Yang brushes herself off, walking away from the crater that was created when she crashed onto the forest floor. Her force field absorbed the impact of course, not even damaging her aura.

She walks towards where she knows the relics are. Perhaps it's unfair, but she was the one who made the Initiation itself, and an advantage was an advantage.

She was cut out of her musings by a nearby growl, then a sudden roar. Spinning around, cane up, Yang prepared to meet the Grimm head on when-

A log crashed into the monster, crashing it into a tree, the telltale smoke of dissipating Grimm confirming it was dead.Yang stares at what's left, then smirks. "Well, I suppose I should thank..."

She locked eyes with a smug-looking blonde woman with green eyes and a purple jacket.

"...you." Yang blinks and sighs in resignation. "I suppose this makes us partners?"

"Hmm." Glynda Goodwitch hummed in mock contemplation, then sneers at her. "Absolutely not."

And with that, she turns on her heel and walks away, possibly to find someone else to antagonize.

Yang was sorely tempted to simply shrug and walk away, but instead she ran after her, saying-

"Wake up Yang."

Wait, but she didn't say that-

"Wake up."

Yang stumbles, suddenly finding herself back in Taiyang's house.

Her house.

"That was trippy..." Yang groans. She wasn't in the backyard anymore, but in the kitchen, in front of the sink. Her hand were wet and soapy too.

"I was helping Taiyang with the dishes while you were... away." Ozpin explains.

"And why did you pull me out here? Isn't that far from the couch..."

"Well..."

"Guessing Oz called you back?" A voice behind Yang says, and the blonde turns around, seeing Taiyang behind her.

"Yeah." Yang smirks. "What's up?"

"It's... Glynda. The Grimm horde was easier to deal with than she thought. She's coming to Patch now."

It was... jarring to see Miss Goodwitch. Not in the same way it was during her first visit to Patch, but...

The Glynda Goodwitch Ozpin met on his first day (well, technically first day) at Beacon was very different to the Miss Goodwitch that Yang met on her first day. There was the age, for one thing. While the was kind to the woman, it was still obvious she aged quite a bit. The purple jacket she saw in Oz's memories was gone, replaced with a purple cape.

It shouldn't have changed the way Yang saw her old teacher, that just seeing the younger Glynda shouldn't change what she thought about the woman that much, but...

"You haven't just seen the old her. You knew the old her as well. And it's confusing, knowing the girl she was and the woman she is now." Ozpin says.

"Don't know a lot about the old her..."

"But it's still confusing nonetheless. It's not like seeing a picture or watching an old video. It's Glynda Goodwitch, acting quite..."

"Narcissistic? Bitchy? Antagonistic for no reason?"

"... I'd have said 'arrogant', but yes."

"Miss Xiao Long?" Glynda says, and Yang just realized that she was staring at her while she was having an entire conversation with Ozpin. "Is there something you want to say?"

"Nope, sorry." Yang says quickly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Hm." Glynda's eyes narrow, but before she could say anything Taiyang comes to the rescue, holding-

"Zwei!" Yang cheers, coaxing the dog to come to her, to which it does, slobbering her tongue on her cheek. "Haven't seen you for a while..."

"Sorry for keeping you two waiting!" Taiyang says, sitting down on the chair next to Yang, in front of Miss Goodwitch. "Zwei needed to go on a walk."

"Right then. I'll keep this brief." Glynda begins, hands cupped on the table in front of her. "We still haven't been able to contact anyone outside Vale, so... most of our allies. I've already sent messengers to the others, but with how unreliable the postal system is, even before the CCT fell, it may take weeks before we get a response. If at all."

"Is that safe? Couldn't anyone go through those letters?" Yang asks, more curious than worried. She had set Zwei on her lap, petting the dog with her left hand while her prosthetic drummed it's fingers on the table.

Glynda raised an eyebrow. "It's coded, obviously. And not even in an obvious way. It'd seem like a simple message between friends if anyone reads it, but only your father, me, Qrow and the headmasters would understand what it truly means."

"Plus, the mail goes directly to the headmaster's office, so unless we have a mole, I doubt that anyone who isn't supposed to know is going to figure out that Ozpin's back." Taiyang chips in.

"Speaking of the headmasters, I have more bad news. The Council will officially announce it tomorrow, but..." Glynda sighed. "Atlas has closed it's borders. No one's getting in and out without permission from the Atlesian Council."

"What?!" Ozpin exclaims, making Yang wince. "Does James know about this?"

Noticing the two adults in the room staring at her Yang pointed at her head. "Oz wants to know if General Ironwood knows?"

Glynda scowls. "He's the one who convinced the council to do it."

"But why? An entire kingdom closing it's borders is a guaranteed way to panic everyone." Taiyang asks, brows furrowed.

"I don't know. No one knows. The official reason was to protect Atlas, but we have no way of knowing what James is protecting them from."

"Does that mean we're going to Atlas?" Yang mentally asks. "To, y'know, explain all this and figure out what's happening?"

In truth, Yang was hoping that wasn't the case. While yeah, fate of Remnant at stake and all that, but Atlas wasn't where Ruby was going. And she made a promise to someone to find her sister.

"... Not yet. The plan remains the same. Besides, we can't get into Atlas without permission from their Council. Leonardo can help us with that." Ozpin says, and Yang breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

"Well, that settles it. I have to go now." Yang murmurs, standing up and setting Zwei down on the floor.

"Yang, are you sure you're ready?" Taiyang asks, frowning.

Yang shrugs. "Even if I wasn't, don't have much choice, do I? Salem's after the relics." She says, almost reluctantly. "And only Ozpin can stop her."

Glynda looks frustrated. "I... I can get you a bullhead that can get you as far as Anima, but no further." She offers.

Taiyang turns to Goodwitch. "Glynda-!"

"She's right Taiyang." Glynda interrupts, before Taiyang could say anything. "Remnant does need Ozpin and Yang's help."