We were greeted by Professor Ironwood and I wanted to gulp in fear. But Ozpin's soul kept me strong against him.

"What are you doing here?" He asks in his stern voice.

'Ozpin, help me out here.' I begged him.

'Just talk to him, convince him to talk to everyone alone.'

'I-I can't do this!'

'Oscar, believe in yourself. I trust you can do this.'

'Why can't you take over-'

'It would be weird for James Ironwood to be speaking and following what a young huntsman in training.'

'Do I have to?'

'Oscar, you have to do this. I trust you.'

I take a deep breath before answering him. "Mr. Ironwood, sir."

"Who are you?" He asked, adjusting his bow-tie. "I will not ask again."

"My name is Oscar Pine and I'm training to be a huntsman."

His gaze looks behind me and I look where he was looking at. Ozpin's staff... "Ozpin?" He asked, clearing his throat. "What do you want? The borders closed-"

"Please sir, can we talk in your office?" I asked, hoping for the others to get out before we get there.

"Sure. Follow me."

We follow him inside his office, and it wasn't much of a surprise. It was painted white with painted photos of fields of ice and snow forests. A chandelier was hanging above his desk, glowing faintly. No one was in view, so they managed to leave in time. Thank goodness. Ironwood takes a seat.

"Go on, sit down." We do what he asked, taking a seat in front of him. "Now, tell me, how did you get here? Borders are closed and you shouldn't be able to get in."

"With a due respect, we sneaked in. It was the only way to get in here and to manage to talk to you. Please-"

He holds his hand in front of me, "You were desperate enough to sneak in. What of Ozpin?"

"My soul is his as well."

Ironwood sighs, "Ozpin... he's so young..."

"Mr. Ironwood?" Ruby speaks up. "Can I talk please?"

"Go ahead, Miss Rose."

"We came here for a reason and we're not going to leave until you help us. Please. Listen to us."

"Miss Rose-"

"Professor Ironwood, we have the relic of Haven."

Fear clouded his eyes as he leaned back in surprise. "H-Haven?" He shakes his head in disbelief. "How is this possible?"

"It was because of Leonardo Lionheart, Ironwood. He was a coward and he bowed down to Salem." I wasn't going to hold back the truth. This burst of energy flowed throughout my body, giving me the strength to keep fighting. "We managed to rescue it and we want you to have the Winter Maiden to unlock this relic's vault and to put Haven's relic there as well."

"Oscar, you're putting way to much pressure on our Winter Maiden."

"I know, but please, we need to protect this relic. She's going to be in charge of two relics-"

"She's burden enough by protecting only one relic. I cannot-"

I stood up, empathizing my words. "James Ironwood. We're asking you to help protect this relic, Salem will stop at nothing-"

Ironwood does the same, standing up. "And that will only allow her to send stronger forces to us. You don't understand because you're a young one. Oscar, we cannot-"

Before he can finish, Ozpin started to speak to me. 'Oscar, let me take control. You done your best-'

'You told me that I can convince him, and I will.' "Ironwood, please. We need to do this, protect this relic and-"

"I said no."

"If this relic gets taken away, we'll a relic. A relic lost means that they get a chance to win-"

"If the relic's position has been revealed and our Winter Maiden is deceased, and we had Haven's relic there, they would have two relics instead of one."

"Then where else will we keep the relic? It's not safe with us-"

"And why is that? A headmaster is watching over it, isn't there? Ozpin?"

"But we're planning to save the other kingdoms and we're going to travel all over the place."

"Then keep it safe."

"How are we going to keep it safe if we're trying protect the other kingdoms? Besides, we're asking you to help aid us. Help us and we're able to push against Salem and her forces!"

"Oscar's right." Ruby says; I turned to her and she's still sitting down. "We're here trying to protect others and we can't do that if we're constantly being trailed by Grimm."

"I'm sorry but-"

"Professor Ironwood, please. Help us so we can help others. To save them from these creatures of darkness. Think about it, please. That's all I ask."

Ironwood went silent. The way Ruby talked... it should convince him. "I'll think about it. For now, get some rest. You came a long way to get here."

We started to leave until it hit me, "Professor Ironwood?"

"Yes?"

"Qrow is trying to ask the Schnee family about you and about him trying to help support us. As well as hoping to get Weiss Schnee back into the family business."

"Her family business is not my concern, but I do stand well with her. She witnessed Beacon falling apart and her father didn't believe her. But I'll come by tomorrow and have a talk with Jacques. Hopefully I can help convince him to rethink about Weiss. Thank you for informing me."

Ruby and I both leave and we see everyone outside of the office. "Guys! We made it out safely!" Jaune says, smiling. "Glad we got out in time." We started to walk with them, holding Ruby's hand tightly.

"So, what happened back there?" Yang asks, trying not to smile as she saw me holding her hand.

"Ruby managed to convince Ironwood to help us, but no such luck for them to protect the relic."

"Wow, my little sis convincing the general of Atlas? Man-"

"Yang, stop it... you're embarrassing me..." I turned to face Ruby; she was trying to cover her face with her right hand, but I could see those bright red cheeks behind them.

"Ruby, you did better than me." I smiled.

"Well, I did say what huntsmen and huntresses do. It's their job to protect the people of the kingdoms."

"Anyways, we're free to do whatever we want to do." Blake starts to speak. "I'm heading to the library with Sun."

"If you guys don't mind..." I start to clear my throat, "I would like to take Ruby somewhere for lunch..." Just saying that out loud... it wasn't comfortable to say it, especially when you're surrounded by people who were protective of her.

"As long as you two stay together. We don't know what's going on and who else to trust." Jaune states. "Just, be careful."

"Don't worry, we will."

*   *   *

Ruby and I started to make our way down to a small restaurant that was nearby our small motel. We started to eat our lunch, it was just a few sandwiches and once we wrapped it up, we took a walk down the road.

"Oscar... I thought I'll never admit it, but I love just walking with you..." She lays her head down on my shoulder.

"R-Really? I thought you wouldn't..."

"Oscar, let's just be together... okay?"

I nod, "Yeah, let's just stay together..."

She sighs, "It's nice to know that you're here... with me..."

The sun was already setting by the time we went back down to the motel. All we did was take a look around the city and just being together... I loved being with her. I will never let her go... and I won't ever leave her side, ever. Ruby... I will forever be with you, and don't you ever dare think that I will leave you.