Hello!

How are you since last chapter? I'm tired... That's the first time I write an entire chapter in only one week, I always had at least one chapter in stock before. That's a lot of pression... But I'll do my best!

Also, a great thank you to BiiiiiiiiigBellyTheDragon for your PM, it really motivated me a lot and helped me writing the next chapter in time, so thank you n_n

Well, I don't hold you here any longer, good reading!

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-INCAPABLE!

The wooden wall cracked under the shock. Mercury quickly stood up to dodge a kick, and returned to position. He knew what to expect if he came back after his failure, but he did it anyway. On the one hand because he had nowhere else to go, and on the other hand because he was not a coward, he would assume his mistakes.

-I gave you ONE mission! And you weren't even able to complete it!

This time, Mercury hardly dodged the punches which were too fast for him, he defended himself more by instinct than by reflexes. A punch hit him hard in the face, sending him to fly across the room. It wasn't the first time it happened, and he usually knew how to manage the pain, but this time he had Aura. Not only did Aura act as a shield, but it also healed his wounds! Slowly, yes, because he had it only for a very short time, but still. A shame he didn't thank Falcon for that…

As the one-way fight continued, Mercury thought back to his partner. She must be somewhere in Mistral right now, probably drinking jasmine tea, or maybe untangling her demonic doll's hair. Damn, it had been less than twenty-four hours since he had come back and he already missed her… These few days at Atlas had been incredible for him, he saw new decor, ate delicious things, lived an exciting adventure and crazy, and he made a friend! But the mission was now over, back to reality, in his little cabin in the forest, with his alcoholic father who beat him. It wasn't that bad when it was the norm, it was just… rude.

Nevertheless, he didn't regret not having killed Falcon. He didn't completely understand why himself, but from the moment he had started to run away with the Atlas soldiers behind him, the idea of betraying his partner went completely out of his mind, he remembered this part of the mission only aboard the ship, and it was not because he didn't know how to pilot it that prevented him from acting. Nor was it because she would have easily arrested him. Nor was it because her Aura would have protected her anyway. In fact, nothing prevented him from acting, nothing prevented him from getting up, taking his sniper rifle, and shooting her. He could have, but he chose not to, it was his decision, he had decided for himself, despite his father's orders.

Damn, it felt good to feel free for a few seconds… It was worth it to get hit when you got home.

-YOU FUCKING CLUMSY BRAT!

Mercury wasn't fast enough to parry, and received the kick in the middle of his stomach, sending him through the window and land in the ground with pieces of glass around him. It wasn't the first time it happened, but it was the first time he was still conscious after that.

Marcus jumped out of the window and put his foot heavily on his son's chest to prevent him from getting up. This last blow exhausted the little that remained of Mercury's Aura. A white light crackled on the surface of his body, and he distinctly felt the thin layer of energy that covered him disappear. He closed his eyes, expecting it to hurt a lot more from now on, but instead there was a strange silence, the same kind of scary silence that keeps you from turning over in your bed to check where the noise you heard just before is coming from, when nothing should have moved in your room.

By courage or silliness, Mercury slowly opened his eyes. Above him, his father stared at him with a straight face, and a dangerous gleam in his eyes, even more dangerous than when he had seen Falcon come back alive from the mission.

-How. Did. You. Unlocked. Your. Aura.

His voice was deep and full of venom as his foot pressed harder on his son's rib cage, threatening to break his rib at any time.

-Answer me. NOW!

-Falcon! She unlocked it during the mission, and she explained to me what it is…

Marcus looked into his son's eyes, trying to find out if he was lying to him. But Mercury would never risk lying to his father.

-I see…

The man leaned forward, leaning his arm on the knee of the leg resting on Mercury's chest, increasing the pressure on it.

-Listen to me, little brat. Only the weak need an Aura to protect them and a Semblance to fight. The strong do not need a shield, they fight with the only force of their muscles, sweating blood by constantly pushing the limits of their body in training, and by sharpening their technique and their skills, not by based on some stupid power. Do I make myself clear?

Mercury swallows. Marcus had spoken slowly, in a deep, somber, dangerous voice, more than ever before. So without even thinking about his father's reasons, he nodded. He was released after several more minutes of training, before being allowed to go to bed, satisfied that he was still alive.

He already missed the fluffy mattress of the inn… And Falcon…

Yang had to admit, even after more than a year, she didn't know much about Rook. None of them talked about their past, nor did they ask questions, either by lack of curiosity or by respect for private life.

Still, it wouldn't have helped the young assassin understand why her mentor was currently laughing.

-What's so funny?!

Rook laughed harder, and Yang felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Fortunately, they were in the forest, half an hour on foot from the entrance of Mistral. Yang and Mercury had landed in the middle of nothing, far from the nearest village, to cover their tracks, and Rook had sold the ship to a few mobsters the next day, smilingly claiming that it had been their most profitable mission. Mercury's father had seemed furious that she returned alive, and Yang barely had time to send an apologetic glance to her friend before he left, receiving a reassuring little smile in response.

She still found it hard to believe that she made a friend during an assassination mission, a friend who had made it clear to her that he was supposed to kill her. She knew it since the beginning of the mission, and it hadn't even bothered her, or prevented her from acting normally with him, or even from becoming his friend. She couldn't say why, maybe it was because she grew up surrounded by killers, maybe it was because they had a lot in common, or maybe it was just because they were almost the same age, but she felt comfortable with him, more than with Rook. With her, she was very careful about everything she said and did, with Mercury, she felt she could let go, she didn't have to be on her guards.

He was like her when she was in the tribe, she knew nothing of the world and anything fascinated her, and she too did everything possible to please her mother and make her proud, the case of Mercury was just more complicated because his father didn't seem to like him a lot.

They were alike so they came to understand each other. She may be like Rook without knowing it…

-Oh my god… Seriously Falcon, you really didn't notice?

-Notice what?!

Rook leaned over her with an uncomfortable smile.

-That someone apparently has a crush on you ~…

Yang blinked, dazed, and Rook laughed again. What an asshole sometimes, Mercury liked her and wanted them to be friends, yes, but he didn't have a crush on her, it wasn't necessary to exaggerate…

-That's stupid. We're just friends.

This time, Rook dropped back holding her belly as she laughed so hard, her feet waving over the log on which she was sitting.

-What? What did I say?

Rook's laughter got even louder, and Yang dropped the idea of understanding. Even after so much time spent together, she still kept a certain distance from her mentor, she never talked to her about herself, she never opened to her as she opened to Mercury, and it was why they never really got close. Maybe she should try…? If they were going to work together for a long time, it would be for the best, right? She just had to avoid talking about magic, she had succeeded with Mercury, and even if she accidentally dropped something, she could still tell her that she didn't want to talk about it. After all this time, Rook knew she shouldn't force, so she would respect her silence… Hopefully…

In front of her, Rook sat down correctly, wiping away a tear.

-Oh fuck…

Finally regaining her seriousness, she pulled out her Scroll.

-Hey look at this, everyone's talking about you.

-Mercury was there too, he was the one who killed Hailstorm, I just did the diversion.

-Not wrong, but you were the one who faced the General by throwing fireballs at the top of a roof. The whole neighborhood has seen you. Look.

Rook handed her Scroll to Yang, showing her a newspaper article accompanied by a photo of a building seen from below, with a ship flying just above, and at least three fireballs going in different directions. Indeed, Mercury had easily gone unnoticed by that. Good for him.

-I wish I was there to see that, it must have been impressive.

-I'm sure I can do better.

-You must still have the opportunity for that. And it must draw a lot from your reserves of Aura, you will end up having problems one day if you force too much.

-Oh, I don't worry too much about that…

One of the benefits of magic was that there was no need for Aura to use it, even if she ran out, her fireballs would not lose power. But of course, she couldn't tell, the fire was supposed to be a Semblance, and a Semblance consumes Aura.

-By the way, I was wondering, why didn't you face him with your sword? You're excellent with.

Yang looked away. It was the kind of answer she never gave for fear of being discovered, and Rook always respected her silence. But if she wanted to try to open up, that was a good start, wasn't it?

-I didn't want him to see my weapon.

Indeed, whether with the cloud of steam or with the flames going in all directions, she had managed to keep the General far and busy enough not to focus too much on the sword at her hip. Qrow had said he was part of Ozpin's group, and even though he probably didn't know Raven, Yang didn't want to take any risk.

Rook raised an eyebrow.

-Why that?

-Because… it was my mother's before, and she had… enemies, if I can call them that. They don't know I exist, and it has to stay like that.

Silence settled between the two assassins. Yang didn't dare look up at Rook. It was the first time she talked to her about it without being by inadvertent, and she had suggested that her mother was an enemy of General Ironwood. As an assassin, her mentor couldn't judge her, but the little blonde hoped she wouldn't ask the wrong questions, and would continue to accept her blanks. There were still too many things she couldn't say.

Finally, she heard a little laugh.

-You're quite talkative today. What's the occasion?

Yang finally looked up at Rook. She was smiling teasingly at her, but the tone of her voice indicated that she was taking it seriously. Raven was like that sometimes…

-I… I thought it would be easier if you knew…

-Not wrong…

In fact, it wouldn't change anything, but now that she had this less to hide, she already felt better.

-So… Besides Ironwood, who else are you hiding from?

-Why do you want to know that?

-To avoid accidentally getting you in problems by selecting a mission. Seriously, tell me if the one I choose is too risky for you.

She hadn't thought about that… But yes, if she wanted to keep a low profile, she had to avoid getting too close to places like the Academies, or anywhere Ozpin could have contacts, actually. The problem was that she didn't know who was in his group, there were the other three directors, team STRQ, but who else? The other Maidens perhaps? But she had no idea where they were, they had to be kept secret. Hmm…

-The headmasters of the Academies, Vale in general… And the Atlas soldiers, because they would bring it back to Ironwood.

-Is that all?

-I don't know where the others are… But I can find out.

-Why is it up to me to go…

Qrow walked through the doors, dragging his feet. He didn't like the atmosphere of this school, it was cold, white, silent, motionless, boring, even when the corridors were full of students, so when they were empty… Finally, after having managed to get out of the labyrinth the corridors were, he arrived in front of the headmaster's office, and didn't bother to knock before entering.

-Hey Jimmy.

-Qrow…

Ironwood sighed when he saw him arrive as if he were at home, but didn't comment, there was more urgent, and with his alcoholism, Qrow was a lost cause anyway.

-Thank you for making the trip.

-Thank Oz for that, I didn't want to come. I'm supposed to go back to spying right after I'm done here.

-You finally resume your normal rhythm?

-Seems like.

Qrow punctuated his words with a few sips of alcohol. After a year and a half, Ozpin had finally decided that he was able to return to his main mission, especially since now he had a good starting point for his research, the attack on the tribe. Of course, he couldn't tell anyone it was because the Spring Maiden was there, but they already knew that Salem was behind it. Behind Raven's death…

When he put his bottle away to get to work, he had drunk more than the half of it. He should think about filling it later.

-Let's just get this over with. Gimme a recap.

-You must have heard it in the media, two assassins managed to kill Layla Hailstorm a few days ago. One of them particularly stood out.

-Yeah I know, that's kind of the big news of Remnant. Well, except this and the White Fang starting to fuck up, there's not much going on.

-Nothing they are aware of. And there's a lot they are not aware of.

-James, come to the point. Why did you ask Oz to send me here personally?

James sighed, and started typing on the desk keyboard with an even more serious expression than usual.

-I started to investigate on my side, and I have good reasons to think that one of those killers is a Maiden, more precisely, the Spring Maiden.

Qrow's face instantly lost all of its colors, and he felt his heart skip a beat, before starting to accelerate.

-What makes you think that…?

A large image appeared between the two Huntsmen, fortunately preventing the soldier from seeing the sweat that was starting to flow on the side of his forehead. The image had been taken by a surveillance drone at the top of a tall building, and showed a blonde girl with hair appearing to be on fire, sending a wall of flames at something outside image, surely James. She had her right sleeve flying, clearly showing it was empty, and even though because of the angle it was almost invisible, Qrow knew full well that it was Raven's weapon at her hip.

And the most important detail, at least from the point of view of Ironwood and the rest of the group, easily recognizable red flames came out from the sides of her equally red eyes.

-Damn it, Yang, what the hell have you done?!

-She only used fire, so impossible to know if it is because she doesn't control the other elements, or because she tries to make it pass for a semblance.

-Yeah… Yeah, sure… Do you have other pictures…? This one is taken from a bit far…

-She destroyed the drone as soon as she realized it was there. Here she unfortunately managed to remain practically invisible, she only appeared when her partner was trying to escape from my soldiers, and when I caught her she did everything so that her face could not be seen.

Qrow let out a sigh of relief.

-However, she did leave traces somewhere else.

If he could have done it discreetly, Qrow would have facepalmed. He felt like a parent who was lectured by a teacher for his child's bad behavior…

-To attract Hailstorm, she blew up a maintenance building, without leaving any trace of Dust or manual sabotage. A little over a year ago, the same thing happened in Mistral in another case. Evidence suggests that it is the same person.

-I see… you've already done a lot of research on this, huh?

-Maiden or not, it's still an assassination in the heart of Atlas. It is not because she is a child that we can take it lightly. She's dangerous.

The General turned off the hologram and handed Qrow a small memory card. The latter blinked several times before reacting, trying to appear as natural as possible. It was pretty hard given what he had just learned, but luckily he had his trusty bottle of alcohol, become his best friend since Raven's death. As he drank nonchalantly, which had become a habit now, he heard his colleague sigh. He knew his alcoholism didn't please many people, nobody in fact, but it helped him to escape from too sad thoughts or too annoying situations.

After making sure he drank to the last drop, Qrow hesitated, and started for the door.

-I'll examine that, thanks for the lead.

-There is really only one child from team STRQ to get in such a situation… Hopefully Ruby will be easier to manage…

-Oh, and think about leaving a window open next time, it will be easier for me to come in.

On this last advice, he went through the door and started to look for the exit. It was mid-afternoon, all of the students were in class, and the few who weren't were probably hanging out in the hallways. So everything was calm, empty, and Qrow hated empty spaces. It took him a short time to find the exit and a quiet corner to take a look at the information on the Maiden assassin given by James, or rather the list of bullshit made by his niece.

Did she even realize what she had done?! Not only had she killed a councilwoman in the middle of Atlas, but she had also done it with her face uncovered! With Raven's weapon! And using her powers! What was wrong with her?! Did she realize what would happen if Salem found out? Did she realize she would have the fucking Queen of Grimm chasing her until the end of her life? Did she realize she had Atlas after him now? Did she realize what she risked if she gets caught?!

Qrow took a deep breath to regain his composure. For now he had to focus on the report and see the extent of the damage, he would have plenty of time to lecture her later. He was supposed to be looking for the Spring Maiden anyway.

Let's see… The file contained a description of her physique and abilities, blond hair, red eyes, uses fire… Not much more than he already knew, except that they fortunately hadn't been able to identify her sword, and that she apparently knew how to pilot an Atlas airship and camouflage it on radars. It surely wasn't Raven who taught her that. He quickly consulted the following pages, which gave the details of Hailstorm's assassination, then came to the "interesting" part.

Jimmy told the truth, she had already acted in the past, in Mistral. An abduction case in which the two victims could have been recovered unharmed. If the police had mainly asked for information about the man who had ordered their kidnapping to demand a ransom, a criminal who was starting to get a lot of talk about him in Vale, there was also testimony on the people hired to kidnap them. The Green Rook, an assassin very famous in Mistral for his efficiency, and his apprentice, a blonde girl with red eyes, ten years old at the time of the facts, with one arm less, the ability to handle fire, and who answered to the name of…

Qrow sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

- "Falcon"… Why? Just… why?

Well… She was now known to Atlas forces, she was the apprentice of an assassin, and by extension an assassin herself, and in addition the whole group now knew that the assassin "Falcon" was the Spring Maiden … How was he going to handle this?

He had to speak to her about it directly, but he couldn't wait until October to see her at Raven's grave, it was almost six months away, and to know that she had already spent more than one year with a skilled assassin did not reassure him a lot. Yes, she grown up with bandits, but it was the tribe, it was a family, and she was with her mother. Now a complete stranger taught her to kill people without being caught. Couldn't she have told him the last time they saw each other?

Qrow sighed and went back to the hotel room, stopping by to buy alcohol. What was he going to do with her… It was still a chance that Ozpin asked him to investigate, not someone else who would already be chasing her. She may be a Maiden, but she was also a criminal, if she got caught she would have big problems. At best Oz would get her out of there, but everyone would find out that she was Raven's daughter, it was blindly obvious, and he should then explain to them why he hadn't told them anything, why he hid from Tai he had another daughter, why he hid from Ozpin who was the Spring Maiden, why he had let the girl squabbling in the wilderness! And since she also became a criminal, it would be up to him to take responsibility! Okay, she was technically already a criminal in the tribe, but…!

BIIIIIIIIIIP~

With a groan, Qrow looked at who was bothering him at such a time, the sun was already set and he had a long and bad day, he didn't want to chat for hours with the first comer so it had to be important! … Great, a number he didn't even know! How could someone he didn't have in his contacts get his number anyway?!

Tired, Qrow took a long sip from his bottle of alcohol before answering, almost missing the call, and spoke loudly in a hoarse voice. He really wasn't in the mood.

-What?

There was no response for a few seconds, and Qrow was seriously considering hanging up, when a voice he hadn't heard for months answered him, not at all afraid or intimidated by his harsh tone.

-Uh… Qrow?

-Yang…?

Hey!

Sounds like Qrow's back! You all missed him, didn't you? XD

Yeah, it was time for him to discover what his adorable niece is doing, and he's not happy of it at all! I know someone who is gonna have a bad tiiiiiiime~ ...!

See you next week to find out what happens next! Take care!