During his years as a professor at Beacon Academy, Bart had grown rather used to hearing abnormal sounds from the student halls and other various popular hangouts during the late evening. It was far from uncommon to hear shouting, crashes and even the occasional explosion, after all, a school filled with glorified child-soldiers at the peak of their hormone-filled growth was bound to be a least a little rowdy. Luckily, he had not had many encounters with accidentally catching students in 'the act', something he was incredibly grateful for, but, otherwise, he thought he had seen just about everything else that could conceivably happen within these halls.

Fights were common, and honestly, a day without any sort of physical scrapping between the students was far rarer than one might think. Drugs were a similar story, most of the other professors thought the students were mostly clean, but he recognised the signs, he had seen them too many times growing up to forget them. For the most part, he left said students alone but made sure to drop a subtle hint if he thought their usage of such a vice got too far out of hand.

Of course, not everything was undesirable, it was just as common for a few teams to band together and hold weekend parties or competitions. However, he was 'unaware' of those due to them being prohibited on school grounds. He saw no reason to spoil their fun, they only got to be young once, and he severely doubted they did anything akin to the escapades he was forced to embark on during his youth.

Regardless, ignoring the motive and morality of their deeds, nowhere in the halls was ever silent; sound dropping between floors and through walls all too easily. So, it was incredibly off-putting to wander the top floor with only the faint sounds of chatter a few floors below to accompany him on his otherwise silent walk. For the most part, the halls had been just as lively as he had expected the first day to be, but as he drew closer to the room his oldest nieces had been assigned it grew eerily quiet.

It was as if the surrounding students had all unanimously agreed to spend time somewhere, anywhere, else. All the professor could hear as he strolled the long hall and passed the final door before his destination, was two voices growing progressively louder, as if trying to drown the other out. He sighed to himself as he drew close; dreading the next thirty minutes or so of the mess he found himself plum in the centre of.

Slowly, Bart raised a hand to knock on the door, only to pause as it suddenly swung open, revealing a rather distressed looking Miltia. Truly, his heart went out to the poor girl; imprisoned in her own mind and likely suffering from a migraine, the likes of which he dare not fathom. Many times, in recent years, had they tried to dampen the effects of Melanie's semblance on her twin, but so far nothing had made any noticeable difference.

His eldest niece looked up at him, a mixture of panic and relief culminating across her features. Before he could react, she lurched forward and tightly hugged his torso, taking him entirely by surprise. It was then he realised the shouting match had stopped and, by extension, it was likely her shared mental space with her twin had quietened, momentarily at least. He had never been good at returning physical affection but tried his best by returning the embrace, albeit probably a little too sheepishly to be considered comforting.

He spared a glance around the room that had been revealed to him, not at all surprised to see a chair almost sliced in twain and thrown haphazardly against the far wall. However, he was not prepared to be suddenly barraged by Weiss and Melanie, both shouting simultaneously as if unaware the other was also talking and that he could barely make out either of them over the other.

Eventually, they seemed to take notice and their shouting became increasingly incoherent as they turned back to each other and resumed their fighting, causing Miltia to tense up slightly against his chest.

"Girls…" his words were drowned beneath their bickering. "Girls…" again they ignored him. He swallowed thickly, trying to muster more authority into his voice. "I think you should…" Once more he was cut off as Melanie shoved Weiss slightly, the princess stumbling back before returning with one of her own. A faint whine came from Miltia. Bart's face soured. "GIRLS!"

The room plummeted into sudden silence as the historian barked the single word, clearing his throat afterwards trying to hide how unnatural the tone and volume he had used felt to him. Once he saw both his niece and the princess, along with the rest of the room, were giving him their undivided attention, he allowed his shoulders to sag slightly and continued speaking with a tired sigh.

"Please, remain calm and I shall explain everything shortly." He looked mainly towards Weiss, Blake and Neopolitan as he spoke but did offer a sympathetic glance towards his nieces. The girls all silently nodded their understanding before he made to continue. "Good, now, if you would all please follow me; it would be easier to explain everything to everyone at once." With his piece said he gently guided Miltia down the corridor as the girl managed to slowly pull herself back together. Bart noted the five sets of steps following just behind them as they walked and turned to observe over his shoulder.

Weiss was barely more than a step behind him, clearly eager to get to the bottom of what was going on, her brow angrily furrowed and heels loudly clicking against the wooden floor. Luckily, Melanie had pulled further back rather than continuing her bout with the Atlesian and instead was quietly talking to herself beside Ilia and Neo.

The professor huffed a heavy breath as he beheld the younger twin. She would feel terrible later; hating herself for the pain she unwittingly caused her sister, but at the moment, she was currently more concerned with everything else. He wished he could blame her, but in truth, he couldn't feasibly understand what it was like for either twin to share a mental link as they did. It was easier to sympathise with Miltia, but it wasn't only her that was affected. Melanie would never cause her sister harm and as such tried her hardest not to overuse her semblance when she was worked up. However, she had expressed how hard doing so actually was; a semblance was an extension of oneself, almost like another limb, something that came naturally and reflexively.

It was Melanie's reflex to share her thoughts with her twin, to use that bond and convey her feelings. Ignoring that reflex was far harder than one might think. The girl herself had described it as akin to resisting to curl up after getting punched in the stomach, it went against instinct and sometimes, even when trained relentlessly, it was just too difficult.

Bart pulled his gaze towards the rest of the group; Neo was following quietly, seemingly a little nervous but otherwise without issue. Ilia was beside her, walking as if nothing had happened; taking in the scenery curiously before casting her own judgemental looks around the group. She caught his eyes for a moment, eventually offering a small, sad smile before returning to her inspection. He considered it odd for a moment; her nonplussed nature seeming out of place as was her sudden closeness to Neo, but his fatigue suddenly caught up to him, a faint buzzing in the back of his skull threatening to get worse. Thinking later, just do what we have to and get some sleep before tomorrow.

Finally, he looked to Blake. Of all the girls on his nieces' teams, he knew the least about her. Weiss had been a high-profile applicant, one he doubted the academy would turn down even if she hadn't scored as well as she had and Neo had been one of two applicants who were applying early, the other being Ruby. Blake, however, had turned up from seemingly nowhere; with phenomenal skill, intelligence, and enough money to pay Beacon's rather impressive fees in full. When asked if she had a guardian or place of residence for billing information, she had simply told them to bill her directly and leave it at that. Most interestingly though, was her reason for applying through 'special exceptions'.

Legally speaking, she did not exist.

When asked to present her birth certificate and passport at the initial interview she had claimed to not have either, instead offering her own document with all of the aforementioned information written out concisely. Of course, initially, he and his colleagues had been hesitant and pushed for reasoning as to why she could not present the required legal documents. However, she simply stated that either they did not exist, or she could not get them.

This had led to a weeklong debate between the staff as to whether or not they could allow such an unknown into the school and their theorising as to why she was in such a situation. Ideas such as parental abuse, immigration and even potential terrorism were thrown around before eventually, they decided she could enter if she made it in through the 'special exceptions' tests.

Bart himself had his own reservations about the girl in question and he would be lying if he claimed he did not want to use his semblance on her. He recognized the way she carried herself, cautious and observing but slightly afraid, she had fought a lot in her time, but that left the question… Why?

He let his ponderings fade, thoughts for later perhaps; his current predicament and priority was explaining everything to his nieces' teams. Instead of continuing to worry, he turned the corner and led the group towards his office which lay at the opposite end of the corridor. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could relax… or call in a favour from the king if things went poorly and spend the rest of the week being strangled by this headache of an incident. No rest for the weary.

Finally, they reached his office and opening the door he gestured for the girls to step in before him. The professor expected the fighting to begin anew as the Atlesian princess wasted no time in strutting into the room but was pleasantly surprised when she simply stood opposite from a rather exhausted looking Ruby and settled for glaring at the rest of them impatiently. From there they filed in without complaint, Melanie and Miltia rushing to their youngest sister and checking her for injury with Penny sat beside them, happily swinging her legs from atop a table. He began to tune into what was being said as he calmly closed the door behind him, trying to buy himself as much time as he could to gather his thoughts.

"Would you two stop fussing over me?! I'm not a kid anymore." Ruby groaned; her words slightly muffled as the twins smothered her with a joint hug. Bart tried to hide his smirk as Melanie looked down incredulously at her sister.

"Ruby, you lost your shit in the middle of the auditorium, you haven't had a problem in months, what were we supposed to think?!" Ruby simply huffed to herself, pushing her sisters off.

"It's fine, I've never hurt anybody. I…" She was cut off as Miltia spoke up.

"We couldn't give less of a shit whether anybody else got hurt; we were worried about you!" Bart winced at her declaration, clearly not a winning remark for Weiss as he watched her grit her teeth at them. He decided it was time to step in.

"Perhaps it would be best if we started off with an explanation before things get too far out of hand and we say things that could prove detrimental in our goal." He levelled his gaze at the twins before they could say anything else. Eventually, the pair nodded, and he turned to Weiss who looked close to exploding but luckily managed to control herself.

"I will give you exactly 5 minutes to explain what is going on before I call my father and the Valean royal family." The princess held up her phone, displaying a private number, and held her thumb over the call symbol for emphasis. Bart silently agreed with a small incline of his head but paused for a moment before letting out a low chuckle. Weiss did not appear amused. "What is it you find funny at this moment." The historian simply stood up straight raising his hands slightly in mock surrender.

"Nothing Miss Schnee, it's just that, perhaps, if you had done so, this whole process could, potentially, have been expedited." He paused, catching something. "Well, maybe informing your father would be problematic, but otherwise, not entirely harmful." Slowly, it seemed that Weiss put together what he was hinting at.

"I have said it once and I will say it again, you can't honestly expect me to believe you?" Bart simply shared a confused look, luckily, she did not stop there. "Professor I will afford you the amount of respect you deserve as a member of beacon staff and my elder, but do not for a moment think I will allow you to take me for a fool. If she really was related to the Branwens, why have I never seen her before? Why was I not told she would be attending this academy in my class? Why does she call these… these…" she gestures vaguely towards the twins and Ilia "rogues her sisters?! Not to mention, who sired her?!" She made to continue before she was suddenly cut off.

"Qrow." All heads turned suddenly towards Ruby as the single word halted the princess' tirade. "Qrow is my father". The Atlesian looked at her incredulously once she recovered from the shock. "I didn't actually meet him until recently, we wanted to keep it quiet for a bit, so I could… adjust. It's just… so much has happened so quickly and I needed time." For a long moment, Weiss simply stared at Ruby before she adopted a more curious gaze.

"How do you expect me to believe you when my sister is to marry Prince Qrow soon and nowhere in that marriage contract did the Branwens mention a bastard child?" Weiss stared in challenge as she waited for someone to answer her, the temperature dropping noticeably as she did so. Ruby huffed a sad laugh; this question she could answer, though she was not fond of said answer.

"They didn't know I existed either, until a few days ago that is." Ruby looked up to notice the whole room's attention was firmly on her before taking a deep breath and continuing. "My mom and Qrow had a mostly secret relationship, she was his bodyguard by trade, as ridiculous as that seems, but when nobody was looking, they were lovers." Her mind flashed with the few scraps of memory Bart had managed to recover of her mother, nothing more than blurry figures and the odd sound, but enough to cause a cold sadness to set in. Weiss seemed enraptured enough to patiently wait for Ruby to continue and finish.

"We aren't sure what happened to her; one day she didn't show up to her duty as a guard and seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Presumably, I was born a few months later." Ruby felt a comforting hand rest on her shoulder from Melanie but kept her focus on the Princess as she waited for a response.

Weiss, to her credit, seemed to genuinely ponder the slightly taller girl's response, her eyes flickering from side to side as if reading some invisible text. Eventually, the Atlesian straightened her posture and regained her stony gaze towards Ruby.

"And what became of you? Forgive me for potentially being crass, but for me to believe that a woman managed to avoid the detection of the Branwens, whilst pregnant no less, is simply delusional." Ruby noticed Weiss' thumb twitch slightly over the screen of her phone. "This also does not explain to me how you were in possession of a Grimm and then managed to hide it from notice for your entire life? Branwen's have the genetic capacity to play host to a Grimm, but to obtain one at all, regardless of compatibility, without their help would be nigh impossible." Ruby's already glum look fell further.

"We don't know the answer to that one yet I'm afraid. We realised my powers when I was first adopted." She gestured to her sisters and Bart with a forlorn smile. "We don't know what happened to my mom, how I ended up where I was, or even who, or potentially what, she even was. We were hoping to find out with the help of the Branwens, but we only contacted them a few days ago." Weiss looked at her sceptically, her face screwed into a questioning frown.

"I'm sorry; did you say 'what'?" The princess' hand loosened, and her fingers drifted from her phone's screen, seemingly intrigued. Ruby swallowed thickly, running her eyes over each member of the room before delivering her answer.

"Like I said, we're not sure where I got my Grimm from, but we have found evidence that points to a potential answer." She paused to make sure Weiss was fully listening, the Atlesian simply made a circular gesture with her hand to prompt a continuation. "I… may have been… born with it, a part of it… or rather… it's a part of me." Weiss huffed a disbelieving laugh. "I know it sounds crazy but…"

"I've heard quite enough. First, you would have me believe that you were a Branwen, something I could have perhaps believed due to your appearance and my lack of enthusiasm when dealing with them may have allowed a single family member to escape my notice. Then, you would attempt to convince me you were the daughter of Crown Prince Qrow himself, and I will admit that your storytelling was at least compelling." Weiss' voice reached a volume nearing on shouting as she slowly began to inch back towards anger, a dull thud repeating itself in her head. "But I draw the line at you attempting to persuade me that you are in fact not even entirely human beyond that of a regular Branwen and…"

Weiss was suddenly caught off guard as the phone in her hand began to rhythmically vibrate, signalling someone had called her. The princess took a moment after checking the caller ID, leaving everyone in the room in an awkward state of trepidation. That is everyone, except two people. Penny leaned over to whisper in Ruby's ear.

"One-hundred and seventy-five." Ruby simply furrowed her brow in confusion before she managed to piece together the indirect meaning of Penny's words. Quickly she looked over to her uncle who offered a thumbs up whilst stealthily pocketing his phone. Eventually, Weiss decided to accept the call.

"Winter? Now may not be the best…" she stopped herself as she listened to the device. "No… I…" Weiss finally seemed to realise she had an audience and turned to face the wall, hushing her voice to the best of her ability, though it did little with there being little to no other noise in the room. "You can't be serious… Of course, I'm listening but…" Weiss seemed to jump, as faint gibberish could be heard as the other member of the call raised their voice before she eventually straightened her shoulders and swallowed thickly. "N…No ma'am, b…but… Yes ma'am, I understand." There was a long silence as the Princess visibly deflated whilst listening to her conversation partner. "Of course… I look forward to seeing you…good day sister."

Weiss waited for her sister to hang up before taking in a large breath, still facing the wall, hiding her expression from the room, and leaving them all to wait in pregnant anticipation. Suddenly, she turned on her heels until she faced Ruby directly and bowed her head slightly.

"Lady Branwen, I apologise for my earlier rudeness, such actions were improper and presumptuous of me. I pray you can forgive me for insulting you and yours; I was unaware of your attendance to this establishment and assumed the worst." Ruby, along with everyone else, simply stared in soundless awe at stunned by the princess' sudden change in attitude. Luckily, Weiss wasn't finished. "As partial atonement for any affront to your honour my elder sister and I would like to personally extend an invitation for afternoon lunch this coming weekend on Saturday." The Atlesian looked up expectantly, awaiting an answer.

Ruby had hardly registered what the girl had said before she received a brief nudge on the shoulder, snapping her out of her surprised induced stupor.

"Oh… uh… yeah totally, uh… I mean, I would be… honoured to attend?" Ruby made a show of clearing her throat in an attempt to hide the bumbling mess she offered up as a reply, expecting Weiss to latch onto her lack of sophistication. Instead, the royal nodded before rising back to her previous perfected posture and a suspiciously warm smile.

"Most excellent. Now, if you would excuse me, I have a living space to set up now that I have access to it; I would prefer not to sleep on my luggage." Swiftly the girl spun on her heels and made to open the door and leave, only to be stopped as Melanie lurched forward, placing a hand roughly on her shoulder. Weiss' head immediately turned and levelled a venomous glare towards the twin. "Is there something I've missed?" Her words sounded as though they were spoken through grinding teeth despite her clear and polite oration. Melanie simply sneered back.

"Yeah, there is. How do we know you aren't going to just snitch to daddy the moment you step out that door?" There was an underlying threat in her tone, though Weiss never rose to it, seemingly committing to maintaining her air of nobility and simply keeping her gaze in place.

"I'm afraid Lady Branwen is just going to have to trust my word, from one princess to another." A slight smirk appeared on her lips though it was nigh invisible to all but Melanie who stood in her face. The twin huffed a laugh.

"Yeah, no, listen here, I'm gonna…" The younger twin moved to raise her voice and challenge the princess only to be cut off by an unexpected source.

"Melanie!" The girl in question looked behind her to see Ruby glaring daggers at her and she couldn't help but slightly lift her hand from Weiss' shoulder. Seeing the action, Ruby let out a tired breath. "I think we've all had enough arguing for one day. I think Weiss has the right idea; let's all retire for the night and sleep on it." Ruby's gaze was stern and immutable eventually prompting Melanie to slowly nod and allow the Atlesian princess to leave.

Moments after the door closed Bart seized the initiative and spoke.

"I think it would be best if everyone went to bed tonight, I have no doubt that tomorrow will be exhausting for all of you, perhaps more so than the other students." He received a set of staccato nods before he turns to Ruby. "Ruby if we could perhaps talk a moment whilst the others get a slight head start on their evenings?" He looked pointedly at his other nieces to show the last part was not up for debate and they slowly filed out.

After half a minute the door closed a second time and the faint sound of steps faded into the distant hallways. Finally, he met his youngest niece's eyes.

"Are you feeling alright?" He was met with a slow nod though it was clear she was pondering her answer and not even entirely sure herself. Still, he played along. "Good, well, as long as you're sure…" Her nodding continued as she stared off into space clearly losing herself in some sort of mental spiral. "Ruby?" the girl started suddenly.

"Wha? Oh… um yeah, I'm fine." She gave an attempt at a bright smile, but it lacked the usual enthusiasm. Bart sadly nodded along, knowing she was likely too overwhelmed and tired to talk about it now.

"Okay. Well, I just wanted to check; you know you can always come to me if something's amiss right?" His eyebrows rose slightly expectantly as he spoke. Ruby simply kept up her façade and smiled back.

"Of course." Bart couldn't help but slump slightly at the reply though he hid his doubt as best he could.

"Good, well, get some rest. Glynda will not tolerate you being late tomorrow and we both know that dragon is best left unfaced." He tried lightening the mood with a jab at the deputy headmistress, but his niece seemed trapped in her thoughts again as she simply nodded and left through his office door bidding him goodnight as she did so.

He doubted any of them would get a good night's sleep, the news of today eating at all of them in separate ways. He prayed mostly that they at least would be functional tomorrow; hopefully, there wouldn't be too many issues within the team as they competed against their far more normal opposition. At least, he had managed to convince Winter to, temporarily at least, subdue her younger sister and save them the endless argument between Weiss and Melanie.

A playful smirk broke across his face as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Perhaps he could ask her what she had said and maybe find out what that 'ma'am' business was about.

AN: As always thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and feedback and criticism are appreciated. I know I'm not the most consistent when it comes to updating but hopefully now that we're actually at Beacon and the story can progress more I will be more enthusiastic to write; I have a lot of things I want to write about in this story, a lot of scenes planned out and ready, but of course, I have to write what's in between those and that can be a little less exciting for me when I have all these ideas and plans swimming around in my head.

-Tabaxi