Chapter 11: The Truth

RNJR were sitting at the house they were staying at, as Vest was in the other room resting up. Luckily a doctor had came by earlier to check on her, she was going to live it wasn't much of a fatal attack from Tyrian.

"Hey, does anyone know where Qrow went?" Jaune asked curiously.

Ruby would lightly shrug. "No, but knowing him he's probably out getting himself drunk. I'm just wondering where we go next? We can't really go warn Lionheart by ourselves, We do need to wait for Vest and him."

"True." Ren said. "Maybe your uncle caused some trouble while walking back here."

"Maybe." Ruby said as she stood up. "I'm going to go look outside for him, anyone want to join me?"

The door opened as Qrow stood there slouching on Oscar. "No need to...I'm right here."

"Who's that?" Nora asked noticing Oscar.

"Oh him?" Qrow asked looking a bit tipsy and drunk. "It's Ozpin."

Ruby cocks an eyebrow up and laughs snorting. "Nah."

"Uh...yeah about that." Oscar said as he sat Qrow down.

RNJR all looked at Oscar as they waited for him to say something else, curious on how he was Ozpin.

"Okay, go ahead." Oscar said to Ozpin letting him know he could take over now.

Oscar held Ozpin's cane as he looked at them. "Hello everyone, it's nice to see you again. And yes, what Qrow said is right. "

RNJR's jaws dropped hearing Ozpin's voice coming from Oscar as they looked at him awkwardly, Ozpin looked at them for a moment before glancing around the room. "Where is Vest?"

"She's resting up stairs." Jaune said.

~~~

Ruby went up the stairs to check on Vest, she opened the door to the room she was in to see if she was still resting or not.

Vest was in the room laying in bed asleep as the doctor had told her to get some rest to let the wound heal up.

"Ah...well, I guess I'll come back." Ruby said looking over to Vest, she turned to head out of the room.

"R..ruby wait.." Vest called out as her eyes opened. "What's up.." She asked as she weakly sat up in the bed.

Ruby stops as she turns around. "Oh uh...well Ozpin's here, I thought I'd come see if you wanted to come down to see him. But I could bring him here to you if you'd like?"

"Ozpins here?!" Vest said as she pulled the covers off and pulled herself up grunting in pain slightly as she stood up.

"T-Take it easy!" Ruby said as she went over to her. "You don't have to get up."

"It's for the best.." Vest said as she let Ruby come close to support her as she steps out the room and down the stairs.

"Just please, be careful, your wound hasn't fully healed yet Vest." Ruby said walking with her.

Vest nodded as she limped down the stairs with the help of Ruby into the room with team RNJR, Qrow and Oscar as she'd look towards Oscar. "So he chose you?"

Ozpin was still in control of Oscar. "Ah, Vest...I'm surprised you've managed to get the strength to come down."

"She did have my help." Ruby said.

Vest nodded as she sat down on a chair with a grunt as she looked to Ozpin. "I'll be fine and...thanks Ruby "

"No problem." Ruby said with a small smile.

Oscar looked at Vest and then at the others. "I think it's time we told them your little secret Vest."

"Secret?" Qrow asked who was now sober. "What secret?"

Vest sighed and nodded. "You are all aware of the four maidens now especially after the fall." She said as she mainly looked to team RNJR.

"The fairy tail of the maidens, yeah.." Nora said. "Who doesn't know that fairy tail?"

"No, it's not fairy tail." Jaune said. "I was there...I was there when Pyrrha was going to become the Fall Maiden..."

"Well the reason I am always very close to one of the headmasters of the huntsmen academy's is because I am the Summer Maiden.." vest said with a sigh.

Ruby looks at her with confusion. "You're the Summer Maiden?" She was trying to put the pieces together as she realized something. "Wait....that girl...when she attacked us with Tyrian...she seemed off, like she was...Grimm, you don't think?"

"What Ruby?" Ozpin asked looking at her.

"You think she can sense my powers?" Vest suggested as she looked to Ruby with intrigue.

"It's a hunch...but maybe." Ruby said.

Ozpin rubs his chin as he thinks for a moment. "If that's the case...then she already knows about you being a Maiden Vest, and if she's planning to tear down Haven academy to get the relic...we would have to be ready."

"The Haven relic requires the Spring Maiden I'm useless to her for now anyway." Vest shrugged

~~~

Qrow stood up as he looked at RNJR and over to Vest and Oscar. "You two stay here. We'll go meet with Lionheart, to warn him about the threat that's going to come. And tell him to make sure the relic is locked up, I might know where the Spring Maiden is however."

"Oh where?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"With Raven." Qrow said.

Vest raised an eyebrow as she heard this. "Hmm can raven be trusted?" Vest asked as she looked to Qrow and Ozpin.

"Aside from being's Yang mom, I'm starting to wonder myself." Qrow said.

Ruby raises her hand. "Uh, what if she's already got a contract with the enemy?"

Ozpin thinks for a moment. "You're onto something, but we can't say for sure...if that's the case, then we should expect her to be coming as well, with the Spring Maiden."

Qrow lets out a sigh. "I'll let Lionheart know where Spring is."

"We're coming." Nora said. "Never been inside Haven academy, I wonder if it's different?"

"Your in for a pleasant surprise." vest joked as she turned to Nora and smiled.

Ozpin sat down. "We better not keep you waiting. The sooner Lionheart knows, the better he can prepare for the assault." After he had said that he let Oscar take control.

"Right, we'll see you when we get back." Qrow said as he headed out.

RNJR followed behind him as they made their way to Heaven Academy, little did they know. Haven was empty of students. Well for the most part that is, three people remained.

Once they got there, Ruby glances around the area as she noticed how empty it was. She spotted two people, a snake Faunus and another girl. "Huh, I guess some of the students left early?"

"Maybe, Lionheart would know..let's go inside." Qrow said as he walked into Haven.

~~~

In Lionheart's office, he was sitting at his desk looking down, there was someone else in the room with him as he was trembling a little, he dared not to look up at them. He sat and waited for the Beacon news to come in from Ozpin, or whoever was sent to tell him.

Scarlet stood there in his office as she was no longer a little girl, but in her teens. It seemed something had happened to her after her fight with RNJR, Qrow and Vest, perhaps Watts had to do something with it. She glanced at Lionheart as she sat on his desk, crossing her legs. "Tch, you're worthless for a headmaster..if I were you I'd do as you're told..you know she doesn't like to keep waiting."

Lionheart gulps and nods. "Y-Yes I know, but she never told me she was sending..her offspring, she never told me your name."

Scarlet snickered as jumps off. "Call me Clockwork...we'll settle on that for now..." Her nose twitched as she sniffed the air, the smell of alcohol filled her nose as she looks at Lionheart. "It seems the package messengers are here..." She opened the window as she was about to climb out. "If you excuse me headmaster...this Grimm girl is going to hit the town. I'm going to look for something trendy..and when I come back, I expect you to have news I can give Salem.."

Lionheart didn't look at Scarlet as he lightly nodded. "Of course...I don't want to displease her...I want to keep Haven standing." He lifted his head as he noticed she had jumped out of the window, which was right on queue for Qrow and RNJR to walk in.

"Talking to yourself?" Qrow asked unaware that he was talking to Scarlet. "I know where Spring is. But the relic needs to be locked up tight, Haven's gonna fall next if we don't make sure."

Lionheart looked at them as he noticed Ruby, he knew that she was a target for Salem and her followers but he didn't say anything about that. "Right, it's already locked away, no one can get it without Spring. And where do you think she is?"

Qrow pulled up a map of Raven's bandit camp. "Here, I have a feeling my sister Raven has Spring hidden away here."

"Nonsense, we've already searched." Lionheart said. "There's nothing there about the Maiden. Your theory is wrong, no one knows where Spring is..."

Qrow rubbed his head. "I don't know, if anything Raven's camp is hidden away from everyone so it might be. By the way, where are the students?"

"Out, expect for a few who stayed. Two out front and one who went out to town." Lionheart said. "The other students were out Grimm hunting and I made the call for them not to return. Now if this is all you needed to tell me, I have something to do.."

Qrow seemed suspicious of what he said as he shrugs. "Alright, come on guys. Let's leave Leo to his task he has left to do."

"Oh okay then." Ruby said as she was curious on who the other student he was referring to was. She watched Qrow leave the room as she followed him as well as RNJ, leaving the headmasters office.

Lionheart sighed as he saw Watt's logo appear on his scroll as he still had the map of Raven's camp up. Watts chuckled a little. "You're such a bad liar Leo...but I think I'll leave the telling Salem part to her daughter. However, Cinder and her lackeys will go to Raven's camp to look for Spring.."

After Watts had stopped talking, Lionheart put his hands on his head. ".....What have I done?...."

~~~

While Scarlet was out in Mistral, she stopped near a clothing store as she glanced in seeing a gothic Lolita dress that was red and black. She scanned it for a moment but shrugged it off but still walked inside to find something new to wear.

"Let's see...what's this?" Scarlet asked picking up a red dress. "Well, that looks like a great thing..now what else?" Her eyes scanned the store more, since she was wearing glasses no one in the store could tell she was a Grimm. Her eyes spotted black jacket with a bunny hood and some black stockings with black shoes, she had a grinned as she picked those up.

The bell inside the store rung as the two girls that Ruby saw at Haven walked inside, the snake Faunus looked around as she spotted Scarlet looking at the outfit she got. "Hey, Queen. Look over there..isssn't ssshe the one who allowed herself into Haven with no identification?"

Queen glanced over as she nods. "Yeah, that's her alright..why what are you thinking Cora?"

Cora grins a little. "Letsss have sssome fun with her." She walked over to Scarlet as Queen followed her, Cora went to place her hand on Scarlet's shoulder as she felt her hand get grabbed.

Scarlet turned her head as she had grabbed Cora's hand. "Don't think about it you slimy snake." She pushed Cora away as she went to buy the outfit she had.

"Feisssty." Cora said with a hiss, as her snake eyes scanned Scarlet. "You think, you can get away with touching me?"

Scarlet didn't say anything as she was walking out of the store, she didn't want to draw any attention to herself right away. Cora slithered towards the door as Queen followed behind her, once they got out Scarlet was no where to be seen, Cora sniffed the air a little not picking up any smell.

"She's gone? How? She couldn't have ran." Queen said. "Let's split up and search for her."

Scarlet watched the two split up searching for her, she had already stripped down and put her new outfit on as she scoffed. "Tch, looks like I have to deal with those two differently. But...let me go back to Lionheart, I'm interested in what he has for me.." She dashed through some dark alleyways to head back to Haven.

Cora noticed as she stalked Scarlet back to Haven, she had gotten back there before Scarlet did as she was ready to confront her. She scanned around looking for Scarlet, not seeing her as she slithered around looking for her. "Where isss ssshe? SSShe hasss to be here sssomewhere."

Queen on the other hand was still in Mistral looking for Scarlet, unaware that Scarlet was indeed in Haven with Cora. But hiding in plain sight, Scarlet glanced down at Cora as she licked her lips.

"What's that saying you hear from anime girls? Oh yes...Ara ara, I like that. I'll use it for myself." Scarlet said as she sat down on the ledge of the academy's roof, she pulled out a chocolate bar from her pocket. She had stopped by a candy store before coming back to Haven to pick up something sweet to try, she unwrapped the chocolate and bit into it, finding it's sweet taste delightful and creamy. She had plenty of time to toy with her prey, and toy with Lionheart. But this chocolate bar was too good for her to pass up.

A/N: [Okay, so aside from Vest being a OC character that's being used. Cora and Queen are also OC's another friend of mine owns, I can't take any credit for Vest, Cora or Queen. Credit goes to my friends on Discord.]