Forgiving You

Mydnight woke slowly that morning. The sun shone on his face through the window of the large, and very full, house. He rolled over to get out of the light and straight into Ambur, whom he found still asleep. She started to stir though and groaned from her slightly rude awakening.

"Mmmmaahh," she moaned, and reached up for her face and began to wipe the sleep from her eyes. "Morning," she said softly as she squinted up at him, her red eyes gleaming in the light. "You okay?" She asked as she reached across the short distance, brushing her hand across his cheek.

"Ya I'm alright, just a little restless I guess," he said as he closed his eyes, savoring the warmth from her hand.

"Restless? What, did I not tire you out enough?" She winked with a smirk before she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his nose.

"You certainly tried your best," he laughed and rolled onto his back and lifted his arms behind his head. "But not this time."

"Wait...you mean-?"

"Ya," he said with a smirk of his own, "I remember all of it."

"Shut up!" she half-whispered and half yelled. The amazon shot up in their shared back, propped up by her hands on the mattress. Their blankets clung to her breasts for a moment but no longer, and fell around her hips. She slapped his arm in excitement as she leaned down over him. "Do you really?!"

"Yeah, I really do," he smiled up at her, as her hair draped down over him. "And it was just as amazing as I always thought it would be," he chuckled as he reached up and poked her nose with his finger.

"Yes!" she said, victoriously, as she looked up to the ceiling with her eyes shut, savoring the victory over Mydnight's animal side. "I bet it's because you spent more time in your other form. The more you accept that it's a part of you, the easier it will be."

"Ya, you're probably right about that," he shrugged as he too began to sit up and kissed her on the cheek before he started to get out of bed.

"And where are you going?" she questioned as she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, pressing her bust into his back. Her hands threaded under his arms and her fingers began to trace lines on his chest.

"Qrow is taking everyone to the school this morning and I thought I'd go with them. Something stinks about this town and as long as my semblance isn't known to the group I'd like to make use of it."

"Wait," Ambur said, sounding a bit shocked, "Have you not told anyone yet?"

"No I haven't, for now, I'd like to keep that to myself just in case."

"Why?"

"Because for years now we have been giving our lives to a cause led by people that love to keep secrets," he answered as he turned back to her. "I'd like to know some of them," he finished with a smile.

"I mean, fair enough but...don't get caught lying to your sister okay? That girl idolizes you. I know Qrow filled them in on the basics but there's still plenty of info those kids don't have."

"I won't don't worry," He agreed as he walked back to the bed and leaned down, his lips meeting hers.

"Alright," she said, a bit dazed as they broke the kiss and he headed for the door. "Be safe," she said quickly before the door shut behind him and she lay back down in the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a smile.

As Mydnight headed out into the living room he found everyone else already there waiting for him. They all stood when he entered the room, clearly ready to leave. "What, were you all waiting on me?"

Ruby walked up to her brother and elbowed him in the side softly, "Ya a little bit," she chuckled out and the group headed out of the house. As they walked out, Qrow led the pack, headed toward the school, but in his own words, they were taking the 'scenic' route. As they came to the end of a very long stone tunnel they opened two massive wooden doors and emerged in the daylight. Ruby ran right to the edge of a banister and took in the amazing view, shortly followed by the rest of team RNJR.

As they moved on up the long mountain path Ruby started to question Mydnight. The two really hadn't had much time to catch up the past few days as everyone, especially Qrow and Mydnight, were recuperating from their journey.

"When did you wake up?" Ruby asked, timidly.

"Apparently about two weeks after you, according to the girls," he answered, looking down at her. "Just like a Rose to rush off with nothing more than a note," he said as he reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Hah, yeah I guess," she smirked, slapping his hand away and fixing her hair. "So, what happened that night? Why did you faint?"

"Well," he said thinking quickly, trying to find the right words. "Rosaria killed Olivier's teammates and I went off to find her. I fought her but when she ran away I fainted. Must have been overwhelmed by everything I guess," he shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure why I was out so long, all things considered. You did way more than I did that night."

"So everyone says," she mumbled, rolling her eyes. "How did you catch up to us so fast? I know you can run super-fast like a wolf but how did the other two keep up with you?"

"I carried them on my back," he smirked.

Ruby gasped sarcastically, "Show off," she joked. "So when did you modify Bloody Rose?"

"Ambur did it actually," he smiled, looking down at the twin hand cannons on his belt. "Super convenient, I love it."

"I bet dude, I can't imagine lugging that giant Scythe around all the time, it's so big and awkward."

"You are not kidding," he laughed.

Ruby looked under her own arm at the end of her scythe and then back up at Qrow's broad sword on his back before speaking again. "Couple of crazies I guess."

"Hmph," Mydnight snorted out, "Ya I guess so."

As they reached the school the four young students stopped to take in the scenery. "We made it," Ruby smiled softly as Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Qrow and Mydnight found each other looking around the courtyard suspiciously. Both raised an eyebrow at each other after a moment, coming to the same conclusion.

As they moved inside they found the halls barren. They continued toward Professor Lionheart's office and still found no one. "Helloooo?" Ruby yelled to no avail. "HEEELLLOOOOOOO," she tried again before Nora spoke up.

"Maybe try...louder?"

"Please don't," Mydnight grumbled with a painful look on his face as he covered his ears.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone here," Ren spoke up.

"Well," Jaune began, "I guess school isn't really in session right now, maybe that's it?"

"No, this isn't right," Qrow said softly as he started to walk again. "Come on."

"Wait for us!" Ruby hurried behind him.

Qrow ran right up to the main office door and readied his weapon, the students following suit. Mydnight started to smell another person on the other side of the door but before he could get the words out of his mouth Qrow raised his foot and kicked the door in, coming face to face with a scarred professor Lionheart. The two men yelled in surprise and both fell onto their backs with a loud thud, Mydnight struggling to contain a laugh."I was going to tell you someone was there but you were too quick."

"Professor...Lionheart?" Ruby squeaked out shyly.

As he regained consciousness the professor sat up, holding his head before making sense of the situation. "Qrow!" he boomed out, "for crying out loud, you nearly scared me half to death!"

"Me?!" Qrow asked loudly as he stood up, "why weren't you waiting for us at the entrance?"

Lionheart quickly revealed a pocket watch from his breast pocket and sighed, "Oh right, apologies, I guess time slipped away from me."

Qrow and Mydnight hunched over, "You're joking," Qrow let out in disappointment.

"Where is everybody?" Nora asked as Mydnight looked around the room and began to tune out of the conversation. He had never been to Haven Academy before. He and Qrow's training had mainly taken place in Atlas and he had never had an excuse to come this way. As the group went into the headmaster's office he followed aimlessly, looking around the room and taking in every detail before finally going back to paying attention to the conversation just as it seemed to be ending.

"Leo, maybe you didn't hear me, My sister has the spring maiden and I know where she is. We need to go as soon as possible!" Qrow almost shouted as he swiped some of Leo's books off of his desk onto the floor.

"And perhaps you didn't hear me," Leo bit back, "This kingdom is in shambles. As soon as possible does not mean tomorrow it means as soon as I can convince the rest of the council that I need huntsmen more than they do. Unfortunately, bandit tribes aren't very high on their list of priorities when the threat of war is just on the horizon."

"Then damn the council, we'll do it ourselves, you and I are trained huntsmen and these kids aren't exactly pushovers."

"Perhaps there's a more peaceful way to approach this?" Ren suggested as the girls more readily agreed with Qrow.

"Salem doesn't settle Ren. There is no peaceful way to do any of this," Mydnight said warily.

"We need to get spring as far away from here as possible but Raven isn't going to give up her most prized possession without a fight."

"Unfortunately you and your sister are evenly matched and I'm not the fighter I used to be. No offense, but these students and I can't take on an entire bandit tribe and a maiden that has no doubt had YEARS to hone her skills. We need to be positive we can apprehend spring because if we fail Raven and her tribe will scatter and will be lost. We get ONE shot at this and it needs to be perfect."

Qrow stared long and hard into Leo's face before letting out a large sigh, "Ya know, Oz wouldn't be happy with any of this if he were here."

"Perhaps you're right, but he's not. I'm doing the very best I can."

"There has to be something we can do," Ruby added.

"What about Cinder? She came with Emerald and Mercury from Haven. Do you have anything on them?"

"We pulled their files after the fall of Beacon, nothing but lies and forgeries."

After a moment Qrow looked up, "Well I can't say this has been a warm reunion, Leo."

"I'm sorry...I know you have all traveled a long way. I will do everything I can to help."

"...Sure," Qrow agreed before turning to leave. "We'll stay in the city, for now, local coms are still up. Keep in touch," he said as he flashed his scroll to Leo and headed for the door. "Come on kids."

As she reached the door, Ruby looked back to Leo, "It was nice meeting you professor," she smiled before following her comrades out of the office, closing the door behind her. As they walked down the hall Nora spoke up.

"So...what do we do now?"

Qrow looked over to Mydnight first and then back to the younger kids, "You four go back to the house. I need a drink..." he sighed out before gently reaching over and tapping Mydnight's arm with the back of his hand, "you coming?"

"...Ya," he agreed after a moment's pause, realizing all too well that Qrow wanted to speak with him privately. He followed him out of the building and split off from the other group silently waving goodbye to his sister when they split. He was beginning to worry. He knew that most of everything Leo had said was a lie but he didn't know to what extent. He wasn't sure if it was time to reveal to Qrow that he could detect lies or if he should hold it back longer. But maybe after a few drinks, he would soften up and let him know.

As they entered the selected bar they both went straight to the back and sat at the counter side by side. Before Mydnight could speak up Qrow quickly ordered for him in a surprise move. "Two whiskeys on the rocks," he almost murmured out, clearly feeling stressed from the conversation with Leo.

"So that went pretty badly huh," Mydnight finally said as the bartender slid them both their drinks.

"Yeeeeeep," Qrow let out before sipping his drink.

"Something is definitely up with him. He isn't telling the whole truth. Anyone with eyes could see how restless he was that entire time."

"You're not wrong, Leo has always been a little soft-hearted but that was strange even for him. Letting the students out on break is one thing but sending your staff home is the worst possible situation right now."

Mydnight looked behind Qrow down to the cane on the back of his belt. "You think he's coming?" Mydnight asked before sipping his own drink.

"Well," Qrow started as he took another swig, "He's supposed to merge with a like-minded soul. It shouldn't be too hard to convince whoever he merged with to come out. Problem is he could be anywhere. He could be in a one-room igloo in the far north of Atlas or he could be our bartender. There's no way to tell how far he needs to travel before he finds us. But Oz knows damn well that Haven should be the next target. I'm sure he'll turn up here. I just hope it's in time."

Mydnight chuckled softly at the bartender's comment, "Ya wouldn't that be nice," he agreed looking over to the man behind the counter. "I wonder how long he had his last form."

"Well, he was still in that form when I was at Beacon so I wouldn't know. Hmph," Qrow smiled as he looked over to Mydnight, "You ever figure out why you've been fainting?"

Mydnight took a second to respond, "Not really," he sighed as he readjusted himself on his bar stool. "It's been a rough year I guess. I guess with the benefit of hindsight I'm feeling a lot better now."

"Good, because we are going to need you in this fight. Like Leo said I'm only as good as Raven is. I'm gonna have to get lucky to beat her. And we both know how that goes," he said glumly, looking down into his glass.

"Ya...we do," Mydnight said as he grit his teeth. "Let's not talk about that."

"Couldn't agree more, sorry to bring it up. The point is that while those kids are strong they aren't as experienced as us and that can cause them to get overconfident. We can teach them how to fight but we can't teach them about failure. They have to learn that on their own and right now would be a very bad time to learn that lesson."

"Well Qrow, when you're right, you're right," Mydnight agreed softly as he held his glass out with his left hand toward Qrow. Qrow seemed a bit awe-struck at the gesture but did the same with his right hand, clinking their glasses together before they both lifted them to their lips and downed the rest of them before ordering another round.

"How's Ambur by the way? I realize I haven't really asked or caught up with you at all since...ya."

"She's good actually..." Mydnight answered with a small smile looking down into his drink. "At first she couldn't stop having nightmares and waking up screaming but she's been doing a lot better recently. We're good," he smirked over to Qrow as Qrow laughed to himself.

"Good, what about Olivier?"

"She's not doing so hot right now...can't blame her of course. She's all that's left and we are all she's got."

"Losing friends never gets easier no matter how many times it happens," Qrow retorted before taking a long shot from his glass. "At least she does still have you two."

"Look...Qrow..." Mydnight began before they both heard the sound of shattering glass on the ground and looked over to the bartender, finding him looking down at the shot glass he had just dropped, his rag still in his hands.

"Oh man...boss isn't gonna like that," the man said as he went to fetch a broom to clean up the mess.

"You don't have to try to make me feel better kid," Qrow forced a smile. "I know what I am."

The two sat in silence for what felt like hours, drinking and losing themselves in their own thoughts before a younger boy's voice rang out and broke their concentration. They both looked over to each other, lifted an eyebrow, and turned around on their stools. They were equally surprised to find a short young boy with brown hair and green eyes shyly looking up at them.

"Ya know I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak."

The boy stared up at them for several seconds before looking down away from them and seemingly talking to himself. "Shut up, I'm getting there," he murmured under his breath. Once again the two older men looked over to each other, this time shrugging their shoulders in sync before returning their attention to the boy.

"Uhmmm... I'm supposed to tell you," he breathed out quietly, looking to the floor before looking up at Qrow in particular. "I'd like my cane back?"

Both of their eyes went wide for a moment before Qrow stood up and Mydnight's jaw dropped in surprise. Qrow retrieved Ozpin's cane from his belt and smiled. "It's good to see you again, Oz," he smirked as he tossed the young boy the cane. The boy barely caught it, accidentally pulling the lever and extending the rest of the cane from its sheath.

'May I,' Oscar heard in his head before he nodded to no one in particular and his eyes started to glow. The boy staggered slightly, still not used to the stress of the mental switch. After a moment Qrow and Mydnight were surprised to hear Ozpin's voice come from the small boy's mouth rather than his own. "Hmph, nice to see you two getting along."

Mydnight shifted over one stool as Qrow returned to his seat. Ozpin climbed up into the tall stool rather awkwardly with the small boy's body before comfortably coming to rest between them.

"So, who's the kid Oz?" Mydnight asked, listening for where the bartender had gone but detected nothing coming toward them.

"His name is Oscar Pine. All things considered, the transition was quite simple. He took it better than most. We haven't had much time to practice so the mental switch still takes a lot out of him. We can't hold it very long at a time either but we will fix that in the coming weeks. Now, what are we dealing with? I presume you have already spoken to Leonardo?"

"Yes, we have. He is disobeying every order you ever gave him Oz," Qrow answered quietly before sipping his drink.

"What? All of them?"

"Every last one," Mydnight added. "Not only are the students off-campus but he sent his entire staff on vacation as well. The entire school is empty except for him. Not to mention he wasn't waiting for us at the entrance of the school after Qrow set up an appointment with him."

"He's acting really strange too, seems like he's hiding things from us. He says the council wouldn't give him huntsmen to act on spring's whereabouts but something tells me he doesn't want to even if the council would let him."

Ozpin was silent for several moments as he stroked his chin in thought. After a moment he shook his head. "Is it just you two then?"

"No," Mydnight answered as he finished his second drink, before watching Qrow do the same and retrieving his flask from his shirt to continue drinking in the absence of their bartender. "Olivier, Ambur, Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora are here as well."

"That's...good and bad news I suppose," he said, able to assume Pyrrha's fate. "I take it Miss Nikos is-" he started again before Qrow cut him off.

"Gone...ya. The rest of Ruby's team gave up and she ran off with the rest of the JNPR members. We both tailed them here and joined up with them." Qrow began to look around, getting increasingly annoyed with their lack of service before reaching over the counter and grabbing the bottle of whiskey their drinks were being poured from so he could refill their glasses. Mydnight lifted his and nodded at Qrow in appreciation before drinking again. "Must be break time," Qrow said, pushing the thoughts out of his head.

"To be fair it is a Tuesday afternoon," Ozpin said with a chuckle, "and you two are professional day drinkers."

Both of them laughed a little before settling back down and returning to the conversation. "Olivier's team is dead too and Rosa..." he said as he took a quieter, more serious tone, "turned out to be exactly what we thought."

"She is serving Salem then? To become a maiden?"

"More than likely yes. I can't imagine Salem wasting such potential."

"How much do the children know?" Ozpin asked with a little nervousness in his voice.

"Enough," Mydnight sighed, "For now. Salem, the maidens. Not much beyond that but I'm sure they are curious."

"Well..." Ozpin said with a big sigh. "While I am glad to see you both I can't say this is good news..."

"Understatement of the century Oz," Mydnight murmured, looking down to the small kid before his eyes began to glow and he started to lose balance on his stool, nearly falling backward onto the floor. Mydnight and Qrow each reached out and held Oscar up on the chair behind his back for a moment while he regained control of his body.

"Huhhhh...huhhh," he breathed in and out heavily as he held his head in his hands. "Thanks..." He said breathlessly. "Sorry...it takes a lot out of me to let him take control."

"No worries kid," Mydnight said, patting him on the back. "No one's expecting you to be a professional at any of this yet. It's gonna take time."

"So uh...who...are you guys?" Oscar asked shyly, looking at each of them. "You guys like brothers or something?" He asked as he cocked his head to one side.

The older men look at each other and then back at Oscar, both talking at the same time. "Do I look that young?" Qrow asked as he pointed to Mydnight.

"Do I look that old?" Mydnight asked sarcastically pointing to his, more or less, uncle. Both of them looked at each other for a moment before shrugging.

"Okay fair enough." They said in unison as they lifted their glasses and took another drink.

"Is that...A yes?" Oscar asked in confusion.

"No," Qrow laughed out. "I'm his sister's adoptive uncle."

Oscar seemed to think to himself for several seconds before giving them a confused look.

"Look just...it's complicated," Mydnight said as he pat Oscar on the shoulder. "I'm Mydnight, He's Qrow. We work for Ozpin."

"Do you guy's...reincarnate too?"

"Nope. We are just people who agree with Oz that he trusts enough to help him deal with Salem." Qrow said as he downed the last of his drink again, this time far ahead of Mydnight.

"So...who's your sister?" Oscar said as he looked back to Mydnight.

"Ruby, you'll meet her when we get back to the house."

"Ya buuuutt we gotta celebrate first!" Qrow almost yelled as he poured himself another glass. Mydnight was taken by surprise at Qrow's almost...giddy demeanor. He had never seen Qrow completely drunk before and he had never considered the fact that he could be anything other than dreary.

"Well I guess I'm the designated adult tonight," Mydnight said as he finished his drink and slid his glass out of Qrow's reach so he couldn't pour him another drink. "Someone's gotta get our sorry asses back to the house," Mydnight laughed out.

Olivier, Nora, Ren, and Jaune were hanging out in the living room of their rental house that night as the sun went down. Ambur was in the kitchen cooking them all supper as Olivier got to know the other team members of JNPR as best she could. They hadn't spent much time together at school so she really didn't know them that well at all.

After a while, the subject shifted to her weapon, which the group could still see beneath her tank top on her spine. "Why do you carry it around all of the time?" Jaune asked. "Isn't it uncomfortable?"

Olivier seemed to go quiet for a few seconds before looking back at them and shrugging, "I mean...if it is uncomfortable I wouldn't really know, I can't tell the difference?" She smiled as the younger students gave her a look of confusion.

"They say that our weapons are an extension of ourselves right? Well in my case that is quite literal. It's a part of me," she said with a genuine smile.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked in shock.

Olivier stood up and lifted the back of her shirt to reveal the long cylinder of sculpted metal protruding from her back where her spine should have been. In only a moment everyone else could tell very easily that the device was actually grafted to her. Ren and Nora seem shocked at first but calmed down quickly, but Jaune ran out of the room with his hand over his mouth as if he may puke, trying to find a trash can. Olivier laughed and began to bend forward and back and side to side. "It IS my spine. I was in a car accident during my first summer vacation at Beacon and I had it replaced and had my weapon worked into it. My family is pretty well off so they were more than willing to pay any price to get me walking again."

As she sat back down Jaune re-entered the room, clearly a bit woozy. "Sorry," he said as he sat back down onto the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "Little queasy with that kinda stuff."

Olivier chuckled quietly, "That's okay I've gotten that reaction plenty of times. I used to be very self-conscious about it at first but I've gotten used to it."

However, as she finished talking they heard a knocking on their door. All of them looked at the door suspiciously, wondering why Qrow or Mydnight would knock on the door instead of just coming right inside. Jaune went and opened the door to find Oscar looking up at him. "Can I...help you?" Jaune asked.

"Uhm...yeah!" Oscar said nervously. "Is there a Ruby Rose here?"

With this the rest of the students stood up and took more aggressive positions. "Why?" Nora asked with some bite in her voice.

"...Well," Oscar began before they all saw Qrow nearly fall onto him from out of their view.

"Iiiiiiiii foundim!" he said excitedly before bursting out laughing and nearly falling into the living room, stumbling through it to the couch. Mydnight shortly followed him through the door, clearly staggering from side to side and chuckling along with Qrow as he made his way toward the other couch but didn't quite make it, falling onto the floor on all fours. He laughed a bit before letting out a fake howl, seemingly making fun of himself before turning over and laying down flat on the floor.

"I think her uncles could use some help," Oscar said worriedly.

Mydnight stuck his arm straight up into the air with his pointer extended before loudly burping, "Brother," he said matter of factually before his arm fell back to his side.

"I found him," Qrow huffed again, this time more winded.

"What is going on out there!" The group turned to see Ruby coming out of her room. "Can't a girl read her comics in peace?!" She yelled before looking around the room and finding her uncle and brother both drunkenly giggling to themselves. She let out a long sigh and slapped her own forehead gently. "Really guys, BOTH of you?!"

As she said this Ambur came into the room in much the same state as Ruby before seeing what had unfolded, "ugh really guys?" She groaned a little angrily before heading over to Mydnight and checking on him. "Good thing I've got coffee going," she grumbled as she rolled her eyes and sat Mydnight up against the base of the nearest couch

"He-uuurp-started it," Mydnight laughed out.

"Woah," Oscar breathed out, re-grabbing everyone's attention. "You...have silver eyes," he said with a fascinated smile.

Ruby looked to the others quickly before looking back to the boy. "Who...are you?"

Qrow and Mydnight began to laugh again quietly as Oscar started to speak. "Well...My name is Oscar Pine."

"Wait for it," Qrow breathed out, quietly waiting for the punchline.

"...buuut...you all probably know me as...Professor Ozpin," he said with a nervous smile as everyone in the room besides Mydnight and Qrow stared at the boy in shock before Mydnight and Qrow started laughing together. Qrow then shot bolt upright and yelled.

"I did it!" he shouted out before sliding off the couch sideways and falling onto the floor, sending Mydnight into one last laughing fit.