The group sat scattered around the several couches in the lobby.
Yang was laying on one with her legs propped up on the couch's arm with her hands behind her head. Her hair spilled over the side and barely touched the floor. Nora and Ren shared a couch with their hands on top of the each other, slightly pulled back as if to show secrecy.
Jaune and Qrow sat on the longest couch, but were on the far ends of it. Qrow was staring into space with his hands hanging on either side of him and Jaune had his arms crossed. Both had a neutral and partially vacant face.
Weiss and Blake each had a single cushioned chair that faced the other one oppositely. Weiss had her legs properly crossed and Blake was leaning back with closed eyes.
Not a single word passed through anyone's lips, so only the quiet ticking of the clock and a couple of occasionally occurring footsteps from workers were audible.
It had been nearly three hours since Ruby and Oscar had gone in and no one had come out yet. Not even news about the progression of the procedure had come, so it took a good lot of patience. Resting on couches was not a bad way to utilize the time, though. As training huntsmen and huntresses, rest was always warmly welcomed.
Just then, Yang's scroll began vibrating. It wasn't a single vibration, which meant a text, but several in a row that didn't stop. Yang grabbed it out of her pocket and looked at the screen.
"It's my dad," she said, slightly surprised. Her finger hovered over the pick-up button, but then she hesitated.
"Why aren't you picking up?" Nora asked.
"I don't know," Yang said, "I guess I've just been worried about what he might say about you-know-what."
The scroll continued vibrating and then stopped. Shortly after, it began vibrating again. Qrow glanced at her and then back at wherever he had been before.
"Might as well," he mumbled, "He deserves to know about it."
Yang shrugged. Then she slid her finger over the pick up button and held it up to her ear, amidst her thick hair.
"Hey, Yang!" he greeted cheerfully, "How goes it with the team?"
"Uhh..," Yang began, "It goes fine, I guess. Why are you calling right now? We're a little busy." She mentally laughed at her own lie. They weren't exactly busy at all right now.
"Ooooh...I see. Busy doing what?"
"Something a little secret and very important," Yang replied, "We don't have a lotta time, so what's up?"
"I just wanted to check on my girls. How are both of you?"
"We're...well, we're okay," Yang said, "We've had a lot of crazy things happen, but don't worry. We're fine."
"I sensed hesitation in your first answer...How are you two really?"
"Uh, Dad we're seriously fine!" Yang grumbled, "I literally just said that. Stop worrying!"
"What, so I can't worry about my girls? You guys are miles away facing Grimm and separation and all kinds of scary garbage. I know you two can handle stuff like that, especially with your team and all, but it's still dangerous."
"Yeah, we know," Yang said, "And we decided to go and do all that anyway. We're fine right now, alright? You don't have to ask any more questions."
She heard Tai sigh on the other end of the phone.
"Alright. Whatever you say, Yang. I just miss you two a lot. I want you both to know that I'm always here if you need me. Daddy's always here."
Yang felt a stab of guilt.
"Sorry about being so snappy," she sighed, "I'm just not in the best mood right now. Things've been a little rough lately."
"Ah, got it. It's alright, sweetie."
"Thanks Dad."
"No problem. Have any idea about when you and Ruby are going to come and visit? It's getting lonely over here."
"It might be kinda soon, actually. We were making plans on doing that at some point."
"Oh, cool! Sounds good!"
"Yep."
"Can I talk to Ruby now, then?"
Yang was about to give Ruby her scroll when she realized that Ruby was currently with Oscar or something. She wasn't available at the moment.
"She's not exactly available right now," Yang answered, "Sorry. She's off...fighting...with some of the others."
"Hm. Alright then. If that's all, then I'll just hang up."
"Okay. Bye, Dad."
"Bye sweetie! See you later."
Then the scroll call hung up and Yang slid it back into her pocket. She reclined herself more comfortably and put her hands behind her head again.
"Are you...mad at your dad or something?" Jaune asked after a moment. Yang opened her eyes and turned her head towards him.
"What? No, not at all. Why would you think that?" she said. She didn't seem angry at all.
Jaune just shrugged and then winced as a small section of his shoulder blade pinched his arm at just the right angle.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Qrow asked. Yang let out a loud, long yawn.
"I dunno," she said carelessly, "I guess it just didn't come up."
Qrow grunted something under his breath and then resumed his state of staring mindlessly into nothingness. Another hour passed. Then another. And then yet another. They found themselves getting a little hungry, so they found a miniature cafeteria a few doors down in a hallway that a secretary lead them to.
As they ate, a thought occurred to one of them.
"Hey guys?" Yang said, "Do you guys wanna go shopping."
"Shopping?" Jaune repeated questioningly.
"Yeah, shopping!" Yang said with an eager grin, "Y'know, for new clothes and stuff. To upgrade our unsurely appearances!"
"Unsurely appearances?" Nora asked.
"Yeah," Yang said, "We've been wearing the same outfits for like...I dunno, a long time! We outta get some new ones and maintain some serious huntress-er-and huntsmen appearances!"
"Oooh!" Nora marveled, "I like that idea! Count me in, Yang!"
"I suppose that sounds reasonable," Blake admitted, "So I'll come too. Adam sliced my coat off, so it's been a lot colder for me lately."
"Yeah, you don't really fit the look..," Yang almost winced, although she was really just joking.
"Let's just all go," Jaune said, standing up, "I'm sure there are plenty of clothing stores around here."
"Let's go, then!" Nora cheered. They left the building and, after searching for only about six minutes, quickly found a decent store for what they were looking for. It had plenty of customizable-on-the-spot outfits and detailed ones, as well as hundreds of accessories.
"Hey Blake!" Yang called from the dressing room, "How does this one look?" She skipped out of the room wearing an extremely tight leather body suit with a ton of zippers and pockets. It was practically a skin suit made of shiny leather.
"No, Yang," Blake laughed, "That looks just awful."
"I know, I know!" Yang guffawed "Who in their right mind would wear this?!"
Weiss emerged from her room a number of times, each time wearing something very similar to the last. It was either different in a minor color pattern or by some miniscule detail.
Finally, she found one she wanted.
"Woah, Wiess," Yang commented, "That makes ya look kinda bulky. I like the boots, though."
"Gee, thanks," Wiess grunted with a glare.
"I think it looks nice," Jaune offered, "Are you gonna do anything about your hair?"
Weiss pulled her long ponytail to the front and bounced its weight in her hand with a thoughtful look.
"I need to contain it since its grown so much..," she thought out loud.
"How did you grow so much hair in the last while?!" Yang asked, "It took me nearly 8 years of never cutting my hair to get this thick mop." She flicked her hair as an indication.
"I really don't know," Weiss answered, "Maybe it's because of the care I received at the manor."
"For like, a day?" Yang said, "Cuz that makes amazing sense."
"Ugh, just shut up," Wiess retorted with an eye roll.
It was when they returned with full bellies and completely different outfits each did they see Ruby and Oscar waiting in front of the desk where the two doors were behind it.
"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed as they walked over.
"Oscar!" Nora exploded before blurring towards him at light speed. Oscar's eyes widened and he backed up, waving his hands in front of his face to signal his fear.
"No, no, no, wait!" he cried. He was too late though, as Nora had completely pounced him like a cat to a small mouse. This was funny because he was a good four to five inches taller than her and twice as strong and broad.
Ruby giggled at this, her stomach slightly moving as she did.
Nora stood up, yanking Oscar by his shoulders with her.
"How did things go?!" she asked, voice filled with eagerness and extreme anxiety, "I-Is this...really...Oscar..?"
Everyone else stared at Ruby for an answer to Nora's question.
"Well, hehe," Ruby said, "It went good, so this is Oscar."
"Yaaaaayyy!" Nora rejoiced. She crushed Oscar in a hug by leaping up to his height and squeezing him tightly with her arms around him.
"Erk..!" he gasped, falling backwards. They crashed onto the ground in a heap with Nora laughing.
"Oof," Yang cringed.
"What about Oz?" Qrow asked. His hands were in his pockets and his back was slightly slouched.
"We, uh, we don't know yet," Ruby admitted, "But I think we can assume he's in the, um, new subject or whatever. He hasn't woken up yet, so we don't know..."
"Mhm," he muttered, "Thanks."
"So...doesn't that mean we won't be leaving without him?" Blake suggested, "We need Ozpin right now to get the next Relic, so wouldn't that mean we have to wait until he wakes up then?"
"I guess so," Oscar said, catching his breath from Nora's hug attack, "I mean, that sounds like it makes sense."
Ruby felt her face beaming at the lack of 'logical, serious Ozpin-ness' in his answer where it normally would have been. How sweet that realization was!
"Maybe we should ask Ironwood," Yang said, "He should know when the new Ozpin or whoever is gonna wake up. We can prolly wait, since we aren't in a super tight time limit right now."
The group collectively gave a nod of agreement.
"Ugh, all this sitting around lately is making me lazy," Nora said as she stretched and flopped back down onto a couch.
"I certainly don't mind," Blake said, "Year after year of none-stop grind makes a few months of relaxing very nice."
"Not for me," Yang said, smashing her fists together, "I never mind the none-stop grind! It's punch and smash or stop for whiplash! I prefer to fight and win than to sulk in sin!"
An unamused sigh emerged from everyone in unison.
"Your puns were bad," Nora groaned, "But your rhyming is ten times worse!"
"Oh, c'mon!" Yang complained, "You guys are no fun."
"Um, what happened to you guys..?" Ruby asked after she analyzed the changes in her group. They all grinned and glanced at each other.
"We went out for some clothes and stuff," Yang replied, "Sorry we didn't include you..."
"No, it's fine," Ruby said, "I'm just wondering why Blake's hair..."
Blake twirled a stray lock of hair with a bit of embarrassment.
"I-It was getting hard to manage," she said, "It's better this way."
"Oh, okay," Ruby said.
"Jaune almost cut his hair!" Nora yelled, pointing wildly at him, "He's still thinking about it and I told him to ask you first!"
"Why me?" Ruby asked, confused.
"Because you've known him longer than a lot of us, technically," Nora said, "So I decided that you should at least get an opinion though to him."
"Um..," Ruby began slowly, "Honestly, I'd rather it stayed the way it is. Don't take this weird, but it looks a lot nicer right now. It's kinda cool when it's sort of long like that."
Jaune felt his face slightly warm. He mentally condemned himself for it and moved his thoughts on.
Well, even if she doesn't like me, I can still take her opinion as one of my best friends.
"Okay," he sighed, "I won't cut it then."
"Aww," Nora said, "I wanted you to..."
"Then why did you object?!" Jaune yelled back.
"Because I didn't think it'd be fair not to," Nora replied.
"So...we're just waiting for Jay to wake up?" Ruby asked after a bit of giggling and laughter.
"Is that his name?" Weiss said. Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so," Jaune replied, answering Ruby's question, "Like what Blake said earlier, we do need Ozpin to locate the Relics and maybe even to lure Salem away from the Atlas Relic."
"Lure her away?" Oscar said, confused, "Um, what do you mean?"
"Lure her away using Ozpin," Jaune answered, "She's trying to find him for a lot of reasons, it seems, and she's obviously had no problem tracking him. For all we know, she's hovering close by and waiting to snatch him up."
"Wouldn't she just take me by mistake?" Oscar asked, "She probably doesn't know that Ozpin's not even in me anymore."
Ruby felt another pump of joy and beat of warmth surge through her.
"That's true..," Jaune said. He put his hand on his chin in thought.
"Can she track peoples' souls or something?" Nora asked, "That'd be creepy!" She rolled over so her face was buried in the back cushion.
"I wouldn't know," Oscar said, "Seriously, I don't have a way to get to Ozpin's memories anymore, so I really don't know much about Salem."
"Do you remember anything from when you could?" Jaune asked.
"Uh..," Oscar began. He paused and thought for a second while everyone watched closely. Oscar's eyes widened and he looked surprised and confused all of the sudden.
"Woah, hold on!" he exclaimed, "I-I used to be able to see all of you guys the way Ozpin used to...but now I can't! I can't even remember how he saw you guys! What in Remnant..?"
Ruby wanted to scream for joy. If there wasn't even a fragment of anything Ozpin-related inside of him, other than the memory of having him in his head directly, then she couldn't be happier.
"Well that's both unfortunately and also shows success," Yang said, "But wait...that means that you have no excuse for impregnating my baby sister-!"
"Yang, cut it out!" Ruby howled, "Please, please, please stop mentioning that! I'm so sick and tired of you making fun of Oscar and being so mean and..."
She went on and on, her anger switch flicked on by her love and zeal to defend Oscar as well as her suddenly resuming mood swings. Mood swings ebbed at her even more than her ever-present and still existing craving for watermelon.
By the time Yang had managed to silence Ruby and Ren had aided in calming her down with his semblance, Ironwood came through the door behind the desk. He looked pleased and satisfied, although he still retained that tired look from earlier.
"General Ironwood!" Ruby exclaimed, "Uh, did Jay wake up?"
He nodded his head.
"Yes, he has finally woken up," he reported, "Although, we were beginning to anticipate days or even weeks of consistent unconsciousness. Often times, experiments or procedures like this have that effect."
"Um, okay," Ruby said.
"I was slightly worried at his mental vacancy," Ironwood continued, "He seemed very distant about an hour ago and it took many especially flashy things to fully arouse him. Fortunately, he seems very normal now and it seems the operation on his behalf has proved successful."
A loud cheer arose from the group, minus Yang and Qrow. Qrow did look a bit relieved though.
"He described Ozpin's presence exactly as would be expected, and Ozpin was able to take control of Jay's body just as he had previously been capable of Oscar's. The process couldn't have gone smoother."
"That's great!" Ruby said happily. Ironwood nodded.
"It is."
"So is he ready to come with us, then?" Yang asked, "It'd kinda be great to get going now."
"He should be ready to depart shortly," Ironwood replied, "Just the same as Oscar, however, he'll require at least a few hours of rest in order that is body adjust to the changes within itself."
"Okay, then," Yang said with a shrug, "Let's all take a nap and wake up when it's time to go."
She reclined herself on a couch, curled up, and closed her eyes. Ruby joined her, feeling exhausted as always, and soon fell asleep. Everyone else followed suit for the most part and were soon snoozing all together.
Nora and Ren ended up leaning on each other's shoulders and partially snuggled up, so Yang to a quick shot of it with her scroll before she fell asleep. She enjoyed taking memorable pictures with her scroll, but hadn't had the chance to take too many recently. Too much serious stuff and what not.
When everyone woke up, mostly due to Ironwood's suggestive throat-clearing, they saw Jay standing beside him. He looked much weaker and paler than Ruby remembered him looking like. Then again, his complexion had basically been equal to a piece of paper.
He was holding some kind of confidence on his face now, though, which was highly contradictory with his face before the aura transferring had happened. He seemed to hold a sense of purpose or readiness. It was sort of refreshing.
"Is this him?" Yang asked, crossing her arms, "He looks like a twig."
"Yang," Ruby chided, elbowing her.
"Uh, hi," he said awkwardly, "I'm Jay. I'm 15. I guess I'm this Ozpin guy now. I'm antisocial, so please don't talk to me very much. I'll just let the guy in my head talk for me. So yeah."
Everyone blinked and replied to his awkward presentation of personal information with more awkward silence. They could see his face growing uncomfortable and scared.
"Nice to meet you!" Nora said very loudly and cheerfully, attempting to make him feel better, "I'm Nora!" She vigorously shook his hand with a big smile on her face.
"That's Ren," she said, pointing to each as she described them, "He's quiet, too, but super cool, so maybe he can teach you some stuff. That's Yang; she's really strong and likes to smash stuff, so don't make her mad. Over there is Blake; she's quiet, but really likes reading and'll talk more than Ren and probably you. That's Jaune, my team leader; he's strong and brave and kinda handsome...eh, that sounds weird...but whatever. He is a great leader and is also really nice."
"There's Ruby. She's pregnant with Oscar's kid, but the way that happened was really weird and totally not triggered by romance. It's complicated. She's really energetic, or well...she used to be, but still is sometimes. She's the other team's leader. Oscar used to be a big baby cutie, but he grew up to what he is now. Still a little adorable though.
"And that's Weiss. We call her Ice Queen and she likes it, so feel free to call her that any time."
"Hey!" Weiss objected, "I do not like that! I'd give up my family name for you to shut that name up."
Nora just giggled and continued.
"She's super stubborn and cold hearted and prissy. She's also really sweet sometimes, so that's when you called her 'Nice Weiss'. It rhymes, so it's funny. And lastly, that's Qrow. He's Ruby and Yang's uncle and he's super great at fighting. He's also mysterious and a lot older than me, so I don't know him very well."
She took a long breath after she finished.
"So yeah, that's the group!" she concluded, "But Ruby and Oscar are gonna leave sometime through our mission, so you won't get to see them a lot afterwards."
Jay blinked.
"Uh...okay," he said, "T-thanks."
"No problemo!" Nora said, nodding energetically.
"So...where are we going right now?" he asked tentatively.
"Ironwood's gonna give us permission to leave Atlas," Yang replied, "But we'll have to walk. It'll be 3-4 miles of frigid artic, basically, but we can make it with our auras. The general told you about auras and all that stuff, right?"
Jay nodded. "Yeah."
"Good," Yang said, "Yeah, we're going to get a ship at the next town because someone isn't willing to let us use on if his." She folded her arms again and flashed Ironwood a quick glare.
"I need you to understand that it is only due to precautionary measures," Ironwood said, "Because of recent incidents, I am unable to allow or grant access for anyone to use any Atlesian methods of transport outside of Atlas or Mantle. It is nothing personal in the slightest."
"We know that," Qrow sighed, "Thanks for the permission, Jimmy."
Ironwood frowned. "It's James."
"I know that," Qrow muttered almost humorously. They all got up and formed a group at the door, gathering their supplies and getting ready to finally leave the kingdom.
"Thanks for everything!" Ruby cried. She wanted to give Ironwood a hug, only because her bountiful emotions were so grateful at the moment and her mood was very cry-y.
"It was no problem," Ironwood replied with a nod.
"Yes, thanks!" Oscar added.
"Bye!" they all called. Then they all left together, in a decent mood, and walked through the streets. It wasn't too cold at the moment and the snow had stopped falling about three or four hours ago. Yang handed Ruby a thick coat and instructed her to put it on.
"But then I'll get all sweaty," Ruby complained.
"Not after we leave the city's warmth system," Yang practically retorted, "After we leave the gates, all of us will be shivering. You're already naturally colder because of your babies or whatever, so you'll need it."
"Oh..," said Ruby, "Then thanks." She pulled it on and made sure it securely covered her, then snuggled down into it. It was very fuzzy inside and felt as if it was absorbing any heat she produced and pumping on and around her. Comfortable.
They eventually reached the very outskirts of the city, where a newly built series of elevator-like systems were placed. It had some kind of security personnel surrounding it, as well as a booth for checking or something.
They approached them and did as told, which ended up with them riding them down to the edge of Mantle. Proper transportation from Atlas to Mantel had recently become essential and then ordered to be built.
Finally, they stood in front of the gate to Atlas, which faced the opposite direction of Argus. Because of the side of Atlas they were on, Argus was far away on the other side. Since there were two gates, they didn't have to go all the way there.
"Wait, so do we just tell them that Ironwood lets us through?" Blake asked.
"That does not sound like it will work," Ren said.
Just then, a guard at the top of the gate took notice of them.
"Hey!" he shouted down at them, "The general said we were to open the gate for you!"
"How do you know that?" Qrow called back.
"Because he said there were 9 of you!" the guard yelled, "And y'all had weapons and stuff! It'll be a lil' slow, but it'll open soon."
"Thanks!" Nora yelled.
"Well, that was nice of him," Yang said with a shrug.
After a little while, there was a huge mechanical clicking sound. The gates began to part in the center and the gap between each large door slowly increased as it opened. It was slow, but at least it was happening.
After a few minutes, it was fully open.
"Go on out, now!" the guard called, "We don't want all them Grimm comin' in now, don't we? 'Tis a scary world out there, kids!"
They passed through the gates, the temperature steadily decreasing as they left the simulated warmth that the city provided. The moment they had completely passed through, the gates began their loud and slow process of closing again.
Ruby squinted against the bright white snow and the frigid wind. Before them stretched of snowbanks, rocks, and ice as far as her eyes could see. The sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud and the sun shone down with cold light on the sparkling snow.
"It'll be a long walk in all this snow and cold," Jaune sighed, "But at least we know where we're going. It'll probably take about 2 hours or so, so it won't be very long. Sound good, everyone?"
"Sure," said Blake.
"Yep!" said Nora and Ruby.
"Yeah," said Oscar and Yang.
Weiss and Ren both gave an affirmative nod, and Qrow did as he always did, which was just to continue looking at Jaune while he spoke.
"Alrighty then," Jaune said with a smile, "Uh, let's go!"
And they started off across the frozen tundra.
Too-too-roo! It would appear that things have finally been pulled back together and Oscar and Ruby can finally rest for once in their lives! The group also has to get used to their new member, Jay. I sure wonder how they'll do with him.
Huge thanks to ArthurSG for grabbing a few grammar errors in this chapter!
I know I never use bold font for scroll conversations, but I decided to use it so it'd be more clear that it was Tai talking and not anyone else.
I apologize if things were a bit rushed or summed up near the end with them leaving, but it was really all I could do. I hope it went over fine, including the clothes-changing scene. Ruby still looks the same, so her hair isn't cut, muwhahaha.
P.S. Props to whoever found that show reference I stuck in here...this one's not an anime. ;P
Thanks for reading and tune in for more chapters!