The first thing that I discovered upon waking up was a throbbing pain in my head. I reached up to massage the area only to discover that it was covered with bandages. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red and black. Once my vision finally refocused, I saw a familiar looking girl sitting at the foot of my bed. I attempted to lean forward, but I had very little strength, and my attempt ended with me plopping softly back onto the pillow. Now that I was more aware, I felt the pain that went through my entire body. It wasn't intense, restrained to a dull, throbbing that would undoubtedly fade with more rest.

"Yang, not so fast." A light, high pitched voice cautioned from nearby. Yang. That name sounded familiar. Why?

"Where am I?" I managed to grumble out with some effort. The pain in my body appeared to be subsiding somewhat, so that was one point in my favour.

"You're at Vale Regional Hospital." The same voice replied tentatively. Vale? That sounded familiar too. Where the Hell am I? I tried to remember the last thing I was doing before I woke up here, but all that did was prompt a resurgence of agony in my head.

"My head is killing me." I hissed, clutching at the offending appendage. I heard a pair of soft plops, before there were rapid footsteps away. What little sight I had told me that the black and red girl had left. I heard faint talking in the other room. Given the state of my mind, it all sounded like white noise to me. A moment later and the footsteps returned, this time with someone else. The someone else had a much heavier gait, practically clomping into the room from wherever they had been. Almost immediately after, a gentle pressure from all sides encompassed my torso. I blearily opened my eyes to see an older blonde man hugging me, his face pressing into the pillow next to my head.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're finally awake, my Little Sun Dragon." His voice was muffled, but at the same time I felt a sense of comfort and warmth emanating from him. My gut told me that I could trust this man. I weakly attempted to return the hug, if only so he would let go and I could go back to sleep. I closed my eyes once more, the effort of keeping them open becoming too much. The man retreated and I felt the warmth leave me. The cold of the hospital was a stark contrast.

"How long have I been in here?" I asked weakly.

"Nearly three months. You took a nasty hit from an Ursa. It came very close to killing you." That word also sounded familiar. The context that he put it in made it sound like an Ursa was a creature of some kind. Suddenly I remembered where I had heard these words before. A deep chill ran through my blood.

"Ruby…" I muttered under my breath. RWBY. For a moment I thought that this was some weird lucid dream, but everything hurt too much for that to be true. As if the floodgates had opened, the knowledge all came back at once. The breach. The fall. Cinder. Salem. Ozpin's death. Even stuff from my old life, thankfully. My parents attending my graduation from Stanford. My law degree. Winning my first case against some guy that had killed a dozen women in cold blood. I remember starting to watch RWBY in my spare time after that case. I hadn't put much stock into the show at first, but by the time Volume 3 was to be released, I was always hungry for more. My friends always said that it was a kid show. Now that I was a bit more awake, I made a concerted effort to sit up. The man, Taiyang as I now knew he was called, helped by adjusting the four pillows behind me to form a sort of resting area for my head.

It was here that I finally managed to get a good look at the room I was in. The walls were a soft blue color, almost sky blue. There was a window that told me that we were up on a higher floor. A mirror that rested at the end of my bed, attached via an adjustable arm, was pointed directly at me. I saw a familiar, yet at the same time, unfamiliar face. Lilac eyes matched my every move, small wisps of bright blonde hair crept out from beneath the bandages. A slightly gaunt face, likely from an extended stay in the hospital, was the most prominent feature in my eyes. I was Yang? That didn't make any sense.

"You must be starving, Sunny. Let me see what the hospital has. Are cheeseburgers still your favorite?" Taiyang asked. From my lack of a response, he had evidently noticed me staring at the mirror. "Don't worry, it'll grow back in no time." He had apparently taken my staring at the mirror as fixating on Yang's… my… very short hair. "So, how about that cheeseburger?" He insisted, and by some cruel twist of fate, my stomach chose that moment to assert its presence in the room. I flushed and dipped my head in submission.

"That sounds great. Thank you." I replied as calmly as I could. Thankfully it was passable as nerves from just waking up, instead of the inner turmoil that I felt ravaging my mind. I was Yang. I'm currently wearing Yang's body like a flesh suit. The last thing I remember before waking up here was driving home after a late meeting with a new client. I remember a loud honking, as if from a tractor trailer. Then nothing. Had I died? It seemed the only plausible explanation.

"Yang?" Ruby gently nudged my shoulder, making me jump from my thoughts.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to deal with it all." I half-lied. This seemed to placate the young reaper, because she picked right back up on whatever she was talking about.

"School started a month ago. I'm so nervous about finally going to Signal, but it's worth it. Uncle Qrow started teaching me how to use a scythe just after your accident. He claimed it was to take my mind off of you, but I really think he just wanted to do something in the layover between school years. He said I'm a natural." She flushed and rubbed the tips of her index fingers together.

I smiled at her, hoping the gesture would help. "Don't worry Ruby." She leapt at me, wrapping me in a tight hug. My earlier discomfort had faded, so the reaper didn't hurt me too much. She buried her face in the pillow next to me, much in the same way that Taiyang had. Only instead of words of comfort, heartfelt sobs were Ruby's choice of communication.

"I missed you so much. When I found you in the forest, with that Ursa towering over you." She hiccupped. I wrapped the young girl in a hug, pressing her into me. "I thought I was gonna lose you." My heart did a somersault in my chest, because in a way she had lost Yang.

"I'm not going anywhere, Rubes." I used Yang's pet nickname for Ruby, hoping to bring some modicum of comfort to the young girl. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taiyang… Dad. I would have to get used to calling him dad. This was going to suck. He walked forward, evidently proud of me for being a good big sister. On the tray he was carrying was the fattest, most topping stuffed cheeseburger I had ever seen. My mouth was practically watering at the sight of it.

"Rubes you want to get off your sister so she can eat?" Taiyang asked softly. The reaper sniffled and hopped off of me, taking a seat in a chair on the opposite wall. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' as Taiyang set up the tray that was mounted into the bed. Now that I got a closer look, I could see the plate of All American goodness in all its glory. A hamburger that had to be at least half of a pound of meat, tomato, lettuce, cheese, ketchup, pickles, onions. Pretty much everything you could reasonably fit on a hamburger. Alongside it was a group of what looked to be fresh fries, an apple, and a glass of what looked like tea. The first thing I went for was the tea. I took a sip through the straw and was greeted by my favourite tea. It was bog standard tea with sugar and a hint of lemon. Evidently that was something that Yang and I had in common. I drank for a solid 30 seconds, downing about half of the glass, before I attempted to wrestle with the monster burger. I managed to get one solid bite off of it. A nice, picturesque chunk was now missing from the burger. I chewed happily on the multitude of flavors. If there was one thing that I was glad was on Remnant, it was a good burger. Just before I could take another bite, Taiyang swooped in and placed a napkin in my lap.

I greedily swallowed the first bite. "Thanks Dad." I forced myself to say. It felt awkward on my tongue. I attempted to mask my discomfort by taking another bite of the burger. Over the course of half an hour, I managed to eat everything on my tray, leaving only the empty glass and the apple core. I flushed when I noticed Ruby and Taiyang's awestruck look. "I guess I was hungrier than I thought." I excused lamely. My inner warmth had slowly returned, pushing away the frigid air of the room. I gave my hand a test flex and was surprised when a bright yellow glow reacted. Was this what aura was? Taiyang expressed shock at how sudden of a recovery I seemed to be making.

"Well, that's a really good sign." Yang's dad chuckled softly. "I'll go get the doctor." He stood up and quickly left the room. Ruby had been staring at me wide eyed for a few minutes. I felt like I should ask her what was wrong, but I still felt lethargic from being comatose for so long. I leaned my head back against the pillows and closed my eyes to search through my memories once more. Yang had graduated from Signal when the first season of the show took place, and given that Ruby was only just starting, that meant that Yang was in her third year this year. Which meant I had two years to attempt to prevent the Fall from taking place. I knew their names. Tyrian, the scorpion Faunus, who was a psychopath and completely dedicated to Salem. Arthur Watts, who was a seemingly intelligent man and loathed Cinder. Hazel, whom hated Ozpin for the death of his sister. And Cinder, the one who would steal the Fall Maiden's powers.

Ruby said that the year had just started a month ago, which meant that I was already a month behind my current year. I wanted to learn all I could about this world before I was forced to go back to Signal. Hopefully I could convince dad to let me have an additional month off, citing the need to recover my strength and get back into shape. Provided that the doctor let me out today of course. Apparently being able to use my aura so quickly after waking up was a good sign. I needed to practice using it.

The door clicking open drew me out of my thoughts. Tai walked back in, this time accompanied by a man in a doctor's coat. He was balding, had rounded, thick rimmed glasses on, and was clean shaven. His nametag read 'Russet Braun M.D.'

"Miss Xiao Long, good to see you're finally awake." The doctor greeted cordially. "If you could answer a couple of questions I can determine if you are ready to leave today." I nodded, eager to get out of the hospital and get moving around. His questions were centered on my health, am I feeling pain or dizziness, etc. After a few minutes, he cleared me to leave, thankfully. They had Taiyang fill out some paperwork and before I knew it I was walking to the ferry that would take the three of us home. Home. It was an unfamiliar word to me. When I moved out to go to college, I had lived in a dorm by myself. After that, I rented an apartment and lived alone. The concept of living with someone, no matter who they were, was alien to me. I was a bit nervous.

While Taiyang was filling out the paperwork, Ruby gave me a change of clothes. It was a simple yellow shirt, a set of long tan colored slacks, and a navy-blue jacket. There was even a hat to cover my growing hair. It was now less than an inch long, and made me look like a tomboy. I personally had always liked to keep my hair cropped short, but for the sake of not blowing my cover, I wore the hat anyway. The bandages were removed by the doctor and the area where the scar would be was still lacking hair. It looked somewhat off-putting, and I knew that once my hair grew out it would be very well concealed. The trouble was that I wasn't sure that I wanted my hair to grow out.

"You've been quiet." Taiyang commented from my side as we overlooked the waterway between Patch and Vale. I unconsciously gripped the guard rail tighter, something Tai thankfully didn't notice.

"Just thinking about all the schoolwork I have to make up." I answered quickly. Figuring that I wouldn't find a better time to bring it up, I asked "Hey dad, do you think I could stay home for a month to get back into shape? I could ask the teachers to send me the work that I would be missing so I could do it at home. Would that be okay?" I looked up to him with what I hoped was a pleading expression. He stared at me for a moment.

Just when I thought he was going to say no, "Alright. I'll have the staff put together a curriculum for you to study while you're recovering. The doctor told me to make you take it easy for a week or two anyway." Taiyang's reply brought a smile to my face. "Oh I almost forgot." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "I brought your Scroll." I gently took the device from him and slid it open like I remembered seeing them do on the show.

The familiar image of Yang's face greeted me, along with a short list of what I presumed were applications. It seemed that she fancied mobile games. There was an app called 'Circular' that I couldn't place immediately. I presumed it was some form of social media platform. "Thank you," I replied before the awkward pause between him handing it to me and me acknowledging it got too large. I clicked on Circular and a list of various chat rooms opened. So it seemed it was something like Discord that I often used to coordinate with clientele. I noticed that there were around a thousand or so unread messages across half a dozen room and several private chat rooms. I quickly closed the app, not ready to deal with Yang's imposing circle of friends. I moved to another app called Sword. I opened it and was greeted with a very short message from one person. It said simply 'I know.' If that wasn't ominous as all Hell. It seemed like another chat app, which Yang having two separate chat apps wouldn't make sense. This must be somehow related to how I ended up here on Remnant.

Deciding to feel cheeky, I sent a reply back that said, 'know what?'. Not even half of a second later, I received a reply, thankfully silently, that read 'You know what, Jessica.' Okay, one hundred percent in creepy territory now. Just as I was about to reply, the mysterious stranger sent another message that read 'We'll talk later.' The ferry thumped loudly, signaling that we had docked at Patch. Ruby had latched onto me again for a surprise hug, something she had done at least a dozen times since we had left the hospital. I could understand why, considering that she had nearly lost her sister. Even though technically she had. I had long since resigned to my fate of acting as her big sister. Not that that was a particularly terrible burden, considering how adorable Ruby was. I tousled her hair as we walked over the ramp that led to the island. Taiyang had already gotten into a spiffy looking four-door car and had pulled up next to the disembarking area. I hopped in the passenger seat, Ruby taking the middle seat between the me and Tai. I had already exited out of Sword and reopened Circular. I went through Yang's friend list, committing as many names and faces as I could to memory. Something that afforded me much ease during my ability to retain large amounts of information in a short period of time. My classmates had often accused me of cheating. I always laughed it off. The ride from the ferry to the Xiao Long household was short, only around ten minutes. He pulled the car into a doorless garage. Everyone got out and almost immediately I was waylaid by a small furry animal. Said animal turned out to be Zwei. He was panting happily and licking my face.

"Ok ok Zwei, I'm happy to see you too." I hugged the Corgi and set him down on the ground gently. He barked happily and took off back towards the house where he had come from. As we were walking up, a door slammed and out came Qrow Branwen, Yang's uncle.

"Good to see you walking around, Firecracker." Qrow grumbled and wrapped me in a hug. He reeked of alcohol. While I hadn't been much of a drinker in my previous life, the thought of a warm belly full of booze sounded excellent right now. I returned the hug earnestly, Qrow being one of my favorite characters in RWBY.

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow." I replied, my inner fangirl squee'ing at the thought of calling Qrow 'uncle'. He pulled back, swaying slightly. It was close to dinnertime, and he had likely already consumed quite a bit of alcohol.

"C'mon kids, let's get you inside." Tai gestured for us to follow. Ruby, of course, was first due in no small part to her semblance. She opened the door and darted inside. A quick glance at my scroll told me that it was Friday, meaning that I had two days of relaxation and recuperation before I officially started on my school work and getting back into shape. It would be plenty of time to learn the names and faces of all of Yang's friends.

"I'm gonna go up to my room for a bit," I called out as I climbed the stairs, hoping that they had no reason to talk to me so soon. Thankfully, they didn't and I reached my room unimpeded. I knew it was my room because it had Yang's emblem on it: the fiery heart. I opened the door and was greeted with a mess. Yang's room had evidently not been cleaned in the time that she was in a coma, so it was up to me to clean it. Without hesitation, I got started. The dirty laundry got piled in the hamper, the books and papers got sorted on my desk, and the bed got made. When everything was said and done, it looked ten times better than it had. The best part was that it only took like ten minutes to accomplish.

A knocking on my slightly ajar door drew my attention. "Knock knock kiddo, time for dinner." Qrow slowly opened the door. I had placed my jacket and hat on either side of my desk chair, so my short hair and slightly emaciated body was on full display for Qrow.

"I'll be right down," I called out as I moved to the closet to find something more comfortable to wear. Qrow hadn't left, apparently too busy gazing at the now cleaned room.

"You cleaned your room." He said as if it was something that wasn't a common occurrence.

"It's not a big deal. It was a mess so I cleaned it." I said easily, not looking away from the closet, I paused my perusing to look back at him, but he was gone. It seemed that he had returned downstairs. I breathed a sigh of relief and picked out a flowery yellow shirt. It was loose and buttoned up, and even had a breast pocket to keep stuff in. I made sure the door was secured shut before ditching the shirt I had worn home from the hospital and putting the flower shirt on. I buttoned it up and it fit perfectly. Yang's breasts were considerably larger than what I was used to: my size being a mid-b and Yang's easily being a double C. I adjusted the shirt to make sure it was fitted properly and exited my room, depositing my scroll on the desk as I went. The short walk down to the kitchen gave me some time to think. Yang's problem during the episodes leading up to the Fall were that she telegraphed her moves too much. It led to the loss of her arm. That was something I would have to work on while I trained. I was quite attached to my arms thank you very much. I couldn't quite place the smells coming from the kitchen. It smelled good, but I didn't know how much Remnant cuisine stacked up with Earth's cuisine.

Dinner was a quiet affair. We had spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread and some sort of cheese biscuits on the side. In less than twenty minutes, I was back in my room and getting ready for bed. Despite it only being a quarter past five, I wanted to get into my pajamas and focus on learning everything I could memorize about Yang's friends. I went even further and went to each of her friends and memorized their friends faces and names. It never hurt to be too careful. When I had finished it was close to 9 P.M. I memorized close to a hundred names and faces, which I would refresh my knowledge on tomorrow. For now, though, sleep.

The transition from sleep to awake was instantaneous. I had no idea if I had been laying awake or if I had just woken up. I instinctively reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone. Though in this case it was a scroll. I saw a flashing number 3 on the yellow diamond shape that acted as the seal. I slid it open and saw I had three messages. Two from people on Circular, and one from the mysterious stranger. I decided to check the stranger's message first, seeing as I wanted to put off social interaction with Yang's friends for as long as possible. The message was date and time set a year, ten months, and six hours ahead of the current time. That would place it about a month before Yang entered Beacon. Wasn't this when the Fall Maiden was to be attacked? It also listed a set of coordinates that would undoubtedly be the spot where Cinder, Emerald and Mercury would ambush the Maiden. I grabbed an empty notebook from a desk drawer and wrote the information down with the note 'be here or Fall will win' I also spent the next half hour remembering as much as I could about the events that transpired before the Fall of Vale. Once that was done, I shut the notebook and tucked it under my mattress. Upon doing so, I discovered another notebook.

This one was labeled 'Diary'. I couldn't express how much I desperately needed this information. The first date listed in the book was five years ago according to the date that my scroll had. Most of the information was dated. Dating some boys for a while, breaking up with them, training to get into Signal. I soaked it all up like a sponge. Any information I could get on Yang that I didn't already have was invaluable. The most recent entry was at the end of Yang's second year at Signal, just days before her encounter with the Ursa. It talked about someone named Cheri and how they were going to train together over the summer break. Yang's accident had thrown that plan out the window. With a sigh, I returned the diary to the hiding spot and grabbed a set of clothes that I would wear for the day.

Making sure to make my bed before I left, I took the spare set of clothes and grabbed a towel from the open closet next to the bathroom. Once I was inside and the door was locked, I took the opportunity to look at myself in the mirror. My hair was short, in a pixie cut, something that the real Yang would have killed someone over. I personally liked it. It was only around half an inch shorter than the hairstyle I had in my old life. I ran my fingers through the surprisingly soft hair. My skin was practically unblemished, save for the scar that was partly visible at my hairline. I stripped off my clothes and hopped in the shower, noting that I had the beginnings of a six pack abs going. The hot water felt heavenly. I always liked taking hot showers. It gave me time to think, something that I had a feeling that I was going to need desperately in the coming days and weeks. The shower was over before too long and I made my way downstairs after getting dressed. My bare feet padded across the carpet. Ruby was in her pajamas watching Saturday morning cartoons. It seemed like a show based entirely on Chibis. I glanced down at the closed scroll in my hands, those two messages on Circular weighing on my mind. I couldn't put them off for too long, but at the same time I didn't want to answer them. Deciding that I would glance at them, I opened my scroll and slid the notification down. They were messages from Cheri. I had glanced over her profile last night. I couldn't find anything too interesting though. Same age as Yang, going to Signal, lives on Patch around the same distance from the Xiao Long house as Signal was. The diary didn't mention anything specific about her, other than that they hung out sometimes after school and on the weekends. The first message read 'hey heard u got out of the hospital finally, hru?' The second was a smiley face emoji that looked to be sent immediately after the first.

I thought about putting it off, but I knew that I should answer it. I replied with a short 'I'm feeling great. Taking a month off to recuperate and get back into shape then I'll be back at Signal.' It was short, and it covered everything that I needed to convey. Satisfied with that, I closed my scroll and slipped it into my pocket. Ruby had finished her bowl of cereal and was taking it to the kitchen. I decided to follow and make myself something to eat. The cereal that Ruby had eaten, Frosty Flakes, was still on the counter.

"I can take your bowl, sis." I held out my hands expectantly and the little reaper gladly handed it to me. I rinsed out the bowl and spoon and dried it with a towel that was hanging from the oven. I poured a bowl full of the sugary cereal and opened the fridge to get the milk. Less than a minute later, I was enjoying a sweet bowl of cereal. Oh God I was even thinking in puns now. Damn it Yang. I took the bowl upstairs to my room to see what else I could remember about the time leading up to the Fall. Idly munching on the cereal, I spent around ten minutes going over my notes and trying to fill in as many gaps as possible. Once I had finished my cereal, I tucked the notebook under my bed once more and went to put the bowl in the sink. Unfortunately, before I could leave the room, my scroll chimed. I set my bowl down on the nightstand and pulled out the offending piece of technology. It was a reply from Cheri. 'u free to hang out today?' was the content of the message.

I knew immediately what to reply. 'No sorry, the doctor told me to take it easy for a week or two. Next weekend?' With that finished, I returned my scroll to my pocket and resumed my journey to put my bowl in the sink. Ruby had vacated and the television was off, so I presumed that she had gone out. Tai was still missing as well. I placed the bowl in the sink with the other dishes and plopped down on the couch. Zwei waddled in from the kitchen area and hopped onto the couch next to me. The television was some news program on a charity ball in Atlas that I held no interest in. Zwei barked happily when I rubbed his head.

I had no idea how I was going to pull this off. I had to somehow remain undetected, pretending to be Yang, thwart an uprising that if went unchecked, would lead to the destruction of an entire kingdom, and that wasn't even close to the hardest part of what I had to do. That was just the start. After that I had to dismantle the White Fang, find Salem's lackeys, and then find and put an end to Salem's schemes once and for all. It was a colossal task that I couldn't even begin to fathom how I would accomplish. The only way I could see is to compartmentalize it. Worry about the next thing coming up, which was getting in shape and cementing my cover as Yang. God, I felt like some cheap low-quality movie spy when I thought that. I rested my face in my hands, honestly stumped as to how I would possibly accomplish this.

"Yang?" A familiar gravelly voice spoke from nearby. I looked up to see Qrow leaning against the guard rail at the base of the stairs. His expression was downturned, worry plastered all over his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking about how much school work I'm going to have to make up." I lied easily. It's weird. I made a career out of finding out the truth, and now here I was spreading lies. I almost laughed at the irony. Evidently whoever sent me here had a sense of humor. The couch sank slightly, as Qrow took a seat directly next to me. He held out something that made my blood run cold. It was the notebook that I had recorded all of my foreknowledge in. Undoubtedly, he had looked at it and seen several things that I shouldn't have known. My expression hardened into a mask. "How much did you read?"

"You're lucky that Tai is out for the day. I'd have shown him before confronting you about it." He handed me the notebook. "How do you know all this stuff?" He stared at me incredulously.

I leaned back and answered him with a scoff, "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Way to go, Jess. Here for not even 24 hours and someone already knows your secret.

"You can tell me anything, Firecracker." He turned to face me, his eyes wrought with compassion. It suddenly felt like someone plunged an icy knife in my heart.

"I'm not your Firecracker, Qrow." I managed to get out after a few seconds of awkward silence. "I'm not Yang." His expression rapidly shifted from fear to anger. I'm thankful that he didn't have his weapon on him else I'd have to talk with the pointy end of a sword at my neck.

"You have about ten seconds to explain yourself," He glared at me, which quite frankly wasn't that intimidating. I knew he couldn't hurt me, Yang or no.

"What do you want me to say, that Yang is dead and I'm wearing her body around like a flesh suit? Yeah that'll sound real nice when you make me tell it to Ruby and Tai." I spat at him venomously. He seemed taken aback by my admission. "Yeah, is that what you wanted to hear? I'm some woman from another world that ended up here as your niece with knowledge of the future on how Salem is going to destroy Vale."

His expression morphed back into sadness. "I read that much. The stuff in that book, there's no way you could learn that stuff on your own. It's too detailed. Even down to how Ozpin reincarnates. No one aside from him, Summer, and me knew that. Even Tai didn't know that." He sighed heavily and leaned back on the couch. "How do I know that you plan to use this information for good?" I grabbed the notebook and opened it to the first page. It was the date and location from when the Fall Maiden would be attacked.

"You see this?" He glanced at the page before nodding. "This is the exact time, date, and place where I know for a fact that the Fall Maiden will be attacked and half her powers stolen." His eyes widened, undoubtedly because he oversaw taking care of Fall. "She is going to be ambushed by Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Cinder Fall, the latter of which attempts to steal the Maiden's power through use of a Grimm implanted in her body by Salem." I tossed the notebook onto the table and fixed him with a glare. "This was going to be the first event I changed in the timeline, most notably because it was an incredibly pivotal event. I had planned on using Amber as bait to capture Cinder and her two little miscreants. Without her, Salem's whole plan to take out Vale becomes kaput. If nothing else it would have bought us a few years, plenty of time for us to train and for Ruby to unlock the power of her eyes."

"I don't even know what to say." Qrow rubbed his eyes wearily. "I'm too sober for this." I thought a moment before replying. If he talked to Ozpin, then Ozpin would undoubtedly want to talk to me, which would arouse more suspicion. He couldn't tell Tai, as Tai would lose his mind. It seemed that silence would be the best option.

"Then say nothing." I told him. "We continue on as normal, I keep pretending to be Yang, altering certain small events along the way. When the time comes for Cinder to ambush the Maiden, we go to Ozpin and he helps us capture the three dipshits." I made my disdain for Salem's cult known. He took a large pull from his pocket flask, though before he could tuck it into the interior of his jacket, I snatched it from him. Not giving him even a moment to react, I took a swig. The booze burned, but I had plenty of experience with that type of liquor.

"What are you doing?" He hastily grabbed the flask back, capping it and tucking it away.

I licked my lips. "Not bad. I always took my rum with coffee though." I gave him a cheeky grin, enjoying the flabbergasted look on his face. I grabbed at my notebook and flipped to one of the pages that took place just before the Fall. It was the Yang vs. Mercury match. "Here, read this page." He took the notebook and upon checking over the contents, glanced worriedly at me.

"So, this Emerald person is capable of inducing hallucinations," He closed the book and handed it back to me.

"As far as I know of she needs to focus on the target, which means she needs line of sight on them. This is the main reason that the Fall happened in the first place. Her hallucinations resulted in Mercury being 'injured'" I made sure to use air quotes. "And it made Pyrrha overuse her semblance and chop Penny up like a block of cheese. Not to mention that she used it to trick the Fall Maiden into thinking that there was a defenseless little girl on the side of the road, which made her get off her horse and made the ambush possible in the first place." My scroll chimed, and when I looked at the message, it was Tai saying that he was on his way home. I placed my scroll back into my pocket. "Tai…" I frowned. "Dad is on his way home now. Do you plan to tell him, or anyone, about this?" He appeared to genuinely consider telling for a moment, before a grimace appeared on his face.

"No, I won't" He stood up and moved towards the kitchen. "Though, you need to work hard if we have any chance of getting through this." He took a bottle from one of the top shelves and poured the contents into the flask.

"Yes, Uncle Qrow." I said cheekily. He grumbled exasperatedly. I got up and went upstairs to tuck the notebook somewhere safe. Obviously if Qrow had found it so quickly, then others would too. The underwear drawer would be too blatant as well. Out of curiosity, I pulled the second drawer out of the dresser entirely, revealing a flat area that blocked access to the drawer below it. This would be perfect. I placed the notebook down and put the drawer full of clothes back in its place. My scroll told me that it was nearly noon. I needed to continue researching this world if I wanted to blend in. There was plenty of charge left on my scroll, so I headed down to the living room and put on the news, opening my scroll to the closest approximation to Google I could find. I have no idea how long I was sitting there reading, but before long Tai was gently nudging me, claiming that it was time for dinner. I hadn't had lunch, and I was quite famished, so I made my way into the kitchen where Ruby was already seated. Qrow was absent. I hoped desperately that he kept his word about not telling anyone. Tai set dinner down on the table and to my surprise it was pizza, topped with peppers, olives, many kinds of meats, even comically oversized sausages. There was a plain pepperoni pizza that I presumed was for Ruby, as she made a face at the sight of the nearly overloaded pizza.

I grabbed a piece of the works pizza and received an incredulous look from Tai and Ruby for my troubles. "It looked good," I told them before I took a bite. Pizza was a food that I was accustomed to eating multiple times a week, and it was always a works pizza. This pizza was honestly the most delicious one that I'd ever eaten. Tai and Ruby had apparently recovered from their brief stupor and had started eating. Tai took a piece of works and Ruby took one of the pepperoni. I had finished one slice and was on to the next, a pepperoni this time. Until I could properly gauge how nightly meals worked I would have to be careful. I ate one more slice of the works pizza then excused myself to my room. No one questioned it, for which I was thankful. Once I got to my room I plugged my scroll in and changed into my nighties.

Opening my scroll, I went to the Circular app. I discovered that there was a way to make a post directly from my profile, so I figured that that was the best way to tell Yang's friends that I was out of the hospital. I kept it short and simple, mainly stating what I had told Cheri. With that officially out of the way, I set my scroll in the dock on my nightstand. I also set it to silent so any late-night messages would get put off until morning. I laid down on the bed, my mind going at a million miles per hour. Qrow knew my secret. I'll admit that I haven't the faintest idea as to how I could go about thwarting Cinder's plan other than training my ass off. I had to get stronger, and quickly. I had to fix the mistakes that cost Yang her arm. There was so much to do and less than two years to do it. It might seem like forever away, but two years is practically nothing.

I dived into the covers of the bed and planted my face in the pillow, tears threatening to spill out. C'mon, get it together. You're a grown ass woman. At least I thought I was. I was currently controlling a 15-year-old girl's body like a damn VR simulator, who's to say that I didn't pick up her hormones with it? I huffed annoyedly and turned face up. It seemed that sleep wouldn't come easy tonight.