"You look terrible…"

"Try fighting Siren fleets non-stop for three weeks straight, see how it affects your complexion."

"All this pouting doesn't suit you, dear…"

"As if there's any alternative right now."

"I can't help but worry, you and many others are my dearest children, after all…"

"Still keeping that up I see, even after the Commander-"

"Oh, have some faith, the plan will work, it is the least we can do."

"Faith…is something I never had, don't you know? I will get some rest now."

" Schlaf schön, dearest sister…"

"Hey Ruby! Wake up sis!"

Snapping her eyes open, the sight which greeted Ruby was not the wooden ceiling she was so accustomed to, but Yang's face, locked into an expectant grin. There were a few times Ruby remembered Yang making that face, usually when on her birthdays right before the gift-giving part of it. If she remembered correctly, that exact expression was also seen a year ago, when she received her motorcycle after years of asking (begging).

"Why are you in my room?"

" Cauuuuse' I'm your older sister?"

For some reason, Ruby could imagine Friedrich giving that answer as well, though obviously in a different tone and voice. Yang and Friedrich were her older sisters, but both were not really comparable, not that Ruby had any other frame of reference like other Kansen who had literally dozens of sisters in some cases.

"That is not an answer. It is also six-thirty in the morning, you never wake up before eleven on the weekdays as well. You want something from me." Ruby pointed out succinctly, the fact that this was right after the events of yesterday did not escape her thoughts.

"Well, you offer family discounts by any chance? Bumblebee needs to see some asphalt, and you know how expensive the ferries are on weekends, whaddya say?"

"Dad said I can't go out with my rigging unless I'm being supervised by an adult."

"I'm an adult!"

"You're seventeen, and I'm pretty sure he was referring to himself and Uncle Qrow."

"Ahhh! I'll be eighteen in a few months, also I totally count as one, I'm the one who's legally allowed to ride a bike here, not you."

She was woken up at six-thirty in the morning for this? Ruby was not about to entertain whatever scheme Yang cooked up the night before and covered herself back up underneath her blanket.

"Enjoy the ferry ride."

"Hahaha…I would apologize for roughing you up, but now that I know better…you're coming out with me to get some sunlight. I'm so not sorry by the way."

Unfortunately for Ruby, Yang was still faster, and her blanket was yanked away. She never did have a choice in the first place.

"Heave, ho! Heave, ho! Wait, don't scratch the paint! I spent a fortune getting the exact shade of yellow for it!"

"You're not even the one lifting it, shut up!"

Back at the cove, Ruby momentarily spawned her hull out for the purposes of getting a tender deployed, which she was going to use to get them to Vale. Did their father know? Probably not, she was pretty sure he was still fast asleep, he technically had nearly twenty-eight hours of uninterrupted consciousness due to the various events he was unwittingly a part of. With that said however, it was odd that Uncle Qrow was nowhere to be seen, she assumed he would have stayed with them for the duration of whatever he needed to do, but apparently not.

Under Yang's anxious and incessant micro-managing, Ruby finally managed to lift her motorcycle onto the tender, securing it in place with a few ropes for good measure. While the tender was fairly large, the straits could also have unpredictable waves, which was why extra precautions had to be taken. Besides, under daylight Ruby usually never had her hull out, the risk of being spotted by a passing boat or just someone from the shoreline was too great. Yesterday was the exception of exceptions, which she was not going to repeat anytime soon.

"So we're going to be crossing the strait in this thing? Don't you have anything…bigger? Like, the cinema from yesterday was pretty cool, I didn't even get to finish the other movie called uh…Dying Tough?"

Ruby thought for a moment, checking her internal film archives for what she was referring to, before finding it stored in the 'foreign films' section of her cinema. "Oh, that one. It was another Eagle import, too much shooting for it to be enjoyable for me, but I see that your taste in films hasn't changed."

"Dad liked it! Uncle Qrow did too, it's not every day you see a film literally not from Remnant, hey were there scrolls in that world? Was there something like the CCTnet where Ulrich was from?"

While securing the remaining ropes, Ruby answered. It was akin to explaining something very common in her life but had since been replaced by something not quite the same, but still very similar. If she did have to compare Remnant and her old world, however, she could say that in some areas such as energy development and weaponry hers was the more advanced one, while for robotics and aerial vehicles it was the opposite. Still, oddly enough many things were still extremely similar despite being an entire world apart, every fixture of modern life that she knew from before was somehow replicated here as well.

"We called them 'telephones', and the CCTnet was called the 'Internet'. I remember having an account, or rather, Ulrich had an account she posted on an application called Juustagram. Not to compare, but I prefer it over the CCTnet, there were way more people on it compared to Remnant."

With Remnant's smaller population, it was bound to be the case, and if she was being honest, the world even felt a lot smaller despite being the same size. Was it because of the Grimm stifling humanity? Perhaps, but then why did the cultures of Remnant bear great similarity to the ones in her old world? That, Ruby never got an answer for, even the languages Remnant used were not that different. She could understand old Mantellian without having ever studied it, and the language was only spoken by the older generations of Mantle by now.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, your old world was soooo big. Still, more than a billion people, like, woah. Don't think Remnant will ever get to that point, not at least until after I'm gone."

"We'll see. Humanity is not so different across the two worlds, for better or worse. Now, find a seat, the waves may be a bit bumpy today."

"Bumpy? The weather's clear today, what are you taAAAAA-!"

Those tenders had powerful little engines for their size, didn't they?

So, ever had that feeling when you did something at work without explicit permission from your boss and were now explaining exactly what you did? Well, Qrow was experiencing that firsthand, though in fairness he was used to pulling shit like this, if Ozpin didn't like it he could suck it.

"Of all the things you've done over the years…this takes the top spot, Qrow. "

The way Glynda said his name out loud did not speak of good things for Qrow in the very near future, but then again even back during his STRQ days they had a relationship like this so it wasn't anything new. So in a sense, it was just him pushing the limits of Glynda's blood pressure.

"Now, now, Glynda, I am sure Qrow had his reasons for keeping Ulrich anonymous, especially to us, and even after I specifically asked for an in-person meeting. But no, it is fine, it's not like we're dealing with an individual who has access to naval artillery on a whim, if what you've said about her semblance is true."

Yikes, even Ozpin was being prickly today.

"Oh c'mon, I flew back to Vale overnight just to make it here, besides, Ulrich's not the type to show up in person, this is the best we're gonna get."

Despite the idyllic backdrop of Vale's gentrified dock district behind them, the Pastry shop they met at did not at all fit in with what they were talking about. Around them, Qrow could hear simple conversations, such as what kind of pets people were getting or whether or not they should pay the extra lien for a croissant on the menu.

"Yes, and you're certain this Ulrich has a link to Torchwick, who will be able to get us closer to whoever is behind the recent string of incidents in Vale?"

Qrow would bet on it, family ties were something else after all, as Raven's semblance was evidence of. He was pretty sure his bitch of a sister still had a portal linked to him, so much for total abandonment, right?

"It's the best I could have done, Ulrich is…not very positive towards authority figures to say the least. Don't take this with offence, but you're not exactly the rebel-type, Oz."

"Oh you'd be surprised, I incited more than a few rebellions before-"

"Ahem." Glynda's reminder stopped Ozpin from continuing further, every so often he'd get into weird boasts about the things he'd done in his past life. At this point Qrow suspected he only revealed the most outlandish things on purpose.

"Riiiiight. So, next topic, you wanna talk about Atlas or the Fall Maiden first?"

"The Fall Maiden, I do not want to have anything to do with them right now." Answering for Ozpin, Qrow could see the bags under Gylnda's eyes, probably from dealing with that Atlesian Vice-Admiral who arrived in Vale yesterday. He had to admit, her damage control speech that she gave regarding that viral dockyard video was impressively given; for someone who was Jacque Schnee's sister. That was about the only good thing he was willing to say about her.

"Been a while since I last saw Amber, what's up with her? Didn't we agree on letting her go out and explore?"

"We did, however we are altering the terms of that agreement." Ozpin said, all the while continuing to sip on his double expresso without any concern on his face.

"...you know Amber is going to flip, right? It'll be worse than telling the Winter Maiden she had to retire a decade ago."

Qrow still vividly remembered that mission, he refused to eat shaved ice to this day because of that.

"I know, but circumstances have changed, and I need all cards close to my chest, at least for now. Young Amber will take some persuading, I admit, but I am certain with the right words from you, she will come around to see the necessity of-"

"Amber blocked Ozpin's number after he called too many times before, she also appears to be outside of CCT range for now, though we do have her last known scroll location." Answering for Ozpin again, Glynda stated the actually important bits of info for Qrow.

"So you did install the tracker on her phone, she'll be taking out that anger on me when we meet up, just saying." Amber was quite adamant about not being tracked or followed when she left Beacon, obviously they weren't just going to let her go into the wild without any sort of way to find her so they took Jimmy's suggestion of covertly planting a tracking program into her scroll. She was definitely going to be asking questions on how they found her however, but one thing at a time.

"And that is why we give you hazard pay, Qrow. I'll have you know Vale takes care of its Huntsmen quite well." Their higher than average suicide rate compared to the rest of the population said otherwise, but that was more on the Council than on Ozpin himself. Protectors of Vale they lauded, but Oum forbid if they needed assistance after retiring.

"Lemme get this straight, the plan is for me to find Amber, tell her to come back, she comes back with me, and that's it? Are we just ignoring the difficult part or was there somethin' I wasn't paying attention to?"

"Yes."

"A man of your talents will surely accomplish it."

This motherf-

"Please remember that you were the only one Amber even remotely liked, and I believe the parting words she had for me were 'old fogey'. You out of everyone else here stands the highest chance of convincing her to return, at this point I'm starting to regret not taking James's suggestion of just imprisoning her somewhere."

"Ozpin!"

"What? I'm allowed to say my opinions am I not? I made sure to put that into Vale's constitution after the Great War."

"Keep your voice down!"

Qrow inwardly regretted scheduling the meeting for early in the morning, because he was definitely not awake enough for bullshit this early. Taking out his now refilled flask, he poured a few splashes of his favourite spirit into his coffee, before downing most of it in one go. While he was doing so however, he spotted a shade, no, two shades of white that were eerily familiar.

"Look Winter, they have those famous Valean pastries here, care for a Croque Monsieur?"

"Later, I just need to meet with Beacon's leadership for a brief moment…"

"...and why is she here?" Glynda groaned into her mocha frappuccino, an expression Qrow was doing the same for his own drink. Both were also doing their best to not be seen by them, only for Ozpin to have other ideas.

"Miss Schnee…and the younger Miss Schnee…didn't the papers state that the latter was attending Royal Valean in the coming semester? And here I was considering extending an invitation to Beacon for her, it would be a great boon for our academy to have someone such as her, particularly considering her semblance…"

No, stop it, don't.

"You know, many students in higher education have multiple offers up until the semester starts, and it just so happens that Beacon has a late offer policy."

That's because you're the one who put it there!

"Ozpin…for the love of Oum, we're gonna end up with an odd number this year again, I will-" Despite the Headmistress's best efforts, it was still not enough to deter the Headmaster's eternal determination.

"Miss Schnee! Over here, I believe you are looking for us?"

Yeah, no, never had a chance there did I?

Grimacing, he shot a quick look of disdain behind her as Winter was the one who approached, leaving behind her younger sister. Qrow realized he had never actually seen the younger one in person, quite an enigma that one. Despite being the heir to the SDC after Winter's acceptance into the Army, he expected her to be paraded as the next successor to that conglomerate. Instead, there were few, if any public appearances from her, rumours in Atlesian tabloids stating that she spent her time in the Schnee estate garden arranging flowers over anything else. Though if he was going to make a smart guess, the youngest brother was now going to succeed the SDC now, just a guess, however.

"Headmaster Ozpin! Headmistress Goodwitch…Qrow…"

"Nice to see you too, how's the arm?" Qrow was staring directly at her arm, still under a sling, though the most annoying part was how she was still dressed in her Atlesian uniform, didn't she have anything else to wear?

"...better by the day. Though it would have been avoided if someone was faster at his only job."

That's just called karma for sending me so far you uptight bootlick-

"So, what brings you to our humble little breakfast, aren't you not in command anymore?"

Rubbing it in for good measure, her narrowed eyes at him were well worth whatever shit he'd be getting from Glynda later.

"I may not be in overall command now, that going over to Vice Admiral Gelè, however, I am still General Ironwood's representative and the highest commanding officer for the Atlesian Army in Vale."

"Meaning that you're pissy the boat people got one over the Army and now Jimmy's trying to save some face, am I right or am I right?"

"The Atlesian Army doesn't resort to such measures, least of all, not against the Navy of all organisations."

That was true on the surface, but to anyone remotely familiar with Atlesian budget meetings that happen every year it was an entirely different story.

"How did you even find us? Or better yet, what are you actually here for?"

Qrow just wanted her gone, and for those Atlesian types the best way to do that was to get to the bottom of whatever they were trying to do.

"For transparency, we did not use any spying equipment to find you, Headmistress Goodwitch's secretary told me where you might be."

"I'll have a word with her later." Judging by the glint on her glasses, it wasn't going just to be having simple 'words'.

"General Ironwood-"

"I was right!"

"Quiet, you. General Ironwood is reaffirming his support for the Special Operation in Vale, despite the potential setbacks it is currently facing, he is committed to sending in whatever forces necessary to ensure the safety of Vale."

"If you mean safety by sending in a bunch of soldiers to provoke the White Fang into open hostilities then sure, you've accomplished that goal. Bravo. You want a lollipop for that as well?"

"While Qrow has put it crudely, he does have a point in this specific circumstance. We asked for support, not for Atlas to bring an entire Army, especially not when the situation has not called for it, Specialist Schnee." Ozpin actively pushing against this as well? Hot damn, was this what vindication felt like?

"Be that as it may-"

"The council of Vale will be working with the Vice Admiral for now. This incident has been unpopular for many citizens just to put it mildly. As such, any support, especially from the Atlesian Army will not be needed as of now. James could have contacted us over the scroll instead of sending you, and I will be sure to contact him directly in the future."

Winter looked like a puppy who was being scolded, and Qrow kept completely silent throughout the entire exchange.

"Y-yes, I understand, Headmaster. Will there be anything else I can help you with today?"

Ozpin shook his head, then turned his attention towards someone behind Winter, looking on with increasing curiosity.

"No, however, your younger sister has been looking at us with curiosity this entire time, mayhaps we should say a few words in greetings before you carry on with whatever you were doing before?"

"Oh, um, of course. I believe you two have met before in Atlas. Weiss! Come over here, there is someone who would like to speak with you."

Watching the younger Schnee walk over, Qrow could see that she was dressed much more modestly. Nothing about her screamed 'rich', unlike what her name may have suggested. It was a simple dress, no patterns or anything discernable, her hair wasn't even done at all, leaving it free flowing, and the only thing she held was a small plain linen bag. If she wasn't with Winter, Qrow probably would not have been able to identify her as Weiss Schnee.

"Greetings, Headmaster Ozpin, Headmistress Goodwitch…and you are…?"

"Qrow Branwen, Huntsman."

"A pleasure to meet you, I assume you are a skilled huntsman to be talking with the Headmaster of Beacon on this fine morning?" She placed a hand on her chest and did a small bow, definitely practiced from somewhere, not Atlesian custom however.

"Skilled…hah, if only you knew his conduct-"

"Don't be rude, Winter. You are in front of guests right now."

"O-of course, apologies, Weiss."

Holy shit, Qrow liked the younger sister a lot more already. Was she the only normal one in the entire Schnee family? Hell, she even made Winter of all people apologize, what kinda power did she have over her?!

"You are indeed correct, Mister Branwen here is one of Vale's most skilled Huntsmen, an excellent deduction. Skills like that are what any aspiring Hunter should have, wouldn't you agree, Miss Schnee?"

"I do, Winter has told me stories about the training that goes on in the four major academies. Though I must ask if that is related to why you called me here, Headmaster."

Sharp too, she picked up on Ozpin's antics immediately. Qrow was now interested in where this was gonna go, leaning in closer to hear them better.

"It seems that my ruse has been uncovered, how interesting. The rumours about you being sharper than you appear are not unfounded after all. Then in that case, can you entertain my thoughts for a moment?"

"I shall strive to be an entertainer then, ask away."

Qrow saw Ozpin's expression turn into a smirk, the old immortal usually lured someone in that way with small talk, then getting to what he really wanted to talk about directly. It was how he and Raven were convinced into taking his magic, turning into birds on a whim.

"Why Royal Valean University? In conversation with the President of RVU, she expressed some amount of confusion at receiving your application. Someone of your status, not to mention the training you were given meant that you could have applied to any higher education institute, even the four academies and got in if you so desired. So I suppose my question should be, why Vale?"

And not Atlas.

That was a question the tabloids also asked, most certainly the Universities in Atlas were also scratching their heads as well, asking that very same question. He didn't think Jacques Schnee would have let her even leave Atlas, not with all the White Fang attacks on the SDC happening all over Remnant.

Weiss closed her eyes for a brief moment, lips thinning, before turning around, looking at the wide open ocean down the hill from where their Cafe was located. Without turning back to look at them, she gave her answer.

"I wanted to spread my wings, and where better to do that then next to the sea?"

RVU had its campus located directly on the harbourfront, which was coincidentally where she was looking towards as well. But a gut feeling told Qrow she wasn't looking at the campus, but rather, the ocean beyond it, the vast, endless expanse where you couldn't see beyond the horizon. Ruby sometimes had that look now that he thought about it, looking at the ocean from her balcony on Patch, like she was longing for it.

"I see, forgive the pun, but I suppose you are locked into that choice? Even if I offered you an invitation to study at Beacon? I would offer a scholarship but you and I both know it would be better going to someone else who actually needed it."

"No offence taken, I too wish for it to be given to an aspiring Hunter. However, I must decline your gracious offer."

Huh, that was faster than Qrow expected. She barely gave it any thought before declining. Even Winter was looking at Weiss weirdly, though with an odd sense of relief mixed into it.

"Beacon is inland, no? Therefore, I must decline. Perhaps if the King of Vale decided to build it on the seaside I may have gone, but alas, we cannot change what has already been done."

Wait, but didn't that imply she would have applied if it was next to the sea? Of all the reasons to reject a University offer, the lack of a seaside view was a first for him.

Ozpin however, simply kept his smirk, nodding in confirmation, he got up, the bill for everything they drank in hand.

"In that case, I will keep that in mind for any future prospective students. A castle by the ocean…what an entertaining thought. Goodbye young Miss Schnee, may your efforts be rewarding, and Vale hospitable to you during your stay."

Ozpin and Glynda got up, making their way back into the Cafe, presumably to pay for everything they bought. However, the old Headmaster stopped halfway, turning to Qrow with the look of a teacher who nearly forgot to assign homework.

"Just before I go, Qrow, do take them around Vale to see the sights. It is payment for the coffee you drank, and no, this isn't negotiable."

Damn, just when I was about to-

"Oh my, you must be a local of Vale, are you not Mister Branwen? For a veteran Huntsman to take us around, isn't that grand, Winter?"

Qrow looked at Winter, she stared back, but both of them had the expression of someone who just ate a lemon.

AN:

Yeah I know took a while to update, was busy with moving back home and everything. I just got back from a week-long vacation to Japan, even managed to snag some Azur Lane and BA merchandise from a Yostar pop up store in Akihabara.

Don't Alsace and Mogador have a fun design though? Seeing the giant billboards of them in Akiba was also trippy, felt oddly weird, but in a good way? Though I'm more interested at the lore implications, which will change how this story is going to go now that we know more confirmed lore. Also, I'm surprised we never got background info on who Amber was, though considering RWBY as a franchise I should not have been surprised, would have at least been nice to hear a bit about her before watching her get shot by Cinder.

Just because I got someone asking on PMs, currently the story is at the time after the robbery incident in the first episode, but way before the next scene where Yang hugs Ruby on the Beacon airship taking them to the campus. I'm assuming there are still a few weeks then before the start of the semester, maybe 2-3 months if we're going by how real-life Universities work.

As always, be civil in the comments below.