Qrow liked to think he wasn't a complicated man. Sure, he'd come from a... let's just say less than stellar background and an even bigger dumpster fire of an upbringing to boot, but he'd always prided himself on being loyal, loyal to his friends, his team, his family. He still remembered the first time he'd laid eyes on Yang, and he'd sworn to himself he'd do anything to keep her safe, back when it seemed like Raven had finally broken free from the chains of their old tribe's ideals and accepted the second chance they'd been given.

Only for her to throw it right back in their faces, slipping away in the middle of the night without so much as a word and running off back to that den of thieves and murderers, they'd once called their family, yeah, maybe back when they were a bunch of dumb brats who thought the idea of any other life was a bad joke.

Thank the Brothers for Summer.

She'd stepped up and helped to fill the void left in the wake of his sister's cowardice, alongside taking on the role of Motherhood to a child that wasn't even her own, becoming what Raven should have been and what Yang needed above all else. And in the end, she'd added a new addition to their growing family with Ruby.

And then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, she was gone, her final mission running long overdue to the point it became all too clear she wouldn't be coming home, that she like so many huntsmen and huntresses before her had fallen to the Grimm, leaving behind a loving husband and an amazing pair of girls to grieve her.

Girls that he'd sworn to look out for, to be someone they could rely on, someone they could trust in and come to if they ever needed him.

And looking at the two girls in front of him now, one clinging to his arm in delight and the others stood only a few feet away a look of surprise and jubilation etched across her features, he couldn't help but feel like he'd failed not only them but Summer in the worst way imaginable.

"Oh my gosh, it's so good to see you!" Ruby squealed in delight, her hold tightening around his arm her legs kicking out beneath her, forcing down the weight of his failure he instead focused his attention back on the task at hand, raising his arm and Ruby along with it he smirked down at his youngest niece while she fired off one question after another. "What are you doing here, are you teaching at Beacon now... wait?" Ruby's face fell and she detached herself from his arm, dropping back onto the floor she took a small step away from him "Should I be worried about that, ugh, I don't want you embarrassing me!"

Qrow glanced around the hall at a few of the other students snickering as they passed them by before raising an eyebrow at his youngest niece "I think you got that covered, pipsqueak."

Ruby's face flushed red, the younger girl just now noticing the number of eyes watching their interaction, her embarrassment only grew as her sister strolled up beside her ruffling her hair lightly before pulling the hood of her cloak over her head "Yeah." Yang snigged alongside a few of her fellow first years that had had a front-row seat to her little sister's display "Nice going there, little Sis."

"Hnghhhh!" Ruby groaned in response, doing her best to hide away inside her cloak.

"Seriously though" Yang picked up, stepping forward to try and pull her uncle into a hug. "I thought you weren't supposed to get back from your mission for another few weeks, what gives?" To her surprise, Qrow returned the embrace in full even hugging her back a little tighter than usual, not that she was complaining. After everything they'd been through over the last couple of weeks, it felt good to have a moment like this where she and Ruby could just forget about all that crap.

"Wrapped that up a little earlier this week "Qrow replied, the two separated with the elder huntsmen flicking his head back down the hall "I just got back a little while ago and figured I'd drop in and see how you kids were doing." He tilted his head back glancing back at Belladonna and Schnee " I'm guessing those are your teammate"

"That's Blake and Weiss" Ruby finally rejoined the conversation after managing to fight down her previous embarrassment. "Together we are team RWBY" she said pumping her fist into her chest.

Qrow rolled his eyes at his youngest nieces antics before tilting his head back towards the aforementioned girls "You mind if I steal your teammates for a bit?" Qrow asked.

"Ohh..." Yang's smile slowly fell "sh-shoot." Yang hissed glancing back at her teammates, JNPR then back to Qrow, rubbing the back of her neck in some small frustration, she didn't want to just ditch uncle Qrow like this but, they couldn't exactly ignore their talk with JNPR either. "You kinda caught us at a bad time here Uncle Qrow" Her record for being able to pull one over on her uncle, had always been sketchy over the years, she just hoped she'd be able to pull it off this time round. "Professor Oobleck just put out this big assignment and I kinda wanted to get a head start on-" The usual playful look her uncle wore when she'd tried this in the past was absent, instead, his smile had slowly started to fade, a combination of suspicion and... anger flashing in his eyes.

"It's fine." Weiss piped up in an attempt to salvage Yang's poor attempt at a coverup before she could draw any further suspicion upon them. "It's clear you haven't seen each other in some time, and I doubt one afternoon together will affect your grade too much." Weiss's crossed her arms over her chest fixing her teammate with an expectant look in order to help sell the image "Just make sure she makes it to class on time, she seems to have had an issue with that lately."

Qrow nodded back to the Schnee girl "Sure thing." He replied quirking an eyebrow at his eldest niece "Playing hooky again, huh firecracker." She looked away her cheeks flushing a bright red much like her eyes that glared back at the retreating form of her teammates. Her reaction brought some small relief to the Black Reaper, even if she had been acting on some unconscious order he doubted she'd be able to look that genuinely embarrassed at being ratted out, after all, he'd had just about eighteen years to learn and memories all of her tells, the small stutter and nervous smile she'd tried to use on him just a moment ago were some of her more obvious ones.

'Thanks, Ice Queen' Yang simmered, while Ruby did her best to hide her own amused giggles.

Qrow wrapped an arm around Yang's shoulders pulling her along with him as they went "I'm not going to tell Tai." He assured her, mostly because he didn't want to deal with the overreaction at finding out one of his daughters had been skipping class, again, on top of all the other crazy that'd end up being shoved on the guy when he tried digging into the reason why.

In any case, now that he had them here, all that was left to do was find somewhere quiet and finally get the answer he'd been dreading since his arrival at Beacon.

"So, I heard Beacons got a few new faces around, some guy called Michael or something like that." He trailed off trying his best to squash down the feeling of disgust he felt at the mention of that fuckers name. That feeling only intensified as he watched his youngest niece smile, the worst part was how genuine it actually looked.

"Professor Salmon" Yang nodded back to her uncle.

"He joined just before the start of the year," She started to explain. "I think a lot of people had some doubts about him because of how young he is, and yeah the whole hood and cowl thing can be a little intimidating at times as well, but he's still pretty cool, a little uptight at times but he looks out for everyone" Her mind drifted back to Beacons initiation, more importantly, the deathstalker that had almost taken her little sister's life, the incident at the docks and then that night just a few weeks prior, she reached out subtly taking her little sisters hand into her own, she felt Ruby squeeze back lightly.

"Why are you asking?" Yang shot her uncle a cocky smirk, resting a hand on her hip she leaned forward slightly she jabbed a finger towards him challengingly. "Are you jealous we might actually be learning something that didn't come from you or dad?"

Qrow clicked his tongue "Nah, Just curious is all." And if it ever came to it, magic or no magic he was positive he'd be able to wipe the floor with that pissant "Someone that young being made a professor at Beacon, it's a little strange, I've never heard of the guy before but if he was good enough to be brought on you'd think he'd have a bit more of a rep."

"I guess?" Ruby replied

The sisters shared a small glance, most of the teachers at Beacon did have a history in the huntsmen community but Professor S was all but nonexistent, they were starting to see how that might look suspicious to a more experienced huntsman or teacher, both in their uncle's case. While that normally wouldn't have caught their interest, the fact it had been directed towards professor S definitely raised some alarm bells. "You're acting a little sketchy here uncle Qrow." Yang said, crossing her arms over her chest as her uncle pulled ahead of them slightly. "I'm starting to get the feeling this isn't just about us catching up, is it?."

Qrow turned his head to look back at the two over his shoulder, might as well just rip the band-aid off while he had the chance. Glancing around the corridor he spotted a door up ahead leading into the stairwell. "I think both of you know what's this about, definitely a lot more than your letting on" Pushing open the door he flicked his head towards the open door, the two shared a worried glance before stepping through and into the stairwell, Qrow following them inside.

Leaning back against the wall Qrow took a long swig from his flask, the two sisters squirming slightly under their uncle's scrutinizing gaze as the realization this 'talk' was actually an interrogation slowly started to settle over them. "More specifically." He gestured towards his youngest niece with his flask. "Something about Ruby and him getting hurled out of a green portal into the courtyard, and neither of you saying so much of a word about any of that to Ozpin or any of the other teachers." The younger girls eyes widened and looked away, shifting uncomfortably on the spot, he turned his gaze back to Yang "And you skipping class to have some secret meetings with him."

"Wait?" Yang shifted nervously. "You... know about him, about what he is, how he's not-"

"Not exactly being from around here, yeah" Qrow nodded, leaning back against the wall behind him "I was the one that brought him to Beacon in the first-place kid, I know what he is, so do Oz and Goodwitch we also know that he's dangerous." Qrow went on, taking a quick swig to calm his nerves "I...stumbled across the guy while I was on assignment out in Mistral" Not the whole truth, but he couldn't exactly tell them everything, he might have loved these girls to bits, but he still had a responsibility to Oz and the others, so they'd be kept in the dark... for now at least.

"I Didn't buy the whole Magic thing at first, but there's only so much that a semblance can explain." Qrow added taking another deep swig from his flask, something that made his youngest niece wince, her eyes lingering on the flask as he clipped it back onto his belt.

"If he was so 'dangerous', then why did you bring him to Beacon in the first place." Yang quirked a brow at her uncle, crossing her arms over her chest she stared at him expectantly.

Qrow sighed "He was lost, and I couldn't exactly leave someone like him wandering around on his own out there doing god knows what." He still wondered if he'd intervened after Ambers ambush instead of hanging back as he'd done to report back to Ozpin, then they couldn't have avoided a lot of this. He'd have at least had time to interrogate the guy while they were out there, get a feel for him, maybe even spot that something was up -well more than up- about him sooner.

"The headmaster and I go way back and he's one of the more open-minded people out there, we figured Beacon would be the best place for us to keep an eye on him while we tried to figure out what to do with him." At least that was part of the plan Ozpin had come up with, if he'd known ahead of time the damage he'd have caused by bringing him here he'd have booted the guy out of that bullhead, mid-flight, the first chance he had. "Turns out that was our biggest mistake."

Unfortunately, there was no way for him to turn back the clock, he'd have to deal with this mess here and now. "So, I need the two of you to tell me what happened that night" Qrow pressed on "If you're scared, or he's threatening you, I can protect you, Oz can protect you, you just have to tell me what he's planning."

Ruby opened her mouth to answer, but she struggled to form a response, swallowing she tried again. "N-Nothing." Ruby stumbled over the word, she'd never seen her uncle act this way before, he looked so... angry "Uncle Qrow he didn't do anything wrong."

Qrow grit his teeth. "I want to believe you..." He wanted to, he really did, but after what he'd seen this morning he couldn't be sure what they said was the truth or something those two had done to smother a cry for help. "But I don't know if what you're saying right now is you, or something he put in your heads to make you defend him."

"What, that's bullshit!" Yang gawked at the accusation "Do you have any idea how crazy that soun-"

"He already did the same to you Yang." Qrow shot back silencing his eldest niece, digging into his pocket he pulled out his scroll, swiping through the display he brought up the video Glynda had sent him, skipping ahead to the damning display, holding it out for the two girls to see, he hit play. "Take a look, he did something to you back in that classroom." The footage was grainy but even they could just make out the glowing aura that surrounded the hand he'd placed on Yang's shoulder.

"What?" Yang breathed taking the scroll in hand she stared down at the footage, she watched herself freaking out as she did back in the classroom and then him laying a glowing hand on her shoulder, and her body suddenly became a lot more relaxed.

'That feeling...' she trailed off recalling the warm calming aura she'd felt run through her, pushing down the feelings of fear and anxiety brought on by the horrid train of thought that forced its way to the front of her mind, she remembered the look in his eyes when she'd turned back to him, regretful, for what she didn't know at the time, but now she had something of an idea.

He'd used magic to somehow calm her down, well… that was a little unnerving but, she couldn't exactly call it malignant, but to someone viewing the situation from the outside... Violate eyes moved back up to her uncle, who stared back at her expectantly.

The whole thing painted a pretty damning picture, and from what she'd heard so far Uncle Qrow seemed convinced she'd been hypnotized or was being manipulated into defending him, so her word was basically as good as dirt at the moment, great. "I know how it must look" She tried to assure him, despite how pointless it must have been. "But it's not what you think."

"Then what exactly is it Firecracker." Qrow demanded, gritting his teeth the Black reaper pinched the bridge of his nose taking in a few calming breaths as he paced back and forth in place. "I know it's not your fault, he's done something to you and now you probably believe whatever story he's been feeding the two of you on top of it all."

"It's not a story!" Ruby growled back at him her small hands balling up into fists, why couldn't he just listen, why wouldn't he just believe them!?.

"But this- "He held up his scroll once more, gesturing to the footage on-screen with his free hand for emphasis " - combined with all the other crap we've seen recently is telling a completely different story right now." And he really didn't want to entertain the thought that -even if unwillingly- they might have been involved in it all somehow.

"Because you don't have the full story!" Yang shrieked her eyes flaring bright red, she slammed her fist into the wall behind her the concrete caving in slightly under the force of the blow, spitting a cloud of dust and paint chips into the air, a spiderweb crack stretching out across the wall behind her. Yang labored breathing cut through the silence like a hot knife through butter, Qrow took a slow step back one hand raised towards his eldest niece in a placating gesture, all the while his hand instinctively slipped back towards the hilt of Harbinger his eyes locked with his nieces own blazing red.

"Uncle Qrow!" Qrow tore his gaze away from the furious blond, and to the tearful expressions of his youngest niece. "Please stop"

Qrow faltered slightly under Ruby's tearful gaze his hand slowly slipping away from the hilt of Harbinger and back down to his side, Yang's own eyes flickering back to their usual violate as Qrow's full attention shifted towards Ruby. He didn't come here to fight, he just wanted the truth, he just wanted to know the girls were safe, that he hadn't hurt them. "...Then tell me what happened." Qrow pressed

Ruby squirmed gripping her skirt in frustration, how was she supposed to explain any of this, if she hadn't lived through the nightmare herself even she'd have to admit the whole thing sounded insane, Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora... her eyes. But from how her uncle Qrow was acting, this was serious, even if they had it all wrong that didn't change the fact they thought the professor was up to something terrible, for god's sake they thought he was controlling Yang, if they didn't speak up now, they could risk bringing all of Beacon down on his head.

"It-it's hard to explain." Ruby muttered, dragging a hand down her face she tried her best to find the words to describe their current situation her uncle without having him go off the rails, then again, there was no guarantee he would even like what he heard, or he'd be thinking clearly once all was said and done. Kicking at the ground nervously Ruby finally looked up at her uncle "Uncle Qrow, will you promise me something."

"What?" Qrow asked his voice far softer than it had been moments ago.

"If I tell you what happened do you promise not to hurt the professor." She watched his eyes slowly narrow, her nerves becoming more frazzled by the second, this was a bad idea, she didn't need Weiss to tell her that, but it was probably the best option they had right now. "If you can promise me that then I'll tell you everything." Ruby rubbed at her eyes whipping away a few frustrated tears, this whole conversation was bringing up a lot of complex feelings she'd tried to keep buried.

Qrow's face fell '...You Fucking idiot' He silently berated himself, he knew getting them to talk about all this was going to be difficult he'd known he might have to be a lot firmer than he was normally around the girls, but he hadn't meant to go this far. "Hey, hey." He muttered stepping forward, Ruby stepped back while Yang shifted closer to her little sister her face twisted into a scowl, Qrow raised his hand in defeat "...I'm sorry" he slowly reached out resting his hands on Ruby's shoulders, after a moment he pulled his youngest niece into a gentle hug, one the young Rose quickly reciprocated "I promise I won't hurt him."

"Thank you." Ruby muttered into his chest, she stayed there for a few moments longer taking the time to get the fear and anxiety building up inside her back under control. Pulling away from her uncle Ruby swallowed thickly, staring down at the cold stone floor her mind drifted back to the event that transpired that night more importantly how she'd be able to put them in words Qrow could understand.

"I'm guessing you probably already know about what happened back in the courtyard, with t-the portal-" Qrow nodded along confirming his niece's suspicion. "-and I know it probably looks really, really bad from what you saw." She felt Yang wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders, spurring her on. "But the Professor wasn't trying to hurt me or anything like that... earlier that night...something took me from our dorm."

"...What?" Qrow breathed

"I still don't know how, but when I woke up, I wasn't in Beacon or e-even Remnant anymore." Visions of Apocrypha flashed through her mind, the winding twisted bookcases that stretched far up into the dark green skies, the seemingly endless depth of the dark waters that churned and bubbled around her... and the great Golden Eye that watched her every move from the deep beneath the waves churning waves of the black sea and from high above in the acidic-green sky.

"Professor Salmon called it Apocrypha, it's not part of Remnant, it's... something else." Yang added on, she expected him to scowl, to scoff at their words and call them out as liars and honestly, she wouldn't have blamed him, everything they were telling him sounded like the ramblings of a mad man, but instead, he stood there stiff as a board, his face looking somewhat paler than normal, listening as Ruby continued her tale.

"There was a man there, Herma-Mora." She shuddered at the mere mention of that... things name, her older sister tightening her grip on her shoulders "I thought he was trying to help me at first, but he, it, wasn't a man, it-it was a monster." The young leader shuddered at the memory of that endless black void of squirming tendrils and gleaming eyes. "Herma led me to this book and it... did something to me while I was there." She gripped the side of her head, fresh tears beginning to build up in the corner of her eyes.

"I could feel something in my head, hear people that weren't there talking to me, then suddenly I didn't want to leave I didn't want to go home, I...I wanted to stay, I wanted the Book, and then..." Ruby trailed off, the events that followed had been burned into her mind, she remembered walking towards the book except it wasn't her in control, she'd been pushed out of the driver's seat and forced to watch as her body drew closer and closer to that flaming orb, only to be pulled back at the last second before everything went black. "Professor Salmon was there, he pulled me back from the book, then these monsters came and attacked us... they were like the Grimm but... somehow worse, but the professor he... he protected me he..."

'You can kill me if you want, but the child has no part in this. Let. Her. Go!' He'd been willing to die for her.

Ruby looked up at her Uncle Qrow, the emotional damn she'd forced up in the days following to hold back the mounting feeling of helplessness and dread that had once threatened to drown her, finally cracked allowing fresh burning tears to stream down her cheeks as a shuddering breath slipped past her clenched teeth.

"He saved me."

/

Amber stared down into her coffee her face reflected back at her in the dark brew, shaking her head slightly she leaned back in her chair taking a long slow sip from the mug as she did so, the taste and heat that flooded her body granting some small relief from the stress of the day, she looked out over the students fluttering about the cafeteria, her table granting an almost unobstructed view from one end to the other.

It still amazed her that only a few days after the last incident, everything was back in working order. She spotted a few of the guilty parties amount the hustle and bustle, a certain fashionista was busy glaring over the rim of her sunglasses at an all too familiar group of boys, who were busy trying to make themselves as small as humanly possible.

Ever since the Leader of CFVY had learned of what had transpired between her teammate and the first-year team, she seemed to have made it her personal mission to make their every day at Beacon a living hell, all the while a certain rabbit Faunus openly scowled at her leader swatting the beret from atop her head, the girl gasped glancing between her fallen headwear and teammate in astonishment, Velvet gave a small huff in response before turning back to her meal.

Amber smiled softly, even after everything they'd done to her it was good to see Velvet still striving to be the bigger person in the conflict.

Speaking of conflict, Amber glanced down at her free hand. Furrowing her brow, she watch her aura slowly envelop her hand and part of her forearm, the results of her experiment that morning had opened a few new doors in regard to how her semblance could be used in the future, the only real issue being that the time that she'd be able to maintain a link had dropped down exponentially.

'I could barely hold it for ten minutes, that nowhere near enough time.' Amber groused clenched her fist shut her aura vanished in an instant 'I'm going to need to work on that before we go to Ozpin.' Though the number of partners who could help her develop this new aspect of her semblance was few and far between at the moment.

Mikael had enough on his plate dealing with this Daedra madness, while Glynda and the Headmaster were out of the question entirely both were far too perceptive to not dive into how she may have discovered this new aspect of her semblance, drawing more unnecessary attention towards them. 'It might be worth asking RWBY or JNPR?' She thought to herself, though she quickly leaned more towards the latter team in terms of her choice, after Ruby's encounter with Hermaeus Mora she doubted she or her team would be all too keen to dabble with something that might risk them reliving and or viewing said events first hand.

'Maybe Peter and Bartholemew...or Miranda?' She mused despite the age gap between them, they were probably the people she was closest to besides Mikael, if she reached out to them they might be willing to lend a hand with her training.

"You're still stuck on what happened this morning aren't you." Amber blinked, once then twice before slowly tilting her head up towards the woman sitting across from her, biting into her croissant Serana offered a small wave in greeting to the Fall Maiden before swallowing "Good day Amber."

"Good day." Amber breathed her face twisting in clear confusion "...How long have you been there?" She inquired after a moment of thought.

"Around five minutes." Serana replied taking a sip from her own glass, paused, then reached down into one of the side pouches on her waist and retrieved a small silver flask no bigger than the palm of her hand from inside, unscrewing the cap she poured a stream of pale bronze liquid into her drink, after taking a moment to swirl her glass to spread around the addition to her drink, she took another sip and hummed in satisfaction before slipping the flask back into place on her belt.

Amber raised an eyebrow at the display, her eyes darting between her drink and the croissant curiously "I thought you were... you know, isn't eating regular food pretty much a waste of time for your... people" Amber bobbed her head from side to side, earning a small smile from the Vampire.

"Well, yes and no." Serana replied waving her hand whimsically "While my...dietary needs no longer fall in line with the average person anymore, that doesn't mean I'm unable or unwilling to indulge in culinary delights every now and then, as for this." She tapped the pouch holding her flask for emphasis "It's something a friend of mine back at Fort Dawnguard helped me whip up for missions that took me into the more isolated regions of Tamriel, it might not be as filling as the real thing but it's enough to get me through the day."

Amber furrowed her brow slightly at the vampire's words, before whispering "If...you're having trouble feeding yourself properly, then maybe I could help with that." They might not have known each other for long, but given what she knew of her from Mikael and what she'd seen so far, Serana seemed like a good person, although her 'Nature' might pose a problem, in the long run, they didn't know how long they'd be here or how long Serana's stock of that 'Substitute' would last before she'd have to resort to some of the more natural means of feeding herself, which in itself may put her at risk... unless there was someone willing to provide enough for her.

She watched Serana smile in response to her words, not one of the teasing one's she'd seen from the immortal, this one seemed far more genuine " I appreciate the offer though I have more than enough of my elixir and some personal stock on hand to keep me sated for the time being."

Serana would admit to being touched by the offer, even among her closest allies whom she'd fought and bled beside over the years, she could scarcely count the number of those who'd made the same offer on one hand. For someone to offer their blood so freely was to also offer a part of themselves with it, and for one of her kind, there was no greater sign of trust between two individuals "But I'll keep your offer in mind, should the need ever arise."

Amber nodded back slowly "Thank you, I... Just want to make sure your comfortable here." Amber muttered. "We are allies after all."

"Yes, we are." Serana replied in kind, before fixing the young woman across from her with a serious look "Which is why I feel the need to ask why you seemed so frustrated by your Semblance when I arrived." She could try and deny it all she wanted, but after the frustration, she'd shown after her earlier display that morning, and the thoughtful look she'd seen on the young woman face while studying her aura encased hand was all the evidence she needed "I may be new to the concept of a Semblance, but if its anything like what we have back home, you'll get the hang of it in time."

"Do we even have 'time'?" Amber muttered ruefully under her breath.

"More than most." Daedra were meticulous schemers and given the unfamiliar landscape the Prince of Fate's ambition had landed him in, he'd likely take the time to secure every advantage he could before making his next move. "This place may be just as big an unknown to him as it is to us, and as arrogant as the Daedra are they aren't complete fools, the fact he's been slinking about in the shadows instead of just coming to claim what he wants is telling."

In terms of Power, Hermaeus was one of the weaker of the Daedric princes, but still, a Daedric prince, nonetheless. If this world was as godless as its inhabitants seemed to believe it to be, then why was Mora wasting time with plots and schemes? If Miss Rose was as valuable as the Daedric prince seemed to believe, then he had the power to come for her on his own, to take her without fear of repercussion.

'Because he is afraid of something... or rather someone.' Serana thought to herself and if the look of realization on her companion's face was anything then she seemed to have come to the same conclusions.

After taking a slow comforting sip from her coffee, setting the mug she leaned forward propping her head upon her fist "He's hiding from something." Amber surmised

"More than likely." Serana whispered back and judging by the Daedric lord's actions 'they' didn't seem to be all too fond of outsiders. "Which means when he does finally poke his head out of his little hidey-hole, he'll be confident enough to act without fear"

"All the more reason for me to focus on honing my Semblance." Amber argued back in a hushed tone, the more time they spent divided the more time Hermaeus had to prepare it had already been weeks since the night Ruby had been taken, who knows what he'd managed to accomplish since then, they didn't have time to waste on being careful and taking things slow. "If I can get Ozpin and the others on our side, we'll stand a better chance at pushing him back. The headmasters of each academy answer to him if they learn what's been happening, we'd have eyes and ears across the globe and a kingdom's worth of resources and manpower to support us."

"And I'm not denying that, but I'd rather not see you risk killing yourself while trying to make it happen." Serana reassured the Huntress, yet her next words were spoken with a far firmer tone. "It's like you said, your semblance is our best option at the moment. But this morning was your first try using it and you passed out because of the stress on your mind, you try to force it or rush the process, and something goes wrong, if something happens to you then everything we've worked for goes up in smoke."

Amber glanced off to the side in thought, she'd been so caught up in everything recently that she hadn't even spared a thought towards her own well-being on the matter, she didn't want to admit it, but Serana had a point, her first attempt at creating a two-way link between multiple minds at once had overwhelmed her shattering the mental links and leaving her unconscious.

If she tried it again only to then force herself to hold onto the link past that initial point the backlash could be lethal. The Vampire sighed, reaching out across the table to grip the Maidens shoulder, making Amber look at her once again. "I'm not asking you to wait, I'm asking you to take your time as we go so we can do it right the first time around, and if you need a partner to practice with then I'll be glad to lend a hand."

The Fall Maiden nodded back slowly. "I'd appreciate the help."

"Then seeing as your so eager, how does a little after four this afternoon sound?" Serana inquired "I'm free for the rest of the day after that, so we can find somewhere quiet and start working."

A small eager smile spread across the Fall Maidens features "My last class finishes a little before that so, name the place."

"Most of the labs in the horticultural building will be empty, so I doubt we'll have to worry about interruptions" Serana replied and given peach wouldn't be expected back for another day now, they wouldn't have to worry about anyone prying in on their business, speaking of classes the warning bell resounded through the hall signaling the approaching end of the lunch Period. "Back to the grind, it seems." Serana said grabbing her tray and rising back to her feet she sent one final glance back towards the Fall Maiden "Horticultural building, lab 405"

"I'll be there." She replied, all too eager to get started, then maybe once she had a handle on this new aspect of her semblance, they could finally start moving forward in earnest.

/

Glynda stood off to the side patiently as the headmaster reviewed her findings, his eyes narrowed as he replayed Mikael's meeting with Miss Xiao Long, pausing the video he typed away at the keypad on his desk zooming in on the aura surrounding the young man's hand. Sighing to himself the old wizard reached up to massage his brow.

The fact Mikael had even thought to openly use magic in the presence of one of his students was already cause from alarm, but this... he watched the sudden change in Miss Xiao Longs demeanor for the fourth time now, watching as the young woman's face shifted from panic to an eerie calm before she turned to address the young man behind her as if nothing were amiss.

The edge of his desk bent slightly under his strength, he'd let this man into his school, allowed him to walk among the children who he had been entrusted to watch over as they began their journeys to become this worlds next defenders and now he may very well be twisting his student's minds, their thoughts, their principles to his own ends.

Were he still the young knight he was all those years ago, he'd have already marched down to confront this dark sorcerer and ensure he answered for his crimes, sadly he was not that man anymore, the great well of Magic he once had under his power had slowly been reduced to its last dregs over the millennia, worse still, Mikael was no longer alone.

His sister's arrival had doubled his strength and then there was Amber... whose loyalties they could no longer be sure of. Ozpin glanced down at his coffee mug the contents long since drained before slowly turning to regard his deputy "Have you shown anyone else your findings?" He inquired

"Qrow is aware of the situation." Glynda replied, she watched Ozpin sigh and while normally she might have agreed to keep this information a secret until they all had a chance to reconvene, time was of the essence. "He is meeting with Miss Rose and Xiao long as we speak, their testimonies are key to cementing the evidence we have against him."

"And we are certain they will speak out if we approach them?" The headmaster muttered, both sisters were key witnesses to his crimes and without their word to back their claims any actions they took against him, any charges they levelled his way could just as easily be dismissed if the students they'd labelled as his victims were to deny their claims or worse jump to his defense. "If his influence over miss Xiao Long is in any way similar to how Miss Volkihar manipulated Qrow, it's possible they may have no recollection of events while under his sway."

"Miss Xiao Long perhaps" Glynda relented, however as they had seen from the initial incident back at the end of the first semester, both Miss Rose and Mikael had spoken before parting ways, the former of the two seeming shaken by the conversation... the reprehensible bastard had likely silenced her youngest student through more physical threats then magical, that was there opening. "But in the time between the portal event and now, Mikael has had little interaction with Miss Rose outside of classes to allow for such things." Glynda continued "The footage itself showed no evidence of any spell craft, so he may have attempted to silence her through more physical means"

"Possibly" He muttered to himself, despite her age Miss Rose was strong not only in body but in spirit, with an even stronger sense of moral to boot, but after the display of power, she'd witness that night who's to say that strength had not wavered in the face of the unknown. If that was the case, it was wise for Glynda to contact Qrow ahead of time, he out of all of them was the closest to the sisters and would likely be their best bet to break whatever hold Mikael had over them. "Has Qrow contacted you with an update on the situation?"

"Not as of yet" Glynda replied, glancing out the office window and down onto the campus below. "I imagine this task has been in no way easy for him" In all his time working alongside them she doubted he would have ever been faced with the challenge of interrogating his own nieces. In the end, they only had themselves to blame they'd allowed that man onto the campus and even after discovering clear evidence of his misdeeds they'd chosen to wait and listen instead of acting, in that moment she wondered, had she pushed Ozpin to take action at that time could all this have been avoided.

It was too late for maybe's and what-ifs now, the best they could do was push on and hope to put an end to this madness before anyone else came to harm. A low buzz from her side pulled the blond combat instructor back to reality, Glynda hastily drew her scroll expanding it out into its pad variant Qrow's face flashing up on the screen, she looked towards the headmaster who had already stood from his desk, moving over to him she set her scroll down on the desk between them, before swiping to accept the call.

"Qrow?" she inquired

"Yeah, yeah, look...you're still up there with Oz right?" He sounded ragged, the sound of footsteps echoing in the background of the call "Nothings went ahead yet?"

"Yes, I'm here" Ozpin greeted his old friend "And no, we were waiting for confirmation from you first, I take it you spoke with your nieces" The line went silent for a moment, the two could just make out Qrow's voice in the background alongside two others, he quickly recognized as said sisters.

"You could say that." Came Qrow's response "We're on our way up now."

"I understand" Bringing the two along would ensure their adversary would not be able to use them or seek out vengeance against the girls for their part in exposing him, though he would admit he had held out some hope for the man, however fleeting it might have been that things weren't as they might seem, now it seemed all but certain. " I'll contact Peter and Bartholomew, we'll have them on standby for when we move to confront Mr. Salmon, your nieces can remain in my office for their own safety." Pulling his custom black scroll from his breast pocket he pulled up his contacts and began swiping through ins search of his fellow professors.

"Oz hang- rgh! Ruby!" The sounds of a struggle echoed over the line before a new voice called out to them

"Headmaster wait!" Ruby cried, Ozpins finger paused over peters contact details, his eyes snapped back towards Glynda's scroll "You've got it all wrong.. ugh, hey!" Ruby yelled in what seemed to be indignation, their voices became muffled once again as the scroll seemed to change hands between those on the other end.

"Just let me handle it, okay" Qrow reprimanded his youngest niece before addressing his fellow brotherhood members "Look I'll explain everything once we get up there, just hold off on the plan for a minute if what the girls told me is true we're in a bigger mess then we thought." The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress shared a glance, the former slowly collapsing his scroll back into its compact form before giving the call their full attention.

"What did they tell you?" Glynda inquired

"Nothing good" Qrow growled over the line, of all the things he might have expected from this situation the truth, or at least what his nieces believed wholeheartedly to be the truth, was so far out of the realm of possibility it bordered on insanity, but the look in Ruby's eyes as she'd spilt everything to him, made him at least consider it might have been possible. "Just that we might have gotten this whole thing backwards." Glynda's eyes widened slightly, her grip tightening around the edge of the desk.

Ozpin narrowed his eyes down at the scroll a contemplative look crossing over his features before slowly nodding, to learn there may have been more to this tale than they'd already uncovered led to a spike of intrigue and dread from the old Wizard, still, they needed to take this new information with a grain of salt, there was still the chance this may have been some form of deception "Qrow, I need to know if you're certain of this?"

"Hell no." Came the Black Reapers reply, alongside a pair of voices calling out in protest in the background of the call, pushing past the girl's outbursts Qrow carried on "But Ruby and Yang seem adamant about the whole thing... and given everything I've seen over the years with you and Glynda, it makes me think it's just crazy enough that it might actually be true."

A moment of silence passed through the office as Ozpin weighed his options, dismissing the girl's claims was the obvious and admittedly the most tempting decision, what he had seen so far was already enough to raise not only Miss Xiao Long's word, but her loyalties into question and yet the small feeling of doubt that had wormed its way into the back of his mind stayed his tongue.

If what the girls said was true then dismissing their word so quickly could very well damn them moving forward, it would be better to hear both sides of this tale before they made any rash decisions "Verry well, we'll hold off on any further activity until we've heard what they have to say." The sounds of relief from the two girls accompanying Qrow echoed down the line. "But I'd ask you make haste; this situation has gone on unchecked long enough as is."

"We'll be there soon Oz." The call came to an end, Qrow's ID blinking out of existence, the headmaster sighed shaking his head lightly as he stared down at the scroll.

"Headmaster?" Glynda asked, her previous confidence having wavered slightly as the conversation carried on. "Are we sure it's wise to wait any longer we already have enough here to act on our suspicions, the more time we wait the bigger the chance this may be a-" Glynda tried to push, even if there was something they missed it would be safer to at least take Mikael into custody until they could confirm their suspicions, though after speaking to Qrow and hearing miss Rose's plea for them to stop, even she could admit to feeling some small doubt worm its way up inside of her.

"Then the blame falls to me and me alone Glynda" Ozpin interrupted, leaning over his desk he staired towards the double doors leading into his office with an unreadable expression. "Do we at least know where Mr. Salmon was when Qrow reached out to his nieces?"

Glynda hastily retrieved her scrolls pulling up the feeds from both her personal and the school network, setting it down on the headmaster's desk once more the holographic console came to life between them, displaying the black and white footage from inside Mikael's classroom revealed the Nightingale stood at the edge of the combat arena a line of students funneling in through the doors and to their seats, swiping her fingers across the screen the footage slowly began to rewind, he watched the time stamp tick back down in that time the man had moved about the room once or twice yet never strayed far from his desk, nor the papers splayed out across its surface.

The video came to a halt, Ozpin glanced up at the time stamp once more, finding it matched with the end of morning lectures that morning 'He didn't move.' Ozpin nodded slowly "What of Miss Volkihar?" Glynda repeated the process, this time displaying a feed from one of the campus security cameras outside the Horticultural building, granting them a view inside the classroom where their second suspect resided.

The young woman moved about across the classroom notebook in hand as she took stock of the various plant life around the room, Glynda wound back the footage once more. The blond combat instructors eyes narrowed as the footage showed Serana had only entered the room a few minutes before and began flicking through the various camera feeds across campus, following the young woman on her journey across campus, back from the classroom to the cafeteria.

She frowned at the sight of Serana interacting with Amber, pushing her discomfort aside she wound the video back further retracing Volkihar's steps from the cafeteria and back to the classroom, the timestamps from both videos placing Miss Volkihar and Mr. Salmon at least half a campus away from Qrow at the time of their meeting. "Both are accounted for at the time when Qrow attempted to make contact with Miss Rose and Xiao long." That at least ruled out any chance of outside interference with Qrow during their time apart, though he still couldn't help but wonder what those girls might have said to make Qrow take such action.

Turning back to address the deputy Headmistress he added "When they arrive stay on guard we still don't know the state of Miss Xiao Long or Miss Rose's condition".

"Understood." Glynda replied, unfolding her riding crop she allowed her weapon to fall down by her side while they waited.

The Rumble of the elevator ascending up Beacon tower drew their eyes towards the double doors leading into the headmaster's office, turning back to her scroll Glynda swiped at interface once more switching to the camera feed from inside the elevator, watching as the younger two of the three occupants shuffled about anxiously inside the confined space, while Qrow... indulged in the content of his flask.

Miss Xiao long leaning against the wall beside her sister who stared up at the display watching the floor numbers tick by one after another, the blond combat instructor couldn't help but note the girls puffy red eyes and the dried tear tracks running down her cheeks. Her grip around her riding crop slackened slightly at the sight of the oh so usually joyful and upbeat girl reduced to such a despondent state.

Which begged the question, what could have the poor girl went through that night, which could have led to such a volatile reaction?

The resounding ding of the elevator pulled the blond combat instructor back to reality, collapsing her scroll Glynda stepped forward to stand beside the headmaster desk, resting the head of her crop in her free hand she watched the doors slide open allowing the trio entry, Qrow at the head of the pack while Miss Rose and Xiao long trailed close behind, the elder of the two siblings casting a scrutinizing glare towards them.

Normally she'd have taken the girl to task over the clear disrespect, though given the circumstances behind their arrival she'd allow it this once. "Good afternoon, miss Xiao Long, Miss Rose." Ozpin greeted the two evenly. "I imagine you have a great deal of questions at the moment?"

Yang clicked her young "You could say that." Crossing her arms over her chest the blond brawler levelled a glare towards the headmaster, her once amethyst eyes shifting to bright red "For starters how long have you all known about what happened to Ruby?" Yang quirked a brow at the headmaster, never in her life would she have thought she'd be talking to the headmaster of Beacon this way but given everything she and her team had gone through over the last few weeks, to suddenly learn that not only had the school known about what happened but that they hadn't even bothered to reach out to them, to find out if they were okay or not, left her at a boiling point. "Uncle Qrow said you were looking into it, so I know you were at least aware that something had happened"

"Miss Xiao Long!" Glynda snapped at the younger girl, she'd expected some kind of outburst but nothing so, abrupt.

Ozpin gestured for the blond combat instructor to calm down "It's fine Glynda." Turning his gaze back towards the young woman in front of him he continued "Yes, we were aware that something had occurred that night, but were just as in the dark about the cause of the event." The headmaster began to explain his gaze slowly shifting to the younger of the two siblings who had been quiet for most of the conversation. "We thought it best to first observe the situation before we acted upon our suspicions"

"And you didn't even think to, I don't know... TALK to one of us about the whole thing!" Yang scoffed at the headmaster's response, earning a heated glare from the deputy headmistress, even Yang knew she was pushing her luck, but she couldn't care less right now, they could have all avoided so much of this shit if the Headmaster had just reached out to them.

"Easy there firecracker." Qrow said stepping between his nieces and the staff members as he tried to play mediator "You kids weren't exactly all that talkative about it either."

"Because we were scared!" Ruby spoke up for the first time since arriving, shifting her attention towards the Headmaster she continued "Professor Salmon wasn't threatening us to try and keep us quiet, we didn't tell anyone because we didn't think anyone would believe us, or if they did then Herma might go after them as well."

Ozpin and Glynda shared a confused glance "Herma?" Typing away at his console Ozpin swiftly pulled up the video file from the portal incident, displaying it in front of the two girls ."You're saying this Herma, was the one responsible for this?"

"Hermaeus Mora, that's what Professor S called him" Yang supplied her anger beginning to fade if only slightly "And yeah, he's the one who caused all this, a little after we all went to bed that night Ruby vanished, Mora took her right out of her bunk without any of us noticing and that." She pointed towards the footage, showing the Nightingale and her baby sister being thrown from the portal and down into the academy courtyard below. "Was the Professor bringing her back" Well, that definitely got a reaction out of the two, miss Goodwitch more than anyone.

The Blond combat instructor slowly turned her gaze towards the younger girl to her right 'She was abducted.' She felt the hope that she might have misheard Tai-Yang's eldest daughter die an ugly death as his youngest nodded in agreement with her older sister. Glynda took a step back from the girl a shuddering breath leaving her, how could they have let this happen? Not only had someone managed to breach the academies security, but almost disappeared into the night with one of her students and none of them had been the wiser.

"One minute I was in our dorm, the next I'm waking up on this stone slab in Apocrypha." Ruby went on, rubbing her left arm with her right a subtle chill running up her spine.

"Apocrypha?" Ozpin muttered glancing up past the girl towards his old friend in search of an answer.

The Black Reaper sighed, taking a long swig from his flask before gesturing with it back towards the two young women in front of him "You might wanna sit down for the next part" Turns out Salem might not be their biggest problem after all.

AN: And so, the truth is finally starting to come to light, but will our dear brotherhood be willing to accept all that it entails and the magnitude of their folly.