"It's good to see you again, students."

This felt like one of Yang's jokes. Any second now the real Ozpin's going to walk in wondering where his cane is, and Yang's going to laugh that they all fell for it.

But Ruby knew deep down that the person in front of her wasn't Yang. They looked like Yang, even sounded like her, but Ruby knows her sister. And Ozpin wasn't Yang.

"I assume you have plenty of questions. Especially you, Miss Rose." Ozpin said, and Ruby cringed at the voice. It wasn't that it sounded particularly bad or nasty- it sounded like Yang. And yet it still sounded wrong.

"A-a few questions, yeah..." Ruby stuttered out, still in shock that Yang was basically possessed by her hundred-something year old headmaster. "Is Yang...?"

Ozpin held up a hand. "Yang's fine, don't worry. Although she's my host, your sister and I are still completely separate entities." Ozpin paused, looking down at the body he was borrowing. "...At least, separate in soul."

Weiss sighed, the only one other than Qrow who didn't look panicked or shocked. "Believe me, I'm just as stunned as you. And I've known about their situation for two days already."

"'Situation'? You're making this sound worse than it is, Princess." Qrow chuckled, ignoring the way Weiss glared at him.

"This is so weird..." Jaune muttered, still staring at Yang.

"And alarming!" Nora cut in. "And perplexing, bizarre, and just really kind of hard to believe overall!"

Ozpin chuckled. "It's good to see that you children haven't lost your sense of humor." He frowned, looking down at Yang's dark-green prosthetic arm. "I know you've all been through tremendous hardship already. I'm sorry."

Ruby frowned. "I mean, it's not your fault..."

Ozpin looked up at Ruby, face grave. "It's all my fault."

The immortal sighed, the weight of hundreds of years worth of responsibility somehow visible on Yang's face. "I told you once that I made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. I wasn't exaggerating." Ozpin paused, looking down at the floor. "I'm... cursed. For thousands of years, I've walked the surface of Remnant, living, dying, and reincarnating in the body of a like-minded soul. The Professor Ozpin you all met was not my first form." He gestured to the body he was currently borrowing. "And clearly, it wasn't my last."

"So who... what, are you?" Jaune asked.

Ozpin smirked cheekily, some levity creeping back into Yang's expression. "Why, I'm Yang Xiao Long, Huntress in Training, student of Beacon Academy. Months ago, I was Ozpin, Professional Huntsman, headmaster of Beacon Academy. Decades ago, I was Dr. Prometheus, the brilliant mind that revolutionized airship technology and lifted Atlas into the sky."

Qrow rolled his eyes, but everyone else in the room stared at Ozpin, enraptured. "I was the first queen of Vacuo and the last king of Vale. I created the huntsman academies, and helped man them in the years that followed." Ozpin rested Yang's hands on his cane. "What I am is a Long Memory, a collection of all those men and women who committed entire lifetimes serving to help protect and better Remnant. All of that, just to keep Her at bay."

"Think of Oz as the anti-Salem." Qrow said. "He's fought the war against Salem for hundreds of years, and probably has more experience than all of us combined. Trust me, we're lucky to have him on our side."

"But why reincarnate into Yang?" Ren asked. "Was she chosen, or...?"

"The reincarnation process doesn't work like that. My soul seeks other, like-minded souls." Ozpin said, tapping the side of Yang's head. "That means there must be some kind of similarity between her and I. Other than that, it's completely random."

"This is perfect!" Nora exclaimed. "With Yang's super strong muscles and Ozpin's everything else, we'll have no problem convincing Lionheart to help us find the Spring Maiden!"

Qrow and Ozpin looked at each other. Weiss sighed.

"...What?"

Qrow looked back at Team RNJR. "There's still a lot you four need to be filled in on."

Hazel disliked most of his allies. He wasn't afraid nor ashamed to admit it.

Watts was an egotistical ass. Cinder was a megalomaniac with a grudge against a child. Tyrian was Tyrian. His mistress is the immortal queen of Grimm.

Was this hypocritical, since Hazel was just as bad as those four? Perhaps. But that didn't change the fact that he didn't like them, barely respected them, and knew that the feeling was mutual to most of his allies as well.

But there was one man he despised more than anything. One man that he'd do anything to ruin, even working with people most respectable men would call madmen and monsters.

That one man was why Hazel stayed loyal. That one man was why he was here now, in the secret White Fang base in Mistral.

He felt the Faunus here glaring at him through their masks. It didn't matter. They wouldn't dare attack him in front of their High Leader.

Hypocrite Hazel may be, Adam Taurus was even more so. He relished in causing suffering, while claiming that he does so for his own race. Taurus was exactly the sort of creature Gretchen would have struck down with no hesitation.

But Gretchen was dead. And Hazel had his orders.

Adam sat in the High Leader's throne, looking as smug and narcissistic as a king. He looked down on Hazel as the hulking man approached.

"Taurus." Hazel grumbled out, showing barely an iota of faux respect.

"Reinart." Adam nodded, showing even less. "I suppose you have some news for me?"

"Orders from our master." Hazel said, pulling out his scroll. "A target."

He flipped the scroll screen up, activating the holographic projector, revealing an old news snippet with the image of a long haired, blonde, lilac eyed girl, smiling into the camera taking her picture. Next to the portrait, the headline readYang Xiao Long: Huntress or Maniac?

Hazel vaguely remembered the news report being shown the day Cinder tricked the Xiao Long girl into 'breaking' an 'innocent student's leg'. There probably was a follow up report the following day clearing the girl's name, alongside the report of the Fall of Beacon.

Not that it mattered. The girl in the picture was dead as well.

"..." Adam was silent for a moment. "Why her?"

"Hm?" Hazel grunted.

"The girl is harmless, I made sure of that myself." Adam said. "I don't see why you need me or The White Fang to take care of a one armed cripple."

"...The huntress named Yang Xiao Long is already dead." Hazel gritted out, sorely tempted to give Taurus a taste of his own medicine. "Our target killed her himself, and is currently controlling the body to get in touch with our enemies."

"Interesting. And who is this body-snatching monster?"

"Ozpin."

"The headmaster? Isn't he dead?"

"He can't stay dead. But even monsters need a body, and it seems he chose the Xiao Long girl as his new host."

"...If you want the might of the White Fang, you'd have to tell me more about who exactly you need us to kill."

"...As you wish." Hazel nodded. "Have you ever heard of the Infinite Man?"

"So the Spring Maiden is Yang's mom, the leader of the bandit tribe we're trying to find." Ruby began.

"Headmaster Lionheart can't get any huntsmen to help, because the Mistral council don't think Haven needs any, and that's why the school and Relic is defenseless." Ren continued.

"And any moment now, Salem can attack any moment, either attacking here while Haven is at it's most vulnerable, or in a different kingdom entirely while we're too far away to help." Nora finished.

"...Yes."

"So we're screwed." Jaune moaned.

"I never said that." Ozpin stood up. "Yes, things look grim, but we haven't run out of options. Like the fact that the Council doesn't own every huntsman in the kingdom. And Qrow's been here enough times to know where he can find them." He looked at Qrow. "As long as they could be trusted?"

Qrow smirked, putting his feet on the table. "You can trust them to put up a good fight. I'll put together a list tonight." Almost immediately after he said that, the table leg fell off, causing cups to fall off and the table itself to break.

"Good luck with that." Weiss said, deadpan.

Qrow groaned, walking off to get the broom. Ozpin sighed. "After that, we can deal with our other problem."

Nora frowned. "What's that?"

Ozpin turned around to face Nora, Weiss, Ruby Jaune and Ren. "Getting you five in fighting shape."

The five of them looked at each other, confused. "But, we already know how to fight?"

Ozpin smirked, almost looking mischievous on Yang's face. "Ah, yes. And I assume Yang's lying when she says that you 'couldn't land a punch if your life depended on it'?"

"She's lying!" Ruby squeaks, red faced. "I-I just like using Crescent Rose!"

"And you, Miss Schnee," Ozpin spun around, pointing his cane at Weiss. "You've spent the better part of the year inside a mansion, and I doubt that you've had any time to train. You're skilled with your summoning, but your semblance has other tricks that you could use."

"I have been focusing on my summoning lately... And not much else." Weiss admitted.

Finally, Ozpin turns to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, while I'm glad to hear you've improved, you still haven't unlocked your semblance."

"Eh..." Jaune shrugged lamely.

"All of you still have a ways to go before you could pose a real threat to Salem and her forces. Including Yang."

("What?")

"While she'll inherit my muscle memory in time, the best way to learn is through experience. Worry not, she'll be suffering along with you."

("Aww, man...")

Weiss cocked a hand on her hip. "And I suppose you'll be the one to teach us?"

"Well..." Ozpin propels himself into the air with his cane, spinning counterclockwise into a barrel roll before landing onto the seat of the armchair, twirling his cane. "I believe I was the headmaster of Beacon Academy."

He looked over the five teens, smirking at their shock and awed faces. "We have approximately one month before classes resume at Haven. If Salem were to plan an attack, it would make sense that it would occur prior to students' return. It's not much time, but it's better than nothing." Ozpin stopped twirling his cane, stepping off the armchair. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you."

Yang's eyes flashed to lilac, and Yang shook her head, Ozpin gone in a literal blink of an eye.

The blonde stretched her arms, as if awaking from a cat nap. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat. We'll catch up again tomorrow?"

"Uhh, yeah..." Ruby said, caught off-guard at the total personality shift. "Sounds great..."

As Yang walked off to the bedrooms, Weiss sighed in exhaustion. "Well, this has been an interesting few days, to say the least." She groaned as she came to a realization. "And I have an entire month of the same thing to look forward to..."