When I awoke, it was morning. The clock on the wall read 6:58 AM. I sighed and went to retrieve my notebook. The Headmistress of Shade hadn't been what I expected. Granted, I was happy to see that, of all the leaders of the four schools, she was the most powerful by far. It was a relief that Izanami and the Relic were well guarded. My mind inexorably wandered to the least well-guarded Relic: the one under Haven.

A bolt of panic hit me as I realized that Qrow never once mentioned that Lionheart was a traitor. Maybe he hadn't gotten that far in my book? In a flurry of motion, I whipped out my scroll, idly noting that I had two messages from Izanami, and dialed Qrow.

"Hey, what's up?" His gravelly voice came through the receiver after a few moments.

"Are you busy, there's something I have to tell you."

"Sure, what's up kiddo?"

I bit my lower lip nervously. "In person. It's important."

"Alright. I was headed over there anyway to make sure Ruby got home safely." He replied after a moment.

"She did, and I have a friend over. Blake, from the city."

"Ah." He let out a big sigh. Definitely not a happy one. "Well, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"See you then." I ended the call, almost closing my scroll before I remembered the two messages. The first one was Sylvia's contact information, which I programmed into my scroll. That reminded me: I really needed a burner phone- err, burner scroll for the stuff involving Roman and Adam.

The second message was the address of Sylvia's pen pal. Plugging it into the map app, I winced as I realized that it was about as far into the poor section of Vale as you could get. After exploring Vale for a while, I found that while the one percent were all segregated in the Upper-Class part of Vale, the residential area still had distinct financial divisions between upper, middle, and lower class. Sylvia's friend was smack dab right in the center of the lower-class area. I took an additional moment to record the information down in my journal before packing it away and heading downstairs. Neither of the girls were awake yet, so I started a pot of coffee and popped a bowl of instant oatmeal in the microwave.

A couple minutes later, the front door opened and Qrow stepped inside. I moved to make two cups of coffee. Qrow liked his black. Shocking, I know.

I waited until he got into the kitchen proper before asking "How far into my journal did you read?"

He blinked confusedly at the sudden question but recovered quickly. "Um, not really that far, just about seven or eight pages, why?"

"You didn't see the stuff I wrote about Lionheart?" He shook his head in the negative. I cursed internally. Who knows what he could have done in the time I'd been here?

"What's up with Lionheart?" Qrow inquired.

"He's a traitor." I elaborated in a low voice. "He's working for Salem."

Qrow, understandably, was surprised at this revelation. "I always knew he was a bit of a coward when it came to going against Salem, but this? What does he do?"

I was glad that Qrow was able to take me at my word. "He sets up Hunters in Mistral to be ambushed and killed by Salem and her lackeys. He also sent Ozpin fake transcripts for Cinder and her team to infiltrate Beacon." I would, for now, refrain from telling him about what happened during the Battle for Haven. I doubted he'd take being informed that his sister was the Spring Maiden too well.

"That's… shit." Qrow aptly summed up my feelings on the matter.

"Pretty much." I replied. "Here," I handed him his cup of bean water and moved to add sugar and cream to mine. "He even fought Os- uh, Ozpin for a while. Once the tide of the fight turned, he fled. You can imagine what Salem did to him then." I downed half the cup in one quick go. It wasn't enough. "I guess you could tell Oz to keep an eye on the Hunters in Mistral, say you have a hunch that something strange is happening over there."

"I'll do that." Qrow took a sip of his coffee. "You seem… different."

I scoffed. "I guess last night I realized that despite my knowledge, things still find a way to surprise me." If that wasn't the understatement of the century. The Headmistress of Shade was not only the Summer Maiden but also knew about my existence. Whether that meant she knew in the entirety or she had figured I was some kid that Izanami had chosen.

Chosen. That word left a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn't think I was anyone special. Sure I used to put criminals away all the time. But that was from behind a desk, not punching them in the face. Even then, I had to restrain myself so I didn't pop some poor sod's noggin like a grapefruit. I downed the rest of my coffee. Definitely not enough.

I filled my cup, this time with less sugar and cream. A sip. Better.

"Morning!" Ruby chipper voice announced from the living room. Qrow was behind a wall, so Ruby hadn't seen him yet.

As Ruby drew closer, I started counting down under my breath. "Three." It was low enough for Qrow to hear me, but not Ruby. "Two." Ruby was just past the couch now. "One." Qrow leapt out right as Ruby got to the threshold between the living room and kitchen.

"Boo!" He yelled, and scooped Ruby up in a bear hug. Ruby squealed in fright at first, before realizing who it was.

"Dang it, Uncle Qrow! That's not funny." She huffed, slapping Qrow on the chest lightly.

"No it isn't" Qrow answered, setting the reaper down on her feet. "It's hilarious."

"Well, anyway." Ruby brushed Qrow's prodding aside. "When do you want to have that spar?" She turned to me.

"Couple hours?" I suggested. "That way we have time for breakfast."

"Sounds great!" Ruby darted to the fridge and pulled out the gallon of milk.

Two hours passed quickly, and I found myself growing increasingly nervous for some reason. I trusted Ruby to not do anything too dangerous, and I knew enough about my power to hold back, but a feeling of unease had firmly lodged itself in my mind. I adjusted the bladed gauntlets for what seemed like the fiftieth time in the last ten minutes.

"You seem nervous." Qrow spoke from his position across from me. We were alone in the living room. Ruby was upstairs getting ready, and Blake was outside on the phone.

"I just have this… niggling feeling that something is gonna go wrong." I frowned at my own wording. We were just having a friendly spar, so the odds of something going wrong should be practically nil.

"This is your first time sparring with Ruby, right?" I nodded. "Well then you're probably just nervous about accidentally hurting her."

"I'm not, though. I trust Ruby to not do something overly dangerous and I know my own limits well enough to hold back when it counts." I ran a hand through my hair, now several inches shorter than it had been yesterday, and pulled it into a loose ponytail that barely dropped past my shoulders. "I just can't shake this feeling of foreboding."

"I'm ready!" Ruby called from the top of the stairs. She disappeared into a blur, trailing rose petals, and stopped right in front of the door. 'Speaking of foreboding' my mind supplied grimly.

Qrow stepped aside and let me lead. We moved to the area alongside the house where I used to spar with dad. I blinked in confusion. That was definitely something I didn't remember doing. After months of being forced to keep my body language in check, this was the first thing in a while that provoked a visible reaction. Thankfully no one was in front of me, so my eyes widening went unnoticed. Unfortunately, as my spar with Ruby was due to start in less than a minute, I didn't have time to think about it.

I inhaled slowly, drawing on my aura at a similar pace. Exhale. I let go. Feeling slightly calmer, I turned to face Ruby, who had taken up a position on the opposite side of our impromptu arena. The same flick of my wrists that normally deployed Ember Celica made Summer's blades extend. I took a stance similar to my normal one, though this one had the longer reach of the blades in mind.

Ruby had apparently finished her work on the deployment system for Crescent Rose, because she whipped out a small, red package that quickly unfolded into a familiar yet unfamiliar looking scythe. It was smaller than the one on the show had been, considering that it was two years earlier and Ruby still had growing to do.

Yang's aura writhed, eager for the coming fight. "Ready?" I called out, glancing at Qrow on the sidelines.

"Ready." Ruby gave a single nod, then looked towards Qrow as well.

"Begin!" Qrow yelled authoritatively. Ruby vanished, not even leaving a trail of rose petals behind. She would likely try to get a good hit in early to prevent Yang's semblance from ramping up. I felt eyes on my back, spun around, and crossed my arms. I barely caught the scythe with my blades. A loud clang echoed through the trees, and I felt my feet sink into the ground slightly. It seemed that she'd already started to use her weapon as a counterbalance for maneuvers, because I knew there was no way she could hit that hard with her strength alone.

I tried to spartan kick her, but she had already vanished again. Shit, this was definitely not the same Ruby that I'd watched what seemed like forever ago. I knew that she didn't have the sniper part of her scythe functional, so I didn't have to worry about projectiles. Unfortunately, Ruby herself seemed determined to fill that gap.

A small scuff sound to my right alerted me that she was there. I blindly lashed out with my fist, hearing another loud clang. Ruby's expression was that of surprise, and I quickly took advantage of it by skimming my blade against her forearm. Her aura resisted the effect, and she promptly vanished again.

An involuntary grunt of frustration left me. She was unbelievably fast, like insanely faster than she had been in the show. Granted some of that had probably been toned down so the audience could keep up, but this was still nuts. A feeling of something sharp skimming the aura protecting my left side alerted me to Ruby's presence. Not wanting her to get away this time, I grabbed onto Crescent Rose by the blade, wincing as I felt it dig into my aura. She let out a startled yell. In spite of me surprising her like that, she still used her momentum to swing around in an attempt to dropkick me.

This was exactly what I'd hoped she'd do. Tai and Qrow were obviously not slacking on their training with her. I figured that Tai had likely taught her physical fighting and Qrow had taught her how to wield her weapon well. It was a bit of a gamble, but I knew that I'd either throw her off for long enough to get a hit in or she would do something to counter me, which would still let me get a hit in.

I pushed Crescent Rose to the ground and jumped, flying right over Ruby. The blade in on my left retracted and I rocketed a punch forward. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and I figured that it had been a passive activation of my semblance.

It connected, launching Ruby forward towards Qrow. She skidded on the ground for about ten feet, coming to rest next to the birdman sans her weapon. Her aura flickered once. "Ow," She grumbled. "I guess you win." I switched my grip on Crescent Rose from the blade to the handle, wincing as a shallow line of blood dribbled from my fingers. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever deity or deities existed for aura, because if I hadn't had it, her scythe would likely have bisected me.

A pulse of my aura was sent to my wound to accelerate the healing process as I walked over to my downed sister. She appeared no worse for wear physically, though she seemed despondent at her loss. I extended the scythe towards her. "I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"

She accepted the weapon. "No, just stings. And Uncle Qrow said that hit did over half my aura." My eyes widened in alarm. Evidently she picked up on my panic, because she quickly added. "I still have about forty percent of my aura left, so there's no problem. It was just a hard hit. Though, I gotta say, I never expected you to actually grab my weapon."

"Well," I started, a bit embarrassed. "I figured that if you got away with that free hit, then I probably wouldn't be able to catch you again. That was just the quickest way to do so."

"That's pretty ingenious." Qrow chimed in. "Dangerous, but ingenious."

I blinked in confusion as a memory suddenly came to me.

"That's a pretty dangerous weapon." Dad told me. I just rolled my eyes. He was always so concerned with my wellbeing, yet supportive of my choice to be a Huntress. "Don't roll your eyes at me. What if one of those shells backfires and makes the rest explode? It'll take your hand off."

My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. He had actually made a good point. "Okay, how about I put an opening across the length of the ammo chamber. That way I can see how many shots I have left and any misfires will get forced out of the opening instead of exploding my hand." I smirked at the puzzled look he gave me.

"That's… actually pretty smart. Dare I say ingenious." He punched my shoulder softly.

"Ow," I pretended to be hurt, clutching my 'wounded' shoulder with my off hand. Then, with a smirk, I added. "And yes, thank you for noticing my genius intellect."

Dad blew a raspberry and threw an arm over my shoulder, trapping me in a headlock. "Daaaad" I whined, in spite of the smile on my face.

The memory left as suddenly as it came. Where had that come from? Was that one of Yang's memories?

"You okay, Firecracker?" Qrow called out suddenly, making me jump. He hadn't called me Firecracker in months.

"Yeah, I-" I sighed deeply. "I got another memory flash. I was building Ember Celica with Dad." Ruby squealed with glee, while Qrow's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Ruby, why don't you go inside for a bit, I'm sure that Blake is wondering where we've all gone." Qrow told her. Ruby saluted and vanished, leaving a thin trail of rose petals going in the direction of the house. Qrow took a step towards me. "Memory flash?"

"Ever since yesterday, I've been seeing… I dunno, Yang's memories." Qrow's eyebrows practically shot into his hairline. "When I fought that Ursa yesterday, I saw a vision of Yang's accident. It was in the Forever Fall, and the Grimm that killed me – her – was an Ursa Major."

"Y-yeah. That's exactly right." He spoke with a sotto voce.

I won't lie. I'm more than a little scared. Scared that Yang is silently riding in the passenger seat and waiting for an opportunity to usurp control of her body from me. Inside, I knew that fear was unfounded, doubly so since the being that had brought me here is basically a God. Or Goddess, if you wanted to get gender specific.

"I don't know why this is happening. But I'm hoping that it's a good thing." I averted my eyes. "If this turned out to be an opportunity for Yang to come back, I think I would fight her for it. As much as it would pain me to keep her from her family, there are important things I need to do here. Things that I'm not entirely sure would get done without me."

And believe me, forcing Yang away would be something I'd fret over for the rest of my life on this planet. "Ozpin is too scared, or cautious, to do the hard things. So what if he has thousands of years more experience than I do, it ends up being his ignorance and unwillingness to act that causes the Fall of Vale in the first place."

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear the first half of that rant." Qrow said, fixing me with a hard stare. "But, you're wrong about Ozpin. He's not scared to act; he's just waiting for the right moment."

It took everything I had to avoid laughing out loud, and even then I'd still only kept it to a scoff. "And when is that, Qrow? When Vale is burning? When people are dying by the thousands? When Ozpin is dead at the feet of the False Maiden?"

He shrank slightly at my biting words. "Okay, maybe Ozpin doesn't have all the answers. Maybe he makes a couple mistakes. But he's still the best man for the job, period. He has unparalleled knowledge on the world and on Salem."

"There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom, Qrow. I'm not claiming to have either, but at least I'm doing something! He could have the cumulative knowledge of a thousand lifetimes and it still didn't help him keep Vale safe from Salem." I realize that I was probably being obstinate, but if what Izanami had said was true – she had no reason to lie to me – then Ozpin, or rather Ozma, had lied to everyone without exception. The fact that Qrow was defending him so vigorously told me that either he was thoroughly on Ozpin's side, or he didn't know the whole truth.

There were things I wanted desperately to tell him. But doing so would more than likely irreparably damage our already tenuous alliance. Or worse, get Ozpin on my case. That would be bad.

"I have a proposition." I looked him in the eyes. "After we deal with Cinder's attack on Amber in a year and a half, I'll tell you everything I know." He started to open his mouth to reply. I cut him off. "But! But, I need you to, I'm not gonna say be suspicious of Ozpin, just-" I took a deep breath. "Be wary of him. If he tells you to do something that you don't necessarily agree with, come to me and we can talk about it."

"That's…" Insane. Unreasonable. Stupid. "Fair, I guess." He replied. I blinked in confusion. Maybe he wasn't as allied with Ozpin as I thought?

"I am willing to share one tidbit of information with you, if you promise not to tell your boss about it. Also, I need you to promise me that you won't go off and do something rash." It was a big risk, but hopefully it would pay off.

"Alright, I promise." Came his tentative reply.

"Say the words, please." I asserted.

He rolled his eyes. "The words please."

I could feel a headache coming on. "Ass." Qrow laughed heartily.

He raised his left hand and placed his right over his heart. "I promise not to do anything rash or tell my boss."

The look on his face made it worth it. "Raven is the Spring Maiden."

He stared at me, his mouth working soundlessly as he tried and failed to process what I had told him. What seemed like minutes later, he eventually spoke. "C'mon. We're going to the store." Upon seeing my confused expression, he added. "I don't have nearly enough booze for this conversation."

A/N: Hey, sorry for the huge delay between chapter, I had a bit of a rough time trying to get this one out. This is also probably going to be the standard length for chapters from here on out barring the occasional. Also, I have plans to keep writing for all of my stories barring Red Death and the one shot BL3 ficlet. The Transistor crossover is being rewritten, I just want to get quite a bit finished before I start posting it.