*On the way into Port's Cabbage Shop, Ozpin spotted a short man, who wore a round fur hat, sitting on the sidewalk with a bucket next to him. Written on the bucket were the words 'I'll work for food'. For a second, Ozpin stopped and stared. The man's gaze was on the ground. A tear fell from one eye and hit the pavement.

A harsh pity gripped Oz's heart, and he stepped forward and dropped a coin in the bucket without a word. The man didn't even look up. When Ozpin walked into the shop, the man looked into the bucket at the coin and grinned with gratitude.**

*Port's Cabbage Shop had nothing particularly special. Nothing but cabbages lined the shelves. Some were organic and others were not, some were green and some were purple. One head of cabbage caught Ozpin's eye. It was a red one.

"Ah, a customer! How may I help you today?" A large hearty man asked at the counter. He had eyes that seemed to glow bright with anticipation, and he had a large round gray beard that seemed to jiggle every time he moved. Perplexed, Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

"I'm here to see your grandson Peter. Is he here?" He asked.

"Ah, of course! Peter is expecting you!"

"That was the idea, sir," Ozpin remarked.

"Hold on just one second, I'll go get him," Port said. He then disappeared behind a curtained doorway. Ozpin heard muttering for a moment before Port came back, this time with a young man that Ozpin couldn't help but admit looked rather dashing. He had a black moustache with the ends curled up and over. He looked as giddy as his grandfather.

"Ozpin, what a pleasant surprise."

"Peter, good to see you," Oz said, deciding not to mention that Peter had been expecting him.

"Let's go talk in the back room. There are some cabbages I'm chopping up for later," Peter said.

Ozpin questioned Port's own discretion as he watched Peter chop cabbage on a chopping block with an axe, in a large room behind the shop. Every time Oz opened his mouth to speak, Peter would bring the axe down again, splitting yet another cabbage cleanly in half.

"So, Peter…"

Chop!

"So this is what you…"

Chop!

"…Do?

…

Chop!

"Oh yes," Peter finally said, "my grandfather always likes to have his cabbage salad to go with his dinner, regardless of what the main course is."

"And I'm guessing you have your salad too," Ozpin said.

Chop!

"Of course. It is a tradition."

"Tradition?"

Peter sighed and finally set the axe down and faced Oz.

"In this city, you have to have your traditions like these to keep yourself optimistic."

"I think I might have a way of helping you," Ozpin said.

"Really? What's that?"

"I've been getting a few friends together to train at the abandoned fortress. I'm help them unlock their Aura and discover their Semblance."

"But if I'm not mistaken, even you don't know your own Semblance do you?" Peter asked.

Oz raised an eyebrow. "I never said that."

"Thank you for the offer, but my grandfather would want me to stay here. Besides, I have so many memories in here."

Oz looked around at the sliced cabbage scattered across the floor and stared up at the flickering light in the ceiling. A fly flew into the light and fell to the floor, its wings viciously twitching.

"You make it sound as though you had your first kiss here or something," he commented.

"With this?" Peter asked pointing to his moustache, "How could I have not?"

Oz chuckled. "Very well then. If you say so. But I'll be around if you change your mind. Just come to the fortress when you feel ready."**

*Theodora watched Ozpin leave the shop. Now it was her chance to go in. Waiting until after Oz was well out of eyesight, she slipped into Port's shop and walked up to the large, plump man at the counter.

"Welcome to Port's Cabbage Shop, how may I help you young lady?" The man asked. Theodora put one hand on her hip.

"I want to buy the red cabbage," she said, gesturing to the head of scarlet cabbage on the shelf to the right. The man raised an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid that it's only there for display. It's being reserved for someone else who has already payed for it," he admitted. Theodora put her hands on the counter and leaned forward so that her face was just inches from Port's.

"It's not his anymore. It's mine!" Theodora shrieked, her quickly turning sharp and loud. Port stepped back out of fear, adjusting the tie on his shirt.

"Now let's be reasonable dearie. I'm sure we can negotiate something…"

"There will be no negotiating," Theodora said. She then reached up, took the red cabbage, and began walking out.

"Now hold on just a minute! I will call the police on you for this!" Port yelled after her. Theodora stopped in her tracks and smiled.

"You won't. Because you won't remember who I am," she said. From her belt, she produced a small dagger that sparkled with mint-green dust and flung it at Port.**

*When Ozpin reached the large front doors of the fortress, he heard an anxious scuffling that forced him to turn around. There was nothing. A soft wind rustled Oz's silver hair.

"Hmm," he wondered aloud. He turned back around to the doors and pushed them open. Inside, in the large chamber that he and Glynda had become so fond of, James had his own lab set up on one side near the stage. Ozpin frowned when he saw James and Glynda engaged in a conversation that had Glynda laughing every ten seconds. He wasn't sure if he should feel happy for them or…

Another sound. Ozpin turned around.

Standing hunched over behind him was the short man he had seen right by Port's shop. He was clutching his bucket against his chest as if he was afraid Oz will take it from him.

"You followed me all the way here? I assume you sneaked onto my ship then," Oz said. The man nodded, acting embarrassed that he did.

"What's your name?"

"Jasper," the man whispered.

"And what is it that you want, Jasper?"

Jasper tilted the bucket forward, showing Oz the coin inside. "I guess…I guess…I just wanted—"

"To say 'thank you'?"

"Yeah. No one—no one has ever actually given me money before. I'm going to keep this coin to—to remember what you did."

Ozpin was moved by this, but also intrigued that Jasper would follow him all the way to the fortress just to tell him this. Surely there was something else.

Before Oz could say another word, his phone made a beeping sound that signaled an incoming call. Oz looked at the party avatar of Peter on it.

"Hello?"

"Oz, come quickly! My grandfather was attacked and he can't remember who did this," Peter's frantic voice replied. Oz's eyes narrowed.

"I'll be right there," he promised. He looked at Jasper, almost feeling sorry that he had to leave him.

"I have to go. I'll take you back to the city," he said.**

*Ozpin looked down at Peter's grandfather spread out on the gurney. He was in a deep sleep and his breathing was uneven. Peter stayed behind, his back against the wall and his arms folded.

"So you weren't there when it happened?" Ozpin asked.

"No. I was in the back room, I didn't know anything until I called for my grandfather. He didn't answer so I came to the front and saw him lying unconscious on the floor."

"And the doctors are saying that the dagger didn't cause any damage?"

"Yes. They detected a small amount of green dust particles that had been transported into his bloodstream. They recognized it as a memory loss agent. My grandfather had forgotten who attacked him."

"Was anything taken?" Oz started typing notes on his phone. Each letter he tapped made a clicking sound.

"Yes. A red cabbage."

Ozpin remembered it fondly. It was the only red cabbage on a shelf in the shop and was the last one on the far end too.

"What would anyone want to do with a red cabbage?"

"I don't know. It's not like it's any more or less tastier than the others. I don't understand," Peter said. Oz sighed and pressed the back of his hand to his aching forehead.

"I don't think any of us understand, but I'll figure this out," he said. Peter stepped up beside him.

"You mean we will figure this out."

"Don't you want to stay with your grandfather?"

"He'll live. I think he would want me to not worry about him," Peter said. Oz understood. Besides, maybe this investigation could possibly change Peter's mind about what he wanted to do.

Ozpin didn't consider himself as one to manipulate others, but he really wanted to try this time.**

*No matter how hard James tried to work, he couldn't stop looking up at Glynda as she read on the stage in the chamber. She was reading The Third Crusade, a classic that only had a few existing copies in the world. Very few bookstores carried it, even some of the biggest ones.

Glynda had her legs crossed and she squinted as she tried to read the words.

"Having trouble reading?" James finally asked. Glynda nodded.

"A little. My eyesight isn't the best."

"Have you thought of glasses?"

"Ha ha," Glynda mocked. "What a great idea." She finally closed the book and put it down on her lap.

"I'm just happy to have my own copy of this book. It's one of the greatest tales ever written, yet not a lot of people have gotten to read it."

"My father read it to me when I was younger. It used to be the story that I would beg him to read over and over again."

"I take it he grew sick and tired of it?"

"On the contrary, he couldn't get enough of it. What point have you gotten to?" James asked. Glynda picked up the book and flipped to the right page.

"When Aero's father gave him the coat of many colors. It's meant as a symbol for unity."

"Unity, yes. The call to unite all people, regardless of how different they are," James said.

Glynda looked down at the shirt she was wearing. It was the same one that her sister Theodora had given her. It was just one color.

"It's not that I want to represent unity by wearing a coat with many colors on it, but I want to represent unity somehow," she confessed. James seized the opportunity to walk over to Glynda's side and place a hand on her leg.

"Your determination to be a beacon to others is admirable, Glynda. Ozpin would be proud."

"Ozpin is more concerned about his own troubles. He gives very little thought to the discrimination that has run rampant in Vale."

"Have faith in him. I believe he knows what he's doing," James assured her.**

*Ozpin watched several Faunus' standing outside on the side of the road with picket signs all saying 'Equality for the Faunus!'. He wasn't sure how he felt about this. Was the discrimination really that bad? He knew that it was somehow difficult for humans to fully accept the Faunus race, but what was he supposed to do about it? He was trying to do something different. He was trying to resurrect the culture of huntsmen and huntresses, and he felt that trying to recruit Faunus's was a risky move. He would be hated by everyone else that hated the Faunus race.

"So where do you think we should go for some answers?" Peter asked next to him.

"Go for answers? Where are we supposed to go? That's a question that can't be answered just like that Peter. It requires some soul-searching first, some…"

"I meant how are going to figure out the mystery behind the missing cabbage."

"Oh. Right. Sorry. In that case, there may be one place to try. And I don't like the idea of seeing him again."**

* On the shadier side of Vale was a large night club. Stepping inside from the quiet dark outside slapped Oz hard in the face. He raised an eyebrow at the disco hovering on the ceiling over one of the largest dance floors he's ever seen. Multiple colors of red, white, black, and yellow danced around the floor. The music from the DJ was cranked up loud enough to make Oz's ears vibrate.

"I may fall, but not like this, it won't be by your hand…"

Standing at the counter adjusting his tie was Collus Torchwick. Oz felt it was too soon to see the scum again.

"What do you want? Answer me now, or I'll call my men to throw you out," Collus warned. Oz waved his hand in dismissal.

"So have them do it, after you answer my questions," he said.

Collus crossed his arms. "I'm listening."

"A red cabbage was taken from Port's Cabbage Shop. I want to know if you know anything about that."

"What would I want with a red cabbage?" Collus asked.

"Precisely. But knowing you, you would probably find some use with it," Oz replied. Collus slammed his fist down on the counter, spilling his strawberry sunrise.

"You don't know me kid, we met once."

"I know that you go into the forest and take crystals for your own use. What do you do? Put them in your drinks?"

"That's no concern of yours. Get out before I have your men take you."

Ozpin sighed. "Very well then." He turned around and looked up at the spinning disco.

"The colors from the disco seem to be a little heavy on the red don't you think?"

Without warning anyone, Oz took up his old plasma gun and fired a blast at the disco ball. The ball fell off the ceiling and hit the ground with a painful smashing noise that halted everything in the room. Among the broken pieces of the disco ball was a red cabbage.

"I know nothing about that, I swear!" Collus said, his face streaked with sweat. Oz twirled the gun in his hand and slipped it back into his holster.

"Right, so you're telling me that the red cabbage just magically transported itself into the disco ball," he said.

"Well that's a more logical theory than me taking it," Collus pointed out. Ozpin shook his head, irritated. He was beginning to lose his patience.

"So you're accusing me?" Collus yelled. Ozpin didn't answer. He didn't have to. Enraged, Collus picked up his spilled glass, tapping on the side of it twice to have it transform into a glass bat. He swung it and it smashed into Oz, sending him flying across the floor. Blood-red emergency lights had flickered on, allowing Oz to see everything in red which fit the pain he was in.

He sat up, dusting the glass off of him like it was nothing, but the pain was terrible. Several pieces of broken glass were embedded in his flesh.

He saw Peter take a small box out of his pocket, which then transformed into a trumpet. A plasma blast erupted from the mouth of it and smashed into Collus. Several of his bodyguards leaped after Peter with their own long red swords. Peter pressed a button on his trumpet for it to extend so that he had a better grip. He swung the trumpet in the face of one guard, sending it flying away and skidding across the ground. The other guard attempted to stab for Peter's neck, which he easily sidestepped. He blew the trumpet and another plasma blast exploded out and hit the guard at close range. The guard staggered backwards but kept his footing intact, intent on knocking Peter out.

Fear shot through Oz's spine as he felt himself get picked up by rough large arms from behind. Ozpin whirled around and kicked the attacker straight in the chest. The man barely moved. He was heavy-set, with thick, sleeveless arms that had buldging veins.

"Uh oh," Oz muttered. The man lashed out at Ozpin, swinging one giant arm at his head, which Oz ducked away from. He attempted to trip the man with both legs, but the man managed to leap over Oz's legs. He then grabbed Oz by the throat and thrusted his whole body across the dance floor. His head slammed into Peter's legs, launching Peter off his feet and sending him crashing down on top of Oz.

Determined not to be humiliated, Oz reached out and took the red cabbage that was sitting close by. The heavy-set man came after them to finish them off.

Ozpin threw the cabbage at his head. The attacker got stunned long enough for Oz to push Peter off of him, get up, and aim his plasma gun at him.

"Don't let him scare you! Finish him!" Collus screamed. The large bodyguard unsheathed his own red sword, leaped up, and attempted to swing the blade in a straight downward arc at Oz's head.

Before Oz could react, Peter got in front of him with his trumpet, and the scarlet blade clashed with the trumpet. The head of the trumpet turned so that the guard was staring into it.

Bam!

The guard was taken off his feet by the plasma blast and he collapsed onto his back. Ozpin got up and dusted himself off, grimacing as he did. He picked up the red cabbage.

"You're responsible for this. Tell us the truth," Oz demanded. His patience had run horribly thin. Why wouldn't the coward just confess what he had done? What would he want with the red cabbage?

"I swear on the life of my son Roman, I did not take the red cabbage. There's no reason why I would want it!" Collus screamed. Oz stepped back, gripping his plasma gun tighter just in case.

"I think he's telling the truth, Oz. I don't think we're going to be able to get anything out of him," Peter admitted. Oz's eyes narrowed. How could he trust Collus? Collus took dust and crystals from the forest for his own personal uses.

"You haven't seen the last of me," Ozpin finally said. He then turned and walked away. He hoped he would never have to go into the night club again.

"Oh, and I'm not paying for that disco ball," Oz commented before stepping out.**

*Ozpin watched Glynda read The Third Crusade back at the 'happy place'. James had left to get some much needed sleep back at his place in the basement of The Witch's Apple. After offering one more time to Peter to join him, Peter turned his offer down again. He wasn't at all ready to leave his grandfather.

Oz couldn't argue with him. He wasn't going to take him away from the only family he had left.

In the meantime, he and his own parents were as much family as Glynda was going to have.

An idea then came to Ozpin's mind.

"Glynda," he finally spoke. The young woman looked up from her book.

"Come here," he said. Glynda put down her book and came over to Oz, with eyes that might as well just be question marks on her face.

"Give me your hand," Oz offered, holding out his hand. Glynda stared at it like it was an animal she wasn't sure she wanted to pet. She finally took it.

"Now the other one," Oz continued, holding out his other hand.

"Ozpin?"

"It's okay, Glynda. These don't bite," Oz replied, winking. Glynda smirked and took hold of his other hand.

"The events today gave me an idea. I was at a night club on a dance floor," he said.

"Dancing?" Glynda asked.

"No. Fighting," Oz admitted. The sound of Glynda's laughter in response to his answer made Oz's heart soften a bit. Just a bit, but it was enough.

"If you think about it, dancing is not that different from fighting. Consider this a new training assignment. Would you like to dance, Glynda Goodwitch?" He asked.

"I would love to dance," Glynda replied, her voice barely above a whisper. They then began to sway back and forth, then move one foot in one direction together.

Step back, side-step, step forward, step back…

Oz loved every second of it.

"Just focus. Focus on your movement. Play it nice and smooth. Don't get nervous," Ozpin commented.

"I know," Glynda replied. The dance continued. It started out slow, then began to gradually grow faster and faster.**

*Underneath a spare disco ball Collus had for the night club, Theodora and Roman Torchwick danced.

"Rumors will spread. My dad's image will start to cripple," Roman said. Theodora chuckled.

"And you will eventually be rid of him."

"It just takes…"

"One small step at a time," Theodora and Roman both finished.**

AN: There will be more of Jasper in future stories. He's very important for the story. Hope you guys are liking this so far!