"Lavs, be a dear and fill in for me for the doubles bracket," the Courier clapped his hands together and pleaded, she just sighed, "Yes, I know I've been making you go through hell and back but just fill in for me this one time! And besides, there's only like…" he began counting on his fingers, "Two? Maybe one match left that needs commentating?"

Lavs deflated, "There's one match left, the one between RWBY and FNKI, and… can I say no?" she meekly added as the Courier opened the door to the Announcer's box.

"No."

"Figures…"

Lavs dejectedly trudged into the Announcer's box and sit down on the Courier's seat, looks like the fatigue from the last battle really caught up with her, even with Aura, it'll still take some time for her to fully recover. Satisfied with the outcome, the Courier made his way back to Ozpin's office before being intercepted by Goodwitch when waiting for the elevator.

"What was that?" Goodwitch glared, like always.

"What was what?"

"That fight," the elevator came and the two entered, Goodwitch continued, "I know that you were going to set up a match where they'll lose but is it necessary to beat them down that much? Especially if we're going off of assumptions and hypotheticals."

"I thought we all agreed that those two must be working with Fall," the Courier shrugged, tapping his foot while he waited for the elevator to move, "Now, I know we don't have any real concrete evidence just yet but all the pieces are there, we just need the wonderglue or proof to connect them all together."

Goodwitch nodded in understanding, he continued, "And I think I have the proof, maybe," he pulled up his Pip-Boy, "While I was doing the rounds, making match-ups for the brackets, I noticed that both Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai had their match-up changed to the two members of team CFVY," he showed Goodwitch the picture he took of the rigged bracket before the change, "Now that's suspicious, why were they the only ones changed?"

"You make some good points but I don't see why you allowed them to enter the singles bracket," Goodwitch readjusted her glasses as she peered at the small, grainy screen of the Pip-Boy, "Wouldn't it be better to disqualify them instead?"

"I thought about that but you have to bring the audience into the equation as well," the Courier turned his Pip-Boy off and dropped his hands down to his sides, "I ran the scenario through my head a bunch of times and I couldn't find a feasible match-up against other students that would guarantee a loss, considering their skills," he tapped the side of his head, "So I came up with this genius of a plan by having them be beaten black and blue by Lavs so hard that they'll feel the effects all the way up to the singles bracket."

"Aura might speed up the natural healing of the user, but the pain and bruises linger for quite some time, not to mention the mental fatigue from being beaten in a two-on-one fight," he scoffed, "If we can't remove them permanently then might as well weaken them as much as possible. It'll be easier to put them down in the future."

The elevator dinged and the two filed into Ozpin's office, with the main man himself chugging down a bottle of cold brew, looks like he's in a mug-free mood today, "Ah Mr. Courrier, how is Ms. Greenhorn doing?" Ozpin pushed up his freaky glasses as he placed the bottle down on the table.

"She's doing well; I have her playing Announcer for the entirety of the doubles bracket now," the Courier rubbed his hands together, "Now we can focus on the real big stuff."

"Not before everyone gets here," Goodwitch shook her head disapprovingly, "And you had Ms. Greenhorn do more work after you pitted her against two skilled students? Is she not tired after such a fight?"

"Yes… but she didn't say no though."

Sudden surprise appearance from Qrow as he flew into the office without being spotted, unfortunately for the bird man, he was unceremoniously slapped out of the air as the Courier waved his hands around whilst arguing with Goodwitch on why he's not a 'slave driver' and that 'Lavs needed more confidence training anyways'.

Transforming back into his human form and flopping on the ground after accidentally being hit by the Courier. Qrow shot up, wiped the dust off his clothes, and straightened himself in order to make it look like he's been there the whole time instead of having his cool entrance be destroyed right in front of his eyes. Ozpin caught the entire thing of course, the old observant coot.

"Hello Qrow."

The Courier stopped arguing as he looked at Qrow; Goodwitch just rolled her eyes before taking her place behind Ozpin, "Looks like most of the gang's here, where's Ironwood?" the Courier handed Qrow his unfinished bottle of moonshine, to which he grabbed eagerly before taking a sip.

"Oh man, this hits the spot! I almost went the entire day not drinking anything!" Qrow took another sip before pouring some of it into his flask for later, "I had to stop myself from day-drinking when I'm hanging out with my family," he nodded at the Courier, "You're a real lifesaver, man."

"That might be signs of a growing alcohol dependency, Qrow," Goodwitch looked disapprovingly at both Qrow and the Courier, "I know you were an alcoholic before but whatever Mr. Courrier's been feeding you? Might not be the best thing to ingest like water."

"I can handle myself just fine, Glynda! Besides, these things keep me going through missions," he pocketed the flask and took another sip from the moonshine, "So if you want your buddy Qrow to keep up with the intel gathering, you better put up with his, or my, incessant day-drinking!" he cackled comically, "Besides, it's like… late noon? Afternoon? Whatever, it's perfectly normal for me to drink now!"

The three fall into uncomfortable silence as they constantly glance at one another warily, Goodwitch with her disapproving stare, Qrow continuously day-drinking, and the Courier guzzling down some whiskey and Mentats himself. Ozpin opened the conversation after dropping his empty bottle of cold brew into the trash can hidden underneath his table, "That match between Ms. Greenhorn was something to behold wasn't it?" Ozpin smirked.

Qrow perked up at this, "Oh yeah, totally, Ruby wouldn't stop pestering me about it, even bragged that she got more of that specialized ammo from you, Courrier," the Courier nodded, "What'd you give her? Three-oh-eight? Forty-four?"

"Three-oh-eights, Ruby said that she can swap out the receiver for her weapon," the Courier shrugged, "I saw what fifty cal did to her shoulder during the teams bracket, two shots and her Aura's just gone like that," he emphasized the last word with a snap, "Her weapon doesn't seem to be very compatible with mods, if it was then I'd recommend an actual stock rather than the end of a stick… or a tripod."

"Heh, good luck convincing her, girl's more stubborn than a rock," Qrow chuckled, "I saw the fight too, was in the crowd actually, hearing all those people from Haven screaming 'All in' was pretty interesting," he lounged around, leaning on a wall somewhere, "Where'd you find this Greenhorn woman anyways? Someone with her skills would've been noticed by now, fighting a two-on-one and winning isn't some ordinary thing y'know."

"She's a White Fang goon that I trained to perfection," the Courier held up a fist in pride, "Can you believe that she was once a useless, good for nothing, terrible, utterly pathetic of a fighter? Look at her now! Oh, and she technically isn't a Huntress but you can thank Ozpin for making her look like one for the audience."

"Manipulating Ms. Greenhorn's profile in the CCTS was simple enough," Ozpin leaned back on his chair, "I assume that both Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai will be out of commission for the upcoming week?"

"Damn right, I'd be surprised if their Aura managed to patch up all the bruises in their body after that beating. So now we just have to wait until the singles bracket to see what Fall's going to attempt," the Courier adjusted his overalls, fiddling with something in his pockets, "Probably something involving Black and Sustrai, seeing how their original match-up would've ended with them winning against team CFVY."

"Would they?" Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, "This might be my bias talking but I'd put more faith in team CFVY."

"Team CFVY might be good but they're best when in a team of four, in doubles? They don't do much to collaborate with one another," the Courier shook his head, "None of their Semblances or skill really mesh in with one another, they're more like four individuals than one team."

"Each of them is good in their own right, and they're best when they're all together, but once they're separated into like twos or threes? They're done for," the Courier scrolled through his Pip-Boy, doing a check-up of his ammo in case he runs out, "Take team RWBY, their Semblances might be wildly different but the way they use them and combine their strengths make them effective whether or not there's two or three of them, and especially so when there's four. Unfortunately, I'd say only Yang or Blake is good at solo battles, Weiss too, but definitely not Ruby."

"True that, Ruby's good at playing sniper or support but once in a one-on-one fight against another person? She's toast," Qrow shifted his feet, "But against a Grimm? I'd say she's pretty good at what she does."

"Oh I have no doubt against that," the Courier raised a hand, "I'm just saying, if these Huntsmen and Huntresses want to be at the top of their game? They need to learn how to fight each other too. Huntsmen regularly fight other people with Aura just as much as Grimm. Especially with all the tribes and criminals like Torchwick for example."

Qrow scowled at the mention of 'tribe', the Courier pretend not to notice, "So where's Ironwood? I thought he'd be here by now to discuss all of our future plans."

"He'll be here… soon… I think…"

"He won't be coming," Ozpin pushed his glasses up all the way, "We'll be discussing our plans without his involvement, this whole situation began in Vale, and it will be stopped in Vale. Without Atlas' intervention."

"What was that?" Cinder asked coldly to the two failures sitting on their knees in front of her, both covered head to toe in bruises with Mercury having the most.

"Lady Cinder we- we couldn't have known-" "WE DON'T KNOW!"

Mercury, one of the aforementioned failures, yelled out in frustration, causing Emerald to look over in both surprise and fear, "We don't know what happened! We don't know! It must've been that Courrier guy with his Faunus apprentice or whatever! He- he must've-" "Silence."

Cinder scowled, Mercury immediately realized his mistake and looked down in shame, and Emerald did too. She took out her Scroll and perused through the roster and the brackets, finding the one with the two failures on it. She narrowed her eyes, someone must've tampered with the brackets, she distinctly remember assigning Mercury and Emerald to fight team CFVY… not whoever Lavs Greenhorn is…

Cinder wracked her brain at the implications, Lavs Greenhorn, a total non-entity before the woman came to Beacon at the hand of… Courrier. Him, he was the connecting link between Lavs and Beacon; Mercury had told her that the man was shrewd, 'irrational' in Mercury's words, and brutally efficient at combat. Emerald reported that the man trained this Greenhorn woman, transforming her from a random White Fang mook to a force to be reckoned with…

He was also one of the Announcers for all of the brackets held so far, with Lavs Greenhorn substituting for him whenever he's not present. Announcers are usually faculty of the hosting country's Academy; certain faculty has the power to change the bracket however they see fit… Courrier was an assistant teacher, technically, there should be no way someone as low on the ladder as him should have access to the brackets but there's no other possibility left…

Whoever this Courrier is, Cinder needs to get rid of him, and fast.

But how? While she may consider herself to be miles above Mercury in all sense of the word, him beating Mercury into submission using only his hands and not taking a hit once was concerning to say the least… The only option left is to sic the Grimm on the man during her plan… maybe make it so that the White Fang turn against him in a betrayal as well… Unfortunately, with the state that her two lackeys are in, the plan will need some adjustments to better accommodate these two's injuries…

Pyrrha shifted nervously in the elevator to Headmaster Ozpin's office, did she do something wrong? What would happen to her if she did something wrong? When the elevator dinged and the doors open, Pyrrha walked in to see the Headmaster, alongside Ms. Goodwitch, Mr. Courrier, and some random homeless man nursing a bottle of alcohol?

Mr. Courrier waved at her with a grin on his face; she politely waved back before approaching the Headmaster's table and gave a bow, he chuckled, "It's no surprise that you would make your way to the final round of the Tournament, might I say your performance previously have been exemplary."

"Thank you Professor Ozpin, but I couldn't have made it there without my teammates." Pyrrha hoped that she had said that sentence in a formal tone, considering her nerves in the Headmaster's office.

"Heh, as if," The random homeless spoke up from his corner of the room, Ms. Goodwitch sent him a scathing glare but he just shrugged it off, "What? You know I'm right!"

"I'm sorry but I don't believe we've ever been introduced to one another," Pyrrha turned to him, trying to be formal but the homeless man just scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he waved his hands dismissively, "Name's Qrow."

"Please excuse his behaviour but Qrow is a trusted colleague of mine, there still is a reason why he's here." The man, Qrow, grumbled before taking a sip out of his large bottle, presumably full of alcohol.

"Professor… if you don't mind me asking that is," she turned back to the Headmaster, "Why have you called me here?"

He just smiled, "Please, take a seat," she did, he placed one hand atop the other and leaned back on his chair, the Headmaster then turned to Ms. Goodwitch, "Ah- Glynda, would you mind leaving us alone for a bit?"

Ms. Goodwitch nodded, "Not at all Professor, should I take Mr. Courrier out with me as well?" Pyrrha noticed Ms. Goodwitch's glance at Mr. Courrier, who shook his head vigorously at the Headmaster.

"No, him and I still have much to talk about…" Ms. Goodwitch grimaced but ultimately relented anyways, leaving the office via the elevator. The Headmaster then turned back to her and asked.

"Tell me, Ms. Nikos, what is your favourite fairy tale?"

"Oh boy, this again," Qrow chuckled before being elbowed by Mr. Courrier, who harshly whispered to him, "Read the room or you're losing that bottle too!"

Pyrrha raised her eyebrows in confusion, deciding to ignore the strange exchange happening behind her regarding Qrow and Mr. Courrier, "I'm… sorry?"

"You know of fairy tales, correct? Stories from your youth, outlandish tales of epic proportions, surely you must remember at least some of them…"

Pyrrha hesitated, clearly being put off by the question, "Well… there's The Tale of The Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower…"

"Now what about The Story of the Seasons?" the Headmaster held his hands in front of his face, obscuring parts of it.

"Of course!" Pyrrha's face lit up, she remembered this one very clearly! "A long time ago lived a callous old man who refused to leave his home, one day; he was visited by four travelling sisters. The first understood his reclusive nature and urged him to reflect and meditate using his time in solitude. The second brought him fruits and flowers, and watered the crops and tended to the garden outside his home. The third warmed the man's heart, convincing him to take a step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister told him to look at all that he has, and that he be thankful."

"In return for their kindness, the man gave the maidens incredible powers! So that they may travel the world and help more people with their kindness. They graciously accepted the gift, and promised to share their gifts with the people of Remnant until the end of days. My mom loved that one!"

"Would you believe me that that story's been around since I was a boy?" the Headmaster smirked.

"Well… I don't think you're that old, Professor." She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

The Headmaster then turned deadly serious, the smirk falling of his face as his mouth opened to say… "Oh! I get it now! You're the old man, right?" Mr. Courrier interjected, "It makes sense now!"

"What?" Pyrrha looked to Mr. Courrier, who slammed a fist down on his palm with a grin on his face before being nudged by Qrow.

"Dude! Not now!"

"Ope, sorry."

"Now while I wouldn't joke around like Mr. Courrier," the Headmaster sent a blank stare at Mr. Courrier, "Would you have believed me if I told you that the story was true?"

Pyrrha nervously chuckled, mentally putting the idea that the Headmaster could be the old man somewhere far back in her head for later, "I… beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that the stories were true, that there are four maidens existing in this world who wielded tremendous amounts of power, even without Dust?"

"You mean like a Semblance?"

"No, more like Magic." The Headmaster smiled, the sunlight behind him creating a glare on his glasses, obscuring his eyes.

"Called it," Mr. Courrier stage whispered to Qrow, "And they called me crazy back then."

"Shh! Shut the hell up! This is supposed to be a serious moment!"

"I…" she didn't know what to think, was the Headmaster playing a prank on her? Magic couldn't exist right?

"Unbelievable right?" Qrow laughed, "Yeah, it messed me up when I first heard that too."

"This is my first time hearing about this and I'd like to say that I called this shit back in Mountain Glenn!" Mr. Courrier cackled, "Ha! Can't believe that it's true all along! Can't wait to show those schmucks the what-for when I see them again."

"Are you serious?" Pyrrha glanced at all three men; two of them had a serious expression on their face while Mr. Courrier kept his smug smirk.

"Do I look like I'm joking, Ms. Nikos?"

"No! No… but… why are you telling me all of this?" Pyrrha averted her eyes down to her lap.

"Well Ms. Nikos, we're telling you this because we believed that you are a good fit to becoming the next Fall Maiden."

All the information came crashing into Pyrrha like a truck, "W- we?"

Just as she said that the elevator doors slid open, and in came a large, bulky man in a white suit, he fixed his tie while Ms. Goodwitch also entered, she sighed as the man spoke up, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"What is this?" Pyrrha glanced at the new arrival, including the returning Ms. Goodwitch as well, she narrowed her eyes at the Headmaster before turning to the large, bulky man, "Who are you?"

Ms. Goodwitch slowly approached Pyrrha with her hands out in a pacifying manner, reassuring her, "Don't worry, we are still the teachers you know at Beacon."

"Wh- why did you leave at the beginning?"

Ms. Goodwitch sighed and glared at Mr. Courrier, "Someone thought that me being here would create this 'oppressive atmosphere' that would overwhelm the 'mortals'." She placed in quotation marks, sending a death stare at Mr. Courrier, who whistled and pretended to not see her.

"Heh, true that, high-five buddy," Qrow high-fived Mr. Courrier, "Hey Nikos, welcome to the gang, we're basically the protectors of Remnant."

"Technically we're still teachers, this is just our side-hustle," Mr. Courrier grinned, "Hey, don't worry though; this is my first time hearing all of this too!"

"Then why are you so… calm?!"

"Eh, you learn to roll with the punches after a while," Mr. Courrier shrugged, "Besides, I already had a bunch of suspicions about this before, so I'm more excited rather than scared or surprised."

"Ms. Nikos," she turned back to the Headmaster, "We need your help."

Everything that happened after that was a blur; it was like she was moving on autopilot while her mind tried to catch up with the overwhelming amounts of information forced upon her in such a short time. Soon enough, everyone was filed into the elevator, taking a trip down… but not down to Beacon, but further down… and further… and further…

She fidgeted around nervously before asking, "Where are we going?"

"Under the school," the Headmaster replied blankly, "To the Vault."

"Vault?" Mr. Courrier raised an eyebrow realizing that he had said that out loud, "Oh, sorry, don't mind me!"

The elevator continued to go down, further and further into the earth, Pyrrha felt more and more apprehensive as the elevator continued its descent, "I'm sure you must have a lot of questions," Ms. Goodwitch began, "Feel free to ask, I'll try my best to answer them."

"I- I still don't fully understand all of this! You said that I'm a good fit to become the next Fall Maiden I- I don't know what that's supposed to mean!"

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years, yes, but they're ultimately titles. Much like the seasons themselves, they change, and so do the people wielding their powers and assuming their titles. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons, and the power, are never lost, and that no one person can hold onto that power forever."

"So how does this power… choose its host?"

"Rules. Stupid ones."

"Qrow!"

"You know I'm right, high-five." He high-fived Mr. Courrier again.

Ms. Goodwitch sighed, "At first… the only factor that we could've picked up on was that the powers were specifically passed onto young women. But as time went on, we discovered that the truth about this selection process was much more… intimate, shall we say."

"Intimate?"

"You make it sound sexual." Mr. Courrier snickered, Qrow held back a chuckle too.

"I did not! Argh! Why do I have to work with such clowns…" Ms. Goodwitch rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, "As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who her final thoughts is the first candidate to receive this power."

"Specifically young women though, no dudes, no old hags. So if the Maiden thought of either of those two before she died then the power randomly picks a person instead, which makes our job just that much harder."

"There goes my plan…" Mr. Courrier muttered but it seemed like only Pyrrha heard what he said as the others don't seem to react.

"But… why are you telling me all of this? Why not wait until I've graduated?"

"Simply put, we're running out of time," Qrow sighed, "Tensions are rising out there, Grimm's getting stronger, the whole nine yards. It's going to shit faster than we can try to stop it. And it's not going to be much longer before all of this goes right out of the window, this peace, this quiet, all of it, gone."

"You're not talking about a… war… right?" Pyrrha prayed it isn't.

"No, not a war between nations." The man in the white suit said cryptically, the elevator continued to descend, way deeper than what Pyrrha had first imagined. It then stopped, then a ping sounded and the doors open.

Qrow turned to Pyrrha, "Listen, we'll fill you in once we know that you're willing to go through with this. All you need to know now is that the Maidens are real, one of them got attacked, and for the first time in history, only a portion of their powers taken."

Everyone, including Pyrrha, made their way out into the large hallway, making their way down the imposing hall, they reached their destination, Pyrrha held back a gasp as she saw what it was, a large machine with screens lighted up, wires hooked onto two pods, one empty and the other with a woman with a burn scar over her face.

"Is she…" she stepped closer to examine the pods.

"The current Fall Maiden, Amber." The Headmaster sighed heavily.

"She's still… alive."

"But not for long," the man in the suit walked forwards, "We're doing the best we can to keep her stable but something like this is… unprecedented to say the least…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll put it straight; if… when she passes… we don't know what will happen to the powers."

"Wouldn't it just transfer to the next host?"

"Normally, yes. But this situation's far from normal. It's not uncommon for the thoughts of the slain to be that of the slaughterer," the man glanced at Amber, "But her power's been split into two, for all we know, it could just seek out the other half instead."

"And that would not bode well for all of us." The Headmaster added gravely.

Pyrrha looked at the pod, her thoughts running a mile a second as she tried to understand all of this overwhelming information. Mr. Courrier then approached her with an open palm, on it was a strange white tablet, he smiled, "I know this is a hard decision… so do you want a Mentat? They're very smarty."

We're getting into the deep shit now!

Thanks for reading! This chapter was 4k words instead of the usual 2.5k. It's a little experiment, maybe I could write more in a shorter amount of time.

Nope! Never doing that again! It's back to the 2.5k chapters from now!