Once everyone arrived in Vale, Team STRQ were rushed to the hospital where Summer and Tai would both need surgery. Summer's was simple as the doctors just had to put all the rib bone back together and let it heal. Tai on the other hand had lost several pieces of bone in his leg entirely that would not heal. The doctors had to create several metal pieces to connect his ankle bones back together. Summer would be bandaged up for at least a month and Tai would be on crutches for at least a few weeks and it would take even longer for him to be combat ready. Raven's injury wasn't as bad as it didn't break any bone and only lightly tore into her muscles. Her injury would be healed in a week tops. Qrow was the only one who got away without any major injury as he was knocked aside before any real damage could be done to him by their mysterious assailant.

All of Team STRQ felt down after the whole ordeal and they all just felt completely and utterly defeated. Ozpin commended them on their work and gave them their just payment. Raven was extra surprised to find out that Ozpin had given all of them twelve thousand Lien each instead of ten thousand. When asked why that was Ozpin simply replied, "Just a little compensation for your injuries. I am truly sorry you all had been ambushed by a notorious serial killer." The group thanked the Headmaster and he left. Afterwards the weeks simply passed by as the group slowly recovered. Over the next few weeks Raven's resentment towards their leader would grow more and more. At first Raven blamed Summer for their loss against Jack. Then as classes went on Summer would be the center of attention as the 'fearless leader who took on an infamous serial killer and lived'. Raven felt it was completely unfair that Summer got all the praise from that fight despite the fact that all of their team was involved and her own partner got wounded even worse than her yet he nor her or her brother got any recognition. It all came to a boiling point a few weeks after they were all let out of the hospital when Summer was finally allowed to participate back in combat classes once again.

Lance called Summer down to the arena so she could have a practice match with somebody. When Summer made her way down to the arena Lance asked the class, "Who would like to spar with Miss Rose?"

The first person to shoot their hand up was Raven. "I would like to spar with Summer." Their were murmurs around her as everyone looked confused why a fellow teammate would want to fight their leader.

Lance silences the crowd as he allows Raven's request. "You may spar Miss Branwen. Come down and take the other side." Lance points his arm to the other side of the arena.

As Raven marches down the steps to the arena she gives Summer a glare as she descends. 'Finally I can let out some of my pent up anger towards you.'

Once Raven is facing Summer across the arena Summer offers Raven some kind words before the fight. "I wish you good luck Raven. Let's have a good fight." Summer smiles under her hood as she lightly rests both hands on her pistols.

'This won't be a fight. This will be a beatdown.' Raven internally thinks as an eerie smile begins to tug at her lips.

Lance stands in the middle with his hand raised as he is about to start the match. "Begin!" Lance chops his hand down as he gets out of the way.

Summer immediately pulls both of her pistols out as she opens fire on Raven. Raven pulls her sword out as she swats the bullets away with her blade. Raven begins to run right towards Summer as Summer tries to keep her distance. Summer keeps shooting at Raven as Raven keeps swatting Summer's bullets away. This game of chase continues for a few minutes as Summer tries to avoid directly fighting with everything she has. Eventually Raven catches up with Summer as she begins to swing her sword at Summer. Summer can feel her cloak get nicked by Raven as she realizes there is no more point in running. Summer turns around and shoots Raven at point blank range which Raven decides to tank with her aura as she delivers a ferocious slash diagonally through Summer. Summer turns her midsection into petals to avoid the attack as Raven follows up with a slash to both arms which Summer is forced to also turn to petals. Raven slashes for the legs next as Summer turns even more of her body into petals as she begins to reform her arm and slashes at Raven with her hidden blade in it. Raven blocks the attack as Summer begins to slowly reform her body to go on the offensive.

'I can't engage Raven in a gun fight since she will get in my blindspots. That means I can only engage her in melee which is also bad for me as Raven is far superior at melee combat than I am. Darn, it's at times like these where I am terrible at fighting other people.' Summer internally curses herself. Summer tries to slash at Raven's chest but Raven parry's the attack away as she slices at Summer's arm which immediately turns to petals as Summer pulls the hidden blade out of her other arm to lunge at Raven's stomach. Raven kicks the attack up as she brings her forward momentum down in a monstrous forward swing which bursts Summer's entire body into petals.

'Summer's screwed now.' Raven internally smirks. Once Summer's body is completely turned into petals Raven begins waiting for parts of Summer's body to reform. Each time Summer tries to reform a part of her body Raven would simply slash it away with her sword. This prevents Summer from being able to reform enough for an attack without risking taking damage herself. Due to this constant cycle of being destroyed and rebuilt, Summer begins to slowly lose her aura as her semblance becomes weaker and weaker.

The people in the stands begin to look on in worry for Summer and anger towards Raven. "This almost seems unfair." "Isn't Summer her leader?" "This is only her first day back in training." "Why is she being so aggressive?" The crowd murmured amongst themselves. Raven hears a few of them which only makes her mood even worse. Raven strikes with even more anger as Summer's body continues to be burst back into petals.

'Why did Ozpin make you the leader?!' Raven slashes at Summer again. 'What did Ozpin see in you but not me?!' Raven curses internally as she slashes Summer again. This time things are different however as Summer's entire body reforms extremely quickly as Summer's aura dips into the red.

"Summer's aura has fallen into the red. This match goes to Raven." Lance announces. However Raven is too deep in her thoughts and doesn't hear that the match has been called.

'Why can't you just disappear!?' Raven looks to sheathe her sword. Summer walks up to Raven with her hand stretched out.

"Congrats Raven! It seems I've still got a long ways to g-" Raven pulls out her katana with the blade coated in fire dust as she slams it right into Summer. This causes a massive explosion on Summer at point blank range. The entire class begins to uproar in panic at the sudden attack as Lance sees the attack and tackles Raven to the ground with his sword drawn to her throat.

"MISS BRANWEN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Lance shouts at his student.

"What are you doing?! The match was still going on wasn't it?!" Raven shouts back as she looks forward to look at Summer.

"SUMMER!" Qrow shouts as he runs down to check on his partner. Tai follows closely behind to make sure their leader is ok.

As the dust clears from the explosion everyone is able to see what happened to Summer. Half of her cloak was destroyed as their were singes all over her clothes. Summer also had a large burn mark stretching across her abdomen as she panted heavily from the attack. Summer's knees buckle as her aura breaks and she falls to the ground fighting off the feeling of unconsciousness. Her arm seemed to be hit the hardest as one of the bones snapped far enough to jut out of her flesh as blood began to splatter on the ground.

Qrow runs over to his partner to check on her. Qrow listens for a pulse and is glad to hear it. Tai follows up behind Qrow. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah she seems to be fine." Qrow sighs in relief. Qrow turns around and gives and icy cold glare aimed right at his twin. "What the hell is wrong with you Raven?! You didn't have to be so aggressive."

"Sh-shut up Qrow." Raven grunts out. "I didn't hear the match get called alright?" Raven desperately calls out.

Lance turns towards the other two members of Team STRQ and begins to speak to them. "Mister Branwen, Mister Xiao Long; can you take Miss Rose to the infirmary for me? I trust you two with your teammate and I must take Miss Branwen to see the Headmaster immediately." Lance explains as he lifts Raven off the ground and onto her feet.

"You've got it teach, we've got this." Tai responds with confidence. Tai then focuses his attention to Qrow. "You get her legs; I'll get her arms." Tai hooks his arms under Summer's arms as Qrow nods his head in agreement and grabs her legs.

"Aren't you not supposed to put stress on your leg right now?" Qrow quickly asks.

"It's fine dude I can just use my aura to numb it for a moment. We need to focus on Summer." Tai responds.

Qrow nods his head in understandment. "All right in that case we'll lift her on three." Tai readies himself. "One... two... three!" Qrow and Tai life Summer up as they begin to make their way out of the arena. Tai makes sure to tuck Summer's broken arm in to prevent it from taking any more damage than it already has.

Today is going to be a very long day.


Raven sat in the tallest tower of Beacon academy in silence. Raven has already been up here for a few hours as Ozpin sits at his desk sipping coffee out of his cup. Lance was standing behind Raven with his hand on the handle of his sword ready to strike at any moment if she tries to resist. The silence for the past few hours started to drive Raven a little mad as she watched Ozpin get up to pour his fifth cup of coffee since she had gotten here. Ozpin had long since seen the recording of what had happened in her combat class and has been watching Summer's recovery monitor the whole time as he had paid no attention to Raven. Finally after all of the silence he finally spoke. "It would appear Miss Summer Rose has finally woken up." Ozpin then turns his head to face Raven. "Tell me Raven, why would you attack your own leader?" Ozpin already knew the answer, but he was going to drag it out of her regardless.

"It was in the heat of the moment. I got upset with Summer and in that anger I didn't realize that the match was already over." Raven answers honestly as she knows lying to Ozpin was impossible.

Ozpin folds his hands together as he hides his mouth and the light in the room gleams over his glasses which makes it difficult for Raven to see his eyes. "Now tell me this Raven, why were you upset with Summer? Surely she did nothing to wrong you. If so I would be more then happy to overlook this whole incident depending on the severity. However, we both know that isn't the case."

Raven internally scoffs at the man. She could feel the smugness dripping from his words. "None of your damn business Oz." Raven responds.

Lance pulls his sword an inch out of its sheathe at the blatant disrespect towards the Headmaster, but Ozpin subtly gestures for Lance to stand down which he reluctantly complies. "I believe it is Raven. You have hospitalized not only one of my students, but one of your partners and leader. This could have much worse punishments for you such as expulsion and jail time if you do not comply. Understand?" Ozpin cooly waves his hand before returning to his old position.

Raven couldn't care as much about being expelled, but she would like to avoid jail time at all costs. Raven sighs as she steels herself. "I have become frustrated with her. She is the one who gets the credit for everything we do despite the fact that she's the one who contributes the least. She is weak, she is too gentle at times, and she lacks any skills that a leader should have. She is both unfit to be a leader and is the only one who basks in the fruits of our labors." Raven folds her arms.

'Just as I had suspected.' Ozpin thought internally. "So you disagree with my choice in who I chose to be your team's leader?" Ozpin questions.

"Completely." Raven responds without any hesitation.

"Well... it would appear that you need understanding as to why I chose Summer as your team's leader. Would you like to know?" Ozpin baits her.

Raven thinks it over for a minute as she tries to figure what Ozpin is playing at. However her curiosity gets the better of her as she raises her head in defiance at Ozpin. "Be my guest. Enlighten me 'Headmaster'."

'Hook, line, and sinker.' Ozpin internally thinks to himself. "That's good to hear... because that is exactly what your punishment will be." Raven looks at Ozpin in confusion as she waits for him to elaborate. "Because Summer's injuries will more than likely take a month or two to heal she will be severely limited in what she can and cannot do. This is made even worse by the fact that you broke her arm which is vital for any huntsmen when it comes to being able to fight."

"What are you saying Oz?" Raven questions.

"What I am 'saying' is that you will look after Summer hand and foot until she recovers. Whatever she needs help with you must comply no matter what. Whether it is to help her write down her work or if she is called during combat class you will have to fight for both yourself and her. If she needs help with even rudimentary or mundane actions like eating or bathing you will help her."

Raven feels a blow to her pride as she glares at Ozpin. 'This is completely demeaning!' Raven internally curses. 'On the other hand I could go to jail.' Raven actually has to think about it for a moment before she realizes how ridiculous it is to even have to choose between the two. Raven sighs. She was going to have to swallow her pride, at least for a little bit. "Very well. I will go with the punishment."

Ozpin smirks, but Raven can't see it. "Good. Now... get to it."

"What?" Raven looks at him in confusion.

"I said get going. Summer is already awake, so go wait on her." Ozpin shoos Raven away with his hand towards the exit elevator.

Raven looks behind her as Lance steps aside to allow her to leave. As Raven gets up and walks towards the elevator Ozpin stops her once more. "Oh and one last thing Raven."

Raven turns around as the elevator door opens. "What is it?" She irritably replies.

Ozpin stands up as he removes his glasses to look directly at her with a somewhat more serious look. "If you put Summer in a worse state than she is already in I will personally deal with you." Raven felt a quick and sudden pulse of Ozpin's aura which shakes the very room they are in and Raven nearly chokes from the sheer volume of aura exuded. "Understood?"

Raven rapidly nods her head in understanding. "Y-yes sir." Raven quickly heads into the elevator and pushes the button back to the first floor. As the doors close Raven collapses onto her hands and knees as she starts to sweat profusely. "What the hell was that?! How can one man have so much aura?! It's just not possible!"


After the elevator doors close Lance turns around to look at Ozpin with some minor confusion on his face. "Sir, why did you display your aura? It could be dangerous to the other students."

Ozpin puts his glasses back on and goes back to sipping his coffee as he sits back down in his chair. "I can't let anyone damage a silver eyed warrior. Whether Summer is aware of her abilities or not is still unclear, but it still remains that she has the potential to unlock the silver eyes. An ability like that is invaluable to have on our side especially against the Grimm. We should pay extra careful attention and care for Miss Rose."

"I see... very well then sir. You would know better than me in this situation." As Lance is leaving Ozpin quickly grabs his attention.

"Before you resume teaching you should know that we've finally properly categorized that new species a few days ago."

Lance turns his head with a slightly curious gaze. "What are those creatures called?"

Ozpin stands up and walks around his desk to face Lance head on. "The new species of Grimm is called..."


Once Summer woke up she was greeted with the site of the other two members of her team. Tai had a look of worry on his face while Qrow was trying to seem uninterested, but Summer knew that deep down her partner did care at least a little as otherwise he wouldn't even be here. "Summer, are you alright?" Qrow asks.

Summer looks down to her right arm to see it wrapped up in a cast along with most of that side of her body. Summer had a saddened look on her face as she slumped her head. "I could be better I suppose." Summer sighs as she lays back in her bed. Summer shifts her eyes to look at Tai. "What happened while I was out?"

"We carried you to the infirmary. Raven was also taken to Ozpin's office awhile ago." Tai informs his leader.

At the mention of Raven the room grows more tense. However, Summer wouldn't allow for a depressing atmosphere for too long. "How well did I do in the fight?"

"You were too reliant on your semblance." Qrow bluntly states as he slightly crosses his arms and looks towards his partner. "Because you wouldn't let yourself ever get hit you weren't able to make an advancement either. It probably didn't help that you and Raven's style conflict with each other seeing how Raven was able to block your bullets."

"I think you just need to work either on your speed to avoid Raven all together or get better at fighting with your melee weapons." Tai adds in.

"Yeah speaking of that it seemed you didn't capitalize on your hidden blades very much. Even with how well versed Raven is at her katana you should've been able to outmaneuver her seeing as you have two of them." Qrow adds on.

Summer looks a bit sheepish at this as she rubs the back of her head nervously with her one good arm. "Actually I've never been that good at using my melee weapons. I've always been the best at shooting back in my village, but I've always been pretty average at using my swords. Unfortunately I was fighting one of if not the best sword wielder in the entire class which really didn't help."

The room goes quiet for a moment as Tai decides to ask Summer the question on all of their minds. "Listen Summer, I know this really isn't a good time to ask but... Are you upset with Raven?" Summer sighs as she closes her eyes in thought. Tai realizes that he just made the atmosphere a lot more awkward as he tries to back track. "Never mind forget I a-"

"Yes I am." Summer stops Tai. "I am pretty upset with Raven for what she did. However, I can't help but blame myself partially for why it happened." Summer looks off to the side and frowns more so at herself.

Tai and Qrow look at Summer in surprise. "What do you mean Summer? What my sister did was awful." Qrow comments.

"You're right about that, but I could tell that I let it build up to this point. I've noticed for a while that Raven hasn't held me in very high regards since we first met. I realized that Raven was mad at me, but instead of trying to talk it out as I should as a leader I let it fester and boil instead. I didn't think she would explode the way she did against me and I am pretty upset that she would go to this extent, but I also know that I'm somewhat responsible for this." Summer sighs. "This has been my first failure as a leader, and I will take responsibility for that."

Suddenly the door to Summer's room creaks open as an all too familiar warrior walks in. Everyone turns their heads to see Raven enter the room as she looks at all of them with slight annoyance. "Little brother, partner,... leader." Raven greets them all.

Qrow and Tai get a little tense but don't act. Summer on the other hand waves with her good hand for Raven to come closer. "Since you are here I assume that you have already dealt with the Headmaster."

Raven walks up besides Summer's bed and looks down on her. "You would be right about that." An awkward silence develops between all of them as Summer patiently waits for Raven to continue. Raven realizing that Summer wouldn't buckle to ask so she continues speaking. "He gave me an option... either get expelled and thrown in the slammer or take on his unique punishment."

"Seeing as you're here I'm guessing that means jail wasn't for you." Qrow states with some sarcasm in his voice.

"I won't lie to you, after hearing what the alternative was I almost wanted to reconsider the imprisonment." Raven responds with some irritation in her voice.

"It must've hit you right in the pride in that case." Qrow crosses his arms as he smirks at his sibling.

"Forget that. What was your punishment?" Tai asks in curiosity.

Raven grits her teeth for a moment as she looks away. The other three members look at her waiting for an answer. "I have to look after Summer." Raven states.

"What do you mean?" Tai asks.

Raven looks back towards them and sighs. "It means that I have to wait on our leader hand and foot until her arm is fully healed. Oz said something about how I could 'learn a thing or two from Summer.' as he put it." Raven does air quotes as she paraphrases.

"Ozpin trusts you to look after the person you attacked? Isn't he worried about you hurting her even more?" Tai asks.

"I am not hellbent on harming Summer as you all seem to think. Plus Ozpin kind of threatened me if I did." Raven shivers at the Headmaster's monstrous aura.

"What did he do?" Summer asks this time as she lays up in bed.

"He said that he would personally deal with me. At first I wasn't intimidated by him, but the second he flared his aura I feared for my life." Raven admits. "His aura is so massive it almost feels suffocating being around it. It felt like an ocean had completely drown me out. I didn't even think a person could have that much aura, but I was wrong."

Everyone looked at Raven in fear for a moment. If the most prideful person of their group was this fearful of Ozpin's aura then they imagined they would've been even worse off.

"So when do you start looking after me?" Summer asks innocently.

Raven looks over to her leader with a scowl. "Right now." Raven takes up standing right besides Summer's bed.

"Well then, I'll be sure to make VERY good use of you." Summer smiles almost mischievously towards Raven.

Raven simply sighs in aggravation. These next two months were going to be very long.

to be continued...

Authors Notes: Yay I finally finished another chapter! This one took a little bit of planning I won't lie to you all. I had no idea on how I should show the passage of time between the major fights, but I figured out a way to start showing glimpses of what these four do in between the major fights of the story. Also I would like to say thank you to everyone who has liked, followed, and/or reviewed my story. I really to appreciate it and I do genuinely like to see it as it just makes my day seeing that someone actually took the time out of their day to read my story. I appreciate the support 3. As always what did you all think of this chapter? Let me know in the reviews. I do enjoy reading them. With all of that being said this is Exile Mansion signing off.