In an empty blackness, Qrows voice can be heard. "The City of Mistrel..."
"Ugh! It's about time!" Nora complained.
"I've felt better before..." Ruby took your hand and smiled at you.
Qrow and Team RNJR+(Y) are walking through a stone brick tunnel illuminated by translucent lanterns.
"Whose idea was it to walk again?" Nora complained again.
"Well, we did face many obstacles. Broken airships, destroyed settlements..." Ren counted all of the 'adventures' they had during their trip.
"Oh, and, you know, all those people and monsters that tried to murder us." Jaune flailed his arms rapidly at the last few words.
"Pfft, we were fine." She looked at you and Qrow with a smile. "Only two of us almost died."
"Hey./And whose fault was that?" You started to ruffle her hair, which made her giggle.
Nora, on the other hand, puts her hands on her hips and looks at Ren.
Ren returns the gaze. "Hey."
Nora giggled too.
"So, how much farther to Haven Academy?" Jaune asked Qrow.
"Almost there. But I figured I'd take you kids on the scenic route." Qrow answered.
You all approach a pair of large, wooden double doors, which Qrow opens, flooding the tunnel with sunlight. Ruby runs out onto a massive platform that doubles as an elevator, stopping at the railing to gaze out over the city in wide-eyed awe.
"Wow!"
The others join her to take in the view of buildings and stone stairways perched on mountains. Meanwhile, you just sighed.
"This... is... awesome!" Ruby exclaimed in awe.
Below you, large crowds of people are going about their day - walking around, talking and buying merchandise legally and illegally.
"It's certainly something." Qrow sighed out.
"Oh my gosh," Ruby took your hand and pointed at a shop. "look at all the weapons!"
"Yeah, yeah. Those are some cool weapons." You rolled your eyes.
"Vendors here'll sell you just about anything... whether they should or not." Qrow remarked.
Jaune looked around the city. "They really made the most out of these mountains."
"Every inch. Stay away from the lower levels. The higher up you go, the nicer it gets." Qrow pointed out.
"And we are going UP!" Nora said, while pointing upwards excitedly.
You all enter the campus grounds of Haven Academy, which is devoid of any other people. You stop in a courtyard, where Ruby smiles and wipes a tear from her eye. You place a hand on her shoulder, and she sighs.
"We made it."
Qrow stops behind you, and while you continue on your way, he takes a moment to glance around and lets out a sigh.
"Hello?" Ruby calls out.
But nobody came...
"Hello?!" She called out louder.
"Maybe try louder?" Nora suggested.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone here." Ren mentions.
"Well, I guess school isn't really in session right now. Maybe that's it." Jaune says meekly.
"No, this isn't right. Come on." Qrow hurries ahead.
"Wait for us!" You pick up the pace to catch up, and soon, all of you are running to a pair of wooden double doors. Qrow comes to a stop in front of them, draws his sword, and extends the blade.
"Get ready. There could be trouble." Qrow readies his blade.
"You could just open the door like a normal human being."
RNJR follow his lead in drawing their weapons. You let out a sigh and ready your weapon too.
Qrow brings up his foot and kicks the door open. Just on the other side, Leonardo Lionheart widens his eyes, throws his hands into the air, and lets out a frightened scream.
Jaune, Ruby, and Nora widen their eyes and scream as well, while Ren gives the headmaster a confused stare. You wave at him.
Standing on one foot with his eyes wide, Qrow suddenly looks down, loses his balance, and falls. Shortly after, Lionheart makes a noise and briefly faints. You put your weapon away.
RNJR let their weapons down and stare, dumbfounded, while Qrow sits up.
"Uh, Professor Lionheart?" Ruby asks with worry in her voice.
Lionheart gasps and sits up. "Qrow! For crying out loud, you nearly scared me half to death!"
Qrow stands up with a growl. "Me? Why weren't you waiting for us at the entrance?"
"Huh?" He pulls out a pocket watch from his coat and checks it. "Oh, right. Apologies. I guess time slipped away from me."
"You're joking." Qrow said in disbelief.
While Lionheart stands up and RNJR put their weapons away, Nora asks a question. "Where is everybody?"
"Ah, you must be the students Qrow mentioned." Lionheart mentions.
"Yes, sir!" Ruby gave a loose salute, which made you smile. "Ruby Rose."
"Jaune Arc."
"Nora Valkyrie."
"Lie Ren."
"A pleasure to meet you all. Leonardo Lionheart, at your service. I'm afraid most of my staff is currently away until classes resume, but--"
Hearing this, Qrow briefly clenches his fists and then leans in toward Lionheart.
"What? Leo, you can't be serious. Who's guarding the Relic?"
"Qrow, the children."
"Already know. I filled them in. What do you mean your staff is away?"
"You... filled them in?" Lionheart looked at him in shock.
"So, is this not going at all like anyone thought it would?" Nora asked.
"I have to say, Qrow, this all seems very reckless, even for you." Lionheart held his head in his hands.
"No, reckless is leaving one of the Relics completely unguarded. It's not checking in with Oz for ages!" Qrow argues.
"There was nothing to check in about before the fall of Beacon, but since that day, Mistral has been in chaos!" He stood up from his chair, fists clenched.
"Vale wasn't the only Kingdom to suffer that night. Everyone was watching. Every house in every Kingdom saw that poor girl ripped to pieces," Ruby stepped behind you, hiding the anger and pain in her face.
"saw monsters crawling over the city, Atlesian Knights attacking citizens... and then nothing. You could feel the dread in the air. With all that negativity, you can imagine what it was like when the Grimm came for us." Lionheart walked to the window and looked outside.
"Mistral's territory is the widest reaching in the world, you know, and that makes it infinitely harder to protect. We lost so many great Huntsmen, teachers from this very institution. And it's only gotten worse."
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, moving away from your back.
Lionheart leaned more into the window. "We may have dealt with the Grimm, but the Mistral council's still at odds with representatives from Atlas. First, it was the Dust embargo, now it's the closing of borders." He turned around and looked at Qrow.
"I'm not sure what happened to James in Vale, but it seems to have only worsened some of his more unfortunate tendencies. And, on top of everything, we still don't know where the Spring Maiden is."
"All the more reason we need the Huntsmen and Huntresses here!" Qrow moved closer to Lionheart.
Ruby stepped in between the two. "Okay! Okay. Things are bad; they're bad. But we can figure this out. Why is the Spring Maiden so important?"
"I thought you filled them in."
"Mostly filled in. Look, there's a lot to cover, okay? I quit teaching for a reason." He took a swig from his flask again.
Lionheart sat down in his chair. "The four Maidens each have the power to perform feats of magic, and they are the only ones capable of reaching the Relics."
"What?"Jaune asked, shocked.
Qrow further explained. "The Relics are each locked inside a chamber that can only be opened by a specific Maiden. Winter for the gift of Creation, Summer for Destruction, Fall for Choice and Spring for Knowledge." He took another swig. "Spring is the problem."
"What happened to her?" Ren asked.
"She was determined, at first, when she inherited her powers, but the weight of responsibility proved to be too much for the child. She... ran. Abandoned her training, everyone. That was over a decade ago. There's no telling where she could be now."
"I... know. At least... I have a pretty good idea." Qrow said hesitantly.
"Are you serious?" Lionheart asked in disbelief.
"It's not exactly good news." Qrow doubled down.
Lionheart walked up to Qrow. "What are you talking about? This is incredible news!" Lionheart grabbed Qrow by the shoulders and shook him. "After all these years! Where?!"
Qrow pushed Lionheart away. "I did some digging around. Looks like, after Spring ran away, she was picked up by bandits, specifically the Branwen tribe."
"Branwen..." You mumbled to yourself.
"Raven." Lionheart said, quietly.
Ruby let's out a gasp of surprise.
"Yang's mom?!" Jaune yelled out.
"That's right." Qrow pulls out his Scroll, walking over to and placing it on Lionheart's desk. The hologram monitor on the desk displays a map of Remnant.
Qrow zoomed close into a space of the map. "That's about where they've set up their main camp. It's where they fall back to after raids and scouting missions. Raven's managed to gain a lot of followers since she returned to the tribe, and I'm sure when the Spring Maiden showed up, it only made things easier."
"I've never heard anything about any 'maiden'..." You continued to mumble to yourself, but this caught the attention of both Qrow and Lionheart.
"You know the Branwen tribe?" Lionheart asked confused.
"Yeah I've... trained. Under Raven."
"What? I thought you got trained by Kaz?" Qrow stepped closer to you.
"Well, kind of... it's more like he pushed me onto others. And one time he threw me put of a bullhead and... we landed right inside the tribe." You rubbed your arm.
"You got trained by Raven... that explains your confidence with that blade." Qrow let out a sigh.
Ruby tugged at you sleeve. "You never told me you net Yangs mom!" She whisper-yelled at you.
You whispered back at her. "It never came to mind! How was I supposed to know?! Her last name is Xiao Long! Not Branwen!"
She looked at you suspiciously. "We'll settle this later."
You will not stand for this injustice.
Lionheart patted Qrow on the back. "Qrow, I've got to hand it to you. With these coordinates, we can mount a retrieval force and head out in a few weeks." Lionheart walks over to the computer, while Qrow clenches his fists.
"A few weeks?" Qrow scoffs.
"That's right." Lionheart confirms.
"Leo, maybe you didn't hear me. My sister has the Spring Maiden, and I know where she is." He smacked his hands on the desk. We need to go, as soon as possible!" Qrow then knocked off books laying on the desk.
"And perhaps you didn't hear me. This Kingdom is in shambles. 'As soon as possible' does not mean tomorrow. It means, as soon as I can convince the council that I need Huntsmen more than they do. Unfortunately, bandit tribes aren't very high on their list of priorities when the threat of war is just on the horizon."
"Then damn the council. We'll do it ourselves. You and I are trained Huntsmen and these kids aren't exactly pushovers. Plus, Y/n already knows Raven!"
"Yeah!" Nora jumps up.
Ren let's out a sigh. "Perhaps there's a more peaceful way to approach this?"
"We need to get Spring as far away from here as possible. And Raven isn't going to give up her most prized possession without a fight." Qrow commented
"Unfortunately, you and your sister are evenly matched. And I'm not the fighter I used to be. No offense, but these students and I can't take on an entire bandit tribe and a Maiden that's no doubt had years to hone her skills. We need to be positive we can apprehend Spring, because if we fail Raven and her tribe will scatter. And we'll be lost. We get one shot at this. And it needs to be perfect."
"So what? You've heard the kid, he trained under Raven!" Qrow argued.
"That doesn't change anything! You should know yourself how unpredictable Raven can be. For all we know she wants the head of that kid!" Lionheart yelled.
"You know Oz wouldn't be happy with any of this if he were here." Qrow said.
"Perhaps you're right. But he's not. I'm doing the very best I can." Lionheart answered
Ruby took a step forward. "There has to be something we can do."
"What about Cinder? She came with Emerald and Mercury from Haven. Do you have anything on them?" Jaune asked.
Lionheart, once again, didnt miss a beat. "We pulled their files after the Fall of Beacon. Nothing but lies and forgeries."
Jaune tightens his fists and glares at the floor in anger. There's another beat of silence before Qrow speaks.
"Well, I can't say this has been a warm reunion, Leo."
"I'm sorry. I know you've all traveled a long way. But I will do everything I can to help."
"Sure. We'll stay in the city for the time being." Qrow took out his scroll and waved it around. "Local comms are still up. Keep in touch." He then turned around. "Come on, kids."
You all left the room, but Ruby turned around one last time. "It was nice meeting you, professor!"
Lionheart takes a moment to answer. "Likewise."
*Le Timeskip, brought to you by Chibi-Y/n and Ruby reading comics.*
You and Ruby were inside her room. She was reading comics while you were just staring at the roof.
Ruby gasped and put her head on your stomach, using it as a pillow.
"What's up?"
"Here!" Ruby showed you her comic. You have never read it, but for the last twenty minutes she kept gasping to get your attention so she could show you moments inside said comic.
Needless to say, you never knew what was happening.
She pointed to a panel. "They kissed! They finally did it! I've been waiting for this from the start! It took them three whole Volumes to finally reach this point!"
You felt like the author was throwing shade at you.
"Took them long enough." You slightly laughed.
"Mhm!" She went back to reading her comic while you put your hand on her head.
Suddenly, loud noises emitted from downstairs.
"Ugh!" Ruby put down her comic. "What is going on down there?!" She then grabbed your hand and stormed down.
"Can't a girl read her comics with her boyfriend in peace?!"
"I guess I'm here too now." You weren't really sure why you were dragged along though.
Qrow burps and chuckles, catching Ruby's attention. She sighs and puts a hand to her forehead exasperatedly.
"Qrow, did you get drunk again?"
"Maybe." Qrow, your friendly neighborhood drunk.
"Oh!" A young boy steps foward, looking at both you and Ruby. "You both have silver eyes."
Ruby looks at him, a touch surprised. She turns to Ren and Nora, who shrugs again, before looking back at the boy.
"Who... are you?"
Qrow chuckles from the couch.
"Uh... Well. My name is Oscar Pine."
"Wait for it..." Qrow said.
"Shut it before I do it for you, Qrow." You let out a sigh.
"But you probably know me as... Professor Ozpin."
RNJR all gasp, and look confused. Jaune takes a couple steps back. Qrow continues chuckling.
Qrow raised his fist into the air. "I did it!"
He falls off the couch onto the floor, startling Nora. "Ooh!"
"Alright, I warned you!" You kicked Qrow in his side.
"Oof!"