"Momma! Mom! Moms!" A black and blue blur trailing flurries of snow sped into large log cabin in the middle of a clearing of a forest on the small island west of Vale called Patch, seeming to disappear and reappear along her path. It wasn't guaranteed that either of her aforementioned mothers were home, both being huntresses they often left for jobs, but there was always someone at the house. Be it one or both of her aunts, her grandpa, her uncle, or any three of her surrogate uncles and aunt, someone would be there along with at least a message saying that they had left.
As it turned out, not only were both of her moms home, but also her two aunts and their daughter. All of team RWBY was together, her favourite cousin Anheiga "Anh" Xiao Long with them.
"Oh, hey Theia! We were just planning a get together to celebrate Anhie's acceptance into Beacon!" Yang threw an arm around her youngest daughter. "Ali said she wouldn't be able to make it-"
"But that's okay, cause you're a better baby sister than Ali is a big sister." Anh interrupted, and truthfully, it wasn't that far off base. Her sister, Ali Belladonna, was five years her senior and had usually been far more interested chasing boys than spending time with her little sister growing up. Her mother Blake always blamed her momma Yang for that part. Now especially though, Ali was usually around. She was a licensed huntress now, after all. She had contracts to take and Grimm to hunt. Anh had always wanted the relationship that her momma had with Aunt Ruby though, so the wild haired cat faunus had decided to treat Theia like she had wished Ali would have treated her.
"Theia Penny Rose! What have I told you about using your semblance in the house? I swear, you and your momma are two peas in a speed manic pod!" Theia's mom, Weiss, shouted as the young brunette attempted to catch her breath.
"Mom! Mom! I... I'm going early like momma... I got into Beacon!" She said between breaths. The four women that formed team RWBY, even after all of these years, exchanged looks of worry covered with shock as Anh laughed excitedly with her younger cousin.
Something wasn't right. However, they were mothers now, so they couldn't let their children know that.
"That's so great baby girl! That's so exciting, you get to go to Beacon with Anh, like me and Rubbles!" Yang exclaimed excitedly. It wasn't completely faked either, she was happy that her daughter wouldn't be alone, and that Theia wouldn't be alone either. She just wished that it didn't mean something bad.
"Weissy! Our baby is going to Beacon! What are we gonna do?! We're too young to be empty nesters!" Ruby shouted. No matter the implications of the occurrence, she can't help but be proud of her youngest, so she decided that she might as well lighten the mood as well as congratulate her. If something was coming then they were going to need all of the beautiful memories that they could make.
"You dolt, she's still 17, she still lives with us. Though… I am going to miss having her around," Weiss started, "if only to keep you busy so that I can work."
"Ah geez mom, I can feel the love…" Theia pouted, so easily resembling her other mother through her shaggy black-red hair and excitable nature.
"Yes, well, I do hope that you can, because I do love you with all of my heart, my lovely girl." The CEO's icy blue eyes melted as she looked upon her daughter and gave her a soft smile. The mother pulled her daughter in for a hug and the rest of the family present joined in.
"A celebration for two it is!" Blake said, smiling contentedly. They'd figure this all out later.
—
The tightly and forever bonded team RWBY walked brought the doors of the rebuilt Beacon tower into the Headmaster's office. The four of them had decided that it would be best to come all together- after all, whatever was happening would also inevitably involve Blake and Yang's daughter as well as Ruby and Weiss'.
As they strode into the room they were met with Oscar Pine's steepled fingers and expectant eyes- and what strange eyes they were. The once youthful and vibrant hazel eyes now held the aged and weathered look that was once held by Professor Ozpin, that look which identified him as the ancient warrior Ozma.
Despite all of young Oscar's fears and reservations about becoming Ozma, the integration and transition was inevitable. Eventually, unable to stop it, the wearied young boy gave in and ceased attempting to stall or stop the process.
"You raised the age of entrance to 20 for a reason Oscar! Why is my child entering at 17?!" Weiss shouted at the man, unable to help herself- even with all of the conditioning she went through in her youth. A mother's hot temper cannot be contained when their child is in danger, after all, not even behind Weiss' admittedly formidable walls of ice.
"Oz, what's happening? You wouldn't be accepting our kid early unless something big was happening." Ruby asked, calmer than her wife. The Rose had aged and matured finely, holding the same pure innocence of her youth, that which drew Ozpin to her in the first place, while also gaining the even temperedness required of a leader. Required of a wartime leader especially.
"Ah, well... when you defeated Salem it had unforeseen consequences. All of the magic inside of her found itself suddenly without a vessel. I didn't realise... it had to go somewhere, I thought that it would just disperse into the world." Oscar- Ozma, had been dealing with the formidable women long enough to know to get straight to the point. There was no use evading, no use keeping secrets. Eventually, the determined team would dig those secrets out of their holes and catch him as he fled. Or perhaps he had finally learned to trust others with the impending doom of the world.
"But it didn't?"
"No, Mrs. Belladonna. It all found new vessels in ancient Grimm, long in slumber. I have received many reports- Grimm that we thought had long gone extinct suddenly popping up, killing. We didn't understand, their behaviour was so far from normal Grimm behaviour that we didn't think that they were. But there's no mistaking it, they are Grimm, and they are very dangerous. More so than regular ancient Grimm, by far, even if it were only for the fact that we do not yet understand their behavioural patterns." Oscar Pine's voice spike Ozma's words. RWBY may have accepted the loss of their little Oscar, but that didn't make them any less sad to see it so obviously. For every now and then, little bits of their young friend would shine through, giving them small little glimpses of their old friend, but never for very long.
"And you think that these Grimm are being awakened by Salem's magic?" Blake spoke.
"That is our working theory, yes. Many have displayed abilities to control other Grimm, creating a type of hive mind. There has been evidence of magic similar to the Maidens, but we have not seen any of the Grimm using these powers firsthand."
"But why are our kids being pulled into this, Oscar? Why aren't we being pulled to fight?" Yang's voice carried all of the same youthful temper that she carried as a teen, while also being contained by the aged realism that came with time and experience.
"You are. But the fact is that, just as it was last time with your parents before you, we need all hands available to be on deck. I have learned from last time that I need to have my allies more informed, that is why I am telling you four. The price of being informed, however, is knowing the danger that your children will need to face. For that I am sorry, but this is how it must be."
"Listen here Oz, I don't care what's happened in the past, how much you've helped us, how well you've protected humanity through the centuries, I will kill you so brutally that you will feel it well into the life of your next incarnation, which I will give the same treatment, if a single hair on my baby's wild mane is hurt!"
"That, Mrs. Xiao Long, I do not doubt. That is why I want to train them, to have them here at my school, so that they will be ready."
"Ready like we were?" Ruby spoke, eyes glazed with the loss and sadness of the war's past.
"Mrs. Rose..."
"Our kids are not going to be on the front lines, do you hear me Oscar!"
"Weiss... we'll do what we can to keep them from having to fight but... if we fail, and they aren't ready? Weiss, they have to be ready." Ruby attempted to reason with her wife's temper.
Yang looks up, eyes burning a crimson red, and gives one last threatening look to Oscar before storming out of his office, busting down the door in the process.
"You're right Ruby, you've always been a good leader. Let her blow off some steam. I'll talk to her after."
Blake walks out, Weiss walking with her, hands fisted at her sides shaking. Ruby turns to look Oscar in the eyes, marvelling at how strange it is to look upon the man that that small farmhand kid had been when they first met had turned into what amounted to an approximation of Ozpin himself.
"Don't mistake this, Oscar, I don't like this. We did it your way last time and the Fall happened. Penny, Pyrrha, so many others... we do it our way this time. Or we don't do it at all."
"Of course, Mrs. Rose."