Cieryl sat on a bench watching the snow fall. Before him, Ruby and Yang were building a snowman while Jaune sat against a nearby tree. Yang's belly was starting to show more now,
and Ruby kept teasing her. Cieryl chuckled quietly as Glynda came and sat next to him. She sipped from a mug, and smiled.
"It's nice to be able to relax for awhile, isn't it?" she said, smiling at Cieryl.
"Indeed it is. How are you, by the way? Now that Beacon is back up and repaired, classes should be resuming soon, right?"
"Yeah, they start next week. Miss Xiao Long is being excused from physical training though, for obvious reasons... Mister Arc..." she said menacingly, making the blonde boy jump and blush.
"He's a good kid. A little bit of a dork, but his heart's in the right place." Cieryl replied.
Cieryl's scroll beeped and he looked down. He pulled it out, and upon reading the message, his face fell. Glynda looked at him curiously. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked him worriedly.
Cieryl took a deep breath, and cracked his neck. "Foreverfall... has been spotted." he stood up suddenly.
Glynda looked at him sternly. "You aren't going alone. I won't allow it. You're too important to m-" she cut off, and turned her head as she blushed. "To us. You're too important to us."
Cieryl smiled at her blush and pretended not to notice. "I won't. I'll wait for a team. I might take RWBY with me. I'm sure Ruby might find peace in the death of the beast that took her mom away from her."
"If you do, please be cautious. I don't need to lose more students." she told him
"You know I won't let that happen, Glynda." As they talked, Neo, Blake, and Weiss came from behind them, clearly hiding someone behind them. Neo skipped ahead and tugged on Ruby's cape and Ruby turned. "We have a surprise for you, Ruby." Blake said quietly. Her and Weiss stepped aside, and a young girl with orange hair and a familiar crooked pink bow stood before her.
"PENNY!" Ruby squealed
"Salutat-" She was cut off as Ruby tackled her. Penny overbalanced and fell over and they all roared with laughter
"Don't ever scare me like that again, Penny!" Ruby said, hugging her friend. Cieryl and Glynda laughed heartily and walked back inside. Her scroll plipped and she checked it quickly.
"Well, I have a fourth year team ready to deploy with you. I'm having them head to my office now. I'm going with you as well. No arguements" she added as Cieryl opened his mouth in protest. They headed through the halls, making a beeline for Glynda's office. She kept glancing at Cieryl, but he was too oblivious to notice. They walked through the solid oak doors to her office and a group of four stood in front of her desk. Most notably was the mechanical behemoth standing at the center. On second glance, Cieryl realized it was in fact a giant mechanized suit of power armor. The face plate opened up to reveal a boy in a small chamber inside, with jet black hair, and teal eyes. as Cieryl watched, he flipped toggles and grabbed a handle next to him, which moved the arm forward to shake the ancient hunter's hand.
"I am Roy Veridian. Mechanical Miracle Worker." The boy said. Cieryl's jaw dropped as the full size of the armor loomed over him. The suit was easily 10 feet tall, respectively.
"Roy here is a certified genius and quite the engineer, as you can see" Glynda explained. Cieryl then noticed the tiny girl sitting on Roy's armoed shoulder, swinging her legs childishly.
She giggled happily as she piped in
"I'm Becca! Becca Stone!" She said happily. She was by far the smallest. She was about half Cieryl's size. A young red haired woman stood next to Roy, holding his armored hand.
She wore a black body suit, with black combat armor. Her hair was pinned up in a bun with chopsticks holding it in place. She had bright gold eyes and little cat ears poked out of the top of her head, and her tail flicked behind her.
"I'm Aries Blackwood! Pleased to meetcha!" She said, bowing.
Next to them, a young Asian man sat cross legged, a staff on his back. Cieryl noted the head of the staff had an orb of light glowing at the end, and the colors were changing contantly.
"Hiero Grey" he said quietly. Cieryl noticed immediately that his eyes were closed.
"He's blind." Becca explained, following his gaze.
"My semblance is that I can alter my atomic structure to match any natural element. As such, I feel the vibrations of the elements, allowing me to feel the world around me. It's not quite the same as seeing, but it works just as well." He explained.
Cieryl nodded. "I hope you all are ready. This is an Omega-class Grimm we are dealing with. Foreverfall is the mother of all Nevermore, and it will die by our hand." Glynda patted his back.
"Are you alright?" She asked him, concerned
"I've hunted this beast for 13 years. It's been my life goal to kill it all throughout that time. This is the big moment. Once this is finished, I don't know what to look forward to." Cieryl replied grimly
"Maybe..." Glynda said, bushing once more "Maybe there's someone you fancy? Someone you can... settle down with?" Cieryl smiled
"I don't know..." Cieryl said thoughtfully, once again pretending not to notice her blush. With that, Glynda grabbed a microphone and announced throughout the school:
"Team RWBY, please report to my office immediately" She set the microphone down, and sat, waiting for a moment. Penny came bursting through the door, a giggling Ruby on her back.
Yang, Blake, and Weiss walked in slowly behind her, Yang softly rubbing her belly.
"What's up, Professor Goodwitch?" They asked in unison.
"Well girls," Glynda said "We're hunting Foreverfall. You lot are coming with us." RWBY looked at her in confusion, having never heard the name.
"Ruby..." Cieryl said softly "It's time we avenged your mother..."