FROM ME, YEARS AGO...

We've toiled for what seemed like years to get to Atlas. A lot of heartbreaks, a lot of surprises and all of our blood, sweat, and tears were poured into this journey that seemed like it'd never end. Despite all that, we've made it. Yet, somehow, arriving in Atlas feels more like another obstacle that it is an accomplishment.

"I've never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before. If we land in a stolen ship, there's no way the security team will let us anywhere near Ironwood. They might even take me back to my father."

Weiss went confused to worried in a snap of finger, and who can blame her. If she claims she's never seen the military like this, then I believe her. Heck, even they didn't spare this much when I went caused a ruckus here. Blake stood up beside Weiss, placing her hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but that did nothing but worry her even more, that is till she came up with an idea.

"Winter!"

She yelled.

Qrow instructs Maria to deviate from the control towers's instructions to dock the ship, while Weiss desperately tried to contact Winter. But the moment we descended further down into Mantle and away from the floating city, the more apparent it was that something big happened in this Kingdom. There were rules posted everywhere, reminders about curfews and repercussions for breaking them, and the city overall just felt like a giant prison cell.

"Weiss, wait."

I stood up and placed my hand on hers to stop her from dialing Winter Schnee.

"What?"

Weiss asks in a daze.

"There's something going on here? Can't you see, Mantle's even more depressing than usual... at least compared from the last time I was here."

That was when the airship passed by a giant monitor on the side of the building, where a video of Winter started to play.

[A reminder. Failure to cooperate with the Atlas Military is a punishable offense. If your sector is under lockdown...]

Qrow took a deep breath as he took everything in, contemplating our next move.

"No offense, Weiss, but I don't think talking to your sister is a good idea anymore."

He looked at Weiss with remorse painted all over his face, as Yang leaned in between her uncle and Maria.

"We need to ditch the ship. Fast. Probably a good idea to just get lost in Mantle while we figure things out."

Needless to say, this isn't what we were expecting when we got here, and the pressure of it all has finally caught up to all of us, especially Weiss.

"There has to be something going on! I'm telling you, if we just contact my sister-"

But Qrow cut her off.

"Look, I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood till we know exactly what's going on with Mantle."

Ever the voice of reason, Maria decided to finally speak amidst all of this conundrum and offer her thoughts on the matter.

"Everyone calm down. I know someone who can help with both."

Funny she said that, cause I was thinking the same thing, and I have a feeling she and I are thinking of the same person here. With that settled, Maria landed the airship in the far east corner of Mantle, and made our way through the city streets. With each turn we made, the worse the city looked. People are afraid and left out in the dark. Whatever General Ironwood's thinking setting up all these rules and restrictions, the citizens of Mantle have no idea why. Qrow remains optimistic his old friend has reasons for doing this, and Weiss is even more convinced of that fact more so than Qrow is.

Pushing all that aside, by the time we made it through the city and into Maria's contact, my suspicisions of who this person is were immediately confirmed the moment I saw the green holographic cross barely glowing on top of small run down building.

"Heh."

"What's up?"

Ruby asked.

"Nothing, it's just this place brings back a lot of memories..."

Curious, Blake snuck up behind me with a faint smile.

"Oh yeah, you've been to Atlas before... up to no good."

She teases.

"Hopefully, they're good memories?"

Blake placed her hand over her mouth as she tried her best to convince me she's done teasing, but I was none the wiser.

"I- not all of it. We'll just have to wait and see."

And with that, we went inside the clinic. As we swing the side door open, a Faunus with a prosthetic arm exits, waving cheerfully to the man who speaks to her from inside. Accompanying the faunus was the sound of the voice of an all too familiar old man.

"And no more heavy-lifting, yah hear?"

Behind the counter sit a man that I've met before, a couple years back- the man that saved my life. Without hesitation, Maria pushed us all aside and made her way to the man.

"Ah, it's good to see you again, old friend."

Unfortunately for her, Maria's enthusiasm did not translate to the reunion she was expecting. The old man simply continued shuffling things around on his desk, blissfully lost in his own world. The impatient Maria clears her throat, startling him, as he lifts his head to look at her, shutting the drawer. Maria smiles at him, hoping to jog his memory a little bit more.

"Ah, yes, yes. Have we met?"

I can't tell if he's joking or not, but Ren didn't even hesitate to make a decision based on the old man's reaction.

"Well, this is off to a fantastic start."

Maria wasn't all too fond of his current forgetfullness.

"Cybernetic optical implants. You adjust them. Every ten years or so?"

He stares at her for a few moments before throwing his hands cheerfully into the air.

"Maria!"

The robotic chair he is sitting in begins walking out from behind the desk, much to everyone's surprise.

"Yes, with the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so."

Yeah, yeah. She just said that. He offers his hand to her and leads her to an examination table.

"Oh wow, has it been that long already?"

Like flicking a switch, Maria went from annoyed to sweet and gentle instantly.

"Ah, I know. I age like a fine wine. Would've been here sooner if I hadn't run into these jokers. At the time, I thought they might need my guidance while fighting a little old Sphinx."

The old man chuckled, though his attention not fully invested in our presence just yet.

"Oh, did they?"

I could tell that these two were starting to drift off into their own world, so I couldn't really blame Qrow for reeling them in. Even if he is a little bit more cranky than usual.

"And this is?"

He asked.

"So impatient."

Maria complained.

"I didn't think I'd need to introduce one of Atlas' finest minds."

Yang, skeptical, stepped in to try and prove a point.

"Working in a place like this?"

It is a very solid point the way the building creaks, and how seemingly a random ceiling tile would fall to the floor every so often. Maria grinned and calmly defended the old man.

"He likes to keep a low profile. Something I've come to realize none of you know anything about."

Looking to clear things up himself, the old man stepped forward with a big smile on his face.

"You can call me Pietro."

Before he could even finish introducing himself, Maria stepped in, matching his enthusiasm.

"Finest heart, too. This pharmacy is just where he volunteers when he's not building the future of Atlas alongside Ironwood, up in the clouds."

"Oh, it's stuffy up there. Down here, I get to help the locals and have a little fun. I'm currently working on shoes that make you dance. Wanna try 'em on?"

Shoes that makes you dance? That sounds like something Nora would wear in her sleep.

"YES!"

See... good thing Yang has her head in the right place.

"Before we get to that, we were wondering if you could help us. We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but um…"

Looking to capitalize now that we have his attention, Blake too stepped in.

"What exactly has been happening here?"

The big smile on Pietro's face suddenly vanished the moment Yang and Blake asked their question.

"Well, the Fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was he saw there, but it changed him. He's…"

Pietro tried to finish, but Qrow cut him off, knowing all too well how his friend feels right now.

"He's scared."

But according to Pietro, scared isn't really the right word.

"Paranoid would be the more appropriate term. You have to understand, it wasn't just the Grimm. Someone completely dismantled Atlas security code, made it their play-thing, and made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that is either a genius or one of our own. I fear the answer may be both, and so does the general."

Hearing him say that made the situation we were in all the more disheartening.

"Maybe Atlas isn't as safe as we thought."

Ren spoke out loud. Desperate for an answer, Oscar decided to speak his mind.

"After we came all this way, we can't just leave, can we?"

A valid question, but the relic's safety, nor Ironwood's state of mind was the farthest thing in Weiss' mind right now.

"How does the council feel about all of this? Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her?"

Pietro placed his hand on in his chin, deep in thought, carefully forming the words in his mind before answering.

"Well, the council's so scared, they'll agree to whatever he wants. Though, some representatives from Mantle…"

Before he could finish however, something in Pietro's mind clicked.

"Wait, you're… You're Weiss Schnee!"

Weiss gasps and steps back, with the of lot us looking nervous. Frankly, I'm surprised it took him this long to notice. Looking to move the conversation forward, Yang stepped in and stopped Pietro from making eye contact with Weiss, and divert his attention elsewhere.

"Wait, what was it that you were trying to say about Mantle?"

Too late for her unfortunately. Pietro's already in a groove.

"You painted it..."

Confused, Yang pulled back her arm.

"What?"

"Is everything okay?"

Ruby asked.

"You're Team RWBY!"

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang looked at each other, still at a lost as to how Pietro figured this all out.

"You know us?!"

Pietro could do nothing but chuckle at Ruby's question.

"Oh, my girl, I do. I most certainly do. And I feel like such a dunce for not recognizing you sooner. My daughter's told me so much about you."

Daughter? Ah. It would seem it worked, huh?

"Your… daughter?"

Before Pietro could answer Ruby's question, he shifted his gaze towards me and stared at me with a.. uh, not so friendly face.

"And you, I know you too."

Hearing that, the rest of my friends panicked and got ready to step back, but Pietro paid them no mind and decided to keep talking.

"Sonny Weems, the barber across the street. OR at least that was your alias last you were here. Ezra Flyheight in Beacon, and Ezrael Snow now. I guess your name doesn't really matter does it? The name means nothing cause all of those people are one and the same- the same OWL."

The tension in the room began to rise, as all of us, Pietro and Maria included, froze in the moment, not knowing what to do in this deadlock we found ourselves in. Thankfully, before anything rash happened, the city's alarm began to echo loudly along the streets of Mantle. The sound of footsteps running, and that all too familiar scream could only mean one thing: grimm.

"Guess this will have to wait."

I eagerly look at Pietro before rushing outside along with the rest of my team. What met us out in the cold were a massive pack Sabyrs prowling around town. The way the city is right now, it's easy to deduce why the city is the way it is, and why Ironwood is doing the things he's doing. All this fear are attracting grimm, so he has no choice but to increase security, tighten some corners of the law, and instil some form of control, but the unfortunate reality of it is that the more he does this, the more fear the people produces, creating a vicious cycle, and thus attracting more grimm.

Which is the real issue right now.

"Alright team."

Ruby grinned and looked at everyone.

"It's game time."

One by one we dispatched the grimm with ease, even with Blake's Gambol Shroud broken, we were able to defeat every Sabyr without much difficulty, so much so that it felt like it was almost too easy. We were tired, frustrated, and worse of all- careless. Out of nowhere, a Sabyr leapt into the air, catching Blake off guard.

"BLAKE!"

Fear quickly engulfed every single cell in my body as I watch the grimm extend its fangs, inching closer and closer till it was almost touching Blake's skin. In a panic, Blake could do nothing but close her eyes, till suddenly, a flash of green light shot down from the sky. One at a time, beams of green energy blasted away what remained of the grimm as a familiar silhouette gently floated down the sky.

"Penny!"

Pietro yelled.

I knew this was inevitable, but seeing that green dress mixed with that perky smile of hers, was still something to behold. Almost too good to be true. Penny's now shoulder length hair gently fluttered with the wind, as she landed gracefully right next to Pietro. Next to me was Ruby, who had on a smile that showed nothing but relief, longing, and disbelief- a smile that everyone shared, but none more relevant than that of Ruby's.

"Darling."

Pietro chuckled.

"Why don't you say hello to your friends?"

Penny tilted her head, curious as to what her father meant when he said friends. Slowly, she turned her head our way and almost instantly recognized every single one of us. Penny knelt down on the ground with a big smile on her face and began cocking her arms back, while she stared at Ruby all excitedly.

"Sal... U... TATIONS!"

In a sudden burst of speed, Penny dashed towards Ruby, knocking both of them to the ground while the two cuddled in the cold concrete.

"It is such a pleasure to see you all again!"

Penny yelled, as she helped Ruby up, who was trying to rub the tears off her eyes.

"Penny, I thought... you-"

Before she could finish, Pietro cut her off.

"Died?"

Pietro moved closer beside Ruby and Penny as he gleefully waved his arms.

"I guess, in a manner of speaking, she did. But..."

He shifted his gaze towards me, and gently nodded his head.

"Ezra here was able to recover her core from Amity Arena, and once it had made its way back to Atlas. It took me some time, but…"

Penny smiled and placed her hands on her hips.

"I'm as good as new! Better, even! And now I'm the official protector of the city!"

Curious, Jaune stepped in and questioned me.

"You recovered her core? But that would mean you-"

I didn't need Jaune to be worried over something that already happened so I cut him off.

"Snuck back into Beacon after it fell, yes. Back when you, Ren, and Nora were trying to figure out how to get to Patch."

A statement that Nora and Blake weren't too happy about judging by look of concern on their faces, especially Blake.

"You what?"

She asks, demanding for an answer.

"I was... trying to right some wrongs."

I gave Blake a faint smile, hoping that she'd get the message- that I'd rather not talk about Beacon anymore if possible. She tried to reach out her hand on my shoulder, but stopped halfway. I don't know how to explain it fully, but the way she did all that, made her feel really... distant. Before I could ask if something was up, Pietro raised his hand and urged me to look his way.

"I owe you for that one, Ezra. Thank you."

I cross my arm in front of my chest and nodded.

"You don't owe me anything. You saved my life before. Now we're even."

Pietro placed his hand on Penny's shoulder and immediately switched back to his happy-go-lucky personality.

"Besides, we're not going to let a little ripping to shreds stop us, are we?"

To which Penny responded to the way only Penny can, with a salute and a big smile.

"No sir!"

Penny excitedly grabs Ruby's shoulders.

"We have so many things to catch up about. I cannot wait!"

Just as Penny finishes her sentence with a grin, the city's alarms begin blaring again. Without changing her demeanor at all, Penny nodded and gently shook Ruby.

"It seems we will have to wait."

Penny bounces backward and salutes. As she charges her jets and then rockets off into the sky, she continues speaking quickly to Ruby even as she takes off.

"Let's talk more later! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures and tell you how I have been and I am just very excited about the whole experience!"

You know everything's confusing when even Nora, who normally doesn't have a care in the world points out how goofy the whole situation is.

"I can't tell if I completely understand what's going on or have, like, a million questions."

But Pietro remains happy and eager, as he made his way back to his clinic.

"And thankfully, I have about a thousand answers. But let's get out of this weather first."

A fair point.

"That was unexpected."

Jaune looked at Ren with a smile on his face, who didn't seem to disagree.

"Never a dull moment."

Qrow shoved his hand inside his pockets and groaned on the way back, although it was pretty obvious that he only did so to hide the fact that he was actually happy and relieved.

"But I wouldn't say unwelcome. I was honestly expecting things to go a lot rougher."

As we made our way back inside, I get this unnerving feeling that we're being watched, and before I could analyze why I feel the way that I am, several bolases came flying out of nowhere, wrapping up Nora, Oscar, Jaune and Ren, with the spheres at the ends of the ropes locking into place with Gravity Dust.

"Watch out!"

I yelled as I jump back.

Blake turns to look back at the commotion, just in time for me and the rest of Team RWBY to be caught. As Ruby lands, the Relic of Knowledge comes unhooked from her belt and clatters to the ground. Qrow draws his sword and looks for whoever the hell is attacking us, before getting captured himself. Five uniform-clad people come out of hiding and began to menacingly surround us.

"Good work, team."

The man with brown hair clapped his hands together and confidently puffed his chest out.

"Hey! What's going on?!"

Oscar yelled.

"Hey, pal! I'm a licensed Huntsman! Just helped save everyone?"

Ever the defiant one, Qrow argued the uniformed assailant as he groveled on the ground.

The brown haired man looks down at Qrow, twirling a horseshoe on his finger. He puts the horseshoe away and picks up Qrow's weapon. The other uniformed operatives begin gathering everyone else's weapons, while Atlesian Knight-200s approach, handing the confiscated weapons to the robots. The brown haired man cockily approaches Ruby, picks up the Relic, and looks at it.

"Hm. Let's get them loaded into the next transport."

Desperate, Ruby tried her best to reason and argue with what I assume are Atleasian Soldiers of some kind.

"Please! We were just trying to help!"

Just then, Pietro came bursting out of his clinic, coughing.

"What is the meaning of this? What are the Ace-Ops even doing down here in Mantle?"

ACE OPS!? That would mean this brown haired man is Clover.

"Doctor, good to see you. Well, we heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed Huntsmen. Plus, have gotten word that the OWL of Vale has resurfaced in Mantle."

What!? That's too quick, how the hell did they know that I managed to get back to Mantle? The security systems were still the same- garbage, and we took all necessary precautions to stay out of sight... wait, Pietro did say something about the hacker possibly being Atleasian as well- no! No time to think about that now.

Pietro tried to reason with the Ace Ops, to no avail. Soon we found ourselves in the back of a security van that quickly lifted us up to Atlas. As one can imagine, no one was too happy about the idea of getting caught. A million thoughts ran through our heads, at the forefront was where they were taking us, but it's not too difficult to figure that one out.

"Jail, we're going to jail!"

A stranger began to cry in the opposite corner of the van, as everyone else contemplated our situation.

"Wouldn't be the first time I'd find myself there."

I sarcastically sighed right after.

Soon after, the city of Atlas slowly came into view, putting everyone in awe once more. There is something that I find curious however, it's the fact that we're nowhere near where jail is, in fact, we're in the complete opposite of where we needed to be to begin with...

"Atlas Academy?"

Weiss asks.

As the van gently landed on the school grounds, the door swung open. An Atlesian Soldier began escorting us one by one out of the van. Well... everyone but myself and the other stranger. Just before I could step off, the guard pushed me back down and locked the doors.

"EZRA!"

The sound of Ruby's yelling was all I heard last, as the van flew to where the jail should be.

"Ah. That's more like it."

I whispered to myself. I crossed my legs and took a deep breath, knowing that I really don't have much time left to talk to this stranger named...

"Forest."

In snap of finger, Forest's personality instantly went from crying hopelessly to serious and emotionless.

"Mr. Snow."

I smirked and closed my eyes without ever looking back at him.

"Are we safe?"

Forest tapped his handcuffs three times on the steel chair, a universal sign call sign in our faction that meant it's safe to talk about confidential topics in this area.

"How many?"

I ask.

"About a good chunk of the Nest's Vale faction made it's way here."

I nodded back in response, again without ever looking back as to avoid suspicions from the guards driving up front.

"Was going to settle down in Argus, till we heard news of the embargo. Argus would have been a good spot, considering it bordered two nations. We could have gone anywhere from there, but once they started talking about closing down Atleasian borders..."

I finished what he was trying to say.

"You jumped ship."

Made sense. Clearly staying in Argus was a prison sentence in and of itself, Atlas isn't necessarily better, but I'd rather get trapped in a place that has the protection of the strongest military in the world.

"So, who's in charge?"

Even without looking back, I can tell Forest was grinning.

"Hathaway."

Hathaway... grandmother... Just as I began contemplating the thought of reuniting with my grandmother, the window separating the cab and the back of the van swung open. The guards up front were messing around with my OWL helmet, mocking me, till they accidentally pushed a button on the side that began playing a recording.

[AH, HELLO! Future me, this is... you from the past. Wow, this is dumb, but here we go. Remember this day? Atlas... Mantle... the cold, the suffering, the damage you caused and the people you owed. You justified all of this in hopes for a better tomorrow- that one day, you'll make something out of yourself that doesn't involve hurting others. Maybe I'm just being naive now, and the world really is full of despair.]

[To you, from me, years ago... hoping that tomorrow will bring something new- a better life.]

Heh. Years ago huh? What can I say, I'm still hoping.