Chapter 24

Trepidation

Ozpin regarded Rose levelly, leaning back in his sturdy level chair. His fingers led a stuttering staccato on his desk, coupled with features and posture that were deceptively placid – bar his single raised eyebrow. Ozpin, like Blake, had the gift of saying many words with simple gestures. His single delicate brow was basically screaming 'why?' despite the fact that Rose didn't doubt for a second that his preternaturally sharp mind had probably intuited some of her reasoning already. The man had a habit of just knowing things.

Rose gave him a casual shrug, irreverently propping her feet on his desk as she leaned back in her own chair. "The kids are worried about dad and Qrow, and I don't think it's a good idea for them to be around this weekend. Both of them need some space to figure things out and I doubt they'll appreciate my little sisters pestering them." She finished with a small sigh.

"Hmm." He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment. "True. They have been rather moody as of late," Rose snorted, but didn't deign to comment and Ozpin continued. "But I can't help but feel that you have ulterior motives in this."

Rose rubbed her face tiredly, ignoring the slightly unpleasant smell of her leather gauntlet as she futilely tried to work some of the tension out of her body. "Emotional teenage drama." She supplied directly.

"I hardly think that serves as a respectable reason, does it?"

"Hey, teenage drama can be important," Rose disagreed, giving him an accusatory point. Ozpin didn't look particularly convinced. "Or at least it can be if you're the heiress of a multi-billion lien corporation engaged in some very questionable business practices whom has just come to terms with the flaws in her ideology, coupled with complete disillusionment of the image she had of her father." She explained hesitantly, not completely comfortable with sharing such private – albeit important – changes.

"What did you do?" He asked, a light air of surprise to his voice.

"I provided irrefutable evidence."

Ozpin sighed sympathetically. "I imagine that would be rather difficult for her to have accepted, yes."

"She wasn't happy about it," Rose conceded. "But it's for the best."

"I agree. But I don't think you have provided me with the entire picture yet."

"Not quite." She allowed with a small smile. "While a big part of this is because Weiss needs a break, the entire team could use some mutual isolation to bond and come to terms with Blake's faunus heritage."

"Ms. Belladonna's secret was discovered?" Ozpin murmured thoughtfully behind the rim of his mug before taking a sip. "I was under the impression that she would be hesitant to reveal such a thing."

"She just needed a little support." Rose said with a slight grin, and Ozpin cracked his own infinitesimal smile.

"I should have known."

"Probably." Rose told him with a wink. "Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I'm not going to shake things up."

Ozpin gave her a wry look. "It wouldn't, would it?" He asked rhetorically.

"Blame my father, I get it from him."

"I think Tai-Yang said the same thing about his father."

"Another Xiao Long thing, then?"

"Your family's penchant for chaos is frightening."

"I feel like that 'frightening' is a bit of a strong word."

"Talk to Glynda, she'll provide you with several stronger."

"Talking isn't my go-to when I want her to curse my name." Rose waggled her eyebrows.

"As her colleague – and yours, for that matter – I feel talking about her sex life is wildly inappropriate."

"'Wildly inappropriate' is my middle name."

"I know your father said the same thing about his middle name."

"The Xiao Long blood runs thick, what can I say?"

"I shudder to think." Ozpin said wryly. "But we have digressed. You wish to book number…twelve was it? - the twelfth forest training grounds for this weekend for yourself and team RWBY." Ozpin tapped into his desk mounted scroll.

"That's the one."

"What would be the reason for this," He gestured at the scroll.

"Hmm," Rose hummed thoughtfully, but then slammed her hand down with a small 'aha!' of triumph. "Convalescence." She offered confidently.

"Convalescence? Most people don't undertake intensive outdoor training in order to convalesce."

"Most people don't travel backwards through time."

"I feel like that excuse is going to come up far too often for my tastes." Ozpin said with a wry grin, tapping the last of the details into his master scroll. As soon as he was finished, a long slip of paper was ejected from his personal printer, the neat strip already laminated. "Your permissions, Rose."

"Thank you, Ozpin." Rose said to him as she took the proffered slip. "I'll see you at the meeting."

"Until then."

"Cheers."

Team RWBY and Rose were in their shared dorm. The Huntress trainees were scattered around the room; Ruby was in her bunk with a weapons magazine in hand, Blake was similarly in her own bed with what looked like a fantasy novel of some description, Yang was packing away her latest basket of washed clothes, and Weiss was sitting at a desk with a pile of textbooks on hand.

All of them were staring at Rose, who was standing in the middle of the room having just proclaimed her plan for the weekend, laminated permission slip hoisted proudly.

"So, let me get this straight," Weiss began, shifting her chair to face Rose. "You - without asking any one of us - have booked an outdoor training ground for the entire weekend regardless of the fact that you begin teaching for the very first time in your life morning after, and that the entirety of team RWBY has some very important tests on that very same day. Am I correct so far?"

"That about sums it up." Rose said brightly.

"You're saying you are interrupting my well thought out study, training, and sleep schedule because you want to go camping?" Weiss continued, and Rose swore she saw her eyebrow start ticking.

"Camping is awesome." Rose nodded, and Weiss looked ready to explode any second. "Especially Rose's super-secret training trips." She declared proudly.

Ruby gasped. "Super-secret training trip?" She echoed reverently.

"I am not going." Weiss huffed in denial, her eyebrow twitching as she swivelled in her seat and back to her books.

Ruby's head snapped to her partner. "But Weiss, it's a super-secret training trip." She implored.

"A secret I can live without."

"But- but it won't be the same without my partner." Ruby mumbled softly, giving Weiss the biggest, wateriest puppy dog eyes the heiress had ever seen.

Weiss flinched minutely. "I'm sure it will be fine without me." She said comfortingly, some of her rather obvious ire slipping out of her voice.

"It won't be, because you won't be there." Ruby said with a small sniffle.

Weiss looked equal parts exasperated and guilt-stricken. "I'm sure Rose will keep you so busy you won't even notice my absence."

Defying all possibility, Ruby's puppy dog eyes became even more pitiful. "Of course I'll notice if my best-friend isn't there."

It took all of a few seconds of direct eye contact before Weiss slumped against the desk, groaningly lowly in defeat. "Fine. I'll go. Just please put those stupidly convincing things away."

Ruby instantly became cheerful once more, letting out a victorious whoop. "Oh it's gonna be awesome! Have you ever been camping Weiss? No? Oh it's like the best thing ever! But you need the necessary supplies, of course. Things like tents, ammo, clothes and smores! You can't forget the smores. Have you ever had a smore, Weiss? They -"

Rose smirked at Weiss, who was giving the soon-to-be teacher a barely concealed glower. Her impromptu staring match with the irate snow haired woman was cut off when she heard a few slow claps.

"Well played." Blake congratulated with a small chuckle, lifting her book in salute.

"- and yeah, I guess we could sing some campfire songs, but me and Yang are completely tone deaf,"

"Hey!"

"But maybe you and Blake could sing? I bet you have a super pretty voice, Weiss! Do you think you could sing for us anyway, even if we don't end up doing campfire songs? Unless you're like me and Yang, I guess, because-"

"You just have to know how to set her off." Rose said wryly, tuning out her younger counterparts babble. As Weiss ended her small bout of glaring, having realised that Rose had not yet keeled over – much to her disappointment – she resigned herself to the arduous task of listening to and calming down one excited Ruby Rose.

Leaving Weiss to her unenviable predicament Rose turned to Yang, the only member to not have said her peace so far. Well, technically Blake hadn't actually commented, but considering she hadn't voiced anything in the negative Rose assumed she was on board. Yang looked thoughtful, slowly packing away her things and ignoring Ruby's motor-mouth and Weiss quickly dissipating patience.

"Why?" Yang asked Rose simply.

"Why what?"

"Why are you taking us on a training trip?" Yang clarified.

"I bet you don't need my help to come up with a couple good reasons." Rose said with a raised brow.

Yang, apparently not in the mood to dance around the question, rolled her eyes pointedly. "I don't want my reasons, I want yours."

"Sharp." Rose commented offhand, before focusing on her sister's question. "I want to get started on fixing each of your biggest weaknesses." She told Yang plainly.

Yang blinked slowly. "Oo-kay, what exactly does that entail?"

Taking a small moment to think, Rose noticed that Ruby had stopped talking, and the entirety of her team was focused on the older woman. "Well, it means I'm going to get started on fixing your biggest flaw in combat, all of you."

"You know what these flaws are." Weiss stated thoughtfully.

"I do." Rose admitted before she flashed Weiss a grin. "You'll be glad to know you are actually the most well rounded of the team."

"Oh?" The heiress looked surprised, but pleased. "How so?"

"You have a reliable answer to every range in combat. Not the most specialised, mind you, but you can fight at long, medium and close range with no noticeable problem." Rose praised.

Weiss preened under the positive attention, blushing very lightly at being encouraged so honestly. "Thank you, I've worked hard." She replied politely, apparently a habit of her tutoring.

"You're welcome." Rose chuckled, before giving Weiss a downright evil grin. "But do you know your biggest weakness?"

Weiss frowned, opened her mouth, closed it, and frowned even deeper. "No." She admitted sounding not very well pleased with herself.

"Stamina." A few moments passed before Weiss paled at that simple declaration. "Oh yes, you and I are going to have ever so much fun." Rose proclaimed in an childish, aristocratic squeak.

"Oh Oum." Weiss uttered apprehensively, and Ruby took pity on her.

"What about the rest of us?" She asked curiously, diverting attention away from her slightly doomed partner.

"You," Rose began by pointing at Ruby. "Are completely pathetic in a fight if you don't have your scythe." She stated flatly and Ruby deflated comically.

"I'm not that bad." Ruby pouted, crossing her arms.

"Your best unarmed move right now is slap fighting." Rose said dryly.

"That's not true!" Ruby protested, until Rose raised an eyebrow. "…Is it?" She finished unsurely.

"I remember sucking pretty hard until I got Ren to teach me some stuff." She shrugged. "It might be different for you."

"Ren?" Ruby blinked slowly. "He taught you – us – martial arts?"

"But Ruby's terrible at martial arts." Yang cut in.

"Am I?" Rose asked, giving her bustier sister a significant look. Yang paused in thought, remembering the thorough thrashing she and her team had received when they had faced Rose.

"No." Yang sounded vaguely surprised. "You aren't bad at all." She murmured thoughtfully, turning to look up at Ruby. "How come what me and dad tried to teach you didn't stick? You have the talent for it, apparently."

"I can answer that." Rose lifted her hand in the air like school child. Yang rolled her eyes with a grin, flicking her hand at Rose in acquiescence. "You and Tai fight in a way that is almost my polar opposite. Dad's a power fighter and you, whilst not slow, definitely rely on your strength when you fight hand-to-hand. I don't have the same build as you two," She pointed at herself and then Yang to highlight the differences, which were rather pronounced. Yang, despite being almost half a decade younger, was already more overtly muscular than Rose with her own lithe, corded build. "I'm built for speed, and what I needed was a style that played to my strengths."

"The Wavering Fist." Blake finished with a contemplative hum. Rose gave her a slightly surprised, slightly questioning look. "I didn't recognise it – and I guess it comes as now surprise now – but Ren did."

"I didn't know you and Ren talked." Weiss commented.

"We have common interests." Blake said evasively.

"Smut." Rose coughed into her hand, muffled just enough that anyone who didn't have the enhanced hearing that came with being a faunus would have missed it completely. She got a dirty glower from Blake for her efforts.

"The Wavering Fist?" Ruby said with starry eyes. "It almost sounds like one of the ancient ninja styles from those kung-fu movies Yang and I used to watch."

"Still do." Blake snorted and Yang grinned. "I got some of my best moves from those movies." She told her partner shamelessly. Blake snorted again.

"That's probably because it does originate from an ancient ninja clan." Rose told Ruby with a grin.

"AWESOME!" Ruby practically exploded out of her bunk, landing on the floor and striking a variety of action poses (simultaneously scaring the daylights out of a very startled Weiss). "I can't wait! It's gonna be like when uncle Qrow taught me all over again! I'm gonna be like hawww-watchawww whaaa haa swish punch hooooo!" She finished by kicking her leg out awkwardly in a poor imitation of the traditional crane stance.

Rose laughed, shaking her head. "Whatever you say, little Rose." She said, ruffling the smaller girl's hair, much to Ruby's consternation. Ignoring the mulish pout being directed at her Rose focused on Yang. "You have no restraint or finesse." She said bluntly.

Yang pursed her lips pensively before nodding. "I don't know about finesse, but I guess I have some problems with restraint."

"Says the girl who routinely gets so angry she catches fire." Weiss muttered.

"It's not just when I get angry that I can do that." Yang pouted. "Getting pumped up in general is all it takes."

"Exactly, spontaneously combusting whenever you get excited is a bit of a problem, but not the only reason you need to learn some restraint." Rose told her.

"Yeah, I've heard it all before." Yang said, before she sighed. "But it's just never really sunk in, ya know?"

"Which is where Weiss comes in." Rose grinned.

Yang froze, and Weiss turned eyes narrowed heavily with suspicion toward their time travelling friend. "What do you have planned?"

Rose's answering smile was predatory in face of its utterly unconvincing serenity. "Many, many things, my dear."

"This is going to be a disaster," Yang said ruefully. "I just know it."

"Man up." Rose told her blithely, before turning to Blake, who was looking at her in worry.

"So?" She prompted with barely hidden anxiety.

"Strength training." Rose informed her with a vicious, toothy smile.

Blake viciously fought down the urge to whimper.

This weekend did not sound like it was going to be fun.

Tai-Yang and Qrow sat on two leather recliners on the balcony adjoined to Qrow's new office. It had been repurposed years ago from a suite of V.I.P accommodations, one half turned into Peter Port's office and place of residence on campus, now it was Qrow's. The sun had set about half an hour ago, and the night was darkening. The air was cool and clear, carrying faint hints of sea behind the cliffs and the scent of apple trees that they could see were visibly prominent in Beacon's greenery. Qrow really couldn't have asked for a better space, all things considered. Peter was – as always – utterly unconcerned about most situations, including moving to accommodate Qrow's need for a series of isolated, soundproofed rooms.

Knowing the man all too well, Qrow was slightly concerned the older gentleman was under the impression he was indulging a new co-worker in some sort of kink. And considering most of the work he would be undertaking in these rooms would highly confidential, he wouldn't even dissuade him about the notion as it served as a rather excellent excuse.

Sometimes working as a professional Hunter and maintaining any semblance of pride just didn't click.

Tai-Yang put down his personal scroll, having read his daughter's message that consisted of a basic 'I've stolen your daughters and their teammates in order to do various nefarious and painful things to them. Will be at Forest grounds twelve if you need us, otherwise we'll see you at weeks end – Rose'.

Seems like the biggest, scariest munchkin was taking on the smaller, not-as-scary-yet munchkins as trainees.

Poor them; Hunter mentors were notorious for being right bastards.

He picked up his shot of Jotun's whiskey, an expensive blend of well-aged liquor that had been imbued with ice Dust. It remained permanently semi-frozen, an icy amber slush in his small glass. He slammed back the shot in one smooth motion. It was delicious, sweet and smooth in equal measure with hints of smoke and wood in perfect harmony.

More importantly - it started making its way down his throat burning with a sensation so minty and cold he felt like he could breathe through his fucking eyeballs - it packed one helluva kick.

"They don't make drinks like this in Vale." Tai-Yang sighed contentedly, his chest thrumming with an odd heat - almost like a trail of frozen fire.

"More's the pity." Qrow agreed, sipping at his own shot much more conservatively. Unlike Tai-Yang, who had the stature of a bear and the constitution to match, Qrow was much smaller and would find himself flat on his ass if he consumed more than a handful of shots, so he chose to savour what little he could handle.

"You know," Tai-Yang began contemplatively, snaking his hand around to grab the frosty green bottle of whiskey on the small table between himself and Qrow. "After all this mess with Rose and Cinder is over, you and I should start a bar."

Qrow snorted, taking a larger than average sip in response. "What are we, frat boys?"

"Not since the glory days." Tai-Yang said wistfully, before shaking himself and pouring another shot of Jotun. "I'm being serious, though. I really would like to start up my own bar."

"Really?" Qrow said in disbelief. "Why on Remnant would you want to do that?"

"Can't Hunt forever, buddy."

"Just until you die."

"Aren't you just a ray of fucking sunshine?"

"I know, I'm the light of your goddamned life."

"You're the train at the end of the tunnel."

"And you're the dumbass standing on the tracks."

Tai-Yang snorted a laugh before slamming back his newest shot, releasing an 'ah' of satisfaction afterward. "What are you going to do when you retire?" He asked his friend. Qrow shrugged, sinking further into his leather recliner and sipping his whiskey.

"I never really planned to retire." He said honestly.

"Well that's fucking morbid." Tai-Yang muttered.

"If you remember, had Rose not told me about the problems my smoking would cause we wouldn't have caught it so early and I'd be dead anyway." He pointed out.

Tai-Yang grimaced at that, but nodded in acknowledgment. "That is true, but it isn't the case anymore."

"So I should start planning?"

"No, I was just telling you what we are going to do."

"So I don't get a choice in this?" Qrow asked with a raised brow.

"Do you ever get a choice?" Tai-Yang asked.

"Good point." Qrow told him with a sardonic smile. "So, a bar."

"A bar."

"Why a bar, exactly?"

Tai-Yang hummed a little, pouring himself another shot out of the potent liquor. "Seems like it would be fun."

"I'm sure Yang's going to be happy about it."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that considering all the bars she goes to end up exploding."

"No, she ends up exploding, the bar just follows her lead."

"At least she isn't drinking." Tai-Yang said gratefully.

"No, just causing massive property damage." Qrow snorted.

"You think if she was drunk she would cause less damage?"

Qrow laughed at that. "Point." He conceded.

"Rose would probably be pretty pleased, I can see her enjoying a good cider." Tai-Yang said.

"Drank from the freshly wrought skull of her enemy." Qrow said dramatically. Tai-Yang laughed.

"She is sort of scary, isn't she?"

"Kid's too good." Qrow shook his head, finishing his drink with one long sip and satisfied lip smack. "It's hard to imagine the clumsy little sweetheart I trained turning into a Huntress like that." He told Tai-Yang as he turned to refill his own glass.

"It's hard to imagine Ruby as a Huntress full stop for me." Tai-Yang admitted. "I wasn't at Signal, and I didn't teach her like I did Yang. It's weird feeling when you realise your daughter's started turning into a warrior when you weren't looking."

"I don't think I need to tell you, but Ruby is going to make a great Huntress. I would've said the same thing even if we didn't have Rose around to prove me right."

"Yeah." Tai-Yang said distantly, staring into his glass. "Is it wrong that I'm glad she is who she is?"

Qrow frowned, giving his friend a scrutinising stare. "Depends. Why are you glad about that?"

"She's strong and smart enough to change things for the better. She hasn't told me much about the war, or at least nothing personal, just the pertinent shit. But from what I have heard..." Tai-Yang rubbed his face tiredly. "Completely fucked up. I'm dead, you're dead, Ozpin, Glynda, Peter, Peach, Ironwood, Polendina, even Yang and," Tai-Yang paused, and took a deep breath. "Raven." He finished softly.

Qrow slammed his drink back at the mention of her name before he exhaled slowly. "Fucking Raven."

"She's alive, man." Tai-Yang chuckled bitterly. "Still alive and kicking."

An image of an immaculately detailed assassination plan flitted into Qrow's mind. "Not for much longer she isn't." He mumbled.

Tai-Yang looked astonished, and a little horrorstruck. "You don't want to save her?" He questioned.

"Of course I want to save her, she's my sister." Qrow frowned at his best friend. "But I don't know if she deserves it."

"What makes you say that?" Tai-Yang asked carefully.

"Because she's a fucking idiot." Qrow said scornfully. "There is a reason we have a chain of command, why we send in reports, why we never work solo." He tapped his index finger against the table to enunciate his words. "Because if you die alone, all your information dies with you."

Tai-Yang swore lowly. "I never even thought of that." He admitted.

"From what I can tell, seeing as Rose told us she hasn't ever seen Raven, the assassination plan worked and her entire idiotic, self-appointed, fifteen Oum-damned years long infiltration mission was pointless." He slammed his fist down onto the table. "And it's pointless regardless, we have all the mission critical info on Cinder from Rose." Some minutes passed in silence after that brief outburst, before Tai-Yang sighed.

"I don't know what do." Tai-Yang confided in Qrow, uncharacteristically unconfident. "What the hell should I be feeling right now?"

Qrow looked at his best friend, his normally exuberant lilac eyes shadowed with a myriad of emotions; melancholy, anxiety, guilt, and a definite twang of forcibly repressed longing. "I'd say angry."

"I was never angry." Tai-Yang told Qrow. "Or at least, I wasn't angry for long."

"Why the hell not? I'm feeling about as forgiving as a neutered Ursa."

Tai-Yang couldn't quite smother his chuckle at the mental image, but soon sobered. "I thought she died, Qrow." He said sounding pained. "I thought she was dead."

"And you never told Yang that you felt her mother was dead?" Qrow queried with narrowed eyes.

"I couldn't take that away from her." Tai-Yang said sadly. "I thought she would come to terms with the fact she would never know her mother as she grew up." He shook his head slowly. "Turns out she was right the whole time, and I have to say, I didn't want her to be."

"You wanted Raven to be dead?" Qrow asked with a perfectly level voice, and Tai-Yang recognised the danger.

"I wanted for her to never have left, or for there to be reason why she never came back." Tai-Yang backtracked hastily, before chuckling darkly. "I guess dying is a pretty decent reason, even if it was about sixteen years later than I expected."

"Well, I hate to say it, but no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy." Qrow shrugged. "We can talk about it all we want, but we both know all that shit is going to be thrown out the window as soon as you see her."

Tai-Yang nodded slowly, eyes hooded. "Next weekend."

"Yeah." Qrow concurred, before he paused when a thought struck him. "Why is it always the weekend?"

"Hm?"

"It's just, first there was my retrieval, then Izhar, and now Raven. Why does all the important shit happen to be conveniently sequestered within those three days?"

"It's because half of us are teachers and Cinder's at school." Tai-Yang stated, and Qrow looked confused. "Look, Rose is our field commander and she'll only have time to commit to an op when she isn't teaching, same with you; so we have the weekend. Cinder, our Grimm-shit crazy antagonist, is pretending to be a student in order to infiltrate Beacon, and she has to be one of the best at her school in order to get invited as part of their delegation. That means perfect grades and attendance as well as flawless homework. She has got a nine-to-five every day except the weekend, when she and her lieutenants - who are also pretending to be students - have the time and freedom to act."

"Teacher by weekday, protector of the peace by weekend." Qrow joked and Tai-Yang snickered a little.

"So yeah, I doubt anything that can't be accomplished in more than six hours will happen during the weekdays. Ozpin promises he's going to have me be downright anal when it comes to truancy and curfew breaking, so I doubt they have even a sixth of that, especially with Rose around."

"It's a good cover to keep an eye on them, as well as keeping them cooped up." Qrow praised.

"I don't know why we don't just kill her." Tai-Yang told Qrow.

"She obviously abides by a scorched earth policy, and after seeing those plans you know she has to have at least a dozen contingencies. We have to make sure there is no one still loyal enough to her to go through with them in case of her death. That means we have to take out basically her entire chain of command either sneaky or fast enough that she doesn't notice, otherwise we don't know what kind of shit she'll pull in retaliation. Killing her would probably be pretty easy, but it's responsibility as Hunters to protect the people, which means we can't risk the collateral."

"So we do it the hard way." Tai-Yang said. "Well, as hard as fighting only on the weekend counts."

Qrow laughed. "Fucking teenagers, Tai, I swear."

FAVOURITE~REVIEW~FOLLOW!

Well hot damn. This story has really blown up. It's crazy! I'm sitting in the top five for both follows and favourites for the entirety of the RWBY section. Mind boggling, truly it is.

To those who have reviewed, followed, favourited or even just plain read the story, you have my utmost thanks, and I hope you continue enjoying my work for the foreseeable future.

In other big news, holy shit, I'm so close to one thousand fucking follows. To mark this special occasion, I'm going to be doing an omake, or a scene of your choice. Make your suggestion as to what scene you want to see/ want me to write and I'll include it in a future chapter. Want me to have Rose read 'Ninjas of Love' to teams JNPR and RWBY? Want me to have Tai-Yang propose via interpretive dance to Ozpin? I could even have future!RWBY meet their younger counterparts, timetravelling Rose included. Just let me know.

Cheers!