"I'm so excited to see it up close!" Ruby exclaimed as the group walked through the tunnel.

"I mean wasn't the view from the ship enough?" Jaune asked with a chuckle. "Which I mean I've been around here myself..."

"I wanna see it all up close! Seeing it from a distance isn't the same!" Ruby argued before looking over to Ren. "Say Ren... Have you ever been to Mistral?"

"Maybe once or twice? Honestly it's been a while." Ren shook his head. "Nora was with me for most of them though."

"Yuh huh! We got into all sorts of trouble!" Nora chuckled as they finally neared the door.

"Just remember kids, the lower you go in Mistral, the lower the quality of life." Qrow stated as he then pushed the door open and the group was now on a main road.

"Whoa..." Ruby looked on in awe at how busy the town was, stores and stands set up, a few people were passing some cash around by another booth, a woman was trying on some jewelry and there were notably a couple of street performers, dancing with fans in front of a shop.

"Welcome to Mistral." Qrow ruffled Ruby's hair.

Ruby immediately went and stared at the window of a weapon's shop. "GUYS LOOK AT THIS STUFF!" she pointed to the weapons in the window. There was a shotgun-bat, a chainsaw with burn dust, a mace flamethrower, all sorts of weird weapon combinations that made Ruby look on in awe before Qrow just shook his head dragging Ruby along with him.

"C'mon. You can browse the stores later, we need to go and meet with Professor Lionheart."

As Jaune and Ren were walking by a few merchants were calling out to them, offering them stuff like healing necklaces or special tonics. "Please, please we insist! If you try this you'll feel better!"

"No thanks." Ren waved them off.

"Now, now, I'm sure a boy as good looking as you, would want someone better to-" before this woman could continue her attempt to sell to Ren, Nora shot an evil glare at her that immediately scared her off.

"Let's just go... I'm not a fan of this district. The merchants are really aggressive." Jaune let out a sigh as they continued on to Haven Academy's campus.

"So tell me, Leo. How has your progress on locating the Spring Maiden been going?" Watts asked him. "I'm aware you've been at least making things easier for us to do our work with those missions you've sent those huntsmen on."

"Don't remind me of those." Leonardo Lionheart stated, looking away from him.

"Oh? Why's that? Are you feeling a little guilt? A bit late for a man like you to be growing a conscience." Watts chuckled.

"N-No! It isn't that." he denied, though it was clear to Watts that it was very much that and he let out a sigh, somewhat giving in. "My students, they look up to me, they seek my guidance... I can't help but feel like I'm betraying them."

"You are." Watts stood up. "However, that can stop the moment you help Salem get what she desires from your school. So I ask you now, how has locating the Spring Maiden been going?" he asked again.

"Not too good." Lionheart, leaned on his desk, furrowing his eyebrows. "I've sent countless huntsmen to their deaths on impossible missions as Salem has wanted, so direct search groups haven't exactly been a possibility and to make matters worse, the council are almost always in direct opposition to anything I do. Especially large scale operations."

"Well then you're not any use to Salem, are you?" Watts threatened.

"N-No! I am! I can still help! I can still feed you any information that passes through my school's doors!" Lionheart pleaded before a knock came upon his door and he turned towards it. "Students?" he asked before glancing over to Watts. "You need to hide, Arthur." he stated.

"As much as I hate hiding like a rat, I will do so. I'll get a call with Salem started as well." he entered a secret chamber in Lionheart's office, lightly closing the exit behind him as Lionheart approached the door.

He slowly started to open it when the door would be kicked open and he would be knocked onto his back. He screamed, as did everyone else before he then calmed himself down.

"Qrow?! is that you?!" Lionheart was shocked.

"Hey Leo." Qrow smirked as RNJR all waved to him.

"Come in, Come in!" he insisted now.

He poured out tea for everyone that they graciously took.

"I'd almost say you prepared this tea for us." Qrow joked a little as he sat down and rested his foot onto the table before a leg suddenly broke and everything fell off it. He groaned in annoyance as Lionheart furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's good to see you again Qrow." Lionheart nodded. "And why are these students with you?"

"Well to put things lightly. They know."

"They... Know?" Lionheart glanced over them again, this time just as Nora burnt her tongue on the tea and was now blowing on it.

"Y-Yes sir. We're aware of Salem." Ruby explained. "We want to help in any way we can." she insisted.

"Well any help is gladly accepted." Lionheart assured the girl with a nervous chuckle now.

"Sooo is this meeting not going at all like anyone here thought it would be?" Nora asked, with her tongue poking out now from being burnt.

"Back to the topic at hand." Qrow pulled his scroll out and walked overt to Lionheart's desk, connecting it to the projector on it, projecting out a map with coordinates. "I found where the Spring Maiden might be."

"You did?!" Lionheart's eyes lit up. "Wait... This is... Bandit territory."

"Yes. More specifically the territory of the Branwen tribe." Qrow explained.

"Branwen... Tribe?!" Ruby tilted her head.

"Yeah. I was hoping to avoid this talk with you Ruby, but seeing as it's unavoidable now... Your Uncle used to be the member of a Bandit tribe." he explained. "It's where your sister's mother is."

"Yang..." Ruby looked away.

"This is great news, Qrow! i should send a team there at once to handle negotiations!" Lionheart insisted.

"Now, now Leo. We need a larger group for this. The Branwen tribe is VERY hostile to Huntsmen and I doubt they'll give Spring up without a fight." he explained.

"They're using her..." Lionheart crossed his arms.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Ruby asked.

"It's just... The last time I saw her, she was a young and scared girl. She was confident at first, and willing to fulfill her duties but then she couldn't handle the responsibilities and ran. It was 10 years ago that she vanished. But now that she's found, I'm nervous to see her again." Lionheart admitted. "Especially after the terrible impression I'm sure I left on her."

"Hey, it's okay to be afraid." Ruby smiled. "So long as you're willing to face those fears head on, I'm sure you'll overcome them."

Leonardo smiled to the girl before looking to Qrow. "Wise words for a child."

"Well, she only learned from the best." Qrow laughed a little. "I still have to ask you, is anyone even around campus to guard the relic here?"

"I... No..." Lionheart shook his head. "But why would we need anyone so long as the vault is sealed?!" he brought up. "So long as the vault is closed, Salem can't get it and it's safe." he assured.

"I suppose that logic is what's been keeping Beacon's relic safe. But it's still just odd to be around campus. It's like a ghost town here." Qrow confessed.

Lionheart looked down and took a deep breath. "What happened at Beacon... It didn't just affect Vale alone. Since the event was broadcast around all of Remnant. You could only imagine what kind of disaster befell the rest of the kingdoms. I lost a lot of good staff here trying to keep Grimm out of the city and while I wish no one's lives had to be wasted, they died and Mistral still stands. So their lives weren't wasted in vain."

"Well, we should still try and do something to get to the Branwen tribe, right?" Jaune interjected. "We could set off with a few huntsmen. I'm sure there's still gotta be a few around Mistral, right?"

"That's another problem." Lionheart shook his head. "I couldn't send you on any official mission. The council opposes anything I do on light of all the recent losses we've had to endure, not to mention they're too distracted dealing with Atlas. They've caused an awful lot of trouble as of lately with a dust embargo and now closing off their borders."

"Why would they close their borders?" Nora asked.

"The last thing anyone saw was Atlesian Knights firing on innocents, honestly I'd say it's for them to prepare for war at this point."

Ruby glared and stepped up. "That isn't what happened."

"I know it probably isn't the full story, but everyone's already made up their minds and Atlas is likely preparing themselves for other kingdoms to blame them." Lionheart reasoned before he pulled up his keyboard at his desk. "Do you mind if I copy these coordinates? I may be able to assist in preparing our raid of the camp in a few weeks time."

"A few weeks?" Qrow crossed his arms as Lionheart copied the map. "We need to go as soon as possible. If we know where she is, we can mount our mission immediately, council be damned."

"It isn't that simple Qrow." Lionheart shook his head. "If it was, I'd have you all go in a heartbeat. But as we stand now, I doubt the what? 6 of us can take entire tribe of bandits, your sister and a no doubt highly trained Spring Maiden."

"Maybe there's a peaceful way we could negotiate this." Ren reasoned, stepping in.

"No." Qrow shook his head. "My sister won't give up her most prized possession without a fight. Oz wouldn't be happy about any of this if he were still here."

"He isn't." Lionheart looked to the pocket watch he had. "He gave me all of this, this office, this position and this watch. I'm doing my best to honor him." he bolstered himself up. "For right now, I imagine the lot of you are exhausted from your travels. Please, rest yourselves at the dorms in my academy."

"R-Really?!" Nora seemed eager.

"Yes, the facilities here are yours to use." he nodded as everyone started to make their way out of the office, programming the room keys into their scrolls. Jaune stopped himself short however.

"What about Cinder, Emerald and Mercury?" he asked the headmaster. "They were all claiming to be students here."

"Forged and faked transcripts." Lionheart shook his head which just made Jaune annoyed as he stormed off.

Ruby stopped herself last at the door and smiled to Professor Lionheart. "It was good to talk to you, Professor."

"Likewise, Ms. Rose." he nodded before the door closed and Watts stepped out of the back room. "We have got to work on your improvisation skills Leo."

Just outside, the group were starting to their dorms, though Qrow was breaking off from them. "Uncle Qrow, where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"I need some drinks." he walked off as Ruby turned back towards JNR.

"How interesting." Watts smirked as he looked to the map of the Branwen tribe while a Seer Grimm floated into the room, Salem's face was notably visible in the fog almost as if it was a video call.

"Leo, I'm happy to hear you made progress." Salem complimented.

"W-Well of course your grace!" Lionheart bowed to her. "Perhaps someone should be sent to retrieve her at once! Maybe even I could go-" one of the Seer grimm's tentacles shot out and wrapped itself around Lionheart's neck before pulling him to the ground and choking him.

Watts took an uncomfortable step back.

"Don't be so hasty, Leo." Salem stated as she had the Seer release it's grip on him, with him catching his breath now as Salem then turned her attention to Watts.

"Rest assured, Watts. I will send Cinder and her children to the Branwen tribe to negotiate our terms." Salem explained. "You however, Watts are needed back here. Tyrian is in need of a new stinger."

"What happened to his old one?" Watts asked, sounding a tad annoyed.

"He failed his mission." Salem stated coldly.

"The silver eyed girl..." the Dr. crossed his arms. "What a nuisance. But I will be back as soon as I can."

"Good." Salem stated as she then on her end turned towards Cinder as the call ended. "Now Cinder, I must again stress the importance of having those you can depend on."

"I do." Cinder smirked towards Emerald and Mercury. "They've proven their usefulness to me, time and time again."

"I'm aware of them, but when it comes to others you intend to use for a means... You always seem to be quick to dispose of them. Take that Torchwick man for instance. He would have been a useful asset to keep in Vale especially when it came to the search for the Vale relic."

"It isn't my fault he probably died." Cinder scoffed.

"True, though I do feel your plan alterations in Vale had a part to play in that." Salem reasoned.

"What of it? We still succeeded didn't we?" the fall maiden argued back.

"I like to keep track of all my assets Cinder, I like to keep them as they can always prove to be useful in some way. Take Leo for instance. Had he not been there, or aligned with us we wouldn't be given this information we need." she explained. "Now then, get ready to depart."

"Of course." Cinder smiled deviously before she walked off with Emerald and Mercury.

Team RNJR had made themselves rather comfortable in the nice dorm room they had at Haven. "I wish we had bunk beds." Ruby confessed.

"Well we saw how well your team's bunk beds looked. We weren't too eager to emulate." Ren reasoned.

"Yeah, besides! I wouldn't be able to jump like this if I had a bunk bed." Nora was jumping on her bed.

"What did you think of Lionheart, guys? I'm still just... I don't know how I feel about him." Jaune was looking at his scroll.

"He's alright, I guess He just seemed really sad." Ruby rested her chin on a hand.

"He's been through a lot, we should give him a break." Ren pointed out.

"I suppose you're right. I mean all that he lost here. It had to be hard for him." Jaune stood up and walked over to his weapon, looking down at it before picking it up.

"I'm gonna head out and train for a-" right before Jaune could continue towards the door, a knock would happen upon it.

"Uh hello?" asked the unfamiliar voice of a boy on the other side.

Ruby rushed over with her semblance and opened the door with the others glancing over her shoulder to see who it was.

"Um... Ruby Rose?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me?" Ruby crossed her arms and was now ready for a surprise attack after the last guy that wanted to see her had the intent of kidnapping her.

"You... Have silver eyes." he remarked as Ruby took a step back and saw the cane he was holding. "Uh..."

"I FOUND HIM!" Qrow drunkenly exclaimed before he passed out right at the door in front of everyone.

"H-Hi... Y-You may know me as Professor Ozpin?" the boy explained.

"WHAT?!" Team RNJR all exclaimed at once.

Commentary: Alright, I wanted to have this chapter with some action in it, but I honestly couldn't find a way to insert action into it in any form. Some good things to note about this adaptation of Volume 5? No house. The house is dead, we are not using it, the students are staying on Haven's campus, and we will be at least seeing around Mistral some more than we got in the original. Although I'll admit, it's a lot easier to adapt this stuff in writing than it is in animation.