Author's Note: New chapter, enjoy!

Pyrrha fought the urge to yawn, coughing in her fist as she desperately tried to resist the urge to lean up against the wall of the Bullhead. The party had gone on late into the evening, despite the event itself having ended around eleven. They'd spent some time talking after, Qrow, Winter, and James all telling stories of their older missions; of simpler times. Pyrrha and Coco had even managed to fit in a couple, though obviously not many due to their lack of experience.

Still, it had been nice, and by the time that she and Coco had made it back to Beacon it was nearly two in the morning. That wouldn't have been too much of an issue with it being the weekend, they could just sleep in, and Coco was doing just that, but a message to Pyrrha's scroll had dashed such hopes before she had even laid down.

The General was preparing to head back to Atlas, with his departure set for the crack of dawn. Three hours of sleep and Pyrrha had been back on a Bullhead heading for the single warship the General had brought with him on his brief return to Vale. When he had left for Atlas before the start of the school year he had been aboard what she was assured was a small cruiser of some sort designed for covert actions. She hadn't been truly convinced at the time, but she had seen some of the larger ships in Atlas' fleet during the festival and so knew it was far from the largest.

The ship he returned with was not that same cruiser however.

The flagship of the Atlesian fleet was an intimidating vessel, nearly four times the size of the cruiser she had been on before and staffed with about six times as many personnel. It was a sight to behold, or it usually was anyways, as she was now, Pyrrha just wanted to sleep and so the grandeur of the vessel was lost on her somewhat.

When the Bullhead entered the hangar she was surprised to see so many people running about, although she figured it made sense if they were planning to leave so early; the oddly synchronized chaos was fascinating to watch however. Men and women ran back and forth, moving to locations as if they had been instructed to without ever saying a word. Their work was done with practiced ease and she had no doubt that they had spent countless hours doing just that. The General would accept nothing less than their best.

Off to the back of the hangar she could just barely spot Winter standing along the far wall. After carefully navigating her way across the Hangar, a walk that took several minutes thanks to the numerous craft that were being moved around, she was finally greeted by an equally tired expression.

"Good morning, Pyrrha."

Once again she had to fight the urge to yawn, the reminder of the early hour threatening to suffocate her. "Good morning Winter. Where's Qrow?"

Winter scoffed. "At this hour?"

Pyrrha chuckled tiredly; she shouldn't have been surprised. The idea Qrow would be up so early after going to bed so late? Were this a life or death matter she knew he would be here, anything short of that and she wouldn't hold out hope.

"The General is waiting for us in the War Room." Winter gestured for her to step through the doorway and into a surprisingly wide hallway. She walked beside the Specialist, and even then people were able to slip by them with a foot of space between them. "He wished to pass along an update on our hunt for Fall, though he wished to do so in person. It should be a relatively short brief, you may sleep after."

Pyrrha coughed nervously. "I'm fine."

Winter looked around the hall as they continued to walk as if scanning for something; then, after a noticeably long pause, yawned into the ball of her hand.

Pyrrha's body naturally followed suit, and this time she made no effort to fight it. When she finally managed to wrestle it back under control she didn't miss the subtleness of smug looks on Winter's face; it was terrifyingly similar to Qrow's.

"Weiss always said that Schnee's had to maintain an air of perfection." Pyrrha muttered. "How is that perfect?"

Winter nodded once, before looking around the hall once again. "I see no one who I need to maintain such appearances for."

Only then did she notice that they were alone, the stream of Soldiers that had passed them giving way to an eerily deserted corridor. Despite that, Winter's words weren't entirely accurate.

"There's always me." Pyrrha shrugged.

"We have fought together and it is thanks to you that I survived Mistral." Winter smiled. "I think we can move past the formalities of my situation."

It was easy to forget sometimes that Winter held a fairly high position in the Atlesian military, both as a Specialist and as a trusted agent of General Ironwood. How she acted would change depending on who was standing in the room; formal and professional with her subordinates, honest and blunt with the General, or even teasing and sarcastic with Qrow. To hear that she saw Pyrrha favorably enough to let that carefully maintained image fall away meant a lot.

This war room was a far cry from the briefing room of the smaller cruiser. While that ship had a room that was meant for pre mission meetings, this was something else entirely. Every wall of the large room was lined with a computer terminal and above that a large screen displaying some manner of camera feed or stream of information. In the center sat a raised platform capable of fitting at least a dozen personnel, probably more if they didn't mind losing their personal space. A massive holographic table displayed a projection of the city in incredible detail, with what she assumed was the ship itself indicated via a blue dot located a mile or so out to sea.

Despite how large the room was, it was surprisingly empty. The few technicians that were at work kept their heads down buried in their terminals. Standing alongside the holographic table was the General and, though his back was turned, he seemed to notice them the second the door opened. He gestured for them to join him as he typed something into an interface on the table. The large display of Vale disappeared, replaced instead by a map of Vacuo, along one of the city's walls was a blink red dot.

"Assuming the information gathered by Torchwick's sources is accurate, this is the gate that Cinder Fall left out of." Ironwood nodded at the display.

Pyrrha stood by silently, watching the display and trying to think if she had anything to add. While she did still have a reasonable amount of knowledge of future events, this was something new. To her knowledge Cinder hadn't ever gone to Vacuo, there shouldn't have been a need, and so there was nothing she could add.

"Our people at the CCT are fairly certain they will be able to track down her Scroll signal if she has one. That's how we'll find her."

"How will they tell if it's her?" Pyrrha didn't know much about how the CCT's worked, but she was hesitant to believe Cinder would allow herself to be tracked so easily.

"Not many people leave that specific gate, there's not much to the south aside from sand, but it's the perfect place to travel if you are trying to avoid getting seen." Ironwood explained. "If she heads down far enough she'll eventually be able to make her way towards Vale to continue her plans."

So she was taking the long way around in the hopes that no one would notice. Pyrrha didn't know if that was smart, or overly obvious. She'd never tried to hide from the Kingdoms before and so couldn't even begin to guess at how to go about it. The display flicked back towards Vale and Ironwood finally looked away from it.

"It's just a matter of time until she slips up." He assured her. "One scroll call out of that desert and I'll send my agents after her. We'll make sure it's her before we make any moves of course, I'm not willing to risk civilian casualties on little more than an unconfirmed signal."

It sounded like a good plan, but once again Pyrrha wasn't sure what she could add. They had clearly thought of everything, at least so far as a man hunt across the planet could go, and this was far outside her area of expertise.

Her uncertainty must have shown on her face, because the General's expression softened before he continued. "I know this is all new to you, but I thought it important to keep you informed. Trust is hard to come by and it is you who started all of this. I want you with us when we go after her."

"Thank you." It was all she could think to say. She was grateful that he would include her, that he would give her the chance to deal with the person who had ended her life once already, but there was something else there. It was difficult to explain, fear and apprehension mixed with excitement and anger. The fight against Cinder was one she knew would be difficult, but the thought of killing her didn't sicken her like she thought it should have.

"In the meantime, we should continue our search for the Spring Maiden." Ironwood turned towards Winter. "Has Qrow found anything?"

"No." Winter shook her head softly. "He's placed out word that he is looking, but apparently the Tribe has stopped visiting its usual safe locations. It will take time."

"I may have a lead." Pyrrha looked up from the floor. "Colonel Aurelian has been placed in charge of dealing with them. From the way he spoke about them, he knows something about where they are located."

"And they've refused to act on it?" Winter didn't sound surprised, but rather, annoyed.

Pyrrha shook her head. "He said they don't have the resources, so he planned to ask Ozpin for help."

"If he's already planning for a fight however, perhaps he knows something." Ironwood brought a hand to his chin as he thought. "It may be worth reaching out to him."

It was exactly what Pyrrha had been hoping to hear, but that raised another issue. "What are you going to tell him?"

"The truth." Ironwood sighed. "I'll tell him that the Branwen Tribe holds the key to defeating the Queen of the Grimm. I doubt it will be an easy conversation but… if Ozpin were to tell him I was speaking the truth, he might listen. The two are old friends as I understand it, more so than Aurelian even realizes."

The look the General gave her was easy to understand. "I'll speak with the Headmaster and see if he can vouch for you."

"Good." Ironwood nodded. "Let Winter know what he says and she'll pass the information along over a secure network. We don't want Salem learning of our plan to inform him before we can warn him of the danger. I'm afraid my duties in Atlas can't wait, but as soon as Aurelian is back in Mistral and Ozpin agrees I will meet with him. It's… best we handle it in person."

"It is a good plan." Ozpin pulled back, flicking his cane up to divert the tip of her spear. "With Leo gone someone will need to watch out for Salem's agents, and while I am hesitant to support another country's military, Aurelian is a good man."

Pyrrha slid her foot back, taking a deep breath and focusing all her attention on what she wished to accomplish. Lunging forward she managed to bolster her speed and launch three attacks in a fraction of a second. None of them landed of course, the Headmaster managing to divert, block, or dodge each with impossible speed, but it was still more than what she could manage the week before.

"I shall send a message to him and ask him to keep an open mind." The Headmaster stepped forward, launching the same attack he had countless times before. It was far from the fastest he could manage, she had seen that when he demonstrated the technique to her, but she still found herself struggling to keep up with his pace without the assistance of her magic. "I'm afraid that if I were to give him any more it would defeat the purpose of my aid."

Pyrrha collapsed to her knees, panting for breath as she struggled to keep herself from sprawling out on the grass below her. She'd promised to speak to the Headmaster on behalf of both Colonel Aurelian and General Ironwood and, while asking during their training session had been the obvious answer before, she was quickly regretting that.

Not because of any fear of anger or animosity, even if the Headmaster let such emotions control him, she doubted he would ever take it out on a student, but simply do to the display it created. He was able to hold a discussion with her mid fight; while she was struggling to use even a fraction of the power she knew lay within, he wasn't even short of breath.

Still, she found it easier to ask such things during or after a spar. The heat of battle helped to clear one's mind, at least when it was something so simple as training, and the hidden garden they trained in didn't hurt either. The isolated location always helped her think, now it helped her choose just how to ask her questions.

She attempted to stand, but the Headmaster waved her off. "I believe we have done enough for today; besides, I know Glynda still wishes to test how you've come along with your Maiden powers. It wouldn't be fair to tire you out too much here."

Pyrrha finally allowed herself to collapse fully, mumbling her appreciation for his kindness into the dirt. After several minutes to catch her breath, and so that the distant burning she still felt inside to dissipate, she sat up once more. "The General also wished for me to ask about Raven." Ozpin had his back to her, his eyes fixed firmly on the old tree set in the corner of the garden. He hummed softly to show he was listening however. "I think he wants to know what kind of person we are dealing with."

"Raven is a complicated individual." Ozpin answered. "Simple on first observation perhaps, but her motivations run deep. Striking a deal with her will not be easy."

"Could we pay her off?" From everything the others had said she was a bandit after all. Weren't they supposed to care about money?

"Perhaps, though I very much doubt she will accept simple lien as adequate tribute for the use of the Spring Maiden." Ozpin turned away from the tree, looking back to her with a sad smile. "Especially if she believes it is I who sent you."

Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say to that. She didn't have the specifics, but from what she knew from Qrow and Ironwood Raven had been a part of their circle until around the time the Spring Maiden fled. The current running theory was that the Spring Maiden had gone to Raven and told her the truth about Salem's immortality before the two ran off to the tribe; leaving Yang with her father in the process.

That fact alone was enough for Pyrrha to resent the woman, but the idea that she would selfishly hide away and keep them from being able to find a way to win? That wasn't just cowardice, that would be as good as siding with Salem directly.

"If we explain what we plan to do, would that be enough?"

"I don't know." Ozpin sighed. "Telling Raven that there may be a way to beat Salem might work, or she might simply believe you are lying. There is now way for me to predict what she will do."

Pyrrha sighed, but understood there was nothing more that could be done. Predicting someone's choice was difficult at the best of times, when said person had questionable morals and every reason to distrust you? It was insanity to assume anything, they would just have to make their case.

"Convincing Aurelian to play along may be just as difficult, though I shall leave that to James." Ozpin tapped his cane on the ground softly. "There is one other matter I should warn you of, however." Pyrrha stood from her place on the ground, dusting off her pants as she continued to listen. "It's about the Relic."

Pyrrha stopped what she was doing, leaving Allos on the ground where she had dropped it, and turned her full attention back towards the Headmaster.

"The Relic of Knowledge is not so overtly dangerous as the others, at the end of the day it can only impart upon you its namesake, but it is important you phrase your questions carefully." Ozpin explained. "Jinn, the being that resides within the Relic, is not inherently deceitful, but she is bound by very specific rules. She may only answer a question asked, nothing more. If the knowledge you seek is outside the scope of your wording, she will be unable to help you. I find that a broad question often gives the most information, but if you wish for a specific answer then you will need to narrow down your question."

Pyrrha nodded, it was a simple enough concept but one that would no doubt cause her a headache in the coming days. She would need to speak with the General and see what exactly they wanted to know.

Ozpin withdrew his scroll. "I believe it is nearing time for you to see Glynda, try not to keep her waiting."

She smiled back at Ozpin. "Thank you sir, I'll be sure to let the General know what we discussed. I look forward to our next lesson."

"As do I."

Pyrrha sighed in frustration as she tried once again to close the latch on Allos' hilt, only to have it resist her. She'd damaged it at some point, likely due to overuse when sparring against the Headmaster, and she'd been trying to fix it for the better part of three hours. While Allos was a masterpiece of engineering, it was also an incredibly complex machine that could suffer from mechanical failure. With the added stress of her magically enhanced fighting style, it was at an even higher risk of something going wrong.

If she didn't get the latch to seal completely then when she transitioned it through the various forms it would likely jam, leaving her with a tangled mess of metal in the middle of battle. Frankly, she was lucky to have caught it before that could happen; though she certainly didn't feel lucky. She loved her weapon, but in that moment it was very easy to forget that.

She'd spent the first hour or so briefing Winter on everything she had learned; the Forges having been completely abandoned at that time due to it being the weekend. While some students loved weapon maintenance, most spent their free time in Vale or goofing off. For once the privacy was appreciated as the two talked about some of the world's largest secrets.

The Specialist had offered to keep her company but Pyrrha couldn't bear to burden her like that, already having realized that the simple repair was going to take more work than she realized. Two hours after that and her suspicions had been proven correct; the worst part was that she was no closer to figuring out why it couldn't latch than when she had started.

The metal was clean, free of any grime or dirt that may have impeded the flow, and she had taken the weapon apart and cleaned it twice now just to be certain of that. Nothing was catching on anything from what she could see, and when she took it apart there was nothing obviously wrong that stood out to her. As luck would have it, whatever deity watched over Beacon saw fit to grant her a boon in the form of a five foot four weapon nut.

Ruby saw her the moment she walked in, Pyrrha waving her over to sit at the work station next to her. The Beacon forges were probably Ruby's favorite spot in her last lifetime, and Pyrrha felt pretty safe in assuming that fact was still true, but it didn't take long for her to realize that Ruby wasn't there for fun; she was there to destress.

In the span of thirty minutes she had stripped Crescent Rose down to its base parts, cleaned them, and then reassembled the weapon twice. When she started for a third time Pyrrha decided to slide her Allos in the hopes an actual project would calm her down. Unsurprisingly, she figured out the issue in only a couple minutes.

"See that scratching? Your trigger well is warped by about a millimeter, that's causing the slide to shift into the hilt and dig in." Ruby titled the part in her hand back so that Pyrrha could take a closer look. "It's easy to miss if you don't know to look for it, Crescent Rose had a similar issue a couple times."

A few minutes later and Allos was reassembled, good as new. While Pyrrha was relieved to finally have that problem solved, Ruby had managed to finish it far faster than she expected. Now that was nothing else to distract her.

"Distract me from what?" Ruby asked.

Pyrrha jumped slightly, not having realized she'd said that last part out loud, before blushing and looking away. "You just looked stressed. I wanted to help."

She heard Ruby sigh and, when Pyrrha finally looked back, the younger girl had her head down on the table in front of her; her arms hanging limp at her side. "Being a team leader is hard."

It took monumental effort not to smile at that, not because of how it bothered Ruby, but for the sheer fact it was something Pyrrha knew the girl could overcome. It was a relief to know it wasn't anything serious; even if Ruby would no doubt disagree.

"I've heard it can be quite challenging." Pyrrha spoke softly, remembering how much Jaune had struggled with the concept when he'd been made leader of Team JNPR. He'd grown into it in time, and so had Ruby. The younger girl just didn't know it yet. "Is it Weiss?"

"No, it's Pyrrha." Ruby groaned into the table, and Pyrrha was grateful she didn't feel the urge to look up.

Shame wasn't an alien feeling to her, though it was certainly not something she was used to. She'd always tried to focus on how to improve and do better, rather than feel ashamed over how something had failed or gone wrong. Hearing that her past self was the one giving Ruby trouble and not Weiss? There wasn't much she could do to improve that, not directly at least. She could try and help Ruby however.

"What… what did she do?"

"Pyrrha and Weiss hated each other from day one," Pyrrha winced. While she wouldn't say they had hit it off, she never truly hated the Heiress. Though, considering she'd never been on a team with her that wasn't entirely fair. She hadn't started interacting with Weiss until she had already started to come around to the idea of making friends. "They spent the whole first week and a half arguing. I thought it was the worst, but… it's so much worse now. She won't even acknowledge Weiss if she's in the room, and, though she hasn't said it, I know Weiss is hurt by some of the things she's said." Ruby groaned, finally looking up at Pyrrha properly. "What do I do?"

Pyrrha froze, her own shame continuing to mount as the silence grew. Ruby was one of her closest friends, even if the girl didn't quite know that yet, and here she was asking for help. Help Pyrrha didn't know how to give. "I… I don't know, Ruby. I've never had to lead a Team before." It wasn't what she had been hoping for, her shoulders dropping as she laid her head back down on the table. "Have you tried talking to them?"

"I did." Ruby replied. "I apologized to Weiss for not taking being a leader serious enough. I even said sorry for not stepping in to stop Pyrrha. She said it was fine and that she was being too harsh." Ruby sighed. "I thought it would get better after that…"

"But it didn't?"

Ruby shook her head without lifting it, shifting in place as a result. "She barely even stays in the dorm now."

Pyrrha set a hand down on her friend's shoulder, desperately wishing for some set of words to appear in her mind that would help fix all this. Sadly life was rarely so easy, and people's problems weren't simply solved. "Did you try… talking to Pyrrha? Maybe if she apologized to Weiss herself that would help."

"She already did. Though she didn't sound very sorry about what she said, just that she'd been heard." Ruby growled into the table; remarkably, it actually managed to sound intimidating. Pyrrha just wished it wasn't technically aimed at her. "The two of them can't even bear looking at each other. Weiss spends more time with Yang's Team than us."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Ruby brushed her words off, sitting up quickly and trying to smile. "It's not so bad. When they aren't together they're both pretty nice… in their own ways. It's just…"

"When they're together, things get complicated." Pyrrha sighed.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head softly. "I just feel like it's my fault. If I were a better Team leader than this wouldn't be happening."

"Don't say that. You have the potential to be a great leader, just give it time." Pyrrha looked into Ruby's eyes, trying desperately to impart the truth there. When the girl looked away she didn't seem completely convinced, but at least confident that Pyrrha had trust in her.

"Maybe you're right." Ruby sighed, picking up Crescent Rose. "It's only been a couple weeks, so maybe they just need time to sort out their differences."

"I'm sure Team RWAN will come together." Pyrrha smiled. "Have faith."

"Thanks Amber." Ruby reached up to wrap a hand around Pyrrha's shoulders, hugging her for a brief moment before letting go. "I suppose I should get back before they start tearing the dorm up."

Pyrrha waved at her friend as she left, wishing that she could do something to help. Social interaction was never her strong suit, she'd always preferred to let her actions speak for her, but if she truly wished to help then she would once again have to step outside her comfort zone. While Ruby might insist it wasn't her fault, it might as well have been. It was her fault that team RWBY and JNPR had been broken up, and by consequence, her fault that this divide was plaguing them in the first place.

If her past self wouldn't step in to amend things with Weiss, she'd just have to do it herself.

Author's Note: Bit more trouble with this chapter then I would have usually liked, but it certainly happened. Let me know what you think in the reviews.

As always I hope you enjoyed it and let me know what you think.

Sincerely, SE