— Sean —
"-Never, never, NEVER do it again, Jaune. Please, just talk to us," Juniper wrapped up her lecture with an earnest plea. "Next time, we'll figure something out. Together. As a family. I couldn't bear to lose you, not like that. You don't know how utterly horrifying it is to wake up to your son missing from his bed without a word…"
After many, many exchanged words, Jaune looked suitably chastised. My older sister had torn him a new one, but he could see how he'd brought it on himself, see how it wasn't done out of malice, but love and worry. It was a hell of a way to start the day. Necessary, though. Jaune needed a fair bit of consideration drilled into his head now before he made a lifelong habit of not communicating at all.
When he replied, everyone could tell it came from the bottom of his heart, "… I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't think about you, any of you. I just needed to escape and make something of myself. But that's an explanation, not an excuse. Really, I just messed up. Badly. I should've found a better way."
"Yeah! You should have!" Little Amber, the youngest Arc, exclaimed. "Y-You can't just run away and expect us to be okay!"
"Not cool, little bro," Sable snapped, hiding her feelings behind hostility as she tended to do.
"… It really fucked us up, Jaune," Coral frowned.
"I thought it was the end… Thought you didn't love us anymore…" Lavender mused, soft and melancholic.
"W-What?! No! I didn't mean-!" Jaune sputtered.
"Emotions don't always correspond with logic, Jaune," Saphron said, sympathetic and wise. "You didn't mean for it, but this is how we've been feeling for the past few weeks. That doesn't just up and disappear in an instant."
"I knew you always loved us," Jade smiled. It was as sad as it was forgiving. "But it wasn't easy to stay optimistic."
Jaune deflated, but his resolve only hardened, "I-I'll make it up to you. All of you. I swear."
Didi, Alice, and I watched the Arcs reconcile and reaffirm their love as a family. It wasn't our place to interfere, not completely. But I wouldn't have let things get out of hand, either. If needed, I'd step in to ensure we were all still family in the end. But Jaune had taken that responsibility himself. His actions had frayed away at unconditional love. Now, he was determined to see it restored stronger than ever.
"How long were you planning to stay?" I asked Nicolas in the background.
He shrugged, "A week. Two. If you'll have us, of course. Juniper and I aren't eager to leave Jaune again so soon. And… It'd be good to see him actually thriving here. That would put many of Juniper's remaining worries to rest. But with you watching over him, Sean, I have faith he's doing just that."
"It's a work in progress," I nodded. "But he's making that progress work for him well. And as you saw, he's made some good friends already. He's the leader of his team, you know? Oz doesn't just give that role out to those without potential. Jaune will be great. Be sure of that."
Nicolas cracked a smile, "That's very, very good to hear. Those friends? I recognized a few of them. Belladonna, Rose, Xiao Long… It's good to see his generation won't be so different from his old man's."
"Isn't it just?" I smiled with him. "They're good kids. You'll have to tell them about their parents before you leave. I could, but I was a few years behind all of you."
Eager amusement made his smile widen even more, "I think I'd like that. I think they would, too."
"Yang and Ruby won't just like it. They need it," I said, somewhat more seriously.
Nicolas' mood became a touch more somber, "Ah. Yes… Terrible business, what happened with Summer. And Raven… Well, Raven."
"Raven," I nodded, as if just her name explained it all. To those of us who knew her, it did.
We lapsed into silence for a moment, both shaking our heads, before I clapped Nicolas on the shoulder, "She wasn't all bad. Just… complicated. Very, very flawed… But they still deserve to hear about her just as much as they deserve to hear about Summer, Tai, Kali, or Ghira."
"That, they do," Nicolas nodded. "I'll make some time and rope Juniper in, if you'll wrangle up the kids to listen."
I chuckled in reply, "That's more of an ask than it seems, but I'll manage. Tomorrow?"
"Yeah…" Nicolas nodded slowly. "I think we'll be pulling Jaune from classes today. Just to have him here, hold him close, remind him of family, all of that."
"Understandable. It'll go a long way to put the girls at ease. I'll make the proper excuses. It's the least I can do for family."
Nicolas fixed me with a serious stare and a steady hand on my shoulder, "No, I know you, Sean. You never do 'the least' for family. You've looked out for Jaune. I know you awakened his Aura, too. You likely ensured he survived Ozpin's Initiation. So I can't stress this enough: thank you. I'll always be proud to call you my brother and the uncle to my children."
I'll admit, I looked away in embarrassment. That was high, high praise. I could feel how much Nicolas valued me. I couldn't pretend to be unaffected. It was a good feeling, to be sure. A flattering one. Made worse by Didi giggling as soon as he said it.
"Finally, someone else sees it!" She exclaimed. "You speak truthfully, Nicolas, and you might've just become my favorite person here."
"Oh, there's no need for all of that," I waved sheepishly. "Anyone would look out for their nephew when he finds himself out of his depth."
"Except for those who wouldn't," Nicolas said pointedly. "They number more than you'd think, Sean. You're a good man, a good uncle."
"And we certainly won't let you disparage yourself," Didi added.
"Suck it up, Dad," Alice teased. "You're loved. Just gotta accept that."
"What a trial that will be," I rolled my eyes fondly. "Now, c'mon, little miss. The Arcs might have the day off, but we aren't so lucky. I've got a class to teach, and I'm enlisting you to teach our potential Hunters the value of a good Plan Z."
"Aww, man, why should I have to-…" Alice grumbled.
I interrupted her, "You get to stomp them into hopelessness with Magic as part of the demonstration."
Suddenly, she was all grins and all agreement, "Dad, you should've led with that!"
IIIII
The next day, after classes had ended, I successfully gathered up the usual suspects. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Team BCWT were seated in the dorm common room. The Arc girls were off exploring Beacon under Saphron's watchful eyes, but Nicolas and Juniper were standing up at the front with me.
I let the two parents have the floor. They were the better choice to tell the stories that this room needed to hear. Nicolas and Juniper had been in the same year as Summer, Tai, Qrow, Raven, Ghira, and Kali. Glynda had been a year ahead of all of them, and I'd been a few years behind.
The kids were curious as to what this was all about, and soon enough, Nicolas and Juniper broached the subject, all smiles and nostalgia.
"Blake Belladonna, it's wonderful to finally meet you! All grown up already, I see," Juniper cooed. "Why, I still remember hearing news of your birth from Menagerie while I was recovering from Jaune's birth!"
"And you, Ruby! You're the spitting image of your mother," Nicolas chuckled.
That made the girls of Team RWBY perk up with interest in an instant. It was somewhat natural that Hunting would run in the family. Hunter parents were aware of the way Remnant worked, and they tended to teach their kids how to defend themselves from those Grimm realities. But the timing of this new generation was especially fortuitous.
Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Jaune all had parents who knew each other well. Pyrrha's parents were well-known, too, but mostly in a working manner. They'd gone to school in Mistral, and while professional Hunter circles overlapped consistently, even across the Kingdoms, none of us were especially close to them.
The less said about Weiss's father, Jacques, the better. But Willow had gone to Beacon for a time. Her Huntress career ended rather tragically and prematurely. She only got a single year of freedom before the Schnees called her home to be married off and oppressed for the rest of her life.
"Y-You knew my mom…?" Ruby asked, barely containing her desperation to know more.
"We went to Beacon together," Nicolas smiled sadly. "Along with Blake's mother and father, Weiss's mother… for a time, and your father."
"What about… that woman…?" Yang asked slowly, a dangerous cross between wariness and hope.
"We knew her as well," Juniper nodded. "Team STRQ: Summer, Tai, Raven, and Qrow."
"Raven…" Yang repeated, sounding torn between spitting the name and cherishing it.
"You knew Mother?" Weiss asked when Yang didn't say anything more.
"Willow's time at Beacon was short-lived, but I can safely say she was never forgotten," Nicolas said. "I would hope the feeling goes both ways."
"I… couldn't say," Weiss winced. "Mother isn't in the best of places, and she hasn't been for a long time, now…"
"Tsk," Nicolas clicked his tongue. "I knew that man was no good for her."
"Nicolas…" Juniper cautioned.
"Oh, you know it just as well as I do! He's a snake! Not even a real Schnee… We should've known something was wrong when she stopped answering our calls!"
"Be that as it may, Weiss doesn't need to hear about how miserable we think her father is."
"NO! I do!" Weiss hurriedly exclaimed. "I mean… I'd love to hear any stories you might have about my mother, especially from… before…"
"She was a haughty young woman, at first," Nicolas said, smiling nostalgically. "But in the best of ways. She expected the very best from the world and wouldn't accept anything less. She pushed those around her hard, but pushed herself even harder. She was constantly studying, sparring, or just bettering herself to live up to the Schnee name. If she wasn't called back home, I think she would've been the best of our generation."
"And that's what made it so tragic when the cruel realities of the world didn't live up to her expectations," Juniper continued somberly. "She left a hole in our generation… And I can't imagine the holes we left in return."
Weiss was staring, stunned, speechless. "… She… She was loved…? Valued? She-… She thrived here…?"
"She was blooming into something beautiful, something great," Nicolas nodded. "Her marriage smothered that. I'll never forgive that snake for ruining the best of us."
"Should we be sticking around for this?" Barbara asked me. "It seems kinda personal."
"Stay," Blake latched onto her and simply said. "You're my friend."
"Yeah…" Yang nodded slowly. "I think I'm going to need my emotional support hunk and goth girl for this, too."
"Don't call me that!" Alice snapped, blushing furiously. "And he's hardly 'yours'!"
Chuckling, Jason walked over and outright picked up Alice, settling them both next to Yang (with Alice in his lap) for support, "Don't listen to her, she's just prickly. What's the deal, Yang? Wanna share?"
Yang's expression and mood darkened dramatically, a rather jarring look compared to her usual carefreeness, "That woman… She abandoned us. I didn't even know she existed until I was 10. She just… left. How can you do that to your own daughter? How can you leave her and the man you're supposed to love alone like that?! Fuck!"
Fury and grief overtook Yang in the end. Jason placed a hand on her back for comfort. Even Alice's hostility disappeared in an instant as she grabbed Yang's hand to hold. Emotional support hunk and goth girl, indeed.
Slowly, Yang calmed back down enough to speak again, "… I've been looking for her. And getting nowhere. Dad won't tell me anything. Uncle Qrow won't tell me anything, either, and she's his twin. What does that say about that woman…? Not even the brother she shared a womb with is willing to acknowledge her. It just-… It's all-… fuck…"
"Raven was… complicated," I began to explain. "Beautiful. Deadly. Broken. She prized strength above all else. I'd imagine she still does. It's not a worldview particularly suited for childrearing."
"Mother values strength as well," Damian argued. "I would hardly call her an absent parent."
"If Talia is anything, it's an exception," Jason deadpanned. "Don't take your experience for the norm, Damian. It sounds like Raven took the exact opposite approach. Instead of nurturing strength, she threw Yang into the deep end to sink or swim and prove herself 'worthy' of a mother."
Damian frowned, "Well, that's just inefficient and unproductive. How does she expect you to be strong if she doesn't teach you to be strong? It sounds more likely that she just couldn't handle responsibility. She claims to value strength, but her actions are the very picture of weakness."
A laugh bubbled out of Yang's throat, wet and honest, "H-Heheh, yeah. That woman is too weak to be a mother. Summer was a thousand times better."
Ruby disappeared in a burst of rose petals and reappeared with her arms around Yang, "She'll always be our real mom."
Yang smiled with teary eyes, "You know it, Rubes. Fuck Raven."
Even with her face buried in Yang's shoulder, Ruby's offended squawk was still heard clearly, "SWEAR!"
"I think it's appropriate, considering the subject, dolt," Weiss retorted with half-rolled eyes, more fond than scathing.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to show Raven in a much better light," Nicolas winced. "While she did get better with Tai and Summer's influence, she nearly made our Initiation a tragic one. A couple of her potential partners were 'conveniently' incapacitated before they could team up with her, all so she could get her brother, Qrow."
"(￢з￢)" Cass pursed her lips. 'She sounds like a sore loser.'
"The sorest of losers," I chuckled.
"Is it bad that I kinda get it…?" Nora asked. "Like, I wouldn't have taken anyone but Renny."
"Agreed," Ren replied. "But there are ways to secure your desired partner without leaving your future peers unconscious in the Grimm-filled Emerald Forest."
"(⌐■_■)" Cass mimed blindness. 'Yeah, just close your eyes. Can't find a partner you don't want if you don't see them.'
"In a forest of Grimm, that seems somewhat unproductive," Pyrrha chuckled.
"٩(ˊ〇ˋ*)و" Cass made a big show of yawning and stretching. 'If you're bad, maybe. So just get good.'
"Good enough to navigate the Emerald Forest with your eyes closed," Weiss repeated flatly.
"(.•̀ᴗ-)✧" Cass winked. 'You get it. Just get good.'
"Strangely, I think Raven would've liked you, Cass," I commented. "Damian as well."
"☆⌒(>.<)" Cass pulled a face. 'Well, I wouldn't have liked her. She sounds stuuu~piiid~! Stupid, stupid, stupid! We stand with our Blonde Bombshell Threesome Goddess!'
Yang laughed, the reactions of her friends to her mother going a long way to brighten her uncharacteristic mood, "Thanks, Cass. It means a lot that you guys still like me after hearing about that woman."
"We care about you, Yang," Jason told her emphatically. "Not your absent biological mother."
"… You're not so bad," Alice muttered. "Certainly better than that woman sounds."
Yang grinned, "Aww, you two are gonna make lil ol' me blush~!"
"What about my parents?" Blake curiously asked me, Nicolas, and Juniper.
"Ghira and Kali," Juniper smiled. "Gods, they were brilliant. Ghira was an advocate. He railed against the fundamental segregation Menagerie represented, and he never let himself be silenced. Even as a young man, he had this charisma to him that made people want to follow, want to be a part of the future he was crafting. Human and Faunus alike. He was history in the making. Nicolas and I have always been proud to call him our Leader."
Blake listened in awe, "You were… his teammates…?"
"Along with Kali, yes," Nicolas nodded. "Team GNJK — Greenjack."
"I'll always think Ozpin's naming scheme is more trouble than it's worth," I chuckled and shook my head.
"He has way too much time on his hands if he comes up with every one of them," Barbara scoffed.
"Kali wasn't a woman to dismiss, either, though," Juniper continued for Blake's sake. "She was a fierce woman, even in her youth. If Ghira was the one leading from the front, Kali was the one you wanted watching your back. She was willing to get her hands dirty where Ghira couldn't. And like that, they fell in love. Ghira's shining example to Kali's ruthless shadow."
"I can barely even picture it," Blake admitted. "But… I'm not as close to my parents as I should be. Not anymore…"
"They're waiting for you to come back to them on your own terms," Juniper said sympathetically.
Blake jolted slightly in her seat, "H-How…?"
"We keep in touch, of course," Juniper smiled. "They'll be relieved to hear about you, even if you're not yet willing to contact them yourself, Blake."
"You're still young, Blake," Nicolas consoled. "Take your time. I know they won't hold it against you. They understand the vigor of youth better than most. So, when you're ready, don't hesitate to return to them. Don't let anxiety stop you. They'll welcome you back with understanding and open arms."
Blake looked away, her bow twitching in shame, "… Thank you."
A short silence followed before Ruby asked, "What about our real mom?"
"Ah, Summer," I sighed. "Summer was impossible to hate. She was earnest and adorable, and she brought brightness everywhere she went. Other than Juniper and Nicolas, I was probably closest to her out of our generation. During my first year at Beacon, she took me under her wing, even when I didn't need it. No matter the chaos I caused, she was always down to ride. People often mistook me for the older one with how much I dragged her into my mischievous schemes."
"Woah~…" Ruby stared at me with sparkling silver eyes, so much like her mother's.
"No way!" Yang laughed. "Real Mom would never!"
"Sean would, though," Didi stated, amusement in her eyes.
"It's true," Juniper sighed her long-standing exasperation. "Summer took Sean as her responsibility. I should've, but I was just glad for the break from my infuriatingly uncontrollable little brother. Sean dragged her into pranks and impromptu missions, and even a few holding cells after nights gone out of control in Vale."
"You got Mom arrested?!" Ruby squeaked.
"Shit happens," I shrugged. "Specifically, shit happens when your sister-in-crime gets drunk for the first time, tries to make the cookie recipe you taught her in a bakery that isn't hers, discovers it's the front for a drug-cooking business, and (allegedly) burns the whole thing down."
Damian nodded matter-of-factly, "That tracks."
"Gods-damn…" Yang was nearly struck speechless, audibly impressed when she did manage to speak. "Go, Real Mom."
Ruby was struck almost speechless for an entirely different reason, "Cookie recipe…? You-! You're the Cookie Master!"
"At your service," I sketched a lazy and proud bow. "It's good to see the cookie legacy live on through you, Ruby."
Ruby gaped at me for a moment before scrambling to bow back, keeping her head down as she practically shouted, "Teach me, Cookie Master!"
I smiled softly at her, "For Summer's daughter? You don't even need to ask."
"I didn't know our parents, and Uncle Sean, were so close," Jaune admitted.
He and Team JNPR had been mostly silent. Even Nora, for once. Unfortunately, they couldn't share in the stories as much as Team RWBY could. But they were still there. They still listened. They still took the lessons and relationships of the previous generation to heart.
"We'll be just as close," Pyrrha stated, firm and determined.
"I hope you will," Nicolas smiled at her determination. "Kept alive and well, these friendships will last your whole lives."
"Nora and I don't have any family left except for each other…" Ren said. "But I wouldn't mind more brothers and sisters like her."
"Noooouuuu~…" Nora sniffled. "Don't make me cry, Renny~!"
I don't think Didi could've been smiling any wider than she was, "Bonds found and chosen are just as much Family as those we're related to by blood. Treasure each other. You've already begun something beautiful."
Judging by the way the kids were looking at each other, they'd do exactly that. It made me even more determined to align Remnant and Earth's timelines when we left, so the Bat kids could keep in contact with the Beacon kids. I wouldn't ruin this growing Found Family when I had the power to do otherwise, interdimensional causality and absent divines who might protest be damned.
IIIII
— Glynda —
The fight… The fight was over. The mission Glynda had dedicated her whole life to, the mission Ozpin had dedicated countlesswhole lives to, was complete. Salem was dead. And the world moved on, better off.
But still, her work would persist. There would always be another generation willing to dedicate themselves to the protection of others. Glynda would give them the skills to do so. She would teach them to push back the Grimm, and to stamp down on Humanity's capacity for cruelty toward itself. Now, with renewed hope in her heart, she would take young adults of infinite potential and forge them into true Hunters, the protectors who kept the world turning.
The morning after the world changed, with nothing to announce it but Ozpin's party, Glynda awoke with a Qrow next to her in bed. Which… she should've expected, really. Qrow was a charming drunk. Well… Charming when you were drunk. It wasn't the first time he'd talked his way into her bed. And she suspected (hoped, some part of her…) that it wouldn't be the last.
Even just laying there and contemplating Drunk Glynda's decision-making, she felt lighter than she had in years. Most of that, surely, was due to Salem's death. But some, just as surely, was due to vigorous stress relief after midnight.
Still, she hardly had time for a relationship. Certainly not with the drunkard. If she'd woken up next to a certain, newly-unexplainable, eternally frustrating Death Knight (Just how did he kill Salem…?!), she might've considered it… But her decision would've been the same in the end. Romance simply wasn't in the cards for the Deputy-in-Name-Only Headmistress of Beacon.
Glynda had long since accepted that reality. So, that morning, she got up, shooed away the conveniently stress-relieving bird in her bed, and got back to work. Classes resumed, time passed, and Glynda found herself very, very busy…
"Sean Caine-Arc! What is the meaning of this?!" Glynda demanded, storming into Beacon's kitchens.
"Just a healthy bit of baking," Sean smiled that disarming smile of his, only slightly strained. "It… may have gotten a bit out of hand."
Glynda looked around at the chaos she'd entered, torn between a scoff and a snarl. In the end, she did neither. She simply raised an imperious eyebrow.
'Healthy bit of baking,' Sean said. 'Out of hand,' Sean said. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, even Sean's charges now looked to be painted BLACK! But Glynda knew it wasn't paint. Soot, smoke, ash, even blackened flour! How does one burn flour before even mixing it with anything?! Preposterous!
Glynda's eyes swept from Sean to the suspects she'd quickly come to suspect were going to be 'regulars' this semester. Miss Rose was poking her fingers together in shame. Miss Valkyrie seemed to be taking the firm stance that she'd done nothing wrong, contrasted by Mr. Lie's bow of acknowledgment and acceptance beside her. And Miss Cain ('no relation,' Sean claimed, but she could've fooled Glynda…) was grinning like a cat.
"(=^·ω·^=)" 'All according to plan…'
"And what plan would that be?" Glynda asked. "Please, Miss Cain, enlighten me."
"(O_O;)" Cass stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, before abruptly springing into motion and disappearing from view. 'Bat-ninja vanish!'
Thankfully, Glynda didn't have to restrain Cass as she'd done before. Sean did it for her this time, seemingly catching thin air in his hand and holding it aloft.
"(￢_￢)" After a few moments of invisible struggle, Cass reappeared, hanging like a kitten from Sean's grip. '… Not cool, Sean.'
"If I'm going down, you're going down with me," Sean shot back with a smirk. "Who was it that set off the flour bomb anyway, I wonder~?"
"(°ｏ°)" Cass's expression mimed the picture of shock and innocence. 'A flour bomb? Really? I don't know, but it couldn't have been little old me. I was on egg duty.'
"Liar!" Ruby immediately snitched. "Sean, Professor Goodwitch, she's lying! I saw her start the chain reaction!"
"༽◺_◿༼" Cass glared. 'That's rich coming from the girl who baked her scroll along with the cookies…'
"It was an accident~…" Ruby whined.
"Ruby, snitches get stitches," Sean chastised. "Cass, dragging her under the bus with you helps none of us. We need to stand strong, stand together against the enemy."
"Even Nora?" Ren asked. "She's the one who turned the oven up as high as it would go, and then tried to turn it up some more and broke off the knob."
"GASP! Not fair, Renny! Not fair at all! I tried to fix it!" Nora defended herself.
"Turning the stove on full blast doesn't make the oven less hot," Ren deadpanned.
"It does! It sucks away the heat! Simple calculus!"
"Nora… You don't know how to do calculus."
"＼(｀0´)／" Cass yelled. 'See?! It wasn't my flour bomb! It was a gas explosion!'
"Ah! She admitted to the flour bomb!" Ruby pointed and accused.
"Alright, alright, we've really gotta get our stories straight," Sean said, trying to keep the peace amongst coconspirators. "We all fucked up. But Glynda can't know that. If we're going to get out of this-…"
Glynda cut in before he could get carried away, "Sean. I am standing. Right. In. Front. Of. You."
Sean slowly turned to stare at her with wide eyes of false innocence. From the corner of his mouth, he hissed at his charges, "Scatter…! I'll buy you time…! Remember me!"
"(￣^￣)ゞ" Cass saluted. 'You're a good man, Sean. I'll do right by your widow.'
"Noooouu~!" Nora protested. "No man left behind!"
"Y-Yeah!" Ruby squeaked. "You can't sacrifice yourself! We'll have to fight our way out!"
Ren was the only one to acknowledge that Glynda was still there, still standing sternly right in front of them, "… I think I'm just going to accept the consequences."
"(＃`Д´)" Cass exclaimed. 'Craven! You'd throw away his sacrifice to yield to unlawful judgment?!'
"Girl," Glynda scowled. "At Beacon, I am the law."
"Now, Glynda, I'm sure this is all some big misunderstanding…" Sean tried to placate her.
Glynda didn't let his silver tongue speak any longer. With a wave of her weapon, she locked him down with her telekinetic Semblance. Arms to his sides, lips held shut… and his eyes were still twinkling with mischief and amusement. Glynda ignored him, slamming and locking the doors to the kitchen at the same time.
Cass moved the moment she did, vanishing on the wind. But Glynda was still quick and well-used to catching students who thought they could evade her punishment. A flat, ghostly, purple palm slapped down into the path of Cass's hidden retreat. When it pulled back, there was an 'empty' Cass-shaped hole in the scorched black floor.
"(×﹏×)" Cass flickered back into view, but didn't move from there. 'Owie…'
At the same time, Ruby tried to flee out the door with her Semblance. The burst of rose petals marked red on burned black. Glynda's hold on the door held strong. Ruby slammed straight into it and quite literally bounced back off.
With swirling eyes, she stumbled and fell onto her ass, "Owie~…"
Then, there was Nora, who tried for a distraction… and only made things worse, "Smoke bomb!"
Glynda found herself covered in burnt flour, entirely unamused. Nora didn't get the chance to capitalize on her distraction. Glynda's eyes never left her. Slowly, even Nora realized she had fucked up.
She yielded without Glynda having to lift a finger, "Owie… but, like, spiritually…"
Glynda glared down at the four of them (and the refreshingly reasonable Ren), "Congratulations. You've all just volunteered to help me keep Beacon in working order for the rest of the semester. You'll be cleaning and fixing up after your peers. ALL of your peers. And ALL of the chaos they get up to. Your own mess will give you a glimpse of what to expect. Good luck. You'll need it."
IIIII
As time continued to pass, Glynda found herself thankful for enlisting the extra help. This year's class was perhaps the worst she'd had the pleasure (and it was still a pleasure, in a way…) of looking after. The chaos was constant. The mischief, unmanageable. The trouble… troubling.
Glynda was used to playing Beacon's janitor as well as its Deputy-in-Name-Only Headmistress. Her Semblance made her uniquely suited to fixing the damage caused by hundreds of Aura-empowered youths. But this year's damage was extreme and consistent, even by her standards.
Ozpin was, of course, little help. So without her new assistants, Glynda would've been alone to face the chaos. Their tenure began as punishment. It quickly became necessary. The ruin they brought unto Beacon's kitchens was far from the worst Glynda had to address.
Before that week was out, Miss Xiao Long got into a fight with the whole of Team CRDL. Entirely justified, most likely, and no one died. So it could've been much worse. But the collateral damage was still extensive, tearing the grass and ground up in their wake. Glynda didn't hesitate to put her new assistants to work beside her.
Another time, Sean's daughter, Alice, blew a hole in the Clocktower while practicing Magic with Ozpin. Such things happened during practice and training. Glynda knew that better than most. But it didn't change the fact that the repairs were heaped onto her lap.
While Glynda was preoccupied with that, someone (likely Sean…) had the grand idea to distribute smutty sexual education pamphlets by hiding them around campus like a debauched treasure hunt. Glynda assigned her new assistants to track them all down. It took a whole week, and the damage ('education,' Sean claimed) was done almost immediately.
Yet another time, Mr. Todd gave a demonstration of his Semblance… by shooting at least two dozen students in the forehead. None died, of course. None were even injured, really. That was the point of Mr. Todd's Semblance. But it quickly became something of a frustrating phenomenon for students to seek him out and test the steel of their spines by getting shot in the head.
The semester went on and on like that. One team was caught BBQing in their dorm room. Miss Adel and Miss Schnee got into what seemed to be a mail-ordering competition with each of their extensive allowances. The Bullhead carrying the orders collapsed on the landing pad under the weight. Mr. Arc sent Miss Nikos into a temporary coma when they discovered his Semblance of Aura Transfer. Sean's poor, fool nephew didn't even realize it was a coma of pleasure and Shared Soul-Stuff, not trauma…
It was all exhausting… Glynda had never been more fulfilled. With no existential doom looming, unknown, over this generation's heads, every incident felt like watching a new future in the making. A new era, a happier one.
Nowhere was the feeling clearer than watching Team BCWT teach their peers, and even seniors, the focused art of crime fighting. Detective work. Restained takedowns. Preparatory paranoia. Cultivating informant networks. Knowing the laws they'd be enforcing. Their crash course easily matched any of the staff-taught classes Beacon offered. So Glynda made it an elective, supervised by Sean and led by Team BCWT. She didn't regret the decision.
While most senior Hunters had some experience fighting other humans, it'd never been a focus of Beacon's curriculum. The Grimm had always been the more pressing threat. Now, with Salem's death, they were able to diversify Beacon's teachings, hopefully leaving their students and the people they protected better off as a result.
And as it turned out, Team BCWT ('The Bats,' as Sean called them) were confusingly competent when it came to crime fighting. There was real experience there. There had to be. Glynda had the sneaking suspicion that the Bats surpassed all of Beacon's staff in the field. Somehow…
Many things about Sean's return to the fold were confusing. Unexplainable. Impossible, even. But when those changes led to Salem's death, a more promising era, and a better way forward for her students than just dying to the Grimm-tide, Glynda could hardly protest. She was… glad to have him back, chaos and all.
Now, if only her dear, dear students and Sean could give her one week of peace…
"Glynda," Her scroll rang, the ever-present herald of more work for her… Ozpin said, "I'm looking out my window now, and it seems a pair of students have managed to turn the statue in the courtyard completely upside down. It's an impressive feat of balancing, and I felt you might wish to see it for yourself. I would hurry, though. They seem to be starting on the fountain next-… Oh, and there go the pipes."
… A day. Glynda would settle for a single day, at this point. Alas, the world seemed to know quite a few unimpeachable truths, some being that Aura was the Light of the Soul, gravity would hold everything together… and that being Glynda Goodwitch was suffering.
She scowled for a moment before sighing. There was nothing to be done but get back to work. Thankfully, one of her 'volunteered' assistants was with her when the call came. Glynda could set Cass on the culprits and put the fear of the gods into them. A suitable start for their punishment.
"(っ╹ᆺ╹)っ" 'Wanna hug to help deal with the bullshit?'
"… Honestly? Yes. Yes, I do. Thank you, Cass. You can be very sweet at times."
"(=`ω´=)" 'I'm always sweet.'
"… Cassandra. While I'll admit to having grown fond of you, let's not lie to ourselves."
"(°ロ°) ?!" 'Oi?!'
"Your sweetness is rare, and that makes it all the sweeter."
"(ᓀ_ᓀ)" 'Fine… I guess that's good enough. Wouldn't want idiots to think I'm going soft. That way lies murder, ya know~?'
"Cassandra, if I have to clean up a murder for you, I'll be very cross."
"( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑" 'Hehe~… That's the best part! You'd never know it was me! Just blame it on the wind!'
Glynda just sighed. Even when it came to comfort and companionship, she was reminded that 'Being Glynda Goodwitch Was Suffering'…
IIIII
[AN: This chapter came very, very slowly… I'm be glad to get some space from this story soon. Remember, it won't be completely abandoned just yet, but more chapters might be a week or two coming while I focus on The Grind Book 2. But before that, I have one more chapter to get through for the Dead End, with Roman and Neo to act as the cherry on top of this arc. Then, I'll get back to work on The Grind with Atlas and Co moving onto Oldtown and Neville and Co moving onto Pentos...]