Aurum stared slack jawed for what felt like hours. Nevica looked like a different person. The woman she had met two and a half months ago was a soft, beautiful, and fragile girl, but the woman standing before her was a toned, knockout, drop dead gorgeous figure. Nevica's time training, and the Relic of Progress, had done wonders for her physique, and just looking at her was giving Aurum goosebumps.

"Hey, Baby Blue! Welcome back!" Nevica said after a moment passed, the shock cleared from face was replaced by excitement.

Aurum fought her surprise, closing her jaw and smiling back, "H-hey Nevica! I'm back early…"

Nevica made her way over to Aurum, letting the crabs disintegrate on the ground as she walked up to give Aurum a hug, gripping the older woman tightly. Aurum immediately returned the hug, admiring Nevica's newly toned arms and back. "And I have another surprise for you…" Aurum whispered into Nevica's ear during their hug.

As they separated, Nevica spoke with a curious look, "Oh? What is it?"

Aurum smiled, barely holding in her excitement, "I… Don't work at Shade anymore… I work…"

Nevica's eyes widened slightly. "...No, you didn't."

Aurum nodded slowly, "I work at Beacon."

Nevica's jaw dropped slightly. "B-beacon? Like, here.. In Vale?"

Aurum smiled brightly, almost childlike, nodding her head rapidly, "Yep!" She replied, with a poppin' P.

"I am once again a citizen of Vale, and I bought a house!" Aurum shrunk a little bit, shyly tapping her fingers together, "There's room for you there if you want?"

Nevica's mind blanked out for a second for two reasons, one, Aurum's absolute adorableness, two, the statement she just heard. After processing, her face lit up and she jumped at Aurum, "Yes! I'll move in as soon as I can!"

Aurum smiled back and the two hugged, eventually separating again and talking all the way back to The Changing Seasons, and eventually back to Aurum's new house.

It was there that they settled into life, though not 6 months passed before something happened.

It was Aurum's fifth month in Vale, and soon to be her first actually working at Beacon. She sat down in the afternoon of a lazy day and turned on the news, and after flicking through some channels, she stopped on a VNN broadcast, "Breaking News!: House fire in councilman's house leaves five dead, one missing."

Aurum took to her scroll, looking up the incident. Jimmy and Carmel Vanille had both been confirmed as casualties, and their five year old daughter was missing. Aurum felt something resonate in her soul, and wondered aloud, "Why do you seem familiar…"

Rose responded for her, "Why don't you find out?"

And so Aurum's lazy afternoon turned into a manhunt, where she used her semblance and Rose's time stop to search nearly all of Vale, eventually finally finding the small girl huddled in an alleyway a few miles away.

She was cowering behind someone who was covering her up slightly, hugging her loosely. When Aurum approached, they both looked up, and what Aurum saw struck her still: the girl was clearly little Trivia Vanille, and the person covering her? None other than Neopolitan.

Neo was defensive, sheltering Trivia and glaring at anything that approached, but as Aurum did, she saw the truth. Trivia's Aura was crackling, near breaking, and Neo was flickering, like she was tied to Trivia's Aura. Aurum called out, "Trivia? I'm not here to hurt you okay? I'm a Huntress."

Trivia looked up, terrified, and Neo hugged her tighter, eventually hugging so tight that Neo shattered, and with her, Trivia's Aura.

Trivia was alone, and in her mind, Neopolitan spoke for the first time. Neo was whole.

Aurum noticed the change and reacted quickly, rushing to the girl's side to check on her. When Neo saw this she backed up against the wall and covered herself, ready for the strikes she knew were about to come. Instead, she felt herself get wrapped in a comforting warmth. "I'm not here to hurt you sweetie."

Neo could feel the soft gold and blue cloth wrap around her and she felt the raw safety this woman exuded, and she sunk into it, relaxing in the embrace.

Aurum held the girl close and took her to a nearby diner, where she paid for a kids meal for the girl, who looked like she was starving. The girl greedily ate the food, and once she was done she sheepishly looked to Aurum, like she had done something wrong. Aurum smiled back and spoke to Neo directly for the first time in the diner, "So… Trivia, or should I call you Neo?"

Neo's eyes widened, her facial expression relaying her surprise.

Aurum smiled softly, "I had a hunch, I know things like that… Now, I have a few questions, do you think you can answer them for me?"

Neo shrunk a little, and Aurum had to resist cooing, instead she said, "I promise you wont get into trouble, and you aren't in trouble already; heck, I'm the only one who knows where you are at all."

Neo brightened up a bit and nodded shyly to Aurum.

"Okay, first, do you know how the fire started?"

Neo shook her head, telling the truth, she really didn't know how.

"Good, good, then, second…" Aurum gulped, "Were your parents ever bad? Did they hurt you? Hit you?"

Neo shrunk and nodded, trying to hide behind her arms.

Aurum sighed, switching booths and hugging Neo, letting the girl once again sink into her cloak.

Sighing to herself, she pulled out her scroll and made a decision, calling Nevica.

Aurum felt like a mad woman, but here she and Nevica were, at the Vale adoption office, getting papers to adopt Neo as their child. Nevica was a bit skeptical at first, but as soon as she heard about the abuse, she had folded like a house of cards.

Neo had already been shown the house and had lived there for a test month, she enjoyed it a lot, comparing it to her old life, her 'Parents' were like human garbage compared to her new caretakers, sure, it was smaller, but it felt much more like a home than the Vanille mansion, and, she could be a kid! She played with Cobalt, who was actually a lot of fun to play with, and Cobalt had already introduced her as his big sis to all his friends at daycare.

All in all, little Neo, now Neopolitan Spumoni Cadere-Lazuli, was a wonderful new addition to their new family.

It wasn't long before they had left the adoption office, and came home to a happy family.

Later that month, Aurum would start her job at Beacon officially. Her introduction as staff was seen as a bit strange, but soon she was seen as just another part of Beacon, teaching combat and semblance training. This also led to her meeting Ozpin's staff, and his inner circle. They had all heard of Theodore's right hand, the Golden Death, but none had ever actually met her in person.

Aurum walked into a room of familiar faces, to her at least. From left to right in the room, Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen, Lucian Ozpin, and lastly, Summer Rose.

Oz spoke first, "Hello Aurum, I wanted to introduce you to my inner circle. I know Theodore trusted you intimately, just how much were you let in on?"

Aurum made a cursory glance around the room, then responded, "Anything Theodore knows, assume I know as well, probably more actually."

Ozpin's eyes widened, if only for a tiny moment, "I see, and could you elaborate?"

Aurum sighed, "Magic, Maidens, Relics, Passwords to Relics, Salem, Her cronies, the reasons they're her cronies, how to get into the vaults, how you reincarnate, etcetera."

Ozpin stared blankly for a moment, "You mean to tell me Theodore disclosed all of that?"

Aurum nodded, "Anything you told him, he trusted me with everything."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes, "And just how did you get my most mistrusting friend to put so much faith in you."

Aurum smiled, "I saved his life, and his kingdom, then I swore on my son's life that I would bring the Grimm to extinction."

Aurum could feel the skepticism in the room at that statement. It was then that she revealed her trump card. "And how I intend to do that you may ask?"

Aurum reached up and pulled out one of her contacts, hearing gasps as she looked up, on one side, a deep cerulean blue eye looked on with determination, and on the other, a bright Silver one shone with conviction. "I have silver eyes, fully awakened."

The room seemed to quiet at that, tension dissolving into disbelief as the four stood in silence.

Ozpin hesitantly broke the silence with an awkward cough, "Ahem… ah, well… I'm sure you know the implications of that… seeming as you hide that fact… hmm, actually, I was unaware of any silver eyed family lines still in existence, certainly not ones by the name of Lazuli."

Aurum replaced her contact, and glared at Ozpin for a split second before smiling, "Well I actually come from a split off the Rose family tree, lost the last name somewhere along the line, but I still have the eyes and the petal effect on my semblance. Also, my middle name is Roseā, a vacuan spin on Rose."

Ozpin responded with a hum, and asked another question, "And what is your semblance, if I may ask?"

Aurum blinked, then spoke, "Petal transmutation, the ability to convert mass and/or Aura bodies into nearly weightless petals, and back. I can move the petals in any way I like, and can even turn myself into petals. I can also use them to move very quickly, or in extreme circumstances, straight up teleport them, though that costs loads of stamina."

As she explained, Aurum waved her hand and turned her arm into blue and gold petals which fell to the ground, "They're Rose petals by the way, just not red ones, though if I pick up someone with a red aura, or transmute a red object, they'll be red."

Ozpin then asked another question, "Hmm, and your… Unique color scheme, personal preference?"

Aurum blinked with faux confusion, "My name is Aurum Lazuli…" Aurum waved her hands around deliberately, "Where's the confusion? Blue and Gold. I wanted to go with a darker blue, but it didn't fit my eyes, it was too same-y. "

Ozpin took Aurum's words at face value, it wasn't like he had any reason to believe otherwise, and the truth was frankly more absurd than the lie in Aurum's opinion.

The conversation moved on to other matters, missions that the others were going on, known movements of Salem's cronies, and other Ozluminatti related business.

Eventually though, the meeting was over, and Aurum returned home to her girlfriend, son, and adopted daughter. That night while lying in bed, Aurum reflected on the last year of her life. Ever since meeting Nevica her life seemed to turn itself on its head. One day she was sure that a trip to Vale was all she needed and she would be back on her feet taking missions in Vacuo like nothing.

Next thing she knew she was in love.

…

"Holy shit…" Aurum let out a breathy sigh and spoke, "I… I love Nevica…"

Aurum felt the bed shake violently, and she realized she had just said that out loud. Her face immediately turned a brilliant red as Nevica shot up and stared directly at her, her face a similar shade of crimson.

Recovering quickly, Aurum blurted out, "UHHH UMMM, I MEAN UHHH-"

"I love you too baby blue" Nevica said before shutting Aurum up with a kiss that promptly made the poor woman reboot.

The days passed after that, time slowly marching on as Aurum settled in to working at Beacon. She took less missions now, wanting to spend time with Nevica, who continued to train and grow at a monstrous rate. She was nearing the level of the average beacon graduate, and her Relic was helping that progress along swimmingly.

Aurum's new life was relatively quiet for a spell. She didn't integrate in too deeply into the Inner Circle, mostly due to the depth of her secrets, but one member was stubbornly consistent in trying to get more information from her. That member was none other than her mother, Summer Rose.
'DING'

New message from: SN V (080) 824-5767

'Hey Aurum! Summer here… Summer Rose, I was wondering about something you said back in that first meeting, that you were a branch off the Rose family? It got me thinking, that makes us cousins of a sort right? Well… I'd like to have dinner sometime to talk about that, you can bring your girlfriend too, and your kiddos if you'd like, just let me know!"

Aurum read the message and groaned, she had thought this might happen, and wasn't looking forwards to the sheer amount of lies she would have to voice to make this seem plausible. Thankfully Theodore had helped her with this, her having known long ago that this might be an issue.

First thing's first though… Enough lying about who she is, at least to one person.

Nevica was having an average day. Wake up, brush her teeth, kiss Aurum a good day at work, take care of the kiddos and take them to school, train at home, do some light reading and writing (she was working on a novel!), have Aurum come home with the kids, have dinner, retreat to bed and read a little before bed.

It was here her day changed a bit.

"Hey Nevica, I got a text earlier today, and it got me thinking."

Nevica set down her book and looked over to Aurum. The woman had an incredibly apprehensive look on her face, like she was gathering her courage.

"Yeah Blue? What about?" She cautiously asked, worried about what would get the normally relaxed woman so wound up.

"I think it's time I spill some secrets, big ones… See uh… I've had some like, earth shattering revelations that I've been keeping to myself because well… you'll see, but I… Gah fuck it, I can't bear to lie to you about so much anymore, it's been slowly wearing away at me, seeing you upend your whole life to be with me, while I'm keeping my secrets and just… I feel like I'm violating you, in a way. I-" Aurum's breath hitched, "I can't do that to someone I love." Aurum thought about Cobalt and Neo for a split second and amended her sentence, "...at least someone I love who can handle the truth."

Nevica had now sat up, turning to Aurum and holding her hands and replying in a soothing tone, "Lay it on me Blue."

Aurum took in a big breath and let out a shaky sigh, then, for the first time since Theodore, she told someone the truth,

"My name hasn't always been Aurum Lazuli, until a few years ago, I went by another name entirely, I lived in a different world, another time entirely…"

Nevica's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Another time entirely? What do you mean by that?"

Aurum sighed once again, "So, you know about magic, but what you don't know is that when a person with magic dies, they get a choice. The afterlife, or… The Inbetween, a realm where all magic comes from, and where the brother gods reside over the one hundred and two timelines that make up the totality of existence."

Nevica's eyes had blown wide by this point, but Aurum continued nonetheless, "On one of those timelines, the thirty seventh light world to be exact, a little girl was born five years and three months ago, by the name of Ruby Rose."

A lightbulb went off in Nevica's head, "Like the little girl at the daycare we take Cobalt to?"

Aurum chuckled dryly, "The very same… as I was saying… at age sixteen, Ruby would stop a robbery, this would get her noticed by Ozpin, and she would enroll into beacon academy a year early alongside her sister Yang, a Faunus Princess named Blake, and the Schnee Heiress, Weiss. She would lead team RWBY, and engage in vigilante justice against the very criminal she had thwarted to gain entrance to Beacon. She would uncover conspiracy after conspiracy, culminating in participating in the defence of Beacon Academy from a joint invasion of terrorists and grimm.

"Beacon tower would fall that night, and Headmaster Ozpin would die. Team RWBY would split up, but would eventually be reunited at Haven Academy, where once again the forces of evil would work together to take down yet another kingdom's defenses. They would acquire the Relic of Knowledge, and ask a question of it, learning more about the world's past than all but two people up to that point had ever learned.

"They would travel to Atlas, where the Headmaster, paranoid beyond comprehension after witnessing the fall of two kingdoms and their academies, would turn against them. In a last ditch effort, using the Relic of Creation, she and her team would make portals to ferry all the civilians from the now falling city of Atlas to Vacuo, but not before sending out a message to the world. Briefly, Ruby Rose was on every screen on Remnant, preaching to the entire planet about how this was to be our last stand, how Vacuo would be the bastion of humanity, impenetrable to all forces.

"The world heeded her message, and the remnants of the other kingdoms left their old homes behind. For a few short weeks, the whole of humanity lived under one banner. The Immortal Bastion, the Kingdom of Vacuo was Humanity's final hope."

Aurum's eyes pricked with tears, her breath drawing short and her tone solemn, "But it was not to be. Not two months after Humanity had united to fight back against the dark, it was snuffed out entirely. A wave of Grimm unlike any ever before descended upon Vacuo, and swallowed it whole.

"Team RWBY held the line for as long as they could, but it wasn't enough, and eventually, they were picked off. Blake, then Yang… Then Weiss. Then, finally, Ruby Rose met her end."

Nevica was crying with Aurum now, hugging her close, "I'm so sorry Aurum… I can't ev-"

Aurum cut her off, "But Ruby was born special. Her family line was that of spectacular warriors, born with shining Silver Eyes. Those eyes were a gift from the Brother of Light, a tool to protect others with magical fire to cleanse the darkness.

"So when Ruby died, she ended up in the Inbetween, confused and alone in an afterlife that rarely saw new visitors."

Aurum grimaced, "Ruby would learn that her world was not alone, that there were other timelines, worlds where the story went differently, where it was still unfolding. She learned that her timeline was gone, that the brother gods had turned the planet to dust, erased it from existence and replaced it with a new one. She would meet alternate versions of herself, alternate versions of her friends, her loved ones… her childhood crush."

Aurum met Nevica's eyes as she spoke, "She would have a baby with him, a product of an idiotic one night stand… she would wish… hope to the stars, to the universe itself that she could go back, save her world, undo the cruel injustice dealt to her."

Aurum continued onwards, "She would get her wish, on a technicality. She would travel to the God of Light, beg of him to let her set things right. And the God of Light agreed, sending her and her son back in time to the day she was born, with a different name, a different soul, and rules to follow… the new name she chose?"

Aurum sobbed, finally finished with her tragic tale, "Aurum, Aurum Lazuli…"

Nevica sat in stunned silence for a long while, looking at the clock and seeing it was nearly 30 minutes past midnight, she finally spoke, "So… you're actually a time traveling version of the cute little girl at the daycare, and you're on a time mission to stop the end of the world?"

Aurum nodded robotically, unsure how to respond to Nevica's surprisingly nonchalant summation, "Y-yeah, that about sums it up…"

Nevica then surprised Aurum by kissing her and saying, "Well, you did say I was in the big leagues now… It's late dear, let's get some sleep before we have to get up tomorrow."

Aurum smiled weakly and laid down in Nevica's embrace, drifting off to sleep, her shoulders feeling lighter than they had in what felt like decades.

The next day, Aurum responded to Summer, agreeing to a dinner with all the kids, Taiyang and Nevica as well. They met at an upscale establishment, a steakhouse Aurum had come to frequent in the past few months. Knowing the staff, she paid a bit extra to get a seat in a secluded corner of the restaurant, where the two families could have conversation in private.

Aurum and Nevica were first to arrive, waiting in the booth with Neo and Cobalt, the two six year olds doodling on the kiddie sheets the waiter had given them, and comparing drawings. Not too long after, Summer and co arrived. Taiyang, Yang, and little Ruby all followed behind Summer as she led them to the table.

As they sat down, Summer introduced them, "Aurum, Nevica, I'd like you to meet my husband Taiyang, and my kids, Yang, and Ruby."

Tai held out his hand for Aurum to shake, and Aurum took it in a firm grip, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Aurum, this is Nevica, my girlfriend, and my kids, Neo and Cobalt."

Cobalt and Ruby had already locked eyes and had matching grins on their faces, they turned to their parents and spoke in unison, "But Mom/Mama! I've already met him/her"

Aurum and Summer both blinked and looked to their children, Aurum then spoke up, "OH! Right yes, you take Ruby to the Patch Public Daycare Center right? I believe she and Cobalt met several months back, when I first came to Vale from Vacuo."

Recognition shined in Summer's eyes, "Oh yes! Ruby, is this the little boy you were telling me about last spring? The one who helped you make all those friends?"

Ruby nodded excitedly, "Uh huh! I told Yang about him too! She met his big sister and they played games together!"

Yang and Neo had spent this entire time communicating silently, staring at one another without blinking.

Ruby poked Yang in the arm and she flinched looking away for a split second, prompting Neo to put her arms up in celebration. Yang exclaimed, "Dang it! That's the third time in a row she's beat me!"

Neo smugly held out her hand and Yang begrudgingly shook it, pouting about having lost yet again.

Aurum ruffled Neo's hair, prompting a snicker from Yang, she spoke with a smile, "Well it seems our kiddos are already well acquainted, why don't we talk ourselves huh?"

Aurum waved her hand towards the opposite side of the table and the other two adults took a seat. The dinner proceeded from there, the adults talking about their families and their lives, Aurum and Nevica throwing in several dozen premade lies, and a few unexpected ones made on the fly. The kids played together, compared drawings, and generally had fun, and the adults made quick friends. Summer being happy to have a new cousin, and Taiyang being happy that Summer had some family that was still living outside him and their kids.

Eventually though, the dinner came to a close, Summer and Tai thanking Aurum for the meal and taking off with their kids, and Aurum and Nevica retreating to their home for the evening. Putting the kids to bed and relaxing in bed, content in having squared away that issue for the time being.

It wasn't until the next week that anything out of the ordinary happened. Aurum kept up her text messages with Summer, the two quickly gaining a good relationship, Summer wanted to learn more about her silver eyes, and Aurum wanting to know more about her mother and her family, things she never really got to know about before, due to being so young at the time of her mother's passing.

Aurum also was about to start her second school year at Beacon, and Nevica was getting ready to take the licensing exam for becoming a huntress. Life was good.

It was a foggy spring morning, the second of April. Aurum woke up and her stomach was killing her, she quickly rushed to the restroom and hurled, the contents of the previous night's dinner vacating her without ceremony.

She went back to bed after calling in sick for the day, waking up later to throw up again. She chalked it up to the Flu, or some food poisoning.

The next day she seemed fine, going in and teaching at beacon like normal.

The fourth rolled around and she woke up feeling worse than ever, throwing up four times. Her stomach rebelling against her over and over.

It was at Nevica's behest that she went to see a doctor. So the two put Neo and Cobalt in the daycare for the day and went to the hospital. They sat in reception for what felt like eons, they anxiously sat until they were called in, where a nurse took Aurum's height and weight, took her temperature, and drew a vial of blood. The doctor came in and Aurum described her symptoms. Then they went home.

Aurum had a few days of solace, but she did eventually start throwing up again.

Luckily the doctor got back to her, calling her in for an appointment later that week.

Aurum and Nevica anxiously awaited the date, Aurum suffering several more days of throwing up, a patch she had gotten from the local pharmacy doing nothing to help, and she hoped the doctor had good news for her.

The couple once again put the kids in daycare, and went to the hospital, waited in the waiting room for the nurse to call Aurum's name, waited in the room for the doctor to arrive, and then finally, the doctor walked in.

"Hello! Ms. Lazuli?" Aurum nodded, "Ah wonderful, so I see you were in earlier this week for a bout of sickness recently, mainly vomiting and vertigo yes?"

Aurum nodded again, waiting for the doctor to get to the point.

"Well Ms. Lazuli, we sent your bloodwork off to the lab and they sent back the result in this packet here."

The doctor pulled out a stapled packet of papers, "I'm happy to tell you that you're pregnant, congratulations! Would you like to know whether it's a boy or a girl?"

Aurum's ears were full of static, the words 'You're Pregnant' Echoing in her mind like a pinball. The tinnitus like static came to a crescendo as she blurted out in a half scream,

"WHAT!"