are you gonna come out?"
Erika stated.
Her and Blake turned to see Ilia with her mask on and standing on the railing for the balcony.
Erika readied her spear.
"Please, I just need to talk."
"Fine."
Erika put her weapon away.
"How could you take the fall for them Ilia?"
Blake asked.
Ilia sighed
"Blake."
"Corsuk and Finnick blamed you,we confronted them tonight and they denied anything we found on your scroll, they talked about how disappointed they were that you sided with Adam."
Blake looked a bit angry.
"But we all know they're guilty."
She turned to Erika.
"They all are."
Erika said while looking down.
"You can't prove anything."
Ilia said.
"That scroll may not be enough to lock them up, but it is enough to sway the Faunus here.When we go public tomorrow, they're not going to stand for any of it.And neither should you."
'Or him.'
Erika thought about her Brother again.
Ilia took off her mask.
"Your plan isn't going to work Blake, please just leave Menagerie before it's too late."
Erika placed a hand on Blake's shoulder.
"Funny thing, my plan was to bring her back to her team."
Ilia smiled a little.
"Good, so just find a boat and?"
"Not anymore though."
"What?"
"The White Fang needs to fall and I need to find my brother. You need to join us before it's too late for you, cause right now we're not going anywhere."
Blake smiled at Erika then looked at Ilia.
"You're going to have to make me leave."
"I know."
Ilia said sadly before she put her mask on.
She jumped off the balcony.
"We'll make her see the better way."
Erika said looking at the sky.
Back at Haven…
Qrow and Lionheart were arguing about the relic being unguarded.
"Vale wasn't the only kingdom that suffered that night, everyone was watching that night, every house in every kingdom saw that poor girl ripped to shreds."
Ruby looked down sadly while Shade just looked angry
He pulled out his blade made from Penny's weapon and glared at Lionheart.
"Shut up now or i'm throwing you through that window."
Lionheart looked a bit cowardly
"Qrow control your student."
"Shade stand down, I got this."
Shade still glared at Lionheart before he put his weapon back.
Lionheart began explaining how the Mistral council was at odds with Atlas.
Shade remembered how Ironwood disqualified Yang even though she was tricked.
"Ok ok things are bad."
Ruby said while walking to Lionheart's desk.
"But we can figure this out. Why is the Spring Maiden so important?"
Shade calmed down a bit.
"I thought you filled them in."
Lionheart said glaring a little
"Mostly filled in."
Qrow said
"Look there's a lot to cover ok?"
He pulled out his flask.
"I quit teaching for a reason."
He started drinking.
'Really hope i don't end up like that.'
Shade thought to himself.
Lionheart began explaining what the Four Maidens could do and how they're the only ones capable of reaching the Relics.
He then explained that the Spring Maiden couldn't bare the responsibility and ran.
"That was over a decade ago, there's no telling where she could be now.."
"I know."
Qrow said.
"At least, i have a pretty good idea."
"Are you serious?"
"It's not exactly good news."
"What are you talking about?"
Lionheart got up from his desk and went to Qrow.
"This is great news, after all these years."
Qrow pushed him away.
"I did some digging around, looks like after Spring ran away she was picked up by bandits. Specifically Branwen Tribe."
"Raven."
Shade and Ruby knew who Qrow's sister was but not much.
Qrow took his scroll out and showed a holographic map.
"That's about where they set up their main camp. It's where they fall back to after raids and scouting missions.Raven's managed to gain a lot of followers since she returned to the tribe, and I'm sure when the Spring Maiden showed up it only made things easier."
"Well with these coordinates we can mount a retrieval force and head out in a few weeks."
Qrow and the others were surprised.
"A few weeks?"
Lionheart took the coordinates.
"That's right."
"Leo, maybe you didn't hear me, my sister has the Spring Maiden and I know where she is. We need to as soon as possible."
Qrow knocked over some books.
'And he told me to calm down.'
Shade thought.
Qrow and Lionheart went back to arguing.
"Then damn the council, we'll do it ourselves. You and I are trained Huntsman and these kids aren't exactly pushovers."
He points at Shade.
"He held his own against one of Salem's Court."
Shade smirked a little.
"Perhaps there is a more peaceful way to approach this."
Ren stated
"We need to get Spring as far away from here as possible, Raven isn't going to give up her most prized possession without a fight."
"Unfortunately you and your sister are evenly matched, and I've heard rumors that Raven has a powerful warrior on her side that she trained herself. And I'm not the fighter I used to be. No offense but these students and I can't take down an entire bandit tribe and a Maiden that's no doubt would have years to hone her skills. We need to be positive we can apprehend Spring, because if we fail, Raven and her Tribe will scatter and she'll be lost."
He held up a finger.
"We get one shot at this and it needs to be perfect."
Qrow sighed.
"You know Oz wouldn't be happy with any of this if he were here."
"Perhaps you're right, but he's not and I'm doing the very best i can."
Shade walked out of the room.
Ruby followed.
"Where are you going?"
"This is getting us nowhere, i'm going to clear my head, let me know when they're done talking."
Ruby went back inside and Shade stayed outside until the others came out.
"We're staying in the city until further notice. You all head to the house. I need a drink."
Qrow walked away.
Shade sighed.
"Well that was pointless."
He said before walking away.
Team RNJRS returned to the house and Shade went to his room to process all the information given today.
Meanwhile…
A gas station in the middle of the woods is where two very powerful people are.
Hiroki Darque and Yang Xiao Long.
Hiroki kept his hood up to avoid getting noticed by anyone while Yang got a drink.
That's when he saw someone go flying out of the building and landed on the ground.
Yang went out and went on her bike.
The man said he could help Yang find who she was looking for.
Yang looked at Hiroki.
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up."
Hiroki said, keeping his face hidden.
The man joined Yang on her bike and as she drove off the man made a face at Hiroki.
'That guy is gonna regret leading Yang to her.'
Back in Mistral.
Shade was asleep at the time when he woke up by Ruby yelling.
He sighs and goes to check what was going on.
Qrow was drunk on the couch and everyone was looking at some farmer kid.
"Ok someone explain what the hell is going on?"
He looked at the kid.
"Uh well, my name is Oscar Pine."
"Wait for it."
Shade heard Qrow say.
"But you probably know me as Professor Ozpin."
This made them all gasp.
"Hehehe i did it!"
Qrow shouted while sitting up.
Then he fell down.
AN:Holy Crap this was a long chapter. But with this Volume 5 has started and while this new way of writing is tiring, it's efficient. So because i have 2 other projects i want to work on , i will most likely not make these chapters that often, but i will be trying to get at least one chapter every two weeks. So yeah Volume 5 has started and Oscar has joined the group. I will say this. I have big battle plans for Dawn Shade and Hiroki. But i'm not sure about Erika just yet. I've been practicing my battle writing with some of my other projects so I hope I've improved a bit. One last thing, unlike with Volume 4 i am not using a proper laptop to write SHDE so hopefully i won't have any more spelling errors. Until Next Time...