The Blue Huntsman

by LogBook

Born in Remnant and forced to attend Beacon, join Mega Man in his adventures alongside his friends as he battles evil, learns to be human, and hopefully earns a happy ending. Can he and his friends put a stop to Dr. Wily and the evils that plague Remnant? Read to find out. Slight AU after volume 2.

65. V4 C24: A Raven's Sorrow

RWBY and it's characters are owned by RoosterTeeth and was created by Monty Oum

Mega Man and it's characters are owned by Capcom

"Speech" = Normal talking

"Speech" = Thoughts or robotic speaking or character narration

"Speech" = Demonic speaking or Boss titles

Speech = Narration or description

A/N: before the chapter starts, I would just like to say that this is going to delve into some more AU territory, especially in regards to Raven's reasoning for leaving, which mainly has some changes and some added to context to it. Also, this chapter ended up being longer than I expected it to be, but unlike last time it wouldn't have worked to split it into parts, so you're getting one large chapter.

With that being said, let's get into the chapter.

---

Volume 4 Chapter 24: A Raven's Sorrow

"Yang..."

"...Hey Yang..."

"...Can you hear me..."

"...Open your eyes if you can hear me..." Yang heard a familiar voice call out to her from within the darkness of the consciousness of her own mind, as she then found herself flung out of that darkness, as she jolted awake.

"Ugh... what happened..." she wondered out loud, as she saw the IV drip in her arm and herself laying in one of the beds of the infirmary, while the rest of her team were in the other beds, and the robots were currently on some of the stretchers being repaired further by Doctor Light.

"You fainted, you were out for a few minutes, really had us worried there." Yang heard, as everything around her became clear once more and she saw that the person speaking to her was Qrow.

"Oh hey there Qrow..." Yang mumbled, as she clutched her head due to an incoming headache. "...Oh I remember now..."

"It wasn't just that, you were all incredibly sore and depleted from these last few hours, the robots weren't the only ones banged up." Replied Tai, as Yang looked over and saw that the rest of her team had been patched up with bandages and also had an IC drip in their arm.

"How bad was it?" Asked Yang.

"Some broken bones, bruises, dehydration even, Jaune and Pyrrha had it extra bad." Said Weiss.

"So where is the rest of the school?" Asked Yang.

"They've either been discharged or are still making their way back from the Emerald Forest." Replied Ruby.

"Oh..." Said Yang, as she briefly locked eyes with Raven before averting her eyes away from her, though not without noticing a slight hint of guilt in the woman's eyes. Though as she tried to find something else to speak about to not have to talk about the elephant in the room, Raven spoke up first.

"Look, Yang..."

"Don't..." Yang simply cut her off, as tears were flowing down her face while trying to ignore the pain that was coursing through her body as she tried to get herself up "...don't do that, you don't get to vanish from my life for years on end, make me wonder why my mother left me to the point that I nearly got myself and Ruby killed to find the answers, pick up the slack when Dad and Qrow couldn't after mom died, your teammate by the way, only for you to now drop in because you were from what I can assume hurt in a fight and couldn't go anywhere else."

"Yang... I can explain..."

"Explain what!" Yang yelled out "That you're a deadbeat who'd rather play bandit than stick around to raise your own kid, help out the people you were a team with when your team leader died, but no, you stayed away, you weren't there, so what is there to explain Raven! What is there to explain..." Yang said with her voice breaking down with the last part of the sentence.

"Did you get it out of your system?" Asked Raven, with a hint of sadness behind her voice that she didn't do a very good job at hiding.

"For now... there's a lot more I have to say depending on what your answer is."

"I had my reasons for leaving." Replied Raven.

"Oh really, and what reason could that be Raven?" Asked Doctor Light "Because I went to your wedding, I hadn't seen you that happy in years, you were quite literally glowing, ready to start a new life, so what happened. Because I couldn't even believe it when I heard over the phone that you had simply vanished without a trace."

"Doctor Light... I..." Raven started, only to be interrupted.

"It's still Thomas to you Raven, you leaving for years doesn't throw away our friendship."

"Sorry, I just wanted to be respectful, you did earn that title. More than some people here..." Raven said as she send a glare towards Doctor Wily, who merely shrugged in response "Regardless, you might all think that I left for selfish reasons or because I couldn't imagine myself as a mother. But that couldn't be further from the truth."

"Then why did you leave?" Asked Tai.

"It was to protect all of you." Said Raven.

"Protect us from who?" Asked Qrow, while ignoring the obvious Salem sized elephant in the back of the minds of those that knew about her "I mean, sure we messed around quite a bit as huntsmen back when we attended Beacon, but we were more than capable of defending ourselves, what could possibly be out there that you, and only you would need to protect us from..."

"Uncle Hawk..."

"What..." Qrow mumbled, as he suddenly felt his legs give out as he fell backwards into a nearby chair as childhood memories of training until his legs couldn't carry him anymore and his back being used to put out cigars came flooding back to him "...No... oh nononononono..." he began to mumble to himself, as he placed his head between his hands.

Ironwood, having noticed this quickly went over to him and started shaking him "Qrow, snap out of it!"

"No... not the cigar again... I'll train harder... just not the cigar again..." Qrow continued mumbling, not even aware of where he currently was, as to him he felt himself returning to the camp he grew up in.

"Qrow!" Professor Goodwitch yelled out, as she walked over to him and slapped him in the face, as he seemed to return to normal. "Better?"

"Somewhat..." he replied with a raspy tone in his voice.

"Uhm... miss Raven, who is this Hawk person you were talking about?" Asked Ruby.

Raven sighed and replied "Hawk Branwen was the leader of the Branwen tribe when we were young, he was ruthless, cold, uncaring, and gods help you if he found out that someone had gotten sick or didn't meet the requirements for collecting food or worse... you didn't meet the standards for training in his eyes. He was essentially the parental figure of the tribe, sure there were other adults, but there was pecking order and no one thought it would be wise to mess with someone like Hawk Branwen."

"And why is that important?" Asked Tai.

"Tai, do you remember about us opening up about why we were send to Beacon?" Asked Raven, to which Tai nodded "Well, that was his doing. He had gotten angrier and angrier about the fact that we kept losing potential weapons, food and even some members of the tribe to seasoned huntsmen, so he thought it was a good idea to send to two kids to Beacon in the hopes of us bringing back the skills we had learned to increase the strength of the tribe, to be able to keep up with those huntsmen that we would run into."

"No... that's wrong, he send you to Beacon, he send me here to get rid of me, so I'd be someone else's problem." Qrow spat.

"I can't disagree with that, that was his reasoning." Replied Raven.

"But things changed, didn't they?" Asked Yang "Because from what I heard from dad, Beacon changed both of you, you were happier, your team became your family."

"You're right, you're absolutely right, and so once we graduated we both decided to not return to the tribe and stay with Summer and Tai, people we had considered our true family. But unfortunately, the universe had other ideas." Said Raven, as she started to explain...

---

seventeen and a half years earlier

It had all happened when you were around six months old, I'm not entirely sure about the exact date, but what I do remember was that I had put you to bed for a couple of hours and that I was still awake reading while Tai was fast asleep next to me. I had gotten into the habit of staying awake for a few extra hours in case you were awake from a nightmare and needed cheering up, or were in need of some extra food.

But that night was different, for the first time in six months you didn't cry, I didn't hear anything, it was as if you could hear a pin drop in the hallway, and that was when I knew that something was off. So I got dressed and rushed to your room, only to be met with an empty crib and you nowhere in sight. Sure the window was open, but you always liked the cool breeze that entered your room so I didn't think anything off of it.

"No, this can't be, where could she have gone..." Raven wondered to herself, as she tried her hardest not to panic.

But that's when I saw it, the note laying inside of your crib.

"Come to the cliff at the end of the forest and come alone, if you don't you can say goodbye to your daughter, and try not to take too long - Hawk"

I was seething with rage over this, I could handle the training he threw at me and Qrow and everything else he did, but I wasn't about to let him touch a hair on your head. So I grabbed my weapons, left the house and rushed over to where he had said he would be. And there he was, holding Yang in his arms while he was pinching her to see if she would react.

"I'm here!" Raven said to the man currently holding her daughter hostage, the man turned around as he revealed himself as the man standing in front of Raven was incredibly tall, a few heads taller than Raven was, a man who mostly wore rags over his body as well as cape that was made of the head of a wolf for the hoodie and with the rest of it's body being used as the cape, with there being a massive crossbow mounted on his back. The man had red eyes, a scar going over his left eye, a continuous scowl on his face and brownish combed back hair similar to that of an actual hawk.

"Why hello there Raven, you're later than I thought you'd be, my my has living with those lesser humans made you soft, how revolting." Said Hawk, as he continued to pinch baby Yang who briefly opened her eyes before closing them again "Oh wow, she has your eyes if you annoy her enough."

"Let my daughter go Hawk." Raven demanded.

"Are you sure that that is the term you want to be using with me? Did I teach you nothing, or have you simply forgotten my lessons?" Asked Hawk, as he slowly started to hold baby Yang over the side of the cliff.

"No, I just forgot about how much of a bastard you were, now give me back my daughter!" Raven demanded.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, temper Raven and is that any way to speak to your family?" Hawk asked, as he put baby Yang back into his arms and away from the cliff.

"You were never my family, and the fact that you had to sneak in and steal my daughter at night just shows as much." Replied Raven, as an angry scowl appeared on his face.

"Stupid girl, have you forgotten who raised you, forgotten who gave you shelter, food, ensured that you continued to live. You live because I was so generous to allow you to keep living, same goes for that worthless brother of yours, and this is how you repay me... after I send you to a place where you could live like royalty for a few years, you choose to abandon your family." Hawk spat.

"No, I didn't abandon anyone, I just learned who my true family were and you are not family."

"Hmm, pitiful and such disrespect to your elders too, why I think I ought to teach you a lesson in respect." Said Hawk as he moved baby Yang over to the edge of the cliff as he removed two of his fingers from her, as he noticed Raven getting ready to unsheathe her sword.

"Remove one more finger from her and slaughter you where you stand, remember you needed me and Qrow to attend Beacon to ensure the tribe could be on par with huntsman, and since I finished Beacon, it's clear that you and I aren't on the same level."

Hearing the threat Hawk quickly moved baby Yang backwards and replied "What's stopping you is the rest of our tribe and some of our allied tribes, because while you may kill me, you won't make it home back in time to stop them from slaughtering your teammates in their sleep, and even if you manage to save them, you four will forever be on the run from the other tribes as they hunt you down. None of you will ever be safe. And let's not forget, that by the time you reach me, your daughter will have been burned up from the inside."

Raven flinched at the memory of his semblance Eternal Fire, a semblance that would allow Hawk to set a specific area of the body on fire and would only go out if he were to turn off the fire. Raven remember how the man had made examples out of former tribe members who didn't live up to his expectations, as some of them begged him to stop before they stopped and became former husks of themselves. "What do you want?" Asked Raven, as she snapped out of the memory.

"Not going to try and fight me on this?" Asked Hawk.

"There is no scenario where I win in this, so what do you want?"

"I want what I'm owed, the metaphorical investment that I made when I send you and the brother of yours to Beacon to be paid out, I'm demanding that you return to the tribe and use what you learned for our benefit."

"And why not ask this when I graduated?"

Hawk smirked at Raven as he replied "The collateral wasn't big enough back then, then again, not like you know that much about blackmail."

Raven cursed to herself internally, how could she had been careless, she knew what Hawk was capable off "Fine... I'll come with you, but give me twenty four hours to get everything in order, after that, I will return to the tribe."

"Good." Said Hawk, as he handed baby Yang to Raven as he started to walk off "You have until the stroke of midnight tomorrow, and don't think about betraying me..." Hawk said as he pointed towards some smoke coming from within the forest "...There are some members of the tribe who I treated with a little excursion to this island, they'll be staying here a little longer, if I find out through them that you're planning on backstabbing me everyone dies and I'll make you watch, and then I'll simply take your daughter with me to the ends of Remnant and make sure you will never find her, am I making myself clear?"

"Very clear... sir..."

"Ah, so there is some respect left in you, glad to see that my teachings stuck with you. I will see you tomorrow, don't disappoint me, you know what happens if you do. Oh, and don't think I won't be able to reach that doctor friend of yours in Atlas, I have my ways after all." Hawk said as he walked off into the forest, until Raven could no longer see him as tears started streaming down her face as she hugged Yang close to her.

I quickly and quietly returned home that night as I returned Yang to her crib and got back to bed, unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night. As I kept turning and twisting in bed trying to figure out what to do, debating on whether or not I should just go quietly with him or spend the night taking out every member of the tribe on the island and beyond while risking the lives of those that I cared for. But then I remembered something Summer had to told me, that I could always go to her for advice, and so I did the following morning.

The next morning

I had waited until the next morning after we had finished breakfast to talk to Summer about what had happened the previous night, and although I did my best to keep what had happened a secret from her, a part of me knew that she might have had a hunch as to what could be going on, as she kept asking me if everything was fine and despite trying to wave her off for a bit longer she kept persisting and giving me an unconvinced look as I tried convincing her of such, until I couldn't keep it up anymore and had to tell her.

So, I took Summer with me into the forest behind the house and told her everything that went down, to say that she was angry for what he had done would be an understatement, she was absolutely fuming with rage. And she had been angry before, but I had never seen her that angry.

"That monster, to threaten you with something like that!"

"Keep your voice down Summer, you have no idea who could be listening in on our conversation."

"But we can't just let him get away with this, you can't just give up and go with him."

"Unfortunately that might be the only option that we have."

"No, we can hide Yang at Beacon with Professor Ozpin and go after all those bandits as a team, heck I'm sure that some of our former classmates would be willing to help. Who knows, maybe Thomas would be willing to send his creation here to help us out, after all, he did quite well stopping his classmate from taking over the world. We can't just do nothing!"

"We're not doing nothing Summer, we're not giving up, we just can't throw away our lives to take them out. After all, didn't you say that all life is sacred."

"A man like that doesn't deserve to live Raven! You said it yourself back at Beacon, the strong live and the weak die, and to me that man seems pretty weak to have to resort to this to get his point across."

Raven smirked at that and said "Then I guess we rubbed off each other more than I thought, but again, we can't do what you're suggesting."

"Then why tell me all of this, why tell me that you're going with him, and why not tell Tai and Qrow?"

"Because I won't be allowed to come back Summer, I'm doing this because I need to make sure you're all safe, and for that I need to go away. Because there is no other option, there is a literal sword hanging above our heads. So, I'm telling you all of this because I want to ask you a favour, take care of them."

"Aren't I already doing that?" Asked Summer, trying to hide the tears that were forming at the thought of having to let her best friend go.

"No, not like that, I need you to be there as a crutch for Qrow, as a support for Tai because I won't be allowed to leave him a letter and I don't want to risk him going after me like the golden retriever that he is. And... I need you to be a mother to Yang, raise her, teach her to be kind and good and warm like you, make sure she doesn't end up like her mother."

"I'm sorry... I can't do that." Replied Summer, as she broke down in tears and fell to her knees, with Raven getting down next to her and grabbed onto her hands while looking into her eyes as she said.

"I know you can't, I know it will be hard, how do you think this is for me, I have to leave my family, my own flesh and blood behind, this won't be easy for anyone, but I'm still willing to do it... if it means that I'll be able to keep those I love safe."

"Then make me a promise."

"And what's that?"

"Promise me that you'll drop by, just so that I know that you're still alive, just so that I know that I don't have to go and hunt down those bandits to the ends of Remnant, promise me that you'll drop by at least once a month."

"Summer... I don't think I can..."

"I'm not asking! As your team leader, I'm ordering you to do so. Drop by once a month and I'll be able to do this, otherwise... otherwise I don't think... I don't think I'll be able to pull this off, while also keeping things a secret."

Raven stayed silent for a bit, thinking over the words that Summer had just told her but after a bit of thinking and looking into Summer's pleading eyes she replied "Very well then, I'll do my best to keep my promise. But would you really go to the ends of Remnant for me? And hunt him down for me if I were to perish?"

"Course I would, I love you all, I would do that for all three of you." Replied Summer as the two of them got up and hugged each other.

"And you're not mad at me that I have to leave you all behind?" Asked Raven.

"No, remember that no matter what happens, that I will never hold this over you." Replied Summer to which Raven merely nodded.

And so I went about my day, making preparations for my departure, making sure that I spend as much time as I could with Yang because I knew it would be the last bit of time I could spend with her, while also staying close to Tai, Summer and Qrow. And then when it got close to midnight I silently said my goodbyes to all of them and got ready to leave the house until I reached one of the less frequently used docks on Patch and met up with Hawk and the rest of his bandits, just as I had promised.

Unfortunately, he had heard from one of his spies what I agreed to with Summer, but said that he would allow it because he knew that even if I would check in with Summer that I would never be able to get close to the people I loved ever again. And to him, that was punishment enough, and as he claimed that he was such a kind and generous man, he would leave all of you alone. So, true to my word, I went with him, while also keeping my word to Summer to drop by at least once a month.

---

Back in the present

Raven sighed as she finished telling the story as she said "...And that's why I left..."

"What happened to Hawk?" Asked Qrow.

"What are you talking about?" Replied Raven.

"The fact that you're here means that either he kicked you to the curb or that something else had happened, and from the few times that I met you in the last few years, you seemed to be doing quite well, so tell me, what happened to that bastard?" Asked Qrow.

"I got into a fight with him over leadership a year after I left..." Replied Raven, as she began to explain.

---

Sixteen and a half years earlier

Because despite being brought in to assist the tribe with their endeavours and to get the best of seasoned huntsmen it just wasn't enough for him, he wanted bigger and better things, he wanted us to rob bigger targets like freight trains or even rob outposts being run by the Atlas Military. He got more careless, more and more of our tribe were lost during raids, but he didn't care, he knew that as long as I was one his side that he would be practically invincible, no one could touch him with me around.

And the rest of the tribe knew this, as such more and more of them began to turn against Hawk and began following me, because despite those losses I still tried to get back and save those that could be saved. So I let it play out for a few more months, let more of the tribe turn against him, until he didn't know what hit him. Because after nearly a year of not caring for the needs of those beneath him, and the rest of the tribe realising that he wasn't as invincible as he made himself out to be, they were all done with him.

So one night we staged an uprising against him and his four commanders who stayed loyal to him despite everything, but as we had realised they really were all talk and no action, so they were quickly slaughtered, with Hawk being the only one left standing, as he tried to flee from the camp, but found that all exits had been sealed off. So there was no place for him to run nor hide, leading him to try and fight all of us.

"You wretched brats, I give you food, I give you shelter, I give you a reason to exist and this is how you repay me! I ought to slaughter each and every one of you right here to make an example for those that survive, starting with you!" Hawk exclaimed, as he reached for his crossbow, infused it with his semblance and aimed it at Raven as he fired the arrow at her.

Only for Raven to dodge out of the way, as she opened up a portal where once stood, as it entered the portal which then closed and she then opened a new portal in front of Hawk where the arrow flew out and impaled him in the gut as he fell to the ground while clutching his stomach as he felt the arrow start to burn him up from the inside. Raven walked over to him as she pushed the arrow further into his gut as he screamed out in pain, after which she took it out and used her blade to stab him through his upper right leg.

And as Hawk was writhing in pain, she took out the sword and stabbed him in his left shoulder, as she then kneeled down next to him and looked him deep in the eyes as she said "Oh my, how the mighty have fallen. Look at you now, a man who believed he was on top of the world, who could get away with abusing those beneath him reduced to a bleeding, snivelling, cowardly mess. When did you get so weak? Pathetic."

"What are you going to do, huh? Kill me! After all, I did teach you that the weak die, didn't I... so go on... end it... END IT!" Hawk spat, only for him to look at her in abject horror as she shook her head. "What... what do you mean no... oh I see... ahahahahaha... I see, you truly have gone soft, haven't you."

"No, killing you would be too easy." Replied Raven.

"So what then... keep me prisoner?"

"No, I'm banishing you from the tribe. If you're so strong as you claimed for all those years, then let's see how you do on your own in the wild..." Replied Raven as she turned to some of the other members of the tribe and said "Get him out of my sight and make sure that he never sets foot in this camp again." to which the bandits nodded, as they pulled Hawk up from the ground and began to escort him out of the camp.

"You'll regret this Raven! You should have killed me! I don't care how long it takes! I will destroy you and everyone you love! You hear me! Your daughter is dead! I'll end her myself, even if it takes years!" Hawk continued to yell, as he was carried into the woods further and further, until his voice was barely audible.

---

Back in the present

"...he was dropped off into the woods with such severe wounds and injuries that there is no way he would have been able to survive, as far as I'm concerned he either perished that night or survived for a few more days and was then eaten by some Beowolves, there is no way he could have come back from that." Raven finished explaining.

"But what about all of the other tribes he was allied with? The ones he said he would send after us." Asked Tai.

"With half of them he either broke off his alliance with during the year that he became so arrogant, so I checked with them to make sure they wouldn't do anything. The other half we hunted down and killed to make sure that you guys would be left alone and to send a message to what happens to anyone who dares go after those closest to me. All of you have no idea the amount of blood I had to spill to ensure that you were all safe and that no one would come after you. I will say, it made checking in on all of you a lot easier."

---

Sixteen and a half years earlier

The following day I even made sure to pay Summer a visit, and it was just my luck she was home alone that day, seems that you three had gone on a little trip into town while she stayed at home. I made a portal into the living room and made sure to check that no one was there beforehand, although I did end up causing her to drop the cookies she was baking.

"Raven, don't scare me like that." Summer hissed.

"Wow, never thought I'd be able to sneak up on you like that." Replied Raven.

Summer rolled her eyes as she replied "What are you doing here?" as Raven tried to pick up one of the cookies to eat, only for it to get snatched out of her hands "Those are for Tai, Qrow and Yang, now tell me what are you doing here? You had visited us last week, you shouldn't be here for another three weeks."

"I overthrew Hawk as the leader of the tribe and left him injured in the wild."

"So does that mean it's over, that you'll come back?"

"No... even if he's dead, there are still his allies to worry about."

"Well what will you do?"

"I'm going to hunt down each and every one of them, I need to make sure you're all safe." Replied Raven, as Summer immediately hit her on the head. "Ow! Summer, what was that for?"

"Do you even hear yourself right now? Hunting them all down until we're all safe, Raven that will just create a never ending cycle of violence and death, you will never be able to rest. You will have to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life." Summer exclaimed, as she hoped that it would convince Raven not to take part in something like that.

"I know that Summer, but if it means that you're all safe it will be worth it, it will mean that none of you have to look over your shoulders."

Summer shook her head upon hearing that as she whispered "You know I can't agree with that."

"I'm aware of that, I'm also aware that there isn't much you can do to stop me in this." Replied Raven.

"Then you really haven't changed as much as I thought you had."

"I guess I didn't, I'll see you next month." Said Raven, as she opened up another portal and left through it. Leaving Summer on her own to pick up the dropped cookies.

---

Back in the present

"If even mom said that to you, then why not come back fully, you had a chance to come back and you would have only been gone for a year, instead you decided to play hero..." Yang said bitterly, causing Raven to get a pained expression on her face as she sighed.

"Believe me Yang, there was nothing more that I wanted than to come back to you, but I couldn't risk leaving the tribe unattended someone had to lead them, while also making sure that you were all safe. And Summer did a better job than I ever could have, you have no idea how much blood I have on my hands because I wanted to keep you all safe." Replied Raven.

"So you just choose to stay gone..."

"Yang... you have no idea... no idea how many times I dropped by to check on all of you and had restrain myself from running into the house to hug you, to hold you close to me and say that everything would alright. That mommy would be right there, that mommy won't leave, you have no idea how much it hurt me to see you grow up from afar and not be able to do anything about it. The nights I've spend crying, wishing that things would be different, but knowing that it couldn't be..."

"But..."

"You think that I'm cruel and heartless, and I can live with that, but I need you to understand that despite only watching you from the shadows, that I have still saved you, Qrow, Tai and even Ruby in the times that you got yourselves into too much trouble. Remember when you took your sister and went looking for me, it wasn't just your uncle saving you, I made sure that most of them were taken care off while Qrow took out the ones going for you. And I'm sure that you remember the train." Said Raven to which Yang nodded silently, as some silence fell into the room as Yang pulled her knees close to her while taking it all in.

"Speaking off saving people..." Said Rock, breaking the silence "...A few months ago you saved me from Napalm Man when the school had the dance, and before leaving you said that we were now even, but what did you mean with that. I don't think we've ever met, or at least I don't remember ever meeting you."

Raven chuckled at that and replied "That's because we never actually met when it happened, but let me ask you a question, when you first faced that napalm robot where did you fight him?"

Rock took a second to think about that question before replying "It was in a forest, but near a lot tunnels as well as some weapon storages. Although the last part might have been part of a moving fortress, he was travelling across Remnant stealing weapons."

"That was our camp, he was holding us hostage while he was stealing our weapons, and while we were unable to even stand up to him, which I will admit not my proudest moment. But then you came in and turned him to scrap metal."

---

10 years earlier

Rock had managed to get Napalm Man on his last legs, and as he was nearly beaten Rock marched over to Napalm Man and held him up in the air, as he yelled "Where's Doctor Light!"

"Hah... I'll never tell you Mega Man." Replied Napalm Man.

"I don't have the patience to deal with you! Either you tell me where he is, or I'll blow you up!" Yelled Rock.

"Oh please, even if I tell you, you'll just blow me up... I know you're desperate to find him and you've got nothing to threaten me with, so go ahead, blow me up... Make the fire works look nice at least." Replied Napalm Man as he tried to give a cocky smirk, which was difficult due to a lack of a mouth.

"Very well then, just know that I would have spared you if you had talked." Replied Rock to which Napalm Man eyes widened as he tried to struggle free which Rock ignored, as he charged up one final charge shot and blew right through Napalm Man as he exploded and Rock took the weapon that was left behind by him. And as Rock was doing so he looked around the room and noticed all the weapons as he said "I better destroy all of this before I leave to interrogate the next robot master about dad's whereabouts, can't have these weapons fall into the wrong hands."

Rock then switched to his new weapon and began to fill the entire room with the napalm capsules, until it was all full and he set the timer for thirty seconds, after which he teleported out of the room and away from the forest he was in.

Him teleporting out of the forest was seen from outside of the base by Raven who was standing far away from it, while the rest of her tribe was busy taking out the smaller robots that were still roaming the forest, as she smirked to herself as she said "Gotta hand it to you Thomas, you certainly made an impressive robot, certainly owe him one. Hope he can find you in time, I don't want to have another friend die." as she was then approached by one of her bandits.

"Boss, the entire forest has been cleared from those machines."

"Good..." Said Raven, as the base then blew up into a massive ball of fire "...and at least that's taken care off."

"But... weren't some of our stronger weapons and some of the heavy artillery we had still in there? Ya know, some of that was kind of important."

Realisation hit Raven upon hearing that as she cursed out "SHIT!"

---

Back in the present

"Oh, I didn't even know, my bad." Rock apologised, with a sheepish look on his face.

"Don't beat yourself up over it kid, the remains of the robots more than made up for it." Replied Raven. "Besides, that robot said he'd blow us to pieces after he was done, so you did end up saving us."

"I didn't even see any of you." Replied Rock.

"kind of the point of a good bandit, they only want to be seen when they need to be seen..." Said Raven, as she was about to explain until she was interrupted by the door the infirmary opening as Ren, Nora and Oran walked in with everyone who had been in the Emerald Forest behind them.

"Jaune, Pyrrha, we're here, are you two ok!..." Nora yelled, until her eyes met the eyes of Raven as she and Ren quickly turned Oran around as well with the three of them getting ready to leave as she said "...Never mind, I see you're all busy, we'll come back later."

"Stop..." Said Raven, as the three of them froze in place "...stuff's coming out regardless, so you three might as well just stay here."

"Are you sure, cause... well... everything's kinda..." Nora started.

"...tense... nearly everyone in this room is trying to hold in their emotions... we can leave if you want." Ren finished.

"No, you're staying, and that's final. Do you three have anything to say to that?" Asked Raven.

"No boss." Said Ren, Nora and Oran, as the three of them entered the room and gave a quick nod to both Raven and Freya before sitting down.

"That's better." Said Raven. "That being said, good to see that you two made it to Beacon..."

"Thanks boss lady." Replied Nora, while Ren nodded, while Raven put her focus on Oran with a stern look on her face.

"...As for you, what did I tell you about wandering too far away from the tribe? I've been worried sick about you for the last week."

"Not to... and sorry..."

"It doesn't matter, you made it here as well and you're finally speaking more than one word at a time, so that's at least some progress." Said Raven, as Sun then spoke up from the doorway.

"Uhm, can we come in too? We kind of need some patching up." Said Sun, as his, Cardin's and Coco's teams were still standing in the door.

"Yes, of course, get in here. Just be really quiet while you're in here." Professor Goodwitch snapped, to which the three teams quickly moved into the room and went to the other side of the room to get patched up.

"Now, do you three want to explain, or do I have to?" Asked Raven, as the realisation hit Ruby.

"Wait a minute, was that what you guys were talking about before we left to storm Wily's fortress a few days ago? Something about her forcing you all to keep quiet about something."

"That would be correct, yes. We didn't think you had heard us." Replied Ren.

"Are you saying, what I think I'm saying?" Asked Weiss.

"If what you two are thinking is that me, Ren and the kid have known the boss for a while now, then you would be absolutely correct." Said Nora.

"You're joking right?" Asked Qrow, to which Raven merely shook her head, as he immediately grabbed his flask and took a drink from it "Wonderful, truly wonderful. How did that even happen though?"

"Well..." Ren started

---

Nine years earlier

Nora and I had been on the road for a few weeks after our village was destroyed, and we had been able to get by quite well, finding food wherever we could and managing to find proper shelter for a few days before we had to move on again. But we never truly found a place to stay permanently, that all changed when we one day stumbled across another village that had long been deserted save for a few Grimm roaming the place. So seeing as there was no one else there, we entered the village in search of more supplies, all the while I kept my semblance up to keep us hidden from the Grimm.

And as we were exploring one of the buildings in search of food and ammunition we soon realised that we weren't alone in the village, we started hearing voices coming from outside of the home we were in. But before we could even attempt to leave the home, we started hearing footsteps. And before we knew it, we were inside of the living room hiding behind the couch as all the exits became unusable to us.

I mean we could have fought our way out, my hammer wasn't as big as it was now, but we could have won.

Nora, who is telling the story again?

Look, I'm just saying.

Nora...

Right, right, sorry about that, continue Ren.

As I was saying, we found ourselves unable to leave. But strangely enough, they had immediately found us despite our best efforts to stay hidden. Granted, we would later learn that as bandits they had learned to check for sudden movement when they appeared, but we didn't know that. But at that point we found ourselves caught, our hands tied behind our backs and brought in front of their leader who had just finished scavenging for weapons in the other part of the village.

"Hey... uh... boss, we found some stragglers over here. What do ya want us to do with em'?" Said one of the bandits, as Raven turned around to face both Ren and Nora as well as her underlings. Raven took a good hard look at both Ren and Nora, and noticed that there was something off about them. Noticing that Ren seemed to struggle to keep something up, Nora was desperately darting her eyes between Raven and Ren, as well as the fact that the forest around the village was surrounded by Grimm, she raised her sword to Nora's throat.

Noticing the look of shock on both of their faces, she asked "Tell me something boy, how did you and your travelling companion get past the Grimm that were roaming around the village?" to which Ren stayed quiet, while Nora was pleading quietly to Ren to say something. Seeing as he wasn't speaking one of the nearby bandits smacked Ren in the back of the head as he yelled.

"The boss asked you something, you should answer her if ya know what's good for ya!" But despite the warning, Ren stayed quiet. So Raven spoke up again, as she felt that her patience was running out.

"Look here boy, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, I know you found some way to get past the Grimm. Now, either you tell us or things are going to get ugly."

"You'll kill us regardless of whether or not I tell you, I know the type of people bandits are." Replied Ren softly, but loud enough for Raven to hear.

Raven frowned upon hearing that and said "What a pity, I wanted to be nice about this... men, I want you to take her out and on the count of three you throw his companion to the Grimm. Is the understood?" she asked, to which the bandits that were with her nodded, as they started to take Nora out of the house while she started screaming for Ren, all the while Raven started counting down.

"Ren... don't let them do this!"

"One."

"Ren!"

"Two."

"REN! NO!"

"Thre-..."

"Wait!" Ren exclaimed, as he stood up to face Raven while the one bandit that remained struggled to keep him in his place "It- it's my semblance... I'll tell you everything... just spare her afterwards... please... she's all I have left..." Raven gave a nod to the bandit that was still with her as a signal to take Ren outside, where he was immediately met with a massive bear hug from Nora.

There she addressed four of her bandits "Take those two back to the camp and bring them to my tent, make sure they are fed and that they don't leave before I return, I will finish up here. Is that understood?" She asked to which the four bandits merely nodded, after which they took Ren and Nora away from the village and took them to the bandit camp that was nearby.

And like that, in a journey that took several hours we were taken to the Branwen camp and placed inside of the boss' tent, where we waited for several more hours for her to come back. As the other bandits did exactly what she had asked off of them, until she finally arrived back at the camp with everything that she had managed to obtain from that village and the other abandoned villages in the area.

So I told her everything, what had happened that led to us ending up on the road, how my semblance worked and what we were doing in the village before we were ambushed by her bandits. And after I finished telling her everything, she looked at me while thinking with a look in her eyes that to this day I still can't get a proper read on, until she finally spoke up.

"Boy, do you have any idea of what you have been gifted with? A semblance that allows you to hide your emotions from the Grimm so they'll stay away from you." Said Raven, as she chuckled softly.

"Something wrong?" Ren asked.

"Oh nothing, just... on days like these I wonder if I was born with a second semblance that brings me good luck." Raven wondered as she quickly shook the thought away, before addressing Ren "Now, I'm sure that you know that I can't let you leave, a semblance like that would do wonders here, and I can't kick out your companion, I've seen what anger can drive people towards. So, you two will join the tribe."

"But what about..." Nora started, only to be interrupted by Raven.

"You will receive the training you need to take it out, but as you both are right now, I wouldn't even let you lead a raid on an abandoned village that has no Grimm surrounding it. But mark my words, you will both find a place in this tribe."

And she kept her word, we were very quickly welcomed into the tribe, sure training felt like torture at times but after a few weeks it became part of our routine. As if we had been a part of the tribe for years at that point, though it did sometimes feel like the boss was giving us preferential treatment with the extra food she gave us and making sure that we never got injured too badly, and even if it seemed unlikely back then. Knowing what we know now however, it might make some sense as to why that was.

So years passed, and we became more proficient in our fighting and survival skills, with Nora being used to train the rest of the bandits in disarming people, while I was used to keep people's martial arts skills in check, with the boss even trusting us enough to have us lead some of our own raids. But a part of me felt like we weren't getting anywhere, that while she was training us, we weren't learning anything new. And while I tried to confront her about it, she always denied it. Until one day, about a year ago, we got into an argument about it.

"For the last time boy, you can't just go out there to go and look for that Grimm, you aren't ready. We've had this talk before."

"Yeah, and each time you told us that it wasn't the right time."

"That's because neither one of you is ready to face that thing."

"No, it's because the training you have been giving us would never be enough to take that thing on, you have been holding us back." Ren spat, only for Raven to smack him in the face.

"How dare you insinuate that, after everything I did for you and your friend, you dare suggest that I'm keeping you weak!" Raven exclaimed.

"Well..." Nora interjected "...to be fair, Ren's semblance is something that comes in handy for you, so it makes perfect sense that you'd want to keep us here. Besides, you let the kid go out there to hunt that snake down once a year."

"That child somehow manages to sneak his way out of the camp without anyone notices, we try to watch him better but he's been managing to do so perfectly for the last four years. And you're wrong, I'm not holding either one of you back. I may be a bandit, but I'm not a monster who makes false promises."

"Then let us go out there." Replied Ren.

"Absolutely not, and that's final." Said Raven, as both Ren and Nora left the tent with an angry look on heir faces as a conflicted look appeared on her face.

We weren't happy with the answer we had been given, and there was absolutely no way we'd ever be able to leave through fighting our way out of the camp. After all, the boss is not someone who is easily beaten in combat. So we started thinking about ways to leave the camp, maybe we could sneak out at night, or put sleeping powder in the stew so they'd all be asleep, granted that was Nora's idea but it was something that could have worked. But then, to our surprise, she entered our tent that night with an announcement.

"You two were partially correct, I have been keeping you here longer than needed." Said Raven, as she placed a bag of money on the ground while Ren and Nora looked up at her "But do understand, it wasn't because of selfishness, but rather the fact that you two are still inexperienced children. So, I'll cut you a deal, I'll give you the money and let you leave, but in exchange, you have to go to Beacon Academy to train and get stronger before you face off against that thing."

"Why Beacon in particular?" Asked Ren.

"It's the best of the four huntsmen schools, I actually went there as well, but that was a lifetime ago. And from what I've heard about Haven, it's not as good as Beacon."

"But what about enrolment? We can't just enter and demand education." Said Ren.

"Don't worry about that, I've send the required paperwork through a messenger raven." Replied Raven coyly.

"But this camp doesn't have any ravens." Said Nora.

"Sure we do, you've just never seen them." Replied Raven, before asking "So, what will it be?"

---

Back in the present

"...And seeing as that we're here now, you can guess which choice we made." Said Ren, as he finished explaining.

"Have you two managed to take that Grimm out yet?" Asked Raven.

"We did actually, a few days ago, with the help of our team and friends of course." Said Nora "It was a complete coincidence too, we were actually helping Rock out to take find one of the robot masters and all of the sudden we came face to face with that thing, so we took it out."

"I see... not bad you two." Replied Raven, with what Qrow could describe as a look of pride on her face.

"But what about Oran, how did he end up with your tribe?" Asked Ruby, to which a grimace appeared on Raven's face as she sighed.

"We... found him in an abandoned village about five-ish years ago... you don't mind if I tell them right?" Asked Raven.

"I don't... it's fine." Replied Oran, to which Raven nodded as started explaining

"So about five-ish years ago, we found another abandoned village, but it wasn't like the others we usually stumbled across..."Five-ish years ago

...The village we ended up finding wasn't like it usually was, rather it was something that I would be very unlikely to forget about. I had seen death before, I had seen the corpses of some of people left behind in the abandoned villages we raided, or even people being eaten by the Grimm. But this was unlike anything I had seen, for you see, we had stumbled upon it because the fire had caught our attention.

And right as we got closer to the village we heard some hyena laughter echoing through the forest as if someone had rushed past us, so we knew we had to be careful. But once we got there, we saw that there were corpses all over the village, while a giant King Taijitu was rampaging through the town's square, eating the remains of people left and right. But the strangest out of all of this was that some of the corpses had been drained off of all of their life force and seemed to be nothing but skin and bones. But I quickly shook the thought away as I needed to focus on what was in front of me.

Raven, upon looking at the scene in front of her turned to the members of the tribe that were with her and said "I doubt we'll find much of use to us here, so look for any possible survivors and stay out of the way of that snake. Now move out!" to which the tribe members nodded as they quickly spread themselves throughout the village, while Ren and Nora stayed with Raven.

The trio moved through the village, while making sure to hide in the shadows anytime they felt that giant King Taijitu was getting closer to them, because while Raven knew that Ren's semblance could hide their emotions, they would still be vulnerable to the rampaging Grimm. And as they were moving through the village Raven looked at some of the bodies as she thought "What in the world could have caused something like that to happen? I don't recall there being Grimm that can drain life force." She also made sure to look at the finer details of some of the builds with the symbols that were on it, as she glared at them, but quickly ignored it in favour of exploring more of the village.

But as they continued moving, Raven ended up spotting a figure in the centre of the village, which upon them coming closer made them see that it was Oran sobbing next to the two bodies that were with him. With Raven hearing him utter "mom... dad..." as he continued to cry, she then noticed that Nora was about to approach him and quickly stopped her in from moving any further

"What do you think you're doing?" Asked Raven.

"I'm going to comfort him, he's got no one. I want to take him with us." Replied Nora.

"Absolutely not, he'd just be dead weight to us, he'd only slow us down. So leave him, that's an order, girl." Said Raven, as she noticed that the giant King Taijitu was coming closer to the three of them, so she quickly rushes the three of them towards the shadows and out of its path.

"We can't just leave him here, he won't survive, especially not with that snake around." Said Nora, to which she received a stern look from Raven.

"Do not make me repeat myself, if the child perishes because of his own foolishness that's on him, if he dies, he dies. Do not risk your own life for someone who is unwilling to save themselves."

"B-But... Ren, say something."

"I'm sorry Nora, but we know how she feels about these things." Ren replied, as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"But it's not right!" Nora exclaimed, and right as she did the three of them saw the giant King Taijitu rush towards Oran trying to eat him alive, who upon hearing the sudden noise jumped out of the way, as the Grimm ate the bodies of his parents in one bite as it then continued to rampage through the village. Nora looked at Oran who had dropped to his knees with a look of shock on his face, after which she looked at Raven who had a smirk on her face. "So this was a..."

"...a test, yes. It's safe to say that you failed for letting your emotions get to you, while the kid passed. He has a lot to learn, but there is potential there." Replied Raven, as she then in the blink of an eye rushed over to Oran, grabbed him from where he was sitting and then returned to Ren and Nora with him in her arms.

"Huh... what?" he asked, looking at the three confused, before being quickly silenced by Raven.

"Listen well child and stay quiet, your parents are not coming back, I'm sure that even you can see that..." she said to which Oran nodded "...so right now, I'm the only thing that will allow you to survive this harsh world, meaning that you will be coming with us, I will no accept any protests from you, is that clear?"

"Yes... very clear..."

"Good." Replied Raven, as she continued to hold Oran in her arms while she, Ren and Nora returned to the entrance of the village where the rest of her bandits had recovered very little of use, most of it being food. Upon arriving she was met with some confused looks upon seeing Oran as she said "The kid was the only survivor, so he'll be coming with us, is there a problem with that?" to which the rest of the tribe shook their heads

"Good, then let's return to the tribe. Oh, and given the state the village was in, I won't withhold any food from any of you for this lackluster recovery, do not make this a habit however." Raven said, to which the rest of the bandits that were with her nodded, as they began their return to the tribe while the giant King Taijitu continued to rampage through the now abandoned village.

And so, similar to what had happened to Ren and Nora, I took the kid in and trained him to make sure he wouldn't hold back the tribe. Because despite the fact that he was still young, I would be damned if he wouldn't be able to fight or fend for himself. And it went rather well I have to say, even though it was hard for him at the start, he eventually managed to go toe to toe with some of the more experienced bandits in the tribe.

But like I said, he was also very stubborn, I told him not to wander off too far away from the tribe, but once a year he would wander away from the tribe to fight that snake. Each time returning to the camp completely exhausted and injured from his brawls with the snake, and although I told him I wouldn't patch him up anymore if he kept doing it, he refused to listen. Until a week ago when he left again, and ran into you guys.

---

Back in the present

"...And that's his story, I have to say, it is rather impressive that the two of you managed to take out those Grimm in the same week..." Said Raven, as she glanced over at Oran who had gotten trapped in a bear hug by both Ruby and Nora who were comforting him, the former especially due to hearing the story "...You're both such softies, then again, you are Summer's daughter."

"By the way, are you mad at mom for getting with dad, seeing as... you know..." Ruby started.

"Course not, we both loved your father, I just got lucky... she however always wanted to make sure we were alright and I couldn't deny her that happiness." Replied Raven, leaving the room in silence which was broken when Yang spoke up after listening to what Raven and Ren had told.

"Tell me, who is she..." Yang started as she pointed towards Freya as she continued "...and why did you suddenly return, when you were perfectly fine playing bandit."

"I'm Freya Haruki, and I'm one of the two right hand women of your mother, making sure that those in the tribe are kept in check." Replied Freya "Now, as for why she came back, we had no choice. Some psycho leading a group of White Fang soldiers came after us, murdered the tribe, nearly killed us and got us separated from one of our companions... looking back at it, I'm really glad you three weren't here at the time."

"Wait... can you describe the person leading that group of soldiers?" Asked Blake.

"The leader seemed very snakelike, and used a lot of poison, nearly killed us too if it wasn't for Ozpin giving us an antidote." Replied Raven.

"Oh no, Scorpio..." Said Blake, as a look of horror appeared on the face of Weiss and Ruby as they remembered what they had been told.

"Wait, how did you get an antidote, we were only given one vial and Ruby had it with her, right Ruby?" Asked Weiss..

"Well actually... I didn't want to lose it, so I put into our closet, and the professor does have access to the rooms when he wants." Said Ruby, to which Weiss sighed.

"Dolt."

"Maybe, but it did save two people." Said Ruby, but before Weiss could give a retort Yang spoke up.

"So you only came back because it was convenient?" Asked Yang, as Raven felt a sting to her heart at the question being asked.

"Yang... I... I need you to understand... I..." Raven started, only to be interrupted.

"Save it, I know enough." Replied Yang, as she left her bed and quickly left the room, with Tai immediately calling out after her.

"Yang, wait..."

"Let her be Tai."

"But... but Raven..."

"But nothing, I completely understand her reasoning, if I was in her shoes and had been wondering why my mother had been gone for years, only to come face to face with her and she gives an explanation like that I wouldn't know how to respond either. So maybe give her some time, I had my reasoning for leaving, I completely understand her anger, so I won't force anything with her. Speaking off, I was honestly expecting you two to be angrier with me then you actually are right now." Said Raven.

"For the first few months I was angry, but like I said to Yang, we're still teammates and the lesson Summer always taught us was that to have each others backs no matter what happens."

"And you?" Asked Raven to Qrow.

"Eh ya know, this ain't any different from how things were when we were kids..." Qrow joked, only for him to get an unimpressed glare from Raven "...alright fine, despite everything that happened between us and you leaving, I'm just glad you're still alive.""Speaking off teammates, we'll make sure that Yang has a shoulder to lean on." Said Blake.

"Don't worry, I know that the four of you will support her, right Rock?" Asked Tai.

"Why me, I learned my lesson... I know I shouldn't run off alone, the last few hours taught me that especially well..." Said Rock, as a memory came back to him "...that reminds me..." as he he pulled out the orb that Summer had given him before leaving purgatory from his pockets, with it breaking open to reveal several letters "...well, I didn't expect that."

"Where'd you get these letters from Rock?" Asked Roll.

"The orb Summer gave me before we left purgatory, I didn't expect it to be letters." Replied Rock, as he checked to see who they were addressed to, upon which he handed a letter to Tai, Qrow, Raven, Doctor Light, Professor Ozpin, Ruby, Yang and a shared one for himself, Blake and Weiss. As each of them began to read their letters, with Ren sensing that a mix of emotions was once again filling the room, after a while Rock asked "Anyone want to share what they got?"

"I'm choosing to abstain from doing so, there's some stuff written in here that isn't wise to share with everyone." Replied Ozpin.

"Well, I think I speak for the rest of us when I say the we don't have an issue with our letters being out in the open." Said Ruby, to which the rest of the group nodded.

"I'll start us off then." Said Doctor Light as he began to read "Dear Thomas, I never did get to speak nor congratulate you properly on your success in robotics after we had graduated from Beacon and you furthered your studies, and looking back, I truly regret not staying in contact with you better. I feel like I could have helped you out with your troubles in regard to Doctor Wily, but that being said I'm truly glad to see how far you have made it. Your friend, Summer Rose."

"I never blamed you for us loosing contact." Doctor Light whispered to the letter.

"Dear Qrow, I don't have a whole lot to say that I didn't already say back when I was alive, but I just want you to remember to not let your demons get to you. Even if I'm gone, there are still people who care about you, so please don't try to bury your sorrows more than they need to be. And remember everything else we talked about. Your teammate and friend, Summer Rose."

"Heh, even when you're dead you're still looking out for me." Mumbled Qrow, as he took a sip from his flask.

"Dear Tai, words cannot express for me how much it hurt me to have to go on that mission and leave you and the family we created behind, and even if you and the others didn't understand it back then, I hope that one day you will be able to understand. I'm also guessing that by the time you're reading this letter that Raven told you the true reason she left, we both did what we had to keep you all safe."

"And believe me when I say that I have seen what you and Qrow went through after my death, how hard it both hit you and although you're both making great steps forward, I need to say this to you specifically. I appreciate you holding onto my memory, but you also need to move on and find your own happiness. That being said, I'm happy to see that both Yang and Ruby have been able to flourish under your care, keep taking care off each other. Your wife, teammate and friend, Summer Rose."

"Always know what to say, that's why you were our leader." Said Tai.

"Dear Ruby, I know that you're not going to like hearing this, but this is something that I do need to get off my chest and no matter how I say it, it won't be easy to hear. But, for most of your life I wished that you didn't follow in my footsteps of becoming a huntress, that you would choose any other profession, that you would have done anything else. And not because I didn't have faith in you, but because I didn't want you to end up like me, dead even if you still had most of your life ahead of you. I didn't want that for you, I didn't want it for Yang either, but she always seemed to be able to take care of herself."

"That's not to say that you can't, but I always felt extra worried about you, you're my little girl after all. And I get that you wanted to be just like me, and wanted to follow in my footsteps, but I need you to be better than that. But then you got into Beacon early, and met your team, and even if some of those worries are still there, having seen what you have done so far, I believe in you to take care of yourself and your team."

"After all, you went to space for gods sake and if I'm right you helped take down some ancient genocidal computer. And if you're reading this instead of having joined me in the afterlife, my assumptions will have been right. Take care of yourself, we'll see each other again one day and remember, don't be like me, be better than me. I love you my little rose. Your mother, Summer Rose."

"You're right, this wasn't easy to read." Mumbled Ruby sombrely.

"You alright Ruby?" Asked Rock.

"I... I don't know... I don't know what to make from this or what to do with this."

"We'll figure it out as a team, we always do. Isn't that what you always say?" Said Blake.

"Yeah, your mother had a habit of being cryptic at times, but when you do figure it out, you'll get it." Said Qrow.

"That's very helpful." Said Weiss.

"Can't give you kids all the answers." Said Qrow to which Weiss rolled her eyes, as Raven began to read her letter.

"Dear Raven, I want to start by saying that you were always like a sister to me, no matter how many arguments we had over the years, or having things we disagreed on leading us to not speak for a few days. That being said, I sill think you're idiot for not returning to us when you had the chance, sure you had your reasons and I was more than willing to cary that secret with me. You could have just as easy split your time between the tribe and us, but I guess hindsight is twenty-twenty after all, so I can't fault you too much for your choices, it did keep us alive."

"But what I will fault you for however and something I will never forgive you for, is if you don't make things better between you and Yang. She's spend most of her life wondering where the hell you've been, so I'm not letting you throw this chance away. Fix your relationship, or I will start haunting you from beyond the grave. Take care Raven, your friend, team leader and sister, Summer Rose."

"I'll do my best Summer, besides, don't you think I want to fix things." Raven muttered, as she felt a reassuring hand from Doctor Light on her shoulder, giving him a nod of understanding in return.

"Alright, let's read ours." Said Blake.

"Dear Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee and Rock Light, I'm addressing all three of you in this letter because although your circumstances are different upon first glance, you all have your own issues to deal with. And even if you're working towards getting better, none of you have to do it alone, you're in a team that helps each other. So don't hesitate to keep relying on my daughters for help because even if you feel alone you're never truly alone, and at the same time make sure that you keep being there for them when they need help. I'm sure you can all do great things, so keep moving forward. Signed, Summer Rose."

"I see." Muttered Blake, as images of her own parents flashed in her mind, before shaking the thought away.

"With what I learned these last two weeks, I'll be sure to remember that." Said Rock, as he glanced at the letter addressed to Yang.

"What will you do with that one?" Asked Ruby.

"I'll give it to her when I see her later." Replied Rock.

"Good to hear that." Said Weiss, as she thought back to the letter while turning to General Ironwood and asking "Where's my sister, I need to see her."

"She's currently in the courtyard, I'm sure you'll find her." Replied Ironwood. "Is everything alright?"

"Thank you... it's just that with everything that happened today, I just need to see her." Replied Weiss.

"Are you feeling good enough to leave the infirmary?" Asked Ozpin.

"I'm sure that what I'm feeling right now will leave in a bit."

"Then you should be good to leave."

"Thank you professor." Replied Weiss, as she quickly left the infirmary, as Ozpin turned to address the rest of the students in the infirmary.

"That goes for the rest of you as well, if you're feeling good enough to go you can leave, if it's really bad stay until you can leave."

"Any particular reason why headmaster?" Asked Coco.

"There's some stuff that needs to be discussed in private between the adults, and there is also the matter of Doctor Wily that needs to be taken care off." Replied Ozpin, while also quickly glancing over at Raven and Freya without anyone noticing.

"I can see that." Replied Cardin, as he and most of the other students quickly left the infirmary. Leaving Team JNPR, Ruby, Blake, Oran, the robots and the adults behind.

"Uh... boss do you us to take the kid with us for a while?" Asked Nora.

"I'd appreciate that, there's some stuff he doesn't need to hear." Replied Raven, to which Ren nodded, as he, Nora, Jaune and Oran got up to leave, only for Jaune to notice that Pyrrha was staying in her bed.

"Hey, Pyr, you coming?" Asked Jaune.

"Go on ahead without me, my left hand really hurts, so I'm just going to have it looked at."

"We can stay with you." said Ren.

"It's fine, I'll catch up with you guys, really I'll be fine."

"If you say so." Replied Nora, as the four of them left the infirmary.

"I'm leaving as well, I hope you two don't mind, but I really need to clear my head after today, so I'm just going to find a quiet place to read. So I'll see you guys tonight."

"We understand Blake." Replied Ruby, with Rock nodded, after which Blake left the infirmary as well.

"I take it that I won't be needed for any of the things that you have planned?" Asked Doctor Light, to which Ozpin shook his head "Great, because my lab has better tools to fix the robots. Ruby, would you be willing to assist me with this?"

"I'd love to." Replied Ruby, as she helped Doctor Light put all of the robots save for Bass on a trolley as she helped push them out of the infirmary.

"Right with them gone, I would like to have a chat with the four of you later tonight." Said Ozpin to Team _TRQ and Freya to which they merely nodded, as he then turned to Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch "I would like you to prepare the interrogation room, there's a long overdue talk we need to have with one Doctor Albert Wily."

"Understood, we'll get it ready." Ironwood Replied, as he and the professor left the infirmary while Ozpin for the first time in hours took a sip from his cup of hot cocoa.

---

With Weiss

Weiss was running across the Beacon courtyard as she saw Winter standing in the distance as she called out to her "Winter!..." Only for her to be silenced when Winter raised a finger as she appeared to be in a call, which upon getting closer to her she heard who the call was with.

"...Yes mother, I understand that you were frightened by this, but I do not understand what happened either..." Said Winter as she heard something on the other end and replied "...Well then you can ask her, since she just showed up."

"What?" Weiss wondered.

"It's for you." Replied Winter, handing Weiss the scroll.

"Hello there Weiss."

"Hello mother, good to hear from you as well..."

"What happened Weiss?" she heard on the other hand, to which Weiss sighed as she replied.

"An ancient super computer that was uncovered by Doctor Wily tried to take over the world, and nearly succeeded. But we managed to help Rock in taking it out."

"And that thing is gone, right? There is no worry that it might come back?"

"It was completely destroyed, and its programming was deleted."

"Oh thank goodness, and you're unharmed?"

"A bit sore, but nothing that won't heal. But enough about me, how are you? How is father?"

"...I've spend the last few hours trying to calm myself down, as for your father... he's... he has locked himself in his office..."

"And Whitley?"

"He's locked himself in his room, and has refused to come out. And I don't know what to do to get either one of them out of their rooms."

"Maybe have Klein make some tea or coffee for them, and then when they get out of their rooms tell them that I helped Rock save Remnant from destruction, and that everything will fine."

"...But Weiss, your father..."

"I know how father feels about him, but I think he would rather acknowledge being saved by someone he hates than being a mindless drone to a genocidal computer." Said Weiss, as her mother stayed silent on the other end, until a bit later she spoke up.

"You're right Weiss, I will be sure to talk with them... oh and one more thing, I wired some money to both your and Winter's bank accounts, use it on something for yourself or even your friends to make you feel better."

"I... appreciate that, thank you mother."

"You're welcome Weiss, I love you." Replied Willow on the other end, but the declaration for some reason made Weiss' stomach turn, as she struggled to reply.

"I... I love you too." Replied Weiss, after which she hung up and returned the scroll to Winter.

"How was she?" Asked Winter.

"She sounded sober for the first time in ages, she also send us some money we could spend on ourselves." Replied Weiss.

"That does sound like her." Said Winter, as she noticed a contemplative look on Weiss' face, so she asked "Something on your mind."

"I'm just thinking, back in space I joked that I would pay for dinner if something ended up working out, it didn't, but now that got me thinking. Maybe with the extra money I was given, I could organise something for dinner for the entire school." Said Weiss.

"A good idea, would you like me to help you with anything?" Asked Winter.

"Weeeeeeeeeell, I know that everyone in Vale, especially business owners, will be too busy to deliver food, especially to Beacon. So I was thinking that we try placing some orders and use one of the bullheads or Atlesian airships to go pick it up." Replied Weiss, to which Winter sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Weiss, your heart is in the right place, but you know as well as I do that something like that is a massive abuse of power. And using one of the airships for something so frivolous, I don't think the general would approve."

"What if we got him some food as well, then he will not make an issue out of it at all." Replied Weiss.

"You have been hanging around Qrow's nieces too much, it is clear they're not a good influence on you." Replied Winter in a joking manner.

"Who's to say they're not a good influence on me?" Asked Weiss as she added "So what will it be, are you helping me, or do I have to do it on my own?"

"Oh no, I didn't say that. Besides, someone has to make sure you don't crash the airship." Replied Winter "Now, come on, those orders won't place themselves."

"Right behind you." Said Weiss, as the two of them walked off towards the Beacon Airstrip.

---

Several Hours Later

Doctor Light's Lab

"Alright, that should be the last of it." Said Doctor Light as he and Ruby finished attaching the last of Penny's strings back to her body.

"I'm glad to hear that we managed to get them all fixed." Said Doctor Polendina.

"I agree." Said Doctor Lalinde "Good job Ruby, I can see why Doctor Light would ask you to help him out.

"Yes, and I'm sure that Penny would be more than happy to have you perform some repairs on her in the future as well." Added Doctor Polendina.

"I'm not so sure about that. I don't know if it's something I want to do." Replied Ruby.

"But you're really good at it, so why not take the offer?" Asked Penny.

"I Just need to take some time to think about it, that's all." Said Ruby.

"That is completely understandable, but just know that the offer is always on the table. And if you do go through with it, the first thing you can do, is help me with fixing the robot masters that Rock had beaten so far." Said Doctor Light.

"Thank you for the offer Doctor, enjoy the rest of your days." Said Ruby to the three doctors, as she and Penny left the room.

Doctor Lalinde turned to her two colleagues and said "I don't know about you two, but I'm exhausted after this long day, so I will be returning to my room and calling it a night."

"Yes, I agree, I'm also exhausted, have a good night Thomas." Said Doctor Polendina as they both left the lab while he gave them both a nod, leaving Doctor Light on his own as Quint quietly entered the room and stayed quiet.

"I know you're here Rock, I know my own creations." Said Doctor Light as he turned around to face the robot, who immediately got a frown on his face.

"Don't... don't call me that, I'm just Quint now."

"I don't believe that, no matter what could have happened, you're still Rock, you're still my son, my creation."

"No... I'm not who I used to be, I don't deserve to be called Rock Light anymore. Everything I fought for, fought against, I became the very thing I swore to stand against the moment Wily took me and turned me into this. So I ask you, why did you repair me, you could have just left me like that."

"Because even with all of that, even with Albert stealing you from the future, reprogramming you and unleashing you on the world, you're still you. That will never change, and I believe in second chances... for most people, some people are truly irredeemable. But you aren't, you're still a hero, even if you don't believe that. Remember, you helped save the world, that has to count for something, right?"

"I don't... I'm not sure about that..."

"Then at least give it a few days to think it over, there are plenty of rooms in this lab, so get some rest, you've more than earned it." Said Doctor Light.

"I'll... I'll try to think about it then."

"That's all I can ask for with you." Replied Doctor Light.

"Yeah, thanks for that... dad..." Said Quint, as he left the main lab and went to one of the rooms of the lab, all the while Doctor Light looked up at Beacon Tower as he sighed at the memory of his fallout with Doctor Wily.

---

Meanwhile in Beacon Tower

"This is General James Ironwood, with me are Professor Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin, as we have started the interrogation of Doctor Albert Wily over his attempted take over of Remnant. This entire conversation is being recorded for future use. Doctor Albert Wily, please state full name and occupation for this interrogation."

Doctor Wily sighed as he replied "Very well then, if you must know, my name is Doctor Albert Wily, and I'm an inventor."

"Now, Doctor Wily, please explain why you have been trying to take over Remnant for the past fifteen years."

"Do you want to know, fine, I'll tell you. Everything I have done over the last fifteen years, was to prove to that filthy plagiarist... to that god forsaken opportunist that I was better than him. That his inventions couldn't even hold a candle to my superior technology, because he shot down my ideas all because of some misplaced belief that my technology wouldn't work properly. But unfortunately his creations wouldn't let me get away with that, so as his creations had to improve I had to look for better technology."

"And that's where I ended up finding Ra Moon, I read some ancient papers about some old computer being buried within some ruins in Vacuo, so I went to look for it and lo and behold I found it. But, it turns out that it had some ulterior motives, which led to what happened a few hours ago. But, I can hardly be faulted for what some ancient computer ended up doing upon activation." Said Doctor Wily, as a scowl had appeared on his face.

"Let me ask you, do you regret what you've done?" Asked Professor Goodwitch.

"The only thing I regret is never getting the better of Light, but that's it." Said Doctor Wily, as the recording was then turned off "Is the interrogation over already?"

"No, this was the official interrogation that will be heard by the public, this part of the interrogation will be about your collaboration with Salem and her inner circle." Said Professor Ozpin.

"Then you can save your breath, because I'm not telling you anything. She has eyes and ears everywhere, and I'd rather not die getting torn apart by her Grimm. So you can just send me to my cell so I can await my sentencing." Replied Doctor Wily as he crossed his arms.

"But what about you helping some of my students, surely you want to do something good, right?" Asked Professor Ozpin.

"That was because there was no other choice, now send me back to my cell, because like I said, you're not getting anything out of me." Said Doctor Wily, to which Professor Ozpin merely nodded as the door opened to reveal Tai, Qrow and Raven "What are you three doing here?"

"Well, those three wanted to have a little chat with you about what you did these last two weeks. Have fun." Said Ozpin, as he, Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch quickly left the room.

"So, finally want to act like an actual parent?" Asked Wily with a mocking tone in his voice.

"Oh no, I'm here to pay you back for all the grief you've caused Thomas over the las few years. Tai is here for what you did to our kids."

"And what about the alcoholic?"

"Me, oh I'm here to pay you back for hurting all the other students, but specifically Weiss and Blake. Winter did ask me to punch you in the face for that. Also, all three of us are here because you nearly got the world destroyed." Said Qrow, as he cracked his knuckles, while all colour left Wily's face.

"Oh shit." He mumbled.

"Indeed, now we're going to show you exactly why Team STRQ was so feared back at Beacon." Said Raven, as she, Tai and Qrow lunged at Wily as his screams of pain echoed into the sky as the sun was slowly beginning to set.

---

One hour later

In Team JNPR's dorm

"Ok you two, now breathe in and hold it for about ten seconds." Ren commanded to Jaune and Pyrrha, as the five of them were in a meditative pose.

"Ren, are you sure this will work?" Asked Jaune, as Ren opened one of his eyes and gave an annoyed look to Jaune.

"Do you two want to feel better or not?" Asked Ren.

"We do, it's just that, we don't know if meditation is going to help, especially if we keep seeing his red glowing eye anytime we close our eyes." Said Pyrrha.

"That's why you need to do this, you need to be able to face what you did and what happened head on, otherwise you will never sleep again. Because take it from me, Nora and Oran, it works."

"But it's different, we nearly killed the entire world under his control." Said Jaune.

"He knows what he's doing." Said Oran.

"Just trust us on this, you won't immediately loose all of the guilt, but you'll at least be able to look in the mirror again." Added Nora.

"Fine, we'll follow your lead." Said Jaune.

"Good, now keep focusing on your breathing, and repeat after me... I wasn't in control when this happened..."

"I wasn't in control when this happened."

"...a genocidal computer made me do this..."

"A genocidal computer made me do this."

"...even if I was doing this, a part of me continued to fight against what was happening..."

"Even if I was doing this, a part of me continued to fight against what was happening." Jaune and Pyrrha repeated, as Pyrrha thought to herself "How can he know that."

"...I know that I continued fighting because I'm strong enough to stand up for what is right..."

"I know that I continued fighting because I'm strong enough to stand up for what is right." They repeated, as Jaune thought to himself "Now that I think about it, it did feel like my mind was floating in some sort of abyss."

"...and in the end, we were saved and the put the world back in it's place. And we will always make sure to do what is right, because we are training to be huntsmen and huntresses, and we will never forget that."

"And in the end, we were saved and the put the world back in it's place. And we will always make sure to do what is right, because we are training to be huntsmen and huntresses, and we will never forget that."

"Good, now breathe out and open your eyes, now do you still see him..." Said Ren, as they did so and shook their heads, as he then added "I want you both to keep this in mind and repeat this to yourself anytime your feelings of guilt start to act up or if you start seeing him again."

"We'll keep that in mind." Said Jaune.

"Thank you Ren." Added Pyrrha, as she clutched her left hand which didn't go unnoticed by the rest of her team.

"Something wrong Pyrrha?" Asked Nora.

"I... uh... I forgot to bring this up earlier when I returned to the dorm... but, it turns out that keeping the metal liquid at bay on my left hand for so long while also helping our friends fight against Ra Moon did some damage to my left hand... the nurses discovered some nerve damage... so I went to Doctor Light and it turns out that I have lost all feeling in my left hand because of the damage..." Replied Pyrrha, as she wiped away some tears from her eyes, while Nora immediately tackled her into a hug.

"Oh Pyrrha..." Said Jaune softly, as he also joined in on the hug.

"It's going to be ok, we'll help you through this." Said Nora.

"We're a team after all." Said Ren.

"I appreciate it guys, I really do. Doctor Light even promised that while they can't fix it, he and the others would look into a device that would allow for the sensation of touch to be simulated, so I would at least have a way to still use my hand." Replied Pyrrha.

"Yeah, but until then, don't hesitate to ask us for help with anything." Said Nora, as Ren and Oran also joined in on the group hug, while all Pyrrha could do was nod in agreement.

---

With Yang

After leaving the infirmary Yang spend the next couple of hours wandering the grounds of Beacon in deep thought, thinking about everything she knew about her mother and the assumptions that she had made over the years, only for those assumptions to be completely proven wrong with what had been revealed to her. And she just didn't know what to think of it, so that's why after hours of wandering she currently found herself sitting alone on top of the dorm building. All the while her thoughts continued to contradict themselves.

"So I take it you're not sure what to think now that your worldview has been shattered." A voice said, as Yang looked up to see Rock getting onto the rood through the stairwell.

"Oh hey Rock, you're looking better."

"I know, Dad and Ruby did a great job with me. But that's not what I'm here for, I can see that you're struggling with what you learned earlier and since I was willing to lend you an ear last week I'm willing to do so again." Said Rock, as he sat down next to Yang "So hit me, what's the problem Yang."

"That's the problem, I don't know if it's nothing or everything at the same time. I spend so long trying focusing on why she left me that I started to believe that it was because of a selfish reason, but now it turns out she did it to protect me and everyone else she cared about. But whatever it is I feel about her, I just can't place it, I'm not sure if it is anger or something. And beyond that, now that she returned, now that I know why she left, I don't know what I want to do anymore. I became a huntress so I could eventually go and look for her, just to find answers, but now I don't even know if I want to be a huntress anymore."

"Would you like my advice on this?" Asked Rock.

"You did set me straight last week, so sure." Replied Yang.

"Ok, well, I'll try my best because feelings and emotions are still rather foreign for me. But the way that I see it is that you don't immediately have to find an answer to all of your questions. I think that it is ok for you to have doubts about these things, I think it shows maturity on your part, that you're growing and maybe even looking at things from a different perspective... if that sounds right of course."

"No, I think you might be onto something there."

"Right then, and about being a huntress, you have shown time and time again that you're capable of being one when you look at how you help your fellow teammates whenever we're in trouble. So don't immediately think you're not in the right place. As for your feelings, well... look I understand that you have mixed feelings about your mother, and you're not wrong to be feeling all these different types of emotions but at the same time the only advice I can give you is to at least give her a bit of a chance to make things right."

"Did she tell you to say that?" Asked Yang, with a hint of anger in her voice.

"No, these are my feelings on the matter."

"Ok, but it's not just her, it's also Ren and Nora... I thought I knew them, but they too were keeping things a secret, living with her the entire time."

"But why would anything need to change, they're still our friends, they're still the same Ren and Nora we met at the start of the year. You know, our pancake chef and your workout buddy. Maybe with this reveal and the time they spend with her they can teach you more about her before you decide to do anything further with Raven." Said Rock, as he glanced over at Yang who seemed to be in deep thought as she let the words sink in.

"Look, like I said earlier, you don't need to have an answer immediately. But do take the time to think it over properly..." Said Rock, as he got up and ready to leave, before he put the letter addressed to Yang in her hands.

"Where did you get this?" Asked Yang.

"Remember what I told you guys about what had happened in that purgatory-esque realm where I met Summer?" Rock asked, to which Yang nodded her head "Well, before I left she gave me these letters and all of them were addressed to her family, friends and your teammates. So... yeah, this one's for you, I'll leave you to it." Said Rock, as he quickly left the roof.

"Thanks Rock." Said Yang, as she opened the letter and began to read it "Dear Yang, if I'm right Raven will have told you her true reasoning for leaving. And let me just tell you how sorry I am for keeping this a secret from you, especially throughout all the years that you asked me if I knew where she was and I told you that I didn't. It broke my heart to have to look you in the eyes and tell you otherwise. I hope that you have it in your heart to forgive me."

"Speaking off Raven, I know that you must be feeling every emotion possible right now and you are right to feel that way, but please at least try to give Raven a chance to patch things up with you. It doesn't have to be today or tomorrow, but do give her a chance to be the mother that she wanted to be for all those years, so even if you are feeling conflicted, at least open yourself up to the possibility. But regardless of that, I trust that you will eventually make the right choice. I love you my little fiery dragon. Your mother, Summer Rose."

Yang clutched the letter close to her heart as tears were streaming down her face as she thought back to Rock giving her that letter "You're one heck of a messenger."

---

In Team RRWBY's Dorm

Rock, after giving Yang the letter, had gone back down to his dorm room where he was met with both Ruby who was reading a comic on her bed and Blake who was reading a book on her bed, who were now in their pyjamas and seemed to have already showered "Oh hey, has Weiss not come back yet?"

Blake looked up from her book and replied "We haven't seen her for hours."

"That's odd, hopefully she'll be back before it gets dark."

"So where did you go?" Asked Ruby.

"I went to look for Yang so I could give her the letter, in turn I hopefully gave her a few words of encouragement." Replied Rock.

"Speaking off words of encouragement, when you were giving them to Quint back in space, what did you mean with the implications if you granted his wish of destroying him?" Asked Ruby.

"Oh right that, well think about it, he's me from the future who was stolen from the future by Doctor Wily. If I were to destroy him, I would have to live with the implication that I'am destined to be destroyed by myself, that no matter what I end up doing, I will always be hurdling towards the path of destruction. And try to see this from Quint's point of view, for he had to live through that. So I wanted to spare Quint and myself from having to live with such a fate." Replied Rock.

"I see what you mean." Said Blake.

"So do I, but I think you might be wrong in that assessment." Said Ruby.

"Wait what... how can I be wrong?" Asked Rock.

"Because you're forgetting one very important detail, Quint told us that he never met or teamed up with any of us during his life and that Wily made sure he could never return to his time." Replied Ruby, as Rock looked at her with a look of shock on his face.

"Oh... I didn't even think about that." Replied Rock, as the realisation then hit him as he said "But what if it still happens, sure the future changed when I entered Beacon, but what if I still end up getting stolen by Wily in the future to be used in his plans."

"I wouldn't worry about that, it's not like he still has access to a time machine, right?" Asked Blake.

"Not a time machine per se... but he still has Time Man with him and there's no way of knowing what he could have added to him." Said Rock.

"I get that you're concerned, but think about this, if this does end up happening, and you said that Wily travelled about thirty eight years into the future. Then we're just going to trust our future selves to ensure that you aren't taken by Wily if he does somehow end up trying to steal you. After all, we're a team right, I don't think we'll drift apart in the future." Said Ruby, as Yang then burst into the room.

"And besides, even if he does steal and reprogram you, we'll just have to go after you and get you back, maybe turn you into scrap metal for a bit. We won't let anything bad happen to you now or in the future."

"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed as she rushed out of her bed and tackled Yang into a hug "Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine Ruby, really. Sure it's going to be a while before I fully figure out what I want to do, but I think I'm on the right track. Especially with the letter Rock gave me." Replied Yang.

"And you're sure that you're fine?" Asked Blake.

"Not a hundred percent, but I'm sure that together we can figure it all out." Said Yang, as she glanced over at the clock on the wall "Now, are you all done in the bathroom, cause I really just want to get a good shower in and then go to bed, it has been a long day. And I already had some food from the cafeteria."

"Sure, Ruby and I are already finished, not sure about Rock though." Said Blake.

"Dad had me cleaned when he was performing the repairs, I'm good." Replied Rock.

"Great, the sooner I'm done the sooner I can sleep." Said Yang, only to be interrupted by Weiss when she entered the room.

"Sorry, but sleep is going to have to wait." Said Weiss.

"What do you mean?" Asked Rock.

"Well seeing as we all had a rough day today, I organised a party and sleepover in the common room between us, Team JNPR, Team SSSN, Team CVFY, Team CRDL and some of our other friends, just so that everyone could wind down and relax." Said Weiss.

"But what about the rest of the student body?" Asked Yang.

"Yeah, aren't they kind of being excluded because of this?" Asked Rock.

"Oh that's easy, while I was getting things ready for our sleepover, I also organised banquet for the rest of the school." Replied Weiss, as she glanced out of the window and said "I do hope they're enjoying themselves."

---

Meanwhile in the cafeteria

"I gotta hand it to you Bartholomew, it does feel nice to know that we're appreciated enough by the students for one of them to organise this." Said Professor Port, while he was scarfing down several chicken legs.

"You would be absolutely correct about that, and it is nice to have the night off." Replied Doctor Oobleck, while taking a sip from his coffee that he spiked with soda.

"I could not agree more." Said Professor Ozpin as he, along with Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood walked in on the duo "I must say, it was quite generous of Miss Schnee to organise this, especially after the day we had."

"Speaking off, where is our guest and who is watching over him now that we're all here?" Asked Professor Port.

"Both him and his creation are being watched over by some of the strictest security that we were able to organise on my airship. We won't have to worry about him trying to escape tonight."

"I still think I should be up there watching him." Said Professor Goodwitch.

"Maybe, but James has everything under control, so why not for tonight, let your guard down a bit. I think we've all earned it." Said Professor Ozpin.

"Fine." Said Professor Goodwitch, as she looked through the room as she noticed that Team _TRQ along with Doctor Light, Doctor Polendina and Doctor Lalinde were laughing amongst themselves "Looks like they're having a fun night."

"Yes, I'm glad they're all able to enjoy themselves." Said General Ironwood, hoping that everyone else in the school was enjoying themselves.

Which wasn't entirely the case, as on the other side of the cafeteria Cinder was leaning against the wall with a scowl on her face as she was studying everyone present "Tch, imbeciles, partying after the world nearly ended. How these fools have lasted this long is beyond me." she mumbled, as both Emerald and Mercury approached her.

"So, I take it you're not enjoying yourself?" Asked Mercury, as he began to scarf down an entire plate of nacho's.

"No, and why are you even humouring this, we're technically in enemy territory." Said Cinder, as Mercury kept eating his nacho's as some cheese fell onto his shirt "And stop eating like such a pig, you look ridiculous."

"Ignore him and his disgusting habits." Said Emerald, as she glared at Mercury "Look, I know that we're on a mission, but one of our enemies literally paid for our this party and the food, so why not take the time to enjoy it. Besides, it's only one night, not like that will do much damage."

Cinder sighed as she replied "Fine, I'll try to enjoy tonight."

"Great, we even brought you a plate." Said Emerald as she stoped using her semblance to reveal a second plate filled to the brim with chicken wings in her hand.

"Are those spicy chicken wings?" Asked Cinder as she started to drool.

"They are, we knew you'd enjoy them." Replied Emerald, as Cinder immediately began to scarf down on them.

"Now who is eating like a pig." Mercury joked, as he received a glare from Cinder and Emerald, making him immediately return to his plate of nacho's. All three of them taking the time to enjoy their night with the rest of the school.

---

Back in Team RRWBY's dorm

"Well, we can only hope right?" Asked Rock, to which Weiss nodded in agreement.

"How did you do that in a few hours?" Asked Ruby.

"Money Ruby, money." Replied Weiss.

"Someone is feeling charitable today." Said Blake.

"Well, it was a rough day and everyone was affected pretty badly, so I thought I'd do something nice." Replied Weiss, as she turned to Yang and added "So get cleaned, the sooner you're done, the sooner we can enjoy ourselves."

"Don't worry, I gotcha, I'll be done in the blink of an eye." Replied Yang as winked at Weiss before rushing into the bathroom.

30 minutes later

"Apologies for being later than expected, Yang was not in fact done in the blink of an eye." Said Weiss, as Team RRWBY entered the common room, all of them wearing their pyjamas and carrying a sleeping bag with them, as they saw that the rest of the people there were also wearing their sleepwear.

"Well can you blame me, my hair is very long." Replied Yang.

"Awww, Yang, and here you said that having long hair had its benefits. What happened to that huh?" Ruby teased, as several people playfully glared at Ruby as she said that. At that time Weiss hit her glass with a fork to catch everyone's attention.

"Before we begin enjoying the party..."

"Wow Weiss, a bit formal for a sleepover don't you think?" Asked Yang, who quickly received a glare from Weiss.

"...Ignoring that, I just wanted to say that I know that today wasn't easy, but think of it like this, we all managed to make it through relatively unharmed. So please, enjoy the rest of the night." Weiss said, as she was interrupted in the last part by Rock.

"Wait, I actually want to say something as well." He said, as Weiss gave him a simple nod of affirmation as he continued speaking "I want to thank each and everyone of you for your help the last two weeks, I know that my team repeatedly said to let others help and not to do anything alone. And I think that today especially really opened my eyes to that. And speaking from the bottom of my circuits, thank you, all of you, I genuinely believe that I could not have accomplished this on my own." Rock finished, as both he and Weiss were met with applause from the crowd.

Weiss then walked off to go and greet Team JNPR, as Rock then turned around and was met with a hug from Ruby "I'm glad you finally learned."

"Yeah, and it took all of us nearly dying to do it." Rock joked, as Ruby gave him an unimpressed look "In all seriousness though, I'm glad to have had you all by my side during this. Your especially, partner." Rock added, as he placed a kiss on Ruby's forehead.

Ruby then spotted Tempo and Vesper speaking with Penny and Penny, so she bid Rock goodbye while he went to go and talk to other people as she rushed over to them to pull them into a hug as she exclaimed "Vesper, Tempo you're both fixed again!"

Vesper and Tempo returned the hug with smiles on their faces, as Tempo replied "Good to see you too Ruby."

"You're not mad that I couldn't help you more?" Asked Ruby.

"Course not, we did all we could in that fight, we just have to be better next time. Besides, I got better and you managed to do something pretty amazing while I was being repaired." Replied Tempo.

"We were buzzing with excitement when we heard that you had saved the day." Said Vesper.

"Well, you were, I was just happy to know that they were ok. We were just congratulating Roll and Penny on them helping out with it." said Tempo, making Vesper slightly pout.

"And you two are feeling better as well?" Asked Ruby.

"Better than ever." Said Penny.

"Yeah, you helping with the repairs did wonders on us." Said Roll, as she winked at Ruby.

"It wasn't anything special, I just followed the instructions is all." Replied Ruby.

"True, but you certainly have the talent for it." Said Tempo, as the five of them continued talking while elsewhere in the room Team CFVY and Team CRDL had met up.

"Alright, so this is slightly awkward..." Said Cardin, as he scratched the back of his head, while the rest of his team stayed silent and the members of Team CFVY kept staring at him "...right, so here goes, and this is from all of us, but mainly me, the other three were mainly followers... doesn't make it any less bad... but Velvet from the bottom of our hearts we are sorry about all of the bullying and harassment from the first part of the year, and we are actively trying to do better to not repeat our mistakes." He said while Russel, Dove and Sky nodded in agreement.

Velvet looked over at her teammates who simply gave her a nod of encouragement before sighing and replying "Look, I would be lying if I said that I didn't see you four trying to be better. And you did try to save me and my team from your mind controlled teammates by holding them back for as long as you could. That being said, a part of me still fears who you used to be, but I also believe in second chances, so while I forgive you and your team, I also don't fully trust you yet."

"That's completely understandable, but we swear on our lives that we will continue to do better, as people and students of this academy." Replied Cardin.

"I appreciate it." Replied Velvet, as an awkward silence fell on the group, which was quickly broken by Coco speaking up.

"Well, now that the doom and gloom is out of the way, you four up for darts?" Asked Coco, pointing at the dart board.

"Bring it on." Replied Cardin, as the two teams began to set up the rules of the games, while elsewhere in the room Rock met up with Proto Man.

"So Blues, I'm surprised to see that you felt like joining us for this. But where are Sunstar, King, Duo, Ballade and Quint?" Rock asked.

"They didn't feel like joining, they were either tired or felt out of place with the rest." Replied Proto Man.

"But not you, right." Said Rock, giving him a playful smirk.

"Well, not entirely, Roll dragged me here..."

"You don't seem too upset about it."

"That's because I've overheard dad talking with the headmaster. Roll will be entering Beacon as a team with Penny, Tempo and Vesper at some point, and then I overheard them discuss the possibility of me also being put into a team." Replied Proto Man, but to Rock's surprise he wasn't too upset by it.

"And you're fine with that?" Asked Rock.

"I've... well let's just say that just as you learned a lesson these last two weeks, I also learned a lesson... that doing the right thing doesn't have to be done from the shadows the way I have been doing things these last few years. You, your team and the others have really shown that off. So, if I do end up with a team, I'll be fine with it, maybe even find a place to truly belong." Replied Proto Man, as Rock patted his brother on the back.

"Hey... you know you always were welcome at home, you're still our older brother." Replied Rock.

"I know that, but there were times that I forgot about that and other times that I spend so long looking for a place to belong that I eventually stopped looking and grew numb to the world around me."

"But now you have a potential opportunity being handed to you."

"Yeah, I know, and a part of me is happy about that." Replied Proto Man, as the duo was approached by Sun "Something you need?"

"Uhm... well, Yang, my team, Nora and I managed to set up the karaoke machine, even managed to convince Blake and Weiss to join in, so you two want to join as well?" Sun asked.

"What do you say Blues?" Asked Rock.

"You know what, sure, that could be fun." Replied Proto Man, as he and Rock were dragged to the karaoke machine as a feeling of dread at hearing some of the people sing kept gnawing at the back of his mind. "So anyone here with a terrible singing voice?" he whispered to Rock.

"Apparently Blake said that she couldn't sing for the life of her, and Jaune once mentioned that his singing made glass shatter. Though Ren and Pyrrha do seem like pretty good singers. But I think we'll be fine, you've done karaoke before, right?" Rock asked.

"Course I have, you're right, we should be fine. Not like our singing is much better." Replied Proto Man, as the two of them arrived at the karaoke machine with a song already picked out as they knew this was going to be a good night.

---

Several Hours Later

Ozpin's office

After several hours of partying, eating and drinking a surprisingly still awake Professor Ozpin found himself in his office facing Tai, Qrow, Raven and Freya, while Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood were on each of his sides.

"Professor... couldn't we have done this in the morning?..." Asked Qrow, as he let out a hiccup "...I have no idea how I'm still standing... or awake for zhat... I mean that matter."

"I would rather have this be taken care off now, than having it be forgotten about." Replied Ozpin, as he eyed Raven and Freya "Now, for why I called you all here."

"I can explain that professor..." Raven started, only for her to be interrupted by Freya

"It's because Professor Lionheart is a fucking coward who has no idea what he is doing!"

"...well that, but with a bit more tact." Raven finished, as Ozpin got a curious look on his face.

"Oh really Miss Haruki, would you care to elaborate?" Asked Ozpin.

"He is a man who let's himself be ruled by fear, he can barely even lead his school and when I tried to go to him for guidance on how to use a power that I was entrusted with, he just told me to figure it out himself. You know, say what you want about the general and his paranoia, but at least he kept his maiden alive for decades, pretty sure the previous spring maiden died when she didn't even have the powers for five years. And all of that was under his watch no less."

"Now Miss Haruki, surely you're over-exaggerating how bad things are..."

"I'm ninety-nine percent certain that he is in contact with Salem behind your back." Freya interrupted, causing everyone in the room to look at her with shock.

"What, no that can't be..." Ozpin mumbled.

"How were you able to tell?" Asked Professor Goodwitch.

"I overheard him talking to someone in his office, the voice sounded female, but no one ever left his office... well except for some black smoke, so I'm almost certain that she sends Grimm his way to communicate. And if you don't believe me, answer me this, why does Mistral specifically have such a high mortality rate amongst huntsmen?" Asked Freya.

"And is that why you ended up with Miss Branwen?" Asked General Ironwood.

"Course it is, there was no way I would allow myself to be send out there like cattle for slaughter, so I ran and eventually ended up with the Branwen tribe, and the boss certainly made for a better teacher than that coward." Replied Freya.

"I see..." Said Professor Ozpin.

"As concerning as that sounds, I don't think we can do much about that." Said Professor Goodwitch, as both Raven and Freya raised an eyebrow at her "Make no mistake, this is bad, but we only have her word on this matter and no other evidence. And we can't just fire him, or replace him, that would cause too much suspicion. But, now that we know about this, we can however keep a closer eye on things."

"Yes, I think Professor Goodwitch is right on that matter." Replied General Ironwood.

"Alright then, we'll leave it be for now. But this wasn't the only thing that I called you in for, it's also regarding Miss Rose's letter." Said Professor Ozpin, feeling a bit shaken up at the revelation.

"Was it about how she found a way to stop Salem?" Asked Raven.

"How... how do you know about that?" Ozpin asked as Raven got up, walked towards the window and began to stare out of it as she replied.

"That's the million Lien question isn't it, how do I know what she would have written you? But let me ask you something Oz, why did you send her on that mission? And better yet, did you send her on a suicide mission?" As Raven then turned around to face Ozpin with a fierce intensity in her eyes, as he stood up from his seat to match her intensity.

"What... no, I never send her on a mission at all. I strictly forbade from ever going after Salem, because the way she found wouldn't have worked, because there is no beating her, you can only stall her!" Ozpin exclaimed.

"And that's where you are wrong Oz, see, after Freya joined the tribe we broke into the vault and asked Jinn a question, specifically about your origin. And for a man who knows so much about fairy tales, you sure like to forget about the most important lessons from them. Because let me ask you, what is the one thing you should never do when talking to a genie in a lamp?" Asked Raven, to which Ozpin left her without an answer.

"You need to very specific in your question." Said Tai.

"Exactly, you shouldn't have asked 'how can I beat Salem?' you should have asked 'how can Salem be stopped?' instead of that." Said Raven.

"Why does that matter, you still can't stop her permanently." Replied Ozpin.

"Wrong again, because let me ask you, how does stop an unmovable force?" Asked Raven, as the realisation hit Ironwood.

"You trap it somewhere it can't leave."

"Exactly, and Summer figured that out. She probably noticed that Grimm either become petrified or disintegrate upon being hit by silver eyes, she also noticed that silver eyed people were hunted down and probably put two and two together... that's why she went on that mission despite you telling her not to Ozpin!"

"That is correct, unfortunately, you're still missing something important. She would have failed regardless."

"How, how could she have failed?" Asked Qrow.

"Because... the amount of power she would have exerted to be able to pull that off would have either blinded or killed her in the end."

"But how do you know that?" Asked Professor Goodwitch.

"I know that, because in one of my incarnations I had the luck of merging with someone with silver eyes and so I reached the same conclusion, go after Salem and trap her in stone for all eternity. But I overdid it, and it led to my untimely demise, that's why I forbade her from going on after Salem, because I knew she wouldn't succeed, no matter what she did, it would have ended in her demise."

"And that's why she did it anyways, because she had to try... and you want to know what she told me in her dying breath?" Asked Raven, to which Ozpin nodded his head "She told me that she had gotten eighty percent of the way there and that she only failed because Salem wasn't about to let her win. Now, that tells me that if someone were to train their ability that they can stop Salem permanently."

"No... absolutely not!" Ozpin exclaimed "I refuse to sacrifice Miss Rose after what happened to Summer..."

"And you don't need to! Do you think I would sacrifice family? Of course not..." Exclaimed Raven as she turned to Ironwood and said "Maybe instead of making war machines and artificial maidens, your scientists should instead focus on making some kind of inescapable prison." As Ironwood's eyes widened to which Raven gave him an annoyed look "Can't believe that a centuries old wizard and a general couldn't figure that out." As she then made her way to the elevator with Freya.

"Where are you going?" Asked Ozpin.

"To bed, it has been a long day, I'll leave you complete and utter fools to think about this." Said Raven, as she was quickly joined by Tai and Qrow.

"And what about you two?"

"I think we both need some time to think about this as well." Replied Tai.

"Yeah, have a good night Oz." Added Qrow, as the four of them took the elevator down, while Ozpin, Ironwood and Goodwitch stood in silence as the realisation of Raven's words began to sink in. Once they were out of the elevator, the four of them made their way out of the tower and over to the building with the teacher living spaces. And right as got there and they were about to separate for the night Qrow called out

"Raven, Ruby texted us a few hours ago that Yang was doing better but that it would take some time for her to think things over, just out of curiosity, how are you doing?"

"I'll be fine Qrow, I've spend the last few years away from her on my own accord, what's a few more weeks or months added to that?" Raven replied with a somber tone in her voice.

"But Raven..." Tai started.

"Good night Tai." Raven replied with a stern tone in her voice, showing she wasn't in the mood for the topic to brought up, as she and Freya walked towards their assigned room, leaving Tai and Qrow on their own as they also decided to go to their rooms to try and get a good nights rest in after the long day they had.

Meanwhile in the student common room

The party had long since ended, and most of the people in attendance were fast asleep in their sleeping bags on the floor, but some people were still awake and talking amongst themselves, the same went for Ruby and Rock who at the end of the party placed their sleeping bags next to each and lied down on the floor facing one another as they were also talking to each other.

"You think Pyrrha will be ok?" Ruby wondered, thinking back to halfway through the party when Pyrrha accidentally dropped the mic from her left hand and had to reveal the nerve damage and the extent of it to the rest of the group.

"I'm not sure, I'm glad that dad and some of the others are looking into it. But they're not exactly doctors of the medical kind."

"Maybe they'll make something for her, some kind of device or something that at least gives her some feeling back in her hand."

"I was thinking the same thing. But hey, she has her team to help her out with it." Replied Rock, as a contemplative look appeared on his face which Ruby noticed.

"Do you blame yourself that it happened?"

"No... it's not that, I was thinking about something else. But I don't blame myself for this, none of us could have predicted that this would have happened."

"So what were you thinking about?"

"I would say, but it feels a bit selfish to voice it out loud."

"Then just say it to me."

"Alright then... for the first time in a long time I feel as if a large weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Wily has been arrested, most of the robot masters have been taken care of and will be repaired, and Remnant is safe."

"What part of that could be selfish?"

"It's just that with Pyrrha's nerve damage in her left hand, and Yang's issues with her mother, and other things that could end up reaching the surface, it felt selfish to be having those feelings of relief. You know?"

"That's not selfish, that's empathetic and that you have the ability to feel that shows you're the furthest thing from selfish. It means that you've grown, and gotten better at dealing with emotions." Replied Ruby as she let out a yawn.

"I see." Said Rock, as he felt exhaustion take over for him as well "Goodnight Ruby."

"Night Rock." Ruby replied, as Rock turned his back away from her, while she hugged him from behind, as they both quickly drifted to sleep, both knowing that although the day was saved, the events of the day have left scars for nearly everyone involved.

---

A/N: Hoo boy, I did not expect this chapter to get so long, as I started writing it I thought it would be something that was about half the length of what I ended up with, but it just kept getting longer and longer until we got here, but it's done now. And I'm just going to say right, this is basically the end of volume four for this story, after this chapter will be about one to two intermission chapters depending on how much I'm able to write for them, as we then move into volume five of this story. So look forward to that.

With that said, can I just say how crazy this month has been, I mean we were already anticipating MatPat retiring and handing off the channels to his successors, but then in that same week Rooster Teeth got shut down by WBD and then we learned that Akira Toriyama passed away the week prior, and all of that before we even got to MatPat's final retirement theory. And as much as people, myself included, have made fun of his theories for various reasons, for being wrong or just competely nonsensical, he still made an impact on the people around him.

And in regards to Rooster Teeth shutting down, all I can say to that is that it sucks, the company and the series it created brought a lot of people together. Which is why it's good that people on all fronts are doing their best to keep everything alive, be that the people behind the scenes trying to find new studios to continue the series in, or people in the fanbases making art, stories, fan animations, discussions on plot points and so forth. All I have to say to that is, keep doing what you're doing, and even if it's small, you'll still make a difference for someone.

As for Akira Toriyama's passing, all I can say to that is what a legacy the man left behind, to not just have online news sources report on your death but also the mainstream media report on it. That is how you know you have created something that touched the hearts of millions. Cause the thing is, anime even more so than video games aren't exactly the most mainstream thing in the world compared to comics, movies, books and tv. But with Dragon Ball, it's different, it actually managed to crossover into the mainstream.

Like you had kids on the playground recreating the most iconic moves from the series, you had tv shows and especially cartoons where the characters would either watch a parody of Dragon Ball or just have them turn super for a quick gag. And that's not even to mention the amount of characters that would either go super in their powered up states or are just straight up references to the characters from Dragon Ball. I mean, just look at Yang and her hair burning a bright yellow the more hits she takes, just a straight up reference to Goku's Super Saiyan form.

Akira Toriyama left a great legacy behind, and may he rest in peace (1955-2024).

Now onto the reviews from last time:

Monster King: Don't worry, I have no intention of ending this anytime soon.

BluesSkies: I hope I was able to reach your expectations.

Jacob9495: Yes I certainly put a lot of time and effort into it last time, so I'm glad to see that the final fight felt satisfying for you. And hope you found what was in this chapter to be satisfactory.

KnightSpark: Apologies, but it was the only way I knew how to end the chapter.

MaxHD2490: He certainly was a big help in solving that crisis.

Guest: Glad you like the story that much that you find it to be worthy of something like that.

And with that, once again thank you for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing, it always means a lot to me to see how much people enjoy this, means that the work I'm putting in is worth it. And with that, I'll see you all next chapter.