The teams reconvened back at Beacon. Teams RWBY and FLLN headed back to their dorms, while Shayne and the rest of SHDE went to Ozpin's office.
Shayne went inside alone.
"Professor, the threat to the students has been dealt with; I am making every effort to track down the others in regards to what they planned on doing with my Grimm"
"Good to hear" Shayne turned on his heels, "Before you go Shayne, I have something for you" Ozpin produced a box from behind his desk.
Shayne peered inside as it was placed on the table;
"Professor, what is this?"
"This is what your Uncle and Grandfather left for you in their wills, you'd best take it back to your dorm before going through it" Shayne nodded and picked up the large box.
Dundra helped Shayne carry the box back to the dorm; the twins were back so they weren't surprised that the door was unlocked. Eddi went and made coffee as Hanna went to talk to Ashe about some homework.
"I don't get it Dundra, how do they carry on normally after what happened not an hour ago?"
"Hanna is used to this kind of thing and Ed's an ex-bounty hunter like the twins, so this is second nature for them. Don't worry bud, I'm in the same boat as you, my adrenaline is still pumping" Dundra said, clapping Shayne on the shoulder.
Shayne turned his attention to the large box on the coffee table; it was mostly personal effects of his Uncle, clothes and other fabric wares that his Grandmother had made (Shayne's Grandfather never have got rid of them), some photos of the family and some envelopes. There were some smaller boxes inside with labels on, just names, nothing descriptive; one read Lina, in his Uncles definite, swirling, handwriting. Shayne raised an eyebrow at this, but turned his attention to the envelopes.
The first one was from his grandfather;
'Shayne, by reading this I know that I have passed, so I'll make this brief. When your father brought home your mother she made an impression on us as a family that would never fade, so when they both declared that they were joining up to fight in the war, your grandmother pleaded for them to reconsider, they didn't heed her words and went anyway.
For the longest time after they didn't return once the war was over, we both grieved at their loss, you were just a baby at the time. When you were two, we received a letter addressed to you; we recognised the handwriting, so we never showed it to you. Especially after the letter we had received days earlier, it was from your mother. It told of how your father had died and she had been imprisoned in Mistral.
I tell you this now as you deserve to know the truth, your mother still lives and wants to see you, the letter she sent you is among the items before you, it is up to you what you do, just know, that whatever you choose to do, that your father would have been proud.'
Shayne was tearing up, he picked up the second letter and went to the window, 'After all this time, do I really want to know what my mother has to say?' Shayne thought looking out over Vale.
Lina walked in and saw that Shayne was upset by something and went over to him;
"Shayne, whatever it is that's bothering you, you know that you can tell us" 'if not them, then me definitely'
Shayne's head dropped and he leant against the windowsill.
"In the large box on the table, is a smaller box with your name on it" Lina blinked in surprise, "It's part of the Wills of my Grandfather and Uncle"
Lina went over and took out her box, she sat down on the bed near to Shayne, Hanna and Ashe peered over her shoulders to see what was inside. It was a Burn Dust crystal, carved perfectly into a rosebud and set into a gold pendant. Lina's hands covered her mouth at its beauty, as did Hanna's and Ashe's.
"Shayne, it's beautiful but I don't understand"
"Well my grandfather did always consider you family, and the fact that you looked like my grandmother to him only reinforced his fondness of you"
"I wish I'd met him, it looks like it'd be worth a fortune" Ashe said enviously
"Now if you'll all excuse me, I wish to read this in private" Shayne said holding up the letter and walking out.
He walked for a long time lost in his thoughts; he decided to head into Vale and find a quiet corner of a café to read it.
He ordered a coffee and used his knife to open the letter;
'Shayne, I know that your Uncle and Grandparents will keep this from you until they die, by reading this they must be dead, so I'll be quick to save you even more grief. Undoubtedly they will have told you about your parents and how they went to fight in the war, well only your father died.
You are reading this correctly, your mother lives on and it is this reason that I'm writing to you now. Shayne I am alive.' Shayne couldn't believe it, his mother was alive, he had no idea where she was or if that was still the case, but he kept reading nonetheless.
'After your father died in my arms, I couldn't go back to Managerie, I didn't want to face your grandparents, not out of fear or shame; I just didn't want to let them see me cry. So instead I went to Mistral, where I started a store selling various herbal medicines, just between you and me not all of them were purely medicinal, anyway I'm getting off topic.
The address is overleaf, if you don't want to see me after so long I'll understand but the least you could do is write to me and let me know that you're okay.'
Shayne was dumbstruck, he looked up the address on his Scroll, and sure enough there was an herbal remedy store at that address. He finished his drink and paid before heading back to Beacon, the letter still buzzing around his thoughts.
He stepped into his dorm to a very different scene to the one he had left; Lina and Hanna were at each other's throats shouting at the top of their lungs, Dundra was trying to calm the situation, Ashe and Vossler watched from across the room. Lina, Hanna and Dundra paid him no attention as he crossed the room.
"What's going on?" Shayne asked Vossler
"All I asked was if Lina and you being together made Hanna feel left out, with Dundra being with Eddi and all"
"Well that wasn't well thought out, although I suppose you were never told" Eddi said wandering over to the more sensible conversation
"Told what?" Vossler asked
"That this had already been laid to rest, or so we'd thought. Hanna had a thing for Shayne at the start of the year, things happened and her adoration for him grew. So when Lina came back into his life, he fell back in love with her, leaving Hanna in the lurch about the whole thing"
"That would probably have been handy information to have earlier"
"I'm sorry, I completely forgot about it, we'd put it behind us and didn't think about you two"
"Personally, I don't really care, Ashe brought it up" she punched her brother on the arm
"Well I'd better go diffuse the situation before it escalates" as he said the words Hanna tackled Lina to the ground
"Too late now" Ashe said sipping her drink
Shayne stood up and hauled Hanna off of Lina, Dundra took hold of her arms as Lina got to her feet.
"Now, could we all calm down and talk like adults please" Shayne said loudly
"Shayne, I thought I was okay with this but I'm not. I'm not comfortable with her staying here all the time"
"Hanna, you're with Yang now, this really shouldn't matter anymore"
"I know but I have this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something is wrong, I just don't know what"
"Hanna you just need to cool off, why don't you take a walk" she nodded not taking her eyes off Lina.
When she left, Shayne looked at Lina, Hanna had done a number on her, he lip was cut in a couple of places and her left eye, her hazel one, was bruised. Shayne watched as her Aura cleared the minor injuries up, leaving her as she had always been, unblemished and beautiful.
"Shayne, I think she has a point, it hasn't felt right since the start of term and I don't know why"
"I haven't felt anything, have you Dundra" he shook his head, "What about you Eddi"
"No I haven't felt anything"
"Maybe Hanna and I should spend some more time getting to know one another"
"That sounds like a good idea; you should be able to catch up with her if you leave now"
She sprinted out the door to catch up with Hanna. They spent the entire afternoon with each other, Shayne caught Lina's thoughts through their mental link, and they had a lot in common.
They got back late, smiling and laughing as good friends should.
"Well it seems that you two have bonded" Shayne said quietly as they crept in so as to not wake the others
"Yeah, were okay now, we just needed to find some common ground"
"And by the way, what's this I hear about you getting chased around campus by a group of girls at the beginning of the year. That had better have stopped or we are going to have a serious chat" Lina said resting her hands on her hips.
Shayne smiled, they were back to normal.
They all went to bed, Shayne was the last to fall asleep, he had too much on his mind, the letter still plagued his mind, did he want to know about his mother, or should he leave it in the past. She did leave him almost twenty years ago now, he was unsure so he decided to leave it until the morning, when he would tell the others about it.
The morning passed quickly, Shayne had forgotten to tell his team about the letter, they had been too busy trying to get to class on time. Shayne couldn't concentrate as the second he sat down his head buzzed around the letters he had read the day before.
He didn't realise that he was being spoken to;
"Shayne, are you even listening to me?" Lina said leaning into his line of sight
"What? Oh sorry, I was thinking about something else, what were you saying?"
"Uurgh, it doesn't matter now"
They sat in silence for a while, before Nora came crashing into the cafeteria;
"Hey guys, have I got some news for you"
"Nora, sit down and stop making a scene" Ren said grabbing her wrist and pulling her down onto the bench
"Now, what is this 'news' you have for us"
"Well, I was walking past Ozpin's office earlier and I overheard part of a conversation between him and some woman"
"What did you hear?" Yang asked
"Something about an open teaching position, he called her an old friend; he didn't sound very sincere about it, more like he was unsure if she was welcome here"
Shayne was lost in his thoughts as Nora rambled on, he couldn't bring himself to talk about the letter, not in front of all these people, and he changed his mind, he decided to tell them individually. Lina could see him concentrating hard on something and got his attention;
"Hey, Shayne, can I talk to you, in private" Shayne nodded and followed her out into the midday air and sat next to her on a bench, the sun danced through the trees.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"Shayne, I can see that something is upsetting you, you haven't looked me in the eye all day, what's bothering you?"
Shayne's head dropped, 'well I suppose this is a good a time as any other'
"In that box yesterday, I got two letters, one from my grandfather"
"Yeah I saw that on the table after you stepped out, I put it back in the envelope before someone read it by accident"
"Thanks, it was sort of private" she smiled as he looked at her, she caught his eye, before she could read anything he turned away.
"Shayne…please….just talk to me" she said almost crying, she hated seeing him this way, it was the same when his grandfather died, and when he buried his Uncle.
*sigh*"Lina, you remember when we met, I told you that my parents had both died in the war" she nodded.
"Well, it seems that I was misinformed, there was a letter was from my mother, and the one from my grandfather said that it had come a few weeks after they had gone off to fight. She's alive in Mistral, and I don't know what to do" he looked up and she embraced him, he pulled away;
"Should I go see her after all this time, I mean I was fine with not knowing until now, but I just don't know anymore, what if she's nothing like I imagined her"
"Shayne I don't know what to tell you, when we were re-united and I found out what my mother had done, I needed to confront her about it, because that's just the kind person I am. I'll think no less of you for not wanting to find out why she hasn't tried to get in touch with you in all this time"
"That's it then, I'm going to Mistral"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, I need to do this on my own, and you need to keep up with the school work" she grimaced at the thought
"Don't remind me, I've already got three essays due in a couple of days, so when are you going?"
"I'll have to go talk to Ozpin; I may have to wait until the weekend"
"Well, that gives you time to tell the others, so even if you can go early why don't you stay and tell them the situation"
Shayne stood up, and she followed him to their next class. The rest of the day passed with Shayne concentrating more on his work, since talking to Lina had eased his mind over the issue with the letter. On the way to his final class of the day, he saw her, the woman from the warehouse, 'What's she doing here' he watched her pass by, she smiled at him, her golden eyes burning into him. He almost bumped into Ozpin;
"Oh, sorry professor I didn't see you there" Shayne said straightening himself up
"That's quite alright Shayne, I see something caught your attention about our new member of staff" his face turned stony as he watched her turn the corner
"Professor, I was going to come see you later, but as you're here can I ask you something?"
"Of course, what's on your mind?"
"In that box you gave me the other day, there was two letters, one from my grandfather and the other was from my mother"
"I see, in case you're wondering, no, I don't know why you weren't told that your mother was alive"
"That's okay, the reason I wanted to talk to you is that I want to go and see her, she's in Mistral and I know the address of her store…"
"You want to know if you can go. Shayne I'm afraid that I can't let you go until this weekend"
"I understand, well I'd better get to class. Oh before I go, what is she going to teach?" he said motioning behind him
"That's for her to decide, she hasn't really told me what her expertise is in, why do you ask?"
"It's just that I've seen her before, in the warehouse when I went with Adam" Ozpin's face hardened
"Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Shayne, I will look into it" Shayne took his leave and arrived late to class, he didn't care, he was more concerned with the fact that Ozpin was lying to him.
His mind was on the weekend, he was focused on his parents, and he had laid the last memories he had of them, to rest with his Grandfather. He was still unsure on how he would tell his team.