Cinder Fall, age ten, looked down at her five year-old sister as she slept. Why had she been chosen? Why did their mother favor her more? What made her younger sibling so special? Cinder sighed, fondly reaching out and stroking the little girl's frizzy brown hair, the younger sister's grey wolf ears twitching. The two had always joked that one could lose almost anything in that mop...

"Hima." Cinder whispered. "Wake up." The little girl sat up and yawned, opening her big brown eyes (which were resting upon a sea of freckles).

"Cinder?"

"Get dressed." Cinder ordered. "We're leaving."

"What?" Hima asked, alert now. "Is Daddy taking us somewhere?" Cinder shook her head.

"No... We're leaving Daddy and never coming back."

"Why?"

"Because... Daddy's changed since Mommy went away. We need to go somewhere safe."

"O-okay." Hima got up in her little turquoise nightgown and went to her closet, retrieving a pair of black pants, a black t-shirt, and her mother's turquoise cloak. After changing, Hima slid on a pair of black socks and black boots, packing her dearest possessions into a turquoise suitcase. Cinder was wearing a similar outfit of red, minus the cloak, a black satchel at her side.

"Ready?"

"Y-yes." Hima nodded. Cinder grabbed her hand, and the two quietly crept through the house. It was opening the front door that...

"GIRLS!"

"Run!" Cinder cried, and the two started running, across the yard and down the street. A dark figure followed, male and angry. Hima looked back in fear, then kept running alongside her sister. Making their way into the city, Cinder and Hima momentarily lost their father, and Cinder hid her sister in a box in an alleyway, frowning. "Stay here. I'll make sure that he's gone."

"Okay." Hima whimpered. With that, Cinder ran off.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Professor Ozpin and Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon were visiting Mistral and decided to go on a walk through the city.

"We should be heading back, now." Ozpin checked the time, then noticed an alleyway and smiled. "That should provide a decent shortcut."

"Ozpin." Goodwitch scolded. "Have you never seen the news, or at least a half-assed slasher movie? Going down dark alleys in the middle of the night is never a good idea."

"Glynda, please. We're us. Even if we do get jumped, we'll have out attackers beaten and be laughing our way to Haven before they have time to raise their gun and say freeze."

"Whatever." The two started walking down the alleyway, which was devoid of everything besides a dumpster, some grafitti, and a box. Passing the dumpster and finding no one waiting to jump them, the Huntsman and Huntress continued onward, only to hear...

"Atch-ooo!" A soft voice sneezed. Both of them exchanging glances, Ozpin and Goodwitch approached the box, each picking a side. Nodding, they both looked down to see...

"A little girl?" Goodwitch asked. The child cowered, eyes wide in fear. Ozpin's expression softened.

"It's alright, little one." The man smiled slightly. "We will not harm you." The tiny girl slowly stopped recoiling and stood, placing her hands on the rim of the box and resting her chin between them, looking at the two professors with curiosity and innocence that only a child of her age possessed. "What is your name, little one?"

"Hima Fall." The girl replied. Both professors seemed to recognize the last name, but neither of them could recall where from.

"Why are you in that box?" Goodwitch asked. Hima frowned.

"My sister told me to hide. She's been gone a long time."

"Why did she want you to hide?" Ozpin asked. Hima looked down, a tear splashing the cardboard.

"Daddy was chasing us."

"Why would he be chasing you?" Ozpin asked. Hima sighed.

"Everything went bad when Mommy went away. Daddy started acting funny, especially when I started being able to do this." Hima held her left hand out, and a glowing burst of blue snowflakes shot into the air. Both professors' eyes widened in awe. Ozpin connected the dots. Her mother died, the last name Fall, the wolf ears, those powers...

"Glynda." Ozpin frowned. "We are in the presence of the Winter Maiden." Professor Goodwitch stared.

"Impossible. The last Winter Maiden vanished ten years ago! The Faunus maiden, remember? Wasn't her name Elsa Frost?"

"Who married Hans Fall." Ozpin stated. "It appears that Elsa has... Gone away... And she left her youngest daughter her abilities." Ozpin reached down and picked the small girl up. "It's not safe to leave her here."

"What about Cinder?" Hima asked. The two exchanged glances, then looked around for the other girl. They waited a few more minutes...

"I don't think that she is coming back." The Headmaster of Beacon Academy sighed, fearing the worst for the older daughter of the previous Winter Maiden. "We must go." With that, Ozpin carried Hima off, Goodwitch by his side with the girl's suitcase.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Cinder returned to the alleyway, relieved to find that they had lost their father in the city.

"Hima!" Cinder approached the box. "It's safe! We can go, now!" Cinder's smile faltered at the lack of a reply. "Hima?" The girl looked into the box and gasped, eyes wide in horror. "HIMA!" Cinder collapsed, tears racing down her face and sobs wracking her body.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

On a ship back to Vale, Hima Fall slept peacefully, cuddled between Ozpin and Goodwitch. The two exchanged glances, looking at the little girl.

"What are we going to do?" Goodwitch asked. "We can't trust anyone to look after her. They could lose her, or word of her power could get out. What are we supposed to do with the child?" Ozpin sighed.

"Well... I can only think of one option, Glynda." Ozpin smirked. "How are your maternal instincts?"

"What?"

"Who better to raise the child than the only two people in the world who could give her the upbringing and training she needs?"

"What?! Ozpin, we can't raise her! We have our jobs, our duties! And... I'm not exactly mother-material!"

"You think that I'm father-material? I'm not thrilled about this, either. But it's the best option we have. Who knows? Maybe you'll grow to tolerate her."

"Hmph... Fine."

"We should change her name, just to keep her safe."

"What would you suggest?"

"Hmm..." Ozpin pulled out his scroll and typed several words in, using a translator to generate a name. "Alright... Jenna Elurra."

"What does it mean?"

"White-Shadow Snow."

"It'll do." Goodwitch looked down at the girl again. "She looks like a wild one, doesn't she?"

"Not to worry... A few months of living with you should straighten her out."

"Watch it."

"I'm only joking... Mostly."