Big Issues

AN: Knocked this one out in record time! Unfortunately, I'm still not good at estimating how long scenes will be in the chapters leading to problems such as this one... I know I promised that we'd have a party but that will be delayed until the next chapter. That does come with a benefit of making the entire chapter something much happier.

Otherwise, I'm still having trouble getting updates and such from this site. I have news at the end of the chapter as well. On with the show!

Remembrance and Rebirth

The aftermath of the attacks on Mistral and Haven wasn't particularly good but far better than it could have been. Over two hundred civilians had been killed during the White Fang's rampage through the streets. It was thanks to the efforts of the Huntsmen and those civilians who took up arms to defend the city buying time for many more to get out of the warpath. That did not include the dozens of homes that were lost with everything inside of them and the other damages. Nor did that include the nearly two thousand who suffered injuries during the attack.

Fifty seven soldiers had died at the main gate from the Grimm. The main defenses had held up well but they had been overwhelmed by the thousands that were attacking all at once and those men and women paid the price, though none of them didn't go down fighting. Another forty two lost their lives thanks to Adam's attack, with nearly as many who were injured during those assaults in both areas.

Several Huntsmen had lost their lives as they dealt with either Grimm or the White Fang, their numbers too much for their skills or in the case of some of them, were taken by surprise. Many more were injured in the defense of the Kingdom of Mistral.

The secondary gate had been completely destroyed but efforts to clear the debris and recover bodies had begun early, several barricades hastily erected and had guards posted in event of any Grimm or lingering extremists thought to take advantage of the weakened point of entry. Likewise, the main gate had suffered little real damage but many of the weapons that kept the city safe were in need of replacements or repairs, the rest undergoing a hasty but thorough maintenance, inspection, and cleaning so they would be ready for the next attack.

The Menagerie Militia was the real shocker and gamechanger for how the White Fang had been dealt with. While the extremists had been pushed into the city by their advance, they had also diverted their attention rather than solely on attacking the city and causing more damage. Not to mention once the Militia had fought their way into the city, they had quickly helped to contain the Fang to limit their damage. Though when they had taken off for Haven, the Militia had followed and trapped the terrorists within.

While many of the White Fang had been killed, estimates reaching as high as five hundred, there were quite a few who had been captured thanks to being incapacitated by their injuries at one point in the battle or another. Now there were about two hundred cells filled with patients who had gotten basic treatment for their wounds, some severe enough that they wished they had not survived.

The bandits, while much fewer in number, were in much the same shape as the White Fang. Curiously, three prominent members were not among them.

The Militia had suffered losses as well, twenty one dead and sixty six with injuries that required medical care. Most of the losses had been from the Menagerie Guard, as they were the ones who primarily took care of the fighting as they left the safety of the shield walls.

Needless to say, every hospital in Mistral was filled and patients were being discharged if they had no need for an overnight stay, and even then some of them were grouped together in nearby homes and businesses that had become overnight trauma centers.

One of the biggest losses to Mistral was hearing that Leonardo Lionheart had been killed by one of those who had attacked the academy. There were certainly enough witnesses to account for that without having to consider the evidence of the toxic weapon that had pierced his throat.

It didn't raise morale to know that both the Headmasters killer and the White Fang leader had escaped, but not without serious injuries to themselves, as well as two other associates. The capture of one associate did help mitigate some of the sting.

In short, it was a night of great loss. One that was not helped any by being so close to the anniversary of the attack on the Vytal Festival, the fallout having far reaching shockwaves that had caused plenty of damage to Mistral that day and no shortage of death across the territories the Kingdom controlled.

—-

It had been two days since the battle at Haven and Weiss had been released from their direct care at the hospital, much to her friends' delight. Said friends had gone back to their safe house… with new neighbors as much of the Menagerie Militia had been assigned to live in the buildings as well for the time being.

That also meant that as much as Blake had wanted to be back with the girls she considered her sisters, she was occupied helping to tend to the wounded or dealing with her mother after she had to report to the remaining members of the Mistral Council as to why she had brought an armed force into the city.

"Ugh, I'm just glad that they are grateful for our help rather than pissed that we're here." The elder cat moans as she holds her head from the migraine.

"Just be glad you stayed out of the fighting this time so you weren't talking to them in bandages and on meds." Sienna was in far worse shape, having been on the front lines and admittedly not as young as she used to be, her injuries were felt after the adrenaline and rage of combat had faded. Mostly strains on her joints and muscles along with a few burns but they added up to create a miserable tiger. And that was before she had her own round of questioning from the Council.

The others from the front line weren't spared the interviews either, Blake, Sun, Itazura, and Ilia all had their own wounds to deal with as they had to give their testimonies. One thing that truly helped the Militia was the recent broadcast that they had done from Kuo Kuana in the wake of the attack on the town and newly built Sirius Academy.

"No need to tell me twice." Sun winced as Blake applied an ointment to his tail where one of the Dust rifles had grazed the appendage and the weaker than average aura that protected it barely held up and was left with a burn and a bald patch that should hopefully regrow. Aura didn't cover a body evenly and extremities were the first to weaken the protection. They could train to bolster the arm or leg for an attack but as exhaustion grew, doing so became harder. That was doubly true for faunus with tails as they rarely used them for attacks, the extremity being what gave them better balance instead. Not all things come without a drawback of some sort.

"Think we're done talking to them?" Blake asks as she begins to wrap the wound for her boyfriend. She hadn't come out unscathed either, not counting the exhaustion that each of the Huntresses and Huntsman had from the combat, Sun was wrapping her ankle because she had twisted it on some rubble after the fighting had ended and she had a few other minor wounds.

"You two? Most likely." Sienna points at the couple without lifting her head from laying back against the couch where she sat. "Us? Pretty sure we have a few more meetings with them." She gestures to Kali and herself.

"Please don't remind me."

It was also rather sad to say that while essentially having just a short walk and a few doors in the way, Blake hadn't been able to see her friends with so much going on. Not that they hadn't been busy either, having to deal with much of the aftermath themselves and Weiss was confined to the hospital for a short time to recover from her injury.

"Hey, I wanna see our buds too but maybe tomorrow." Sun gives the cat a pat on the leg and rubs the soft skin. "We're all hurting."

All three women in the room glanced at him for the comment, knowing that he was hurting the most of all after finding one of the men he looked up to the most had betrayed them all and was betrayed in return before he could even attempt to amend the damage that was done. Another example of him putting others before himself that Blake had conflicted feelings about but glad that he was healing from that emotional wound.

And given how close her father had been to being killed in front of her by Adam, she could relate and understand completely.

But she did smile. "Okay, tomorrow we'll go over together."

—-

"I am so glad we can get out of the house!" Yang cheers as she stretches her arms over her head.

"Same here!" Denko was glad to see the sun without a window in the middle.

As much as Weiss would love to share the sentiment, she was largely confined to the couch or bed for the next few days as she healed. Aura was great for healing wounds but the body still needed to get the material from somewhere to patch itself up. In her case, a good deal of that came from her own fat, reducing her hip measurement by an inch or two. And she still was working on replacing the blood she had lost, meaning that she grew woozy if she was walking for anything more than five minutes. It was getting better and Talon and Anya were making her some meals rich in iron to assist in the recovery process.

That didn't mean that she wasn't enjoying the fresh air and freedom though, Ruby had helped her out the door where they could sit on a bench outside.

Vernal and Raven were the ones who tried to avoid much attention, though they had given their testimonies to the Council like the rest of the team. Whether the Council recognized who they are as bandits and were simply too busy to act on having them arrested or they did and were willing to give them a pass, for now, in light of their service in the defense of Mistral and Haven… it was unclear but they weren't going to do anything that would make them reconsider. Tater being treated in the hospital after a bomb went off in front of him was also something of a bargaining chip that the Council held over them.

But that also meant that the family could meet properly for the first time as of yesterday.

"Huh, now I'm the middle sister." Yang didn't seem too upset after learning that Vernal is a few years older.

"Is that a problem?" The former bandit asks, though she had yet to ease up on her abrasive approach too much.

"Nah, it's just gonna be something to get used to." The blonde shrugs. "I spent a lot of my life playing the big sis and mom at home and on my team."

Vernal had the decency to look a touch embarrassed, having heard bits and pieces about her life from Raven. Some of the hardships that the broken family had endured and how on a few occasions Raven was ready to go to them but stopped because things had improved.

"Ummm… this is going to sound weird for me but…" Vernal trailed off as memories of her past family and her sister flooded her mind.

"If you mean your sister… yeah, um, Mom already told us."

"She did?"

Ruby suddenly pops in and hugs the taller girl. "Yeah and it was so sad!" The girl begins to bawl her eyes out, refusing to let her new big sister go and making said sister very uncomfortable.

Yang just let the scene play out for a minute before breaking it up, holding both girls by the shoulders. "Alright, that's enough waterworks. But yeah… we're family and we're sticking together to the end, no matter what. Right?"

"Right!" Ruby chirps.

Vernal looked between the sisters and saw how close they were, and not just physically, along with their infectious smiles. Soon she felt herself giving a sincere smile of her own. "Right."

"And how are my girls today!?" The voice of Taiyang came a moment before all three of them had been drawn in for a big hug from their father. A hug that squeezed them all tightly but gently and it was probably a good thing Yang and Ruby were too heavy for him to pick up together, let alone adding the third body, but he gave it a shot anyway.

"Seems things are going fairly well." Raven had her own grin at the sight.

As for Team JNPR, they were probably the best off as they had stayed together through everything since Beacon and were content to split off in pairs as they did what they could to help the injured of the Militia.

Team DAIT… the brother and sister had a grand reunion. Translation: Denko was tackled in a hug. That was then followed by Itazura introducing Ilia to her team as her girlfriend, which went over well and made the chameleon's stress dissipate after being welcomed so readily.

Then there was the deal with Roman Torchwick and Oscar Pine.

—-

It's been three days since the attack on Mistral and the Kingdom was in full swing to repair everything. But things in a certain house were increasingly… tight.

Teams RWBY, JNPR, DAIT, the remaining three of STRQ, Vernal, Sun, Sienna, Kali, Oscar, and Roman were all crowded inside, finding places to sit or stand after the initial greetings and the full conversations to catch up with each other would have to be delayed.

"Alright, is this everyone? It's honestly more than I expected would be here for this." The redheaded man looks around at the twenty people of various ages.

"At least the ones that know anything about the big secret and what Salem's goons were after." Qrow shrugs.

"And them?" Roman points to the elder cat ladies.

"They need to know." Itazura stated flatly. "And I've already given them a crash course." She adds with a smirk.

Roman sighed as he paced a little, unable to go far without someone in the way. "Alright, let's get this story started…"

Darkness.

That was all he could see now while confined in a small space that moved erratically. There was screeching and muffled sounds that were indistinguishable beyond something being destroyed.

But he couldn't breathe in this small space, sure to last a few minutes at best before he suffocated.

He still had Melodic Cudgel in his hand. He had it since he was fighting Ruby Rose on top of the flying battleship, having her disarmed, beating down her spirit as he boasted about not having a choice in this attack on Vale but he went with it so he could survive.

Survive.

That had been his last word before his world went dark thanks to the Griffin that swallowed him whole. Rather ironic thanks to what happened.

He could only hope that Neo had managed to get to the ground safely. Little Red had done the unexpected and forced Hush to open, sweeping the short heterochromatic girl off the battleship by the strong winds at their altitude.

From nowhere after not knowing how long he had been moving, the Grimm came to a stop, Roman felt a surge of power come over him. It may have been a wave of delirium as he began to asphyxiate or his body having a blast of adrenaline in an attempt to save his life. Either way, he didn't care and simply wanted the dark prison to end.

Then he was free.

Somehow the Grimm was just gone and he was able to breathe deeply and fully for what felt like a lifetime ago. But as he looked around, pieces of the Griffin lay scattered across the top of a building, the head with dull, lifeless eyes staring back at what had been its last meal.

All Roman could do was sit back and try to relax and get his bearings, ignoring the remains fading to smoke around him. He was on the outer edges of Vale for sure, but it was difficult to tell exactly where he was. There were fires burning everywhere, all three of the battleships had crashed in the general vicinity, Grimm were all over the sky and more than a few were running rampant through the streets he could see.

And he felt guilt.

Guilt because he had built his own little empire in this city. Guilt that he had played a major hand in bringing ruin. Guilt for the lives lost, not that he was adverse to killing but he preferred not to when he could help it… when it suited his needs to keep others alive for future business.

And guilt that he had dragged Neo into this, not that they had been left with many options. But now they were separated in a city that knew them as criminals, was full of creatures that would attack to kill on sight, danger was everywhere thanks to the fires.

In short, there wasn't much he could do but believe that Neo would get away. She was as good as himself at slipping in and out of trouble and he was confident that she'd make it out of this mess.

With that in mind, he got to his feet and found that being in the Grimm had not only left him filthy but his clothes were in tatters as well. No doubt that his body would have been following suit if he hadn't gotten out… somehow.

Perhaps one of his safe houses was still standing. If he was lucky, Neo would go there as well, most likely either going to the closest to wherever she lands or to the most guarded of the lot that he was going to now.

The underground shelter had everything he needed to survive and lay low for weeks at a time without ever having to leave, complete with its own systems for power, water, and air filtration. Sure, it could give cabin fever quite well but it served its purpose. And he wound up spending several weeks there and never had so much as had anyone trip the alarm at the first door.

Needless to say, he was very disappointed that Neo never showed up. Not only that but his trusty cane had been damaged beyond use. While he did have the maintenance tools and plenty of ammunition for Melodic Cudgel, he lacked the tools and resources to essentially rebuild the weapon from the beginning.

A month in a prison of his own making ended after he walked out the door, with nothing but what he could carry on his back and wearing an outfit that he was sure he'd never worn in public before and even wore his hair pulled back and tucked under a bandanna. Quite honestly, he hardly looked like the man who had entered without a close inspection.

But there was also a feeling in the back of his head that he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it was from the trauma of being eaten and nearly suffocating. Maybe it was the cabin fever settling in. Either way, he had the urge to leave and head east.

Leaving the city was easy enough, most were too busy cleaning up and for the guards at the gates, there were plenty of people who were leaving for other towns.

'You are quite the interesting man, Mr. Torchwick.'

Roman would have thought that had been his own inner voice speaking but it sounded nothing like the usual voice. But what worried him was that it seemed to be growing stronger the longer he walked. It wasn't a detriment when he encountered Grimm in his travels, actually seeming to be able to warn him about approaching dangers before he could notice. A thing that watched his blind spot.

Then again, the voice seemed to fill the voids of silence at times.

'I always did enjoy evergreens. So much that one can do with them and their persistence is quite admirable.'

'I could have sworn I've seen that roadside statue before. Hard to mistake a smiling cat with a large coin for anything else. Some places consider them lucky totems.'

'As much as you like to play the lone wolf, you do enjoy the company of others. You did quite well with her.'

'So much skill in combat. You have a strong aura, sharp reflexes and mind. Odd that after all of this time you hadn't unlocked your semblance yet.'

"Just what are you?! Get out of my head!" Roman was glad that he was in the middle of the woods when he began to snap at the voice in his mind that wasn't his own.

'Unfortunately, I cannot leave.' The voice apologizes sadly. Somehow it sounded quite weary and old, filled with regret.

"And why is that?" He could not help but to be intrigued by the voice at this point.

'I could tell you but it is a very, very long tale.' The voice tells him. 'However, it may be best if I provide you with a name for myself.'

"Really? Now I must be going nuts if the voice in my head is giving itself a name on its own." Roman complains with sarcasm dripping from his lips.

'I assure you, while I have had many names over the years, I do not take pleasure in coming into a new mind such as this. Not only is it an invasion of privacy but with what will happen in the future and is currently happening, there will be no secrets between us.'

"That doesn't sound good."

'It is not ideal for me either. It is not fun having to do this for centuries.'

"Centuries? Just how old are you? And you haven't given me a name yet. And to top it all off, you said something about the future is already happening to us?"

'To be quite clear… I've admittedly lost track of how long I've had to go through this process. Just know that it has been going on longer than recorded history.'

"Okaaayy. So I'm guessing you know a lot of the big secrets of the world since you've been around for most of it?"

'Partly, I am rather limited by whoever becomes my host after the last one dies. Human limitations and such.'

"Hmm… and you must have died a lot."

'Hundreds of times by this point. The last time… was rather painful but there have been many, much more peaceful times.'

"Right. And now a name to go with this voice in my head?"

'How about we go with my last host's name. He is also essentially the current ME that you are speaking to.'

"And you are?"

'You knew me as Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy and Huntsman.'

"What the hell?! Ozpin?!"

'You know, it's a good thing that there is no one around to hear you talking to yourself.' Ozpin comments, sounding almost amused.

"Damn it, I knew the voice sounded a bit familiar." Roman paced around his campsite and kicked at a few stones and twigs.

'To be fair, with how long you've lived in Vale and how prominent I had been, I have no doubt that you have heard me speaking plenty of times before.'

"Hmph, hard not to sometimes."

'And there is the matter of our merging consciousnesses, leading to some of my own memories becoming your own.'

"Wait what!?"

'It is a part of the process, I'm afraid. Everything that I am, my experience and knowledge, will merge with your own mind.'

"You have got to be kidding me!" Roman grabs his head and squeezes his skull. "Get out!"

'I have no power to do so. My mind and soul is merging with yours, slowly. I have tried many times in the past to halt this merger with other hosts, but the only way proven so far to work is for the host to kill themselves before the merger fully happens.'

"I just escaped death not that long ago and I've nearly been killed several times before that. There is no way I'm going out like that. I'd rather be like a firework than a candle being snuffed out."

'And I'll do everything that I can to assist in that. It's not fun to be killed but it is best if one can choose how they go out.'

"Gee, thanks." Roman mutters as he drops onto the log to warm himself by the fire for a few minutes. "Tell me, how long does it take for this merger?"

'Interesting question. Though it tends to vary from host to host. While I have noticed that there is a steady rate, using my power will speed up the process.'

"Hmm… I understand that. But what powers does a wandering soul like you have, besides taking over bodies?"

'My ability to 'Take Over' a body is quite limited. I usually need the host to agree to letting me… drive, so to speak.'

"Uh-huh."

'It's temporary and if I force myself into control, it tends to exhaust both of us as well as speeding the merger. However, forcing myself to override the host is reserved for dire circumstances such as to save our lives.'

"So my life then, since you'll just find someone else to haunt."

'However you want to see it, but I do value life. I do not waste the lives of myself or others.'

"Fine, whatever. But you have to have something to help make this merger worthwhile."

'Given how you are, I imagine knowing that I have several bank accounts set up to accumulate funds from my past lives. They are all quite substantial even after tapping into them occasionally for major efforts as needed to help keep the peace.'

"Now that is what I'm talking about! How much are we looking at?"

'How about you experience a little of the merger to learn that? Think about your bank accounts. Try the Vale Bank of Sanus.'

Roman sat still and closed his eyes for a few moments. Then like a distant memory, it came to him. It was odd though, knowing that it wasn't an experience of his own life, yet it was feeling like it was. Best way he could think of it was like when a hand or foot falls asleep, knowing that it is yours but also feeling like it's not until the pins and needles pass.

"Wait… you have fifty million in that bank!?"

'Roughly. That account has been open for decades and has a steady trickle feeding into it… along with the interest it accumulated over that time.' Ozpin seemed to shrug casually about it, even without a body of his own.

"Anything else you want to tell me now or will it be a surprise?"

'I'd hardly call being able to access my memories as a way to surprise you… but yes, there are a few things that you may only have a cursory understanding about as of now. But we have time to go over that later.'

After arriving on Anima, he had hitched rides going across the continent and doing a few odd jobs along the way until he came across a farm.

He was in rough shape then but a young farmhand took him in, offering lodging, food, and a job. Spent a few months there and doing good, honest work. At least until things slowed down and he insisted that he had to continue his journey. The day he had left, Grimm attacked the farm.

Seeing the smoke and flames from a hilltop, he rushed back faster than most vehicles could have and helped fight off some Grimm before rescuing the owner of the farm.

But the farm was lost in the fire. What was able to be salvaged mostly helped to pay for the medical expenses and to give the surviving workers some extra pay for their efforts, as well as sending a portion to the families who lost a loved one.

But the boy's aunt, who ran the farm, turned to Roman and asked him to take Oscar to Mistral to give him a better life and education. As reluctant as the man and boy were to leave her, they complied with her wishes.

The train made travel much faster and easier but they had caught a glimpse of Hazel at the station. Upon arrival in Mistral, Roman had gotten in touch with some old contacts, helping to get Oscar in a decent school near their apartment. Even forging cane weapons for both of them and training Oscar in how to use it and unlocked his aura.

Things weren't bad until the events up at Haven began…

"And there you go, that's everything over the past year." Roman concludes his tale, leaving his audience stunned. Actually, he took some pleasure in that reaction.

Then Qrow stepped up with a scowl. "Tell me something, why did Oz wind up going to you?"

Roman held his ground and smiled. "Well, on one hand, the Old Man is glad you cut back on the alcohol."

"Hmph, it isn't done yet but it's been managed."

Roman's eyes flashed a gold hue briefly. "And it is good to see Raven back after all of these years."

"I'm here for them, not you." The woman folds her arms, shifting slightly to ensure that she was standing behind Yang and Ruby with Taiyang, Vernal, and Denko next to her.

"Still, your skills are quite valuable in addition to your more recent gift."

"I've had the Maiden powers for over a decade now, they aren't exactly recent. I didn't want them either after they tortured Flora." Raven's expression made sure that she got her point across that she hated what happened.

"We will… work with what we have." Ozpin admits, though his tone was full of regret as he could assume what had occurred to the previous Spring Maiden. The eyes flashed again and Roman was back.

"Still kind of weird when he does that." The man grumbles.

"So… ummm… what do we do now?" Ruby asks, seeing that most of everyone else was silently processing what they had learned.

"That's an excellent question, Little Red!"

"Please don't call me that." Ruby gave him a soft glare, though the rest of her family had no problem making up for it with their own expressions.

"Hmm… I'll take that under consideration." Roman waves off the worries. "But back on topic, the Relic of Knowledge needs to be stored in a safe place again, preferably one of the other Vaults."

"Can't we just put it back in the last one?" Nora asks with her head tilted slightly.

"We could, Hammer Girl, since we have the only one who can open the Vault." He gestures to Raven. "The problem is that our enemies now know where the Vault is and who can open it. Simply putting it back in would be more of an invitation for Salem to attack again before the city can recover and hold it until she can either capture and force Raven to open it, or kill her and do the same with the next Maiden."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Yang grunts out, not liking that they are dealing with Roman again. Quite honestly, she'd like to return the favor of being smashed through bridge support columns.

"Because Goldilocks, not only does the Old Man up here." He pauses to tap his head. "Have a lot of experience in dealing with the wicked witch and knows that she would do it now that she's openly attacked two kingdoms within a year… but given my former life… it would be the sort of thing I'd do." He stops to look around the room and watches as the adults and some of the sharper youths nodding in agreement.

"Though to be fair, as much as I did not mind killing somebody before, I'd prefer to keep them alive. Kinda bad for business if people die all around you and it gains the attention of law enforcement far too quickly." Roman adds as he paces a little.

"Why should we trust you now? You've been a pain to us at the best of times before and tried to kill us a couple times." Blake retorts, not caring for the casual dismissal the man just spoke.

"Hmph! Well, Kitty Cat…" Roman pauses as he double checks his audience and reminds himself that there are three cat Faunus in the room. "Fat Cat." He corrects. "A big part of it is personal."

"Personal because I was forced into working for Cinder and her cronies. Nice job taking them down, by the way." His pacing increased in speed, making his own frustration known. "Personal because everything I ever built up in Vale got torn down! Personal because she made me the fall guy and the public face of her schemes! And it's damn personal because I lost Neo!"

Roman needed a few moments to calm himself down after venting like that. But during that time, the younger generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses looked back and forth at each other, silently coming to terms that Roman is a person too, not just a professional criminal. One who didn't get to where he currently was solely by his own actions and choices.

"There's those personal reasons and then there's the Old Man… he's got some duty ingrained into him that's leaking over into me to stop the Witch and her goons in any way he can. And given your track record of being pains in the asses to those goons so far… you are the best I've got to help me."

It was certainly an odd combination of humility, sarcasm, and pleading rolled into one.

"We need to get the Relic to one of the other Academies." Itazura pipes up. "Vale is out because Cinder has the Fall Maiden powers."

"If she's still alive." Raven jumps in. "I left her frozen to the wall of the cave that the Vault is in. Even if the ice melts, there's a long drop and only one known way out."

"Still leaves Vale out." The fox shrugs. "They are still rebuilding and we can't get into the Vault there anyway."

"Which leaves Vacuo and Atlas." Pyrrha concludes.

"We've sparred with Summer before, a few times really. It's how my team were readying for the off chance of fighting any Maiden that Salem could take control of." Denko says.

"Like with what you did with the lightning?" Ren was intrigued.

"Pretty much, though I'm the only one who could pull off that particular trick." The blonde shrugs.

"And Atlas… Do they have a Maiden?" Weiss asks, not liking the possibility of going closer to her father.

"We do, but she's not in the best shape."

Everyone looked around for the voice. Some of them froze at the familiar voice, Qrow closed his mouth as he had been about to say that, recognizing who had spoken.

"Oh no, it's Jimmy." Raven mutters.

"I heard that, Raven."

"Ah, if it isn't the General! Come for another talk like old times?"

"Can it Torchwick!" James Ironwood yells at the reborn man, but then took a deep breath to steady himself again.

"James, it's good to hear from you again." Ozpin greets his old friend through Itazura's scroll, the video feed holding steady and the man on the screen somehow looking both relieved and angry.

"Oz…" James pinches the bridge of his nose. "Couldn't you have found a better body to reincarnate in?"

"I did tell you before that I have little choice on where I go." Ozpin smiles through Roman. "How much did you hear of this meeting?"

"I've been here from the beginning."

That admission shocked everyone but it did cause Denko, Anya, Talon, and even Ilia to shake their heads as they should have guessed the fox would do something like this.

"And I'm sure Theodore would have a few words for you as well but he's apparently out in the field at the moment."

"It's not Theodore I'm worried about now." Ozpin began to sound nervous, a new experience for most in the room.

"I'm sure you are!" And it was as he feared, Glynda Goodwitch had been on the call as well. And both Roman and Ozpin had to bear the brunt of being chewed out by both Headmasters, barely able to get a word in for either of their defenses and nowhere to run as everyone else seemed to be content to watch and keep them penned in.

Raven leaned over to her family and wasn't exactly quiet. "You have no idea how much I am enjoying this show." That brought not just the family but anyone who heard her to giggles.

—-

Far below the feet of much of the city of Mistral, deep in a massive cave, a pair of eyes watched a door.

It was a door that led to nowhere. For all intents and purposes, it was simply an empty frame. An empty frame that looked as though it were meant for a giant to use.

The eyes never looked away. They couldn't.

The eyes would stay open so long as the ice that kept them that way remained.

Ice that would last a long time as the cave remained cool. Ice that melted one drop at a time. It would be a long wait for the eyes to have a chance to close.

—-

Emerald sat in a cell alone. The guards had been warned of her semblance and so she was kept in solitary confinement. Her only company being the guard who would bring her meager and bland meals. And given that she had the skills of a Huntress, her ankles were chained so that she couldn't even take a full step to walk and the same for her hands unable to go beyond shoulder width.

Even her usual clothes had been stripped from her, a robe being provided and some basic underwear.

Beyond that, she had nothing but the stone walls of her cell. Solid granite with a small light bar over the door that was kept dim so she could see but little else. That light would be increased to near blindingly bright whenever a guard would come to the door and check on her before slipping her meal through the slot.

Even the walls were angled so anyone inside could not hide in a corner next to the door. Any blind spots created by the door were negated by the bars that made it.

It didn't take Emerald long to resign to her fate of being in this place for a long time. Perhaps she would be questioned soon just so she'd have some to talk to. Maybe if she behaved well, she'd be given something to read.

She just wanted to stop seeing Cinder being frozen in that cave. Wanted the burning in her hand to end.

"How did things go so wrong?"

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the flashbacks. Apparently, Ozpin's worst fear is getting an earful from Glynda. But now we know how Roman came to being Ozpin's newest host and given that Roman is a far more mature person, he was able to deal with the new life better than others would have. You can expect to have a few more things on their connection to be expanded later.

But Emerald is in prison and Cinder is still frozen, Weiss is out of the hospital, and the rest of the late arrivals are now free to move around Mistral instead of hiding in the house! And I'm sure you are all glad to see that the Faunus couples are doing well so far. Things will get even better once they are at the party next time!

Speaking of next time, Big Issues will be coming to a close soon. After nearly three full years of working on this series so far and over ninety chapters, nearly 800,000 words... it will be ending. I only have ideas for two more chapters that will wrap up this arc of the series (though given my history with estimates, don't be surprised if another chapter gets tacked on).

But with Big Issues ending, I will be able to focus on the prequel series, Small Issues, that has three chapters posted currently with the next one half written now. I want to knock out a few more chapters for that part of the series by the end of the year. And with the new year coming up, I will have the next arc of the Issues series beginning. So keep an eye out for Larger Issues after the ball drops. I do have big plans and the opening chapter will be swinging for the fences!

And I'm sure I've brought this up before, but I do plan on trying to convert this series into a manga format that will be posted on my DeviantArt page. With any luck I'll have that coming in the new year as well.

Thanks for reading through all of that. As always, reviews are welcome!