It was a normal day for team RWBY, Ruby herself was hanging of the side of her bed while reading a 'normal girl magazine'. Weiss, like the straight A student she is, was finishing up a history report that they had only been assigned the day before.
Blake predictably was buried in a book while having build a nest out of pillows and blankets around herself and Yang was laying in her bed while lazily scrolling on her skroll, occasionally snickering.
Imagine their surprise then when a gust of wind suddenly passed thru their room even though neither the door nor the window were open. It started of as a calm breeze but gained their full attention when it suddenly started to intensify, throwing around papers and clothes.
Weiss having been of in her own world was beginning to accuse the others of inappropriate dust usage when the winds concentrated into a oval in the middle of their roof, now being at the power where pillows, books and nearly a bed were flying around when suddenly it exploded outwards in a wave of rose petals all the while a distant ''oooohhhh ssshhIT!'' Grew ever closer.
The profanity ended with a dark blur dropping from the middle of the kayoss and meeting the floor at a high speed.
Their belongings and the rose petals dropped around the room as team RWBY stood staring at their sudden guest in the middle of their room covered in a black cloak.
A whimpering ''ow'' was exclaimed as their visitor sat up with their back to the girls seemingly not yet having noticed their presence.
The woman, for if not the voice then the hands currently darting over her body gave away the gender, softly spoke to themself ''okay! nothing broken'' as she got to her feet and started to look around ''that's good, now i just-'' she cut herself of when she finally noticed that she was, in fakt, not alone.
Weiss, like the responsible girl she was, was standing closer to a pile of things, many of which could be used as an improvised weapon though she was making no hostile move.
Blake was by the foot of her bed still holding onto her book by the bottom of its spine while not so surprisingly giving the woman a narrowed glare.
Normally Yang would be the one to crack a silence such as this with one of her self proclaimed hilarious jokes were it not for one thing, when getting up the woman's black hood had fallen back, revealing a head of long and unkempt dark hair. The hair however was not what kept her so quiet but the similarity this woman's face carried to a certain someone.
As one could guess with that context, Ruby was the one most affected by the surprise visit, her eyes were as large as they physically could be with tears threatening to start pouring, her trembling lips slowly opened and she managed to force out a shaky ''m-Mom?''
The woman promptly fell over.
She slowly came too with a migraine somewhere between the level of ''got trampled by a Goliath'' and ''a Branwen worthy night out''. She reached out to her sides checking for any 'guests' but when no one was found she gathered the energy to sit up and rub her eyes sore.
She heard a polite ''here'' from her left and reaching out rewarded her with a cold glass of water that might as well have been a gift from the gods right now. She muttered a thanks as she greedily gulped it down, halfway trough she found the energy to open her eyes… and nearly choked to death.
Weiss immediately came to her aid, roughly patting her on the back to help but she barely paid half a mind to it as the other half went wild.
One coughing fit later she sat up properly and just stared at the dead woman walking for a good minute.
''huh, looks like dear old dad has some competition now!'' someone said which drew her attention to the other side of the room where another not-so-alive woman sat, her Flesh arms crossed on top of the backrest of the chair and her legs splayed out to its sides.
Deciding to let the crazy be for now she looked around and found even more in the form of Blake properly sitting on a chair by the other side of the door and what she swore was a younger version of herself on the bed next to her.
She looked between all four of them again before she started to quietly chuckle, a short while later she took a moment to catch her breath before finally 'breaking the ice'
''wow, i knew those '10 years younger' creams did wonders but i never thought that they could bring people back from the dead''
All was quiet except for Yang who was snickering, seemingly being offended by the blank stares her team gave her she tried to defend herself ''What? it was good!'' she said while gesturing wildly between Rose and the room.
Weiss gave a tired sigh while she massaged the brim of her nose ''only your family would be so crass about seemingly beating death, Xiao Long''
It took a second for the statement to sink in before she decided to throw herself back into the spotlight ''um, i think that you actually have got things the wrong way around there''
An awkward silence followed until she decided to take the matter into her own hands and start to sort things thru ''well i believe some re-introductions are in order, hi my name is Ruby Rose and last time i checked all of you were dead''
- Ozi-boy! -
Ozpin was brought out of his thoughts when the elevator pinged, indicating that someone was on their way up to his office.
Normally he would have to give clearance for that with the exception of holders of certain codes and key cards to bypass it albeit not many, Turning on the video feed however only brought confusion as all it showed was a person of average height covered from head to toe by a black cloak and hood, the only things on display outside of it were some straps, pouches and a noticeable bump by the back of the hip under the cloak.
With a light frown Ozpin gripped his cane behind his desk as the doors opened and his guest stepped through, their face covered in shadows as they calmly walked to the center of the room.
''i must say that this is quite the surprise, not many are entrusted with free access here and certainly not people i do not know'' he took a moment to stare at them but they made no move, his frown depend and he was about to start again when the cloak parted.
A pair of slender arms covered in a dark, tight material came out and reached up to the hood, an all to familiar yet impossible face met his intense stare with pools of molten silver.
He tightened his grip on his cane to the point that it sounded like clenching leather, with bated breath he forced out the only thing that came to his mind ''Summer'' it was more so presented as an accusation than a question.
A small smile crept itself upon the woman's lips as she placed a finger on her cheek ''not quite professor, but close!'' she announced in a cheery tone before she pulled something out of a pouch on her right bicep and threw it onto his desk.
He took a moment to look deep into her eyes before shifting his gase to read over what seemed to be a Hunter license, he took a moment, then another.
After a short while of trying to discern if it was a fake Ozpin picked up the card and handed it over to the still smiling woman, he then sat back with new calm.
''with all due respect, miss Rose, this is not something that i can simply accept without more proof''
Instead of the usual stiffening or eye roll that he would get from varying kinds of hunters the response the girl brought was... not one he was accustomed to
''You got it Ozma! would you like me to go and fetch Jinn to confirm it or would that be too much of a waste?'' she asked with an innocent tilt of the head as if she had just asked if he wanted milk with his coffee.
A cold silence followed for a moment as her smirk intensified ''i'll take that as a no, then what would you like me to do? i could do a DNA test, tell you more of your super secret secrets or simply~'' she followed up the end of the sentence by spinning on one leg and suddenly turning into a cloud of rose petals that dashed around his office before reforming where she had previously stood while Ozpin tried his best to not show his surprise.
At that note the elevator chimed its tune, the doors opened and out came Glynda reading through a few documents ''Sir, there seems to have been a order placed on a large quantity of vacuoen coffee beans-'' her words trailed of as her eyes locked onto their guest who was animatedly waving at her ''High Glynda! nice to see you're still alive!''
Glynda promptly fell over.
To say that Qrow was in a bad mood would be an understatement, he had been out on an underground mission to find information on Amber's attackers and as soon as he got close to what seemed like a lead Ozpin called him back.
With the nature of his work everything had to be heavily covered in secrecy and shadows so any messages that he received would be both short and heavily encrypted.
Now imagine his surprise when he is called back for a 'seasonal problem with the roses'.
He had read over that message more times than he could count and every time his gut twisted even more. Why you ask? because the last time he got a message related to 'the roses' was with the news of Summer's death.
Impatiently tapping his foot against the elevator floor he tried to stare a hole thru the floor counter with tense arms crossed. It felt like an eternity had passed before the doors finally opened up to the complexly, if poorly if you asked him, designed office of his old friend.
''Spill it Oz, i'm not exactly in the mood for your game-'' his voice cut of as his eyes locked onto a form that should not have possibly been there, to the right of Glynda and Ozpin stood someone that any other person would mistake for his old teammate. Not he, however, for he had spent years around her and could easily spot the differences.
This one had a slightly sterner face, eyes that were just a bit sharper, a taller frame than Summer ever had and what he presumed to be a weapon under her cloak that was bigger than anything that Summer could use, logic however was not driving him at the moment and the similarities left him frozen to the spot.
''oh bummer, i was sure he was going to faint to'' the woman said with fake disappointment while her connected hands fidgeted.
An awkward silence filled the room as Ozpin seemed content to let things play out, Glynda for once not knowing what to do and Qrow trying to find an explanation for the anomaly at hand.
The girl gave a tired sigh as she slowly but alarmingly eagerly walked up to him, he had half a mind to prepare for an attack before he got enveloped by a soft hug.
A long moment went by before he awkwardly reciprocated the hug and patted the girl on the back, they stayed like that until she suddenly pulled him closer and buried her face in his chest ''It's good to have you back dad'' she whispered.
Ozpin spat out his coffee.
Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose and then threw a soft glare to the older Ruby that was attached to his right arm. Glynda had finally managed to get her mouth shut and Ozpin had his poker face back on ''a very touching reunion Miss Rose, now would you be willing to share your findings with us?''.
Judging by the irritated look matched with the small smile on Glynda's face his… daughter had been unwilling to tell mutch before he got here.
She vigorously nodded before letting him go and clearing her throat
''sooooo, Amber's attackers made a move during the Vytal festival, they took over Ironwood's forces and then had them and the White fangs Vale branch led by Adam Taurus attack beacon, there were a lot of casualties and deaths during its fall''
she took a pause to breathe before locking eyes with Ozpin ''your plan to transfer the maidenhood from Amber to Pyrrha Nikos was interrupted by Cinder fall, the half-Maiden turned whole-maiden who then killed you and later Pyrrha''
She paused for everything to sink in, Glynda looked horrified, Qrow looked sufficiently surprised and Ozpin's eyes were wide open.
She gave a sad smile ''don't get too comfortable, things only get worse from there, during our, that is me, the remains of team Juniper and later Qrow and your next reincarnations impromptu adventure we discover that Lionheart is a traitor, Raven is the spring maiden, i used one of Jinn's questions on 'what is Ozpin hiding from us?' the answer of which nearly turned us all against you and we all, now including my team, nearly die to a hoard of apathy''