*Gasp!* Is that a pun in the title?

Moving on!

...

Ruby watched out the airships window while hopping from one foot to the other nervously.

Patch. She was going back to Patch.

Why was it she'd never considered that?

With Qrow and Ozpin and their enemies, not to mention her actual involvement in all of it she hadn't thought she'd ever have the chance to see her home again.

But here she was, watching as the ship flew over the port town

The place was smaller than she remembered. That might just be because she'd been smaller then, and she was way up high looking down but still.

Yang leaned on the railing beside her and let out a breath.

Ruby looked her way. "Nervous?"

Yang laughed. "A little. The last time I talked to the old guy we were having a fight."

"What about?"

She shrugged. "Dunno, it was something stupid though, it shouldn't have been the last thing we talked about but I guess now it's just making me wonder how he is. This... is gonna be tough. It's probably going to be worse for you though."

"Don't remind me," she groaned. "I don't even know what to say. Should I apologise? Should I act like it didn't happen?"

"Just do whatever comes naturally." Yang advised. "Go with the flow on something like this. There's not much else you can do."

"I guess so."

Just then Weiss walked over. "The town looks to be a rather quaint little place I'm surprised someone like you lived here Yang."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh you know, you're far too loud to live such a peaceful little place like this."

The blonde stuck out her tongue, thus proving the heiresses point. "So where's Blake?"

"Down in the lower levels."

"Where my bike is?"

"I think so; I don't think she likes being around the people on the ship. Especially with how she is now."

Yang winced. "We need to talk to her about that. I know it's still months away but she's going to have to show her face at the Vytal festival. We're gonna be on TV."

"Let her work through it Yang." The Schnee said, looking out the window. "Not everyone can brush off horrific moments like you can. Not to mention the act of hiding your injuries is with a high cut boot and a pair of gloves."

Yang made to say something before a speaker sounded off above them.

"Whelp, that's our cue." Yang said, hoisting a duffel bag over her shoulder as she made her way to the exit. "Just to let you know Weiss, if things go wrong you're my meat shield while i make a run for it."

"Bite me Xiao-Long."

"Sorry, only Blake has that honour."

"Ugh!"

Ruby and Weiss followed, down the stairs as they felt the ship descend and dock into the port.

Blake was waiting for them beside Bumblebee, with a high collar coat that draped down to her ankles. It was far too warm for something like that, but considering it covered her left side completely - for a very obvious reason - none of them commented on it.

Others moved around them, people returning home from Vale and others visiting for the summer. The bay doors opened and they squinted at the light. There was a crowd of people waiting below, looking for friends and family as they departed from the ship.

"You ready?" Yang asked one last time.

Ruby took a breath. "No, but I guess that doesn't matter right now."

They stepped off the airship onto solid land, Weiss and Blake giving them a little bit of space as they did so. Yang was pretty conspicuous as she wheeled Bumblebee down the ramp.

They say him instantly.

A tall man with a clean-shaven face. He was blond, really blond. It was easy to see where Yang got it from. He was tanned, well built and had a tattoo on one arm in the shape of a heart. Taiyang saw his daughter and smiled. Yang felt as if a crushing weight was lifted off her shoulders.

He was happy to see her. What had she even been worrying about? It was her dad, of course he'd be happy, of course he would forgive her.

She gave a little wave with her good arm, no need to pile it all on him at once. He still had to deal with the biggest thing.

Taiyang's eyes fell to the girl beside her.

They widened in shock.

They stopped just a few feet from him now, smiling nervously.

Ruby gave a little wave.

"Uh…H-hi dad."

He engulfed her in a hug instantly.

Yang watched with a serene smile as Ruby's eyes widened, so shocked was she that her dad had embraced her so quickly. He was saying something into her shoulder, as if trying to assure himself this was really. He'd lifted her off the ground and the reapers legs flailed in the air.

Yang barked out a laugh but it was cut off when her dad reached out and pulled her into the hug.

Heh… guess they were starting over again.

This time they'd do it right.

…

…

About an hour later however, things were very different.

The moment was… awkward to say the least.

Yang and Ruby sat on the edge of the cliff, the gravestone of Summer Rose just a few metres to their right. The air was cool and leaves rustled gently in the background

They'd been there for the last five minutes or so, just… silent.

It was Yang who broke that silence.

"So…."

Ruby flinched. "Y-yeah?"

The brawler sighed. "Are we gonna do this or what?"

"We will just let me… let me think." Ruby bit her lip. "I… don't really know where to start. How… how about you ask questions? I'll answer them and we can go on from there."

Yang hummed. That was fair, so she didn't push it. To be honest, Ruby looked like she was doing her best not to run away. She knew this was hard for her sister but after everything they'd been through this conversation needed to happen. The question was, well, what was her first question?

"What's the deal with Ozpin?" she asked eventually.

Ruby turned to her in surprise. "Ozpin? How do you know about him? Who told you?"

"Merlot," she answered truthfully, she had decided she was going to be as honest as possible. At least that way, she could maybe squeeze out all the info possible. "He told me a lot of things. A lot of crazy things. Is it true then? Ozpin was like, the king or something?"

"The First King," Ruby answered. "And the last king, and probably a few hundred in between. He's been hundreds of people, maybe even thousands. You know that story about the seasons?"

"Yeah."

"He's the old man in it."

"Really? So… the Maidens are real?"

She nodded. "They're really real. You met one of them."

Yang blinked. "I have!? When?"

"Amber… she's the Fall maiden, or- half, I don't know it's complicated."

"Sounds like it. "What else is there to know about him then? Ozpin was like, a huntsman prodigy, youngest headmaster and all that. He's pretty strong from what I've heard so he must have a lot of friends right?"

The younger girl scoffed. "Well yeah, that tends to happen when you have thousands of years fighting experience and you founded the schools. He's the one who put the Headmasters in charge of their schools all over. Well… I think. For Mistral at least. Atlas has the General and Vacuo is… Vacuo."

"Right." She nodded. "So how many other people know, about the headmaster I mean?"

"Well I just mentioned a few of them" Ruby sighed. "The headmaster's in the all of the schools for one. Miss Goodwitch knows, then there's Uncle Qrow and Raven."

"…Raven?"

She flinched again, mainly at the tone Yang was using.

It was… flat.

"Yeah… Raven. She used to be a part of his circle, but she turned her back on Ozpin years ago, went rogue for some reason. I've never actually met her but whenever Qrow talks about her he's never happy."

"So," Yang said. "She was in on whatever…this is."

"Yeah… yeah she was. Not anymore though."

The blonde took a breath. No, she needed to stay focused. Don't go off on a tangent about that women, she didn't matter. She didn't!

…There would be more on that later.

But she would know more.

It was a shape, a person in red and black reaching out to her as she fell.

She had to.

"Alright, then I guess onto the obvious question then. Why did you leave?"

Ruby licked her lips. "That's… a hard question to answer."

"We got all day."

Ruby sighed. "Alright then. We need to start at the beginning then, with my mom and how she was involved in all of this as a silver-eyed warrior."

…

…

Cinder was having an… off day

Things had been hectic recently, and she'd been forced to deal with the consequences of…

What Ruby did.

It had been as much as a surprise as it had been an irritation, and as much as it meant Cinder had to fix things there was-

She wanted to say pride, pride in the fact that Ruby had been good enough to stop a threat to the city. She was the hero she always talked about being.

Of course there was still a lot of irritation as she'd mentioned. Nobody knew she'd given away the location of their operations, she wasn't stupid, but even so it had people frothing at the mouth.

It also meant she had to meet with very important clientele.

Unfortunately since Watts hadn't flown back to his nest yet it meant he'd decided to come along.

She wanted to kill him.

He grated on her nerves worse than anything she'd ever experienced before. And he enjoyed it. he found her anger musing, how he pointed out her failure to complete the maiden transfer, her failure to find competent associates in the form of the White Fang and oh was she about to get to that but worse of all he pulled at the string that was her ego in the face of the disaster that had been the dance infiltration.

Cinder was many things, and she knew she wasn't perfect, for someone like her, with her upbringing there weren't many people who could be considered perfect. But she was insistent that she was skilled. That she was clever and cunning even more than she was powerful.

And to listen to him goad her constantly about being uncovered was irritating.

She suppressed a sigh though. It would be fine, she could bear with it if only for the fact that she knew he would not undermine her in front of their associates.

Or, no, he would, it would just be subtle.

But he wouldn't damage her reputation with them. Doing so would risk their cooperation, which would risk the mission.

And that would bring Salem's ire.

Cinder suppressed a shiver at the thought. She'd never seen her Mistress more than vaguely annoyed, but even then, it felt like she was being crushed by something invisible.

No, now wasn't the time to distract herself with that, she needed to focus on the task at hand. Speaking of which:

Cinder's eyes roamed up and down as she approached the meeting point.

It was… a cathedral, on the outskirts of the city. A strange thing in itself considering the general consensus of the population. Religion was something that had disappeared under the rule of the council, and moreover Ozpin.

Religion beckoned a belief in things people couldn't see; it spoke of things closer to magic than the man was happy with.

It begot superstitions and mythology and legends.

Because of that, things like faith and superstitions were more common in frontier towns and villages far away from the city.

You couldn't erase it entirely however, no matter your influence, and so relics of the past like this place stayed around in dedication to some old god people didn't even remember the name of.

Cinder could make out faded incisions on the floors and walls… an old Valean pantheon depicting nomadic deities travelling the continent.

It was quaint if Cider was to search for a word. It was also big and empty.

The half-maiden made her way up along the middle, taking a seat on the third pew from the front. Emerald and Mercury to the one behind. She hummed.

Those two were another issue.

She wasn't sure what to make of them now, not really.

They were… more animated than they had been previously, bolder.

It had been arrogance at the start, mostly form mercury thanks to Watt's casual disregard for her. She'd reprimanded that quickly enough though and made sure they respected her power. Now though, things were different. They hadn't gone completely back to the way they were.

Perhaps they saw her as more human than before, speaking to someone as an equal of sorts.

Emerald was still loyal to a fault and Mercury was still smart enough to realise his best bet was with her, but they were more relaxed around her in normal situations.

"So, what's this supposed to be anyway?" The silver-haired teen asked as he leaned back and hoisting his feet up in a way that probably disrespected whatever god this place was dedicated to. She should probably warn him that such things as deities still technically existed and might come back to bite him later.

"If you mean what we're doing here it's just a simple meeting. Ideally at least, which is why you will keep quiet. Am I clear?"

He sighed. "Yes ma'am."

Emerald shot him a glare for his flippancy, but Cinder knew he would do as he was told, he wasn't stupid.

He was an idiot, but he wasn't stupid.

There was a distinction there; Qrow had proven that long ago by being the bloody drunk that he was.

Before she could begin reminiscing on such things like the past the doors creaked open again. To her left and right the side doors opened too, for the two individuals that couldn't be seen entering a place like this.

And so Roman Torchwick, Arthur Watts, Adam Taurus and Cinder Fall sat down to have a little chat.

The Faunus looked around slowly. He wore less conspicuous clothes than his regular black coat, and with his mask absent he'd gone with dark shades to cover his face. The man didn't actually sit. In fact he liked around the building with disdain. No doubt he was critical of the fact that humans had built this place.

Of course he didn't know that one of the deities worshipped in the Valean pantheon was created by Faunus. Such things were lost, and even if they weren't she doubted he would be educated in such things.

Adam had always struck her as simple in that.

Not a brute, not dull or stupid, but one track minded and simple in his goals.

He cared about nothing but them.

And maybe perhaps the loyalty of his men. She wasn't entirely sure, but apparently there had been a massive uproar when one member in particular had run away.

Still, she'd offered her aid in finding them as an incentive for his cooperation after all.

Roman sat a few rows away from them all, eyes sharp as they flickered between them. he looked like he was alone, but Cinder was sure his little pet psycho was around somewhere and ready to fight if the need arose.

He didn't look happy to be there, which was Cinder could perhaps understand. what sane man wanted to be around terrorists and people who wanted to bring down Vale?

Watts was the last to sit down, just across the stands from her. When he did he hummed loudly.

"What a curious situation we find ourselves in don't you think? The operation you've been planning for months was upset by four little girls."

The thief grumbled something under his breath at that and the maiden frowned. They all new Qrow Branwen had been there too, but it seemed Watts didn't care about that little tidbit.

"It doesn't matter now," she said. "Right now what matters in finding a way to carry out the plan."

Torchwick scoffed. "Yeah well we can't even do that. The breach wasn't supposed to happen until the Vytal Festival, and even the contingency plan relied on the train hitting the city early. Ironwoods tin cans have pulled out of the city thanks to those girls. Even if we somehow get control of them they're not much use."

"My Black Queen virus will take care of that," the doctor informed them. "Once that is done they can still be pointed in the right direction."

Cinder blinked. Was there some other plan she wasn't aware of?

He went on. "All you'll need to do is unleash then through the city. The Huntsman will be forced to abandon the school in order to protect the civilians."

Roman baulked. "You want me to start executing civs? Are you serious?"

"Is that disobedience I hear?"

He grit his teeth but didn't say anything more. His eyes flickered to Cinder for a moment before moving away. She narrowed her eyes.

He knew something. Something he wasn't saying in front of them. Something about her.

"Why am I here?" the Faunus finally grunted. "This is scheming between you humans, I need to take no part in this."

Watts rolled his eyes. "You are here because you need to understand who is in charge now. Our Mistress has appointed me as the leader of this plan after Cinder's recent failure. "

…what?!

"As such you are to speak to me regarding anything to do with the attack."

"So I am to listen to you human? I don't think you understand my position here." the terrorist growled, grabbing the hilt of his sword. "I have no interest in listening to a madman, much less someone like you. My only interest is my own goals."

Cinder forced herself not to slap her own face. Good gods he blathered about his 'goals' and his 'cause' every time she spoke to him. If he wasn't so useful for controlling the White Fang she'd burn him to a crisp.

No, she still might do that when this was done.

The doctor didn't look phased. "Someone like me? You wouldn't happen to be referring to my status as an Atlesian scientist are you?"

Adam's eyes narrowed. "I am. I also distinctly remember hearing that you were exiled from Atlas after they caught you performing illegal practices. Funny to see a rejected man like you here isn't it?"

Cinder hid her pleasure at the way Watt's arrogant smile slipped from his face. Maybe she wouldn't kill Adam after all, perhaps just cripple him.

"Regardless," the doctor went on. "I am the one on control now, and the plan is changing. Since your White Fang will now be the main force in dealing with Beacon as I'm sure you'll love, you are to collect more Grimm for the attack. The caverns in Mountain Glenn that recently opened should give you ample opportunity for that… and one more thing."

Watts turned to Cinder and smiled nastily.

"I've decided to call in some associates of ours. You might like him Taurus, he's a perfect example of your species. "

Before Cinder could even wonder what he meant-

Mad laughter echoed through the cathedral.

The Scorpion had been summoned to Vale.

…

…

Yang swallowed loudly. Her face was… numb. Ruby was still sat beside her, but she was looking at her nervously, as if afraid of what she was going to say.

"That's…" Yang hesitated. "So, gods… gods are real."

"Yeah… there are a lot of creatures people used to assume were deities because of how powerful they were, but the brothers are the main ones, the real gods. In fact they-"

"Shit Ruby just, just stop for a sec." Yang pulled her legs into her chest and gripped her head. "This is all, this is too much. All this time I thought you'd left because Qrow decided he wanted a daughter or you ran away or you hated me or, or… fucking shit!"

Ruby flinched and she felt even worse for it. Now wasn't the time to get made, she needed to focus.

"You were being hunted down." She whispered. "You were being chased by people who wanted you dead and here I was feeling sorry for myself."

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it though?"

"No!" Ruby barked sharply, startling her a little. "No it's not true at all. Don't you get it? I… I had to leave so that you wouldn't be hurt. I thought that if I kept it a secret you wouldn't get involved in all of this."

She looked at Yang's arm and sighed. "That was obviously a waste of time."

She trailed off, and Yang didn't have a clue how she was supposed to continue. Ozpin was a goddamn immortal wizard, Ruby was part of a secret society fighting against the literal Queen of Grimm and the woman she'd called mom for years had died in that fight.

Ruby glanced her way and as if she had heard her thoughts she sighed and looked over towards the grave.

"Sometimes… I wonder what it would have been like to have more than just a few vague memories of mom." She bit her lip hesitantly. "What was she like?"

Yang swallowed. How was she supposed to answer that? Summer had been the one who raised her but for Ruby she was like this… story, that was what happened when your mother wasn't there for most of your life.

Maybe Yang was lucky. Sure, Summer hadn't been her biological mother, but that hadn't mattered. She'd loved her all the same.

"Mom was… well she was awesome. Every second she was with us she was awesome. She was smart and funny and always smiling. Like, I mean always, even when I did something stupid like set fire to the garden she wouldn't get mad."

"You set fire to the garden?"

"My semblance had just started working gimme a break. Do you know how hard it is to play outside when your hair lights itself on fire?"

Ruby laughed at that. "Guess I don't, must have been tough."

"It was," Yang nodded with a laugh of her own. "But Mom never got mad. It was like… she knew I could do better, it was her whole approach to parenting, but it was surreal, like she'd never expected to be a parent."

"That's because she didn't."

"Huh?"

The younger girl looked over the cliff. "Mom was a warrior, a hero. Uncle Qrow always talked about how she was set on saving people all people. She wanted to save the world. She was a huntress before anything else and apparently she didn't have much of a social life outside her team. She raised you and… well whatever happened with dad meant that."

She sighed. "I was an accident. Plain and simple. Mom was the last silver-eyed warrior… and now I am. I guess that when she had me things changed. Not enough though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well she's dead isn't she?"

"R-Ruby…"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I know. I know it's stupid of me and… I know it's not right but sometimes I think that… it's her fault. She was my mom. She was supposed to be there for me. She was supposed to raise me but instead she went on a dangerous mission that got her killed and-"

Her voice cracked painfully. Ruby blinked away the tears she hadn't even realised where there. She tried to pull up her head but Yang got there first.

She shut her eyes and leaned into her big sister's hug.

"It's not fair!" she cried. "She cared more about being a hero when she should have been my mom. I-I looked up to her sure but I wouldn't have cared what she did as long as she'd just been there but she wasn't! And then- and then I was left to pick up where she left off!"

She nails dug down hard into her hands. "I wanted to be a huntress. That's it. I wanted to help people. Not this, not fighting a war against evil."

Yang closed her eyes as Ruby broke off into even more sobbing.

Crap… Ruby was dealing with this all by herself. She was supposed to be the big sister, the one Ruby could talk to when things were bad. Right now she felt pretty bad at her job. Who could she have talked to, Qrow? Goodwitch? Ozpin? Everybody was wrapped up in all this craziness and not once did they stop to ask if the fifteen-year-old girl they were putting so much on could hold up to it all.

Not even once.

It was decided, right here and now, she wasn't going to make the same mistake they'd made. She was going to be what she was supposed to be.

Family.

She laid a hand on to pf Ruby's head and stroked her head comfortingly. It took a few minutes before she stopped crying again, but that was fine, Yang didn't care if her clothes were stained with a few tears.

Eventually though, Ruby found the steadiness to speak again.

"So what happens now, with you?"

"What do you mean?"

Ruby sniffed. "Back at the mountain, Merlot gave you something didn't he?"

"Yeah… he did." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the flash drive. After a moment of thought she pulled out her scroll as well and plugged the stick in. before her eyes hundred of pages flickered onto the small screen.

"What is it?"

"His research," the blonde answered. "Every single little scrap of info he was able to find in his entire life in on this."

Yang licked her lips in thought. "And I think I know what I'm going to do with it."

"What do you mean?"

Yang gazed down at her hand. "Oobleck isn't just a Huntsman right? He's a historian. I bet there are other people who take on another career complimentin' what they do. I think I could be like that. A researcher."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He told me he'd barely scratched the surface but if its even half as amazin' as what he already told me then I wanna know as much as I can. I want to finish what he started."

Ruby looked away from a moment as if deciding something big.

"Then maybe I can help. Right here right now."

Yang blinked. "What do you mean?"

The younger girl shot her a tiny grin. "Trust me okay?"

"Obviously."

Suddenly Ruby blushed and scratched her cheek. "We kinda need to uh, hold hands first."

Yang laughed. "What are you getting so embarrassed about? We just hugged."

"Well yeah but holding hands is different!"

"How?"

"Ugh, nevermind, let's just do it. And make sure to cross your legs."

"What, are we meditating?"

"Yes actually."

Yang blinked. Uh, okay, meditation it was then. How was this supposed to help her with anything? Was it some metal thing? Lie, if she cleared her head she'd find answers quicker?

She let Ruby lead her as they turned to sit across each other. Ruby closed her eyes and Yang copied her.

"So what now."

"Just… give me a second. I need to concentrate. To do this I need to give you the key."

"What like a key for a door?"

"Kind of, but it's a mental thing."

"How does that wor-"

She froze. There in her mind the image of a key appeared. Except it felt like it was right in front of her face. It was as if it was really there, and… it didn't actually look like a key. Shure there was the vague shape but it was bigger. Or was it smaller? She couldn't really get a feel for scale.

Ruby's voice whispered in her ear.

"Reach out and take it Yang, and open your eyes."

So she did, reaching out with her mind and grasping the key. There was a flash behind her eyelids, so bright she forced to open them.

…

What?

WHAT?!

What was this!? How did something like this even exist?!

They were all around her: book, tomes, scrolls and everything in between. They were stack on shelves upon shelves. Hundreds of thousands, no, more. She looked up and gapped. It went op and up, around and around. There was a white light at the top, not a ceiling. it was as if it went up so high cloud had formed. But that wasn't possible. Clouds couldn't form indoors.

But these ones did!

Millions. There were millions of books. And levels upon levels of floors to reach them all.

"Welcome," Ruby smirked. "To the Odyssium."

Yang's head snapped to her sister, who sat on a mahogany table.

There were tables! Dozens laid out in neat order on the ground level, as if for people to sit together and read.

When Yang managed to form sentences again all she could say was; "What's going on here? What is this place?"

Ruby hummed. "It's a library. The library. Everything you could ever know about magic is here. not just every story, ever version of that story, every opinion every interpretation and every analysis of a story is on these shelves. Every moment in history is archived here from a thousand different perspectives and every bit of knowledge from the scholars that used to oversee this place I on these shelves."

She grinned wider. "It's like the god's library. You said you wanted to continue his research? This is the best place you could start."

Yang looked up again, turning around and around as she did so. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"I do." Ruby said, tossing her a leather bound book with golden encrusted edges.

Yang caught it easily and looked down at the cover. "What's this?"

"It's a fairy tale," she said. "It's called Goldilocks. It's about you."

Yang looked up at her sister in surprise before looking down again. She sat down at one of the tables…

And opened the book.

…

…

Weiss and Blake thanked Mr Xiao-Long as he offered them something to drink. The three of them were sat at the kitchen table after the man had asked to know a few things about how his daughters were getting on at Beacon. Said daughters had said they were visiting their mother's grave.

Weiss could accept that was all well and good.

Except that had been three hours ago.

"Thank you for this." Blake said quietly, a cup of team steaming in her hands. Weiss had gone for coffee when offered the choice, but the man had been accommodating to both of them.

"It's no problem." he smiled. "This is a great opportunity if you don't mind me saying, getting to know my daughter's partners. You might be able to tell me some things about what they've been up to. Sad to say I haven't gotten much from Yang all year."

Blake winced at that. "Yes, she realised she hadn't spoken to you just last week. With everything that's been going on it slipped her mind. She didn't mean it in a bad way I promise."

"Ah I know." Mr Xiao-Long laughed. "Yang's not a bad girl, I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it. But I was a little worried. Yang's the kind to hold a grudge."

"Truly?" Weiss blinked. "I didn't realise."

"That just means you haven't done anything to make her angry." He laughed. "I know she always seems mad, especially with her attitude but it's a little different to what you'd expect."

Blake tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

The man hummed. "Well, you've probably seen Yang fight right?" they nodded so he continued. "That's what I call 'hot-headed' Yang. She's loud, brash and angry, but it's not all that scary. Unless you're actually an opponent she's in the middle of fighting she's harmless all bark and no bit if you know what I mean."

He blinked. "That wasn't offensive was it? I'm sorry, I haven't had the chance to speak to many Faunus recently."

"No," Blake laughed. "Don't worry, metaphors are completely fine."

"Right, anyway, as I said that's the first kind of anger. The second is a lot more dangerous."

"Well what is it?" The heiress pressed.

Mr Xiao-Long leaned back in his chair. "I'm not really sure how to explain it. it's like… Well, the first type of anger she got from me. I'll admit I was reckless when I was young, but for as loud as I was my teammates all knew it was just me blowing off steam. The second kind she developed from her mother."

The monochrome pair shared a look. The father caught it. "So she mentioned Raven then?"

"A… a little." Weiss admitted. "We don't know much about her detail wise, other than the fact she left when Yang was very young."

"Hm," he nodded. "Three months to be specific but that's… well, it's not what we're talking about. The point is, when Raven was mad it was… savage. Almost animalistic. Her and Qrow were a lot alike in that. Their anger was violent. They'd beat and brutalise whoever it was that sparked their temper, save for a few obviously. It was always really, really scary."

"It sounds like it." Blake agreed.

The blond man shrugged. "To be honest I can't really blame them, it was their environment, the way they grew up."

"What do you mean?" the Faunus asked.

"To put it plainly, the two of them were bandits."

The teens startled, staring at the man wide-eyed. He laughed at their expressions.

"Yep, Yang already knows the story, and if Ruby was with Qrow all this time she probably knows too, but he and Raven were born in Mistral as part of a feared bandit tribe. It still exists, nomadic and dangerous to any town or village that they cross. The two of them joined for the expressed desire of learning how to kill Huntsman."

Weiss sucked in a sharp breath. "Kill them? Why?!"

"Because their tribe was a band of thieves and killers, and because Huntsmen were a threat to them. Obviously I didn't find out right away, but around our third year the two of them confessed. By then though we were a proper team, closer than anybody else. Things… things had changed."

Blake frowned. "How?" she asked. "How do two people raised by criminals with the purpose of killing Huntsman that might be their classmates change that much?"

Taiyang's next smile was… melancholy.

"Easy; they meet Summer Rose."

They shared another look. Weiss spoke up first this time. "Summer Rose was Ruby's mother correct?"

"That's right."

"So… who… who was she? What was she like?"

"That's… complicated." He gave them an apologetic smile. "Maybe another time. For now, how about we get you two set up in your rooms. You brought luggage with you right?"

The man stood up. "We might as well get you ready now before it gets late. Come on."

With that he made his way past them and out of the room.

"Well." Blake said. "He seems… a lot nicer than I thought he would be… but he didn't even look at my left side."

"With everything that's happened he's probably still focused on Yang's new additions and the reappearance of Ruby. Besides, he's an experienced Huntsman, from our experiences they all seem a little odd. He probably noticed but chose not to mention it yet."

"Right… I guess we should follow him then."

"We should," Weiss agreed. "I have an objective this summer, collect all of the most embarrassing stories and photos from Yang's childhood."

"Uh, why?"

"Blackmail of course!"

"Truly, the Schnee's are terrifying business tycoons."

…

…

Ruby allowed herself a light chuckle as she returned to Yang's table. They were still inside the Odyssium, but she'd chosen to give her older sister a little space to read as she looked towards the last bit of the 'tour' she had to get through.

The blonde was still enamoured in the books, but at her side was a pile-up of maybe ten or twelve already.

Huh… Yang was a quick study then.

And the book in her hands was…

"Enjoying yourself?"

Yang jumped a little in surprise. She hadn't even noticed her then. Heh, cute. She grinned a second later.

"Hel yeah. Look at all this stuff. Look at us! I read about all of us! You, Weiss and team JNPR. I mean, their stories are kinda lot cooler than ours but ya know, still!"

"Yeah…" Ruby hummed, sitting atop the table. "It is pretty cool… so… what about the one you're reading? Beuty and the beast?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it's about Blake right? The girl's name is even Bella, how crazy is that? And she likes books."

"There are a few similarities yes. That happens when you're a-"

"Yeah but get this! The other character is the beast who she falls in love with-"

"Which versions have you read?"

Yang blinked and checked the pages again, flipping back a little to make sure.

"Uh… Universal, classical and the… how is the pronounced, 'Beautmont's La Belle at La Bête'. The Universal is the best one I think, the one with the golden dress and the talking furniture."

Ruby hummed. "Yeah that is the favourite one. Bits and pieces are taken from the others and kind of mashed together with it in reality though. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Oh, right. The story says she's with this beast character. That's like, totally me."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I mean, he even gives her the gold dress and that's like, my colour scheme."

"Could be."

"What you think I'm wrong?"

The younger girl shrugged. "No, I think your right, but not for that reason. You understand that you're Goldilocks right?"

"I-I guess so. Does that mean it can't be me?"

"Eh… it's hard to explain." Ruby said with a shaky hand motion. "It's uh… like a crossover thing. You get it? Characters can be a part of multiple stories at once."

"Does that change anything?"

"I don't think so. It's not like there's a study for this but there's no innate difference from being an Avatar of one or two stories. "

Yang nodded slowly. "Kay… so how do you think it's related to me then?"

"References mostly, things you have in common with the beast. Anger issues for one."

"Hey!"

"But I think it also links with me. You know where?"

Yang looked down at the book for a moment before blinking.

"Holy shit. The magic Rose."

"Yep, the rose. That's how you and I are connected in the story. Things like that you have to watch out for though. Like if you're the beast then who's Gaston?"

Yang thought for a moment. "I dunno… Blake has an ex, does that count?"

"It could," Ruby allowed. "Or it could be completely unrelated. If Blake's love life was related entirely to the book that would be a problem."

"Why?"

"Because Gaston is in the business of killing the beast and I don't think you're getting any resurrections."

There was a pause where Yang bit her lip.

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"It's nothing. Or, well it is but it's weird."

"Well just say it."

"Okay, so you know when you figured you Blake and I were dating?"

"You mean a few days ago?" Ruby flushed. "Where I embarrassed myself by showing how little I paid attention?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Well, when sad yeah you looked… like, upset, worried. Is there a problem with us dating?"

It was Ruby's turn to bite her lip. "No, Yes, maybe? I don't know it's just… wait here a second."

Ruby jumped off the table and sped away to the upper levels of the library and sped back in record time. When she stopped she tossed another book at Yang.

The blonde blinked. "What is it?"

"The story of Saint Martha and the Golden Legend. She tames a monster that was terrorising a town."

"Oh cool, I'm Saint Martha?"

"No, you're the monster. It's called Tarasque."

"Which is…?"

Ruby sighed. "Basically a weird sort of hybrid which classifies as a dragon on the loosest terms imaginable."

"And that's me because?"

Ruby shot her a look as if to ask if she was serious.

"Uh, your last name has dragon in it? Not to mention it's a mish-mash of different things, which, hey, with that arm and leg you totally are now and I don't know, the literal dragon heart you have in your chest!"

"…Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Anyway, Saint Marth tames the dragon and brings it back to the town, only for it to be slaughtered. I wouldn't really bring this up except there's a really key reference to in Beauty and the Beast. The quote goes something like 'Twas beauty that killed the beast'."

Yang frowned. "You think Blake's going to kill me?"

"Or get you killed." Ruby nodded, but when the frown on her sister's face didn't disappear she sighed. "I trust Blake, but she's involved the White Fang a lot. It might just be a case of you protecting her but if you do and it gets you killed…"

"Okay I get it." Yang said, standing up a little as she made a placating gesture with her hands. "But come on Ruby, you don't need to worry about that. I'm not stupid enough to just rush into some place that's gonna get me killed. Come on, this is cool! If I'm in the same story as Blake as her love interest is that that awesome?"

Ruby didn't look happy. "Yang. What are the benefits of being an Avatar?"

She blinked at the sudden change in topic but answered anyway, listing off what Ruby had told her about an hour ago when she'd explained them.

"There's the innate skills and talents they pick up, some kind of awakening that's really rare, and they can't be controlled by the relics, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, do you want to know the weaknesses? The really crippling one? Free will."

"… What?"

Ruby gave a frustrated sigh. "Avatars are templates for stories Yang. Things that have been written out and already decided. All throughout history their actions are already a big part controlled by what they do in the actual stories. Hel, sometimes it's even their likes and dislikes. Like lo and behold, Blake likes reading just like Bella."

"But that's just a coincidence right?"

"Considering things like semblances, those things that are supposed to be manifestations of our souls and feels are based off our Avatars, I don't think so. Sun's the perfect example. When you have a chance look up his story. Clones like that are a dead giveaway even before the name. I mean come on! He was named the exact same thing."

Yang looked at her sister nervously. "So what are… what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we're cursed. Regular people get to go about their lives and make their own decisions. They might not be big, sometimes they are, but they're theirs. Us? Our lives are dictated by storybooks. They might tell us whether we're going to die or not, how, when. It's not up to us. We can't be controlled by the relics sure, but only we don't have free will anyway to lose in the first place."

Ruby grit her teeth. "It means that you might die, if you go down the path of this fairy tale, no, you almost definitely will."

Yang gave Ruby a long, searching look. "What do you think about it then?"

The reaper blinked. "Huh?"

"I said what do you think? About Avatars not having a choice?"

Ruby though for a moment, before a look of determination crossed her face.

"I think it's bullshit." She answered honestly. "I refuse to let something else tell me that I have this plan already set out for me. I refuse to believe in destiny, because it means everything bad that's ever happened to us was meant to happen. It means mom was meant to die."

Her hand slammed down on the table. "I refuse. I refuse all of it!"

There was more to it than that, both of them knew that, because either way Summer Rose had died. She'd either been trapped on a path towards death, or she'd truly had freedom and died anyway. both were crap.

Yang nodded. "Then I do too. Screw destiny then. If that's the case then we'll live our lives the way we want to. I won't die, and you'll get a happy ending you hear?"

She laughed. "Yeah… yeah I hear."

Her big sister grinned, setting the book down. "So… It's probably getting late since we've been here a while. Not that I can tell. Was there anything else you wanted to show me here?"

Ruby hummed. "There is one thing actually. Follow me."

Yang did so, taking a step away from the table and letting Ruby lead her up a spiralling staircase at the back of the Odyssium.

It… led all the way up into the white beyond.

Yang didn't feel tired, but by the time they stopped they must have walked up a hundred floors. Was there no fatigue here? Were these even their real bodies?

She might have asked.

If it wasn't for the massive door before them.

It was huge. Like, the size of a house huge. A pristine white Marble with golden encrusted sides and spiralling encrustments of the same material. In the centre where the doors met was an indent. It was the shape of a sphere, about the size of her head.

"What is this thing?"

"Technically? I have no clue." Ruby admitted. "I've never actually been through there. It could have anything in there, more fairy tales, the truths about Remnant of maybe just an empty room."

"Why can't we go in?"

"Because it needs a key. A key in the form of the Relic of Knowledge."

"You mean…"

Ruby nodded. "Yep. There are two things the section of the Odyssium we're in doesn't have. One, it doesn't have Fairy tales that originate from this world. The Maidens, The Man with Two Souls, The Girl in the Tower. Those are all tales from this world, but aren't stored in this place for some reason. The second, is that since it's a library, it's an archive, a documentation of stories and facts. It doesn't show things from the future. It can't in any way reveal what might happen in the the outside world that hasn't happened yet. How ever this place was created, I think it needed people to run it."

Yang's eyes were locked in the door as Ruby spoke. "Behind that though? I don't know. It was built with the Relic in mind. So it's either for the Gods themselves, or whoever they think are 'worthy'."

Yang frowned. "Doesn't Ozpin have the Relics though? Couldn't he just use them to open the doors?"

"I wondered about that." Ruby mused aloud. "But then you have to think that if he has access to all four Relics, why doesn't he just wish for a way to beat Salem?"

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't really know." She admitted. "But I have a theory to do with his Avatar."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Anything in particular?"

"Only a quote; Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

…

…

By the time the two sisters arrived back home the sun had gone down.

When the two of them entered the living room, Weiss and Blake sat on the couch, looking relatively relaxed as the heiress listened to the news.

There was still a hubbub about the activity at Mountain Glenn. Several different news networks were talking about it in detail, the White Fang there and how Ozpin had managed to convince the council to hire Huntsman to bolster security at the Vytal Festival.

The Heiress turned when she heard them come in. "Oh finally, I was beginning to wonder where you two had gotten off to."

Yang managed to look apologetic about it as she scratched her head. "Yeah, sorry about that," she grinned. "We kind of lost track of time." She stopped and took a sniff of the air.

Weiss blinked and even Blake looked surprised at the blonde as she took a sniff of the air herself. what, was Yang's sense of smell better than Blake's now? Since when?

"Oh great, Dad's been cooking!"

As if summoned Taiyang's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Girls, dinners ready!"

"Dinner?" Weiss asked. She got up along with Blake as Yang strode into the other room followed closely behind by Ruby.

The Schnee wasn't sure what she was expecting, but a delicious, steaming roast wasn't it. The table was set out for five, with Yang and Ruby's father having the seat at the dead of the table already set out for himself as he busily laid out the rest.

"Oh let me help you with that!" Ruby offered, quickly taking two of the plates herself.

There was a brief pause that passed between father and daughter. Everything was good, it was fine now, but eventually they would have to talk about what had happened.

The girl nodded and went back to setting the table.

Weiss continued to stare. "What is all this?"

"Huh?" Yang smiled in confusion. "What's it look like? It's dinner."

"Where we all eat together?"

The other girls froze, as did the Father. Weiss realised she must have said something wrong, but before she could defend herself a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her.

"This is my daughter now." Taiyang proclaimed. "I will take care of her now."

Ruby giggled as the heiress flushed.

After that, there was a whole good-natured feeling as Team RWBY sat down to eat, simply enjoying the good food and better company.

It was truly relaxed.

There was a bark.

Taiyang looked up from the table. "Oh! There you are Zwei."

Blake yelped and fell out of her chair.

...

...

It's time to relax guys, time for all the members of Team RWBY to relax after fighting terrorists and facing near-death experiences.

Of course, the villains aren't going to wait around for them to be ready, they have their own plans in motion.

I'm introducing Tyrian into the mix earlier for a few reasons that I won't mention yet, but I do wonder who the new villain will be. In case you don't know, RT announced there would be a new bad-guy in Volume 6. Apparently people would find out early from their card game but who knows.

Well, as I said, it's time for a little relaxing, but don't expect it to last too long. Summers a long time, and they'll need to get back to work sooner rather than later.

What did you think of this chapter by the way? Did you like it? Or did you hate it. Let me know what you think.

And hey, if you feel like it, Be sure to stick around by Following, Favouriting and Reviewing.

Bye!

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