Within Headmaster Ozpin's office, teams RWBY, CRDL, CFVY, and the remnants of JNPR were unsure why they were sent here during the early stages of the evening, with a number of them having some small talk with each other.
Especially when their headmaster in front of them had a solemn look on his seemingly young-looking features.
"Why you wanted us all here, Headmaster?" Nora, wearing a long pink sleeve shirt with gray flannel pants and pink slippers, broke the silence as she was near Ren, who had on a simple green shirt, brown indoor pants, and black slippers.
"Once Glynda escorts Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos into my office, I'll explain what's going on." Ozpin's tone was affable but carry a hint of concern stated to the young orange-haired woman.
Cardin, clad in a red t shirt with blue jogging pants and black workout shoes, rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms to his chest. "I'm not sure why bring us here anyway?"
"It's probably something important that he wanted to tell us," Ruby, clad in her huntress attire, suggested.
"Even still, it's better to just wait for them to arrive so Headmaster Ozpin can explain to us what's going on," Coco, wearing her huntress attire, replied as she glances towards the leader of CRDL. "I'm sure Jaune, Pyrrha, and Professor Goodwitch have a sensible reason why they're coming here."
"I'm not what's going on, but it better be good," Cardin groaned. "Because I was about to get some dinner at the cafeteria right now."
As everyone resumes their personal discussions with each other, Ozpin however was waiting for the for the last three to show up.
Until the door to his office opens, revealing to be Jaune, Pyrrha, and Glynda, their moods appearing somber as the door closes behind them.
"Jaune, Pyrrha, are you okay?" Ruby noticed her two friends emerging into the room. "Ozpin told all of us to come here for some reason and we want to know what's going on."
"About that," The young man knew the response won't be good news to say the least. "When Pyrrha and I were finished doing a sparring session around the outdoor training area and lounging near the Emerald Forest, a young woman named Scarlett Fairbairn found us unexpectedly, wanting to be rekindle our relationship."
"How come?" Yang, clad in her huntress attire, wondered. "Because you looked buddy-buddy with Pyrrha right now."
"Yang," the blonde leader of JNPR groaned. "Pyrrha and I are just friends, okay. But anyway, Scarlett wanted me to be her boyfriend again despite cheating on me with Rad Stoneman, the same man you sent to the hospital around the same bar you and team RWBY went and, according to Scarlett, had also committed suicide sometime later as well."
"Not only that, but there were strange organs that popped out from Scarlett's back until they morphed into large bat-like wings," Pyrrha added. "Plus, she explained that she's sort of creature known as a Noctis Walker, some being she claimed was not from Remnant."
"And to make matters worse, she attempted to harm both Jaune and Pyrrha after shooting her sphere of destruction in between them before hitting a few trees around the Emerald Forest." Glynda finished. "Thankfully nobody was hurt, though Scarlett was grateful to leave the Academy when she had the chance."
"Anything else?" Yang felt her head was spinning from all the information she and the others were receiving.
"Scarlett wanted to thank you for sending Rad to the hospital, as she had a terrible life with him," Jaune added.
"That's nice . . . I guess?"
"But anyway, who's this Scarlett Fairbairn anyway?" Cardin groaned. "Alongside that lame idiot named Rad Stoneman?"
"Here's the question within the question, Mr. Winchester," Ozpin stated. "Why did Jaune Arc come to Beacon Academy in the first place?"
"To become a hunter like his great grandfather?" Ruby offered her guess.
"That's technically true, but this wasn't the only reason why I came here in the first place," Jaune replied.
"How come?"
"Does anyone remembered going to the particular restaurant for brunch after Jaune demonstration with his jetpack?" Ozpin asked. "Alongside Miss Yang recalling the encounter with Rad Stoneman some time ago?"
"Yeah, why?" Said female blonde-haired teammate of RWBY wondered out loud.
"Mister Arc wasn't supposed to go to Beacon Academy at all," The silver-haired man answered.
"Wait, why though?" Ruby asked. "While it's true that Jaune isn't as experience as everyone else, at least he's willing to pull through to help Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren out regardless."
"Ruby, in truth, I didn't go to Beacon Academy until I properly train myself to be a good fighter alongside activating my Aura and Semblance," the blonde explained to the young leader of RWBY. "My older sister named Rouge was supposed to enroll but given the aftermath of Scarlett's affair with Rad and having to deal with a severe bout of depression, my parents, my older sister, and Headmaster Ozpin offered me to go in her place to get away from Doremy, and my former girlfriend."
"Why do all this, Jaune?" Weiss, clad in her huntress attire, wanted to know why the leader of Team JNPR had enrolled into Beacon Academy despite his limited skills and talent.
"Because at that time, he's still reeling from the trauma of a broken relationship behind his back," Ozpin replied, a frown coming to his face. "Knowing that he needed a place where he can rebuild his life from scratch alongside his impressive track record during his time under Miss Fairbairn's group, combined with his strategy and tactical knowledge, I had decided that he can enroll into Beacon Academy if Mister Arc can prove himself to be a capable Hunter. And so far, he failed to disappoint."
Though that cleared some things up, Russell, clad with a green workout shirt, brown shorts, and black running shoes, couldn't help but look at the blue-eyed blonde. "How do you know Scarlett in the first place?"
"I knew you'll say that Russell," the young man with the hoodie and armor sighed. "It's going to take a couple of minutes but bear with me.
"Scarlett Fairbairn was a classmate of mine back in high school around Doremy a few years ago who offered me to join her Unknown Inquiry Group or UIG after she rescued me from a group of hostile Noctis Walkers that were after me for being the child of the Arc family." Jaune explained. "She and the UIG were tasked with investigating strange occurrences within Doremy, but also participate in gig work to earn money on the side after school.
"At that time, I get to know everyone in the group that Scarlett found under similar circumstances as her allies, or she calls, 'her adorable servants'." The blonde pulled out his Scroll from his pocket before scrolling around to look for a particular photo in mind.
After some moments, the leader of team JNPR turned his Scroll around to reveal a picture that shows him, Scarlett, and four other people that consists of a guy and three other girls, all grouped together appearing to be chill with each other.
In the middle of the picture was Jaune wearing his normal outfit but with white armor pieces; Scarlett next to him had a red short sleeved dress shirt, black mid-thigh skirt, black socks, and black oxford shoes.
Next to the redheaded Noctis Walker was a young woman with fair skin despite her Mistralian features, long black hair in a ponytail, amber eyes, a womanlier body, large crow-like wings that were folded behind her and wore a white long sleeved dress shirt with black trimmings, a golden yellow vest above the shirt, a black and gray skirt, black socks, and black oxford shoes.
Besides Jaune was a young man with Mistralian features aside from his messy brown hair, greenish brown eyes, and had on a black unbuttoned school jacket with yellow buttons, revealing a red shirt underneath it, black pants, and black shoes, but also has a grin on his face.
In front of the young man with brown hair was a young woman that was a few inches shorter than him with long blonde hair, gentle blue eyes, fair skin, and had on a sky-blue dress with short sleeves, white shocks, and blue shoes, all while having a gentle smile on her face as she was hugged by the brown-hair man from behind.
Next the young blonde woman was a Mistralian young woman that almost looked like a girl in the early stages of adulthood with a blank look on her face aside from her from short white hair that reaches below her neck, gray eyes, almost pale skin, and had a white dress shirt, a black mid-thigh skirt, black socks, black loafers, and appeared to be a Cat Fanus due to the cat ears and tail.
"Who are they, Jaune?" Velvet, clad in her huntress attire, couldn't help but look at the photo with curiosity.
"Scarlatina's right, because you're lucky to be in a group like that, Arc boy." Cardin couldn't resist pulling a grin on his face.
"Alright," the blonde rolled his eyes at the bigger guy's remark. "The redhead next to me is Scarlett Fairbairn, the black-haired lady besides her is Hikage Taiyohara, the guy near me is Masura Akairyu, the blonde girl that was being hugged by Masura is Bianca Cieloblu, and the girl next to her is Shiori Fukui.
"To begin, Scarlett Fairbairn was the leader of the UIG and a Noctis Walker with the ability to generate destructive blasts alongside the younger sister of businessman Crimson Fairbairn." Jaune explained. "Apparently, her ability, known to us as a Tide Flair that was within her family line was called Destruction Blast. Besides that, her nickname was the Regal King due to being level-headed even tough situations, though that didn't stop her from breaking my heart, unfortunately."
"Why Regal King?" Blake, clad in her huntress attire, asked curiously.
"Scarlett like playing chess and wanted our nicknames to be based on a chess motif, aside from a nickname that reflected her position as leader."
"Okay?"
"Next to Scarlett was Hikage Taiyohara, also known as the Majestic Queen, is versatile with her light and shadow-based Semblance called Twilight's Hour and is the daughter of a human woman and Crow Fanus male, aside from acting like a shameless model towards us despite her affable behavior," Jaune mentioned. "She was taken in by Scarlett's family a couple of years ago after being the lone survivor of a home invasion by Fanus extremists who hated her for being a Crossbreed, a child born from human and Fanus parents.
"While the extremists that invaded her home were thankfully killed by her parents, they unfortunately succumbed to their wounds, forcing Hikage to survive on her own before encountering Scarlett around one winter night."
Velvet couldn't help but tilt her head downward as her rabbit ears start to droop. "I'm sorry Hikage had to experience losing her parents like this."
"To be honest, I had those same thoughts when she told me that as well," the leader of JNPR couldn't help but nod.
Hikage shouldn't had gone through this, Blake, hissed to herself. No sane person should terrorize anyone for being different, human, Fanus, or Crossbreed. Though sadly, the White Fang had unfortunately didn't tolerate anyone not being born purely Fanus.
"In front of us is the girl with the long blonde hair and blue eyes named Bianca Cieloblu, known as the Gentle Bishop from her Semblance she called Gentle Healer and a kindhearted young woman," The blonde leader of JNPR pointed out. "She was borned within an orphanage until she was forced into exile for healing an injured Fanus during a forest trip."
"I'm sorry that she was exiled for healing an innocent person," Pyrrha couldn't help but feel sorry for the Gentle Bishop, as she felt the young woman was too innocent to be exiled over this.
"Biance was thankfully taken in by our group before a group of thugs could exploit her Semblance," Jaune added. "Besides that, she and Masura managed to become close friends with each other.
"Next to Bianca was Shiori Fukui, also known as the Resilient Rook, a cat Fanus who is blunt and aloof at times but is a pretty tough fighter despite her small size."
Yang, looking at Shiori with her blank look on her face reminded her of one certain teammate of hers. "Just like Blakey, only shorter with white hair."
Said hidden Cat Fanus gave her blonde teammate a blank look in return.
"Shiori was taken in by Scarlett during a family trip to Mistral after she escaped from a research facility that attempted to do lots of horrible of horrible experiments on her." Jaune mentioned. "Alongside having to kill off the researchers in several brutal ways using her Semblance called Incineration White, which generates fire at extreme temperatures with a whitish color."
"Why was Shiori in the facility for?" Blake dreaded to know what was going on.
"The scientists attempted to figure out why she had two Fanus traits instead of one . . . through with less than benevolent means."
The hidden Cat Fanus almost resisted the urge to gag over the implications of what the experiments were all about, something that is shared by the other classmates around her, including team RWBY.
"Why Shiori managed to recover from the ordeal, she did have nightmares about being trapped in the facility. Not only that, but this also caused her to not her Aura and Semblance without recalling the painful memories until I helped her overcome her trauma."
"That too," Ruby couldn't blame the white-haired Cat Fanus for having to deal with painful memories from that horrible place.
"To keep things a little less dark, the guy with the messy brown hair, green eyes, and Mistralian features is Masura Akairyu, the Endearing Pawn," The blonde leader of JNPR motioned a finger to the brown-haired guy behind Bianca.
"Why endearing?" Fox, clad in his hunter attire, wondered what that title meant for someone like that guy in the photo.
"Because despite his womanizing tendencies, Masura is willing to go headfirst to protect his allies, including his close friend, Bianca." Jaune answered. "And surprising, he gave up those tendencies once he and Bianca started dating, with Masura flirting her outside of missions and combat.
"Not only that, but we also learned that Masura was actually a Crossbreed Lizard Fanus, particularly a Monitor Lizard," the blonde added.
"Why kept that hidden?"
"Masura wasn't too popular back in a Mistralian city due to his Crossbreed linage, especially since his parents, a dad who is a Monitor Lizard Fanus and his mom being a human woman," Jaune couldn't help but feel sorry for his old teammate. "His parents moved to Doremy to give Masura a more peaceful life. Plus, it's possible Masura acted like a womanizer as to cover his insecurities about his mixed heritage but got over his fears once he joined UIG and worked hard to become a skilled teammate."
"So why did Masura join UIG?" Blake asked.
"Around the high school at Doremy, Masura was supposed to go on a date with a young woman only to discover that his date was a part of a gang that want to kill anyone that's not Valean." Jaune replied. "Masura barely survived when Scarlett got involved and killed off his attackers. Once Masura recovered, he was more than willing to join her club, especially since he had a high opinion over an attractive yet mature girl. Though he couldn't awaken his Semblance just yet, he makes up for it with his determination to help the team out."
"But for me, after I joined the club, Scarlett gave me the nickname 'Beloved Knight' as I was the most level-headed of the group despite being socially awkward at times," Jaune admitted. "Despite this, I was more than willing to help them out with their personal problems despite being an ordinary human from a Hunter-based background alongside being there for them, even in their darkest moments."
"Within UIG, a number of times we're tasked with maintaining the peace within Doremy against hostile threats, including rogue Noctis Walkers that want to wreak havoc, and a terrorist group known as the Shadow Liberation Front led by their mysterious leader who wanted to restart a war against Remnant." The young knight recalled. "Though we did go through a number of adventures various times, the UIG was sadly disbanded after Scarlett's affair was exposed."
"How come?"
Jaune turns his Scroll towards him before taping a few buttons on his screen. "Yang, could you describe Rad Stoneman around the club you and Team RWBY went to?"
"Not exactly," the brawler shrugged her head. "Because that guy looked like a homeless bum that wanted to pick fights with people."
Blue eyes began to bore into her Lilac eyes before the young blonde man went down to his Scroll. "About that."
"Several months ago, after Scarlett and I announced our relations, things went sour between us whenever I wanted to hang out with her in between missions," The leader of JNPR didn't look at his classmates as he scrolls through his mobile device. "Not only that, but she also gradually starts declining my concerns about what's going on with her, especially since it's not like my girlfriend wanted to keep secrets from her own team.
"My concerns were further amplified started to notice that Scarlett also checks her Scroll like she was waiting for something to happen or was waiting for someone else.
"Feeling concerned over what's going on, I snuck around behind Scarlett's back after we hanged out a bit just to investigate what's going on, only to discover that she was dating Rad Stoneman behind my back around the club house we used to reside."
"And this is what Rad looked like," Jaune turned his Scroll around, pointing his finger on a young man that appeared a few years older than him with fair skin, short yet cropped black hair, gray eyes, and wore a black leather jacket with black pants and black boots.
And while the young man was certainly handsome, that didn't erase the smug yet malicious look on his face as he was near Scarlett around the clubhouse, who seemed like she didn't care about his horrible attitude at all.
"So that's what Rad Stoneman looked like," Coco unconsciously tightened her fist. "If that creep wanted to go after me or the rest of my teammates, he's going to the morgue without question."
"I can't blame you, Coco," Jaune nodded. "Rad's real name was Bradly Stoneman, a schoolmate who was the first son of the Stoneman family, but he demanded to be called Rad to make himself cool while trying to act like he's some sort of rebel despite coming an affluent family. Instead, he was nothing more than a petty and spiteful thug that wanted to make a name for himself with little to no regard for the well-being of others."
"No joking over that," Fox nodded his head. "I probably think he's trying way too hard to make himself look cool."
"You got that right,, Fox," The blonde couldn't help but agree with the second teammate from CFVY. "My clubmates and I barely like Rad, particularly Masura since he felt that Rad's nothing more than a thug with an attitude problem.
"But when I saw Scarlett dating him behind my back, I used my Scroll to record everything about their relationship, especially since Rad thinks Scarlett should date him instead of me, treating the 'Beloved Knight' like I'm some weak idiot that barely knowns anything better to him despite Rad being a cowardly wimp in a real fight. Even worse, Scarlett joked about Rad's statement about me, and they even kissed each other before they left.
"Furious over this blatant betrayal, I sent the video to our clubmates, my parents (who initially had a high opinion on Scarlett since I introduced her to them), Crimson (who acted like a dad to his younger sister), and Rad's parents.
"Once that happened, a few days later we had a meeting with Crimson, who acts as supervisor to the group, my parents, and Rad Stoneman's parents around the clubhouse.
"I told everyone what had happened after I found Scarlett dating Rad, alongside the latter's cruel comments about me.
"While Rad tried to deny the overwhelming evidence, Scarlett however admitted to hiding the relationship from me, though it did bring a major shock to everyone that listened to the whole thing." Jaune decided to include what Scarlett had said to him and Pyrrha back outside near the Emerald Forest, which brought a major shock to everyone in this room.
Only Ozpin and Glynda remained composed, though it's due to them hearing that story a lot earlier than the students.
"As a result, Crimson was heartbroken to see his younger sister break my heart like;," the blonde shook his head in disappointment as he recalled his former girlfriend having to backstabbed her doting older brother. "Rad's parents however were furious that he deliberately chose to destroy a perfectly good relationship between us just to brush on his ego aside from making a huge mockery to the Stoneman family, especially since he felt inferior to his more successful younger brother named Roy Stoneman, who managed to start his own business at the age of seventeen years old.
"Our friends, however, couldn't believe their leader had done something terrible by having a relationship behind my back with some horrible thug they hated, especially Hikage, who treated Scarlett like a sister, and Masura, who had a high opinion of her as a leader.
"As a consequence, UIG had to be disbanded over this whole fiasco, with Crimson having to personally hire a team of Hunters to help maintain the peace within Doremy while giving everyone within the group, barring Scarlett, a compensation package to give us a head start in restarting our lives elsewhere."
"What happened to Scarlett and Rad after all this?" Pyrrha asked.
"Both of them were exiled from their families due to the affair with nothing but their bags and the clothes on their backs," Jaune answered. "Especially since this had brought a huge scandal within their companies."
"After that, I ended up in a depressive state, not being able to go to school or train with my siblings like I used to while not wanting to chat with my former teammates due to their association with Scarlett." The blonde continued. "Even then, my parents and sisters did whatever they can to provide emotional support, especially since they felt upset that Scarlett betrayed me over this.
"Though I did slowly recover, I was still reluctant with starting another relationship due to that incident.
"But to help give me a chance to move past the heartbreak, Dad told Ozpin of my situation, combined with permission from Rouge herself and the backing from Crimson, I was enrolled to Beacon Academy in her place despite not being skilled with an Aura or Semblance.
"Plus, I originally built my jetpack, so I fly alongside Scarlett whenever we decide to fly together, but that changed into wanting to help my team out once I came here to become a Hunter.
"And that's my story," Jaune concluded, leaving everyone shocked and surprised.
"That was one long story," Dove, wearing a bronze color shirt with tan colored short and white shoes, said as he opens his eyes, revealing to be a light brownish color.
"Very long," Sky, clad with a light blue shirt, medium blue short, and dark blue shoes, added.
"But what are Noctis Walkers anyway?" Ruby asked. "We knew Jaune used to date Scarlett even after revealing who she really is, but we know nothing about her species to say the least."
"Here's a question Miss Rose," Ozpin asked inquisitively, his tone feeling somber. "Do you believe in Fairy Tales?"
"Not exactly," Coco shrugged. "I mean, they're just fairy tales, that's it."
"I did recall the story of the Four Maidens, Headmaster," Pyrrha replied.
"Then, have any of you remembered the story of the war against the Night Walkers?" the Headmaster of Beacon Academy suggested.
"Not exactly, no." the young leader of Team RWBY shrugged her head with the others agreeing with her.
"The Night Walkers were a different term for Noctis Walkers, dangerous human-like monsters that plagued Remnant years before the Grimm showed up." Ozpin explained. "The story follows a group of travelers being attacked by mysterious beings with unimaginable yet disturbing powers that terrorized their village until a group of warriors banded together to push the Night Walkers to the realm of darkness."
"Why weren't we told about this," Weiss demanded.
"Due to a major reduction in Noctis Walker activity over the years, it was assumed by the masses that they either retreated or had gone extinct," Ozpin replied. "Little did we know what really happened to them."
"So basically, they're- "
"Creatures of shadows that, despite their human-like appearance, can generate an organ called Oleumglobin, a black oily substance that can generate natural-born weaponry or create appendages like wings for instance.
"However, Noctis Walkers carry with them specialize weapons known to us as Shadechangers, multi-functional weapons that almost seemed alive due to the uses generating their Oleumglobin.
"But worse of all is that Noctis Walkers can generate an ability called Tide flair, which is something akin to a Semblance all Hunters can generate, alongside a protective field known as Inverter Blockade that can be used to infuse in their combat styles.
"In response to this growing threat, all Hunters must use Aura, Semblance, and our multi-functional weapons to protect Remnant from their advances.
"The battles against Noctis Walkers were fierce and outright brutal at times, but the early Hunters in the end managed to turn the tide of the war in our favor and managed to push them back to the world of DarkWave, though a few others went into hiding to avoid drawing attention.
"With the Noctis Walker threat faded to obscurity, the people of Remnant eventually forgot their existence and carried on with their lives . . . for now.
"Even still, if Scarlett appears again, do not approach her at all," Ozpin stated. "We can't afford to let her manipulate any of us into giving what she wants, including bringing Jaune within her grasp, especially if her Tide Flair is Destruction Blast. Do you understand?"
Everyone couldn't help but nod, though the members of Team JNPR couldn't help but feel bad that their leader had to recall all the painful memories his past.
"Now with that out of the way, all of you are dismissed for the evening." Ozpin stated, in which everyone simply heads out of the office, though Glynda stayed behind while the students return to their normal activities.
"Was this really a good idea to let them know what's going on, Ozpin?" the blonde woman felt unsure about the silver-haired man's statement.
"Unfortunately, at a time like this, they need to know what's going on," Ozpin replied, staring at his cup of coffee that's barely touched during the meeting. "Especially since Pyrrha had to witness something like this in person after the Noctis Walkers faded into obscurity."
"And say if the Noctis Walkers decide to finish off what they started, especially with the Shadow Liberation Front still being active right now?" The female Professor could barely restrain a frown on her face. "Especially at a time like this?"
"Let's hope that doesn't happen, Glynda," The headmaster barely sipped his mug of coffee to ease his nerves. "Though I feared this may not be the last time we'd encountered a Noctis Walker in the flesh."