Ruby hummed to herself as she wandered the outskirts of Beacon. She had a wide smile on her face and why shouldn't she?

Her belly was full from her lunch noodles, Roman Torchwick was still locked up in jail where he belonged, and Team RWBY and all their friends had made it to the second round of the Vytal Festival tournament. Ruby had always known they would but Weiss worried so much it was hard not to have a teeny bit of doubt.

But they won, so the doubt was stupid!

Then Weiss had run off after Team SSSN's match which was weird because they had agreed to plan the victory party with their friends after that and Weiss never missed out on a chance to plan something.

Studying, projects, dust allowances, plans to discover and exploit the deepest darkest secrets of their competition, if it required organization then she was there.

Then, it turned out her sister Winter had just arrived, and Ruby had had to meet her, and, oh gods, was that awkward. Though Ruby was pretty sure she had nailed the end of the conversation, she could not have been more thankful for the sisters going off on their own.

Unfortunately, this left her with absolutely no idea what she should do. She could go to the party planning with Yang, Blake, and Team JNPR, plus maybe SSSN and CKSM. She still hadn't gotten word back from Sun and Emerald if their teams were coming. But parties were always Yang's thing and Ruby wanted to do some maintenance on Crescent Rose.

She thought she had noticed a dent after their match and no blemish on her sweetheart would be given quarter!

The little reaper past a lithe blonde woman in a blue gown on her way to the Beacon forge. The girl gazed around the massive courtyard with a worried look on her face. It was a look Ruby remembered both herself and Jaune wearing on their first day at the academy. The poor woman was obviously lost.

Ruby walked over to her, "Um, excuse me. Miss?"

The woman turned to Ruby, surprise written on her face. "Yes?"

"Are you looking for the bullhead to the coliseum? It's just a few turns down that way." Ruby knew how confusing Beacon could be at the best of times and with all the visitors from other kingdoms coming in for the festival, an innocent young girl like this was bound to get lost. And if there was one thing a huntress should do, other than kill Grimm and defend humanity, it was help people who are lost.

Probably.

The blonde raised an eyebrow and gave Ruby a stare that told her this woman was wondering how anyone could possibly be as awesome she was. After all, it was the same look Miss Goodwitch gave Yang and Nora after they destroyed the practice arena in combat class.

Well, maybe not exactly the same. This woman's eyebrow wasn't twitching. But it was uncanny just similar this woman felt to academy deputy. They didn't look too much alike and this woman definitely was quite a bit shorter than Ruby's professor, she was even shorter than the reaper herself, but they both exuded a terrifying aura of authority. Maybe they were sisters?

Nah, that would ridiculous.

"Actually, I am looking for the Headmaster's office."

…

Okay, Professor Goodwitch had a secret sister. She'd have to warn Yang. They could use Nora as a distraction to get away.

The blonde in front of Ruby didn't notice the girl's frozen state. "I have been looking for quite a while but there don't seem to be any maps around here—"

The woman was distracted by the sound of weapons clashing far too close to be from the arena. Ruby saw a small crowd gathering in the center of the courtyard, and she and the blonde woman rushed over.

Ruby spotted Weiss near the front of the commotion and ran up next to her partner. "What's going on?

Weiss noticed her and pointed to the center of the crowd, where Winter was crossing swords with someone in a dirty dress shirt. "Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister."

Ruby paled. "Oh no, who would do such a thi—"

She spotted a familiar great sword striking Winter's saber.

Ruby squealed. "Thaaat is my uncle!"

Weiss' eyes widened. "What?"

"Kick her butt Uncle Qrow!" Ruby called.

"Teach him respect Winter!" Weiss hollered into the crowd.

Neither member of Team RWBY noticed the blonde woman from before frown at their families' display.

Qrow and Winter barely registered the shouts of encouragement as they dueled at lightning speed. Winter feinted with a stab left before smashing her pommel into Qrow's face. The drunkard came up smiling afterwards and countered with a low sweep. As the specialist danced away, he brought down his great sword in a heavy slash. Winter dodged by leaping away, but a significant portion of the courtyard was not so lucky.

Winter flew into one of the pillars of the courtyard's aqueduct and stabbed the support with her blade. With the new hold, she skidded down back to the ground.

She and Qrow faced each other again.

Winter glared.

Qrow smirked.

Winter charged.

Ruby and Weiss winced as a rush of air blasted past them both.

The blonde woman suddenly appeared in between Qrow and Winter and thrust out a hand at each of them. The ground nearly cracked into a crater and a pulse of wind sent both huntsman flying back.

Qrow and Winter managed to land on their feet. Their heads shot up to see who would be stupid enough to get in the middle of a fight between huntsmen.

The answer glared back at them with pitiless blue eyes.

"Enough of this foolishness!" The woman yelled. "You are both huntsmen. Yet you behave like children."

Qrow raised an eyebrow at the admonishment, or maybe something behind Winter, Ruby couldn't really tell.

Winter could only stutter. "Who, who are yo—"

"Schnee!"

Winter instantly turned to the voice and, after taking a split second to recognize who it was, saluted General Ironwood.

"Sir!" she called.

"What's going on here?" Ironwood demanded.

As Winter tried to explain the course of events (with Qrow chipping in to point out how unprofessional she had been), the surrounding crowd seemed to get larger.

"Now, now everyone" a calm voice called out from behind Ironwood. Ruby noticed Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch walk into the courtyard. The headmaster's gaze scanned the crowd and if Ruby wasn't mistaken, his eyes widened just a bit when he saw the blonde woman. But a moment after, his kind and collected demeanor returned. "There is another fight going on right next door with much better seats. And popcorn."

The people dispersed upon the Headmaster's reasoning and Winter followed Ironwood back to the academy. Ruby took a moment to wave at her friend Penny before rushing her true target.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby latched onto her mentor's arm. He lifted her up until they were face to face. "Hi."

They went through their usual greetings and Qrow put her back on the ground. Then, Professor Ozpin called him over.

"I think I might be in trouble" Qrow whispered to her.

"Well, you did tear up our courtyard" Ruby pointed out.

Her uncle smirked. "True."

As he followed after the Headmaster, Ruby turned to the blonde woman who had intervened. She was still standing where she had ended the fight. She stared at Professor Ozpin, a look of befuddlement on her face.

A light bulb went off in Ruby's head.

"Hey!" she raced over to the blonde woman in a cloud of rose petals. The elegant woman took a step back in shock.

Ruby smiled. It was nice to know the regal woman could be surprised. "That's Professor Ozpin right over there. He'll probably be able to talk with you after he's done scolding Uncle Qrow."

The woman's eyes widened, and she glanced at the retreating headmaster. She scrunched her forehead in thought before shaking her head as if to shake something off. She took a breath and then turned to Ruby with a soft smile. "Thank you, Miss…"

"Ruby" the girl responded brightly. "Ruby Rose."

"It is good to meet you, Ruby Rose" The woman answered. "You have the thanks of Arturia A—"

"Oh, he's getting away!" Ruby pointed wildly at the quickly retreating Ozpin. "You have to go before you lose him!"

Arturia turned and followed after the Headmaster, waving goodbye to Ruby as she went. The little reaper responded in kind. The blonde girl was nice and obviously really strong, but Ruby didn't know if she could survive another fancy conversation like with Winter.

She only had so many junctions.

Weiss came up to her as Arturia walked off. "I now understand where your recklessness comes from" the white-haired girl remarked.

"You're just mad he whupped butt" Ruby countered.

"That was a draw at best" Weiss insisted. Her expression clouded in thought. "Or at least it would have been if that girl hadn't intervened."

Both girls stared at the still cracked pavement. "Who was she?"

"She's probably here to compete in the tournament" Ruby proposed.

"Impossible. No student would dare to get between two fully trained huntsmen like that" Weiss reasoned.

Ruby conceded that her partner had a point. With how Qrow and Winter were going at it, she doubted even the strongest of Beacon's student body would have dared to intervene. Heck, maybe not even the teachers. Except Miss Goodwitch. She would have smacked their heads together and berated them for ruining the historic history of the courtyard or something. Sort of how Arturia did…

Oh gods, she actually was Professor Goodwitch's secret sister.

"YANG!" Ruby ran off in a blizzard of roses. She had to warn her sister. They couldn't have fireworks at the party.

"Ruby!" Weiss coughed at the rose petals and chased after her leader.

RWBYRWBYRWBYFATEFATEFATE

Also running away from the courtyard was a boy with silver hair and long legs. His normally smirking face wide with panic.

'Shit, shit, shit. What is that guy doing here?'

Mercury did not like remembering his last encounter with Qrow Branwen. Not only because of the man himself, though he was certainly someone to be wary of, but also because it capped off his last encounter with the original Fall Maiden.

Cinder had made the plan seem so simple. Amber would be on a leisurely ride to Vale, just back from an easy mission. Emerald would distract her, Mercury would draw out her defenses, and then Cinder would move in for the kill. There would probably be complications, but hey, they could manage.

What they hadn't counted on was the maiden charging out of the forest at full gallop, three long blades in her back. She didn't slow down long enough to notice Emerald's illusion, so Cinder had just opened fire with everything she had. Amber was thrown from her horse and crashed to the ground.

She was half dead when he and Emerald propped her up for Cinder. She barely managed to open her eyes as Cinder held out that Grimm parasite thing.

"Please don't. He's coming." She had begged.

Cinder had only smiled as she sucked up the girl's power. She smiled more when she screamed.

That was when Qrow had struck, his sword cleaving Cinder's connection in two. He had picked up Amber, taken a quick look at them (who Emerald had had the sense to conceal with illusions), and rushed off.

Mercury had been a little startled to say the least. Emerald had made her way to Cinder, who stumbled a moment before rising, her right eye glowing with power.

"Well, isn't this interesting" a voice had spoken from the forest.

Mercury turned now as he did then and saw the same person. Standing outside their Beacon dorm room was a brown haired man in form fitting black robes. One could have mistaken it for a school uniform if not for the golden cross necklace that always accompanied it. And the fact that it was bulletproof and hid more blades in the sleeves than should be possible, but that wasn't apparent at first glance.

The man's eyes gleamed with what Mercury could only describe as a dull sparkle, which he knew made no sense but was the only thing the assassin could think of. He had that never-ending smirk plastered on his face again.

"You think Qrow Branwen is interesting? You have a strange definition of that word." Mercury remarked.

"Branwen is irrelevant" the man dismissed. "The woman who intervened however, she presents a possible complication."

"The shortie?" Mercury inquired. He'd seen what the girl had done and sure it was impressive, but she wasn't anyone in the know. Nothing to worry about. Unless, "you know her?"

"We have never met personally" the man assured him. "But she and my associate have some history. She is of significant interest to him."

Ah yes, the mysterious associate. He and Emerald had a side bet going over if the guy was even real. Still, the fact that she mattered to the supposedly apathetic man was disconcerting.

"Is she going to be a problem?" Mercury wondered.

His infernal smirk somehow grew even wider. He chuckled. "No. If she is only appearing now that it is doubtful she cares about what is going on in our world. Rest assured Mercury, Miss Fall will have the power she desires."

"Good to know" Mercury snarled. "See ya, Kirei."

He walked into the room.

Kirei Kotomine gave his teammate a respectful nod and then wandered off to a secluded alcove. He pulled out his scroll and dialed the only saved number.

"There has been an interesting development" He spoke into the device. "Saber has just walked into Beacon."

So this has been beating around in my head and wouldn't leave me alone. An epic saga that spirals off from canon to create a war of countless ideals.

Hope you enjoy!