Nightfall had come, and the darkness of the sky was countered by the blinding streets below. No stars would show among the blinding city lights, which was a bit of an irritant for one Yang Xiao Long, who often once used those very lights to help cool her head. There was just something so relaxing about looking up at the stars, who often brought to life her childhood memories long lost to time. As a little girl she'd often questioned if the stars above were connected to the people in some way.

Once upon a time, her mother told her that a star was born alongside every baby, to act as their personal guardian.

Had Ruby been old enough to remember, she'd probably feel the same. Yang recalled the way their mom spoke, of how Summer would bring them both out to the backyard on the midnight of the new year. Her little sister would usually be asleep, but she'd be brought along anyways: it was a family event. Yang would just barely be capable of keeping her eyes open, enough to hear the single prayer offered to their personal stars above: to watch over and guide their living selves.

"Lift us as we blossom."

When Summer passed away and Yang herself took up the mantle of mother for her little sister, she'd been the one to take Ruby out to the backyard: reciting that simple prayer above, as their shared mother would. Those thoughts, those memories of before, they should have been pure. The shared family tradition, which even their father eventually returned to joining in, should have been the light at the end of the tunnel: something to calm her down and remind her of the better things in life.

Such ideas had long ago been spoiled, on the very turn of the year, back when she'd only met Ruby's age.

She was just a small, fifteen year old girl, no more adept than Ruby right now, which was what enraged her the most. Yang didn't have an older sister to enlighten her of the dangers people presented, especially those who looked at them with less than pure intentions. With this hatred in her heart, she couldn't look at the turn of the new year under her mother's innocent prayer ever again, not when she'd been robbed of such.

Indeed, the turn of the new year carried with it the brightest points of her life, but so too did it ensnare her with the reminder of her darkest crevice.

Wandering down the streets, there was only one thing on her mind: ensure Ruby never had to have a date which constantly reminded her of humanity's lowest scum. Unlike herself, Ruby had an older sister to protect and guide her, and that older sister was about to teach the spit-wads of Vale what happens when she's pushed too hard. She wouldn't kill him, no; she wasn't that stupid, and she wouldn't maim him either. From what she recalled, the perverted fuck didn't have any aura, meaning he was just an ordinary citizen.

Last time's brawl - if you can even call it that - was a fluke: she hadn't been paying attention enough to notice any lacking aura. She knew now, based on calm recollection alone, and while that meant she couldn't really lay hands on him without putting her career at risk, she was more than ready to share a few choice words with him. All she needed to do was restrain herself, hold back the desire to break every tooth in his mouth and focus on speaking. She couldn't hurt him, but he didn't know that, and it was precisely this which made the whole fiasco work.

In his mind, he was at her mercy... And would you know it, speak of the Grimm and they shall appear.

Finally, I've found you.

He was tumbling in place, barely able to stand and being supported by a woman all too familiar. Interestingly, as she scrutinized her surroundings a little better, she noted how they weren't too far off from Junior's club. This was perfect, as while she couldn't hurt him without major consequences, she could beat the ever loving daylights out of the bitch at his side. If she was with him, then it practically confirmed that the asshole was in league with Junior's crew, and potentially the whole underground.

Now then, cracking her knuckles for a bit to warm them up for later use, Yang made her approach.

"You feeling alright?" The red-dressed hooker's speech was slightly askew, and taking a closer look, Yang could see her wobbling stance just grasping its upright standing.

"I'm fine." The punk prattled, nearly slipping as he leaned down. "Let me go woman, I'm good enough on my own."

"Six in an hour is hardly what I'd call 'good'."

So they were drunk. Yang was temporarily paused as she processed such, eventually ruling it out as a non-factor. Wasted or not, the pair would answer to her; whether they liked it or not… perhaps she wouldn't beat any of them: kicking out a drunk never felt nice, as they couldn't properly understand what was going on: physical lessons were lost on them.

"Hey hey hey." Yang stopped a little ways away, smirking to herself as both suckers turned her way. "Never thought you'd see me again, huh?"

"Y-you?!" The woman's surprise was chased afterwards by a quick hiccup, again telling of her less than stable state. "W-what do you *hic* want? Boss already told you everything."

"Ah whatever." Yang waved the girl off, tossing a finger towards the man who'd just managed to stand himself back up. "I couldn't care less about that. Him though? We have some business to talk about."

"What do you want?"

Yang wasn't one to experience tonal whiplash, and she hadn't, but she did catch on to the sudden shift in voice. Last she recalled, he could barely mutter out a few lowly words before - granted, he was lying on the ground after a beating, but there was this distinct sense of weakness about him then, as there was with all creeps of his category when they were caught. Here though, she felt no such weakness. This brought to life a curiosity in her, and Yang narrowed her eyes a little, piecing together what she believed was going on.

So, you've got yourself a bodyguard and all of a sudden you think you're tough stuff, huh?

Internally she chuckled, laughed even. The whole scenario was just so funny to her, to the point some of her blinding rage had simmered down - not by much, but enough to provoke a new decision in her head. He clearly didn't know she'd already beat the heck out of the one standing by his side before, meaning he thought he was untouchable.

Okay then, two can play at this game. She'd let him speak his absurdities, and once he egged her on, she'd rough up his 'bodyguard' a little, just a bit to knock her off her feet: nothing major. To him though, he'd see only a total smackdown; seeing him sober up upon his only protector's 'defeat' would spook him enough to make their talk interesting.

"You don't remember creeping on my sister not too long ago?"

"Ruby?" Something about the way he shifted managed to swipe her off her feet. Yang couldn't tell what about it gave off this... 'weird' feeling, but she didn't have time to take it in as he continued to speak. "So I was right, this really is just the most stereotypical bullshit imaginable. Look here, I don't care about your sister that way, alright; I'm not into toddlers."

"Oh, and I suppose rubbing her up was just your way of saying 'sorry, not interested' huh?" Yang wasn't liking his attitude, but she'd hold back; the payoff to come was too savory to risk right now.

"I never asked for her to show up, and honestly, I don't even know why she was there. I was just walking down the street when all the lights went out. I thought I was dead, but would you know it, I wasn't so lucky."

Dead? That was an... unusual way of phrasing it. And another thing, with what he was saying, it was starting to kind of line up with what her sister tried earlier. Unfortunately for him, Yang wasn't so ignorant; a bogus excuse like that wouldn't fly with her.

"News flash: street lamps are a thing." Yang tossed out, and yet he didn't look even the least bit phased; heck, he somehow kept a steady mask of irritation - not quite a scowl, but a less than pleased expression nonetheless. "And I don't recall any power outages on the streets. Sorry my guy, but if you're going to lie, you'll need to do a better job than that."

This prompted a chuckle from him, and immediately she was on guard.

"Really, I need to lie better? This, coming from you of all people?" More chuckling. Okay, now she was getting angry, and it was a lot harder to restrain her inner fighter. "No... no that's not quite fair, now is it? You don't know any better: none of you do."

"You wanna say that again?" Yang was a hair's trigger away from losing her bindings at this point, and still the asshole kept preaching, never once dropping his irate expression.

"Why are you so upset? It's not like you've really done anything yet... well..." The way his head tilted was just so... infuriating. "Other than looking for your mother, right?"

"And what do you know about her?" Yang was counting down the seconds, all the while adding a new point to the plan: a small beatdown couldn't hurt, right? So long as he was only bruised and a little bloodied it would be fine: so long as there weren't any permanent damages it was okay, right?

"Besides her hypocrisy and cowardice, nothing of importance. Of course, that's not saying much: I don't recall any of you being above that bar."

"You don't know me." Yep, she was pulling a Nora: his legs had to go. This was made all the more apparent as a shadow covered his face, blinding the front as shards of ice rippled from his throat.

"I know everything about you: all four of you." Something in her bones locked up, and her boiling blood for an instant was coated in a thin layer of frost, only to melt away moments after. "You're jumpy, childish, and so irrational when you want your own way that it's quite frankly pathetic. Half the time I can't even fathom how Salem has such a hard time ripping the land from humanity, if these are its defenders."

Salem?

Yang was furious, oh, most definitely. She was so angry it was hard to think, and yet she still had the capacity to do so. That was such a specific name, and the whole "ripping the land from humanity" bit sounded really stupid; downright ludicrous even. Clearly, this was incoherent babbling from a guy whining because he was beat up. Well then, considering he was digging his own grave, she had something of her own to say.

"Okay, so what are you going to do about it?" Crossing her arms, she met his gaze with a glare. "We've devoted ourselves to putting our lives on the line: facing the Grimm head on. You don't like how we do it? Fine, but I don't see you rising to the occasion, so don't talk like you'd be any better."

"Maybe I wouldn't be, but that doesn't excuse the people you got killed with your skewed priorities."

"I haven't gotten anyone killed, not now, and not ever." He was accusing her of bullshit now, and while her anger was still present, seeing him grasping at straws like this kind of made the whole scenario a little sad. He was like a toddler trying to hoist the blame on something else.

"No... you're right. You haven't killed anyone yet… Let's see how long you can say that." He was stretching really far by this point. She didn't really know who he was, only that he tried to grope her lil sis, but now she was starting to get a little creeped out.

Can't you just admit you were wrong and apologize? If he'd done that - heck, had he taken any accountability whatsoever - she wouldn't have been so furious. Yeah, she'd hate his guts, but this was just - in his own words - frankly pathetic. She didn't need a breakdown of groveling either: just an admittance that touching underage girls in the way he had was bad, and that he wouldn't do it again. She'd never trust him ever again afterwards, and would still rough him up a little, but she wouldn't feel so hateful towards him either.

Why the hell was he trying to claim all this other nonsense? What did all that have to do with anything?

Hold on... And thus it clicked.

"Don't change the subject." Yang took a step forward, having finally caught on to what he was doing. Clever little shit was trying to confuse her, to make her forget about what he did. That wasn't going to work, not on this older sister.

"Change it? No, I'm-" Whatever it was he'd been about to say was cut short: not by Yang, but by the sudden torrent of bile spilling from his mouth. He keeled over, unloading all the muck onto the pavement, right before nearly dropping onto it himself, had he not been caught by the woman who stood silently at his side. He coughed, and tried talking again. "I-"

Once more he was interrupted by another moment of sickness. At this point, Yang herself retracted that step she'd taken, filled with a sense of disgust.

Ew... Okay, so maybe he wasn't such a hotshot anymore. Damn, I knew you were loaded, but I didn't think it was this bad.

However much he had in his system was lost on her; he had six of something, and it must have been some pretty strong stuff to empty his stomach so thoroughly. The woman holding him cast a somewhat skewed look towards her; Yang couldn't quite tell what it was the woman felt.

"Alright, so I don't exactly know what type of business you two have, but can we just cut it short here?" She looked down to the guy, who was now struggling to raise his head. "I'm pretty sure whatever discussion you had in mind isn't exactly going to work like... well, this."

A fair observation, and one Yang begrudgingly accepted.

"Whatever." Shifting by her heel, Yang faced the other direction away from the pair and started off. "Just tell him to leave my sister alone, or else. He knows who I'm talking about."

Damnit!

It was all a waste of time in the end. Could she have taught him a lesson then and there regardless? Yeah, but it wouldn't feel good to beat sense into somebody who's already out of their rocker: even she herself couldn't find an excuse to make the choice feel justified. And so it was that she took off for Beacon again, content to just sleep the night away and hope the loser learned his lesson about avoiding her family.

She was completely unaware of the crow rocketing high above in the very same direction.

.

.

"And you're certain you hadn't misheard?"

Ozpin wasn't the type to assume those speaking of dangerous topics were exaggerating, as in their mind the issue was most certainly extreme, however such information provided by Qrow seemed a little bit spotty.

"By name, Oz." Qrow, however, was adamant it seemed, which made the claim all the more worrisome. His scowl was hard, but more than that, it was filled with tangled strife, far more than that of a man spinning tall tales. "He called her byname."

And therein lies the issue: a name nobody of insignificance or innocence should know.

"And this 'rant' of his?"

"I don't get it either." At least they'd both shared that sentiment. "I don't even know how it escalated. Firecracker was telling him off about touching squirt, and I was cheering her on from above, but he then started spouting off something about knowing the four 'em and killing."

"Team RWBY."

"I'd assume they're who he meant… Unless Yang's involved with another group of three." Qrow scoffed. "I don't like this."

'Incoherent babbling from a drunk man." Ozpin took a sip of his coco, setting the mug back down on the desk. "And Yang took it as such?"

"Walked right off, leaving him with the message not to touch Ruby." Qrow began to grumble. "I'm thinking he's one of hers."

From the boy's apparent knowledge of the woman, Ozpin was nearly inclined to agree. Salem revealed her name to none other than her closest consorts; merely speaking it was proof of branding one's self her slave. However there was something else that worried him, and he pressed Qrow on the subject.

"You spoke of the boy's similar appearance to Miss Rose: how similar are we speaking?"

"Damn near a carbon copy. He's just a little bit taller and, although not quite all that obvious, a guy. You've seen the picture I sent."

He had, but it was so far above that he wanted to confirm what he saw.

"And he lacks the silver eyes?" Qrow's nod solidified that final detail, and Ozpin began to speculate.

"Do we have any information on why he was hanging around that particular area of the city?"

"Not one." Leaning against the window, Qrow elaborated. "I was about to drop by Junior's to see if he had anything on the recent robberies, but seeing my niece changed things. She's usually out on the town, that ain't weird, but on a school night? Even she isn't willing to risk a sleepy day, especially at a new school."

"Yes, you grew suspicious and followed: that I understand. And it was here you overlooked the confrontation, yes?"

"Confrontation is putting it lightly: she looked about ready to go to town on him... but she didn't."

"We should be thankful for her restraint in that regard. Salem's followers are anything but weak. However, this does raise the question: why didn't he make a move?"

"Maybe he assumed someone like me was watching." Qrow darkened his glare. "And he was right."

"Then why mention Salem by name?" Qrow's glare stumbled a little, and Ozpin linked his fingers, resting both elbows on his desk as he thought it over. "Exposing her name when there was no reason too was immensely foolish. I'm certain Salem wouldn't have allowed it; potential exposure is something she hasn't risked in centuries. Shadows and secrecy fit her like a glove, and it's with this glove that she sets the playing board."

"Do you think there's something behind it? Was there a purpose for outing her name?"

"I don't know." Qrow grimaced faintly, something Ozpin's eye caught effortlessly from centuries of experience. He surely wasn't happy with that answer, but there was nothing to be done: Ozpin did not know what to make of it.

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Qrow held back on his shock, but it was still there.

"Nothing. We'll do nothing for now." Ozpin saw how his friend was about to object, but stopped him with a raised hand. "We'll simply keep an eye on him. We don't know how dangerous he is, or what his place on Salem's board is. Until we have a concrete explanation for most, if not all of this, I want you to simply watch."

Qrow remained quiet for a moment, before sighing hard. His face twisted into a scowl, deep enough to unearth a millennium of relics, and yet it eventually rose back up into one of scolding acceptance.

"Fine, but if he hurts, or even tries to hurt one of my nieces, I won't be holding back."

"And I don't expect you to." Ozpin relaxed his composure, watching as his friend seemed to mimic the action. "I'm not asking you to like it, I'm merely asking that you don't let anger cloud your better judgment. Give him some time to expose himself and his secrets, and then we can move in for the takedown."

"Okay, I'll do it."

Watching Qrow take his leave with at least some form of determination provided a minor sense of relief for the headmaster, but it was fleeting. The image sent by Qrow earlier only showed a partial view of the man, with the accompanying text being 'We need to talk'. But this? Ozpin knew Salem; he knew her better than anyone else in the world. This boy, a young man who knew her name: his presence spoke of disaster. If Salem was willing to out herself, it could mean only one thing. After all these years of battle, of back and forth…

The Queen of Grimm believed she'd won.

Author's note

...

A little twisty, eh?

I'm certain there are a bunch of questions, prime of which being why Jay spouted out a rant. That'll be covered next chapter, just keep in mind he's coming in with supposedly info of the whole series - ending included. RWBY isn't over... or maybe it is - not a clue honestly - but that doesn't mean we can't play with that idea.

So Oz and crew already know of him, okay, but what will this really mean for our boy? Yang apparently decided he wasn't worth it, and while it was mostly out of fury, you never know with her. And what happened with the others: Ruby and Weiss are off somewhere, so what went down with them? What of Blake for crying out loud?!

Eh, find out next time.