Chapter 19

The Cowardly Lion, The Goodwitch, and the War-room

The silence was deafening when the team returned to their dorm room minus their leader. One by one, the girls changed from their dresses to their pajamas and took off their makeup. When they were done, they each sat on their beds painfully aware someone was missing. Once in awhile they would catch each themselves staring at their feet as if comparing their soft, pink skin to the tatters that were Ruby's feet. They were so used to the caped-girl running around barefoot that it was disturbing to think she couldn't even walk.

She weighed heavily on all their minds, but it was Weiss who could not take the silence any longer. The heiress knew less about her partner than even Blake, but there was one thing that was painfully obvious to her.

"Ruby isn't upset about the Vytal Festival for our sake is she?"

The blonde shook her head slowly as if it hurt.

"I'm going to be honest ladies," Weiss continued. "I haven't exactly been looking forward to the tournament like Ruby. Actually, I've been dreading it, but I know she wants it more than anything. It's like an obsession for her. Could you tell me why? It seems like she never gives me a straight answer anymore."

Yang sighed and looked misty eyed as the long night was starting to catch up with her.

"I don't know why Ruby won't just come out and say it, but the reason she's been pushing us so hard is because she wants us to be like our parents' team. They won the Vytal Festival together, and Rubes wants to be like her mom."

"Her mom?" Weiss raised an eyebrow up at her, something off with the other girl's tone.

"Yeah her mom," Yang said simply. "You already know we're half-sisters."

She nodded, but still eyed her curiously.

"Rubes lost her mom a few years ago, and ever since then she's been following Summer's footsteps. In fact, she pushed herself so hard she was accepted into Beacon two years early."

"That is pretty incredible," Blake agreed.

"But now I'm wondering if that was two years too early..."

Her teammates didn't say anything to agree or disagree. More than once they'd had similar thoughts about their leader, though none of them would openly admit to them. It wasn't that they didn't think she wasn't an amazing warrior or a surprisingly capable leader. They all knew she was a prodigy, and had led a freshman team against a Nevermore and as well as a Paladin and won. She was however two years behind them both physically and mentally. They could only imagine how incredible she'd be if she had finished her two years of training.

"I don't know if she is too young or not," Weiss mused, "but none of us could have led this team as well as she has, and we haven't exactly been the easiest bunch of misfits."

Both the blonde and faunus reluctantly nodded.

"Yang, you smother Ruby and always make her feel self-conscience, and that just makes her want to please you more. Blake, you haven't always been there for us. And I've been…" She paused looking for the word.

"Demanding?" Yang finished.

"Prissy?" Blake guessed.

"Rhymes with witchy?" the cheerful blonde tried again.

"Alright I get it," she snapped. "I was going to say I've been difficult and a bit fussy at times, but thank you for the list."

"Anytime," they jested.

"The point is, we need to find a way to cheer your sister up," Weiss' voice cracked. "Ruby's right, we'll probably miss the Vytal Festival now. Her feet could takes weeks or even months to heal if that woman's aura is a strong as she says. Red dust in solid form is nasty, painful stuff. We're going to have to be there for her."

Yang's lip twitched, happy that her sister had gotten stuck with her as a partner, but that only made her feel worse.

"I should have been watching her," she said miserably. "It's all my fault..."

"No way," Weiss shot back. "I'm her partner and I wasn't watching her either. If you want someone to blame, Yang, blame me. I'm the one who proposed the duel Friday. I knew we would end up taking it too far, and sure enough I was right. Ruby used up way too much aura and I didn't do her shoulder any favors either. If it wasn't for me, your sister would probably be just fine."

"You were just trying to cheer her up, Weiss, and thank you. But I'm the one who forced her to come to the dance."

"I'm the one who picked out the heels she couldn't walk in."

"Well I'm the one who-"

"Stop it, both of you!" Blake shouted, not caring if students were trying to sleep. "It's nobody's fault. Weiss, Ruby needed that duel and she was fine afterwards. A little extra aura wouldn't have done her any good and you know it. Yang, you never forced Ruby to come and you aren't her babysitter. None of us are."

The pair were quiet, thinking to themselves, but Blake still had something else to say. She sighed and looked down at her feet. Despite her words, Blake also felt she was to blame

"Don't blame yourselves. Sun and I were the only ones to see her leave, and we didn't stop her..."

Yang was surprised to hear that, but didn't hold it against her partner. How could she? Before Ruby had joined Beacon, she had needed their father's permission. Ruby was only able to join under one condition.

'Take care of your sister Yang. She's all we have left of Summer...'

"She's too young," Yang muttered to herself. "Too young to get involved in this stuff."

A yawn from the heiress made the team aware of how late it was.

"Let's try to get some sleep," Blake suggested. Her teammates agreed, and after turning out the lights, they crawled into bed, the only illumination the blonde's scroll.

'Goodnight, lil sis.' She wrote. Moments later she got a reply.

'Goodnight, big sis.'

Yang smiled. "Ruby says goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ruby," Blake mumbled.

"Tell her to get some sleep," Weiss ordered, sounding pleased but perhaps a little frustrated with her partner.

A tear fell through the scroll and Yang wiped her eyes. Tonight had stirred too many painful memories of Summer, and her Rubes had looked so much like her laying in that bed...

Professor Ozpin gazed out the windows of his office wishing he could see the Isle of Patch this morning but the rain clouds made it impossible. The sky was as gloomy as his mood, and he took another sip of coffee hoping the caffeine would do him some good. It had been a very long night.

His desktop scroll alerted him that his visitors had arrived.

"You may enter," he said with reluctance.

The doors opened and Professor Goodwitch and General Ironwood walked side by side with grimaces on their faces. It seemed the weather was reflecting more than just his mood.

"Glynda, James." He nodded politely. "Good to see you. Please have a seat." They did as they were asked and waited for the headmaster to continue.

"Before we begin, I should tell you that I contacted Taiyang Xiao Long about his daughter."

Goodwitch rolled her eyes. "Please tell me he isn't on his way."

"What's wrong with Tai?" Ironwood asked curiously. "I understand he can be a bit eccentric at times, but he's a good man and a good huntsman. He isn't called 'The Lion of Signal' for nothing."

"Was a good huntsman," she said dryly. "He's not the same man he used to be, and nobody's been called that for twenty years. Nobody even refers to him as 'The Dragon' anymore. You barely know him, and he doesn't flirt with you every chance he gets."

"No, I can't say he does..."

"Which reminds me, Glynda," Ozpin said with a twinkle in his eyes. "He did ask if you were still single."

Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. Ozpin coughed awkwardly.

"Moving on then. Taiyang will not be returning to Beacon as per my request. He will however be sending his daughter a package via Signal air service. It should be arriving soon, if not already."

"Of course he'd abuse the huntsmen like that," she scoffed.

"He is a professor at Signal, Glynda, and has the authority to do so. In most cases I would have avoided such a call, but I need to contact Qrow immediately, and Taiyang's the only one who can do that. We should be hearing from him within the next few days. I also thought it was best to tell him about his daughter personally."

"I still can't believe that girl is Qrow's niece," Ironwood said, shaking his head. "I was under the impression Tai only had the one daughter. How is miss Rose doing?"

"Laying in a hospital bed, and will be for quite some time," Ozpin said frankly. "Her aura isn't fully developed yet so it will be a slow recovery."

"I spoke with the doctors," Goodwitch added. As Ruby's combat instructor she knew the caped-girl's aura better than anyone. "They've given her what little aura they could, but it's not even a drop in the bucket of what she needs. And I've been told even that made her feel ill."

Ironwood frowned. "I didn't recognize her at first, but she was the red hooded girl from the Paladin incident wasn't she?" Ozpin gave a curt nod. "I might not have known she was Qrow's niece, but I knew she was one of his students from Signal. Besides him, I don't believe I've seen a finer scythe wielder."

"Speaking of the Paladin..." the headmaster drawled, causing Ironwood to sit up straighter. "Have you discerned how a machine of war fell into the hands of our enemy?"

"Not yet," he said regretfully. "By all accounts it's still sitting in storage. It's beyond me how it ended up in Vale of all places, but to be perfectly honest I'm much more interested in its operator.

"Roman Torchwick," Glynda contributed.

"Nothing on his record indicates he should be able to fly a bullhead, much less pilot a paladin. A prototype mind you without all the proper equipment. It was made for weapon practice, not actual combat, yet he piloted it better than some of my men. There is more to that man than just a simple crook."

Ozpin nodded. "I agree, but let's not lose focus on the bigger picture. Someone sabotaged the perimeter fence that night, and I believe it was our mystery intruder from tonight.

"So do I," Goodwitch's eyes narrowed as she showed the two headmasters a photo of the masked woman in the CCT. "She accessed a terminal before miss Rose interrupted her."

"Do we know what she accessed?"

"Unfortunately no." She turned to Ironwood, raising a curious brow. "She received a file from Atlas, but there is no way of tracing it."

"She did leave us this though." The general ignored the implication and handed Ozpin his scroll. It was a picture of the terminal the masked woman had used, and the normally blue, holographic screen had been changed to the White Fang banner with a chess piece in the middle. The black queen...

Ozpin crossing his fingers, staring intently at the image as if willing it to divulge its secrets.

"Does this mean she's the queen we've been looking for?" Glynda asked. "If so, that means I had the perfect opportunity to put an end to her weeks before initiation." The huntress tightened her grip on the scroll. "If it hadn't been for that silly girl..."

"I understand your frustration, Glynda, but it can't be helped," Ozpin sympathized. "It wasn't your fault nor miss Rose's. I admit the evidence is striking, but I'm not fully convinced yet that this is the so-called 'Queen of Fall' we've been searching for."

"Neither am I," Ironwood boomed. "Qrow told us 'Queen has pawns', so until proven otherwise, I believe this is just another pawn much like Torchwick."

Ironwood sighed and tightened the glove on his right hand. "Every time we think we have him, the man slips through our hands like smoke." He reached out as if to catch the air.

"Is it possible he's hiding in the lost city?" asked the headmaster.

"He'd have to be a lunatic, Ozpin. You know even better than I that it's a breeding ground for Grimm. The city's crumbling into ruin and the Goliaths still circle it decades later. They would've been killed if they stayed there. Besides, we've already scanned the city from above. No human life, or faunus life for that matter."

"Your bullheads may not have found anything, but what about men on the ground?"

"To search a city like that would take more manpower than I can spare, Ozpin. It cannot be done."

"I agree that the military are not capable for such a task. I of course mean huntsmen."

The general didn't seem pleased by that idea. "How many men are we talking about? The less on the ground the better so they can move around freely, and less causalities, but they'd be better suited in the City of Vale for extra defense, or searching a more likely hideout location. I say let the city rot until the Grimm numbers endanger the rest of Vale.

Ozpin smiled. "It just so happens, General, that the Grimm population is growing and are currently knocking on our doors. I've already signed a search and destroy mission for my first year students."

Ironwood's eyebrow thick eyebrows knitted together. "Is that really a wise idea, old friend? A week long mission to the lost city could be suicide even for a more experienced team, much less children. Especially if your hunch is correct."

"They will be chaperoned by a member of my staff of course, but there just so happens to be two teams qualified for such an undertaking. Unfortunately, one of their leaders is sitting in the medical bay right now. I plan on speaking with the other later today."

The general realized who the leader was he was talking about, and grew suddenly concerned. "Will you be seeing her today?"

"Later this afternoon. She's likely still asleep."

Ironwood rose, casting a shadow over his desk. "Very good. If that will be all, I must return to my office. I still have arrangements to make."

"Of course, James. Would you escort the General to his bullhead, Glynda? This weather is dreadful for my leg."

She rolled her eyes but did as she was asked.

Alone again with his thoughts, Ozpin remembered back to the queen. Being a master chess player, the notion of the message being directed to him was intriguing, and he thought it likely.

"Queen takes knight," he mused aloud. "How should I respond?"

'How do you win a game without losing any pieces?'

Ozpin grimaced as the answer came to him.

'You don't...'

(A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Sorry for the wait but it couldn't be helped. Thank you everyone for the kind words and the support for the series. I love hearing feedback and I hope you are enjoying my changes to the series. You people are amazing. Looks like Ruby will be getting a package from her father soon. Sounds interesting if you ask me. Once again thank you for the support and all of the comments. It means a lot. All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who without Him none of this would be possible. God bless