A/N: You know, I'm always a little puzzled by reviews to this story that make mention of "all the knight stuff." Like, there are other things going on for other characters, but "the knight stuff" is kind of the main gist of this story. It's like reading my Mecha AU story and wondering what the deal is with all the giant robots.

Oh. Right. Story. Hope y'all like this chapter.

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Silver eyes blinked wearily as Ruby Rose struggled back to consciousness. All that the girl could see was a single, bright light in front of her. As her eyes regained their focus, the blurry light sharpened, showing a fluorescent light mounted into a ceiling painted in the sterile white of a med clinic. Reaching full wakefulness, Ruby became aware of the steady beeping of a heart monitor and the feel of a soft cotton blanket over her body.

A pitiful little groan escaped her as she struggled to sit upright. A look to her left showed her the heart monitor, as well as an IV bag that was connected to a tube in her arm. She was in a hospital all right, but where? How?

Trying to swing her legs over resulting in an intense cramp in the muscles of her hip and legs, and poor Ruby made a sound that was half pained gasp and half miserable whimper.

"Ruby? Ruby!"

She weakly lolled her head over at the familiar voice. "Dad? What...what happened? Is Yang okay?"

Her father embraced her, gingerly, as though she were some kind of porcelain doll that could shatter if he held her too closely. "You're okay, Ruby. You're safe now. Yang's safe now. You're at Beacon."

Ruby screwed her eyes shut, tearing up as she remembered her last moments awake. The White Fang, and the Grimm, and… "Doctor Oobleck is dead, isn't he?" she asked, her voice scarcely more than a whisper. "He died, and it's all my fault."

"Shh...don't worry about that now," Taiyang said, smoothing her hair as he soothed her. "The important thing is that you and your sister are safe now."

"What about everyone else? Weiss and Jaune and -"

"The rest of your team got out safe. There were some injuries, but they're recovering. Your knight friend and those other kids covered the getaway as Yang and your partner got you out on an old subway. They're all okay too." Taiyang sighed.

"Dad…" Ruby's voice was small, soft, and dejected. "It's my fault. It's all my fault that they got hurt."

"That's not true, Ruby. It was your first real mission, and things went south. Really south," he added. "These things happen. I know it feels that way, especially when you're in charge, but that doesn't make it your fault."

"Dad." With great effort, Ruby pulled herself upright and fixed her father with the steadiest gaze that she could muster, her silver eyes red-rimmed with tears. "You're not listening to me. It's my fault. On the mission, I...I was on watch, and Zwei found something. I went to check it out, and that's how they caught me. I was stupid, and weak, and it's all my fault! Doctor Oobleck died!"

"Hey, hey!" Taiyang took her in his arms again, trying to calm her down as the heart monitor began racing. "That doesn't matter right now. None of that does. All that matters is that you're safe, okay?." He held his youngest daughter, her heart rate slowly returning to normal.

After a long moment, Ruby spoke up again. "Dad?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"I have a tube in my private parts."

Despite himself, Taiyang chuckled at her glum declaration. "Yeah, you've been in a coma for almost three weeks now. Had to use a catheter to keep things from getting messy. That's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's perfectly normal."

"I want it out."

"Well, Ruby, I'll call a doctor, and they'll check up on you, and see about getting some of those tubes pulled out. Your Aura helps with recovery, but it might still be a few days until you're up and about on your own."

Ruby groaned, laying back on the bed as her father adjusted it to a sitting position. "When they're done with that...do you think I can see them? Yang, and my friends?"

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The cuirass was the first piece on, the combined breastplate, plackart, and segmented faulds covering his torso in the ridged and fluted….well, Jaune wouldn't call it a metal as such. The Solaris material from which his new armor had been fabricated was obviously not a ceramic, appearing like the bastard offspring of an alloy and a plastic, and bearing a strange, otherworldly gleam when the light struck it. The majority of the piece was of a muted shade of white, with accents that emulated the distinctive color of Mistrali bronze. Jaune had no idea how they had managed that particular feat, but pushed the question to the back of his mind. There were much more important things for him to consider.

Small, soft hands with clever, delicate fingers swiftly drew his white cape, retrieved from Mountain Glenn, around his shoulders, fastening the Mistrali Bronze latch in front of his breastbone. With that done, Weiss set about affixing the pauldrons on top of his shoulders, connecting them to the front of the breastplate, leaving his shoulder blades free to move as needed. Jaune had tried to tell her that he didn't need help putting on his armor - and that she, herself, had designed it to be quickly donned and doffed without assistance in the field - but she had merely given him one of her looks, the one that told him, without words, that he wasn't going to win that argument. And so had she made it clear that she would be arming him, for that first time and every subsequent time that she could.

Weiss took a step back, going over the fit of the Solaris armor with a critical eye, before finally nodding and picking up his sword belt. She wrapped it around his armored waist, looping around it twice before latching it securely at the front. From the belt's left side hung his family's ancestral sword, Crocea Mors, in the scabbard that doubled as a shield. From the right, Ascalon hung from its clip, the sword-spear compact in its fully-retracted, dormant state. Finally, the back of the belt boasted a fully-modern magnetic fastener, which held Vera, the large-bore, high-powered rifle that had been the signature weapon of the late Huntsman, Shiro Wan. Upon the occasion of his murder at the hands of Hazel Rhinehart, the weapon had come into the possession of Wan's friend and fellow Huntsman, Qrow Branwen, who, not wishing to see the weapon fall into disuse, had gifted it to Jaune. The then-aspiring knight had customized it heavily, adding in an aftermarket Hard Light Dust jacketing function to grant the rounds greater penetration, and affixing an underbarrel grenade launcher to the weapon. Folded neatly into a rough approximation of a rectangle, the weapon sat comfortably at the small of Jaune's back when not in use. Jaune's belt also bore many pouches and cases, which contained magazines and grenades for his rifle, first aid equipment, survival gear, and various odds and ends that the newly-annointed Knight considered potentially useful.

Jaune put his foot up on a stool, giving his fiancee easy access to his lower leg, as he set about affixing vambraces to his forearms. He wore newly-purchased gloves of supple doeskin, instead of the thick leather and steel gauntlets that had been part of his squire's set given to him by Sir Roland. If the set worked the way Weiss said it would, then he wouldn't have to worry about the gauntlets, but a part of Jaune was still skeptical. The armor was fantastic, of that he had no doubt, but it was still new technology, and that meant that there was the possibility of it going pear-shaped. Not that he'd voice that opinion to Weiss. She'd probably demand the technicians go over it again, and subject it to the same tests that they'd already passed, with flying colors, a dozen times. At a certain point, the only real test was actual use in the field, and Jaune needed his armor.

The time to rest and recuperate was over.

His vambraces secured, he switched feet on the stool to allow Weiss to affix the other greave to his shin. Each piece consisted of a greave over his shin and a curved cop over the knee. When she was finished, she popped onto her toes to give him a quick kiss, then stepped back behind a ballistic shield. The armor had been activated a thousand-thousand times, but until it had been deployed and retracted on his person, Jaune wasn't taking any chances, not with her. In a way, Weiss had armored herself as well, wearing a sharply-tailored navy blue business suit, her own swordbelt and weapons the only indication of her other vocation as a Huntress. Despite her youth and petite frame, when Weiss was in what Yang had dubbed her "Business!Weiss" ensemble, there was never any doubt of who called the shots at the companies she owned and operated.

Since the desperate fight at Mountain Glenn, and her partner falling into a coma, Weiss had thrown herself into preparing Vale generally and her friends more specifically for further action. She had marshaled the economic resources to give Penny Polendina her own workshop, materials, and machinery to fabricate advanced prosthetics for Ren and Blake, under the auspices of the new Polendina Cybermedical Corporation. She started her own aeronautics company to ensure that Vale would have the ability to meet the aerial Enhanced Grimm that the sinister Doctor Merlot had protecting his island fortress, and defeat him with minimal casualties on their end. Neither Team RWBY nor Team JNPR had ever been so well-equipped in their entire lives. Jaune smiled as he regarded the vambrace on his right arm. He had made a casual remark about missing the grapnel launcher that had been part of his kit back in Atlas, and Weiss had ensured that his new set had one built-in for him.

Nothing said "true love" like your partner knowing your equipment preferences like the back of her own hand. He'd ask her to marry him, but he already had. Maybe he should ask again? Jaune wouldn't have thought it possible to be even more attracted to Weiss than he already was, but seeing her in her true element, organizing people and resources, directing them with calm efficiency and smooth competence, was driving him wild. She wore power well, with all the regal bearing and effortless grace of a queen, his queen.

He nodded to the little white-haired miracle that stood behind the ballistic shield. "Starting armor activation test. And...go." Jaune brought his left forearm up and across to the upper right side of his chest, touching the vambrace to the cuirass, and holding it there. After a second, the armor beeped, and Jaune lowered his arm. From the vambraces, segmented plates emerged, unfolding in mechashift fashion to armor the back of his hand and then up each individual finger. From the top of the vambraces, plates extended to form elbow cops, while at the same time, spaulders unfolded from the armholes of the cuirass, running down his arms to encase his triceps and biceps in articulated plates of Solaris armor. The greaves extended plates over the tops of his boots, forming sabatons, while from the cops, segmented cuisses assembled to protect his thighs. Finally, from the top of the cuirass, a gorget unfolded out and up, covering his neck, and from that, individual plates assembled to create a classic knightly armet helmet.

When Jaune was sure that the process was finished, he looked to Weiss, peering through the slits in the closed helmet.

"One-point-eight three seconds to full activation," she reported from her stopwatch. "How does it feel?"

Jaune pondered that question as he held up his hands, testing the articulation of the gauntlets. He looked from side to side, testing his range of motion, before bending forwards and to the sides. There was some restriction of movement, as was a necessity from every piece of solid armor, but all told, he felt quite mobile. In terms of weight, Jaune didn't know if it was because of any properties of the material, or if he had just become accustomed to lugging around thick slabs of steel plate in his time as a squire - probably both - but he barely even noticed the weight of his new harness.

He held up his right forearm to the upper left side of his chest, held it for a moment, then watched as the helmet retracted into the gorget, leaving the rest of the full suit deployed.

"Weiss, this is amazing! You're amazing!" he gushed, as she emerged from behind the ballistic shield. The budding young tech mogul absently bit her lower lip as she regarded him with a critical eye. Jaune looked magnificent. The armor emphasized his narrow waist and broad, powerful chest, the pauldrons further exaggerating the width of his shoulders. His blonde hair had grown to reach the nape of his neck, looking just barely under control, and framing his sharp jawline. Weeks without shaving had given dark golden scruff, and Weiss knew from experience that her sister had known what she was talking about when she said that a bit of facial hair made everything better.

Weiss made a mental note to see if there were any more luxuries she could possibly cram aboard Winter's private quarters aboard her new airship. Somehow, a state-of-the-art, brand new ship-of-the-line didn't seem nearly enough to express her gratitude to her sister for delivering this absolute marvel of a man to her life.

But what was more important than the aesthetic of the armor, as dramatic as it was, was the fact that, between the properties of its material and the Aura of its wearer, Jaune was now as well-protected as a Knight and Huntsman could possibly be. She approached and placed her hand on his armored chest, gazing softly up at him. Weiss had hit Vale's defense sector like a one-woman meteor strike to get her friends and family outfitted; she would bend the very moon and stars to her will, if that was what it took to ensure that Jaune returned safely to her, where he belonged.

"I trust it's to your satisfaction?"

The young couple tore their eyes from one another at the interjection of a newcomer into the room. Leading a few other technicians into the room, the head of the Personal Armor division consulted something on her Scroll before looking back up at them.

"Of course," said Weiss. "You've done marvelous work, all of you. No warrior ever had finer protection."

The lead armorer hid a smile, sharing a knowing look with one of her team. It was no secret who their first project was intended for, and just what the tall young man meant to their new employer. While it was always a good idea to get in good with the one signing the paychecks, the armorers weren't blind to what outfitting an honest-to-goodness knight would mean for them, or their company. With their future secured under the patronage of a Schnee, and through her, the newly-reorganized Valean Defense Force, the team had been granted free hand to pour all of their talents and expertise into creating simply the greatest suit of armor that Remnant had ever seen.

It was a pity that the micro-emitters for Hard Light Dust shielding kept firing off at the slightest change in air pressure and had to be omitted from the finished piece, a technical issue to be developed for the future. Still, even without it, the Solaris Chevalier armor was a triumph of the armorers' art, and the team was excited to see just what their employer's dashing paramour could do with it. The armorers had taken what they'd learned from the project and begun designing scaled-down, adjustable munitions-grade pieces that could be mass-produced for Huntsmen, or even for the rumored regular Vale army that some in the Council were discussing.

Jaune took some steps around the room, getting used to the feel of the armor as it moved with him. "Huh," he said, shaking his head. "I got used to rattling around a lot when wearing plate armor. This stuff hardly makes any noise at all." Indeed, the jingling of the gilded - and very much blunted - boot spurs that Jaune had received as a mark of his knighthood made more noise than the plates moving about as he walked, which just made a muffled clacking. "Weiss, I don't know what to say. This is incredible."

She approached him and gently took his armored hands into her own. "You don't have to say anything. Nothing at all, save for one thing."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Say you'll always come back to me."

The couple stood there for a long moment, hand-in-hand, gazing into each other's eyes. Then a pointed cough from the armorer reminded them that they had an audience. Weiss flushed deeply as she released Jaune's hands and coughed delicately behind her hand. "Er, to ensure the continued safety of Vale, of course," she quickly added, embarrassed at being caught.

"Of course," agreed Jaune, clearly amused.

The lead armorer, though, blurted out "Girl, who do you think you're kidding? Uh, ma'am," she hastily tacked-on as she remembered that the obviously-lovestruck teenage girl in front of her was, in fact, the owner of the company. The woman could only shrug helplessly.

The awkward silence felt rather unbearable, which was why Weiss was relieved by the distraction of her Scroll chiming. She took it out, checked the message, and after a quick gasp, smiled brightly once more, all embarrassment forgotten. "Jaune, Ruby's awake!"

The pair was halfway out the door before they remembered the team of armorers. "Good work, people! Keep up those standards for our first batch of clients, and there will be bonuses all around!" Weiss called over her shoulder.

Her employees slumped in relief as she left, the lead armorer's team poking fun at her lapse in professional etiquette. Fortunately, so long as they produced results, their young employer seemed willing to overlook such moments. From what they'd heard of the young woman's father, that seemed to be the exact opposite of what they'd expected. And talk of bonuses?

A pleasant surprise, to say the least.

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Weiss and Jaune were the last of their team to arrive at the infirmary. The other three members of Team JNPR were gathered around Pyrrha's mother, who was speaking amiably with a black-haired cat Faunus woman who simply had to be Blake's mother, with the same furry cat ears and amber eyes as her daughter. Said daughter looked torn between wanting to latch onto the older woman and never let go, and pulling her hood closed to hide from whatever she was telling her friends.

Weiss reached over to take Jaune's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. His relationship with Blake Belladonna had ranged from wary alliance at best to outright hostility at its worst. While their relationship was at its best in light of Jaune's repeatedly saving her life, most recently carrying her over his shoulders during the wild retreat through Mountain Glenn, there was still no telling what the elder Belladonna would make of him and his bloodstained past. Weiss resolved to keep close to him, to make it known that she believed in Jaune, and would stand with him, come what may.

For his part….Jaune had once overheard other students at Beacon discussing coping strategies for nerves, one of which involved imagining the person who made them nervous in the nude. That would have been rather unchivalrous of him, but what made more sense to him was to imagine himself approaching in a stark-naked state. He had done what he had done, and nothing could ever change that. He would not deny, downplay, or make excuses for his past, only face it head-on. Jaune knew Kali Belladonna, and her husband, Ghira, by reputation. The Belladonnas were founding members of the White Fang, but had left the organization due to their disagreement over the tactics and wider strategy of the struggle to secure Faunus civil rights. Ghira was a shrewd and cunning politician, an eloquent orator, and political philosopher, while Kali would have been one of the foremost legal minds in Mistral, had she not been disbarred in that Kingdom.

Kali was the first in her family to graduate college, and had gone on to law school. While it was legal for Faunus to practice law in that Kingdom, it was well-known that their case success rates were significantly lower than their human peers, irrespective of whether they served as prosecution or defense, or as plaintiff or defendant. Kali had concealed her Faunus traits - her cat ears - with elaborate updo hairstyles, and had subsequently been one of the more successful lawyers of her generation. Her firm had agreed to defend a young Faunus agitator from state charges of disturbing the peace, destroying public property, and other assorted crimes. That young Faunus had turned out to be Ghira, then called Ghira Sylvestris, and counsel and client had hit it off immediately. Kali had swayed the jury to rule Ghira innocent of all charges, then casually let her hair down after the announcement, revealing her own Faunus heritage.

It had been a huge scandal, with Kali having been accused of legal fraud for masquerading as a human. Kali had simply winked, and pointed out that she never claimed she wasn't a Faunus - she merely let others make their own assumptions. After all, there was no law, in Mistral or anywhere else, that a Faunus was required to make their trait widely-visible. The Mistral Bar Association didn't find it so funny, and disbarred her, a move that many in the legal profession, Faunus and human alike, protested as being flagrantly discriminatory. Kali cheerfully left Mistral behind in the midst of a whirlwind romance with Ghira. The two eventually wed, and after leaving the White Fang, Ghira ran for, and ultimately won, the elected position of Chieftain of Menagerie. Some of Kali's notable achievements from her time in Menagerie included drafting the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Sapient Beings, and codifying the legal concept of "equal protection under the law" into the global lexicon of jurisprudence. When she hadn't been assisting her husband in his duties or raising their daughter Blake, Kali occasionally trolled the Mistral Bar Association by having sympathetic former human colleagues present her arguments in court, then later announcing that judges, jurors, and legislatures alike agreed with the reasoning of an unjustly-disbarred renegade Faunus lawyer.

Everyone needed a hobby, Jaune supposed.

Kali and her husband were figures of global significance; few Faunus were unaware of them, and even those who disagreed with them politically tended to still hold them in high esteem. There were some, like Velvet, who testified as to the woman's compassion and warmth, and regarded her with something approaching reverence. Still, the entire Belladonna family was formidable, and Jaune was forced to admit to himself that he felt some degree of apprehension at facing her. Nevertheless, he was a Knight of Vale now, and that meant facing judgment, no matter how much he would prefer to sulk in a corner and wait for her to go away.

Hand-in-hand with Weiss, he made his way to his friends. Miss Nikos smiled broadly upon seeing them. "Ah, here is the last of your daughter's teammates, Missus Belladonna. Allow me to introduce Weiss Schnee and Sir Jaune d'Arc. Our very own captain of industry here has been running her little butt ragged getting everyone what they need to protect Vale. And of course, where there's Weiss, her literal knight in shining armor isn't far behind."

Weiss executed a textbook curtsey. "How do you do?"

"Ma'am." Jaune inclined his head in respect.

Kali looked the both of them over with a sharp, appraising look in her golden eyes. Bloody hell, it was like looking at Blake in twenty years or so. "I understand that you've been hiring a great many Faunus for your new companies," she said to Weiss, by way of greeting.

"I ensure that all who work for my companies, irrespective of race, are compensated with the most competitive wages and benefits in the industry," Weiss responded. "I'm not a…"

"A slaver? Like your father?" Kali offered, with an unrepentant, impish smile.

Weiss recoiled. "Uh…" she stammered, clearly off balance.

"Oh? I suppose you're unaware of just how your father came by such a fortune as he paid for your start-up costs?"

"No. I know exactly how my father made his fortune. If the need were not so pressing, I would have had nothing to do with his blood money. But this way, I can at least put it to better use than satisfying my father's vanity with more useless additions to the Schnee Manor, or expensive trinkets to show off his wealth and lack of taste. The people here need arms, armor, Dust, airships, the people to make those things, and the money to ensure that those people are paid fairly for their labor. With the capital my father sent to me, I can organize all of that, and everyone in Vale, human and Faunus alike, will benefit."

"I see," Kali said, running her index finger thoughtfully along her chin. "I notice that you didn't bring up your prosthetics company. That could have given you a strong position of leverage against me in an argument, given what happened to my daughter."

Weiss's eyes widened. "I would never use my friends' medical treatment as some kind of…bargaining chip to hold over someone's head, no matter what charge was leveled at me!" she sputtered, outraged at the very notion.

"I know that now," Kali said, her mischievous kitty smile returned. "You just showed me."

"Mom, are you done torturing my friends?" Blake whined - actually whined! - from her seat next to her mother.

"Almost, dear." The kitty smile faded from Kali's face as she turned her attention to the other newcomer. "Jaune Arc. Your name is on a lot of lips in this city. Some people call you 'The White Knight', and seeing you now, I can see why." Kali looked him up and down, taking in the armor, clothes, and cape that bedecked the tall, strong human youth. "That's…quite the shine you've got there, young man. Of course, others name you 'The Butcher of Beacon'. It's all a matter of who you ask, really. My people don't know what to make of you. Horror stories abound, of a dead-eyed killer who slaughtered Faunus by the score, of Ironwood's monster, raised without pity or remorse. Then I find that same young man praised for unfailingly acting in defense of Faunus here at Vale, going so far as to ride out, looking half-dead, to defend the Faunus District from a marauding human mob. Are you sure they speak of the same man?" she asked, peering through him with those piercing golden eyes.

"They do," Jaune answered.

"I see. And what would you say, then, if I should insist that you return with me to Menagerie, to face trial for your crimes?"

"I would ask only that you refrain from such action until the campaign is completed, and the safety of Vale secured."

Kali quirked an eyebrow. "Some might say that justice delayed is justice denied."

"And some might reply that the moral arc of the universe is long, but bends towards justice."

She grinned. "You quote my husband readily enough, but I don't feel conviction behind the sentiment. What do you believe?"

"I believe that justice is not a naturally-occurring phenomenon. It is artificial. If left to its own devices, the moral arc of the universe tends to bend towards horror and death; if we wish to see a world of justice, then it is incumbent upon us to build it ourselves."

"And so you would face judgment for your crimes? To help build this world of justice you speak of?"

"I would."

Kali sat back in her seat. "Such a trial could well end in your execution, you know. There are many who would say that justice demands your death."

Weiss squeezed Jaune's hand so hard that he feared he'd lose feeling in his fingers, but he pressed on anyway. "I can't say that I blame them. I've wanted me dead before as well."

"Should such a trial occur, how would you wish to be judged? As a Knight of Vale? A soldier of Atlas?"

"By my deeds, my lady, as we all must be in the end."

Kali fell silent then, turning over Jaune's response in her mind. Before she could formulate a reply, her cat ear closest to Ruby's hospital room twitched. "Ah, but it seems as though the young Rose girl is ready for more visitors. The sunny one - Ang?"

"Yang," Blake corrected.

"Yes, her," Kali continued, "She's coming to gather you and Blake," she nodded towards Weiss, as Blake was able to hear - and even see - the people in the hospital room speaking.

As soon as she finished speaking, the door opened, and Yang and her father and uncle stepped out. Yang smiled at seeing all the rest of RWBY and JNPR gathered together. "Hey, guys!" she chirped, sounding more like herself than she had since Mountain Glenn. "We kinda can't fit everyone in the room at once, and it'd be a bit much for Rubes, so we figured that we'd do a Team RWBY reunion first, then let JNPR in after. Sorry 'bout that. On the upside, feel free to hit up Dad for snacks!"

"I'm not buying your friends snacks," Taiyang deadpanned from beside her.

"Don't hit up Dad for snacks!" she corrected without skipping a beat. She knew better than to suggest Uncle Qrow. "C'mon!"

Weiss reluctantly let go of Jaune's hand, but before joining Blake, she paused to give a hard look of her own to Kali Belladonna. "Missus Belladonna. While Jaune's actions at the behest of General Ironwood were horrible, and caused pain and suffering, who he is has earned him love and devotion as well. Just as there are those who wish to see him dead, there are those who will defend him, in court if we can, and with our lives if we must. Think carefully on that." With that, she joined Blake, and the pair followed Yang into Ruby's room.

The waiting room fell into a terse silence. Finally, Medusa Nikos asked "Is it really so terrible, Jaune? That you would want to die?"

Jaune gave her a weary smile, one that was far too old for a face so young. "Don't worry, Miss Nikos. The Headmaster made me swear not to attempt to take my own life again."

"Again?"

"I owe your daughter my life, ma'am. Twice over, now that I think about it." He sighed wearily. "If there's nothing else, I think I'll wait elsewhere. Ladies," he gave a polite and shallow bow and turned to leave.

"Wait. Arc."

Jaune was surprised to hear Kali speak up again. "Yes?"

"You were right in that we need justice. We need it the way plants need the sun, burn for it in its absence like our lungs burn for air. But the world we need is a world of mercy as well."

The troubled young knight nodded in acknowledgement, before walking away.

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Ruby beamed as she saw her partner enter her hospital room. "Weeeeeeisss!' she called out, in her typical Ruby idiom. The Schnee girl smiled to hear the call, and if she felt a little pang in her heart that it wasn't accompanied by the younger girl "glomping" onto her in complete violation of her personal space, she kept it to herself. Instead, she herself took her partner into her arms, embracing her for a change.

"You scared me so much," she croaked. "Don't do that again, you dolt."

"Aw, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Weiss."

Soon, Ruby was crying, and then Weiss was crying as well, the pair of dolts clinging to each other, tears streaming down their faces. Yang rolled her eyes at the display, even as she discreetly wiped some random, totally-unrelated moisture from her own eye. What a pair of softies.

When the pair had calmed down, Ruby looked around. "Blake? Are you here?"

"Er…yeah…"

Yang started to hear Blake directly behind her, where she'd been hiding from view.

"Okay Ruby, um….you know how your father said there were injuries? I kinda got the worst of it at Mountain Glenn, and….I just want to make sure you're okay to, you know….see it. I'm afraid I'm not very pretty at the moment."

"Yeah, that's a total lie," Yang scoffed. "She's totally got Sun wrapped around her little finger."

"Well…do you still have a face?" Ruby asked.

Still hiding behind Yang, Blake blinked. "A face?"

"Yeah. Have you still got one?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"Then it can't be that bad, right?"

After a pause, Blake huffed. "I missed your insane brand of not-logic logic." Gradually, she emerged from behind her partner.

"Whoa," Ruby said, looking at the visor over Blake's eyes. "What's the doohickey on your face?"

"Something Penny whipped up," explained Blake. "So…I don't remember exactly what happened, but according to everyone else, I split off from the team to destroy the vat of substance that Merlot was using to Enhance his Grimm. Apparently, Adam…my ex…partner in the White Fang…he got the jump on me. He hurt me pretty badly before JNPR was able to stop him." With her left hand - her flesh hand - Blake reached up and pulled down her hood. Little black dots, the beginning stubble of regrowing hair, covered her scalp, save for where raised scars marred the flesh. She averted her golden eyes from Ruby's gaze. "I…well, there was some brain damage. I can 'see' sounds now, in rings. The visor dampens sounds and broadcasts counterwaves that keep my brain from being overwhelmed by the sounds and sights. I had it on because I just knew the first thing out of your mouth would be Weiss's name, shouted at high volume, and at a pitch that only those dogs of yours can hear. Oh, and also, I lost a hand, so my right hand is prosthetic now."

"Oh, Blake….I'm so sorry!" cried Ruby.

"No, I'm sorry." Blake shook her head. "When given a choice between trying to destroy the Grimm Enhancing equipment or rescuing you, I chose to destroy the equipment. I abandoned you, left you to the White Fang!"

"No! You tried to protect people, to keep Merlot from being able to make more Enhanced Grimm! That's what a Huntress should do, and it's only because I got caught the rest of us weren't there to protect you while you did it!"

"Ruby," Weiss spoke up softly from her bedside. "It's not your fault that the White Fang captured you."

She wanted to tell them the truth. Ruby wanted nothing more than to confess her guilt, to tell them all about her foolish, reckless actions that night that left her sister traumatized, Blake maimed and forever altered, and Weiss trying to pick up the pieces in her wake. But even as much as she wanted to tell them the truth, her fear weighed heavier on her mind and soul. She was afraid that, if they knew the whole truth, they would turn from her. Brave, righteous Blake would disappear into the night, wondering why Faunus always seemed to pay the price for human arrogance. Weiss would feel vindicated that she was right all along, that she deserved a better partner, and a team that matched her talents. Even Yang, her beloved sister, who had clung to her and wept helplessly as she confessed the full extent of what she'd done to rescue her, would feel betrayed that she'd lost herself in berserk fury for the sake of an idiot girl who deserved everything she got.

So, Ruby remained silent. Even as her team showered her with love and affection, she felt the weight of guilt on her heart.

"Okay, enough sad shit," Yang blurted. "Who wants to hear about my kickass new airship?"

[/]

In the waiting room of the infirmary, the parents of RWBY and Pyrrha had formed an impromptu parental support group. Kali was hoping to gain further insight into her daughter's new life at Beacon through the impressions that the other parents had had of her and her team. Medusa was just thrilled to have more people around who understood what it was like to both fear for one's child but also need to see them fulfill their full potential. Tai was largely venting, while keeping a watchful eye on Ruby's door. And Qrow, who had visibly blanched upon learning that Mittens' mom was an attorney, was just doing his best to avoid referring to her as 'Mittens' within her hearing.

"I must say, you both have such lovely daughters. Are they both from the same egg donor? I have a few friends that are in same-sex relationships and looking to start families, so I could do with some insight into the process," Kali said, addressing Tai and Qrow.

Tai choked on his coffee, while Qrow winced at the unintentional pick at that old, scarred-over wound. "Er, I'm just the girls' uncle," Qrow clarified. "Me and Tai aren't, you know, a thing."

"Except for in his wettest, stickiest dreams," Tai snarked, before realizing three things. The first was that his mouth had run off before his brain could catch up again - Yang came by the tendency honestly - while the second was that that was a terribly inappropriate comment to make to people he'd just met. Finally, he realized that that was kind of a dick thing to say to Qrow, who had not only kept his feelings to himself since their days in Beacon but had also been more of a parent to his girls than Yang's biomom had ever been, despite not having had any obligation to do so.

"Ah, hell, there I go again. Sorry, sorry….my late wife used to tell people I was raised by wolves in the woods when I would shoot off at the mouth like that."

"Well, I'm sure that Winter has been a balm for aches of the heart," Medusa offered to Qrow.

Qrow, who had been looking for a graceful way to exit the conversation without doing his usual routine of just walking out without a word, took the lifeline that Tai had unintentionally thrown him. "Yeah, she has been," he said, pointedly not looking at Taiyang. "Matter of fact, I should go check on how she's doing. Ladies."

Taiyang let out a breath, running a hand through his hair as Qrow got up and left. "Well. That just happened. See, this is why I normally live alone, in a log cabin out in the woods."

"I'm afraid I started it, with my assumption," Kali fessed up. "Probably not setting a good example for my Blake there."

"Or the orphans," added Medusa, looking sadly to where her daughter sat amongst her friends. Nora, who had previously been as cheerfully friendly to Blake's mother as she was to everyone else - brunette horse girls in tight breeches hitting on Ren aside - was now openly glaring daggers at the woman, after her suggestion that Jaune be taken to Menagerie and potentially executed. "They're all such wonderful children," the elder Nikos sighed. "I don't know what's harder to believe, that such a kind, well-mannered young man could be guilty of such terrible crimes, or that he would be moved to try to take his own life."

"...He isn't what I expected," admitted Kali.

"Oh? And what did you expect?"

"Well…another smug young human who discovered that his name and relationship with a Schnee meant that he could get away with it. Ozpin told me that Arc was reformed, but I've heard that too many times before. Usually, it's an act, the perpetrator knowing just what to say in front of their mentors, before letting their true colors slip. That one…he's thought a great deal about what he's done."

"Still, for one so young to attempt suicide…and I had no idea my Pyrrha saw it, let alone stopped it." Medusa shook her head. "Have any of your children said anything about it to you?" she asked the other two parents.

Kali shook her head, while Tai finished off his coffee in a long pull, wiping his mouth on his bare forearm. "Well, I don't know that my girls would have been in a position to see it, them being on a different team and all," he said. "But all of these kids are at an age where they're starting to get a feel for their own independence. They may feel that that independence will be revoked if they open up to us. Well, except for your girl," Tai added, nodding towards Kali. "From what I gather, she was on her own early on, and is looking to come back home."

The cat Faunus mother sighed mournfully, and on seeing that, Tai continued. "Yang said that she's been able to talk to you about things," he said to Medusa, hiding the fact that he knew that from eavesdropping on their conversation and preparing to beat her bloody if she'd proven to be a threat to his girls. "I…I've done my best. You know more than anyone else how hard it is to be a single parent. I'm a fighter. Always have been, always will be, but I think Yang's looking for the gentler side of life right now. And as much as it's apparent that you love your daughter, you just aren't going to fully understand aspects of Pyrrha's life as a Huntress. There's a certain…hard edge to the life. No, that's not quite right. Only people with that hard edge are attracted to the calling of a Huntsman or Huntress in the first place, one that you just don't have."

"So, what are you proposing, Taiyang?" asked the priestess.

"Well, since my daughter is clearly fond of you and trusts you, you can try to reach her from angles and approaches that I just can't. And while you're doing that, I'll see if I can reach out to Pyrrha, speak to on her level as a warrior."

Medusa looked over to her daughter once more. "Very well. I suppose there's no harm in the attempt, and I have enjoyed your girl's company."

Kali looked back and forth between the two - strangers that she'd only known for slightly less than an hour - and hid her laughter behind a demure hand. Oh, this was romance gold. If Blake didn't already know about these two, she was sure that she would enjoy the gossip. And even if nothing actually came of it, the best prompts for a good romance story were pitched by real life.

Her smile faded as her eyes fell on the Arc boy, who remained brooding at the window with his team. The little orphan girl noticed her looking, and pointed to her eyes and back to her, in an "I'm watching you," gesture. The Schnee girl was certainly correct about his ability to engender loyalty among those close to him.

She resolved to speak with her daughter on the subject before deciding on a set course of action. Her veteran legal mind turned the problem over and about, contemplating the question. It was interesting, she thought, that neither Arc himself nor the Schnee girl who was obviously enamored of him, had pointed out the obvious fact that a Menagerie court would have no jurisdiction over a Valean citizen who had acted on behalf of the Atlas military, and as an effectively kidnapped minor no less. In her experience, the arguments that people didn't make said as much about them as what they did say. Arc and Schnee didn't want to just conveniently shut down the possibility of legal jeopardy outright; they wanted to defend Arc's character.

What did justice look like in this case?

[/]

Emerald Sustrai was, in a word, unbelievably fucking pissed-the-fuck off.

Okay, maybe that was more than one word, but Emerald felt that it was pretty fucking accurate. After that one old fucker smacked the shit out of her with a cane, they'd trussed her up and chucked her in some cell somewhere. Ordinarily, breaking out of a cell was child's play for her; she'd use her Semblance when someone entered the block to make them think the cell was empty, then slip out behind them when they went in to check. She'd jumped a foot in the air when she tried it on the hot teacher babe with the riding crop, when she'd come to drop off a clean jumpsuit for her. The woman had given no indication that anything was wrong until Emerald had moved to walk out of the cell door, but before she had made it a single step passed the threshold, she'd grabbed her shoulder with an iron grip, and unceremoniously hauled her back inside.

For the life of her, Emerald had no idea how they had bypassed her Semblance. Or maybe nullified it? One of the few weaknesses of her Semblance was that she couldn't perceive the illusions she created in the same way that those she targeted did; as such, she couldn't tell if they were working or not, but given how Witchy Corset Babe had snatched her up without trouble, she had to operate under the assumption that they were not.

Was it something with the Witchy Corset Babe herself? Apparently not, as neither the Headmaster who'd clobbered her in the hangar nor some black-haired, lanky guy that had come to question her later had been fooled either. Maybe something with the cell itself? She had suspected that maybe something with the lighting, or the construction of the walls had some kinda…weird…Semblance-muting effect, but the overhead light was built into the ceiling outside of her cell, and if she could destroy the walls with just her hands, then she wouldn't need her Semblance to escape anyway.

The puzzle was driving her fucking nuts.

She'd actually asked the Headmaster how they countered her Semblance when he'd come to talk to her one day. The son of a bitch had merely given her one of those smug fuckin' smiles of his and said that that "would be cheating." Which was, in her thoroughly unbiased opinion, bullshit. It'd be one thing to be stuck and unable to do anything about it, but not even knowing how they'd trapped her was just the fucking worst!

So it didn't help her mood one bit when Lanky Fuckhead, as she'd dubbed the other man in her mind, came down to see her again. "What the fuck do you want?" she asked him as he approached, her usual greeting to her jailers.

"Same as always," Lanky Fuckhead drawled, in that irritating raspy voice of his. "Just some answers."

"Yeah, well, prepare for disappointment, Fuckhead."

"Can't be disappointed if your opinion of someone's already hit rock-bottom."

Emerald drew back as though gravely wounded. "Aw, and here I thought there was this connection between us."

Fuckhead scoffed. "I got socks older than you, so you can just shut down that line of bullshit right now."

"Why should I? Got fuck else to do in here," she sneered.

"Well, we can talk about your teammates."

"I told you before, I've got nothing to say to you about that."

"Hm. Then I'm sure you won't mind if I tell you a few things about them. Change things up a little."

She stared at him. "That's…kind of the opposite of how this goes?"

"Oh, I know," he said with a wink. "Truth is, I've never been very good at this sort of thing. But, since you've got nowhere else to be, and my only other option is makin' fuckin' small talk with some students' parents like a civilized person, I figured it was a good time for storytime." He took out a photograph and palmed it against the clear, shatterproof glass of her cell. Looking at it despite herself, she could tell that it was a picture of Neo's face - her real face, and if they knew that…

"Neo Politan, known associate of Roman Torchwick, a medium fish in a pretty small pond. She's not coming for you, sweetheart. She was with Torchwick, and both of them got caught up in Mountain Glenn. Pretty sure the JNPR kids cut her down, same as anyone else they found down there. Man, I gotta tell you, those little shits are something else. No one but them and their friends got out of that clusterfuck alive." He peered carefully at her, gauging her reaction. Swiftly discerning that she didn't give a shit, he moved quickly on, pressing a second photograph up to the cell door, showing her an image of Mercury, apparently in all-out flight away from Beacon.

"The second on our list of grand-high fuckups. Mercury Black. This fuckin' guy. He tried to kidnap some kid, and got his shit pushed in for it. We were able to trace his last Scroll call though, and who should he have reached out to for help, but our own little jailbird here? So we know that you two, at least, were in cahoots. Attempted kidnapping," he shook his head. "Is this how the kids date nowadays? Back in my day, we'd just find a nice looking spot to park a car and make out."

"Oh, ew, fucking gross!" This time, Emerald recoiled for real, genuine disgust in her expression. "I don't know how you know about these people, but Mercury and I are not a thing."

The man quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Did anyone tell him that? Because he left in a hurry, and he happened to leave behind his little art sketchbook in your dorm room. For someone who swears there's nothing there, you're in it a lot." He held up a small, leatherbound notebook.

Emerald felt as though she'd swallowed a boulder that was plummeting to the very bottom of her stomach. She knew all about Mercury's….artistic tastes, having seen him at work at that one bookstore, where he killed the shopowner. The idea of having even one bit of that twisted fuck's attention made her skin crawl.

As she ruminated on that, her interrogator had begun cheerily skimming the pages. "This one looks normal enough. Pretty, even," he remarked, holding open the pages to show a tasteful candid of her looking up from her Scroll, headphones around her neck. "'Course, it doesn't take long for things to get dark." She cringed away from the next image he showed her. "Yeah, see, I know things are different than they were in my day, but I'm pretty sure that when you like somebody, you don't strangle them to death with a garotte wire." He turned the page, readying another smart remark, but then visibly paled as he looked at the image. The man quickly snapped the book shut. "Y-yeah, that's enough art class for today," he got out, shuddering.

Despite herself, Emerald was curious. "What was it?" she asked.

"Yeah, no, you don't need to see that, kid," he shook his head, visibly shaken. "Is that the guy you're counting on to break you out of here? Holy fucking shit. Like, you're a criminal and all, but seriously, if you need protective custody, we can get you away from that fuckin' psycho."

Emerald fell silent, giving the matter some serious consideration. Then she shook her head. "Cinder will get me out. Cinder will come back for me, you'll see."

He just raised an eyebrow in an expression that wordlessly dripped with both skepticism and condescending disbelief. "The same Cinder that hired Mercury Black? That had you in close proximity to that twisted freak for months on end?" He shook his head. "Come on, now. You might not have known that he was dreaming of…doing that to you, but you had a good idea what he was like, and I know that you know that Cinder knows what he was, and hired him on anyway. She didn't give a shit about you or anyone else, so -"

"You're wrong!" Emerald cut him off. "Cinder couldn't have known! And anyways, he wasn't working for her, he was working for someone else!"

"What?"

"The night it all went to shit, Cinder flew off the handle when she realized that what she was looking for wasn't in the basement. Burst into flames, and flew off. Mercury, he said that no matter what else happened, we would be left holding the bag. Said that he had another boss, and if we brought him what he wanted, we could land on our feet."

"Did Mercury say who he was working for?"

Emerald shook her head. "No. I was just supposed to get an airship and pick him up."

"So your great, daring escape plan was to ride off, alone, with the bloodcrazed sadist, and hope that you got to his boss alive and that whoever his boss is would have kept him from killing you for the sake of his fucked-up spank bank. That is, without a doubt, the worst godsdamned plan that I have ever heard. Ever. If I had a hat, it would be off to you, lady."

She glared at him. "You got any better ideas, asshole?"

He walked over to a table set at the back of the room, placing the sketchbook and photos on top of it, then casually ambled his way over to her with his hands in his pockets. "Well, let's put Cinder aside for now. Either you're right, and she'll come for you, or I'm right, and she won't. Thing is, with Mercury on the loose, he could get to you first. You ask me, it's probably a bad idea to hitch a ride from some dude who jerks it to the idea of forcing you to eat your own severed body parts."

Emerald shuddered.

"Even if you can't bring yourself to give a shit about the other women he's targeted, and will target in the future, it's pretty clear that you're on the menu too, sweetheart. Being locked up here ain't great, sure, but it beats….that. So why don't we work together on this? You tell us everything you know about the prick, we do the hard work of Dusting him, and you end up saving your own ass. Literally, in this case."

The incarcerated thief gazed at the floor for a moment, then over to the table, where the sketchbook lay, and finally, she looked him in the eye. In that moment, Qrow knew he had her.

[/]

It was with some reluctance that the rest of Team RWBY left their leader's bedside, making way for their counterparts on JNPR to visit the girl they'd risked so much to save. The two teams exchanged murmurs of acknowledgment as they passed one another, save for Weiss, who popped onto her toes to affectionately nuzzle her cheek against Jaune on her way out.

JNPR arrayed themselves in a semicircle around her hospital bed. "Hey, Ruby!" Nora chirped in happy greeting. "It's good to see you up!"

"Hi guys," Ruby smiled, warmly but weakly, and Jaune made a mental note to keep their visit short. "I don't know what to say…you guys…"

"Yeah, yeah, we know we're awesome," Nora grinned, leaning against Pyrrha and crossing her arms.

For her part, Pyrrha just shrugged modestly. "We know that you would have done the same if the situation were reversed."

"Still, that was a huge deal!" insisted Ruby. "They gave you all medals!"

"Ah, those," Ren smiled in good humor. "I'm calling mine the 'Almost Successfully Dodged Award.'"

"Don't forget the 'Trying Too Hard Mark of Distinction!'" added Pyrrha.

"But that's not all!" Nora grabbed Jaune and shoved him closer to Ruby's bed. "Presenting the newest and shiniest Knight of Vale, Sir Jaune!"

Ruby's big silver eyes gleamed. "Weiss told me. Oh Jaune, she's so proud of you! Just look at you! A real knight, at last."

The knight in question chuckled awkwardly as he ran his hand through his hair. "Well, I didn't do it alone. There'd have been two new Knights, but someone here keeps declining," he said, giving a pointed look to Lie Ren.

"Hmm. No thank you," the Mistali man merely hummed, the slight hint of mischief turning a corner of his mouth.

"He says he doesn't want to be a knight, but then turns around and keeps doing knightly things. He even named his new sword 'Accolade,'" Jaune openly griped to Ruby. "That's a knightly name for a sword!"

"Oh, is it?" Ren coolly remarked, with easy humor. "That's nice, considering who gave it to me."

Jaune shook his head, and pointed to his friend. "So you're aware, he's gone and found a sense of humor while you've been out. Be warned. Be wary."

"I've always been funny," Ren shot back. "It just took you people ages to realize it."

"I like your new armor," said Ruby, who had been admiring the gleaming set that Jaune wore.

"I thought you would. Look, it mechashifts." Jaune activated the full harness, and Ruby clapped her hands in starry-eyed delight. He retracted the helmet, smiling to see her so enthused. "You know, when you're feeling better, I had some ideas for reworking the shield of Crocea Mors. With armor like this, I may not need the shield so much, and the hilt of the sword is long enough for two hands. Would you like to help with it?"

"Aww, yeah!" Ruby cheered, her fist in the air. Her arm quickly fell, her giddy enthusiasm interrupted by a loud and profound yawn.

"Looks like it's about time for us to go," Pyrrha said. "I know I wouldn't want to get on your father's bad side by keeping you up."

Ruby just looked at her in sleepy confusion. "Dad? My Dad? He's a big ol' teddy bear, what do you mean?"

Before Pyrrha could answer, the door flew open, and Penny Polendina found herself on the business end of a myriad of Team JNPR weapons. RWBY's sister team, who had taken no chances on that Mercury creep making a second attempt to snatch Ruby, soon lowered their weapons when they saw that it was just Penny.

"That's a great way to get annihilate-erized," Nora muttered. Penny just ignored her, only having eyes on the patient in the bed.

"Ruby!" Penny dashed to the bedridden girl - Pyrrha only just managed to avoid getting bowled over - but then skidded to a halt, hands hovering just over Ruby, fidgeting in open conflict between wanting to embrace her and worried about possibly injuring her in her delicate state.

"Hi, Penny." Ruby slowly pushed herself towards her girlfriend, letting the synthetic girl carefully take her into her arms, as though holding the most infinitely precious - and delicate - treasure in the world.

"You were so still…you're never so still…"

Ruby looked alarmed as Penny began convulsing strangely in her embrace. "Penny can't cry the way other people do," Nora explained. "We…discovered that, when you were out."

"Oh, Penny…"

Ruby stroked her bright, synthetic hair, tears of her own welling up in her silver eyes. Jaune looked to his teammates, and by unspoken consensus, they filed out of the room, to let the girls have a moment alone.

[/]

The newly-commissioned Captain Winter Schnee, Vale Defense Force, strode to the command chair of the bridge of the airship Apollyon…or rather, an effigy of what it would be upon its completion, a mockup with which her crew could train for their mission. Her new uniform consisted of dark blue slacks, knee-high black boots, and a short, smartly-fitted dark blue jacket with brass accents - most prominently, the bars upon her sleeve that denoted her rank. A black leather baldric held her saber suspended at her side, while her right hip bore a new, custom auto pistol that Qrow had commissioned for her. Winter didn't know what it was about the Schnee women that seemed to suggest that high-end, large bore firearms were the ideal gift from their significant other, but she wasn't about to complain. She wore her hair in a high tail that kept it raised off of her collar.

A new uniform, with the rank and authority to go along with it. Excellent. Now, for her command…

Having never had a proper aerial warship before, Vale didn't have personnel experienced in crewing such vessels, and so most of the crew were former naval sailors who had volunteered. The only two crewmembers who weren't - aside from Winter herself - were the pilot and co-pilot, former Bullhead pilots who had leapt at the chance to helm something considerably larger. Still, they had all come well-recommended, with little discipline issues - well, for sailors, at any rate - and each one had been enthusiastic about their mission. They were the best that Winter would be able to get within Vale; it was incumbent upon her to ensure that they were trained and ready to complete their mission.

Hence, the simulation.

She placed her hand on the back of her command chair as she looked around at her bridge crew, who were standing gathered together, awaiting her orders. Motivational speeches were never her strong suit, to say the very least - she probably should have asked her sister's betrothed for some pointers - but this being a Valean crew operating a Valean ship, to seek and destroy an enemy off of their coast, that threatened their city….well, motivation wouldn't be the problem. Nerves would be the problem, nerves and inexperience. She nodded to herself, knowing where to begin.

"All right, people," she said, her voice calm, but carrying through the simulated bridge. "I know that this is new to all of you. Fortunately, it is not new to me, so trust me when I say that errors will be made. Errors will be made, and lessons will be learned, but they will be made and learned here, instead of in the skies over Vale, where those errors can cost us our lives, but more importantly, the lives of the people we are sworn to protect. By the time the Apollyon has finished construction, she will have a crew ready and able to properly fly her. By the time she has finished testing, she will have a crew ready and able to utilize her full array of capabilities to crush Merlot and his twisted Grimm abominations. The skies of Vale belong to you. This is our first step in taking them back. I will show you how." Winter nodded. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Vale Defense Force, crew of the airship Apollyon: to your stations."

To her great satisfaction, her new crew scurried off to their respective consoles and seats, demonstrating that they had, at the very least, familiarized themselves with the bridge layout that she'd sent off to each of their Scrolls, prior to their arrival. She gave them a moment for the reality of the situation to set in - well, as much reality as could be expected from a simulation exercise - before sitting into the command chair and keying a button on the control panel built into one of the arms. Flatscreens sprung to life to the front and sides, simulating the view from the bridge. The bridge layout itself was thankfully familiar to Winter: command in the center, helm directly fore, systems monitoring and communications to port, weapons control and sensors to starboard, and navigation directly aft of her position. Engineering was located at the aft of the ship, and could communicate by radio, in the event of systems control malfunctioning. Nice and simple.

The Apollyon would appear much differently than its larger, blocky Atlesian counterparts. The main body of the airship consisted of a cylindrical fuselage, with a pair of large, dramatically-curved wings on either side, the end result appearing similar to the head of a double-bladed battleaxe, with the bridge protruding further than the tips of the "blades." According to Weiss's engineers, this was to mitigate the heat dispersal issues that the traditional Atlesian battleships suffered when firing all weapons and utilizing engines in a more compact, yet heavily-armored, frame. These issues were well-known, but Atlas's military leadership was notoriously reluctant to allow experimentation with new designs, which was a significant contributing factor to her little sister's wild success in attracting engineers to work for her.

At one-hundred and seventy meters in length, the Apollyon would be significantly smaller than a full-blown Atlesian battleship…which were enormous, and frankly, usually too large for the missions that they usually undertook. The Apollyon would be the largest airship ever built by Vale, but it was still a great deal faster than a battleship, which was the only other comparison that they had on hand. There was, apparently, a great deal of talk about what classification to designate her - a frigate, or a light cruiser, or a Destroyer of Unusual Size were all suggested - but Winter didn't much care. All she cared about was that she would be hers, and she would be magnificent. They had crammed as much firepower as could be feasibly fit onto the airframe. She boasted three full-powered, dual Dust plasma projection cannons, one under the bow of the fuselage and one mounted into the tip of each wing. She would also have multiple missile launchers, rotary cannons, and Hard Light Dust shield emitters. And while Yang was unable to attend this first simulated mission, the inclusion of the Sunstrider - which would be carried to the battlefield docked to the underside of the stern - gave the airship even greater firepower, with unprecedented flexibility in its deployment.

Winter smiled. Life was good. She keyed the command code to begin the simulation, and on the screens, blocky, polygonal representations of Griffins and Manticores appeared in the distance.

"All hands: mission start."

[/]

Sir Roland du Rendal, Knight-Commander of the Knights of Vale, had just sat down to an early supper, when came a knocking at his door. He sighed deeply upon the realization that his granddaughter, Rowan, was out that night with one of those Beacon kids, a blue-haired boy named Neppy-something, or Tuna Fish, or whatever, and was therefore unable to answer the door and tell whoever was there to bugger off and leave him alone. With great protest from his knees, and casting a longing look at his beef, potatoes and steamed vegetables, he pushed himself back out of his chair and stomped over to the front door.

"What, what do you want?" he barked as he pulled the door open. He canted his head in confusion as he saw that his uninvited visitor was a small, scrawny boy, with tanned skin, messy brown hair, and forest green eyes, dressed in what looked like sackcloth farmer's garb, complete with a pitchfork over his shoulder.

"Sorry to bother you, sir," the boy apologized. "But I heard that this is where to come to become a knight?"

Well, in a way, this was both expected and unexpected at the same time. Beyond setting the population of Vale at ease after the Mountain Glenn scare, the big award ceremony, with all the pomp and circumstance of a traditional Accolade, was meant to spark the imaginations of adventurous youths, the sort who might rejuvenate the Knights of Vale with new blood. Still, Sir Roland would be lying if he didn't admit that he was more hoping to poach trained or near-trained students from the combat prep schools, or even Beacon itself, instead of having their first prospective recruit be what was clearly a random farmboy. Still, it was the merit of the man that made a knight, not merely the best fighter, and it would be uncharitable of him to discount the boy solely due to his humble circumstances. Hell, given what happened with the Winchester, maybe a more humble start would be a better way to begin.

Of course, he wasn't going to just tell the boy that.

"Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't, boy. You ought to know, the life of a Knight of Vale is a damn dangerous one. How old are you?"

"Thirteen, sir," answered the boy.

"Right. And do your parents know you're here? Last thing I need is some angry parents coming down here to give me hell over their boy running off and skipping harvest chasing dreams of being a hero."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that, sir. My parents are dead."

Well, shit, now Sir Roland felt like a bit of a prick. "Ah, well…sorry to hear that, boy. Your legal guardian, then? Who is looking after you?"

"My aunt raised me, sir, but she was killed a few weeks back. Grimm attacked the village, on account of there being no Huntsmen coming around."

Sir Roland looked to him in alarm. "All right, boy, come in," he stood aside. "You can tell me what happened over dinner."

Sitting the boy down at the dining table and placing a plate heaped high with beef, potatoes, and greens - even if Arc didn't choose to take the boy on as a squire, the child looked thin and malnourished, and while the aged knight could be gruff, he was never unkind - Sir Roland listened to the boy's story. Well, as much as he could make out between the sounds of the obviously very hungry child positively inhaling the food set for him. At first, he was relieved to hear that the boy's plight originated from a village somewhere to the northwest of Mistral. It was regrettable, but not an oversight that was on the immediate agenda of all of the both of the Knights of Vale. Then he listened as the boy - one Oscar Pine - told him of killing a Beowulf and fending off an Ursa, with just the pitchfork that he carried.

In his long decades of service as a knight, Sir Roland had had the occasional braggart youth attempt to ingratiate themselves with tales of their valor, tales that swiftly fell apart at the slightest scrutiny. Oscar, though, he was telling the truth. Part of that was borne by the details - he'd killed the Beowulf more or less by accident, he'd only managed to hold off the Ursa for a time before a large group of villagers swarmed it - but most of it was in the eyes. This was a boy who knew what the Grimm did to people. He'd seen it. There was the slightly haunted look of remembered terror, and the hardened gleam that replaced it when he spoke of his decision to stand and fight anyway.

By the end of his story, Sir Roland was convinced. Many of the greatest knights of the past had started off just like young Oscar; penniless peasant youths with more guts than sense, and who were willing to make the hard sacrifices of knighthood so that others could live in peace. If he were even thirty years younger, the knight would have set Oscar to his first tasks as a squire immediately…but there was the problem.

"Well, boy, I'd be inclined to take you on myself, but there's a problem."

Oscar swallowed the last of his dinner. "What problem, sir?"

"You see, you may not know this, but when I met Sir Jaune and took him under my wing, he was already one of the deadliest combatants on the continent. Boy was raised to war almost from birth, and all I had to do was teach him to ride, to lance, and to keep from acting a damn fool. Still working on that last part, truth be told," he admitted, scratching his beard. "But you, you're completely untrained. Now, that's nothing to be ashamed of. In better times, thirteen or fourteen is when a squire would be first training, but right now, there's only two knights worth the name in all of Vale, and I'm over eighty years old, boy. There's parts of your training that you'll need a fit instructor for, and I simply can't anymore. So that just leaves Sir Jaune."

Oscar's expression fell. "Oh. So…how does that work?"

"I can't order another knight to take someone as a squire, you see. It wouldn't work. The bond between a knight and squire is an intensely personal working relationship, almost like a parent and child…though in your case, it'd be more like having an older brother look after you. From untrained farmboy to full-on knight will take years of training in the use of arms, armor, riding, Grimm studies, and fully-absorbing the Knight's Code. Point is, both the knight and squire need to choose each other, to form a bond of mutual trust and respect, and that just isn't something that can be imposed." Sir Roland shrugged. "I can arrange a meeting, and I can recommend the hell out of you, but ultimately, the matter will be down to you and Sir Jaune."

"Well…thank you for trying, sir. And for dinner." Oscar ruefully patted his full belly.

"It's nothing, boy. There's a loft for stableboys up in the barn, got some beds out there for young hands. You can stay there until you meet with Sir Jaune tomorrow. If he doesn't agree to take you on - and there's a good chance he won't, the boy gets himself into the thickest fighting I've seen in decades - you can stay here as an extra hand until classes enroll at Patch. That's in a few months. Sound good?"

"It does. Thank you again, sir."

"Right. Good luck, boy. For what it's worth, I hope it works out for you. I really do."

[/]

Sun grinned broadly as he made his way towards Team RWBY's dorm room. The Princess - she hated being called that, but he figured it was cool if it was just in his own mind - was waiting in the hallway by the door, with no one else in sight. Knowing that she'd heard him well before and he couldn't take her by surprise, he slid up to her and embraced her tightly from behind, wrapping his tail around her hips. "Hey, babe," he whispered into her ear, his tone low. "You wanna sneak away with me for a while? We could go have some fun."

"S-Sun?"

Startled, he looked to his right, to see an ashen-faced Blake gawking at him.

Wait.

"Oh my!" The woman, whoever she was, said in good humor…and the voice of a woman clearly in her forties or fifties. "If this is how the hot Huntsman boys greet you here at Beacon, I can see why you wanted to attend!"

The blood drained from his face, and Sun made a noise not unlike what one would when struck squarely in the chest by Nora's warhammer. He let go of the stranger as if scalded, taking two staggering steps backwards. The stranger turned around, revealing a cat Faunus woman who was clearly related to Blake. She was grinning with a look of utter mischief on her face, while Blake looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her alive.

"Mom, this is Sun. He's a…friend."

"I see."

Man, Sun had no idea that that much disbelief could be crammed into a single word.

"Well, Sun, would you care to join my daughter and I for tea? There's so much about my daughter's life here I'd like to ask you!"

"No thank you, I need to flee from your daughter before she kills me," Sun blurted.

"He's not wrong," admitted Blake.

"Oh, nonsense." The older woman - Blake's Mom! - clapped a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a look that was full of gleeful, malicious amusement, like a cat that had just found a mouse to toy with. "I insist."

"Help?"

[/]

The sun had set when Headmaster Ozpin made his way to Ruby's room. After the visits from her team and girlfriend, the girl had slept a bit, and as Oz entered the room, her father stood vigil as she worked on keeping down food.

"Ah, my sympathies, Miss Rose," he commiserated, by way of greeting. "Hospital food has never been the most alluring of incentives to eat…though perhaps the point is for the patient to be eager to recover and be rid of such afflictions." It'd been that way even before doctors, as Remnant knew the vocation, had existed. Oz was fairly certain that healers the world over universally ascribed to the belief that food simply could not be healthy unless it was bland, bitter, or both.

The young Miss Rose merely sighed, setting her bowl onto the nightstand next to her bed. "Professor…I'm sorry. Doctor Oobleck died, Professor Port died too, my friends got hurt, and it's all my fault!"

The Headmaster sighed, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and pulled up a chair to sit next to Ruby's bed. He paused for a moment, wondering what to say, his mind lost in memories of the numerous times he had to speak to promising young souls about this very matter. It seemed like only yesterday, or the day before, that he had been speaking to the girl's own mother. Summer Rose had been older, and had had some measure of control over her gift, but she took losses hard, particularly casualties from an ambushed caravan that she'd been escorting to Vale.

"Professor?"

He smiled ruefully. "Forgive me, Miss Rose. I was…far away, for a time. One of the great perils of age, you see. Tell me, do you believe that you would blame Miss Belladonna or Mister Ren if either one had had cause to be rescued, and you suffered permanent injury as a result?"

Whatever response Ruby had been expecting that wasn't it. She blinked, her silver eyes huge and innocent, seeming so very young to the wizard who carried the weight of eons on his shoulders. "Well, no!"

"Then why do you think so little of your friends as to assume a bitterness towards you?"

"Uh…" She shook her head. "I still got Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port killed."

Ozpin sighed. "Miss Rose, both of those men were experienced Huntsmen. A lot can be said about Peter, but one thing the man was not was stupid; one simply does not survive to such an age in a vocation such as ours by being foolish. There was a reason that he was assigned to the team with the older, much more experienced leader. Peter Port was well aware that, at his age, and with his heart condition, he was taking his life in his hands every time he took to the field, and there was always a strong possibility that Mister Arc would have to assume command of his team during the mission. Truthfully, Winter had expressed concerns before the mission about Peter's age, concerns that I dismissed. Yes, you are the leader of Team RWBY, but both Port and Oobleck were responsible for the students, and I, as Headmaster, am ultimately responsible for each and every Huntsman and Huntress that I sent to Mountain Glenn that day. Should you feel the need to assign blame for the deaths and injuries suffered, blame them on me."

"But-"

"No buts!" Ozpin rapped his cane against the floor, not overly loud, but with enough force to punctuate his command. "Trust me when I tell you that neither Peter nor Bartholomew would have had any qualms about giving their lives in defense of the Kingdom more generally and their students specifically. If you cannot trust me on this, then take the word of your own father. After all, they were friends of his for many years."

"It's true," Taiyang offered from where he leaned against the door. "Well, Barty would have preferred that his death actually saved you, but in general…yeah. I can practically hear Peter right now." He struck a dramatic pose with his fists on his hips. "What ho, Miss Rose!" he boomed in his best Port impression. "Do you think the true Huntsman lays in bed, waiting for his heart to give out and kill him? No! He goes out on his feet! Like a man!"

Despite herself, Ruby giggled a little at her father's impression of his late friend.

"While we remember the sacrifices of those who fell along the way, we cannot let that weigh us down. We must press onward, ever onward, Miss Rose. Such is the way of the Huntress." Ozpin sighed. "I know that this will be difficult for you, but in order to prepare for the future, we need to know as much as we can about the power of the silver eyes. What can you remember?"

Ruby gazed into her hands for a long moment. Ozpin was about to ask her again, when she finally spoke up. "It was just after…just after Doctor Oobleck died," she said. "That Grimm, a Beringel, it had just…crushed him, and then it turned on Yang. I was chained up, unable to move, but I just…I couldn't let it take my sister. I had to protect her, I had to keep it from killing anyone else, and it just…" She trailed off as she realized that both her father and the Headmaster were staring at her. "What?"

She looked to a mirror set on the wall to her left. It wasn't the raging torrent that she'd unleashed at Mountain Glenn, but it was present nonetheless.

Dimly, her eyes shone with a celestial light.

[/]

It was a late night at the Team RWBY dorm room as Weiss wrapped up the last of her work for the day. Blake and Yang were both fast asleep, for which the white-haired business owner was grateful. On Ren's suggestion, Blake had kept her prosthetic hand attached overnight, and the back of it was now splayed against her forehead as she slumbered. Yang had kept up her cardiovascular and plyometric exercises, but to the best of Weiss's knowledge, she had barely thrown a punch since Mountain Glenn. Still, with her sister out of her coma and on the road to recovery, Yang's sleep was clearly the most untroubled that it had been since that horrid mission.

Weiss yawned, and began shutting down files on her Scroll, preparing to join her teammates in slumber. Before she was finished cleaning up, however, a message pinged, indicating that someone had sent her an image. Curious, she opened it, only to be greeted by a beachside picture of Neo Politan, grinning like a loon, laying on her side in the surf, and wearing a string bikini in white, pink, and brown. The unfortunate garment was clearly straining to contain her rather prominent bust. Below the picture was a caption that simply read "Wish you were here!" and containing an emoji blowing a heart-shaped kiss.

Weiss flushed. How dare this low-life criminal ne'er-do-well harass her with such lewd and inappropriate pictures?! How dare she contact her at all?! How did she contact her?

How did you get this number? She furiously typed into her Scroll.

The little thief's response was infuriating. Stole it, duh.

Well, I highly suggest you un-steal it, and never speak to me again.

Rude.

Weiss flipped. You're the one who messaged me, with a lewd and inappropriate picture, I might add! Your contact is unsolicited and unwelcome. Desist immediately, or suffer the consequences.

Does this mean that you'll be mad that I messaged Sir Jaune as well?

How dare you -

A notification announced that Jaune Arc had joined the text chain. Er, hello?

Hello, Sir Jaune! Neo's pink-colored text read. I was just thinking about you and Weiss, as I'm all alone here in Vacuo. Do you like my swimsuit picca?

Weiss's eyes narrowed to glacial slits as she felt a vein throb on her forehead. This bitch was playing with fire.

I'm unsure if there are cultural differences of which I'm unaware, but it's my understanding that such images have certain romantic or amorous connotations to them, connotations that I'm afraid I simply must ask you to refrain from making in the future.

Weiss smirked. Ha! Future Wife one, Ice Cream Skank, zero! Get rejected, slattern!

Did Weiss not tell you of my offer?

No, Weiss most certainly did not. It was unimportant and a waste of time, much like yourself, Weiss sent.

There's no need to be rude, wrote Jaune.

Oh, I very much beg to differ.

Well, what was your offer, Miss Politan? Jaune asked, irritatingly politely.

Neo responded with a series of explicit descriptions of carnal activities that the three of them could enjoy. Weiss's fingers were practically tripping over each other in her furious, outraged response, when Jaune's text finished first.

Ah. I'm afraid I must decline, Miss Politan. See, Weiss has captured my heart, utterly and completely, and I could no more accommodate your desires then the sky could fit a second sun on its horizon. As for the matter with Weiss, she has indicated a strong aversion to romantic entanglements with other women in general and yourself in particular. As such, I must insist that you stop harassing her. Good luck to you in Vacuo, Miss Politan. If you'll excuse me, the hour is late, and there is much to do to secure the city of Vale. Goodnight, ladies.

Following the announcement that Jaune had left the text chain, Neo Politan was satisfyingly quiet. Hmmph. That would show her right, tossing her breasts around where they were clearly unwanted.

He really is a great guy, Neo finally wrote.

Of course he is. And he's mine. Now that that's sorted, we can resume our long-standing custom of having nothing to say to one another.

Neo didn't respond after that, so Weiss finally shut down her Scroll, though not without taking one last look at the picture of Neo's glistening wet body. Ha. So what if she was gorgeous, and packed more curves onto that tiny body than should be legally acceptable? Weiss had something that she never would, which was the complete love and adoration of Sir Jaune d'Arc. Weiss smiled as she deleted the picture and settled down to bed, utterly secure in the knowledge that her Jaune would never stray from her.

[/]

The next morning, following his daily exercises, Jaune met with the Headmaster in his office. He'd effectively klepped out of the combat and Grimm Studies courses, and with the unexpected escalation that had been Mountain Glenn, Ozpin had taken to overseeing the fine-tuning of Jaune's education in tactics and strategy personally. This usually took the form of reviewing reports and questioning one another on their thoughts as to the potential moves of the enemy, and how to counter them. That morning's session had centered around the Island of Doctor Merlot, and what to make of the information that Mercury Black had apparently been working for someone else when he had tried to kidnap Ruby Rose.

"Is it possible that Merlot isn't working for Salem?" Jaune asked. Ozpin raised an eyebrow, his signal to Jaune to explain his reasoning. "Well, you said that this Salem has control over the Grimm. If she had done so with Merlot's methods, someone would have noticed the obviously-artificially augmented Grimm before now. So, what I'm thinking is that Merlot somehow develops his method, most probably with Salem's help. But, if he were still working for Salem, then he most likely would have packed up shop and moved to a more discreet location after Mountain Glenn. Instead, he's on an island fortress, with a very visible buildup of aerial Grimm forces over and around it. He either can't, or won't run to her for help. Maybe there was a falling-out over his method, or maybe he's planning on making his own power play, seeking to supplant the Queen of the Grimm with a King. But if he knew about the Silver Eye powers, that would make for a powerful weapon he could try to control and deploy against her."

While Ozpin had not told Jaune everything about Salem, he had told him that Salem had once been a human woman who had been corrupted by the Pools of Darkness, and conflated that with her being effectively immortal, unkillable for any means save, potentially, for the Silver Eyes, which could be the only thing that could separate the woman from the Grimm. He'd been loath to share even that much, but the last thing that he wanted was to repeat the mistakes that led to the losses of Hazel Rhineheart, James Ironwood, and even Jaune's own father. The notion of an angry, betrayed Jaune standing with Hazel to defend Salem, to spite his former mentor, was a scenario to be avoided at all costs. Ozpin had made sure to emphasize that a direct attack of conventional force would be worse than useless. "And why do you think that Salem herself would not order the kidnapping?" he asked.

Jaune sighed. "Well, I can't answer for much, seeing as I don't know much about her. But, if what you said is true, the Silver Eyes can well be the only thing in all the world that could destroy her. Maybe she'd be forward-thinking enough to try and capture Ruby to develop some kind of countermeasure, but it would be more likely that she would seek to have what appears to be her only weakness taken out of the equation permanently."

Ozpin frowned. He had his suspicion, but he'd let Jaune work it out for himself.

"What, then, is your criteria for a suspect behind the attempted kidnapping of Ruby Rose?" he asked his young protege.

Jaune leaned back, crossing his arms over his armored chest as he thought. "Well, it seems to me that there are two main factors for wanting the world's only known Silver Eyed Warrior. Firstly, one would have to know about the Silver Eyes at all, and secondly, they would have to want a weapon to deploy against Salem." He smiled ruefully. "Actually, under that criteria, our faction would qualify. So, a third factor - the culprit doesn't have Ruby already."

"Perhaps one would wish for a potent weapon against the Grimm more generally, without knowledge of Salem as well?" challenged Ozpin.

The young knight thought it over. "Unlikely. The Silver Eye powers can be potent, sure, but a few powerful warships - or a hell of a lot of Huntsmen - can achieve similar results, with much less effort. No, Ruby is strategically-significant to these other factions for the same reason that she is to our own; her powers are the only known check on Salem, in all the world. If Ironwood knew about them…" he stopped cold. "Does Ironwood know about the Silver Eyes?"

Ozpin sighed. "He was in my Inner Circle for many years, Jaune, and those years included the time when Summer Rose was active in Beacon. While we had become…estranged before Ruby's birth, Ironwood has proven to be quite capable in the deployment of spies. In fact, he told me that he had a spy at Haven who told him of Leonardo Lionheart's treachery. I would not be surprised at all to learn that Mercury Black himself was his spy at Haven, before traveling here. If he were reporting the activities of prominent students at this school, then it is hardly possible that he wouldn't learn of Ruby's silver eyes."

Jaune frowned. "Ironwood would only deploy that kind of power if he could be absolutely sure he could control it. He made himself the Vanguard after I proved that I could disobey. He tried to force the powers of the Winter Maiden on a soldier that he thought was completely loyal to him. Ruby knows about him, knows what kind of man he is. It wouldn't be long before he realized that she would never be reliable enough for him to use."

"She wouldn't be, no." Ozpin agreed. "Her offspring, however, could prove a different matter."

Jaune's blood ran cold as he realized what the Headmaster was suggesting. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, his armor deployed, and clenched a gauntleted fist before him. "I'll kill him!" he snarled, raging like a wild animal. "I'll kill every last soldier in Atlas before I let them lay a finger on her! I swear to every god that ever was, I will kill that man!"

"You will calm yourself!" barked Ozpin, on his feet himself to stare down his student. His tone was sharp enough to cut through Jaune's rage, and Jaune blinked as he realized that he was standing before Ozpin with his armor deployed. Ozpin slowly lowered himself back into his seat as Jaune's armor folded back in on itself. "When your friends relied on you to lead them out of Mountain Glenn, was it berserk fury that saved them, or keeping a cool head and forming an actionable plan in the face of their peril?"

"Well, given how Yang did a number on the -" Jaune promptly shut up as he saw the scathing, unamused glare that Ozpin shot him, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before lowering himself back into his chair. "Right. Sorry, Headmaster."

"I understand that Ironwood - and the potential of him having your new friends harmed - is a very sore spot for you. But a proper strategist remains calm in the face of the enemy's actions, so as to adapt to changing conditions and act appropriately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

"Good."

Jaune frowned. "Then what are we to do about this? We face a war on two fronts, possibly three, if the Fang act independently against Vale. Ironwood's attempts on Ruby could prove a fatal distraction, a knife in the ribs when locked in a fight to the death."

"We keep Ruby here at Beacon. Mercury Black knows that he must produce results soon, or else his master will cut him loose. Black is a talented assassin, to be sure, but he is no match for Taiyang Xiao Long, of that, you can rest assured. He will make another attempt on Ruby, and Taiyang will crush him. For this reason, Ruby Rose will not be part of the strike team on Merlot's fortress. It is likely that Black will see the activity, and perceive an opportunity to approach Ruby alone. Once he's dead, an intermediary will ship Black's head to General Ironwood. Ironwood wouldn't have done such a thing unless he felt that my own plan was likely to fail, almost certainly centered around the continued existence of Ruby Rose as the only known Silver Eyed Warrior. If we can demonstrate that we are capable of discerning and intercepting threats to her, he will back off."

"Right." Jaune sat back, running his hand over his face. "All right, then. Let's discuss the attack on Merlot. How do we counter self-destruct contingencies? If I were him, I'd lure as many enemies to the island as I could, then detonate enough explosives to send the island into orbit…"

Instructor and student spent the next half-hour planning and plotting. At the end of that half hour, the door chimed. "Ah, I was expecting this," said Ozpin. "Come in!"

The door opened, and a courier entered. The young man put a sealed bronze urn onto the Headmaster's desk, and presented a form for Ozpin to sign. When the man had left, Ozpin sighed wistfully at the urn. "These are the mortal remains of Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. I'm afraid the man had no next of kin. However, in his will, he stated that the other three members of Team GOLD were interred somewhere on the grounds of Château d'Arc, and he requested that his ashes be laid to rest alongside them, if possible. Would you be so good as to see that done?"

"Of course," agreed Jaune. "I'll get a Bullhead and have it done before tomorrow."

"Actually, I was thinking that perhaps you would take a few days and ride along the south roads. There are a few villages scattered to the south of Vale, and it would serve civilian morale for the newest Knight of Vale to be seen undertaking the traditional roles."

Jaune frowned. He had no issue with that on its face, but… "What about the campaign against Merlot?" he asked.

Ozpin sipped his mug. "It will still be some time until Winter and her crew are ready for the attack. Merlot has shown no signs of intending to leave thus far, and we have no reason to believe that he will any time soon. This is also a good opportunity to ease the injured members of your team back into action with a task considerably less intense than Mountain Glenn, should you choose to take them."

"That's a good point, sir."

He smiled. "I thought so as well."

Jaune stood, stretching a bit. "Well, I'll see if anyone wants to come with me, and make arrangements with Sir Roland if I need more horses, and maybe a cart. The old man wanted to see me about something this afternoon anyway."

"Right." As Jaune stood and took up the urn, Ozpin spoke up again. "You know, one way or another, Ironwood will continue to be a factor in this war. For the sake of everyone, you must learn to control your temper as it pertains to him."

"I understand, Headmaster."

"I certainly hope you do. Far too much is riding on you for you to misstep."

[/]

It wasn't much, at first glance. A request to be excused here, a student playing hooky there. There were a great many students at Beacon, and classes were large enough that there were often only one or two Faunus students per class. There were upperclassmen who were out on missions, but the better part of the entire Faunus population of Beacon came to discuss the situation in both Beacon and Vale as a whole. The students took seats in the amphitheater-style classroom, same as any other class, while Kali Belladonna held court at the desk down below.

"Thank you all for coming," she began. "I would like to begin by stating that this forum is for the Faunus students here at Beacon to speak honestly and frankly, without fear of judgment or retribution. Most of you know me, but for those who don't, my name is Kali Belladonna - Blake's mom - and I've done a few bits of legal work for Menagerie, here and there." There were some chuckles at the elder Belladonna's drastic understatement. "The way this will work is that I will introduce a subject, and open the floor for you to speak your mind on the matter. This can be emotionally-charged, and it's perfectly fine and valid for you to explore those emotions. All that I ask is that you remain respectful of one another and remember to use your words, not weapons. In a room full of dedicated, specialized fighters, I fear I'm at a disadvantage," she added, with a rueful, feline smile. "Well, if there are no objections, I'll open with the Goliath in the room - the White Fang at Mountain Glenn, and the attempted purge of Vale's Faunustown. Who would like to start us off?"

"Yeah, I got somethin' to say." A tall boy with curled ram horns stood up. "Where do the humans get off, huh? So this Adam Taurus is the biggest dickhead in Vale. Well, I ain't never seen that asshole in my life! I come back from a mission, out there helpin' to keep all these assholes safe, finally get some rack time, and I wake up to my kid sister callin', scared out of her wits because Mom and Dad were hiding with her in the cellar. And why? 'Cuz some stuffy human pricks thought a national fuckin' crisis was a fine and dandy time to go kill all the furries, right? What's even the fuckin' point of becoming a Huntsman if me and mine ain't even safe in their homes?"

"Yeah!" A girl with floppy dog ears stood up from her seat to take up where the first boy had finished. "I mean, it isn't like they don't know that we're Huntsmen and Huntresses too. We've been here since they invented Huntsmen and Huntresses! I mean, I respect you, ma'am," she said, shrugging apologetically towards Kali, "But all that talk about mutual respect and cooperation making things better…when? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like the humans will drop their act as soon as they feel at all threatened, and then out come the long knives. It's been four generations since Emancipation. How much time are we supposed to give them to figure out how to not be awful?"

To Blake's surprise, Velvet then stood up. "But things have changed. Not enough, not nearly enough, but they have. This time, the pogrom was stopped before it ever got started. And it wasn't stopped because we outnumbered the humans, or because we fought them off. It was because other humans refused to stand by and let them terrorize us!"

"Truly, times are dire when our best hopes rest in the form of an Atlesian war criminal and a Schnee," came the wry retort. "Well, that's redundant. Two Atlesian war criminals."

Blake narrowed her eyes at the student who had disparaged her teammate. "Weiss isn't a criminal, war or otherwise. You don't know how much she agonizes to ensure that every action she takes is either a refutation to her father, a restitution to the Faunus, or both."

"Oh, yeah," the speaker, a boy with green reptilian scales in place of hair, scoffed. "Let's take the word of some pet who hid her traits the whole first semester."

Sun was instantly on his feet. "Call her that again, pal, and you and me are gonna rumble."

Blake bristled and cast a glance to her mother, who gave her a surreptitious shake of the head. If Blake wanted to eventually become a leader for her people, she had to defend herself on her own. "I have this, Sun," she said, coaxing him to sit back down with a gentle smile. She stood up and pulled down her hood, baring her bald, scarred scalp. "I'm not hiding any more," she declared.

While it would have been nice for her self-esteem for the sight of her to not inspire a few gasps, it worked for her purposes. "I was at Mountain Glenn. It wasn't a human who did this to me, but another Faunus. Adam Taurus ambushed me as I attempted to destroy Merlot's factory, and when he cut off my hand and kicked in my skull, it was the humans of RWBY and JNPR who fought him off. Jaune Arc carried me out on his shoulders, and stayed behind to make sure that the Enhanced couldn't follow us through the subway." She sighed. "I've been the biggest critic of Jaune Arc since he arrived here at Beacon, and I know his entire story, from his birth to Mountain Glenn. So, if we're going to make this a referendum on him specifically, I'm willing to volunteer what I know. I believe in justice, but we cannot have it without an honest account of the truth, the whole truth."

There was a general murmuring, before the ram Faunus boy who'd first spoken to kick off the forum stood again. "We heard that he did horrible things as a soldier in Atlas. Then we see him sticking up for Velvet against that Winchester kid, or stopping the purge of Faunustown by shouting and threatening to ride down the humans. What's the deal? Which one is real?"

Blake nodded. "It is true that Jaune Arc was a soldier of Atlas, and he did perform horrific atrocities at the behest of General Ironwood. But it wouldn't be right for me to say that and only that, without explaining how that came to be. Arc's family was well-known here in Vale, but when they were murdered, General Ironwood kidnapped the infant Jaune and raised him from birth to be his attack dog. So, when we judge his actions, we need to look at it through the lens of a child soldier. He had no moral compass whatsoever, by design. It was only when Winter Schnee, then a soldier in Atlas as well, was introduced to Jaune and saw how empty his life was, that she introduced him to her sister, Weiss. Everything Ironwood had Jaune do was for the purpose of creating the perfect soldier, but Jaune would eventually disobey when he ordered him to end his relationship with her by killing Weiss's dog. Jaune refused, Ironwood kicked him to the curb, and Ozpin took custody of him. Jaune had been rebelling in his own way, cutting off access to parts of his own spirit and Aura. It was the effort to undo this process that revealed that he carried out the mutilation and murder of Laurel Spott, a White Fang operative. When this process was complete, Jaune felt the full brunt of his horror and guilt, and attempted to take his own life, which I witnessed."

Her mother had questioned her about that the previous evening, and Blake had been ashamed to admit that she had wished that Pyrrha had failed to prevent his suicide. That wasn't the sort of person her mother had raised her to be, irrespective of what Jaune had done in his previous life.

"So, which is it?" the ram boy asked. "The soldier or the knight?"

She could do it. It occurred to Blake that she could whip up enough support that Ozpin would, at the very least, be forced to keep Jaune Arc far, far away from Beacon, or else risk permanent disruptions to the peace of the school.

Would that be justice?

"With everything I've seen, I can honestly say that I don't believe Jaune Arc to be a threat to the Faunus. The opposite, in fact. I think that, since being taken away from General Ironwood and placed under the mentorship of Ozpin and Sir Roland, he has grown to become someone of true conscience. I…I trust him, and believe me when I say that I never thought I'd say that. Ultimately, I think that if we wish to seek justice for those murdered and tortured in Atlas, we need to turn our attentions further north, to General Ironwood himself."

The room filled with murmurs and discussion once more, as the Faunus students digested her testimony. Blake looked to her mother, and received a proud smile, one that warmed her inside. It wasn't that her mother was particularly invested in the fate of the young human knight that pleased her, but rather, that Blake had spoken truth as best as she could see it. Whatever sort of justice would be built for Vale, it would be built on a foundation of truth. Such a foundation could weather any upheaval.

She just hoped that her friends never found out about it. No good could come of them finding out that she had ever spoken of Jaune Arc in such positive terms. None.

"Why is it always us?"

The brash, half-growled tone of Team SLVR's Lycan cut through the buzz of conversation, and drew Blake from her musing.

"What are we the ones who always have to be the bigger people, huh?" Lycan continued. His voice wavered as he spoke, a subtle trembling underneath the hard front that he projected with his tone. "Why are we always called on to forgive them? How can we forgive them?" He shook his head. "I grew up here. My Grandma raised me in Faunustown, and some of those humans that were marching on it? I recognize them." The Wolf Faunus took out his Scroll and, pointing it at the white board set behind Kali's desk. The photo that it displayed was one of several taken by civilian journalists that had scrambled to cover the human riot that broke out in the wake of Mountain Glenn.

"You see that guy, with the bat?" Lycan indicated one of the humans, an otherwise unassuming human male of middle years. "He runs the comic book store that I used to hang out at when I was a kid. Since I was running all over Vale anyway, he used to pay me to deliver comics to some of his customers. One time, he got his hands on a copy of "White Wolf," issue one. It was worth a lot of money, but he gave it to me on my eleventh birthday, just because he knew that that was my favorite superhero. Fast-forward seven years later, and that same man is doing this?! And that guy isn't the only human I recognized, either." He switched off his Scroll and wiped his eyes on his forearm. "Maybe we should have let them ship us all to Menagerie," he despaired. "How are we supposed to live with them if they're just going to turn on us?"

"What about your human team?" Velvet, Lycan's girlfriend, asked gently, laying a hand on his arm.

"The hell am I supposed to say to them? 'Sorry, Sin, know I haven't been around much, I'm just freaking out that my human friends could be sharpening knives behind my back?!'"

"Lycan…"

Kali watched the young man struggle with his emotions. Behind the anger was a powerful fear, one born of betrayal and hurt. She was reminded of another young man then, one full of promise and pain in equal measure. Kali didn't know if there had been any reaching Adam, even then, but if she had just done more, maybe…just maybe, things would have been different.

So, she rose from her seat, and began walking towards the amphitheater seating, then up the steps towards the young man. As she reached him, his eyes widened just before she gathered him into an embrace. He stiffened for a moment, but then his arms wrapped around her, and she felt as the tears began running freely, soaking into the front of her blouse.

"I know," she soothed. "There's a reason why your forebears fought against the attempts to consign us all to Menagerie. It's because they - and now you - had the right to live anywhere, in all the world. They had no right to confine us to Menagerie, as if we were some form of disease. You have every right to live here, in Vale. It is your home, just the same as any human who ever called it theirs, and no one has the right to drive you away from it. And I know it hurts," she said, stroking the boy's hair. "It hurts, and it will always hurt, and it seems like so much suffering for so little in return. But take a step back, and see just how much our people have changed the world. We fought, and slavery was abolished from all the world. We fought, and enforced our right to live freely anywhere in all the world, to declare Menagerie a home, not a prison. Two generations have grown to adulthood since, and we're so proud of you all. In you, we see all our hopes for the continuation of our people's Grand Work. Because there is still work to be done. One day, the Tyrants of Atlas will fall. The apartheid laws of Mistral will crumble to dust. The regimes of injustice will shatter, and in their place, you will build a shining future. A world of justice, a world of mercy, a world of freedom for any, and all. A world to bequeath to your own children, where they will grow to adulthood without ever knowing the terror of the mob, the torch, or the faces of their neighbors twisted to sneering hate."

Kali released Lycan and gently lifted his chin with her hand. His tears had run their course, and he looked up to her with red and bleary eyes. "You can build that future. All of you, together, you have that strength. But you must not succumb to despair. All the hopes of all our people who came before are embodied in you, a great and terrible responsibility."

Lycan blinked, wiping away the tears from his face with his arm. "I wasn't cryin' or nothin'," he muttered, embarrassed at the display of his raw emotion.

"Of course not, dear." Kali said kindly.

[/]

When he walked into the Beacon Academy cafeteria, Jaune could feel the weight of many eyes on him. He shrugged it off, supposing it to be the new armor that Weiss had ordered manufactured for him. Taking up a tray of food, he went to join his friends and teammates. Percival, who had now grown too large to fit on Weiss's lap, lay on the floor by her feet, half-dozing, only waking to snatch up any spilled food that might fall his way. Jaune noticed that Blake wasn't present, though he supposed that she was spending time with her mother.

"Hey," he said, by way of greeting, taking his seat next to Weiss. He heard Percival thump his tail against the ground, finding it too much bother to get up on his account.

Weiss kissed his cheek. "How was your class today?" she asked.

"Troubling, as always. But, I have a new assignment that will take me away from Beacon for a few days."

"You mean we have a new assignment that will take us away from Beacon for a few days," Nora corrected him.

"Because Weiss will murder us if you go off alone and get killed," added Pyrrha.

Jaune turned a bemused glance at Weiss. "They are right to fear me," she said, her tone lofty.

"So, what'd the boss ask you to do?" asked Yang.

"Well, Doctor Oobleck, he didn't have any next of kin. However, the rest of his team at Beacon - Team GOLD - are buried somewhere on the grounds at Château d'Arc, and his will requested his ashes be buried there with them. Ozpin asked me to ride out, and check on villages along the way. No one else has to come, but the Headmaster suggested it as a low-intensity way to get back into the swing of things."

"Pfft, like we're not coming with," scoffed Nora.

"I'm going on horseback," Jaune warned. Nora froze, her usual happy smile turned abruptly brittle.

"What?"

"Afraid so," he nodded gravely. "Me and Talos, ambling down the road, checking on villages along the way. If anyone's coming with me, they're either going on horseback themselves, or maybe riding in a cart." Nora began making a sound like a teakettle boiling, so Jaune turned to Ren. "Do you think your leg will be well enough for you to make this kind of trip? Unless I run into trouble, I'm expecting to spend two days on the road there, spend a day at the old estate, and then two days back."

Ren thought it over, absently reaching over to pat Nora's hand in comfort. "Well, I should be good to go for a while. Penny made my prosthetic pretty rugged. I can see what the Headmaster meant about some field testing - if something goes wrong, it's better that it do so on a pleasant ride through the countryside instead of in an intense fight. I think I'd prefer to ride on a cart for this trip, if that's all right."

"It shouldn't be a problem." Jaune nodded, then looked to Pyrrha. "Are you coming too, or are you going to stay with Nora?"

"I never said I wasn't going!" snapped Nora, drawing all eyes at the table back to her. She looked back and forth at the puzzled expressions of her friends. "What?"

"I mean, it's five days on the road, in close proximity to horses," Jaune explained gently. "I know you're afraid of horses, and I -"

"Well, maybe I love you more than I hate horses." Nora's cheeks, which were always ruddy, were even redder as she flushed with embarrassment. Truthfully, Jaune hadn't known that she could feel embarrassed. "Shut up. I'm going, and that's that."

"Fair enough, then," Jaune shrugged.

"I dunno if I'm invited, but I'll just say that I'm going to be busy with training for my part in the attack," Yang said. "Ruby might need some moral support, and…"

"And if Mercury attacks again, you want to help drive him off?" Pyrrha suggested.

Yang made a face. "I'm not…I mean, I know it's definitely a good idea to have Dad on hand to protect Rubes. No one can beat my Dad one-on-one," she said with pride. "But a part of me can't help but feel like I'm…like I'm running back to Dad and asking him to beat up the mean boy for me," she confessed.

"This is a bit more serious than a teenage romance gone sour," Jaune said. He was unsure how much, if anything, to tell her about what he'd learned about Mercury Black, and so decided to keep things vague. "He's a professional assassin, and he's targeted your sister. I don't think your father is just going to 'beat him up.' There's every possibility that Black won't go quietly, and your father will be forced to kill him. Are you sure that's the sort of thing you're ready to do again?"

Yang frowned. "I'm not weak."

"I never said you are," agreed Jaune. "But you've also been skimping on your conventional combat training, and what training you've done has been…listless."

Her violet eyes narrowed at him. "Are you spying on me, Arc?"

"No, I just asked Weiss and Blake every once in a while how you are. I do have to keep tabs on the team, so I know how each and every one of us has been coping with Mountain Glenn."

"Well, we're still two teams…" Yang trailed off as she realized how ridiculous that sounded, with Nora openly snorting. They'd been operating as an eight-person squad more or less since Initiation, and Mountain Glenn effectively made that arrangement permanent through bonds of blood and war. She huffed. "Well, what do you think I should do, O shiny one?"

Jaune shrugged. "Let your father do his job. Support your sister as she recovers, focus on getting yourself into a better headspace, and if Mercury attacks again while you're there, prioritize getting Ruby to safety over fighting him yourself. Ozpin says that Black is no match for your father, but if he manages to get one or both of you as hostages, the entire dynamic of the fight would change."

Yang frowned and stabbed a carrot on her plate with perhaps a bit more force than was strictly necessary. "Bleh." She didn't want to admit that that sounded pretty sensible, so she turned her attention to Weiss. "Well, what about you, then? Gonna go on a long, romantic ride through the countryside?"

Weiss sighed "I wish I could, but there's still so much to do. What if something goes wrong?"

"Well, why don't you just call it a stress test?" suggested Nora.

"What?"

"A stress test," the ginger girl repeated. "Like with Ren and his leg, or Pyrrha with her Semblance. If something goes wrong, better it does so now, right? I mean, unless you're gonna quit being a Huntress, then all those fancy-pants businesses are gonna have to get used to running themselves while you're on a mission. Better to get the kinks out now, yeah?" She looked around, then narrowed her turquoise eyes at her friends. "All right, y'all need to stop being surprised when I have good ideas."

Weiss looked at her Jaune, and her resistance melted. Maybe it was a little selfish of her, but Nora's suggestion was just plausible enough for her to be able to justify slipping away with Jaune, seeing his family's homeland, and learning more about the heritage that had been stolen from him. Progress on the Apollyon was proceeding apace, and if something happened, Winter was more than capable of ironing out administrative hiccups in her own particular idiom. The supply chain of Gravity Dust from Mistral was solid, and Silaris Defense Solutions was running the factory floor night and day to produce the material for the orders they already had. She had managers in place to oversee construction, engineers and technicians piecing together the Apollyon and monitoring the Sunstrider…all told, it probably really was the ideal opportunity for her to slip the yoke of her growing tech empire and hit the road.

She smiled up at Jaune. "Room for one more?"

[/]

Oscar Pine had certainly seen worse set-ups than Sir Roland's equine ranch. Of course, to have a stable and pasture that clean meant that hands like him had to keep it clean, and so Oscar had spent that morning scooping out prodigious quantities of horse poo from the stalls. Lunch was served in generous portions, though he noticed that his own was a bit larger than everyone else's. Why did adults keep looking at him like he was some kind of starving orphan?

Oh. Right.

The man's granddaughter, a brunette girl named Rowan, had actually squeed at the sight of him, fussing over him and asking her grandfather if they would keep him. Oscar huffed. He wasn't adorable! He was a warrior, a great hero in the making!

He was still a little miffed as he went about doing odd jobs around the ranch that afternoon. His annoyance dissolved as Sir Roland told him that Sir Jaune was on the way. Not that Sir Roland wasn't great and all, but as he himself had noted, he was very old. Sir Jaune was only around five-and-a-half years older than himself, and from the somewhat breathless way Rowan had described him, he was apparently quite the sight.

"There he is, boy." Sir Roland said from beside him. "Looks like he brought his team as well."

Well, it wasn't hard to pick out which one was the knight. Sir Jaune d'Arc was tall, over six feet, and clad in gleaming armor, complete with a white cape. He was on foot, though, leading a truly enormous white horse by the reins. Atop the horse was an orange-haired girl, whose expression looked like she was visibly stopping herself from jumping down and running away, while to either side of the horse, a black-haired man and a woman with blood-red hair and bronze armor chatted away amiably with each other.

Jaune helped Nora down from Talos's back, hefting her up and placing her feet on the ground. "See?" he said, giving her a reassuring smile. "He's not evil. He barely noticed you on his back at all."

Nora muttered under her breath, wrapping her arms around herself. Jaune knew better than to ask her if she was sure she wanted to come along, letting Ren see to her. He clapped her on her shoulder, then went to speak to Sir Roland.

The old knight quirked an eyebrow as he saw him in his new armor. "Nice harness," he said by way of greeting.

"Weiss had it made for me," answered Jaune. "I do have some stable business to see to, though."

"Is that right?"

Jaune nodded. "Ozpin has a mission for me, to take the ashes of one of the Huntsmen who fell at Mountain Glenn to be interred with the rest of his team - both of my parents and their teammate. They're buried on the grounds at Château d'Arc, somewhere. I'm heading out on Talos, and check on the villages between here and there, and I've got some of my team coming with me."

Sir Roland crossed his arms. "Oh? So what do you need?"

"I'm looking to rent a cart and a draft horse to pull it. A trail riding horse, saddled, with a good, calm temperament for a single rider. Feed for five days. Oh, and Weiss would like your people to ensure that Gossamer is ready for a five-day trip. I'll handle the bill for my team, and Weiss would like you to send her the invoice for her horse's care. We'll be heading out in the morning."

The older knight grunted. "Sounds reasonable enough. And the folk down south will be glad to see a knight ranging the roads."

"Ozpin thought so as well. It's also a good way for my team to ease back into action. Mountain Glenn left a lot of scars."

Sir Roland scoffed in amusement. "You don't say. You just can't help diving headlong into insanity, can you? Still, this seems a simple enough task, and my people will have your team's horses and supplies ready to go before morning. Now, I called you here for a reason. Boy!"

Jaune jumped, puzzled why Sir Roland was calling for him when he was right there. It occurred to him, belatedly, that he wasn't 'boy' any longer, and sure enough, a small, scrawny boy in homespun garb stepped forward. "This is Oscar Pine. He ventured here from Mistral, looking to become a knight. I'd be inclined to take him on as a squire, but he's completely untrained. The boy needs a younger, fitter teacher."

Jaune felt as though he'd been doused in ice water, and he looked at his mentor in shock. "Are you mad?" he blurted. He noticed that the boy winced, and he sighed. "Look…Oscar, is it?" When the boy nodded, Jaune continued. "I don't mean to slight you, and in better times, I'd give it serious consideration. But what you need to understand is that I get sent out on the most dangerous missions in Vale. Mountain Glenn, the battle that saw me knighted? That was a full day and night of hard, bloody fighting, and even well-trained Huntsmen and Huntresses were pushed to the brink by it."

The boy met his gaze for the first time, and when he spoke, his voice was steady. "I'm not afraid."

"Then you don't understand," Jaune shot back. "I'm in the midst of fighting a war. It's not fun, and it's nothing to be taken lightly. It's bad enough to see my team taken into peril; I won't bring an untrained child into that sort of madness."

"If you train me, I won't be untrained," Oscar pointed out. Sir Roland chuckled, drawing an irritated look from Jaune.

"Really?" Jaune griped.

The older knight shrugged. "He's not wrong."

Jaune facepalmed. "Okay, Oscar. Let's say that I take you on as a squire, and two months from now, we're hip-deep in Grimm. It's possible, Sir Roland is not wrong about my tendency to get into trouble. How, in all the world, could you possibly be well-trained enough in that time to have any chance of survival?"

"And what if you die?" the boy asked.

"What?"

"Sir Roland says that there are only two knights worth anything left, and he's too old to train a squire from the ground up. So, if you die, because you're always up to your neck in fighting, then what happens to the Knights of Vale afterwards? Isn't it better to have a back-up?"

Jaune narrowed his eyes at the boy. "You're not slow, I'll give you that." He sighed once more, deeply. "Look, Signal Academy, over on Patch, is enrolling students in a few months. Go there, get basic training for a few years, and then, when you're seventeen, you can come back and try again. If I'm dead by then, I'm sure Sir Roland would be more than willing to complete the specialized training of a knight, just as he did for me."

"But he's old!" Oscar protested. "I won't be seventeen for four more years, and he could just die before then!"

"Standing right here," Sir Roland remarked, his tone dry.

"I'm sorry," Jaune said, shaking his head. "But I've made so many mistakes, many horrible, horrible mistakes. I won't add a hapless boy to the pile of bodies I've left in my wake. Good luck to you, Oscar. Perhaps we will meet again, in happier days. I'll see you in the morning, Sir Roland."

Oscar watched as Sir Jaune turned back to his friends, the golden double crescents of the young knight's house shimmering against the white armorweave of his cape. He sighed.

"I guess that's it, then," he said.

"Possibly…but there may be one more attempt you can make, if you're willing to take a chance," mused Sir Roland.

"What do you mean?"

Sir Roland grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and told the young boy his plan.

[/]

Lycan Arcadia took a deep breath, running his hand through his spiked blonde hair before unlocking the door to Team SLVR's dorm room. Pushing it open, he saw his three human teammates gathered around. Sinmin Megistus, the team's leader, with his easygoing, laid-back kind of charisma to him. Vella Moisia, practically a human sugar cookie, adorable and awkward. Ragora Cinarum, who could be aloof and mysterious, but with a wicked humor.

He felt a little embarrassed that he'd ever felt suspicious of them. They were his team, his friends. Sin was practically his brother from another mother. Lycan wondered if the team would ever be the same. Still, Kali Belladonna had said that true friendship was built on truth, and he needed to tell them what had been bothering him in the weeks since the riot. He needed to trust that they would at least try to understand, and the only way to know was to let them know what had been eating away at him ever since the riot.

"Um, hey guys," he said, feeling decidedly awkward. "Can we talk?"

[/]

Team RWBY met once again that evening. The doctors had wanted to keep Ruby at the infirmary for a few more days to observe her brain waves, and make certain that she wouldn't relapse, a caution born of the unexplained nature of her ailment. Ruby was up and walking now, her normal hyperactivity gradually reasserting herself as she paced back and forth across the hospital room. Weiss shared a knowing look with her teammates; with Ruby up and at 'em once more, there was no way that Beacon's medical staff would be able to keep her there for three more days. Something would have to give, and it would either be the infirmary's walls, or the staff's own sanity.

Weiss had just finished informing Ruby and Blake of her decision to accompany Jaune and his team to his family home, and Ruby was torn between being annoyed that she couldn't go with them and being annoyed that Weiss was heading out for five days just as she, herself, was recovering.

"Don't be like that, Rubes," Yang chastised her sister. "She's been busting her butt for weeks now, and she could use a little break."

"Oh," Ruby's face fell. "It's a little hard for me to keep that in mind. For me, we were just at Mountain Glenn the other day. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Ruby." Weiss smiled at her partner. "I'm just glad that you're back awake. I wouldn't have gone if you were still out, but you've got Yang and your father."

"Yeah..you'll take pictures for me?"

"Of course."

The girls chatted together about less important matters - school assignments, the latest gossip, the new outfits and kit that the other three girls had picked up during the previous weeks - before a nurse told them that visiting hours were over, and they needed to let the patient get her sleep. The three girls made their way back to their team's dorm room, and Weiss set about packing supplies for her upcoming mission.

The girls looked up from their respective activities when they heard a knock at the door. Blake was closest, so she went to open it, revealing her mother. "Oh, hello dear. I just wanted to tell you again how proud I am of how you handled yourself today."

"Huh? Did something happen today?" Yang asked.

Blake coughed into her hand, awkwardly. "Oh, just, you know, something of a get-together. I had to do some public speaking."

"Oof. That's rough," Yang commiserated.

Weiss set down her bag and walked over to stand next to Blake. "Excuse me, Miss Belladonna," she said. "So you're aware, Sir Jaune and his team will be out of town for a few days, patrolling the roads and villages to the south of the city. While he works to ensure the safety of the people of Vale, he will understandably be unavailable to be threatened with legal action. I'm sure you'll understand." She gave the older woman a smile that was all teeth.

Kali smiled indulgently at the Schnee girl. "You do know that I don't have jurisdiction here, don't you?"

Weiss froze. "What?"

She laughed. "You really do need a break, if that hasn't occurred to you yet." She shook her head as the Schnee girl sputtered. "Your knight has nothing to fear from me. After all, my little Blake said that she trusts him."

Poor Weiss was now utterly lost, and she stared at her Faunus teammate. "What?"

Blake's ears lowered as she flushed in embarrassment. "Mom! You can't just tell people that!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear," Kali apologized, clearly not sorry in the least. "It's just that, with you telling people that you felt he had become 'someone of true conscience,' I thought you were fond of him. That's quite the endorsement, after all."

"You really said that?" asked Weiss.

"Mo-om!" Blake whined. She pulled the drawstrings on her hoodie and hid within her hood. "That still doesn't make us friends!" she wailed in despair as Weiss embraced her.

[/]

To say that things were amiss at the White Fang's High Command would be the understatement of the century. Every last independent cell, which had operated with no knowledge of the activities of the other cells, had been completely blindsided by the actions of Adam Taurus and his Vale cell. If there was any common value held between people, human or Faunus, it was that their own fighting with one another ended at the line between the living and the Grimm. Veteran operatives, who had been utterly reliable for over a decade, were now openly questioning the ultimate purpose of their orders, wondering if they had been preparing to unleash Grimm upon the Kingdoms as a whole. Law enforcement agencies in every country in the world had taken one look at the video that that fucking Jaune Arc had plastered all over Vale, and the fear of the White Fang bringing Grimm upon them made them public enemy number one. Desertion was rampant, some were even turning traitor on the White Fang and volunteering information to police departments, and Ghira Belladonna had made an ominous statement suggesting that even Menagerie - Menagerie! - was evaluating potential action against the White Fang.

Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang, and the person left holding the bag after Taurus's insane crusade, was beyond furious. Yes, she had passed merely "furious" sometime ago, and now her mood had plummeted in the realm of the barely-controllably murderous. She fought down a sneer as she looked upon the girl who knelt before her, head lowered in contrite submission, as well she fucking should. Distantly, Sienna recalled a much younger Ghira Sylvestris speaking enthusiastically about building a world where no one, human or Faunus, would ever be made to kneel again.

Simple-minded naivety. The world he dreamed of was the innocent abstraction of an impossibly-idealistic boy, and Sienna Khan dealt with the world as it was, not as a child might wish it to be. The world in which they lived was one where the strong ruled, and the weak knelt. The only question was if one was doing the ruling or the kneeling. That simpering, giggling imbecile, Kali Belladonna, could prattle on about 'sapient rights' until she was blue in the face. The truth of the world was that beings only had rights that they had the power to enforce. And so Sienna Khan and her White Fang would bring the human kingdoms to heel. Not out of any personal animosity, or from some simple-minded notion of 'right or wrong,' but because the ruthless calculus of international realpolitik demanded that there be a winner and a loser, and ruler and a ruled.

Sienna Khan didn't concern herself with petty notions of morality. She did, however, place a high value on pragmatism and the intelligent conduct of her war. By that metric, Taurus's actions in Vale were a complete disgrace, and this girl, Illia Amitola, was complicit in that failure.

"Illia Amitola," she growled. "I demand answers as to this…debacle, and for your sake, you had best have them."

Illia gulped, daring to raise her eyes just a bit, and wincing at the expression she saw on the High Leader's face. Sienna Khan was intimidating at the best of times, and it was extremely evident that those were not those times. Her golden eyes blazed with barely-constrained fury, the effect enhanced by the tiger stripes that she had tattooed onto her skin, to accentuate the tiger ears upon her head. "High Leader…Adam Taurus led the Vale cell into ruin. He was approached by a human, a woman, who controlled the Grimm through some kind of…implant, in her arm. He saw their potential as a weapon, and became obsessed with it."

Sienna frowned. The so-called 'Enhanced Grimm' were apparently the result of a human's experiments, one Doctor Merlot, but nothing in any of the reports had mentioned a human woman controlling them. Typical, that the humans would plaster the White Fang all over the act, while hiding information on one of their own setting the entire thing up. Somehow, just when Sienna thought that she couldn't possibly loathe Adam Taurus any more than she already did, she learned something else that managed to incite new, heretofore-unknown levels of hatred that defied all categorization. Some human - and this had Ironwood all over it - had laid the perfect bait for the White Fang to thoroughly alienate and discredit them from all sympathizers, even Menagerie, and Taurus had taken the bait hook, line, and sinker.

"You apparently saw the danger in this, given the existence of your splinter cell," Sienna hissed. "And yet you did not think to inform High Command of this plot?"

"I didn't have the codes -"

"Excuses!" Sienna cut her off. "You were aware of Taurus's activities for months, and the first I learn of it was when Ironwood's pet killer broadcasts it to the whole world?! Had I been made aware, I could have mitigated the damage, but now, because you lacked the initiative to contact High Command yourself, the humans have been set on high alert against us, Menagerie itself is distancing from us, and the White Fang hangs by a thread. The White Fang is all that stands between us and the genocidal extirpation of our entire people! You have not only failed me, you have not only failed the White Fang, but you have failed your entire race."

"I…I…" stammered Illia.

"Enough of your feeble whimpering. You will return to Vale. You will uncover whatever information the humans are hiding about their involvement with the Enhanced Grimm, and bring actionable evidence to me. Then you will hunt down Adam Taurus, kill him, and bring me his head. Is that understood?"

Illia stared at her. "His head?"

Sienna stared down at her. "It is either his head or yours. Either way, you will not fail me again."

[/]

They gathered in the hallway outside of their dorm rooms well before dawn, hefting their packs, ready to set out for the ranch and acquire their transportation. Jaune was a young Knight and Huntsman who prided himself on being prepared for any number of situations that might arise, handling them with practiced ease and forethought.

He was not prepared for the sight of Weiss Schnee in tight riding breeches.

The young Schnee girl had donned a decidedly more practical outfit than he had seen her wear before. Instead of wedges or heels, she wore black, knee-high riding boots. Her usual, frilly dress was replaced by a tight, high-collared royal blue jacket, folded left over right in deference to her left-handedness, and accented with silver piping. And instead of her usual poofy skirts of frills and crinoline, she wore white riding breeches, with a royal blue stripe down each leg.

One word came to Jaune's mind, and that word was "hips." Those hips canted to one side as she tossed her hair back, pretending not to be pleased at Jaune's poleaxed expression. "I figured that a little change of attire would not be remiss," she offered by way of explanation. "I trust you approve?"

Jaune made a sound that was almost words.

Weiss giggled. "Well said. Now come along, we must get an early start on today's ride." She turned and walked down the hall, Jaune's eyes practically glued to her perfect, perky heart-shaped rear-end.

"I kinda wanna flick a lien card at it and see if it'll bounce off," Nora said, breaking the trance of the rump-enraptured Jaune. He shook his head rapidly, feeling his cheeks burn.

"Let's just, uh, let's get going."

"Somebody's been busted," Pyrrha teased, with a sing-song tone.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response." Jaune sniffed haughtily as his team shared a laugh at his expense.

The sun was just beginning to tease the horizon when the team reached Sir Roland's horse ranch. A few of the old knight's hired hands helped Jaune's friends get the carts and mounts set up, with Nora loading the team's packs into the back of the small cart that she and Ren would drive on the trip. Weiss cooed happily at her palfrey mare, Gossamer, the horse that she adopted after the beast's previous owner was slain in the attack on Beacon. She led her horse out into the yard, where she started showing Pyrrha how to brush the animals.

"Just make sure that there's no dirt or debris in her coat that could irritate her with the saddle on," Weiss instructed her. "And of course, you must tell her that she is a good horse, and a pretty horse."

Pyrrha shrugged and made to imitate the white-haired girl. "Er…good horse? Pretty horse?" Pyrrha liked animals well enough, she supposed, but nothing like the way Weiss's eyes lit up with unabashed joy whenever she was around one of her animal friends. Nora was like that too, just with the exception of horses. Besides her friendship with Jaune's dog, Percival, she had also made the acquaintance of a pet bird that Winter Schnee had somehow come into possession of. The small black bird had landed on Winter's shoulder during one of Yang and Ruby's spars, and Nora had asked the soldier if she could play with her bird. Winter had had an amused twinkle in her eye as she had assented, and while the bird had squawked indignantly, it hadn't tried to escape or flee as Nora delicately cradled it in her hands, singing a happy, wordless song as she stroked the feathers.

Pyrrha looked on, bemused, as Weiss heaped praise upon the horses for their supposed very fine qualities of horsiness. Pyrrha had done a photoshoot from atop a horse before, but nothing so involved as this. She paid close attention as Weiss showed her what to look for to make sure their hooves were fine, and then how to put the saddle and other equipment on the horse. When Weiss had pronounced both mounts to be in fine condition, Pyrrha carefully swung into the saddle. Fortunately, the horse that Jaune had picked out for her seemed very patient, coping with her initial awkward attempts at learning the basic commands with a sort of long-suffering, equine good humor.

She and Weiss ambled over towards the rest of their friends. "How is she?" Jaune asked Weiss, nodding towards Pyrrha.

"Well, don't expect her to fight in the saddle, but she should be fine for a simple ride down the road," she answered. "I can show her how to go at faster speeds along the way, in case we have to run."

The knight nodded. "Good. Nora?"

"I'm fine," she answered, a touch of annoyance in her tone.

"All right. I'll take point with Percival, then Ren, you and Nora follow, and Weiss and Pyrrha can take the rear. Anyone forgot anything at Beacon, then this is your absolute last chance. Once we're off, we're not turning back for anything short of an emergency." Jaune looked around, seeing the various nods and shrugs of assent. "All right, let's go."

Jaune set off atop Talos at a comfortable walk, Percival trotting along beside the long, powerful legs of the Destrier. Ren and Nora were next, with Ren driving the cart and Nora doing her best to pretend that it was being pulled along by some kind of giant, friendly land sloth. Weiss and Nora brought up the rear, with Weiss giving Pyrrha advice about how to sit the saddle more comfortably. The group quickly left Sir Roland's ranch behind, and it wasn't long before they had turned onto the wide dirt road leading south-west.

They had gone a mile down the road when they were joined by an unexpected guest.

"Hello!" Oscar Pine called cheerfully as he hefted his pitchfork over his shoulder and began walking alongside the convoy.

"Oscar?" asked Jaune, recognizing the clever boy that he'd spoken to the previous day. "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

Jaune felt his eye twitch. "I see that. Why are you just so happening to be walking here, on the road my team and I are taking?"

"Last I heard, there's no law saying I can't walk on the road."

"Do you even know where this road is going?"

"South?"

"And what do you think you'll find to the south?"

Oscar pondered as he walked. "Southern…things?"

Jaune sighed.

"Hey Jaune, who is this boy?" Ren asked.

"This is Oscar. He's one of Sir Roland's stablehands," Jaune answered. "He was asking me about becoming a squire yesterday, and somehow, he just happened to find himself walking down this road at the same time that we are."

"It's a mystery to everyone," agreed Oscar.

"Well, why don't you train him?" Pyrrha asked. "You've been on this recruitment drive for more knights, and look, someone wants to learn!"

"Emphasis on someone who actually wants to be a knight," Ren couldn't resist throwing in.

"Your friends make an excellent point," Oscar said.

"Quiet, you."

"You know, unless you officially take me on as your squire, I don't actually have to listen to you."

Jaune felt his eye twitch again. "Look, Oscar is completely untrained," he explained to his friends. "You all know, more than anyone else, just what kind of bloody mayhem we get up to. I can't take some untrained boy into that, you must see that."

"You know if you train him, he won't be untrained," Nora pointed out.

"Thank you!" Oscar raised his hands to the sky. "That's what I said!"

"And I said that there's no way you can catch up on years of extensive combat training in a close enough timeframe to survive any of the battles that are coming our way. What am I going to tell your parents when you get killed trying to follow in my footsteps?"

"Well, sir, if you can manage to talk to my parents at all, I'd be really impressed. They're both dead."

They rode on in silence for a long moment.

"Why do you even want to be a knight anyway?" Jaune finally asked him.

"I was living with my aunt up in Ansel, a village north of Mistral," Oscar said. "One day, the Grimm fell on us. Apparently, not enough Huntsmen. They killed my aunt, and a bunch of other folk, but I killed some too, with this pitchfork of mine. I mean, I was scared…really scared, but when the time came to run and save myself, or fight and try to save other people, I guess I just chose to fight. Afterwards, I went to Mistral to try to become a Huntsman, but Haven Academy is closed. I saw…well, I saw you guys on television, when you were knighted after that big scuffle went down at Mountain Glenn. I came here, and Sir Roland said that he would've trained me, but for him being too old for straight-up combat training. So, here we are."

Jaune slumped in the saddle, practically feeling Ren and Nora bore holes in his back with their gaze. Oscar's story was quite similar to theirs, but at least they had had each other. All Oscar had was a flimsy pitchfork, a need to protect others, and…well, himself as a sort of role model.

He sighed deeply, then held up his fist, signaling the convoy to come to a halt. "Look," he said to Oscar. "This isn't a yes. But I'll let you tag along, and see just how dangerous even a low-intensity mission of ours can be. I'm pretty sure that by the time we get back to Sir Roland's ranch, you'll be ready to be rid of us. Now go hop in the back of the damn cart, before my friends all murder me for making the small orphan boy wear out his shoes on the road."

Nora, of course, was all smiles as she greeted her fellow orphan. "Hi!" she chirped brightly. "I'm Nora! This is Ren."

Ren just nodded.

"We're orphans too," she explained. "Jauney over there is too, but he's being a butt."

"I'm not being a butt, I'm being responsible!" protested said butt.

"Over there is Weiss, and next to her is Pyrrha. Oh, and that's Percival, over by Jaune's horse."

"Arf!"

"Oh, um…hello." Oscar wasn't used to being around so many people, especially so many beautiful women.

"Right." Jaune nodded. "Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get moving again." As they set off down the road once more, he spoke up again. "Well, let me tell you what I can about what happened about Mountain Glenn, and why I don't want to shove some kid into that kind of abattoir."

Oscar listened intently as Jaune began to speak of the deadly mission that had become his claim to fame. It sounded dangerous, sure, but they had all made a real difference, right? They had discovered a serious threat to the city, and stopped it in its tracks. Who knew how many people they had saved because of what they did? What better way to make their time alive really count then to do such incredible things?

Jaune could only sigh deeply once more as he saw that, contrary to his intent, Oscar only grew more and more fired up the more he spoke.

Why did he get the feeling that Sir Roland was laughing at him?

[/]

Chapter Endnotes: "The world we need is a world of mercy." You know, I dump on the end of Game of Thrones a lot - and for good reason - but that line, one that Jon Snow spoke to Danaerys Targaryen, really stuck with me. What does justice look like? To what ends will you be willing to go to attain it? When can we forgive? Can we forgive? Is redemption even possible, or is it merely centering the guilty feelings of the oppressor over the blood of the oppressed?

There can be no reconciliation without truth.

Blake spoke the truth as best as she saw it, as objectively as she could, and admitted that she genuinely feels that Jaune is not a threat to the Faunus in general, and has become someone she can trust. The truth of Jaune's actions in Atlas - and his circumstances - are becoming more well-known. How will others react? Lycan faced the true causes of his sudden distance from his human friends, and decided to come clean to them about why he was behaving that way. In contrast, Ruby kept the whole truth of her capture to herself, fearing the loss of trust and regard from the team that, it can be argued, suffered due to her impulsive actions throwing the plan at Mountain Glenn into disarray.

Some other notes.

Winter spilled some Star Trek into my fantasy knight story.

Single parents of the world, unite! Also, Qrow does not do small-talk, and was more relieved than annoyed at Tai's faux pas.

Qrow makes the case for rational self-preservation to Emerald.

I had entirely too much fun writing Oscar as having a good head on his shoulders, and having his youthful impatience tempered by good old common sense.

Sienna Khan, Sienna Khan…Being entirely blunt, the canon depiction of the White Fang is a racist caricature of a civil rights group. Really, it is. The writers made the only civil rights group in the world act like literal ISIS, with spooky shrines and a throne surrounded by lit torches. So I figured, for this story, instead of radically re-tooling the White Fang, I'd just make the subtext text: the White Fang is illustrative of a deep-seated anxiety that marginalized people will seize power and build power dynamics that operate off of the same logic that had oppressed them to oppress others in turn. It's a view of power as a zero-sum game, and is a thoroughly nasty way to see the world.

To be clear: dismantling systems of white supremacy is not the right thing to do because non-white people aren't on top at this moment in history; it's the right thing to do because it is a power structure that is inherently inimical to human dignity and potential. Hell, change a few things with the results of Zheng He's voyages and some priorities of the Ming court, and I could well be writing about dismantling systems of Sino supremacy.

And yes, this has a place in RWBY and RWBY fanfiction because the writers made a world where a race of partially-animal people are systematically oppressed in ways that evoke American racial conflict, and then essentially wrote a message that fighting for your rights is a slippery slope to becoming Furry ISIS. They did that, not me. Hell, they made literal, actual Black Panthers into pacifists! If they didn't want this sort of stuff in their lore, then they should have been a little more careful about the history that they evoked in their cartoon. As it is, the young Faunus in this story - Blake, Sun, Velvet, Lycan, Illia - are going to find their own way. They may be informed by the idealism of Kali and Ghira, but they are certainly no pacifists.

There was originally more to this chapter, but I hit 25k words, thought "Do I really want to go into Christmas writing this one chapter? Is anyone even going to read a chapter that long?" and decided to hold off on the actual Team JNPR plus Weiss and Oscar road trip, with some more side-plots, for the next chapter.

As always, thank you all for reading! Merry Christmas, stay safe from the plague, and see you in the next chapter!

Love,

Mahina