I'm really sorry about the pacing and timeline mess in chapter: [karma's a bitch]. That was definitely my bad! I promise to make the next one more exciting and keep things on track. Thanks for sticking with me through the ups and downs of the story.
Just after (R)WBY and JNPR had been scolded*
As they headed for the elevator, Nora turned to inquire, "Who's that from, Miss Goodwitch?" Her voice was unusually calm and measured, a stark contrast to her usual cheerfulness.
"Well, if you must know, Cole gave it to me for my birthday," she replied with composure before taking a sip of her drink.
"Miss Goodwitch, with all due respect—"
But her emotions got the best of her, and she snapped, "Hold your tongue, Miss Xiao Long!" She took it all in, along with a long drink, groaning internally. "I'm too tired for this."
"I will not tolerate this behavior towards a man who can't defend his own name any longer. Ms. Branwen and Schnee did everything they could to fix the situation. As your leader and best friend, they both tried to stop you from pushing things too far."
She glared and set the glass down. "At least when Cole got in, it was public knowledge that he was accepted for his skill and courage against various types of Grimm and was even reevaluated by two professional hunters."
She looked at each of them one by one, listing them off, but not as derogatory as Cole had put it.
Pacing back and forth in front of them, she turned her attention to each of them. "Ms. Nikos, you transferred to Beacon to live without too much publicity and escape the spotlight of being a celebrity, right?"
Turning her attention to Nora and Ren next, she continued, "Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Ren, both of you earned your place through rigorous physical and mental tests, despite the situation you share with Mr. Valentine. Though he had more to handle, the point still stands."
She then directed her attention to the blonde bombshell. "Ms. Xiao Long, you got in after graduating Signal with a letter of recommendation from Qrow, despite destroying a dance club in your search for Raven. And don't get me started on the repair costs."
Next, she turned to Blake. "Ms. Belladonna, you earned your place much like Nora and Ren did, but your background shows you came from wealth and luxury, just like Ms. Schnee."
But Glynda's tone grew cold as she continued, "And you, Ms. Belladonna, were once associated with the White Fang. I had my doubts about admitting someone with that past, but I was overruled."
She softened a bit as she looked at Weiss, who appeared scared and fidgety.
"And… Ms. Schnee, you got in with perfect academic and physical scores, just to escape your father. I commend you for that. But you?" She turned her attention to Jaune with disappointment.
"Mr. Arc, you got in because Headmaster Ozpin saw great potential in you, not due to your bloodline or your skill—especially not your skill." She turned off the lights and closed the shutters before projecting Jaune's transcript.
"Normally, you would have been sent home, but after passing initiation for the second year, Ozpin had real transcripts made to spare your vanity. But I could have them redacted and report you for breaking international and global laws, potentially leading to prison or even death row." Suddenly, her tone changed.
"But I'm not going to do that," she said with a smile, hinting at another plan.
"Really? You won't?" The others looked like they were about to say something, but she raised her hand.
"No, because you're all going to detention in Port's classroom for additional schoolwork for the remainder of the school year. No breaks except to eat, sleep, or use the facilities, starting Monday, since Friday is a half day. Consider it a professional courtesy."
"Yes, ma'am," they all replied sadly before shuffling toward the elevator. Yang turned back and said, "You guys go on ahead. I need to talk to her about something." No one said a word as the door closed, leaving Yang alone with Glynda.
"Um, Miss Goodwitch?" Yang asked, standing in front of her and shifting awkwardly.
"Yes?"
"What about Ruby? Are there any other hunters looking for her?" Glynda looked up at Yang, met her gaze, and put her drink down.
"Yang, if I'm being blunt, I can only tell you that she's still a student, but her file, as of this moment, states that she's missing, and your uncle is tracking her."
Yang looked down at her boots, wiped a few tears from her eyes, and said, "It's just that my father is freaking out, my team is leaderless, and my friends all think she's in league with him. It's been almost a month since she disappeared, so… why? Does she really trust his words over ours?"
"Yang, I've already made myself clear. Don't make me repeat myself again," she replied softly as she walked over and guided Yang to the elevator, holding her by the arm.
"Get some dinner and rest up. It's been hard on every one of you. And, for the record, I know what it's like worrying about a missing person you love." Yang yanked her hand off Glynda's arm and said angrily, crying with red eyes, "How could you know what I'm—"
"Because my sister went on a similar path and went missing too. The only proof that she's alive is because of this." Glynda pulled up her blouse, revealing a small purple and green dragon tattoo on her stomach, reaching up toward her chest. "Her semblance is called 'Soul Bond.' It lets me know if she's alive."
Yang glowered at her and asked snippily, "And how would that tattoo tell you if she was dead?"
Putting her shirt down, Glynda answered, "The color would fade away and turn grey and black."
Yang's apology was stuck in her throat as she rushed out of the door into the elevator. 'I really messed up,' she thought as the elevator descended.
All six of them stayed silent and shifted awkwardly, showing no sign of wanting to talk or even reassure each other about what had happened.
After opening the door to the ground floor, Weiss grabbed Jaune and ignored the others as she dragged him into a small grassy area outside the building. "I know what you're thinking, Arc, and I'm going to make this crystal-clear for your tiny brain," everyone looked at the pair and froze when Weiss spoke. "If you so much as step out of line at this school now and moving forward, you will be in serious danger. So do me and everyone else a big favor and just listen to them for once." She shoved him to the ground, straightened out her uniform, and cleared her throat.
Jaune stood there for what felt like hours until he replied, "This is worse than anything we could've expected, Weiss. In case you missed it, Glynda threatened Beacon with some serious punishments if we broke the rules." After he lay down in the grass, he added, "We just got reminded how badly we messed up, and as it turns out, I now see how we all messed up—and pretty badly at that." Pyrrha sat next to him and sighed, pulling his head onto her lap and running her fingers through his hair.
"You just took what I just said and repeated it; Cole did that too, and at least I'm making the effort to make his words mean something," Weiss scoffed at him.
Without a word, they all sat on the ground together and relaxed in the sun. "If Cole is brought back, we owe him an apology," a voice said in a matter-of-fact tone. They all looked at who said that, and it surprised everyone. "And we need to start by fixing ourselves and go from there," Blake stood up and asked, "but… if Cole doesn't forgive any of us, then what?"
Weiss stood up and asked sarcastic and ironically, "We do favors for him? Bake him confectionery sweets, help him with his training? Oh yeah, you all never tried."
Nora growled at them and sat up, "We just apologize to him and play it carefully. If, and it's a strong 'if,' he comes back, and an even stronger 'if,' he even acknowledges us, we can't do anything after what we put him through." She usually ended her expectations with giving him half of her pancakes for the rest of his time, but this Nora was thinking logically, and she had a point.
Pyrrha looked over at Weiss and the others before speaking up, "I think I know what we should do." Ren looked her over and tiredly said, "I usually am not the one to say something about this, but it would be best if we just drop this and focus on the present, not the future or the past. We'll deal with whatever comes in time."
In a more ironic turn of events, Team Cardinal walked up to them with a few small grills, a large cooler, a few collapsible tables, and a box of plates, bowls, cups, and utensils. The irony in them walking up was that they seemed humbled now. "You guys mind helping us set up?" Dove asked, setting the cooler next to Ren.
"Get bent, Dove. We don't want to help you with anything," Yang said, sitting next to Blake.
Cardin let out a loud chuckle, "That, right there, that is why you guys are getting the worst of it all now." The seven of them looked up at them, their eyes burning with anger at Cardin as if he had said something horrible.
"You guys were good people until Jaune started winning fights and got Nikos as his lover, Weiss found a rival in Cole… or something more possibly; honestly, you did nothing wrong," he shrugged that last part.
"Ren and Nora stayed in the middle and didn't pick either side, Blake dug up information on Cole that wasn't true, and Yang beat him to a pulp when he held Ruby in his arms caked in blood and looked broken. Overprotective doesn't even compare anymore," the other three would've laughed at his jabs, but they all looked at the seven with some disappointment and sadness.
"You know what I miss the most?" Sky asked Russel, who was busy setting up the large grill.
"What would that be?" he asked, grabbing charcoal from Dove. "Velvet and Coco, for one."
They all laughed at that. Cardin smiled, looking at Weiss, who stood up and asked, "Why would you miss a woman you tormented and bullied?"
The others got up and backed her up in case it got bad, but his team saw it coming. "Well, Velvet and I have been dating since halfway through the first year, and Coco is Dove's girlfriend, so why wouldn't we miss them?"
"Hey, Cardin, don't forget Yatsuhashi and Fox," Russel said with a smile, putting napkins and whatnot on the table. "Oh man, they were the best when it came to training buddies and drinking buddies… ahhh, man, those were good times."
"Yeah, especially when you kissed Velvet in a drunken stupor. She punched you so hard you went sober for a minute." They all stood there laughing. Nearly finished setting up, Cardin opened the cooler.
"That was probably when I fell in love with her." They all laughed at that.
Meanwhile, the six hunters were dumbstruck by what they were seeing. Cardin and Dove dating Coco and Velvet? They all were close, just like RWBY and JNPR when they were first years.
"You see, Jaune," Cardin began as he knelt down and gave him his unopened beer, "you six helped us change for the better while you seven changed for the worse… and I'm sorry for you." He looked over the others, "For all of you."
Yang gritted her teeth and decked him in the side of the forehead, knocking him back. "Shut up, Cardin, just shut your damn mouth! You have no idea what we're going through."
The rest of his team knew why it happened but also knew not to intervene. Cardin still felt the need to say something, though. "You guys finish setting up; I'll handle it," he replied calmly and took a deep breath, letting the blood slide down his face.
"Just get to the point, Winchester," Ren said, looking for a sign that he'd attack, but nothing happened.
"Look, I'm sorry for what we did in the past. We proved to you guys that we've changed since then, despite our not-so-great beginning." He took a drink out for the other six of them and smiled.
"Blake, you taught us that we were horrible for how we acted to everyone around us, Faunus or not," she took the drink with a nod. "Ren, you and Nora helped us see that there's a time and place for our behavior in and out of class."
They both grasped the cold bottles and looked confused, "Yang… you scared us shitless after we accidentally knocked out Ruby, and boy, you were pretty terrifying," he smirked, giving her the beer.
"Pyrrha, you taught us to train hard and to not be arrogant and half-cocked. And finally, Weiss?" he said, handing her the last beer, "you proved to everyone that you aren't like every other rich person and you have faults like the rest of us." Taking a few steps back, he grabbed his own beer and held it up. "To teams RWBY and JNPR, for teaching us to act better as people and as hunters." They all held up their drinks out of respect but said nothing.
"But now it's our turn to return the favor," they all snapped their attention toward Cardin as if he'd grown wings and a second head.
"I fail to see how this equates to us needing anything from you four," Blake said, chugging her beer and tossing the bottle in the recycling bin.
"Because you guys need to, plus none of the students here are going anywhere soon, so why not let us help you out?" he replied, handing Blake a plate of freshly grilled chicken and salmon with a side salad. "But that can come later; for now, we eat and relax. I asked Glynda if we could use this stuff, and she said she was alright with it as long as we didn't start a huge fire."
"So you are changed hunters and are actively looking to help us?" Pyrrha asked, receiving a chicken salad with potato chips. "That's right," Cardin replied happily.
After nearly an hour of talking and cooking, Cardinal, one by one, gave everyone a plate of food without being asked. "Jaune and Ren, you guys get steaks with mushrooms and stalks of grilled asparagus. Weiss, you get the famous Winchester burger with all the fries you'd ever want," and added, "I made sure to remove as much as I could, but the fries are a bit salty, and the burger is a little greased up." She smiled at the scent and… hugged him, a surprising display of gratitude.
"And Yang," Cardin offered her the plate stacked high with chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes with a small drizzle of gravy. "This is for you." They all sat down with their food and hesitated to eat any of it. "Guys, it's not poisoned, I promise," Russell said, chuckling.
They all glanced at one another and back to Cardinal, who happily talked and cooked. But with everything that had happened so far, Jaune and the others devoured their meals. They tried to leave but were stopped by water hitting them from behind. They all turned around and saw the four men whistling and playing innocent. They turned around to leave again, but this time the water hit them right in the head. They angrily whipped around, seeing the four laughing and holding… water guns and water balloons.
"You idiots cruisin' for a bruisin' or something?" Nora asked, cracking her knuckles.
"Who, us?" Cardin asked as they dumbly looked around, smiling like children.
"Yeah, you, who else would we talk to?" Yang asked, only getting a water gun sprayed in her face.
"Probably the water we hit you with," Russell said, chuckling.
"HA, so you admit that you-" Pyrrha said before the four of them hit her together with balloons and columns of water.
They all laughed even harder as Ren walked over to do something but slipped in the wet grass. "C'mon, guys, take some time to recover, have fun, just do something fun while you can," Cardin said, throwing a large balloon at them but soon found it sent back at them because Ren hit Sky in the chest, knocking him on his back and drenching him in the grass.
They all laughed even harder when that happened, and to everyone's surprise, Weiss stood at the forefront and smiled. "Maybe we should have some fun… after all, we were told to stay on campus grounds."Yang walked up to her and said, "Have you lost your mind? Ms. Goodwitch-""She said that we couldn't go on missions or train in the forests; she said nothing about having fun outside," Weiss interrupted before summoning a wall of water with her glyphs and sent the water at the four guys with a warm smile.
The eleven students played together for what seemed like ages, and Glynda was alright with that. By the way everyone had seen, they all decided to join in on the fun, and for once she didn't punish them but had something in mind to still be stern and not look too nice. About halfway through, the entire school had joined in, and CRDL was happier when Team CFVY came back in a bullhead and immediately joined in too.
Dodging a water spray to the legs, Yang exclaimed with a giggle, "Won't the professors and Glynda get upset with us?"
"Who cares, just enjoy the moment while it lasts," giggled Nora as she slapped a balloon into Blake's face, laughing as she did the same back to her. After about half an hour, Glynda showed up in light blue knee-high shorts and a purple short-sleeved shirt with a large inflatable dumpster behind her. "You said no one cares if I approved this?" she asked sternly, watching everyone put the balloons and water dust crystal guns down. The first person to speak out was, of all people, Jaune. "Are you going to take this from us too, Glynda?" he asked, sounding like a scared child.
She smirked at him and used her semblance to carry the dumpster to the center of it all. "Not at all, Mr. Arc, just came to drop off this," she replied as she walked away. "After you're all finished, I want you to pick up every single shred of balloon and clean up the food." They all murmured in agreement but soon the unthinkable happened.
A water balloon the size of a melon hit her in the back, soaking her from head to toe.
Every person froze at this and studied the blonde carefully. "Pyrrha, what the hell!?" Jaune quietly scolded. "She needs this too, Jaune," she replied softly before tossing another one at her, but this one stopped mid-air and was sent careening back to its sender. "Don't push it, students. I'm not joining this," she said, gesturing to the school-wide party. But this time, she got a few more balloons thrown at her, soaking her again. When she whipped around, she saw Coco and her team smiling and holding their water weapons. "But, Glynda, you gave us ammo. It's only best that you join in on the fun."
Everyone either looked away in embarrassment or stared with blushes and bleeding noses. As soon as Glynda turned around, water-soaked clothes stuck to her like a second skin, revealing just how voluptuous she actually was. Getting her wetter only made it worse. "I'm running this academy until Ozpin returns, so I can't, Ms. Adel, but thank you for the offer," she replied, wringing out her hair, letting it flow down her shoulders and back.
Looking at the six of them, she used her semblance to grab vacuums and trash cans with fresh bags inside. "You all better have this cleaned before the curfew hours come; otherwise, I'll give a steeper punishment on top of your current punishment."
They all blanched with dread as the courtyard was in the beginnings of getting cleaned up. Glynda walked away to the staff dormitory and filled them in on the situation via group chat. As she stripped from her wet uniform and used a t-shirt and shorts as pajamas, crawling into bed, she fell asleep rather quickly, and restful sleep was a luxury her body rarely afforded her.
Thanks for reading I hope to improve the next chapter.
I'm limiting each chapter to 4000 words or less from here on.
Comment anything you think could be worked on at:
H6pp1n355_in_misery.
Criticism is appreciated