To say that the atmosphere in the tent was tense would be an understatement. Weiss was wary, staring at Raven as the bandit drank some tea from a cup. Yang settled for a glare.

Raven finally drains the cup and sighs. "So..." She drawls out.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "So?" She repeated.

The bandit gestured to the two cooling cups in front of Yang and Weiss. "Not thirsty?"

Neither moved to grab their cups.

Raven shrugs. "Fine. Tell me, how much do you really know about Ozpin?"

Weiss's face scrunches up in confusion. "The headmaster? What's he got to do with the 'truth'?"

Raven didn't respond immediately, watching Yang as if she was looking for a response. All she got was a red-eyed glare. She eventually shifted her attention to Weiss. "That wasn't an answer."

Weiss rolled her eyes, but continued on. "He was a prodigy, the youngest headmaster to be appointed at Beacon-"

"So you know nothing." Raven interrupts, staring down the ex-heiress.

Weiss spluttered. "Well, what did you expect? I know just as much as anyone does."

Rave held her stare a few moments longer before she smirked. "I suppose that's fair. Old man Oz always liked his privacy." She relented, gaze again flicking back to Yang.

Raven stands up, walking slowly around the tent. "When the tribe learned that a fresh-faced, naive kid was taking over the reins of Beacon, we saw an... opportunity." She says. "You see Yang, me and Qrow didn't go to Beacon to become huntsmen. We came to Beacon to learn to kill huntsmen."

Weiss gasped, and even Yang looked shocked.

Raven didn't even look up, instead pouring more tea for herself. "Aside from the Grimm, Huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counterforce, and Qrow and I were at the perfect age."

She smirked again, chuckling without mirth. "With Ozpin's inexperience at handling a school, we were confident that as long we kept out of trouble, we'd be able to train under his nose."

Then, Raven's smile fell. "At least, that was the plan." She drained her second cup of tea. "Ozpin knew more than he let on. He was watching us. At first I thought it was because he caught on, but it turned out he was interested in Team STRQ."

"How were you sure?" Weiss asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules and get into more trouble than we should've. Sound familiar?"

Weiss frowns, glancing at Yang, who was still glaring at Raven

"Well, what's this got to do with anything?" Weiss asks.

Raven narrowed her eyes. "By now my brother would have fed you both plenty of bullshit, so here's the truth; Ozpin was the one who created the academies, and he has followers in each of the schools loyal only to him, and no one else."

It was Weiss's turn to frown. "That's ridiculous. The academies were made decades ago. The professor wasn't that old. Why would he even do such a thing?"

"Because the good, wise Ozpin has a great and terrible secret. One that could spread fear across the world. One that he eventually entrusted to our team, and once I knew, there was no going back. I needed to know more, but with every new discovery I made, the more horrifying the world became."

Yang finally spoke up. "Well? What is this 'great and terrible' secret?" She almost looked... resigned.

Raven watched her daughter carefully as she spoke. "The Creatures of Grimm... have a mistress. A queen, really. She was behind the fall of Beacon and the Breach. She cannot be stopped. She cannot be killed..."

Raven paused for a moment, a twinkle of mirth in her eye as she looked into her daughter's crimson eyes.

"... And Ozpin is working with her."

The crimson eyes glowed brighter.

'What?!' Yang screams inside her mind, the only reason she hadn't reached over the table to throttle Raven being the fact that Ozpin was holding her back.

"Raven is testing us." Said Ozpin's disembodied voice, sounding much calmer than Yang is. "If you are to act hostile, it would only raise her suspicions."

'I thought you said she didn't know about our predicament.'

"I thought I did. It was when she started specifically aggravating me that I had to reassess the situation. She has suspicions, which can be assuaged by not being suspicious."

'So what? We just let her run her mouth, spew her lies?'

"Exactly. If it's Miss Schnee you're worrying about, I doubt she'd be so easily convinced by her kidnapper of the existence of a Grimm queen, much less me working with the enemies of Man."

Yang had to admit Ozpin had a point. Even now, inside the tent Yang could still see and hear Weiss fiercely denying both the existence of a Grimm mistress and Ozpin's supposed betrayal.

She could also see Raven's growing suspicion of Yang not saying a word.

"We can't talk forever. Control yourself, please."

"-idiculous! You're either a very poor liar, or absolutely mad. A Grimm queen is one thing, but to suggest that-"

Yang suddenly stood up, cutting Weiss of mid-rant. Raven, having been watching her daughter the entire time, raises an eyebrow

"Well? Too shocked to speak?" The bandit prodded.

Yang's eyes flared, but her irises slowly faded to lilac. "Weiss is right, you are insane. You're saying our dead headmaster's working with the Grimm? Do you really expect us to believe that?"

"Believe me or not, but it's the truth." Raven shrugs.

"Bullshit. What you're saying is impossible."

"I've seen the impossible Yang." Raven shoots back. "I've seen magic with my own eyes. I've met men who cannot die. I know all this is real."

Weiss spoke up. "Then prove it." She says, standing up.

Raven tilted her head. "Very well." She turned around, speaking to her daughter as she left.

"You said that Tai told you my semblance. I doubt he's told you about what Ozpin did to Qrow and me."

"You don't really believe her, don't you?"

Weiss sighs, following Raven outside the tent, but not seeing her anywhere.

Scratch that, she can't see anyone anywhere. What's going on?

"Weiss?" Yang asks again.

Weiss groaned, turning to face Yang. In truth, she's not sure what to think. On one hand, it's impossible; a woman that controls the Grimm, Ozpin being a traitor to humanity, and magic's existence?

On the other hand, Raven claimed those things so... wholeheartedly. She truly believed what she said was true. And apparently, she has proof.

But that's not why she's turned to face Yang. "Are you alright?"

Yang blinked, not expecting that. "Uh, what?"

"You were acting... strange, inside the tent. You barely spoke at all."

Yang shrugged. "Nothing I wanted to say. To her, at least."

"That wasn't an answer." Weiss frowns. "I'm worried about you Yang."

But Yang waves her off. "I'm fine, real-" She stops mid-sentence, staring off into the forest.

"Yang?" Weiss follows Yang's gaze, her sights falling on a black bird watching them from the branches of the trees.

Ironically, it looked like a raven.

The bird cawed once, taking flight and circling the pair, once, twice-

Then, it changed. Wings turned to limbs, feathers turned to cloth and skin, and suddenly Raven Branwen is in front of them.

Weiss was shocked. Yang, less so.

"What... was that?" Weiss murmured.

"Magic. Magic that Ozpin forced unto my brother and me." Raven answered.

"Sounds pretty handy for something 'forced unto you'. What, got cravings for some crackers?" Yang says, looking more annoyed than amazed

"That's all you have to say?" Raven asks, faux-incredulous. "The existence of magic, and you make a bird joke?"

Yang grits her teeth. "So magic might exist, big whoop. We're still meant to believe Ozpin's... what, secretly evil?"

"Why so quick to defend your 'dead' headmaster? Never pegged you for a teachers pet." Raven asks, her tone goading.

("Yang, calm down.")

Goading Yang into what, Weiss wasn't sure, but Yang didn't notice. "Maybe cause what you're saying is so obviously a lie?! That I- Ozpin would ever work with Salem?!"

("Yang!")

Wait, Salem? Raven never mentioned the Grimm queen's name...

("Damn it, we have to go-")

Raven's smirk grew wider, but there's something in her eyes. An unmistakable anger. "Here's the truth. Ozpin charmed us. All of Team STRQ-"

"Bullshit!"

("I'm warning you Yang, I will take control if I have to.")

"-Into believing he was good. That he was righteous. He gave us gifts, taught us to use magic-"

"Because he trusted you, you-"

("Yang, I know you feel betrayed, but that's not you.)

"And when I finally broke free, I saw through his lies. Ozpin's no better than Salem. Do you know why?" Raven was no longer smiling, the anger and hate all over her face now.

("She knows.")

"He's stolen lives, sacrificed people on a whim-"

"That's not true-"

"All to further greater schemes, for a dream that will never come true."

Both mother and daughter were glaring at each other, Weiss feeling so much like a bystander. Are things going to escalate? Will there be a fight?

Then, Yang stiffens up, crimson eyes turning to emerald green.

The green-eyed Yang sighed, putting her arms behind her back and watched as Raven somehow became more aggravated.

"Yang...?" Weiss asks. The person beside her looked like Yang, but somehow, completely different.

'Yang' glanced at Weiss. Then shook her head.

Weiss's eyes widened.

"You..." Yang- whoever it was- turned back to Raven, the bandit leader's expression a mixture of shock and anger.

"Me." Not-Yang said. "If it helps, this form wasn't my idea."

Raven said nothing. She grit her teeth, and unsheathed her sword, pointing it at her daughter's (?) throat.

Not-Yang slowly raised her hands in the air, Weiss still too stunned to react. "I know you dislike me, Raven." She said calmly, despite of the sword to her throat. ('Even her voice.' Weiss thinks. 'Even her voice has changed') "You may even hate me. But She is coming. We have a common enemy. Please, just take Miss Schnee and I to Qrow."

Weiss almost misses the guns poking out from bushes, the men approaching from the trees. She draws Myrtenaster.

Not-Yang doesn't miss the bandits either. The stranger in Yang's body looks at Raven pleadingly. "Are you willing to kill your own daughter over a grudge?"

Raven scowled, anger clear on her face. "My daughter is dead. You made sure of that."

As the bandits charge, Raven thrusts her sword.