Sera and Neopolitan arrived at the house just a little past nine in the evening. She kept an eye on the short girl the whole walk over, just in case she tried anything. When they made it to the house, she shot a glare at Neo and hesitated to twist the knob.
"You try anything, and there's a room full of huntsmen that will cut you to pieces. I'd bet a million Lien that Ruby's going to shoot me just for bringing you here."
Neo nodded innocently and gave a thumbs-up. With a sigh, Sera pushed the door open and trudged inside.
"You're back!" Ruby announced and ran up to her. Her smile melted in an instant when she saw the visitor Sera had brought.
"Ruby—"
The silver-eyed girl drew her scythe in an instant and prepared to swing it. "Sera, move! Neo's right behind you-!"
"I know!" she sighed. "Just… Put it down, will you?"
She hesitated, glaring at Neo like she wanted to cut her in two.
"Ruby," Sera urged.
She relaxed her posture, frowning at the white-haired girl. "Explain."
The others were watching them now. They were in the middle of a game of Remnant when they'd heard shouting and came to investigate. They didn't recognize the short girl, but Ruby clearly did.
Sera quickly explained the circumstances of how Neo had approached her. Ruby listened intently, but her sharp glare never wavered. When she was finished, Sera looked off to the side like she was disappointed in herself.
"No," Ruby said firmly.
"No… What?" she asked.
"She's not staying here. She tried to kill me, kill Yang! Why in the world would you trust her?" she pleaded.
"I don't trust her," she stated. Neo glanced at her, putting on a hurt expression that Ruby saw right through. "We need help, Rubes. You don't know what we're up against here."
"Sera, please," she begged. "She's dangerous! This might all be a trick to kill us in our sleep!"
She glanced at the bowler hat on Neo's head. "I don't think so. This girl was way more loyal to Torchwick than she was Cinder."
Neo nodded vigorously. She held up the picture of Cinder on her scroll and repeated that same 'kill' gesture by sliding her finger across her neck.
Ruby glared at her. "I was there when Roman died. She could just as easily blame me. Even if I had nothing to do with it!" she yelled that last bit at Neo, and the shorter girl flinched. "That Gryphon came out of nowhere, okay? How was I supposed to know it'd eat him!"
Neo frowned at the memory, her eyes turning sad.
"Ruby—" Sera put a hand on her shoulder.
"No!" she shook her off and glared at Sera. "You want to bring her here? Fine! Don't get mad at me when we wake up dead!"
Sera blinked. "How could I get mad at you if—"
"You know what I meant!" she screamed. "You're just scared to fight Cinder again. Because last time you did, Pyrrha ended up dead!"
Her words reverberated through the house and left Sera speechless. Ruby seemed to realize what she'd said and looked at her with sad eyes. Then she saw Neo again, and her scowl returned.
Ruby stomped off, and Sera flinched when a door slammed loudly. She stood there with her head hung low and her fists clenched tightly. Jaune and the others could only stare at her in silence, and when a tear fell onto the floor, they rushed over to her and hugged her tightly.
The three members of team JNPR tried to reassure her, but none of it helped. Ruby was right.
"It wasn't your fault," Jaune said quietly.
"She didn't mean that," Nora said simultaneously.
"She isn't thinking clearly," Ren added.
Sera shook them off and wiped her eyes, leaving her friends dumbstruck. She walked into the backyard with her head low.
She stood in the middle of the yard and looked up at the moon with tearful eyes, trying to suppress the urge to sob. Of all people to tell her something like that, the last person she expected it to be was Ruby Rose.
Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the shattered moon. She felt like she was back in Tai's house the night she'd woken up from her temporary coma. Ruby's words reopened that wound and cut deeper than any blade ever could.
She heard the door to the house shut behind her and expected to find Ruby coming out to apologize, but it was only Neo. The short girl approached carefully and looked at her with a surprising amount of worry in her eyes.
Sera ignored the urge to shoo her away. The last thing she needed was one of her enemies trying to comfort her, but she had something to tell Neo.
Returning her gaze to the enormous moon in the sky, she took a shaky breath to calm herself down. She didn't need her voice to crack during what she was about to say.
"You knew what I was used for during The Fall, right? The reason Salem put me in Beacon in the first place."
Neo nodded reluctantly.
"And you know what I did to Pyrrha and Cerulean that night? How I wasn't in control of my own body?"
She nodded again. Sera looked down to meet her eyes. "Then here's the real reason I decided to bring you back here."
Neo tilted her head curiously. When she didn't say anything (not like she even could), Sera kept talking.
"If that ever happens to me again and my friends are in danger, I want you to kill me before anyone gets hurt," she said shakily, fists clenching at her sides.
Neo looked taken aback, but when she saw the intense light in Sera's eyes, she gave a hesitant nod.
"I mean it," she said. "If my friends are in danger because of me, you will kill me."
The shorter girl's face straightened. She held her hand out. Sera stared at it for a moment, clasped it tightly and shook.
"The others don't know about that. If you tell them, you're dead," she promised.
Neo smirked and gave a curt nod. She pinched her index finger and thumb together and slid them across her lips.
"You don't talk much, do you?"
She frowned deeply and crossed her arms. Sera exhaled a shaky laugh and motioned for her to follow.
"Come on, I'll get you some food. Let me guess—ice cream? Ow! Hey!" she rubbed her shoulder where Neo's parasol hit. "You're going to be an annoying roommate."
Neo held her palm in front of her mouth like she was laughing and winked at the white-haired girl.
Sera smirked and opened the door for her. This was going to be a long-g-g wait to fight Cinder Fall again.
. . .
Ruby hasn't talked to her for days. Whenever the two saw each other, she always left angrily and avoided her. Sera was fine with that. She was still angry at her too… even if she'd inadvertently been right about what she said.
Still, she missed the adorable silver-eyed girl. The days weren't the same with this heavy tension hanging over them. They were supposed to be relaxing in Mistral until the next school year started, but instead Sera had to deal with this now. Despite having the rest of JNPR to be with, she felt alone. Neo's constant silence didn't help. Qrow had left to go round up some of his old huntsmen buddies and find the Spring Maiden, and Sera almost volunteered to go with him. However, she didn't want to leave Ruby and Neo alone in the same house.
The loneliness only made her miss her other teammates more. She had no idea what Yang, Blake, or Weiss were even up to now. She hadn't seen them in months, and she desperately wanted to see her friends again. Being with Yang and Weiss would help her relax. Blake was always a little awkward to be around. Weirdly enough… her thoughts seemed to linger on a certain heiress. It kind of scared her. The last time that happened was when Qrow had explained how Weiss had helped save her life the night of The Fall. It had taken her weeks to stop thinking about it so much.
Jaune, Ren, and Nora seemed nervous around Neo at first, but after the first few days, they started to come around. One day, Jaune offered for her to play Remnant with them. The results were rather surprising. Neo utterly decimated them and stood proudly with her hands on her hips and a confident smirk on her face. Afterwards, they all seemed to get along while maintaining a healthy level of distrust for her.
Of course, when Ruby saw them having a good time, she shut her door angrily and isolated herself in her room. They only saw her for brief periods during the day, and everyone was getting increasingly worried about her. Mostly Sera.
Sera and Neo remained tense around each other, but the agreement they'd made seemed to help solidify things. They had a deal, and she expected Neo to uphold her end of it should the need arise.
One day, Qrow had sent word to them. He was going to be back in Mistral that night with the huntsmen he'd gathered. In preparation, Ren, Ruby, and Nora decided to cook a big meal for all of them. Piles of groceries lay scattered throughout the kitchen while they went to work like a tornado had gone through a market.
Meanwhile, Sera and Neo hung out in the amnesiac's room to avoid Ruby. She figured she'd let her focus on something without getting distracted by her unyielding rage towards a certain girl with monochromatic eyes.
Sera laid on her bed with a comic book in her hands while Neo sat on the edge and idly swung her legs like a kid. She'd just gotten through the first half of the comic about some buff guy with blue hair that uses some sort of special breathing to punch vampires with the power of the sun or something like that when a thought popped into her head.
"Hey, how do you do that thing where you change the way you look?"
Neo smirked at her. In an instant, a pink light traveled up her body and changed her colors until she was wearing Ruby's colors. Her hair was black with red ends, her eyes were silver, and her clothes were the matching colors. Neo put on a dumb expression, like she was a little short on brain cells or something.
"Okay, that's mean," Sera laughed. She figured it was her semblance, but it was a cool party trick, nonetheless. Neo silently laughed and turned herself back to normal. She figured Neo was allowed to make a joke or two about her predicament at this point.
Then she flashed again and her eyes were lilac and locks of golden hair fell down her back.
"That's Yang," she said. "The girl that you… almost killed on the train. Boy, if she ever sees you, you're gonna be in for it."
Neo frowned as another flash of pink light traveled up her body. Now, her eyes were violet and her usual hairstyle was as white as snow.
"Hey, don't turn into me!" she kicked her playfully. Neo smirked and got to her feet, moving her hands like she was mimicking playing a guitar.
Sera laughed and brought out her real guitar, laying it across her lap while she watched Neo act a fool. "What, you want to hear me play or something?"
Neo shrugged with indifference. Then she brought her finger to her chin for a moment and nodded.
She rolled her eyes and leaned up to get into her usual position. She idly strummed Jupiter and fingered its neck to play certain notes, and soon she was playing the first few chords of One.
Neo sat on the edge of the bed and watched her fingers fly across the guitar, a look of concentration on the amnesiac's face. When she was finished and she set the guitar down, Neo silently clapped her hands.
Sera smirked and got to her feet. "Ah, shut up, you little psycho." She frowned and crossed her arms, but Sera just flashed a grin. "Thanks. Really. Even if you are a little sociopath."
Neo smirked lightly.
Someone knocked on the door, and she looked over to see Nora peeking her head in. "Hey, Qrow's back. You're gonna wanna see who he brought."
"Be there in a sec," she nodded gratefully. When Nora was about to close the door, she asked, "Ruby still mad?"
"Well, it's not good…"
"Yeah. Figured," she swept her long hair back. "Thanks, Nora."
She closed the door and left them alone. Sera looked at the shorter girl, still appearing like her, and said, "Well, let's get out there. Wouldn't want to keep our adoring crowd waiting." She slung Jupiter over her shoulder and left the room with Neo following closely behind.
When they reached the kitchen, Ruby's happy face quickly morphed to one of disdain. "Great, she looks like Sera now."
"Who does?" a familiar voice said.
Sera froze in her tracks, eyes widening at the voice she'd heard. It couldn't be, could it?
A girl with blond hair peeked around the corner and grinned at her broadly.
It was.
Sera ran forward and tackled Yang to the ground, laughing like a madwoman as they landed in a heap of tangled limbs.
"Yang!" she cheered and hugged her tightly. The blond laughed and hugged her back even harder and patted her back.
"Yeah, I'm happy to see you too. Can you let me up now?" she giggled.
"Nope," she hugged tighter, and Nora had to pull the amnesiac off to free Yang. They got to their feet and swapped grins. Then she saw her arm and her mouth fell open. "You got a new arm!" she grabbed the golden prosthetic and examined it closely.
Yang laughed and tightened her hand into a fist. "Yep. Took some getting used to, but now I'm back at full throttle."
"Gods, you haven't changed. Well, apart from your hair. When did it get so long?" another person said with amusement in her voice. Sera looked past Yang and saw a familiar girl with white hair and icy blue eyes smiling at her. A short boy with olive skin and hazel eyes watched her curiously, but Sera would have to acknowledge him later.
Sera smiled widely and her heart skipped a beat. Why was it doing that?
"If you tackle me, I will stab you."
She approached her slowly, the smile never fading from her lip. "Nah, I'll settle for this instead," she hugged Weiss tightly.
The heiress smiled and hugged her back eagerly. "I missed you. Er—All of you."
Her heart skipped a beat again. Seriously, why was it doing that? She smiled into Weiss's shoulder and stepped back, holding her at arm's length.
"Are you two going to keep staring at each other, or are we going to eat something?" Nora cackled and rushed the food.
That's when Neo stepped out, and Yang immediately zeroed in on her.
'Uh-oh,' Sera thought.
Yang lunged at Neo in the blink of an eye, eyes glowing red and hair blazing like fire. Neo smirked at her and dodged to the side, and Yang's fist punched clean through the wall behind her. She shimmered with pink light until she was back in her usual colors, and she spun her parasol smugly while wagging her finger at the raging blond.
"Yang, wait!" Sera put a hand on her shoulder just as she yanked her arm free of the wall.
"What is she doing here?" she threw another punch at Neo, who dodged it with a sassy move of her hips.
"She's helping us!" Sera tried to pull her back, but Yang was just too strong. She threw a flurry of punches at the short girl while Neo dodged every one of them with ease. Even after all this time, Yang just couldn't land a hit on her.
Ruby watched in silence as her sister tried to take out the short girl. Her expression was unreadable, but it was clear that she was in no hurry to restrain Yang.
The others weren't sure what to do. In the back, Oscar Pine watched with a nervous expression as the scary girl tried to hit the smaller one.
"Yang!" Sera rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around her to restrain her. "Chill! She's helping us!"
"She tried to kill us!"
"Details!"
Yang groaned and tried to shake her off, but Sera held tightly. Finally, she started to calm down until her hair stopped burning.
"Better?" Sera asked.
"Let me go," she grumbled.
She did. Yang shot her a dangerous look, then glared at Neo, who was watching her smugly with her parasol resting on her shoulder.
"Well," the short boy in farm clothes said as he walked forward. "That was certainly entertaining, you two."
Sera raised an eyebrow at him. "The hell are you?"
The boy gave a small smile and put his hands behind his back. "It is good to see you again, Miss Calypso."
There was only one person who addressed her like that.
She blanked. "…Ozpin?"
"Yeah, that's the other thing," Qrow chuckled nervously. "Guess who I found."
All eyes were on the short boy. His eyes twinkled with a familiar light that she only ever saw when she was speaking to the headmaster. She stumbled backwards until her back pressed against the wall. Her mind was reeling. She had no idea what to make of this. To be fair, it didn't make any damn sense.
"It's good to see all of you," he turned to look at each of the students. "You've all grown and changed so much since the last time I saw you."
"What… the fuck?" Ruby asked.
"Hey!" Yang, Qrow, Sera, and Weiss all said in unison. Yang tackled her to the ground and shook her vigorously.
"You ever talk like that again and I'm going to-!"
Ozpin laughed and drew their attention. Ruby's eyes listed around aimlessly as she let out a dazed groan.
"I suppose I have some explaining to do," Ozpin said.
"Uh, you think?!" Sera screamed.
. . .
Approximately ten minutes later, all of them were sitting in the living room and reeling from Ozpin's explanation of why he was in another body. Turns out, that body belonged to a boy named Oscar Pine, and he was currently riding in the back seat while Ozpin was in control of his body.
Ozpin had lived dozens of lives, his mind transferring from one person to another that shared his personality. Sera couldn't help but be reminded of her own situation with Kassandra. He hijacked other's bodies, and Sera was allegedly a piece of Kassandra Kallisto and in control of her body. Weird stuff.
Once he was finished and it was clear that all of them were aware of the presence of Salem, the conversation could turn to more pressing matters. Of course, Yang and Weiss were rather surprised to learn the whole truth. Raven Branwen had conveniently left most of that out during their own "talk."
"We need to stop her," Ruby said determinedly. "Now that we have Professor Ozpin back, we have an even better chance!"
"That's right," Sera nodded in agreement from her place between Weiss and Neo on a couch. Ruby flashed her a look, but it disappeared quicker than she thought it would. The silver-eyed girl nodded to her, and Sera gave a small smile in return.
Weiss sighed and brought a hand to her forehead. "This is big. It could be even more dangerous than The Great War."
"I know," Ozpin said gravely. "Which is why I need your help to put an end to it. All of you," he looked to Neo for that last part. The ice cream girl blinked uncertainly and shied away. Ruby and Yang frowned at her with distaste.
"He's right," Sera added and put a hand on Neo's shoulder. "We need all the help we can get. Especially if Salem is getting Maidens on her side."
"Speaking of," Ozpin said. "Miss Calypso, would you mind telling me the events that came after you left Beacon's vault?"
She froze. Her heart pounded in her chest. She knew she needed to tell her friends the whole truth of what happened that night… and this was the time. As much as she hated it, they deserved to know. With everyone here in once place, there was no time like the present. But it still made her feel like a knot the size of an Ursa had become lodged in her chest.
All eyes were on her, and she felt small under their gaze.
"Sera? Are you okay?" Jaune asked worriedly.
She got to her feet and walked to the side of the room, chewing her fingernails anxiously. "No. No, I'm not."
"You've said it before, plenty of times. Why are you nervous?" Ruby asked.
Sera shot her a look, then turned her eyes to Qrow. The huntsman's eyes widened when he realized what she was thinking. After a moment, he gave her a slow nod.
She took a deep breath and put her hand on her mouth, tears already threatening to spill from her eyes. "You don't know the whole thing," she said shakily.
"Miss Calypso. I'm sure whatever it is, we'll understand—" Ozpin said.
"No, you won't!" she screamed, eyes momentarily flashing red. Everyone seemed taken aback by her outburst. It was too late to change her mind now. The huntress ran her hands through her hair and took a shaky breath, lips trembling at the prospect of what she was about to do. Even during the numerous times she was about to die, nothing scared her more than telling them what really happened that night.
No one said anything while they watched her pace the room. She chewed her nails until her fingers hurt, but even that pain couldn't make her stop. Qrow got to his feet and went over to her. She didn't stop, even when the huntsman suddenly hugged her. Her eyes flew wildly over her friends, and she bit back a sob when she saw Jaune's confused and guarded expression.
"Okay," she said shakily, and Qrow released her. Taking a deep breath, she wrung her hands and stared at the floor as she started to recount the events that haunted her dreams and made her hate herself.
When she got to the part about being possessed by some sinister entity, her friends' faces went wide with shock. Qrow's and Ozpin's faces were hard and unreadable. Jaune stared into his lap. Weiss watched her with worry-filled eyes.
By the time Sera got to when she'd struck Pyrrha, she was sobbing uncontrollably and wringing her hands tightly. When she was finished, she couldn't even stand anymore. The amnesiac fell to her knees with her face in her hands and cried right in front of everyone she'd come to consider her own family. The only person missing was Blake.
Weiss rushed to her side and hugged her tightly with tear-filled eyes. She shushed her and held her head, but nothing would calm her down.
The others were staring into their laps or watching her with hurt expressions. Even Neo looked disturbed, but she wasn't quite as affected as the others.
"I… Must say," Ozpin managed. "That is certainly… a lot to take in. It was not your fault, Miss Calypso. There is only Salem to blame for this. Believe me."
"Oz is right, kid," Qrow said gently. "It wasn't your fault."
Jaune stood abruptly and left the room. He slammed the back door open and stomped outside, and the others could only watch. Sera cried harder at that. She knew that the one person her story would affect the most was Jaune.
Weiss kept trying to calm her down, and while she was grateful for that, it wasn't doing anything to help. On the other hand, it was nice to finally get this off her chest. She'd been carrying it around like a boulder on her shoulders, and now it was lifted from her to free all of the emotions she's kept bottled in around her friends.
Nora stood too, and Sera looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. She expected Nora to look angry, but instead, she looked sad. The aqua-eyed girl bent down to her and pushed a stray hair behind her ear before wiping her tears away.
"It's not your fault, Sera," she said gently.
Sera nodded weakly, but she didn't believe what Nora had said. The hammer wielder rubbed her cheek with a thumb, then went outside after announcing she was going to check on Jaune.
"It's okay," Weiss murmured to her. Sera hugged her tightly and cried into her shoulder. "Shh, it's okay."
Then Ruby appeared in front of her and she once again looked up with bleary eyes.
"I should've gotten there sooner," she hugged the amnesiac tightly. "Don't blame yourself. Please."
Sera shook her head and looked down. Even when it was very much her fault for the death of their friend, they still tried to comfort her while she cried like a little kid.
Yang came over to hug her too. Then Ren. They were all tangled around the crying huntress while Weiss rubbed her back and whispered to her like a mother would their child. In the back of her mind, she realized that Weiss must've learned this from her sister. Yang did the same thing on the other side of her, and Ruby hugged her tightly while she had her episode.
Eventually, she started to calm down. Her sobs came to an end until she was breathing slowly, and Yang wiped the tears from her eyes. When the huntress went still, they looked over to see that she'd fallen asleep. She just couldn't stay awake any longer after crying that hard.
Her friends gently untangled themselves from her until she was resting against Weiss's shoulder. The heiress put a hand to her cheek, and Sera mumbled in her sleep incoherently.
"I'll take her to her room," Yang said, carefully picking the huntress up princess-style, and Sera nestled against her.
"I'll go too," Weiss said quietly.
Qrow looked at the amnesiac with sad eyes and gestured to the bedrooms. "End of the hallway," he muttered.
Yang nodded, then carried her to her bedroom. The others just watched them go. Each of them felt varying levels of sadness for both her and Pyrrha, as well as Cerulean Myst. They didn't know Cerulean very well, but they knew that she was the first friend Sera had made at Beacon the day after she woke up in Forever Fall.
Weiss opened the door for Yang, and the blond walked across the room to gently lay Sera onto her bed. She immediately nestled into the mattress and pulled a pillow to her chest, like a kid with their favorite toy.
"Gods… I don't even know what to think about all this…" Yang murmured. "Look at her, she's too adorable to be a murder machine."
"We'll talk about it more. Whenever she's ready," Weiss said.
Yang nodded, took one last look at Sera, then headed for the door. "You coming?" she asked Weiss.
The heiress gazed at Sera with sad eyes. "In a minute."
Despite everything, Yang snickered. "What's up with you? I don't think I've ever seen you like, care about her."
Weiss shook her head. "I don't know. It's just…"
"Well, whatever. Didn't know the Ice Queen could develop a crush."
Weiss shot her a fierce glare. "I do not!"
Yang smirked and closed the door behind her. "Whatever you say, Ice Queen."
The heiress frowned where Yang had gone and took a deep breath before going to sit on the edge of her friend's bed. She gazed at Sera in a mixture of longing and apprehension. She'd missed her team more than anything while she was once again trapped in Atlas. But Sera's story made her understandably nervous. If she had another episode like she experienced on top of Beacon Tower, what would happen the next time? If it happened. Weiss didn't know, and she didn't want to think about it further.
She scooted closer to Sera and put a hand on her shoulder gently, like she was touching a bomb that might explode at the slightest touch. Fortunately, she wasn't a bomb. Sera shifted in her sleep and mumbled quietly.
A light smile played on Weiss's lips. "You idiot," she laughed quietly. "How did you get wrapped up in this chaos…?"
. . .
When Sera woke up, she was rather surprised to find Weiss sitting on her bed. She sat up drearily and put a hand on her face to hide her expression. Weiss noticed her moving and turned to face her, a worried look on her face.
"Gods… I really made a mess, didn't I?" she mumbled.
The corner of Weiss's mouth lifted into a small smile. "Just a bit. Are… you okay?"
She put her face in her hands, shoulders sagging. "I killed Pyrrha. And Cerulean died because of me."
When Weiss didn't speak for a long while, she glanced up to see if the heiress was looking at her with disappointment or fear. Instead, she just looked sad.
"You heard Ozpin—ugh it's going to take a while to see that kid as him. He was right, though. That wasn't your fault."
She didn't respond for nearly a minute. Weiss was about to leave her alone for a while, but before she could stand, Sera spoke softly and made her halt. "Thank you, Weiss."
Weiss blinked. "For what?"
Sera laughed shakily. "For one, not hating me."
"Of course I wouldn't hate you," she said gently. "Might be a bit scared of you, but…"
She tried not to look hurt by that. Sera glanced into her lap and clenched her fists. "That's not ever going to happen to me again. I won't let it."
"I believe you," she put her hand on Sera's. The amnesiac unclenched her fist and let Weiss hold it gently. "You'd better tell the others, though. Ruby might think you're the boogeyman." She laughed quietly.
Sera smirked with a sad look in her eyes. "Ruby already hates me because I'm letting Neo stay here. I doubt there's much more I could do now to make it worse."
Weiss shrugged with indifference. "She'll get over it. As long as that girl doesn't screw things up, I mean."
She searched Weiss's face for a moment, thinking back to when they'd yell at each other in Beacon, but also when they'd performed that little show during the Vytal Dance. "I missed you. And Yang, and Blake."
Her expression softened and she hugged Sera tightly. "I missed you too, you insufferable idiot."
"There's the Ice Queen," Sera laughed and hugged her back. Weiss's hair smelled like a mixture of dirt and soap, like she'd been laying on the ground. She wondered why Weiss of all people would be in the dirt.
When they separated, the heiress's cheeks looked a little red, but it was hard to tell in the dim bedroom. Sera's face felt bit warm too.
She cleared her throat. "The other thing I wanted to thank you for was saving my life. Qrow told me what you did when he brought me down from the tower. So… thank you."
Weiss smiled awkwardly and gave a slight nod. "You're welcome. Means you owe me one." She slugged Sera's shoulder with little effort.
"I'll owe you as many as you want," Sera laughed. Weiss looked at her fondly and opened her mouth to speak, but a sudden laughter from down the hall drew their attention.
"I guess they started eating," Sera noted.
Weiss got to her feet and held her hand out. "Want to join them?"
She hesitated, unsure of how her friends would react to seeing her. But she was also hungry. "Yeah," she said shakily and took Weiss's hand. The heiress led her to the kitchen, and Sera was surprised that she hadn't let go after helping her up.
When they reached the dining room, she saw all of her friends from Beacon sitting around the long, Mistralian-style table. They sat on cushions on the ground with their legs crossed. The food smelled heavenly. A big pot of steaming noodles, meats, and vegetables sat in the middle of the table. The overload of senses made Sera's mouth water.
The conversation died when they saw Sera. Yang gave a reassuring smile, but the others looked at her in wonder. Surprisingly, Jaune didn't look quite as upset as he had before. He gave a small wave, and she felt a ball of tension she didn't know was there alleviate from her chest.
"Hey," Ruby broke the silence and held an empty bowl out to her. "You hungry?"
Before she could speak, her stomach grumbled loudly and made their eyes go wide. Then Yang and Ruby laughed, and the rest followed suit. She felt herself smile, and Weiss giggled softly beside her.
"I guess so!" Nora cackled.
Sera mumbled about her stupid stomach and took the seat next to Yang. Weiss sat beside her and gave a warm smile, then grabbed a bowl and chopsticks. Sera ladled some of the ramen into hers and Weiss's bowls, and the heiress nodded gratefully.
Yang elbowed Ruby to look at Sera and Weiss, but she just rolled her eyes at her sister and went back to eating.
"So," Nora broke the silence. "Weiss got kidnapped by your mom, huh?" she looked at Yang.
Sera coughed and pounded her chest. She was in the middle of taking her first bite of noodles when Nora had decided to bust that out.
She looked at Yang incredulously. "Your mom what?"
The blond shrugged with her palms upturned. "Family, huh?"
"Wait, you found her?" Sera asked.
"Oh, she found her all right," Weiss raised her eyebrows. Sera could only stare in disbelief. Turns out, her friends got into some pretty whacky adventures while they were all apart.
The rest of the meal was a blur of laughter as they retold the events of their own journeys. Weiss escaped from her father and sicced a summoned Boarbatusk on some rude fat lady during a party. After crash landing in Mistral, she was found by the Branwen tribe and taken back to their camp. Sera was just glad that none of the bandits had decided to get a little… handsy. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got.
"And then I punched the guy through a tent and boom! Ice Queen in a cage," Yang said.
"It was the most embarrassing thing I've ever been through," Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"What about when you sang at the school dance?" Ruby giggled.
"Hey, we rocked!" Sera pointed at the silver-eyed girl.
"Sure, sure," Yang said with amusement.
"It was pretty good, actually," Jaune chuckled.
"Of course you'd think so, Vomit Boy," Yang laughed.
"Oh, we're doing more nickname throwbacks. Great," he said with false enthusiasm.
"Well, let's see!" Nora shot to her feet. "We've got the Ice Queen, Vomit Boy, the Cookie Monster, and… Snowball!" she pointed at each of them in question.
Sera crossed her arms, quirking an eyebrow. "Thunder Thighs, Sparkplug, Lightning Rod—"
"Okay, we get it!" Nora shrieked. The others laughed at her outburst and Nora just sat down and crossed her arms stiffly, but she couldn't hide the grin on her face.
After a little while longer, they marveled at Yang's new arm for a moment, which ended with her and Nora in an intense arm wrestle. Everyone else gathered around them and cheered the girls on. Each of them seemed evenly matched, and their interlocked fists hardly budged an inch.
"Come on Yang! You can't lose to a girl in a skirt!" Ruby screamed.
"Ruby, you wear a skirt," Weiss frowned.
"Weiss you're not cheering loud enough!" the silver-eyed girl shook her shoulders while Weiss kept frowning.
"Get her, Nora! Don't let JNPR lose!" Jaune pumped his fist.
Weiss looked over to him, confused. "You're still going by JNPR? No offense."
He blinked. "I mean, yeah. Why wouldn't we?"
"To be fair, Sera was our fifth teammate," Ren stated. "Now that there's an… opening, we could slot her in as our fourth?"
Ruby gasped. "Don't you dare think you're stealing her from us!"
Weiss laughed. "You're such a child."
The silver-eyed girl puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. To be honest, Sera was just glad she wasn't mad at her anymore. But Weiss did raise a good question.
Nora and Yang kept trying to make some headway in their arm wrestle, eyes locked together in an intense glare.
"I hadn't really thought of it before," Sera scratched her head. She could replace Pyrrha as their teammate? That didn't really sit right with her. No one could replace the Invincible Girl.
Nora grunted and tightened her fist. "I've gotta hand it to you, it's as strong as the original."
"Yep," Yang smirked. "But with a few upgrades."
"Upgrades?"
Suddenly, Nora was propelled backwards and into a wall with Yang's arm still in her hand. The others stared in silent wonder as Nora sat up, groaning and dazed. A huge grin was plastered on Yang's face.
"Did she… win?" Jaune asked.
When Nora saw the arm still clasping her hand, she yelped and threw the prosthetic away from her. Yang caught it in the air and laughed, her voice filled with glee. Sera smiled at that. She was doing far better now than when she'd been moping around her house.
"Easy, Blondie," Sera patted her shoulder.
"It was funny!" she giggled.
"You're right," she laughed. "But I think you scarred Nora."
They looked over at the aqua-eyed girl. She was shaking and holding her knees to her chest. "Why does it come off?!" she yelled.
"Nora, it's a prosthetic," Jaune laughed. She seemed to calm down, then got back into her seat while the others laughed at her reaction of Yang's arm.
Sera still couldn't believe all her friends were back together. Only Blake was missing, but they'd get to catch up whenever they saw her again. If they saw her again.
In no time at all, the pot of ramen was gone, and the seven of them sat in a circle with their stomachs full. Jaune looked like he was about to puke, and the sight caused a distant memory to pop into her head.
"Remember when Jaune got sick and I had to replace him in the tournament?" she laughed.
Nora gasped. "Oh my gods, that was so funny! And then we kicked that team's butt! What was even up with them?"
"I don't know!" Sera laughed. "There was some guy using freakin' buzzsaws as his weapon."
Ruby giggled uncontrollably and held her chest. "Oh, man. Those guys were weird. And Weiss! You used to be racist!"
The others went quiet for a moment, then laughed even harder than before. Weiss clenched her jaw and glared at them all. "I was not! I just detested the White Fang."
"And was willing to discriminate against any Faunus if it meant they might be in the White Fang," Yang said between laughs.
The heiress frowned deeper and held her face with one hand. "Oh, gods. Was I really that terrible?"
"Just a little," Sera held up her index finger and thumb and moved them close together. "You had a point about the White Fang, though. Screw those guys."
"It's all in the past," Ren said. "It's been a long time since Beacon, and we've all grown in our own ways. Some of us became better warriors," he glanced at Sera and Ruby. "While others achieved personal growth and became stronger in their own ways," he looked to Weiss, Jaune, and Yang.
"You really think so?" Ruby asked.
"Well, when we were back at Beacon, would you say you did anything foolish or embarrassing? Or did you think you were perfect?"
Weiss put her face in her hands. "Oh, gods. I was that bad."
"Plus a little bitchy," Sera mumbled. Weiss punched her.
"I may have been a little too gung-ho sometimes," Yang chuckled.
"You? I tried to 1v1 a Nevermore on the first day," Ruby said.
Sera blew air. "I owed a favor to a crime boss! Just to get a bit of info on who I was."
"Well, that embarrassment—that desire to go back and tell yourself to not be so stupid—that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. You're smarter, kinder, stronger, and you're not done growing yet. None of us are," Ren said fondly.
For a moment, they just sat and processed his words. He was right, of course. If Sera could go back and change what she did in the past, she'd alter just about everything during her time in Beacon. There were plenty of things she was embarrassed of. The thing with Junior for one, running off on her own during the mission in Mountain Glenn, and most importantly, the night the tower fell. And those were just off the top of her head.
She must've had a pretty strange look on her face, because Yang nudged her and gave her a worried look. She shrugged it off and returned her attention to the conversation. She missed whatever they were talking about, but the others were laughing like someone had said something funny.
Then Qrow, Oscar, and Neo stepped out from around the corner and drew their attention. Neo gave a small wave.
"How can seven kids make so much noise?" Qrow said with false annoyance.
Sera shrugged helplessly. "We're just catching up?"
"Yeah," Ruby laughed. "You should've seen us in the cafeteria. We had a food fight!"
"I remember," Qrow sighed.
Oscar's eyes flashed, and the younger boy folded his hands behind his back. "It seems you've all come a long way from being students carelessly destroying my cafeteria," Ozpin laughed.
"That's… actually what we were just talking about," Yang said.
"Which is commendable," he nodded at them kindly. "I'm also glad to see you've moved past Sera's incident. As you know, the result of the fight atop Beacon Tower was not her doing. I fully believe that Miss Calypso had no control over herself. She would never intentionally harm any of you. Her actions were caused by Salem, so I hope you will place the blame on her, and not on the friend that you've come to know during your time in Beacon."
Sera was speechless, but she managed to silently mouth, "Thank you," to the professor. He nodded in return, a warm light in his eyes.
Ren cleared his throat briefly and looked over to the huntress in question. "That's the conclusion we came to as well. We've known her long enough, and she's more than proved herself even before Beacon fell."
She nodded gratefully at him, surprised that he of all people would speak on her behalf. Ren didn't talk much, and compared to the others, she and him were the least close. Then again, the journey to Mistral gave her and the others lots of time to get closer.
"I agree," Jaune said. "It was Salem that got our friends killed, but mostly Cinder. And the next time we see her, she's going to get what she deserves."
Sera stood abruptly and looked across her friends. "You're gods-damn right she is. And I'm first in line to give her a piece of my mind," she hooked a thumb at herself.
"In time," Ozpin said. "For now, we have work to do."
"Work?" Ruby asked.
'Oscar' smiled mischievously. "Yes, work. All of you have a long way to go before you're ready to fight Salem, and I'm here to whip you into shape."
The students glanced at each other apprehensively.
"Uh… How?" Nora asked.
Ozpin drew his cane and spun it in his hand like the blade of an aircraft. "Well, I believe I was the headmaster of an advanced combat school."
The rest of them could only stare in shock and wonder at the young boy. Ozpin was going to train them with Oscar's body? This was going to be… interesting.
Yang voiced their thoughts. "Uh, Professor? How are you going to do that? Given your new… self."
"Oscar will need to strengthen his body and aura as well, so he'll be training along with you. He might have my reflexes and aura capabilities, but he'll need to make them his own to fully become the huntsman he is meant to."
"Uh… Okay?" Sera blinked. "You said we needed to improve. How?"
He pointed the end of his cane to her face and made her jump backwards. "You need to unlock your semblance and improve your swordsmanship. Qrow told me you might have used your semblance a handful of times, but only in moments of severe stress. You need to be able to utilize it freely if you wish to defeat the new Fall Maiden. He also said you've improved significantly with your multiple weapons, but also take hits far too often. During your fight against those three men in the countryside, you were thrown around like a practice dummy while your friends had to distract the enemy before you got injured."
"Uh—Um—Well, yeah…" her shoulders sagged.
Then he turned his attention to Ruby and pointed the cane to her face. "You lack any hand-to-hand skills. You're quite proficient with Crescent Rose, but what happens when you're disarmed?"
Ruby flinched at his words and looked down into her lap, mumbling about how she didn't need to fist fight if she had her scythe.
It was Jaune's turn next.
"Mr. Arc. I'm glad to hear you've improved your swordplay, but you also have yet to unlock your semblance. How do you expect to defeat Salem when you can't even use your semblance?"
His eyes hardened and he set his jaw, but he knew the headmaster was right.
"Miss Xiao Long," he pointed his cane to Yang. She narrowed her eyes slightly at the cane just inches from her nose. "You need to use your semblance less. During the Vytal Tournament, you—"
"Used my semblance in every fight to win, I know. Dad told me the same thing," she moved the cane out of her face with her prosthetic hand.
"Very good," Ozpin smirked. "Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. You two are doing pretty well, actually. But there is still room for improvement. There always is. For now, just work to improve yourselves as much as possible."
Weiss smirked at them, thinking she was doing perfectly well to not be criticized by the professor. Then Ozpin's cane turned to her, and her eyes went wide.
"Miss Schnee," he smiled lightly. "I'm sure you've grown significantly since The Fall, but now you must work even harder with your friends. I know the capabilities of your family's semblance. Are you able to summon yet?"
A smug look flashed on the heiress's face. "Oh, yes. I am more than capable of that," she held her hand out. A glyph appeared in her palm, and a miniature knight in white armor climbed out of it before placing his fist on his chest in a proud salute. Sera gazed at the small figure and tried to touch it, but the knight smacked her finger with a back-handed slap.
"Ow!" she yelped. Weiss giggled and willed the knight to fade away.
"Very good," Ozpin nodded. "And your time dilation?"
She frowned. "Still working on that, actually…"
"Then you have work to do," 'Oscar' said. "We start in the morning. Be sure to get your rest. You'll need it."
Then his eyes flashed green, and Oscar returned. He relaxed his posture and smiled awkwardly at them.
"Uh… Hi? I'm Oscar," he scratched the back of his head.
Qrow cleared his throat. "Well, now that that's out of the way…" he pulled his flask out and took a swig. "I'll be outside."
"I'll go with you," Sera heard herself say. The huntsman raised an eyebrow, but he didn't protest. The others watched her go. She didn't hear them say anything either.
Once they were outside and Sera closed the door, she turned to him with an urgent look in her eyes. "I need to talk to you."
"Clearly," he laughed dryly. "What's up, Snowball?"
She took a deep breath and started to recount the events of her latest dream. As she talked, Qrow listened carefully and often asked questions about certain details. The room she was in, the way Kassandra acted, her choice of vernacular, and what facial expressions she made and body language. When she was finished, Qrow took a long drink from his flask and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"That's some pretty shaky news, kid. But I don't think it's a trick. Then again, I'm sure Salem has gotten pretty good at acting over the years. But… she sounds like you, Snowball. Your description of her reminds me of you."
"I know. It's creepy," she shuddered.
"Sounds like some advanced form of multiple personality disorder. We should talk to Ozpin. He'd know more than I do about that kind of thing."
"Yeah, but… I dunno, the thought of talking to him as Oscar is kinda weird."
She slapped her forehead. She'd forgotten to tell him about the first dream about Kassandra she'd had, when she watched her fight those Grimm then go to the ancient city.
"Stupid!" she cursed herself.
"Whoa, calm down," he said. "What's wrong?"
She told him about that first dream. When she got to the part about Kassandra meeting with Salem, his eyes widened with surprise.
"You knew her?"
"How am I supposed to know?!" she spread her palms. "All I got was the walk-through tour!"
"Alright, alright," he chuckled dryly and raised his hands in defense. "We'll talk to Oz when we get the chance. For now, just get some rest like he said. I have a feeling that tomorrow morning is goin' to involve quite a workout."
Her shoulders sagged. "Okay. I'm just… kinda scared to sleep."
Qrow shrugged. "I get it. Trust me, I do. But you still need to try."
She nodded and turned towards the house.
"Kid," he said. Sera froze and glanced over her shoulder to look at him, hand on the doorknob.
"This just confirms what Tai was fanboying over. You're Kassandra Kallisto."
She smirked at him and turned the doorknob. "Goodnight, old man."
"Night, kid," he slipped his hands into his pockets.
. . .
You know I'm gonna be honest, I kind of COMPLETELY forgot about the Oscar and Ozpin thing. Haven't watched the show in a while. Like, the sharing the same body thing. I already fully developed the idea for Sera's personality disorder thing and planned out details for it and THEN remembered Ozpin, so I hope no one thinks I just ripped it off because I didn't MEAN to, y'know. It's different though, trust. Given her situation. To be honest, I like her story with this more than Ozpin and Oscar's, but that could just be me since, y'know, I'm the one writing it. Plus, I started developing the idea, finally played Cyberpunk 2077, and it gave me even more ideas for it xD
Side note—Weiss and Sera, huh? What's going on there?