Guests, as the saying went, were like fish. They began to stink after three days.

It was nearing the end of Qrow's second day at the Xiao Long household on Patch. He had only one more day to convince his twin sister to do the right thing before his welcome would begin to wear. If he knew Raven like he thought he did, he'd need an entire lifetime to accomplish such a feat. However…

After learning what he had, how much did he really know his sister anymore? How much of the bandit leader remained, and how much of a mother had she become? How could he convince the woman to put her life on the line for what she believed was a lost cause? To risk the happiness she'd managed to reclaim with Taiyang and Robin?

A lifetime of struggle and effort indeed, all packed into a few days of desperate pleading with a woman who was never keen on cooperation.

The tension between Qrow and Raven at the dinner table was so thick they could cut through it with the knives in their hands. Or they could just stab each other. It wouldn't have been the first time in their lives that had happened, and especially at the dinner table. At times things had been rough and meals lean in the Branwen tribe, and sometimes a good old fashioned knife fight had been the only way to determine who got the last slab of meat. Thankfully there would be no such problems here on Patch in Taiyang and Raven's home. No, they were doing quite well for themselves. That was perhaps one of the biggest obstacles Qrow would face in disrupting the status quo for his sister.

Speaking of his sister, Qrow watched as she cut into her steak with a fork and knife, silently eating in her spot across from Tai, and flanked by her son and brother on both sides. As expected, it was Tai rather than her who led the conversation tonight, and the charismatic man was sparing no expense at recounting a classic tale for little Robin as they ate.

"So Uncle Qrow really wore a skirt?" the boy asked with wide-eyed wonder.

It might have normally annoyed Qrow to hear this story being told at his expense for the hundredth time. However, seeing his nephew enjoying it so earnestly put a smile on the man's face. As Qrow looked at the boy he couldn't help but compare him to Yang. Where she possessed the blonde hair of her father, Robin had taken his mother's black hair. How would they have looked had those inheritances had been reversed? It was an idle wonder, but Qrow still couldn't help it nonetheless.

"He sure did, kiddo," Tai smiled. His eyes were focused entirely on Robin, not once sparing a glance over at the man who the story was even about. Not out of malice for Qrow, but rather love for his son. "Let's just say your uncle was a little bit silly back then. He didn't know any better."

Robin laughed, and Qrow couldn't help but crack a smirk as well. Those had been good times. Simpler times. Far simpler than now. The story was almost enough to get lost in those better times, but the huntsman knew he still had a job to do. Do it he would, one way or another.

"Hey in my defense I looked pretty good in that skirt," Qrow spoke up. "A lot of other people thought I did too." He wasn't about to say how he'd gained a fair amount of lady admirers that day. Not in front of a child of Robin's age.

However, the comment was enough to pique the boy's interest. "Will you wear a skirt again then?" he asked innocently. "I wanna see!"

Qrow smiled at his nephew. "Oh I don't know about that, Robin. I don't have a skirt anymore."

"Mom does!"

And just like that, three sets of eyes fell upon a woman who unbeknownst to two of them was brooding over something very serious. This had all the makings of a disaster, and Qrow half expected her to snap at such a ridiculous idea in such a dire situation.

To her credit, however, she was able to put on the mask of a mother in an instant. Yang's transformation and Robin's birth had truly done something to change the woman, and if Qrow was being honest with himself, it was for the better.

"Oh I don't know about that, sweetie," she said with as much of a false smile as she could muster. Tai may not have seen it. Robin definitely didn't. But Qrow did. "Your uncle's so skinny that it would probably fall right off him, and we don't want to see him in his polka dotted underwear."

The lighthearted jab made the boy giggle. It wasn't the first time Raven had taken a shot at him for being so tall and lanky, but for Robin all that really mattered was the comment about the underwear. Kids thought that sort of thing was funny after all, which is why so many cartoon characters lost their pants in TV shows. Raven knew this, and for all her faults had grown into the role of a mother amazingly well. It was just a shame what it had taken to get to that point.

He wondered if he could drive her to the point of being a mother to her firstborn. The girl who needed her the most. The hybrid who was a ticking time bomb set to explode any day at Beacon Academy.

Loathe as Qrow was to admit it, asking Raven to risk her life to save Summer may have been too big of a step for the former bandit. No, he couldn't simply expect her to put her life on the line out of the goodness of her heart. Raven wasn't built that way. However, perhaps he could build up to it. Perhaps if she started out small, she could be convinced in the end to rescue their old teammate.

"You joke," Qrow started, smiling down at the table as he thought his words over in his head. "But I wouldn't trade any of your jokes for anything in the world." He looked up, sharing meaningful but brief stares with the other three people at the table. "Family is the most important thing in the world, and no matter how much they tease and joke, you'll always be there for each other. Remember that, Robin. Family always comes first, even if you would like to knock a few heads for making you wear a skirt."

It was an innocent enough little speech. Something he could have easily raised a glass to in a toast. However, it was the intent behind the words which he hoped would have the most impact on Raven in particular. He stole a glance at her and found that the woman's crimson eyes were locked on the plate before her.

"I'll drink to that," Tai said, as if reading Qrow's mind. "Can I get anyone anything? Wine? Brandy?" His focus shifted to his brother-in-law specifically. "Qrow?"

The man snorted a laugh. "What, am I such a caricature that I have a type of alcohol named after me?"

Tai laughed in turn. "You know what I meant. What are you drinking tonight?"

Qrow held up a single hand at the man. "I'll pass. Thank you, though."

The blond man's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh. Really?"

Qrow was about to respond, but his sister beat him to it. "Wine will be fine," she stated flatly.

With a silent nod and the slightest hint of a frown, Tai stood from his seat and left the room. It was unusual for the Branwen brother to decline a drink and for the sister to indulge in it.

A liquor cabinet in the living room was where the family housed all of their good stuff, safely locked away from young and impressionable minds like Robin's. Speaking of Robin, it was time for the next prong of Qrow's attack.

"So, kiddo," Qrow smiled. "You ever think about having a brother or sister?"

"Qrow," Raven growled, and a look over to her showed murder in her eyes. If she didn't know what was going on before she certainly did now.

He ignored her and kept his eyes on Robin. The boy shrugged lightly. "Sometimes," he admitted. "Some of my friends have brothers and sisters."

A deliberate chuckle left the man's mouth. "Who knows, maybe you can convince your mom and dad to give you one. They're not that old yet, and a younger brother or sister could be fun."

"Qrow," Raven repeated, her tone dark and concise. "This isn't appropriate conversation in front of Robin."

Red eyes met their twin counterparts. A silent conversation befitting of twins raged between them. It wasn't appropriate, but for what reason? Was it the idea of discussing her and Tai's love life? Or the idea of discussing the sister that Raven had abandoned long ago?

"Fair enough," Qrow relented. "Gotta do what my big sister says." His eyes never left Raven's as he moved away from the idea of hypothetical younger siblings, and onto the completely innocent and non-existent idea of hypothetical older ones. "You're lucky you don't have an older sister, Robin. Trust me, they make your life miserable."

Right now he was making Raven's life miserable and he knew it. She was glaring daggers at him, and it was only because Robin was here that she hadn't verbally eviscerated him. He knew that she would likely do far worse physically to him, especially with the Maiden powers that he knew she possessed.

"I dunno, I think a big sister could be fun too," Robin said. "A few of my friends have big sisters."

He hadn't expected Robin to take the bait so eagerly, but now that he did Qrow would pounce. And Raven couldn't say a damn thing because as far as Robin knew, he didn't have an older sister out there who needed saving.

"Yeah, I guess it is a shame you don't have a big sister," Qrow said, doing a complete one-eighty on what he'd said earlier. A child like Robin wouldn't call him out for his hypocrisy like an adult might, but luckily he only needed Robin's backing and not Raven's. "She could teach you things about school. About life. Always be there to have your back and protect you because you're family."

He was laying it on thick, but Robin didn't have the maturity to see through it. Raven on the other hand understood every deliberate jab he was taking at her through her son. He might take a beating for it later, but he would gladly do that for even the smallest chance at getting through to Raven.

She could shoot him all the murderous glares she liked. He was used to them, and she wouldn't dare life a finger while her family was around. She wouldn't risk her little slice of happiness and normalcy. That was why this was going to be so difficult. How did one convince a coward to be brave? How did one get a selfish woman to act selflessly?

In his pocket he felt his scroll buzzing, and with no small trace of annoyance he fished it out to check who was calling. The name 'Ice Queen' read on the ID, and he knew that this was a call worth interrupting his plan for.

He stood without missing a beat, pushing his chair out before turning. "Work call," he explained. "I have to take this."

Qrow moved to the backdoor before stepping outside into the warm summer air. He answered the scroll and put it to his ear. "What's going on?"

"We have a problem," the voice of Winter Schnee stated in all her usual coldness.

A chill ran through his body as his mind feared the worst. "A problem? What happened?"

"There's a dead body in my ship."

While he was relieved the first words out of Winter's mouth hadn't been about their girls being discovered, this was still about as distressing as it got. He briefly wondered if that body was Jaune's. "Who did you kill?"

"I didn't kill anyone," she growled. "But I am hiding the body. It'd packed in ice dust right now, and I have to keep it on my ship until I can find a way to dispose of it."

Qrow leaned up against the wooden side of the cabin. His free hand came up to his forehead before running down his face. It was hot outside and he was already beginning to sweat. Or maybe it was the stressful news which was doing it.

"Okay, so who is it?" he wondered. "And who killed them?"

"Jaune and Blake did it."

Qrow's eyebrows scrunched up as he stared out into the wooded wilderness. "Blake? Who's Blake?"

"Another hybrid. I'll explain later. Right now we have a bigger problem on our hands though."

He didn't know what could be a bigger problem than another unknown hybrid. Qrow had thought that only the three existed on Jaune's team, but the presence of a fourth one concerned him. How many more were hiding? Specifically, how many of them was Jaune hiding from him and Winter?

"And how does it get bigger than a dead body and another hybrid?"

"I ran the dead man's name through Atlas' criminal database. Tyrian Callows. Does that name sound familiar?"

Qrow paused in thought, racking his brain as he struggled to recall such a name. He couldn't. Despite not being able to see him, he shook his head. "No, it doesn't. Who is he?"

"A serial killer, and one who's capable of killing trained huntsmen," Winter explained. "One who was presumed dead after a Grimm attack on the prison ship he was being transported in. And according to Jaune, one of Salem's top agents. One who came to Vale looking to bring Blake back home."

So that's what was bigger. Qrow closed his eyes and exhaled. If Salem's followers were crawling out of their holes and acting freely in the kingdoms of men then things would go from bad to worse.

"I see," Qrow said softly. "But he's dead now. Jaune and this Blake person did it?"

"Yes. I did my best to recover the body but there were witnesses. Qrow…" She sounded tired, and Qrow could hardly blame her. "This is getting out of control. It needs to end now before there are too many loose ends to tie up. If someone found out that I was an accessory to a murder…"

She didn't need to finish that sentence for Qrow to understand the implications. Even if the knowledge of hybrids was kept a secret, the death and cover-up of a serial killer long thought dead would raise too many questions from both of their superiors. The whole situation was teetering on the brink of collapse.

"I know, I get it," he told her.

"How are things going on your end? I hate to say this, but I need you back at Beacon."

A small smirk curled his lips upward. "Aw, Winter. You finally said the words I always thought you wanted to say."

"This isn't the time for your jokes," she snapped.

The man frowned. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'll be back soon." He glanced back at the cabin. He was running out of time. "I'll take a ship back tomorrow."

"Understood. I'll do my best to maintain control here. Your niece is a handful."

The frown shifted back into a soft and earnest smile. It only made sense that Tai and Raven's daughter would be such a firecracker. "You're doing great, Winter," he said encouragingly. "Don't worry, we'll get through this somehow. Once I'm back we'll be able to focus all our attention on the girls and stopping whatever plan Salem has going."

"Right," Winter said, her weariness evident in her tone. "Qrow… good luck."

His jaw shifted from side to side. He was a man with nothing but bad luck, though Winter had no way of knowing that. Still, he appreciated her sentiments all the same. "Yeah. You too, Winter."

He ended the call and took another deep breath, hoping that things would be okay until he returned.

When he came back into the cabin he found the dinner table missing a young boy, though his father had returned with drinks for himself and Raven.

Qrow raised a hand in greeting, a sheepish smile on his face as he sat back down. "Sorry, that was a colleague of mine. Winter Schnee."

"Oh you mean the woman who hates your guts?" Tai smiled.

"Which one?" Raven asked bitterly as she raised the glass of wine to her lips.

Tai laughed. "I can't believe some people out there actually think she's into you. Usually when a woman despises the very sight of you it's not because she's secretly in love with you."

Qrow had no illusions about that. He knew Winter didn't harbor a crush on him or anything like that. He didn't feel anything for her either. He just enjoyed teasing her. However, what Tai said wasn't entirely true.

"Present company excluded?" he smirked.

Tai and Raven shared a glance. The man shrugged. "You know things were complicated back in our STRQ days. We were just teenagers."

In the early days of their team calling them dysfunctional would have been an understatement. For two kids who grew up in the countryside of Mistral under the tutelage of bandits, playing nice with others was not easy or natural. Qrow had picked it up quickly with an outgoing teammate like Taiyang and a kind and caring leader in Summer.

Raven on the other hand couldn't stand them, and especially Tai. He never backed down from her verbal or physical attacks. For every threat she threw at him, he had a witty comeback or a sly smile in return. She despised him, but his strength is exactly what drew her to him like a moth to a flame. He could stand up to her word for word. Blow for blow. He challenged her at every turn.

"I seem to recall you and my sister having a less than diplomatic relationship back at Beacon," Qrow pointed out. "That is until the sexual tension finally got the better of you both and you kicked me and Summer out of our dorm room."

It was a lot easier to speak freely with Robin gone. The boy had presumably gone off to play with his toys, or maybe video games, since there was nothing more boring to a child than sitting around the table while the grown-ups talked. That was fine. He didn't need to watch his language now. Of course, that meant Raven didn't either.

"Do you really need to have such fond memories of your sister having sex?" she spat harshly.

He met her stern gaze unflinchingly. "Well one of us has to. You're the only woman I know who could get angry from a guy getting her off first like it's some sort of competition."

The sound of Tai's snorting laughter took Qrow's attention off of his sister. "Gods, if you weren't related I'd say there was unresolved tension between the two of you as well. Not that I mind dinner and a show, but what's gotten into you tonight?"

What? Something very serious. More serious than Tai could ever know. At least until they could ensure a happy ending. Only when Ruby, Yang, and Summer were safely back in their lives could the curtain be pulled back. Only then could their families be whole again.

"Just good old fashioned sibling arguments," Qrow lied. "You know how we are."

"Only for the better part of twenty years, yeah," Tai agreed. He laughed, staring down into the dark red liquid of his glass. "But what you said earlier was right. Family's the most important thing in the world, and right now I couldn't ask for a better one. Flaws and all." He raised his glass. "To family."

Qrow brought up his glass of water, and after a few seconds Raven did the same with her wine. Glasses clinked softly, and the three members of Team STRQ drank to the shattered remains of their family.

Seated on the edge of his bed, Jaune stared down at the sheathed Crocea Mors which rested across his knees. All he'd ever wanted to do was use this sword as a huntsman. To be a hero like his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather all had. Yet now that he was here at a huntsman academy, now that he was free to wield his ancestral blade as he'd always dreamed of doing, he had no idea what to do.

This wasn't as clean-cut as killing Grimm. It wasn't even as black and white as slaying the ancient and evil Queen of the Grimm. No, this was about saving the lives of four innocent girls who he had come to love and care for. Girls who walked the line between human and monster. Girls who any normal person in the kingdoms of man would want exterminated the moment they learned of their true nature. What would his hero of a great grandfather have done in such a situation? How would he have handled such a complex and delicate situation?

As he sat there staring down at the white and gold sheath, Jaune felt a weight on the mattress behind him before a pair of arms came to wrap around his chest. The chin of one of the girls in question came to rest on his right shoulder, and he felt the breath of her nose on his neck before she spoke.

"Hi," the meek voice of Ruby spoke softly into his ear, still unmoving from her head's new perch on his shoulder.

A hand which had been resting on steel came up to cup one of her own, and his thumb gently moved across her fingers. "Hey, Ruby."

To his surprise she didn't let go of him. Slender arms remained around him, constricting in their tightness, but not enough to cause discomfort. He knew that the hybrids were rather affectionate and at times possessive girls, but Ruby had no reason to act as such here and now.

"Anything going on?" he wondered. Naturally his own mind was filled with worry, but he didn't think that Ruby had anything to concern herself with.

"Something's bothering you," she told him plainly. She hadn't asked if something was troubling him.

She wasn't wrong either. Between Tyrian's death, Blake's situation, and ultimately thwarting Cinder's plans here, he had a lot on his mind. He had a lot to be worried about.

He glanced over at the face mere inches away from his own. "How can you tell?"

"Perhaps it's that negativity you reek of," the voice of Weiss said from one of the other beds. Specifically Yang's unoccupied one. "I would be able to sense you from a mile away with how much you're emitting."

Jaune looked over at the girl who lay sprawled out on the bed with a scroll in her hands. She held it up and above her head, not bothering to tear her eyes away from it even when she spoke to him.

He smiled sadly. "Right."

Was he that bad then? In all honesty it didn't surprise him. He had a monumental task ahead of him and only a few allies. Ruby and Weiss for certain. He could trust Qrow and Winter due to their own stakes in this mess. Considering Blake had been the one to kill Tyrian, he was near certain she was on his side. That left Yang as the only wild card. What did she want? When it came time would she side with him or Cinder? Humanity or Salem?

With Yang away he knew he could speak freely in front of his closest confidants. "We have a problem."

With those words Ruby finally released her hold on him and moved to sit next to him on the edge of the bed. Her legs squeezed together even as they pressed against his. Jaune enjoyed the feeling of her body against his. The comfort that such contact with someone you loved brought.

"What's going on?" the redhead asked, her voice filled with concern. "Is it about Blake?"

"Or Professor Callows?" Weiss asked, still not looking away from her scroll. Jaune could hear the faint sounds from the video she was watching. It would have been inappropriate under normal circumstances, but even more so while trying to have a serious conversation.

Jaune shook his head. "It's Cinder," he explained. "She has plans of her own here at Beacon and I don't know how to stop her. I don't even know what she's planning in the first place."

Blake, for all of her many issues, had been a valuable spy for him here at this school. Able to move around in the shadows unseen and not officially being registered here, she had been his eyes and ears. However that had been before she was overtaken by trauma. She desired time alone now. She desired sleep. That was what she was doing right now in her private room in the exchange student dorms. Jaune didn't know how long it would take for her to recover from her depression, but for the time being he couldn't count on her to play the role she had for the last several weeks.

"If you don't know what she's planning then how do you know she's planning something?" Ruby asked.

"Blake told me. She told me what Cinder had done, but I don't know what she plans to do next."

A virus planted in the CCT. He still had no idea what it might be used for, but in the end that wasn't the biggest problem. He knew that he couldn't stop it even if he knew what she intended to do. Only someone who knew how to remove it would be able to do anything about it. That wasn't him. That certainly wasn't the hybrids.

"Well isn't that special," Weiss said offhandedly. "What good is knowledge if you don't possess a way to use it? I'm aware that she's going through a difficult time now, but it doesn't seem like this information is a lot of help."

Weiss still couldn't take her eyes off of her… videos. She's become addicted ever since that Velvet girl had introduced her to the wonders of internet porn. Before she only had what Tyrian had provided her back in Salem's realm. Now she was free to watch whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. If she wasn't careful she was going to get a virus herself, and it wasn't like they had access to any kind of software to remove it from her scroll…

Jaune's eyes widened.

The beautiful hybrid lay unmoving on her bed, blissfully unaware that Jaune had stood up and was moving toward her. At least that was until he reached out and snatched the scroll from her fingers.

"Hey!" she protested, moving almost instantly to a kneeling position atop the bed. She reached out to try and grab her scroll back from him, but Jaune moved it up and out of her grasp. "I was watching that!"

Shutting the scroll so that the video and audio stopped playing, he placed it in his back pocket, much to Weiss' very visible anger. With narrowed eyes and a scrunched up nose she looked ready to pounce on him like a rabid animal, but right now all he needed was her undivided attention.

"Weiss, I have a question for you."

A guttural growl hummed in the back of her throat, followed shortly after with her response. "If that question does not involve giving me back my scroll I will be very displeased with you, Jaune."

He knew she wasn't concerned so much about her scroll, but rather what was on it. She would get it back. She would get more back than she ever thought possible. "Tell me, Weiss. Do you like your, um… documentaries?" he asked, using her odd way of phrasing when it came to lewd videos.

The hybrid nodded emphatically. "Of course I do! I find them not only entertaining but educational as well. The things that I've seen humans and faunus do together have been nothing short of an inspiration when it comes to our own private activities, Jaune."

Jaune felt his face grow warm at the admission. Weiss was extremely open when it came to their love life, and he supposed he had her little porn addiction to thank for that. Now though he saw a way to use such a hobby productively rather than for just pleasure.

He swallowed, not believing he was about to suggest what was on his mind. "What if I told you there was a place where you could watch all the documentaries you could ever want?" he asked. "On bigger screens. On multiple screens. Surrounded by screens all playing different movies?"

Weiss' eyes sparkled like sapphires, filled with wonder and glee. "Such a place exists?"

"It does," he confirmed.

She leaned up closer to him. "Tell me you speak no lies," she insisted. "Tell me that such a palace of knowledge is no mere human trick, and that you know where it might be located."

Jaune nodded. She'd taken the bait hook, line, and sinker. "What Velvet showed you is only the tip of the iceberg. If you want I could take you to-"

She reached out, snatching both his hands in hers and nodded vigorously. "Yes!" she insisted excitedly. "Yes, please. I wish to go to this place. I wish to watch all I can on bigger screens. On many screens at a time so I don't have to continuously close one in order to go to the next."

He smiled. There was his girl. The Weiss he knew never did anything halfheartedly. She never hesitated. She never showed restraint. She was a girl who for better or worse was driven by her passions and curiosity. Today that part of her would serve him and his needs. It would serve all their needs.

Under his guidance she was going to infect Vale's CCT network with so many viruses that it would resemble an infectious disease wing at a hospital. Those computers would be so dirty that they'd need a mop and a bucket to wipe them clean.

And maybe, just maybe, someone would find something amiss when they had to clear the network of all those infections.

Jaune reached out, and like a fairy tale knight offering his hand to a princess, helped Weiss down to the floor. "Then come with me," he said, turning to see the confused expression of Ruby standing in the middle of the room. "And you too, Ruby."

With his other hand he took hold of Ruby's, and like he had done so many times before, left with a girl on each arm. The last few months had been one unexpected surprise after another, and this was merely the latest one. He was going with two girls to the library to watch all the porn their teenage eyes could take.

He'd done it now. He'd gone and made a big mistake.

It wasn't every day that his sister all but ordered him out into the woods to speak privately, though since arriving here on Patch it was becoming somewhat of a common occurrence. However he had wanted this confrontation. Qrow had pushed for it. He had pushed Raven's buttons until she had been forced to speak to him privately. He just hoped that he wouldn't wind up as a corpse to be feasted upon by the very birds of their namesakes.

After all, he had enraged a fully grown and trained Maiden. He was practically begging for his own demise.

The sounds of nature were as loud as they were tranquil out here in the backwoods of Patch. The chirping of unseen crickets, the crunching of branches and leaves under his boots. This was the simple life. The one they had both once led back in the Branwen Tribe. Long before Beacon and Team STRQ. Before Ozpin and Salem. Before Yang and Ruby and Robin.

When she had deemed them far away enough from the cabin in order to speak candidly, Raven ordered her twin brother to a halt. "Qrow," she spoke darkly, forcing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand.

When he turned he half expected to find Omen unsheathed, though with her powers she no longer needed a blade in order to kill him. To his relief he found the only weapons pointed at him to be her crimson eyes, which sparkled like sinister rubies in the moonlight above them.

"Raven," he replied in kind, playing ignorant to her emotions and forcing her to explain just why she had called him out here on this night.

They were made abundantly clear when she stalked up to him, and then lashed out with a hand so quick that not even he could react in time. She grabbed hold of the front of his shirt, pulling him down a few inches so that his face was level with hers. "If you ever use my son like that again…"

Raven was so filled with rage that she couldn't even finish her threat. She didn't need to. Everything she felt, every horrible act she had envisioned for him were crystal clear in both her voice and her eyes. The unspoken threat was sometimes more potent than the promised one.

Qrow, however, had grown up with those sorts of threats. "And what about your daughter?" he asked in turn, unfazed by her fury. "What about her?"

His twin sister released her hold on him, shoving him back a step in the process. "What about her?"

"You heard Tai back there. Family is the most important thing in the world."

Raven scoffed. "He was only parroting what you said. If he'd known you were talking about his daughters I would be out here digging a shallow grave for you instead of having this conversation."

Qrow couldn't argue with that. Raven's threat from before was still fresh in his mind. If he ever told Tai the truth she would kill him. She was fully capable of carrying out that threat too.

"It's the truth," he argued. "She's your family."

"The only truth is that she's a monster."

He took a step forward. "And how would you know? When was the last time you spoke to her?" The words hung in the air, and Raven predictably didn't answer the question. Her silent glare only spurred him onward. "Oh that's right. The last time you spoke a word to your daughter was when she was too young to even understand what you were saying. Fast forward a few years, and then the moment you saw what she'd become you turned around and never looked back. Couldn't even bring yourself to say anything to her then, could you?"

That question caused Raven to look away. "And you wouldn't either if you saw what I did."

"I can't say for certain," Qrow admitted. "But what I do know is that I've talked to her face to face." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his scroll and brought up a picture of Team AWRY. He held it out so that she could see the screen, pointing to the girl in question. "This girl. The one with Tai's blonde hair and your little cowlick on top. Your daughter. Your family, Raven."

Raven stared at it. She stared longer than Qrow would have thought she would, but in the end she slapped his hand aside and looked away. "And what would you have me do, Qrow? What do you want from me?"

"To talk to her. That's all."

The woman snorted dismissively. "Talk to her?" Her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief, like the very idea was born of stupidity. "To what end? What do you expect to accomplish by me talking to her?"

In the long run? Rescuing Summer and bringing their shattered family back together. However that was the long term plan. All Raven needed to know right now was the immediate short term.

"Closure," he answered. "Don't you think she deserves an explanation? Don't you think she's suffered enough? The least you can do is give her some sort of reason as to why you ruined her life."

Raven bristled under the accusation. Her expression darkened as her eyes narrowed on her brother. "I didn't ruin anyone's life."

"Keep telling yourself that. Keep living in your little fantasy world with your darling baby boy and doting husband. Sweep the first failed attempt under the rug. You got it right the second time, after all. Everyone makes mistakes, am I right?"

She took a deliberate step toward him. Her hands were balled into fists. "Shut up," she snarled. "They're not some sort of science experiment. They're my…"

Raven stopped short of saying what they were as if the words themselves were poison. Qrow on the other hand knew exactly what they were. What she was going to say.

He leaned in closer to her. "Yeah? They're your what, Raven?"

She shoved him aside and walked past him back toward the cabin. "You know what they are," she told him, not bothering to look back as she continued back to her home. "I want you out of my home and my life by tomorrow."

Once again she had chosen to run away instead of admitting the truth. Qrow wouldn't allow her to do it this time. Not when he was so close. "Raven," he called after her. To his relief she stopped, but didn't turn around. "Talk to her. Talk to the daughter you've never truly known for just a few minutes. If you do I'll never speak about it, or her again. Not to you. Not to Robin or Tai either. I won't visit you anymore unless you invite me."

Raven remained still near the edge of the tree line. A few more steps and she would be too close to the cabin to risk continuing the argument. It was now or never.

To his relief she turned back with only her head, and an unreadable face glared at him. "A few minutes is all it will take," she stated ominously before she strode back toward the cabin.

Qrow exhaled and leaned back against the trunk of a tree. He'd done it. All he needed now was for Raven to let her walls down and allow herself to become emotionally invested in her daughter. After that first step, the rest would follow. Or at least he hoped it would. It was his only shot at saving not only Yang, but Summer too.

The stiff and uncomfortable wooden chair was befitting for the room it sat in. The room they sat in. His partners in crime in the audacious event which would almost certainly go down in Beacon lore for generations of future academy students.

"When a concerned student came into my office and informed me that there were other students at Beacon's CCT tower brazenly watching pornography in public, I thought I was being pranked," Glynda Goodwitch said as she paced back and forth in front of the trio. "I thought that as I walked the campus someone would jump out from behind the bushes, and some grand spectacle would commence at my expense."

Jaune sat in the center chair, flanked on either side by Ruby and Weiss. Their plan had been an absolute success. At least until one of their fellow students had told on them, bringing the wrath of Miss Goodwitch down on them like a lightning bolt.

"However, then I saw you," she seethed, leveling her riding crop at Weiss. To the hybrid's credit, she did not flinch or display even the slightest amount of fear under the intense gaze of the teacher's sharp green eyes. Jaune feared that there was a part of her which even got off on it. "I saw you and had zero doubts in my mind that this student was telling the truth. And indeed she was, Miss Slate."

There had indeed been a spectacle, but not the kind which Miss Goodwitch had feared. Jaune and Weiss, with Ruby looking on as a passive observer, had surfed every shady and unsecure pornography website they could find. He would be seeing the endless pop up ads in his dreams. The inane and audible words of 'congratulations, you've won!' would play in his mind for days to come. Never before had the attendants of Beacon Academy so openly and shamelessly expressed their debauched curiosity as he and Weiss had in that public setting.

And yet for all of the humiliation he'd endured and trouble he was undoubtedly in, Jaune felt nothing but pride for his accomplishment. Weiss too had zero regrets for what she had experienced.

"Miss Goodwitch," the hybrid spoke up in her defense. "If you're upset that I did not invite you then I apologize, and will ensure that the next time-"

"There will be no next time!" she snapped, interrupting Weiss before she could even finish the bizarre thought. "The three of you," she spoke darkly, pointing at each of them with her weapon. "Are prohibited from using Beacon's computer for the remainder of your stay here. And rest assured I will be speaking to Headmaster Lionheart personally to let him know what you've done here while representing his school. I may not have the power to expel you, but he certainly does."

What a quaint little world she lived in if she thought that being expelled was the worst possible outcome. Then again Miss Goodwitch had no idea that two of the students before her were raised by Salem, and that even more agents of hers had infiltrated the school for some unknown plan. If revoked computer privileges and threats of expulsion were all she could muster, then Jaune considered himself to be getting off with not even a slap on the wrist.

The professor sighed, bringing her fingers up to her eyes and rubbing them tiredly. "The entire network is running slowly now thanks to the three of you," she said. "And innocent student's eyes are being exposed to… pop up ads," she whispered deliberately. "Do you have zero common sense? Were you raised in the wilderness? Do you not know that when a website prompts you to download and install an unknown program, it's usually a bad thing?"

Well, Jaune knew that. Ruby and Weiss on the other hand were just following his lead. However he'd chosen not only to ignore the warnings, but embrace them.

"Professor Goodwitch, I didn't download anything," Ruby spoke innocently, but truthfully.

The teacher sucked in air through her nose as she turned her gaze to the young redhead. "I don't care, Miss Rouge."

Ruby sunk deeper into her seat, and Jaune wanted more than anything to stand up in her defense. Yet right here and now the last thing he wanted to do was incur even greater wrath from the irate woman.

"Until you return to Haven Academy to face punishment from your own headmaster, I will administer my own. I cannot expel you, but I can offer you detention. A lot of detention. You will serve it every day until the end of the tournament."

Again, it all seemed so mundane compared to everything else they'd faced. A berserk Weiss rampaging across the campus. A psychotic serial killer down in a dark alley. If the worst he would face was detention then Jaune would consider himself lucky.

"What if we don't attend?" Weiss wondered.

Under normal circumstances this would have been an utterly insane thing to ask of a professor dishing out punishment. For Weiss, however, it was her almost comical bluntness on full display for everyone to see.

Miss Goodwitch for a moment seemed thrown off by the question, and even once she had mustered the ability to speak seemed flabbergasted. "Excuse me?"

"This detention you speak of," Weiss continued, not at all concerned with the woman's impending wrath. "In reality it is nothing but an assumed agreement between teacher and student that we will willingly spend our free time in your bondage."

"Do not say that word," Miss Goodwitch snapped, causing Jaune to wince. After what he'd seen, he could understand why it put Glynda on edge.

Weiss nodded but pressed onward. "Very well. However, what if we choose to not attend detention? What would the consequences be if, for example, the three of us did not show up?"

In this moment Weiss was living every student's dream of standing up to their teachers and asking them the real and hard-hitting questions. What if they didn't listen? What if they didn't follow the rules? What if they didn't care about the punishments the school handed out? Maybe for a normal student in a normal school there would be consequences. For the three of them, however, what was the worst that she could do? Especially when they weren't even real students?

Miss Goodwitch seemed genuinely shocked by the question. It took a few moments, but eventually she collected herself, and with a shuddering breath, answered. "I will inform your headmaster of your lack of cooperation," she said darkly. "In which case you will most likely be expelled from Haven Academy, thus throwing your future careers as huntsmen away for little more than a childish show of defiance. If you wish to fight me at every turn, I cannot physically restrain you and force you to attend detention. However, there will be consequences. Make no mistake about that, Miss Slate."

There might have been, had they actually been Haven Academy students and if this Headmaster Lionheart had any real power or control over them. However, Glynda didn't know that he didn't. She didn't realize that when this festival was all said and done that none of it would matter at all. All that mattered was that he saved his friends and stopped whatever Cinder's plan was.

Still, he didn't need any more problems than they already had. Playing nice with Miss Goodwitch wouldn't cause them too much trouble. If it did, then they could always skip detention just like Weiss had suggested. For now though, they should continue onward with as little rocking of the boat as possible.

"We'll go," Jaune announced for the three of them. Glynda's eyes focused on him, and he doubled down on the decision. "We'll attend. And… we're sorry for all of the trouble that we caused."

It wasn't hard to look like the good guy when compared to Weiss, and Jaune figured that doing so and getting on Miss Goodwitch's good side could only be a good thing. Ruby was meek. Weiss was defiant. Jaune would be somewhere in the middle. As the only human of the bunch, he had to be the rational one. He had to be the leader. He had to be the Alpha of the pack.

Glynda sighed once more, and there seemed to be a sense of relief when she spoke again. "You will begin serving tomorrow then," she informed them. "An hour every day after classes end. Again, you will be prohibited from using any and all of Beacon's computers. As for the festival itself, it would go against the spirit of the celebration of expression to bar you from enjoying its events, so you may attend them freely. Am I understood?"

Jaune nodded, which prompted Ruby and Weiss to follow suit. "Yes, Miss Goodwitch," he answered. His friends echoed his sentiments immediately afterward.

"Good. Dismissed."

The trio stood from their seats and left the office in silence. Only after they had made it into the halls and walked the long corridor did they speak.

"She seems very stressed," Weiss noted.

Jaune could only nod in agreement.

"Perhaps if we allow her to join our pack you would be able to relieve some of it for her. After all, we saw many videos about teachers and students-"

Jaune held up a hand, cutting her off then and there. "No. Just no, Weiss."

Ruby giggled. Weiss frowned. Jaune couldn't help but smile. He loved them both so much. Blake and Yang too. He wrapped his arms around both their shoulders as they strode down the hallways and back outside onto campus.

As they made their way back to the exchange student dorms, Jaune noticed all around as heads turned and attention focused on him. The boy with a girl on each arm. The boy who had become a Beacon legend overnight by turning the CCT tower into a den of smut.

The boy who was going to stop Cinder and save his friends from Salem.

Author's Note: Jaune channeled his inner Jeff Goldblum there. I couldn't picture a better way of countering Cinder's plan than with Weiss' porn obsession. See? There was a reason all that comedy relief was included earlier!

So here we are again with another update! I know things have been slow with this story, but to be completely honest I'm absolutely intimidated by it. Maybe it's just because it's gotten so big. Maybe I'm afraid of letting all of you down. Who knows, but what I do know is that I'm super excited about what's coming next.

You'll notice that this chapter was pretty heavy with Qrow and Raven, and that's not something I intended at the beginning. However just due to who their families are, it was only right that they along with Winter would become integral characters. They all have a lot at stake here too. I've found the three of them to be just as interesting and compelling characters as Jaune.

Big things are on the horizon, and I truly hope to update this story again sooner than the last time. For all of you who are still around, I appreciate you.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.