"Hey snow ange—" Jaune yelped audible as he realized it wasn't Weiss he was talking to, but Winter. He only saw the distinguishable white hair and automatically assumed it was the younger Schnee. He gulped as Winter's frigid glare locked onto him as she turned around.

"Arc," she said simply.

"Uhh... hi Mrs... I mean Miss Schnee! How are you on this fine afternoon?"

Winter scrutinized his very soul with her gaze. Jaune could feel his internal temperature drop just by the ice in her blue eyes... he could feel the frostbite in his veins by how intense her gaze was.

"I am not a fan of you," she admitted, making him wilt, "yet..."

He perked up. Yet what? He wondered.

"Never mind, you are a disappointment," she said. "Leave me, I have things to do."

Jaune wanted to call out the fact that she was standing in the middle of the hallway literally watching birds nest outside the window. If the term bored could be portrayed in a single picture, it would be her.

But Winter was the scariest thing he'd even seen in his life, and he fought a deathstalker in initiation. Jaune just walked away because he liked having a functional body and wanted to keep it that way.

Winter Schnee was terrifying. Enough said.

Rewrite the History Books

"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery–isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is."

"You say don't even start if I'm not prepared... but I already started."

His cybernetic riddled leader gave him a rare smile. "Then you have to go all the way whether you like it or not."

"The choice isn't even mine to make," he said, somewhat bitter. He was made General without his own input, the Commander just did it.

"No, it was mine," the robotic man admitted, "and I made that choice because no one else can give it everything except you."

Commander Ironwood died minutes later, and General Arc assumed his position.

Under the Menagerie Sun

I could only stare in... not shock, but awe as Raven downed her fifth cup of the blackest coffee I've ever seen. Teleporting from one corner of the map to another wasn't anything that seemed easy, but it just didn't seam healthy to consume so much caffeine so quickly.

We were taking a break in a coffee shop in Mistral. It was a lot nicer than the darker bars her and her brother seemed to enjoy so much, which was a nice change in atmosphere. Raven, being Raven, stood out a lot compared to everyone else around us, but she obviously didn't give a damn.

"Joan," Raven called as she signaled the waiter to fill her cup again.

"Yeah?" I responded as I sipped my tea (Ren was right, tea was a nice change in pace).

"You are quite the Aura manipulator, are you not?"

I rose an eyebrow. "Where did you hear that from? That's not something many people know. In fact, only a handful of people knew until this afternoon..." It hit me and I chuckled.

"What?" she demanded.

"You were watching us train, weren't you?"

She just looked at me with the trademark 'I'll kill you' look that she was a master of.

"Right?"

The look didn't falter.

"You probably heard me verbally assault your daughter. Did you hear Ruby's too?"

"You started with Yang and ended with Ruby, so I had to sit through all of the children I don't care about," she admitted. "Now will you answer my question?"

At least Raven stalked her daughter because she cared. Maybe it was a parental instinct thing I didn't understand.

I laughed again. "You already know, but I'll humor you. I guess I'm the best one you can find."

"I'm working on a project," she told me, "one that required both my creation of portals and inanimate objects."

"Please clarify."

"I want to find a way to imbue my powers into an object, so if someone other than me needs a portal they can create one. Actually making it has proven difficult with little progress—practically none."

I sipped my tea. So Raven wanted to imbue her Aura into an object and make a portable warp point that anyone could use...

"Even with my knowledge of Aura Manipulation, I'm not completely sure if that's possible," I admitted. "But don't assume it's impossible. I guarantee if we spend some time together and experiment we can create such a thing, but at the moment I have a few other ideas. Ideas that could be working within a month."

She took a massive gulp of her coffee.

"You see," I started, "even if your Aura is in, say, a stone and I had it. I don't know how to make a portal, that's your gig. Even if I could manipulate your Aura I have no clue to how visualize an area and make a tear in the dimension—you're the one whose spent years perfecting that, not me. However, we could imbue the stone with your Aura and then break it, and once it breaks it's possible that you can sense it. I'm not sure the specifics of your ability, but if you could suddenly sense your Aura in Vacuo I think you can create a portal to that exact spot."

"To be able to feel my Aura from so far away..."

"Yeah, sounds crazy. I'm basing it off the stories of a mom feeling the Aura of her Hunstman son die and she suddenly collapses even though they're continents apart. If those are to be believed, and I think they should be, then Aura does stay somewhat linked despite distance. If a mom can sense her child, then you should be able to sense yourself with the proper training. You know, the fact that our souls are so understudied is really disappointing."

Raven was obviously thinking very deeply.

"So what do you think?" I asked after giving her a few minutes.

"It sounds possible."

"Really?" I was just talking what I thought, and a lot times it didn't make any sense.

"Whenever Yang, or even anyone I care about, is in a light threatening situation I sometimes get a feeling. I know what and where it will happen and can go there to assist. Call it foresight, but with Yang especially I can feel her fear..." she took a breath, "I think that souls of loved ones can be linked, so you're theory holds weight."

"Yeah, I've felt it millions of times before, but I always just assumed it was my Semblance. Since I'm linked with everyone who trusts me... like every time one of my soldiers died I felt a part of me die with them. It doesn't matter who it is, it sucks every time." Especially before battle, I could always feel the emotion of my men coursing through me.

She nodded and finished another cup of coffee.

"I am finished," she said. "Six cups should be enough to take us to Menagerie and possibly back."

"Possibly?"

"We might have to take a boat back or end up warping to the middle of the sea."

Luckily, Raven's coffee powered Semblance managed to get the both of us to Menagerie. We ended up a mile away from the inhabited part, but it was a pretty small margin of error comparatively.

Menagerie was a pretty interesting place to me. In the war it was mentioned hundreds of times, but I only had the time to visit it once before Amaterasu burned it all to the ground.

The first thing I really noticed when we stumbled onto society was how lively it was. Without the burden of war or a sea of flames it was a lot... nicer than Blake ever described it as. Blake did always have a thing for being over dramatic though. The people looked content with their lives.

Blake was right when she mentioned how crowded it was. It felt like there were more people than central Vale on a holiday, and most of the people weren't tourists trying to sight see. All of these people were living as honest of lives as they could.

Raven wasn't much for small talk—or any talk really—and walked really fast. So fast I actually had troubles keeping up with her, so fast that people were noticing her pushing through the crowds.

The giant sword was pretty noticeable, but at least she took her mask off (I had to spend a few minutes convincing her she should). Even though she wasn't trying to, Raven just attracted attention in her own way. The only way to describe it was Raven-like—dark, menacing and brooding.

There no humans around, so we stood out like sore thumbs. A lot of people seemed to pick up on how we were human, but Raven was fast enough that we would vanished into another crowd before anyone could act. Maybe that was why she walked so fast...

"Raven," I finally called as we made our third loop through the main market.

She turned and looked at me.

"Do you know where Ghira's house is?"

She shook her head.

I sighed. I should not have let the girl who was just doing non-stop missions and consumed six coffees lead the way.

"Do you want me to lead?" I asked.

"No."

I stared, confused.

"I do not want you to lead," she clarified, "but we have no other choice if we want to find Ghira, so you can lead."

We were definitely taking a boat back, I decided, Ozpin be dammed.

"Now I remember why I never started drinking coffee and why I never stopped getting a full nights sleep. How long has it been since you've slept—" I stopped as someone ran into me.

It wasn't anything big or dangerous, but rather a small kid. She was a Faunus, of course, and looked to be of some sort of feline alignment. At first glance she looked a lot like Blake would if she was a kid—except with blonde hair, green eyes, and a face that didn't look like it never smiled.

"Sorry, my bad," I apologized even though she was the cause.

"It's fine mister!" she replied cheerfully as she held her arms behind her back. Her innocent smile made her look completely harmless, which she probably was.

"And unless you want the five lien I have left," I added, "my wallet is basically empty."

Her smile turned to a devious smirk as she revealed my wallet from behind her back. "It's still a nice wallet," she said cheekily, "one hundred lien easily."

"She's right," Raven agreed, making me roll my eyes.

"Well I just got it a few days ago for a hundred fifty, so give it back or try to sell it for two hundred instead." As cute as the girl was, I wasn't trying to waste my hard earned paycheck.

"Are you two humans?" the girl suddenly asked. I took a second to glance at Raven, who was unresponsive.

"We are," I said.

"I've never seen any humans before," she noted in wonder.

"So you've never left Menagerie?" I mimicked her nod. "Well, if you ever do travel elsewhere when you're older you'll see a lot more of us. Humans are surprisingly common outside of this island."

"Why is that? Do you guys have any traits like us? You don't have any ears or claws or tails."

"We're not special at all. All humans are usually the exact same genetically, we don't have any cool traits that can help us."

"Not even seeing in the dark?" she asked, perplexed at the mere thought.

"Not even that. It sucks."

"I'm glad I'm a Faunus," she decided as the started to run away. "Bye!"

I waved. If the edge-queen that was teenage Blake was here she'd probably have to check all four of her ears. Even in my entire twenty eight years I rarely heard any Faunus say they were glad to be a Faunus. They always got the short end of the stick—whether it was racism or Cinder's genocidal plague.

Good for her. Hopefully she would continue thinking the way she did.

"The girl made you forget about your wallet," Raven added as she started to walk away.

Damn it.

When the door to their rather nice house opened, it still shocked me how similar Blake looked to her mother. In fact, Blake's mother looked more like Blake from the future than the one currently sitting in Beacon. To say that Kali Belladonna could pass for her mid thirties was an understatement.

"Hello Mrs. Belladonna," I greeted with a respectful tilt of my head, "my name is Joan Arc and this is my associate Raven Branwen." Raven nodded as well..

She eyed the two of us suspiciously for a few seconds. "A pleasure," she said, but I doubted the integrity. "You've come here for a reason, and I assume the reason is to talk to my husband."

"Preferably," I admitted.

"Well he is busy," she said and started closing the door.

Right as it closed a resounding "Wait!" came from inside the home.

"Don't worry, Kali, I will humor these guests," Ghira said as he reopened the door, revealing his massive form. He towered over all of us, his golden eyes holding no warmth as he scrutinized our forms. "Two humans on Menagerie, not the most common of occurrences."

"We came to speak to you," I told him.

"I see," he didn't look impressed, "and why should I let you into my home?"

"Because we come with information of the greatest regards," Raven said. Ghira's brow raised, but he didn't budge from his position.

"From?"

"Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy," I spoke. "He has some information that he, and the rest of our group, would like you to hear." My face had a distasteful expression. "Though please don't assume we're an evil shadow group of rich people... we're not evil."

His look didn't falter.

"I'm not interested," he said as he shut the door.

I stared at the closed door.

"Just like his daughter," I muttered as we turned around and walked away.

They were almost perfect assassins, I'd give them that. I would have never known I'd died if they didn't make the ever so slightest of mistakes that wasn't even much of a mistake.

I was sleeping in a room we had managed to find. There was no way Raven and I were going to stay at any of Menagerie's nicer hotels (which compared to Vale or Atlas was nothing) since the last thing we wanted to do in Menagerie was be as human as possible. Instead we found a rather nice old lady who happened to have two open bedrooms and promised us she'd make us food in the morning.

She sold it pretty well. Even Raven didn't expect anything.

Whatever time it was I didn't know—I was sleeping deep. In fact, I was having a pretty nice dream until I felt the slightest touch of Aura. It was being manipulated, not in rest. Someone close to me was dropping their Aura levels down from minuscule to practically nonexistent.

My eyes didn't snap open nor did my breathing hitch. My training held firm and the only indication I was awake was my body shifting slightly underneath the covers. Yet I was as far away from my dreams as possible.

Barely, just barely, I could hear someone exhale while the Aura level dropped. Someone was trying to calm their nerves, it seems.

Being extremely Aura sensitive, it was easy to discover an entire, despite being well hidden, person in the same room as I was. Just from the small flash of Aura I could tell so much.

Young. Focused. Nervous. Ready. Those were the vibes it was giving out.

I licked my lips, they were dry. Wherever the Aura was I couldn't trace it, whoever it was had either amazing stealth skills or a killer Semblance. Either way, a potential assassin was within ten feet of me—I knew it.

The assassin wasn't planning on lingering, most good ones didn't. A definite kill shot would be slitting my throat or severing my aorta. Slicing any of the vessels leading to my heart would be fatal as well. A liver shot I might be able to survive, but my liver was definitely something I wanted fully functional.

There was a creak in the room.

I quickly rolled off the bed and avoided a massive knife from going straight into my eye. The assassin reacted fast and tore the blade out my pillow, slicing feathers into the air.

There was a feminine yelp as I tackled the assassin. We rolled into a wall and she kicked me off. I couldn't see, but I managed to duck underneath another blade with only the moonlight to help me.

She seemed to notice I was unarmed and charged me with what looked like a dagger. I grabbed a lamp and threw it at her, she sliced it out of the air, but it distracted her enough for me to close the distance between us.

I got a clean punch straight to the side of her head, her dagger flew into the air as she landed on my bed.

I grabbed it and threw it at her, but she jumped behind the other side of the bed.

Suddenly a man flew threw the wall and onto the floor in front of me. His White Fang mask broke as he landed face first and groaned, only barely missing the bed. I looked to my side and saw Raven walking in her room holding another man by the throat.

I checked behind the bed, the assassin I was fighting was gone.

"Damn," I murmurer, she was good, and I didn't want a good assassin out there trying for me. "Raven," I called as she choked her assassin out, "are you alright? Actually you seem to have that under control."

Raven cocked her arm back and threw the assassin threw her window and into the street below. I winced as I heard a loud crash—bastard hit something hard.

"We were targeted," Raven said like it wasn't completely obvious.

I sighed deeply. "Yeah, we were. We should leave this place," I suggested, "my guess is that our friendly landlord isn't as friendly."

Hopping into the portal she created, we ended up at the outskirts of Menagerie. Raven angrily paced back and forth in the foliage while I inspected the dagger the assassin left, trying to find any clues.

We couldn't of interrogated the one assassin left, as that would be loud and cause a commotion. The last thing we wanted on Menagerie was someone stumbling in on two humans interrogating a Faunus. If the assassin we left behind was as good as the one who targeted me, then he wouldn't talk easily.

"A stiletto," I noted, running my finger down the flat of the long blade. After the cross guard the blade was long and slender, reaching to about eight inches and a needle like point. It was designed for stabbing, and the final two inches of the blade was a lightening Dust crystal, which made it's piercing power beyond deadly. "A nasty piece of work. I'm glad she didn't poke me with it."

"Quite," a voice agreed, both Raven and I whipped around to see Ghira standing there. How a man of his size managed to sneak up on us was... well Blake must have gotten it from somewhere.

"Fancy seeing you here," I greeted.

Ghira crossed his arms and gestured to his right with a tilt of his head. "It's strange to sense such a concentration of Aura in my backyard this late in night. I got a new fence with the intent of keeping things out."

"Should've made it bigger," I said dryly as I dropped the stiletto, it sunk into the ground a few inches.

Raven wordlessly threw a White fang mask at Ghira—I didn't even realize she had it.

Ghira stared at it for a while before finally meeting our eyes.

"Would you like some tea?"

"I've done well to dismiss and avoid rumors," Ghira admitted with a frown, his steaming cup of tea laying untouched in front of him. His wife nodded in agreement from beside him. "Especially in Menagerie, the White Fang are involved in a lot of charitable acts. They give a lot of people hope. They make people feel safe. Keeps the Grimm away, I'll tell you that."

"But have you heard of their actions outside of Menagerie?" I asked, rubbing my tired eyes. "Vale and Atlas in particular," I added.

"Those are far," he said, "in Menagerie people have other priorities than the issues of other countries."

"Nothing at all?" That was astonishing. Some of the attacks the White Fang staged at Atlas were massive everywhere. They made international news all the time, the likes of the Barrage Squad or Adam Taurus especially showing up on the VNN and other networks.

"I must admit... as Chieftan I know, but the people do not." By the look on his face and tone of his voice it was obvious Ghira had a heavy heart. "The people in power here, those who can affect this countries hearing and vision, are all friends of the White Fang. I assumed they were friends with the charitable and friendly Fang, but I'm starting to see otherwise."

It was hard for him. I used to be a leader, so I could understand. Ghira was Menagerie's Chieftan—he needed to be in the loop with everything involving the island. If such an integral part of the society he was leading was evil...

"How are we going to deal with this?" Kali voiced my exact thoughts.

I wasn't going to intrude and try to offer my help just yet, and Raven was much for any talking, so we sat politely and sipped our tea while Ghira stared at his wife.

"Carefully," he finally said.

We all sat in silence, pondering deeply.

"We need help," Ghira caved, looking at us. "You are allied with Ozpin? I could... we could use some of his wisdom."

I didn't outwardly show it, but I was impressed. Ghira was a man of great pride, it was as easy to notice as his height. He was a truly great leader if he was asking for help, because that meant he wasn't trying to mess up—he really wanted to do good for his people.

"Trust me," I offered, "if you hear us out not only Ozpin will come to your assistance. Political power is not something we lack."

"Just Faunus affairs," he guessed.

I smirked, exactly.

"Now that we're on the same page, we can truly get started." The same page was that we both needed something from each other, and were willing to cooperate to get it.

Raven finished her tea and finally spoke, "We are a small group of people that have been fighting a hidden war in order to protect the Remnant. The basis of the war is a secret with only a handful of people knowing why, and that number is growing as we must get more powerful. That's the reason we have come to speak to you, we would like to ask for your assistance in protecting the innocent."

Kali's ears perked as she took in the information. Ghira had a more stoic reaction that his wife, crossing his arms across his broad chest and frowning slightly, his yellow eyes serious.

"Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon is apart of a secret war," he pondered, "perhaps I shall partake as well, if you will give me a reason."

"Do you recall the fairy tale of the four maidens?" I asked. I knew they must have, as Blake mentioned in the future that her parents had read her a lot of fairy tales.

They both nodded.

I took a sip of my tea, which was all the confirmation they needed.

"Four people with incredible powers... is the old man from the tale a factor as well?"

"Not particularly, no."

"That's probably for the best. Why tell us that the tale is real?"

"As you can know, Maiden's have incredible power that transcend whatever science we know. People want power. People would do anything to get power. There are bad people that want that power to do bad things, and they'll do anything to get it," I explained. "Over the years the war between us, the protectors who keep the Maiden's safe, and our opposition have become a lot like a chess game. It's more than just a bloodbath now—both groups are smart."

"And you wish to add a Faunus piece to your board, increase your reach," Kali said, hitting the nail on the head.

"Well, it's become more than just a traditional chess game now," I admitted. "We've been aggressively adding more and more pieces, changing the fundamental rules of pieces and..." I stopped myself from going on a hard to follow tangent. "The rules are more like Xiangqi or Janggi," I told them, referring to a more eastern variants of chess in order to help them, "but I personally believe we're making our own game."

Ghira nodded sagely, understanding my words.

"Ozpin is your general then?"

I nodded. "I am a soldier and Raven is more attuned to a chariot or a cannon."

"You want me as a piece, so tell me why."

"Adam Taurus must die," I said simply.

Kali gasped.

"He—" Ghira started, but I cut him off.

"—is not mentoring Blake," I told them. "She defected from the Fang and is now studying at Beacon. She has outstanding grades and is on a team of highly promising and trustful students."

If they didn't want to talk before, they definitely wanted to now.

Negotiations didn't particularly fall in my lap, but I was content with what we had accomplished. Ghira Belladonna was now willing to lend us assistance, as long as we helped him just as much as we wanted him to help us.

He wanted Menagerie to become more than an island of outcasts. His sights were on the grand scheme of things, and we agreed to help fulfill his vision of turning Menagerie into a global power.

The island had little fertile land, with most of it being desert, and Ghira had little interest in making use of the plentiful Dust reserves scattered around the brutal sands. Instead, he was trying to create a powerful economy of trade that would keep Menagerie steady for years into the future.

I admired that.

I promised to let Ghira get into contact with people like Ironwood or Daddy Schnee for his agenda, in return he would use whatever contacts and information he had to help us. From what I saw, the more powerful Menagerie became the more powerful Ghira became as Chieftan, and the more powerful Ghira became... it'll just make my job easier in the long run.

Of course, it would take years for Ghira and Kali to turn Menagerie into anything more than just... well... Menagerie.

The boat hit a larger than average wave and I almost vomited. Stupid sea sickness. Raven had basically given me the middle finger and returned to her tribe, saying she's been gone too long. It took me for a loop, since I thought Raven had left the life of banditry in order to help us.

Ah well, I couldn't expect her of all people to suddenly change. I had enough experience with her daughter's stubbornness to know that it had to come from somewhere. And because of that I was now on a boat without my Scroll, weapon and money having to traverse my way back to Vale.

How wonderful! So wonderful I wanted to punch a wall.

Maybe I was being a little sour. The salty smell of the sea was calming compared to the scent of a battlefield, it made me relax. The warmness of the sun even made me forget about about the entire ship rocking if I focused on it enough.

I was leaning against the railing staring at the waves. It was peaceful. Kinda like a vacation.

"We got a big one!" I heard the captain yell, making my head turn curiously. My head snapped back towards the ocean as a giant Grimm monster erupted from the waves, roaring violently. "Battle stations!" the captain ordered.

I sighed as Aura surrounded my entire body, burning like an inferno. Vacation indeed.

Authors note: The italicized excerpt is based of the novel Factotum, and the chapter title is based of the book Under the Tuscan Sun. Also this chapter might be a bit rougher than usual, I blame being tired.

Omake: Ruby Rose part 1

Ten years in the future

Luckily for her, the medicine did relieve her of the blaring headache. Which meant she now had zero excuses for not showing up. She was going to get into a lot of trouble, she knew it.

"Who cares?" she muttered to herself. "It's not like they're gonna catch me."

She wasn't planning on running away far, or for long. Just long enough and far enough that they wouldn't dare invite her to another stupid meeting that she didn't want to go to ever again.

"Whose not gonna catch you?"

She jumped at the gentle voice behind her.

"Velvet, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

Velvet rolled her eyes (where did she get that attitude from?). "I was sent by the—"

"Council... yes yes I get it. Stupid council knows I'll run from Cardin, but not you."

"It was Cardin's idea."

"He's gonna get pranked so hard. Don't tell him that."

"I won't," Velvet promised, "but please come to you're meeting, Supreme Leader."

"And as Supreme Leader I say no!"

"Ruby," Velvet pleaded, "you're suppose to be leading the Remnant... act like it."

Ruby Rose, Supreme Leader of the reformed Remnant, stuck her tongue out.

"Ruby..."

"I didn't choose this job!" she yelled, knowing how childish she was being and not feeling any remorse about it.

"But they all chose you." Velvet was one of the few who still remembered that Ruby Rose wasn't a divine warrior that was created to slay evil, but a sugar addicted weapon geek with a short attention span.

Velvet was one of the four who voted for Cardin—the only others being Ruby, Cardin, and Cardin's mom. Other than that star studded cast everyone else decided she was a good pick for whatever gods forsaken reason.

Ruby groaned loudly. "This sucks! I don't want to be a queen and reshape the Remnant—I want to watch TV and eat cookies instead!"

"Too bad. The Remnant needs to be reshaped, we've all decided, and who is better than you? You're the strongest person alive by a long shot. Cardin is the closest, but he's still..." Velvet trailed off.

"Cardin?" Ruby supplied.

"Sometimes I swear I'm the only one who can get through his thick skull..."

"Cause he's scared of you."

"I'm not scary..."

Ruby thought otherwise. Velvet could be very, very scary.

"I'm just saying," the ultra-Maiden argued, "Cardin should be in charge because he was Jaune's second in command. He has way more rank over me to begin with."

"He had more rank. You're the Grand Leader now."

Ruby groaned again. "Jaune's used to being called things like that—dummy had to bail when the action ended."

Commander Arc's demise was a tragedy felt by the entire Remnant. Since Cinder destroyed most of the governing body, the army had to become more than just fighters. Jaune was already in the Supreme Leader position, just under a different name, before he died.

Ruby still didn't believe it—there wasn't any body and until she saw one she still had hope. Jaune had more Aura than all of them combined. Cinder's explosive end, while powerful, just wasn't enough to eradicate Jaune's entire body. He survived much bigger explosions before.

He created much bigger explosions before.

She called shenanigans.

"Aren't Maidens suppose to be reclusive and all that?" she pondered out loud. "I'm all four Maidens," she added, "so I need to be extra hidden from people for my own safety... yeah, that's it!"

"That's exactly the point though," Velvet argued, "you have the power of all four Maidens. Nobody can beat you."

"You beat me in a staring contest the other day."

"An actual rabbit can beat you in a stari—" Velvet rolled her eyes and huffed, "—the point is nobody can beat you in a fight. You got elected for this position, so take one for the team and sit through the boring meetings. Besides, you always doze off and I take notes for you anyways."

Ruby only wished she knew Velvet when there was homework to be done... she might have actually turned in assignments for once.

She blinked and noticed Velvet was still in front of her, the Faunus tapping her foot as she waited. Velvet was starting to get annoyed, which made all of Ruby's danger senses go off as she struggled to find an excuse.

"I uhh.. Velvet..."

"What?"

"It's just that... that... I need to—" whatever excuse she had was dying in her throat.

"Need to?"

"I need to... practice my Maiden powers! Yeah! I have absolutely no time to practice these powers with all the stupid meetings and parties! How am I suppose to be in control of these awesome powers if I can't even use them properly?"

Velvet sighed and shook her head. "They'll believe that," she admitted. "I'll go and tell them your excuse, but you have to be practicing, alright?" The dangerous glint in Velvet's eyes made Ruby nod her head frantically.

"I'll practice! I swear!"

Velvet left, leaving Ruby all alone.

The final member of RWBY raised her hand, watching as pure energy swirled around it.

"I'm a silver eyed Maiden of all four seasons," she muttered, her eyes starting to glow, "what a mess I call my life. All the power in the world yet I still can't turn back time and fix my life..." she sighed deeply, balling her hand into a fist and feeling the power course through her veins.

All this power... it made her wonder.

"Is nothing out of the realm of possibility for me?" she pondered out loud. "I wonder what I can really do with infinite power..."