A/N: Oops, I'm late again. I had a test...and a really depressing conversation with a professor.

Anyways, as an apology I have... * double checks chapter * plot, yuri, yuri, yuri plot...huh. Kinda simple as far as chaps go for me.

Anyway, for reference, this is happening roughly two weeks before the dance. I've got some big plans for the next few chapters, which will go pretty fast now that I think of it.

Welp, here's the chapter!

I own nothing!

Guilty Rose Chapter 37

It was official, Mercury was beginning to regret his decision to let Rose in on the big secret. Not because he actually let her in on it, but because Cinder and Neo were going insane without their time with Rose. Though he did have to hand it to Rose, that girl knew how to ignore someone's entire existence.

Over the last week Rose has literally only acknowledge his teams existence when it was absolutely necessary. At meals and after class though, it was as if that didn't exist to the little faunus.

A loud sob broke Mercury out of his thoughts.

Cinder and Neo were sitting on a bed sobbing in each other's arms with Emerald sitting to the side with a near depleted roll of toilet paper on her finger and an annoyed look on her face.

Mercury made eye contact with Emerald and the two began a silent conversation of mouthing words and looks.

"This has got to stop, or I'm killing someone."

Mercury quirked an eyebrow.

"I thought you of all people would jump on a chance like this."

Emerald growled, but not at Mercury.

"I won't lie, six months ago I would be. But, now..."

"But now you've seen how happy she is with Rose."

Emerald bit her lip for a moment.

"It's not just that, I know that what ever has Rose acting like this, is causing her just as much pain as these two are in."

Mercury couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at that comment.

"Hey, when you have semblance like mine, you know what's going on in people's heads."

"Oh, so then do you know what's up, and possibly how we can solve the problem? 'Cause I seriously think Vale doesn't have enough tissues for these two."

Emerald gave him a tired look.

"Maybe. We'll need to go straight to Rose though. If we don't know exactly what's wrong, we run the risk of making things worse."

Mercury stroked an imaginary beard and thanked Oum his act was holding up.

"Alright, then I'll volunteer to talk to her first."

Emerald looked at him unimpressed.

"You're not the most diplomatic of individuals."

Mercury shrugged at that.

"What can I say, I like to state facts not pretty words."

"Sure, well if you fuck up, I won't have to put with your shit anymore."

"Oh you'd miss me after five minutes."

Emerald rolled her eyes and cranked up the faux sweetness.

"Like I'd miss a beowolf."

Mercury smirked and Emerald smiled. They had something of a plan, and hopefully they'd fix this soon.

….

"So, how have your classes been going?"

"Well, I don't expect the police to come knocking at the door, so there's that."

"Funny, but seriously."

"I was being serious. I'm seeing Ozpin tomorrow afternoon about having Team CRDL expelled so I don't actually kill them. Racist little pricks."

Summer winced at the mention of that team. She hadn't had to deal with them because none of them were taking the weapons classes she taught. But if half of what she heard from her students was true, then she'd probably let Raven skin them alive, and help her hide the bodies.

"Well, I'll talk to some of my students about coming forward and testifying against them."

Raven shrugged indifferently.

"There's really no need, either Ozpin expels them or I kill them."

Summer sighed, Raven's tone of voice told her that she was being so completely serious. Raven let out a growling sigh, making Summer internally cheer, before looking back up at her.

"So, what about you?"

Summer smiled broadly.

"My daughter proved that she was the best in the class, again. She disassembled and reassembled her practice pistol in record time."

Raven couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, she's your daughter? I'll have you know that my daughter won two four-on-one matches today with nothing but a single lightning dust kunai."

Raven winced at remembering the match. The poor boy was probably still twitching from the shock he took.

"Really? We're going to do this? Also, that's pretty impressive."

"You started it. And so I'm not showing favoritism to one daughter, my daughter, Yang, beat Pyrrha Nikos in single combat today."

Summer completely forgot about the little match going on after hearing that feat.

"No kidding? How'd she manage that?"

"Luck of the draw, if I'm being honest. She managed to score an unarmed match against her. It was a damn close."

Summer couldn't help but smile again.

"We made two awesome daughters."

"Yes, we did. And we'll make another one as soon as you're ready."

Both women smiled this time. This was the life that both of them had wanted for all those years.

….

Rose found herself in the gym practicing her archery again whilst trying to sort through her thoughts. This time though, she had more success on both fronts. After two bullseyes and coming to the conclusion that she was tired of avoiding Cin and her team while she processed the fact that an immortal witch just because she had eyes, which apparently made her a part of a mythical line of warriors with grimm annihilating powers.

She decided that she needed to confront them and get the whole story.

Rose hit the release on Blossoming Rose and the bow broke into its knife forms. She unconsciously pushed aura to her back where the reels of Guilty Rose used to lie. As soon as she noticed what she had done, she let out a long sigh and sheathed her blades at the small of her back.

"They aren't there and you aren't her anymore."

Rose whispered her newest mantra. She created it shortly after receiving her mother's old weapon to help remind her that she was no longer a murderer, but a huntress.

Rose took another breathe before stretching her arms. When she did so, she felt a small spike of pain from her left middle finger.

Upon investigation, Rose found the finger had a small cut on it. She pouted at the offending digit.

"Come on Rose, you're better than this."

Rose couldn't help but chide herself as she pushed aura to the cut. It was so small that healed without blemish, but the principle of the matter was still there. She still hadn't fully gotten past her mental block on protecting herself with aura.

With a sigh she dropped her hand and went to retrieve her arrows from the range.

The whole while, she was being watched from the door way.

"Okay, You know what to do."

Emerald stood there next to Pyrrha, who she had recruited to get Rose to sit down in the same room as Cinder and Neo. Pyrrha, while always happy to help, still looked entirely unconvinced about the plan.

"Emerald, I really think this is unnecessary."

Emerald turned to her partner in crime.

"Come on Pyrrha, you've seen how miserable everyone is."

Rose turned when she heard the voices. She made a mental note to start practicing archery somewhere that people wouldn't keep finding her like this. Though she was happy to see Emerald so soon after she made her decision.

Pyrrha, for her part, sighed back at the ruby eyed girl.

"No, I meant you should just ask her. Rose is a very reasonable person."

Rose walked up to the pair, but made sure not to interrupt them. Weiss was very keen on teaching her some manners.

Emerald sort of glowered at Pyrrha.

"She's been ignoring my entire team for a week and no one knows why!"

Rose winced at that, she had felt bad for ignoring them, but everything she had found out over the last week made it hard to hold a proper conversation with anyone. Rose further resolved herself to fix this situation.

Pyrrha held her hands up to calm Emerald down. She had to think of something fast.

"I'm sure your just blowing things out of proportion. Besides, she always makes this sad face when you aren't looking."

Rose pouted at that, she hadn't thought those looks had been noticed.

Emerald had to take a double take after hearing that.

"Wait, really?"

Rose sighed, she knew it was now or never.

"It's just been really hard for me to face you guys."

Both Emerald and Pyrrha jumped when Rose spoke up.

"H-hey Rose, how long have you been there?"

Rose couldn't help the small snort of amusement from escaping her.

"Long enough to know you want to talk to me."

Emerald faltered at that, but then a small spark of anger grew in her stomach.

"So you finally want to talk, huh?"

Pyrrha recoiled at the harsh tone coming from the girl next to her.

"Emerald, that was uncalled for! Besides, I'm certain Rose has a perfectly good explanation for what happened."

Both girls stared at each other briefly. But soon Emerald's anger vanished. She sighed and turned to Rose to apologize.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for-"

Emerald stopped mid sentence when she caught sight of Rose big silver eyes, which were on the verge of tears.

"Oh, mother of all kicked puppies. Rose, I'm sorry! Okay! I'm not mad at you, I'm just tired from this situation."

Rose's eyes got even bigger at that, forcing both Pyrrha and Emerald to look away.

"Really?"

The shaky voice was almost too much for Emerald's heart.

"For the love of Oum! This girl never plays fair!"

"Yes, Rose, that's why we're here. We were hoping to get you so we could get all this sorted out."

Rose brightened up at that, much to the relief of both Emerald and Pyrrha.

"Okay then, let me get cleaned up and we can go see your team, Emerald."

"Em."

Everyone came to a sudden halt at that, even Emerald.

"Huh?"

Rose cutely tilted her head at Emerald, who swallowed thickly.

"Nice going Emerald. Play it off as if nothing happened."

Emerald opened her mouth to deliver a denial, but she made the mistake of looking Rose in the eye again. Once again, her willpower melted in those pools of silver.

"Big, stupid, gorgeous eyes!"

Emerald looked away shyly and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"Call me Em."

Rose smiled softly at the girl, who made sure not to look this time.

"Okay, Em."

Emerald had to force her legs not to buckle when she heard her name.

"Let's just go already… Hopefully Merc did his part already."

….

Glynda sighed, both in exacerbation and relief.

"Miss Schnee, while I'm glad that you and your team are volunteering to take over the Vytal Dance for Team CFVY, I cannot allow you to have a VIP area for only you and your friends. In fact, I cannot allow a VIP area at all."

Weiss didn't falter though, in fact her features hardened a bit.

"I'm not asking for a VIP area for my own amusement. If we cannot be given a separate space from the other students, Rose will not be able to attend."

Glynda gave her student a questioning look and motioned for her to continue. Weiss took a deep breathe when Glynda did that.

"I have been talking with several students from other academies. While rumors have yet to go around about Rose's identity, it is only a matter of time. So once again, without this closed off area, Rose will not be able to attend for her own protection."

Glynda's features soured this time, she figured this was the reason as it was already a concern of hers. In fact it was a small miracle that this had not already become an issue. Though maybe that miracle could also be attributed to the RFC.

That reminded her that she needed to go over the chat feed soon.

"I understand your concern, but I cannot simply allow this just for one student. It shows far too much favoritism and would draw more attention to Rose."

This time Weiss did deflate, she had hoped that some exception could be made.

"However, if the loft were to be used for the staff to watch over the event, and if it was left up to the discretion of said staff who could be on the loft. Then there would be no issue."

Weiss' head shot up, and a brilliant smile grew on her face.

"Then I'll take that into consideration while revising the dance's layout."

Weiss turned to leave while pulling out her scroll. This meeting really had gone better than she could have imagined.

"I'll leave you to that. However, before you leave. How is Rose doing? she's been acting odd for the last week and especially at this week's session."

Weiss stopped and awkwardly turned around. A blush dusting her features.

"She's had a lot on her mind recently. She hasn't shared all of it with me. But was she has shared let me know that her behavior has been justified."

Glynda cocked an eyebrow at that.

"Oh, and what did she share?"

Weiss' blush darkened.

"A very personal matter I wish not to discuss."

"Because I blurted out that I could have all the kids I wanted to with Rose."

Weiss' blush went nuclear and Glynda swore she could see steam shoot out of the poor girl's ear.

"What do you do to these girls, Rose?"

….

Mercury was starting to hate Emerald's plans more and more, as he was once again, stuck outside his dorm on guard duty. Though his job tonight was to keep Cinder and Neo in, rather than anyone out. This was becoming far too often of an occurrence, but he was thankful he wasn't having to stand in the way of Mama Rose again. He'd never admit it out loud, but that woman was damn scary when anyone came between her and her daughters.

After starting another scroll game, he looked up briefly to find Emerald and Rose coming his way. He wasn't sure what to make of that as they weren't supposed to be here for at least an hour.

"So what happened to your grand scheme?"

Emerald had the sense to look bashful.

"Turns out, I made all those plans for nothing. Rose was going to come here tonight anyway."

Rose glanced between the two.

"There was a scheme?"

Mercury grinned mischievously. Emerald paled and immediately went to stop him. Unfortunately for her, Mercury was ready for her. He caught her arms and held her back.

"She was going to bribe you with cookies."

"Oh."

Emerald and Mercury stopped when they heard the slight disappointment. They looked at Rose who was beginning to pout.

"You can still have the cookies, just after you talk to Cinder rather than before."

Rose's head shot and her eyes shimmered with hope.

"Note to self, get more cookies."

Suddenly, Rose's face faltered. She glanced at Mercury, who fully understood that things were going to be troublesome.

"Actually, I need to talk to all of you."

Emerald quirked an eyebrow, which earned her a sigh.

"You'll understand in a minute."

"Okay?"

Mercury just shook her head and unlocked the door to reveal Cinder and Neo still falling to pieces. Rose recoiled as if the scene had physically struck her.

"Hey Cin, Neo...I'm here to talk."

Both girls immediately turned to the doorway.

"ROSE!"

Rose braced herself as two blurs sped towards her. On impact, two sets of arms wrapped around her.

"I don't know what I did, but I'm so sorry!"

Neo didn't speak but kept mouthing her apology in to Rose's chest.

Rose felt even worse than before and wrapped her arms around the two girls.

"It's okay, you two. You didn't do anything that made me upset. I just had somethings to process the last few days."

The two girls calmed down at that.

"Really?"

Rose sighed in relief as the pain in Cinder's voice vanished.

"Yeah, but all of us need to have a serious conversation. I have questions that only you can answer."

Cinder stiffened at Rose's tone.

"Um...what kind of questions?"

Rose looked behind her to Emerald before answering.

"I need you to close and lock the door."

A dark atmosphere grew in the room when she said that. The tension grew even more after Emerald complied. Rose turned back to Cinder, who seemed to shrink under her gaze.

"I know about Salem...but I need to know more."

Just the mention of the witch's name seemed to drop the temperature in the room.

"You know about her...how?"

Rose bit her lip. She was going to hate herself for this, but she would hate causing Mercury any trouble.

"I found a book on old myths...I found hers and realized she was real when I remembered Akuma saying something about her."

Rose internally winced, it was flimsy, but hopefully it would work. Cinder seemed to not focus on the reason as she was chewing on her lip the whole time. Rose actually thought the girl was going to break skin.

"So...how much do you know?"

"I know she's probably immortal if there is a myth about her from hundreds of years ago...I also know she is after anyone with silver eyes."

Cinder clenched her fists at that.

"I-I should have told you everything from the beginning. You must be terrified for your life now."

Rose sighed and took one of Cinder's hands in hers. It took a moment of work, but she eventually got the hand to open and then began tracing shapes in Cinder's palm. There was no importance to the shapes, she just did it so Cinder wouldn't hurt herself.

"That...was never a concern I had. My life has been threatened for as long as I can remember… Something else scares me."

The heavy undertone of Rose's voice raised even more questions.

"What scares you then? I hope you're not worried about us. We knew the risks when we went to Ozpin."

Rose shook her head lightly.

"That does scare me...but what scares me more is the children."

"Children? What children?"

Rose chewed on her lip again while she put her thoughts in order.

"I talked with my moms… And the talk made me think about how I could have children… about having children… and then..."

Rose actually choked on the words, but they were understood. Cinder took her turn to grab Rose's hand.

"You're terrified that they'll be hunted for their entire lives."

Rose nodded before being pulled into an embrace from Cinder.

"I'm so sorry...I...don't know what to say to make you feel better."

Rose took a deep breath, drawing in Cinder's scent.

"Promise to help me train as a silver eyed warrior...and that you'll come to the Vytal dance… all of you."

There was a beat of stunned silence. Cinder pulled back and looked Rose in the eye.

"That's it?"

Rose smiled softly, before she thought of something to lighten the mood.

"Well, there is the matter of Emerald getting some cookies."

Cinder snorted, it wasn't a great attempt, but she appreciated the gesture. She pulled Rose into another embrace, which Neo and Emerald hesitantly joined.

"Thank you Rose. I was so scared that you hated me when you wouldn't talk to us."

Rose gave Cinder a squeeze.

"I'm sorry about that, it was just too much for me to handle all at once."

"I can understand that. So, how about those cookies?"

A/N: It feels nice to do a 3k+ chapter again. They let me go just fast enough and really enjoy writing.

Any who. Recap Time!

Merc and Em's first scene, is pretty straight forward. They are tired of the situation, and came up with a plan to fix it.

Summer and Raven's scene was just a fluff piece I wanted to right. I never get enough of writing them. A quick confession, I feel like I tried to expel CRDL before, or did. So if that is the case, please forgive the plothole. I wanted to give insight on them as teachers and parents.

Rose in the gym again was another insight piece. I wanted to clarify the fact that Rose WASN'T mad at Cinder, she just didn't know how to process the revelation. Also, I thought it was time for Emerald to stop being a fuddy duddy and admit her feelings for Rose. And she didn't even need a talking to (looking at you Blake). In other words, it's official, Emerald is in the harem.

Weiss talking to Glynda about taking over the dance. Why the hell they never had a scene like this in canon, I don't know. Anyway, I just wanted some more interactions. Plus, I needed to establish the VIP section for the dance. Also I wanted to make fun of Weiss. Come on, how else would she react when Rose told her that they could have children together. I almost had Weiss demand a baby on the spot as proof. Anyway, that's it for that scene.

Rose talking to Cinder. That was a bit hard to right and part of the reason I'm late with the chapter. I think it went well so I have no real comments about it. I would like to hear people's thoughts on it.

End of Recap Time!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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