When Glynda returned to the rooms she shared with Ozpin, he was already in bed reading. He lifted his gaze from his book, smooth and calm. "I thought you might spend the night elsewhere, I wasn't expecting you back so soon." He replied softly, though the joy in his voice conveyed his happiness to see her.

"I'm sure that it's not easy watching the woman you love be coveted by another." Glynda told him. "Whatever might have happened, it would have been my priority to return to my own bed. I don't make such statements idly."

"Yes, well, in terms of priority as of right now-"

"I know you don't believe me, Ozpin, but you are a foolish person sometimes." Glynda interrupted. "You are, now and forever, my priority."

"I see." He said, placing a silver bookmark on his page, and set his nightly reading aside. "I'm sorry for thinking otherwise then."

She began to undress in front of him, allowing his eyes to wander her form as she let her long hair fall from its tightly kept bun. "Yet, you don't mean that, either. You do think otherwise, though. Freely, and more often than not. You always put others first, especially those with the qualities that Ruby Rose keeps at her disposal."

"This is a problem?"

"I don't blame you for doubting my intentions, but, I do worry when you don't doubt them at all." Glynda said with a nod, that little fracture in her otherwise perfect appearance appealing to him, and she knew it. "Especially while understanding that I would have indeed done something with her that might be considered unfaithfulness."

He chuckled at that. Ozpin had several lovers over the many lifetimes he had the luxury to live. Each life he had been a man, and although some of those lives had lived longer than others, he had a rich history, one she would never have. "Glynda, I know you would never betray me. You would never intentionally hurt me, especially not in this circumstance."

"I am concerned, though…" She said. "Oz, I…I realize it was simply stimuli, but when she kissed me, I enjoyed it. It wasn't a chore, or a mission, at least not in the capacity that I'm used to. That I liked the feeling of her touch at all…that is a betrayal. A little jealously would be acceptable, even somewhat expected."

"I do not see it that way." Ozpin turned down the sheets, showing his own nakedness, and the hints of arousal beginning to stir within him. He grabbed his still too soft length, firmly coaxing it to life as he watched the woman in front of him. Awed entirely by her devotion. Not all people were so faithful, and he truly cherished her desire to be so. He also found her inward battle with curiosity arousing in and of itself.

"I am old, Glynda, dusty, worn out. I know exactly what to say to bring a woman to my bed, and what to say to keep her there." He looked down at himself, and then back up at her. "The years have not been kind to me…but you…" He swallowed hard. "You are more to me than you will ever know." And that wasn't a lie. "I do not deserve you, Glynda. I have done too much harm, and not enough good. It is impossible for you to betray me…if anything, I'm the betrayer, and I know this well."

He truly believed that, too, and that's what hurt Glynda the most. She knew her life was fleeting compared to his. One day her death would rip her away from him, and once again he would be alone. The inevitable day would come sooner than either of them would want, even if Glynda lived into old age. Ozpin would eventually live anew. One day, he would lay his love for her to rest, and find a new person to love.

Fate for him was just that cruel, and when she got right down to it, she really just was another notch in his belt.

"I don't care about the future." She said, and she didn't. She couldn't stand the thought of him living on forever all alone. It was unreasonable, and she would never wish him such torture. "I don't care that I'm just a passing dalliance to you….I don't care that one day, you'll find another. Not a day goes by that I don't pray that you do…but, Ozpin, you are my world. You are my one, and my only. You mean so much to me, and so yes, it bothers me that you aren't jealous. I kissed another, I was willing to sleep with another…I can't imagine the thought isn't painful to you."

He seemed to consider this before he shrugged. "The reasons are not the same as infidelity, and you know that. Even if it were, my thoughts on the matter would not change." One hand outstretched, he invited her into his arms. "It's painful to see you so upset. I do not wish to see that, so please, come to me. Instead of doubting yourself, allow me to have you…to love you as only I can. Please, allow me that all too precious gift…"

Ruby's mouth felt dry, her heart felt squeezed by the coldness in her chest. It was easy to see why people liked romance so much. It was different than masturbating, more fulfilling in a way, to be touched by another. It was also an unsettling thing, to want to take so much time and attention from another. As she ate her breakfast, she tried to categorize her feelings. There was something about the way he sipped his coffee, the way he looked over classroom assignments, even the way he munched idly on a piece of toast and jam.

The crumbs clung to his stubble, and without thinking, she reached up to brush them away with her thumb. Though he leaned into her touched slightly in acknowledgement, she wanted him to look up at her. To see her, and reflect her thoughts and desires like a mirror, as if then she might have some clarity.

"Bart?" She voiced uneasily, looking at him earnestly when his eyes met hers. "Do you think what we're doing is wrong?"

He looked away instantly at the question. "I'm not entirely sure." He replied hesitantly before returning his gaze to hers. "I do think that you could be right though. The lines of right and wrong become blurry in cases like this. I do believe that this is a circumstantial situation. I don't expect it to last, and I would never force you to continue if you wished to stop. Therefore, I don't believe it is inherently wrong by nature."

"My aura's coming back." Ruby said. "I can feel it, but, there's something else, too." She felt the warm twinges of it trying to flair out, and failing to do so. The same sort of twinges she felt whenever it had been shattered completely and in need of repair. It was, for most in their line of work, a somewhat common thing to have a broken aura. She felt a residual darkness there too, though. It wasn't part of her aura. It seemed to keep flaring as well, as though the darkness was swallowing her aura up. "I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Give it time, Ruby." He said then, returning to his work.

"Even if my aura comes back, I don't want to stop." She said, the conclusion had been a very difficult one to come to. "I'm not sure if we should keep going, but stopping isn't something I want to do, either."

Oobleck dropped his paperwork, a corner of it plopping into his coffee mug, the rest of it tipping over, and he was too distracted to care as it wetly spilled over the end table and onto the carpet below. He would have to play to have it cleaned later. That little detail rang on in his mind, only to be stomped aside. He had to have been hearing things. "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't want to stop being with you." She repeated with a shrug, though now, her confidence was dwindling. "I don't know what love is, I've never experienced it, so I can't blame my feelings on that. I like you as a person, though. I've always looked up to you. I really like what we've been doing, and I don't want to stop…if anything, I think…maybe I want more."

The green haired man pulled off his glasses, setting them aside as he rubbed his eyes. "You…"

"I was thinking actually dating, or maybe something close to that." Ruby turned away again shyly, unsure if what she wanted was even fair. "If you don't want to, just say so. I'll understand."

"I'm afraid the ramifications are much more complex than that." He replied, his mind screeching to a halt as he looked at her. "I…I don't think that you realize exactly what you're asking of me…or what you're asking of yourself. I…we…our jobs…" He took a breath, his mind speeding up without his mouth, eloquence failing him. Then he shook his head more violently. "Ruby, you couldn't possibly…" He cut himself off yet again. "Or rather…you could, couldn't you?"

Seeing the cogs turning in his mind would have been funny if it had been any other time. In this moment, Ruby couldn't find amusement in his flustered state. Instead she sighed and said nothing. If he didn't want to be with her, there was nothing more on the topic to say. Another flare of her aura melted away to the inky darkness again. "I could." She croaked out, feeling all the worse for admitting it.

"Alright." He said as he scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. He doubted it would be a comfort. Still, he had to do something. "Alright." He breathed again, this time, softer. "If you want me, you'll have me." He said, leaving his intentions as strictly that.

Summer Rose, was highly regarded to those that knew her. However, as a student of Beacon, she was known as a demon of vengeance and utilitarian calculation. At first, she was the sort of woman that caught the attention of many. It was because she was such a deadly, dangerous force to reckon with.

Bartholomew Oobleck recalled her alluring disposition. She was an intellectual, but, not when it came to books. Her knowledge came from people, and the world in which she lived. She was one of the few who could stand toe to toe with Ozpin and speak her mind on social matters, expecting to be listened to. She wasn't one to bark orders, but she wasn't one to sit idly by and watch wrongdoings, either.

Summer Rose, born with silver eyes, had been raised to be nothing more than a killer of Grimm. Her training worked so well, in fact, that she had no idea how to deal with other people. At lease, not at first. Her actions were almost too cruel, easily misunderstood as a craving for malcontent and hate. It wasn't the truth, but that was what many assumed of her.

Over time, and due in large part to her team, and her deep desire to understand humanity, her demeanor gentled.

Eventually, Summer Rose thrived on the attention she had so long sought, but was never given. Still, even when she became friendly to people, Summer had been raised with bloodlust when it came to the Grimm. A seething hunger to destroy the beasts, even gaining a sense of pleasure in doing so. This was what made mother and daughter so vastly different.

Ruby was a different soul entirely. Easier to provoke into action, more prone to emotional outbursts. She was more willing to hide in a corner shyly, and less willing to draw attention to herself in large crowds. Where Summer Rose tried to make a spectacle of herself, Ruby Rose tended to only do so on accident. They were both warriors, the thrill of the hunt called to them, but even in this, they were different like night and day.

Summer Rose was born and raised to be a silver eyed warrior. A murderer of Grimm, a slayer of the evils in the world. Ruby Rose was born and raised to be a huntress. Although both upbringings would eventually lead down the same path, one was ultimately kinder and gentler than the other, and this reflected the adults both women had eventually became.

Summer had always wanted a happy life for the children she raised. She had hoped that Ruby would never know the ways of the Grimm. That silver eyed child or not, she would never bring it upon herself to learn to do battle with Grimm. She wanted Yang to know the innocence that Raven had never been given the chance to know, the childhood never offered.

Oobleck knew this. Hell, all of them knew this.

He still remembered the bellowing going on in Ozpin's office the very day Summer told the headmaster to keep away from her daughter and step-daughter. She made it abundantly clear that the Beacon faculty were very unwelcome anywhere near the household. She promised death to anyone who might try and take Ruby away, or force her into the same grueling training that Summer herself had endured. She would have killed anyone that came between her and her family, and Ozpin knowing this, quietly and grudgingly agreed not to trifle with Ruby Rose.

However, Summer was not immortal, and she eventually passed on. As many of the warriors tended to do, falling in battle with the very same creatures they were destined to do battle with. It was a shock to all of them, Ozpin most of all, because he knew well just what sort of power Summer had at her disposal. What power lay dormant inside of Ruby too, but in Summer's death, he had honored her word.

He didn't approach Ruby, and life quietly moved forward as it was intended.

Ruby, however, had her heart set on being a huntress. So, it was with guilty souls that they had honed her skill without telling her the truth. That Summer Rose, if she saw Ruby now, would be very displeased. Summer wanted better for Ruby, and for Yang. No one had the heart to speak the truth. No one wanted to tell them just how much Summer Rose would disapprove of them.

So, Yang and Ruby became huntresses, and that was merely the way it was going to be.

The man sighed deeply as he watched Ruby rest in bed, feeling his soul ache. Oobleck wanted to believe that wasn't a grave mistake…but now, Ruby asked of him an even greater sin. She was, in her own way, asking for his very heart and soul on a silver platter. He doubted he would be strong enough to deny her this, because he also knew that Ruby was a better woman than her mother had ever been.

Taught to love, instead of hate. To save, instead of destroy. To keep, instead of abandon…taught all of these lessons and more by the woman who learned them far too late in her own life for it to make a difference.

The young woman cuddled deeper into his arms, and the full weight of such a simple action mystified him. She wanted this. She wanted him, and truth be told, he had no idea what in the world to do with that information. Although, he supposed, he should probably tell Taiyang, and that was not a conversation he was looking forward to having.

Not in the slightest.