A middle-aged man paced around a hospital waiting room, obviously distressed. He had messy gray hair and brown eyes, along with a light complexion and sharp facial features. He wore shaded spectacles and a small, silver and purple cross-shaped pin on the green scarf around his neck. He wore a black suit over a black vest with gold buttons and a green shirt, and dark-green dress-pants and black shoes. There was an ornate silver, gold, and black cane in his hands, though he did not seem to need it.

A younger woman sat in the room with him, her arms crossed and expression worried as she watched the man pace. She had light-blonde hair tied back in an elegant bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, and her eyes were green and she wore thin glasses and gold and teal earrings that matched the pendant on her collar. She also wore a white long-sleeved top that had a wide keyhole neckline and cuffs that flared at the wrist, a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons, dark-brown stockings, black boots with brown heels, and a stylized cape that was purple inside and black on the outside - it ended wavy arrows, and it had a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads below the bronze emblem of a tiara on the back.

"... Professor Ozpin, I'm sure she's fine." The young woman, around twenty-one, finally tried to calm her companion. "She's survived living with you, after all."

"I know, I know." The man sighed quietly, then he looked up at the woman. "Thank you for being here, Glynda."

"Who wouldn't want to be here, Professor?" The young woman smiled somewhat-deviously. "We need plenty of pictures of you doting over your child to send to all of the students and staff." Glynda held up her scroll and snapped a picture, and Ozpin deadpanned before he continued to place. "... You never said if it was going to be a boy or a girl."

"You know Evenora. She like surprises." Ozpin commented, smiling at the floor. "She didn't want to know, which made names a bit difficult. I must say, I'm rather anxious about it."

"... You're either going to become the Huntsman-equivalent of an over-the-top football-dad, or the cliché and overprotective stay-away-from-my-little-princess sort of father." Glynda predicted, grinning. Ozpin paused, then he looked over at Glynda in annoyance.

"Remind me why I hired you, again?"

"So I could knock James Ironwood's ego down a notch."

"You and Evenora certainly do manage that." Ozpin admitted, and Glynda smirked. "Not to mention Qrow's ever-constant contribution."

"Right, Qrow..." Glynda's face fell. "Has there been any sign of Raven?"

"No. She'll come around, in time." Ozpin assured Glynda, frowning. "I simply believe that I may have told her too much too soon... Qrow and Summer will find her, while Taiyang looks out for that new dau-" Ozpin looked up as a nurse walked over, her expression filled with remorse, and Ozpin quickly walked over to meet her. "How is Evenora, and the baby?"

"Professor Ozpin, I'm so sorry..." The nurse sighed softly, looking down, then she looked back at the man. "There were complications with the c-section. Your wife has passed away." Ozpin's body tensed, his eyes widening in disbelief as he cane fell to the floor, and Glynda quickly stood and walked over to placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ozpin?" She asked softly, but she recieved no answer. Glynda looked up at the nurse. "... The child?" The nurse managed a small smile.

"Alive, and healthy." She replied quietly. "It's a girl." Ozpin still had not moved. He did not even appear to be breathing. "Professor Ozpin?"

"I... I need a moment." Ozpin walked a few paces away, raising a hand to his forehead and looking down in shock, and Glynda bowed her head and crossed her arms. "Why, gods? Why must I lose everything..?"

"... You didn't lose her." Glynda looked up, her expression forlorn. "Professor Ozpin... You're a father." Ozpin blinked, then he closed his eyes.

Professor Ozpin placed his hand on a window, peering into the room and seeing only one occupant. A tiny figure swaddled in pink kept on crying and crying, the arms she had wrestled free reaching up and finding nothing...

"... They said you could go in, any time." Glynda walked up to stand next to Ozpin, her expression filled with pity. Ozpin closed his eyes, and Glynda sighed.

"Sir-"

"This is not the first wife and child I've lost, Glynda." Ozpin spoke, the hand on the glass curling slightly. A crack formed in the material. "And I cannot tell myself that they will be the last."

"... Ozpin, I-" Glynda blinked as Ozpin took a deep breath and turned away from her, walking with his cane to the door and opening it. He entered the small room, slowly walking over to the white bed, and he looked down at the baby girl.

"Hm." Ozpin raised an eyebrow as he examined the baby. She had dark hair, as most infants did, and he sighed softly as he noticed the infant's skin - darker, like her mother's. It reminded him of the skin his first reincarnation, of the youngest of his first four daughters. "... Hello." The child kept crying. "I-I'm your father." The baby was wearing her voice out with her wails, and Ozpin finally finally gave in, reached into the cradle, and gathered the girl in his arms, rocking her and trying to get her to calm down. "It's alright, it's alright. I'm here, I'm here..." The child finally stopped crying, and she opened her brown eyes and looked up at her father. "I promise, as long as I am breathing, no one will ever harm you... My Theodora."

Professor Ozpin left the room, holding his daughter close.

"What's her name?" Glynda asked, placing a hand on hed hip. Ozpin looked up at his companion, smiling weakly.

"Theodora."

"Oh... What color-?"

"It's not a color name." Ozpin gave a nervous grin. "It... It's an ancient name, it means 'god given'." Glynda blinked, then she smiled as she looked down at the infant.

"She's beautiful."

"Yes, she is."

"... She'll have your eyes, once they finish developing." Glynda predicted, and Ozpin blinked. Then, he sighed and smiled again.

"That doesn't matter... She's perfect, no matter what."

"Professor?" A voice spoke awkwardly, and Ozpin and Glynda looked over to see the nurse from earlier. "Um... I'm sorry, sir - but you need to make arrangements for your wife's body." Ozpin blinked, then he looked down at Theodora forlornly.

"... I'll hold her." Glynda offered, and Ozpin blinked. "Do what you have to do." Ozpin blinked again, then he gently handed Theodora over to his companion. Glynda took the newborn into her arms, and Ozpin sighed as he turned to follow the nurse. Theodora began crying again, and his fists clenched at his sides.

/\

Once Ozpin finished arranging for Evenora's body to be taken to a funeral-home so that it could be prepared for burial, he and Glynda got on an airship to Beacon. Theodora fell asleep in Ozpin's arms, and he could not find the strength to look away from her for even a second. After a time, Glynda finally sighed and spoke up.

"So... What does this mean, anyway?" Glynda asked softly, looking over at Ozpin. "You've had children before... Did they ever inherit-?"

"Once, for certain." Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "Since then, I have never used my powers in front of one of my children... I can't take the risk, and I will not have my daughter growing up in fear." Glynda was surprised at the cold determination in his voice, then she slowly smiled.

"I was right."

"About what?"

"You're already overprotective."

"... Not the time, Glynda."

"Sorry... I'm so sorry, about Evenora." Glynda whispered, and Ozpin did not respond. "How... How is Ambroise taking it?"

"He's... He gave me full control, Glynda, and vanished into the subconscious the moment we recieved the news. We both loved Evenora, but she was his entire world." Ozpin closed his eyes. "He's gone... Theodora is my responsibility. I owe it to the both of them to raise their - our - daughter."

"You can do it." Glynda placed a hand on his shoulder. Ozpin opened his eyes and looked down at his daughter once more

"I pray that you're right."

/\

That night, Ozpin sat on the edge of his bed in the headmaster-suite of the teacher-dormitories at the kingdom of Vale's Beacon Academy. Just hours earlier, he had shared that bed with his pregnant wife. Now, he was alone with Theodora.

The baby was awake now, wide-awake due to the attention the staff had given her. His coworkers Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, and Georgia Peach had practically fawned over the little girl, after they had expressed their deepest condolences to Ozpin over the loss of Evenora.

In the morning, Ozpin would have to return to his job - it was the middle of the school-year, after all. The learning couldn't stop just because the headmaster was in mourning, for he and the rest of the staff had to train the world's latest guardians.

... Ozpin looked down at the baby girl, surprised as one of her pudgy little hands gripped his finger, the girl looking up at him. She looked almost as uncertain as her father did, and Ozpin brought her up to his face and kissed her forehead.

"It's alright." Ozpin whispered, closing his eyes and cradling the baby. "No one will harm you as long as I draw breath. I will never let anything bad happen to you... All that I have, and all that I am, is yours - forever. I love you, my Theodora."

/\/\/\/\

The next morning was hectic, to say the least. Before he could even prepare himself for the school day, Ozpin had to change Theodora's diaper, make her formula and feed her, and get her ready.

When Ozpin stumbled into his office late that morning, he practically collapsed in his chair after setting Theodora in a rocking-cradle next to his desk. He rocked it a few times, settling the baby down, then he got to work.

Five minutes later, Theodora started bawling, and Ozpin paused, hand shaking as his pen hovered an inch from his paperwork. Then, Ozpin slammed his head down onto the desk with a noise of frustration.

"Theodora, sweetheart, I love you - but you're going to be the death of me. Then, we'll both be in trouble..."

/\/\/\/\

The next few mornings went by in a similar manner, and Ozpin felt himself slowly being worn down by the stress. He drank twice as much coffee to try and stay awake after long nights, and he was starting to crack.

One morning, Ozpin woke up looking half-dead, and he raised an eyebrow as he felt that something was off. Then, his brown eyes widened as he realized that Theodora was not crying.

"Theodora?" Ozpin asked, quickly getting to his feet and walking over to the cradle... It was empty. "Theodora?!" Ozpin searched all around the room, then he burst out the door and ran down the hallway in his emerald-green pajamas, looking all around for his baby daughter. "Theodora?! THEODORA?! Theo-?!" Ozpin arrived in the kitchen, only to see something that he had not expected.

Oobleck pulled the heated-up formula from the microwave, handing it to Glynda. The youngest teacher smiled as she raised the bottle to Theodora's lips, the baby in her arms and smiling as Port and Peach made silly faces.

Bartolomew Oobleck was a young man with messy green hair and sapphire-blue eyes. He wore a white shirt that was partially tucked into his dark-green pants and its collar raised, along with a loose yellow tie, a black belt with a silver buckle, and mismatched brown and black shoes. He also had round, opaque glasses.

Peter Port was a middle-aged man in his mid-forties wearing a crimson suit with gold trim and buttons. His pants were tucked into olive-green boots. He had gray hair and a mustache, and the smiling man was slightly overweight.

The elusive Georgia "Georgie" Peach was a middle-aged fox-Faunus with red hair in a side-braid and dark-blue eyes over a sea of freckles, and she wore an sunset-orange pantsuit with a white dress-shirt and brown dress-shoes. Her long, fluffy fox-tail swished behind her.

"You alright, Oz?" Peach asked, noticing the headmaster. Ozpin blinked a few times, surprised as he looked at all of his coworkers and his daughter.

"Y-you..?"

"Who ever said that you had to do this alone?" Port inquired as he stood, walked over, and placed a hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "If you needed help, old friend, all you had to do was ask." Ozpin slowly smiled as Oobleck handed him a mug of coffee, and the headmaster looked around at his coworkers.

"Thank you, all of you... My daughter couldn't have finer godparents."

Well, this is Part 1 of the prologue. What do you think?

I loosely based Evenora and Theodora off of Evanora and Theodora, characters from Oz: the Great and Powerful. Only now, Evenora was Theodora's mother and Ozpin was Evenora's husband and is Theodora's father.

I edited Evanora's name to "Evenora" because the character would have been born post-Great War and would need a color-name, and "Evenora" could be associated with "evening" colors. The host, Ambroise, has a name that relates to "ambrosia" (food of the gods, which brings to mind gold and white) - and it's one of the Wizard of Oz's names.

Sorry, if there was any confusion.

I only own my OC (OCs, if you count Evenora and the helpful nurse). Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks!

Also: yes, Ozpin's promise to Theodora is a reference to How I Met Your Mother. :)