So, I'm still at my event and this has been written in advance. By this point I'll have two new stories out – Unseen Hunt, a supernatural adventure story, and Dating What Daddy Hates – a short Sun x Weiss romance fic.

I did log on remotely to add this quick note; I got a lot of people asking why no Headmaster Arc and why I got their hopes up for it but didn't provide. I'd like to remind that I always said Headmaster Arc will come out once White Sheep ends and will be the one to replace this. That has not changed.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 85

Pyrrha glanced over to Mannie, Jaune's Beowolf, who was acting oddly. The giant creature had ignored her for the last few minutes, instead perching by the room's sole window, its large paws on the windowsill as it stared out into the abyss outside.

"What's wrong, Mannie?" she asked. While she'd been disturbed by the creature at first, she couldn't quite consider it a danger anymore. She just convinced herself it was a big dog, giant teeth, claws and bone-armour plates notwithstanding.

Mannie made a snuffling sound and fell from the window, rushed up to her, licked her face – or her entire head, really, since his tongue was so big – and ran back to the window, hopping up to rest on it and stick his snout outside.

Huh. That was weird.

With a shrug, Pyrrha reached back under the pillow and brought out a little book, opening what was definitely not Jaune's weakly-hidden diary, and started to read once more. She crooned a moment later at an adorable story about Jaune having nightmares and snuggling with Big Sis Cinder.

All the while, Mannie stared at something on the horizon and wagged his tail happily.

/-/

"Are you sure I can't come with you?"

"No, Qrow. You need to go off and be the distraction."

"Are you sure you can't come with me?" Qrow asked desperately. "You know, for moral support?"

"Good luck, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby called, waving as Kevin took off again.

Yang wiped a fake tear from one eye. "There goes the bravest man alive."

"Not that I don't agree," Sun said, "But was it really necessary to drop us off this far from the tower? It's going to take hours for us to get there on foot." As expected, they all turned to him for an answer.

"Salem can sense and see through Grimm in her immediate surroundings," Jaune explained. "Grimm flying on the outskirts of the Grimmlands isn't a big deal, but once Kevin starts to get close to the tower, she'll be alerted. If she sees us, everything will be for nothing. But if she only sees Coral and Qrow, she'll be curious and focus on them."

"Giving us a window of time to sneak into the tower and find Pyrrha," Weiss realised. "I see. We really are relying on him to distract your mother. I hope he's up to the task."

"Hey, Uncle Qrow can do anything."

"Stories from my sister suggest otherwise."

Blake stepped in before it could get worse. "Right, before this descends into a `my family member can beat up yours` debate, we need to get moving. As Sun says, it's going to take a few hours for us to reach the tower on foot and I'm guessing we need to stay hidden while we do it." Blake looked to Jaune as she said that. He nodded back.

"As best we can. It won't be as much a deal once Qrow arrives because she'll hopefully be too distracted to pay attention to anything going on outside. But it doesn't hurt to be careful." Left unsaid was how difficult it would be for a party of their size. It would have been hard enough with just their two teams making seven, but they now had Emerald, Sun and Ilia along for the right, bringing them up to ten. "Well, we'd best get started. There's no telling how much time Qrow will buy us, but he'll reach the tower a good three hours before we do."

Luckily, knowing his mother, she'd be far too enthralled to notice what was going on outside in that time. Jaune led the group forward, though he need not have. Navigation wasn't exactly difficult with the tower sticking out of the landscape and pointing the way like the needle on a compass. The harder part was keeping it in view in the rocky and downright treacherous terrain of the Grimmlands. He'd flown over it to reach Vale and doing it on foot now reminded him of just how rocky it was.

Up, down, and sometimes around spires that were just too dangerous to try and scale, they picked their way through the blasted landscape, avoiding geysers that spat hot, and slightly acidic, liquid up into the air. That the Grimm paid no attention to them was their only mercy. With no vegetation in sight and the air hot and clammy, their skin was soon covered in sweat.

An hour in, the decision was made to eat what they needed and dump the remainder of the supplies except for water and one final snack. "There's food in the tower and no way back to the mainland," Jaune explained. "Not much point weighing ourselves down."

"Way to make the mood lighter," Ren said.

"It's only the truth," Ilia added. "Not much point complaining about it."

With their packs lighter, the going became at least a little easier. As Jaune picked his way at the head of the column around a spiny expanse of purple rock, he idly listened in on the conversation between Yang and Ruby behind him.

"Just sayin' it's not what I expected, Rubes."

"What did you expect?"

"I dunno. More death. Bones, skeletons, a field of bodies. That kind of thing."

"It is pretty desolate out here."

"Yeah, but not in an unnatural kind of way. It's just geysers and mountains."

"Which are purple…"

"Okay. I'll give you that."

"It's not the rocks that are purple," Jaune called, surprising them.

"It's not? What is it, then?"

"It's the crystals." Jaune passed by one and rapped a finger against one of the tall, crystalline structures. Rather than chime, it made a loud clink followed by a light hum. "They're denser the closer you get to the tower and they cast purple light on everything."

"Cast or distort the sunlight?" Ren asked.

"Distort, I guess. They don't light up or anything. They're everywhere, though. Sprout right up out of the ground like they're trying to escape Remnant's crust or something. It's only one or two right now, but you'll see huge clusters when we get close."

It didn't take long for them to see what he meant. The crystals began to sprout up in small patches at first, and then huge gardens of the stuff. It looked like they grew together, and some even grew from other crystals like some form of coral. Yang made to touch one and did so when Jaune didn't warn her against it.

"It's warm. Almost like it's alive." Yang grimaced and jerked her hand back. "Please tell me they're not."

"No. The heat just comes from underground."

"Creepy."

"What are they?" Weiss asked, inspecting one.

With a shrug, Jaune answered. "It's dust."

"What!?" Weiss recoiled. "Impossible! Dust doesn't look like this!"

"The dust everyone uses is refined-"

"You're talking to Weiss Schnee," his partner drawled. "I know how dust refining works. But even when it's in its solid form, they're little more than small chunks buried underground. They're more like veins than crystals. My father has the biggest ever found in his office and it's barely any bigger than my fist. These are huge!"

"I'm not sure on the specifics, Weiss, but it is dust. How do you think we earn the money needed to buy Bullheads, food or other things? It's not like Salem can head down to the bank and take out a loan. I've seen it refined and work as dust."

"B-But the size of it, and the fact it's above ground. Dust deposits are only ever found like this after excavating, when some is revealed by being dug out."

"Maybe this is what happens if it's not mined up." Ruby said.

Weiss shook her head. "The SDC can't find every deposit in Remnant and if that were true, we'd see outcrops like this all over the place. The whole problem with dust is how hard it is to find and excavate."

"It grows a lot faster here," Jaune said.

"Grows? Dust doesn't grow, Jaune. It forms over hundreds of years, or so we think. It's caused underground by pressure building up, converting certain minerals into others, which releases energy that can't go anywhere and instead gets stored inside of the dust."

"Is that fact, or theory?"

"Well… it's theory," Weiss allowed.

"And if it were true, this couldn't form," Jaune said, tapping another crystal. "Or continue to grow above ground. I've personally seen the crust split and a crystal come forth."

"P-Perhaps pressure underground forced it up?"

"If so, they wouldn't grow more and more spines, or grow in size."

Weiss had no answer and remained silent. She eyed the dust crystals nervously, however, moving a little closer to Emerald and away from the closest outcrop.

"Are you saying it's alive?" Ren asked.

"I'm not sure. The growth might be build-up of other things, so it's not necessarily a living thing. But more of them can form and they do so here fairly often. Mom has Grimm go around destroying them, pruning the dust, she says. Otherwise, it can creep up on the tower."

"And now I'm doubly creeped out," Yang said, holding her arms. "Fair warning, if I turn around and the dust crystals have moved in behind me, I'm screaming." So said, Yang spun on her heel. To her relief, nothing had happened. The crystals were still there, but not sentient enough to close in on them like something out of a horror movie.

"Idiocy aside, I can't decide if this is disturbing or not," Weiss said. "It contradicts all that we know about dust, which I'll freely admit isn't much, but still… Is it that it grows at an advanced pace here? Is it a geographical phenomenon or something worse?"

"No idea," Jaune said. "But I didn't see anything like it in Vale."

"You wouldn't. I've never even hard of outcrops like this."

"Then it stands to reason it's limited to here," Ren said. "The question is, why? And could it be related to the Grimm in some way?"

"Grimm bodies become dust?" Nora suggested.

"Unlikely. I doubt many Grimm actually die in the Grimmlands. No one to hunt them." Ren looked to Jaune for confirmation and received a nod. Some might die from colliding with things or the weather, but nowhere near enough to explain this. "Interesting. We don't know much about dust, for all that we use it every day. Some have claimed it's a resource that might run out, but this would suggest otherwise, that it's in some way renewable."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure it's all that big of a deal," Jaune said.

It was Sun that interrupted. "Uh. You kidding? I mean, do you realise you might be sitting on the motherload of dust right here? That could be pretty big to have in your back pocket, especially if you want to negotiate with people. Say, for instance, on a peace deal."

"Sun has a point," Blake said. "People are fickle. The SDC was able to buy the loosening of labour laws to exploit the faunus."

"Something that will change when I am in control," Weiss snapped.

"I know. I'm not blaming you. I'm just saying that if money can convince people to turn on a species, then it might be useful to open people up to the idea of peace with the Grimm."

Jaune sighed. "You'd think people would be open to the idea of it on the whole principle of `not dying` to said Grimm."

"Like we said before, people can be stupid. There are some who will want vengeance, even if it means plunging the world into eternal war. They'll convince themselves it's not their fault, but yours for not agreeing to let your mother, yourself and all your sisters be executed. They've done the same with the White Fang, refusing to talk because doing so suggests weakness. If neither side is willing to talk, all you end up with is more killing."

"Atlas might consider that fine because they're sure they can defeat the White Fang in time, but the Grimm are a different matter." Ilia pointed out.

"True, but that doesn't mean some won't decide to do the same anyway. It sounds shallow, and it is, but having this much dust to offer will convince some people to push for peace."

"I thought money couldn't buy happiness," Ruby said.

"It can't. But it can buy you stability, and stability can reduce stress and loss of stress makes people happy." Weiss said. "It's all a silly argument anyway. People say it's going out with friends that really makes you happy, but how can you go out if you don't have the money to do so? Philosophical statements like that aren't really designed to be read into." She looked to Jaune. "But Sun is correct; this development could make a real difference. Offer to provide supply to the SDC and you'll have their support in reaching Ironwood. Offer some at a reduced price to Vacuo, and you'll open ears and minds."

All of that for dust, huh? Jaune sighed. He really had hoped humanity would agree just on the basis of, you know, peace. But maybe they were right. If the world worked like that, wars wouldn't exist in the first place and discrimination against the faunus wouldn't be a thing. Maybe the ends justified the means. It didn't really matter, for while they'd been talking, they'd come up close to the tower. Jaune could see Kevin's wings on one side of it, the dragon clearly at rest.

"Quiet," he said, waving everyone to close in around him. It was an awkward mess given how many of them there were. "We'll have to sneak in and work our way up the tower without anyone realising what's going on."

"If your mom is distracted, can't we just use the front door?" Ruby asked.

"No. Watts would still be here, and maybe Uncle Hazel, too. Not to mention mom spawned a lot of Grimm to act as servants. They look like hooded people, but in reality, they're Seers." He saw their confused expressions. "Think an eye with a mass of tentacles that floats."

"Tentacles?" Ruby asked.

Weiss slapped her arm. "Not now!"

"W-Wait, I wasn't-"

"They shouldn't attack us," Jaune interrupted, "But they'll go straight to mom if they see us and they can communicate between one another. So, we can't go in the front door. Luckily, there are a lot of other ways inside. We'll go in through the dungeons."

Yang's confidence wavered. "Is that safe?"

"As long as Dad isn't here, sure." Jaune shivered. "Anyway, Qrow should be in right about now. Hopefully, he's keeping her busy."

"Hopefully he's still in one piece," Yang mumbled.

"I'm sure he's fine."

/-/

So, this was Salem, Queen of the Grimm, humanity's mortal enemy. The stuff nightmares were made of and the one responsible for everything that had ever gone wrong in the world. At least according to Ozpin. Qrow wondered if it was further sign of insanity creeping up on him that the only thing he could think when he looked at her was, `huh, talk about an hourglass figure`.

Probably.

It might also have had something to do with how his head was currently crushed in the deadly woman's bosom.

"Mom, you can't do that," Coral said patiently. "He's mine."

That provoked another loud noise from Salem, one that was something been a high-pitched keen and a horrified gasp. Qrow was pushed back, though only far enough that he caught a glimpse of Salem's chin as she stared over his head.

"Coral!" Salem gasped. "I've never been prouder than I am right now!"

"Aw. Thanks, mom."

"My little girl has found a man. The first of my children! How long have you known him?"

"Eh. A week, maybe?"

"Have you taken him to bed yet?"

"H-Hey," Qrow said. "You can't just ask-"

"Once. We got interrupted."

"C-Coral!" Qrow whined.

"My beautiful daughter! Less than a week, before even her first time and already you bring him to meet me. I take it back, I am right now prouder still." Salem's eyes widened. "Your father must be told!"

Crap, crap, crap. If Salem left now, she might pay attention to what was going on outside. While not exactly thrilled that he'd been consigned to the role of a distraction, he wasn't about to throw himself in this situation and fail.

"Wouldn't it be better if we waited on that?" he asked nervously.

Salem froze. Her eyes came down to his. They were bright red on black, inhuman and dangerously sharp. "And what," she said, "do you mean by that?"

"W-Well… you know… I've, uh…" Qrow looked to Coral for help. She simply smiled and watched, apparently happy to see her boyfriend and mother bonding. And holy shit, he kind of was her boyfriend at this point, wasn't he?

Well, in for a penny…

"I just thought it'd be best to meet you first is all. And then Nicholas later. I kinda already know him. And Coral's told me so much about you that I wanted to meet my future mother-in-law."

It was the wrong thing to say, Qrow realised.

Salem gasped.

Coral gasped, too.

Qrow was dragged back into bosom hell.

"He said it!" Salem cried. "He actually said it! But marriage, already? No, there's no reason to hesitate. Nicholas and I would have been married within the first week had there been the time for it. Unfortunately, we did not leave the bed until at least the second month at least." Salem's head rocked back, and her cheeks flushed. "Ah, I remember those heady days."

"As do I," Watts grimaced. "Breakfast, lunch and dinner in bed. Every day." His tone made it clear he'd been expected to prepare it, and to brave the horrors of entering their chamber to deliver it. His eyes held a distant pain, like a man who'd seen too much and could never quite forget.

"It is unusual," Salem said. "Normally I would not countenance marriage until at least the third child."

"What?"

"Coral," Salem snapped, ignoring him entirely. "What say you?"

Coral, to Qrow's horror, was bright red. She'd been caught off-guard by his statement and he had the sinking suspicion she'd forgotten the whole `being a distraction` thing entirely. "I-I… well, I…" Her eyes slid to Qrow's and she looked away again, flushing prettily.

No, no, no. Coral, remember the plan. The plan! Say no, say no, say no!

"Is that a no?" Salem asked. "I hear breakups are messy affairs. If you wish, I could spare the ordeal and have him devoured by the Grimm."

Qrow's arms waved wildly. Say yes, say yes, say yes!

"It's not a no," Coral stammered. "It's just… I didn't expect to be asked…" Her hands were linked before her as she smiled. "Yes! I say yes!"

"Wonderful! Isn't that wonderful, Watts?"

"Delightful," Watts said without a hint of warmth.

"Wait, no. Stop!" Qrow yelled, breaking free at last. He took a huge breath of air when he did, and quickly realised that everyone had gone silent. Painfully, dangerously silent.

"Stop?" Salem asked. "No…?" She seemed to grow before him, shadows appearing over her face. "Is there a problem with my daughter? Is she somehow deficient? Does she lack in some way…? Worry not," Salem said, "You can tell the truth. I won't be angry."

The look on her face suggested she was lying, as if he couldn't have figured that out on his own.

"No, no, no. I… uh…" Think Qrow, think! "I don't have a suit!"

"Hardly an issue. That comes off soon enough, believe me. I remember my own wedding night."

"A dress?"

"Coral can wear mine. Or what's left of it. Again, the clothes come off soon enough."

"Sounds good to me," Coral chimed in. "Saves time. I've also not `gotten any` for like, a week now."

"You've never had any!" Qrow accused.

"Exactly! I went twenty years without and then you took me right to the point, stopped and haven't started again since then. Frankly, I'm amazed I haven't ravaged you already. I would have if it wasn't for Jau-" Coral stopped suddenly, realising what she was going to say, "-for those meddling kids," she finished weakly.

"What was that?" Salem asked.

"Nothing, mom. Just focus on the marriage."

"I'm really sure you just said-"

In a moment of steadfast heroism, Qrow sacrificed his life to protect his nieces, "Do you think our children will have blonde hair or black?"

Salem's words fizzled to a halt. It was actually possible to see the moment where her mind died and then rebooted. Her crimson eyes snapped down to Qrow's immediately.

"Grandbabies…?"

It was Coral who answered, "Probably inevitable with all the things I have in mind for him."

Salem swayed. "W-Watts. Kidnap a priest, immediately! Kidnap three! I don't have time to torture them into compliance if they refuse to marry my daughter to this man. Time is a ticking and every second between now and Coral going into menopause could mean one less grandchild!"

"Ahem. I can officiate a wedding myself, my Queen."

"You can!?" Salem and Qrow both asked, Salem in delight, Qrow in horror.

"Sensing this moment would come in time and not looking forward to assaulting a monastery in broad daylight, Cinder and I made… preparations. Both Tyrian and I have been ordained."

Salem considered that for a moment. "How the hell did Tyrian receive an ordination?"

Watts coughed in embarrassment. "I'd really rather not say. Either way, I can officiate."

Well, shit. The girls and Jaune wanted a distraction. Looked like he was about to give them one, though not exactly what he'd anticipated. Then again, he'd never thought he'd get hitched anyway. Too much hard work, he'd told Tai. The truth was that he'd never really hit it off with someone. Most were scared away by his Semblance.

Speaking of, why wasn't that acting up?

Coral, too excited to pay attention, had let a tentacle slip free of her skirt. It brushed against Qrow's leg. Oh, he thought, paling. That's why.

Damn Semblance…

"I don't think we should rush into this without thinking about it," Qrow said – and when Salem's eyes narrowed again, he quickly explained. And by explain, he meant threw a certain someone under the bus. "I always thought my sister would be there to see me get married. It's not really fair if you don't let my family attend."

Salem froze. "This is true…"

"And my bro, Taiyang. And my nieces."

"Well, the last two shouldn't be har-" Coral cut herself off again. "I mean yeah, of course. And we should get everyone else here too, mom. Like Jaune, Sapphire and all the others. And I want dad to give me away."

Salem's face fell.

"And pictures," Qrow said – and her face perked back up again instantly. "If we rush everything now, you won't have time to get pictures, right?"

"I do want pictures of the first marriage of my children…" Salem admitted. "I always thought it would be Sapphire, seeing as how she's the eldest, but alas, she's always been so focused on the family business. Dominating the humans and all that. I thought it might be Jaune for a while but, well, he's just so rebellious."

Yeah. She didn't know the half of it.

"Very well. Watts, contact Tyrian and Cinder. Tell them to find and kidnap my son-in-law's sister. And contact this `Taiyang` fellow. Warn him that if he does not RSVP within two days, he shall be abducted. And speaking of abductions," she murmured, "Kidnap a tailor – and be sure to steal their materials, too."

"I could just commission a tailor, my Queen," Watts suggested.

"Hm? Oh yes, I suppose you could."

"Would you like to leave the details with me, my Queen? I can handle them and save you the time and effort."

"Yes, that does sound good. You're a valued servant, Watts."

"I live to serve."

"In the meantime, dinner! It's been so long since we've eaten as a family and I want to get to know my future son-in-law a little better."

Qrow sagged, relieved to see that he'd bought himself at least a little time, and time for the others to rescue their friend – and hopefully him. He'd agreed to date Coral, but marriage? Him!? Tai would freak.

Salem led them to the dining room. Coral had hold of Qrow's left arm while the Dread Queen of the Grimm had his right. Qrow was beginning to think she should be renamed the Dread Queen of Mortification. She sat him down, took a seat on his right while Coral did on the other side of him.

"So, important question now," she said. "Your first time. Missionary?"

Qrow choked. "You can't-"

"Actually, I was thinking me on top," Coral said.

"Oh, that's nice, sweetie. Would you like to borrow one of my whips?"

"Can I?"

Qrow's body sunk into his seat as his `girlfriend` and her mother talked over his head. He hoped the others were having more luck than him.

/-/

"So, this is the Dungeon," Yang said, because really, what else could one say? "It's a little less occupied than I thought it would be. Kind of a relief not to see any bodies or such."

"Why would there be bodies?"

"Well, this is a dungeon."

Jaune grimaced. His face became pinched. "It's not that kind of dungeon."

"Then what kind is-" Yang cut off as they passed a table with four straps on it, set for wrists and ankles. It wasn't that which made her pause, but rather the box of what could only be termed as `toys` on the table next to it.

They weren't the kind of toys one would normally give to a child, not until they were Yang's age, anyway. Without really thinking about it, she reached out and covered Ruby's eyes. Weiss, meanwhile, came to the same realisation Yang had, and flinched, drawing one foot up as if afraid she might step in something.

Jaune simply grimaced, refused to look or acknowledge what was around him, and powered on through sheer force of will to the door ahead. He opened it and poked his head out but was quickly bowled out entirely as everyone forced their way to freedom, Nora taking great big gasps of air, as if she'd been holding her breath ever since they'd reached the dungeon. Luckily, there were no Seers around and the alarm wasn't raised.

"Pyrrha will either be in my room or one of the guest rooms," Jaune said. "All the bedrooms are on the upper levels. There's a central staircase that reaches all the floors, so once we get on it, it's just a matter of going up and avoiding any Seers coming down."

"No elevator?"

"We're not exactly on the local grid here, Ruby…"

"Yeah, but you have all that dust outside to power it. And you have electricity here."

"Electricity is relatively easy to maintain," Jaune said as he led the group on, scanning around each corner before they came out. The Seers must have been busy elsewhere, likely congregating wherever Salem was. "It's just a matter of generators, any of which can be bought or stolen if we need more. It's a little harder to up and get an elevator installed. You'd probably need professionals for that."

"And you can't just kidnap some?" Weiss asked.

"We could but do that enough times and the world starts to get suspicious."

Not that Salem didn't do that every now and then anyway but building something like an elevator would require loads of material, too. It was just too much hard work. Whenever he'd felt lazy, he'd just ride Mannie down or up the stairs, or tell a Nevermore to carry him up to his room. He'd seen some of his sisters order the Seers to band together like a palanquin and carry them, too. There were always ways around having to walk, though Mom tended to get irritated when they commanded the Grimm out of laziness.

They managed to reach the staircase without issue and begin the ascent. The bottom floors of the tower were mostly uninhabited and for storage, it being a pain to carry things up stairs. Dust, weapons, random supplies and other things, including the aforementioned generator rooms that kept the place running. As they went higher, they reached the middle floors, where actual rooms began to appear, including a training hall that Dad had insisted on, the library his mother had stolen for him for his eighth birthday and a few playrooms for either him or his sisters.

It was when they reached the upper-middle, perhaps two-thirds of the way up, that the first signs of Seers appeared. Jaune sensed them first and quickly moved everyone off the staircase, opening a door. The room was an empty one with a few dressers and crates of spare kitchen supplies. He kept the door open as they hid inside, and the others got to see the purple-robed figures fly past, holding trays on their tentacles. There were three in total and they didn't pay attention to the open door, focused entirely on their task. They went up the staircase and away.

"Dinner," Jaune noted. "Qrow must be doing a better job than expected. Good on him."

"You expected him to fail?" Ruby asked indignantly.

"No. I just expected he'd be on his way to an impromptu wedding by now. Or his first child. Maybe both." Jaune looked out as a few more Seers walked by. "Hm. We need to get past them. Seers have some limited intelligence, but they don't pay much attention when a direct order is given. They just do that command and nothing else."

"I think I have an idea," Blake said.

With attention fixed now on her, Blake revealed what she'd found in a dresser at the side of the room. A whole stack of purple cloaks with hoods, along with several silver serving trays. Jaune grinned.

"That might just work."

/-/

Jaune kept his head low and face pointed down, allowing the heavy cowl of the robe to obscure his face from view. His hands he kept linked into the cuffs of his other arm, leaving him a hooded and arm-linked figure indistinguishable from any other Seer. The others filed behind him, single-file and heads down, making not a sound among them.

The Seers weren't stupid, not were they incapable of noticing those among them who were not Grimm. At any other time, they would have raised the alarm immediately, but Salem had called dinner, and thus they would obey. Given a choice between confronting the intruders and carrying the meal to their Dread Queen, the Seers made the obvious choice. To fight would be to drop the tray, to spoil the food. Such would be contradictory to their orders. A few hissed as they passed, but they shifted their bodies more to shield the food from possible attack than to cause any trouble. It wouldn't last, but it didn't have to either.

As they filed into the kitchens, the Seers hard at work paused for a second, but when Jaune moved to the trays with food on and picked one up, they continued to work. If the intruders wished not to interfere but to aid, then so be it. They could be dealt with later. Jaune took one tray, and each of the others took another, or a jug of drink, or a platter of fruit. A Seer went ahead and Jaune fell in behind, the others with him, as their group of ten suddenly became twenty, humans walking alongside Seers.

He was surprised the others were okay with it. One of the Seers seemed to be paying particular attention to Yang, almost agitated at the fact she was carrying anything. It kept trying to take the tray off her, chittering the entire time. Yang ignored it. Some of the others, Ilia and Sun especially, were tense and ready to fight at a moment's notice.

The procession went up another flight of stairs and then a second. They met another group of Seers coming down and mingled, robes brushing up against robes as the creatures sought to pass by one another without either side giving way. It was an awkward and complicated mess and for a moment Jaune's vision was filled with nothing but purple. They fought through, however, and as the Seer ahead of him turned right, off the staircase, Jaune carried on going, Yang breaking off behind him and the others doing the same.

Once they were another flight up, Jaune ditched the tray on a nearby step and pulled the robe off. "Come on. We don't have much time. As soon as dinner is over, they'll warn her that we're here. We need to get Pyrrha out now."

The others nodded. Food and wine went down, Nora taking a quick swig from one har, and soon after they were rushing up the staircase. No more seers, no more interruptions and everyone he knew accounted for, except for Uncle Hazel, who he was sure was doing his usual job and hunting Ozpin somewhere. He wasn't likely to be here.

The steps came to a blessed end as they reached the top floor. "This is the sleeping quarters," Jaune panted. "Everyone's rooms are up here. Salem's, ours, mine, even Cinder and the others have rooms on this floor."

"How do we know which Pyrrha will be in?" Weiss asked.

"Mine or a guest room," Jaune said again. "Just follow me."

The first room on the left was empty, dark and covered in a thin layer of dust. The second was the same. Salem didn't receive many guests for obvious reasons and the rooms were rarely used. For the most part, they were there on the assumption of more family members. Jaune dashed on with the others behind, his eyes focused on the wooden door ahead, his room. He approached at a sprint, hand held out.

The door exploded outward before he reached it.

Weapons were drawn. The mass of black hit Jaune centre-mass. Weapons were raised. Jaune cried out, struggled, and then began to laugh.

Weapons hovered in the air.

"Mannie, no, stop. I- ha ha – I missed you too, boy. Yes, I love you. Who's a good boy? You're a good boy. Yes, you are! Ow! Not the arm. No, I don't have time to play."

Jaune managed to wrestle his way out from under the huge Beowolf, who was still slobbering happily and had now decided to lay out flat over Jaune's back, its paws reaching over his shoulders and chin resting atop his head. He saw the weapons drawn and waved his hands.

"It's okay, it's okay. This is Mannie."

Weiss sighed and lowered her rapier. "The `pet` you told us about?"

"One and the same. He-"

A voice came from the room. "Mannie? What's wrong?"

Jaune froze, as did everyone else.

It was Weiss who finally broke the silence, "P-Pyrrha?"

"Weiss…?" Footsteps. A hand appeared on the door frame and a head full of red hair appeared in it. "Weiss! Jaune!"

"Team RYBN!" Nora cried, hand held in the air. "And Weiss' assistant and Blake's harem."

Weiss would have told Nora to shut up normally, but Pyrrha rushed forward to enfold the heiress in a hug. She'd have done the same for Jaune too, if he wasn't crushed under a Beowolf. "I can't believe it's you," Pyrrha gushed. "I can't believe you came for me." She gasped and pushed Weiss away. "Why did you come for me? Don't you have any idea how dangerous this is!?"

"Did you think we'd just abandon you?" Weiss demanded, affronted at the very thought. "I would never do that, nor would Jaune or anyone here. Ruby would have marched here alone if she had to."

"I can imagine." Pyrrha's smile was watery as she looked around. "But where is Ruby?"

/-/

I made a mistake, I made a mistake, I made a mistake…

Ruby kept her head low, which helped to conceal just how wide her eyes were as she crept into the large dining hall in the middle of a column of robed figure who she had, by now, figured out was no longer her sister and the others. She'd thought it odd they'd left the staircase, but she was sure the back she'd kept in sight had been Yang's when she got out of the mess of robes on the staircase.

Turned out it wasn't, or if it was Yang, she'd taken the wrong route and seemed remarkably calm about it all. Except that, no, a quick look back showed that the person in the hood behind her definitely wasn't Nora.

Ruby whimpered under her breath.

Okay, this was fine. She could recover. All she had to do was walk forward, put the tray down, follow the Seers out and then dash up the stairs as fast as her Semblance could take her. No sweat. Oh look, Uncle Qrow was eating dinner with Coral and Salem.

And yep, Salem looked suitably terrifying, even if she was speaking with her daughter over Qrow's head. As the procession moved closer, Ruby lowered her head even further and tried to hide her pale human hands under the tray she was carrying.

"- and then you need to consider food and rest, my dear. It can be tempting to carry on, but a little pause for refreshment makes the heart – and the libido – fonder. Why, it's amazing how it feels to be taken under the shower. Beware of soap, though. It will be your mortal enemy."

Soap and showers? Weird. Well, not like Ruby expected to understand the machinations of someone like Salem. Ruby followed in as one of the Seers placed a tray down. She bent at the waist and did the same, sliding the tray of desserts between Coral and Salem.

Salem raised a hand. "Not for me. I'm watching my weight."

"Oh, sorry."

Everyone at the table froze, Ruby included. Qrow's head fell into his hands. Coral sighed and Salem turned, ever so slowly, to look up into Ruby's hood.

Seers… They didn't talk, did they?

Ruby winced.

"Aw crud…"

Crud indeed, Ruby. I've lost count of the number of times I've walked into the wrong place while following a crowd of people. Not into a dinner setting, of course, but the wrong lecture at university time and time again. Sometimes it amazed me how long it took me to realise I was in the wrong place, as if talk about complex engineering was somehow something I'd be expected to learn on a creative writing degree.

So, still at my expo – though by the time this comes out I will have actually done my speech. Yay.

Still won't be home until Sunday, however.

P.s. I know there are people asking what Ozpin is doing and wanting a scene from his PoV, but I've specifically been holding off because I want people to see what he's been up to when the others witness it. Not to give it away and spoiler it with a scene now. I'd rather people actually experience it at the correct moment. I've not forgotten about him.

Next Chapter: 4th October

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur