22

Chapter 22: The Shadow of the Past

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Sal… u… tations!! Good morning Team Opalescent!" Penny popped up in the middle of their dorm room, awaking her teammates with a start.

Oscar rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked out to see the sun just starting to peek above the horizon, the crack of dawn. Not that he minded being woken up so early. He was used to getting up before first light at the farm, awoken to the sounds of roosters crowing. Though Penny was a very different alarm clock from the roosters he was used to.

Ciel was out of bed before Oscar's feet could even touch the ground. She seemed able to go from asleep to combat-ready in under a minute. Oscar was positive that she knew exactly how long she took to get ready, down to the second, and followed that routine religiously.

"Uaww…" Oscar yawned. "Good morning, Penny, Ciel."

Ciel nodded in return and headed out the door. She was always first at the cafeteria when it opened in the mornings. Oscar had accompanied her a few times when they had first been made a team, and she always got the same thing, a plain bagel with plain cream cheese, untoasted. Even her eating habits were regular. Robotic, even.

Penny had gone with him a few times, but she never ate anything. At first Oscar thought she was self-conscious or something, but that didn't quite fit with the rest of her personality. They never really ate any of their meals as a team, something that horrified Ruby when he told her. Oscar was always welcome at any of team RWBY's dinners, and JNPR's too, and more than once he had taken them up on their offers.

Ruby insisted that Oscar bring Penny, but when he did she didn't eat then either. Not that Ruby ever batted an eye.

"Hey Penny?" Oscar asked. "I'm not trying to pry, but why do you not eat anything whenever were at the cafeteria?"

Penny tilted her head. "Umm… I am not hungry very often."

Oscar chuckled. "With the way you fight, I'm shocked you're not inhaling food like Ruby does."

Penny laughed half-heartedly. "Do not worry, I have more than enough energy."

"Speaking of energy… who do you want to fight with you during the next round of the Vytal Festival?" Oscar asked.

"Umm… you're the leader, shouldn't you decide?" Penny replied.

Oscar didn't feel like much of a leader, despite the fact that the O came first. Ruby said it was a feeling that would never really go away, but that he should try and do his best regardless. She told Oscar that Ozpin had told her that leadership was both a badge and a burden. She had affected her best Ozpin impression to quote him: 'you've been burdened with a grave responsibility; I advise you take some time to consider how you will uphold it.' It was so terrible that it left them both in fits of laughter.

Oscar tapped chin. "Well, I'd be stupid not to send you, so I thought it would be best to ask who you wanted to come with you." Penny squirmed uncomfortably. "What's wrong?"

"I am not used being the one to make decisions."

Oscar's eyebrows furrowed for a moment. What did that mean? Why would Penny not be allowed to make her own decisions?

"Don't worry, I think either way we're going to do fine. I guess it's really just a matter of who you want by your side when you win."

Penny considered that for a moment. "I would like you to fight with me. If I am to compete, I want my friends to join me."

Oscar smiled. Ciel would be fine with that. She followed Oscar's 'orders' to a scary degree, so much so that Oscar tried to never issue anything that could be construed as one. "Then it's settled."

Penny frowned. "I wish Emerald could fight with us."

Oscar sighed. He wished that too. He and Penny both knew it was no coincidence that Emerald disappeared the same day that Vale announced it had undertaken a major operation against 'organized crime'. She had been itching to get out of the city when Oscar had last seen her, and she had even warned him to stay away.

He hadn't known her that long, but Oscar couldn't imagine Emerald being wrapped up in something like that. Sure, she could be abrasive, especially when getting to know her, but Penny had a way of bringing out the best in everyone.

"I wish Emerald was here too. I don't know what she got herself mixed up in." Oscar sighed. If he had known, maybe together they could have done something.

Penny crossed her arms, holding her elbows in her hands. "I don't think she understood what she was involved with. She is our friend."

"… Maybe if we see her again, we could—help her?" Oscar said tentatively.

Penny studied Oscar before nodding resolutely. "Yes, I think that would be wonderful. But! Before that, there is someone I would like you to meet today!"

"I thought we were training for the Festival?" Oscar said with a grin.

"Well, my team leader said he thinks we will win, so I think we deserve a break." Penny beamed back at him.

"Heh, sounds good to me, Penny. Lead the way."

---

Ruby watched as the gears of Ozpin's office ticked in perfect sync, an enormous clock. She could barely grasp the enormity of the structure. The visible gears were only a tiny subset of those within the tower. Ruby was no engineer, but the purpose of the machine was beyond her.

Ozpin's office had become a popular meeting spot ever since the dance for all of them. The headmaster himself stood behind his desk as RWBY and JNPR sat at rapt attention. Ironwood and Qrow stood to either side of him.

"I hope I am the first to congratulate you both on your round one victories in the Vytal Festival. Though there was little doubt of your talents before, you do this academy proud."

"Thank you, professor." Ruby said.

"Now, we are still searching Vale for Mercury, Emerald, and Adam Taurus, but in the meantime, Salem does not rest, so neither shall we. Other plans are surely in motion, utilizing other pawns. We were hoping to gather information regarding possible next moves based on what happened in your future. However, before that, I will let General Ironwood brief you regarding the current situation as it stands in Vale." Ozpin motioned to the general before sitting down.

The general glanced at Ozpin before stepping forward. "Thank you, Ozpin. Please understand that all information I am about to tell you is strictly classified." He looked at the team leaders. "Per your requests, we are allowing your full teams to be here, but we expect their full cooperation in keeping this vital information a secret."

Ironwood watched as everyone around the room nodded before continuing. "Following the lifting of the travel ban I have stationed men at every transport hub in Vale." Ruby watched as an almost imperceptible frown crossed Ozpin's face. "Not in an official capacity, but as passive observers. My men are well trained, and should our targets attempt to flee, we will catch them. Vale will remain secure."

"What about people trying to come in?" Jaune asked.

Ironwood frowned. "If you can provide me with names and descriptions, I can have my men search for them."

"We'll get you a list." Blake assured him.

"Good. As for the Vytal Festival, we've determined that Cinder Fall was able to inject a virus into Beacon's network during the Vytal Festival dance. We've had experts in Atlas analyzing the impacts and effects of the virus, and they've made good strides. We understand that the virus would have been able to give Salem control over Amity Colosseum, and the ability to read telecommunications between anyone who connected to the tower's subnet.

"However, there are parts of the virus that our team was not able to understand remotely. As such, a specialist is arriving today to perform final diagnostics and repairs. Regardless, we've purged Amity of the virus, and hardened the tower's subnet, rendering the virus moot on both fronts."

Pyrrha exchanged glances with Jaune, who looked like a weight had just been taken off his chest. Ruby could only imagine his relief at realizing Pyrrha wouldn't be forced to relive the nightmare of her match with Penny.

Ironwood continued to debrief them regarding the physical security measures around the Vytal Festival, ensuring that none of Salem's agents could get anywhere near Amity. However, Blake seemed unconvinced.

"That isn't enough." All eyes turned to the faunus. "You're splitting your resources between the transport hubs and Amity. Without enough manpower for both, they come a liability. That's all Salem's forces would need to slip through."

Ironwood was slightly taken aback and looked to Ozpin for support. Ozpin laced his fingers together. "It's a risk we're willing to take." The Valean headmaster said solemnly. Ruby frowned. She could understand Blake's concern. It was a difficult position to be in. Still, she couldn't help but second guess the general's strategy. "But in the meantime, we can mitigate future threats using your knowledge." He nodded towards Ironwood. "General, if that is sufficient, let us cede the floor to our students." Ironwood nodded his assent.

Ruby looked to her teammates before taking a tentative step forward. She had already talked everything over with them, as well as Jaune, who had discussed it with his own team. Nothing she said should be a surprise to any of them. "Um… alright. Well… Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury were going to be competing in the Vytal Festival for Haven Academy right?"

Ozpin nodded. "Yes, though we are sure it was an oversight, we haven't contacted Headmaster Lionheart yet, however-"

"Don't contact him." Jaune interrupted. "He's working with Salem. Granting them access to the Vytal Festival wasn't a mistake. It was planned sabotage."

The effect of his words on the room was immediate. Qrow uncrossed his arms and gave a cautious glance to Ozpin, as did Ironwood. Ozpin arched his eyebrows, frowning. It was one of the few times Ruby had seen the Professor display any outward emotion plainly.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Ozpin said after recomposing himself.

"But it's true." Ruby implored. She understood that they were accusing one of Ozpin's most trusted lieutenants of treachery, but it was true. "He feeding information to Salem about the whereabouts of every huntsman on the continent, and she's hunting them down, so that when Haven is attacked, there's no one to defend it."

"If true, that would put the entire kingdom on the brink of collapse. What on Remnant could motivate Leo to do something like that?!" Ironwood asked.

"I…" Ruby hesitated. Even after the battle of Haven, Ruby had that same question. Lionheart was destroying his kingdom, and for what? Salem killed him anyway. She wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone to further her aims. "We think Salem was blackmailing him. During the attack on Haven, Salem killed Professor Lionheart. We never found out why."

Ozpin looked troubled. "Miss Rose, we will reflect on this threat further at another time. However, I must ask, if you made your way to Haven academy, then did you by chance discover the whereabouts of the Spring Maiden? Securing her has been a long-term goal of ours, and if what you are saying is true, it is of the utmost importance."

Ruby cast a furtive glance at Yang. "We did. The Haven vault was opened during the battle, by the Spring Maiden, and we recovered the Lamp of Knowledge."

Qrow looked over at his niece. "Did she come to you or did you find her? What was her mental state like? Did she say anything that might help me track her down?"

Ozpin gestured towards Qrow. "Qrow has been searching for the Spring Maiden lately. Any information on her would be greatly appreciated." He explained.

"We know who the Spring Maiden is, and where she's located." Jaune supplied.

"We already know who she is. She ran off years ago." Qrow said.

"No, you don't. The Spring Maiden died shortly after running away." Ruby corrected him. They only thought they knew who Spring was. Ruby looked to Yang, who nodded. "The new Spring Maiden is Raven Branwen."

Qrow stared at his niece with wide eyes. "What? My sister is the spring maiden?"

Ruby nodded. "She killed the last one, and worked with Professor Lionheart and Cinder to open the vault."

"She… did what?" Qrow said quietly. Ruby felt bad that she was dropping two back-to-back bombshells on her uncle, but they needed to know.

Ruby, Blake, and Jaune recalled their time in Mistral, filling in the gaps and details for Ozpin and the others. It reminded her very much of their first night meeting here, right after the dance. The skepticism, the mounting dread. They gave physical descriptions for the rest of Salem's inner circle, describing their skills and background. Surprisingly, Ironwood didn't have a hard time believing that Watts was alive. A consequence of chasing shadows over the years, Ruby supposed.

Ozpin took off his glasses and gently rubbed his eyes before putting them back on. "Once again I find that you have given us much to think about. However, at this time we must adjourn for other business. We have visitors who will be arriving at the docks shortly, and I'm afraid we must be there in person to greet them. Miss Rose, Mister Arc, I do hope you will be open to discussing this all further at a later date. Until then, I do wish you and your teams the best of luck in the Vytal Festival."

Ruby nodded. Ozpin had already placed enough faith in her and her friends to arrest Cinder Fall, employing the resources of Beacon Academy and the Atlas Military to get it done. But it was different when one of your own was the one being accused. This would be far from her last meeting with Ozpin, and she expected that he might not be convinced right away. Ozpin was cautious enough that he would tread lightly with Professor Lionheart, and that would give Ruby and the others all the time they would need to convince him to recognize the threat, should it come to that.

But for now, Lionheart was far away, in Mistral. Ruby had more pressing concerns. Like the second round of the Vytal Festival, where her team was going to kick some serious butt!

---

Ozpin watched as the students departed his study. As the elevator shut behind them, he wondered just what else the young Miss Rose and her friends had uncovered.

Qrow pulled out his flask, taking a long sip. "What do you make of all this?"

Ozpin sighed. "There is little reason to doubt their veracity. It seems-"

"Are we sure about that?" Ironwood interrupted. Ozpin raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue. "What if this is part of Salem's plan?"

"If it is, it's a shitty plan. Letting your people get locked up doesn't work well." Qrow put his flask away.

"But it could." James pressed. "Look at it this way, if they were working for Salem, what better way to gain our trust than to have us capture one of their most important pawns? Ruby has been meeting with Cinder regularly, hasn't she? What have they been discussing?"

Ozpin shared an uneasy glance with Qrow. "I was told she wanted to see if Cinder would tell where to find the others."

"But it's been months, and she hasn't delivered on that promise." Ironwood pointed out.

"Okay, stop." Qrow pointed at Ironwood. "First off, it wasn't a promise, James. She's just trying to help. Second, do you know who her mother was? Summer Rose. Ring any bells for you? How do you factor that into your theory?"

Ironwood took a moment to think before responding. "Do we actually know what happened to Summer Rose?" Qrow looked at Ozpin, who shook his head. "I didn't think so. There's a possibility…"

Ozpin shook his head. "We are veering into wild speculation. James, we will monitor Ruby's communications with Cinder Fall. We should have done this from the start, there is a chance she will say or do something that only we can recognize as an important clue."

Qrow crossed his arms. "And you're not going to tell her?"

"For now. But we delay ourselves further. We have guests to meet, let us discuss this further another time." Ozpin grabbed his cane and made for the elevator, his two lieutenants behind him.

He needed time to think for himself, to think about what Ironwood told him.

---

"Oh I cannot wait for you to meet him!" Penny gleefully pulled Oscar by the hand down to the docks. The young hunter didn't seem to mind, and seemed to enjoy the attention that Penny gave him, which made her happy to no end.

She considered Oscar to be her second real friend, after Ruby, of course. Both of them had just shown up as answers to her prayers about wanting more friends, and she couldn't be happier. After being paired with Ciel, Penny had been disappointed. She was friendly, but not someone Penny could really see herself being friends with.

That was okay though. She had Oscar too! And she couldn't wait for him to meet her Dad.

The Altesian airship descended from the sky as Penny waved to it. She couldn't see her father within, but she was sure that he was pressed against one of the windows waving back to her. At least, she wanted to think that. It made her heart feel full.

The plane touched down and the engines cut. Penny swayed back and forth, a habit she had developed whenever she got too excited. Her father had offered to fix it, but Penny didn't want him to. She had developed it all on her own, and it felt like a part of her. She liked that. Dad understood.

The doors opened and Penny prepared to give her father a warm greeting. However, instead of her father's robot chair making its way down the gangplank, it was instead someone Penny didn't recognize at all. He wore an ascot, and had greenish-black hair. His tail swished back and forth. On his back was an assault rifle that looked similar to the standard issue Atlesian one, if it was modified to its limit.

The stranger spoke, looking at Oscar. "Are you uh… Professor Ozpin?" He titled his head. "I was supposed to be meeting him here."

Oscar blinked. "What?"

"I mean, you're a bit shorter than I expected, and uh… younger."

"Um…" Penny spoke up. "We were expecting my father, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm-"

"Darling!" The familiar clank of Pietro's robotic chair echoed from within the airship.

"Dad!!" Penny rushed onto the gang plank as her father came into view, hugging him tightly. He chuckled as she released him. "Dad, I want you to meet my teammate, Oscar Pine."

"Why hello there, Oscar. You can call me Pietro. Penny here is my daughter."

"Your… daughter?"

He chuckled again. "In a manner of speaking."

Another voice joined them from further down the docks. "There you are." General Ironwood strode towards the airship purposefully, followed by Professor Ozpin and a scruffy man Penny couldn't place.

The faunus stood at attention as this new group caught up. "Marrow Amin, reporting for duty, sir!"

"At ease." Ironwood waved away the salute. "Pietro, I'm glad you could make it. I've had teams in place building the labs as you instructed."

"Thank you, General. I'll begin work at once."

"The sooner the better, you'll have all the resources you need while combatting this virus, so don't hesitate to ask." The general turned his attention to Marrow. "There would usually be a more formal ceremony than this, but considering the situation, we're expediting the process. You're being promoted to Ace Operative. Ace-op Clover Ebi will brief you on our mission here."

Marrow's jaw nearly hit the ground. "A-a-ace o-operative?!"

Pietro chuckled quietly and whispered to Penny, "he was worried sick that he was being brought here as punishment." Penny smiled, the general wasn't cruel like that.

Ozpin spoke up from behind the general. "I welcome you both to my school, and thank you for your assistance in this… unusual time."

With that, Marrow and the other grown-ups left, leaving Penny with Oscar and her Dad. "How long will you be staying, Dad?"

"Well, I suppose until I get rid of this virus that the worries the general so much." Pietro replied.

"How long do you think that could take?" Penny asked.

"Between the three of us, I worry that it could be weeks, or longer. Whoever did this is either a genius, or one of our own. I fear it could be both, and so does the general. But I always figure it out, eventually. This will be no different. Now, let's have you show me where your team is settled."

Penny grinned, overjoyed that her father was now at Beacon with her. "Of course!"

---

Weiss scribbled notes, scanning her textbook one sentence at a time. She was usually more efficient, but today was different. Her concentration was not optimal, to say the least. On top of that, Yang kept coming over to try and cuddle with her, and it was really getting on her nerves.

"Yang, I'm trying to study," she said sharply, pushing her away.

"But I want to hang out." Yang said, undeterred.

"I'm studying." Weiss replied curtly.

"We could study together." Yang responded. Weiss didn't even look at her girlfriend but could hear the grin in her voice, and she was positive her eyebrows had been waggled. If she accepted that offer, there would be very little studying.

It was quite tempting.

"You're bothering me," Weiss said flatly.

Yang took a moment before responding and sighed. "No, I'm not." Yang said, her voice softened. "Something else is bothering you. What is it?"

Weiss sighed and cracked immediately. It was incredible how well Yang could always read her emotions. She knew it was a losing battle. The moment Yang identified that something was troubling her, she wouldn't rest until she knew what it was. A blessing and a curse for when Weiss couldn't or wouldn't vocalize them herself.

"My dad has been calling." Weiss said quietly, still not looking at Yang. "I don't want to talk to him but he keeps calling and I don't know what to do. He won't approve. And if he doesn't approve then I don't get to stay. But if I avoid him, it's only going to get worse."

Yang was silent for a moment before she finally spoke up again gently, "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked cautiously as if afraid of saying the wrong thing and making things worse somehow.

Weiss shook her head in reply but didn't say anything else either way on the matter, lost in thought herself now too trying to figure out what she should do. Eventually she looked back over at Yang with a small frown still present on her face, "There's nothing to say. I don't want to face him. I can't face him." She said quietly, sounding almost helpless contrary to her usual self.

Yang did the only thing she could think of and reached out to pull Weiss into a comforting hug. "It'll be alright." Yang said, trying to sound reassuring even though she wasn't entirely sure that was true. "We'll figure something out. Whatever the future holds, we'll face it together."

In that moment, inspiration hit Weiss like she had been burned. She didn't need to figure out what the future held, she knew someone who already knew what the future held.

Weiss clung to Yang for a moment before finally speaking up again with a new resolve in her voice, pushing her away gently and standing up. "I'm going to ask Ruby what I should do." Weiss said determinedly.

"Ruby?" Yang questioned, taken aback slightly by the sudden change in topic as well as the idea itself. "What does she have to do with anything? And why would you go ask her of all people?" She asked, still not entirely convinced that this was a good idea despite the newfound confidence in Weiss' voice.

"Don't you get it; she already knows what the future holds! All I have to do is ask her what I did about my family while we were at Beacon!" Weiss almost laughed to herself, it was the perfect solution. Why didn't she think of it earlier?

Yang still looked even more skeptical. "I don't know Weiss… asking about the future like that… it feels… wrong." She wrinkled her nose.

"Wrong?" Weiss said, her hands on her hips.

"It's like playing with fire. You don't know what you might get yourself into." Yang explained.

Weiss considered this for a moment before smirking and leaning forwards to kiss her girlfriend. "I already know how to play with fire." She said firmly before standing up and making her way towards the door.

---

Ruby stared at the map of lower Mistral in front of her. Her eyes were starting to glaze over, but Blake was still going strong. Next to her, she could see Sun was in a similar predicament. Neither of them wanted to stop Blake when she was on a roll, but they were both in a competition to see who was going to fall asleep first.

At least Ruby was pretty sure she was going to win.

Blake was droning on about the various cell structures of the White Fang, and her thoughts about how they could infiltrate it. Ruby thought it was going to be a really exciting lecture, but like Professor Port's class, reality was less fun than imagination.

Blake continued excitedly. "Every cell is three people, and they don't know Sun. We could form our own cell and infiltrate them, working our way up-"

"Ruby Rose!" A new voice pierced the stillness of the common room.

Ruby jumped and spun her chair around. "Uh- I didn't do it!!" Blake stopped lecturing as everyone stared at her.

Weiss tilted her head. "What?"

"Sorry," Ruby said sheepishly, "habit from another life."

"Why would…" Weiss trailed off. "Never mind. I need to ask you something." She glanced over at Sun. "Privately."

Sun grinned and snapped his fingers. "I just remembered I'm supposed to meet the boys right now." He turned to Blake, "thanks for the quick lesson on mission organization, and the not so quick lesson on White Fang cell structure."

Blake rolled her eyes fondly. "Get out of here." Sun smiled and waved to Ruby as he walked off.

"So… what's wrong?" Ruby asked Weiss.

Weiss bit her lip. "It's my family."

Ruby frowned. "What about them?"

Weiss sighed and sat down in the chair Sun had vacated. "They… they don't really approve of me being here, at Beacon. My father wanted me to go to Atlas Academy, like my sister—but I refused. We argued, and now we barely speak. I just—I don't know what to do! He acts like I betrayed our family or something, but all I want is to be happy and make a difference in the world! Is that so wrong?"

Ruby felt her heart ache in sympathy and opened her mouth to comfort her teammate, but Weiss held up a hand. "I'm not looking for pity. I came here to ask about what I did about my family in the future. How did I deal with them while we were at Beacon?" Weiss said.

Ruby's heart sank. She didn't want to tell Weiss about her future. It felt like she would be cheating, in a way. Besides, last Ruby knew her family hadn't ended up in a happy place either way. How could she tell Weiss that her last memory of her family was Winter, desperately crying out to save her sister, but being unable to do so?

But she also couldn't lie to her teammate and friend.

Blake saved her from having to answer when she spoke up from across the table. "I can understand what you're going through, Weiss. When I first came to Beacon, I hadn't seen my parents in years." Weiss looked surprised but Blake continued on before she could say anything. "I know what it's like to come from a broken family, maybe not in quite the same way as you do, but also how rebuild one. It's been… on my mind, to contact mine again. When I first came here I hadn't seen my parents in years...But I rebuilt my relationship with them slowly over time, and we were getting closer." Offering one final smile, she stood up saying, "if you ever need someone to talk about this with feel free to come find me okay?"

Weiss nodded, looking thoughtful. "Thank you, Blake. I appreciate that."

Ruby let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was glad that Blake had been there to talk to Weiss, because she didn't know what she would have said. It felt like telling her the truth would be cheating her out of something important in some way, and Ruby just couldn't do that.

"Do you want to join us?" Ruby asked. "We're…" She glanced at Blake, suddenly realizing she had no idea what she and Blake were doing.

Blake smiled and gave a half roll of her eyes. "We're plotting how to take over the White Fang."

Weiss' eyes flickered between the map and her teammates. "I… I don't know if I should…"

"Weiss." Blake said gently. "We want you here. I want you here. You are always welcome."

Weiss smoothed her skirt. "Then I graciously accept."

Notes:

Chapter 22!

I'm hoping I'll get the next chapter out sooner than this one, but no promises. Work has been busier lately, leaving me with less time for writing, and even less motivation.

I was tempted to call this chapter "A Penny For Your Thoughts," but I'll save that chapter name for a later date :)