Chapter-54

Ozpin, Ruby, Sigurd

Month of Boreal, 81 AGW, 30 days after the Battle of Vale:

Ozpin sat in his makeshift tent, where he had put up his lodgings to oversee the reconstruction of Beacon, wearing a black coat.

So far, the main priority, the CCT, had been set up once again. Signals weren't in the best of conditions, but it would have to do.

Inside, he had a desk with a simple holo-computer set up on it. Inside, contained all of Ozpin's files and documents, something he'd started doing instead of books in the occasion that those books are destroyed.

Like Amity Arena crashing on top of my office. Ozpin thought.

After his broadcast, Ozpin had been immediately summoned by the council. While they couldn't really say anything about him unofficially gaining all executive powers over Vale, which was something he'd set up as Osmond, they were still curious about many things.

Sigurd's noble phantasm…the phantasmals…Ruby's silver pulse…the large number of grimm… Ozpin thought. It had been a struggle to pretend he had no idea of most of those events except the grimm, but the council members had bought it.

But the thing was, the ramifications of the Battle could be seen. Vale's roads, once considered to be the safest to travel across in Remnant, now lost that title because of grimm from the rest of sanus spilling over to haunt the roads.

Travelling through the roads without an armored convoy was banned, and armored cars had been sent to all of Vale's towns and villages for transportation. Some of his experienced huntsmen were appointed to guard the armored cars travelling on the roads, while the earlier duties of protecting villages and towns came upon the recently graduated Beacon alumni who used to be the fourth-year batch of Beacon.

All in all, Vale was no longer as safe as it used to be, and Ozpin needed more huntsmen and huntresses to prevent stretching his forces thin. Many of the retired Veterans had offered to return in order to cover up for any gaps in the system.

And Interestingly, Ozpin received reports that the number of applications to combat academies had had a phenomenal increase.

Looks like the Battle has encouraged more people and children to walk the path of huntsmen. He thought. Should they continue, Ozpin could foresee a considerable increase in the population of huntsmen in the future.

At least Ruby's pulse dealt a heavy blow to the grimm population. Ozpin thought. Most of the senior huntsmen had calculated that it would take years for the grimm in Vale to recover the numbers they'd once had after the Battle.

It is highly likely that Vale will have more huntsmen than ever by the time the grimm repopulate, which is a very good thing.

And speaking of the non-grimm elements… Ozpin thought. The phantasmals had completely disappeared from the countryside, according to Robin. Villages were no longer attacked by such beasts, only grimm.

There were no servant sightings operating in Vale, and no sign of Prometheus.

Truly, we received a good reprieve from that entire year. Ozpin thought with a sigh.

But then, that reminded him of his biggest problem…

"The new school year for Beacon's students." Ozpin spoke.

He obviously wasn't ready to reopen Beacon academy. He'd solved the issue of the first year students by buying a bunch of old school buildings for the classes and setting them up with whatever equipment he could use while the students themselves would be staying back with their parents, with some of Vale's hotels offering to cover accommodation for first year students coming far away from home.

But the rest of them… Ozpin thought. There was only one option for the continuation of the school year for the current second, third and fourth-year batches, and that was a different huntsman academy.

At that moment, someone entered his tent.

"Theodore." Ozpin spoke as the Headmaster of Shade academy grinned.

"So the great Ozpin is right now living in a tent? Well, that's a fun image I would carry back to my students." He spoke.

"I have lived in a dingy hut as a recluse for many years, Theodore. This is nothing problematic. Besides, you can see the current state of my academy." Ozpin spoke gesturing towards where Beacon was being reconstructed.

Theodore snorted. "Honestly, how did you even let these dudes get to your academy? I always run a background check on everybody that comes into my academy."

"Right…which explains how you were unable to figure out their secret until I decided to share my findings?"

Theodore crossed his arms with a huff. "Don't blame me that they are practically ghosts. I didn't think the crazy blonde was one while she was tossing me around like a ragdoll."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

Theodore gulped. "I always thought there would never come a time where I would ask to stop a fight. But my gods that crazy blonde managed to make me scared of fighting. I mean, have you seen her muscles?! I didn't think she was much until she almost suplexed me straight through the floor. Nowadays I have the other ghosts keep her off my back so that she doesn't wreck my school in one of her 'brawls'."

That doesn't sound fun. Ozpin thought. If there was a battle-crazed servant who could make Theodore of all people afraid to fight them…

"But she's cool. Sure, she's all crazy about fighting with all the blood and gore, but at least she's got the sense to clean up after her mess. You don't have to worry."

Ozpin nodded.

"Anything going on in particular, Theodore?"

"Nothing much."

"You're hiding something."

"...Nothing to concern yourself about."

Ozpin shook his head.

"So, Oz, you called me for what?"

Ozpin gestured for Theodore to come out with him.

Both of them came out of the tent to see construction workers moving about, rebuilding Beacon Tower as Ozpin looked at the cloudy sky.

"Well, as you can see…Beacon is not ready for reopening. But that doesn't mean I can have my students lose a year of education because of it." Ozpin spoke.

"I've already arranged for the first year students to be trained here in Vale. But the problem comes with my older students."

"Right."

"They will have to be shifted to a different academy."

Theodore hummed. "That's fair. They've already had at least one year of experience with huntsman academies. They should be able to manage much better than your first years."

"Correct."

"So, splitting with the other three academies, and you're here to talk about which of your runts am I going to take?"

"...No."

"Huh, why not?"

"Well, someone leaked out information that Mount Glenn was destroyed by an Atlas Bomb, and considering that particular explosion was what helped the grimm to get past Vale's natural barriers and attack the Capital…"

"Ah, right. I remember the people getting really, really pissed about Atlas."

"Mistral is already questioning the presence of Atlas in Anima through Argus, and you know how Vacuo is…"

"...But the people it's affected the most are the students."

Theodore looked away. "Oh…"

"Many of Beacon's students were scarred by the attack. And after learning Atlas was responsible…They found themselves developing a lot of resentment for Atlas. And should any of them go to Atlas academy in this mental state…well, the press will certainly let you know about the incident that would occur."

"What about Haven?"

"Something's wrong over there. Leo's been extremely irregular with his reports and has been slacking on many of the assignments I give him. It probably isn't something serious, but I can't help but feel that sending my students there will also be a bad idea. Which means…"

"You're sending them all to my academy." Theodore spoke slumping.

"Despite your lack of cooperation, you place your students above anything else. I trust you to take care of them."

"It's not the problem of me taking care of them. It's the problem of my own students. You know how the Vacuan mentality is, Oz. Even if our kingdom is much softer towards Vale because you all helped us during the great war, it still doesn't mean my students aren't going to constantly clash with yours, perceive them as 'inferior' because they come from lush green fields and not the shithole that is Vacuo's desert."

"Better than them causing trouble in Atlas out of resentment or getting caught in something deeply problematic in Mistral because of Leo's inaction."

"My students might accidentally say something out of line, maybe something regarding the battle."

"Then that would be instigation from only one side. As long as both sides are not extremely hostile to each other, we can keep the incidents under control.

Theodore sighed. "What about space? Beacon was the largest among all the academies. Even if there's a lot of space at my academy, there will still be some students left out."

"Then make an arrangement elsewhere. Vacuo has always had respect for huntsmen, even if they aren't as attached as Vale is. How many people do you think would be willing to host the students?"

Theodore put a finger to his lips. "...Actually, I think I can get it all covered. Great idea."

"Good, then I shall slightly postpone the beginning of the current school year for you to get ready."

"Alright then." Theodore spoke before looking back at Beacon. "You better not stretch this out for one year, Oz."

"Don't worry. Beacon will be rebuilt by the end of the year."

"That's a relief. So, nothing else?"

"One last thing." Ozpin spoke.

"Do you remember Team RWBY?"

"RWBY? Yeah, the girls who won the Vytal tournament before, you know…" Theodore spoke.

"They're definitely going to be a special target for my students because of that. BRNZ's already got a grudge against JNPR for that defeat, and their sister team's not going to garner a lot of praise from my students, especially when one of them's a Schnee."

Ozpin smiled. "They're the best among their year. And you know the reputation of Beacon students compared to others…After all, the finals took place between two Beacon teams. So, I highly doubt your students would harass them after some point. If there is a problem, we could always use Ruby's and Yang's connection to Maria. We know how popular she is in Vacuo."

Theodore huffed. "Alright, maybe they won't face that much of a problem. Now, why bring them up?"

"...They're a part of my inner circle."

"...WHAT?! You inducted your first years into this?! Oz, are you flipping insane?!"

"I had no choice. If you would remember, their leader, Ruby Rose, is a silver-eyed warrior, which already makes her a prime target. Her sister, Yang Xiao-Long, is also the current Fall Maiden. So, I have no choice but to induct them, because they have big targets on their backs."

Theodore growled. "I hate it when you start spouting off your logic."

Ozpin shrugged.

"Fine, fine. So they're junior members?"

"Yes. I just wanted to let you know, because I have kept their training intense."

"Alright, alright, I'll make a schedule for them as well. Anything else?"

"No. Thank you, Theodore."

"No problem, Oz."

Ozpin then turned back to his tent. "Theodore, what happened at the end of first portion of Boreal was clear: Salem has begun getting more and more aggressive…"

His blue eye turned towards Theodore in a piercing stare.

"...Don't sit behind Shade's walls and wait for them to come." He spoke.

"Jeez, Oz, that blue eye's made your stare even scarier. Where'd you get it?"

"...Someone special."


Month of Vernal, 81 AGW, 90 days after the Battle of Vale:

"...Gah!" Ruby exclaimed as her eyes started blinking extremely rapidly.

"Voices got too loud?" Maria asked.

Ruby nodded as she rubbed her forehead. After the Vytal Fireworks, Maria had started her training for her silver eyes. For that, of course, she'd suggested meditation techniques from Mistral for Ruby, with which they had sessions in Ruby's room everyday. In the meantime, Maria would also tell Ruby some folklore of Sylfirheim in the breaks between her meditation.

At the moment, Ruby was wearing a red jacket with white designs over a black hoodie with red borders with a checkered red skirt and red leggings with black shoes. Shirou's cross was in a necklace hanging around her neck.

"Focus is the most important thing about using your power. The less distracted you get, the easier it is for you to use them."

"Okay? So I just need to focus?"

"Of course, it's going to be difficult with you because you have the attention span of a spoon."

"H-Hey! That's not true!"

"Do you want me to bring in Firecracker to remind you of all those times you got into trouble for getting distracted?"

"N-No…"

Ever since then, Ruby had been stuck doing the focussing stuff, trying to channel her silver energy throughout her body under Maria's guidance, and at present, she could do it enough to make her hands glow with pure light.

The biggest problem now came with the fact that Ruby could hear the chaotic voices whenever she even used a little of her powers, making it really hard to concentrate.

And ever since Dr. Birch had declared her in a very unstable psychological state, Maria had made sure not to make her ever try her 'pulse' until she had some form of control over the voices.

"Well, I think that's enough for the morning." Maria spoke. "And as far as I'm concerned, you're making good progress on the channeling part. You just need to learn how to tune out the voices and keep yourself in complete focus."

Ruby nodded. "Right."

Maria smiled. "I can also see you're getting more and more calm."

"I am?"

Maria set down a jar of cookies. "Take a look."

Ruby stared at the jar before realizing something.

"I haven't even taken a single one out." Ruby spoke in realization.

She remembered when dad had bought this jar at least a week back just for her. And by this time, Ruby knew she would have finished off more than half of the jar by now.

"W-What's happening to me?" She asked in confusion.

Maria chuckled. "Oh come on, Ruby. Don't get so scared about growing up. It's a little something called 'maturity'. Happens to everyone."

Ruby reached out for the jar, looking at Maria, who just smiled before Ruby plucked out a single cookie and took a bite.

Maria started laughing.

"Would you look at that? You're even eating them properly instead of stuffing a bunch into your mouth. You really are growing out of it." She spoke laughing as Ruby's eyes widened as a blush came on her cheeks.

Ruby strangely found herself only taking two more before she closed the lid and set it aside calmly.

"Alright now, let's go see how the others are doing." Maria spoke getting up, with Ruby doing the same and walking with her.

Outside, Ruby could see a sparring session going on. On one hand, Yang was sparring with Dad, wearing an orange t-shirt and brown trousers. Both were in boxing stances, sending strikes at each other. This was the result of Yang wanting to improve with her combat and gaining experience in fighting more skilled opponents.

On the other hand, Blake, wearing a white sleeveless jacket over a black shirt with jeans was going up against Uncle Qrow, also trying to get used to fight against someone much stronger than her, as she dodged and wove around swings from Harbinger that would be extremely difficult to block.

Blake was also using Gambol Shroud's blade with her two hands, because Uncle Qrow had shown multiple times that relying on Gambol Shroud's cord wasn't a great idea.

Ruby and Yang had both been adamant that Blake stay with them, considering she had nowhere to go. So, Blake had become a part of their household, during which Ruby learnt more about Blake's past as well as her strained relationship with her parents.

"I don't know Blake, I don't think it's good that you're trying to stay away from your mom and dad."

"..."

"Blake?"

"...Let's just talk about something else."

Unlike almost everything else, where she and Blake were open to each others thoughts on some subjects, Blake always deflected whenever Ruby started talking about reconciling with her parents, which told Ruby what Blake wanted at the moment.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave it alone. One day, I'll take Blake to her parents, whatever happens. Ruby thought. But for now, the three members of Team RWBY were living in the same house.

Only person missing now was Weiss. Ruby thought. After the fireworks, Weiss had to return home to Atlas on her father's orders, but fortunately, she was coming back for the second year, since Ironwood had made sure her father didn't pull Weiss out of the huntsman academies against her wishes.

But even then, Ruby could not help but feel sad looking at Weiss' horrified face when her sister came to take her back to Atlas.

"W-Winter, c-can I not go back?"

Poor Weiss. Something like that would definitely leave a mark. Ruby thought, before grimacing in disgust. The fact that Weiss' father allowed people to be branded and then executed like they were nothing angered her to no end.

It's a good thing Weiss didn't turn out like him. Ruby thought.

After some time, the sparring sessions concluded and the four people started walking towards them.

"Done with your hocus-pocus, Ruby?" Yang asked as Maria snorted.

"Says the Maiden." She spoke as Yang smiled sheepishly.

"Ah, right. I'm even more hocus-pocus, so I guess I can't really say that."

"Has Firecracker started cooling down, Tai?" Maria asked as Tai scratched his head.

"Definitely. She doesn't use that telegraphed haymaker anymore, she's a lot less aggressive…and more sneaky." Tai spoke turning to Yang.

"I didn't know my firecracker learnt some real dirty tricks at Beacon." He spoke ruffling Yang's hair as she grinned.

"Well, I got my ass beat so many…" Yang immediately shut her mouth to look at Ruby, who stared at her with a bored expression.

"...Swear jar." Ruby spoke, shrugging as Yang blinked.

"...That has to be the most calm 'swear jar' I've ever heard you say, Ruby."

Ruby crossed her arms. "It's not that different."

Uncle Qrow leaned in. "Not different? You almost gave me hearing damage whenever I cursed, I definitely am on firecracker's side here."

"Oh perfect, now Rubes is turning into Blake." Yang spoke, jabbing her thumb at Blake who frowned.

Ruby smirked. "Really? You're comparing me to that bookworm over there?"

"That bookworm would appreciate it if you two would stop teasing her." Blake spoke, glaring at Yang.

"Sorry." Ruby apologized.

"So, any news from Oz when the second year begins?" Tai asked as Qrow shook his head.

"Nah, he's postponed it, most likely he's trying to figure out where he can conduct your education."

Ruby sighed. Last she heard, Beacon was going under reconstruction and had been told that it would take a long time before it was back to normal.

But Ruby didn't want to talk much about Beacon, because of…

BANG!

Cinder fell to her knees…

A pool of blood formed around her corpse…

Penny's head…

Ruby shook her head. Cinder's death and Penny's head had been haunting her dreams at night ever since the battle. Every time, Ruby would wake up in cold sweat at the middle of the night before she went into a dreamless sleep. Not a single day had passed where Ruby had managed to get a completely peaceful sleep.

Even at the mention of Beacon, Ruby felt terror grip her heart as Cinder's corpse flashed in her mind.

"I'm sure Oz will be bringing some news soon." Maria spoke.

"SHIT!" Qrow suddenly cursed, as Ruby calmly pointed out 'Swear Jar' to her surprise again, before Yang turned to him.

"Uncle Qrow?"

"I forgot to tell Redwood I'm going to be on leave from tomorrow!"

"Is it because you got too drunk to remember last night?" Ruby asked as Qrow nodded.

"Yeah." He spoke before sighing.

"Oh well, let's just…"

"Why don't we go and deliver the message?" Ruby spoke up as Qrow looked at her.

"You and Firecracker?"

Ruby wrapped an arm around Yang's shoulder. "Well…"

"Not a bad idea. You both could go to Signal and give the message to Headmaster Redwood, plus Ruby could meet her former batchmates." Tai spoke as Ruby grinned.

"Alright, we'll go do it."

"I'll come along as well. I want to see Signal academy, actually." Blake spoke.

"Well, my bike doesn't really have the space…" Yang looked at Tai.

"Can we take the car?"

"The car? Well…alright. You have your driver's license, so I guess there's no problem with the car." Tai spoke before handing Yang the keys.

"Let's go." Ruby spoke before she, Yang and Blake went to the car. Yang took the wheel and drove them towards Signal academy.

Ruby sighed nostalgically as they passed by the simple houses through the street. Most of the houses were owned by retired huntsmen who all were good friends with her father.

Ruby noticed some children play outside a house and felt a little bit of sadness.

I couldn't even play with anyone until Tulip came along. Ruby thought. Her weird 'ghosts' had pretty much earned her the reputation of a crazy girl amongst the other children, as a result of which Ruby was always alone in the park with no one willing to play.

And the one friend who eventually decided to accept her and start playing, Tulip…Ruby didn't need reminders of what became of Tulip.

Even at Signal, Ruby mostly had a better relationship with her juniors than her batchmates or seniors.

She could remember a particular bunch of Signal's junior years before she left for Beacon - Charlie Jasper, Topaz Lindstone, Jade Misty and Lemon Gelb, who always called her 'Miss Ruby' because Charlie, who was Ruby's age, liked to tease her about that and told it to the other three who were all a year under them. On the other hand, Ruby just felt happy she had found people who were receptive towards her but didn't want to talk much because of the painful memories of Tulip.

Yang then stopped at the gates of Signal academy, parking the car as the three of them went to the gate.

Ruby noticed the security guard, Mr. Marine, reading a magazine before noticing them.

"Ms. Rose? I was wondering why you disappeared for almost an entire year at signal." He asked as Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

"Um, I was admitted to Beacon, Mr. Marine." Ruby replied as the guard's eyes widened.

"To Beacon?! When did you get admitted to Beacon and why didn't I heard about it?!"

"Um, I did tell you, remember?" Ruby spoke as the old man scratched his head.

"You did?"

"She did, maybe you forgot?" Yang pitched in.

"I perhaps did. My memory has been something of a headache in recent years." He spoke, shaking his head.

"Why, I couldn't even remember when Mr. Rose appointed me as a security guard for the school."

"But never mind, good to see you again, Ms. Rose." Marine replied. "Here for a nostalgic trip?"

Ruby smiled. "Sort of. Uncle Qrow sent us to take a message to the headmaster."

"Hm, that drunkard's forgotten something to tell Headmaster Redwood again? Well, I suppose I'm not in any position to judge him."

Mr. Marine then looked at Blake. "Who's the faunus?"

"Oh, that's Blake. Blake Belladonna." Yang spoke as Blake stared at Mr. Marine warily.

"Belladonna? Your family a staunch supporter of Ghira that they changed their surname?" He asked before squinting.

"But…you sort of look like Ghira."

"She's actually Ghira's daughter." Yang spoke.

"She is? Oh, welcome back to Patch then!"

"Back?" Blake asked.

"Didn't your father tell you? He once came to Patch when he was just 20. Young, bright-eyed, definitely not someone you'd expect to see standing with our veterans. Just ask him next time you meet him."

Blake looked away. "...Right."

Mr. Marine then pressed a button on his desk as the gates opened.

"Don't forget to say hi to your old teachers, young lady." Mr. Marine spoke as Ruby, Yang and Blake entered the academy.

Unlike Beacon, which was pretty much like an archaic fortress, Signal resembled a more modern school, a block building with several floors. The only indication of security was a number of veteran huntsmen and the walls surrounding the academy.

RBY walked through the hallways, past classrooms, as Ruby looked at the halls of her old school, which seemed very, very modest now compared to the grand hallways of Beacon.

Ruby could see some of the first years, mere 10-year-olds, stare at their group in wonder as they walked by. Ruby smiled and waved to her old teachers, sometimes stopping to converse with them, before moving on.

"Miss Ruby…" Ruby heard some of the students whisper to each other before glaring at a giggling Yang and Blake.

"Oh, Ms. Ruby~" Yang spoke in a high pitched voice as Ruby punched her sister's arm.

"Stop it." She spoke in embarrassment.

But as Ruby went further, she started seeing more and more seniors. They simply stared as they walked by, but Ruby could see some of her batchmates scowling towards her.

"Crazy girl's back…" She heard some of them mutter before Yang walked straight up to them and the students immediately gulped and shut their mouths.

"Jealous pricks…" Yang growled as Ruby continued on with a frown. She knew they were jealous that she got to go to Beacon earlier than them, but she did not care. She did not regret Beacon one bit, because she managed to make more friends than in Signal.

Right now, no one would cross them…

"Ms. Ruby!" A voice spoke as Ruby noticed Charlie, a boy with curly brown hair in signal uniform, walk up.

"Oh, if it isn't Charlie boy." Yang spoke as Charlie immediately stopped, grinning nervously.

"Yang, please." Ruby spoke before smiling at Charlie.

"Hey, Charlie."

Charlie shook his head. "You know, I'm pretty mad at you."

Ruby blinked. "What?"

"Well, you left us! Do you know how much the others are missing you? Now I have nobody to call Ms. Ruby!"

"Yeah, you went off to Beacon!" Ruby heard another voice before noticing Topaz, Jade and Lemon, all of whom were now third years.

Lemon crossed his arms. "You didn't even say goodbye!" He spoke with a huff.

Ruby raised her arms. "Look, I can explain…"

Jade snorted while Topaz merely smiled. "D-Don't mind them, Ms. Ruby, t-they're just…"

Charlie looked at the others. "Alright, alright, let's just drop the act. We actually wanted to know what happened at Beacon, but, you know…"

"Are you alright?" Jade spoke, her earlier cold attitude giving away to concern. "We haven't really talked ever since you left for Beacon. And the battle…I got chills hearing of the stuff you fought…"

"Yeah, all these 'bloodhounds', 'weavers'...some of the older huntsmen literally froze up in fear when they heard those kinds of grimm attacked Vale, saying Vale was up against the apocalypse itself." He spoke as Ruby took a shaky breath.

"Yeah. they were really scary…" Ruby spoke, trying to shove down the memories of the bloodhound roaring right in her face, or the Weaver's spiked string hovering over her eye.

"It's not a great thing to remember…" Blake spoke. "So, please don't bring it up. Ruby especially gets a bit upset."

Charlie nodded. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have talked about it. But one more thing…"

"Are you Ruby's teammate?"

Blake nodded.

"Nice, we were watching the Vytal broadcast when all four of you got the Vytal Trophy."

Lemon smiled. "Yeah, we felt so happy looking at Ms. Ruby bring the Vytal Trophy to Vale!" He spoke as Topaz smiled.

"I-I was cheering…hehe…" She spoke.

"Thanks." Ruby spoke smiling warmly. "But we need to go talk to Headmaster Redwood."

"Cool, we'll catch up later, Ms. Ruby." He spoke. "You do have the time right?"

"Well, we're just waiting for news for Headmaster Ozpin's plan for our second year. So, I guess we do have some time before we leave for our second year." Ruby spoke as Jade slumped.

"I'm so jealous…" She spoke pouting as Yang patted her head.

"Don't worry. We're going to welcome you all when you come to Beacon."

Ruby, Blake and Yang then walked off to the office.

"Remember the last time I came here?" Yang spoke with a grin as Ruby nodded.

"You got in trouble for beating up Alba and his goons while they were bullying me." She spoke.

"Yeah, but did you look at their faces when they saw you? They didn't even try to make a move."

"Strange…"

"Strange? I think it's because you spent an entire year at Beacon. No matter what, you know what kind of reputation Beacon has among the Signal students. Go there, and you're pretty much a huntress in their eyes already. I think Alba's just scared you'll beat them up."

"Probably…" Ruby spoke. Truth be told, her old bully Alba had really disappeared from her mind a long time ago. Maybe, after all that she'd gone through, Ruby was really unable to think of her old bullies anymore.

Yang knocked on the door, inside of which a man's voice came in.

"Come in."

The three girls entered Headmaster Redwood's office, which had a desk and chair along with numerous pictures on the wall, including one of Thane standing with the first graduating batch of Signal Academy, smiling with his round shades on.

On the chair sat Headmaster Redwood, a middle-aged man with a balding head and a red beard wearing a red suit over a blue jacket and a black tie, with round spectacles who looked at them.

"Ho!" Redwood got up from his chair.

"What a surprise!" He spoke, and before Ruby or Yang could say anything, Headmaster Redwood wrapped them up in a hug.

"It's so good to see you, Ruby and Yang!" Redwood spoke jovially as Ruby smiled.

"Hello to you too, Headmaster." Ruby spoke as Redwood let go to pat them on the back.

"I have so much to say to you two. Come, come, take a seat!" He spoke in excitement as he sat with them in front of him.

"I am so, so happy to see you again! I didn't even get to say congratulations because you two have not visited!" Redwood spoke as Ruby smiled.

"Well…we didn't really get the time." She spoke.

"No matter, while I would congratulate you two for the Vytal festival…" Redwood's smiled lessened a bit.

"...I think I know doing that would be heading towards more uncomfortable topics."

Ruby and Yang shifted with unease.

"It's alright, what happened was a tragedy, but talking about it makes things worse. What I want to know is how are you now?"

"We're fine." Yang replied. "We're just training harder to get better."

Redwood nodded. "I don't blame you for that. And the progress?"

Ruby thought of her spars with Yang and Blake, along with Tai starting to teach her some martial arts.

"It's…good."

"Ruby's starting to learn hand-to-hand." Yang spoke as Redwood gasped.

"Ruby Rose finally decided to learn it?! Congratulations again, young lady!" Redwood spoke as Ruby blushed in embarrassment.

"W-Well, I didn't want to do it…but grandma was not having it."

Redwood chuckled. "Well, you don't need to remind me what it's like to have Maria Calavera as a teacher. Goodness, I can still remember the whacks she gave with her weapon's staff whenever me and my group of friends didn't pay attention."

Redwood then looked at Blake. "...Interesting." He spoke.

Blake sighed. "Is it because my father once came here?"

"Indeed. I'm sure you know…"

"I don't."

Redwood frowned. "You do not? I thought your father would have told you about it?"

"...He didn't." Blake spoke with a hint of hesitation.

"Hm, well, I was actually at Patch on a break from Beacon at that time. Your father…he came at a turbulent time."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

"But I do not think it's something I should share readily. If this is something Ghira has not told you about, then perhaps it's better you hear it from him than from a stranger like myself."

"What happened at Patch, exactly, when Ghira Belladonna came here?" Ruby asked.

"...A transformation, you could say." Redwood replied. "But again, if Ghira chose not to talk about it, then I'm not going to be presumptuous as to blurt it out now. Anyways...It is nice to see that Ghira's daughter is on Ruby's team, considering Ghira's connection to the Rose family."

Blake leaned in with interest.

"Well, when he came to Patch, Thane actually took Ghira in and had him stay at his house before Ghira had to leave. Ghira became quite close friends with Ruby's mother in that period."

RBY's eyes widened.

"Wait, my mom knew the White Fang's founder?" Ruby asked.

"Summer Rose was 15 at that time. She was just a carefree teenager living with her grandfather Thane when Ghira came, a 20-year-old at that time. Apparently, Thane intimidated Ghira a lot, so he really talked to Summer a lot more."

"Ok, I'm learning a lot of new stuff about my dad that I did not know." Blake spoke.

"Which is why I suggest you go talk. I think Ghira would be able to give you the full picture of his visit to Patch."

"..."

"Oh, by the way!" Yang spoke. "We almost forgot the main reason."

"Yes?"

"Uncle Qrow's taking a leave tomorrow."

Redwood sighed. "Qrow again…I wish Ozpin could tell me what is the reason that Qrow can take breaks without disclosing the reason to me."

Probably because those breaks are his secret 'missions'. Ruby thought.

"Oh well, I'll see who'll be the substitute teacher then. Has he said how long he'll be out?"

"Um, no."

"As expected. I'll call him up myself. Thank you for relaying the information." Redwood spoke.

"You're welcome, Headmaster." Ruby spoke getting up. "We need to get back home now."

"Of course, of course. Whatever time we talked, it was good." Redwood replied with a smile.

"Good to meet you, Headmaster!" Yang spoke as the three of them went to walk out.

"Oh, Ruby!"

Ruby turned back. "Yes, Headmaster?"

"First - Don't call me 'Headmaster'. Ozpin's your headmaster now. Second - I was thinking if you could come over to Signal and talk about your experience at Beacon."

Ruby blinked. "Me?"

"Well, even if there are some jealous people, a lot of the students sort of look at you as a celebrity because you won the Vytal Tournament. It would be nice for a Signal alumnus to talk to the students."

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "Oh…Well, I don't think I'll have the time right now. Maybe I can talk about it when I get time later in the year."

"Of course, of course! Just inform me, and I'll make arrangements for your visit."

Ruby smiled. "Okay, bye, Head…"

"Ruby…"

"I-I mean, Mr. Redwood…that's fine, right?"

Redwood grinned. "Absolutely."

RBY then walked out of the office and headed to the car.

That evening, Weiss came over from Atlas. She'd convinced her father that she could stay at Patch instead of a hotel, and according to Weiss, it had taken a lot to make her father concede.

And so, Weiss stood at the doorway, carrying a suitcase and wearing a white coat over a light blue skirt with white shoes with high heels. Her tiara was back on her forehead, with her signature sideways ponytail.

Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss. "Welcome to the RWBY household, Weiss!" She spoke.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "...The RWBY household?"

"Well, me, Yang and Blake are here. So, I've started calling it that. Only you remain."

Weiss sighed. "Always the sentimental one, aren't you?"

Ruby smiled. "Oh come on, don't act like you don't like it."

Weiss sighed. "You know me, Ruby. But…what has happened to you?"

"What?"

Weiss looked at Yang. "Is it me, or is Ruby acting less like a child and more like an adult?"

"Not you too!"

Yang simply grinned, ignoring Ruby's exasperated cry. "Yep. Me and Blake could see the ocean freeze over when my sister started getting calmer and more mature."

"Yang…" Ruby whined in protest as Zwei barked from the sofa.

Weiss smiled at Zwei's sight and beckoned him to come over. Zwei bounded over, knocking Blake's book out of her hands in the process as she cast an enraged glare at the dog before it came up to Weiss.

"Who's a good boy?" Weiss spoke patting Zwei's head as the dog barked while Ruby put her hands on her hips.

"Zwei, get me the diary, by the way." Ruby spoke as Zwei immediately went over to the sofa, picking up an old diary from there and bringing it to Ruby.

Weiss frowned. "What…is that?"

"Oh, this is Thane's diary." Ruby spoke as Weiss spluttered.

"Thane's diary? You mean the one Professor Port claims contains the secrets to the origins of the grimm? The one whose pages created such a hassle for us at Cysgod and Vale?"

"The very same." Ruby spoke before taking a more neutral expression.

"I…wanted to learn more about the types of grimm after what happened. So…" Ruby looked at Thane's diary.

"I've started doing my homework."

"She's not joking by the way." Yang spoke.

"Rubes has turned into a serious nerd about the Grimm ever since she started reading Thane's diary. Grandma really liked it and told Ruby to keep reading, because she would get a lot of useful information about the grimm."

"Yeah, I've actually memorize most of the grimm species in Vale, as well as some of those in Vacuo." Ruby spoke. "Although, there's still some time before I actually finish the diary."

Weiss stared at her. "...Well, you've definitely changed a lot more than I realized."

"Yang, just take Weiss' suitcase to Uncle Qrow's room." Ruby instructed as Weiss looked at her.

"Ruby, you're having me stay in his room?"

"Well, Uncle Qrow is out most of the day, and his room is just vacant most of the time. Blake's already turned our guest room into her personal library, so unless you want to share a room with me or Yang, that's your option."

"In that case, I'll stay." Weiss spoke. Soon, the girls heard another knock on the door.

Tai came out of the kitchen. "I'll go answer it." He spoke before opening it to reveal a familiar man.

"Ozpin!" Ruby exclaimed as their Headmaster entered the house, carrying the long memory with him, along with his blue eye scanning the room.

"Well, it's been some time since I visited this piece of history." Ozpin spoke. "Hello, Team RWBY."

"Hey, Headmaster." Yang spoke as Weiss went to get up.

"Please, take a seat."

"Oh no need for that, Ms. Schnee." Ozpin spoke as he pulled up a chair. "No need to be that formal with this old man." He spoke, sitting down with the girls.

"What's the progress on Beacon?"

"When is our second year beginning?"

"Where are we going to study?"

Ozpin raised his hand. "Now, now, patience is important. I'll answer the questions one by one."

Ruby leaned back, reining in her anxiety a bit.

"Now, regarding Beacon, that will sadly take another year before we can reopen Beacon academy." Ozpin spoke as Ruby's eyes widened.

"What? A year?!" She spoke. "But then…"

"That is my answer to the other two questions. Your second year will be beginning next week. Tomorrow, I shall be making that announcement on Vale news."

RWBY nodded.

"But if next week, then…where?" Blake asked.

"Well, quite simple. Your second year will be at Shade Academy in Vacuo."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hold on, Vacuo?" Yang asked.

"Indeed. After much deliberation, I decided that while the first years have already received accommodation, with many already packing their bags to leave for their first year at Beacon Academy of sorts, the rest of the students will spend this year at Shade."

"All of us?"

"All of you. If you do not know, many in your year and among your seniors don't have a high opinion of Atlas at the moment, and I also don't have faith in Leo and Haven Academy as well. So, you will be hosted by Vacuo."

"Has Shade accepted it?"

"I called it's headmaster, Theodore, and we both agreed that Theodore would host both his students and the older ones of Beacon."

"But does Shade have that accommodation?"

"It does. In fact, the reason I postponed your academic year to the beginning of Boreal is so that Theodore could set them up."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Forgive me, Headmaster, but I must ask exactly what these accommodations are. Even with Shade's large size, it would not be possible to accommodate such a large number. And what about the teachers?"

"Ms. Schnee, the teaching is not an issue. Theodore has assured his staff can handle the teaching. As for everything else…"

"...You will be staying outside the academy."

RWBY was silent, before Blake nodded.

"Ah, you mean someone in Vacuo will be hosting us, so we'll be living at their house instead of Shade's dorms."

"Yes."

"Woah, that's…" Yang began.

"...New." Weiss finished.

"Hosting isn't a particularly new concept. If you look at it, many towns outside the kingdoms often host travelling huntsmen. What's new is that such a thing is being done in the kingdom itself."

"That's actually pretty cool." Yang spoke as Weiss shifted. "Um…we will be hosted?"

Yang slapped Weiss on the back. "Oh come on, Weiss cream! You can't expect everything to be a 5-star hotel!"

Weiss scowled at her, but didn't say anything.

"Who's going to host us, anyways?" Ruby asked.

"Her name is Brun. She is the wife of a huntsman who is usually out most of the time. She's offered to take up your residence." Ozpin spoke.

"You will all be heading to Vacuo through the Trans-Sanus railway, arriving at Setare station. There, Brun will be waiting for you."

Ruby nodded before frowning. "But…why tell us specifically when you're just going to announce it anyways?"

"I wanted to see how far you've progressed." Ozpin spoke as Ruby immediately understood what he meant.

"Ruby, show me what you've learnt." He spoke as Ruby nodded before raising her hand.

Ruby deepened her breaths, just like how Maria taught her, and focussed on her chest, which is usually where Maria said her core that was the source of her energy was.

Suddenly, Ruby's silver eyes started glowing a soft light before her right hand started glowing with pure light as she clenched her fist.

Weiss stared in wonder as Ruby kept her hand glowing, with Ozpin staring right at the hand of light before the voices started plaguing her mind again.

At that, Ruby grimaced as both her hand and her eyes lost their light.

Ruby exhaled as Ozpin was silent.

"Hm, you kept it up for an impressive amount of time. Certainly good progress in such a short period." He spoke. "But from what I know, you still have some ways to go before you can keep this up for very long periods of time."

"Yeah…"

"Excellent. I'm sure Maria will be going along as well, since your training cannot be interrupted."

"What about my maiden powers? I've tried to tap into them as you've suggested…"

"Don't worry about that. I've contacted the Summer Maiden, and she'll be your tutor in this. She has a lot of experience with the maiden powers and would be happy to teach a much young Maiden."

"Cool, let's see what she has to teach." Yang spoke.

"Where is Sigurd, by the way? I haven't even started learning his Runes yet." Weiss asked.

"I'm afraid you're right now too late, Ms. Schnee. Sigurd, Tristan, and Robin have left Vale for an important task."

Weiss slumped.

"But don't worry, they'll be stopping at Vacuo, so you should be able to meet them there."

Ruby smiled at that.

"But anyways, I should warn you, that Vale wasn't the end of it. Prometheus and his group may have been driven out, but Salem entire network has grown much bigger than I thought. You four might experience the same things in Vacuo that you faced in Vale, so caution is advised."

Ruby frowned, the old fear of facing a Servant going through her again. Sigurd had said that they'd been weakened the entire time they've been at Vale, and now they would be facing Servants at their real power.

And if Ruby and her team could barely hold out against even a single Servant in their weakened state, she didn't want to know what would happen if they went up against Servants at their full power.

Ruby swallowed down her fear as Ozpin got up.

"Anyways, that's all I need to talk about with you four. TAI!" He called out as Tai came up.

"Yeah, Oz?"

"Is Qrow in the house?"

"He's upstairs."

"Ah, then I'll go talk to him." Ozpin spoke before Tai escorted him up the stairs.

Team RWBY was silent before Weiss hummed.

"So we're going to the desert of Vacuo." Weiss spoke in a thoughtful manner.

"Oh…that might not be great." Blake spoke as Ruby looked at her.

"Why not?"

"Vacuo's got some serious issues against foreigners. Although Vale is the kingdom they're least hostile to, Weiss is Atlesian, and of the SDC. Atlas and the SDC are two of the most hated institutions in Vacuo."

"So, Weiss could face some discrimination?" Yang spoke seriously as Weiss nodded, looking downcast.

"Yes…" She spoke quietly."

"Don't worry, Weiss. We'll make sure no one tries anything." Ruby spoke firmly as Weiss nodded.

"Okay…"

"But if we're going to Vacuo, we're going to have to pack the proper clothes, don't we?" Yang asked as Ruby nodded.

"Now that Weiss is here, we can definitely go shopping in Vale tomorrow." Ruby spoke.

"Sounds good. 9:00?" Blake spoke as the others nodded in agreement.

"Well, 9:00 then." Blake spoke.

Ruby then leaned back. So, they would be going to Vacuo. New academy, new enemies…

And thankfully, old and new friends. Ruby thought, Sigurd coming to her mind.

Speaking of which…

"...Where is he right now?" Ruby wondered aloud.


The Southern Badlands, Vale-Vacuo Border, 81 BGW:

In the wide expanse of the arid scrubland that was a mixture of Vacuo's dry desert and Vale's forests, Three figures walked in the night, the moonlight shining their way.

At the back was Robin, wearing his green cloak, his eyes scanning the area, while his Yew crossbow went around, scanning for any attackers.

In front of him, Tristan walked forward in his armor and white cloak, Failnaught gripped in his hand as Tristan simply had his eyes closed.

And at the front, towering over both of them, Sigurd led the way, fully clad in his armor with his cape coming down from his back and his face covered by his mask, its glowing blue lights shining the area right in front of him.

"Nothing so far." Robin spoke. "Although I still don't like that I can't communicate with the plants here."

"I need to ask why Richard isn't here. Out of all of us, he is the most experience in fighting in an arid environment." Tristan spoke as Robin shrugged.

"He says someone needs to keep an eye on Vale and recruit servants while we're gone. You know all the new people need to be accustomed to it."

"Still would have preferred him."

"My bigger question is why are we even walking on foot, Sigurd?" Robin asked as Sigurd looked back.

"Best to get accustomed to the environment. We'll be moving around this Kingdom a lot after all."

"We could get attacked."

"A risk that comes with this endeavor, nothing surprising."

Robin sighed begrudgingly. "Fair point. How much longer till we reach Vacuo?"

"About a week."

"A week?!"

"Well, considering how long it would take to get by foot, counting in all the grimm and monsters that will attack us. Yes, a week."

"...Are you using your magic glasses?"

"Yes. Anything wrong?"

"No, nothing. I just hope our trip to the Meteor doesn't take as much time."

The Meteor. According to Ozpin, a foreign object once struck the northern part of Vacuo thousands of years ago, and apparently had some foreign mana that managed to convert Vacuo's climate into an arid one and rapidly turned the land into a desert over decades.

Now, that same Meteor sat at the center of a dense rainforest that was confounding many across Vacuo. Ozpin of course suspected something and had instructed them to go first to Vacuo and then on an expedition to investigate the Meteor and the Rainforest.

But that was still a long way.

Sigurd suddenly stopped.

"I'm sensing several phantasmals." He spoke.

"Same here." Robin spoke before several shadow figures emerged out of the shadows of the scrubs.

They were taller than the servants, emaciated humanoids with rotting red skin and stringy grey hair with their faces being nothing but a black skull with glowing yellow designs. Their eyes were hollow except for a white mist that flowed inside them.

Four rotting wings sprang from their backs along with claws on their hands the size of swords.

Alongside the creatures, several arachnid grimm crawled out of the ground, towering over the servants with six heads that had grimm masks with four eyes molded together in one piece of organic horror, with multiple jaws clicking together as lava dripped down, steaming on the ground.

They also shrieks before noticing purple fireballs descending from the sky. Sigurd quickly blocked them with Algiz runes.

"What the hell are these?!" Robin spoke.

"...I can't really figure out what exactly they are, but their body and structure resemble that of the Lilû demons of Mesopotamia." Sigurd spoke.

"Although I must add, that they're not really described to be rotting creatures that look like they've been dragged out of the depths of Hel."

"So, another one of those mixed phantasmals? Perfect, I guess I was expecting too much to hope Vacuo wouldn't be like Vale." Robin spoke sarcastically.

"The spider dudes are, I'm pretty sure, called Sleepers. They apparently put people to sleep with their clicking before doing the obvious." Robin spoke, before he suddenly felt drowsy.

Robin immediately pressed a finger against his temple and inscribed an Ogham rune, as the drowsiness disappeared, before doing the same with Tristan while Sigurd inscribed his own rune.

"And the birds?"

"According to my wisdom, they're lesser copies of the monstrous bird Kamak that once terrorized ancient Persia, and they're mixed as well."

"Well, great. Vacuo's already proving to be a warm and welcoming place." Robin spoke before the Undead Lilu shrieked and flew forward and rapid speeds with their claws outstretched.

Sigurd raised Ridill and Hrotti along with Tristan and Robin before the servants engaged the monsters.


A/N: So, since I finished the Vale arc, I decided to take a break, because you know that feeling of when you're grinding on finishing something and when you're done, the exhaustion of the work all comes down on you full-force? Yeah, that happened to me. I just could not get myself to write after completing the Vale arc so I took this break before I came back.

In that meantime, I started playing FGO again on an NA account. I stopped playing at a point of time, and I restarted this week, currently speedrunning through the game to get back to where I was, which was the Olympus storyline. Got to say, it was really fucking easy this time around because not only did I get an Arjuna alter with a fully charged NP as support, I also got my Mordred and EMIYA to max level because of FGO starting to give EXP cards after completing a section rather than one SQ. Best moment so far was absolutely wrecking Gawain in Camelot. Use Euryale my ass, I only needed Tristan's troll kit to absolutely negate Gawain's quick NP and a Gil as support along with Tristan's NP to shear through Gawain's health. Tristan also helped me with Mordred and her stupid NP-spamming buff with his kit. Now I'm saving up for Sigurd, because I'll be annoyed if I couldn't get the main character of my story into this account. Story-wise, I'm getting through Babylonia, although It's going to be a rough ride because I don't have the right servant classes against the main enemies in Babylonia.

Moving on from FGO and into RWBY stuff, I decided to take a left turn and make Vacuo the second kingdom instead of Mistral. It's understandable why people in fanfics choose Mistral instead of other kingdoms because it's how canon goes, plus if they even want to diverge from canon, they only make Atlas the second kingdom. Vacuo not being the second kingdom is understandable because considering we know almost jack shit how RT wants to depict Vacuo, it's much more difficult to construct a storyline if you can't really do your own world building.

As for why I chose Vacuo, first, I can make my own world for Vacuo. Second, Atlas is being saved for much later, because I have some stuff planned that cannot be done if Atlas was the second kingdom, and Mistral...I don't know why Mistral is even the second kingdom in Canon, because let me point out something :-

1. Mistral is Raven's home base.

2. It's also the headquarters of the White Fang.

This means that we've got a kingdom that has elements crucial to the characters of THREE of the members of Team RWBY (Yang because mommy issues, Blake because Adam, and Weiss because White Fang). Ruby's the only person who doesn't seem to have much of a connection to Mistral, with the only possible theory being that it's where Summer disappeared (Considering she went off with Raven as shown in V9), and I'm anyways giving Ruby a connection to so that Mistral's a very heavy arc in terms of character for Team RWBY.

Atlas is also going to be very character-heavy for Sigurd too.

Hence, Vacuo is the weakest kingdom in terms of character for the protagonists and I'm putting the next step of the journey over there.

Also, I'm not going to really follow the canon explanations of silver eyes, because in all honesty, the whole 'extreme positive thoughts' is really not going to paint Ruby in a good light (Although it could be used as a form of mental trauma as Ruby tries to force herself to be positive in order to use her powers...Okay, I'm definitely using that in a different story, but not this one.)

You're going to have to see later on how much Team RWBY's improved. Right now, we're starting off the Vacuo arc.

I won't be on the same grind as earlier, since I also need to update my other stories, but the updates will still be a lot more than earlier.

Hope you guys enjoyed and Constructive Criticism is appreciated!


Foot Notes:

Lilu: Wind demons in Mesopotamian mythology. They basically were the servants of an entity called Pazuzu (I'm calling him an entity and not a demon because apparently Pazuzu is also considered a protective deity who was a part of the four Winds of Mesopotamia). These demons were regarded as more violent and destructive aspects of wind. The whole 'Zombie look' is actually a reference to the God of Vacuo. If you know your colour symbolism, you'll immediately know who that god is.

Sleeper: Next new grimm. Since Anon asked if I could go into more grimm variants that attacked the mind, that's the theme for Vacuo, starting with the Sleepers. Arachnid grimm inspired by similar grimm in the animation of Team DARK, except they have lava as saliva and their jaws clicking can lull people to sleep. Once they're asleep, you can guess what the sleepers do to them.

Kamak: A monstrous bird that caused droughts in Iranian mythology. This birdbrain was supposed to be the evil alter-ego of the Chamrosh, which is basically a dog with wings (But that's it. It's not like the Simurgh), It was killed by the great Persian hero Karsasp, who shot it down and is also said to be destined to slay the evil dragon Azi-Dahaka (Hey, would you look at that! A dragon-slayer that uses a bow. That would definitely be a breath of fresh air from all the sword-wielding dragon-slayers we've got). I initially wanted to use the Chamrosh, but upon further research I realized that Chamrosh was a benevolent creature that was essentially regarded as a Guardian of Persia. So, unless I wanted to be boring and used the same strategy to make the Chamrosh bad like I made the Faoladh (Who were also considered to be guardians in Irish folklore, and I didn't realize that because I forgot the Wulvers existed) as mindless beasts attacking humans. So, no Chamrosh, sadly. Boring evil birds, I guess.


Response to Reviews:

Pelican117: Well, I won't comment on your guesses regarding the gods for avoiding spoilers (But I will tell you that Epimetheus was dumb as a box of bricks in greek myth, and it would be weird if he actually acted smart.), but I will say something about your Odin theory - It's not Daybit. I'll put a breadcrumb just to fuel more theories - Don't restrict your thinking to FGO and RWBY regarding Odin. Also, The Will isn't a demon god pillar, I'll leave it at that.

longbowchris50: Roman needs to die for Neo to have a reason to stay in this story. And I just think Neo going on a quest for revenge against Ruby is the perfect direction to take her character forward, so I'm keeping with that.

Anon: No problem with deleting, because nothing in your comment is actually a spoiler. It's interesting, but not the route I'm going for. I'm guessing your idea that a Brother is still on Remnant is coming from Sigurd and Odysseus' assumption that there was a cataclysm that drove the gods to the reverse side. Same pieces of advice for your 'Odin' guesses as Pelican117. As for your 'Brothers' theory, go back to the conversation between Shirou and Robin. That is much more important to this story than it seems.

Shadowhunter2077: Glad to see someone agrees that the 'Real world' speech should be slapped onto villains. Heck yeah the former first years will be training. While it seems tame from RWBY's perspective, things haven't been so great for other teams, and I intend to show how much the other Beacon students have been psychologically scarred by the Battle. Heck, I haven't even let Ruby and Weiss live down their own trauma. Both of them still carry that mental weight.

Yeah, the Norse Demigod idea partially came from Parcasious' fanfic 'Fate-In Time' (Great exploration of Arthurian Britain, but I don't know where did this entire plot of 'Shirou Ashton' come from, because from what I remember, the Ashton name got attached to Shirou because of a misunderstanding, and later on it turns into Shirou somehow actually being an Ashton, which was seriously confusing. There's a lot of other stuff I have to criticize about that fanfic, but that's not the point.)

Anyways, I soon discovered that I would be better off publishing it as an original novel then try to make it a fate fanfic (Because as much as I like Nasuverse, it really loves binding itself with convoluted rules that restrict the creative liberties one could take with the myths.) So, I'll have to see whether I would go for writing it as an original novel or just keep it on the back burner.

But as a PJO fanfic, it would be much more conducive because PJO treats its myths more naturally than Fate's more robotic approach. Heck, the Percy Jackson and the Tree of Life Series (My third story) is actually going to feature a flashback to Early Medieval Britain and the state of demigods in that period.