The dinner table is abuzz as the currently present members of Team RWBY and the remaining members of Team JNPR all talk over each other indistinctly. The mood is quite cheery, with the children all smiling and laughing, "How do you lose your map at a time like that?"

"Believe me; I've asked myself the same thing ever since." Yang, Weiss, and Ruby laugh, while Jaune smiles and giggles sheepishly. "Hey, but you made up for it, Mister Muscles! You shoulda seen this guy take a giant Grimm head on!"

"I couldn't have done it without Ruby wearing it down."
"Uh, me? Did you see Ren during that fight? He was out of control!"
"I'm sorry, I may have lost my temper momentarily."
"No, no! Out of control as in "awesome"!"
"Oooohhh. Thank you." Everyone at the table bursts into laughter.

As dinner continues, Weiss tells her story about how she accidentally summoned a Boarbatusk during the Schnee charity ball, "You did not!"
Weiss has her face in her hands, "Yeah, right in the middle of the party."
"Please tell me you let that lady have it."
"Of course not! Even if I did really want to." Nora crosses her arms, skeptical, "No way, I don't believe it."

Weiss summons her Boarbatusk right next to Nora. The Grimm summon growls, causing Nora to yelp and fall to her side. Weiss, Yang, Jaune, and Ren all laugh. As dinner nearly finishes, Yang shows off her robotic prosthetic arm to the rest of the group. All of them react in awe. "It's not a replacement for the real thing, but I'll make sure to make good use of it."
"That's amazing."
"Incredible." Ruby gets all starry-eyed and quickly zooms over to her sister's side to admire her arm, holding Yang's arm up, "And it's just as strong?"
"Hm, sure is."

Suddenly, they hear a bang on the table. Nora has her arm out ready to arm wrestle, "Wanna bet?"
"Nora, please, now's not the time..." Despite Weiss' protest, Yang and Nora arm wrestle. Jaune and Ren cheer on Nora while Ruby cheers on for her sister. Weiss looks on disdainfully, "Don't let her beat you! You can do it! Come on!"
"You can do this! Show 'em what Team JNPR's made of!"

"C'mon, sis! Aw, you can't lose to a girl in a skirt!"
"You wear a skirt, Ruby."
"Weiss, you're not cheering loud enough!!" She shakes Weiss, who is still frowning.

"It definitely feels like the original; I'll give you that!"
"Yep. But it does have some new features!"
"Heh, oh yeah?"

A robotic sound comes from Yang's arm, and suddenly Nora is knocked back to the wall holding Yang's detached arm in her hand. Nora groans in pain while the others look on in concern, except for Yang, who has a smug grin on her face, "Did she... win?" As Nora comes to, she realizes she's holding Yang's robotic arm, causing her to scream and throw it away from her. Yang laughs while she catches her arm.

Later on, Jaune helps clean up the dishes, "Gyah... We ate it all... Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick..."
"Easy there, Vomit Boy, I believe in you."
"Oh, we're doing nickname throwbacks now. Wonderful." Jaune walks away with the dishware in his hands.
Weiss giggles, "I mean, the Ice Queen seems to like it." Nora teases. Weiss stops giggling, and Ruby bursts into laughter at Nora's remark. Weiss smiles nonetheless. "I so did not miss you, people."
"Oh my gosh, she really does like it! What went and warmed your heart while you were gone?"
"Hey! You make it sound like I used to be terrible."
"Nah. Just a lot to deal with it once."
"Hmph!"

Yang playfully sticks her tongue out at Weiss.
"It's been a long time. We've all grown in our own ways."
"You really think so?"

"Well, think back to when we were all at Beacon, would you say you ever did anything foolish or embarrassing? Or do you think you were perfect?" Ten glances at both sides of the table. "Oh, gosh." Weiss buries her face in her hands again.
"I may have been a little too gung-ho from time to time."
"Heh, you? I tried to 1v1 a Nevermore on the second day of school."

Jaune walks back into the room, "Yeah, well... don't even get me started."
"Well, that embarrassment - that desire to go back and tell yourself not to be so stupid - that just proves you're not the same person you used to be. You're smarter, you're kinder, you're stronger, and you're not done growing yet. None of us are." There is silence for a brief moment.

"Yeah, turns out Ren gets real deep when he feels like talking." Everyone giggles.

"Well, hold on, I thought I was pretty great in school!"
"Even at the dance? When you spilled punch all over yourself in front of-"
"Yes, especially the dance! Thank you, Yang!" Yang covers her ears from Nora's yelling, who has her scroll out playing "Shine." Ruby laughs.

"How can six kids possibly make so much noise eating dinner?!"
"They are having fun, Qrow. Leave them be." Qrow, Oscar, and you walk into the room. Nora presses her scroll to stop the song. Oscar gives a small laugh.

Everyone relocates to the second-floor living room, with Weiss and Yang having finished being filled in on what everyone else knows so far. Ozpin is sitting on a single armchair with you standing next to him.
"So, the Maidens. Magic. Salem. It's all true?"
"Uh-huh." Qrow nods.

"Miss Xiao Long, is this more or less what your mother told you?" Yang doesn't respond, still having her arms crossed. Weiss answers for her, "For the most part."
"You forgot something. You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother." Ruby gasps.

"What is she talking about?"
"Oh, great."
You turned to Yang, "She told you?"
"Hm, that's not a secret I thought she would give up so easily. Your mother must trust you a great deal." Yang scowls at him.
"My ability to reincarnate, though a curse, isn't without a few key benefits. Much like the Maidens, I too possess a certain... "magical" power." He stands up and walks next to Qrow, "Using this power, I was able to gift the Branwen twins the ability to "see" more, to move freely and be unburdened by their natural bodies. I... well... gave them the ability to turn into birds. Rather ridiculous-sounding out loud, isn't it?" He chuckles at the last bit.
"Uncle?"
"You turned them... into birds."
"Alright, now you're just messing with us."

Jaune angrily crosses his arm, "What else is new?"
"He's telling the truth. We saw it. Yang's mom... changed, right in front of us."

"Why would you do something like that? I mean, what is wrong with you?"
You walk around Yang, "Yang, let us explain."
"No! Why would-"
"Yang, that's enough! We made a choice. We wanted this." Qrow cuts her off.

Yang relents.

"May I?" Qrow nods, "Granting this power to them was no trivial task, and I can assure you it was not done frivolously. I required assistance in gathering information on Salem's plans, as well as searching for Maidens when their hosts became unclear."

"Okay, so, have you done this with others? Like General Ironwood? Or Professor Goodwitch? What about (Y/n)?" Ruby turns to you as you slightly raised your hands, "I don't possess anything magic; it's impossible for me to do so."
"As helpful as that might be, unfortunately, it is not that simple. My power is finite, and if I'm honest, dwindling. The amount that I gifted to Qrow and Raven was all things considered, rather minuscule. You see, centuries ago, I sacrificed a great deal of magic to four young women, who I hoped would use my gift for good. They were the first Maidens."
Everyone is silent for a moment, "Miss Xiao Long; it was never my intention to lie to you. To any of you. There are just some matters that I prefer to... "play close to the chest." I believe that's how you phrased it?" Ozpin turns to Qrow, who chuckles, "Yeah."

"Everyone has a choice. The Branwen's chose to accept their powers and the responsibilities that came with them. And later, one of them chose to abandon her duties in favor of her own self-interest. Now, all of you have a choice."
"If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time. There's no shame or disgrace in abstaining, only in retreat." You say, remembering that was what Ironwood said when Beacon fell. Everyone is silent as they ponder Ozpin's words. "Very well, then." Yang suddenly stands up.
"Yang?"

"If Ruby sticks around, then I will too. If there's one thing I know about her, it's that she somehow always knows the right thing to do." Yang smiles at Ruby after saying, "But, if we're going to help, if we're going to keep risking our lives, no more lies. No more half-truths."

Everyone remains silent. Ozpin and Qrow exchange a brief look with each other. Ozpin ponders Yang's words for one last moment before responding.

Ozpin smiles, "Understood." Ozpin glances at you, seeing Ajin formed behind you, you didn't take notice of Ajin, and it seemed that Ozpin was the only one able to see him. Ajin had his index finger in front of where his mouth should be, which Ozpin nods to. Yang sits back down.
"So... what now? I mean, what can we do?"

"Mm, that is a difficult question. One that I believe is best answered tomorrow."
"What do you mean?"

"The road ahead is undoubtedly filled with hardships and peril. However, it's been far too long since you have all been together." He puts his hand on Yang's shoulder, "Please, take tonight, enjoy this moment." Yang smiles.

Suddenly Oscar's eyes glow, with Ozpin giving him control back to his body. Oscar realizes he has his hand on Yang's shoulder

"Geh!" Oscar quickly takes it off, and nervously holds his cane in his hand. Yang and Weiss laugh at him before hearing a noise from Nora, "Oooohhh. Raven? Qrow? They're birds!! Cracked it!" You chuckle at this, "Great job Nora." Nora nods to herself. Ren shakes his head at Nora being slow on the uptake.

Later that night, you were in the living room, sitting on one of the red sofas. Oscar enters the room, "Ozpin would like to speak to you if that's alright." You nod, "Thank you, Oscar." Ozpin takes control of the body, "Saint, are you comfortable with this?"
You thought for a moment, "I understand where Yang is coming from, yet something was bothering me from the conversation." Ozpin sits across from you, "How so?"
"I felt heavy; it might be from guilt, yet if I didn't bring them to Beacon, maybe it would have been better-" Ozpin cuts you off, "We discussed about this, Saint."
"I know, but she doesn't want lies; however, I'm afraid that they may not handle the situation as they would like. Qrow doesn't know about me; I feel as if I have to tell him."
"Don't push yourself to tell him the truth; wait when the time is right."
"What if I tell him? What happens then? Would he still love me knowing what I was? Would he trust me?"
"He would have to be an idiot to stop loving you."
"The last one was a lovesick psychopath, and I wasn't the one to tell him."
"Well, we do have a few bad eggs in the batch." Ozpin chuckles, "They asked me about my truth, and some will stay hidden for your sake, we made a promise to only keep it between us." Ozpin places his hand on your shoulder, "If someone threatens you of your past, know that I will be the one to protect you. Our promise-"
"-is a secret behind two immortal souls."
"An immortal soul and the immortal body." You smile at him, "Once we know the relic is secure, I'll tell him."
"Until then."

At the Branwen Tribe camp's entrance, Shay D. Mann and two other bandits stand guard, conversing with each other. Suddenly, a voice calls out from the forest, "Hey, ugly!"

With Shay and the bandits' attention drawn, Mercury and Emerald walk out from the forest toward the camp's entrance, "Is Raven Branwen home?"

"Ya know, I've had a real bad week. So I think I'm gonna take it out on you-" Shay stops mid-sentence when he notices Cinder, Arthur, and Suneel walk out of the forest and joins the two of them.
"Hmph, doesn't look like he wants to cooperate, Boss."

"Then make him."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Emerald proceeds forward. Shay and the other bandits hold their ground while Emerald unsheathes Thief's Respite, twirling them before they transform into their sickle forms.

End of Vol 5 Chapter 7
Happy New Year, my readers!
I hope you guys have a great year, and many wishes for all of you to be in good health (physically and mentally)
Until next chapter, Michaelis!