When You're Right

"Why on Remnant would Ozpin make the mistake of letting Rosa come back to the school?" Ambur growled through her gritted teeth. She was sat on her bed beside Mydnight and was currently squeezing his wrist just a little too tight. He wasn't about to complain though.

Mydnight and Ambur had shooed all the students out of their room that had been hanging around. The dance had been thoroughly derailed and most of the students had dispersed now. Ruby and her teammates had followed the pair up to their room and Liv was in the middle of explaining herself to the entire group.

"Ambur, I honestly don't know, okay?" Liv answered. "I didn't ask for this, I didn't seek her out, nor did I ask for a replacement. I tried everything I could to get Ozpin to change his mind but he refused. He is under the impression that she needs to be here. I know she's powerful but that doesn't excuse what she's done."

"Nothing ever will," Mydnight grumbled as the room went quiet. Soon though, the younger students could no longer hold back the floodgate of questions.

"Mydnight...how...uhm..." Ruby began before trailing off, not sure how to word her question.

"Our family has...issues...as I'm sure you're both aware," he sighed, looking at Ruby and Yang. "How much do you know about your parents?"

"Well," Yang spoke up, "First, My mom and my dad had me, then my mom left..."

"Then my mom and her dad had me before...my mom..." Ruby started before once again trailing off.

"Very good...what you don't know is that Ruby's mother...my mother...Summer. Had a child with a wolf Faunus before marrying your dad Tai...and that was me. My father was a Faunus much like myself."

"...Was?" Ruby asked as she took a step toward her brother.

"My father died when I was very young. It was after our mother had left him and began dating Taiyang."

"So...why didn't you and I meet sooner? Why didn't we grow up together?"

"Because...we left...my father died shortly after he and Summer split up. I was put in an orphanage until I was old enough for combat school. That's when I was...re-united," he grumbled, "With your uncle."

"Why is it that whenever you mention Qrow you seem mad?" Ruby asked timidly.

"...I know you think very highly of him so I won't bore you with the details but...let's just say we don't see eye to eye."

"On what?"

"Everything...other than I guess alcohol," Mydnight rolled his eyes.

As the group slowly began to come to terms with everything that had been said, eventually Olivier spoke up again. "Alright, girls, can I have a few minutes alone with Mydnight and Ambur please?"

"Of course," Weiss answered quickly and grabbed for Ruby's hand, before she hauled her partner toward the door, "We will just be outside the door."

"Woah," Ruby blurted, almost falling over before she was followed by her sister and Blake, the latter pair shutting the door behind them.

"What is it Liv," Ambur sighed roughly as she stood up and walked to her and Mydnight's nightstand. She opened the bottom shelf and pulled out a fresh bottle of rum and a glass. She poured Mydnight a shot for the pain before she handed him the glass.

"Nice save about Qrow," she sighed, "Thought you were gonna spill for a second."

"They aren't ready for our world Liv...or for our problems," he answered before downing the glass.

"Why would he do that, we don't need her," Ambur says quietly.

"Like I said I don't disagree with you...she's powerful but she doesn't play well with others. Our team doesn't need her and our school doesn't need her but...for some reason Ozpin thinks he needs to keep an eye on her...Ozpin is...forcing my team to participate in the senior tournament and for that, we were required to have a fourth member. He said he would have preferred you two be put together on a new team so you could be the team in the ring instead of the grandstands but he knew you'd never go for it."

"So what? Ozpin just expects me to roll over and play nice? He expects me to not only work with Qrow but also Rosa. Is he insane? In what way does he think she can protect anybody?" Mydnight growled.

"I'm pretty sure we all ask ourselves that every day at this point...Point is if you have a problem you're gonna have to go talk to Oz. The tournament is starting soon Mydnight. Everything is getting too tense and this move by Ozpin is more questionable than most of his decisions lately, which is saying something."

"Guess I have no choice."

"You should concentrate on healing first," Ambur interjected. "We all need to be as healthy as possible for the festival. Times are bad and we need to be ready for anything."

"As much as I can't stand the idea of waiting for something to happen I guess you're right. We all need to rest and make sure we are ready if something happens to the school."

"Well you don't get to rest yet," Liv said with a weak smile, "I'm sure Ruby isn't going to be able to leave you alone until she gets every detail out of you." Olivier stood and walked to their door, pulling it open to find team RWBY looking very antsy, waiting to be let back inside. "Don't keep Mydnight up all night okay girls he needs to get some rest. He may have a strong aura but that's a deep wound," she said before heading across the hall to return to her room.

As Ruby stepped a foot back into her brother's room she heard Blake speak up. "Yang can I...actually talk to you for a second?"

"Ya? Uhm...sure?" The blonde answered skeptically before the partners turned away and walked off out of sight, leaving Weiss and Ruby with their older friends.

Ruby crossed the room and sat on the older couple's bed beside her brother and looked down at his abdomen, her cape still tied around his stomach. His gaze followed hers before he scratched behind his ears nervously, "Sorry about your...hood...It might clean out you never know."

"It's okay. I'm just glad it helped. So...what happens now?"

"Well...the students from the other kingdoms will be showing up any day now. Pretty soon you'll have the under-class-men ball, after that the tournament will start."

"Are you guys gonna be In it?" The younger girl asked with a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

"...Sorry to disappoint but no we won't be. Ambur just got cleared for combat a few months ago and we don't want to risk her re-breaking anything unless we absolutely have to. Olivier's team will be though, and it's always a treat to see her fight."

"But that means that...that girl that hurt you will be in it too. What if she hurts the other fighters?" Weiss realized.

"The only reason she hurt me this bad is because I wasn't on guard. My aura wasn't up. Don't get me wrong, she is very strong but she's not gonna hurt anybody as easily as she did tonight."

"How did she even do that," Ruby asked nervously.

"It's her semblance," Ambur answered, turning away from the group and walking to their window. "Rosa's semblance is one of the most incredible I've ever seen. She has extreme aura reserves and she can manifest her aura as energy attacks. She doesn't use a weapon. She is the weapon."

"Wait, she doesn't carry a weapon at all? What if her aura runs out?" Ruby questioned skeptically.

"Then she runs away like a coward," Ambur answered angrily as the girls saw her clench her fists, still looking out their window.

"Wait that's...that's why she has been gone? Because she left you guys in a fight?" Ruby asked as she scooted closer to Mydnight.

"Ya...that's why..."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want-" Ruby began before Mydnight cut her off.

"No it's...it's alright it's just...a sore subject. It was in our sophomore year. At the beginning of the year Rosaria and I, well...we were dating for a little while. After a while, I got sick of how awful she treated our fourth teammate and Ambur too, and really everyone in general so I told her I was done with her. Ambur and I started dating pretty shortly afterward and...Bronzine and I became much closer friends again..."

"Bronzine?" Weiss asked.

"Our fourth teammate. He was a real clown but...he was a good friend. We graduated Signal with him. When we got to Beacon he became Rosa's partner and I found Ambur first in the woods. The two of them absolutely hated each other right off the bat and it never really changed. Add in an extremely dangerous mission and we were doomed to fail. We just didn't know how hard..."

"We were sent to kill an Uru Major," Ambur took over, "They are very rare and one was headed straight for Atlas Academy"

"An Uru? You're right you don't see those giant spiders nearly ever," Weiss said cringing a bit. "You were sent alone?"

"Yep. We weren't in sync, half our team was pissed at each other and I made the wrong call when I told Ozpin that we could handle it. Once the fighting began it became all too clear that we were in fact not able to handle it. We called for backup and we...got some bad luck instead," Ambur said, choosing her words very carefully as she saw Mydnight gripping the edge of the bed tightly.

"Mydnight had just finished fighting in the final round of the tournament so he wasn't at full strength. Rosa ran off scared. The spider kicked me so hard that when Bronzine caught me to stop my fall the impact killed him. Then Mydnight tore the Uru to shreds in his rage. Our backup didn't arrive until after he had transformed into the wolf. He utterly decimated the spider, telling the back up to take me home instead of assisting him. He hit it so hard that his weapon shattered, forcing him to finally build Bloody Rose. Up 'til now we just assumed we would never see Rosa again. Unfortunately, we were wrong...again..."

The two younger girls remained silent for a few moments, trying to think of something to say but they couldn't find the words to do so until a question popped into Ruby's head. "Is that...why you two agreed to train me and Yang?"

Ambur looked at them sadly as Mydnight looked away from the two younger girls. "Yes...we see so much of our old selves in you two that we just...we want to make sure that you and your team are as ready as you can be. We don't want you to end up like us..."

Yang was sitting in her bed with her chin in her hand, elbows rested on her knees. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot as she fought to control her tears. "I just...I don't understand. What made you change your mind about us?"

"I..." Blake began, struggling to find words that wouldn't utterly crush her partner's heart. "I just feel like we are too...physical...Don't get me wrong it's great but...I don't feel the emotional connection that you seem to. You're my partner and I wouldn't trade you for the world but...I just want to be your friend. It seems like...as girlfriends all we ever did was mess around with each other..."

"...Really?" Yang choked out before standing up and heading for the door, but not before she grabbed for her helmet.

"Yang please don't leave, I never wanted to hurt you!"

Yang paused in the doorway before she forced her motorcycle helmet down over her wild mane. "I'll be back I just...I need some time...I would rather lose you as a girlfriend than as a friend so just...leave me be..." And with that, the golden-haired girl closed the door behind her, headed to get her bike and head into the city for a drive. She left Blake in their room on the bed they had been sharing for weeks alone, trapped in her head with her thoughts.

As the short weeks flew by, the freshmen dance came and went. With the help of his aura and a more proper bandage, Mydnight was back on his feet in no time. He tried his best to teach his sister while also catching up with her and Yang as best he could. Almost before they realized it the first round of the Vytal Festival tournament was well underway. After Team SSSN had defeated Team NDGO the bleachers began to clear and Weiss could see a familiar ship on the horizon. She dragged Ruby out to find where the ship had landed and was just in time to see her older sister disembark.

Unknown to them, Mydnight had attempted to follow them at a distance, trying to see what Weiss' fuss was all about. He'd fallen slightly behind them in the crowd though. By the time he spotted them again they were headed back toward him and the school with a third person he hadn't expected to see anytime soon. He continued to walk toward the group, still out of earshot. "Winter Schnee," he said to himself, "what in the world are you doing he-" he managed to get out before he fell silent and stopped dead in his tracks, seeing and smelling an all too familiar third party following the three women toward the school.

"Ohhhh this is gonna be bad..." He sighed before reaching into his pocket, grabbing his scroll and hitting one of his speed dial numbers. The phone only rang for a moment before General Ironwood's voice came through the device.

"Mydnight what's wrong, you never call me?"

"You need to get out to the courtyard right now...better bring Glynda too, there's about to be a mess out here." He said quickly as he continued toward the edge of the crowd that was forming a wide circle around the arguing group.

"What? Why? What's wrong?!"

"Qrow is back and Winter doesn't seem too happy about it!"

"Schnee is here already? I'll be right there. Make sure no one gets hurt!" Mydnight heard before he hung up and started to shove his way through the crowd on the opposite side of Ruby and Weiss, seeing Ruby's face light up as she realized that Qrow was the one fighting Weiss' sister.

Mydnight watched, pulling crowd members out of the way of the older combatants' attacks as needed, meanwhile getting all the more pissed off at Qrow. Before long, Mydnight noticed James and Glynda running up behind Winter in her blind spot and Qrow started to transform his Sword into its scythe form. He stopped though as he too noticed them coming toward their battle and instead sheathed his weapon and began to taunt Winter into unleashing the attack she had been building up. As she was about to collide with Qrow one last time she was stopped dead in her tracks by the sound of her boss yelling her name.

As general Ironwood led Winter away from the courtyard, Mydnight saw Ruby jump up and cling onto her uncle's arm and exchange a few words before he stepped out into the clearing as the other students went back to their own business. Qrow saw Mydnight for the first time since he'd arrived and attempted to play off the fact that they knew each other. "Take a picture kid it'll last longer, but if you want it autographed it's gonna cost ya-"

"She knows, Qrow." Mydnight cut him off and folded his arms under his chest. "Besides, the only girl who would ever want your autograph is the one glued to your arm right now. And I think she's a bit young for you," he smirked.

Qrow looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow, "that so kid?"

"Ya. I know Mydnight is my older brother now. He's been helping me train for the tournament!"

"Ooooh really?" Qrow asked skeptically, sounding almost sarcastic before Ozpin called to them.

"Mydnight, Qrow, a word...please." He said sternly as Glynda began to fix the walkway behind him.

Ruby fell from her uncle's arm and he leaned down to whisper to her. "I think I'm in trouble."

"You did kinda tear up our courtyard," Ruby shrugged happily.

"Yaaaa, I did," he said with a wink before the pair shared a fist bump. "Catch you later kid," he said before following Ozpin back into the school, Mydnight right beside him. As they reached the elevator Qrow broke the silence first. "Did you seriously nark on me?" Qrow smirked.

"Well you know me Qrow, can't waste an opportunity to sour your mood," he huffed, his voice flat and uncaring. "You gonna cry about it?"

"Can you two just...not? For once?" Glynda sighed and brought her hand up to her face.

"Probly not," they said in unison as they both looked to the ceiling. As the elevator reached the top floor and the door opened, Qrow tipped his head to the side and made a face at Winter, trying further to tick her off.

"What were you thinking?!" She yelled, trying to contain herself.

"If you were one of my men I would have you shot." Ironwood followed up.

"If I were one of your men I'd shoot myself," Qrow retorted before Mydnight spoke up.

"Pretty sure all his 'men'," He began as he used his fingers to make air quotes, "Are programmed not to shoot themselves..."

"While I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation," Glynda said, trying not to take sides.

"He was drunk!"

"He's always drunk," Glynda shot back at Winter almost before she'd even finished her sentence, before the entire group looked to Qrow, finding him halfway through a long sip from his flask.

Mydnight swung his hand toward Qrow, grabbing his flask from his hands as he shook his head in disbelief. He took a few steps away from his old mentor and started sipping from the flask himself.

Ozpin groaned as he sat down and rested his face in his hand, "Qrow...why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks, you can't just go dark like that in the field!"

"I'm not one of your special operatives Jimmy," he laughed out as Winter corrected him.

"General!"

"Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemies and I'm telling you, our enemy is here."

James paused before he sat on the table next to Mydnight. "We know," he sighed, folding his arms.

"Oh, Oh you know?" Qrow blurted sarcastically, "Well thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

"Ugh, Qrow-"

"Communication is a two-way street pal," he said before whipping his scroll out of his pocket and holding up for them to see, "you see this? That's the send button," he growled through gritted teeth as he pointed to it.

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised," Winter said, butting in.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here," he replied before pointing to the special operative. "Seriously, who invited her?"

"He's not wrong," Mydnight said softly, speaking up before taking another drink and tossing the flask back to Qrow. "You don't need to be here."

"...Schnee, we will discuss this incident back on my ship."

"But sir!"

"Winter! Leave..."

Winter sulked a bit before she gave James a salute and complied with his orders. "Yes, sir." She said before walking to the elevator and leaving the room.

"Damn Qrow you really know how to treat the ladies huh?" Mydnight smirked.

Ironwood, however, interrupted before Qrow could give a retort. "Go on."

"Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They are the ones responsible for Autumn's condition," he said as he walked away from them and went to take another drink as he realized the flask was now empty. He turned back to look at Mydnight with a scowl and he found the wolf boy giving him a wicked smirk.

"What?" Glynda asked in shock.

"Cinder is actually here?" Mydnight asked and Qrow noted that his expression hadn't changed.

"To finish what she started, yeah."

"Well good, that gives us another shot at killing her," Mydnight shrugged. Qrow turned back to Ironwood though before he spoke again. He was all too aware that he and Mydnight were to blame for Cinder still being alive and he didn't want to think about it.

"Despite what the world thinks of us, we aren't just teachers or students or generals or headmasters. The people in the room, the leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones who keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about. It's why we meet between closed doors, we work in the shadows, so you tell me, James. When you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discrete? Or did you just not give a damn?"

"Can you stop making me agree with you? It's giving me a headache," Mydnight said as he rested his chin in his hand.

"Discrete wasn't working," James answered after a moment. "I am here because this," he said, gesturing to the hologram he had just begun projecting, "is what was necessary."

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here," Qrow replied, pointing to the professor. "He made you a part of this inner circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us."

"And I am grateful."

"Oh well, you've got a real funny way of showing it."

"Usually being grateful doesn't involve spitting in the person who did you solid's tea James," Mydnight added.

"The people of Vale needed someone to protect them. Someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength."

Qrow began to laugh and Mydnight spoke up again, "What exactly do you think we do James? Sit around and pray all day? That everything's gonna be fine? We ARE protecting them. When you bring in a foreign fleet to 'protect' Vale's citizens you are sending an entirely different message than what you intended."

"You think they're afraid of your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things SHE'S made and let me tell you, they ARE...fear."

Ozpin now stood to make his point clear. "And fear will bring the Grimm. A guardian is a symbol of comfort. An army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, and a question in the back of everyone's minds."

Mydnight piped up to complete the Headmaster's thought. "If another kingdom had to bring this caliber of defense to aid us in protecting ourselves...what exactly are we expecting to attack us..."

The room fell silent as everyone's vision fell on James. After a few moments, he sighed and walked back to the table, grabbed his scroll and shut off the hologram. "So then...what would you all suggest we do?"

"I suggest," Ozpin began, "We find our guardian."