A/N: Hello everybody! It's new chapter time once again and this week… we've got some heavy stuff going down. As you can tell by the title, a certain blue lady is finally making her appearance here, and that means its time for the whole truth to come out of the bag. However, before we get to that, there was one thing I neglected to mention in the "NEXT TIME" segment of last week's chapter; Ben's putting his theorist cap on (which I imagine is made of tin foil) and is gonna be dropping some revelations on the group! So sit back and watch as the comparisons start! This is…

Chapter 107: Friend Like Me

…..

At about noon time, the team had decided to bring their training session to a close, all of them thoroughly exhausted from the work they had put into it. There was a bit of sadness in the air around them as they all exited the training facility, the teens realizing that this would probably be their last time coming to the mountain grounds for a long while. "Man, I'm gonna miss this place a little bit." Jaune admitted. "This is pretty much where we've been going every single morning for the past few weeks."

Pyrrha nodded at that. "Agreed. And while I have no doubt that whatever training facility the Plumbers have will be more advanced… there's something about the simplistic training grounds that I'll really miss."

After hearing that, Ben put a hand to his chin in thought as the group began walking down the forest path back to the Xiao Long house. "Yeah, but maybe there can be a work around to that…"

Yang raised a brow over to him. "Whaddya mean, Green Boy?"

"Oh, just thinking up some ideas." Ben shrugged. "As per usual."

"Please tell me it isn't another theory." Rex said with an eyeroll. "I think you've already given us plenty of crackpot ideas over the last twenty-four hours."

Close behind the two boys, Velvet tilted her head and asked; "What do you mean by that, Rex?"

"Ah, Ben's just been coming up with a TON of weird ideas lately." Rex waved off. "Get this; because Remnant's gods existed, he thinks that the different types of gods and goddesses from OUR world could've existed at one point, too."

"HA! What?!" Kevin guffawed as he threw his head back. "Tennyson, what the hell have you been smoking, because I want some!"

Ben rolled his eyes threw his hands up into the air. "Yeah, yeah, let's all laugh at the guy who thinks the ancient gods of Earth being real would be a cool thing." He gave then all a shrug. "I'm just saying, considering that Remnants deities are CONFIRMED to be real, we shouldn't rule out the idea that other deities could've been real elsewhere in the multiverse, too."

"Ben, we're not ruling it out." Gwen assured. "It's just… a bit of an out-of-the ordinary idea. You know, kind of like how you told us that everyone in this universe resembles some sort of fairy tale or legend from Earth."

Ruby quirked a brow toward Ben. "Yeah, I'm still a little confused over that. I mean, I don't think you've even told us any Earth fairy tales…"

"No we haven't." Ben confirmed before raising a contesting finger. "BUT… I do have some actual solid evidence of this. I've been thinking this over for pretty much ALL night, so you'll have to bear with me here."

"Oh great." Rex muttered sarcastically.

Ben first went straight over to Ruby, taking the silver-eyed girl by surprise as he tugged at her hood slightly. "Okay, so I first realized this whole thing when I remembered that Rojo kept called Ruby "Little Red"."

Ruby's eyebrow snapped up in realization. 'Huh, odd. Torchwick used to call me that, too.' She cleared her throat and spoke up. "Uh, Ben? What does my nickname have anything to do with your theory?"

"Heh, well, "Little Red Riding Hood" is a story surrounding a little girl in a… well, red hood." Ben emphasized by pointing to Ruby's own hood. "She goes to her grandmother's house to bring her treats, but she ends up having to deal with a villainous wolf in the process." The hero faced Rex, Kevin and his cousin, gesturing toward Ruby. "And c'mon, you can't deny that Ruby bears a pretty big resemblance to Little Red Riding Hood, here."

"Oh please, that's probably a big coincidence!" Kevin argued. "Just because she has an accessory that is literally a red hood doesn't mean squat."

Ben grumbled before going over to Yang, a confident grin coming to his face. "Alright then, how about Yang? I mean, I've been calling her "Goldie Locks" all this time, right? Ya know, like the girl from the Three Bears?"

Yang furrowed her brow in confusion. "Green Boy, what ARE you talking about?"

"Okay, so you wanna know where I got your nickname from?" Ben asked, to which Yang tilted her head. "Well, it actually comes from a story where a little blonde girl named "Goldie Locks" stumbles into the home of three bears, and subsequently gets chased off by them."

"And again, complete coincidence." Rex said with a slap to the forehead. "Seriously, dude, you're gonna have to get some better evidence of this or else I'm gonna keep poking holes in your theory."

However, Yang's eyes had widened a bit after Ben's explanation. "Uh… guys? I actually wound up in an Ursa den accidentally when I was younger too…"

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, and I used to regularly send treats to my grandma back when I was really little."

This made everyone stop in their tracks and grow silent, including the adults who weren't even part of the conversation. However, they had been listening in, and it quickly got their attention. "Okay, THAT is very scary." Raven commented. "Are we sure this is all just coincidence?"

Ben grinned at the challenge. "Oh, trust me, I'm just getting started!" In the blink of an eye Ben was now walking side by side with Weiss, much to the heiress' surprise. The hero craned his head over to his cousin and smiled. "Say Gwen, you've been taking German in college, haven't you?"

"Um, yeah, I have, actually." Gwen confirmed.

"And wouldn't you say that Weiss' name is very German?"

At Ben's words, Weiss' eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Wait, it is?"

Gwen was also quite surprised at Ben mentioning that. "Well… yes, actually, it is. It's actually something I noticed when we first got here." The redhead put a hand to her chin and thought over Weiss' name in her head. "But I still don't really see what that has anything to do with…" However, the Anodite's eyes widened as she translated Weiss' name in her head. "Wait… in German, Weiss' name translates to "White Snow"."

Rex was confused at first, but then the realization hit him like a truck. "Hold on… are you telling me that Weiss is—"

"Yep! Snow White!" Ben confirmed. "Try to argue against THAT!"

"W-Well, I… I hardly think that Weiss has met up with seven dwarves before!" Rex countered with his arms crossed… all while Weiss' and Winter's jaws dropped at the same time. "Hehe, am I right, Weiss? …Weiss?"

The heiress put a hand to her head. "No… you're right, Rex." Her head then snapped up to him. "But my butler, Klein Seiben, has dissociative personality disorder… and he has SEVEN personalities!" This earned a gasp from quite a few people, including Rex himself.

Gwen's mouth went agape at the name. "And his name is even German for "Small Seven"! What even the heck is going on here?!"

The EVO darted his eyes to Winter and she nodded her head, counting off the personalities on her fingers. "Weiss is right. His primary personality is fatherly and kind, and then he has a happy side, a grumpy side, he can be bashful, overly sleepy, constantly sneezy, or even just… somewhat dopey." This took Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Rex all by utter shock. "Please stop me if this is all beginning to sound familiar."

"WAY too familiar." Ben affirmed. "I… I wasn't even EXPECTING the butler to play into things, but here we are!"

At this point, the entire group was muttering to themselves, wondering just when this was all going to end. "O-Okay… so who am I comparable to?" Blake asked nervously.

Ben concentrated on her and winced, leaning his head toward her. "…You were actually one of the easier ones to figure out, Blake." He began counting on his fingers. "You're a bookworm, your ex-boyfriend is a horned asshole, and your last name is Belladonna." He extended his hand toward her and put it simply; "You're Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Only instead of falling for the Beast, you broke up with him."

Blake's eyes were the size of saucers as she looked down to her hands, shock and disbelief written all over her face. "This… this can't be real! It's almost too good to be true!" Her hands went to her head and she shouted out; "This just can't ALL be a coincidence!"

Ghira, Kali and Sun were quick to come to her side, the monkey boy holding her hand to try and calm her down. "Woah, woah, Blake, let's slow down and take a deep breath, okay?" He gave her a smile and held her close to his chest. "Besides, we can't ALL have equals in Earth fairy tales and stories! That'd be completely absurd."

"Oh really?" Ben piped up again. "Listen, I didn't wanna say anything to you about it back then, but from the moment we met, I noticed that you literally share your name with the main character of the Chinese novel "Journey to the West"." Sun stared dumbfoundedly as Ben continued. "Sun Wukong, the mischievous monkey king who, and I'm not making this up, wields a bo-staff called Ruyi Jingu Bang! Also, he was the inspiration for Sun Goku, so there ya go."

Sun stared blankly into the distance before pulling Blake closer to him for security. "Okay, I would like everything to stop now."

"He's right, Ben, this HAS to stop." Ghira insisted. "Otherwise, you're going to give everyone an existential crisis."

"Hey, join the club, Ghira." Ben said as his eye twitched, and not because he was lying. "I was seriously up half the night thinking about this crap and I haven't stopped thinking about it since yesterday."

Kali laced her hands together, almost as if she were pleading with him to stop. "Ben, I understand that your theory has VERY strong legs, but if you go on anymore, you're going to break their minds."

Athena raised her hand up to the hero. "She's right, Benjamin. It's time to stop."

Ben sighed and nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. I'll stop…" His arm snapped up and pointed toward Team JNPR. "But wait till you guys here what I have to say about THESE guys! I'm pretty sure they're all based on historical figures who all cross-dressed at one point!"

"Say WHAT?!" Team JNPR all hollered simultaneously.

"ALRIGHT!" Neptune cried out, much to everyone's surprise. "Could we PLEASE just get back to the house before we all start losing our minds over this?! If we just keep standing here all day, Ghira and the others are gonna miss the big press conference!"

Ilia gasped, covering her mouth as she did. "Oh, shoot! He's right, we need to go!"

As the others began to get back on track toward the house, Ben sighed a bit and shook his head, all while Yang kept a firm hold on his hand. "Maybe I should've never brought it up in the first place…" However, he then received a tap on the shoulder, making both of them turn around to face a curious Penny. "Uh, hey, Pen. What's up?"

"I am simply curious… what story from your world do you believe I could be analogous toward?" the redheaded android asked.

This took the couple by surprise. "Wait… you ACTUALLY wanna know?" Yang asked back.

"Indeed. I actually find it rather fascinating." Penny nodded. "So please, what story would you compare to me?"

Ben put a hand to his chin. "Well… you were once a lifeless robot that was granted a soul… and you said your weapons used to be attached to razor thin wires… like a puppet." Ben snapped his fingers and exclaimed; "Pinocchio!"

Penny blinked twice. "…Gesundheit?"

"Hehe, no, Pinocchio." Ben repeated. "He was a wooden marionet puppet who was granted life by a magical blue fairy and eventually became a real boy!" The hero thrust a hand to her. "Heck, both of your names even start with the same letter."

"Huh… neat! Thank you, Ben!" Penny smiled and began skipping after the group, leaving Ben and Yang alone again.

Ben scratched the side of his head. "Ya know, it's times like these when I think our lives couldn't get any weirder… and yet they do."

Yang gave him a pat on the back as they started down the path again. "Don't think about it too hard, Green Boy. Otherwise ya might hurt yourself."

…..

After arriving back at the house, the teens all decided to head downstairs while the adults spoke upstairs, with Oscar and Vernal being the exceptions. "After Ben brought that… revelation on us, I think I need to take some time to think." The farm boy had explained. "I'm gonna spend some time outside, if that's okay with you guys."

"Yeah, and I'm gonna go talk to Raven about tribe-related stuff." Vernal added.

"Hey, no problem, guys." Jaune assured. "Trust me… we've also got a few things to talk with him about." Once Oscar and Vernal had separated from their group, the blonde knight and the other teens all marched downstairs, where Jaune immediately marched up to Ben with a serious expression. "Alright, Ben, I'll bite. Tell us just what the HECK you meant when you said you think we're based on a bunch of cross-dressers!"

Ben tilted his head to the side. "I thought you said you didn't wanna hear—"

"That was before you brought up the crossdressing thing." Ren elaborated. "Now we are intently curious."

Pyrrha crossed her arms expectantly. "Indeed. I have never impersonated a boy in my life…" She then sent a sly grin over to her boyfriend. "Though I DO believe Jaune would make for a very handsome woman."

Jaune rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Yeah, yeah, and you would make a really pretty boy."

"Hey!" Nora shouted. "Stop with the flirting and focus on the question!" She zipped up to Ben and began shaking him by the collar. "TALK, TENNYSON!"

Ben took hold of her hands and cried; "Okay, okay, I'll explain what I mean!" He directed his eyes over to Teams RWBY, CFVY, SN, Ilia and Penny. "That is… if those guys are okay with it. I wouldn't wanna make you all uncomfortable again."

Blake took a deep breath and gave Ben a wave. "It's… it's okay, Ben. I've had some time to calm down and I think I'm okay now."

"Yes, and so am I." Weiss nodded. "I mean, that whole "Snow White" thing was really scary, but now that I've thought about it, I think I wanna hear more about this theory of yours."

"Yeah, me too!" Ruby said excitedly. "This all sounds SUPER fascinating!"

"You're sure about this, guys?" Rex asked in concern. "Because if we go further down the rabbit hole, there's probably no going back…" He shifted his gaze over to Velvet. "No offense."

"None taken." Velvet assured. "But yes, we're all very intrigued by everything you said, Ben." She brought her hands up and tapped her finger tips together. "In fact… do you think I have some sort of fairy tale equal?"

Ben let out a chuckle and nodded. "Well, yeah, but it's not exactly a fairy tale. Considering your name and the fact that you're a rabbit Faunus, it stands to reason that your equal would be…"

"The Velveteen Rabbit!" Gwen smacked her forehead at that. "Why didn't I see THAT before?!" She saw that Velvet was rightly confused, so she decided to explain. "Oh, uh, sorry. The Velveteen Rabbit is a book about a sentient toy bunny who becomes real from being loved by their owner. It's a real heartstring-tugger."

Velvet laced her hands together with a smile. "Oh, that's so sweet!"

Coco gave Cooper a nudge. "Hey, do you think the rest of us could have cool fictional counterparts, Tech Head?"

Cooper put a hand to his chin. "Hm, hard to say. I mean, Velvet's a bit more obvious, but the rest of you guys… that's a bit tough." He pointed over to Fox. "I mean, the closest I can think of is… maybe Fox is based on some kind of fictional fox, but there are a TON of them in a bunch of different stories."

"Heh, now THAT might be a stretch." Fox shrugged. "I mean, I'm not even a fox Faunus or anything."

Ben pondered over that for a bit. "Maybe not… but perhaps there could be other clues. You got any family, Fox?"

Fox shook his head, with a bit of a remorseful expression on his face. "No… not anymore. My parents died when I was really young. And then the man who raised me when they passed, my Uncle Copper, was killed by a…" However, he trailed off at that point. Fox may have been blind, but he could feel a ton of eyes on him. "What is it?"

"…Fox, remind me to get you a braille copy of the novel "The Fox and the Hound" while we're on Earth." Cooper spoke up. "Because in that book, the hound's name… is Copper."

Fox wore a surprised face while Yatsu blinked in shock. "Hm, who knew?" the tall swordsman uttered.

Ilia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Heh, betcha there's no chameleons in Earth fairy tales."

"Okay, so what about us?!" Nora pressed further. "And seriously, what is UP with the cross-dressing thing?"

Ben stepped over to them and began explaining. "Alright, first off…" He reached over and put his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Jaune, instead of a fairy tale, you actually remind me a LOT of a real woman named Joan of Arc." Jaune's eyes widened at the similarity to his name. "Already starting to see it, huh? She famously cross-dressed as a man to join the French army WAY back in the fourteen-hundreds. And heck, I think your name actually MEANS yellow in French."

"Huh… neat." Jaune mused. "How famous was she?"

"Oh, she was a pretty big deal in her time… that is until people found out about the cross-dressing thing." Ben winced and shook his head. "Let's just say that cross-dressing was a BIG no-no back in fourteen-hundreds France. She was tried by Henry Beaufort, the… Cardinal and Bishop of Winchester." This made everyone's eyes widen, with both Jaune's and Velvet's jaws dropping in disbelief. "…You said that Cardin used to bully you, right?"

Jaune's hands went to his head and he let out a groan. "Dear god, this just gets weirder and weirder."

"Cardin is never going to believe this." Velvet resigned. "So… what happened to Joan?"

"She, uh… she was sentenced to death by the stake at nineteen." Gwen grimaced. "Not a good ending."

Yang winced and inhaled sharply through her teeth. "Ooh, yeah, not good." She directed her gaze at Jaune, who seemed to be shaking like a leaf. "Ya might wanna take some precautions when you're nineteen, Vomit Boy." she said with a pat on the back.

Pyrrha swallowed hard and piped up. "Alright then… what about me?"

Ben sighed and lowered his head to Pyrrha. "You, Pyrrha were actually one of the easier ones to figure out. During your battle with Cinder, you were shot through the ankle, remember?" He received a nod from the redhead, ushering him to go on. "Well, the ankle is really close to the heel… or in this case…"

"Achilles heel?!" Kevin exclaimed. "You mean the Greek guy from the Iliad who was pretty much invincible except for his right heel?!"

"Exactly right." Gwen confirmed. "And as for the cross-dressing bit, there's a little tale where Achille's mother, Thetis, dressed him up as a young girl to keep him safe from being pulled into the Trojan War…" She directed her eyes toward the Invincible Girl. "And guess which name he used as a cover for himself?"

Pyrrha gulped and answered; "Pyrrha?" She received a confirming gaze from the group and she sat down on the couch, where Jaune joined her soon after. "This is… quite the analogy, I must say. But at least my mother's name isn't "Thetis"."

"No… but she DOES share a name with an ancient Greek goddess." Rex admitted. "Athena, goddess of wisdom and warfare." He nudged his head toward the stairs. "Plus, I saw that she had owls on her helmet, which is also a pretty big "Athena" thing."

Pyrrha blinked and sighed. "And my mother has a pair of owls. Of course."

Ren cleared his throat. "So… what about me?"

"Oh, that's also easy." Ben answered. "You remind me a LOT about the story of Hua Mulan, a young Chinese woman who again, cross-dresses so that she can join the army. Fortunately, she was a LOT luckier than Joan of Arc. Heck, she didn't even get punished after she revealed she was a woman after twelve years of service."

Ren smiled and nodded. "Hm, well, that's certainly reassuring."

"…Well, depending on which version of the tale you read." Gwen elaborated. "That was how the original story ended, but there was a FAR darker version of it that came later down the line where Hua Mulan killed herself to escape becoming a concubine."

Ren's face fell and he lowered his head. "I like the original ending better, thank you."

Suddenly, Nora zipped up and got right in Ben's face again, an irritated yet excited expression etched right across her features. The hero chuckled as Nora shook with anticipation, putting his hands to her shoulders to nudge her away a little. "Hehe, okay, okay, I've been saving my personal favorite for last."

"I'm already liking where this is going." Nora said as she jittered in place. "The suspense is killing me!"

"Hmhm, Nora… honestly, I've actually thought this about you for quite a while, LONG before I had this theory in my head." He gestured to her hair first. "Your red hair, your Semblance and even your last name ALL are big indicators for this… but what tipped me off what your weapon." Nora's eyebrows rose up and she brought out Magnhild in its grenade launcher form. "Heh, in its other mode." At his word, Nora gladly shifted Magnhild into its hammer mode. "Yep, that's the one! Nora, you are a dead ringer… for the Norse god of thunder… the mighty Thor."

"I KNEW IT!" Nora cried out while lifting Magnhild into the sky. "I KNEW my Earth counterpart had to be someone totally awesome!"

Rex sighed and nodded his head, finally coming to terms that this theory really DID have legs. "Yep. Thor, god of thunder. The son of Odin, the giant slayer, the protector of Midgard and all of humanity. Plus, he was also a bit of a headstrong zoquete who could actually back it up with how overpowered he really was."

Gwen strolled up and put her hand to Nora's hammer. "With his hammer, Mjolnir, Thor could cleave giant rectangular shaped divots through mountains, summon lighting and channel it to use as a weapon, and whenever he threw it, it always returned to him." She then put her hand to the handle of Magnhild. "Granted, the handle on Mjolnir was much shorter, but still."

Nora's eyes were practically glistening at this point. "This. Guy. Sounds. AWESOME!" She began bobbing up and down at the knees, eager to hear more. "Okay, so what about the time he cross-dressed?"

Kevin smirked and scoffed. "Heh, it was the one time where Thor actually had to stoop to a bit of a low point, just so he could get his hammer back. When Thryme, the king of the Frost Giants stole Mjolnir while Thor was asleep, the Norse were given an ultimatum for its return. They had to give over the goddess Freya for Thryme to marry or else they'd never get the hammer back." Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "As you can imagine, Freya wasn't up for marrying an ugly Jotun so instead, the god Heimdall suggests dressing Thor up as Freya to trick Thryme into giving the hammer back."

"Did it work?" Nora asked. "Please tell me it worked."

"Oh, it worked alright." Ben affirmed. "And the trickster god Loki was all too eager to go along with this fool proof plan… if only to see Thor look like a fool, hehe. He and Thor traveled to Jotunheim, the realm of the giants, and successfully pulled it off, with Thor quickly dispatching of all the frost giants attending the wedding. Heh, must've been a fun afterparty."

On the couch, Jaune deadpanned as Nora continued to gleefully giggle. "Okay, so let me see if I got this straight…" He gestured between himself and Pyrrha. "Our Earth counterparts were ones who died horrible deaths…" Then over to Ren. "And Ren's is a woman who either served twelve good years in the army OR killed herself to escape a terrible fate…" And finally, to Nora. "But NORA has a freaking invincible THUNDER GOD as her counterpart?! Where's the fairness in that?!"

Nora spun Magnhild around and shouldered it. "Sorry, Jaune, but sometimes, people are just lucky!" Her head then snapped back to Ben. "Now tell me more stories about Thor!"

Ben raised his hand up and waved her back. "Heh, I will, Nora. Trust me, there are plenty of stories concerning the Mighty Thunderer that you'll probably like… including the one where he will eventually die."

"WHAT?!" Nora exclaimed.

"BUT… he goes down swinging against a giant serpent that can wrap itself around the entire world."

"…Better." Nora settled down before going back to her teammates. "See? My counterpart can die!"

Across the room, Neptune glanced off to the side. "Not sure how reassuring that's supposed to be, but sure, why not?" He grinned at Ben and jabbed a thumb to his chest. "Okay, so who's MY fictional counterpart? I bet they're totally cool!"

"Indeed!" Ben nodded. "You Neptune, are based… on Neptune! The Roman counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon." He began counting off on his fingers, and with every one he listed, Neptune let out a little "squee". "He's the god of earthquakes, storms, horses… and the seas."

The last one completely broke Neptune, the blue-haired boy falling to his knees and cried to the heavens; "NOOOOOO!" He fell to his hand and shook his head. "Why does EVERYTHING with me always lead back to WATER?!"

Sun gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Just your luck, bud. Sorry."

"Oh, grow up." Weiss scoffed. "You're eighteen, you NEED to get over this irrational fear of water."

Neptune stood up and sent a serious face over to Weiss, but before anything could come of that, Gwen got in the middle of them. "Alright, alright, let's not escalate things here. Otherwise we'll end up attracting the Grimm. Besides, since we're ALL down here, I think it's time I let you guys in on something."

Coco raised a brow as the redhead began making her way over to the relic. "Really? What's that, Red?"

Gwen picked up the Relic of Knowledge and presented it to the group, taking a deep breath to ready herself. "Well… I think I'll just cut right to the chase; I heard voices from this thing, and I think Ozpin is keeping something big from us."

…..

Meanwhile, in the Land of Darkness, Rojo was walking through one of the many halls within Evernight castle, smiling to herself with her hands resting behind her head. Yesterday had been one of the worst, yet at the same time, most satisfying days of her life. Sure, they had failed to get the Relic of Knowledge, but thankfully, Salem's frustration over Darkstar's betrayal had overwritten how disappointed she was that they didn't retrieve their quarry. She, Cinder and Neo had given the self-centered energy vampire his just desserts and beat him to a pulp before porting him straight over to the Xiao Long house. As much as she wanted to deliver her message in person, Salem had decided against it, saying that there'd be more opportunities to come for that.

'No biggie.' Rojo thought as she finally approached her destination; Cinder's room. The Fall Maiden had asked her to drop by earlier, which while surprising, wasn't unwelcomed. 'I'll just make sure I reinforce my message whenever I see those twerps again…' She reached up and knocked, calling out to her partner; "Cindy? You in there?"

"Yes, just give me a moment." Cinder called back. Rojo couldn't help but grin. Ever since the evening before, after they had disposed of Darkstar, Cinder had become a lot more casual around her and her teammates. Of course, this disappeared once Salem entered the room, but at the very least, she wasn't being cold and distant anymore.

'Man, that talk we all had yesterday must've done wonders for her.' Rojo commented in her head just as Cinder opened the door. "Hey Cindy, I—" But it was that moment that Cinder's voice caught in her throat, taken aback by what she saw on the other side.

Cinder was now in a new dress, one that was much longer than her other one. It still had the same color scheme; dark crimson with gold accents and patters, but other than that, it was completely different. The upper chest area around her bosom didn't have a knot like her other dress, and showed off only a little cleavage, the edges trimmed with gold. It DID have a similar pattern to the old dress, though, and the back was low enough to still expose her tattoo. What's more, the dress didn't have any sleeves, with Cinder instead donning two long, dark grey gloves that reached up to her forearms. The gloves also had a gold ring at its edge, with curved, branching extensions that reached up close to her shoulder.

Down by her right hip, Cinder had kept her blue feather accessory from her old dress, and the dress itself was open from the hip down, exposing her right leg. The opening was connected by two golden, interwoven straps made of rope, and beneath the dress, Rojo could see that Cinder was wearing black pantyhose. The Fall Maiden's feet were donned in red wedges, which also took Rojo by surprise. 'She's usually a heel gal. Wonder what brought on the sudden change?'

However, what stunned Rojo the most was the accessory that Cinder wore around her neck. It was the same jewel-encrusted, twenty-four-karate gold necklace that she had stolen from Essen last Sunday. The priceless rubies, diamonds and the large, yellow topaz at the base of her neck shimmered as the light from the torches on the wall hit them, matching the same color as Cinder's eyes perfectly. "Well? What do you think?" Cinder asked, spreading her arms out as she waited for a response.

"I… I…" Rojo's arm suddenly rose up and she smacked herself in the face with her own hand, breaking her out of the trance. "Y-You look great, Cindy!" She stammered a bit as she collected herself. "I didn't think you'd be changing your style up like this."

Cinder shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, well, after yesterday, I thought to myself; If I'm going to change myself internally, then perhaps doing so externally would help along with the process."

Rojo bobbed her head to the side. "Yeah, I can see where you're comin' from. Well, like I said, it's great." She pointed to the necklace in particular. "I'm actually surprised that you still have the necklace from a week back."

"Ahem…" Cinder coughed into her hand, a hint of red rising to her cheeks. "Yes, well… I figured since you gave it such high praise, I thought I would keep it."

"Aw, shucks!" Rojo winked with a grin. "That means a lot, Cindy. Thanks!"

"You're welcome." Cinder nodded. "But now, onto the reason why I called you hear… I need your help." She ushered for Rojo to follow her, leading the bounty hunter over to her vanity desk. Cinder sat down and faced herself in the mirror, making sure that her hair fell over the chair completely. "I have a big favor to ask of you..."

Rojo quirked an eyebrow at her partner. "…And what would that be?"

Cinder lifted a pair of scissors from the table and handed them to Rojo. "I need you to cut my hair."

If Rojo's eyes could widen to the size of basket balls, they probably would have at that moment. "I… I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" she asked. "I think I blanked for a second."

"I would like you to cut my hair." Cinder repeated. "I wish for a total reimagining of myself. And in order for that to happen, I feel like my hair also has to go." She reached behind her head and gathered up her hair, putting it into a temporary ponytail. "A simple cut near the edge of my hand should do, okay?"

"Uh… o-okay." Rojo gulped as she gathered up the hair and put it in her own hand. "…You're absolutely sure about this?"

"Positive." Cinder nodded.

"Well… alright." Rojo opened the scissors and slowly edged them nearer and nearer to the spot that Cinder indicated, though her hands were shaky all the while. Rojo bit her lower lip as she watched the blades go over and under the hair and she began to close them, though with every centimeter, she did, she kept screaming at herself not to. Before even the first lock was cut, however, she screamed and tossed the scissors away, much to Cinder's shock. "GAH! I can't do it!" Rojo let go of Cinder's hair and put a hand to her face, hiding her shame.

"What?" Cinder's eyes widened as she stood up, turning back to her partner. "What do you mean you can't?" Her tone was neutral, not with the slightest bit of anger in it. "Do you… have a problem with cutting my hair?"

Rojo sighed and nodded her head. "To put it simply, Cindy, yeah. Yeah, I have a BIG problem with cutting your hair." She gestured toward the jet-black locks in question. "You're asking ME to cut hair that perfect. It's just not possible! I mean, your hair is the kinda hair I WISH I could've had when I was younger." A slight blush came to her face as she craned her head away. "…And I can't believe I just admitted that."

Cinder blinked before trailing her fingers through her hair, her eyes moving to the locks as she did so. "You… really must like my hair then, don't you?"

"Yeah. Listen, Cindy, if ya wanna cut it yourself, then I've got no problems…" Rojo pursed her lips. "Well, no bigger problems than having to cut it myself, but please, don't make me do this. I'd sooner grow out my own hair than cut yours."

The Fall Maiden's face soured at that thought. "Oh, gods, no. Please don't do that. You with long hair would just be unnatural." But Cinder's words made her eyebrows snap up as she faced herself in the mirror again, her hand still lingering on her hair. "…And I suppose I would appear strange with short hair as well."

"See what I mean?!" Rojo exclaimed. "Now you understand where I'm coming from!"

Cinder hummed to herself before an idea sprang to her mind. "Wait, I think I can compromise." She opened her desk drawer and took out a two-inch long, gold cylindrical hair cuff with an red emblem acting as the clip, the same emblem that was tattooed on Cinder's back. She pulled her hair back again and handed the cuff to Rojo, who took it warily. "Simply put the cuff to my hair, Rojo, if you would please." In her mind, Cinder commented; 'My word, that word is odd to say unironically.'

"Uh, sure." Rojo complied, clamping the decorated cuff around Cinder's hair. Once it was secured, Rojo let it fall to the base of Cinder's neck, letting her knew, luxurious pony tail fall down her back. Rojo's eyes widened as Cinder moved back around, surprised how well the Fall Maiden wore the hairstyle. "Damn, Cindy. Who knew you could rock the tail?"

"Hm, I personally think my hair would look could with any hairstyle." Cinder bragged before facing the mirror once again. She whipped her head from side to side, letting her hair be flipped around and allowing it to fall over her right shoulder. "And besides, I think this might just work for me."

"No doubt." Rojo murmured to herself before another knock came to the door.

"Come in." Cinder called out, allowing the newcomers to enter.

Emerald and Mercury slowly treaded into the room, the two acting very cautious. It was as if they had thought that one wrong step would lead to them getting punished. "Uh… hey, Cinder!" Emerald greeted while trailing her eyes around the room. "We were just coming over to—OH MY GOODNESS!" Emerald stepped back a bit in shock as she finally took notice of Cinder's new wardrobe, causing Mercury to do the same. "Cinder, you're… you're…"

Cinder chortled and stepped away from her vanity desk, spreading her arms out to present herself to her compatriots. "You like?"

"Heh, "like" is an understatement." Mercury smirked. "I gotta say… you look really great, Cinder. Beautiful, even."

"Thank you, Mercury." Cinder nodded. "Never let it be said that you don't have good taste." She directed her attention back to her green-haired consort. "And what about you, Emerald? What do you think?"

Emerald glanced between her leader and Mercury. On the one hand, it was still very odd that Cinder was acting so cordial and nice to her now. And she DID like her new outfit. But on the other hand, Mercury had just called Cinder beautiful… and she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous about that. In the end, though, Emerald went with her gut and was honest with Cinder. "I… I gotta say, your new dress IS very nice, Cinder. It looks good on you."

"Your compliment is appreciated, Emerald." Cinder returned before stepping closer to Emerald and whispering; "And in the future… perhaps we can find a dress for you that will make Mercury turn his head." She gave a knowing wink to Emerald, leaving the thief in a state of shock.

'I may not know what fully went down in Mistral… but I'm not complaining.' Emerald smiled and a small blush came to her face. "Y-Yes. Yes, of course."

Mercury raised a brow at her. "W-Wait, what did she say—"

"NOTHING!" Emerald shouted, making Mercury recoil. "Nothing, it's nothing, really."

Rojo smirked and folded her arms over her chest. "Heh, yeah, right." She placed her hands on her hips. "So, what did you guys come here for again?"

Emerald blinked as she remembered their reason for their visit in the first place. "Oh! Yeah, right. We just got word from Salem. Apparently, she wants all of us to be down in the lab in the next hour." The green-haired girl put up three fingers. "Three guesses as to what's gonna go on down there."

Cinder sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, more mutant animals. And what's worse, one of them will be an insect."

Mercury glanced off to the side. "Arachnid, but okay." he mumbled to himself before going back to the conversation. "Anyway, Viktor sent us to let you know about it. Salem wants to get in a few last questions on Lionheart before Animo does the deed." He poked the side of his head. "Sounds like he and Watts came up with something to keep Leo under our control."

"Ah, good." Rojo grinned. "Hopefully it works. Did you guys tell Neo yet?"

"No, but we were going to." Emerald answered. "But we can't seem to find—" However, at the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway, she cut herself off, with everyone's heads craning toward the door. "Uh, I may have jumped the gun on that." The quartet went out the door… and were surprised at what they saw skipping their way.

Neopolitan was in a completely new wardrobe, aside from Torchwick's hat which remained atop her head. She now wore a long, chocolate brown jacket with pink trimming on the inside that started just above her chest, exposing her shoulders for everyone to see. The jacket had a set of belts that went over each shoulder, and the sleeves were detached with puffy tops on the forearms that had pink trimming. Beneath her jacket, she wore a strapless, white, vest-styled button up corset that exposed her midriff generously, and her hands were covered with a pair of white gloves. From the waist down, she was donned in a pair of long, white pants, and a set of black and white spat-boots with a bit of cut-out detail just above her ankles. All in all…

"God damn!" Mercury uttered. "Neo's hot!"

"MERCURY!" Emerald shouted before slapping him in the face. "You don't just SAY something like that!"

"Ow! What, you want me to lie?!" It was at that moment that Neo skipped over and gave a cute smile, giving Mercury a gentle pat on the cheek. "See? She appreciates my honesty."

Emerald crossed her arms and sent Mercury a glare. "Okay then, mister. You called Cinder beautiful and Neo hot, so where's MY compliment, huh?"

Mercury's face blushed at the question. "W-What?!"

"Hey, yeah!" Rojo said as she mimicked Emerald's posture. "And what about MINE? You've already given two outta four ladies in this little group a nice compliment, the least you could do is compensate for that."

Neo nodded her head in agreement, which only made Mercury stammer further. "I… I, uh…" He extended a hand to Rojo. "Rojo, you're… really badass and I dig your style."

Rojo gave a shrug. "Eh, bit on the nose, but I'll take it." She jabbed a thumb over to Emerald. "And now the hard one."

Mercury groaned at first… but then he remembered something, which gave him renewed confidence as he pressed forward. "Em…" He made eye-contact with her and gulped a bit, steeling his nerves before going on. "Honestly, there's no one I respect in this place more than you. I really couldn't ask for a better partner."

Emerald wore a stunned expression at his words, not expecting that to come out of his mouth. "I… wow, Merc." She said with a slight blush. "That's… actually kind of sweet." Emerald smiled and nodded to him. "Thank you."

As Mercury smiled back to her, Cinder cleared her throat, garnering their attention. "Yes, well, as much as I appreciate the bonding time we've had, I believe we should focus on getting ready for this meeting soon." She directed her gaze to Neo. "Now, did you receive word on the meeting in the lab downstairs?" Neo nodded to her before poking her finger down on her eyebrows, making her face grimace while crossing her arms. "…I see, so Hazel told you already." Neo tapped her nose in response. "Excellent. But, before we get to that, I'm quite famished. Is anyone else?" With a round of agreements, the group of five went downstairs, all of them ready for a decent lunch.

…..

"And that's the whole story." Gwen finished up as the teens in the room hung on to her every word. "There's something… or someone inside of this relic." She held up the lamp for all to see. "And whatever it is, I'm thinking that Ozpin might know something about it. And if he's keeping something big like that from us…"

Jaune clenched his hands together and pursed his lips. "Then he might be keeping MORE secrets that we don't even know about." The blonde knight clenched his teeth and slammed the armrest of the couch with his fist. "Damn it! I thought we TOLD him that we wouldn't be keeping secrets anymore!"

"And after I made him promise not to." Pyrrha shook her head. "Perhaps his word isn't as good as I once thought it was…"

As the whole room began to agree with Jaune and Pyrrha's assessment, a new voice entered the conversation; "Now hold on kids." Everyone's attention was moved to the stairs as they saw none other than Max and Holiday making their way down, the old man smiling gently toward them. "Let's not jump to conclusions here. After all, I'm sure that whatever secrets Ozpin is hiding, he has a good reason for them. Remember what I said when we first learned about him being able to reincarnate?"

Ruby blinked as she remembered that day, the one where she had also learned about her Silver Eyes. "…That if these secrets got out, they'd cause mass panic and hysteria?"

"Exactly." Max nodded. "Trust someone who's been in this kind of business for over forty years, kids; there are some secrets that are meant to remain a secret."

"He makes a very good point." Holiday concurred, her eyes focusing onto Ben. "After all, didn't you specifically not want your secret identity to not be publicized at one point, Ben?"

Ben nodded, though he also seemed to retort a little. "Yes, you're right, Doctor Holiday. And if I could, I'd find a way to undo everyone on Earth finding out who I was. But given the fact that not even Raven knew about the voice from the relic… it's making me wonder why Ozpin didn't tell us more about it right off the bat." He gestured out to the rest of the team. "I mean, it's not like we can't keep a secret. And the only people we tell ours to are people we trust completely."

"Yeah." Jaune agreed. "I know for a fact that my family won't blab about this whole thing with Salem to anyone."

"And Jessie promised to talk about Ben's powers either." Yang piped up, recalling the Vacuoian Huntress. "Even to her own family. She's about as trustworthy as you can get."

"Max." Pyrrha spoke up, standing tall and bowing her head a bit to the old man. "If I may… keeping secrets is part of the reason of what led to the Fall of Beacon in the first place. And I think I can safely say that no one wants to experience something like that again."

Blake stood up as well. "She's right. If Professor Ozpin is keeping something important about Salem or the relics from us, I think we should know so that we're better prepared going forward."

Max took a breath and nodded slightly. "Yes, I can see your point in that." He then pointed out to the rest of the group. "But… I want you to keep something in mind. If Ozpin IS keeping something major from you, then please, don't get too upset at him for it. The man has lived for thousands of years, and I'm sure the last thing he needs is more grief for whatever he's done."

Holiday put a finger to her temple. "Right, try to reason with him first, at least. And try not fly off the handle too, alright? We ALL know what happens with too much negativity anyway."

The team silently glanced at one another before coming to an agreement, with Jaune nodding his head. "…Yeah, you're right, Max. I know it seems like we're angry at him, but… it's more like we're frustrated that we still aren't getting straight answers."

"Yes, we'll be calm about this." Ren added. "No reason to be angry when there are bigger problems to handle."

However, off to the side, Yang was grimacing, which Nora instantly took notice of. "Uh, Yang? You okay?"

"Yeah, it's just… I don't know if my mom can keep that same promise." Yang winced. "When she finds out Oz has been keeping something from her, she WILL find a way to give him grief about it."

Ben placed an arm over Yang's shoulders and pulled her in close to him. "We'll find a way to calm her down, Yang. Promise." However, at that moment, the whole house began to rattle and shake, much to everyone's confusion. "W-Whoa! What the hell?!"

"Hold on!" Ruby called out before rushing up to the small reticular window near the basement ceiling on the far wall. She peered out to the front yard to see Oscar bracing himself against the ground as a bullhead landed in the front yard, which Ruby could only take one guess as to who it was. "…Oh boy, General Ironwood is here."

"Oh, perfect timing." Coco commented. "And just when we were gonna confront Oz about all this stuff."

Cooper's eyes widened in realization. "Oh god, what do you think Ironwood's going to think about all of this?"

Gwen took a steady breath as she kept the relic of knowledge firmly in her grasp. "Well, he seems like the type to stay calm and collected, so hopefully his reaction won't be too—"

"Uh, guys?" Ruby piped up. "Uncle Qrow is with him… and they brought Professor Goodwitch, too."

The room became uncomfortably silent at that. "…Well, that might complicate things."

…..

Oscar kept himself braced to the ground as the Bullhead landed in the front yard, its jets leveling itself out as it settled to the earth below. He stared wide-eyed at the aerial transport as its rear hatch opened up, revealing none other than General Ironwood making his way down toward the driveway. He spotted Oscar and gave him a wave. "Good morning, Oscar!"

Oscar waved back and sighed in relief. "Phew, it's just Ironwood."

"Hm, James was always one for a unique entrance." Ozpin commented before seeing Qrow disembark from the craft as well through Oscar's eyes, the drunken Huntsman with his hands in his pocket. "I honestly did not think we would be seeing them until—oh. THAT is why they're here." Through Oscar's eyes, Ozpin saw a blonde woman whom he was VERY familiar with disembark the Bullhead after the two men, her emerald green eyes having found the farm boy in an instant. Even from one glance, Ozpin could tell that there was a bit of frustration behind her gaze, and he knew exactly who it was directed toward. "Oscar, do not worry about whatever she says to you… it's me whom she's frustrated with."

Oscar was initially confused, but as the woman approached, a sense of familiarity entering his mind as she gazed down upon him. It was then he realized that he was still on the ground, prompting him to jump to his feet as the two locked eyes. Almost involuntarily, Oscar uttered; "G-Glynda?"

Glynda's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "Hm, so you do remember me."

"W-Well, not me specifically." Oscar rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I'm still trying to get used to all of these memories merging with my own."

"I see." Glynda nodded, giving Oscar a kind, greeting smile. "You must be Oscar Pine. James has told me a lot about you and your… interesting circumstances concerning my former boss."

Oscar sighed and tapped the side of his head. "Yeah, he's right in here. I'm guessing you wanna talk with him."

Glynda crossed her arms and nodded. "If you wouldn't mind."

"Alright, I'll get him out for ya." Oscar closed his eyes and he was enveloped in a familiar ethereal green glow, indicating that he and Ozpin had switched placed.

Ozpin opened his eyes and placed his hands behind his back, smiling up to his old confidant. "Ah, Glynda! It's so good to see—" SNAP! "Gah!" Ozpin gasped in surprise as Glynda suddenly flicked him in the face with her Disciplinarian, making him cover the bridge of his nose. He glanced up to see that Glynda's smile had been replaced with a frustrated expression, and he knew exactly why. He sighed and shrugged. "I suppose I deserved that."

"You THINK?!" Glynda replied forcefully. "You died down in the Beacon Vault and left the rest of the staff AND our students to pick up the pieces! I had to take charge and rally those kids because we were left without a leader, Ozpin!" She had balled her fists at her sides before pointing the Disciplinarian at him. "Words cannot describe how cross I am with you right now!"

Off to the side, Qrow couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "Hate to say this, Oz, but ya kinda had to know you had this comin'."

Ozpin sighed and nodded his head. "Yes, yes, I figured this topic would come about." Despite the fact his face was still stinging, Ozpin smiled up to Glynda. "But, I am happy to hear that you have taken charge, Glynda, and from what James told me, you are doing an excellent job."

Glynda pursed her lips, returning her hands to her sides as Ironwood strolled up next to her. "Yes, well… it's been a school-wide effort to open our doors back up in time for the spring semester. We've had a few setbacks, but our dining hall is fully repaired, so that presents no problems for us."

"That's very good to hear." Ozpin nodded. "And what of the relic? Is it secured?"

"Indeed. It's still safe inside the vault." Glynda confirmed. "For some reason, Cinder didn't even try to go after the relic, instead favoring to cause more destruction." She pointed her riding crop at Ozpin again. "But I have heard that you and the children have safely secured the Relic of Knowledge from Haven's vault."

Ozpin crossed his arms, craning his head down a bit. "That's right. I had hoped that Lionheart was not the traitor we suspected him to be, but—"

At that moment, though, the front door opened and many of the other adults came filing out, with Raven, Tai and Vernal leading the pack while Winter followed behind them. Finally, Ghira, Kali and Sienna also stepped out from the house and out into the front yard, the three Faunus visibly surprised at Ironwood's sudden arrival. "General!" Ghira exclaimed before moving over to shake Ironwood's hand. "I must say, I didn't think we'd be seeing you until later."

Ironwood nodded to the taller man. "Apologies for the unexpected arrival, Ghira. But a certain cohort of mine wanted a few words with her old boss."

"Hm, I see." Sienna said as she approached as well, shaking Ironwood's hand as well, albeit reluctantly. "Has everything been set up at City Hall?"

"Yep, everything is ready for your arrival, Sienna." Ironwood confirmed before his brows furrowed nervously. "…Including the press."

Sienna rolled her eyes. "Ugh, we'll deal with them when we get to them."

"I hope so." Ironwood affirmed before going back to Goodwitch, all while gesturing to the Belladonnas. "Glynda, I think you may have guessed, but these are the Belladonnas."

Glynda then smiled and clasped her hands together, approaching the Belladonna family. "Oh yes, you must be Ghira and Kali!" She extended her hand and shook theirs one at a time. "I'm Glynda Goodwitch, the new headmistress of Beacon. I must say that your daughter has been a very good student throughout her time at out institution… even if she and her team would often find themselves in the middle of trouble." She sent a raised brow over to Ozpin. "You can thank a certain individual for overlooking that."

Kali smiled back, happy to meet the headmistress. "Oh, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Goodwitch."

"Indeed." Ghira nodded. "And I'm very glad to hear my daughter was doing well at your school… before all of this happened, anyway."

Just as Winter was about to formally greet General Ironwood, a certain raspy voice piped up from behind; "Hey, Ice Queen!" Winter's eye twitched and she spun around, giving Qrow a death glare. "We never DID get to talk last night, now did we?"

"No, thankfully you were being mauled by puppies." Winter commented.

"Heh, yeah, I can still feel the mutts' slobber." Qrow wiped his face as he crossed his arms. "So, I hear ya got a new boytoy." He sent her a wink. "But just to let you know, I'm bettin' that NO dance will EVER be as good as the one we shared in Beacon's courtyard a month back."

Winter pointed her sword at him. "You shut your damn, dirty mouth! Unlike you, Kenneth Tennyson is a gentleman. AND he's my age!"

Qrow simply smirked. "Hey, that at least implies that gettin' with me ain't outta the question."

"It most certainly IS!" Winter snapped as she sneered at Qrow's face. "You disgust me!"

"Would you two SHUT UP?!" Raven hollered, getting in between the two as she snapped her arm back over toward the house. "You are setting a VERY bad example for the children!" Qrow and Winter's heads whipped around to see the entire team gathered on the front porch, watching the chaos go down.

Qrow shrugged and murmured something under his breath before sauntering away, causing Winter to grumble before marching off herself. Raven groaned and facepalmed as Tai put an arm around her shoulders to reassure her. "Don't worry, soon they'll be in separate worlds and we won't have to deal with that anymore."

"Thank god for that." Vernal snarked behind the couple. "Wouldn't wanna listen to THAT twenty-four-seven."

On the porch, Weiss leaned over to Ruby. "Yeah, I think it might be for the best that Qrow's not coming with us."

"As much as I wanna disagree… I think you're right." Ruby relented as the team came walking off the porch. She waved to the group of adults. "Hey everyone, how're things going?"

"Very well, Ruby." Ironwood smiled to her. "The White Fang press conference is almost ready to commence. Another couple of hours and we'll be good to go."

Gwen stepped up, carrying the Relic of Knowledge in her hands. "That's good to know, general…" She spotted Glynda staring wide-eyed at the lamp, which made Gwen smile and lift it up for a better view. "Hey, Professor Goodwitch, check out what we got yesterday."

The headmistress was nearly at a loss for words. "I… I don't know what to say." Glynda approached the relic and locked her eyes on it, almost in disbelief. "I've never seen one of the relic's in person before… this is amazing!"

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, everyone's eyes went to Ozpin, the reincarnated man approaching the group. "Yes, it most certainly is, Glynda." He extended a hand to Gwen with a curious expression. "But I must ask… why bring the relic out here, Miss Tennyson? I believe it would be much safer to keep it hidden inside, wouldn't you?"

It was then that all of the teens grew serious, focusing their gazes on Ozpin in particular. "You're right, Professor. But first… we have a few things to discuss about the relic."

Many of the adults were taken aback by how quickly the teens seemed to focus, almost as if they were determined to speak with the former headmaster. Ozpin himself was also very surprised. "Very well, what is it that you'd like to know?"

"I'll put it bluntly, professor." Gwen stated, lifting the relic up. "Yesterday, when Michael Morningstar was trying to drain the relic of its power, I heard a voice coming from within it." This made many of the adults go wide-eyed and slack-jawed, aside from Raven and Vernal, of course. "It… no, she spoke to me through the life-energy around me, and she was in utter pain. Her cries for help is what helped me push through Michael draining my energy, and then I poured every ounce he had absorbed back into the relic… with a little extra for good measure."

Ben stepped forward, his eyes concentrating directly onto the reincarnated man. "Ozpin, what we want to know is… if you've been keeping something about the relic from us." The former headmaster remained silent, keeping his eyes locked on Ben. "I'm not hearing a yes or no."

Ozpin sighed and nodded. "…Miss Tennyson was correct in her assessment. There IS a being living inside of that Relic. A keeper of knowledge who was created by the God of Light and placed within the relic during its inception. Whoever holds the lamp can ask her any question, and she will provide the answer."

The whole group was stunned into silence. To think that there was a being living within that tiny space. "…Damn, I was right!" Kevin said with a slap to his forehead. "It IS a genie!"

"It's certainly very intriguing." Weiss agreed.

Blake's eyes went to the lamp in awe. "More than that, it's incredible!"

"Professor…" Ozpin perked his head up to see Ruby, the silver-eyed girl wearing a slightly saddened face while Teams SN, JNPR and CFVY all kept their neutral expressions. "Why didn't you tell us this in the first place?"

Once again, Ozpin sighed, though this time he shook his head. "I apologize, Ruby, but while knowledge can be a blessing, it can also be very dangerous. I felt it necessary to keep that from you until the right time."

"And when would that have been?" Yang asked as she crossed her arms. "If it's another trust issue, then let me tell ya something; we aren't like Lionheart. You CAN trust us, Ozpin. We're not gonna turn our backs on you."

Ozpin lowered his head and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Tell me, do you think that Leonardo was the first?" This took everybody aback as Ozpin craned his head back up, now with a serious expression of his own. "That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, Miss Xiao Long, but you must understand that my behaviors are backed by years of experience."

"So… you're saying you're keeping secrets because you're afraid we WILL betray you?" Pyrrha muttered.

"No, Miss Nikos. Far from it." Ozpin denied. "I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets that I keep."

"And we understand that." Gwen assured. "But if we want to defeat Salem, we need to know everything we can about her. "Know thy enemy", right?"

Ozpin shut his eyes and shook his head again, his eyes moving straight to the relic. "Believe me, Miss Tennyson, you do not want to know Salem to the extent that I do…"

Gwen noticed where his eyes were focused and glanced between him and the relic, before holding it securely to her chest. "I like to think I've experienced worse."

"Trust me, you haven't." Ozpin stated before making to step forward, holding his hand out to the Relic of Knowledge. "That said, I humbly request you allow me to hold onto the relic going forwar—" However, Ozpin suddenly stopped as his hand was extended, his eyes beginning to flash.

With a concerned look on everyone's faces, Qrow stepped forward and asked; "Oz?"

"H-Hurry." Oscar muttered, the boy having suddenly switched back on his own accord. Though why he couldn't move was a mystery to everyone. "He's… trying to stop you."

Kevin furrowed his brows. "Stop her from what?"

"He's afraid!" Oscar grunted, struggling to hold himself back. "That you'll… find out… what… he's… hiding!" Oscar then dropped to his knees, making everyone recoil in shock.

Cooper swallowed as his nerves began acting up. "When did this all start becoming so serious?"

Velvet hid her eyes behind her ears. "I don't know, but I don't like it!"

The teens and adults all kept their eyes on Oscar as he craned his head up to Gwen, extending a hand toward her. "The being in the relic… her name… is Jinn." Oscar struggled. "Say her name to summon her."

"Her name?" Gwen questioned. The whole group sent their gazes to one another before focusing on Gwen again, the redhead moving her eyes down to the relic in her hands. "…Jinn?"

At that moment… everything around them stopped. There was no wind, no sound, nothing going on in the world around them. "What in the world?" Kali uttered.

"I… I'm not sure, Kali." Ghira said as he kept his wife close. It was then that everyone took notice of the relic beginning to glow brightly in Gwen's hands, leaving everyone stunned. "…But I think we're about to find out."

An ethereal blue energy began to come out of the relic as it floated out of Gwen's grasp, moving up and away from the group as it spun like a top. The blue energy became more and more abundant as the relic flew up, moving by itself as if it had a mind of its own. Finally, the blue energy began spinning around rapidly, the silhouette of a woman appearing within it. The energy then began to coagulate into the woman's form, presenting her true being to the entire group. She had a shapely form with cyan blue skin, while her lips and hair were a darker blue. She had long, pointed ears and the irises of her eyes were more of an ocean blue with darker blue pupils. But all of that was overshadowed by one itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny problem…

"GOOD GREIF, SHE'S NAKED!" Jaune cried out as he shielded his eyes.

Indeed, the giant woman was as nude as anyone could get, at least for a little while. She didn't have any genitalia, areola or nipples to speak of, though that didn't stop many of the gentlemen from moving their eyes away out of respect… or cry out while spinning around and covering their eyes. Even Qrow seemed sheepish at the sight of the naked lady. The only ones who didn't do so were almost all of the women, as well as Kevin and Rex, who were still too stunned by what was happening.

The only girl to turn away was Ilia, her entire body becoming a hot pink at the sight. 'Oh no, she's HOT!'

Coco, however, was quick to lower her sunglasses. "Woo, damn. This was NOT what I was expecting by a long shot."

Just a few seconds after she appeared, though, a slew of golden accessories began appearing on her person… though oddly, none of them covered her chest or groin areas. Her head was donned with a chain going across her hairline while a pair of large, hoop earrings hung from her ears with a single, smaller earring placed higher up on her right ear. She wore a gold choker and a pair of anklets that resembled the Relic of Knowledge itself, while three bracelets adorned her arms; one on her right wrist, another on her left, and one on her left forearm. From the wrist bands, long golden chains dangled down, almost as if they had been broken off from somewhere. Along her waist, she wore a gold chain belt that was held together by a large ring that had three prongs sticking out of it, resembling the lamp's handle.

The floating woman, Jinn, gave a big stretch, a satisfied sound escaping her lips as she smiled. She spread her arms out and opened her eyes, gazing down at the group as blue smoke billowed out from all around her. "Mmm, wonderful!" A few of the boys dared a peek, only to be met with Jinn putting a hand to her cheek and bending herself down face to face with the group, focusing specifically on Gwen. "Before we move on to business, I feel it best to express my gratitude. You are the one who saved my life, correct?"

…..

Back in the Land of Darkness, Salem was making her way through the lower levels of her castle and toward the laboratory, with Doctor Viktor keeping in stride next to her. She also had Lilith perched on her shoulder, the frightening mutation appearing to be relatively calm despite its horrific appearance. It had been a rather interesting twenty-four hours, to say the least. They had lost the relic, gave the traitorous Darkstar what he deserved, and gained a new recruit in the form of Neopolitan. However, something JUST as important, if not even more important was gained through all of this as well; a more level-headed Fall Maiden.

The witch had to give young Cinder credit, she had learned greatly from her mistake, and it was obvious that she was not intending to fail again. Whether this new attitude would prove fruitful in the long run, they would have to wait and see. But she knew one thing was for certain; it was Rojo who brought about this change, and she had a good feeling why.

"Something on your mind, Miss Salem?" Viktor asked, giving her a somewhat concerned expression. "You seem… lost in thought."

"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm quite fine, Viktor." Salem assured. "I'm simply… thinking about how close young Cinder and Rojo have become in the three weeks they have been working together."

Viktor nodded at that. "Indeed. They have become quite the team. I was very impressed with how determined they were to get back here and confront Michael."

"As am I… but that isn't quite what I was talking about." Salem said with a bit of a smirk.

The Transylian was confused at first until he saw the smirk upon her lips, the realization dawning upon him. "Ah, I see. So you believe there could possibly be more to their relationship?"

Salem shook her head. "Well, not right at this moment. My guess is that they are only beginning to figure it out. But perhaps at some point later down the line…"

Viktor nodded again. "Hm, and will you allow it?"

Salem closed her eyes as a slight chuckle escaped her lips. "Hmhm, Viktor, love can be a powerful weapon, and not just on the side of good. If these feelings develop into something more, then I will allow it. Besides, Rojo is the whole reason why Cinder is calmer today, so why take chances?" The duo stopped at the laboratory door and Salem craned her head up to Viktor. "Tell me, Viktor… have you ever loved someone before?"

"…A long time ago, yes. A fellow Transylian." Viktor affirmed, though he glanced away from Salem at the next moment. "But I could not hold the relationship for very long. I was too caught up on my work with Corrodium, and then Zs'Skayr recruited me to take over the Earth. I… have not had time for love since then."

"I see." Salem said before reaching her hand over to place it on his left arm. "My condolences. I too have been long without love in my life as well." Her brows furrowed and her free hand clench. "Let us just say that my last, truly personal relationship did not end very well." However, her angry expression soon gave way to a small smile. "However, I will not lie… someone like you can certainly catch an immortal woman's eye."

A shocked expression came to Viktor's face. "M-My lady, what are you—"

"Yo, Boss Lady! Vik!" Salem and Viktor were pulled out of their conversation when they saw Cinder, Rojo, Emerald, Mercury and Neo strolling down the hall toward them, the redhead leading their pack. "We didn't miss anything did we?" Rojo smirked. "Would be a shame if we didn't see the big show."

"No, in fact, you haven't." Salem answered before whispering to Viktor; "We continue this later, dear Viktor." The Transylian's briefly flashed a flustered face before collecting himself, forcing his featured back into their usual expression. Salem gestured to the door as her followers drew nearer. "We were just about to enter ourselves. Are you prepared for what is about to happen?"

Cinder bowed her head. "As prepared as any of us are going to be, Lady Salem. Of course, given the subject as to why we're here…" She glanced over to Emerald and the green haired girl produced a multitude of brown paper bags. "We felt it necessary to come prepared."

Viktor furrowed his brow. "Are those… vomit bags?"

"Hey, if we're being forced to watch this whole mutation, I just wanna be prepared." Emerald defended.

"Oh, you are not being forced to watch anything, Emerald." Salem assured. "In fact, the mutation isn't the main reason why I wanted you down here at all. Rather…" She reached for the door handle and opened it, revealing what was on the other side. "I wished for us all to hear whatever HE has to say before we do the deed."

The five disciples of Salem peered inside and their eyes widened when they saw none other than Professor Leonardo Lionheart, the lion Faunus hanging upright against a slab as a pair of wrist clamps, ankle clamps, and a large clamp across his abdomen held him in place. But that wasn't the most shocking part. That had to go to the fact that he was shirtless and had multiple, bloody lashings all across his chest, arms, and probably his back as well, along with a few smaller ones on his legs. His pants were torn where the lashings were, he had no shoes on, and his hair was disheveled as he breathed hard, no doubt still in pain from having been lashed in such a manner. Out of the five teammates, the only one to utter something was Mercury with a simple; "…Damn."

Neo nodded silently, trying to glance away from the grizzly scene only to see Hazel standing not too far away… and he was holding a bull whip. Crouched on a stool next to him was Tyrian, the scorpion Faunus jittering with anticipation. "Ah, greetings, everyone." Haze greeted as he set the whip on a nearby table. "I suppose you're admiring the work I've done in taming this lion?"

"AHAHA! Oh, what a glorious time we've had!" Tyrian cackled as he leapt off the chair with a dynamic flip, spreading his arms out as he landed. "Causing pain to others is a euphoria that can never be matched, and I look forward to what sort of pain my new mutated form can do!"

Cinder and the others chose not to comment on that as the Fall Maiden cut right to the chase. "Has he said anything yet?"

"A few things, but nothing we don't already know." Hazel shook his head. "Perhaps we should simply get on with it."

"Now let's not jump to conclusions, Hazel." Salem said with a raised hand. "Remember… I have yet to speak with him." She slowly approached Lionheart, who's heavy breathing slowly became a low, guttural growl with every step she took, his teeth bared and glaring daggers down at her. She met his eyes and smiled sinisterly "Hello, Leonardo. I trust you are finding your accommodations… well?"

Lionheart considered spitting at her… but he still wanted to live, so he settled for just an insult. "You… you are a SICK and TWISTED woman!"

Salem shrugged her shoulders. "Hm, I've heard that one plenty of times, Leonardo. I'm afraid you will have to do far better than that to get on my nerves." She gestured over toward Hazel. "Now, I understand that you have not said much during Hazel's interrogation."

"I have NOTHING left to say to you." Lionheart snapped. "You already know everything that I do, and even if I DID know more, I wouldn't share it with you!"

"Quite the bold claim, good professor!" Everyone's heads snapped up toward the entrance to see Animo, Subdora, Hog, and Skull all filing in, the former two carting some sort of device into the room while the two mutants lugged in a rather large box. Bringing up the rear was Watts, the former Atlesian scientist taking a spot next to his colleague as the mad scientist continued. "But you never said that we can TAKE it from you by force! Haha!"

Mercury raised a brow at the strange device. It was a large, rectangular machine that sort of resembled a computer PC, only with a lot more lights, knobs and switches. Hooked up to it was an odd-looking helmet with a metal frame and multiple different antennas sticking out of it, along with a bunch of connection points on the inside of it as well. He pointed at the device and said; "Uh… do I even have to ask?"

"I would be insulted if you didn't!" Animo answered as he gestured to the machine with one hand and picked up the helmet with the other. "This is one of two side-projects that Watts suggested to me, and we've been working hard to perfect it! THIS… is a mind reading device!"

Emerald blinked at that. "Wait, mind-reading? Like telepathy?"

"Oh, heavens no." Watts dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Technology hasn't improved to THAT degree yet, I'm afraid. Rather, this device takes brainwaves, no matter how small, and then converts them into the written word." He poked a finger onto the helmet. "All we have to do is put the helmet on, activate the machine, and then it will do the work for us."

"And the best part is, it is utterly painless… unless you WANT it to be! Ahahaha!" Animo said with a brief cackle, to which Tyrian joined in. "Ah, yes, but in this case, we want it to be painless so we do not damage the brain of our subject here. After all…" he went over to where Hog and Skull put the large case down, drumming his fingers over the top of it. "He is to be the FIRST to experience our other project as well!"

"Hehe, so what even IS it, boss?" Exo-Skull chortled.

Hog snorted as he laughed. "Hah, yeah, seemed pretty important if ya wanted us to be so gentle with it."

"Indeed it is, my scrupulous simpletons!" Animo exclaimed before flinging the top of the case open. "Behold!"

Right as the case had been opened, a gold, reflective light suddenly shimmered across the faces of everyone there, taking them aback. Once they were able to get a good look at it, though, many of them were surprised. It was a full suit of armor, one befitting a king. It consisted of a stylized breastplate with the face of a roaring lion on it, a pair of layered pauldrons, metal gauntlets, a set of waist guards, a pair of grieves, and of course, a ten-pronged crown. The primary color of the armor was, of course, gold, but it also had royal blue detailing all throughout, primarily on the edges of the armor. However, there were two more accessories that broke up the gold and blue; a crimson cape with two golden clasps, and a long piece of crimson cloth that hung down from the armor's waist, both lined and plated with gold as well. All in all, it was a very impressive piece of armor.

"Holy crud, Animo!" Rojo exclaimed. "How long did it take for you guys to make THIS?!"

"Quite a few days." Animo answered. "When I first heard of Lionheart from Lady Salem, I knew right from the start that I wanted to perform my next experiment on him following Thaddeus and Farkas' mutation, so I presented this idea to Watts and he was more than happy to accept."

Watts nodded with a devious grin. "Oh, indeed I was." He reached in and pulled out the crown, revealing a complex, neural circuit board within the metal band near the front of it. "And THIS is how we will have Lionheart comply with our commands; a mind control device inspired by Animo's transmodulator. Once we place this upon his head, he will be loyal only to us… as a mindless beast."

"NO!" Lionheart roared, catching everyone's attention. "I will NEVER bow to your will! D-Do you hear me?!"

Subdora put a hand to her chin. "Ah, mio dio, you would think he'd have the fight taken out of him by now! And it seems he is still quite a scaredy-cat behind all of the bravado."

Salem narrowed her eyes. "Indeed." She faced Lionheart and locked her eyes with his, making one final ultimatum. "Your choice, Leonardo; either comply and tell us what we wish no know… or allow the doctors to use you as their first test subject. Your choice."

"NEVER!" the now-former headmaster bellowed. "I have already betrayed Ozpin's trust for far too long, I REFUSE to do so for any longer!"

"I see." Salem said before nodding toward Animo. "Doctor, if you would?"

Animo eagerly came up with the mind-reading helmet in hand. "Of course, Lady Salem! Haha!" Lionheart attempted to jerk his head away, but then Hazel came up and used his good hand to keep the cranium still, allowing Animo to shove the helmet on and strap it securely. He then quickly scampered back over to the machine and turned it on, a small electric current visibly making its way from the device and through the wires attached to the helmet. Lionheart gave out a few painful grunts as the electric current coursed into the helmet, though Animo waved him off. "Oh please, it's on its lowest setting, you'll be fine." He pressed a button on the machine, bringing up a holographic screen and keyboard for him to interact with. "If our calculations are correct, we should be seeing what he's hiding very soon. Just give me a few moments to sort through his more dominant thoughts…"

After a few minutes a few words began appearing on the holographic screen. They came up letter by letter, as if someone were slowly typing onto it. The first word was; "B-O-Y", which made Rojo furrow her brow. "What? What the heck does the word "boy" have anything to do with this?"

"Be patient, Rojo." Animo insisted. "The technology for reading brainwaves is still in its infancy. We will have to decipher the message as we go along…" The next word to come up was; "O-Z-P-I-N", which got Animo very excited. "Ah-ha! You see? NOW we are getting somewhere!"

Salem furrowed her brows at this, though, because the next word immediately began with "R". And with every letter that appeared, it was almost as if her pituitary gland was being poked with a cattle prod. Finally, the last word appeared in full, and her teeth were clenched their hardest when she read it; "REINCARNATE".

The rest of the room were at a loss for words… all except for Hazel who appeared to express his anger more directly. "WHAT?!" He stomped forward and removed the helmet from Lionheart's head, tossing it away before Watts frantically caught it. Hazel put his hand to Lionheart's neck and began choking him furiously. "Ozpin is BACK?!" Lionheart attempted to choke out a response, only for Hazel's grip to tighten. "You were a FOOL to keep this hidden from me!"

"Woah, woah, Hazel!" Hog shouted as he and Skull grabbed their friend by his arms and pulled him back, though that didn't stop the angry man from trying to escape. "Calm down, dude, we still need him, remember?!"

The rest of the group remained still as the scene played out, with Watts clearing his throat as he gently set the helmet down. "Well… this is most unfortunate."

"Yes, and so soon?" Tyrian added.

Emerald put a hand to her chin before realizing something. "Wait… the kid! That boy that was with the heroes yesterday." Her head snapped toward Cinder. "Do you think he was…"

"More than likely." Cinder affirmed with a scowl, her fists clenched. "But once the fighting began, he disappeared. He was more than likely trying to avoid conflict for a reason…"

Viktor let out a low grumble. "With Ozpin on their side, they have the best chance of securing the relics before we do. If we wish to beat them to the relics, we will have to…" But it was then that everyone noticed that the tables all around them began to rattle, with multiple test tubes starting to crack as well. Many of them shivered as they felt a dark force beginning to build up directly behind them, causing them all to turn around. There, Salem stood, a black aura beginning to emanate from her as she seethed with rage. "Um… Miss Salem?"

Rojo's teeth chattered for a bit before stammering out; "B-B-Boss Lady? A-Are you—"

She was cut off when Salem raised a single finger. "…I will be back." she said before promptly turning around and marching out the door. Some time passed… and then a blood curdling scream rang out through the entire castle. "RRAAAAAAAAAAH!" All anyone could do was cover their ears as Salem screamed, thankful that she had spared them her wrath… though that didn't stop a bunch of tables from flipping over on their own or a whole slew of test tubes shattering at the force of her wail. When she came back in, Salem was met with a sea of horrified faces from most of her followers, but she paid them no mind. She waved her hand to Animo, who flinched immediately. "Doctor, I have no more use for Lionheart. Inject him and Tyrian at your leisure."

Animo's eyes widened and a grin came to both his and Tyrian's faces. "O-Of course! Right away, Lady Salem!"

Lionheart, however, was beyond horrified when the mad doctor pulled out two syringes from his lab coat; one with a scorpion silhouette, and the other with a lion's. "W-What?! What are you doing—GAH!" Before he even knew what had happened, Lionheart found himself stuck with the syringe, the needle stabbed directly into his right arm.

"GYAH-HAHAHAA!" Tyrian cackled before taking the other syringe from Animo, putting it right over his shoulder. "Oh-ho, don't worry, new buddy! This will only hurt a little bit… FOR YOU! AHAHAHA!" He stuck himself with the needle and almost immediately, a euphoric pain began to overtake Tyrian's entire being, making him laugh even more as he fell to the ground. The first thing he took notice of… was the new tail that sprouted from his severed one, though this one was much larger and thicker than the old one, complete with a gigantic stinger to boot. "HAHA! Welcome back, old friend!" Tyrian laughed as he felt his skin begin to harden and his hair fall right out of his head. "And now… for the rest!"

Many of Salem's followers began backing out of the room as they witnessed what happened. Lionheart was struggling on the table as they saw his muscles begin to grow, the metal clamps breaking off from the slab as they did. Thick, course hair started to grow out from every inch of his body, and his hands and feet began to shift into big, heavy paws. Meanwhile, Tyrian's skin was hardening into more of a dark green carapace, his fingertips becoming sharp like claws… before a huge set of pincers suddenly snapped out from his wrists and clamped down over his hands. His shoes ripped off as his feet grew out, now with only two long, sharp toes instead of five. There was also a third toe now on the back of his heel. Tyrian's eyes glazed over completely yellow as his face began flattening out, his nose disappearing all together as a set of mandibles began jutting out of his lower jaw.

Salem, Cinder, Rojo, Mercury, Neo and a green-faced Emerald all began filing out of the room, the latter having pulled out one of her vomit bags, leaving those who could stomach the transformation behind. "Come, we have many things to prepare for." the witch ordered.

As they made their way out of the lower levels and back up to the main foyer of the castle, Cinder moved up and bowed her head toward her mistress. "Lady Salem, if I may ask, now that we know this, how do you plan on moving forward?"

"Quite simple, young Cinder." Salem stated as she continued forward, leading the quintet up the steps to the upper floor. "I have given these heroes three chances to surrender, and each time, they have refused. So now, I believe it's time we take the fight to them..." She finally reached their destination; a balcony overlooking the vast Land of Darkness. "And it is also the perfect opportunity to play our newest card." She reached out over the balcony and snapped her fingers, the sound echoing out all around her. A few moments passed before a massive, saurian head began rising up above the balcony, a set of huge, purple eyes staring down at Salem and the others as a low growl escaped the creature's throat.

Neo's jaw nearly fell to the ground, having never seen a Grimm this big… or as frightening as the one before her. In contrast, a huge grin appeared on Rojo's face as she pumped a fist into the air. "Haha! Yeah! The Grimmungousaur!" She then gave Neo a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Neo. This big guy is on our side."

A sinister smile made its way to Cinder's face as Emerald and Mercury stepped back a bit, the duo feeling a bit unnerved at the sight of the violet glare the Grimmungousaur was giving them. "Oh… this ought to be fun."

"I am sure it will be." Salem nodded as she reached her hand out to the gigantic beast. The Grimmungousaur lowered its head to her, allowing Salem to give it a pet on the nose. "Hello, my darling." the witch said with her own malevolent smile. "I believe it is finally time to give you… a test run."

…..

Back on Patch, time was literally at a standstill as many of the teens were still staring at Jinn in utter silence, the floating woman still waiting for her answer. However, there were still a few men who were keeping their eyes off of Jinn out of respect, among them being Qrow, Ghira, Tai, and Ironwood as well. Practically all of the teenage boys were trying to keep their eyes away as well, namely the ones who were not single. The only exceptions were still Kevin and Rex, the former analyzing the situation they now found themselves in while the other was too dumbstruck to realize that he was essentially staring at a naked lady. Plus, there was Fox, but he was blind, so there was nothing for him to be flustered at.

"So, uh… what just happened?" Fox said while tapping his ear. "I think my Ada unit's on the fritz."

Kevin tapped his chin and mused; "Well, let's see, there's a large woman in front of us with blue skin, pointy ears, she's floating, and she's got a bunch of gold prisoner accessories. And she came out of the lamp to boot." He gave a confirming nod. "Yep, definitely a genie. …And a rather hot one to boot—OW!" He saw his girlfriend give him the stink eye and immediately began defending himself by thrusting his hand toward Jinn. "What? Tell me I'm wrong!"

"Oh, trust me, you ain't Kevin." Coco smirked before noticing her boyfriend had faced away from Jinn and was staring off in the other direction. "…Tech Head, you KNOW I don't have a problem with this kinda thing, right?"

"Looking at other ladies with you is one thing, sweetie, but looking at a giant one who's naked is a WHOLE different ball game." the blond genius replied.

Glynda took off her glasses and wiped them down with a cloth before putting them back on, making sure that she wasn't seeing things. Once she was certain that this WAS real, she let out a small sigh. "This was not what I was expecting to happen when I agreed to come here."

"I believe that goes without saying." Sienna said while rubbing her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. "How much stranger can this situation get?"

"I find myself asking that question all the time." Winter affirmed. She tapped her little sister on her shoulder, gaining her attention before pointing toward Rex. "I think you might want to snap him out of that."

Weiss' eyes snapped to the EVO as a rather perturbed face etched onto her features, delivering a smack to the back of his head soon after. "GAH!" Rex shouted before rounding to Weiss with an incredulous stare. "W-What?! What'd I do?!"

"Hello?!" Weiss shouted before pointing to Jinn. "You were staring at a naked lady, THAT'S what!"

Rex's eyes trailed back to Jinn in shock, only now realizing that she was indeed nude. "AGH!" He immediately turtled up into his jacket, zipping it up for good measure. "Nobody home!"

"Ahem." Everyone's heads perked up when Jinn cleared her throat, bringing their focus back to her. "I'm aware my presence can be quite shocking to some, but if I may repeat…" She leaned forward again, her eyes locking on Gwen once again. "You ARE the one who saved my life, correct?"

Gwen gulped a bit before feeling a reassuring hand on her back, one that belonged to Kevin. He gave her a nod and nudged his head toward Jinn, ushering Gwen to speak up. The Anodite took a deep breath and nodded as well, stepping forward while meeting Jinn's eyes. "Y-Yes… that would be me, ma'am."

Jinn's eyes widened and a bright, thankful smile appeared on her face. "Oh, yes! I could recognize your particular energy anywhere." She floated over to Gwen and lowered herself down in front of the girl, sitting on her legs while locking her eyes with the redhead's. "What is your name, dear girl?"

"Um… G-Gwen."

"Gwen! Oh, what a lovely name." Jinn reached forward, taking Gwen's smaller hands in her bigger ones. "It is such a pleasure to meet you. I owe you a great deal for what you did for me. If you hadn't come in when you did, I'm sure I wouldn't be here right now." Jinn then took notice of another familiar energy, making her eyes trail over to Raven. The Spring Maiden flinched slightly as Jinn moved over to her as well. "Oh, and my Maiden!" She said with a gracious bow. "You honor me with your presence, my mistress. Please, if I could have the honor of knowing your name?"

Raven blinked in surprise before uttering; "Um… thank you. And it's Raven, by the way."

"Mistress Raven, If there is anything I can do for you, feel free to—"

Raven's eyes widened and she quickly took advantage of that. "Uh, yes, actually. Putting some extra clothes on would be much appreciated."

Yang gestured back to all of the men who were desperately keeping their eyes off of her. "Yeah, if you hadn't noticed, you have nearly every dude here flustered by over your… overexposure." She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow at Jinn. "So PLEASE cover up, lady."

Jinn's eyebrows rose up and she gave out a laugh. "Ah-ha! Yes, of course! My apologies, I am usually only in the presence of a Maiden that I often forget how shameful most men can feel in front of me." With a snap of her fingers, the blue mist wound Jinn's body whirled around, donning her in more clothing. "Alright, gentlemen, it is safe to look now."

All of the men uncovered their eyes… only for the teens to have their jaws drop anyway. Jinn had donned her formerly exposed areas with a gold-plated brazier that had multiple patters on each cup, which were held up by gold chains going over her shoulders and back. As for her lower half, it was donned in a piece of long, blue cloth that covered both her front and backside while keeping her legs exposed, a piece of decorated gold metal attached to both sides near her groin. If anything, this just made the boys blush even further. "Okay, I don't remember ordering the sexy Princess Leia outfit!" Ben cried out.

Jaune felt like a nose bleed would be coming on any second. "I'm not sure what he's talking about, but he's right."

Pyrrha sighed and shook her head. "Well, if it's the best we can get, then so be it." She craned her head up to the large, blue woman. "So, I'm guessing that you are…"

"Ah, yes, where ARE my manners?" Jinn spread her arms out and began introducing herself. "I am Jinn. A being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jinn was cut off when Ozpin suddenly spoke up, now back in control of Oscar's body. The whole group turned to face him, giving the reincarnated man a slew of suspicious gazes.

Ironwood, Qrow, Raven, and even Tai and Goodwitch were no exceptions to this, giving their former leader stares of uncertainty. 'Oz… are you really hiding something from us?' Ironwood wondered to himself.

"…Two questions this era." Jinn finished before chuckling to herself and crossed her arms, her eyes going to Ozpin in amusement. "Hello, old man, it has certainly been a while."

The group was silent before Blake stepped toward the reincarnated man hesitantly. "Professor… you've met her before, haven't you?"

"…I have." Ozpin answered curtly before going back to Gwen. "Miss Tennyson, please… don't."

Qrow glanced between Ozpin and the others before stepping forward. "Hey, listen—" However, he was quickly stopped when his sister glared right at him, to which he reciprocated. There was a silence conversation going between the Branwen twins for a few moments before Qrow relented with a sigh, raising his hands while shifting his gaze to Gwen. "Do whatever you think is right, Red."

Gwen scanned her eyes across the team, her friends all giving her encouraging faces and nods. With that, she took a deep breath spoke the genie's name; "Jinn?" The floating woman perked up as Gwen turned back to her, all while Ozpin's breaths became more ragged. Gwen met Jinn's eyes and asked her question; "What is Ozpin hiding from us?"

"NOOO!" Everyone gasped as Ozpin suddenly shot to his feet and made to lunge at Gwen… only for Jinn to snap her fingers. At that moment, the cyan energy that emanated from her very being began to envelope everyone except for Ozpin himself, who was knocked away by the energy whipping around. He landed on the ground and hollered; "NO! This… this…"

"I apologize, old man." Jinn apologized, though she still kept her smile about her. "They asked me a question, and I am honor-bound to answer." Ozpin could only lower his head and weep as Jinn went through with the request, with everyone else's' eyes glazed over as the genie recounted to them a lost fable from long ago in the distant past. And, within his own mind, Ozpin could tell that Oscar was experiencing the same thing as well. It felt like an eternity for him as Jinn told the group the whole story within the group's minds, but in reality, it had only taken about half an hour in real time. But even then, the world around the gathered people remained still, never moving even in the slightest. When she was done, the blue energy enveloping the group began to recede toward her, with everyone's eyes returning to their normal state. "There we are. I hope that answer was satisfactory."

The group all wore different expressions after what they had just witnessed. The teens were all stunned, still coming to terms with what they had been told while keeping the words of Grandpa Max in their minds. Ghira, Kali, Sienna, Winter, Goodwitch and Tai all wore unsure faces, almost as if they couldn't believe the information presented to them. And finally… Ironwood, Qrow, and especially Raven were all visibly quite angry. Gwen, with a solemn face, nodded to the genie. "Yes… it was. Thank you, Jinn."

"You are most welcome, Gwen." Jinn said before reaching down and lifting the redhead's chin with her finger. "But do well to keep this in mind; we aren't done, my dear. I intend to return the favor for you saving my life. If you can think of anything at all… you know how to summon me."

A soft, yet sad smile came to her face. "Of course. I'll remember that, Jinn." With that, Jinn's whole body dissolved into blue energy and returned to the lamp, allowing time to resume. The relic floated back over into Gwen's arms and the Anodite took a breath, craning her head to her cousin to meet his eyes. "Well… should we get to business?"

Ben sent her a nod of his own. "We should." The hero turned himself around so that he was face to face with Ozpin, who was still on his hands and knees in despair. The reincarnated man moved his head up to be met with the serious, yet controlled expressions of the teens, with the adult's faces ranging from hesitant to absolutely livid. Ben inhaled deeply and spoke calmly; "We need to have a talk… Ozma."

…..

A/N: If that ain't a "to be continued…" moment, then I'm not sure what is. Yep, everything's out in the open now, and while the team is much calmer than when they found out in the main canon thanks to Grandpa Max and Holiday's advice… the adults weren't around to hear said advice, so their reactions probably aren't gonna be as calm. But you're also probably wondering why I skipped over the retelling of "The Lost Fable" itself. Well, it's simply because there's not much I would change about it. Besides, in the original episode, Team RWBY are all just spectators watching it with us in the first place, so there wouldn't be much to add.

But, while the heavy drama will be explored more in the next chapter, there were also a few other moments of this chapter that are worth talking about as well… such as Ben dropping the fairy tale bomb on everyone. I knew it was only a matter of time before we got around to this, but I knew we'd come to it sooner or later. And of course, the reactions are mixed from "totally cool" to "what is even my life right now?". Aren't existential crises fun? And yep, Cinder and Neo have new duds! Neo's is just her outfit from the end of Volume 6 forward, but Cinder's is a modified version of her Mistral dress, one that does away with the long, single sleeve and is just sleeveless. And no, she doesn't get a haircut in this story either. But oh dear, seems like Salem has found out about Oz's reincarnation and is finally bringing out the big guns. It's time for the Grimmongousaur to be played. And don't worry, everyone, you'll see Lionheart and Tyrian's new mutated forms soon enough.

But for now… NEXT TIME! The gang confront Ozpin about what was being kept from them… with some being a bit more sour on him than others. Once that happens, though, the team agree that they need more information on what Salem might be planning currently… so they go to the one person they know who might have an idea on what she might do. After that, it's off to the White Fang press conference… where reactions are expectantly mixed. However, unbeknownst to everyone else, the conference will soon be visited by a bunch of uninvited guests… Thanks for reading, everyone, and I'll see you all next time! Stay safe out there!