The Ozluminati* stood in the headmaster's office along with a strange, hooded man that had approached Glynda after her class had ended and demanded to speak with Ozpin, mentioning the name Amber Autumn when** the teacher refused. "Now then, Mr... I'm sorry, I don't believe you've told us your name."

"My name is not important, all that matters is the message my Mistress wanted me to deliver." The man's voice was monotone, void of all emotion, almost robotic in a way.

Ironwood scowled at the man. "You expect us to believe that the Queen herself sent you?" The man began to chuckle underneath his hood. "And what is so funny?"

"I do not serve the Queen, I follow another. My Mistress is older, wiser and much more powerful."

"... Are you telling us that there is another player we need to worry about?" When the man did not answer Ironwood slammed his fist on Ozpin's desk in an attempt to intimidate the man. "Answer me!" The man ignored the General and looked directly at Ozpin.

"There is no third faction. My Mistress has sided with the Queen. However, for reasons beyond the understanding of a foolish mortal such as my self, she wishes to make a deal with you." The tension in the room quintupled the moment the words left the mans lips. Things were silent for a moment.

Ozpin was the one who spoke first. "Continue." Glynda and Ironwood looked at the headmaster in shock.

"Oz, you can't seriously be-" Ironwood's mouth closed when he saw Ozpin's eyes, he had never seen the man's eyes so... Steely.

"Should you agree to my Mistress' terms, she shall have me reveal the names of the ones who attacked the Fall Maiden here and now."

Ozpin's eyes sharpened. "And what exactly are those terms."

The man responded without missing a beat. "Her terms are quite simple. You must kill Amber Autumn."

"OUT OF THE QUESTION!"

The man ignored the general's outburst and continued talking to Ozpin. "She wanted me to tell you that even if you agree and then went back on your word, there would be no saving her. The girl's soul has been fractured, and a soul is not like a mug or piece of furniture, once broken, it can not be repaired. My Mistress simply wants you to end the girl's suffering. She presents this offer out of the kindness in her heart."

Ozpin stared at the man for a second before taking a deep breath and exhaling. "I'm afraid that this is not a deal I can accept."

The man sighed and stood up before backing away, Glynda readying her crop and Ironwood drawing his revolver as he did so. "Hmmm.... I figured as much, but it was still worth a try..." Even Ozpin was surprised by the distinctly female voice that came from the figure as they looked around. "You know, despite being built by mortal hands, this academy is quite beautiful." The figure looked back at the three and tilted their head. "Would the three of you be dears and keep it in one piece for when I take it as my own?" The figure fell to their knees as blood began to drip to the floor groaning for a moment before falling forward. Ironwood ran toward the figure and placed a hand on their neck, checking for a pulse. He didn't find one.

The ever stoic Ozpin remained seated and stared at the dead body for a moment before slamming his head on his desk. "I believe that this is the kind of situation where taking after Qrow would be appropriate."***

Elsewhere on the grounds of Beacon.

Aria was in Beacon's training area, more specifically she was in the sparing ring**** facing off against Coco Adel. "I've got to ask you again..." Coco pulled her sunglasses down slightly, showing the tops of her dark brown eyes. "Are you sure you want to fight me? I can't promise that you wont get hurt."

Aria chuckled and activated Strappare and Lacrima, her bracelets extending to guard her wrists and hands before the built in claws snapped forward. "Funny, I was just about to say that myself." Aria brought her hands up in front of her, similar to the way a boxer would. "You do know that your talking to the girl who can kill a Goliath with one punch, right? All I have to do is get close, and then my opponent is dead."

"Miss Blaze, while I must admire your fighting spirit, I must ask that you do not kill, maim or cripple a fellow Huntsman or Huntress unless they have gone rogue." Aria silently groaned when she heard Oobleck's voice, barely nodding in response to the Doctor's chastising. "Nevertheless, I assume that both of you are both ready?" Coco nodded and Aria gave a crazed grin, causing the second year, as well as several students from all four Kingdoms that had gathered to watch the match, to instinctually cringe. "Very well then, the match will last until either party forfeits or has their aura depleted." Oobleck stepped outside of the ring as see-through Dust nullification barriers rose from the ground. "Ready? Begin!"

Coco ran forward and struck at Aria with her hand bag, hitting the Siren in the face. 'Why didn't she blo- Shit!' Coco's internal question was answered when Aria kneed her in the crotch. Having seen her do this to several male students, both in and out of class, made the fashion savvy student silently thank Oum that she did not have male genitalia. Aria followed up with a powerful head-butt, one strong enough to break the beret wearing girl's sunglasses. Coco growled at the girl and gave an uppercut with her bag, causing Aira to back off slightly. "Do you have any idea how much those glasses cost!?"

Aria scoffed in response as Coco opened her handbag, the built in Gatling gun emerging and starting to spin. "Don't worry, I'll buy you a new pair later." Aria activated Scatto one boot at a time and began to dash toward the fashionista in a zigzag pattern before running circles around her. "Can't hit what you can't catch!" After about thirty seconds of avoiding the numerous Dust bullets that Coco had been firing, Aria came to an abrupt stop and did a back flip over the barrage that had been following her activating Scatto again in mid air and shooting toward Coco.

"What the-" Aria gave the girl an uppercut before bringing her elbow down on her arm, causing her to loosen her grip on her weapon before yanking on the gun and delivering a kick to her chest, activating Scatto as she did, sending the girl flying to the other side of the ring. It only took a half a second for the girl to recover. "Owww-" Coco stood up and held her hand over her chest where she had been kicked. "How strong ar- Oh fuck me..." Coco's eyes widened in terror at the sight in front of her. Standing on the other side of the ring was Aria Blaze, wielding her own weapon, a maniac smile on her face.***** "Can we talk about this?"

"No." As her own weapon began to spin as Coco started to sweat and Aria started to slowly approach.

Coco risked a quick glance at the screen above the ring that displayed the combatants aura levels. She was about half way through while Aria's had barely been touched. A quick glance back at the girl made Coco sigh. "I forfeit." A buzzer sounded and Aria visibly frowned, not being able to actually use the weapon that she had temporarily obtained. Aria walked over to Coco as the Dust nullification barriers lowered.

"How much?"

Coco blinked in confusion. "What?"

Aria transformed Strappare and Lacrima, as well as Fashion Statement,****** back to their inactive mode, and handed the handbag to her classmate. "The sunglasses. How much did they cost?"

"Uhhh... 5000 lien... Why?" Aria nodded and turned around looking over her shoulder at the second year.

"I said I'd pay for them didn't I? I know what it's like to have your clothes ruined, and I feel kinda bad for breaking them. You don't have to accept but I'm offering to buy you a replacement... And some spares, so come on." Coco stood there for a second before following the Siren out of the training area and toward the bullhead dock to the city.

Vale TV station.

"Welcome back to Shining Stars!******* Today we're here with Adagio Dazzle, a member of the Dazzling Sunsets and a Huntress in training! Thank you for coming on the air today Miss Dazzle."

Adagio, clad in her regular attire, smiled at the show's host. "It's my pleasure Sara. I apologize that I'm the only one here today but my sisters simply had other things to do."

"I understand, now as always we had the audience take a survey before the show, seeing what questions they would like you to answer, so would you mind indulging us?"

Adagio gave a light hearted giggle in response. "So long as you leave out the love life of my sisters and I."

"Well that eliminates about half of the questions." Laughter from the audience was clearly audible to whoever was watching the broadcast live. "Well then let's start out with something juicy... You are often said to call your bandmates your 'sisters', why is that? Are they related to you by blood?"

Adagio simply smiled in response. "Blood is not what makes a family Sara, love is. We call each other sisters simply because that is what we are, we're sisters. We're family. We are there for each other when one of us needs a shoulder to cry on and we would sacrifice ourselves without a second thought to save each other. That is the mark of a true family."

"I see... Moving on... Why are you and your sisters Attending Beacon? What made the four of you make such a drastic career change?"

"Who said we had a career change? We're still singers, we are simply going to be Huntresses as well. In fact, we, along with the Achieve Men, will be opening acts for the Vytal Festival." Across the world fans who had tuned in to watch cheered. "As for why however... Well let me put it this way. Sometimes you think you know what you are destined to do and follow that road, only for that road to later split in two, one continues down the same path you are currently on, while the other calls to you saying your destiny is elsewhere. That is what happened to the four of us."

"That seems like a difficult decision, which path would you say the four of you chose?"

"That's simple Sara. We chose the road less traveled." A few murmurs of confusion were heard from the audience.

"I'm afraid that I don't understand..."

"Once again, it's simple. We chose the third road, the one most people don't notice. We chose the road between the other two. We decided to follow our dreams, as well as what we felt a calling for. If you ask me, destiny is absolute, unless you decide that it is not. While the choice we made may not be for everyone, it is what we believed would be the best for us."

"... I see... I think I understand... Now we have many more questions that the people want answered... But that will have to wait until after the break. When we come back, we'll be asking Miss Dazzle about several other things, including which Kingdom she thinks will win the Vytal tournament and her thoughts on the recent breach caused by the White Fang."

The Dragon Continent

Nightmare smiled at April as black vines wrapped around a Beowolf before tightening, encasing it in a cocoon like prison. "Very good April, you're getting better at controlling your powers..." Nearby another vine cocoon began to shake and a small clawed arm poked out. "Oh look, it seems one of our previous tests has woken up, come along now."

"Ok!" April, dressed in a newer, more comfortable, green dress, and wearing white bonnet with a black rose on it, turned and smiled at the woman, happily following her. It had been scary at first, the moment she had exited Nightmares portal she had been surrounded by Grimm, only to have a strange lady tell them that she was a friend, Nightmare arriving a moment after the Grimm had left. About a week after she came to this place Nightmare and the strange lady, whom she had learned was named Salem, had told her about their plan. They had told her the world was corrupted and that at their current pace both Human and Faunus kinds would wipe themselves out, and that they sought to prevent that. She was happy to help, Nightmare had been the first person to show her kindness in years.

And when they told her the story of the Maidens and Nightmare claimed that the little girl herself was one, April felt as if she needed to do this. As April arrived at the cocoon the vines fell away revealing what appeared to be a puppy sized Beowolf. "Awwww. It's adorable!" April ran over and picked it up. "I'm going to call you... Crunch!" She set the Beowolf down and began to rub it's belly. "Who's a good boy? You are! Yes you are!"

Nightmare smiled at the little girl, playing with what was commonly seen to be the enemy of all things with a soul. And in that moment, Nightmare knew that April was on their side.

Author's Note

I LIVE!!!!!

Sorry this took so long. I have no excuse.
As a challenge, the first one to spot the reference to a Gen 1 MLP villain will get a (picture of) cookie!

*
A fan name for Ozpin's group.
**
What I personally believe her full name is.
***
Did I ruin that scene? I feels like I ruined that scene... Damn it.
****
Matches can be arranged between any two Huntsman or Huntresses in training during free time, so long as both parties agree. Further more, 4th years are allowed to square off against teachers.
(While discouraged, betting on these matches is legal)
*****
I could see this being Nightmare fuel. You're welcome.
(If someone wants to draw this for fun, email me a finished product and I'll put it in the author's notes of a later chapter.)
******
Because I think it would be awesome if that was the canon name and I'm calling it that until it's proven otherwise!
*******
I am not good at titles. Shut up.