A/N: so a little late again...I promise I am trying to get back on track, but life hates me.

Anyway, here's a new chapter that's a bit bigger than normal to make up for it.

Before we get into it, I want to preface this with the fact that this was not how I planned things to go originally. But as with everything else that this has happened to, I think the way it played out is as good, if not better than what I had wanted to do.

Well on to the chapter.

I don't own RT or RWBY.

Guilty Rose Chapter 30

"You know what to do."

"Yes."

"Then go."

"Make it as painless as possible."

Rose silently repeated her mantra.

Rose approached her target silently.

She lowered the left Guilty Rose and switched it to kama form.

Rose spun the weapon by its cable with the aid of her semblance before swinging it.

The woman didn't know what hit her, she just dropped to ground

Rose retracted her kama and disappeared back into the shadows.

"Mama, what's wrong?"

….

"Rose, what's wrong?"

Weiss had noticed the look on Rose's face as she stared at General Ironwood's daughter immediately. Weiss had seen Rose's episodes before, but she knew this one was something different. So she slowly walked to her partner.

"Rose?"

Still no response from the faunus, now everyone was walking towards them.

"Friend Winter is something wrong with that girl?"

Winter looked at Penny only slightly less confused as she had seen soldiers locked in PTSD episodes. What had her so confused is why it started only when the girl had laid eyes on Penny.

Winter turned back to her sister to find Weiss embracing her partner.

"Come on Rose, come back to me. It's okay, no one is going to hurt you."

That caught Winter's full attention. The specialist's mind began racing as she tried to fathom what her sister could possibly have meant.

Then she started noticing the facts about the girl before her.

She was young, younger than Weiss. That meant that her career as a killer must have started as a young child.

The girl was covered with scars, many were old and grouped. Winter knew systematic abuse when she saw it.

Finally, the PTSD episode. A heartless, unrepentant mass murderer wouldn't have PTSD, or at least not to this extent.

Then Winter recalled the general's investigation. She knew he had been to Beacon right before he left. So why did he he investigate the bandit tribe when the culprit of his wife's murder was here.

Pieces slowly began to fit together and a sickening picture was painted before Winter's eyes.

Her mind wasn't fully able to grasp everything when a set of footsteps came from behind her.

"What is going on here?"

Winter and Penny immediately stood at full attention, facing the general.

"Nothing sir, just a heated argument."

"'Heated argument'? Winter, you tried to arrest my partner!"

The general glanced over at Rose and sighed.

"Specialist Schnee, I gave you specific orders to not engage anyone here to avoid this exact situation. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Winter bowed her head embarrassed by her actions.

"It was a lapse in judgment and it won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't."

Penny was looking between her father and her friend, thoroughly confused by the exchange.

"Um, father, friend Winter you two have been acting odd since we met Weiss and her partner. Why?"

Penny watched as her father looked out over the developing crowd and grimaced.

"Let's go to a more private setting, Ozpin's office would be best."

….

James Ironwood, his daughter, Winter Schnee, and Team RWBY all stood before Ozpin's desk. Glynda and Amber were also there standing next to the headmaster.

Ozpin rubbed his temples after he heard what transpired at the docks. He looked over the group once more, not failing to notice how Rose was still staring at Penny Ironwood.

"James, I thought you trained your specialists to act with discretion."

"As did I, Ozpin. But as I said, it won't happen again."

James said this while he gave Winter a sideways glare for good measure. Winter in response shifted slightly.

"Good, now, on to the actual purpose of you being here. Did you find them?"

"I found them, or rather what was left of them."

"What was left of them?"

"Yes, we found their remains and the ruins of their camp. Forensics reported that they have been dead for several months."

Ozpin took a moment to process this. He knew it wasn't Rose as the timeline didn't fit, nor any huntsman or kingdom as their would have been some record of it.

"What all did you find there?"

"Forensics concluded that they were killed by one person, seemingly a scorpion faunus. Other than that, just some very odd ammunition."

That last sentence brought Rose back into the conversation. Her eyes turned to the general in panic.

"You have to destroy them!"

Everyone's head snapped to the faunus whose breathing had become ragged.

"Miss Rose."

James held up a hand to halt the girl from being admonished any further.

"Do you have any information on that ammunition, my top scientists can only tell me what they do."

Rose's panic only seemed to rise at being questioned.

"You have to destroy those damn things! Please, don't let my mistake kill anyone else!"

James looked at Ozpin for clarification on why the girl was panicking like this to find him looking at her with pity. James looked back at Rose and decided to approach the topic differently.

"I can have them destroyed, but I must know what they are so I can have them disposed of properly."

Rose calmed down slightly after hearing the general agree to destroying her anti-aura bullets.

"I c-can't tell you what's in them, but their anti-aura bullets."

"Anti-aura? How are they different from aura penetrating ammunition?"

Rose didn't answer immediately, instead she looked to the ground.

"Aura cannot block them, nor heal the wounds they create."

James brow furrowed, he should have been more careful with his wording. Suddenly, Ozpin cleared his throat, calling all attention to him.

"James, it would be best if you just destroyed all the ammunition and forget they ever existed."

"With all due respect, they could be invaluable to the Atlas military."

"Those fucking things are only good at killing people, and painfully at that."

Everyone went silent when Rose yelled at the general. Her body was still shaking, but it was more due to her anger than panic.

"Please, they've killed enough people."

James sighed in resignation, if he wasn't going to get answers then ammunition was useless.

"I must commend then, Miss Rose. You created a perfect weapon that can't be reverse engineered, I'll tell the researchers to dispose of them. If only I had someone with your brilliance."

"It wasn't brilliance that made those things, it was desperation."

James couldn't help but feel the magnitude of those words.

Ozpin shook his head at the general in both annoyance and relief.

"Is there anything else?"

"No."

Ozpin was about wave a dismissal when Penny raised her hand hesitantly.

"Yes, Miss Ironwood."

"I have a question for Rose."

James immediately stared at his daughter, knowing the question she wanted to ask.

"Now is not the time for personal questions, Penny."

Penny glared back, reminding James of his late wife. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt a pang of pity for whoever the girl decided to spend her life with.

"Father, do not act like you don't want ask her this question. You've been wanting the answer for years."

The two held each other's glare as the room remained silent as no one else knew what was going on. Finally, James sighed and looked at Rose.

"Miss Rose, the question my daughter has for you will likely be uncomfortable, if not painful to answer. So, if you don't feel that you can answer, you don't have to answer."

"O-okay, what's the question?"

Penny took a moment to plan her next words carefully. During the explanation of what happened at the docks, she figured out who Rose was. It took every ounce of self control she had not to lash out the girl and think things through. It didn't take long for the facts to paint the full picture.

"Why did the Oni Tribe kill my mother? Did she do something to them, or were they hired to?"

Rose chewed on her lip, debating on whether or not they would accept her answer. She hung her head and decided they should at least hear the truth.

"Because they could."

The room once again remained silent, no one quite understood how to take that answer.

"I don't understand, 'because they could', they had you kill my mother in front of me because it was something they could do?"

Rose winced when Penny mentioned her part in the murder, but took a deep breath to keep a hold of herself.

"I don't think I have ever explained to any of you about who the Oni Tribe were as people, only what they did."

Rose took another breath, closed her eyes, and started going through her memories. Her breathing became ragged again as she went through the painful memories she had been trying to ignore, but pressed on as this was the only way she could give them a complete answer.

She felt three hands gripping her shoulders after a few moments. She knew it was her team and leaned into their hands to keep herself centered.

"They were a tribe of killers, and they liked to think they were professionals that sold their skills to the highest bidder. The problem was that despite all the skill they thought they had, no one was actually hiring them. So they figured they would start killing people who were important to show off their skills."

Rose took a moment to soak in her team's support again before continuing.

"That was when they had me killing people and making sure it was known that I did it. Your mother was supposed to be a 'crowning achievement' to get them noticed."

Penny and her father were visibly shaken by this revelation.

"That's it? My mother died so she could be added to some killers' resume?"

Rose bit her lip and nodded sullenly.

Penny started backing towards the elevator slowly while shaking her head.

"I-I-I need s-some time to p-process this."

With that said, Penny bolted to the elevator without even trying to hide her sobbing. No one made any attempt to stop her as she punched the ground floor button.

….

Marron found herself tied up and being dragged into the Belladonna mansion by Menagerie's guardsmen. She was dropped in front of the door as one of the guardsmen knocked.

Marron wanted to meet Ghira Belladonna badly, but this was not the way she had planned to do it. She actually didn't even know why she was arrested. She had only arrived two days before and applied for an audience with the chief. It was fifteen minutes ago that the guardsmen came barging into her room at the inn she was staying at.

It was less than a minute before a feminine voice called out from behind the door.

"Coming!"

The door opened to reveal Kali Belladonna.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Belladonna, we've come to see the chief."

"Honey, the guardsmen have brought someone to see you."

A soon as Kali called out for a husband, Ghira muffled answer came back. Kali then looked back at Marron, who looked as pathetic as she felt, which seemed to tug at Kali's heart.

"Is it actually necessary for her to be tied up like that?"

"Yes ma'am, we were told she planning an attempt on yours and your husband's life."

Kali's eyes widened and she looked back at Marron. The bear faunus was struck speechless after hearing the charges against her.

Kali saw her expression and found it too genuine to not be suspicious.

"Is that true? Were you going to try to kill me and my husband?"

The words pulled Marron's reeling mind back to reality.

"What? No! I came to Menagerie because I need you husband's help to stop the White Fang!"

Kali examined the woman again, and once again found no deception in her.

"Guardsmen, untie her and help her up."

"But ma'am, Fennec and Corsac were very clear about her being dangerous and not to be trusted. We are only bringing her before the chief because that is what we are supposed to do with criminals."

"I should have known Fennec and Corsac were behind this, if I ever get my claws on those pricks."

One of the guardsmen was about to smack Marron with the haft of his spear, but Kali held her hand out to stop him.

"Untie her and help her up, I want to hear what she has to say."

"But ma'am."

"Darren, just do what she says, it'll be easier on all of us."

"Chief"

Ghira finally came to the door and stood next to his wife. He hadn't heard much, but if his wife advocted for the woman, he'd support her decision.

Marron sighed in relief and rubbed her wrists after her bindings were cut and she was helped to her feet.

"Now what is this all about?"

"Fennec and Corsac fed your guardsmen false information because I have evidence to prove that Adam Taurus and his White Fang needs to be stopped."

"Adam Taurus and his White Fang? I was under the impression that Sienna Khan was the leader of the White Fang."

"So is she apparently, but no, the White Fang is now being led by Adam and his blind hatred."

Ghira scrutinized Marron as his wife did before, only to come to similar results.

"You said you have proof?"

"I have all of it here on my scroll."

Ghira and Kali exchanged looks for a moment before nodding to each other.

"Come in and let's see it. Also, guardsmen, if anyone asks, this woman is in custody and awaiting a proper trial. Am I understood?"

"Yes, chief."

Marron cheered internally as she entered the mansion.

"Finally, more people willing to listen to!"

….

Winter walked through the halls of Beacon Academy, glancing around discreetly. She was accompanied by Yang Xiao-Long, who was acting as her guide.

"So are we gonna talk now, or are you going to continue acting like you're not fretting about Penny?"

Winter's eye twitched at the newest attempt in a long line of attempts to start a conversation.

"I have no ide-"

"Your lips are pursed and eyebrows are furrowed, your worried about her."

Winter stopped and stared at the blonde, baffled that she had read her features so well.

"I- how?"

"Weiss does the same thing when she's worried about Rose."

Winter looked the blonde over again, she had not expected the brutish woman to be so perceptive. Though her silence seemed to betray her intentions.

"You're wondering why a gal, or 'brute', like me can read people so well."

Winter's expression slackened in shock.

"Wow, you and Weiss are definitely sisters. Yeah, don't let my appearance fool you, I know people. Plus, you and I aren't exactly different."

Winter went from impressed to irritated with that last comment.

"And how exactly are we similar, Miss Xiao-Long."

Yang quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at Winter, irritating the woman more.

"First, call me Yang. Second, we're both big sisters through and through, well me more than you."

Winter loosed a growl at the woman before her.

"And how exactly do you figure that you are more of a sister than I am?"

Yang waved the aggression off nonchalantly.

"Your little sister wanted nothing more than to impress you and you were about to slap her. If my sister hadn't stopped you, we'd be talking in the infirmary right now and not walking through the halls."

Winter's temper still had the better of her, and so she decided to snap at Yang again.

"How dare you tell me how I should interact with my own sister!"

"I'm not telling you how to interact with, I'm threatening that if you hurt her, I'll pull a Nora and break your legs. There is a difference."

Winter was taken back for a moment, that someone had just threatened her twice in a minute.

"How dare you, do you know who I am?"

Yang's face was still unimpressed by Winter's flaring temper.

"Yeah, your my teammate's big sis, and you have a really shitty family. Big. Frickin'. Whoop."

Winter had enough of the woman and went to backhand her. But before she could even bring her hand back, she received a swift flicker punch to the nose. Winter stumbled back from the hit, less because of the force of it and more because of sheer shock.

"Yeah, I should have told ya. If you think you're going to get a free punch on any member of Team RWBY, think again. Now, how about you calm down and we talk about this like grown ups."

Winter was officially livid, but the blow had knocked her out of seeing red.

"Fine, let's discuss this."

"Good, now do you want to start with the docks again, or would you rather talk about Penny."

Winter honestly didn't want to talk with Yang at all anymore, but she did agree to humor her.

"The docks first, you seem to be upset by my actions there."

"Eh, mostly just how you treated Weiss."

Winter quirked an eyebrow this time.

"You're not upset that I tried to arrest your sister?"

Yang shrugged at the question at first.

"Yes and no, you see, Ozpin made it clear this would happen eventually, and I'll be honest, you were a lot less nasty than my partner was when she recognized Rose. So you have that going for you."

Winter took a moment to process those words carefully.

"You don't condemn what I did?"

Yang looked Winter in the eyes with an unexpected air of seriousness.

"You did what you thought was right, I can't really fault you for that. Though, I'd be lying if I said that her kicking your butt wasn't fun to watch."

"She did not 'kick my butt', she simply caught me off guard!"

Yang snorted at Winter's outburst, having seen it dozens of times at the beginning of the semester.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Winnie, she's kicked everyone's butt here but mine."

Winter fumed at that entire sentence, and was about to bear into the blonde. However, Yang held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Let's move on for the moment and I'll get your panties undone later."

Winter bristled again, but eventually relented. She wasn't keen on letting this blonde get further under her skin. So Wi

"I would be willing to bet my sister acted in similar fashion as I did upon hearing who her partner was."

"Actually your sister has been head over heels for Rose from day one."

Winter blinked at the blonde.

"I beg your pardon?"

It was Yang's turn to look at Winter in disbelief. After a moment, Yang shook her head and chuckled.

"Wow, you need lessons on how to be a big sis if you haven't picked up that your sister is dating mine."

Winter was unable to stop her jaw from dropping. She had known her sister was fond of her partner, but only thought it was only a close friendship.

"I had no idea she even...um..went that way."

Winter winced with every word that came out of her mouth. Yang only shrugged in response again.

"Apparently several girls, including her, didn't know themselves either."

"Several girls? You are not about to tell me my sister is a part of some...polygamous relationship."

Yang snickered this time, gleefully enjoying this.

"It's not so bad Winnie, at least it's just a harem."

Winter pinched the bridge of her nose, trying desperately to wrap her head around whatever her sister could possibly be thinking.

"When father finds out about this."

Yang's demeanor suddenly switched to one of sympathy and she placed a hand on Winter's shoulder.

"She'll be fine, you witnessed first hand how protective of Weiss Rose can be, plus she has me and the rest of her friends."

Winter looked up at the blonde, not exactly reassured by her words.

"You don't know my father."

Yang's face grew grim at that statement.

"Winter, trust me, it's him who needs to be scared. Rose will kill him if he threatens Weiss."

Winter's eyes widened when she heard that. She knew the blonde wasn't joking and that Rose easily had the skill set to accomplish the feat.

"Don't forget to mention, firecracker, what Weiss does to anyone that tries to hurt Rose too. I mean, last I heard, that Cardin boy will never walk straight again, and not because you broke his legs."

Winter and Yang were both dragged out of their thoughts by the gravelly voice. Both Women turned around to see a familiar man.

"Uncle Qrow! What are you doing here? And wait, are you...cleaned up?"

Indeed, there stood Qrow, his back was straight, he was clean shaven, and his clothes looked they actually had been washed recently. After a brief moment, Winter turned to Yang.

"Can I arrest this pathetic excuse for an impostor, everyone knows Qrow Branwen is a hopeless drunk."

Yang snorted and started laughing. Winter, once again affected by the blonde's move, started chuckling herself.

"And here I thought you couldn't make or take a joke."

"Yang barely managed to get the words out between her panting and additional fits of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you two. I'm trying to be a responsible uncle and get mocked for it. Heavy is the burden I now bear."

"'Responsible'? I didn't think your vocabulary could contain a word with so many syllables."

Yang and Winter descended into another fit of laughter, this time Qrow reluctantly joined in.

"Okay, I walked straight into that one, ice queen."

Yang took a brief moment to straighten up, seeing a perfect opportunity.

"Hey, she's not an ice queen, she's my snow angel."

Fortunately, Winter was still laughing to much to hear the possessive pronoun, but Qrow didn't miss it. He quirked an eyebrow, and Yang shrugged helplessly. Qrow simply shook his head and silently wished her luck.

A/N: and that's all I wrote.

Oof that was a troublesome chapter to write. Especially the last two scenes which were completely unplanned, but practically wrote themselves once I committed to writing them.

So real quick, I've been hearing some confusion about Penny, and I'm going to try to clear it up for you guys now, and then again in one of the next few chapters. Penny IS flesh and blood in this story, and General Ironwood's daughter in my story. For those saying that's a little far fro canon, I'm working off a headcanon that Penny WAS Ironwood's daughter but was killed with her mother by the White Fang. Her mother was Doctor Polendina's sister and so Ironwood asked him to bring back Penny. Ironwood also convinced Penny that the Doctor was her father because he felt too guilty.

Yeah, not really canon at all, but it was fun to work with.

Oh another thing, you guys might have noticed that James didn't bring his entire army with him. Why? Because he wanted to minimize the number of people who knew about Rose, and to avoid exactly what happened on the docks.

Okay, recap time.

Rose gets locked in her memories again and Winter figures out that Rose was not a killer by choice, not much to say there.

Ozpin's office, that was a hard scene to write. Every word had to planned carefully. First, there is James delivering his report. That had to be planned carefully as Ironwood just wants to give Ozpin the facts. But of course the snag was the anti-aura bullets weren't all destroyed. Some of you might ask me why did Salem and her goons come back for them. Simple, Tyrian had tried to burn the camp to the ground, he thought everything was destroyed. As far as the bit with Ironwood trying to find out how to make them. I decided to bring some more canon Ironwood into the mix, who always wants to capitalize on an opportunity. Of course, Rose will hear none of it and wants them erased from existence. Finally, Penny finally asks the burning question. Why did her mother have to die. This was a very particular piece, you see, I've wanted to explain who the Oni were as people for a long time, and I finally got the chance. You see, the Oni was always a tribe of idiots with weapons as it were. They consider themselves professionals, but aren't anywhere close to that. Anyway, she was suitably shocked by the revelation.

Marron's latest exploit, She got arrested! Yeah, I don't know where that idea came from. But I thought 'man, Maroon is having too much luck, let's throw a wrench at her'. However, I also had to have Fennec and Corsac's plan backfire because they are idiots and their plans always backfire horribly.

Winter and Yang's scene, the other out of the blue scene this chapter. I'll explain why they were walking together specifically next time, but for right now, let's say everyone paired off to look for Penny. Now, Yang and Winter's talk. I know it seems weird that Yang was the level head in it, but if you take canon into consideration, it's not really a stretch. Winter is provoked quite easily in canon, and so of course Yang would get a violent reaction out of her eventually. Yang, while also provoked easily, is also seen to be level headed and calm when she needs to talk to someone, even when they get upset with her for doing so. Thus, I made that weird dynamic conversation. Also, we all know Yang would want to sock Winter at least once. Finally, winter meeting sober Qrow. Yeah, that didn't play out all that dramatically, but I felt the comic relief was needed in the chapter.

That's it for the recap!

It's a pretty big chapter for me at this point and I hope you enjoyed it.

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