Ruby walked back up to the headmaster's office with her team in tow, feeling refreshed after a full night's sleep and a decent breakfast. Her father had trouble working with the few available ingredients he could find in Vacuo, but he was able to make something edible for her and Yang. Still, she wasn't fully prepared for her upcoming missions. In fact, none of them were. They were still wearing the outfits they wore in Atlas—their cold weather heavy clothing that was clearly not suited for summer in the hot desert.

"Okay," Ruby said, "as soon as we hear what Prof- what Theodore has to say, the first thing we're gonna do is get some new combat gear."

"Ditto," Yang agreed, her bomber jacket tied around her waist and her detachable pant legs nowhere in sight. "I knew it was gonna be hot, but I didn't expect this."

"By the way, Yang," Ruby said, turning to her sister and Blake. "How did things go over with the Belladonnas?"

"Uhhh, well..." Yang stammered.

Last night...

"So, yeah," Yang finished her explanation of the adventures she and Blake went on and how they ended up together. Blake looked at her parents, even more nervous than when she returned to Menagerie after Beacon.

Ghira was squinting suspiciously at Yang, and Yang got the impression that he was trying to figure out if she really meant how she felt, or if she was just a pretty face. But his gaze was mild compared to Kali's. Blake was dreading her mother's reaction the most—she knew how much she liked Sun, and knew her choice to be with Yang wouldn't sit well with her.

"First Adam, then Sun, and now you," Kali growled. "I'm starting to feel like I didn't raise my daughter right."

"Really?" Yang asked. "Because I think she turned out great. She's always done what she thinks is right, and I really admire that about her."

Kali's face softened slightly, but only for a brief moment. "And what about you?" She asked. "Sun was injured trying to help Blake. How do I know that you'll commit the same, if not more?"

Yang's face darkened, and—despite Blake silently pleading otherwise—she held up her right hand. Her mechanical right hand that she lost to Adam when she tried to save Blake from him.

"I know how tough things get for her," Yang growled. "I'm reminded every day of the darkness that used to follow her, and I fought it alongside her. Are you really going to talk to me about commitment?"

Yang and Kali stared at each other, neither one wanting to break eye contact. Blake found herself very interested in her tea, watching the leaves floating around.

After several tense minutes, a chuckle broke out from the other side of the table. All eyes turned to Ghira, who was now wearing a satisfied grin.

"I like you," he said honestly, before turning to Blake. "I'm glad you finally made a good choice, sweetheart."

"I still think I preferred Sun," Kali remarked, now smiling as well. "But I have to admit, I agree with Ghira. At least we know our daughter is in good hands."

Yang breathed a sigh of relief. She felt like she was getting the third degree from them.

"But I do have to set a condition," Ghira remarked, snapping Yang back to attention. He pointed to her mechanical arm. "That needs to remain the most grievous injury of your life from now on. I appreciate the lengths you've gone to protect my daughter, but you need to understand that even if you are the only one injured, you won't be the only one hurt."

Yang blinked, surprised. "I, uhh... I'll try my best, but with what we're up against, I can't make any promises."

"That's all I ask," Ghira replied.

"Then that's what I'll do," Yang nodded.

Blake finally stopped holding her breath, and the color came back to her face. "Thank goodness," she sighed. "I thought this was going to go so much more poorly than it did."

"Hey," Yang replied, putting a hand on hers. "We're not out of the woods yet. We still gotta talk to my dad, and that's gonna be a bit scarier."

"I seriously doubt that," Ghira interjected. "I've gotten to know Taiyang, and he seems like a good man."

"He is," Yang agreed, "but he's very protective of me and Ruby. Getting his approval is not going to be easy, even if we're happy together."

Present time...

"So yeah," Yang finished, "I think it all worked out."

"Right," Ruby agreed, then turned to Weiss, who was looking grumpier than usual. "What about you? How did things go with your family?"

"Fine! Great! Thanks for asking!"

"Uhh, are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"Of course I'm not okay!" Weiss shouted. "I've been here for not even a whole day, and I'm already sick of this place! The days are stupid hot, the nights are freezing, and there's sand everywhere! It gets in places I didn't even know I had until now! Not to mention the food is terrible and there's only instant coffee! Have you ever had instant coffee!? It's the vilest thing ever invented! And the only coffee that isn't instant is decaf! Decaf!"

The others looked at each other as Weiss continued her rant.

"Yikes," Yang whispered, "And I thought the Ever After was gonna drive her crazy."

"What was that!?" Weiss snapped.

"Nothing!" Yang yelped.

By the time Weiss had finished venting, the group had reached the doors to Theodore's office. There they saw two others waiting outside for them.

"Hey Jaune. Hi, Oscar." Ruby greeted them both. "What are you doing here?"

"We were called here, same as you," Oscar explained. He walked up to Ruby and smiled. "I didn't get to thank you for helping me out earlier. Even after six months of training, I still needed you to save me."

"Oscar, I've been training my whole life," Ruby replied, punching his shoulder playfully. "You just started training barely a year ago and you were able to take on Ironwood!"

"With a lot of help," Oscar admitted. "Anyway, Theodore's waiting inside. We don't want to leave him hanging."

"Right," Ruby agreed, and she stepped forward, only to step back when she remembered what happened the last time she knocked. "On second thought, Yang! Why don't you knock on the door?"

"Huh? No way! You're the leader!"

"That's right! And as leader, I'm telling you to knock on that door!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Weiss said, exasperated. "I'll do it! There's no way it's going to happen twice in two days!"

Walking up to the doors, she rapped her knuckles on the heavy wood. Everyone flinched, expecting her to go flying.

"Come in!" Theodore called from the other side. Weiss turned and gestured at the door with a smug smile.

"Seriously?" Ruby said out loud, before walking up and opening the doors to enter the office.

"Ah!" Theodore clapped his hands together, a grin on his face. "Right on time! I just finished explaining our next course of action to Glynda!" Beside him, Professor Rumpole and Professor Goodwitch were standing. Glynda had an odd look on her face, as if she wasn't happy with something, and she seemed to be avoiding Rumpole's eyes.

"Great!" Ruby said excitedly. "How can we help?"

"One thing at a time, Ruby," Theodore replied. "First we need to fill you in on the going's on in the past six months."

Nodding, Team RWBY and Jaune entered the office and sat down. Oscar stayed outside while the doors closed with a wave from Glynda's riding crop.

"First thing's first," Glynda began, looking directly at Ruby. "Your message to Remnant did work. I want to make that clear before we continue. Thanks in part to your efforts, the kingdoms all came together and amassed their forces here in Vacuo. But it took nearly a month to convince the Councils that it wasn't a hoax and that Salem does in fact exist. Then there was the following confusion and panic that ensued. Part of that panic came from the abrupt way the signal was cut off."

"Another causal factor was the sudden appearance of refugees from Atlas," Rumpole continued. "Theodore and I had our hands full trying to find reasonable accommodations for them. This obviously caused a massive wave of Grimm attacks worldwide. Because of this, we can't expect any more reinforcements from Vale and Mistral—what you see is what we have."

Ruby nodded grimly. She figured that Remnant would be in a bit of chaos after her message came out.

"Which means we need every Huntsman and Huntress here at their absolute peak performance," Theodore finished. "We've been doing everything we can to train the students to be their best, even though I don't want them on the battlefield. But when I say everyone, I mean everyone. That includes the five of you and your friends and families. So, I'll be preparing a training regimen for each of you, but I want to... shake things up, first."

"Shake things up?" Blake repeated nervously. "What do you mean?"

"The thing is," Theodore explained, "you've all gotten too comfortable with your partners. What if you get separated? You should all be comfortable working with each member of your group, as well as on your own. We can work out the self reliance later, but for now, I want each of you to partner up with a member of your group that you aren't familiar with."

"Huh?" Ruby looked worried. "But I've fought alongside everyone—Jaune, Ren, Nora, and every member of my team. Who am I supposed to partner up with?"

Theodore grinned. "Oscar!" He called, and the boy entered the office. "Say hello to your new partner."

"I... ah... wha?" Ruby stammered, looking at Oscar, who was just as confused as she was.

"Right!" Theodore boomed, standing up from his desk and pushing the two kids out of his office. "Ruby can explain the details while you choose your first mission. Figure things out, decide what you're going to do, maybe get some new gear that will be better for you in the desert. Good luck out there!" And he slammed the door shut before either of them could object.

Ruby blinked several times before looking at Oscar, and they both said the same thing at the same time.

"What just happened?"

Later...

Ruby and Oscar arrived at a large plaza near Shade that Huntsmen used as a hub for finding missions and jobs. They first had to stop at a nearby store so Ruby could buy some new gear for the hot, arid environment. Afterwards, Ruby quickly made her way to the plaza in question, still dazed from the stunt that Theodore had pulled.

Oscar was walking beside her, and admittedly gawking at her in her new outfit. It was comprised of a red overbust corsage tied together with red laces, and a short black skirt with red interior, all over a black sleeveless leotard that hugged her body tightly. She was wearing knee high black boots with red laces and soles, and all she had on her arms were a black pair of reinforced combat gloves with painted red metal plates. Her long red cloak was also changed slightly, with an elastic cloth around her neck that she could pull over her mouth and nose to keep the dust out. Her belt, which still held her mother's emblem, had multiple extra pouches and a space for her canteen. Completing the look were a pair of goggles that rested on her forehead, with red angled lenses that looked like Beowolf eyes.

Oscar couldn't deny that she pulled off the look of a hardened desert warrior, but she still looked like the cute girl she was.

"Oscar," Ruby said. "You do realize I noticed you staring at me, right?"

"S-sorry!" Oscar stuttered. "I'm still just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you not only survived falling off the bridge, but arrived in the same place Alyx did, then found out that a lot of what happened in the book was completely different from what actually happened."

"Yeah," Ruby rubbed the back of her head, smiling awkwardly. "Sorry for ruining your favorite fairy tale."

"It was up there," Oscar admitted. "But it wasn't actually my favorite."

"Really?" Ruby blinked. "Then which one is? The Story of the Seasons?"

"Nope."

"Okay... uhh, the Shallow Sea?"

"Nah."

"The uhh... the Indecisive King?"

"Ehh."

"Okay, I give up." Ruby threw her hands up in defeat. "Which is your favorite?"

"The, uhh..." Oscar paused, then sighed and said, "the Warrior in the Woods."

"Oh! That's a good one!" Ruby exclaimed. "That's the one about the boy who became a warrior because he met a woman with..." She paused, then blinked. "W-with silver eyes." She stared at Oscar, who was blushing slightly. "That's why you mentioned my eyes when we first met, isn't it? It wasn't because of Ozpin, but because of..."

"Y-yeah," Oscar stuttered. "My aunt loved that story, and she knew it by heart. She'd tell it to me every week, and I never got tired of it. She said that if I ever met someone with silver eyes, I should stick with them, because they would keep me safe."

Ruby blushed slightly. "Well, she wasn't wrong, was she?"

"No," Oscar smiled. "I guess she wasn't." He looked back at Ruby. "You know, you have a lot in common with the Warrior. Not just your eyes, but your ability to see the good in people, even after everything that happened to you. Your desire to help in any way you can. How you never give up, no matter what."

"But I did give up, Oscar," Ruby interrupted, looking down sadly. Oscar blinked, then waited for her to continue. Ruby took a deep breath. "When I learned that Penny died, I felt like I couldn't do anything right. And then Neo tracked me down and lured me to her and..." She shut her eyes hard, trying to get the memories out of her head for a little. "Anyway, she managed to break me, and I tried to... ascend. I decided at that point that everyone would have been better off if I was someone else."

"But..." Oscar stared at her, eyes wide. "But you're... you're still you."

"Because I figured out that was who I needed to be." Ruby replied. "The Tree showed me things that I needed to see, helped me figure things out. But that doesn't change the fact that I gave up."

Oscar blinked slowly, taking in what he just heard. "You... didn't mention that earlier." He remarked carefully.

"I-it was personal," Ruby admitted. "And it only happened yesterday, so it's still fresh. I'm still trying to process it, so..." she sighed, then looked at Oscar apologetically. "I'm sorry. I know that you looked up to me. Sorry I had to ruin that, too."

"What are you talking about?" Oscar walked up and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You really think that giving up makes me think differently about you? Ozma literally spent entire lifetimes giving up. I know—I've seen some of them. But you pulled yourself back. You could have been turned into anything, but you chose to stay you. I don't think there are a lot of people who would have done the same in your situation."

Ruby smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Oscar. That... that means a lot."

Oscar returned the smile, then took his hand off and looked at her quizzically. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She tilted her head curiously.

"How did you know I was still me?" Oscar looked genuinely perplexed. "Everyone else has to ask me if I'm Oscar or Ozpin. Even I'm starting to have trouble with that. But you just knew. How?"

"Oh," Ruby smiled again. "That's easy: your eyes. You still have that young, innocent look in your eyes. When Ozpin takes over, his eyes look older, more tired. It doesn't really look right on you."

Oscar blushed at that remark. She looked closely at him, still smiling. "You know, if I'm like the Warrior in the Woods, then that makes you the boy she inspired."

Oscar's blush deepened, knowing how the story ended and how the boy felt about the Warrior.

"So," Ruby said abruptly, looking around at the plaza. "Where are the mission boards at?"

"Huh? Oh! Right. This way."