After way too long dealing with school and work and other stuff, I finally get out Chapter 35! Thank God!

Unfortunately, I had to carve it shorter than the last few chapters so it could actually be out on time. The next chapter's gonna see some actual interactions on Patch with Tai and Summer's Grave, and did I just say that out loud?

Uh, anyway, on with the show. Hope it's worth the wait.

Chapter 35: Vacation at Home

"The prospect of going home is very appealing." —David Ginola

Morning sunrises in Vale were almost predictable if one really thought about it. When not accounting for the likes of rain or cloud cover, the winter winds bringing in a foul chill, or any other myriad aspects that impeded the morning visage, the skies were alight with the same usual tints of blue and violet and even some of the vestiges of the black of night. Morning was peaceful, almost serene were it not for the early hustle and bustle of a metropolitan area, the usual routines almost second nature to the aver citizen of Vale. Coffee shops and bakeries would snap on their lights throughout the Commercial and Residential Districts and warm up their gear for the long day ahead; factories and refineries in the Industrial District hissed to life as machinery began to awaken from their nightly slumber, setting to the task as they were set to do by their owners, whether smelting steel or refining Dust or building automobiles or the myriad of other industries that Vale had become influential in. The twinkling lights of the city began to slowly wink out, one by one as the sun slowly rose towards the horizon's edge, turning the sky its usual blue color.

And yet, the morning sky today was an ill omen by anyone's reckoning, of that there was no doubt.

For one thing, the usual blue skies were choked out at the hands of dreary grey clouds, only to be further encroached upon by wisps of inky smoke that rose from a few pinpoint spots across the city. Those same dreary clouds hung heavily over Vale, smothering the sun from its skies and prolonging the night like a black shadow.

Jacob grimaced at the sky. "Nasty weather this morning," he said as he sipped from his mug of tea, eyes bleary from sleep and his voice tinged with the echo of a yawn.

"On that we are agreed," replied Sugodai across the way from him, gently rubbing his jowels through his fu-manchu mustache. "On Chogoris, this would be quite the ill portent."

Jacob nodded mindlessly. "I presume because it's after a battle as big as the Breach," he said.

The White Scar Librarian looked over at him. "Because the smoke, when it mingles with morning storm clouds that block out the sun, was a portent of daemons for our mortal kin."

Jacob felt a shiver at the word 'daemon,' knowing full well that there was precedence for their worries. "That's comforting," he said dryly under his breath. "Bloodletters in the streets, The Changeling visiting that coffee shop just down the road from here, a Daemon Prince of Nurgle spreading his unwelcome gifts in the Agricultural District... yeah, that's not at all nerve-racking."

Sugodai turned to look at him with hawkish eyes. Jacob felt the blood retreat from his face for a second. "Daemons are not a think to joke about, Mr. Muller," he replied coldly.

Jacob held his hands up in a shrug. "Hey, back home we don't have to deal with them," he said. "Besides, there aren't any daemons on Remnant at the moment, right?"

The White Scar said nothing, only turning back to look at the sky. For a minute they sat in silence, leaving Jacob to wonder and worry if he had gone too far with that comment.

Slowly, the sky grew brighter, but only just so. The clouds and the smoke began to contrast against one another, though only barely by comparison.

"Looks like a rainy day in general," Jacob replied, half-expecting to hear a thunderclap across the city. "Might help put out those gas and oil fires."

Sugodai nodded as he grabbed his own mug from their table. The patio to the mess hall had once again been vacated due to the threat of inclement weather, and as usual Jacob hadn't given a single care in the world as he walked out with his plate of meats and potatoes. By now, however, most of his plate had cooled, only the potatoes touched as everything else sat losing heat in wisps of steam. The Astartes had grabbed nothing, arriving to Jacob's table with only a small cup of coffee that was so bitter that the smell made Jacob wince and wheel back automatically.

Jacob sighed as he looked out at the campus of the school. Foot traffic was always low at sunrise, with only the Fourth-years and Third-years getting up this early, while the younger Huntsmen were spared an early wake-up call. But Jacob was fortuitous enough that he still held to his early-rising habits, even now some six months after arriving here.

His thought process stopped on that. It was only now occurring to him that he had been here for six months. Six months... that was strange, almost foreign on his ears, and even worse so in his brain; Half a year in a world that wasn't his own, one that he had arrived in on sheer coincidence and met people he had known to not exist—that is until he arrived here. A half-year of learning to fight, to survive in a world as dangerous as his own despite the complete oddity of said danger in comparison to his own. How much had he missed in that time since he had arrived here? Did his parents think him still missing? Did they presume him dead? What of his coworkers? His old friends? The rest of his family?

"Your thoughts travel to places behind you, do they not?"

Jacob started and shook his head, pulling him back from the perceptions of the real world and back into the animated world he now resided in. He let out a sigh he hadn't noticed he was holding in. "It's nothing," he said quietly. "Just ghosts."

"Ghosts that still plague you," Sugodai said with a grunt. "I've seen that look on many a son of Chogoris during meditations."

Jacob said nothing, only letting silence take the conversation away on the gentle breeze. Overhead, the sky was only just lightening, though still choked by the last vestiges of smoke from the fires.

He cleared his throat. "Looks like the big oil fire out by Junior's is finally under control," he said noting the one smoke trail that came from the Industrial District—or at least he thought that was the general direction to it.

"Indeed," replied the White Scar. "Looks like the effects of the Breach are already beginning to heal."

Jacob grimaced as his mind traced back to the news feed that morning, how over a hundred people had perished in the invasion, and dozens more remained in hospitals across the city now. "And yet for some, those wounds will most likely never heal," he said under his breath, leaning back and sipping from his tea.

"Do not blame yourself for such things," Sugodai replied, his tone a mixture of aggravated and sympathetic. "A drop of water creates a tidal wave, but the rainfall is not to blame."

Jacob cocked an eyebrow at the blatant Confucius-style saying. "And if the rain had a choice on whether it dropped there or not," he countered.

The White Scar shook his head. "Fate deigned it to be there," he answered.

A word in that sentence sent a sharp chill down Jacob's spine. That one damned word that hung in the air like the sword of Damocles.

"Something I said," asked Sugodai.

"That word. Fate." He spat that last word angrily, as if it were a cursed word; to him, at least, it was in a way.

"You cannot deny its existence."

Jacob shifted. "You sound like a Thousand Son; those guys were too hung up on it, whether they were lowly Legionnaires or Sorcerers of the highest caliber."

Sugodai sighed under his breath. "All men are concerned with their fate, are they not? Afterall, what do we all fear most other than the finality of fate?"

"Fate is constricting and cruel," Jacob replied. "So too is it's sister-in-arms, destiny."

"Ah... you've suffered from the same mistake as most," he said with a chuckle. "Mistaking the two for being similar is like mistaking a panther for a tabby cat; sure, they are both felines, but one is far more controllable than the other."

"But both are a locked end," Jacob replied. "I.E., Pyrrha's destiny is or was... to go up there." His mind flashed the arrow's strike again to him, only inciting yet another shiver up his spine.

"Wrong."

"You know I'm right. You're the bloody Librarian, after all; you're the one who had access to precognitive abilities as an Astartes."

"Not a power the Librarius of the White Scars has access to. Sure, we may receive glimpses, but we cannot deign the future from one single moment in time."

Jacob sighed. "Regardless... Fate cannot be our master. I won't allow it, not with who's at stake here."

Sugodai hummed. "So willing to jump to change fate for one girl, yet the fates of others were a second thought."

Jacob grimaced. "Don't go there, White Scar; I've been trying to navigate this course long enough to consider that aspect... and now that there's so many Imperials here, I feel that an answer to that debacle's finally come."

"Fair enough," he replied, leaning back and sipping from his mug of coffee. For a good few minutes afterwards, there was a chilling silence, only alleviated by the early fall heat beginning to creep in across the city, slowed only by the cloud cover. "Now then, we should consider what needs to be done about Amber as well..."

Jacob grimaced as his mind pulled another image of Cinder shooting someone with an arrow into the metal frame. He put his hand out and said, "Let's wait for the rest of the crew to talk about that. You guys have known her when she was actually conscious and you guys have a better bearing inside of the Inquisition than I do... a gap that I have a feeling is going to widen."

The White Scar looked over. "You think that Ozpin suspects you to be a part of Cinder's team?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Ozpin's a wild card, regrettably, especially considering he doesn't seem to be able to die."

Sugodai furrowed his brow. "I am still amazed he falls so easily..."

Jacob looked over, not realizing what he had said. "Well, don't be too worried about it. In Volume 4 he takes a backseat driver's stance inside the head of a farm boy in Mistral, Oscar... oh, what was his surname again..." Jacob began to attempt to remember it as he sipped again from his own drink. "Pine," he eventually said, "that's what the kid's name was, Oscar Pine. But actually, that does bring up a question."

The Stormseer seemed to look tense, not really bothering to make eye contact with Jacob. "Oh?"

"Any idea what shenanigans allowed Ozpin to pull that off?"

The pause in a reply made Jacob uneasy.

"Stormseer..."

"...I am not permitted to say," he said. "Only Ozpin's top lieutenants are allowed to know."

"The same can be said for Salem, and look at both of us," Jacob replied. "And I need as much intel as I can get. So, what allowed Ozpin to reincar—"

"Hey, Jacob!"

The Terran boy nearly vaulted into the air at the sound of Ruby's voice. Still, he did manage a leap of about a meter off his chair in panic, only to land back on the chair with a painful thud.

He turned around through the ache of his smashed tailbone and was met with the sight of silver eyes, a bright smile and a red cape. "R-Ruby!?"

"Sorry," she said, "I wanted to surprise you! I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

Sugodai laughed beside him. "Not at all, Young Rose," he said with a laugh. "A simple discussion about matters with Ozpin, that's all."

"I thought I heard his name," she said, "But... well, I wasn't paying attention to the conversation! I'm just glad you're okay!" She practically lunged into a hug against Jacob, throwing him off a bit but not enough to actively "Yang and I were terrified after we saw it attack you guys!"

"Easy, Ruby," he replied, "I'm alright, Jaune and Pyrrha are alright... We're okay."

"Pyrrha's still unconscious, or is she doing better? Is Jaune okay? Is Blake okay? I've been so busy helping with the rescue efforts in the Commercial District I haven't had time to run by—"

"We're fine, Ruby," he reiterated with a relieved chuckle. They hadn't been found out yet, but they had come stupidly close on his part. "Where's Yang and Weiss?"

"Right here, big guy!"

He turned and was met with the sight of the blonde bombshell striding towards them with a full cafeteria tray, flanked by an indignant Weiss. He smiled for a moment, relief filling him; Neither sported any significant bruises or scrapes, Weiss only sporting a bruise on her hand and Yang wearing a band-aid cross on her cheek where a big purple spot hid just beneath it. Otherwise, they seemed to be alright.

Then he remembered what Blake and Pyrrha had told him, and he felt his blood run cold with dread. "Uhm, hey, sorry about anything I said—"

SLAP!

His cheek stung like hell, inciting him to cry out. He looked over to see Weiss' hand outstretched; she had backhanded him. "What the hell, Weiss!?"

"Being drugged up on morphine is no excuse for hitting on me like I'm some sleazy escort!"

"I don't even fucking remember saying that stuff in the first place," he fired back. "And since when is 'blonde angel' sleazy!?"

"Yeah," Yang said, turning to her teammate. "Besides, he was on morphine; that stuff makes you say the stupidest stuff."

Weiss growled under her breath, only to wheel on her feet and shake her head. "I stand by what I said," she replied.

Jacob felt a hand on his unscathed shoulder and turned to find Yang's hand holding it. "But seriously," she said, "are you doing okay?"

Jacob smirked. "Why wouldn't I be," he said. He moved to shrug it off, only to feel another twinge in his wounded shoulder. He failed to stop the grunt in time.

"Liar," Yang replied with a laugh and a smirk. "Sit down before you keel over."

"Okay, okay," he said as he returned to his seat at the table. Soon, the other three had joined him, with Yang sitting by him, opposite of Sugodai and the two partners sitting tandem to her.

"So," Weiss said, "that was... a lot of things that happened all at once the other day."

Jacob let out a snort of bemusement. "That's an understatement."

"I still can't believe he'd go to such lengths," Ruby said as she fidgeted with an apple on her tray. "And... I'm still confused why he would."

"Invading a city isn't exactly profitable if you're planning on making a positive net gain," Weiss said, stabbing a pancake on her plate and delicately slicing it into eighths. "So... why would he do that?"

"It's not his M.O.," answered Jacob as he leaned back and sipped from his drink. "Wanton destruction isn't his game... like you said, money is."

Sugodai shared a look with him that said 'What a subtle hint, Muller.'

"Someone must have bought his men out," Yang suggested as she shoveled a quarter of a waffle into her mouth and quickly chewed it up. "If money's his game, then he must've gotten a hell of a payout for doing this... not that it matters, considering..." She pointed back and up towards the Skyhawk orbiting the premises of the Academy, Ironwood's personal flagship.

Sugodai nodded. "James might play that to his advantage," he said. "Not that Torchwick has a way off the Indomitable Spirit to begin with."

Jacob shook his head. "No, he didn't even put up a struggle," he added, putting some inflection in his tone to sound like he's not already aware of the truth. "He wants to be up there..."

The three girls shot him a look. "Why would he want to be captured," asked Ruby as she sipped from a milk carton.

Because he's got Neo on the inside and he's a hop, skip and jump from the control console that controls all the bots, Jacob thought to himself. Instead, he opted for the answer of, "perhaps he was a distraction, someone to draw our eye while someone else makes a break for it or makes a critical move somewhere else."

The three girls shared looks of concern with one another. Sugodai offered him a quiet and ponderous stare.

"You really think so," asked Weiss.

Jacob faked a shrug. "I can't say for certain, but the fact is that such a mission as this with everything he threw at us did not have enough power to destroy Vale," he said. "Do damage, sow terror, throw everybody off-kilter, yes. But not destroy the city. He would have needed something a lot bigger."

"But it kinda seems like we triggered it prematurely," Yang added, scratching her head in thought. "Wouldn't that mean that... maybe there's a bigger attack on the way?"

Jacob grimaced in worry. If they figured it out too soon, things could go south fast. "Perhaps there had been. But with what we were able to do and-or stop, I have a feeling that plan's fallen apart. It's hard to make a successful campaign when one whole part of the army has up and died or been captured. At the very least, we've set them back a while; at most, we've stopped their plan cold-turkey."

Sugodai gave him an aside glance as he sipped from his tea, one he returned quickly.

"And it's all thanks to teams RWBY and JNPR," Ruby said with a big grin and a happy pump of her arm into the air.

"Are you sure that you want to claim responsibility for that," Sugodai added quietly as Jacob realized the implications.

"Oh," Yang said as her eyes lit up with the same realization. "Right... all those people... who died."

Through her silver eyes, Jacob could see Ruby's brain almost short-circuit inside of her. "Uh..."

Weiss moved to make a comment in reply, only for the sound of a bicycle bell to ring out. Jacob blinked in confusion as he turned to find the source.

He was met with the sight of a dark-skinned girl in a '50s mailman suit riding up to them on a baby-blue bicycle with a large basket in front of it. The basket was filled with envelopes and fliers, a cacophony of white paper and lettering.

Jacob cocked his brow. "A mailwoman? Is the post office down?"

She skidded to a stop in front of them, the rubber tires squeaking as she did so. "'Fraid so, love," she said in an accent so Cockney it made Tracer from Overwatch sound like a natural Brit. "So they asked for volunteers in deliveries while they repair the place. Case in point; I have a letter for a 'Ruby Rose' that I was told I could find here."

Ruby raised her hand. "Oooh, that's me!"

The girl dove her hand into the pile and produced a cream-colored envelope. "Here you are, Ma'am," she said as Ruby took it. She turned and began to ride off deeper into the Academy, head on a swivel as she searched for the next recipient.

Jacob turned back to Ruby. "What's that all about?"

Ruby began to open it as she replied, "It's a letter from Dad."

Yang turned in surprise. "Another letter?"

Ruby nodded as her sister stood up beside her, looking down at the letter. For a few moments, they read in silence.

"Well," Jacob said, "What's up?"

Both girls beamed brightly and looked to one another. "We might want to get back to the dorms and pack," she said.

The sound of glass shattering in reverse echoed in the night air, heralded by glowing orange light that formed into a jagged but elegant bow.

A single form, black in the shadows of night as it peaked over the side and landed.

The arrow sang free of the bow.

TWACK!

Pandora gasped as reality rushed back to her. Her hand flew to her chest, her heart hammering within her. Her skin felt like ice on her bones, forcing her to hug in on herself as she waited for the ghost-chill to pass.

"Sweetheart?"

She looked up, meeting her husband's amber eyes. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Just... it's nothing, Honey."

Dante nodded sagely. She braced for him to pry deeper like he always did, but it never came.

She sighed as the birds outside sang their merry songs. It was a very clear day all things considered, and the temperature was just right for a morning of quiet meditation. She always took solace in these times when they could meditate, when they were alone and could be intimate—differently from what most considered intimate—at one in mind as the world around them ticked on.

Ironically now, she was struggling with this part.

She shifted back out of her legs-crossed position, letting out a tired and perhaps a bit angry sigh.

"The movie is bothering you," Dante replied.

She let out another heavy breath. "Yes," she said. "I can't stop thinking about it."

"You aren't alone, Pandora," he said as he undid himself from his meditative body-knot. "I slept as fitfully as I did when I first went in the sarcophagus all those years ago. Only difference is that the sarcophagus had the boon of making me of the Angels of Blood. This..." He let out a sigh that felt so young and lively and yet still held that ancient side to him she had only seen in battle. It weighed heavily on her to imagine her husband, the man who had lived almost a millennium and a half; she would rather see the veil of his waning youth, the faintest traces of dulling hair from age and the stresses of Huntsmanship. But now... now she couldn't see it.

All she could see was the Space Marine she had only seen ghosts of when he drew the Axe Mortalis.

"It doesn't give me any comfort that Pyrrha remains unaware," he said as he stood up, stretching his shoulders before reaching down to offer her a hand up.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Pandora replied as she was pulled to her feet, the birds overhead stirring as they began to move. She looked out over the cliffside, staring out at the open wilderness of Sanus' interior. Off in the distance to her right, a lone pillar of smoke rose from the direction of Mountain Glenn, a blackened scar in the sea-blue morning skies.

She felt an ill shudder want to crawl down her spine. She resisted, only grimacing and holding herself instead as she realized the connotations.

"I doubt they found Nemeroth," Dante said. "Titus said he was surprisingly slippery for a Chaos Astartes in Terminator armor."

"Considering the suits that Vulkan has shown us," she said, "I doubt that."

Dante nodded absently, still staring out. A hum of thoughtfulness escaped his throat as he scratched his chin. "True... Still, even if they do find him, I doubt they can hold him back... he will escape either way."

Pandora wasn't able to put a stopper on the grunt and clenching of her fists. Ghosts of both recent pasts and a past she was never privy to were coming back to crash down on them from out of nowhere; it was like some manner of tempest that had formed out of nothingness, now threatening to steal away everything. She didn't know whether to be nervous for her child or angry at the boy who was putting them all in this wound-up, high-strung position they were now in. She turned and was met with the sight of an Atlesian Bullhead dropping off another squadron of soldiers, flanked by a pair of the new model Knights.

She felt her brow scrunch as she reversed course, now staring out at the same wilderness as before. Her husband let out a concurrent hum.

Surrounded on all sides by this encroaching tempest.

Again, her mind traced back to the film, the bitch standing haughty and vicious over her baby girl. A terrifying stir rose in her chest as the bow manifested and the arrow took aim.

She felt a hand grab hold of hers, banishing the image as the shape of the Rose girl crested the structure.

"Blood Lily," he said softly, the fluffiness of his tone only accented by his pet name for her. "Don't."

She looked up at him, amber meeting sea green. "How can I not think about how our daughter is... supposed to die," she said, the words coming to her chained to a terrifying weight.

Dante stepped closer to her. "By knowing that now she will not die that way," he replied, taking her hands gently. She could feel the callouses and cuts on his hands, most fresh and still raw, and in turn his finger caressed her own callouses, long worn away by her time away from the front lines of Huntsman life. After all, it was hard enough for a child to have one parent as a Huntsman, both would be a nightmare on her baby girl...

"But... how do we know that," she said, feeling the weight of the situation bear down upon her shoulders. "I want to, but... that nagging fear just won't leave me..."

Dante didn't immediately respond, his eyes downcast as his mind wandered. "We cannot give those thoughts any presence, Pandora," he said calmly. "We must focus on the moment and reinforce what we can. Starting with our daughter's romance with that Arc boy."

Pandora blinked as she looked up. "You're actively wanting her to find romance? That's a first."

Dante chuckled under his breath. "Her bond with him is strong," said the Blood Angel. "And I feel that perhaps pushing it further may stay her hand if fate boils our options down to the final moments."

"But... I don't know about him," she admitted. "Are we sure he's the right fit for our baby girl?"

Dante cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "And what were you saying about my defensiveness?"

Pandora returned the smile. "Says the man who drove a Huntsman boy away because he happened to wear a symbol that was a bad omen," she replied, remembering her husband glaring daggers at the preteen boy as Pyrrha cowered behind her mother.

Dante's smile dropped. "It was the badge of the Emperor's Children!"

Pandora laughed. "It was just an eagle's talon and a wing! There was nothing evil about it!"

Dante rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Is it wrong for a father to not want his daughter to associate with something so despicable as Chaos?"

Pandora sighed. "As justified as it is now, you always did worry too much about Chaos being here. I suppose now is as good a time as any for you to say 'I told you so,' though."

Dante hummed a chuckle. "I suppose one moment of self-congratulating won't kill me. But my point is that she was and now is smitten with him, but unlike in that timeline, I believe he is smitten with her. Perhaps having two magnets acting on one another will make separating harder than with one magnet on an inert piece of iron."

Pandora smiled back, though it was but a fleeting gesture. "I hope you're right, Honey. She's too tied to her obligations; she comes by it honestly, from both sides of her genealogy."

"Well, that's the part I'm afraid of," he said as they turned and faced the landing pad, the Bullhead now lifting off and screaming into the skies. Another squadron of Atlesian soldiers jogged off the landing pad in lock-step, their boots making a sound like hail on a tin roof. "Hmm..."

"What is it Dante?"

His eyes were distant in memory. "James' troops. I was just considering something that I hadn't in a very long time."

His wife watched him, feeling that ancient soul release itself from her husband's eyes again as he said it. "It's so weird to see so many soldiers in one place... you'd expect it to be the start of another Great War..."

Dante grimaced. "Hardly. He's only mustered at the most... twenty-three hundred soldiers out of a population of over three and a half million. Hardly that large of an army at all."

She felt a dreadful chill down her spine; partially due to the wind that whipped at her back and otherwise due to the casual nature her husband could say something like that. "I... well, with the number of worlds and the populations on them, I'm not surprised that you would think that. But for Remnant..."

"By comparison, if those were Astartes, they could conquer Remnant in less than a month," he added as they walked past, eyeing the robotic Knights as they stood in deathly quiet attentiveness.

"And if they were Guardsmen like Mira was?"

Her husband turned to look at her. "Two thousand Guardsmen is a heavily-decimated company, for Cadians at least by comparison. Lord General Creed's own Regiment was eight thousand men strong, though most were veterans of countless battles that most mortal men would have died in."

"And?"

They passed under the looming shadow of Beacon Tower, the late morning sun now making harsh shadows as sharp as a razor's edge.

"Fortress Worlds produce more than ten times as many soldiers in times of peace in the Imperium. This would be the kind of force assigned to a single city, not an army to start a war."

"In other words, this is appropriate."

"No," he said in melancholy. "Not for here. Not for Remnant."

They continued on in silence as they made their way past the tower, watching students mill about while a dark cloud of worry and apprehension sat over the crowd. There was one green-haired boy who was openly weeping, consoled by two other teammates as he braced against a guardrail, a crucifix necklace in his hands that dangled like a lead weight in his balled fists. For a brief moment, his green hair flashed yellow in his eyes, and the back of her mind replaced the crucifix with her daughter's circlet.

Pandora's pace slowed as she watched on, glancing at other groups. She noticed a few other Huntsmen and Huntresses looked lost and panicked, perhaps not on the surface but underneath it all she could sense it. People wore their hearts on their sleeves—at least the Remnantine variety of person; Imperials, on the other hand, were a lot harder to read.

And now she had to consider non-Imperial, non-Remnantine people too.

She let a sigh out. That boy... reading him was like trying to read a different dialect of Universal; the words were there, but there was a different flavor and connotation to each, and it was aggravating to do so. His intent she could feel was true, but it felt different from the usual; it simply didn't sit well with her.

She felt her husband's hand touch her shoulder, wordlessly begging her to follow. A sigh was all she let out as she turned with him, leaving the crowd of young Huntsmen to absorb the last forty-eight hours.

How had the peace been disturbed so violently and so quickly all at once?

They walked in silence for several minutes as they continued to walk towards the dorms, letting the moment pass before they reached their daughter. It wasn't a preference of either of them to appear before their daughter so sullen for no reason.

They entered the dorms thirty minutes before noon, letting out a unified breath as the air conditioning began to cool them off. Even with September starting, the summer and the heat refused to leave, only souring people's moods as the nights grew colder and the days remained warmer.

They rounded the corner, expecting to find the elevators and the lobby empty of anyone else.

They were met with the sight of Teams RWBY and JNPR seated around in the chairs and couches, several of them still bandaged up and yet in high spirits. At their sides all of them seemed to have one or two luggage bags, packed and idly sitting by, ready to be wheeled out.

Pandora blinked and turned to her husband, the man giving her an aside glance of confusion. They turned their attention back, noting them all; Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long sat by one another, the older sibling halfway through giving her little sister an endearing noogie with her left arm as the younger one desperately tried to fight her off. Pandora couldn't help but smile at the similarities it bore to their mothers, how much of a loudmouth Raven had been when the walls of ice had metaphorically come down and how delicate Summer could be at times. It was like walking back in time to her. At their sides, the Schnee heiress stood in patient waiting, rocking a bit on her high heels as she seemed to await something. And behind them stood the Belladonna girl, wearing a bemused but distant look on her face as she watched them all, her mind elsewhere. Pandora didn't let it slip by her that the bow her daughter had described as part of her outfit seemed to be missing, her black kitten ears flicking as she listened to the rest of the group.

But Pandora's primary focus was on the four sitting across from them all sitting in one of the couches, and their fifth wheel sitting on the floor by her daughter's legs. Pyrrha sat with a radiant smile, her brow still sporting a bandage under her favorite circlet and one of her more casual sweatshirts and pairs of jean pants on instead of her usual garb. Pandora was happy to see her in something more causal in public rather than her usual tournament outfit, her genuine smile warming her mother's heart. Pyrrha let out a ringing laugh as Ms. Xiao Long began to meet futile resistance, her laughter putting her into the reach of her knight in shining armor, Jaune; the poor boy was still sporting a broken arm, though that didn't dampen his spirits as he in turn leaned into her, propping her up as she laughed. Sitting beside him was Mr. Ren and Ms. Valkyrie, the latter sniggering through her teeth while the boy smiled and sipped from a glass of tea, still rubbing his throat. He hadn't been able to speak once in the last 48 hours outside of a rasp, at least as far as Pyrrha had told them, and it wasn't getting much better at this rate; she knew a nice young girl in Mistral who had been subject to a similar situation a long time ago, and she hoped Mr. Ren wouldn't suffer a similar fate to her.

And by Pyrrha's leg, still cradling his bandaged shoulder as he sat his jacket half-on was Mr. Muller, letting out a laugh as he finished saying something in response. "...easy on her skull, or you're gonna be explaining it to your dad," was what she could hear.

Dante and Pandora shared a look again and walked forwards. Ms. Schnee was the first to notice and turned to stand at attention. "Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Nikos," she said with a polite curtsey.

Both smiled and returned a bow to her. "Ms. Schnee," Dante said as he rose. "Pardon our interruption; I take it we stepped into the middle of a joke?"

Everyone looked up, several still fighting their laughter. "Hi," they returned, Pyrrha standing up and walking to them. The two didn't miss a beat as they wrapped one another in a group hug, Pandora embracing her daughter with a relieved sigh.

For but a brief moment, everything felt right in the world.

"What on earth are you all up to," Dante asked as the hug ended.

Pyrrha blinked at them in surprise. "You didn't hear Professor Goodwitch's announcement?"

Pandora hummed in thought. "Well, we were out by the cliffside doing some meditations," she said. "We must have not heard it, Honey."

There was a sudden clicking sound overhead, followed by the weak feedback of a microphone. "Attention, all students," came Glynda's voice over the PA system.

"Talk about good timing," Ms. Valkyrie commented as an aside.

"For those of you just returning from the cleanup efforts in the city, Professor Ozpin has a special announcement."

There was an audible cough as Ozpin took over. "Students," he began, "I would like to express my commendations to you all for your efforts over the past forty-eight hours. What happened Friday morning was an unprecedented test of your natural skills and the training they have received from the Four Academies, and your success in maintaining the peace as well as driving the Grimm back beneath the earth reflects upon all of us; most importantly, you."

Pandora felt a swirling vortex of pride for her daughter's efforts muddled by the confused anger of hearing Ozpin's voice, knowing how much he was riding on the wind by the seat of his pants right now, how wild and dangerous a position he was willing to throw her daughter into without so much as telling her and her husband firsthand. She clenched her jaw quietly, refusing to let Pyrrha see her displeasure, though she knew that she would most likely end up showing it more profusely.

"Your determination and your will to protect the people of Remnant has save countless lives before you have so much as even graduated; for many, this is your first year of secondary combat training outright, an even greater feat to consider."

Pandora noticed as Pyrrha blushed, only to be gently wrapped in a one-armed hug by her father. Several of the others cheered, Ms. Valkyrie and Yang self-congratulating themselves while the others listened on with pleased smiles. The only one to not do so was Mr. Muller, who only nodded in silence as he listened, only a meagre smirk on his face.

"However," added Ozpin, "Tragically we have lost some of our brothers and sisters in the line of duty. Their lives spent in defense of this city and its people, as well as the peoples of Remnant. For their sacrifice at an age so young, we can never fully repay the debt we owe them."

Pandora let a small hint of her anger loose at his comment, walking up to her family and joining them as her daughter returned the hug to them both. She didn't miss her daughter's grip growing just the slightest bit tighter as the words seemed to sink in across the group.

"Almost verbatim," Jacob muttered quietly, just loud enough for a few of them to glance at him.

"Therefore, with the approval of the Council of Vale and the Vytal Festival Committee, to honor those who have lost their lives those who are currently recovering from injuries taken during the crisis, and those who are grieving, we are pushing the Vytal Festival an additional week out. The Vytal Festival will begin now on September 23rd and end on October 2nd.

Dante cocked an eyebrow. "That's the good news?"

"However," continued the headmaster, "the Vytal Dance will continue as planned this upcoming Thursday. And in regards to final exams in light of this recent event... I, in conjunction with the other three Headmasters of the Huntsmen Academies, declare all exams canceled and will be marked with a perfect score for your actions in defending Vale."

Ms. Valkyrie let out a thunderously loud whoop at Ozpin's announcement. "No finals! For a few moments I was worried they were psycho enough to force us to do Finals after all of that!"

"And there's more," Yang said as she produced a piece of paper from a pocket. "It's a letter from our dad, asking about bringing all of us back to Patch for a week or two!"

Pandora blinked in bemused surprise. "Knowing Taiyang," she said, "I presume it's been extended to everyone you want to bring along?"

Ms. Xiao Long—Yang, Yang's her name; I was at Raven's baby shower for The Father's sake! Has it been so long ago that I've honestly forgotten it—nodded with a bright smile. "He knows some of you guys are in town too," she added. "He thought it might be nice for everyone to get together again, especially with Uncle Qrow here too."

Dante let out a chuckle. "Considering we already said our hellos while dragging our daughter out of that shop, I think we're a step ahead of his intent."

"Any room for one more team," called out a boy's voice down the hall. Four boys rounded the corner from the stairwell doorway, all packing suitcases and backpacks with them.

"Sun? Neptune? What are you doing here," asked the Faunus girl as the boys careened to a stop before them.

"You didn't think we weren't gonna let all of you be without an extra set of hands for anything, would you," said the tanned bluenette.

"Well, it's not like we have much of anywhere else to go," said the obvious monkey Faunus. "So... call it bumming a vacation?"

The taller boy—very obviously from the southern savannas of Mistral's agricultural lands if his neck tattoos were any indicator—chuckled. "We've got our tents and sleeping bags," he said. "We won't take up too much space."

"I don't think dad will mind," Yang said. "Just... watch out for the odd Beowolf. We get them on Patch..."

Jacob let out a knowing chuckle. "Now that we have three teams present, who wants to place bets to see if Team CFVY will be joining us," said the boy as he stood up and stretched.

"I think they have their own plans," said Weiss. "Something about Coco's family in the Peak."

"Right," he said. "Vale's Beverly Hills."

Yang looked at him with a confused stare. "What's Beverly Hills?"

Beneath his breath, she heard her husband sigh. This was going to be very interesting...

Jacob had ridden a couple of ferries in his lifetime. Not many, having lived in a landlocked state, but on vacations he had a few times. Granted, most of them were large enough to maybe carry thirty to forty people on a single load, so they were fairly sizeable boats.

But considering there were cars and trucks loaded onto the main deck of the ship, this was a first for him.

He sighed as the gulls screamed overhead, a part of him wanting to wince in dreaded anticipation. If they were anything like pigeons back home, they had a habit of impeccable aim. Fortunately, he felt no hard splat against the top of his head, letting him relax.

He turned to look back at the rest of the ship. Civilians mulled about peacefully—at least relatively—as the ferry trudged forwards across the Bay of Vale, bound for the island of Patch. Despite what the maps had shown, the trip across the bay had so far taken them about forty minutes with the old thing trudging along at a snail's pace. Fortunately, the September sun and its respective midday heat was countered by the sea breeze as it blew in from the west. The deck was perhaps a bit chilly for it, but it beat getting baked alive in the sun.

He stared on at the crowd, letting the sea air rush into his nose as he watched. People-watching, his favorite pastime when out and about, and here there was no end of fascinating people to guess the motives and events of to wait out the final few minutes until they arrived at Patch's harbor. It was a bit difficult considering how many of the Imperials also mulled about, conversing casually as they did so; Ciaphas and Titus seemed to be comparing notes about something, though what he couldn't tell; Logan sat by his own near the opposite guard rail of the ship, sleeping under a sun hat he had bought off a vendor by the harbor as Morkai glowed angrily on his back in the midday sun; The new arrivals sat together quietly, the Chaplain and the apothecary chatting as they sat on a bench on the underside of the bridge deck, the son of Corvax seemingly meditating in the standard lotus stance—that or he was sleeping upright.

Most of the others, however, were chatting with Team RWBY and JNPR. Weiss and Delia of all people seemed to be getting chummy, with Ruby interjecting as she fawned over Spinoza's crozius and the Hammer of Dorn; they weren't the metamorphosing weapons that she used, but they still carried an air of magnificence and grandeur even here in a 3D animation. Nora and Ren had taken the attention of Gabriel, the two hammer-wielders laughing brightly as they compared them. Jacob wondered in the back of his mind if there would be a contest to see who was the stronger hammer-wielder among the two of them.

"Hey Jake," came the voice of Yang right next to him. He turned to his left and was met with lilac eyes not two feet from his own. He flinched only a little in surprise, but it was still noticeable.

"Ah! Jesus Christ, Yang," he hissed. "How the hell are you so stealthy?"

"I have my ways," she said as she leaned back against the rail beside him. Before he could reply, she gently joshed his shoulder and said cheekily, "that's for flinching."

Jacob rolled his eyes as he relaxed. "I thought you'd be up at the bow watching home come into view," he said.

"I've ridden this ferry a million times," she said. "I know the sight like the back of my hand."

Jacob felt a leap in his stomach at her choice of words. He rolled his shoulders to try to dispel the discomfort as his mind flashed back to her... fight with Adam.

She noticed his discomfort. "What?"

Jacob shook his head to dissuade her. "It's nothing."

It seemed to have the opposite effect. "No, come on, tell me," she said. "Something's eating at you."

"It's just a memory, that's all," he said defensively. "A friend who... said something similar," he lied at the last second.

It was enough to throw her. "Oh... sorry," she said a bit sheepishly.

He shrugged it off. "Where's CFVY and SSSN?"

Yang grinned cheekily. "On the bow," she said, "challenging each other to a fight once we get to our place."

"Oh great," Jacob said with a laugh. "I'm sure your dad's gonna love them."

She laughed back. "Are you kidding? He refs for kids at Signal Academy all the time, he'll love seeing a game higher up the leagues," she replied.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Well, in any case, hope your house can take any beatings that head its way," he replied.

She hummed aloud at his comment. "Fair enough... but it's not like it hasn't taken a couple scrapes from me and Ruby training," she replied. "Actually, there's this big crater up front that I made when I first got my Semblance that Dad always uses for his yellow roses."

"How appropriate," he said with a smirk. "Bright, colorful, and attracts everything that it's seen by."

He only got halfway through realizing what he said before Yang burst out in a tremendous bout of laughter. "Oh really? I take it that's some self-reflection at work there?"

"N-no, no, I didn't mean it like that," he replied with an annoyed huff.

"Too late," she said, ruffling his hair. "But thanks for the compliment anyhow."

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me when I say a lot of people think that you've caught the eye of our kitty cat," he said.

Yang blinked in surprise. "What, me and Blake? I can see that," she said. "Considering I wasn't exactly discreet about my meeting with her."

Jacob turned to cock his eyebrow. "Are you?"

Yang blanched at his question. "What?"

"Well, are you interested in her?"

"...No," she said with a tone of incredulity. "She's my teammate. Besides, she's not my type."

"So I figured for you."

Yang turned to look at him, her eyes flashing red before they blinked back to lilac. What's that supposed to mean?"

"You want—rather need—another free spirit," he said, letting in a breath of the salty sea air. "Someone else who can keep up with you, who in on par with you in strength and protectiveness; another blood knight-mama bear type—or would it be Papa Wolf, whatever—to accent your own ferocity and compassion. That's really who you need... You know, when the time comes for you to settle down."

She stared at him with a puzzled stare, one that bored into him.

"At least, that's my opinion," he said with a shrug. "Opposites attract, but parallels last a lifetime."

She cocked a brow back at him. "You honestly think you can guess who's my best match?"

"It's an educated guess," he said, "And Blake does not fit that description. She's a bookworm and a precision fighter, you're more an endurance fighter and... well, you're smart, but you've never struck me as a bookworm."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said. "And who says I don't like the more timid ones?"

He let out a laugh through his nose. "Don't let Blake catch you calling her that," he said, "or ten-to-one odds she'll make us eat those words."

She rolled her eyes at him again before leaning back against the rails. "Ah, who cares about that stuff right now. We got all the time in the world for romance and the not-safe-for-work stuff."

She couldn't have timed that better as Jacob's gaze fell on Pyrrha and Jaune as they walked past, Dante and Pandora following close behind them as they all seemed to be talking about something or other. His smile faltered as Pyrrha laughed in delight, almost doubling over on herself as she walked and laughed, soon joined by her father.

"Yeah," he said as his mind began to wander to darker subjects. "All the time in the world..."

He blanched as Yang's hand zipped in front of his face and snapped her fingers. "Hey," she said sharply. "They're alright," she said. "A lot thanks to you."

Jacob shook his head. "No, Dante is the reason they're alright. If he hadn't shown up all three of us would be red paste in its stomach."

Yang let out a disgusted groan. "Can't you take a congratulations for anything? He wouldn't have made it if you hadn't bought them time," she replied.

Jacob let out a small breath. "I mean, you're right, but... I can't deny her father's efforts. But yeah, I suppose you are right to some degree..."

Her posture seemed to ease. "See? Not so hard to give yourself some congrats, right?"

Jacob grimaced. "Never liked self-congratulating, Yang," he said. "Feels arrogant and... kind of douchy."

"At least try to acknowledge your victories sometime," Yang laughed. "You might actually feel better about yourself."

Jacob nodded as a bell sounded off from the front of the ship. Overhead from the crew cabin a cry of 'prepare to dock' sounded off across the din of the passengers.

"Sounds like we'll be off in a few," Yang said as she stood up and stretched. "Race you to the bow."

Jacob chuckled. "I'd be outrun by a paraplegic in an iron lung," he said. "But... sure, why not?"

Before she could even reply, he lunged forwards, darting past a navy-blue sedan as it sat waiting to return to solid ground. For a brief moment his mind flashed back to his own car and his fun times driving it—was he rusty behind the wheel after six months now, or could he at least drive something here—before he locked eyes with Yang and smirked. Rounding a corner and thundering towards the front deck.

Behind him, he heard Yang cry out, "Hey! No fair!"

"All's fair in love and war," he replied back, a smirk on his face.

The first thing that crossed Jacob's mind when he stepped off the ferry was just how big Patch actually was. By all accounts, the map indicated an island that was no bigger than his home city, a few hundred square miles in overall landmass, ergo probably some manner of limited development suited for only Huntsmen or politicians or other people who were well-off in society.

Dead wrong. Just by the area he saw and by extension what it was represented by on the maps of the Kingdom, Patch was easily the size of New York City, some couple hundred square miles if he had to make a vague guess at the overall landmass.

He was greeted with the sight of a port city in the likeness of Vale across the bay, but far smaller and far quieter. There was still the audible hustle and bustle that could be heard among the pastel-painted brick and wood buildings of the town, but it was nothing compared to the sound levels of the big city. It reminded him of towns he had visited along the Oregon coast like Cannon Beach, mostly thanks to the arboreal and deciduous foliage that splashed the town with lively greens. The dock itself—surprisingly busy and large—was a concrete thing that even then was painted and made lively, sporting orange shore walls and bright white on the concrete. It was like a child had gone nuts with markers, yet somehow they had kept in the lines.

Yang and Ruby had said it was called New Dawn, the only town on Patch. How ironic a name, as apparently the island town itself was far older than the modern Kingdom of Vale, having been a safe harbor for merchant fleets, military navies and since the days of wooden ships and iron men. Originally being called Pitch hadn't stuck with the locals after the Great War—even though he and Ruby got into an argument as they wandered down the dock how the pitch used for ship repair is black and black is technically a color, therefore it should have stuck to Remnant's color motif—so they instead opted for a name that to him sounded like a realm of Oblivion from the Elder Scrolls.

Jacob looked over at his compatriots, watching several of them seem to lose any sense of stress on their persons. "Ahh, so good to be back home," Ruby sighed dreamily on his left flank as she cradled Crescent Rose. "I love it this time of year."

"It's lovely, Ruby," Pyrrha said as she joined the younger Huntress on Jacob's left. "Reminds me of Argus a little bit. Only, perhaps, more colorful than home is..."

Jaune joined them soon enough, taking up a spot to the older boy's right. "It's a lot different from the farm, I'll give it that much. So lively..."

"Lively in appearance," Yang said as she squeezed between her sister and Jacob. "Only a couple thousand people live here, so it's pretty quiet around here most of the time."

In the distance, there was a sound of a church bell ringing. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, Jacob thought at first, only to backtrack as he remembered only Christians did that. Why is there a Sunday mass church bell ringing? Is Christianity here!?

"It's a lovely little town," Weiss said as she dragged her large stack of luggage behind her. "Reminds me of some of the beach towns on Frost Island in the summers in the rare instance we'd vacation there."

Jacob looked over with a cocked brow. "Jacques bought an island for himself, eh? Ultimate show of wealth."

Weiss shook her head. "No, Father purchased a plot of land on the island about six years ago, built a villa from which he could both relax and work at the same time."

Jacob let that idea process in his mind, his lips flapping fruitlessly as he tried to make sense of the bastard's logic. "That is completely counterintuitive," he said. "You build a summer home to get away from work, not to take it with you. Is your dad a workaholic, or does he just love the sound of money getting added to his coffers?"

Weiss huffed, though audibly it was not in disgust, but sounded like it was in agreement. "You have no idea."

The dock ended as Jacob turned and yet foolishly kept his momentum as he walked backwards, watching the rest of the group. The Imperials were keeping pace, either watching the kids—and himself by extension—or were discussing amongst themselves. The only ones even remotely close to him were Dante and Pandora, watching their daughter with a look that was practically luminescent with the concept of pride and worry mixed together.

"Hey," Blake called out from Jaune's side as Nora and a still silent Ren bounced up beside her, "You might want to watch where you're going."

"I've done this a million times," he replied. "I know you don't go for longer than ten seconds, if not five seconds." He spun on his heels and returned to face forwards, only to find a new face was rushing towards them some twenty feet out; specifically, said face was headed towards Ruby.

"Ruby!"

The girl in question visibly lit up at his side. She took a flying leap forwards and embraced the other in a tight hug "Anna! Oh my God, it's so good to see you again!"

The two girls spun as they embraced, Ruby's red cape right against the other girl's green... outfit. Jacob honestly couldn't make out what she was wearing at first.

Yang stepped up beside him. "Hey, Anna," she said with a laugh. "Been keeping Mr. Clearwater busy?

The two broke apart, allowing for Jacob to see it was a girl about Neo's height in a green and yellow skirt and brown leather corset, sporting ginger hair done up in a bun as she stared back with her green eyes, a band-aid across her nose bridge. "Hey, Yang," she said with a wave, "long time, no see!"

Jacob was immediately drawing his assumptions of this girl. Anne of Green Gables, he quickly realized. He stood back as the three began to talk amongst themselves, wrapped up in the moment as the rest of the group gathered around.

"One of Ruby's Signal friends," Pyrrha assumed with a polite smile.

"Yeah," he replied. "I thought she had stopped writing letters to them."

"Hey," Ruby replied back, "I only forgot because I was busy with figuring out Torchwick's plan!"

The girl looked over Ruby and immediately became a shining beacon of excitement. "Oh my God, you're Pyrrha Nikos! Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God," she squeaked in excitement, darting up to Pyrrha and holding herself back as if she were unworthy to be in their presence.

Pyrrha took a small step backwards, smiling sheepishly as she ran a hand through her hair nervously. Jacob could practically read her face, the tension of encountering another fan of hers eating at her.

He grimaced as he stepped closer. "Hey," he said gently, "Can you keep it down? We don't want a fan mob right now."

The girl reacted before he even finished, nodding in agreement. "Right, right, sorry," she said, not an ounce of embarrassment on her face. "Quiet, right!" She turned to Ruby. "How do you know Pyrrha Nikos!?"

Ruby smirked. "She's a member of our sister team," she said proudly as the other three crowded around her. "Team RWBY and Team JNPR, meet my old friend, Anna Evergreen."

Jacob bit back the urge to raise an eyebrow in deadpan as she began to shake hands with several of them. She seemed almost if not more excitable than Ruby was, though Jacob had to wonder if that also came from age or the fact that she looked scarily familiar to a Disney Princess of the same name.

She turned to greet him. "Hi," she said, "And you must be that Lone Wolf guy that Ruby had last written to me about."

Jacob nodded with a sigh. "Jacob Muller. Pleased to meet one of Ruby's famed friends from Signal," he said.

She smiled with her eyes closed as she gripped his hand in a surprisingly firm handshake. "She said you were a bit older than even the second years," she said. "But I have to be honest I wasn't expecting a Third-year as a first year."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he deadpanned.

"Coming from her, it is," came a gravelly voice from a few feet back. Jacob turned to see Qrow, still the scraggly scarecrow he normally was, though thankfully he didn't seem to be drunk at the moment.

"UNCLE QROW!"

"Uncle Qrow!"

The two sisters zipped past their friend, embracing their uncle in a tight hug. All three were soon embroiled in a fit of laughter as they laid on the concrete ground, hugging as they did so.

The girl blushed brightly. "Professor Branwen!"

"Eh, I'm alright, Anna," he said with a dismissive wave. "And please, Mr. Branwen when we're not in class."

"Aaah, it's so good to see you," Ruby cried out in excitement.

"What, you thought I was a ghost during the whole 'save you two from Raptors' routine?" The dusty bird ruffled her hair, inciting a laugh from all three of them.

Jacob smirked as he stepped back towards the Imperials. The first one he spotted was Gabriel, the Blood Raven giving a laugh as he watched on. "And you were supposedly the great Grey Reaper," called out Gabriel.

Qrow looked up, a devious smirk crossing his features. "If it isn't Magpie Angelos," he said, rising to his feet. "I thought you were unusually absent in the fighting."

"You were just too busy getting thrown around like an unlucky ragdoll," Gabriel fired back with a laugh.

Qrow began to stroll towards them, wearing a cheeky grin. "At least I can actually find my target and stay on them."

"Says the dusty bird who somehow missed a charging Beringel on our first joint mission," Gabriel joked as he offered Qrow a handshake. "Come here, you son of a bitch."

Both men let out a laugh as their hands met with a sharp slap on the last word, their handshake becoming one right out of Predator as it became a de facto arm wrestle. Surprisingly—or not considering his giant weapon—Qrow was able to meet Gabriel's grip and arm strength, the two sharing wicked smiles befitting of an in-joke.

"Good to see you, Gabe," Qrow said with a toothy grin. "How's Vacuo?"

"Hot, dusty and mercilessly dangerous. In other words, how I've always liked it," he said in return.

Jacob suppressed a snort of bemusement. There's a horrible joke to be made about that, he thought to himself as he remembered the climax of Chaos Rising.

"What brings everyone out here, outside of Oz shutting the school down," Qrow asked as the handshake broke apart.

Yang walked up to Qrow's side. "Dad's extended an invitation for everyone to crash at the house until the Vytal Festival starts."

Qrow cocked a brow. "Really? I know the place is big, but I doubt it's big enough for... what, twenty people?"

Jacob turned and looked around them. RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, himself, the Lysanders, TItus, Mira, The Nikoses, Gabriel, Logan... yeah, just shy of twenty people. Weird to think of them as such a gigantic group in comparison to the canon group that amounted to only RWBY and JNPR.

So many more at their side... so many more hands to keep each other safe.

"Some of us have tents," came the voice of Sage as he walked up, effortlessly showing off the giant backpack he wore as Neptune and Scarlett seemed to struggle with their own. "Hopefully we won't be too much of a bother."

Qrow shrugged in reply. "Knowing my brother-in-law, he'd take half the school's student body if they were friends with Ruby," he said. "Though we should honestly get a move-on if we want to be there before it starts getting late in the evening."

Jaune blinked in confusion. "Huh? It's only 2:00, Mr. Branwen," he said as he helped Neptune and Weiss, picking up a bag from each of them.

Qrow smirked. "You'd be surprised how long a walk can be on Patch," he said. "Especially out on dirt roads."

Yang nodded. "From here, it's about a two- or three-hour hike to the house."

"What," blanched Weiss. "Can't we get a rental car or... something?"

"I told you to pack for some foot travel," the blonde bruiser said with a laugh.

"I was expecting through the town! I didn't know you lived out in the countryside!"

"Didn't we talk about the patch of forest outside of our house?"

Ruby popped in. "Pretty sure we did."

Weiss huffed loudly, incited a few laughs from the rest of the group. Jacob joined in with a toothy grin and a chuckle from his throat. "Come off it, Weiss," he said. "A few miles of hiking won't kill us."

A groan from Neptune and Scarlett made him roll his eyes. "Drama queens."

"Ozpin... we need to talk," said Glynda quietly as she wiped the faintest dew of sweat from her brow with her purple handkerchief.

Ozpin sipped from his mug, the evening decaf leaving a bitter taste in his mouth that even the packet of cream and the teaspoon of sugar had failed to cut through. Normally, he hated coffee this late in the evening, even when it was a busier one, but the allure of the placebo effect was too great to not pass up considering the circumstances.

His office was cast in bright tones of oranges and reds from the setting sun, the air charged with the heat from the afternoon sun. The ugly smoke trails of black in the sky had been removed from the city skylines thanks to the continuous efforts of the Vale Fire Department. The sky was now spared the ugly scars from the Breach, though the unseen fog of tension still blanketed the city. Even at a distance he could see it; the roads had been mostly clear for the last few days, many offices had been shut down in the Downtown, and what foot traffic did continue was mostly police, firemen, and Atlas soldiers sweeping the city for any Grimm that had escaped the Huntsmen. So far, only a handful of Creeps and an Ursa had been destroyed in the Industrial District, but otherwise the city seemed clear of Grimm threats.

So why did he still feel that chill in his veins?

"Of course, Glynda," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "Please, what is on your mind?"

Glynda took a seat on the couch near his desk, looking somewhat disheveled as she sat before him; her hair had been matted from sweat from a long day of aiding repair teams across the city with her telekinesis Semblance; her blouse was somewhat dirty and cut in a few places, even one little cut leaving the tiniest peak of her brassiere; her riding crop was caked in dirt and dust from the constant reconstruction work She honestly was quite a mess, though not for no reason.

"I... I've been thinking about the attack," she said as she wiped her brow again. "About the path it had taken."

Ozpin nodded grimly. "You noticed the pattern too," he said.

She nodded back. "Every epicenter where they detonated one of the cars... it can't be just a coincidence that it was in almost entirely in densely populated areas, can it?"

Ozpin shook his head. "Considering everything that was on that train path," he said as he brought up a map on his holo-table, "it is very strange they went that route in particular." The map glowed as a white beam followed the diagonal path of the train, passing through the city from Mountain Glenn before it made a stop in the Commercial District's Plaza of the People. Several red dots popped up to reveal where the detonations had occurred across the city.

And yet, none of them had been in a center of major infrastructure. It was always population centers.

"The Blue Towers, The Western Vale Dust Company Refinery, Nakatomi Plaza, City Hall," Ozpin rattled off to himself in particular. "So many population centers, perfectly evenly-spaced."

Glynda nodded. "And yet not one location that was key to the city's infrastructure."

"You're right. They completely bypassed the Power Station," he said as he zoomed in to reveal the Central Power Station, the main source of power for most of the Industrial and Residential Districts. And yet, the nearest detonation had been more than five miles away through heavy street traffic at the time and the result was the Grimm never coming anywhere near it.

"Not to mention the Intra-City Communications," she said as she pointed to the small radio tower nestled by the southern fork of the Exodus River. "Not a single bomb detonation within 3 miles of it along either direction."

"Indeed. And the Grimm released were not the breeds that are the most... adept at attacking and killing civilians. The Beowolves were too inexperienced, the Ursa too slow, the Creeps too few in numbers compared to what we see in the frontiers."

Glynda grimaced in thought. "This feels like... only one tendril."

"One tendril of an attack on Vale at the height of the Vytal Festival season," he finished for her. "Led by one criminal mastermind who has nothing to gain from the slaughter of civilians or his own capture."

She nodded. "And yet James seems to be of the mindset he's playing hard to get and coy... but why?"

Ozpin bristled as old, very dormant memories. He sipped from his mug again, the bitterness now comforting to him in a bitter way. "Perhaps an answer can be found from this individual," he said as he brought up the footage from the ground level of the Tower, pausing seconds before the giant had made impact with the first guard.

Glynda grimaced. "Our Maiden thief," she said.

Ozpin nodded. Something about her seemed familiar, but whatever it was wasn't clicking. She had concealed her features, yet she seemed vain enough that she was willing to show cleavage, the sides of her waist and the long flowing black hair on her head. Otherwise, she was wreathed in black leather and the reds and golds of the Summer Maiden's powers. He couldn't make out the face, not even the eyes.

"Between the two things... I hate to say it, but I feel that the train and the Grimm were a distraction first, rather than a main event," he said quietly.

"She wanted into our severs," Glynda deduced, no doubt from the footage in the main lobby of the CCT Depot. "If it weren't for that android girl, she might have gotten access."

Ozpin ran that sentence through his head. The android girl, Penny... What on earth is Ironwood up to to be creating androids in the shape of young women? What is his aim for something that feels less like a defensive tool... and more like a weapon of war?

"Ozpin?"

Opin looked up. "Hmm? Oh, forgive me Glynda. I was just considering the Polendina girl myself."

She gave him a worried look. "Should we bring it up with James when next we see him," she asked.

Ozpin felt the urge to ask about it rise in the back of his mind, only for the bigger picture to rush back to him. "No... no, there will be time to ask him later," he said. "We should focus on other things. Such things as identifying our False Maiden. Things such as keeping Amber safe."

She nodded. "That... now that you mentioned her, that was another thing I wanted to bring to your attention, Oz."

Oz felt the grip on his mug tighten in dread. "Don't tell me..."

She nodded quietly as the sun slipped past the horizon, the lights of the city beginning to wink on in the darkness. Even then, the city and Patch across the way seemed dimmer than normal.

"She's started deteriorating," Glynda said with a waver to her voice. "I... I don't think we have long now until she's gone."

Okay, admittedly this was a filler chapter that was about as bad as Volume 5, at least as far as I am concerned. I hope it was actually worth the read-through for you guys, cause from here on, the plot is actually going to move forwards.

Case in point, next time we arrive at the Vytal Dance as Jacob plays Cupid, and Remnant is introduced to the music of the 20th and 21st Century. Expect a dance number involving 'Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing)' and some of the Parent Couples showing the kids how to swing-dance.

Oh, and Cinder and Jacob have a confrontation. That'll be fun.

Reviews and critiques are as always welcomed and hopefully you guys have enjoyed the story so far, and I will see you all in the next chapter. Bye!