The Shadow of Grimm

by TenshiWarrior

Since the fall of Beacon, team RWBY had split apart. Ruby travels with what remains of team JNPR and former criminals Roman and Neo in order to find the truth and the whereabouts of his daughter, Destiny. During their travels however, they come across team CRMS, whose leader bares a face to which they all recognize. What could this mean exactly? (Sequel to The Child of Grimm)

12. Chapter 8: Secrets and Motives

-Sometime Ago-

On a cold night of the forest, teams RNJR, CRMS and Roman and Neo were sound asleep in their sleeping bags, all of them practically next each other for warmth. They had traveled down the road for at least hours and hours for almost the day without stopping. They all practically hit the hay the minute they stopped to rest for the night, and instead of sleeping where they usually slept, they all practically huddled together since it was cold for the night.

Most of them tossed and turned in their sleep, trying to get comfortable, while the others slept still, and breathed softly. It wasn't long till Ruby stirred from her slumber when she heard something rather unusual.

It was of someone singing.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Way up high

There's a land that I heard of

Once in lullaby

Ruby groaned as she sat up, and stretched groaning slightly. She turned and saw that Roman was missing from the group. It wasn't long until she realized that the voice was of a recording, of a woman, that she didn't recognize. She looked around, but soon spotted Roman sitting by the dying fire, holding onto something. He sat back against a log, with his head back and his eyes closed.

Somewhere over the rainbow

Skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream

Really do come true

Ruby threw a blanket over her shoulders and went to approach Roman, the grass blades crushing under her feet softly. He noticed her presence, when she sat beside him, but chose to say nothing as he continued to do what he was doing; every now and than he would turn over the logs, in an attempt to keep the fire going.

Someday I'll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where troubles melt like lemon drops,

Away above the chimney tops

That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly

Birds fly over the rainbow, why can't, why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow

Why, oh why can't I?

With a click the recorder came to an end, and there was silence between the two of them; their was just the sound of the crickets and the sound of the wood popping. Finally after a few moments Ruby broke the silence, "That was a beautiful song."

"Yeah." Roman said as his head still looked up to the clouds above, "It was Trinity's favorite. She recorded it for Destiny in case she was out of town. I found it in my apartment, well what was left of it, and I'm glad that it was still working, and the tape was intact."

"That was her singing on the tape, wasn't it?" Ruby asked.

Roman didn't say anything but chose to nod his head. "Whenever Destiny had a nightmare, or cried about something, I would always play her this song. Now…" He let out a sigh, "I guess, I just play this for myself just to clear my head." Ruby soon looked to his other hand and noticed that he was holding a photograph; from just the one reading, "Our First Date" She knew exactly what the picture was.

"There's something bothering you, isn't it?" Ruby asked concerned about him.

Roman didn't say anything and finally moved his head from the sky; he a hand through his hair. "Roman, we're friends now, you know it's okay to tell me. I want to help you if I can."

He let out a sigh as he finally looked to the teenage girl, "I had a dream, no a memory lapse about Trinity. It was… It was just something I remembered around the time, we found out we were having Destiny. It was just something I remember her telling me something, that's all."

Ruby tilted her head slightly since she was confused by what he was saying. Eventually Roman said to her, "Look Red, I know you want to help, but, I'd rather not talk about it at the moment. I don't mean to sound rude, but… Can we drop it for now?"

"Oh, okay." Ruby said, "If your not okay about talking about it now, but, whenever your ready, you can talk about about it."

Roman didn't say anything again. He took a cigar case, and took out a single cigar and placed it between his lips. Silence came over them once again, as they felt the breeze hit against their skin. Once again, Ruby broke the silence between them again, "You know, after Destiny told my friends and I, that your her dad, she would talk about you nonstop, whenever we bought up the subject, but… She never really talked about her mom. So I gotta know… What was Trinity like?"

Roman chuckled slightly, as he took a puff, "Well for one thing, she had a bit of your stubbornness when it came to helping people. She was talented and smart, though she wasn't necessarily good at fighting let me tell you. I had to teach her how to aim from a gun, when we were teenagers."

"Really? She wasn't good at the whole fighting thing?" Ruby asked.

"Not everyone in the world can be talented as you are when it came to fighting." Roman said, "But she tried anyway, and though she had her flaws, she found a way to improve. You should've seen her when she showed off her skills. She was almost robbed by a common thief, but let's just say, she really showed him who's boss. She broke all of his fingers and gave him one hell of a nose job. She left me speechless."

Ruby laughed amusingly at this, "Sounds like she was tough."

"That she was." Roman said, "I think, you would've liked her. Nah, who am I kidding, you two would've been best friends."

"She does sound like a cool person." Ruby said.

"We practically grew up with one another, and we came from similar backgrounds." Roman said, "We both hated our own families. I hated my dad for what he put me through, and she did not like her stepmom because of what she turned her family into after her father died. We've had a hard life together after we found each other, through thick and thin we had each other. She helped me see through what I thought the world was, and I protected her from all the kinds of darkness that would try to hurt her, and eventually…"

"You two fell in love." Ruby said with a kitty smile as she was moved by what he was telling her.

Roman cleared his throat, "Okay, I can't take you seriously, when you make a face like that."

"I can't help it! It just sounds adorable!" Ruby said.

"You sound a lot Destiny when I told her this." He said removing his cigar from his mouth and tapping on it slightly to get rid of the ash, "I think she might've rubbed off on you."

Ruby couldn't help but giggle slightly at this, before her she thought back to what he said to her. "Wait a minute…" Ruby said, "You said that, Trinity ran from her own family because of her stepmom? Why? Did something happen?"After taking one last puff from his cigar, he removed it from his mouth, and crushed it. He than tossed it into the dying fire, as what firewood remained burned up his cigar.

"Red…" He said, "Sometimes you shouldn't dig into things that are meant to stay secret. They're just some things I'm not ready to share, both about myself and what Trinity's life was like before we got together."

"Didn't she say to why she left her family to you?"

"Of course she did. But after she told me, she asked me not to tell anyone, and I kept my word to her even now."

"Why?"

"Because I know the cost of what happens when you decide to open up your mouth and talk. You get people hurt, and when that happens it comes back to haunt you for the rest of your life."

Ruby said nothing but read the expression on his face; she saw that he had a look of solemn at a certain thought. Though as if reading her thoughts, Roman had explained to her why, "My best man suffered the consequences when I told him about the life I had after my mom took the coward's way out. He said he would go straighten things out with him, and bring proof of what he did to me to the authorities as payback, though he went missing for a few days. I figured, he was having trouble giving me a call, but a few weeks later, I get a visit from an officer from Atlas. They told me they arrested my father, but… Right after they did, they found his body in a shallow grave. They told me he was tortured for days before he was killed."

Ruby gasped at this, and placed a hand over her mouth at the thought of this. She had no idea, the man she encountered in the Dust Shop, the man she once considered an enemy, had endured so much. She knew what it's like to lose someone, but… To hear something like that, from a once known thief. First the death of his wife he felt guilty, but now she heard in his voice that there was guilt to leading someone as close as to his best men to his death. She could tell, no she heard it in his voice the pain and guilt. She placed a hand on his shoulder, as a way to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry Roman." Ruby said with solemn, "I didn't know…"

Roman looked to Ruby and said nothing, not even a thank you, instead, he cleared his throat, and stood up. "It's still late out." He said trying to hide his expression, "We should get some sleep."

"Roman…" Ruby said standing up stopping him, "I'm glad you told me, really. I know it's not easy to tell those kind of things, but… I just want you to know that despite our differences in the past, that myself, and everyone else will be here for you. Whenever your ready to tell us."

Roman still had his back to her, but she saw him turn his head slightly to her, "Let's just… Let's just try to get some sleep."

"Okay." Ruby said but she smiled a little.

She knew he didn't want to say it out loud, but saw that there was no need; She heard it in his voice. She heard his gratitude to her.

---

(Opening Theme: Let's Just Live Performed By Casey Lee Williams)

-Present; Hours After Battle-

That night after everything between the man by the name of Tyrian, the two Shadows Diamond and Elise, and an apparent Rogue Maiden, the whole group left the town carrying their wounded in a hurry. Though the teams tried to search for their enemies to at least have an idea of where they went or try to capture one of them while they were injured to get information. Unfortunately they were nowhere to be seen after the fight came to an abrupt end. Scout attended to those that were wounded, after they found a place to camp for the night. They pitched up tents (Scout had packed them) for Roman and Cristal since they couldn't risk their wounds getting infected from the bacteria in the forest. She even offered to pitch a tent for Qrow, but he told her that he was fine with sleeping on the ground.

Once everyone had settled down, Qrow had decided to follow up on his question, "What's your favorite fairy tale?" He told them everything that he and Ozpin told Pyrrha on that same day, on the days of the Vytal Festival. It took them the entire day to listen to what he had to say, as Scout was looking after Cristal and Roman, who remained unconscious; Senka was laying down by Cristal's tent, and Frosty was on Melody's lap, who had on a makeshift cast for her arm.

He had told the group that he knew of the existence of the Shadows, and the flower known as the Efah, and even more shocking information. Everyone of course was left speechless by this new found information, and even Qrow himself was surprised of their silence.

"What?" He said, "You all don't have any questions?"

"What are talking about? Of course we all have questions." Neo said to him.

"This is… This is just a lot to take in." Jaune said.

Qrow let out a sigh, "Sure, of course."

"Okay, just to be fair, I want to point out that I did sort of know about this…" Rosario said awkwardly earning a look from the group, "... But that whole thing that you told us and this Rogue Maiden we saw, yeah I was kept in the dark about that."

"Rosario." Melody said, "Timing."

Rosario turned to Melody, "Not good?"

Melody shook her head, and Rosario adjusted herself in her seat, "Right, timing."

Ruby twiddled her thumbs as she turned to her uncle, "If… I understand you correctly… These Maidens, are powerful fighters, that don't need Dust to use magic."

"Yeah." He said.

"And they're always four of them?" Nora added.

"Yup, always." Qrow said.

"Which means that whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone-A female-that they care about?" Ren had also added.

Qrow had clarified for them, "Whoever is in their thoughts last. Important decision. The best option is to pass it on to someone we can trust. Regardless their souls are combined in a way."

"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha." Jaune said glaring at him, "The night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them."

"The previous Fall Maiden Amber had been attacked." Qrow explained, "She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant who we all know now is the little girl's kidnapper Cinder, somehow managed to steal her power but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something. The rest of it would go to her as well."

"So you forced it on Pyrrha!" Jaune said with anger in his voice.

"Jaune take it easy." Melody said, "No one said he forced her to do it."

"Really because it sounds like she wasn't given any other choice!"

"You don't know that for sure!"

"Well you don't either because you were busy out here on some wild goose chase instead of going school like a normal person would!"

This time Melody was one with the glare as she looked over to Jaune; Qrow took notice of her change of expression, "Don't you dare, bring my life into this like you know my story."

"Well we don't know either since you've been keeping that information from us too." Jaune said returning the glare.

"That's enough, both of you. We can all agree that we've had enough fighting for one day. No need to start another one." Qrow said to his daughter and Jaune making them stop their arguing, before turning to the young man, "Look, we didn't force any of this on her. We explained the situation and we gave her a choice, and she choose. You were there. You heard her."

Jaune clenched his fists, and hung his head for a brief moment, before standing up and walking away from the group. No one did anything to stop him since they figured he needed to cool off. "Okay." Rosario said breaking the silence, "Again, I'll admit that other than the fact a Maiden could be anyone of the women out in the world, I knew that there could be four of them and I've seen one in action before*. But earlier today Cristal told us, that Elise is a Rogue Maiden, so that makes five of them. Care to explain that?"

(*Remember Rosario's small role in The Child of Grimm? Chapter 9: The Past to the Present?)

Qrow let out a sigh as he replied, "A Rogue Maiden hasn't been since the time of the Great War, and none of the headmasters, not even Oz hasn't seen one since than. But we kept an eye out for her, in case she appeared again."

"How is there even a Rogue Maiden?" Melody asked, "Based on what you told us about the Maidens it seems standard to how that girl Amber got her powers, but how did that girl, Elise get it?"

Qrow explained, "The powers that Maidens have doesn't stay with them forever; as they die they go to a new host, and they are able to chose its host in the event it's transferred to a man. But sometimes the power get's smart whenever it realizes it's in danger at least that's what we know. From what we've learned, during mid-transfer the power would split itself into two parts, and while the first half goes along with the procedure, the second will go into a host that's compatible to that of its previous in order to protect itself."

"And Elise… Pyrrha's Shadow, ended up getting it." Ruby finished.

"But… She's a Grimm Hybrid like Cristal." Ren said, "How is she able to posses a power like that if she doesn't have any aura?"

"Your question is as good as mine." Qrow replied before explaining, "But I can tell you that Elise was completely unaware that she even had that power to begin with, most people are when it comes to being a Fifth Maiden. If she was aware, she would've used that same power, to get the upperhand, and they would've succeeded in their mission. Unlike a regular Maidens power, the Rogue Maidens will lie dormant inside the host's body. Sometimes the power will show up, and sometimes it won't at all till it reunites with its counterpart. To make matters worse, just about anything could trigger it to come out, if left unchecked. It could be an emotion that sets it off, or when the host is in danger, hell, even memory lapses can get it riled up. If the person is left unaware of its existence when the power is released, the host wouldn't control it at all, it would control them instead. And just like the Grimm it will attack anything or anyone on sight, it wouldn't matter who's friend or foe to them."

"Basically what your saying is Elise herself had no idea that this power was inside of her…" Rosario said.

"And after something unlocked it, she went on a rampage against us with no control or no knowledge of what she was doing what so ever." Neo soon added.

"If you want to put it like that, than yeah." The Huntsman said taking out his flask.

"That explains why she attacked those two-Diamond and Tyrian without a second thought." Ruby said, "But… Why did they come after me and Cristal in the first place?"

Qrow took a moment to drink from his flask before replying, "Well you definitely painted a target on yourself after what you did at Beacon. It's like I told you before, having silver eyes is a rare trait. The fact that you were able use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. As for Cristal, since she is a Shadow, it's most likely because she's upset some powerful people that aren't too happy about her going against them or maybe they're trying to recruit her to their inner circle. Either way I can tell you neither of those things are good. I've been keeping an eye on you since you left Patch, and when you all got together to keep you safe. All of you."

The whole group looked to one another, slightly unsure of something. "Than why not just save the trouble and travel with us, like Roman and Neo?" Ruby asked her Uncle, "It seemed like that would be a lot easier."

"He was using you as bait." Jaune said, getting their group's attention.

"Don't you dare say that." Melody said, her anger coming back slightly, "You don't know my father like Ruby, Yang and I do. I've known him longer than you have, and there's no way he would use his own family, his own loved ones as bait to get the enemy to come to us! He cares about his family!"

"Melody, take it easy." Her father said, with a calm yet stern voice; he than said to Jaune, "And to answer your question, it's a bit more complicated than that."

Jaune finally turned back at him to yell, "What is all of this!? Destiny ends up getting taken by these people, Ruby and Cristal are being hunted by those same people, Roman could've died today, and all for what!? WILL YOU JUST TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

Qrow just looked over to Jaune, and finally let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyebrows. "Would you sit down? You're stressing me out." He said to him. Jaune took a seat as Qrow himself took another sip from his flask; after wiping his mouth he began to tell them a story.

"Not many people are religious these days. This world has been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. It all began with two brothers. The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one spent his days creating water, plants and wildlife. At night the younger brother would wake to see all the things the elder made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creation, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine all he could do to rid Remnant life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything."

"... The creatures of Grimm." Ruby said.

Qrow nodded, and continued.

"The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation… together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be."

"But… What does this have to do with us?" Ren asked.

"Well here's the kicker." Qrow said, "See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction and choice, aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also have another purpose… Guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessors founded the school's, he built them around the relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself… And of course, keeping them out of her reach. And that's about the jest of it."

"Her…" Ruby said, "You mean, Salem, don't you?"

"That's right." Qrow replied, "Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now, is that she's after the Relics. And if she gets them, than it's not going to end well for all of us."

It wasn't long before Rosario herself had realized something at the mentioning of Salem. "That's it…" She said, the whole group turning to her, "That's who Cristal is forbidden to say to us."

The group turned to each other perplexed by this. "What makes you say that?" Neo asked.

"Really think about it." Rosario said, "When she told us that Cinder wasn't the one behind the fall Beacon she admitted someone more powerful was behind the attack. I don't think it's a coincidence that Salem would target these schools for the Relics and Cinder would just happen to be targeting the same place where a Relic would be. For that matter, Cristal also said that she knew the person in control, but couldn't say her name because of the Contract she's under ever since she was made. It all fits! Salem is the one behind the attack, she's the one that put the Contract of Silence on her and the other Shadows we saw. She's the ones that's been keeping her and her sisters on a leash. And I'll bet you anything, she's the one who infected that kid with Grimm."

The group not including Qrow, lightly gasped at this, realizing that it all made sense. Cristal telling them about the person, but say who she is or even mention her name because of the terms of the Contact of Silence. It even made sense to them, how Destiny had gotten her eye in the first place. With the Relics added to the equation, it would make the most logical sense to why Beacon was targeted in the first place. But their was just one thing that didn't make sense to it all, at the very least to Ruby.

"Why take her than?" Ruby said.

Qrow didn't quite hear her, since she mumbled her words.

"Sorry?" Qrow said.

"Destiny. Roman's daughter. Cristal said to us, that Tyrian was the one that took her and he even admitted to doing it. We now know that he works for Salem, and I know she couldn't say her name, but she said she infected her with Grimm when she was a baby." Ruby said, "So, why take her? How does she even fit into all of this? Is it because of Roman? Is this about punishment for him going against them?"

"Yeah." Jaune said, "What does she have to do with all of this?"

Qrow looked in his flask and saw that their was little bit of beverage left inside; he drank a couple of more sips before saying, "I'll be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure why why she got a kid like Destiny involved in this or why she wants her to begin with, but the most likely theory is, it has something to do with the bloodline she comes from."

"Bloodline?" Nora asked, "What do you mean bloodline? Do you mean Roman's?"

Neo let out a sigh when she saw Qrow looking in her direction; the group turned to her, "No, he means Trinity's bloodline."

"Roman's wife." Ruby said.

Qrow said getting their attention back, "Trinity didn't exactly come from a regular old family. And not in the, abusive, or mob kind of family way. Her family, many would say put the meaning in different, at least, after Trinity's father, by the name Xan passed away and her step-mother Quinta took over. Let's just say she changed the rules of how the family ran things and got them into some nasty business, and probably… That's what got them all killed."

Everyone seemed shocked to hear this. "Killed?" Ren said, "What do you mean killed?"

"I think I should answer that." Neo said. The group turned to her, as Neo sat closer to the fire, "I was there when Trinity was visited by Atlas, about what happened. It was around the time when she found out she was pregnant, and I was their for extra help while Roman was at work. I saw the look on her face after she talked to them, and at the time, I didn't understand why she looked so terrified. When Roman came home later that day, I overheard her telling him what happened, and I understood why she had that look. She was told that yesterday night, they found her entire family dead; a room in the house, filled with nothing but corpses."

"... What happened?" Ruby asked.

"With respected reasons they left out the gory details on how they died, but…" Neo said started to say, "But they told her… They were sealed in a room that was locked from the outside, and one by one… they were all executed. Many of them tried to escape but, it ended up being useless and let's just say it was worse for those that tried to fight back."

Everyone had a horrified looks on their faces, at the thought of the whole family being executed in a single night. "Oh my God…" Rosario said trying to prevent herself from seeing the imagery.

"Do you know why they were killed?" Nora asked.

"No, I'm afraid I don't. No one does really." Neo said, "I would've asked Trinity, but, I'd rather I didn't since by that time she was already put through enough stress as it is."

"Maybe… It could have something to do with her family tree?" Ren suggested.

"Yeah." Ruby said, "Maybe Atlas can look into it?"

Qrow soon said to them, "It's not that simple I'm afraid. After Trinity realized she was pregnant, she went through a lot of trouble as to erase any record of herself and of her family secrets. She didn't want anyone know to who she was or where she came from. And a certain someone, by this point, you can guess who, went through a lot of trouble to have someone drop the her families case altogether."

"How do you know that?" Jaune asked him.

"Because Ozpin was the one who went through a lot of hoops to hide Trinity's history and even her pregnancy from the world and from time to time, I kept checking up on her and Roman, before he turned into a thief. Old Ironwood tried to look into the family case, but was quick to realize that it turned into an unsolvable case." Qrow said, "As you can imagine, Salem ended up finding out about her child anyway. After Weiss told us about Destiny I started to do some digging, and through various sources, I found out that Trinity was supposed to die the night her family did. But only after Destiny started to come around, they suddenly postponed her death sentence. They made sure she was alive, until the big day came. They just waited a year after to make their move and finally kill Destiny's mother. Salem didn't just choose to infect the little one for nothing you know. If anything she has a reason for it."

"You mean to say Trinity was hiding something. About Destiny?" Ruby asked, "Why? What was she hiding about her that she didn't want anyone else to find out?"

"I think it's best, if Roman's the one to tell you." Qrow said, "She is her husband and respectfully Destiny's father after all. If anything, he'll tell you more about it, if he wants to."

The whole group was silent once more as they took in this new information. Everything about the relics new information about Trinity, and even clues as to why Destiny was taken in the first place. Though they had all this new information they had more questions than it did answer.

Finally Jaune was the first to speak up, "Alright, so let's say we believe all of this. There really is this, crazy evil behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. That and she's the one responsible for taking Destiny and infecting her with Grimm and putting the Contract of Silence on Cristal and these other Shadows. Why doesn't anyone else know? Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?"

"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven?" Nora asked.

"What if they're next on the list?" Melody said, "We should hurry over there and warn them of the coming attack!"

"You don't think the other Headmasters are completely unaware of what happened do you?" Qrow said, "He's not dumb, after he saw what happened he'll be on his guard. Besides it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack at Beacon overnight?" Qrow turned over to Jaune, "And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. We would have another Great War on our hands, only this time… You'd have to fight."

Jaune turned away from Qrow, crossing his arms over his chest as he did.

"Look…" Qrow said, "I had the same questions too. But ol' Ozpin always put his foot down. 'We can't cause panic.' he would say." He laughed slightly at this, "Can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants so when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us-Humanity, and so far… She's done a pretty good job."

Qrow leaned back slightly, his head tilting back as well, looking to the shattered moon above; he grasped his wound that had been wrapped in bandages as he heaved out a sigh. His attention was drawn from the sky as he heard his niece say, "Alright… So what should we do?"

Everyone looked to the Huntsman and Qrow looked to them. He chuckled slightly, "I don't really know. Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the other headmasters. Like I said, the schools are important to stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack and Vacuo, is well Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against the other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, and add Cinder and her crew who claim to be from Haven, is most likely their next target. So… We're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in awhile, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers, and hopefully he at least has an idea to where they might've taken Roman's kid."

Qrow stood up from where he sat and stretched, he groaned in agony slightly due to his wound. "Alright, it's getting pretty late." He said to them, "It's about time you kids get some sleep."

Ruby stood up from her seat, "Uncle Qrow…" She said, causing him to turn to her, "This is a lot to take in… And it all seems crazy, but… A little girl once told me and my friends, that a criminal was her dad, she could talk to Grimm, and she could take away the anger they felt. I did what I could to help because I trusted her. And just like than I'm willing to trust you. But there's just one more thing that I want to understand… Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy? Maybe you could've-"

"Ruby." Melody said cutting her off, "It's not that simple to why he decided to lag behind and keep an eye on all of us. It doesn't have anything to do with trust. It's the same reason he had when he was watching me the first few weeks after I left home, even though I told him it wasn't necessary."

"Melody?" Ruby said, "What do you-"

Qrow was the one to cut her off next, "She's right. It's not that simple, this has nothing to do with trust, besides… It's a long story."

"Really?" Neo said, "You tell us all of these things, and now your tired of telling stories?"

Qrow looked to the fire before kneeling before it. He took a stick nearby and started to poke at the firewood, "Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but… It's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity, and some people can burst into rose petals, and some, are just born unlucky. My semblance, isn't like most… It's not exactly something I can do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." He couldn't help but chuckle bitterly at this, "I guess you can call it a bad luck charm. I'll admit, it does come in handy when I'm fighting an enemy. But… It makes it harder on friends… And family."

Qrow soon stood up, holding his side looking to the group.

"Well, your just a real bundle of help aren't you?" Jaune said, earning a glare from Nora, Ruby and Melody.

"Alright, what is your problem tonight Jaune?" Melody said standing up while Frosty jumped off of her lap, "He already told us everything that we needed to know, so what more do you want an apology or something?"

"Well I'm sorry, if I'm asking too much maybe I'm just tired of everyone being all secretive with all this stuff going on right now!"

"That doesn't mean you have to have the attitude Jaune! I mean literally these past few minutes as he telling us all of this, all you've done is basically complain and take your anger out on a man who had his reasons for keeping this a secret from everyone! I mean are you deaf right now?!"

"You guys come on, don't fight…" Nora said.

Jaune ignored Nora before saying to Melody, "Like your one to talk! You and Rosario have been keeping things from us, like you did when you admitted that you knew about Cristal and what she was, and that you kept it from us! How do we even know that your telling the whole truth!?"

"They're reasons why people keep secrets!" Melody said, "Didn't you ever stop to consider that oh, I don't know, that they were trying to protect you!?"

"Protect us!? What good is protecting us, if you kept important information like that from us!? People should know about these kind of things!"

"You heard why people shouldn't! It would cause a panic! Do you want everyone to just constantly look over their shoulder if they knew that some scary evil lady is going after the schools to get these powerful relics?! Are you seriously that dead in the brain!?"

"As far as I know I'm not the one who's dead in the brain, maybe you are!"

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

"Jaune don't!" Ruby said trying to stop them from arguing.

Jaune still ignored his friends as he said to Melody, "Did you ever stop to think about going back to Beacon after you heard the news about what happened!? Why didn't you decide to go back to at least see if your cousins were even okay!? Or were you too busy just out here on some scavenger hunt!?"

Melody said nothing this, but her face remained expressionless. Qrow noticed the look in her eyes, "Kid, you should really end this argument here." Qrow said to Jaune calmly.

"No." Jaune said before saying to Melody, "You know what, here's something that I want to be made clear, you said he looks out for his family but what about you?! You could've gone back home to check on them but you didn't?! Instead you just stayed out here instead of going back! Why?! Do you even care about your own family, do you even give a damn about what happens to them!?"

"Jaune!" Everyone yelled getting him to stop. At this point everyone went silent as they looked over to Melody. Her head was down, and she looked to the ground as they saw her hand shake. Finally she clenched her fist and stomped over to Jaune. She grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie, which caught him by surprise, and she hit her forehead against his, hard, leaving a noticeable bruise.

This had taken everyone by surprise even Ruby. Finally Jaune looked up to Melody and saw that her eyes were different, instead of the usual indian red eyes she had eyes that were of a black color, and her pupils were thin and narrow.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY DAMN LIFE!?" Melody yelled, Jaune noticing a pair of fangs, "AND HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME ABOUT NOT CARING ABOUT MY FAMILY! YOU DON'T KNOW ALL THE HELL THAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH BEFORE I LEFT HOME! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE SUCH ACCUSATIONS BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU THINK IS CRUEL!? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TAKE YOUR ANGER OUT ON OTHERS BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID INSECURITIES, AND BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID BELIEFS OF WHAT'S RIGHT AND WRONG!? WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO JUDGE FOR WHO PEOPLE ARE!?"

"MELODY!" Qrow yelled placing his hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch. She didn't turn to him but he knew she was listening, he than said with a calm voice, "It's okay… Just calm down, I'm right here. Listen to my voice. Come back to me, Melody."

Melody took deep breaths; her eyes looked horrified as she realized what she was doing when she saw the shock and scared look on Jaune's face and everyone else's. She blinked and her eyes changed back to indian red and she let go of Jaune while her fangs just seemed to disappear. Without saying another word, or not even thinking, she shoved Qrow out of the way making him stumble slightly and she just ran into the forest; Frosty started to follow not to far behind her.

"Melody wait!" Ruby said about to go after her, but Qrow stopped her.

"I think it's best if I go talk to her." Qrow said to Ruby, "You guys just focus on getting some sleep."

"Is she going to be okay…?" Nora asked concerned.

"Only one way to find out." Qrow said as he started to walk in the direction Melody ran to. "Is there anything else that you want to tell us?" Ruby asked making him stop halfway. Soon enough, a crow landed on a tree branch; he turned to the bird as it cocked its head to the side.

"Not tonight." Qrow said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go calm down my daughter."

With that Qrow proceeded deeper within the forest, to where Melody ran to; The group was startled slightly when a log rolled out of the fire suddenly. Finally Rosario broke the silence between them as she turned to Jaune, trying to get over what happened and realizing what he said to her, "A word of advice, next time someone tells you to end an argument, you should listen."

"Oh God…" Jaune said, running his hands through his hair, "Did I really, say those things?"

"I'm afraid so." Ren said.

Jaune put his hands over his mouth, trying to calm his thoughts, regretting every word he said to her. He eventually turned to Ruby, "Ruby I'm so sorry… I didn't know what I was saying, I didn't mean to… Damn it, why didn't I shut my mouth?!"

"I know you didn't mean it." Ruby said to him, "We've just all had a rough day."

Scout soon came out from one of the tents, and finally joined the group; she was holding a few towels that were stained with red and Cristal's jacket was folded up nicely and stained with red as well. She also had three vials of some form of purple liquid, most likely from the poison. "Um…" She said awkwardly, "... Am I, interrupting anything?"

"No, you're not, don't worry." Rosario said reassured.

Ruby went over to the young Fanus Fox, "How are they?"

Scout sighed and replied while going to her bag, "Well, Roman's wound was difficult to treat, and I extracted most of the poison to make the right formula for an antidote. Unfortunately I only had enough to make one dosage, so let's hope that your uncle didn't get the same poison. The antidote should kick in overnight and he should be back to normal first thing."

"So he'll be okay?" Neo asked.

"He should be." Scout replied, getting out a pail and a wash rack from her bag, "The only thing we would have to worry about is him doing anything drastic with the wound he's got, but other than that, he should be fine."

Everyone sighed with relief at this, at the fact that Roman was out of any danger. "What about Cristal?" Jaune asked, "Is she going to be alright?"

Scout replied with her ears going droopy, "It's… It's hard to say. She took a pretty bad hit when she fought against Tyrian, and her wound had gotten infected when you guys were fighting Elise, she's already showing a high fever. I cleaned up her wounds and gave her some medicine to help with the pain, and a cooling pad to help at least bring the fever down. All we can do is wait and see I'm afraid."

Everyone had a worried expression on their faces at the sound of Cristal's condition. "I was going to go and find a river to get this blood off of their clothing and the rags, and was going to ask Melody to come with me, but…"

She looked and saw that she was indeed missing, "... It looks like she's not here. Did I miss anything?"

"Why don't you and I go and take a walk and I'll fill you in on the way?" Rosario said, putting her arm around her shoulders. She than grabbed Jaune by the hood of his jacket, "You are coming with us, blondie."

"GAH! CHOKING NOT BREATHING!" Jaune exclaimed trying to get out of her grip.

The remaining teens watched as Rosario dragged Jaune away into the forest and Scout walking beside the two of them. "Welp, he's dead." Neo said to the now small group.

---

Qrow looked walked through the forest looked to see where exactly Melody ran off to. It had always been like this for Melody when she was child. Everytime something like, that were to happen, she always ran away scared of what others would think of her when they saw her lash out the way she did. It would make kids run the other way that's for sure. If he knew his daughter, well he would know where to find her. Qrow eventually heard sounds of crying, and hiccups nearby. He turned and followed the sounds to a large tree on it's side but their was an opening in the middle of the tree; he could tell that it was a den of some kind.

He saw the little white fox, named Frosty sitting on the outside of the den, and from their Qrow knew she was in there. He approached the den, and as he kneeled down, he groaned slightly from his wound. He looked inside and there she was in a fetal position.

"I swear you haven't changed since you were a kid." Qrow said, making her flinch slightly, "Everytime you got upset, you would always find a place to hide. Only difference than you drove your Uncle crazy when you went to hide like this. Everytime that happened he ended up calling me, sometimes when I'm in the middle of the job, and it did make for some awkward conversation."

Melody shift her body slightly, making herself go deeper into the den. "Go away dad." She said with a cracked voice, "Please."

Qrow scoffed at this, "Right. Like I'm gonna leave my only kid without her weapon and in the wilderness on her own."

Melody said nothing to this, and only buried her face in her knees. "Why don't you come on out of there?" He said reaching in, "You look ridiculous."

With her good hand she smacked his own away, "Please just go… I feel it, trying to get out, trying to take over… I don't want it to hurt you…"

"Have you seen how I am?" Qrow said while giving her a "Really" look, "I took on a scorpion Fanus today and got a taste of his stinger, how much more hurt can I get?"

Melody let out a small laugh through her tears but even that didn't last long. "Well…" Qrow said as his knees touched the floor, "If your not gonna come out, I'm gonna have to come in." Before Melody could protest, Qrow had started to move into the den. With a slight groan he sat next to her, leaning back against the wall. "Not exactly cozy in here, but I've been to worse."

"Dad, stop you'll make it worse!" Melody said through her tears as she tried to push him out, though he refused to move, "Please just go! Just leave me alone!"

Qrow put his arms around her shaking body causing her to freeze up; her face staring into his chest. "I'm not going anywhere okay?" Qrow said, "Your my little girl. There's no way I would leave you alone, especially now."

"Dad, please!" Melody said as she tried to push herself off of him even going as so far as to hit his chest, "You don't know that thing like I do! It wants to hurt you, Ruby, and Yang and everyone else I care about, that's all it wants!"

Qrow gently shushed her, as he took Melody's hand to get her to stop hitting him, "It's okay, it's alright." Melody's head sank into his chest, as the tears continued to fall from her face. Qrow pulled her closer, as he brushed her hair in a comforting way, as he continued to shush her gently. For a long time they were both like this, Qrow just held onto Melody in his strong arms, as Melody herself leaned in against his embrace, as her cries started to soften. Finally he broke the silence between them, "That was Ruby's first time seeing you lose your cool like that, wasn't it?"

He saw her shift her head; nodding to him. "Did you tell her about it?" He asked.

"... And let her be scared of me… Like mom was…?" Melody said, her voice cracking slightly.

"Ruby would never be scared of you, you know that?" Qrow said.

"But you saw the way she looked at me…" She said, pushing herself out of his hug, "That's same look mom gave when I… I… My mom left you, left me because of what happened… I don't want Ruby, want the others to run away because of something I can't control…I didn't ask for a shape-shifting semblance! I sure as hell didn't ask for it to have it's own mind! I didn't ask for it, to hurt them, to hurt anyone, that talked about me like they knew my life story, that made fun of Yang and Ruby, that said awful things about Auntie Summer when she didn't come back!"

Qrow seemed to understand what she was saying as he replayed those words, "... I see now…" He said, "You aren't just out here to find my sister, aren't you?"

Melody rubbed her eyes, trying to prevent herself from crying even more, but failed to do so, "... Before, I met my team, before I was reunited with Ruby… I was doing fine. I was actually learning to control it learning where it came from… But after seeing what I was about to do Jaune, after what he said to me… I know now I can never be in control. It's like kind of like your semblance… It's always there whether I like it or not… I think, maybe I'm just better off alone."

"Wren…" Qrow said to her, calling Melody by her middle name this time, "Look at me."

Melody turned her head away, refusing to look in her father's eyes, but let his fingers go under her chin; he moved her head to look at him, "Melody Wren Branwen, listen to me very carefully. I know you want so badly to let it know that your the boss and that your the one in charge, but it's not going to help you if your out on your own like this. It's not going to help you, by being away from the people you love all the time."

"But I can't hurt anyone if I'm alone."

"That maybe true, but in the end you'd only hurt yourself, and trust me, that's never the way to do things."

Qrow wiped away her tears as she looked to her dad with her eyes bloodshot red. She turned so that she was sitting on her side in his lap, so that her head rested on his shoulder, and Qrow held her, just like that, as she still cried softly.

"You don't need to have this kind of life Wren." Qrow said, "Your just hurting yourself more and more the longer your out here. I can help you fight against it, your uncle and your cousins can help you fight against it."

"... How do you know that you can help me?"

"Because we're your family. Families never leave each other behind. Families don't let others carry the weight by themselves, and they sure as hell don't sit back and let others suffer for it. That's something your mother didn't seem to get when she ran out on us. I don't even think my own sister didn't understand that when she left Tai and your cousin."

Melody didn't say anything to Qrow, she just listen to what he had to say.

"You've got people you love back home, but the longer your out here, the more you block them out. And I know you had your reasons for not coming back or even doing so much as making visits, but messages and video chats aren't enough."

"You can't help me…" Melody said softly, "No one can…"

"Now your just talking nonsense." Qrow said, "Your friends will be able to help fight through this, and myself, Tai, Ruby and Yang will help you fight through this, but only if you let them in, if you let me in. Just know whenever your ready to tell them, we'll all be here for you."

Melody shut her eyes as she took deep breaths; more tears seemed to trail down her face at her father's words. Finally she put her arm around him and buried her face into his neck, hugging him again; Qrow returned the hug to her, despite his pain.

"I've missed you dad…" Melody said, "I've missed you so much…"

"I missed you too Melody…" Qrow said, as he placed a kiss on her head before resting his forehead against the top of her head. They both stayed like this, as Frosty curled sat outside of the den; the sounds of crickets echoed throughout the night. Qrow once again to broke the silence, "Just promise me one thing."

"What?" Melody said.

"Promise when this is all over, you'll think about going back home." He said, "You know it's not safe for you being out here, and I'm not just talking about the people around you. I know you made this promise to yourself, and Yang, but you can't keep doing this. You can't keep carrying the weight on your own; you don't have to be alone in this."

Melody was hesitant about this, but eventually nodded her head, and whispered, "... I promise."

---

Scout, Rosario and Jaune managed to find a river with clean water that Scout could wash off the blood from Cristal's torn jacket, Roman's shirt and her rags that she had used to clean up her and Roman's wound. They had filled her in about everything what Qrow had told them, and why Melody wasn't with the group.

"Wow…" Scout said as she washed off the blood on the rags, "And I thought what Cristal told us was hard to believe, but… I think that takes the cake."

"Yeah, this whole thing…" Rosario said leaning against a tree nearby, "The fall of Beacon, the Maidens, this Salem person, whoever she is… It's bigger than anyone could've imagined."

"I can see why they would keep this all a secret." Scout said, "Everyone would've lost trust in one another, and start making accusations… It would lead to nothing but blood shed."

"Never thought I'd say this even after all they did, but I'm really starting feel sorry for the White Fang." Rosario said, "Wait till they find out they're being used for a bigger game."

"All I can say is that certainly won't end well." Scout said. She took out a dirty rag from the pan, and placed it on the side, dumping the dirty water to the side before getting a new batch of water from the river. Rosario smirked at this, "Right."

She soon turned to Jaune who was sitting on a boulder with his hands in his hair. "How you holding up blondie?"

"I…" Jaune said, "I can't believe I said all of those things to her."

"You were pretty pissed I'll give you that." Rosario said to him.

"I didn't mean to say all those things." Jaune said, "I know I didn't mean it, but… I was just so angry…"

"People tend to say a lot of things when they're angry." She said, "Trust me I know."

"... What if she doesn't forgive me for this…? I saw the way she looked at me, I heard everything she said… Who am I kidding, she'll never forgive me like this."

"You never know unless you talk to her."

Jaune turned to her, "Okay, no offense but your not exactly helping."

Rosario chuckled slightly, "I know. I was never one to give a good pep talk. My brother though, he's the one better at this than me."

Jaune was left with a quizzical expression, "Your brother? You never said you had a brother."

"That's because you never asked." Rosario said. Scout looked to the two off them as she finished cleaning up Cristal's jacket and Roman's shirt. "Uhh… I should head back to camp." Scout said as she quickly stood up and quickly walked away leaving the two of them alone.

Jaune sat there silently before Rosario continued, "Did you know that he's my twin? You've most likely met him already, I mean he did attend your school, technically. Despite us being twins, we don't look much alike, but we do have a little something in common. We both lost something that we can never get back and we didn't exactly grow up in a nice household either."

Rosario gestured to her prosthetic leg, giving it a good smack, though she saw Jaune slightly confused by this which didn't surprise. "I figured that wouldn't ring a bell." Rosario said, "But come on, how many people did you know at Beacon that have the last name Black?"

Jaune was still confused by this until he realized why the name Black sounded familiar. "Mercury Black?" Jaune said shocked, "He's your brother?"

"He most definitely is." Rosario said, "Though as you can tell, even before the CCT was destroyed, we haven't been keeping tabs on one another. We just… Grew apart."

Jaune was still surprised to hear this new kind of information from Rosario. To hear that someone like Mercury even had a sister. It was a shock to him really; as if he needed to be put into more of a shock. "What… What happened?" Jaune asked.

Rosario took a deep breath and sighed, before explaining, "Mercury and I didn't exactly have a happy life like those lucky kids in Patch. We grew up in what we call a second hell. We grew up in the underworld of Remnant, and it isn't exactly a kind place especially to us kids. Our father Marcus Black, was an assassin, and I'll admit he was good at what he did. But at home, he wasn't kind to us, not since our mom passed away. She died protecting me and Mercury from a car crash; she saved our lives sure, but we both lost something that we could never get back. I lost my leg and he lost both of his. Every day, every night our father would could come home drunk, grab one of us by the hair and start kicking at one of us until we started to bleed, all because he thought it was our fault. We both ended up getting our fair amount. Hadn't it been for Mercury, my mind would've been broken. And if it hadn't been for me, he would've lost his smile. We both did as twins would do, we looked out for each other, kept one another safe. We promised each other, that one day, we would escape from him, and start our own life. A life better than the one we lived."

Jaune's eyes widened at this, "Rosario… I… I'm sorry that happened to you…"

"Why are you apologizing when it wasn't your fault?" Rosario said before continuing, "It had gotten worse for us when he forced his teachings on us. He spent what money he had from one of his job to get us new legs, and started to teach us how to fight like him. He was trying to make one of us his next assassin for when he retired or was killed on the job. Than one day, when both reached our peak in our lessons, he tells us to fight one another, and the winner, would be his successor. Unfortunately that meant one of us had to die."

"He… Was forcing the both of you to fight…?" Jaune said, surprised and shocked at this.

Rosario nodded, "Of course, I told my father, that I didn't want to kill the only brother, and he snapped at me. Mercury ended up attacking our dad first, when he came after me, and I eventually started to back him up. The fight must've lasted for hours and we both took a pretty hard hit. We even ended up destroying what little we had on our home in the process."

"... What happened?" Jaune asked.

Jaune saw Rosario bite her bottom lip, but she seemed to reply calmly, "... We ended up killing him that night. Our fathers life was first life we took, and we didn't regret doing it. But… Wouldn't you know it? We only traded that hell for another…"

"What do you mean?"

"Because the night we killed our dad, was the same night that demon lady… Cinder showed up. She told us, that, we would change the world for the better. And for a awhile I was actually stupid enough to believe her words. That is until…"

"You fought against a Maiden." Jaune finished for her.

Rosario nodded her head, "All of us fought the one called Amber, and let me tell you she was extremely powerful despite her inexperience. I honestly think she was more tough to handle than Elise. But after the fight and the dust settled, I saw what she did to her, how she stole her power. I could never forget the smile she had, as she took her own life force away. She enjoyed it, it was… Like a game to her, it was sadistic and grotesque. She had no remorse for what she did, she only displayed enjoyment through her eyes and her haunting smile. After I saw for what Cinder really was, I realized that everything than would only get worse, it was a matter of time. So… I left her faction, her inner circle, and I tried to get Mercury to come with me, but he wouldn't have it. In the end I left him behind, and not a day goes by, when I regret not trying harder."

Jaune took all of this new information in, from what Rosario had told him. He heaved a sigh and looked to her, "Do you… Have a point to telling me this?"

"I do actually." Rosario said, "People have reasons to keep these they're deepest darkest secrets from people. I kept mine because I was scared that you would hate me and think that I'm like my brother. Cristal is keeping her secrets, because well Salem would literally kill her and us. Melody has own reasons for keeping hers, and Qrow and Ozpin all the headmasters have theres. They keep it from others because they think it's the right thing to do. And sometimes they're right. Sometimes it's better for others to be kept in the dark. You had every right to be angry tonight, but… That doesn't mean you had the right to judge people for their decisions on right and wrong. Anger can give us strength, but it also tends to be our weakness; we push away the people we love and care about without knowing it, we even push away the people we trusted. By the time we realize it, it would be too late to fix things. That's exactly, what the Headmasters want to avoid."

Jaune looked to Rosario and thought about what she said. It actually did make sense the more he thought about it in his head. His rage, his anger he felt towards Qrow when they told him and his friends everything, he just felt like he couldn't trust Ruby's Uncle, the Huntsman that sat before him. He saw that's how the people would feel if they were told about this from the start. Everyone would make accusations, point fingers at the wrong people instead of the enemy who was really responsible. Now he seemed to have get the idea to why he didn't say anything from the start. Scout was right, there would be nothing but bloodshed.

"Come on." Rosario said holding her hand out to him, "We should get back to the others, and if Melody came back, you can apologize to her, if, she's not, well you know going to give you the silent treatment."

"Okay." Jaune said taking her hand, and he stood up. They turned and just when they were about to start walking back to camp, Rosario stopped in her tracks when she heard Jaune say, "Hey… Thanks."

All Rosario did was smile and wink to him as her way of saying your welcome before they went down the path they took earlier.

---

Ruby carried a bunch of firewood and tossed them into the fire. As she brushed her hands and went to her bag to get her sleeping bag she heard a groan from the tent nearby. She went to towards the tent and pushed aside the curtains and saw Roman, sitting up and rubbing his head; his hair was untied so it was hanging loosely. "Roman!" Ruby said, going inside the tent to go sit by his side, "Your awake! How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been to a party and had one too many drinks…" Roman said, as he went to crack his neck. Ruby couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this, before saying, "You scared us all half to death! We were really worried about you. We didn't know if you were going to make it after Tyrian got you with his stinger."

"That explains why my side is hurting." He said, "Did I miss anything while I was under?"

"Well… that's a really long story." Ruby said, "We'll be sure to explain it all in the morning. I'm just so happy your okay!"

Ruby threw his arms around him, and Roman groaned in agony, causing her to quickly jump back, "Oh sorry! I forgot you're injured!"

"Ow, damn it…" Roman said rubbing his side, "Did I ever tell you that you pack a punch Red?"

Ruby laughed nervously as her face turned red slightly, "Sorry, I forget my own strength sometime."

"... What happened in Oniyuri?" Roman asked, "Is everyone else alright?"

Ruby's expression changed as she looked away avoiding his gaze. Roman was quick to notice this, "Red?" He said, "What's wrong?"

Ruby took a deep breath as she replied, "... My Uncle Qrow, ended up helping us in the fight with Tyrian and the other Shadows, but before that… Cristal sort of lost it, after you passed out. She went after Tyrian, and… She was hurt real bad."

Roman's eyes widened slightly at this news, "Is she going to be alright?"

"We're… Not sure…" Ruby replied, "Scout said she took a pretty hard hit."

"Did you managed to find the people that attacked us?"

"No. We tried to look for them, but we couldn't pick up any trace of them, or where they ran off too."

Roman let out a sigh, as he ran a hand through his hair, "Damn, what a day. Is their a plus side to this?"

"I did shoot off Tyrians stinger, so that's sort of a plus." Ruby said. And Roman couldn't help but chuckle at this, "Well you know what they say, payback's a bitch." He said. Both her and him shared a laugh at that remark, figuring that they had to lighten the mood somehow. But soon the laughter ceased as Roman let out another groan, "Ah God it hurts to laugh." He said grabbing his side again.

Ruby looked to his wound, and her expression fell from her face again, at the thought of what would've become of the former thief before her. She gulped as she looked to her legs; she felt tears come to her eyes and fall from her face. "I'm… I'm sorry…" She said with her voice cracking.

"Sorry?" Roman said, before noticing that she was crying, "Hey, what's the matter?"

"... I'm so sorry… It's all my fault that this happened to you…" Ruby said, "I should've… I should've done something instead of just sitting there… I should've fought back sooner, than maybe… Maybe you could've-You could've… I'm so sorry Roman… I'm so sorry I couldn't help you…"

Roman saw Ruby bury her face in her hands, as she rubbed her eyes, to get rid of the tears only to fail. Roman reached out and patted her on the head; she froze and picked up her head to look at him, "But you did help me." He said to her, "You helped save my life today."

"But you were hurt!" Ruby said, "You could've died!"

"But I'm not, thanks to you." He said, "I think this makes it, what? The sixth, no seventh time you've saved my life, I'll be honest I lost count."

"It's all my fault this happened to you, and to Cristal…" Ruby said, "It's because of what I did that they came after me and her, they just-"

"Hey, don't do that." Roman said, "The last thing we all need right now is for you to start to blaming yourself for what happened today. You couldn't have known about them, and you couldn't have known that, we would both end up like this."

Ruby finally managed to get her tears away, but she still sniffled. "Red, it's not your fault that I ended up like this, and I don't blame you for it. I don't regret doing what I did, as long as I know the people I care about are safe than it's fine by me."

Ruby seemed to have a shocked expression on her face, before it turned into a smile, "Aw, I knew you cared."

"Don't start pushing it." Roman said to her.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle but soon she took notice of the scars on his chest and arm; some of them looked similar to what Tyrian had, but each one seemed to tell a different story altogether. She saw them as battle scars, most likely from the days when he used to steal for a living. It was something she couldn't help but wonder; how many times it had been before he almost bite the dust? How times did he almost leave Destiny alone to fend for herself? How many times, did he almost go to where Trinity was?

"Now what's the matter?" Roman asked, noticing that she was staring again.

Ruby decided to hold off on her question about Trinity, for now, and she asked him, "Do they still hurt?"

"Do what still hurt?" Roman asked.

"Your scars…" Ruby clarified, gesturing to them, "Do they still hurt?"

Roman looked to his scars that were on his arm to his shoulder connecting along to his chest. He sighed, "Sometimes they do."

"How… How did you get them?" She asked hesitating as she did.

Roman tried to sit back before groaning in pain from his wound; Ruby quickly went to his side, as she helped him to sit up. Finally he replied, "Most of these scars are reminder, from when I was kid. The rest, are from my previous jobs as a thief."

He saw the look in her eyes; she showed sympathy through her expression. She said, "... I can't believe, that all this time, all these encounters we had with each other when we were enemies, I didn't realize that you went through so much in your life. You lost your wife, Destiny's kidnapping, and what you went through when you were a kid."

Roman said to her, "... There is no way of knowing who people are Red. You can't just take one look at a person and suddenly know they're life story at the drop of a hat."

"But maybe if I had known I could've-"

"Helped me? I believe you on that one Red. But unfortunately the past just stays where it is. We can't change what we've been through and what we've done. It's just how life works. We just take a leap, and hope for the best for ourselves and for others."

"Even go as so far as to keep things from the people you love?"

Roman had said nothing to her this time, instead he just took a deep breath and heaved a sigh. He once again ran a hand through his hair, as he let his elbow rest on his knee. Finally he spoke up, "Listen Red… We've been traveling for months, since the fall of Beacon, and I know they're just things I'm not ready to talk about, since I'm not exactly one for sharing… But after all we've been through, and what I put you and the others through today… You deserve to know the truth…"

"... Okay…" Ruby said.

Roman looked to Ruby as he removed his hand from his hair; finally after a moment he-

"Roman!"

Both of them jumped slightly when Neo had suddenly entered the tent; she had a relieved look on her face when she saw that Roman was wide awake. "Oh thank God, you're alright!" Neo said, going over to him, and hugging him. "Neo?!" Both Ruby and Roman said, in complete and utter shock. In the next second Neo had pushed herself out of the hug and punched him right in the arm; her eye color switching as her expression changed to anger. Roman groaned slightly at this as Ruby's jaw dropped at what just happened.

"What the hell Neo?!" Roman said rubbing where she punched him, "I'm an injured man here!"

"It's your own fault for almost getting yourself killed!" Neo said to him, her eyes squeezing out tears, "Never scare me like that again you idiot!" He groaned again, as he rubbed his arm, "I think there's going to be a bruise later." He soon froze up when Neo through her arms around him again; He hesitantly put his arms around the girl with ice cream hair.

Ruby said to them awkwardly, "Uhh, you guys seem like your going to have a lot to talk about, I'm just going to go and check on Cristal, see if she woke up yet."

"Yeah, Red." Roman said, "Thanks for checking up on me."

"No problem." Ruby said with a smile, before leaving the tent.

Ruby went over to where Cristal was, which Senka laid beside as if to keep guard over her. Of course he didn't so much as flinch when he saw Ruby approach the tent. She heard faint coughing coming from inside, most likely due to the fever she had. Ruby stepped inside the tent, and saw Cristal laying on her side, letting out hoarse coughs. Her jacket had been removed, it had revealed the red eye on her back; bandages were seen around her shoulder and on her arm and around her head.

Ruby saw her eyes still closed shut and her face was flushed red and she was sweating from the fever. Ruby kneeled by her side, having a look of worry on her face.

"Hey there Cristal…" Ruby said, "I came by to check on you, seeing if you woke up yet but… I guess not huh?"

She heard Cristal letting out raspy breathing after the coughings stopped; Ruby waited, as if to hear a response from her but wasn't all surprise when she didn't get any. Ruby spoke up again, "I… I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can… We know about it, what you won't tell us; we know who's name you can't say. Uncle Qrow filled us in on what's really going on. And, we know Salem, is the one who put the Contract on you and the others, and that she took Destiny. I just want you to know, that, we'll do whatever we can to stop her. We'll do what we can, to free you and the others from her control, so you won't have to be afraid of her anymore, and that you can be free to do whatever you want and say what you want to say, and that rule, maybe it will go away too. We'll get Destiny back, and she can finally be with Roman, and maybe you can all be a family too."

Ruby heard her let out coughs again, and Ruby couldn't help but pat her on the back to help her out. "Well, Cristal, I hope you feel better in the morning. Good night."

Before Ruby could leave the tent she suddenly heard-

"... I'm… Sorry…"

Ruby turned back to Cristal when she heard her voice. But she saw her eyes were still closed as she moved her lips; Cristal turned on her back and that's when Ruby noticed her tears.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Cristal said as she cried, "... It's all my fault… It's all my fault…"

"Cristal?" Ruby said as she went back to her side, and tried to shake her awake, "Hey, wake up, your having a bad dream."

"... I could've…" Cristal continued to mumble, "I could've saved her… It's my fault… It's my fault she's dead…"

"Hey, get hold of yourself." Ruby said softly as she continued to shake her gently, "Your just having a nightmare okay?"

Despite this, Cristal turned her head to the side, as she said through her tears, "... She's dead because of me… I could've saved her, but her eyes... That rule… If it hadn't been for that rule… I would've been able to save her… Ruby… I'm sorry…"

Ruby's eyes widened in shock, and she stopped shaking Cristal. Those words… Those words Cristal kept repeating over and over. She remembered hearing them before, after the fall of Beacon, after she did… Whatever she did to the dragon. In fact, now that Cristal has been with them for some time, she remembered her voice before than.

"Get up!"

"Ruby… I'm sorry…"

"If you don't move now they're going to die! Get up and fight for those that are still standing!"

"Ruby… I'm sorry…"

The words echoed through Ruby, like someone was calling out to her in a cave, and Cristal continued to talk in her sleep. She looked to Cristal as she saw more tears roll down her cheek.

"It was you… It was you all along…" Ruby said not knowing if she heard her, "You helped me back at the Coliseum… And you were there when I was unconscious…I didn't realize up till now…"

"I'm sorry Ruby…" Cristal continued to say, "... I'm so sorry… Please… Please don't hate me… I'm so sorry…"

Ruby looked to Cristal, seeing her continue to cry and repeat her words; She could tell from her voice that she was scared, and she couldn't help but look to her just with solemn. She must've been wanting to tell her this, for sometime, but judging from her face, judging from her voice, she must've been so scared to tell her. Too afraid to come forward because of what she herself would think of her. It was just like the situation when Destiny first told them about Roman and her eye; she was too afraid of what she might think of her. She took Cristals hand, and put her forehead to hers, just to let her know that she was there.

"Cristal… How can I hate you, when it wasn't your fault…?"

---

-Meanwhile; Mistral, Farmland-

Both Oscar and the little one Destiny sat with her legs crossed in the air, as she watched him read a book. She tried to read along with the words in his book but still had difficulty doing so. She tilted her head back and forth, when she was stuck at one sentence; Oscar soon noticed this.

"What's the matter?" Oscar asked her.

"Well…" Destiny said looking the book, letting her body turn upside down, "... I know my dad, taught me how to read when I was like 5… But I just can't make out these words, they're just big."

"You know, you don't have to read with me." Oscar said to her.

"I know, but… Again I can't exactly touch anything when I'm like this." Destiny said turning right side up and laying on her stomach, crossing her legs as if she was laying on a bed, "And flying around, though it is fun, does tend to get boring after a while. Until I know where my body is exactly and I can return to it, I have to pass the time reading with you."

"Your one strange kid you know that?" Oscar said to her with a joking smile.

"Hey!" Destiny said, "I'm not strange, I'm just different in a good way."

"Is there really a difference between those things?"

"There is to me!"

Soon enough his Aunt called to him from downstairs, "Oscar! Supper's almost ready!"

"What are we having?" He said.

"Doesn't matter! You're eating it!"

"I never agreed to these terms!"

"It's part of the "living under my roof" contract! Read the fine print and come wash up!"

Destiny couldn't help but laugh at this, "I like your Aunt. She's really funny."

"Maybe when your get your body back I can introduce you." Oscar said, closing his book.

"I'd like that alot." Destiny said with a smile, "I think I'm going to explore the farmland some more. Just to pass the time. Enjoy your food!" With that Destiny went straight through the window and and flew off into the distance. Oscar placed his book on the side; he stood up and approached the door and-

"We have to leave."

Oscar stopped for a moment after hearing the voice from before; the voice that said it's name was Ozpin. He continued towards the door and reached for the doorknob.

"Oscar." Ozpin called out, "Oscar."

Oscar clenched his fingers turning it into a fist before moving it away from the doorknob, "... I've decided that your not real, so you might as well just give up."

"I understand your feeling." Ozpin said to him, "I went through the same panic and confusion."

Oscar turned away from the door and took the book from his bed; he went to go put it back under the shelf. "It's not real…" He said aloud, "It's not real…"

"I can assure you. You're completely sane." Ozpin said.

"First, a girl who's some kind of ghost appears to me, and now I'm talking to a voice in my head." Oscar said as started to go towards the door.

"I didn't say you were normal." He said, "I just said you were sane. There's a significant difference between-"

"Shut up!" The young boy snapped at the voice, "You think this is funny?! It's not."

Ozpin said to the young boy, "And we are in complete agreement on the matter I promise you. Believe me, I wish this weren't the case. But it's as I've told you before… Our Aura… Our souls are combined."

"... I'm done listening to you." Oscar said.

Ozpin was silent for a moment and Oscar took that as his cue to leave, but-

"Have you ever been to Haven?" Ozpin suddenly asked.

"I told you before, I'm not going." He said, "And I told you I'm done listening to you."

"Do you think you can describe the headmasters office?"

"No. Why would I know that? I've never been too-"

"Just try. Right now."

Oscar let out a sigh and shook his head, wondering why he was even doing this; He shut his eyes as he did what he was told.

"I don't know…" He said, "It's…"

He stopped himself as the images started to come through clearly in his head, "... It's autumn colored… With a mahogany desk. There's a small table with chairs in a corner. With a tea set… That I gave him…"

Oscar had a panicked expression on his face, as he put his hand to his forehead, "Why do I know that? Why did I say that? Why do I know that?!"

"Because I helped build that school." Ozpin replied, "And the tea set was gift to the man running it now."

Oscar sat on his bed and just held his head, like it could roll off at any moment, as he tried to collect his thoughts. "If you don't believe me you can look it up." Ozpin said, "If I recall your aunt has several books on Mistral downstairs. I'm certain you could find a picture in one of them."

Oscar opened his eyes, as he realized something, "That's right… I must've seen it in a book…" He let out a sigh.

"...Oscar-" Ozpin said.

"Shut up!" Oscar yelled standing up, "Stop talking to me!"

"I have grave responsibility to uphold." Ozpin said, "For the sake of Destiny's life and everyone else's we both do."

"Destiny? How do you know her?" Oscar said, "And I never agreed to anything!"

"Well, I don't exactly know her, but I was acquainted with her mother." Ozpin said, "And I know you didn't agree to anything. Neither did I at first. But you have an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?"

"Greatness, hopefully. Greatness knowing that when the world needed help, you were the one to reach out your hand. It won't come without hardship without sacrifice. But I know, that you don't want to live the rest of your life working as a farmhand in Mistral. And I know you want to help that girl. You feel like you owe that to her mother Trinity after you saw what became of her, when she was only doing what any mother would."

Oscar's eyes widened slightly at this, just shocked that Ozpin knew something like that. "Did you just decide to read my thoughts?!" He said.

"No." Ozpin replied, "Well… They're our thoughts now."

Oscar let out a groan, putting both of his hands to his skull, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He screamed. And just like that, there was silence. No response from Ozpin, just the sound of him breathing heavily, as he once again tried to collect his thoughts.

"Oscar!" He heard his Aunt yell, "Supper time! I better see clean hands!"

Oscar turned to the door, and after he calmed down, he stood up and left his room.

---

Morning came throughout the surrounding area, and the rays of the sun gone through the leafs of the trees, while the morning dew was seen on the grass. The whole group slept soundly in their sleeping bags, and those that were wounded slept in tents, except for Qrow who slept against a tree, with his daughter Melody, her head resting on his shoulder; A blanket was seen around the both of them to keep them warm for the night after the fire went out. The whole group started to wake up with a groan; they sat up and stretched all the while they let out a yawn.

"Well look at that… Morning already…" Rosario said as she fixed up her bed head; she grabbed two of her hair ties and a brush from her bag. After she combed it, she went to tie, her hair into twintails.

"Man, what a night…" Nora said, standing up from her sleeping bag.

Ren sat up, and got himself out of his sleeping bag, "We should probably get moving."

"Yeah." Jaune said sitting up as well; he said to the group, "Alright everyone, let's gather up our things."

Scout emerged from Cristal's tent, and the whole group saw that she was caring a several rags stained with something. They noticed the aroma from it as they went to plug their noses as they made a groan of disgust. Roman soon came out from his tent and caught whiff of the smell too. "Holy hell, what is that?!" He said as he stood up, groaning slightly.

"Sorry everyone." Scout said, "Cristal kind of threw up this morning, must be her body trying to get rid of the infection. I was just going to go back to the river to clean this up."

"You mean she's not better?" Ruby asked with worry.

Scout shook her head sadly, as she went to the pail and wash rack, "Unfortunately no. I would give her some pain medication to help, but I ran out of it last night."

"Don't you have any antibiotics to help her?" Neo asked.

"... I already checked everywhere in my bag and my pouch." Scout said her expression filled with slight panic, "But they must've slipped out when we were fighting Tyrian, and those other two. I'm really sorry."

Everyone in the group looked at each other with concern and worry for Cristal. They stood their in silence as they thought of what to do. "I'm really sorry guys, if I had known, I would've gone back for…"

"It's okay Scout." Jaune said, "It's not your fault."

"What's going to happen to her?" Rosario asked, "Can't she heal herself?"

"She isn't like us Rosario." Scout said, "She doesn't have any Aura to help her. Without the antibiotics, and without Aura, she could… She could…"

Scouts words trailed off, and they came to their own conclusion on what was going to happen to her. This made them worry all the more. "There's nothing more I can do for her, I'm afraid." Scout said, "Our best bet is to get her to the next town. Maybe they can help her."

"Okay." Ruby said, "Okay. We have to leave here right away, and get over there! We've gotta save Cristal! She'd do the same thing if it were any of us!"

"Right!" Jaune, Ren and Nora said.

"We'll do what we can." Roman said and Neo nodded with him.

"At least things can't get any worse, right?" Rosario said with a shrug. But just as this was said, they heard Melody yell, "SCOUT! SCOUT COME QUICK! IT'S MY DAD!"

The group turned to Melody, and they finally noticed that Qrow was coughing; Scout quickly pushed her way through the small group and Ruby followed, and went over to the Huntsman. "What happened!?" Scout asked.

"I don't know!" Melody said, "He just started coughing!"

Scout soon lightly gasped when she saw, a purple liquid on Qrow's wound and Melody's hoodie. "Uncle Qrow!" Ruby called out as she got closer to her uncle. Scout acted fast and stopped Ruby in her tracks, "Wait, wait stop! Stop!" She said, before telling Melody, "Melody get away from him, and take off your hoodie, now!"

"What!? Why?!" Melody said with panic in her voice.

"Just do it! Hurry!" Scout said.

Melody was hesitant, but she pushed herself away from her dad as he continued to cough. She quickly removed her makeshift cast and took off her hoodie, despite the pain, revealing her blue t-shirt with black sleeves under it. Finally after moments, Qrow removed his hand from his wound and went to wipe his mouth and that's when he saw the purple liquid. The group saw this too, and their eyes widened in horror; Ruby and Melody gasped in horror.

Qrow looked at his hand and turned to the group. "Well…" He said turning to Ruby and Melody, "... That's unfortunate…"

And just like that, his vision turned dark and the last thing he heard was his niece and daughter calling out to him.

(Ending Theme: I'm Waiting For The Rain TV Sized Performed By Maaya Sakamoto)