Note: Oh God, sorry for the long time between updates everyone. We started writing this chapter a month ago, and then we scrapped the whole thing and started again, and then we were writing and writing and writing, and right before we were going to upload, our computer ate our entire document and we lost all our work. That demotivated us from writing entirely, and then we decided to re-write the entire thing again with a different concept, and now here we are. More LUBYP. Also, for classification purposes, we've decided that the past four "therapy chapters" are now going to be part of the Sixth Arc instead of a filler arc. Not that it makes literally any difference to anyone except us, but if you care about that, well... there you go. Tell your friends. Anyway, we hope we can do more writing soon, and we hope to find some more motivation to keep up this pace. Thanks, everyone. Love you. Enjoy.

"I can't believe we did this again." Blake sighed.

"Well, you asked," Yang said with a satisfied smirk.

It wasn't so much of an ask but a half-hearted suggestion; but yeah, technically speaking, it was Blake who initiated it. She knew she shouldn't have for three reasons. First, she repeatedly stated, with the utmost sincerity, that they would never, ever, ever do that again and breaking that promise just complicated everything far more than it needed to. Two, they had their first final in two hours, and they should have been studying. And three, it was rewarding Yang with something at a time that she didn't feel Yang deserved anything. And yet, despite all those factors, and although she was certain she was a reasonable person, there she was, thirteen minutes later, with a naked girl in her bed and a deep layer of shame mixed with the residual pleasure.

Again.

She had no idea when Ruby was going to be back from visiting Weiss in the medical wing, but she knew that she had to get up relatively soon. It was hard for her to do so with Yang clinging to her, her hands still passionately roaming around places they shouldn't have been.

"This was the last time, right?" Blake asked, staring up emptily at the ceiling.

"Sure. You tell yourself that," Yang said with a laugh. "So, are you going to come out yet?"

Blake groaned, irritated, mostly at herself. "I'm still not gay."

"Look, that worked the first time," Yang stated, "but you have done a lot of gay shit since then. I'm just saying, it's never too late to come to terms with yourself."

"When I have an update, you'll know," Blake said plainly. Yang snuggled deeply into Blake's neck.

"Okay then. How about," she said deviously, "you finally admit that you like me?"

"First of all, get your hands out of there," Blake said, reaching down and prying Yang's hands away from her ass, bringing them out from beneath the blanket. "Second, me liking you has never been in question. I just can't tolerate you."

"Oh, I see," Yang nodded. "So, what you're saying is that you need to spend more time with me. To build up immunity."

"That's an interesting interpretation of how diseases work."

"Yeah, well, that's why I'm not becoming a disease-ologist."

"You're not becoming much of a linguist, either," Blake sighed, pushing herself out of the bed. She could only move an inch however before Yang wrapped her arm around her waist and tried to pull her close.

"No, don't get up yet," Yang cooed. "Five more minutes."

"Your sister could be back literally any second."

"So, let her come back," Yang said defiantly. "Let her see us together. Why should we care what she thinks?"

"Because if she found out that you were sleeping with me, she'd be even more pissed at you than she already is," Blake stated, denying Yang's intentions and throwing herself onto her feet. She began rummaging through her drawers for something to wear as Yang propped herself up on one elbow and stared lovingly at the woman before her.

"She can be as pissed at me as she wants. I've spent way too long stressing myself out over what she thinks about me. I'm done with that now."

"Yeah," Blake said unsurely, holding one of her tops up to her chest. "Not really loving that conclusion you reached, by the way."

Yang scoffed. "What are you talking about? You've never cared what anyone thinks of you."

"Yes, and I've been abundantly clear how I view that as a character flaw," Blake clarified. "Just like how I've also repeatedly stated that I'm a terrible person and no one should ever take inspiration from me."

"You don't give yourself enough credit. That's your real flaw," Yang said passionately. "You are the bravest, hottest, smartest person I know. The only reason you think you aren't is because everyone keeps putting you down. Like in that therapy session? That stuff that doctor tricked you into saying was all total bullshit."

"What stuff?" Blake asked confusedly as she fiddled with her bra.

"That stuff with Weiss? How you were afraid of her and all that shit?" Yang said, dumbfounded. "Like, that doctor was super biased against you. You should have gone off on her."

"I think Dr. Noetal was just doing her job," Blake said, trying to brush the comments away. "Whatever she had me talk about, Weiss isn't mad at me anymore, so… mission accomplished, right?"

"Eh. Tolerance is bullshit," Yang chuckled. "If you really want to settle shit, you should meet her one-on-one, fist-to-fist. Challenge by the Honors. Like I did."

"Right," Blake said with suspicion. "And what's the update on that, exactly?"

"The update is that I'm not doing it," Ruby said angrily.

"Does she think you are?" asked Weiss.

"I don't know what she thinks anymore," Ruby muttered. "But whatever she thinks, I have to agree to it if she wants a fight, and I'm not doing it. That's it. End of story."

Weiss rubbed her temples, sitting up straight on the bed. She looked at Ruby across from her with a dejected look in her eyes. "If you think she's going to stop pestering you, you're wrong. She's never going to stop."

"Maybe she will," Ruby said, theorizing. "If we can just make it to winter break, I think we'll be fine. Once she goes back home, she'll start acting normal again. She has to."

"Do you really believe that?" Weiss said honestly. "Ruby, I know what it's like to have sibling drama. It lingers. Builds. Like tumors or weeds. You can bury it deep down, pretend that everything is fine, sit at the dinner table and act like you're still close. But you won't be. That resentment is going to have to be resolved sooner or later."

"You're acting like it's inevitable," Ruby questioned her.

"It is. Trust me."

"I can't," Ruby admitted. "I know you've had a lot of problems with your siblings. I mean, you literally just had one of them trying to murder you. But your family isn't like everyone else's. You always had problems that strained your relationships. I've been… Yang has always been fine with me. Or at least, she hasn't been angry on the level that your family was with you."

Weiss shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong. I hope I am, truthfully. I want to put this mess behind us as much as anyone."

"Well, we're going to have to. I'm not fighting her. Ever," Ruby said. She still wasn't sure if she believed that. She tried to distract herself as quickly as possible, glancing at Weiss's wounded shoulder. "Hey, so, um… are you going to be able to take the final?"

Weiss looked down at her bandages with disinterest. "I don't know. I'm still feeling pretty out of it from my new medication."

"New medication? Are they not giving you morphine anymore?"

"They're giving me some other opioid whose name I can't pronounce," Weiss groaned, motioning with her shoulder to the orange pill bottle on the small counter next to her bed. "It sucks. The last one was kind of like getting a constant massage. This one just makes me feel like spilled ink."

"I… don't know what that means," Ruby stated. Weiss chuckled.

"Yeah, well… blame the drug. I'm still kind of out of it. Makes the pain more bearable."

"I guess that's what matters," Ruby noted. "But I don't think you should be taking any exams if you're not at one hundred percent."

"That would be the logical thing to do, but then again, we are talking about Beacon."

"I know," Ruby sighed. "I always thought Beacon would be almost magical. Regimented. Inspirational. It feels like this entire school is hanging on by a thread."

"You know why that is, right?" Weiss said with a smirk. Ruby collapsed her face into her palms.

"No. Please don't."

"I'm just saying—"

"No politics."

"Inferior government leads to inferior products."

"I don't care," Ruby moaned desperately. "We're having a good moment. Please don't ruin it."

"I'm just pointing out a random fact. What you do with it is up to you," Weiss said knowingly. Ruby looked up with her elbows on her knees, smiling with embarrassment. Her fair fell into her face, and she propped up her glasses with her fingers, taking in the quiet moment as she let her defenses fall.

"Can I just say," she started without thinking, "it's crazy how much I like you considering how terrible you can be sometimes."

Weiss had no idea how she was supposed to interpret that. Take offense? Blush? Say something else snarky in return? Her mind was still fuzzy and her shoulder was killing her, and thinking of anything at all was as exhausting as pushing a boulder up a mountain. Maybe it was because of her diminished state that her mind focused on something—not Ruby's smile or her wandering, obtrusive thoughts. Instead, she narrowed in on a single word: like. A word with all sorts of dumb schoolyard meanings.

For just a second, Weiss returned to the Reveler's chamber, and she saw Ruby in front of her in her broken state, bloodied and wounded and begging for help. And like her sight, those feelings of want and protection came back to her, and Weiss, usually so calm and collected, had to struggle to jam those unwanted feelings back down into the recesses of her heart, where they could be safely ignored. She couldn't be distracted. It was better that way. Easier. Cleaner.

So why did she feel so guilty about it?

Weiss swallowed her pride and smiled. "I guess that's just the effect I have on people."

Ruby laughed to herself. Of course, it was the perfect answer. After all, Weiss affected her probably more than the ex-heiress would ever know.

Before she could think about it any further Ruby felt her Scroll buzzing in her pocket. When she checked the screen, her eyes lit up.

"It's… Professor Goodwitch," she said, confounded.

"Goodwitch? What does she want?" Weiss asked, stepping gently off the bed. "

"She wants the team to come to her office. She says she has something important to talk about."

"What could be so important she can't wait?" Weiss groaned. "We're about to take our finals."

"I guess we aren't," Ruby stated, rising from her chair, eyes never wavering from the screen. "She just told me that our finals are canceled."

"That fucking two-faced bitch!" Yang screamed as she stormed down the hallway. The others tried their best to keep pace with her, but it was hard to do so with her fiery mane of hair warding them off with its intense heat. "She makes us study for these stupid tests for months, and then she cancels them half an hour before we take them? What the hell is wrong with her?"

"Hey, I'm with you," Blake said, hesitantly reaching out to grab Yang's arm but stopping herself before she could commit. "But if you could, can you not murder her when you see her?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Like she wouldn't deserve it."

"Guys, let's not be hasty," Ruby said. She hadn't forgotten that Goodwitch was complicit in letting the God's Arm occur, and that would probably make Weiss a teensy bit sour on her professor. "I don't think that murdering our teachers isn't going to help ease any tensions."

"Who cares about easing tension? I want answers," Yang stated as she reached Goodwitch's office door. She slammed her fist against it as hard as she could, ready to punch the first person that opened it. The door moved, and Yang instinctively pulled back her fist, but before she could launch it forward, she saw an unexpected face greeting her: that of Jaune Arc, who cowered when he saw her about to strike.

"Whoa! Hey!" he shouted, recoiling, and Yang stared at him like an idiot as he opened the door further, revealing that he was not alone in Goodwitch's office. The rest of his team was there, as well was Velvet Scarlatina and her leader, Coco Adel. Not only were the students there to join them, but they had another surprising guest: Professor Ozpin himself, seated behind Goodwitch's desk in place of the witch, who stood brooding off in the corner behind him. While the room was packed to the brim with people, staring at them and Yang's bizarre, angry behavior, the rest of the room seemed stripped bare of all but the essential furniture. Goodwitch's normally colorful memorabilia was nowhere to be seen, and the witch had an expression of concealed, defeated bitterness plastered over her face. Ozpin, however, was as pleasant as usual, and waved the other girls politely into the room.

"Jaune, thank you for getting the door. Team RWBY, welcome. We were just getting started."

Yang's Semblance dissipated. She looked at her team for support. They didn't know what to give her.

Team RWBY had every right to be suspicious when they squeezed themselves into Goodwitch's small office. There were no chairs remaining for them, so they had to stand awkwardly shoulder-to-shoulder, trying not to breathe too hard on each other. Ruby found herself in the extremely unfortunate position of being stuck beside Yang, and she could feel Yang's muscles tense just from thinking about her proximity to her sister with whom she currently had a less than stellar relationship. With the door closed behind them, the office was like a sauna, though Ozpin did not appear to sweat or suffer like the rest of them did. He smiled kindly like he always did, and when he spoke, it was as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"I'm glad you could come on such short notice," he stated. "I understand that this has been a very trying few weeks."

Blake immediately raised her hand. "Permission to speak, Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Belladonna."

"Um, how do I phrase this?" Blake pondered. "Oh, yeah, that's right. Fuck you."

"Blake, really?" Ruby chastised her. Blake shrugged, or at least did the closest thing to a shrug she could manage in such a tight space. She could feel the embarrassment wafting off the other students in the room, but she was quickly shot down by the white-haired girl to her left.

"No, I'm with her. Fuck you," Weiss stated.

"Yeah, let me join in on that," Yang said as well. "The word 'troubling' doesn't really do these weeks justice."

"Weeks? How about this whole semester?" Blake noted. "Like, would anyone mind off if I rattled off what we've had to go through?"

The other students shifted uncomfortably in their chairs, but Ozpin kindly nodded in approval. "If you wish to air your grievances, I won't stop you."

"Okay," Blake said, counting off on her fingers. "We have been strapped into torture chambers, attacked by giant wolves, clobbered by stone golems; we've had to fight against ancient bears of eternal darkness, insane criminal gangsters, vindictive classmates, Atlassian military elitists, goblin monsters, giant acid-spitting frogs, literal possible gods from thousands of years ago; we've been bloodied, carved, concussed, beaten, pummeled, stabbed, shot at, electrocuted, nearly set on fire, dropped off cliffs, emotionally and physically tormented, had our bones broken and magically put back together, been transported to another dimension and, oh yeah… it's fucking December."

The entire room stared at Blake with wide, disbelieving eyes, but she dismissed them with a simple sneer.

"So, yeah, Ozpin… the semester hasn't been great."

Ozpin cleared his throat, trying to find the best way to approach everything he had heard, when Yang chimed in with another barb.

"Also, the food here sucks, too."

Ozpin continued to smile, unfazed. "Well, in fairness, I'm not fully aware of a lot of the things you are talking about, but I can understand why you would be frustrated. Beacon is supposed to be a lace of learning, and though we train you in the art of combat, the danger at this Academy is supposed to be minimal. For all of the problems you have suffered, we would like to offer our deepest apologies."

Blake opened her mouth to complain again, but perhaps sensing more chaos and tension on the way, Ruby managed to speak up first. "Thank you, Professor. We appreciate that."

Jaune, seeking to back her up, also made his presence known again. "Yes, that's means a lot. Because, you know, we could really use the apologies after, you know, almost getting… you know, eaten and stuff."

"Yes, well," Ozpin explained, "we didn't just invite you here to apologize. We also have some very important things we would like to tell you. First, Professor Goodwitch, if you would do the honors."

Goodwitch seemed surprised that he was speaking to her, almost as if she had tuned out of the entire conversation. "Huh? Oh, yes. Right. Well, students, you see, Ozpin and I have been talking a lot these past few days, and… I decided that due to my failures to properly keep you safe during Weiss's Trials, I could not in good conscience continue to mentor you through your journey to become Huntsmen."

A shockwave rippled throughout the office. Several of the students nearly burst out of their chairs in shock—Weiss, Blake, and Yang merely felt a dull sense of satisfaction.

"You're leaving Beacon?" Ruby gasped.

"But you're the second-highest-ranking Professor in the school!" Velvet exclaimed.

"I know, it is sudden," Goodwitch said with a sigh. "But this is the best decision for the safety of our—I mean, Ozpin's students. I had gotten careless in my duties, and I take full responsibility for my failings. I have to face the consequences of that."

The students' minds were like raging rapids. Beacon Academy without Professor Goodwitch? It was nearly impossible to think about. Everyone knew that Goodwitch had her quirks and her problems, but she cared about the well-being of the school maybe more than any other person in the Kingdom. There were so many questions. Would Ozpin replace her with someone else from the school? Someone from another Huntsman Academy, maybe even from a different Kingdom? Their thoughts were cut off by the sound of Blake's laughter cutting through the confused silence.

"Wow, Ozpin," she snickered, crossing her arms. "You actually canned Goodwitch. Incredible to see you throwing your own professors under the bus."

"For your information, Miss Belladonna," Ozpin stated clearly, "Professor Goodwitch resigned from her position.

Blake nodded. "Which is corporate-speak for you fired her. I get it. You want to be on your good side so you pretend that all of this was Goodwitch's fault, and then you throw away the evidence. As if we would believe that you weren't involved in sending Weiss off to those Trials."

"You can believe whatever you want to believe," Ozpin said vaguely. "At the end of the day, the result is the same. Professor Goodwitch will be leaving Beacon after the semester ends, and an interim replacement will be named shortly after. Hopefully, that person will continue to do their due diligence in keeping our students safe. Now, onto some of the other matters at hand, if you don't mind."

"Wait," Ruby interrupted. "That's… that's it? Professor Goodwitch is just going to leave and that's all we're saying about it?"

Goodwitch tried to push her away. "Miss Rose, you don't have to—"

"No! That's crazy!" Ruby said passionately. "Yeah, Professor Goodwitch has issues—"

Weiss spoke up. "She literally made money off of me failing my tests."

"Big issues!" Ruby acknowledged. "But this is just wrong, Professor. Goodwitch wasn't even there for the Trials. She couldn't have known what they were going to be about or what would have happened. You can't just—"

"She knew enough, Ruby," Ozpin said bluntly. "She knew quite enough. Now, that's all I would like to say on the matter. Is that clear?"

"But—"

"Is that clear… Miss Rose?"

Ruby had no response. Goodwitch looked away from her, dejected. She had so rarely shown any weakness that it was almost staggering seeing her with her back against the wall. Goodwitch seemed defeated and helpless in a way that Ruby had never seen a person, and that confusion was enough to mortify her into silence.

"Yes, Professor," she sighed.

"Good," said Ozpin. "So, onto the matter of finals. As Glynda and I were talking, we realized that after the high levels of stress you had been through, it would be unfair of you to have to take the same finals as everyone else. You haven't been able to study for them reasonably with all of your distractions, and quite frankly, Glynda has told me that you all showed exceptional skill in surviving your ordeal during Weiss's Trials. Therefore, I have decided to grant you all full marks for the completion of your exams this semester. You are officially all going to pass."

Coco, who had been casually leaning back in her chair during the entire meeting, suddenly leaned forward, pulling off her sunglasses and staring at Ozpin like he was the most beautiful creature on the planet.

"Wait, you're letting me ace my finals even though I wasn't involved in any of this?" she asked stunned.

"As the finals are ultimately contributing to your grade as a team, we feel that even though only Velvet was involved in these incidents, all members of her team should benefit."

Coco whooped in delight, throwing herself back against the chair. "Okay, that's all I had to hear. I'm satisfied."

Yang chimed in. "Well, I'm not. Not at all."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Really, Miss Xiao Long? I would think any student would be happy to instantly pass their exams."

"Not when they've been wasting hours of their life studying for it," Yang said angrily. "I mean, cool. Glad I passed. But I now I just feel like learning all of this stuff has been for nothing."

"The process of learning is always enriching, Miss Xiao Long," Ozpin claimed. "But if you are feeling like you need something more to make up for lost time, then I have two more things you might be interested in. Firstly, because the finals play a role in the recalibration of team rankings, you should all be aware that your finals are going to affect your rankings overall. Team CFVY, you are already ranked Team One, so you are unchanged. However, Team RWBY, based on your performances throughout the year, I would like to congratulate you on moving up the ranks from Team Ten… to Team Five."

Ruby was taken aback, even as her teammates were mostly unamused. "Oh, um… wow. Thank you, Professor Ozpin. That's incredible."

"Yes, it's one of the more substantial leaps we've had in Beacon for quite some time," he continued, ignoring the uncaring glares from the rest of her team. "You've displaced some of the other teams down the rankings, meaning you've now placed Team ATMC down to sixth place, Team HPTA down to seventh—"

As Ozpin continued counting, Ruby could have sworn she heard a violent, high-pitched, profanity-laden screech of jealousy coming from somewhere off in the far distance of the school. The others didn't seem to notice at all. Ruby dismissed it as just her imagination.

"And, of course, Team JNPR. Your hard work hasn't been ignored," Ozpin claimed proudly. "We would like you to know that as of today, you have officially moved up to Team One in our rankings. Congratulations."

The reaction from the members of JNPR was much of the same. Mild acceptance and understanding. A general recognition that it was underwhelming. Nora shrugged it off. Ren said nothing at all. Jaune tried to be humble about it but was not nearly good enough of an actor to hide his disappointment. Pyrrha, however, was different. She couldn't hide her smile, or the small tears that were starting to form in her eyes. No one was paying attention to her, but she felt like she was glowing. Team One: she was back at the top of the list. The best there was.

That was all she wanted to hear.

Yang rolled her eyes, oblivious to the reaction of the girl seated five inches in front of her. "Oh, great. Our team has a higher number. Who cares?"

"Yeah, it's not like we get any benefits that are more than tangential," Blake agreed. "And hey, I appreciate not having to take finals. Anything to get the pressure off my shoulders is fine. But if this is your attempt to butter us up, you'll probably have to try harder."

"Harder still?" Ozpin said with a knowing smirk.

Weiss grimaced. "You let my father run a Trial on me that almost killed all of us. Yes. Try harder to make it up to us."

"Well then," Ozpin said, satisfied. "Perhaps the last gift will be enough to quell you."

"Good," Yang said demandingly. "What is it?"

"That's the beauty of it," Ozpin said, relaxed. "I have no idea what it is. Each of you will be allowed to ask a favor of me, and I will do what I can to the best of my ability to give it to you. Consider it a wish on behalf of an old man who has your sympathies."

Coco, who once again was drifting off, suddenly snapped to attention. "I'm sorry. We can ask you for anything?"

"The people affected by the Trial can ask for anything," Ozpin clarified. "Sorry, but I think giving you the final grade was enough of a free pass."

"But they can ask you for anything?" Coco asked in shock. "Like Velvet can? Velvet, can you ask him to give me a gift?"

Velvet blushed. "Coco, come on…"

"Hey, I have to try!"

Ozpin raised a hand to silence them. "Students, please. Coco, let Velvet have her present. As for the rest of you, I encourage you to think carefully about what you would like. I am not all-powerful, and I am not going to do something like instantly give you your Huntsmen licenses, but I will try to do whatever I can within reason. I truly feel awful about what has happened to you, and if I can soften the blow in any way, then I will be happy to do so as your Headmaster."

"But seriously," Coco stated. "Anything?"

Ozpin chuckled. "Why don't you all go back to your rooms for now? Winter break is still a week away, so you have plenty of time to think about what it is you would like from me. I hope you will use this opportunity wisely, and that this will make amends for any wrongdoing."

Ozpin never officially ended the meeting. He simply stopped talking and leaned back in his chair, and with the strangest, grandest opportunity of their lives handed to them on a silver platter and no more words to accompany it, the ten students left the office of the former professor with murmurs and whispers. Goodwitch watched them go, doubting she would ever see them again.

"Anything?" Weiss said in disbelief. "Anything at all?"

Ruby paced back and forth in front of her as she rested on her bed. "We have to use this wisely. If he's being serious, then that's incredible. Ozpin is one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom. A gift or a favor from him would be… just, wow…"

Blake rolled her eyes, sideways on her bed and half under its covers. "He must be really desperate for us not to tell anyone about what happened."

"Is that why you think he's doing this?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it ain't because of the kindness of his heart," Blake said with certainty. "The dude's terrified of a lawsuit and he doesn't trust our word that we'll sign NDAs, so he's going to try to bribe us. Dude knows how to play the game."

"Are you going to take the offer?" Ruby inquired. Blake huffed.

"Uh, no shit? Rob the bastard for everything he's got if you're smart," Blake stated. "You can use his salary to pay off your dad's mortgage. Or buy a sport's car. Go crazy."

Yang lounged carelessly in her bed as well, dangling upside-down off its side, glaring holes through her semi-girlfriend. "I'm surprised you don't want to make Ozpin do a political thing. You could make him promise to let Faunus into the school or donate to an opposing political party or send out a message on social media about how much he loves anarchy or whatever."

"As hilarious as that would be, I don't trust him to actually do it," Blake explained. "He's only doing this to make us forget how responsible he is for everything. He'll probably try to worm his way out of it, so I'd rather he just put the money in my hand as soon as possible and I can make sure it's used properly on my own."

Weiss snickered. "Funny. If I were you, I would want to hold on to that favor as long as possible. It'll come in handy when you eventually get arrested."

Blake smirked back. "You know, since I'm trying to be nice to you now, I'll interpret that comment as humorous."

"Thanks."

"Hey!" Ruby said strongly. "This is serious. Ozpin is making us a serious offer here. We have to consider what we can get before we do anything."

"I don't know, Ruby," Yang groaned. "Seems pretty straight forward to me. Get a bunch of money out of the old guy, retire early, spend our lives in luxury. Easy peasy."

"But we could get information out of him," Ruby theorized. "We could finally get him to tell us about the Grimm. We know he is hiding something."

"Ruby, you're overthinking this," Blake chastised her. "He's not going to be honest with you. He'll just tell you whatever you want to hear, so there's no point in trying to pry the truth out of him. Be smart."

"I don't think that's true," Ruby argued, stopping by the foot of Blake's bed. "If that's what we really want to know, he'll tell us. I just have a feeling."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and we all know how well to trust your feelings."

Ruby turned to her sister and narrowed her gaze. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yang grinned and glanced away. "Oh, you know. No reason to explain."

"If you have a problem, Yang—"

"There's no problem," Yang said with a mean-spirited smile. "Don't be so paranoid… or so trusting. That's all."

Ruby sneered, and walked back to her own bed, hesitating by her mattress. Yang eyed her like a predator as she walked past, and in the back of Ruby's mind, there was a very small, irritating voice telling her to fight back. It was pathetic and stupid… but it was getting stronger. She could feel it.

She distracted herself as quickly as she could. "Weiss? What are you going to ask Ozpin for?"

Weiss lied motionless on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, her legs gently lifting and kicking back down against the mattress in a state of unrest.

"Who knows?" she said blankly. "I've never really gotten the chance to choose my own gift before. Seems kind of strange. What do you think I should use it on?"

What to use it on? Ruby had to think about that. Back when she was a child, she always looked forward to the holidays, and even during those days, she was meticulous and careful. While Yang would run up to her father and list off gift after gift they were something that could grow off trees, she had a mental checklist that she would fill out to make sure she was getting what she deserved. She rattled off the list to Weiss from her memory. Get something valuable, something that she had waited her whole life to receive. Make sure that it was long-lasting, so it would not lose its value quickly and could be enjoyed over and over. Make it unique, something that was impossible to get anywhere else in Remnant. Fulfill a need more than a want. Get something special. Weiss barely seemed to take the information to heart, listening for the moment and then returning her attention back to the ceiling—but Ruby was listening to it. She was listening keenly. Money was helpful but unnecessary; their father had plenty stashed away if they really needed it. A vacation was desirable, but she was getting a free one soon anyway. Information about the Grimm would be immensely important, but she had Zelina Zaripova's book, and there was no point double-dipping when there were still secrets yet to be uncovered. Instead, her mind drifted to something else. Something far more crucial. Something she had needed for a very, very long time.

It took Ruby Rose two hours and ten minutes to determine what her favor from Ozpin would be. If the others came to a conclusion in that time, they did not tell her. She understood. She didn't tell them either.

At the break of dawn, Ozpin arrived at Beacon Academy. He strolled through his usual route in the castle, taking the elevator up to the tower where his office lied. When he arrived outside of its doors, he saw a young girl in red waiting for him. As he approached her, she didn't move. She looked pale, like she had seen a ghost.

"Miss Rose, can I help you with something?"

Of course, he could. He always could. But he wouldn't. He didn't.

Not anymore.

She looked him dead in the eyes and spoke as forcefully as she could. "Tell me everything you know about my mother's last mission."