It had been about a week since Qrow was cleared from the hospital. Since then, Qrow had pulled some strings to stay a little longer at the hotel. Their room wasn't too big, but it worked with the seven of them. And during that time, they had gotten used to Hofnarr and his presence. Nora really found someone like her in him, in a twisted sense.
Now, they were making their way to Haven academy. Right now, they were walking in an old hallway that went into the main part of mistral.
"The City of Mistral.." Qrow said as they walked deeper into the Hallway Nora huffed. "It's about time!" she said. "YEAH!" Hofnar joined in. "What's a mistral?": Qrow huffed. "Mistral is one of the four main kingdoms of Remnant." the clown humed. "That's the name of the planet right? Such an odd name.." Jebadiah shrugged. "Your last name is 'jeste r' in German, Albert." Jebediah siad. Hofnarr humed again. "Huh! I guess I really AM a clown! Haha!" Ruby looked at the two. "What's german?" Jebediah looked back at her. "It's another language, bi will tell you more after this… meeting with this, 'Leo'.." Qrow nodded. "Took the words right out of my mouth, jeb. We can play around later, but now, we got things to do…" a few more steps in and they came out the exit of the hallway. Ruby's eyes lit up as she ran over to the railing looking over a part of mistral. "This… is… AWESOME!" she shouted. Jaune looked over with her, and chuckled in relief. "We really made it…" he said. Qrow looked over to the boy. "You've been saying that for the past few days, kid." Jaune scratched the back of his head and looked away sheepishly. "I know, it's just so, surreal." Ruby then shouted. "OHH! LOOK AT ALL THE WEAPONS!" Qrow smiled at her antics. "The vendors here will sell you just about anything, even if they should, or not." Jaune smiled brightly. "They really made do with the mountains."
"Every Inch." Qrow responded. Qrow then started to speak again. "But, stay away from the lower levels, but The higher you go, the nicer it gets…" Nora then pointed up. "-And we're Going up!" she exclaimed. Hofnarr then laughed. "Well?! What're you all waiting for! Let's go!" he said. enthusiastically.
Above them. Weiss was flying above the Sea, She looked out the window. "So, how much farther?" she asked the pilot. "We're in the home stretch kid." he told her. It had been a little while since she snuck away from her terrible home. It was nice to see nature again. She looked up at the clouds, spotting a cloud that looked like a monster from those old movies she would watch. Weiss would never admit it, but she always liked to see what shapes the clouds were, if anyone were to ask her, she would say that it was childish, but it was one of the things she loved doing as a child during her twisted childhood. She shook her head and rid herself of the memories of that time of her life. "-sorry about the long flight, you must be getting cooped up, huh?" he asked her. Weiss shook her head. "I am doing fine." she responded curtly. "I just… hope I haven't been a burden." the pilot chuckled. "No, you haven't. I've been getting all restless not having something to do for a while." Weiss nodded. Then, the radio whirled to life, static bleeding out of the speakers. The pilot and Weiss looked at it. The pilot squinting behind his helmet. "The hell?" he asked himself, before dialing the frequency. Weiss stood straighter. "Is… everything okay?' the pilot shrugged. "We're about to find out…" he responded, not turning from his seat. "We're still far out from any land, whoever is contacting us must be close.." he said. Before a voice came from the static.
"MAY-DAY! MAY-DAY!" weiss shot up. "WE'RE A SMALL PASSENGER FLIGHT-" a crash was heard in the background. "AND THE- -bzzrer- IS DOWN!" The pilot groaned. Interference was a bitch. "WE'RE NOT EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH THIS-" The pilot's hands shook as Weiss came up from behind him. "Shit.." he swore. The distressed women on the other end continued. "THE GRIMM ARE FOUR-HUNDRED CLICKS FROM SHORE LINE-" A crash was heard and Weiss flinched back, the Women on the other end gasped. "IF- IF ANYONE CAN HEAR THIS, PLEASE HEL-" the signal went dead.
Weiss stood, shocked. "We have to help them." the pilot let out a distressed humm. "We can't, the ships not equipped to deal with grimm, and we won't have enough fuel for a dog fight!" Weiss inhaled harshly. "Is there anything we can do." the pilot shook his head. "No, but I can try to contact any nearby patrolls.." he said, already dialing into a different frequency. Weiss zoned out and looked at her hands, her shaking hands. She would learn that you can't save anyone. She looked out the window for quite a while as the pilot sent in the message to any nearby patrols.
The upper levels of mistral were nice. It wasn't too crowded, and was a peaceful area. Soon, Team RNJR, plus Qrow, Jebadiah, and now Hofnarr had made their way to Haven academy. "Wowza! This place is… kinda dinky." the clown said in a bit of a disappointing tone. Qrow looked back at him. "What were you expecting?" the bad luck magnet asked before taking a sip from his new flask. Hofnarr shrugged. "I expected a huge massive roman thing! Or something medieval! Everything else had that aesthetic! So why not the big school!?" he ranted. Jebadiah nodded. "The kingdom does have that medieval look, yes, but that was the lower levels.." he countered. Ruby looked back at them. "What's a medieval." Jeb Shrugged. "A time in earth history where everything was much simpler, and harsher, well, scratch that." he said. Ruby squinted at them before turning back around. Qrow waved a hand."you mind shutting up? We're almost to Leo's office." he slightly growled. He wasn't mad at them, no, Leo had failed to meet them earlier. Qrow was a bit peeved off at that. "C'mon, let's go inside.." Qrow then walked into the main building. The rest of them followed..
As they walked the halls of haven, Ruby cupped her hand to her mouth. "Hello!? Anyone here!?" she asked, her voice bouncing off the walls. They came to a stop. Nora looked at the silver eyed girl. "Maybe try louder..?" Hofnarr inhaled, and jeb covered his ears. 'Not again…' he thought, before the clown bellowed. "IS ANYONE HERE!?" the foundation shook, it was barely noticeable though. Nora sucked a breath between her teeth. "A little.. Too loud." Hofnarr slumped. "Aww.." Ren looked around, still reeling from the shout. "There.. Doesn't seem to be anyone here.." he said. Jaune nodded. "Well, school… is out of session right now.. So…" he trailed off. Qrow stood silently looking around. Jebadiah sensed his conflict. "Qrow, is everything…" he trailed off. "No, this isn't right." the bad luck magnet said with distress. He turned to the rest of them. "Cmon.." he said before starting to walk away. They looked at eachother. "Wait for us!" Ruby cried, chasing after her uncle, with Nora, Ren, and jaune on her tail. Jebadiah and Hofnarr looked at each other before sprinting after them.
Qrow ran up to the headmasters office. When he drew his weapon. "Get ready." he commanded RNJR, Jebediah, and Hofnarr. They all brought their weapons out, and Hofnarr started to jiter.
Qrow narrowed his eyes. "There could be trouble.' he added. The seven stood in silence for a moment. Qrow then lifted his leg and kicked the dor in-
-revealing Leo. who stood in shock for a moment before screaming. Team RNJR screamed too. Jebadiah and Hofnar just stared, until Hofnarr broke into maniacal laughter. Qrow blinked, before realizing he was balancing on one foot, he then comedicaly fell. "Waoh!" The clown laughed even harder, clutching his rotting stomach, then leo fell too out of shock, causing Tricky to fall to the floor, rolling around with cackles of laughter. Ruby ignored the clown and looked down at teh fallen headmaster. "Uh, professor lionheart?" she asked. The headmaster sat up and glared at qrow. "QROW! For crying out loud!" he said, taking a breath. "Neary scared me half to death!" Hofnarr stood, his laughter almost gone. "Ohh, I almost laughed myself to death agian! Haha!" the clown said. Leo stared at them. "Who are.." he trailed off. Qrow then stod, growling. "Me? Why wern't you waiting for us at the entrance!?" he exclaimed. Tricky stoped laughing and stood straight. Leo stared for a moment, before reaching into his suit and pulling out a watch, his eyes widened. "Oh! Apologies, i guess time slipped away from me." the man then stood, and Qrow stilled glared at him. "You're joking, right?" the drunk asked, flopping his arms down. Hofnarr leaned into Jebediah. "I think somethings up with that guy.. Can't place it dou…" Jebadiah nodded. "For once since you became this, I agree with you, albert.." while two two once scientists had their little chat, Nora looked around, before holstering manghild on her back. "Where is everybody?' she asked. Leo looked at the tens. "Ahh, you all must be the students qrow mentioned.. But.." he looked to the back. "Who are they?" he asked. Qrow waved him off. "They're weirdos who helped us during our travel here, don't mind the clown, he's a lunatic." said clown blew a raspberry at him with his lizard-like tongue. Leo eyed them up, but qrow waved his hand. "You can ask them shit later, now.." Qrow leaned in. "Where are your staff?' he asked. Lionheart looked back at the students and NExians before sighing. "My staff are currently away for-" qrow leaned in more. "What!?" he stated. "Leo, you can't be serious… Who's guarding the relic?!" Leo looked shocked, and back at them. "Qrow, the children-" qrow then interrupted him. "They know, even the weirdos." they had filled in Hofnarr back at the hotel. Qrow then continued. "And what do you mean your staffs away?" he glared at the headmaster of haven, siad headmaster narrowed his eyes. "You… filled them in?" he asked again. Qrow groaned. "Oh for fuck's sake STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT!" the man yelled. Leo took a step back. Ruby hesitantly approached her uncle. "Uncle qrow.." she said. Leo looked at them, before opening the doors some more. "C'mon in." he said, his tone edged with ice. The two nexians looked at each other as they all followed into the office.
Soon, the group was standing in front of Lionheart, who had taken a seat at his desk, head propped up by his hand. "I must say, qrow…" he began. "This all seems.. Very reckless, even for you, qrow." Qrow humfed "no, 'reckless' is leaving one of the relics completely unguarded!" the man exclaimed, arms crossed. "It's not checking in with oz, for ages!" he continued,starting to get into Lionheart's face, who glared at the huntsman. "There was nothing to check in about before the fall of beacon." he retorted. Starting to stand. "But since that day, mistral has been in chaos!" he shouted. Jebediah rubbed his beard. "The fall of beacon?" he asked himself. Leo continued. "Vale wasn't the only kingdom to suffer that night.." The man looked out the window for a moment. "Everyone was watching, every house in every kingdom saw that poor girl ripped into pieces.." he listed off Ruby flinched at the mention of Penny, but Jebadiah put a hand on her shoulder, sensing her sadness, leo still continued. "Saw monsters crawling over the city, atlesian knights attacking citizens!" he ranted, Jaune took a breath in, putting his hand on crocea Mors. Leo then looked down. "And then… nothing." The room went silent for a moment. Lionheart looked down. "You could feel the dread in the air," he said, looking at them. "With all that negativity, you can imagine what it was like when the Grim came for us…" he trailed off, turning his back to them. Hofnarr leaned to Jebediah. "Do you have any idea what this dudes sayin?" he whispered. Jebadiah shook his head. Leo walked over to the window. "Mistral's controlled territory is the widest reaching in the world, Y'know?" he said. 'Kinda like america..' Jebadiah thought. "-and that makes it infinitely hard to protect!" the headmaster exclaimed, his hand clenched in front of his face, before he lowered it, and he hung his head. "We have lost so many great huntsmen… teachers from this very institution." he mourned. Some of those people he had known for decades, he missed indigo so much… he shook his head. "And it's only, gotten, worse…" he continued.. Ruby looked at the ground, solemn look on her knew that the fall had hurt a lot of people, including them. But she never thought that it would be this bad. She looked back up. "W- what do you mean?" he asked him. Leo sighed quietly, before gripping part of the window. "We may have dealt with the grimm, but the mistral counsel is still at odds with representatives from atlas.." he paused. "First it was the dust embargo, now it's the closing of borders." he turned to face them again" i'm not sure what the hell happened to james in vale, but it seems to only worsen some of his more… unfortunate tendencies.." he sighed. "And, on top of all that, we still have no idea where the spring maiden is.." he finished. Qrow stepped forward. "All the more reason to have the huntsmen and huntresses here!" the drunk supplied. Ruby had had enough. "OKAY! Okay.. okay." she said, walking up to the two. "Things are bad..'' Hofnarr raised his hand. "Terrible, even!" Ruby ignored the clown's statement. "But we can figure this out! " she cried out, before looking to lionheart. "Why is the spring maiden so important?" Jeb nodded. "I too, am curious, what is the role of this.. Magic wielding maiden." Leo sighed, before glaring at qrow. "I thought you filled them in.." he said, icy undertone back. Qrow glared back. "Mostly filled them in. there's a lot to cover, 'kay?" Qrow defended himself. He pulled his flask out, unscrewing the cap. "I quit teaching for a reason, y'know." he said before taking a swig. Lionheart sat down, resting his head in his sighed before speaking. "Each maiden has the power to perform extraordinary feats of magic." he explained, looking at them." and they are the only ones able to access the relics." Jaune blinked. "What..?" he said, dumbfounded. Hofnarr nodded and pointed at jaune. "What! What blondie said!" qrow looked back at the two. "The relics are each locked inside a chamber that can only be open by a specific maiden," he explained. "Winter for creation, summer for destruction, fall for choice, and Spring for knowledge." he said, taking another swig of his flask, once he was done, he lowered his hand from his face. "Spring is the problem." Qrow concluded. Red looked at him from the table he and Nora sat at. "What happened to her?" he asked. Qrow turned to him. lionheart sighed. "Well, she was determined at first, when she inherited her powers, but… the weight of responsibility weighed too much on her young mind." Jebediah now had a scowl. Just how old did this woman get these magic powers? The keystone fragment sparked once, then twice. Jebadiah had sen what the Nexus core did to the clones and test sumbets, one of the reasons he dissented. Nobody really noticed Jebediah's inner thoughts, except for his oldest friend, Hofnarr gave Jebadiah a pat on the back, but said nothing. Leo then continued
"She…" he paused, taking a breath. "...Ran." Jebadiahs clenched his fist. Spark… spark… again, this went unnoticed. "Abonded her training… and everyone." Jebediah stepped forward. "Maybe due to the fact that it was forced onto her." he gritted out. Leo blinked at the Nexians hostility. "Wel, it was-" the Savior's eyes glowed. Spark. Spark.. "How old was she, when she had received these.. Powers." Jebadiah asked him. Qrow walked over to jebediah. "Woah, cool your jets." Jebadiah turned his glare to qrow. "Chill out..? Chill out!" he exclaimed, getting into qrows personal space. "For all I know, you.. Heathens have been training child soldiers!" he cried. "And don't lie to me, I know what one looks like… i inadvertently had a hand in making some myself.." the nexian looked down at the ground. Ruby looked at him. "Mister christoff..?" the savior sighed. "Remember when I told you about my… old job?" he asked. Ruby nodded. "You were a scientist," he nodded. "Yes, but what I worked for was so much more.. Much more sinister." he said. "Project nexus, something i spent years of my life to make it, until i realized what it truly was.." he looked into his hands. "Project nexus was meant to help the people of Nevada, but instead, it was cruelty, the director wanted to ascend into godhood." he turned back around to face them. "Fortunately, i had put an end to it. Still, remnants of the project remain." he looked at Hofnarr. "That is why we need to get back to Nevada, Albert." The clown looked at jebediah, shaking his head. "can we… talk about this later, in private?" he asked. Jebadiah nodded. "Of course, old friend." He looked at qrow. "We will be outside if you need us." he said, before walking out the door, hofnarr in tow. The door shut, with a heavy click.
The room was quieter. Qrow sighed, before chugging the rest of his flask. "Things just got a hell of a lot more complicated, but for now.." he looked over to leo. "We have a spring maiden to rescue, and i know where she is..but it's not good." Leo stood from his chair "what do you mean? This is excellent! Where is she?" Qrow pushed Leo off him. "No, it isn't." he said, pulling out his scroll. "How?' Ruby asked, Qrow pulled up a map, and it projected in front of them. "Because She was picked up by bandits, more specifically.." qrow looked at Leo. "the brawen tribe."
2BDamned continued to try and find a way to get his boys back. Loathe was he to admit it, he missed those brats. Still, he wund find it, if the improbability drive in his hand said anything.