Sorry for the long delay, the past few months have been crazy for me. But we finally got all the llamas rounded up, giving me the time to get back to this story.

Blake blinked back the sunlight as they exited the CCT. The wind tickled her ears, and Blake frowned at the reminder of her missing bow. Must've vanished with our clothes… I'll have to get another.

"While you eat, I'll return to my office and continue the research." Oobleck said. "Perhaps there are conditions for dissolving such marriage when the officiator has gone missing."

Yang waited for him to run off, then turned to the others. "So, should we head back to the dorm?" she asked, setting off down the path.

Pyrrha frowned. "I thought we were going to get lunch." she said.

"Do you wanna face the entire lunchroom, after this morning?" Yang asked. "We're best off lying low until it all blows over."

"We can ask Ren and Nora to pick up something." Jaune suggested, pulling out his scroll and tapping out a message. "I'll ask them to meet us at the dorms"

"Then why did you lie about where we're going?" Ruby asked.

"I just needed an excuse to get rid of Oobleck." Yang said. "This way, Blake has a chance to explain what she doesn't wanna tell us."

"And who says I'm willing to share?" Blake asked. "What gives you the right to pry into my personal history?"

"I thought you'd be better than that." Yang said, mock disappointment. "Keeping secrets from your spouses? How are we supposed to have a stable marriage if our wife doesn't trust us?"

"But…"

"This Adam jerk's the reason we're still stuck together." Yang said. "I'd say we have a right to know." Her gaze turned stern, and Blake realized that further resistance was useless. "I assume you know him from your time with the White Fang?"

Blake sighed. "Yes." she admitted.

"You were a member of the White Fang?" Pyrrha asked, curious.

"Up until a year ago." Blake said. "At the time, I thought that it was the only way to free my fellow faunus."

Jaune stopped in surprise. "Wait, you're a faunus?" he asked.

"Hello!" Yang said, pointing to the top of Blake's head. "Cat ears?"

"Oh." Jaune blushed. "I probably should've noticed that."

"When I first met Adam, I saw him as a charismatic and idealistic warrior, someone who wouldn't allow pacifist weaklings to stand in the way of our freedom." Blake continued. "We quickly became… involved."

Ruby frowned. "Does that mean that you and him did the nak-"

"Yes." Yang said, cutting Ruby off.

"But over time… he began to change for the worse." Blake said. "Though I tried not to notice it, a darkness was growing within him."

Blake fell silent as several other students passed by, then continued once they were out of earshot. "Adam's anger turned to blind hatred, and his dedication became fanaticism. Eventually, it became clear that the idealism I once admired had been twisted into nothing but an obsession with making everyone else on Remnant suffer, regardless of their guilt."

"So you took off?" Yang asked, holding open the door to the dorms.

"Eventually." Blake said. "It wasn't like I could just turn in my two week's notice. I looked for the opportunity to escape, and when it came, I took it." She frowned at the memory. "I had hoped that Adam might accept my choice. We'd talked about my concerns many times before, and I thought that he might understand why I left, even if he didn't agree. She exhaled. "That obviously didn't happen. Considering his attack on the Chapel, it appears that his obsession's become focused on me."

Someone grabbed her by the stomach. Blake inhaled in alarm, then she relaxed, realizing it was Ruby who'd seized her. "I'm sorry that happened." their leader said, tightening the hug.

Blake smiled and patted her on the head. "It wasn't your fault." she said. "It's only-" Blake pulled back at the doorway, her eyes widening at the scene inside.

The room had been ransacked, cloths, books, and knicknacks strewn around the room. Weiss sat on her bed, tossing various items and pieces of clothing into a pile. "How dare he." she muttered. "How dare he!"

"Um… are you alright?" Ruby asked.

"Just getting rid of some unwanted clutter." Weiss said, picking up a picture frame. She pulled out the photo, then ripped it in half and dropped it onto the heap.

Ruby picked up the torn halves. "Is that a family picture?" she asked. "Why do you wanna destroy it?"

"Father's made it clear that I'm out of the family." Weiss said. "Why should I pretend otherwise?"

Blake looked over the pile. Numerous pamphlets were scattered throughout the mound, stamped with the logo of the Schnee Dust company. An expensive looking dress was draped across the top of the pile. "Are these presents or something?" Yang asked.

"Yep." Weiss said, reaching into her dust case. She pulled out a red vial and hurled it at the floor. The others drew back as the pile exploded into flames. Weiss waited until her possessions had been mostly consumed, then tossed a water crystal into the blaze to extinguish it.

"I get that you're mad…" Pyrrha said carefully. "But isn't this a bit extreme? Like it or not, you've still got to share a last name with him."

"Not anymore." Weiss said, in a slightly more satisfied tone. "That was fixed half an hour ago."

"Fixed it?" Jaune asked. "How?"
"Simple." Weiss replied. "I changed my surname to 'Arc.'" She smiled smugly. "They make it easy to change your name after a marriage, I was able to do it all on my scroll without leaving the dorm."

"That seems drastic." Blake asked, frowning. "Are you really planning to stay married to Jaune just for the sake of spite?"

"Of course not." Weiss said. "But lots of women don't go back to their maiden names after divorcing, and it's not like I could give father the satisfaction of keeping the name 'Schnee.'" She smiled eagerly at the others. "So, how did it go? Do we need to take the forms in ourselves, or were you already able to do it remotely?"
"Well…" Ruby began.

"Long story short, Blake's ex is a psycho, the minister's gone missing, and we can't cancel the marriage until he's been found." Yang said.

"We can't?" Weiss asked, her mouth dropping open in horror. "But that means…" she turned to Jaune, face turning red. "Just because we're still married doesn't entitle you to sexual favors!" she snarled, glaring daggers. "Changing my surname means nothing, so don't even suggest it!"

"I wouldn't!" Jaune retorted, angry and insulted.

Weiss's anger retreated somewhat. "...sorry" she muttered. "That wasn't fair." She clenched her fists and glared at the Schnee logo on Dust case. "Just when I think of Father, and being called a… Yah!" In a single motion, Weiss seized the case and heaved it out the window. "There" she said, dusting her hands. "Now-"
There was an explosion outside, followed by screams. The others all looked to Weiss, who had gone pale. "I meant to empty that." she said weakly.

Ruby walked over to the windowsill and peeked out. "Sorry, Professor Port!" she called.

"Not at all!" a faint voice replied. "A proficient hunter must be ready for attacks to come from anywhere, at any time, even if it's explosives falling from the sky!"

"Knock knock!" someone called. Ren and Nora walked into the room, their arms filled with paper sacks.

"Is everything okay?" Pyrrha asked, frowning at Nora's expression.

"She'll be alright." Ren said, as they began to hand out lunch bags.

"All my friends are married, and I don't even have a boyfriend!" Nora wailed. "I'm going to die alone!"

Ren patted her shoulder, and Nora looked at him with new eyes. "Wait, Renny!" she exclaimed. "You're single too! We can get married to each other!"

"Nora… we aren't even together-together." Ren said.

"Right... sorry." Nora said. She sighed, but then perked up. "But what if we were together together? Then could we?"

Ren exhaled. "If that's what you really want, I'd love to date you, but we're way too young to be discussing mar-" Ren was cut off as Nora pulled him into an enthusiastic kiss. After several moments, she broke away, giving him a hopeful look.

Ren blinked in surprise. "Then again, I've always thought graduation weddings were romantic." he said. "Should we set a date for three years from now?"

Nora cheered, and pulled Ren into another kiss.

Blake frowned as she looked into her bag. "Nora…" she said. "Did you get us anything to eat besides deserts?"

"Of course I did!" Nora said, breaking away from the kiss and wiping her mouth. "Pancakes are a breakfast food!"

"Smile dip?" Jaune asked, pulling out a pink bag and giving her a quizzical look. "Where did you get this? Isn't this illegal in Vale?"

"Here." Ren said, passing out a second set of bags. "Just in case you wanted something besides sugar."

"Who would want that?" Nora asked

"Someone who isn't part hummingbird?" an unfamiliar voice suggested. A disheveled man stood in the doorway, a flask in one hand.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cheered.

"Hey, kiddo!" the man laughed
"EEP!" Jaune dove into the closet.

Ruby shot forward and wrapped herself around his arm. "Didja miss me? Didja miss me?" she asked.

Qrow turned to his niece and ruffled her hair. "Nope." he said, smiling fondly.

"So…" Yang said, slightly nervous. "Do you know about-"

"I've heard." Qrow said. "Between this and the Fang attack, sounds like you guys had one hell of a weekend." He glanced around the room. "So, these are your new spouses?"

"Mostly." Ruby said. "That's Nora sitting on the bed, she's just a friend."

"And this is Ren, my fiance!" Nora said, pulling Ren into a hug.

Qrow smirked as Ren began to turn blue. "Fiance, eh? How long have you two been dating?"

Ren gasped for breath as Nora released him. "seven minutes?" he wheezed.

Blake looked at the time and shrugged. "More or less."

"I've told you about my team." Ruby continued, gesturing to Blake and Weiss. "Then that's Pyrrha beside the window."

"It's nice to meet you." Pyrrha said. "Ruby speaks highly of her uncle."

"And that's Jaune, behind the closed door."

"Ruby, I thought we were friends!" a faint voice called. "Why would you betray me like this!"

Qrow chuckled. "So your husband's in the closet, eh? That's not a good sign." he knocked on the door, and there was a whimper from inside. "Relax kid, I ain't gonna hurt you." Qrow called. "Honestly, I'm kinda impressed."

Jaune opened the door a crack. "Impressed?" he asked suspiciously.

"Sure" Qrow said. "In one booze fueled night, you somehow managed to wed and bed half the girls in your grade! I used to call myself the king of drunken screwups, but you've made even that time with Winter look tame!"

"WHAT?" Weiss demanded. "And what do you mean to imply by that?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow at her. "And you are?"

"Weiss Schnee." the disinherited heiress snapped. Blake noted that in her anger she had forgotten her new surname. "And I insist on knowing what you did with my sister."

"Tell you what." Qrow said. "Since you and me are some sort of in-laws now, I'll play nice. Do you really want to know what me and Winter did that night?"

Weiss ducked her head, looking sick as she imagined the possibilities. "...Never mind." she muttered.

"Anyway, Ozzie wanted me to fetch you six." Qrow said. "Wanted to talk about 'recent developments'"

"Can we come?" Nora asked brightly.

"Ol' Ironwood wanted the meeting to be discrete" Qrow said, and grinned. "So sure you can come. It's always fun to see him annoyed."

For the second time that day, the elevator doors opened, revealing the headmaster's office. Oobleck, Ozpin, and Goodwitch were already waiting for them, along with a uniformed man that Weiss recognized as General Ironwood of Atlas Academy.

The General scowled at the sight of Nora and Ren. "Did you have to bring those two?" he asked.

"Absolutely." Qrow said with a straight face.

"Dr. Oobleck has been updating us on the situation." Goodwitch said. "Have you managed to remember anything from the past weekend?"

"Not yet." Weiss said. She turned to the others, but they just shook their heads.

"Were the police able to find out what happened to the hostages?" Pyrrha asked.

"Unfortunately not." Ozpin said. "The authorities were focused on containing the fire and searching the building for survivors. Unless your men were able to track them?" he asked, turning to General Ironwood.

"Not a sign." Ironwood said, frowning. "Our forces were dispersed on the edges of Vale, repelling any Grimm drawn from Saturday's attack. By the time we got a squad to the scene, the terrorists were long gone."

"And the hostages with them." Qrow said.

"While rescue of the hostages remains top priority, it'd still be helpful if we could free our pupils from this contract." Ozpin said. "Did your research unveil anything, Bartholomew?"

"Unfortunately, I've found very little in the way of helpful information." Oobleck said. "If the Reverend were declared dead, we would be free to seek out a different official to annul the union. However, as long as he's missing, that isn't a possibility. The law does mention that in such unusual cases, the marriage can instead be annulled by the next minister to take the position..."

"Great!" Ruby said. "We can-"

"But unfortunately, the Chapel of the Wandering Saint isn't likely to appoint a new pastor anytime soon, as it's been entirely demolished." Oobleck continued.

"You could become widows!" Nora suggested. "Let's have Jaune fake his own death!"

Ironwood frowned. "Excuse me?"

"It'd be just like in the movies!" Nora continued. "He'd pretend to die in a fiery explosion, then strike against the White Fang from the shadows, methodically dismantling the organization before finally going against Adam in an epic duel to the death!"

"And you expect Jaune to do this?" Blake asked. "The guy wears bunny pjs."

"They're comfy!" Jaune complained.

"Regardless, I don't believe that such a strategy would succeed." Oobleck said. "The contract explicitly describes the marriage as polyamorous, not polygynous. If Mister Arc were to be declared dead, Mrs. Nikos and Team RWBY would still be married to each other."

"I'll ask around, see if I can find out where they'd be headed." Qrow said, then frowned at Ironwood. "'Course, that won't be much help to them if that Schnee bastard borrows more of your playthings."

"Jacques' clearance has been fully revoked." Ironwood said, frowning. "However, as this is the second time Atlas forces have gone rogue in the past two days, it's become apparent that a full revision of security protocols is in order." he turned back to the teens. "In addition, I'm confining the six of you to Beacon for the time being."

"What?" Yang demanded. "You can't do that!"

"I agree with James on this matter." Ozpin said. "As inconvenient as this may seem, it's clear that we have significant reason to fear hostile takeover of Atlesian technology. What would happen, if they managed to take control of a ferry with any of you onboard?"

Yang scowled, but didn't argue further. "Is there anything else you need from us?" Pyrrha asked.

"For the time being, I don't believe so." Ironwood said. "But please tell us if you remember something that might help us find this Adam, or explain the motive behind his attack."

Weiss glanced over at Blake, but the former terrorist stayed silent. Weiss frowned inwardly, but decided that it was Blake's secret to divulge when she was ready.

"Qrow" Ozpin called as they turned to leave. "If you could remain for a moment? There's another issue we need to discuss."

"Right." Ruby's uncle said. He winked at them as he turned back. "Good luck making your marriage work!" he called.