Part 3:An Impending Betrayal

You...STILL haven't managed to find Beacon yet...you don't know HOW, like it kinda catches the eye BUT NOPE! Ugh...well at least you know your fire has returned instead of...well electricity...you really want to know just how does your power work. Anyways, you see a...aircraft with banners waving from it fly overhead. Before you see it go over...Beacon Academy...wait you wonder how did you miss that. It's kinda hard to miss it...Well you can't really docus on that as...you feel a hand go on your shoulder that makes you jump

You:"EEP!"...You imitated Ruby's inhuman 'Eeep' from the locker room those many months ago. You look to where the hand connects to to see...Qrow?

Qrow:"Hey there, pipsqueak." ...You wonder how did he manage to get to you so fast...now you're wondering WHAT is he doing up here... "You seem lost."

You(panicking a little):"Pssh, me? I-I'm not lost. Beacon's over..." You...somehow forgotten where it is AGAIN! What is with you today...well...then again it may be a little bit of paranoia due to Ruby wanting to murder you...you are NOT looking forward to that... "Okay I'm lost..." Qrow laughs

Qrow:"Just try to keep up with me kid I've got my own reasons for heading to Beacon." ...He looks VERY drunk at the moment, he is staggering side to side...like how is he even going to be able to- before you could finish the thought he dashes at...incredible speed in the direction of Beacon...WHO IS THIS GUY AND WHY IS HE SO GOD DANG COOL!? (...Qrow's my favorite character aside from Ozpin) You burst your eye into flames before warping from building to building behind him.

It took you a while but you're finally actually in Beacon's courtyard and...you are...out of breath as Qrow looks...completely fine...well what you can qualify as 'fine' as he still is staggering left to right...

You(Panting):"Just...who...are you?" Your head hurts now...Qrow smirks back at you...Wait...it's been a bit...Ruby has to be back by now...uh-oh. You can feel her anger swelling...she's near...HIDE! You dive under a bush as Qrow looks at you strangely

Qrow:"What are you doing?" You poke your head out

You:"Weeell, my girlfriend is angered with me...and that girl scares me when she's angry." He laughs

Qrow:"Pssh, trust me, hiding from a woman is only gonna make it worse, stop cowering and face up to your mistake."

You:sighs "You're right." You get up and look towards the docking area to see the same airship you saw from before as Ruby and Weiss talking to...well what seems like a more grown up version of Weiss at the airship's base...that scares you. "Oh, there she is." You look back up to Qrow as you see his face become angered. "Um...you alright sir?"

Qrow:"I said to drop with the formalities. And it has nothing to do with you, I'm just going to...talk with an old friend. He begins stumbling away. You wonder what that was all about as you look back at where Ruby was only to see...a VERY PISSED RUBY RUNNING FULL SPEED AT YOU HOLY CRAP!!!

Ruby:"(F)!!!!!!" You don't even have a chance to run as Ruby tackles you with fire in her eyes as she places her foot on your chest as you're on the ground as she takes out her Crescent Rose and places it in to its rifle mode and aiming it at you...welp you've lived a good life...

Ruby(Demonic):"EXPLAIN YOUR BETRAYAL!!!!" It may just be your imagination but she seemed to have grown horns as fire engulfs the entire world...you haven't seen her THIS mad since when you took her hood as a joke...

You(Panicking):"I-I-I-I-I-I W-WAS GOING TO IRONWOOD!"

Ruby(Demonic):"FOR WHAT!?!?!" You notice that you can see Raiden and Yang waaaay in the back observing you two from a bush...

You(Panicking):"I-I DON'T KNOW HE JUST WANTED ME TO COME OVER THERE AS SOON AS I COULD AND I DIDN'T WANT TO WORRY YOU!"

Ruby(Demonic):"THAT'S NO EXCUSE! THE PENALTY...IS DEATH!!!!" Welp...the only regret in life you have is not being able to eat more food...she cocks her gun and you close your eyes in preparation...only to hear the sound of a party horn come from her gun...you open your eyes slightly to see yourself being covered in confetti...WAT!?! "Nah I'm joking, you're good just tell us when you're gonna do something like that again or I WILL ACTUALLY KILL YOU!" Y-you don't know what just happened. Yang and Raiden are snickering from the bus as Yang recorded the whole thing from her scroll

You(confused):"B-but I-I thought, Y-ou, and t-the, kill b-but I-I" You begin to break off into senseless rambling before Ruby kisses you on the nose and giving a very innocent smile...

Ruby:"Are we good?" You...HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!?!? But Ruby extends her hand and you take it as you lift yourself up and wipe all of the confetti off of you "Well...what did Ironwood want to talk to you about?"

You:"I...don't know yet, I only got here now." Ruby looks at you confused

Ruby:"Why did it take you so long to get here?"

You:"Well when I warped off in panic I didn't specify WHERE I wanted to land so I just landed in a random place below..."

Ruby:"Hah, that's what you get."

You:"Also as I got here I saw you and Weiss talking to someone, who was that?"

Ruby:"Oh just Weiss' sister." ...She has a sister?

You:"Hold up...SHE HAS A SISTER!?"

Ruby:"Yeeep...her name is Winter and she's...strict like Weiss yet less whiny and more wanting total perfection from what I saw...also why did it take you so long to get here?"

You:"Well it took me so long because I was at the piers and didn't know where I was so I stumbled into a bar to ask for directions and that's where I found a...weird yet cool old dude, he actually got me to the Academy...though I don't know where he is now all he said is that he needed to talk to a friend of his? He was VERY drunk though so I didn't know much about him other than his name."

Ruby:"Oooh, what was his name then?"

You:"Oh his name was-" You hear a distant explosion coming...from the middle of the courtyard? Now that you look at the courtyard, you can see that there's a big group of people there. You look at Ruby as she nods at you and you both go to where the explosion came from. You walk through a few people to see...two insanely good fighters battling...you can't make out who they are since they're moving at VERY fast speeds you notice that Weiss is watching the fight as you both run up to her.

Ruby:"What's going on!?" Ruby yells...wait...is that Qrow?

Weiss:"Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!"

Ruby:""Oh no! Who would do such a th-"

You:"Wait...is that Qrow?" You get cut off by Ruby

Ruby:"Thaaaaaat is my uncle!!!" she hops with excitement...wait...what?

You/Weiss:"WHAT?!" WAIT THAT DRUNK IS RUBY'S UNCLE!?!?

Ruby (shouting):"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!" Well that settles it, you're jaw drops a little in seeing that the guy who you thought was a little odd is actually one of Ruby's relatives...and also an incredible fighter...okay then...

Weiss: "Uh..." Slight pause "Teach him respect, Winter!" They're all insane, they're tearing up the courtyard with their fight.

You:"W-wait Ruby, shouldn't we TRY to stop this fight before someone accidentally gets hurt!?" You look around at the massive crowd surrounding the two, which is not helping as the battle is getting heated. Qrow and Winter are moving VERY fast, you can barely keep track of their fight (Yeah usually I watch the episodes then just place the fights into word form as best I can but it's kind of hard to do when they keep speeding around the place). They both move past the crowd as Qrow slices at Winter's neck, she ducks under before hitting him with the butt of her blade, Qrow simply smiles as his...eyes flash red? Before he brings his blade up as Winter sees and uses a glyph to send her back as Qrow slams his blade into the ground, as the surrounding ground shatter and fly away. Now...YOU'D THINK THIS WOULD BE COOL BUT SINCE THE GROUND SPLIT INTO BIG CHUNKS, NOW THEY'RE FLYING EVERYWHERE, RIGHT WHERE PEOPLE ARE! Oh boy... You quickly Conjure your Marasuma in your right arm...it feels weird as you're left handed but you can't focus on that now as you throw it into one of giant pieces of rubble as it shatters into dust before you warp to your Marasuma in mid air and quickly warp and destroy the other flying pieces except for one...it's heading for a girl that seems strangely familiar but you can't FOCUS ON HER AS THE ROCK IS HEADING STRAIGHT FOR HER. You warp in front of her and use your aura to power up your leg as you spin kick the rock as it shatters into dust...that was too close. You look back to see that the girl that is on the ground now...is a bunny Faunus...she looks at you like she's seen a ghost...you wonder why she's here, she seems way too young to be a Huntress.

You:"Are you alright?" She nods very slowly, her mouth still slightly open in shock...hmm, you wonder if this is the girl that you saved from the White Fang a while ago...you help her up and look back at the fight to see that Qrow and Winter are now firing shots at each other from the high arches in the courtyard..."Do I know you?" You start to feel like this is the girl you saved...

Faunus Girl:"I-I..." You hear a massive explosion and look back to see that one of the arches is now mostly destroyed and now there's a massive hole in the ground...great.

You:"Uuuggghhh...we'll talk later..." You warp over to where Ruby and Weiss are...who...still aren't doing anything... "Okay, Ruby I love you but this fight needs to stop before someone on the sidelines gets killed." ...Ruby didn't hear you...It doesn't matter as Qrow and Winter have jumped out of the crater and are slashing at each other around the courtyard at VERY high speeds right before Qrow gets sent sliding back as he stabs his blade into the ground as it slides through the ground...UGH! This needs to stop now. Qrow gets up as Winter stabs one of her Rapiers into the ground as...she summons ice birds? She can do that? Can Weiss do that? She sends the massive flock of birds at him as he blocks most of them before sending back a wave of ice. Winter looks furious as a massive glyph appears behind her, Qrow smiles as he...begins to transform his blade into...something...but...he stops for some reason before fully doing it...you're confused but thankful but he then taunts Winter which makes her MORE pissed off before she propels herself off of her glyph. That's enough, You immediately warp in front of Qrow which in hindsight was a bad idea as now you have a speeding Winter who apparently can't see you aiming a blade directly at your face...you close your eyes and flinch as you hear...Ironwood yell

Ironwood:"SCHNEE!" He yells in a commanding voice as you open your eyes a little to see...a pillar of Cosmic Blue particles in front of you... you peek out to see that Winter stopped RIGHT before hitting the pillar...she looks confused at the sight of you, the pillar dissipates and you look back to see a curious yet...somewhat angered Qrow looking down at you...you look past him to see a worried Ruby...you look back to where you heard Ironwood yell to see him walking towards all of you with...Penny behind him...you feel like you're in trouble as now you're both late for that intimidating meeting you were supposed to have before getting caught up in this and NOW you seem like you actually were in this fight in the first place...what a great day...

Winter:"General Ironwood, sir!" she yells as she about faces

Ironwood:"What in the world do you think you're doing?"

Winter: He started the altercation, sir!

Qrow :That's actually not true. She attacked first." he says as he puts his hands behind his head

Ironwood:"Is that right?" Winter looks like she's trying to form words in her mouth , only to realize Qrow is right as she looks down in shame...He glares at you...you gulp "(F)...why did you get involved in this?" EVERYONE is staring at you...yay happy fun times...

You:"They were putting lives in danger, if I didn't lessen the damage they were doing then people would've been hurt or worse? I couldn't stand to see that..." You look back at Qrow "Is an argument really worth the life of innocents?"

Ironwood:"But getting killed in the process would've done no good. I admire your valor but exceed caution next time you're going to recklessly rush into battle..."

You: sighs "Yes sir..."

Ironwood:"And you." He looks at Qrow as Qrow points to himself in confusion "What are you doing here?"

Qrow:"I could be asking you the same thing." What does he mean by that, you wonder?

Ironwood:"I-" He gets cut off by...Ozpin...who is ALSO WITH GLYNDA GOOD WITCH WHAT FUN!

Ozpin:"Now, now, everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn." he swirls his coffee...dang...now you want popcorn

Glynda:"Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess." She glares at the four of you...you gulp

Ironwood:"Let's go." As Ironwood and Winter leave, Penny notices Ruby and quietly waves to her, while Ruby waves back. You sigh and glare at Qrow

Qrow:"Spare me the bad look kid I could've handled it."

You:"So needlessly putting lives into danger is 'handling it'" You sigh "Listen I don't know what type of guy you are...but...as a Hunter in training, aren't we supposed to put the needs of others before our own?" Qrow looks down at you with a look of curiousness in his eyes...that or he's noticed that your cast is on fire...or maybe both but you didn't notice it at first but look down to see it and take off your cast...your arm is completely healed thank God...You see Ruby try to tackle her uncle as she hangs on Qrow's arm...

Ruby:"Uncle Qrow!!!" "Hi." That was the cutest hi ever "It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!?"

Qrow: "Nope." They both smile as Qrow pats Ruby's head.

Ozpin:"Qrow! (F)!" Qrow puts his arm down as you both turn to look at Professor Ozpin Ruby gets dropped to the floor "A word, please." Uh-oh is all you can think of as you can see Goodwitch is repairing the courtyard using her telekinesis. Qrow lowers to Ruby's height

Qrow:"I think I'm in trouble." he says discreetly

Ruby:"You did kinda tear up our courtyard...And also killed my b- nevermind" Wait...wat?

Qrow: "Yeah, I did." he winks and gives her a fist bump "Catch ya later, kid." he walks off to join the others...Ruby turns to you before slapping you? It was a hard slap.

Ruby:"YOU BOOB!" She pulls on your ear

You:"OW! OW!"

Ruby:"WHAT DID I JUST SAY EARLIER!? TELL ME WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO DO THESE TYPES OF THINGS!"

You(In Pain):"I-I WAS! But you two were so focused with that fight...And people were going to be killed...couldn't let THAT happen, m'kay?" Ruby sighs as she lets go of your ear.

Ruby: "Why do you have to be so dreamy when I'm mad at you." You stick your tongue out at her as she does the same.

Qrow(Faraway):"HEY PIPSQUEAK! YOU COMING OR WHAT!?" You sigh and give Ruby a kiss on her forehead before walking away

Later in Ozpin's Office

Winter:"What were you thinking!?" You feel very awkward entering a room with the most powerful people in all of Vale yet again and being the most inexperienced by a LOOONNNGG margin...and this time you don't got Ruby to help...

Ironwood:"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" You see that Qrow is taking this remarkably well as he takes out his flask

Qrow:"If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself." Damn that was a bad-ass line...

Glynda:"While I wouldn't condone his behavior, both of you retaliating the way you did certainly didn't help the situation." You freeze as you scratch your neck shyly

Winter:"He was drunk!"

Goodwitch:"He's always drunk!" the five of you all turn to Qrow to see him drinking from a flask. His eyes widen when he notices that you are all staring at him...he holds the flask out to the side, looking at it awkwardly...Ozpin sits down

Ozpin:"Qrow, why are you here?"

Ironwood:"You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!" You feel useless in this conversation...

Qrow:"I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy!" The General's name is Jimmy?

Winter:"General."

Qrow:"Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here." You look at him a bit confused...does he mean like that one woman at the party or?

You:"D-do you mean like the woman who fought with glass during the night of the party?" They all look at you...it puts you on edge...

Qrow:"What is he talking about?"

Ironwood leans against Ozpin's desk

Ironwood:"He means that we know."...Wait...what?

Qrow(Angered):"Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

Ironwood:"Qrow-" Qrow cuts him off

Qrow: "Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?" he pulls out his Scroll and points to it "That's the SEND button."

Winter:"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised."

Qrow:"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here." points to Winter "Seriously, who invited her?" It was silent for a moment.

Ironwood:"Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back at my ship." Winter looks surprised.

Winter:"But sir!"

Ironwood:"Winter. Leave." he says sternly...Winter salutes

Winter:"Yes sir." she turns on her heel and gives the Qrow a dirty look as Qrow winks at her, as she exits through the elevator...oh boy you can tell that they're going to shift their attention to you now...

Qrow:"What about the kid? He doesn't seem like he'll be much help for our...situation" They all look at you

Ozpin:"We wanted to ask him some questions earlier for our situation before he got held up by your fight I'd presume." He looks at you "Is that correct?" You nod quickly up and down "Right then. Mr.(F)...tell me...how did you find that White Fang hideout with your team from two weeks ago...because when Doctor Oobleck got back to us with a report he said the nature of this assignment was...rather strange"

You:sighs:"That's...hard to explain, sir..." They all glance at each other before Ozpin motions for you to continue "Well um...during our exhibition Ruby went out mysteriously and...never came back, luckily Zwei was there who stowed away with us and helped us track her down, we learned that she had gotten stuck in the underground city of Mountain Glenn. Then we found her along with Torchwick, found out about their breach plan, and then stopped him..."

Qrow:"...There's something you're hiding. I can already tell, don't try to lie to us, we'll know." You breathe out shakily

You:"So...the...whole truth?" Ozpin nods, you take a deep breath "...I met him again."

Ozpin:"The man in the Cloak, yes?" You nod

You:"I don't know why...and I didn't care why, all I remember is him not even trying as he pummeled me and Raiden...well...until I did...SOMETHING with my Semblance, I couldn't explain it, all I knew is that I was entirely rejuvenated but I never fought him...he went back to...somewhere...I feel like it had something to do with this Salem person." Qrow looks really surprised "

Ozpin:"We'll talk about Salem another time...well now you've told us how you got to the hideout...but I now want to know is why was Raiden seen wearing a black trenchcoat and a skull mask quite some time ago...why Raiden never spoke to Oobleck about his reasonings of becoming a Huntsman, and why was Raiden was missing from our cameras during our first assignment in Emerald Forest" You don't even know all this stuff...

You:"I...don't know everything about him...he keeps many secrets from us but... damn it I shouldn't say this but...Raiden was apart of Torchwick's gang. He USED to, not anymore its how we knew to look in Mountain Glenn, He...knew a lot of things...like locations where Torchwick was, where the hideout was...and there's still stuff from him that I haven't found out yet..." They're all silent

Ozpin"Such as..."

You:"Such as when I talked to him one day his flame flickered purple...like the man in the cloak." They're all silent...God what have you done...you feel like you've sold out your own brother...You can't imagine how angry he's going to be...

Ozpin:"Well, that is more than enough information for us to work with...thank you (F), you may leave now."

You:"Wait...Raiden's changed...please, don't view him any differently now because he's had a bad past...I learned that it was only to protect me from when we were homeless...he needed money...and...Torchwick was the only one giving him what he needed...he didn't realize what he was getting into." They're all silent as you ride the elevator back down.

Later...(Cinder POV)

Cinder:"And you're sure?" Mercury just came back with a report that Qrow Branwen was spotted at the courtyard...it may put a slight strain in our plan but nothing more.

Mercury:"Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him."

Emerald:"What do we do?"

Cinder:"Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend. I pick up the scroll as it flashes with the Black Queen "Speaking of which... it appears we have a new access point." Seems like we've got access to Ironwood's very own interface, lovely.

Emerald:"Anywhere good?"

Cinder:"You could say that. Go to your rooms. I'll prepare everything for tomorrow."

Emerald:"Yes, ma'am."

Mercury:"Got it."

Cinder:"Raiden." Raiden looks up from the book that he was reading as his eye is flowing with Serpent's(Purple) flames.

Raiden:"Yes ma'am?"

Cinder:"Make sure that Adam knows that he will only have a small window to get (F). It is imperative to have him alive so Salem can prepare the ritual for Serpent." He nods as his flames return to its normal color and leaves the room, everything is going according to plan.