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Beta-ed by xenosaiyan

It was a quiet day. A sunny day. The forest glittered like a sea of emeralds, the birds warbling a pleasant chorus through the titanic trees. If one was merely looking in on the world, it would the most picturesque land imaginable.

Of course, if one was present, then they would understand that this was the continent of Anima, and that meant everything was going to try to kill you. Case in point, the gargantuan rock monster currently smashing aside thousand-year-old trees as it stomped towards the nearby village, the tiny bone mask situated in the middle of its biggest boulder providing evidence of its malicious intent.

Well, to most, at least.

"Are you sure it's a Grimm?" Carla inquired, squinting at the behemoth from the canopy. "The body looks like solid stone. More a golem than anything."

From beside her, perched upon a highly strained branch, Qrow nodded, downing a swig of his flask fast enough to make Cana proud.

"Unless the White Fang are now taking in some very strange recruits, it's a Grimm," the ragged huntsman assured her. "Geist, if I had to guess. Tough bastards. They can possess almost any non-sentient object. You have to force them out to kill them."

"And you do that by?"

"Hit the mask. For most Grimm, its heavy armor covering their face, but for a Geist, it is their face. Smash it hard enough when they're in something and they'll be forced out."

"Really? How interesting." Carla remarked.

Months on Remnant, traversing the treacherous Anima countryside, and the dangers never seemed to cease. Everywhere they went, they either found the ruins of towns obliterated by the Grimm, or settlements besieged by the monsters, their black forms taking on every shape and size imaginable. She had glimpsed them at Beacon, but by that point they'd already begun to be pushed back. She hadn't thought much of them, even with her knowledge of Team RWBY's dread for them back at the guild.

But there was no end to them. Wherever they went, the strange dark spirits were there, and bit by bit Carla had come to understand why they were feared. After all, a foe that never ended, especially one that wanted for nothing but destruction, could never truly be beaten. And unless one had a huntsman's education, they couldn't know the millions of individual strategies needed to take down each class of Grimm. Civilians, even if they by some sparse chance had their aura unlocked, were near helpless against them.

It was enough to make Carla wonder whether, if they hadn't had friends and family they wished to see again, Team RWBY would have been nearly as eager to return to Remnant. She certainly didn't enjoy the idea of her and Wendy having no truly safe haven.

"Should we attack it?" she asked nervously, settling on the branch to converse the magic of her wings. "I know we want to see how far they've come, but still—"

"They've got first crack at this thing. It's the only way for them to see what they're made of," Qrow cut in. He leaned back against the tree's thick trunk. "Relax, kitty cat. If it gets out of hand, we'll be here to step in."

Carla's eyes narrowed. "Do not call me 'kitty cat'."

"A certain Ice Queen in Atlas will tell you that I don't budge on nicknames."

"Weiss?"

Qrow chuckled. "The other one."

"There are two Weisses?" the Exceed smirked. "This world might not be so bad after all. At least if their decorum can balance out present company."

The huntsman rolled his eyes. "Very funny. Guess that means you clean up your own hairballs?"

"Please, Exceeds may have many similarities to cats, but we most certainly do not share that disgusting habit," Carla replied. "Now then, it seems they have arrived."

Both she and Qrow gazed back down to the forest, the Geist stampeding along its merry way, everything the stone golem's path crumpling before its titanic weight.

At least, until a grey blur leapt through the tree and advanced on the creature, the Grimm seemingly unaware of the danger's approach.

The blur launched itself into the air and landed on the creature's arm, color suddenly blossoming across the figure's body and clothes, revealing the flowing green robes of Lie Ren, his twin machine pistols Stormflower in his grip. He stabbed down into the Geist's body, latching himself onto the stone.

However, with his semblance now deactivated, the Grimm was easily able to sense his negativity, its boulder head turning towards him. Its other gargantuan arm reached around and came down to smash him flat like a fly.

"Holy Barrier!"

A glowing golden ankh, shining with a heavenly white glow within, flared to life above Ren, its light stopping the giant rock arm cold, the huntsmen below completely unharmed.

Carla glanced over to the edge of the clearing, Jaune Arc standing proudly just outside the tree time, his eyes furrowed in concentration as another ankh blazed around his shield. Over the past few months, each of the present members of Team JNPR had managed to unlock their own magics, their leader possessing easily the largest origin of the three, though not nearly as large as most first-class wizards the Exceed had known. His Holy Barrier magic was quite the potent protection though, power that Sting would have gobbled up. Though honestly, with all the various deities and religions on Earthland, Carla wasn't sure why most magic wasn't of a holy class, at least of the God Slayers. Perhaps there was a higher power than the polytheistic pantheons?

"Ren! Do it now!" Jaune shouted to his friend, his barrier still holding strong against the titanic Grimm's assault.

The other huntsman nodded his agreement and pressed one of his palms against the rocky limb he was attached to. Slowly but surely, glowing gridlines white light began to insect across the stone. Perhaps it was only for the familiarity, but Carla couldn't help but smile when she saw the boulder burst apart into dozens of perfectly split cubes.

It was certainly a surprise that one as calm and centered as Ren possessed such a brutally destructive power as Crash Magic, but she supposed one wouldn't expect a lackadaisical drunken flirt like the Ace of Fairy Tail to have it either. Still, despite the magic's naturally potency, the young huntsman commanding it had an origin barely a tenth of the size of Gildarts'. His beginner's nature was still obvious, and he had to concentrate for a few moments to gather up enough magic energy within himself to do anything, and he certainly wouldn't be blowing away mountains any time soon, if ever. He simply didn't have enough fuel for that. Granted, with his semblance, sneaking up on a Grimm to use it wouldn't be too difficult.

Ren flipped through his fall, landing gracefully on his feet. The Geist turned towards him, recoiling from its lost arm and throwing its other one into a long-winded lunge for its assailant.

Which if Jaune's grin was anything to go by, was exactly what the team wanted.

"Now! Nora, go!" he yelled.

To an outside observer, nothing seemed to happen, Ren just panting hard while Jaune's Holy Barrier shielded him from the stone golem's strike.

Then, for no explicable reason, the face boulder of the monster exploded, a solid chunk of the titan dissolving into dust as it was sent toppling over. A half dozen more blasts rocked the creature until it was finally driven to the ground, a final strike obliterating its mask. The ghastly true form of the Geist rose out the crippled husk, meandering into the air.

Only for Nora Valkyrie to suddenly appear in existence before it, sporting a grin that might have made even Natsu question her bombast. Her hammer Magnhild, quickly shifted into its grenade launcher form and before the Grimm had even had time to process the instinct to flee, a bomb collided with its mask and disintegrated it in a pink explosion.

Qrow whistled. "Still can't believe that girl of all people has Invisibility."

Carla shrugged. "Magic grows and changes alongside us. Perhaps there is something she has hidden within that not even she knows how to reveal."

Given that said girl proceeded to tackle her teammates in a massive hug (Ruby informed her it was colloquially called a 'glomp' in this world), squealing about sneaking extra pancakes at breakfast, perhaps Qrow was well within reason to cock an eyebrow as he did.

"Doesn't matter I suppose," he finally stated. "They're coming along quite nicely if they can take down a Grimm like that so easily."

"Most magic's main strength lies in pure destructive force," Carla noted. "It isn't too surprising that they're able to deal with far greater enemies now."

"Beats turning into a bird at least," Qrow shook his head. "Man, I feel like Oz really shortchanged me."

Carla shrugged. "Transformation Magic is quite useful for a spy, as I'm sure you know. And cheap enough that one can consistently use it even on this world. And you've certainly mastered it. Not even Mira or Lisanna could fully transform into an animal."

"You can," Qrow muttered. "Mira… that's the demon chick that trained Belladonna, right?"

"She-Devil, but yes, she trained Blake."

"Yeah, I think shifting into a half-demon beats anything I've got," Qrow noted. "Don't suppose you have any other crazy powers I don't know about?"

"I can see the future."

"Ha! And I thought you didn't have a sense of humor."

Carla raised an eyebrow at him.

"… you can see the future? Seriously"

"Not as consistently as I would prefer," Carla admitted. "It tends to alert me to various world-ending events, or moments when our friends might die, but even then it's a coin flip whether it makes any sense or I can do anything about it."

"Well, that sounds pretty unhelpful."

"It's saved Wendy's life at least once, so I'm glad to have it," she said. "Though, I will admit that gaining a bit more precise control over it would be quite nice."

"Ever think to work on it?" Qrow inquired.

"Of course!" Carla rebuffed him indigently. "I just… have no idea how. Precognition is one of the least studied magics in the world. Barely anyone in history has been recorded having it, and those few that have only left a few books of prophecies instead of any instructions on how to make them. It is infuriating! I can't help Wendy against the caliber of foes she'll be facing if I'm still at this level… nevermind."

"No, I get it," Qrow comforted her. "Salem's coming for Ruby, probably setting the Gates on her, and I can turn into a bird. Put me against a Grimm and I'll cut through them without batting an eye, but against those monsters… well, there's a reason I was only a scout."

Carla frowned. "These Gates… are they really that powerful? Stronger than that maiden girl?"

"Oz certainly thought so. And he wasn't one to understate an enemy—gah! Damnit!"

The branch the pair were sitting on finally snapped free, a victim of Qrow's semblance no doubt. Carla effortless sprouted her wings the moment she felt the support beneath her vanish, but the huntsman was taken by surprise. He fell for a solid second before he transformed and fluttered back up.

The white Exceed could only sigh. Trapped in a world with barely any ethernano, with allies that were already on the backfoot, against foes they didn't know if they could fight. With no Natsu, Erza, Gray, or even Happy. Maybe she should take another crack at invocating her precognition? Or perhaps unlocking her semblance, whatever that might have been.

At the very least, she hoped Ruby and Wendy's efforts were yielding more fruit.

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"Man, this is so much easier with an enchanter!" Ruby exclaimed. "Why did we never work on this together before?"

"I didn't know how to do it before," Wendy giggled. "I learned a lot in two years."

Ruby grinned and pulled her Reaper's Rose armor out of the forge, quickly dunking it into the cooling vat, steam rushing up throughout the shop. A local blacksmith in the settlement had been nice enough to let them use his forge as part of the settlement's payment for getting rid of their Geist problem, something Jaune and the others had set out to handle. In the meantime, Wendy had offered to use her mystical expertise to help with the hardening and mirror magic that still needed perfecting in Ruby's armor, plus adding a bit of color-changing for that hint of Fairy Tail extravagance. Now, the formerly stubby scale mail wings were grand and flowing, just like the Heaven's Wheel armor it was based off.

And if Erza was somewhere on Remnant as well, trapped in a Fairy Sphere, she would have a whole lot of fun showing it off to her.

"Amazing," the blacksmith whispered, overlooking them both with wide eyes of wonder. "And this isn't a semblance? Are you sure?"

"Positive, sir," Ruby confirmed, bursting into a cloud of rose petals just to prove it. "This is Fairy Tail magic."

The blacksmith let out a round of hearty chuckles, the ram's horns atop his forehead nearly scraping the roof of his shop. "Magic. Magic! The boys at the bar are never going to believe this."

The bell of the shop's front door chimed, and the kind man exited the forge, leaving the girls to their own devices.

"It's weird," Wendy noted. "Magic is so commonplace back home, but here no one's even heard of it."

Ruby shrugged. "Makes sense why we didn't believe it at first, huh. And since we learned magic on Earthland, maybe you could learn to fight like a huntress here? Eh? Eh?"

"I don't need a weapon, Ruby."

"Aw, come on! It'd be really cool—I mean useful!"

Wendy sighed. "My fighting style is based off Natsu's. It's hand to hand. Aura and whatever my semblance might end up being can amplify it but adding a weapon would just make it unnecessarily complicated."

"But Yang fights hand to hand, and she uses Ember Celica!" Ruby pleaded. "Come on, just think about it. You, surrounded by Grimm, low on magic, no opening to eat air and refill. Then suddenly, you break out some super mega awesome weapon that's also a gun and tear them apart! It'd be amazing!"

Wendy cocked an eyebrow. "Doesn't it take years of practice and training to learn how to safely handle a gun? Let alone accurately?"

Ruby smiled dimmed a bit. "Well… kind of. I mean, Jaune nearly burned down the training hall when he tried… somehow. I still can't figure out how he did that, it wasn't even loaded with fire dust."

"Exactly. And Fairy Tail members already cause property damage wherever they go. I don't want to cause anyone any trouble."

"I've never actually seen you cause property damage now that I think about it. Did that change while I was away too?"

"Well… not exactly. But the more powerful I got, the harder it was to keep it that way," Wendy explained. "Adding a weapon would only make that worse. Although…" the Sky Dragon Slayer furrowed her brow. "You have a point about not being able to rely on magic. I do have to be ready for anything."

"Exactly!" Ruby cheered, wrapping her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Now imagine it… a gun, that's also a gun. Okay, that's not my best idea. Give me a second, I'll come up with some better stuff."

"Or," Wendy proposed. "Maybe a shield?"

Ruby cocked an eyebrow. "That's also a gun?"

"No. Just a shield."

"Oh," Ruby noted, unable to fully hide her disappointment. "Well, I guess that could work. The biggest issue would be the weight slowing you down, but a buckler wouldn't be too bad on that front. Heck, you could even carry two of them, use them like boxing gloves. That'd be awesome!"

"And I'd be able to protect people!" Wendy nodded eagerly. "I could shield them at the same time I healed them or reinforced them with enchantments."

"Perfect!" Ruby grinned. It might not have had a gun on it, but at the very least, she'd convinced her friend to take on some extra protection while she was on Remnant. "Let's go check to see if he's got any metal we can use to make them while we're here."

The girls ran out of the forge and into the shop proper, only to find the faunus blacksmith conversing with the village elder. They both turned towards the wizards and smiled.

"Ah, Miss. Rose, Miss Marvell," the elder said. "We've just received word from your friends. They have defeated the Geist and are returning as we speak."

"That's great," Ruby replied. "They finished that up even faster than I thought they would."

"Indeed," the elder chuckled. "We truly can't thank you enough. That horrid Grimm had been plaguing us for weeks. We were beginning to wonder if we were going to have to relocate."

"Well, we are on our way to Mistral," Wendy informed them. "You could always come with us if you don't feel safe."

The elder cringed. "I take it you're not from these parts."

"What?" Wendy squeaked. "Of course, I am. I'm from right around these parts. Why would you think I'm from anywhere that isn't around these parts? I'm from the same world as you…"

Ruby patted her on the back, calming her frantic breathing. "I think you may have picked up my babbling."

"Just a bit."

The elder and blacksmith exchanged a confused look before shrugging.

"Well, anyway, Anima is a large continent," the elder continued. "I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. There is less…" he glanced towards the faunus blacksmith, who sighed. "discrimination than in the city.

Ruby frowned. She'd never really paid much attention to what the faunus suffered before she met Blake. In Vale, for the most part, no one cared whether people were human or faunus, at least from what she saw. There were a few rumors of White Fang activity, and a racist jerk like Cardin here and there, but for the most part, the world just seemed to turn the same for everyone.

But that was in Vale. And as Blake and Weiss had both made clear to her, things were not the same in the other kingdoms. Every kingdom but Vacuo had once used faunus for slave labor, but Mistral and Atlas had both held onto the practice until the end of the Great War, then attempting to exile them to Menagerie. Though Atlas had similar anti-discrimination laws as Vale, the attitudes of its people varied widely on that count, with Mistral not even having that much. It wasn't too surprising that some groups of people had gotten tired of their kingdoms' prejudices and headed out into the wilderness to make their own life.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" she inquired.

The elder and blacksmith immediately perked up. "No need to worry. You have all done more than enough. I just wish we could pay you more."

"Don't worry," Wendy assured them. "Our previous arrangement is more than enough."

"Although, you wouldn't happen to have any spare metal lying around, would you?" Ruby inquired.

The blacksmith raised an eyebrow. "How much do you need?"

Ruby grinned. She turned towards Wendy and imagined her charging into battle with a pair of mini-Tulip's Aegises on her hands, smacking down Grimm wherever she went with a tornado at her back.

Ooooh, she didn't know why Wendy didn't want any of the others to have followed her to Remnant, but she really hoped Erza was somewhere around. She couldn't wait to show off everything she was going to make to her mentor.

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"Oh, the shadows fell over the land,

they ravaged, and slaughtered, and ran.

The spawn of Zeref, raised from hell,

To torment, and butcher, and tear.

But all nights must end, the sun must rise,

And over the hill, it did.

Ozma! The mighty and strong!

Ozma! With time on his side!

Ozma! The great and powerful, our hero of light!"

"What the hell?" Oscar muttered. When he'd nodded off to sleep, he hadn't expected to get suddenly plopped in the middle of a grimy tavern of all places. Even less to see a freaking bard playing a lute of all things as the entire packed bar sang along with his ballad.

All except one, a young man laughing at the counter, a tankard of ale in his hand and a scantily clad woman on each arm. His hazel eyes sparkled with laughter against his tan skin, his unkempt brown hair somehow looking dashing even in the dingy light of the bar. A finely crafted staff with a chunk of emerald at its tip rested against his stool, a golden key strapped to a loop on his belt.

"Oh, the shadows came and Ozma went forth,

Driving them from the land!

No demon could stop him,

The maidens besotted,

His great and all-powerful air!

Ozma! The great and powerful, our hero of light!"

"I protest minstrel! I protest!" the young man heckled. "I've been trying to get that title changed to the incredibly handsome and powerful. I think it'll go a little farther with the fairer sex, am I right, ladies?"

A round of giggles and a chorus of cheers accompanied his shouts, the sheer worship everyone in the bar had for the man permeating the very air. Hell, he hadn't even done anything besides drink and flirt and Oscar already couldn't take his eyes off him. There was a natural magnetism about him, an aura of confidence and power. It was… alluring, to say the least.

Of course, that just made everyone panic more when a giant sinkhole suddenly opened up beneath him, the joyous chatter instantly turning to terrified screaming.

Only the man himself didn't panic, quickly recovering his wits and pushing the women around him to safety before they could fall in. He snatched his staff from the air and swiped it through the air below him, a glyph of green light shaped like a clock materializing above the hole.

"Arc of Time: Restore!"

Dirt rose against gravity to refill the hole, a scant second passing before Oscar wouldn't have believed there was ever one to begin with. The young man landed on his feet upon the new floor and swiftly skipped back from it, motioning for everyone else to get clear.

Indeed, a moment later, the hole reappeared, a small cloud of dirt filling the air. For several seconds, the patrons cowered behind the young man, who stood tense and ready for battle.

Of course, after those seconds, a pink-haired woman wearing flowing golden robes leapt out of the hole, her narrowed eyes scanning the crowd. Oscar didn't think anyone else noticed, but the golden key on the young man's belt began to softly glow gold.

The woman's gaze finally centered on the young man. "You are Ozma? The hero?"

The young man cocked an eyebrow but did not drop his guard. "I am. Who's asking?"

"A friend of mine."

A smile instantly split Ozma's face whirling around to a new figure appearing in a flash of golden light. A man, as tall as the hero with just as sculpted a figure, garbed in resplendent golden armor and with a mane of vibrant orange hair.

"Leo!" Ozma cheered, his staff clattering to the ground. He rushed over and engulfed the lion-like figure in a tight hug, the action bringing the barest smile to the armored man's lips. "It's been far too long, old friend! How have you been? Is everything okay up in the stars? Oh!"

Ozma whirled around to the patrons. "No need to be alarmed everyone! This is Leo, a good friend of mine. And his friend… um…"

"Virgo," the woman from the hole supplied.

"Virgo!" Ozma repeated happily. His smile suddenly turned worried and he leaned back into Leo. "Wait, Virgo? The Spirit of the Maiden? What happened to Aries? Are you two having trouble again?"

The pink-haired woman's eyes narrowed. "We are here on business, not pleasure. Leo assured me that you would be a worthwhile ally in our quest."

Ozma's face suddenly became concerned. "Quest? What's wrong?"

Leo frowned, his eyes flickering to the nervous bar patrons. "We should talk about this somewhere else."

The world around Oscar blurred, the bar evaporating in a haze of mist, replaced by a hill overlooking a dark, gothic tower straight out of the blackest nightmare. A gigantic dome of crackling violet energy surrounded the fortress, a violent tempest of storm clouds blotting out the sky above.

Ozma, now encased in shining green armor, Leo, and Virgo stood at the base of the hill, the former looking upon the bastion of evil with wary trepidation, while the latter glared with utter burning hatred.

"Why can't you tunnel under it?" Ozma inquired.

"Don't you think I would have done that already if I could!" Virgo snapped. "It's an orb, not a dome. He knew better than to think we wouldn't come after her."

"Which is why the field will keep out even the strongest of us, even if we could maintain a proper anchor to the human world," Leo scowled. "The King had three of our most trusted contractors shatter their keys so he could spend an entire day hammering it with everything he had. It did nothing."

Ozma frowned. "I'd heard the Underworld King was dangerous, but this is insane. And he's got an army of demons in there besides?"

Virgo whirled on him. "Don't you dare back down! You promised you'd help! We have to save her and you're the only one who stands a chance at taking down the shield to save her!"

"Woah, woah!" Ozma gently protested. "Of course, I'm going to help. Even if I hadn't known Leo since I was a kid, saving people from Zeref's monsters is pretty much my job description. So don't worry, we're going to save her."

The maiden suddenly backed away, suitably chastised. "Oh… um, thank you. I'm sorry for doubting you. It's just… we need to save the princess."

Leo put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."

"No?" Virgo sighed. "I was supposed to be watching her, to accompany her as her maid, not let her run headlong into a demon's false temptations! Now he's doing who knows what to her and—"

"And we'll save her," Ozma insisted, a reassuring grin on his face. "Don't worry, my lady. I am Ozma, the Great and Powerful. No demon has stopped me before, and no demon ever will."

He turned from his friends and marched up the hill, passing through the crackling barrier with only the most minor signs of discomfort. The moment he crossed the threshold, a wave of thick thorns and bramble stampeded down the slope, a legion of ghouls and gargoyles as grotesque as any Grimm at its heels.

Ozma waved his staff and the emerald detached itself from the tip, floating in midair surrounded by a soft glow.

"Flashforward!"

Suddenly, there was not one emerald in the air, but ten thousand, a veritable storm of jewels easily equal to the demonic forces closing in. With but a thrust of his staff, the shining arsenal bombarded the advancing foes, shredding hellish beasts and gargantuan thorns in equal measure. In mere moments, all that was left of the devilish horde were chunks of ruined flesh and scraps of withered plants.

Ozma's eyes narrowed. "So that was the cannon fodder. Lovely."

He trudged up the hill, his sparkling emerald circling his body like a watchful hound.

Oscar could only watch in awe. If he'd been faced with such a legion, or the equivalent in Grimm, all that would have been left for him to do was curl up in a ball and hope they didn't torture him too much when they tore him apart. Ozma had annihilated it in seconds, with seemingly no effort at all.

Was this what a fully trained wizard was capable of? Perhaps the warrior before him was an outlier, some ancient legend among legends, but he used the same magic Ozpin had. If he could learn to use that same class of power, there was no telling how many people he could help.

He made to follow, to witness the wonder of Ozma's inevitable duel with this Underworld King, whoever that was. But just as he took a step, a hand clasped his shoulder. He whirled around to see a tall man in a green suit and bookish spectacles, a dusting of pale white hair on his head.

A moment later, everything faded away.

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"Why did you pull me out?" Oscar demanded, keeping his voice low as he wandered the stately streets of Mistral's upper ring. He could already catch the suspicious glances of the area's well-off residents watching him. This section of the capital was for filthy rich merchants, politicians, and actors, not farmhands, and especially not farmhands who talked to themselves about magic.

"I had not intended you to see that. Your consciousness slipped in while you were dreaming," Ozpin explained. "I'm sorry you had to witness it."

"Why?" Oscar asked. "That Ozma guy was awesome. Was he one of our past lives?"

Within his mind, he heard Ozpin give what must have been the mental version of a sigh. "He was the first. And though we have accumulated aspects of everyone we've ever bonded with, he is still the heart of our essence. In a way, I am Ozma. And because of that, I know his memories are better left forgotten."

"They didn't seem that bad," Oscar said. "You were a hero. You were saving someone. Did you… did you fail?"

"No. I succeeded," the ancient wizard revealed. "But perhaps the world would be better off if I'd failed. Now then, look sharp, we're here."

Oscar raised an eyebrow but sensed that he wouldn't get any more information at the moment. Besides, he was not wrong.

Initially, Ozpin's plan had been to come to Mistral and meet up with the headmaster of Haven, Leonardo Lionheart. Made sense, he was a renowned huntsman and one of the wizard's lieutenants against Salem. Surely, he'd be able to help them get into the fight.

Except, he'd been sending out every huntsman he could, including Haven's teachers, to the wilderness. Apparently, this wasn't too unusual after something like the Fall of Beacon, the entire world saw the chaos and that meant negativity, and Grimm, were everywhere. Except, Ozpin had specifically instructed Lionheart to keep his professor close to defend the Relic hidden beneath the school if he didn't hear from him after such an event.

Why would the headmaster so blatantly disregard his friend's orders? Were things really that bad in the countryside? Or was something more sinister at work? Regardless, Ozpin had thought it best to exercise caution and wait until they'd acquired other allies before contacting Lionheart. Fortunately, he had another ally in the city.

In the swanky, upper class, part of the city… Oscar really hoped he wasn't going to end up in jail for this.

He checked the address on the house with the one he'd gotten from his research at the public library and rang the doorbell.

"One moment!" a voice called out from within. A few moments later, a pattering of footsteps emanated from within and the door swung open, revealing a woman with long red hair and deep brown eyes. She had a pair of cooking mitts on over her hands and had to glance about for a second before she realized Oscar was far shorter than whoever she was expecting, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Hello there, young man. Are you selling popcorn for the Wood Scouts?"

"What?"

Oscar probably would have delivered a more eloquent response if not for the fact that he was currently trying to get his brain to work well enough to get his mouth to close before some very inappropriate drool began flowing out of his mouth. He'd grown up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and the women he'd interacted with most during that time were his aunt and their rival farm's milkmaid. To suddenly be confronted by the most awe-inspiring example of feminine beauty he had ever seen was not something his fourteen-year-old mid-puberty mind was ready for.

"Focus, Oscar."

'Humana, humana, humana…'

"Yes, she's gorgeous. Get moving."

'How are you unaffected by this?'

"I am old enough to have met and interacted with more beautiful and intelligent women than you could ever conceive. I understand your biological confusion, but we don't have time for it. And since you can now form complete sentences, I repeat, get moving."

"Alright, alright," Oscar muttered, finally snapping back to himself, the woman seemingly more befuddled by his actions. He coughed and rose to try as look as respectable as possible. "I am not selling popcorn for the Wood Scouts, mam. I have an urgent message for Pyrrha Nikos from Professor Ozpin."

The woman's confusion shifted into full-blown suspicion, her eyes narrowing. "A bit young for a reporter, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Oscar replied. "I'm not a reporter. I'm here to deliver a message to Pyrrha Nikos about—"

"Her dead professor, yes, I heard you the first time," the woman cut in, shutting Oscar up, his body paralyzed in terror as she looked him over more in-depth. "No wire that I can see. No earpiece, even with that mumbling."

"I don't have an earpiece."

"Then why were you mumbling?"

"… I mumble?"

The woman didn't seem to buy that, but he couldn't very well tell her that he had a million-year-old wizard in his head that also happened to be the dead headmaster of Beacon. That would only make her slam the door faster, and that would force them to Lionheart just to have a place to sleep once the sun went down. He didn't think he could go another night in the alley.

Fortunately, it seemed the woman didn't want to take the risk of sending him away just in case he was telling the truth. She leaned back over her shoulder and yelled, "Pyrrha! Someone is here to see you!"

"Coming mother!"

Oscar felt it immediately after that, a sudden spark in a sense he'd only felt himself or Grimm with before. Missing it would have been like not seeing an explosion go off right in front of him. Within his mind, he felt Ozpin's own surprise at the development.

"She's developed her own so quickly?"

No sooner had the words passed through their shared consciousness, than a girl, looking like a younger sister to the woman who'd answered the door save with green eyes instead of brown, burst down the stairs and into the hall, floating in a golden aura before cutting it out.

"Pyrrha," the woman scolded. "What have I told you about using mag… magnificent semblance travel in the house?"

The girl, Pyrrha Nikos, evidently, took a second to look abashed. "Sorry, mother."

"Magic," Oscar muttered, both women turning on him, their eyes wide. "You have it too."

It probably should have been obvious that there would be others in the world wielding magic. Hell, Ozpin had flat out told him that he had allies with it. But considering that he could still barely believe that he had magic and was still a little amazed at the sneak preview of what he'd one day be able to do from Ozma's memory, the surge of magic power had still been a surprise. Though, a welcome one, to be sure.

The two redheaded women before him seemed to still be deciding whether or not it was from their perspective though.

"Who are you?" Pyrrha asked.

Oscar smiled what he hoped was a reassuring grin. "My name is Oscar Pine. I was told to ask you what your favorite fairy tale is."

Ah, JNR finally gets to show off what they've learned, though I suspect some are curious why I made the choices I did. Jaune's is pretty obvious, but I anticipate most will believe Ren and Nora's should have been switched. Have no fear, the thought process behind my decision will become clear in time.

Ruby and Wendy make improvements and plans for improvements while getting a glimpse of certain divides in Mistral. Just wanted a short scene of them having fun together for the most part.

Meanwhile, Oscar gets both a glimpse of Ozma's past and more importantly gets his fourteen-year-old eyes spoiled by Scarlet Nikos. Rest assured, this is not the start of either a running gag or anything more (that would be creepy as all hell), I just wanted to inject some groundedness in Oscar and let's face it, if any heterosexual boy in the midst of puberty met any woman from RWBY or Fairy Tail in real life, that would likely be at least some of their reaction. But anyways, Oz is now in Mistral to help train Pyrrha, so yay!

Now then, announcement! Last year, I took the month of November off from my weekly story, then RWBY/Zero, in order to both focus on the current bombardment of schoolwork, ensure that my monthly stories did not fall behind, and catch the first few episodes of Volume 6 in order to incorporate any details possible from the opening episodes into the story. With Volume 7 and Weiss' current arc both focusing heavily on Atlas, I believe this is more crucial than ever. Thus, I have decided to once again take the month of November off from my weekly story in order to keep the current schoolwork assault from delaying my monthly stories too much and to ensure that this story stays as good as it can be. I thank you all for your understanding, and this story will return in December.

An extra huge thank you to my patrons: ArcherMcMuffin, Gregg Tracton, Keith Traction, StabKingPro, Annaya Chan, Nora Okonus, Paula mandel, KefkaesqueXIII, and Christian Howard.

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!