I grimaced and drew Horizon's blades, keeping The Long Memory hidden at my side for now. I didn't know if he knew I'm the next Ozma, but I needed to keep my cards close to my chest. I sighed, "Do you really want to do this, Caine? You're injured. This could all be resolved if you give me the lamp."

Caine smiled, a haggard and worn thing that didn't reach his eyes, "I need the lamp, Neve." He gestured to Jinn, who was hovering slightly behind him, "I need to keep her, in case she's lying to me about my visions."

My fists clenched around the grip of my blades, "Your visions…?" I furrowed my brow, "Is that how you know about us? Visions? You're seeing the future?" That was hard to wrap my head around, there are a lot of mystical things in this world, but precognition was specifically something Jinn did not give.

"I've never heard of something like this happening before…"

Caine nodded, "Not just of the future, but of things that never happened, or… At least, never happened here." His gauntlets released two kama attached to chains, he took hold of the grips of his sickles, "In some, you're a villain who works alongside Cinder. In others, you're a victim of Cinder, but she always seems to be tied to you, in one way or another."

I blinked a few times and shook my head, "What…?" I took a deep breath, "So you want these visions to stop? What makes you think I can do anything about it? My amulet?" He nodded and I gritted my teeth, "Then just give up the lamp and I'll try to figure out a way to help you! It's so simple, why are you being stubborn?!"

For once, Caine grinned, and the humor reached his eyes, "Well, I'll be honest with you, Neve… I've seen you. Over. And over. And over. Not just you, of course, but you're here… In charge. I don't just want your help."

He cast a glance at Jinn and she smiled while rolling her eyes, "I'm not supposed to do this, but…"

A bird that was flying by slowed then, the sun stopped its descent and in twilight we remained. I was growing more frustrated by the minute, "So you're not just doing this because you're stubborn, but because you… want to fight me?"

Caine raised his sickles while lowering his posture slightly, "Correct. If you beat me… You can do as you wish. Take the lamp, leave me here on the roof, so on and so forth. I will give you the lamp and help you however you wish. You will have no obligations to me. If you lose, then… you have to help me. That interests you, doesn't it?"

"All things considered, it could be worse."

I closed my eyes and thought about it for a few moments before opening them again and in spite of myself I smirked, "If you can see the future, then you should know I'm going to kick your ass."

Before he could respond, I charged forward. I raised my blades and brought them down towards him as I closed the distance. Caine responded by leaping backs, and as he did so time slowed down once again. This time the symbol was a raven with its wings spread out, and over it was text.

Caine Branwen

Member of the Branwen Tribe

The Cornered Rat

Time sped back up. Caine landed and immediately lunged at me, I tried to anticipate his attack by stabbing outward, only for him to raise his kama and bring the crescent blade down, yanking my blade down with it.

I retaliated by slashing towards his left side. Caine responded by stepping to my right and throwing out one of his kama, straight past me. At first, I didn't understand why, that was until it started to glow purple. He ended up behind me as the chain closed in on me, I didn't have time to react before it closed in on me and soon I was wedged between him and it.

Another strange behavior, he wrapped his right arm, the one without a kama, around me. Again, I learned swiftly why when his aura flared up and I suddenly felt incredible pain beginning to surge through my body. I didn't know what he was doing until I felt where the wounds were coming in. My legs, my back, my sides… The same places Ozza was wounded!

I gritted my teeth and activated Absolute Zero, the immediate temperature drop caused the chain that was holding me in place to shatter. Were it not for Caine's aura taking the brunt of the cold, I was sure he would have suffered frostbite. It was enough to get him to jump back however, allowing me to spin around to meet him head on once again.

"Your semblance has always been a bit unfair." Caine noted, activating some gravity dust in his gauntlet that caused the kama he lost to fly back to his open palm, "You have that, Mom has her portals, and what do I have?" He laughed a mirthless laugh, "I take other people's wounds. I wasn't even able to give them to anyone until a few weeks ago… And even then, I hate it."

In that moment, I hated it too, although for a completely different reason. Sure, I sympathized, I understood that he was given a curse in the form of a semblance, not unlike Qrow, except Caine's was a lot more blatant.

I decided that I was going to need to switch up my style if I was going to get ahead here. So, I sheathed my serrated blade and grabbed The Long Memory, "I'm sure you know more than anyone that life isn't fair." I extended out the cane, once the mouse boy saw it his eyes widened, "Do you recognize this? The Long Memory. You know what that means, don't you?" He nodded and I continued, "Then you should know that I know exactly what it's like to be given a raw deal… Yours is worse than mine, I'll admit, but you know what? It's all we can do to make the best out of a bad situation."

I rushed towards him again, channeling ice dust into Horizon before I slashed outward. The chilling mist enveloped him as he made to leap back again, although the roof access was directly behind him, limiting his movements.

Before he could try to move again, I jabbed outward with Oz's cane. It connected with his chest before I began to repeatedly jab outward at his chest with it, the kinetic energy building before it caused him to get blown back and into the brick wall next to the door that led to the stairs.

I winced and paused before I attacked again, the wounds he had given me were slowing me down. I knew that if he got in a few good hits he'd have me on the backfoot, but if I kept up the offensive I figured I'd be able to bring him down.

However, I didn't expect him to thrust his fists out and for his gauntlets to suddenly fire several fire dust rounds. Caught off guard as I was, they slammed into my chest one after another and caused me to stagger back. I gasped in pain, my aura was growing weaker, 80/150 already, my health wasn't much better, 60/100, likely because of those wounds I had taken.

My knees buckled, but I resisted my body's lament. He was better off than me right now, but entirely because he got rid of those wounds that were on him before. If he had kept them, I knew I would have the upper-hand, but now the shoe was on the other foot.

I recovered in time for Caine to close the distance between us. I tried to strike downwards towards the shorter boy, but he used his chainless kama to block it with the top of the crescent. He pushed upward before I could pull my blade away, leaving my side exposed. He took advantage of that opening by bringing around his other kama and digging it into my side, sending a stinging pain through my body as my aura took another hit.

I brought up Oz's cane and whacked the other boy on the forehead. It was rather comical but it worked in making him break away and put some distance between us. I was good, I could go toe to toe with Cinder, but this boy didn't fight like her. It was a fighting style I had never dealt with before, and that threw me off.

"We can't afford to lose, Neve."

'Well, any bright ideas, Professor?'

"One. If you'd allow me to take over the controls…"

'Fine.'

Caine regarded me with caution, keeping his kama at the ready, "Are you ready to give up?"

My eyes flashed Oz's color as he took control. Our voices overlaid as he dropped Horizon and took his cane into his right hand, "No, we're not."

The boy's eyes widened as he fired several more dust rounds at me. Rather than jumping out of the way, we almost appeared to just… stand in place? Well, that was what an untrained eye might have seen. A trained eye might have seen the brief afterimages of Oz making us dodge at a speed I remembered seeing him use in the other timeline when he was fighting against Cinder. I hadn't expected him to be able to do that with my body yet, but maybe since I was further along than Oscar was, we could?

Caine didn't even have time to react before we closed in on him in almost the blink of an eye. Our cane jabbed outward and slammed into his chest before a rapidfire series of jabs followed, such was the speed and force that the mouse boy was left only to grimace in pain. That was until we delivered one final thrust, and much like what happened to the Kraken, a burst of kinetic force sent Caine flying back until he smashed into the brick wall with a yelp and a gasp.

As he slumped down, he didn't move to get up. Instead, with a struggling gasp, he stated, "...Alright. You win… Even if you cheated." He coughed, "...Honestly, I'm honored… I think… If you hadn't, I would have been a bit upset."

Oz retreated and I staggered forward slightly before using The Long Memory to balance me out. I could tell time started back up when I heard the chirping of a bird, and Jinn turned into a blue fog that traveled past me, before entering the lamp. I walked over to him slowly before offering my hand, "It… was a good fight."

He smiled meekly up at me and hesitated for a moment before he reached out and took my hand. I pulled him up and prepared to let go, except he stumbled forward and pulled me into a hug. He had to be around five feet, given how short he was, and that made it even more awkward, "Uhm… Caine?"

Then, his aura flared up, and he whispered, "You won. So I'll carry your burdens. Just as promised." Before I could protest or pull away, I felt my wounds being taken from me. His grip tightened just to keep me in place, and yet as soon as it was finished he let go and almost fell backwards, were it not for me catching him. He was out cold…

"Raven has not been kind to this boy. I can tell. That he is so short and lithe despite no doubt being around your age speaks to malnourishment, I have no doubt."

'Yeah… He deserves rest.'

I lowered him gently to the ground before I lifted his sash and took the lamp. It was always small in size and remained that way as I slipped it into my satchel. After I picked up and sheathed my weapons, I scooped him up bridal style and made for the door. After pushing it open, I headed down the stairs.

I thought about using the elevator, but when I reached it I froze. I could hear the Knight's words, "Then fall!" He had yelled before he cut the rope to the elevator. Visions followed, visions of the plunge and the subsequent crash, my struggle to escape. I shook my head and turned away from the elevator, opting to take the stairs. If Ozpin had an opinion on my internal struggle, he didn't voice it.

I reached the floor where we were all staying and used Mage Hand to open the door before I stepped in. Of course, thanks to Jinn's time stop, it hadn't been very long at all in real terms. Everyone was surprised when they saw me carrying Caine. They all cleared a path for the empty bed while Jeanne asked, "What happened?! Is he alright?"

I smiled, "I guess the wounds weighed on him a bit more than he let on." I laid him on the bed before I turned to everyone, "Although he did give me something before he passed out." I opened my satchel and reached into it before holding up the relic, which grew to its normal size. Everyone gasped as I let them all see it, "The Relic of Knowledge."

Ruby gasped, "You found it? How?!" She asked that, and yet the fact that I came back with an unconscious Caine and was holding the relic was hard to ignore.

I looked at everyone assembled, my team, Ozza, who was still laying on her bed, Ruby, and Shi. Then, I cast my gaze down to Caine, "Caine had it. He took it on orders from his mother, Raven Branwen, and he gave it to me before he passed out."

Ruby was the one who seemed the most shocked at this, "Raven is his mom?! Yang has a half brother!" Strangely, she was more fixated on that than anything else, "I gotta tell her!"

I had no idea if she was his actual mother or if Raven had just plucked him off the streets, but that was something that would need to be asked about after the fact. For now, I shrugged, "He could be, or he could have been adopted. I guess either way, yes, he's Yang's half brother."

Lunus scratched his head and leaned on the opposite of me, "Okay, that's a lot to take in… So, we have the lamp, what do we do now?" The others seemed to want to know the answer to that too, although Ruby and Ozza were looking at Caine's unconscious form instead. I knew why Ruby was looking at him, but I couldn't say why Ozza was. Although undoubtedly she had no idea what the significance of this relic was.

I responded simply, "We're going to go to Mistral and try to link up with Qrow. Then, we're going to find out who killed Leo Lionheart and try to secure this lamp back in its vault. It's far too dangerous to be left out in the open."

"You do realize that means we will have to try to convince Raven to work with us?"

'I know. It's not going to be easy, but it's the only way.'

Of course nobody else knew how complicated it was really going to be, so they readily agreed. I didn't intend for them to join me on the hunt for Raven. I wanted to take Caine with me so he could show me the way but other than that I didn't think that anyone else needed to be put at risk.

Ozza asked the next question, "Okay… I don't know what you guys are talking about, but… I guess we're going to Mistral? There's another train station past this town. I was heading there when exhaustion got to me…" She sighed and looked down, "I was hoping to enroll at Haven, but I think that's going to have to wait."

Violet agreed, patting Ozza on the back, "Haven's classes are on hold until fall because of the murder. It's okay, though! We'll train you as best we can so you can knock it out of the park when you get there!"

Ruby added, "I'm going to have to make you a weapon! I'm already maki- Uhhmmmm! Looking for something for Shi here!" She gestured to Shi, who waved and smiled at Ozza.

It was only then that Ozza seemed to realized that Shi didn't seem to just be a kid we were escorting, "W-Wait… She's getting a weapon? Why?"

I cleared my throat, "Shi is my… uhm… I'm her guardian." I wasn't sure the exact terminology I should use for Shi. Foster daughter? That didn't sound right. She wasn't my daughter, she's Doctor Xia's daughter.

Ozza looked somewhat surprised and yet she didn't question it. I was sure she could understand there was something else to that story, "Ah… So she's traveling with you guys?"

Shi nodded several times, "Yeah! I'm traveling with Uncle Neve! I wanna help him fight evil! He's been training me to be a huntress, so this is just more training for me!"

Ozza furrowed her brow but seemed to accept it. After all, there were stranger things in the world than a child starting hunter training early in their life.

With that sorted out, I regarded the two laying in the beds and sighed, "I don't want to spend more on another hotel room, so I'll sleep on the armchair in here." I walked over to said chair and sat down, "You guys should all get some rest. We have to keep moving tomorrow. Hopefully by tomorrow night or the day after we'll be in Mistral."

The others agreed and off they went, leaving me in the room with Shi, Ozza, and Caine. Shi sat on the bed next to Ozza, while Ozza herself looked at me with a measure of guilt, "If you can't sleep in Caine's bed, you can sleep in mine… It's… not a big deal."

I paused and stared at her with a curious gaze for a second. Not a big deal? I frowned, "You're a girl. While we wouldn't do anything, I'd rather give you your space. Let Shi sleep in your bed, that's more of a help."

Ozza looked a bit caught off-guard for some reason, but quickly nodded, "A-Ah, you're right! Shi can sleep on my bed. Wait, is that her name, Shi? Or are you calling her she? Shi she?" She looked confused.

I couldn't help but chuckle, "Shi's name is Shi, that's what she's known as." At Ozza's exasperated expression I smiled, "This is Caine Branwen." I gestured to the unconscious boy.

Ozza regarded him with interest, "You guys saved me, and he… He took my wounds for himself." For the first time since waking up, she stood up. Then, she walked over to Caine's side and sat on the bed near him, positioned so she could look at him, "The ability to take other people's injuries? That's… heroic, but tragic."

I nodded, "Semblances are normally manifestations of a person's very being, their character, who they are. That he would manifest something like that says a lot about how he views himself."

Ozza seemed empathetic, "That's awful…" She muttered, "Poor guy…" Then, she stood, "I'm tired but I don't think I'll be able to sleep right now…" She spotted her backpack and went over to it, opening it and producing a book, "I guess I'd better get comfortable."

That was a sound idea, and I was about to suggest that Shi read along with her when my scroll vibrated. I produced it and checked the text, surprised to see it was from Jaune, of all people.

Jaune: "Hey! I heard you guys are going to Mistral?"

I had to wonder who had told them, if I had to guess, probably Ruby.

Me: "We are."

Jaune: "Great! Ruby said something about it. She said that it wasn't a big deal and we could stay in Vale, but then she mentioned that you're looking for Orchid and her crew, and now Pyrrha's packing her bags."

Damn it, Ruby.

Me: "Is she coming to find us now too? What about you?"

Jaune: "Well, I told her I wasn't going to let her go alone, and then Nora and Ren said they wanted to come along too. We're a team, so we stick together. Pyrrha paid for a plane ride for us, so… I figured I'd give you some heads up. I don't know how many people you have with you already."

I groaned. My wallet, my poor wallet…

Me: "That's not really necessary. We have the situation well in hand."

Jaune: "I told Pyrrha that when she first said she was going, but she's dead set on trying to capture her brother so she can find out what happened to him. She said he's her responsibility. There's no talking her out of it when she's like this…"

I sighed, knowing that I was just going to have to accept Team JNPR's arrival, along with the rest of Team RWBY eventually no doubt…

Me: "Alright. We'll be in Mistral before too long. Let us know when you're almost there."

Jaune: "We will! Thanks."

We were going to need a far bigger house than the one from the original timeline for this party, clearly… I wondered if Qrow would have an idea of what to do. Not that he was expecting to have to house so many people. He expected the people I brought with me, Not so much literally everyone else.

Ozza settled in with a book, and without my prompting invited Shi to read it with her. It brought a smile to my face in spite of the newly added stress of having so many other people on their way to join this… crusade of ours.

The more the merrier, and yet I had hoped to keep as many people out of harm's way as possible. I supposed that there wasn't anything to be done about it at this point, and who was I to try to keep them from doing something like this?

"It is important that we have trusted allies. While Beacon may be safe and classes will resume, that doesn't mean we will be able to just ignore Salem's machinations. If necessary you will return to Beacon, but with our fusion continuing, it will be ultimately unnecessary in the long run."

'Yes, although I would like to stick with my team, even if I could just ignore going to Beacon. Eventually they will want to return, and I will be there with them. Until then, we have work to do.'

Even after that, we would have work to do. How was I supposed to balance all of this with going to Beacon? That was a problem that didn't present itself before, but now it certainly did. Maybe Glynda could write all of this off as one big field trip for experience's sake…

With Caine unconscious and everyone else keen on resting, there was nothing else to do that day but settle in and browse my scroll until I got tired enough to sleep.

The next day we all gathered everything up and headed for the train station. This one was a straight path to Mistral. Luckily, the train ride was uneventful. It was much more heavily guarded than the other one, although it ended up not needing it. It wasn't quite Argus Limited, but I was keeping my eyes open anyway. I knew that the lantern would attract more Grimm, but if we kept it in the city, it shouldn't be a problem. Although I was going to have to leave it with the others when I went to find Raven, so she couldn't just try to take it back.

Ozpin mentioned that what he was able to do earlier was because of all of my training already making my body capable of breaking limits. However, he also warned that he wouldn't be able to do things like that all the time, if he constantly took over for fights, that would make me exhausted and likely to pass out the second he relinquished control. That certainly wasn't something we wanted.

Eventually, however, I would be able to do things like that as well. That would be incredibly useful for the battles to come. Even if Ozpin, for all his strength, died to Cinder in the other timeline, I still kind of held firm to the idea that he did it on purpose for some reason, because Cinder in that timeline certainly didn't look like she was winning.

Thinking about Cinder made me wonder when I would see her again. I knew that if she heard I was in the area, she might run off again. Not that I wanted to necessarily go hunting for her. If she didn't want to apologize to me, and didn't want to try to fix what was broken, well… Then I supposed that I would have my answer for whether or not I would have to leave her behind.

I wasn't going to let go of hope that easily, though, so I just kept silent on the issue of Cinder. Luckily, nobody seemed intent on asking me about her.

When we got to Mistral, the first thing to do was get in contact with Qrow. When I told him we were almost there, he mentioned having a house we were going to be able to stay at on the upper levels near the academy, the Mistral House I remembered seeing before.

Walking there was an exercise in keeping Violet's attention on the job at hand. As we walked through the upper levels, she found herself being so absorbed in the culture of the city that I had to charge Lunus with keeping track of her and also had to promise her she'd be able to go exploring later.

The house itself was slightly bigger than I expected it to be, just looking at it, which was fortunate. A knock on the door rewarded nothing, but I found it was unlocked, and once I was inside I saw Qrow sleeping on the couch. I assumed Peregrine was probably out doing something at the time.

We all filed in and I approached Qrow while Ozza tilted her head, "Is this the huntsman you're looking for…?"

Ruby nodded, "Yep! That's Uncle Qrow, uh… Probably not the best first impression, but he's great!"

Caine hummed, "So… This is Raven's brother." He had mentioned that Raven had adopted him, plucked him off the streets, so I guess he wasn't technically blood related to Yang, but… Part of me wasn't so sure about that. There were certain similarities that were hard to excuse. It could be that Raven lied to him, she did that a lot, but then why leave him on the streets for the first decade of his life?

Well, the answer was probably simple. Raven didn't want to deal with an infant, she wanted to deal with someone she could mold into another member of her clan. Unfortunately for her, while Caine did have a ruthless side, he seemed to be inclined against pointless banditry.

I thought about asking Caine if he was certain Raven wasn't his real mother, but he seemed touchy on the topic. Maybe he had his own suspicions.

I walked over to Qrow and drew The Long Memory, extending it out and prodding him with it, "Qrow." He just grumbled and turned away, prompting me to roll my eyes, "Qrow, get up or I'm throwing out your flask."

That worked, the man sat up like the dead came to life, "You ain't touching that!" He pointed accusingly, "That's my baby, nobody touches my baby!" Then he blinked and lowered his hand, looking at all of us. I leaned on the cane with one hand and smiled at him while everyone else found a place to sit or leave their suitcases. I had already left mine by the door, thankfully.

Qrow regarded me for a moment and sighed, "Didn't expect you to get here so quickly. Thought I had a few hours…" He yawned, "Did you get it?" I nodded and produced the lamp out of my satchel, "Well… that was easy. Almost too easy. So, what's the catch?"

I put the lamp back into my satchel while Caine explained, "Well… for one, if you need Raven to close the vault, you're going to have to wait. She and the rest of the clan went on a raiding excursion somewhere far from Mistral. I don't even know where… She just told me to stay. It's going to take a few months for her to get back."

I followed up, "For second, we have no idea if she will be cooperative." I started to pace, which I found was becoming a habit of mine, pacing while holding The Long Memory, "Not only did she steal the relic, she gave it to Caine, presumably to keep us off her trail. Then, conveniently, she's nowhere to be found while there's so much focus on Haven following the murder." I stood pacing and regarded everyone, "It doesn't look good."

Qrow had already been told Raven was the Spring Maiden, but he still had a hard time wrapping his head around it, "...How did you find out she's the Spring Maiden? Not that I don't believe you or Oz, but…"

I smiled at him, "Just deduction. If it isn't her, then it's someone working for her." I couldn't exactly give the game away entirely, "But she is certainly the one pulling the strings, of that there is no doubt." I decided to change the topic, "Qrow, how many rooms does this house have?"

Qrow rubbed his chin, "Bedrooms? Well… this place was meant to house teams of huntsmen between contracts, so it's got enough for two teams to have one room per member. If you double up, then you could fit more in."

I nodded, "Good, because it seems that we're going to be getting more help." I looked out to everyone again, "Team Juniper is coming to Mistral, as are Weiss and Cobalt. With all of this movement, I wouldn't be surprised if Yang eventually comes along as well… Not to mention Emerald and Mercury if they catch on to the fact that we're also hunting for Cinder…" I sighed, "Expect things to get crowded."

Qrow groaned, "I could handle the stowaway and the farmgirl coming along, but another team, plus three more? Ugh…" He massaged his forehead, "I hope not all of them plan to stick around. Moving in a group that big will draw more attention than necessary."

I nodded, "Emerald and Mercury aren't a guarantee, thankfully. Neither is Yang, but… I would be surprised if she didn't want to come join us once she's finished recovering. As for time, Caine, do you have any how many months Raven will be gone?"

Caine thought about it and hummed, "Around three months or so? When she leaves, it usually takes four months for larger excursions like that to finish, and she's been gone for almost a month already."

Well… that was a lot longer than I expected it to be. What, were they on a different continent or something? Well, I supposed that was just more time to train Shi and Ozza, along with gathering and getting everyone else up to date.

I hummed, "Well, then we need to use this time wisely. Which means looking for any evidence as to what Orchid and her crew have been doing along with that lead that Cobalt gave me. That, and training. Lots of training. After all, we are all still students." I said this while looking at my fellow students.

Lunus crossed his arms, "Well, we are. What about you? You've got Ozpin in your head, didn't you mention him imparting his knowledge and skills on you?"

Qrow blinked, "You told them, Neve?"

I nodded after looking over at him, "Are you surprised? Fighting a blind war just because I told them to isn't exactly what I want for them." He seemed to accept that, and then I looked back at Lunus, "Honestly? I don't know. I've thought of that a lot myself, but I would never abandon you guys."

Violet grinned, "We know you wouldn't, but it might be a bit unfair to the rest of the school if you had all of that experience rattling around up there, huh?"

That was a fair point, I just shrugged, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Regardless of what happens there, we're still Team CALM, and that will never change." Ruby crossed her arms and I chuckled, "Right. Team CALMR."

"Don't forget, they need to train, and together we will train them."

'Of course.'

Then I went back on topic, "Violet and Ruby both need to work on their skill with their silver eyes along with other areas, Lunus you tend to have trouble against opponents just as strong as you, Jeanne your fundamentals are much better now but you still need to hone your battle sense." I regarded Ozza and Shi, "And you two have a lot of learning to do full stop."

My eyes flashed and I gave temporary control to Ozpin. We spun our cane as we continued to pace, "Lucky for you. I happen to be the former Headmaster of Beacon Academy, and Neve will be right there to give you my instructions, even if I am not in control at the time." Ozza looked incredibly shocked at us, and we smiled, "My apologies, we never told you about our living arrangement. I am Professor Ozpin, and I fused with Neve some time ago. You will come to know me well."

Oz retreated and ceded control back to me, "I will explain who Ozpin is to you two later. For now, we should all get settled in. Claim a bedroom, unpack your stuff, get comfortable. We're going to be here for a while."

Everyone did so, although Ozza still looked confused. I would need to explain this to her later, which was bound to be somewhat surreal.

Eventually it was just Shi, Qrow, and myself. There were three couches in the room, in a semi-square, with one armchair between each corner. At least this place had plenty of space… I walked over to one of the armchairs and sat on it while Qrow himself adjusted to a sitting position on the couch, "So… Nothing to do but train, look for clues, and hunt for your girl, huh?"

I nodded, "More or less." I sighed, "If only we could just go to our enemies and rid ourselves of them. It would be so much simpler… However, the ones who were at Beacon weren't the only ones working for Salem." My thoughts turned to Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel. Oh boy, Hazel…

"Gretchen chose her path in life, and chose to give the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of that path. If only Hazel could see that…"

'Maybe someday.'

The next week was spent getting settled. Luckily, the house was more than equipped for all of us, although Team JNPR arrived towards the end of the week. They filled out the vacant rooms after greeting all of us. I knew I was going to have to tell them all about Ozpin, and about the relics, but I decided to hold off on that until after they were settled in. Pyrrha was very determined to find Haimon, yet at the moment there simply were no clues as to where he might be.

We intended to go down to lower Mistral to look for Orchid's dad on Monday, having afforded ourselves a week of recuperation from our long trip, and to begin searching for upgrades to our gear.

I didn't need anything, but Ruby worked on getting a gun for Shi and new outfits for her and Lunus. She finished the outfits quickly once she had the required materials, her outfit was the very same one I remembered her wearing during this period of time in the original timeline.

Lunus' outfit was no less complex than what I expected from Ruby. A white shirt with a marigold over the chest that was woven with dust meant to add an extra layer of protection, a loose black button-up shirt with red accents, a pair of black trousers with gold trimmings, and a pair of black combat boots finished off the primary portions. After that went on a red cloak and a pair of black leather gloves.

Ruby also talked about wanting to give his weapon an overhaul, but she stated that getting Shi and Ozza weapons was her main priority at the time.

We saw the fruits of her labor on Sunday, when I was out back drilling Ozza and Shi both on fundamentals while everyone else either worked on their own training or watched the ongoing training of the two newbies.

Ruby exited the house with something wrapped in a bundle of cloth, a big grin on her face, "Shi! I have a gift for you!" That was more than enough to grab the girl's attention, along with the rest of us. She looked at me for permission to take a break and I nodded, so she scurried off towards Ruby, who knelt down to get on Shi's level for the gift.

The weapon she unwrapped was more than just a gun. It is a single-edged shortsword with a revolver cylinder where the fuller and the crossguard met, and the barrel ran along the top, edge-less part of the blade, ending with an opening near the end of the blade. Instead of a regular sword grip, it has a black pistol grip.

A gunblade. Ruby had just made my adopted 'daughter' a gunblade.

I expected it to be heavy, but as Shi picked it up, she seemed to have an easy time swinging it around in the air. Ruby explained, "I figured that her needing to rely solely on a pistol wouldn't be a good idea. With a sword like this, she doesn't need physical strength to do damage close-up! It'll take some getting used to, though. I heard that Weiss' brother uses something similar when he's training, maybe if we're ever up in Mantle he'll have some advice?"

Whitley?

I didn't exactly expect to hear that Whitley not only had a weapon, but actively trained with it. Let alone the fact that it was a gunblade of all things. I wondered what the story was there and resolved to ask Weiss when she eventually showed up.

Meanwhile, Shi seemed perfectly happy with the weapon. Ruby gave her a sheath/holster for it that went on her back, and after it was put there she gave Ruby a hug, "Thank you, Auntie Ruby!"

Ruby seemed lost in the cuteness of obtaining a title like that, while I was just happy Shi was growing closer to the others on the team. It takes a village, as they say, and we were her village.

Ozza was next, her weapon was interesting. Ruby played into Ozza's pre-existing knowledge and created a trident, which is colored like oak on the body, with the blades themselves colored a dark green. The bottom half of the trident can be broken off and reveals a whip that can be charged with different kinds of dust. When that happens, the trident end can either remain as a shorter weapon, or the three trident ends can join together and open to reveal the end of a gun barrel, turning it into a short rifle, or a long pistol, depending on how you look at it.

The farmgirl was more than happy with the result, noting that it made her feel more like a huntress already. That was well and good, although Oz noted she still had a long way to go before she would be at that point. Given her age, she had the rest of the year to get skilled enough to pass the combat exams at any of the academies. Well, except maybe Shade, that place has always been harder to get into.

With that job done, Ruby began to get to work on Lunus' upgrade. I was interested to see what it was, she said it would keep his ability to surf while also giving him some more range with his buzzsaw if he needed it. That would certainly help mitigate the issue of him overextending himself, so I was almost as excited to see what he was getting as he was.

Peregrine had come back during that day too, much to Jeanne's delight. I suspected there might be something there, Jeanne wasn't hard to read, but Peregrine certainly seemed completely unaware. I think she was too busy being overwhelmed by Jeanne's friendly nature to really grasp anything beyond that. I was sure that would resolve itself in due time.

The rest of the day was filled with training, and the next day was finally the day where we would go hunting for Morning Glory. An orphanage named after a flower, fitting for the father of a girl named Orchid, I supposed.

I took Caine and Pyrrha with me. Why Pyrrha? Well, on the off chance that Orchid's father or someone else in the lower levels knew anything about the Gigas Knight, aka Haimon Nikos.

The others wanted to go, but I told them that if all of us descended on the lower levels like that it would probably unnerve people. People in the lower levels didn't generally think huntsmen were the best people, for one reason or another. Taking Pyrrha was already going to cause a big enough commotion.

The lower we got, the seeder the city became. Sometimes people eyed us up, but they almost immediately looked away when Caine glared at them. It seemed he had something of a reputation down here, nobody was willing to cross him, nor did anyone see him as an easy target.

Instead I heard whispers about 'Mousey' being back. Others just called him 'The Street Rat'. I would have considered that a bit harsh, but it was said only with some form of reverence among the people that were our age. The older generations looked at him more like a returning prodigal son than anything else.

I supposed he had built himself a reputation as a master thief early in his life, and the years he spent away with the Branwen clan did not diminish that one bit. Being in this seedy underbelly reminded me of another contact I could try to talk to. The very same one Cinder had visited in the original timeline…

That could wait until after this, though. I wanted to approach Lil' Miss Malachite on my own, or just with Caine. Pyrrha didn't need to crawl so willingly into the spider's web, she was not at all accustomed to the underworld.

The orphanage is surprisingly much better maintained than you would have first thought. Three stories tall with the emblem of the flower the building was named after above the double doors. It was made of wood, and despite looking so well taken care of, Caine noted that nobody seemed to eye it up as a target. For a place to look like this down here and not suffer from robberies, it must have earned the respect of the locals.

In the lower levels, Caine explained, there were some unspoken rules. One of them was to help the children. There were loads of children that were abandoned down in the lowers, and they were treated as children of the street, to be raised by the people of the street. That was how Caine was raised before Raven took him, and he knew that it remained that way for many orphans.

I was just glad that I had spared Shi from a life of crime. Conning tourists, stealing from them, maybe later robbing stores… No, she was far too good-hearted for that. She would have never survived in a place like this.

When we approached the orphanage, we let Caine lead. He knocked on the door a few times, and it didn't take long for a man's voice to come from the other side, no doubt he was looking at us through the peephole, "You folk don't look like orphans, or people lookin' to adopt orphans." His voice was deep and he sounded fairly gruff, "You need somethin'?"

Caine looked back at me and I placed my right hand on my hip and smiled towards the peephole, "We're looking to talk to Moss Grove and Haruki Ishikawa. We're huntsmen-in-training you see-"

The man cut me off, "Ain't taking solicitors. Now if you could just-"

Pyrrha cut him off, placing a hand over her heart, "Please, hold on! Listen, we have questions for you about Orchid Grove! My name is Pyrrha Nikos, for your time I could see to it that you receive a large donation, just for a bit of your time!"

The man paused for a moment, and we thought for a second that he had left anyway, yet then we heard the locks on the door being undone.

When it opened we saw a tall, broad-shoulder man with short brown hair and green eyes. He had some wrinkles on his face, betraying his age, but other than that, he looked like a hard working man. He tossed his head back and stepped further into the building, so the three of us followed.

The room directly after the doors was clearly a reception area meant for people looking to consider adoption, although there was no receptionist. Maybe it was him, maybe it was Haruki, I couldn't tell. Either way, we continued on until we reached an office with the name 'Haruki Ishikawa' written on it. He knocked on the door, "Haruki! We have guests! Students, here to ask a few questions. One of em is Pyrrha Nikos, she's lookin' to donate."

There was some scrambling on the other side as the other man called out, "J-Just a moment!" His voice sounded a bit more high-pitched and jumpy, like he was skittish and not at all at ease with having unexpected guests.

The door opened, and we were greeted by a wiry man with a mop of brown hair that was starting to go gray. His eyes are green and hold a keen intelligence to them. He gazed out at us from under black rimmed glasses, and he wore a black button-up shirt with a pair of khaki slacks. Most noticeable, though, was the pair of mouse ears that sat on top of his head. They twitched as they looked at us, "Ah! Welcome, children, welcome." Then, he spotted Caine, his gaze lingered for a few moments before he just shook his head and muttered something to himself, "Come in! Can I treat you three to some tea?"

We accepted his generous offer as he hurried inside and went about the motions to make tea while we followed him. His office was decently sized, a desk and a leather armchair at it along with his tea set, there were couches against either wall and a pair of armchairs across from his desk. Once we were all inside and the other man closed the door, I looked at him, "You must be Moss, then."

He nodded, "Yep." Then he walked over next to the desk before turning towards us and crossing his arms, "So… You're coming here to ask about Orchid, are you?" He looked away, "Sorry to tell you, but she's dead." Yet, I could tell he was lying, and his heart wasn't in those words.

I shook my head, "You know she's not." I had the urge to lean on The Long Memory, but it was clipped at my side. So, instead, I crossed my arms, "She joined the White Fang after her death was faked. You left for Mantle after that, didn't you?"

Moss looked surprised before he sighed and looked down, "...Yeah. I guess you kids came a long way, huh? I'd heard rumors that Beacon was attacked by a White Fang girl with mismatched hair."

I nodded as Pyrrha and Caine went to sit on the couch to my right. Pyrrha added, "She worked with Haimon Nikos, my brother. If you have any information on either of them, we would greatly appreciate it."

Caine crossed his legs one over the other as he leaned back, "They're terrorists, through and through. The most noticeable member I've been told about was a faunus girl with dove wings…"

I remained standing as I nodded in agreement with both of them. Moss rubbed his chin, which was covered in stubble, while Haruki steeped tea at his desk. Moss said, "Well… I guess you kids want to hear a story." He walked to one of the armchairs in front of the desk and grabbed it, dragging it on the carpeted floor so it was facing the couch. Then, he sat down, "Let me give you the rundown…"

I nodded and produced a pen and journal from my satchel, preparing to write down his account.

Moss Grove POV

Orchid was always a bit different. I love her all the same, but life had a way of feeding into her some of her worst qualities. When she was a young'un, she ran into a lot of trouble with other kids. Her mother died a year after she was born, and it was all I could do to try to be there for her whenever I could. I couldn't always be there though, I had to work, she'd come home and not even tell me if she was getting bullied.

When I pressed her, she would tell me that it didn't matter, it didn't affect her. She had always been a bit… emotionless, hard to read, but there were still times when she smiled and seemed to be in a genuinely good mood. When she met Weiss, she was in one of those good moods after coming home.

She told me about the girl who had helped her against some bullies, even if she didn't particularly care about them. Weiss Schnee, I couldn't believe it, what was a Schnee doing in Mantle, anyway?

One thing led to another and her continued friendship with Weiss led to us getting moved up to Atlas. I still had to work hard, but I put Orchid through school and that was what mattered. Yet, I found that as she got older, she began to get in trouble for beating the daylights out of anyone who looked at her wrong. She'd grown tough, and her life in Mantle had taught her that the only way to defend against people who would do you wrong is to do them wrong.

I tried to correct her on that, but the damage had been done. Seemed like no matter how many groundings I gave the girl, she'd get into trouble again. That was part of why I got her into guitar and dancing, I figured having those outlets would curb those habits. It did, but she still had her bad tendencies.

Orchid lies, she lies a lot. I have no doubt she lied a lot to Weiss, and when I saw her interacting with Weiss, it was like she was a totally different person. I still couldn't tell you if the happy and loving girl she was around Weiss was really my daughter, or if it was something else. Maybe she was genuinely trying to be a better person, or maybe it was all just her most elaborate lie to date.

Whatever it was, it didn't last.

Orchid came to me one night when she was sixteen and said that Weiss didn't like her anymore. Yet, there was no emotion on my daughter's face even as she repeated verbatim what Weiss said to her. Horrible, horrendous things. Even if outwardly she showed no emotion, I feel like a part of her started to break that night.

She must have cared for Weiss in some capacity, as she continued to try to see her. Seemed to me like every day she had a new ploy to try and spend time with Weiss. I don't think Weiss was against it, per se, but the end result was the same. When Jacques found out, things went bad.

He had her branded. For trying to see her girlfriend! I promised myself that if I ever saw Jacques again, I would do the same to him. I still hold that promise. He took one of my little girl's eyes, I will gladly take both of his!

After that… Well, he warned her to stay away. Then he claimed she died, faked her death to the media and everything. I wanted to take revenge but… I couldn't, I'm not a fighter. Orchid, though… Whatever was left of her that wanted happiness and peace cracked. She had been pushed too hard.

When she told me she was leaving to join the White Fang, I let her. What right did I have to tell her otherwise?

She was my own daughter and I couldn't protect her.

Neve POV

As Moss finished his story, I saw that he was holding back tears. I closed my journal and slipped it into my satchel. Pyrrha struggled to think of something to say, "I…I'm so sorry-"

Yet Moss shook his head, "Don't apologize to me. You had nothin' to do with it."

Well, that answered a lot about who she was, and yet… I cleared my throat, "Do you know if there's any way we might be able to talk to her? She's… done terrible things since she joined the White Fang. I don't want the worst to come to pass, but if there might be a way to appeal to some… better nature…?"

Moss frowned, "I don't know if that's there anymore, son. If it was ever there to begin with. I guess… If I ever saw her again I could try to talk her down, but I'm telling you that it probably won't work."

He leaned back in his chair, "She sent me letters for the first few months. She mentioned meeting 'an angel and her knight' and befriending them. I reckon that's probably the other two you're talkin' about. If I recall, she was in Anima when that happened. Couldn't tell ya anything else though…"

During Moss' story, Haruki had brought us some tea. It was good, and I enjoyed the calming warmth as I sipped from it, "Thank you, Moss. I appreciate you telling us that… painful bit of history." I smiled, "We'll keep looking for her."

After a few minutes of idle chatter and drinking tea, we started to leave, but not before Moss asked us to wait, and he said, "Tell her that her dad wants her to come back to him. Alright? I don't want her to get hurt…"

I had no clue if that would work, but I nodded. Once we left, Caine muttered, "Something about that other man was… familiar. Hm." He sounded intrigued, yet he didn't seem intent on going back and asking any questions about it right now. I supposed all our minds were distracted.

It was only after we were almost to the middle levels that I stopped, "Pyrrha. I need to take Caine to do some digging somewhere else."

Pyrrha frowned and placed a hand on her hip, "May I ask why I can't come along?"

I nodded, I had drawn The Long Memory while we were walking, and I leaned on it with one hand, "Because I'm going to see a very powerful underworld figure. It's not that I don't think you can handle yourself, you can, but…" I smiled, "You're not exactly versed in how things are done in the underworld."

Pyrrha began to open her mouth to respond, but Caine cut her off, "From what Neve has told me, he has had dealings with Roman Torchwick, the leader of the Valean Mafia, and I was born in this environment. If he's going to see who I think he wants to see… Trust me, Pyrrha." He smiled meekly, "Let us handle it."

Caine was usually not very confident nor very talkative, but this was his element. He seemed more than willing to talk in a situation like this, where he was comfortable. It was good that he was, because his words finally convinced Pyrrha to accept our logic, "Very well… just tell me if you learn anything about Haimon, please."

I nodded, "We promise." After that, we parted ways with Pyrrha and headed back down. Caine knew where I wanted to go without even asking, after all there was only one information broker in Mistral who could possibly have what we wanted to know.

Into Spider's web we went. Down to the lower levels and to the bar that served as their headquarters. The place was busy with rough and tumble looking criminals chatting, drinking, and now that Caine and I were walking into the building, watching us.

Caine put his hand out in front of me when we were a few feet away from Lil' Miss Malachite's table, where she sat and watched us. Caine bowed and I followed suit, with him speaking respectfully, "Madame Malachite, we come to you to humbly ask for information. We're ready to pay, of course."

'Madame' Malachite cooed, "Well! Ain't you just the sweetest lil' thing this side of Anima! Respectful and kind, I could just eat you up darlin'." She smirked, "Course, even the Spiders know a thing or two 'bout messin' with the Branwen tribe. Lil' Mousey, what brings you here? Sit, both of you!" She gestured to the seats across from her at the table, and so we obeyed.

I retracted The Long Memory and clipped it at my side as I sat, "We're looking for information on three individuals." I kept my tone respectful, "A-"

Yet, she cut me off, "Ah! Let Mousey tell me." She folded her hands together and leaned forward, looking at him, "I tell ya, I haven't seen him since he was a lil' one! If Raven hadn't snatched ya up, you'd be a Spider right now, you cute thing!"

Caine looked flustered at the unprompted praise, but he nodded and began to describe Orchid, Astra, and Haimon to her. After he was finished, she smiled, "Oh, I've heard a them! For the right price, I can have my Spiders start lookin' for em for you, the information I get is always reliable."

Caine looked at me and I nodded, producing a Lien chit, "Name your price, Madame Malachite."

She took the chit and looked it over, scanning it with her scroll, "Hmm! Mighty fine, mighty fine indeed." She handed it off to one of her lackeys and took it away. That was most of the money I had left. Good thing Pyrrha had more than enough for us all… Malachite smiled, "My Spiders will get lookin'. Mousey will be contacted when we've got somethin' for ya. I can't promise it's gon' be soon, finding three people on all of Anima is like findin' a needle in a haystack."

We were prepared to leave, but she spoke up, "Now hold on a minute! You there, scarf boy. I reckon you might be bringin' me double business! Someone was lookin' for ya. Didn't mean you no harm, apparently, but she's got her ear to the ground. I reckon you'd better keep your eyes open, ya might have a stalker, or a secret admirer, some such like that."

I furrowed my brow but nodded in thanks anyway. Someone was looking for me? Just who could that be? It certainly didn't sit right with me, after all I didn't know anyone who was native to the city.

"I think you and I both know who it is, Neve."

'If it's her, then… why?'

As if reacting to our exchange, the door to the bar opened and I turned to look at who had entered. My eyes widened and I felt my heart begin to beat faster, mixed with a pang of sadness and anger like the worst cocktail at a bar. I whispered her name in disbelief, and yet as if she could hear me, amber gazed at ice blue as I spoke.

"Cinder?"