485Everyone turned around and quietly stared at Nora. The girl noticed all the looks and lightly shrunk back into her seat. "I was a bit late to the punch, wasn't I?" All of them nodded their heads as if to say, 'Yeah, just a little bit.' They didn't worry about it too much though and focused on the more important matter: Yang, Ruby, and Weiss reunited in the last episode! They all felt they needed something like that because the majority of what they'd been watching was either death, plans leading up to an assault, or just anything sad in general. It was relieving to see a reprieve every once in a while. If Grimm were to exist in this plane, they would have attracted armies in just the span of a couple of days.
"Now, I've been a bit curious about what transpired before the last episode," Yang said. Ruby and Weiss's faces immediately lit up, and they were doing their best to avoid eye contact with Yang, thus only making her more smug. This grabbed the attention of the others and they were just as interested.
"N-nothing happened Yang," Ruby says. Yang was most certainly not buying it as the redness seemed to reach down to her neck.
"Pfft, uh huh, sure. Then why was it that both you and Weiss came out of that room with nothing but red faces, hm? Care to explain that?" Yang accused, crossing her arms as well. It was then that Nora spoke up as well.
"Yeah, we opened the door it looked like you two jumped apart as if you burned each other." Nora chuckled and was not helping them in the slightest.
Ruby repeated herself, telling Yang that nothing happened. "Oh, so you're admitting that something was going to happen but didn't?" Weiss really wished she could wipe the smirk off her friend's face, but kept quiet as she didn't want to draw attention to herself in this situation. Ruby felt like she was drowning as Yang didn't relent in her questioning, even having some of the others join in. Ruby refused to be teased by her sister and she accepted that this was her hill to die on.
Yang sighed, but this wouldn't be the end. She knew her sister and she knew either something that she or Weiss said would give them away. It was most certainly something and Yang would get to the bottom of it.
(Volume 5 Intro)
Jaune sets an enormous pot of ramen on the table and the group are all talking about their adventures. "How do you lose your map at a time like that?" Yang asks.
This might be one of the things they were going to miss the most when all these war things come to fruition. As much as they could change some of these events from happening when they returned, the war was going to happen no matter what. "We'll be damn sure to cherish moments like these and more when we all get back because who knows if we'll ever get them again," Yang says. The group all nodded their agreement.
"Surely we'll get some time to enjoy the calm before the storm though, right?" Ruby wonders.
Jaune has asked himself that question ever since. Nora says that he made up for it with his muscles, taking a Grimm head-on.
That would certainly be a moment they'd never forget. Pyrrha still finds herself getting flustered just thinking about it.
Jaune couldn't have done it without Ruby wearing it down. "Uh, me? Did you see Ren during that fight? He was out of control!"
"I'm sorry for letting my emotions get the better of me, I could have gotten Nora and I killed." Ren averts his gaze, feeling a tad ashamed for letting his vengeance overcome him.
"No, Ren, that's a good thing!" Ruby explains.
"Oh? Then thank you." The rest of the group couldn't help their laughs.
"I'm sorry, I may have lost my temper momentarily," Ren apologized. Ruby clarifies though that 'Out of control' was meant for awesome. "Oooh…thank you." All the friends burst into laughter.
"Ha! Your moment of pause!" Ruby chuckles.
The pot is now half empty.
"Holy crap, you guys are eating through that!" Sun exclaims.
"Hey, give us a break, we've all been through it, we deserve a hefty meal every once in a while," Jaune defends.
Ruby gasped, "You did not!" Weiss held her head in her hands as they talked about Weiss's gala retaliation. Yang pleaded that Weiss let the women have it.
"Of course not, even if I did really want to," Weiss says.
"If it hadn't been for General Ironwood, she would have definitely had what was coming to her," Blake said. The way they were all commenting was as if they were having the meal with them. It was a pleasant set of pace.
Nora doesn't believe that happened but then Weiss summoned a boarbatusk and Nora jumped out of her seat screaming. The group laughs and all the noodles have been eaten.
They were shocked, but also not, at the same time as they witnessed all the food gone. Ruby had prepared everything and they ate every single thing!
All of them gasped as Yang held up her arm, "It's no replacement for the real thing, but I'll make sure to make good use of it." Jaune calls it amazing and Ren incredible. Ruby is enthusiastic, rushing over, asking if it was as strong. "Hm, sure is." The sisters hear a slam on the table as Nora has her arm ready for a match.
"Wanna bet?"
"Bring it! I'll wipe the floor with you! My new arm isn't gonna hold back!"
"That's some big talk, think you'll be able to live up to it?"
"We're about to find out!"
The two are staring the other down and then swiftly face the screen.
Weiss rolls her eyes, telling Nora that now wasn't the time.
"Boo! Now is the perfect time Weiss!" Yang exclaims.
"Yeah, don't be a buzzkill!" Nora adds.
Yang and Nora already set themselves in a match. Weiss is uninterested while the rest of them are cheering on their teammates. "Come on sis, you can't lose to a girl in a skirt!"
"Ruby, you wear a skirt," Weiss deadpans.
"Weiss, I don't see you cheering!" Ruby shook her partner, startling the girl.
"You wear a skirt, Ruby," Weiss says. Ruby grabs hold of her shoulders and begins shaking her, yelling that she isn't cheering loud enough.
"It definitely feels like the original, I'll give you that," Nora grunts.
"Yep, but it does have some new features," Yang retorts.
"Ha, oh yeah?" In that same moment, Nora is propelled to the wall. Jaune asks if Yang won.
"What?! Heck no she didn't win, that's cheating!"
"Is not!
"Is too!"
" Is not !"
If the group didn't do anything about this then those two would spend the next couple hours of going back and forth, and they all had more productive things they could be doing. So it was quickly broken up, but that doesn't mean the argument was dropped.
Nora came to her senses and realized she was holding onto a detached arm. She screamed, throwing it, and Yang caught guffawing.
Blake's ears flicked. She believed there was more to that than just a humorous moment. To show them that Yang could easily detach the arm. Was that going to come back at some point? If so, in what scenario?
Jaune placed all the empty dishes in the large pot, commenting that they ate all of the food and that he felt he was going to be sick. "Easy there, Vomit Boy, I believe in you," Yang says.
"Oh, we're doing nickname throwbacks now, wonderful…" Jaune began to walk to the kitchen, not at all thrilled.
"Hey, you're not the only one. We still have Ice Queen and Craterface." Hearing Nora call out the other's name caused the both of them to frown.
"If we're being honest, your slip-up with Blake would have been entirely forgotten if we hadn't watched it back in Volume 1," Jaune chuckles. Ruby wished it could have stayed that way. Weiss on the other hand would probably never be able to escape hers, it's too commonly used.
Weiss laughs and Nora points out that Ice Queen seemed to like it.
"Would Weiss be Ice Princess since she has an older sister and Qrow had called her the Ice Queen?" Ren asks.
"Hey, we're not changing the name, Weiss is our Ice Queen and that's that," Ruby states firmly, even going as far as to cross her arms. Yang and some others snicker. So defensive~ Something for sure happened between those two in that room. Whether anything truly happened or not is still up for debate, but something went down. Yang knew Ruby was going to let something slip.
Ruby points at her partner and bursts into laughter. Weiss smiles warmly at Ruby, "I so did not miss you people."
"Oh my gosh, she really does like it!" Nora exclaims, holding her hands on her cheeks, "What went and warmed your heart while you were gone?"
"Hey! You make it sound like I used to be terrible," Weiss retorts.
"Nah, just a lot to deal with at once," Yang states. Weiss hmphs and Yang playfully sticks out her tongue.
Weiss couldn't deny the accusation when she was quite literally forced to watch how she used to be.
It's been a long time, we've all grown in our own ways," Ren starts.
"Yeah, no kidding. It would be astonishing if we all stayed the same," Yang laughed.
Ruby asks if he really thinks so. "Well, think back to when we were all at Beacon, would you say you ever did anything foolish or embarrassing?"
"Let's be honest, does that question even need to be answered?" Jaune queries. They all just watched their past selves from their first days at Beacon! Seeing everything they've done in the past and thinking back to moments that weren't even shared, yeah, they had done foolish stuff.
"Or do you think you were perfect?" Ren directs that toward Weiss and she groans, bringing her hands to cover her face.
That reaction is right, Weiss thinks to herself, especially seeing it all from a third-person perspective, it's hard not to judge myself.
Yang comments that she may have been a little gunghoe from time to time.
They appreciated this moment, seeing their counterparts reflect and take into consideration how much they've changed since they went to Beacon to now.
"You? I tried to one v one a nevermore on the second day of school."
"Yeah, well, don't even get me started," Jaune pipes in. He leans against the wall to join the conversation.
"Well, that embarrassment, that desire to go back to tell yourself not to be so stupid, that just proves you're not the same person you used to be," Ren continues.
Well, damn. Always count on Ren to be the start the deep conversations like these.
"You're smarter, more kinder, or stronger, and you're not done growing yet. None of us are."
Since they've all come here, whether they arrived later or have been here all along, they can all see that they've changed, grown just like Ren had said. None of them will return back to Beacon the same way, they always remember these moments, and with these moments they can keep moving forward, keep improving to become the best version of themselves.
The whole reason Raider had brought them here was to change the future's outcome and make it better for the world and themselves. With each new event they watch, their determination and ambition grow stronger.
"Yeah, turns out Ren gets real deep when he feels like talking," Ruby comments when a moment of pause befalls the room.
"Now hold on, I thought I was pretty great in school," Nora says, standing up in her self-assurance.
They're all brought back to every one of her moments at Beacon, like constantly saying she'll break someone's legs for example. "What?" Nora is perplexed by the silence.
"Even at the dance, when you spilled punch all over yourself in front of–" Yang was abruptly cut off by Nora who turned up the volume on her scroll.
"Thank you! Yeah, we don't need to bring that up!" Nora shouts, getting laughs from a few.
"Yeah, especially the dance, thank you, Yang!" Yang plugs her ears but she's smiling. The group started to laugh and one person in the group looked away with a smile.
Pyrrha looked over at her friend, smiling. Don't think I didn't notice that look, Ren.
"How can six kids possibly make so much noise while eating dinner?!" Qrow calls from the other room. Nora stops the music and Yang narrows her eyes at Oscar and Qrow standing in front of her.
Mhm, yes, the goliath in the room will need to be addressed.
The clock ticks by as everyone silently sits around the living room, that is until Weiss breaks it. "So, the Maidens, magic, Salem, it's all true?" Qrow grunts his agreement.
"Ms. Xiao Long, is this more or less what your mother told you?" Ozpin asks. Yang doesn't respond, sitting quietly with her arms folded. Weiss answers for her, telling him for the most part.
Except he and Qrow didn't mention the whole magic and bird business. While they guessed the two had every right to keep it to themselves and tell no one, they assumed Yang's anger was coming from the point that Ozpin had forcibly used magic on her family.
"You forgot something. You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother." Ruby gasped and Jaune asked what she was talking about. Qrow knew what she was referring to and Ozpin didn't think that was a secret she'd give up so easily.
"It might be because she despises you and wants to slander and throw your name in the dirt, perhaps?" Yang inquires. That could be a possible explanation.
"Your mother must trust you a great deal," Ozpin states. Yang responds by glaring at him.
"Yeah, I don't think that was the sole reason why she told Yang." Nora shook her head.
"My ability to reincarnate, though a curse, isn't without a few key benefits. Much like the Maidens, I too possess a certain… magical power," Ozpin gets up and begins to pace, "Using this power, I was able to gift the Brawen twins the ability to see more, to move freely and be unburdened by their natural bodies. I–well, I gave them the ability to turn into birds, rather ridiculous sounding out loud, isn't it?"
What they were curious about was the situation that led up to that moment. What caused Ozpin to use magic to allow them to turn into birds? Why force something like that onto them? And why is he laughing like this isn't a big deal?!
Oscar has no words but to internally voice his confusion. The students are sharing the confusion. Ruby looks to her uncle and Ren repeats what was just said to make sure he heard right. None of them believe it, Nora thinks he's messing with them and Jaune comments what else would be new. "He's telling the truth," Weiss informs them.
"Yeah, it'd be pretty hard to unsee your own mother turning into a bird, especially when there was also a second person with you witnessing it," Yang comments.
"We saw it, Yang's mom changed right in front of us." Qrow and Ozpin remained quiet until Yang exploded.
"Why would you do something like that?! I mean, what is wrong with you?!" Qrow tells Yang that was enough.
"Can you really blame me for being angry? This was all sprung out of nowhere on me like a bomb was dropped on me. I don't even have any clue if you or mom even wanted to be turned into birds!" Qrow was acting so calm, did he willingly accept the magic used on him? If so, why?
Yang had a bit of time to accept her family turning into birds a while ago, it was still a surprise, but to now learn that it was Ozpin who did it, she will admit her screaming could be warranted as irrational.
Qrow tells them that they made a choice and they wanted it.
Well, that certainly answered her question, getting Yang to calm down a bit. But, the reason for 'why' was still unknown. "He wanted to have that ability?" Ruby asked.
"It would appear so," Oscar said. This was all still such a whirlwind to them and they were having a bit of trouble comprehending.
This left Yang shocked. "May I?" Ozpin asked Qrow. The man nodded and Ozpin continued, "Granting this power to them was no trivial task and I can assure you it was not done frivolously. I required assistance and gathering information on Salem's plans as well as searching for Maidens when their hosts became unclear."
Yang forced herself to calm down, showing that it's always better to not jump to conclusions in situations like these. It was Qrow and Raven's choice to take the ability and seems for good reason too to spy on Salem.
Ruby asked if he had done this with others like General Ironwood or Professor Goodwitch.
Oh yeah! Could they also be able to turn into birds as well? Also, is it only birds, or could it be other animals as well? Birds seem like the better option as they are more inconspicuous and can fly. Still, it would be cool if that were the case. Was the transformation also painful? They hoped it wasn't.
"As helpful as that might be, unfortunately, it is not that simple. My power is finite and if I'm being honest, dwindling, the amount that I gifted to Qrow and Raven was, all things considered, rather minuscule. You see, centuries ago, I sacrificed a great deal of magic to four young women who I hoped would use my gift for good. They were the first Maidens."
The four original Maidens from the fairytale.
"Ms. Xiao Long, it was never my intention to lie to you, to any of you. There are just some matters that I prefer to…play close to the chest."
Like your knowledge that Salem is immortal like you and that she can't be killed? I do have to be honest that that seems like a very important fine print despite the way they found out. Sending 8 children into a war against an enemy who they don't know can't ever be killed is a bit of a dick move. While I don't agree with the way they used Jinn, that knowledge doesn't seem like the wisest to keep hidden, Raider thought to herself.
"I believe that's how you phrased it?" Ozpin chuckled, looking over at Qrow, the man didn't disagree. "Everyone has a choice, the Branwens chose to accept their powers and the responsibilities that came with them."
"You're mom was really trying to paint him in the worst light, wasn't she? The way she spoke of it was like Ozpin had forced those powers onto them," Sun states. Looking back on it, yeah, because she never said anything about them choosing to accept them, just that he put magic on them.
"And later, one of them chose to abandon her duties in favor of her own self-interest. Now, all of you have a choice, if anyone wishes to leave, now is the time. There is no shame or disgrace in abstaining, only in retreat."
With how much they all knew now, it would seem silly to just walk away. No matter what, they all planned to fight and that wasn't going to change.
Everyone is silent, so Ozpin goes on, "Very well then." In that moment, Yang rises.
"Yang…?" Ruby was scared her sister was leaving. All of them were. Yang, though, knew what she was about to propose.
"Yang?" Ruby whispered.
"If Ruby sticks around, then I will too. If there's one thing I know about her it's that she always knows the right thing to do. But, if we're gonna help, if we're gonna keep risking our lives, no more lies, no more half-truths." Qrow and Ozpin share a look.
"Understood." Yang sits back down. Jaune asks what they're meant to do now, wondering what they can do.
"Hm, that is a difficult question, one that I believe is best answered tomorrow," Ozpin declares.
That's the best course of action. Getting some rest so they can all be prepared for the days to come and besides, they believed they'd been given enough information for one night. They don't know how much more they'd be able to take.
Jaune asks what he means. "The road ahead is undoubtedly filled with hardships and peril, however, it's been far too long since you've all been together. Please, take tonight and enjoy this moment." Ozpin places his hand on Yang's shoulder and she returns his smile.
"I think we can all agree that that's something we can get behind," Nora says.
"Yeah, no kidding. We might not be personally experiencing what they are, but I feel like I become more drained with each episode we watch," Sun adds.
"Which is exactly why I give you all long breaks every three volumes," Raider explains.
"Don't you think the more harrowing episodes we watch the more breaks we're going to need?" Pyrrha asks.
"While that is true and I know I'll be doing that, especially for Volumes 8 and 9," Raider stares at Ruby, "But if I did that after each episode then would we truly get anywhere?"
Oscar's soul swaps and he quickly removes his hand, causing Yang to chuckle. "Oooooh! Raven? Qrow? They're birds! Cracked it!" Nora exclaims, a little too late.
"Ha! I was able to figure that out an episode before schedule!" Nora shouts, feeling very proud of herself.
"Still a tad late to the punch if you ask me," Yang whispered. Blake held a hand to her mouth and giggled.
Outside the Branwen's camp, the bandit is spooked by the voice of Mercury. He and Emerald walk to the gates and ask if Raven Branwen is home.
"Who else is getting that feeling that that guy is about to die," Sun asks. A lot of those people raise their hands, sadly feeling confident about the assumption. But also at the same time… shit.
"You know, I had a real bad week," The bandit sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, "So I think I'm gonna take it out on you–" He cuts himself off when Cinder and Watts walk out from the shadows.
Well, double shit.
Mercury laughs, saying it looks like he doesn't want to cooperate. Cinder chuckles, telling them to make him.
Yep, he's a goner.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Emerald slowly walks towards them and pulls out Thief Respite.
The screen goes black and now is the perfect time to panic. While they're all celebrating the happy reunion of Yang, Ruby, and Weiss, the day after it, Cinder's group finds the Branwen Camp and the location of the Spring Maiden. Now Salem will be likely to gain the Spring Maiden on their side and they only have themselves because it appears that all the huntsmen and huntresses in Mistral have disappeared and they're all chalking it up to be that they're all dead. Not to mention the messenger that was sent to go to the Mistral Council to warn them of Adam's attack on the academy is also dead, so there truly is no one but themselves to help fend them off. Their only hope in that case is for Blake to convince the people of Mengarie to fight and so far their attempts have all been futile.
Triple shit.