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howlingday · 2 years

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just for fun, jaune arc was a boy who joined up with a huntsman colalge at a young age way earlier than he was supposed to one fall of an unknown huntman school later (and about five years of misadventures that he will never talk about) he's now a 17 year old professor at beacon dealing with an truly unfortunate amount of thirst from rwby and NPR (yes nora is the leader, ozpin thought it would be funny, he was right)

Honestly, this sounds kind of like the premise of "Professor Arc" by Couer Al'Aran (One of, if not my favorite RWBY fan fic authors). But since the premise is twisted just enough, I'll give it a shot.

"Miss Xiao Long, will you please take a seat?!"

"Sure thing, Teach. How about yours~?"

Jaune groaned as his students giggled at the obviously inappropriate behavior Yang Xiao Long gave him. It was an unfortunate circumstance he had to endure. Though the young woman was mere months away from his age, school policy was adamant regarding student-teacher relations:

The student would be expelled, and the Professor disbarred and disgraced by the Huntsman Licensing Committee.

He glared at the blonde until her partner, the more level-headed Blake Belladonna, dragged her into a seat next to her. With a sigh, he turned to face the chalkboard and began writing the lesson plan.

"Okay, class, today's subject is Dust." As he finished writing "DUST" in large letters, he turned to face the crowd. "Who can tell me where dust comes from?" A hand raised. "Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"Dust is mined from dust mines." Weiss answered.

"Gee, no kidding?" Yang yawned.

Jaune ignored her, focusing on the lessons. "Correct, Ms. Schnee. Dust is mined from the earth, and comes in a variety of colors." Jaune reached beneath his desk, pulling out a large, silver suitcase, with "SDC" emblazoned across it's body. Opening the suitcase, he revealed four glowing crystals, one each of it's own color. "Who can tell me what red is?" An eager hand shot up. "Ms. Rose?"

Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, almost jumped over her desk as she shot up to her feet. "Fire!"

"Correct, Ms. Rose!" He set the fire dust crystal on the desk, moving on to his next lesson. As he picked up the green crystal, he failed to notice the red crystal rolling to the edge. "Now, what about green? Anyone? Mr. Winchester?"

"Tree, or something?" Cardin Winchester lazily replied. While much bulkier and more muscular than Jaune, he wasn't the academic student he hoped for.

"Er, close, Cardin." Jaune held the crystal up a little higher. "There are many varying colors of dust, including multiple green dust crystals. This happens to be Earth." He set the crystal down, then reached for a new dust crystal, picking up the yellow.

As he grabbed the dust, he noticed hushed whispers from the class. He scanned row to row until he found Nora Valkyrie, leader of Team NPPR, whispering to her teammates. The three redheads gossiped on, unaware their professor had stopped his lesson. "Ahem!"

"Eek!" Shouted Pyrrha Nikos, Mistralian champion and Jaune's number one fan. She was always willing to stay behind for extra credit, though she never failed a single exam. Jaune appreciated her dedication, but worried it was for the wrong reasons.

"Yipe!" Exclaimed Penny Polendina, Atlss exchange student, who Jaune always felt was a little off. Despite her size, she was stronger than every other student, perhaps even the strongest. At the food fight last week, he watched in horror as the young girl lifted the entire cafeteria wall to block a rogue sandwich that was repurposed as a projectile.

"Nuts!" Nora snapped. Easily the most destructive of his students, Jaune constantly questioned why Ozpin chose her to lead Team NPPR, but was always waved off for "not having a sense of humor". Her energy often proved too much for him during field exercises. Thankfully, however, Nora was much easier inside.

"Am I interrupting you, girls?" Jaune asked.

"No!" Pyrrha shouted, waving her hands in front of her. "It's nothing important! I'm so sorry, Professor Arc!"

"Yes, we were not discussing anything important." Penny then hiccuped at her obvious lie.

Jaune was grateful the girl had a nervous tick that made it easy to see through her lies. He then mentally kicked himself for thinking that. What kind of person enjoys preying on something out of another's control?

"Yeah, we were just talking about, uh, dust!" Nora lied.

"Oh, really?" Jaune set the crystal on the desk, then walked around, completely ignoring the fire dust crystal teetering on the edge. "Well, we were also discussing dust. Perhaps you wouldn't mind I review our discussions?"

"Pft, no! Go right ahead!" Nora waved off to him.

"Very well," Jaune replied, unaware the fire dust fell and shattered behind his desk, "what is the difference between Earth dust and Plant dust? Miss Nikos?"

"The shade of green, Professor."

"Correct!" Smoke began to rise from behind his desk. "Miss Polendina, where is dust harvested from?"

"The current leading method of harvesting dust is by mechanical bore and excavation in dust mines, sir!"

"Correct! Now, Miss Valkyrie, what color is fire dust?"

"Uh, is that a fire?" Lie Ren, Nora's partner, asked, pointing past him.

"Yes, Mister Lie," Jaune groaned, "but that isn't what I asked your leader. I asked what color is-"

"Fire!" Ruby shouted.

"Miss Rose!" Jaune turned towards her. "My question is for Miss Valkyrie, not-!" Jaune suddenly felt hot under his collar, but not for the reason he thought. He felt his entire side warm as he turned, then noticed the fire growing larger. As it engulfed his desk, it scorched the wood, melted the case, and ignited the other dust crystals.

"Shit." Jaune swore, just before he was blasted by a lightning bolt. The students trampled over him as the sprinkler system kicked on, soaking him as he lay on the ground. He sighed.

It was going to be a long way to summer vacation.

#rwby #jaune arc #my answers #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #ruby rose #nora valkyrie #penny polendina #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #rwby au

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theseerasures · 3 years

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RWBY V08C14 reaction post

haven’t done something like this for this fandom yet, but the finale was so much all at once that i could not muster any level of critical thinking the first go-around. my thoughts have...settled somewhat with a second rewatch. still nothing conclusive (obviously), but at least coherent enough to be written down.

in rough chronological order:

i am very into it, of course, but i’m still not quite sure what to make of the fact that this finale very explicitly pivots around Winter Schnee, to the extent that the episode (sans prologue and coda) are bookended by her. she begins the episode charging into a fight, and ends it the same way. even putting aside that her in-universe presence has increased by magnitudes, that we end a season where she has mostly been a sparse supporting player with THIS has implications i can’t suss out for her narrative role going forward.

going into the finale i thought that Ironwood vs. Winter would turn out to be another RWBY Flagship Fight (ie long and flashy and indulgent in the best ways), but i pretty much knew that wouldn’t be the case once the fight began in earnest and they immediately started talking to each other.

for what we did get i’m happy to say that the Core Dynamic of the fight was exactly what i predicted: Winter rushing in to melee and not giving Ironwood enough time to fire, Ironwood trying to make room by shoving her away and using his cannon as a makeshift club--even down to breaking the cannon formation BACK to dual wielding to give himself an edge.

i will say that for Winter to have blocked him head-on--this is James Ironwood, who once stopped an Alpha Beowolf cold with one bionic hand, and now he’s got TWO--with her broken noodle arms is...incredibly cool. stupid! but cool.

Ironwood doing the double pistol whip while screaming about how no one is grateful has i wouldn’t have to be doing this if you just behaved all over it.

in retrospect i’m not sure why i expected a RWBY Flagship Fight when just about every fight this season has been extremely different. the camera work is always fucking frantic, we’re often cross-cutting between different simultaneous fights, and there are far fewer shots where both combatants are clearly shown and evenly matched. about the only fight we’ve had resembling that is AceOps vs Penny waaaaaaay back in Strings--even the low-stakes triumphant JNPER + Winter vs. Ironwood fight in Creation was extremely short and crosscut with BRA vs. AceOps.

case in point: the showdown in Grand Central takes up pretty much the entire episode, but combatants are continuously entering and exiting, the setting’s physical dimensions feel wonky and surreal, and the fact that half of the people fighting have flight capabilities means we’re relying on wide shots and oners to figure out what the fuck is going on. it’s a war now, and even though we follow only a handful of characters in it the fights carry that grander and more desperate tone.

Cinder relies twice this episode on just fucking nova-ing herself to overwhelm her Maiden opponents. it’s different from how she usually fights, which is still fireballs and conjured swords/projectiles--she’s learning to use her Maiden powers to wreak havoc on a larger scale, which a) reinforces what we already know of Cinder, but b) complements her recent relearning of subtlety and manipulation. still a tenuous balance of extremes that can and will shatter, though.

Weiss got to save everyone during the fight, and none of it mattered in the end.

the thing about priority one is that they all planned for this. they all went in planning for the contingency where they don’t make it out, where they have to watch others not make it out.

Weiss plucking Penny out of the air and Penny pleading to make the sacrifice play is an EXACT recreation of what happened in Enemy of Trust, down to the saved looking up at the savior while the savior is looking onward. she’s just swapped places with the Schnee in question, and...they are the priority targets this time, unfortunately.

Cinder smugly flipping her hair out of...her eyepatch...she really is living her best life and she knows it

Blake made the right choice, and it didn’t matter at all.

Qrow ending the last episode with a berserker charge at Harriet and then immediately pulling back here and trying to talk her down really got to me, as did him trying to block the bomb with his body. the man is so desperately trying to be better than he was, and it doesn’t take a lot anymore for him to realize the right path.

Elm and Vine--

the thing about Elm and Vine is that both their powers boil down to getting attached. so watching Elm hold Vine in place while Vine holds the two airships together, everyone in this little world, it’s...everything i could ever want, out of how the story of the AceOps would end.

Anairis Quinones for dark horse MVP. why can’t you just let me do my job, delivered in the way that it was, is the perfect encapsulation of Harriet Bree desperately trying to outrun her personal feelings and the grief it has given her.

Elm tells Harriet that she’s their friend, to stop her from killing a part of herself as she tries to kill others. it’s the first time this happens in the episode, but not the only time.

Penny saved Blake so they could save Ruby together, and it didn’t matter at all.

our heroes have GOT to stop falling for the “watch the thing flying in the air! OH WAIT I STILL HAVE A WEAPON IN MY HAND WALLOP WALLOP” trick. it happens multiple times in this one episode.

Harriet, who has the fastest Speed Semblance known, says there’s no time to make it out of the blast range. she doesn’t try to outrun it. she just...stays put, and admits that she brought them all here, to this. i’m sorry.

here’s the thing: they’re soldiers. they were prepared for this eventuality, where they don’t make it out. that’s why Elm let Vine go grab Harriet; because she thought they were all going to die, and if that happened she wanted Harriet close enough to reach.

but--just like with Team Hero--some of them do make it out. they just have to watch.

Vine and Hazel sacrificed themselves in the same way in the end: pulling their loved ones close wasn’t working, so they threw themselves around the thing trying to kill them instead.

Ruby was clever, and pragmatic, and brave. it didn’t matter in the end.

Cinder letting Neo fall as soon as she gets a chance proves that she still lacks patience, and that’s going to bite her in the ass.

the Penny-Blake fastball special and the fall; Penny crying tears for the first time, but not moving immediately to rage, as she had last episode, when Yang fell.

Weiss’ shaking hands around Gambol Shroud, crying berserker tears as she tries, desperately, to pull off another miracle. it’s another role reversal in a way: her sister’s the Riza Hawkeye, but she’s the one emptying useless clip after useless clip into an enemy she can’t kill, because her heart has been ripped in two.

the last time Nora Valkyrie saw Jaune Arc, they clasped hands, and their eyes met with determination, and hope.

it figures that a Schnee would be the last one standing, letting all her friends die first. she was right, but again: wrong Schnee.

Weiss diving past Cinder’s blind spot to slice the Grimm Arm, to save Penny--the same script, but the wrong player. and too late.

at Haven, Jaune went from trying to do harm to unlocking his Semblance, and realizing that he was meant to heal. here, he goes from trying to do what he is meant to do, what he has made peace with, to...

it will take a long time, i think, for him to learn to live with himself, even with Penny reassuring him that this is what she wants. to go from wanting to harm to being the one who does no harm, to being forced to acknowledge a person’s right to die, and carry out the deed himself. it’s a new variation on what he’s always had to wrestle with since Pyrrha’s sacrifice.

Weiss managed to outlast Cinder Fall without an Aura WITHOUT getting her entire body broken, Winter

the boundary between material worlds is made of darkness. the boundary between souls is made of light, and there is no danger of falling.

where...what is this? of course Winter doesn’t know. she never would have, even if she had gotten the powers, because she would have used the Transfer machine.

i thought of you, and here we are. that was all it took. the last time Penny saw Winter, Winter was still loyal to Ironwood. she’s only known abstractly, secondhand from Weiss, that Winter was on their side again and trying to help save Mantle, for about an hour. and yet: i thought of you.

and in the face of this thought that is love, Winter averts her eyes. tries in vain to hide her face, because she knows she is unworthy. she doesn’t deserve this.

but here’s the thing: no one deserves this. Penny. are you...the one? even Penny herself wasn’t sure.

you were my friend. the second time it happens this episode. friends save friends from themselves. friends transform what would have been murder into sacrifice.

remember what Penny said to Cinder, shortly before Cinder killed her? you wouldn’t know anything about friends. she’s right. it wasn’t Cinder’s choice, but she’s right. and now Cinder has learned how to use that.

i’ll be part of you. it is, of course, something that’s been brought up repeatedly this whole season. but it’s also what Winter said to Penny after Fria died: she’s a part of you now.

and i do love this yoking together of arc words. Winter is of course the firstborn Schnee, but Winter is, more broadly, The Firstborn in this new generation. so here we have something similar to the chain that begins with Winter letting her sisters go, through Penny letting Emerald go, through Emerald helping Oscar escape, to Atlas’ however ephemeral victory over Salem. what Winter begins--haltingly and with resentment--becomes transformed into radiant grace in the hands of her younger siblings. and she gets to be the direct benefactor this time. the prodigal daughter returns to her family.

during Enemy of Trust we watched from the outside as Oscar fell and Penny rose, as one set of eyes closed as another opened. during The Final Word, we watch from the inside: one set of eyes close. another opens.

Winter’s leitmotif plays on the piano for the first time since the previous season as she comes back to the world. it makes sense. the piano version is for her sisters, and she just left one of them.

here is the apotheosis of Winter Schnee: she gets back up. she falters and sways but she gets back up, and then she, the person who once managed to convince herself that so long as she could make peace with someone else’s choice it meant she too was choosing, tells the man who has been choosing for her for years: you chose nothing. and she rises.

in the end James Ironwood was finished by his petard thrice over. Atlas had defected against him. his greatest creation had become the Maiden and unshackled herself from him. and there is of course, the cannon: a literal petard, in the other words, which he fires at Winter, and Winter reflects back upon him.

Jaune Arc used the heirloom that his family has held for generations to kill a defenseless girl. he took the blade and sunk it in deep, because Penny trusted him and he had to be sure.

and then it shattered in his hands.

there’s something here in the second fight between Maidens, about Cinder having a named weapon and forsaking it for what she can make on the fly, and Winter insistent on using a weapon with no name at all, but i still can’t put my finger on it.

Winter never got to see Weiss try to Summon her Nevermore.

the thing that gets me about how it turns out is: Winter was winning. she’d managed to get her hands on the Staff, and even with Cinder’s immediate counterattack she managed to get the Staff away from Cinder. but then Cinder saw Jaune and Weiss, and she remembered a few days ago, when Penny saved Winter instead of going after Cinder, when Winter attacked Cinder to save Penny.

so Cinder attacks Weiss and Jaune instead of racing for the Staff. and Winter--

this is Winter Schnee. she saves people despite herself. she runs toward them, despite herself. and it has always, always been what saves her.

not anymore.

last time it had been Winter who was in mortal danger, and Weiss who, with Ruby’s help, drove Cinder off. same script, wrong player. and too late.

Weiss falls and for a moment, the camera makes it seem like Winter is falling too.

she wants to. no one deserves this.

the thing you have to ask when characters leap for the exit and fall just short is: is it about faith, or friendship? in Jaune’s case it’s both. his faith broke with Crocea Mors. and the portal is one-way, so he had no friends to grab him from the other side.

but Nora was still trying. they clasped hands. she promised.

the first time Winter sees her family--really sees them, after years of separation--she averts her eyes. she hides her face from them, because how can she tell them that Weiss is gone? how can she tell Penny’s friends that Penny is a part of her now, when Penny is just a part, now?

there are people all around her looking to her. there are voices within her. she has never been more alone.

(Winter Schnee has never met Pyrrha Nikos, and Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. because Pyrrha Nikos never became Maiden. Cinder Fall did that, too.)

this is what Winter Schnee thinks, as she screams and charges, as she kills Grimm faster than they are drawn in by her despair: in the fairy tales, eldest siblings never win.

i failed you again, master. master, but not queen.

Cinder won this. the heroes tried and tried and tried and none of it mattered, and she won this. but here’s the thing: Cinder won because she was LUCKY, and because she made her own luck. that she was able to pin things on Neo and Team Hero depended on things going exactly as planned, and some things going better than planned. and the reason she’d even made it that far was because she cheated, with the last use of a divine relic. it doesn’t take away her from her victory, but what i do know is this: this is her finest moment. she will never win as completely ever again, and she will fall farther than she has ever feared. (and that will save her, in the end.)

and that’s checkmate. i said that i wanted Atlas to fall the same way that Amity rose, but of course they did it like this. of course it would horrific yet unspectacular, with its General slumped in defeat, unable to fire a single shot from his gun. with the city in the sky falling onto Mantle, in Mantle’s palette. from the Dust from which it arose into Dust again.

as below, so above.

#rwby #helen writes meta

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kingangelrose · 4 years

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RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 5 Recap

The team starts the brand new day as full fledged huntresses and huntsman. The top priority is Amity Tower, so the team will have to protect supply runs from Grimm and bandits, and the site itself, diverting all construction resources to Amity Tower means there will be gaps in Mantle’s defenses against Grimm, so the Ace Ops will help, in the meantime, the team helps around any way they can, even get rewarded for it. “It’s gotta be the haircut” - Nora Valkyrie - Yep. Definitely the haircut lol. Like I said before, it’s nice for things to be kinda peaceful again in the world of RWBY.

They also have training sessions with each other and the Ace Ops, even Ironwood sparring with Oscar.

The next day, we see returning characters in Flynt Coal and Neon Katt of Team FNKI, joining in the sesson, as well new characters who are the rest of Team FNKI. - Good to see them again, I really thought Neon and Coal would train with Weiss and Yang, but Ren and Nora are great too. Would’ve made great nostalgia tho but I’m not complaining.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Penny take supplies to Amity by truck through a scenic tundra. Penny then tells Ruby that since she is protecting Mantle, she doesn’t have a team anymore, and she doesn’t have time for friends according to Ironwood, because of that, she feels like she wants to do the things she needs to and the things she wants to as well.

In the back of the truck with the supplies, Qrow and Clover were sitting and playing cards, Clover tell Qrows that Ruby is one of a kind and it’s a good thing that they had to someone to look up to to get through it, Qrow replies by saying the whole team is one of a kind and thanks Clover for him and his team looking out for them. “What good is saving the world without another generation waiting in the wings? Hopefully, they’ll leave Remnant better than we left it for them” - Clover Ebi Clover then says to Qrow that he shouldn’t deflect a compliment, that the team looks up to them and he’s had more of an effect on him than even he realizes.

Just then, the passageway to the military transport was Robyn Hill and her subordinate, Fiona Thyme

Clover talks to her and ask why is she blocking it off and Robin questions him and asks why the supplies that’re suppose to be for Mantle’s outer wall and is going to “the middle of nowhere” and what Ironwood is doing with Amity at the old Schnee Dust Company mine, Clover responds by saying it’s an annual checkup, she then goes on to say that only automated Atlas drones and scientists are allowed in the tundra and Amity is getting invaluable resources they need in Mantle to protect against Grimm, and without the supplies from the truck they can’t fix the outer wall. Robin extends her hand in cooperation so that Clover can tell her everything about the whole situation, but Clover refuses. Robin then asks Ruby and Qrow why Mantle is being put at risk for Ironwood’s “pet project”, Ruby says they they’re trying to help Mantle, but Clover stops the conversation before it got any further. It’s later revealed that Robin is a potential council woman in the election. Robin was going to have her two other subordinates, Joanna and May, who were invisible, attack the team, but Penny flew out of the truck prepared for it. Robin at that point had no choice but to let the team through the transport. Clover then wishes Robin good luck in the election.

Meanwhile, Weiss and Winter were training with their summoning semblances, when they stopped, Winter says to Weiss that she’s grown since Beacon and clinging to the family name anymore, Weiss replied by saying she didn’t have a choice but to grow and their fathers view of world no longer matches with hers. Winter then says that distancing herself from the Schnee name was the most beneficial decision she’s ever made, that her and Weiss can move forward without him together and that Ironwood would have a place for her. Weiss declines the offer and then says the kingdom of Atlas shouldn’t be so fearful and withdrawn and they should be opening their borders to help the world instead of closing them down. Winter replies by saying that once the storm is weathered they will and Ironwood is doing what he thinks is best, Weiss started to have doubts what really is best, that everyone has to something to hide and wasn’t sure if Ironwood was any different.

Winter then takes Weiss down to an underground section somewhere in Atlas, where in solitude was The Winter Maiden named Fria who was really old of age, Winter says that she could pass any day and Winter is the only one that can see her until that day. It was reveal then that Ironwood chose Winter to be the next Winter Maiden and that she’s known since Beacon fell, it bothered her at first, but eventually she thought it as a privilege, a chance to do some real good for Atlas, even all of Remnant, Winter says that even though her destiny was chosen for her, it’s her choice now and she takes great pride into it. - I just hope she won’t have the same fate as the Fall Maiden.

Just then, Winter got a notification on her scroll and it was a live press speech by Jacques Schnee himself. “If I’m elected councilman, I’ve made it no secret that I will be opposing General Ironwood and his senseless embargo that is crippling all of Atlas, it is my belief that these measures are not only reckless, but criminal. With no shipments out to enter or leave the kingdom, I’m sure many are suffering and my family has been weathering the same storm as many of you, effective immediately, I’m forced to shut down all non-essential SDC operations. If elected to office, I will make the changes necessary to fix what Ironwood has broken, I hope you ask yourselves before the vote: “Can you trust anyone else to stop Ironwood?” “Will Robin Hill be able to get your jobs back?”” - Jacques Schnee With that being said, the people of Mantle were outraged, protests and destruction all around, Winter says that Jacques may have provided the spark that will set the kingdom of Atlas on fire.

- This is bad, all that chaos is gonna attract Grimm, hopefully Penny’s there to stop it all. If not, there’s gonna more than hell to pay once Salem gets there.

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tahnex · 4 years

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Road to Graduation

Hi, so this is the first chapter of a new RWBY fic. I’m stuck in quarantine with time on my hands, an idea, and decided screw it, let’s write a RWBY fic. A very quick bit of background, this is canon-compliant until after the Volume 7 finale, then it goes its own way. The first two chapters are mostly setting the scene and giving some background for the following story, so apologies if they’re a bit long, and a little heavy on dialogue and exposition, but there’s a fair bit that needs to be explained.

(Also the title is currently temporary, I’m pretty bad at titles and this was the first idea that came into my head that sounds decent enough).

Anybody who wants to be like a beta reader or give any reviews or anything is REALLY welcome to do so! I don’t have one at the minute, so it might be a little rough around the edges. Any, click below for the actual chapter!

It’s been a month since they fought Salem. A month since Ozpin had taken over Oscar’s body and, with a little help from Ruby’s silver eyes, wounded Salem enough to force her into the Winter Vault, with Penny sealing it, and Salem, away. Tyrian had been recaptured and, whilst in a fury at Salem being sealed, was goading the Ace Ops with how many people he had killed in the fight, and accidentally let slip he’d also killed Clover. Robyn Hill had used her semblance on both Qrow and, under heavy restraints, Tyrian, proving Qrow’s innocence and his release. The CCT towers are slowly being set up again, and a message was sent to Vacuo to make sure they didn’t try to open the Summer Vault, along with a promise to Beacon that the Atlesian Military would send help to rid Vale and Beacon of the Grimm that were plaguing the city and old Academy grounds, including the Wyvern Grimm clinging to Beacon Tower. Once the two kingdoms worked together, and nearly the full might of the Atlesian military was brought to bear, the Grimm surrounding Beacon were forced back and Beacon returned to the way it was two years or so ago.

Following that, a rather awkward conversation took place in Atlas tower, involving the now General Winter Schnee, Team RWBY and JNR, and with Professor Goodwitch on call from Beacon.

“What do you mean our licenses were revoked?!” Yang slammed her hands down on the table.

Winter sighed, “Former General Ironwood revoked your licenses when you declined to support his plan to save Atlas. I’ve…”

“You mean when we refused to let him sacrifice the whole of Mantle and the people in it.” Blake retorted, glaring at Winter.

Winter met Blake’s stare for a beat before continuing, “As I was saying, I’ve tried to reinstate the licenses, as well as issue you new permanent ones, however when he revoked the licenses he blocked all seven of you from being granted a license by anyone with Atlesian authority, including military and the council.”

Ruby turned to the scroll with Professor Goodwitch on, “Professor? Is there anything you can do?”

Professor Goodwitch’s voice came through the scroll, slightly crackly as the CCT system was not back up to its prior strength, “Atlas is the only country who can produce Huntsmen licenses without graduating at an academy. Without returning to an academy, completing your education, and then graduating, we cannot grant you your licenses.”

At this nearly everyone looked crestfallen. “So, despite everything that’s happened, there’s nothing you can do? We helped to defeat Salem! Surely that should count for SOMETHING!” Jaune yelled.

Professor Goodwitch sighed, “I appreciate your frustration Mr Arc, and the whole of Vytal is thankful for your assistance in defeating Salem…”

“Not that they’ll ever know about it” muttered Blake.

“Thank you for your comments Miss Belladonna, but considering the panic you all saw in Mantle and the amount of Grimm it brought, would you really wish that on the rest of Vytal when they learned of an immortal Queen of the Grimm that is trying to destroy humanity?” Professor Goodwitch replied sharply, “Even if she is sealed away, it would still bring panic and Grimm, leading to loss of life.”

Blake looked down embarrassed and Yang glared at the scroll.

“Back to your point Mr Arc, I’ve spoken to the council members in Vale, and informed them that your absence from all of the Academies was approved by Professor Ozpin before his death, and your recent efforts were part of an extended mission, watched over by Qrow Branwen. Fortunately, news of his mistaken arrest, which I WILL be speaking to you about General, did not reach Vale. I have convinced them that due to the success of your highly secret mission, your entire second year, for all of you, was passed.”

“Is that really all you can do?” Ruby said quietly.

“Yes Miss Rose. That is all I can do.” Even to most of the people in the room Professor Goodwitch sounded tired, and possibly even a little sad.

Everyone looked at each other, slightly unsure of what to do or say until Ren spoke up “So what happens now?”

“If you all still wish to graduate and become professional Huntsmen and Huntresses, you are welcome to return to Beacon to complete your training there, starting in your third year. I’ll give you until 5pm tomorrow to decide. Since the disaster of the last Vytal Festival the council is trying to keep a much closer eye on Beacon, so I have to tell them what is happening with you seven at their next meeting tomorrow.”

Ruby looked back to the scroll “And if we refuse?”

“Then you will not become legal Huntsmen and Huntresses.”

There were a few moments of silence before Winter spoke up, “You can go back to your rooms now to discuss this. It’s the best option you have.”

Taking her not so subtle hint to leave, the two teams left the room, but not before hearing Professor Goodwitch turn her attention to Winter, “Now, would you please be so kind as to explain not only why the hell you put out a warrant for Qrow’s arrest, but also why you then followed through with it?” Any further words were cut off by the doors sealing behind them. Ruby and Yang glanced at each other grinning slightly, they’d been on the receiving end of one of Professor Goodwitch’s scolding, more than once for Yang, and knew how bad it could be.

It wasn’t long before they reached their rooms and split into their respective teams.

Ruby and Blake sat on the beds, with Weiss and Yang taking chairs opposite their respective partners, Yang spinning hers round to sit backwards.

“Well Ruby? What do we do?” Blake asked.

Ruby looked to them all in turn, “What do you guys WANT to do? I know I’m the leader of our team, but I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to…”

Weiss was the first to reply, “Personally, my vote is to graduate and become a Huntress. My only other option would be to take over the Schnee Dust Company, but I don’t want to do that, in fact I want nothing to do with it. I’m done with Atlas; Ironwood was the last straw.”

Yang looked to Blake before facing Ruby “I don’t know Rubes, to be honest I’m not happy with the whole situation, if they do this to us now, what’s to say something else won’t happen again in the future? I’m not sure about returning to Beacon, but I want us to stay together as a team.”

Blake looked at Yang directly whilst saying “I want to stay as a team, so I’ll follow you guys.” Yang smiled in response.

Ruby looked down at the ground for a moment, “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a Huntress. To help people. If the only way to do that is to go back to Beacon and graduate, then I would do that. But being together as a team is more important. We got split up once before, that’s not happening again.” She looked at the time on her scroll “It’s getting late, we’ll sleep on it and see what we think tomorrow.”

The others nodded their agreement and got ready for bed. Across the hall, JNR was having a similar discussion.

“What happens now Jaune?” Nora looked to her team leader.

“I don’t know Nora, I don’t know.” Jaune sat down on his bed heavily.

“Me and Ren have nowhere else to go, we don’t have a family or home to return to, it’s just us three now. So, we’ll follow you where you go.” Nora looked to Ren for reassurance, slipping her hand into his, and he nodded.

“Thanks you guys,” Jaune smiled at them both, “To be honest, returning to some kind of, I don’t know, normal life would be good you know? Finishing school and actually having something to show for everything we’ve done would be good. Plus, I could kinda do with a bit more training,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Then back to school we go,” Ren said quietly.

The next day they all met up in Winter’s office. Professor Goodwitch was on call from Beacon again, “Well, have you all come to a decision?”

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other and nodded. The two teams had discussed it over breakfast that morning. “Looks like you’re going to have to put up with our team again Professor,” Ruby smiled.

“And ours.” Jaune chimed in after Ruby.

“Good. Pack your things, you’ll be on the next flight to Vale, it leaves tonight.” Winter nodded at them all.

“Mr Arc? If you, Miss Valkyrie and Mr Ren could all remain for a moment, there is something we need to discuss with you three.” Professor Goodwitch said.

Jaune looked at Ruby and said, “Go on, we’ll catch up to you.” Ruby looked a little confused but nodded and led her team out the door. “Yes Professor? What is it?” Jaune turned back to the scroll.

Team RWBY reached their room and packed their things, Weiss double checking to make sure they’d left nothing behind, before heading to the landing platform, finding someone waiting for them. “Hey kiddo, looks like you’re hitching a ride back to Vale with me.”

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby sprinted to give Qrow a tight hug. “I was worried about you” Ruby whispered into his coat. Yang came up behind Ruby and gave her uncle a hug as well, whilst Weiss and Blake stood back a little, not sure what they should do.

“I’m alright, just tired of this cold.” Qrow said, looking to the door as it slid open to reveal Winter standing in the doorway.

“Weiss. Come here.”

Weiss breathed out before turning to walk to her older sister. “Yes Winter?”

They walked to one side of the doorway and Winter stood awkwardly for a moment before replying, “I’m glad you decided to continue your education.” They were silent for a moment before she continued “Now that Father is in custody, and will never touch our family again, I will…see what I can do to help Mother,” she motioned to Qrow with her head, “If that alcoholic idiot over there can drag himself to sobriety, I will see what I can do to help Mother achieve the same.”

Weiss almost couldn’t believe what she was about say considering how he had treated her but… ”And Whitley.”

Winter looked a little surprised at Weiss.

“He was always closer to Father than us or Mother. He will need support as well. Especially as he is now the heir and will take over the company.” Weiss swallowed hard, wanting to say the words before she changed her mind.

Winter looked solemn for a moment, “Yes, we all neglected him, and Father took him completely under his influence. I will try to help him as well, but I suspect Klein will be better able to help Whitley than me.”

Weiss smiled at the memory of her friend and former butler and, seeing the members of Team JNR come out into the air said, “This will be goodbye then sister.”

“Yes, it will be.” Winter nodded, before Weiss grabbed her in an impromptu hug. Winter hesitated for a moment before smiling slightly and returning it. “Try to write or call more often too.”

“I will” Weiss smiled at her sister, before turning and walking back to her team.

Qrow looked up at her arrival, nodded curtly to Winter, then turned, slipped his hands in his pockets and walked up the ramp onto the aircraft. Winter sighed, shook her head, then stood to attention as the others waved goodbye and followed Qrow up the ramp and back to Vale.

Ruby lingered slightly before continuing into the aircraft, a little upset Penny hadn’t come to see them off, but the ever-energetic girl had left on a mission from Winter a week ago and wouldn’t return for a few more days. Sitting down with the rest of her team opposite Qrow and JNR she heard Weiss ask Jaune “What did Professor Goodwitch want to speak with you about?”

Jaune looked slightly awkward and Nora a little cross, whilst Ren remained relatively impassive as always. “She said when we arrive, we need to go to her office and speak with her straight away, just the three of us. She didn’t say anything else.” Weiss and Blake suspected something wasn’t being said but decided that the others would tell them in time, and for now, all they wanted to do was lean back and rest. Just before closing her eyes to sleep Ruby noticed Qrow leaning back, eyes closed trying to sleep, but with a glimmer of green in his right hand.

After arriving at Beacon, they all wearily climbed out the aircraft, Yang and Ruby giving long hugs to Qrow, before he walked off, raising a hand to say goodbye. The seven climbed up the steps to the main doors, not noticing there was someone standing next to Professor Goodwitch.

“Salutations friends!”

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