Yo! Back again for another chapter. Still able to get chapters out, but I will be stupidly busy this week, so expect it to be 50/50 on a chapter next week.

This is a reupload to try and fix the chapter not showing up for some people. Hoping that no longer happens.

Start Chapter 36

All in all, Ruby isn't entirely certain what it is that's got Amber so worked up as she and her team walk through the back halls of Amity later that day.

"How did you not notice!?" She hisses out at Ruby under her breath. "Seriously, did the two of you go blind and deaf or something!?"

Ruby and Roman look at each other, and then awkwardly glance away. Ugh. Ruby had said that Roman hadn't made anything weird between them by confessing to her, but the truth of the matter is that that's not true, and they both know it.

It's not weird, because Ruby isn't going to judge Roman for his feelings…

She just can't return them. Might not be able to return anyone's.

And isn't that a thought.

Well, it's a thought for later. When she's not being hounded by Amber for answers on – apparently – more pressing matters.

"I heard there was some kind of commotion." Roman rubs at the back of his head. "Some lady beat up a bunch of people or something?"

"Yes, well, that's hardly the most important bit of that particular event," Amber rolls her eyes, "But that is in essence what happened there. The problem is; that wasn't the only event! There was another on the opposite side of the stadium. I don't know if you guys know who Summer Rose is–"

Ruby almost hacks up a lung. Roman and Amber both look at her in confusion.

"Uh…" She struggles for something to say. "Continue."

"…Right," Amber's still eyeing her. "Well, Summer Rose is kind of a big deal in the Huntress community."

"Never heard of her." Roman says, sounding a bit pissy.

"I have heard the name before." Ruby awkwardly scratches her nose, trying to pretend like everything's perfectly normal. "Tell me about her."

"Well, she and these guys from a team called STRQ are kind of a big deal. I've met a few of them on prot–" Amber hesitates a moment, before seemingly deciding to just come out with it. "Well, for a long while, it was thought that one of their members would end up taking on protection duty of me once I left Beacon."

"Protection duty?" Roman cocks an eyebrow. "You some bigwig?"

"It's…" Amber looks around. "I'll tell you later, if I can get confirmation from Ozpin. We've known each other long enough; you all deserve to know."

Oh. Amber's going to tell them, then?

Ruby's been fed enough information that even she's been able to put together that Amber's probably a Maiden. The Fall Maiden, likely, given that that power had seemingly stayed in and around Vale according to what Ozpin had told them.

It doesn't paint a very flattering picture about Amber's long-term life expectancy, knowing who eventually becomes the Fall Maiden a decade or so from now. Then again, Ruby's not about to let that happen. Not in a million years.

"But getting back on topic!" Amber exclaims, groaning as she leads them down a hallway to the dignitary seating, apparently. "Summer Rose fought some guy, alongside another few Huntsmen and Huntresses. The thing is; they're saying that guy was able to hold them all off, and escape!"

Ruby isn't really sure what to think of that. Her mother as she'd been when Ruby had known her would've been a veritable whirlwind of power and ability, but she hasn't, from what Ruby knows, seen much combat in years now, with herself – her younger self, to clarify – a young child, likely only five or six years old. She's been raising her children, not keeping herself in tip-top fighting shape.

So, no, Ruby's not really attributing all that much to what Amber's saying.

…Okay, some part of her is a little angry at whoever it had been that had beat her mom, admittedly! She's just keeping that part hidden away, since it's not exactly helping.

"So, there were two different fights?" Ruby decides to change the topic. "Who was the other woman?"

"That's just the thing!" Amber raises a finger. "She's not someone anyone had ever heard of, but get this; she used the Schnee semblance!"

Oh. Ruby thinks.

I know who the other person was.

Roman hums idly. "I didn't take you for a lover of gossip, Amber."

"This is not gossip, Roman! This is a major event! There were skirmishes all over the Vytal Festival, including the emergence of a mysterious new Schnee! That's a big deal. It's international news!"

Yes, it likely is. Ruby isn't surprised, then, that their team had been sequestered away.

A Silver-Eyed warrior, and a Maiden. They're likely at the very top of Ozpin's list of people to protect. Ruby's not quite sure how she feels about that.

On the surface, it's definitely a positive, but having eyes on her constantly is unnerving, for one, and for another, it limits how much she can interact with and inform the other members of Team RWBY about what's happened.

They push their way into a room that seems to have been used for dignitary seating just a few minutes prior. As of right now, it's almost entirely empty. Only Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch, alongside a few Atlesian guards, still hang about in the room.

"Leave us," Glynda speaks to those guards directly.

The men nod their heads, before departing. It's likely they've got more important things to do than guarding two people who really don't need guarding, anyhow.

Then again, they do work for Hawthorne. It wouldn't surprise Ruby if they decided to camp out outside the door and eavesdrop.

Glynda seems to have had the same thought, because she walks over to the door, leans down, and peaks through the gap at the bottom. She is, seemingly, satisfied with what she finds, or doesn't, Ruby imagines.

"We're clear."

Ozpin nods. He turns back towards the three of them.

"Mr. Torchwick, my apologies, but I will likely have to ask you to leave." He starts. "This is a matter–"

"Sir," Amber interrupts. "Roman's our teammate. If Ruby and I can know, he can know too. We trust him."

It's the truth, and Ozpin must see it in her own eyes. She nods her head, and he sighs.

"Very well. Mr. Torchwick, anything you hear in this room is not to be repeated outside of it, am I clear?"

"Uh, crystal, sir."

"Right," Ozpin sighs. "We're waiting on a few others, so you all may take seats if you'd like. This will… likely be quite the lengthy conversation."

Ruby's curious at first as to who they're waiting for, up until the door to the room opens, and in step three figures.

Two of them Ruby might've been able to expect. The last, she most certainly had not, and especially not when she's leaning heavily on one of the others, with dried blood clearly showing on her outfit.

"Blake!" Ruby shouts out, before realizing that she really needs to get control over her emotions if she's going to be doing this espionage thing. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Blake nods her head. "We can discuss why I'm… like this later."

Ruby nods. Evidently, that's a conversation that the four of them – when Weiss eventually arrives from whatever event that's happened with her – can talk about together. Alone.

Yang helps Blake into one of the chairs in the room, and Glynda and Ozpin can't seem to take their eyes off of her, and the wounds on her body.

"Your name is… Blake?" Ozpin walks towards her. "A black-haired faunus with cat ears. Wounded rather heavily. Shots to the arm, back, and a broken wrist."

Blake looks up at him, eyes hard.

"Your description matches rather exactly to the one that Hawthorne mere minutes ago provided for the assailant who broke a prisoner out of confinement in the deepest levels of Atlas HQ. She was nearly neutralized, before being sequestered away at the last minute."

Ruby tries not to show any obvious emotions on her face, but she's terrible at that, so she probably fails.

"That's not–" Yang tries to interject, but before she can, Ozpin rounds on someone else.

"And who do I hear was the one to rescue her from that predicament, but someone who could conjure crimson portals into being." He narrows his gaze at Raven. "…What, exactly, were you doing, Raven?"

Raven, Yang, and Blake all look at each other. Ruby had been in on the plan vaguely, but she'd been pretty sure that Raven and Yang getting involved had been the exact opposite of what had been supposed to happen.

Something had gone wrong, then. Likely catastrophically so, judging by Blake's injuries.

"Going to remain silent, then?" Ozpin eyes each of the three of them.

"Not sure what you want us to say." Raven barks out. "Seems you already know the facts of the situation."

"I'd like you to tell me why you did what you did, because at the moment, this has a chance of spiraling into an incident that could throw the peace that has lasted between Vale and Atlas for a generation into chaos."

"It was my doing." Blake speaks up, although she winces, seemingly from straining an injury by trying to sit up in her chair. She waves off Yang, who's bent down to help her, before turning back to Ozpin. "I assume you heard about the murder that happened the other night?"

"The faunus who murdered a human down in Mantle?" Ozpin raises an eyebrow. "I had heard."

"Well, the one who did that was my student. She… I'm not going to pretend she was totally in the right, but she was likely going to be put away without a trial, psychologically tortured so that Hawthorne could get a false confession out of her. If he could make it seem like the faunus were at fault, then he could continue to turn Atlas in an anti-faunus direction."

"So, the two… three?" He looks to Yang, and her expression must not inspire confidence. "The three of you broke her out?"

"It was my intention to make it so that only I was involved." Blake speaks. "If I was caught, it would only cost me."

"I bailed her out." Raven says matter-of-factly. "Otherwise, she'd have either died, or the both of them would've been in the same situation her student was."

Ozpin pushes a breath through his teeth, almost falling back into the chair behind him and rubbing his eyes.

"And do you not understand that your semblance is one of the most instantly recognizable among the higher echelons of the world, Raven? When you went AWOL, I personally informed the acting heads of each Kingdom of your abilities. That you were involved is obvious."

"So?"

"So–" Ozpin catches himself before his anger can rise. "Raven, you–"

"Oh, fuck off, Oz, what did you want me to do; leave them to die?"

"Over starting an international incident? Yes, that is what I would prefer you to have done!"

Ruby isn't the only one to take a step back from them. They're glaring daggers at one another from the middle of the room.

"What a surprise," Raven snarls out. "You're just like you've always been; too focused on the big picture to give a shit about any one individual."

Before the two's verbal spat can continue, another few people make their way into the booth. Uncle Qrow is one of them. Alongside him is Summer Rose, and a Huntsman who Ruby has never seen before. He has black hair with white streaks running through it, and has clearly taken a bit of a beating today.

"Is everything alright?" Summer looks between Raven and Ozpin.

Rather clearly, everything is not.

Still, the room settles as Summer, Qrow, and this new figure, apparently named Rhodes, are filled in on the situation. Summer and Qrow both clearly see things as Raven does, not wanting to leave Eve to her fate, but this other Huntsman, clearly, doesn't agree.

"You rescued a murderer!?" He yells out. "That's a complete violation of Atlesian law!"

"It's not quite that simple." Summer interrupts him before he can go any farther. "It's not exactly a secret that the faunus are mistreated here in Atlas. Blake's not trying to pretend like her actions were black or white. Merely that what would happen if she were left to Hawthorne's people would be worse."

Rhodes doesn't seem to know what to say in response to that.

In fairness, Ruby doesn't either. That Blake's actions – assuredly a gray set – had been almost endorsed by her mother, is…

It's an odd thing for Ruby to hear. She'd looked up to her mother as a hero. How could she not? After all, she'd had nothing to go off of but stories, and what few memories she had from when she'd been just four or five years old. Her mother had been described as almost superhuman.

But she'd seen that vision from the Blacksmith; had seen her traveling with Raven to go on some mission to gods know where.

If anything, she's being brought back to reality, now. Being reminded that her mother is a human being, with complicated feelings and emotions.

She's not a storybook hero.

No matter how much Ruby had always treated her as one.

"But… we can talk about that later." Summer clears her throat. "You didn't summon us here only to speak on that, did you, Oz?"

Ozpin opens his mouth to speak, before sighing, and nodding his head. "You are not incorrect."

"Are we waiting for anyone else?"

"We are, actually." Qrow sighs. "Weiss."

"Yes, Weiss Schnee, it seems." Ozpin speaks. "And not the one we're all more familiar with."

"Ah…" Qrow clears his throat. "Yeah."

"Were you aware of her heritage, Qrow?"

"What gives you that idea?"

"You do not seem terribly shocked."

"…She told me in confidence. I wasn't going to go breaking it when I knew she wasn't a threat."

Ozpin sighs, but nods his head, at least. "I understand. As much as I'd have rather not have been blindsided by what has happened here today, I confess that even I had not quite anticipated so many different events all occurring at once. Three separate incidents on the first day of the Vytal Festival."

"From what Weiss said, Trivia was kidnapped." Qrow grumbles, and Ruby looks at the others in confusion. She's… not really been all that informed on current happenings regarding Weiss.

To be fair, they'd all had their own things to do. Ruby had been focusing on winning the Vytal Festival, trying to give them a chance to locate Jaune.

So, no, introductions had been pushed onto the backburner.

"Who's Trivia?" She asks.

"Oh, right," Qrow looks to her. "Weiss and I, uh…" He runs a hand down the back of his neck. "Man, how do I even explain this shit…?"

Over the course of the next ten minutes, as they wait for Weiss to arrive, Qrow tells them the story of what had happened back in Mistral. It's a rather condensed telling, and skips over the vast majority of what they'd gotten up to while they'd been there, apparently.

The most important bit seems to be…

"You kidnapped a child!?" Rhodes shouts out, a hand flying to the handles of one of his maces. "How could you–"

"Not like it was our choice!" Qrow bites back. "And frankly, I'm not exactly sure why you're even here! Who the hell are you!?"

"He was with me when we fought against the two assailants." Summer comes between the two of them, easing the both of them to calm. It only halfway works. "One was a man named Tyrian, who Raven and I have encountered before. Qrow, I told you of him."

"Oh, right, uh… scorpion faunus with wrist-blades, yeah?"

"Mm." Summer confirms. "We underestimated him last time, and nearly paid for it. His semblance strips away aura, and his tail contains a lethal toxin. It's also a paralytic, from my own experience."

Huh. Ruby had no idea that Summer had ever fought Tyrian before.

"When did you guys fight him?"

"A few years back?" Summer looks to Raven.

"Sounds about right, yeah. Back in Vacuo. There were rumors that this underground fighting arena was trying to start back up. We were sent in to root the bastards out. Sick fucks; people who threw children into cages with Grimm and watched for the spectacle."

Ruby bites down on her bottom lip. Such a thought… it sickens her.

"Anyways, we needn't have even gone. When we arrived, that Tyrian asshole had already cleaned the place out. Gutted the bastards to the last. We thought he was another Huntsman, but he came at us after that. We only learned his name was Tyrian after the fact, when I dragged Summer's half-comatose body to a clinic in Patch, and Oz compared records against known criminals. His name came up. Wanted for murder, thought dead after the transport carrying him was destroyed by Grimm."

"We disengaged when I was caught off guard by his ability to manipulate aura and subsequently poisoned." Summer explains. "Our mission had, after all, already been accomplished."

"And your life was a lot more important than it to begin with." Raven rolls her eyes.

"That too." Summer chuckles. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes. The other assailant."

Summer looks to Yang, of all people.

"If I'm to understand; you knew them?"

Yang flinches, and Ruby thinks that makes sense. If it had been someone like Hazel, or Cinder, or Watts, then yeah, Yang would definitely know them, and might react in a rather hostile way.

"I… I do." She bites out. "His name's Jaune."

Ruby's heart skips a beat. Judging by the way that Blake all but flips around in her chair, and is only stopped by her body seemingly screaming out in pain, she's not the only one surprised.

"What!?" She yells out before she can stop herself. "Wait– our Jaune!?"

Yang looks to her, looks to Ozpin, and then seemingly decides that they've given themselves up enough already. "Yeah. Our Jaune."

"Okay, evidently I've missed something," Qrow shakes his head. "Who's Jaune?"

"You haven't missed anything." Ozpin speaks. "Everyone but Ms. Rose, Ms. Brown," Ruby remembers that that had been the fake name that Yang had given to Ozpin, "and Ms. Blake are currently just as curious as you are."

Ruby isn't quite sure what she wants to say. …Okay, no, that's not true. She wants to say both nothing and everything. She wants to spill her whole heart out, and she wants to hold it tight and let not a drop pour out.

There's probably a middle ground in there somewhere, Ruby's just… going through a lot at the moment.

And then, of course, because her life isn't chaotic enough already, the door at the back of the room opens again, and in steps Weiss, with a child asleep in her arms, drenched in dried blood.

Huh.

Yep.

This is apparently just Ruby's life, now.

"Hello, everyone." Weiss speaks out, sounding… utterly exhausted.

She looks like it, too.

"If you wouldn't mind catching me up?"

And so it is that they take another ten minutes or so to get Weiss up to speed. During that time, she sits down in a chair, and adjusts the sleeping girl in her arms so that she has her head over her shoulder. Weiss looks over at her out of the corner of her eye every once in a while, and smiles.

When they get to the fact that Jaune had been the one Summer, Yang, Raven and Rhodes had encountered, alongside Tyrian…

"That doesn't make any sense." She speaks out, shaking her head from side to side. "That's not who Jaune is."

"You are all quite familiar with this man, then?"

"We are." Weiss doesn't hesitate at all in answering the question. "He was one of our compatriots. We've known him for years. He is not the type to do something like this."

Rhodes huffs. "He abetted the escape of a young girl who'd just murdered her family."

Ruby's heart briefly skips a beat, but Weiss doesn't look the least bit hesitant.

"Surely there was something more to it than that. Jaune is many things, but he is a good man above all else."

Rhodes' expression does change, then. He sighs out, massages the bridge of his nose, and then admits, "She… was being severely abused by her family."

"Ah. That makes more sense." Weiss nods her head, having been entirely confident. "Even so, I would not figure that he would abet her escape under normal circumstances. Describe what happened, please. Spare no detail."

So, Rhodes does. He gets them all caught up on his first meeting with Jaune, and, likely, gives them enough information to guess where it had been that Jaune had started out in the first place when he'd arrived here.

"So, she had already done the crime before he arrived." Weiss notes. "After that, he saved your life, before taking the girl and leaving?"

"That is… accurate." Rhodes nods. "Previously, I had been training her off and on. I hadn't any idea what she would use her abilites for–"

"You don't need to blame yourself." Summer shakes her head. "You wished to help her. That is what matters."

Rhodes looks down and away, staying silent for a while. It's not until Weiss asks a question that he glances back up.

"The girl…" She seems to suspect something. "What was her name?"

"Cinder."

And in that moment, all of the pieces click into place.

"…Damnit, Jaune," Weiss hisses out under her breath. "That… ugh."

Weiss leans back in her chair, even as Yang and Blake have similar, beleaguered reactions. Ruby, for her part, at the very least is happy to know that Jaune hasn't suddenly become some evil overlord or something.

Nope. He's the same guy they've always known.

Making dumb decisions.

…Then again, Team RWBY probably shouldn't be throwing stones inside of that particular glass house.

"Well, in that case," Weiss sighs, "I think we've found his motive. You said he took the girl away from there, and that this is the first time he's been seen since?"

Ozpin nods his head. "We had been informed of a man committing a crime with an old sword and shield that looked to belong to the Arc family. Initially, some suspected Nicholas Arc, the family's current scion."

"Except he was just as surprised to hear about it as the rest of us." Summer sighs. "So, his name is Jaune Arc, you're saying?"

"Yeah."

Ozpin nods his head, before looking over at Ruby and her team, alongside Rhodes.

"From here on, we will be discussing topics of great import. Only those already in the know about such things can stay. Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Torchwick," He turns to them. "I would ask that you depart for now. If we require anything else of you, we will contact you."

Amber stands up. "Ozpin, sir–"

"On this, I am steadfast, Amber." Ozpin meets her gaze. "Your own personal circumstances you may inform Mr. Torchwick of privately, but this he needs not know about."

"Right…" Roman stands, and rubs the back of his neck. "Uh… see you guys in a bit, then?"

Rhodes, to his credit, silently makes his way out of the room. Roman follows shortly behind him.

"Ms. Schnee," Ozpin turns to Weiss. "Your daughter must leave, too."

"That…" Weiss clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Fine. A moment."

She wakes up Trivia, and the girl stirs in her arms. Weiss explains what's going on very briefly, before telling her that she's going to go with Glynda Goodwitch outside for a bit. The girl clearly doesn't like it, but Weiss promises her that she'll only be a few minutes.

So, Trivia and Glynda leave the room. Now, it's only Ruby, Amber, Weiss, Yang, Blake, Raven, Qrow, Summer, and Ozpin.

"Right." Ozpin takes a breath. "So, Jaune Arc. He is with Salem."

"That… does seem to be the case, yes." Weiss nods her head.

"And he is with Salem because…?" Ozpin leaves the statement open-ended, letting any of them pick up from where he'd left off.

"If I had to guess, she was trying to recruit that girl." Weiss pretends to not be fully in the know on what's going on. "After all, she fits the normal template, doesn't she? Someone who has a grievance with the world itself, and wouldn't mind burning it all down?"

Ozpin can't seem to find fault in that.

"And Jaune didn't want to let that happen." Weiss continues. "He… has a tendency to latch onto other people, and want to protect them. That particular tendency has only grown more potent as of late."

"So, you're saying that he's staying with her to try and turn her away from Salem?"

"Almost certainly."

"That's nearly suicidal." Ozpin speaks out.

"Yep. That's Jaune." Yang runs a hand down her face, sighing out. "He's like that. It doesn't help that he's… well, in his eyes, he's not got a great track record of protecting people he cares about. It's likely that's spurring him to protect her, even with everything else on the line."

"Even if it means aiding–"

"He didn't succeed here, did he?" Blake brings up. "If I had to guess, he's likely making an effort to come as close to success as possible without actually achieving it. He's very much not on Salem's side. He just needs to appear like he is."

"How confident are you on this?"

"I am completely confident." Weiss fires back instantly.

"You cannot possibly be one-hundred percent certain, can you?" Ozpin crosses his arms. "Give me a realistic percentage, in your eyes, that you are correct."

Weiss rolls her eyes. "Fine, I'd say that I'm ninety-eight percent sure."

"So, one in fifty times you're wrong?"

"What is it you want here?" Weiss leans forward, her expression suddenly becoming ugly. "For me to admit that my friend, someone I've fought through thick and thin besides, would suddenly betray everything he's ever stood for?"

Ozpin doesn't answer, but an awkward silence falls over all of them.

"You're going to be waiting an awfully long time," Weiss hisses out. "If that's what you're asking."

"Fine. I will take your word for it." Ozpin speaks, although Ruby somehow doubts that he's telling the truth. "Moving onto another topic in relation to Jaune Arc; his and Tyrian's goal here on Amity."

Nothing immediately comes to mind, at least for her. That seems to be the case for everyone else as well, except for Summer.

"If I had to guess, and in all fairness, I'm certainly not sure on this… I'd imagine it might've been Ruby."

Ruby herself is rather surprised to hear that. Well, up until she thinks about it a bit more.

"I'm a Silver-Eyed warrior," Ruby speaks, nodding along with what Summer had been saying, "and what's more, I appeared on their radar rather suddenly."

"I confess, I might know just what it was that allowed such, as well." Ozpin sighs. "There was a video uploaded by one of our students showing you and your teammates beating a fourth-year team at the qualifiers. By the time it was noticed by our staff and taken down, it had already been up for nearly half a week. More than enough time for an agent of Salem to have seen it."

Ruby nods along. It adds up.

"Well, Ms. Rose, we will do our best to protect you." Ozpin says to her. "I would ask that you not leave the grounds of Beacon Academy for long stretches of time when we return, and to always have a guardian with you whenever possible."

She, again, nods along. This is all something she can think about later.

"Alright, now that that's settled," Raven interrupts. "Back onto Hawthorne and the breakout."

Ozpin looks to Raven.

"I don't see how this is difficult." She shrugs. "Pin it on me. Say I was acting outside of your orders. Hell, blame the whole thing on me if you want. Say I and Black Fang were working together outside of your watch. I can disappear for a few months pretty easily."

Summer scoffs. "Rae, we're not doing that."

"Why?"

"Because we only just got you back in the first place!"

"Do you have a better idea, Sums?"

"I'm not letting you take the fall for that… that bastard Hawthorn's actions! You saved someone you cared about."

"Well, I don't know about–"

"You had a portal to her, did you not?" Summer raises an eyebrow. "That means you cared about her."

Ruby sees the smallest of smiles on Blake's face, but it's so subtle that it would be invisible to anyone that does not know her.

"And can we really afford to have Atlas and Vale pitted against one another?" Raven raises an eyebrow. "Whether or not Hawthorne's a jackbag, he's still in charge."

"That," Ozpin interrupts. "Is something I will be working to remedy. Hawthorne has shown a callous disregard for half of his citizenry, and it's time something is done about it. For now, I think we will adjourn this conversation. It's clear we've all got things to think about. Let's break off for the time being and gather ourselves separately. We can meet up with one another sometime in the near future to discuss the matters we have tonight further."

As much as it kind of annoys Ruby, she can understand the need for it. Her thoughts are a jumbled mess, and they're not getting anywhere fast. They've been able to come to no concrete conclusions.

Ruby's just not entirely sure that separating is going to be the thing that gets them all on the same page.

Still, she's outvoted, and so, as the others file out of the room, Ruby follows right behind.

End Chapter 36

Alright, that was chapter 36!

A bit of a slower, fallout chapter, covering what was happening during the Vytal Festival, and getting our heroes on the same page. Not a ton of action, but then, that's because the action has already happened.

Coming up on the end of part 2. Hope you guys enjoy!

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