Author's Note: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 100 chapters! holy shit this is such a milestone

Here's the Discord invite link, we'll be doing a Q&A over the weekend. The Discord will also be looking for Beta Readers for another project, so there's gonna be a 'lottery' soon: Please join Discord at: /mY2QfzMjGt


Albedo was honestly wondering if he should do this. On one hand, it seemed to be the best option. Closure was just as important to humans as every sentient species across the galaxy. On the other, how would she react? Would she try to be reckless? Lash out? Unpredictability was as synonymous with humans as resilience. Thankfully, he still had time to consider, but that time was slowly ticking down. With Ironwood's permission, he was allowed to watch some of the training sessions between Specialists, or Hunters since Atlesians use the terms interchangeably, as a means to get a feeling for what he was working with. Currently, he was watching Ruby's match from the viewing platform.

The Atlesians still didn't trust him, and gaining said trust may take ages, as armed guards stood behind him, ready to open fire if he even thought about using the Ultimatrix. Even being able to watch the sparring matches was part of that. It wasn't hard for the Galvan to realize that this was a show of strength as well. Cross the general and here's what you deal with.

Down in the training room, Ruby was dashing about using her Semblance, avoiding sonic blasts from an Atlesian student. Albedo didn't remember the student's name, but he did recall they were in the Vytal Festival. After all, how does one forget a fighter who uses a trumpet as their main weapon? Ruby rounded one of the bits of cover and exited the storm of rose petals her Semblance brought. Using all that built-up momentum, she launched herself at and kicked Flynt in the chest, putting his Aura in the red.

"Shoulda guessed you'd be good," Flynt coughed a bit, staggering back from the impact, "Damn. Kick was stronger than I thought it'd be."

Ruby grinned, flicking her nose with her thumb, "Don't underestimate me."

"That's good, that's..." Flynt began, before the sound of the training room doors opened. The musician Hunter turned to see Ben…or at least someone that looked like Ben.

"...uh, Ben? You good dude?" the unorthodox Hunter asked.

Albedo ignored him and focused on Ruby.

"Ruby...we need to talk," Ben's doppelganger said.

"Huh? Uh...okay," Ruby said, a bit confused, "Something happen with the general?" Ruby asked, deciding to try and get him talking, "I can ask Weiss for some help smoothing things over with hi-"

"Ruby," Albedo interjected, "As...I understand it you've known Summer to have died in her Huntress duties. Correct?"

Ruby blinked.

"...uh, yeah," Ruby said, a bit uncomfortable, "How did you...know my mom's name?"

Albedo took a deep breath, "...maybe it's better if everyone assembled."

"Um...okay?" Ruby said, concern starting to creep up her spine. She brought out her Scroll and began working on group text to send everyone.

"...and maybe in a more...private area," Albedo added, shooting Flynt a glance that said 'this is serious'.

Flynt raised his eyebrows before speaking, "...seriously, like...last time I saw you, you looked healthy. What happened?"

Albedo just rolled his eyes at the comment, forgetting that not everyone was informed of his newly formed alliance with Ironwood. The Galvan quickly turned and began walking out of the training room, Ruby following close behind.

"We can do a rematch later!" Ruby called out back to Flynt before she left, "Promise!"

Once out of the training room, she tapped away at the Scroll's keyboard, directing all her friends to meet her and Albedo at one of the debrief rooms that Ironwood had reserved just for them. Admittedly, she almost forgot about it, but hey, now seemed as good a time as any to remember. That was more than private enough for…whatever reason Albedo wanted to talk.

Albedo and Ruby waited in silence, as the rest of the group assembled. The first to show, punctual as ever, were Weiss and Kylie. Weiss looked to Ruby, hoping maybe she knew what this was for. All she got as an answer was an unknowing shrug. Quickly, more and more of the group found their way into the debriefing room. When Ben arrived, he immediately went over to Ruby, a bit confused as well.

"So, any hints on why Albedo gathered us?" Ben asked, "He's already told us some of Salem's plan. Gather the relics, help out Zs'skayr, that stuff."

Ruby just looked at Albedo, that feeling of dread never having left her this whole time.

"I…don't think this has to do entirely with Salem…does it?" the speedy huntress asked.

"It's..." Albedo sighed, "it's complicated." The guilt was already starting to build up in Albedo's mind, even though he was about to tell her.

Qrow suddenly entered, looking a bit annoyed.

"Any reason as to why I was added to a big, important group chat with a bunch of kids?" the gruff Hunter asked.

Qrow suddenly took note of the serious tone in the room.

"...ah. That kinda news, huh," Qrow muttered, before moving over to the nearest open seat.

"You...told Qrow about this?" Albedo raised an eyebrow at Ruby.

"Yeah?" Ruby admitted, her tone still unsure.

Albedo's hand went to his eyes in concern. This was going to be even worse than he first imagined. Great. No, he could do this. He could handle this.

"So, what is this meeting about, exactly?" Oscar asked, in that Ozpin tone of voice. "You told us all you knew, what else requires a serious meeting?"

"...without the general, I noticed," Qrow frowned.

"I'm afraid…I lied. I did not tell you everything I knew. I...excluded the general from this for two reasons. This has nothing to do with Salem's immediate plans. If she were to somehow take advantage of this, I was not informed...and in truth, I would be disgusted," Albedo began, "The other...this is something I feel should only be told to those in this room," The Glavan sighed and tried to compose himself as best he could. This…this was going to hurt.

Ruby looked even paler and felt even sicker. Why did Albedo bring up her mom earlier? What did she have to do with Salem?

"...what is it?" Yang asked, noting Ruby's worry.

"Ruby," Albedo looked her dead in the eye as he spoke. This was it. The literal moment of truth.

"Summer Rose...is alive."

Silence. Great, deafening silence. Everyone else in the room felt their skin go cold.

And Ruby? Ruby just broke down and cried.

Albedo sighed, knowing the burden was off his mind. His thoughts were then occupied with a new problem. And that would be Qrow, socking him right in the face with a mean right hook.

"It's not polite to joke about the DEAD, bud," Qrow was honestly ready to beat this guy to a pulp.

"I'm not...joking," Albedo said, rubbing the spot Qrow hit. Damn, that stung.

"N-no," Qrow stammered, "You're lying, right? She's gone. This is all just some kinda…mind game you wanna play. There's...there's no way that-"

"...I fear he may be right," Ozpin interrupted. Everyone turned to the former headmaster in shock.

"Wha...Oz? Did...did you know?" Qrow was, honestly, at the most vulnerable anyone had ever seen him be. To Ben, it was like someone had shattered Qrow's tough-guy act like a mirror.

Yang was too busy trying to comfort Ruby and give her a shoulder to cry on as the tears continued to flow. Ben never registered that he'd stood up. His mind felt very, very fuzzy right now. He didn't even realize he was standing over Oz until he was grasping onto Oscar's shirt collar.

"Talk."

"I...I've always had my suspicions," Ozpin admitted, not even able to look Ben in the eye, "Summer was an incredible fighter, but what happened...even I don't know the full details of her last mission. No one ever expected it, how could they?" The calmness in his voice, for the first time, was unsettling to everyone.

Ben slammed Oscar's body against a wall. "But that doesn't EXCUSE the fact you hid this!"

"And what would you do if I told you? What would you say if I had told Ruby that I believed her mother was alive, promising to bring her back, and then it's revealed she's gone? What would you do if I gave Ruby hope and it turned out I was WRONG?" Was that...anger in Ozpin's voice? Just the smallest hint of it?

"...Ozpin," Ceres asked, voice calm and collected, "...you're hiding something else. Spill it."

"I am being honest with you. I only ever suspected. There was nothing to neither confirm nor deny it. It was as if Summer had simply vanished."

"...is that what you said to all the families of the others you sent off?" the Archimedian asked.

"What?" Ozpin's eyes widened in shock at the words.

Blonko tried to reach out, "Ceres, I do not like this...possible lie either but-"

"Bullshit. It's the goddamn truth, isn't it?" Yang asked, cutting off Blonko looking even more hurt.

"I know it's the truth. I've been a soldier before, and I know that tone of voice." Ceres said, crossing her arms, "What backup plan are we, Ozpin? 100? 1,000?"

Ozpin didn't answer. He couldn't. How could he put a number to all the mistakes he's made? All those who had joined him in his war against Salem only to see them fall? After all, he had told Ruby this before.

He had made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on the planet.

"...why?" was all Kylie could muster. Her hyper-empathetic nature was gonna be the death of her, but God, her heart just HURT for all the victims, those killed by Salem.

"...is now a good time to punch him?" Kevin said, cracking his knuckles.

Weiss gasped, "Kevin! Did you forget who else you're hitting if you do that?!"

"It's not about the kid, Weiss. It's about that COWARD inside of him!" Kevin vented.

Rex stepped in between the two, "Look, this is all very life-changing, alright? Let's just grill Ozpin a bit."

"I'm with Rex. We shouldn't over-reac-" Blake said.

"Are you kidding me? For keeping a secret THIS big?" Min yelled, "This is screwing over someone's entire life!"

"And yet you two are advocating for brutalizing an innocent!" Weiss countered Kevin and Min, "Ozpin may be guilty of this, but Oscar's innocent! He didn't ASK to be the new Ozpin, did he?!"

"She's right!" Oscar groaned, "I...I didn't ask to bear all his stupid sins!"

"Kid. Hands off him," Qrow said, standing up. Ben shot him a nasty look before he obliged. He dropped Oscar to the ground.

"...sorry," Ben said, walking away coldly.

"...Oz," Qrow said. "Be straight with me. Be straight with ALL of us...how long have you known?"

"...I've suspected for some time," Ozpin said, taking back control, "It just...none of it lined up. Summer was smart, she would've made more than one escape plan if anything went wrong. When she did not return...my initial thought was...she was gone. But the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed..."

"So you're telling me, you knew…the goddamn second we buried that casket, and you didn't even tell us?" Qrow asked.

"...is that true?" Ruby looked up from Yang's shoulder, her voice weak and shaky.

Ozpin said nothing. But that silence was all the answer Qrow and Ruby needed.

Qrow didn't hesitate to punch the wall near Ozpin's head. Ozpin didn't even flinch- he knew Qrow was holding back since he was in a kid's body. But he also knew that he deserved it; he deserved all of Qrow's fury for this. Sooner or later, this secret would've leaked out. It was only a matter of time.

Albedo's eyes hadn't left Ruby. Was he right to tell her? This ended up causing more harm than he had thought. It proved divisive...and division was the last thing they needed right now. Knowing his former benefactor, the Grimm's queen would find this entire scenario amusing, maybe even enough to have her smirk. But…Albedo's intentions were good, weren't they? All he wanted was to give Ruby some closure. Call in the others so they could support her when the inevitable emotional collapse hit her.

That trademark glow in the farmboy's eyes faded, as the former headmaster of Beacon took a backseat. When Oscar regained control, he noticed the dent Qrow's hit left in the wall and shivered in fear.

"Sorry, kid," Qrow said, looking very, very soul-crushingly upset, "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't try to hide behind the kid, Ozpin!" Ceres frowned, "Come back here and give us some more straight answers, damn it!"

"He's...he's not there," Oscar said, "I mean...I mean he's there but...he's quiet. Like he sealed himself away..."

Yang's eyes turned red. "Are...are you fucking kidding me?"

Oscar braced himself, "I'm sorry but he's just- he's just not answering!"

Yang huffed, as she looked back at Ruby.

"...whatever," the blonde said, her eyes returning to their normal purple hue.

"...we...we're probably not even people to Ozpin. We're just bullets," Kylie said, "Something he can fire at the enemy..."

Oscar then turned to Kevin, a little bit more frightened of him now.

"...were...you actually going to-" Oscar began.

"...maybe," Kevin said, crossing his arms, even if his tone was obviously that of a bluff, "But...like Kylie said. We're expendable. That's how he views us. What a j-"

Ruby shot back up, tears in her eyes. Yang was actually pushed away by the sudden jolt of energy from her sister, caught completely off guard.

"My mom was- IS NOT expendable! She...she...SHE!" Ruby was sputtering words, her mind all over the place. And who could blame her? She...looked a mess given the news. Albedo really regretted telling everyone now. Ruby ran out of the room, eyes filled with tears.

When no words came to her, Ruby bolted out of the room. She used her Semblance and sped out of the briefing room, leaving behind a trail of rose petals.

"Ruby!" Yang and Ben both called out after Ruby. Ben looked to Yang for a moment and the blonde simply nodded in response. Ben nodded back and chased off Ruby.


Silence...

Words could not describe the silence that was permeating Ben's room. Ruby hadn't even raced off to her own room, almost like she knew Ben would come after her. Ever since she arrived she had been quiet to an almost unnatural degree, her legs pulled up to her chest as she rested on the bed. Outside, the weather was reflecting her mood. A storm had rolled in over Atlas, black clouds hanging in the sky. She didn't even react when the door slowly opened, revealing her boyfriend on the other side.

Seeing Ruby like that, so depressed and withdrawn, it was almost like he was looking at a different person. Ben could only speculate what was going through Ruby's mind right now, hearing that her mother was still alive despite the fact that she had been missing for the majority of her life. It's bound to mess someone up to hear such a thing, but it had to be a trick, clearly.

…right?

Pushing that thought aside for now, Ben walked over to Ruby, taking a seat next to her on the bed. Neither of them said anything yet. In an almost poetic manner, raindrops began to tap against the room's window right before Ruby finally began to talk about all that had just happened.

"Ben, I think I've told you everything I know about my mom...right?" Ruby asked, still huddled up as her silver eyes seemed to shine just a little less than they had a few hours prior.

"As much as you could," Ben answered. The wind seemed to howl a little more outside as the couple talked.

"Yeah. Summer Rose, the name that nobody could talk about without knowing all the good deeds she did. She was truly exceptional, but..." Ruby began, finally turning to face Ben a little, her eyes still somewhat red from the emotional breakdown earlier. It was obvious to Ben that his girlfriend was still trying to hold back even more tears.

"Mom had a dream of making everyone smile," Ruby continued, "She wanted good things for everyone, even those that didn't see the good in the world. I wanted to share that dream; it's why I wanted to become a Huntress in the first place and…and now I don't know what to do," the red-hooded reaper felt fresh tears beginning to form in her eyes as Ben tried to hug her.

"Ruby... even if she is alive, is there even a way that we'd be able to save her?" Ben asked, "For all we know, Salem's got her in the most secure part of her weird castle…"

"Ben...it's not that simple anymore; it's not a question of how much security Salem has. All this time I didn't know where Mom had been. I just saw her grave and I felt all those emotions, all the grief, all the emptiness. But with uncle Qrow, Dad, and Yang? I was ready to move on years ago. And now, like some kind of sick cosmic joke, I find out that she's potentially alive! I can't just let myself pass this up! I have to know more about what happened to her! I need to save her!" Ruby found herself jumping to her feet, turning to face Ben.

"Ruby, listen to me. You need to sit down and we need to talk about this. I know how you feel about this, Grandpa Max's passing hit me just as hard and you knew exactly what to do to and what to say to get me back into the thick of it. I'm not about to let you do something you know you'll regret later," Ben explained.

Ruby's tear-filled eyes clenched shut as she shook her head. "No...No, Ben you don't get it! If you had the power to you'd want to find out what happened to Max, you'd want to try and get closure on it! That's exactly what I-!"

"You are ANYTHING but selfish, Ruby, why start now?!"

Ben's words cut through the air and caused Ruby to stare at him, shocked. Even Ben seemed to be a bit surprised at how stern he sounded with those words, letting silence hang in the air once again.

"Did I come at a bad time?" a voice suddenly broke the dead air of the room.

Both Ben and Ruby quickly turned to the source and were shocked to see in the doorway, an unfamiliar man dressed in a rather interesting ensemble of a lab coat white shirt with a brown vest and black tie, black pants, and black shoes. With an unusual calm, he simply held out a small brown bag toward the two of them.

"Care for a gumball?" He asked with a rather coy smile. This stranger simply glanced at the two of them as they reacted to his sudden appearance, rather predictably if he said so himself. Ruby quickly grabbed the nearest object whilst Ben looked ready to slam his hand down on the Omnitrix.

"I'll take that as a no then," the apparent scientist said

In what seemed to be a matter of seconds he had reappeared right beside Ruby, even though he hadn't moved an inch beforehand.

"Miss Rose, you simply must understand where Mister Tennyson is coming from. The Ruby Rose I know wouldn't throw away everything just to save someone on their own. They'd get back up, talk to all of her friends and allies, and they'd all go and find that person together," the man explained calmly.

"W-Who are you? H-How did you-?" Ruby stammered as the man in the white coat simply moved out from beside Ben.

"I've always been here, or rather I was here but then I was there, but now I am where I am right now. It'll make more sense in a moment," the stranger's voice seemed to fill the air like he was both here, there, and nowhere at the same time. Now, he was sitting on one of the chairs located a few feet away from the pair.

"Alright smartass, you better start explaining why you just so happened to show up right when-" Ben began.

"Miss Rose was about to run off to face the very evil she so wishes to destroy? To find closure on the questions plaguing her existence since childhood? What happened to the long lost Summer Rose, huntress of Beacon Academy and leader of Team STRQ?" the scientist listed off.

"...what?" Ruby asked, dumbfounded. How much did he know?!

"You two are quite the troublesome lot, but then again I've seen almost all that you two have gotten up to," Paradox said.

"Please…stop. You're making my head hurt now," Ruby shook her head, "J-Just who are you, why do you know so much about us? Are you with Salem?"

"Salem? Believe me, couldn't handle me even if she wanted to. I don't need to work for her anyhow," the man seemed almost giddy as he then adjusted his tie before giving a light smirk, "My name is Professor Paradox. Or rather, my name shall be Professor Paradox, since you named me, yourself, Tennyson."

Ben and Ruby's confusion shot through the roof.

"'But we've never met you before in our lives!' Is that what you're about to say?" Paradox grinned as Ben raised his brow in uncertainty.

"I-Well yeah, I've never seen anyone that looks and act so-"

"Eccentric? Well-mannered? Weird? Crazy? Absolutely insane?" Paradox chuckled, as he stood up and walked to the window, overlooking the shrouded city.

"In all seriousness, the more time you spend wallowing in a pool of misery and uncertainty, the more likely you are to believe everything you hear. I don't know where Summer is precisely, but I can tell you there's more to her story than a simple 'locked in a tower' narrative, and you're not going to get far with that brash attitude," Paradox warned, "I'm sure what Albedo said was true and jumping in headlong to save the day is damn tempting, but, like a strategist in the middle of a warzone, you must take your time and use your mind. Isn't that what a leader is supposed to do? If Ozpin hasn't already drilled that into you, he should've taught you better."

"How can we believe what you're saying?" Ben's voice had a surprising amount of fervor in it, as he felt a little more jittery about this man.

"Perhaps it's not so much about believing what I, or they, say as it is about trusting your own judgment? Not everything is as it appears these days, and all it takes is a slight nudge in the wrong direction for everything to turn upside down and fold in on itself. So maybe just take my statements with a grain of salt? Alternatively, you might completely trust them; the option is all yours." Paradox stated.

"So...if you're not gonna help then why show up?" Ruby asked, "Or did you just come here to tell me it's pointless?"

"Far from it. I still believe that closure is important, especially in this case. I'm hoping this will, in some way, help give that to you. As we go, I just want you to remember something: time is fickle, harsh, and when mishandled, dangerous."

"Wait, 'as we go'? What do you-" Ben started, but Paradox cut him off again.

"Think of it like when you were young. It'll be like a summer road trip, only instead of visiting different lovely vistas," Paradox began before the ticking from his watch stopped and he closed it with an echoing click. A glowing portal opened up behind him and he stepped aside, motioning for the duo to step through.

"We'll be visiting different times. So...I guess less of a road trip and more of a...time trip?" Paradox finished.

"Work on the name?" Ben suggested.

"Probably should. Doesn't quite sound right, does it? A matter for another time, however."

With that, the two walked up to the portal, and stepped through.


When they crossed through, they suddenly found themselves in a very familiar scene. They found themselves right outside a circular courtyard, filled with a garden of autumn-red trees. But there was no way it was any time close to the fall if the warm air was any indication.

"We're…" Ben began.

"Back at Beacon…" Ruby gasped.

"A projection of the past," Paradox added, "Think of it as time travel if you wish, but it's less true travel and more...watching a movie. That way we don't have to worry about any paradoxes. Aside from myself, of course."

"...Really?" Ben and Ruby said in unison.

Paradox chuckled before getting his pocket watch out again, opening it and checking the time.

"Ah, good. Any minute now we should see her."

Before Ruby could even ask, she and Ben heard someone walking up alongside them. They turned to see who it was and…

"...Mom?" Ruby said softly.

Standing next to the group, completely unaware of them, was Summer Rose. She looked so much like her daughter, the same skin tone, the same black hair that faded to red tips, and, of course, the same silver eyes. Even her outfit was similar to Ruby's, but her color scheme was more monochromatic, her cape being pure white.

"Like looking in a mirror, isn't it?" Paradox said.

"Everything's led up to this," Summer muttered to herself. She smiled and adjusted the strap of the bag she was carrying. Inside was everything she needed for what was to come. Satisfied, she walked off towards the main buildings, several other new students heading through the courtyard alongside her.

"I..." Ruby sputtered, tears about ready to start flowing down her cheeks once more.

"This is her first day, you know? First day at Beacon after finishing her training at Pharos Academy. This is also the day she'll meet some very special individuals, all of whom you know as well. In fact...why don't we speed things up just a tad? Change our venue while we're at it?"

He pressed a button on his pocket watch and the hands began to spin around the face of it faster than they should be allowed. Ben and Ruby watched as the world sped up around them, like a movie being played on fast forward. They marveled at the sight before they suddenly found themselves in the great, glass-domed amphitheatre.

Memories came flooding back to Ruby when they stopped there. She remembered the first time she was here, after accidentally causing an explosion when she bumped into Weiss. Yang's words of "Oh my god, you really exploded" echoed in her head. The memories were broken up when she heard Ben gasp.

"Uh...Ruby? I think we found two of those 'special individuals'," Ben said. He motioned over to two people that Ruby never thought she'd see in the same room, especially on good terms.

Standing apart from the growing crowd of students in the assembly area, Ruby spotted a younger Qrow and Raven. Ruby wiped the gathering tears from her eyes, clearing up her vision, just to make sure she was seeing things clearly. The younger Qrow and Raven looked very similar to their older selves. The only real difference to Qrow was a lack of stubble around his chin. Qrow was rolling a coin over his fingers, bored out of his mind at the lack of anything happening.

"So, when's this guy supposed to show?" Qrow asked.

"They're letting everyone get in first before they start. He gives that big speech, we take a night off, and they start initiation tomorrow," Raven said. She was leaning back against the nearest wall with her eyes closed, not even opening them to look at her brother as she talked.

"You sound like the old man. Afraid I'll forget or something?"

"Eh, a little," the elder Branwen twin smirked a bit and opened her eyes.

"Yet you're the one who almost forgot what day we were leaving."

"...ok, c'mere!" Raven was about to retaliate as only a sibling could, causing Qrow to pocket the coin and get ready to counter. A voice echoed throughout the amphitheatre and stopped them before they could really start. The headmaster at the time began to give his speech.

Ben and Ruby may have zoned out of his speech a bit as they looked around the room. They managed to pick out a few familiar, if younger, faces from the crowd. Oobleck, Port, even the younger version of-

"Is...that your dad?" Ben asked.

"Oh my god, it is," Ruby gasped.

Not too much changed from Tai's younger days to the present. He lacked any facial hair and the trademark tattoo on his right arm. He wore an orange bandana around his left arm instead of a red one, and instead of shorts, he wore brown cargo pants. He had two silver gauntlets on his arms that kind of resembled Yang's own Ember Celica, but neither Ben nor Ruby could tell if they had the ability to retract like Yang's gauntlet. The gauntlets themselves covered everything from just below his wrists to his hands.

"Now...you're familiar with how this starts. So why don't we jump ahead again and show you how one of Beacon's greatest teams was formed?" Paradox chimed in, pushing the button on his pocket watch again. The world sped up again, moving them all forward and even changing their location.

In just a few minutes, they suddenly found themselves deep within a verdant forest, sunlight streaming down in scattered beams through the canopy.

"Where...or when are we now?" Ben asked.

"This is still technically Beacon. Just the next day. This is-" Paradox began.

"The Emerald Forest! This is where we form teams. You get launched from the cliff after Ozpin gives a speech and you have to develop a landing strategy on the spot. First-person you see is your partner for the rest of your time at Beacon," Ruby cut in. She paused when she realized she interrupted.

Ruby giggled uneasily, "Oh...uh, sorry."

"No, no, everything is OK. To be honest, it's nice when someone can cut me off and correct me. People usually refuse to listen to me," Paradox smiled.

"Ok...wait. Oh, I know we're here," Ben said, "In a few minutes, Summer's gonna land right here, isn't she?"

"All but one part of that was correct. Summer's not landing here."

The trees behind them shook as something hit them higher up. Soon, Tai landed in front of them...except he landed flat on his face. Ben and Ruby winced a bit, even as Tai groaned getting up.

"Thought I nailed that," Tai groaned as he dusted himself off. He looked around and only saw more of the forest stretch out in all directions. He sighed, picked a direction, and just started walking.

He was walking for what felt like hours before he heard the sounds of combat. Tai checked his gauntlets, looking at the Dust crystals in the gauntlets and nodding before rushing over to see if whoever was fighting needed help.

They did not.

It was commonly known that smaller Grimm made their home in the Emerald Forest, where they roamed in packs. Beowolf packs were generally the same size as those of normal wolves, ranging from two to fifteen members. Imagine Tai's astonishment when he observed one of the larger groups, bordering on almost twenty Grimm, being ripped apart by a single girl. Or, rather, what was left of the pack. It looked like this mystery girl had been fighting for a while, and there were only six Beowolves left, including the Alpha. The Grimm were circling the one who had slaughtered most of their pack, the Alpha staying put and locking eyes with the white-cloaked fighter.

Summer was ready for them; if any of these beasts made a move, she'd be ready for it. In her hands, she held a massive white and red halberd, the blade curved in a way that also protected the wind Dust crystal situated behind it. Ruby had heard stories from her dad about the weapon, but he never actually said what it was, only ever describing it as elegant and devastating. But he did give away its name.

Fleur D'argent, or in English, Silver Bloom.

Summer was about to rush in at the Alpha, cut the head of the snake as it were, but she wasn't paying attention to the other Beowolves. One of them had gotten behind her and pounced, aiming to pin her down. Mid-way through its leap, a fireball slammed into its side and sent it flying into a tree. The fireball and the impact did the beast in and when its body hit the ground, it quickly started to fade. The other Beowolves and even Summer were surprised by the sudden turn of events, all turning to see the new arrival. Tai's arm was outstretched, resembling the times when Yang fired off a shot from her own gauntlets, smoke steadily rising up from the metal. The Beowolves weren't exactly happy that someone had interrupted their hunt. Three of the lesser Grimm rushed in to deal with Tai, while Summer was still busy with the Alpha and the last lesser.

Tai got into a fighting stance as the Grimm rushed him. Ben and Ruby watched as he spun two cartridges in his gauntlets, before they stopped with a click. A layer of stone spread out and encased the front of the gauntlets and some of Tai's hands. When the first Beowolf reached him, Tai simply reared his fist back and landed a powerful right hook into the Grimm's jaw. Fangs went flying from the hit and the sickening sound of bone breaking could be heard as the Grimm backed up and whined in pain.

The next one slashed down at Tai, but its claws only scraped against the stone as Tai brought his arm up to defend. Tai countered with a strong flurry of strikes, pushing the Grimm back. The third lesser beast pounced and would've pinned Tai to the ground, if the student didn't slam his fist into the ground. The Dust in his gauntlet reacted to the ground and a massive earthen spike shot up into and through the Beowolf's stomach. The body quickly faded as the other two wolves raced back in for another attack.

The last lesser Grimm rushed at Summer, taking a swing at her. The white-cloaked huntresses brought her halberd up to block the strike. She managed to hold the monster back pretty well. She smirked as she pushed a button on the shaft of her weapon. The halberd's blade shifted and curved into a familiar shape. Soon, the Beowolf was right in the range of the newly shifted scythe blade. Summer smirked as she pressed another button on the weapon, causing the Dust crystal to glow. A sudden gust propelled the blade forward and sliced through the Beowolf.

Seeing Summer do that, it reminded Ben of something Ruby would do. It made sense, honestly. Ruby was, needless to say, happily freaking out as she got to see her mom kick ass.

The Alpha, on the other hand, was less than pleased. It charged in, lunging at Summer and ready to snap down on her with its jaws. With a quick motion, another gale burst from the back of Silver Bloom and pushed Summer out of the way. She smirked and started using the air bursts more and more, until she was just a white blur running circles around the Alpha.

The Grimm took wild swings at where it thought Summer was, only for it to slice air. Soon, the Grimm found itself struck from behind. It staggered forward and turned, slashing at where it thought its attacker would be. Nothing. It happened again, a strike, but no attacker. Soon, the Grimm found itself buffeted between strikes from all angles until, with one last burst of speed, Summer dashed up and sliced through the Alpha's neck. The Grimm's body staggered for a few moments before falling and vanishing into smoke.

One of the last two Grimm Tai was fighting sliced at him, but he managed to catch the beast by the paw. Before the monster swung said arm to attack, the dirty-blonde brawler flipped the cartridge in his gauntlet back to fire. The metal of the weapon started to glow from the heat, smoke rising up off the metal itself and, soon after he caught it, the Beowolf's paw. The monster whined as the heat kept rising, burning the monster's skin and fur. Tai punched out and a rock-spike jutted out from his knuckle, slicing through the head of the monster. The last Grimm gave one last desperate attempt to kill Tai, but it was sliced in half from behind by Summer.

As the monster's dissipated, she stabbed Silver Bloom into the ground and waved at Tai.

"Hey!" she beamed.

"Hey," Tai chuckled, "Don't think I saw you before the orientation yesterday."

"Makes sense, place was packed. I'm Summer, by the way."

"Taiyang. And...I guess we're partners now, huh?"

"Oh! Right! The speech! First person you see is your partner! Still think that's kinda weird."

"It's probably so people don't just make teams with people they know," the brawler guessed.

"Makes sense, I guess," Ruby's future mother shrugged.

"So, partner, how are you with directions?"

"Well...if you want to find the Relics we need...you better lead," Summer chuckled nervously.

"Oh good. So we're both terrible with directions," Tai sighed.

"Hey, we know what we're looking for; we're not entirely lost!"

With that, Summer and Tai continued on their way through the forest with absolutely no idea where they were going. But that wasn't gonna stop them.

As they walked off, the scene before the trio of Paradox, Ben, and Ruby faded and shifted. Standing around the edge of a lake somewhere else in the forest, Raven and Qrow had already met up. The latter was waiting for Raven to give them a heading. They knew how to navigate forests like this, given where they came from.

"Alright. North west seems to be our best bet," Raven finally said.

"And you came to that choice...how?" Qrow asked, "The wind?"

"No...I caught a glimpse of the place when we were flying in."

"...seriously?"

"A little bit. Saw the lake from up there, too."

"Ok, that's cheating."

"Yeah, well, when has that ever been a problem with you?"

"...let's just find the damn trinket," Qrow huffed. Raven shook her head and smirked before leading the way. With the pace they were going, they'd probably reach the place in a few hours if they didn't run into anything.

So of course, that meant they ran into something.

It was about halfway through their trek through the trees that they encountered something that Ruby didn't even know lived in the Emerald Forest. Maybe she just missed them during her trip there. Soon enough, Qrow and Raven stumbled upon a group of four deer Grimm. They were known as Deathtrotters, a Grimm that favored using its antlers and trampling opponents. Qrow and Raven stayed a fair distance away from them, letting them graze as they usually would.

But then Qrow's Semblance kicked in and he stepped on a twig, snapping it.

"Oooof course," Qrow muttered. The sound drew the attention of the four Deathtrotters, all of their heads swerving to look at the source of the sound.

"Bad Luck strikes again," Raven sighed. The siblings wasted no time, getting into combat stances and drawing their weapons.

"Two each?" Qrow asked.

"Two each."

With that, the Deathtrotter herd charged the two. Qrow took on two, stabbing Harbinger into the ground, using it as a makeshift shield. The lead Deathtrotter charged, its antlers clanging against the metal. The creature tried to shove the blade aside, hook it between its antlers and get a clear line at the student.

Qrow shoved back, slamming the blade into the Grimm's face, dazing it. He pulled his blade out of the ground and had the blade quickly fold down, making the gun-barrels that flanked the sword more prominent. With a pull of the trigger, both shotgun barrels fired and took the Deathtrotter's head off. The second deer Grimm charged before the first's body could disintegrate.

Raven, meanwhile, dodged out of the way of the two beasts that charged her. As the second passed her, she quickly lashed out with Omen, slicing the slide of the Deathtrotter. Smoke rose up from the wound as the Grimm bleated out in pain. It staggered in its charge, almost falling over, but still able to recover. The first Deathtrotter simply turned back around and continued its seamless charge. The second needed to right itself again, so it simply positioned itself to start over. If a Grimm could reconsider a fight, this Deathtrotter would. As the first got closer, Raven sheathed her blade. The cylinder in the sheathe rotated before stopping on green Dust. She quickly removed the blade and jabbed it into the ground. Vines erupted from the ground, catching and binding the deer Grimm in place. The beast thrashed about in the vine trap before Raven rushed in and stabbed it in the chest. She broke off the verdant green blade, leaving it in the wound as smoke poured out. The Deathtrotter's struggle ended shortly after that, its life lost from the stab wound.

Qrow's second opponent rushed in, taking a swing at him with its antlers. The strike sparked against the metal, pushing Qrow back a bit. He rolled his eyes and quickly snapped the blade back into position. He rushed in, avoiding another antler swing and swung Harbinger at the monster's middle, cleaving it clean in half.

The last Deathtrotter looked between the two huntsmen and locked onto Raven. Even if it was wounded, it would try and end the one who caused that pain. After all, younger Grimm weren't the brightest fighters. It stamped its hooves on the ground before charging. Raven just sighed as the cylinder in the sheathe rotated, clicking on the tried and true red chamber. Once the Grimm was in range, Raven quickly brought out her blade and sliced through its neck, a small trail of fire following the motion.

The Grimm turned to ash as soon as the blade passed through, vanishing harmlessly around Raven. With that, she sheathed her sword and sighed.

"Well...that was a nice distraction," the Branwen sister smirked, "Come on, before your Bad Luck wakes up a Death Stalker."

"One time. One time I accidentally find a nest and you just can't let it go, can you?" Qrow asked, hefting Harbinger over his shoulder and following Raven as the two walked off towards the ruin.

Paradox once again clicked a button on his pocket-watch, speeding things up and jumping ahead to the familiar sight of a ruined temple in a clearing. Well, familiar for Ruby anyway. Arranged around the ruins were several pedestals, some empty, some still occupied. Raven and Qrow weren't the first ones there, clearly, but they still arrived all the same after a few hours. Currently, they were looking at the different items atop the pedestals. Each one was a circular amulet that could fit in the palm of their hands, colored red or black, with the likenesses of animals emblazoned on them. Raven picked up one of the red medallions and started flipping it over in her fingers, seeing that this one had the image of an...eagle, maybe? She wasn't sure on the exact type, but it was definitely some kind of bird of prey. She pocketed it and smirked.

"Alright. Now, we just need to find the rendezvous," Raven said.

"It's times like this I wish we could fly. Y'know?" Qrow smirked.

"You really wanna keep the bird theme going?"

"I'm just saying," Qrow chuckled as the two started off. It didn't take long for them to hear something running towards them.

Or more accurately, someone.

The Branwen siblings turned their heads to see Summer and Tai come racing out of the tree line.

"Do...do you think we lost it?" Summer asked between breaths, weapon in hand.

"Think...think so. Why the fuck is that even HERE? I thought they said the biggest Grimm in here would be a Nevermore!" Tai shouted.

"Well, either it JUST moved in, or their scouts didn't do a very good job of looking over this place!"

The two then realized that they weren't alone. They looked out at the two Branwen siblings who were just...standing there, in utter confusion and curiosity.

"Uh, h-hey!" Summer said.

"Hey…" Qrow said, still surprised at this sudden turn.

"This the uh, this the place with the relics?"

"Uh...yeah. You two...ok?"

"Us? Oh yeah, we're fine! Just...just got finished running for our lives is all."

"Really? What, did you get scared by Beowolves?" Raven scoffed.

"No, we killed like...two packs on the way here," Tai added in, "We're talking about a big horse thing."

"A...big horse?"

"Yeah. I didn't...I didn't think they usually showed up here."

"Oh shit. Remember the old man's stories?" Qrow asked.

"You actually listened to those?" Raven raised a brow at that.

"Sometimes. But he told us a story about the Slepnir. Big horse Grimm with poison breath, remember?"

Before Raven could answer, the four of them heard a cacophony of different sounds ringing out. Summer and Tai turned around, looking to the tree line behind them. Trees were shaking and, echoing out while getting louder and louder, was the sound of hooves against dirt.

"...ok...guess we didn't lose it," Summer sighed, moving back from the treeline with Tai. The brawler checked the Dust in his gauntlets, swapping one cartridge to fire while keeping the other earth. Summer got into a ready stance with her weapon in its halberd form, wind Dust at the ready.

"What do you think?" Raven whispered to Qrow.

"I think this is my usual luck," Qrow smirked, getting Harbinger ready. Raven simply shook her head and drew Omen. The four students lined up, ready to take on whatever monstrosity emerged from the forest. Ruby was so ready for this. This was, technically, the first battle of Team STRQ and she was excited as hell to see it.

Sure enough, the sound of the hooves got louder, no longer an echo, as the source of the sound lumbered out through the treeline. It was just as the two said, a Grimm horse, bigger than an Ursa. Armor plates covered its knees and ran the length of its spine. Instead of normal hair for a mane, the Grimm had black, wispy smoke rise up from the back of its head. The creature huffed, letting black smoke leave its skeletal jaws.

Ruby remembered hearing about this type of thing in one of Professor Port's lectures, a Slepnir. It was one of the higher tier Grimm that favored disorienting its prey with the smoke-breath and then trampling the victim instead of completely mindless brute force. If its prey survived the bone-crushing hooves, the lingering smoke would finish them off. It was some kind of poison that would gradually affect the human heart, eventually causing it to stop beating entirely.

The red eyes of the beast locked onto the four humans in front of it, all ready to fight.

It was like they had a death wish. It scuffed its hooves on the ground and snorted, lowering its head.

"On my go, scatter," Summer muttered.

"What? You're suddenly in charge?" Raven asked.

"Well I don't know what you can do. I've seen Tai fight, so with him I got some ideas."

"You known him long then?"

"Nope! Just met him!"

"...and you already have ideas?"

"Yep! It's just how I-" before Sumer could finish, the horse charged them, letting out a disturbing and distorted neigh.

"Wait…" Summer muttered. The horse was closing the distance.

"Wait…"

"I think we've waited enough, Sum!" Tai said.

"SCATTER!" Summer yelled. The four dodged out of the way of the charging Grimm, Raven drawing her blade and slicing at the horse's side, smoke rising up from the wound. When it realized it missed, the Slepnir wheeled back around and charged again. Harbinger's blade folded down, letting the shotgun barrels show. He fired some shots at the beast, but it just seemed to shrug them off. As the Slepnir charged back, Tai formed up a boulder in front of his earth-powered gauntlet, rushing off to the side of the beast. He led the shot before launching the boulder and slamming it into the horse's side. It whined out in pain, stopping dead its tracks. It turned to look at Tai, and that's when Raven and Summer rushed in. They slashed at the beast, cutting into it and letting smoke rise from the wounds. The Slepnir kicked back, slamming into Raven's chest and knocking her back. She tried to use Omen to stop herself, but the blade snapped halfway through the slide. Summer went in for another slash, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw the horse rear its head back. She dodge out of the way as the Grimm horse let out a stream of toxic smog from its mouth. Everyone kept their distance from it, Summer moving over and joining up with Qrow.

"Your weapon. That's it?" Summer asked, motioning to the shotgun component.

"Simple and effective," Qrow said.

"Normal Dust shells?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"Plan's coming together. Other girl, um, friend of yours?"

"Sister."

"Oh! Oh, yeah, I can see it. So, her weapon?"

"Dust sword. Each canister gives her a new blade, so if one breaks-"

"She can just make a new one. Oh, that is BRILLIANT! How'd she think of that?"

Qrow gave her a look that said "Ask her later."

"O-oh! Right, sorry. Giant Grimm horse. So idea: big thing we have to deal with is the smoke, right? Tai can shut 'im up, you and me can take out the legs, your sis can finish him off."

"Rae! We got a plan!"

"Good, but what did I tell you about calling me that stupid as hell nickname?!" Raven shouted back, sliding the hilt into the sheathe and redrawing a fresh, now dark blue blade.

"Tai! Lead him over here!" Summer shouted. Tai looked over to her and nodded, throwing a small scattering of medium-sized rocks at the Slepnir to get its attention. The horse whined out and turned back to Tai, snorting and narrowing its eyes at the young hunter.

"Come on...I'm right here...come and get me," Tai muttered. As if it understood him, the Slepnir scraped its hoof against the ground before charging. Tai started running, leading the Grimm back to the Summer and Qrow. Raven raced in as well, following behind Tai and the beast.

"Sum! Whatever your plan is!" Tai yelled, leading the creature back to the two.

"Almost...almoooost," Summer said, she and Qrow in ready positions. Tai ran right past them.

"NOW!" The two rushed forward. Summer used the wind Dust to blast past the Grimm, slashing at its back legs. A normal swing wouldn't cut it, so she put in as much wind power from her Dust as she could, slicing through both legs. It whined out in pain, thrashing its head around wildly. Before it could stop, Qrow sliced through one of the front legs and fired four shotgun blasts into the other, breaking it.

"Tai! Close its mouth!" Summer yelled, "Raven! With me!"

Fire wreathed Tai's left hand while rocks encircled his right. He brought his hands together, merging the two attacks before throwing the attack at the Grimm. A stream of quick-cooling magma covered the Slepnir's mouth as it whined, covering, burning, and soon encasing it entirely. Only muffled grunts were coming out of the creature now. Summer caught up with Raven and reached out for the Branwen sister's hand.

"Hold on!" Summer said.

"Wait, hold on? Hold on?!" Raven asked. Before she could answer, Summer grabbed Raven's hand and then used her wind Dust to propel them both into the air above the Grimm. Summer used another burst of wind to spin and throw Raven down, aimed at the horse's neck. Raven was taken by surprise before she readied her blade and, when she got close, brought it down through the Grimm's neck. The head was cleanly severed, but it didn't fall. Instead, ice covered the wound, holding the head in place before the body began to sway and finally thud to the floor. From there, the body began to fade away into dust.

"Holy shit…" Qrow muttered. This girl, Summer, was good, damn good. Quick to adapt, able to pick up things about weapons without looking at them for too long, if Qrow didn't know any better, he'd say she was a prodigy.

And then she unceremoniously thudded to the ground.

"I'm...okay!" Summer coughed, before she got up.

"Next time, maybe fill me in on the plan BEFORE doing that?" Raven chastised.

"I mean...didn't really have time, but hey! It worked!"

"It did…" Raven sighed, before muttering, "At least whoever's on your team won't want for excitement."

"Hey Sum!" Tai called out. Summer then remembered: the relic! She raced over to the ruined temple and looked over the different medallions.

"You wanna choose?" Tai asked, scanning the relics.

"Sure," Summer hummed, looking over them. In the end, she chose a red medallion with a bird of prey emblazoned on it. She pocketed it before she and Tai joined up with the others.

"With that whole thing getting in the way, we never introduced ourselves," Tai said, before extending a hand to Qrow, "Taiyang Xiao Long, though just Tai works too."

The Branwen brother grabbed and shook Tai's hand.

"Qrow Branwen. And the dark and moody one is my sister, Raven," Qrow joked.

"Really? Moody?" Raven crossed her arms and raised a brow at her brother.

"And that's how it started," Paradox said, "Two little trinkets. Two little trinkets turned into a bond that lasted years. Strangers to friends, friends to…family."

Ruby looked at her younger aunt and uncle- wow, they'd never looked on better terms. No angered looks or awkward air hanging over them. They seemed to have a genuine friendship right now...

Ruby was scared she'd see it all fall apart.

Paradox could see the worried look on her face and he followed her gaze to see the two Branwen siblings. Their falling out wasn't until later, but...that wasn't something she needed to see. She needed something inspiring. He mulled the thought over, mentally going through Team STRQ's achievements.

A lightbulb went off in the time traveler's head as he wound his pocket watch up. In the span of a few seconds, months and years passed before Ben's and Ruby's eyes in a blur. Paradox stopped the flow of time so that the lush and verdant forests of Vale were replaced by the biting cold and almost deafening winds blowing from high up on a Mistralian mountain. Four silhouettes, all seemingly wearing heavy winter gear were making the trek through the constant

"This is about two years after the initiation. An exchange program with Mistral allowed some of the student teams to travel to the other Kingdom for a few months. Let them start to get a handle of the world beyond their own kingdom," Paradox explained, "Team STRQ was one of the lucky teams to accept the opportunity. Who can blame them? Mistral is a rather nice place if you can look past the extensive crime over there. Back on track, though, among the missions that were offered by Haven, Summer decided to investigate a problem one of the mountain villages was having. The elder suspected it was a Grimm...and he was right."

"Are…are we gonna see them fight at their peak?" Ben asked, a bit eager. He'd seen Qrow and Taiyang fight before- sure, they were old timers, but what were they like when they were young?

Of course, he knew how Raven was gonna fight. He fought her before, and won, he thinks. Feedback totally threw her off guard.

But...Summer...

Ben had no idea what Summer would fight like at the prime of her life.

"More than just that. This is- No...no I don't think I'll say it. That'd be spoilers," the time traveler chuckled a little bit, "It's a good thing the cold doesn't carry over from these projections. Some Mistralian peaks have claimed more lives than Everest. As if mountaineering wasn't dangerous enough."

The four silhouettes were moving up the mountain slowly, buffeted by the winds. Paradox zoomed the projection in on the huntsmen team, showing that they were following a trail of deep footprints in the snow.

"Are we any closer?!" the past, but now slightly older, Qrow yelled, the words almost lost on the wind.

"Tracks say as much! It slowed down here, must've felt safer!" Summer shouted back, "If we're lucky, it'll be asleep by the time we get there!"

"And if we're not?" Raven chimed in, her hand tightly gripping Omen's hilt.

"If we're not then...well...we can at least the trip wasn't boring!" Tai tried to make light.

Summer snickered at that. Was it just her, or were Taiyang's jokes funnier than usual now? Something between the second and third year changed...but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Summer wouldn't honestly find out until much later.

"Tai. We are climbing a Mistralian mountain and freezing our asses off looking for this thing. I think 'boring' would be the last word anyone would use for this," Raven shot back.

"Insane might be a good one," Qrow joked, "But we would've lost the trail if we waited for better weather."

"Qrow's right. Snow would wipe out the tracks," Summer added.

"I know, I know," Raven rolled her eyes. She was just never the biggest fan of the cold, preferring the warmer climates the tribe usually moved to.

"I promise we'll be done in no time, guys!" Summer said. "The beast is close, I can just feel i-"

A growl suddenly made Summer stop dead in her tracks. Without a moment's hesitation, Summer pulled out her weapon.

"It's here," Team STRQ's leader said firmly.

Raven, Qrow and Tai all readied their weapons as well. Tai swapped the Dust cartridges in his gauntlets to earth, coating the weapons in stone for extra stopping power and Raven had Omen take on a red blade for this fight. Even though the growl sounded close, the group still didn't see their target.

They wouldn't get even the slightest hint of their quarry until Qrow was suddenly thrown aside by the monster. He barely had enough time to bring Harbinger up to block the hit, but he was still sent flying, landing in the snow a good distance away. The still standing trio turned immediately to face the beast they were hunting.

The Grimm in question stared them all down. Even with a slightly hunched posture, a person's head would only come up to the monster's heavily armored forearm. Much like Grimm in Atlas, this one had ice patches clinging to the fur that covered its back and shoulders. Four rib-like bone-plates extended out from the back and wrapped around its middle like a brace. Its ankles were just as armored as its forearms, reaching all the way down its feet which were completely hidden by a coat of thick black fur. The skull-mask of the Grimm had odd red, tattoo-like markings under its eyes, on its nose, and on the middle section of the large horns that curved back from the monster's forehead. The oddest part of the Grimm was its mouth, that constantly hung open, showing just...shadow. No fangs or anything, just pure shadow, with puffs of black smoke occasionally leaving the open maw like cold breath.

"Ohhhhhh shit..." Raven muttered seeing the Grimm Yeti.

"Keep your guard up!" Summer yelled, as her halberd lengthened, "Sure, it looks tough, but we're even stronger than this piece of shit!"

"...I see where you get your tenacity," Ben said, turning to Ruby.

"Heh, yeah," Ruby chuckled a little hearing that. By now, all those negative emotions that were hanging over her head had seemingly vanished. Or, at the very least, they had been hidden again.

The Yeti pounded its chest like a Beringel before rushing in to attack the rest. It charged over at Tai, throwing a punch at the brawler. Given how he had more time though, Tai was able to bring both gauntlets up and let the Yeti simply punch against a shield of pure, hard, rock. He skidded back a bit, but his defense still held. Raven and Summer took the chance and raced around Tai, flanking the hulking Grimm and lashing out at it. Raven got a good slash in before jumping back as the beast tried to slam her into the snow, but it quickly moved back to face Summer before she struck, using its armored forearm as a shield. Silver Bloom simply left a scratch against the bone armor, but Summer couldn't lament the failed strike. The beast tried backhanding her away, missing as Ruby's future mother simply ducked under the attack.

Summer's body was suddenly surrounded by rose petals- Ruby gasped. "I've never seen mom's semblance before...is she a speedster like-?"

"Not exactly. Observe." Paradox said, pointing his finger at Summer. The petals floating around her suddenly flew around the area, slicing up the Yeti with a few powerful cuts.

It screamed out, moving back to try and get out of the harmful storm with its arms raised to shield it. It set one foot outside of the storm, and it was suddenly met with a punch from Tai, forcing it back in. On pure instinct, it spun around to try and strike at STRQ's brawler and paid for its lapse in judgment when the petals sliced into its back, small puffs of black smoke rising up from the wounds. In frustration, the Yeti punched into the ground and tried to grab a hold of a rock hidden under the snow. Its claws found purchase and it suddenly chucked a stone towards Summer. She dodged out of the way, breaking her concentration and letting the stone simply fly past her. A quick blast from Harbinger's shotgun shattered the stone into pebbles. Qrow ran in, closing the distance and firing a barrage into the beast before swapping the weapon back to its sword mode. The shotgun blasts simply met with the bone armor, sparking against them. Raven raced in again and slashed at the Yeti's exposed back, forcing it to drop its defense and letting Qrow get a good hit in with a well timed sword swing. It howled out in pain and grabbed Harbinger by the blade, swinging Qrow around and slamming him into his sister.

"Wow, Qrow and Raven are so..." Ruby struggled to find a word, "Green. Rookies. Aren't they supposed to be assassins?"

"Every hunter starts off as a starry-eyed new blood. Besides, this is the first ever Yeti they'd fought. Surely, your first Grimm killed was sloppy?" Paradox asked.

"...okay, true, but it wasn't as bad as BEN'S first transformation," Ruby countered.

"I committed arson," Ben explained, "Unintentionally."

"...strange how in a lot of universes where you get the Omnitrix, that's a constant," the time traveler smirked a little.

"I'm just gonna blame your Semblance on that one, Qrow," Raven huffed, getting back up and rushing back into the fray.

Summer activated the wind Dust and boosted her the speed of her strikes, going for a flurry of attacks against the brute. With the sheer amount of slashes coming its way, thanks to the speed boost, at least half of the strikes found their marks. Summer smirked before the Grimm suddenly kicked Summer away from it. It howled out, spinning around and slamming its fist into the ground, missing Tai by a few inches because he dodged out of the way. Stone spikes grew out of the brawler's gauntlets and he stabbed into the exposed shoulder of the Yeti. The Grimm grunted in pain before turning to face him and slammed its skull into Tai's head.

"TAI!" Summer yelled, as his aura began to shimmer- it was running low. If the Yeti managed to break it, she wasn't sure what was gonna kill him first, the yeti itself or maybe even the cold. It was freezing up here, even breathing felt a bit difficult with the air so thin. Summer needed to end this, right now...

"Raven! Qrow! Formation Pollux!" Summer yelled- the twins shared a look, before hopping right into action. The three of them got into three corners, triangulating around the Yeti.

The Yeti reared its head back, ready to slam into Tai once again. Before it made impact, Ruby's future father reached out and grabbed hold of the beast by the horns, keeping it still. The brute grabbed hold of Tai's arms and started putting pressure into the grapple.

"Guys?!" Tai yelled, struggling against the Yeti as the beast prepared to break both of his arms.

Summer's eyes widened in horror- she needed to strike now, but she wouldn't be fast enough! By the time she's in range, the Grimm would break through Tai's Aura. Hell, what could she do beyond scream in horror?!

Summer screamed Taiyang's name; At least, she thought she did. From Summer's perspective, white light seemed to creep in from the edges of her vision, before that white was all she saw.

From Ruby and Ben's perspective, a massive flash of white light accompanied Summer screaming out in horror at the idea of her teammate being brutalized. Raven and Qrow tried covering their eyes from the sudden flash from Summer's direction; it was like a massive flashbang going off. When the light died down, the Branwen brother blinked a few times just to get his vision back.

"The hell was that?!" Qrow asked.

"Um...Qrow..." Raven trailed off. When Qrow was satisfied that he wasn't blind, he looked over at Tai.

His jaw dropped when he saw the Yeti, completely turned to stone. Tai was still gripping the horns of the Grimm, but the beast, itself, had lost its grip on him, its head frozen in the middle of thrashing to the side, the expression one of incredible pain.

Tai looked at the now frozen Grimm, lost for words. He slowly let go of the stone horns and stepped away from the new Grimm statue.

"What just...happened?" the brawler asked, before he turned to check on his teammates.

"Summer!" Tai yelled, making a beeline for Team STRQ's leader.

Summer was face down in the snow, weapons beside her. It seemed that whatever she did managed to knock her out cold. Qrow quickly grabbed hold of Harbinger and even Raven sheathed Omen before the siblings raced over to check on her as well.

Tai got to her first, rolling her over to check on her. On the outside, she seemed totally fine, no fresh wounds or anything to suggest that something happened while they were all blinded.

"W-what the hell did she do?!" Raven asked, feeling for a pulse.

"Sure as hell wasn't her Semblance in action, that's for sure..." Qrow muttered.

"Thanks for the obvious one there," the elder Branwen sibling rolled her eyes at that. She looked back over at the frozen Yeti, still in total shock. What power could just turn a Grimm to stone like that? She'd heard of Semblances that could paralyze, but full petrification? Never.

Taiyang carefully lifted Team STRQ's leader out of the snow.

"Nevermind what she did! We need to get her to help, right now!" the brawler yelled, taking charge.

"Snowfall'll make it difficult getting back there. Our tracks are probably either already covered up or they're starting to be...but you're right," Raven agreed, "Think the gear'll hold up?" the Branwen sister motioned to Summer's winter clothes.

"It should, as long as her aura is still intact." Qrow said.

"She didn't take too many hits, so I think we should be good..."

"Good," Tai said, "we still need to hurry though."

The siblings nodded, both still gripping their weapons in case any more Grimm decided to take a risk.

"This...that was the first time she used her Silver Eyes," Ruby muttered as she watched the group descend the mountain.

"Indeed it was," Paradox waltzed on over to the statue of the Grimm, knocking on the beast's petrified horn, "Similar to you, her first use of her Silver Eyes was done out of desperation to save someone she loved."

"...woah," Ruby gasped, "I guess we were more alike than we thought..."

"Notice how she froze it in place- she was more focused on stopping the creature, not fully destroying it. This is clear evidence of someone who hasn't quite mastered the skill," Paradox noted.

"How can you tell?" Ben asked.

"Petrification at a beginners stage can easily freeze any Grimm Hunters dub a Level 3," Paradox began, "Anything above that will merely slow it down for a small time, before it breaks out. An expert would be able to freeze and destroy any Grimm with a look."

"...could she?" Ruby asked.

"In time, she was able to gain a greater mastery over the power, yes. Like you, though, she searched for answers and that search got the attention of two people. One was Ozpin, who was simply counting down the days until he would need to tell Summer, and...well, you can guess the other."

"Salem," Ruby grimaced.

"Her power back then wasn't as prominent, but she did have agents scattered about the globe," Paradox said, "Thankfully, the 'Queen of Grimm' hadn't met a certain specter yet."

"They weren't as bad as any of her current minions right?" Ben asked.

"None as power-hungry as Cinder or as insane as Tyrian. Some still fit those profiles but...those two are still worse. Although...no, nevermind."

"...lemme guess, you stopped yourself from revealing spoilers?" Ruby guessed.

"If you want to call it that. I can show you the one your mother could call her...arch nemesis, however," Paradox nodded, "That one at least doesn't count for spoilers..."

"She had her own Cinder?"

"...actually that's a good comparison. Power hungry to a fault, willing to manipulate anyone as a tool..." Paradox hummed before winding up the pocket watch. Once more, time sped forward in a blur, though this time it was a much shorter span, only a few months instead of years.

Ben and Ruby were now standing in what seemed to be an old castle. Ruby looked around and noticed old and tattered banners hung from the walls, each bearing the crossed axes that made up Vale's crest.

"What the-" the red-hooded reaper began to ask.

"This is a castle not too far outside of Vale," Paradox explained, walking through the halls of the ancient fortress, "One of many that stood in the Great War, before most were demolished from conflict or claimed by time."

"What was this place for?" Ben asked, feeling the stones on the wall, "I feel like this would've been brought up more if..."

Ben's voice came to a slow halt. Something was coming. Ben and Ruby looked down the hall, to see...

"A…knight?" Ruby asked. The figure had on a chain mail hood, a metal mask that reminded the girl of Doctor Doom, a trench coat and an all too familiar coat of arms on their chest.

"Wait...no that's...that's not-" Ben started to say when he saw the insignia.

It was the crest of the Forever Knight.


Author's Note: honestly i thought getting to 100 chapters would be easier. how many years has it been since Gems started...3? 4? God.

Honestly, I know this fic isn't perfect, but the journey to getting where it is now...it's been fun. Here's to another 100 chapters.

...it'll probably go on that long, actually. We might reach 200 chapters.

As for the chapter itself, if Paradox wasn't 'voiced' by his usual voice actor, I'd cast someone like Pete Davison (the 5th Doctor) as Paradox. He's one of my favorite Doctors. Davison portrays the Fifth Doctor as sensitive and prone to indecision, with a youthful intellect, demeanor, and look, and Paradox is just so...full of life. I think Davison would have some fun with the role.

Also, it's totally not because I can make jokes about Weller and Paradox being related somehow.

Please leave a review, preferably more than one word and something that focuses on the chapter- what you liked, what you didn't like, etc