21

Chapter 21: The One Who Didn't Get Away

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Click!

Jaune woke up to the distinctive sound of a scroll's camera shutter.

Click, click, click!

Jaune opened his eyes. His neck was sore for some reason. And he wasn't lying down… and his hand was… oh. Jaune lifted his head off Pyrrha's shoulder. Nora grinned manically, taking pictures on her scroll.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Pyrrha smiled down at Jaune.

His cheeks burned bright red as he grumbled out his own good morning. They had trained late into the night, and after getting back to their dorm, he had fallen asleep next to her without even realizing it. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep he had ever had, but it was with Pyrrha, so he didn't care.

"I think we'd be more comfortable if we slept in a bed." Jaune said without thinking. Pyrrha's eyes widened as Nora cackled in the background.

"Buy her dinner first at least!!" Nora giggled.

Jaune tried to backtrack. "No, I didn't mean it like that!! I meant- I mean, I uh-"

"Uh huh, I think we all know what you mean, fearless leader!" Nora grinned manically. "Just came to warn you both, we're meeting team RWBY for lunch at the fairgrounds before their fight and you're both attending. Until then, don't do anything I wouldn't do~!" She closed the door behind her.

"I think you've already broken that rule." Pyrrha said. Jaune noticed a wet spot on Pyrrha's armor where he had rested his head.

"Oh gods, did I drool on you?" Jaune prayed to every deity he could think of that he hadn't.

Pyrrha smiled apologetically. "You looked very cute, even when drooling on me." Jaune groaned and put his head in his hands. Pyrrha laughed lightly and wrapped an arm around him. "No nightmares?" She asked.

Jaune looked up at her. "No nightmares," he confirmed. He didn't see Beacon burning from the inside out while he slept. Not since the night before the raid.

"Good," Pyrrha kissed his temple. "Now let's get ready for lunch."

---

Ruby slurped up the last of her noodles. Delicious. Beacon should keep the fairgrounds open year round. But without the foot traffic from the Vytal Festival, it would be hard to keep it all open… Plus all the extra Atlas security that was around. Ruby couldn't recall if there were this many drones here last year. Yang had joked that the fairgrounds had more robots than people in it this year.

Ruby finally looked up from her empty bowl. During her rampage through the noodles, JNPR had joined them, sitting on the other side of the stall. Jaune was staring at her.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"You uh… have noodles on your face." Jaune touched a spot on his chin.

"I do-? Gak!" Ruby floundered as Yang grabbed her and dabbed at the spot with a napkin.

"Hold still Ruby!" Yang said, smiling. She had left her favorite activity, holding Weiss' hand, and her permanent spot next to Weiss, for her second favorite activity, embarrassing Ruby. Pyrrha tittered beside Jaune. Ruby tried to push her sister away, but years of big sister instincts won out and Ruby surrendered while Yang cleaned her up.

"Yanngg!" Ruby whined. "I was saving that for later." Blake rolled her eyes.

"Gross." Weiss commented as Yang returned to her side with a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you sure it's wise to eat so much right before your fight?" Ren asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Something tells me that whoever we're going to be facing won't be much of a challenge for us." Occasionally, future sight was a beautiful thing.

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents." Pyrrha warned. "But yes, after facing down literal murderers, a structured fight will be a nice change of pace."

Ruby grinned and hopped off her stool. "Don't start fighting without me!"

Jaune turned to her. "Where are you going?"

Weiss sighed. "You're going to see Cinder again, aren't you?" Ruby smiled sheepishly.

Yang shook her head and smiled. "It's…" She paused to fish out her scroll. "Less than an hour before we fight, and you're going to go see Cinder."

"Yep!" Ruby replied.

"Ruby…" Blake said soothingly, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "It's been months. If Cinder was going to tell you something, she would have already."

Ruby knew that. She really did. But she couldn't help but feeling like she was so close, just a few more visits, a couple more conversations. "I know. But I have to try, right?" Ruby knew that her teammates supported her decision, and Cinder wasn't a threat now, but they were worried she would get discouraged. Blake especially seemed to worry that Ruby was going to burn herself out trying. "I mean, I know I don't have to, but I want to." Ruby smiled softly at her partner.

Blake sighed. At the end of the day, regardless of how worried she was, she wouldn't stop Ruby if that's what she wanted. One of the many things Ruby loved about her partner. "Alright. Just… promise to tell me how it goes after our fight?"

Ruby smiled and hugged her partner briefly. "I promise." Then she turned and dashed off with her semblance. Getting down to Beacon's vault and back in an hour left little time to actually talk with Cinder, but that was fine. What's important was that Ruby talked to her. Just a bit, as often as she could spare. Cinder was so close to opening up.

"If you're not back in time for our fight, you're banned from movie night!" Weiss called after Ruby as she left.

Before long Ruby found herself at Beacon tower, and after securing an empty elevator, she punched in the code for the vault. After Cinder's capture the vault had been busy, as it was both the site of Amber's life support and Cinder's prison. Side by side.

Ruby had questioned the sanity of whoever decided that arrangement at first, but so far Cinder's prison hadn't allowed its detainee to escape.

Cinder's prison was a cube, suspended a couple feet off the ground. Each side was several meters wide, giving Cinder enough space to pace if she wanted to, but not much else. The walls were translucent, and rippled whenever they were touched. Ruby didn't know exactly what it was made of, but Ironwood claimed it was a special form of one-way hard-light dust. Strong enough to contain a maiden.

When she had finally come to after being captured, Cinder had filled the entire space with maiden-fueled flames, but her prison held. As it had for each of Cinder's subsequent tantrums. Ruby had been terrified the first time Cinder had tried to break out while she was down here, but with each successive failure, Ruby was more convinced that the prison would hold.

Cinder must have come to that conclusion too, as her attempts to break out slowed to a trickle.

"Cinder." Ruby said. Cinder slowly tore her gaze from Amber, but made no attempts to speak. "It's the first day of the Vytal Festival." Cinder scowled but said nothing. Ruby sighed, it was going to be one of those kinds of visits. "I thought you'd want to know."

"…And why would I want to know that?" Cinders voice was raspy from disuse.

"Your plan… it was going to take place during the Vytal Festival." Ruby said. "You've missed your window. Salem-"

"Doesn't care." Cinder snarled.

Ruby disagreed. Salem needed Cinder. With Cinder already having half the maiden powers, she couldn't be replaced easily. Still, there was no use in pointing that out to Cinder. Early on, once Cinder realized she wouldn't be breaking out on her own, she told Ruby time and time again about how she would be rescued by Salem. How important she was to the cause. But as time went on, Cinder lost that hope too.

"Where are Mercury and Emerald?" Ruby asked for the thousandth time. Despite months of searching, transportation lockdowns, and subsequent raids, both of Cinder's accomplices had evaded capture. On top of that, Torchwick and Taurus were both nowhere to be found, with the latter rushing back to Vale once news of Cinder's capture spread. Ironwood claimed it was because he wanted to reassert control over the White Fang now that Cinder's capture left a power vacuum.

Ruby and the others didn't know if Cinder had left instructions to Emerald and Mercury about what to do if she was captured, but if they were going to do something, the Vytal Festival would be a prime opportunity. They had stopped the breach, and captured Cinder, but Emerald's semblance could still wreak havoc. Fortunately, security knew what to look for, and traveled in pairs to ensure that her semblance couldn't affect them both.

Cinder didn't respond. She never answered the question directly.

Exasperated, Ruby asked a different question. "Do you know what the headmasters want to do with you?" Ruby asked. Cinder's blank stare broke, her curiosity winning out. "Nothing. Forever. They're going to keep you here, forever, until you give up the maiden powers that you stole. And since you won't do that, you're going to just sit here, in a cube, forever! Is that really want you want?"

Cinder scowled and looked away. Ruby continued, "I think we can be friends. I know how that sounds, but I want to help you, Cinder. If you cooperate, I can help you. You don't have to be trapped here forever. I just need you to let me. Please?" Cinder said nothing. Ruby waited, but still Cinder was silent. "Fine. I'll be back another time."

Ruby turned to leave, half hoping that Cinder would stop her. She needed to know where the others were, but more than that, Ruby did really want to help Cinder. She had been brainwashed by Salem, tricked into thinking that this was what she wanted.

But Ruby knew what awaited her at the end of that road.

---

Blake watched as Ruby zoomed past surprised festival goers with her semblance, leaving behind a trail of petals in her wake. A few landed on Blake's lap, and she quietly inhaled the scent. Always the smell of freshly cut roses.

Yang snickered. Blake opened her eyes and turned to her teammate. "What?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "And you say we're sickening sweet."

"You are." Nora commented, pointing a fork full of noodles at Yang and Weiss.

"We're close." Blake said. She would never say it out loud, especially not in front of her teammates, but she and Ruby would always share something that could never be replicated. The bonds of their past life.

"Very close." Yang said, winking.

"Ruby did fall asleep on your lap while we were camping." Pyrrha pointed out.

"And you two cuddle a lot while reading in the library." Jaune added.

"And they share a bed whenever they think we won't notice." Weiss deadpanned, staring at Blake.

Blake shrugged. She figured it wasn't fooling anyone, but Ruby insisted. Yang had been surprisingly okay with it, even agreeing when Blake asked her not to tease Ruby about it.

"So what are you waiting for?" Nora said around a mouthful of noodles.

Blake avoided the question. "I'm waiting for our team leader to get back so we can kick some butt." She pushed away her empty bowl and glanced over at her teammates, who about two minutes away from ignoring everyone around them and getting lost in each other's eyes for the rest of the day.

Blake stood directly between the lovebirds. "I promise the two of you can make out for the rest of the afternoon as long as we win this. Now come on." She turned to say goodbye to Team JNPR. "Win or lose, we'll see you for dinner."

"Good luck guys!" Nora shouted after them.

On the airship Blake sat in the middle seat, with Weiss staring out the window and Yang next to the aisle. Yang poked Blake. "Hey." She kept her voice quiet. Blake looked over at her and tilted her head. "About what Nora said… what are you waiting for?" Yang asked earnestly.

Blake stalled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… Ruby adores you, Blake. And I see how you look at her. You love her, right?"

"Of course I do." Blake didn't hesitate to answer. She loved Ruby in a dozen different ways.

"So… what's stopping you?" Yang asked gently. Blake didn't need to ponder the question long, but before she could answer, Yang continued. "If this is about uh… our past together…" Yang said sheepishly.

Blake smirked. "Someone has a high opinion of themselves."

Yang grinned confidently, "I know. I'm amazing." Blake rolled her eyes but Yang could see the mirth in them, and see the beginnings of a smile. For a moment, Blake felt something startlingly familiar, that spark that drew her towards Yang in the first place.

"I'm not waiting for anything." Blake said truthfully. Their relationship was unconventional, but they were both happy with it.

Yang scrunched up her eyebrows. "But…?"

"But nothing." Blake waited, but Yang was still clearly confused. Blake sighed. "We've talked about it, and we're both comfortable with what we have."

Yang looked surprised. "You have? Does that mean you're already girlfriends?"

Blake shook her head. "We agreed no labels. For now, maybe forever."

Yang slowly nodded. "I don't get that. But are you both happy?"

Blake thought about that. She had been given another opportunity to protect those she loved and succeeded where her past-self had failed, all while deepening one of the most important relationships in her life. "Yeah, I think we're happy."

"Just don't go breaking my little sister's heart."

"Because you'll kill me?" Blake joked.

Yang shook her head. "Because I could never choose between my teammate and my sister."

---

Jaune pushed the half-eaten bowl of noodles away with a groan. "Ughhh. I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Perhaps letting Nora order for you was not the wisest course of action." Ren said.

"But it was the most fun!!" Nora grinned.

Pyrrha shushed her gently, while absentmindedly rubbing Jaune's back. "Team RWBY is almost up."

Jaune looked up at the broadcast screen hanging at the stall. The announcers were going over the two teams of students, Team RWBY from Beacon, and a team from Haven whose name Jaune missed.

Jaune watched eagerly to see if the results of Ruby's latest training regime had paid off. A few weeks after they captured Cinder, Ruby asked to switch up their usual sparring matchups. Instead of Blake and Ruby fighting Jaune and Pyrrha, it would be Ruby and Weiss, while Blake and Yang went up against Ren and Nora. Jaune had raised an eyebrow at the request, but when pressed Ruby just said she was performing an experiment.

Blake and Yang did pretty well, managing to bet Ren and Nora. Jaune recognized that was fundamentally because neither's role really changed. Yang still needed to hit whatever was in front of her, and Blake still needed to take advantage of whatever mistakes her opponents made. In fact, Yang's job was even easier since Blake preferred to look after herself in combat. But it was much closer than usual.

The same could not be said about Weiss and Ruby. Right from the start Pyrrha identified the duos weakness: Ruby had no idea how to protect Weiss. Meanwhile Weiss wasn't flexible enough to adapt to her new partner. The spar was pretty much over before it even began.

Still, Ruby kept up the new arrangements, slowing getting better at distracting her opponents in order to give Weiss the space she needed. Meanwhile, Weiss was learning to recognize when she needed to sacrifice firepower for mobility. The intense training regime of the first semester came back, and Ruby pushed her teammates once again to get them into shape.

Jaune wouldn't say that the new pairs were anywhere as close to being as good as their partner pairs, but they had definitely improved. Not that he and Pyrrha had ever lost to them.

During the opening minutes of the fight Jaune watched as Ruby analyzed her opponent's weapons and tactics. The tenor of the fight shifted as she gave orders to each of her teammates about who they should focus on and how they should fight. They weren't the same decisions Jaune would've made, but he could see what she was going for. Ruby unspooled her semblance to pop up right next to a guy who was about to thwack Weiss with some kind of staff. Jaune was somewhat surprised to see that Ruby had opted for their alternative pairs to work together.

Yang let Blake take the lead for their temporary partnership, and Jaune could see her on screen shouting to Yang. Yang nodded and Blake threw gambol shroud to her. She caught it and Blake started to whip her around. Beside him, Nora whooped and hollered as she watched Yang gather speed and power. Nora had experienced first-hand just what it was like to have Blake send a flying Yang into her, and she loved it.

"That's my girl!!" Nora screamed.

"I thought Yang was your girl?" Jaune asked.

"They're all my girls. Like you!" Nora replied.

Jaune just shook his head and watched as Yang collided with her opponent, knocking one of them clear out of the arena. Weiss was employing her glyphs liberally, using several to give Ruby the extra speed and reach that she needed, and the others to reposition herself. But her reserves were getting dangerously low, and Jaune's knee bounced nervously as he realized that she couldn't keep it up much longer.

Yang and Blake were double-teaming their other opponent, but Ruby had gotten lost in her own fight. "Come on Ruby…" Jaune said under his breath. Ruby was too used to Blake preferring to look after herself. Fortunately, at the last moment, Ruby remembered to look back at Weiss and rushed to her aid. She caught the assailant by surprise and held her in place enough for Weiss to spawn all of her remaining glyphs and finish them with a combo of her own. The crowd cheered the flashy maneuver, and Jaune could see Ruby's beaming smile on-screen.

Outnumbered two-to-one, Team RWBY wore down their last two opponents methodically, with Yang showing remarkable restraint in order to match the surgical strikes that Blake was making to minimize the risk of being attacked in return. It wasn't bold, but it was ruthlessly efficient.

Soon enough they were all cheering for their friends' victory.

"They're amazing…" Jaune said. Jaune couldn't imagine switching partners for the biggest tournament of the year, especially with only a month to train, and yet that's exactly what Ruby did.

Pyrrha nodded beside him. "They're getting better at working as a team. I was worried that Ruby would ignore Weiss when she was cornered."

"That really got my blood pumping!" Nora was practically jumping up and down in her seat. "Why did our fight get pushed to tomorrow again?"

"There was a last minute entry." Ren said.

As if on cue, the announcers introduced the mystery team. "And for our next match, Barty, we're in for a special treat." Professor Port said.

"Ah yes, a last minute addition to the Vytal Festival this year is the only team to compete with only three members: Team Opalescent!" Professor Oobleck added.

The camera cut to the team down on the field, where Oscar Pine stood along with his two teammates, Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil.

---

Oscar couldn't believe that he was competing in the Vytal Festival. He fidgeted with his hands while sitting in the waiting area. Beside him his friend Penny swayed slightly.

"Are you nervous?" She asked.

Oscar smiled slightly. "Yeah, a little."

Penny reassured him with a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Do not worry, we will do our best!"

Oscar nodded. He had been surprised when Professor Goodwitch had informed them that Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood had agreed to bend the rules of the Vytal Festival in order for their team to compete. One of the members of the other team they were facing, Team BRNZ, would be sitting out the fight, to make things fair.

Oscar didn't relish the thought that his team was getting special treatment, but both headmasters assured them that it was in the spirit of the Vytal Festival. After all, students from Atlas, together with a farm boy from Mistral, all under the flag of Beacon. What better way to show they were united?

Still, that was nothing compared to when Ozpin had introduced him to his new teammates in the first place. Both were students that Ozpin said were staying at Beacon due to… "unforeseen circumstances." He was told that both Penny and Ciel would be enrolling at Beacon for the next semester, along with him, and together they would form a team as first years. Penny had been ecstatic that she would get to stay at Beacon, while Ciel had ingested the news with a stoic acceptance.

Oscar didn't know what to think of Ciel. Penny was a good friend, and Oscar was really happy to be on her team, but Ciel he hadn't met before then. She was polite, but not particularly friendly. Someone Oscar could work with, but not someone he really wanted to hang out with. Not that her demeanor prevented Penny from dragging the three of them out to hang out in Vale or do extra training.

Oscar looked up as the attendants informed them that it was their turn to head into the arena. Once they were in the tunnel leading to the stage, Oscar heard someone calling out.

"Penny!!" A red blur sped down the hallway and knocked into Penny.

"Ruby!" Penny said happily as she caught her flying friend, hugging her tightly.

"Too tight… too tight!!" Ruby gasped before Penny released her. She turned to Oscar. "Hey Oscar! Ready for your first official fight?"

"No." Oscar answered honestly. He was still feeling nervous.

Ruby laughed lightly as her other teammates gather around her. "Just stay by Penny and you'll do great!"

"Of course we will, we're combat ready!" Penny grinned.

Ciel circled around them. "We need to get going, teammates. We're due on stage any minute."

"Right!" Ruby hugged Penny again. "Good luck!"

Oscar nodded his goodbye, and walked onto the stage in a daze. The Vytal Festival… something he would normally only ever catch reruns of on his scroll of while working on the farm.

And now he was a contestant.

Oscar looked at the elaborate weapons of his opponents, and down at his simple cane, New Conscience. It was similar to Ozpin's; the weapon he was supposedly destined to inherit. It lacked the dust crystal that Ozpin's used, but otherwise was functionally as similar as he could make it. Ozpin had told Oscar that if their auras did combine, Ozpin's fighting style and muscle memory would be transferred to Oscar, but in the meantime, Oscar would have to develop on his own.

Ozpin had found the time to record a few training videos for him using Long Memory, but no matter how much Oscar tried to imitate him, he was nowhere close. His weapon was supposed to be an extension of his body, but it just felt like a stupid prop. Whenever they sparred, Penny went easy on him, using only two of her blades. At first Oscar had insisted that she not, but after his fifth loss in under two minutes, he conceded that he wasn't going to learn anything by getting run over time and time again.

Having become intimately familiar with what Penny could accomplish with only two blades, Oscar did not pity their opponents. As Oscar stood facing them, the announcers counting down to begin the fight, Oscar tried to concentrate on what was right in front of him. One of their opponents had a tazer. Oscar hadn't seen any weapons like that before, and tried to think about how he could counter it.

He was still wondering about whether or not it was better to get in really close to strike from further out when the fight started. Oscar blinked and everyone but him had already started moving. All of Penny's blades were out, zooming all around the arena, a deadly extension of her body in a way that Oscar thought his cane could never be.

Penny parried one of the blows meant for Oscar with a spare blade while fighting off another opponent, and helping Ciel with hers. Ciel's fighting was rhythmic, as if every blow was on a schedule. It was extremely off-putting at first, but once you understood what was going on, it was easy to counter, and apparently her opponent had realized that fact.

Oscar did his best to assist Penny, but the fight quickly devolved into Penny taking on all three of their opponents—and winning. It wasn't long before their first opponent ran out of aura, then the second, and finally the third. Oscar actually got a few pretty good hits in on the second guy, which was more than he expected. He already knew as much from training with her, but Penny was a terror on the battlefield. Extreme violence served with a smile.

And now she was his teammate, at Beacon, and Oscar Pine, the nobody from Mistral who had always dreamed of doing something more with his life, was training to become a huntsman alongside her, heir to a legacy a millennium old.

Yeah, he couldn't quite believe it either.

---

Yang hummed happily to herself as she prepared snacks for the movie. She carried the tray of sweets back to their dorm, where the rest of her team had transformed the room for movie night. Weiss would set up her scroll to project the movie with her scroll onto the wall, a very expensive upgrade that she took particular delight in using, while Ruby and Blake carefully moved one of the bunkbeds, and gathered all the pillows and blankets they could.

Once they had a cozy pillow and blanket fort, it was time to settle in for the movie.

Yang deposited the sweets and snacks and Ruby immediately dived to grab a cookie. Yang smiled, Ruby always loved her cookies. She wasn't as good as Summer had been, but Yang liked to think she did alright.

Weiss grabbed one and bit into it, humming in delight. "You have to teach me how to make these sometime."

Yang laughed, much to Weiss' confusion. "No way. Last time I let you near the kitchen you nearly burned down the drapes."

Weiss sputtered indignantly. "That wasn't my fault! Since when have drapes been flammable?"

"Since always, Weiss." Blake smirked. Ruby nodded, her mouth full of cookies.

Weiss crossed her arms and frowned, but her annoyance melted away as Yang wrapped and arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Just leave the cooking to me, snow angel."

Yang had been the one to pick the movie they were watching, the latest Spruce Willis film, but truthfully they could've been watching anything and she would be happy. Getting to spend time with her teammates, some of her favorite people in the world, that was all she wanted.

When she had started her relationship with Weiss, their team had been a bit of a mess, but Ruby and Blake had promised to keep them in the loop and so far they had kept that promise and more. There were no more missed dinners or game nights. They were together.

Yang leaned against the wall of their little fort, her arm around Weiss' waist while Weiss rested her head on Yang's shoulder, a blanket over them both. Beside them, Ruby and Blake were back to cuddling, with Ruby sitting in Blake's lap while she wrapped her arms around them both.

As the movie started, Yang started whispering in Weiss' ear. Weiss lifted her head and pulled Yang down for a passionate kiss. Yang grinned like a fool when they broke and moved to hold Weiss' hand under the blanket.

"Hey… hands where I can see them, you two." Ruby warned.

Weiss rolled her eyes, not that Ruby could see them. "How come that rule never applies to Blake?"

"Because I trust Blake!" Ruby declared confidently. Blake dug her fingers into Ruby's side to tickle her. "Eep!" Ruby jumped and looked at Blake in surprise.

"Sorry," Blake said, but her smile told another story. "It was just too tempting."

"Blakeeeee…!" Ruby whined.

Yang laughed and even Weiss smiled at their antics.

It was a perfect night.

---

Ozpin was on his second cup of hot chocolate. That wasn't remarkable. He often had four or even five cups on stressful days. But he normally didn't like to drink any so late. It kept his mind far too active when he tried to sleep. Dwelling on past mistakes, a thousand lifetimes of them.

It was with a sigh that he sipped his delicious elixir. He needed to be alert if the General was visiting. Today was the deadline that they had agreed to. If they weren't able to find the rest of Salem's minions hiding within Vale, they would lift the travel ban that had been put in place after the arrest of Cinder Fall.

On the day of their operation, by hook or by crook they had succeeded in closing down all available transport out of the city. Afterwards, that transportation drought had been made official Valean policy.

Ozpin had already exerted all of his political capital to keep the ban in place, and the council onboard with the policy. They had only released extremely limited information to the public regarding their operation, and only slightly more to the Valean government. The council had been wary, but with two headmasters insisting that there was a clear and present danger, they had acquiesced, at least at first.

But as time went on, with no new developments or captures, their patience wore thin. They began to push back. Ironwood was adamant that the ban had to continue. Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Adam Taurus, and Roman Torchwick were all in the city, they just needed to find them.

Two weeks ago the council had given them their deadline. They had only two weeks to find the fugitives before they would lift the ban. Ironwood called in every favor he could think of, and flooded the poorer districts with drones, desperately looking for their fugitives.

But no luck.

It was past midnight, and unless Ironwood had made a miraculous discovery since they had spoken last, the ban would be lifted.

The elevator dinged and the general walked in. He looked as tired as Ozpin felt, and he knew the general had spent the past few days tirelessly trying to capture Salem's minions. Ozpin considered himself well aware of the general's flaws, but a lack of commitment was not one of them.

"I would bid you good evening, General, but at this hour perhaps good morning would be more appropriate." Ozpin said.

James nodded grimly as he sat across from Ozpin. "There's still no news."

Ozpin tapped his cane absentmindedly and frowned. "Then I suppose that's that." Ozpin noticed that Ironwood seemed to have more to say, but he quickly changed the subject. "How goes the Vytal Festival?"

James smiled weakly, "Beacon is performing to the highest of standards."

Ozpin smiled, he was well aware that Beacon had the best record so far. "While that is heartening, I was hoping to discuss security measures."

"They're all in place." James said with a wave of his hand. "Though if it was up to me, I would cancel it entirely."

Ozpin frowned. "The Vytal Festival is an important symbol of unity. Cancelling it at such a critical time would send the wrong message, not to mention all those who have traveled great distances."

"We uncovered a credible terrorist plot to disrupt and destroy it, along with Beacon and Vale itself. Even with everything we've put in place, I cannot promise that the festival will proceed uninterrupted."

Ozpin held up a hand. "I understand, James. I do. It is a risk, but it is a risk that we cannot afford to avoid."

"There are other risks that we cannot avoid." James said. Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "With the travel ban expiring, we'll have to monitor all public transport and routes into and out of Vale."

"You plan to continue the search?" Ozpin asked.

"Of course. It will mean I have less men for intelligence and searching, but it's the only way we can keep all of our targets in Vale."

"I do not recall the council giving you the authority you would need to conduct such an operation."

James paused before speaking. "Oz. This is the future of the Vytal Festival, your kingdom, and this academy we are discussing. Letting a little red tape stop us-"

"It is more than red tape, James. I will discuss this with the council, and advocate for your plan, but do not take their permission for granted."

"And should they refuse, will you really let a senile, out-of-touch council let our best chance at dealing a blow to Salem in decades pass us by?" James was almost out of his chair.

Ozpin frowned at his lieutenant and considered his response carefully. "Get some rest, James. We have a busy week ahead of us." Ozpin said.

The general sank back into his chair. "I'm sorry, Oz. It's just... with everything that's happening, I can't help but think that we're missing something."

"As do I." Ozpin said. "But we must trust that we are doing everything we can. We mustn't give up hope."

Ozpin frowned as he watched the general leave. He knew that James was right to an extent, but he also knew that the council would never agree to such a drastic measure. He sighed and took a long drink of his hot chocolate.

Ozpin shook his head and got up. He had to be up early tomorrow, and he still had work to do.

Notes:

Chapter 21!

After a short break, we're back with the latest chapter! Another big shoutout to my beta reader for helping me take something I was unsatisfied with and helping me mold it into something I can feel good about publishing. You rock.

One of the things I really want to accomplish with Pollination is to make each of the pair relationships within it unique. Too often Pollination stories make their polycule seem like this homogenous blob of romance, and while that's fine and immensely enjoyable, I want to do something different. In that same vein, I also plan to avoid the "one big confession" scene where everyone declares they love everyone else and all get together.

Motivation was a bit low during the mini-hiatus, but I think I'm starting to get back into the groove of things. Thank you to everyone reading, kudo-ing, and of course most of all, commenting. Every comment fills me with joy and the motivation to keep this story going.

Until next time,