Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As he walked down the forest path Oscar wondered why he didn't go to Patch very often. He had always enjoyed his visits be it for business or pleasure, The sights on their own were gorgeous, a lush forest you could explore for days spanning most of the island, a cliff overlooking a fair amount of the land and city, and surrounded by a beautiful ocean.

The scenery alone wasn't all there was, the population especially made it stand out as pleasant, not just in their hospitality but in their variety. You could find people from all walks of life, There were a fair amount of Atleasans looking to trade the expanse of the floating city for a far simpler way to live, Vacuans who grew tired of the harsh climate looking for a gentler way to live, and many Faunus looking for a more accepting community.

Truly it was a melting pot in a way not even the larger kingdoms could accomplish. He assumed it was the comparatively tiny population, while still respectable as a territory much of the forest did have its share of lower-class Grimm that needed a steady supply of hunters to keep culled. Still, despite its faults, it was the perfect place to start over, perhaps even raise a family.

In fact, Oscar was looking to visit a family that had done just that.

The Taurus family as far as he could gather were known as a pleasant family who valued their privacy by all whom he'd asked. Terracotta was the patriarch, a secluded middle-aged man who rarely left his home if not for work or his family. Those who did know him described him as a reliable but stubborn old bull. Ember, his lover similarly kept to herself more often than not, though less than Terracotta. Being said to be a bit warmer than her lover though but similarly noted to have more of a temper. Ember was a woman Oscar had met briefly a lifetime ago, though he'd never forget her the woman. They had both gone by different names back then, been different people. Quite literally in his case. He doubted she'd be happy to see him after how things had been left at less than pleasant terms when they last met. But 18 years changed people. As did having children.

Their home was a simple one that didn't stand out from any other on the block, if one didn't know the history of its residents then it was just that. He approached the house, more cautiously than he typically would, phantom pains of cuts and burns from his last encounter with the woman played in his mind and a familiar sensation of power emanated from within it.

She was home.

Stepping onto the porch Oscar braced himself and knocked on the wood before stepping back. He waited a minute maybe two before the door opened, instead of being greeted by one of the pair he was met with a girl about half their age, lazily standing in the doorframe with her hands in her pockets. Glancing down at the cane he obviously didn't need with the sort of dismissive look only a teenager can give.

"Can I help you?"

Scarlet resembled her mother more so than her father, the deep amber eyes and general structure of her face were too close to say otherwise but her father's genes did have their own impact. Particularly with her deep red hair and bull horns protruding from the top of her scalp. Oscar relaxed a bit, not wanting to make her uncomfortable and extended his hand to shake.

"Hello young lady, my name is Oscar Pine, are your parents home?" Scarlet made an off-put face at the words 'young lady' but still shook his hand. She had a firm grip and her hands were calloused like so many fighters he had met in his life.

"What, are you like a salesman or something? Because I'll warn ya' right now my dad don't like spending money on stuff we actually need let alone junk." She didn't know who he was? That raised a few questions but nothing concerning at the moment.

"No, I'm an… old acquaintance of your parents. I was hoping to speak with them." Scarlet again made a face but now one of disbelief. Still, seemingly as if just to humor the man if nothing else she turned back and called out.

"Dad! There's a guy here, says he knows you!"

Unlike last time the response was immediate, footsteps closed in at a rapid pace, and after only a second Scarlet was pulled back with little more than a cry of protest from the girl. Immediately taking her place was the tall and lean frame of her father, tense and with his hand on a blade at his hip. Oscar didn't so much as flinch, even as the man's one good eye narrowed at him. Cool blue shifted from panicked to irritated as he relaxed ever so slightly. Behind him, his daughter now stomped her foot as she tried to pull him the same way he had her, failing to make her father so much as budge.

"What the hell Dad?" Ignoring his daughter's frustration Terracotta stepped back into his home motioning for Oscar to follow him.

"You should have told us you were coming." Oscar supposed he had a point but on the other hand the Taurus family was by all accounts a flight risk given their history. Had they misinterpreted the message they'd be halfway to Vacuo before he could show up.

Looking around the house was nice if a bit lacking, not in anything major but far from upscale. Scarlet seemed to be telling the truth that her father was frugal. The girl in question huffed, though at this point Oscar didn't know if her frustration was due to the initial incident or because she had been ignored by the man. Regardless he refused to acknowledge it.

"Scarlet, go get your mother. Tell her we have a guest." Despite having a clear want to protest his command Scarlet sighed and did as she was told, heading upstairs to fetch her mother.

A heavy silence fell between them soon after. With Scarlet out of the room the need for pleasantries left with her. Oscar looked the older man up and down, he didn't appear to be outright hostile but it was clear that his relaxing earlier was little more than an act for his daughter. The man once again tense at his mere presence.

Oscar on the other hand took a seat, not even pretending to be bothered by his hand once again inching closer to his blade. Instead, he let his thoughts drift to Scarlet. She seemed to be blindsided by his appearance despite her recent application to Beacon. She was just one of many to apply once they opened up applications for the new year and one with an endorsement from Signal. Her grades were average and there was a note on her temper, however, she excelled in combat training. Yet that wasn't his reason for paying the girl a personal visit.

It was her parentage.

"You didn't tell her?"

"Would you?" Terracotta asked in return.

Oscar merely hummed his response, wordlessly conceding that the man had a point. Her parent's past and connection to him were… complicated.

A moment later his other half came back down the stairs, without Scarlet. Ember's face was cold and her stare was like that of a predator. The resemblance really was uncanny, save for the nose and a slight difference in the shape of her lips Scarlet looked like a younger version of her mother as a Faunus. Ember herself had certainly changed since they had last met, Looking far more reserved than the petulant young woman he'd had the displeasure of meeting years ago at Beacon, she now carried an air of maturity she had pretended to have back then, her looks had changed too, she didn't look any worse, just more mature, and now sporting an artificial left arm and what he assumed was a glass eye on the same side. Yet she hadn't changed that much.

Though to be fair he'd recognize Cinder Fall anywhere.

"Cinder." Oscar greeted coolly, seeing no reason to go by pseudonyms in private.

'Terracotta' didn't take kindly to the use of his not-wife's real name, grabbing ahold of his blade and drawing it just a few inches. Oscar once again not worried about his actions keeping all of his attention on Cinder. The woman in question just sighed raising her still human hand.

"It's fine Adam."

Being referred to by his real name almost made the man seem disarmed, glancing over to Cinder he noticed she wasn't looking at him, his eye followed hers and landed on the stairs. That was right Scarlet was just upstairs, possibly about to come down the very next second. Not reacting verbally and instead shifting his jaw Adam retraced his weapon fully into Blush.

Scarlet returned from the top of the stairs a moment later, her eyes immediately drawn to her father's tense stance and hand slowly pulling away from his weapon, the girl was more than a little unnerved by the actions of her father. She had never seen her parents, especially him react quite like this. But as her mother seemed to have calmed the situation she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in. Cinder motioned for her to come closer. Trying to act casual Scarlet put her hands into her pockets and stepped up beside the woman.

"Scarlet, Oscar is an old… acquaintance of mine. And last we met part of the administration for Beacon." Cinder explained causing Scarlet's casual demeanor to shatter as she realized this, suddenly standing straight while trying to look serious in hopes that she hadn't just made a bad first impression. Well worse than the one her dad had made for her at least. Something Oscar noticed right away, chuckling at.

"My role is a bit more hands-off than in the past, but yes. In fact, that's why I'm here." He was from Beacon? Well what was Dad freaking out over?

"Would you mind me having a word with Scarlet, alone?" Adam again reacted negatively but this time managed to reign himself in to just speaking sternly.

"Abso-"

"The backyard, where I can see." Cinder cut him off, crossing her arms as if daring the tan-skinned man to argue with her. Adam grimaced at his authority being undercut but said nothing seeming to concede.

Oscar had no objections following the young woman out back. Cinder stayed watching from the doorway, letting out a shaky breath as soon as they were out of earshot. She watched the interaction closely, while she didn't think Oscar was the type of man to attack her daughter out of spite that didn't mean she trusted him, not by a long shot. Adam similarly stood ready to act the moment Pine made a move he didn't like.

Scarlet was, well mostly confused. What did this guy want with her? The fact that he was from Beacon calmed her nerves a bit but raised several questions in its place. She hadn't been told anything about a member of staff personally coming to visit her. Was there something wrong with her application? Ah crap was this about the fights she had gotten into? As Scarlet tried to wrack her brain to figure out a reason for the visit Oscar had apparently stopped as she now bumped right into him. Stumbling over her own words getting a chuckle from the man.

"You can relax Miss Taurus, despite what your parents may think I don't bite."

"Am I that obvious?"

"To me, but I happen to be good at reading people." He said taking a seat on the grass and motioning for her to do the same which she did, plopping down on the grass next to him rather casually.

"Sooo… what did'ja wanna talk about?"

"I'd just like to ask you a few questions, and I'd rather have your honest answer, not what you think your parents want to hear." Oscar said crossing his legs on the grass. Scarlet nods similarly getting comfortable, leaning back and using one of her arms as support.

"So Young La- Scarlet, why do you want to be a huntress?"

"Why not?" She scoffed before quickly remembering who it was she was talking to.

"S-sorry, what I mean is, I already know how to fight. I like it, hell I'm good at it. Better than anything else I've ever tried to do. Why shouldn't I do some good with it you know?" Oscar listened, nodding along with her but also giving the impression that he was looking deeper at her than she was seeing.

"You didn't learn to fight in order to become a huntress?"

"Mom and Dad wanted me to know how to defend myself from the start, talked about how I'd have to be ready in case anyone ever tried to hurt me. Like they didn't force me kicking and screaming through it, but they made it pretty clear it's something I was gonna learn whether I liked it or not."

Again, Oscar nodded, expecting as much from her parents, really given their histories it was a necessity, there was no shortage of people who would like to get even with Adam and Cinder for their pasts, and as unfortunate as it was not everyone was above targeting their daughter over a desire for revenge.

"And just what is being a huntress in your eyes?"

This time she took a moment to think, almost giving another 'no duh' answer but stopping herself and thinking it over for a moment longer before answering.

"Well they're heroes right? Not like The Hunts-Man obviously, they answer to people and stuff but they go out and help people who need it. People who aren't strong enough to defend themselves from Grimm and Criminals."

"And that's a hero to you?"

"Yeah." Scarlet answered, more confidently this time.

Oscar smiled, the girl seemed to have her head on straight, an actual accomplishment considering who raised her. Taking a look back at said couple they weren't even pretending to be doing anything more than watching the two of them. On one hand he supposed it was natural to be protective of their child, on the other hand it just didn't track in his mind, Adam alone was hard to separate from the image of a bloodthirsty terrorist but Cinder? The woman who had once carried Grimm within her for nothing more than her own selfish lust for strength? If he wasn't watching it happen before him he wouldn't believe it. He was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Standing back up Oscar helped the girl up who gave him a confused look.

"Is that it? You didn't come all this way just to ask me like two questions did you?"

"I never said it would be an interrogation did I?" He said giving her a small smile as they returned over to the house.

Cinder shifted from her spot against the doorway, raising an eyebrow at the man. Once again not looking the least bit bothered by the stares of her parents.

"I would like to have a quick sparring session with Scarlet. If that's okay with the two of you of course."

Scarlet's eyes lit up in surprise looking back up at the man a growing smile at the idea of sparring with him.

"Wait, you wanna fight me? That's why you're here?"

"An old friend of mine has a saying, It more or less goes that you can figure out more about someone by trading blows with them than through words. And I happen to agree."

The girl's Mother and Father traded a glance clearly neither of them were thrilled with the idea, but after a few back and forth facial twitches that Oscar assumed meant something to the pair Adam sighed and looked over to them.

"If Scarlet is okay with it then a light match is fine." He said shooting a glance at the girl in question, already knowing her answer.

His daughter nodded ecstatically. He wanted to see what she was capable of? Well she was more than happy to give him a demonstration, all but running over and grabbing her swords. Nearly setting them incorrectly on her sides. The moment she was ready the pair headed back outside taking their places across from each other in the yard.

Oscar stood ready, deciding to be sporting and let his younger opponent strike first, watching the girl's stance as she stood straight up carefully placing one foot behind the other and pointing a sword at him in a way that almost seemed… practiced? He smirked in amusement at that, playing along and similarly straightening his back, resting one arm behind his back and resting on his cane. A pose he had adopted from a previous life.

"Don't you know it's rude to keep a guest waiting?" He asked teasingly, hoping to spark a reaction from the girl, and that it did. Her eyes narrowed with focus as she kicked off her backfoot rushing in with one blade pointed his way as a feint, however he saw how she readied her other weapon to swing. He easily sidestepped the false blow and parried the real strike aimed for his midsection with a simple swipe of his cane. However he noticed the young woman's strike held more strength than he had expected from her, nearly throwing him off balance. He'd adjust his expectations.

Scarlet, undeterred by the apparent ease at which he stopped her blow jumped back expecting him to counter, however the huntsmen simply stood still, remaining in a casual stance even as she circled him. She stared back for a moment, a bit confused but quickly growing impatient and soon closing the distance once again. This time striking out with a probing offense testing his reactions to different blows, though failing to press him in any way.

To most her blades would be moving like a blur of red and silver, yet even as Wilt and Bleed cut through the air and clashed with his cane he seemed to consistently be a step ahead of her. With a twirl of his cane the man managed to position it under her swords and with a single arm forced them up exposing her. Rather than take the opportunity to hit her exposed gut he aimed a thrust down at her leg, dropping her to one knee. Scarlet swore as she caught herself, looking up just in time to block a downward strike with her swords.

Oscar looked down at the Faunus as she tried to push him back with no luck, seeming to overpower and keep her pinned with ease.

"Do you concede? There's no shame in admitting defeat."

Those words seemed to spark something in Scarlet who looked up with a chuckle.

"I'm just getting started, old man!"

As if meant as a punctuation to her words a red liquid traveled up the edges of her blades. With Wilt 2 it would have been near impossible to tell for anyone not as close as him, however Bleed's curved edge now shined in a crimson contrast with the rest of the weapon. In hindsight he didn't think the semblance gave her any boosts to speak of but in the moment she seemed to push him back with far greater ease. Perhaps he had simply grown complacent?

From the sidelines, her parents watched closely, Cinder allowing a small smirk to grace her lips at the sight of her daughter pushing the far more experienced hunter onto the back foot with her flurry of blows. Adam on the other hand kept a more neutral Perhaps it was simply due to his more critical eye as the one who primarily trained her but Adam couldn't help but notice that this wasn't the advantage Scarlet's smirk suggested it to be.

While true that she now had him on the defensive Oscar wasn't struggling to keep up in the slightest, simply not having the opportunity to react to her yet. A theory that was proven when she swung her arm back for a power blow only to have it stopped dead in its tracks by Oscar's wrist meeting her own mid swing. Now open the girl couldn't react to the strike to her jaw fast enough, getting rocked and stumbling back. Barely managing to catch herself Scarlet launched herself at him once more, determined to get back on even footing.

She never got the chance.

Sticking his foot in front of hers the more experienced man effortlessly tripped her up, following up with a strong thrust of his weapon that made her aura flash from the blow as well as knocking his opponent off of her feet and onto her back. Landing with a thud and dropping Bleed Scarlet rolled over and growled, looking back up at the man.

"That's enough!" Cinder called out to the pair stepping forward putting a stop to the match.

Oscar didn't pay her words any mind, still watching her daughter closely, Scarlet looked over at her mom in shock. Then she looked back at the stranger who had just trounced her in less time than it took her to eat breakfast and snarled, her grip tightening on the crimson sword. He tenses, and for a split second he's staring down the Fall Maiden in Beacon's basement readying himself to block a retaliatory strike from the girl as she gritted her teeth in spite. Then he's back in the family backyard and Scarlet eyes soften, she lets go of her blade, letting her head drop back to the ground and groaning in defeat. Oscar relaxed, a small, more genuine smile on his face as he retracted and secured his cane at his belt before holding his hand out for her helping the girl up.

"Well I must say, you did rather well young lady."

"Seriously? You kicked my ass. And in like five minutes."

"Miss Taurus, with all due respect you applied to Beacon just a few months ago and I've been a huntsman for over a decade. Were you expecting any other result?"

She pursed her lips, knowing that he was right but still feeling as though she had gone down too easily. Collecting her blades as Cinder and Adam approached, her father walking up and ignoring her protests as he looked her over for cuts and bruises. Cinder's eyes on the other hand stayed on Oscar. Scarlet still couldn't tell why she looked at him like he was some Grimm sitting in human skin. So she instead asked what to her was a far more pressing matter.

"Did I at least pass? Did I put up enough of a fight?" She asked, a hopeful tinge to her voice.

"Your skills weren't being tested today young lady."

She still hated being called that but her curiosity over the last statement was stronger than the way it irked her to be called that. What was he testing her for then? Now that she thought about it he had mentioned something about the fight helping him know her better, not that it had made any sense to her and really there was one pressing question in the front of her mind at the moment.

"That… doesn't really answer my question, am I in?

For once the look on Adam and Cinder's faces was less barely hidden disdain and more genuine curiosity. Such a reaction was only natural he assumed, it was their daughter's future after all.

"If the headmistress sees the same thing I saw in you? Then I'd say your odds are very high."

Days turned to weeks, which eventually turned to months and sooner than she had been ready for the day Cinder had expected came along with a message from her Scroll. Scarlet had been accepted into Beacon. While Cinder had no doubts after the visit Adam had gotten himself worked up over the visit, she had expected this of course. Scarlet was the one thing that man could get himself worked up over so easily.

It was adorable in her eyes, he along with Mercury worked day and night thinning the Grimm's numbers around Vale and he did that with the steely confidence that had first sparked her attraction to the man. But one thing going wrong with Scarlet, be it anything from a cut to a cold and he'd get unnaturally anxious. So the idea that the visit had ruined her chances and possibly because of him no less had had the man barely able to focus on anything but said visit.

So when she ran up to her mother and father proudly showing off the acceptance message it was as though Adam had just learned how to breathe again. Pride in the girl's accomplishment almost immediately replaced his worry. Of course, they had to celebrate. Nothing huge but something to show their pride in the girl. And with their eldest similarly being accepted the Black family was more than happy to have their friends over to celebrate together.

But even as the night Cinder couldn't shake the sinking feeling in her gut. Choosing to try and drown it with Emerald's wine.

Even after all these weeks Cinder felt a certain unease after Osc- Ozpin stopped by. He could use whatever meatsuit he wanted but she recognized that tone and stance. She wondered if any of the new identities even remained, not that it really mattered, she still wouldn't trust him. Still, it was something she found herself thinking about. That was wrong, she shouldn't have thought twice about Ozpin's newest host. While for the most part, she found herself liking the life she and Adam had made for themselves things like that irked her to no end. She had grown soft ever since Scarlet's birth, hell probably before that, unable to simply disregard people the way she'd done in the past. Some would say it was an improvement, her changing for the better, to Cinder it was a weakness.

Dragging her from her thoughts was a smaller, softer hand coming to rest on her own.

"Hey, are you still thinking about it?"

Case in point, Emerald. Despite her friend's reassurance that the past was just that Cinder's chest tightened with regret when she looked at the woman now. Remembering how she had used and abused the girl all those years ago.

"He spoke to my daughter, Emerald, used my real name in our home where she could have heard. It's not something I'm happy about." The older woman muttered before sipping from her glass. Trying to follow her friend's example for once and not look to the past.

Unfortunately, the present had its own set of issues. Ozpin taking an interest in her daughter was something that didn't sit right with her, Logically she knew it was just the man being cautious, Cinder's crimes hadn't been forgotten of course. Her daughter attending his, or if his words about a headmistress were true what used to be his school would be a reason to make sure the girl didn't take after them in that way. But the fact that he liked her was almost as worrying, Scarlet had potential, something Cinder was immensely proud of. But she didn't want him of all people to see it.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" The former thief asked, trying to ease her worries. It didn't work as Cinder growled back.

"He judged her, the only reason he was there was to see if she was like us."

"She's not, you both made sure of that. We knew this was gonna happen, ever since her and Jet decided to become hunters we knew they'd have it harder because of us. But they're standing on their own now. We gotta trust that we did right with them."

Cinder didn't respond to that, instead looking over at their children. Emerald's gaze followed her own, her son and Scarlet's best friend Jet sat next to her. The pair along with Emerald and Mercury's daughter simply enjoying the day as they normally would.

Over on the couch sat the three younger figures, Scarlet recanting the story of Oscar's visit as she saw it to the other teenagers in the house. The youngest and smallest of them Lupin sat on Scarlet's lap, despite being arguably too old for such a position neither girl seemed to mind as she rested her head against the older teens soft chest and played her game. She was unmistakably Emerald's daughter, skin only a shade or two lighter than her own and a face that could have been a mirror to the past, unlike Scarlet who at least somewhat resembled Adam the strongest trait from her father was her silver hair.

"So… he just left after that?" Asked the boy currently sitting beside them. As to be expected unlike his sister Jet had a stronger resemblance to his father though having her green hair which he currently had tied up in a neat bun.

"Well yeah, he said he wanted to test me and he did. Not much else to say."

"I've just never seen you that excited telling a story where you got your ass kicked." Jet teased

"I mean you're pretty excited whenever you talk about Scar kicking your ass." His sister countered with the same snark she had similarly gained from her father. Before Jet could counter

"Hey! Language you two, just because we're celebrating doesn't mean I won't shove a bar of soap in your mouths." The siblings both shrunk a bit in embarrassment over being reprimanded in front of their friend who snickered

"I mean he kicked my A-Butt," Scarlet quickly corrected herself so as to not incur her Godmother's wrath. "and I still got in! That has to mean something!"

That you're a better woman than I. Cinder thought to herself, a smile gracing her lips before downing the rest of her glass and motioning to Emerald to come with her to check on their other halves in the kitchen while she got more.

The two men stood around the oven, more or less just watching over the pizza as it cooked. Just 'shooting the shit' as Mercury liked to say, with a mouth like his Emerald figured she probably should be grateful her kids didn't have worse vocabularies than they already did.

"I'm just saying man, pizza? They could get that any time. Why not something like a steak or some home cooked salmon?"

"You asked teenagers what they wanted to eat and are surprised they wanted the stereotypical teenager meal?"

"I just figure we shoulda given them better taste," The ex-Assassin proclaimed melodramatically, actually going as far as to tilt his head back and rest his hand on his forehead as though he may faint. "truly we have failed."

Adam didn't give the man a reaction, instead glancing down at the oven once more and checking to make sure nothing had burnt. Had Adam been told that not only would he regularly be in the presence of Mercury Black but that the frankly childish man would be one of his closest if not his best friends? Well, truth be told the old bull wouldn't have a clue how he'd react to that, laugh probably? Followed by his fist or if he had been in a particularly bad mood his old sword to the gut. He cringed at the reminder of how he had been before his daughter, choosing not to dwell on it he looked over to Cinder and Emerald already having heard them approach.

"Hey boys, talking about anything interesting?"

"Just keeping my buddy entertained while the grub finishes up."

"I'd call it torment personally." Adam's retort earned an uncharacteristically hearty laugh from Cinder

"If you think he's bad now imagine living with him when he was nineteen." She drawls setting down her mostly empty wine glass.

For once he didn't use the opportunity for a quip, instead looking over at the near empty glass and raising an eyebrow, even compared to Emerald's glass or Adam's beer it was low, and she did seem more, floaty? Was that the word? Whatever, it was just a nicer word for drunk anyway. Setting his water to the side Mercury watched as his old boss placed her arms around her not-husband in a more affectionate display than she'd typically let others see. Yup, she was drunk, or at least tipsy.

"So, something on your mind Cindy? You normally pace yourself better."

Pursing her lips at the nickname she knew for a fact she had told him not to use, the woman's more playful attitude vanished almost immediately. Replaced with a familiar and more thoughtful scowl as her mind went back to it. Ozpin, talking to Scarlet, seeming to take an actual interest in her. Just as he did with Ruby. That thought caused her chest to tighten, the thought of her child being Ozpin's newest project sparked a familiar fire within her. One that typically resulted in bloodshed whenever the Maiden felt it.

Emerald, almost as if sensing Cinder's inner anger coming to the front decides to speak for her in hopes that perhaps she'd be able to just get it off of her chest.

"Well, she's a bit upse-"

"Not now."

Her voice was cold and commanding as she snapped. Emerald froze for a moment, taken back to her first year with the woman when she had an iron grip on her and her future husband. Cinder's face fell almost immediately upon seeing the effect she had on her friend, that was… unlike her, or at least it was now. She couldn't remember the last time she had used that tone, let alone with someone she actually cared for. Sighing remorsefully Cinder untangled herself from Adam and put her glass in the sink.

It was the alcohol, it had to be, she wouldn't just fall back into her old habits that easily otherwise. Taking a deep breath Cinder calmed herself, her hand clenching tightly as she put on a more calm face.

"Sorry, this just isn't the time for it. I want to celebrate our children getting into Beacon, not working myself up over my past mistakes." If the faces of Emerald Mercury and especially Adam were anything to go by she had grown rather rusty lying, or maybe they just knew her better now after so many years.

Thankfully before she could be pressed the oven went off, her cheesy savior having finished cooking the woman quickly opened the oven and using her cybernetic hand pulled out the dish and offering to get it ready while they went to fetch the kids. Sharing a brief look Adam just nodded at the pair. He'd have a word with her, he just needed a moment alone. Reluctantly they granted it to him, leaving the room silent save for the crust being cut apart by Cinder. Taking a step closer Adam stood beside her, not quite in her space, but close enough for his presence to be felt.

"So, are you going to tell me what that was actually about?"

Cinder didn't respond at first, still trying to distract herself with the meal before her. Deep baked and covered in an ungodly amount of cheese, just the way her daughter liked it. The daughter Ozpin spoke to. She sighed and placed the circular blade down on the counter, there was no getting around it she supposed, even thinking about the stupid pizza she couldn't get her mind off of it.

"What if he tries to recruit her?" Fear wasn't an emotion the mother of his child showed often, but now it was unmistakable. Adam understood why of course, it wasn't a possibility he was even remotely comfortable with. He paused thinking his words over but only really seeing one solution.

"If it comes down to that? We tell her the truth."

"The truth?" She scoffed, turning to face him with a hand on her hip. "That her parents were killers, monsters, terrorists?"

"We'll cross that road once we get to it, but can you honestly say that her joining an unwinnable war is a preferable alternative to knowing our history?"

It wasn't, but she couldn't bury the feeling of guilt that came with setting her on that path in life, even if deep down she knew there was only one real choice to be made. Before Cinder could respond rapid footsteps made their way down the hall before stopping at the doorframe.

"The foods done?" Scarlet's excited voice called out, her eyes immediately honing in on the food, her mouth watering at the site of the freshly made meal. Seeing the girl Cinder assumed she'd be more worried but she felt a strange calm, it made no sense, this was her daughter. The daughter she watched with pride as she practiced and sparred, the girl who wanted to become a huntress not for strength or her own personal gain but because it was what she thought was right.

She'd have to make her own choices from this point. And Cinder would have to trust she'd make the right ones.

Scarlet yawned at her spot on the bench, not used to waking up so early in the day. In hindsight it probably would have been smarter to leave Patch the day before they would be starting Beacon rather than the day of, it was currently the asscrack of dawn and she'd been up for an hour already just so she and Jet could make the first boat.

This day was one she had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, she was ecstatic. This had been the only thing she had wanted to do for as long as she could remember. And now she was going to be taught by some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world! But on the other hand, she was leaving everything she had known behind. The girl had only been off of patch a handful of times in her life. She wasn't scared, that would just be silly, dropping into a new environment and being allowed more freedom in how she spent her free time was one of the best things about this! But she was also saying goodbye to her Mother and Father for months. She'd have Jet of course so it's not as if she'd be all alone but it wasn't the same. It might have helped if they had bothered to see her off at least!

Dad she sort of understood, he and Mercury had been mandated to clear out a hive that had been growing on the outskirts of town. A few Beowolves were ignorable. Twenty or so? Not so much. But her mom didn't have that excuse, she just didn't come with her. She tried to ignore it, she had still seen her off but it just felt different not having her around to wait. Then again she supposed it was better than being fretted over in every little detail like Jet currently was.

"Do you have your weapon?" The former thief asked, straightening the boy's yellow jacket to a fault as he rolled his eyes at what to him was just a silly question.

"Right here on my hip Mom."

"Your Scroll? You remembered to charge it?"

"Had it plugged in all night."

"Underwear?" Jet sighed and was about to turn away when his mother leaned in, stealing a peck on the cheek from the boy who immediately went red.

"Mom!." The teen exclaimed pulling back just a bit as Scarlet just watched with a chuckle. It was always funny to her to see the difference between her family and Jet's, She wouldn't go as far as to say she was jealous of the more affectionate Emerald, her mom didn't need to smother her with kisses or worry about every fray on her black top and matching skirt to know she loved and worried about her.

Looking over Emerald gave Scarlet a smile and motioned for the young Faunus to come closer, which Scarlet didn't hesitate to do so, immediately upon getting into her spot next to her friend her godmother pulled the two of them into a tight embrace to which Scarlet returned immediately, Jet following soon after if a bit less enthusiastically. After a moment Emerald took a step back before turning to her goddaughter.

"You'll take care of my baby boy?" Without hesitation nodded and placed her arm around the boy in question's shoulder, forcing him down a little as she pressed their heads together.

"Of course, You know I've got his back."

"Really filling me with confidence here guys." Jet said, although he didn't seem to mind the attention from his friend.

"Would it help if I told you to keep my daughter safe?" A fourth voice suddenly got their attention and they turned to see Cinder standing just a few feet away. She smiled with amusement at their surprised expressions

"I'll keep her out of trouble, at least as much as possible."

"Good, because I wasn't asking." The woman's stern tone caused Jet to straighten up almost immediately, almost as though he had been given an order. The Mistralian cracked a small smile which grew to a full-on grin as Scarlet groaned about being able to take care of herself.

"So, what made you change your mind?" Scarlet asked, a hand falling onto her hip as she tried to act casual.

"Honestly? It just felt wrong not to see you off."

Before another word could be spoken the horn of the boat sounded off, signaling the passengers that it was time to board. Emerald quickly pushed Jet towards the bags, telling him to hurry and stealing one more kiss from the boy, though this one was met with far less resistance.

"Goodbye Mom, I love ya'." Scarlet sighed, happy that Cinder had shown up even if it was only for the last minute.

"Wait." Scarlet turned, ready to remind her Mother that there really was no more time when suddenly she was pulled into a tight hug. "I'm proud of you, in more ways than you could ever know."

All too soon the embrace ended and without time to linger Scarlet grabbed her baggage and made her way to the ramp along with Jet, leaving Emerald and Cinder to see them off.

Chapter Text

Some things never changed for Jaune, and truth be told he was alright with that. Certain things staying static wasn't inherently bad. His drive to improve as a Huntsman had paid off more than he had ever thought possible. His love of music which had persisted since childhood had played a large part in the bond his family shared, particularly with his children. And he, as an Arc does, had a large family, one he couldn't be happier with.

However he could do without the damned motion sickness making him feel as though he was gonna vomit the moment the airship took off. Placing a hand on his head Jaune took deep breaths to try and force his stomach to calm itself. It worked a bit, really focusing on anything other than the way the ship rocked. The private flight had seemed a bit much at first but Weiss had insisted that he and the girls take the private ship, they had it for this very reason after all. And after seeing the difference in how quickly it was going compared to a standard one he really couldn't argue with the results.

As his mind tried to focus a small hand found its way to his back, looking over he saw his daughter staring up at him with those big blue eyes of hers, just past her was his niece similarly looking at him with worry.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Seeing the worry on his daughter's face Jaune straightened up, not wanting Lumi to worry for his sake, especially not for something so minor.

"Just a bit of motion sickness sweety, I'll feel better once we touch down." He tried to pass it off as no big deal despite the feeling of something creeping up from his stomach. "So are the two of you excited? I know I was pretty nervous when I first came here." He asked, hoping to change the subject from the possibility of him barfing in front of the girls.

"To show them what an Arc-Scnhee is capable of perhaps." Lumi replied smugly, looking at the family blade she had inherited from her father.

in the heirloom's reflection she spotted a lock of her platinum blond hair hanging out of place, which she promptly fixed by tucking behind her ear. Crocea Mors was in pristine condition, she was determined to treat the blade with the reverence and care it deserved. She had fought hard to inherit the weapon over her brother and she planned to wield it with pride and eventually pass the weapon down to her children in the same if not better condition.

"I'm just happy to be going somewhere other than Atlas." His Neice, Elizabeth said. Stretching her small frame in the seat before falling back into her instincts, sitting up straight and proper as Winter and James had taught her.

Jaune chuckled, not exactly able to say he had expected any other answers from the girls. Lumi had been determined to attend the same combat school as her mother and father had gone to years ago, despite the fact that they hadn't actually finished their tenure she had seen it as a step she herself had to take if she was to ever hop to measure up to them. As for Elizabeth he fully understood, Atlas's style of training was certainly not for everyone. It was a test And she had already been raised under two of the most strict people he knew, if not in the world.

The ship came to a stop on Beacon's dock soon after, much to Jaune's delight. Stepping off far faster than the girls he was accompanying, glad to just be on solid land. Sweet, still land.

"So I'm gonna ask you for a favor, please don't throw up on my docks, you might be early but we got other students coming in every thirty minutes." The gravely and weathered voice wasn't the one he expected to greet him, and certainly not so soon.

"Qrow? What are you doing here?"

"My job. Never can be too careful with visitors."

Despite the seemingly weary words the old man wore a genuine smile on his bearded face. The years had certainly taken their toll on him, he looked tired, wrinkles and a fair share of scars covered the man's skin and his hair was closer to white than the dark grey it had been when they had first met. Then again a lot had changed in that time.

"Not even an exception to be made for family?"

"If it were up to me yeah, but well, you know Glynda." Qrow shrugged in response before looking past the man at the two girls whom had come along. "And besides, hassling you means I get to see my grandkids sooner."

And almost as if on que this was followed by Lumi and Liz's excited gasps.

"Grandpa Qrow!"

Upon seeing Beacon's Head of Security the girls, almost as if they were kids again, ran up to the man and latched onto him at the waist. Jaune smiled, despite the prideful nature of the Schnee's his father in law had always managed to get past that seemingly genetic haughtiness. A part of him figured it was the disarming casualness than made it hard to keep any sort of front up around the man.

"Huh, you know I thought one of you would have grown a bi-Ah!"

The light jab to the man's ribs caused him to jump back as Elizabeth huffed, crossing her arms and pouting in a way that, along with her frankly tiny stature, only made her stand out as more childlike. And in Jaune's eyes, adorable. Though unlike Qrow he had enough control over his mouth not to say so out loud.

"Oww, a bit hard on this poor old man dontcha think kid?" Qrow whined rubbing the spot where he had been hit. He considered telling her off but in fairness, he was asking for it with the comment on her height. That and Winter was more likely to praise Elizabeth for the stunt than anything else if it got back to her. So taking a look over at what was currently his favorite of the two girls, Qrow saw Lumi looking around with a confused look on her face.

"Something up squirt? You look lost."

"Where's Aunt Goose? I thought she'd be with you?" Ah, he probably should have guessed that was it.

"Hmm? Oh, she got here yesterday. But there's exactly a lot of space in my room so she bunked with Ruby, I think they had a sleepover or something."

Crap, crap, crap, crap! She'd overslept, how the heck did she sleep in now of all days!? She was sure she set her alarms! At least two of them.

Ruby Rose was to put it plainly, freaking out. Probably more than necessary if she stopped to think about it logically, with her semblance she'd be what, twenty minutes late, twenty five? But in her mix of panic and still being half asleep it seemed far more serious than it was in reality. And the knowledge that it was Glynda she was keeping in waiting was elevating that fear just a smidge. She tried in vain to get her boot on while hoping her way to the couch before losing her balance and stumbling onto the floor with a small "oof!"

The resulting thud caused a nearby girl to stir, curling up more on the couch her salt and pepper esc hair was messy and strewn about. She came to a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from her crimson eyes. The first thing the girl is greeted with aside from the TV they had left on overnight which now played news about some art exhibit is her older cousin scrambling closer on all fours like a weirdo. So aside from her being on the floor business as usual.

"Ruby? Are you okay?" She yawned as she sat up, assuming the woman had just tripped or something. However the panicked scrambling of the older woman answered her question.

"Goose, get up we overslept!"

Letting out a noise that sounded suspiciously similar to one made by her namesake Goose jumped up throwing the sweats she had been wearing to the floor as she ran to the bathroom to change. Finally getting off the floor Ruby finished getting her boots on. Qrow was gonna ki- okay at most he'd sigh at her and say she should have known better but that was just as bad! The sudden knocking on the door ripped the woman from her thoughts. CRAP! She had taken too long and now Qrow was here personally to chew her out. Wait, no that wasn't something Qrow would do, meaning it was most likely Glynda. With that thought Ruby made a break for the door already giving her excuses.

"Glynda I am so sorry I forgot to set my alarm last night I'll be out in ju-"

As she threw open the door Ruby was met not by the scolding glare of her Boss but instead the tired gaze of another, slightly less disapproving stare. The woman, only a bit taller than Ruby in a pink overcoat, similarly looking as though she had just woken up. But that was more her natural state of being than anything else.

"Touko?"

"You forgot to set your alarms didn't you?" The woman in question deadpanned as she took in her friend's disheveled and panicked appearance.

She didn't get long before being pulled into the room Ruby quickly slammed the door shut behind her. A tad dramatic in the purple-haired woman's eyes, especially when she started to lock the door as if that was gonna stop Goodwitch from finding out she hadn't shown up to the meeting.

"Thank the Gods I thought it was Glynda coming to give me an ear full."

"Oh she knows, and she ain't happy."

Ruby deflated almost immediately and despite herself, Touko chuckled, at times it felt like aside from the position she held Ruby hadn't changed a bit. Placing a comforting hand on the fellow teacher's shoulder.

"Relax, she wasn't that mad." The reassurance helped the Red Reaper somewhat, though still knowing she'd be in for a reaming later.

The contact lingered, though not unwelcomed Ruby couldn't help but glance at the gloved unnaturally hard hand, just now noticing the thumb tracing back and forth along her collarbone. Seeing her friend's eyes move to her hand and realizing that the touch had gone on for a bit longer than necessary, Miss Fuchsia pulled her hand back, trying to play it off by coughing into the glove. It didn't work as Ruby just tilted her head almost as if to ask why she'd pulled away. Looking for- well any excuse to move the conversation along to something else. Glancing around and at a glance seeing no sign of the Branwen girl she took the opportunity.

"Hey uh, I thought Goose was here?"

"I'm ready!"

A voice from down the hall called out before Ruby could answer. Running down dressed in a relatively simple white shirt, black leather Jacket, and matching boots and jeans combo. The relatively 'tough' look contrasted pretty highly with the girl's rushed and flustered face as she ran over to the pair of women. Only to trip over her own discarded sweatpants. The momentum all but sending her through the air. Almost instantaneously Ruby is in her path and catches the younger girl, seemingly forgetting that while her 'little' cousin Goose was over half a foot taller and getting knocked to the floor once again.

"Oww." She croaked out from the floor, Goose on the other hand sat up sheepishly, untouched by the fall before offering Ruby a hand up. Once again getting up Ruby groans holding her back and readjusting the red glasses that thankfully stayed in their spot on her face. Lucky her.

"Touko, I'm too old for this."

Deciding that it was time to go before more bad luck hit Ruby picked up the remote, ready to shut off the tv and head out when the story showed a clip of a young man holding a very familiar Cane and smirking as he looked directly into camera before firing at it.

"Luckily no one was hurt, however, it's suspected Torchwick managed to get away with at least fifty thousand lien worth of art. Authorities are curren-"

The story began to tune out for the Silver-Eyed woman as she looked at the freeze frame of the young man, He had Roman's face, Neo's eyes and that same mix of natural orange highlighted with pink and brown. Guess he'd decided to leave white out this time, despite the actual story playing some more information on the situation a single dour thought ran through her mind.

He still acts just like his father

Suddenly the TV is switched off, standing next to it is Touko. Her face was understanding but serious. It was clear that she wanted to say something on the matter. Goose looked between them, not sure what could cause the sudden shift from playful to what seemed to be unnaturally serious for her cousin. The shortest of the three in the room sighed already feeling a migraine from what she knew Touko wanted to say. It was too early for this, and they really didn't have the time for it.

"What was that about?" The curious if not worried voice of Goose cut through the tension, and both women turned to her.

"Nothing. Just some stuff from the past." Ruby said fairly cryptically, however before she was able to voice her confusion at the explanation that answered literally none of her questions Touko spoke up.

"Hey, you know your nieces showed up with Jaune a bit ago. They're probably wondering where you are by now, head up to the teacher's lounge, Your dad probably has them killing time with him until orientation."

Goose wasn't stupid, she saw through the obvious attempt to get her mind away from the weirdly uncomfortable atmosphere. However, there really wasn't much to be done on her end. Getting in the middle of an argument she didn't know anything about with one of her soon to be teachers and her big cousin who was also her soon to be teacher wouldn't bode well. And well, she was eager to see Lumi and Liz again. Hesitantly she went out the door.

Now alone the professors stood in silence. With Goose gone they were free to speak freely. But neither woman really wanted to start this argument again. There was nothing new to be said. And once again, no time.

"You good?" Touko asked instead of rehashing what they'd already been over.

"Yeah just… yeah." Ruby said exiting the room before anything more could be said on the matter. Touko sighed but not seeing anything that could be done followed suit, closing the door on her way out.

The airship was booming with chatter as the students waited to arrive at Beacon, those who weren't talking with friends either played games, listened to music on their scrolls, or took in the sights from the windows. One young woman in particular was watching the other students. Her Emerald green eyes scanned the ship, seeming to absorb each detail of the students around her.

The one who drew the most attention wasn't even that striking visually, wearing an elegant but practical white dress, pale skin but dark hair and with violet eyes. Perhaps she'd be considered attractive by those interested in women but Rosaria didn't exactly fit that description, to her she was painfully basic aside from the fact she was a bit skinny. No, what made her stand out so much was the rather loud conversation the girl was having with her 'daddy'. A strange thing to still call her father at their age but again, not the best judge. The girl was planning to meet up with family, someone she'd not met in a while apparently as she sounded excited. Maybe an upperclassmen or a teacher? She'd have to look into that when she had the chance.

There was another girl who got her attention, although for the exact opposite reason. A small Moth Faunus absentmindedly chewing on her shirt. Her white hair, the pair of antennae standing tall on her head, and her general facial structure all seemed vaguely familiar. She was confident they hadn't met in the past, she'd recognize her then. Apparently having stared for too long the girl glanced up, her big innocent looking eyes meeting her own. Suddenly aware of what she was doing the girl spit out the fabric, seeming to ignore the new holes in its collar and gave a small wave. Rosaria, somehow maintaining her straight face, waved back.

She made a point to look everyone over at least once, even the ones who looked wholly uninteresting. There was a small redhead who seemed to be doing their best to draw as little attention to themselves as possible, sitting in the corner with their hands on their lap. The only thing that stood out other than the Mistrali clothes was the fact that Rosaria couldn't tell if she was looking at a boy or a girl. 'They' worked until they proved important enough to learn. On the other end was a tan woman wearing an ungodly amount of makeup with Blond hair, she was only notable as she was already in uniform, a student returning from the town after a weekend she assumed. Then there was the boy directly across from her. He was dark-skinned, about the same shade as her if a bit lighter with green hair. Their eyes met as he similarly seemed to be looking around, although less out of interest and more boredom. Understandable seeing as he was stuck still as a Bull Faunus lay passed out on his shoulder. He just nodded before letting his eyes wander to the Naginata strapped across the girl in white's back.

She could actually sympathize with that as she currently also had a piece of dead weight leaning on her. Glancing over to her left to see a familiar face drooling on her shoulder. Right, there would be none of that. Calmly reaching over Rosaria grabbed the red ponytail of her companion and gave it a hard tug upwards. That as intended woke the Tan woman up.

"Ow! The hell Roe?" The muscular girl jolted up, both from Rosaria's grip and the pain of her hair getting yanked.

A few heads turned at the commotion, The girl already in uniform chuckled but was promptly ignored by the two. Rosaria in response whipped some of the drool from her shirt before cleaning her hand off on the other girl who seemed to care far less.

"I'd prefer not to be covered in your saliva, Tanner." She responded flatly.

"Well next time drool on me to make it even, and seriously, It's Juliet. We've been over this, only weirdos go around calling their friends by their last names."

Rosaria just stared back in response. She had known Tann- Juliet for as long as she could remember. And in all that time the idea of professionalism seemed to be a foreign concept to her. She supposed it was due to her upbringing, her father had always said the other girl was raised by 'ruffians' But despite that she had proven reliable, loyal even. And in fairness she did know more about 'normal' than Rosaria did, so she supposed she could humor her.

"Very well, Juliet."

"Did… did I just get you to admit we're friends?" The redhead asked with a small smirk on her face much to the other woman's irritation.

"An error, one I won't make again." She'd make a note to think twice before humoring the brute again.

Back with Jet the young man was content just sitting there watching the scene unfold. Or that's what he told himself, in reality, he was stuck in place as Scarlet had decided to use his shoulder as a pillow as she caught some extra sleep. His friend's not-so-light snoring stopped him from concentrating on just about anything else. He supposed it wasn't that big a deal, typically he'd just use the time to check Hephestus but the multiple signs warning the students to keep their weapons holstered while traveling made it clear that would be frowned upon.

With nothing to do Jet obviously grew very bored very fast, glancing out the window once more but this time mercifully he could just see the tower of Beacon. It wouldn't be long now, just a few minutes and they'd be off of the ship and be able to stretch their legs. Now he just had to wake Scarlet up without accidentally getting gored. Carefully moving his shoulder he nudged the redhead gently.

"Scar, hey Scar wake up."

"Mmph, but your shoulder's so soooft."

"I'm not carrying you off the ship. Come on"

Shifting so that his friend had to move he ignored the cry of protest and for the first time in what felt like hours was able to move, standing up and stretching as he walked over to the window facing Beacon, Scarlet followed only a second later as they watched the School come into view together. It was big, bigger than either of them had expected. Jet had heard stories, his father had apparently gotten lost on the grounds more than once during some business they had there. But being told and seeing were different. It easily dwarfed Signal, possibly Patch itself.

There was a certain gleam in Scarlet's eyes as she looked down, even as she tried to act cool she couldn't fully hide the excitement. Not from Jet at least. She nudged him, a bit harder than necessary. But in her eyes that was what he got for suddenly dropping the act of her pillow.

"So what do you think Beacon is gonna be like?"

"Well it's still a school, I'm guessing a lot like Signal but now we live there." Jet asked, unlike his horned friend he was more reserved in his reaction. But he spoke with a smile all the same. Scarlet however rolled her eyes at his prediction.

"Pff, wow, way to make it sound horrible. I almost regret this already."

"Okay then, how do you see it?"

"Well, okay yeah we're gonna be living at a school, but we get to do so much more. We get to go on missions, work with other teams, Upgrade our weapons." She said the last part knowingly, the boy had been mentioning that he'd wanted to 'fix up' the handgun that in her eyes had only ever worked perfectly. But knowing exactly how to work the boy she knew she'd gotten through at least a bit when he glanced at Hephaestus. "It'll be like we're Hunters already!"

"Pretty sure real Hunters don't need to take tests all the time."

"Eh, as long as it ain't math I'll take it." She dismissed, not once taking her eyes off of the school as it drew closer.

"I mean, I'm excited about it!"

A deep voice alerted the pair to a presence behind them, They turned around to be met by… nothing? It wasn't like the Cabin was devoid of people but no one so close behind them to have been the one to have spoken. Glancing to one another the pair shared a confused look until the voice rang out yet again with a small chuckle.

"Up here."

Looking up the pair were met by a set of Amethyst eyes looking down, or from the ceiling sitter's perspective up at them. Jet jumped back at the sudden realization of his presence but tripped over the seat and hit his head against the glass.

Scarlet couldn't help but to snort at seeing her friend so startled over the guy's friendly face. Though to be fair he was by far the biggest person in the cabin by far and it was readily apparent even with the strange perspective. A light tan on his face and ahead of long blond hair pulled into a ponytail. Wincing in sympathy the man dropped down, flipping right side up in mid-air, catching the book he had been holding before with what looked to be some sort of monkey tail. Leaning forward he reached his hand out for the smaller man.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to scare you."

"Maybe don't sneak up on someone on the ceiling like that?" Jet hissed out. Still a bit bitter.

"But I was already there? You guys just kinda wandered on over while I was reading." He said innocently. Holding up a book The label reading 'Ninja's of Love Volume 9'. Jet looked at the book, then at the man before taking his hand, rubbing the back of his head as he was effortlessly helped to his feet by the Faunus.

"I don't like these valid points you're making against me…"

A sudden giggle from Scarlet caused Jet to look over, seeing Scarlet putting her fist against her mouth as she tried and failed to hide her amusement. Rolling his eyes with a huff Jet sat back down. Taking a moment to rub at the small bump on the back of his head. Giving her friend a moment to cool off she turned to blondie. Looking her fellow Faunus up and down.

"So what's your name, big guy?" Scarlet asked, tapping her knuckles against his chest, it felt solid, but she really should have expected that. His shirt left nothing to the imagination, clinging to the outline of his musculature in a way that she would assume to be uncomfortably tight. Even his collarbones were clearly defined.

"Jin Belladonna." He said similarly, holding his hand out to her.

"Nice to meet you Jin, I'm Scarlet. My pouting friend here is Jet." Taking the man's hand she wasn't surprised by his grip and tried to squeeze hard enough to match it. Although he didn't seem to notice.

"So Jin, help us settle something real fast."

"I don't think anything really needs to be settled." Jet interrupted now looking less pouty.

"What do you think Beacon's gonna be like? Better than before at least right?" Scarlet asked, ignoring her friend. Jin tilted his head seeming to have only just now even considered such a thing, and shrugging when he seemed to get his answer

"Well, I don't really know, this is my first time going to a combat school."

"Seriously?" Jet asked, his eyebrow cocking up.

"Yep! My mom trained me!" The innocently proud way he said that was oddly endearing, and was way too genuine.

Scarlet and Jet both gave him a look. No combat School? Just the skill passed on by his mom and his own hard work? That was actually pretty impressive and inspired a bit of jealousy in the young heifer. Had she had the opportunity to skip out on boring classes and just be trained by her Mom and Dad she would have jumped at it.

Before they could ask a follow up question however the ship came to a stop on the platform. A robotic voice telling them to orderly step off the airship. The three stepped off along with everyone else Jin staying close to the pair, both because it's just how the crowd herded them and well, because they happened to be the only people he knew at the moment. Stepping off of the ship the Patch raised kids could do little more than stare in awe, the school had looked big from the ship but standing there in person? It was nothing short of massive. The Tower in the center alone looked as if it was grazing the clouds.

Jin with nothing better to do in the moment watched them, amused by their reactions. Were they lost? Or just in awe of the size? Either way made sense, Beacon was a big place. They probably just needed help. Well may as well be him, they seemed nice enough and Mom had always told him to do what he could even if it was little.

"Hey, you guys should follow me to orientation. I'm supposed to meet up with my aunt afterward."

"Your aunt? She a student here?" Jet asked.

"Assistant headmistress!" He watched with that same calm smile as they just stared blankly at him for a moment, seeming to somewhat adapt to the casual attitude of the man. Scarlet looked over to Jet shrugging. It wasn't like they had anything better to do and Jin was nice enough so far. Jet, not having any objections, motioned for Jin to lead the way. Which he did happily.

While the trio walked off over to the main building Several students lingered, amongst them was the girl in white who finally hung up her scroll. Her father had been insistent on staying in contact. He was probably just nervous, which she understood. Going out of Atlas for a holiday was one thing, but leaving your home for years on end to fight monsters? Very different. But she wasn't a kid anymore.

"Okay Belka." She muttered to herself. "There's nothing to it."

Lumi walked down the hallways, being led by her dear Aunt who was more than excited to show her and Liz around. Almost as if showing them around the school was a genuine event and not just getting acquainted with the school they'd be attending. However a part of her thought Elizabeth found it to be too easy to get swept up in Goose's almost childlike sense of adventure. Goose she supposed she could understand. She had been told Grandma Willow had babied her youngest child from day one. So it was to be expected she'd carry herself in a more carefree manner. But Elizabeth, like her, had been raised with the expectations of a Schnee. The slouch on par with the Branwen's while not worthy of a reprimand was surely improper.

The other issue was that Goose seemed to be taking them everywhere but where they actually needed to go. The Library was an unexpected stop, Lumi had never seen Goose read for fun before, but then again it was possible she just liked the calming aura the quiet and peaceful room had to it. There were a few other 'pit stops' like the gym, stopping by the dorms, and currently the cafeteria where Goose insisted they stop for some food, apparently having missed breakfast herself. It was worrying, and not just because of the three packs of ranch her aunt put onto her Eggs and Bacon. But their time was running short, even Elizabeth didn't seem to be paying attention to the passing time.

"Aunt Goose, I'm grateful you're showing us around but shouldn't we be going to orientation soon?"

Goose glanced up, thankfully swallowing her food before responding.

"Huh? Oh that? Nah, it's not for like another half hour, we have plenty of time." She said casually.

Plenty of time? That was nothing, barely enough to finish their meal! Had Grandpa Qrow no- Okay that line of thought didn't need to be finished, of course he didn't teach her punctuality. She loved the old man, truly she did. But his own track record should have told her that.

"Also you don't gotta call me Aunt Goose, no one's gonna tell you off here. Just Goose is fine."

"Aunt Goose, you have to understand I can't do that." Lumi responded, flabbergasted at the very suggestion. But even more so at the fact that Elizabeth seemed to somewhat agree with the notion.

"She's got a point, Lumi, we're in the same year. People are gonna think we're weird if we're going around calling her Aunt." Elizabeth chimed in, sipping on her orange juice.

The look on her face told the other girls how she felt about that idea, staring at the pair of them as though they'd both just grown second heads. While Elizabeth seemed to shrug off the look Goose shrunk a bit under her stare, not really knowing what else to do aside from taking another bite of her ranch covered meal. To her it wasn't a big deal, it had just felt kinda strange is all.

A table away a pair of violet eyes watched the interaction, not listening. Belka was too caught up in her own mind for that, making sure she wasn't mistaken. A petite frame, platinum blond hair, and that sword. No doubt that was Lumi, which helped identify the much shorter woman as Elizabeth. Although that could have similarly been done with the cutesy black buns in her hair that had been in the pictures.

The third girl was a mystery. The locks of gray mixed with raven black almost looked like highlights, and she was dressed more casually compared to the professional outfit of Liz or the dueling-styled clothes of Lumi. Belka couldn't believe her luck, finding them so early and on the first day no less? Things were going better than she could have hoped, standing up and grabbing her tray Belka wore a confident smirk as she strides on over to the table.

"I thought that was you."

Before anyone could react she took the seat across from them, next to the girl she didn't really recognize. Her relatives on the other hand quickly realized who they were looking at and reacted… honestly about how she'd expected. Both were understandably shocked to see Belka just drop down next to the taller girl.

"What are you doing here?" Lumi asked, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice at the sudden appearance. Her relative pursed her lips at the tone she had used. Belka recovered easily enough, seeming to literally handwave away the attitude.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to be a student here. Although I never would have expected to see the likes of you both here."

And just like that one of the many joys of Beacon had been snuffed out for Elizabeth, of all the things she had expected to have to put up with, his daughter wasn't one of them. Lumi on the other hand was indignant at the idea that she'd go anywhere else, if she actually had cared she'd know that. Staring the other girl down unamused and cautious.

Goose once again in the dark over whatever was going on tilted her head. The other girl was somewhat familiar, had she met her somewhere before? Seeing the look from Goose out of the corner of her eye Belka turned with a smile that seemed to suggest that she was either unaware of or blatantly ignoring the tension she had caused and held her hand out.

"Oh where are my manners, my name is Belka Gele. And you would be?"

Gele… she definitely knew that name. But from where? Regardless, not one to be rude, Goose took the girl's hand. Upon feeling the grease and sauce on her hand she froze, her face scrunching as Goose held on a second longer. Doing all the motions for them.

"I'm Goose. Nice to meet you Belka. So how do you know Lumi and Liz?"

The moment Goose loosened her grip the other girl pulled back, quickly grabbing a napkin and cleaning up the filth left over on her hand. Looking back over to the Schnee women she put on a less steady smile.

"These girls are my nieces."

Goose couldn't have hidden her confusion if she had tried. She was their Aunt? Like her? That was cool, if anything she was a bit excited about it, it meant they were like one big family. But that didn't really explain why she didn't remember ever hearing about this girl. She and the girls being so close in age was already something that caught people's attention. Two aunts around the same age should have come up at least once.

It was Elizabeth who noticed and decided to clear up the confusion.

"On Jacques's side of the family."

Jacques, her mother's ex husband. Willow had never once spoken of him in her presence. Always adamant that the past should stay in the past. Her sisters were another story, while they never went out of their way to bring him up they didn't shy away from their dislike of the man. Each having their own preferred curse to call him. In fact, now that she thought about it she did remember them bringing her up. Winter at the very least. Speaking of his child. And not positively, not like her sister or the aunt of her and James's child.

She glanced at Elizabeth and Lumi both bristling at the woman next to her who seemed to just disregard the obvious stares, only letting her smile drop even slightly once she heard the way Elizabeth spat out her father's name like it was poison. Before she could say another word Lumi spoke over her.

"Belka this is Goose Branwen. Our aunt from our Grandmother's side."

"...I see."

The air grew noticeably thicker as the words left her mouth. Belka again couldn't hide the knee jerk reaction of her eyes narrowing at the woman next to her. Goose suddenly felt very small under her harsher gaze, scooting back slightly. The sharp cough from across the table from Lumi caught their attention. The petite woman holding up her scroll, tapping her finger on the clock.

"Fifteen minutes until orientation, we need to go now." She reminded them, just a tad exasperated.

Belka paused, looking down at her half eaten meal with a frown.

"But I'm not finished."

"You should probably hurry then." Elizabeth chides as she stands grabbing her own mostly empty tray, with Lumi doing the same.

"It was nice to see you Belka but we need to get going. Come on Aunt Goose." Lumi stated hurriedly, barely sparing a glance at her aunt who rolled her eyes at Lumi's comment. Huffing something she didn't care to hear under her breath before staring down at her food. Lumi turned ready to hurry up and ge-

"You should come with us." Goose said suddenly, surprising all three of the girls present at the table. The strange tension had been bothering her, whatever drama had caused it couldn't be that bad, she figured some time together could only do them good!

Belka's eyes glanced to the smiling girl, then to her nieces who shared an uneasy glance between each other. A small smirk gracing her lips, they weren't making any objections. Clearly they didn't object too much. Steeling herself as she once again took Goose's filthy hand and let the woman pull her up to her feet.

"Thank you Goose. I would be delighted."

The auditorium was packed full of students, in spots they were shoulder to shoulder making any movement virtually impossible. Jaune looked through the crowd wincing in sympathy for the students unlucky enough to be stuck in front where it was the worst. He looked over the crowd, trying to spot his daughter within it. He had expected her to be closer to the front, she was a lot like Weiss in that way, punctual to a tee. So not seeing her was more than a little weird.

"Looking for someone?"

Jaune jumped at the sudden appearance of the Headmistress, just behind her his old friend and Miss Goodwitch's assistant Ruby. The woman's head tilted ever so slightly at his reaction while Ruby gave him a sympathetic smile from their boss's side. Having been a bit lost in his own thoughts and not hearing his old friend's footsteps approaching him. Glynda maintained a straight face, it amazed him how even now the woman just didn't seem to age, the only sign of her being thirty years his senior being the graying hair atop her head.

"Jumpy are we Jaune?" The Headmistress asked with a slightly bemused tone, seeming to almost not believe the man was startled by her.

"Oh no I'm fine, just a little in my own head I guess, how are you guys?"

"Oh you know, the usual, definitely didn't almost sleep through this, nothing even close to that." Ruby said innocently, getting a sideways glance from Goodwitch. However, she seemed to decide against addressing the comment and instead turned back to Jaune.

"Good, thank you, although I'm more than a little curious about that reaction of yours."

"Oh it's nothing, I'm just looking for Lumi. I thought she'd be somewhere close to the front."

"If she's anything like Miss Schnee was at her age I'm sure she's been in attendance the moment she could." Glynda reassured her colleague, seeming to assuage his worry somewhat. Afterall she was right about that, Lumi certainly took after her mother in that regard.

"How is Weiss doing by the way?" Ruby asked, visibly excited at the prospect of something more than the brief bits she manages to get out of Weiss over the Scroll.

"Good, the girls and running the SDC keeps her busy. She did tell me to let you know she and the kids missed you."

As the old friends got to talking Glynda peered down at the first-year student body. A few of the students looking up at her actually flinched under her gaze. She hummed to herself, wondering if this year would be more of the same.

Down on the floor Jet tried to squeeze through two people as gently as he could. But as he tried to thread the needle he's pulled through by the wrist.

"Come on, you don't wanna get left behind do ya'?" Scarlet asked with a cheeky smirk.

Jet was helpless as she dragged him through the crowd all the while ignoring the protests and curses of the people she pushed past, leaving Jet to quickly apologize in her stead as he was pulled past the students. Despite Scarlet's more blunt methods it worked and she managed to keep her and Jet close to Jin as he effortlessly and far more smoothly navigated the crowd despite his size. Suddenly coming to a stop Jin turned around Scarlet, who had been looking over her shoulder bumping into him. Despite this the man barely budged.

"This spot's good." He said smiling, while not exactly an open spot there was at least enough room for the three of them to breathe.

They looked up at the podium, spotting the three professors near the front. Jet in particular let his eyes wander to them, looking from the pair currently engaged in conversation to the oldest of the three who almost seemed to be staring right at him. Not quite liking the feeling he turned back to Jin.

"So which one's your aunt? It's not the tall blond is it?"

"Naw, I'm pretty sure that's her boss. She's the shorter lady, with the red hair." Jin said, pointing directly at Ruby who, seeing the motion from the corner of her eye, gave the Monkey boy a wave before making a sort of 'wait' motion with her hands.

"She seems nice, kinda looks like a librarian though." Scarlet said, looking the Assistant Headmistress up and down.

It was the glasses mixed with the bun she had her hair in, it just had that innocent vibe to it mixed with the authority she carried as their senior. Well as much as she could while she excitedly talked with the large blond guy, was he a professor too? He had to be faculty at least.

"I'm surprised you're interested. You never got excited to meet the teachers back at Signal."

"This isn't Signal, I want to make a good impression." Scarlet said, letting her voice drop an octave near the end of the sentence. Jet immediately realized what she was planning and suppressed a groan as his face fell.

"Scarlet please don't do the voice."

Rather than respond the bovine faunus turned to face the boys with a smirk, much to Jet's dismay.

"The voice?" Jin asked curiously.

"She thinks it makes her sound cool."

"Jealousy isn't a good look on you Jet," Scarlet said in a sing-song voice. "and for the record, I always sound cool."

Before either boy could respond the microphone peaked as Glynda stepped up to the stand.

"May I have your attention?" Her voice was steady and cold, it was clear that the request was more of a demand, and not a single student dared to give the woman anything but their undivided attention. Even Ruby and Jaune straightened up. "My name is professor Glynda Goodwitch. Your headmistress for the next four years."

In contrast with the more friendly librarian feel Scarlet got from Jin's aunt, this woman's aura just screamed teacher. Even her gaze was that of a harsh disciplinarian.

"Before me, I see some of the best and brightest students I will ever have the privilege of teaching. Yet, at the same time I am also looking at failures who will squander their talents, using their abilities for personal gain over the duty that is bestowed on Hunters throughout all the kingdoms."

Great, a ball buster. Scarlet thought to herself. And if the several groans and murmurs of uncertainty were anything to go by it hadn't been a unique sentiment. If Glynda noticed the reactions she didn't seem to care as she continued.

"You all have the potential to do something great with your lives, but it is just that, potential. Nothing is guaranteed in this life, not glory, not even that you will see the next morning. If you think you're going to have it easy from here on out. That you have 'made it' because you are attending my Academy then allow me to set that misconception straight. You will be tested every day, long after you've graduated. Not just by your teachers, but by your peers, the Grimm, and the very people you work to protect. I not only expect you to meet these expectations but to exceed them. We can give you the knowledge to succeed and trust that we shall do everything within our power to guide you. But it is ultimately up to you to use that knowledge, to grow into the Hunters I know you can become."

She closed her speech on a… somewhat encouraging note.

Ruby watched as the crowd of students seemed to flounder about as Glynda left them to contemplate her words. She sighed, while her perception of the woman had been changed from working with Glynda since she was a student she simply wasn't a people person. And the speech was far from the vote of confidence to the students that they'd been expecting. Still she supposed it was a good introduction to the Headmistress's style at least. Taking that as her que to take the lead she stepped up to the microphone, fiddling with it to get it down to her height. Glynda was a good headband shoulders taller even without the heels. And speaking with an upbeat voice that she hoped would offset the incredibly awkward tone.

"All new students will have the rest of the day to get acquainted with the grounds, please use this time to memorize all important landmarks such as the dorms, the main building, and the training arena, you wouldn't want to be late on your first day right?" Ruby said as though it was meant to be a joke, even pausing.

But then she realized too late that what she said didn't really have a setup… or a punchline. Leaving the students just a tad confused.

"B-but be respectful of your fellow students, there will be plenty of time to meet the other students when they aren't in class, head to the library at 8 sharp. Initiation is the first thing in the morning so make sure you get plenty of rest!"

With that the students began to disperse some lingering and talking with friends. Ruby however looked down at one particular nephew of hers that she hadn't seen in far too long and as soon as she saw a path she took it. To Scarlet and Jet it was as though the woman had teleported, there hadn't even been a blur just one instant she was on the podium and the next she was right up to the group wrapping her arms around the comparatively massive faunus and lifting the boy up effortlessly with her cheek pressed against his ribs. Most guys his age likely would have been mortified at the display, Jet knew he would have been telling his mother to put him down immediately, let alone an aunt but Jin actually laughed, his tail circling around her back.

"You better stop growing on me little man, you're gonna get too big for me to do this if you get any bigger!" She said putting Jin back onto his feet and receiving her own squeeze from the boy in return. Turning to the pair as she remembered Jin hadn't been on his own.

"Oh, are these your friends? I'm Ruby Rose, this big guy's favorite aunt!" Ruby declared proudly, getting a questioning look from the boy.

"You're my only aunt."

"And therefore the favorite! Oh but I guess you guys will be seeing a lot more of me as the Assistant Headmistress, oh and weapon maintenance professor."

That seemed to get Jet's attention. Scarlet watched as her friend walked up seemingly interested himself all of the sudden. She should have known that would have gotten his attention.

"I'm Jet, It's nice to meet you ma'am."

"Same to you Jet!" Ruby said beaming at her new student. She couldn't shake the feeling that the boy and girl were familiar in some way. She was sure something about them was familiar, had she met them before, or their parents?

As she tried to figure out what about these kids was giving her such a strong sense of deja vu, Scarlet strode up to her. Coughing and getting a groan from Jet as he cringed knowing what would come next.

"Scarlet Taurus." The girl spoke in a familiar low and sultry voice, one that helped everything click into place.

Those eyes, the horns, that voice that radiated control and power, the name Taurus, this was Adam and Cinder's girl. And Jet, that face, the hair and eyes. Mercury and Emerald's kid… They were attending Beacon? With her Nephew?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rose."

Chapter Text

Ruby stared wide-eyed at Scarlet, causing the young woman to suddenly become very confused. She expected some sort of reaction at the very least, not to get a thousand yard stare from her teacher. For what might have been the first time in her life she felt self conscious. Why was she looking at her like that, it was almost like she was afraid, or anxious about her for some reason… Was it the voice? Crap, had Jet been right? Of course the only time she actually cared about making an impression would be the time he knew better than her about how to approach someone.

Ruby's mind was similarly racing. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before, the face, those eyes, her mother's eyes.  

In an instant she’s fifteen again, running up Beacon Tower, her leg muscles burning and her aura straining as she hurriedly makes her way higher. She doesn't consider stopping, both because she'd fall and because Pyrrha needed her help. That thought kept her going as she reached the top, taking just a moment to breathe as she landed, looking up just in time to see a glass arrow fly from Cinder's bow into Pyrrhas chest, the wet crunch of the arrow punching through her friend's sternum echoing throughout the office. Cinder walked up, placed her hand on the Amazon’s head and reduced Pyrrha to naught but ash. The only thing remaining was her headpiece, which clattered to the ground as Cinder lazily looked over her shoulder at Ruby. Those amber eyes looking almost bored at her sudden appearance, as if she was little more than a nuisance, a pest to be exterminated.

And then, everything went white as the memory ended, Ruby suddenly finding  herself looking up at the confused bull Faunus. The same amber eyes that once bored themselves into her very soul now looked at her with confusion, desperately trying to hide how they glanced at Jin in hopes of a way out of the increasingly awkward encounter.

"Uhhh… M-Miss Rose? Scarlet asked, trying, and failing, to maintain her deeper tone, losing total control as her voice broke. Her face flushing pink as she coughed  to try and hide her heightened pitch. 

Then, both of them were pulled from their thoughts, quite literally in Scarlet's case as Jet took hold of herleft horn and pulled it back. She whined and slapped Jet's arm away, yet the damage was already done and the illusion had been broken. With that, any remaining tension was sucked out of the conversation in an instant, like a metaphorical vacuum. Ruby sighed, she had questions, and Glynda would certainly be getting an earful, but this girl was her student now. Cinder's daughter was her student… Yeah that was never gonna sound right to her.

"I am so, so sorry about her." Jet sighed with no small hint of second hand embarrassment over the small scene. He loved Scarlet, really he did. But creeping out the teachers with her weird succubus voice was where he drew the line.

"Oh, N-no it's fine, I just wasn't expecting that is all. You umm, you're good at that voice, actually had me fooled for a second there." Ruby said quickly. Eager to move past her episode, she turned to her nephew and began speaking in a pace that for anyone other than her would have been considered rapid.

"Well Jin you and your friends have fun, I'll check in on you guys later but right now I have to get things ready for tomorrow!" 

All three teenagers stared in various states of confusion as one instant she was standing there waving at them awkwardly and then the next she was gone, a trail of rose petals falling to the ground leading up to the podium being the only indication that the woman had even been there. Scarlet remained staring the longest, and while the boys seemed fine to just write the interaction off as an awkward introduction, something about the way she looked at her bothered Scarlet, like she considered her a threat or something. As she  thought, she realized that was exactly how she had just looked at her. Almost like she was a Beowulf in a fake mustache trying to sneak in.

The hell was that about? She'd literally just said hi! 

It didn't take the boys long to realize that Scarlet was starting to get heated, especially when she started tapping her foot. Jin took a step forward, feeling a little guilty, given that it was sort of his fault for introducing them and all that. He walked up, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Hey don’t worry about it, my moms say she’s always been bad with new people.” Jin said, hoping to defuse the bull but only getting an annoyed huff from the girl in response, his towering form deflating a bit as Scarlet’s scowl turned on him.

“So you guys wanna go look around? I mean, she said we should get used to this place right?” Jet suggested gently, finding his friend's frustration at her less than stellar introduction not that unusual, but as far as he could tell the incident didn't exactly warrant genuine anger. But still feeling more than a little bitter, Scarlet grumbled and turned to leave.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll meet up with you later." She said, walking off before either boy could get another word in, leaving them both standing there confused.

"Is she okay?" Jin asked first, hesitantly watching the orney woman walk off.

"Yeah, she just has a tendency to get worked up easily. She probably just needs to cool off."

Orientation had been rather dull for the Schnee girls and their aunts, well aside from almost being late due to them waiting for Belka to finish eating of course. Now, they took Professor Rose's advice, getting familiar with the grounds of the school, or rather, Belka did as Lumi and Liz were dragged along. Lumi watched in boredom as her Aunt Goose led Belka around on the exact same tour she had given her and Elizabeth. 

While Goose didn't mind going through the whole thing once more, the two other Schnee girls could have gladly done without the repeat. Belka had knowingly accepted Goose’s offer “on behalf of the group” before they could actually answer, and neither girl was willing to leave her alone with Goose. 

Even now, as they walked in a group, there was a deep uneasiness in her gut as Goose happily chattered  away, not seeming to notice the glances back from the Gele woman or the lopsided smirk that she gave upon seeing her nieces unhappy with being dragged around. What was she planning? Was she just trying to get to Goose? To annoy them? Gods above, it wouldn't surprise her. If not for Goose's misguided enthusiasm at their unfortunate encounter, she'd have already told Belka exactly where she could go off to.

Elizabeth, however, hadn't even remotely attempted to hide her disdain for the older girl. In fairness, it had been Belka who had started it, commenting on how the library was “surprisingly small and that her study back at Gele manor was larger”. Which did nothing but goad Elizabeth into rapidly shooting  back.

"I'm sure Jacques made sure it seemed like he was an intellectual." 

It sort of just spiraled from that point, with both girls entering a duel of endlessly spitting thinly veiled insults at one another, both completely ignoring Goose's disapproving stare that came soon after their little competition began. Thankfully the pair both decided to give each other the silent treatment not long after. Good thing too. It was exceedingly grating to be quite honest, even Goose was hurrying through the little tour she had been so excited about just minutes earlier.

It was once again time for them to pass through the firing range and workshop area, the area was typically used by Professor Rose for her classes, but was open to the students outside of class hours for modifications and general maintenance. In fact, there were several students there already, incentivizing them to avoid making a scene even more.

"That's the workbench, across the room is the range. The school has a deal with the SDC so all the ammo you could need is provided right here for us." Goose hurried along with her explanation, keeping things simple so that they could get to the next area, and if her intuition was right, doing so in a way that left no room for her younger relatives to start an argument.

"Well it's nice to see the family business is still going strong despite the setbacks." Belka said almost offhandedly, but a hint of satisfaction in her tone indicated she knew what she was doing.

Needless to say, Goose was wrong, she was very wrong. It wasn’t really a surprise that the comment had rubbed Lumi the wrong way,  with her mother being the acting CEO, it was hard to see the comment as directed in any other way. Especially considering it wasn’t Belka’s family business anymore.

"The family business? You mean our family business." Lumi bit back almost immediately in a hushed tone. The sudden aggression caused Belka to flinch, but before anyone could notice she hardened herself, stepping right up to the blond fencer.

"Yes. The business my father ran more efficiently than Weiss ever has." 

Lumi’s blood boiled at the audacity of her aunt to say such a thing, stomping her foot petulantly and leaning in with a slight growl. If she had any  less self control she would have slapped Belka for bringing her mother into this. What gave her the right? Because she was her mother’s half sister and the bastard daughter of an adulterous abuser?

"You mean by using actual slaves?" Elizabeth asked pointedly, unintentionally cutting Lumi off before she could repeat her thoughts to their relative. Only to get a scoff in return.

"As if he'd had the time to fret over every little mine. It was blown far out of proportion and you of all people should know it."

"Guys really, we can talk about something else…" Goose whispered, looking around and seeing that they were beginning to attract the attention of nearby students.

"Bullshit we can, did you hear her just now? I knew I was right about you. You're just as bad as your father!" Elizabeth no longer seemed to care about volume, or the various heads turning in their direction. 

"Guys, seriously!" Goose protested, trying to get in between them to break them apart  but was promptly ignored, pushed aside by an irate Belka.

"Oh, so when my side of the family does it, you have a problem? Because if you looked at the numbers, the fact is, while my father was CEO, there was significantly less utilization of indentured workers when compared to your oh-so-beloved  Nicolas!" 

Elizabeth opened her mouth to retort but instead just let out a frustrated groan at her aunt passing off the blame, and taking zero accountability. Just what Mother had told her to expect from a Gele.

"Watch your tongue when speaking about my family, unless you want to lose it!" She had no intentions of actually going through with her threat, but her aunt’s besmirching of her family name had just caused her to lash out.

Belka seemed shocked by the reaction, as if she didn’t expect her to get upset about a woman who insulted her family as though Jacques was any better! It was like she didn’t know her niece at all. What, had she just tagged along to annoy them? It wouldn’t surprise Lumi one bit to learn that was the case.

"Then don't speak about mine!" Belka spat at her niece, trying to look defiant despite her voice cracking in rage and taking a step back. It didn’t work, her red face clearly giving away how upset she was over the exchange.

“Guys, enough!” Goose finally yelled out.

The three others looked at her and realized the amount of attention they had attracted from the other students. Lumi and Elizabeth began to begrudgingly calm down. Belka, however, only got redder as she realized everyone had seen their argument , and dozens of people were now staring right at her. Freezing up, she could hear faint whispers from the others. Were they talking about her? Judging her? 

Goose watched as the girl stiffened, while her nieces seemed to cool down, Belka looked like she'd run off at any second. Taking a small step forward she reached out and placed a hand on Belka's arm, hoping to calm her, an act of kindness that Belka either didn’t recognise, or disregarded.

"Don't touch me!" Belka snapped, wrenching her arm away and stomping away through the door and out into the hall.

"What was her problem?" Lumi huffed before turning in the opposite direction and walking away, not willing to spend anymore time on the matter.

Elizabeth soon followed muttering to herself leaving Goose as the last Schnee standing, watching the doorway Belka stormed through for just a moment longer before reluctantly leaving Belka and following her nieces.

As they separated, a tall, blue haired woman watched from nearby, irritated by the commotion as she tried to reassemble her saber’s mechanisms. As far as she cared it was just a buncha rich girls squabbling over what seemed like nothing. Still it was worth paying attention to the new blood. Even if they were all soft.

"What is that girl doing here?" Ruby began before even getting through the door, briskly walking right up to the Headmistress's desk and crossing her arms at her boss with a scowl.

Glynda barely glanced up from her paperwork, unimpressed by the silver-eyed  woman’s obvious anger. She wasn’t going to play coy and pretend this was about anything aside from Scarlet, or maybe Jet. Either way, she had been expecting this, just not so soon, after the teams had been assigned maybe, but twenty minutes after orientation? That was some luck.

“She chose to attend Beacon Ruby, was I supposed to exclude her because of her parentage?” Glynda asked sharply, not willing to pretend this conversation would go anywhere else.

Ruby flinched at the directness of her friend and superior’s question, not expecting to be called out right away. Upon further thought she knew that the idea was unreasonable at best. Had Beacon turned her beloved Uncle away all those years ago just because he was from a bandit clan, she wouldn’t be the woman she was. On the other hand, the Branwens had never attacked the school, and never killed the headmaster. Not to mention her parents hadn’t yet been publicly revealed as infamous terrorists Adam Taurus and Cinder Fall. It was inevitably going to come to light on who she is.

"Glynda, what about when people find out? Even if we can handle the public backlash, think about what it’s gonna do to her."

The headmistress silently raised an eyebrow, was Ruby assuming she hadn’t been told? She supposed it was a possibility. Not one that was particularly smart, but when it came to children, Glynda knew better than damn near anyone that most children weren’t as prepared for the reality of life as they should have been.

"Even assuming she hasn't been prepared for the reality of her heritage it will be far from the greatest challenge she faces as a huntress. If she can't handle it she's in the wrong profession." Glynda said, simply flipping over to a new paper much to her assistant’s annoyance.

"That's-" Before she could continue, Glynda cut her off.

"Not fair? You of all people should know that when it comes to the responsibilities passed down by our parents, life could care less about being 'fair'." Glynda pointed out, causing Ruby to wince. Despite not letting herself show it, Glynda felt a little guilty as Ruby rubbed her arm like a wounded child. Even by her standards that had been… unfair. But it had gotten the point across, and now, hopefully, they could get to the real issue. “Why don’t you just say what this is really about?”

“I… feel like I should have been told about this, who else doesn’t know?” Ruby hesitated, the wind thoroughly having been taken out of her sails by the previous comment. 

“Aside from you, Professor Pine, and myself, no one else in the administration is aware of her heritage.”

“No one? Not Oobleck, or Touko or…Not even Jau-”

“If the counselor or any other member of faculty for that matter cannot look past factors that a student has no control over then they aren’t fit to teach anyone let alone the next generation of our defenders!” Glynda said, cutting her off once more with a glare, her patience clearly wearing thin on this topic.

Ruby flinched once more under her superior’s verbal assault, feeling as though she was once again a student being talked down to for acting out, rather than the woman’s colleague. The silence was left to linger for a moment as the headmistress’s gaze softened and she leaned back into her seat.

“Unless she gives us cause for concern I don’t want to hear another word about her mother or father. Do you understand me Ruby?”

“Yes Ma’am.” The huntress said, while it in no way sat right with her, she knew her friend wasn’t wrong. Scarlet was just a normal student here, who her parents were didn’t change that. Ruby turned to leave, feeling less certain than when she had walked in.

Now alone, Glynda sighed, going back to her paperwork. Her pen flowed across the page with enough force to nearly rip the form she was finishing up into scraps.

“I hope you know what you’re doing Ozpin.”

Scarlet splashed the cold water onto her face and immediately wondered why the hell she did that. She didn’t feel any different, and now her face was wet, blowing some air upwards to get a pesky strand of hair off her face. She didn’t know what her dad got out of it. He’d said it helped him cool off when he was worked up but she just couldn’t get the look Professor Rose gave her to go away. In fact, with how little it changed, she’d think he’d just made a bad joke, if there was a single humorous bone in his body to back that theory up. She supposed maybe she should try not to think about it, and find something to just distract herself with. 

The tired, almost over dramatic sigh next to her seemed like a good place to start. Glancing over she noticed a girl leaning against the wall, not actually seeming to need the bathroom as much as to just take a moment to decompress and groan her problems away into the aether. Relatable, maybe she could use a distraction too? Approaching as casually as she could, Scarlet leaned against the wall next to the taller girl and did her best not to do whatever the hell it was she did last time.

“So, rough day?”

Goose glanced over, a little startled, not having noticed the red-haired Faunus that was suddenly right next to her. But, being met with Scarlet's sympathetic smile eased any surprise her spontaneous arrival had created. She had just needed some space, for some reason her nieces had insisted on staying all tense and mad about earlier. She didn't get it, but then again she didn't really get the whole situation, what did their parents issues have to do with them.

“Just family drama… It’s new, to me at least.”  Goose shrugged. Trying to just brush it off.

“Sheesh, you gotta deal with that here? Some luck.” Scarlet chuckled, if anything that should have been one of the upsides of being at Beacon, no more silly drama from home. Guess this girl wasn’t so lucky.

“You don’t even know the half of it. I’m Goose.”

“Scarlet.”

They stood there for a moment in silence, Scarlet… hadn't actually thought that far ahead into what to talk about, just that she wanted to talk about something else, and that Goose seemed to be feeling the same way.

The other girl seemed far less worried about the silence, just looking up and down at her, seeming to take Scarlet in with a simple smile before happily chirping a response.

“I like your horns!”

Scarlet vacantly blinked. She’d never really had someone comment on her horns before, let alone compliment them. Hell, not even Jet did that. She didn’t really know how to respond to that, and probably would have felt weird had the look on Goose's face not been so genuine.

“Oh, thank you, I got them from my dad.” She responded with the first thing that popped into her mind, immediately wincing as she realized how obvious that would be. What was up with her and people today?

“Oh cool, that’s how I got my feathers!” Goose said excitedly, showing off the black feather ornament on the side of her head.

Okay this was already going way better than it was with the Professor, maybe she wasn’t the weird one afterall!

“Your dad a bird or something?” Scarlet asked with a chuckle.

"He can turn into a bird."

Oh okay that was actually pretty cool, must be one hell of a Semblance too. Turning into an animal had to be weird, and she’d never heard of a transformation Semblance before. Scarlet chuckled, Goose seemed cool, at least as far as Scarlet could tell, and friendly, just what she was needing right now. She just seemed, well, simple, in a good way. There was probably a better way to say it, but it worked for her right now . But before anything more could be said the door all but flew open, A petite blond girl barged in, looking around, before narrowing in on the salt and pepper haired woman, Goose immediately turned to greet her niece only to almost immediately cut off.

“Aunt Goose, come on, we’re gonna be late, again. Is this really how you want to present yourself?” Lumi grumbled, walking right up to Goose with her hands on her hips. Goose smiled guiltily, not realizing she had taken so long, even if it was only “long” by Lumi’s standards.

Aunt? That was weird, they looked like they could have been born weeks if not days apart. Did this have something to do with that family drama Goose talked about? The girl certainly looked pissy enough for that to be the case. Still, something about the way she just waltzed up rubbed Scarlet the wrong way. Acting all pompous for no reason as if she owned the place, and ordering her supposed Aunt around. Maybe it was because she already wasn’t in the best of moods, but she wasn’t letting that slide, coughing in a very obvious fashion to grab at this new girl’s attention.

Lumi tilted her head taking in the girl’s appearance. Speaking of presenting herself, that couldn’t have been a good introduction, she blamed Belka, were it not for her, they wouldn’t be late in the first place. Still she supposed she could try to be civil. If only for the sake of appearances if nothing else.

“Oh, my bad, I didn’t see you talking with your goat friend.”

The Faunus sputtered from that. Goat? GOAT? Oh that was it, Scarlet officially didn’t like this girl. Her and her stupid ponytail and weird rich girl clothes. Not even making an attempt to mask her irritation, Scarlet corrected the smaller girl.

“I’m a Cow Faunus actually. Who’re you again?”

Oh, well that probably made her look rather bad. Cow huh? That certainly explained some of her… assets. She swallowed her pride at the redhead’s attitude and stood with her back straight and narrow, giving the girl a smile that was only slightly forced.

“Lumi Arc-Schnee, eldest scion of my name.” Lumi declared proudly, holding her hand out for Scarlet to take and subsequently shake, hoping to put the awkward introductions behind them.

Unfortunately Scarlet just stared, having absolutely no idea what that had meant. Great, on top of being a pompous brat, she had to act all fancy-pantsy.

“Uh, Scarlet, Scarlet Taurus…”

Lumi waited a moment for Scarlet to take her hand, but once she realized that wasn’t going to happen she returned her hand to her hip. Oh so it was like that then? Fine by her, she didn’t need the comradery of some uppity commoner anyway, she’d tried, even after her so called aunt had put her in a sour mood, she owed this girl nothing.

Goose once again found herself in a pretty awkward scenario, and what was worse, she couldn’t even figure out the reason for this one. Scarlet had seemed nice enough, sure Lumi had a bit of an attitude but that was normal… then again she’d have no way of knowing that… Drat, okay, time to at least try to fix this. 

“Well come on Lumi, don’t be rude, tell her about yourself.” Goose encouraged, much to Lumi’s chagrin.

Oh she was the rude one here? From her perspective she’d been nothing but polite, still, she sighed, and she figured she’d try and be cordial once more. Straightening up, Lumi offered a half-hearted smile up to the go- Cow Faunus. 

“Well, as I said, I’m the eldest of my siblings, and I suppose, considering our mutual choice in career, I should start with my weapon. Crocea Mors has been in my father’s family for generations, a blade that has served the Arc family for ages, same with my Semblance on my mother’s side of the family, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Schnee Semblance.” Lumi said, almost as though she was reciting it, unable to keep the pride from her voice.

“I thought she asked me to tell me about yourself, not all your hand-me-downs.”

Scarlet spoke immediately almost as if on instinct, only realizing a moment later how that actually sounded. Well, okay, she did mean it but she could’ve probably worded that a hell of a lot better. Definitely not her best move. Lumi was already turning a light shade of red. And before Scarlet could even mutter a half hearted apology, Lumi stomped up into her face- er chest, the height difference between them now far more noticeable. Regardless, the pint-sized- Schnee was in no way intimidated.

“Excuse you!?” Lumi was almost speechless at the audacity of this woman. How dare she! Speaking of her legacy as simple heirlooms ! One thing was for sure, she'd need to keep an eye on Goose from now on. Between this rude cow-girl and Belka, Goose was proving to have a bad habit of attracting unruly ruffians. 

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this, Goose come on.” Lumi said, turning on her heel. Only to see that Goose had seemingly just wandered off. Again.

Oh perfect, just perfect. Lumi then stormed off, muttering under her breath about the horned woman, definitely under the impression that Scarlet couldn't hear her. An impression that was sorely mistaken.

Jet smiled as he looked down at the dismantled parts of Hephaestus laid out on the table, the handgun as always was in pristine condition. It like most weapons could always be improved upon but there would be time for that later. For now he was going to make sure everything was ready for initiation tomorrow. If there was a single part out of place that needed touching up he was gonna handle it now. It seemed like the perfect time, Scarlet was still blowing off steam and Jin went off to meet up with an old friend he wanted to introduce. To him, it was a perfect opportunity to do what he loved and lose himself in the process.

Deciding to start with the barrel since he'd forgotten to clean it after his last bout of target practice he reached out, seeming to grab at the open air before a green glow sprouted from his hand. Then pulling back a thin metal rod along with a matching barrel-sized brush. Jet while not intentionally started to block out the rest of the world as he worked on the weapon. In fact, he actually missed the new presence beside him at the table scrubbing away at even the tiniest bit of dust or residue.

The Moth Faunus, a girl by the name of Luna watched curiously as Jet moved on from one bit to the other, letting out a quiet ‘ooh’ once he used his semblance to pull another piece of the cleaning kit from… wherever he was reaching into. The green light seeming to just spit out his tools. It was cool, and pretty! The boy went to place his brush to the side just as Luna was leaning in, spotting the white-haired moth just to his side Jet instinctively jumped back startling Luna who squeaked out in surprise.

The two just sort of looked at each other for a moment, Jet’s face clearly a bit weirded out while Luna appeared to be flustered at being caught staring the way she had been. Jet had several questions about who this girl was and why she had been staring at him, even if she looked fragile as glass it didn’t change the fact that it was more than a little creepy. But before he could question it she waved briefly despite being only a few feet away.

“Uh, hi?” The moth girl said, her voice about as small as he would have expected. Reluctantly, and more than a little awkwardly Jet waved back, seeing Luna relax he tried to do the same.

“Hi…” He spoke, attempting to be casual which Luna took as a good sign, he seemed nice, nice enough at least.

“I think your semblance is cool. Is that light making your tools?”

His semblance? Of all things Jet could have expected that wasn’t one of them and she seemed genuine.

“Oh, no I'm just grabbing it, like teleporting them to me.” Jet explained without really knowing why, something about the girl was oddly disarming. The way she nodded along as she absorbed the information was certainly genuine, sort of like a kid learning.

"Coool." She said before taking a look back down at the spread of parts on the table. "Is this your weapon?"

"Yup, my pride and joy Hephaestus, a high caliber handgun with burstfire and full auto capabilities." Jet said with more than a bit of pride in his voice. He could have kept going, in fact were it not for the look on her face he would have.

Luna blinked as she processed the information, looking a little confused, Jet was prepared 

"It doesn't transform?"

Oh, right, that was a bit unusual for Huntsmen huh? He probably should have expected as much, it wasn't the first time he'd gotten funny looks about his weapon's lack of versatility.

"Nope, he's lame like that." Scarlet said, seemingly dropping in out of nowhere once again spooking Luna who yelped. Jet was less surprised, that or Scarlet doing it just wasn't as weird as a girl he didn't know.

"It's efficient, and your weapon doesn't have a different mode either." Jet replied, dryly defending his weapon’s honor by pointing out her hypocrisy on the matter.

Scarlet opened her mouth to retort but hesitated, unsure of her words, and soon after the window had passed and she just sat down next to Luna. Giving the other girl a nod of acknowledgment. That wasn't like her, she and Jet could go back and forth for a while before one of them got stumped. That along with the bare minimum introduction to Luna told him she hadn't quite gotten the bad mood out of her system.

"Wanna talk about it?" 

“Half of the people at this school are assholes.” She grumbled. ”Like what the hell was up with that teacher? Jin was cool, then there was this nice girl in the bathroom I was venting with then her cousin or something comes in with an attitude and is just a bitch for no reason, her and her stupid hyphenated last name.”

Scarlet vented unintentionally making Luna scoot back a bit and look at Jet, who just made a waving motion with his hands to let her know it was fine. It wasn't the first time something had gotten her worked up and it probably wouldn't be the last thing to do so this week, there was no reason to let it bother them, she just needed to vent.

“Scarlet, your last name is hyphenated.” Jet said matter of factly. 

“Yeah, but I don’t go around announcing it and going on about how I'm Scarlet Fall-Taurus, the baroness of having a stick up her ass!”

“EXCUSE YOU!?” The shrill scream startled all three of the teens, turning to see Jin standing looking just as startled and confused.

And right next to him, face burning with fury was none other than Lumi stomping closer as if she thought she was intimidating. Which Scarlet doubted she would have managed to pull off even if she wasn’t absolutely dwarfed by the monkey boy.

“Oh fuck.” Scarlet groaned, letting her head hit the table as the pair approached.

Jin gave the new girl a wave as he sat down next to Jet, looking back and forth between the girls, the animosity between them seeming to come out of nowhere. Luna similarly looked confused, already not knowing any of the people here and now apparently being an audience to some sort of spat. Looking at Jet who shrugged as he was similarly in the dark. Luna coughed before asking.

"Have you two met?"

"Unfortunately, What I want to know is how you two know each other." Scarlet said motioning to Jin who jumped at the opportunity to change the subject.

“Oh Lumi and I go way back, my moms are practically sisters with hers.” He said putting an arm around the smaller girl, his bicep being about the same size as her head.

The girl didn’t even bother to hide her smirk or the way she leaned back into his arm as she looked right at Scarlet almost smugly. Scarlet just raised an eyebrow at the display of what she could only assume was possessiveness. Okay, that was weird. The petite woman looked up at Jin before speaking.

"This is the bruteish girl I was telling you about, the one who scared off Goose." She said, seeming to not notice or just ignore how the others at the table seemed less than pleased that she was continuing to push the issue.

Jet even started to reassemble Hephaestus, sighing as he realized he probably wasn't going to have time to finish his maintenance. Scarlet similarly didn’t notice, too busy rolling her eyes at the idea that she had ‘scared off’ anyone. The girl just didn’t want to put up with the bullshit, which right about now she understood pretty well.

"You're lucky my cousin found our aunt, otherwise you'd have a lot to answer for."

Scarlet had to hold back a laugh at that, this little girl was gonna make her pay? Oh she’d like to see that.

"Hey come on Lumi, I told you, these guys are cool. You guys probably just got off on the wrong foot or something." Jin said once again trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, or at the very least keep it from escalating.

"Fine, if she apologizes for being disrespectful that is." Lumi huffed.

"Disrespectful? You're the one who came in with an attitude. Disrespectful would be if I asked if you were in the right bathroom because of that ironing board you call a chest."

"Oh please, my figure is practical and efficient for combat. You're the one attempting to fight with all that extra weight in the front.”

"Wow, I got big tits, nice dig Miss Arc-Schnee you get your shitty trash talking from mommy and daddy too?"

Lumi actually growled in response, slamming her hands on the table before standing up, Scarlet narrowed her eyes in response, daring Lumi to do anything more. As the tension seemed to build Jet holstered his reassembled weapon looking over to Jin who looked lost. Sighing Jet figured it was on him to at least try to dissuade this from turning into a brawl, which if Scarlet’s scowl was anything to go on this was dangerously close to becoming.

“Look, I don’t know what started this but you’re way too worked up over it. Can you guys at least just try to talk it out?” Jet spoke up, Jin similarly tagging in after before either girl could try to counter the other boy.

"Yeah, this is silly. Are you really going to fight for our whole time here because you were both in a bad mood when you met? I’m sure you guys would actually get along if you actually gave it a shot.”

The two women in question stared at each other. Lumi seemed to consider her friend’s words for a moment, she hated to admit it but he had a point, maybe she was being a bit petty. She’d been in a bad mood ever since orientation, or more accurately since Jin’s aunt had acted weird around her. Jin was alright, and if this girl was his friend then she couldn’t be all bad. Lumi similarly seemed to pause at being confronted by the boy’s, Jin especially, sitting back down and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine. I’ll try and be civil.” She said taking her set once more, though her scowl persisted which Scarlet attempted to ignore.

As the tension died down, at least a little. Jin taking the opportunity turned to Luna, the moth girl similarly just pleased that the issue seems to have passed for the moment.

“Hey I’m Jin, nice to meet you.” The big faunus said with a cheerful smile. Putting the young Moth and Jet a bit more at ease, even as the other girls continued to shoot sideways glances at each other, pretending to ignore the other for the time being.

Chapter Text

The morning of the initiation was calm as far as anyone could tell, just the way Jaune liked it, excitement could wait until he was well and properly awake. How the other teachers were able to wake up at this ungodly hour regularly and without issue was unknown to him. Normally, he’d  still be sleeping at this hour were it not the day of initiation. Realistically, it could have been  any other member of the faculty standing in his place, but there were a few students he wanted to check in on, his daughter and immediate family of course, as well as a young man who'd eluded him so far, though he doubted Lao was doing so on purpose. Still, he watched closely as the students steadily filed out of the auditorium in their usual, orderly yet chaotic manner. 

He saw a few faces he recognized. His daughter seemed attached at the hip to Jin, as usual when they were together. He chuckled, his daughter seeming to have inherited his complete lack of subtlety, and there were two others that caught his eye, walking just a bit behind his daughter and her childhood friend. One was a green haired boy, who was talking with a red-headed girl with horns, both of which felt eerily familiar to the Huntsman. Before he could really question why he felt that though, the four first-year students made their way out, headed towards the direction of the veritable warehouse that was the academy’s locker room.

Almost as soon as they left Jaune’s sight, the increasing volume of exceedingly fast paced footsteps alerted him to the presence of an old friend behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the aged, yet no less robust, Bartholomew Oobleck, the man sipping his signature coffee. A blend which he still wasn’t convinced didn’t have some sort of electric Dust element in it.

"Morning Oobleck." Jaune greeted with a smile, his old history teacher raising his mug in return before similarly smiling and greeting the blond.

“Jaune, it’s always a pleasure. How goes it?”

“Oh, just helping out where I can before I get properly situated.”

“How generous of you, especially with the… unusual circumstances of this year.” The teacher said after a sip of his coffee.

Jaune raised an eyebrow at that, while it probably didn’t actually need to be asked he did anyway.

“Meaning?”

“Well it’s no secret that there’s already a number of students you’re previously acquainted with. Mr. Belladonna, Miss Ironwood, your two sisters-in-law.” Bartholomew said casually motioning to  the duo of Goose and Elizabeth as they walked past, along with Belka, who walked a fair distance behind them.

The short woman was keeping a keen eye on her beloved Aunt after the little disappearing act she had pulled the day before. Trailing a fair bit behind them was Belka by her lonesome,  seemingly pretending that the other girls weren’t there. Jaune made a wave at them, Goose and Liz returning the gesture as they passed, while his less familiar sister simply turned her head up, acting as if she was above him in a way that couldn’t help but remind him of his dear wife when they had first met. Before he could even wonder what that was about Oobleck continued.

“Not to mention your own daughter.”

“Oobleck, come on, I’m not gonna play favorites, I’m not even a proper teacher here, just the counselor.” Jaune said, glancing back at the students.

As he continued his scan of the incoming students, his eye was caught by another one that stood out as vaguely familiar. One, a woman with bright red hair, similar in color to Pyrrha’s. He felt some melancholy creep up at the thought, trying to push it down and turning back to his colleague who was, at last, finishing a drink from his mug.

“Even when it comes to Mr. Ren over there?”

At the mention of his godson, Jaune followed the man’s gaze to the blank-faced young man as he passed, abruptly ending his conversation with the veteran history teacher as he moved towards the son of his longtime friend, Oobleck, chuckling warmly as he did so.

“Lao, wait up!” Jaune called out as he ran up to the boy.

The young man turned and looked up at the taller man with a blank expression. Well, blank to most, Jaune had known this boy his entire life. The ever so slight upwards tilt of his lips gave away his true feelings. The boy was hard to read, but not impossible, and certainly not for Jaune.

“Jaune, it’s good to see you. Mother and Father told me to tell you hello.”

The boy said in a monotone voice that reminded Jaune of his old teammate. Ren had certainly had an impact on the young man, even if it had been out of necessity. Regardless, Jaune tried to look at the bright side of how much the boy took after his father as the two embraced.

“Knowing your mother, she told you to squeeze until you heard me squeak.” Jaune chuckled, getting a nod from the boy.

“That she did.” Lao nodded in response.

Much like his father, he wasn’t exactly the easiest person to carry out a conversation with. Something that, much like his father, Jaune was confident he’d grow out of via spending more time around his peers and people his own age.

“Well, I won’t keep you, but if you need anything, you know where to find me. And Lumi’s always here if you need someone a bit closer to your age for something.”

Jaune watched as the boy got back in line with his fellow students, having promised Nora to keep an eye on the boy. While Ren had no doubts Lao would be fine, his mother was beyond worried, not that he blamed her, it was the first time he was away from home. They had lost both of their families once before,  he wasn’t surprised that at least one of them was deathly afraid of losing their new one. 

The jolt of an exceedingly smug slurping noise from behind him suddenly ripped Jaune from his thoughts, realizing the line of students had passed and he was now staring off into empty space as Oobleck watched.

“No favorites, eh?”

Jin sat on the bench, The Golden Path, his gauntlets and greaves already attached to his arms and legs, so for now he was just waiting for his friend and her family to finish getting ready. He took a moment to glance up from his book, only to see Lumi inspecting her family sword, Crocea Mors, the paired parrying dagger she carried alongside it already sheathed at her hip. Meanwhile, Liz was loading rounds into the cylinder of her sidearm, Due, while her segmented sword, Exenterator, remained in its spot inside her locker. Which only left his cousin, and their aunt, who had been standing in front of him for a minute apparently, patiently waiting for him to look away from the book.

“So, whatcha think it’s gonna be like?”

Goose asked with a smile, her own weapon, a shotgun named Glücksfall that featured a blade running along the underside of the barrel , slung over her shoulder. The over-under barrels of the weapon were, thankfully, still pointed down at the ground and not at anyone.

“Huh, I never really thought about it. Maybe we just gotta kill some certain amount of Grimm?” The Faunus wondered out loud, rubbing his chin in thought.

“If what Mother and Father told me is still true, we’re going to be thrown off of a cliff and expected to find some sort of objective.”

Lumi spoke up from her spot, sheathing Crocea Mors before closing her locker, Jin and Goose seemingly  accepting the possibility that they’d be flung into the sky in less than an hour, unlike Elizabeth, who’s brow furrowed as she looked up.

“Isn’t that incredibly dangerous and irresponsible?”

“Perhaps,”  Lumi began, stunning her cousin by how little this idea bothered her.

Apparently being the only sane one present. “But, if my Mother and Father could handle it, then we should be able to as well.” Lumi said, her tone sounding more self-assured in her own abilities despite the scenario she was describing to the others, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the other girl rounding the corner.

“You seem a bit too sure of yourself, there’s plenty that could go wrong you know.” Belka said, announcing her presence as she stood in the middle of the hall with her arms crossed, her voice sounding as though she was chastising her niece for not taking the initiation seriously.

“You mean I could be partnered with you?” Lumi retorted, turning on her heel to face the older teen.

Unlike the day before, the harsh response was met with a snort as Belka walked right past the Schnee girls and Jin, who watched in confusion. He saw the irritation on Lumi and Elizabeth’s faces at Belka’s little intrusion, before turning to Goose, who knowingly shook her head. Clearly it was better not to ask.

“As if you’d be so lucky.” Belka stated, her voice higher than usual as she opened up her locker and shot a sideways glance at Lumi. “Apologies my dear niece, but I’d rather not be paired up with someone so… unpleasant.”

A smirk crept up her lips as she saw the way Lumi bristled at the comment. Served her right.

“I could be your partner!” Goose said, breaking the tension with the subtlety of a semi-truck and drawing glances from just about everyone.

The awkward silence remained for a moment as the rest of the group silently debated on whether or not to even acknowledge the statement. Eventually, Belka dismissed the idea entirely with a roll of her eyes. The Branwen flinched at that and looked down, fiddling with the black feather that lay in her hair.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Lumi huffed, wanting to lay into the woman with the ferocity of a Sabyr for her response to her Aunt.

But, she knew better than to make a second scene in just as many days, and moreso, wanting to avoid getting her friend involved in her family’s issues.

“My locker’s here, duh.” Belka said as though it was obvious, pulling her naginata from her locker and attaching it to a magnetic strip on her back, walking off as she did so. “Well, as much as I’d love to stay and chat, I do believe we have an initiation to get to.”

“What was that about?” Jin leaned over and whispered into Goose’s ear, knowing better than to get Lumi started as she looked like she’d explode like his mom on a bad day if he asked her. 

“It’s a long story.” Goose muttered back, similarly not wanting to get into it.

Lumi and Liz shared a look, not bothering to give Belka the satisfaction of watching her walk away. After she left their sight, the Arc-Schnee girl sighed, because as much as she hated to admit it, her Aunt was right. They did need to get going.

Elsewhere in the locker room, Jet and Scarlet sat next to one another on one of the benches, their weapons already secured to their scabbards and holster respectively. Scarlet stretched one final time while she still had the opportunity to do so, and Jet gave his weapon a quick once over. While he didn't have nearly enough time to go as in depth as he would have liked, he could at least cover the bare minimum, something that Scarlet noticed as she glanced over whilst rolling her shoulder.

“Didn’t you already do that yesterday?” She asked playfully, chuckling at her friend's obsessive repetition. While she expected nothing less from him, she still found it amusing when Jet got like this, maybe even a little cute.

"I barely even got started, I wanted to do a deep clean before today, if it jams in the field, my ass could be grass.” The green haired boy said, pulling back the slide and staring intently into the chamber, trying to spot anything wrong.

Scarlet just watched, knowing he wouldn't spot anything, but that he also wouldn't stop until he had looked over every last inch of his beloved pistol.

“Jet, you’ve had that thing for years and it’s jammed like three times.” Scarlet reminded him trying to ease the boy's worries.

“Yes Scarlet, because I maintain it.” Jet shot back, a bit sharper than he had intended.

Stopping for a moment as he realized the tone he used and looking over sheepishly at his friend. Scarlet nonchalantly shrugged in response, completely unbothered by the accidental attitude. Were it anyone else, she would’ve already shot back with her own flavor of rude, and more than likely crude, bit of sass but… well, Jet put up with her plenty enough, he had earned a bit of slack.

“See this is why I just use swords, just sharpen them and they’ll work wonders.”

“Thank you!” A voice from the side said suddenly.

Jet on instinct slid the magazine back into Hephaestus and chambered a round, turning to see none other than the girls from the airship.  The speaker was the more muscular girl of the duo, her face beaming at Scarlet with a wide grin.Meanwhile, the girl who had been people watching narrowed her eyes and flexed her weapon, a set of wires attached to what looked like shoulder mounted pylons, at Jet’s raised weapon, filling the silence with an electric hum. Jet, realizing his over-reaction, began to mutter an apology. Knowingly, Scarlet gave him a pat on the back while the muscular woman seemed to completely ignore the display, instead nudging the electric brunette with her elbow in an extremely smug fashion.

“See Roe, someone else thinks simple weapons are just as good as overcomplicated ones like yours.”

Rosaria rolled her eyes, of course Juliet would try to turn this into a defense of that misshapen hunk of metal she called “a club”.

“That is not at all what Scarlet said, Juliet.” 

“I… didn’t tell you my name.” Scarlet said slowly, glancing at Jet who shook his head in response, similarly weirded out by the girl already knowing his friend's name.

“You didn’t need to, I overheard your conversation just now.” Rosaria said bluntly, lacking any trace of a joking attitude or self-awareness about how off-putting that statement was as an introduction.

The pair glanced over to Juliet, who seemed to cringe at her friend's blunder. Stepping forward and throwing her arm around her friend's shoulders, Juliet figured she should try to salvage the interaction before they got reported for stalking their fellow classmates.

“Don’t worry, she’s nosy, but harmless, I’m Juliet, and this weirdo is Rosaria.” Juliet ignored the almost offended look Rosaria had given her and winked at the pair still on the bench.

While still awkward, the mood had lost basically all tension. Jet sighed, while he would have preferred something far more normal, this was still preferable to the spat he had witnessed the day before. Looking at the girls before him, he was reminded of himself and Scarlet, at least at how different they seemed at first glance, even down to the weapons they wielded, Rosaria's wires being so subtle you could be forgiven for missing it at a glance, and Juliet…

Okay no, he had to ask about whatever the hell that thing was supposed to be.

“Is that your weapon?”

Juliet stepped forward proudly leaning on the club like a walking stick, promptly ignoring the judgment in Jet's voice and giving a smirk.

“Yup, I call it ‘Alternative Deathstyle!” Juliet said, adding a bit of growl to the name as if to try and emphasize the "badassness" of it.

Jet had to hold a groan in, something he'd grown accustomed to knowing Scarlet as long as he had. Rosaria seemed to share this sentiment, rolling her eyes as her friend repeated her rehearsed act. But he already knew it would be right up his bovine friend’s alley.

“Dude, that’s sick.” Scarlet said without even a hint of irony in her voice.

“Please don’t encourage her.” Rosaria asked. Jet could practically hear the plea in her voice as she asked his friend, but it was too late, Juliet's smile had grown big and toothy as she was at last vindicated.

“Hey you guys coming?” Jin asked, looking over the lockers at Scarlet and Jet.

All four teens turned to the monkey boy as he waved. Juliet waved back at the new face after taking a moment to assess the new arrival. Ah, that's right, they had to get going. Strapping themselves up, the four turned the corner, being met with Jin and the three Schnee girls.

“Scarlet?” Goose asked, smiling at the girl in question.

“Oh, hey Goose, what’s up?” Scarlet said, walking closer, only to stop once she saw Lumi standing there, looking just as prickly as when they had first met.

Seriously, was this girl ever in a good mood? Lumi turned, meeting Scarlet’s gaze with one of her own. The Schnee tilted her head, silently asking what the Faunus found so curious about her. As the tension seemed to be returning, Goose looked between them, a bit worried that her niece would go off on the girl over yesterday’s events. Scarlet sighed, not wanting to make things worse. So, instead, she just shrugged, trying to act casual like she hadn’t just been given the stink eye. “Ah, don’t worry, we’re cool now, right?”

Lumi stared for a moment, weighing her options. The ball was in her court now, and she had promised Jin she’d act more… agreeable. She sighed, this hadn’t even been about the cow-girl, it was that uppity Aunt of hers putting her in a sour mood. She wouldn’t let that Gele girl make her so worked up that she went around giving her family a bad reputation. Taking a moment to compose herself, Lumi put on a face that didn’t quite look like she was upset at everything around her, nodding curtly before speaking in a calm and practiced manner.

“Well, there are certainly worse people to be around.”

It really hadn’t sounded like a yes to Scarlet, in fact it felt rather backhanded. But, the girl was at least trying, and Scarlet guessed that alone was an improvement over yesterday.

Glynda strode back and forth before the students, standing on the cliff overseeing the sectioned off property of Forever Fall, the maroon leaves falling from the trees around them as she addressed the teens standing before her.

“Every year, I’m asked what the purpose of this initiation is, after all you’ve already passed our entrance exams have you not?” She began, cutting off the line of questioning before it had a chance to start.

A few of the students seemed to pay more attention to this. Good, this batch is already showing some promise. Stepping forward Ruby began where Glynda left off.

“The purpose is twofold. Firstly, it gives us a more clear evaluation of each student and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The other is team assignment.”

The assistant headmistress began, looking over the students with a far more kindly look in her eyes than Glynda’s cold, evaluating gaze. As she swept over the assembled initiates, she nodded at them encouragingly, several seemed to appreciate it, like her nephew and younger cousin. However, one student rolled her amber eyes at the gesture, making Ruby feel more than a bit guilty as she remembered the day before. She’d have to apologize when she got the chance. Scarlet hadn’t deserved that. 

Glynda glanced over her shoulder, her assistant having taken a bit too long for her liking and speaking once more.

“The assignment of partners is the same as it has been for the entirety of the School’s history, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the rest of your tenure at Beacon.”

She didn’t even bother trying to hush the group’s murmurs, knowing it would be pointless, and to let them get it out of their system. There was a clear divide between the few who knew and those who didn't, mostly from the students whose parents had been through it before. Jin was unbothered, maintaining a calm smile as he listened along, next to him Lumi nodded along confidently as though it was common knowledge, meanwhile some other students like Juliet went pale at the revelation, sharing a glance with her friend. 

Scarlet particularly had to hold herself back from cursing under her breath upon hearing this. Great, it was up to random chance, and with how her luck had been at the school so far, there was a good chance she ended up partnered up with an asshole, or someone weird like that Rosaria girl… then again compared to Lumi or the girl with resting bitch face and a Naginata, maybe she was the better option. Jet clearly didn’t like it based on the way he shifted after the information was revealed. It was unpredictable, something he hated. She felt bad, he was probably freaking out worse than her. Only difference was, his poker face just blew Scarlet’s out of the water.

“Your objective is simple, you are to head into Forever Fall, retrieve a single relic from a set location, and return here with both yourselves and the relic intact. Within the Forest you will face lesser Grimm, but do not take their status lightly, you will not have any assistance aside from that provided by your fellow students, we will be monitoring you, but we cannot intervene. This is no game, it’s life and death.”

The headmistress stopped before Luna, glancing down at the chewed up collar before turning her unamused gaze back to the girl, who shrunk a little under her gaze. Moving on, she took a once over on Goose, who just smiled at the woman as she walked by, unbothered by the woman’s more harsh nature. She blamed Qrow for making her sound soft to the girl. She moved on once more, standing next to Ruby and giving the woman a small nod. Seeing her signal, Ruby opened her scroll and snickered as Glynda continued speaking, a small smirk gracing her lips.

“First thing of note, you’ll need to come up with a landing strategy.”

As soon as the words left her lips the platform under Jin made a weird noise, alerting the boy that something was happening beneath him about a split second before he was launched into the air. The other students were left gawking, his screaming quickly fading out as the muscular monkey rapidly turned into a speck on the horizon, giving way to his aunt’s cackling. Scarlet’s jaw dropped as she and several others looked to the professors for some form of an explanation.

“Mr. Belladonna has the advantage of an anti-gravity Semblance. The rest of you, to my knowledge, lack any such abilities. I would suggest coming up with a landing strategy. Soon.”

As soon as the headmistress finished, Ruby pressed another button. Oh crap, they were gonna throw them all off? Okay that was fine, Scarlet had a moment, Jin was a good bit away, she’d have a moment to prepare before it was her turn to be sent flying. Or, that’s what she thought was the case as she, along with every other student, got sent into the air simultaneously in a grand chorus of terrified teenage screaming. 

Ruby watched with a smile, she hadn’t expected that to be as fun to watch as it was the first time she’d been there for this, but every year after she couldn’t help the strange glee that came with watching her upcoming students soar through the open air. Turning to her friend with a smile, Ruby didn’t even try to hide her amusement now that it was the two of them.

“I gotta say, I think this is my favorite part of initiation.”

The students each reacted in their own ways to the sudden situation they found themselves in, mostly variations of shock. Lumi reacted first, aligning herself against the ground with her momentum and summoned a Glyph in the air to land on. No longer sailing through the air, she looked at the students still falling. There was no sign of Jin, the boy was almost certainly already on the ground, probably laughing about the incident as his Aunt had moments before. So, she looked for any other familiar figures in the sky, seeing the long orange hair of Lao diving straight down and disappearing into the treeline, seeming to have found a suitable place to land.

Meanwhile, Goose aimed the twin barrels of Glücksfall down at the earth and fired, not just stopping her downward momentum, but somehow reversing it entirely. Lumi was surprised at the force behind the shot, impressed that her Aunt was somehow able to fire a weapon with that much kick single handedly. Elizabeth was next, but rather than use her Glyphs as Lumi had, she drew her blade, extending it into its whip form, and with a simple flick of her wrist, wrapped it around a branch and swung it around before coming to a gradual stop. It seemed she had her pick of people, now she just had to find a direction.

Belka screamed, impotently flailing her arms as she soared through the air. They just launched her off of a cliff! What kind of educational institute launches their students off of a cliff!? She’d sue them, her father would sue them into oblivion! But first, she had to survive this fall somehow. Seeing the maroon abyss below her gradually get closer and closer, the gaps in the trees growing larger and larger, she figured she had only a few moments before she crashed into the dirt below.

Thinking fast, she pulled Morgan from its place on her back, the laser function wouldn’t slow her momentum in the slightest, since it was, after all, a laser, meaning it had no mass and therefore no recoil, so that left the polearm function. Eyeballing her arc, she spotted a pair of close together trees she’d conveniently be passing through,  which would do well enough given the circumstances. Still hurtling through the air, she started positioning her weapon in front of her horizontally, bracing herself for the wind to be knocked out of her. 

“Look out!”

A familiar voice called out, distracting her just a moment before pressing the button to extend her weapon. And before she could even comprehend the warning, let alone react to it, another body crashed into her, apparently somehow having aligned their trajectory with hers and knocked the both of them off course. Once again yelling at the top of her lungs, she desperately grabbed onto the new body, a girl, who did the same, both bracing one another for impact as they quickly lost altitude. 

Branches snapped as they passed through the autumn canopy, broken wood scraping against their Auras as they grinded to a painful stop. Belka groaned as she lay upside down, suspended by creaking branches. Well at the very least, she didn’t have to worry about how to come to a stop now. She didn’t know whether she should thank the other girl  in this situation with her, or admonish them. Her mind was tilting towards the latter when she opened her eyes and registered the wide curious eyes of Goose Branwen, their faces so close their noses were all but touching.

“Oops… Hi.” The girl said casually, smiling at the irritated Gele woman. “So I guess we’re partners after all huh? Pretty cool, right?”

Belka, despite all efforts to hold in her frustration within, growled at the girl, causing Goose to jolt backwards, loosening the branches hold on them, and sending them both falling down to the forest floor.

Coming to a stop at the base of the tree, Elizabeth pulled on Exenterator, slicing through the branch its blades had been wrapped around and retracting into its straightened form. The branch landed next to her with a crunch, something that was promptly ignored by the petite woman as she strode forward, pulling her scroll from her pocket and opening the map. Her objective was clearly marked a good way into the forest, it would be a bit of a hike, but not something she couldn’t handle. Though, it would certainly be boring if she had to go the whole way on her own.

While Elizabeth was content to ignore her surroundings for the moment, her landing had attracted the attention of a small pack of Beowolves, which silently lurked behind her. They watched curiously, never having seen a human act so calm at such a short distance aways from them. The largest and most aggressive of them, the Alpha, grew impatient only a moment later, leaping forward with a snarl and ready to lock its powerful jaws around her fragile neck. It never got the chance as the small girl raised her hand behind her without even looking away from her scroll, summoning a Glyph. The Alpha Beowolf registered this newfound intrusion in the path of its prey, but couldn’t react in time, comically smashing into the floating sigil head first, leaving it dazed and plastered across the Glyph.

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

She asked rhetorically, drawing her revolver, Due, and aiming it right at the Glyph before firing, the gravity round that had been chambered collided with the Glyph and infused it with the gravity Dust within, sending the creature flying back into its pack like a lupine wrecking ball, knocking most of them to the ground like bowling pins. One Beowolf, the smallest and the weakest of the pack, watched its compatriots sudden impairment from the sidelines and started charging forward in response. Readying the next shot, Liz blew it's leg off with a single round, sending it face first into the dirt.

Her father's old revolver was just as reliable as when the former general used it, and had not lost any of the power it had held either, something she was acutely aware of given the familiar ache of its excessive recoil now working its way up her left arm. Moving in, Elizabeth drew Exenterator, decapitating the beast with a flick of her wrist as she passed by, now wielding her saber and revolver in tandem as the group, now made up of six beasts, started to close in as one, save for the Alpha, which was still recovering.

The odds weren't in her favor, outnumbered six to one as she was, but the solution was a simple matter of divide and conquer, and with Grimm like this, it would be trivial at best. Taking aim, she fired a round from Due into the elbow of one in the front, blasting its arm clean off past the joint, causing it to fall and trip up the one immediately behind it. Leaping up, she used a Glyph as a platform, causing one to miss and rush past right below her.

Now, with only two to deal with in the moment, she extended Exenterator into its whip form, wrapping it around the creature's torso as she jumped over it, landing in front of another Beowolf that was charging in behind it, the Grimm wasting no time as it swung at her with its claws. It didn't even get close enough to touch her, as with one swing, Exenterator's whip bisected the pack member it was wrapped around behind her before lashing into the beast before her with the residual motion, lopping off the top half of its skull, its raised form slumping to the blanket of autumn leaves below as it began to disintegrate.

Three down, four to go.

Focusing on the three in front of her, she aimed at the now recovered Alpha only to be met with its one armed packmate, which seemed less than pleased with the girl for the damage it had taken from her, charging in and receiving a hole in its chest courtesy of Due for its troubles. She made a mental note that she had two shots left before she'd need to reload, before the weight of one's paw crashed into her from behind, slamming the small girl face first into the ground. Damn, she'd forgotten the one that had missed its charge. And now it had her head in its grasp, easily lifting her off the ground and into the air. How could she have made such a rookie mistake!? She began to ready a Glyph below her to try and kick herself free, only to suddenly find herself falling to the ground as the clawed grip on her head began to disintegrate. The creature also slumped to the ground and started to howl in pain, looking at its suddenly severed arm.

Before Elizabeth could opportunise on her bout of good luck and deliver the killing blow herself, a figure with a head of bright orange hair leaped over the Beowulf and landed an open palm strike into the monster's snout, caving its skull in with one strike. With the immediate threat suddenly disposed of by Lao, Liz spun around, determined not to make the same mistake twice, took aim at the closer of the two beasts, ready to put it down before it got into melee range. Lao seemed to have other plans, calmly walking forward and raising his hand in silent disagreement. Elizabeth tensed and retracted her sword into its blade form, not wanting to risk hitting him with her ranged weapons. Okay, it seemed they were doing this up close and personal then. Or, they would’ve if a chakram didn’t swing around on its return arc, cutting the final minor Beowolf in half as it returned to Lao’s hand. Elizabeth chuckled as she got to her feet, it seemed her new partner had some sense after all.

The Alpha, having learned from its initial mistake of underestimating the young Hunters, approached slowly, Liz’s bullet still embedded into its thick rib cage. Elizabeth turned to Lao, hoping to get some sort of idea of their plan of attack, only to be met by his stoic face still fully focused on the Grimm.

Right, they were ‘winging it’ as Goose would say.

Elizabeth made the opening move by attempting to conjure a Glyph under the beast, planning to pull its feet out from under it, but the Alpha had other plans, leaping forward the moment she raised her weapon. Lao moved in, his chakrams, Ao Bing and Ao Quang, held tightly in his hands as he moved to slash at its stomach, aiming for the thinner part of its hide. Unfortunately the monster acted first, raising its arm to strike in response, causing the blades to clash, and subsequently bounce off, the hard bone spikes protruding from its skin, knocking Lao back. 

Elizabeth scowled, seeing the spark of intelligence in its movements. That wasn’t just a coincidence, that was deliberate, planned. This one was smart, not some near-mindless beast like its packmates. She moved in, slashing at its rear leg with Exenterator to distract the Alpha before it could try to rush Lao. With its attention thoroughly drawn to her, she used her smaller size to her advantage, sliding along the ground with her Glyphs just low enough to be out of its immediate range. Intending to finish this quickly, Elizabeth aimed up as she slid under it, firing another round upwards into its chest. The bullet hit its mark, slipping in between the bony rib cage and into the black flesh below, ripping its chest asunder and tearing open the surrounding flesh. It roared in agony as black smoke seeped out of the open wound, yet it stayed standing, seeming to be fueled on nothing but its own rage.

However, now significantly hampered by its wounds, it couldn’t react in time as Lao ran in and delivered a strike right into its open wound, Aura traveling up his arm and exiting through his fist in a shockwave that caused the beast’s upper body to expand like a balloon before finally exploding into a matte black mist. The Alpha’s powerful legs stayed standing a moment longer before giving out, and finally started to disintegrate.

Getting back into a standing position, Liz looked around, making sure the two of them had finished the group of lupine Grimm before relaxing. That had been more challenging than she had expected, as in, it was challenging at all to begin with. While she was confident she could have taken the pack on her own, their numbers had… complicated matters. 

"That wasn't necessary. But I do appreciate the assist."

She said warmly, turning to the boy as she disposed of the spent casings and began to reload her revolver, noting that she had only a single bullet remaining within Due’s cylinder. Lao simply hummed in acknowledgement, an action paired with an almost unnoticeable nod as he looked around, getting his bearings. The almost complete lack of response didn’t really sit right with her.

Maybe it was just nerves? A proper introduction would hopefully fix that.

“I’m Elizabeth Ironwood, pleased to meet you…”

She trailed off, purposely passing the conversation off to him. Not that he seemed to notice, instead he continued looking off into the distance in the direction of their objective. The silence lingered for an uncomfortable amount of time before he looked over at his new partner, his expression blank.

“Lao Ren.”

And that was it, with a tone that was flatter than the ground they walked on. Oookay. Not much of a talker, this was going to be fun.

Scarlet grunted as she tried to rip Wilt and Bleed from the tree she had impaled to stop her fall. She had planned on cutting right through it, hoping the trunk would be just thick enough to slow her down and let her land safely. Her plan had technically worked, but she had underestimated just how thick the tree was, and now she was left struggling and defenseless in a Grimm populated area. Thankfully no one was around to see the display, yet . Jet she could handle, she had years of dirt on him that would keep him quiet. But the others? She was not letting them find her like this, fruitlessly pulling her blades from a tree with the grace of an apprentice woodcutter half her age. Grunting harder, Scarlet braced her foot against the tree in an attempt to use leverage, and after a few moments of really putting her back into it, she managed to move the blade all of a few inches. Great. As she strained and heaved, Scarlet was too busy to notice the approaching footprints of the Sabyr, the Grimm stopping at the edge of the clearing and tilting its head in confusion at the girl’s struggle.

“What is all that racket?”

The voice caused Scarlet to damn near jump out of her skin, spinning on her heel and reaching for her sheathed blades, only to be met with the frustrating emptiness as she remembered that the tree was their sheath now. Thankfully, she wasn’t in any actual danger from the new presence, though she was no less startled by what she saw. 

Approaching slowly and curiously, the ethereal beast tilted its head much like that of a humble house cat, its body nearly completely transparent were it not for the bright, yet soft glow it seemed to radiate from within. Its rider was far less amused, staring Scarlet down with a gaze almost as cool as her eyes.

“Oh, of course it’s you.” Lumi sighed.

Honestly of all people, not Jin, not Liz, not even Goose. She found Scarlet. Neither of them even remotely tried to hide their displeasure at finding each other, Scarlet grumbling as she went back to struggling with her blades. Lumi watched for a moment, finding amusement in the girl’s plight, but it quickly grew tedious, and then downright pitiful. Fed up with her newfound partner’s ineffectiveness, Lumi dismounted from her summon and approached the struggling redhead with her arms crossed.

“Do you need help?”

Scarlet glanced over her shoulder, her amber eyes conveying a look of utmost hatred straight at Lumi as the girl stood there, just watching unamused, her body language screaming at Scarlet to hurry up with her crossed arms and tapping foot, staring impatiently as if Scarlet wasn’t trying her damnedest to get her weapons free.

“I’ve got it.” Scarlet grumbled, ignoring her as best she could as she once again put her back into pulling on the blades from their oaken prison.

“Really? Because that doesn’t look like you do.” Lumi said matter of factly.

Scarlet growled in response, just trying to just take her mind off of the comments. What, did little miss Arc-Schnee think she wanted her weapons stuck in this damned tree? She needed to change the subject before she knocked the smaller girl’s lights out. Looking past Lumi, she eyed the  feline Grimm, feeling almost disturbed by the uncanniness of the literal demon sitting there, grooming itself before stretching its non-existent muscles, like its very existence wasn’t defined by its unwavering hatred for all sentient life.

“What is that thing anyway? Like, some kind of hard-light Dust construct? Jet’s into all that Dust and weapon stuff, but I think I’d remember something like that coming up in class.” Scarlet asked, trying to act casual and pretend they weren’t both fed up with one another already, mostly just because she had indeed promised to try with her. It seemed to be the right call as Lumi’s eyes lit up. Finally, something they could talk about like normal people.

“It’s my Semblance actually.” She said with pride, completely missing the way Scarlet groaned while she went on to explain. “As if simple constructs could accomplish something so life-like. We Schnees are able to summon our fallen foes. For example, I slew Sebastian here when I was merely fourteen!” 

Of course, of course this girl found a way to tie this back into her family, did she ever talk about anything else? And, considering the smirk on her face as she patted the thing, there was no way in hell that the comment about her killing the thing at fourteen wasn’t gloating. Although, that did give her an idea. Semblances, huh? Maybe she needed to do a bit of showing off herself. Grabbing onto the twin hilts of her beloved swords, Scarlet let the blood flow off from her Aura, encasing the blades in the liquid she had conjured up, and, via adding no small amount of power into the weapons, she carved right through the tree like a hot knife through butter. With two colossal gashes in its trunk, the tree began to list away from them and begin fall over, hitting the ground with a great thump just as Wilt and Bleed’s crossguards met the mouths of their sheaths.

“Well, guess me and my boring, normal Semblance did just fine, eh?” she said, her tone only just a bit more smug than she had intended it to be.

Lumi stared with her lips pursed, clearly wanting to say some sort of retort. A part of Scarlet hoped she would say something, to give her an excuse to vent after the frustrating experience. However Lumi just huffed out her annoyance and turned away. The Sabyr, apparently named Sebastian, knelt down for Lumi to climb onto, Scarlet following suit after her new partner, only for the Summon to stand back up before she could climb up onto its back.

“You gonna offer me a ride?” 

“Oh? I thought you didn’t need the aid of me or my Semblance, surely you can walk without issue.” Lumi said, no longer even bothering to look at Scarlet as the creature began to walk off just faster than a normal walking pace, leaving a once again infuriated Scarlet to follow with a scowl.

Three rounds tore through the Creep’s skull in near immediate succession, the creature dropping and sliding along the ground before disintegrating, gunned down before it even had the chance to get into attacking range, a process that Jet calmly and methodically repeated with the three others that charged at him. Aim Hephestus, release a burst of fire right into the middle of the Creep’s head to most effectively pierce the bony plating, and then repeat with the next one. After the three dropped dead, he waited just a moment, watching and listening for any others that might pop out from the bushes to ambush him, or if the noise had attracted any others. Satisfied that he was safe for the moment, he took a moment to check his progress on the Scroll, the little blinking dot indicating that he was halfway there already.

Anyone else would have been pleased that things were going so smoothly. Jet however couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. This was an initiation, surely it was meant to be more challenging than a handful of some low level Grimm that could be casually gunned down. As the thought passed, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he swore he could feel the hot breath of something against his skin, turning around with his finger already resting on the trigger, ready to pump the creature full of Dust... only to be met with trees and foliage of the forest. 

That… no that wasn’t right, he knew he’d felt something . This wasn’t just him being paranoid like Scarlet or Lupin would suggest. He knew what he’d felt… but there was nothing in sight, not even some displaced grass or fallen leaves to indicate there had been anything there. Had he really just imagined it? Reluctantly, he turned around, doing his best to ignore the feeling of eyes on the back of his head. Yet even as he glanced back, he found nothing. 

He tried to take his mind off of it by thinking of something else, like the other students that he had somehow managed to completely avoid thus far. Was that weird? Realistically he should have run into someone else by now right? But he hadn’t seen even the faintest sign of anyone, something that only bothered him more when he felt the same feeling of being watched from a moment ago. Moments after picking up the pace, the ground under him and the trees around him started to shake. An earthquake? Here? If Forever Fall got earthquakes, wouldn’t the teachers have said something about that beforehand? Before he could question the sudden tremors any further, a yelp from above alerted him to a shape hiding in a nearby tree.

Reacting on instinct, Jet aimed up and opened fire on the branch, and as expected, a body dropped down yelling and flailing. What he didn’t expect was the body to stop falling in mid air in front him. And, despite Jet still having his gun trained on him, Jin seemed less than bothered as he floated upside down just below eye level.

“Hey man!” The large Faunus smiled nonchalantly, having quickly recovered from the fall and raised his hand out in a fist. It took Jet a moment to register he was supposed to bump it, feeling a bit awkward he fist bumped the floating man, who grinned like an idiot afterwards. “Aren’t you gonna ask me how it’s hanging ?”

Jet chose to ignore the pun, both because it was bad, and because he was floating, not hanging, instead just spinning the other boy into an upright position, who then dropped down casually as he let gravity claim him once more. Jet, now at least a bit more at ease, gave him a confused look, then looked up to the trees where he had accidentally knocked Jin down from.

“What were you doing in the trees? I could have shot you.” Jet scolded his new friend, not really getting much in the form of a reaction other than a shrug.

“Oh, I figured it would be easier if I was moving through the trees, less chances of getting a Grimm's attention.” Jin said without missing a beat. And Jet, despite wanting to, couldn't really find a flaw in the logic of it. Unless he wanted to try and make the argument that Jin somehow should’ve expected a paranoid fellow student to shoot the branches out from underneath him. Instead, the green haired boy just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, avoiding his partner's gaze. Jin, seeing his reaction, just chuckled and gave his shoulder a light pat. "Hey no biggie, we're partners now, right? Gotta get used to each other's quirks at some point."

Right, quirks. That was certainly a word for it. But, if Jin was willing to let it go, then he wasn't going to push it. And besides, that feeling was back, and now that he wasn't on his own, it was as good a time as any to get to the bottom of it before it drove him mad.

“Do you feel that?” Jet asked, looking around the small clearing they found themselves in.

Still, he saw nothing but the forest,  and couldn’t hear a thing, not even the distant sound of animals or combat, just the unnerving silence and the gentle howl of the wind in the trees. Jin just tilted his head, looking around and similarly finding nothing.

“Feel what? I couldn’t really feel anything other than the shaking.” 

“Like we’re being watched.” Jet clarified, his voice hushed as he used his Semblance to swap Hephaestus's old magazine with a fully loaded one.

“Hey guys, over here!” an unfamiliar but friendly voice called out from their left, high pitched and excited, like that of a child. Taken off guard, but welcoming another ally, the boys turned around, only to find more of the emptiness that had surrounded them before. Jin stared on in confusion for a moment as Jet immediately went on guard, aiming in the direction they had been called from, taking a cautious step back. After all, in his 17 years of living, he was still yet to meet someone stupid enough to play games in the woods when they knew Grimm were active. While Jet couldn't hear the movement behind them, Jin did, the soft fluttering of feathers moving behind them catching his attention just in time to see a bony white blade slash at the back of Jet's neck. Having only a split second to react, the Faunus moved as fast as his legs would carry him, getting in front of the strike and focusing his Aura, tanking the blow and getting knocked right into Jet, sending both boys to the ground.

Looking up from their newfound position on the ground, they were greeted with their attacker, an avian Grimm that was nearly seven feet tall, even taller than Jin’s full height. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it moved like a flash of black, leaping onto Jin with its claws aimed right for his throat. Again acting with no time to spare, Jin was forced to raise his arms and take the damage, the sharp talons wrapping around The Golden Path and sinking into his forearm. The poor boy didn't even have time to acknowledge his pain before he had to move again, weaving his head out of the way just in time to avoid his skull getting run through by the creature's beak. A series of three shots from Hephestus rang out, each bullet punching into the Grimm with deadly precision, the creature letting out a disturbingly human scream in response. It flapped its wings, trying to fly away, but Jet wasn't done, another three round burst striking its wing, causing it to return to the earth. He fired at the black shape on the ground, intending to kill it, only for each bullet to be deflected by the two scythe-like blades on its tail. Rustling its feathers, the Grimm watched them get back up, and yet despite its emotionless mask, both could feel anger and contempt radiating from the creature.

"Ha, you don't look so tough!" it called out in the same borderline hyperactive tone, a voice that clearly wasn't its own, sounding more akin to a teenage boy still going through puberty. The boys both reacted with a mixture of confusion, shock, and revulsion at the Grimm mimicking speech so easily and clearly.

“Did that thing just…” Jin asked aloud, mostly just to process the idea himself.

“Yeah, it talked.” Jet responded with a shaky breath.

“Does that mean we can talk this out?” Jin asked.

The honesty in his tone actually worrying Jet that the other boy might try to talk with the Grimm that had just so nearly cracked his skull open like a particularly annoying tree-nut. Thankfully, it stopped any attempt via interrupting with a lightning fast blow that Jin just barely managed to dodge.

“Guess not!”

Jet tried his best to line up a shot, but the creature proved to be too fast as it darted to Jin, the creature jumping over a sweeping kick and pecking its sharpened beak at its target’s head, which Jin managed to avoid by ducking between the beast’s legs. Seeing his chance, Jet opened fire at full auto on the creature, a mere two shots managing to land, both of which only seemed to anger the creature as it spun its tail blades in a fan-like motion, preparing itself to deflect any further shots. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jin moving in behind it, and wordlessly, a plan was formed between the two, Jet would continue to lay suppressive fire until Jin moved into range to take it out. Jet, rather than use his semblance to swap out the magazines, merely let the weapon run dry, the bird-like Grimm starting to move in for the kill the moment it heard the gun click. But, Jin was already on it, grabbing it by its normal, less deadly tailfeathers and pulling it back, delivering a crushing blow to its spine with a sickening crunch as he did so, resulting in it quite literally folding in on itself. Now that the monster’s legs and bladed plumage were completely paralyzed and left with only one working wing, Jin raised his leg up over his head, readying an axe kick to the head to finally kill the damn thing.

“Please! I don’t wanna di-” 

It never got the chance to finish, Jin bringing the heel of his foot down, cracking its skull open in one blow.

Jet sighed, quite literally seeing the beast dead at Jin’s feet. They should have felt relieved, but the nature of the now disintegrating Grimm left them with a lingering sense of unease. Jet had killed Grimm before, and he assumed Jin would’ve had to as well. But the more… insidious nature of this one was nothing like what he and Scarlet had practiced on in the woods back at Patch. His Mother and Father had warned him that there were Grimm out there that were far, far more dangerous than what he had experienced thus far, but seeing and hearing were two different things.

“So that thing’s voice… Did it just make it up or was it from a person?”

Jet didn’t want to admit it, but he knew Jin was onto something. It had clearly seen combat considering how it had fought the two of them, and the voice was only a few years younger than theirs…

“It’s probably best not to think about it. Come on, we’re not done just because we killed one Grimm.”

Ruby watched on the screen as Luna dove for the ground, just narrowly avoiding the swipe of a Beringal's fist. If the launch was her favorite part, then this was her least favorite; seeing her students in danger and being able to do nothing to stop it. Even if they did actually need their assistance, she physically couldn’t help them, instead left to watch from her seat in the back of the airship the students had been transported in with, now outfitted as an impromptu command center that she and Glynda sat in, monitoring the progress of their students. Focusing back on the task at hand, she watched as the white haired girl rolled onto her back, and with the aid of her Semblance, fired a laser from the gun, burning right through the creature and another member of its troop that had been charging along with it. She immediately fired again, but this time the laser was far weaker, only managing to burn the remaining Beringal, not even slowing it down.

Thankfully, an arrow pierced its back a moment later. The beast roared in pain in response before turning around, just in time for a massive metal club to be brought down onto its head, the sheer weight and power behind it reducing the simian Grimm’s head to a black smear pockmarked with chunks of bone, rendering it dead before it hit the ground. Ruby found herself breathing a sigh of relief and leaning back in her chair as she watched three other students walk up to the scared looking moth, Juliet taking center stage and lifting her up to her feet by the collar of the fluffy jacket she wore.Two others followed, Rosaria, Juliet’s partner, and the girl whom had shot the arrow from an impressively large bow, a redhead frog Faunus named Elena, who was immediately being introduced to the girl they had rescued, and as such, was promptly assigned as her partner.

“Well I think that’s the last of our partners set up.” Ruby sighed, pressing a button on her scroll  that locked the pairings into the school’s systems. 

“Good, now they just have to complete the examination and retrieve the relics.” Glynda said matter of factly, too busy writing down notes and glancing at the screen currently watching Scarlet and Lumi as they made their way to their objective to properly acknowledge her subordinate.

Ruby, despite her better judgment, found herself watching the feed as well. Scarlet was partnered with little Lumi, a girl she had been there for the birth of and had watched grow up along with her siblings. It just didn’t sit right with her, even as she once again told herself that Scarlet was just a normal girl, with parents who just so happened to be terrorists who had maimed her sister and murdered her friend. No, it had nothing to do with her. 

"The Mockingbird was a weird choice though." Ruby said, mostly just to make conversation and to try to keep her mind off of the idea of Scarlet on the same team, let alone being partners with Jaune and Weiss’s beloved child. She was not looking forward to that conversation when it inevitably came time for it.

Yet, the response she got from Glynda wasn’t the exactly the smalltalk she had been hoping for, the Headmistress abruptly putting down her scroll and turning to face her assistant with a confused and somewhat worried look.

“A Mockingbird?” Glynda’s tone worried Ruby, not for the usual reasons of an impending scolding, but because she genuinely sounded confused about the presence of an abnormal Grimm in the initiation, something she should have known about as the one who had set the whole thing up.

“Well yeah, Jin and Jet just killed one a bit ago.” Ruby said quickly as if trying to excuse herself, mostly on instinct. But again, the look on her friend’s face was worrying, pulling herself together Ruby swallowed hard. “Why?”

“No Grimm were imported for this exercise. Why wouldn’t I tell you about something like that?” The headmistress asked, looking up at Ruby’s feed, walking on over and swapping through the different feeds. 

“Do you… think it migrated, maybe? I mean it is an avian-type Grimm, and a pretty smart one at that, maybe it caught a ride on an airship?” Ruby asked, mostly just hoping for some sort of reasonable explanation for how a Grimm usually found on the other end of Sanus somehow ended up in their exercise. 

“Perhaps, what else is out of place?”

“Well, a lot of our motion sensors are going off, even though there’s no Grimm or students in the feed, and it seems like there’s been a few earthquakes around the area too.”

“Earthquakes?” Again, Glynda’s attention was drawn in by her colleague’s remark, raising an eyebrow. The Forever Fall Forest didn’t just have earthquakes, not as long as she’d known the area in her many years of duty, and if it did , then the SDC wouldn’t have designed one of their key cargo railways to cut right through it. Ruby was in no way comforted by the skeptical and somewhat worried look on her friend’s face

“Glynda?”

“Keep an eye on the cameras, I want to know everything that’s out of place the moment it happens, down to the millisecond.” the elder huntress ordered, walking back over and taking her seat. Something was wrong, very wrong, and at the moment, it seemed like all she could do was watch.

Chapter Text

"Are you still mad?"

Goose's question was innocent enough, and despite her current annoyance, she couldn't bring herself to be as upset as she wanted to be. She had overreacted, and now that she was going to be stuck with her… ex step-sister? In law? Whatever, the title itself didn't matter. Point is, they were stuck with one-another regardless of how they felt. And Belka certainly had something to say about this arrangement. Granted, even if it was as well intentioned as it sounded, being in the middle of fighting off an Ursa Major wasn't exactly the right time to be bringing this up. Belka thrust the curved edge of the naginata up into the massive beast's shoulder. The blade of solid light sinking into the muscle, but doing little more than superficial damage. The beast swung its massive paw at her in response, forcing Belka to jump back and giving Goose the opening to move in and make her own strike, her blade making a deep cut along its gut. A blow that would have handily disemboweled a standard Ursa.

"At this school? For shooting us several hundred feet in the air? Yes. Very."

Belka shot back, regaining her footing and with a twirl off Morgan, switching the naginata into its ranged mode, firing a beam of energy at the beast, only for it to bounce right off the thick armor plating. She swore under her breath, as all she had succeeded in doing was once again capturing its attention, which Goose used to again move in, swinging down with Glücksfall, chopping into its neck in an attempt to decapitate the beast. An attempt that failed, resulting in little more than black smoke obscuring her vision and a very, very upset Ursa. The Major turned its head, snapping its wide jaws at Goose, who raised Glücksfall to keep it from biting down into her flesh. Belka, readying Morgan once more, continued peppering beams into the Ursa, trying to get it to back down as she called out.

"Is now really the time for this?"

"Why not? It's just an Ursa."

Goose would have shrugged if she wasn't holding back well over a ton of personified destruction, almost every inch of her Aura straining around her weapon and arms just to keep the monster from biting through it. Growing irritated with the lack of progress, it spun around, taking the girl off her feet and opening its jaw as it did so, throwing Goose onto the ground, where she landed on her shoulder and slid across the dirt, too dazed to react in time as the monster started to charge her. Thinking fast Belka took aim at its eye, taking the shot and scorching the glowing red orb in its skull.

"A Majo- Look I'm not mad. Why would I be mad when it wasn't even your fault!?" Belka called out, hoping to end the conversation so they could focus on dropping the Grimm that had, once again, turned its attention onto her.

The Major, driven by a newfound pain on top of its usual lust for bloodshed, charged. Belka waited, she would definitely land a blow, but there was no guarantee she'd actually hit her target rather than just the plating around the eye. So instead she formed a plan, reverting Morgan back into its naginata configuration, and readied herself. At the last possible moment, she jumped to the side, and with her opening now clear, Belka spun her weapon like a buzzsaw of light, slashing it across the jaw and severing the tendons within, causing the heavyset maw to immediately go slack on its right side. At the very least, this seemed to do something, the beast's gallop rapidly turning to an uncontrollable stumble with the pain, and, just as Belka had hoped, it failed to stop its momentum in time, slamming head first into the tree behind her. Hoping the sickening crunch of bone was its neck snapping from the impact, she turned her back on the fallen beast, only to see Goose rolling her shoulder, wincing a bit as she did so.

"Weeeell… you know what? Actually, nevermind, you're right." The Branwen girl said dismissively, obviously avoiding eye contact with the Gele, something Belka noticed immediately, walking right up to Goose with her hands at her hips.

"Wait, no, what does that mean?" Belka asked, not even attempting to hide her irritation. She wasn't going to stand for that sort of response. After all, she wouldn't take it from one of her nieces, so she certainly wasn't going to take it from her. "Did you intentionally knock me out of the air?"

Rather than getting a proper response, Belka found herself suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and pulled into the taller girl's body, who spun them around as she did so. The next thing she knew, something slammed into them from the side with an immense amount of force, throwing them through the air and into a nearby tree. Her vision blurred for a moment from the impact, but she could hear the guttural roar from the Ursa Major as it stood up on its hind legs, its towering height made even more clear than before as they slowly got up from the ground, Belka spitting some blood out of her mouth as she was made aware of her now split lip.

"Oh, nonono! I just mean because of my Semblance." Goose explained sheepishly, being the first of the two up on their feet and getting ready to fight once more, seemingly more bothered by the implications of what she had just admitted than the bleeding claw marks along her side. Was she still trying to have this conversation now, especially after the hit they'd just taken!?

Getting a good look at the Major, she saw that its mask-like skull was one good hit from shattering like glass. Despite its posturing, the beast was on its last legs, they just had to deliver that last critical blow and bring it down. As the first to recover, Goose moved in first, narrowly avoiding the full force of its arms being brought down from overhead and thrusting Glücksfall into one of its paws. Just as the barrels met abyssal flesh, she pulled both triggers, blowing the beast's paw into countless black and white chunks, and leaving it with a stump that furiously leaked black tar. Meanwhile, Belka took the opportunity to load Morgan with a cylinder with her family sigil engraved onto it, a vial of Dust designed specifically to be used by her watched as the glow from within Morgan's internals changed color to a deep crimson as she charged up the shot and took aim at the Major, which looked ready to throw itself onto Goose.

Preparing herself for the subsequent flash, she took the shot, a blood-red beam of immense heat, charged by some of the purest fire Dust money could buy, shot out of Morgan, aimed squarely at the Ursa Major's head. Before, she was doubtful that a concentrated blast would have accomplished her goal in killing the beast, but with its mask in its current state, it may as well have been tissue paper, a hole completely punched through its head by the blast, the insides still smoking from the blistering heat.

Standing on the other side of the beast as it fell, Belka used her weapon as a sort of cane, holding herself up, but somehow managing to maintain her ever-present indignant stare as she panted and heaved. Now that they knew for a fact that it was dead, she wanted to know exactly what Goose meant about her Semblance.

"Explain."

Goose sighed, but realized this was probably something that needed to be explained sooner than later. She took a seat on a fallen tree, her Aura closing up her wounds as she did so now that she could actively focus on it rather than slaying the beast, the sight reminding Belka to do the same.

"Well you see, I'm not like Lumi and Liz, I didn't get the Schnee Semblance."

Now that got Belka's attention. Wasn't it supposed to be genetic or something? She had to hold back a smirk, oh that was rich. For someone who was so much better than her according to her nieces, all because of what side of their lineage she hailed from, Goose not having the Schnee Glyphs was absolutely hysterical, poetic even. Goose didn't seem to pick up on her amusement though, too busy fidgeting with her feather.

"I sorta… mess with luck, like my Dad, stuff that's unlikely to happen is a lot more likely around me, both good and bad, and I can't really control it all that well."

So her Semblance was… unconscious probability manipulation? By the Gods that sounded tedious. And did she say that her father's Semblance was similar? She almost felt bad for the Schnee matriarch, dealing with either of those semblances non-stop for years on end, let alone both at once, sounded mind numbingly infuriating. A thought that made her realize that it was a situation she'd soon find herself in, now that she'd be attached to Goose by the hip for the next four years, something that soured her already less than positive view of the girl.

"Well that certainly explains it, you're just as much of a mess as your father." Belka said, using her admittedly limited knowledge of the man gained from her own dad's recanting of the man. A surly and terribly uncoordinated drunkard much like his ex-wife.

For the first time since laying eyes on her, Goose looked legitimately upset.

"Stop it."

Goose stood up, walking right up to Belka, leaving her weapon on its side by the trunk but balling her fists and looking down at the smaller girl. Ah, there it was, the girl's real nature. Trying to intimidate her as soon as she heard something she didn't like, regardless of how true it was. Belka just scoffed in response, if her "partner" thought a few extra inches in height was going to shut her up, she was determined to prove her wrong, instead stepping even closer.

"Oh, do you have a problem with me?" Belka asked, daringly raising an eyebrow, silently praying for Goose to actually make the move she seemed to want to make. But instead, she just crossed her arms with a huff that was more adorable than intimidating.

"Yes, you're being mean!"

"Mean? Seriously?"

Belka could have laughed. "Mean." Was she a child? She soon found her question answered, the growing pout on Goose's face confirming her assumption almost instantly

"Yes, 'mean' like some kinda bully! You don't know my Dad, or me really. I could say stuff about your dad, but there's no reason to. I'm not talking to your dad, I'm talking to you."

That wiped the smirk right off of the Gele girl's face. Goose couldn't possibly have known, but that had hit rather close for the purple-eyed girl, causing her to flinch harder than any threat of actual violence would have. And what was worse, she had not a single answer or retort to counter the claim, having knowingly gone for something she knew from experience would sting.

"I… yo- look, let's just get initiation over with." Belka said quickly, trying to hide her face which contorted with confliction.

She hadn't been wrong exactly, the girl was a mess and that Semblance was going to be irritating at best and infuriating at worst, but… maybe she had crossed a line. Even if she didn't like the girl, that was uncalled for. The reaction wasn't unnoticed by Goose, who paused, tilting her head in sudden intrigue. She hadn't actually expected that to work, she just wanted to get it off of her chest before it could build up and fester, so she didn't actually know how to follow up on that, let alone that it had legitimately gotten a reaction out of her. Unfortunately she didn't have the chance to try and continue the conversation as the ground beneath them started to rumble, the girls stumbling into each other, and the trees around them shifting and threatening to fall. Then, almost as soon as they had started, the tremors ended.

"What was that?" Goose asked, letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in and, letting go of Belka, looking around confused as the Atlesian next to her did the same.

"An earthquake?"

"No it wasn't, we have them all the time in Vacuo. Look at how the trees are tilted like they were dragged from underneath, that was something moving around." she said, pointing to the trees and how they'd tilted diagonally, as though the roots had been dragged by something beneath the surface.

"In the ground?" Belka asked, trying to ignore the chill she felt run down her spine, something had moved that close under them, something clearly big.

It was a miracle they had gone unnoticed… or more likely just luck. The girls shared a look of mutual worry, their spat forgotten for the moment. It seemed they had far bigger things to worry about.

"What do you think it's heading for?"

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Scarlet was starting to get mad. Okay no, she was already mad, now she was starting to get livid. Lumi was getting on the last of her nerves with this shit, first it was not letting her ride the summon and having it move at a weird-ass pace that had Scarlet doing some kinda jog-walk in order to keep up with, like one of those godsforsaken escort missions that every video game on the planet insisted on cramming into the story a few years back. Currently, it had turned into her giving Scarlet the silent treatment, something that was driving her up the wall, because while she could handle arguments, she utterly despised silence. Her parents were both bullheaded and held strong opinions, and as a result she could more than handle a screaming match. But silence was suffocating and just left her with her thoughts, which in turn made her think back to the various spats they've had, which in turn only got her more and more irritated. What's worse is that she knew it was bothering the blond as well, the way she kept glancing back at the Faunus made that pretty clear.

"You're quite stubborn, you know that?" Lumi called out from over her shoulder, trying to sound casual despite having been fidgeting like a dust addict for the last few miles. "Just apologize, and I'll let you ride Sebastian the rest of the way."

"Apologize for what?" Scarlet scoffed, seeing the idea that she was the one that needed to apologize as ridiculous. "You're the one making a big deal out of this and dragging it out. I thought we agreed to try and get along."

"When I thought I'd see you in passing as Jin's friend, it didn't mean I wanted to get stuck with someone like you." Lumi said, refusing to fully face Scarlet as though she wasn't worth the time of day. If Scarlet couldn't admit that she was in the wrong, then Lumi didn't see a point in trying any further. Stopping dead in her tracks, the bovine woman actually growled back, something Lumi would have laughed at if they weren't wasting precious time.

"Someone like me? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you really need it spelled out for you? Not a surprise." Lumi sighed as the Sabyr stopped in its tracks, turning around so Lumi didn't have to, now looking down at Scarlet rather than up for a change.

"Well then by all means, allow me to elaborate. You're an ill-mannered, crude, and exceedingly obnoxious brute of a woman. Frankly, I don't know what Jin or that other boy who seemed to just follow you around like a lost little puppy see in you."

"You leave Jet the hell out of this!" the redhead shot back, actually able to feel her blood pressure rise at that.

First of all it wasn't even true, and more importantly, who the hell did she think she was? As if she knew anything about Jet! Lumi, meanwhile, seemed to be relishing in the way she made Scarlet fume with anger. So much, in fact, that she couldn't help but push just a bit more.

"Make me." the Arc-Schnee taunted from atop her mount.

Reaching down for her blades, Scarlet lowered herself to the ground and widened her stance, at this point more than willing to put this little brat in her place, screw the initiation! As soon as she did so, Lumi's face immediately seemed to lose all amusement, as well as color. Almost immediately, the Sabyr jumped off to the side of the path and took a defensive position, bringing a terrified looking Lumi with it.

"Move!"

Her partner's scream caught Scarlet off guard, but not as much as a guttural roar from Sebastian that, even though she knew he was friendly, still made her jump out of her skin. Then she felt it, the very earth beneath them shaking violently. But that didn't explain Lumi's reaction, nor Sebastian's. Turning around, doing all she could to remain standing in the midst of the seismic storm, Scarlet found herself staring straight down the gaping maw of what looked like a massive worm, countless teeth pointing out from their circular structure, spread open by four mandibles with tusks almost as long as she was tall. Scarlet barely had time to move, so when she stumbled back her heart skipped a beat, as in that fleeting moment of a mistake, it was immediately too close to properly dodge. Scarlet's depressingly short life flashed before her eyes. Mom and Dad taking her to the park with the lake she'd grown to love, Aunt Emerald bringing Lupin home for the first time, Dad giving her Wilt when she started attending Signal, Mom teaching her to dual wield Wilt and Bleed, The days she spent by the lake with Jet…

The visions were interrupted as an unseen force pulled her off of her feet and sent her crashing onto her back, a deep violet, almost black Glyph having launched her out of the Grimm's path. Without thinking, Scarlet scrambled to her feet and over to Sebastian, not hesitating in taking Lumi's hand. The small girl, having a surprising amount of strength, pulled her partner up onto her saber-toothed steed with one hand and immediately commanded her summon to take off as fast as he could manage, just as the massive Grimm started to turn around and fully emerge from within the earth. Taking a moment to breathe, Scarlet realized she had been holding onto Lumi for dear life, practically crushing her ribs. Finally letting up, Scarlet sheathed Bleed as to keep a grip on the girl commanding the Sabyr.

"I thought you didn't like me." The Faunus said while looking back at their pursuer. It was following them directly now, displacing earth and foliage alike as it seemed hellbent on chasing them.

"So that means I want you to die!?" Lumi snapped back.

Okay that was on her, it was admittedly a pretty stupid question, not that she'd admit it though, and besides, that thing was still after them, gaining ground simply smashing through the obstacles that the girls had to take care to avoid and maneuver around, something that took precious moments they didn't have. As it reached closer and closer, its cavernous mouth opened back up, a swarm of tentacle-like tongues shooting out from within and reaching for the girls. Still clinging onto Lumi, Scarlet swung Wilt with reckless abandon, managing to sever the closest tendril and keeping the others at bay for the time being.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Scarlet shouted, watching as the swarm of tentacles joined together to form a far thicker mass that gradually moved in.

Lumi looked over her shoulder to deliver a response, only to start yelling as she saw the congealed tendril moving in, instead pouring as much of her Aura into the summon as she could. Her efforts allowed them to gain a bit of ground with Sebastian's newly enhanced speed, but not nearly enough to be out of the colossus's range.

"Some sort of Grimm, obviously!"

"No shit!" Scarlet yelled, once again infusing her blades with her blood before channeling her Aura through the weapon on top of it, swinging her blade in a horizontal arc and throwing out a blood-infused Aura slash that severed a good chunk of the banded together tentacles. "How do we kill it?!"

"I don't think we can!" Lumi shrieked, her voice breaking from pure fear.

Just trying to get away from the serpentine titan as she steered Sebastian through the obstacle course of a forest, dodging and weaving in between the trees, creating a natural barrier between them and the countless appendages protruding from the beast's mouth, and giving them time to think. Scarlet pulled her scroll from her pocket, opening the map and checking how close they were from the objective, which happened to not be far at all, and they were only getting closer.

"Not alone… Head to the objective!" The Faunus ordered, reaching around and putting her Scroll in front of Lumi, showing her just how close they were to their goal.

"You want to bring that thing to the other students?!" It didn't really surprise Lumi that her new partner would come up with a plan like that, but their options were very slim.

"Better we bring it out into the open and attack it together, rather than risk letting it ambush the others!"

The duelist sighed, she wanted to find something, anything to counter her partner's utterly suicidal plan in favor of something more immediate and far less risky, yet there was nothing that came to mind. She swore, her Mother and Father would have been able to deal with something like this single handedly! Yet, they were forced to conscript the help of others.

They just had to make it there in one piece first.

Exiting the forest, Elizabeth and Lao finally reached their objective, a sizable clearing deep within the forest that held what looked to be an ancient structure, only it was far too pristine to be more than a decade old. The structure itself was quite simple, merely a series of stone pillars surrounding a flat platform with a series of pedestals arranged in a circle within it. Lying upon each pedestal was what must have been their objective, Grimm Masks, something considered morbid and taboo by all but the most desensitized of people.

To Elizabeth, there was just something so inherently wrong about wearing something that mimicked the beasts hellbent on destruction they had sworn their lives to defend civilization against. So, seeing them used as the relics they were tasked with retrieving was something that gave her pause. As the first to arrive, she and Lao had their pick of different designs. Some she recognized, like one based on an Ursa's skull, or a Manticore's mask with its massive jutting horns, but then there were others that were foreign, like the simple curved plate with a single hole in its center that Lao was already holding, having made the choice for her, apparently unbothered by the sight.

She should have expected he would gravitate towards something so plain and expressionless. So far, it was suiting him perfectly, his face hadn't so much as twitched in a way that indicated emotion. All attempts at small talk had utterly failed as well, receiving little more than one word answers or in some cases not even granted that courtesy, just getting hums or nods to indicate that he had indeed heard her. Needless to say, it was beyond tedious being the only one to carry the conversation. But, a desire to get to know one of the people whom she'd be working alongside for her final years of training compelled her to at least try.

"So, where are you from?" A simple question, and one she hoped would spark something of a conversation.

"New Kuroyuri." Again, he spoke as though he had been called upon to read in class, and seemed to be straight up refusing to elaborate. The name sounded Mistralian, he certainly could have said something about that.

"Really, what was it like?" She asked, hoping that he'd say something to elaborate on the matter.

"Nice."

And that was all he had given her, nothing about the culture, his childhood home, his parents or… well anything. She may as well have been talking to the mask in his hand for all the opportunity that gave her to get to know him. Okay, this was getting her nowhere, what would her parents do? Well, Dad would more than likely just work in silence and focus on the objective, so he'd probably like the boy as is. Mom would have backhanded him the first time he ignored he gave her a non-verbal answer, seeing it as disrespectful. Okay, both were bad ideas, and Cassia was pretty much a slightly more sociable version of their father, so there weren't exactly many other choices. What would General Polendina do? Probably hold his hand through the process of how two normal people had a conversation. Wait, that actually wasn't a terrible idea, maybe if she gave him an example of how normal people talked, he'd catch on?

"Well, I grew up in Atlas, my parents were both military so they were pretty strict. Would you believe that this is actually the first time I've been on my own without an escort of some kind?" There, a proper opener to a conversation.

"I suppose I can see it. You seem to be very efficient." Lao said matter of factly, using all the emotion of a man filling out his taxes. But, it was more than two words and something she could actually respond to, so the pigmy girl considered it to be a small win at the end of the day.

"Hey Liz!" Looking over at the deep but gentle voice that called out, recognizing it as her cousin's dear friend. Jin had seemingly just emerged from the surrounding treeline, and shortly behind him was Jet with his weapon still drawn. The two boys seemed to be the second to arrive at the destination, both seeming to be a bit more winded compared to the other duo.

"Jin, glad to see you've made it in one piece. Have you seen Lumi or Goose?" Elizabeth asked, taking a better look at the pair, taking note of the holes in The Golden Path's gauntlets and the dirt along the edges and back of Jet's jacket.

"Not yet, you guys are actually the first people we've ran into." Jin said with a shrug, seeming to be unbothered by the sign of combat. Unlike his partner who didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the conversation, instead scanning the clearing for any threats. Jin meanwhile was too preoccupied with the redhead next to Liz, looking apologetic as he held his hand out to the stranger. "Oh, my bad, it's nice to meet you, miss…"

Jin trailed off, giving what he assumed was an unfamiliar young woman a chance to introduce herself. Elizabeth watched in irritation, had it been any other boy she'd already be rolling her eyes at their overreaction to the mistake. Yet with her partner, a small part of her was hoping he'd get mad, huff and stomp his foot, or just do anything really. But, that part of her was left disappointed as Lao kept his cool and simply corrected the blond.

"Jin, it's me, Lao." The boy corrected, surprising both Liz and Jin by the revelation. Elizabeth was more surprised that these two knew each other, while Jin was more reacting to… different factors.

"Lao!? But you're… pretty!" Jin blurted out, in shock over the apparent drastic change the other boy had gone through the last time they had seen each other.

Granted, it had been years ago but still, he'd expected Lao to look more like his Dad then the ginger barbarian Mom had tested her cybernetic arm against countless times in the past.

"Thank you?" The sudden confusion in Lao's voice was the first real emotion his partner had heard him express. Even so, she couldn't enjoy it as she now had another unanswered question.

"Hold on, you two know each other?"

"Oh yeah, my Moms know Lao's parents, and Lumi's Mom and Dad were on teams with both. We're practically one big family!" Jin proudly declared, pulling Lao to his side, still just as stoic as before but nodding along, supporting the sentiment. Elizabeth had to do a double take at that, Lumi knew him too? That was news to her.

Looking over to the other neutral party, she saw Jet similarly a bit taken aback, but more so due to the fact that his partner seemed to somehow know just about everyone they'd come across so far, aside from him, Scarlet and Luna. He and Liz shared a knowing look, silently agreeing that it was odd.

"Small world I guess." Jet said absentmindedly, his attention more on the podiums holding the ''relics'' that they had been sent to retrieve.

"We'll keep an eye out, you two grab a relic and we'll head back together." Elizabeth said assertively, volunteering her and Lao as lookouts, something that Lao didn't seem to mind. Not that she could tell at a glance, but she gave him a chance to at least speak up if he was opposed to the idea, something he didn't do, so Liz assumed he was fine with it.

Now a bit more comfortable with the backup they had gained, Jet led the way up, looking over the white and red masks with the same scrutiny he'd give any sort of mission. Masks based on various Grimm types laid out before them, a bit morbid for his taste, but he guessed they did about as well as anything else. A Nevermore, Beowolf, Ursa, Nevermore, a Gei- hold on were they repeating? Looking over the entire spread it turned out yes, they were. Nearly every mask had a counterpart save for the Beowolf, some mask in the shape of an angry human skull minus the jaw, and the Geist which, upon doing a double take, he saw was being held by Lao.

So that's how they were doing it.

"So does it actually matter what mask we pick?" Jin asked from his spot at the side, looking down at one of the Nevermore masks.

"Yeah, I think this is how they're deciding teams." Jet revealed, getting the larger man's attention. The monkey tailed man then walked over, similarly looking at the group of masks as his partner had.

"What makes you say that?"

"Look around, most of these are in pairs, see the mask that matches the one they had grabbed?" Jet pointed to the Geist mask over on the podium, before nudging his head back to their fellow students. He watched as Jin maintained a completely blank look on his face as the gears turned in his head, before beginning to slowly nod as he caught on to Jet's theory.

"Oooh, so I guess we could make sure we ended up on a team with those two if we wanted to, huh?"

They certainly could, and there were quite a few good reasons he could think to do so. Elizabeth had the Schnee semblance, which could prove to be invaluable in their training, and Jin seemed to be on good terms with Lao, which would save them time getting to know a pair of strangers. Yet, it meant he and Scarlet would be on separate teams…

"Yeah, but we probably shouldn't try to gain the system, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be random." Jet spoke, a bit quieter than usual.

Jin looked over, curious over the change in tone to see the other boy staring at the Manticore mask, staring right at its horns. Jin chuckled, but didn't say anything, instead just reaching out and grabbing the horned mask.

"Good point, and in that case, let's just go with this one."

As the boys returned to Liz and Lao, movement made itself clear in the distance, the very trees shifting as something moved closer in the distance, the four teens not knowing what to expect other than a creature too massive and fast to be anything natural. Each of them raised their weapons and got ready to cut down the threat as soon as it made its way out from the treeline. Except it didn't, the movement seemed to just… stop, leaving the group confused and waiting. Before any of them could question it, a much smaller, glowing white beast carrying two figures burst from the treeline. A wave of confusion hit the boys, not sure what to make of the glowing steed.

"Lumi?" Elizabeth questioned, squinting at the white Sabyr as it sprinted forward.

There was no way in hell they had been the cause of that mess behind them, even with the Grimm they were perched upon. Unlike his comrades, Jin seemed to relax, almost as if forgetting about the commotion that his friend was seemingly escaping, instead just getting excited at seeing a certain horned redhead clinging to his Lumi.

"Hey guys, you made it!" Jin called out, walking forward a step, only to then stumble as the ground beneath him started to rumble and shake.

But, unlike the light tremor that had startled him before, this was different, the ground feeling like it was being torn apart right beneath his feet, the others also struggling to stay standing at the sudden shaking beneath them.

"What's going on?" Liz asked, using a glyph to steady the group.

"Another earthquake?" Jet wondered aloud, looking over to the approaching girls and hoping for some sort of explanation. There was no way this was a coincidence.

"Spread out!" Scarlet screamed at the group, confirming Jet's suspicions.

However, there was no time to ask, because even while under the effects of the Glyph, he and the others could tell that the seismic shaking was reaching its crescendo. Jet jumped from his spot without a second thought, Lao and Jin doing the same, Elizabeth however was just a moment too late, and as she moved, the ground erupted, throwing rocks and dirt into the air as the colossal Grimm shot up from underneath where they were just a moment ago. While she was far enough out of the way to avoid being swallowed whole by the Grimm, a stray rock flung by the beast burst up and slammed into her leg with a loud snap, sending the girl to the floor, clutching the wound as blood started to gradually seep through her fingers.

The beast towered over them, its thick white armor plating and jet black skin now clear to see as it moved vertically out of the ground like a tower of black and white. Despite having no discernable eyes to see with, it looked around from its position half buried within the ground, clearly sensing the teens surrounding it. Eventually, its nonexistent gaze settled on Elizabeth, the pain from her fresh wound acting like a beacon of negativity. It wasted no time and dove down from above, looking to devour her in one bite. Not having time to move, Elizabeth raised her good arm and put as much of her Aura as she could into a Glyph that miraculously blocked the bite just in the nick of time.

A smarter beast would have simply backed up and moved around it, but thankfully the Grimm, despite its clearly aged appearance, was far from intelligent, instead acting on pure instinct as it tried to move through the barrier. The others acted immediately, Jin opening fire with Hephestus at full auto,aiming the Dust rounds between the thick bony plates, and while the shots hit their mark, it seemed to be more of an inconvenience to the titan. The same could be said for Lao's chakrams, which, despite having carved through Beowolves like butter less than a few hours ago, simply bounced off the beast with naught but a scratch left on its hide. Lumi, meanwhile, ran in with Sebastian, Scarlet reaching down and grabbing Liz and pulling her onto the friendly Sabyr just as the worm's mandibles reached around the Glyph, the immense pressure shattering it as it dove back into the ground, sending seismic waves through the ground as though it was rippling water.

The teens regrouped on the platform holding the masks, Lumi and Scarlet helping the small girl down off the Sabyr. While the platform likely wouldn't last too long, it was the closest thing to safety the group had at the moment.

"I don't know whether to thank you for saving me, or slap you for bringing that thing to us." Elizabeth mumbled, bringing her good hand up to her wound and immediately wincing, her nerves feeling as though they were on fire from just a light touch.

"Okay, we don't have much time, what are we gonna do about that thing? All of our shots are bouncing right off, and Lao's bladed frisbee thingies did nothing as well."

Jin asked, looking out over the clearing, the dirt lifting slightly as the creature moved around, circling them as though it was a shark. The group watched on, no one really having an answer. After all, how do you kill something you can't harm? Scarlet, meanwhile, was forming a plan.

"Well if the body is too tough, then we gotta go for the mouth."

Scarlet said as she turned around dramatically, only to be met by various stares of confusion and disbelief. The only one who seemed to have even a little faith in the idea presented was Lumi, who, upon seeing the hesitation from the rest of the group, stepped up to her partner's side.

"She managed to cut off a few of its tongues when we were being chased. She's right, or, at the very least, it's a better idea than wasting our, ammo, Dust, and energy trying to punch through its armor."

Scarlet turned to the duelist, surprised that the girl was backing her, but moreso grateful about the act. Either convinced, or seemingly accepting that they didn't exactly have a better idea, the students started to get ready for combat.

"It's better than my plan of having Jin try and float us all out of here." Jet joked dryly, reaching out and pulling a grenade from the green light of his Semblance, only for just about everyone but Scarlet and Lao to jump at the sight. Liz in particular did a double take at the military grade equipment that had somehow ended up in the hands of a boy her age.

"Where did yo- you know what it's not important right now. How many of those do you have?" Elizabeth asked, trying not to sound more accusatory than grateful in the moment.

"Just the one." Jet admitted, a silence covering over the group as they realized their success and possibly their very survival hinged on the one grenade in his hands. Swallowing hard, Scarlet stepped forward, beginning to give orders.

"Right… Okay, Lumi, you and I will draw it out above ground. Jet, I need you and Jin to be ready to lob that grenade into its mouth as soon as it comes for us."

She then turned to Lao and Liz, a cursory glance at the girl's discolored leg being all she needed to make a verdict. Having her help would just put her in danger, and Lao was gonna need to stay with her in case she needed to move. "You two, I need you to stay here and be ready to back us up if something goes wrong, okay?"

"What? No, I'm not ju-"

"We've got it." Lao said, interrupting his partner and shooting her a surprisingly stern look, she was in no shape to move and she knew it.

Elizabeth hesitated, but sighed as she conceded to the two redheads, sitting upright against one of the podiums, and drawing Due from its holster at her side.

"Fine, I'll do what I can with my Glyphs from a distance."

Scarlet nodded, it was a compromise that she could live with. Once again climbing onto Sebastian, Lumi led them out first, almost immediately catching the creature's attention as it circled around to chase them once more. With the Grimm hot on their tails, all they had to do was to lead it back to the boys, who were already floating overhead, Jet waiting with his grenade at the ready.

"You'd better hope this works!" Lumi muttered, as despite knowing this was their best bet at survival, she still couldn't shake the seeds of doubt, especially since the consequences of failure was them getting ground into mush by the monster's veritable blender of teeth.

"Upside is if it doesn't, you don't hafta put up with me anymore." Scarlet laughed at her own admittedly bad joke.

They could very easily die in the next few seconds, yet for some reason she wasn't afraid, maybe it was the adrenaline coursing through her. Regardless, she remained focused, glancing back at the worm tearing through the earth behind them. One shot, they had one shot to make this count.

"Is this a game to you!?" Apparently so as Scarlet laughed in response.

Oh that girl was so getting an earful once they weren't in the immediate threat of death! Just a bit closer and Jin and Jet would toss the explosive into the beast's vulnerable opening.

That had been the plan, but the Grimm was relentless. A tongue shot out like it had before, but this time, rather than reach for one of the girls, it was aimed at their mount, snaring up onto Sebastian's leg and tripping him up, throwing Scarlet and Lumi to the ground. Before either of them could react, the worm dove in, its mandibles brutally impaling the white Sabyr, causing it to turn into a cloud of white mist that faded away by the time either girl realized what had happened.

Jin felt his heart leap out of his chest at the sight, he nearly panicked and threw Jet in prematurely. However, a barrage of powerful Dust rounds and a pair of chakrams hitting one of its scales with pinpoint accuracy and managing to chip off a few flecks of bone managed to catch it's attention, turning to the pair still on the ground as Lao grabbed Liz and got ready to move the moment things went south. Looking down at his partner one last time, Jin was met with a nervous yet firm nod from Jet. So, with a powerful throw, Jin sent Jet towards the Grimm like, well, a jet, pulling the pin on his grenade as he cocked his arm back, ready to throw it into the mouth of the colossal worm.

Yet, the beast could still sense the negativity around it, tilting its head towards Jet as it sensed fear, its mouth opening up and giving him the perfect target. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to act on it as the beast promptly spewed a deluge of acid at the boy in mid-air. Panicking, Jet tossed the explosive early to try and maneuver out of the way of the caustic barrage, managing to escape with only his arm getting splashed with the foul liquid. The grenade, however, was completely drenched, and the already primed dust within reacted to the acid burning away at it before it found its intended target, the explosion being just close enough to blow a chunk of armor off around its mouth, and also knocking Jet to the ground with the shockwave, shattering his remaining aura.

"Jet!" Scarlet screamed as her friend fell to the ground, landing in a heap.

Moving as fast as her legs would take her, Scarlet ran up to him and pulled off the now steaming jacket, throwing it to the side as the acid ate through the sleeve; some of Jet's skin already burned away by the caustic ooze. Checking for a pulse, Scarlet almost cried when she felt the strong and steady rhythm of his heartbeat. He was alive, just stunned. However, the feeling of something moving behind her snapped her back to reality as she turned, only to see the creature bearing down on her, ready to bite down on the both of them. Lumi formed a Glyph under the beast, channeling her electric Dust into it and dilating the flow of time within, slowing the titan down as best she could. However, it seemed like she was too late as, even slowed, Scarlet wouldn't have time to move out from underneath its maelstrom of teeth.

That was until a beam shot out from behind her, a bright yellow laser that crackled with electricity, burning right through the now exposed flesh of the damaged mandible, the beast's shovel-like tooth tearing away from the surrounding flesh and falling to the ground, giving Scarlet just enough room to lift Jet into her arms and dive through the opening, narrowly escaping certain death as the beast's head bored into the dirt.

"We're gone for a few hours and this is the mess you get into?" Belka's haughty voice asked from the treeline, shouting to gain their attention.

"I guess they can't be trusted without their aunts around huh?" Goose joked, nudging Belka with her elbow.

Despite herself, the smaller girl chuckled. She and Goose would certainly have their hands full if this sort of thing was any indicator. The salt and pepper haired girl squinted, seeing the cow faunus clutching her friend upon the stone ruins, immediately beginning to worry the girl. "

Scarlet?"

"Back them up, I'll cover you!" Belka said, similarly noticing the less than stellar situation the others found themselves in.

She took aim with Morgan once more and fired another ionized beam at the massive worm's armor, the residual electricity from the blast crackling along the bone plates across its body. Not just having to deal with the assault from a distance, the beast suddenly had a certain floating monkey boy moving in quickly from above, his jovial attitude and complete refusal of the laws of gravity masking him from its senses.

"WAAAA!"

The furious and unusually high pitched yelling from Jin was punctuated with a series of rapid fire kicks, each one packing enough power to shatter the bony plating of a lesser Grimm with ease, the concentrated and constant force eventually managing to knock a single plate of armor off of the immense beast. Scarlet probably would have busted a gut laughing at the monkey boy's ridiculous war cry if she wasn't tending to her friend. It was a good thing too, as the beast dove into the ground once more, and she suddenly found herself having to use her body to shield Jet as the beast once again kicked up a storm of shrapnel-like rocks as it dug below the surface. As she braced herself for the stone to crash into her, she was pleasantly surprised to hear a loud BANG from Glücksfall as Goose shot the rock out of the air, running up to the redhead and kneeling down to look over Jet's writhing form.

"Is he okay?" Goose asked while maintaining her guard, Glücksfall's twin barrels ready to act at a moment's notice. Seeing that their immense foe had retreated for the time being, Belka, Lumi, and Jin moved to their friend's side just as Jet started to come too.

"I'm fi- AH!" He yelled as his exposed flesh brushed against the grass, immediately focusing his aura on his arm, neutralizing the remaining acid and closing the wound as he panted in pain, all while Scarlet kept her hand to his back, holding him upright.

"He will be, but we gotta deal with that before any of us are safe." Scarlet said, looking back at the cavalcade of moving dirt, tracking the massive Grimm as it moved around them. Belka, meanwhile, looked at Jet, they had to get him out of here, he was a sitting duck and being grouped up like this was the worst possible position they could put themselves in.

"We'll get him to safety, can you keep it busy?" Belka asked, the two women meeting each other's gaze for just a moment, but it was enough. Scarlet's worried look gave way to determination as she nodded at the Gele.

"I'll sure as shit try." Scarlet said, getting to her feet.

She, along with Lumi, and Jin staying behind and watching as Goose carried Jet away on her back towards the ruins with Belka in tow. Scarlet started to think that they could hurt it, even if just a bit, but they'd have to focus all their power on one spot. It wasn't a great plan, in fact it was terrible, but it would work as a distraction until Belka and Goose came back. They should focus on the missing mandible, it would be an easy target. Hell, if they could somehow get everyone concentrating on that area, they could more than likely take it down, but it was too fast for that. Maybe if Lumi slowed it down again? No, if last time was any indicator, it was simply too large for her magic doodles to affect it for more than a few seconds. If only there was a way to speed them up rather than slow it … that was it!

"Okay so what do we do?" Lumi asked, readying her blades in a defensive manner, mostly for a sense of safety as she knew her trusted sword and dagger would do virtually nothing to the beast on their own.

"Keep it busy." Jin said, rolling his shoulder, ready to strike the moment the worm came back around.

"We'll do more than that, I think I know how to kill it."

Scarlet declared, already infusing the blood conjured by her Aura into her swords, Wilt and Bleed each starting to carry a light glow. Jet and Lumi shared a glance of disbelief, yet Scarlet's confidence was unquestionable, at the very least she believed whatever ridiculous plan she'd thought of would actually work.

"Are you sure? How?" Jin asked with a tilt of his head, yet before Scarlet could speak, the worm changed course once more, heading right for them. Panic set in and the three tensed up, ready to move in an instant.

"No time, Lumi, you know that thing you did before where you slowed that thing down?"

"Yes Scarlet, I know how my Semblance works!" Lumi responded in a way that made it clear she thought the very question was idiotic. Ignoring the sass, Scarlet just smirked as she asked her next question.

"Well, can you use it to speed me up instead?"

Lumi opened her mouth to once again give her a sarcastic response when it clicked what Scarlet was getting at, her lips instead pursing into a smirk as the Arc-Schnee scion pulled a vial of electric dust from a pouch on her hip, the look in her eye almost worrying Jin as he tried to figure out what they were planning, all while the spark in Scarlet's eye burned even brighter as she realized where this was going.

"It would be trivial." Lumi said, already preparing to summon a Glyph.

"Okay, great. Jin, when we get a chance, you gotta throw me at the side where it's missing its tusk-tooth-mandible thing."

"But last tim-"

Scarlet quickly cut him off with a finger smushed up onto his lips, shushing the large boy before he could protest.

"This isn't last time, we have one shot at this, we do it right this time or we're ALL fucked."

Scarlet reminded them both, If they had any more time, they could have set it up just a bit more, but as things stood they had to move immediately. Scarlet ran in with Jin following slightly behind, and predictably, the beast rose up to try and bite at its prey, yet she was ready and with the right timing effortlessly leaped over the beast's maw, cutting twin slashes into its exposed head. Jin, meanwhile, took advantage of the beast reacting to the pain and used his semblance to float over the maw as it passed, punching down with as much force as he could muster, piercing its thick hide with the force of his strike, sending black ichor spilling out and coating his hand in dark muck.

The beast roared, the vibrations from its throat shaking the very air around them as it once more raised up to tower over them. Yet the moment it did, it was bombarded with munitions from the side, everyone on the platform opening fire in a concentrated effort to bring the beast down. Seeing their chance, Scarlet and Jin shared a glance and immediately went into action. Scarlet ran at him as he linked his hands together, the bovine Faunus using his hands like a stepping stone, and then with a powerful heave, he threw Scarlet into the air, her arc stopping just over the beast's missing mandible. That was the moment Lumi activated her Glyph, a clock-like symbol forming at Scarlet's feet which she pressed against for a brief moment, the energy of the electric Dust infusing itself into her body instantly and sending what felt like millions of volts of electricity into Scarlet, accelerating her nervous system to inhuman levels.

While she couldn't fully appreciate it with her focus on the task at hand, time practically moved at a snail's pace for Scarlet, the bullets raining into the beast's side moving as slowly as someone casually walking down the sidewalk. Kicking off the Glyph, Scarlet swung her crimson covered blades at the missing tooth, her blades piercing the exposed flesh with little difficulty. Then she began to spin, rotating her body like a Faunus buzzsaw, and with Lumi's aid, rotated hundreds of times a second, carving through the thick flesh and bony armor until it started to peel away or shatter under the sheer amount of force it was receiving. Gravity did the rest, pulling Scarlet back down to the ground as she landed on her knees, already splattered with the worm's inky black blood, soon becoming drenched as countless liters of the dark liquid poured down from the open wound. The colossal creature bellowed in agony as its body was suddenly split open, blood and shredded innards spilling out as the beast fell over on its side. It finally expired a moment later as its body, and thankfully for Scarlet, its blood, began to disintegrate, casting a great plume of black smoke upwards as several tons of Grimm flesh withered away at once.

With time suddenly snapping back to normal, Scarlet could hear the cheers and footsteps as the group ran up to her, although she couldn't tell which was which, mostly because of the way the sky above her spun and wobbled, then her stomach churned in a familiar but unwelcome way just as she saw a mop of green hair lean over her.

"You did it Scar!" Jet said leaning over her, his smile excited and wide for once rather than the perpetually smug smirk he'd inherited from his parents. If nothing else, she'd consider that a win.

"Yaaay… now… you guys should probably back up... I'm about to hurl."

"Hey, you guys all made it!" Juliet called out, running up excitedly as she and the others emerged from the treeline, only to pause at the dirty and wounded state of her peers, tilting her head as she was joined by the other girls.

"What… what did we miss?" Luna asked innocently. Her question didn't receive a proper answer, just the sight of Scarlet rolling over and spewing her breakfast all over the grass.

Ruby practically could have cried seeing the massive beast fall, a part of her couldn't believe they'd actually done it. A Sandscourge of that size would have been a challenge for her, let alone a group of students she could easily handle even without her beloved weapon. She chose not to ponder on the improbability of the result she witnessed, instead simply reveling in the knowledge that her students were fine.

"I knew they had promise." Glynda's voice was soothing, bringing a hand onto her friend's shoulder as they both watched on at the victorious sight.

The woman similarly seemed relieved, her eyes staying on the redheaded faunus as she dry heaved. Despite the… less than flattering sight, Glynda couldn't help but feel vindicated in her choice to accept the girl. If she continued to perform at this level, she'd prove to be an excellent Huntress.

But they had more pressing matters to attend to, like the fact that the Sandscourge, much like the Mockingbird, wasn't even native to Vale. In fact, the initiation had been almost nothing like how it had been planned out, the Ursa major was supposed to be the most dangerous thing the students would encounter, since more intelligent and cunning beasts like the Alpha Beowolf and Mockingbird were too much to throw at her fresh faced initiates, and the tired, bloodied conditions of them reflected that, almost like her thoughts were affecting the very atmosphere of the room. Ruby turned around, her previously overjoyed and relieved face more pensive and thoughtful.

"As happy as I am to hear it, we have more pressing matters."

The voice of Koji, the combat professor, spoke from the Scroll on the desk, the call open to himself, Oobleck, Touko, and of course, Glynda and Ruby.

"A Sandscourge right? Those are only found in Vacuo, and even if they were in Vale, an individual couldn't get that big, not without being detected by every seismograph in the city first." Touko said, sounding like she was pacing based on the rhythmic clanking sounds that came with her voice.

"So… those Grimm…" Ruby started, but she couldn't bring herself to finish verbalizing her thoughts, already knowing the answer. After

all, she'd been in the same situation enough times to recognize it first hand. She felt stupid about not seeing it sooner, of course Glynda would have told her about Grimm being brought in, and while the Mockingbird was explainable, even if that explanation was flimsy at best, there was no explanation for a Sandscourge of that size migrating all the way from Vacuo without any previous signs…

"A Beowolf old enough to learn from its mistakes and make complex informed decisions in the midst of combat. A giant, particularly destructive Sandscourge that seems to have appeared out of thin air since when we last surveyed the area, and multiple Grimm types not native to this Kingdom, such as a troop of Beringel and a rogue Mockingbird." Glynda said with a sigh as she steadily listed off the Grimm that simply shouldn't have been in her exercise. She didn't want to admit it to herself, let alone to her colleagues, but there wasn't any other logical explanation for the chaos that had just unfolded in front of them.

"One of these anomalies is already more than enough to warrant an investigation, but this many, all at once, accounts for nothing else but clear sabotage."

"Do you think…" Bartholomew's voice was unnaturally slow and hesitant. It made sense, all of them remembered the events that led to the Fall of Beacon, so the fact that someone was sabotaging them meant the very real possibility that Salem was ready to act once more.

"I don't see any other possibilities, this was an attempt on our student's lives." Glynda said matter of factly, keeping her voice steady as best she could despite the growing fires of rage within her.

Ruby looked back on the screen as she stared at her students, her nephew, her cousin and her goddaughter, fear creeping into her mind knowing that someone had tried to snuff them out before they were even officially Hunters, like a snake eating eggs before they hatched. It was a reality of the job, that they could be killed at any time, but it disgusted her that someone would go as far as to target those who weren't even legal adults yet.

And the worst part was she couldn't tell any of them.

Scarlet chugged the water as fast as her throat would let her. To say she felt sore from the Glyph's after effects was an understatement. Apparently, it wasn't just her perception of time that had been effected, but her whole body, and considering she had made thousands of cuts into a Grimm with armor plating that could shrug off most forms of explosives without issue, she was understandably in desperate need of some R&R, something which she'd be taking care of as soon as the team naming ceremony was taken care of. On the bright side, Lumi was actually being nice for once, patting and rubbing her back as she panted, hunched over on the bench to the side of the stage, waiting to be called upon.

"You should make sure you eat a proper meal afterwards as well, my time dilation also speeds up your metabolism." Lumi informed her partner, almost sounding like a nagging mother, which, while feeling a bit strange, was a welcome change from the open antagonism she'd been subjected to before.

"Next up, having retrieved the masks of the Nevermore, Juliet Tanner, Rosaria Watson, Elena Kokkinos, and Luna Lucerna. From here on out, the four of you will be known as team Jewel."

As the headmistress said this, the letters "J W E L" appeared on a screen above them, with a photo of each member accompanying their corresponding letter. "Led by… Juliet Tanner"

The girl in question threw her arms into the air, not bothering to contain her excitement at being appointed to the position of team leader. Rosaria and Elena both nodded, acting more professional, whereas Luna didn't hesitate to walk over and congratulate her new leader, who immediately threw an arm around the smaller girl's shoulder, dragging her into the cheering as the other two women of JWEL shared a knowing look.

Scarlet chuckled at the display, and were she not completely exhausted, she would've cheered for the girl too. After all, that sort of excitement was hard not to find contagious. Yet, for now, she just focused on finishing her water bottle as another team was brought up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jet and Jin approaching, and, without thinking, Scarlet stood up, only to immediately be hit with a wave of nausea, dropping back down with a groan. The boys both looked down on her with worry, only to wave them off before they also started to dote on her.

"I'm fine, just gotta eat something soon, that's all." she groaned, leaning back and trying to get over the way her head spun.

"So, what mask did you guys end up picking?" Jin asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from their friend's nausea, seeing as she clearly didn't want to talk about it. Lumi immediately latched onto the muscular simian's query, holding up the horned Manticore mask proudly. Jin and Jet shared a glance, Jin giving the smaller boy a knowing smile. Jet's little theory had proven dead on the money, and now it seemed to be paying off.

"We selected the Manticore, a proud and mighty beast, the graceful curvature of its powerful horns signifying both its strength and nobility."

She could have gone on for hours, simply because there was plenty to say about what the beast represented, courage, royalty, power, and so much more that resonated with her. Yet, it was clearly lost on the three idiots before her.

"Oh, is that why? I just picked it because it looked cool." Scarlet said casually, causing Lumi to deflate at the oversimplification, a reaction that immediately caused Jet to chuckle.

"Honestly, it's a more mature answer than I was expecting. I thought she'd say it was because they were both horny."

Jet joked, mimicking Scarlet's tone. Lumi cringed at the crudeness of the statement, even more so once Jin chuckled along with him, she'd expected better of him at very least. But, then again, they were boys, oh gods above that was going to be something she and Scarlet would have to adjust to…

"Pffft, okay that's good. Can I change my answer? I wanna go with that instead!" Scarlet said, her smirk reaching from ear to ear.

Lumi groaned, okay, it looked like she'd just be the one needing to adjust. She decided to look somewhere else, her eyes drifting back to the stage, just in time too, as Goose, Elizabeth, Lao and Belka each stepped up to the stage, the majority of them maintaining a professional pose with their hands behind their backs, except for Goose, who just stood with her hands in her pockets and a wide smile on her face as she stood before Glynda.

"Belka Gele, Goose Branwen, Elizabeth Ironwood, Lao Ren. The four of you retrieved the masks of the Geist, from today onward you four will be known as team Bagel."

The new team, minus Lao, reacted a bit predictably at the name, almost assuming they'd misheard the headmistress until the screen above them displayed the familiar spread of letters above them, labeled "B G E L". Glynda took a moment to allow them to accept their new moniker before finishing the ceremony with one final statement.

"Led by Belka Gele."

The response was more… mixed than with JWEL's reveal. Elizabeth's jaw dropped in a mixture of silent disbelief and indignation, and the only reason she didn't outright reject the appointment was Glynda's stern stare, one very similar to what she'd get from her mother when talking back would get her reprimanded. Belka herself looked stunned for a brief moment, then, seeing the look on her nieces' faces, her prideful smirk returned, raising her head up high. Of course she'd be the leader, it was only natural considering the rest of her team's… demeanors.

Goose raised her hand in celebration, inviting Belka for a high five. But, still on her high, Belka simply ignored her partner, instead shooting her a glance meant to reprimand her, yet the look was lost or possibly just ignored in the excitement. Unsurprisingly, Lao just nodded in silent acceptance, not seeming to feel one way or another about it. Even Lumi reacted with more emotion, huffing at the idea of that girl being appointed leader to a team, sure, over Goose or Lao she could maybe see it, but being appointed over Elizabeth? No, probably just a decision to avoid accusations of nepotism.

"Did she say team Bagel? Like, the food?" Jin asked, rubbing his head in confusion.

"It's not that bad, Glynda was going to go with team Bilge. The acronym would have been almost as bad as team Cement's."

Ruby laughed from behind the bench, startling Jet and Lumi, while the two Faunus were completely unfazed by her seemingly sudden appearance, having heard her approach. Scarlet just glanced over her shoulder, still feeling a small amount of annoyance from their first encounter, something the assistant headmistress noticed, her smile faltering just slightly as the two briefly made eye contact.

"Anyways, I'm supposed to let you know that the four of you are up next, you'll be given a leader and officially be made a team in just a minute."

By now, they'd been expecting to be placed into a team together, especially since the teams before them had all been assigned based on their matching masks. As they started to head off to the stage, Ruby reached out, impulsively taking Scarlet's wrist. A move that caught them both off guard, the horned redhead particularly going rigid at the grab, her amber eyes firmly locked onto Ruby's own silver orbs.

"Miss Ta-" Ruby suddenly hesitated, after all, Jin was right there.

On one hand, she didn't think Blake and Yang would have told any of their kids about Adam, but on the other, she didn't want to be the one to rip that band aid off. Lumi was already giving her a strange look as well, and even if she didn't have that personal connection, she was intelligent enough to put two and two together. Oh, why was she overthinking this so much? Screw it, just try to act casual… even though she just grabbed a student by the wrist.

"Scarlet. I wanted to congratulate you, I saw what you did to the Sandscourge, that took a lot of guts. And… to apologize for being so… weird when you introduced yourself."

Scarlet nodded along, still uncertain and clearly uncomfortable with the unprompted contact, something Ruby quickly corrected by letting go of the girl. As soon as she did so, Jet took his place next to his friend, standing behind her almost protectively. Meanwhile, Jin and Lumi both just looked confused at her uncharacteristic actions.

"It's cool… no hard feelings, really." Scarlet said, and, despite sounding genuine, she still took a step back.

Ruby sighed, doing the same. This was so… weird, and she wasn't exactly making things easier by making her student feel uncomfortable. She decided to just let them be for now, turning around to go inform the next set of students.

"Scarlet Fall-Taurus, Jet Black, Jinzi Belladonna, Lumi Arc-Schnee, you each retrieved the mask of the Manticore, and as such, the four of you will henceforth work together as team Sigil."

Once more, the screen lit up, displaying the team name as "S J J L". By now, the precedent had been established enough to indicate to Jet who the leader would be, Juliet in charge of JWEL, Belka leading BGEL, so he wasn't all that surprised when Glynda confirmed the pattern.

"Led by Scarlet Fall-Taurus."

"Me?"

The girl in question asked, would she be leading this team? She'd expected it to be Jet if anything, maybe Lumi, but her? Looking to her side, she was met by the stares of her team, Jet giving her that same confidence he'd had in her for years, Jin's smile and thumbs up indicating much of the same despite the lack of history between them, but Lumi looked… conflicted, yet she nodded, accepting the appointment without protest.

Well… if they didn't have a problem with it, who was she to argue?

Lumi lay in bed, her normally immaculate hair loose and messy as she tossed and turned beneath the covers, trying in vain to fall asleep. Her heart raced as she looked over to her partner. The horned woman lay face down, a pair of little pool noodles cut down to size crowning her horns to keep her from accidentally impaling her pillow as she slept. Jin hadn't been able to hide his chuckle at the sight when they retired for the night, and she nearly burst out laughing at the time. Yet now, she couldn't even crack a smile.

Ruby's hesitance at her name had been bothering her, Ruby didn't act that way, Mother had always spoken about her godmother as the fearless leader she had followed into battle countless times and had gotten her father and Lao's parents to follow her across Mistral with her conviction alone, that wasn't like her.

She saw her hesitate, and Ruby Rose didn't hesitate.

So, as the others slept, she did her research, the small space around her head illuminated by her scroll. She had opened the page hours ago, yet a part of her still couldn't believe the contents of the article, or the implications of it, causing her to lose precious sleep. At the top of the page was a blurry picture of a man, red hair and horns pointed back along his head, and wielding a very familiar crimson blade. Yet, nothing was as damming as the name attached to it.

Adam Taurus: The Crimson Bull of the White Fang

Chapter Text

A tanned woman tapped her foot impatiently against the stone floor, checking her scroll once again, scowling at the message that simply told her to meet Father Abdullah for an update. The message had been sent over an hour ago and she had arrived less than ten minutes after it had been sent, only to arrive in the middle of a christening ceremony, something she was sure that bastard Azrael had planned on happening just to spite her. Despite the man's abilities, he was petulant and spiteful to the point that it made young Lavender seem mature in comparison, despite her own host of issues.

Henna sighed as the priest continued on, running her tongue along her hollow fangs out of habit as the man dipped two of his fingers into a chalice containing a thick black tar that bubbled and roiled despite being cold to the touch. The last of the initiates trembled as the boney and cold fingers of the priest painted the Goddess's symbol onto his face, the same symbol that was tattooed in black ink on her chest, the tar continuing to bubble even as it slowly dripped into the stubble on his chin. The priest noticed this, and gave the man on his knees a questioning look, something the others who had gone through before him noticed, whispering amongst themselves through their matching solid white masks. Yet, Abdullah did not reprimand or even frown at the man, rather, he stroked the man's face in an almost loving gesture, like a grandfather showing affection to the child on their lap.

"Be not afraid my child, this is merely the beginning of your new life, a better life, one serving our savior." He spoke calmly, his tired and raspy voice still maintaining its warmth as he finished tracing the symbol upon the initiate's face, the tar now starting to spread, black tendrils crawling along his face as his eyes turned a deep crimson shade. With a kind smile, the priest handed the man his mask, identical to those worn by his brothers and sisters. Wordlessly, the man placed it onto his face, no strap or fitting necessary as the tar seemed to act as an adhesive, holding it perfectly in place as the man joined his new siblings, becoming just another silhouette in the group as they were lead away by a man in black robes who's mask resembled an elongated human skull.

With the ceremony seemingly over, Henna stepped forward, trying not to cringe as she got a better look at the man, as despite being more than familiar with him, it didn't make his unsightly appearance any easier to digest. At a glance, he simply appeared to be bald, but closer inspection revealed his face was simply devoid of any hair, not even having eyelashes. His face was also sunken in quite a bit, clearly displaying the structure of his skull beneath his deathly pale, wrinkly, paper-thin skin.

"Father Abdullah." She bowed her head respectfully, a gesture that was returned in kind. "I believed you wanted to speak with me about the plans in Vale?"

The elderly man simply nodded, using the staff he carried like a cane, leaning onto it as he stepped closer, placing the chalice on a table where several other ceremonial instruments lay in wait, including a kris dagger wrapped in a rosary, and a branding iron in the shape of Salem's sigil.

"The operation was a failure, the initiates all survived." He spoke simply and without any emotion, simply stating it as though it was a fact that didn't affect him, and not a pillar of their plans going up in smoke.

"All of them? How is that possible?" she asked, reining in her voice not to yell at the man before her, as while she technically outranked him as a member of Her Grace's inner circle, that didn't override the reverence she held for the man whom her mentor had aided in rebuilding The Goddess's Shadows. Again, Abdullah easily noticed the discontent from his fellow devotee, but he decided not to comment on it, instead choosing to simply recount the facts as they had been told to him.

"It appears they were better equipped than we were led to believe. While they fought admirably, the Grimm were dealt with." The man paused, contemplating on whether it was better to keep the next part to himself, or share what he had learned. Ultimately his loyalty to the Goddess compelled him to be truthful, even if he knew his old acquaintance would be displeased. "And there were… unforeseen factors."

Henna raised an eyebrow at the wording as it could mean literally anything, a silver eyed warrior amongst them? One of the more intelligent Grimm taking command of the rest and acting prematurely? The exercise being moved elsewhere? It could have been one or all of these things, yet his phrasing told her frustratingly little.

"Father, with all due respect, please don't keep me in suspense. What factors?" the snake Faunus asked as she crossed her arms.

"The betrayer's spawn was amongst them, and by the time it was discovered, the die had already been cast."

The betray- He meant Cinder! Cinder and Adam's child was amongst them? Her breath became heavy at the revelation. Oh she'd been waiting for this for so many years! Retribution against that damned bull and the Goddess's fallen Maiden was in her hands!

"I see, and what are we doing about that?" Henna asked, unable to fully keep the excitement out of her voice, like a predator staring down its completely oblivious prey.

"Our brothers and sisters in Vale assure me they have the situation under control, you may tell the Goddess that things will proceed as planned." Abdullah responded calmly, speaking with the patience of a man who had lived far longer than his current state would suggest. That was it? They were just going about with business as usual?!

"Like how they had planned for the initiation?" she asked, unable to keep the snark out of her tone. She paused afterwards, realizing her mistake and looking away, almost like a child knowing that they were about to be scolded. The priest didn't respond, not properly at least, instead humming a brief note of acknowledgement. Yes, the initiation had been a failure, he couldn't deny that, and so, he simply watched the woman, giving her the chance to offer an alternative.

"This is an opportunity for Lavender to prove herself." In Henna's eyes, it was only right that her student be tested against Beacon's own. A reasonable challenge for the girl, one that would remedy the failure at Beacon, and… there was the personal connection that made it oh so poetic. The old man was less than convinced, he knew Lavender, and while he had a great deal of respect for her father, she lacked his conviction for their cause.

"Do you truly believe she's ready for such a task? The girl has yet to even spill blood."

"Against Adam's child, she'll be more than willing to change that."

Abdullah tilted his head, ah, so that's what this was truly about. He had suspected that Henna had an ulterior motive to nominating her apprentice for the mission, of course, but now there was proof to his suspicion. Henna realized it too, yet, unlike last time, she didn't wince at her mistake, if anything, she seemed emboldened by it, as if the connection was a point in her favor. Truth be told, he didn't disagree, perhaps this was the push the young woman needed. Regardless, it was Henna's call, and all he could do was advise her.

"If you are certain, just be sure that in your haste to avenge your mentor, you don't sacrifice your protege in the process." With that, he turned and walked out of the chamber, leaving Henna to contemplate his words.

Sparks flew across the room as a set of pincer-like blades clashed against the claymore, The Queen's Servants doing little more than scratching the vast blade of Gargernut. Their wielder used the curved blades to latch onto the weapon, the girl's small frame effortlessly climbing onto the massive weapon and snarling in the face of the much larger swordsman. The man in question laughed back, amused by the girl's anger and wild, dilated yellow eyes. He continued to laugh even as the girl sprouted a third arm, a light purple limb made of Aura that pulled back and struck him right in the mouth, quickly being joined by a second identical phantom limb that did the same.

Yet, the man just continued to cackle, further infuriating the girl who used another limb to strike, this time stabbing directly at his throat with the venomous stinger of her tail. The man reacted smoothly, swinging his colossal blade with the girl still clinging to the weapon as if were made of cardboard, launching her from her perch and skittering along the ground back first, wherein she immediately rolled backwards into a handspring, pushing off the ground and coming to a halt on all fours, The Queen's Servants digging into the stone floor to slow her momentum. As she did so, her brown hair was set loose from the braid it had been pulled back into and now flung about, wild and free. The man smirked as his opponent, if she could even be called that, sat in a familiar hunched position, her scorpion tail curled back and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"That's it? You must be in the clouds if that's all you can manage. Is it even me you're seeing, or are you too high to tell who you're fighting?" The man mocked her, his pitch black armor letting out a series of piercing ultrasonic screeches as the many metallic plates rubbed together, making the Faunus's ears ache with every movement he took.

"Fuck you!" She could have fired back with any number of rebuttals, but clearly not in the right state of mind for a battle of wits, merely growled profanity at the cocky bastard before kicking off her backfoot and beginning her relentless assault once more.

The man smirked and raised his blade, swinging Gargernut in a horizontal arc the moment she got into range, The girl, despite her enraged and unfocused state, was more than fast enough to react, jumping and kicking off the blade as it passed underneath her, twirling in the air and forming several phantom limbs to confuse him, and, at the right moment, brought as many as she could down onto him. However, her opponent only watched one of them, and as soon as it was in range, he reached out and grabbed her tail, whipping her into the stone wall hard enough to crack it. Landing in a tangle of limbs, the girl's Aura started to flicker from the damage she'd just taken. The man marched forward, leering down at her with the massive blade effortlessly slung over his shoulder.

At first the girl just glared up, and even with her glossy and clearly unnaturally wide eyes, her contempt was clear. Then she smirked at him, a change that confused him for just a moment before he felt the change, his claymore grew heavier, or more accurately, he grew weaker as his Aura started to weaken. Before he could react, something sharp and serrated pressed against his throat, wiping his face clean of the cocky grin he'd carried throughout the scuffle.

"Brother Azrael, would you like to explain exactly what it is that you're doing with my sworn sister?"

Henna's voice was ice cold as she pressed the blade harder against the soft flesh of his exposed neck, her threat wordlessly clear as she moved slowly so that she was in front of him.

"Sister Henna," the man responded through gritted teeth, he didn't even bother to hide how he eyed the outfit that clung to her figure snugly, a small part of him wishing the white robe that she had covered most of her figure was just a bit loser, and scowling as he saw the younger girl immediately move behind Henna's back, her now smug face peeking out from behind her mentor's back, stinger still at the ready.

Yet, he wasn't willing to let the core issue of their little confrontation go just yet, not while the little brat's eyes were still dilated.

"I'm just showing young Lavender the dangers that come with fighting when inebriated."

Lavender's eyes went wide as she was called out directly in front of Henna, quickly darting her gaze between the two and stumbling over her words to try and get out an excuse.

"He came out of nowhere while I was-"

"Enough." the tan woman snapped, already out of patience from the moment she had stumbled across the scene. She'd deal with what Azrael claimed in a moment, but first she had to deal with him. "Leave, and if you let me catch you around her again, I'll show you exactly what I'm capable of."

The large man tensed as though he was considering making a move against her but ultimately decided against it, muttering an excuse about "displeasing the father." She watched as he walked away, waiting for him to turn the corner before letting her guard down for a brief moment, said moment immediately coming to an end as she turned back to see Lavender rubbing her arm where she'd landed, wincing ever so slightly and looking up to the woman she called her big sister.

"Thank you." The scorpion Faunus breathed a sigh of relief, her raised tail relaxing and her weapons folding back into their inactive forms before freezing at the stern look Henna was giving her, her small form shrinking under the woman's gaze and subconsciously pulling on the left sleeve of her coat.

"Is what he said true?" Henna asked, her voice almost serenely calm despite her obvious anger at the idea.

"I-I wasn't…"

The girl's hesitance was all her friend needed to confirm her suspicions. Then, without warning, she grabbed the sleeve that Lavender had pulled down, lifting it to see a fresh injection site, the veins in her arm contracting as the venom worked its way into her system. Lavender sputtered, ripping her arm back from Henna's grasp, pulling the sleeve back down as she did so before finally hiding it behind her back and trying to explain herself. "I had a rough day… I just needed a small dose this time, enough to take the edge off!"

"Lavender, I thought we were past this." Henna said, gently taking Lavender's hands into her own, watching as the girl's eyes followed her movements.

Judging by how she was still coherent, and more importantly, not a bloody mess on the floor left by Azrael, the dose hadn't been enough to induce its hallucinogenic effects. They'd already had this talk so many times already, she honestly didn't know how else to tell her beloved apprentice that she was killing herself like this, that the temporary escape from her problems the visions gave her weren't worth the damage it did to her body.

"I'm sorry." It seemed her student agreed as she looked away, unable to face her reaction.

"Don't be sorry, be better. What would your father say if he saw you doing this to yourself?" That got the reaction she'd been hoping for as the girl flinched as though she'd been expecting to be hit.

As much as she hated invoking Tyrian in such a way, sometimes it seemed as though it was the only way she could get through to her student, similar to how he had invoked Salem's name when he trained her, just on a more personal level. Still, she lowered herself to Lavender's eye-level and reached out, gently moving some stray hair out of her face to get a better look at her.

"You're not mad?" Lavender asked timidly, her demeanor a far cry from the furious mess of anger that Azrael had invoked mere minutes ago.

"Not mad, just disappointed."

The words from her mentor stung, disappointed, she'd disappointed her "family" before, and that empty home in Vale and her pathetic excuse of a mother and her little golden child that she'd left behind could burn for all she cared. But Henna was her family, her real family, and disappointing her after everything she'd done for her hurt.

"But you're still my sister, nothing will change that."

Lavender could have cried, burying her face into the warmth of the older woman's chest and wrapping her arms, as well as her tail, around her in a deep embrace.

"How much longer do we have to stay in Vacuo?" The younger girl asked, she'd had more than enough of Vacuo and the people they'd been working alongside within it. She liked it better when they were on the road, just the two of them. Almost like the adventures that had been read to her in stories as a child.

This was it, this was her chance to tell Lavender about Adam's child. A chance to finally show her the reality of their work, and against a target who she was more than justified in taking action against. It would be a good introduction to their role within Her followers, possibly the best, and a prime opportunity to teach her about why it wasn't just blood for blood, but service to their Goddess by punishing her betrayers in righteous vengeance.

"Just be sure that in your haste to avenge your mentor you don't sacrifice your protege."

But, was she really ready? She had taken a dose of her own venom for a "rough day"... Even if she would be willing to spill blood, what if she ran into a Huntsman? What if she hadn't trained her enough, or Goddess forbid, she tried going after Adam directly… No, she couldn't risk it, she knew where Cinder's spawn would be for the next four years, more than enough time to get Lavender ready, and show her the ways of the Goddess in a less… risky manner.

"There's still plenty of time to prepare here." Henna spoke calmly, gently stroking her fingers through Lavender's long brown hair as she calmed herself down. The teenager predictably groaned at being left in the dark once again, just as she had when they first arrived in the city.

"It would probably be faster if you told me what it is we're doing exactly." Lav muttered, only getting a chuckle from the older woman in response.

"In time, my little Lavender, in time."

"Lumi? Are you listening?"

The girl in question immediately jumped in her seat as Jin's voice cut through the fog of her thoughts, nearly spilling the tray of food in front of her as she jolted upright, attracting stares from her team, as well as the neighboring team BGEL and a few assorted people nearby. She sheepishly rubbed the drowsiness from her eyes as she tried to pretend she wasn't on the verge of passing out just a moment ago. She wasn't even halfway through her first day at Beacon, and she was already faced with a scenario that was causing her to lose sleep. Worst of all though was that she couldn't say a word about it.

"Yes, just… tired, I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." Lumi groaned, technically telling the truth, but conveniently creeping around the exact reason she hadn't gotten any sleep to begin with, mainly because she was trying to ignore it herself, putting faith in Beacon's headmistress that there was a justifiable reason for such a clear… oversight.

Or at least she would have, provided that the aforementioned oversight wasn't sitting directly across from her, chewing on one of the hotdogs that were being served as brunch with her mouth open like some sort of slob.

"What, princess isn't used to sleeping without her several thousand dollar bed?" Scarlet teased, leaning in and not even bothering to swallow the half chewed food before speaking.

Lumi just grimaced at her abject crudeness, doing her best to remain patient, if nothing else for her own safety and the safety of Jin. It was so tempting to shoot back something about her heritage, but in the end she knew better, it would've been the lack of sleep talking, not her. The smart call was to get through the day and talk with Father. He'd have a logical explanation for her, that or she'd be bringing their attention to what was clearly a severe oversight on behalf of whoever was in charge of the admission process. So for now, she'd keep her mouth shut and keep the peace, as after all, even if her suspicions were true, she doubted her "partner" was brazen enough to act where everyone could see them. As such, she'd just ignore the cow Faunus.

The cold response actually surprised Scarlet, she had thought her upbeat tone made it pretty clear she was just being playful, so when Lumi just rolled her eyes and disregarded her completely rather than firing back, it legitimately took her aback. What the hell was that about? She wasn't so tired that some light, friendly banter was all it took to get on her nerves, right? So she sighed, figuring she'd give the girl the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't her just being bitchy for the sake of it, shoving another bite of her hotdog into her mouth.

"So, what exactly were we talking about?" Lumi asked Jet, still ignoring her partner. The others of course noticed the display, but similarly took it as the blond woman just being tired and mutually deciding to just move on from the failed attempt at conversation.

"How you guys all know each other already, it's pretty weird honestly." Jet pointed out, thankfully swallowing before speaking unlike his crude friend.

"We don't all know each other, Belka didn't know me or Lao until yesterday." Jin spoke up, genuinely not seeing his green haired partner's point.

"Yeah, but Lumi alone knows you and is related to literally everyone in BGEL." Jet said, doing a sweeping motion of the other team with his left arm.

The four teens in question suddenly looked up from their food as they were brought into the discussion once more. Liz simply shrugged, to her it felt like they were just pointing out the obvious, meanwhile Goose's chewing speed accelerated to comical degrees so she could contribute to the conversation.

"Lumi and I aren't related." Lao pointed out calmly, not really participating in the discussion so much as he was correcting the record.

"Okay but my point stands, you're like her cousin/family friend/whatever, and Jin's aunt is the Assistant Headmistress. You guys are weirdly connected already."

"Oh, and my Dad and Lumi's dad both work here! Not as teachers, but they work here!" Goose chimed in, giving Jet more ammo in his favor. Jin paused, because, well, when it was laid out one part at a time, it was kinda hard not to see that it was a very, very big coincidence.

"Yeah, he has a point, if I didn't go through the outright negligent initiation, I'd say the way our teams are set up utterly reeks of nepotism." Belka added, having actually set her own food down to contribute as she scooted closer.

"How did your family end up being so closely connected to the School?" Scarlet asked, resting her head on her wrist.

As Goose began to excitedly explain the… unique dynamic of the Schnees and their various connections, the other students around them continued to eat in peace. One of these teams was JWEL, who sat only a row down from the perpetual conversation machine that was SJJL and BGEL. Juliet had already finished her meal, having scarfed down her brunch with as much beauty and grace as a rabid Beowolf.

"So I was thinking, after school we should go do something together as a team, like, properly get to know each other better y'know?" the tanned leader began as she stood up from the bench dramatically, resting an arm on Rosaria's shoulder which was calmly but immediately shrugged off.

Elena and Luna both looked up at their leader and her friend, both noting that the pair seemed to be pretty close even in spite of the fact that Rosaria acted like she merely tolerated the girl's presence at best. The pair were clearly very comfortable with each other, even if they didn't look like it. After all, Rosaria wasn't so willing to completely dismiss anyone else like she was with Juliet.

"That could be fun. What did you wanna do?" Luna asked, getting visibly excited, something Juliet couldn't help but smile at.

"Hey, not to kill the mood but I was actually gonna train later, I have a regimen to keep up." Elena said apologetically as she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. However, Juliet didn't seem fazed by this at all, in fact, she nodded along in understanding. The redhead figured she'd understand, the girl had muscles that almost looked to be sculpted from stone. If anything, she'd probably have to ask her leader for advice sometime, because whatever she was doing clearly worked wonders.

"That's fine, we could make it a thing, how about training and then dinner? My treat, there's this burger place in town that's reeeally good."

Elena opened her mouth to again turn down the offer, to try and explain that it was something she preferred to do in solitude, but paused when she saw the excitement on Luna's face and Rosaria nodding along to Juliet's suggestion, even though she was looking at the space behind her rather than directly at her partner.

"Well… I suppose that works." the Faunus caved, not willing to cause a fuss over one afternoon, and she couldn't really deny that it was a good idea to try and get more familiar with the girls she'd be working with for the next four years. Juliet glanced over to the quiet girl to her side, Rosaria's green eyes looking off at another table of students. Giving her friend's ribs a light jab with her elbow, Juliet smiled once she managed to reclaim her eccentric friend's attention.

"What about you Roe? You got anything to add?"

"We're being watched." Rosaria said as simply as she breathed, nudging her head in the direction of the table she'd been looking at, Juliet's eyes following as her brow furrowed, her smile vanishing off of her face in an instant. Luna had to do a double take at her leader's reaction, Juliet didn't have a mean bone in her body, even when they'd been fighting the Grimm during initiation she had a cheesy grin plastered on her face, or a smile at the very least.

"What?"

It was Elena who broke the team's sudden bout of silence, similarly worried about the idea of being spied on, looking around for anyone who might be watching.

"That blue-haired girl in the animal fur hat, she's been eyeing all of us first years ever since she walked in the room." Rosaria explained, and now having pointed their observer out to them, the girl stood out pretty easily. A woman, with long, bright blue hair partially hidden under a coonskin cap, was looking over the first years like a hawk. She looked to be a year or two older than Luna, so it was safe to assume it was just her being curious about the incoming cohort. Nothing to worry about.

"Roe, you really gotta word that stuff better, you actually scared me for a sec." Juliet sighed, apparently sharing the same sentiment.

Luna continued to watch the older students, now curious about them herself. The girl Rosaria pointed out was sitting with three other girls, who Luna assumed was her team, one she recognized as the super tanned girl from the airship, currently nose deep in a book. Another, the smallest of them, was a dog Faunus, happily yapping away to the girls as her fluffy pink tail wagged. The last was a freckled redhead with a bob cut, currently leaning back in her seat, laughing as she talked with a boy from the table behind her. Honestly, they seemed like a normal team to her, even with the girl in the cooncap's intense, almost predatory stare at the first years.

But, while Luna was happy to go back to her meal, something caught Rosaria's attention, a boy with black hair marching over, his fists clenched and his face red. Choosing to watch things unfold rather than eat, she wasn't surprised when the new boy pushed the one talking to the redhead. For a moment, it looked like a fight might break out between them, but the new boy, being bigger, tougher, and clearly angrier, scared off the other one, who slunk away in silence. Then he turned his attention to the girl, who just sighed as she turned to face him. This got the blue haired girl's attention, now watching her teammate and saying something that was waved off by the redhead. Yet, she didn't turn away from her friend's dismissal of assistance, watching with irritation as her teammate argued with the boy.

"What's that about?" Elena asked, leaning closer as if the extra few inches would somehow let her hear them more clearly.

"Trouble in paradise?" Juliet guessed, as from the way the other pair of girls within the senior team were whispering, it was clear that things were getting heated. And over something as simple as flirting? Yeah, that seemed to be the case.

"How could you? I thought you loved me!" he yelled, now having the whole room's attention. Yup, she was right. The redheaded woman just laughed in response, no longer caring about the volume as responding just as clearly.

"Look, Cyan, I had fun and all, but if you legitimately thought that I loved you, then you're an even bigger dumbass than I thought." The boy, named Cyan apparently, didn't take that well, at first sputtering in impotent rage before his anger got the better of him.

"You… stupid whore!" he cried at the top of his lungs, the pause in his response indicative that he was clearly still reeling from how easily the redhead had dismissed him, barely sounding confident in his insult, which was all but ignored by the freckled girl who just turned around and went back to eating.

Her teammate didn't respond anywhere near as calmly, standing up from the bench and stepping right up to the boy, as it turned out Cooncap was tall, not quite as big as him, but just a few inches shy, probably around a solid six feet tall, give or take an inch or two. She might have said something, it was hard to tell with the angle, but if she did, she sure as hell didn't give him time to respond, pulling her arm back before slamming her fist right into his nose. Rosaria's eyes widened, viewing the escalation from petty insults to violence as far from necessary. Luna audibly gasped at the sudden strike while Juliet just cringed. Meanwhile, Elena gritted her teeth at the act of blatant barbarism from her fellow huntress in training.

Blood spilled across the black tiles almost immediately as the boy stumbled back, tripping over his own feet and clutching his face in pain. The students started to crowd around them, mostly to get a better look, but a scant few seemed to be egging them on. The blue-haired woman clearly wasn't done with him, kneeling over the poor boy and lifting him up to her eye level by his collar. Elena moved, unable to watch anymore. Juliet tried to stop her, reaching out to pull the girl back, but missing her window as the Mistralian hopped over the table and pushed through the crowd, eventually managing to squeeze her way into the inner circle. The woman was still hunched over Cyan, blood streaming out from his nose as she growled at him. Now clearly able to hear the woman, Elena could make out the thick Vacuoan accent that seemed to flow freely with her anger.

"An' if I ever catch you even lookin' at 'er again I-" she stopped as she noticed Elena storming up to her, shooting Cyan one last warning look before dropping the boy and standing up, looking down at Elena who stood ready to act. "Who the hell 're you 'posed to be? This ain't your business missy."

"What the hell is your problem!? What did this guy do to deserve that?" Elena asked, her outrage clear for all to see. The taller girl glanced past her to the crowd, smirking when she saw the other members of JWEL still on the other side, and about to be stuck behind the first years coming to get a look at the spat she'd caused.

"Big boy over here ran his mouth, I already warned him before about how he acted 'round Aethel. He just didn't wanna listen." The woman's accent seemed to subside a bit as she calmed herself, not even flinching as Elena got into her face, or at least tried, the height difference between them now apparent. Yet the archer persisted, not intimidated in the slightest by her towering figure.

In the back of the crowd, SJJL and BGEL reached the uninvolved members of JWEL, who were still struggling to break through the horde that surrounded their teammate. Scarlet, seeing the other team panicked and with no sign of their fourth member, reached out, grabbing Luna as Goose joined in on trying to squeeze through the crowd.

"What the hell's going on?" Scarlet asked, just a little harsher than she had intended, accidentally making Luna flinch. Something Scarlet failed to notice while Lumi picked up on it immediately, watching closely.

"Elena just… ran in!" Luna squeaked out, looking back to her partner in the circle worriedly, as Belka managed to slip in through the cracks.

"So because of that you attack him? What kind of thug are you!?" Elena barked while poking the bluenette in the sternum, only for the taller girl to react almost immediately, her rough and calloused hand grabbing her wrist and twisting it inward towards Elena's chest. The frog Faunus yelped in pain as she tried to fight the leverage, pulling back hard only for the taller girl to simply let go and let her fall back from the force of her own struggle.

"One who'll knock you on yer ass if you keep runnin' your mouth." the woman answered, not even trying to be subtle at this point, cracking her knuckles in a way that was clearly intended to intimidate her now downed objector.

"Um, 'laska?" The dog Faunus she'd been sitting with before called out, directing her friend's attention over to the crowd once more.

She wasn't bothered by Goose or Juliet getting close to squeezing through the wall of people, not in the slightest, but the scroll in Belka's hand recording the whole interaction was a whole 'nother story. The girl just had to sit there and do nothing as Goose got in close, helping the redhead to her feet. Shifting her jaw, she turned on her heels and wandered back over to her team, sighing as she got a look from Aethelflad.

"I know, I know, he ain't even worth the trouble." she scoffed, taking one last look back at Elena. "Watch yourself girly, I ain't gonna forget this." With that, the team packed up, leaving the crowd, which dispersed almost immediately, most of the students going back to talk with their friends, while others tried to finish their meals. Cyan's team just helped the boy back to his feet, one member even helping to set his nose back into its proper place after they returned to their table.

"The heck was that about?" Goose asked Elena, who just shrugged in response. She really didn't have a clue why she had even caused the escalation in the first place, she just knew she had to try and stop it.

"Ugh, are you telling me that stupid 'drama' crap from Signal is gonna happen here too?" Scarlet groaned, this was the last thing she'd been hoping for at Beacon. Hopefully, this was as bad as it got.

"Good afternoon class, I'm Professor Fuchsia, your Grimm Studies teacher for your time here at Beacon."

Touko introduced herself while standing up from her desk, sipping on what remained from her morning brew as her magenta eyes looked over the class as they steadily filed into their seats. Stepping around the desk, the woman did a brief headcount, the presence of a few familiar names and faces making the influx of new students a bit easier to memorize than previous cohorts. As she stepped out from behind her desk, the sound of footsteps far heavier than what her size would realistically produce caught the attention of the more observant students. Jet and Rosaria in particular watched the rigid way her legs moved in comparison to the rest of her body, and noted what appeared to be a series of "seams" framing the top half of the woman's face.

Even if it wasn't obvious at a glance, anyone that paid attention could tell the woman was a cyborg, a heavily augmented one too if her single gloved hand was any further indication. Touko ignored the stares, more than used to them by now, and addressed her students as she had already done several times already with the other classes.

"Before we begin, does anyone have any questions?" a question which immediately caused a forest of raised hands to erupt from the class, accompanied by blatant stares at her prosthetic limbs, a mistake that she rectified almost immediately. "Does anyone have any questions that don't involve my cybernetics?"

A small change that, as expected, instantly caused her student's hands to drop back to their desks. Rolling her eyes, Touko picked up the textbook from its place behind her and once more addressed her students.

"Good, now to start off, open your books to page eleven, we're going to be starting with a refresher on the basics of Grimm biology and their various classifications." Immediately causing a soft groan to envelop the class. As with every year before them, the new students were far from excited to go over material they'd already learned in primary combat school, one boy even going as far as to speak out over it.

"Ma'am, why are we going over what we already learned? Professor Oobleck didn't have us going over basic history." The student's complaint was heard, but obviously not considered as the Professor's unamused eyes drifted over to the boy in question.

"And I'm sure his methods work just fine, but I'm not Oobleck." she began sternly, clearly establishing that there would be no further discussion on this.

"We're going over this because it's important to remember that the most common Grimm types you're going to be exterminating are the basics. Beowolves, Creeps, Boarbatusks, and the like" punctuating the name of each Grimm by pointing to a picture of the matching drawing of the creature's anatomy on her chalkboard. Not a single one of the beasts one the students would consider threatening. "These are the most common forms of Grimm here in Vale, but that doesn't mean you should get comfortable around them. Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer after all, and none of you are good enough to avoid losing to, getting maimed by, or even dying just because you underestimated a Grimm."

She took a moment to breathe, as well as to let her words sink into her student's heads, the silence that followed telling the Professor that her warning was being taken seriously. The class was smart enough to tell that the woman spoke from experience.

While most of the class seemed to go along with the lesson from that point, some were still distracted, Lumi being one of them, too busy keeping an eye on a certain member of her team to re-learn something that she could, frankly, recount from memory since she was twelve. While she respected the Professor and understood she meant well, there just was too much on her mind currently.

She tried to just ignore the Faunus next to her, it really shouldn't have annoyed her that Scarlet was slacking off, playing some game on her scroll under the desk while pretending to read, unlike herself, who had a perfectly valid reason for not paying attention. Of course another realization then immediately plagued the girl's thoughts, if Scarlet was who she suspected, then that also likely meant that Jet couldn't be trusted either. The green haired boy was seated two seats away from her, with Scarlet bent over the desk between them, reading his textbook, all while she took the occasional glance at him from the corner of her eye, examining him closer. He seemed nice enough, a bit quiet initially, but not unpleasant as far as first impressions had gone. No, her concerns centered in that he was far too close with her, the pair having apparently stuck together before meeting Jin. It was something she'd similarly have to ask Father about, just one more class and then she was free for the day. She'd go right up to Father's office and get this cleared up, and hopefully be able to actually pay attention to her studies rather than choosing to mull over her situation. Now was not that time though, as her partner nudged her in the ribs.

"Hey, think I could borrow your notes? I was… a little distracted." Scarlet whispered, a quick glance down at her textbook showing that she'd remained on the opening page for the whole lecture. Truthfully, Lumi wished she could say she was surprised.

"No, I'm not doing the work for you because you were fooling around on your scroll instead of actually paying attention." Lumi chided, quickly turning the page to hide the fact that she hadn't followed along either. In truth she simply hadn't taken any notes, but she wasn't going to spend any more time than absolutely necessary with the girl, not until she could actually get a conclusive answer as to her identity.

"Come on, don't leave a sister hanging." Scarlet pleaded under her breath, scooting closer to her partner and again nudging Lumi gently in a playful manner to try and get her to give in, an act that was returned by a sharp elbow to the ribs.

Scarlet let out a hiss of pain and immediately scooted back, rubbing the spot that had just incurred Lumi's wrath. Confusion and anger spread across the redhead's face, something Lumi took no small amount of satisfaction from.

"I have nine sisters, Scarlet, and last time I checked, you weren't one of them." she responded whilst flipping to another page in her book, acting as though she could now just ignore the girl beside her.

Biting her tongue, Scarlet just barely managed to stop herself from just swearing at the blonde for that. What the hell was going on? She'd been willing to overlook the crankiness from earlier this morning that lasted across brunch and the early classes, mostly because she and Lumi had seemed just fine yesterday, friendly even! So what the hell was this about?

"Seriously? I thought we were cool. What's got your panties all in a twist?"

"Well you thought wrong!"

Lumi snapped back, not bothering to answer the question, however she had been louder than she had intended, quite a bit louder in fact, her venomous tone clearly carrying throughout the room and attracting the stares of not just the students immediately around them, but the entire , this also included their teacher, who suddenly stopped mid lecture, and, recognising the voice of her friend's child, looked right up to Lumi, her tired stare making Lumi flinch before she'd even been properly reprimanded.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the class Miss Arc-Schnee?" Touko asked in a wholly unamused voice. Of all her students, she hadn't expected Lumi to be the first to cause a disruption. Honestly she was expecting it to be Goose, and still was in fact.

"N-no ma'am." Lumi said, her eyes cast downward in embarrassment. She was mortified, positively humiliated, a stain on her family's lineage.

Mercifully, Touko decided to move on rather than continue to chastise the girl, picking her lecture right back where she had left off. After taking a moment to huff out her frustrations, she shot a sideward glare at Scarlet, who similarly sat glaring down at her page in silent frustration. Well, at least she was paying attention now.

Whatever, let her stew, just one more class, she just had to make it through Combat Class and she could get her answers.

Ruby sighed as she sat down to relax, it was the last class of the day, and thankfully, one she'd simply be supervising. It was mostly a formality meant to help the students acclimate to the more direct training methods of Beacon, Koji was certainly skilled, but he could only do so much on his own. So, as was her duty as a teacher, a Huntress, and Vice Headmistress, she'd be helping out until the first year students got into the swing of things.

Up in the stands, Jin watched as the last of the professors he'd be meeting today walked out into the wide open space of the sparring arena. The old, grizzled looking man stood with his hand resting on the grip of his curved Mistrali sword, his black hair flecked with rivers of aged silver tied into a simple yet functional topknot and fully adorned in forest green armor, stylised like the Mistrali warriors of old. All of this, along with his hard, commanding stare, made him look like an old, no nonsense Shogun, his presence alone commanding the class into absolute silence. The monkey Faunus, being naturally curious, wasn't nearly as intimidated by the man, most of the staff were either his outright family or family friends at the least, so if anything, the old samurai was more intriguing than intimidating.

"Good afternoon children, my name is Koji Castleton, and it is my utmost pleasure to be your combat instructor!"

An awkward silence filled the room as no one really knew how to respond to that, the massive contrast of his kindly greeting with his intimidating appearance was striking and even off putting to a sizable chunk of the students. However, he didn't seem to notice as his stern, scarred face suddenly turned jovial and excited.

"In this class, I'll not only be instructing you on how to better combat the Creatures of Grimm, but also how to handle any nefarious characters you'll no doubt meet on your journey as Huntsmen!" the Professor's loud, booming voice traveling throughout the room with more energy and enthusiasm than he looked capable of mustering given his age.

"Is this guy for real?" Belka asked no one in particular in absolute disbelief, her thankfully brief experience with Atlesian veterans giving her the impression that he'd be a gruff and short tempered man of few words. She supposed this was a… pleasant surprise.

"He doesn't seem like he's joking." Lao said matter of factly, answering the rhetorical question without a hint of irony in his voice.

"Well, I guess I'm not upset that he's actually nice, but this is weird right?"

"I dunno, he seems fun." Goose said, looking at Elizabeth in hopes of getting the girl to join in on the conversation and agree, but her niece just stared down at the professor, seeming to agree with their leader, but unwilling to say as much out loud.

If Lumi felt any sort of way about the new teacher, she wasn't showing it, brows still furrowed as she stared off into space, thoughts plagued by her bovine teammate and the monster that spawned her. Shooting a glance over to Scarlet, the girl in question was sitting leaned back in her seat with a scowl, tapping her foot impatiently as she watched the Professor with everyone else, then her eye drifted over to Lumi, widening slightly as she saw her partner watching her from her spot with Jin and Jet between them, similarly still caught up on the events that transpired earlier. The Faunus's amber eyes narrowed at Lumi, she couldn't even be bothered to hide that she was annoyed by earlier, could she? Well, at least it wasn't outright hostile like she had feared. The blonde, in contrast, didn't bother thinking about her partner's petty response past that, simply rolling her eyes and readjusting her posture, she'd started to slouch too much.

"Hey, are you okay Lumi?" the deep yet gentle voice of Jin whispered, noticing his friend's irritated look. She hid it well enough, a stoic face and a calm, controlled pose would have fooled most, but Jin had known the girl since before either of their siblings had been born. He could spot the slight fidgeting and quiet huffs that passed over the heads of others.

"Perfectly fine Jin, why do you ask?" she said calmly, expertly masking the mixture of anxiety and irritation she felt, glancing over at the boy with a raised eyebrow. Again, Jin saw right through her act.

"Because you're acting mad about something," he said simply and with a slight hint of worry in his voice. "You'd tell me if something was up, right?"

Lumi's chest tightened with guilt seeing her friend concerned over her behavior, she wanted to tell him, truthfully she did as it affected him just as much as her, yet she knew she couldn't. She knew the big oaf would immediately ask Scarlet about it, possibly Jet if she told him to keep it to himself. No, it was better if she just kept it to herself until she knew for sure.

"I promise I'll tell you later, okay?", she said, turning back to the elder Professor down on the floor to once more try and distract herself.

"For the first week, Miss Rose and I will watch as you strapping young warriors take part in some basic sparring so that we may help you better grasp where you are as a fighter and what you need to work on. Now then, do we have any volunteers for our first match?"

At Koji's behest, a good deal of students immediately raised their hands. He beamed at the eagerness of his class, he'd hoped the first years would be eager to show what they were capable of, and so far, they didn't disappoint. He scanned the crowd of students looking for someone with a suitable amount of fire, and very quickly found a student who looked to have it in spades.

"Yes, you, the young lady with the horns!"

Ruby already knew who he was talking about, but still had to look to sate her own curiosity, and sure enough, Scarlet stood tall. To her surprise, she could see that the girl looked less than thrilled, her teacher's intuition telling her something seemed to be bothering the young swordswoman. Lumi's head turned as well, that damned red blade all but in her face as it sat snugly in its scabbard, taunting her from just a few feet away.

"Would you like to have an opponent selected at random, or do you have someone you'd like to challenge?" Koji said as she rose from her seat, her brow raising at his additional question. She was surprised by the sudden opportunity, in truth she'd just wanted to blow off some steam, work off the anger from her partner's bitchy attitude, but she could actually pick who she was fighting? Oh, well that made the choice very simple.

"Yeah actually Mr Castleton, I got someone I wanna fight. Lumi."

"What?" the petite girl yelled as she got to her feet and stomped her foot in outrage, the whole class once again finding their attention drawn to her.

Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at the all too familiar tone, as even 18 years later, she could still remember Weiss's shrill voice scolding her for goofing off, so she wasn't surprised at all to see the girl get into a dispute only a day after initiation. Honestly, she took after Weiss in so many ways that she would have been surprised if she didn't. She glanced over to Koji and nodded in silent approval.

"A duel between partners? Splendid! A perfect opportunity to test each other!"

Lumi sighed, the Professor already seemed to be in favor of the idea, perhaps seeing it as a team building exercise, or he was simply blind to the clear animosity between the girls. Either way it mattered not, she knew protesting was pointless and thus she wordlessly made her way down to the arena.

She took her place across from Scarlet as the clear hardlight barrier raised around them, protecting the other students and signaling the start of the match. Her nerves were causing her muscles to feel all jittery, yet determined not to show weakness, she stared forward, her face flat and watching her partner draw her twin blades with an uninterested gaze, yet she found her eyes following Wilt, the crimson blade that took the arm of Jin's mother, that now lay in the hands of this brash and insufferable barbarian.

"Well, are you going to tell me what this little stunt of yours is about?" Lumi asked, drawing Crocea Mors and her parrying dagger while trying to maintain control of her voice.

"You tell me!" Scarlet's simple response was paired with her launching herself forward.

Already on guard, Lumi reacted swiftly, similarly moving in and opting to take the faster route of thrusting her family blade at her partner's chest rather than trying to parry or block the overhead strike. While Scarlet's Aura kept the blade from even poking a hole in her shirt, the pain was all too real and she faltered in her swing, giving the smaller and faster girl the chance to sidestep and land a passing slash just under her ribs. Scarlet was unwilling to let up and spun around, swinging Bleed at Lumi's throat, and, on instinct, the blonde raised her dagger, successfully knocking the sword off its course, but failing to account for Wilt following its path and landing a strike across her face that would have blinded her if not for her Aura.

Recoiling in pain, she failed to see Scarlet sheathe Wilt, and then, in the span of a mere second, Scarlet channeled her Semblance into the blade, the summoned blood boosting the speed and force of her strike as she launched it from its home. The blood boosted blade made its mark along her midsection, reaching up to her shoulder as it arced, a heavy blow that knocked Lumi halfway across the arena and took twenty percent off of her Aura, bringing her down to just over half of her total reserves.

The crowd of students watched eagerly, most simply excited to see some action after having their heads buried in textbooks and the dread of assignments in the hours since they'd woken up. Jin winced as his friends fought, watching Lumi prop herself up on her elbows and all but snarl at Scarlet. He'd known something was causing issues, and he felt stupid for not seeing it sooner. He'd just hoped that Lumi and Scarlet really were over their problems after this, whatever they may be.

Jet similarly felt a sense of dread, Scarlet was aggressive for sure, but he knew from experience that she wasn't holding back, her strikes more than capable of killing her target if she was against a Grimm or someone with weaker Aura. What was she thinking? Was she even thinking? However, despite their mutual suspicions and concerns, the boys could only watch for now, and they'd need to wait for their answers.

Ruby, unlike the majority of her students, was less than thrilled, easily spotting that several of those blows had been aimed to maim. While her own education was… accelerated compared to the usual student, she knew that, by now, they should know that the amount of damage that Aura could reduce wouldn't change so long as their strike landed true. There was genuine anger driving these girls, had they gotten into a fight? A quick glance at their partners and the boys' confused faces told her if they had, it certainly wasn't public knowledge. She considered stopping the fight then and there, but another part of her wondered if it was simply nerves over Scarlet's heritage again. Gods, was she really still hung up on that? No, she'd let this play out.

Lumi got back to her feet, and the moment she was standing up again, her opponent closed the distance once more, bringing her twin swords down upon her and forcing Lumi to block, the pair locking their blades together and giving them a brief moment to mentally breathe. Scarlet's plan seemed to be to avoid giving Lumi any breathing room, and if nothing else, the blonde swordswoman had to commend her barbarous opponent for her strategy, she clearly watched how her glyphs worked in initiation. So, she was clever, if nothing else, yet she either didn't account for or underestimated the dagger she held in her free hand.

"What the hell is your problem? You've been a bitch all day!" Scarlet shouted, loud enough for the crowd to hear, and right in Lumi's face, flecks of spit flying out and landing on Lumi's cheek, infuriating her further.

"Excuse you!?" she yelled right back, absolutely furious at the blatant disrespect, a bitch!? Oh she'd show this brute that she didn't know the meaning of the word! Angling Crocea Mors back ever so slightly, Lumi was able to slip under the red and silver steel of her opponent, and with an upwards swing, carved the dagger into Scarlet's aura, then, using her glyphs along with some help from gravity dust, pushed Scarlet backwards. Her "leader" drove her blades into the stone to slow her momentum, coming to a stop not nearly as far away as Lumi would have liked.

"No! No more bullshit, what's your fucking problem!?" Scarlet demanded an answer, getting back to her feet and pulling the blades out effortlessly.

"As if you don't know."

"I don't!"

Oh, that was rich, she was playing dumb. That all but confirmed every suspicion she had about the girl, which meant there was no purpose in holding back anymore. Forming yet another gravity glyph under Scarlet's feet, Lumi took a page out of her so-called partner's playbook and closed the distance, the horned girl noticing too late that she was being weighed down too much to move out of the way. Lumi moved so smooth it almost looked like she was dancing, a slash across Scarlet's chest followed by her twirling on her toes and smoothly transitioning into a position to send several jabs into the ribs of her opponent, and, as it looked like Scarlet was finally getting ready to break free, Lumi simply disengaged the glyph and let Scarlet suddenly fall over from her own efforts. Lumi coldly stared the larger girl down, raising her family blade to be level with Scarlet's head.

"Adam Taurus!"

Ruby's eyes went wide as soon as she heard the names leave little Lumi's lips, how did she know about them? Oh Gods, had she told Jin? She knew this would come out eventually, but darn it why here, why now! It had been a day, a day! Looking over to her colleague, Koji similarly had a look of shock on his face, oh that was right, he didn't know either. The woman bit her lip, no longer as firm in her earlier decision.

"Oh shit!" Jet hissed, his eyes going wide with panic in a way Jin hadn't seen before from his partner, the rest of the students just seemed confused, whispers of confusion spreading around the room. A quick glance at BGEL told a different story though, as while Belka and Goose looked just as lost as the rest of their fellow students, Liz wore a look of horror at the accusation, and Lao's mouth went slack, losing his seemingly invincible composure for the first time since arriving at the school. That alone had Jin feeling uneasy, but when Jet stood up and started to make a break for the teachers he knew something was wrong, getting up and following the other boy with equal haste.

"Wha- the fuck are you talking about? What does some asshole with my last name have to do with this?" the Faunus asked, confusion briefly overtaking her anger.

"So you don't even have the level of integrity to admit it?" Lumi spat as she took a step closer, her blade leveled, its tip pointed at Scarlet's throat. Her eyes watched closely as the larger girl got to her feet, amber eyes alight once more with the flames of anger.

"Admit what?" Scarlet spat, only to be ignored. That was fine, she was already itching to smack down the uppity little shit, as for someone so obsessed with her own family, she sure as shit seemed ready to speak about hers freely when she clearly had no clue what the fuck she was talking about!

"Miss Arc-Schnee, stop your taunting at once!" Ruby shouted out, doing what she could to try and salvage the situation without physically separating the two.

"You knew? You knew and you still let her in? After what he did!? Did you just forget about Aunt Yang's arm!?"

The hurt and betrayal on Lumi's face stung worse than wounds she'd taken in the past. She'd messed up, bad, and now she had to fix this. By now, several students had begun recording Lumi's outburst on their scrolls, crap, could this get any worse?

Jet finally made his way to the professor, this was bad, FUBAR even, Lumi didn't know what kind of bear she was poking, and just how badly she was poking it. Scarlet already wasn't going to take this well, but dragging this out in front of everyone was just making things worse for both parties.

"Sir, please, you have to stop the match!" the green haired boy pleaded to the combat instructor, but the man was in shock, he hadn't seen it before, but now it was obvious.

"I… I don't…"

"Professor!"

Back with the girls, the two had re-engaged in combat, Scarlet suddenly finding herself on the backfoot, her partner's sudden aggression taking her by surprise. As the fight increased in intensity, the ring of blades clashing filled the room over and over again as Scarlet met her partner blow for blow in a song of steel.

"Oh please, how stupid do you think I am? Like the spawn of one of Remnant's greatest terrorists wouldn't know about it!" the smaller girl taunted in between strikes, a confident smirk appearing on her face. Scarlet was clearly seeing red, she just needed the foolish girl to slip up once and she'd end this.

"LUMI! ENOUGH!" Ruby had seen enough, and, pulling up her scroll, she began to enter the barrier's annoyingly long override code, readying herself to Petal Burst in between them as soon as the veil of solid light dropped.

"You're a coward Scarlet, just like him, hiding like a rat instead of just facing the tru-"

Lumi had attempted to thrust Crocea Mors into Scarlet once more, only for her strike to suddenly be parried, redirecting her blade upwards with incredible force, and, unable to fully stop herself from the momentum of her lunge, Lumi found herself stumbling forwards and past her target. With her opponent's back exposed, Scarlet wasted no time and, once again using her Semblance to enhance her blades, struck Lumi across the back, Wilt's crimson blade cutting into her back with a flash of white and red.

Wait, into? Scarlet didn't realize what she had done until Lumi dropped her precious sword onto the ground, the flecks of blood that had splattered onto her face and dripped onto the floor almost didn't seem real. The blood from her Semblance dissipated almost immediately, right? N-no, wait, Lumi still had her Aura right? She should have been able to take that hit, r-right? Yet, what Scarlet thought didn't matter as her partner lay motionless, silence overtaking the room as a crimson tide pooled around Lumi's motionless body.

Chapter Text

A/N: Quick note, You may have noticed that this fic has been changed to T on both sites. This is because after thinking about it what I've written and what I plan to write isn't something that needs an M rating. If this changes or I'm told otherwise by moderation for either site I'll switch it back. But for now, a T rating is appropriate in my eyes.

Ruby's heart sank as she watched Scarlet's crimson blade cut open Lumi's back. It had happened so fast, blood red steel arcing through the air and striking true in what felt like a millisecond before the wall of light separating the sparring match from the rest of the students fell, Lumi had made a simple mistake in her last blow. She'd always been so protective of that damn sword, ever since she had fought with her brother for it, she'd protected it more than she did herself, the Aura that had been focused into her weapon should have been focused on herself. Instead, Scarlet's parry hit the sword hard enough to cause Lumi's Aura to flicker and weaken across her body, her already meager defenses reduced to the point that Scarlet's blade, bigger, longer, sharper, and with much more strength behind it, had no problem passing through. Ruby could have screamed, cried, or, if her temper had been anything like her sister, lash out in uncontrollable fury, but instead she stood there in shock as Lumi lost blood.

Time slowed to a crawl for Scarlet, it was a lot like when she was under the effects of Lumi's Glyph, but weaker. She looked down at the pool of blood slowly spilling out from her partner's grievous wound, the wound she had inflicted. Shit, shit, shit, shit! What had she done!? Accident or not, the bovine girl felt sick at what she had caused, the fires of rage stifled by a deluge of remorse. She had to fix this, make things right somehow, maybe she could use her Semblance? She had used it to get blood back into smaller cuts for herself in the past, but Lumi's injury was far worse than any of those instances and… well, it wasn't on herself this time.

She only managed to take a step closer to her fallen opponent before something slammed into her from behind, hitting her at a speed that immediately knocked the air from her lungs and launched her off of her feet in the same moment, the sudden force following her onto the ground. Before she knew it, someone had her arm in a bind behind her back, pinning her down. She immediately started to twist and turn in an attempt to get free, and in the struggle, her assailant's identity soon came to light. Ruby. The assistant headmistress had tears of anger in her silver eyes as she pinned Scarlet down, trying to stop her student from getting any closer to her injured niece.

Ruby cursed herself, this was her fault, she should have stopped the fight the moment she saw them going at it with genuine anger, rather than reminiscing on the good ole days, and now Lumi was paying the price for her failure. The students in the stands were making a ruckus, mainly gasps of horror, exclamations of swears and profanities, and there was a scream that she was fairly certain had come from Goose. She couldn't worry about any of that at the moment however, trusting Koji to settle the students while she restrained Scarlet and tried to get the situation under control, specifically the redhead currently struggling under her.

"Let me go! I can fix this!" Scarlet cried, struggling against the grip of the Professor that had pinned her to the ground. Despite all her efforts though, it seemed that no matter how hard she pulled and writhed against the teacher's grip, there was no budging the older and stronger woman's grip from her current position, locked down on her like a vice.

"You've done enough! Just… stay still so we can handle this, okay?!" Ruby's words came out strained and uneven, the woman was clearly panicking and trying to hide it, badly, her silver eyes darting back and forth from the girl under her to Lumi just a few feet away. In her captors panic, Scarlet saw her opportunity, suddenly shifting her body as far as she could to the side and managing to knock the Professor off balance from her perch atop her. Seizing her chance, she pushed Ruby as hard as she could, managing to throw her off. With newfound vigor, she scrambled over to her partner on hands and knees, placing her hands just above the open wound and starting to concentrate on the red liquid that oozed out of her.

"Come on damn it, you talked all that shit but can't take a hit?" she said, her fingers tensed and her eyes squeezed shut in silent exertion. Suddenly the rivulets of blood stopped, Scarlet's Semblance keeping the tide still, before willing it to contract and move back, the crimson pool spread across the ground receding as it started to flow back towards the source.

"You… you can do that?" Ruby said in both surprise and skepticism. Despite her obvious display of distrust, she did nothing to stop her student, hoping that her gambit would play out and that Lumi would be okay.

Scarlet ignored the question and kept her mind on the task at hand, she had to make sure she didn't mess up and accidentally put the blood somewhere it didn't belong, because, as much as she wished it was the case, she couldn't just shove the blood back in and call it a day. Blood was weird, blood was complex, and thus, she had to make sure she got it back into where it was meant to be, the veins and muscles, something that she knew her Semblance was capable of thanks to her limited experience, but was still complex, requiring a good deal of concentration. After several minutes that felt like hours to those present, Lumi began to stir. The blonde let out a low groan, her eyes fluttering open as she regained consciousness. Then the pain set in. Gods above, it felt like she was on fire, her breath speeding up as she started to choke on her own spit, coughing as a waterfall of tears began to stream down her face. Looking back, her soft blue eyes widened in shock as she made eye contact with Scarlet.

"Oh thank the Gods, you're awake. Now, stay still." she said, clearly in a less than comforting mood, grumbling as she kept redirecting the flow, ignoring the whimpers and gasps of pain from Lumi as she worked to stabilize her. She didn't feel bad for the girl, dragging her and her father through the mud like that. And who the hell even was Adam Taurus anyways? Her cousin or something?

Every instinct Lumi felt told her to run, to grab Crocea Mors and take a swing, use her Semblance to throw her back, slow her down, to do anything but just lie there, but the feeling of her blood flow being directed by someone else kept her frozen in place on the ground, recognising that she was at the mercy of the same girl who had sliced her open in the first place.

The class was dismissed and led out by Koji, leaving Ruby alone with the two girls, keeping a close eye on them as Scarlet worked. It took a bit longer than expected, but eventually Koji returned, now with Qrow and Jaune in tow. Great, now she'd have to explain this…

"What happened? Oh Gods, Lumi?" Jaune exclaimed, his expression shifting from concern to horror as he ran in and dropped down to kneel next to his eldest daughter, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. He looked over at Scarlet, watching as she brought the last droplets of his child's blood, his blood, back where it belonged. Scarlet was then gently pulled away by Ruby, the student tried to argue before seeing the glow of the blond man's Semblance at work. He let his hands rest over Lumi just as Scarlet's had moments ago, pouring his Aura into her using his Semblance and causing her weakened Aura to surge back to life, the room awash with white as her wound started to close.

"Dad… she…" Lumi tried to speak, but was still feeling the effects of the blood loss, her body not yet realizing she had recovered her lost blood.

"Not now, wait until you're healed sweetie." Jaune said softly, glancing down at the wound that was mostly closed by her Aura. It was going to leave a scar, a large one too, a mark that trailed from her right shoulder all the way down onto her left hip that would likely remain on her for the rest of her life, fading, but never disappearing.

"What the hell happened?" Qrow asked as he turned to his niece, shock and anger clear on his wizened face. It was only the first day, and someone had gone and gotten themselves cut open, the fact that it was his granddaughter only adding to his frustration. Once her wound had fully closed, Jaune lifted the small teen up, helping her stand.

"It was a sparring accident, my fault. I… I should have stepped in." Ruby said, trying to pull the blame onto herself. It wasn't like she had lied or anything, she should have known better than to let the fight carry on, but she'd been stupid and let the fight continue well past the point of acceptability for a sparring match.

"No it wasn't!" Lumi gasped, still panting heavily as she leaned against her father, her anger returning as her aunt defended Scarlet. No, she absolutely would not stand for this, they'd know the truth about her, pointing a shaky finger at Scarlet and shouted. "She… she.. she maimed me!"

"Lumi stop, it was just an accident." Ruby responded immediately using as calm a tone as she could muster, still trying to defuse the situation, yet her niece was having none of it.

"No it wasn't! That girl is Adam's child, how could you expect anything less from her!?" Lumi said with righteous fury, only to fall silent as her declaration wasn't met with the gasps of revulsion that she had expected from the teachers, but an uncomfortable silence as they shared glances amongst themselves.

Jaune felt his throat dry up, he didn't need to ask, a simple look at Scarlet and the resemblance to her father became astoundingly clear. He found himself biting his lip and looking at the girl with a scowl, her parentage was already a good enough reason to be wary of the girl, and now she had attacked Lumi? There had better be a damn good explanation for all this. The blond man looked over at Ruby, a remorseful expression on her face hoping to convey her regret at not telling him without needing to say it out loud, her head nudging at the horned Faunus at her side, the girl already fuming.

"What the hell are you talking about? My Dad's name is Terracotta, not 'Adam'. I've never even met an Adam in my life!" Scarlet continued to argue, going to step forward to get back in her partner's face, only for her arm to be grabbed and pulled back by Ruby. Stopping to think for a moment, and seeing the two less than amused huntsmen at Lumi's side, she decided to just let it go for now, taking a deep breath and crossing her arms, her stance on her partner's baseless accusations proven quite thoroughly.

Qrow groaned, so she really didn't know, didn't she? Great, that was responsible of them. It wasn't like he didn't understand, it's not like he had jumped to tell Goose about his past as a bandit, but even so, he'd told her and Willow everything, and he didn't even have the looming bombshell of being responsible for the largest terror attack in Vale's history to inevitably drop on them. Besides, it was just his luck that Adam's little bombshell would finally blow up once it was suddenly his problem.

"That's enough!" The sudden boom of the headmistress's voice caught everyone's attention, drawing their eyes to where Glynda stood, arms crossed and glare firm. At her side, Touko looked over the scene with a clear look of trepidation, unable to meet anyone's gaze. Both had caught the latter half of the exchange, and while the cybernetic professor wanted to speak up about what they'd heard, a single look at her superior told her that now was definitely not the time. Goodwitch closed the distance and addressed her staff. "Jaune, take Miss Arc-Schnee to the infirmary for now, Miss Rose, I expect you to handle Miss Taurus-Fall. As for the rest of you, we're going to have a meeting. Mr. Arc-Schnee, once your daughter is released, you and I will discuss this personally."

"You're damn right we are." Jaune said, still helping Lumi stand as he led her out of the sparring hall. Glynda decided to let it slide for now, if she'd walked in on Cassia unconscious with an open wound still spilling blood, she'd hardly react well to it and, frankly, she had more pressing matters to attend to. Shooting a stern look over at Qrow, Koji, and Touko, she motioned for them to follow her, leading everyone but Scarlet and Ruby out of the room. They'd have plenty to talk about after all.

Jin paced back and forth in front of the infirmary door, as, despite knowing full well that on the other side, Lumi was being looked over by Jaune and the nurse, he still felt responsible. The large boy had been like this from the moment he'd seen her take the hit that brought her down, and, while the knowledge that she was fine for the most part helped somewhat, but without seeing it for himself, that fear remained in his mind, and it was eating away at him. Jet sat silently, unsure as to whether saying anything would help, or just make things worse, the waiting room was already tense enough with the two boys, and BGEL's presence didn't help ease it much, if at all.

Elizabeth was the most tense visually, hunched over and tapping her foot nervously on the tiled floor, her eyes glancing from the door to the time displayed on the hardlight display of her scroll, counting the minutes as they went by. Goose and Belka, despite being in calmer states of mind, were both visibly unnerved by the event, Belka distracting herself with whatever she could pay attention to aside from her thoughts, currently looking through the notes she'd taken of her classes, absentmindedly biting her fingernails down to the nub. Goose was the opposite, sitting and staring at the door, lost in her own thoughts with a face that would involuntarily tense and contort whenever one of her thoughts turned particularly unpleasant. In stark contrast to the others, Lao was serene, sitting stone still as he waited with the rest.

Jet took another look at his partner and sighed, seeing the monkey tailed boy start to pant as he became more and more frantic with each passing moment. Deciding that even getting yelled at was the better outcome, between that and letting Jin work himself up into a panic attack, he stood and grabbed his partner's arm, the blond behemoth jumping at the sudden contact, still too far in his own head to realize Jet had even moved.

"Hey, breathe man, Lumi's dad said she was fine, right? That this was just a check up and that she'd be out in a bit." Jet said, bracing himself for the sudden outburst he'd expected from the larger boy, but it never came. Instead, Jin's breathing slowed, showing that he was at least trying to take his advice, but seemed to be unable to get rid of the anxiety bubbling up inside him.

"You're right, but I just… I can't be sure until I see, y'know?" Jet nodded, he had felt his heart stop seeing Lumi go down like that, and he'd only known her for just over a day, he couldn't imagine what Jin felt now, let alone what he might have felt in the moment it had happened. Another part of him was just happy that Jin didn't explode on him, but for now that didn't seem likely, the big guy just needed to calm down. Reaching out, he awkwardly gave Jin's shoulder a firm pat, not really sure what else he could do, but it seemed to help, Jin's lips tilting upwards by just a hair.

In the silence that followed, Elizabeth tried to swallow the question that dug its way into her thoughts, but try as she might, Lumi's claims stayed fresh. Now that the idea was firmly planted in her head, she saw things that she hadn't thought about or had merely assumed were just coincidences, Scarlet had his name, his horns, his blade, and apparently his temper…

"Do you think it's true?" Lao said, surprisingly enough being the first person to actually bring up the question that laid so heavily on their minds, his stone-still face and monotone voice managing to hide any personal feelings he may have had on the matter.

"Lao… n-now isn't really the time." Goose said in response, trying to direct the topic away from the incident, preferably back to Lumi's condition if she could help it, but it seemed that the others had no intention of just letting things go.

"No, he has a point." Liz spoke up, calmly, but the accusatory tone she spoke with was unmistakable. "If Scarlet knew, and she hid it from us, it could point to ulterior motives'."

"That's a big if." the leader of BGEL pointed out, the scowl on her face now directed at her niece. "And, we don't even know if it's true or not."

"I don't think she was wrong, one look at Professor Rose showed that Lumi knew what she was talking about." Lao pointed out once more, brutal in his honesty.

"Does it even matter?" Belka said, surprising everyone with the question, silence falling briefly on BGEL and the boys from SJJL. Jet breathed an inaudible sigh of relief, but it didn't last as Elizabeth stood up, bewildered by her aunt's statement.

"Wha- Of course it matters! Did you not hear what I said? What if she was keeping it secret for a reason?"

"You mean like worrying about people judging her for something her dad did? Yeah, what an unfounded fear, I don't know anyone who'd be so juvenile." Belka's sarcasm wasn't appreciated by the pint-sized Atlesian.

"I- seriously? If anything this would just prove Mother's point that yo-"

"Guys, enough!" Goose said, scolding the pair to the point of actually stomping her foot down in irritation, more than a little irritated that they'd bring this up now after what had just happened to Lumi.

"But-" Elizabeth's protest was cut off by another indignant stomp from her aunt, once again shutting down the argument.

"No! We don't even know if she knew herself, so, no more arguing until we know Lumi's okay!"

Then, as if on cue, the door to the infirmary door opened up to reveal Lumi and her father, she was now dressed back in her dull red uniform, holding the damaged dueling jacket in her arms, as while her flesh had been healed, her favorite combat attire had not.

"I'll be fine." she muttered, looking down at her feet in embarrassment. Everyone present had seen her go down, defeated in such a way that left her with no excuses. While the actual pain may have been fresh in her mind, her failure in combat was what had truly been digging at her, she'd been cocky, underestimated her opponent, a mistake she would make sure not to make a second time.

Lumi didn't get the time to properly stew in her own regret though, as a pair of powerful arms immediately wrapped around her and picked her up off the ground. With a startled yelp, Lumi tried to push Jin off her for a moment, her arms feebly straining against the wall of seemingly rock hard muscle that made up his torso before giving up and slumping forward, reluctantly holding onto the boy's head, just to maintain balance, of course.

"I just told you I'm fine, you big oaf." Lumi chided, but unable to manage the serious tone she'd intended to use thanks to her feet dangling a good two-ish feet off the floor.

"Uncle Jaune, are we sure everything is okay?" Elizabeth asked, turning to Jaune and ignoring the protests from her dear cousin. Thanks to the girl's pride Lumi was likely to say the same thing even if she had been paralyzed, but her uncle didn't seem to be freaking out, in fact he seemed to be weirdly calm considering the circumstances, but she just chalked that up to relief that Lumi was okay.

"The nurse says she's fine, but needs to keep herself from doing anything too strenuous for a few days just to stay safe. Jin, think you could make sure she listens?" the blond knight said, asking the muscular boy with a carefree smile that masked the growing feelings of betrayal that being kept in the dark about Scarlet's heritage by Glynda and Ruby was causing to brew within him. But, that could wait until he wasn't right in front of his students/younger family members.

"Sure thing. I'll carry her around if I gotta." Jin said, setting her down immediately after saying as much. Settling back to her feet with a huff, Lumi immediately turned away from the boy, only to come face to face with her other male teammate, and it took everything in her power to not immediately slap Jet the moment their eyes met. He opened his mouth before stopping, seemingly to reconsider his words, before starting once again.

"Lumi I do-"

"Don't." Lumi cut him off with a sharp growl, her fists clenched as she glared at the green haired boy. "You knew, I saw how you ran up to the Professor, you knew and you said nothing!"

Jet flinched, looking away as he couldn't bring himself to look the girl in the eyes. After what she'd gone through, he really didn't know what to say. Thankfully for him though, Jin immediately came to his aid, putting his massive frame between the two of them.

"Lumi, come on, we don't even know for sure if you're right about this." the boy said, trying his best to defuse the situation but only succeeding in getting Lumi's ire turned onto him instead.

"Seriously? After she cut me open you're still going t- You know what, forget it, I'm going to the dorm, Father already told me he'd deal with this mess." And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed off. Elizabeth moved to join her, calling out for her cousin to wait at the sudden departure, only to be ignored. A reluctant Goose, caught in the throes of hesitation, looked between the SJJL boys and her leaving nieces, before ultimately following them out, followed closely by a scoffing Belka and silent Lao, leaving Jet and Jin alone with Jaune.

Jin suddenly felt anxious once more, watching in silence as the door closed behind Lumi and BGEL. Crap, he'd messed up, he didn't really know what else he could have done differently, just that he needed to fix this. Rubbing the back of his neck, the large blond glanced at his partner, already feeling guilty for what he was about to say.

"I uh- I gotta…" He didn't need to finish, Jet understood. Besides it had been a long day, well mostly the last thirty minutes, although they'd felt like hours.

"Go ahead man, I gotta go find Scar. I'll meet you back at the dorm."

Without hesitation, Jin took off after his friend, stopping briefly at the door to shoot Jet a thumbs up and a cheesy grin, which the other boy tried to return, but was just a bit too slow on the draw as Jin closed the door behind him, leaving Jet alone with the counselor. Jaune, deciding that it was okay to let his composure drop just a bit, let out a tired sigh, turning to his remaining student a moment later. The boy looked very familiar, and, after taking a moment to put the pieces into place, he immediately knew why. Scarlet Taurus-Fall. Even if he couldn't clearly recall the exact faces of Jet's parents, nor their master, he looked enough like Emerald for the connection to click, especially if his friend happened to not just be Adam's daughter, but Cinder's as well.

"You're Mercury and Emerald's son, right?" the sudden question taking Jet by surprise, causing him to answer without thinking.

"Y-yeah, how'd you know?"

"Just a feeling, they were pretty close to who I'm pretty sure is Scarlet's mom, so y'know, safe bet." Again, Jet found himself taken aback by the suddenness of the statement, as well as the casual nature he spoke with, as if the ponytailed man was just commenting on something as mundane as the weather.

"With Ember?"

Jaune chose not to comment on the clearly fake name, but took note of the hesitation in Jet's voice. He sighed once more, damn it, he was making the kid nervous. Screw it, he had plenty of time to get to the bottom of things once he got to speak with Glynda.

"You said you were going to look for your friend right? Well Ruby's- sorry, Professor Rose's office is on the third floor of the administration building. I can take you there." Jaune said, turning around and motioning for Jet to follow him. Jet, not really having a good reason to object, followed the man, silently praying to whatever god would listen that he wouldn't ask any more questions.

The office Professor Rose used was surprisingly cozy, the walls adorned with a warm red wallpaper, similar in color to her cloak, seemingly chosen in contrast with the dark green carpet, giving the room an almost festive feel. The woman's desk was a mess, papers haphazardly strewn all over the wooden surface, with the sole exception of a space cleared out around the pictures she kept of her friends and family. Scarlet couldn't help but notice that there wasn't anywhere to sit by the desk, just an overly soft looking couch over on the side of the room. Maybe it was supposed to make the students feel more comfortable?

"So, what're we doing?" It felt like a stupid question, obviously she was there because she'd just cut open Lumi, the real question was what was going to happen to her now? Had this happened even just an hour earlier, she would have been certain that Miss Rose would've thrown her out for this, along with whatever weird problem the Professor had with her. But, the woman had spoken in her defense, so maybe it was going to be okay? Damnit, this was just getting more confusing!

As her student stood in the middle of the room, still confused as to where to take a seat, Ruby made her way over to the couch and flopped down on it face first, letting out a tired groan as she did so. startling Scarlet as the so far mostly upbeat Vice Headmistress stared off into the fabric depths. After a moment, she rolled herself over to stare at the ceiling, her silver eyes furrowed as she took off her glasses and set them on the arm rest, letting herself sink further into the couch's embrace. Great, what a fantastic idea Glynda, just ignore the ticking time bomb that was right in front of them… No, that wasn't fair, she couldn't have known this would happen so soon, and it didn't change the fact that Scarlet deserved a chance at a relatively normal tenure at Beacon. But now the situation was out of their hands, and unfortunately, Scarlet was going to face the brunt of what came next.

"Scarlet, I owe you an apology, several actually." she began, sitting up straight and patting the couch over to her side, inviting Scarlet to take a seat for what would likely be a long conversation. She didn't move from her spot in the middle of the room, still visibly on guard, shoulders tensed and back straighter than steel. Ruby decided not to comment and let her student do whatever made her feel comfortable. "First of all, I should have stopped that fight much sooner."

"So… I'm not in trouble?" Scarlet asked, clearly skeptical, and understandably so considering the not so private closeness between Lumi's family and the Academy.

"No, it was a sparring accident. Both Professor Castleton and myself saw what happened, and we'll make sure the record reflects that. You and Lumi both will be taken off of the roster for Combat Class for the next week, but that's standard procedure when accidents occur, not a punishment."

The bovine faunus relaxed a little, that was more than one weight off of her shoulders. Okay, so she wasn't getting kicked out, and more importantly, she didn't accidentally cripple Lumi. So mostly good news, but if that was all there was to be said, she wouldn't be here alone with Miss Rose, all that could've been done by just pulling her out of class for two minutes right? There had to be something more to this, and that really didn't sit right with her.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way but if that's the case, then why am I here?" Scarlet asked plainly, taking a note of how the Professor briefly broke eye contact, like she was feeling guilty about something.

"Well, that's something else I need to apologize for… How much do you know about your mother and father exactly?" After the day she'd had, it was no surprise that the question caused Scarlet to tense up. Unfortunately Ruby couldn't just backtrack, because this would make her even more uncomfortable, and there was no way her student didn't have questions of her own now.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet was already defensive, again, not that it surprised Ruby, especially after today. Yet, it didn't make the next part any easier.

"Scarlet… Lumi wasn't lying, or mistaken."

Oh for fu- was she actually supposed to believe that? No, no there was absolutely no way her father could be capable of anything Lumi claimed. Terrorism, something about her aunt? No, she refused to believe it.

"Bullshit!" she snarled, unwilling to listen to her father's name get slandered again. Lumi was bad enough, but now the Vice Headmistress? No, she was done. Turning on her heels, Scarlet went to storm out of the room, hearing the silver eyed woman get to her feet behind her.

"Miss Ta-" Scarlet spun around so fast her hair whipped around her head in a tangle of brown and crimson, anger plastered onto her face as she let her re-ignited anger out in one colossal outburst, well past the point of caring what Ruby thought about it.

"No! You're full of shit! My Dad's name is-" Ruby cut her off just as the girl had done to her a moment earlier.

"Terracotta Taurus, he works with the Patch Huntsmen guild as a freelancer along with Mercury Black taking care of small local Grimm sightings, typically Beowolves and the occasional Ursa."

"H-how did-" She couldn't finish the sentence, fearing what Ruby might say in response.

"Because his file is right here on my desk. We gave him the position Scarlet, and his new identity too. It was necessary to keep people from having an uproar over finding out that Adam Taurus was allowed to walk away from what he had done, rather than being punished for his crimes."

Scarlet could have vomited at that… there was no way, it just couldn't be right, her Dad wasn't like that was he? She didn't want to believe it, she wanted to scream in the smaller woman's face, but she couldn't just ignore what she was being told, no matter how badly she wanted to. She had to know just what her mom and dad were hiding.

"Crimes?"

"Your mother and father are in… Well, I guess you'd call it some kinda witness protection." Ruby tried to explain the situation as best she could, since she hadn't been part of the official process, her involvement in the whole thing had really boiled down to purifying Cinder's body with her silver eyes. She still didn't know what deal she and Adam had made with Oscar to be allowed to keep their freedom, but she knew that it must have been something big, probably something about Salem if she had to guess.

"I… No, you're… you're lying…" Scarlet shook her head, trying to deny this in any way she could, but nothing she could think of explained how Ruby knew what she did. Gods above, she didn't know what to say, what to think or even what to feel. Her parents had never been very open about their pasts, giving vague answers even to the most innocent of questions, something that unfortunately only gave her more reason to believe the Professor.

"I know that this is hard to hear, but I'm sure they had their reasons not to tell you." Ruby said, gently placing a hand on Scarlet's shoulder. The redhead recoiled immediately, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

They… that was right, Mom. She had to have known, there was no way all of this was just being done under her nose. Taking a deep breath, Scarlet sucked up as much of her fracturing composure as she could.

"What about Mom?"

"Your mom?" Ruby's heart skipped a beat at that, Cinder… Crap, that wasn't a conversation either of them were ready for.

"You said 'parents', not 'Dad'. What did she do?" Scarlet asked plainly, her voice unable to hide the pain in it. Ruby shook her head, not denying her slip of the tongue. She couldn't lie, not when her student was teetering on the edge like this, but now wasn't the time. If hearing about Adam hurt her this much… she wasn't ready to learn the truth about Cinder, far from it.

"One thing at a time, take some time to process what I've already told you, and try to fix things with your team. I… I really am sorry, we… never meant for things to blow up like this, we wanted to protect you, and we still do." Ruby said, trying her best to be comforting, but it was clear she wasn't exactly doing a stellar job at it. Scarlet slinked back, her mind still reeling from everything she had just heard, and now there was apparently more.

"I… I think I should go." she said with a flat, dejected tone, as if the fight had been physically ripped out of her. Trudging over to the door, she felt a wave of tiredness overtake her body, the conversation draining her on not just the emotional level, but the physical level too. Ruby opened the door for her, figuring it would be for the best to give the girl the space she needed to process what she'd been told.

"Go right ahead, take as long as you need, the staff will be ready if you need help, Miss Goodwitch and I will make sure of it." Scarlet nodded numbly in response, stepping out of the office and down the hall, her movements dull and sluggish, the fire in her eyes naught but ash. Ruby took a second to watch the girl walk off, meeting with Jet as he ran up to her. They talked for a moment, too far down the hall for Ruby to hear, but from the way Scarlet slumped into his chest, she could take a guess. It didn't feel right to just sit there and watch as her student sought comfort, and knowing that she'd done more than enough damage for one day, she slinked back into the room, shutting the door behind her. She'd fix this, she just had to figure out how.

Jaune walked in silence to the ornate clocktower where Glynda's office was located, the counselor had more than enough time to think of how he'd scream at Glynda for this, how he'd resign on the spot and get his family the hell away from this place. But, he'd also been given time to think logically instead of with his emotions, his daughter had been injured, and he was still processing that, along with the fact that his best friend of nearly twenty years had kept such a secret from him. If it had just been Adam's kid like Lumi thought it would be bad enough, but keeping the fact that Scarlet was the daughter of that monster… He knew it was wrong, but it had taken a good deal of control not to lash out at the girl after such a revelation, and he couldn't help but wonder if he would have had the circumstances been different, if the girl didn't have a Semblance that could've helped Lumi… Would he have acted on his anger?

No, no, of course not, but the fact that he was even considering it as a possibility… Well, it made him feel sick, that wasn't the person he wanted to be, it wasn't the person he wanted his children to look up to. He paused, taking a minute to cool down and regain his composure. Keeping allies in the dark, ancestral secrets, that didn't sound like Glynda or Ruby, it sounded like him. He was going to talk to Glynda and he was going to get an damn explanation, whether she liked it or not.

Making his way to the office, he slowed down as he saw Touko leaning against the wall, looking up from her scroll at hearing his approaching footsteps. The professor's tired face brightened up somewhat at the sight of him, even giving her friend a small smile as she relaxed against the wall. But, she soon came to second guess the position, awkwardly moving away from the wall and standing up straight like a normal person.

"Hey, uh, how's Lumi?" Touko asked, mainly as a courtesy, Jaune wouldn't even be heading up to see Glynda if his girl wasn't out of the infirmary.

"She's alright, thank the Gods." he said, still tense despite the clear signs of relief on his face. Even though she already knew the answer, she took comfort in hearing it said aloud, being able to relax at hearing the good news. Although, she was still visibly nervous, glancing back at the elevator doors that led up to their boss's office.

"Yeah… but how about you? Not to be rude but you look… not great." She wasn't wrong, Jaune looked stressed, just this morning he was his usual self, happy and energetic. Which, considering what had happened, was a fair change. Jaune followed her gaze to the door, he had an idea about what sort of 'talk' he and Glynda would be having.

"I guess that depends on what Glynda has to say." Jaune answered, deciding not to dance around the impending lecture he was no doubt about to receive from their boss.

"She didn't really leave much room for discussion." the cyborg said sheepishly, she'd tried to speak up during her own verbal beatdown, tried being the important part as Glynda shut her down almost the same moment she opened her mouth.

"She normally doesn't." Jaune chuckled, the woman had never really dropped the disciplinarian attitude she was known for when he and Touko had attended Beacon Academy. Having become educators themselves, they'd grown to understand why of course, and had certainly grown to appreciate it, but she had a bad habit of turning that attitude onto her co-workers, especially the ones whom she'd taught herself. And over something like this… "Taurus-Fall, do you buy that as a coincidence?"

"I didn't really think about it until…" Touko shook her head, because at this point it wasn't really a question. She knew, the whole staff now knew that they were teaching the child of a woman who'd all but burnt the very school they protected to ashes, the same school that they had seen their friends, and in the case of Glynda and Oobleck, their students, die to protect. Needless to say that alone was a hard pill to swallow. "She's not reversing her decision, and pretty much said that anyone who has a problem is free to leave."

So it was an ultimatum, wasn't it? Either fall in line, or get kicked to the curb? That was quite the gamble, and once more, something that sounded less like something Glynda would pull and more like something out of Ozpin's playbook…

"Well, best to not keep her waiting, we'll talk later, 'kay?." Jaune said, swallowing the feeling of anxiousness and deciding to get it over with, leaving Touko to her own devices and calling down the elevator. The slow ride up was nothing short of torturous when he was in a hurry, the looping melody of the music was grating to his ears. Eventually the lights on the antique elevator had moved all the way to the end, indicating that he was finally at the top of the tower. The doors opened slowly, prolonging his wait just that little bit longer, but he soon found himself speed walking out and into the office where Glynda sat, paperwork neatly piled in stacks on her desk as she worked.

"Jaune, please take a seat." She didn't even look up as she greeted him, too busy filling out the incident sheet, the form should have been done hours ago. Jaune pulled the metal chair back and got comfortable, there was a good chance he'd be here for a while.

"When were you going to tell me?" he asked bluntly, not seeing a purpose in drawing this out with small talk. Something his superior seemed to agree with, moving onto a new paper with naught but a momentary glance at her employee.

"I wasn't, I knew you'd figure it out eventually, and I knew you were capable of handling it like an adult."

Jaune didn't bother trying to hide the scowl that made its way onto his face, not that it mattered since she was still looking at the paper. He knew she wasn't trying to be insulting, but Gods above, he'd be a liar if he didn't want to scream once more. As if just ignoring the very real damage Scarlet's mother had done to the school, to just ignore all that the amber eyed woman had taken from them, was the 'adult' thing to do, in the very spot his partner had lost her life no less. And even besides that, he knew what this was really about.

"Don't. This isn't you having faith in me, this is keeping things from me that I should have been told about. It's something he'd do." Glynda's pen stopped, piercing emerald green eyes turning upward, finally giving him her full attention as she set the pen aside. He wasn't wrong, Dr. Pine had made a suggestion to keep the staff in the dark for the time being as to let them know one at a time, starting with the least likely to react poorly and working her way through from there. Unfortunately though, the exact opposite had occurred, with Ruby finding out by pure luck and Jaune learning because his daughter was injured, which in turn led to the entire staff learning at once, alongside what was soon to be the entire school.

"Dr. Pine on-"

"Ozpin." Jaune growled, cutting Glynda off, he wasn't about to listen to her speak as if the man they took direction from was the same innocent, wide eyed boy he'd met in Mistral all those years ago. "Oscar's gone, don't insult my friend by acting like that thing puppeteering his body is anything else." The silence was deafening, both blondes staring the other down, Jaune's more open and loud outrage met by the cold stare of Glynda's quiet anger held back by a calm face, save for the emerald eyes that burrowed into his very soul.

Eventually, one of them had to cave, and surprisingly, Glynda was the one to give in, her desire to move the conversation along outweighing her desire to win some petty argument of meaningless semantics.

"He suggested that Scarlet would have an easier time at Beacon without the stigma of her parents' actions being on the staff's mind. I happened to agree."

"I'm not doubting you Glynda… but I'm not going to pretend that this was a misguided effort from the goodness of his heart, and not him keeping more secrets from us." It wasn't the first time that man had kept his own agenda close to his chest, and not the first time it had blown up in their faces in spectacular fashion.

"Jaune, I don't care how you feel about him." Glynda said plainly, doing what she could to level with Jaune so that they could focus on the actually important part of this conversation. "This isn't about Ozpin."

"We can agree on that much." Jaune conceded. He knew why she had him here, the girl, Scarlet. He sighed, despite her heritage she didn't seem like a threat. He didn't trust her, but at the same time, she could have let Lumi bleed out on the floor and she didn't. It wasn't much, considering she had caused the wound in the first place… but it had to count for something. "...As long as she doesn't give me a reason to suspect her parents rubbed off on her, I won't make a problem about Scarlet."

Glynda nodded, it was an acceptable answer for now.

"Good. I'll be brief since I have no doubt Professor Fuchsia filled you in already, I will not tolerate any of my staff mistreating a student for her heritage. You don't have to like her, but as long as she is one of our students, it is our duty to make sure she becomes the best huntress she can be."

The pair stood, and with nothing more to be said, they walked over to the elevator, silence enveloping the room as they waited for the metal doors to open, Jaune stepping inside.

"Thank you for your time Jaune… For what it's worth… you weren't the one I was concerned about." she told him as the elevator doors closed. Jaune figured her words were meant to be comforting, her expression had been softer than before, her compassion breaking through her hard gaze for just a moment.

Countless eyes followed Scarlet all throughout the walk back to their dorm, word spread fast, and the video spread faster. The only upside was that people seemed to be smart enough not to get in her and Jet's way as they headed back. Instead, they whispered amongst themselves once they thought she was out of earshot.

"Did you see the video? She carved her partner up good."

"You think her dad's proud? I mean, she did it to a Schnee after all."

"Like father, like daughter I guess."

Scarlet turned on her heels, her fists clenched in rage as she got ready to confront the gossiping students.

"If you have something to say, then say it to my face!" As expected, the whispers died immediately. What, no one had the balls to say something now that big bad Scarlet didn't have her back turned? Even more infuriatingly, some of them flinched, so that was all it took? One training accident and people were afraid of her, looking at her like some sort of animal ready to snap? One boy looked at her with such disgust on his face that she could practically feel it, and, already riding high on her anger and the shock of Professor Rose's revelation, she was too caught up in her thoughts to properly think, moving forward to give the punk a piece of her mind. She stomped forward a few feet before a hand grabbed her wrist from behind. Her head snapped back on instinct, ripping her hand away before she saw that it was Jet.

"Scar, come on, don't." he spoke calmly. While he understood her anger, he couldn't just let her start a fight with their fellow students, not when things were bad enough already. "Don't prove them right."

Scarlet paused. He was right, something she really didn't want to admit when she was mere moments away from getting in someone's face. Is that something Dad would do? She didn't want to think about it, in fact it was the last thing she wanted on her mind. Grabbing Jet by the wrist, she walked off, away from the students and their whispers.

Once arriving at the dorm, the pair were greeted by Jin sitting upside down in mid air, lips firmly pressed together, seemingly in thought. This strange expression, what the pair assumed was his thinking face, immediately disappeared when he noticed them walk into the room.

"Oh, hey guys." he greeted them cheerfully, reorienting himself to be rightside up before dropping to the floor. Scarlet sighed, honestly just thankful he wasn't acting weird or, even worse, judging her like everyone else did.

"Hey Jin, how's Lumi doing?" Jet asked, her absence immediately noticed by him and Scarlet. It wasn't really a surprise, neither Jet nor Jin expected her to want to be around Scarlet right now. It was probably better this way, Scarlet was already in a bad mood and Jet assumed that Lumi was just as angry, but, then again, he didn't exactly have the chance to say much last time he and the blonde spoke.

"Lumi's okay, she just needs to take it easy, but uh… well… she's not happy with uh… with any of us." Jin chuckled sheepishly at that. She really didn't appreciate his attempts at peacekeeping, which he kinda got, she just got hurt, he was sure she'd calm down eventually when she'd had a minute to cool off. "She said she's going to stay with BGEL tonight."

"You're not staying with her?" Scarlet was surprised, she had figured he would've stuck by her, they seemed inseparable, like her and Jet. But, despite the spat they seemed to be having, Jin kept his usual smile, as if he was completely unfazed.

"She has Goose and Liz, she'll be fine. Besides, I wanted to make sure you guys actually came back, it would suck if we all got split up because of some misunderstanding."

Right, a misunderstanding… Scarlet didn't even know how to open up that can of worms, that Lumi was right and that her father was a…

"Jin I… I don't wanna talk about this right now... Tomorrow, I'll tell you everything tomorrow." She didn't sound like herself, lacking the confidence and volume she typically carried. Instead, she looked tired, drained. Jin looked to Jet, hoping for an explanation, but only getting a shake of the head in response.

"Oh, alright, I guess it is pretty late, goodnight guys." Despite his worry, Jin knew better than to push this further, he'd just have to wait until Scarlet was ready to tell him what this was all about, though he could hazard a guess.

The three went to bed soon after. Scarlet flopped down on her bed and closed her eyes, desperate for the day to finally be over. Minutes passed, maybe even hours, but Scarlet remained awake, unable to get comfortable or calm her mind from the information thrust upon her earlier in the day. Dad… why didn't he tell her!? Did he think she just wouldn't find out? And Mom, Gods, she didn't even know what horrors her Mother had done, and she didn't want to if she was being truthful with herself. No, she had to take her mind off of this, get comfortable, safe. Sitting up, Scarlet looked around the room, Jin was asleep, face down on his pillow, kept from floating around in his sleep via a weighted blanket. Jet was still and quiet, which, considering the boy tossed and turned constantly, meant he was probably still awake as well. Good.

Standing up, Scarlet made her way over to the bed Jet lay in, and, without a word, took a seat on the bed. Jet lurched up at the sudden intrusion, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim moonlight coming through the window. He relaxed a bit once he recognised Scarlet. They didn't say anything, they didn't need to, it wasn't the first time this had happened. She was too proud to admit it, but whenever she had nightmares during the many, many sleepovers they'd had throughout the years, she'd climb into her friend's bed for comfort, something he was ready to give even in the dead of night. Now was no different as Jet pulled back the comforter and let Scarlet climb right in, immediately taking comfort in his warmth as she rested her face on his neck as they lay back down.

"Jet?" she whispered, now finally starting to drift off.

"Yeah Scar?"

"Today sucked." Scarlet couldn't have hidden the way her voice broke if she tried, but thankfully, she knew she didn't need to with Jet. The boy wrapped an arm around her, trying to do what he could for her, which was admittedly not very much, but she was thankful nonetheless.

Things couldn't possibly get worse, right?

Disinterested pink and green eyes watched a large fist whiff the strike intended for their owner's head, casually leaning out of the way as his opponent put too much of their weight into the punch, losing balance and stumbling forward just enough for the heterochromatic man to smack his assailant in the back of the head with the curved handle of Melodic Cudgel. The much larger man winced and clutched the base of his skull as the welt started to grow. To be blunt, this was grunt work, in fact, he was fairly certain stuff like this was the exact reason he had goons. It wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, Rajah was just a typical upstart who thought he could gather up some guys who thought they were more important than they really were and steal a shipment of high yield Dust to make a stand against their old boss. It was a problem that could be solved by sending in Steele and four or five decent shots, nothing he needed to be personally involved in, but he just didn't like leaving these kinds of things to chance.

After all, if Romeo knew one thing about this business, it was that you made sure these jobs got done right.

"Oh please, that was a love tap." the gangster said mockingly, taking a disinterested look down at the once pristine white suit jacket he wore at all times, now with a not so insignificant black and gray mixture of grease and grime smeared into the fabric from when he'd been careless and gotten thrown to the warehouse floor. That was three thousand Lien right down the drain… "I owe you a lot more for what you did to my suit."

Rajah snarled and spun on his heels, respectably fast for his size the man swung his hand at Romeo, his retractable claws coming out as he hoped to slash the ginger's throat open. But, being smaller and far more nimble, Romeo ducked under the blow, and, using both hands to take a firm hold of the cane that dear old Dad had been kind enough to leave as a parting gift, swung upwards with a golf swing that'd give Wood Tigers a run for his money. The arc of his swing hit Rajah's bottom few ribs, and if the wet-sounding snap and the sudden gasp of air forced from his opponent's lungs was any indicator, broke them for good measure.

Romeo shook his head as the man limped backwards, his gait stiff and off balance from the sudden pain spreading through his torso. It was unfortunate that it had come to this, but brutes like him were impossible to reason with, he was the type to taste his own blood or feel his heart beating out of his chest and get excited. Not that those people didn't have their place mind you, Rajah made for a great attack dog, but as a business rival? Well, he supposed he had no one to blame but himself for letting it get to this point.

"Damn it! Stop acting all slippery, you afraid to fight me head on little man!?"

Ah, a jab at his height and stature, how original. Not dignifying the petty insult with a response, Romeo took aim and fired a charge from Melodic Cudgel, which hit nothing as the large man teleported away almost immediately in a plume of smoke. Short-range teleportation, a fairly basic Semblance, but one that was incredibly dangerous if used correctly. Fortunately for him though, Rajah's usage of such an ability was as basic as they came, side-stepping his predictable strike from behind without even turning around, before blindly aiming over his shoulder and firing another round into the savage's chest, his mediocre Aura flashing as it struggled to stay up, before giving out and shattering into an orange mist that dissolved into nothing only a moment later.

"Man, that tiny little mind of yours must be really lonely in that big ol' head." Romeo muttered, leaning on Melodic Cudgel and shaking his head. It was a pity, as with some training and some common sense, Rajah could have gone places, he was strong and charismatic, just dumb as a doornail.

"What's that 'sposed to mean?" Rajah gasped out, somehow able to get to a sitting position as he used his arms to stay steady, his chest still smoldering from the fire Dust he'd been shot with.

Case and point. He really didn't know why he'd expected the moron to understand when he was speaking at a higher level than what a grade schooler would use.

"That your skills somehow stink even worse than you. You have heard of baths before, right?" The snarky comment was received about as well as he expected, impotent rage spreading across Rajah's face once more as his pride took a bigger hit than anything Romeo could do to him physically.

"Then what was the last few minutes?"

Romeo stroked his chin, gazing up at the poorly maintained and rusting roof of the warehouse, a vacant expression taking over his features as he considered his answer, before deciding to just be blunt in his response.

"Honestly? I was bored."

Rajah, seeing his chance, leaped at the man, hoping to take him by surprise and get a lucky strike with his claws. Romeo, without batting an eye, angled the cane forward, and with the press of a button, the handle shot forward, slamming into Rajah's throat with a sickeningly wet crunch. Now with a collapsed windpipe, Rajah gasped and heaved for air, until, from the corner of his eye, he saw Melodic Cudgel come down onto his temple hard enough to send him face first into the concrete floor, and the dark embrace of unconsciousness.

Torchwick watched his body lie still for a moment, before twirling the weapon in his hand and with a second button press, retracting the cable, causing the u-shaped handle to return to its original spot on the weaponized walking stick. Well that was… disappointing, barely even a warm up. Before he could decide what to do with the man, his scroll started to vibrate in his pocket, the blue display revealing the contact information of Hei Xiong the Third, though Romeo's contact info just had him down as JJ. Answering his childhood friend's call, Romeo kept an eye on his former underling and raised the speaker to his ear.

"Rome, you busy right now? I got something you're gonna want to hear about." the man on the other end asked, uncharacteristically slipping over even a basic greeting. With an intro like that, this must be really important, or really fun, only one way to find out.

"Oh, right to business JJ? Okay, I'll bite, business or pleasure?"

"Depends, you remember those names you were having Dad keep an eye out for?" Ah, business then, oh well, there'd be time for fun later. Only issue is he didn't know who exactly JJ was talking about, Uncle Junior had become his go to for keeping track of people, and there was no shortage of names on the list.

"You'll need to narrow that down a tad I'm afraid."

"Guessing you haven't seen the news then, I'll send you the article, it's on Taurus and Fall."

Romeo's eyes went wide, had he heard that right? Them? They'd screwed up and made enough of a stir to be on the Gods-damned news!? Okay, without a doubt that took priority, which meant Rajah's time was up. Aiming Melodic Cudgel at the man's head, Romeo pulled the trigger without a second thought, the fire Dust round to his skull putting an end to him immediately, the sudden explosion catching JJ's attention over the call.

"I thought you weren't busy?"

"It's called 'multitasking'." Romeo said matter of factly as he pulled up the article he'd been sent.

Breaking News: Terrorist's Daughter attacks Schnee at Beacon Academy: Graphic Video

The headline was, as usual, lacking in anything of substance, and was clearly designed to attract more clicks than anything, a pure example of nonsensical clickbait. But, his friend had never steered him wrong before, and the girl in the photo certainly looked like she could be Adam's… Alright then, time to get moving, if this information was public, then he was on the clock, and from what little he knew of them, he had no time to lose.

Chapter Text

The Taurus-Fall house was quiet, which wasn't a bad thing. After a particularly long day at work, the last thing Adam wanted was for something to disturb his short amount of time relaxing his aging bones on the couch. He couldn't shake the part of his mind that said it was too quiet though, perhaps it was a leftover instinct from his time in the Fang, but the silence left in his daughter's absence felt similar to when the noise would suddenly die down in the forest, signaling the presence of a predator, or worse. Adam couldn't shake the feeling that the sound of her terrible new age music through the walls, the increasingly loud sound of footsteps running through the house, or the idle chatter between her and her mother had become part of his everyday life, not something one paid too much attention to, but now that it was missing it was as if things were just… wrong. Was this what all parents felt when their children left the nest, was it normal? Granted, he wouldn't exactly call Cinder or himself normal in any sense of the word, from how they'd met, to how they'd ended up conceiving Scarlet, to how they'd ended up living on the small island off of Vale, their life together was in no way traditional.

As the thoughts of his partner came to mind, he looked over, seeing through a window that the woman he had spent the last eighteen years with was out the back. She'd been practicing her archery a minute ago, but was now speaking to someone on her scroll. At the beginning of their surprise journey into parenthood, he'd assumed they would just stick together until Scarlet went off on her own, or that after 18 years then one of them would go off on their own, only maintaining contact for the sake of their daughter. He didn't want that anymore, because, as weird as it was to say, he couldn't imagine life without her anymore. Gods above, if his past self could see him now, he'd probably call himself a domesticated dog, but then again, he'd say as much about any Faunus who was capable of stomaching humans. But now he was… happy? Content at the very least. It seemed as though he'd really been able to just move on, something he, quite frankly, had no right to do.

Which just made the familiar feeling of anxiety gnaw at him even more intensely.

"I… understand, thank you for the heads up." Cinder wasn't inside just yet, but she was close enough for him to hear clearly through the screen door. Once she was off the call, her ever present calm and in control demeanor immediately gave way to a string of vulgarities, her voice briefly taking on a more vicious tone before she took a few deep breaths, doing her best to stay calm and not literally burn the house down in anger. Stepping back inside, she knew Adam had been listening, there weren't exactly many other reasons for him to be staring at her like that, so she cut right to the chase.

"That was Glynda." Going off of the blank face of her husband, she could tell he had no idea who Glynda was. Typical. "Beacon's headmistress."

Adam really wished he could say he was surprised, but his girl had his temper, and her mother's too for that matter. He was just surprised he was getting a call so soon. Rubbing his temple, an act that did little to soothe his oncoming migraine, he sat down and bluntly asked his wife an extremely familiar question.

"Right, who did Scarlet get into a fight with?"

"Her assigned partner, a Schnee."

"...Did she win?" Hearing her partner's question, Cinder just raised an eyebrow. Was that a hint of pride she picked up there? Oh who was she kidding, of course it was.

"Adam."

"Right, was it serious?" His tune quickly changed upon hearing her unimpressed tone, leaning forward in his seat. Cinder couldn't help but chuckle at that, she'd have probably enjoyed the news that Scarlet had bested some stuffy Atlesian brat too if the circumstances were any different, old habits and all that.

"The fight wasn't, there was a minor training accident, but nothing more."

Adam's brow furrowed in confusion, because while he was ultimately glad that Scarlet didn't get hurt or accidentally kill a student, that didn't explain his partner's vitriolic reaction.

"Then what's the problem?"

She didn't respond right away, instead remaining almost completely still, the only signs of movement being her prosthetic left arm, the metallic fingers slightly fidgeting. Hesitation, that wasn't like her.

"She knows." It took a moment for Cinder's words to register for Adam, but the moment they did, he sprung up.

"What!?" Adam could have clearly been heard from the outside, but thankfully, they lived a good mile away from their closest neighbors, Mercury would have laughed until his voice cracked if he had overheard Adam's outburst. The former terrorist went tense on instinct, his good eye wide with fear for the first time in years and his left hand instinctively drew itself to his hip, reaching for a sheath that wasn't there. "Who told her? And how much?"

"I don't know who told her, but as for how much… apparently you were mentioned by name. Publicly."

That was… damn it, that was bad, really, really bad. Plenty of people had unfinished business with him from his days as a racial extremist with the White Fang, the chances of retaliation on him were bad enough, but the possibility of Cinder, or worse, Scarlet, getting dragged into this had worked the paranoid part of his mind into a frenzy. There were places they could go, old unused White Fang outposts. They weren't exactly the most comfortable locations to hide away in on Remnant, but they'd be safe there. Scarlet could stay at Beacon, someone would have to be insane, stupid, or insanely stupid to try anything at the school. Not that that ruled it out as a possibility per se, but the odds of someone actually making it to Scarlet were slim to none, a fact that helped to calm him down and think more rationally.

"Do we need to leave?"

Cinder paused to think, their aliases should work to hide their identities from anyone ordinary, they had worked for nearly twenty years already. But, then again, they weren't exactly worried about ordinary people now, were they? She doubted any of their enemies would buy or even care about the excuse of Adam's unfortunately similar looking cousin, and she didn't even have a cover story, anyone that wasn't in the know about Salem would just take her as some hussy that knowingly took a terrorist into her home, which she was pretty sure was treason, and anyone that did know..

"Doubtful, but we should probably lay low for a bit. If you're recognised, it would be bad."

"I'm sure Emerald and Mercury will have so many questions." Adam replied dryly. Really, they were the only ones who would even remotely notice their disappearances.

"Well would you look at that, your terrible social skills are actually playing to our advantage for once." Cinder teased, more so on instinct rather than a purposeful jab, but one that had Adam feeling the need to defend himself none the less.

"Says the woman who's had a grand total of two friends throughout her life." Oh? Snark? That was new, and refreshing. A part of her wanted to see just how much he'd push back, and so she found herself giving him the same look that had gotten her a private audience with him 18 or so years ago.

"Says the man whose only friends are the ones I found first."

He couldn't deny the truth in that statement, they were both sad lonely little people who felt they were owed by the world. Oh well, at least they had each other.

Lavender watched from a shaded balcony as a group of robed figures walked through the hall below, their dark clothes making it near impossible to tell them apart beyond superficial details such as height or shape, made even harder thanks to the dimly lit hallway. It wasn't the first time she'd seen them gather, according to Henna they gathered multiple times a day to pray at some altar, and it had been expected that she would do the same, that she'd prove her devotion to the Goddess. Thankfully, Henna had vouched for her, informing the other members that she'd prove her devotion through service with her sworn sister, something she was incredibly thankful for. That being said, a small part of her was curious, wanting to directly ask the upper echelons of the clergy about the altar and their prayers, to see what they entailed. The average follower of their Goddess just felt off to the girl, they seemed to merely… exist in the space they occupied, never speaking amongst themselves unless it was to chant prayers in gobbledygook, or give orders to their lesser members. Their entire lives were occupied with their devotion to the Goddess's Shadows, no time spent thinking about friends or family. It felt… soulless.

Legs dangling between the banisters, Lavender opened a book, its cover frayed and the pages worn from age. She'd read the journal cover to cover many times by now, the yellowed paper speaking of travels across continents, of a beautiful Goddess whose wisdom was without rival teaching the journal's owner her ways. She even remembered the little parts, like the writer bringing back the eye of one of his targets as a macabre gift to a friend, or a desire to test the limits of the infamous Arc Aura. By this point, she could open to a random page and know every word on the neighboring five, but she still couldn't see any rhyme or reason in some entries, as if her father had simply written his thoughts as they came, not caring if he switched topics suddenly or went on a tangent. Yet, in a way, it let her feel closer to the father she barely knew, seeing how he thought in a more intimate way than what she was scarcely told. It was no substitute for knowing him, she knew that, but it made his absence easier.

"Shouldn't you be praying, young sister?"

Lavender knew that voice, and she sprung to her feet as her tail coiled back, ready to strike at Azrael as he looked down at her. The sadistic man had made it a point to make her stay… uncomfortable, if not outright dangerous. Maybe he didn't like that Henna suddenly outranked him, maybe he held a grudge against her for some unknowable slight she'd caused accidentally. She didn't care either way.

"I'm not your sister!" she snarled, taking a step back, creating more space which the massive man didn't object to or try and close, instead choosing to just… smile at her. He never smiled at her, what was he planning? "And I could ask you the same thing."

"I offer The Goddess my soul and unflinching loyalty, even in the face of oblivion. In contrast, you're just a freeloading pest that Henna took pity on because she owed your father." He wasn't even attempting to be subtle in his attempt to rile her up, but that familiar anger found itself welling up inside her all the same, lowering herself to the ground as she got ready to strike. The man met her change in posture and attitude with a laugh, a mocking and cruel laugh, at least it was what she'd expected from him for once. "Careful child, you don't want me taking an arm or leg before your little revenge mission, do you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" What mission? And revenge for what exactly? She had no intention of going out and carving up someone who had done the grevious, downright cardinal sin of annoying the man before her now. This was getting weird, where was Henna?

"You don't know?" his voice practically dripped with amusement. "Oh, that is rich, Henna's most trusted brat hasn't heard the news? Can't imagine why she didn't tell you, since you're so deserving of walking among us all."

"What news? Tell me!" she demanded, tired of the games. Despite being more than done with him, her anger just further amused the twisted man.

"They found The Betrayer's filthy little crotch spawn." the armor clad man said, practically cackling to his "sister" like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon.

Cinder… and Adam, their child had been found? The world around her went cold and quiet, Azrael's maniacal laughter disappearing into the void of her thoughts as she realized what that would mean… No, no, Henna would have told her, she wouldn't keep something like that from her… right?

"You're lying!" He had to be, he was just messing with her!

"And why would I do that? You may be a parasite, but we both serve Her Majesty, don't we? Your enemies are my enemies." That… made sense, and she didn't want to admit it to him, let alone herself, but she couldn't bring herself to call him a liar. Seeing the acceptance on the pest's face, Azreal decided to keep going, digging the blade just a little bit deeper.

"If you really don't trust me, look it up, the little shit made the news for being as bloodthirsty as the subhuman filth that is her parents. She's at Beacon, The Betrayer is a lot of things, but I can appreciate the irony of sending her child to hide in the same place she helped raze to the ground." Azreal's twisted mind started to wander, thinking less about the consequence of nepotism before him, and more onto The Betrayer. Such a twisted soul, yet no doubt aged and sweetened by years of child-rearing, it sounded… delectable, he was salivating just imagining it. "I wonder what her wretched soul would taste like… Oh, if only she wasn't a Maiden."

With that he took his leave, walking off and, for once, letting Lavender be without another word, adrift within her thoughts. Cinder and Adam's child... They knew, they knew and they didn't tell her. Henna didn't tell her… Her breathing grew short and heavy as her anger came to a boil, she could hardly think aside from the fact that it had been kept from her, her grip on her Father's journal growing tighter by the second. She started to gasp, working herself up to the point that it was growing hard to breathe. She just needed a bit, just a little to be able to think clearly.

Then, the stinger broke her skin, pumping sweet clarity into her veins.

She knew what to do, it was obvious now. She was her Father's child, they just didn't see it, they didn't think she was capable of living up to his legacy.

She just had to prove them wrong.

The sharpened blade of Crocea Mors decapitated the spectral Beowolf effortlessly, the wide arc of the swing coming downward and cleaving through the leg of another. From behind, another one of the false beasts leapt at her, only to be knocked out of the air by Sebastian, the Saybr pinning the larger summon to the dirt before sinking his large fangs into the thick neck, killing it instantly. With the last of her opponents already disabled, she raised her family sword and plunged it down into the Beowolf's skull. A moment later, she pulled Crocea Mors's tip out of the ground, nary a stain on the ancient sword. With her opponents slain, she turned back around, facing Elizabeth, the only other soul with her at the outdoors training ground. From the sidelines, Elizabeth stopped the timer on her scroll.

"107 seconds." she said, reading the timer out loud. It was the third time Lumi had gone through the routine, and each time Lumi was going through the summons faster, perfecting her strategy and refining her strikes. It was similar to the training she'd been given by her Mother and Aunt, only, unlike them, Elizabeth trusted her abilities enough not to hold back. It was actually quite refreshing to have the summons go at her with the intent to actually injure, rather than pin her into submission, it added a new, much more real, dimension to the exercise. Yet, as much as she enjoyed training with her cousin, she found her results… inadequate.

"I'd like to go again." It sounded more like a demand than a request, something Elizabeth could thankfully tell the difference between. A fire had been lit in Lumi since her injury, she needed to get better, she'd been careless once, letting her enemy take her on when she wasn't ready, and it had resulted in a humiliating defeat. Next time would be different, it had to be different.

"I can't, sorry." Elizabeth said with a small huff, taking a seat on the ground, not caring how the grass stained her socks and skirt as she got comfortable. Lumi was confused at that, classes were over, did she have somewhere to be? No, she'd have heard by now if her cousin had plans, maybe she was just tired of watching Lumi go through her summons, which was somewhat understandable.

"What? Come now Liz, you know I'll make it up to you when it's your turn to practice."

Lumi's offering was met with a gently shaking head from her cousin, the smaller Schnee looking tired despite having just done nothing but stand around since they arrived. Lumi started to scowl at her cousin for her perceived laziness, however the scowl was more of a pout than anything, one Elizabeth found quite adorable. Though, even if she had been intimidated by her extremely threatening display, it wouldn't have changed her answer.

"No, I mean I physically can't. Summoning takes a lot of my Aura, and not everyone has your stupidly huge levels of it." Ah, right, that was… a valid point. It was easy to take her Aura levels for granted, just another boon she'd inherited from her bloodline.

"R-right, sorry." Sheepishly sitting down next to her cousin, the duelist stretched, and for what felt like the first time since then, she gave herself a chance to properly relax, even if just for a moment. In the week since the incident, it was really all she did, entering a routine of going to her classes, eating, training with one of the three tolerable members of BGEL or Jin, and then retiring to her makeshift sleeping bag on the floor of BGEL's room for the night. Really, it was all she could do to keep her mind off of… recent events.

"Are you staying over again tonight?" Elizabeth asked, unknowingly pulling at a nerve and causing Lumi to glare at the spot between her feet.

"Is my so-called leader still occupying my dormitory?" Unlike she had been expecting, virtually nothing had been done to Scarlet, her only punishment being forcefully taken off of the roster for sparring matches. It was a slap on the wrist at best, and one that had already expired. Lumi had never been more insulted in her entire life, for the Professors to just expect her to suck it up and act as though nothing happened? Well, that hadn't explicitly been said, but it didn't need to be.

"You don't trust your Aunt?"

Elizabeth's question gave her pause, a week ago she'd have said yes without a second thought, but now? While she didn't think Ruby would ever knowingly put her or Jin in danger, this clear lapse in judgment couldn't be ignored; she was the headmistress's assistant for Pete's sake! Then again… that little detail might've had more to do with it than she thought…

"I don't think it was up to her." Lumi said, airing her thoughts on the matter as they came into her head.

"Jin trusts them." Elizabeth said, mostly trying to ease her cousin from what was now clearly visible stress. In truth, Elizabeth didn't know what to make of Scarlet and Jet, she hadn't known either of them more than a few hours before the incident, and while she wasn't exactly fond of the crude girl or her reserved friend, they didn't seem dangerous. Then again, Lumi had been right about her father.

"And he should know better, after what happened here…" Looking off into the distance, she could just make out the roof of the mess hall peeking out over another building. She felt terrible looking at it, now unable to see it as anything other than the place where Jin's mother, her Aunt, had been maimed by that monster, the black tiles she walked on every day having once been stained with her blood. "Even if she didn't know, she showed her true colors to everyone. That's what bothers me the most, no one else is acting sane about this, she scarred me and…"

Lumi hesitated, drawing in on herself and hugging her knees to her chest as she hesitated on whether to say the next part, not wanting to admit it out loud, even if it was just Liz and herself. But, eventually, she got the words out, her voice shaky and barely being held together.

"They took her side, Aunt Ruby, the staff, they just… overlooked it." It hurt, Lumi would never admit it but by the gods did it hurt, like her heart had been ripped from her chest while it was still beating. She had never been more thankful for Liz having her back, volunteering to let her stay in the dorm, staying by her side, everything.

"What did Uncle say?"

"He believes that it was just an accident, like the rest." Lumi muttered. It wasn't like her Father could do much, even if he didn't actually believe Glynda's little cover story. No, the facts had simply been decided for her by people who weren't there to see it, to feel the blade carve through her back at the perfect opening. "A mistake", yeah right.

"Well, I'm happy to keep you, and I certainly know Aunt Goose doesn't mind. As for Lao… well… I don't know what he thinks most of the time, but he hasn't said anything bad at least." Elizabeth said, resting her head on her older cousin's shoulder.

"What about Belka?" Lumi asked, with just a bit of a teasing tone in her voice, remembering how the Gele girl had complained about the lack of space upon her unprompted arrival.

"Exactly." Elizabeth chuckled, followed soon by Lumi.

A set of tools lay sprawled out on the table, hand drills, a wrench, and various other instruments lay within hands reach. It wasn't safe, not in the slightest, but it was necessary given the uncomfortable angle Touko had her leg at in order to keep it up on the well lit table. She could've just taken it off, it would have made the maintenance process a hell of a lot easier, but she just preferred to do things this way. At first it had been a coping mechanism, a way to help her mind distance herself from the reality of her injuries and the less than pleasant process of them being attached to her. She'd come to terms with as much of it as she could since then, but the habit stayed.

Moving a panel that protected the mechanisms on the side of her knee aside, Touko studied the inner workings of her metal appendage. Nothing looked wrong at a glance, nothing was caught inside or bent in a way that would cause an obvious issue. But, considering it wasn't locking up or jamming in any way, that was to be expected. Slowly, she moved her leg, extending it out to its full length and watching the gears turn, everything moving in a smooth, orderly manner. Yet, there was the same small click click click that grated on her ears as it moved. Right, of course it wouldn't be that easy. She started with the gears, taking them out one by one before moving her leg manually, listening for the noise, and starting once more when she heard it again. She heard the footsteps coming closer, but ignored them until they were almost right behind her, focusing on the task at hand. Setting aside the gear and turning her head, she found herself just a little surprised, but pleasantly so, to see Ruby only a few feet away, her silver eyes looking down at the open leg with a knowing gaze.

"Want some help with that?" Ruby asked, pulling one of the chairs over and taking a seat, already knowing what her friend's response would be.

"Well, not really, but I can make an exception." It wasn't the first time Ruby had worked on the limb, she knew it intimately by now, having worked on it since… well, basically since Touko had first gotten her prosthetics, being the only one she trusted besides herself or Mr. Polendina to work on her mechanical components.

"What's up with it?" Ruby asked, already poking about and moving the leg to test it for stress marks or stiffness in movement.

"I think it's one of the gears, it doesn't feel any different but there's this really annoying clicking noise every time the knee bends." Almost as soon as it was mentioned, the leg made a click noise.

"Hmm, yeah, probably better to get that before it's more than just annoying." Ruby nodded, getting to work and allowing Touko to sit back and relax, leaving the room quiet save for the sound of tools taking the metal limb apart piece by piece. It was the longest they'd really talked in the last week, not fully from lack of trying though, Ruby and Glynda both had been getting dragged around like mad to put out the various fires caused by the video of the match between Scarlet and Lumi that'd worked its way across the school. What had really stumped them was the video, it looked to have been recorded by one of the students in the stands, yet whoever had released it had taken great lengths to make sure it couldn't be traced back to them. It was concerning enough on its own, if within reason as just an overly cautious student, but when combined with the extremely suspect events of initiation, it gave the staff reason to worry.

But… Touko couldn't deny that she probably wouldn't have spent that much time with Ruby regardless. It hurt, getting lied to by your best friend. Did she not trust her? Was Ruby thinking she'd overreact? Or was it just orders from above? Whatever the reason, it didn't sit right with her.

"Hey, are you mad at me?" Taken out of her thoughts by the sudden question, Touko adjusted herself in the seat, shaking her head as she struggled to find the right words.

"...Not mad, just… I thought we were past keeping secrets."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but this is different."

"Hiding someone you're teaching because their heritage would cause problems? Seems pretty similar to me." Really, the biggest difference was that while Scarlet was approved, Ruby's other dirty little secret would, at best, get her stripped of her title. Touko loved Ruby, really she did, but she couldn't deny that the woman had a terrible habit of letting her heart take over at inopportune times.

"I… okay, yeah, that's fair." Ruby looked like a kicked puppy at that. Gods above, Touko wanted to just tell her that it was okay, that she hated seeing her dearest friend like this, but she was hurt herself, and took too long to decide. "I wanted to tell you guys, really I did."

"So why didn't you? I get your thought process with the last one, but Scarlet isn't some dirty little secret we need to hide like him." Her emphasis on the pronoun caused Ruby to flinch, knowing precisely who she meant.

"It… wasn't up to me this time." It was all Ruby could think to say, she hadn't meant for it to be an excuse, but she couldn't deny that it was. Touko sighed, there was no reason to get into this, it wasn't a fight either of them wanted, and it would just be digging up old wounds. Ruby meant well in both cases, she knew that, and it wasn't Ruby's fault that it had blown up in her face like this.

"Just… trust me next time, please?" she asked, begged really. She didn't have anyone else she trusted with everything the way she did Ruby, and she knew the woman had her reasons for keeping things to herself, but it didn't lessen the sting of betrayal.

"Touko you kno-"

"Then show me Ruby." she said just a bit too sharply, feeling the familiar dredges of guilt overtake her as soon as her friend broke eye contact to look back down at the limb. "...Sorry."

"No, you're right." Ruby said, placing the panel back on its spot on her knee, Touko had been so focused on the conversation that she'd failed to realize that Ruby had finished working on her. She gave the leg a few test movements, the joint gliding along smoothly and silently.

"Thank you. So, how exactly are things on your end with the Scarlet situation?" Ruby deflated a bit at that, trying to hide the little sigh that emerged at her friend's query, immediately telling Touko the answer without speaking a word.

"Not… great."

Scarlet stared at the screen, lingering on the contact for her Dad. The picture showed him with a particularly deep scowl, as she had taken the picture after letting him know that her Mom's lipstick had smeared onto his own lips, after they'd come home from the store. It was the photo both she and Mom had used for his scroll contact for years, and it never failed to make her chuckle… until now. She had dozens of missed calls and texts from her parents, all unanswered. She didn't know what they wanted, to try and lie to her again? To give excuses? She'd have to talk to them again eventually, if for no other reason than to cuss them out, but working up the courage to do so had never been so hard. Gods damn it, why was she making such a big deal about this? It was easy, just hit the stupid button, and it would call Dad… a conversation that could end up being their last depending on how it went.

Sighing, she withdrew her finger from its place hovering above the screen, and closed the Scroll back into its compact inactive state, before slamming her now empty fist against the wall.

"Son of a bitch!"

Her sudden outburst of anger had, unsurprisingly, caught the attention of her fellow first years passing by in the hall, a few of them actually flinching away at her frustrated yell. She ignored the extra attention, the last week had given her plenty of time to get used to the sensation of eyes following her. It was irritating, but thankfully, the most it ever amounted to was dirty looks or people giving her a wide berth when she walked by them. Despite what felt like the school's full attention being on her, there were a few people who would attempt to talk to her outside of Jet and Jin. She wasn't sure what anyone from BGEL thought, having avoided the team since Lumi had stuck onto them like she was their fifth member or something, but Goose at least would wave or say hi if they passed one another in the halls, and Juliet was nice enough to reach out by text, which was more than could be said for anyone else she'd knew. Whatever, she didn't need fake friends, and she especially didn't need a partner who'd turn on her for something that wasn't her fault either… Damn it Lumi, was all of this really worth it? They were just starting to get along, then she pulled this, couldn't they have at least tried to be a team? Ugh, just thinking about it was getting her mad! She was going to the gym, she needed something to punch.

Blue eyes watched from down the hall as the young Faunus fumed in silence, stomping each time she took a step. Amusement was plastered all over Alaska's face, it had been a while since she was actually giddy. Oh, but she couldn't help it, the girl actually having a backbone was a big reason she even bothered to pay attention in the first place. Well, that, and because Scarlet and her friends had decided to get involved in SLVR's business, it was only fair they returned the favor. She shot a look over to her tanned teammate Vera, who was also watching the girl along with Loyal and herself, focusing on her more intently, her eyes glowing a pinkish color as they did so.

"Oh yeah, she's ready to blow, her Aura is going absolutely wild." Vera warned, far more cautious than her gung-ho leader, whose smirk grew. Next to them, the much shorter Loyal looked down at her scroll, a text box popping up and displaying a message.

Aethelflad: Be there in 5 get ready now

"Aeth said she'd just be a few more minutes." Loyal relayed the message to her leader, peeking out from behind the blue haired amazon that was her partner, and getting a glance at the scowling redhead they were targeting, immediately sliding back with a small "Eep!" at the sight. Alaska, seeing the girl grow nervous, reached down and patted her head, looks like this was her rodeo for now.

"Good girl Loyal, you just sit tight right there, got it? Vera, gimmie the signal when you feel Aeth." Vera nodded, having memorized their little signal tune to the point that she could pick it out from within even the most heated of crowds.

"Are you sure about this 'laska? She looks really angry." Loyal asked, nervously glancing around as Scarlet came closer.

"Aw hush, she ain't gonna do nothin', not after last week." In truth, a big part of Alaska was hoping that Scarlet would swing on her, it would be a nice change of pace from the usual lot who would just roll over if she breathed too hard. It'd also give her an excuse to have a real good time with the feisty heifer, there were plenty of eyes around to back her up so long as she didn't throw the first punch. And besides, she was just doing what they were all thinking, only difference is, she wasn't so yellow-bellied as to just cower away when the big bad bovine bared her teeth. She waited against the wall as Scarlet walked on by, then waited a few moments longer for her to get a bit farther down the hall before speed walking over, leaving Vera and Loyal to sit back and watch.

Scarlet muttered to herself, stupid Lumi, stupid Dad, why did her time at Beacon have to start in such an explosive way?

"Howdy!" a voice all but yelled into her ear, joined a moment later by an arm suddenly wrapping itself around her shoulder, squeezing painfully tight around her neck and putting its owner's weight on her. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest at that, thanks to being too caught up in her thoughts and not paying attention, causing her to flail around without warning, throwing her arms up and breaking free of the grasp she suddenly found herself in. Now suddenly free, she turned around to face the person who'd suddenly invaded her personal space, finding a familiar looking fellow student. "Woah now, hold yer horses hun."

She knew immediately who this girl was. She was taller than herself, even including the added inches of her horns, and had a voice practically dripping with a East Vacuoan accent, there was no mistaking that this was the chick who got into it with Elena, a fact that sent any benefit of the doubt she might have gotten about just being overly friendly right out the window. Despite going on edge, Alaska wasn't intimidated by the way her gaze hardened or her fist clenched, and if she did, she didn't show it.

"Sorry 'bout that, wasn't trying to scare you, name's Alaska Starbuck, yer Scarlet, right?" Despite putting on a cheery tone, she would have to be stupid to mistake the predatory grin on Alaska's face as genuinely friendly. Okay no, this was actually worse than getting ignored or dirty looks now. She didn't know what this fake friendliness was about, but at this point, she wanted to just tell her to piss off, which she did.

"Piss off." While there were times she regretted having a weak filter, she could safely say this wasn't one of them. In an instant, the smirk disappeared off of Alaska's face, only to reappear on her own face instead, leaving the bluenette with a face that resembled a guy that'd been tased on one of those fake police shows. Taking her small victory, Scarlet turned to leave, at the very least satisfied she could wipe that fake smile away.

"Now that's just rude, and here I was hoping we could be friends." Alaska said with fake disappointment in her voice, following lazily, her longer legs making it trivial to keep up with the smaller redhead.

"Yeah, whatever." Scarlet didn't even turn to look back, just flipping the bird over her shoulder. Well that wasn't good, Alaska needed to switch things up, get her attention for just a minute longer. Better switch to something she knew would work then, she thought, switching her tone to speak in a voice just loud enough for her target to hear.

"Fair enough, guess I just shoulda expected that from a terrorist's brat." Scarlet stopped in her tracks at that. What did she just say!?

"What did you just say!?" There it was, Scarlet hadn't even turned around yet, but Alaska could tell she was beyond furious just from the way she grew stiff in the shoulders. Just had to dangle the bait just a bit longer, the cowfish wasn't caught just yet.

"So, you any different than your Pa? Don't look it, 'least when he cut people up he didn't pretend to feel bad about it after."

Scarlet walked as fast as she could towards the blue-haired bitch, stuttering and fumbling over her words, outright growling in frustration. She wanted to give in and break her stupid face with her fist, who the hell did she think she was? But, as much as she wanted to throw that punch, as good as it would have felt, she couldn't. She wasn't going to stand for this, but if she fought back, she'd just be proving the bully right, that she was like Dad.

"Just- leave me the hell alone!"

"If anyone should be leavin' you be honey, it's them friends of yours." Scarlet stopped dead in her tracks. There it was, that was the button to push. Just in time too, as the high pitched melody signaling that Aeth was close started ringing out. Time to seal the deal.

"The FU-"

Scarlet turned, face red and piping mad, no longer caring about the people around her as she saw nothing but red. Talking about her was one thing, talking about Dad was another thing, but who the darkest depths of fucking hell did this girl think she was to just talk about her friends like that!? Alaska didn't let her finish though, reaching out and grabbing her by the blazer, being sure that no one could see her pull Scarlet in closer.

"I mean, how long until you snap again hon? I'd hate to see that grass-haired cutie lose a limb just because you couldn't act like a norm-ack!" It was Scarlet's turn to interrupt, suddenly reaching up to the taller girl and grabbing her by the collar, immediately slamming her into the wall before she could react. In her anger, Scarlet didn't notice how little trouble she had moving the bigger girl, or that despite putting on a show, she wasn't actually putting all that much effort into fighting back, or how the students around them froze in place to watch the events unfold.

"Shut up! Don't you say another fucking word about them, I'd never do that, you understand? You better, because I ain't telling you again you stupid bitch, so leave me and my friends names the fuck out of your mouth, got it!?"

There it was, some proper backbone, some actual bite. She'd have to do this again, on her own time when it wasn't about getting even, because if this was how she was now, she'd love to see her reaction to some real rough play. But, she had a script to follow, so with a mocking grin, she whispered back.

"Oh, I got ya' alright."

That was it, she was done, done with her stupid smirk, her attitude, that annoying accent, and most of all, that mouth of hers, so she decided to shut Alaska up, see how well she talked shit with some missing teeth. Rearing her fist back and readying her Aura to protect her knuckles, she snarled as her pent up rage over the last week was begging to be let out.

"Miss Taurus-Fall!" Before she could even blink, Scarlet felt a hand grab her wrist moments before she let her fist fly, turning to see the thin frame of her history teacher as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Professor Oobleck?" Scarlet was confused, wasn't his classroom on the floor above them? How'd he know things were escalating to a fight when it had been like, two minutes since all this shit started? Then, she saw the short redhead standing by her other teammates, the one Alaska had punched that guy over.

Then it clicked. She'd been set up.

Seeing the look of realization make its way onto Scarlet's face, and that Oobleck was firmly staring at the Faunus, she pushed the smaller girl back, hard enough to send her toppling over, acting her heart out as she did so.

"I said let go!" Alaska yelled, voice breaking from the intensity of her scream. She probably would have bought herself, if she wasn't on the receiving end of her now obviously staged crap. Alaska quickly broke off and ran to her team, the other three girls taking her in and starting to fret over their leader. Scarlet glanced around the hall, looks of disgust and fear all bearing down on her from the crowd she just noticed had formed around them, Ooblecks disappointed stare just one amongst dozens as he helped her to her feet.

"This- it's not- she pla-" but he wasn't hearing it, holding out his hand and silencing her.

"Enough, young lady, you, I, and Miss Goodwitch are going to have a long conversation about this, getting into an incident so soon after your recent accident with Miss Arc-Schnee is unacceptable behavior." Scarlet wanted to argue, she wanted to proclaim her innocence and tell him what was really happening, but it fell on deaf ears. Letting her shoulders slump, Scarlet could do little more than shoot Alaska a glare that, if looks could kill, would have atomized her on the spot.

"Think it worked?" Aethelflad asked, watching as the crowd of first years started to disperse.

"Oh yeah, it worked." Alaska chuckled, dropping the scared little girl act when she was out of eyesight. Now that was fun. Ah, if only Aeth had been a moment later though. Oh well, she still got her blood pumping, so it wasn't a complete let down. Glancing back to her team, she saw her partner starting to fidget. "Sumthin' up Loyal?"

The girl in question shook her head, but didn't exactly seem confident in her denial, all it took was a knowing glance from her leader to cave and admit the truth.

"That just… wasn't very funny, it was scary, you almost got hurt."

Alaska nodded, Loyal didn't really have her sense of humor, she was still a bit on the meek side still when it came to that. It was something she'd have to help her work on, they were training to be huntresses after all, she couldn't have her shy away from something just because it bothered her. But, that could come later, for now she liked Loyal as is, a bit simple but sweet, caring, and… well, Loyal.

"I'll make it up to you, make you some of them peanut butter treats you like." At her friend's promise, Loyal cheered up, almost immediately forgetting about the scary encounter and practically skipping along with her friends.

Scarlet sat, scowling at the old man in front of her. His spiky mess of hair was colored various shades of gray, and he had a similarly unkempt beard. Somehow this old timer had ended up as the head of security for the whole school, and now she was his problem to deal with. No-longer focusing on the man himself, she began to glance around the barebones room, her eyes coming to rest on his name plaque, which naturally stated his role, but more intriguingly, it also stated his name, Qrow Branwen. So this was Goose's dad? Had she not been so mad that she couldn't properly think, she'd have a ton of questions to ask the man, but as it stood, her amber eyes were unable to hide the inferno of anger that had been burning within her. A lesser man would have cowered at the sight of a huntress in training staring at them in such a way, but Qrow was completely unbothered, it was far from the first time he'd been given such a look, and he had no doubt that it wouldn't be the last.

"So, wanna tell me why my lunch break got cut short?" he asked while scratching at his beard, getting little more than a huff in return, filled with the contempt and attitude that only a teenage girl could muster.

"Like you don't already know." Scarlet was, for all intents and purposes, done. She was done with the extra attention from her teachers, done with the rumors about her having taken over a gang or that she single mindedly attacked anyone who made eye contact with her. By this point, she just wanted to have him throw a month of detention her way so she could go back to the dorm and put a hole in her wall.

"Alright then," he said, leaning back in the chair and getting comfortable, able to appreciate that she just wanted to get this over with. "I'll be blunt kid, you fucked up."

"You guys aren't listening to me! Alaska started it!" Scarlet blew up, all her pent up pain and anger spilling out at the old head of security. Oh, of course this was her fault, not all the people screwing with her! Not Lumi, or Alaska, or Dad! No, it was the fault of the person all of this was crashing down on!

Qrow didn't react to the sudden yelling, not even flinching. Compared to getting shot at, an irate teenager was only scary when you didn't already help raise three of them. This girl, as mad as she was, had nothing on Yang's temper tantrums. That, and he was sure what he'd say next would defuse her anger.

"I believe you." As he had expected, Scarlet went still, and he watched the slow spread of elated realization across her face. For the first time since the accident someone was… on her side? And it was Lumi's grandpa no less?

"What?" It was really all she could think to say, but Qrow shrugged like it was the most obvious response in the world.

"You think we don't know that girl starts shit? Alaska's been getting into fights ever since she enrolled last year."

"So then why am I the one in trouble?" While Scarlet was relieved that he wasn't using this as an opportunity to throw the book at her, she was still peeved that this was causing her to get into trouble in the first place if he knew it wasn't her fault.

"Because you're the one who got caught slamming a fellow student against a locker and trying to kick her ass. You wanna cuss her out then by all means, swear up a storm, the vast majority of students here are adults after all, that kind of behavior is expected. It's when you start actually trying to hurt each other, that we gotta step in."

"That's-"

"And you're the one who recently got on the news because you cut up another student." Truth be told, their hands were tied. He felt for the kid, when he and Raven had been discovered to have been bandits it was hell, and they were from a tribe only feared by small country villages that couldn't afford the protection of a half decent Huntsman, not an international terrorist who nearly burned down a major combat school. Had it not been for Tai and Summer standing by them, he'd have probably caved under the pressure and taken off. "Thankfully I believe in multiple chances, you got dealt a shit hand, and when that hand got played, you didn't handle it the best. It happens, I know."

Scarlet sat back in her seat, unsure how to react. She'd been ready to fight and defend her innocence, to scream and spit in his face as one last screw you, so someone actually taking her side was unexpected to say the least. Not having an actual plan of action anymore, she just asked the only question she could think of.

"So, what now?" to which Qrow responded with a shrug.

"Now you gotta show us that we don't need to keep you on a leash, technically this is your first infraction, but considering the circumstances…" Scarlet tensed up, knowing that he was referring to how because some asshole sent the video of the training accident to the news, they had to take it more seriously than they usually would've.

"I'm going to put you on probation."

"Probation!?" She couldn't believe this, all that talk about second chances and yet he was still treating her like a criminal! Seeing her starting to get worked up once more. Qrow groaned, holding up his hand to shush her, something that mostly irritated the girl, but it did stop her from going off any further.

"Look, unless you want me to give you detention for a month or something, this is the best I can do for you. I'm extending your exclusion from combat classes for another week, and if you have another incident my hands will be tied." Qrow said, trying to explain his decision as rationally as he could. Really, he was pushing what was deemed an acceptable repercussion as it was. Scarlet seemed to get it, or at least, that's what he assumed was the reason she didn't protest further, he wasn't a mind reader after all. "Just keep your head down and avoid getting into serious trouble for a few months, show us we don't need to worry about you. It ain't a secret people are on edge, but with time, it'll fade."

Scarlet's shoulders slumped, that was really it? She just had to put up with it until things blew over? It wasn't fair, everyone, even the staff, was judging her and acting like she was some rabid dog that was about to bite… except for Qrow.

"What about you? Why aren't you getting your panties in a twist about me like everyone else?"

At her sudden query, he thought about it for a moment, fingers resting on his beard. Honestly, it was because he wasn't surprised by her enrollment like everyone else. Seriously, the fact that no one but Lumi figured it out just on her surname alone actually surprised him, but then again, it helped being more involved than the others. They didn't help Oz make that deal, or had to work with them to make sure Salem's agents never made a move on the Fall Maiden hiding in their backyard. But, all that was a mouthful, and she wasn't ready to hear all of that just yet.

"I'd be one hell of a hypocrite if I judged you based on your old man, you just need to learn how to think before you act." Scarlet assumed that was meant to be comforting, but she was pretty sure the last bit was him telling her off.

"Thanks… I think?"

"You can thank me by saving me the headache and staying out of trouble." Okay, now he was definitely telling her off. With the meeting over, Scarlet got to her feet and was moments from the door when he stopped her. "Oh, do me a favor and talk to Goose, she's worried about you."

Goose? She was worried about her? Truth be told, Scarlet had assumed the girl was just being polite, but it felt… nice knowing that the girl wasn't just keeping up appearances. For the first time that day, she found herself smiling.

"I… Yeah, I'll do that."

Chapter Text

Romeo had always loved his honorary Uncle's club, even as a child when he was too young to wander the dance floor, making come hither eyes at the first cute little distraction he saw. It had become a sort of sanctuary for him, a home away from home. Now that he was a grown man, he could really appreciate it, from the intoxicating atmosphere that loosened him up before he'd even had a sip of alcohol, to the music that he could feel with his teeth as it blared from the speakers surrounding the dance floor. He took a deep breath, the smell of alcohol, sweat, and degeneracy flooding his senses as a grin spread across his lips.

It was home, more than the empty manor he grew up in or the dingy little apartment he slept at would ever be.

Making his way across the floor, he let his eyes glance at the various pieces of eye candy, and there was certainly a good selection tonight. There was an older woman with dog ears hanging off the neck of some boy young enough to be her son, clad in little more than a mesh shirt, and a tiny freckled redhead that looked to be on the younger side sandwiched in between a pair of similarly aged and far less focused boys, their bodies bumping and grinding together without much care for who or what they were feeling. Had he not been here on business, he'd gladly step into the crowd, maybe take one or two of the more fun looking girls to bed. But alas, he had a job to do and he ignored the crowd as he made his way to the bar, leaning against the counter as he waited for a certain someone to notice him. The bartender was massive, seven feet tall and built like an ox, his frame came from his old man, while his emerald green eyes and soft face came from his mother. Currently, the massive man was chatting up a girl with what looked to be whiskers, a cat or rabbit Faunus he assumed. The girl giggled at the large man, whether it was due to the fact that the bartender gave free drinks to girls he flirted with, or because she actually thought he was funny, Romeo couldn't tell. Either way, he let the pair have their fun, waiting until the girl stood up, writing a number down on a slip of paper before sliding it over with a wink. Romeo waited for the girl to get out of earshot before speaking to the man.

"Careful with those Faunus girls JJ, you know what they say about them having a wild side." The man smirked upon hearing the voice of his favorite regular, turning to the smaller man and without even asking, grabbed a bottle of Scotch and poured each of them each a shot.

"They also give warnings about being a manwhore, yet you don't seem to pay attention to those.", he said, jabbing back before raising his shot glass, Romeo doing the same as they both downed their drinks. He savored the familiar burning sensation in his throat, before handing the bartender his glass back.

"It's good to see you JJ, how's Mel?", Romeo asked. While he worked closely with the Malachite-Xiong crime family, his recent string of jobs and doing what was supposed to be his mother's job didn't exactly leave him with many opportunities to catch up with family and friends. He swallowed the bitter thought, along with a second shot that had JJ poured upon seeing the sour look on his friend's face, thankfully not mentioning it.

"Mom's good, she and Dad are in talks with some dust smugglers from Atlas right now." So business was good then, he was glad to hear it, not that he'd expected any less from Aunt Melanie. The woman had always had a knack for negotiations if what he'd been told was true, and she was someone who he'd want on his good side even if circumstances were different between them.

"Good, tell her I said hi, it's been ages." Romeo wanted to say more, to ask about his Uncle, Aunt Miltia, or her twins, but this was going to be a short visit, Verde was almost ready, all she needed was information on the targets. "So, do you have it?"

JJ nodded before glancing around, as if he actually thought someone could eavesdrop on two people who damn near had to shout to hear each other from two feet away.

"Not out here, that kind of info's too sensitive to have out in the open. Follow me." he said, gesturing at a door behind the bar. Romeo knew the way into the backrooms by heart, noting the familiar sensation of the music fading as they went further into the building, the facade of the club's interior gradually disappearing until there was little more on the walls aside from the stone foundation that held it together. Coming into one of the offices, JJ moved over to a specific box and despite the sound of heavy metal shifting within, he tilted it back with one arm as easily as lifting a feather, reaching under it to reveal that a set of files were taped to the underside.

"Are these what I think they are?" Romeo said, the eyebrow over his pink eye raising curiously. He'd asked for the files of four students, but what JJ had seemed to be a bit too thick for something like this. JJ didn't respond at first, just shooting his friend a smirk as he dropped two large packets right in front of the man. He took pride in what he saw, the eyes of Vale's very own prince of crime going as wide as dinner plates once he saw the labels.

"Copies of the official Beacon files, you'd be surprised what a janitor is willing to do when they're offered their year's salary for one teensy little printing job." As he picked up the packets, labeled "SJJL" and "BGEL" respectively, he found himself practically salivating, now having two full Huntsman teams worth of information at his fingertips to play with. He had to admit, he was impressed, now this was going above and beyond. "We got the ones belonging to the names you had marked, Taurus, Belladonna, Arc-Schnee, and Branwen, but I just had the guy make copies of both teams to be safe."

"JJ, I could kiss you." The man in question made an unamused face at Romeo's comment.

"Please don't."

Ignoring JJ for the moment, Romeo slid his finger into the manilla seam and cracked open the packet containing SJJL's files, pulling out one with the name "Scarlet" clearly labeled in black ink and opening it. It was disturbingly thorough, having the usual bits like height, weight, and age, all of which he skipped over completely, instead going down to the interesting bits like her Semblance, which was… Hemokinesis? Okay, that was just unsanitary. There was far more than just that though, her file even included a highly detailed recounting of her time as a student at Signal, such as an incident where her horn was cracked in a brawl with another student. Near the bottom, there was a note about how her Aura had been active since birth. Not unheard of, but it was certainly notable. He guessed when you were the child of two terrorists, you practically got your own novel written from birth. The man couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at the comprehensiveness of the thing, even if you counted every last individual infraction against the law in his twenty-one years of life, his own file wouldn't be nearly this thick. Glancing at the rest of the files, he could tell that the rest wouldn't be nearly as detailed, but if they had even a fraction of the information that Scarlet's did, it would be more than enough. Laying the files out, he moved the folder labeled "Goose" over with the rest of SJJL before looking back to JJ. His smirk was completely gone, no need to pretend to be looking forward to the next part.

"These ones, I want eyes and ears on them if they come into the city. If they so much as spit on the sidewalk, I want to hear about it."

JJ nodded as he looked down at the files, knowing the significance of these names and what they meant to Romeo and his family. While his best friend was willing to go pretty far out of his comfort zone, they both knew that this could go very bad very easily, and he had no intentions of getting labeled a Huntsman killer.

"Level with me Rome, what're you planning?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure yet. I just need to draw her out. I have a few ideas on how to set that up, and if I can do this right, no one will ever know I was involved."

There was silence after that, which was never a promising sign, especially since Romeo was typically far more prepared than this. He was rushing, and again, JJ understood why, but he didn't like it.

"Does your mom know?"

"No, and it's going to stay that way." Romeo said, practically spitting the words out like they were poison. Neo was the last person he wanted to see right now, he felt angry just thinking about her. "She had her chance, and now I'm fixing her mistake. Just like usual."

A pair of silver eyes looked over the transfer request form. To say that it was rare to see this paper was an understatement, she could count on one hand the amount of times she'd seen the form in her seven years of teaching, and even less than that was the amount of times it had been approved, only once as a matter of fact. It was seen by all as the absolute last resort for teams that, even after years of working together and guidance by the staff, were simply better off not working together. It was a process that would need to be agreed upon by all parties, as well as a second team willing to undergo a massive change in their dynamic as well.

So, the fact that Lumi had gone and filled it out all by herself, just a day into the second month of her schooling at Beacon, was nothing short of ridiculous. Even with the circumstances being what they were, there was simply no way this would ever be considered. Looking back up to her niece, Ruby fought hard to keep her face professional and not go into "disappointed aunt mode" with the girl patiently waiting with her hands folded over her lap.

"Denied." One word, it had taken one word for Lumi's calm facade to break and a burst of outrage to take its place.

"What!?" The sudden shrill voice of her niece made her wince as the girl stood up and stomped her foot like an angry child, her anger and feelings of betrayal being targeted at the only person there to take the brunt end of it, a person she'd hope would see her reasoning and help her out of this mess.

"Lumi, Glynda is never going to approve this, in fact if she was here, she'd give you a lecture for even thinking of wasting your time with this." Ruby tried to gently explain that this was in no way happening, but the unmoved face of Lumi told her that the young woman had made up her mind long before actually coming into the office and filling out the form.

"Team transfers are meant as a last resort when irreconcilable differences stop a team from being able to perform at a bare minimum capacity. Something which describes my team perfectly!" Lumi insisted, trying to win the argument with logic, hoping that it would allow the woman who she knew was normally a perfectly reasonable person to see that this was the solution to her problem. The fact that her teammate was a barbarian who cut down those who argued with her clearly didn't seem to bother anyone, so maybe the team being an obvious failure from the jump could at least get her out of being shackled to the brute for the next four years.

"How would you know?" Ruby asked, her tone more than just accusatory. The woman knew her too well, she could probably convince most people that she was arguing from a point of logic, she'd probably convinced herself as well, but Ruby knew better. Just as she expected, Lumi's anger flared to a new height with her little comment. She had never felt so belittled, it was as if her pain meant nothing. She could handle such disrespect from the common riffraff, but from her aunt? It stung too much to simply let it go.

"Excuse you? Would you like to see the scar on my back? The sca-" Her righteous indignation was stopped by her aunt, suddenly slamming her hands on the desk and standing up from her seat. Lumi found herself taking a step back and falling back into form, standing straight and proper as she'd been taught along with all ten of her siblings. Ruby, having heard more than enough of Lumi's attitude, had decided to finally put an end to things. In hindsight, she should have corrected this back when it had first happened, but the guilt over her mistake of allowing Lumi and Scarlet's fight to go as far as it did in the first place kept her from putting a stop to this when she needed to.

"I saw everything Lumi, it was an accident. So, I'll ask again, how would you know? Have you even been to your dorm in the several weeks since then?" Lumi looked away for a brief moment, feeling naked under the redhead's knowing gaze.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to deny it, still not meeting the disapproving stare of her Aunt.

"Jin is also my nephew, Lumi. He talks to me, and he tells me that you haven't made a single attempt to fix the damage you and Scarlet caused."

Jin? Had he turned on her as well? No, she had to have misunderstood, after everything they'd been through he'd have her back… but then again, he stayed in the dorm with their teammates… talked with them… and was now apparently talking with Ruby behind her back about the things she did. Was she truly alone on this? She knew she wasn't, logically speaking, Elizabeth had her back if nothing else, but now, standing before Ruby like this, she had never felt more alone. Ruby softened her glare, seeing Lumi's facade of confidence slowly melt away. Maybe now she'd be more reasonable, and would stop being so stubborn like her parents were at her age and listen, even if it was just for a moment.

"Did your mother ever tell you that she hated me when we first met?" Lumi's eyes widened, not only from the surprise at the sudden change in topic, but also from the utter ridiculousness of that statement, she couldn't fathom the idea of her Mother saying anything worse than a mere jest at Ruby's expense.

"That's impossible, she always says you're the little sister she never had!"

"It's true, ask your father about it. For the first few days she couldn't stand me, and to be honest, it wasn't all her fault." Ruby smirked at that, making a mental note to call Weiss her "big sis" the next time they met up, as well as reminiscing about those days, when everything was simpler. "Do you know how we moved past that?"

Lumi pondered the question, still stumped on the idea that Ruby and her mother had ever been at odds in the first place, what could Ruby possibly have done? Blown her mother up?

"I… you apologized?" Ruby shook her head, walking past the desk and placing a hand on little Lumi's shoulder, leading her out the door, hoping that maybe, just maybe, some wisdom from the past can apply to the present.

"She gave me a chance, she gave Team RWBY a chance. That's all I'm asking from you Lumi. You don't have to be Scarlet's best friend, you don't even have to like her, but you have to at least see if this really is unfixable before you give up on her and your team."

"But her Father-"

"He isn't here, and he isn't on your team either." Lumi bit her lip, unable to think of any rebuttal. "Now come on, I don't want to hear anything else about changing teams until you've given yours a chance, okay?"

As she opened the door to let Lumi out, who was thinking about what she'd been told, the pair were stopped by a small pink-haired dog Faunus who jumped away from the door in surprise. Lumi seemed to somewhat recall seeing her before, but she couldn't place her finger on where. Ruby however, had no such difficulty identifying the girl.

"Oh, Miss Morgan, did you need something?" The girl jumped once more at being spoken to, as if she wasn't expecting it, she ummed and aahed for a moment before blurting out.

"Oh, n-no, I'm okay, t-thank you Miss Rose!"

Before either could say another word, the girl speed walked away as fast as her small legs would carry her, leaving the two to wonder what that had been about.

Belka could feel her heart in her throat as she stumbled backwards from the impact of Alternative Deathstyle slamming into Morgan, this was a complete and total disaster!

When her team had been selected to spar against JWEL, Belka had formed a plan, and in her opinion, it was a good one, even if it was nothing complex or special. Juliet was the heavy hitter and biggest threat out of them, in one on one sparring sessions she'd manage to knock students with less impressive Aura reserves, ones similar to her own, out in one blow. Elizabeth was the most suited for direct combat, and thus she would play distraction and use that stupid family Semblance Lumi never shut up about in conjunction with her oversized revolver and whip-sword to keep Juliet busy and stop her from working her way through the weaker members of her team. She'd handle Luna herself, as from a technical standpoint, their weapons were relatively similar, but she had far more advantages in direct combat, superior Atlesian technology resulting in higher beam range and strength, a nearly unlimited budget allowing her to use all manners of powerful Dust, and most of all, melee functionality. While she was sure the dinky pistol Luna carried was more than adequate in its own right, it simply didn't hold a candle to Morgan, so if she could close the distance, she'd be able to bring her down easily. Elena was more complicated, being far more well rounded than the other two, not lacking in range or close quarters combat. She'd leave her to Goose, as while she could say plenty about the Branwen, she couldn't deny her skill with her blade, nor her aim with the cumbersome shotgun attached to it. Rosaria was the most complicated to deal with, as she hadn't seen the girl fight before, and she didn't know what to make of the strange weapon that rested on her shoulders and ran down her arms, so Lao was her best bet, adept at both mid-ranged and close quarters combat, which seemed to be Rosaria's effective range.

Thus, she would take out Luna, then help Goose finish Elena before the two of them would then join up with Lao to make quick work of Rosaria, finally allowing the team to bring a combined assault against the powerhouse that was Juliet. It was a simple divide and conquer strategy, not exactly the sort of daring stratagem that would blow the minds of Atlas's top generals, but if executed properly, it would work. The issue was that no one wanted to follow it! She'd barely gotten the words out of her mouth before Elizabeth shook her head and suggested a different plan.

"I'll target Luna, she's their weakest link after all. Once I'm done with her, I'll use my glyphs to support you three in taking the others down." she declared confidently, ignoring the confused look from Goose and the raised eyebrow from Lao.

"What? No, you need to keep Juliet busy, none of us are going to last more than a few seconds against her in a one on o-"

Elizabeth, however, didn't listen and made a dash towards Luna, looking to take out what she saw as the team's weakest link right off the bat. It wasn't a bad idea, Belka herself had briefly considered it, but with Elizabeth occupied with another target, it meant that the only person she trusted to handle the well built brute was Goose, and that was a gamble she didn't want to take, and neither did Juliet it seemed, because the woman immediately targeted her instead! The descent into chaos was swift after that, Goose tried to back her up in dealing with Juliet, but soon found herself tangled in Rosaria's wires as the stoic girl tried to pull her back, taking the both of them out of the fight for the moment, something she wasn't sure if she was allowed to be mad at Goose for, but considering she was still about to be walloped by Juliet, she leaned towards yes. Thankfully, Lao did the smart thing and tried to capitalize on Rosaria's weapon being indisposed, but Elena saw to it that he'd have to get past her first, starting to pelt him with arrows.

As expected, Belka didn't last long against Juliet, she'd done all that she could, Morgan's range was the one advantage she could use, trying in vain to keep Juliet back, but her opponent acted as though she was completely unconcerned with the hits she took, barreling through her offense and swinging her monstrous hammer with enough force to send her flying, even though she managed to block the strike with Morgan's length. Surprisingly, it wasn't the blow itself that took Belka below the threshold to continue fighting, but it was the impact with the hard light wall afterwards that did it, her Aura fizzling away to mere embers with the collision, landing against the surface hard enough to send brief cracks of light through the field. Now having a numbers advantage, JWEL made quick work of the remaining fighters in BGEL. Lao had the advantage on his opponent, using both modes of his weapon to keep her in the range where he'd have an advantage, but that strategy only worked on one opponent, so when Juliet moved in, there was really nothing he could do. Elizabeth actually did manage to defeat Luna, not that it could be considered a fair fight. What was a girl with little to no close quarters options really supposed to do when cornered? Belka knew it wasn't right to feel so satisfied to see the realization that she was fighting on her own making its way to her niece's face, but it was certainly there. She did well enough for her station, just barely able to keep Juliet at bay, but with Elena there, it was a slow but sure victory for the duo. Rosaria watched them for a moment, then looked down at the tangled and struggling Goose, then back to the fight, then back to Goose.

In all fairness, had Goose been thrown at her, Belka wouldn't have known how to react either, so she really couldn't fault her for freezing up when the girl was flung into her face with enough force to similarly bring her down past the acceptable threshold. Now leaving Goose as the last one standing… er, laying, there was a bit of confusion as the three members of JWEL looked down at Goose, hesitant to just start kicking the girl while she was down.

"Uh… I give up?'' With Goose's concession, the sparring match concluded, and Professor Castleton came down to congratulate JWEL and help Rosaria untangle Goose. Belka got to her feet, her arms trembling, the impact having sent tremors throughout her entire upper body. She was sore, similar to how her legs would feel after a run. Before she was able to fully stand up though, a tanned hand reached down as Juliet offered her help.

"Hey, good match! Sorry I sent you flying like that, guess I still don't know my own strength!"

She gritted her teeth, the reminder that she'd been taken out of the fight so easily caused her anger to flare up, they should have won! Maybe it wouldn't have been as easy as she thought, but if they'd just followed the plan, if Elizabeth wasn't so stubborn and just listened, they would have won! They must have seen them as weak because of such a poor performance, seen her as a weak leader and fighter. Well, she wasn't going to give such pity the time of day, as she dragged herself into a fully standing position.

"I appreciate the concern, but I can assure you I'm fine." she said curtly, leaving Juliet just standing there with her hand still extended, her grin faltering, going stiff and forced as she played off the encounter, wiping some non-existent sweat from her brow. It took the combined efforts of Rosaria, Luna, and the Professor to get Goose free, and once she was, each team stood, ready to be addressed by Professor Castleton. Belka didn't bother to pay attention as he no doubt would sing the praises of the opposing team for their victory. She'd never been more humiliated! She'd been utterly trounced, her entire team had been. What should have been at the very worst a close fight, was a one sided joke of a match that the whole class had gotten front row seats to. After what felt like an eternity, the Professor turned to them, a kind and understanding smile on his face. Oh perfect, he pitied her too.

"BGEL, while you managed to briefly hold your own, you suffered from a fatal flaw in this fight, can any of you identify it?" Yes she could, it was the four foot eight brat who thought she knew better than her team leader, however, she knew better than to say as much out loud. Instead, Lao answered in his usual deadpan tone.

"We didn't have an agreed plan of action, sir."

"Correct!" Professor Castleton said with praise, tossing the boy a piece of candy which he effortlessly caught. Belka cringed at the display, it was like they were children in the man's eyes, the way he rewarded them with sweets, though it seemed the others didn't share this complaint. "To say you were uncoordinated… well, it's understandable that some teams will take longer to fall into form than others, but you need to learn how to synergize, banding together has always been our greatest strength against the Grimm, use this as a learning experience."

With that, he concluded the class, dismissing the students. BGEL and JWEL lingered for just a tad longer, Goose congratulating the other team, who were quick to give what little compliments they could based on their, frankly, embarrassing display. Belka stood aways back from her partner, staring at her weapon still in its inactive state as her anger festered. Oh she'd be telling the girl off, of that she was certain.

"Hey, Belka, are you coming?" Looking up, she saw that Goose was staring at her, her head tilted as she was about to poke her partner to get her attention. Belka slapped the hand away and looked around the room, realizing she'd been lost in thought. It was just BGEL now, even JWEL had exited, leaving them alone… Now that they were alone, she decided that there was no reason to wait until they were back at their dorm to scold the pygmy girl.

"What the hell was that!?" Belka snapped, her voice suddenly booming to a high and echoing throughout the room. Goose jumped back, nearly falling over as she did so, genuinely startled by Belka's sudden outburst. Lao actually seemed startled for once too, and Elizabeth found herself glaring back.

"Excuse you?" Elizabeth shot back, similarly growing angered by her aunt's audacity. Who did she think she was, lashing out at them because she couldn't handle losing? She stomped forward until she was close enough to smell the taller girl's breath.

"Don't play dumb! Just by breaking off from the plan like that, you ruined everything!" Belka snapped, jabbing her finger into Elizabeth's chest. Oh, that got her mad, her teeth gritting as she prepared to snap back, only for Goose to push her way in between the two, prying them apart and keeping them at bay for the moment.

"Hey, guys come on, this isn't helping anyone, we all could have done better, I got all tangled right away, it's not like I helped out that much." Goose pointed out, trying to draw the ire of her niece and partner away from one another before things got out of hand, but unfortunately, that didn't work as Liz shook off Goose's arm moments later.

"You lost because your Semblance is a coin flip, it's not the same as simply performing pathetically. Maybe if our dear leader hadn't dropped the ball so hard and lasted more than twenty seconds, we could have taken her!"

Belka laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement. Either she was grasping at straws, or Elizabeth had far more faith in her than she thought, which, while a nice thought, was almost as absurd as her beating Juliet.

"Elizabeth Ironwood, do me a favor and think about what you just said, how are any of us supposed to handle a monster like her in a straight fight? I was counting on you!" The smaller girl softened her glare somewhat, the point her leader was making starting to sink in, but Belka couldn't leave it at that. "Unless your brain stopped developing around the same time as your height, I'm going to expect more from you in the future."

She… didn't know why she'd said that, she'd made her point, she could see that it was sinking in and that Liz didn't even give a half hearted rebuttal, yet she felt the need to make that personal dig for some reason that eluded her. Elizabeth reacted as expected, Lumi's sister Ingrid had let Belka know that the girl was known for being a bit sensitive about her height.

"You know what, screw you Gele!" Elizabeth shouted in newfound rage, stepping forward and pushing Belka back, thankfully not so hard she fell. For a moment, she was too stunned to react, had she really just tried to push her over that?

"That's enough." Lao interrupted, joining Goose who similarly got in-between them before either of them could escalate the situation any further. The girls glared past their teammates, both looking ready to burst at any second. Thankfully, Elizabeth either thought better of it or caved, and at this point Belka didn't particularly care which.

"Whatever, come on Goose." Elizabeth said, turning on her heels and storming away, only to stop when she realized she wasn't being followed. The salt and pepper haired girl stood there, shuffling her feet, looking back and forth between her niece and the team leader, unsure what to do.

"Well, are you coming or going?" Belka asked, crossing her arms and watching expectantly. While Goose didn't really want to pick a side, it seemed like they were expecting her to.

"I'm… going to… the showers. I uh… I stink!" The explanation certainly wasn't what either of them expected, both Elizabeth and Belka staring at her with varying levels of confusion and disbelief. Seeing that neither of them were buying it, and unable to read Lao's face as per usual, she lifted her arm up and sniffed her armpit. It didn't smell good, obviously, but it was nothing out of the ordinary after a full day. Still, they didn't need to know that, so she made a dramatically disgusted face and gagged. "Bleh! Yup, gotta wash all this sweat off before I smell like Jin after a workout!"

With her excuses made, Goose took off, speed walking out the door and left her team without picking a side. She felt bad, she wanted to support her niece, and her partner, but when they were at odds over something that really didn't matter, it was so messy that she just didn't know what to do. As she turned the corner, she bumped into someone, a girl, around Lumi's size, maybe a little smaller, in a long, tattered, purple coat with a hood and a simple set of black clothes underneath, who tried, and failed, to recover from the bump, immediately falling over from the accidental collision.

"Ow…" The girl groaned, her yellow eyes looking up at Goose. Something was weird about this girl, was having pupils that big normal? Oh what was she thinking, her stupid Semblance made her bump into someone again! She had to help, it was the least she could do.

"Oh, sorry about that, just my luck." Goose said apologetically, reaching down and offering her hand, which the girl stared at for a moment before accepting and letting Goose pull her up. "I'm Goose, sorry again, that happens way more than you'd think."

"Uh, Lavender, it's fine." the brunette, Lavender apparently, said, taking a step back and looking past her. Goose figured she must have felt awkward, okay, maybe she could change the subject, like to clothes!... Okay, actually her clothes were kinda unremarkable… The belt was cool though, it had a really cool texture, purplish-black and shiny, but not too shiny.

"Hey, I like your belt!" Lavender blinked back, not really knowing how to react to that, looking down at her waist before looking back at Goose.

"Thanks, I… grew it myself, uh I gotta go… get some food." Ah, that's why she was looking around. Well, it would be rude to keep her, so Goose just moved to the side and let the girl slink past her, the small woman pulling her hood up over her head as they parted.

"Cool, see you around Lavender!" Goose called out as she walked off. As she finally made her way to the showers, it occurred to her that she didn't recognise that girl at all, even though they had been on campus for just over a month now… Maybe Belka was right, she did need to pay attention more.

Jet sat on the bench, holding Hephestus' slide up into the light to better examine it, the stainless steel shining with not so much as a scratch on the metal. In fact, save for a few haphazard specks of dirt, the part was in perfect condition. Most would see the small imperfections as negligible and simply ignore them until they were more noticeable, but to his crimson eyes, it was an issue that required his immediate attention. If he allowed himself to get complacent now, then what was to stop him from ignoring it the next time, or the time after that? No, he'd do it properly and deal with it now. Grabbing one of the many specialized brushes he used to regularly clean his weapon, he gently scrubbed away at the part, falling back into the routine he'd gotten used to. He'd have to look at the whole weapon again, if he'd missed sections of the slide, then he could have missed more, and besides, it helped him to take his mind off of this whole mess with Scarlet and her Dad, something that became less doable when someone tried to get his attention from the side.

"Hey man, so is it true? About that redhead chick you're hanging out with. Is she really a terrorist?" the boy asked, leaning in and doing the most half hearted attempt at a whisper he'd ever seen. He pretended that he wasn't paying attention, yet deep down, the fact that the rumors had shifted from centering on Scarlet's parents to her irked him to no end.

"I heard she started something with another chick, did she hit you too man? Is that why you stick around her, scared she'll do worse if you don't?" he asked, clearly not getting the hint, and as thick skulled as he was, he probably didn't realize that he was getting under Jet's skin, even as his knuckles turned pale, gripping the slide tighter with every word the boy spoke.

"Frankly, I don't see how that's any of your business." Jet said, his tone shorter than he meant to lead on. Glancing over, Jet couldn't help but roll his eyes at the offended look now plastered onto the other boy's face.

"Not my business? Dude, it's all of our business now, what if she snaps again?" Jet started to drown the boy out, looking back down at the slide and running a microfiber cloth along the metal. The cloth picked up the loose dirt from the slide as it steadily traveled across the silver expanse, leaving the metal so clear that he could see his own reflection in it, as well as the reflection of the boy, still yapping his lips about things he knew nothing about.

"Hey Jet, what's up man?" If the cheery voice of his partner didn't tip him off, the sudden weight of Jin's heavy arm landing on his shoulder would have certainly done the trick. "Oh, what're you guys talking about?"

Jin flashed a wide toothy smile, seemingly ignorant to the fact that he'd just cut off the boy on the other side of Jet. Another wave of emotions flowed across his face at the sudden intrusion, seemingly considering telling the Monkey man off, but ultimately deciding against it after realizing that the newcomer was a head taller, built like a brick wall, and that Jet looked less than pleased at his lingering presence. Suddenly, his questions about their team leader didn't seem all that important.

"Oh uh, we- uh, we were just leaving! Good talk man!" He got his excuse out and stood up, immediately walking off as fast as his legs would carry him without another word. Jet just stared into the now empty space for a moment, confused but thankful.

"How did you…"

"You'd be surprised at how often people get intimidated just because I'm big." Honestly, Jet really wasn't surprised. Jin was a mountain of a man, he was a bit cautious himself before learning that the man was a big softie. If Jin felt a certain kind of way, he didn't show it, moving around the table and taking the now unoccupied seat with the same smile he had before. "So… what was that about?" Jin questioned.

"Take a wild guess." Jet said bitterly, going back to looking over the display of parts spread before them. Jin let him work for a minute, watching as he picked up one of the parts and looked it over, then, despite it looking no less than perfect to him, Jet continued to clean it, before moving on to the next part and repeating the process.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jin asked gently, stopping Jet in his tracks. The meticulous boy was stumped at that. Did he want to vent? Absolutely. Did he want to retread the same tired old drama for the thousandth time this month with Jin? Not particularly. But in the end, the stress induced headache he'd been trying and failing to fight off didn't really leave much room for decision making, so he just decided to let it all out.

"Not really, what Terra- well I guess there's no point in pretending anymore, what Adam did… it's not on Scarlet. I mean hell, I could hardly see him doing those things, obviously she's not gonna know how to react, who would?" Jin nodded along, letting Jet get his small rant out of the way. None of what Jet was saying was anything he didn't already know, but it was clearly cathartic for his partner, since he was letting the situation build up inside him. But, there was a part of Jet's rant that stood out to Jin.

"Wait, pretending? So you did know." Jet's eyes widened as his mistake was pointed out to him, panic briefly setting in until he realized that Jin's reaction mostly amounted to… curiosity? Jet didn't get this guy. "How much did you know?"

Jet hesitated, he considered making something up on the spot, try to explain it as a slip of the tongue or something, but that instinct quickly faded, Jin's dopey smile quickly causing any caution he felt to fade away.

"My Mom and Dad… they're like hers. They made some- okay, a lot of mistakes. They never hid that, but they'd never go into specifics about what they did. So I did some digging…" The rest didn't really need to be said, the articles about Adam were bad enough, but the videos? Gods, the last thing he needed to see was the man who was almost like an uncle to him putting the innocent families of SDC executives to the sword. It made him feel sick, and truth be told, he still hadn't fully compartmentalized it. As for Ember… while he didn't have any actual proof of anything she may have done in the past, he knew her voice well, and it sounded a lot like the woman who made that obviously evil speech right before the Grimm invaded the city when Beacon fell all those years ago…

"Why didn't you tell her?" He paused at Jin's question. He didn't know exactly why, though the answer was obvious. He had no proof of any wrongdoing when it came to Ember, just a recording that was older than they were, and while Adam's past was stained with blood, it was just that, his past. There was no reason to cause needless drama in what was, honestly speaking, the family of his only real friend, especially when it seemed like they'd put it behind them. But that wasn't what came to mind. No, what came to mind was how it would break Scarlet's heart. So that's how he answered.

"I dunno, I didn't want to hurt her I guess." Jin tilted his head, watching Jet for a moment before it all clicked.

"Ohhh." Jin said, leaning back with a knowing look, confusing the smaller boy.

"What?" he asked in a genuinely confused manner, something that amused Jin to no end, as if Jet actually thought he'd buy that he was unaware of his own feelings.

"Nothin'..."

Now it was Jet's turn to stare, going over the conversation in his head to try and figure out what would cause a shift in tone from the seriousness of the past to something so teasing… Then his cheeks went red as he finally realized what the Faunus was implying.

"It's not like that!" he said quickly, a bit too quickly, making his partner smile wider.

"Never said it was~." Jin replied in a sing-song voice.

"Okay then, why aren't you all pissed… I mean… nevermi-" Jet said the last part quietly, in his haste to change the subject, he didn't think about how it might actually make the younger man feel.

"Because of what happened with my moms?" Jin asked matter of factly. That was one part Jet couldn't decide if he wanted to know the full story on, but Lumi had made it clear that there was bad blood between the families, the kind that could lead to further bloodshed if left alone to fester.

"Well, yeah, if Lumi's anything to go by, you should be throwing a fit that'd eclipse hers by miles." Jin merely shrugged at the notion, which surprised Jet. He'd assumed the gentle giant would have at least needed to think about how he answered such a delicate question, but at most his face went from smiling to pensive as he spoke.

"Mom always said that holding onto stuff like that just makes the pain last longer. If you can't let go of the past, how're you supposed to live for the future?"

"That's… pretty profound."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she just made it up on the spot, but still, it's a good point. If she can move on from something like that, then why should I go digging up old wounds?" Jin chuckled, his thoughtful face giving way to the big dumb smile that Jet had come to expect.

Yeah… he really didn't get this guy, but he was starting to think that he liked him.

The women's locker room was empty for the most part, and even if it hadn't been, Scarlet wouldn't have cared much. With the towel meant to cover her skin currently thrashing about in her hair, she began to exit the shower. She'd never been self conscious before, and it wasn't anything the other girls hadn't seen before. If they wanted to be weird and gawk just because her assets were on the larger side, that was on them. Strangely enough, this was the most… normal she'd felt in a while. Even if she was buck naked, it was much better to have only a handful of eyes on her rather than the entire school's. As she made her way to her locker, the young woman overheard a few familiar voices.

"I dunno, it's like they just wanna fight for whatever reason." That one was familiar, though less upbeat than she was used to hearing.

"Well you said there's family drama right? That stuff can divide people for years." That one was less recognizable.

"But that's dumb! None of us were even born back then…"

Curiosity got the better of Scarlet and she peered around the corner, finding the familiar faces of Luna, Elena, and Goose sitting and talking in the neighboring aisle. They were all in a similarly exposed state as herself, but were actually using their towels to cover up. Not much was notable at a glance, and it wasn't as if she wanted to stare… but damn, Goose's jeans hid more than she would've guessed. Elena was the first to notice the redhead, her eyes darting down to her chest, and then immediately back up in an instant as the sight registered, her face turning beet red and clearly making a concentrated effort to keep eye contact. Luna was next, nearly jumping out of her skin, though she seemed less bothered by Scarlet's nudity, her reaction coming off as if she was just genuinely frightened by her sudden appearance. She backed up and looked to her partner, seeming like she was considering hiding behind the short haired girl to her side. Meanwhile, turning her dual toned hair, Goose's face lit up at the sight of her friend.

"Scarlet!" Goose blurted out, and, ignoring any and all pretenses of decorum, immediately stood up and wrapped her arms around Scarlet, lifting the slightly shorter girl off of her feet in a bear hug. Scarlet, while briefly startled, quickly melted into the surprise show of affection, similarly hugging the girl now holding her up off the ground. Elena blushed once again and she immediately covered Luna's eyes with her hands. The smaller girl's expression suddenly shifted from fear to befuddlement, confused as to why her eyes were being covered. "It's good to see you! How've you been?" Goose asked, continuing to suspend Scarlet off the ground.

Terrible, thanks for asking. Scarlet had to bite her tongue to keep that in, no matter how badly she wanted to say it. She knew Goose of all people was just being polite, so she rethought her answer.

"About as well as I can be. Jet and Jin have been sticking with me, so it's not too bad." Scarlet said, trying to sound hopeful as she was gently placed back on the ground. She almost wanted to ask Goose to keep holding her. She didn't want to admit it, but after being so isolated for the last month, she had really needed that.

"Really? I'm surprised that Jin would risk being seen with you." Elena said, taking her hands off of Luna's eyes, the moth girl looking around confused as to what she wasn't meant to have seen.

"Meaning what exactly?" Scarlet asked, placing a hand on her hip and scowling at the possible implication that he shouldn't have stuck by her side. While Luna squeaked at the look not even directed at her, Elena just crossed her arms over her chest, which was neither a fully dismissive nor aggressive reaction as far as she could tell.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just saying that he's being real nice considering who his mom is."

"His mom? Wait, which one?" Scarlet asked, she didn't know much about Jin's family other than a few basic things he had shared with her. She remembered he said something about two younger twin siblings, a younger brother who had to wear sunglasses 24/7 because of some eye condition, and a younger sister who was hard of hearing, but aside from him having two siblings and two moms, she couldn't recall anything notable about his family aside from his relation to Professor Rose.

"Blake Belladonna, Y'know, the chieftess of Menagerie? The one working with her sister on better relations with Atlas." Elena said, pointing to Goose as she spoke the word "her". "Just saying, he's taking a huge risk considering your dad helped set race relations back a decade."

Okay, that had to be an exaggeration. But either way, Scarlet really didn't want to talk about her old man, or, more accurately, she didn't want to break Elena's nose over him when he didn't deserve the courtesy.

"How do you know all this?" she asked, mostly to try and change the subject, but also hoping for an explanation on the stalker-ish level of knowledge this girl had on her friend's family.

"It's all public knowledge. You do watch the news, right?" Elena tilted her head, as if she was confused by Scarlet's question. Admittedly, her knowledge on international politics was shoddy at best, so she had to concede on that, but then again that wasn't her fault. She was a Patch girl, born and raised, why would she need to know about what was going on with Atlas and Menagerie?

"Okay, but why do you care?" It felt like a good way to continue the conversation without admitting that she was just unknowledgeable about politics. Elena just rolled her eyes and held up her hand in response. For a moment, Scarlet just looked confused, turning to Luna and Goose, neither of whom seemed to know what was going on either. However, they suddenly noticed that Elena now looked wet, there was now a thin layer of a clear liquid covering her body, seeming particularly thick around her hands.

"Did… you just sweat on command? Is that your Semblance?" Scarlet asked, making a face like she was grossed out. It certainly didn't smell like sweat, it was more… bitter? Her confused face at trying to discern the scent earned an eye roll from the Mistrali girl.

"Wha- No! I'm a poison dart frog Faunus, and this "sweat" is the neurotoxin I can produce on command, so yeah, I have a reason to care, thanks for asking." Oh… okay yeah, that actually was a good reason to care. Scarlet opened her mouth to give a retort on instinct, but nothing came out, realizing that she didn't really have a counter to Elena now.

"Well that was dumb, why didn't you just say that?" A sudden voice from across the room spoke casually. Turning their heads, they saw the heavily tanned Vera and the significantly less tanned Loyal, both getting ready to shower themselves. How Scarlet didn't notice the stench of chemicals that completely enveloped the artificially bronzed woman until that point, she didn't know, but it hit her nose like a freight train. "Like, you know you gotta shower again now, right?"

Elena looked down at her toxin-covered hands, and all the girls present could practically see the gears turning in her head as she realized that couldn't even bump into, let alone touch, anything without leaving behind a harmful toxic residue.

"Oh for fu-" Vera didn't wait for her to finish the thought before saying something again.

"Then again, considering how none of you seem to think past the short term ,I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Vera said bluntly. Unlike her leader, the perpetually bored looking girl didn't seem to be attempting any form of subtlety with her antagonism.

"Ironic, considering someone in their vulnerable birthday suit is trash talking a girl covered in toxins." Elena growled, by no means having forgotten the incident with their leader on day one. If these girls were fine working with a girl like that, they probably weren't much better. Glancing over, Vera just rolled her eyes before speaking again.

"Man, Alaska was right, all of you are dumb, even Loyal here wouldn't try to use an easily identifiable Faunus trait to try and hurt me." Elena gritted her teeth but managed to reign herself in, suddenly well aware that in the moment she couldn't do anything without also poisoning Vera, and giving away that she had done it.

"Yeah I wou- HEY!" Loyal pouted for a moment until Vera reached over and patted the girl's head gently, placating her offended teammate.

"Keep acting before you think like this, and your team's gonna need a replacement like Big Red's." Hearing the mind numbingly lazy nickname for her, Scarlet chimed in.

"I'm not going anywhere." she said defiantly. It was gonna take more than the crap they put her through to get her to give in, and she'd make sure they damn well knew it. Or at least, that was the plan before Vera corrected her.

"Not you, Little Miss Legacy is trying to get transferred to another team."

"Lumi wouldn't do that!" Goose spoke up, coming to her niece's defense, only to be countered by Loyal.

"Yuh-huh, I was there, I overheard her while I was waiting to talk with Miss Rose." The girl's innocent proclamation caused the lot to go silent.

"That's bullshit." Scarlet said, refusing to believe the words of a team of girls who'd done nothing but screw with her. She might not have had much faith in Lumi, but it wasn't like Scarlet had tried to… well… she knew she didn't try to hurt Lumi, but the girl obviously felt otherwise. As the realization set in that it was more of a real possibility than she wanted to admit, Vera stood up and turned to walk off.

"Fine, don't believe us, ask her yourself. Oh wait, you can't, she won't even look at you. C'mon Loyal, we tried." And with that, she left before another word could be said, but Loyal remained a moment longer.

"Uh… bye!" she said before waving energetically and taking off after her friend.

Scarlet stood, stunned as she went silent. She didn't want to admit it, but Vera had a point, Lumi hadn't just ignored her, but Jet as well. She couldn't exactly claim to be much better, but at least she wasn't outwardly cold to her partner. Hell, she never even had the chance, she figured Lumi would eventually give in and try to start over after a week or two, but now, she realized that she might've just given up entirely. It infuriated her to no end, yet she had no idea why.

"Scarlet?" Goose said softly, watching as Scarlet began to shake with anger.

"I'm fine." Turning on her heels, she made her way back towards her locker, she needed to get dressed and have a talk with her partner. She was gonna get to the bottom of this, even if she had to force it out of Lumi. She was NOT just going to take this sitting down.

Lumi stood outside a door, the one that was supposed to be hers. It felt so strange looking at it, now that she hadn't looked at it, or even gone near it, at any point in the past month. There was nothing different or special about it from the last time she was here, other than that the white wooden door was now adorned with a silver plaque, the letters SJJL engraved into it. She reminded herself of that, that the door wasn't special, there was no reason to be apprehensive, it was her dorm room after all, even if she hadn't acted like it, but she knew that she really didn't have any actual claim to it after the way she treated the individuals behind the door as though they were condemned. Should she knock? Would that be weird? Or would it be more weird to walk in like nothing happened? As she contemplated her options, the door suddenly opened.

"You know your feet block the light from th- Lumi?" Jet tilted his head at his teammate, surprised to see her there. It had been so long, he'd almost forgotten that he and the blonde were supposed to be roommates, and for that matter, teammates.

"Jet." Lumi nodded politely, trying to think of an explanation for standing there that sounded less pathetic than the truth: that she simply couldn't work up the nerve to walk into what was supposed to be her own room. "I was um… coming to see how Jin was doing."

"Oh, he's in the bathroom." Jet said matter of factly, his face doing a surprisingly accurate impression of Lao's signature stone cold expression. He couldn't quite control his eyes though, given how they darted around as if he was worried about something. Why was he acting all distant? Their interaction had been cordial- oh, right, she accused him of being a potential terrorist infiltrator like Scarlet… "Do you want me to let him know you're waiting?"

Lumi shook her head and wore a kind smile, one she'd hoped would help him feel more at ease and help him to look at her less like she was some kind of walking landmine, and more like a regular person.

"N-no, that's fine… may I come in?"

Jet wasn't sure what to make of the girl, at first she was openly hostile, then she ignored him along with Scarlet for about a month, and now she was being polite? He didn't really get it, but considering it was the most civil interaction they'd had since they first met, he'd take it.

"Uh, sure." moving aside, Jet more or less welcomed her into hi- their dorm. It was weird, he knew it was her room as much as his, yet the fact that she'd been gone so long created a sort of disconnect that made her feel more like a visitor rather than someone who was meant to be living there. Lumi clearly felt the same way, looking around the room as if it was unfamiliar. She moved over to her bed, the covers untouched since she left it neatly made the morning before her first day of class. Carefully sitting down, she'd hoped Jet would do the same, not wanting to make the boy feel uneasy, yet by the way he just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, that seemed to be exactly what she was doing.

"Listen, Jet, I've been unfair to you, and to Scarlet too. I want to try and start over." She said, hoping that being direct would at least convince him to hear her out. Maybe she'd be able to explain herself, maybe he could see where she was coming from.

"Okay."

"And before you say anything just let me expl- wait, what?" Lumi's head, hung low in emotional vulnerability, suddenly darted upwards at Jet's response, staring at the boy with a shocked expression on her face. Had she heard him right? Okay, okay? Just like that?

"I said okay. I get it, you weren't thinking straight and you acted without thinking. Believe me, Scarlet does that all the time." Jet said in a worryingly casual manner. Lumi almost didn't believe him, but then again, that certainly sounded like Scarlet, and as far as she could tell, he didn't seem to be toying with her, in fact he looked to be a little less on edge now. This was real, he was genuinely giving her a chance. Oh, she could have hugged him for that. In fact, she stood up to do so when the door suddenly swung open.

"You." Scarlet said with an actual growl, the simple word utterly bathed in vitriol, setting the less than pleasant mood for this conversation. The universe had a funny sense of humor, either that or Goose had just walked by, because Jin chose this as the perfect moment to exit the bathroom. All eyes were on her now, an uncomfortable feeling to say the least, but she tried to ignore it and attempted to put her best foot forward.

"Scarlet, I-" Lumi was cut off when the irate woman in front of her slammed the door shut with enough force to crack the frame, a small web of brown cracks shooting through one edge of the white wood in an instant. She jumped back reflexively, raising her Aura as her partner snarled.

"Shut up, I don't want to fucking hear it!" Lumi could feel her blood start to boil, how dare this brute speak to her in such a way!? And after she came to apologize no less!

"Excuse you!?" Lumi shouted back. Seeing the situation start to escalate far faster than what was warranted, Jet moved in between the pair, facing Scarlet in hopes that he could calm his friend down enough so they could just talk this through, rather than scream it loud enough for the entire floor to hear.

"Woah, Scar, she wants to try and fi-"

"She tried to get transferred to a different team, Jet!" Scarlet shouted, almost sounding… hurt? No, she had to have misheard that, and more importantly, how did she know? Did Ruby say something? No, that didn't make any sense.

"How did you- wait, that dog Faunus girl…" She knew she was familiar for some reason, and now it was obvious, she was part of that team and had been listening in on them! Oh, when she got her hands on that little doe eyed saboteur! But that would come later, for now, she had to fix this.

"Lumi?" Jin looked lost, like he couldn't believe what he'd heard. It hurt her to see that, knowing it was not only because of her actions, but also because his confusion proved that he still didn't see things from her perspective. She'd hoped he'd have her back in this, but the fact that he looked just as blindsided as the rest of her team showed otherwise.

"Yeah, Lolly,Lana, or whatever the hell her stupid name is! It's nice to know the team that's going out of their way to screw with me is more honest with me than you!" Honest? If Scarlet really considered people that were obviously manipulating her into an emotional response as more trustworthy than herself, then she was stupider tha- no, she wouldn't allow herself to get worked up in such a way when she was trying to fix things and make up for her past transgressions.

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I was scared. In case you forgot, you cut me open and left a scar on my back." Lumi reminded them, trying to keep things balanced. Scarlet, however, was having none of it.

"Seriously? That's all you have to say for yourself? Do you have any idea what kind of bullshit I've had to put up with because of you over the last month?" Lumi scoffed at Scarlet's accusation, so this was all her fault now? Yes, she had played a role in this, but comparing it to Scarlet's, or better yet, the terrorist that burdened her with his name in the first place was laughable, so much so that she actually let out a dry and tired laugh.

"So this is all on me? You're just the blameless victim who did absolutely nothing wrong? Hey Jet, would you care to remind her who exactly instigated that fight?" That was the wrong thing to say, as Scarlet stomped closer, bending down to get to eye level with her, making Lumi feel that much smaller compared to her leader.

"You leave him the hell out of this!"

"Why not? You seem to be fine taking my friend!" The blonde snapped back, pointing out the blatant hypocrisy before her. This seemed to knock Jin out of the stunned stupor he'd been stuck in, suddenly turning to her.

"Lumi, stop! I'm not picking a side here."

"That is picking a side you dense buffoon!" Lumi shouted, turning on her heels and jabbing her finger into his chest. "Ruby told me how you went behind my back, making me out to be some unreasonable villain!"

"Because you are!" Jin roared, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration. The sudden outburst shocked the rest of his team, Scarlet and Jet particularly had never even seen him so much as scowl before, and while Lumi had seen the boy get mad once or twice in her seventeen years of knowing him, this was the first time that his rarely seen anger had been directed at anyone other than himself.

"Y-you, what're you talking about?" She asked, the defiant tone that she'd given Scarlet immediately evaporating in the face of her friend's anger, and the accusation levied against her that she was somehow entirely to blame for this.

"Lumi, I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous! I'm tired of walking on eggshells around you because of this! Scarlet and Jet aren't bad people, and they don't deserve to be treated like outcasts because their parents screwed up."

"No, I am not going to sit here and let you act like I'm the bad guy here for being worried about the safety of my cousin, my aunts, and most of all, my friends." Taking a step forward, she gently placed her hand on Jin's chest, hoping he'd see that she legitimately meant it.

"No one was in danger until you blew things up!" He wasn't buying it however, stepping away, now out of her reach.

"I wasn't going to say anything until she challenged me to a fight!" she said, trying to defend herself. She'd admit that maybe, just maybe, she had been mistaken in Scarlet's motivations, but she was never going to apologize for looking out for those she cared about.

"Then why did you accept? Aunty was right there, you could have said something!"

"That's… I…" But there was nothing to say, because he was completely right. She should have known better, her father wouldn't have let his pride get the better of him in such a situation, and her mother certainly wouldn't have accepted such a challenge. He was right, she should have been better, and known better too.

"You did this, not Scarlet, and not her dad either. You want to know who did this? Then go look in the mirror Lumi!"

She tried to keep her face still, to not let her shame and anger leak through, but soon she found herself trembling, and her breaths started to become uneven. Oh Gods, she was crying. She started to try and stop them, or at the very least wipe her tears away, but she couldn't with the sheer weight of what she'd done coming down along with the ire of her lifelong friend. Scarlet and Jet just looked confused, and as for Jin, the poor boy didn't know what to do, his anger subsiding as he saw his friend start to break down into tears. He went to reach out, to tell her he was sorry, that he had overreacted, but she turned before he could, running out of the room and leaving them to just watch.

"Well, that went well…" Jet grumbled, dropping down onto his bed as he watched Jin deflate like a leaky balloon, regret all over his face. It seemed like he wasn't used to blowing up at people, which honestly didn't surprise him in the slightest given his lack of social tact. Scarlet, on the other hand, looked down and glared at the floor as if she was going to burn a hole through it.

"Whatever, screw her." The bovine Faunus grumbled as she made her way to the beds.

"Scarlet, she meant it." Jet calmly told her as she passed, causing Scarlet to stop in her tracks.

"Huh?"

"She wanted to apologize to us, and more importantly, to you Scarlet, it's the whole reason she was here to begin with." That made the girl think for a moment, Lumi… wanted to apologize? That didn't sound like her... Whatever, even if it was true, she had given her a whole ass month to make up, why did she only want to now?

"So what? I don't have to forgive jack shit." Jet looked unamused at her words, like he was ready to scold her.

"No, but how can you come in all hopping mad because she supposedly wants to give up on the transfer and make up for her mistakes, and then you throw her attempt to genuinely fix things back in her face."

"I- That's different, she…" Scarlet paused, damn it, Jet was right. If Lumi was being honest, then she'd just let her anger get the better of her and make the situation worse… again.

"I ruined everything." The words didn't come out of Scarlet's own mouth, which the girl found a bit surprising. Instead, she looked over at Jin, who just floated in place, his massive form clenched up into the fetal position, completely and utterly defeated.

"No, we shouldn't have dragged you guys into this in the first place." the hot headed leader of SJJL groaned, making her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Jet asked.

"To find her, I'll try to hear her out without jumping down her throat this time." It was the least she could do after this little fuckup, and if that didn't work, then maybe team SJJL really was just doomed at this point, but she wasn't going to just take it lying down. She and Lumi had made it work briefly during Initiation, maybe they could do it again if they worked things out.

"Try training field B, the one across from the huntsmen statues.. She and Liz usually use that as their spot." the floating ball that was Jin said, looking just a bit less down afterwards, his hovering form slightly more relaxed.

"I'll give it a shot, you coming?"

"I… don't think I should, I made things bad enough already." Geez, was this how she looked after she and Jet fought? Looking over to her oldest friend, they shared a glance at the boy before Jet nodded, wordlessly forming a plan. Jet would help Jin feel less like the bad guy, and she would go try to work things out with Lumi. Closing the door behind her, Scarlet stepped out and started walking, deciding to take the long way out and stop back at the locker rooms once more to grab Wilt and Bleed. Even if things didn't work out, she had a feeling she'd have a lot of emotions to work off. But first, she and Lumi needed to have an actual conversation instead of a screaming match at one another, and as low as those odds were, it was worth as much of a shot as anything else at this point.

Chapter Text

Lumi used her sleeve to wipe at her eyes as she sulked on the bench. While her tears had long since dried up, the evidence of her crying was in plain sight. The sclera of her eyes were hued an ugly red, and the skin around her eyes was raw and puffy from the excessive rubbing she'd subjected herself to in order to try and stop her tears. She didn't know why she was crying, was it because she didn't like that her friend had turned against her? Because she'd created an unfixable mess? Because she couldn't handle the consequences of her actions? It was pathetic, and not at all how someone of her standing should have handled the situation. She thought about her Mother and Father, to her Aunts and Uncle, to Grandma Willow and even her Grandfather Qrow. All of them, without a doubt, would have handled that better. Logically, she knew this, she knew she should have owned up to her actions, but for some reason she couldn't, there was too much hurt to just suck it up and ignore. She glanced down at Crocea Mors, the family blade had proved to be a source of comfort before, but now all she felt was her failures staring back at her along with her reflection, along with the reflection of another unfamiliar pair of eyes, ones that were bright, wild, and yellow. Lumi jumped back at the sudden intrusion of her personal space, or at least as much as the metal seat would allow her to. The strange girl was unfamiliar to her, which was concerning. While it was true she wouldn't know all the students by name only a month into her tutelage at Beacon, the chitinous tail wrapped around her waist was a very noticeable trait for a Faunus to have, and one she was certain she'd have recognised. Was this girl a visitor, perhaps an apprentice to some Huntsman doing business at the academy?

"Can I help you?" Lumi decided not to beat around the bush, instead coming right out and not even attempting to hide her unamused tone with the sudden invasion of her privacy. She didn't want to be seen now, let alone by some nosey girl with no care for personal space.

"This is Crocea Mors, right?" the girl asked, looking up and meeting her eyes, giving her a clear view of her dilated pupils. There was something wrong with this girl, she could tell that much with just a glance, which made the fact that she knew the Arc family blade by name all the more concerning. "My Father wrote about it, did you know that he and Jaune met?"

The interaction was quickly getting out of hand, she just couldn't keep up with the Faunus's questions, not only did she know about her weapon by name, but also that their fathers had met at some point? Getting to her feet, she tried to put some distance between her and the bizarre girl, keeping an eye on the bladed gauntlets she wore. Lavender tilted her head at her actions, not understanding why the slightly taller girl was acting as she did before she came somewhat closer back to reality. The faunus was fixing her hunched posture but either unable or simply not thinking to fix the crazed look in her eyes, as Lumi's concern grew.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to find you too. I'm actually here looking for someone else, but you're almost as good a find!" Lumi had so many questions at this point, but unfortunately she wouldn't receive any answers as Lavender moved to close the distance, her tail flying out from underneath her coat and moving to stab at Lumi. The duelist, not having time to respond properly, dove to the side to dodge the sudden attack. As her tail passed through the air, Lavender gracefully spun on her heel, facing the blonde with a giggle. "Don't worry, my venom won't kill you unless I pump a whole lot into you, and the best part is, you'll be conscious the whole time!"

Recovering from her dive and drawing her dagger, Lumi took her stance with Crocea Mors pointed towards her opponent, the tip of her blade doing nothing to dissuade the intoxicated girl who ran in before she could properly think. Lumi tried to thrust her blade into her attacker's chest but at the last second, she found it locked in place with the pincer blades of The Queen's Servants. Lumi tried to pry her sword free, but found her opponent was simply too strong, the ancient steel and bronze alloy not moving an inch within its clawed prison. But she couldn't worry about that as she found the scorpion's stinger once again coming at her, this time aimed for her vulnerable throat. With no way to escape without losing her primary weapon, Lumi quickly formed a glyph with the back of her left hand, holding onto her pairing dagger with a vice grip as the glyph shattered underneath the force of her attacker's tail, but she was able to deflect the blow away from her throat. Lavender was far from deterred however and barreled forward, knocking them both to the floor where she pinned the Arc-Schnee girl down by her wrists, then having her Semblance make a pair of Aura construct arms that sprouted from her shoulders, the phantom limbs reaching down and wrapping their arms around her throat, cutting off her air supply. Soon after she did the same with her wrists, freeing up her real hands and, more worryingly, the blades on the end of them.

"You… you're insane…" she choked out, struggling against the girl now straddling her as she giggled to herself, gently tracing Lumi's face with the blade of one of her gauntlets.

"Don't worry, I won't break you, it'll just be like opening up a clock to see how it ticks, then I'll put you back together and let your Aura fix you up!" What little breath Lumi had been able to hang onto was knocked out of her as the idea of being vivisected by this psychopath filled her with the purest dread imaginable. She struggled, straining against the phantom limbs so hard her wrists started to bruise and bucking her hips to try and throw the Faunus off her perch, but she was losing strength fast as the lack of oxygen got to her. As much as her Aura helped against wounds, it couldn't save her from suffocating under the girl. The fight in her weakened as her vision grew fuzzy, just barely able to make out the stinger delicately being brought down towards her once more.

Lavender was giddy with excitement, deciding she'd take her time with this girl, an Arc was a rare find after all oh she just couldn't wait. If it wasn't for the fact that she was sure it would kill the blonde if she cut her open before the venom dulled her pain, she'd have already gotten started. Her Father had written about how he wanted to test the limits of Arc Aura, so she'd do it for him, writing her findings down in his journal tucked away into her coat, and she'd even use the Arc's own blood to do so! Or that was the plan, until she felt a sharp pain suddenly hitting her in the side, throwing her off of Lumi and sending her sliding along the ground. Rolling to a stop, she looked up to see who had decided to oh so rudely interrupt her play date, only to grit her teeth at the sight of Scarlet.

Lumi coughed as she scrambled to her feet and recovered her breath, her partner's strong hand taking hold of her by the biceps and lifting her up off the ground. The bovine Faunus moved in front of her and drew her blades, hoping to keep the strange girl at bay long enough for Lumi to fully recover, but the unknown attacker flew into a frenzy at the sight of her weapons, kicking off her back foot and lunging at the girl, claws raised. Scarlet did the same, meeting her halfway, her blades meeting the gauntlets with a shower of sparks and the familiar clang of steel, simply trying to keep the other girl busy while her partner recovered, however she couldn't match Lavender's manic ferocity. As Scarlet managed to block the blade aimed at her face, she was left open for a hook from the Aura construct that connected with her jaw soon after. She stumbled back only to find herself on the receiving end of a barrage of three stingers, two just Aura constructs and the other the venomous natural limb. It took everything Scarlet had to deflect the rapid stings from the storm of limbs, focusing on the real stinger as it was the larger threat, leaving herself open from below, causing Lavender to slash at her stomach with both of her gauntlets. Momentarily distracted by the pain, Scarlet left herself completely open as the phantom tails coiled around her wrists, restricting her as Lavender leaned in, the giggling replaced by a mad cackle as she got right into Scarlet's face. The redhead responded by rearing her head back and, using her horns, slammed her skull into Lavender's. The brunette clutched her face, realizing a gash formed in her forehead as blood seeped out of the wound. That was the least of her concerns, however, as Sebastian pounced, pinning the girl down and roaring in her face, to which the girl responded with a wrath filled scream right back into its face.

"The hell took you so long?" Scarlet asked as Lumi took her place beside her.

"Just shut up and fight!" Right, they hadn't actually made up yet. Whatever, their much needed talk could wait, right now they had a crazy scorpion bitch to take care of. Said girl was quickly gaining the upper hand on Sebastian, one tail wrapping around its throat and tightening, causing a loud snap could be heard as the summon went limp. She then sat up and glared at Scarlet, her eyes going to the crimson blade of Wilt to her black horns nestled in a sea of red hair, properly recognizing the new combatant for the first time.

"That sword… it's you, you're his daughter, Scarlet, aren't you!?" Lavender didn't even bother to stand, remaining hunched on all fours as she closed the distance towards her new target. Placing herself in between two opponents didn't seem like a viable strategy to Lumi, in fact her assailant doing so all but cemented in her mind that they were fighting a complete amateur, but somehow this girl made it work, twirling like a ballerina of death. The partners could hardly keep up, one moment she's deflecting a tail, then a pincer blade cut into the opening she left on her thigh, or she'd just narrowly avoid a blind spray of bullets from the gauntlets. Scarlet wasn't faring much better, while Lavender did all she could to overwhelm Lumi, her aggression was still primarily directed towards Scarlet, going as far as to form another tail to throw more attacks at the girl who'd incurred her wrath by simply existing.

"I'm gettin' real tired of this 'sins of the father' bullshit!" Scarlet focused, using her Semblance to coat her swords, striking harder in an attempt to break through the seemingly endless onslaught of attacks sent her way. The boost to her blade's cutting power paid off, Wilt managing to slice through one of the false tails and cut into her shoulder. She recoiled back into Lumi, the duelist immediately forming a Glyph at Lavender's feet, pinning her into place. Scarlet moved in, ready to end the fight then and there with a cross slash from both blades, but Lavender reacted first, opening fire with the machine guns, forcing Scarlet to deflect the shots, stopping in her tracks as one round tore into her thigh. Lumi moved in to impale her through the back, but, not one to be deterred and with her target in range once more, Lavender thrust all three tails into Lumi without even looking, the golden Aura of the eldest Arc-Schnee child shattering on impact and leaving her exposed as the physical stinger plunged into her flesh.

Lumi fell back and grabbed her blade, planning to continue to fight on despite her shattered Aura, but while her rapid heartbeat and the adrenaline coursing through her veins helped to dull the pain, it also sped up the spread of Lavender's venom. The other girls were too engaged in combat to take notice, but Lumi immediately felt woozy. She began stumbling over on to her hands and knees, reaching down and clutching the puncture mark as it flared up in pain as the venom attacked her nerves. It took all of her effort just to reach into her pocket and pull out her scroll as the shapes of Scarlet and Lavender started to blend together into a mess of red and purple.

"I'll kill you! I'll rip your head off and leave it on his doorstep!" With Lumi out of the way there was nothing to distract Lavender from her original target, and she could concentrate all of her aggression onto the horned girl. For her part, Scarlet was weathering the storm as best she could, the bloodlust driving Lavender's attacks surpassing even that of a Grimm, but, more threateningly, with actual intelligence behind it. The girl's strategy of an overwhelming offense was similar to her own, just leagues more ferocious thanks to her bullshit extra limbs, which meant she'd have to rely on finesse if she wanted to walk away from this alive. She did what she could, slipping her swords through the tangle of limbs to try and land small blows, parrying her gauntlets, and bringing down her Semblance enhanced strikes where she could, but each blow just seemed to fuel her rage, either getting right back up or pushing through the pain and striking back like a wild animal. They were locked in a war of attrition and, unlike SJJL's leader, who was starting to feel sluggish and sore from the maelstrom of combat, Lavender showed no signs of slowing down. Scarlet attempted to bind the scorpion's gauntlet with Bleed like she'd briefly seen Lumi attempt, after all she was bigger and stronger, there was a solid chance she'd be able to pull it off. However, as the blades tangled, Lavender twisted about, forming two extra arms which she used along with the real limb to deliver a trio of elbow strikes to Scarlet's ribs, the momentum of the blows knocking her down, and the subsequent pain loosening her grip on her secondary blade. A moment later Bleed was ripped from her grasp and thrown to the floor, leaving her with just Wilt to defend herself with.

Lavender wanted to finish things immediately, but in her motions she saw Lumi's scroll open in the girl's trembling grasp, no doubt calling for help. Glancing over her shoulder, Lavender aimed, and with a single shot she blasted the device in Lumi's hands to pieces. That was bad, as while that might have bought her a minute, there was no doubt in the girl's mind that her prey had already called for help, she had to make this quick, and a battle cry from behind snapping her attention back to the fight. Reaching out, Lavender caught the crimson blade of Wilt in her grasp as it arced towards her torso, the sword managing to break through part of her Aura, cutting open the palm of her hand before being stopped by the now visible barrier, a purple glow shimmering as the wound began to knit itself shut. The pair of Faunus locked eyes, both staring the other down with fury.

"No, I have a better idea. I'll run you through with his sword, use the blade that took my Dad from me to take Adam's daughter from him!" That caused Scarlet to hesitate, she'd been told her father had hurt people, that he was a terrorist, but this girl… did her Dad really take this girl's father away? Was that why she was like this? The split second of hesitation was all Lavender needed as she simultaneously brought down all four of her phantom stingers into Scarlet's chest, shattering her Aura in a crimson flash and sending her crashing to the ground. Without her Aura to keep her going, the fatigue and ache of the fight had left her feeling like she was hit by a truck, she could hardly move, let alone pick up her blade to defend herself.

"You know, my 'family' has a saying." Lavender said, panting and trying to speak with some sort of melody that the defeated redhead was too dazed to make out. "Kill for kill, eye for eye, blood for blood..."

Panic started to set in as Lavender strolled forward, chitin meeting stone as she dragged her stinger along the walkway,not that she'd give this psychopath the satisfaction of seeing it. She stared up defiantly, swallowing the bitter taste of knowing she was about to die having given her Mom and Dad the cold shoulder for the last month of her life. Staying true to her word, Lavender knelt down and picked up Wilt, glaring at the dust-forged blade before turning her gaze to the defenseless girl below her. She raised the weapon overhead, but, before it could be brought down, a shot rang out and struck Lavender in the forearm, causing her to drop the weapon as she clutched the wound. She didn't have time to let her Aura heal it as a cyclone of rose petals slammed into her from the side, throwing her away from Scarlet and Lumi before coalescing into a humanoid shape. Scarlet watched as the cloaked professor rested Crescent Rose over her shoulder, taking her glasses off and carefully tucking them into her breast pocket before looking over at her students, smiling once she saw that, while wounded, neither of them were in critical condition.

"It's alright, Jaune's on his way, you guys are gonna be taken care of." she said in an attempt to reassure her students. Scarlet, despite this, tried her best to get back on her feet but collapsed under her own weight. Meanwhile, Lumi's dilated eyes glanced from Ruby to Scarlet in confusion.

"Is… is that strawberry talking to us Mister Rusted Knight?" The absurdity of the question seemed to give Scarlet the strength to sit up and look her partner in the eye, wincing as she saw the girl's sky blue eyes so unnaturally wide.

"As I live and breathe, The Reaper of Beacon!? I'm honored!'' the maniac before them interrupted, an honest to gods tone of glee in her voice as she gave a small curtsy. Ruby watched carefully, recognising the weapons in an instant, but it was the girl's eerily familiar face that confirmed who she was looking at.

"Lavender?" That took the girl aback, she'd never have guessed that Ruby Rose of all people would know, let alone care, about who she was.

"Miss Rose, I'm flattered! I didn't think you'd know about little ol' me. My father must have left quite the impression!" Ruby watched the girl closely, unsure what to make of her. While she'd heard of the girl, she was a far cry from the girl she'd been told about, it was hard to believe that she was the same person.

"It's because of your mother, actually. You look just like her." Ruby realized the fumble soon after she spoke, Lavender dropping her smile and snarling.

"I look nothing like that - that- AH!" Her anger had reached a boiling point, she couldn't think, so she did what she always did to calm herself, her tail stabbing into her own shoulder to the shock of everyone who could tell what was happening. She let out more than usual, the smaller doses having been dull in their effects as of late, and like a drug, it worked, she could think calmly once more. She did not look like that woman, she didn't tolerate Henna saying it, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let this wannabe reaper say as much. "You should get your eyes checked. Here, let me take them out so it's easier!"

The girl readied herself to attack, but the woman before her was faster, Ruby closing the distance faster than she could blink. Crescent Rose's sheer size made it nearly impossible for her to move in, the weapon was deadly in just about every direction and the Huntress wielded it as easily as she used her tail. The Faunus thought she saw an opening when she missed an upward swing and swung her blades forwards, only to receive a shot in the shoulder from the rifle that composed the weapon's snath. As Lavender tried to keep her balance from the punch of the shot, the far more experienced woman used the momentum to swing around and reposition into another strike, the great blade of the scythe arcing in from the side. Lavender tried to interrupt the attack with her phantom tails, only for them to be hooked on the scythe as she was picked up by the colossal weapon's momentum and slammed into the ground, her Aura finally showing the tell tale signs of strain, a soft purple glow enveloping her body. Turning back to Ruby, her heart sank as she saw her father's journal right in front of the Headmistress's Assistant who then proceeded to step on it and planted her feet, having no intentions of letting the girl reclaim it. She was prepared to fight tooth and nail to get that book back, but as she did, two more figures came into view, a blond knight and what looked like a dusty old man moving far faster than he should, both carrying swords. Her time was up, she'd failed. She wanted to scream, but there was no time, as she desperately reached down into her coat pocket hoping that her escape route was still secured. Ruby stayed ready to act should she make a move to attack, but instead the girl pulled out a clump of various different dust crystals loosely wrapped together with what looked to be a plastic film and threw it at her feet. Upon hitting the ground, the dust reacted and exploded, the various different dust crystals reacting together into a chain reaction that created a vibrant smoke screen that lasted for maybe a minute, obscuring everyone's vision. Ruby used Petal Burst to fall back, taking a defensive stance in front of Lumi and Scarlet along with her Uncle and Jaune. But when the smoke cleared, Lavender was gone.

"Qrow!" Jaune called on his Stepfather-in-law, the blond knight falling back to his daughter, immediately using his Semblance to boost the girl's Aura and accelerate her recovery.

"On it." the old man said, running off out of sight soon after. Meanwhile, Ruby stood, continuing to guard her students as Jaune got to work, the puncture wound on Lumi's abdomen closing and her Aura strengthening her body enough to fight the venom coursing through her veins.

"That girl, who was she?" Jaune asked, looking back at the scorch marks on the ground where the girl had fled from.

"Her name's Lavender Callows." the red-robed reaper said, finally putting her weapon away and walking over to Scarlet, helping the taller girl to her feet.

"Callows?" Memories flooded Jaune's mind, memories of a lanky and tall maniac attacking them in the ruins of an old Mistrali village, only to be saved by Qrow's timely intervention. That man, that complete and utter psychopath, had a kid? It was an unpleasant thought, he couldn't have possibly been a decent father…

The line of thinking was interrupted when his daughter vomited all over his boots. He grimaced, knowing it wasn't her fault, rubbing his eldest child's back as she wretched up a combination of bile and a thick dark purple liquid. Scarlet stared at the scene, seeming to contemplate whether she should say the joke she just thought of or not, buuuut her intrusive thoughts won out. And besides, the situation needed a bit of levity.

"...Y'know, somehow I knew you were a spitter." Judging by the stares from Jaune and Ruby, her joke wasn't appreciated as much as she'd hoped.

Later that evening, a large pale man named Steele watched as Romeo spun about in his oversized "boss" chair with a pensive expression. It was his job after all, standing there and being the intimidating brick wall that people thought they'd need to get past in order to get at the man in charge of Torchwick's territory. Well, it was part of his job, Romeo didn't look threatening, but neither did Mistral's kingpin, and she was one of the deadliest women in the kingdom even before you took her army of criminals into account. Steele was mostly there to be observant, looking for things that the boss might miss while putting on the charm with clients, especially after he'd gotten bored and decided to pass the time by sipping away at his favorite brand of scotch. That was the first thing that set off the bald man's alarm bells that indicated something was up, he hadn't touched the bottle all day, and he was less than friendly with the people he'd met with so far, even snapping at one of the grunts who'd made an honest mistake and accidentally stepped on his shoe earlier. "Irritable" wasn't usually how he'd describe his boss, but "professional"? Well, that depended on the day, and today, it was almost like he was getting ready for a heist he was expecting to go wrong? No that didn't track, they would have dropped a job like that.

Another notable difference from usual was the amount of Malachites stopping in. Miltiades, along with her older son Maverick, had stopped by, speaking about some sort of plan they'd already agreed on. Steele knew better than to question things he was out of the loop on, but he hoped the cooperation would be limited to the heads of the Xiong-Malachite crime family, as while the bosses all had good heads on their shoulders, they were far less selective with their crews than Romeo, and the overinflated egos of the street gangs they'd assimilated generally made things… messy. He was even getting the younger of the two Malachite twins, Melodias, involved, despite his attempts to distance himself from his family business. He was pulling strings for something important, something big, he just didn't know what. As the man mused on just what sort of trouble his boss was probably getting into, the door to the office opened up. The men were greeted by a distinct lack of fanfare or even a basic hello from the woman who walked in and took a seat at the chair in front of Romeo's desk.

"Verde, what a pleasant surprise." the shorter man greeted dryly as his tech support walked in like she owned the place. Well that wasn't entirely fair, Verde could throw down just as well as everyone else currently in the room with her, but it was her talent with computers that made her indispensable to the boss.

"You thought I'd let you down?" she asked as if genuinely insulted, taking a moment to adjust her hair as she pulled out the hair tie that kept up her utilitarian ponytail.

"I didn't think you'd get results so quickly. So, what do you have for me?" Just like Steele, she noticed the complete lack of any banter from the man across from her, but, unlike him, she didn't dwell on it for more than a second.

"Not what we'd hoped." the woman said, pulling her scroll from the pocket of her dark green suit and tapping the screen. A moment later, Romeo's own scroll had beeped to life and he opened it to see that a folder simply labeled "Attack" had been sent to him from an encrypted number. He raised an orange eyebrow at the name, looking up at his trusted henchwoman.

"What is this?"

"Security footage, it involves a couple of the girls you're having me cyber-stalk." Verde said, blunt as ever. Mismatching eyes fell back down to the device and opened up the folder, resulting in several files popping up organized by size in decreasing order. The first, and largest, was a fuzzy but legible video spliced together from the feed of multiple security cameras, showing a fight between two girls, one of which was one of the girls Romeo was tracking, which then shifted to a 2v1 as another, equally familiar girl arrived, then back to a 1v1 as the original girl fell, struck by what appeared to be a tail. The video came to a close as the unknown assailant fled in a puff of multicolored smoke thanks to the arrival of some teachers, obscuring the cameras with a layer of Dust. Next in line was a series of pictures where defining traits of the unknown assailant were clearly in frame at different angles, pincer-like blades attached to a set of gauntlets, a Semblance that allowed for the creation of multiple phantom limbs using Aura, and a long, powerful looking scorpion tail. At the very end of the collection were a handful of pictures showing the face of the attacker, a young woman with long brown hair and wild yellow eyes.

"Who's that?" Steele asked, looking over and staring at the picture Romeo opened, the girl's face contorted in anger and rage at Scarlet in a state of purest bloodlust that surpassed anything he'd seen in the field.

"No clue, but whoever she is she set your plans back a good bit, there's no way Beacon's taking their eyes off of team SJJL anytime soon." Verde responded, her words unacknowledged as the boss clearly wasn't paying much attention to the world around him, instead just cycling through the pictures, his brow furrowing.

"Rework your surveillance." The sudden order caught the both of them off guard.

"What?" Verde asked incredulously. She'd just told him that SJJL was off limits, so what was the plan now? BGEL? They weren't exactly that much more available.

"This one." Romeo said as he almost slammed his scroll down, the clearest picture of the girl's face open towards Verde. "How fast can you find her?"

"Well, this only happened a few hours ago, so there's no way she's in the city proper just yet."

"Just give me a timeframe!" he snapped as she tried to explain, causing both of them to jump at his sudden aggression. Sharing a glance, the goons both decided that it was better to just fall in line with this one.

"A day, at most 48 hours. Vale's CCT isn't anything close to Atlas's, but it's thorough enough to catch someone not being careful, and whoever this chick is, she's definitely got a few screws loose." At her explanation he nodded, taking a moment to think before leaning back into his chair with a tired sigh.

"Leave."

"Huh?" Steele looked confused as Verde stood and left without question. Shouldn't they sit down and figure out a plan? This girl was a wrench in their plans, a complete unknown, the sort of thing Romeo absolutely would not stand for on the job. So unless he already knew what his plans were for the sudden disruption, this was a strange course of action. It seemed he wouldn't be getting an explanation either, as Romeo just waved him off a few moments later.

"I'm turning in for the night, if anyone needs something, tell them to come back tomorrow." Reluctantly, Steele left, leaving Romeo alone as he rubbed his temples, looking down at the scroll with a scowl. Wordlessly, he reached down and hit play on the security footage again, he needed to see exactly what he was getting into.

Scarlet lay in the stiff infirmary bed, scowling at the ceiling as she waited to be dismissed. On paper, she was completely fine, the counselor's Semblance had patched up the cuts, bruises, and apparently a fractured rib with ease. With the exception of the dirt on her from getting thrown to the ground, it was like the fight never happened, but it was still mandatory that they get looked at by the school's medical team after, so she and Lumi were stuck laying there until their paperwork came back. Lumi hadn't moved or even said a word since they'd been admitted, the blonde having remained completely silent, with an IV drip in her arm making sure that she was maintaining her fluids as she'd puked out a fair bit along with their attacker's venom as her boosted Aura forced it out. How exactly that process worked, Scarlet didn't know, but she was certainly glad flushing her partner's system of the toxin hadn't been her job, moving blood was complicated enough without trying to filter out venom. Now that her mind was on said partner, Scarlet glanced over, catching Lumi doing the same. As soon as their eyes met, Lumi looked away and pretended that she wasn't just staring at the horned girl in the bed adjacent to her own. Scarlet understood, gods above, she didn't know how to start talking either. She'd hoped that fighting for her life alongside Lumi would have made things feel less… weird, but there was no such luck in that department. She just couldn't force herself to open her mouth and get the simple words "I'm sorry" to come out. Part of the reason was because she felt like she was owed an apology from Lumi, but another part was just because it didn't feel right. Ugh, why was this so complicated!? Letting her head fall back onto the pillow, Scarlet huffed as she joined Lumi in staring off into space.

"Scarlet?" Looking back over to her partner, Scarlet saw those big blue eyes looking right at her, thankfully no longer expanded to the extent they had been before.

"Yep?" Scarlet was trying to just be casual in the moment, but it ended up sounding far more awkward than she'd have liked. Thankfully, it went unnoticed by Lumi.

"I'm getting very tired of seeing the inside of this room." she said, sitting up and dangling her legs off of the bed, her feet just barely above the floor by an inch or two. Scarlet did the same, planting her feet down to face her estranged partner.

"Pfft, if you didn't want to get hurt, you chose the wrong job sister." Scarlet joked, hoping to get rid of a bit of the tension currently suffocating any chance at conversation between them. Unfortunately, the teasing tone she said it in seemed to fly right over the other girl's head.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point..." Lumi said, mumbling low enough that if Scarlet wasn't a Faunus, she wouldn't have heard the girl speak at all. Crap, was she making things worse again? She wanted to just pick the small girl up and shake her while telling her to stop being moody and to just talk to her like a normal person. And while such a tactic might have worked on Jet like sixty percent of the time, Lumi was way more irritable than he could ever hope to be.

"Uh, sorry…" The Bovine Faunus said, rubbing her arm awkwardly as she tried to think of a solution, of something to say. Oh, screw it, they weren't going to get anywhere this way. She was going to put her cards on the table. Just talk, don't think, and open your mouth. She was good at that, and that's exactly what she was going to do. "Jet told me that you wanted to apologize."

Lumi nodded, her face still visibly unsure and her movements stiff as she hesitated over her words, lips pursed in silent contemplation. This was the seco- no, third chance she'd been hoping for, the one she'd thought she'd never get after the argument they'd had. She needed to do this right, to make sure she didn't screw this up again.

"Do you mind if I tell you why I reacted the way I did?" she asked carefully, bracing herself to be rejected by Scarlet, the redhead raising her eyebrow in response. Honestly, she didn't really care why, but the girl was genuinely remorseful as far as she could tell, so she supposed she could humor her.

"Shoot." relief was clear on her face, the tension seeming to float off of her.

"Thank you. The truth is, my family and the Faunus have bad blood. That's not an excuse mind you, it's simply a fact. Honestly, it wouldn't be too far of an exaggeration to say that my grandfather's practices are the reason the extremist White Fang came to be." Lumi explained, far less eager to speak on this than she usually was about her family, she'd always been willing to tell others loudly and with pride about the Arc-Schnee legacy. Scarlet knew why, after all, the last month had given her a rather intimate perspective about what a stain on your family name could result in.

"And that's where my Dad comes in?" It was more an assumption than anything else, but considering Lumi was bringing it up at all, she could assume it had something to do with her heritage. Scarlet was mostly ignorant on the topic of race relations, it just never really seemed important to her. Sure she'd heard of the Faunus being mistreated because of their animal traits, everyone had, but it had never happened to her on Patch. Well okay, there were asshole humans that called her various names, but she never felt it was a case of racism, just jerks being jerks.

"Yes. I didn't like you, I know, that's probably not a shock, so when I found out your father was the poster boy of a terrorist organization that wanted my family's heads… I lost all trust in you in an instant. I'm sorry, that was wrong of me." Scarlet nodded, she didn't like it of course, especially not the part about Lumi already not liking her. She thought they'd put that behind them after initiation, but apparently Lumi felt differently, but keeping the peace was her current goal and a part of her did understand it, if someone was coming after her or her parents, she'd try to do something about it. Then again, Lumi's words raised another question.

"The White Fang… I thought they were a political party or something, or activists?" At Scarlet's words, Lumi went slack-jawed. If she hadn't been convinced before that the other girl was clueless about what her father had done, that painted a pretty clear picture on just how ignorant the Faunus really was.

"Scarlet, if you really believe that's all they've ever been, then you are possibly one of the single most sheltered girls I've ever met, and that is an incredibly high bar to clear."

Before Scarlet could ask just what exactly that was supposed to mean, the doors flew open, and a figure rushed in. Before either of the pair could react, it threw itself at Lumi, knocking her back onto the bed. Scarlet immediately jumped up and grabbed for Wilt, only to stop as she saw the mix of long black and white hair that cascaded down the newcomer's shoulders.

"You guys are okay!" The elated cry from Goose could be clearly heard through the walls, even with her face buried into Lumi's chest, though Scarlet figured that Lumi's chest wouldn't exactly muffle much in the first place. Soon after the tall girl came in, the rest of her team piled into the small space along with Jet and Jin, all of them looking over the partners with worry.

BGEL's leader rolled her eyes as she saw Goose still clinging to their niece like a security blanket, patting her back and turning to Scarlet with an unamused look.

"She would not stop asking when we could see you two, you'd think we were told you were both dying." she said, complaining as if Goose's insistence was a heavy burden that she'd been forced to endure, and now that she was finally getting what she wanted, she'd been unshackled.

"Aren't you the one who threatened to have the nurse fired if we didn't get let in?" Jin asked, tilting his head as if he was confused, something Lao backed up with a calm nod. Her face lit up a reddish hue at being called out and she stumbled over her words for a moment.

"I- Th-that's irrelevant!" Once it was clear that no one was buying her deflection, she turned her nose up at them and looked away, ignoring them as if she wasn't even a part of the scenery.

"Aunt Goose, my ribs…" Lumi gasped out, causing Goose to realize how tightly she was squeezing, letting go of the poor girl immediately, taking a step back with Belka and smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry!"

"What happened to you guys? Lumi's dad said you were attacked?" Jet butted in, trying to pretend he was trying to figure out what happened rather than just being extremely worried like the others. He did the same thing whenever he and Lupin were both scared but he wanted to act tough for her, and Scarlet couldn't help but think it was sweet, even if she saw right through it. But, that raised the actual question that needed answering about that girl, and well… what could she really say? That yet another person had chosen to take her father's mistakes out on her, this time going so far as to attack her? Thankfully, before she could try to explain it, Lumi spoke up in her stead.

"There was this maniacal Faunus girl with a scorpion tail, she said she wanted to test my Aura… but Scarlet saved me and she got dragged into it." SJJL's leader looked over at her partner, as while that was technically true, there were a few… uncomfortable details left out. She didn't know how much of the girl's rantings Lumi had been able to understand, but she had to have known that the girl definitely wanted a literal piece out of the both of them. But, then she caught Lumi glancing over at her from the corner of her eye, a small, almost unseen nod telling Scarlet what she needed to know. That was something Scarlet could talk about when she was ready, not with everyone in their faces.

"You saved her?" Elizabeth asked as she turned to Scarlet with doubt in her cold blue eyes, clearly skeptical after the last time she saw them interact was the sparring session that had sparked this whole debacle in the first place. But if Lumi was claiming it to be true…

"Well, I did owe her for being such a bitch earlier." Scarlet shrugged as if it were really no big deal, despite nearly dying in the process. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that, but couldn't really argue with what she saw with her own eyes.

"So, are we a team again?" Jin asked, looking between the girls. While it certainly seemed as though the tension was lessened, it almost seemed too good to be true. Lumi fidgeted for a moment, uncertain herself, although she hoped the answer would be yes.

"If you guys will ha-"

"Oh my gods, drop the humble crap, we know you wanna come back, once we're out I'll help you get your shit out of BGEL's dorm." Scarlet said, cutting her partner off as she finally sat back down, dropping onto the bed next to Lumi.

"Just like that?" The duelist almost couldn't believe what she had heard, her eyes going as wide as dinner plates from the casual acceptance from the redhead, who simply shrugged as though she was getting over someone accidentally stepping on her shoe.

"Believe it or not, after getting played by SLVR like a fiddle and almost getting murdered by a junkie who gets high off her own supply, I'm a lot less pissed at you. So yeah, if you'll give me a chance then I can do the same."

"Thank you." she said, on the verge of tears from happiness. "I promise, I'll do everything in my power to prove you made the right call."

"Aww! Group hug!" Before she knew what was happening, Goose's powerful arms were wrapped around her once more, this time ensnaring Scarlet as well in her tight hug.

"No, Goose!" Lumi cried out to deaf ears, trying to break free but now fully sandwiched between Goose and Scarlet. Jet watched sympathetically, Lumi's pleading eyes begging that someone, anyone, come to her aid.

"Should we-"

"Yup!" Jin said, picking up the gun nut with minimal effort and bringing him in, the monkey man's massive arms big enough to hold them together, even with Lumi and now Jet both squirming around in a futile attempt to get free.

"No, Jin! Help!" he called out to the three free members of BGEL, but alas, they just watched and left him to his fate, Belka and Elizabeth locking eyes for a moment and agreeing for once that it was better to just let this play out, lest they also get crushed by the embrace.

Jaune groaned into his hands as the discussion around him continued to go around in circles. Ruby would tell the members of their little group what she'd been able to put together from the attack, then Koji or Oobleck would jump in before she could finish, Qrow or Touko would come to her aid, and then it resulted in an argument that Jaune and Ruby had to try and quell. Unfortunately, the younger pair simply couldn't match the others in terms of volume, which meant ending things was in the hands of Glynda, who'd inevitably put a stop to everything with a strike from her crop, or the slightly raised voice of Dr. Pine emanating from Goodwitch's scroll prompting Ruby to continue, which would get things back on track for a moment, until the jumpy professors would start the whole process again. He understood, tensions were high, he wanted to scream himself, it was his daughter who'd been attacked for the brothers sake! But, this was getting them nowhere, something that just made him angrier.

"Once again, nothing we've seen points to this being a planned attack!" Ruby said, her voice squeaking as it raised above the others in the room, surprising even the Headmistress's assistant herself.

"Miss Rose, with all due respect, how can you be so certain?" Koji asked, his voice was similarly strained from the yelling, stress clear on his already wrinkled features. Ruby braced herself for the cacophony of voices to spring back to life at his question, but instead she was greeted by silence and all eyes suddenly being on her. Oh, okay, she was actually being allowed to speak, that was a bit unexpected, but certainly a welcome change. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath before addressing the room.

"Because it was too uncoordinated. The girl seemingly had no clue where her targets were and spent most of the day blindly wandering around the campus. If her attack was properly planned, it would have been far more precise, and far more effective." Jaune shuddered at the thought of what the girl could have done had she managed to get Lumi in a place where they weren't exposed, or if she'd just been luckier with her timing. According to both his daughter and his best friend, the girl was something of an amateur, but made up for it with unorthodox movements, power, and ferocity, or, as Scarlet had so eloquently put it when questioned on the way to the infirmary, "The bitch was built different."

"Jaune, what's your take?" The blond was pulled from his musings by Touko, the Grimm Studies professor having noticed his silence, hoping for the more level-headed input of the knight. If the school counselor was unable to lead a calm discussion, then no one could. Jaune thought his words over carefully, not wanting to cause things to get heated once more, eventually deciding to stick to the facts.

"We've all seen what an attack from Salem looks like, and even on a smaller scale, this doesn't fit. It was too loud, too brazen for her, Callows was acting alone." That should have been comforting, it meant that for the moment at least the threat was manageable. But it was never that simple, things always started like this, one small little problem that would eventually snowball into the Fall of Beacon, or the attack on Atlas. It was never that simple.

"So, an agent of Salem just happens to sneak in with no assistance or plan other than to avenge her father?" Qrow asked bitterly. Maybe it was the years finally catching up with him, but he was getting tired.

"Nothing is truly impossible Qrow, just unlikely." The calm voice of Dr. Pine said from the scroll in front of Glynda.

"Regardless, even if this wasn't a move by her, it confirms that she's planning something at the very least." The Headmistress said, speaking for a reason other than to reprimand her staff for the first time in the meeting, yet her words now instilled more fear than anything the Huntsmen in the room with her had felt before.

"H-how do you figure that?" Touko asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.

"First, dangerous non-native Grimm somehow end up in the Forever Fall Forest right as initiation went underway, then the video of Miss Taurus-Fall's training accident is leaked all over the media, and now a girl affiliated with familial ties to Salem just so happens to find her way into Beacon?" When set out like that… it was hard to deny what sort of picture it was painting: sabotage, assassination, division, all tactics Salem was well known for amongst the few aware of her existence. The air grew cold, no one wanting to speak up. After all, they'd be fools to deny it when it was laid out that plainly.

"Multiple events like that in such a short timeframe… it's rarely a coincidence." Oobleck chimed in, reluctantly, swallowing the truth none of them wanted to face as Dr. Pine spoke up..

"Salem is getting ready to act, and she has her eyes set on Beacon once more for one reason or another, that much is certain. The only lingering question is, are we her immediate target, or are there others?"

"No, damn it, no! " Scarlet cried to herself as sat hunched over her toilet, dry heaving the last remnants of her dinner into the porcelain throne, the half digested meal staring back at her. Through her tears, she could barely make out her discolored and rougher than usual reflection. She looked terrible, although that could have just been from the ugly crying she was doing. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, the foul taste of bile still fresh in her mouth, before she tried to walk over to the sink and drink some water, but as she pushed against the seat, she found herself feeling weak and she collapsed onto the floor. Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep herself from her inevitable breakdown just a bit longer, but it was no use, and the tears started anew as she couldn't deny the reality of her father's actions any longer.

Her scroll lay dropped by her feet, Scarlet couldn't stomach looking at it any longer. Lumi's words had been eating at her, she didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but the comment about her being sheltered… she needed to know, or, at least, she thought she did. Now, she'd give anything to go back to the comparatively blissful ignorance she'd lived in, the screen still displaying the looping clip of a white-masked monster cutting down an unarmed SDC security guard as he begged for his life. It almost looked like a demon, basked in a bright red glow, crowned with horns the color of the abyss, and bearing a manic smile as he took the man's life. The monster wielded a crimson chokuto style blade, the same one that sat resting on her bed next to Bleed just a few feet away. The clip repeated once more, showing Adam cut down the man as he raised his arm in a futile attempt to defend himself, cleaving through the limb and decapitating the man in one swing with Wilt. Her father didn't even wince as the man's blood splashed onto his face, and, despite the white and red mask covering his eyes, the satisfaction from the deed was clearly expressed, his sick smile growing just that bit wider.

Chapter Text

The heat of the shower poured down onto Lumi from the showerhead, the constant stream of water flowing through her hair and along her back and shoulders, washing the sweat and grime off her flawless skin. Well, mostly flawless, a single diagonal scar now ran down the expanse of her back, an ugly reminder of Scarle- No, no she couldn’t think like that, however, it was easier said than done, letting go of that grudge. As embarrassing as it was to admit, Lumi knew that she played just as much of a part as Scarlet did in that unfortunate incident, but it didn’t erase the pain, the now permanent reminder of her folly etched into her skin by her partner’s sword. In truth, despite doing her best to pretend otherwise, she wasn’t over it, which was why she was so thankful when Scarlet left the room to put away her weapons.

They’d been given the day off from classes, or more accurately, were instructed to take the day off from classes, probably due to the insistence from her father, leaving her and Scarlet confined to the dorm together in a bout of awkwardness. Scarlet had been strangely quiet, looking over her blades, Wilt especially. Lumi didn’t think about it much, secretly just being happy for the silence. In fact, she’d been so nerve-wracked that she’d neglected to take a shower until roughly noon, an embarrassing oversight that she corrected the moment she realized it. Finally shutting off the water, she stepped out and began the process of drying herself off and changing into her spare clothes. Typically, her post shower ritual would have involved far more self care, but for now, they weren’t a priority, even letting her still damp hair remain unbound rather than tie it back into a low ponytail as she usually would.

The room was still empty as she sat down, and with a glance over at the clock, she saw that her shower had taken a little over an hour. Scarlet absolutely should have been back by now, right? As she did the mental math of just how long it should take for Scarlet to head down to the locker room and then return, the door opened up, Jet and Jin standing there with two trays of food each.

“Guess who brought food!” Jin announced proudly, holding his trays up for the room to see as he and Jet entered, each taking their seat on the bed as if they had no concept of decorum. They slept there for heaven’s sake, why would they want crumbs in their beds!?

“Where’s Scarlet, the bathroom?” Jet asked casually, as if he hadn't just sat down to eat where he slept when there was a perfectly good desk off to the side. That could wait however, as his question meant they hadn’t seen her either, which they certainly should have if Scarlet had gone to the lockers.

“No, you guys haven't seen her?” She tried to keep the confusion out of her voice, after all she’d probably just been overthinking it, but Jin and Jet both looked as perplexed as she was by the question.

“Why would we have seen her? Wait, you lost her?” Jet asked.

“Well, no one told me I was her keeper!” Now having to defend herself from her teammate’s frankly unfair accusation, Lumi huffed and rolled her eyes. Scarlet was a big girl, in fact, she was the oldest member of SJJL, even if they were all born within a few months of each other. “She just left to put her swords up, I thought she’d have been back by now.”

Jet fidgeted on his bed at that, tapping his foot against the floor. In any other case, she’d have brushed it off as him being paranoid, but after the other day, him being nervous was understandable. Grimm were one thing, just mindless beasts driven by the need to cause wanton destruction, but someone going out of their way to make an attempt on someone’s life? Even if they hadn’t yet told the boys on their team that the Faunus had been there for the both of them rather than just herself, it was clear the attack weighed heavily on his mind. Shooting a glance over to Jin, the boy bit his lip, similarly looking worried, though he’d never had much of a poker face to begin with.

“Well, did she say anything that might tell us where she went?” Jin asked, worry creeping into his voice.

“No, nothing…” Maybe it was just how the boys were reacting, after all she couldn’t really claim that she knew Scarlet well enough to say that this wasn’t normal, but now that the thought was in her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder why Scarlet would lie in the first place. Glancing over to her leader’s bed, she-

“Is that-”

“Her scroll.” Lumi said, cutting Jin off and activating the device, prompting her to enter a password. Crap, she had no clue what the redhead used as her password, maybe her birthday? That was common, right? Oh, but she was sure her password started with an eight, and if her memory served her correctly from the small talk she and Scarlet had before their fight, that number wouldn’t correlate with her birth month.

As Lumi agonized over what to guess, Jet wordlessly reached out and punched in 8008135… of course it would be that. She didn’t have time to be disappointed in Scarlet’s immense immaturity as the blue and white of the scroll’s lock screen gave way to an honest to gods snuff film, archived security footage of a man dressed in the security outfit of her company being beheaded. 

“Oh god, I think I’m gonna-” Lumi dropped the device and wretched into her hand, fighting to keep the contents of her stomach from spilling out. She’d never seen death before, she knew that she would at some point considering her career choice, but this was far from how she’d expected it to happen, and she never expected it to hit so close to home. What was worse is that she immediately recognized Scarlet’s father, and the red blade of Wilt in his hand.

“Jet, is that…” The disturbed voice of Jin was barely above a whisper in volume, he had to look away as the video looped back around, unable to watch it again. Jet, however, reamined locked to the video, his crimson eyes unmoving from their place at the screen, and once the video looped, he only flinched as the video showed the man he’d known his entire life, who was like an uncle to him, happily murder an innocent man begging for his life.

“Her dad.” The dark skinned boy confirmed sullenly, picking up the scroll and backing out of the video to see a news article from a sensationalist news site, one notably shameless in its use of graphic imagery within articles to generate traction and revenue. Along with what was dozens of other tabs that they had to assume contained similar content.

“She saw that? Why would she… oh no.” Lumi’s heart sank as the thought that this could be her doing set in, even if unintentionally. As far as she knew, she’d been the only one who’d brought up Adam’s past. She’d even called Scarlet sheltered because of it. “This is my fault. Damn it, I didn’t think she’d… We have to find her.”

“We don’t know where she is, she could be anywhere on campus.” Jin said, racking his brain trying to think where Scarlet would go. He wanted to say the gym, that’s where he’d go if he was in a bad mood and needed to work it off, but he wasn’t Scarlet, which made things a bit complicated.

“She isn’t on campus.” Lumi muttered, her and Jet locking eyes as they both knew where the girl was headed. Jet swallowed the lump in his throat and started thinking of a plan, Scarlet had a head start, they needed to be quick about this.

“We need to get to Patch.” Jet said, trying to remain calm even as his mind went to the worst possible scenarios despite knowing better. The girl that attacked them could come back for revenge, she could get hurt when she confronted her dad, or worse, she could actually hurt him. 

“Well, first we need to get to Vale. The airships are still going automatically, right?” Jin asked, turning to Lumi, only for his eyes to go wide as she started to summon something outside their window.

“Those will take too long.” The petite girl said casually as Jet and Jin piled around her at the window, looking outside at the newly formed beast. Jin smiled at the familiar sight as Jet swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Are we… riding that?” He was sure Lumi knew what she was doing, or, at least, she believed that she did, but honestly, the fact that the Griffon bowed at them from its place on the grass didn’t ease his feelings on it one bit

“I give my sisters rides on Alphonse all the time, and I have plenty of practice catching a certain someone who thinks it’s fun to activate their Semblance on it out of the air.” Jin chuckled guiltily as Lumi shot him a dirty look, meanwhile Jet swallowed and accepted that this was a part of his life now, sneaking out to go home not even halfway through their first semester,  all while riding a summoned Grimm named Alphonse…

“This is it.” Steele said, parking the car in front of an old run down building. Romeo looked out the window, only to be absolutely disappointed by the building, partially because the territory the eyesore sat on belonged to him. The building was easily older than he was, an old brick laid apartment building, four stories high, and clearly condemned, but obviously lived in.

Steele looked in the rearview mirror back at his boss, the man’s fingers wrapped impatiently against the handle of Melodic Cudgel as he stared out the window, uncertainty on his face, which made him feel uneasy in turn. It wasn’t how he was used to seeing his boss, typically he was so sure of every move he made. Was this girl really that much of a threat? Steele assumed she had to be, since Romeo was still on edge over her appearance.

“It looks like a drug den.” the boss muttered, disgust clear on his face. 

“That’s because it is, well, it was . According to Verde, all the junkies suddenly decided to shoot up somewhere else once the girl settled in.” Hearing his underling’s confirmation that it was the very thing he didn’t want it to be, Romeo’s face scrunched up. He’d never liked this part of the job, the planning, the heists, running from the cops, and making a mockery of the law, that was the stuff he lived for. Getting down in the filth with the human trash who chose to destroy themselves rather than live with their own problems? He could do without that shit. Had the circumstances been any different, he wouldn’t have even considered stepping foot in a place like this, but this time he didn’t have a choice.

The hard gray eyes of Torchwick’s most loyal enforcer watched their surroundings as they sat in silence. There were several parked cars on both sides of the street with people just sitting and talking within, each one just so happening to be occupied by a pair of middle aged men wearing baggy clothes and sunglasses. His eyes could have fallen out of their sockets from how hard they rolled, it was if they weren’t even trying to hide, and these pigs weren’t even on their payroll.

“Shit.” Steele grumbled, catching the attention of the flamboyant man in the backseat.

“There a problem?” It was a rhetorical question, Romeo knew his enforcer well enough to know that he wouldn’t have said anything if things were going according to plan.

“Cops, I see at least three unmarked cars.” Raising an eyebrow, the young boss leaned forward to look out the front window, immediately seeing what Steele saw. He made his displeasure known with an only slightly exaggerated groan.

“Seriously? I know we’re by the west side, but that can’t be a coincidence.” he muttered, sounding genuinely disappointed. Lots of things could happen based on chance, but he’d been around long enough to recognise the difference, and the timing on this was just too good. Why not get eyes on this place the week before? Or a week later? No, it just so happened to need people watching it after a wanted criminal moved in, it was like they didn’t know the meaning of the word subtle.

“Verde found her using their network, chances are they found her too.” It made sense, the girl was a wanted criminal, but for some reason they were keeping it off the news, probably just to keep panic from spreading, the cops clearly knew about it though. They knew this side of town well enough, the cops hated calling in Huntsmen, which was ironic considering that the head of their department was a retired Huntress herself. It was a double edged sword, on one hand, cops were far easier to deal with than Huntsmen, but on the other, they were far more eager to prove themselves because of it. “If you want I could make a call, we’ll have twenty guys ready to roll down o-”

“No, I’ll handle it.” The boss didn’t wait for him to finish, opening the door and stepping out into the street, taking a deep inhale of the stench from the industrial district just across the river.

“Sir?”

“This is my mess Steele, I’m cleaning it up. If you hear gunshots, drive a few blocks down and wait for my call.” he said, turning back to the building before him with a deep sigh. Welp, no more putting it off he supposed.

With an innocent whistle, the crime lord made his way across the street, shooting a knowing glance at the unmarked cars. Once again, it was like they weren’t even trying to hide that they were watching his every move. Hell, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was already a gun trained on him. One of the pigs was staring at him like the slack-jawed idiot he was. Romeo smiled at the man and waved, enjoying how the pudgy man’s eyes went wide and he quickly went to look at something on his scroll. That lifted his spirits somewhat, walking up to the door and walking in as though he owned the place, because he may as well have.

The interior was even more decrepit and off putting than the outside. The ceiling was partially caved in, trash was piled up in the corners, and the noxious stench of rot and unwashed vagrants hit his nose all at once, making him gag. Somehow, he suspected that the place was less of a mess than before, there had clearly been a fight based on the large indents in the wall and the knocked over barrel that likely once served as a trash bin or fire pit. Considering that he’d expected to walk into a picture of carnage and bloodshed, the signs of a mere scuffle were a pleasant surprise. Clearly, she’d decided to spare the previous occupants, which was a relief all things considered.

Making his way over to the stairway just off to the side, he nearly fell over as the wood broke under his weight, only managing to save himself by grabbing the banister and pulling himself back, letting out a breath he didn’t even realize he’d been holding in. Somehow, this place was in even worse shape than it looked, he was surprised it hadn’t crumbled apart already. Once he was sure no one was coming to investigate the sound, he started looking around for another way up. Coming back to the hole in the ceiling, he squinted upwards, taking a closer look at the opening. Most of it looked just as structurally sound  as wet tissue paper, but there seemed to be a single support beam still intact. Carefully aiming his cane’s grappling hook, he shot the curved handle out and ensnared the wood, giving it a tug to make sure that it wouldn’t fall over. Once satisfied, he hoisted himself up through the hole, narrowly avoiding the rotted floorboards until he found a place that looked safe enough to stand.

Dropping down, he was somehow met with even more filth, the piles far larger now, deliberately gathered about in the space. Pushing his way through, he soon learned why, as the room next to it almost looked clean in comparison to the rest of this place. Someone had gone through great lengths to empty the room of trash, but it wasn’t spotless, in fact, it seemed like someone had left in a hurry. At the room’s center, a purple trench coat, small enough to be worn by a young teen or someone of similar stature, lay discarded, a hole blown into the shoulder and some bloodied bandages thrown on the floor. He felt a pit in his stomach at the sight of the torn fabric, but did his best to ignore it, instead digging through the pockets, finding a scroll still open. She’d been here, very recently if the still lit scroll was anything to go by. Okay, that was good, it meant he could lay in wait until she came back. Picking up the scroll, Romeo glanced down at it.

There was a message in the middle of being written, an apology to someone named Henna for taking off so suddenly. His eyes narrowed at the string of messages beforehand, “Henna” demanding to know where the girl was. He’d come back to that later though, wanting to know who exactly this “Henna” was, but for now, he backed out of the scroll’s messages and opened the photos. There were only a few, and all the photos were of assorted screens and what lay upon them. Apparently, she either forgot what a screenshot was, or didn’t know how to take one. One was an article on Adam Taurus, Scarlet’s father. There were pictures of his head and a series of closeups of his black horns, his signature crimson blade, and his personal emblem, a wilting rose. There was also a wedding photo of Weiss Schnee and her beloved husband, Jaune Arc. Romeo didn’t care for Atlesian politics, in his eyes they were just a bunch of snooty corpos roleplaying as nobility, but even he recognised such figures. The last of the photos was of the man’s ancient blade, which he knew very little about, aside from the fact that it now belonged to the couple’s eldest daughter.

The scroll had given him disappointingly little information really, it was nothing he hadn’t already assumed or outright known. Still, he had the element of surprise on his side, or so he believed, but that belief was quickly smothered by the sudden creaking of something above. He spun around and raised his cane, just in time to block a strike from a massive, jet black stinger. The blow was stronger than he’d anticipated, throwing him off balance and making him stumble back. His attacker wasted no time, slamming her feet into his chest and sending the mobster right through the wall. Groaning in a pile of rotted wood and filth, the ginger looked up at his attacker as she dropped from the ceiling, her tail curling around her as she stepped through the hole she’d created. 

“Well… that’s one hell of a welcome.”

Read: 1 day ago

That was the closest thing to a reply Cinder had gotten from her daughter in a month. It was… something she supposed, proof of life if nothing else, but it wasn’t enough. She knew her little girl, it wasn’t like her to just bottle up her feelings and brood while giving the cold shoulder. Thankfully, that was one of the areas where she didn’t take after her father. Knowing that something was going on with Scarlet and having no way of talking to her filled her with a sense of powerlessness, a feeling she knew all too well. Her cybernetic hand suddenly clenched shut, shattering the thin alloy that made up her scroll, letting the sparking remains fall to the floor. Just as soon as the rage flared up, it subsided, and she found that she was unable to even take satisfaction in crushing the object, leaving her with just the crumbled pieces, reminding her that she’d lost control once more, even if just for a moment. 

“That was a rather expensive mistake.” the voice of Adam reminded her dryly from behind. She was always aware of when he came and went, a consequence of living her entire life on the run from something, always laying low and worrying about every unfamiliar noise.

These days, he couldn’t even slink out of her arms to get up in the morning without waking her, something that had been happening much more often as of late. Since Scarlet had cut contact with them, it seemed like her husband had done nothing but work, leaving her alone and longing most of the day, yet she’d been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him come in. 

“It seems like mistakes are all I’m capable of making at the moment.” the Mistrali woman muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at the fragments of her device on the floor.

Adam watched her closely, and as much as he wished simple words would ease his lover’s longing for their daughter to even acknowledge her, hell, he wished he could fix the hole in his own heart himself, he knew well enough that they just had to wait. Wordlessly, he walked over and grabbed the broom and dustpan, sweeping up the tens of thousands of lien worth of broken metal and unceremoniously dumping it into the trash.

“Scarlet will come back to us when she’s ready.” Adam reassured her, and truth be told himself as well. The idea of his Scarlet hating him forever… it made him sick. His reassurance worked somewhat, or at least, that’s what Cinder sighing and fixing her slouched posture seemed to communicate. Although, a familiar scowl did make its appearance on her scarred face.

“I know, I just… I hate this. I just wish I could talk to her.” Cinder said, gesturing to the air in front of her in frustration.

Adam nodded in agreement, he didn’t know what bothered him more, that Scarlet wanted nothing to do with him or that it was all his fault, that, unlike his justifiable anger that led him to joining the White Fang, there was no one to blame but himself, and unlike when he was younger, he wasn’t able to convince himself that anyone else but him was at fault.  

“I’m sorry.” By the Brothers he sounded pitiful like that, and she didn’t like it. Reaching over, she cupped his cheek, pulling him to look at her, their one good eye each meeting as she rested her forehead against his own.

“Stop that, you aren’t more responsible just because she found out about you first.”  Adam just blinked back in response, mulling her comment over. No, that wasn’t right, he was far less secretive about his life as a terrorist than she was.

“Isn’t that exactly what it means?” His question caused her look of warmth to give way to one that was far more unimpressed, eye narrowed and eyebrow raised.

“I’m trying to make you feel better.” There was an awkward silence that followed as Adam realized as much only after it was spelled out for him.

“Ah.” Cinder chuckled and leaned in, kissing him briefly before pulling back. For someone who was always so direct, he was so dense.

“I think I’m going to train.” Cinder said, turning and walking towards the back door with a familiar and tantalizing sway to her hips. She looked over her right shoulder to catch his eye glancing downward. “You’re free to join me if you wish.”

Adam wanted to, Gods above did he want to. Not only had he been feeling rusty as of late, not that he’d ever admit it, but when a Beowulf had even managed to scratch him, he knew it was time to get back into form. It was clear Cinder had a little more in mind than combat practice though, but it would no doubt leave him tired and sweaty regardless. But, working alone these last few weeks had left this body exhausted, and as loath as he was to admit it, he needed all the rest he could get.

“Next time, long day tomorrow.” For a brief moment, Cinder looked as disappointed as he felt with the refusal, but she accepted it. They shared a bed after all, she’d get the better of him sooner or later. Cinder stepped out into the backyard as Adam made his way to the living room and rested his tired body on the soft red chair Cinder had insisted on getting a few years back.

It was an uncomfortably comfortable reminder of his age, when he was younger he’d have had no problems getting up at five and fighting Grimm until sundown, but nowadays he’d have to cut it at eight hours. He knew he could push himself further if he worked at it, there were traveling Huntsmen still operating in their fifties and sixties while he was just forty one after all, so there was no reason for him to be feeling this way while still in his prime. It was complacency, there was no excuse for it, and with everything happening as it was… he’d need to correct it. Maybe he would take Cinder up on that training after all.

Before he could force himself up off the recliner though, his scroll rang, probably Emerald trying to get ahold of Cinder, or if he was lucky, Mercury inviting them over for dinner, as he had a feeling neither him nor his wife would have the energy to make dinner later. To his surprise, it was neither of them, but rather Jet calling. That was unexpected, a part of him had assumed Jet would’ve given them the silent treatment alongside Scarlet, did that mean this was important? His mind once again racing, Adam accepted the call, being greeted by the distinct howling of wind, the heavy “fwhumps” that indicated something large flapping its wings, along wi-

“Adam!” 

Along with Jet yelling in his ear. Flinching back with a growl at the unexpected volume, he almost missed how Jet said his name, his real name. It wasn’t a shock, considering what had come out recently, but it certainly didn’t feel right coming from the boy. Regardless, he figured the least he could do was not insult his intelligence, he clearly already knew beforehand.

“Jet?” Reluctantly he placed his ear next to the speaker once more, more wind and feathers flapping. Was he flying? What on Remnant would he be flying on? “Where are you?”

“No time, Scarlet’s coming home!” That gave him… mixed feelings. Obviously he’d give anything to talk to his daughter just about now, and it seemed like he was going to get exactly what he wanted, but he also knew that there was something very wrong with how Jet said it, like he was worried, and it was hardly three in the afternoon. He knew Beacon would be different from Signal regarding hours and scheduling, but he doubted Scarlet would have been out of class long enough to get to Patch already.

“What? You should be in class why wou-” Jet didn’t let him finish, another bad sign, Jet was never this jumpy unless something was very wrong.

“She saw- shit-” Adam’s ears were once again assaulted by louder than needed sounds, there was some sort of commotion before it settled down again, giving Jet the chance to finish. “She saw a video, she knows !”

The bull’s blood ran cold. A video, she saw? His daughter saw him in action? That… damn it.

“What did she see Jet?” 

“You, at your worst.” The sullen tone from the boy said everything for him. Whatever it was, it was bad . Not that it narrowed down what she could have seen… “Look, just stay inside and act like you aren’t home, we’ll be there soon.”

“No.” He spoke before even thinking, the silence on the other end from a presumably stunned Jet. The sound of some sort of tussle returned.

“What!?” an unfamiliar and shill voice shouted from the other end, once again hurting his extra sensitive ears. “We’re trying to help you, you-”

Adam didn’t pay the voice any more mind, he’d made his decision, and even if it was a knee jerk reaction, he had no intention of hiding anymore.

“I’m done running from my own daughter.” and, without giving the other end a chance to argue, he hung up. Setting the scroll to silent, he sighed and started to mentally prepare himself for the confrontation he now knew was coming. She’d have questions, she’d probably scream, cry, and cuss him and her mother out in the most creative ways she could think of.

He’d have to be patient, reminding himself that she was going through a lot at the moment. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he’d have far less time to prepare than he’d hoped, as three loud bangs came from the door as someone, he assumed Scarlet, slammed on the door quickly. Bracing himself, he walked over and opened it. He was indeed greeted by Scarlet, but not how he had expected her. There was so much blood, it flowed up off of her body, dripping out of her hair, her clothes, and even her mouth. She was so mad she was using her Semblance without even realizing it.

“Scarlet? Is that-”

She didn’t let him finish, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him out into the front yard with one hand. He flew for a brief moment before his back slammed into an old chest high tree stump, one that he’d been meaning to get removed for a while now. Groaning, he looked up at her, unsure of what to think. She’d just attacked him, yes, but it was clear she wasn’t thinking straight, and had she really wanted to hurt him, she’d have used Wilt, it was already in her hand after all, her fist shaking as it clenched around the crimson sword’s grip.

Using the stump to balance himself as he got to his feet, he glanced over at it. The aged wood was a bitter reminder of the first time he’d had to defend his family, it was where he’d been forced to cut down his friend and most trusted lieutenant the day Scarlet was born. Looking back at his daughter now, he opened his mouth, only for her to immediately cut him off. 

“Shut up, shut the FUCK up Adam!” His blood ran cold. At any other time, he’d have been enraged at Scarlet speaking that way to him, but the way that she said his real name… it was like she was speaking to a monster, each syllable filled with hate and vitriol. “I know, I know everything!”

“Lavender.” Romeo said, raising his hand up to appear less threatening to the girl in question. It didn’t seem to work as she grimaced down at him as he said her name. After a brief moment of silence, she clenched her fists, causing the blades attached to her gauntlets to activate.

In the blink of an eye she leapt at him, blades aimed right at his neck and aiming to take him out, and only by raising his foot did he manage to intercept the attack, landing a kick on her gut, rolling with her momentum, and subsequently throwing her back through the wall as he rolled to his feet. Now back in the original room, Lavender caught herself via digging into the floorboards with her gauntlets, remaining hunched over on all fours. Her eyes darted to her opponent’s cane as he let it slide in his grasp, using the curved handle like a handguard as he wielded it like a baton.

“Any chance we could talk this out?” 

Her eyes left the cane and met his own, her wild, almost golden eyes peering into his green and pink ones with a hatred that made him flinch, but for some reason she couldn’t even take satisfaction in that. She knew why, but she didn’t like it, he didn’t get to get under her skin, he wasn’t special to her! She couldn’t think straight, she just needed to see him bleed, lashing out with her father’s blades in a flurry of slashes that required all of his attention to keep from landing. He kept his cane close to his chest and watched closely as each strike came in, she was ferocious, there was no denying that, but he could tell that there was almost no forethought that went into how she attacked, just doing what she thought would work in the moment. Good, he could use that.

He bided his time, parrying and blocking with Melodic Cudgel until she slashed downwards, aiming to cut his chest open. Expecting the strike, he leaned back and thrusted, threading the needle between the gap in her pincer-like blades and landing a jab that struck her knee, forcing her to kneel as the joint buckled under the impact. However, in her rage, she had no intention of letting the pain stop her. She tried to move her arm, but quickly found herself unable to move with the cane lodged in between her blades, so instead she lashed out with her tail in a painfully predictable attempt to stab into him.

Anticipating this, Romeo leaned back, narrowly avoiding the venom filled stinger and holding onto Melodic Cudgel with both hands, ripped his cane free and knocked her legs out from under her in one swing, knocking the girl onto her back. Lavender snarled, rage starting to bubble up more than she could handle, and moving to sit up from her splayed position, she was greeted by the barrel of his weapon aimed right at her face.

“Stay down. I don’t want to fight you.” His tone was firm, it was a convincing bluff, she almost believed that he’d actually pull the trigger. However, she knew him like the back of her hand, and he was an idiot if he really thought that she couldn’t read him as well as he read her. Reaching out, she grabbed Melodic Cudgel’s shaft and pressed the barrel against her forehead, and just as she thought, Romeo’s face went pale and the finger that hadn’t even been on the trigger in the first place extended out like it burned to the touch.

His hesitation gave her the opportunity to strike, her tail lashing out and sweeping across his knees, giving the man a taste of his own medicine and knocking him down. Romeo hit his head on the floor as he landed, vision blurring to the point where he could hardly tell Lavender apart from her dark purple stinger as it came down with her, barely managing to move his head to the side as the stinger hit the floor hard enough to put a hole through it. Lavender landed on top of him a moment later, and despite her short stature and petite frame, the wood under them bent and cracked as though it was moments from giving way. Lavender didn’t care, the unstable building that served as their arena was the farthest thing from her mind, she just wanted to see him hurt, and she knew exactly where to start. Those mismatching eyes, those damn eyes that reminded Lavender of her. She reached down and raked her fingernails against his pink eye, causing him to cry out in pain, his matching Aura glowing as it protected the sensitive organ.

He needed to get her off of him quickly before she broke through his meager defenses and turned him into a cyclops, suddenly realizing the still healing wound on her shoulder was a promising angle of attack. A particularly strong punch sent her reeling, her entire arm flaring up in pain and making her wince just long enough for Romeo to kick her back. She stumbled, barely staying on two feet as she held her shoulder, feeling the blood start to leak from the wound once more. The arm was done, the pain too bad to flex, let alone throw a strike at the flamboyant mobster before her. 

“Like I give a damn about what you want!” she snarled, sounding rabid in her rage.

Romeo, for his part, ignored her anger, already swallowing the fact that he’d have to do this the hard way. Looking down, he pulled his hand away from his still sore eye and breathed a sigh of relief as he looked down and saw no blood on his hand. However, when he saw the state of the girl before him, he couldn’t help but feel regret. He’d made her bleed, and even if he’d only been defending himself and her Aura had already sutured the wound back into its healing state, his heart ached knowing he’d been the one to do it. Lavender had no such apprehensions, Aura constructs of her arms and a pair of tails springing from her body as she once again flung herself at him with reckless abandon. The extra limbs complicated things, as while Romeo was used to scuffles that devolved into a mess of limbs, he’d been in enough bar fights and territory disputes for that, it was very different when all the fists were coming his way and from the same person.

He was forced to play completely defensively, swatting away the stingers and being forced to choose which hits were acceptable, as a fist to the gut he could handle, but a pair of blades through his heart, not so much. He needed a moment, just one opening to create some space, but instead he barely had the room to breathe as she was close enough to smell his breath. Between taking hits and blocking what he had to, his mind was too preoccupied to see an Aura tail sneak around and wrap itself around his ankle, and before he could react, he’d been pulled off of his feet and swung over the girl’s head, the phantom tail slamming him down into the floor. The dilapidated wood cracked from the impact, and with an ugly chorus of groans from the destitute building gave way, the floor collapsing under the pair as they fell to the floor below, the trash somewhat cushioning their falls, at least enough to not fall through multiple floors.

Lavender got to her feet first, realizing rather quickly that this was mostly because Romeo was looking through the debris for his oh so beloved cane. It was a gratifying sight to see the golden boy literally digging through trash, one she wished she could take in longer, but alas, it was time to put this bitter chapter of her life behind her for good. 

Lavender rushed in to wring his skinny little neck, however, something slammed into her chest before she could reach him, sending the girl into a coughing fit as the air was knocked out of her, looking up to see him twirling that accursed cane. Lavender wasn’t down for long, her limbs, both flesh and construct, springing to life as she tried to get in close, but barely moving an inch before she had to duck under the handle of his cane suddenly being shot at her. She smirked as it missed her, but quickly felt her stomach sink as she saw him give her a matching grin as he was pressing the button on Melodic Cudgel. The hook immediately retracted, catching on her shirt and pulling her forward, the sudden boost in momentum causing her to stumble, and by the time she saved herself from face planting, Romeo landed a powerful kick to her gut, causing her Aura to flicker from the unexpected blow.

Romeo hardened himself for what came next, he had to take this, as there was no way in hell she was going to give him another opening. Pulling back, he thrusted his weapon into her wounded shoulder, landing with a sickening crack. The hit had the intended effect, as Lavender, already rocked from the kick, fell over, crying out in pain as she hit the floor, clutching her wound and her now broken clavicle. Romeo immediately felt regret swell up within him, instinct told him to end the fight, to just cane her in the temple and drag her unconscious body out to the car, but he just couldn’t, seeing her in pain like this, he wasn’t ready for it, he at least had to try to talk her down.

“Lavender, please! We can still-” She wasn’t listening, turning around and aiming right at his face with the guns attached to the gauntlet on her good arm, but the limb was shaking so badly he was certain she wouldn’t actually be able to hit him.

“SHUT UP!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. She didn’t want to hear it, not from him. “ We? What we? There was only ever you! You’re the only one she ever saw, I’m just the mistake …”

Romeo’s heart broke as he saw her rage turn into pain. He could handle her being furious with him, even hating him, but hurting because of him? That was enough to make him look away. He was used to that face showing misery, after all, she looked so much like their mother that it hurt.

“This isn’t about her.” Even as the words left his mouth, he knew it wasn’t true, and his half sister laughed in his face for it, a dry, broken laugh that dismissed his lie better than words ever could.

“Of course it is.” Romeo felt his blood pressure rise as she looked up at him. Neo had already gotten between them once, he wasn’t going to let her do it when she wasn’t even with them.

“I’m not having this argument! Fuck Mom, is she here right now? Because I don’t see her!” Lavender winced as he raised his voice, unable to maintain eye contact. Damn it, he was letting her get under his skin when she wasn’t even around. Sighing, he walked forward and knelt down, stopping once he was at her eye level. “I’m here for my sister, and I’m not leaving without her.”

Silence lingered between them, there was more he wanted to say, and he was certain she felt the same, but neither of them could find the words... The vibrations of his scroll in his pocket then caught his attention, opening it up to see a message from Steele.

Swat team, front door. The Chief is with them.

Shit, that was bad. Heading over to the window, he caught a glimpse of a van parked down by the front of the alleyway as armored cops poured out, all heavily armed. Maaaybe walking in like that wasn’t his smartest move…

“Perfect timing.” Romeo muttered, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he turned around to tell Lavender the bad news, only to be greeted with her tail trailing behind her as she ran out of the ruined room. Without a second thought he followed her, cursing under his breath as she made him chase her once again.

Tears welled up in Scarlet’s eyes as she pointed Wilt’s blade towards Adam, the same sword he’d given her as a reward when she’d been accepted into Signal, a day she could remember in vivid detail. She and Jet had gotten their admission confirmation mere minutes apart, and like most things, it had been a joint celebration between their families. Like most days, she’d spent it with Jet, running around by the lake. She even remembered him getting mad at her over some comment she’d made about him being scrawny and cute compared to the other guys they’d been going to school with.

But what she remembered the most clearly was her Dad pulling her aside, away from the others, so that it was just the two of them. He’d recently gotten a new sword that he’d been bringing along on missions, which was similar in design to Wilt, but lacked the dust infused metal that made up the blade. She’d assumed it was for her, that he was simply testing it to make sure it met his standards just as Bleed did. So when he presented his own sword to her instead, her eyes bulged out of their sockets in awe.

“When I was no older than you, I used this weapon to forge my own path…now it’s your turn to do the same.” She admittedly didn’t think much of his words at the time, too busy thinking about how the cool red sword that her dad always had at his side now belonged to her. For all the shit she’d given Lumi about taking pride in her legacy weapons, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel her chest swell up with joy as he passed Wilt down onto her. She didn’t care that instead of receiving Blush as well she was given her own far more boring scabbard, already lost in the shiny red metal of Wilt.

“Just promise me you’ll do the right thing instead of repeating my mistakes.” 

Those words, that entire day… they rang differently now. If she’d known he was passing down a murder weapon she’d have- Gods above, she didn’t even know what to do with it now that she knew the truth about her father and the bloody history his sword carried! Adam could feel his anger starting to boil, Scarlet didn’t deserve the turmoil she was currently going through. And why, because some Schnee brat couldn’t leave her alone? He did his best to try to bury the feeling and stay calm, the last thing that he needed was to provoke Scarlet further.  

“Listen to me, I-” Scarlet had no intention of letting him finish, cutting him off by yelling over him. Something was off about her, Adam felt it was something familiar, yet it was unusual on Scarlet.

“You can explain? Explain what? How you killed countless people with no remorse? Or how you thought being a fucking terrorist was okay?” With his only other option being to wrestle Wilt out of her hand and pray neither of them got hurt in the struggle, Adam listened to her list off his sins. It should have made him angry, he’d gone to great lengths to keep his past from her, and now that she knew what he did he could see how it was tearing her up inside, Scarlet didn’t seem to even realize that she was crying as she continued to shout.

It should have enraged him to know that someone had exposed his little girl to the truth that he’d hoped to keep from her, but instead, he could feel each recall of his past beating the fire within him down, reminding him that this was his doing, it was nobody’s fault but his own. He could blame the Schnee girl for bringing it up all he wanted, but it didn’t change the fact that the only reason there was something for her to find was because of him, the only reason Scarlet was so blindsided in the first place was because he and Cinder didn’t want her to know what they’d done in the past.

It exposed him to a truth that he didn’t want to admit, for as much as he wanted to hide Scarlet from the truth to protect her, he was even more afraid of her rightfully hating him for his actions, the pain he felt from her glare being proof enough of that.

“How about how you maimed my teammate's mom for the crime of defending her girlfriend from you!?”

“What? Scarlet, I’ve never even met Weiss.” He was already dealing with her hating him for the parts of his past that were true, the last thing that he needed was her hating him for things that never even happened.

“Jinzi Belladonna-Xiao-Long.” Xiao-Long… now that was a name Adam hadn’t heard in a long time.

It brought him back to the fall of Beacon, reminding him of how blind with rage he’d been back then. It was the lowest he’d ever fallen, he’d been so hateful in those days, using his pain and his cause to do whatever he pleased, it was all he’d known in the months between him driving Blake away and realizing that his and Cinder’s mutual arrangement had some unexpected consequences. He reveled in the pain he had caused, savoring Blake’s cries of pain when his sword pierced her stomach, being so blind that he couldn’t see the tragedy of how far he’d fallen, that he enjoyed ruining a Human girl’s life for defending a Faunus from him.

He had plenty of time to reflect on that day, of how he ruined Yang’s life. Or how he’d thought he had, now he was learning that she and Blake had a son. He was genuinely happy for them, despite the well earned vitriol being flung his way, he was able to find a small bit of comfort in the fact that some of the people he’d wronged had moved on from the scars he left.

“You’re on a team with her son?” 

“Oh! While we’re at it, thanks for the warning about how your victims' kids would try to kill me, you asshole!” Scarlet didn’t care about his introspection, which all things considered was fair, her own life was flipped upside down, she didn’t really owe him the time to be able to ponder how his victims were doing after he’d irreversibly changed their lives for the worse.

“You were attacked!? By who?”

“Yeah, I bet you’re having trouble figuring it out. Here’s a hint, the one who’s kid had a scorpion tail that poisoned my partner!”

“Callows…” Another name he hadn’t heard in ages, not since Scarlet was three and he’d caught word from Dr. Pine that Tyrian was tracking them down per Salem’s orders, and he’d put a stop to it before Scarlet or Cinder got hurt. Of course, he should have known it was going to come back to haunt him. 

“Do you have anything to say? Let me guess, this is the part where you say it’s all bullshit right? That I don’t know what I’m talking about and that it’s an adult thing!?” As she shouted, the familiar feeling suddenly clicked. She reminded him of himself at her age, angry and confused. He was proud of her, she could have been like him, lashed out at the world for her misfortune, but instead she had the sense to lay the blame on him where it belonged. But still, she needed to understand how to harness that anger, how to turn it into something useful instead of letting it destroy her. 

“It’s all true.” Her eyes widened and she went slack-jawed, she clearly wasn’t expecting that. Adam didn’t want to make excuses or try to downplay his actions, she deserved better than that. He walked over and picked up the training sword he used against her countless times growing up. He had never been good with words, so instead he’d teach her through action.

Reaching up, he pulled off the eyepatch he’d adopted ever since leaving the White Fang behind. It was another ugly truth that he hid from her, that there were people who’d treat them like cattle simply for being different, another mistake in hindsight, but when she was a child, looking up at him with those innocent amber eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Those same eyes now looked at him with pity, her face pale and for a brief moment, her shock overtook her anger, and she took a step back on instinct, but just as soon it returned. Good, he didn’t want her to see it as an excuse. He just needed her to understand why he did what he did, and why she can never follow his path of being led by anger.

“What are you going to do about it?”

Scarlet didn’t give him an answer, and he knew that was because deep down she didn’t have one, she was just lashing out. And lash out she did, screaming at the top of her lungs, she ran, closed the distance, and started swinging her swords, her semblance still out of control, blood trying to coat her blades but remaining too unstable to have any effect. As he deflected each strike, he took note of how she was going out of her way to swing at his chest, not his face, neck, or even his legs. Even now with all her anger, she had enough self control to not try and kill him, which was  a good step in the right direction, but she still lashed out with the intent to hurt with no purpose or thought behind her swings, and that was unacceptable.

He understood emotions ran high in combat, he’d lost count of the amount of times he’d flown into a rage over the sudden death of a comrade, but she had to learn that she couldn’t let her emotions control her. Effortlessly, he parried a blow, redirecting her momentum and side-stepping her. As he passed by, he smacked the base of her skull with the kendo stick, hard, and she recoiled from the strike and spun on her heels, an amount of blood frothing from the mouth that would be worrying if he didn’t know about her semblance.

“You mother fu-” He ignored the irony of her of all people calling him that in favor of driving the butt of the handle into her solar plexus, knocking her onto her back. Frustration was clear on her face, it occurred to Adam that he’d never shown Scarlet what it looked like when he didn’t hold back. She might have actually been under the impression that she was within his level of skill, and if so, then it was time to clear up that little misconception. 

“You wanted a fight, right? Now fight like I taught you.” He didn’t expect her to fall in line, it would take him giving a few painful examples before she was fully reigned in, but what he didn’t expect was for her blood to start taking shape behind her.

It was almost in the shape of a person, just unstable and made of blood. It was acting as though it came to stand behind her, but then collapsed into a blob at her side. Whatever she’d been trying to do, be it on instinct or a genuine attempt she couldn’t control enough, it didn’t work, and she was now having it take the shape of a horned, four legged beast about the size of an average sized dog, and it was still unstable and blood dripped onto the grass from its gaping maw. It ran forward, its claws tearing apart the grass as it ran in. While an unexpected development, it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle. The construct leaped at him predictively and as a result, he swatted it to the side, but to his shock it remained as a solid being rather than splattering apart like he expected. A moment later, Scarlet landed a cut across his chest, using the opening created by the beast to land a blow. Good, she was actually thinking again.

She then brought both swords down, something Adam was able to block. The energy he’d been storing was starting to glow in the red of his hair, and thinking of how she’d probably go about this, he reached out and grabbed her, spinning them around and switching positions as the creature leaped for him but ended up slamming its horns into her back, predictable. Before she could recover, he landed a swift jab to her forehead, right in between her horns. She was still thinking too simply, he’d make her use her head or he'd show her why fighting this way was futile. Either way, she’d learn the lesson.

“Do it RIGHT!” 

His instructions just brought more aggression from her. She wasn't thinking, her strikes were sloppy, and he didn't even have to look at the creature to predict where it would strike from. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he'd have to teach her the hard way. He let her force him into a blade lock just long enough for her creature to start moving in, using just a bit of Moonslice to push her back, his foot sweeping her legs out from under her, causing her to fall onto her side. In the same motion, he spun around and thrusted his wooden sword into the mouth of the construct’s mouth and out through the top of its head. Then turning around he cut loose, a swing of his kendo stick carrying the power he’d built up over the fight, transferring the energy into the stump nearby and reducing it to splinters with one strike. Scarlet shook as the red glow faded, scrambling back on her hands as she crawled away, her heart beating out of her chest. Adam stood still, finching as he saw the fear in her eyes.

Shit, he’d overdone it…

Lavender ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She didn’t know where she was going, having only claimed the place for herself in the early hours of the morning. She just knew she had to get away from Romeo, it was a trick, it had to be. There was no way he actually wanted her back, that just… it wasn't possible. Still, she could hear him hot on her heels, he probably just wanted to drag her back to Neo so that she could give her half hearted excuses like always. No, she wouldn't have it, she was never going back to that woman! As soon as she turned the corner, she came face to face with a mountain of a man in riot gear who slammed her into the wall hard enough to send a spiderweb of cracks throughout it. He picked her up easily, he was rather tall especially compared to her, then again most people were, but the mountain that hit her was around JJ’s height.

She lashed out on instinct, kicking and punching at the cop, even managing to knock his helmet off, which was the opening she needed. She raised a gauntlet of The Queen's Servants and leveled the blades right at his exposed face… and then she hesitated. She hadn't taken a life yet, not from lack of trying, but regardless, this was just some guy, he hadn't wronged her, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The brief hesitation was all the man needed to grab her gauntlet and pin it to the wall, holding her up with one arm as he reached down for his cuffs.

The next thing Lavender knew, blood hit her face and right after the gunshot to her side registered from where she'd been a moment ago. Her feet hit the ground, and soon after the cop slumped over, a pool of blood quickly spilling out from the exit wound. Suddenly, another set of hands were on her, smaller and gentler as her brother looked her over for wounds.

“Are you okay? Did he hur-” She snatched her arm out of his grasp before he could finish asking his question, wiping the blood off of her face. By the Goddess, why was he so stupid? What part of how she’d been acting made him think that she wanted him to help, let alone touch, her?

“I said leave me alone!” Romeo rolled his eyes, that was one hell of a thank you. Before he could open his mouth to sass her, the sounds of a gun being cocked caught his attention, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a pair of armored cops aiming down at him.

Thinking quickly, Lavender pushed him back through the doorway before doing a handspring back into the adjacent one, and not a moment too soon as bullets suddenly began slamming into the wall they’d been standing at. She breathed a sigh of relief as he got up without any added holes. Romeo, for his part, was just happy that she seemed to have reconsidered the whole killing him thing, which just left the cops. As he tried to hatch a plan, he had to stop himself from screaming as Lavender exited cover, opening fire with her gauntlets.

The frankly stupid plan actually seemed to work, which almost made him madder than the fact that she did it in the first place, but gift horses and all that. As the cops dove for cover he glanced out, taking note of how the hallway was less than sound structurally, taking aim at the ceiling with his cane he charged a shot, the extra dust collecting before he opened fire, making the shot far more powerful than the one that killed the officer, causing the already weakened wood to collapse, closing them off from the Vale police for the time being.

“Are you okay?” Lavender asked, looking back at her brother, trying her best to avoid looking at the dead body on the floor behind him. She understood that blood needed to be spilled, oh what she’d do for another chance at Scarlet, but this was different. The man dead at their feet was… just some guy, sure he was an enemy, but he had done nothing to wrong them but get in their way. Yet, he didn’t seem bothered, twirling that damn cane in one hand, the other resting on his hip.

“I get right back up after you put me through a wall and the floor and then you think those clowns are gonna put a scratch on me? Have some faith in your big brother.” As he spoke, he looked around, searching for a way out. He realized that he may have sealed them off at the end of the hall, so unless they wanted to backtrack to her weird little lair… but that was an exposed entrance. Crap, they’d probably need to make their own exit at this rate. 

“No, I-I mean I'm glad you're not hurt but… you killed someone.” Lavender wasn’t even thinking about their way out, glancing back at the body for a moment. She wasn’t as disturbed as she thought she’d be, but at the same time, there was no rush like Henna described, she didn’t really know how to feel about him dying like that. 

“Of course I did, he had his hands on you.” And as far as he was concerned, that was the end of it. Besides, he had better things to worry about. “Alright, Steele got out in time, we just got to lose the cops and then I’ll have him come get us.”

As Romeo started to consider just blowing a hole in the wall and taking their chances with however many cops were watching for them, Lavender sighed, apparently she’d actually have to spell this out to him. 

“I’m not going back.” An annoyed sigh escaped Romeo, who pinched the bridge of his nose as he turned back around to face her.

“Lav, for the love of- can we please do this when there aren’t armored goons coming for us?” Before either of them could even think the collapsed ceiling was blown apart, knocking them both to the ground.

As his ears rang, Romeo saw an older woman with short pink hair wearing an armored police uniform that was standard aside from the fact that instead of a gun, she was wielding a measly slingshot. Miss Floss, failed Huntress and the hardass chief in charge of the VPD West side. Lavender couldn’t care less about the woman, seeing a new opening she scampered to her feet and fled just in time to avoid another shot from the Dust flinging weapon, the smaller explosion resulting in flames erupting from the pile of debris.

“Oh for fu- seriously!?” Well, that was one hell of a thank you. As much as he wanted to run after her, the fire was spreading fast, and he doubted the hardass before him would just let him get away. Putting on his best smile, he leaned on his cane, doing his best to ignore the rapidly increasing heat around them. “Oookay then, so what's your name again? Normally, we'd be on a first name basis, but you keep literally shooting my messengers soooo.”

“Shut the hell up, like I’d work for Roman’s little bastard!” As the young man soon found out, she wasn’t much for banter, aiming at him and releasing yet another specialized dust crystal which he ducked under. The explosion rocked the building once more, causing the floor to collapse under them.

Managing to land on his feet, the crime boss was suddenly made aware of just how quickly fire could spread in an old run down building filled with flammable trash. It was hard to see more than a few feet in front of him, which is probably why he didn’t see the punch coming from the side as Floss sucker punched him, undeterred by the flames around them. Romeo struck back, swinging his cane towards her face only for her to grab it mid swing, the Aura on her hand flashing the same hot pink as her hair as they started to struggle for the weapon.

“Really? This is because of my old man? Come on, most people tell me that he was a delight.” His words had the desired effect as she growled and tried to throw him into the fire, but Romeo knew how to handle brute force, turning with her and sending a knee into her gut, reflexively taking a nice deep breath of the smoke rising.

“You -ack- think this is funny!? He and that little imp you call a mother killed my partner!”

“Actually, in spite of the circumstances, I'm already bored of this conversation.” Romeo said, rolling his eyes. “If you're going to join one of the dozens of people who want to have me wacked because of my folks, the least you could do is come up with some original material.”

“You son of a bitch!” She lunged for him, only to get struck in the jaw with the curved steel of Melodic Cudgel’s handle. 

“Well, I'll give you that one, but unless you're going to make this interesting, just shut up and hit m-” In the middle of his taunting, Floss suddenly punched him in the gut, making him double over in pain. She used that to her advantage, tackling him to the ground and pinning him down, using his own cane to press down onto his windpipe, cutting off the air to his lungs.

He struggled and pushed against her, but found himself unable to make her budge, his back was burning on the floor, and while he tried to hide it, Lavender had done a number on him in their fight, those factors along with the lack of oxygen all were working against him. His vision was starting to go hazy, and panic set in, he couldn’t die yet, not when he’d just found Lavender! The moment that thought crossed his mind, Floss screamed as something unexpectedly stabbed into her side, Lavender retracted and the girl dropped down, her Gauntlets ready to rip the former Huntress apart. But instinct allowed her to catch the girl out of the air, and she threw her attacker to the floor and into the flames that burned at her ankles.

She suddenly felt woozy, and things started to blend together. She tried to figure out why when suddenly she was met with a sight that made her do a double take. It was like she was looking at Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan, just as they’d been almost two decades ago before he died. That was the last coherent thought to go through her mind before the shot from Melodic Cudgel ripped through her gut and she fell over, clutching the wound. Romeo paid the woman no more attention after that, because if the wound didn’t do her in, the fire would.

Turning back to Lavender, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her patting down a small flame that traveled up her pant leg but was otherwise okay. Right, now to get the hell out of here. Getting to his feet, he reoriented himself, turning around and aiming at the wall he was certain had a window on the floor above, charging a shot and blowing a hole right through it. The hole led right into the alleyway in the back, good, his luck wasn’t running out just yet. Grabbing his sister, he aimed the grapple at a nearby roof and waited just long enough for Lavender to latch on and let the line carry them up.

They continued to run across several rooftops until the sirens grew quiet. Only then did Romeo call Steele, and the moment he pulled up the pair piled into the car. The ride was silent, Steele was watching the new girl from the rearview mirror but said nothing. 

“So what now? Back home?” She would have ran, but she didn’t have the energy. She was too tired, too sore, and she had a feeling that even in his current state, Romeo would still jump out and drag her back into the car, so she resigned herself to her fate.

“One of them at least. Uncle Junior has a room for me at the club, we can stay there until the heat dies down.” He said, reaching into his pocket for a cigar only to reconsider, he’d had enough smoke in his lungs for today. The casualness of his answer caught her off guard, so much so that she almost missed that he said they were going to Junior's, not Vanille Manor.

“Wait…we aren’t going to Neo?” Romeo would have laughed, but his throat was already sore enough so he just shook his head and leaned back closing his eyes. Lavender remembered the club, how she and her brother would run around it with Melodias, Maverick, and JJ… Goddess that felt like so long ago now. He could have been lying of course, but for some reason she wanted to trust him, so she did. Allowing herself to relax, fatigue quickly took over as she found herself resting on his shoulder as her eyes started to droop.

She didn’t fight the slumber as it whisked her away, she felt safe, safer than she had in a long time.

“D-d-ad?” Scarlet almost didn't recognize the man in front of her, her perception of him had already been altered by the revelation from Ruby and, Gods above, those videos. She wasn't ready to be on the receiving end of Moonslice, even if just as an example that didn't even hit her. Adam took a deep breath, terrifying her was the last thing he'd wanted, but it didn't change the fact that she had to learn this lesson for her own good.

“You need to control yourself, Scarlet. The next time you lose control, chances are you won’t be fighting me.” Scarlet scowled up at him, but it was half hearted. His words were finally sinking in and he decided to give her a moment to process things, she clearly hadn't stopped to think since she left Beacon to confront him.

“WHOOOO-” Adam’s thoughts were interrupted by a boot firmly being planted in his face, and then another, and then another. “AKAKAKAKAK!”

A flurry of kicks from a giant of a man who defied gravity itself as he remained in the exact same spot in the air, a spot that was perfect for bicycle kicks to the face. He only caught glimpses of between the blows he was subjected to, and eventually, one particularly hard kick sent him flying back towards the house, slamming into the doorframe and taking off a chunk of it with him.

“WHHHaaaa!” Adam stared up at the ceiling, the exaggerated martial arts yell fading a bit once he was inside, as he was still processing what exactly just happened. Slowly getting back to his feet, he immediately went back outside, the red glow of his semblance betraying the calm facade he had on as he glared down at the monkey man who’d attacked him.

“Jin! What the fuck!?” The voice of Jet wasn’t what Adam had expected, and soon after, the familiar sound of feathers was audible as an ethereal Griffon landed in his yard. On it were two people, Jet with his hands on his head in exasperation over the events he’d just witnessed, aand a girl, none other than Lumi Arc-Schnee. Even if he wasn’t already familiar enough with the family to recognize her at a glance, the summoned Grimm was a dead giveaway. He met her eyes for a moment, and her eyes went wide with shock as soon as she saw him and the SDC brand across his left eye. Jin, however, was just looking back from Adam to his teammates, and it finally clicked in his head that maybe he'd been a bit hasty.

“Huh? But he attacked her?” Before Adam could step off the porch and show Jin what it looked like when he actually attacked someone, Scarlet got in between the two of them, holding her arms out to keep them apart.

“No, nonono. I started it, it was me.” She said, taking control and doing her best to explain the situation, which helped Jin relax. If Scarlet wasn’t worried over her dad, then he didn’t see a reason to make a bigger fuss over it than he already had.

“See! I told you to wait yo- you know what, forget it.” Lumi said, not seeing the point in berating him when she already knew he’d just do the same thing next time a situation like this occurred. Instead, she just shuffled over, finally joining the others, although she made sure she stayed behind Jin for the moment. Scarlet scowled at her team, had they all just skipped half a day of Beacon and ran off without telling anyone? Sure, she’d done the same thing, but she had an actual good reason! 

“Why did you guys follow me!?” Scarlet demanded in her best stern sounding voice, however, her demeanor soon dropped as Lumi marched right on up to her and jabbed a finger into her face angrily.

“Why? Do you really have the gall to ask that you dens- We were worried about you!”

“You were worried about me ?” Scarlet, while touched, was in disbelief, having assumed Lumi still didn’t really care for her. This caused all five feet of the girl to bristle even harder in indignation at the statement, causing her to try and backtrack. “But- I was just gonna kick… my Dad’s… ass.”

Yeah… no that actually sounded worse. Before she could dig herself into a deeper hole, Jet stepped up to speak.

“Believe it or not, we weren’t worried about Adam doing something stupid.” Jet said, pausing to look in-between Jin and the visible boot prints on Adam’s shirt and face. “Well, at least I wasn’t.”

Scarlet looked away, feeling more than a little embarrassed at being called out like that by Jet, even if she couldn’t deny that this was far from her finest moment. Meanwhile, Jin started walking up to Adam, the man raising an eyebrow as the boy held out his hand sheepishly, thinking about how strange it was to see a boy that big look so embarrassed.

“Uh, sorry about that Sir. I just kinda jumped down when I saw you standing over her…” Adam nodded, still a bit miffed by the fact that he’d been put through his own door over a misunderstanding, but the feeling subsided.

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t, but he’d get over it, taking Jin’s hand and shaking it rather than making a fuss, and he couldn’t really be mad about someone stepping in to help her. “I’m just glad she has people looking out for her.”

“Jinzi Belladonna-Xiao-Long, my friends call me Jin.” Adam’s face went pale at the name, so this was him, Blake and Yang’s child, though that certainly didn’t explain the tail. He didn’t act as though he knew who’s hand he was shaking, what Adam had done to his grandfather’s organization, to Blake or Yang. But… he had to know, right?

“Jinzi, I take it you know who I am.” As Adam just came out and asked, he noticed the rest of Scarlet’s team going stiff behind them, it was clear that they seemed to know. 

“You’re Scarlet’s dad, I can tell by the horns, and the hair, and the edgy clothes.” Adam looked down at his outfit, taking genuine offense at the boy’s comment, it wasn’t his fault black and red looked good on him. 

“Well, this is quite the surprise.” Before Adam could think of a rebuttal, the voice of Cinder echoed through the room as she stared down the students. She was happy to see Scarlet, ecstatic in fact, but the state of her husband had her less than pleased. “Well Scarlet, aren’t you going to take a break from attacking your father and invite your friends in?”

Scarlet froze, immediately recognizing from her mom’s tone that she was not asking. To Lumi and Jin’s shock, their leader didn’t react with the usual attitude or the anger they’d expected from her. She clearly wasn’t happy, but there was a clear lack of fight from her as she addressed her team.

“Right, you guys wanna come in?” Jet was already on his way in, being nearly as familiar with the Taurus-Fall house as he was his own, casually greeting Cinder as he walked in. Scarlet then led Jin and a reluctant Lumi inside, the smaller girl sticking close to Jin the whole way in. Now alone, Cinder turned to Adam as he followed suit, taking a moment to stop him, licking her thumb before wiping off as much of the dirt left from Jin’s boots as she could.

“So, what happened?” Cinder asked in a more gentle tone, looking her husband over to see if there was anything more than dirt, pleased to see that there wasn’t even a cut on him. Adam scowled, doing his best to act like he didn’t enjoy her fretting over him like she was.

“I’m out of practice.” he grumbled and stepped back, looking through the door as Scarlet was giving her team a quick tour of the house. This was going to be a long conversation.

Chapter Text

Patch: June 81 AGW, 8 months after the Fall of Beacon

Battered and beaten, Adam stumbled to his door. He was light headed and woozy, although he couldn’t tell if it was from the blows to the head he’d taken, or if he was just sick from what he’d been forced to do… Looking back, the remains of Forest, his lieutenant, a man he’d once been proud to call his brother, now lay in two halves, bisected via a slash that traveled from his left shoulder down to his right hip. His chainsaw was left on the ground just a few inches from his hand, the motor still idling, still awaiting commands from its now dead master. This wasn’t how he’d wanted it to go, he knew Sienna would send someone after him after he left, but he didn’t think she’d have been so underhanded as to send one of his friends. She likely knew he’d hold back against his best soldier, it was a surgical and cruel tactic, one he would have been impressed by if he wasn’t coming to terms with how it made him feel.

He’d done his best to talk Forest down, but his feelings of betrayal and hurt stopped Adam’s words from reaching him. In the end, his hand had been forced when the bat Faunus made a very direct threat to his newborn child. There was no hesitation after that, and the fight was over in an instant. In the past, spilling blood for his people had always filled the bull with pride, and he’d assumed it would be similar when defending his progeny. But that wasn’t the case, as he just felt empty, he didn’t want to do that, it was a complete waste of life. Had Forrest just listened to him, if he had just tried to hear him out, he might have walked away alive. But he didn’t, Adam’s sin of conceiving a child with a human was just too much for him to forgive after all her kind had taken from them, and now he was gone. Adam paused as he reached the door.

Since when did he care about this? Friend or not, he hadn’t been given a choice, by all perspectives, he was justified in what he’d done, but it still felt wrong, he felt… regret over taking a life. Taking one last glance at his former ally, he decided he would bury the body later when he was less drained. 

Reaching out, he opened the door, leaving a bloody handprint on the doorknob. He didn’t know if the blood had belonged to him or Forest, but he supposed it didn’t really matter either way. Stepping inside, he was greeted by Doctor Teal standing by the door with a simple revolver shakily held in his grasp. It wasn’t unusual, Patch had a small but non-negligible Grimm population, so most residents were armed for their own protection. He relaxed upon seeing Adam, but only for a moment as he registered that the Faunus was covered in blood.

“Well?”

“It's done.” Adam sighed, dropping Wilt and Blush by the door, too tired to even care when they fell over. Like with Forest’s body, he’d tend to it after he’d had a moment to rest.

“Figured as much.” The Doctor took his finger off the trigger before holstering the weapon. “They're both doing fine, Ember's going to need to rest up for a few days, so diaper duty’s on you for the time being.”

He nodded, he knew next to nothing about child rearing, save that it was messy and delicate, but he’d made his bed and now he had to lay in it. It suddenly occurred to him, he was a father now. He’d obviously known that this day was coming, but now that it was here… Gods above, they of all people were going to be raising a child. He was no parent, he was a warrior, a leader, he inspired his brothers and sisters to fight and bring down the systems that shackled them, he didn’t know how to be nurturing.

“Thank you. As soon as steady work comes in, I'll pay you back.” It came as little surprise that there wasn’t much work to be done, Adam had already used up the majority of his personal funds that he’d “borrowed” during his time in the Fang to buy the house, thankfully he was able to negotiate the price down by pointing out the distance and seclusion from town as if they were negatives instead of it being exactly what they were looking for.

“Don’t worry about it. Honestly, you getting me out of the cabin is good enough.” The easygoing response wasn’t one Adam had expected, nor was it one that sat right with him.

“I'm going to repay you.” His voice was firm, leaving no room for debate on the topic. The man had done his family a service, he was going to get compensated.

“Tell you what, bring over a few bottles of beer, and we'll call it even.” The old man knew better than to argue, he’d been young and stubborn once as well. Adam paused at the request, there was no way it was an even exchange, but he wasn’t really in a position to negotiate.

“If that's what you want.” Adam said, reluctantly agreeing to the terms and walking over to the door where Cinder and their child waited behind, only to have his hand slapped by the Doctor as he reached for the door. Adam pulled his hand back in surprise, it didn’t really hurt, but he hadn’t been expecting it. 

“Hey! Wash up first, you can't go ahead and get blood on a newborn baby.” Being scolded like that wasn’t something he’d experienced in a while, but he didn’t have a counter as the man was objectively right…

Silently, he sulked over to the kitchen sink, discarding his coat and gloves before washing up. After thoroughly washing off the blood and viscera, he turned and showed off his now spotless skin, silently asking if his efforts were acceptable to the man’s standards. The old man gave a cursory glance before nodding in approval and collecting his things. Adam didn’t bother to watch as he left, instead walking over to the door where his family waited. Stepping in, his eye focused on Cinder. She looked drained, bags under her eye and practically dripping with sweat, yet she had a content smile on her face as she held their child. Adam wobbled over, his head still throbbing from earlier as he pulled up a chair and sat down next to them. The baby looked weird, though maybe it was just because he’d never seen a newborn before, all chubby and wrinkly, almost like a little meatball.

“How are you feeling?” Adam asked, putting on a calm face, he knew the last thing Cinder needed right now was for him to pour his heart out. 

“Like I just had a baby.” Cinder stroked the child’s chubby little face, particularly two little nubs on either side of her forehead. “Are these normal?”

Ah, right, she didn’t know a thing about raising Faunus kids, but, come to think of it, she was probably just as clueless about the subject of raising kids in general as he was. Maybe there was a book or something that would spell it out for them, if not, then they had one bumpy road ahead of them.

“The horns will grow out within the next few years. Don’t worry, it’s painless.” he explained. She’d probably still freak out about the blood when they started coming in though, especially since she hardly seemed to be listening, just nodding along with a glassy look in her eyes. Though, he couldn’t be too mad, it wasn’t like he would ever know how hard it was to have a baby come out of him.

“Here, take her, I need to rest.” Her… he had a daughter. Reaching out, he carefully took the infant into his arms, supporting her head with his arm, mostly because it was just what he’d heard he was supposed to do. The baby squirmed around in his grasp, she was restless like her parents. Adam smiled to himself as he held the precious little thing close to his chest, she had his red highlights in her otherwise black hair and her mother’s amber eyes. It made him… happy. Happy huh? He’d almost forgotten what that felt like. “I decided on Scarlet.”

Scarlet… He liked that name.

Patch: December 99 AGW

Adam stood on the porch, taking a moment before going back inside to face Scarlet. He looked out to the remnants of the old stump, now reduced to pieces. To think that things were actually simpler back then, with him and Cinder laying low, avoiding the White Fang and Salem all while figuring out how to raise their little girl. He’d honestly hoped he could avoid this conversation forever, as naive as that was. Looking back inside, he saw Scarlet staring back at him, her once bright eyes filled with pain as she looked back to him before turning away and going further inside. Adam waited for a bit longer, taking a deep breath as he prepared himself.

Lumi stared up at the wall, noticing that there weren’t a lot of pictures throughout the Taurus-Fall household. There were even fewer if you counted the pictures without Scarlet, she’d counted maybe three throughout the short tour Scarlet had given them. One photo was of her mother with two other people she didn’t recognise, but considering how much Jet took after the woman she could assume it was his parents. Based on the general ages of the people in the photo itself, she estimated that it couldn’t have taken very long after her leader was born, it could’ve even been before.

Another photo in the hallway was of Adam and who she presumed was Jet’s father, it looked to be taken around the same timeframe as the previous one as they stood with their weapons out, Adam with Wilt drawn and an augmented sheath on his hip, and Jet’s father with his pant legs rolled up, revealing a pair of mechanical legs with what appeared to be some form of integrated Dust mechanism in each. Immediately next to it was a framed picture of a Huntsman certificate for one Terracotta Taurus, dated early 81 AGW. The third photograph was taken far more recently, within the last year at most, featuring Scarlet’s mother and father fast asleep on the couch, unconsciously holding one another. They looked so… normal, all of the photos did, and if she didn’t know any better, she’d have seen just any other happy family.

She didn’t know how to feel, on one hand, they certainly didn’t deserve this life after everything they’d done, after they’d deprived so many others of the chance to live this way. But, as she saw the pictures of Scarlet as a child that stood in stark contrast, she questioned herself. The little girl looked so happy next to her parents, they’d clearly been good to her, but was that enough to make up for what they did? As Lumi stood and mulled over her thoughts, Jin noticed her lost expression, walking over and taking her hand in his own. Despite the massive size difference between them that would have let him completely envelop her hand in his own had he wished, Lumi was the one squeezing his hand, and soon found her head resting on his bicep. A cough from behind caused them to turn to the hallway’s end, where Adam was now waiting. He’d thankfully put his eyepatch back on, hiding the unsightly scar that marred his left eye, yet it didn’t help her feel any less nervous to face the man.

“You’re welcome to take a seat, this is going to be a long talk.” Lumi went frigid, as despite him seeming calm and welcoming, she was still petrified by his mere presence. Videos and stories were one thing, but to see the man in the flesh was something else all together.

Then, a simple squeeze of the hand from Jin pulled her out from the maelstrom of her own thoughts, bringing her back into the moment. Still not trusting herself to speak to the man, she nodded in silence for her response and took Jin into the living room where she’d seen Scarlet and Jet. The other half of SJJL were already seated, Scarlet was clearly uneasy about what was about to happen, looking more closed off than Lumi had even seen, while Jet awkwardly looked at the floor, head resting upon his interlocked fingers. She and Jin each took their seats next to their partners as Cinder and Adam followed behind them closely, both choosing to stand across the room from the teens rather than sit. The air was heavy with apprehension as no one wanted to be the one to start the conversation, and it certainly didn’t help that half of the room didn’t really feel like it was their place to begin with. 

“You all have questions, and well, now’s the time to ask.” In the end, it was Adam who broke the silence. Lumi had expected the same stoic voice he’d addressed her and Jin with, but instead he just sounded tired, like a man who couldn’t run even if he wanted to.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Scarlet sounded just as tired as her dad, she was long past the point where she could hide the emotional turmoil. Cinder winced, seeing her baby in such a state of distress caused her heart to ache with guilt, especially knowing that she’d played a part in it. 

“I- We didn’t want you to grow up like we did, we wanted to give you as normal of a life as we could.” Cinder tried to explain. The feeling of failure was a familiar one, yet it was something she’d never wanted to associate with Scarlet. But, as it stood now, she couldn’t deny she’d failed her daughter. It was her job to prepare Scarlet for this, and yet she’d sent her blindly to Beacon knowing something like this was bound to happen, all so that she and Adam could delay the inevitable. 

“We… we should have told you when you were old enough to handle it.” Adam added. 

“Just how much of what you told me is a lie?” She didn't seem satisfied with their explanation so far, not that either of them had expected it. The fact of the matter was that there wasn't a good reason for their decision, they just couldn't bring themselves to tell Scarlet what they'd done until the choice had been made for them.

“Do you remember how we told you that me and your father met through work?” Scarlet nodded cautiously at her mother’s words, remembering how they’d described it as a job that wasn’t right for them, and how getting pregnant with her made them realize they wanted more from life. Something she guessed was about to be revealed as a cover story. “That was the truth, but we weren’t office workers like we told you.”

“So, you were a terrorist like Dad then?” It made sense, her mother was heavily burnt on her upper left side, missing both her left arm and a good portion of her face. Additionally, she was also a highly skilled archer, even though she regularly battled with her various prosthetic limbs over the years, a series of injuries and a skillset that, in hindsight, didn’t really track for an office worker turned housewife. Cinder didn’t deny the accusation, closing her eye and taking a deep breath, she was never good at… this , she was a woman of action, she didn’t really talk things through. After a moment of contemplating the best way to answer, she decided to just rip the bandaid off and get it out of the way.  

“I’m the reason your father was at the Fall of Beacon.” The response was about what she’d expected, which was absolute silence from the entire room.

Scarlet was too stunned to speak, knowing her own mother was behind the worst terrorist attack in recent history would probably take a while to recover from. Jet was the only one of them to not look surprised, he was just as uneasy as the rest, but not nearly as shocked. She supposed it made sense, he was a smart boy after all, and leagues more attentive than either of his parents. Jin’s more easy going expression was whipped clean off his face as he subconsciously sank back into the couch, away from them, and Lumi, oh that girl was livid, her face turned red with rage.

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, he probably shouldn’t have been surprised by Cinder’s lack of tact, delicate topics were never her strong suit, not that they came any easier to him, but there had to have been a more gentle way to say it.  

“You? It was you!?” Lumi immediately stood up and pointed her finger at the woman before her with a look of pure disdain, but she remained unfazed by her righteous fury. “Do you have any idea what you put my Father through?”

“I don’t remember your father.” Lumi went slack-jawed at the statement, looking as though she’d been slapped, to have her beloved Dad’s pain and suffering completely dismissed like that was unthinkable. Cinder wasn’t trying to insult Lumi or Jaune, but the list of people who’d suffered because of her was, to be frank, long, for all she knew it could have been anyone. “I’ve hurt a lot of people, most of them didn’t deserve it.”

“For fuck’s sake Mom, is that really all you can say?” Scarlet asked with disgust in her voice as she took a stand besides her partner, mistaking her mother’s calm answer for apathy and getting even angrier because of it. Jet joined them a moment later, grabbing Scarlet’s wrist to get her attention.

“Scar, please, try to calm down.” It was like she couldn’t even hear him, she was just… done.

“No!” She ripped her hand free from Jet and took another step towards her Mom and Dad. “Who are you two? Who did I get raised by? Is anything about the two of you real? Is our family even real!?”

“Of course it is, why else would we throw everything away for you?!” Adam had heard enough, while he understood her frustration with them, he could only stand so much disrespect from her before he got agitated. The idea that he was merely pretending with his family, the only thing he truly had in this world, set him off like nothing else. Scarlet flinched, while Lumi physically backed up. He regretted his outburst almost immediately, opening his mouth to try and explain, but nothing came out. Cinder then stepped in between him and SJJL, placing her hand on his chest in an attempt to comfort the man.

“Adam. Let me handle this.” Her voice was soft and calming, and her eye was filled with understanding. Adam sighed and stepped back, glancing over to the door that was left hanging open from the impact his body had left earlier. Upon further inspection, it was dangling off of one hinge. It was probably as good of a distraction as he was going to get.

“Jet, do you remember where the toolbox is? I need to get started on the door.” The boy nodded, unbothered by the fact that he’d seemingly been conscripted into helping fix the damage and heading down the hall. Jin, deciding to take some responsibility, wandered over to Adam and got to work, asking to help in any way he could. Lumi hesitated for a moment, looking between Jin and Scarlet, but after a calm nod from her leader, Lumi hesitantly joined the boys, watching Jin try to balance the door in place while Adam aligned the loose hinge with its previous position.

Scarlet and Cinder stood in silence, while the tension had been alleviated somewhat, it was far from forgotten. Because of this, Cinder motioned for Scarlet to follow her, heading out the back door and into the woods behind their home. The dense foliage of the trees was a familiar comfort to them both, Scarlet and Lupin having dragged Jet out to play all the time. Cinder meanwhile, trained out here regularly, finding a sense of comfort in the additional seclusion the trees offered over her backyard. They came to a clearing not too far in, Cinder coming to a stop and taking a seat on a fallen log, joined shortly by Scarlet, who sat on the opposite end.

“You wanted to know who we were. Are you sure about this?” As Scarlet looked back into her Mom’s eye, she could see that she was just as enthused to have this talk as her, but at the same time she was resolved. Scarlet swallowed the lump in her throat and decided to start with something smaller.

“Before that, I know Dad’s real name now, but I’m guessing Ember’s a fake name too?” Cinder nodded in response. In truth it was more complicated than that, she didn’t really have a true name, in her eyes, ‘’Ember’’ was as real as the name she’d first been given, as real as the surname she’d chosen for herself and passed down to her child. But she knew what Scarlet meant by her question, so she kept it simple.

“My name is Cinder.”

“Cinder…” Scarlet said slowly, testing the name out to see how it felt, coming to the conclusion that it was fitting for her Mom. The woman in question decided to get down to business once more, the sooner they started talking, the better.

“Your father and I weren’t always… decent people.” That was probably the understatement of the century, and unsurprisingly, Scarlet wasn’t happy with this explanation on its own. But, Cinder knew she’d have more angst to get off of her chest, and so she didn’t interrupt when Scarlet shot back.

“So you’re saying that’s not who you are anymore? That you fell in love and changed for each other?” Scarlet mocked the story she was expecting to hear, and Cinder had to hand it to her, if that was what had actually happened, it would have stung, but instead Cinder just laughed.

“Scarlet, your father and I didn’t love each other when we made you.” That clearly wasn’t what Scarlet had been expecting, being yet another shock to the girl, although, based on how she didn’t immediately burst into another series of accusations, it was far less severe a shock than before. Either way, now she had her attention and she wasn’t going to waste it. “I strong-armed him into helping me, but that wasn’t enough, I needed to ensure his loyalty.”

“You… d-did you baby trap Dad with me?” Scarlet asked, her tone filled with dread. The fact that she was apparently conceived as a result of some sort of screwed up deal between terrorists was bad enough, but the idea that she only existed as leverage for her Mom to hold over her Dad just made her want to puke.

“No, and even if I had tried, I doubt it would have worked.” Cinder said, trying and failing to be reassuring. It was clear that Scarlet wasn’t taking this how she had intended, and hurting her baby even further was the last thing she wanted right now. Reaching out, she gently took Scarlet’s hand and asked her a question. “Does our family feel fake to you?”

“No, I guess not.” Scarlet mumbled after a moment of contemplation. She knew she was loved, she couldn’t deny that, she wouldn’t have felt so betrayed if her parents had acted like terrorists bent on causing pain and misery wherever they went. No, it hurt because they’d always felt like a normal family to her. But there were parts that still stood out to her, especially Adam’s earlier words. “What did Dad mean exactly when he said the two of you threw everything away for me?”

Cinder hummed to herself, staring off into space as she remembered that day, the day she left everything, and by extension, the day that changed everything.

Mistral: March 81 AGW, 5 months after the Fall of Beacon

Cinder stared at herself in the mirror, still not used to the changes her body had recently undergone. Unsightly burn scars permanently etched into her skin around her left eye, the absence of said organ, a Grimm parasite in place of her left arm, and… a bump in her belly where a new life was growing. She grimaced before locking eyes with herself once more, trying to ask herself a simple question: what the hell was she doing?

Her decision to leave everything behind wasn’t one she’d put much thought into before committing to it, Salem had made it easy after all. The Grimm queen had attempted to soothe her as the initial panic set in over the unexpected, and frankly, unwanted pregnancy. At first, she fell for the witchs comforting words, she’d known exactly how motherly reassurance was something Cinder had longed for and she used it against her with ease. She had expected harshness from her master, to be chided for risking everything or at the very least to be called a harlot.

But instead, Salem was gentle, stroking her back as she processed the news that she was having a child. In fact, Salem praised her for securing the power of the Fall Maiden and killing Ozpin all while experiencing the early symptoms of pregnancy. She eventually asked Cinder what she planned to do with the child, but when she firmly declared she had no intentions of carrying Adam’s bastard to term, Salem overplayed her hand.

“Well, the decision is yours, but you should put more thought into it, this child… great things could come from her.” Her, the way Salem had said that made it clear that it was no guess. That one slip of the tongue told Cinder that Salem had plans for the child; she wanted another girl to groom into a maiden vessel. At the time, there wasn’t even enough to see with an ultrasound, but she was already planning on how she could use the child for her own gain.

It disturbed Cinder, and she didn’t know why. Maybe it was just selfishness, the fact that it was her child- no, no that couldn’t be it, she didn’t care for the brat herself, it was just a wake up call. She’d known Salem was using her, and she’d been fine with that so long as it gave her the power she’d sought, but if she was really ready to use something as innocent as a fetus to her advantage, what would she be willing to do with someone like her ?

Well, that was that, over half of the last decade of her life was all for naught because of one stupid decision… one she and Adam repeated more times than she’d ever admit. It was ironic that her spur of the moment decision to give him a little incentive to be more agreeable had such consequences. She had no intentions of letting him know, he’d been using her just as much as she’d been using him. The moment she first saw Blake Belladonna in Beacon’s halls, him giving into her advances made so much sense. Long black hair, amber eyes, fair skin, her aloof attitude, they even both had deeper voices than most of the women around them… Adam certainly had a type.

She wondered if Belladonna had ever smelled Adam’s scent on her, the thought made her chuckle, and she was certain Mercury had said something about the girl checking them out. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Cinder chose to believe that the girl was second guessing the presence of a very familiar scent. The brief amusement soon faded as she hardened her heart once more in preparation for what she was about to do. In truth, the fact that Adam was a fanatic who’d probably react with violence at the thought of a human baring his child played a small part in her decision not to tell him, however, it was mainly because soon it would be nothing but a memory.

Leveling her stomach over the sink she concentrated her power, manifesting a mixture of her Semblance and the magma she could create with her newfound powers. The molten rock took shape into a pointed double sided dagger, and she tested the weapon by running the tip of her index finger along the sharpened edge, feeling it easily cut into her soft skin, coming to the conclusion that it would do. She braced herself, it would hurt like hell but she’d suffered worse, from the Grimm being implanted into her flesh and bonding with her nerves to Ruby blasting her with a light that burned worse than fire. In comparison, this would be easy, and her aura would heal it in seconds. She was doing this child a favor, the idea of her as a loving mother was laughable, so the options were to raise it out of obligation and have it grow up angsty and resentful for its lot in life, leave it on the steps of some orphanage where it would likely be unloved and unwanted, or even worse, sold into slavery like she was.

So while some would think it unthinkable and cruel, the decision was an obvious one for her. Gritting her teeth in preparation for the pain, she raised the dagger to her stomach, but for some reason her hand shook, and she had to force herself to use her shadow hand to steady the weapon. She stared down at the dagger, her reflection visible in the blade and… she couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t? What the hell was the matter with her?

Venting her frustrations with a snarl, she turned around and exited the bathroom, taking a seat on the bed of her hotel room she sighed. The room was run down, as expected for a cheap hotel in the lower levels of Mistral, they didn’t even ask for a name when she checked in, probably assuming she was just another “working girl”. Setting her dagger to the side for now, she rested her human hand on the small bump protruding from her abdomen. Why couldn’t she do it? She wasn’t attached to it, that didn’t make any sense, it wasn’t even sentient yet, but she couldn’t really think of another explanation. She thought about it, the idea of raising this child, she imagined herself having the baby, it would have her eyes, eyes filled with love for her. By the Brothers, was she really so desperate for affection that she was actually considering this?

She didn’t need anyone else, that’s why she pushed Emerald away, why she rejected any attempts from Mercury to “hang out”. But if that was true, why did it hurt whenever the street thief looked close to tears or when her assassin would bitterly mumble something under his breath whenever shot down? Even with her so-called lover she hadn’t been able to completely disconnect herself. She certainly didn’t stay overnight in those dingy little hotels because the beds were comfortable, but from his arms, to his warmth, to his smell, it was like she’d been given something she’d never known she needed. Even Salem had used her motherly act to ensure her loyalty early on, taking advantage of her desires for love when she needed it most.

However, it still made no sense to her, how would these attachments help her gain power? Yes, that was still her goal, and it hadn't changed. She’d track down the remaining maidens and take what was rightfully hers, then no one could oppose her, not Ozpin once he reincarnated, not Salem, and not Ruby, she’d be unstoppable.

But what about after that?

She did her best to snuff out the intrusive thought, but yet it lingered in her mind still. Even with all that power, she’d be all alone, she’d be exactly where she started after she killed Rhodes, but if she kept the baby… there was a chance someone might actually love her, someone she could love back. It was selfish, undeniably so, but it was too tempting to deny. Of course she’d need to do something about the Grimm growths within her. She didn’t know exactly how they worked, but it was safe to assume that it gave Salem some level of control over her… As painful as the idea was, she knew the solution. She’d need to find a silver eyed warrior.

THUMP THUMP

The loud thumps from someone knocking on the door interrupted her thoughts. Who was bothering her now? She was sure she’d put the do not disturb sign on the handle. 

“Leave.” She growled, intending to scare off whoever had the audacity to try and intrude on her privacy.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Apparently, they didn’t get the message, only getting more insistent upon hearing her voice. She stood up reluctantly, picking her dagger back up and concealing it in her sleeve as she made her way towards the door. She opened it and was greeted by a familiar face, or more accurately, the lower half of one, the rest concealed by a white Grimm mask adorned with red highlights. Her heart rate quickened, but she managed to keep the panic out of her voice as she addressed him.

“Adam.” How had he found her? Furthermore, why had he tracked her down at all? Hazel was now in charge of the dealings with the White Fang as far as she knew. He let himself in, closing the door behind him and stepping right into her personal space. She didn’t let him intimidate her, even with the differences in their height made more obvious now that she was no longer wearing her heels.

“I know.” He spoke with obvious contempt in his voice, looking down at her stomach the same way she looked at her black skeletal arm. So the cat was out of the bag, how? It had to be a part of Salem’s circle, Hazel was busy, and Tyrian would have just hunted her himself. Was it Watts? Sending Adam to do his dirty work sounded like something that coward would do, but she had to be sure.

“Who told yo-”

“I can smell the hormones on you, I knew about the pregnancy long before you did. I just assumed you’d have been smart enough to take care of it. So, why are you still pregnant?” Cinder considered her words for a moment, she didn’t really have a good reason, and furthermore, why did he feel he was owed an explanation at all? It was clear he didn’t want the child, so rather than give him the time of day to explain her thought process, she just brushed him off.

“Well, technically we’re pregnant.” Cinder watched as his jaw clenched, he was clearly agitated, probably not thinking straight if he’d abandoned his duties to come argue with her.

A familiar reflex made itself known and caused her to take evasive action, backflipping just in time to avoid a waist level slash that was shot out at blinding speeds thanks to Blush’s trigger. Her Aura protected her as she went right through the glass door that led outside onto the walkway. It seemed like Adam had already made his mind up about how this confrontation was going to go, so Cinder raised her dagger, adding more magma to the blade using her magic and Semblance in conjunction, forcing it to grow, warp, and harden in the shape of Midnight, her old bow/scimitars. There was no time for this, so she decided to play on the hothead's anger. He was already lashing out, now she just needed to get him worked up.

“So, can it be anything, or will it be a goat like you?” She knew damn well he was a bull Faunus, but even if she wasn’t trying to get him to act up, the pure rage spreading across his lower face was amusing enough to justify the comment. “I ask because of the horns, they don’t exactly sound fun coming out.”

That did the trick, he swung at her once again, a rage filled scream escaping his mouth as he swung his sword, this time at her neck, but she blocked the heavily telegraphed blow with one arm, twisting herself into locking blades. Adam attempted to push her back, driving forwards with both of his hands on Wilt,only to be completely stonewalled, having forgotten that between the two of them, and even while pregnant, she was the stronger one. Her Grimm hand was still free, hidden within her sleeve, she could have hit him with a fireball, hell, she could have ended him right there, but instead she decided to remind him of his place, beneath her. She shifted her blade and deflected the pressure into the door of a nearby car, the heated metal of his Dustforged sword carving through it like a hot knife through butter.

Flexing the strength of her abilities, she brought her blade down as he recovered, landing a blow on his arm that caused his Aura to flicker as it stressed to dampen the blow, however, it wasn’t fully successful as she’d clearly cut into his arm. She followed the blow with another, only for him to sheath his blade, use the firing function to match her strength, deflect the strike with one of his own. With her blade now thoroughly incapable of playing defense, he quickly followed his strike up with an encore, knocking the obsidian blade from her hand with a carefully placed upwards strike to her wrist. Okay, so he was more skilled than she’d given him credit for, she wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Now disarmed, Cinder was easily pushed back, evading cuts and slashes from Wilt.

“You’re nothing but another mistake I’m going to correct.” It was hard to hear his declarations over the sounds of rending metal as his wild swings cut into nearby cars as she led him around the parking lot.

She decided to let the man child wear himself out, mostly just watching him and deflecting the occasional strike when she had no other choice. As much as she hated to admit it, he was rather attractive when he tried to act all tough, but she shoved the intrusive thought away and focused on her goal, pushing him further with her taunts.

“Oh Adam, what’s the matter? Don’t want it to get out that you had a little fling with a human?” He didn't respond, gritting his teeth as he charged after her, still holding Wilt and being ready to strike. Just a bit more and she'd have him where she wanted him. “I guess Blake would probably be pretty upset that, even while you were hunting her down, you were sleeping with another woman.”

Adam brought Wilt down for an overhead strike that would have cut a normal person in two, and while far from normal, Cinder had no intentions of getting hit by it, quickly spinning out of the way and raising her leg as she turned, using the momentum to land a direct kick to his mask, shattering it. The Faunus stumbled back, but quickly shook off the strike, with his mask gone, there was nothing to hide the disdain he had for her in his eyes, or, she supposed, eye was more accurate. She’d belittled him over having let that brand define him before, a low blow she threw as she walked out from their meeting just to get the last word in. But now that she had her own mark, and over the same eye no less, she understood that anger, that desire to get even. She could have sympathy for him later though, for now she needed him angry and stupid.

“Tell you what, Blake’s a universal name, right? Would it make you feel better if we named it after her? If it has my hair and eyes, it’ll look pretty similar right? You certainly have a type.” The moment her words registered, Adam started to glow red with rage.

“You would, wouldn’t you!?” There it was, just what she’d needed. He swung again and again, his once refined blows now sloppy and aimless, desperate to cut her down for her mockery. “That’s why you ran, you’re just like her! And now you’re pretending you care about it!”

On any other day he’d have had a point, but now things were different. Not that she could blame him though, after how she’d cruelly use Emerald, acting like her friend just to use her and then tossing her to the side once she wasn’t needed. Her guilt caused her to hesitate, something Adam capitalized on immediately, stabbing his blade into the ground before swinging up and throwing dirt and bits of concrete into her face, obscuring her vision. She couldn’t see him, but she clearly heard him jump off of a car hood to get above her. She instinctively dove to the side, and the moment she did, she heard the sound of a blade piercing concrete.

Knowing that this was her best chance for the time being, she raised her hand and blindly shot a fireball at where she’d just been standing, hitting Adam square in the chest and breaking his Aura as he hit the ground, the man gasping for air as the ball of flame knocked all the air from his lungs. Before he could recover, Cinder straddled him, forming another dagger from the dust that coated her face with her powers and holding the superheated blade less than an inch away from his neck. 

“Now, this is a far more familiar position, right darling ?” Cinder’s mocking tone obviously infuriated him, but with no way to retaliate that wouldn’t end with him bleeding out on the floor or burning to slag as she watched, he decided to go with the option that would sting the most.

“Do you really think you could be a good mother?” Adam asked while he sneered up at her. He fully expected the woman to make up an excuse or lie through her teeth, but Cinder couldn’t deny it even if she’d wanted to. She didn’t know what a good mother was like, Salem and the Madame had both corrupted the idea of motherhood into being a controlling manipulator, something to fear, something to overcome. She didn’t know what being a genuine mother was like, but she knew it wasn’t that. 

“No.” Her honesty shocked both of them, Adam’s mask of smug indifference quickly giving way to confusion as he stared up at her.

“Then… why? Why ruin both of our lives over this?” Cinder laughed, she actually laughed in his face for that. It was rich, like either of them still had a life left to ruin. They were killers, terrorists, monsters . A child would change nothing about them in the eyes of their enemies, nor the people who genuinely bought the causes they’d served.

“Don’t act like you care about this child, or the Faunus.” Cinder’s words elicited a different response than she expected. Adam looked away, pain filling his eyes as he trembled under her. Oh Brothers, was he about to cry? Did he think that would gain her sympathy? “You’re just another heartless monster clawing at power. Just. Like. Me.”

“I did! I-I did!” It wasn’t the answer she’d expected, this wasn’t the rage filled radical she’d recruited, no, it was just a man who couldn’t take any more, broken down by everything life had inflicted on him. Blake leaving must have been the last straw, the last bit of his heart that he could take, now he was just scared and alone. He really was just like her, wasn’t he? Damn it, she couldn’t leave him like this, and at this point, he was too pitiful to kill. Reaching down, she cupped his cheek, forcing him to look up at her as they locked eyes.

“So, is killing your Faunus child showing how much you care then?” He looked away, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve as he tried to rationalize his actions.

“It would be better off without us as parents.” Maybe he was right, but they both knew that wasn’t how the game of life worked, you didn’t always get the perfect pieces, most of the time you just had to make things work, and after everything she’d been through, she’d be damned if parenthood was what beat her in the end.

“I never took you for a quitter.” she said, getting off of him and standing up straight.

She might have let him get it all out of his system if they didn’t just publicly trash a parking lot together, but even on the squalid level of the city they were in, the cops would show up eventually, they needed to move, and move fast. She walked over and pulled Wilt from the ground before throwing it at his feet, the bull looking down at the blade and then up at her in confusion. “Get your head on straight, and maybe, just maybe, I won’t tell the baby what happened here.”

There were no words after that, both of them coming to a silent agreement that, whether they liked it or not, they were in this together. Slowly getting to his feet, Adam sheathed Wilt into Blush before turning and taking one last look at the shattered fragments of his mask left on the ground. He considered collecting the pieces but decided against it. He decided to leave with Cinder, ready to find a new place to lay low and plan out their next move.

Cinder hadn’t thought about that day in a long time, she was ashamed of the woman she once was, but she was proud of Adam and herself for becoming so much more than that. If anything, they hadn’t ‘given up’ anything for Scarlet, she’d set them free, free from the shackles of their masters who’d used them like attack dogs, and most of all, free from themselves, from the unending path of hatred they once walked. Looking at her daughter now, she didn’t have a simple answer to her question. She probably wouldn’t understand if she just said the White Fang or Salem, however, that was a reality she didn’t want to expose her little girl to just yet, one worldview altering event was more than enough for her first year at Beacon.

“Do you know what your father was like before you were born?” Cinder asked, mostly rhetorically. Scarlet wouldn’t have shown up if she didn’t at least have an idea of Adam’s past, but she also wanted to gauge just how much she knew before going forward with the conversation.

“I saw… I saw videos.” Scarlet said reluctantly, flashes of her father dismembering Jin’s mother as she tried to defend his other mom mixed with countless other atrocities in her head. Her stomach churned once more before she shook off the feeling of disgust that followed. It was about what Cinder expected, and more than explained why Scarlet had lashed out the way she did. Really, what had they expected? Adam was the White Fang’s poster boy for years, of course there would be disturbing footage of him floating around.

“Do you know why he was ever like that to begin with?” The brand, it had to be right? She knew the Schnee Dust Company didn’t have a good track record with Faunus, and her Dad had always refused to buy Dust from Schnee supplied stores, even if it was more expensive to do so, something she’d always felt was out of character for the man who’d fight a horde of Grimm by his lonesome before he bought name brand cereal, but being branded like cattle? She didn’t think it was a good reason to kill innocents, and she certainly didn’t forgive him, but she could understand why he did it.

“The brand?” Cinder nodded, she was close enough, and it wasn’t like she expected someone as young as Scarlet to understand so easily.

“That’s part of it, but plenty of people suffer like he did and don’t lash out like that. The difference is that Adam let his hate control him. Hatred for the humans that enslaved him and branded him, hatred for the kingdoms that allowed the abuse of his people. The reason he came to hate your friend’s mother is because of the simple fact that she didn’t let herself be consumed by that same hatred.”

“But then… what happened?” That was the question, wasn’t it? Thankfully, unlike the last one, it had a far simpler answer.

“You happened.” Cinder saw the conflicted look in her eyes and reached out, gently taking Scarlet’s hand in her own as they sat alone in the woods. “The doctor who delivered you, the only doctor that could reach us when you came, was a human. He had to trust someone from a species he’d been waging war against for most of his life with the only thing he cared about in this world. You.”

Scarlet paused, disbelief clear on her face. There was no way that was it… right? She had a hard time buying that the man Adam had been would trust a human to run a bath, let alone help deliver her, but then again, her Mom was human, maybe he just saw them as the ‘good ones’ or something.

“What about you? Didn’t he care about you?” Cinder couldn’t hold back the snort of amusement but thankfully managed to stop herself from outright laughing, the disappointment and confusion on Scarlet’s face curbing any enjoyment she could have gotten from the question.

“He tolerated me at best for those first few years. We grew to love each other eventually, but for years we stayed together for you.” Cinder watched as the amber eyes Scarlet had inherited from her were cast downward at her own feet. She tried to pull her hand out of her grasp, but she held on, not letting her pull away. She understood that it hurt to hear that she wasn’t born from love, but the important part was that she was loved now. 

“You fixed two very broken people, dear. Just by being born, you turned two people who had nothing but hatred and selfishness in their hearts and turned them into… us.” Scarlet looked up, tears in her eyes. Cinder reached out and gently stroked Scarlet’s cheek with her human right hand, wiping away the tears as they fell. Her voice cracked as she softly spoke. “You wouldn’t recognize either of us back then, and I wouldn’t want you to.”

“Why you? I… I get why Dad would be like that, I still wanna knock his teeth out for it, but I get it. Why would you attack Beacon though?” To Scarlet’s shock, her Mother pulled away, unable to face her as she spoke plainly, not sugarcoating a thing.

“I wanted power.” The shame was clear in Cinder’s tone. Reluctantly, she looked back up and was met with Scarlet’s face contorting with several different emotions, anger, confusion, disgust and disbelief all flowing across her features at once.

“That’s it?” No, no, she refused to believe that was true, it made no sense. Her Dad at least had a goal, a cause he could use to lampshade his actions as in service to, but becoming a terrorist? Burning her school to the ground? All of that just for pure selfishness? That was unthinkable. 

“I wasn’t the same person either, I was angry at the world for taking what I felt I deserved, nothing more than a selfish child throwing a tantrum. I wasn’t above using anyone back then, It didn’t matter who was in my way, who I had to use, just ask Emerald. You changed that dear, you changed me.” Scarlet nodded, biting her tongue as she tried to process everything she was being told. Coming to terms with who her parents were was taking a lot out of her, there was no reason for her Mom to lie about this stuff, but she just didn’t understand.

“But how did attacking Beacon or killing people help you get power?” Cinder sighed, there didn’t seem to be any way around it. She stood up and walked a few steps away, facing away from her daughter. Scarlet went to follow, but she silently held out her hand, stopping her. She hadn’t used this power in over a decade, she’d had no use for it after all, but, since she’d already told her everything else, there was no reason to hide this part. Scarlet noticed that the air suddenly felt colder, a breeze picking up suddenly. She looked up, seeing it was still sunny out, no clouds or anything, so why did it suddenly get all cold and windy?

“There was a pair of girls with a power, and the first one was named Amber. I didn’t just kill her, Scarlet, I stole a part of her very being. Then when the other girl, Pyrrha, was chosen to try and keep the power where it rightfully belonged, I did the same to her, all for this .” Cinder turned and faced her daughter, and Scarlet froze. It looked like her mother’s eye was on fire, or was it producing fire? E

ither way, she could feel… something coming off of her Mom, and whatever it was, it felt wrong, so much so that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Suddenly, the sound of thunder caught her attention, looking up to see gray storm clouds forming overhead, emerging from nothing. Was… was her Mom doing this? Was that the power she was talking about? Taking a step back, she forced herself to look into her mother’s eye, the flames still burning brightly around it.

“What is that ? What are you ?” Cinder sighed and relaxed her power, and just as soon as the clouds appeared, they were gone, along with the wind and the chill in the air, returning to the warm, calm day it was just a minute ago.

“I’m your mother Scarlet, and this? This is a power I hope you never inherit.” Cinder said, her voice filled with remorse as the fire faded from her eye.

Chapter Text

Scarlet and Cinder walked back into the house silently, neither of them attempting to speak since they left the forest. Scarlet was still processing… well, everything, her parents were murderers and terrorists, she was just starting to process that fact, and then her mother dropped all of that on her. She had a lot of power, the power to change the very weather itself and gods only know what else. But, they had changed, right? She wracked her brain for memories of anything that seemed like them being like who she’d seen in the videos, or like the people her Mother had spoken about, and she came back with nothing. They had never been cruel just for the sake of it, they had never once mistreated her. Hell, they even had friends. Granted, that mostly amounted to Emerald and Mercury along with some other people her Dad knew from work and her Mom knew from teaching archery on the side, but friends regardless. She just didn’t see it, maybe they really had changed, but she couldn’t just ignore what they’d done, she was still furious with them. Cinder, for her part, knew to let Scarlet process it on her own, she’d speak when she was ready, and she would just have to accept whatever her daughter decided, she just hoped that her little girl would understand. They entered through the back to find Adam testing the new hinge of his front door, watching it move smoothly along its axis and click into place within the frame. He figured it would do, at least until a professional could come in and work on it. He tried to pretend it didn’t bother him, after all they weren’t in the city, it’s not like Patch had a notable crime scene, but years of serving in the White Fang had instilled a instinctual need to know for certain that his environment was truly safe before he laid his head down to rest, an assurance that he wasn’t given by a flimsy lock. So, he decided to turn his attention to his family as they walked into the room.

“You guys did this?” Scarlet asked, motioning to the door. She was eager to talk about anything, anything other than what was currently on her mind. The attempt at deflection didn’t go unnoticed by Adam, who looked to Cinder, his lover raising her prosthetic limb to tell him to give Scarlet a moment, just a brief moment of normalcy before he demanded answers from her.

“Your dad and Jet mostly, I just kinda held it in place so that they could get it in the right position.” Jin said, chuckling sheepishly. He wanted to do more, considering he’d been the one to send Adam through the door, which destroyed it in the first place, but there really wasn’t much more he could do without getting in the way, and honestly, Jet just seemed a lot better with tools than he was, so he chose to help wherever he could.

“Aaand Lumi?” Scarlet asked, noting the lack of the girl’s mention in Jin’s explanation. She looked over to her partner, only to receive a scoff as the blonde rolled her eyes.

“They had it handled. Besides, I don’t know the first thing about carpentry, or whatever this is called.” Lumi said, defending herself from Scarlet’s obviously accusatory question.

“Yeah, guess I shoulda known better than to expect you to do any hard work, didn’t wanna ruin your delicate little hands?” The growing smirk on Scarlet’s face was only the second most irritating thing about her little teasing comment. No, the part that bothered her most was that it had gotten a chuckle from Jet and Jin. Normally, she’d have felt the urge to snap at Scarlet for such a comment, but for some reason it didn’t bother her as much as she’d have thought, maybe it was just the fact that after… well, everything, it just didn’t matter in comparison. So instead of shooting back with something scathing, she just scoffed and crossed her arms, both in a heavily exaggerated fashion, before shooting back playfully.

“And to think I was actually going to be nice to you.” Lumi? Taking part in banter? Scarlet had to do a double take. Hell, she’d almost pinched herself to check if she was dreaming or not. This was the closest they’d come to actual progress aside from saving each other’s lives.

“Hmm, nah, that would be weird.” she chuckled, soon joined by Lumi, who, despite her attempts couldn’t keep the giggles from turning into a full on laugh, to which Scarlet soon joined in turn. It felt good, she couldn’t remember the last time she had a genuine laugh.

From the side Adam smiled, seeing Scarlet laughing like that, and with someone she’d been fighting with no less, was a weight lifted off his chest. He breathed a sigh of relief, he was proud of her, knowing for a fact that he couldn’t have been so carefree at her age. That had been his biggest fear throughout this, that he’d ruin her, make her like him… but no, she was better than him. It made this easier, that out of all of his mistakes, it was a relief that he could honestly say the way he raised Scarlet wasn’t one of them. He walked up to them, giving them just a moment longer to enjoy the moment before he spoke up.

“Scarlet.” The redhead went stiff as she heard her Father speak, but knowing there was no point in putting it off any further, she turned around to face him. She’d expected a lecture or for him to try and give her another lesson, but instead he just… stood there. It took a moment for the bovine girl to realize it, but he was waiting for her to speak, giving her the opportunity to say what was on her mind.

“I’m not ready to forgive you yet.” She didn’t really know how else to say it, it was all just too fresh, explanation or not, she was still pissed at them. To his credit, her Dad didn’t even scowl, instead nodding his head understandingly. 

“Okay, I understand.” That wasn’t what she had expected. Then again, recent events had given her a new perspective of her parents, but she was thankful nonetheless that he wasn’t pushing for her to just get over it. He was trying, they both were, so she figured she should try too, right?

“But… look, I just need time okay? All this shit was just dropped on me- Just give me time to digest all this crap.” Adam nodded, giving her time was the least he could do for her after everything he’d put her through.

“Take as long as you need Scarlet, we’ll always be here for you if you need us.” Cinder said, taking her spot at Adam’s side. Scarlet nodded, she didn’t know when she’d get over these revelations, hell, she didn’t know if she ever would, but the fact that they were letting her process it in her own time helped.

“Thanks, I love you guys.” Scarlet said. She took a step closer, hesitating for a moment before throwing her arms around them, hugging her parents tightly while she still could.

“We love you too baby.” Cinder said, wrapping her human arm tightly around Scarlet. It wasn’t a phrase said often in their home, but Scarlet never once questioned the truth of it, because it was always felt. Their small moment didn’t last long however, as the sound of an engine outside caught everyone’s attention. Filing out onto the lawn, they were greeted with the sight of a bullhead setting down in the clearing, the symbol of Beacon Academy clearly visible on its fuselage as it set down upon the front lawn. The side door opened up moments later to reveal a tall blond knight who Scarlet immediately recognised as Lumi’s father. Adam recognised the man as well, sighing in irritation.

“You called your father on us?” he asked, raising his good eyebrow at Lumi, who shook her head. 

“We didn’t call anyone.” Jet said, just as surprised as the rest at the man’s sudden appearance. Jaune walked over to the porch, stopping as he saw the students and Lumi standing there together. Taking a moment to compose himself, Jaune looked to the occupants of the house with barely concealed disdain.

“Adam. Cinder.” Choosing to ignore the knight’s tone, Adam stepped forward, having his own bone to pick with the man.

“Jaune, is there a reason you didn’t tell me that my daughter was attacked?” Adam asked in a very pointed manner, less than pleased that he had heard about it from Scarlet coming home on her rampage rather than the Beacon administration, let alone the fact that it had happened at all.

“That’s why I’m here, actually,” Jaune said with a sigh. He then turned to the students, motioning back towards the vehicle. “All of you, wait in the bullhead.”

“But-” Before Lumi could protest further, her father cut her off.

“No ‘buts’, you’re already in big trouble for ditching class and leaving school grounds during class hours.” he snapped, leaving no room for discussion. Most of the team left, save for Scarlet, who stayed just a moment longer to give her goodbyes to her Mom and Dad. As soon as they were out of earshot, Juane turned back to Adam and Cinder, the Mistrali woman looking him up and down, trying to remember him. Jaune chose to assume she wasn’t trying to be condescending by giving him that look.

“Never took you as the disciplinarian.” Adam said, breaking the tense silence, and getting a tired groan from Jaune, who chose to just ignore Cinder for the sake of his own sanity.

“I’m really not… I feel like an ass for having to do that.” the blond admitted, glancing back at the bullhead guiltily. He rarely raised his voice with Lumi, never had to outside of very rare instances of her misbehaving, and it hurt to watch her sulk away like a kicked puppy.

“So, Callows?” Adam asked, bringing the conversation back to the girl who’d attacked Scarlet.

“She told you then? Yeah, it was his daughter, Lavender.” Adam raised an eyebrow, his interaction with Tyrian was brief and bloody, but it more than gave him an idea of the kind of man he was. Someone like that being a father was as alien a concept as him and Cinder being parents likely was to Jaune.

“Has she been found?”

“No, right now we think she’s gone underground, but we’re looking for her.” Adam nodded, not overly pleased, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do at this point, especially with a spotlight being shined on his name recently.

“I see, are we in danger?” 

“Maybe, she had her father’s journal with her, and the last few sections of his deranged ramblings mention new followers of his ‘faith’, indicating some kind of infant cult. All we know for sure is that she’s connected and she has a vendetta against you. Just keep an eye out and message one of us if you see anything suspicious.” Adam sighed, of all things that would come back to haunt him, the last thing he’d had expected was that psychopath having a child… a child he’d made fatherless. He understood her anger, the loss of family was a common motivator for people to join the Fang, and now, just like the Fang, just like him, this girl had been swept up by an organization to be used as a weapon. He would have pitied her if she hadn’t made an attempt on Scarlet’s life.

“I see, thank you for the warning.”

“Thank Ozpin, if it was up to me, you’d both be on your own.” With that, Jaune turned around, the message having been delivered. Unbeknownst to them, however, two students had just barely managed to hear the conversation over the sound of the Bullhead’s engine. Scarlet looked to Jin, who’s confused look told her that he’d heard them as well. Whatever he made of it, she’d have to wait and see once they got back to their dorm.

Lavender’s yellow eyes looked over the club, taking in every detail. She remembered it well, the open floor that she, Romeo, JJ, and the twins would all run around on during the day. Now, seeing it in the evening, it was… different to say the least. She could feel the music in her very bones, and the genre, ugh, techno, really? They could have at least played something classical. Not to mention that there were dozens of bodies, if this was the night when it was just getting started, it was easy to imagine hundreds of people grinding together in the mosh pit when it really got going, as well as the neon lights just barely illuminating the space, even with her eyes naturally adjusting to the dark. The atmosphere was nothing like she remembered, but then again, she’d never been around when the club was actually open to patrons. The previously familiar location filled her with a sense of wonder as she was shown a new side of the club that was just as much her home as JJ’s and his parents. Romeo sat back for a moment to watch her take in the sight, staring in awe just like he had when he’d first seen the stark contrast in how the club looked when in full swing compared to the emptiness of daytime. Come to think of it, he was around her age, maybe a year younger, when he’d first started hanging around the club at night. He was a little too young, but really, what did Neo expect, she’d raised him to be a liar and a charlatan, obviously he wasn’t going to follow her rules either, especially when she was hardly even a mother in the first place. He’d always wondered what Lavender would have thought of it, given that she’d ran away from home a few years before he’d even think about letting her roam around this sort of place at night, and to be honest, even now he still didn’t really like the idea despite Lavender being nearly eighteen. She stood out like a sore thumb, not just because of the obvious ‘fish out of water’ energy she was giving off, but because she literally glowed under the light, her typically dark tail now rendered a bright neon green under the ultraviolet lights. She was attracting stares from some of the still sober patrons, which was bad for a few reasons, namely that he’d already made enough bodies for the day and he really didn’t want to add more to that list because of some punk who wanted to get lucky, but more importantly, the point of coming here to begin with was to lay low, the last thing he needed was a Huntsman or Huntress poking around now. Well, there was one Huntress he could manage, but she was probably busy dealing with Lavender’s mess. 

“C’mon, I don’t know about you, but I could use a rest.” Romeo said before taking the lead down the steps. Being snapped out of her thoughts, Lavender quickly followed him and stayed close to his side, not wanting to be left behind. Thankfully, he avoided the crowd of dancing drunks, well, she wouldn’t call what she saw dancing so much as just people flailing and getting pushed around in the crowd. As they made their way to the back, she was able to relax a bit more, as they were away from the crowd and into the familiar hallways. Eventually, Romeo led her up to the penthouse which would evidently be their home for the time being. She had plenty of thoughts on that, they’d really just be living together again like nothing had ever happened? Sure, they were family, but that didn’t erase the past and what she’d been through, he didn’t even know her at this point… but at least he still cared about her. Despite her attacking him, he was letting her into his home and looking out for her, just like he always had. Being as tired as she was, she was fine letting the topic sit for the night. Opening the door, she’d expected it to be empty inside, so when she saw a rather large man already there, her instincts took over and she quickly activated her gauntlets, only to wince in pain as her shoulder flared up. While her Aura had reset the bone, she was far from fully healed, but the moment of hesitation allowed her to realize that she recognised the man in front of her, and he immediately recognised her as well.

“Holy shit, Lav?” The man knew her rather well in fact. JJ ignored the weapons, the surprise and elation at seeing the girl apparently overriding any sense of self preservation. When Romeo had told him to meet him in the penthouse with the good stuff, he’d expected that tracking her had gone south, and this was one of the few times that he was glad to be wrong. He walked right up to her and effortlessly picked her up, granted, he was seven feet tall and she was an inch shy of five, so that was no surprise. With her feet dangling in the air she winced, still sore from the fight and fire, and she froze up, going rigid as he looked her up and down, taking in the changes in her appearance, how she’d aged and… slightly grown since she’d left almost three years ago. Flashing her that bright smile she had grown to love when she was younger, he pulled her into a hug that was shockingly gentle for a man of his size. She sighed and melted into him, more than ready to welcome some affection from an old friend after the week she’d had.

“I missed you too, Hei.” All too soon the moment ended as he carefully set her down. 

“Ah don’t call me that, it’s JJ with us, remember?” Right, Junior Junior, she chuckled, both at the nickname itself and that he still actually wanted to be called that. Meanwhile, JJ grabbed a bottle on the table along with a few glasses, setting them down and pouring the three of them some sort of brown liquor she didn’t recognise the smell of. She hesitated, looking between her brother and friend who were already downing their drinks. It wasn’t her first drink, Henna had let her have a taste of wine every now and then to celebrate a successful mission, and this reunion was something to celebrate. Lifting the drink to her lips she took a sip, only to recoil as the taste was more pungent than she had expected, the liquid burning her throat as it went down, causing her to cough. Did they really just drink this crap with no issue? 

“Right… it’s good to see you again, how are the twins?” She asked, taking a much smaller sip this time to try and adjust to the taste.

“Good, Mav’s working with Auntie Mil, and Melo’s thinking about going into art school believe it or not.” That got Lavender to smile, she’d worried about them since running away. Being members of an organized crime family meant that danger was just a normal part of life, something Neo had instilled in her and Romeo from a young age to be careful about, so it was a relief to hear they were all still alive and not in a maximum security prison like she’d feared.

“Thank the Goddess, I prayed that you’d all be doing well.” JJ’s eyebrow raised at the term ‘Goddess’, since as far as he knew, they weren’t exactly a religious family. He looked over to Romeo hoping for some insight, only to be met by his friend’s lips pursed in an attempt to keep the scowl off his face. The other man just shook his head, indicating to not ask about it.

“Well, hey, now that you’re back, we should get everyone together, maybe even have Cheshire and Catherine stop by!” JJ said, honestly just hoping to change the subject away from whatever that had been about. Lavender scowled as he mentioned his lover, Catherine was the la- okay, the second to last person she wanted to see right now. Romeo sighed, as usual it was on him to get things back on track. He loved JJ like a brother, but the man could be rather dense sometimes, especially when he was thinking about a certain cat Faunus.

“As nice as that sounds, we need to lay low for a bit. This is more of a toast, we can really get to celebrating once we’re done.” Romeo said, setting his glass down, there was still a lot of planning to do. While he’d had no intentions of just sitting along the sidelines longer than he had to, he'd still need Steele to handle things for the time being while he took care of the more personal matters at hand.

“Wait… I thought we were done?” their family friend said, confused, looking between the two of them. As far as he knew, this was the plan, to use the outing of Adam’s kid to get Lavender back to Vale, actually helping her with icing a Huntress in training was never even discussed.

“Not until Scarlet is dead.” Lavender said, confirming the suspicions that he’d hoped were wrong. Her tone left no room for argument, in her mind she had come all the way to Vale to kill the redhead, and she wasn’t going to focus on anything else until she’d made Adam feel the pain of having his life torn apart like he had done to her, no, not just her, Romeo too. Tyrian might not have been his father, but they had been a family before he ruined it all.

“Lav, look, I know what her dad did, but if you kill a Beacon student, they’re gonna bring all of us down.” JJ pleaded, looking over to Romeo as well. He’d expected this sort of thing from her, but he knew better than to go poking the hornet's nest of Vale’s strong Huntsmen presence. Sighing, Romeo glanced over to his sister, who was no less determined than a moment prior.

“He’s right, Lavender.” To say she wasn’t pleased with his response was an understatement, she stomped her foot like a child and glared up into his mismatching eyes as she strode forward.

“What!? No, think about everything we went through! It’s all because of her father, she-”

“Isn’t the one who killed Dad.” Romeo snapped, cutting her off. “She’s not even in the game, and believe it or not, I know how shitty it is to have your old man’s sins put on your shoulders.”

“So, we do nothing? Just forgive and forget?” Lavender seethed as she walked back over to the table. No, that was not happening, even if she had to do it without his help, she was avenging her Father. He just didn’t understand that things would be better, that they could move past it, move past Mom, and be the family they were, a bigger family at that.

“No, you’re right, there’s a debt to be paid. But it’s Adam’s, not Scarlet’s.” Romeo said. At a glance, JJ seemed happy enough with the compromise, but he wasn’t the one he was hoping to satisfy. In truth, he didn’t like getting his hands dirty; he’d rather deal with the current setback, especially considering that with Lavender at his side, it would be very short lived. But if it took settling the little family feud to get her mind looking towards the future… Well, not many people were going to lose sleep over Adam Taurus dying, he was a far more palatable target, and with her need for revenge finally out of her system, Lavender would likely be more willing to listen to reason, and hopefully then he could get that ‘Goddess’ nonsense out of her head. Lavender just sighed before staring down into her drink, she wanted to argue with him, but she couldn’t think of a counter to his point, at least not one he’d listen to. She sighed and nodded, letting the matter rest for now. She’d speak with Henna about this when she got the chance, she would know what to do, she always did. Romeo would see that too once they met, after all, they all shared a Dad in Tyrian, that made her his big sister as well, she just had to be patient and he’d understand it all.

“Okay.” Lavender conceded for the moment as she downed her drink, the familiar burn accompanying it.

The return to Beacon was quiet, no one saying a single word on the trip back, though all for different reasons. Lumi was dreading the scolding they were no doubt going to be on the receiving end of in a few minutes, she’d already been reprimanded by her father and now she, along with the rest of her team, were going to be getting a double dose. Jet simply didn’t know what to say, as quick-witted as he could be when he wanted to, they were completely and utterly screwed in this case, so there wasn’t really any angle to lighten the mood, at least, not one that he could see. Scarlet and Jin, however, were mulling over a different matter, that the scorpion girl was part of a cult. That alone was hard to fathom, like an honest to gods band of weirdos in robes meeting in a dark basement and praying over some rocks, or at least, that was what Scarlet was imagining. The implications were honestly more worrying, Lumi’s dad wouldn’t have brought it up if it wasn’t a problem. Were they in danger? Sure, that girl was after her for personal crap, but what kind of group would someone naturally that adept at fighting and that crazy be involved with? And her Mom’s power… there’s no way that was natural, maybe it was a coincidence, but too much was lining up for that to be the case. Is that why her Dad had killed the scorpion girl’s father? It was all hitting her at once, making her head spin as she tried to make sense of it all until she felt a large hand squeezing her own, snapping her out of her spiraling thoughts. Looking over at Jin, the boy gave her a calm and gentle smile, the kind that just put her at ease and made her problems feel so far away. Letting herself relax, Scarlet leaned back into her seat, looking towards her other teammates, Jet was busy looking out the window, stewing over his own thoughts as he usually did, and Lumi was staring at them with an annoyed look, her attention particularly drawn to the space in between them. Scarlet glanced at the hand still on her own, and then to Lumi…

Ooooh, it was like that huh? Scarlet chuckled, taking her hand out from underneath Jin’s and using it to fix her hair, shooting Lumi a wink. She would have teased her further, but after today, the least she could do was play nice with her partner. Besides, she didn’t really have the time even if she wanted to tease Lumi, she could see the Vale skyline out of the window, and the Bullhead landed soon after. The four of them were led up to the Headmistress’s office, where they were met with an irate Glynda, taking only a few minutes of the woman’s harsh admonishment for them to shrink in their seats. Scarlet got the worst of it as the blonde stood directly in front of her, stern emerald eyes meeting fearful amber ones.

“Of all the irresponsible and self centered things you could have done, you somehow not only chose the action that put yourself and your entire team in danger, but your family’s as well? Your attacker hasn’t been found, you know that, right? You could have been killed!” If her goal was to make the redhead feel bad about what she’d done, it was working. The usually fiery girl said nothing as the words sunk in and she imagined that crazy girl finding out where she lived, finding out where her Mom and Dad slept, about Emerald, Mercury, and Lupin just down the road… 

“I know… I’m sorry Ma’am…” Scarlet said weakly, looking down at her feet. Lumi watched as Goodwitch laid into Scarlet, and while it was arguably deserved, she knew deep down it wasn’t all her fault, she just couldn’t let her leader take all of this on her own when she knew she’d played a part in this herself, even if it was much smaller in comparison.

“If I may, Scarlet only left because of my actions. If I hadn’t blown up at her to begin with, none of this would have happened in the first place.” Despite her efforts to come across as diplomatically as she could, Lumi was met with a sharp glare from the woman, her confidence immediately wavering under the Headmistress's hard gaze, causing her to sit down and hold her breath.

“Oh, not to worry, the three of you are just as much in trouble as Miss Taurus-Fall, especially since two of you have direct lines to staff members who would’ve been far more capable of de-escalating the situation than any of you.”

“We were just worried about her!” Jin was the one to speak up this time, however his outburst was met with a crack from the woman’s riding crop against the area of desk directly in front of him as she stared him down, causing the boy to clam up. Seeing that she once again had their attention, Glynda continued as though she’d never been interrupted.

“I believe I have been very lenient with you, I overlooked Miss Arc-Schnee riling up the student body over a controlled situation, I overlooked Miss Taurus-Fall’s public lack of control on multiple occasions, and while you boys have been well behaved as far as I’m aware, that just means you should’ve known better.” Lime green eyes watched as her students were taking in what she said. Thankfully, it seemed that they understood that their actions were wrong, or at the very least, understood that such actions were not going to be tolerated going forward, either option being acceptable to her. “I could suspend all of you, have you barred from participating in the Vytal Festival this year… but I don’t think that would help you.”

She was met with four confused looks from SJJL, Lumi audibly letting out the breath she’d been holding in. Truthfully, she had expected a suspension to be her getting off easy.

“Headmistress Goodwitch?” She didn’t answer right away, as, unbeknownst to them, she took some amusement in their reactions. If not for their earlier foolishness requiring her to approach this meeting with a firm hand, she’d be showing pride.

“Last month you two were quite literally out for each other’s blood, so, as misguided as your efforts today were, it’s undeniably progress. As such I believe that spending the next month together in detention will help you make even more progress. Your punishment starts tomorrow, dismissed.” And to the shock of all four members of SJJL, that was that, and soon after they piled into the elevator. 

“Well, that could have gone better.” Scarlet sighed. While she was upset over the punishment they'd be facing, for the moment, she was just happy to no longer be on the receiving end of the Headmistress's ire.

“It also could have gone much worse” Lumi countered, relief easy to read on her face. Her expectations had been far lower than Scarlet’s, who, unlike her, was no stranger to getting in trouble.

“Still, a whole month? Ugh, I’ve been dealing with this crap since day one.” The horned girl complained, earning a side eye from Jet, who was just as used to being dragged into her antics as he was getting dragged into her punishments.

“To be fair, the second time was your fault.” Jet pointed out, causing Scarlet to scoff indignantly, he knew damn well it wasn't entirely her fault.

“Oh come on, Alaska literally set me up!”

“Which she wouldn’t have been able to do if you didn’t overreact, like usual.” While the two bickered, Jin watched on curiously.

“Oh so she’s always been like this?” The deep voice of the large monkey man asked with an almost childlike innocence.

“More or less.” Jet answered without a hint of hesitation.

“Wha- traitor!” As Scarlet whined, Lumi couldn't help but to giggle at the situation, even after everything that went down they were still finding something to bicker about, which helped her nerves, even if it was only slightly. Soon after, the elevator door opened, revealing BGEL. Goose was waiting right by the doors, a worried look on her face, next to her was a much calmer Elizabeth, and behind them Lao sat patiently next to Belka as the girl filed down her nails.

“So… how bad?” Elizabeth asked. While she wasn’t as familiar with Glynda, she knew from her half sister that the woman took discipline very seriously, yet they weren’t all devastated, so she assumed it wasn’t that bad.

“Detention for a month, there goes my perfect record.” Lumi lamented as they started to walk back to the dorms. Back home she was never so much as scolded by a teacher, but now that was all for naught, as she’d be spending the next thirty days being punished like some sort of delinquent.

“Well look on the bright side, I’ll be there with you guys for the first week.” Goose said, sounding rather chipper for someone who was similarly being punished, even if it was to a lesser extent.

“Wait, what? Why?” Jin asked, confused as to what his cousin could have possibly gotten in trouble for, Goose just chuckled nervously, which in response caused Belka to speak up.

“She accidentally dropped a primed Dust vial into the ammo stock.” SJJL all stopped in their tracks, dumbfounded and more than a little shocked. Lumi just sighed, with something of that magnitude, she assumed that Grandpa Qrow had walked by, his Semblance always did end up influencing Goose’s, or maybe it was the other way around? Either way, she was certain they’d been in close proximity when the incident occurred.

“Oh crap, is everyone okay?” Scarlet asked, getting a nod from her friend, who was just as unfazed by the event as she would be a light breeze.

“Yup, thankfully the shrapnel missed everyone!” There was no response as the others took a small step away from the smiling salt and pepper haired girl.

“Hol’ up, is that who I think it is?” Before they could comment on that however, a familiar accented voice called out, grabbing the attention of the group. Scarlet was already irritated by Alaska showing up, as if she didn’t have enough on her plate with the detention and what she had learned about parents’ history and this mysterious cult, now she had to deal with battling the temptation to break her nose. Turning to face her, she saw the girl wasn’t alone, Vera was standing off to the side, just watching for the moment with Aethelflad, who had a wide smirk on her face. Only Loyal actually stood by Alaska.

“Just ignore her.” Lumi said, grabbing her partner’s arm and trying to pull her away, stopping once she saw that there was a collection of students gathering around them, eager to see what would happen this time after Scarlet’s last interaction with Alaska almost ended in a brawl. Now, with both teams present, they were hoping for that spark to actually go off.

“Scarlet, is that you? I heard you ran off. What’re you doing back?” Alaska said with mock concern, walking right up to the team, unbothered by the numbers difference at the moment. She shot Lumi a predatory look that made the smaller girl tense up. Chuckling at her reaction, she turned back to Scarlet and asked, “Finishing what you started?”

“Just fuck off, Alaska.” Scarlet growled, similarly stepping up, this time being grabbed by Jet. He looked Alaska up and down, a blank look on his face as he finally got a look at the woman who’d been nothing but a headache for the last month. Frankly, he was unimpressed with what he saw.

“Wait, this is the girl? You’re letting someone with a dead rat on her head get under your skin?” Scarlet saw what Jet was trying to do, show her that Alaska just wasn't worth getting upset over, and in spite of her anger, the way he completely dismissed her, despite what she’d done, just made his point stronger. It might have also helped that the slightly more childish members of their friend group actually laughed at the comment, Jin was more polite in trying to hide his snicker, gently holding his hand in front of his mouth, while Goose just let herself laugh, repeating ‘dead rat’ and nudging Belka, who similarly smirked. But, what really proved his point was the flash of anger from the bluenette that briefly made its way to her eyes, a momentary twitch in her otherwise perfect facade. Scarlet aborted the comment she was about to make and started to think, why the hell was she giving this bitch exactly what she wanted? Alaska, however, had the exact opposite response, suddenly reaching out and grabbing Jet by his blazer, pulling him forward so he was right in her face. Jet’s eyes widened at the provocation, he hadn’t actually expected her to get physical over a stupid little joke like that. He pulled at her wrist, but embarrassingly, her size wasn’t just for show, she was indeed stronger than him and seemingly had every intention to prove it, the few inches she had over him suddenly feeling like several miles.

“Ohhh, your little friend sure has a mouth on ‘im.” Scarlet saw red as she grabbed onto Jet, she could try to keep her head cool against the bully talking shit, but actually putting her hands on her friends, especially Jet? Nuh uh, that was where she drew the line, and if she got her way, she was going to feed the blue haired Vacuoan her own teeth! Thankfully, someone else acted first, easily pulling on Jet and pushing on Alaska hard enough to separate the two in an instant, but moving gently enough so that she didn’t fall over, just stumbling back a few feet. Scarlet pulled Jet back into the larger group, giving him a momentary look over to make sure he was fine, and then turned her eyes back to Alaska, hoping she would get an excuse to break some teeth.

“Please leave my friends alone.” Jin asked in a calm yet firm voice, placing himself between Alaska and his team. In response to her friend getting pushed, Aethel stepped up in case she needed backup, but Alaska was only excited by this new development. 

“Pfft, ‘please’. You beggin’ me big guy?” Placing her hands on her hips, Alaska started sizing him up. He was big, sure, but so were Grimm, and she wasn’t scared of them neither. Loyal, on the other hand, was starting to get worried, not only was Jin a solid foot taller than herself and Aethel, but with BGEL there, this was even less fun than when it was just Scarlet. She started tugging on Alaska’s skirt, trying to pull her back.

“C’mon ‘Laska, he’s being polite, let’s just go.”

“Oh quit yer frettin’, I’ve taken bigger.” Jin frowned, despite his efforts, Alaska was just as determined to start something as she was before, and while he couldn’t see her currently, Scarlet looked more than ready to start swinging before he stepped in.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Thankfully, it didn’t come to that as Belka stepped in, arms crossed and scowling directly into the taller woman’s eyes.

“Excuse you?” Alaska tilted her head, she recognised this girl, the one who stayed in the back where it was safe and recorded her when froggy got all uppity. So now she wanted to step up, huh? Okay, this could be fun too.

“No, I will not be excused. What on Remnant is your problem? You’re supposed to be training to be a Huntress, yet here you are, starting some childish spat with two girls who were attacked yesterday. But, I guess you didn’t read the warning flyers, which is unsurprising, I’d be shocked if a hick like you even can read.” Just who in the Sand-Hill did this girl think she was? Looking at her like shit on her boot, talking down to her like that, she could snap her prissy ass in half like a toothpick. Or, was it possible she was more willing to throw down now that she wasn’t in them fancy clothes her daddy got for her? When the crowd laughed at Belka’s comment about her reading ability, her anger hit a whole new level. Being from Vacuo, especially the area she was from, education wasn’t exactly a priority, but to use that to make her seem like an idiot? Oh, she was gonna make her regret that. But, to the shock of not just Alaska, but everyone, Belka went red in the face with anger as the crowd laughed, turning on her heel and snapping at them as well. “Don’t you snicker at that, like any of you are better. I’ve heard what you say about Scarlet and the rest of her team when they aren’t around, and why? Because of something that happened before she was even born? That’s pathetic.”

The crowd of students had seemingly gone in a full rotation of how they felt, murmuring and looking away sheepishly. While most seemed to be awkwardly ignoring the fact that she’d just called them out in front of everyone, some were growing indignant, trying to justify their actions and brushing off her words as nonsense, while others still actually seemed to take a step back and reconsider what they’d done, a few even slinking away. Seeing the crowd start to waver, Alaska knew she’d lost control over the situation, and as much as she wanted to give the girl in front of her a shiner, she knew better than to start something with the crowd this divided, so instead, she swallowed her pride for the moment.

“You know what? Yer right.” Alaska smirked behind Belka and Jin over at Scarlet, who in turn flipped her off. “You ain’t no fun anymore, I thought you had balls.”

With her last word in, Alaska turned, walking off with the rest of her team following shortly behind. As they left, the crowd also started to break away, eventually leaving SJJL and BGEL there in the hall, still processing the whole confrontation.

“Well, we’re probably the second least popular team in school now.” Elizabeth said, crossing her arms as she watched the last of the stragglers disperse.

“And I suppose you have a problem with that?” Belka asked with an accusatory raising of her eyebrow. The tiny girl thought about it for a moment, but just ended up shrugging.

“Screw them, I’m not here to make friends anyway. I’m just surprised that you of all people stood up for Scarlet.”

“Well, maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to be unfairly judged for your heritage.” Belka said, ignoring the twin scowls that immediately earned her from her nieces, and turning to Scarlet, an apologetic look appearing on her face. “If anything, I should have spoken up sooner.”

Despite her somber and regretful tone, Belka soon found herself getting pulled in closer to Scarlet, her arm roped around her neck as she was pulled into what she assumed was a hug by the smiling redhead.

“No, don’t worry about it, that was really cool of you to do that. Thanks man!” Belka had to stop herself from correcting Scarlet that she was in fact not a ‘man’. After all, this was one of the few times she was even interacting with someone outside of her team, let alone in a positive light, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

“Soooo, since we’re the loser teams now, we should all hang out!” Goose said, elated to see her friends getting along and no longer caring about how they’d be seen.

“I don’t think we’re losers exactly, just unpopular.” Lao pointed out, not bothered by the designation being put on them because of its implications, but because it was incorrect. Stepping closer to the group, he shrugged and nodded along. “But if we’re all in the same boat, it would be smart to try and stick together.”

“Is that a yes?” Jet asked, looking over to Elizabeth as if she’d have a better reading of the blank faced ginger.

“It’s the most enthusiasm I’ve seen him express since we got here, so I’ll assume that it’s a yes.”

In Team SLVR’s dorm, Alaska slammed the door, taking a deep breath in, then out. Then, as soon as she remembered that they were alone now, she turned to the nearest wall and punched it as hard as she could, her fist effortlessly caving in the drywall as she snapped.

“That stuck up lil’ spoilt bitch thinks she can just talk to me like that? Why? Cuz daddy’s some Atlas suit!? I’ll wring her scrawny little neck!” The outburst from Alaska caused her team to flinch, while they weren’t strangers to her temper, the suddenness of the outburst was a shock. Alaska never bottled up her feelings, good or bad, so being forced to back down and act calm only made her more upset.

“Woah! Alaska, calm down.” Vera said softly, trying to get her leader under control, stopping once she saw Alaska’s fist clench once more, something Loyal didn’t notice as she walked up to the bluenette.

“Y-yeah, it’s not a big deal we ca-.” That was all the Faunus managed to say before her friend lashed out, unable to contain her anger.

“DON’T TELL ME-” Alaska stopped herself as she saw Loyal wince away from her shout, her tail hiding between her legs as she started to tremble. No- damn it, she hadn’t meant to snap at the sweet little thing like that, and her guilt only grew as tears threatened to spill from the small Faunus’s eyes. Alaska sighed and reached out, gently petting the top of Loyal’s head, trying to soothe her partner. “Sorry, I’m calm, see? I ain’t mad at you, just lost my temper, that’s all.”

Loyal nodded, she knew Alaska got loud when she was mad, but with her feelings still hurt, her bottom lip quivered. She held her arms open, silently asking her friend for a hug, which Alaska granted, gently petting her hair as she buried her face into the taller girl’s shoulder. As the mood calmed down a bit, Aethelflad got to thinking, a small yet no less cruel smirk forming on her face.

“Y’know, I think you actually had a point back there.” she said, her voice a familiar, playful tone that implicitly let the other girls know she had an idea brewing.

“She did?” Vera asked, a blonde eyebrow raising in confusion. “About what?”

“Big Red’s not really fun anymore, especially with her team keeping her on a leash, but that girl, what was her name, Bella?” 

“Belka, she’s the one who recorded me when the toad got in our business.” Alaska pointed out, once again getting upset over the girl who had twice now inserted herself into a situation she wasn’t involved in.

“Exactly, her, did you see how red her face was? I don’t think we’ve ever looked at her before today and she was that pissy over it.” Alaska chewed on the idea for a moment. It wasn’t really her type of game, she liked targets who would fight back and it was obvious that Belka was soft, based on the way she stayed on the side lines and recorded or only spoke up when there were seven other people at her back. Then again, she thought about how the girl spoke to her, outright calling her a ‘hick’. Why, because being from that big city in the sky made her better? Oh, that got her blood boiling, if not her, then someone else needed to teach that little tart a lesson. Actually, that was a good idea. If anything, she was doing the girl a favor, this wasn’t like home where being top dog meant daddy’s wallet was the fattest, if she wanted to stick her nose in other people’s business, she had to be ready for it to get broken, and it was better if Alaska taught her that then someone actually dangerous like a criminal. With a nod, Alaska was already sold on Aethel’s plan, not that she needed too much convincing, they were usually good plans.

“You know what, you’re right, maybe we should give her something to actually be mad about.”

Chapter Text

Ruby Rose made her way through the halls of Beacon, hearing the chatter around her. After two weeks of uneventful school life, things were finally going back to normal, the staff were less on edge, and the students that were whispering about the intruder had moved on to the next topical event, something about a boy cheating on his girlfriend with one of the more popular students. Things were finally going back to normal. However, this feeling of normalcy did not extend to Ruby, in fact, with each passing day her anxiety grew worse. This was completely ridiculous, how was no one but her bothered by the attack? Well, okay, that wasn’t true, she knew Jaune was pulling his hair out over it in private, he just had to keep a strong face seeing as he was in charge of helping the students with their own problems. She felt bad, that couldn’t be healthy, and with everything going on as of late, she hadn’t been able to check in with him. She thought that she should change that, get him and Touko out so the three of them could have a night off again. Speaking of her favorite cyborg, Ruby couldn’t help but notice the fingernails of her right hand had been chewed down. Maybe the residual nerves were simply because the three of them weren’t as experienced as the others, Glynda had already pulled the school together after the last attack on Beacon, and compared to Cinder, the most damage Lavender had done was making Lumi hallucinate for a bit. Even so, they were doing nothing, Lavender had disappeared into a building that went up in flames not even twenty minutes after her brother went in after her. As far as Glynda was concerned, it was a dead end, and there was nothing that could be done until she popped back up or they found another lead. That didn’t sit right with Ruby, especially since there was something that could be done… it just wasn’t the safest option. But, she’d already seen what happened when she got complacent and waited for permission to do the right thing, Glynda and Dr. Pine might not have the means to drag Salem’s little helpers out of hiding, but she did. The only issue was it wasn’t something she could speak on publicly, and as Touko had reminded her, it was something she could easily lose her job over, possibly even her freedom. Normally, it wasn’t even a question, she’d become a Huntress to help people and do the right thing, if it came down to her title or what she thought was right, it was an easy choice, but she couldn’t get her friend’s words out of her mind. Maybe it was just because the girl was regularly on her mind anyway, something that usually helped, but in this specific instance, it caused her uncertainty on the path laid before her. As such, she did what she always did when she was unsure, she went to her uncle. Opening the door, she saw the greying old man scowling at the paper down on his desk, his pen having broken and spilled its deluge of ink all over the paper. She tried not to laugh at the sight of her Uncle frowning at the spilled ink like he was gonna scare it into flowing back into the pen, but she found herself stifling a giggle regardless, catching his attention.

“S-sorry, is now a bad time?” she asked, trying to sound professional and not like she was laughing like a little kid. Qrow took it well, rolling his eyes, but knowing she didn’t mean anything by it, motioning for her to come in.

“Not at all, if anything you’re giving me an excuse to put off filling out all this paperwork.” Said paperwork soon found itself in the trash bin next to his desk, Glynda was just gonna have to deal with his papers being signed with pencils for now, listening to her go on another rant about how it was unprofessional tomorrow was better than losing progress at random due to his Semblance. Ruby gave a sympathetic smile as she sat down.

“You should probably get to that sooner than later, you know how Glynda feels about tardiness.” 

“Hey, just because you technically outrank me now doesn’t mean you can start giving me a lecture.” The two shared a much needed laugh at that, after the less than calm start to the school year, something as simple as his niece being his boss was enough for them to relax. But soon after, their laughter died down, the mood growing more serious. He knew why Ruby was here, hell, he could practically feel the stress on her. “So, what’s eating at you Ruby?”

She didn’t even try to deny what he said, she was never good at keeping her emotions close to her chest anyway. She sighed and nodded her head, seeing no point in beating around the bush as she spoke softly.

“I… I’m scared, Uncle Qrow. Salem’s planning something, and just like last time, we know nothing, and I’m going stir crazy just sitting here and pretending that nothing’s wrong!” Nodding, Qrow leaned back, he understood the feeling all too well. He wished there was something he could say to make it better, but it was the grim reality of their situation, fighting an inherently defensive war against an opponent they couldn’t kill and didn’t know how to defeat. 

“I get that, but until we have more information, that Lavender girl was our best bet, and she’s gone underground. We just have to be ready for whenever she pops back up.” There it was again, that passive approach that she hated, just ‘be ready’ for a threat they knew nothing about, like they had been during the Fall of Beacon? She swallowed the urge to throw the event in his face, knowing it wasn’t his fault, but then again, that was why she had come to him to begin with, right?

“...What if that wasn’t the case?” she asked, her voice quieter than she had intended, as if she was sharing a deep dark secret with her uncle. Qrow raised an eyebrow, already skeptical, but his niece had long since earned more of his trust than his average colleague, so he could at least hear her out. 

“Meaning what , exactly?” While not the most open to the idea, he didn’t shut it down either. It wasn’t much, but Ruby recognized it for what it was.

“Like, what if I had a way in, or if I knew how to get information… but I had to do something risky to get it.” Despite her framing it as a hypothetical, Qrow understood that what they were talking about was a very real possibility, but not caring much for the pretext, he cut right to the chase.

“This coming from anywhere?” Again, Ruby nodded, but more hesitantly this time.

“It is, I think I know where to get information, but… I could lose everything if I go through with it.” Well, that was a new one, Ruby was worried about what could go wrong. Ruby Rose, the same girl who spent half of her time at Beacon risking her life to fight the White Fang and had stolen an airship from Cordovin and the Atlesian military without a second thought? Now that just didn't track.

“Really? You’re afraid of risks all of the sudden?” The question made Ruby pause. 

“Well… the last time I did something like this, it didn’t turn out how I’d wanted it to. And… Touko wasn’t very happy about it.” Touko? Aaaah, that explained it. Sure, Ruby was just as ready as ever to jump into the fray come hell or high water, save for the difference that a certain Grimm Studies professor seemed to have less tolerance for her friends putting themselves at risk than before.

“Hmm, sounds to me like you’re more worried about what she thinks than the consequences.” He once again cut right through any pretense, and as he expected, Ruby's cheeks went flush as she stammered out an excuse.

“I-It’s not like that!” Ruby protested just a bit too quickly, much to his amusement, the way those two felt towards each other was the most obvious thing in the world to everyone but each other. In any other circumstances, he'd have told her to just make her move already, hell, Jaune sealed the deal with Weiss years ago, and that boy was somehow even more of a mess than her regarding romance. But, at the same time, neither of them ever really got the chance to experience things without getting thrust into the deep end. If they wanted to stumble through it like they were still teenagers, then hey, who was he to get in their way? In fact, why not play into it?

“ Suuure .” Was it immature for someone of his age to tease her like a teenager? Maybe. Did he still find it hilarious when she pouted? Absolutely. In a different situation, she might have appreciated the levity, but in this case, she needed him to take things seriously.

“This doesn’t just affect me, if this blows up, the people I love could get hurt. You included.” Qrow let the statement sit for a moment, nodding in acknowledgement, though he didn't really need to think about it at all.

“Go for it.” Qrow said as casually as one could with the circumstances, stunning Ruby.

“Just like that?”

“Kiddo, I’ve known you since you popped out of Summer, and since then you’ve grown into one of the best damn Huntresses I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. If you think it’s the right call, then I trust you with more than just my safety.” Ruby sniffled, those words meant more to her than he knew. Honestly, she could have cried, but instead she ran up and hugged him hard enough to nearly knock him out of his seat. He groaned and mumbled something about his Semblance and his poor old bones, but she wasn't listening, hugging him even tighter.

“Thank you, Uncle Qrow.” she mumbled into his shoulder. Rolling his eyes and accepting it with a smile, he returned the hug and rubbed her back.

“Just… be safe, okay.” he reminded her. Even now as a Huntress in her thirties, he still remembered her as that little girl who begged him to teach her how to swing a scythe, seeing her hurt almost as much as seeing Goose hurt.

“It’s not like that, he wouldn’t hurt me.” Ruby said, trying to be reassuring, only for him to pull back.

“He?” Qrow asked. Ruby keeping things close to her chest was new, and not something he was sure was a good sign. Sensing his apprehension, she gave him an excuse. 

“A friend, an old student actually, he can tell me what I need to know.” She felt bad about hiding the truth, but it wasn’t a lie per say, this ‘student’ just wasn’t on the books… nor had he ever actually been to Beacon…

The door of team SJJL’s room was carelessly flung open, revealing their tired and dirty team leader, who stumbled in, followed closely by her team. As it turned out, Beacon didn’t do typical detentions like sitting in a room for an hour quietly and stewing in your own thoughts while staring at the slowest clock in existence. Instead, the time spent in punishment was used to help the members of staff. Some of the days weren’t too bad, like helping the lunch team clean up, even if Lumi complained harder at that than any other assignment, or maybe they’d take over making sure all the weapons used in workshop classes were stored safely so that Professor Rose could deal with more important matters. Some harder ones included helping Oobleck pull double duty as a librarian assistant, although the challenge there was mostly just keeping up with the man. Then there were the days they had to help Qrow. The job itself wasn’t too bad, just helping him patrol the grounds, but of course it couldn’t just be that simple, as being around him meant having to deal with the head of security’s Semblance, and all the suddenly opening doors, random bird droppings, and dislodged brickwork that it brought. But, even once they were finally used to that, they weren’t prepared for today. Goose had tagged along with them, it should have been nice! But no, they were in store for several incidents, each leagues worse than what they were used to being around just Qrow; Lumi had made the mistake of being within range of a falling paint can while a wall was being recolored, Jin had sat down on a perfectly stable looking park bench and went through it, resulting in a handful of very unpleasant splinters, Jet had tried to summon a book to pass the time only to shriek in a very not Jet like manner when he realized he had somehow pulled a large spider along with it, and in the middle of a busy hallway at that, and Scarlet, poor Scarlet, had just tripped during a walk through one of the courtyards, embedding her horns in a tree, and had been stuck for almost an hour. It apparently warranted an incident report, as Qrow had to end up cutting that section of the tree out with Harbinger so he could go fill out paperwork. With their hellish day finally over, Jin jumped into his bed, groaning into the pillow.

“Please, please, please tell me we're done with detention now!” Jin pleaded, looking over at his teammates with a quivering lip and misty eyes, Scarlet and Lumi seemed sympathetic at least, but unfortunately, Jet wasn’t.

“...So you want me to lie?” Jet asked, similarly dropping onto his bed and ignoring the pitiful way Jin started to whine. Lumi sighed and walked over, gently stroking the Faunus’s long, soft hair to try and soothe him while shooting Jet a dirty look, which was similarly ignored as the boy stretched. Absent from the little scene was Scarlet, who crossed the room in a few brisk steps, looking out the window for a moment before shutting the curtains, ignoring the looks of confusion from her teammates as she did the same thing to their door, peering out and looking up and down both sides of the hallway. Lumi looked at her confused, this wasn’t like her partner. She looked over to Jet, only to see that the boy more familiar with her was just as confused.

“Something up, Scar?” The pair were met with silence as Scarlet was currently preoccupied with the seemingly empty halls. Lumi, still confused, stood from Jin’s bed and cleared her throat before speaking a bit louder. 

“Uh, Remnant to Sca-”

“Shhh!” The audacity of this girl, she was completely flabbergasted, being shushed like she was some nuisance! Well, she was not going to just take that lying down, so she walked right up to Scarlet with her hands on her hips, eyes primed with righteous indignation.

“Scarlet Taurus-Fall, do not shush m-” Lumi started, only to be cut off by Scarlet's finger pressing into her lips. She pulled back and sputtered, spitting out air and wiping her lips as she had no clue where the redhead’s fingers had been, nor when they had last been washed. Satisfied they were alone and not being watched, Scarlet closed and locked the door before turning around to address her team with a sudden serious shift in tone.

“Alright, listen up, team meeting.” This caught their attention quickly, team meetings weren’t really something they did, so for Scarlet to just drop one on them out of nowhere after acting all paranoid was a tad concerning.

“About what?” Jin asked, suddenly sitting up, only to wince as he put weight on his rear, instead electing to float just above his bed with his legs crossed.

“You know, what Jaune and my Dad talked about.” Scarlet reminded him, immediately straightening up as he realized that they were finally going to have this talk with their team. The other two members of SJJL just looked confused, picking up on the fact that there was some secret knowledge that had been kept from them. Lumi especially looked unhappy about this revelation, as her father was apparently part of the topic.

“Our fathers? What is she on about Jin?” 

“Well uh… when we were getting picked up at Scarlet’s house, we, uh, miiight have overheard them talk about a, um… a cult.” The silence lingered, Jet and Lumi both giving them a look that bordered on both bafflement and disbelief.

“A cult?” she repeated incredulously, crossing her arms in a very unimpressed way. The clear display of body language somehow went right over her friend’s head as he simply nodded with a smile.

“Yeah!”

“Like a little gathering of kooks in dark robes getting together and worshiping Grimm or something?” Jet added on, his voice dripping with sarcasm, leaving no room to mistake that he was similarly unimpressed with the notion. 

“Yes, actually, just minus all the sarcasm.” his best friend shot back, growing irritated that he was blowing her off so casually. In fairness, she absolutely would joke about something like this in any other circumstance, but after everything that had happened recently, it was a different matter altogether. They shot scowls at each other as the other two watched unimpressed. Not having the patience to watch them bicker like an old married couple, Lumi stepped in between them.

“Right, since Jet doesn't want to be the one to say it, I will. That is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.”

“It wasn't so stupid when one of them almost killed us.” Scarlet countered, the mood immediately shifting and getting darker as it set in that she and Jin were completely serious.

“ Her ?” Lumi’s voice was almost a whisper as images of the black and purple clad Faunus trying to rip her and Scarlet apart flashed in her mind. If there was anyone actually crazy enough to be in a cult, it would be a maniac like her. “You're serious?”

“Yeah, Jaune said it himself.” Jin added softly. Lumi went silent, not knowing how to take this. The idea was still ridiculous, the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons, but if it was the truth, then why hadn’t her Father told her? Of course, she knew the answer was that he thought he was protecting her, but she couldn’t help but think that it also meant that in his eyes, she couldn’t handle herself in such matters. She said nothing further on the subject, just looking down in frustration.

“Okay, okay, we believe you, but still, why not just let the school take care of it? They clearly know more about it than us, and they’re leagues more equipped to deal with it.” Jet pointed out, trying to keep them from going where he hoped it wouldn’t, Scarlet proposing they take on an entire organization filled with people who would probably make the girl who beat her and Lumi look like an amateur.

“Because… I think my Mom was involved with it in the past. She had these… powers. It wasn't her Semblance, it was something else, something stronger .” Silence once again filled the room as Scarlet rubbed her arm uncomfortably, the rest of the team not knowing how to respond. While their leader had been slowly coming to terms with who her parents were, it was still a shock to them.

“And we think that explains why Adam killed that girl’s dad, like, what if he went after them or something after they left.” Jin pointed out, trying to shift the mood back on track rather than letting it linger on the melancholic state it was in.

“Well, I guess that makes se- wait, we ?” Jet asked, raising an eyebrow at the two, Lumi similarly joining him in questioning the suspicious wording of his sentence.

“Oh uh… yeah, me and Jin have been talking about it since we got back to Beacon.” This news clearly shocked the other half of their team, and guilt began to swell within the two Faunus as their friends were clearly hurt by this revelation.

“You kept this from us for two whole weeks ?” Jet asked, trying to keep the mixture of emotions swelling up in him out of his tone, and mostly succeeding, even if they could all tell it bothered him in some way. Scarlet especially felt bad, easily recognising the way he bottled up what he felt.

“We just… didn’t want you guys to worry.” Jin said, trying to assuage their bruised egos, but he only got Lumi stomping her foot in response.

“That’s not the point, we’re a team. We’re supposed to work together , you guys can’t just cut us out of stuff like this!” The pair flinched as Lumi went off on them, the smallest member of their team somehow managing to make them finch at her righteous anger. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Jet sighed, putting a pin in the matter for now. He could tell their hearts were set on this, and if he was being honest, he’d rest a little easier if they knew more about this potential threat. “You do have a plan, right?”

“Y-yeah… we just need you guys to promise not to freak out.” Well, that was a reassuring answer, she had Jet totally convinced that this idea was just perfect! Only issue remaining was that if he rolled his eyes any harder, they’d probably pop out of their sockets.

“I will do no such thing.” Lumi said as she crossed her arms, similarly far from impressed.

“We’re gonna find them, all we need to do is steal that girl’s book from the teachers.” Jin said confidently, as if the plan was completely foolproof.

“ What !?” Lumi shrieked, unable to believe what she had just heard. They were going to steal evidence from Beacon? Just what on Remnant had gotten into them to think that this was even remotely a good idea? Meanwhile, Jet stroked his chin, having a good idea about where this was going.

“Let me guess, you need my Semblance for that?"

“Yup! See, I knew you’d figure it out, you’re smart like that!” Despite the fact that she had obviously been trying to butter him up with that comment, he didn’t fight how it made him feel all warm inside, not that he would show it, given that he was still more than a little irritated with her.

“So this book, just where exactly is it?” he asked bluntly.

“Well um, we still need to figure that out.” Jin admitted. That certainly complicated things, but they could at least narrow it down, it was evidence, so it was certainly still somewhere on campus at the very least.

“I guess we’ll start with that, if I had to take an immediate guess, it would either be in one of the offices, or in the teacher’s quarters, so we can start there.” Jet started to put a plan together, it would take some time, a lot longer than it needed to if they already knew where it was at. Opportunities to sneak into the offices and living quarters of the staff would be few and far between, not to mention the risks involved of doing so.

“Wait, you’re just going along with this?” Lumi asked, shocked he was actually considering going along with such a risky plan.

“If there really is a cult out there that wants our heads, then I’d rather we know about them, and if we do find something, we can report it to the professors.” Lumi had no counter to that, they’d already proven to be a dangerous lot of people just from one encounter. After thinking in silence for another few seconds, she reluctantly sighed and nodded along.

“Fine, I have a key to Father’s room and office for emergencies, we can start there.” Her biases aside, he made a good point. These guys needed to be stopped, otherwise they probably weren’t safe, and they were Huntsmen and Huntresses in training after all, they had a civic duty to put a stop to acts like this.

“And Jet and I can snoop around for other leads in our free time.” Scarlet said, clapping her hands together with a proud smirk before switching to her practiced lower and more sultry voice. “Alright everyone, time to initiate Operation Unveiling!”

Silence once again filled the room as the others were various shades of unimpressed, Jin was just confused as to why she’d put on a voice in the first place, Jet was cringing at the voice itself, while Lumi just shook her head.

“We are not calling it that.”

The next day, Scarlet walked into the workshop, Wilt and Bleed at her side as she scanned the room. Weapons Workshopping wasn’t really a normal class per se, more like a study hall where students were expected to put the time in, if needed, to maintain their weaponry. Ruby mainly served a supervisory role, there to offer aid to students and to step in if anyone accidentally made modifications that would cause their weapon to explode in their hands. Normally, she’d just be there to screw around, her swords lacking any actual engineering meant all she really needed to do was inspect for chips in the blade, and sharpen it back to form if needed, something that was already rare thanks to her Aura, which basically made the class her school assigned free period. Unfortunately, she actually had something to do today. Today, her job was to keep an eye on Ruby while Jet and Jin checked her office for any information about the cult, the pair having a ‘sick day’. Lumi was also absent, she was going to check Jaune’s office, but she used the excuse that she was getting a paper for her father. They figured it was best to start with the professors that would let them off easy if they were caught in their quarters, rather than say Professor Castleton or Oobleck, who would have more than a few questions about the intrusion. This left Scarlet as the sole lookout who would text the team group chat if Ruby left the room for any reason, which meant all  she had to do was just blend in and not act suspicious. Her first idea was to find Belka and Goose, which she did rather easily, mostly due to Belka’s naginata taking up about 70% of the table laid out the way it was, and the rest was being taken up by Goose’s comparatively simple shotgun sword. Yeah, there was no way she’d even be able to set her swords down, so she gave them a polite wave as Goose spotted her, and decided to look around for a better spot. Usually she just sat with Jin or Jet, so finding somewhere welcoming was tricky. She saw SLVR sharing a pair of tables and immediately vetoed that entire half of the room. Looking a bit further, JWEL had similar space problems and Luna was currently talking with Ruby, not exactly a smart choice if Jin decided to call her in the middle of class. Then, she spotted a pair of familiar heads adorned with long ginger hair and a pair of black buns, smaller than the rest of the room save for some frankly tiny examples. Well, it was as good a spot as any, and besides, she needed to talk with them more anyways.

Elizabeth held the cord of Exenterator up to her eye, slowly running it along her splayed fingers until she spotted a clump made up of loose strands of metal. Just as she’d thought, the cord had started to fray, well, that explained why it was getting caught on seemingly nothing, as well as why the arc of her swings felt a bit off recently. Well, at least it was an easy fix, though an annoying one nevertheless, it meant she would have to unthread the blades, then take the whole weapon apart to uncoil the cord, then carefully set and coil the replacement wire before putting the weapon back together again and threading the blades onto the new wire. It wasn’t undoable by any means, just extremely tedious. But before she could get to work, she spotted a red haired figure moving closer out of the corner of her eye, looking up just in time to see Scarlet taking a seat next to her and Lao.

“Hey, what’s up?” the bovine Faunus asked casually, surprising Elizabeth.

“Oh, Scarlet, are you looking for Goose or Belka?” the Atlesian asked in a slightly stilted and overly polite way. She wasn’t uncomfortable around the girl per se, just unfamiliar with her. Liz’s slightly forced greeting, if noticed, went ignored by Scarlet as she kept up her smile.

“Nah, I actually wanted to know if I could sit with you guys. You two seem cool, but I feel like we don’t really talk much.” Scarlet pointed out, making Elizabeth pause and think. She had a point, their teams were close yet they were practically strangers to one another. That had been by design at first, as she probably would have done something exceedingly stupid if she’d been left alone with the Faunus after what she’d done to Lumi, but that was in the past now, if her cousin could move on, so could she. So, she found herself nodding and giving her a small smile, moving Exenterator’s components a bit to clear off some space.

“Well, I don’t mind, but Exenterator takes up a lot of space, Lao do you mi-” The boy in question only looked up for a moment, his soft eyes flicking to Scarlet for a brief moment before nodding and going back down to his weapon, examining it closely despite not actually working on it yet. Elizabeth pursed her lips and sighed, his unresponsiveness was getting old, but now wasn’t the time or place to bring it up. “...of course you don’t, alright then, so as long as you have the room, go right ahead.”

“Thanks, and don’t worry, I just need enough room to sharpen the blades. No need for mecha-shift when I’m just using good old fashioned swords!” Scarlet said, unsheathing Wilt and placing it onto the table. The distinctive red blade caught Elizabeth’s attention, yet she chose not to say anything, instead looking back to her own weapon. The girls quickly found themselves preoccupied with their own tasks; Scarlet sharpened her blade and occasionally looked over to the Professor, meanwhile, Elizabeth got to work replacing the cord of her weapon. However, she couldn’t help but to notice her teammate hadn’t moved much, just examining his weapon closely, his lips twitching downward ever slightly. Was… that him showing emotion ? Even if not, she recognized the way he was glancing up from the weapon to the tools, only to shake his head as if it was pointless.

“Something up, Lao?” she asked her partner, only getting a simple nod in response, which hey, was progress, she’d take him telling her how he felt if he wasn’t going to emote like a normal person.

“Ao Bing and Ao Quang have been tampered with.” Lao explained in a manner far too calm for a Huntsman in training who’d just discovered his weapon had been sabotaged. In fact, with how calm he spoke, the girls at the table almost missed what he had said, their delayed reactions coming a few moments later after they processed his words.

“What!?” Scarlet and Elizabeth asked in unison, looking at the weapon. At a glance, nothing seemed wrong with the twin chakram, but then he placed them down, allowing them to give the circular blades a closer look.

“The extending mechanism for the blades are jammed, and there are several stripped screws preventing me from getting to the blockage. I’m going to have to replace at least half of the mechanism.” As he pointed out each of the tampered with parts, Elizabeth could feel her blood pressure rising.

“What the hell? Who would do something like that?” Scarlet asked, however, Elizabeth had a pretty good idea. She immediately found herself looking over at the set of tables SLVR sat at, and the team just so happened to be laughing at something as Alaska and Aethelflad glanced over at them, how convenient.

“Oh for fu- it’s SLVR.” Elizabeth spat out, not bothering to hide her glare directed at the all girl team. Most of them ignored her, save for Aethelflad, who winked at the pint sized girl and blew a kiss in her direction, causing her to get even angrier.

“They’re screwing with you guys now? Seriously?” Scarlet couldn’t believe that, wait, no, now that she thought about it, that made perfect sense, especially since Belka had stood up to them so publicly. It made her feel bad, if it wasn’t for her, they likely wouldn’t even have been aware of BGEL in the first place. 

“Yeah, they messed with Lao’s uniform the other day after and we had to try and sneak him back in one of Belka’s spares.” That had not been a fun day, Belka had to sneak into the boys locker room just to figure out what was up, only to find Lao holding a torn up uniform. Then she had to sneak him into the girls locker room without being spotted to see if any of their uniforms fit him, and then they had to try to get him back out and to their dorm without being spotted. Somehow, they had only been caught after Lao got Belka’s spare uniform on, and they had to try and salvage it by pretending to be an all girls team. Thankfully it worked, but it was still too close of a call.

“I actually got a fair share of compliments.” the boy added with a small smile, causing Scarlet to wonder if he knew he’d probably been hit on by the other guys, but she wasn’t gonna be the one to tell him. Besides, her mind started to wander, forming images of the androgynous boy in the female blazer and skirt… Okay, yeah, maybe it was just her overactive imagination, but she could see him getting some attention in that, he was a pretty guy after all.

“I… okay, I can see that, but that’s not the point, we need to tell someone.” Scarlet said, looking over to Ruby who had moved onto a student, a second-year she believed was named Umbra or something? All she really knew was that the boy had a very obvious crush on their Grimm Studies teacher, like, the kind that got a little creepy. She was about to call out to the woman when Lao held out his palm, stopping her to the shock of both Scarlet and his partner.

“No, that won’t be necessary.” he replied far too calmly, seeming to just blow off the matter as something he’d fix and then move on from. Well, that wasn’t going to fly with Elizabeth, she could handle it normally, but she was not gonna just sit there and let him react passively to something this serious.

“Are you kidding? Lao, they messed with your weapon! What if you hadn’t checked on your gear before a mission? You could have died !” the tiny girl stage whispered at her partner, trying to impose just how serious this was, but, angering her even further, he just nodded along and stayed unmoved, trying to calm her down with the logical approach.

“We have no proof, just a hunch, we can’t prove that anything happened. It’s our word against theirs, and we have a publicly known reason to not like them.” In response, Elizabeth smoldered in her seat, almost shaking in sheer frustration. She was genuinely starting to grow more frustrated with Lao than SLVR at this point!

“So? We can’t just let them get away with this!” 

“Retaliation will only lead to escalation of the situation, they’ll grow bored eventually.” By now, Elizabeth’s face had gone almost completely red with anger. Not only was she furious on his behalf, but now she was mad at him for just letting them walk all over him like this, did he really think they’d just stop like this was some kind of bullying PSA!? Gods above, what was wrong with him!? 

“Hey, maybe I can help you out, the design is Mistralian, right?” Scarlet interjected, sensing that the situation was only going to get louder, figuring her minuscule knowledge on the type of weaponry might come into play.

“You’re familiar with our weaponry?” he asked, seemingly a bit skeptical, but welcoming the change in topic.

“I mean, sort of? Mostly what I’ve heard, but either way, I know Jet has some stuff for stripped screws in his locker.” Scarlet said, patting her own swords with pride.

“Oh gods, please don’t tell me you’re one of those Mistraliboos.” Elizabeth pleaded just a bit aggressively, glancing over at the unmistakably Mistralian swords at her side of the table. Lao just cringed at the term, memories of uninformed friends asking about wildly exaggerated claims as though they were facts, something he hoped to avoid happening again. 

“What!? Absolutely not, besides, I’m half Mistralian! I can’t be one.” The horned girl said in defense of herself, crossing her arms as if her heritage was an ironclad alibi despite having never actually left Vale’s territories once in her entire life. Elizabeth wasn’t as persuaded, raising an eyebrow and humming as she stared SJJL’s leader down.

“So, you don’t think your katanas are better swords than say, Lumi’s Crocea Mors just because the metal is folded a thousand times?” Scarlet opened her mouth but stopped, thinking for a moment before smirking. 

“...I mean, they are .”

“Hah, I knew it!” Elizabeth proclaimed, only making Scarlet’s smirk wider.

“Please stop talking.” Lao pleaded as he cringed inwardly. It was bad enough when people who knew nothing about how their swords were actually made tried to perpetuate these stereotypes, but hearing this coming from someone who was genuinely half Mistralian was far worse.

“I guarantee that my katanas cut better than your overcomplicated sword whip!” Scarlet proclaimed, much to the chagrin of Lao, who was now stuck in the middle.

“Wilt isn’t even a katana, it’s a chokutō, they are very different.” He pleaded with them, Scarlet especially, to not spread such false rumors about their culture’s weapons. Unfortunately, he fell on deaf ears as the girls devolved deeper into the debate, leaving the poor boy to listen and watch.

Jet walked into the gym dressed down compared to what he normally wore, adorned in nothing but a form fitting dark green tank top and yellow basketball shorts. Beads of sweat were already on his brow as he’d ran to the school provided facility after receiving a text from Jin that just read: ‘Meet me at the gym, be ready to put in some work :).’ and, assuming it was another attempt at finding the journal after yesterday’s failure, he dropped everything and ran to the building, expecting to meet Jin with a game plan. He… sort of got that, the part he wasn’t expecting was seeing Juliet and Luna waiting with his teammate. Juliet waved him down, her outfit being more or less the same as usual, still sporting the same black crop top that showed off her set of abs that damn near put Jin’s to shame, and a matching set of gym shorts, really, she’d just left the red jacket she wore whenever she was out of uniform in her locker. Luna was similarly dressed in workout attire, though far less eye catching, just a simple sky blue tracksuit, and Jin rounded them out with sweatbands on his wrists and forehead, along with a muscle shirt that Jet only knew was different from the usual one he wore thanks to it being black rather than his usual purple.

“Sup man?” Jin asked casually as the shorter boy approached, waving him over. Jet shot his partner a confused scowl, while the text didn’t exactly say that this was about their little operation, the vague text had given him reason to think it was related, but as two of the JWEL girls were with him, that clearly wasn’t the case, or at least, he hoped it wasn’t. Juliet seemed casual enough, throwing a thumbs up his way which he half heartedly returned, meanwhile, Luna was just sitting there with one of her sleeves in her mouth, looking confused as she just sat there with her legs crossed.

“Juliet, Luna? What’re the two of you doing here?” the new arrival asked outright, not bothering with pleasantries, causing Luna to jump with a small squeak, apparently having been lost in her own thoughts until now. Juliet then bent down and effortlessly lifted her up off the ground before setting the smaller girl on her feet, flashing a bright smile as she did.

“Right, now that everyone’s here, we can get started!” Juliet announced, not at all answering his question. With the two muscle heads seemingly unwilling to explain what was happening, he looked to Luna, but the poor girl was obviously just as confused as he was, looking to her leader and raising her hand as if to ask a question.

“Uh, start what exactly?” Thankfully, it clicked in their heads that explaining why they had brought the two gunslingers to the gym on a Saturday would probably make things go smoother than just assuming they were on board and ready to go, so, clearing his throat, Jin stepped forward with a warm smile and his hands on his hips.

“Well, Juliet and I sort of noticed a problem with you two that we figured we should fix, so I suggested we should work on it together!” The cheery explanation from his friend didn't do much to lessen Jet’s confusion, seeing as he had still neglected to say what exactly they were there to ‘fix’. Was it that he and Luna weren’t built like the statues of the old Mistralian gods like the other two present? No, that didn’t make sense, otherwise, they probably would have dragged Belka from BGEL along, that girl’s arms made twigs look muscular. While Jet wracked his mind to figure out what this impromptu meeting was about, Luna froze like a deer in headlights, a worried look crossing her face as she suddenly felt very self conscious under the friendly stares from Jin and Juliet.

“A problem? Did we do something wrong?” the moth Faunus asked meekly, worried she’d somehow upset her leader, her timid tone catching the other two off guard. Jet then joined in, raising an eyebrow at them, silently asking if that was the case in a way that made it very clear he would have some choice words for them if that was what they were saying. 

“No, no… well okay yeah , but not how you’re thinking.” Jin tried to explain with a nervous smile, however, under the unamused stare of Jet and the quivering lip of Luna he wavered, looking back to the tanned woman with them for support. Juliet, thankfully, was less worried about their feelings and just stepped forward, blurting out the purpose of their meeting without any hesitation.

“You guys can’t fight.” Out of everything the two shooters had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. They both took offense to the statement, obviously, though Luna, through no fault of her own, looked like she was pouting more than anything else.

“What!? You’ve seen m-” Before she could finish, Juliet cut her off, speaking over her.

“ Without Cigarette Lighter?” Luna stopped at the caveat, mumbling under her breath that she “sort of could”. Jet similarly paused, so that’s what this was about, not that they couldn’t fight per se, but that they couldn’t fight without relying on their weapons. An understandable concern, if they were ever disarmed, things could go very wrong very fast, maybe too fast for him to use Transporter to summon Hephaestus back into his grasp, and Luna lacked that option altogether. Now a little less offended, he nodded, at the very least, they needed to teach Luna how to throw a punch or get someone into an arm bar. However, they had overlooked one thing.

“Jin, I can fight just fine.” Jet said matter of factly, apparently to Jin’s amusement, chuckling warmly but dismissively at the statement.

“Don’t worry man, I didn’t tell the girls, it’s just us here.” Jin understood why he wouldn’t want to admit as much, especially in front of Scarlet, but this was something they legitimately needed to work on.

“I’m serious.” the green haired boy said, once again growing irritated with his partner at the insistence. Jin remained unconvinced, giving him a friendly and supportive smile as he believed he was helping his partner. Either way, it seemed someone was going to need to learn the hard way.

“Alright, put up your dukes then!” Before another word could be said, the blond put his fists up in front of his face, getting into a basic boxing stance, throwing a few playful jabs into Jet’s general direction. He sighed, clearly seeing that there probably wasn’t a point to trying to talk his way out of this, and so got into his own stance, one slightly lower to the ground. Off to the side, Juliet told her tiny teammate to take notes as the two approached each other. Jin waited for his partner to get into range and immediately threw the first punch, not too hard or too fast though, he didn’t actually want to hurt him, but he would still end up feeling the blow. Or he would have, if Jet didn’t evade it, ducking underneath his strike and darting around behind him, all while grabbing his wrist and taking it with him. The next thing he knows, his arm has been twisted into place and he feels Jet’s other hand drive into his shoulder, sending him down onto the ground face first, hitting the mat underneath them with a heavy thud. The crimson eyed boy wasted no time and shifted Jin’s arm into place, threatening to break his arm if he moved any further while remaining ready to back off if he tried anything crazy. He held that position for a few seconds when he noticed Jin not moving, just looking up from the mat, completely stunned. Figuring his point had been made, he relaxed and let go, giving the bigger boy a chance to put his thoughts into words.

“Oh.” Yeah, that was about what he’d expected. Jin’s face went puzzled after that, looking up at Jet and tilting his head. “Wait, if you’re actually good at this kinda thing, then why have I never seen you fight like this?”

“I don’t like getting close to monsters that could tear me in half.” Jet said, reaching his hand down, Jin accepted and let his partner pull him up, rubbing the back of his head as he got back to his feet, ignoring the slight strain on Jet’s face as he lifted him.

“Y-yeah, me neither! We’re just fine with our guns!” Luna added on, though, unlike Jet, she was clearly just trying to get out of being forced to learn how to fist fight, backing down once she caught a glimpse of Juliet’s disapproving stare.

“Guys, c’mon, you can’t just ignore this, do you think either of you could take us if we were fighting seriously?” Neither had a counter to the statement, Luna would have been outright lying, and while Jet might have been able to make the argument that he’d put up a decent fight, he knew his skill set well enough, it was based on keeping an opponent from hitting him while he used his Semblance to pull one of his many stockpiled backup plans to him, not actually ending a fight, and it wasn’t like he could really make the argument that he could get a Beowolf in an arm bar. So, deciding not to argue, the two silently agreed to the training, though Jet was still just a little insulted that it was just Luna and himself that had been pulled into this.

“Okay, but why not include Rosaria and Elena too then?”

“Roe? Oh that girl’s stronger than I am, she’s fine!” The casual admittance that Rosaria was stronger shocked just about everyone but Juliet herself; they’d seen what she could do, knocking students out with single blows and lifting stacked barbells with one arm. Either Rosaria was jacked, she had some kind of trick involving her Semblance, or just really strong Aura, and considering how shocked Luna was, he assumed it was one of the latter. Not noticing their utter bewilderment at her statement, Juliet carried on as though she hadn’t objectively just said something strange. “Elena… well, I did ask her, but she was acting weird again, said she was busy looking into something.”

“Again?” Jin asked, this being the first he’d heard of the girl acting out of the ordinary. Juliet didn’t respond, instead looking away, seemingly debating with herself as to how much she should say. Before she could decide on an answer though, Luna spoke up for her.

“Ever since those warning fliers about that scorpion girl went up, she’s been acting distant, not like normal. I tried talking to her, and it’s like she didn’t even hear me, and now we hear her saying something about ‘Callows’ or something under her breath all the time” Jin and Jet shared a confused look, neither of them knew what this “Callows” thing could be about, maybe it was related to the girl? Either way, it was something to discuss later, not in front of the JWEL girls. Besides, Juliet’s mind had already been made up.

“Look, it’s her business. If she doesn’t wanna talk, I don’t feel right forcing her, she’s always been kinda introverted, and we got a job to do, remember? So Jin, you walk Luna through the basics real fast. I wanna see what Jet can do.” There weren't any arguments past that, each pair splitting off onto a different mat. While Juliet and Jet sparred, Jin paired up with Luna, doing his best to try and not intimidate her with a big toothy grin.

“Okay Luna, let’s start with the basics, show me how you throw a punch!” Hesitantly, she complied, putting her hands in front of her face. It was a good start, she at least knew to protect her head. Then, she extended her fist out quickly while keeping the inside of her fist upward, her body rigid and straight the whole time, the whole movement more like a strange hammerfist than an actual punch. Okay, they could start there.

“That’s… a good start, but you need to actually follow through with it, here.” Luna tilted her head, unsure of what he meant by that, and not having much of a chance to figure it out before he took her wrists and moved behind her, causing her to squeak out from the sudden contact. Noticing her discomfort, Jin stayed calm and started to gently move her hands into position. “You have your hands in the right spots while guarding, but you gotta spin your fist so the inside is facing downward as it moves, and put your weight into it too, turn at the waist and lean into the punch.”

Jin led her through the movements as he explained it, and while she remained stiff for the first few times he led her through the motions, she eventually got the hang of it. Though still clearly uncertain with her movements, she practiced her strikes, switching the sides and angles of her punches. Watching with approval, Jin was pleased. Considering how she’d started off, she was definitely a fast learner, and at this rate, by the time they were done, she’d be able to knock someone out in no time! 

“Yeah, like that, just put in some more power!” Turning to the side, Jin put on a little show of shadow boxing, throwing a series of powerful punches that would have staggered man and Grimm alike, ending the sequence with a straight strike at eye level accompanied by a powerful kiai. “WAH!”

Watching intently, Luna threw a few similar punches, though clearly lacking in power. Groaning, she was about to give up when she turned back to Jin, the boy still smiling at her and holding up a single finger. One punch? She could do that right? Breathing in deep, she pulled back before throwing a hard punch, almost making herself stumble as she cried.

“He-YAH!” 

“There you go!” Luna beamed at the praise, Jin walking right up and holding his hand out for a high five, which she immediately joined in on, just as proud of herself as he was of her.

“Thanks Jin.”

“Not a problem. Still, I’m surprised, did your parents not teach you how to fight? Like, you wanna be a Huntress, that’s kinda important.” As soon as she processed Jin’s words, Luna’s smile faded as she looked down and shook her head, fiddling with the still wet cuff of her tracksuit.

“N-no, my Dad isn’t a fighter, and Mom… I wasn’t around her much.” Jin felt his heartache, clearly, it was a sensitive subject. He couldn’t have known, but at the same time, he shouldn’t have assumed either.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” he said quickly to try and move the conversation along, but to his surprise, she stopped him.

“No, it’s okay, we were better off that way. Besides, Dad’s great, he always made sure I didn’t feel lonely or like we weren’t a normal family.” Her words helped put him somewhat at ease, from what she said, he sounded like a good dad, and if she wasn’t uncomfortable, then neither was he. Training progressed smoothly after that, for those two at least, for Jet and Juliet on the other hand, it was mostly Jet hitting a brick wall, or a girl who felt like one at least. Juliet didn’t hold back in the slightest, claiming it wouldn’t help him if she babied him, which might have been true, but getting ragdolled across the mat every five seconds wasn’t helping much either. On the bright side, maybe the only one, he learned very quickly which methods of evasion worked best, which was something. Sitting down, the boy rested his sore and tired body as they took their break. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the massive mountain of muscle that was his partner approaching. Jet didn’t say a word as Jin sat down beside him, the pair sitting in awkward silence until Jet was unable to take it anymore.

“How’s Luna?” The girl in question was showing off her new punching skills to Juliet, the proud leader of JWEL giving her a pat on the back that nearly knocked her over as a congratulations. At the very least, it was good to know she was intense with everyone, not just him. 

“She’s getting it, I was just telling Juliet that maybe you and Lao should work with her, you guys both know how to handle bigger people. I honestly just know how to punch people good.” Jin explained with a chuckle, trailing off as he looked over to see Jet’s unamused face, staring down intensely at his own shoes.

“Yeah, I’ll consider it.” Jin frowned at the non committal answer, it was strange coming off of him. Come to think of it, he had been acting irritable the entire training session, and he had a feeling he knew why.

“You okay man? You seem kinda pissed.” The blunt question surprised Jet, but he caught himself before he could give a kneejerk reaction to it, looking away and taking a deep breath to calm himself down. 

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Denial wasn’t a look that suited Jet in Jin’s eyes, it was weird seeing him hide how he felt. It wasn’t the first time either, and just like last time, he didn’t give Jet any room to wiggle out of it.

“I mean, you threw me to the ground pretty hard.” Despite masking the words with a chuckle, it got the desired effect out of Jet, looking away guiltily as he stopped to think about what he had done earlier, how he’d let his anger get the better of him. He didn’t mean to throw Jin as hard as he did… it just sort of happened, his anger getting the better of him.

“Shit, sorry I really didn’t mean to… it’s not yo- or it’s not just you.” Jin nodded understandingly, not pressing his partner any further on the act itself, he’d known it was a mistake in the moment, and besides, it didn’t really fix anything. 

“Is this because me and Scarlet waited to tell you?” The green haired boy sighed at that, not even bothering to deny it.

“I’ve known her since before I could even walk, we don’t keep stuff from each other, especially not big things like this.” Jin thought for a moment, there was a lot to unpack there, trust, history, and clearly a lot that had been left unsaid, by both parties apparently.

“How is this any different from you not saying anything about her parents?” A moment of silence sat between them as Jet thought it over.

“I… guess it’s not. Does that make me a hypocrite or something?” Jin just shrugged in response. In reality it didn’t really matter, his heart had been in the right place, as was Scarlet’s. Really, the only mistake they’d made was assuming the other couldn’t handle it. 

“It means you two care about each other, and that you really need to be more open. I have two Moms and a little sister, trust me, the last thing a girl wants is to get the work around.” As the larger boy’s words sunk in, Jet chuckled.

“You’re right, I can’t be all pissy just because she did the same thing as me.” Jet said, letting go of the tension, or as much as he could in the moment. “You know, you’re good at this, maybe I should come to you for relationship advice next.”

“Well, it would work for that too, just walk up to her and tell her how you really feel.” Jin said without missing a beat, causing Jet to stare at him blankly for a moment before his cheeks turned just a hint redder than before, his eyes darting to look at the other side of the gym once more.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Just as he thought, denial was not a good look on him.

A beam of ice Dust infused plasma slammed into the target, hitting the left shoulder of the hard light Beowolf instead of its head. Belka let out an annoyed sigh as she adjusted Morgan ever so slightly. Despite the accuracy counter reading at around 90%, it was another miss at her intended target in her eyes, she wasn’t concerned with just hitting the Grimm, what she was aiming for was sure-fire kill shots. As the designated ranged fighter of her team, she needed to ensure she could take out as many targets as possible before they reached her teammates, and so far, her rate on that was about 60%, far too low for her liking. So, ignoring the temptation to place the scope back on its slide, she closed her left eye and looked down the rear sight once more, quickly lining it up with the sights at the front before firing once more, hitting the skull and causing the construct to shatter into a million rapidly dissipating shards of light. It was almost immediately replaced with a Creep a few feet to the right, and she found that she was smiling to herself as she repeated the shot, once, then twice, then three times, each shot definitively nailing the head of her new target. She was getting the hang of this, with a bit more practice, she’d be a crack shot in no time! With her confidence boosted, she hit the button for the next stage, moving targets, the hard light shape of a Beowolf now galloping towards her on all fours. Lining her sights up as fast as she could, she took a deep breath, steadied her aim, an-

“Yodelayheehoo!” The nonsensical call had been screamed into her ear, causing her to flinch and fire, completely missing her target, and nearly falling over in the process. Thankfully, she caught herself just in time, but still, her temper flared up as she saw the ‘MISSED’ signal flash on the screen over the shooting gallery, spinning on her heels to give the woman behind her a piece of her mind.

“What in the love o-” She stopped once she saw familiar sky blue eyes staring back at her, long matching hair, and that insufferably stupid fur cap.

“Good to see you again, Bella!” Alaska greeted, smiling at the smaller girl in front of her. After the initial surprise wore off, Belka glared back, she didn’t know what she wanted, but the brute was getting a piece of her mind regardless, this childish harassment of her and her team was going to stop.

“It’s Bel- ka .” she corrected, making Alaska’s already wolfish grin widen. She knew her little plaything wouldn’t be able to let the slight mispronunciation of her name slide, it was typical of Atlas elite types to feel so self important about the slightest thing. It was cute seeing her all flustered like that, it made her wanna do it more some other time. 

“I truly don’t care.” she said, shutting down whatever Belka had planned on saying and reaching over, turning off the training protocol and ignoring her protests. She looked around, reminiscing as the room gave her a sense of deja vu she couldn’t quite place for a moment, chewing on it for a moment before snapping her fingers as it came back to her. “Y’know, this is actually the first place I saw you.”

“What?” Just what in the world did this girl want? First she ruins her training, now she wants to reminisce like they were friends? She was under no delusion that this was anything other than Alaska messing with her, but regardless, it was a thought process she didn’t understand.

“I didn’t ‘member till now, but I was sittin’ right over there fixin’ up Jacinta while you got into a pissin’ match with your nieces.” Logic went out the window at that little comment, just who the hell did she think she was speaking about her family? Well, two could play at that game, stepping right up to the girl, Belka spat back.

“Oh, so you do have a working memory? I guess you’re smarter than I tho-” Before she could finish, she was struck across the cheek by the back of Alaska’s hand, she was just as strong as she looked and didn’t hold anything back, almost knocking Belka over from the force until she bumped into the rail that stopped students from accidentally going into the gallery proper. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she reached up, holding her reddening cheek as it stung. Before she could even think of what to do in return, Alaska grabbed her by her shirt, lifting her up off her feet, bringing her to her eye level.

“You’d better watch that mouth of yours, it’s just us this time.” Belka struggled and kicked to try and get out of Alaska’s grasp, the larger girl enjoying how she squirmed, not like before when she was all haughty and confident. “Aww, what’s wrong, Belka? Don’t tell me you’re not gonna stand up to me, you were so brave when you had me outnumbered.”

Belka wasn’t paying any attention to her taunts, she was too panicked to think about anything other than escaping the woman’s grasp. She pried unsuccessfully at the hands holding her up, much to Alaska’s amusement, as her efforts yielded no results. What was she going to do with her? Alaska had already struck her once just for talking back, as her mind imagined the worst case scenario, she moved on instinct, punching Alaska across the jaw. The blunette was honestly surprised at the fact that she’d actually gone through with it, she would have been impressed had the punch actually done anything more than sting. 

“Oh honey, you’re gonna need to do better than that.” Deciding that an example would do the girl some good, Alaska pulled her fist back and slammed it into Belka’s stomach as hard as she could, knocking the wind out of the smaller girl and dropping her like a sack of potatoes, letting her fall to her hands and knees as she gasped and coughed, trying to regain her breath. Slowly, the air returned to her lungs, yet she couldn’t get any relief as Alaska stayed standing over her, watching with amusement.

“Why’re you doing this?” Alaska chuckled, making a show of thinking it over, making an exaggerated confused face.

“Why? Well I dunno honey, maybe it’s cuz I’m bored, maybe it’s because I think you’re cute when you’re all red in the face.” Then the mask came off and she looked at Belka with so much disdain it made her freeze. “Or maybe it’s because I don’t appreciate some weak little brat with a silver spoon in ‘er mouth talking down on me and actin’ like she’s better than me.”

“Leave me alone!” Belka yelled, standing and trying to push her aside to get past her, only to have her wrist grabbed as she tried. Belka panicked once more as Alaska’s tight grip started to bruise her delicate skin. Spinning around, Belka swung at her once more, but, no longer passive, Alaska lifted her arm and casually blocked the blow. She hummed, now that one had some force behind it.

“Hmm… better, not by much though.” She struggled some more, doing what she could to break free until a hand grabbed her throat, Alaska’s calloused fingers closing just enough to cut off her airflow.

“A-ack!” It was hard enough with the hand on her throat, but then she was lifted off her feet. It was seemingly effortless for the Vacuoan, only needing one arm to keep her suspended.

"Come on missy, can’t handle little ole me? What’re you going to do when a real monster shows up?” She emphasized her point by smacking Belka with her free hand, breaking the dam as she started to cry. "Nothin’, You ain't gonna do nothin’."

She let Belka hang off the ground for a moment longer, letting it sink in until her face started to go purple, and only then did Alaska let go, allowing Belka to fall to the ground once more. Well, that was fun, though she needed a bit more to bring the fight out. It was there just… well, pathetic, but for now it would have to do, poor thing looked like she might keel over if she went any further today. So, without a word, she walked off, leaving Belka to tend to her wounded pride, bruised throat, and aching head. Slowly, she got into a sitting position and cried into her knees. What the hell was wrong with Alaska, was she just insane? What if she had seriously been hurt!? She had to tell someone, she had to get help. But from who? Elizabeth and Lumi? No, they wouldn't even care, they weren't exactly shy about the fact that they didn't like her, and SJJL would probably just get in trouble again anyways, she couldn't be responsible for that, she didn't know any other teams that would help her, which just left Lao, who didn't even stand up to himself, and Goose, as if, she'd sooner deal with it all on her own than go to the oh so great Aunt of her nieces for help. So, with no other options but to endure, she let her Aura heal the bruises on her face and neck and got to her feet, rushing out of the room as if nothing happened.

The city of Vale was never a dull place in Ruby’s eyes, there was always something going on, you just needed to look for it. Some points of interest were just more obvious than others, sometimes you had to dig deep and find an underground terrorist meeting and have your cat-eared friend dress up to infiltrate it, other times you just went to a nightclub a little before midnight. The club simply called ‘Juniors’ wasn’t new to her, she’d been familiar with it since she’d seen Yang punch the owner out of a window when she was fifteen, although she had no reason to ever actually go into the establishment until she was well into adulthood. In fact, if she recalled right, she was already in her thirties by the time she’d set foot inside for the first time, and it certainly wasn’t for the alcohol. As she walked down the stairs, she did a simple survey of the room. There were at least thirty guards, the majority, if not all of them, were likely armed, not that she was concerned though, she hadn’t even brought Crescent Rose with her, knowing she wasn’t in any real danger. At least, she thought she wasn’t. She awkwardly pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring a few lustful stares and managing to catch a few whispers of ‘MILF’ over the din of the speakers, but as uncomfortable as that was, it was nothing compared to the pair of bright yellow eyes she felt watching her from above. It didn’t take a genius to spot Lavender looking down at her from the balcony overlooking the dancefloor, not with that tail of hers glowing under the ultraviolet lights overhead. She kept an eye on the girl, and she’d definitely noticed her, her tail had coiled up behind her as if she was ready to strike, and she was moving so that Ruby wasn’t too far away from her at any given point. Yet, the professor was unbothered by the attention, instead walking right up to the bar and taking a seat on the stool. Soon after, a bartender, one she didn’t recognize, came right up to her with an obviously fake smile while preparing a mixed drink for another patron.

“I’ll have a Spiderweb, please.” The young man paused as he heard the code phrase, looking the older woman up and down carefully, a clear look of doubt in his eyes. Ruby certainly didn’t fit the look of their usual partners, but he relented and leaned in, the artificial cheerfulness in his tone now absent.

“Are you here to see Xiong or Malachite?” the man asked in a hushed tone. He was painfully new at this, actually drawing more attention than if he’d spoken his question out loud. After all, the booming music kept most conversations private, regardless of volume.

“Romeo.” Ruby answered simply. Again, he hesitated, eyes darting around for an out, but with a set of silver eyes staring him down, he was forced to give her an answer immediately, fumbling over his words.

“Mr. Torchwick isn’t here right n- Well, we haven’t seen him in a minute, but I ca-”

“So you’re telling me that’s not his sister watching us from the balcony?” The Huntress cut him off, casually motioning behind her shoulder up to the girl who was still watching over her like a Beowolf stalking its prey. Quickly realizing he’d been caught in a lie, he opened his mouth to try and salvage his screw up in some way but stopped, instead glancing over to another one of the bartenders and holding out a hand.

“One moment please.” Ruby watched as the man walked over, whispering into the ear of his co-worker, who also looked her way, no doubt asking if she was a problem that would need to be dealt with or not. Ignoring them, Ruby looked back over to Lavender, only to find the girl gone, as if she’d vanished into thin air. Ruby briefly wondered how the girl had been doing, she doubted Neo was involved, but still, it was a concerning possibility. The last thing she needed at the moment was an excuse for that woman to come out of retirement and try to make another one of her children into a crime lord, but then again, with how Lavender had acted, it was a small possibility, however, a girl like her was… well, vulnerable to say the least. Before she could finish her thoughts, the younger of the two bartenders came back, a sour, almost pouty look on his face as he returned. “He’ll see you in his office. It’s-”

“I know where it is.” Ruby said, getting to her feet as she cut him off once more. She already didn’t like that she had to be here in the first place, the last thing she had the patience for was an incompetent grunt of the Xiong-Malachite family. Making her way down the halls until she found herself approaching a familiar office, she opened the door to be met by a pair of men exiting from the other side. She didn’t care about the taller of the two, there was only one man she was interested in seeing right now, and she found herself looking at a face that shared many features with the man whose Dust robbery she’d stopped at fifteen, though just a bit softer like his mother’s, and sporting only one green eye, instead paired with another pink orb upon the other side of his face. Romeo similarly looked her up and down, stepping back around his desk and coming face to face with the woman, leaning on his cane.

“Steele, give us the room, make sure there are no interruptions.” the heterochromatic prince of crime said, not even looking at the man as he addressed him. Obediently, the man went out the door they had just been intending to leave through, leaving her alone with Torchwick. The young man took a few steps closer until he was close enough to touch Ruby. Then, he reached out and pulled his old friend into a hug, which she promptly returned, squeezing him back before they broke off, the son of her first real enemy patting her shoulder with a chuckle.

“You need to stop acting like a stranger.” he said, pulling the seat out for Ruby to sit down, making his way back around to his side of the desk.

“The school year has been more eventful than usual, and the only crimes on my radar are, well, yours.” she explained with an awkward attempt at a joke that he politely continued to laugh at as he took his own seat, folding his hands together and resting his chin on them as he leaned forward.

“Ah, yes, Scarlet and that little mess with my sister.” At the mention of her student, the friendly nature of the conversation dropped, he wasn’t supposed to know about that. They’d intentionally kept names out of the report, but at the same time, since his sister was with him now, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he’d know about it. “Oh relax, that’s why you’re here, right?”

“Part of it.” That got his attention, an eyebrow going up curiously. Despite the fondness they shared for each other, social meetups between them were practically non-existent, given that one stray photo of them together meant the end of everything she had worked for, and as for him, there’d be questions from the end of a gun barrel about why he was all nice and buddy buddy with a Huntress, and a teacher at Beacon at that. Pulling out the leather-bound journal and sliding it across the desk, Ruby questioned, “What do you know about this?”

Romeo took the book, opening it up curiously and immediately glaring at the old weathered pages and fading ink, it was very familiar to him.

“This is Tyrian’s handwriting.” Romeo muttered, flipping to the next page, an impressive thing to notice considering he was a child no older than six, maybe seven, when the man met his end at Adam’s hands. Looking up, he saw the questioning look Ruby was giving him. Normally, he’d tell anyone prying into his personal life to fuck off before he promptly had them buried in the river, but Red had long since earned his trust in that area. “This wasn’t his only journal, it’s just the one that Lav took when she ran away. I know he didn’t seem like it, but it seemed like he did a lot of thinking, I guess he liked to write his thoughts down.”

“Where are the others?” Ruby asked, hopeful that he’d be willing to cooperate since he didn’t seem pleased in the slightest about its contents.

“Ma burned them, along with every other trace of him in the manor.” he said without even looking up from the pages, too engrossed in the raving lunacy written down by his deceased stepfather. Right, she supposed that made sense, from what Romeo had told her, Neo had tried her best to erase every memory of Tyrian, not even letting her daughter with him have a single memento.

“Speaking of… I have to ask, does she know?” There was no question as to who she was referring to; Neo, despite having gone mostly dormant in the last decade, was still a key figure in the crime families of Vale, very connected, and very deadly. While what she’d heard didn’t paint the tiny woman as being a grade A parent, she doubted that she’d just ignore her own daughter showing back up in Vale after having been a runaway for nearly three years.

“Last time I saw her, she wasn’t sober enough to remember anything I said, so she’s probably unaware at the moment.” he mumbled bitterly, remembering the way his own mother lazily glanced up at him and signed the name of his father instead of his own, but then again, he supposed it was appropriate, all she’d ever seen him as was an extension of his old man anyway. Ruby could see the way he soured at the thought, understanding that she needed to approach this delicately.

“Romeo, your sister is involved with very dangerous people.”

“Like a cult?” Ruby’s blood ran cold, did he know? Oh brothers, had Lavender told him? No, she needed to think, Romeo wasn’t dumb, he’d been around Tyrian for years, he had no doubt heard the name Salem being thrown around, even if he was ignorant of the weight it carried, but for now, she just had to play along.

“That’s… pretty good for a guess.” Ruby said, trying not to play her hand too far, letting Romeo think a bit before answering.

“She said something when she first got back, something about a ‘Goddess’, Tyrian used to say something similar.” Turning another page, he raised an eyebrow, laying the book down so Ruby could see it as well. It wasn’t pretty, a series of wild lines sketched out and unfinished circles around a vertically opening eye. Apparently Tyrian wasn’t much of an artist, but there was no mistaking it, that was Salem’s symbol. 

“Do you recognize that?” she asked gently. Romeo hesitated, but nodded silently, no doubt having noticed how she didn’t comment on it herself, picking the book back up and glaring at it as though it had burned his favorite suit.

“A few months ago we had an incident in the industrial district, we found one of our guys gutted like a pig, and this symbol was painted on the wall in his blood.” Mismatching eyes glanced up at his friend, looking right into her own. “You’re telling me this is related to that? My sister is part of a fucking death cult ?”

“As far as I can tell, yes.” The man ran his hands through his hair and leaned back, taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ruby giving him the time needed to calm down. It was undeniably a lot to process after getting her back, but before she could extend her sympathies, he leaned forward, his signature smirk having returned as he rested on his elbows.

“Okay then, let’s cut a deal.” he said, sliding the journal back across the table at a now confused looking Ruby.

“A deal? This affects both of us.” the woman pointed out, hiding the book in her cloak the same way that she concealed it coming in.

“You’re right, it does. Truth be told, I don't want these brainwashed psychopaths anywhere near my city, let alone getting into my sister’s head more than they already have. Buuut , I’m going to need a favor.” 

“What’s your offer?” Ruby sighed, electing to at least hear him out so long as the deal didn’t involve her overlooking a bank robbery again.

“I’ll put out some feelers, have my street level guys on the lookout. If and when we find a lead, that info goes straight to you, no shootouts on the streets, no finding a bunch of mooks cooked up in a burning building, we’ll let you handle things your way, it’ll be completely in your hands. But , in return, that little incident at Beacon goes away.” Ruby pursed her lips, she had to admit, that was exactly what she was hoping to have this visit end in, but making Lavender’s attack go away? That was tricky, and as bad as she felt for the girl, she was undeniably dangerous, and a proven threat to her students… but was she a bigger threat than an organized group of Salem worshippers? It was a gamble, but Romeo had been trustworthy in the past, she had to pray that he’d come through again.

“I’m going to need your assurance that she won’t go after any more of my students. If you can do that, then we have a deal.” she said, holding out her hand, and without hesitation he took it, shaking her hand firmly. And just like that, she had once again made a deal with a criminal. It was just as unpleasant as the first dozen times, but if it meant keeping her students, her family, and her friends safe, she’d make the same deal again in a heartbeat. Romeo accompanied her out to the back entrance, leading her out to an alleyway out of view from the main streets. Before taking off, Ruby stopped, looking back at the boy, one last thing on her mind.

“What are your plans with her?” Romeo sighed, shaking his head. In truth, he didn’t have a long term plan, their special little brand of family trauma was too complicated for that, he’d just have to tackle the issues as they came in. He’d just squared away the mess at Beacon, now it just left Adam, and the cult she’d apparently joined up with.

“Right now, I’m just trying to get her head on straight. After that? I’ll see how she feels about the family business.” The woman had expected as much, nodding, but she couldn’t help but wonder what Lavender could do with the right guidance.

“She has potential, she could do a lot of good with skills like hers.” Romeo laughed, taking a drag of his cigar. 

“Why, are you thinking of making her the same offer you made me?” The offer in question was simple, leave the family business behind and go to Beacon, no strings attached. When she’d first met the boy, he was young enough to still enroll, and like his sister, he was far from being in the best state of mind. The reaper had hoped that she’d be a positive influence in the boy’s life, show him that he didn’t need to just be like his parents, but in the end, he chose his path. Despite Romeo choosing a life of crime, Ruby could never bring herself to cut him off completely, even now as he leaned on Roman’s cane and smoked the same terrible smelling cigars as Roman, she didn’t see the man she fought outside that Dust shop back when she was fifteen, she saw the lost young man, probably about Lavender’s age then, that she met looking for his little sister who had recently ran off. Maybe it was too late for him to change, but that didn’t mean it was too late for Lavender. He didn’t seem opposed to it, it was something to think about at least.

“Maybe, one thing at a time.” Ruby said, giving the ginger a quick hug goodbye before petal bursting away. Once alone, the young man checked his watch, it was almost one AM, almost time for the real party on the dancefloor to begin, and he’d either find someone young and dumb to take upstairs for the night, or he’d find something else to entertain him.

“What was that ?” The familiar voice of Lavender almost made Romeo jump out of his skin as he turned to see his sister glaring at him, her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the floor impatiently. 

“ That was business.” he said nonchalantly, walking past her and twirling his cane, only stopping once Lavender ran past him and once again stood in his way, the same scowl as before telling him that she had no plans of dropping the subject. 

“With her ? She’s the enemy!” she all but shouted, not caring who heard her, her outrage over her brother meeting with someone like her, let alone getting friendly with the woman… well, it was unthinkable! Yet Romeo just laughed and rustled her hair like she was still a little girl.

“Ruby? She’s a family friend, if anything, you should get used to seeing her more.” Lavender’s anger rose to a new level. Never, not in a million years, would she ever be fine with a woman like her! Goddess, what was he thinking !

“She shot me!” Before she could protest further, the sound of Romeo’s cane striking the floor caught her off guard, causing her to flinch. Her brother was fresh out of patience, staring down at her. It wasn’t even fully hostile, but the intensity of his gaze made her look away as he started to speak.

“And why was that again? Oh, I remember, because you snuck into the single most guarded building on the continent and tried to kill someone!” 

“I-I was just trying to get even, for Dad.” Her voice had grown quiet and unsteady, and immediately, guilt entered Romeo’s heart. He stopped himself, taking a deep breath before reaching out and gently holding his sister by the shoulders, ignoring the way she flinched, and began to speak gently.

“Look, Dad is gone. I miss him too, but killing someone who was barely able to speak in full sentences when he died is only going to create a lot more problems. We got a rough deal, but it’s over now, trust me, I’m fixing it.” She scowled at that, of course he didn’t understand, it wasn’t his father who was murdered, he was just ready to just move on like nothing had happened. 

“Whatever you say.” she muttered angrily before pulling herself away, storming off into the club to get her mind off things. Romeo sighed, deciding to let her walk off rather than stopping her, dropping what was left of his cigar and smothering it under his shoe.

Chapter Text

Lavender checked over the penthouse suite of Junior’s for the third time, the balcony was clear of anyone, as was the minibar, save for her brother’s many glasses left out, but she wasn’t concerned about him coming back up any time soon. There was some meeting he was attending that would take a while, he’d asked her to come along with him, but she’d feigned a headache and curled into bed until he left, leaving her with some painkillers and a promise to be back later. What the girl was looking for was any of his little friends , not that anyone else should have even been up with her, as aside from Steele and Verde, no one else but members of the Malachite and Xiong families were allowed in the penthouse, but that didn’t stop her brother or the twins from bringing girls back up with them, and the last thing Lavender needed was to be eavesdropped on by some hussy her brother had spent the night with. Thankfully, she was alone as far as she could tell, which just left actually going through with the task itself. If she were being honest with herself, the repeated searches were only partly why she had repeatedly put off making the call to Henna’s scroll. She’d texted her chosen sister a few times since landing in Vale, mostly to apologize and try to calm her understandably furious mentor, and while the texts had slowly simmered down from angry demands, for her to return, to just asking for regular updates so she could be sure she was safe, she was yet to actually call the woman due to the circumstances with her living situation, and she was more than a little worried that the anger from her rash actions hadn’t so much subsided as been put to the side. But, she knew she couldn’t put off talking to her forever, so once she was absolutely certain she was alone, she clicked the call button next to Henna’s name on her scroll. It rang once, then twice, Lavender thought she heard a click from the other end, but before she could say anything, it rang a third time before cutting off mid-ring. Weird, maybe she was just hearing things? Regardless, she cleared her throat and tried not to sound nervous.

“Um, hi?” On the other side of the continent, Henna chuckled at how nervous Lavender sounded, it reminded her of a child trying to act casual while being caught red-handed in the cookie jar despite knowing very well they weren’t allowed. In the woman’s eyes, she sounded nothing short of adorable, making it hard to start off the conversation sternly, and besides, she’d already worked out her anger. With the phone still pressed to her ear, she stepped over the still warm body of a slain huntsman to get to his partner, a support beam having fallen onto him during the fight after she weakened his Aura. They’d been looking into her activities as of late, well, her’s, Azrael's, and Echis’s, but they hadn’t found enough information to actually know that, and she was making sure it stayed that way. Straddling the broken man, she brought her dagger down to finish him, only for the persistent pest to put up one last fight, despite being so weak he required both of his arms to try and hold her off, even as she held the Scroll between her head and shoulder. 

“Lavender.” With a bit more pressure and a bit of aid from her Aura, Henna overpowered the man, her dagger stabbing into his chest, perfectly slotting between the fourth and fifth rib, and piercing his heart. While she could clearly hear the last gasps of air being forced from his lungs as they filled with blood and the wet scraping sound of her blade passing through bone, the sounds were just a bit too quiet to be picked up on the device in her hands, ensuring their conversation would continue without interruption. Withdrawing the blade, she spoke into the receiver with a warm voice. “It’s good to finally hear your voice again.”

“I had to wait until it was just me, we um… had to lay low.” Relief flooded into Lavender at the woman’s tone, actually jumping up with a smile as she explained herself. Or, at least, as much as she could without bringing up the fact that she had a small part in burning down a building. Abandoned or not, Henna didn’t exactly share Romeo’s love of putting on a show, quite the opposite in fact. 

“Speaking of, how are you? You said you were staying at a nightclub, correct?” Henna asked. While the idea of Lavender staying in a place of such sin and debauchery made her stomach churn, the knowledge that she was safe helped her resist the urge to steal an airship and track her down just to drag her back home. As she waited for Lavender’s response, she got to work covering her tracks, knocking over an oil lantern and tossing it across the room from the table it had been resting on, flaming fluid and metal haphazardly smashing against the opposite wall and landing on the bed. The flames had quickly spread across the room as she stepped out, leading to her throwing the hood of her robes over her head as she stepped out of the shack, the cloth protecting her from the sun's harsh rays and the growing inferno behind her.

“Yeah it’s…” She glanced back to the center of the room, more specifically at the tacky and frankly distasteful pole atop a miniature stage, a rather crude reminder that the penthouse was mostly used by boys with far too much money, free time, and a very narrow set of interests. Walking away from the eyesore and heading up the stairs, she continued. “…an adjustment, but it’s not too bad, aside from being unable to go anywhere.”

“I can't imagine how you haven't gone crazy yet, I'd be mad spending one week cooped up like that, let alone a whole month.” Henna chuckled casually, as if she wasn’t walking away from a burning shack. Granted, the remote location didn’t exactly make haste a priority, it would be days, if not weeks, before the interloper’s absence was noticed, and even then, their disappearance would likely be chalked up to bandits. She made her way to the dirt bike that she’d ridden on, it was several hours from the nearest town, and she didn’t want to spend any more time than she had to on the road.

“It’s not so bad, I have Romeo here with me most of the time, and JJ and the twins stop by occasionally. Melodias even remembered that I used to paint and brought me some spare supplies so that I could practice again!” Lavender said, both the pitch and excitement in her voice rising as she went on about meeting with her old friends. As she told Henna about her past few weeks, she failed to notice that the older woman had gone fully silent.

“What about your plans for the betrayer's spawn?” Henna asked as soon as she had an opportunity to speak. Lavender stopped in her tracks, her mood immediately souring by the reminder of her failure and the fact that Scarlet still drew breath. She briefly debated coming up with an excuse, just this once to keep Henna happy, but before she could, the silence had lingered more than long enough, and with a sigh, she answered truthfully.

“I don’t know, Romeo doesn’t want to go after her, he says it’ll be too loud.” Henna had expected this, she had mixed thoughts on Romeo ever since she learned of his existence as a young girl. On one hand, he was as much Tyrian’s child as she was, having been raised by him after her mentor and Neo left for Vale, which made him as much her brother as Lavender was her sister. But, the way he was raised went against everything she’d been raised to believe, serving only himself and his own hedonistic desires. On the other hand, despite whatever had happened in the past, he was protecting their little sister, and if nothing else, that earned him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Perhaps he wasn’t beyond reaching after all, but regardless, she needed to know more about him before she came to a conclusion.

“Our brother, he doesn’t want to avenge Tyrian?” Lavender opened her mouth to defend him, to tell Henna that he absolutely did, but she couldn’t, not when she wasn’t fully convinced herself. Just then, she realized his door had been left ajar. Strange, had she missed that? Stepping closer, she prodded the door further open with her stinger.

“Romeo’s…” She hesitated, both in speaking and entering the room, but swallowing down her reluctance, she stepped inside. The room itself was oddly barren, just having his bed and a few dressers, which was a stark contrast to the flashy and colorful penthouse it lay within. “He’s different.”

“Has he hurt you?” Henna asked, her mind immediately jumping to the worst possible conclusion. Lavender found the question strange, she hadn’t said anything that could be read as that, did she? She decided not to comment on it, instead going to leave the room but stopping as a stray thought crossed her mind. She hadn’t been around him in years, maybe she’d find a reason he was acting strange if she looked around? That, and she remembered just how fun it was to poke around her big brother’s room. Besides, he wouldn’t mind, right?

“No, nothing like that, but it's like he doesn't even care.” The memory of Romeo trying to convince her to just forget about Scarlet played in her head, filling her with anger. She started going through his drawers, finding nothing but clothes, mostly shirts and underwear. In fact, she didn’t find anything until she reached the depths of the bottom-most drawer, coming across a pair of… handcuffs? Okay, she supposed she could understand why her brother might need those, career criminal and all, but why were they fuzzy? Tossing them over onto the bed, she shrugged and moved on.

“Do you believe he's genuinely unbothered by what you both lost?” Henna asked softly, trying to ease any pain the idea may have caused, but not dismissing it as a possibility. Again, Lavender didn’t respond, trying to distract herself by snooping through her brother’s things, this time coming across something that filled her with a sense of deja vu; a faded black bowler hat with a red fabric band and an eagle feather tucked inside. The fabric that ran across the edge of the brim had started to fray and peel off, the crimson band had lost its shape and color, it was barely more than a dull pink, and the eagle feather it carried was tattered, frayed, and bent at an extreme angle halfway along its length. It took her a moment, but she realized what this was. After all, just like his cane, Neo had never permitted her to touch it, it was being saved for Romeo, a relic that belonged to his perfect father… Despite the bitter memories of a cold home the object brought back, it also raised another question. If he just wanted to forget, why did he keep this decrepit old thing?

“No, I think he's pretending for me.” She handled it with care, looking it over carefully as she stepped in front of the mirror, placing it atop her own head. It clashed horribly with the purple t-shirt and baggy pants she wore around the house, but then again, it’s not like it would have matched her regular clothes anyway.

“Try to remember, he lost your father as well. Sometimes we bury our pain to try and move on, but instead it festers and bubbles.” That made sense, more than should have been possible from a woman who had never met him. Was she right? Was he really just pretending? She didn’t know for sure, but if that was the case, she needed to know.

“Do you think… maybe you could talk to him? I know he'd listen to you, you're a lot better at talking these things through than me.” The woman on the other end took a short moment to drink some of her water as she thought it over. She would have loved to speak with him about this, if it really was the case, she could show him that he didn’t need to hold it in, how rewarding letting his anger out towards those who deserved it felt, how he wasn’t as alone as he thought with people like her and the rest of their congregation. But, she also knew that if there was anyone he’d listen to on this, it wasn’t her, but their sister. 

“Lavender, I can't fight your battles for you. Besides, do you really think he'd listen to me over you?” With a sigh, the youngest of the siblings walked out of the room, leaving the door just slightly cracked, just like she had found it.

“He still treats me like a kid, so yeah.” she grumbled into the Scroll, Henna humming in response. It was understandable, even if Lavender legally wouldn’t be a child for much longer, in fact, her birthday was just about a week away, she was lacking in experience. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers as an idea occurred to her.

“I know someone who may be able to help you. Mother Moon is in the city, she has experience with family being… difficult with our cause. Find Vermillion Port, and tell them I sent you.” A smile broke out on the girl’s face, that was just what she needed. If her brother was struggling and hiding it, she wanted to help him, the same way Henna helped her! 

“Okay, thanks, I’ll talk soon.” With that, she hung up, putting her scroll in her pocket as she stood there, repeating the phrase ‘Vermillion Port’ under her breath.

“Were you in my room?” The sudden voice caught her off guard, making her heart race as she poised her tail to strike and spun on her heels, only to see her brother, leaning against the wall with a small smirk on his face, apparently finding her reaction amusing if the chuckle coming from him was any sign. Despite her irritation with him over sneaking up on her, she played innocent, falling into old habits as she lied through her teeth.

“No, why?” Without saying a word, her big brother reached over and plucked the bowler hat from her head, her cheeks going red as she realized she had forgotten to put it back. For a moment, she worried about what he’d say, if he’d yell or scold her. Instead, he looked down at the hat with a sense of… reverence? That might’ve been what she saw, but it looked strange on him. Eventually, he switched gears, starting to twirl the hat on one finger as he put on a smile that suddenly looked a lot more fake than it had before. 

“I always did hate how I looked in this.” Lavender tilted her head at that, a perplexed look on her face.

“Don’t you look like your dad though?” As soon as it was mentioned, the smile dropped and he let the hat come to a gradual stop. He looked at it once more, and sighed tiredly.

“Exactly.” Romeo said, walking past her back to his room, leaving Lavender standing there puzzled. She didn’t understand, why would he think looking like his father was anything but a blessing? She may not understand him, but damn it, she was going to help him.

Belka desperately tried to block the strikes from the maniac in front of her, she’d known that she wasn’t quite as skilled as her opponent, but she had thought the advantage of her weapon’s length would give her some advantages, more range obviously, along with more space that could be used to block attacks. Unfortunately, she didn’t account for the taller girl also figuring out her advantages, and playing around them. Goose had treated the sparring session as a game, even calling it ‘fun’, so Belka didn’t expect her partner to put much thought into the fight, however, she was wrong, as Goose kept herself close, turning her reach advantage into a liability. It wasn’t a fully one-sided bout, her partner left several openings that allowed Belka to not seem like a complete pushover, particularly when Goose tried to open fire, the half-second it took her partner to aim allowed her to strike Glücksfall and twirl Morgan’s barrel right into Goose’s face, and ironically, it wasn’t even necessary, as she heard her partner’s weapon misfire with a satisfying clunk. Belka couldn’t believe her luck, a point blank shot with the gravity Dust she’d loaded into Morgan might just be enough for her to knock her partner past the threshold and gain her the victory! Such thoughts were short lived though, as Morgan sputtered and, rather than blasting her partner in the face with concentrated light infused with the crushing power of gravity, it powered down as the systems detected a jam somewhere. Well, suddenly she could believe her luck. The two stood there, letting the awkwardness of the situation hang in the air before Belka attempted to strike Goose with the now blunt edge of Morgan, but the girl reacted in time and ducked under the blow intended for her head, countering with an upward slash that knocked Belka back and caused the familiar buzzer to go off, signaling that she’d lost. The sting of defeat was eased by the fact that it was just her and her team in the training room, which also meant she could let herself lie on the stone floor and contemplate her defeat in peace. Or so she thought, as only a few moments later, Goose all but skipped over and reached down to help her up.

“You did really well today, Belka!” Well? That was what qualified as ‘doing well’ in her mind? Gods, she would have hated to see what a failure was in her eyes. On principle, she declined the hand extended to her, certainly not because she was bitter over her loss, but she did throw a half hearted ‘thanks’ the other girl’s way, just to be polite.

“Are you kidding? I was on the backfoot that entire match.” Belka pointed out as she dusted herself off and walked out of the section of arena she and Goose had been using with her partner in tow, looking over to her teammates. Lao and Elizabeth were nearing the end of their match, which she mentally noted was far more even, though her niece currently had a pair of Beowolves doing her fighting for her while she attacked from a distance, which, considering how close they both were to their allowed limit, gave her good reason to assume that the tiny woman would be victorious. Making her way over to the bench, Belka sat down and wiped the sweat from her brow, suddenly feeling parched, leaving her with the dilemma of getting up to get water, or letting her sore body rest a moment longer. However, before she could think on it more, the decision was made for her as a bottle of water was shoved into her face, Goose smiling as she lightly shook the plastic bottle in front of her leader. She was trying not to let her partner see just how desperate she was for the drink, but that was quickly forgotten as the cool liquid reached her lips and she chugged the water as fast as her throat would let her.

“Well yeah, I’m stronger than you, but you’re getting better.” Belka nearly choked on her water, her head snapped over to give Goose a piece of her mind, but she stopped herself. As much as it pained her to acknowledge it, Goose was the better fighter, not that she’d ever admit it out loud. Besides, she didn’t have a way to argue yet, so she kept her mouth busy with getting more water into her system. She also chose not to read into how Goose patted her back with a smile that Belka swore at least bordered on condescending. “Besides, I got lucky with your gun jamming.”

That’s right, the girl’s semblance was constantly at play, that’s why her weapon had suddenly jammed! Well, that was certainly a point in favor of her Semblance being more of a hindrance than a boon, not that she’d been keeping a running tally, just that the bad her Semblance wrought seemed to be far more memorable than the good. At least she could hold onto the fact that, if it wasn’t for factors outside of her control, she probably would have won.

“Well, I guess that’s why they call you Lady Luck.” As Belka looked away so that Goose knew for a fact that she wasn’t bothered by the outcome and wasn’t just being a sore loser, she almost missed how Goose’s smile fell at the nickname. She did notice that the one that replaced it was forced though, especially with the weak laugh that followed it.

“Lady Luck?” The pair looked up to see the rest of their team walking over to join them, Lao’s head tilted in what they assumed was at least mild curiosity, being the only one not in the loop and all. Reluctantly, Goose decided to fill him in since Liz was in glaring mode for some reason.

“It’s uh, because of my Semblance, it’s the luck of the draw all the time so… y’know.” Lao nodded, getting the gist of what she was saying, and, judging from her reaction, it wasn’t typically used when she ended up making their meals free due to being the hundredth customer as much as it was when they just so happened to walk through wet cement. Not concerned with the current conversation however, Elizabeth walked right up to their leader, a sneer directed at the woman.

“Wait a damn minute, that’s our nickname for her, who told you it?” Belka was at a loss for words, the sudden hostility taking her off guard. Goose and Lao similarly went as quiet as their leader, who, not knowing how to react, just blurted out the truth.

“Ingrid did, why are you acting like this is such a big deal?” At the mention of her younger cousin’s name, Elizabeth’s face went red. Belka didn’t know why, but her explanation only served to make Elizabeth angrier, as if she was somehow in the wrong for talking with one of the only people in her family who’d even give her the time of day.

“And just why exactly are you talking with my cousin?” Elizabeth’s tone was starting to get Belka worked up now, standing up and looking down at her niece with balled fists. Normally, she thought of herself as being above petty arguments over what was effectively nothing, but she was already in a sour mood, having dealt with Alaska, being robbed of her victory by the whims of fate, and now being accosted for just talking to her own family.

“Why? What a stupid question, because she’s my niece !” From the side, Lao and Goose watched, an almost inaudible sigh coming from the small ginger boy as he prepared himself for another round of yelling that, if the pattern continued, would just devolve into insults until someone’s feelings were hurt. While the boy seemed to resign himself to what was about to come, Goose groaned, holding her head in her hands as she made a desperate and tired plea to her niece and partner.

“Seriously guys, it’s been two months, can we just stop with this stuff?” Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm them down. In fact, Elizabeth turned and looked to her Aunt, deciding that, instead of giving her words any amount of thought, she’d instead try to pull Goose into the fight.

”Goose, she’s going behind Weiss’s back to talk with Ingrid! How are you just okay with that? Before Goose could tell them that at this point, she just didn’t care about some dumb family drama they weren’t even around for, Belka took the opportunity to butt in, poking Elizabeth in the shoulder as she shot back, much to Goose’s dismay. Lao looked between them, he wanted to try and help her, but if they didn’t listen to Goose, then what chance was there of them stopping because he asked?

“I never lied to anyone, my sister is fully aware I talk with Ingrid, because, unlike your bitter mother, she believes in letting her children make their own decisions.” Rather than get red in the face and fly off the handle like Belka had expected, Elizabeth just scoffed. Oh, so Belka wanted to invoke Weiss? That was fine, they could talk about Weiss all day. She made a point to slap Belka’s hand away before shooting back.

“Really? Is that why she goes out of her way to avoid you just like the rest of us?” Just as she had intended, the statement knocked the indignant look right off of Belka’s face. In fact, she even took a step back in shock, her mouth floundered to recover and hide just how much the words stung at the same time.

“Sh-she’s not avoiding me, we’re almost two decades apart in age, what would we even talk about?” Despite her best attempt at a comeback, Elizabeth knew she’d already won the argument, and Belka knew it too. Seeing the way Belka tried to hold back the mixture of anger and sadness that was spilling out, Lao couldn’t just watch, deciding to step forward and calmly clearing his throat so as to get their attention on him instead of each other.

“Elizabeth, stop. There’s no reason to try and hurt her just to make a point.” Elizabeth’s jaw actually dropped upon hearing that, her own partner was turning against her? Belka was similarly stunned into silence, having assumed that he’d just sit back and watch.

“You're taking her side? She started it!” Elizabeth protested, only to be met with a raised hand as Lao tried to keep the peace, something that unfortunately just made her angrier as her face started to burn red once more.

“This isn’t about taking sides, Goose is right, this is getting in the way of our-” Unfortunately, his partner was done listening, and she snapped at him, cutting him off.

“No, shut up, I’m sick of you acting like you’re so above everything! Will you drop that damn monotone voice or just emote or react like a human instead of some robot for once?” She couldn’t believe the boy, he was getting upset at her !? Everything else going on around them had, at most, caused him to flinch or make his lips move like a centimeter, but her rightfully calling Belka out for assuming that a woman who wanted nothing to do with her side of the family was just okay with one of her youngest children being around that man ’s daughter crossed the line? She wanted to tell off Ingrid as well, but seeing as the girl was back in Atlas, the long talk about why no one spoke to the Gele family could wait. 

“Don’t you speak to him that way, you’re acting like a child!” Belka spoke up, coming to the aid of her teammate. She knew Elizabeth didn’t like her, and at the moment there wasn’t much love in her heart for the angry little lady either, but Lao had done nothing, and she wasn’t going to let her tell him off for just trying to keep the peace. But Liz similarly wasn’t going to just let Belka get away with telling her off, and so she snapped back, all pretenses gone as she just said whatever she thought would make Belka shut up.

“Shut the hell up you- you stupid little affair baby!” The words rang out like a shockwave silencing the room, Belka could feel herself choking on air as the words came from her mouth. 'Affair Baby', a painful reminder of what many in Atlas saw her as, not as a person, just the result of her Father and Mother getting together, a walking scandal. Deep down, she knew it was how Winter looked at her, and very possibly Weiss, considering that Whitley was the only one of her siblings to actively give her the time of day, to visit, and show up for big events despite the differences between him and Father. But a part of her, some stupid little piece, had hoped it wasn’t what her nieces also thought, but it seemed that was the case. Seeing the pain on Belka’s face, Elizabeth felt… guilty. She didn’t know why she said what she did, it just came out because she knew it would hurt, that it would shut her up. So now that she got what she wanted, why did she regret it? Damn it, why couldn’t Belka just shut up! Suddenly, there was a strong pull on her arm and Goose was now in front of her, furious.

“Elizabeth Ironwood!” Elizabeth reflexively went to argue back, maybe what she said was uncalled for, but she was already feeling cornered by her partner taking Belka’s side, but she never got the chance, as Lao had seen more than enough. He quickly stomped his foot against the floor to gain their attention, however, he put a bit too much force into it and ended up cracking the tiles under his foot. His team flinched at the uncharacteristic display of anger, objectively, it wasn’t much of an outburst, any Huntsmen or Huntress in training could have done the same with some basic Aura concentration, but coming from Lao, this might as well have been him yelling at the top of his lungs at them. The three girls had also noticed that his once dull pink irises had shifted to a vibrant red as he stomped. Seeing their shocked and startled faces, Lao closed his eyes, took a deep breath, mentally counted to five, then slowly exhaled and reopened his eyes, which had shifted back to their regular color, his face once again bearing its usual calm neutrality. With the girls silently trying to piece together just what exactly that had just seen, he spoke once more.

“You’re taking it too far.” he said, the same calm and polite tone he used regularly, like he didn’t just get so mad his eyes turned blood red.

“I… why are you mad at me?” Liz stumbled over her words, looking around before landing on her Aunt Goose’s face. The girl was still mad, something that, on its own, was shocking, but suddenly she remembered that, technically, both of her grandparents had still been married while her younger Aunts were conceived, meaning that not only had she just insulted Belka in an uncalled for way, but also Goose as well. “Look I didn’t mean- after what her father did, Grandma Willow is hardly at fault!”

“Liz, I don’t care about that crap, I’m mad because you’re acting like a jerk!” The poor girl was ready to pull her own hair out at that explanation, what was so hard for them to understand? Why did they have to make everything about her Mom and Belka’s dad!? Before Liz could counter, Belka finally spoke back up, sniffling.

“So, she ’s fine then?” Belka spat through a cracking and shaky voice, tears falling from her eyes faster than her hands could wipe them away, a bitter laugh escaping from her as she tried to hide her emotions. “Right, my father is the bad guy, so she ’s fine, she ’s the one everyone excuses when her Mother steps out of the marriage, but I don’t even get a chance!”

“N-no, Belka! That’s no-” Goose tried to reach out, to tell her that it wasn’t true, but Belka just turned and glared, interrupting her.

“Don’t. Don’t you dare tell me that’s not true when they all adore you!” Goose stood there stunned, the amount of anger in her partner’s voice shocking her. Belka didn’t wait for anyone to react, turning on her heels and walking towards the door. “I’m heading out.”

“Belka where-” Before Lao could finish, the girl in question turned around, her eyes red and puffy, but a look of anger plastered across her face.

“Out!” Refusing to elaborate further, Belka slammed the door to the training room shut. She needed air, checking her watch, she decided she had enough time to go down to the city. She needed air, and to get the hell away from this place for a bit.

“I dunno about this man, what if we get caught?” Jin asked as he peered around the corner with Jet, his head just over the smaller boy’s as they attempted to covertly keep an eye out for any teachers, which wasn’t easy considering they were peering around a brightly lit hallway where they would immediately be spotted if anyone even so much as glanced in their direction. Their target: Assistant Headmistress Ruby Rose’s personal quarters, or more specifically, the book they suspected was hidden away inside. Through the process of elimination, they’d slowly narrowed the locations down to here, Qrow’s quarters, which, after the experience they’d endured with him in detention, they wanted to avoid unless absolutely necessary, or... 

“Well if you’re this nervous, we could always try sneaking into Headmistress Goodwitch’s office instead.” Jin paled at the suggestion, shaking his head at even the joking suggestion, much to his partner’s amusement. “Don’t worry, we’ll call that plan B.”

“Still, shouldn’t I be the one going in? Or at least stay with you? I mean she’s my Aunt, we could play it off better.” the blond whispered as they snuck their way closer. They’d been over this already, and while the green haired boy appreciated his partner looking out for him, as good as Jin was as a cover, his size made stealth… well, difficult, and in a small room, his ability to silently float around wasn’t as big a help as it could have been. So, he just got right to the point and explained why he needed to go into Ruby’s office.

“I have to be in there, I need to be able to visualize exactly where the book is or I can’t summon it, and you know she’s not gonna have something like that just sitting out in the open.” Jin sighed and nodded, taking his seat and opening the novel he’d been pretending to read while keeping a lookout.

“Just… be careful okay?” Jet tilted his head, it was weird seeing the usually confident and carefree Faunus so worried. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, hell, he was nervous himself, but they had a plan, and a pretty decent one all things considered. So as long as Jin warned him, or better yet, stalled for time if Miss Rose showed up, they’d be fine.

“Jin, I trust you, so do me a favor and trust yourself.” Thankfully, the encouragement seemed to work as Jin smiled, giving Jet a thumbs up before all but shoving his nose into the book. With confidence that his back was being watched, Jet casually made his way over to Miss Rose’s room, placing his hand into his jacket pocket to hide the glow from his Semblance as he used it to pull forth the spare key to the Professor’s room, which had been found in Professor Fuchsia’s room of all places. Once inside, he closed the door and re-locked it, making a mental note to stash the spare key back in Miss Fuchsia’s desk when no one was looking. The Assistant Headmistress’s dwellings were in the same basic layout as the others they’d snuck into, but with some personal touches here and there, like the workbench along the far wall, a bookshelf next to the coat closet, and an older gaming system hooked up to the TV. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here to rate his teacher’s dome decor choices, so he made his way over to the bookshelf and started searching. He had dreaded this part of the operation, knowing that it would take a while at best, but thankfully, most of the books were in pristine or near condition, immediately eliminating the majority of the shelf’s contents as he was apparently looking for an old worn journal. Out of the books that had been read enough to potentially have been his target, they all turned out to be fairy tales, such as The Girl Who Fell Through The World, The Four Maidens, The Story of the Seasons, and The Girl In The Tower, just to name a few. Not exactly the sort of literature he’d expected her to be into, but again, it wasn’t why he was here. He was disappointed that none of them had been the journal, but he supposed it was probably just wishful thinking to think it would’ve been that easy to find.

He made his way deeper into the quarters, eventually working his way down the hall and finding his way into the woman’s bedroom. To his surprise it looked just like Scarlet’s back home on Patch. Really, it was uncanny. The bed was unmade, with covers haphazardly strewn about, action figures of Grimm and generic-looking Huntsmen stood posed in an epic battle atop a shelf, an older, less advanced looking version of her signature scythe was mounted on the wall, and various posters of action movies new and old were held up on the wall with tacks. He couldn’t help but chuckle, the woman who’d seemed so professional and mature had a childish side. He wished Scarlet was with him, because there was no way she’d believe him when he told her. Getting to work, he started with the woman’s desk, shifting paperwork about in case it had been hidden in plain sight or underneath a paper or two, but remaining careful enough as to not knock over any of the pictures. He stopped for a moment when he noticed a picture of what looked to be her and the rest of her team’s  families, likely taken a year or two ago. The amount of people there was frankly ridiculous, it looked to be some sort of family reunion, complete with Jin, Goose, Lumi, and even Lao’s family, along with who he assumed was a few other family friends. He took a moment to gawk at the sheer amount of other children lined up with Lumi, seeing her sole brother alongside her ten sisters. Jet didn’t know much about the boy, vaguely remembering from Lumi talking about her family that his name started with an ‘N’, but he felt for him, Lupin could be a handful, and that was just one little sister, he couldn’t imagine having to deal with nine younger sisters while also having an older sister on top of it all. Focusing back on the task at hand, when the desktop yielded no results, he started to look through the drawers, office supplies, some old candy wrappers, and weirdly enough, what looked like an old burner scroll, again, something that was weird, but not noteworthy. He grumbled as he stepped away from the desk, he was running out of time with nothing to show for it, so he took a brief look in the closet and again ended up with nothing. Okay, think, it’s clearly not anywhere he would think to look, he needed to think like Ruby, who, considering the similar states of their rooms, might think at least a little bit like Scarlet. Where would she hide a book? Well that was a no brainer, he already knew about her porn stash under the mattress, but where el-  

No, no, it wasn’t that easy, he refused to believe she’d just hide something there, but still, he had nothing to lose, so he made his way back towards the bed, raising the mattress up and away from the frame. And there, stashed between a stash of weapon and swimsuit magazines, was an old, dusty journal. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that he had found it, or disappointed in its resting spot, but either way, he started making a mental note of the location, remembering its exact spot: middle of the room, underneath the mattress, in between the guns and softcore porn. With the location memorized, he carefully lowered the bed and made his way to the exit, stopping once he felt the buzzing of his scroll in his pants indicating he’d gotten a text. Before he could even check it though, the sound of the doorknob moving caused his heart to skip a beat. Thinking fast, he dove for the couch, using it as cover and hiding himself just in time as the door practically flew open. He couldn’t see who came in, but there were two sets of feet hitting the floor, one normal sounding, the other heavier and metallic.

“Touko, please! I can ex-” The voice of Professor Rose was stopped as the metallic feet of who he assumed was Miss Fuchsia turned on their heels, and a moment later, her irate voice confirmed his suspicion.

“Oh I’m sure you can, everything’s excusable when they have a sob story.” It sounded like they’d been arguing for a while, yet he was certain he would have heard them coming if that were actually the case. Hearing more footsteps, he moved around to the foot of the couch and crawled forward, staying out of sight of the two teachers. Touko stormed towards the bedroom, only stopping once Ruby reformed after Petal Bursting past her, placing her hands on the cyborg’s shoulders and looking into her fuchsia eyes, hoping the woman would just hear her out for a moment.

“Could you just calm down for one second? You’re acting like I’m teaming up with a Grimm!” As much as Ruby had been dreading this argument, once Touko learned where she was getting her information from, she knew she couldn’t hide it. 

“A gangster who kills people for money isn’t that much of an improvement Ruby!” Ruby flinched at her friend’s anger and disappointment, she wished she could say it was the first time they’d fought over this, but it was far from it. The argument had really started back when she first met him as a fresh-faced young man, alone and angry at everything. She couldn’t really keep it a secret even if she’d wanted to, seeing as she and Touko had been sharing a spare apartment whenever they weren’t in Beacon. She’d been hesitant even then, but the fights didn’t really start until she agreed to train the boy and, rather than turning his life around like she hoped, and thought he would, he doubled down on his criminal lifestyle. Ever since then, whenever Ruby had spoken with or let it slip that she’d met with Romeo, at best, they’d be in a more sour mood with each other, but at worst? They’d fight and not speak to each other for days.

“He’s not some wanton murderer, Touko!” Ruby defended her friend as best as she could. Again, it was an argument that they'd both made their stance clear on, and were tired of hearing. Touko just didn't want to hear it again, it didn't matter to her if he ‘never tried to hurt anyone innocent’ or ‘had a code’, he knew he was hurting people, and he did it anyways when he could have very well done so many other things rather than be a career criminal with his skillset. She didn't know why Ruby put up with him, why she risked everything for someone who'd let her down so hard before, she was crushed when Romeo decided not to become a Huntsman and instead went back to the life he knew.

“According to who? Him?” Touko asked, shaking herself free from her friend's grasp and crossing her arms, giving her best stern look to the younger professor.

“I know how it sounds, but he’s my friend, I trust him.” Touko let out a groan of frustration and turned around to go back towards the living room, clutching her left arm by the bicep as a faint glow started to emit from it, visible  even underneath her heavy coat. Hearing footsteps, Jet made the quick decision to hide in the coat closet, pressing his back against the wall in hopes of avoiding being spotted. He was completely lost, they were arguing over some guy, and a criminal at that? He didn't really know the context, but at least it was nice to know he wasn't the only one in a mess thanks to factors outside of his job. Touko held her head in her hands as Ruby carefully approached, clearly also growing irritated as Touko walked away. She just needed to think her words over before she got mad and said something stupid, or worse, something she’d regret.

“Look, I get it, you feel bad for him, hell, I feel bad for him, but that deal is ludicrous! You let a dangerous criminal loose for some information!” Touko said, trying to get the conversation back on track and away from this old argument. Unfortunately, Ruby was getting emotional, not really thinking past the main conflict, something that just frustrated Touko even more.

“People can change. I’m not apologizing for not giving up on my friend when he is nothing like the real monsters we fight!” From his spot in the closet, Jet’s interest was officially peaked, while the argument itself wouldn’t be out of place in one of those soap operas his and Scarlet’s Moms claimed were ‘just guilty pleasures’, the fact that it was coming from members of Beacon’s staff made the potential consequences feel a lot more real. Maybe this was something he and his teammates could look into later, but for the moment, he was just looking for a way to escape.

“Fine, just don’t expect me to be there when it blows up in your face just like I said it would last time!” Ruby flinched at her friend's words, looking like she’d been slapped, and just like that, Touko knew she’d let herself get too worked up and said something stupid. Damn it, why did she throw that in her face? She knew it was a sore topic and that Ruby would be hurt. The worst part was that she didn’t even mean it. Even if this all came crashing down, Touko knew damn well she’d be right there to back the woman up come hell or high water, but it was too late, Ruby masked the hurt on her face with anger as she spoke.

“I’m not doing this right now. Vermillion Port, something is happening there tonight.” Ruby said, shoving the benefits of her deal in her friend's face as if to shut her up, something that didn’t sit right with Touko, hating when she was shut out by her. 

“Ruby- please, I didn’t-” Touko stumbled over her own words to try and apologize, but the red reaper ignored her, walking off toward the bedroom in a huff.

“Touko, this isn’t up for debate, there is an active threat in our city. Jaune’s already got a stakeout prepared, and I would appreciate it if you were there as backup.” Ruby said, her tone leaving no room for discussion, then it hit Touko that this was less of a suggestion , and more of an order . Was… was she pulling rank on her just to end the conversation?

“Can we please just talk ?” There was a pause as Ruby stopped at the hallway. She considered looking back, but eventually decided against it, speaking with her back turned.

“I have nothing to say to you right now. If you’re not going on the mission, just let me know now so I can get started early to do it myself.” Feeling defeated, Touko sulked, looking down at her feet, and with nothing left to say, she relented.

“I’ll go… I’m sorry.” Touko said quietly, agreeing to the mission before turning to leave, taking one last apologetic look at her friend before walking out, closing the door behind her.

“Damn it.” With that, Ruby walked back to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Jet let out the air he didn’t know he’d been holding in, that was too close. But, if nothing else, he had some new information, Vermillion Pport,. While the erratic conversation didn’t give him much to go on, Professor Rose had been adamant that something would be happening there tonight, and it was worth bringing up at the very least. Carefully, he exited the closet, listening for any signs that indicated either of them would come back into the living room. After about a minute, he made his way to the door, carefully closing it behind him. Sighing, he looked around as Jin turned to see him, waving his hands back and forth, probably still worried.

“Alright, I found it, now we just need t-”

“You found what exactly?” Jet felt his blood run cold at the voice, Jin similarly winced and rubbed the back of his head, stepping aside revealing Elena, standing there with her arms crossed.

Belka walked down the streets of Vale aimlessly, having spent most of the day just following wherever her interests took her. So far, she’d tried out a few restaurants, and while they may not have been to the standards of Atlas’s cuisine, she found them adequate. Next, she stopped by a movie theater, but that just soured her mood as she saw a film playing that her friend Whiskey was excited to see, something about time travel and robots, a ridiculous plot combined with creepy automatons made it something she planned to avoid like the plague. She felt lonely once reminded of her friend, she would have made the day in the city a genuine adventure rather than just a distraction. She would have liked Vale, it was a refreshing change of pace from Atlas where all the snobby upper class were just fake smiles and platitudes, the constant requests for favors and promises of rewards for a simple introduction made her sick, putting on a facade of friendship while snickering about her being born a bastard when they thought she was out of earshot. If it wasn’t for her Mother and Father teaching her how to navigate the politics of power, she’d have certainly been eaten alive. Mantle unfortunately wasn’t much better, and while no one had actually had the guts to attack her, every trip down to the city had resulted in sneers and bombardments of their issues with her parents, as if she had a say in those matters, but she supposed that was the price of her being born to a councilwoman. But here, people treated her just as they would any other normal girl.

Looking down at her scroll, she frowned, it was nearly time to turn back. It would take at least an hour to get back to the transport to Beacon, and they closed not long after she’d get there. She was not looking forward to the tense mood that would no doubt persist when she returned, but it wasn’t as if getting into an argument was a good excuse to not show up for class, so, ignoring the many missed calls and shutting off her Scroll, she turned around so that she could start to make her way back, but instead she bumped right into a young man around her own age.

“Oh, my mista-” As she went to apologize, she felt a hand very deliberately brush along her upper thigh, and immediately she jumped back, how dare he! She had planned to slap him right across his stupid face and call him out in front of the entire street, but then she realized that he had just so happened to touch the entrance of her pocket. Violet eyes locked with dark green as she reached down into her pocket, and it was just as she thought, he was no pervert, he had robbed her! Looking him up and down, she made sure to memorize key features, auburn hair, dark skin, and a red coat with black fluff along the collar. A moment later, just as she had expected, the young man turned and fled, leaving her to chase after him as she called out. “Stop! Thief!” 

Unfortunately, no one stopped him, and thus she was forced to run after the man herself, and he made that quite the difficult task. He pushed through crowds, made far more turns than what was necessary, and he even threw a plate at her when they passed by a restaurant’s patio. Eventually though, she managed to follow him into an alleyway, and as soon as she turned the corner, she grew tense. The little pickpocket was there, of course, but now he was accompanied by two others. The first of them was obviously the man’s twin, the only difference between them being that his hair was black and he was dressed in a green and black set of combat gear, and the other man was a skinny, light skinned fish Faunus of some sort with visible gills on his neck. They both looked to Belka, then over to the new arrival for an explanation as he bent over and panted heavily.

“She followed me for three freakin’ blocks!” The Faunus scoffed and walked forward, cracking his knuckles in a clear attempt to intimidate her. However, Belka had put up with more than enough things ruining her day, and she was not going to let this punk scare her into giving up what was hers! The moment he got into melee range, she reached back and pulled Morgan from the magnetic plate on her back, extending the weapon into its combat form, but not activating the Dust blade, leaving it a very fancy quarterstaff. These were just thugs after all, not Grimm, she didn’t want to kill them. The weapon’s suddenly extending form struck right into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. She then twirled the weapon, clocking him across the cheek, and sending him to the ground like a sack of dirt. The twins grew tense at this, clearly having expected the dainty looking girl to be a pushover, and it filled Belka with pride to see them react with shock when they realized that she actually could fight back. Yet, it didn’t stop them as they each activated a set of gauntlets, the red twin’s set sprouting a pair of blades and the green twin’s knuckles starting to glow from Dust infused with his gloves. They didn’t give her a moment to breathe as they rushed into her, using her weapon’s length to keep them at bay as she searched for an opening. They were tough to keep pace with, especially as a pair, but they were no Goose. The red twin went to advance with a slash, but his brother still went for an attack of his own. Using this to her advantage, she struck the leg of the red twin, knocking him into his brother’s fist, which in turn hit with far more force, sending him into the wall. As the man reacted in shock and turned to check on his sibling, she swiftly landed another strike on the inside of his knee, knocking him off balance, and opening him up for a follow up swing to the jaw that knocked him to the ground as well. She heard the other twin getting up behind her, and, feeling confident as well as a bit cheeky, she twirled Morgan without even turning to face him, striking him in the head as well. Now, with the thugs all knocked out on the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. But, her plans of rummaging through their pockets and praying that no one would stumble upon the scene was suddenly interrupted by someone clapping at the entrance to the alleyway. 

“Now that’s what I call a show!” Nearly jumping out of her skin, Belka turned on her hips and pointed Morgan at the man who showed up behind her, but to her surprise, he was completely unfazed by her threatening him with her weapon, still clapping. He was eye-catching to say the least, not very tall, maybe the same height as Goose, clad in a white set of suit pants and a matching shirt with a pink overcoat resting on his shoulders. He didn’t seem threatening, but with the three who just tried to jump her, she wasn’t in the mood to take any chances.

“How long have you been standing there? Did you follow me?” The man actually laughed, holding his hands up in mock surrender as he slowly made his way closer, yet remaining far enough away for her to not consider him a threat.

“Of course I did, I couldn’t return this if I just let you run off.” With a flick of his wrist, he produced a white and gold Lien card, flashing the side that had her thundermark emblem.

“What!? But how-” Belka’s eyes bulged as she broke from the man’s mismatching eyes to what was unmistakably her card, then back to the pickpocket who’d snatched it from her, trying to piece together how he had gotten his hands on it. Slowly, he held out the card, and, despite his actions, the smile on his face gave away that he found the whole situation more amusing than anything else.

“Little thief bumped into me while he was running off, so I figured I’d do my good deed for the day and help you out.” he said, almost as if he was reading her mind. While not fully satisfied with the answer, she figured he had proven he wasn’t a threat, so she lowered Morgan and let it collapse back into its inactive state. She took back her card with an audible sigh of relief, tucking it deep into her pocket before turning back to the man and crossing her arms at him.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked with a huff, making a show of how annoyed she was with him. He could have saved her all that trouble if he just spoke up, but it was obviously half hearted, and she was sure he could tell.

“Well, I was going to, but honestly, I’m glad I didn’t. That was quite the show.” She should have been annoyed, but she couldn’t really be mad at him, especially when she had clearly impressed him. It felt nice, even in just a small way, and after the week she’d been having, that small bit went a long way. Then, he reached his hand out, offering it for her to shake. “Ah, where are my manners? I’m Sherbet Malachite. And you are?”

“Belka. And please, it was nothing.” she said, shaking his hand. Getting a better look at him, she couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t look half bad, flamboyant for sure, but for some reason, it worked for him, especially the hair, half pink before a stripe of white separated it from the other half, which was a more natural orange, at least so long as his eyebrows were natural. Despite not changing that smile of his, it seemed a lot nicer and more sincere than it had previously. 

“Nothing? That was nothing short of amazing.” Despite herself, Belka let her lips curl upwards into a small smile, it had been a while since she had received such praise, and she didn’t think she’d ever get it from someone as cute as him.

“If you think that was good, you should see my team, they put me to shame. I’m more of a strategist if anything.” Despite trying to downplay her abilities, he perked up even more, and a part of her wondered if most people were this impressed with what was, by all accounts, an average Huntress in training, but a louder part of her mind told her to shut up and take the compliment.

“All I’m hearing is that you’ve got brains, beauty, and brawn.” That compliment caused her cheeks to heat up almost immediately. Gods, she hoped she didn’t look as much of a mess as she felt, she had just stormed off after that mess in training, so she certainly couldn’t have looked presentable. He didn’t care however, at least, not to any extent where she could tell. “You mentioned a team, like Beacon, right?”

“Y-yes! I’m the leader of team BGEL… yes, like the food.” They shared a chuckle at that, she’d never really thought about that before, but now that she thought about it, she couldn’t deny that it was amusing, the goofy name certainly fit her band of misfits.

“Really? What’s it like? I actually almost attended but… well, life had other plans.” he said wistfully. That explained it, he hadn’t been able to attend. A shame really, he looked about the same age as the fourth years. Suddenly, she grew curious as to why he didn’t, but that was probably personal, so she chose not to pry, instead taking pride in the fact that someone who had wanted to be like her was impressed. “Maybe we could talk about it over dinner? My treat, you already put on quite the show after all.”

That was a delightfully tempting offer, she’d only known Sherbet for a few minutes, but so far she wanted to know more, he had this disarming aura that made her feel comfortable, or at least like she could ignore her crappy day and just laugh about something silly like her team name. Glancing down at her scroll she frowned, it was getting late and soon there would be no more transports back to Beacon. Regrettably, this was where they parted ways… for today at least.

“That sounds nice… but I should get back to school, I have class in the morning. But, maybe some other time?” Sherbet nodded understandingly, pulling a business card out of his pocket and holding it out for her to take.

“Well, if you ever change your mind, just come and find me.” Without a second thought, she took the card, glancing down to see the name ‘Junior’s’ clearly labeled in thick black ink along with a listing of hours that ran rather late, 8PM to 4AM to be exact. A nightclub? Certainly not what she had expected, but it wasn’t nearly as offputting as she’d expected. Pocketing the card, she gave him a small smile.

“I might just take you up on that. Goodbye for now, Sherbet.” And with that, she left, a pep in her step as the man remained on her mind long after she left the alley. 

Watching her leave, Romeo lifted a cigar to his mouth, lighting it with a match and taking a long, satisfying drag as he let the familiar burn of the smoke fill his lungs, exhaling a moment later. While not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he couldn’t deny that that had been all too easy, just dressing up nice, saying some pretty words, and flashing a smile was all it took? Granted, that got him in the door with most women, but Belka was practically skipping away, the girl must have been either sheltered or going through a breakup and seeing him as a potential rebound. Either way, he was more than happy with the results. 

“You can get up now.” Hearing their friend, the Malachite twins sat up, Melodias groaned as he brushed the dirt out of his auburn hair.

“Ow, those Beacon kids don’t pull any punches.” The red-clad twin whined, getting little sympathy from Romeo. The Faunus goon hadn’t complained much, granted that was because Belka had actually knocked him out cold, but still, he had taken it like a champ! Meanwhile, Maverick stood up, rolling his shoulder with a sneer. He was already pissy about the plan in general, yet he still accepted the money and went along with it.

“What was that? Because I know for a damn fact that you didn’t have us take a fall just so you could get laid later.” Romeo laughed, then paused, briefly considering it, before shaking his head. Mixing work with pleasure was always a fun experience, but the girl was Ruby’s student, he had to be careful with her. Maybe if she didn’t hate his guts when all this was over, he’d see if there was a chance for a night full of mistakes they could make together.

“Just an insurance policy, she has some friends I want to keep tabs on.” Romeo said, walking over and helping Melodias wake up the grunt as the welt on his chin turned purple, making a mental note to double his pay if he was a good sport over it.

“Hey guys, did you find it?” Jet and Jin both froze at the sudden voice of Scarlet as they walked into the door, not expecting the girls to just be sitting around. They shared a look, Jet slowly reaching back and pushing the door back just a bit, not quite closing it as Jin coughed, stepping forward with a nervous grin.

“So uh, promise you won’t get mad?” Jin asked meekly, the girls of SJJL sharing a glance at his nervous demeanor, and then shifting their attention to Jet who shuffled in place, looking away to avoid eye contact as he adjusted the bun he had his hair tied up in. The boys were acting as if they were in trouble, which didn’t really bode well given that they had just come back from attempting to break into the room of the second most influential person on campus.

“Jin, last time something like that was said in this room, we told the others about a cult. Please tell me it’s not on the same level.” Scarlet asked, pleaded really. They had only just gotten finished with their month of detention recently, if they were in trouble again, she was going to cry.

“You guys really are chasing a cult!?” The sudden voice of Juliet asked from behind the cracked door, the woman’s head peeking in a moment later. “Holy crap, Elena was right.”

“You told them!?” Lumi shrieked, unable to believe the sight before her as Elena and Luna similarly poked their heads through the gap, Rosaria just skipping the games and opening the door as she walked in.

“Actually, uh, Elena caught Jet coming out of Professor Rose’s room.” Jin said, explaining the situation as JWEL all piled into the room, Luna closing the door behind them and giving a small wave that Scarlet returned.

“That's not any better!” Lumi almost yelled, stopping herself as she remembered they had other teams on both sides of their dorm, bringing down her volume and instead settling for staring down the other team with murderous intent. Scarlet felt uneasy, she liked JWEL, they were nice girls from what she had been through with them, but this was starting to look like one of those intervention things she’d seen on TV.

“So, why are you here? To convince us to stop?” The bovine Faunus asked, already thinking of arguments in her head as to why this was something she had to do, not just for herself, but for the school and the public’s safety.

“No, just the opposite.” Rosaria said, much to the surprise of the SJJL girls, who had already been preparing separate reasons as to why they couldn’t and absolutely would not just set the case aside, all seemingly for nothing as Rosaria casually rendered them silent. Juliet joined her a moment later.

“Pfft, we wanna help you guys, duh.” Juliet announced, speaking for her whole team, the other girls nodding in agreement. 

“Why? You guys just heard about a crazy death cult, and you decided to drop everything to try and take them down?” Lumi asked, as though it was the most ridiculous thing she’d heard.

“Exactly like you guys are doing?” Lumi didn’t have much of a comeback to Elena’s point, given that it was, in fact, exactly what they had done. Even with their own personal reasons excluded, it wasn’t too far off the mark, so she stayed quiet,  making sure that her face made it clear that she didn’t like her own motives being thrown back at her.

“Look, Jet and Jin already told us about the school looking into these guys, if they really are that dangerous, then it’s our job to do something about them.” Juliet said, unknowingly parroting SJJL’s own feelings about the group posing a threat in Vale

“Hey, I won’t say no, more hands on Operation Unveiling is a good thing, right?” Her hand was almost immediately clamped down on by Juliet’s, and, while the other girl’s hand was slightly smaller, her grip was twice as powerful, forcing Scarlet to try and hold back a wince as they shook on it. 

“I thought we agreed not to call it that.” Lumi complained, getting Juliet’s attention, the muscled girl almost immediately taking Scarlet’s side.

“What? Why not, that’s such a cool name, can we put it to a vote?”

“Guys, focus.” Elena said, forcing the conversation back on track. “Jet, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Taking a deep breath Jet concentrated, remembering the layout of his professor’s room, focusing on the middle of the room in his mind’s eye, underneath the mattress, in between the guns and porn. A moment later, the old, worn journal appeared in his hands, the faded ink on the front reading a simple name; Tyrian Callows. Elena’s fists tightened at the name on the book, her knuckles turning white from the pressure, yet no one noticed as they opened the dead man’s diary, only to be greeted with a poem about death and the beauty of destruction.

“You know, for a guy nuttier than squirrel shit, he’s got amazing handwriting.” Scarlet muttered as they flipped through the pages, paragraphs upon paragraphs devoted to how this monster had slain innocents for his Goddess. One entry made her blood run cold, she assumed it was made right after her Mom had defected from whatever foul organization she was once a part of, as it went into great detail about what the sick bastard planned to do with her. There was more than just her though, and, apparently it was a smaller world then she’d imagined, because this guy had been involved with everyone, not just her Mom. Emerald and Mercury were name dropped more than once, Jet flinching every time he read his parents’ names in the pages. In between passages, she reached over, comfortingly placing her hand on top of his. They shared a small glance, but he still seemed uneasy. It wasn’t much, but she hoped it helped, even if just a little. Returning to the journal, it turned out that he’d even encountered Professor Rose, along with Lao’s parents, and the dads of both Lumi and Goose. The most prevalent names though were someone or something he called his ‘Goddess’, receiving pages and pages of psychotic devotion, and someone he’d nicknamed as ‘the Little Minx’, whom he seemed downright infatuated with.

“Stop!” Luna said, reaching out and placing her hand on the page as they went to turn it, specifically over a strange symbol surrounding a drawing of an eye. Silence filled the room as the others waited for her to speak up. She bit her lip, clearly contemplating her words but, now that she’d said it, there was no taking it back, so with a heavy sigh, she just said the truth.  “I… I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that symbol before. I think, my Mom used it back when I was little, said it was the sign of ‘The Goddess’ or something like that, though I, um, might be misremembering things.”

‘The Goddess’? That certainly sounded similar to what the Journal’s owner had written about, didn’t it? She looked around the room, and saw that the sudden possibility that this psychopath and Luna’s own mother belonged to the same group didn’t sit well with anyone. No one knew what to say, the girl didn’t speak much about her home life, even to her team, and if her family really was connected to this, it suddenly made a lot of sense why. As it happened, there was an entry on the page next to the symbol, and with everyone’s attention already drawn to the book, she decided to continue reading.

January 8th, 82 AGW

Today, I am a father. Our daughter Lavender was born in the early hours of the morning. The Little Min

The words were still legible, but scribbled out before continuing.

Neo is still asleep, she’s small, I don’t imagine it was easy for her. But, both my lover and my child are alive and healthy, and I am overjoyed. While nothing could ever hope to match the beauty of Her Grace, I dare say that Lavender is the only living creature that even comes close in my eyes. That is what Arthur will never understand, he foolishly strives for perfection when the true beauty lies in the impurities of life, like the little mole on my darling daughter’s back, or the light hues of violet in her tail making it just a bit different from the color of my own. I’m rambling again, Neo insists that Evernight is no place to raise a child, and now that I’m holding the delicate creature in my arms, I have to agree. She owns an estate in Vale and insists hiding in plain sight is the best option, but I see past that. The true reason she wants to go back is for her son, to have her family all together. A lesser man might feel intimidated by the prospect of becoming a stepfather, yet I can’t wait to share what I know with the boy. While Henna is not mine biologically, seeing her grow and learn has been almost as great a privilege as serving Her Grace. Teaching my darling daughter, and a stepson? I can only imagine the pride I’ll feel for them once they’re grown. Surely Abdullah can manage the growth of our group without me for a few years, after all, if my own Goddess says I’ve earned the right to enjoy fatherhood, then who am I to argue?

“Lavender, that’s the chick who tried to kill us.” Scarlet said, mostly to herself as she processed the entry. Compared to the other entries raving about death, devotion, and usually went on tangents that were completely incomprehensible to the sane of mind, this one seemed to be written in some strange daze of clarity. It made sense to her, the little psycho wouldn’t be so pissed about her father’s death if he was only concerned with murder, and… as much as she hated to admit it, she understood, she loved her Mom and Dad, even after everything she’d been through, knowing what they’d done.  

“More importantly that guy Abdl- Ababa… Adbuella.” Luna almost bit her lip trying to pronounce the name, Rosaria eventually speaking up and pronouncing it properly.

“Abdullah.” she said, getting a nod as Luna continued.

“Yeah, him, this Tyrian guy said he was in charge, and I’m guessing that this is their symbol.” Luna said, tapping the weird eyeball looking drawing solemnly. Silently, Jin reached over and patted her back, her statement about her mother from a few weeks ago suddenly making a lot more sense.

“That’s not a lot to go on, so now what?” Lumi muttered, scowling at the book. They were given practically nothing to go on, what were they to do? Go around asking people if they’d seen the symbol and hope they’d be stupid enough to say yes? All that risk, just to end up as lost as when Scarlet first brought up the group.

“Well I heard there’s something going on in Vermillion Port, if no one else has any other ideas, we could search there.” All the heads in the room turned towards Jet, curious as to this potential new lead, except for Juliet, who snapped her fingers as if suddenly remembering something.

“Oh! Jacinthe might know something about them!” Juliet spoke up, surprising the rest of the group with the name drop, as if they were expected to know who that was. After a moment of waiting for her to elaborate and just getting stared at in return, Jin raised his hand, asking the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“And, uh, who’s that exactly?” Juliet laughed, assuming it was a joke, but, soon realizing that almost none of the people in the room were actually from Vale, and that even less of them were part of the upper class, realized her mistake, clearing her throat and clarifying.

“Jacinthe, she’s one of those high society class types who knows everyone, except she’s not up her own ass. She’s actually really cool, she even sponsored me so I could get into Beacon!”

“ You know people in high society?” Lumi asked incredulously, looking the buff tomboy up and down. The girl frankly didn’t look like she’d know what class was if it hit her in the face, and she would have said as much if she didn’t catch the sideways glance from Jin that practically screamed ‘please be nice’, so she bit her tongue for the moment.

“Rosaria’s dad introduced us. They’re rich, not like you Schnees rich, but if she wanted, she could sit on her sweet ass all day and never have to work a day in her life ever again.” Rosaria sighed and elbowed her friend in the ribs in silent retaliation, causing her to yelp and pout at her friend, Rosaria then turning and ignoring her partner’s scowl.

“So this Jacinthe, she’ll know who these guys are?” Jin asked, trying to get the conversation back on track, which Juliet nodded at.

“Trust me, if there’s something going on in Vale, she knows it.” Juliet said confidently, while at her side, Rosaria raised an eyebrow at the assertion, seeming to indicate a lack of confidence in the idea. Elena similarly wasn’t exactly convinced by her leader, instead turning to Jet.

“Okay, but what about Vermillion Port, are we absolutely sure something’s happening tonight?” At the line of questioning, the boy nodded before explaining.

“Miss Rose seemed pretty sure, apparently Professor Fuchsia and Mister Arc-Schnee are going on a stakeout tonight.” This information didn’t seem to please the Faunus, her face growing sour at the information.

“A stakeout? So they’re not actually investigating, they’re sitting around, hoping to just… spot the super secretive group ?” Jet shrugged at Elena’s question, not exactly having an answer, seeing as he didn’t make this plan, only making her scowl harder. Everyone looked around surprised at Elena’s hostility, SJJL’s members looking to the remaining JWEL girls for answers, but only getting shrugs and confused looks in response. Before anyone could figure out her problem, Elena spoke up once more. “I’m going to the port.”

“But we don’t even know what’s there.” Lumi pointed out, already a bit defensive over the insinuation that her Father was going to just sit by and do nothing if he suspected anything out of the ordinary.

“ Exactly , this lady Juliet knows is still gonna be there in a week, whatever’s happening at Vermillion might not.” Elena said, giving the group pause. They had to admit, there was a high possibility that if there was something to be found tonight and they ignored it, the teachers would find it first, rounding up any potential leads and keeping the information found to themselves, or worse, they’d be spotted and the group would clear out, leaving no one with information.

“I agree with Elena, besides, Miss Rose went as far as to go to a criminal for this information, so either it’s really good, or the professors are probably gonna need backup.” Jet said, making his position known, the bit about Ruby’s informant getting his partner’s attention.

“Wait, she did what ?” Jin asked. That just didn’t sound like his aunt at all, but at the same time, Jet wouldn’t lie, right? Not now and certainly not about this. “I’m going too, I need to see what’s down there.”

“If anything, the less than reputable source means it’s probably a wild goose chase.” Rosaria pointed out, not liking the idea of the port. She noticed that a split seemed to be forming amongst the impromptu group, as so far, three of them wanted to just go off and investigate what, for all they knew, could be a warehouse rigged to explode once they stepped inside, an unnecessary and dangerous gamble. Scarlet noticed this as well, but she didn’t see as much of an issue with the plan.

“Why don’t we just split up? Four of us go to meet with Juliet’s friend, and the other four go check out the warehouse.” Scarlet said. Most in the room seemed fine with the idea, except for Rosaria and a hesitant looking Juliet, but before the tanned titan and her partner could say anything, Elena once again spoke up.

“Works for me, so, who else wants to come down to the docks with us?” At the girl’s question, Luna stepped forward, looking down and fiddling with her sleeve, but remaining firm in her decision.

“I-I’ll go.” Luna said quietly. Despite obviously second guessing the decision, she stepped over with the others who planned to check out Vermillion Port. “E-Elena’s right, even if there’s just a small chance they’re actually there, we can’t let them just keep doing what they’re doing and preying on vulnerable people.”

“So it’s a plan then. We head out in two teams of four, each check out our respective leads, then meet back up to share what we know, and find a place to crash in town. That good with everyone?” Scarlet asked the group as a whole, getting nods from just about everyone.

“I still think splitting up is a mistake, but it seems I’m outvoted.” Rosaria said with a sigh, but seceding to the majority with a nod. With their roles decided, Scarlet pumped her fist into the air, declaring with a shout;

“Alright everyone, Operation Unveiling is officially underway!”

Chapter Text

Vermillion Port was nothing special from the outside looking in. It didn’t perform better or worse than the various other privately owned docks surrounding it and it didn’t import or export anything special. On paper, it was just another boring old port, all of which made the group of cloaked weirdos moving stuff in and out of the attached warehouse all the more suspicious, especially considering the fact that most of them weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were carrying automatic weapons. They moved openly and brazenly, their black cloaks and dark tarps concealing them and their mysterious cargo from most people under the cover of night. Thankfully for the huntsmen in training, two of them just so happened to have excellent night vision, Jin lacking the strong night vision most Faunus have, and Jet had the foresight to summon his set of night vision goggles for himself and his partner. The figures were clearly trafficking something, or more accurately, a bunch of somethings, all of which were large and aggravated if the way the containers shook and jolted in random directions was anything to go by. The teens agreed that a frontal assault would be a terrible idea, and instead made their way around the building. The second set of open docks was more or less the same, although the collection of cloaked figures varied more, some were in blood red gowns while others were in white with bright red highlights, their faces were also covered in white masks, not that the teens could get close enough to get a good look in the first place, but it just added to their suspicion. They searched more of the perimeter of the port, the front entrance was a no-go, not because it was too heavily guarded, but because there was absolutely no one on lookout at all. That had to be a trap considering what was going on in the back, there was probably a set of guards just waiting to open fire on anyone dumb enough to try and break in, so they kept searching, eventually finding a side door that was much more manageable. Two guards were there in the more simple black cloaks, similarly armed with a set of rifles that Jet immediately identified as Vacuan-made now that he had a better view from their spot just past the corner.

“Looks like your aunt’s informant knows what they’re talking about.” Elena mumbled out from her spot at the corner, watching the pair of cultists. A part of her couldn’t believe that they actually looked like stereotypical cult members, shouldn’t they try not to stand out? Or were they so into this ‘Goddess’ they believed in that they just weren’t concerned with prying eyes at all? 

“Yeah…I guess so.” While the comment hadn’t been overtly negative, the reminder itself had Jin feeling uneasy, and the fact that the information had apparently paid off definitively proved that she was working with someone she shouldn’t be. He knew she had a good reason, she had to, he just couldn’t figure out what it was, no matter how hard he wracked his head over it. Seeing the boy start to sulk, Luna placed a hand on his bicep, rubbing his arm in an attempt to be comforting.

“Jin, are you alright?” She asked gently, getting a weak nod from the boy that wasn’t fooling anyone. “Is it about your aunt?”

With a sigh, Jin caved, nodding his head as he looked to his fellow huntsman in training as he explained himself.

“I’m just worried, I know I should trust her, but making deals with crooks isn’t something Huntresses are supposed to do, right?”

“Pretty much the exact opposite, my Dad always told me getting involved with crime is one of the worst things you can do as a Huntsman.” Jet said, placing his night vision goggles into the small backpack he’d brought along with them to store his extra gear, pausing once he realized that both Luna and Elena were both giving him a questioning look over the statement. “He had a uh… unique perspective on it.”

“Well I’d say something to her, she of all people should know better than to play with fire.” Elena said as she turned her attention back to the makeshift team, lacking any sympathy towards Ruby. Miss Rose was a decorated Huntress, she couldn’t fathom why a woman like their assistant headmistress would even consider something so foolish.

“But what if she’s really just helping? Miss Rose is really nice, she doesn’t seem like the sort of person who’d be a bad guy.” Luna spoke up in defense of their teacher, only to get a stern look from Elena in return. 

“Of course not, she wouldn’t want you to think that she could make deals with gangsters.” The red headed Faunus had clearly made up her mind already, there was just no excuse for her behavior, she was a Huntress, one of the most influential in the kingdom. Even if her partner was right and she was just doing everything in her power to find more information on this group, she should have gotten it from within an interrogation room, not from a handshake and a favor.

“Uh Elena, I know this is questionable, but she’s still my Aunt. Mommy even says she’s the best Huntress around!” The earnest way he spoke about his aunt reminded Elena that Miss Rose wasn’t just a professor in his eyes, but a family member that he’d known a lot longer, and frankly, better , than she ever would. Her suspicions didn’t go away of course, but she reminded herself that some tact wouldn’t hurt in this discussion. However, any genuine tension that may have been building evaporated once the big muscular boy uttered the word ‘Mommy’. His fellow students were unable to stop themselves from giggling like children.

“Pfft- Mommy?” Jet snorted before covering his mouth to stifle the sounds he was making.

“What?” Jin looked perplexed as the three others calmed down, it wasn’t like he was just being childish, he had two Moms! He needed a way to specify which he was talking about, so Mama and Mommy seemed fine to him and the twins.

“Nothing, that’s actually kinda sweet.” Jet said, raising his hands in surrender and giving a polite smile as Luna giggled a bit more.

“Heads up, the guards are changing.” Elena suddenly said, waving Jet over, the boy pulling his night vision goggles back out as he took his place beside the girl, getting them on just as the door closed. From his perspective, the only difference was that one of the cultists had apparently shrunk about half a foot.

“Anything worth noting?”  It didn't look like it, even as he tried to take a look at the finer details, they used the same guns and lacked any outline of armor or any additional equipment. There was the faint outline of a tail moving underneath the robes of the taller of the two guards, though it was impossible to tell what kind of Faunus they were, nor if they had good night vision or any other enhanced senses. Either way, it probably wasn't worth risking and testing their luck. “We should do another sweep, see if we missed anything, maybe even just an open window that Jin could float up to.”

“Why? The door’s right there.” Elena said casually, confusing the boy next to her as he glanced from her to the two mooks standing guard by the door.

“Unless you have a way past the guards, that’s not really an option.” To his surprise, the girl stepped out of cover and a small flicker of red Aura flowed across her body from her head down to her feet before a strange sensation went through his mind. He shook his head and looked back at her, confused as to why his eyes were drawn to her confident smile more than they had a moment ago.

“Actually I do, stay close.” The frog girl said as she glanced back at her fellow students, having second thoughts when she noticed her partner playing with Jin’s hair as she adjusted his ponytail, the boy sitting down to let her help. “Oh, right. Luna, you might want to keep your eyes closed for this.”

“Uh, why?” the girl asked confused, immediately disregarding the suggestion as she peered around to try and look at her partner. In response, Elena grabbed Jet and moved him in-between them, using him to keep herself out of Luna’s immediate line of sight.

“My Semblance is sight based, just trust me, okay?” And with no other explanation, she walked right up to the pair without a care in the world. The sight damn near gave Jet a heart attack, the Huntsman in training immediately drawing Hephaestus from its holster and aiming it at the two cultists in case the pair made any sudden movements. Meanwhile, Elena finally got close enough to the pair by the door, clearing her throat before speaking in a sweet, clearly over-exaggerated voice.

“Hello.” Elena cringed as her voice cracked as she put on the act, hating the way it made her sound and come across to others, but considering it helped with her goal, she put up with it. 

“Who’re yo-” the two jumped as soon as they heard her a few feet away, Jet drawing a bead on the taller one and preparing to pull the trigger. But, he found himself hesitating, it was different opening fire on a Grimm or during training where no one would seriously be hurt. Pulling the trigger on someone without Aura, just punching someone’s ticket, wasn’t something he was prepared for yet. Thankfully, that hesitation stopped him from prematurely blowing their cover as the pair seemed to freeze once they laid eyes on her, not raising their weapons like he feared they would. In fact, they seemed to lose their sense of urgency all together. “Oh, hello there, s-sorry about that, we were told to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious looking.”

“N-not that you’re suspicious or anything, we just um…” The shorter of the two added on quickly, fearing that the girl might take offense to the statement, a fear that was quickly squashed with a bright, if obviously fake smile.

“Oh, no worries, I get it! My name’s Elena. See, now we aren’t strangers!” As she spoke, she motioned for the rest of her ‘team’ to come up to her. Hesitantly, Jet followed with Jin and Luna not far behind. Apparently, their lack of skepticism only applied to Elena, as they shot dirty looks towards the other three, only stopping short of actually taking aim when Elena took a step back to rejoin the group. “But, what is this place? It seems really cool!”

“It's our hideout.” The shorter of the two said without hesitation, immediately getting an elbow to the ribs for his trouble.

“Darius!” Despite being scolded by his fellow cultist, the man felt pride as Elena’s smile grew at the reveal.

“Really, that sounds so cool! Could I look around, pretty please?” Darius went to open his mouth and give the okay when the taller of the two covered his mouth, dragging his partner away as they took a moment to discuss the pros and cons of letting a stranger, even a really nice and pretty one, into a site meant to help the Goddess spread her influence.

“What’s going on?” Jet asked, hesitantly holstering Hephaestus for the moment as the two guards lost any credibility that made them seem threatening, given that they started to act like nervous teenagers out of the blue. He had a theory of course, one that was growing stronger as he noticed that Elena’s eyes had a certain inexplicable beauty to them that they lacked just a few minutes ago, along with the fact that it took far more effort than usual to look away from said eyes.

“It’s my Sembla- Luna, I said not to look.” Before the explanation even really began, it was interrupted as she saw her antenna sporting partner poke her head out curiously from behind Jin.

“But why?” Luna asked, tilting her head as she tried to figure out if it just was something she didn’t see about her partner as she really didn’t feel any different, unless maybe Elena turned it off already? The redhead just watched, being confused as Luna didn’t even react.

“Because… nevermind, I guess you're fine but- damn it Jin.” Turning around, Jet saw his partner looking weirdly nervous, the boy immediately breaking eye contact and looking down at his feet, suddenly acting very shy towards their ally once Elena called him out for falling under the influence of her Semblance. So, this was how Jin acted when he was attracted to someone? He had to admit, he wasn’t expecting that, especially considering how brazen he was about teasing him about his closeness with Scarlet. The boy made a mental note to keep an eye out for this kind of behavior in the future. Elena turned, exasperated, and vaguely motioned between the boys. “Jet, can you just hold his hand or something?”

“I can hold him for you!” The little cultist volunteered, his enthusiasm further confirming Jet’s theory.

“No, no! You guys are fine.” Elena said quickly and a bit too harshly, causing the two cloaked figures to recoil. They looked back to one another, the gears visibly starting to turn in their heads. Why were they talking to this girl again? Thinking quickly, Elena recovered her cadence and sauntered right up to the two guards once more giving them both the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. “So, can me and my friends see inside?”

“Well, we really shouldn’t, no one is supposed to come in.” Right, this was going nowhere, and it was starting  to be demeaning, so she made her skin start to secrete her neurotoxin, not a fatal dosage, but enough to take care of them for the time being. 

“Pretty please?” she said as she leaned in, stroking the shorter man’s cheek. She didn’t linger any longer than she had to, instead moving over and doing the same to the taller man just as his shorter counterpart started to get woozy.

“Well… o-okay?” The effect only took a moment to set in, he felt lightheaded and tingly, and soon enough, his control of his motor functions started to slip as he stumbled back into the wall, sliding down it while that idiot Darius fell down, hitting his head.

“Thanks! You guys are the best!” Elena said sarcastically, the act gone as she gave the big guy a small kick to the ribs, testing to see if he’d budge. When that yielded no response, she turned to her team and held up her hand, showing off the greasy film that covered most of her skin. “One of you guys should probably get the door.”

“I got it!” Jin said with a nervous crack in his usually deep voice, jumping into action and rushing over to open the door and holding it open politely for the rest of them. As they filed in, the entrance didn’t seem all that unusual, at least, until they peeked out from the small hallway. Aa chill ran down Luna’s spine as she inched closer to her teammates, as the building was swarming with cultists of varying types, and now that they were close enough, the girls, having better night vision, could clearly tell that they were wearing Grimm masks, not all too different from the ones from initiation. The most prominent were blank faced Geist masks, there also seemed to be a decent amount of canine Beowolf ones, and even a few that, with their prominent fangs and dualistic color scheme, resembled King Taijitu. They stuck by the wall, avoiding heading out into the open until they absolutely had to do so, staying in the dark as much as possible. Luna stayed particularly close to Jin, gripping his tail just a bit too tightly, but he was nice enough not to make a fuss over it. Eventually, after finding a small secluded space behind some boxes, they grouped up, and the ping of Aura around Elena happened again, and all of a sudden, her eyes looked totally normal despite nothing actually changing about them. Jin similarly felt himself quickly feel normal once more, shaking his head as the blush faded from his face and his throat untightened, allowing him to speak without his voice cracking like he was going through puberty all over again.

“Wa-was that your semblance?” he whispered, blinking and looking around. He didn't forget the last few minutes, but it was hazy and he didn't feel normal, like what he suspected being drunk felt like. With a small sigh, the frog girl nodded before explaining.

“Long story short, I can make people like me, really like me. I didn't think that it would work on you, sorry about that.” Jin nodded and accepted the apology without question, his partner smirking as his theory was confirmed.

“That sounds pretty useful, especially in situations like this.”

“Yeah it sounds great, unless you forget to turn it off or never realize that it was on to begin with and it turns out that all of your friends only wanted to be around you because their heads were getting messed with.” That… shit, that did sound pretty bad, and her tone made it clear that she wasn't talking about some nebulous hypothetical either. It wasn't all that common for someone to unintentionally activate a Semblance, but it was known to happen. He assumed it had to work like Goose's or her Dad's where it consumed so little Aura that it could effectively stay on indefinitely. He thought about what he'd feel like if it was him with such an ability, if Jin or Scarlet only wanted him around because of outside factors. Even as a hypothetical, it didn't feel good. Luna, feeling bad for the girl, stepped forward to voice her support.

“Well, it didn't work on me, and I still like you!” Luna said cheerfully, reaching out to pat her partner's shoulder, stopping when she remembered the neurotoxin currently covering her skin and retracted her hand, choosing to smile supportively instead. Elena didn't return the gesture, instead heading further into the warehouse, trying to ignore the disappointment that lingered.

Deep within the warehouse, a group of maskless figures struggled to control one of the larger cages, the beast within it snarling and struggling to break free. One of the cables snapped causing it to lean, and acting on instinct, one of them abandoned the cable he was using to hold down the struggling beast to reach under the tarp and grab the bars, pulling with all his might. To his relief, the weight shifted back, and for a moment, it seemed like the crisis was averted. But seconds later, he was pulled up off of his feet as his entire left arm was pulled through the bars. Despite the pain of sharpened bone ensnaring his arm, he didn’t scream at first, too shocked to even react, but once his arm was pulled out from its socket, he cried out in agony. The low level cultists sprang into action as best they could, some grabbing the stun rods and haphazardly shoving them into the cage until they made contact with the beast within, while others tried to pull their brother free from the danger zone. Despite the electricity running through its body, the creature was determined, and even though no one had a clear look, the sound of tearing flesh and snapping bone was unmistakable alongside the screams coming from the unfortunate soul. With the chaos unfolding around them, no one noticed the figure walking up to the crate. Like them, she was adorned in a black robe and wore no mask, but she was deathly calm, unlike her underlings. Her robes, despite being the same jet black color as the regular ones, had a very different, almost leathery texture to them, and were also layered, each seeming to flow around each other in an ornate pattern, topped off with fluffy white fur that matched her hair and skin covering the frame of her hood. Even as blood started to splash onto the brothers and sisters pulling at him, she didn’t flinch, only looking over once she heard the sound of a shotgun being racked and one of the goons running over and aiming into the cage. Before he could pull the trigger, the woman grabbed the weapon from his hands, pulling it away with surprising strength. She gave the man a calming, almost motherly, glance, her crimson eyes wordlessly communicating the need for a different approach. Still, she understood, some of them were like children, unable to think things through once things started to go wrong. Thankfully, that was why she was there, to guide them, to lead them down the promised path. She reached out and took a hold of the bar, the beast within taking notice and relinquishing the arm of its victim, the man immediately being pulled away, landing on the floor as blood spilled from his mutilated arm, and as they worked to stop the bleeding, she looked into the beast’s own red eyes as it stared down at her.

“Patience, your time will come.” The woman showed no fear in the face of destruction given flesh, and it similarly didn’t react with violence as it did with its other handlers, instead backing up to the middle of the cage and lying back down, calmed by her words. With the situation handled, most of the present cultists went back to their duties, save for a set of three that were trying to stop their brother from bleeding out. The woman remained in the area, her presence having a calming effect on the caged Grimm in her presence. As she lingered in the area, a red robed figure walked right up to her, bowing in respect to the elder before speaking.

“Mother Moon, we have someone who claims to be one of us.” Moon Moffit turned to her fellow zealot, unsure of why this was being brought to her attention. Even if it was a lying heathen trying to infiltrate their ranks, the solution was to interrogate and then dispose of them. Perhaps it was an informant or one of their infiltrators, or possibly a member of the inner circle checking in on their progress. Regardless, this apparently required her attention.

“Do they bear the mark of our Goddess?” A simple question that would narrow down the possibilities to just who exactly they were dealing with. If the answer was yes, then it was likely another leader coming to deliver a message, they couldn’t risk being monitored on public networks, and that smug bastard Watts claimed creating a private network for the entire congregation, not a damned cult like he and their enemies called it, was impossible. Such limitations meant that messages had to be delivered personally, although it wasn’t without upsides, the lack of any sort of tangible paper trail made them getting detected or having the entire congregation compromised by hostile elements a far smaller possibility. Still, how a man of such little faith had gained the favor of the Goddess was something she could never quite comprehend. 

“No, but she said you would know she was coming.” ‘She’? Was this Henna’s apprentice? She hadn’t expected the girl so soon, but it explained why no one in her congregation recognised her, as well as the lack of a mark. Azrael had spoken of the girl’s reluctance to take part in prayers, how she had been handwaved through any sort of proof for her devotion, brought into their Goddess’s embrace through blood alone instead of being properly initiated like everyone else. It didn’t sit right with her, but perhaps this was a chance to change that however, Sister Henna specifically wanted her help after all, so she’d either set the girl on the right path or weed out an unworthy brat.

“This girl, is she a scorpion Faunus?” she asked, just to be certain.

“Yes ma'am, with yellow eyes and dar-”

“She speaks the truth, bring her to me.” Moon said, cutting her subordinate off mid-sentence. Soon after, the girl was brought in. Lavender looked around as she got used to her surroundings, clearly uncomfortable. The red cloaked figures guiding her were eerily silent, ignoring any questions she asked, and the pool of blood by the cage was far from welcoming. She hadn’t brought The Queen’s Servants, not expecting to need them, something she regretted now that she was here, no longer feeling safe without them. Laying eyes on the woman she was meant to meet, she approached her slowly and carefully.

“M-Mother Moon?” The woman didn’t react verbally, instead turning to face Lavender, causing the young Faunus to flinch away. The woman was stroking the black and bone plated maw of a Grimm through the bars, yet that wasn’t what caused Lavender to flinch back, it was her eyes. She had pitch black sclera, not unlike Azrael’s, but her irises were a deep, bloody red and had a faint glow to them, like she was looking into the eyes of a Grimm rather than a woman. Those eyes watching her, studying her, judging her… she hated it.

“Do I frighten you, child?” A white eyebrow gently raised with the question, it was like she was looking right through Lavender’s soul.

“No… no, I'm not afraid.” she lied through her teeth, walking up to the woman and holding out her hand. “My name is Lavender, Henna said that I should speak with you.”

“Indeed she did. A faithless family member, correct?” Moon asked, ignoring the hand Lavender had extended. Not the best of introductions, but Lavender decided to ignore how she was snubbed, already used to worse treatment from Azrael.

“My brother, he doesn't know anything about our ways, I need to find a way to talk to him about it. I know he’d understand, he’s smart, but… this is a lot.” That might have been the understatement of the century, Lavender still couldn’t fully wrap her head around the details that were shared with her by Henna, which, in truth, she wasn’t sure if she believed herself, especially the more outlandish claims like the Goddess being a witch who controlled the Grimm. Sure, they manipulated the Grimm for their own uses, but that was different, that was just because they were using her creations to serve her will. Granted, she didn’t really know how that worked, but she didn’t understand how a witch could control just the Grimm by herself, when such an act of taming purest, indiscriminate destruction was clearly divine in nature.

“And you don’t think that you could convince him? He is your only family, is he not?” the woman asked. She had heard a little about the girl’s biological family, and what she heard disgusted her. They were heathens who lived only for material goods, pleasures of the flesh, and served  only themselves. Frankly, it was a mystery why the girl willingly associated with any of them after seeing Her path.

“He wouldn’t listen to me, he just treats me like his kid sister.” Lavender lamented to the leader of Vale’s sect as the woman nodded along, the tone of the girl's voice not even bothering to hide her displeasure at that fact. Ah, a point of conflict then? Picking up on the potential rift between Lavender and the family who, if Henna was to be believed, had tossed her aside like garbage, Moon started to pry.

“If it came down to your brother or the congregation, which would you choose?”

“What!?” The question shocked Lavender, particularly because of how out of left field it felt. Choose ? Why the hell would she have to choose !? Her brother and her beliefs weren’t mutually exclusive, so just what was she trying to imply? “That's not fair!”

“And that is precisely my point.” Moon said, her suspicions all but confirmed by the girl’s suddenly hostile response. No child of Salem would just accept a family like that, this girl simply wanted to have it both ways. Well she may not like it, but it was time for her to get a reality check. “What you have isn't a matter of family, it's a matter of faith.”

“You don't know anything about me!” Lavender growled. Just who the hell did this woman think she was? She sounded just like Azrael, judging her because she was lucky enough to have her sister to build her up, but now she was being judged for the other side of her family. It was the same shit, but even less justified!

“I know that you were brought in without any kind of initiation due to your father, each and every one of us other than yourself took part in the rite of passage, we cast aside our old lives.” The young lady didn’t bother to hide her scowl, an act of defiance and stubbornness that, were it up to her, would have been corrected then and there. However, Lavender wasn’t one of hers, so let it go and she continued. “I also know that you have done nothing in service of our Grace. Have you even spilled blood yet?”

“I almost killed Scarlet!” Lavender snapped, she was tired of it, tired of being treated like she was different. She may not have killed anyone, but why was that the metric that proved her loyalty? She had just as many reasons to hate The Betrayer and her child as anybody else there did, her Father had helped build the very organization she was a part of, was it not enough for them that she wanted to honor him?

“To avenge your father, not because it would please our Mistress.” Lavender didn’t go through with the intrusive thoughts to lash out at the woman, but it was a close call. Despite seeing Lavender’s obvious anger building, Moon went on further. “I don't see a Sister before me, I see a selfish child who is desperately clinging to whatever grasp of normalcy there is in front of her.”

“What about you ? Henna told me about your family problems!” Lavender shot back. She didn’t know what she expected, she just wanted the holier than thou woman to shut the hell up. What she wasn’t expecting was for the woman to barely even react.

“Clearly she didn’t tell you the full extent of it, because then you’d know that I never went looking for them after they abandoned me.” Lavender could feel her blood pressure rise at those words, the insinuation was clear even without her needing to actually say it. How dare she, how fucking dare this woman talk about her brother like he’d leave her! Talking about her was one thing, but her family? One of the only people who actually was a part of her true family!?

“He’d never do that!” At Lavender’s insistence, Moon shook her head sadly, the poor girl actually believed it, didn’t she?

“Of course he will, those who don’t understand Her Grace and see Her glory will recoil in horror. My own husband turned his back on me, he took our daughter and ran, too enthralled by the lies of the Emerald Devil. I know my words are harsh young Lavender, but I’m trying to save you from that heartache.” The intense pain, despite being hidden beneath the woman’s calm voice, was obvious to Lavender, likely because she had felt that same pain with her own mother. She may not have actually been tossed out and cast aside, but Neo had made it clear that she wasn’t wanted, that their family would be better if she could forget about the mistake .

“I… I’m sorry that happened to you, but he wants me around, we want to be a family again!” Lavender said, taking a more calm and less emotional approach, trying to get the almost albino woman to see that things weren’t beyond repair in her case. Something changed in the calm abyss of the woman’s eyes, something that Lavender hoped was understanding.

“Come with me.” Moon said, walking right past the girl, who had to pick up her pace to follow along.

“Where are we going?” Her question was ignored just like last time as Moon led her through the labyrinth of boxes and aisles of storage. The two red robed figures followed just behind them, their Beowulf masks hiding any expressions that they may have been wearing. She was brought up a set of stairs and into a room that looked like it had once been used as an office, but now it seemed to be some sort of interrogation chamber, the soundproofing of the office making it ideal for hiding the screams. To Lavender’s shock, there was already a man in one of the sets of restraints, a Faunus like her, although it was hard to tell what kind he might have been considering that the ears atop his head had been reduced to bloody nubs by his captors. He was delirious, probably from a mixture of pain, blood loss, and probably even a lack of basic needs if he had been kept for an extended period of time. 

“W-What is this?” As usual, the brunette’s question was ignored, the matriarch of Vale’s sect silently taking a hold of a jagged and curved dagger before holding it out to Lavender, the confused girl taking it on instinct. She looked down at the rusted metal that barely passed as a weapon before looking to the woman before her, looking for answers once more.

“Something that has been long overdue, you’re going to be tested child.” Yellow eyes watched as the man regained some semblance of awareness, looking up at his captors through swollen eyes and immediately recoiling against the chains that held him in place. “Prove yourself.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you!” It was on instinct that Lavender fought against the order, but even without her knee jerk reaction, nothing about this sat right with her. Maybe this guy, whoever he was, had what was happening to him coming, but what did killing him accomplish? It wasn’t like any other time she’d seen death, this was just cruelty for the sake of it.

“If you can’t do this simple task, how will you be able to change your brother’s mind?” Lavender froze at the mention of Romeo. That’s right, that was why she’d originally came here to begin with, to get advice on how to broach the topic of her beliefs. How the hell did it end up like this? “Romeo Torchwick is a hedonistic sinner, a man like him cannot be convinced by someone with a weak will and a lack of conviction. If not for my trust, then do it for your blood.”

Lavender pondered Moon’s words for a few moments. On one hand, she was considering turning the knife on the woman for speaking about her brother like that, but on the other hand, she couldn’t deny the intent behind her words. Romeo was… different from herself, not just in his lifestyle, but in how he viewed the world. He wouldn’t want this either, it was senseless, he was no stranger to bloodshed, but only if it had purpose… but even he broke his own rules for her. That just made Moon’s point hit harder, how could she convince him if she was just letting him make the calls? She needed to push at those boundaries, show him what they could do if he just extended their wrath to two other people, show him that they could be a family, a much bigger family. She just had to kill- no, murder this poor man, who for all she knew had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sh-she couldn’t, not when his eyes pleaded for mercy! No, no she had to, it was for Henna and Romeo… The pressure built and she started to hyperventilate, stress overcoming her senses. The robed men looked to Moon, who held out her hand to stop them, her actions making it clear that Lavender would get no aid in this task, it was her trial, not theirs. She couldn’t deal with this, couldn’t make the choice, and without even thinking, her tail sprung into action, stinging herself in the thigh, a burning liquid relief flooding her senses as the world started to fade. She tried to focus, to not see the man in front of her as someone sympathetic, but as someone she wouldn’t regret killing. The man started to swirl, his features shifting into ones she recognized, his nubs were replaced by black horns, his hair was suddenly longer and red. She could see Scarlet slowly starting to take shape. She focused harder, letting her hate guide what she saw. She needed to want this, to want to hurt them more than anyone else in the world. She needed to see…
  Suddenly, Lavender could see the person in front of her clearly, despite the haze. They were small, an inch or two shorter than herself with three toned hair, one side entirely brown while the other half started off as white, but transitioned into pink. The middle aged woman looked tired and beaten down by life, her brown and pink eyes on a face that she could easily imagine being her own in twenty or so years. Neopolitan looked the same as how she remembered her from childhood, tired and beaten down by life. It was downright pathetic, but that didn’t stop Lavender from marching forward and raising her knife to end the wretch of a woman once and for all.

“Stop.” Before Lavender could go through with it, a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her mid-swing. Moon’s powerful grip had halted her in her tracks and pulled the knife right from her hands. 

“W-what?” Ignored once again, Lavender watched as Moon took a hold of Neo’s hair, her mother making a very masculine sounding cry of pain. Her head cleared somewhat as the illusion of her mind was broken and the scene before her returned to normal, if not still fuzzy with the shapes of everything blending together in a swirl of color.

“You aren't ready, turning to your own venom because you lack the conviction to do a simple task.” With a single swipe of her wrist, Moon cut the man’s throat open, his eyes widening before blood spilled from the wound like water running from a fountain, accompanied by a series of gurgles. While it was painful, his death came soon after, the flow of blood swiftly coming to stop a few moments after the gurgles ceased. Lavender recoiled in disgust at the cruel snuffing out of a life, but then it registered to her that she had been moments away from committing the act herself, and the only reason she didn’t was because Moon disapproved of the fact that she wasn’t comfortable doing it sober after being cornered and pressured into it! “Go back to your brother. From what I've heard, his hedonistic lifestyle would suit you better.”

In her inebriated state of mind, the insult was the last straw, her tail lashing out and striking a table at her side, sending it flying at the wall right next to Moon, shattering upon impact only a few feet away from her. The guards immediately sprung into action, pulling a set of blades from under their crimson robes, but Moon raised a hand to stop them; she recognized a tantrum when she saw one. While Lavender would never admit it, the fact that she reacted the way she did meant her words had sunk in. She could try to ignore the truth but eventually, she’d have to confront it and decide for herself. Before anything else could happen however, the door flew open as a man in a black cloak ran in panting.

“Mother Moon! The side entrance, someone’s inside!” Well… this could wait, apparently they had more pressing matters at hand.

“This place is fuckin’ huge!” Scarlet said quite loudly, her profanity echoing across the walls, which made her giggle like a child. Lumi could have died of embarrassment, this was the first time she was meeting anyone from the upper crust of Vale, and naturally, as the eldest scion of the Arc-Schnee bloodline, it was her utmost duty to make a good first impression, something that Scarlet seemed determined to ruin. They had already just let themselves in, as Juliet, strangely, said such a thing would be fine.

“Are you just incapable of speaking properly or something?” The blonde scolded the redhead as they made their way down the halls. While not as massive as the Schnee estate, it was a respectable three story manor, done in the architectural stylings typical of northern Vale. Yet, despite being a degree of magnitude smaller, it felt so much more empty, no servants or little siblings running around. If Juliet was to be believed, it was just Jacinthe in her home, it sounded quite lonely.

“Oh gimme a break, you’re just not impressed because this is the size of your summer home.” Lumi chose not to dignify the statement with a response, mostly because she couldn’t think of a way to spin the fact that their summer home in Mistral was actually bigger as a point in her favor.

“So Juliet, what exactly does your friend do? Is she a politician? You mentioned she was well connected.” Lumi asked, not so subtly changing topics, which Juliet didn’t seem to mind as she shook her head, answering.

“Nah, nothing like that, she’s a fortune teller. Like, she uses the stars and stuff to predict your future, that kinda thing.”

“Huh, guess Vale has a lot of gullible rich people then.” Scarlet said offhandedly. She didn’t believe in stuff like that, mostly because Jet had a bad habit of feeling the need to show off just how big of a know-it-all he was and explain why stuff that seemed supernatural was really just sleight of hand or special effects. She had expected some pushback, but she didn’t expect both Juliet and Lumi to stop in their tracks and look at her like she’d just admitted to spitting in their food.

“Of course you’d say that, it must be so dull living with such a close minded point of view.” Lumi chided. Oh no, was she one of those astrology girls? She really hoped it was just a case of her accidentally being rude again. From the side, Rosaria raised her hand to get the group’s attention before adding her own two cents in.

“No, for once, I agree with Scarlet. There’s no proven correlation between the astrological state one was born under influence things such as future events or one’s personality.” HA! Someone was on her side, now they just had to see how they liked it when they were ganged up with facts and logi- wait, what did Rosaria say?

“You know, you didn’t have to include the first part.” the bovine Faunus huffed. She was right about stuff all the time! “But yeah, like the stars are too far away to affect us or… I dunno, Jet could explain it better, I only listened long enough to realize it’s all a bunch of bullshit.”

“ Riiight , just fall back on what your boyfriend said.” Juliet teased, but rather than blush or try to defend her stance, Scarlet just gave her a confused look.

“Huh? Jet’s not my boyfriend.” That was just… okay, it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about it before, he was the whole package, smart, sexy, strong, but still weaker than her so she could pin him down if she wanted to… but they were just friends. He had even said that she was like his older yet younger sister before, and while it hadn’t felt as nice to hear than she thought it would be, it was how it was between them, it had always been that way.

“He’s not ?” Lumi asked, genuinely shocked by the proclamation from her partner, which got a double take from Scarlet, who was now just as confused.

“Lumi, you live with us. Why would you think we were dating?”

“You two are awfully close for being just friends, didn’t you cuddle up with him after SLVR started messing with you?” Lumi pointed out, causing Scarlet’s cheeks to heat up and turn a bright red. Okay, now that wasn’t playing fair, she was having a hard time and his hugs happened to help.

“How did- Damn it Jin.” Scarlet muttered, realizing that he was the only one who’d seen that who would tell anyone. She was sure he didn’t mean anything wrong with it, but she was absolutely getting even with her fellow Faunus at some point. For now, she just had to wipe that smirk off of her partner’s face. Who was she to poke fun when she was still ‘just friends’ with her himbo monkey boy? “Yeah, well, the same applies to you and Jin!”

“Obviously, who wouldn’t be smitten with a boy like him?” she said with a tone that Scarlet was sure Lumi thought sounded confident, but came off more as being horny than anything else. Lumi was a lot of things, but the sheer thirst that escaped with that question couldn’t have been intentional.

“Oh, wait, you’re actually not hiding it?”

“Why would I hide it?” Lumi asked. It wasn’t like she was being subtle, she had made her intentions known, making sure she leaned in real close if not directly on the boy, always waiting for him after class rather than heading straight to the next lecture, lamenting about the fact that she was still single to him. The tricky part was getting him to notice, as, for someone who read those scandalous novels on a regular basis, he was rather oblivious sometimes.

“I dunno, you’re the dumbass who never asked him out.” Despite it being a fair criticism in Scarlet’s eyes, Lumi just scoffed at the sentiment.

“Why would I? A lady doesn’t do the chasing.” In hindsight, Scarlet probably could have guessed Lumi was one of those girls if she had put any thought into it. But still, it was annoying to see a girl as smart as Lumi forget a key fact about romance that even she knew: guys are dumb, and she was even dumber for thinking he’d be an exception.

“Just saying, you’re gonna feel real stupid when we head out for the Vytal festival and he finds a nice, if kinda loose, chick who isn’t afraid to take him for a ride.” Now it was Lumi’s turn to get all red faced, though more out of offense on behalf of her friend and apparent long time crush.

“Wh- He would never -” Before their argument could continue, the leader of JWEL cleared her throat loudly, interrupting the pair.

“Hey guys, as much as I’d love to sit and watch you two work each other up until you both confess to your obvious crushes, we’re keeping my friend here waiting.” They shot each other a look, Scarlet smirked while Lumi scowled, but both made it clear that this conversation wasn’t over just yet. But Juliet was right, time was limited, the other four would likely already be at the warehouse by now and they had to be ready to pile into Rosaria’s car in case they had to be backup. They made their way through the ornate halls, eventually coming to a pair of doors that Juliet said they’d be most likely to find her in. Taking a hold of the right side door, they pulled it open to reveal a large library that was at the very least the size of her entire house on Patch, and was filled from wall to wall with books. Frankly, it was ridiculous for one person, there was no way she could actually read all of these, there was even an upstairs section! Yet, Scarlet was the only one to acknowledge this as Juliet just casually looked around before her face lit up, and before any of them could react, she took off. “Jacinthe!”

“Juliet, it’s good to see you.” The voice just off to their side alerted the others to the woman’s presence. She was fairly tall for a woman, about the same size as Scarlet if you didn’t include her horns. She wore an orange dress that hugged her figure nicely, and Scarlet had to admit it was quite a figure, maybe it was just the dress making her look better, but even still, she was almost jealous. Almost jealous. Along with the orange dress, she had a semi-transparent shawl of a matching color that arched upwards into a loose hood that framed her face. The outfit paired well with her pale skin, the striking colors of both coming together and making her dark hair pop out even more as it flowed down from either sides of her face and beneath her hood. She looked great, a bit aged, but not in a bad way, moreso in the way that it  gave her an unmistakable aura of maturity. Juliet was holding her up off of the ground in a hug that left her suspended in the air, but she didn’t seem to mind, appearing to be used to the situation as far as Scarlet and Lumi could tell. Still within Juliet’s crushing embrace, she just smiled and looked over to the others. “Rosaria, how’s your father?”

“Working on a project in Argus currently, you know how his partner can get with his… eccentricities.” Rosaria said calmly, not even bothering to try and pull her friend off of the older woman, already used to the affectionate behavior between them.

“That I do.” The woman said as she was set down by the buff teen, her eyes, just a shade or two off from her dress, glanced over to the newcomers. “Oh, and these must be your friends. Scarlet and Lumi, right? I trust that Juliet’s already spoken about me.”

Lumi stood up straight and put on her best smile to make a good first impression. Then remembering who her partner was, she glanced over to her side, only to see the horned girl slouching. Well, that just wouldn’t do. A moment later, Scarlet felt a thin and bony elbow hitting her ribs, nearly jumping out of her skin as she looked over to Lumi to protest, but the small woman already stepped forward with her hand out in a mix between a gentleman’s handshake and a lady’s courtesy.

“Lumi Arc-Schnee, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma’am.” Prim, proper, and polite. It was almost hard for Scarlet to think Lumi had just bruised one of her ribs with the little lady act she was putting on for the woman.

“The pleasure is all mine, Lumi.” Jacinthe said as she shook her hand with a kind smile, glancing over to Scarlet. Thankfully, she was nice enough to wait for her to nurse her sore side before speaking.

“Hey uh, yeah, I’m Scarlet. I’m sorry, but is it okay if we skip the small talk? This is important…” If the look on her face was any indicator, Lumi could have spat with disgust, but the little rib hitting gremlin could stay mad for all she cared. Although, she’d be a liar if she wasn’t at least a bit concerned about offending the woman herself, but she hoped she’d understand.

“Of course. Come, take a seat.” They then all piled around a table in the middle of the vast book hall. Scarlet didn’t know just what Juliet had told her friend, but she seemed to understand the situation. Hesitantly, Scarlet pulled the journal out from her bag and opened it up to the page with the symbol. Immediately, Jacinthe’s eyes widened, and she brought the book closer to herself without even asking to get a better look. “This symbol… it’s rare to say the least. If I may ask, how exactly did you get this book?”

“Some crazy chick tried to murder us, she dropped this, and if the book’s to be believed, it turns out that she’s probably a part of some kinda batshit cult.” Scarlet explained. The woman pursed her lips and sighed at Scarlet’s explanation, almost as if disappointed. Lumi and Scarlet shared a look over that, it at least confirmed that she knew something, but her reaction was puzzling.

“We were hoping you’d know something, Juliet spoke highly of you.” Lumi spoke up, clearing the silence.

“Yes, I know this symbol. It originates from an ancient text, symbolizing what some believe is a new God.” That got their attention, a ‘new’ God implied old ones. Lumi in particular started to take notes, if it was a newer religion, then that narrowed down their search quite a bit, even if it turned out to be- Before Lumi could finish her thoughts, Jacinthe spoke up again. “Are any of you familiar with the Church of the Brothers?”

“Uh, not really? I’ve heard of them, but that’s it.”

“Well, I don’t suppose you came all this way for a sermon.” she chuckled, figuring it would be best to keep things as brief as possible. “To simplify things, the church teaches that we were created by a pair of deific brothers, the elder one having the power to create, and the younger one having the power to destroy. Humanity, being their greatest and final creation, has the power to do both.”

“So… is this like the symbol of the destruction God? He’s the bad guy I’m guessing?” Scarlet earned a chuckle from Jacinthe with that line of questioning, making her feel just a little self conscious even if it was in good nature.

“Well, from a certain point of view. The texts firmly outline that he isn’t inherently evil, but death, natural disasters, and even the process of aging are all by the younger brother’s design.” The explanation really didn’t clear any of this up on Scarlet’s end, this younger God still sounded like quite the prick, at least, between the two Brothers based on what she was being told.

“It’s like the circle of life, stuff has to die so that other stuff can live.” Juliet spoke up, hoping to clear up some of the confusion, only feeling a bit condescended towards when Scarlet and Lumi once again looked confused at her explanation. “Jacinthe knows some members of the church, she taught me a bit about the church’s teachings when she sponsored me.”

“Okay, okay, but what does this have to do with some ‘new God’? Is it because he’s the younger brother?” Lumi said, moving off of the same assumption as Scarlet, neither of them really following along, religious fundamentalism was a bit hard to grasp when you’ve only been talking about it for a few minutes.

“No, this symbol doesn’t appear in any of the original texts, it came centuries, possibly millennia later. It belongs to a group who call themselves ‘The Goddess’s Shadows’. They worship the new God: Salem.” Salem… Something about the name didn’t sit right, in fact, it felt wrong, sinister even. Scarlet didn’t know why, but it rubbed her in a very wrong way.

“Wait, how is there a new God? Did one of the old ones boink a person?” The joke got nothing more than a sideways glance from Rosaria. She wasn’t bothered though, knowing full well that would happen, she just didn’t want the others to notice how that name gave her goosebumps.

“According to legend, she was a human woman made immortal as a punishment by the Brothers, and the original texts claim she still walks among us, cursed to walk Remnant until the end of time. However, another less known set of scripture says that, using her newfound power as an immortal fated to never die, she usurped them, and now seeks to undo what she sees as flaws in their design.”

“So this cult thinks they’re helping her undo the original Gods plan?” It was as good an explanation as she was going to get when dealing with nutjobs she supposed, but still she wondered what it had to do with her Mom and her powers. Was that some kind of divine gift from this Goddess, or maybe one of the Brothers? Did she learn that it was all bullshit? She wished she could just ask, but… she couldn’t, not yet, she just wasn’t ready to speak with her about it yet.

“Yes, they believe that, with Salem, a human woman, having seemingly defeated and taken the place of the Brothers, her will for humanity supersedes the Brothers’ wills for humanity, which naturally resulted in their outright ejection from the greater Church of the Brothers. Additionally, I wouldn’t call the greater sect a cult per se, merely a spiteful and rebellious offshoot of the greater Church of the Brothers that has metastasized into its own entity that ultimately means no greater harm, much like the Church in which it split from. That being said, if an extremist element of the Shadows like what you described truly does exist….” The woman stepped up from her place at the table, and over to the bookshelf, skimming through the spines of the many books before finding one simply titled ‘The New Goddess’ and pulling it from the shelves. She then stepped right up to Scarlet and placed it in front of her. “You should read this.”

“I uh… I’m not looking to join the faith or anything, especially not to a potentially dangerous cul- subsect .” Scarlet said, trying to politely decline, only for the woman to slide it even closer.

“Perhaps not, but learning about them and their worldview may help you find what you’re looking for.” Jacinthe said with a knowing tone, one Scarlet tried to ignore.

“What I’m looking for?” Her acting skills weren’t the best, everyone present probably knew she was blatantly lying.

“It’s all over your Aura, you’re lost dear, left without guidance for the first time in your life, and now you must choose your next steps on your own.” That was… an uncomfortably good guess, did she know from the news? Was it her Semblance, or was the fortune telling schtick not an elaborate ruse with her? Before she could ponder any further, the woman placed her hand on Scarlet's, giving them a soft and comforting squeeze that strangely made her feel much better. “Please my dear, just give it a read.”

Reluctantly, Scarlet picked up the book. Answers huh? Well, if nothing else, it might help them know what this weird ass group was specifically trying to accomplish.

“Okay, thanks anyway Miss Maccabée.” Lumi said on her behalf as Scarlet looked down at the book, inspecting it closely.

“Please girls, just call me Jacinthe, and if you’d ever like your fortune read, you know where to find me.” And with that, the four of them were sent on their way. There was some conversation as they walked back to the car, but Scarlet didn’t hear a word of it, transfixed on the book. Below the silvered title, it carried a similar but much less creepy version of the symbol from Tyrian’s journal, also clad in silver. Frankly, it was amazing how simply removing the eye from the middle changed it from looking weird as hell to almost regal, she could even imagine Lumi picking out something like it if it wasn’t for her weird ass obsession with her family name. As they reached the steps, Scarlet’s attention was grabbed by the sound of her scroll’s notification ding, pulling it from her skirt pocket before freezing in place.

“Uh, guys?” All three heads turned to Scarlet who raised up her scroll, a simple message from Jin displayed across the screen, one that made their blood run cold.

HELP!

Five minutes earlier

Elena glanced around the corner once more, triple checking that they were in the clear, and made a motion for the rest to follow her as she snuck down the small path created by the crates. With her night vision and silent weapon, she acted as lookout, Luna and Jin keeping close as backup while Jet was bringing up the rear, all of them steadily inching their way through the building. With one of the robed figures around almost every corner, caution was more important than ever, as if they made one wrong move, they’d be swarmed by nutjobs within minutes. While they had no doubt the four of them could handle a group of even the stronger cultists, if they were surrounded by that many people, they wouldn’t last long, even if only a few cultists had the advantage of Aura. That on its own wouldn’t have been so bad, but they also didn’t really know what exactly they were looking for. Gathering information was their goal, obviously, but it wasn’t like they knew where to look, and trying to interrogate a fanatical cultist in the middle of their own base probably wasn’t the best plan, so instead they settled for gathering evidence of whatever was in those crates, then they’d leave, and find Professors Arc-Schnee and Fuchsia. After all, while the situation was well and truly out of their league, two professional Huntsmen would have no problem dealing with this place. 

Making their way deeper into the building, they eventually came across a small area within the depths of it where some of the crates had been staged. There had been some sort of commotion earlier that led them over, however, by the time they arrived, the area had been completely cleared, save for two guards overlooking the area, both armed with shotguns. The four stopped by a set of wooden crates just behind them, getting a better look, double checking that the two guards in front of them were the only ones present, and while that checked out, the puddle of drying blood by one of the crates they were going to be looking at on the far side of the room didn’t bode well. Then, almost as if in response from their unease, a low growl came from under the tarp. Fortunately, they weren’t the only ones who noticed the ominous sound either, as the guards both looked over towards the snarling crate. Using the opportunity, Elena motioned for Luna and Jet to keep watch and for Jin to follow her.

“It’s growling again.”

“That is its nature Sister, it is the divine destruction of its Goddess given shape.”

“I know, but shouldn’t it be calm after ear- ACKrlier?” By now, Jin and Elena had gotten close enough to act, Jin coming up behind the woman and throwing his arms around her neck and getting her into a chokehold, locking his arm around her windpipe like a vice. Meanwhile, Elena jumped onto the man’s back, putting one hand over his mouth to silence him and the other over his eyes. The only further noises made from the pair were from them dropping their weapons as they both started to lose consciousness. Both Elena and Jin carefully lowered the pair to the ground as Jet and Luna came up from the back. 

“So, what do you think the different masks are about?” Jin asked as he knelt down, trying to remove the Geist mask from the woman he’d choked out, but found it unmoving, as if it was bound to her very skull. He fiddled with it for a few more moments before giving up and turning to Jet who scratched his chin.

“If I had to guess, they probably symbolize rank, there’s only a few with the Taijitu masks, so they’re probably in charge of this place, but the Beowulf and Geist masks were pretty common, and the ones without masks are at the bottom.” 

“Wait, so why aren't there a bunch of guys in Creep masks? Aren't Geists actually really strong?” Elena questioned the theory, kicking the man she had knocked out. While there was no official consensus on what Grimm types were more dangerous given the myriad of factors that could influence a single Grimm encounter, especially when you got to the higher classes, any reasonable Huntsmen or Huntress could tell you that a Beowolf was not the same level of threat as a Geist.

“You’re asking for logic from a group of people who probably think Grimm are divine messengers or something else just as stupid. If anything, they're probably going off how spooky they think the masks are.” Conceding to Jet’s point, Elena searched the man’s pockets for anything useful.

“So… what’s in the crate?”

“I… I think it’s a Grimm.” The timid voice of Luna spoke up, the growl that persisted from the container supporting the claim. 

“Jet?” Rather than a verbal response, Jin was greeted by the subtle click of Jet pulling on Hephestus’s slide to double-check that a round was already chambered. A bit more comfortable knowing his partner was ready to shoot should anything go wrong, he opened up the camera function of his Scroll and started to record as he lifted the tarp, and, as he expected, came face to face with a Grimm,. There, within the darkness, was an Alpha Beowolf with a bloody red maw that steadily dripped with a mixture of diluted blood and saliva. On instinct, Jin moved back to get out of range from the creature’s claws and jaws, but the beast didn’t react, staying stock still as it watched the boy with eyes like burning coals. Jet moved closer, his weapon still trained on the beast as it watched them, its infernal gaze moving between the two boys slowly.

“It looks like it’s thinking.” Jet muttered, keeping his aim steady, though a part of him worried that Hephestus wouldn’t actually pierce through its thicker than usual armor plates. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, it turned back to him.

“About what?” Jin asked, his scroll still recording the creature.

“Probably the best way to eat us.” Elena said as she got to her feet, coming up short from searching the man under her. Jin got a good angle on the beast as it watched, seeing nothing but purest malice in the glowing eyes that stared them down from under the tarp. He then recorded the others, presumably also carrying Grimm.

“Come on, that’s everything we need.” Jet said, his discomfort only growing as he looked at the Beowulf. Before anyone could answer, the sounds of quick and heavy footsteps alerted them to someone approaching, just as they turned the corner yelling.

“Intruders, Brothers Darius a-” The man stopped, his masked face obscuring his reaction to the knocked out cultists, but the way his head snapped up to them told them everything they needed to know about his state of mind. “I’ve found them!”

The robed man reached into the folds of his cloak to presumably open fire but before he could, Luna turned Cigarette Lighter on him, a laser shooting out and blasting him in the shoulder, burning away part of the robe he wore as well as several layers of skin. Now with a burning hole in his shoulder, he fell kicking and screaming to the ground as he clutched the scorched skin, the small girl wincing as she realized what she’d done, never having tested her weapon’s laser function on bare skin, let alone on someone without Aura. But, even if he was the sort of person she’d apologize to for her actions, there was no time, the alarm had been sent out, and Jin had barely enough time to text the other team before they began to book it, already hearing the commotion of dozens of feet converging on their location. 

As they rapidly began to escape, Jet stopped for just a moment, turning around and shooting the corner off of the Alpha’s cage. If they wanted Grimm in the city so badly, then they’d have to deal with the consequences. And deal with it they did as the lupine monstrosity immediately sprung into action, bone claws tearing through the now compromised structure of the cage towards its captorsAfter taking the shot, he immediately turned back around and rejoined the group, and, while he didn’t want to see the aftermath, he couldn’t ignore the chorus of screams and twisted howls behind him. With a distraction in place, they then started to book it through the building, the steady caution that had gotten them as deep as they were completely thrown to the wind as they tried to retrace their steps as quickly as possible. It wasn’t a difficult trip, but that wasn’t to say it was without incident, Jin had to barrel through more than a few masked creeps as they ran and Luna ended up having to pistol whip a masked man as he popped out from the shadows to try and grab her. 

Soon enough, they reached the exit, Jin not even bothering to open the door and instead shoulder bashing it open, taking the metal door right off of its hinges as they reached the outdoors. Unfortunately, they weren’t out of the woods just yet, as they were still backing up the rear, Jet hearing footsteps sprinting just behind him. He turned around and went to open fire on their follower.  but by the time his finger reached the trigger, Hephestus had been backhanded to the side and their assailant tackled him to the ground with the full force of their momentum. A hand grabbed him by the throat and slammed him down onto the concrete, causing his head to smack painfully against the pavement, and, before he knew what was happening, two piercing yellow eyes locked with his own as Lavender scowled down at him, pressing her thumb against his windpipe as a warning before looking up to the other three.

“So you’re the ones causing trouble, huh?” Jin and Jet both recognized the Faunus immediately, and Luna and Elena were able to piece it together once they saw her stinger rest by his neck, a clear warning not to try anything. Jin and Luna both froze, unsure of how to separate the two without her giving him a direct dose of deadly venom. Meanwhile, Elena started to shake with rage as she laid eyes on Callows’s daughter.

“This coming from the crazy bitch who attacked my friends?” Jet spat back, doing his best to hide how nervous he was, though he found it hard as her stinger lightly scraped against his neck with a small green flash, not hard enough to pierce his Aura just yet. Her dilated eyes narrowed as she looked down at him, tilting her head slightly before giggling.

“You mean Scarlet, don’t you?” she asked in a sing-song voice, angering the boy she used as a seat even further, leaving him shaking angrily as he couldn’t move a muscle in his current position.

“You!” Elena shouted, unable to contain her rage anymore. As Lavender looked up at her and tilted her head, Elena pressed a button on Poias, causing the string to retract and the compound bow to straighten out as it transformed into a dory-headed spear. She then ran the tip of the spear against her palm, coating it in neurotoxin before dropping into her stance. “Do you have any idea what your father did to my family!?”

“I- Who’re you exactly?” The question wasn’t asked out of malice, just genuine confusion, who was this girl? An enemy of the Goddess’s Shadows? Maybe their families were rivals or something, but in the blissful haze of her mind, she didn’t really care much about the answer. However, Elena had gotten her attention long enough for Luna to take aim and fire, Lavender barely moving her head out of the way of the beam that scorched the wall behind her in time. 

With her opponent now off guard, Elena moved in first, her spear ready to run the girl through. Seeing that she had to move, Lavender jumped off of Jet and got in close, spinning on the ball of her foot as Elena thrust her spear, narrowly avoiding getting impaled and managing to grab Elena by the wrist. The Mistrali girl grew smug as she felt the hand on her skin, however, the feeling faded quickly as she looked down and saw an Aura construct in place of flesh, swiftly followed by a second arm forming and elbowing her right in the temple, causing her to stumble. Jin tried to move in and assist the girl, but was forced to duck as her stinger suddenly swung up at his head. Elena recovered just as this happened and grabbed Syrinx, which similarly mechashifted into a new form, her quiver quickly taking the shape of a kopis short sword that she now swung their attacker's way. Lavender, using the now ducking boy as a momentary platform, balanced herself on his back on her four hands as she reverse roundhouse kicked the redhead square in the jaw, before righting herself and kicking off the back of Jin’s head to now move towards Luna. Before she got even a few feet, a spray of bullets hit her back as Jet mag dumped into her flank, boiling with rage. With her attention thoroughly drawn and the venom still pumping through her system  she turned in the air, landed on all six of her limbs, and took off at a leaping gallop back to the boy, tail, raised, intending to finish what she had started, only for a sudden fist to the gut from Jin to knock the wind out of her, and a second uppercut to take her off of her feet. Hitting the ground with a thud, the scorpion Faunus rolled as she landed, narrowly avoiding Poias stabbing through her air where her face was milliseconds ago. Attacking relentlessly, Elena swung Syrinx, only for a bullet to hit her arm as a pair of red robed figures appeared on the scene, both aiming a set of rifles their way, followed by a white robed man wearing a King Taijitu mask. Lavender backed off, seeing as backup had arrived, just in time too as a heavy flash of pain and nausea struck her, clutching her head and groaning as she stepped back.

Sharing a momentary glance, Luna and Jet both turned their weapons onto the newcomers. Jet, aiming for center mass, shot the white robed figure square in the chest, only for a flash of magenta to protect him. The Huntsmen in training froze at that, realizing that these ones had Aura, and in no war was this the easy fight they had been expecting. In a panic, Jet summoned a flare gun into his other hand and aimed it straight up, pulling back the trigger and sending the bright signal into the air, hoping that the Huntsmen who were supposed to be keeping watch saw. Seeing the obvious S.O.S, the white robed man moved in immediately, now brandishing a pair of hooked swords that he swung down at Jet’s head in a downwards arc. Seeing the attack, he tried moving to the side to dodge the strike, only for his opponent to suddenly retract the blade, the inner edge of the sword catching his shoulder and sinking into his flesh, pulling him into range of a second swing meant to decapitate him. Jet caught his wrist mid-swing and tried to twist the blade out of his hand, the pain and position making it difficult. Thankfully, Jin moved in, tanking the shots sent his way and delivering a devastating flying side kick that sent the man into the wall of the building. 

Meanwhile, Luna and Elena turned their attention to the two still firing from the door, Luna setting Cigarette Lighter’s charge as high as it would go and taking aim at the same time while Elena shifted Poias and Syrinx back into their bow and quiver state, knocking an arrow. But, before they fired, a soft shimmer of white flashed from the doorway they fired from and it was as if they’d just been spun a million miles an hour. Seeing straight, let alone actually aiming was out of the question, but they still let loose with their volley, missing horribly and only managing to put a scorch mark and half an arrow into the opposing wall. As they tried to reorient themselves, they could barely make out a figure in a pitch black robe with white hair approaching them, the five cultists converging behind her as the Huntsmen in training regrouped. 

Looking out to the docks proper, Moon looked over the new arrivals. So, these were the heathens who had ruined their operation, hmm?  She began to make a note of how she would make their deaths slow and painful, that is until she spotted a familiar face. Her blood red eyes widened as she stepped forward, and she found herself pulling down her hood to reveal her face, as well as her antenna, causing the younger moth Faunus to freeze in place.

“No- nononono not you… Please…” Luna’s voice broke as she took a step back in silent horror. Moon, however, kept moving forwards, looking at her with a kind, reminiscent smile as she laid eyes on her daughter for the first time in a little over a decade.

“Luna, you’ve grown my dear.” Her words, despite sounding warm, sent a new wave of fear throughout Luna with each syllable, Jin looking back and forth between Moon and Luna.

“ That’s your mom?” Still focused on her mother, she just nodded in response. Despite knowing Luna’s mother was likely involved with this cult in some capacity, they hadn’t expected to find her, let alone for her to be seemingly in charge of the operation.

“I thought- Dad said you were dead.” It was the only thing she could force out of her lips, there was so much she’d thought she wanted to say. She wanted to ask why most of all, yet instead she just fell back on that truth, that she was supposed to be dead.

“I’m sure Lucius thought I was, I bet he hoped that was the case even.” Moon said, her voice dripping with disgust as she spoke her ex-husband's name, reminded of the man who had taken her daughter from her, and turned the girl against her. Well, now she had a chance to fix that mistake. “I know he’s filled your head with lies and deceit, so come over to me dear, let me show you the truth. Mommy’s missed you.”

As the woman reached out her hand towards Luna, Elena stepped in front of her partner, Poias and Syrinx shifting back into their close combat forms as she stood before her protectively, staring down Moon, who’s blackened eyes narrowed. 

“She’s not going anywhere with you!” Seeing Luna’s inaction at her offer, the smile and warmth was wiped off of her face in a moment.

“I won’t ask you again, Luna.” Luna winced upon being given the thinly veiled threat, but she didn’t hesitate to answer this time, even if it hurt.

“M-m-mom, I-I can’t.” Moon sighed hearing her daughter’s decision, looking down sadly before speaking in a dejected tone.

“Kill them all.” 

The order shocked the teens, even Lavender recoiled in disgust at the cold order to end the lives of her daughter and her friends, but the robed figures didn’t so much as blink. The man in white suddenly dashed at Elena, who ran in to meet him as Jet and Luna traded shots with the ones in red, just trying to keep their attention away from the others. Jin, on the other hand, wasted no time closing in on Moon, taking a swing at the woman, who sidestepped, and in one motion, drew and cut him across the thigh with Sting, a pistol-gripped epee. Not letting the pain get to him, he turned to swing again, only for her Aura to shimmer white once more, causing him to stumble as the dizziness took hold again. A pair of thrusts then found their way into his chest and shoulder, his Aura stopping the blade from sinking deeper than an inch, but the pain lingered. Before he could recover, a second flash of her Semblance caused his stomach to do a flip, and it took all of his effort to remain standing until a sudden stab through his calf while he couldn’t focus forced him to drop down to one knee. 

Analyzing the battlefield, Moon smirked. Luna and Jet were in a stalemate with the gunners, and Elena was outpaced by the swordsmen, just doing what she could to defend herself. She rested the flat of her blade underneath Jin’s chin, forcing him to look up at her. She somehow hadn’t noticed before, but the boy was quite handsome, in fact, he was downright beautiful. 

“You know, I’ve never killed a man quite like you.” she said as she licked her lips. She’d savor sinking Sting into his throat, it would be delectable. Or, that was what she had planned until Luna tackled her, trying to knock them over, but failing as she underestimated her mother’s strength. Moon reacted fast, swiftly kicking Jin in the chin before grabbing Luna and yanking her upwards by the wrist, forcing her to suddenly stand on her tiptoes. As Moon held up her hand, she started to thrash and struggle as Moon coldly raised Sting’s blade level with her sternum.

“Mom! Please, no! I’m your daughter !” Luna screamed desperately. She clawed and even bashed Moon’s hand with Cigarette Lighter as she clenched harder, making her cry out in pain as the woman’s grip threatened to break the bones in her wrist. Her begging and pleading for her mother to release her attracted the unexpected attention of Lavender, knocking her out of her state of shock. Her blood ran cold as she saw a girl, crying out in pain as her own mother hurt her. It brought back painful and all too familiar memories, she herself had been in that situation once. She had just wanted to help, the man had hurt her, called her… it didn’t matter. Neo would have rather stayed in her delusional torment than accept the help of her own daughter. Sadness was overtaken by rage, and she acted without thinking.

“Don’t struggle my dear, it’ll just make it hurt mo- Ah!” Three tails swung into Moon’s side at once, releasing her grip on Luna and sending her flying, two of which had been Aura constructs while the middle-most tail was her real one. Lavender paused as she realized what she had done, looking at the girl clutching her wrist as it started to bruise, then to Moon,who quickly got to her feet. Lavender felt a lot of things in that moment, but regret wasn’t one of them as she snarled.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” The disgust on Moon’s face from her attack was clear, and as the rest of them fought, the two sized each other up. That had been cathartic, wiping the calm off of her face, and if it wasn’t for the circumstances, she’d have happily joined in fighting Moon more, but the venom was wearing off, and she already knew she’d more than overstepped her bounds.

“She’s a sinner, and even worse, an apostate. I’m doing her a favor.” The cold answer broke Luna’s heart as she shakily aimed Cigarette Lighter, fear controlling her actions. She didn’t even know if she really could shoot her own mother, but her body did what it could to act defensively. 

“There’s no way the Goddess would want us to kill our own family members just because they think differently!” Lavender shouted, only to get a scowl in return.

“Know your role, child. I gave you an order, not a choice.”

“I don’t answer to you.” She hadn’t even considered listening, this woman was just like Azrael, so self absorbed and thinking their way was the only way forward. She was leaving, this had been a waste of time. How stupid could she have been to even think of entertaining her ideas!? 

As the argument between Lavender and Moon unfolded, Elena stepped back to avoid a swipe from a cultist’s hook sword, only to move right into the curved blade of his second one as he pulled her right off her feet. Landing with a thud, Elena was too stunned to react, and the man raised his blades to strike the killing blow. Jet went to cover her, his aim darting to the white robed man, but a bullet hit him right in the chest. Already weakened, the impact sent him reeling as he could feel his ribs already starting to bruise. Elena’s life flashed before her eyes as she looked up, fear settling in as it seemed her life would be cut short. Then, a black spearsurging with light pink dust impaled him through the chest, pinning his lifeless body to the wall. From her spot a few feet away, Touko remembered the handcannon function of her weapon, having forgotten it in her panic and just chucked Carnation Lily at her student’s attacker. Oh well, she could just chalk it up to a dramatic entrance.

“Aunt Touko, Jaune!” Jin called out with a smile, making Lavender stiffen up, seeing a wrathful Moon on one side and a man who had survived her Father, as well as a huntress who was his equal on the other. Needless to say, it was time to turn tail and run home before something happened to her. She shot one last look to Luna, who similarly looked up at her, silently thanking the girl, who scowled in response. 

“Next time I come for Scarlet, be smart and stay the hell out of my way!” With that, she made her leave, running into the shadows and disappearing, leaving the two sides to battle. Moon immediately turned her attention to her daughter, and seeing her student in danger, Touko ran forward. Using her gloved hand, she reached out and called her spear  back into her grasp alongside activating a mechanism in her legs, using the installed rockets to fly forward and quickly close the distance, locking weapons with Moon and sending her sliding backwards from the impact.

“Get back!” The professor shouted, not even looking away from her opponent. Luna acted on instinct and turned around to fire at the men in red, however, it was pointless, as Jaune had already disposed of them, his dense Aura allowing him to tank the shots, and using his sizeable sword, he effortlessly cut them down before turning to join Touko in fighting Moon. 

Using the length advantage of her weapon, Touko kept the cultist at bay, and to the students, it looked like a dance of blades. Eachthrust of Carnation Lily was met with a parry or dodge from the cloaked duellist, yet Moon couldn’t land a blow with Sting either, the Grimm Studies professor effortlessly raising and twirling the length of her spear to block incoming blows. The stalemate persisted as Jaune got closer, and, knowing she needed to switch things up, Moon activated her Semblance once more. Thanks to her cybernetic eyes filtering out the visual stimuli of her opponent’s Semblance, Touko remained unaffected by the flashes. However, Jaune started to stumble, and in her worry she glanced back just long enough for Moon to thrust her epee forward, forcing her opponent to raise her left arm to stop the blade from piercing her chest. Sting effortlessly cut through her sleeve and, to her surprise, scraped against something hard and very much not flesh. In her confusion, Moon didn’t react in time to the blast of the same pink hued Dust that powered her weapon, throwing her back and setting the rest of the sleeve on fire.  

“This was my favorite coat, you bitch!” Touko snapped as she was forced to rip the sleeve off, revealing that her arm was composed of a very different material than the rest of her prosthetics, seemingly made of pure crystalline Dust. Moon got to her feet, scowling at the development as Jaune joined his friend. To make matters worse, a gray car pulled up behind the group, slamming right through the flimsy gate meant to keep intruders out and coming to a stop just a few feet away. From the vehicle, four girls piled out, making her numbers disadvantage even worse, however, there was only one girl in that group she cared about, her eyes widening as she laid eyes on her. 

“Ah, the betrayer’s spawn.” Scarlet immediately went frigid as she heard the stranger speak, she didn’t need to guess who they were talking about, but still, what the hell was with that title!?

“The fu- me!?” Rather than answer, Moon took a step back, her cloak shifting unnaturally before starting to unravel, revealing itself to be a set of pitch black leathery wings interspersed with patterns of white and red on their interior. For the students, confusion set in quickly, Faunus didn’t just have two traits, and Luna definitely would have remembered her mother having two if she was just some rarity, but those were clearly moth wings emerging from her back. However, Touko and Jaune went stiff as they recognized the Grimm parasite grafted onto her spine for what it was. Moon wasn’t concerned with them though, instead looking Luna in the eyes one last time, the girl frozen in horror at the monster her mother had become.

“If you’re smart Luna, you’ll rethink my offer. Otherwise, save me the effort and turn your toy on yourself.” And with that, the woman took flight, her abyssal wings carrying her away into the night sky before Jaune or Touko could even attempt to shoot her down. Watching her mother leave, and with the sting of her parting words, Luna broke down, collapsing as she cried harder than she had ever cried in her life. Jin ignored the pain and got to his knees, pulling the girl into a hug as she shook, clutching him close. Elena moved in to comfort her partner as well, only stopping once she realized her skin was still covered in her neurotoxin, instead sighing as she looked to her Professors while SJJL and JWEL checked on their wounded.

“So… we can explain…”

The professors made their way deeper into the abandoned building, the remaining cultists having long since made their escape during the fight. Thankfully, their ‘cargo’ had been too volatile to be brought along and the Grimm were left behind, leaving Touko and Jaune with the simple, if tedious, task of cataloging and exterminating the creatures left behind before they escaped. One had already been taken care of, if the busted cage and dozens of shell casings on the floor was any indicator. It hadn’t been  a one sided bout though, the bodies and chunks of bloody flesh littering the ground was clear enough of that. 

The evac they had called in for the students should have picked them up by now, not that they would have noticed given that they were focused on the task at hand. Still, their thoughts couldn’t help but drift to the teens. None of their injuries were serious, mostly just dealing with wounded pride on the side of Elena and Jet, but that was normal, getting schooled by what looked like basic mooks was disheartening to say the least. As for the other two, Jin’s stab wound had healed as soon as he could focus enough to raise his Aura back up, and Luna was a mess emotionally, clinging to whoever would hold her like a security blanket. Additionally, Elena had gone quiet, just muttering about how Callows had gotten away. They had debated punishing the teams, SJJL especially, as they had a history of infractions already, but they had been young once, and they had traveled across another continent after the Fall of Beacon, so they couldn’t really say that what the teams had done was wrong without looking like complete hypocrites, just that they hadn’t really thought the whole ‘sneaking into a heavily guarded cultist base’ part through. In the end, they let their students off with a warning, a reminder that they were still students, and a brief lecture about how an important part of staying alive as Huntsmen was knowing that the time to call for backup wasn’t after they were already outmatched. 

“So um… can I ask you something personal?” Touko asked as she pulled Carnation Lily from the chest of the fifth Ursa Minor she’d found. The ursine creatures, normally a cause for concern given that they were larger than a decently sized car and just as powerful, were completely helpless in their cages. Jaune looked over at his friend, noticing that she was quiet, which was normal to a point, but before now, she’d just been responding with one word answers at best, and she’d been significantly more moody than usual since they met up for the mission.

“Oh boy. Alright, shoot.” He had a feeling he knew what, or more accurately who this was about when she started to rub her bicep where her Dust limb met skin before answering, soothing a chronic pain that seemed to flare up often, particularly when she was nervous. He couldn’t remember exactly why it hurt, just that it was something about the Dust being connected to her heart that aggravated it.

“How do you talk to Weiss when you guys are fighting? Like when she’s so mad, you think she doesn’t want to talk to you?” Touko finally asked as she turned to the knight. Ah, relationship troubles, that he was all too familiar with. While he knew he had a healthy marriage, you just didn’t spend over seventeen years of your life married to someone without getting on each other’s nerves or fighting over something stupid at least a few times.

“Did something happen with Ruby?” he asked and the way the woman’s cheeks went bright red confirmed that it indeed was. He chuckled, it wasn’t like he was trying to tease his friend, it was just an amusing side effect. Really, he needed to know more to give her advice, that was, if he could .

“N-no…” The way Jaune crossed his arms at her with that disapproving stare made her sigh, and she let her back hit the wall of the empty container as she slid down it. Once she reached the floor, she ran her flesh and blood hand through her hair with a sigh. “I said something I didn’t mean, I was just mad and… it doesn’t matter, I just wanna make things right.”

Jaune nodded, oh he’d been there, more times than he cared to admit. His upbringing was very different from Weiss’s, most of the time he didn’t even mean to offend her, he just accidentally said something benign that Weiss found unacceptable, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the case with Touko.

“Well, Ruby and Weiss are two different people. Weiss typically means it when she tells me to sleep on the couch, Ruby probably wants you to climb into bed and cuddle her until she stops being mad.”

“But I’m the one wh-” Before she could finish, he cut her off.

“Which of us are married again?” Touko opened her mouth to protest, then quickly closed it and pursed her lips, letting Jaune speak.  “Look, if you want my advice on girls, I'll tell you the same thing I told Nicholas; just be you. Ruby likes you because you're you, so go make her happy by being you.” Jaune didn’t know it, but that was exactly what she needed to hear, as while ultimately rather simple, the reminder that Ruby did want her around helped calm her down enough to think clearly. In fact, now that she thought about it, that was probably the best thing she could do, she had messed up by saying that she wouldn’t be there if things went wrong, so she needed to prove that she didn’t mean it and be there regardless. Then she realized what Jaune had said, that he was giving her girl advice, and she quickly coughed and covered her face. 

“I mean it’s not like that… ” Jaune knew her well enough to see right past the flimsy act. No, that wasn’t it, she was just terrible at hiding it, both of those girls were, everyone in the office could see it. Hell, he was sure even most of the students knew it.

“Yeah, I’ll let you get away with that in front of the rest of the staff, but we both know that’s a lie.” The familiar blush covered Touko’s face and she looked away, mumbling under her breath before changing the subject.

“So uh, about that Lavender girl, did you hear what Luna said?” Jaune decided to acknowledge the change in subject, internally relieved that he didn’t have to navigate a romantic minefield anymore.

“That she saved her?“ It wasn’t unheard of for an enemy to have a change of heart mid battle, but the way it had been described certainly made it feel like there was something more to it all, especially since she all but announced that she’d be making another attempt on Scarlet’s life afterwards.

“Yeah, hard to believe.” Touko said getting to her feet looking around to see if there were any caged Grimm they’d missed. “Well… okay, no, I can see it now actually.”

“What do you mean?” The knight asked, unable to help himself in noticing that she seemed to know more about the girl than him, which was to say, she knew more than her name.

“Well, you know he- oh right… you don’t.” Her tone suddenly turned somber as she motioned for Jaune to follow her up the stairs to the office. “Let’s just say that she didn’t have a good upbringing to put it lightly.”

Ah, that explained it, Jaune had been wondering what might bring about a change of heart from a clearly damaged girl, and while he had his answer, he wasn’t pleased to know that it was the result of what was very likely abuse. It also reminded him of his brief talk with Ruby about the girl, how she might not be as bad as they expected and there could be some good in her heart. He had initially brushed the thought off at first, but after hearing of this and the fact that she wasn’t so brainwashed as to stand by and do nothing while a woman attempted to murder her own daughter, it made Jaune rethink his stance.

“You know, when she told me about this spot, she mentioned something, that a girl as skilled as her could do a lot of good if steered in the right direction. I’m starting to think she might be onto something.”

“Please tell me she’s not roping you into the deal…” The confused look from Jaune informed her that he really had no idea what she was talking about, in fact, now that she thought about it, that was probably less a part of the deal, and more so wishful thinking on Ruby’s part. “Uh… don’t worry about it.”

“You know, one of these days, you and Ruby need to stop leaving me in the dark.” Jaune sighed. It wasn’t the first time Touko had offhandedly mentioned some sort of arrangement between Ruby and an unknown party, the cyborg had even lamented how pissed she was over it while drunk a few  times , but she had enough control not to actually name anyone or give any information aside from ranting to her friend.

“Are you suddenly a better liar?” The blond shook his head. “Do you want to go to jail?”

“No- wait, what!?” 

Touko stifled a small chuckle, “Then you’re better off not knowing, trust me.” It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jaune to blab on purpose, it was just as he had admitted, he was a terrible liar. They entered the port’s office a moment later, the stench of death and blood hitting their noses the moment the door was cracked, and not a moment later, they spotted the mutilated corpse chained up. Jaune ran up to the body and started to pour his Aura into the body. He had to try, even if it looked pointless, if there was even a chance he could save them, he’d take it, but unfortunately, the man was already gone. As Jaune swore, Touko moved over to the desk, moving some hastily moved papers out of the way and revealing a map of Vacuo. Specific locations were marked on it in pen, such as Shade Academy, and an area labeled ‘sanctuary’ over the mark for Coquina. These guys were more spread out than she’d thought, probably larger too. But when she saw a photo stapled next to the capital city, her heart skipped a beat and her blood ran cold. 

“Um, Jaune, I found something…” Hearing the fear in his friend’s voice, he ran over, similarly spotting the map and growing fearful. The beginning of the Vytal Festival was just a couple of months away, and the tournament wouldn’t be much longer afterwards. No, they weren’t planning on trying it again, were they? The academies had learned since then, they simply wouldn’t be able to pull off an attack on an active Festival, not with the combined forces of the Kingdoms keeping a close eye on the event after the last attack. Then his eyes fell to the photo that Touko was pointing at, and his reaction matched hers.

"Oh shit ." the man muttered as he saw the picture. It was a bit faded, but he could clearly make out a blonde with long, curly hair that reached down around her waist, she was around their age, maybe a little older with tanned skin from what looked like a lifetime of exposure to Vacuo's sun. There was a girl next to her who looked very similar, but the focus was clearly on the woman, as she'd been circled many times in red ink. It was worse than they had thought, the cult had found the Summer Maiden.

Chapter Text

A/N Warning his chapter contains a scene that some readers may find distressing, while there are no explicit actions performed there is a segment heavy with sexual harassment, the worse parts of this scene will be marked so that those who do not wish to read such a thing may skip it.

“I still can’t believe you both managed to get away with that with just a slap on the wrist!” Belka said in complete shock as she walked down the halls with her fellow team leaders, Scarlet and Juliet, after their last class of the day, still smelling like coconut from her hair and body wash after the showers. She had taken to following her friends to the dorms after an incident where she went alone and ended up being cornered by Alaska and Vera. Despite that event being over a week ago, her ribs were still sore. Thankfully, she could usually find someone to follow. Lao was her go to pick, since he didn’t ask questions, but today, Lumi and Elizabeth had stolen him for a training session, so her picks were quite limited. Thankfully, Scarlet and Juliet had invited her to hang out this afternoon, an opportunity she practically jumped at. 

“I mean, it’s been a couple of weeks, if they were gonna do something, they definitely would have done it by now.” Scarlet said, clearly just happy that she wasn't currently sitting in detention once again.

“Personally, I don’t see the big deal.” Juliet shrugged. They hadn’t done anything wrong, the Professors even said as much! Belka sighed at their lackadaisical justification for their actions.

“You infiltrated a cultist base, with no backup mind you, and somehow the two of you were surprised when you almost got yourselves killed?” She had a rough idea of what happened, only receiving the abridged version of events, namely that SJJL and JWEL went out to find the group that Scarlet and Lumi’s attacker belonged to, and subsequently got saved by Jaune and their weird cyborg Professor. Now that she had the two of them in front of her to explain what had fully happened, she was actually impressed by the stupidity they proudly displayed.

“Well, technically we were gathering information from Juliet's friend, it was the other guys who did that, and we knew that Professor Fuchsia and your brother-in-law would be there.” Scarlet explained, as if it somehow absolved her of the recklessness of the plan. Belka sympathized somewhat, after all, it wasn't as if Elizabeth listened to anything she had to say, still, she would have at least been apologetic over it!

“That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard, how could you not see how much danger you were putting yourselves in!? You guys are lucky you aren’t dead!” Before she could fly into another rant, the strong, tanned arm of Juliet was slung across her shoulders.

“Oh come on, you totally would have joined us if we asked.” the girl said with a smile that was oddly contagious. Belka sighed, knowing it was true, though Goose probably would have been the one to volunteer them. If nothing else, she wasn't going to let them put themselves in danger without backup.

“Next time, just come to us as well. If it wasn’t for the professors, that could have gone so much worse. Speaking of… how’s Luna? Is she any better?” Juliet's smile faded at the question, apparently not.

“Not good, she’s seeing the counselor about what happened, but he said it’s going to take time.” The poor girl had seemingly retreated into herself since that night, jumping at even the slightest sound, and seemingly developing a severe fear of the dark almost overnight, or maybe it just got worse? She had been using a nightlight before, but she'd honestly just thought it was a moth Faunus thing. Still, she felt for her friend considering she didn't really have a family outside of Rosaria and her dad, and while she didn't really know what Luna was going through, she could imagine that it hurt more than anything she'd felt before. “Not to pry, but is he good at what he does? This is just… hitting Luna hard, you know?”

“I wouldn’t know, I don’t spend much time with that side of the family.” Belka admitted. She barely knew Weiss, most of the times they’d met were at social events like charity galas, and even then, it had mostly been as brief as a hello. Weis had more important things to do than socialize with what was a child to her, even if it was her sister…

“We should do something to get her mind off of what happened. It’s not like we have anything happening until the Vytal Festival in a few months.” Scarlet said. While they'd spent time together, they’d never really been able to just sit around and let loose, it felt like something was always happening. If anything, they all needed a break.

“ All of us?” Belka asked, getting a roll of the eyes from Scarlet in response.

“Why not, come on, I bet you guys would get along great.” causing Belka and Juliet to share a glance. It sounded nice, and if nothing else, it would be nice to have a normal experience without attacks, cults, plot twist revelations about someone's family straight out of a soap opera,or bullies. Besides, it was like Scarlet said, JWEL seemed nice enough, and… well, she did need more friends.

“I’m sure I can get Goose to agree to come at the very least.” Belka knew it wouldn't actually take any convincing, if Lumi was going then so were Elizabeth and Goose, and they all knew Lao had nothing better to do.

“Great, how does Friday after classes sound?” Juliet suggested, causing Belka to wince guiltily. On paper, Friday sounded good, without having any classes the next day, they could stay out late if need be, but as much as she hated to cause a complication, there was just one issue.

“Friday doesn’t work for me, I’m meeting with a friend who’s taking me out to dinner.” Rather than being met with complaints about how this was causing a complication like she had expected, Belka was instead met with a pair of surprised looks from the other leaders. Scarlet and Juliet shared a surprised glance that slowly turned into a pair of teasing smirks.

“Oh, I see how it is. Standing us up for a date, are we?” The sarcasm from Juliet more or less went unnoticed as Belka immediately sputtered out her response.

“I-It’s not… really a date, he’s just showing me more of the city, it’s perfectly innocent.” The pair pounded on the obvious fib in an instant, all in good fun of course.

“Hey, I’m not judging, go get some girl!” That- how could she casually encourage something so scandalous !? Belka suddenly found herself unable to look Scarlet in the eyes. That was not what she was thinking about, she wasn't some harlot who jumped right into bed with a boy! Even one who was as cute as he was! Ugh, she supposed she could overlook it just this once, after all, Scarlet was from a less than proper upbringing, maybe she just needed the proper influence.

“Oh, quit being a pervert! We haven’t even kissed yet!” Belka muttered as they got to her locker, trying to ignore them as she went to enter the code.

“You just heard her admit she’s thinking about kissing him, right?” Scarlet asked with a smirk, leaning against the locker next to hers.

“That I did.” Juliet teased, taking her spot at the other side of the locker, sandwiching her in and leaving her unable to hide her blush as her mind drifted to the idea, only because they were putting the thoughts in her head of course!

“Degenerates, both of you.” Belka chided as she taped the unlock button to her locker, opening it up and unleashing a tiny avalanche of paper shreds falling out and onto her shoes. She hopped back, watching in stunned silence as what looked to be a mixture of her notes, homework, and the essay on Mountain Glenn that Oobleck had assigned. “What the- Who did this!?”

“This sort of petty bullshit? Who else could it be besides SLVR?” Scarlet growled, kneeling down to try and gather the papers, only stopping when she saw just how irreparable they were, and just got back up, looking over to the red faced girl. She wanted to help her feel better, but at the same time, she figured she wouldn't find the fact that it was only one paper that realistically wouldn't be all that important in the grand scheme of things as comforting as she would.

“Gods above, I am sick of this! I spent weeks on this essay, now I have to ask Professor Oobleck for an extension.” Belka's voice wavered on the verge of breaking as she kept herself from crying out of frustration. She decided to just settle for gathering the scraps and piling them back into her locker until she could come back with a bag so she didn't get in trouble for the mess.

“You know, if you want, we could probably kick their asses for you. Hell, I’ll knock some of Alaska’s teeth down her throat if you want.” The offer from Juliet was accompanied by a series of satisfying pops as she cracked her knuckles. It was a tempting offer, really, it was, but she remembered all too well what happened when Scarlet tried to fight back, and she wasn't very eager to get Juliet in trouble over what were ultimately her own problems.

“And have her use that to get you in trouble? I appreciate the offer, but I just don’t think just hitting her is going to work like you think it will.” With a tired sigh, Belka closed her locker. No, she was not going to let them ruin her day, she would make plans with her friends, do her assignments, and pick out a nice outfit for Friday night.

Belka couldn’t have hidden the smile from her face if she had been offered a million lien to do so. That had been exactly what she needed after the week she’d gone through, dinner had gone amazingly, better than she could have ever imagined! At least she was pretty sure it had, without having ever gone on a date prior to tonight, she didn’t have an actual frame of reference to how a date was supposed to go, but this certainly set a high standard. She and Sherbet both seemed to enjoy each other’s company, or at the very least, she had managed to keep his attention throughout dinner. He seemed especially interested about Beacon as she had expected, so she tried to keep the topic of their conversations on that, telling him about classes, her friends, and steering clear of any mention of a certain bluenette and her team. Sherbet had even told her about why he’d turned down going to Beacon to work in a nightclub. Apparently, it belonged to his uncle, and around the time he would have been starting his first year, he fell ill, and Sherbet, along with his brother and cousins, stepped up to help run it. As much as Belka hated to admit it, that got a pang of jealousy from her, especially when he mentioned not regretting his choice despite wondering what could have been. She imagined herself having that sort of relationship with Weiss and Winter, or even Lumi and Elizabeth. Her sisters and Lumi outright ignored her most of the time, and Liz made it no secret that she just didn’t like her. Despite her dour thoughts, she tried not to let it show and did her best to ignore the intrusive thoughts. The rest of the date had gone well, and a couple of hours later, they were walking back to his club where she’d be given a ride back to Beacon, where she’d no doubt have to endure Alaska’s torment once again. Even so, there was no way she could take tonight from her.

“Are you feeling alright? You seem pretty down.” the man she knew as Sherbet asked, surprising her. She didn’t think she had let her face slip, damn it, she didn’t want to talk about her of all things. Looking away, Belka tried to hide her face as she composed herself.

“Oh, n-no, it’s nothing!” Before she could think of an excuse, Sherbet reached over and caressed her cheek, taking her breath away as he tilted her head to look up at him; he didn’t need to say a word to express his doubt. Hardly able to think straight with the way his thumb rubbed her cheek, she caved. “Okay, it’s not nothing, I’ve just been dealing with a group of girls at school, they’ve been giving me a really hard time as of late. I just didn’t want to bring down the mood by talking about it.”

“Bullies? Seriously? I thought you guys were Beacon students, not a bunch of kids.” Romeo scoffed. He wasn’t even putting on an act with that reaction. Bullying? Seriously? He couldn’t see the point, it was childish, not to mention that any thug could throw their weight around and push around someone smaller, where was the tact? The pizazz? It was just uninspired…

“I know!” While she really didn’t want to talk about them, the validation from an outside set of eyes pointing out just how ridiculous this whole situation was seemed to set her off. It seemed that so far she was a part of the only team not involved in some kind of tomfoolery! “Seriously, on one hand I have SLVR, who seem to have forgotten the purpose of being Huntresses altogether, and on the other hand, my friends are going to the opposite end of the spectrum and are jumping right into trying to fight a Grimm cult!”

“Wait, they did what ?” Romeo said, stopping in his tracks. For a moment, the mask of Sherbet fully dropped. SJJL getting involved with the cult changed things dramatically, no wonder Ruby had been so tight-lipped about what happened at the port, and it didn’t help that Lavender still acted as if nothing had happened either. Damn it, he hated being kept in the dark. Thankfully, Belka mistook his frustration for the same exasperated feelings she was having over the events.

“Oh my goodness, did I not tell you? Okay, the short version is that they found a cult, an honest to the Gods cult, that seems to worship Grimm. And as I’m sure you can assume, they nearly got themselves killed from trying to look into it.” Romeo nodded along, pretending to be shocked about the cult’s existence as he let her tell him the basics, only for her to surprise him once again when she told him about Lavender protecting Luna. He mostly zoned her out after hearing that, deep in thought about the fact that Lavender had turned on one of them. Granted, to him it was obvious why, but his thoughts turned as to how he could use this angle to convince Lavender to fully leave that group of lunatics behind. Overall, this was a very good sign that she hadn’t been completely brainwashed, now he just needed to figure out how to work this in a way that would show her that those crazies were all like that woman who tried to kill her own daughter. Mercifully, the rest of the walk went by quickly, and soon he was seeing her into Steele’s car to go back home.

“I guess this is where we part ways?” Belka sighed. The night had gone amazingly, in fact that was the problem, it was so good that she didn’t want it to end just yet. Still, she knew it needed to come to a close, she didn’t want her friends, or Sherbet for that matter, to think that she was trying to make something happen like some kind of floozy. So she stepped on over to the car, and Sherbet, being the gentleman he was, opened it for her.

“Steele will make sure you get to the transports on time. Trust me, there’s not a better driver in all of Vale.” Belka went to sit down, but her reluctance stopped her. It was tempting to ask to stay the night, but even if she didn’t intend for anything to happen, the knowledge that it was improper stayed on her lips. Even still, she wanted more, even if it was something small… then, without thinking, she leaned in and laid a quick kiss onto his cheek, really it was more of a peck, but still, she blushed like mad as she looked down at her feet.

“I had a really good time tonight.” she said meekly as she took her seat in the back. Despite her flustered state, a small smile remained on her lips. Romeo chuckled, a small part of him had been worried that his more subtle act wouldn't have the same effect as his usual faster methods, but that peck all but confirmed to him that he had her wrapped around his finger.

“It was my pleasure. But if I impressed you that much, maybe we could do this again sometime?” As expected, her eyes lit up and she agreed without thinking.

“That would be delightful! Thank you, Sherbet.” And with that, Belka closed the door and was driven off. As soon as they were out of sight he groaned, he was no stranger to putting on an act, but the clean cut nice guy was one of the few roles he hated playing. Still, it had been worth it for the information he got. Making his way back inside the club and up to the penthouse, he went straight to the bar, where JJ was waiting for him.

“So, learn anything on your little date?” Romeo skipped the small talk and went straight for the hard liquor, pouring himself a glass and immediately getting to work downing it. The taller of the two grabbed his own glass which Romeo also filled.

“Not much aside from what we already knew, SJJL’s decided to do their own little investigation into the cult. That, and Lavender switched up on one of the cultists.” It should have been good news, more eyes on the cult and Lavender showed that she wasn't blindly following them, but the lack of communication from his sister kept gnawing at him. Why hadn't she talked to him about it? Did she think he'd go off on her? Was it that she still didn’t trust him? It was just so frustrating.

“She did? Okay, we can work with that. Why’d she do it?” Jumping onto the bit of good news,  JJ tried to keep the boy thinking on the bright side.

“Apparently, one of them tried to ice their own daughter. Lavender saw it and stepped in...” Romeo sighed, remembering an incident in which he needed to step in to get their mother to let go of Lavender during what he now knew to be a psychotic break. As far as he knew, it was the only time Neo had ever put her hands on his sister, but once was more than enough to leave a lasting effect on the girl, especially combined with her already being neglectful towards her, that would eventually spiral into her running away from home. JJ noticed the way he scowled into his glass, he knew that face. Romeo could hide his feelings from most people, but he could clearly see his friend trying to work through his thoughts in real time along with the glass.

“You think you can get more out of her?” Finishing his glass, Romeo savored the burning liquid as it traveled down his throat before turning around with the best smile he could muster as he poured himself another glass right away, ignoring the worried look from his friend.

“I’m hurt you even felt the need to ask. Besides, I don’t think that girl’s had any real attention in her life, she was eating out of the palm of my hand before we even stepped foot into the restaurant.” As he reached over to pour another glass, JJ grabbed the bottle and moved it closer to his end, getting a raised eyebrow from Romeo in response. His friend never knew when to pace himself, especially not when he was lost in his own head the way he currently was. Not that either of them were lightweights, but the whiskey he had grabbed was some strong stuff.

“Oh, there you guys are! I’ve been looking for you guys.” Lavender said, leaning over the railing, letting herself roll over and drop down gracefully. When she was greeted with silence,  she tilted her head. Having expected some sort of reaction, she looked to the boys and quickly noticed the tense atmosphere. “Is everything okay?”

Rather than answering, the boys shared a look. Romeo sighed, letting JJ have his win and keep the bottle on his side as he backed up from the bar, the liquor he'd downed already affecting him thanks to how fast he'd drank.

“JJ, would you mind giving us a minute?” Romeo said in a tone that made it perfectly clear that he wasn't actually asking.

“Sure, I’ve gotta check in with the bartenders anyway. I’ll be back in a bit.” JJ muttered, taking his cue to exit the room and leave the siblings alone. Lavender stood patiently, waiting to hear what her brother wanted to speak about, but instead he just gave her a stern,  knowing look that she didn't know how to respond to.

“Romeo?” Lavender said hesitantly, taking a step forward as she spoke. He was acting weird, he was never quiet, he was the sort of person to voice his own thoughts out loud just to break the silence.

“So, do anything interesting lately?” The obviously pointed question caused her to recoil a bit. He sounded mad, why would he be mad?

“Not really, just hanging around like usual… I got some work done on my painting, wanna see?” The obvious attempt at deflection was met by more silence from her brother. She felt like she was being interrogated, what was this about?

“So, you haven’t been to the industrial district recently?” Lavender broke eye contact immediately, he could tell she knew she'd been caught.

“W-what?” At her timid response, Romeo rolled his eyes so hard they could have come out of their sockets, she wasn't even trying to cover it up. Oh well, he had tried being nice about it, but at least now he was getting answers.

“You know, I had hoped you would have told me by now, but since I guess you still don’t trust me enough to be straight with me, I’ll just be blunt. I know you were at Vermillion Port last week.” It was like the air had been sucked out of Lavender's lungs, she tried desperately to come up with an excuse, but she found herself stumbling over her own words.

“That… I was-” Lavender started to shut down, not knowing what to say. She didn't want him to be mad, but she couldn't just tell him what had happened, he'd never hear her out if he found out about someone like Moon being in their ranks. Unable to come up with an excuse, she just looked down at her feet and in turn, Romeo grew angrier. 

“What the hell is wrong with you!? Did you just forget that I made a deal so Beacon would forget about you? Because believe it or not, I didn’t stick my neck out and get my friend involved so that you could go off and listen to Moon Moffit’s weird ass sermon.” Maybe it was the alcohol in his system egging him on, or just his frustration with her shutting him out reaching its boiling point, but for some reason, he just had to hammer that point in. Why on Remnant would she even consider working with someone who was far gone enough to attempt to kill their own child!? After everything they had been through, she should have known better, he didn't understand how she couldn't see that was what this cult’s bullshit fanaticism did to people! He had wanted to make a point, maybe even get through to her on some level, but unbeknownst to him, he had played his hand just a bit too strongly.

“I.. I- Wait, how do you know about Mother Moon?” that had been specific, too specific. If he had just mentioned the docks that would be one thing, but Moon Moffit specifically was a name that very few people knew.

“Ruby told me about the little spat at the docks.” Romeo didn't even flinch at the question, lying right to her face. Angered by the obvious lie, she looked right into his eyes, growing defiant as her anger started to boil.

“No, that can’t be true. They still think she goes by Moon Lucerna.” The mismatching eyes staring back at her went wide as her brother realized his mistake. Then it started to fall into place, the weird noise from her Scroll, the fact that two Beacon Huntsmen just so happened to be there at the same time as her. “Did you bug my Scroll!?”

“You’re goddamn right I did, and why wouldn’t I when you’re meeting up with wackjobs like her!?” Lavender’s anger reached a new level, this was nothing short of a betrayal! She wasn’t a stranger to betrayal, but seriously, her own brother would stoop this low? One of the only people she felt that she could fully trust? Moon was right, he was- no, no that crazy bitch wasn’t right about anything, he didn’t- it wasn’t like that. She needed to get her thoughts under control, she would never let herself turn into someone like Moon or Neo. But damn it, this was inexcusable, how could he do this to her!? 

“You son of a bitch! I can’t believe you’d- this is just- Don’t you trust me!?”

“Look, I want to, but trust is earned, not given. And honestly, so far you haven’t exactl-” his rant was cut off as he was forced to duck. Lavender grabbed the mostly empty bottle on the counter and threw it right at his head, the glass smashing against several others on the wall, covering the floor in liquor and shards of glass. Romeo's jaw nearly hit the floor, she actually just tried to break that over his head! “What the hell is your problem!?”

Lavender was seeing red, she wanted to hurt him, to grab him by that stupidly bright hair and press him face first into the shards that now littered the floor. She needed to earn his trust!? Was he serious? She wasn't the one who had been spying on him, she had never sabotaged him! And why, because he didn't approve of what she believed? She hated this, she hated being treated like a stupid kid, she hated being second guessed by everyone, she hated that her own brother didn't trust her enough to make her own decisions even though she was actually a legal adult now! It was suffocating, she needed air and to get away from him for a while.

“Screw you! Don’t follow me, and don’t send your goons to follow me unless you want them in the hospital!” With her warning made very clear, Lavender ran over to the door, slamming it behind her with tears in her eyes as she left her brother standing there to contemplate what just happened.

“Fuck!” Romeo spat bitterly as he leaned over the counter and held his throbbing skull, of course he'd fucked it all up! He needed to get his ass in gear, get his head in the game. Thinking through the fog of his growing buzz, he made a game plan. He had to regain her trust after that blunder, show her that he wasn't bullshitting her and really did just want the best for her. The only thing he could think of was Scarlet, Lavender clearly hadn't let go of that grudge… it wouldn't be that big of a deal, right? One Huntress in training? They could play that off as an accident or a training exercise gone wrong. Then he stopped himself and those thoughts, no, he couldn’t do that. He wasn't going to murder someone who didn’t deserve it, he'd just have to figure something else out to make Lavender come to her senses. He needed to come up with a good plan, and he usually always did when push came to shove.

Breakfast at Beacon was nothing special by Belka’s standards, that wasn’t to say it was bad, and certainly nothing like the slop her father had warned it would be in comparison to the meals she'd grown up having made for her. In fact, most of the meals were ones her mother would make, such as cheeseburgers, pizza, Mistralian take out, and other basic but nonetheless delicious meals. Whenever her father was away on business, the woman would often just take her daughter and head down to Mantle to visit her godmother and order out, saying it was a good reminder of where she was from. Though, while she did disagree on whether those ordered dishes supposedly tasted better, sheheld a certain nostalgia for them regardless. Unfortunately, said nostalgia wasn't enough to offset her terrible mood, still dealing with Alaska's little prank. Thankfully, Oobleck had been gracious enough to grant her an extra week and she still knew the material, so it just meant she had to write it down once more. Unfortunately, that took enough time in itself to be worrisome, so not one to fall behind, she took it upon herself to work on the paper throughout the night, under the impression that a few of those energy drinks she saw Scarlet chug down during workouts would be able to get her through the day.

She was wrong though, she had been so horribly, horribly wrong. Classes had been hell to sit through, to the point that she could hardly remember what she had been getting lectured on by Professor Oobleck not even twenty minutes ago, but what was even worse was that SLVR had picked up on it. Aethelflad had been particularly vicious, using what she quickly realized was her Semblance to constantly make her slip and fall. Normally this would have been a dead giveaway, but given her obviously impaired state, the girl had enough plausible deniability to dismiss any accusations. They'd even gotten the pink haired girl who's name she hadn't bothered to remember involved. She had been the least of her worries until now, just following along with however her team had decided to torment her, but this time, she had personality gotten involved with the prank . On paper, it was harmless, she took a seat behind Belka, and using the fact that she was too drowsy to notice, tied her hair into a braid while no one was looking, and then tied her hair to the back of her chair. It should have been just a mild annoyance, provided that she hadn't tripped again at that point. What made it all the more irritating however, was that she was fairly certain SLVR had nothing to do with that fall, she had stepped on a pencil that just so happened to roll underneath her foot, meaning that if anyone's Semblance was to blame, it was most likely Goose's, which somehow made her angrier, especially when the girl from SLVR made a big deal about apologizing and she had to accept it to avoid becoming the bad guy despite being the victim in the situation. Instead, she just let her anger fester, trying to simmer down with her meal, but unfortunately, she was just becoming more irritated as just a few feet away, Goose was showing off her semblance as some sort of party trick for Scarlet and Jin, flipping a coin into the air and letting it fall onto the table where instead of landing on heads or tails, the coin landed perfectly on its side. Currently, it had been flipped four times, and Belka watched from the corner of her eye as it spun in the air. Surely it would have to land on one of the faces at some point, the probability of the coin landing on it’s side five times consecutively was beyond impossibly low, right? Apparently not, as the moment Belka thought that, it landed on its side once again, much to the surprise and amazement of the pair watching.

“Seriously!? Dude, that’s like the fifth time it’s landed like that!” Jin said excitedly, completely captivated by the trick. Apparently, the way it worked was that if she concentrated, Goose could focus her Semblance on a single object or person. It wasn’t like she could choose what happened of course, but with certain things, like say, a coin, she could pretty easily predict the least likely outcome. For example, repeatedly landing a coin perfectly on its side.

“Okay, one more time! Semblance or not, there’s no way you’re gonna get six in a row!” Scarlet encouraged, unknowingly irritating her. Oh, so they got to just sit by and get to see the good bits of her partner's Semblance, of course they’d be impressed, they didn’t trip on pencils, or have to worry about vials of Dust going off in their hands constantly!

“Would you mind keeping the party tricks down for a minute? Some of us are trying to eat in peace here.” The annoyed grumbling from the girl surprised the others at the table, but one look at her was enough for them to see that she was just in a bad mood, and that it wasn’t worth starting an argument over in their eyes. Unfortunately, Lumi saw things differently than the rest of those at her table.

“You seem to be the only one bothered here Belka, maybe if it’s such a distraction , you could move a table down so you aren’t bothered by it.” Lumi shot back, getting a glare from her least favorite aunt in return, which she ignored completely. Ignoring the typical spat that she’d grown accustomed to seeing between their weird little family unit, Scarlet looked her fellow leader up and down. To be blunt, she looked like complete shit, she had dark bags under her dead looking eyes, and bearing a constant miserable expression.

“Are you okay, Belka? You look…” Scarlet paused, her initial instinct being to repeat her initial thought, but thinking better of it at the girl’s already annoyed scowl, she realized that she really wasn’t in the mood to get chewed out over her language. “ Really bad.”

For a moment, Belka tried to put on an act that everything was just fine, but even that proved to be too strenuous at the moment, so she gave up and let her head rest on the table with a melodramatic groan.

“Not in the slightest. I stayed up all night redoing that paper Alaska and her cronies destroyed.” Goose frowned hearing that, it was bad enough that SLVR was giving her a hard time, but now she was being hard on herself over it and depriving herself of basic needs like sleep to catch back up. 

“You know what I think? I think that you need a day off, you’ve been working yourself ragged with studying and training, you’re gonna work yourself into a meltdown at this rate.” Goose said. Belka tried to object, but at this point, she would have killed just for a nap, a full day off to relax sounded heavenly at this rate, and it was certainly too good an offer to refuse outright, so instead, the part of her brain latching onto the idea that she had to keep going found a different excuse.

“Aren’t we already all getting together for something like that?” While the question may have sounded rhetorical in her current state, between the drowsiness and irritation she genuinely couldn’t remember. She thought they had selected a day? Or was that the one she couldn’t make because she was going out with Sherbet? Ugh, she was too out of it to know. 

“Well, I was more thinking something like a spa day, but we could make it a team thing. Come on, we haven’t done anything like that.” The other members of BGEL considered it, and it wasn’t like she was wrong, SJJL had gone rogue twice now, and while it wasn’t a conventional team bonding experience, it was still way more than what they had done. Seeing her team, and Belka specifically, considering the offer, Goose decided to add a bit more incentive to sweeten the deal. “It’ll be my treat!”

“That sounds nice, but how would I get in with you guys?” At Lao’s question, the girls of BGEL turned to him. Ah, that was right, Lao was a guy, and considering this was meant to be a team activity, it would be rude to have him spend the day on his own. Then again, maybe they wouldn’t have to.

“We could probably sneak him in, right?” Goose asked, causing Jet to choke on his drink. She could imagine it, maybe adding something like a cute little bow to the hair to really sell it. Yeah, that could work!

“He’s definitely pretty enough to pass for a girl.” Belka said, not in a demeaning way, but as if she was just stating a fact, one that Lao didn't object to. Elizabeth looked over at him, more surprised at his lack of reaction than anything else. While it was true that he could pass as a woman rather easily, she had expected at least some sort of prideful response defending his masculinity.

“Really? Nothing to say about that? Nothing at all?” Elizabeth deadpanned, getting a shrug from her partner.

“After Jin said it, I’m sort of used to it.” Well, as much as she didn't want to admit it, that sounded about right for him, because of course he'd get over it after hearing it once. Whatever, she wouldn’t let it get to her, at least not until she had finished her pasta.

“You know what, that sounds nice actually, although there’s no need to pay out of pocket, I can take care of it.” Belka offered without hesitation. After all, she was used to being the one to pay for day trips; it wasn't like she minded either, at least, not with her actual friends.

“Oh, no, it’s really not a problem, I’m rich, remember.” Her comment had been innocent enough, if anything she’d just been acting playful, however, in Belka’s stressed and sleep deprived mind, she heard something more in Goose’s voice. It sounded like that same haughty tone Lumi and Elizabeth used to talk down to her, filled with judgment and a sense of superiority, and she didn’t like that tone one bit.

“Uh, so am I?” Belka pointed out flatly, unable to hide the annoyance in her voice. Picking up on this, Goose chuckled nervously, picking a strand of ivory hair and starting to twirl it in her fingers.

“Yeah, but… you know...” There it was again. What, did she think that just because her mother was the head of the Schnee family that it somehow made her money better? It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if that were the case. After all, she had been raised around Lumi and Elizabeth, it wouldn’t have shocked her if this was just another distancing tactic. Well, if her partner wanted to play those games, then at the very least, she’d make her just come out and say it flat out.

“No actually, I don’t, so why don’t you just say it?” Now the others at the table went silent, just as confused as Goose who looked around for help, not knowing what she had done to upset her partner. 

“For Pete’s sake Belka, she’s trying to be polite! Quit being so stubborn and let her do this for you.” It was at this point that Lumi spoke up, until now, she had been content to just ignore her aunt to keep the peace, but if she was going to start an argument over something so minor, then fine, Lumi would give her an argument.

“I didn’t make her say it like she did, if she wants to say something, then she should just come out and say it!”

“Trust me, she could have been a lot less welcoming towards you, and no one would blame her. You should be lucky she’s even thinking of treating you with Grandmother’s money considering how your father acquired most of his wealth.” Elizabeth jumped in, similarly displeased with her sudden attitude. There it was! That same damned line of thinking that got them where they were now, well no more, she was done . They wanted to act like petulant children? Fine, she could play that role too! 

“Oh, yes, I’m being stubborn, not the little brats who are clinging to a feud that has nothing to do with us !” The mood had quickly grown uncomfortable, the tables falling silent. Scarlet and Jet just ate in silence, unsure of how to approach the argument, or even if they should in the first place. Jin looked over to Lao for an explanation, but the boy just pursed his lips and looked down at his food, remembering what happened last time he tried to break up this same argument. While he did want to try and resolve this, he just didn’t really know how to without making things worse, so instead he just sat there, helpless to do anything as the argument increased in volume.

“You know what, if you have such a problem with Goose wanting to be nice to you, then just don’t come! I’d be more than happy to take your place if you’re going to act like such an ingrate!” Lumi said sharply, Elizabeth nodding her head. She certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep about their aunt not coming along. This just seemed to just work Belka up more as she stared them down with an increasingly furrowed brow. Except that wasn’t all true, because as Goose watched the situation spiral out of control once again, she noticed the expressions her partner tried to hide, biting her lip to keep it from trembling, how her face scrunched just a bit too hard compared to how she normally looked while angry, she seemed more sad than anything. Not wanting the situation to escalate any further, she stood up from her seat and spoke with the calmest voice she could muster, trying to stop before someone’s feelings were hurt.

“Please, can we jus-”

“Oh, shut the hell up!” Goose flinched as though she had been smacked as Belka snapped at her, unintentionally drawing Belka’s ire her way as the girl let her pent up anger loose on her. “Gods above, I’m sick of you acting like you’re just above it all! You know what? Fine, go without me, I wouldn’t want to waste my time with someone as childish and annoying as you anyway!”

For a moment Goose just didn’t react, the whiplash of being on the receiving end of Belka’s fury leaving her stunned. When she was finally able to respond, she broke eye contact with her partner, looking off to the side in a failed attempt to hide her pained expression. Then she started to tremble, unable to hide how her words and the way she had suddenly shouted at her was affecting her.

“I-I… I’m sorry?” She didn’t know why she was apologizing, or what she had done to earn that level of anger, she thought they were getting along. Had she done something wrong? It hurt hearing that from someone she considered a friend. Belka suddenly felt regret wash over her as she saw Goose start to cry, and suddenly all eyes were on them. Most just looked at her in shock like Scarlet, while others, like her nieces, glared at her for making her cry like that. Damn it, this wasn’t what she had wanted to happen, why was she the bad guy here? They were the ones who’d ganged up on her, they were the ones making her feel like an outsider within her own family. But even still, she knew that Goose didn’t deserve that, a part of her wanted to apologize, to comfort her. Another part of her, however, wondered what the point even would be though, Goose probably wouldn’t forgive her, and Elizabeth and Lumi had already decided she was the villain long before this point, so why bother? She looked down at the half eaten dish, realizing she’d lost what little appetite she’d had left, so she stood up and walked away, ignoring Elizabeth as she demanded she explain herself.

As much as Jin didn’t like to admit it, he hadn’t kept up with his friends as much as he would have liked to since starting his training. It wasn’t something he had done on purpose of course, training had simply just become more important as the deadline of Beacon’s entrance exams for those not coming from a combat school grew closer, and then once he had gotten into Beacon, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and make up for lost time, especially given that Lumi, Goose, and Lao would all attending with him. In fact, that had been his plan before the incident with Scarlet and Lumi set off the whole fiasco that was still going on to this day, though most of that was now in the hands of his professors. He didn’t have to worry about cults, or weird foreign Grimm, or crazy scorpion girls trying to kill him and his friends, he could just sit back and enjoy student life, and the only hiccup remaining there was that his Aunt was seemingly making deals with criminals. Of course, that wasn’t getting resolved any time soon either, thanks to the small hiccup that he couldn’t really confront his Aunt, given that he flat out didn’t know how to. He felt like a total jerk when he raised his voice at Lumi, even though she deserved it, butAunt Ruby was a whole other beast. This was the woman who had helped his moms change his and the twins diapers and made them homemade cookies whenever they’d visited, he didn’t think he could ever be stern with her even if it turned out she was the queen of the Grimm or something else as cartoonishly evil. There was also the fact that she was second only to the Headmistress herself in terms of authority at Beacon, and as far as his understanding went, that basically meant she was quite literally above the law and there was nothing he could do about it, save for calling Mommy and Grandpa to try and guilt trip her into stopping. He was sure she had good reasons and that she’d be willing to share those reasons if asked once he finally worked up the courage to do so. After all, he was pretty sure she had plenty of other things to worry about, such as chasing the cult they had found, organizing the transfer and boarding of students to Vacuo for the Vytal festival, or putting out whatever fires inevitably popped up from working with criminals.

So, needless to say, there was a lot going on, but now that things had calmed down somewhat, he was determined to spend more time with his friends, both new and old. Today, that opportunity had practically come gift wrapped to him when Lao texted him asking to meet up. It had been actual years since they’d last had a chance to get together like this, three years if he remembered right. Either way, it had been so long that Jin had forgotten that his friend was, in fact, very pretty, the hair definitely making the biggest difference, since it had been about the same length as Jet’s the last time they’d seen each other. Overall, it was a small change in the grand scheme of things, but it just added to the boy’s androgyny. He imagined that he just needed a break, after all, things had been very uncomfortable with his team as of late ever since Belka’s blow up at lunch, Liz and Belka were arguing even more than usual, and from what Lumi had told him they were mostly avoiding each other for the most part beyond that. Goose wasn’t much better, just glumly going through the motions, still upset over Belka’s harsh words. He had tried to help, along with Lumi, Scarlet, and even Jet, but she insisted she was fine, even as she lay wrapped in her bedsheets, gingerly holding a little Beowolf plushie. That sort of environment couldn’t be good for the boy, so Jin took off as soon as he got the text asking to meet up in the gym. Finally getting to his destination, he found the facility mostly empty, and, making his way around the equipment, the young Faunus made his way to one of the boxing rings near the middle of the room, only to see Lao sitting in the middle of one of them, his legs crossed and his hands on his thighs as he meditated. Climbing over the ropes, he watched the copper haired boy for a moment. He looked as tif he was a statue, and if it wasn’t for his high level of hearing, Jin would have assumed he wasn’t even breathing. As he got closer, Lao finally opened his eyes, looking up at his old friend with a nod.

“Jin, thanks for meeting with me.” Getting to his feet, Lao dusted off his pants. The mat was dirtier than he would have liked, but he wouldn’t kick up a fuss over it, after all, it was noticeably cleaner than the others. He approached the taller boy and was suddenly pulled off of his feet into a tight hug.

“Not a problem man, it’s been way too long since we’ve hung out, what did you have in mind?” Unaware that he was crushing his friend, Jin held on tight, both of them suddenly more aware of the disparity between their heights, Jin being well over a foot taller than the man currently in the vice that was his arms. Setting his friend down, Jin watched as he stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. Clearing his throat and pretending he hadn’t just been picked up like a small child, Lao took a few steps back to give himself some space. 

“I’m… afraid I wasn’t entirely honest with you as to why I wanted to meet. I need to clear my head.” Jin tilted his head, not sure what he had meant by that, considering he didn’t really know what the smaller boy had in mind in the first place, since the text sent just asked him to meet up. Then it clicked for Jin, they were alone and in the middle of a boxing ring. Now he understood, Lao wanted to spar.

“Oooh, you should have just said so, are you still practicing your Aura-Fu?” Jin asked excitedly, Lao watching with amusement as the blond started to stretch. He knew he could count on Jin, they had made it a sort of competition when they were younger to try and see who was the better martial artist, a light hearted one of course, but it always helped him release the pent up tension from keeping himself in check.

“It’s called Qi Gong, but yes.” After the gentle reminder, the pair stepped away from each other until they were in opposite corners, each taking their respective stances before deciding to get started. Lao was the more cautious of them, and he knew Jin’s size advantage was going to be a problem, but so long as he was smart and remained observant, there was a chance he could play it to his advantage, even if it would be harder than trying to fight around a Grimm’s size. 

“So, how’re you feeling about the other day?” Jin asked casually, lifting his leg to avoid a low kick from Lao that would have knocked his foot right out from under him. However, he then used his raised knee as a platform, kicking off and landing a rising kick right to the taller boy’s chin. Having forgotten how hard his old friend could hit, he was dazed for a moment, but recovered in time to redirect an open palm strike intended for his chest off to the side. He could feel the air pressure give way as his Aura traveled out of the strike, getting hit by the blow itself was bad enough, but the added impact of his Aura would be like getting hit by a car, making a point to avoid even blocking in this fight. With Lao still in a negative position, he sidestepped the smaller boy and aimed a fading roundhouse kick for his chest with his back leg, using the residual momentum from his repositioning to his advantage. While the ginger managed to block the strike in time, he was sent sliding back from the impact.

“I stood by and did nothing while my team got into a fight once again.” Lao said flatly, attempting to clear his mind of the issue and focusing on Jin as he once more went ro close the distance. Jin was used to fighting smaller opponents, so he kept his stancelow to the ground, and made sure he was keeping enough distance to take advantage of his longer reach. Lao, on the other hand, knew he couldn’t count on his opponent whiffing strikes, the Faunus was simply too well trained for that. Realizing he had no choice but to try and force the fight to go his way, the smaller of them moved in, aiming a jab at Jin’s ribs, only for his strike to once again get redirected, but in doing so, he left himself open and Lao jumped up, landing a second kick to his jaw. To his surprise, Jin powered through this blow and, despite him being in the air, the larger boy had no problem pulling his arm back and sending him crashing into the floor with an overhead strike. Right, he should have figured that he’d adapt to that kind of attack, he had already figured out how to handle his Aura strikes, redirecting rather than fully blocking. 

“That wasn’t on you, we all just kinda froze up. I knew they didn’t like each other very much, but that was rough.” Despite his kind and supportive words, Jin was currently taking a very aggressive approach, striking constantly with a mixture of punches and kicks that kept the smaller boy on the move. His words also made it increasingly hard to focus on the fight itself, just being reminded of the very thing he was trying to suppress. While he knew that this wasn’t his larger friend’s intention, he couldn’t help but let the guilt and frustration leak out as he moved in, letting a punch bounce off of his temple as he threw a haymaker that lacked his usual precise form. Seeing the obvious wind up, Jin anticipated and subsequently flipped over the strike, before bringing his feet down one after the other, a pair of axe kicks hitting squarely on the top of Lao’s head before landing in a kneeling position. Keeping up the offensive, Jin then sprang upwards into a rising uppercut with his whole body behind it, knocking Lao off his feet and sending him onto his back. Then… nothing, he just lay there, panting. The Faunus took a step closer in confusion, he knew that wouldn’t be enough to deplete his Aura, and, looking down at his friend, he saw that Lao’s typically pink eyes had shifted into a dark red as he stared up at the ceiling. He dropped his form after that, instead sitting down next to him, their fight having clearly done more harm than good if it had gotten him that worked up. They lay together in silence after that, Jin letting him breathe and calm down as he slowly but surely got his anger under control, the pent up emotion still simmering beneath the surface, but now at a manageable rate.

“I should be doing better, I’m having trouble even controlling my own emotions… I don't know how to help them with theirs. No matter what I do, it seems like I’m just making things worse.” Lao said as he sat up. He’d been prepared for a lot of things to go wrong with himself, but his team, on the other hand, was something he just couldn’t have seen coming. 

“Well, yeah, but you’re like, compartmentalizing.” Lao raised an eyebrow, he didn’t know what the exact term’s meaning was, but he was fairly confident it wasn’t that, he just managed them as best he could. Shrinking under Lao’s slightly judgmental gaze, Jin shrugged. “I dunno, I think that’s what Mama said it was. Look, the point is, you’re treating your emotions like they’re a bad thing.”

Lao didn’t have an answer to that, because in his eyes, they were . No one got hurt when he kept his emotions in check, he didn’t lose control, or shut down, and end up getting others into trouble. Sure, it wasn’t normal for a teenaged boy to be so calm, but this way he could be around his friends, he could be a Huntsman like his parents, he could have a life where he wasn’t constantly worrying.

“You know why I do this, Jin.” The firm reminder caused the young Faunus to sigh, he wanted to say that he knew where his friend was coming from, but the simple fact of the matter was that he didn’t. He could try to understand, but that was it.

“Yeah… and I don’t blame you, I’m just saying that emotions aren’t all bad.” Lao broke eye contact, looking down at his feet as Jin continued to speak. “Like how you’re feeling about the girls, that’s empathy, are you gonna say you think that worrying about your teammates is bad?”

Lao sighed in defeat, he couldn’t have argued with that, even if he wanted too. Despite their difficulties, he liked the girls, and he had honestly been a bit worried that they’d treat him differently given that he was the only boy on their team, but they were all welcoming towards him. In fact, Elizabeth was the only one who seemed to have any issues with him whatsoever, but even so, it wasn’t like she went out of her way to be rude to him. To each other though? That was the real problem, he and Goose had been enduring the perpetual fighting between Belka and Elizabeth from just about day one, and whenever they tried to help, their anger at each other was just redirected at them instead.

“No, but what if I get overwhelmed?” Seeing the smaller boy’s worry, he smiled and patted the Mistralian boy on the back reassuringly.

“ That’s when you do the monk thing.” he said, getting to his feet and holding out his hand to help the other boy up in turn. “Just… try not to be so afraid of feeling things, at least try and open up to the girls, okay?”

Lao tilted his head, he thought he was being open to the girls, he hadn’t lied to them, or ignored them, he was always around for them to talk to if they wanted, and they knew that. But then, Elizabeth’s tirade about him acting like a robot replayed in his head. Maybe they didn’t know, maybe he had been more closed off than he had thought. Was he supposed to just say it? That was probably the best option currently, maybe it would even help if they had someone to talk to besides each other? Alright, he had a plan then. Accepting his friend’s hand, Lao was effortlessly pulled to his feet as he nodded.

“I’ll try, thank you Jin.”

Sniffles escaped Lavender as she sat against the wall, her face buried into her knees as she cried harder than she had in a long time. She had wandered around town for the last couple of days, just trying to get her mind off of what Romeo had done, how he'd stabbed her in the back and showed no trust in her. That proved harder said than done, even when Melodias had offered her his couch to sleep on, she ended up repaying him by ranting for hours about what an asshole her brother was. It wasn’t like she didn’t try to get her mind off things, in fact, she’d tried just about everything, she’d prayed, tried to redirect her anger at Moon, Scarlet, and even herself for not seeing it sooner, and she obviously couldn’t paint with her supplies being back where she was staying with Romeo. She’d even lashed out at a pair of guys who had decided to catcall her, beating them black and blue, her knuckles were still a light shade of purple from that. Well, it served them right, maybe next time they’d think twice before commenting on a lady’s figure in such a crass way. While that had helped her for the moment, the adrenaline faded and she was left alone with her thoughts again. She could only bury her feelings so much though, and eventually, she broke down, sitting in a filthy alleyway and bawling her eyes out as the dam broke. Suddenly, her scroll started to ring. Pulling the small object from her pocket, she froze when she saw the name on it pop up. Henna was calling her, and, after ignoring her calls and texts for the last two weeks, Lavender wiped the tears from her eyes as she tried to compose herself for the scolding she was no doubt in store for as she tapped the screen to accept the video call.

“H-Henna?” The woman on screen was clearly unimpressed with the girl, her scowl actually making Lavender wince. Henna had always been more than a little scary when she was angry, Lavender just wasn't used to her anger being directed her way.

“Lavender, I assume you’ve had time to-” after a moment, it registered to the viper Faunus just how raw Lavender's voice was, her anger fading for the moment as her protective instincts took over. “Are you crying? Lav, what’s wrong?”

“Me and Romeo got into a fight… He bugged my Scroll, Henna! He’s treating me like I’m so stupid, like I’m going to get myself hurt if he’s not watching my every move!” There was more to it of course, but even as angry as she was, the thought of telling Henna about him feeding information to Beacon never once crossed her mind. She knew how Henna would react, and a fight between them was the last thing she needed. She wanted her family to be whole again, not to find a new reason to tear it apart. So she left out that detail, choosing to let Henna think it was just a standard family dispute.

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry.” As much as she wanted to chastise Lavender for her actions at Vermillion Port and her generally disrespectful behavior towards Moon, that talk could wait, her sister needed comfort right now.

“I just… I thought that things would be better, this is exactly how it started with Neo! Every time I got mad, she’d act like I was going to hurt someone, I’m sick of it!” Lavender remembered those days all too well, by that point, she was old enough to realize that Neo was playing favorites. She tried to justify it by saying that Romeo needed more teaching, given that he was going to take over the family business one day after all, but she knew better. The mental gymnastics that woman went through to try and pretend it was anything else but clear favoritism would have made a sane person’s head spin. So naturally, Lavender did whatever it took to get Neo’s attention, she would stay out until the early morning, and when she realized Neo had never even noticed she was missing, she turned to shoplifting, despite them having more money than they knew what to do with. Then she turned to picking fights, an ironic choice considering the impulsive decision would lead her to discovering that she was a natural at it. That was also what finally got her Mother’s attention, just not in the way she’d hoped. If anything, Neo looked at her like she was dangerous after that, and when Lavender raised her voice, she noticed her mother tense up like she was prepared to avoid an attack. It made her feel alone and unwanted, a feeling that was creeping back.

“Do you think that maybe you should come back to Vacuo? If things aren’t working out for you in Vale, some time away to cool down could do you both some good.” Henna suggested softly.She had to pick her words carefully, after all, this likely wasn’t a private conversation. If Romeo had been listening in on their old conversations, there was a good chance that he was listening in on this one, or would be in the near future.

“No, I have to try, otherwise I’m no better than Moon or Neo. I just… don’t know what to do.” Being prepared for this response, Henna paused and considered her options. Okay then, what if they took the opposite approach? 

“Maybe it’s time we brought him in.” The question seemed to shock Lavender, but Henna didn’t quite know why. After all, Lavender had asked her to be the one to talk to him before, so what better way to do so then to teach him, to offer an olive branch that someone like the pathetic imp they called a mother never would.

“Huh? But I haven’t even talked to him about it...

“He’s the one who was wrong in this situation. If anything, he owes it to you to give this a chance.” The statement wasn’t just directed at Lavender this time, knowing that there was a good chance he was listening in as they spoke, so she laid out the facts as she saw them; Lavender had tried being nice about it, now she would have to give the boy a reality check. “Best case scenario, we convince him to convert, at worst, he’ll at least have a better understanding of where you’re coming from.”

“But what if he says no?” That question had been eating away at Lavender ever since she left. What if this just wasn’t something that her brother could accept? What if he tried to make her choose, like Moon did? 

“If he’s not willing to put in the effort, then that says everything you need to know about him, doesn’t it?” In Henna’s mind, there was no room for discussion. She had taken care of Lavender, sheltered and trained her over the last several years, not him, she had far more of a right to be considered a sibling to her than a boy who let his own sister be mistreated and neglected.

“I… I guess so. I’ll talk to him about it.” For Lavender, the turmoil of the situation was tearing her apart. She’d just gotten her brother back, and despite his actions, she could tell that he obviously cared about her. As messed up and unacceptable as it was, deep down she knew it was out of a place of concern, of love even. 

“Call me after you’ve talked to him. Stay strong Lavender, no matter how he responds.” Hanging up the call, Lavender pressed her face back into her knees. She had to convince Romeo to come, to just give it a try, she had to convince him it would be worth it. It was up to her, she had to stop her new family from falling apart before it had truly been able to form.

Belka let her head rest under the showerhead as the warm water rushed down her body, rinsing away the mixture of sweat, soap, and suds that clung to her after she scrubbed herself down. If she was being honest with herself, the shower had gone on far longer than necessary. It wasn’t that she was a neat freak, no more than the usual person was anyway, she just absolutely wasn’t going to walk around campus smelling of sweat and dust residue, but that had stopped being a possibility almost an hour ago. The reality of the situation was that she was just delaying going back to her dorm for as long as she could, she just wasn't in the mood for another argument, or worse, seeing Goose. On one hand, she really did regret snapping at her partner the way she did, but on the other hand, she was also a grown woman, she had no reason to be so upset over getting yelled at once. Then again, she had a suspicion that the girl hadn't been yelled at or even seriously punished before. At the same time though, it irritated her that she had overreacted so strongly, she hadn't shut down after being called an affair baby or after her own nieces had made it clear that she wasn't wanted, but she broke down and wanted to act like a kicked puppy over a few harsh words? It just frustrated her more and more, which made her more likely to snap at Elizabeth for her clever little comments in a spiral of angst and anger that would have probably attracted an entire horde of Grimm if they weren’t away from the safety of civilization. She didn’t want it to be this way, but what else was she to do? Just sit there and take the abuse being hurled at her from all sides?

“Howdy.'' Speaking of abuse, Alaska snickered as Belka’s head snapped around to face her, the taller girl’s breath on the back of her neck alerting her to her bully’s sudden appearance. The smaller girl backed into the wall, looking around for a way out of the situation, only to find Aethelflad standing off to the side by the entrance to the shower cubicle, leaving her no room to escape. They’d cornered her when she was at her most vulnerable, she had given them too much credit it seems, she hadn’t expected them to stoop this low.

“W-what’re you doing here?” Even while doing her best to keep up her angry and defiant attitude, she couldn’t fully hide her fear. Stuttering in the face of the larger and, as she could now visibly verify, much better built girl. She clearly noticed, her smirk growing even wider as she acted casual about the situation.

“Showering, duh. I ended up working up a sweat in practice. Though, I can’t quite figure out why you’ve just been standing about. I seen you today, you ain’t do squat to need to be showerin’ for this long.” Belka did what she could to ignore the obvious attempt to get under her skin, crossing her arms and defiantly glaring at the nude hillbilly. Alaska raised an azure eyebrow at that, silently asking if that was really how she wanted to try and play this.

“Maybe she’s just moping over the fight she caused.” Aethelflad added in, unknowingly striking at the heart of it. Had it been Scarlet, Juliet, or even Lumi or Elizabeth, if they had been genuine, she might have opened up to them, admitted what was bothering her. But the smug, condescending tone Aethelflad spoke with caused her anger to spike up once more, overtaking any fear of repercussions as she snapped back at her.

“Should a brazen floozy such as yourself really be trying to bring up my team’s drama? Look at yourself before worrying about anyone else.” There was no witty response from either of the girls, not that Belka would have expected a sharp tongue from the brute of a woman before her, but the fact that she was further vindicated in her superior wit to Aethelflad didn’t last very long as Alaska stepped forward, and with a single arm, shoved her right into the tile wall, the back of her head hitting it hard enough to break several tiles, shards of shattered ceramic falling with Belka as she collapsed to her hands and knees in a daze, her Aura activating to heal the wound forming on the back of her skull. In her daze, she couldn’t make out who was speaking out of the two, but it didn’t matter much as soon she found herself being lifted up by her arms, recovering just in time to be met face to face with Alaska, who immediately reached out and grabbed her chin tightly, forcing the smaller girl to look her in the eyes, meaning it was the redhead currently twisting her arms to keep her still.

“Naw, that uppity act you pull might work with your little rich girl family, but you’re gonna wipe that stupid look off your face when you talk to me.” 

“Screw you!” She struggled as hard as she could to break free, but she only really managed to get Alaska’s hand off of her chin, and if anything, just made Aethelflad hold her tighter. “What the hell is your problem with me anyway!? That I pointed out that you were doing something shitty?”

“You know, I could say a lot of things I don’t like about you. You’re annoying, soft, one of them… whatcha call ‘em, Aeth?” Ignoring her plaything’s question, Alaska looked over to Aethel for a reminder for the term she had used before, it was one of them fancy words that meant rich people. Back home, she would have just called her a snobby city girl and been done with it, but her teammates were encouraging her to try and expand her vocabulary.

“Blue bloods.” The woman behind Belka said lazily, resting her chin in the crook of her neck in a way that had it digging into her soft skin. Trying to squirm free only made it worse as Aethelflad tightened her already painfully uncomfortable grip on her.

“Yeah, them.'' The Vacuan said as she looked her victim up and down, her intense gaze was made all the more uncomfortable by the fact that they were both in their birthday suits. It also had the side effect of making herself extremely aware of just how much skin contact Aethelflad was making, and how her other hand lingered along her hips. “But I gotta admit, you ain’t bad on the eyes. Guess you gotta be good for somethin’ since you can’t fight worth a damn ‘n all.”

Start of content warning

“Wh-what’re you looking at!?” Belka asked, fear once again cutting through her anger as goosebumps formed on her skin under the bluenette’s gaze as she eyed her body up and down. Her gaze wasn’t the same predatory look she’d seen when Alaska was sizing her up for one of her ‘pranks’ or a sucker punch, it was far more intense, and while it could have just been the heat of the shower, she could clearly see Alaska’s skin grow more flushed as she looked up and down her figure.

“Oh hush honey, it ain’t nothin we’ haven’t seen before. We’re all girls here, ain't we?” As if on cue, Aethelflad chose that exact moment to reach down and pinch her rump, making her stomach churn.

“Ah!” At Belka’s yelp, Alaska’s eyes went over to her teammate, twin sapphires narrowing as she gave Aethelflad a warning glare, to which the redhead reluctantly nodded to and focused on keeping their victim’s arms bound. The bluenette let out a huff, she’d already told the girl that they weren’t going to get handsy like that, just scare her a bit… even if she did want to reach out herself, it was just too far for her. If things were different and the city slicker wasn’t insufferable to be around, she’d have taken her shot months ago, but it just wasn’t in the cards. 

“Sorry, not my fault.” Aethelflad lied, not even bothering to actually sound apologetic over the mild groping. She knew she was going to get an earful about it later, but for now, she was just focused on her fun. “It’s like you said, her body’s like, the only thing she has going for her.” 

“True, I bet all the boys back at home liked the view as well.” Belka wasn’t sure what to be more offended at, being ogled by these degenerates like a piece of meat, the insinuation that her body was her only redeeming quality, or that she was some loose tramp back home, though her anger eventually settled on the latter option, especially considering the reputation of the woman behind her. Hell, even the woman in front of her was a bit loose as well if the school rumor mill was even remotely accurate.

“Screw you, unlike that whore, I’ve ne-ack!” She was once again cut off, this time by the Vacuan’s fist slamming into her gut, making her cough and wheeze. While she did manage to avoid hurling her lunch onto the shower floor, it was a close call.

“Now, now, you know how I feel about that word.” Alaska chided, grabbing Belka by the chin once more and lifting her to get a good look. Taking a moment to reflect on what she said, curiosity got the better of her.Was she actually a virgin? It would match up with her holier than thou attitude and the massive stick up her ass, but still, she was a bit surprised, she thought those Atlas types were all supposed to be degenerates who threw any values they pretended to have out the window behind their stupid big, stupid expensive doors. “You ain’t never been touched?”

“I’ll have you know that unlike some people , I’ve never even kissed a boy on the lips.” To her utter disgust, the two girls had the audacity to laugh at that, as if throwing themselves at boys whose names they probably didn’t remember was something to be proud of. “What? Surprised that not everyone follows the first cute boy who gives them the time of day into bed?”

In a moment, Alaska’s smirk was wiped off of her face and an angry expression quickly replaced it. She considered knocking out a few of the girl’s teeth for that comment, but then, she got a better idea. Belka was gonna act like she was better than her and Aeth because she was a virgin and they weren’t? Like it was so wrong for grown women to want to explore themselves and have some fun now that they were adults? Well, she wondered how she'd feel becoming a little less pure herself.

“Ain’t never even kissed anyone, huh?” She asked as she grabbed a cruel amount of hair, holding on tightly as she forced Belka into the proper position for what she wanted to do, much to her confusion and worry.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

“A favor. Loyal overheard you talking about some boy toy who’s been getting you all fuzzy inside.” Her heart skipped a beat, they knew about Sherbet!? How? Why? Okay, okay, she had to stay calm. She was a brute, but as much as she didn't want to give SLVR’s leader any kind of credit, the woman wasn't stupid, she had to know that trying anything like what she feared  was a guaranteed jail sentence, so they weren't going to do what she was thinking, right? “It would be a shame if you gave him a bad first kiss, huh?”

Dread set in as Belka realized what she was intending to do, but before she could even try to escape, Alaska dove in, pressing her lips against her own. The texture was bumpy and rough, presumably from the bluenette chewing her lips so much. The kiss itself was rough and messy, and when she gasped, their teeth collided, gnashing together as she fought against the unwanted advance, but her grip was just too strong. In fact, the Vacuan took full advantage of her digits being entangled in her hair, forcing her deeper into the kiss as well as pulling at the roots, causing her to cry out in agony from the rough treatment, her yelps of pain being swallowed by the cowgirl as she teasingly slid her tongue along her lower lip. She tried to jerk back but found herself sandwiched fully between her attackers, wet skin rubbing together in a tangle of limbs. It wasn't just the sensations that filled her with disgust, the girl’s taste was foul , and while she didn't go as far as to force her tongue into her mouth, likely because she knew that she’d bite down on it at the first opportunity, rather than that being the line she had drawn for assaulting her fellow student. She gagged as the taste of tobacco hit her, similar to the smell she was familiar with from her father's cigars, but leagues more pungent. She suspected it was from chewing tobacco, which just made sense considering how much of a walking stereotype Alaska was in every other area. As she started to realize that she couldn't breathe from how long the kiss had gone on, she found herself being dropped to the floor, not even realizing that she had gone limp before that moment. The two girls stood over her and started to laugh as she spat onto the floor and dry heaved.

End of content warning

“Wow, did you spit in her mouth, or is this just her reaction to tonsil hockey?” Aethel asked her leader just a bit judgmentally, she didn't really get why she couldn't let her hands wander a bit around her body, yet ‘Laska got to make out with her. The bluenette scoffed and rolled her eyes, seeing the reaction as overdramatic, if she had known she'd react this strongly, she would have just punched her in the mouth. Ah well, too late now.

“Oh, get over yourself, I didn’t even use any tongue.” Alaska said, using her foot to push Belka onto her back, the girl covering herself in shame, suddenly far more worried about their gazes on her. “It ain’t like your little crush is gonna go anywhere, only way they could stand you is if you use your mouth for something other than talking.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” Belka choked out, trying and failing not to show weakness as Alaska knelt down, a look of disdain clear on her face.

“Your own family doesn’t even want you around, that tells me more than enough.” Somehow, out of all the things that had just happened, that was her breaking point, as rather than fighting back, she started to bawl on the floor, curling in on herself. The two other girls just looked at each other. Well that certainly killed the mood, this was just pathetic, there was no way to make this fun when she was just giving up. Aethel shot her leader a frown, of course she'd broken the girl already, she never did know how to show restraint. The cowgirl in return just rolled her eyes and walked out, the redhead following soon after, leaving Belka alone on the floor. They were never going to stop, were they? They were going to torment her for as long as they could… at least, unless she did something about it. Alaska wanted her to fight back? Oh she'd get a fight, but it sure as hell wasn't going to be on her terms. Getting back on her feet, Belka stumbled out of the showers, she had some planning to do, she needed to finally put an end to SLVR’s torment.

Chapter Text

Lao sat stone still on his bed, slowly breathing in and out as he tried to meditate. He had been struggling to control himself as of late, first it had been when he cracked the floor during the argument between the girls, something he had thought to be a momentary lapse in his control, but then he lashed out at Jin in the heat of sparring. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, but it was a clear sign that he was slipping and needed to find his center once more, so he was dedicating more of his time to maintaining his self control. The sound of the shower running served as white noise that normally would have helped, if not for the distracting detail that Belka had just come from the showers, her hair still wet when she came in. She was also in a strange rush, grabbing up a change of clothes and asking in passing where Elizabeth and Goose were, not even reacting when he told her they'd just left to go to the arcade with Scarlet in an attempt to cheer the girl up. She was acting strange, and he couldn't quite shake that fact from his mind, resulting in a less than fruitful session. Eventually, the water shut off and his full attention was shifted to the door. Belka stepped out of the doorway wearing her nightgown, a decision she somewhat regretted as the texture rubbed against her sore skin. She'd scrubbed herself raw, long past the point of her skin turning red, unable to feel clean, no matter how much soap she used, or how hard she rubbed the loofah across her skin. Still, she needed to cover herself, and even if she was comfortable enough around Lao to get naked before him, she wouldn't want him to see how red her body was. Thankfully, she could play off her red lips and cheeks as the heat from the shower simply making her flushed. She ignored the boy as she made her way to her bed, unintentionally storming over to her bed, snatching a book off of her nightstand and glaring into the pages. Lao watched the whole display in contemplative silence. Something was wrong, that much was obvious, the only question was what, deciding a casual approach was best he adopted a more relaxed position and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Belka, how was your day?" It had proven to be a bad choice of words, Belka's pent up anger seemed to explode all at once as she turned to her teammate and started to yell.

"Oh it was just peachy!" Lao as usual didn't so much as flinch at the yell directed his way. In fact, if anything, he considered her actually speaking instead of grumbling under her breath to be progress, even if it manifested as her yelling full bore into his face. Vindicating that line of thinking, a moment later, the anger faded from her face and she dropped down onto her bed, the girl who normally carried herself confidently slumping forward, resting her elbows on her thighs as she held her face in her hands. "I… sorry, I shouldn't… Damn it, this is exactly what happened with Goose!"

The pair sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, Belka wallowing in her mistakes, overwhelmed by everything going on as it took all of her remaining energy not to break down and cry again. Lao meanwhile thought over his words carefully, he couldn't say that it wasn't the case, because that would just be a lie, and attempting to change the subject wouldn't solve anything for her. Before he could think of anything to say though, she spoke up.

"I'm tired Lao." Looking up, Belka didn't hide the miserable expression she wore from the boy. She looked even worse than she had yesterday, almost like she was sick from how miserable she had been over the last few days.

"Tired of what?" he asked hesitantly. He had a guess, several in fact, with SLVR being at the top, but he couldn't really be sure, and while he knew there was a chance she could lash out at him again, he couldn't even attempt to start properly talking her through it if he didn't know what the biggest issue was.

"Everything! This whole damn school!" Her mood again shifted to anger, though not directed at him at least. "I'm tired of falling behind all my friends, I'm tired of Goose's stupid Semblance, and I'm tired of Luni and Elizabeth treating me like I emerged from Grimm tar! Would you have ever assumed we were related if you weren't told?"

Well, that was a bit more than he had expected. A part of him had started to consider if maybe this was a task better put in the hands of Jaune, it wasn't that he wanted to just pawn her problems off on the man, it's just that he wasn't sure he was the one to help her considering he really didn't have an answer to any of that, he was far more familiar with internal struggles. Sure, he had been affected by other's actions before but… not like this. Not knowing how to move forward, he simply answered the question posed honestly. "No, I suppose not."

"You want to know something pathetic? They're the reason I came to Beacon instead of Atlas Academy." she confessed with an exhausted sounding chuckle, laughing as much at herself as she was the absurdity of that statement and how it must have sounded considering how that choice had turned out.

"You moved to a different continent to go to school with a family who doesn't like you?" The question wasn't asked with any judgment, the idea was just strange to him. Then again, he didn't really have any extended family to draw experience from, both of his parents were only children and orphans, the closest real comparison he had was the Arc-Schnee family, with Jaune being something of an honorary uncle, even if they didn't use the actual title. But even then, he couldn't remember a time when they didn't get along over anything serious. However, as he spoke in his usual expressionless way of talking, the nuance was lost on Belka, who cringed inwardly, realizing just how that sounded when spoken by someone else.

"I… okay that sounds bad on its own but I have good… never mind." Belka muttered, giving up on her explanation before it even began. At least this way, he'd simply look at her as a creepy stalker rather than some pathetic charity case. Unbeknownst to her, the blank faced boy wasn't judging her, in fact, he had been ready to hear her out. However, if she didn't want to tell him, then he wouldn't make her, after all he had his own secrets, ones he wasn't ready to speak about just yet. Then he thought about what Jin had said, about being there, even if it was just to listen. His leader had confided her reason for coming to Beacon, that was a sign right? Uncertain, but feeling as if he should at least try, he spoke up.

"I understand, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." The Atlesian girl looked up at him with a mixture of disbelief and hope. Had she heard him right? He really wanted to hear her sob story? He didn't look like he was lying, then again, she could never tell what he was thinking anyways, but she supposed he had no reason to lie. Biting her lip, she thought it over before nodding and taking a deep breath, knowing that this was going to take a while.

"Life in Atlas was lonely for me, I didn't have much family, you already know the situation with my Father's side of things, and when it came out that my Mother was together with him… she became an outcast from almost everyone she knew. It was just me, my parents, and my godmother most of the time, and even then, thanks to the responsibilities of their jobs, it was mostly just my Nana and me. And then there was that damn scandal!" She found herself standing up as she fumed over the sensationalism around her birth. Lao, meanwhile, tilted his head in confusion, an act that reminded Belka that he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Oh, right, you're Mistralian. Well, to avoid the dirty details, they were both politicians when they had me… on opposing parties, so when my heritage came to light, it was nothing short of disastrous for them. They lost just about everything, power, status, even some of my Mother's closest friends refused to associate with her. Really, the only good thing to come from it was that they got together to support me."

"That sounds rough, I'm sure it was hard for you." the boy said, reaching over and giving her an awkward pat on the back, trying to be comforting in the same way he remembered his Mother and Father were, more so like his Father, as Mother had a tendency to be a strong mixture of forceful and affectionate that he doubted Belka would appreciate. It seemed to work though, as she didn't pull away.

"No, that was their plight, and they recovered. Outcasts or not, they're good at what they do. Mine was being hated by everyone just for my parents' mistakes, for years I couldn't even step foot in Mantle without being accosted unless I had security around me or a disguise on. I've actually had a brick thrown at me once! And Atlas is exactly the same, except they're too cowardly to say or do anything to your face. They'll smile, and wave, and act like your friend, but the moment you're out of ear shot, they change their tune entirely. Do you know how many friends I had back home? One. A girl named Whiskey." Belka took a deep breath, she hadn't realized that she'd gone on such a long rant, but breathlessness aside, it felt good, real good, just getting all of it off her chest, to just complain to someone about the crap she had been subjected to. She made a mental note to thank Lao later, this was cathartic. But for now, she wasn't finished, she had more to say, and damn it, she was going to speak her mind! "That was the main reason why I considered attending here, to have a fresh start where people wouldn't know me, where I'm not just a walking political scandal, and it worked, Scarlet, Juliet, you, hell, for as much stick as I give her, even Goose puts in effort."

"Why are you so harsh with her?" Again, Belka laughed, a dry and bitter sound that didn't quite suit her in his opinion. It sounded defeated, broken, the antithesis to the usually confident girl in front of him.

"Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm a jealous brat. I wanted to be a part of their family. I never knew Lumi or Elizabeth, not really, so I'd hoped if we spent more time together, that… that they'd give me more of a chance than my sisters, but then I found out Goose was already filling my role, and I lashed out because I couldn't handle it, because I can't stand that you'd all be better off without me." she said, sniffling as she was on the verge of tears, realizing just how big of a mistake this was. Not only had she made things harder on herself, but she'd forcefully inserted herself into their lives, making her problems theirs as well. Lao was stunned silent, was that really what she thought? No, that was the miserable state of mind she'd found herself in talking, she was focusing on everything that was going wrong, not that he and Goose genuinely cared about her, that they were slowly getting better as a team. He didn't know how to solve this, but he knew he couldn't just let such a way of thinking go unopposed.

"I don't think that's true. What about Scarlet? Who else would have felt so strongly about her situation as to stand up for her? And what about Goose? Would she feel so upset about you yelling at her if she didn't care about you? And I appreciate you being patient with my strange demeanor, I know I'm not the most normal of people. You're just going through a hard time, and I can't imagine that Team SLVR is making your time here any easier." Belka didn't respond, she did appreciate the words, even if he was just being nice, but the reality was that she'd done nothing but burn bridges and take her anger out on others. He did have a point however, SLVR had been a recurring thorn in her side, but she was going to handle them soon.

"SLVR? They won't be a problem for much longer. And you're fine Lao, honestly, it's nice to have someone with their head on straight around here." Despite her trying to sound casual, Lao did something rare, he actually reacted with a readable expression to her words, his brow furrowing with worry as she mentioned SLVR not being a problem in the future.

"What does that mean?" Realizing her mistake, Belka pursed her lips in an attempt to maintain a neutral expression. Drat, she'd slipped up!

"It's fine Lao, you know for someone so stoic, you're quite the worry wart."

"But-" Before he could even start she cut him off, grabbing his surprisingly soft cheek like an aunt with no grasp of personal space.

"No 'buts', as team leader of BGEL, I order you not to worry about me." she said in a forced haughty tone. She was already grateful that he'd been kind enough to let her rant to him, she didn't need to worry him with any more of her petty little problems, if everything went according to plan, she'd be perfectly capable of taking care of things on her own.

"Okay." For the first time since they'd met, Lao lied to her, his typical unflinching mask stopping his friend from suspecting anything was out of the ordinary.

"Thank you. I'll be fine, I promise." Belka said, trying to reassure him. She even put on her best smile and headed back over to their personal bathroom, grabbing her makeup kit, well, her basic makeup kit, there was no reason to use up her more expensive set when it was going to be ruined anyway. She just needed to put on a normal front for a few more hours, and it would probably help if she looked the part. As the door closed, Lao was left to sit in silence with a growing suspicion that Belka was going to try something, but confused as to why she would keep it a secret. It didn't sit right with him, not one bit.

Alaska watched closely as her girls sparred, Loyal and Vera against Aethelflad. To anyone else looking in on the match, it would have appeared completely unfair, it wasn't as if the red head was so skilled that the other two needed to challenge her at the same time to test herself, yet in the specific exercise they were taking part in, she was skating circles around them. It was a maneuver they'd used all the time on Grimm during training missions when faced with multiple stronger beasts, forcing one of them away from the group, and then pinning it down and exterminating it with the aid of one of their teammates, and it had proven plenty effective. The only problem was that assuming it worked perfectly when translated to people would be dumb, because people weren't dumb like Grimm, most of the time anyways, so it would obviously need some refinement, and what better way to adapt this strategy than by testing it on the slipperiest person in Beacon? Loyal was doing a good job of it so far, blocking off Aethel's escape routes with Shock Collar, her axe, and corralling her into position for Vera's whip, Grimm Killer. She still wasn't sure what on Remnant the girl was thinking when she decided on that name, of course it was a Grimm killer, all of their weapons were Grimm killers, you didn't need to openly state it. However, there, as Aethel entered Vera's range, came the issue, as Vera flicked her wrist just a moment too late. To the normal eye, it would have just looked like a simple timing mistake, however, under the watchful gaze provided by her Semblance, Alaska noticed a few things, particularly the way Vera's arm tensed up as she reeled her arm back and the pained microexpressions that would've otherwise gone undetected in the heat of battle. Rather than go for the legs in an attempt to ensnare Aethelflad in her whip and bring her down, Vera instead took a swing at her friend's torso, which the skating girl easily dodged, crouching down and letting her rollerblades glide along the smooth floor of the training arena, even cockily striking a pose as she passed under the arc of the metal whip. However, to her surprise, Vera hadn't just swung blindly, in fact, her attack had forced her more mobile opponent to change directions and redirect herself ever so slightly closer to Loyal, the Faunus springing into action and thrusting Shock Collar forward as the blades of the axehead suddenly shifted into a man-catcher and clamped down on Aethel's neck, the steel jaws crackling with lightning Dust ready to electrocute their prey if she even thought about escaping. Alaska swelled with pride as they captured Aethel, they weren't done by a long shot, next she'd have them try it while she was getting in the way and making it harder, but for now, they'd earned a break. Placing her index finger and thumb into her mouth, she blew hard, letting out a loud whistle that grabbed the attention of her team, each of them coming over after Loyal released the lock on her weapon, setting the redhead free.

"Alright! Y'all're doin' good, at this rate, we'll practically steal this tournament!" the bluenette announced gleefully, her voice going higher than usual as she was swept up in the excitement, her competitive side coming out as she imagined them kicking ass and taking names throughout the whole tournament. Oh it was gonna be marvelous, but before that, there was something more important to handle, one of her girls was struggling, and she couldn't have that. So, as Loyal and Aethelflad went over to rest, she motioned Vera over, putting her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "Vera, how's your arm girl? I saw you wincing."

"Still a bit stiff, and I still don't have as much control over my wrist as I used to." the tan woman said as she caressed her aching wrist. She suffered from chronic pain thanks to an injury she sustained a few months back on one of their training missions, apparently her Aura had healed the wound prematurely, causing the bone to reset weirdly. They'd had it rebroken and fixed, but as a result, some lingering pain had stayed with her. It was something she just didn't like to talk about, but then again, she was one of those girls who froze up if you asked them to talk about themselves, so it was probably just her not wanting to stand out and be a bother. "Look, you should just focus on Aethelflad and Loyal, I'm only going into the first match anyway."

"Hey now, none of that quitter talk, we're in this together, ya' just gotta work on it some more. Besides, if something goes wrong, you're my backup, so we can't just forget about ya'." It wasn't even an option in her eyes, Vera was one of her girls, which meant she was taking care of her, some little wrist injury didn't change that. Besides, aside from herself, Vera was probably their best fighter, and she deserved to shine just as much as the rest of them. As the two made their way back over to the others, Loyal happily bit into her peanut butter sandwich, her tail wagging happily as she bit into the delicious snack. Looking up at the taller girls, her tail wagged even faster as they came to sit.

"Are -ou excited to go -ack to Vacuo 'Laska?" Loyal asked, her mouth still full of peanut butter and bread. None of her teammates bothered trying to chastise her for speaking with her mouth full, by now, they knew she was just incorrigible in certain areas.

"You bet your tail I am. I'll admit Vale's grown on me a bit, but there's just no place like home, y'know?" SLVR's leader said nostalgically. It was hard to believe it had been over a year since she'd left home, she'd learned a lot since then, mostly about how city life annoyed the hell out of her. When she first showed up, she was so lost, she couldn't tell up from down, everyone was so loud and rude, no one could even be bothered to give her directions, it was honestly pretty scary. Thankfully, she'd end up meeting a certain little red head who helped her out. Really, if it wasn't for Aethel, she'd probably never have adapted to city life at all, and would still be that same naive farmgirl who got off the train from Vacuo. Now that was a scary thought, she'd have easily been eaten alive.

"So, are we finally gonna get to meet that pa' of yours?" Aethel asked somewhat teasingly, taking Alaska out of her thoughts with the exaggerated accent as she said 'pa'.

"Maybe, he's always busy around the Festival, it brings in more eyes on the ranch, so if he ain't on a mission, he'll be gettin' things ready.'' She wondered how her Pa was doing, she wrote home often enough, but still, he himself admitted that his better years were behind him, and it wasn't like she was around to help him out here and there. Oh, she hoped he had actually hired some help and hadn't gone the stubborn route and done it all himself… Oh who was she kidding, she knew that was exactly what he'd done.

"Is he hot? I bet he's hot." the freckled girl said, as if she was just making an innocent speculation, and not, y'know, imagining Alaska but a gruff, just past middle aged cowboy with stubble. The pleased face she made at her own imagination silenced Loyal and Vera, much like the question itself had surrendered her leader speechless. Shameless, that girl was completely shameless, not only was he her friend's father, but he was easily twice her age. Rather annoyed at the tactless comment, she crossed her arms and shot the daydreaming girl a very unamused look.

"Aeth, you know I love you, but you're hare's heartbeat away from gettin' knocked cross-eyed." Rather than shy away or apologize in the face of Alaska's threat, Aethelflad just laughed. It wasn't that she didn't believe Alaska would actually follow through with it, they'd come to blows over stupid stuff before, and they probably would again, she just wasn't afraid of the consequences. Still, there was a time and place to let her imagination run wild, mostly in the dorm room after the rest of SLVR had gone to sleep.

"Aww, I forgot you're a daddy's girl. That's actually real sweet." to which Alaska just responded with a huff. She could hide it all she wanted, but the girls all knew about her protectiveness, all of them had seen it first hand, and the fact that it extended to her dad was rather cute in their eyes. However, as the scene unfolded, Loyal noticed the faint scent of something flowery, not like actual flowers, but that obvious fake flower smell you got from shampoos and perfumes. It wasn't a member of SLVR either, Alaska didn't really use perfumes so she just smelled like the oils from her shampoo and body wash, Aethel preferred fruity smells, and it was impossible to smell anything on Vera aside from the chemicals in her hair and on her skin. Thinking she might be mistaken, she took a deep inhale, getting the attention of her team from how hard she breathed in. Nope, that was definitely flowers.

"Did one of you change your perfume?" The question took her leader off guard, the tall woman checking her own scent, lifting her armpit to see if maybe she'd grabbed the wrong deodorant or something, Aethel doing something similar with her shirt. Vera, however, looked around the room, noticing that something felt off, like they were being watched. Activating her Semblance, she quickly felt a very familiar Aura just behind the stands.

"Come on out Belka, I know it's you." From her spot, Belka swore. Out of all the things that could have given her away, it had been her perfume? If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought Goose was nearby, but that was unlikely, she'd made sure the others thought she was going into town for the day, after all, this mess was probably going to eat up her entire day. Double checking to make sure her scroll was in place and recording, she swallowed before stepping out for the girls to plainly see, her hands on her hips.

"Took you long enough. Honestly, I'm surprised it took you this long to spot me." she said confidently, stepping into the arena. SLVR clearly wasn't happy with her apparent eavesdropping.

"Well we weren't expecting company, and don't really want it either, so if you could piss off, that'd be great." Aethleflad said before turning back to her team, trying to draw the attention away from the intruder. Were… were they ignoring her? Oh that was rich, before they wouldn't leave her alone no matter what she tried, but now that she actually wanted their attention, they dismissed her entirely? That wasn't good, she needed them, or at the very least, Alaska, to be mad enough to try something. Okay, not a problem, Alaska hated her acting like an uppity rich girl, so she would probably lose it if she ended up getting played by that same prissy girl, right?

"No, we have business." she demanded, stomping right past the others and getting right into the ringleader's face, slamming her foot into the ground in her best impression of a child throwing a tantrum. "You're going to leave me the hell alone, I'm done with this stupid game of yours!"

"Oh really now missy?" Without hesitation, Alaska reached out and grabbed her up by the front of her blouse. She wasn't planning on actually hurting the girl, she just wanted to scare her a bit, show her who was boss and send her running. To her shock though, Belka didn't try to pull away or resist, instead, she grabbed her forearm, reaching under her sleeve and clenching down hard on her bare skin. "What the hell? Let go!"

In response to the sudden action, Alaska shook Belka like a ragdoll, thrashing the smaller girl about. But stubbornly, she held on, even digging her nails into the muscle of her arm to try and stay attached. The pain was superficial at best, she just wanted her off her arm, but suddenly, she felt some sort of connection between them start to form. Glancing down at her arm, she saw her pale blue Aura flowing into Belka's own, darkening until their skin met and transitioning into the violet shade of the other girl's Aura. For a brief moment, fear took over as it registered to her that this was likely Belka's Semblance, one she had never seen before. What in tarnation was wrong with this girl!? She was going to use her Semblance on her? Ah crap, she didn't even have her Aura up! Acting on fear and adrenaline, Alaska lashed out, landing a panicked hook right into the brunette's cheek, sending them both to the ground, Belka from the punch, and her from how hard she pulled away. She immediately checked her arm, and, aside from the fact that she'd punched Belka so hard her knuckles were bleeding, nothing seemed out of place, no burns, her bones weren't replaced with noodles or anything else weird, and her Aura didn't feel weird either. What the hell had that been about? Just a scare? As she tried to figure out what she just did, she heard Belka laugh, a strange noise to make as she held onto her bleeding face.

"What's so funny?" Alaska snarled, her anger rising at being toyed with, and only getting worse as Belka laughed harder.

"Oh nothing, I was just remembering what you said the other day about my family." Something was definitely wrong, the other day she'd broken down into tears over that comment, but now she was all smug over it. Belka smirked as Alaska looked confused, trying to piece things together. Were it anyone else, she'd have actually felt bad about what she was going to say next, but hey, Alaska crossed that line first. "Those were some bold words from someone who's own mother couldn't be bothered to stay in their life.".

Oh, it was more than satisfying to see the color drain from her tormentor's face. It had taken a lot of Aura to absorb as much as she did, but it was more than worth it. Now she just had to goad her a little more. As Belka mentally prepared herself to continue telling Alaska off, Alaska tried to get her breathing under control, the mental whiplash of her long absent Mother being thrown in her face had hit like a freight train. How did she know? She hadn't told anyone about that, not even her team, it was no one's godsdamn business whether her mom was around or not! Wait, her Semblance! Now it made sense, that little shit had looked through her mind! Suddenly, Aethel started laughing. For a moment, she thought it was a petty attempt to try and get under her friend's skin, but she was simply just unaware of just how big of a nerve had been hit until she turned and saw the conflicting emotions of shock, sadness, and hatred clashing on her beet red face. Loyal and Vera were looking at her too, the realization that her personal life was suddenly being dragged through the mud had her feeling more embarrassed than she had ever been in her life.

"What!? Tha- I didn- You little bi-" Alaska was actually speechless, just who the hell did she think she was!? Belka had almost forgotten what this felt like, to get even, to finally wipe the smirk off of someone's face after they'd looked down on her. Moreso, she'd forgotten how good it felt when it was someone who deserved it, this wasn't like Goose where she'd hurt someone innocent, Alaska deserved this. So, with that in mind, she kept going.

"Oh, but you have your pa, right? Well, for now at least, we both know he'd be ashamed of you if he knew the kind of person you really are."

"You don't know shit about my Pa!" Alaska was already close to losing control, and everyone could tell. Her voice was shaking, and raised several pitches as she yelled, hands trembling with latent fury as tears formed in her eyes.

"I know he raised a disappointment. Do you really think that Mr. Arkansas Starbuck would be fine with his little girl losing her virginity to some punk at a wild party?" There was a moment of silence as Belka revealed yet another personal detail Alaska had planned to never share, and again, to her best friends no less. She'd once again been stunned by this, but her face hadn't lost any of its anger, it just shifted from bubbling rage to a cold murderous glare. Despite things going according to plan, Belka began to feel her blood run cold as she realized she was about to get beaten within an inch of her life at the very least. What Belka didn't expect, however, was that Alaska wouldn't be the first one to act, it was Loyal.

"Stop it! Just go away!" The small Faunus demanded, yelling at the top of her lungs. Until now, she had just regarded the girl as one of Alaska's useful idiots, but it seemed that she had her limits too, as she came out of nowhere and shoved Belka back with a surprising amount of strength, nearly knocking her over in the process. Despite this, she wasn't deterred in the slightest, looking right past the angry girls and right into the cowgirl's furious eyes.

"What? You can dish it out, but you can't take it, even when it's your turn? Guess even I expected too much from an inbred hick like you." Alaska snapped at that, after having her secrets and insecurities dredged up, some petty name calling was all it took to send her over the edge. Closing the distance in just a few steps, Alaska pulled her fist back and punched the girl square in the jaw. Belka fell over like a bag of bricks, the strike disorienting her so much that her legs gave out instantly. Blinking the fuzz out of her vision, the first thing she saw was the fist of Alaska coming down, the force of the strike bouncing her skull off of the stone tile. Thankfully, she'd raised her Aura by that point, otherwise it was very possible the blow would have cracked her skull. Well past the point of caring, Alaska pulled the limp girl up by her shirt, forcing her to stand.

"I'm- going- to- beat- your- scrawny- little- ass!" Each word was punctuated with another punch from the Vacuan girl, and if that wasn't bad enough, the feeling of something hard striking her in the back came after the second hit, or maybe it was the third hit, she wasn't exactly keeping track. She soon realized that Aethelflad was now kicking her, and still had her rollerblades on, and it only devolved from there, Vera threw a few punches too, even Loyal joined in, even if it was just to slap her, meaning that all four of them had ganged up on her. Technically, this was good, it meant her plan had worked even better than she had expected, but on the other hand, she was being jumped four to one, and even with her Aura up, there was only so much punishment she could take, and at the very least, Alaska certainly wasn't pulling any of her punches. Still, being completely surrounded and currently being used as SLVR's punching bag, she had no choice but to take the abuse until their anger had been worked through.

"That's enough!" a voice shouted at the group. It was familiar, but with the ringing in her ears, Belka couldn't quite recognize who it was. Then, the blows to her body stopped long enough for her to focus in the direction the voice came from. They weren't very tall, just over five feet with long orange hair.

"Lao?" No, no, no, no! Why was he here? She'd gone out of her way to make sure she had been alone, she couldn't have him getting involved or, gods forbid, hurt over her! She blinked the tears out of her eyes, she didn't even know she'd started crying, but now that she could think about something other than the constant blows coming down on her, it quickly set in how much of a mess she was. A good few strikes during SLVR's frenzy had been enough to inflict cuts and bruises through her Aura, and that was just what she could feel, her makeup left running down her face with tears, interspersed with blood leaking from her nose and dripping down onto her blouse.

"I already called Counselor Arc, unless you want to make this worse for yourself, you should leave." He raised up his scroll, hoping this would be enough to deter them from trying anything more. He'd been afraid of this ever since she let her comment about not worrying about SLVR anymore slip. Whatever her plan was, it had to have backfired horribly for her to end up like this, and she was lucky that he'd followed his gut and decided to follow her. He'd actually lost her when she first entered the practice building, but, hearing the sound of something being hit, he stumbled across the scene. He could practically feel his blood pressure rise at the state of his friend, this was so far beyond just bullying. Focusing inwards, he took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, he had to stay calm, nothing good would come from him losing it, he had to remember Father's lessons.

"She- she started it!" Loyal protested, trying to come to her friend's defense. The members of SLVR looked to each other nervously, this was different from before, they'd been caught red handed and Belka's state spoke for itself. They found themselves looking towards Alaska for guidance, however, her mood hadn't changed one bit. If she was going down, she was going to get her licks in while she still could.

"Lao just go, I'll be fine." She tried desperately to get Lao to go, she didn't want him to see her in this state, but she feared the possibility of Alaska turning her attention on Lao even more. Thankfully, Alaska didn't look like she could focus on anything but her. Lao, meanwhile, was shocked, unable to believe what she'd just said. What was she doing by trying to protect them? Did they have some sort of dirt on her? Was she punishing herself for what happened? None of that sounded like her, but still, even as Alaska punched her yet again, she didn't look away from him, her eyes silently telling him to go. Was… was she trying to protect him? The thought triggered something in the boy, a memory, one that, despite his endless attempts to repress, he remembered all too well. He was covered in blood that didn't belong to him, chants of monster child and murderer ringing in his ears. He was confused, scared, and above all, remorseful for what he'd done. He couldn't remember the exact words said, but he knew that his Mother and Father had fought to convince the mob that he was innocent, that he was just a child who didn't know what he was capable of, pleas that fell on deaf ears. Eventually, Mother stepped forward with her hammer out, telling them to run for it while she kept them busy.

"Go, take Lao, I'll keep them busy." His Father had protested of course, but there really was no arguing with his Mother when her mind was made up, so reluctantly, he scooped the young boy up and ran. They kept moving and moving until Lao eventually passed out. When he came to his senses again, his Father was tending to his battered and bloody Mother. Despite her state, her weapon was completely clean save for some new dents in the metal, yet she wasn't concerned with any of the cuts and bruises along her body, instead just looking his way and making sure he was alright.

Just like Belka was doing now.

Alaska raised her fist once more to punch Belka, hoping to knock out a few of those pearly whites, see how well she talked shit without them, but suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back off of Belka, bringing her right to her feet. From the feel and strength of the grip, she thought it would have been Professor Rose or Fuchsia, maybe even Headmistress Goodwitch, but as she was forcibly turned around, she found herself looking not at one of her professors, but down at Lao, who… wait, were his eyes always red like that?

"I'm going to break your legs." To the considerable shock of everyone, Lao spoke with unmistakable hatred. The girls of SLVR were already speechless, not a single thing they'd done had proven capable of getting him to so much as flinch, to the point that they had begun to suspect that the boy was incapable of emoting, but Belka felt her blood run cold, nothing else even came close to making him that upset. Before any words were said, Lao twisted his wrist and Alaska's along with it, resulting in a loud crunch. Alaska screamed in agony and tried to pry her now limp hand from his grasp using her left hand, but nothing came of it, he was unmovable. Seeing her friend in pain, Aethel acted quickly, bringing her roller blades against the base of his skull with a high kick, a move which did little more than piss the boy off further. While he certainly felt the blow, the pain did nothing to deter him as he immediately responded by spinning his body and leaning into a kick of his own while keeping a hold of her leader's wrist. Once again, the sickening chorus of bones crunching and tendons snapping could be heard as his foot connected with her knee, shattering through her Aura with little resistance, and leaving her left leg bent off to the side. Aethelflad screamed in agony as her leg buckled under her own weight and she fell to the floor, landing on her side and starting to hyperventilate. Her Aura had always been on the weaker side when it came to protecting her, but to shatter it in one blow? Pain and terror kept her paralyzed on the floor next to Belka, both girls petrified by the sight. Lao went to turn his attention back to the woman he believed was responsible for his teammate's current state, only for a sharp pain to shoot up from his forearm, causing him to let go. Looking down as Alaska fell back, he saw Loyal with her teeth embedded in his skin, biting down desperately, just trying to hurt him enough for him to let her friend go, and while she had succeeded in her task, she was now the closest thing to Lao in his enraged state, and as a result, he made quick work of her. He took a hold of her head with his now free hand, and slammed her into the ground hard enough to break the stone tile underneath them, instantly breaking her Aura in a flash of pink, and leaving her unconscious on the floor. Belka scrambled to her feet, things had gotten out of control, at this point she actually feared for SLVR's safety. She had wanted to get rid of them, yes, but not like this, not in a way that would impact her friends as well.

"Stop! Lao!" Her words fell on deaf ears as Lao once again looked for Alaska. He didn't need to search long though, as she didn't even try to run, no one put their hands on her team and got away with it, she didn't care what freaky bullshit this was, she wasn't afraid of him! Throwing a haymaker from her left with all of her weight behind it, she actually managed to force him back a few feet, yet, just like Aethel's kick, it only seemed to anger him as he tried to close the distance and deliver an open palm strike to her solar plexus. However, he was stopped short as suddenly Grimm Killer wrapped and tightened around his torso as Vera tried to restrain him, having gone for the weapons when the fight started. She threw Shock Collar over at her leader, hoping they could restrain the out of control boy until help arrived, but unfortunately, that plan immediately fell apart as Alaska was suddenly knocked back. While his hand hadn't made direct contact with her, a small shockwave of pressurized Aura shot out from his palm, traveling from Lao and hitting Alaska with the same force she'd have expected from an Ursa, just concentrated into the area of his hand. As Alaska and Shock Collar hit the floor at the same time, Lao grabbed hold of Grimm Killer, and, ignoring how the metal cut into his palm, he pulled as hard as he could, pulling Vera off of her feet and over to him. The moment she was in range, he jumped up, driving his knee into her gut, the momentum combined with the strength of his blow sending her careening through the air and onto the floor, where she immediately vomited. Her stomach felt like it had been crushed like an empty soda can, leaving her nauseous as she tried to get back to her feet, throwing up once more before falling back into the puddle of bile.

Now it was just him and Alaska, and he didn't even think of giving her the chance to fight back this time. The moment she was back up, he started hitting a series of precise strikes in her stomach and chest. Belka watched, still unable to make her legs move as Lao worked the bluenette's body like a meaty punching bag, before finally ending his string of blows with a pair of punches that hit her chest and abdomen simultaneously. Stumbling back, the cowgirl fell to her knees, something was wrong, very wrong, none of those hits were even half as strong as the way he hit the others, but she felt weak, the only thing keeping her from keeling over like a sack of potatoes was her sheer force of will. However, a moment later, even that started to fail her as she immediately retched up her own blood, the warm and thick ichor spilling out onto her chest from her mouth as it suddenly felt like her insides had been put through a blender. Oh fuck, what had he done to her!? Despite the pain and growing sense of fear taking over her body, she was far too weak to move as he walked up to her, stopping right in front of her, his eyes carrying the same hatred he had used to threaten her with. Yet she didn't shy away, she wasn't gonna give him the satisfaction. Glaring up at him, she spat her own blood right into his face.

"You got it in you, killer?" Lao responded with actions, not words, reaching out and grabbing the Vacuan's throat, squeezing tighter and tighter until her Aura strained to keep his fingers from piercing into her flesh. Alaska coughed and wheezed, but she was simply too weak to even attempt to fight him off, so she just bared her teeth as long as she could, refusing to let him see her fear.

From her spot a few feet away, the cold reality set in for Belka that Lao had well and truly snapped. He was going to kill Alaska if she didn't do something, and, moving on instinct, she ran over and tried with all of her might to pull him off of the bully, screaming and pleading that it wasn't worth it, that they'd had more than enough, yet he didn't budge. She started to panic, she had to stop him, he couldn't ruin his life over her! Just as that thought entered her mind, she started to move, but not of her own volition, in fact, she wasn't certain she could have moved that fast no matter how hard she tried,. it wasn't like something had slammed into her, she didn't feel… anything now that she was thinking about it, it was like she didn't even have a body. Put simply, it was a very disorienting experience, one that wasn't made any easier by the fact that she was moving around the room in circles at speeds that would rival Morgan's beams, and why in the world were there rose petals all over the place?

As Belka tried to figure out just what the hell was happening, Ruby released the pair from her Semblance, all three of them reforming as Ruby slid to a graceful halt while Lao and Belka, both not ready for the sudden return to physicality, and thus, to momentum, were sent sprawling across the floor. Belka groaned and flailed about helplessly, never having had the experience of getting caught in Ruby's Petal Burst until now. Lao, on the other hand, while still heavily disoriented, managed to get to his feet, far more used to it. His focus was still solely on Alaska, the bluenette finally falling over and gasping for air as Ruby ran over to check her injuries. While Lao stumbled ever closer to his target, Belka tried to get her bearings. Looking around, she saw several Professors assessing the other members of SLVR. Professor Castleton was trying his best to calm Aethelflad down as Professor Fuchsia worked on trying to set her leg into a stable position, Professor Oobleck helped Vera to her feet, only to be rewarded with another volley of vomit spilling out onto his coffee-stained shirt, and the Headmistress herself was looking over Loyal, her brow furrowed, clearly furious about the state of her students. Lao marched forward to the best of his ability, he wasn't done, not yet, not until she felt as helpless as she'd made Belka feel all this time. But before he could get any further, a set of powerful arms wrapped around him, pulling him off the ground.

"That's enough!" Lao fought desperately to escape the grasp of his godfather, but soon the firm hug brought him back down to Remnant, and he realized what he was doing. He'd lost control, he could have killed one of them, he- he had tried to kill Alaska. The realization caused the small boy to break down, hyperventilating, Jaune holding him close as his gasps turned to sobs. He buried his face in the counselor's chest as he tried to comfort him. "They've had enough. Lao, it's me, you're okay, we're okay."

"Mr. Arc, I'll deal with him, attend to SLVR's injuries, and get Miss Vinayaki in here quickly!" Glynda, however, had no patience for his emotional state, this was all his doing after all, and in the wake of this borderline massacre, she could care less about coddling him. Despite being given a very direct order, Jaune didn't budge, glaring up at the Headmistress as he continued to hold Lao close. Belka watched the exchange, taking note of how the woman's glare was just as much directed at Lao. It was just as she feared, she blamed him for this… what would happen to him? Would he be punished? The thought made her sick to her stomach, no, no, no this was her fault, she had put this stupid plan into action and had made the mistake of not doing it somewhere they wouldn't be found. Seeing no other course of action, Belka got to her feet, adopting the same smug expression and tone she'd used on Alaska before making sure to speak as loudly as she could without it being overly obvious that she was acting.

"Did that hurt? Good, maybe next time you'll think twice before messing with your betters now, won't you?" The entire room fell silent as all eyes fell on her, even Alaska, who looked on in pure hatred, buying all the same as the rest of them, barring Lao, who was just confused. What was that supposed to mean? It wasn't as if she had planned for this, right? They shared a look, where his leader tried to tell him to just stay quiet with her eyes alone. She didn't know if he understood what she was trying to convey, but her plan worked, and with him no longer wearing a blank emotionless mask, his confusion was clear for all to see, including the Headmistress, who turned her attention over to Belka instead. Glynda walked right up to her, the woman's piercing green eyes seeming to be scrutinizing her very soul.

"And just what is that supposed to mean young lady?" Belka swallowed hard under the Headmistress's sharp gaze, she knew she was going to pay for what she'd caused, yet she didn't dare retract or amend her statement, this was her cross to bear, not Lao's.

Chapter Text

As Belka was reprimanded for her actions, she didn't argue or protest even once. There was no real point to doing so, they had her scroll, and the video of what happened, including the part where she blatantly provoked Alaska into hitting her, which didn't really help her defense about being bullied. If anything, the evidence showed SLVR as the victims of a set-up. Not that SLVR was completely off the hook though, goaded into it or not, they had ganged up on their fellow student and would be punished accordingly as a result, same as Lao. She was just thankful that she managed to convince the staff that he really didn't know anything and wasn't a willing part of her plan, actually convincing them that she had tricked him was its own process, but after she went on for a solid twenty or so minutes about Alaska's treatment, her frustration was made crystal clear and it was enough for Glynda to buy her story. But with no real evidence, there was nothing that could be done other than an empty promise that SLVR would be watched closer from now on. So yeah, the plan was a complete failure, something she had plenty of time to stew on as Glynda continued her rant from across the desk.

Three weeks of suspension, that was to be her punishment, and after her initial term was served, she'd spend another month on "probation", which was, of course, to be spent attending mandatory detention after classes. All things considered, it was a light sentence, especially since she had heard the words 'expulsion' and 'legal action' get thrown around several times when the Professors were speaking amongst themselves and they thought she couldn't hear. She was fairly certain that, if this wasn't her first infraction, they would have made an example of her.

"This behavior is unacceptable." Glynda said for what must have been the twentieth time in her rant, the usually calm if blunt woman worked up into a tizzy. This was the worst case of student on student violence outside of accidents that she'd seen in years. She understood the thought process if nothing else, gathering evidence of SLVR's wrongdoing and exposing them, but her benefit of the doubt flew out the window when she had decided getting them to attack her on camera was a good idea instead of, say, getting a member of staff involved, especially when she had direct lines of communication to both Qrow and Jaune. At the very least, the girl was clearly remorseful, meaning either she genuinely knew she had done wrong, or was smart enough and could act well enough to pretend that was the case.

"I understand Ma'am." Belka muttered as she looked up from her lap, somehow managing to look even more pitiful thanks to the bruises and bandages that littered her face. She'd felt awful about what happened with Lao, she truly hadn't meant for him to get wrapped up in all this, and SLVR… in truth, she was conflicted on SLVR. She couldn't deny that it had been cathartic to see them beaten to a pulp like that, but she knew that she shouldn't enjoy their suffering regardless, she was a Huntress in training, and Huntresses saved lives. Maybe if they'd just been a little roughed up instead of being put in the infirmary, it would be understandable, but that just wasn't the case. However, despite her genuine remorse, Glynda didn't let up, maintaining her stern glare.

"I don't believe you do. What would you have done had we not been there on time, or if young Mister Ren had killed any one of them?" Belka's breath hitched, indicating that her point had been so, she let the silence linger so her student could fully absorb the reality of what could have happened, she had to know that her actions didn't just affect her, and that there were consequences for failure. "We wouldn't be speaking of suspensions, his life would be over, all because you put a reckless plan into place that endangered not just yourself, but SLVR, and Mister Ren too."

"What's going to happen to Lao?" she asked, looking back down as she remembered that, just like her and SLVR, there were going to be consequences for him. While she had taken most of the blame and punishment, had they been civilians instead of Huntresses in training, they'd be crippled for months at the very least, potentially for life. Thankfully, he hadn't inflicted any long lasting damage, and despite how bad the injuries looked, nothing sustained would be permanent, the worst of it being the damage to Aethelflad's leg, which would only need a month or two of recovery time with a combination of proper treatment and her Aura, and most of that would likely be spent on getting her leg back into form rather than sitting around waiting for it to heal.

"Considering the circumstances and the evidence recovered from your Scroll, he's going to spend the next two weeks under suspension, and he'll be spending mandatory sessions with Councilor Arc for the foreseeable future." the Headmistress recited coldly, as if just reading from her paper. Even so, Belka's face lit up with relief hearing his comparably light punishment.

"Thank you for not putting all of this on him." Despite her thankful tone, it was clear Glynda was unmoved, emerald eyes still peering through her glasses with a disappointed gaze.

"That much was clear, what isn't nearly as clear is what we're going to do with you."

"W-what?" But- but she thought that had all been decided on already? Were they discussing more punishments? Seeing the confusion on her student's face, the blonde woman sighed, deciding to just be frank with her.

"You really have no idea how close you came to being expelled do you?" She thought she knew, yet apparently, it was even closer than she had expected. Swallowing hard, she listened intently as Glynda spoke. "Whether or not you were provoked into taking such drastic action is ultimately irrelevant, you put your fellow Huntresses, not to mention your own teammate, in danger to end your personal vendetta."

"It wasn't suppo-'' She stopped herself, remembering that it didn't matter. After all, nothing the Headmistress had said was wrong. Was she supposed to defend herself on the merit of what was supposed to happen? She found herself looking back down at the floor, no longer able to look into the unimpressed gaze of her Headmistress. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, be better. There are unspoken rules when it comes to what the faculty is willing to do, and one such rule is that we do not interfere with the dynamics or composition of our student's teams unless absolutely necessary. Your actions today have displayed a carelessness unbefitting of a leader, and while Professor Castleton's notes do not outright say it, it's clear to anyone that you don't have the respect of your team." Each word was like a stake to the heart, Miss Goodwitch clearly had no sympathy, and to a point, she understood, but did her remorse really mean nothing? She wasn't expecting to be let off the hook, but why bring up her performance of all things now? "To be blunt, there is going to be a discussion between the Professors and I about your position on BGEL."

The moment Belka got her answer, she wished she hadn't, she knew she had been less than perfect as a leader but to hear that she had apparently been performing so poorly that they were considering stripping her of the position made her feel sick, surely she wasn't that bad at it, right? But then she remembered why she was here in the first place, and what about Lao? Was he better off with a leader who accidentally led him into danger? Would Elizabeth feel secure following the orders of a woman who had stalked her across the world so she could talk with her away from her mother? Or Goose, was she doing her best under a leader who hated her because of something out of her control? Maybe… maybe she wasn't fit to lead her team.

"If you really think that it's what's best for the team… then I'll step down." Glynda stopped herself after hearing that, it wasn't the response she'd expected, in fact she'd expected outrage, or at the very least, some pushback. If she thought a play at maturity would have her change her mind, she was mistaken, however if it proved to be genuine, it was a step in the right direction.

"It is still a matter to be discussed, and with the preparations for the student transfer to the Vytal Festival in Vacuo, it likely won't be resolved before then. Until that happens, you're still acting as the team's leader." Belka nodded, not being able to speak a word through her shame and embarrassment. If nothing else, it seemed that the gravity of the situation was finally sinking in. In truth, Glynda didn't have much faith in the girl based on what she'd seen so far, but still, she was hoping to be proven wrong. Even then, the onus was ultimately on her to actually prove herself. "You're dismissed"

Upon being let out by the Headmistress, Belka didn't return to her dorm, she couldn't yet, instead making her way to the rooftop of the dorms. After today, she just needed to be alone for a bit, to compose herself and come to terms with herself. She was a failure, not just as a leader, but as a Huntress. Father was right, she'd made a mistake coming here, not that he'd ever openly said as much, but the constant reminders that she could learn from himself or her Mother had made his lack of faith clear. She'd wanted to prove him wrong, prove she could do this herself, that she didn't need to lean on his name or status to succeed. Well, look at where that idea got her…

"I hope Glynda wasn't too harsh on you." The sudden voice caused Belka to jump out of her self pitying mindset for the moment, after the day she'd had, she had not even a shred of patience to spare for someone to just pop up out of nowhere! Turning sharply on her heels, she came face to face with… Elizabeth of all people, only adding to her shock seeing that she'd bother to come find her. Not only that, but just how exactly had she found her in the fi- oh, right, she hadn't bothered to turn off her scrolls location function, any of them could have found her. The pair stood in silence, Belka didn't really know how to respond, she wasn't used to Elizabeth being… well, anything other than outright hostile to be honest. She assumed that Lao had told them about what happened, there really wasn't any other reason for her to suddenly be nice that she could think of, but in the end, she decided it didn't really matter, it was a pleasant change of pace for them.

"She said nothing less than I deserved." Belka admitted, rubbing her sore cheek. Elizabeth chuckled softly, but it quickly died down when Belka didn't join her, the air stifled from the awkwardness of what was clearly a forced interaction on both sides. Instead of just letting the silence linger, Belka decided to change the subject, particularly about the way Elizabeth addressed their Headmistress. "Wait, did you just call her Glynda?"

Elizabeth had to stop herself from laughing, while it was an obvious answer to her and most who knew them, she reminded herself that Belka, while related to her, wasn't really apart of the family, and as such didn't know about Cassia's relation to their headmistress, so she cleared her throat and simply explained the situation.

"She's Cassia's mom, we're not super close or anything, but I've known her basically my entire life." Cassia… her half sister? Belka wasn't completely sure if that was who she meant, but she knew the former General had another daughter with a woman other than Winter, and she didn't know what else made sense given the context. But to think it had been with their Headmistress was a strange coincidence, she supposed it was just a smaller world than she'd imagined. "It's why I'm not the leader, Glynda didn't want to look like she was playing favorites."

And with that sentence, Belka was immediately soured on her niece once more. Of course that was it, wasn't it? Even when she was trying to be nice, she couldn't just help but slip in a small jab her way, of course that was the only reason she wasn't the leader in her own eyes. After all, it was just impossible for her to be capable of the role under any other circumstance, right? Suddenly, her anger was reignited. Coming from the Headmistress it was one thing, but what did she know? She'd never listened long enough to know what she was capable of as a leader!

"Really? That's why you aren't the leader? Not because of your lack of strategic ability, stubbornness, or poor self-control?" That had knocked what Belka saw as a look of superiority right off of her niece's face. The smaller girl reacted like she'd been slapped, actually stunned by the audacity on display. She was trying to reach out to her after she'd been through something terrible, and this was the thanks she got!?

"Huh? I'm trying to be nice here!" Her protest was met with a scoff by the older woman, who placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward slightly to lord her height over her.

"Why? Or do you really think I'm so dumb that I'll buy that 'you just felt bad'? You've made it abundantly clear that you don't like me, that my opinions and feelings don't matter to you, so why try to butter me up now?" Despite the attitude displayed by her leader, it felt empty. Maybe if it was being said to anyone else, it would have worked and she'd be hopping mad, but she was raised by a military family, she understood the concept of respect before she was capable of speaking full sentences, and as such, eye contact had been mandatory. To her, while Belka's face, tone, and body language all shouted confidence and dismissal, her eyes spoke a different story, tired and dull. But, if she was so defeated, then why make things harder for herself? In the end she decided it didn't matter, she wasn't her Aunt's keeper or therapist.

"Whatever, if you're really so stubborn that you can't accept an olive branch, then be that way." An olive branch, was that what she said this was? Sure, maybe it wasn't the best course of action to building up their non-existent relationship into something more than barely tolerating each other, but the satisfaction of getting to Elizabeth the same way she'd gotten to her was more than worth it. If Elizabeth and Lumi really wanted nothing to do with her, then fine, she wanted even less to do with them! Similarly fed up with the conversation, the pint sized girl decided to cut right to the chase, asking her aunt point blank. "Why did you lie for Lao?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." So that was how she wanted to play it? No half truths or even a made up explanation? Just outright denial? What was the point of that? Was it just to frustrate her further? Not that it'd shock her, but if that was the case, there were definitely better ways to go about it, and besides, that look in her eyes hadn't changed, nothing about this felt genuine.

"Don't bullshit me Gele, I'm not stupid." Upon being sworn at, Belka actually looked shocked, not expecting the girl before her to use such vulgarity. Then again, she would be, it wasn't like she knew her. "Lao already told us about how you tried to pretend you were fine after letting the fact that you had a plan slip, so drop the crap, and tell me what your angle is already."

"Maybe I'm just a better actress than you give me credit for." More deflection, this was going nowhere.

"Doubtful, considering how terrible it is right now." Upon being called on her bullshit, Belka looked away. So she was just checking out of the conversation entirely then? Fine, it wasn't as if she couldn't say she tried. "Whatever, be that way, just make sure you don't drag the rest of us down with you."

With that, Elizabeth turned away, leaving Belka alone on the roof. With nothing but the breeze in her ears, Belka looked out over the rest of the school, sniffling as she held her tears back. No more, she wasn't going to cry anymore over those who never cared for her in the first place. She'd shed enough tears already.

Touko watched as Ruby paced back and forth, talking on her scroll. The poor woman was being run ragged by all the fires she had to try and help put out ever since Lao's rampage. Since she'd helped carry SLVR to the infirmary, she'd been on near non-stop calls trying to explain the situation, and gently break the news to their parents that their children had been put in the infirmary, which wasn't even the worst of it. Although Mr Reading did throw a bit of a fit upon hearing that his daughter would be wearing a cast right up until leaving for the Vytal Festival, she conceded that their anger was understandable, as, while yes, there were risks in the field, training grounds were supposed to be safe and monitored. As angry as they were about that though, that didn't even remotely compare to the absolute shit storm that came from the parents then learning that their children were being punished after having the tar beaten out of them, threats of lawsuits were thrown around with reckless abandon, and some even threatened to personally come to Beacon to throw a fit. They were empty threats, but still, it was a hassle to deal with.

Ironically, the reception from SLVR's parents was nowhere near the most hostile response she had to deal with today. No, that coveted title went to Jacques. Ruby had spent hours on him alone, explaining what had happened, getting chewed out for not keeping an eye on his little girl, and then getting chewed out again for punishing her even after she thoroughly explained that she had been the one that instigated the brawl, and thus bore a significant amount of responsibility for what transpired. Eventually, Ruby just cut him off and told him that Belka was a big girl, and that if he wanted to come down from Atlas to drag his adult daughter home in front of her peers, then he was more than welcome to try, before immediately hanging up in a huff. Touko suddenly had a much better perspective on why Weiss was as prickly as she was, she'd only heard half of the conversation, and she wanted to pull her hair out, she couldn't even begin to imagine being raised by him. The woman could still go suck an egg in her eyes, but that didn't make her devoid of sympathy.

Yet, despite all of that, none of it was nearly as bad as calling Ren and Nora. Oh, that was a conversation she understood clearly, Nora's screams of 'my poor baby' would be something she remembered until the end of her days. By the end of it, Ruby had worked herself into a complete mess, but thankfully, Ren had entered the conversation, and they were able to talk about the facts rather than the emotions of the situation. Lao was fine, all maimings would be temporary and the situation was under control. Ren must have taken over the conversation at that point, or at the very least used his Semblance to calm Nora down, because her wailing swiftly ceased, and the goodbye seemed downright pleasant, with the only additional piece to be added being that Jaune would keep them updated on Lao's counseling.

Finally finished with contacting parents, Ruby collapsed down onto the couch next to her cybernetic companion, clearly tired from the very stressful events of the evening, hands tensed, and her hair was frazzled in what was, admittedly, a very pleasing way to look at way. No, damn it Touko, she's stressed, stop thinking about how cute she looks and help her! Reaching over, she started to rub at her friends back, the tension in her muscles being clear to the touch, even to her. Ruby leaned back into the rubs, letting out a long, heavenly sigh that definitely didn't sound suspect at all to her, nope, not in the slightest, and her quickly asking about Nora wasn't a distraction at all either.

"So, how's Nora?" From the way Ruby sighed and leaned back even further into her touch, she assumed the answer was about what she'd come to expect.

"All up in momma bear mode, Ren helped calm her down though." Touko nodded. To be fair, Nora was always in momma bear mode, it was just her default, even before Lao was born. When Goose and Lumi came into the world, Nora was ready to bite the head off of anyone who even looked at them the wrong way, but Lao was her baby, and she'd trusted her friends to keep him safe for her, just as she would for them. She couldn't even begin to imagine how she'd be feeling right now, knowing that they failed.

"I need to give them a call, I feel awful." Touko said, leaning into Ruby, burying her face in the nape of her neck. Feeling that, Ruby reached back and patted the other woman on the opposite shoulder, turning around to face her.

"They- well, Ren understands., Nora might need to break something first, but she'll come around eventually." Ruby said, doing her best to reassure her. Normally, it was something she was great at, but not this time, the fact of the matter was; a bullying campaign had gone on for months right under their noses, and because of this, Lao had to step in.

"Still, I need to apologize, we're in charge of their kid and we let this bullshit happen." Seeing her friend still slumping forward, Ruby reached out and held her cheek, the contact causing her cheeks to turn red. Damn it, why was she so easily flustered? Ruby was just being nice, nicer than she deserved considering how their last conversation went… Was now really the time for that? Did it even matter? It needed to be said at some point, right? Well, there was no time like the present. "It seems there's a lot of apologies I need to make as of late."

"Look, I know you don't think Romeo's-" Before Ruby could even start, Touko teached out and grabbed her cheeks with her gloved hand, squishing her cheeks into her mouth, and stopping her from speaking any further.

"Don't." Touko said gently but firmly. She really didn't want to talk about him, this moment wasn't about him, and it didn't get to be about him. Looking right into the silver eyes of her best friend, she started as sincerely as she could. "This isn't about him, I said something I shouldn't have, and I want to apologize."

After saying her piece, Touko let Ruby's face go, the goofball holding the same face for a moment before fixing her lips and smiling brightly.

"Apology accepted." Relief flowed through Touko like a river, now that she was willing to listen she cou- wait, did she hear her right?

"But… I didn't apologize yet, I just said I wanted to." Getting a giggle in response wasn't what she had expected, but Ruby couldn't help herself, especially when Touko was acting silly, like she'd thought she still held a grudge.

"And that's more than enough. I know you'd never turn your back on me, it just hurt to hear you say that." With that, the fuchsia eyed woman was able to fully relax.

"I still don't think it's a good idea… but I'm never just gonna leave you on your own." Touko hoped that was all that would be said on this for the time being. She knew it was an argument that would inevitably come up again, and one day, she or Ruby would have to give in, but for now, it just didn't matter to her.

"That goes both ways, you know." the reaper reminded her, a gentle hand clasping around Touko's own flesh and bone digits. This was nice, if nothing else, then she could take comfort in them being back where they had been before. Even if it wasn't exactly where she wanted them to be, this was acceptable. Feeling Ruby's thumb start to rub against the back of her hand, Touko coughed. Uh, right, they had business to discuss, right?

"So… what're we going to do about SLVR?" Touko said, just a bit faster than usual, garnering a giggle from Ruby.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about them." Ruby said, a small smirk on her face.

"You think they learned their lesson?" Somehow she doubted that was the case, after all, in her experience, bullies had a tendency to pass the buck even in their own minds, and with Belka outright admitting to fixing things to play out a certain way, they did have some basis to just blame everything on the rich girl.

"Oh, they will, especially when we get to Vacuo."

"Ruby… what did you do?" The woman didn't respond verbally, but her smirk widened in a very proud yet mischievous way that she wasn't sure she liked.

"I tattled."

In the weeks that followed her team's beatdown at the hands of Lao, Alaska had a lot of time to think about what had happened, to reflect on herself and her actions, and to think about how she ended up in the position she found herself and her team in. But, naturally, that wasn't what she actually did with her down time at all, that was just what all her snobby Professors told her to do. The hell did she need to reflect on herself for? If anyone knows who the hell she is, it's her, right? It wasn't like they were even bedridden for long, hell, Loyal was runnin' around fetching things for them before the first week was over, and only a few days ago she heard Aethel groaning about wanting a soda, and then hopping up outta bed like it was nothing. Obviously, she wasn't supposed to, so she had to end up handcuffed to the bed before she would actually listen. She'd tried to tell her to lay down, but that only ever worked for a few minutes at a time, and then she'd be back up and at it.

Really, most of the professors were just stopping at their dorm for 'monitoring', but what for what exactly? She genuinely didn't know, most of their injuries were fine and healed up by the time she was awake, apparently the counselor's Semblance let him give his Aura to other people or somethin', and as such, after about a week of treatment, she felt right as rain, well, except for the cast. As good as Aura was for fixing people up, it wasn't perfect, they knew that first hand from Vera's own arm injury, so her wrist and Aethel's leg would have to heal the old fashion way. Hell, Aethelflad was the only one who really needed to be looked after at this point, her leg was going to be shot for a while, until about a week before they left for the Vytal Festival if the nurses were right. The muscle and tissue damage may have healed, but there was still physical trauma she'd have to work through, meaning she'd have to wear a cast until that point, and a brace for a good while afterwards. It infuriated her to no end, mostly because she had been completely helpless in the face of it all. It was like they were fighting a ruthless, inhuman monster, not some pint sized ginger who decided all of a sudden that the only emotion he could feel was anger. She'd get back at that little bastard, she didn't know how yet, but she'd figure it out.

Was the place to figure it out at Aethel's favorite nightclub, looking at the bottom of her glass of whiskey? No, but that wasn't the point anyway, the point was to have a night to forget about all the detention they were looking down the barrel of. It had taken damn near a month, but they were all finally up and about without any pain. Combat was completely off the table for all of them for the moment, and Aethel was still in a cast and crutches, but they could move, and damn it, they were gonna do something fun, not just lie around and stare at the ceiling. At least, that was the plan, she was supposed to get drunk, find someone to take for a ride or knock their teeth out, throw up until she felt better, and then pass out, but once the alcohol started to flow through her body, her ability to hold in her shitty mood started to slip. Pretty soon, she was just dragging the mood down, snapping at anyone who so much as bumped into her, so she just let her girls wander off and have their fun. She tried to distract herself from her thoughts by keeping an eye on her team, mostly just watching to make sure no one got any ideas. Aethelflad would usually be on the dance floor, but her cast and crutches made that hard, so she just wandered around. Vera was making her way down though, her inhibitions all but gone as she was well and truly plastered. Their favorite weirdo had never really gotten the hang of pacing herself, but hey, she was having fun. Loyal was just going around wherever her attention led her, and at the moment, it had her excitedly talking with a group of girls who were practically fawning over her. It might have been genuine, but she didn't trust the way they looked, too flashy and glittery for her tastes. As she was considering going over and introducing herself, something bumped her ankle, hard enough to sting, but not enough to leave any marks. Turning around and ready to throw a mean punch, she quickly stopped when she recognized the red bob of Aethelflad's hair, the brat had to know she wouldn't actually punch her with that cast on. Oh well, she'd just tally it all up once it came off. The hooligan she called her friend smirked knowingly and picked up her whiskey, taking a sip as she set her crutches against the wall, wincing at the burn it carried.

"Are you just gonna sit there looking all pissy all night?" While mostly teasing, she recognized the actual concern in her friend's voice. Gods, she must have looked even worse than she felt if the skater was making a big deal about it.

"I'm here to get drunk, not to be some party girl." As if to prove a point, she took her glass back and swiftly downed what little remained, just getting an eye roll in response. Deciding to get the topic off of herself, she went back to looking around, and she realized that, for once, Aeth was all on her own. Normally she'd have a boy following her, sometimes two, or the occasional girl depending on how she was feeling, but today, nothing. "Speaking of, why ain't you hanging off someone's arm?"

"I'm probably not getting any tonight, people are acting all weird about the crutches." the freckled girl complained, motioning to her leg. Besides, as much as she'd love to have someone's lips on her own right about now, there were more important matters at hand, namely Alaska's moping. This, of course, was something that she simply couldn't let continue, if she was just mad, that would be one thing, but as much as Alaska could pretend otherwise, she was down in the dumps. She didn't know if it was because of what the little bitch had said to her, or the beat down they'd taken itself, but either way, she needed to get her mind off of it. Thankfully, there were a few ways of cheering up her leader, mostly getting even with the people who wronged her, and stress relief. As it just so happened, she knew this club had the opportunity for her to do both. "What about you? I found someone that I bet you'll like."

Alaska raised an eyebrow as she motioned over towards the bar, seeing two men sharing a drink, one with what looked like cotton candy for hair, and the frankly massive bartender. She wasn't sure which of them Aethel was referring to, the bartender was huge and naturally attracted a fair bit of attention, but his friend was just so in your face with all those bright colors. Thinking like her friend for a moment, she was probably assuming the bartender's size was consistent with his nether regions, which, if true, was a touch more terrifying than enticing, not to mention that even if she was interested in him, she had a feeling she wasn't his type.

"I'm not in the mood, besides, given the way he tried to talk up Loyal and has been eying up the other Faunus girls in here, I think he may have some sorta Faunus fetish." It was actually pretty funny watching that big ox of a man try to flirt with Loyal, it wasn't like she was completely innocent, she'd spent her own fair share of time drooling over boys, but she was a simple girl. If you were interested in her, you needed to say so up front, otherwise she'd just think you were being friendly, and as such, after all the cringe inducing innuendos and the time spent buttering her up, the man was, hilariously, left speechless when she just walked off and waved goodbye to the nice bartender.

"Not him, his friend." Aethel said, reaching over and physically moving her head to look at the more colorful of the two, and Alaska quickly furrowed her brow taking a closer look at him. Like her, he was slumped over, probably drowning his problems in booze just like her. Well, that would certainly make him an easier catch than most, and even from her seat, she liked what she saw, a cute face, not too skinny, a little on the short side, but then again, next to that bartender, everyone looked on the short side.

"The walking gumdrop?" Despite considering it already, she tried not to look too interested. She knew what Aethelflad was doing, and while she appreciated it, she wasn't going to just give in, she wasn't even sure she was in that sort of mood tonight.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't wanna find out if he tastes as sweet as he looks." Alaska rolled her sky blue eyes at the suggestion, the red head certainly could be creative when she wanted to. Unfazed however, Aethel leaned in and started to whisper into her ear. "Besides, he's caught the eye of a certain someone."

Now that was a strange thing to say, Alaska didn't consider herself perfect by any means, but even she had enough standards not to act like a homewrecker. Aethelflad, however, just didn't care about such things, she'd hoped the first few times she needed to have a scorned lover of one of her flings pried off of her, it would dissuade her from such activities, but no. Still, the fact that Aethel had bothered to bring it up piqued her interest, especially considering she knew how she felt about it. "You wanna stop being all cryptic and just tell me?"

"I got one of my little boy toys to get into Belka's scroll and send me everything on it. It wasn't much, but take a guess on who she's been texting non-stop for the last two-ish months?" Realization slowly dawned on the bluenette's face as she looked back over at the bright mix of dye he called hair, then back to Aethelflad's smirking lips in disbelief.

"You serious?" she asked in complete shock. Almost taking it as a challenge, the freckled girl pulled out her scroll and opened a photo of Belka and this man, sitting together and sharing a drink. She had a big dumb smile on her face as she took the photo, and while the man mimicked her, something seemed off, his smile wasn't as full as hers and it didn't quite reach his eyes, but before she could get a better look, Aethel flipped to another photo, then another, all showing similar poses.

"Yup, mostly kiddie shit, but considering the amount of pictures of him she has saved, I think it's safe to assume she's head over heels for him." The implications of Aethel's words didn't fully sit right with her, as cathartic as it would be, this was well and truly underhanded, cowardly even… But was it more underhanded than siccing your psycho teammate on someone like an attack dog? Was it more cowardly than tricking your own friend because you're too weak to get your hands dirty? If anyone deserved this, it was her, right? This was no betrayal of trust, Alaska hated Belka just as much as she hated her. And besides, if those pictures were anything to go by and Aethel was being truthful, then he didn't really seem all that invested in her anyway. With that, her mind was made up and she stood up, setting her glass in front of Aethelflad.

"Watch Loyal's drinks for me, and make sure Vera doesn't try to bring home any weirdos while I'm gone."

Meanwhile, Romeo wasn't paying attention to anything around him, his mind was focused on the fact that he wasn't drunk enough, he was certainly on the way there, but it would take a few more drinks to get the job done. Stress had been eating away at him, although that was nothing new, he was a criminal mastermind after all, the best damn crime lord in Vale, managing stress was just part of the job, something to be balanced with fun, a steady stream of booze, and loose women. Unfortunately, it was doing little to remedy his current mood at the moment. Lavender still wasn't talking to him, and she'd either found the bug or gotten rid of her scroll, because Verde wasn't getting a signal from it anymore. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that she was still crashing at Melodias's place, he wouldn't even know if she was still in Vale. It should have been enough to know she was safe, siblings fought, hell, even he and JJ had come to physical blows before, and Melodias was one of the few people he knew he could trust around Lavender.

If it was just a fight that had them not talking, he'd be fine. She was a grown woman now, and whether he liked it or not, she was allowed to spend some time away and blow off steam, same as the rest of them, she'd come back when she was ready to talk. But that wasn't all it was, he also had to worry about the cult, or more specifically, the snake in her ear. He just didn't know what to do, she wouldn't listen to reason, even if it was astoundingly clear that he was right. After Ruby had told him about the caged Grimm at Vermillion, he started to dig, and sure enough, that familiar feeling wasn't just him being paranoid, this was the exact same shit that got his old man killed. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if it was the same group, just now with their own goons instead of the Fang. So as much as she didn't want to hear it, yes, in this case, he did know what was best for her! But she didn't listen, all because they entertained her very stupid ideas about revenge. Hell, he'd considered the logistics of it more than once now, making it look like one of those cultists got a hold of Scarlet would be piss easy. The only real question was if he could live with himself after the fact.

He didn't want to think about that now though, he just needed one night, one night of distractions, no dancing around with Belka and pretending to be some stomach churning charming prince type instead of the real him, no contemplating the pros and cons of murdering Scarlet just to get Lavender back into his good graces, and the fact that he was even remotely considering that was worrying. But.. was it really that different from what he'd already done? The pig that grabbed Lavender, Floss, they were just doing their jobs and he had put them down without much thought, would it really be all that different? No, damn it, NO! Scarlet was innocent by all rights, she didn't deserve to die for something she had nothing to do with. Fuck, he needed a distraction, this wasn't him, it was just the booze making him look at the easy way out. He was better than that, it was something Neo, Roman, or Gods forbid, Tyrian would do, not him!

"Howdy sugar, mind if I buy you a drink?" His head turned to see a woman smiling at him as she leaned against the bar, already sliding cards of Lien over at JJ. How he hadn't noticed her was beyond him, she was tall, taller than him by a few inches in fact, had a sky blue head of hair that reached her nicely shaped hips, and eyes that matched it, and she wasn't just tall, but big in all the right places… Well would you look at that, a big, beautiful distraction, and she was coming onto him no less? Oh, he could certainly work with this, shooting a brief glance at JJ signaling to give the lady whatever she wanted before giving her his full, undivided attention.

"Not in the slightest. I'm just surprised, normally the ones worth finding don't make themselves so obvious." She noticed the way he pepped up upon seeing her, it was a nice change of pace from how he'd been moody a moment ago, a part of her was even worried he'd be intimidated by her height. It wasn't all of them, obviously, but her fair share of boys had clearly been intimidated if she was the same height as them, let alone taller, but if he cared, it surely didn't show.

"So, what's got a cutie like you lookin' so glum?" Ah, his problems, the very last thing he wanted to talk about.

"Oh, just old family drama rearing its ugly head." he deflected, already thinking of something to move onto. Her accent clearly wasn't from around here, that would probably be a good place to start. "But enough about that, I know that accent, you're a country girl, right?"

"Sure am, born and raised in eastern Vacuo!" It worked like a charm, country types were always excited to talk about their hometowns and how they were better and more welcoming than the big city.

"You're a long way from home then, just out seeing the sights, or are you here for work?"

"Nah, I'mma student, you, my friend, are looking at the strongest gal in Beacon Academy." Beacon? Again? Now that was a coincidence, it seemed like he was a student magnet as of late, not that he minded. They were typically fun and wild things, and this one absolutely screamed wild to him.

"A Huntress huh? You know, I considered it for a minute myself." Romeo paused for just a moment, taking a swing of his drink to mask how he thought about which excuse to use. It was just to lower her guard a bit, most Huntsman types felt more at ease around their own, yet for some reason he just… couldn't, none of them sounded good. No, that wasn't it, he just couldn't summon up the energy to pretend to be someone he wasn't right now. "But… it just wasn't someone I could see myself being. What about you? Why'd you go through with it?"

"Honestly? It might sound selfish, but I just want to be somethin' more than just a farm girl." She didn't know why she was telling him this, maybe it was the booze, maybe it was just that she could tell he was being straight with her, so she was returning the courtesy, but regardless, she kept going. "I don't hate it, and I'm damn good at it, but why do I gotta raise cattle just 'cause it's what Pa' does? I can fight, be my own woman, and do good while doin' it, not just bein' my Daddy's daughter."

"I get it, I've lost track of how many times someone's said I'm just like my old man. People say it like it's something to be proud of, but honestly, it just pisses me off every time I hear it." He wasn't planning on spilling all of… this to her, he had expected to just nod along and agree with whatever she flapped her lips about, but that... shit, that hit closer to home than he was ready for. It was something he and the Malachite boys all struggled with, being second and third generation criminals, it was hard to be seen as anything other than an extension of their parents. While Maverick set himself apart by being leagues more ruthless than his mother, Melodias did it by not playing the game as much as he could, and JJ set himself apart by being less ambitious than his parents and being happy with his lot in life. As for himself, he liked to think he set himself apart by being better than his parents were, by having morals and a code to stick to, not hurting innocents, only spilling blood when needed, treating the people under him like actual people, and making sure he looked good while doing so. Granted, that last one wasn't very different, but don't fix what ain't broke, right?

The issue was that in his case, he still couldn't escape it, anyone who knew his old man or his mother before she became a shut in would tell him at every opportunity how proud they would be of him, and he'd have to smile and go along with it like the words didn't make him want to puke. He'd fought tooth and nail to not be like them, to be better than they were, but that didn't matter, as despite everything, his name was what mattered, not his own actions. Yet here this girl was, actually on the path of escaping that track. Were he in a more foul mood, he might have broken the bottle over her head out of jealousy alone, but in his current mindset, he couldn't help but respect it.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be all moody and serious, I just got worked up about it." She said, patting him on the back as she saw a slight scowl starting to form on his face. He relaxed at her touch, firm, but not rough, and he swiftly decided he liked it. Normally, he'd be all in favor of not learning more than he needed, but this one was refreshing, and even more, what she said was actually resonating with him in a way none of the others had.

"No, you're fine, if anything, I'm envious. A farmer's life wasn't what you wanted, so you took life by the horns, made your own path."

"You do get it, huh?" She moved just a bit closer at that, just as JJ brought over their drinks. To Alaska's surprise, Romeo gave him a thumbs up, and he just left the drinks without taking the money. Oh? So her new friend was some hotshot here? She could work with that. They lifted their glasses, clinking them together.

"The name's Romeo, I don't believe I caught your's, miss..." Romeo, huh? She'd have to test how that sounded coming out a few times, and she had the perfect excuse to do so.

"Name's Alaska, don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to remember it." Now more familiar with each other, they drank to their introduction, and to the long, fun night they had ahead of them.

The first thing Alaska was aware of once she woke up was how sore she felt. It wasn't just the throbbing of her skull from the hangover she'd no doubt given herself, in fact it was mostly her legs, backside, and her arms. For some reason, they were all tender to the lightest touch, and having woken up just moments prior, she couldn't seem to quite figure out why this was the case, her knuckles and face felt fine, so it didn't appear that she'd been in a fight. She tried to ignore the feeling and curl up into the comforter to go back to sleep, considering there were no classes for her to attend today, but that just gave her a big whiff of the next thing she noticed, the smell. To be blunt, it was funky as Aethel would call it, like a mixture of sweat, booze, and… sex? Finally throwing the covers off of herself, she realized that she wasn't in her bed, or at Beacon for that matter. Okay, the room looked normal, a bit on the small side and very minimalist but still, normal. Oh, this was Romeo's room, right? Yeah, that's right, they'd had some drinks, talked until the club closed down,she'd asked to stay the night, and then… Ah, right, she'd slept with him. The memories came flooding back after that, things were still a bit hazy from being drunk, but all the important bits were all there.

Climbing out of bed, she went about finding her clothes, her underwear and pants were left thrown onto the floor along with her scroll., Sliding her drawers back on, she opened the scroll, seeing that there was about eight percent left in the charge and a lot of missed messages from her girls. Ignoring the texts for the moment, she entered her passcode, only to be met by the photo gallery, the most recent additions being a pair of pictures of Romeo passed out on her chest, and after that was a wall of filth, well over several dozen photos and a few videos of them doing it, the nasty, the bedroom rodeo, whatever you wanted to call it. She tried to put the warmth that spread along her cheeks and lady bits aside for the moment, trying to remember what the hell she had been thinking when she decided to film herself in so many compromising positions. Then she remembered why she had approached Romeo in the first place, that she was going to send them to Belka, rub it in her face that she'd taken a ride on the boy's Wick before her. In truth, it was still very tempting to do, she had gotten Belka's number from Aeth last night, and all it would take was one little message, she wouldn't even have to touch the little tart after that, just give her a knowing look whenever they walked by each other. Scrolling back up to the top, she clicked on the clearer of the two pictures. It was perfect, his head, complete with frazzled orange, pink, and white hair, lying on her bare chest, looking all tired, content, and… cute?

Well of course she thought he was cute, but what did that have to do with sending it? Maybe just because it was a nice photo of them? Yeah, that was it, this one was for herself, Belka wouldn't have a strong reaction to the photo, it was too sweet, with her hand in his hair and his arms all wrapped around her while he hugged her like a pillow in his sleep. Like the others, it caused a warmth to flood through her, this time spreading through her chest. Her thumb hovered over the share button for just a moment before she backed out of it. No, that was their moment, she wasn't going to make it lesser by being petty. Oh Gods, she was thinking about this like they were a couple or something, it wasn't like that! They'd spent one night together, it was just a hookup. Sure, she did like him, he innately understood her on a level most guys didn't reach even if they tried to, he was funny and confident even in the face of a girl who could bench press ten of him at the same time, but that didn't matter, she didn't even know him all that well… Then again, she'd certainly like to get to know him better… Maybe she could fix that. Oh… oh crap, had she caught feelings? Damn it all, how had she managed to catch feelings in not even half a day? Okay, this complicated things quite a bit, but she could handle that. He obviously didn't even like the little tart like that, hell, he wouldn't have gotten into bed with her if he had!

Her search for the rest of her clothes was fruitless, meaning she must have just left them discarded on the floor or something on the way to the bedroom. Erring on the side of caution, she found Romeo's suit jacket and draped it over herself, letting it give her some type of modesty. It was small enough on her that she couldn't fully close it, but that was fine, it covered the important bits anyway. Exiting the room, she found his apartment to be much bigger than she'd remembered from last night, it even had a second floor! The bottom floor was even bigger than the top floor where his bedroom was. In the middle, there was a whole dance stage complete with a pole that reached all the way to the ceiling, and one of the walls was just a straight up bar. In fact, as she walked down the curved staircase, she noticed that only a small section of the downstairs actually looked like it was used for living in. There was what looked like a living room set up with a couch that could have easily let twenty or so people sit on it at once, which just so happened to be where she'd left her top and bra last night, with a fireplace right by it and one of those obnoxiously big holo screens on the adjacent wall. One of the corners was made up like a kitchen with all the basic necessities, which coincidentally happened to be where Romeo was, dressed in nothing but a bright pink bathrobe and groggily looking into the open fridge as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Making her way over to him, she noticed his cigar sitting down on the counter. Picking it up, she gave it a once over, noticing that the paper band had a logo she didn't recognize on it. It looked decently fancy though, so she assumed it was either Atlesian or Mistralian. She then placed it to her lips and took a deep breath in, it was sweeter than she remembered, but it carried the same burn that she had learned to savor along with the familiar pleasurable tingle that followed. Hearing the inhale, Romeo spun around in shock, only to get a face full of smoke as Alaska exhaled.

"Mornin." Alaska said casually, setting the cigar back down as he realized who was in front of him. Aww, he looked all cute when he was confused. Granted, she probably wouldn't have thought it was all that cute if she saw his hand inch towards the knife on the counter next to them before he realized it was her, but he managed to pass it off by leaning against the counter, making it simply look like he was trying to play it cool. Internally, however, he was woefully unprepared for this. Sure, sealing the deal was something he had down to a science, yet he never knew what to do after the fact. In truth, he'd just never really cared about the morning after, most girls that he'd been with were smart enough to just leave, the allure of bedding a known criminal generally tending to wear off once the heat of the moment was over. It wasn't as if he'd lied, it was a hookup, nothing more, and anyone who was shocked that he didn't want them to stick around the next morning had no one to blame but themselves for coming up with false hopes. But this was different, Alaska was genuinely happy to see him, and that… actually felt rather nice. In fact, he dared to say he wanted her to stay, what the hell was he supposed to do with that?

"Oh, uh, good morning. You want some coffee?" Gods above, he sounded like a nervous teenager who didn't know how to talk to women. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice, grabbing one of the mugs off the counter and heading over to the pot.

"I'd love some, thanks." Okay, he wasn't screwing this up in the first few seconds, that was a good sign. Turning around, he grabbed some of the creamers, not really knowing what flavor she'd like. He just took a handful, turning around to see her drinking that bitter sludge in its purest form. Well, now he'd really seen everything. With the caffeine starting to kick her back into gear, Alaska walked over to the still open fridge, peering inside. "So, what's for breakfast? I dunno about you, but I worked up an appetite last night."

"Oh, I um, I don't know." The bluenette glanced back at him, expecting him to just be distracted by her backside, which, while flattering, didn't help the emptiness in her stomach she was looking to fill. Romeo eventually managed to tear his eyes away from her rear just long enough to glance into the fridge and see that he had practically nothing, maybe enough eggs to do something with, but only if she just wanted them scrambled. No, that was pathetic, he could do better than that. "Sorry, I guess I'm just not used to company in the morning. We can just order something if you'd like."

"Well, lemme fix that then, c'mon, you've gotta have something other than coffee and booze in here." Alaska chuckled. As nice as eating out sounded, it didn't beat a home cooked meal. Looking further in the fridge, she saw eggs, a staple of many breakfasts, about half a stick of butter, some peppers, and sliced ham. Okay, she could work with that. "See, you've got everything you need to make some omelets."

"I do?" Romeo asked, looking back into the fridge confused, somehow missing the ingredients right in front of his face. Collecting the ingredients for him, Alaska went about setting the stove. Once it was prepared, she turned around, and seeing the blank expression on his face, she couldn't help but chuckle. Was this boy really that careless, or was he just completely hopeless?

"You can afford to have a stripper pole in your living room, but you can't afford cooking lessons?"

"When you say it like that, it makes me sound irresponsible." Romeo countered, playing it off as a joke. However, he soon realized Alaska was dead serious as he suddenly found himself in an impromptu cooking lesson. If the coffee hadn't woken him up, the several small burns and cuts he gave himself finished the job, his inexperience clearly showing with every little screw up. It had been a long time since he'd been an amateur at anything, and as such, it was hard not to grow frustrated at the simple mistakes he was making. Alaska was having a good time at least, it let her be a show off, and her teasing was in good nature, so he couldn't really be mad about it. Besides, the omelets were surprisingly good, although, with no real dining area to speak of, they found themselves eating on the couch.

"So, you dodged my question last night." Alaska started, partly because she wasn't sure what else to talk about, but also because she just cared about whatever it was, he'd been hitting the bottle way harder than her and she'd been trying to make sure she didn't remember last night at all before Aeth pointed him out. "About what was eatin' atcha, you said it was some family stuff?"

"Oh, right. I dunno, it's… just a lot. I didn't wanna scare you off by unloading all of that on you." Again, he deflected, though less for the sake of fun and more because talking about his sister who nearly killed one of her fellow students alongside being groomed by a cult wasn't exactly first morning over material.

"What? You'll let me handle the family jewels, but not the family drama?" Romeo nearly choked on the last bite of his meal from the bluntness of that statement, and as soon as the food was down his gullet, he burst into laughter, soon followed by the cowgirl. This girl, this fucking girl, she was unlike anyone he'd ever met before. Okay, he got it, she was a big girl and could handle some unsavory bits of his life. Setting his plate to the side, he sat back and got comfortable as he began to open up to Alaska.

"I don't have a lot of family, not blood family anyways, it's just me and my sister. Okay, that's not completely true, my Mother's still alive, but we don't talk to her anymore." His tone had turned from somber to bitter the moment the word 'mother' left his lips, and it was clear that this wasn't the usual growing apart or differences of personality just making them not get along, it was something far more troubling. For a bond between a mother and her own children to fall into what sounded like genuine hatred from Romeo, whatever happened had to have been severe.

"Did she… I mean were you…" She didn't want to finish the question, her own mother wasn't exactly what she'd call great during the few times she did see her, and that already messed with her head enough. If Romeo's mom was putting her hands on them, she certainly didn't want to be the one to bring those memories back into the forefront of his mind.

"No, Ma' tried to be good to us, to both of us, she just fucked up… a lot." The words were spoken with a weariness she wouldn't have expected from him, as far as she could tell, it was like he was admitting it just as much to himself as he was to her. "I'm not gonna get into it all so I don't get angry, but the long and short of it is that it's just been me and my sister for the most part. But recently, I think I messed up with her, she asked me to do something that wasn't right to another girl, but I just don't think it's a good idea. She's got these people telling her that she's right to want it, but she's not thinking straight!"

"I know what you mean, not about the last part, but it's always just been me and Pa', my Ma' was never around for long when she showed up, guess she just had better places to be. Point is, I get it. Family, real family, isn't something you get to mess up. You'd do anything for her, yeah?"

"Yeah, but…" There really was no way to explain the severity of the situation without just being upfront about it, something that obviously wasn't an option. As he debated actually spilling the truth to the Vacuan, his thoughts were ripped away as she grabbed his hand, giving it a firm, yet comforting, squeeze.

"Look, I dunno what your sister is going through… but it sounds like she's asking you because deep down she knows you're the only one who'll really be there for her when the chips are down."

"I… guess I hadn't thought of it like that."

"You said she was askin' something of you that wasn't right. Like I said, I dunno what the situation is, and I won't pry, but it sounds like these people are gonna help her go through with it if you don't do something about it. If these people are really that bad, you can't let them replace you as the one she trusts, especially with this sort of stuff." Now that was a terrifying thought, Lavender had potential, he saw it, the cult obviously saw it, hell, even Ruby saw it. But potential had to be guided, and if it was them guiding her instead of him… well, he didn't want to think about it. She didn't know it, but she'd given him a lot to think about. Before he could thank her properly though, her scroll went off with a message, abruptly cutting through the silence with a cartoon 'yeehaw' sound effect. Glancing down, she swore as she read the message. Aethelflad had texted her, and this time not to pry about how her night had gone, her absence hadn't gone as unnoticed as she'd hoped. Apparently, that weird robot professor had stopped by and asked about her. Needless to say, she needed to hurry back to Beacon before she faced any consequences.

"Damn it all, I gotta get going, but I'm free Sunday if you wanna meet up again." Romeo sighed, but knew it was probably for the best, he had a lot to think about. For something that was meant to be just a throwaway night of carnal pleasure, this had been far more insightful than he'd expected. One upside was that he got to watch her take his jacket off to throw on the entire upper portion of her ensemble, and as he admired the view, he decided that this would absolutely need a repeat performance.

"Sounds like a plan, do I have your number already or…" Smirking at the question, Alaska picked up a pen from a nearby table and started to write it down onto his chest, opening up his robe to get more room to write the numbers, definitely not so she could get one last feel of him before she left, no ma'am. With her number written down onto his skin, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning to leave, only to come face to face with a girl. Like Romeo, she was on the shorter side, in fact she was downright tiny, but the face scrunched up in unamusement at the sight before her along with her coiling scorpion tail stopped the girl from seeming as cute as she would normally find her in the moment. Lavender wasn't sure what to make of the scene in front of her aside from the fact that it was just gross, they did not have to be that touchy or shameless about what they'd clearly done. Then again, she supposed she was just lucky she hadn't walked in on them in the act considering how it looked currently. Alaska was even more clueless about the sudden appearance of a new girl, her golden eyes looking her up and down with the same intensity a snake stared down its prey with before striking.

"Oh, uh, hello… Are you a friend of Romeo's?"

"He's my brother, who're you?" Wait, brother? This was the girl they'd talked about? For a moment, she straight up didn't believe it. Firstly, Romeo obviously wasn't a Faunus, she didn't find any hidden ears, tails, claws, scales, or anything like that last night, nor in her photos, but they also didn't look anywhere near as similar as she'd have thought for his sister, although that could just be explained as them having really fucky genetics or being half siblings, and it wasn't like she was hiding how suspicious she was of this newcomer in her home.

"Look who finally decided to come home. Lavender, this is Alaska. Alaska, Lavender." Cutting right through the tension, the half-dressed man introduced them casually, his soft tone immediately disarming Lavender as far as his lover could tell. Okay, sister then, it was important to make a good impression, so she held out her hand and smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you little lady. Sorry I can't stay, but maybe we can talk next time I'm over?" Lavender raised an eyebrow at that, there was going to be a next time for this one? While she'd been lucky enough not to see any of his flings before now, she knew of his… reputation. However, the way he nodded at her implied that was indeed the case, as weird as that was for him.

"Sure, sounds good." Lavender said, taking the bigger girl's hand and letting her shake it. After that, she made her way to the door, only stopping to blow another kiss Romeo's way before leaving. As soon as the door was shut, Lavender let her face fall as she stared down her brother as he went back over to the kitchen area. "I don't like her."

"You saw her for less than a minute." he deadpanned in response while pouring the Faunus her own cup of coffee, which she accepted, but refused to drop the subject.

"She was too touchy with you, I know you probably aren't serious about her." In her eyes, it was a very valid point. She didn't want her brother surrounded by a bunch of floozies, what if he caught something, or worse, ended up the father of an unwanted bastard because one of them lied about protection?

"I happen to like that she's touchy." His response worked as intended as she cringed into herself. She frowned in disapproval, it was obvious he was just trying to get her to drop it. She was just looking out for him, and this was how he repaid her? Seeing that she was ready to keep arguing, he decided to cut right to the chase. "So, do you want to have the conversation you came over to have, or are we going to go over the rest of my sex life?"

The room grew quiet at that, Lavender was fully expecting another fight considering her brother's earlier attitude towards her. She didn't want to say it, so instead she stopped pretending they didn't both know why she wanted to talk.

"You know what I want to ask you, right?"

"About Scarlet or Vacuo?"

"Both." Romeo sighed, he was just as eager to put this conversation off as she was, but it needed to be hashed out now.

"Let's start with Vacuo then, I assume you're going to go no matter what I say?"

"At least for a few months, yeah." Lavender said, rubbing her arm as she spoke. She'd already agreed to return after talking with Henna. She'd been putting it off for as long as she could, but now she only had until the end of the month before she had to leave, which in turn meant that it was all the time she had to try and convince Romeo to come with her, so he could at least try to understand what their Dad was trying to impart on them before he was taken from them.

"I'm going be blunt, I don't trust these people at all. Everything I've heard about them makes it sound like they're a bunch of death worshiping wackjobs." Lavender bristled, obviously taking offence to that description, but before she could argue, he held his hand up, stopping her. She didn't really have an argument against that that would convince him otherwise anyways, especially considering that so far, his exposure to the congregation was the actions of that psychopath Moon and a single call between her and Henna. "But… if it really means that much to you, I'll come."

In the blink of an eye, she threw herself on him, her arms wrapping around his neck in a tight and warm embrace as her feet dangled off the floor. Despite his feelings on this matter, he held her back just as tightly, he'd missed this, he had missed her.

"Thank you! Trust me, you won't regret it! Henna's actually really nice, I promise, just give her a chance!" Relief flooded through him as she threw her arms around him, but he was not happy about this concession. Sure, his operation could run just fine with JJ and Maverick at the helm while he was away, but the only reason he was even going through with this was because he knew he needed her trust, and showing her that he'd take this step was all he could think of.

"We'll see about that. But when we get there, don't expect me to get on my knees and pray for anything or participate in any weird ass rituals." He said, setting Lavender down.

"So… what about Scarlet?" Romeo sighed, picking up the cigar Alaska had left and taking a deep drag, he needed that hit of nicotine before he said this next part. Alaska's words from earlier rang through his head, if it isn't him, it'll be this Henna girl, or even worse, someone like Moon that she'll turn to in the future. His hands were tied.

"I'm absolutely not killing her, I think going through with it is a terrible idea." Lavender looked down, she'd known this would be a point of contention. He wasn't willing to spill blood, not yet, maybe after Henna talked with him, he'd understand, she just hoped he wouldn't hate her if her hand was forced before that. "But, if you're going to do it, you need to do it right. There needs to be no witnesses, no collateral damage."

"You mean…" She couldn't believe it, no really, a part of her just straight up didn't buy the sudden change in attitude. Was he just desperate to get back in her good graces? No, he was a schemer, was this part of some plan? For the life of her, she couldn't figure it out, but she was hopeful nonetheless.

"I'll sign off on her, but just her. After that though, you agree to put this little revenge mission to bed." Lavender could have jumped on him once again if she wasn't so shocked over it. This was, well, it was the best response she realistically could have hoped for! He was coming around, slowly but surely, she was making progress!

"You… you mean it? You'll help me avenge Dad? No tricks?" Romeo chuckled in a way that wiped away any lingering doubts she had as he patted her shoulder.

"Again, I think it's a bad idea and I don't agree with it, but if you're going to do it, I'm going to make sure you at least do it the right way instead of blindly wandering into a Huntsmen infested building." Romeo said, teasing her for her last, less than successful, attempt.

"And Henna, she's… I know you don't know her, but she's our sister too." Her brother paused for a moment, rubbing his chin thinking of how to respond to that before shrugging.

"Right… Well, I'll need to meet her and get to know her a little better before I can agree with that." Lavender smiled once more, it wasn't a no, right?

Chapter Text

Closing the black suitcase with a satisfying zip and a pair of clicks, Ruby beamed at the progress she'd made so far, it would be her last week at Beacon for a few months, so she needed to finish packing. Despite the concern of her coworkers over her not having not finished, like, a week ago at the latest, she saw no reason to panic, she already had the essentials packed, her favorite summer clothes, her underwear, her hygiene products, and spare tools for on the fly repairs. Really, she didn't know why they were all stressing out over it, she'd already traveled to two other Vytal Festivals since getting hired about five years ago, and it wasn't like her packing practices had caused any issues either of those times, although she always had the least amount of luggage when compared to her peers. As always, the reassurance that she could just buy anything she forgot at home didn't assuage her dear friends for some reason, and they insisted on helping her finish the job. Jaune was running late for some reason, but Touko was already working on her own suitcase, making three, which Ruby already thought was excessive. But, if they were going to insist, then at least she could pack her backup tools and some extra Dust, oh, maybe her Dust-deck too.

"Hey! You guys got everything packed yet?" Jaune asked as he finally came through the door, carrying another suitcase and setting it on her bed. Okay, this was getting ridiculous, she was pretty sure she didn't even have enough clothes to fill all of them. Well, if they really insisted she needed to pack more, there were some things she could bring along that would be helpful.

"Almost, just gotta pack a few extra spare parts for my baby." Ruby said, turning to her workbench. She promptly began looking through the cluttered drawers, grabbing some assorted components as well as a few slightly tattered blueprints she wouldn't mind bringing along. The last thing she wanted was to leave them behind and forget what components she was looking for for future upgrades over the trip.

"You mean Touko, or Crescent Rose?" Jaune asked cheekily, doing his best to hide the snicker as the woman in question went red-faced, her partially-artificial heart jumping up into her throat before she scowled at the man.

"Ha-ha-ha, very funny." Touko said without a drop of amusement in her tone, emphasizing just how funny she found it with a slap to Jaune's shoulder from her crystalline arm. When the man actually winced from the blow, Touko suddenly felt bad, she hadn't actually tried to hurt him. She was about to apologize when he dropped the act and snickered that she had caved so easily from the hard ass act. She almost slapped him again for that, harder this time so he'd have a reason to flinch.

"I packed for both actually!" Ruby said, her hands full of tools and papers detailing upgrades for a few weapons. Her friends shared a knowing glance as Ruby started to fill the suitcase Jaune had provided with items that really weren't necessary. Then again, she didn't really have many other clothes, and in the end, they decided not to fight it, even if for no other reason than Touko already making sure that she had everything important packed.

"That's smart, I already got all my stuff packed. Figured it was better to start early and all, if making sure eleven kids have all their stuff is hard, I don't even know how we're gonna deal with two-hundred." Jaune said, remembering the countless times he and his family had left on trips and how grueling the preparation alone had been over the years, even with Lumi, Nicholas, and the twins stepping up more as they had gotten older. Without fail, at least one of them would wait until the last moment to get ready, causing them to need to scramble to get everything in order, and that was just the preparation phase, actually traveling was a nightmare in itself.

"Oh that's right, I forgot you normally don't chauffeur for the festival. Don't worry, it's nowhere near as bad as you're probably thinking."

"Yeah, Weiss wasn't happy I wouldn't get to visit home this year, but she's planning to come over for the festival anyways to cheer on Lumi." Hearing that, the women went silent. Ruby suddenly found herself conflicted, it had been too long since she'd seen Weiss, and just the thought of her being there had her excited, but at the same time the situation was far from ideal with the Grimm cult lurking around and the Summer Maiden being found. Touko, however, was much less conflicted.

"Weiss is gonna be there? Great, that's… great… Guess I should pack some extra herbs then for the migraines." Touko muttered, briefly wondering about the legality of her herbs in Vacuo when compared to Vale.

"Weiss is coming? With the kids? You did tell her what you guys found, right?" Hearing the concern in Ruby's voice, Jaune knew her mind was probably going to the worst possible scenario. Normally, his mind would too, he knew Weiss was capable, she was probably even better than him in a fight with her Semblance, but even with all the protection that would come from the festival being in full swing, he wouldn't be able to sleep with his family being in such close proximity to a known threat, especially his younger girls, who couldn't defend themselves like Lumi, Nicolas, and the twins.

"No, the girls are staying at home with Klien, though they weren't happy about it, especially since Lumi and Nicholas are both outta the house now." Ruby perked up upon hearing that, the last she'd heard Nick was training as a Paladin pilot, if he was out of the house, then that meant he was training full time, probably with his aunt and the former General, or Penny.

"Nick started early?" Ruby asked with a mixture of surprise and pride in her godson. She'd seen how hard the boy worked, trying to keep up with his big sister, especially considering how competitive Lumi could get.

"Yeah, I guess Penny pulled some strings to get him under someone named Indigo. I dunno much about the military stuff, but she and James both vouched for her, apparently she's eccentric, but has a good head on her shoulders."

"So, what are we gonna do with that information?" Touko asked quietly, bringing up the question they wanted to avoid but couldn't, and considering how Ruby looked away, she knew that she didn't have an answer they'd like.

"Officially, the info was too vague, their 'sanctuary' is an entire city, and even if we had something more concrete, a set of foreign Huntsmen investigating would be too obvious. Our priority should be keeping threats away from the festival." Ruby said, not making eye contact. It wasn't as if they were doing nothing, but direct involvement in a case like this was next to impossible without already knowing where to look.

"Please tell me Glynda's not expecting us to sit around and do nothing when Salem knows who the Summer Maiden is." Jaune pleaded. The very idea of them letting themselves be in such a helpless position made his blood boil. It was the same mistake they'd made nearly twenty years ago, one they'd all paid for already, and they were just going to potentially let it happen again?

"I can't do anything, Lavender recognized me immediately, and if someone as young as her knew who I was on sight, anyone with actual rank to pull in that cult will almost certainly have eyes on me the whole time. If I go poking around, they'll know it." The same was probably true about the two of them after the Moon incident down by the docks, now that she thought about it.

"So there's nothing we can do? Nothing at all?" Touko asked dejectedly, looking to her friend and hoping not to get the answer she knew was coming.

"We're hiring some local Huntsmen and bounty hunters to look into things on our behalf. Hopefully, they'll get us a location, but if they get word of us having a bead on them before we drop the hammer on them, chances are that they'll just go into hiding until after the festival."

"Or panic and spring their plan early." Jaune muttered. The reality of their situation had begun to set in, sitting around and complaining about Glynda's lack of action before was easy, but looking at it from a larger perspective, their only real options were either waiting around or canceling the festival entirely, something that was not only logistically impossible to do on such a short notice, but wouldn't be a set back to Salem's forces in the slightest. Put simply, their hands were completely tied here, stuck playing defense. Jaune wondered how Glynda could put up with it all, spending decades of her life as a meager pawn in a game of chess between two immortals. If he was feeling helpless now, he could only imagine what she felt.

"Do you think your… friend could help us?" Touko asked, breaking the silence that had set in, and revealing just how desperate she was about this to even consider that option. She didn't judge her for that in the slightest though, they would all do just about anything to prevent another event like the Fall of Beacon.

Ruby sighed, looking down at her scroll as she opened up her messages, seeing that the contact simply listed as 'RT' hadn't reached out in a while. She hated putting him in the position of spying on his own sister, but what other option did she have? Sighing, she typed out a short greeting, she had a favor or two she could still cash in from the boy, so an update should be easy… if he got back to her, that is. "I'll... see what I can do."

Scarlet happily sunk her teeth into the crispy, slightly burnt crust of her grilled cheese, savoring the melted and stringy blend with a sigh of both bliss and contentment that only Jet knew was not at all exaggerated. Her other friends thought it was weird when out of the many dishes Beacon served, such as steak, salads, and even some choices from other continents, she'd happily pass by all of them and go right for the comparatively simple option of toasted bread and melted cheese. Yet the girl had no regrets; she just really liked cheese. Besides, her choice of food was nowhere near the weirdest, that crown went to Goose as she spread an utterly obscene amount of ranch dressing all over her pasta. No one at the table understood how the drastically clashing flavors of ranch flavored pasta were in any way appealing, but Goose was already weird, they expected as much from her, but Scarlet loudly expressing her bliss from a simple mixture of cheese, butter, and toast? Not so much.

"Is she okay?" Elizabeth whispered as she leaned over to Jet, giving the horned girl a worried side eye as strands of melted cheese were slurped into her mouth.

"Trust me, she's in her happy place right now." Jet said so flatly that Liz had no choice but to believe him. She guessed it wasn't the strangest thing she'd experienced, although Goose happily shoveling a spoonful of 'food' that was more ranch dressing than pasta into her mouth certainly was a contender. Then again, she supposed the fact that she had nothing better to think about than the weird food choices of those around her was a welcome change from the chaos and drama that was the first few months of her tenure at Beacon, and as bad as it sounded at the time, things had somehow improved since the incident with Lao and SLVR.

"Psst- hey, you're that Lao dude's partner, right?" Well, in some ways, there were already eyes on their team after Belka had stood up and practically called out the entire school, but after news got out that Lao had single handedly put SLVR in the infirmary, it was inescapable. Most people didn't even try to hide the fact that they were talking about their team right behind their backs any more.

"Yes, he's my partner, why?" Turning to face the boy, he was vaguely familiar, a second year student if she wasn't mistaken.

"Is it true he beat the crap out of SLVR?" he asked, leaning in far too close into her personal space. She might have overlooked it if he had been asking privately, but the fact that he was speaking so loudly that the next table over could clearly hear him soured her opinion of him.

"That's not really any of your business, is it?" Scarlet butted in, her scathing tone surprising the man and her glare almost burning holes right through him. After dealing with getting put through Beacon's gossip and rumor mill herself, she had no patience for watching it happen to her friends too.

"Come on, don't be like that. We're just looking out for her!" One of the boy's teammates said, also with the same flagrant disregard for privacy as the first. She also somewhat recognised the newcomer, and as she wondered why he and the first boy both seemed familiar, it suddenly clicked into place, she'd seen Aethelflad hanging off their arms more than once. They'd definitely been fed some bullshit version of events that painted Lao as the villain, it was either that, or they were just mad that their little loose friend wasn't in shape for the sort of activities they were doing before the beatdown.

"You want to look out for me? "

"I mean he already put his hands on a woman before, multiple women before, right? Who's to say he wouldn't again?" Already feeling insulted at the notion that she needed to be protected, Elizabeth growled, but, when he labeled Lao as some serial abuser, she had every intention of backhanding him and seeing how he reacted to a woman antagonizing him before a new entrant into the conversation cut her off.

"Oh, how noble of you." The dry sarcasm from Belka nearly made Liz jump out of her skin as her aunt took a seat across from her, clearly unamused by the bits of conversation she'd overheard coming over. "Frankly, I don't know what's more embarrassing, your attempt to act as the gallant knight to a military-raised woman, or the unwavering confidence with which you speak on something you are so clearly ignorant about."

Elizabeth scowled in confusion at her words, was that her idea of flirting? If so, it was the worst attempt she'd ever seen, but then again, it could have just been her aunt going out of her way to emasculate him further. Either way, it worked, as the man's face instantly flushed red with embarrassment and he scowled at the unwanted intruder into the private conversation, right up until Lao took his seat next to her. For a brief moment, he locked eyes with the man, who immediately flinched away. As usual, he didn't react much, just going back to his food as the boys got up and left.

"I suppose I should thank you?" she asked, turning her attention back on Belka, the woman already getting started on her steak as if everything was normal between them. She was grateful, but that in itself was a weird feeling to associate with the girl across from her.

"That would be the polite response, but if you're incapable of humility, you can just let me and Lao split this as payment." Before Elizabeth could react, her aunt reached over and across the table to her plate, swiftly grabbing the chocolate chip cookie that had come with her meal.

"Wha- hey, that's mine!"

"And you should know better than to have it. Aren't you diabetic? Are you trying to send yourself into shock?" Belka chided as if speaking to a small child, casually offering half of the treat to Lao, who politely declined. Before Elizabeth could say anything, Goose spoke up.

"Belka's right, you need to be more careful about what you're eating." The small woman's mouth went slack as Goose actually took Belka's side against her, the shock of her betrayal only rivaled by her anger as the taller woman sunk her teeth into the treat she'd been looking forward rose to her feet in righteous anger, but from everyone else's point of view, the fact that her height had shifted less than a foot made any intimidation from her display instantly fall flat.

"Guys, c'mon. Quit bickering, they're about to announce the qualifiers for the tournament." Scarlet said, having pulled out her Scroll, eagerly awaiting the announcement that should be coming any minute.

"Do you think that we made it in?" Jin asked, hunching over to wait with Scarlet who nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course we did, we're the most badass team in the school!" However, despite her bravado, there was a nagging voice in her head, one that reminded her that her Mom and Dad had committed a major act of terrorism at one of these festivals and that they may not want her front and center. The thought of herself being excluded because of her heritage… well, to be honest, it hurt, but it didn't bother her as much as the idea that her team would suffer by association. But she swallowed that thought, instead focusing on the positives. "Besides, Lumi's parents are beyond rich and Jin's one of the professor's nephews. We're guaranteed a spot."

"Hurray for nepotism I guess." Jet said dryly, trying to play it cool and hide his own excitement, but Scarlet saw right through that, his eyes glancing down toward the screen, chewing his bottom lip cutely. Scarlet chuckled, the thought of her and Jet going to another kingdom without their parents looking over their shoulders… It was just like the sort of adventures they'd pretend to have as kids, running out into the woods behind and between their houses. It filled her with a nostalgic warmth, she'd definitely have to drag him around on her own time.

"Please, is it really nepotism if we happen to be as good as our names suggest?" Lumi said, somehow missing the point entirely, or maybe she just thought her own family was above that sort of thing. Then again, it was just as possible that Lumi actually thought she deserved a spot simply due to her inherited abilities which… well, now that Jet thought about it, wasn't completely untrue, Lumi was arguably the statistically strongest person in their year level, perhaps even the whole school thanks to her absurd combination of an extremely large Aura pool and a Semblance of unmatched versatility in combat.

"That's the only way we're making it in." Belka muttered, poking the fat of her steak with her fork. Her teammates all performed at above average rates, normally a sign that they had a chance, if not for the fact that her own combat skills were… below average. She was a decent shot, she'd even argue a really good one, but precisely plinking a target from a few hundred feet away wasn't feasible in one on one combat, and she struggled in melee range thanks to her crappy Semblance and low Aura, hence why Morgan doubled as a naginata/polearm, to try and keep away opponents, but she wasn't the best at using it, which, as a result, brought her entire team's odds down. The recent incident with SLVR and a general lack of respect from her team probably didn't help either.

"Come on Belka, sure we've had our downs… and… more downs, but that's no reason to give up hope!" Goose said, nudging Belka in an attempt to raise spirits, but her words were far less reassuring than she'd hoped they would be, even Liz and Lao seemed to stew on recent events. Goose's smile faded as she realized that her attempt had fallen flat, laughing awkwardly as she shoved more ranch covered strands of spaghetti into her mouth.

"It's probably for the best, I need to work on finding my center." Lao muttered, his mind going over what he'd done to SLVR. That memory wasn't one he was proud of, the sounds of snapping bones and the gurgling of bile and blood playing once more in his head. He wasn't ready for something like a tournament, his own father would say as much, let alone the faculty at the school.

"What? Come on, you guys are all great!" Jin spoke up, giving Lao a gentle nudge, to which the boy responded with his usual blank mask. Seeing that fail, he shrugged. "Well, none of you are failing, Lumi's dad didn't even know what Aura was when he started at Beacon and he got to be in the tournament."

Lumi nearly choked upon that bit of information being revealed, elbowing the large Faunus boy in the ribs. Jin winced in pain, confused as to what he had done wrong, but instead of an answer, Lumi shot him a glare clearly meant to shut him up. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, as Belka smirked and stared Lumi down.

"Oh, is that right? Well, if the great Jaune Arc can overcome a setback of that magnitude, then this should be child's play for me." Before Lumi could reach across the table to strangle her aunt, Scarlet shushed them all, shoving her scroll in the middle of the table for everyone to see as the announcement played with a little animation of Beacon's symbol.

To the surprise of everyone at the table, they all recognized the first team to be revealed: SLVR, with the smug looks of Alaska, Aethelflad, and Vera, as well as the big dopey smile of Loyal, displayed on screen at the top spot. The announcement didn't get much of a reaction outside of their small group, in fact, the two Faunus amongst them could hear people talking about it being obvious, which was news to Scarlet, but then again, all she really knew about the team was that they were all bitches. The next face that slid into frame was her own, and this time, the reaction was immediate before the letters spelling SJJL were even done appearing on screen, their entire table immediately bursting into uproar. For once, the murmurs and stray looks sent her way didn't bother her in the slightest, standing up and cheering.

"Hell yeah!" She was soon joined by the rest of her team, Jin picking Lumi and Jet up effortlessly as they all came together for a hug. Lumi tried to resist for a moment, but soon gave in, wrapping her arms around Jin. Belka smiled for her friends and niece, she was happy for them, even if there was a snowball's chance in hell of her team making it in, she could still root for someone at least. Though, their celebration did seem a tad excessive, especially when Scarlet pulled Jet's face into her chest, causing the poor boy to sputter and blush while she laughed, it was just a bit too uncouth for her tastes. Looking back to the announcement, the next team was another one they knew, JWEL. Looking over at their table, the team was having their own small celebration. Juliet let out her own cheer before high fiving Elena, the redhead so excited for a moment before looking down at her hand with a weird face. Luna gasped before throwing her arms around Rosaria, getting a pat on the back in return.

"We… we actually made it?"

"JWEL too! See, I told you it would be alright!" Despite Goose's cheerful words and the way Elizabeth all but bounced with joy, Belka could only force a small smile. She should have been happy, she should have been ecstatic even, but the news was nearly enough to make her sweat. She wasn't ready for that, she knew it for a fact, and the faculty had to know it too, she had to assume her teammates must have carried them through despite her comparatively low performance. Or was this some kind of test? Was Goodwitch throwing her to the wolves and seeing how she fared? That didn't sound like something she'd do, but then again, how well did she actually know her? For once, she found herself thankful for Lao's lack of reaction, it let her pretend someone else was as uncertain as she was.

"Fucking SLVR made it in!?" Scarlet groaned as soon as the excitement of her own selection had finally worn off. "Ugh, whatever, at least this means I get a chance to knock that blue-haired bitch's teeth out myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure, isn't this ranked by performance?" Jet asked, searching his own screen for answers. If that was the case, and SLVR really was just outright better than them, then the last thing they needed was for the team of bullies to come back even more motivated to cause mayhem.

"Oh come on, they all got their asses kicked by Lao, how tough can they be?" Scarlet asked, only getting unamused looks from the table, and realizing that the boy was literally sitting just to her left. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken."

"Look, enough about SLVR, do you know what they're doing tonight? Finishing up detention with Goodwitch." Belka announced, swallowing her nerves and putting on a wide confident grin. "I say we celebrate, we never did end up having our day together."

"Oh, can we throw a party?" Scarlet asked, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Yeah, let's do it, I know the best drinks!" Goose said to the surprise of most at the table, but to the horror of her nieces.

"Aunt Goose, no, we are not making pilk for everyone." The blonde actually seemed worried, a confusing notion considering none of them had ever heard of this strange and apparently dangerous 'pilk' before.

"What? No, I mean really celebrate, I happen to know a place where we can really cut loose." Belka said, remembering a certain club where she knew they could get a good deal on drinks.

"Holy shit, your boyfriend owns a club!?" Juliet asked loud enough to overpower the booming music. She hadn't even intended to, she was just that naturally loud and her surprise overpowered any amount of volume control she may have had. In her defense, they were all a little surprised, most of them had been expecting a small family-owned bar, not a nightclub packed to the brim with partygoers. Belka, meanwhile, stood smugly with her arms crossed, taking in the shocked and impressed expressions of her friends and especially her nieces.

"He just helps his family run it." Looking around, the absence of the man she knew as Sherbet was a bit concerning, he was usually very punctual, in fact, this was the first time he had been late to any of their meetups. She shook the feeling off, he was at work after all, he'd be around somewhere. "He should be around here somewhere. I told him we were coming."

"Well, let's go look for him at the bar then!" Before she'd even finished talking, Juliet had taken off, eager to get the celebration started. The more excitable amongst them like Scarlet, Jin, and Goose quickly followed after her, with the rest of SJJL and Elizabeth soon in tow, but less hurried.

"Of course they'd run there immediately." Rosaria muttered to no one in particular as she followed at a more calm pace, leaving Belka, Lao, Luna, and Elena as the only ones remaining at the entrance. While the rest stood around awkwardly, Belka checked her scroll to see if she'd missed a message from Sherbet since leaving for the club, but was just met with the same winky face emoji she'd received when he first saw her text.

"Everything okay?" Elena asked, Belka's not so subtle sigh of disappointment having drawn her attention.

"He said he'd meet me when he got here, he's usually right on time." As she relented her boyfriend's absence, she failed to notice the very man she was looking for sneaking up behind her, holding a finger up to his lips to silence the three in front of her. By the time she noticed how confused the others looked, it was too late and she was startled by a pair of hands playfully covering her eyes.

"Did ya' miss me?" Letting out a quick shriek upon being startled, Belka spun around, ready to give the man a piece of her mind, but her face lit up when she saw the man before her.

"Sherbet!" In an instant, her shock gave way to joy as she laid eyes on him. Without thinking, she threw her arms around the man's shoulders, planting a kiss on his lips, much to her friends and even his surprise. After everything… she needed this, it had been far too much time with just text messages between them. Blushing like mad, she broke the kiss, her first real kiss as far as she was concerned, and smiled at him. "Where were you?"

"Oh, just had to take care of a little rowdy customer, it's all taken care of now." Romeo said, rubbing his bruised knuckles through his gloves. Some little punk had pulled a knife in his drunken stupidity and as a result was now laying in the back alley with a busted lip and a few broken ribs. Before Belka could ask any further, Romeo put an arm around the girl's shoulders and motioned to the three, recognizing Lao from his file, though the other two were strangers. "These must be your friends."

"Right. Guys, this is my boyfriend Sherbet. Sherbet, this is Lao, Elena, and Luna, the rest kinda went straight for the bar." Romeo nodded, memorizing the ones he wasn't familiar with in case they proved to be trouble, not that the trembling moth or the uptight redhead looked like they would be an issue if they needed to disappear. He didn't really care either way at the moment, really he just wanted to get Belka drunk and occupied enough so that his presence wouldn't be missed. Thankfully, he knew his fair share of deceptively sweet drinks that would keep her mind off of him. Then, he could focus on the big game.

"Of course, tonight's about celebrating. Speaking of which, come, we should have a drink, just you and me, and afterwards you can parade me around on your arm to all your friends." Just like that, almost as soon as he had appeared, Romeo disappeared into the crowd, whisking away a giggling and giddy Belka into the throng with him. Sighing, Elena similarly took off after their group, leaving just Lao and Luna. The pair stood in silence, neither really knowing what to do in the new environment they found themselves in. Looking over to Luna, Lao was surprised to see the girl trembling in her boots.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah it's just… dark, I thought clubs had a lot of lights." she said, trying her best to appear as if she wasn't petrified by how the lights just randomly moved about, leaving most of the room covered in darkness where just about anything could be hiding. Lao tilted his head, vaguely recalling how it had been mentioned that, ever since the incident with her mother, the girl's once minor fear of the dark had exploded into a full-on phobia that left her terrified at night. Lao watched the girl, clearly afraid despite the casual front she tried and failed to put on, and despite not knowing her very well, he didn't like seeing her so scared and wished there was something he could do. Well… maybe there was? After all, he had an above average control over his own emotions, and maybe helping Luna with her fear would help him regain some of his lost control in turn.

"Come here." Despite a small part of Luna being weary, the calm tone in which he spoke eased her nerves. Stepping forward with her, Lao took her hands into his own surprisingly soft ones. While not a deeply intimate gesture the fact that Lao was so comfortable surprised her. "Take a deep breath and try to close yourself off from that feeling."

Doing as he said, she closed her eyes, trying to distance herself from her current location, and without clear instructions, she imagined herself in her 'happy place' back at her father's workshop in Menagerie. It was always a special place for her, it was where he had shown her how to first assemble a weapon, where she'd stayed up late over countless nights drawing blueprints and assembling prototypes, where she'd first put together Cigarette Lighter, where her father would praise her and encourage her when she was struggling. She didn't know if this was what he had meant, but it was helping somewhat, as her nerves faded, even if not completely. But then a man drunkenly stumbled into her, causing the girl to let out a small "Eep!" in panic as she instinctively pressed herself against Lao. The boy in turn sighed as he stroked her head gently, maybe she'd just need a better environment for it.

"Maybe we should just go find the others." he suggested, leading her toward the bar by the hand.

"Y-Yes please." she whispered, clutching his hand tightly as she let him lead her through the crowd.

The night progressed smoothly after that point, Goose wasn't really keeping track of time, it didn't really feel like that long, but at the same time, it sort of did. What mattered was that Belka wasn't back yet, so it couldn't have been more than an hour. Most of them had just focused on their drinks, Juliet had somehow dragged Jet into a drinking contest and was currently drinking the poor boy under the table. He looked like he had wanted to give up a long time ago, but with Scarlet cheering him on, that had never been an option. There were also a few of them barred from drinking entirely, Jin, Rosaria, and Elena were all marked as unable to order anything alcoholic by a small pink stamp that glowed under the neon lights, marking them as underaged, though that didn't stop Scarlet and Juliet from slipping them a couple of drinks when the bartender wasn't looking. Goose, meanwhile, entertained herself by entertaining others, using her trusty coin trick to bewilder her fellow club goers, especially the ones who were already well and truly drunk. It always made her smile to see the various shocked faces people would make whenever she launched the coin from her thumb and let it drop onto the counter to land perfectly on its side. After all, when else would she use a party trick if not at a party? Rosaria especially was baffled by the trick, muttering under her breath how it was 'statistically impossible', only for her eyelid to twitch as she effortlessly pulled it off again, much to the delight of Luna and the rest of the small crowd that had built up around her. Eventually, she moved away from the group to order a soda, mostly because she wanted to wait a little longer before ordering anything strong. She had absolutely no idea if or how being drunk would affect her Semblance, and Mom and Dad both frowned on alcohol back at home, so she didn't exactly feel like she was missing out on much. Looking at those who had already started to drink, most of them were fine, but Jet was left moaning into the counter after what Juliet had put him through, with Liz having steppeding in to replace him, a frankly unfair match considering the comical size difference, but it was all in good fun! On the other end of things, despite only drinking a little so far, Lumi was tipsily eyeing Jin up like he was a tall cup of water and she was a woman dying of thirst in one of Vacuo's deserts. Yeah, the night was still young, no need to rush into it yet.

"Goooose!" Looking towards the source of the sudden noise, she was surprised to see her partner wobbling on her feet towards her. Speaking of rushing into it, the poor girl was well and truly drunk, that much was obvious, but it didn't explain the tears. She stood up just in the nick of time as the poor drunk stumbled over her own feet into the larger girl, clutching tightly around her as she tried to regain her balance.

"Oh hi Belka, what's up?" Goose asked casually, causing her to look up with tears in her amethyst eyes as the taller girl rubbed her back, hoping she was providing a bit of comfort as she led her over to the wall, letting her lean against it to take some of the strain off of her.

"I-I..." Her words were interrupted by a loud sniffle, she was clearly barely holding herself together. "I'm sorry!"

"Aw, what happened? Did you throw up? she asked her leader gently. She didn't smell any barf, but her friend was definitely at that point, so she offered the girl some of her Pixie lemonade to help settle her tummy. She graciously took the can and slowly sipped at the sweet carbonated beverage, but that just seemed to make her sadder. It bothered her immensely, why was Belka so sad? Had someone been mean to her? Was she just a sad drunk? She got her answer a moment later as the smaller girl looked down at her drink, tearing up once more before turning to her friend.

"No… not yet, but that'sh not important! I'm shorry for being so mean to you, it'sh not fair, you're sho nice… and… and I shuck fer being mean to you!" Goose frowned hearing her talk about herself like that, was this about before? When Belka was being bullied really bad? She didn't know her leader still thought about that, and she especially didn't know she'd felt that bad about it, she had forgiven the girl almost immediately, but then again, she'd never exactly been the sort of person to hold a grudge in the first place, Mom had told her it was bad to hold onto those bad feelings, and that if she did, she'd get wrinkles like her Dad. It was hard not to giggle as she imagined the look on her Father's face when she repeated that to him, but her friend was in a bad mood, so she pulled it in and gently stroked her hair.

"Aww, no you don't Belka."

"Yesh I do! I bet you hate me fer being a big shtupid jerk!" Not wanting to hear any more, she wrapped her arms around Belka, pulling her into a tight hug and smothering the girl's self-deprecating words in her shoulder before speaking in a gentle but firm voice.

"Belka, come on, don't talk that way about yourself, I never stopped liking you." That did the trick as Belka looked up, marveling at the words. She'd been expecting her partner to still be mad.

"You do? You like me?"

"Of course I do, you're my friend!" The pair stood in silence after that, the smaller girl tightening her grip on her partner, just enjoying the moment until she felt something… uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach.

"Goose?" the drunk asked, finally breaking the silence with a timid and shaky voice, to which Goose responded in the calmest and most reassuring tone she could muster.

"Yeah?"

"I… I think I need to do the throw up." There it was, and with a gentle chuckle, she pulled the smaller girl into her, bringing her arm over her shoulder to help her walk as she helped her make her way towards the ladies' room.

"Do you want me to hold your hair?"

"Yesh preashe?" She barely registered the pained moan over the audial assault of the speakers, so she just gave her leader a sincere smile as they neared the restrooms. Yeah, she was done for now.

"Okay, come on buddy." Goose giggled as they stumbled into the bathroom together.

Back at the bar, Lumi scowled as one of the bartenders leaned closer to Jin, a woman with her dress shirt buttoned down one too many, exposing her cleavage to the boy in an obvious grab at his attention, because of course she would, the shameless wench probably had nothing else but her body to entice anyone to pay attention to her if she was flirting with someone who was still legally a minor, even if he would be an adult in just a few short weeks. She tried not to let it bother her, to remind herself that he was a good man who cared about more than a woman's bust size, after all, it was just extraneous fat, but at the end of the day he was a teenage boy, and Scarlet had snuck him a pair of shots earlier, what if he just wasn't thinking straight? Scarlet's words ran through her head in a taunting reminder, 'You're gonna feel real stupid when we head out for the Vytal festival and he finds a nice, if kinda loose, chick who isn't afraid to take him for a ride'. While she'd initially firmly denied the possibility, when she looked at him now, seeing him being openly flirted with sparked no small amount of jealousy within her. Thankfully, he didn't seem interested in much more than polite conversation, not even considering the woman's lewd intentions with him. It was a big part of what she loved about him, that he always saw the best in people. Unfortunately, it made him easy to take advantage of by those who would use his kindness, which was why it was up to her to protect him from those who would try to do such a thing. Fueled by a mixture of protectiveness, jealousy, and alcohol, she summoned a tiny glyph behind a bottle that was carelessly left open on the vast shelves that lined the back wall of the bar. All it took was one tiny nudge for it to fall over, spilling a dark brown, vaguely cinnamon-scented liquid onto the woman's hair and back. She couldn't help but giggle watching the woman go stiff in shock, that would teach her a lesson, or maybe not, she didn't really care so long as she stopped trying to seduce her friend.

As it turned out, Lumi's plan had worked even better than she had expected, as the woman immediately went off on one of her fellow bartenders, a man who was even bigger and bulkier than Jin, accusing the man of flirting with the women, particularly Faunus women, at the bar rather than paying attention to the drinks and customers, the argument eventually escalating to the point of her threatening to call his girlfriend to tell her just what exactly he was getting up to behind her back. While everyone else was enthralled by the drama unfolding before them behind the bar, she only had eyes on one thing. Taking a drink of liquid courage, she stood up and ignored the goosebumps as she approached the monkey boy. Seeing him get openly flirted with was enough to kick her rump into gear, she wasn't going to just sit back and watch him get wooed while she just stood there impotently! She closed the distance and made her entrance by wrapping her arms around his bicep, clearly claiming the boy as hers to any other hussies who might be watching, and catching his attention at the same time. He was also tipsy, nowhere as much as she was, but still noticeably not all there. That was okay, she could fix that, he was a boy after all.

"You know, I've always liked your muscles." she said in a sweet tone, rubbing his arm in what was most definitely not just an excuse to feel said muscles she admired so much. The Faunus didn't seem to mind the touch, if anything, he was enjoying it if his flushed cheeks were anything to go by. It was only natural, while she may not have the most… voluptuous figure, she was certainly attractive, and while some may have called it vanity, it was undeniable to anyone with functioning eyes that she had good genes.

"You have?" She couldn't help but giggle at how genuinely surprised he sounded, what a silly boy, as if she couldn't admire him the same way he'd admired her. She'd caught him stealing a glance at her before, particularly at the toned legs and tight posterior that made up her lower half. She'd show Scarlet, she didn't need some fat udders that were at least the size of her head hanging off her chest to get a boy's attention!

"Mhm… they make me feel so safe." The gears began to turn in Jin's head as Lumi spun around, wrapping herself up in his right arm, leaning into him as if to emphasize how small she was compared to him, how she could easily put both her arms together and it would still be dwarfed by just one of his arms. Then it clicked, if his muscles made her feel safe, he could help her get her own!

"Well, if you'd like, I could help you with your workouts, help you bulk up!" Okay, that was not at all the direction she had expected this to go, maybe she'd been too vague? Yes, that had to be it, she wasn't shy about touching him in the past, but by the gods, how on Remnant did he mistake her voice for anything but seductive!? Before she could go on though, his mouth opened again.

"Well- yes I would like something like that but-"

"You're kinda a twig at the moment anyway, it'll be good for you." He didn't really think about the words before they came out, something that was painfully obvious going off of how, in a split second, Lumi's expression went from this weird, almost tired looking look he couldn't really figure out, to angry, very angry. Had… had he said something wrong?

"Excuse you?" The shrill shriek that escaped her gathered a decent amount of attention, and doing her best to ignore the audience she now had, she decided to just put her cards on the table. She reached out and placed her hand on the boy's broad, ever so tantalizing chest and looked right into his amethyst eyes before clearing her throat and saying "Jin, I think you're hot."

"Huh? Oh, no, it's probably just the booze, it opens up the blood flow and makes your skin feel warmer. Thanks for worrying though!" Lumi was just confused at this point, how had he misinterpreted that as anything other than her coming onto him? He wasn't even that drunk, but then again, how would she even be able to tell if that was the case? Before she could get her answer, her friend looked up, seeing Lao and Luna alone, and a few men around them, mostly gravitating towards Lao and laughing. While Luna forced a polite chuckle, the ginger was as blank faced as ever. "Uh oh, some guys are hitting on Lao. I gotta go bail him out, can you watch my drink?"

"Y-yeah… sure…" she muttered, unable to do anything but watch as he went to clear up the conversation. Sitting back down in her stool, she picked up her glass and downed it as Juliet patted her back in what was probably meant to be a comforting gesture, provided it didn't hit with the force of a rabid Beringal. She decided to let it go this time, too preoccupied with her complete and utter failure at flirting. "What the hell just happened?"

"You hit on a guy, and no offense to Jin, but an unbelievably dense one at that." Juliet said. She figured it had to sting getting friendzoned, even if unintentionally. She found herself waving down the bartender to once again take advantage of their discounted drinks, something that got a pair of matching groans from Jet and Liz, both of whom were slumped over, Jet holding his skull and Liz completely blacked out with her face on the counter.

Scarlet chuckled from her spot, having watched the whole affair from the platform that overlooked the bar, wandering off to explore after Jet gave up trying to outdrink Juliet and slumped over in his seat. She'd felt a little bad leaving him there, a part of her had wanted to sit with him and hold him steady as he tried to ease the spinning feeling in his head, but at the same time she didn't want to be covered in puke if he decided to follow in Belka's footsteps. Besides, it wasn't like she hadn't left him in safe hands and she'd never been to a club before, she just had to check everything out before the night was over, though without her friends she found herself lacking much to do. The dance floor looked fun, but on her own she didn't want to risk wandering hands, the only boy she wanted to bump and grind against was currently somewhere in between consciousness and unconsciousness. So, with that ruled out, she skirted the outer edge of the dance floor, eventually finding herself next to the restroom, where she overheard the sound of Belka emptying her guts while Goose soothingly told her she was going to be okay and that they'd get her something to wash the taste out back at the bar. She did some more wandering after that, mostly just meandering about, enjoying the beat of the pounding music as well as the obvious looks she was getting from the club's various attendees. Granted, she already knew she was hot, but seeing more than a few heads turn her way was a nice ego boost, and seeing one of the guys get in trouble with who she assumed was his girlfriend for looking at her for too long was nothing short of hilarious. Eventually, she found herself heading up onto one of the raised walkways that encircled the main floor of the club and gazing out over the sea of people just in the nick of time to see Lumi strike out. She laughed her ass off, of course, but she had to give her partner credit, she'd still taken her shot, which was more than she could say about herself. Then again, it wasn't like she really had an opportunity to do that herself now that he was completely legless from Juliet's bet, although maybe that was for the best, things were getting floaty and she tended to just run her mouth without thinking when she got drunk, at least, more than usual. The absolute last thing she needed was the intrusive thoughts of how badly she wanted to just pin him down slip out in the middle of conversation. It would be even worse if she actually did it, he'd never live that down, and they'd all probably get kicked out of the club to boot.

"Well, you all seem to be having a good time." Not recognizing the voice, she turned to see… okay no, she couldn't take this guy seriously, not with that hair.

"So what's with the hair? Do you represent the lollipop guild or somethin'?" Being stunned into silence wasn't something Romeo was really used to, his mouth was one of his greatest assets, so he'd long since learned to just roll with the punches, getting into people's heads in any scenario and being absolutely hilarious while doing so. So, when he strolled up all confident only for that to come out of her mouth… How the hell does he respond to that?

"You know missy, there's probably a really cheesy line about sugar and where lollipops go, but how about a drink instead?" As the man pulled a flask from his coat, she raised an eyebrow as if to ask if he thought she was born yesterday, like there couldn't be any number of roofies or gods knows what mixed in there. Picking up on this, he felt a little insulted at the implication, so much in fact that he took a swig himself, making a show about swallowing the drink just to prove that there was nothing underhanded happening. Satisfied with his little display, she accepted the flask. Hey, if he wanted to give away free booze, who was she to say no?

"So, you gotta name?" she asked before taking a sip. The drink was surprisingly fruity… well, okay, after taking even a single look at him, it wasn't surprising in the slightest, but if she hadn't known any better, she'd think there was no alcohol in that thing.

"Romeo Torchwick, It's nice to finally meet you Scarlet." No aliases, no lies, and no bullshit, he preferred it that way, the number of people you could be straight within his line of work could be counted on one hand, so when faced with someone he had no reason to lie to, he'd prefer being honest. Sure, it was a risk just telling her his real name, though not a big one. What did he stand to lose, exactly? His self-proclaimed girlfriend in Belka? Not much of a loss in his eyes. No, this was far more important, he needed this one on one, even if it was just for a moment. Scarlet, however, just turned and stared him down. She definitely hadn't told this guy her name, maybe he'd gotten it from the news back at the beginning of the school year? No, that didn't explain why he'd want to meet with her like this. Maybe he was a Huntsman? That cane of his was definitely modified given that she could see a hint of a trigger nestled in its handle, and he wasn't threatening her, hell, he was downright friendly, but for some reason, he was giving her this weird pit in her stomach.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but our families are more tangled up than I'd like." Those words instantly sent her into a panic as she habitually reached for one of the blades that typically rested on her hip, only to find nothing as she'd left Wilt and Bleed at school. Damn it, why now of all times, screw it, she'd just headbutt him, her horns could probably knock him on his ass long enough for her to make her escape, but to her surprise, before she could act, the man just laughed at her reaction, leaning on his cane. "Oh don't give me that look, do you really think I'd do you in right here? In front of everyone?"

"You don't exactly look like you try to avoid attention." Despite remaining cautious, he had a point, it would be downright stupid to try anything now, something that just confused and frustrated her more. "What's your game, do we have beef or what?"

He dropped the smile, sighing and leaning against the rail. Now that was the question, wasn't it? Did he have a good reason to hate this girl? Sure, her very existence had put him in a fine little mess, but without her, he still wouldn't know where his sister was.

"Honestly, with your little spat with your partner exploding the way it did, I honestly don't know if I want to shoot you or kiss you."

"This… isn't about my Mom or Dad?" That was new, and actually kinda refreshing, so far everyone who knew about her beforehand had some vendetta against her parents or, even worse, just used it as an excuse to screw with her. To her surprise, when he looked over, she could have sworn she saw… sympathy?

"Yeah, I get that bullshit too, sorry." To say she was surprised was an understatement, this had to have been the most polite conversation she'd ever had with someone who was seemingly an enemy, and what was even stranger was that she actually believed him, there were no signs or even a hint of a feeling that he was bullshitting her. Of all the things in the world, she certainly hadn't expected him to be able to relate to him on this.

"Huh, thanks I guess."

"Thanks? That's a weird thing to say considering I'm still considering letting you die."

"Well, okay, yeah, but I mean… thanks for having a problem with me." Romeo's eyebrow raised at that, and to be fair, the moment it came out of her mouth, she realized just how stupid it actually sounded out of context. "So far It's just 'your Dad killed my Dad' or 'Your Mom was a dangerous terrorist' I guess I'm just happy someone's looking at just me for once."

As much as he didn't want to agree with something that sounded so unbelievably stupid, he was pretty sure he understood what she meant, being judged based on his parents' actions, being seen as just an extension of them… damn it, not this again, he couldn't get personal with this one.

"Well… I can't blame him, to my knowledge, it was Tyrian or his kid, that's an obvious call. You on the other hand have my sister in a right tizzy." Scarlet couldn't help but smile at that, at least someone got it, that it wasn't her fault… but how did he know who Tyrian was, and what was that about a sister?

"Wait a minute, how the hell do you know about-" When she turned back to face him, she was shocked to see no one there, which quickly grew into annoyance. Really? The dramatic disappearing act? Talk about corny. Reaching down inside her jacket to take a free drink of the flask he'd left in her possession, she was greeted with an empty pocket. Okay, now this was weird, did he just lift it off of her? But she hadn't even felt a bump, maybe she imagined it? No, no, she was drinking, not smoking, there was definitely a flask of booze in there before, but still, that didn't make sense. As she looked around on the floor, she saw her friends heading over to the dance floor, Juliet spotting her from below and waving.

"Scarlet come on! We're getting messed up without you!" Taking one last look around, it bothered her, but at the same time maybe she was overthinking it, maybe he decided not to kill her or something. Besides, the guy was a total twink, she could easily kick his ass if she needed to.

"Oh you'd better not!" Tonight was about celebrating, she could figure out this guy later, what was his name again, Roman or something?

The elevator ride back up to his penthouse gave Romeo a much-needed chance to decompress and get his nerves under control. Of course she had to go through the same shit he had, she just had to be a good kid and not the brooding bitch he had expected with those katanas and utterly atrocious black and red get-up. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was trying to pull at his emotions. Really, he should have expected it, nothing, from the grandest plan to the most spur of the moment decision could just go simply nowadays. Seeing that he had a few more floors to go, he took another swig from his personal flask, the strong mix helping him shed his worries and loosen up just in time for the doors to open. Stepping inside, he made his way over to the couch where Lavender sat, where, hearing him approach, she glanced over, lazily clicking through cheesy rom-coms, terrible low-budget horror movies, and reruns of old sitcoms that weren't funny when they were airing, let alone now after they'd aged like milk.

"So?" she said with all the enthusiasm a teenager confined to the house on a weekend night could muster. She knew why, not that she liked it, but if a visiting Beacon student recognized her down in the club, it would be bad for the both of them. That, and… well, she'd already caused her brother enough trouble, he was extending an olive branch by going with her to Vacuo, so she could handle one night of boredom. Still, she was curious, he'd mentioned a meet-up with some girl, yet he lacked that same enthusiasm he had when he knew he was meeting with other girls. Probably because she wouldn't put out if she had to guess

"I bumped into our favorite little heifer today, and gotta say, I was imagining a lot more brooding and edginess." Lavender practically choked on air hearing that, Scarlet was downstairs, in her home!? Without even giving it a second thought, she rose to her feet, ready to head downstairs, run that stupid cow through with her tail and bring drinks back up to celebrate, maybe that cake flavored vodka she'd been meaning to try. But, before she could make headway, her brother stepped in front of her, shaking his head slowly.

"If you just let me down there, I could handle it, we'd be done in ten minutes." He had been expecting that answer, Lavender was an opportunist at heart, if she saw a chance at something, she wanted to jump at it. He couldn't really complain, it was a good quality to have, someone who'd look for any avenue to achieve their goals, the issue was she was too emotionally invested this time, she being impulsive and wasn't doing proper threat assessment. Really, it was his fault, he should have been teaching her these things instead of dancing around the uncomfortable conversations when they were younger. Oh well, just another mistake he'd need to fix, but one thing at a time.

"Right, you and that glow-in-the-dark death stick on your back that's bigger than you? Definitely won't draw any attention whatsoever."

"But she's right downstairs! I almost beat her alone, if we both go down there-"

"Word would get out that I killed a Huntress in training in less than an hour, and everyone we know would be gaffled up by morning." She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out, . sStopping to think for a moment, there really didn't seem to be a way out if she did kill the girl right now, and in her uncle's beloved club with JJ downstairs no less… Sighing in defeat, Lavender sulked back to the couch, collapsing onto it with a frown as Romeo took a seat beside her, handing her back the remote and staying by her side as she flicked through the channels once more. "Now's not the time or place, besides, there's no way we'd meet up with your little Sunday school club, they'd be watching every way out of the kingdom for us."

His deflection worked as he could see her expression shift away from bloodlust into something more thoughtful, after a moment, she took her seat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder as she eventually settled on a channel, an older movie she remembered vaguely from their childhood, and judging from her brother's hum, he remembered it as well. If her memory was correct, it was about a crime family, telling the story of their rise to power and eventual fall, a generic and a predictable pick for them, but the nostalgia stopped her from seeking out something else to watch. It made her feel like they were kids again, staying up past bedtime behind Neo's back, back when things were so much simpler. Besides, she remembered liking the ending while he absolutely hated it, so there was no way she was changing channels now.

"Thank you, I know you don't want to go."

"Oh, on the contrary, I am very invested in finding out just what our dear old Dad was about."

Sharp green eyes glanced down at the Scroll, double checking that he was at the right location, and sure enough, the address matched the high class mansion he had arrived at, but that just made it stranger. He was used to discussing his business in more secluded spots, back alley's, in the back of bars away from prying eyes, even abandoned buildings or outside the walls of the kingdom if it was necessary, not somewhere this nice and certainly never in a client's home. This was undoubtedly weird. Why have him meet up in some high class neighborhood? It didn't help that he didn't blend in at all with the locals, the casual black outfit he wore specifically to be unassuming now just made him stand out to anyone that glanced in his direction. He kept his left hand in his pocket to hide the shackle loosely dangling on his left wrist, given that it was just a bit too large to pass off as some sort of bracelet, alongside zipping up his jacket to hide his cheap gray shirt, and sweeping his unkempt hair back to hopefully look more 'dignified' at a glance. As he cautiously approached the building, he felt his Scroll vibrate, briefly glancing down and seeing the message from a private number.

The door is unlocked.

"Ah sod it." the brunette sighed. He wasn't surprised to learn he was being watched, but he wasn't expecting them to be so open about it. Cautiously, he walked right up to the door, stepping in to find the gaudy, upper-crust Valean architecture he'd expected, a vast open living room complete with a spiral staircase leading upstairs and a window almost as big as the wall itself that left absolutely no room for privacy. In the center of the room, he saw who he assumed was his client, or at the very least, the man he assumed he'd be discussing the details of his job with. Before he could approach, the man glanced up, greeting him with a warm smile as he stood, motioning for his guest to follow as he opened a side door. This whole thing felt off, first it was the strange meeting point, then how strangely transparent they were about watching him, and now the strangely silent man greeting him, it left him on edge, only morons or those too green to know better fully trusted their clients on a normal job, and so far, this was the very definition of abnormal. But, if this wasn't some sort of trap, his payment was already more than enough to justify it, and if it was, then he was confident he could take anyone waiting for him deeper inside.

As soon as they were past the living room, the facade of a normal mansion, if there was ever such a thing, quickly shed itself as he stepped into a dark and ornate corridor filled with masked figures in robes. For a brief moment, he thought he'd just been brought into a White Fang safe house with all the faces hidden by Grimm masks, but that didn't track, the masks were different and covered their entire faces, not to mention they were far more intricate and detailed than what the Fang used for their grunts. They paid him no mind, going about their business, but he still couldn't help but notice that a few of them kept weapons on them. The further in he went, the less normal the building looked, instead of the typical statues, art, and other colossal wastes of money the rich typically got to show off their status, he saw small armories, what looked to be macabre altars of some kind being prayed over, and in one room he could even hear snarling. Suddenly, the location made perfect sense, no one in their right mind would expect this sort of operation out of a place that outwardly looked so stuck up and proper. Granted, aside from that, he didn't pay the operation much mind, as unsettling as it looked, he really couldn't bring himself to be bothered so long as they played nice.

Following the man deeper, eventually they reached a set of quarters. At first he thought this was simply where they'd be conducting business, a more secluded area away from prying eyes, but as the man peered into the room, he noticed a tall and distinctly feminine figure covered in what looked like a similar cloak to the rest of her associates. As she turned, the man leading him took a bow before speaking.

"Mother Moon, the mercenary has arrived." The man tried not to show his annoyance at just being referred to as 'the mercenary', after all, he wasn't just some failed Huntsmen turned hired gun, he liked to think that after all this time and all he'd done, he had a bit more of a reputation at the very least, the frankly absurd amount they were apparently willing to pay him should have made that clear. Moon took note of her guest's displeasure, but decided not to comment on it, dismissing the servant and motioning for her guest to take a seat with her at the table.

"Please, take a seat, is there anything I can have a member of my congregation get you?"

"I'm good if it's all the same." He declined, politely but firmly, very much adverse to anything that would have been prepared or served by the type of people he'd seen on the way in. He took a seat as Moon pulled a large manilla folder from her cloak which he could've sworn had opened up on its own, though then again, he was probably mistaken on that part. A moment later, she set a Scroll down on the table which swiftly lit up, showing a call screen with no contact name or image to identify the caller by, most likely some unseen benefactor whom she was meeting him on behalf of. Or something like that, he was smart enough not to ask and frankly didn't care whether that was the case or not.

"In these files are five students at Beacon Academy, detailing everything you'll need to know, weaponry, combat style, Semblance. The first four targets, SJJL, are to be eliminated, the other girl is to be brought directly to me." Ah, right down to business, just the way he liked it.

"May I?" Without hesitation, Moon slid the files over to him. They were surprisingly detailed, though he paid no attention to the pages and pages of their personal details, instead focusing on what would effect combat, the weapons weren't much to worry about, basic blades, gauntlets, and a handgun that didn't even have a melee function, their Semblances were a bit more complicated, especially the Arc-Schnee girl's. "Yeah, just one problem though, you're a little light for this job. For a target this hot, your original price just won't cut it."

Moon's brow furrowed at his words, offended by the insinuation. "Explain."

"Well first off, see that one there?" he tapped on the folder labeled Lumi "That's an Arc-Schnee. You're looking at significantly heightened security if it's in public, which, considering the festival might just be the case with it's colored history as of late, along with some serious attention after the fact, that's a significant markup for her alone."

"I assure you, we've taken into account the risks factored into this task." Moon explained, already irritated by his dry sarcasm and outright insulted by what she saw as a blatant attempt to squeeze more money out of this task, though she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised given the sort of person he was. After all, he had no qualms killing for money, no loyalties nor faith except to whomever had more Lien to spend.

"It's in the middle of the Vytal Festival, all of Vacuo will be crawling with Huntsmen, not just ones in training, that complicates things. It's not a simple shivving, even when they're alone."

"If the task is too difficult, then you're free to say so, we are capable of dealing with these pests ourselves." The man let out a scoff of amusement at her words, leaning forward and resting his hands on the table. While he didn't doubt her group's ability to strike, given what he'd seen coming in, the fact that they had brought him in called her bluff.

"No offense love, but if you thought you could deal with this on your own, we wouldn't be having this conversation to begin with." Silence lingered between them as Moon wrestled with wiping the smug expression off of his face, but as much as she hated to admit it, they did need him, even if he was mistaken as to why. Though there were plenty of her congregation who could slay SJJL, they would all undoubtedly be tied back to the congregation sooner or later, which was something she could not allow. Whether she liked it or not, she'd be relying on outside assistance, and this man was the one Watts was certain would get the job done. The man, still listening in, swiftly reminded her through her earpiece that money was of no object when it wasn't their money being spent in the first place.

"Name your price." The man smiled, leaning back as he started to tally up all the risks and possible complications.

"Let's see, a trained high profile target at a heavily populated event… three more targets alongside the first one… factoring in the risks of the festival and increased Huntsman presence… I'll need a billion Lien for this to be worth my while. Half up front, as agreed." In truth, he was going a little light on the pricing based on the targets and danger alone, but despite knowing that he could easily justify an extra hundred million for such a dangerous job, he'd have other, equally lucrative means of making money after this job if all went to plan. To be frank, the woman in front of him probably had no idea about the magnitude of the opportunity she'd just laid before him, Adam Taurus's daughter was a find he hadn't been expecting, not necessarily because she was extremely dangerous or would garner a high price on her own, but because the bounty on her dad's head in Mistral was still as high as ever, if he just had played his cards right, he could handily make this an easy two for one deal. Moon glanced down at her Scroll, a message from Watts just a moment later indicating that the misplaced funds from various banks had already been wired into his account.

"Your terms are acceptable."

"One more thing, smuggling this one? That's a whole other can of worms. Frankly, it would be easier for me to just do her in with the others." Not even taking a moment to glance at her daughter's file, she shook her head, while they'd never dare admit it in her presence, she knew some would see the move as favoritism, and to an extent, they were right. But was that not her duty as a mother? To try and show her child the error of her ways? And should that fail, then it was certainly her duty to put her out of her misery, lest she meet her end at the hands of a more cruel servant of the Goddess.

"No, that one is mine, a personal mistake I need to correct with my own hands." The man shrugged, while not ideal, she just said she wanted her alive after all, didn't mean he couldn't do what he needed to in order to make sure she wouldn't be a problem during transport.

"Sounds like a deal then." he said, standing and holding his hand out for the woman to shake.

"Of course, it was a pleasure doing business with you Mister K." she responded in kind, sealing their deal with a surprisingly heavy handshake given the man's average build, the only thing she could think adding the weight was what she had assumed was a decorative shackle on his left wrist. The only thing giving away that it could be something more was the engraving that read HADES.

"Just 'K' is fine, love."

Chapter Text

Scarlet's first long distance ride in an airship was a lot less enjoyable than she'd hoped, mostly because after they got far enough into Vacuo, the heat became unbearably hot. It was already to the point that even in just her undershirt, she was sweating so badly that her tits were damp, she didn't even know her tits could sweat that much! It probably should have been a sign when Goose had boarded the ship without her favorite jacket, having switched to a more breathable red shirt that loosely hung off her shoulders. Even Alaska had prepared, though she likely was more than aware of the extremely hot temperatures of the Vacuan desert due to being a Vacuo native herself, even if her region was cooler than the rest of the kingdom due to it bordering Vale, dropping a few layers in favor of wearing just shorts and a simple blue flannel shirt that she tied up at her midriff once the heat really started to kick in. Most of the other students were like her, foolishly believing that they'd be fine with the air conditioner turned up, only to be left sweaty and miserable in their various layers meant for Vale's comparatively cooler climate. Another reason for the general aura of misery was that, so far, Vacuo was just so boring!

It wasn't that she didn't care for the sights or traveling, after spending her entire life before Beacon on a quiet, tiny island she had pretty much mapped out from top to bottom by her 10th birthday, she got excited even just thinking about exploring outside the kingdoms. Hell, getting sent out on missions was what she was looking forward to the most when her team would finally become second years in a few months. It was just… well… it was hard to be excited to see the sights when that just meant staring out at miles of sand and barren plains with only the occasional hill, outcropping of rocks, patch of cacti, or somehow still living tree to spice things up. It was a harsh contrast to when they'd flown over Vale's territories where there were lush forests of various colors, islands dotted along the coastline, and even as they were still in the city, the peaks of the nearby mountain range could clearly be seen. So far, the most interesting sight in Vacuo was a rather large, and admittedly pretty cool, ravine they flew over right as the dry grasslands of Vacuo's eastern fringes began to give way to a vast stretch of red and orange-tinted badlands, like a great scar that cleanly split the two environments. Really, the most she could point and look at was the wildlife or the occasional stray Grimm, which was a bit more notable if for no other reason than to give her a decent idea of what to expect during their stay.

There were a few camel looking Grimm traveling in groups, the occasional giant horned rabbit, and the uncommon but still easily spotted sight of the ground moving in a way she and the others swiftly recognized as one of those worm things from initiation, though thankfully, the ones they spotted seemed much smaller in size. Quickly coming to the conclusion that she really wasn't missing out on much, she would have passed the time on her scroll but… well… then she'd have to stare at the unopened notification alerting her that her Mother had sent her a message. So instead, she tried not to think about that and ignored the dull scenery by passing the time with her friends, though at least Goose was seeing some interesting stuff outside that she and Jin were enjoying watching, so they were left with the job of spotting the city. They weren't left waiting for long as the resident Vacuan piped up excitedly.

"We're almost there!" At Goose's excited declaration, several heads turned. Most of their friends were eager to get out of the sweltering metal ship, to the point that most of them would happily jump out the window if they passed by an oasis, with the exception of Lao, who was meditating, and Juliet, who had long since passed out on Rosaria's shoulder. The most excited of them though was Luna, her scroll having died a little over halfway through the trip as she'd occupied herself with her favorite game. However, when she looked out of one of the windows in glee, she was met with more sand and cacti, and was thusly disappointed.

"Uh, Goose, how can you tell? I just see more sand." Luna asked, unable to keep the disappointed whine out of her voice at the apparent lack of progress. Despite the mix of confusion and disappointment from her friends, Goose was no less chipper than she was before.

"Nu-uh, that outcropping we just passed is a landmark, we're only a bit out from the city!" she said, pointing backwards at the window behind them. While most gave her the benefit of the doubt, they were met with what looked to be the same barren dunes they'd seen the last thirty times they checked.

"Did you guys see anything?" Jet asked, not seeing much more than little bumps that might have been some rocks or whatever, but he couldn't really tell. Lumi squinted, hoping that her aunt wasn't just suffering from a heat stroke induced mirage, but similarly could find little difference in the terrain.

"Nope."

"I trust her, I mean, there's no one else we know who lives in Vacuo." Jin said, trying to come to his cousin's aid, but the fact that he wasn't openly supporting her claim gave away that he hadn't seen it either.

"No one worth talking with at least." Elena muttered, shooting a disdainful glare SLVR's way. Most of them were preoccupied in their own little activities across the airship, Professor Fuchsia not so subtly keeping watch over them, the only one who even heard her was Aethelflad who upon noticing her fellow redhead raised a pair of spread fingers to her mouth before sticking out her tongue between them, causing her cheeks to flush red before looking away and shuddering in disgust.

Choosing to ignore the presence of the team, Belka instead focused on trying to remain below melting point, resting a once chilled bottle of water against her head to try and cool herself off and soon found herself scowling up at the ceiling vents that were, based on the transport currently feeling like a giant flying oven, clearly just for show as far as she could tell. "Ugh, is the AC broken?"

At her partner's question, Goose stood and raised her hand up to the air vent, making a face that she was sure meant she was right about the air being faulty.

"Nope, this feels about right." Goose pointed out, much to Belka's horror.

"Huh!?" Before she or anyone else could ask if that had been some sort of joke, Elizabeth chimed in, confirming their fears.

"Yeah, this is how air conditioners usually feel around here, especially at this time of day. Doesn't really matter how chilled the air is when every surface is being baked by the sun." Dread started to set in for the rest of the teens, Beacon's airships were state of the art in terms of comfort and quality of transportation, this was as good as it got short of a custom luxury airship like what the Schnee Dust Company had, and they were already miserable. This was only compounded when they realized they'd be spending the next several months on the continent almost completely without the air conditioners, meaning it'd just get hotter from here.

"Just how hot does Vacuo get!?" Luna squeaked out, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer, but without hesitation, Rosaria spoke up, confirming their fears.

"On average, Vacuo reaches ambient temperatures of 113 degrees Fahrenheit in its central desert region, where the city of Vacuo is actually based." The group briefly sat in stunned silence at that number, before all simultaneously demonstrating their thoughts on the matter. Scarlet swore, Jet groaned, Luna whined, and Lao was pulled out of his meditation, unsure if he'd heard that right.

"I hate it here!" Her hopes well and truly crushed, Belka fell back dramatically in her seat, whining pathetically.

"We haven't even touched down yet." Lumi scoffed. While not surprised at her aunt's petulant reaction, it was still shameful to see a grown woman whining like a child not getting their way. Though, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't also a bit intimidated once it was laid out so plainly, but she was still confident she could handle it. After all, coming from a long and noble line of Huntsmen, she certainly wasn't going to be done in by a bit of above average heat.

"And I hate it now, Lumi. Once we touch down, I'm gonna get all sweaty, and sunburnt, and sand's going to get everywhere!"

"Yeah, the sunburns do suck." Elizabeth muttered, making a mental note to buy extra sunscreen.

Scarlet found herself similarly displeased, spending the rest of the school year in this heat sounded like hell, but there was nothing to be done at this point, so she might as well just suck it up and make the most of it. After all, this was her chance to enjoy some normalcy, no weird ass cult or other loony people trying to stab her over what her parents had done… well, hopefully. At the very least, she hoped she wouldn't be immediately recognized. She chewed her lip at the thought, and at the unopened text nagging at her mind. Was she just being petty? She had every right to be upset and she knew it, but they were still her parents… Thankfully, a distraction made itself known with another notification, which she happily jumped at, only to be confronted by a follow up message from her mother.

'We both love you very much Scarlet, and we'll be watching you live as much as we can during the Festival.'

The words slapped her in the face, being mad was easy when she could remind herself of what they did, of how her friends' families had suffered as a direct result of their actions, or how she was being targeted by cultists, psychopaths, and overly flamboyant gangsters, once again because of their selfish decisions, but it was a lot harder when she was faced with the reality that they were still her parents. The message itself struck her harder than it had meant to, mostly because the word 'love' wasn't said often in her home. It wasn't that they pretended otherwise, it was just that that her parents were, frankly, emotionally stunted. She'd never have a family like Jet's where his parents would constantly gush over each other and shower one another with kisses, and that was just fine with her, they didn't really need any big displays of affection like that, because they understood each other. Or at least, she thought they did, their secret pasts involving terrorist attacks and weird death cults came completely out of left field. Unable to help herself, she tapped the screen to read the earlier message she'd ignored.

'I know you still don't want to talk with us and that's okay, you don't have to respond if you aren't ready. Your father and I just wanted you to know that we saw that you've qualified for the tournament. We just wanted to congratulate you and let you know that we're both more proud of you than we can put into words.'

Her heart ached at the message, her thumb going right for the call button, but stopping just short of tapping the screen. She wanted to call, to tell them that she loved them, to just hear Mom's voice again for the first time in months, but at the same time, she was still unbelievably pissed at them, she wanted to rip them both new assholes over the call. But that wasn't fair was it? To go off on her own mother for expressing her love? Then again, just how fair was it to throw her blindly into Huntress training, knowing she'd get shit further down the line because they were too chicken shit to have a hard conversation and be honest with her. Damn it, this was all so… hard, her conflicting emotions constantly pulling back and forth between calling or blocking them. The whole time, she stared down at the tiny icon of her mother, a candid photo of her looking off at Dad and Mercury as they cooked together on one of their many outings together. She wore a peaceful smile and carried a certain beauty that shined through despite her fading burns, eyepatch and prosthetic arm being seen clearly in the picture. That had always been how she saw her mother before Beacon, a figure of kindness and beauty in spite of her appearance, but now it was hard for her to see those marks as anything other than battle damage, earned against an opponent fighting for their life and the lives of their loved ones against a selfish villain. To her side, Goose took a seat after getting some water and noticed her furrowed brow, following her gaze to the picture of her mother, therefore it wasn't hard to put two and two together from that.

"Hey, Scarlet. Are you okay?" She asked, patting the bovine Faunus's back. Goose understood, sure, it wasn't on the same level as what Scarlet's parents did, but when her Dad had told her he had been a bandit before, she was confused, hurt, and even a little angry, even though it had been decades before she was even born. She could only imagine how Scarlet felt about the actions of her parents, especially finding out the way she did.

"I'm fine, Goose." Scarlet said, quickly turning off the screen and sliding her scroll into her pocket. "Just fine."

Soon after, the overhead speakers crackled to life with an announcement for the first time since they left Vale, alerting them that they would be landing at Vacuo's airdocks in only a few minutes, surprising Goose as, usually, airships would announce their arrival as they entered the city's airspace, not minutes before landing. As they pulled up besides the platform, Jaune was the first one off of the airship, an unsurprising event to his family and friends, and Lumi headed over to rub her father's back, leaving Ruby and Touko to help lead the students out onto the docks. Just as they'd suspected, the sun was excruciatingly hot as it beat down on them, and it hit the cyborg especially hard,. Iit was bad enough that the metal of her legs was soaking up so much heat that it physically hurt, but her inability to sweat on the majority of her body was coming back to bite her as she quickly started to overheat. Noticing this, Ruby offered her a drink from her bottle, and to her surprise, Touko, who'd normally think twice about putting her lips where someone else's had been, let alone hers, didn't think twice about an indirect swapping of spit, as in this heat, hygiene was the least of her concerns, so she downed half the bottle without thinking, nearly choking at the speed at which she downed the water.

Back with SJJL, Jin wiped his brow, shocked to find he was already sweating, he had thought growing up in the tropical heat of Menagerie would have better prepared him for this; it didn't help though, as unlike Menagerie, which was only extremely humid on a good day, air in Vacuo was painfully dry, something that nearly made him wheeze with every breath. Looking over at his team, they seemed to be hit just as hard, and he found himself taking his shirt off while Scarlet gave in and poured some of the precious water they'd been given onto her hair. Goose was right, while it had seemed to do very little in the moment, now that they had a taste of what Vacuo had to offer compared to the nice air-conditioned airship, they'd have gladly taken it back.

"Damn, you guys weren't kidding about that sun. I'm probably gonna be darker than Mom by the time we get back home." At Jet's observation, Scarlet's mind went back to her own parents, something she really just didn't want to think about at the moment, so instead she focused her thoughts on the Black family instead. She hadn't heard from Emerald or Mercury for a while, her godmother had reached out a few times after the news had broken about her parents, but she'd hadn't responded with anything more than short messages saying she was fine.

"How are your parents doing by the way?" she asked, finding herself missing them. With everything going on in her clusterfuck of a school year, she hadn't thought about how strange it felt being just her and Jet, no Lupin following them around, no Emerald calling the kids back for drinks, and no Mercury spouting terrible jokes that somehow made her laugh. Despite having Jet, Jin, BGEL and even Lumi around almost constantly, it was strangely lonely without her second family around.

"Pretty good, Lupin's either at school or running around in the woods all day, so Mom and Dad are enjoying their time together." he responded, his voice weirdly soft. Sure, she wasn't expecting his usual snark in this heat or from such a simple question, but Jet of all people being soft spoken? That was even more unexpected. Looking into his eyes, she saw him give her this look of sympathy that reminded her of the way he looked at her after the fight with Lumi. Crap, did she look that bad? Sure, she was a bit bummed out, but it wasn't that bad, and she really didn't want to be babied right now, so she decided to have a bit of fun instead.

"Oh, I'm sure they are, must be nice finally having some alone time now that the kids are out." The deflection worked as intended, the insinuation about his parent's sex life making him cringe, but unfortunately, not enough for him not to quip back.

"Don't go there Scar, we both know I'll win." She opened her mouth to retort, but quickly thought against it, remembering the nights she'd actually lost sleep over her parents… 'activities'. Damn it, now she was thinking she shouldn't have vented to Jet now that she knew he had ammo in this situation.

"Ugh, are the two of you completely shameless?" Lumi chided as she returned to her team, having caught enough of the conversation to wish she hadn't. Seriously, what sort of degenerates openly spoke about such things? Unfortunately for her, merely being called out on her apparent degeneracy wasn't enough to dissuade the bovine Faunus from her antics, especially since it clearly made her uncomfortable.

"Aww, hitting too close to home Lumi?"

"I- what are you on about?" her entire face bristled. She unfortunately had a pretty decent idea of where the perverted woman was going with this, considering her condescending tone, she just didn't know how she'd do it, although if the girl got too crass she'd have to seal her mouth shut with a Glyph.

"Weeell, you said you got nine sisters, right? Your parents must have gone at it constantly." Gagging, Lumi recoiled back, that wasn't- no, no she had a large family because her parents wanted and could easily support one, not because they were degenerate sex pests. She refused to even entertain the idea, huffing as she turned away from her partner, not giving her the satisfaction.

"You're disgusting."

"Hey, at least you probably weren't made in a threesome." Scarlet said, nudging Jin. It was admittedly a weak tease compared to the others, but all she really knew about Jin's parents was that they were both women, and that her Dad had disfigured one of them, so out of the two options, she really only had one angle she was comfortable teasing from. Thankfully, it still worked as Jin could no longer pretend he hadn't heard their frankly awkward talk as he joined in with the cringing.

"Please don't be gross, my Moms had a donor, he's basically our uncle." While Scarlet gave up at that answer, Jet's mind began to wander, something about that didn't track.

"All three of you, from the same donor?"

"Yeah why?" With that, the gears in Jet's head really started to turn. Jin was a little younger than them, and if his math was right, that would place his time of his conception as just less than a year after the attack on Beacon threw the world into chaos for a few years. This meant his mothers would have needed to get this guy, whoever he was, to agree to this and somehow fund an expensive medical procedure as either teenagers or very young adults in a time when both active Huntsmen and students were being run ragged, rather than just join in with the baby boom of that time the same way as everyone else… Yeah, no, that didn't add up, but he knew if he brought it up, Scarlet would probably run with it and he really didn't need to hear that bickering right now.

"No reason."

Seeing that the students were now all off the vessel, Ruby swiftly moved herself to stand at the front of the group, loudly clearing her throat to get the attention of her students, quickly regretting it and nearly choking on the dry air. What was worse was that she'd barely gotten anyone's attention. Thankfully, Jaune came to her aid a moment later.

"Attention students!" Ignoring her little fumble, he clapped his hands together, the loud slapping mixed with the loud and commanding tone he called his 'Dad Voice' quickly had the students at their attention. "Now that we've arrived, we would just like to go over a few things before we reach the city."

With that, he turned control of the speech to Touko, the woman stepping forward as Ruby finished the rest of her water.

"Firstly, while we understand you're going to want to cut loose and enjoy the celebrations just like everyone else, you must remember that just like in Vale, your actions reflect not just yourselves, but Beacon Academy. This is especially true in foreign kingdoms, and you're to carry yourself as you would on Beacon grounds at all times. Understood?"

As sweet refreshing water soothed her throat, Ruby noticed the cyborg woman starting to lose the students attention, and while they did need to hear it, some admittedly more than others, no one really liked being told what they could do with their free time. Deciding to salvage this before they completely petered out, she found herself throwing her arm around Touko's shoulders in a carefree way as she cheerily spoke to her students.

"That being said, you'll have the first week to get acquainted with both the City and Shade Academy, just remember that after this, you'll be expected to attend classes and learn just like at Beacon. Keep in mind that we're guests here, so be respectful and listen to the other professors, but while we wait for the convoy to come take us to the main city, take a moment to stretch your legs and take in the… dunes." With the necessary information given, Ruby and Touko both decided to start handing out water to the more parched looking students, the group beginning to kill time by mingling, though the information that they'd be brought to Shade via a convoy of vehicles rather than taking the airship the rest of the way brought both confusion and complaints from the students.

"This isn't Vacuo city? I guess it did look rather small." Belka asked, mostly just thinking out loud, but also turning to her partner to see if the other girl had any insight, considering she was, in some way, related to a good half of the faculty.

"No, this is Duat, it's a pretty busy spot for travelers, but most people who actually live here just come to retire." Goose shrugged. She didn't really get it either, her family had used their airship to reach the city plenty of times, so she didn't really get why the school couldn't just go straight there rather than stopping at another one. BGEL stood in silence, each of them trying to figure out why such an inconvenient route was chosen, however, rather than try and guess at the decisions of others, Lao decided he'd just directly ask, tugging on Jaune's sleeve as he passed to get his attention before asking.

"Jaune, why aren't we going straight to the city?" Jaune paused at the direct question, he'd already recited the reasoning he'd been given to a few students, and he already didn't like lying to the students who trusted him, but looking down into the ginger boy's trusting eyes made repeating that lie so much harder. He reminded himself that it was for safety, that if the students knew the real reason for this detour, there would be a sizable panic that would most likely cause a Grimm swarm, likely exactly what they wanted. So he swallowed his feelings, and repeated his lines.

"Well, apparently all the airdocks for an airship our size are undergoing repairs right now, and this is the closest city with a docking center."

"Repairs right when we'd show up? That's rather inconsiderate." Elizabeth spoke up, similarly bothered by the heat, but much like her aunt, she'd known what to expect coming into Vacuo and had long since shed her jacket. Jaune did his best to play it cool, and using his knowledge of the area, he came up with an excuse.

"Transportation is a lot less reliable here, so they just have to make do with supplies as they come in, right Goose?" His godson, his sisters in law, and his niece, not only had he'd lied to all four in one fell swoop, but he had even gotten Goose involved by roping her into supporting his half truth. He didn't know how Oz lied so easily, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Acting like that man just now, even for only a minute, had him disgusted with himself. Goose didn't pick up on this however, instead just happily explaining what he meant to her team.

"Yup! The sandstorms here can keep convoys stranded and prevent airships from flying for days if it's a really bad one." Thankfully with Goose's support, they bought his explanation, and having satisfied their curiosity, he continued to hand out water. Thankfully, they weren't left waiting long, as four figures started making their way to the platform.

"Looks like our escorts are here." Ruby said out loud, alerting the students to get ready. The first was an older man with shoulder-length sky blue hair, his face framed with a matching but graying beard. He dressed simply, a cattleman style cowboy hat obscuring his eyes, a brown vest that matched with his pants over a long sleeve button-up shirt that he rolled up his arms, and a simple but very large revolver firmly held in the holster strapped to his hip. The second and third were a pair both in all black, the first was a young man, no, he was practically a boy, definitely young enough to still be a student, in his very early 20's at absolute most. He wore a cloak covering his eyes from the sun, his light gray hair contrasting sharply from his dark skin, though matching closely with his eyes, even if slightly off. Below the cloak, he wore a black tactical vest and matching pants, with the part that stood out the most about him being the dull shine of dark gray metal that replaced his right arm from the shoulder down. With him was a cat Faunus with a set of cat ears atop her head, not unlike Blake's, amidst a sea of long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She wore a crop top with an extended collar that hugged her neck and a pair of short shorts that had her holsters, containing a pair of sizable semi-automatic pistols, strapped to them. Her clothing didn't leave much to the imagination, although it was more so in service of giving a clear view of her muscular frame, not that her companions were lacking in their builds, just that she seemed to be showing off. Bringing up the end of the group was a redheaded woman in a dark blue vest with some sort of pattern, mostly obscured by a red scarf and some loose fitting chainmail over her chest and shoulders, providing some protection against both the elements, and potential threats. As for her weapon, there was a pair of sai hanging off of her hips. As the students caught a glimpse of their escorts, one girl lit up, smiling brightly as she approached the man, her sky-blue eyes meeting the man in front's own, the teachers letting her walk right past them as she flashed a bright toothy grin his way.

"Pa? What're you doing here in the desert?" Alaska asked as Arkansas reached the platform. A fair few students were surprised, although looking at the two side by side, they really had no right to be, she had his eyes, his hair, even their facial structures were similar, though Alaska's was obviously more feminine. It wasn't an exact match, it was clear she had elements of both her parents, but she was still unmistakably his daughter.

"Well, when I heard you'd made it to the Tournament, I volunteered as one of the chauffeurs so I could keep an eye on you." Unlike his daughter, his voice lacked much warmth, his low, gruff tone indicative of a far less enjoyable mood, something she chalked up to him just being tired as usual. However, her team paused in their tracks, as while they may not have known the man, they did know that tone, it was the same way their leader spoke when she was furious.

"Whatever for? We're second years now, we've even taken a few missions on our own." The pride in his daughter's voice only served to make his brow furrow harder.

"Yet you act like you don't have any sense."

"Huh?" It was at that moment that it clicked into place that, for some reason, her Father didn't look happy to see her. Before she could think to ask why however, he started once more.

"I know what you've been up to girl, you think they didn't let me know? Or do you just think I'm stupid?" Her heart jumped into her throat at that, they'd told him? They'd called her Pa about her behavior? Why!? Wasn't she a grown woman in Vale? There was no damned reason to call and get her Pa worked up like this! While she was unfocused, he was far from it, his eyes glancing down at how her top was tied up. "Pull your damn shirt down, what's wrong with you? Showing off in front of the Brothers and everybody!"

"It ain't- I can explain ju-" She was rendered near speechless, the young woman didn't know how to respond, she'd never been scolded in front of her friends before, let alone in front of so many of her peers. Yet, while she couldn't find the words, her hands went exactly where she wanted, and in a flash, she pulled her shirt down, covering her abdomen and buttoning it up faster than most people could blink, all the while blushing profusely at her father thinking she was showing off, especially since it was partly true.

"Can you explain picking on people who you know can't fight back? Or picking fights with good folks who ain't done nothin' to you?"

"I…" She didn't have an excuse, not a good one, and that just made it all the worse, he must have thought the worst of her at the moment… Unable to even look at him anymore, she just looked at the sandstone floor. The rest of her team had no clue how to react either, Alaska had never acted this way as long as they'd known her. Ignoring the onlookers, he sighed, calming down somewhat, his tone shifting from anger to disappointment, something that was somehow worse in her mind.

"Did I ever have to threaten you to get you to listen?"

"No Sir."

"Have I ever raised my hand at you?"

"Not once Sir." That revelation frankly shocked both her team and even those who knew her casually, that the same girl who had grown up all rough and fierce had apparently never even been spanked was a strange thing to hear. Belka personally was just enjoying the show even more now.

"So how'd you get it in your head that this is okay, that this is how we treat people?" Alaska could feel her lip start to quiver, she didn't care about the dressing down she was getting in front of her girls, or the rest of the school, but her Pa being this upset with her? That stung more than she'd expected, a small sniffle escaping her as she started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Pa." Arkansas sighed, reaching out and wiping a tear off her face, they weren't done, not yet, but now wasn't the time or place for this.

"Come on, you're riding with me today." Turning and walking off, Alaska followed. By now, things were made thoroughly uncomfortable for both the students and the escorts they'd been provided, the red headed woman looking back at the other two, who shrugged, similarly having no clue this would happen, but not really protesting when Arkansas led Alaska over to where the vehicles were being stored. The rest of SLVR stared on uncertainly, Aethelflad and Vera looking to each other to decide what to do next, only for Loyal to make the decision for them, running up after her leader, and leaving the other girls to follow suit. With… whatever that was out of the way, the students began to gather their suitcases and follow suit as they'd need to come along either way

"What did you tell him?" Jaune asked under his breath, Ruby shrugging nonchalantly as she looked back at her students, seeing the hushed giggles and whispers spread like a wave. She hadn't meant for the girl to be humiliated in such a way but… well… maybe it was what she needed.

"Nothing that wasn't true. She clearly wasn't going to listen to us, nearly two years of her antics have made that increasingly obvious, so I went to someone she would." However, one student in particular didn't put much thought into whether this would make her tormentor rethink her actions, instead, Belka just openly cackled as she leaned on Goose for support.

"You know what, I changed my mind, I think I'm going to like Vacuo."

Reaching the city had thankfully been as uneventful of a trip as they could have hoped for, the closest call being a lone Drake that Ruby had managed to shoot between the eyes before it was even within a hundred yards of the convoy. Once at Shade, Ruby left the task of corralling the students to their temporary dorms to Jaune and Touko. It wasn't like she'd be needed for that, most students would probably immediately head off to explore the city the second they knew where their dorms were and got their keys. Really, aside from their role as the student's guardians, all they'd be doing would be helping the professors of Shade handle all the extra students, which usually just meant standing at the back of classrooms and being an extra pair of eyes.

Thankfully, their presence wouldn't draw too much attention. After the fortieth festival was attacked, many were uncomfortable with the idea of continuing the tradition at all, but after nearly a decade, it continued, though now with each kingdom sending their own Huntsmen as security rather than just traditionally relying on the host kingdom's cohort to ensure something like that could never happen again. While the public was satisfied with the change, those who lived through it, and especially those who knew why it had happened, had their doubts, but the message of unity was too important, and it would be an insult to those who had died to let Salem take their symbol away, so they did what they could to ensure such a tragedy would never repeat itself. It was for that exact reason why, rather than showing students to their rooms, Ruby made her way straight to Theodore's office. She didn't know the man all that well, they'd spoken in the past and collaborated about as often as she did with the other Headmasters, but as nothing more than friendly colleagues, though, from her limited encounters with the enigmatic man, she'd come to the conclusion that she liked him.

Out of the Headmasters who were still in charge from when she was still in training, he was the most down to Remnant as far as she could tell, just seeming to understand and relate to his students in a way Ironwood, Lionheart, Ozpin, and Glynda just… couldn't. As she opened the door, his head shot up, a smile of recognition spread across his lips, and the Headmaster was on his feet and striding her way not even a second later. For a man worn down for the majority of his sixty years of life by grueling combat, the outright hostile environment of his homeland, and the general stress of Huntsman life, he was shockingly spry. While she knew thanks to her uncle that a Huntsman could easily reach that age and keep going thanks to Aura, Theo just moved differently, and if not for the clear signs of aging such as his mostly white hair and wrinkled face flecked with sunspots, it would be easy to assume he was still in his prime.

"Ruby, it's good to see you." he said as he reached out and took her hand, shaking it enthusiastically enough for the two of them. It almost reminded her how Penny was when she was first learning how to interact with others, or just how Nora was… all the time really, just without cutting circulation off to her hand. "Are the others not with you?"

"Nah, Jaune and Touko wanted to make sure the students at least got onto the school grounds. Our first years have been… rowdier than usual." she admitted sheepishly. A part of her expected some judgment from the more experienced Huntsman, but instead the Headmaster let out a good natured laugh as he threw his arm around her, leading her further into the office where they each took a seat.

"So I've heard, you seem to have handled the situation well though."

"You're just being nice, we've had the same team sneak off campus twice, and someone actually managed to get onto the grounds to try and hurt a student." To say she was embarrassed would be an understatement, if anything, she was downright ashamed. She knew they should have kept a closer eye on SJJL after the initial incident with Scarlet and Lumi, especially since their antics after the fact were very familiar to the sort of thing team RWBY had gotten up to when they were attending. If anything, she should have noticed something was up faster than anyone.

"And despite that, no one's died! In our line of work that's definitely a win." She supposed he was… technically right, they'd managed to step in before any permanent harm could be done, but it didn't change the fact that she'd allowed the situation to get to that point to begin with. It just didn't sit right with her, especially considering the very real possibility that Salem could get her hands on a Maiden once again.

"Not to get right into business, but I need to know, the Summer Maiden, is she…" In a flash, Theo's face was all business, the slouched posture he'd adopted disappearing as he leaned forward, back ramrod straight.

"Durga is being guarded, she's not happy about that in the slightest, but she's always understood that the stakes are high with her… position." The Maiden actively cooperating with them was a huge relief to Ruby, she'd seen plenty of regular Huntsmen let their skill or strength go to their heads, it was an easy trap to fall into for someone who was superhuman compared to the average person, something that always ended in disaster sooner or later. In the case of someone with the nearly unimaginable power granted by a Maiden's ability to use actual, gods-given magic, she had to assume it was only easier to fall into such a trap. As her worries were saitied, she realized how rude she must have come across in asking. Of course he'd heeded their warnings, he'd been working with Ozpin about as long as her uncle, he knew the dangers just as well as she did, and here she was worried he wouldn't secure what was arguably the most important person in the kingdom.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you have things under control, it's just…" She trailed off, though the look he gave her said he understood. They all had their own version of the Fall of Beacon, Huntsmen just didn't make it to that age without seeing some sort of horror they'd give just about anything to stop from repeating. "If there's anything I can do at all to help, just say the word and I'll be there."

"As much as I like your enthusiasm, you know we can't spare the Huntsmen from Vacuo, leaving the Summer Maiden and the Relic unguarded near an event like this simply isn't an option." Hearing this, her mood deflated. As much as she loved her job, this was the part she hated the most, having the ability to go out and do something, but having no choice but to stay back and defend the important targets.

"So, what are we doing?" The question came across more pointedly then she'd intended, her frustration starting to boil over into her tone. He didn't take it personally, letting her anger roll off of him as he stayed on the matter at hand.

"If all goes according to plan? Cut them off before they have a chance to strike. Worst-case scenario? We'll have all of our bases covered to minimize the damage an attack will cause." So he did have a plan, just one that meant she'd be playing defensively. She knew protecting the Maiden and the Relic was more important than going after what might be a red herring, but it was the same issue as before. She was tired of always being reactive to Salem… but as long as they weren't just waiting for her worshippers to make their move, she'd accept it.

"Okay, what can we do to help then?" Theo's smile returned, as toothy and carefree as ever.

"I'd appreciate it if one of your professors who investigated the cult in Vale could meet with an associate of mine to compare notes. You already met her during the transport earlier, the redhead, she's… more in the know than most." Ruby nodded. Yes! That was more like it! She was pretty sure she'd heard her name during the trip, Carmine, or something along those lines. Okay, now she cou- "There is one more thing. Team SJJL."

Ruby knew what that meant, Scarlet being the child of Adam was public knowledge, and anyone aware of what really happened at the Fall of Beacon would swiftly realize just who exactly her mother was, and who her childhood friend's parents were . Quickly jumping to their defense, she spoke firmly.

"If your concerns are with Scarlet or Jet, I can assure you, they're nothing like their parents were." To her surprise, he literally waved the notion away, leaning back in his chair.

"No, nothing like that, I'm more so worried they're just a little too much like you. At least, if the stories Oz and Glynda told me are anywhere near true." That… wasn't what she was expecting, and frankly, it confused her. She could see it in some ways, sure, Lumi and Scarlet's dynamic, Jet's calm, reserved nature, Jin's… Jin-ness, but none of them really struck her as being too similar… that was, until she thought about it in a wider scope. Big, explosive fights, getting into life or death battles with criminals, constantly going behind the professor's backs… Yeah, those were all team RWBY-esque moves.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't be, it means they have the sort of drive too many Huntsmen lack. But these aren't some White Fang mooks being pulled around at the behest of a weaselly thug. If Carmine's info is right, we're dealing with people who'd give us trouble."

"It won't come to that, I won't let them fight our battles. It's not fair, they should be enjoying themselves, goofing off with their friends and worrying about tests, who to take to the dance. I don't want them to have to take things into their own hands like-" Ruby stopped herself, realizing she was getting too far into her own head. That wouldn't come to pass, not if she had anything to say about it.

"I'm glad you agree, which is why I took the liberty of setting up a little mentorship assignment for one of my teams with SJJL."

"You're going to have your students babysit mine?" Was that supposed to feel judgy? Because she was feeling rather judged at the moment, even if she couldn't really call it a bad idea.

"Oh no, nothing like that, more of a two birds with one stone kinda thing. After all, a Maiden's loved ones are just as much of a target as they are, it's better to have more people watching their backs."

"Admit it Scar, we're lost." Jet said, knowing she was already trying to think of a way to convince her friends that she absolutely knew where they were and wasn't regretting Goose's offer of a tour in favor just going in whatever direction caught her eye as usual.

"No, we're not lost, we're… exploring, huge difference!" Scarlet said unconvincingly. She might have had a chance to play it off as genuine if they weren't all standing in the middle of the street, the only people who didn't know where to go as crowds of people flowed around them, making them stand out even more than they already did as tourists.

"Scarlet please, I need to pee." Lumi pleaded, not doing the little 'pee dance', but with how she squirmed, she may as well have been. While Lumi liked to pretend she was above such things, her eyes had sparkled as she was caught up in the same excitement when they'd first set out to explore. She'd been to Vacuo to visit her grandmother several times, but she'd never been in the city without supervision, however now, that enthusiasm had faded.

"You've got a bottle, don't you?" Scarlet said jokingly, however Lumi didn't see the humor. Thankfully, before she could make a scene, Jin butted in to defuse the situation.

"How about we stop at that convenience store, just to stock back up." he said, pointing over at one of the corner stores, the prospect of some real directions instead of their whim, a chance to be out of the sun for a minute, and nice cold drinks quickly making them forget the tiny squabble about to start.

"Okay yeah, I think we're low on water anyway." Scarlet said, reaching into her pocket only to find it empty. "Uh… crap, I left my wallet back at the dorm."

"Typical Scarlet, don't worry, I'll cover it, after all, money is no object for friends of an Arc-Schnee." Considering she'd be getting free refreshments, Scarlet decided to stay quiet and let Lumi have her little win for now, she'd put some of her stuff on the top shelf when she wasn't looking once they got back to their dorm. As the group made their way over, they collected a few stares, not a surprise considering how much they stood out as tourists, though some eyes were keener than most.

"You there, the large young man with the tail, would you be interested in a glimpse into your future?" Turning their attention to the voice, they were met by a kindly looking man, still young even if clearly older than they were. He sat in a small portable booth, no distinct name or markings, but the painted design invoked a mystical feeling from Jin as he stepped forward curiously. However, Jet placed his hand on his partner's chest, stopping him as he scrutinized the shabby looking set up before them.

"What kinda scam is this?" Jet asked, not bothering to lower his voice so the man couldn't hear, yet despite this, he didn't get upset by the accusation, now giving the same inviting smile to the dark-skinned youth.

"It's no scam young man, it's my Semblance."

"Really, so why're you just operating out of a booth instead of making millions off of it then?"

"Unfortunately, I can only see a small glimpse into a moment in someone's future, sometimes minutes, sometimes only seconds, but the one thing that's constant is that the moment is always important." Jet couldn't have rolled his eyes harder if he'd tried. Right, how convenient, as if the guy wasn't obviously telling people what they wanted to hear, maybe sometimes he'd get bored and switch it up to some tragedy they could prevent. Looking over at his partner however, he was disappointed to see a look of genuine intrigue on the monkey boy's face.

"Dude, he's obviously trying to scam you."

"I dunno, maybe he's telling the truth, we can't just assume he wants to rip us off." Jet wanted to smack him upside his head for that, wondering what was going through his head. In truth, Jin didn't really know what to think, but the guy really didn't seem that bad, and it was technically possible. Sure, he hadn't heard of anyone's Semblance allowing them to see into the future, but he didn't know anyone else who's Semblance let them float around as if gravity didn't exist like his or use their own blood as a weapon like Scarlet's, so why just assume it was impossible?

"Oh I'm no stranger to skeptics, but if you're still interested, I can do a joint reading for both you and your girlfriend."

"Oh, no Lumi's ju-" Before he could finish, the girl in question grabbed Jin by the wrist, pulling him along over to the booth.

"Why not, it sounds fun, you guys go ahead, we'll catch up in a minute."

"I can't believe they actually fell for that." Jet sighed disappointedly, Scarlet couldn't help but to chuckle at that, nudging him playfully.

"Come on, it's not all that different from those dumb palm reader fair games we used to play back in Patch, let them have their fun." He rolled his eyes at that, like playing a dumb game as a kid was the same as getting swindled as a young adult. Still, he found himself smiling at the memory.

"You mean the ones you always dragged me to?" Scarlet smirked, it was always cute when he tried to win their little arguments.

"Pfft- you had fun, especially with the ones that said we'd eventually get married." He averted his gaze to the floor, mumbling something about just being a dumb kid at the time. Knowing she'd won, the horned girl snickered as they entered the store.

"Good, now please give me your hands." Back at the booth, Lumi and Jin both held their hands out for the man, and as soon as his hands touched theirs, they could both feel a distinct tingling feeling from his touch, one they assumed meant it was working. His smile all but vanished as he went cross eyed and started to lowly hum to himself. "Hmm, yes… oh, oh my…"

"What? Is that a good or bad thing?" Lumi asked, glancing worriedly at Jin, who shrugged.

"I see the two of you… at the end of the Vytal tournament. It seems you win the tournament young man."

"Woah, really?" Jin would be lying if he said he didn't feel some pride swell up within him hearing that. It would be so cool, not that he really knew what he'd do with his winnings or the other stuff that he couldn't remember. He mostly wondered how he could treat his team, his moms, and the twins if this really was the case. However, the man wasn't done, now shooting a knowing look Lumi's way.

"Yes, you're riding a high you've never felt before, and in your delight the two of you share your first kiss."

"Wait what?" Jin gawked at the idea, having no clue how things would escalate in such a way. He and Lumi were just friends, sure she was cute, but he didn't want to make things weird by making any unwanted advances, they were best friends after all. She gasped, and, glancing over a moment later, he saw her cover her mouth, probably just as confused as him, though she had a strange look in her eye...

"It's merely what I see." the man spoke in his kindly voice, leaving no real room for arguments as he retracted his hands, the tingling feeling going along with them.

"O-of course! Thank you sir, you have a great day." Lumi said, quickly turning away and pulling Jin along with her. He winced, seeing that she was so uncomfortable she'd rushed to leave. Aw man, he'd just wanted to have some fun, maybe see into his future a little, he didn't plan on making things weird. As they reached the store, they saw that Jet and Scarlet had collected everything they'd need and then some, Scarlet having grabbed an eyebrow raising amount of cheese sticks and energy drinks.

"So, what'd you get scammed for?" Jet asked as he placed the water down at the register, immediately getting confused when his partner started to blush while Lumi's smile seemed to widen.

"Apparently, we're going to win the tournament, and, um… Lumi and I kiss?" Jet shrugged at the statement, only wishing he'd stuck around to call the man out on his obvious surface level prediction.

"Oh? In front of everyone? Lumi, how shameless of you." Scarlet snickered, yet her teasing failed to elicit any reaction from her partner, who stepped forward to pay for their things.

"You can be as smug as you want Scarlet, it wo-." She paused, her hand moving around in her purse, confused for a moment before patting her pockets as her eyes widened. "Hey, where's my wallet?"

While the rest of SJJL started looking around on the floor and around corners for any shady individuals, Jet turned right around and looked back at a familiar booth. "Do you think the scam artist and his friend over there might know?"

Turning to see what Jet saw, Lumi and Jin were both aghast to see the kind man who'd given them their reading being handed a stark white wallet by another man who otherwise completely blended into the crowd. Jet was torn, the small disappointed "aww" that came from Jin was too sad to be cathartic, but he really didn't have much of an excuse considering he had warned him. He absolutely enjoyed Lumi's reaction however, the girl immediately running out of the store in a rage.

"You wretched, low-down, good-for-nothing fraudster!" As she called out to the men, their heads snapped to the infuriated teen, and, cutting their losses, they turned and started to run away. They got about halfway down the street when suddenly, a white and yellow blur passed the two men. Lumi saw it too, although, thanks to being accustomed to her godmother's Semblance, the blur was comparatively easy to follow, which was good considering that if she hadn't seen the tanned woman approach her before suddenly appearing barely two feet infront of her, she might have thrown a punch on reflex.

"Sup! I'm Blitz, this is yours, right? I mean, it has your logo and everything." The woman, Blitz apparently, asked, holding out the wallet with a small but genuine smile. She was reminiscent of Juliet in terms of surface level appearances, tanned skin, very visible muscles, a shirt so obscenely tight that the outline of her sports bra was clearly visible, she even had a ponytail done in the same style, only much shorter and blonde. The biggest difference though was her eyes, or more specifically, how colorless they were, not silver like Ruby's, but stark white, to the point that if she didn't have pupils, you'd think she was possessed by a ghost or something. Lumi wasn't too sure what to think after being scammed, but it certainly was her wallet, Schnee snowflake and Arc arcs clearly emblazoned on the white leather. Looking back over at the men, the false fortune teller just looked at his now empty hand, confused, his untrained eyes not even being able to perceive the woman as she rushed past him. However, the purple haired girl in denim overalls and a plain white shirt that was running towards them was another story, panting as she reached Blitz.

"Hey! That ain't yours!" The pickpocket called out, stunning Lumi into silence with his absolute audacity as the rest of her team finally caught up, Jet a little behind having had to pay for their things. Before Lumi could righteously call the man a conniving bastard, the new arrival turned around, unamused.

"Ain't yours either bozo, you just screwed up your little scam, just go before we have you arrested like we should." she snapped back, her accent reminiscent of Alaska's. The face of the duo's little operation went pale at the threat of jail time and tried to grab at his partner, but the pickpocket stepped forward, barking in anger.

"Why you li-" Before he could even start though, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. For a brief moment, he looked like he was going to swing on the newcomer, that was until he laid eyes on them, a completely bald and unnaturally pale skinned man, easily seven feet tall with muscles that made Jin look small, staring down at the pickpocket.

"We got a problem bub?" His voice wasn't necessarily deep, but it was thick and gravely, like an old man who'd smoked multiple packs of cigarettes a day for his entire life. The pickpocket lost all bravado in a moment, freezing up as he stared in disbelief at the specimen before him, only snapping out of it as his accomplice grabbed him by the nape of his neck and pulled him away into an alleyway, the pair running down it without ever looking back. As soon as they were gone, Blitz let out the snort of laughter she'd been holding in ever since hearing the man speak.

"Pfft- bub? Really Taimur?" The man rolled his eyes as a glow of white Aura covered his shape, shrinking and morphing into a smaller, but still tall, feminine shape. A few moments later, he Aura faded to reveal a girl with long auburn hair and a pair of racoon ears atop her head, dressed in what looked like a school uniform, a thigh length skirt that matched the color of her hair and a navy blue blazer over a white button up shirt.

"Look, it's all I could think of on the fly. Next time, warn me before you antagonize some punks Ruta." the shapeshifter, seemingly named Taimur, said, clearly not finding the situation as amusing as Blitz.

"Sorry," She in no way actually sounded sorry. "But come on, they were robbing these guys, they started it."

For a brief moment, the two stared each other down, before Blitz threw her arms around both of their shoulders and pulled them into a forced group hug.

"Girls, c'mon now, we're making a bad impression on the newbies." she stage whispered to her teammates while gesturing to SJJL, who wasn't quite sure what to make of them so far, exchanging looks. At the very least, they were a nice change of pace from everyone else, who so far, either ignored them or tried to rob them. Jin was the first to step forward, smiling at the trio, embarrassed.

"Thanks for that, I've never been pickpocketed before, so I wasn't really looking out."

"If only you'd been warned." Jet muttered dryly. It's not like he told him it was a scam like five times, but nooooo, why listen to him though? Ignoring the obvious sarcasm, Blitz stepped right up and playfully knocked on Jin's chest, seeming impressed by the boy's build.

"Oh it's no problem, we're just glad we found you when we did, would've been pretty embarrassing if you ended up getting robbed on day one under our watch."

"Found us, like, you were looking for us?" Jet asked, folding his arms in a way that clearly expressed a demand for some sort of explanation, yet the girls were undeterred by the looks they were getting, as Blitz continued without missing a beat.

"Yup!" Her smile only grew as she held her hand out. "Nice to meet ya SJJL, we're team BRST, er- most of it anyway. As of right now, consider us your team of big sisters here in Vacuo!"

Chapter Text

At the time, the rain was a nice change for the village, a relatively small community separated by a sea of desert from the nearest settlement, as while their wells had served as a suitable water source for the most part, the drought had lasted far longer than they'd expected. Their crops were on the verge of death when a strange woman and her guardians came from across the surrounding sands, bringing rain along with them. Seeing rain for the first time in months, the children ran around giddily, playing some sort of game that seemed to just be a thinly veiled excuse to jump into puddles and splash anyone they could. One child, a nine year old girl by the name of Khamsin, had overheard her father, their village's leader, personally thanking the woman for bringing the rain to them. She didn't know how someone could make rain, but her older sister Sandra said it was because the woman was magic. Stunned by this, she ran right up to the woman in disbelief, asking outright if it was true. The woman looked around when asked, checking to see if anyone was watching, before kneeling down to Khamsin's eye level and drawing back her hood, revealing her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun and violet eyes, before whispering into Khamsin's ear that she was. The girl was already in awe, so when she was offered to see a magic trick with the only condition being to keep it a secret between the two of them, she jumped at the opportunity. For a brief moment, the older woman closed her eyes, her expression one of relaxed focus, before opening them, igniting a heatless flame that burned the same vivid amethyst color as her eyes. The girl squealed as she reached out, watching the purple flame dance around her finger with a strange tingly feeling. After that, the woman introduced herself as Durga, and started sharing a story with Khamsin about her daughter, telling her how she was a lot like her older sister at her age. Unfortunately, her new friend couldn't stay very long as she had a very important job. She was a Huntress, like her Mom, and also Dad before he had to retire, and traveled around Vacuo to help people. While she was sad to see the woman go, she was still happy that she got to meet her and play in the rain she'd magically brought.

That was three weeks ago, and now Khamsin and her sister hid from the roaring beasts just outside their home, huddled and holding each other in the closet of their parents' room as Dad grabbed his weapon from its hiding place. It had all happened so fast, one minute she was eating supper with her family, sans her mom, who had been called away on a mission a few days ago, and then suddenly there were screams that were swiftly silenced, and the piercing sound of gunshots from outside. The retired Huntsman jumped to his feet, immediately knowing things were worse than they seemed. He could tell from the snarls and roars that it was a Grimm attack, but there were no sirens, no warnings. Grimm didn't sneak into villages in the dead of night, the ones wandering the dunes of Vacuo weren't that smart. Something was undeniably wrong, but that could wait, his girls were terrified, making them a beacon for the beasts just outside their door. He pulled them into his arms and ran into the master bedroom, closing the closet as something broke through their front door. He scrambled to get his gun ready, but what followed wasn't a charging beast, it was a calm and light set of footsteps, followed closely by a heavier set.

By the time the first intruder reached the bedroom door, he had steadied an archaic shotgun-sword hybrid level with her head and fired as soon as he saw her, yet with inhuman speed, she sidestepped the blast. From their spot in the closet, the girls could do nothing but watch in horror, seeing an unknown figure, clad in a white cloak now dripping with blood, easily evading bullets. Her dark arms were exposed, revealing a series of serpentine tattoos that curled down and around her arm, as she pulled a blade from her belt. In the children's eyes, she was death itself, which only made it more horrifying when she dodged the second, strangely weaker blast and threw her knife into his hand, pinning it against the wall with a dull thunk. His scream of pain masked the sound of Sandra's gasp of horror and gave her just enough time to cover her sister's whimpers.

Now locked to the wall, the man panted, trying desperately to gain control over the agony spreading through his arm. Fear and confusion set in, his Aura should have protected his hand from that, sure, he may not have had the most plentiful or dense Aura, but he hadn't burnt an iota in months, and yet her blade carved through it effortlessly. There was no time to try and figure out what she'd done to him though, as she entered the room proper and walked right up to him. Following her through the door was a tanned figure, sporting a once regal looking set of matching blue vest and pants, now withered and dulled by age and filth. His body showed extensive scarring, some patches of skin and muscle along the upper arms and chest having been replaced by a pulsating black mass, yet, despite that, it was his head that stood out the most. All that could really be made out of his face was the outline of a jaw veiled by greasy and matted black hair, the rest obscured by a bony white mask in the shape of an inhumanly exaggerated skull, each contour and angle sharper than the ancient looking sword he loosely carried, topped with a set of six horns that pointed straight into the air in some crude mockery of a crown. At least, he thought it was a mask, because as the figure stepped forward, he realized the mask had been grafted into the man's flesh, the two becoming one.

"You're going to die today, but you can have a peaceful death. I can do it in such a way that you'll be gone before you can even feel my blade pierce your heart." Hearing the certainty in her voice as she spoke of his death, all he could think of were his girls hidden away in the closet just a few feet away. He hoped they couldn't see what was about to happen to him, that they'd stay hidden long enough for this butcher and her pet monster to leave. As he tried to focus however, she grabbed him by the chin, pulling his face to look right into his eyes.

"Or I can let this thing twist your mind until you tell us either way, and then I'll let it have fun finishing you off." Despite threatening him, the venom in her tone was fully reserved for the abomination behind her, though if it cared about or even understood her obvious disgust, it didn't show it, the beady red dots that burned within the hollow sockets of its mask remaining focused solely on him. "Tell us where Durga went."

She spoke with such glee that the man could feel his very soul shiver, yet he knew it wasn't at the idea of killing him, her expression was cold as she impaled his hand to the wall, and even now, she just looked at him as though he was wholly unimportant to her even as she interrogated him, but the moment the woman's name left her lips there was this hunger- no, it was more like a sick sort of lust in her eyes at the prospect of getting her hands on her.

"Even if I knew what you were talking about, I'd never give someone up to a monster like you."

"That's a shame, I was hoping you'd make the right decision." She hardly seemed to care one way or the other, pulling her blade from his hand and letting him crumple to the floor, watching disinterestedly as he clutched his wound to his chest before speaking in a bored tone. "Jax."

The hybrid marched forward, grabbing the man by his hair and slamming his skull against the wall. It wasn't necessary in the slightest, Jax's Semblance was more than capable of overpowering the man's Aura, it was an act of pure sadism from the Grimm puppeteering Jax's body. Despite the unnecessary treatment, she did nothing to stop it, in fact, she hoped the Grimm's host could see what it was doing, this was who Jax was deep down anyway. He could make whatever claims he wanted about his 'rightful place' and his 'birthright', but he was always a monster who ruined the lives of others for his own selfish gain, and this way, there was no way for him to deny it. She'd seen it firsthand, and Tyrian had seen it the moment they'd met, at least now he was useful instead of just using others to further his own selfish agenda. After a moment of contact, the man's pale yellow Aura turned white, and he stopped struggling. He was released from Jax's grasp a moment later, turning to face his attacker calmly.

"Now, let's try this again. Where is Durga?" This time, there was no resistance or denial in his body, speaking in an eerily calm tone.

"Eastward. She didn't share much about her next location, but she could be anywhere between Kenyte and Vacuo City."

"Did she mention the capital?"

"Yes, she has a daughter who lives there."

"I see, thank you." Henna sighed. It wasn't much to go on, if she was traveling by foot, she was still in the dunes, and if not, then she was likely already in the capital. Either way, it meant the woman was inaccessible to her at the moment. She'd take Jax to Kenyte and scout the area out, as while this Maiden had held her power longer than the other three, she wasn't anywhere near as prepared for imminent danger. She had almost certainly heard of the threat Salem posed to them, but the other three Maidens had lived it, and as a result, she made small mistakes, like the 'sudden rain' that led her to this village. She'd slip up again, and when she did, she'd leave a trail to find. Having gotten everything she needed, she begrudgingly turned to the masked man, siccing him on his prey. "He's all yours."

Back in the closet, the girls thankfully couldn't see what the masked man did to their father, but Sandra could piece it together as they heard something heavy get thrown to the floor, followed shortly by another similar sound pouncing onto the first. The first few blows were heavy and meaty, but after the third, a wet crunch could be heard with each impact. Five hits later, the strikes lost their crunch, instead just sounding damp and goopy. Khamsin couldn't hold back her tears, and while she couldn't figure out what had happened as clearly as her sister, she knew something very bad had just happened to her daddy. She wanted someone, anyone to come and help. Mostly, she wished her mommy was home to help, or maybe Durga, these bad people were after her, but they weren't magic, she could beat them! From the limited view of the keyhole, the older sister saw Jax rise to his feet, turning around and giving her a good look at her dad's killer as his blood dripped off of its mask, but what scared her most were the small pinpricks of crimson light staring right into her soul. For a moment, she wondered if she'd made a noise, or failed to keep her sister quiet, but then she remembered the horrible truth, it didn't matter how well they hid or how quiet they were, it could still feel her fear.

"Khamsin, run!" she shouted, throwing the door open as she pulled at the pole keeping the hangers attached out of the wall. It wasn't the best plan, but in the moment, with that thing moments from revealing them to its master, it was all she could think of. Readying her meager Aura, Sandra tried to get in between the two and her sister as she ran for the front door. The woman was closer, so naturally, she was who the girl swung at first, only for her to lazily raise her arm in the way, the makeshift weapon bouncing right off, the metal having bent slightly where it made contact with her arm. Then the hybrid moved, jumping over the bed to get at Khamsin, and, distracted by the danger her sister was in, she took her eyes off of her opponent for just a moment, suddenly feeling weaker and being pushed into the wall, her head hitting it first as she slid down in a daze. Khamsin only made it a few feet before Jax had reached her, pinning her to the ground with its free arm as the mask partially opened up to reveal dry, broken lips that snarled at her from above, making her freeze up in terror, unable to do anything but cry as it descended on her.

"Harm her, and I'll remove your fingers one by one." As Henna hissed, the beast stopped, not out of fear of the torment it would face, it cared little for the pain its host would feel, just as it didn't care about the horror he felt being a passenger in his own body, but it did relent at the orders of its current master, instead only using as much force as necessary to hold her still. Still dazed, Sandra started to hyperventilate as Henna walked closer to her sister, she had just lost her father, and now in her very soul, she felt she was going to watch her sister be killed as well. But Henna had no intentions of harming either of the girls, instead she kneeled down and gently stroked the nine year old's cheek, wiping away her tears and leaving a streak of her father's blood along her soft skin.

"Khamsin? That's your name, right? Don't worry, you and your sister are in good hands."

"They gave us babysitters, I can't believe this!" Lumi loudly complained, not particularly caring who heard her whining as she and her team walked with BRST, or half of it at least, as Blitz had sped off to go collect their final member, leaving the rest of their little entourage to kill time in the shade.

"I can, we've been getting into trouble almost nonstop since we passed the initiation." Jet countered, not bothering to list off the various incidents they were involved in, whether directly or indirectly caused, though for some reason, Lumi seemed even more annoyed than she already was as he pointed that out. Of course she knew that this was the case, it just didn't make her feel any better. Okay, maybe there were understandable reasons for their arrangement, but still, couldn't he just let her vent?

"I wouldn't say we're babysitting you." Ruta began, trying to lessen the tension.

"I would." Taimur interrupted matter of factly. There was no ill will or resentment in her tone, though Ruta still winced at her friend's bluntness as it completely undercut the tone she'd been trying to set.

"Well, okay, we kinda are. But it's not like we're gonna force you guys to go to bed by nine or punish you for doing things you aren't supposed to, we're just here to help you guys out if you need it!" The explanation she gave worked for the most part to raise their spirits back up, clearly outlining to SJJL that they had no plans to be overbearing nannies, not that it was ever really on the table in the first place, but they weren't from Vacuo, so it was a reasonable concern. Even still, Scarlet couldn't help but to be a little bothered, though not by the girls themselves, they seemed nice enough. No, the source of the lingering burden on her mind was that this whole situation was happening because of her. Like Jet had said, there had been a bunch of incidents involving their team, but the part he'd been nice enough to leave out was that, maybe aside from Alaska fucking with them, none of it would have happened without her. What was worse was that she'd already dragged two whole teams into it, BGEL and JWEL, and now she was dragging another team into it through BRST. So, rather than join Lumi and complain, she kept her mouth shut. It didn't take too long after that for Blitz to return, now accompanied by a young woman who SJJL assumed was the last member of BRST.

"Guys, meet Sarasvati, our missing piece!" Blitz announced, holding her arms out to present the woman, who chuckled awkwardly at the introduction. Like most people in Vacuo, her skin was on the darker side, though less due to tanning, and simply just due to having a darker complexion, though it was more of a soft brown when compared to her pitch black hair, which was so long that it reached all the way down past her hips. In contrast, she wore a sleeveless white dress that hugged her figure tastefully, highlighted with red gems along her hips and neck.

"You're making me sound like some kinda prize. Sorry I'm late guys, I was on a call with my mom and got sidetracked when all that stuff started. Like Blitz said, my name is Sarasvati, it's so nice to meet you all." She said, waving at the Beacon students with a bright smile, one that was returned warmly enough, even if Scarlet was clearly just phoning it in. The redhead sighed, hoping she didn't come across as too moody, it was just poor timing, not her fault or anything. Maybe she could make up for it later… Damn it, no, she was not gonna be in a funk this whole trip, and why? Because other people were up her ass about her mom and dad? Fuck that, she could have fun, they all could, and in fact, now that she thought about it, this was the perfect opportunity for The Voice. Standing up, she put on a sly, confident smirk before strutting over, making an ever so slightly dramatic entrance as team leader, holding her hand out before speaking in a practiced low, sultry, and smooth voice.

"The pleasure is all mine, I'm Scarlet." Much to the young Faunus's delight, Sarasvati immediately straightened up, obviously commanded into respect by her tone.

"What's with the sex voice?" Taimur whispered over to her teammates, looking to the rest of SJJL for an answer. Lumi was too busy groaning in secondhand embarrassment over the shameless display of what she could only describe as her partner's 'come hither' voice, while Jet immediately tried to hide his cheeks after feeling them heat up, muttering to himself that he had to break it to her how she sounded talking that way, leaving Jin as seemingly the only one unbothered enough by Scarlet's tone to explain.

"She uses it to try and sound cool." Jin quietly explained, remembering the awkward introduction she'd had with his aunt, silently rooting for her to leave a better impression this time. Unfortunately, he'd spoken just a bit too loud, alerting the newcomer to the act. Scarlet froze, her face as red as her hair. So much for that plan.

"Aww, that's adorable." Blitz cooed, only making Scarlet blush more. Thankfully, Sarasvati didn't comment on it, instead finishing the handshake and focusing on getting a better look at her, her eyes pausing once she reached her hips, particularly at the two swords hanging off her sides.

"Those swords…" Scarlet tensed as she looked down at Bleed and Wilt, suddenly feeling so stupid as to think her swords, especially the one that had belonged to her dad, would go unnoticed. But rather than tense up or step away, her crimson eyes shot back up to her own with a mixture of curiosity and excitement. "They're Mistralian, right? Are you from Mistral?"

"No, but my mom is. I've never been there though, Jet and I grew up on an island off the coast of Vale." Scarlet answered quickly, not really thinking as she answered.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. I've just always wanted to go to Mistral, I've been told it's beautiful." That… wasn't what she'd been expecting, but not in a bad way. She could practically feel the worry lift off of her shoulders as her concern at the idea of getting recognized as a terrorist's kid for what was probably the thousandth time at this point faded as she excitedly detached Bleed from her hip, raising the weapon to show it off.

"Nah, don't worry about it, I wanna visit one day too. Besides, their weapons are cool as hell!" she declared. Again, thinking Mistralian weapons were cool wasn't lame, especially not in her case since she was half Mistralian, no matter what that half-pint hater Elizabeth said!

"So, where do y'all wanna go? Assuming you don't wanna get lost again?" Blitz asked in a playful tone. SJJL looked amongst each other, and after a moment of mostly silent conversation conveyed with looks and small huffs, Scarlet spoke up.

"Well, where do you guys recommend we go?" She still wasn't going to admit they'd gotten lost, and it was pretty clear the rest of them would rather follow someone familiar with the area, so she relented and handed control of the rest of their day over to their guides.

"Oh! I know this really cool arcade, it's got a whole bunch of retro games!" Blitz suggested, the idea getting some traction with Scarlet and Jin after she declared she'd kick his ass in Dishonored Warriors 3.

"You just wanna make sure you still have the high score on Grimm's Tears." Ruta pointed out, nudging her leader, who scoffed, but didn't outright deny the claim. Though, considering only half of SJJL and one of their own seemed interested in the idea, they went back to brainstorming for a place that would be a better introduction to the city.

"Oh, how about The Lookout?" Sarasvati added. The other girls of BRST all immediately recognized the name, and it didn't take more than a couple seconds of excited looks for them to agree that's where they were taking SJJL. Looking back over at their juniors, they saw the Beacon team was understandably confused for the most part. Ah, right, they didn't know what that was.

"Trust us, it's cooler than it sounds, it's more like a rooftop club than anything, they just don't serve booze." Ruta said, though it didn't seem like Scarlet needed much convincing as the moment she heard "club", she was visibly excited. Jet was a bit more apprehensive, seeing as the last time he'd gone to a club, he'd gotten so drunk he blacked out, but the promise of no alcohol eased those worries. Lumi, however, was unconvinced, but after turning to Jin and seeing a similar excitement to Scarlet's on his face, she decided it didn't sound too bad.

"Alrighty then, The Lookout it is. C'mon, it's just down th- oof!" In her excitement, Blitz hadn't been watching where she was going, and as a result, had bumped right into someone, nearly sending both of them to the floor. That someone, now identifiable to the rest as a boy around their age, recovered quickly with an irritated growl. He wore an all black getup, including a short-sleeved leather jacket, t-shirt, and combat pants, and even the zweihänder that was slung over his left shoulder was made of some black metal. The only major pops of color in his appearance beyond the oppressive black came from his remarkably pale skin, and a red fabric scarf that wrapped around his neck, with even his hair and eyes shaded a deep midnight. For a moment, she was apologetic before realizing who exactly was infront of her, and her tone immediately turned cold and standoffish, much to the surprise of SJJL who, so far, had only seen Blitz act positively. However, this boy seemed to just immediately bring out the negativity in her. "Siyah."

"Blitz." he responded in a similarly cold tone, laced with minor amusement, taking a relaxed stance as his team caught up with him, consisting of three women. Two of the three newly arrived girls immediately ran to his side, sensing the possibility of an impending confrontation, while the remaining girl was substantially less concerned, instead continuing to draw on some sort of paper. Despite one of his teammates sporting a mixture of annoyance and concern at him, while the other's eyes were wide with excitement, he himself remained relaxed and laid back as he looked past Blitz and over at SJJL, before smirking back at his fellow Vacuan. "So, Theo's got you on babysitting duty? How'd you fall so hard from his graces for that to happen?"

Jin, sensing the tension, stepped forward, coughing to get their attention as he held out his hand, hoping that they could resolve this before it got out of hand.

"Nice to meet you, I-" He'd hardly gotten started before the smaller boy smacked his hand away, an unimpressed scoff escaping his lips as Jin recoiled in surprise. It suddenly became very clear to him and his team why Blitz didn't like this guy.

"Don't bother, we're just scoping out the competition, and I gotta say, I ain't impressed." Siyah practically spat at them. In response, Lumi let out a particularly insulted sounding huff and Scarlet could practically feel her resisting the urge to ask him if he knew who he was talking to. Normally, she'd tease her friend over this, but for now, the small look of hurt on Jin's face from the insult kept her mad enough to let it slip by.

"Wow, so you've gone from just being an ass to being a creep spying on people." Taimur retorted, calling them out to little effect as she practically went ignored. What Siyah and his team couldn't ignore however was Scarlet walking right up to him and giving him a surprisingly strong shove, causing him to stumble back. While momentarily surprised, he smirked as he regained his balance, which just served to piss her off even more.

"Just who the hell do you think you are? He was just being nice, jackass!" she shouted in defense of her friend, not noticing or even caring about the small scene being made around them that finally got the attention of Siyah's last teammate.

"Wait, what's going on?" the girl asked. Like Scarlet, she was a Faunus with horns sprouting from under her hair, and seemed to be about the same height too, though her horns were a little shorter, giving Scarlet the overall advantage in that department, though that was where the similarities ended. Whereas Scarlet's ebony horns arose from a sea of red that cascaded down her shoulders and ceased just at the small of her back and had a pale complexion, the newcomer's horns were an off white, and emerged from a tousled nest of shoulder length blonde hair loosely tied back into a low ponytail, with skin so dark it was a scant few shades off from black. Now properly looking at the scene, the Faunus's golden eyes met Scarlet's amber ones as she got in between her and her leader. "Siyah, are we fighting these guys? Do I gotta punch the redhead in the tits?"

"Nah Lamia, they aren't gonna be trouble." Whiplash hit Scarlet hard at that, first getting ready to defend her boobs from Lamia, who definitely knew how much that would hurt if that was her first instinct, to then going back to being insulted as the punk who'd gone out of his way to size her and her team up just dismissed them entirely. Before she could even think about retaliating though, she was quickly pushed back into anger as the little shit in the red dress stuck her tongue out from behind Siyah. Then, just before she could throw a punch and see just how much the other horned girl liked getting hit in the tits herself, Jet stepped forward, having heard enough himself.

"Big words coming from an edgelord like you."

"Oh, that's cute, you think you know me." Siyah chuckled, taking a step closer, clearly trying to use his height to intimidate him into backing up. Unfortunately for him, Jet wasn't scared so easily, rolling his eyes in response.

"I know that anyone who wears all black in the desert cares too much about looking cool for their own good." Growing bored with the verbal back and forth, Siyah took a page from Scarlet's playbook and shoved the smaller boy back, Jin reacting in time and managing to catch his partner before he hit the dusty cobblestone below. For Scarlet though, this was the last straw, stepping forward and grabbing the hilt of Wilt with a low growl. Rather than back down though, Siyah reached over his shoulder and grabbed his zweihänder, similarly ready to strike, but not before taking one last jab at Jet.

"What's wrong, you need your girl to fight for you?" Before Scarlet could properly wipe that stupid smirk off of his face, Blitz suddenly got in between them in a flash of light, a stern look on her face as she glanced between the two first years. With a huff, both Scarlet and Siyah stepped back, letting their weapons rest as their teammates breathed a sigh of relief, save for one member.

"Oh, they're fun, I wanna play with them!" the smallest of their group, the girl in the red dress, said. Like Lamia, her skin was naturally on the darker side, but was far lighter by comparison, instead being closer to Jet's skin tone. Her wide emerald green eyes shined with mischief as she looked the group over, relishing in the possibility of this turning into a brawl despite their disadvantage. Seeing that her leader was genuinely considering it, the last member of his team, who until now had been dead silent and lounged in the background of the argument, stepped forward. Now in the focus, they could see she was tall, almost as tall as Siyah, her skin lightly tanned in a way that suggested it was moreso for personal beauty rather than from actively spending time in the sun, and her face was framed with a pair of designer sunglasses crowning her blonde bob of hair.

"Not now you idiot, another fight and we're suspended, remember?" The man groaned, muttering to himself about the blonde being a nag, then without even acknowledging BRST or SJJL, waved for his team to follow him as he turned to walk off. Lamia and the other girl immediately followed, with the one in the red dress taking one last chance to stick her tongue out and mock them, all while the one who'd stepped in between them sighed and turned back, giving SJJL and BRST a half-hearted apology. "Sorry about them, our dear leader has been a terrible influence on Alyx. I'm sure you know how men can be."

The way she had said 'men' rubbed Scarlet the wrong way, it was like she'd tried to spit the word out before she could taste it on her lips, but her comment about suspension reminded Scarlet that her team also had a history of fights, and that getting into another one right in front of the people most likely assigned specifically to keep that from happening on their first day in a new Kingdom probably wasn't a good look.

"Uh yeah, sure, you have a good one… uh."

"Beryl." she said, quickly introducing herself without any fanfare or warmth before turning to leave, clearly not caring at all about actually making peace, and moreso just trying to de-escalate the current situation before she got dragged into a suspension, and, seeing as she'd done just that, she turned and followed her team, similarly without so much as a glance back at them, leaving them all standing there with a sour taste in their mouths.

"So are all the teams here made up of assholes?" Jet asked, looking to Blitz, who dropped her cold stare as soon as the team was out of their line of sight.

"No, it's just SABL. Honestly, even with them, it's mostly just Siyah and Alyx, the other two just get dragged into it." Jet nodded in silent response. It sounded a lot like SLVR to him, with Alaska and Aethelflad being the instigators while Vera and Loyal were just along for the ride, though in that particular case, he was pretty sure Loyal was just going along with their schemes less because she was dragged into them, and more because she was asked to nicely.

"Come on, why're we acting like the mood's dead? We've still got to show off a super cool hang out spot!" Ruta said, grabbing Jin by the wrist and dragging him along, her plan working perfectly as the others followed suit. Lumi was the first to follow, particularly calling out that he could walk at his own pace as Scarlet just laughed.

"Are you sure we're not lost?" Belka asked, staying as close to Goose as she could without actually clinging to the taller girl like some kind of lifeline. It wasn't that she thought her partner would lie about such things, it was just that she wouldn't put it out of the question that she might just be mistaken. Sure, Elizabeth and Lao trusted her, but quite frankly, they hadn't been robbed in the middle of the street before, and while it may have been insensitive or whatever, the people surrounding them all looked like ruffians regardless and she was not going to be robbed if they'd accidentally wandered into the bad side of the Kingdom! Goose, however, saw nothing to be concerned about with their surroundings, but seeing her friend was clearly a bit worried, she decided to help ease her worries, pointing out a familiar building she'd seen plenty of times.

"Yup, that's the comic shop right over there I was telling you guys about!" BGEL's leader followed her index finger over to a small selection of buildings, squinting as she tried to make out which of the various sandstone buildings she was referring to. She had a feeling it was the one with the brightly colored red banner on its corner, but it just as easily could have been the one with the green and purple striped awning hanging over its door, or the one simply named 'Marbel' with flashy eclectic styled lettering. The point was, she couldn't tell, and honestly, doubted her partner could either.

"How can you tell? All these buildings look the same."

"Really helping break the stereotype that Atlesians are uncultured, huh Gele?" Elizabeth groaned behind her, glancing around embarrassed as several bystanders had overheard the claim and had turned to give a judging glance at the teens. Belka, however, rolled her eyes, seeing no problem with what she'd said. After all, it wasn't like she was wrong.

"It's not my fault they make all the buildings look so samey, I'd say the same thing about Mistral and their architecture." Elizabeth gave up hearing that, she just didn't have the energy to deal with someone so confidently wrong, so she just walked past her.

"Should I be offended by that?" Lao asked, leaning in towards Goose as if to be discrete, but forgetting to whisper, and thus defeating the actual purpose. Meanwhile, she shrugged, not particularly offended herself, even if Belka was clearly wrong.

"Not if you don't want to be." Before the discussion could go any further, Lao noticed something, a boy around their age, heading straight over to them. He was clearly another outsider from the kingdom considering his outfit, a navy blue tailored vest and tie with matching dress pants, a crisp long-sleeved white button-up shirt, and a pair of gloves with glowing neon blue lines that ran along the fingers. His hair was a faded shade of blue jade, neatly styled to favor his right side. He couldn't see the man's eyes due to the sun hitting his glasses in a way that reflected off the lenses, obscuring them, however, from the way the man's face was scrunched up and the way he walked, he was clearly irritated over something, a fact that caused Lao to go on alert when he realized the boy was heading right for Belka when he reached out towards her back.

"There you are, what did we say about running o-" Immediately assuming the worst, he stepped between his leader and the newcomer, planting his hand onto his chest and pushing him back a few feet. The irritation on his face quickly gave way to confusion, and, lifting the glasses up, the man blinked. Belka, suddenly realizing how close she'd been to being grabbed, reached back and grabbed Morgan, not yet drawing it, but ready to at a moment's notice. Before the situation could escalate any further though, a smaller boy with a slim dark orange cat tail ran up, grabbing the man and pulling him back.

"Woah, Anga, that ain't our girl." he chuckled with a nervous, boyish voice as he tried to settle the situation before it went any farther. While he wore a disarming smile on his freckled and lightly tanned face, the look in his eyes gave away that he was far more anxious than he acted, rubbing the back of his head, further messing up his unkempt hair that matched the same shade as his tail, while his bright green eyes matched with his cat eared hoodie, underneath which he wore a similar shirt and vest combo as his friend, though with an orange bowtie and suspenders attached to a pair of shorts.

"Sorry about that, your weapon looks a lot like his partner's." he explained, though as he looked BGEL over, a small smile crept up along his lips. "That, or he just wanted an excuse to talk to a team of pretty girls."

The compliment was met with mixed reactions, Lao just stayed his normal blank self, not bothering to correct the boy, Goose smiled, just happy to be complimented. Belka, meanwhile, rolled her eyes at the lack of subtlety, and seeing this, Elizabeth snickered, but mostly ignored it, instead looking over to the boy's companion, who looked oddly familiar.

"Amin? Is that you?" she asked, the connection clicking as she recognized the boy for who he was, Anga similarly realizing he had met the girl before him already, several times in fact.

"Ironwood, apologies, the sun was in my eyes. Like Kenneth said, I thought her weapon was my partner's, they're remarkably similar."

"Oh, no, it's fine, you guys can have Belka." she said, and, judging by the irritated scowl being shot her way, her aunt didn't appreciate the joke, though that just made it funnier to her. The cat Faunus smiled as he stepped forward, opening his mouth to say something before his expression suddenly shifted slightly and he closed his mouth, reconsidering his words before starting over.

"Oh, you're just giving her away? But surely a girl like her has to be taken already." Already in a bad mood, the boy blatantly making a move on her with his smooth tone of voice and inviting smile did very little to help, especially since he was assuming she was taken, which he was right about, and still acting that way. Not to mention, why did he just assume she was taken, was he implicitly calling her easy!?

"And what exactly is that implying?" The boy paused, shifting his jaw awkwardly before looking over to Anga and shrugging.

"Okay, I don't know how to talk to this one." The other boy seemed to be about as amused as she was, rolling his eyes with a groan at the boy's antics. Goose, seeing her partner doing less than great at making her own first impression, walked up and rested her arm on Belka's shoulder.

"That's okay, she's just a bit prickly at first, I promise she's nice."

"Well if nothing else, she keeps good company, that's good enough for me." Bouncing right back after his failure with Belka, he stepped up, holding his hand out for Goose to shake. "It's Katt by the way, Kenneth Katt."

"A cat Faunus with the last name Katt? Isn't that rather on the nose?" Lao asked, genuinely not sure if it was supposed to be some kind of joke or not.

"I dunno, I think it's kinda funny." Goose added, shaking the boy's hand excitedly.

"Coming from a cutie like you? I'll take that as a compliment." The boy said, leaning in with a little wink, making Goose giggle. Liz raised an eyebrow at her aunt's reaction, she'd thought it would take more than just the bare minimum of flirting to get a reaction out of her but apparently not. Then again, now that she was thinking about it, she'd never seen her be flirted with before, or show any interest in anyone else for that matter. She supposed it didn't really matter, though she'd have to apologize to the boy's teammates if she had to put him in the hospital for making too far of an advancement on her naive aunt. A bit of motion behind the two boys caught her attention as a third figure, a woman, walked up to the group. Now it made sense, when the sun had gotten in Anga's eyes, he'd been separated from his team.

"Liz? Hey, I wasn't expecting to bump into you so soon!" She recognized the girl approaching rather easily, wearing a navy blue hoodie that obscured her shoulder length brown hair, and sporting skin like caramel. Her most striking feature though was her silver eyes, a rare color that, so far, she'd only ever seen on two other people, Assistant Headmistress Rose and one of their caravan guides.

"Calavera, how have you been?" The newcomer bristled for a brief moment, going unnoticed by those around her.

"It's Mercedes, remember? Actually, please just call me Mercy. And yeah, I'm good." she corrected kindly, but firmly. This time, Elizabeth caught the sour tone she spoke with, but thought nothing of it. In truth, she wasn't exactly fond of the overly formal and stiff greeting she'd just given either, it was just so drilled into her head by her parents that she couldn't help but to fall back on it as an old habit.

"You two already know each other?" Ken asked, his curiosity peaked at this coincidence.

"Her and Anga's father served under mine until he retired and General Polendina took over the position." the small girl answered matter of factly, as though it wasn't a neat coincidence. He waited a moment for the pygmy girl to elaborate, but got nothing in return, that apparently being the extent of their history.

"There you guys are, I was starting to think you le-" a fourth voice called out from behind Mercy. Pushing her way to the front, the girl was clearly a huntress like the rest of her team, wearing a simple white shoulder-less dress under a black corset. Her hair was styled in a short light brown bob, and like Kenneth, she was a Faunus, sporting a pair of floppy dog ears that shot up the moment she laid eyes on BGEL's leader. "Belka!?"

"Whiskey!?" Belka was similarly pleasantly surprised, and after both letting out a dramatic gasp, they squealed in unison, immediately rushing in and fretting over one another. Elizabeth winced inwardly, it was frankly the most girly thing she'd seen from Belka, and that was saying a lot considering how she acted like a dainty little princess most of the time. At a glance, it was easy to see how Anga had mistaken Belka's weapon for hers though, as design wise, they were practically identical.

"Everyone this is Whiskey, my best friend!"

"Guys this is Belka, my best friend!"

The girls announced to their respective teams in unison, showing each other off like prized gemstones to be marveled at. They received various polite greetings in return, though Elizabeth had to bite her tongue to keep herself from asking what was wrong with the girl to enjoy Belka's company that much. Goose, on the other hand, was ecstatic.

"You knew Belka from before?" Goose gawked, rushing in and grabbing the girl's hands, unable to contain her excitement. She'd been curious about Belka's life before Beacon, yet for some reason, she was strangely tight-lipped about her time before then. "You must have so many stories!"

Whiskey's smile turned devious and teasing as she looked over to Belka, who raised an eyebrow.

"Oh I have a ton, like this one time her auntie took us to-"

"I still have the video of you after you got your wisdom teeth out." Belka said as a quick warning, immediately recognising the embarrassing tale she was going to recant. The promise of mutually assured embarrassment caused Whisky to gasp dramatically, but she couldn't keep it up as they both broke into laughter at the shared memories that only they knew about.

"So, seems like most of us know each other, you girls wanna stick around? I bet we could get up to a lot of fun!" Ken suggested in a clearly leading way. Goose was already on board and Belka and Whiskey were going to stick together regardless, so the rest more or less fell in line, with Anga and Lao taking up the back.

"Is your team typically so…" Anga trailed off, looking for the right word to use without coming across as too standoffish, seeing as they'd be sticking together for the time being.

"Chaotic? Yes." Lao answered bluntly, shrugging, as by now, he'd come to accept the antics that came with his team. He got an awkward but supportive pat on the arm from the other boy, who just shook his head as Ken had to jump out of the way of a sudden flowerpot that almost landed on his head, panting as though he was visibly winded after the fact.

"My condolences."

"Ugh, my whole head hurts." Lumi whined, her hair tied up into an elegant looking bun as her ponytail had started to brush up against her neck, the skin left inflamed and sensitive from her sunburn. Jin went to pat her back in sympathy, but thankfully thought better of it. Scarlet, on the other hand, tried really hard to resist slapping the bright red neck of her partner. It was just right there, she could probably get to one of the doors in the hallway before she got a glyph off. Granted, it was a dick move, but she was pretty sure Lumi was currently in the lead for dick moves, so she was like sixty-something percent justified. What ultimately stopped her didn't come down to any moral reasons though, it was mostly the similar burn she had in a V-shape down her cleavage that Lumi was sure to target in return. With mutually assured pain keeping her from acting out, she tried a more diplomatic option.

"Hey, chin up, I bet you'll look good with a tan." she said, trying to be supportive. In truth, it was kinda hard to imagine Lumi with a tan, she was just so pasty that it felt… off, like a Beowolf giving a kid a chocolate bar, but then again, maybe a few shades would help, certainly nothing like Vera's obviously fake tan though, that would contrast horribly with her light blonde hair.

"My family doesn't tan Scarlet, I'm just going to have a sore face and neck for the whole trip!" Oof, okay, she could see why Lumi was upset about it now. Sure, she burned too, same as her dad, but her mom's Mistralian genes ensured she'd come out with a nice light tan for her troubles. Going through that burn for nothing? Yeah, that would probably annoy the hell out of her too.

"I'm sure we can get you some sunscreen, it's Vacuo, they have to have tons of the stuff in the school alone!" Jin said, the promise of protection from the sun's harsh rays easing her mood just slightly. As they continued walking, Jet looked at the doors as they went down the hall, with each door they passed making him more impatient as he looked down at his scroll. Having spent all day under the burning rays of the sun, he was tired and just wanted an ice cold shower.

"What floor are we on again? We definitely should have found the room by now."

"Four, right?" Jin asked, having not really thought about it, but he was pretty sure that was where they were located. It probably would have been easier to get to their assigned dorm if Vacuo's guest dorms were properly labeled with numbers instead of tiny holoscreens displaying the name of the residing team.

"I thought it was floor three, that's where I remember our room was." Lumi said. She had been sure before, but now that the question had been raised, she was starting to doubt that. Scarlet wasn't sure herself, honestly having just not paid attention to where exactly they were going to be staying, as Jet was the one in charge of finding their room after they arrived. Sighing, Jet made a b-line for another team of students roaming the halls, not having the patience for another case of them wandering around pretending to know where they were.

"Excuse me, is this floor four or three?" he asked a figure with their back turned, any defining features obstructed by what looked to be a fancy-looking dark blue cape of sorts. At least, that's what he thought it was, because as the man turned to face him, a pair of loose sleeves rolled separately from the main mass of the cape, revealing it to be one of those old fashion naval coats sailors used to wear, which in hindsight, explained the matching feathered tricorn hat. Now that he was turned around and no-longer obscured by his coat, his entire get up wouldn't look out of place in a pirate display at a museum. He wore a well-worn cloth shirt and vest that were rolled up to his elbows and opened in a V shape to show off his toned chest, accompanied by a tattered blue cloth that wrapped around his waist like a sash, which seemed redundant given that he wore an actual leather belt with a gold buckle displaying a skull impaled on the middle prong of a trident. His skin was a dark tan, to the point that Jet almost thought it was his natural color if not for how weathered it looked for his age. Really, if it wasn't for the obviously Mistralian outfits worn by the remainder of his team, he'd have assumed the guy was a native of Vacuo. Frankly, all he was missing at this point was a parrot sitting on his shoulder, and maybe an eyepatch or a prosthetic limb. The man wasn't much taller than Jet himself, but looked him up and down with an appraising eye, then a smirk registered on his face that, for some reason, reminded him of Scarlet's.

"Aye, this be da third floor lad." Did… did that really just come out of his mouth? Jet had to do a double take, looking behind him to the rest of his team to make sure he hadn't just had a brief hallucination of some sort. Jin was giggling and Lumi facepalmed, wincing as she smacked her beet red face. Okay, so he hadn't misheard him, well, it wasn't like he could take the man seriously in his weird pirate larping get up anyway, but now he was debating just walking off. Unfortunately, Scarlet had other plans.

"Why thank you sir, and here I thought you'd turn out to be some petty scoundrel." she said, once again wielding The Voice, much to the dismay of her team.

"Arg, that I am, though a scoundrel like me ain't about helpin' a pretty lass and her crew!" Scarlet practically had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing, he fucking arged at her! This was great, screw trying to sound cool, she just wanted to see who'd break character first between them. Jet mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to the grey haired man armored in plate mail that stood directly behind the fool currently playing along with her antics. He was a big guy, not quite as tall as Jin, but around as muscular if the size of his armor was anything to go by. Additionally, like Jet, he also had red eyes that were completely unamused with the situation. However, the one most irritated with the situation was a man with fiery red hair somewhat tamed by a black and gold fabric headband. His clothing followed a similar aesthetic, a simple black and red set of Mistralian robes that wouldn't look out of place on Lao. His eyes, also a distinctive crimson, narrowed as he stormed forward, grabbing the bluenette by his arm.

"Noah, I swear on the Ryoushi name, if you keep up that insufferable fake voice I will-!" At his teammate starting to shake him like a ragdoll, Noah couldn't keep up the act, bursting into laughter.

"Pfft- okay, okay, relax Akato." Hearing his friend's voice without that unbearably fake and exaggerated accent, Akato let him go, crossing his arms in a very unamused way. " Sorry about that, I'm Noah Violette, me and these weirdos here are NAYA."

"Nah, it's cool, I'm Scarlet Taurus-Fall by the way, but that's kinda a mouthful, so just call me Scarlet. We're team SJJL." Scarlet said, holding her hand out for a fist bump that he immediately met. She liked this guy, dumb fun like that was too rare as of late! Their teams, meanwhile, were both just glad that the two hadn't done this in public. The one girl on NAYA quickly noticed Lumi, her bright blue eyes widening in recognition.

"Wait… You're Lumi Arc-Schnee right?" It had been hard to see initially but as she stepped around the boys, she noticed the girl's attire, a sleeveless white halter top made of exceedingly fine silk that met with a royal blue backless bodysuit embroidered with gold at her midsection, adorned with a white leather belt at her waist, and matching sleeves that started part way through her bicep, exposing her shoulders, and flared out at the end with deep blue feathers. Her hair and eyes were a brilliant aquamarine, and a pair of small golden horns emerged from the cascade of her hair just behind her bangs, though a closer inspection revealed they were merely false, attached to a circlet that looped around the back of her head and rested on her ears. Though, for all of the obvious opulence she clad herself with, nothing was as eye-catching as the feathered wings sprouting from her back, the same deep blue as the feathers that ended her sleeves, which, in hindsight, explained the halter top and backless bodysuit. Not one to be rude, Lumi smiled and gave a polite bow.

"The one and only. It's a pleasure to meet you, I like your wings!"

"Yes, the Yddraigwen wings are beautiful, aren't they?" The winged Faunus said. Stepping forward, the girl's wings were far easier to see as they stretched out behind her to show off, what Lumi had suspected were avian wings were in reality reptilian in nature, sporting beautiful blue scales at the base of the wing that gradually faded into feathers that shined with both power and elegance, like that of a dragon's from a fantasy novel. All the while, she was raising her head as if preening from the praise sent her way, and after a moment the armored boy coughed in a subtle attempt to get her attention. "Ah, where are my manners? My name is Lapis Yddraigwen, this here is my bodyguard, Argentio Highwind."

"Oh, cool, your names are all mouthfuls too?" Noah joked, ignoring the offended looks from Akato and Lapis. Jin laughed at that, somehow not realizing that, out of his team, Jet was the only one without a hyphenated name.

"Well, his name's just Jet Black, mine is probably the worst though. My full name is Jinzi Belladonna-Xiao-Long, but my friends call me Jin." With a big toothy grin, he held his hand out to the pirate-themed Huntsman in training, but the boy had this thousand-yard stare appear the moment he'd said his name, almost like a switch had flipped in his brain.

"Jinzi… you're a monkey Faunus, right?" Noah asked with a suspicious tone, leaving the boy hanging. Jin tried to handwave the awkward introduction away, laughing and running his hand through his already neat hair.

"Oh, yeah, most people actually assume I'm a cat Faunus, which is actually pretty funny because one of my moms is a cat Faunus, but her trait is her ears." he said, trying to change topics, but to no avail, as Noah's suspicion turned to an outright glare at the bigger boy.

"Yeah that's… whatever." He said before starting to walk off. "Come on guys, I'm tired."

"Oh, uh, see you later then?" Jin tried one last time, this time only to be completely ignored as he walked off. Jin looked at Scarlet confused, wondering if he'd done something wrong by mistake. After all, he'd put his mouth in his foot and ruined interactions before, but he genuinely didn't know what he might have done here. His leader didn't know either, only able to give him a bewildered shrug of her shoulders. Looking to the remainder of Noah's team gave no answers either, the three similarly confused by what Jin could only assume was out-of-character behavior for the boy.

"Sorry about that, he's not usually…" Argentio tried to excuse his friend, but, seeing as he was just as blindsided by the change in tone as the others, he just didn't know what to say. The rest of NAYA awkwardly headed out after their leader, leaving SJJL confused.

"Was it something I said?"

"Maybe he was jet-lagged or something?" Jet suggested, though Jin wasn't so sure, as the mood change had happened right after he introduced himself. He'd ask later, maybe make it up to the guy if he'd accidentally offended him in any way.

K cursed under his breath as sweat dripped from his brow and onto the metal floor of the airship. He wasn't even off his transport, and already he was regretting not charging extra for having him work in this unbearable heat. Thankfully, he'd be out of the cramped cargo hold of the airship soon, and could find a nice high-end hotel with plenty of air conditioning to lay low at while planning his next move. The door lowered just a few minutes later, and, stretching his legs, he stepped out into the open air… only to immediately regret it.

"Bloody hell, what is that!?" It was worse, it was actually somehow worse once he was outside and under the sun. It was like concentrated heat was being shot down directly onto him!

"That would be the sun." the pilot who'd allowed him to stow away answered dryly. He could have just snuck onto a regular transport for free, but that had its own list of complications and came with the very real risk of being caught. Rolling his eyes, K looked over the sandy loading area they'd landed in.

"I figured, why's it so damn hot!?" he asked as he looked around to make sure the area was empty, finding the arrangements were just as promised. It wasn't that he didn't trust the man, as he'd come recommended by a friend when discrete transportation was necessary, but he liked to be certain.

"I dunno man, that's just how Vacuo is." Well, so much for an actual reason. Looking back at the man, he saw him unloading an unmarked crate, unlike the others, which had clear warning labels and order numbers. Assuming it was another less than legal job that just happened to cross over with his own, he started to walk off, but not before the man spoke up again. "So, you know where you're headed? The little moth just said you had some under the table business to handle."

"I've got it handled, I've got a good while to figure out the lay of the land, just gotta find my mark is all." he said, not bothering to hide his frown, not knowing why she'd said anything at all. Sure, it was obvious he was here for some very illegal things considering he'd snuck into another kingdom, but the idea of a stranger knowing anything more than he had to typically didn't end well.

"You gonna need a pick up once your job's done?" K stopped in his tracks, now fully certain that this might be a problem. If he was this much of a talker and this indiscreet with all his jobs, then it wasn't out of the question that he may say something in passing by the wrong person, or worse, get caught and give him up for some sort of deal, neither of which he could afford to have happen.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" Turning back around, he sized the man up, average height and build, but clearly no fighter, it would be over in a second if he actually tried. If he left the crate in the open, it would just be assumed to be a black market deal gone wrong, nothing to tie it back to him.

"Just when I know the money's good." Oh, so maybe he wasn't as stupid as he'd thought, he was just greedy.

"And with the sort of money I'm paying, do you really think you should know more than you need to?" The veiled warning was more than most in his position would have gotten, and if it wasn't for the fact that he knew his friend would be inconvenienced if he turned up dead, he wouldn't even have gotten that. Yet the man didn't seem to grasp what he was saying, either that, or he just didn't care.

"A little late for not knowing too much I'm afraid."

"If that's the case… I'm guessing you know where I can get some under-the-table equipment?" At his question, he grew smug, tapping the crate as if to say 'well duh'.

"I might know a guy." K smiled. Well, he could live for now at least, and if this guy lived up to his promise, he could live after the job too.

Chapter Text

Touko’s nose flared in disgust at the heavy stench of cigarette smoke that permeated from every surface of the bar, having always hated the smell of burning tobacco ever since she’d first smelled it as a young girl in her father’s study. Sure, her own herbs had a certain funk to them, but those were mostly for the anxiety, and the pain… and sometimes just when she needed to relax, but still, they were different! Then again, she just hated the whole atmosphere that came with bars. It wasn’t that she disliked people in general, but she had no patience for loud and obnoxious twenty-somethings with too much free time acting stupid because they had nothing better to do on a Friday night. Glancing over at Ruby, she saw that her friend was at least trying to maintain a poker face, even if her smile was obviously forced. Maybe it was just her expectations being set by Ozpin’s weird secretive behaviors, but she was expecting their business to be done in some sort of private area, not a busy bar open to anyone. 

Their associates didn’t mind at all however, as Onyx, the cat Faunus from the caravan, was three beers down with no signs of stopping. Thankfully, Carmine had opted for a simple mixed drink which she’d only taken a few sips out of. Meanwhile, Onyx’s partner, Asher, had just ordered a soda, although Ruby questioned if that was more due to him being considered a minor by Vacuo’s standards, not that she actually bothered to check what age that was, but it wasn’t the point. He was easily the youngest person in their group, if not the bar, and looking at him now, he couldn’t have been older than one of her students, maybe a second year or late first year, and Onyx was only a little older looking, although definitely past the average age of graduation.

She’d been expecting to meet with fellow veteran Huntsmen, not someone young enough to be one of her nieces or nephews, wasn’t this what they were specifically fighting to avoid? It wasn’t fair in her eyes, sure, he was choosing to be a fighter but it was hardly different from her students, she didn’t want this for him like she didn’t want it for them! They should be enjoying themselves, goofing off with their friends and worrying about tests, who to take to the dance, she didn’t want them to have to take things into their own hands like she’d had to! The boy had already lost an arm, just like her sister, and like her friend sitting right next to her. Glancing over at Touko, she saw that her sour mood hadn’t gone unnoticed, Touko didn’t like it either, his own missing limb reminding her of her own extensive cybernetics she’d gotten at around the same age, as well as the traumatic reason she needed them.

The pair’s introspection went unnoticed by Carmine, the woman flipping through the binder Ruby had thrown together with all the relevant information they’d gathered so far. She’d stopped numerous times through her readthrough to make a few notes, the ritual murders detailed connected a few unsolved incidents to the cult, which already gave her enough of a reason to look into them, but what really caught her eye was the symbol found in Tyrian’s journal, one she’d seen years ago.

“Yeah, I've seen this symbol, back when The Crown was still around, Jax and Gillian tried to get in contact with the people who use it. I'd heard they found them, but they disappeared off the map soon after.”  

“Considering the people who use it are a bunch of Grimm-worshiping psychos, somehow that doesn't surprise me.” Touko pointed out, and as much as Carmine didn’t like the implication, she had to agree, Jax was never the type to share power with those he saw as beneath him and she doubted The Goddess’s Shadows would feed his ego enough for any lasting peace. Even if they both ultimately brought death and destruction with their ideals, Salem was far more coordinated, the anarchy Jax sought to bring just wouldn’t stand. Really, she just hoped Gillian had been smart enough to cut her losses before it was too late.

“What, like a cult?” Onyx interjected, laughing at how ridiculous it had sounded. However, the silence from her superior and the two professors was palpable, causing her laughter to slowly fade as she tried and failed to find a hint of levity on their faces. “Wait, no shit?”

“At this point, you've probably encountered some of them whether you know it or not. Ever been fighting Grimm and had someone go after you instead of them?” Pondering Carmine’s question, a few incidents that she hadn’t really been able to explain popped back into her head.

“Yeah, a few times now that you mention it…”

Thinking back on it, most of the time they were bounty targets, so at the time she had just assumed it was a desperate attempt to avoid capture, though that didn’t explain how the Grimm had always seemed to prioritize her, even when there was unarmed, seemingly terrified prey a stone’s throw from it. She tried to remember if it had been any particular area that may serve as a lead, but the more she thought about it, she was certain it had happened all throughout the Kingdom. She found herself taking another swig of cheap beer to steady her nerves at the realization.

“So what do you need from us?”

“Right now, their target is a woman named Durga Sahara.” Ruby said, and silver met silver as Asher’s eyes widened.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard that name, in fact, he’d been on the woman’s protective detail once. Said job was actually how he’d met Onyx, saving him from the desert’s embrace after things went completely tits up. It was a relief to know she was apparently still alive and if nothing else, it meant he hadn’t screwed up completely . He, along with his partner and boss on the job, all watched as Ruby reached out, gently took the binder from Carmine, and flipped to near the start, revealing a set of photos, including an official Huntsmen license printed out and enlarged with a picture of Durga, though since he’d last seen her she’d dyed her hair to blonde. There were other photos, including one showing her when she was younger with the dark brown hair he’d remembered, but sporting a set of eight mechanical arms sprouting out of a backpack. He assumed she must have swapped the eye-catching weapon out for the comparatively basic trident and sword combo she’d used when he’d traveled with her. It wasn’t surprising to see her looking different, she knew she was being hunted after all.

“Durga’s coming to the city to spend time with her daughter, and while she's safe here, it’s up to you three to find anything you can on these guys. Locations, names, if you can get some plans or capture a live member, that would help us a lot.” 

“No sweat, I'll poke about my usual people, show them what you showed us, and see what pops up. Until theeen , c'mon Asher, this round’s on you!” Onyx announced, getting to her feet and dragging her smaller partner up with her by his metal arm. The boy sighed but followed her along anyway, his smile breaking through the sigh as he tried to act exasperated, leaving Carmine with the professors. 

“Bounty Hunters? Really ?” Touko’s lack of faith in the pair was obvious, and if Onyx acted anything like this on real missions, then she hardly trusted the woman to make breakfast, let alone go hunting for potential agents of Salem, and Asher’s youth spoke for itself.

“When it comes to finding people who don't want to be found, there's rarely better people to go with. Those two may be young, but they're just as good as most veterans.” 

“Did that have anything to do with his eyes ?” Ruby asked, a hint of a biting tone in her voice. For a brief moment, Carmine’s golden eyes fell to her drink, unable to meet Ruby’s gleaming silver, the same eyes as Asher’s.

“That wasn't my call, but Theo says he’s performed well in this position before.”

“Still, you do know what they do to Silver-eyed people, right?”

“He’s a Bounty Hunter , he signed up for a job he knows can get him killed, just like you.”

Before she could say another word though, her scroll went off. Glancing at the screen, Touko noticed a picture of her and a boy in frame as it rang. Ironically enough, he looked as though he could be the same age as Asher. The two in the photo couldn’t be any more different if they’d tried, the only similarities being both of them wore red scarves. Standing up, Carmine answered the call, only offering a quick explanation that it was important before walking off. Ruby sighed, slumping back and looking up at the ceiling as her concerns had clearly fallen on deaf ears.

“You okay?” her cyborg friend asked as her artificial hand drifted over and grabbed her knee. As she did, Ruby couldn’t help but to notice her friend’s prosthetic hand had started to tremble a little as she squeezed with a gentle grip that she’d hoped would calm the both of them. For a moment, she stopped to smile and rest her own softer hand over the Dust construct to let her friend know she appreciated the gesture, that even when she was bothered by the situation, she’d still take a moment to make sure she was alright, but after the moment had passed, she still felt no less bothered by what she saw as a direct result of her own failures.

“I just… he's a kid, Touko.”

“He's old enough to make his own calls.” Touko hollowly echoed Carmine’s sentiment, though obviously not fully buying into it. She didn’t know what had transpired to get the boy into this sort of job, but it reeked of Ozpin’s meddling. 

“He's barely older than Lao or Jin. I thought we were taking this burden so they wouldn't have too.”

Looking back over to the boy at the bar, she couldn’t help imagining her nephew, Lao, or Nicholas in the same position, and the idea of sending them, or frankly, sending any of her students out like this made her blood curdle in disgust, and yet here she was, doing just that. Touko sighed, she hated knowing there was so little she could do about the helplessness her friend felt, so she did what she could, telling Ruby the same thing she was telling herself.

“We are, this is one job, and it’s just recon, not search and destroy. Besides, once all this is done, we're gonna take care of it.” Ruby nodded, her eyes narrowing. That was right, it wasn’t their responsibility to do this, it was theirs. She wasn’t going to let them inherit the threat of Salem the way she had.

Panic started to take hold of Elizabeth as she heard the second buzzer go off. Gazing over at the screen hanging up above the coliseum-like arena, she was shocked to see Goose’s icon go red, leaving just her and Lao against SABL. Predictably, Belka had been the first to fall, at first deciding to try and use her weapon’s superior range to provide covering fire. It wasn’t her worst plan, considering the enemy team was comparatively lacking in ranged options, but what she wasn’t expecting was what she could only explain as Beryl’s very Aura detaching itself to produce a translucent purple demon, sporting a monstrous fanged maw and horns that made Scarlet’s look tiny in comparison. With a lazy order from its master, the summon, apparently named Faust, rushed in, not wasting a second as it formed one of its arms into a shield to tank the Dust-infused light while its master lazily walked behind it. Belka didn’t last much longer after Faust forced her to engage in close combat, quickly overwhelming her with its monstrous strength and transforming physique. BGEL’s leader was taken out embarrassingly quickly, and what was worse was that she had the gall to order her to counter with a summon of her own, as if she wasn’t currently locked in combat with the infuriating Alyx and her equally infuriating scissors. She wasn’t even defeated traditionally, Faust simply grabbed onto Morgan and turned its hands into a pair of enclosed spheres, taking her control of the Naginata away long enough for Beryl to come in and literally push her to the ground, disarming her. At that point, she was declared eliminated by default. 

Liz didn’t fully see what happened with Goose, as she’d been beating Siyah when she last looked, but she had to assume she’d simply been overwhelmed. Lao, however, had actually been losing the last time she checked. She didn’t know what it was, but he’d get in and do well against Lamia for a moment, before suddenly whiffing his strikes and just standing there as she struck him with her saber. Damn it, she had to do something, otherwise this was going to go just like their fight with JWEL. Okay, first thing was to beat the annoying girl in front of her, then use her summons to even the odds against the rest of their team. Unfortunately, in the middle of formulating a plan of attack, Alyx blew a raspberry at her, and her anger at the childish taunt caused her to activate Exenterator‘s whip form, sending the segmented blade at the girl's face, however, just before she could wipe that stupid look off of her face, the girl opened up her giant pair of scissors, catching the wire in-between it's blades and stabbing them down into the floor, trapping both weapons. 

Realizing just trying to pull her weapon free wouldn't yield any results, she decided to change things up. Holding out her hand and placing her other on the holstered Due to draw from the Dust in its chambers she formed a Glyph under the girl, intending to hit her with gravity and send her flying. Unfortunately, she never got the chance, as something slammed into her, knocking the small woman onto the floor and making her drop Exenterator. Faust stood tall, silently looming over her like a predator that had cornered its prey, but she wasn't her aunt, and rather than crawl away pathetically, she drew Due and shot a round right between its eyes, causing its head to snap back as the translucent Aura that constituted it flickered for a split second. She wanted to press the attack, to keep firing at the purple demon, but she had no time, immediately having to dodge as Alyx snipped her giant scissors at her. Using her small size, she rolled under the attack, shooting her opponent square in the back as she did so, taking a hefty chunk out of her Aura and buying her some more space. However, the final buzzer sounded out, and she didn’t need to look to see it was Lao, her only real option now was to use her own summons and hope she could distract them long enough to finish off Alyx and Faust. Placing her hand on the ground, she created another Glyph, this time preparing to summon a pair of Ursai to fight alongside her, before a hail of bullets started pelting her side and she was forced to raise her Glyph and use it as a shield instead to try and protect herself from Siyah’s LMG and Lamia’s pistol sword, but the moment she did, Faust punched her down onto the ground, dropping Due and smacking her head on the stone floor. 

In her daze, she almost didn’t hear the buzzer, but even if she had missed it, she didn’t miss seeing BGEL’s side of the screen flash red before disappearing, just leaving team SABL. Taking a moment to recover from Faust’s blow and watching her team crumble around her, she got to her feet. She expected to be angry, but by now, she was just… numb to the idea of defeat. She started to collect her weapons, silently grabbing Due from where it lay a few feet away, and when she knelt down to grab Exenterator, her eyes met with Belka’s, her leader looking similarly disappointed with the outcome. Her aunt could feel her heart sink as Elizabeth just sighed, not even having the energy to get mad over their loss, like it was expected, and what was worse is that she couldn’t fault her on that, not when she’d yet to earn her team even a single victory as their leader. If anything, she’d started to backslide, and this fight proved it. She wasn’t sure what made her angrier, that they’d been defeated yet again, or that it had gone down in the exact same manner as with JWEL. Wordlessly, she walked back to her section of the stands.

“Ouch, did that hurt as bad as it looked?” A familiar, mocking voice called from above. She didn’t bother looking back at Alaska, she could already see the smug sneer clearly in her mind. “Cuz’ I really hope it did.”

Belka took a deep breath in through the nose and out through her mouth, she was just trying to provoke her, trying to get some sort of response now that her actions finally had consequences she cared about. Well she wouldn’t get the satisfaction, not from her, and holding her head high, she walked right up the stairs.

“Aww, nothing smart to say? Not surprising, if you had any brains on ya’, you’d have figured out how to work as a team by now.” Gritting her teeth, the Atlesian girl stopped in her tracks, that particular taunt striking a nerve. It was one thing to make up reasons to taunt her, like her being better off, or weaker, but hearing the truth of her inadequacy be thrown at her hurt almost as much as the girl’s punches. Even after half a year at Beacon and nearly a month at Shade, and she’d only marginally improved.

“Don’t you need to go clean up cow pies with your pa’ or something?” Despite her spiteful tone, the cowgirl smirked back at her, having gotten what she wanted, proof that even after being publicly embarrassed, she still had an effect on her favorite stress ball. She chose to ignore her bully’s little victory, instead marching up to the top of the stands where she could grumble in peace, she didn’t even watch as teams KRMA and JWEL were selected for the next demonstration, not really caring what came of the match, she just wanted to be alone. Which was why a boy in some stupid pirate get-up casually sitting down beside her irritated her far more than it reasonably should have. 

“So, she was a bitch about it, but she kinda had a point you know.” However, once those words left his mouth, she felt fully justified in her dislike of him.

“Excuse me?”

“About your teamwork, you and the small girl on your team were pulling in completely different directions.” Noah hadn’t meant to be insulting with the comment, simply seeing another team leader struggle he thought that maybe he could help, but as he saw her face turn red with anger, he realized he had just stepped on a landmine.

“Yes, I’m very aware of what went wrong, and I don’t need some sadistic hick or some jackass who's so stupid he thinks he can magically fix all my issues with some encouraging words and a pat on the back despite knowing nothing about me!” Who the hell did this boy think he was to try and lecture her? What did he know? Did he have a partner with a damned luck Semblance that made any strategy a coin toss? Or a teammate who refused to listen to him on principle? What about a melee fighter who now refused to fight in melee? Or a whole team of upperclassmen working against him? Because unless he did, she didn’t want to hear a damn thing about what he thought she needed to improve on!

“Woah, hey no need to get personal, I got it, you don’t want help. Sorry.” he said, scooting back to give her her space, but she wasn’t done, not even close. 

“If you’re sorry, do me a favor and shut the hell up instead of giving your worthless opinion where it wasn’t wanted!” By now, Noah was similarly growing angry, he had tried apologizing and stepping away but clearly that wasn’t good enough for her. He obviously didn’t know what her problem was, but even then, he sure as hell didn't appreciate her taking her anger out on him over it when he’d only been trying to help, so rather than disengage he doubled down. If she wanted to be stubborn, then he could be as well.

“All I’m saying is, if your team actually had a hint of cohesion, she wouldn’t have had a point!” While most of the students were busy watching the fight, by now, their little spat had grabbed the attention of the students in their immediate vicinity, as well as a few others here and there. Those who had been tuning into the argument instead of the fight half-expected her to slap him over the act, and one such listener was Jin. Upon seeing her enraged face, he quickly made his way up to the top.

“Woah, what’s going on here?” the blond asked, easily pulling the petite girl back and inserting himself between the two in an attempt to stop the fighting. Unfortunately, this only seemed to infuriate Noah even more.

“Nothing, butt out of it Jinzi!” he snapped as he jabbed his finger into the Faunus’s chest. Belka tried to scoot around to give the man a piece of her mind on that as well, but Jin proved to be just a bit too big.

“Look, you’re both getting worked up over a simple mistake, you don’t need to fi-”

“I don’t need to hear a lecture from an asshole who doesn’t appreciate what he’s got!”

“Huh? Wait, but I-” As Jin tried to figure out what in the world that was even supposed to mean, Noah had reached his limit, scoffing as he turned to leave.

“Forget it, you wanna work this out? Come down to one of the rings so I can hit you, otherwise just stay the hell away from me.” Once again, Jin could do nothing but watch dumbstruck as the boy stormed off away from him for seemingly no reason.

“What was that about?” Belka asked, suspecting some sort of history between the two considering his earlier comment, but as she looked at him, it didn’t seem like the monkey boy was lying about his present state of bewilderment.

“I dunno, I thought he was pretty cool when we first met, but I feel like he hates me for no reason.” he explained glumly, not knowing why he seemed to bring out the worst in this complete stranger. Seeing this, she patted his back. She couldn’t really claim to know Jin all that well, but he’d always been nice to her despite being one of Lumi’s friends. As far as she was concerned, he didn’t deserve the confused hurt that came with being hated for factors he couldn’t control, something she knew all too well.

“Don’t worry about him, some people will just decide they hate you.” Looking down at one of the lower levels of the stands, she saw the family she felt so far away from despite living under the same roof, Elizabeth sitting with Lumi, Lao, and Goose, smiling and laughing at one of Goose’s jokes despite their loss only minutes before. “Even if it’s not fair.”

Scarlet panted and gasped as she nearly collapsed back into the mailroom, grabbing onto the wall for balance as she wiped the sweat from her brow. With a flash of light, Blitz appeared beside her, similarly covered in sweat, but having grown up with the heat, she’d been leagues more prepared. Scarlet liked to think she was getting used to the oppressive Vacuan sun, even if she still hated it, but just existing in it was one thing, running back and forth across the city underneath it was another. It was so bad, she was tapping into her Aura just to run faster so she’d be finished sooner.

“Good job Scar, you did great!” her senior student praised, checking the last two packages assigned to courier six, her designation at the company. Most of it had just been newspapers and letters written between some of the older residents of the city who couldn’t figure out or just refused to learn modern technology, but there was also a fair share of packages she’d been tasked with delivering.  Thankfully, none of them were too far from the facility they were stationed at, and she’d been nice enough to give her the smaller packages, but still, she didn’t know how the tanned woman did it day after day.

“I feel like Imma pass out.” 

“Yeah, but you didn't! Good job!” Scarlet would be lying if she said the pat on the back didn’t feel good, but then again it was weird getting praised in general. It wasn’t that her parents never did it, it was just that it was always reserved for the big milestones, like the first time she did a kata perfectly, or landed her first Grimm kill. She’d have never gotten praise for what was basically a more complicated paper route, but damn did it feel good.

“You know, when you asked me to hang out, I thought we'd be chilling in the shade or getting some frozen yogurt. Not working under the damn sun.” Scarlet wasn’t exactly sure when or how she’d agreed to help Blitz finish her shift at the courier service, one minute she was just tagging along, giving her someone to kill time with while she worked, and the next, she was holding a package so her friend wouldn’t have to handle it all on her own and could relax a bit. Then she was taking her own chunk of the work and leaving it on doorsteps and in mailboxes.

“Sorry about that, I forgot I picked up a shift this morning.” she explained sheepishly, wincing as Scarlet collapsed into the seat next to her, quickly kneeling down beside her and worriedly looking her over. “Here, have some of my water.”

She gladly took the water bottle and began to chug, the water immediately helping her cool off along with Blitz grabbing some papers and waving them her way to fan her off. It was a little weird having someone so close to her own age act all motherly to her, but she honestly couldn't say she minded the treatment. In fact, she kinda liked it. She'd never really been fretted over from what she could remember, Mom always said her dad was a helicopter parent at first, but by the time she was old enough to form lasting memories, both of them trusted her enough to figure out what was a good and bad idea on her own. Having Aura pretty much from birth probably helped with that though, made the whole ‘fork in a power outlet’ thing less of a tragedy and more of a learning experience. Then again, maybe it was just them not caring. Damn it, no , they loved her and she knew it. She thought she’d be over this by now, but how could she after they'd lied to her for her whole life? Like usual, she tried to shove the thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on them for as long as she could put it off.  Speaking the first thing that came to mind that would distract from her current thoughts;

“I'm surprised you work at all, does Shade not give you guys the stuff you need?”

“Nah, nothing like that. I just do this part time along with some odd jobs here and there to send money back to my family.” As she explained, Scarlet couldn't help but to feel a pang of guilt, feeling as though she'd opened her big mouth and said something she shouldn't have again, making things awkward between her and the cool second year.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn't trying to snoop on your personal life or anything.” Rather than seem offended or even ashamed like she'd feared, Blitz just shrugged, unbothered by the younger student's question.

“It's fine, it's not some big secret or anything, raising five kids is just expensive. I like to help out, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it, my parents weren't exactly rich, but we made it work.” Scarlet sighed, remembering her own less than lavish upbringing. They weren't poor per se, it’s just that Dad’s job meant that money was good, but inconsistent, and what money they had generally went either into the house or essentials. She remembered how it felt growing up, starting a school year with old shoes and clothes from second hand stores while the other students all had brand new things, all while she was the better off of them, she’d never had to work a part time job to help make ends meet. In hindsight, it really didn't matter, but she remembered it feeling like it made all the difference. As she considered this, Blitz walked over to punch out, stopping as she saw the updated schedule.

“Oh damn it.”

“What?”

“I got scheduled on the night of the dance, ugh, now I gotta find someone to switch shifts with next month.” Two thoughts ran through Scarlet’s mind at that, the first was her wondering what kind of weird control freak Blitz had as a boss as to where they had to have the schedules done more than a month in advance, and the second was complete confusion at this dance Blitz suddenly brought up.

“Dance? What dance?”

“You didn't hear? The Vytal dance, they do one every festival for the students.” Scarlet scratched her head, though now that she mentioned it, that did sound kinda familiar. Blitz chuckled teasingly as she took a seat next to her. “So I'm guessing you don't have a date yet then?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t really thought about it, mostly because no one had bothered to ask her, or more specifically, a certain green-haired gun nut hadn’t. Then again, knowing Jet it had probably gone in one ear and out the other while he was busy with something else. But … she knew he’d go if she asked, he let her drag him around all the time, it’s not like this would really be any different. Well, except that she’d be all dressed up, which reminded her that she’d have to get a dress, preferably something sexy and form-fitting but not too slutty, she didn’t want to step on Aethelflad’s toes. And Jet would of course need a suit… Okay, yeah, she was going to this thing for that sight alone.

“No… but I got someone in mind.”

“Ah, the big boy, huh?” The purr in Blitz’s tone didn’t go unnoticed, not that Scarlet blamed her. Now that she thought about it, most of the guys she knew were some flavor of eye candy, but she had a feeling they were thinking of two different boys.

“Jin? Nah, I mean he's fucking hot, don't get me wrong, but I was gonna ask Jet.”

“ You're gonna ask him ?” Blitz asked, surprised at how forward the redhead was being about this. She hadn’t really thought much about it, only planning to go for the hell of it, but if she did have someone in mind to go with, she was uncertain if she’d be the one to approach them. It just sounded… weird to her. Didn’t guys find that weird too? She was certain she’d heard that somewhere.

“Yeah, he's kinda dense like that, though it's actually kinda cute. Like, if you don't stop him, he'll just work on his guns all day until he's exhausted, and then you gotta drag him to bed like a pouty little kid.” As the smile on the Faunus’s face grew, it clicked for her, she knew that look, that toothy smile and dreamy eyes like she was talking about her whole world. She always thought it would be her little brother Dash who she’d first get to tease about young love, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some fun with her too.

“Someone's gushing.” Blitz couldn’t help but chuckle as Scarlet tried to hide her cheeks immediately turning a rosy red to match her hair, it was an unusually cute response from the girl in front of her as she tried to keep her cool. “Hey, it's cool, we like what we like, I just wasn't expecting you to be into twinks is all.”

“He's not a twink! He's got some muscle.” Blitz raised an eyebrow at that, wondering just how she was so certain.

“Oh, so you've seen him naked?”

“Well… no.” It was technically true, at least, in the sense that she hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but she had peeked once or twice, not in like, a creepy way though, and it wasn’t as if she’d seen that much, just his ass… his tight and toned ass.

“Do you wanna?”

Scarlet paused for a moment, she tried to lie and deny the tanned girl’s cheeky question, but at her suggestion, she was already envisioning it and could feel the blood rush back to her cheeks. “...Yeah.”

“Hey, I get it, we all have needs, just make that boy wear a rubber, okay? I know a girl who had to repeat a year because she was too pregnant to attend classes. I don't wanna see that with you, got it?” she said, somewhat teasingly, but just as, if not more so, seriously. Scarlet, for her part, just laughed nervously. She obviously couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t into him in that way after what she’d just admitted, and to be fair, she wasn’t wrong. In fact, if the goal had been to scare her, that had more than done the trick.

“Bliiitz? Are you in there?” the voice of Sarasvati called out from the front. Blitz wasn’t too surprised, it wasn’t hard to track her down, especially if she wasn’t with her team. If she wasn’t at The Lookout or the gym, then it was a pretty safe bet that she was working. As she and Scarlet exited the back room, she was surprised to see a familiar face. It took a second for her to recognise the blond woman next to her friend, but the moment she did, she lit up, both literally and figuratively.

“Oh my gods, Durga!” In a flash of light, Blitz had closed the distance, running up to the woman and lifting her off her feet into a tight hug. The older woman groaned as if the hug was wringing her out, but still returned it, warmly wrapping her arms around the girl’s head.

“Careful, one of these days you'll run right through me if you're not careful.” she gasped out as she was set back on her feet. Getting her bearings, she noticed the horned girl watching them from the back. “Oh, who's your friend?”

“Oh this is Scarlet, she's a Beacon student here for the festival. Scarlet, this is Durga, Sarasvati’s mom. Don’t worry, she’s super cool.” Blitz said, flashing back over to Scarlet to introduce her to the woman before flashing back to Dura in order to introduce her to the woman. In the middle of this, a co-worker of Blitz’s walked in, completely ignoring the display as they dropped off a large package onto the counter before walking right back out, leaving the job to them. “Son of a- hey, Sarasvati, can you help me in putting this up real fast, I've been dragging Scarlet with me all day.”

“It's nice to meet you, your daughter’s really cool.” Scarlet greeted, none the wiser to the feeling that was coming off of her. Durga, however, could , a warm contradicting feeling that was almost impossible to put into words, like pins and needles without the prickly feeling, or electricity without the spark. Magic, though not much, just a faint, residual amount left upon her that would never truly fade, much like the same aura Sarasvati carried from her.

“You as well, Scarlet.” After a moment, she recognized the girl in front of her. She’d already pieced together that she was related to a Maiden in some aspect, but upon remembering that Blitz said she was from Beacon, and the sensationalized incident at Beacon just under two decades ago, it clicked. “You’re Fall’s daughter, right?”

“You know my mom?” Scarlet whispered, quickly pulling her hand back, worried. It was sort of a new feeling, typically the people who recognized her knew her from her dad, but knowing what her mom had done, and the sort of people who recognized her for it, worried her even more, that once again, her parents actions would ruin things for her. “Do you hate her like everyone else?”

“For what she did a lifetime ago? No. Besides, motherhood changes you, I was a whole different person before having Sarasvati. You quite literally wouldn't be able to recognize me when I was around your age.” she said playfully, trying to joke around to ease the tension, but it didn’t work, as Scarlet’s amber eyes never fully met her own light brown, yet there was this mixture of hurt and anger she could still see clearly. “Do you hate her?”

“No! No I- I'm just so mad I don't want to even look at her.” Scarlet said quickly, finding the idea absurd she could never hate her own mom. That was part of why it hurt so much, because after everything they’d done, she should have, she absolutely should have… but the thought never seriously crossed her mind. She was mad, furious even, but she didn’t want that to ruin things between them. “I… don't wanna say something I can't take back.”

“I’m sure there's nothing you can say to her that she hasn't told herself.” 

“I thought you said you didn't know her.” Scarlet pointed out, getting a small giggle from the woman.

“I don't, but she raised someone selfless enough to want to become a Huntress. That tells me more than I need to know.” She hadn’t been expecting that sort of answer, and it actually gave her pause. No one else had bothered to give her family the benefit of the doubt that they could have changed, all the negative things she’d heard had just sort of… stuck to her. Yet, here was this complete stranger looking at it from another way, that maybe what they’d done wasn’t wholly unforgivable.

“Alright, I'm done, let's go find the others!” Blitz announced as she and Sarasvati suddenly came through the doors, startling Scarlet.

“Well I'll leave you girls to it then.” Durga said, getting ready to report back to Theodore when a familiar flash pulled in front of her, arms on her hips with a smirk.

“Oh no ya’ don't, you've been gone too long.” Sarasvati said in a sing-song voice as she came up behind her mother, linking their arms. Scarlet, seeing what was happening here, quickly joined in, doing the same on her other side.

“C'mon old lady, afraid we'll leave you behind?” Durga scoffed, but had already given in, Theo’s report could wait one afternoon.

“Darling, if you think being in your forties is old, then you've got another thing coming. Okay then, I think I can spare some time to see what it is that passes for fun at your age nowadays.”

Jet sat, staring down at the blueprints before him, scowling as if trying to intimate the drawing into making sense, because he certainly couldn't make them work. This was why he stuck with guns, guns were simple and efficient, not like this overcomplicated mecha-shift exoskeleton arm design he was desperately trying to make work on a conceptual level. The design was just too bulky and impractical, but he'd already trimmed everything that wasn't essential for offense and defense, and even still, the only practical way to make it work was a full body rig system that would severely hamper his movements. It was just so… frustrating, he'd never hit this sort of roadblock before, after two weeks he'd normally at least have a functional baseline design to experiment with, so this much time passing with zero progress to show for it only made the approaching deadline all the more pervasive in his mind. Even if his team assured him it was a while away and he had plenty of time, he wanted to work out all the kinks before the tournament and he couldn’t do that if he was still stuck at the drawing board. 

If he’d gone into the tournament expecting to need said upgrades, he’d have already done them. For all their faults, BGEL was a skilled team, Belka was a better shot than even he was, Goose made combat look effortless, Lao was arguably better at hand to hand combat than Jin, and Elizabeth’s Semblance was, frankly, busted. While it was easy to chalk their earlier loss up to their awful teamwork, he couldn't ignore that SABL was good, far better than he'd expected. They'd completely dismantled his friends, easily scoping out and playing around their weaknesses, weaknesses his team shared. What he immediately focused on was his and Belka's overreliance on ranged combat, as while they were more than competent in that role, the rest of their friends had less than stellar options for ranged combat. Hell, Jin’s kit literally had no ranged options to speak of whatsoever. Fortunately, the designs for the rest of his team had been easy to figure out. For Scarlet, he looked to Adam’s own sheath and worked backwards, a one to one design wouldn't work given the fundamental differences in how they fought,  and he had a feeling Scarlet really wouldn't appreciate it either. Lumi’s was simpler, really, his designs could be considered more so attachments rather than full on upgrades, but considering her reverence for her weapon, he wasn't going to start work on them any time soon. Jin’s was by far the easiest, mostly due to the fact that, at close range, he was already as dangerous as he possibly could be, so he just designed a revolver like system to give him a ranged option so he wasn't useless once he was five feet away. Then came his own upgrades, hence the problem. He wasn't a melee fighter, and while sure, he knew the basics of how to use a blade, but when compared to most people who'd been developing their skills for years, it wouldn't make much of a difference. So, without much other choice, he was left looking for a way to enhance his hand to hand abilities. While he realistically couldn't match someone like Jin or Lao in skill, he wouldn't need to against most opponents, so enhancing his speed and strength was his best bet, leading to his current struggles with the exoskeleton. Struggles that just about everyone could tell as he muttered about how the design was ‘overly complicated bullshit.’  and a ‘frankensteined mecha-shift abomination.’ Luna happened to be one of the many people who noticed and came over to his table, standing on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder at the blueprints and immediately cringing over the design, it was all… theoretically sound, but practically, it would be a nightmare.

“I don't think that's gonna work.” Luna muttered gently, pulling a chair up and sitting down, already trying to figure out how to fix the… interesting design she was looking at.

“I know, at this point I'm ready to give up and just scrap the mecha-shift for something I can just summon and slide on.” The idea was tempting, mostly because of how it’d be so much simpler, all he'd need to do was build a full sleeve of armor that he kept stocked with Dust beforehand. But that design came with a few downsides, the biggest of which was that it defeated the basic purpose of the weapon, which was to have it in case of an emergency. He couldn't really roll the dice on the odds of him having enough time to summon and then equip it if he was backed into a corner.

“Well, if you want a collapsible design, you might have to think about making them smaller, like just covering your hands up to your elbow.” 

“It has to completely cover my arms, because if it's just exerting the force on the end, it'll end up dislocating them.” Luna slumped forward, resting her chin in her hands as she looked down at the exoskeleton, looking over his notes, trying to brainstorm a solution. Unfortunately her experience with melee was even more minimal than his own, and it made her think, particularly about how she really hoped his new weapon didn't give Juliet any ideas about her own lack of close combat options. She could punch now thanks to Jin, and she'd even practiced when she could! On that same thought, she remembered how he'd been dragged along to that same training and hadn't liked the idea either, yet now he was specifically designing a weapon specifically for hand to hand, a curious change in attitude.

“I thought you didn't like getting close when you fought?” He didn't, and he never would, why anyone would prefer melee weapons utterly mystified him when there were perfectly good guns that were, on average, far more effective and easier to learn. But, seeing his shortcomings in Belka's own had been a wakeup call, hopefully for her as well, but he could only really fix his own problems presently.

“I don't, but it's better to be safe than sorry.” Luna nodded, agreeing even if she still didn't think it applied to her. Nope! She was perfectly fine without getting in close to the fight, no siree! Back to the project, she leaned in close to the blueprints, and started taking stock of their internals. Part of the issue was that the Dust lines ran inside of the armor, which meant they had to be far enough removed as to not interfere with, or worse, get caught, in the mecha-shift systems. The only issue was with how much he needed to flow to achieve the power he was looking for, that ended up restricted his movements.

“Maybe if you made it less armored so you don't need as much Dust? Oh, or maybe have the Dust tubes run over the metal rather than under it?” Jet just shook his head at the suggestion.

“Then they're a massive weak point, and without them, it's just slowing my draw and screwing with my aim instead of giving a boost in combat.” Ah, now that she thought about it, that made sense, although the mental image of Jet walking into battle with a literal glowing weak point like a video game enemy made her giggle. From a table over, another set of eyes and ears listened in on their conundrum, and upon hearing about the issue, he had some thoughts of his own.

“Dust infusion.” Anga muttered to himself as he sodered the wires of his gloves back into place after one had been damaged in training. Next to him, Ken tilted his head as, from his perspective, it seemed like his friend was just talking to himself, which wasn’t exactly uncommon when he got stuck in his own head.

“What was that buddy?” 

“They’re trying to figure out how to make an armor-plated powered exoskeleton for his arms and keep it collapsible without sacrificing power, the answer is Dust infusion.”

“Oh, cool.” The Faunus wasn’t gonna pretend he really understood how that would solve their problem but he trusted his friend enough to know that was more than likely the solution. After a moment of silence and waiting for the bluenette to make some sort of move, or even to just yell the solution at them, he started to impatiently scoot closer until he was right next to Anga, who only glanced in his direction. Ugh, did he really need to spell it out? “Are you gonna tell them?”

“No.”

“Seriously?”

“If I help, then all I'm doing is lowering our own chances at victory in the tournament. We benefit in absolutely no way from me helping.” Ken listened to the explanation with a flat, unimpressed expression

“You know this is why you only have friends in KRMA, right?” Ken teased, stretching as he leaned back, plopping down and using his friend’s lap as a sort of makeshift pillow, blinking innocently as Anga scowled at him from above. 

“I'll be fine.” he said flatly as he turned in his seat, Ken jumping up a moment before he could lose balance. The boy sighed, really starting to be annoyed by the weird results first mindset his teammate maintained at all times. There were two people right there working on engineering and techy stuff too advanced for him to understand when his antisocial ass needed friends, but instead he was too worried about giving them some nebulous advantage they could get from him. Well, as team leader he couldn’t just let such a sad mindset go on now, could he?

“Oops.” he said, making a dramatic show of pulling the glasses off his friend's face and heading over to the table Jet and Luna were seated at.

“Don't you da-” Anga stopped himself, knowing it was fruitless and getting up to follow his leader.

“Hey there, I'm Ken, whatcha working on?” the boy said quickly, not giving either of them time to actually answer as he leaned in and pretended to know what he was looking at. “Oh, an exoskeleton for your arms? Sick!”

“Oh, are you an engineer? We could use some help.” Luna asked, visibly excited at a possible third set of eyes on their problem. 

“Nah, I don't really know much about that stuff, Anga here's a genius though!” he said proudly just as the taller boy came over, snatching his glasses back with a huff, clearly not appreciating being thrust into the position he was in, where, if he walked away, it would look like he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You're having trouble powering a collapsible design, right?” Anga asked rhetorically as he pulled a seat up and pointed to the tubing on the blueprints, immediately identifying the problem. “Offensive mechashift technology is notoriously difficult with armor integration unless you’re using a prosthetic, but you can bypass that if you instead integrate metals that can conduct Dust energy rather than having a standard power system.”

“That’s-” Jet was ready to dismiss the idea, having convinced himself that nothing would work at this point, but the more he thought about it, the more possible it sounded. He'd never worked with Dust channeling materials before, seemed overly flashy and impractical, but from his understanding, it wouldn’t be difficult, he’d just need to pick a metal that could channel Dust as a base and it would transfer the charge, and with it, the energy, throughout the weapons. Almost like a switch had been flipped in his head, the design he wanted went from impractical at best to suddenly seeming like child’s play. “That… might work.”

“I think it's a good idea, we can look into what alloys channel Dust without sacrificing strength!” Luna chimed in excitedly, eager to tackle the design with this new discovery.

“You know, I could tell you were a smart cookie.” Ken said, scooting a little closer to Luna, a move that may have gone over Luna’s head as the girl was simply happy to receive praise; it was not missed by his friend however.

“Kenneth Katt, what did I tell you about fraternizing with the enemy?” Anga snapped, causing Ken to wince and Jet and Luna to flinch.

“Enemy?” Initially, Jet couldn’t help but be put off by the weird phrasing he used, but then he remembered the looming tournament. Still a weird choice of words in his eyes, but then again, he was part of Beacon’s designated weird team, so maybe he didn’t have room to talk. “Oh, right, Goose said you guys were an Atlas team right?”

“Goose? You guys are from Beacon too?” Ken asked, eager to change the subject, something Luna was similarly happy to coax along.

“Yup! I'm Luna from JWEL, Jet's from SJJL.”

“Oh cool, how do you guys know BGEL?”

“Oh yeah, I know them, Lao's really nice, he's helping me learn to meditate!” At the mention of Lao’s gender, Ken’s smile faltered, meanwhile the corners of Anga’s lips raised ever so slightly, though Jet couldn’t tell if it was because he had known and just chosen not to say anything, or if he was just happy to see his friends flirting backfire.

“Lao’s a guy !?” Ken asked, hiding his face in embarrassment over the mistake. “Ah man, I hit on him!”

“You hit on his friend too.”

“Well yeah but she liked it, now I just feel like some kinda creep.” Ken lamented further, the way Lao looked around as if he didn’t know who Ken was talking to when he made a move suddenly making much more sense. Gods above, he must have come across as such a weirdo…

“Goose likes everyone, probably best not to read into it.” Jet said matter of factly, finding the idea of Goose being wooed by the boy in front of him a bit too out there to believe, especially if he was shameless enough to hit on Lao. 

“I don't think you're a creep.” Luna said, giving him a soft smile. It sounded like an honest mistake, Lao was a very pretty boy after all, and if she didn’t know he was a he, she’d think he was a she too.

“Thanks…” Eager to change the subject once more, Ken looked down at the blueprints, unable to make heads or tails of it. “So uh, wanna tell me how this stuff works? I kinda feel like the only one here who doesn't get this stuff.” 

Anga raised an eyebrow at Ken’s question, as it seemed genuine as far as he could tell, and as Luna went about explaining the concept, he didn’t butt in with inane compliments or bad pick up lines. Well, there really was a first time for everything.

“You are not touching Crocea Mors.” Normally Jet would have been disappointed or even frustrated at Lumi’s straight-up refusal at the mere mention of him touching her prized possession, but honestly, it was what he’d been expecting, she didn’t even let Jin touch it, so the chances she’d let him actually alter it was a pipe dream at best. Still, he had to try.

“It’s a simple attachment for the hilt, I wouldn’t even be altering the blade in any way.” It was technically a lie, he’d probably have to make a new crossguard to accommodate the dust channeling system and actually attach it to the blade but what she didn’t know wouldn't hurt her. Even still, Lumi was not having it, stopping dead in her tracks and facing him with her arms crossed over her chest and a look that was probably meant to be angry, but was just more pouty than anything.

“No, even if I trusted your craftsmanship with my life, I’d need to consult both my father and grandfather before I even considered letting you alter my family heirloom.” Jet sighed, he didn’t really understand why she was so against changing the weapon, but then again, he didn’t really have any heirlooms passed down through the generations, so maybe it was just a lack of perspective? Either way, he decided to stop pushing, happy his proposal got shot down before he had already purchased all the necessary pieces. Okay, back to the drawing board, maybe a pistol grip for her dagger or something? He’d run it by her later.

Alongside the pair walked Lao, carrying most of the materials for the upgrades. He hadn’t really been paying attention to their discussion outside of the basics, not wanting to eavesdrop on what was a personal discussion. Looking up into the air, Lao took a moment to bask at the Atleasian fleet that loitered over the city, their vast shapes providing momentary reprieve from the sun. From what his father had told him, the first time Atlas had provided military security to the Festival was rather controversial, being a surprise gesture from Elizabeth’s father, who had been the presiding general at the time, though many saw it as a display of power, or worse yet, a threat. However, after the attack that transpired, many found it unthinkable to even consider holding the bi-annual event without the protection given by Atlas, as despite the fact that it had horribly backfired, it gave a sense of security that was desperately needed for the event to continue, the arrival of the military fleet now marking another milestone in the preparations. Personally, he didn’t care much either way, as with all the Huntsmen present, the battalion of soldiers felt redundant, but so far, none of them had made themselves a problem, which was nice.  

“So Lao, Elizabeth tells me you’ve been doing more meditation than usual. Is everything okay?” Lumi asked, trying to get a read on the boy. Even after knowing him for years, his stone still face was near impossible to read, though she could still pick up on him through other means. The moment of silence that followed her question was particularly telling from him.

“I’ve been finding it more difficult to clear my mind lately. It's… frustrating.” Jet winced, he'd never even seen the smaller boy complain before. Maybe he was reading into it too much, but hearing Lao outright say how he was feeling felt like a cry for help.

“I’ll talk with my dad about setting some time aside for the two of you to talk soon.” she said, reaching over and stroking her friends back gently, immediately feeling the tension in his back.

“That’s not necessary, I wouldn't want to interfere with his perso-”

“No buts, you’re family Lao, we watch out for each other, and besides, it’s the least I could do after you agreed to help Jet carry the materials for our upgrades.” Lumi said, cutting him off. “Especially since a certain pair of dunces ditched us.”

Jet paused, taking note of the hypocritical way she complained about Scarlet and Jin’s absence despite the fact that she wasn’t carrying anything either, instead handing off all the bags and boxes to Lao. He considered mentioning it for a brief moment, but as if he could read his mind, Lao just gently shook his head in a silent “no”. Eventually, they reached a small outdoor food court, no restaurants were around but multiple food trucks had been set up around it. Lumi nearly retched as she saw Jin and Scarlet sitting, each having a disgustingly greasy meal in front of them.

“There you two are, how dare you! Leaving Lao and Jet to carry all those materials by themselves, seriously!?”

“Oh, sorry man, I forgot, Scarlet saw these fried cheese sticks and she said they were amazing.” Jin said, genuinely apologetic even if it didn't come through as well with a mouth full of cheese. Lao’s blank face faltered for a brief moment, previously unexposed to such an outlandish idea. Just a fried stick of cheese, did people really eat that? Apparently so, as Jin took another bite as Scarlet wolfed down her second piece. “They’re actually pretty good.”

“Hey, where are your bags?” Scarlet asked, unable to help notice that, despite being the only one complaining, Lumi was doing none of the actual work.

“I couldn’t carry that, it’s far too heavy.” Her partner tried to dismiss the question, but she didn't plan on letting her get away with such a lousy excuse. Thankfully, she didn't have to, as it was so bad even Jin was able to call it out.

“You have Aura, you could literally bench press a car.” Jin pointed out, having plenty of experience with how much Aura could boost someone physically, and knowing Lumi arguably had higher Aura reserves than the rest of them combined, knew she could’ve easily carried everything herself if she'd wanted.

“Well- yes, maybe, but it’s different in this heat. Besides, they’re only doing the gentlemanly thing, they could have refused.” The excuses just kept rolling out, huh? Realizing the hole she'd dug herself into, she tried to end the conversation, but most of the group had stopped paying attention as one of the several soldiers also eating a meal had stopped eating and begun to sneak up behind Lumi. He lifted his visor, revealing his face, and a familiar looking set of bright blue eyes looked over Lumi, simultaneously raising his fingers to his lips in a shushing motion. Scarlet didn’t recognise him at all, though he did look vaguely familiar, but really none of that mattered, she saw the opportunity for some fun and took it, egging Lumi on further.

“Aww, would they hurt your widdle pwincess muscles?” 

“Seriously? Baby talk? Of all your taunts, that has to be the most pathe -TICK!” Despite failing to make Lumi annoyed, the sheer childishness of her taunt had her attention long enough for the soldier to get in close and lift her into a bear hug that took her off guard. “Put me down!”

“No way! I haven't seen you for half a year!” Wait a damned minute, she knew that voice!

“Nicholas Arc-Schnee, you put me down this instant you little brat!”

“From where I’m standing, you’re the little one.”

“ Nick !” Chuckling, he finally set his sister down, accepting the punch to his shoulder that came after as she huffed with embarrassment. After taking a moment to thoroughly scowl up at him, she couldn't keep it up anymore, rolling her eyes to try and hide her smile. “Despite your impressively juvenile greeting… it is good to see you.”

“Sorry, I really did miss you.” Lumi sighed at his words, giving in and leaning in to give him a proper hug. After having her younger brother around almost her entire life, she'd have been lying if she had said she hadn't missed his presence as well. As the hug parted, he looked back over to the group again. “So, are you gonna introduce me to your friends?”

“This is Jet, he's smart but a bit dense and a smart ass. Your co-conspirator with the horns is Scarlet, a crude and immature hothead, but she grows on you.”

“Sounds a lot like Ágrios.” he chuckled, able to envision Scarlet and Lumi getting into the same petty squabbles that he and his squadmate did. “Nice to meet you guys, I’m Nick. It’s nice to see Lumi with some friends, outside of Jin, Lao, and Liz, that is, she spent most of her time just training.”

“Yeah, we tried to kill each other at first, but we’re all cool now.” The blunt response got a laugh from Nick who was ready to tease his big sister some more when he noticed her embarrassingly avoiding his eyes. It clicked a moment later that this was probably the same girl she'd gotten into a fight with at the start of the year.

“You joined the military?” Lao thankfully asked, cutting through the awkward tone the joke had set.

“Yup, Penny and Uncle Ironwood helped set me up under Colonel Nasturtium. Honestly, it's not all bad, I was expecting someone like Aunt Winter, but she's pretty cool once you've been around her.” 

“You’re looking even bigger man, they’re feeding you good, huh?” Jin asked, bumping his fist against the other boy's chest. It wasn't quite on his level of muscle, but his figure was respectable to say the least.

“I wouldn’t say good, but yeah, lots of protein. I bet I'm catching up to you.”

“Little Nicky’s all grown up!” Jin declared with genuine pride in the boy despite them being rather close in age.

“We’re third wheeling this, aren’t we?” Jet asked as he and Scarlet awkwardly stood there, not really having anything to add to the small reunion.

“Yeah, feels like it…” she shrugged, not really minding. Besides, it gave them some one-on-one time. “Hey, let’s give them a minute, I wanna talk with you real quick.”

It was less a suggestion and more of a warning as she grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him away. He wasn’t bothered by it, following her lead until they got a fair bit away.

“So, what’s up?” Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, Scarlet pulled a folded up magazine page from her pocket, unfolding it and holding it open for Jet to see, instantly making his mouth go dry. It was a black shoulderless dress, he didn't know what exactly it was called, but it had a few layers aside from the soft and form fitting fabric that made up the base. The skirt itself consisted of two layers, the outer layer being a long, flowing, open front drape style skirt that reached down to her ankles, while the inner layer was more tight, but remained loose enough for comfortable movement, with both layers ending with red ruffles at their very edges. There were also a few layers of frills that covered the chest of the wearer, and gloves that reached all the way up past the elbows, ending with a laced edge. Finally, the outfit came with laced leggings that were held up by garter belts.

“What do you think?” That he wanted to see her in it this very second, it was already an alluring dress on the model, he could scarcely comprehend what it’d look like on her. He couldn’t actually say that of course, so he just opened his mouth and let words fall out.

“It’s… certainly a dress.”

“Very observant. How do you think it’d look on me , dummy?” Hot, insanely hot . Just from the image alone, he could see that the dress would hug her figure in the best ways, and those garter belts on her thighs? Fuck. Wait, no, damn it, what was wrong with him? This was Scarlet , he couldn’t be thinking this way about her! Sure, she was attractive, and with her dirty mind she probably assumed he thought this way anyways, but she was his friend , it wasn’t right to imagine her like that ! With his mind muddied with thoughts of Scarlet, he opened his mouth, saying the first thing that came to mind.

“It’s kinda… girly isn’t it?”

“I can like girly things!” Scarlet huffed, stomping her foot. Turning the paper back around, she looked it over once more. She guessed the dress was kinda frilly now that she looked at it, did that really fit her? Maybe this was just him trying to be polite and say she shouldn’t wear it… She frowned at the picture, having never picked out a dress before, she was worried she’d picked something that might make her look like a kid or something. “Do you think it’d look bad?”

“No!” he said quickly, too quickly . He coughed, trying to play it off in hopes that she didn’t notice. To his dismay, Scarlet definitely noticed it too, her small frown tilting upward into a smirk as she started to catch on. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, it was that he really liked it! “I mean, what does it matter what I think? You’d make it look good either way.”

“It matters because I’m thinking of wearing it to the dance. I talked with Lumi, and she said she’d get it if I actually showed up.” Still focusing on avoiding the mental image of Scarlet in that dress, he almost missed her saying she was going to the dance, a surprise as they’d usually sat out of those kinds of events in favor of just staying home and playing video games or going out into the woods to hang out. He couldn’t help but wonder what was so different this time.

“You’re going to that thing?”

“Yup, I don’t have a date yet though…”

“Wait, so why get all dressed up if no one’s taking you?” Scarlet paused, not knowing how to take the obvious hint going over his head like that, especially since she’d assumed Jet was smarter than that. Was this what Lumi felt with Jin? Because man, it was frustrating.

“Uh, I wanna look hot? Buuut, if you’re not doing anything, maybe we could go together?” Jet’s mind worked overtime to see if he’d heard that wrong, but no matter how he thought about it, that was an obvious invitation to go to the dance with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, even if it might be a little weird taking his best friend on what was unavoidably a date, they’d always had fun together in weirder situations, but he had their equipment to work on.

“I don’t know if I’ll be free then…”

“It’s like a month and a half away!” she said, calling out his blatant cop-out answer, frustration bubbling up to the surface. What was this? Because it went past the simple ‘ guys can’t read a hint’ cliche, there was literally no other way to see her offer as anything but an invitation.

“Yeah, and I need that time to build prototypes for all our upgrades, and work with everyone to test them, and work out all the kinks before the end of the tournament.” To be fair, she knew he wasn’t lying about the project taking as long as it would, Jet was meticulous and it took him a while before he was satisfied with his own equipment, let alone equipment for three other people, but it was just one day . Was he just not into her? Was this him trying to let her off easy? Dammit, why couldn’t he just give her a straight answer instead of whatever this was? 

“Okay, screw my upgrades then. Boom, you just got a bunch of free time!”

“Scarlet, no.” Jet said, firmly shutting her down. “Besides, isn’t this sorta stuff what couples do? I don’t wanna make things weird or anything, we’re just friends after all.”

That… stung. More than she’d expected it to. Damn it, how could she be so stupid, she should have seen this coming. ‘ Like a sister’ that was what he always said, wasn’t it?

“Fine, you don’t have to go, sorry I wanted to go do something fun with my friend .” she muttered coldly, pushing past him as she stomped back over to rejoin the group.

After a few moments of blankly looking at where Scarlet once was, Jet’s brain started working properly again, and as he stood there, one singular thought ran through his head. 

“... What just happened?”

Chapter Text

K didn't know how a place that felt like it was boiling him alive could suddenly turn to bitter cold in just the span of a few hours, and at this point he didn't care, it was just another reason for him to hate this Brothers' forsaken desert. He'd waited until the dead of night to go into the auto shop he'd given the address of, never could be too careful with these things, though a warning about the godsdamned cold would've helped. It wasn't any of the big chains he was familiar with, simply adorned with neon blue lettering that read 'Azure's 24 Hour Auto Repair', not that he was surprised, seeing as it was just a front for a chop shop and black market dealings anyway.

From what he'd been told, there was no password or other etiquette needed, the man he'd be doing business with was apparently expecting him, so he just walked in and made his way to the back. Even at this hour there was a skeleton crew working on the vehicles, though he couldn't tell from a glance if they were legitimate repairs, or simply refurbishing some poor sod's stolen car for resale. The workers ignored him, save for one, what looked to be the supervisor, who spotted him immediately, leaving the car they were working on as he wandered the garage. He didn't look like much, certainly not weak by any means, but any intimidation factor he had was ruined by a pronounced beer-gut offsetting his larger frame. The nametag on his partially opened overalls, smeared in grease and oil, read 'Azure'.

"Are ya armed?" he asked bluntly, confusing his client, as he hadn't been warned of any policy against weapons. It especially stood out considering he could see the clear outline of a handgun stowed away inside the waist of his jumpsuit.

"Would you really believe me if I said no?" K saw no reason to lie, raising his left arm and lightly shaking it to emphasize the shackle. Seeing this, Azure laughed and motioned for the man to follow him as he headed back towards one of the cars that was currently lowered on one of the hydraulic lifts.

"Can't say I would, no."

The casual answer confirmed his suspicions that it was some sort of honesty check rather than any actual concerns over a weapon on the premises. It was a strange practice in his eyes, he'd never fully bought into the whole 'honor amongst thieves' mentality many of his fellow less than ethical mercenaries and criminals displayed, but if it made doing business easier, then he could bite his tongue and let the man think whatever he wanted.

"The boy said you were looking for something for a ranged attachment, or something along those lines?"

"Does he always run his mouth so easily?" K asked, fairly irritated by the pilot's continued lack of discretion.

While he'd made finding this dealer easier, it was becoming apparent that he was more trouble than he was worth. He'd cut ties with the man and send a warning to his friend who'd recommended him as a courtesy, but if he pushed his luck past that, he'd just kill the pilot and be done with it. He wasn't going to deal with someone with so little common sense.

"Unfortunately, yeah. He's been warned there'll be problems if he keeps it up, but that's not our problem at the moment." Azure muttered, sounding similarly displeased with their associate.

He pressed a button on the lift, raising up not just the car, but the slab of concrete beneath the lift, revealing a hidden stairway. It wasn't particularly deep down, maybe ten feet at most, and upon reaching the bottom, K was met with a room filled from wall to wall with weaponry and components for custom equipment. Most of it wasn't even illegal by Vacuo's standards, but considering the healthy bounty hunting scene here thanks to the near complete absence of traditional law enforcement, it was better to avoid any sort of paper trail, no matter how small.

"So, what're ya buyin'?"

"A laser emitter, one of the 8000 series if you have them, without the built in dust lenses."

"Ah, the recalled model. Hate to tell ya', but that little oversight was caught long before they shipped any to Vacuo."

Damn it, he knew it was a long shot, especially since those particular pieces had been getting rarer and rarer. The specific make he was looking for had been equipped with a higher grade prototype emitter that was more powerful than the standard variant being sold to Huntsmen. Unfortunately, it was also a highly unstable piece that broke rather easily, hence the rarity and coveted status.

"Y'know, if you're looking to boost your fire power, plasma casters are stronger. Sure, it's kinda hard to beat the speed of light, but if you're against something that quick, it probably won't make a huge difference."

"Plasma Dust burns out too quickly, extra firepower won't do me any good if it overheats in the middle of a fight." Nodding along, a smile broke out on Azure's face, seeing an opportunity.

"Looking for something strong but more reliable than plasma, huh? Well if that's the case I do have something better, but it's gonna cost you a lot more."

Walking over to one of the tables that dotted the room, he grabbed one of the tarps, pulling it off of what was unmistakably an emitter. However, it clearly was never meant to be used as a personal weapon, the singular part being about the size of a small dog. "One Atlesian military grade emitter. I'd be willing to part with it for twenty million Lien."

"Never had my hands on one like that, what are they typically used for?" K did his best not to appear too interested in the piece, but he just couldn't keep from looking at it, already thinking of how to rework the Thanatos cannon to work with this thing.

"Other than punching through the armor of a Goliath? This particular model was taken off one of those fancy new mechs Atlas made to replace the Paladin series a few years back."

Despite being unfamiliar with the part, he was very eager to change that. With the proper adjustments, a much weaker laser could still be devastating, and he could only imagine what he could make this monster into.

"Of course, if you'd like to have it built into your weapon, we can do that too, for an additional fee of course."

"With all due respect, I prefer to make adjustments to my weapons myself." And including this piece would absolutely require adjustments, but he'd already decided it was more than worth it. He took out the amount asked for and handed it over, in turn receiving the part in an unassuming black backpack.

"No problem, if you change your mind or decide you need any other parts, you know where to find us."

As they reached the top, a familiar face was coming in, or rather, being dragged in as the pilot struggled against two larger men dragging him, one of them punching him square in the temple for his troubles. For a brief moment, he went limp from the impact, dangling from the thugs' arms until they passed K and Azure. Seeing the mercenary, he jolted towards the man, desperately trying to get away.

"K! K help! Tell them I didn't blab, tell them I only told you, that there was no one else around, I swear!"

His desperate cries were met with apathy by the mercenary, who stared blankly after the group as he was dragged down the stairs.

"Sorry about that, really. I hate to do this, but we take discretion quite seriously here in Vacuo. We can't have Bounty Hunters or Huntsmen snooping about. You understand, don't you?"

The implications were obvious, and while K wasn't intimidated by Azure's poorly veiled threat, he didn't move to help or even speak for the man as he was dragged past them and down the stairs, the section of concrete lowering back itself into place behind him. This wasn't his problem, nor was it his fault. No one had made him act like an idiot, this was just a reality of the job, that most people weren't cut out to be criminals, and those who tried anyway were dealt with quickly.

"Of course not, it's terrible for business." K said, shaking Azure's hand as a pair of muffled gunshots emanated out from the hidden room below.

"Mama said they were somewhere around here…" Jin mumbled, squinting over the crowd he watched carefully for the familiar faces of his family, or if nothing else, Mommy's long golden mane or Mama's distinctive cat ears.

Typically, it was easy to spot the two of them out of a crowd, given their rather unique features and how they contrasted with one another, but he saw nothing. Glancing down at his Scroll, he double-checked to make sure everything was fine, that they hadn't changed plans or anything, but found nothing different, just the same text inviting him and his team to meet up after classes at the strip mall across from Azure's Auto Repair that he'd received an hour or so ago.

"Well help us out then, what do they look like?" Jet asked, glancing around, though not actually knowing what he was looking for aside from a pair of women around his own parents' age and a pair of twins Lupin's age, who, like Jin, were monkey Faunus.

"I'm imagining one of them just looks like Jin, but as a chick with a huge rack." Scarlet added. She said it in her usual way, looking around the group like it was meant to be taken as a joke, but Jet noticed that, whenever her eyes rested on him, that playful smirk faded from her face.

At first, he dismissed it, but then again, she had been pretty moody around him ever since that weird interaction they'd had at the food court a few days ago, clearly still mad at him despite claiming she was 'cool'. It was a strange feeling, given that they'd rarely ever fought in the past. The last time he could remember was a few years ago, bickering over something stupid about swords versus guns, Scarlet had been trying to get him to get some sort of melee weapon and their debate had devolved into personal insults. He couldn't remember which one of them crossed the line first, but it had ended with them not talking for a couple of weeks. They'd made up, of course, just like they would over this, it wasn't like he was blowing her off for nothing, and besides, since when did she care about stuff like dances anyway?

"That's… not too far off actually." Lumi begrudgingly admitted as she similarly looked around, having even worse luck due to her tiny stature rendering her unable to see over most of the crowd.

Jin just shrugged, not worried in the slightest, they were probably just running late again. It wasn't too unusual for them to fall behind, Mommy had a bad habit of running late, often procrastinating until the last second and subsequently getting sidetracked by everything that she'd put off crashing down on her at once, which, when paired with his and the twin's natural curiosity and tendency to get distracted, it really wasn't hard to see why they were almost never on time for things.

"Hey Imma go grab some pizza, they're probably just running late because of the twins. You guys want some too?"

"Oh hell yeah I do! I'm coming with, I gotta make sure they don't try to screw me over with the extra cheese." Scarlet said, lighting up at the sound of food, especially since her favorite ingredient was an option.

Her teammates didn't miss the change in mood, Jet adopting a minor frown at her response. It was something he never thought he'd do in response to her cheering up, but the key detail lay in that it was seemingly a result of her being able to get away from him. Logically, he knew it was just her being a cheese fiend, but for some reason, he just couldn't shake the feeling, no matter how hard he reminded himself.

Lumi noticed as well, but just scoffed at her childish glee over some over-processed dairy.

"What is it with you and cheese?"

"What is it with you not liking cheese?" Scarlet shot back, pouting at Lumi for being so judgemental before she and Jin left the pair to go grab food.

Scarlet let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in as she entered the pizza parlor. As usual, life had decided to pile her problems one after the other in a pattern that was growing worryingly common. Firstly, she was still pissed at Jet, she'd thought the trope of a dumb boy missing all the signs when a girl hit on him was only something that happened in those poorly written but weirdly good soap operas she and her mom watched together, but Jet's dense ass broke that misconception for her. Secondly, Mom had left another voicemail, more or less the same as before, which felt odd. She was never much of a caller as far as she could remember, but then again, maybe being so far away made her anxious. She'd almost called back and had even written out multiple texts, but could never bring herself to hit send.

As for her current predicament, she'd be meeting Jin's moms today, two more people Dad had wronged, this time in a much more intimate and personal way. Jin had, of course, assured her that there wouldn't be any problems, but a nagging voice in her head said otherwise. At first, she planned to just stay off to the side and hope they ignored her, but that plan was thrown to the side when she remembered that Miss Rose had recognized her almost immediately, so now her plan was to hide behind Jin in hopes that neither of them would give her hell. Speaking of Jin, she realized that, in her moment of contemplation, she'd somehow lost the six foot five beefcake. Looking around, she searched for any sign of the boy, eventually seeing a familiar tail and mop of blond hair already waiting in line.

"Hey Jin, c'mon, you can't just walk off on me dude." she said, walking up to the Faunus and grabbing his tail to turn him around, only for the owner of said tail to suddenly jump and spin around to face her in shock, quite rightfully so, as the sunglasses-wearing boy in front of her, while looking rather similar, was certainly not Jin, though the similarities in their appearances were uncanny. Realizing her mistake, she let go of his tail and raised her hands up in front of her chest to try and disarm the situation. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were my teammate."

The boy's family turned to see what was happening, revealing two women and one girl, who looked the same age as the boy whose tail she just pulled. On a closer look, they were pretty clearly twins, having the exact same dark yellow shade of hair and almost the exact same facial shape, to the point that she'd bet money that the boy's eyes were the same purple shade as his sister's past his sunglasses. Of the two women accompanying them, one was a Faunus like them, though with a set of feline ears perched atop her head, rather than some flavor of primate-derived trait, and the rest of her followed suit with this,not really looking like the kids at all. If anything, she looked more like Mom, hair black as midnight with striking amber eyes, fair skin, and a slender and lithe build.

The other woman, presumably her partner, was the exact opposite, with the same long blonde hair as the two kids, eyes just a few shades lighter than her children's, and a top-heavy build that practically screamed that she spent at least an hour each day punching something. However, the part most striking about her appearance was her right arm, or rather, the lack thereof, replaced by a prosthetic. The base prosthesis itself appeared to be a standard issue combat model like her mother's, but more modern if the sleeker shine was anything to go by, but what was really eye-catching was the golden shine of the armor plating along the forearm and the fist itself. Put simply, it was easily the most badass prosthetic she'd ever seen. The women both reacted with surprise at seeing her, the blonde instinctively pulling her son back from the newcomer, but the Faunus did a double take, seemingly in disbelief at who she was looking at.

"Scarlet?" Blake asked, shocked to see the young woman in front of her. She'd been mentally preparing to see the girl with Jin, not randomly bumping into her. While she could see the clear influence of her mother's genetics, there was no denying that crimson hair or those ebony horns. She was unmistakably Adam's child.

"How do you know my name?" As soon as she asked the question, it clicked. Two moms, and a set of twins with monkey tails. This was Jin's family.

Frankly, she felt stupid for not realizing it as soon as she laid eyes on them. A familiar anxiety crept its way into Scarlet's mind, the cool golden arm on the blonde suddenly shifting into a dreadful reminder of the bloody history between their families. The arm's owner gave her a once over, her gaze landing on Wilt before going stock still. With a blink, her soft lilac eyes bled into a fierce crimson that literally glowed with a mixture of recognition, fury, and a hint of fear that shook the girl on the receiving end to her core. Scarlet took a step back, not ready to be on the receiving end of the woman's wrath. Seeing her wife's reaction, Blake reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze that brought Yang out from her haze, her eyes growing softer in their gaze, but maintaining their glowing intensity and color.

"I met you once, when you were... three? Maybe four? You… look just like your father." Blake said, attempting to take Scarlet's attention off of Yang as she got herself under control.

Unfortunately, she'd put her foot in her mouth with the mention of Adam, as Scarlet flinched away, obviously used to a negative reaction to come after those words. The silent staredown continued for a few moments, the other patrons not paying attention to the small scene, however, the gentle giant known as Jin finally stumbled across his teammate and moms having some sort of weird staredown and tilted his head in silent confusion. He didn't stay silent for long though, quickly finding something about the scene to be very wrong.

"Guang, quit staring at her boobs." The unusually scolding voice of Jin suddenly spoke from behind her, alerting Scarlet and his family that Guang's gaze was pointed slightly downward at her exposed cleavage, which she immediately raised her arms to cover, shooting the boy a dirty look in response. The blonde's concentration on her was broken as she snorted, gently swatted her youngest in the back of his head using her less damaging left hand.

"Guang Belladonna-Xiao Long! We raised you better than that!" Despite scolding her son, Yang couldn't help but to laugh at his antics. "Sorry about him, boys and hormones and all that."

After the initial amusement had run its course, Jin embraced his moms, easily pulling them both into a tight embrace which they happily returned. After a long moment, he turned to his siblings, getting a similar reaction from his sister, but once he went to hug his brother, he was instead met with an outstretched fist looking to be met with another. This caused a line of teasing at the fifteen year old as Jin asked if he thought he was too cool to get a hug from his big brother, which he then proceeded to take by force, much to Guang's dismay and Liang's amusement.

Scarlet similarly watched with a quiet chuckle, but the anxiety wasn't all forgotten as she looked back at Yang. The woman met her gaze a moment later, not having forgotten about the less than stellar first impression she'd left on the girl, though this time, she was just happy to be met with the soft lilac of her eyes instead of the violent red she'd initially been met with.

"We're cool?" Scarlet asked, obviously more worried about the answer than the casual tone she failed to maintain was meant to show.

"Pft- over this?" Yang raised her robotic arm, casually popping it off and shaking it over her head for emphasis in a way Scarlet couldn't help but to giggle at, seeing the fancy metal flop around at the wrist. The woman smiled at seeing the anxiety melt from the redhead, thankful that she hadn't intimidated her oldest son's friend too much. "Nothin' to do with you kiddo. C'mon, your team's here, right? You guys can come eat with us."

Gathering the rest of SJJL was easy, Lumi similarly embraced the family as they met, warmly greeting the pair as her 'aunties' which made sense considering she wanted to jump Jin's bones, but considering she called Emerald her aunt as well, she thought better of making fun of her over it. It all felt… normal, sitting down with the rest of them under the umbrella covered table provided by the pizza parlor. No lingering animosities, no getting judged for her mom and dad's actions, just her friends and one of their families chowing down on pizza.

"Thanks for the food, we appreciate it. I'm Jet by the way." Seeing as Yang currently had her mouth stuffed, it fell on Blake to do the introductions, lest her beloved blonde start talking with her mouth full and get wet pizza chunks everywhere.

"It's nice to properly meet you two. I'm Blake, and this is my wife Yang. Jin's told us a lot about you both." she said, reaching out and shaking his hand. So this was her Jinzi's partner, hm? So far he fit the description, polite and right to the point. Of course, this information was filtered through Jin, who typically didn't have a bad word to say about most people, so she was sure there was more to him, but so far, she could see why Jin was happy to call him his friend.

"Holy crap, you're Mercury's kid!" Jet and Scarlet flinched at the volume from Yang, something the others seemed accustomed to.

"His last name didn't tell you that? Besides, he looks more like Emerald to me." Blake responded dryly. She'd never been close with the woman, even when she was undercover trying to get close with team RWBY, but she certainly remembered the woman who'd backstabbed her and her friends, and Jet resembled her strongly.

"What, no way. Jet, get all smug for me, like you just kicked someone's ass after they ran their mouth." Confused, but nonetheless curious, Jet imagined himself standing over Alaska, the girl's Aura reduced to the red after trying to start more drama with his friends. As he did so, a smug, shit eating grin Yang and Blake had memorized well from Beacon and Haven manifested on his lips, and suddenly, Blake couldn't deny it as the sharper features from his father became glaringly obvious. "Boom, Mercury!"

"It's good to see you both again, how're you liking Vacuo so far?" Lumi asked, leaning forward as she spoke to the twins. Guang shrugged, mostly disinterested in the new location and culture he found himself in as he scrolled through his social media page. Liang's reaction was more enthusiastic, or at least, that's what Scarlet thought was going on, her hands and fingers moving in a way that almost looked like some sort of low energy dance to the horned girl.

"Did… she just throw up a gang sign at us?" Scarlet asked, getting another snort out of Yang, who nearly choked on her bite before explaining.

"Liang's hard of hearing, she can hear you if you're loud enough, but it's mostly easier to just communicate like this." Yang explained, making similar motions with her hands as she spoke so her daughter could follow along with the conversation. However, it didn't really click how the hand movements really changed that better than just speaking up, leaving Jet to snarkily explain it for her.

"That means it was sign language, hornhead." However, rather than fall into their usual banter, Scarlet shot him a dirty look.

"Well excuse me smartass." she said with an unusually high amount of bite that shocked Jet, especially as the response was entirely unprovoked from his eyes. Realizing that she may have lashed out a bit too much, she looked away, not yet ready to apologize, but also not wanting to see the mixture of how her reaction stung and confused him. Jin and Lumi both recoiled, never having seen her react so hostility towards her childhood friend. Seeing the attention coming onto her, Scarlet quickly deflected. "What did she say?"

"She said it's nice so far, she likes it here and that there was this nice scorpion girl who knew sign language who pointed this place out to them." Jin awkwardly explained, clearly not moving on from her previous outburst just yet. Liang just nodded along to the words being signed with a warm smile on her face, pleasantly reminded of how, in a rare instance, she was understood by someone outside of her family without the need of a translator.

"Oh, of course you guys meet the nice scorpion chick." For the second time in the same minute, the entire family was staring at her. Not really wanting to go over the whole incident with Lavender again, she pretended to shrug it off, yet again deflecting to a new topic. "Eh, don't worry about it. So, I gotta know, was Jin always fuckin' huge?"

"Believe it or not, he was tiny as a kid, smaller than Lumi." Yang said, willingly taking the bait and giving Scarlet an out for the awkward situation she'd put herself in, one she happily took.

"What? No way… Do you have pictures?" Yang smirked at the question, pulling her scroll out to show them off.

"Yup, gimme a minute to scroll through my pics."

Scarlet's plan of attack was never one Lumi would call complex, the girl was a clear example of the mentality that the best defense was an overwhelming offense, unlike herself, who's particular style of their mutual dual blades allowed her to maintain a balanced mix of defense and offense and be able to respond in just about any situation. Her partner, however, threw that idea away for the sake of a constant, unyielding offense that was damn near impossible to break through. Despite that, she wasn't an idiot, unlike Scarlet, which made her unfocused and predictable assault child's play to pick apart. One of her horizontal swings came at too wide an angle, giving the fencer enough time to deflect the blow with her dagger and land a series of jabs on the other girl's chest. In any other circumstance, she'd be proud of her performance, especially against the bovine girl she was currently sparring against, considering she was typically the one to fall short. However, with the girl very clearly not having her head in the game, it was a hollow and frustrating result. Thankfully, she knew exactly what was causing this behavior, and as such, knew how to command her partner's attention by now.

"So, what's going on with you and Jet?"

"The fu- oh my- now Lumi?" Scarlet sputtered at Lumi's words, not expecting her partner to call her out so openly, and in the middle of a sparring match no less.

She tried to keep up the attack, thrusting Bleed towards her gut, only for Lumi to gracefully spin on the ball of her foot, the ballet lessons paying off as she gracefully twirled out of the way of the thrust and behind Scarlet. Using the redhead's own momentum against her, she landed a slash to the backside of her partner with Crocea Mors. Growing angry, the horned girl did a one eighty, turning her failed thrust with Bleed into a devastating downward strike onto her blonde partner, who had no choice but to blockAs she raised her dagger, she braced her grip and activated its newest function, causing a mint green hue to flow through the blade's fuller, bleeding into the rest of the metal and causing her to hit with no small amount of force thanks to the wind dust surging through the weapon. Steel met steel as the two locked blades, Scarlet still trying to overpower the smaller girl even while Wilt was ready to strike.

"You're less likely to be able to come up with an excuse if you're focused on fighting me."

With a twirl of her wrist, Lumi reversed the blade bind, taking aim with an innocuous looking hole in the handguard that was, in reality, a hidden barrel for a handgun built into the new mechanism, feeding off the same energy that powered the wind blade function. Pulling the trigger, she sent a green bullet directly into her wrist, which, combined with the small but powerful explosion of wind that surged from the point of impact, ripped Bleed right out of her grip, and before she had a chance to respond, Crocea Mors was raised to her neck.

"However, considering how easily I disarmed you there, it seems your mind is focused elsewhere."

Lumi lowered her family weapon, the victory, as empty as it was, was hers, and they both knew it. Scarlet sighed and sauntered over to Bleed, picking her katana up and examining the blade for chips as she spoke.

"I'm just pissed at him, he's blowing me off for these stupid upgrades we don't even really need." Scarlet sighed, seeing no point in pretending any more, since her partner was currently reading her like an open book.

As pathetic as it sounded, she couldn't keep her mind off of the fight, Jet was her oldest, and for the longest time, only friend. Obviously, they fought and butted heads from time to time, but it was almost never something that left them with hurt feelings. She knew she'd get over it, and maybe that in itself was a sign that it wasn't that big a deal, but she couldn't help how she felt.

"Needed or not, they've proven effective so far." Lumi said, allowing herself to sound just a bit impressed as she held up her parrying dagger, now outfitted with a hybrid of a handgun built into the grip and a dust infusion system.

In fact, she was certain it was a modified design for what he'd originally planned for Corocea Mors, which proved his statement of not modifying the blade an outright lie that subsequently ensured she'd never tell him how pleased with the weapon she actually was. Regardless, she had to admit it was excellent craftsmanship. She'd been worried that the pistol grip would require an adjustment period, but she took to it rather fast.

"Nonetheless, you should focus on training, you're so out of it Belka could probably beat you."

"I'm standing right here you know." Belka muttered bitterly as she wiped her brow of sweat, having just finished her own set of solo training against the stupid and creepy buckets of bolts Vacuo used as training dummies. In her workout clothes, it was easy to see the contrast that was her skin to Lumi's, as while her darling niece had a perpetually light red tint to her skin from the sunburn, her own had taken nicely to the sun, sporting a light tan that reached her biceps, where it crashed back into its natural hue.

"And yet, I really wish you weren't."

"Has anyone ever told you two that hearing you bickering gets really fucking old? Because it's getting really fucking old." Scarlet huffed from the sidelines, but was mostly ignored by the girls, who continued to stare each other down. Belka's gaze bored into her niece, silently daring the woman to say another word, a dare Lumi immediately recognized and met head on.

"It's not like I'm saying anything untrue. Unless you're about to claim I'm being told you're spending more time in the training hall than anywhere else because you're satisfied with your status as a punching bag."

Belka stomped forward with an honest to gods growl as she got into Lumi's face. Lumi took a step back instinctively, not expecting her words to be met with anything more than the usual bluster and excuses, but as it stood now, she suspected Belka may actually take a swing at her. Thankfully, Scarlet chose that moment to literally get between them, pushing them apart and holding her arms out to keep the two of them at bay from each other, really not being in the mood to play referee. If anything, she'd probably let Belka start swinging if Lumi wasn't her friend, the petite woman was certainly the one instigating, so maybe a case of 'talk shit get hit' was needed?

"Okay, what's up your ass this time? This is more than your standard weird family drama bullshit."

Lumi huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in a weak defiance that both of the other girls immediately saw through. Seeing this, she conceded, albeit silently, that her taking her anger out on Belka was childish when, for once, she'd done nothing to deserve her ire.

"That little tramp from SABL kept pestering me, she correlated us with BGEL's performance." Lumi admitted, remembering how the girl had walked up oh so innocently, pretending to be concerned over how Beacon was teaching such soft fighters.

She'd bit her tongue for a time, but the moment she started running her mouth about team BGEL, she let her hear it. The most infuriating part was that she'd actually gone through the trouble of doing the bare minimum of research and finding out that she and most of the team were related, making a snide comment about how if their fighting ability was genetic like their Semblance, then it would be an easy victory over both teams. She ignored the girl for a long while, eventually causing her to lose interest.

"I wanted to write it off, but the more I thought about it, I realized she was right. We need to improve."

"Of course that stupid little bitch ran her mouth to you too." T

he girl had done something similar with her team, however, Elizabeth didn't just let the comments slide, arguing back and forth until eventually Alyx used the same little family comment, to which she then got an earful about how explained that Belka was not a Schnee and that she was lucky it was her she'd said that to, as others may have struck her over such an insinuation. Belka let the comment slide despite how it stung, but it had been festering since then. No one said anything about it, but she saw the resentful looks Elizabeth shot her way afterwards. She didn't know what to do anymore, if it wasn't her own shortcomings beating her down, it was SLVR, or Goose's stupid semblance, or her only blood relatives outside of her mother and father resenting her very existence. At this point, she didn't know whether to scream or cry, so she just collapsed back, bunching her knees up to her chest as she sat.

"Great, even the foreign teams know we're a joke, well, at least Liz is happy, she'll get her way as usual and BGEL will have a new leader."

"Wait, what? That can happen?" Scarlet asked in complete shock, mostly shocked the prospect hadn't been brought up to her as of yet. considering the frankly colossal fuck ups that littered her own record. "What happened? Goose said you were getting better."

"Everything, my performance, the incident with SLVR, our lack of progress in working as a team... If we don't perform well in the tournament, I'm probably going to get replaced as leader by Elizabeth." The defeatist attitude didn't sit well with her fellow huntresses in training, both of their brows furrowing. Scarlet couldn't believe she was just gonna sit back and take it, to let Alaska, Glynda, hell, even Liz and Lumi be proven right without a fight was unthinkable to her. Lumi's thoughts were a bit harsher, of course. If she wasn't expecting adversity, then she should have just gotten her father to set her up with a cushy office job, but she wasn't a lost cause, not yet. Either way, they were in agreement, this wouldn't continue.

"Nah, that ain't happening." Scarlet declared, kneeling down to look the girl eye to eye.

"Huh?" Without much debate, Scarlet easily lifted Belka back to her feet, dusting her off and pushing her weapon back into her arms.

"You're not gonna prove that stuck up bitch wrong by moping about it. C'mon, we've still got what, a month and a half until the tournament?"

"You'd actually help me? Both of you?" A mixture of skepticism and hope could be seen in her eyes as she glanced between the other girls. Scarlet nodded readily while Lumi sighed, but after a moment of her usual dramatics, she joined in with a single curt nod.

"You're on a team with a boy who I've known my whole life, my cousin, and my aunt, you being a liability in combat simply isn't acceptable." The phrasing admittedly stung, it would have been far easier to not single her out, but she could understand the sentiment, she wouldn't like it if Whiskey, Goose, or Scarlet were stuck on a team where they were in danger due to another's ineptitude. And besides, if she hadn't written her off as a lost cause, then maybe the headmistress hadn't either.

"Where do we start?"

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I brought Guang with me, hope that's cool, figured he needed a break from being the only guy around for once." Jin announced as he entered SJJL's temporary quarters at Shade. At his side was his little brother, who lifted his shades as the softer light in the dorm room compared to the hall allowed his photosensitive eyes to adjust without being instantly temporarily blinded, or worse, sent into an epileptic seizure.

Nick had been locked in a tight arm wrestling match with Lao, as the second youngest in the group of boys he was eager to prove his recent growth. While he'd never been a small boy, having taken after his father height-wise, he was rather skinny, and while still a far cry from the walking tank that was his father, he'd bulked up a respectable amount in the military. Jet had tried to focus on his weapon, as evidenced by the disassembled Hephaestus lying on his nightstand, but had gotten swept up in the close competition. However, as soon as Jin opened the door, Nick looked up in surprise, giving Lao the window needed to force Nick's hand to the table. With their duel over, he also turned to Jin and Guang, the smaller boy's lips tilted upward ever so slightly at his victory.

"Okay, that does not count." Nick claimed, pouting over the circumstances of his loss in a very unsoldierly manner, causing both of the monkey boys, as well as Jet, to snicker. He looked around the room, trying to find some small amount of sympathy, only to find nothing, but after looking at Lao's usual complete lack of reaction, he quickly got over it, getting back to his initial point of discussion "Anyways, of course it is, it's been too long since I've seen you dude."

"Sup soldier boy?" The two youngest met with a fist bump, a refreshing change of pace for Guang after being publicly lifted off his feet by his big brother. He tried to transition into a handshake, but just ended up slapping the hand of his very confused family friend.

"Oh yeah, trust me, I remember what it was like with just Scarlet and my sister growing up." Jet said, offering a sympathetic laugh. Both Lupin and Scarlet were more on the tomboyish side, but every now and then, either when he'd made one of them mad or they just felt like ganging up on him, they'd decide to do something sickeningly girly to mess with him. In hindsight, it was actually pretty funny, considering they'd normally end up hating it as much as he did, but in the moment, he was typically furious.

"Pfft- try ten sisters." They shared a laugh, scarcely able to imagine what Nick must have gone through.

"The more I hear about siblings, the more I think I'm blessed as an only child." Lao interjected in his typical dry manner.

"Was… was that a joke?" Jet asked, looking between the three who knew him better, though that didn't really clear things up, as they were equally as confused.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Jin shrugged but held his hand out for a high five that Lao smacked after a moment of inquisitive staring. Even with the high five, most of the boys still weren't sure if it was an intentional joke, or if he was just happy to go along with Jin's contagious enthusiasm.

"So Jet, we didn't really get to talk much the other day but Jin tells me you're pretty cool."

"I dunno about that, I'm probably the most generic guy in the group, truth be told." Trying to avoid the awkward 'tell me about yourself' phase of the conversation that he dreaded oh so much, he looked Nick up and down, searching for anything to jump off of, ultimately landing on the peculiar looking holster at his side with a familiar looking revolver, one that, thanks to its considerable bulk, reminded him of Elizabeth's own. He'd noticed it before, but there hadn't really been a chance to say anything, as he had been pulled aside by Scarlet while Nick had caught up with his friends and sister. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask, is that gun the same model as Liz's?"

"Actually, it's an exact replica. It was a gift from my uncle, Due and Process were his weapons back when he was General. He gave Due to Liz when she started training, and gave Process to me later." Nick said, drawing the weapon out so Jet could have a better look.

Checking to make sure the safety was still on, he handed the gun over, and upon inspection, the weapon was indeed identical in all but aesthetics, and even then, it was remarkably similar, sporting the same design and engravings, the only real differences between the two being the color in select areas. Whereas Due had a white barrel and grip, Process sported these pieces in black. He recognized the model, a classic Atlesian design, though clearly modified for higher calibers, given the firearm's remarkable heft and lengthened barrel. It was a solid weapon, one he'd like to take out onto the range at some point down the line.

"I'm not surprised, it's a good gun. I've always liked revolvers personally, I just didn't know soldiers were allowed to bring their own gear." he said, handing the weapon back over and noting the care and respect Nick handled it with, a refreshing change of pace from how his fellow students considered things like trigger discipline as suggestions rather than hard rules to be followed. It seemed in a lot of cases that Aura made them feel so invincible a stray bullet didn't seem like a big deal.

"Ooooh, you're the gun nerd Jin talked about." Guang said, suddenly recognizing Jet as the guy his brother had told him about, having forgotten that the gun nut who spent hours looking over his already clean weapon and Jin's partner were one and the same before now.

"Not a nerd, just someone who can appreciate a well made weapon." Jet said, shooting Jin a dirty look, not appreciating the way he's apparently been described. However, Guang took the refutation as a challenge, turning to his brother and asking.

"Speaking of weapons, what happened with The Golden Path, they look bulkier."

"Jet's helping us upgrade our weapons for the tournament, we're working on an aiming system for it. Well, he is, I'm just the tester." As he jumped to change topics, he didn't realize what he had done until a moment later it dawned on him that he'd sort of just proven his point, at least, his brother certainly thought so as he smirked.

"Neeeerd."

"Okay then, what do you wanna talk about?" Jet asked, crossing his arms, unamused at the little smartass's antics so far. Guang ignored the dirty look and rubbed his chin in thought before snapping his fingers with an idea.

"So, are there any hotties at Beacon?" The response likely wasn't what he'd expected as just about everyone gave him a deadpan look that would match Lao's most days as if to say 'seriously dude'. Ironically, the sole exception was Lao himself, who paused to genuinely think about it.

"Well, objectively speaking, I'd say most of the women we know would be considered conventionally attractive."

"What? C'mon, don't tell me you don't steal glances at the redhead on your team." Guang said in defense of himself, and to his credit he was right, Jet did, more often than he really tried to, but there was no way in hell he was going to admit that out loud.

"No, that would be weird."

"So… Do you think I have a chance?"

"After you stared at her chest like that? No chance bro." Jin stepped in before Jet could throttle the boy, playfully messing up his hair and making him pull away, quickly going to fix the mop on his head back to the way he liked it with a whine.

"How would you and Scarlet being together be weird?" Lao asked with a confused tilt of his head.

"That's… not what I said."

"It's what you meant though." Of all people to cut through the bullshit in such a way, it probably shouldn't have surprised Jet that it was Lao, yet he was baffled, it appeared as if he'd either underestimated the boy, or his feelings were even more obvious than he'd thought.

"I feel like I'm missing something here." Nick said, taking note of how Jet suddenly found the floor to be oh so interesting and the way his thumbs twiddled in a forced attempt to look nonchalant.

"Jet doesn't wanna admit that he has a crush on Scarlet." Jin said, similarly cutting right to the point. While he was typically happy to let Jet deny it, it was clear that this weird act of denying his feelings had done more harm than anything else, considering how obviously mad Scarlet was over it.

"Wha- that's bullshit!" The attempt to deny Jin's claims only painted a clearer picture, and while the blush on his face wasn't actually visible thanks to his darker skin, it was clear even to Nick how flustered he was.

"Ooooh, yeah, okay, I see it now."

"Guys, come on, isn't relationship gossip something chicks are supposed to do?" It was an admittedly pathetic attempt to deflect away from the conversation and they all knew it, none of them even dignifying his words with a real response. Seeing that no one was buying it, he caved. "It's not that I don't like Scarlet, okay? I love her."

"So, why did you turn her down for the dance then?"Jin asked after a considerable moment of silence. Jet was a smart guy, probably the smartest person in the room, at least in some ways, he had to know she'd felt a similar way, it was obvious!

"Because she's like my sister! We grew up together, we used to run around in the dirt and take baths together, it's… It would be weird."

"But… she's not your sister." Jet wasn't all that surprised that it was Gaung who had pointed this out, but the way he said it made him pause, like he was missing something about the obvious statement he'd made. Seeing that he wasn't getting it, Jin sat down next to his partner, patting his shoulder with his massive yet gentle hand.

"What Guang's trying to say is, do you look at her like a sister?" It didn't require the slightest bit of consideration, Scarlet and Lupin didn't even occupy the same idea in his mind, even if he could remember a time maybe about five years ago when the answer would have been yes.

"I… No, I used to, but not anymore. Doesn't matter though, it's not fair to her. So what if I feel differently now? To her, I'm still just like a brother." The flagrant stupidity of the usually smart boy bewildered Jin and Nick into silence. Guang even slapped his forehead in frustration, how could someone take a hint as strong as that from a woman as anything other than a clear sign of interest!?

"She wasn't that mad at you because she wanted to go to the dance as your sister." Lao said, once again cutting through to the facts of the matter.

Logically, Jet knew he had a point, he wasn't blind to how comfortable she was around him, or how she looked at him, it was easy to see that her affections ran a tad deeper than just friendship… But he just couldn't help but to second-guess himself, after all he was just… well… him. He was nothing special, and Scarlet was a bombshell, especially when he compared himself to someone sculpted like an ancient statue of a god like Jin was. If he was wrong, then things would change, she wouldn't look at him the same anymore, and he didn't want that.

"Look at me and Lumi for example. Sure, we were close as kids, but we aren't related."

Jet paused at that, glancing over to Nick, silently asking if they were going to mention the obvious crush Lumi had on the Faunus. The soldier just shook his head, knowing exactly what he was thinking and warning against it. Not catching the quick interaction, the Faunus in question stepped forward, a plan already forming.

"You know what, I owe you for the Golden Path. Gimme your Scroll, I'll do you a solid." Jin said, grabbing the device before his partner could protest and opening the message app.

"Hey wait!" Trying to get the device quickly proved useless as the larger boy jumped, and spun around in mid air, quickly coming to a cross-legged position on the ceiling, speaking out loud as he typed.

"Hey, I've been thinking about it, and I changed my mind. I'd love to go to the dance with you."

Jet winced hard at the words coming from the boy on the ceiling, wincing harder once he heard the send sound effect play out. With the task done, Jin dropped back down, landing on his feet and holding the Scroll out with a smile as a pair of notifications immediately came from it. Looking down, he read the pair of near simultaneous texts from his friend.

'OMG REALLY?'

'I mean for sure, bout time you wisened up :p'

He couldn't help but smile, that was just like her, trying to be all cool about it, even when she was clearly excited. He sighed, trying his best to sound annoyed, but unable to keep it up. Well, that was that, he guessed, he couldn't exactly back out now with Scarlet getting her hopes up this way. Screw it, the last time he'd overthought this stuff, she got pissed at him, may as well just go along with it and have fun, he'd just pull an all nighter for the upgrades and keep his schedule that way. For now, it seems he had a date to prepare for.

"How on Remnant are you still wearing your hood in this heat?"

Ruby would have normally shrank at such a shrill and scolding tone, but coming from the woman who greeted her in the hotel lobby, she beamed with a toothy smile. Unable to help herself, she ran forward, wrapping her arms around the pristine cyan and white sundress, no doubt leaving creases and smears that the owner would have struck anyone else over making, but Ruby knew Weiss loved her too much to do anything more than scoff.

"Believe it or not, it's keeping my head pretty cool!"

Weiss didn't believe that for a second, in her mind, it was equally, if not more likely, that her old partner had worn her signature cloak out of habit, but so long as she wasn't giving herself heatstroke, she figured there was no reason to kick up a fuss over it. Besides, she couldn't make herself sound mad, she was delighted to see her best friend after their busy schedules left them with almost two years of only talking over the Scroll. Wrapping her arms around the taller woman in return, Weiss let herself enjoy the moment. After a few moments of embracing, she pulled away, turning to meet the other professor who served as Ruby's little plus one to the meetup they'd set up upon making plans to attend the tournament, however, in comparison, the woman was much less enthusiastic to see one of the acting CEO's of the SDC.

"Weiss."

Touko's lack of enthusiasm matched Weiss's own, her lips pursing into a thin well maintained line that refused to give away any sign of her less than pleased reaction to seeing her old classmate. It was nothing personal, they just didn't get along, Weiss had always been far too haughty for her liking, and she didn't let her little comments slide like others did.

"Touko." The flat greeting was about what she'd come to expect, along with the judgmental gaze up and down, taking in her appearance, no doubt making a mental note of how disheveled she was in her eyes. Hesitantly, Weiss sniffed the air, an eyebrow raising as a small yet familiar sneer appeared on her face. "What a pleasant surprise, you don't smell like a skunk for once."

"Yeah, it's nice, almost as nice as it is to see you've managed to avoid getting pregnant again, despite how worn out Jaune looks." Touko bit back, not really seeing how if she'd indulge in her herbs was any of the woman's business, especially since they'd been legal in Vacuo longer than in Vale.

The blond in question flushed with red, covering his lower face with a sudden and obviously fake cough, though anyone could tell at a glance that he indeed looked rather worn compared to his usual self. Weiss, on the other hand, showed no shame at the comment, already deciding the best way to word the fact that, unlike Touko, she actually had a healthy sex life instead of a non-existent one. Before they could start bickering further, a sharp whistle interrupted them.

"Hey come on, at least let Mama get here before you two start the catfight." Yang announced from her spot next to Blake, the pair having watched the interaction up until now with silent amusement, eating one of the complimentary mints out of the little decorative bowls on the table.

Any animosity was quickly forgotten as the friends and family greeted each other warmly, with Yang making sure she pulled everyone present into a bear hug before they went up to the penthouse Weiss had reserved. Setting the table up for her guests, Weiss poured just about everyone a glass of tea, except for Touko, who just helped herself to the complimentary coffee. Taking a seat, Weiss looked up, staring Ruby right in the eyes as she folded her fingers together.

"As much as I hate to start this off on a bitter note, I do have to ask about Lumi. How is she getting along with her team after what happened?" Guilt swelled up in Ruby's chest, remembering her failure to protect her student and god-daughter. She couldn't blame Weiss for being worried even after all this time, and while she knew for a fact Jaune gave her regular updates, she could understand her wanting to hear it from another person.

"Eh, they bickered a bit but they're getting along far better, I'd even say they're starting to act like real friends!" Ruby said chipperly. Really, it was remarkable how well Lumi had bounced back from the incident, even if it did take a while. After all, she was still the same girl she'd watched grow up into a fine young woman who took after her mother just a tad too much. Weiss's relief was visible as she let herself finally relax.

"Good. I'll be honest, I was ready to throw a fit when I heard about what happened, and to be frank, if it had come from anyone but you, I'd have gone and raised hell myself." Weiss said, and everyone there knew it to be true, while her petite and short stature was far from threatening, they all knew firsthand that there was nothing more determined than a mother defending her children, that determination paired with the legendary Schnee semblance would have been nothing short of terrifying. Yet, Ruby wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"Guess that's just a little sister perk huh?" Ruby teased, causing Weiss to choke on her tea, needing to do a double take, unsure if she'd heard that right.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The thirty-six year old woman lied through her teeth, looking away trying to hide her flushed face, it seemed that even despite all these years some habits never changed.

"That's not what Lumi saaaid."

"So Touko, Ruby's told me you've gotten some upgrades." Yang asked her old friend, leaving her little sister to tease Weiss.

"Yeah, mostly just a new regulator, helps the life dust flow more evenly." Touko shrugged, not really having much more to say about it, it was a noticeable difference to her, but it was pretty hard to explain without actually feeling the dust that kept her cybernetics operational. Though she did appreciate what Yang was doing, as the only other person with prosthetics, she knew just how hard it could be to talk about them without coming across like she was looking for pity, a look she and the blonde both refused to wear.

"Think your arm can finally beat mine?" The challenging tone in Yang's voice stirred a competitive spirit in Touko, while it was rare for her to ever actually win, that just made her want to go at it even more, especially since this time she actually stood a decent chance, Yang had just squeaked out a win the last time they'd met and she was eager to get it back.

"Wanna find out? Vacuo's got plenty of training grounds."

"Let's at least get through lunch before you try to spar with everyone honey." Blake said, cutting them off before they could start heading to the nearest arena, already knowing where this was heading.

Seeing that her suggestion was granted, or at the very least, that Yang knew she'd be spending the rest of the trip on the couch if she ignored her, she turned to the only man in their group. Having not seen him in years, she was curious about his recent career change.

"So Jaune, how's counseling? It must be a pretty big change from Huntsman duty."

"Different, yeah, but not bad, I was worried the students wouldn't be open with me, but they've been pretty receptive for the most part." It was a bigger fear than he'd let on, remembering how stubborn he'd been about asking for help at that age. He was pleasantly surprised that most students were more open to the help they needed than he'd been. Blake nodded along with a small but genuine smile, remembering her own hardships and how opening up to her team, Yang especially, had helped her.

"Well, I think you're doing something great, a lot of people don't understand how important it is for kids their age to have someone to open up to without the risk of being judged or influenced."

"How about you Snowflake, anything new?" Yang asked, she, along with the rest of the table, half expecting another pregnancy announcement.

"With the company? Heavens no, it's just as droll as when I first took over with Whitley." she said, raising the teacup to her lips and sipping slowly in the most nonchalant way she could muster.

However, Weiss's idea of acting ignorant was to act uncharacteristically aloof, she'd always had something to talk about, be it an upcoming charity event, or a new reform undoing an unfair policy her father or grandfather put into place, yet this time, she strangely had nothing to say. As she debated sharing the news early, glancing around, she knew her terrible poker face had tipped them off that something was happening, and really she did want to tell someone, so without much effort, she gave in, leaning in with a sly smile and stage whispering.

"That being said, you didn't hear it from me, but General Polendina may just be becoming General Schnee soon enough."

"Whitley proposed?" Ruby practically shrieked in excitement while the others gasped, making Weiss very thankful for their isolated and soundproofed location; she'd never live it down if Whitley's plan was ruined over some gossip between friends, but since it wasn't a possibility, she was more than free to gush.

"Not yet, but he's planning on it on their anniversary in a few months. He had me come along ring shopping with him, it was adorable."

"So Rubes, when are you gonna propose to Touko?" Yang said suddenly, taking both women off guard just as she'd intended.

"Yaaang, not this crap again!" The blond woman couldn't help but laugh, taking childish glee in the fact that she could still make her baby sister whine in such a way after all these years.

"Well you gotta make a move at some point, she's sure as hell not gonna make the first move." Feeling challenged once more, Touko rose to her feet and slammed her hands down, unwilling to take such smack talk from the woman.

"I-I could make a move if I want to!" The silence at the table was palpable, Yang smirked up at the cyborg as she slowly realized what she'd just declared. Swallowing hard, she looked around, trying to find an excuse or someone to pivot to.

"Okay, then do it." Blake said, unexpectedly putting the cards in her hands with a mischievous grin. That traitor! She was meant to have her back! Suddenly, she froze up, looking over at Ruby, who's face matched the color of her cloak, unable to meet her eyes.

"So, Jin said you met Scarlet, how'd it go?" Jaune cut in suddenly, unable to watch anymore of such a painful display, the second hand embarrassment making him want to crawl out of his skin. Thankfully, his distraction triggered a similarly uncomfortable reaction in Yang, who ran a hand through her hair with a groan.

"Ugh, I was freaking the hell out. At first, I froze up, and then I didn't know if I was being too friendly or not friendly enough."

"Oh Gods, I did that too." Ruby bemoaned, her face going red once more, but for a much less embarrassing reason.

"You did fine dear, she's a nice kid." Blake reassured her wife, patting the woman's hand gently while ignoring the pouty glare from the cyborg across the table. "She's grown a lot since I last saw her."

"You've met Scarlet? When?" Weiss asked, not having known that about the woman, though mostly shocked at the implications of her also confronting Adam, a fact she wasn't privy to until now.

"After Qrow and I helped Adam kill Tyrian." Blake explained, she could remember it like it was yesterday, the only reason she'd even entertained the idea of meeting with the man was Qrow's assurances that he wouldn't be a problem, a fact she didn't truly believe until Adam walked out of his house holding the little girl who had become his entire world.

"I didn't know you were a part of that." Touko mumbled, chewing her lip at the implication. Her mind immediately jumped to conclusions, after all, the Goddesses Shadows knew of Adam's involvement, so it was just as possible they knew about Blake's. "Are you included in the report?"

"I think so? Why?" The Faunus answered, picking up on the shared worried glance between Ruby and Touko.

"We've just had some complications this year, I don't think it's a problem, but I need to check with someone." Ruby muttered, the unanswered messages to a certain RT making her more anxious with the decrease of crime in Vale coinciding with his radio silence. She hoped for both their sakes that it was just a coincidence.

"Right, all that cult stuff." Yang sighed, leaning back in her seat. She chewed her lip for a moment before turning to face her sister, looking her right in the eyes as she asked. "We're not in danger here, are we? We all know Salem isn't above high-profile targets."

"No, it should be safe. We're taking measures to strike first, cut Salem off before she can act." Ruby assured them, quickly switching to the same strong tone of voice RWBY recognized as their leader giving them her word. "She won't hurt anyone here so long as I'm here to do something about it."

Chapter Text

Flames billowed out at Belka in small bursts from Idris's barrel, keeping her just out of range and obscuring her vision in a screen of fire. However, she knew that, so long as she kept her distance, she wasn't in any real danger. While she knew Whiskey's weapon could easily throw fire her way for another dozen or so feet, that wasn't the tactic her friend was going for. Someone else may have seen the bursts of heat growing shorter and shorter in their reach and assume her weapon was starting to malfunction or run out of Dust, but she knew better. Readying herself, she waited until the last billows of flame started to fade before swinging her naginata in a wide horizontal arc, the purple hard-light blade streaking through the lingering smoke. While she couldn't see it just yet, she could feel Morgan make impact with its target, as Whiskey, who'd planned to mask her approach with the fire and smoke, winced as she was struck by the hard light blade.

She nearly fell as her charge was interrupted, attempting to pivot to try and continue the offensive, only for the lilac blade to draw back and thrust forward, striking her shoulder. She chastised herself for attempting that maneuver on her friend, their time apart having made her forget just how familiar they were with each other's fighting styles. After years of training together, it was all virtually muscle memory for them, which is why she immediately saw through her friend twirling her high tech naginata around, rapidly switching what side she held it on. Normally, the bright light emitting off of the blade waving around at such as speed would keep her opponent on the defensive, as a series of blows moving that fast would no doubt melt through a good chunk of Aura, if not break it altogether, but much like with her own petering fire, it was all a bluff, as the last thing her bestie wanted to do was to get in that close with a polearm. Doing the very last thing her sparring partner expected, she rushed right in, causing Belka's eyes to go wide as she froze like a deer in headlights. The plan had been to throw her off and land a surprise shot via suddenly switching to the laser, but the dog Faunus had been on the receiving end of that little trick enough to know just how to counter it, swiping just below her knees, and knocking her own feet out from under her.

Tucking her head into her chest, she barely managed to avoid smacking her head on the stone tile below her, quickly rolling backwards and back onto her feet, swinging her weapon up at her opponent as she recovered. The two naginatas clashed, the nearly identical polearms each stopping just short of each other's necks. Seeing the other's weapon inches from landing true, both girls froze in place, locked in a stalemate that meant the slightest movement would result in a very painful experience for the both of them.

"You wanna just call it a draw?" Whiskey asked, offering an olive branch that would allow the two of them to get out of this predicament without a blade to the face, or worse, the full power of their respective Dust.

"I don't want to…" Belka panted from her position on the floor.

A draw like this was almost worse than outright defeat in her eyes. Logically, she knew it was because they were inarguably at a stalemate, both because of the nature of each of them having their weapons at each other's throats, and the one or two percentages of Aura that made up the difference between them hitting their limits. But, even knowing this, it still felt like pity, Whiskey undoubtedly had the advantage between them in the moment, fully on her feet and looking down on her from above. In the end, logic, or possibly just the knowledge that she had a flamethrower aimed point blank at her face, won out and she nodded, lowering her weapon at the same time as her friend and properly getting to her feet a moment later.

Glancing over at the holoscreen hanging over the arena, she smirked. The difference between their Aura levels was thin, just a few percentages between them, as she'd expected, but that slight difference was in her favor, meaning that if she wished to split hairs, she had technically won, but she liked to think she was above such pettiness, instead letting the draw stand.

"Good job girls, you both did great!" Jaune called out from his guarded position, his shield deflecting the chackram sent his way by Lao who he'd been sparring with. Still not looking away from the girls, he raised his sword hand, raising three of his fingers and stopping his godson in his tracks. It would probably do Lao good to have a break at this point anyway, the boy had been working up a sweat long before the girls had started going at it.

"It doesn't feel like a 'good job'." Belka pointed out, wondering just what had made him come to that conclusion.

All she could see from their bout was stagnation, she and Whiskey had matched each other for about as long as she could remember, not to mention she doubted he'd seen the full display given he sparring with Lao all the while. Then again, he wasn't an actual teacher, he was a counselor, someone who was paid to make them feel better, of course he'd tell her that.

"Maybe not, but you both showed a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses your weapons provided, you only feel like you aren't growing because it's like you're fighting a mirror. Sure, it can help early on to get a better understanding of your style, but once you have that understanding, it's just a measure of personal skill. Even with how much you've improved, it's a simple matter of that you're not being challenged in a way you aren't used to." Jaune's praise was… unexpected, it was the first time she could recall someone other than Goose genuinely telling her what she did well without some scathing critique attached or as a thinly veiled insult.

She didn't know he'd even paid attention to her enough to see her growth, but then again, she supposed it made sense, the whole team was his family in one way or another. Actually considering his words, she couldn't deny that there was some truth to them, she knew exactly how her friend fought, and in turn, Whiskey knew just about everything there is to know about her own particular fighting style, of course their sparring would feel repetitive.

"And in terms of our skill, that means…"

"That we're still neck and neck." Whiskey answered for her cheekily.

Well, baby steps. Sure, there was still no definitive winner between them, but it wasn't for lack of growth. To be frank, it would be insulting to think that her friend had not improved at all in the time since they'd parted, and if they were still evenly matched, then that meant they had both grown. She had to hand it to Jaune, as if nothing else, her brother-in-law was decent at his job, helping to recontextualize her draw into a sign of progress. His Scroll rang a moment later, before she could thank him.

"Oh, I need to take this. You guys do some stretches while I talk." he said, speaking over an ancient-sounding and badly compressed recording of an opera singer. He let the tune repeat itself once, humming along to the tune before answering as the teens started to rest on one of the ringside benches.

"So, I see you're letting yourself tan again, trying on a new look for a certain someone?" The canine girl teased, nudging her with a childish grin that Belka couldn't help but find contagious.

"No, my boyfriend is in Vale, so it's not like I can go with anyone anyway." Despite openly admitting she'd be attending the event alone, the brunette preened herself at her friend's praise. She'd had mixed feelings about the tan Vacuo's sun had left her with, feeling as though it made her resemble her mother too strongly, but then again, she'd always thought her mother was a very pretty woman, so the comparison wasn't unwelcome. She briefly wondered how strong the resemblance would be if she dyed her hair to match as well.

"You could go with me." Whiskey offered excitedly, her ears sticking up the whole time, not seeming to realize how shameless it was to ask a taken woman out in such a way.

"Pfft- you mean like those little playdates like when we were kids?" Despite laughing at the idea, she wasn't fully against it, it really wasn't any different than the other times they'd spent together. Maybe she'd take her up on it, Sherbet would understand anyway.

"Exactly, except now you get the cutest member of KRMA to dance with! Or, well, second cutest if we ask Ken." The joke failed to even get a chuckle out of Belka, especially since Whiskey was certainly far cuter than that strange flirt of a boy.

"I really don't see it, is acting like a cat supposed to be part of his charm?" she said, making sure the air quotes around the last word could be felt from Atlas. Really, she had no clue just what the boy had been trying with her, and she certainly didn't appreciate how he'd just moved right on to Goose, even if her partner did have fun being 'goofy' with him.

"Oh let the kid have his fun, he'll probably grow out of it and be embarrassed by it soon enough." Belka raised an eyebrow as Whiskey called the boy a kid. Sure, technically a lot of students were still minors, but an age difference of a few months was hardly an excuse.

"You say kid like he's any younger than us."

"Well, he did just turn sixteen before starting Atlas." It took a moment for Belka to realize what was wrong with that sentence, doing some quick math in her head.

"Wait, just?"

Whiskey tilted her head at her response, before it hit her. It hadn't been weird for a while, sure, but only to her and the other students at Atlas Academy, having long since normalized the exception, so when she explained it to someone not in the loop, of course her friend ended up confused.

"Oh crap, I didn't tell you? Yeah, Ken got admitted early." Belka gawked at that information. Him!? 

That childish catboy was good enough to be allowed into Atlas Academy early? She wasn't sure such a thing was even allowed, looking to her teammate for support, yet Lao was somehow unfazed as ever, blankly nodding along.

"I've heard of that happening before, Professor Rose started Beacon at only fifteen. He must be a formidable fighter to be allowed admission early."

"Oh he's amazing, and with his Semblance, it's like he knows what's going to happen in a fight before his opponent." Belka felt herself grow envious, naturally gifted as a fighter and a Semblance that was useful in combat? She almost wanted to beat him more than she did before. Almost.

"What is his Semblance?"

"Pfft- I'm not telling you. If I tell you what it is, then you might be able to beat it, dummy." A playful scoff left BGEL's leader as she crossed her arms with an exaggerated pout of disappointment that only lasted a few seconds before she let out a giggle.

"Very well, I'll just have to beat it without knowing it and truly conquer your team." Belka said, standing up with a smirk and heading over to grab her water bottle before she could make a retort.

Heading over, she couldn't help but to try to overhear Jaune talking on his Scroll, wearing a wide, dorky looking smile that was oddly fitting on him. Curiously, she stepped forward, wondering if he was talking with one of her nieces or nephews, but instead, she was greeted with a voice she didn't know well, yet could identify immediately as Weiss. Nervously, she made her way closer, already aware she was going to be interrupting the conversation but… a part of her had to try. She hadn't heard from Weiss in a while, last time they'd even spoken had been briefly at a charity ball more than a year ago. He noticed her coming up before she'd said anything, his blue eyes momentarily locking with hers, yet the warm look on his face remained, never changing an inch, which took some weight off her soul. She'd always liked him, he never looked down at her for reasons out of her control, unlike the rest of her so-called family.

"Excuse me, mister Arc? I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but would it happen to be Weiss you're speaking to on the other end?"

"Uh… yes, that's right." he responded, the words coming out awkwardly as the man tried to maintain both conversations at once.

"Would it… be possible for me to have a word with her?" His mouth opened to say 'of course' almost immediately before the realization hit him that he really didn't know how Weiss would feel if he handed the device over. She had been very firm on her stance of avoiding contact with her father's side of the family as much as humanly possible, and based on what he'd heard from her over the years, he didn't doubt that her decision to keep that bastard out of their children's lives was for the best, but this wasn't Jaucqes, it was a young woman who his wife rarely even spoke of. Even so, he knew how much it hurt her to see her father, the same man who'd made her life hell for so long, suddenly start over with another child, one he treated significantly better. She hadn't taken it nearly as hard as Winter, but he still couldn't just drop a conversation with her half-sister on her like that. This time, Weiss had heard the voice on the other end, and asked if she'd called at a bad time.

"Oh no sweetie, it's just your sister."

Belka's smile grew as she could hear more chatter over the speaker, unable to make out the words, but able to make out the slight raise in tone. Her smile tugged at Jaune's heartstrings, but he didn't have the heart to tell the girl that it was Goose she'd assumed was speaking to him. Quickly turning away, he whispered into the speaker.

"Well uh, Goose is good, but it's Belka actu- No, no I get it, I'll… I'll tell her."

"She's busy isn't she?" Looking back over, it appeared that he wasn't as quiet as he'd hoped, seeing the smile having long since dropped from the young woman's lips.

"Yeah, she'll be on a conference call for the next couple of hours." Her lips pursed in a thin, irritated line, clearly not believing him. He wished he could change that, especially since it was true, even if Weiss had been more eager than usual to hang up. "I could pass your Scroll number onto her, maybe she'll have time later?"

"She's had my Scroll number several times since I was old enough to have one." she responded briskly, causing the counselor to wince.

Admittedly, he didn't know Belka all that well, and with the age difference between them, he often regarded her and Goose more like nieces rather than his sisters-in-law, but even so, she didn't seem like a bad kid. She was haughty for sure, but so was Weiss when he'd first met her, and he knew more than anyone how she turned out.

"Look, I… it's a-"

"Don't. Just… don't." As much as it pained her to admit, she was used to rejection from her family.

It had been a constant yet dull pain she lived with ever since she'd learned she had sisters, and subsequently, that they had their own happy lives that didn't involve her. It had hurt a lot at first, back when she'd first realized that 'being busy' really meant that they were avoiding being around her, and while she'd never admit it, she cried a fair few times over it, but now, with everything else going on, it hardly registered.

"I'd like to get back to training if that's okay."

"Y-yeah, of course." Jaune said, watching her walk off back towards her friends, wishing he could've done more.

Luna's legs felt like jelly as she and Elena both stumbled over the marker that marked the finish line of the run that Juliet had set up as the end of an afternoon workout session, one that Juliet had insisted was a light one. She probably should have assumed that she and her leader had a different idea of what constituted a light workout, but this was ridiculous, she was absolutely drenched in sticky, nasty sweat! It even dripped off of her antennae, making her shiver at the heightened sensation of it tickling her as it traveled down her fuzzy appendages.

It all just reminded her why she hated working out and preferred to let her Aura do the heavy lifting physically, she'd been told by a few of her friends that 'it wasn't that bad', but after that marathon, the only conclusion she could reach at the moment was that she'd been lied to. Where was that 'good burn' Jin and Juliet had told her about? She just hurt! Elena was similarly out of it, leaning on her for support as she gasped for air.

"Alright guys, good work!" Juliet said, stunning the partners as she praised them with little more than a wipe of her brow to remove what comparatively little sweat covered her skin, a stark contrast to themselves, who may as well have just gone swimming in their clothes. It was like she had endless stamina to throw around and she didn't even know it. Walking right up to the girls, she held her hand up high proudly, expecting a high five.

"I can- I can't feel my legs…" Luna wheezed, getting a chuckle out of Juliet who assumed the girl was just being overdramatic. Said laughter started to awkwardly die off when the pair started to fall under the weight of her partner before Rosaria reached out, stabilizing the pair's balance.

"Remember what I told you about overdoing it? I'm surprised they haven't passed out already." Rosaria scolded, pulling the pair over to the bench so they could get some rest. Yet, Elena stubbornly pulled away, shaking her head defiantly, getting a second wind seemingly out of spite. She immediately started to stretch her arms, eyeing a set of dumbbells that made her arms ache just by looking at them.

"No, no I can do this, I'll be ready for the tournament in no time!" Despite her exhaustion, she was determined to keep going. Juliet wasn't slowing down so neither would she, it wasn't right for her leader to carry them all, it made her feel so useless seeing Juliet casually handle her regime after it wore her down, like she was falling behind.

"Maybe we should take a break before we start again? I mean, the dance is in just a couple of days, you don't wanna be too sore, right?" Luna suggested, still out of breath and hardly able to stand, but Elena ignored her and started off towards the weights, only stopping once the firm grip of Juliet closed around her wrist.

"Elena, stop. You're not gonna do yourself or us any good if you overwork yourself."

Despite being well intentioned, her words only dug the knife deeper, and that tone, it was like she was being spoken down to, like she was some dumb kid who didn't know any better instead of a warrior who'd been training for years. She wouldn't have it, pulling her wrist to try and break free, however, while not painful, her grip was as hard as iron and didn't budge, serving to anger her further.

"I can keep going, if you guys can't keep up with me, then take your breaks." Juliet sighed and released her teammate's arm, seeing no reason to turn this into more of an argument than it had somehow become. Watching as the redhead stubbornly continued on, she just didn't get the Faunus. Clearly something was going on in that head of hers, she just wished she knew what it was.

"Am I doing something wrong?" she asked without even looking back as Rosaria came back over.

"You're a very forward person, you have been ever since I've known you. While I find it to be one of your better qualities, you undoubtedly lack tact because of it." A low irritated sigh left Juliet's lips, yet she knew Rosaria was right, even if she didn't know what exactly she'd said. While it was true Rosaria wasn't the most social person, it wasn't from a lack of understanding on the whole being social thing, so she knew she was probably right about her just coming off the wrong way… but how else was she meant to come off? It wasn't like Elena was exactly trying herself!

"It just feels like every time we try to get close to her, she pushes us away, and it's starting to piss me off." she grumbled, kicking at the floor in a petulant and childish manner. Rosaria would have found it pathetic if it wasn't so amusing. Still, it wouldn't do her any good to have her moping about like a toddler who'd had their toy taken away, but thankfully, she knew exactly how to cure her of this state.

"I didn't think you'd be one who gives in so easily, after all, you made yourself friends with me." Juliet suddenly gasped, grabbing Rosaria by the shoulders with a wide grin.

"Hah, you admitted it! No take backs!" Of course, they both knew that they were friends, and had been for a while, but Rosaria had been especially stubborn about the label for some time. She'd never taken it personally, recognizing it as just another of the girl's weird quirks, but hearing her finally give in was oh so satisfying.

"Yes, even with your rampant childishness and general immaturity, you're my friend. Now, please stop shaking me."

"Nooo, is that a nightlight? What are you, four?"

The sudden sound of a new voice made Juliet snap around, seeing that there was a girl she didn't recognize standing by Luna, dark-skinned with matching hair, green eyes, and an insufferably smug grin, looking down into Luna's bag, holding it open as she rummaged through it. Next to her was a bored looking boy with black hair and equally black clothing, standing back with his arms crossed. She'd heard about these two from Scarlet, SABL, if she wasn't mistaken. At a glance, it seemed the girl was the instigator with her friend just standing there, probably in case someone decided to actually do something about the situation.

"I-I have nyctophobia, it helps me sleep." Luna sputtered, equally blindsided by the sudden appearance of the two, freezing up at Siyah's presence, allowing Alyx to do as she pleased. The small Faunus looked back to her team, locking eyes with Juliet, who gritted her teeth in anger. Even Elena had taken notice, abandoning her station and rejoining the other two, equally furious.

"So you're afraid of the dark? Big deal, lots of people are. Grow up already."

This brat was starting to push it, and with Elena and Rosaria at her side, Juliet was already preparing to throw caution to the wind and put her through a wall. But, doing so would get her in trouble, which on top of just being something she generally wanted to avoid, would also get her a scolding from Rosaria. As a result, she decided she'd try diplomacy first, walking over to pull Luna away, but not before the little imp could speak again.

"Or maybe you're just one of those kids who got locked in a closet a lot as a kid, you definitely give off that 'mommy never hugged me' vibe."

"What did you say to her?" Alyx turned, the smug smile on her face grating Juliet's last nerve away.

How dare she? How fucking dare this little tramp talk to Luna like that? Like she was happy about picking away at her friend's insecurities? As she raised her hand to hide her self-congratulatory giggle, Juliet reached out and firmly grabbed ahold of her wrist, turning it inward sharply at an angle, not enough to break it, but enough to hurt like hell if the little shriek she let out was anything to go by.

"Get your damn hands off of her!" Siyah growled, moving in to separate the two of them and to throw a punch if need be.

To his surprise however, she listened to him, just not how he'd expected, lazily throwing Alyx several feet away. It took him off guard, as while his teammate was by no means heavy, the ease at which she was thrown was almost inhuman. Then, a moment later, Juliet's attention was on him. Similarly furious at the boy who'd intimidated her friend, she wasted no time, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him back against the wall. Despite holding back, the impact caused his black Aura to flicker and it strained around her hand as she growled, causing Luna and Elena to freeze up at the previously unseen side of their leader.

"I will end you, I won't even make it look like an accident! I swear by the Go-"

"Juliet!" Rosaria's panicked voice and her hand clasping around Juliet's wrist pulled her out of it, suddenly realizing she was being watched, with several students outside of her team in various states of shock all encircling their immediate area as she held him up. Looking back at Rosaria, she caught a glimpse of Luna, who was now shaking in her shoes at the sight. "Too much."

As she released him, Siyah fell to his knees, coughing as he was suddenly able to breathe once more once the shock wore off. Alyx scrambled over, trying to pull him away from the girl who'd just manhandled him, but now that he had his bearings once more, he grew furious, standing up, ready to throw down when someone else Juliet vaguely recognized stepped in between them, pushing Siyah back.

"Go, get the hell outta here!" Ruta yelled, partially scolding the members of SABL while also pushing them back, away from Juliet in a defensive manner, being joined by Sarasvati a moment later, worriedly looking between her underclassmen teams like she was the threat. It made her blood boil, they'd started this whole thing, so why were these girls acting like she was in the wrong? By the time she could say anything though, Alyx had convinced Siyah to go, but not before shooting her one last dirty look, leaving the two members of BRST to confront JWEL.

"What was that!?" Sarasvati asked, her voice cracking as she tried to yell with an authoritative tone she clearly wasn't used to taking. It didn't work as Juliet growled and stomped her foot, the impact being felt by all the girls present.

"He started it! Luna would never even hurt a fly, but she just gets to blow down on her like that? I don't think so!"

"I get putting someone in their place, but that was something else altogether. I heard what you said, ain't you supposed to be trainin' to be a Huntress?" Ruta chimed in, only for Juliet to roll her eyes in response like it was no big deal, infuriating the Vacuan further.

She understood saying something in anger, but she had to understand threatening to kill a fellow huntsmen in training wasn't acceptable, even by Vacuo's admittedly looser stance on things. Put simply, her behavior was well and truly over the line, yet her message fell on deaf ears.

"Yes, we are, unlike that prick who might as well be a poster boy for wannabe bandits."

It was Elena who spoke up, at the end of her patience with this sort of behavior. She could understand more governed Kingdoms like Atlas and Vale thinking this was acceptable, but how this had gone uncorrected in a place like Vacuo with a criminal element not unlike Mistral's was baffling. In her homeland, anyone who wanted to be a Huntsman was held to a higher standard, a practice apparently lost everywhere else.

"If it were up to me, I'd have let Juliet finish what she started, the fact that any of the schools put up with such behavior from people who're supposed to be humanities protectors is disgusting."

"C'mon guys, I'm starving anyway." Juliet said, turning and leaving with her team, cutting the argument off there, and leaving Ruta and Sarasvati alone.

The girls looked at each other, both silently agreeing that nothing about that had felt right. Did Siyah deserve it? At this point, yes, well and truly, but how easily Juliet went from simple anger to threatening to end the boy was worrying. They knew the difference between someone who was just blowing smoke and someone making a genuine threat, they'd seen that difference plenty of times when dealing with people on their missions… and they could tell that Juliet meant every word that had come out of her mouth.

"It's not a matter of showing off, it's a perfectly legitimate security measure." the woman on the other end of the group call said.

The smooth but cold voice of Colonel Indigo Nasturtium had become nothing short of grating to Ruby as yet another overzealous measure was put in place that just so happened to show off Atlas's military might. She understood the need for security better than most, but the line between 'excessive, if understandable, measures' to 'an outright attempt at intimidation' had been crossed long ago. She sighed to herself as she walked the empty halls from her temporary quarters to the courtyard, thankful for the silence, as most of the students were either heading to the auditorium that had been changed into a dance hall for the night, or were still getting ready.

"Yeah, right. If that's the case, then why does it have to be your personal mech?" Touko asked in a much shorter tone from her end. Even beyond the insistence on rampant 'security measures', she had her own problems with the Colonel, like the fact that she was one of those people who were just a little too proud to be Atlesian for her comfort.

"Other than being a state of the art piece of military equipment? It's the model of Crusader I'm most familiar with, I wouldn't ask you to walk around on inferior augmetics."

Ruby didn't need to be in the same room as her friend to see the scowl that had no doubt just appeared on her face, that line had struck a nerve in Ruby as well, so casually bringing up her cybernetics in such a disrespectful way. The nerve of this woman!

"Prosthetics, not augmetics."

There was a moment of silence on the line after Ruby corrected Indigo, all three parties surprised at the ice in Ruby's voice. Unfortunately, the Colonel quickly recovered from her momentary surprise and kept talking.

"Right, right, my apologies. The point is, in the case of an attack, the Crusaders are our best tools for combating Grimm. The Headmaster already approved their use, it's a moot point to argue over this any further. And besides, couldn't I claim Professor Fuchsia's very presence as a show of Atlas's might, considering she wouldn't be here with-"

The group call suddenly ended as Ruby hit the shutoff button, needing to end the conversation before she said something that would get her in trouble. She wanted to smack the woman upside her head with Crescent Rose, but at the same time, that would probably start an international incident. She needed to blow off some steam, find her happy place, and maybe fire a few rounds into some targets, so she activated her Semblance and made a dash to the armory where her baby was being stored, rematerializing in the center of the room to find the lights already on and a familiar head of green hair hunched over one of the tables.

"Jet, what on Remnant are you doing here?" The boy in question jumped out of his seat at her sudden appearance, his movements far stiffer than usual as the dark green suit he wore was clearly fresh off the rack and hadn't been broken in yet.

"I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. Are students not allowed in the facilities after class in Vacuo?" he said quickly, trying to excuse himself like he'd just been caught with his pants down. She giggled at his overreaction, holding her hands up to put him more at ease.

"No, I mean, why are you back here in a suit?" Jet paused before looking down at himself, realizing just how much his crisp, formal attire clashed with the dingy and dirty workbenches and oil-stained tools that surrounded him.

"Oh…" That was right, most people wouldn't work on their gear while wearing a suit that cost more than all the money they've ever seen previously combined. "Just trying to get this design finalized at the last minute."

With her curiosity peaked, Ruby wandered over, taking a look at the rough sketch he had down. It was a sword sheath designed to hold two blades, but interestingly enough, there was a trigger mechanism near the mouth, however, the specifics of that had been scribbled out and redrawn so many times it was hard to understand how exactly that was meant to work, but even still, she could tell there was a lack of any traditional firing mechanism.

"That's a sheath for Scarlet, right?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to get the same functionality as her dad's without just… y'know, copying her dad's." Ruby chuckled, looking down at the design a bit closer. Spending all his time before the dance doing anything but think about it, it was… something she'd have done…

"You're worrying about this instead of taking that girl to the dance?" She laughed as she remembered her own dance, a cringeworthy event if ever she'd seen one.

She had to walk around in those stupid lady stilts and that dumb dress Yang had picked out, but looking back on it, had she known it was the only school dance she'd get to attend, she'd have tried to enjoy it more. Sure, it wouldn't be Jet's only chance, but that didn't mean he should squander it. Jet sighed, a part of him knew his professor was right, but leaving this unfinished was just bothering him too much. Had it been the exoskeleton for his arms, or the gun functionality Lumi had begrudgingly let him attach to her dagger, it would be different, but he just couldn't get everyone's upgrades done but Scarlet's.

"I just need to come up with a propulsion system. I was thinking about using wind or gravity Dust, but I don't know how that would react with the fire dust infused with the metal of the sword." he explained. While the fire Dust alloy made Wilt more dangerous as a melee weapon, it also complicated things substantially when it came to using other Dust types.

Sure, it was possible, but Dust mixing was a science he was unfamiliar with at best, and the risk of having the weapon explode in her hand because he'd gotten his measurements wrong was a risk he wasn't willing to take.

"What's wrong with just using fire Dust? Make a small sealed explosion that shoots it out like a bullet."

"Because that's how Adam made his blade fly, and I wanna do something different. Besides, have you ever taken a good look at her red sword? A proper, close up look?"

Ruby shook her head. Really, it was something she tried to avoid, though for reasons she thought was understandable enough, given her family's history with that particular blade.

"The metal is covered in microfractures, I nearly had an aneurysm the first time I put it under the magnifying glass. Sure, Scarlet takes pretty good care of it, but if she swings it without Aura it's going to shatter. I want to try and negate that problem as much as I can"

Right, Aura could be finicky like that, while it protected clothes and weapons to a point, it wasn't at the same density levels as the body, which meant that, while a very slow process, they'd still get worn down by combat. Okay, so he was looking for a way to fire the swords out at high speeds while putting as little strain on the metals as possible, which complicated things. Her first thought was a sort of pressurized air system, but naturally, that would include wind dust to generate the pressure, which he understandably wanted to avoid, but she felt she was on the right track.

"Have you considered a high-pressure liquid system? No Dust?" At Ruby's suggestion, he started to think. It was theoretically possible, with enough PSI and a release mechanism, the pressure would propel the blades out like a bullet, but the method had several glaring flaws that immediately came to mind.

"But how would that work? All that extra bulk and weight from the amount of water we'd need to carry around would be a hindrance at best."

Ruby chuckled fondly, seeing a bit more of herself in the boy with each passing moment. He was smart, but at the same time, he focused on the wrong aspect of the whole thing, on the augment, not the base. She'd done something similar when first making Crescent Rose, so focused on the sniper rifle aspect that she'd completely neglected the scythe function in her first design, ending up with a curved spear more than anything else.

"You're focusing too much on the gun part of this. Take it from me, these weapons are extensions of ourselves, not just tools, so with that in mind, how would you make that work?" Jet paused. Granted, that advice flagrantly flew in the face of basic weapon design, but he wasn't getting anywhere thinking of it as just any old gun, so he thought of it more as a part of Scarlet, as something only she could use properly, and then it clicked.

"Her Semblance." It solved all the immediate issues, completely eliminating the need for external liquid storage since she could just supply more with her Semblance, and it would put substantially less strain on the blade. Plus, shooting her blades with the power of pressurized blood was something Scarlet would get absolutely giddy about.

"Bingo."

"Okay, great, now I can draft up the final design."

With the iron still hot, he had to get to work before his ideas faded, or worse, he forgot an important detail. Turning to grab his pencil once more, he found it was already gone, along with the paper, both of which were being pulled away by an unamused looking Ruby. What on earth was this boy thinking? The dance was in half an hour, he didn't have time for this!

"You know what? Here, I'll do it, I still owe you guys for how weird I was when we met."

Jet opened his mouth to object but by then she'd already grabbed the pencil and a nearby sharpener. Then, in a blur, her hands shot back and forth along the page faster than his eyes could follow, leaving behind a noticeably shorter pencil and a small pile of rose petals intermingled with shavings that Ruby blew away, revealing a design very similar to his original concept, but with an additional gathering system at the scabbard's mouth. It was a bit bulkier than what he'd been going for initially, but still remained an effective way to immediately store and pressurize her blood.

"You can spend hours going over the design and making adjustments some other night, go be a kid and have fun while you can. Trust me, it goes by faster than you think." Jet looked at the design, it was… Honestly, it was better than anything he'd have thought of at the moment and he knew it. Left without a leg to stand on, he made his way to the door.

"Thanks Miss Rose." Glancing down at his Scroll, his eyes bulged out of their sockets as he saw the time. Bursting out the door, he turned the corner in the direction of SJJL's room, running as fast as he could manage in his suit without potentially damaging it. Shit, Scarlet was probably pissed, thinking he'd stood her up. This always happened, how could he be so stupid! As he turned another corner, something grabbed his arm, pulling him into a sudden stop.

"Damn, you look good all dressed up." Scarlet said, looking him up and down hungrily, reaching out and adjusting his suit a bit. He wanted to ask how she knew where to find him, but that was a dumb question, anyone who knew him would say the workshop was the first place someone should look for him.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one complimenting you?" She shot him a smug look at the question, she looked good and she damn well knew it, but still, hearing it from him was something she found herself craving at the moment.

"Well, are you?"

"You look amazing." She did, Gods above she did, it was like that dress had been made for her, and no-one else.

"Damn right I do." Jet could do little more than watch as she wrapped her arms around his elbow, resting her head on his bicep, looking up and innocently batting her eyes like she didn't know damn well what she was doing to him. "And you get to show up having this hot piece of ass hanging off your arm. Don't you feel lucky?"

"Like the luckiest guy in the world." Scarlet giggled, smacking his arm gently for such a corny line, yet, for some reason, it still brought some redness to her cheeks

"Flattery won't get you that lucky… Well, maybe it will, this dress does have me feeling kinda… frisky." Jet choked on air as she whispered the last part, once again going back to that damned voice.

Asher's metal hand connected with the head of the cultist with a sickening crunch, first feeling the Aura give way in a flash of light, then his mask, shattering into little white splinters, then finally his skull, the crescendo of his strike sounding out with a wet crunch and the ringing of steel, while the impact sent the body into the rock wall of the cave behind him. With that one down, it was just him and one other man left, who was already swinging a curved dagger down to stab him. Fortunately, he was faster than the masked man, and countered by throwing a punch to his wrist before the blade could land, sending his Aura through the strike and into the limb, causing the weapon to launch out of his hand and embed itself into the ceiling, as well as shattering every bone in his arm. The pain from this should have been enough to cause him to pass out, but the man was tenacious as he was devoted, growling through the pain and pulling his good hand back to send another strike his way. He never got the chance, his head suddenly jerking to the side and splattering the walls with blood and gray matter as a single gunshot echoed through the makeshift halls.

"I coulda handled them." Asher said as he turned to see Onyx approaching, smoke still rising from the barrel of her handgun. Despite his words, he was visibly happy to see she hadn't been hit in the scuffle.

"I know you could have." she said in a teasing tone.

Noticing a small splatter of darker-than-usual blood on his cheek, she licked her thumb, gathering a generous amount of spit before rubbing it into the blood to wipe it away, Asher sighed, but didn't resist, after all, she knew he loved the attention. As she cleaned him off, she found the blood was colder than usual. That was weird, considering it was so fresh. Was the cultist some sort of Faunus? Despite being one herself, she was by no means an expert, but she knew there were bugs out there with blue or green blood, so it being colder and a bit off color didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Once he was clean, she whipped her thumb on her shorts and smiled at her handiwork. "Much better."

The next thing they knew another cultist flew through the door in front of them, a sai embedded in the woman's chest as she gasped and sputtered, coughing up blood before finally going still. Another robed figure was forced back, raising a scimitar to block Carmine thrusting her remaining sai at his throat. The weapons clashed, with the sword being caught between the center blade and the sai's tine, and with a grin on her face, Carmine twisted her hand until the sword snapped under the pressure. He didn't even extend his Aura to his sword, rookie maneuver.

The moment the broken blade hit the floor, the ginger flipped her weapon around and drove it into her opponent's throat. His hands reached out too late to stop the attack, but did manage to latch onto her wrist and push her back. She allowed him to back away, knowing the damage was done, seeing the blood spill from between his fingers, desperately clutching the wound. It took a few seconds, but the blood loss eventually got to him, toppling over as his gurgles faded.

"Save the flirting for when we're out of here." Carmine said, reaching down and retrieving her other sai as the trio continued to make their way deeper into the complex.

The hideout was nothing special, just a hastily converted cave system in a mesa located just outside one of the smaller satellite cities only a few hours' ride away from the capital. When first putting out feelers, they'd expected to hear rumors of secret communities isolated deep in the desert, but instead, got stories of entire groups of people coming into the towns who just seemed a little off, or residents who were just a bit too secretive, being unnecessarily difficult with innocuous details and with glimpses and rumors of strange ornate weapons hidden on them. Then, in a few standout cases, there were rumors of towns and hamlets being sacked overnight with no one left alive, the ruins looking like a warzone.

When it became clear their targets weren't hiding in the shadows of civilization, or at least, weren't based there, they turned to common shelters between cities, one of which was the very mesa the cave they were clearing resided in. It was a common resting point for those between the western satellite cities and the frontier towns and hamlets, but recently, those heading near it had started to go missing, which, considering the various vehicles and boxes stashed away in here, now had a grisly explanation.

"I think that's all of them." Onyx said, clearing another makeshift room, a storage area of sorts based on all the stacked boxes.

She made her way deeper, guns raised in the event someone tried to jump out at her, but she found no one, instead coming across a table crudely pressed against the slanted incline of the wall. Considering the coast clear, she found herself hunching over to look at the various papers and maps.

"Guys, come check this out." Following her voice, the other two made their way over, satisfied that they had eliminated everyone who could be a threat.

"Huh, for some reason I thought they'd be less organized." Asher mused to himself, flicking through what looked to be a log of supplies, be it food, weapons, and, according to the paper, several Grimm if the labels of 'Razerwings' and 'Sulfur Fish' were being literal instead of some code they were using.

Onyx was less careful, haphazardly dumping out an envelope labeled 'Betrayer's Spawn'. Inside lay a set of photos, presumably taken from various hiding spots, of a girl with black horns and red hair she didn't recognize, as well as a set of what looked to be her friends.

"Who's this, a student?" she asked, handing the photo over to Asher.

He took a more critical look at the image, quickly finding that, while it did seem like she was a student, he hadn't seen her at Vacuo before, meaning she was most likely a foreigner visiting for the festival. Looking over the other photos, it was clear this girl was a target of some sorts, but he couldn't imagine why this group would care so much about this girl in particular.

"I don't recognize her, no clue who her friends are supposed to be either." As the pair tried to brainstorm, Carmine occupied herself flipping through the drawer, finding herself begrudgingly impressed by how well organized this all was, whoever had been put in charge of their filing was a serious neat freak.

However, one file simply titled 'Summer' stopped her train of thought dead in its tracks. Pulling it out, her worst fears were confirmed, as from within, she pulled out another set of photos, several of which were of Durga's previous caravan, clearly taken from a distance, as she and the pair of Huntsmen guarding her entered the gate of a city that had recently fallen. What was worse was that it came with a sketched map of Shade's library, marking the stone statue of Malik the Sunderer that stood in the room's center as a secret passage to the vault. Paperclipped to it were two photos, one of Durga, and one of a giant door with a frame of sandstone, interlaced with intricate gold patterns. Her heart sank, she'd never seen the vault herself, probably never would, and she worked directly with Theodore for years, so how someone had been able to discover not just the vault's location, but how to access it, meant there had been a serious security breach.

"What is that? Some kinda door?" Onyx asked, completely clueless as to the dire situation the information before her painted.

"Whatever it is, they seem to think Durga's the key… somehow." Asher's comment snapped her out of her daze and she gathered the photos back up before shoving them back into their folder, and forcing it into Asher's hands.

"I'll call this in to the closest settlement so we can get a full search of the area. You two fall back to the main city, get these photos to one of the Huntsmen at the Academy." At her uncharacteristically worried tone, the bounty hunters knew there was no time to waste; this needed to be brought to their boss's attention as soon as possible.

Chapter Text

Stepping into the auditorium with Jin at her side, Lumi hummed in approval. While the decorum paled in comparison to the extravagance she was accustomed to back at home, by the standards she'd come to expect from Vacuo, she was rather impressed. The color scheme deliberately clashed with the room's dark red walls, letting the primarily cream and lilac adornments and overhead drapes really pop.

They weren't too far off from her white and baby blue colored dress she'd had tailor-made for her at just fourteen, and while she'd long since hoped to grow out of it, she couldn't deny she still looked amazing in it. Jin wore a deep purple suit that was about half a size too small, not that she minded of course. There were tables along the walls holding an assortment of food and drink, along with a dizzying amount of sugary treats, then further towards the back there were dining tables covered in cloth that toed the line between fancy and tacky. The pair made their way back to the tables, though not before making a quick stop at the punch had plans to meet up with Scarlet and Jet once they showed up, and the tables seemed like the simplest spot to wait. She fought the urge to pull Jin into her, a part of her wanting nothing more than to hang off his big strong arm, but they were here as friends, and for now, that was enough.

Taking another look at the room, she noticed that, while the overall architecture lacked the elegance of Atlas's, they'd still managed to include it in the decorations, the hall adorned with a great rectangular skylight in lieu of the ceiling, allowing the students to gaze up at the stars in the night sky, further setting the mood for the event. As for the other decorations, some of the statues in the room had cloth wrapped around them as makeshift dresses, which, considering most of them were of ancient heroes, kings, and other such manly figures of legend, added a humorous edge to the affair. They'd even brought in some colorful plants she assumed were from the area, potted cacti, desert sage, and even some honest to gods flowers.

To no one's surprise, there weren't many others around just yet, the crowd that initially showed up was small, some twenty-odd students beyond Jin and herself, as far as she could tell. All of them were either helping themselves to the free refreshments or mingling with their friends, with the dance floor left empty save for what looked to be a set of soldiers stationed in front of the stage. The lack of students didn't shock her, after all, they'd shown up fairly early into the night, fifteen past nine, it was less punctual than she'd have wanted but by Jin's standards, it was still early, so she wouldn't complain too much.

"Wow, this place almost feels like an actual ballroom." Lumi let herself muse as they settled down into their seats.

"You know, sometimes I come close to forgetting you grew up all prissy and rich, and then you gotta go and say something like that." Scarlet called out from behind them, making Lumi groan as she turned to face the pair as they approached, both holding their own cup.

Looking the new arrivals up and down, she had to admit, her partner had good taste. While the black and red attire veered leagues too far into the realm of promiscuity for her to ever consider wearing such a thing; it looked perfect on her, giving her an air of elegance even despite the excessive skin shown. What was far less elegant was the way the redhead shamelessly hung off of Jet like a trophy wife, keeping his arm snuggly held against her. Not that he seemed to mind, he was a man after all.

"It was a compliment!" she defended herself as her partner plopped down in the seat across from her. Her protest was briefly ignored as they got situated, leaving her to stew and pout until Scarlet humored her. The Faunus raised an eyebrow, curious how her partner would spin her little comment. "There was clearly a lot of work put into the decoration. It feels authentic."

Scarlet looked around herself, really taking in the scenery for the first time. Without Lumi's line of comparison, she couldn't speak on the authenticity of this compared to the fancy schmancy sort of events she was used to, but she had to admit, there had certainly been a decent amount of effort put in, at least, more so than back at Patch during the little prom that had been set up. Granted, it couldn't all be blamed on the school, they were a relatively small island community after all, and they had to make do, but this was something else entirely. Leaning back in her chair, Scarlet nodded, a small smile gracing her lips as she looked up overhead at the skylight.

"You know what? It is pretty nice, huh?"

"We'll probably end up in Atlas at some point anyway, maybe you can show them your family's ballroom?" Jin spoke up, similarly reminiscing on the last time he'd been to a similar sort of event.

Funnily enough, it had also been with Lumi back when they were younger. He and his family had come to visit, and while he always disliked the cold, he remembered hating the stiff teal suit they'd put him in even more. He was just hitting his growth spurt, so it was even tighter than usual, but Lumi had managed to help him take his mind off of it, even teaching him to dance. Lumi nodded, it sounded like a nice distraction, along with the chance to hopefully inject some actual culture into a certain someone's worldview.

"Atlas? What makes you so sure about that?" Jet asked. While not against the idea, the certainty in his partner's voice was curious.

"Well, after the Vytal Festival wraps up, our first year is basically over, and when we become second years, we're allowed to take training missions, even into other kingdoms. I remember that a few years ago, Aunty was really excited about this new cross-school exchange program thing that meant students could be paired up with teams from other kingdoms and learn to work together in different environments, kinda like what we're doing right now, but more… freeform and focused on practical experience, I guess."

Jet nodded, and now that he thought about it, he did remember hearing something like that. It was never really at the front of his mind as a first year, but he could recall BRST mentioning they had been assigned some small jobs between Vale and Vacuo, mainly caravan protection if Ruta's complaints of how boring they were weren't exaggerated. But, he didn't dwell on it any longer than that, as the fact that Jin had just pointed out they were mere months away from completing their first year at Beacon stunned him into silence. The rest of the table, even Jin himself, suddenly grew quiet at the realization, all bearing the same harrowed look in their eyes. Scarlet in particular gawked in disbelief, her mouth hanging open. He almost second-guessed himself, but if his math was right…

"Crap, we're really that close?" It didn't feel real to any of them, because it certainly didn't feel like that much time had passed. Hell, it felt like they'd only just gotten over the whole scandal involving Adam and Cinder along with the attack that followed, and now they were set to become second-years.

"Yeah, time really flies, huh…" Lumi chuckled at the absurdity.

They were all one step closer to becoming true Huntsmen, surely she should have felt different in some way, or say with confidence that she hit some new milestone to mark her growth. Yet there was nothing, they were all just older, and maybe a bit more experienced than they were at the start of the year.

"It feels like nothing's really changed."

"That's not true, I found out a bunch of people really want to murder me." Scarlet butted in with a poorly contained giggle, waiting a moment for what she had expected to be laughter, or at least a snicker, only to be met with unimpressed stares from her team.

Apparently she wasn't allowed to joke about her own near-death experiences now, as her attempt at making light of that whole debacle had clearly backfired, resulting in a sea of uncomfortable glances between her friends.

"...Too soon?"

"She kinda has a point, we helped bring down a cult base in Vale. For students, and first years at that, that's gotta be huge." Jin said, doing his best to turn the awkward exchange into something more positive.

The team found his innocent smile and peppy energy to be infectious, and he was right. Even if it wasn't felt, technically, they had done more than any other first-year team. So what if they were patting themselves on the back a bit? After all the crap they'd had to deal with, it was more than earned.

"You're right, I propose a toast." Lumi said suddenly, taking a stand and raising up her cup of punch. Jin followed suit without question, as though his own drink was almost empty, he wasn't going to sit it out on something so wonderfully silly.

"A toast? Kinda cliche isn't it?" Taking a quick glance around him, Jet noted that the hall had very quickly filled up with their fellow students and that the two suddenly standing had drawn a fair bit of attention, especially with the Beacon students who were more than familiar with the team by this point.

"Don't be boring," Scarlet said, similarly getting to her feet.

So what if people stared, it may have taken months, but they were finally just enjoying themselves, no big drama or fight hanging over their heads, no worrying about being killed, and they were all still friends. As far as she was concerned, her team was cooler than all of theirs combined.

"We started as the biggest fuck up team there is and now we're about to win a tournament! That's worthy of a toast."

With all eyes on him, Jet couldn't bring himself to let the three down, they were a team, if one of them did something silly or dumb, then they all did it. Standing up, he joined in.

"To team SJJL!" Lumi declared, followed by the other three, bumping their cups together before each taking a sip of the fruity drink, Jin finishing his meager amount left while Scarlet, feeling the sudden need to lead by example downed her entire cup in one gulp, letting out a loud burp a moment later. The uncouth act caused Lumi to groan while inspiring a small bit of competitiveness in Jin, who similarly tried to force his own, louder, belch. The pair of Faunus laughed, leaving their human partners each equally unimpressed.

"There you guys are." the voice of Blitz called out, appearing next to Scarlet a moment later in a literal flash of light, drawing even more attention their way. Her arm was already slung around Scarlet's shoulders as the rest of BRST arrived at the table, following her lead. "You're late!"

"What? I thought the dance started at nine." Lumi gasped, checking the time, it hadn't even been thirty minutes since they'd arrived.

"Yeah, the dance, y'all missed the pregaming." Ruta giggled, swaying a bit despite standing in place, Sarasvati needing to hold onto her arm to stop her from tumbling down. Seeing the confusion on their faces at the disheveled girl's state, Taimur mouthed the word 'lightweight'. Apparently, they'd missed out on some fun.

"Eh, probably for the best, can't have this boy getting too tipsy and doing something dumb." Seeing the suggestive look being shot his way by his date, Jet was almost offended, especially considering her own history with self control.

"How is it in your mind, I'm the one who'd be irresponsible?" Letting out an exaggerated gasp, Scarlet fluttered her eyelashes and pouted, crossing her arms in a way that pressed her breasts further up into view.

"Are you saying I don't look irresistible?"

The poor boy didn't have it in him to lie and say he didn't, but at the same time, his throat suddenly felt dry, and if the small but mischievous grin on her face was anything to go by; she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

Thankfully, he was saved from needing to answer by the lights beginning to dim everywhere but the front stage as the soldiers suddenly stood at attention and the crimson curtains parted, revealing a fair skinned woman who was tall, easily taller than Scarlet and possibly having an inch or two on Alaska, and that was without the black stilettos adding another couple inches to her stature. She had piercing blue eyes, not too much darker than Lumi's, but they were sharper and were far colder. Rather than a dress, the woman was clad in a purple military uniform, complete with an impressive adornment of medals on the right side of her chest. She wore her hair short, letting her violet bangs on the right side hang a bit looser, barely reaching her chin while the left side was neatly brushed back. She looked over the crowd, appraising each of the students as her gaze passed over them. Seeing the eyes on her caused her to smile as one of the soldiers stepped forward, announcing to the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Colonel Indigo Nasturtium!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the music started to play, a guitar riff immediately setting the high energy mood of the song as the woman stepped forward, grabbing the microphone and letting out her deep but smooth voice.

"Through the crimson sky I scream your names.

Blades clash in hearts of flame.

Marching forward to feel the stride

In the battle of your liiiiives!"

A few looks of bewilderment broke out amongst the students, while they had all expected some variety of live entertainment, for it to be provided by a member of the world's most powerful military? Not so much. Though, if Lumi and her family were anything to go by, Scarlet figured it could just be another example of Atlesian eccentricity. Most of the students put no deeper thought into it either, just making their way to the dance floor, but Jin, on the other hand, couldn't help but look closer at her attire, recognizing the symbol on her armband as the same one on Nick's chest plate.

"Hey, isn't that Nick's boss?" Lumi paused, taking a good look at the woman. It might have been, she'd never really paid much attention to the military outside of events involving her aunt and uncle, yet the name was familiar, and the woman certainly lined up with the details Nick gave about his commander.

"He did mention she's a good singer, apparently she sings to motivate her men."

"Speaking of motivation." Jet's hair stood up on his neck as Scarlet cooed into his ear. "C'mon man, you gonna just stand around drinking punch, or you wanna bump and grind with me?"

It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a demand, Scarlet immediately starting to pull Jet onto the dance floor, waving at her friends with a promise to be back after she'd worn him out. Despite the reserved look on his face, they noticed he didn't once protest as they disappeared into the crowd.

"Oh, that's boy's whipped, isn't he?" Ruta chuckled, watching the pair head off.

"If he wasn't before, he is now." Sarasvati added, waving them off before the girl she kept balanced suddenly grabbed ahold of her arms and started trying to spin around.

"C'mon suga', let's go bussa groove!" Ruta said, starting to gyrate and move in a way that probably made sense to her but was completely uncoordinated to everyone else, including her impromptu dance partner, who struggled to keep pace.

Lumi, meanwhile, sat back and watched the chaotic scene unfold. Aside from the farm girl's obvious inebriation, there wasn't much that set her seemingly random movement and lack of any real rhythm apart from how the rest of them 'danced'. A part of her wanted to grab Jin by his massive hand and drag him out there, just to make a point as to what real dancing looked like, but it didn't feel right, and she especially didn't want to force Jin into dancing for such a petty reason. If anything, she wanted him to be the one to ask her to dance, but she could swallow her desires for one night and just be happy that they were spending the event together, just like when they were kids.

As the ballroom started to fill and they made their way back to the punch bowl so Jin could refill his cup, she searched for the familiar faces of her friends and family. Her first instinct was to search the snack table for Goose, who would no doubt be delighted at the sugary treats available, but there was no luck in that area. The dance floor was a long shot, but there was a chance that if Lao was there, he'd stick out like a sore thumb, though she quickly gave up on that plan upon remembering that Lao was shorter than most of the crowd, which would make picking him out very tricky. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted a familiar, tiny, young woman at the table next to the punch bowl, filling her cup with cold water as she gave the punch bowl a jealous pout that she was sure was meant to be a fearsome scowl.

Liz had gone on the simpler side for her outfit, the top could almost be mistaken for a slightly loose shirt, sporting a simple V-neck collar and short sleeves that ended at her elbows. The only part she'd consider out of the norm for her cousin was the medium length skirt and the matching sash that was designed to look as if it was holding the pieces together. Lumi was actually disappointed, the pygmy girl hadn't even bothered to add a bit of color outside of the navy blue she typically wore. Before she could get her cousin's attention, she turned, spotting the group, particularly her and Jin owing to walking so close.

"Well, look at you, walking around with the tamed hunk of man following you around, I never expected to see you showing off so shamelessly." Despite her teasing tone, Elizabeth was proud of her cousin, the fact that she'd even asked the boy to the dance was a sign that she finally made some form of effort more than looking pretty and hoping the boy would make a move on her. Granted, things would go a lot better if she'd just nut up and kiss him or something equally as impossible to ignore.

"Jealousy isn't a good look on you Liz." Lumi shot back, taking a page out of her partner's playbook and grabbing Jin's massive and firm bicep.

Smirking at her cousin, she missed the way his face went several shades of red in only a moment as he felt her press her body against him and going almost as still as a statue, a reaction that would have pleased his 'date' to no end were she not preoccupied with sticking her tongue out. Liz could only smile in response, perfectly happy to get catty with her.

"Please, I'd be jealous if you were actually getting any."

Lumi sputtered and stumbled over her words as she tried to get out no less than three responses at once, and whether she lied and denied the truth of her words or defended her decision to maintain her virtue, it wouldn't matter, as Liz could easily spin both against her.

"No luck with dates, huh?" Blitz interjected, giving Lumi valuable time to recover, to which Elizabeth shrugged, not bothering to feign enthusiasm.

"For this? Ugh, I almost didn't come, I hate this fancy dress-up crap." the small woman stated, looking down at her own outfit with a disdainful huff. "But Goose kept saying 'it's the first big thing we're doing together as a team and that we gotta go', so here I am."

"Speaking of our dear aunt, where is she, or the rest of your team for that matter?" Lumi asked, having expected them to be all together. As soon as the question reached her ears, her cousin's neutral expression turned to one of slight concern as she realized she had lost track of her team.

"Goose dragged them all over to the dance floor as soon as we came in." The worry in her voice as she looked past the group was unmistakable, Lumi quickly became overcome with a similar trepidation, spinning on her heel to try and find the rest of BGEL.

"Oh no. Is someone watching her? She's a horrible dancer, please tell me Lao or Belka are with her."

"She can't be that bad right?" Jin asked, seemingly the only one with any faith in his cousin, a faith that was wavering at the dead serious stares the Schnee girls met him with.

"Well, there was that one time she tried to breakdance and accidentally knocked over the armor display in Grandma's main hall."

Now that had been a sight to behold, the chances of a ten year old spinning out of control fast enough to dislodge the sword in the perfect way so as to slice through the ankles of the giant suit of armor with nothing but her own momentum and Weiss's misplaced bottle of baby oil was probably millions or even billions to one. Thankfully, Weiss had been paying attention and was able to use a Glyph to move everyone out of the way, but it had still been an uncomfortably close call.

"Your aunt can breakdance?" Taimur asked, looking around as if expecting to see a crowd gathered around a girl sliding around as she was attempting to do spins or wiggling about on the floor in some other ridiculous manner.

"Nope, won't stop her from trying to learn though" Lumi sighed, coming to terms with the fact that when they found Goose and the others, they'd probably end up literally flying by due to some sort of improbable incident.

"Hey, not to cut you off, but I've been meaning to talk to you guys about your friends, that team of all girls." Taimur's tone put an end to the joking mood, it was cautious, almost nervous, being completely unlike her.

"You mean JWEL?" Despite them all immediately knowing who she meant, Jin had to ask out of disbelief if nothing else. He wasn't aware anyone from BRST had ever met team JWEL, and based on her expression, it hadn't exactly been a good first impression, but he couldn't think of a reason why they'd get off on the wrong foot.

"Yeah, those guys, we haven't seen them around."

"I guess Juliet and Elena probably got sick, Rosaria didn't really want to come, and Luna…" Jin trailed off as he explained. She probably wouldn't have liked being here without her team, especially with the low light and crowds of strangers. Still, it really was unfortunate, as if nothing else, they could have at least cleared up whatever this was about.

"She'd have been eaten alive in this crowd, probably literally." Liz said matter of factly. While it could have been said more tactfully, the fact that no one actually disagreed with her proved her point.

"I see…" Taimur paused to consider her words, not wanting to step on any toes. While he knew this had to be addressed; it was always more delicate when personal relationships were involved. "It's just, we had this encounter the other day at the gym and we didn't wanna cause any drama."

"What sort of encounter?" Blitz, not having been there herself, said, turning to Taimur for an elaboration. Her ears slightly drooped in silent response, and with a brief exhale, she began.

"One of the girls, Juliet I think, got violent, real violent, with Siyah."

The group, all having seen firsthand, or in Liz's case, having been told about, the sort of person he was, immediately lost any sympathy they could have had. They'd all dealt with SLVR and their constant string of harassment, and team SABL was a similarly annoying, if thankfully much less persistent group of punks, so it was fairly easy to imagine them doing something that would warrant such a response. Seeing that she was losing them, Taimur started to bristle, even if it was understandable given the context, that didn't mean it was acceptable. Taking a deep breath, she decided to lay it out plainly.

"Look, I know you don't like him, hell, none of us like him, but your friends could get into serious trouble if one of them loses their temper and hurts someone for real."

"I'll make sure Scarlet says something, she's closer to Juliet than I am." While still not exactly concerned over the boy getting what she thought was a well deserved consequence, Lumi elected to keep the peace rather than argue. After all, while she admittedly didn't know Juliet as well as her partner, let alone any of the other girls from JWEL, the girl becoming violent was still unlike anything she'd ever seen from her.

"That's all I can really ask for, I get that I probably didn't meet her at her best." With that, they collectively dropped the issue, the last thing they wanted to do was drop the edge over what could have just been a moment of frustration boiling over and not a pattern to be concerned about. Looking for something, anything really, to move on from the awkward conversation Jin scanned the crowd, suddenly snorting in amusement as he saw his cousin and her dance partner.

"Wow, you were right, she is a horrible dancer." Jin chuckled, pointing Goose out in the crowd.

The rest of the group quickly followed to where he pointed, and stifled a few chuckles of their own. It was easy enough to spot the tall girl, and with her was the rest of Liz's team, who were accompanied by three of the members of KRMA, Anga being nowhere to be seen. Her dress matched the colors of her hair, being a frilly, black and white shoulderless dress that flowed down to her knees in alternating colors. Lao was with her, wearing a standard black suit with a pink dress shirt underneath. She was trying to copy something she'd seen in a movie, the only problem being that she was attempting a highly choreographed routine entirely from memory. Spinning on her heel, she stopped too late, stumbling before regaining her balance and dramatically raising her arm. To say the least, the dance was horribly uncoordinated, yet despite this, she had a big toothy grin on her face the entire time, and somehow Lao was keeping pace with her, or at least not managing to trip over her movements while doing a half-hearted shuffle.

Belka was paired with Whiskey, the pair doing a mirrored dance, Belka stepping a bit too far before quickly correcting her footing. She felt out of practice, it had been almost a year since they'd danced together and never in front of so many people, adding a layer of nerves that wasn't present when they'd decided to learn the moves together. But, pushing through and falling back on muscle memory, she synced back up, the pair pointing at each other as they gyrated their hips in clockwise motions before suddenly spinning around and bumping their hips together before locking arms for a finishing pose, one Jin immediately recognized from a rhythm game Guang used to practice his own dance moves, causing him to laugh once more, this time much harder.

Doing his best to just go with the flow, Lao was unprepared for Goose to suddenly grab his wrist and pull him closer, raising their arms in an attempt to spin him. Reacting with surprise, he pulled his hand back, only to be flung away by accident. Ken, who sported a full set of green attire, was doing his best tap dance, doing his best to get Mercy to join in on the fun on the dance floor. He just didn't get these people, Anga had skipped out entirely, calling it 'a distraction, a waste of valuable preparation time, and an opportunity for opponents to glean additional information on their strategies', and Mercy was refusing to dance like some weirdo. However, suddenly he straightened up and reached back, catching Lao as they suddenly twirled together. He moved with the sudden source of momentum, spinning a few times before dipping the smaller boy, and at the same time suddenly realizing who he'd been holding, his tail suddenly going rigid and the color draining from his face as he froze up.

"Not who you were expecting?" Ken winced at the deadpan tone and expression from his unintended dance partner, looking away as he cursed at himself for waiting as long as he did to react.

"Uh, no." He didn't take any offense to the way Ken's face cringed above him, in fact, he was also rather uncomfortable with how they were posed as well, it was putting unnecessary strain on his back.

"Would you mind letting me go then?"

"No, hang on Kenny, I'm still lining up the shot." The giggling voice of Mercedes tried to tell them, the pair both looking up just in time for the camera flash from her Scroll to catch their expressions.

"Mercy!" In his rush to grab the Scroll out of his friend's hand, he dropped Lao, who fell flat on his back. Wincing from the unexpected impact, he looked up to see Mercedes smirking down at him as she held the scroll just out of his reach, laughing all the while.

"Oh, oh, send that to me please!" Goose said, helping Lao to his feet before walking over to get a look at the moment Mercy had captured, Ken still trying in vain to get the Scroll and erase the image.

Dusting himself off, Lao decided he'd had enough of dancing, and while making his way over to the table he just noticed was occupied by Liz and some of the others, he paused as he noticed a chair just out of the way of the main area, propped up against one of the side doors with the back of the chair wedged under the doorknob. The door shook as something banged against it, the sound drowned out by the music, but as he approached, he could faintly hear a familiar voice, though he couldn't tell who the voice belonged to with the music as loud as it was.

"Hello? Please help! Pleaaaase! It's dark and spooky in here an- AH I HEARD SOMETHING MOVE!"

Lao approached the door cautiously, looking around to see if anyone was watching or laying in wait. Confident he was alone, he carefully removed the chair and quickly stepped out of the way, expecting whoever was locked behind to burst out, however they just kept banging on the door, apparently having given up on trying to actually open it. Sighing, he stepped back over and turned the knob, and immediately, the door flung open as a head of messy pink hair lunged forward, latching onto him and squeezing like a vice in appreciation, the girl's equally pink fluffy tail wagging back and forth.

"Oh thank you, thank you, tha-"

Loyal went silent, sniffing the chest she was up against, her tail slowing to a stop as she recognized the scent. With a small 'eep!' she jumped back, tensing up as if expecting to be hit. However, Lao just tilted his head curiously, it wasn't like he had a reason to be hostile currently, and since she'd been locked in the room for what he assumed was a while, it was unlikely she could have been a part of any scheme that may change that in the immediate future. Instead, he was more curious as to how the girl had ended up in this situation in the first place.

"Why were you locked in there?"

"I dunno, I didn't do anything bad!" Lao's face remained blank, though the silence that followed expressed his doubt far better than his face could have regardless. Loyal, after taking a moment to pick up on it, pouted and started stamping her foot on the floor, whining all the while. "I didn't!"

Not wanting to make a scene, Lao decided not to list his many valid reasons to doubt her, instead shrugging as he turned and once again started to walk away. As he did so, he found more and more dancers bumping into him, with annoyingly few actually acknowledging their mistakes, most laughing it off or ignoring it entirely. With his desire to leave the floor growing exponentially, he glanced around, looking for a spot to sit when he felt someone's presence behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Loyal following him through the crowd as she fiddled with the hem of her simple green dress. She was also looking around, though far more frantically, her tail lowered between her legs. He walked a little farther, just to the edge of the dance floor before turning to face her, and again, she jumped, though not as hard as the first time, instead just surprised at the sudden stop.

"Are you following me?" Now it was Loyal's turn to be confused. She thought it was obvious, it was a big crowd! She didn't wanna get lost! 'Laska would get mad!

"I-I don't see any of my teammates..." She tried to explain before it set in that maybe he didn't want her to follow him, after all he didn't look very happy to see her. Maybe he still held a grudge about the fight they had? "D-do you not want me to?"

Lao paused, considering it for a moment. Did he want her to leave him? It would make sense, their teams had been against each other since their third day at Beacon, and their mutual animosity had progressed to the point that they'd actually come to blows over it. Despite that, she didn't bring out any contempt from him, and as he looked into her eyes, he didn't see any for himself. He saw no reason to push her away when she clearly didn't want to be alone.

"I just didn't think you'd want to be around me considering our last encounter."

"Well, that was a while ago, you don't seem as scary right now." Lao couldn't help but to find the idea amusing, he'd never considered himself to be 'scary' by any metric, he was five foot four with a soft face that resembled his mother, who was, Magnhild aside, one of the least threatening people he could imagine appearance-wise.

Seeing the small hint of a smile on his lips, she beamed, her tail once again going wild. He didn't hate her! She'd been so worried he'd tell her to go look on her own. Now she just had to find her team, maybe they'd be at the punch bowl, that's where Aethelflad had been going after all, and she could get some for Lao since he was being nice!

"Have you had any of the punch?"

"No."

"Do you wanna? It's really good." Lao shrugged, he was a bit thirsty after all, and it was away from the dance floor.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

The impromptu pair made their way over to the punch bowl, each grabbing a cup. As Lao raised it to his lips, he found it was surprisingly sweet, so much so that he recoiled. The amount of sugar added in almost made it taste like candy, yet there was another taste he couldn't quite name, and weirdly, it left a soft tingle on his lips. Taking another, quite smaller, drink allowed him to adjust, meanwhile Loyal was happily slurping down her cup. They hadn't gone unnoticed, however, as a familiar voice promptly spoke up from behind him.

"Lao, what are you doing?" Lao turned to see Elizabeth staring at him like he'd grown a second head, glancing between him and Loyal. Blitz and Taimur were with her, and both bore a similar expression, though it was more so aimed at her reaction. He looked down at his drink, unsure what exactly the problem was.

"I was recommended the punch. It's a bit sweet for my taste, but it's not too bad." Elizabeth just facepalmed at her partner's misunderstanding. Right, she'd need to be more clear this time.

"No, I mean what is she doing with you?" she said, pointing at the pink-tailed girl so there was no way she could be mistaken.

"I can't find 'Laska or Vera." Loyal explained, somehow not at all offended by Elizabeth's tone.

"How about the skank?"

"Aeth is busy, last time I saw her she said she was gonna do something about the punch's… lack of punch."

While her words went over her own head, the rest of them quickly realized what had happened. Looking out into the crowd again, they noticed that the amount of uncoordinated dancers had grown considerably, and, taking another sip of his cup, Lao was able to identify the element that had confused him the first time. There was indeed alcohol in the mix, and a non-negligible amount at that. Loyal, still fully unaware of her friend's actions, continued on explaining.

"I dunno where they went, I was talking to this girl who seemed nice enough, but then she locked me in a dark room and I couldn't find the door and I think I broke something!"

"Let me guess, little brat named Alyx?" Blitz sighed, already knowing the answer even before she saw Loyal's head start nodding furiously.

"Uh-huh! How'd you know?"

"She's been a little shit since she got here. C'mon, I'll help you find your friends, and maybe have a little talk with this Aeth girl." Not picking up on Blitz's obvious frustration, Loyal's tail started to wag at the idea of finding her friends again, following the women as they walked off, taking one last moment to turn and wave back at Lao.

"Okay! Bye Lao, thank you!"

Lao waved the Faunus goodbye, as despite the awkward circumstances, the encounter had been fairly pleasant, it was a shame that they seemed to be enemies simply for the fact that her teammates decided to make his friend's lives harder. As soon as she was out of eyesight, he tossed the mostly full cup into the trash, having no plans to become inebriated. Turning back to his partner, Elizabeth gave him a confused and unamused look.

"You helped her?"

"Is that a problem?" Elizabeth hummed as she thought about it, maybe it was somewhat of a problem, after all, she belonged to SLVR of all teams, but at the same time, she seemed harmless enough on her own. As long as this didn't come back to bite them later, she supposed it could slide.

"No, I'm just surprised, that's all. No one would have blamed you for leaving her to deal with it herself… Then again, that does track, you always let things slide too easily."

Lao couldn't tell if that had been meant as a compliment or an insult, though he'd always gotten the impression his demeanor annoyed his partner. They stood in silence, Elizabeth finishing her water as Lao lingered. Eventually, they found themselves looking back out into the crowd, spotting Goose dancing wildly with Belka, their leader desperately trying to keep up while Jin and Lumi watched from the sidelines along with the present members of KRMA.

"You know, you can go dance if you'd like. You don't gotta just hang around me 'cause I'm all by myself up here." Elizabeth spoke up, noticing Lao watching their friends dance, yet to her surprise, he shook his head.

"I think I'm all danced out for tonight."

"Well, in that case, I'd be happy to keep you company." she said with a warm chuckle, remembering his little run in with Kenneth. Seeing as neither of them had any desire to be on the dance floor, she motioned for Lao to follow her over to the dining tables, where they were less likely to be accosted by an unwittingly drunk dancer.

As they walked off, the lighting dimmed once more, accompanied by the music slowing into something more intimate. Indigo still serenaded the students from the stage as the casual dancers started to leave the floor, and amongst them, Jet and Scarlet paused. For a moment, it didn't set in to them that the crowd had thinned, and all that remained were couples, leaving them out of place on the floor.

Jet sighed as their dance was cut short, it had been too long since they'd just cut loose and been stupid together, and it didn't help that he could have watched her dance for hours if he was allowed either, the way she moved was downright hypnotic in that dress. Then again, it really should have been expected, it was a dance, of course they'd eventually make things all sappy and romantic. As he turned to walk off the dance floor, a hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. Looking behind him, he saw Scarlet, her hand firmly holding him in place as she raised an eyebrow, silently asking him what the hell he thought he was doing. It hadn't been talked about, he'd assumed they'd only be dancing for the first part of the night, but at the same time, the idea of slow dancing with her was shockingly alluring, he didn't know the first thing about how to dance 'properly', but he had no intention of letting that stop him. Screw it, last time he overthought about this kind of stuff, he dropped the ball, she clearly had the right idea.

Scarlet smirked as he came back to her, slowly and carefully he reached out, hesitating for a moment as he tried to find the right place to put his hands. She had no such difficulty in deciding her place, snaking both arms around his neck as they slowly moved in an unfamiliar but welcome rhythm. Eventually, he found his spot, holding on around the middle of her ribcage, a spot that was far too safe for her liking.

"C'mon, quit being all shy." she demanded, placing her hand over his own and starting to gently tug it down, enjoying the way his hand felt running along her side. It was so cute to see him all nervous, but him straining to just look at her face wouldn't do. "I put this thing on for you, you're allowed to enjoy it."

At her words, he let his eyes wander, much to her delight. Were it anyone else, she'd have backhanded them on the spot, but him? Oh, she thrived on his attention, even pressing her elbows in a bit to press her chest up and show off. Despite his initial hesitation, he let his hand drift as Scarlet led it down to her hip, his breath catching in his throat at the way her supple skin gave way to his touch. He wasn't really thinking about his next moves, the way he pulled her closer was all instinct and urges until he heard the unmistakable sound of his best friend gasping as her hands raised up, pressing against his chest in an attempt to steady herself. He almost cursed himself, half expecting her to push him away for his sudden advancement, but instead, he could hear her breath grow deeper as he pulled her against him. Drawing his gaze back to her face, he saw her amber eyes almost looking darker than he was used to as they filled with something that looked to be hunger. Her hands on his chest started to playfully tug at the buttons of his dress shirt as if asking permission to enter, all the while pressing her own chest into him.

"I doubt I'm the only one enjoying it." he chuckled nervously, and he was right on the money, a few wandering eyes had landed on her, leering at her voluptuous form and no doubt harboring lecherous thoughts about her. For some reason, it didn't bother her as much as it should have, not when the person she actually wanted to gawk at her was seeing exactly what she wanted him to.

"What's wrong, don't wanna make them jealous?"

Gods above, the way she purred into his ear, if her breath against his skin and soft body pressing on him made his resistance weaken, then that could have shattered it altogether. He didn't even realize he'd let his hand drift once more, now holding the small of her back just above her- Shit, no, he couldn't think like that, at this point he didn't trust himself not to follow through on an intrusive thought like that. The worst part was, that at this point, he was pretty sure she was more than okay with his hands exploring, the way she'd toyed with his suit making it pretty clear she wanted to feel him just as badly as he wanted to feel her. But even though they were in public, he couldn't deny that this felt right, like he belonged in her grasp more than he belonged anywhere else in the world. Though, he wasn't going to press that little bit more while people were watching, that was for them, no one else. So, much to both of their disappointment, he forced his hands to behave.

Scarlet, on the other hand, was more than happy to push just that little bit further, looking into the beautiful crimson eyes of the boy she'd loved longer than she'd really known; it felt like the world around them faded, there was no dance, no music, no eyes other than his. It was just them. Her hand slid up his neck until she was cupping his cheek. It was adorable, his skin, made even darker than usual under Vacuo's unforgiving sun, meant she couldn't actually see him blush but she could feel the blood rush to his cheek. He was adorable, and in this moment, he was hers. Looking down a bit at his lips, she had an intrusive thought of her own, it would only take her leaning in and they'd be kissing, she'd have his first kiss and he'd have hers. The moment the thought left her head, she started to psyche herself up to push through with it, taking a deep breath and counting backwards from three in her head.

She didn't get the chance, as in focusing so much on each other, they'd lost their place, and she bumped into another girl, pushing her into Jet in a way that was much less romantic or sexy than a moment ago. Groaning as the moment passed, she turned to apologize, only for the other woman to beat her to it.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry, I should have been paying attention." Lamia said, wincing self-consciously, used to zoning out herself.

"No, it's ou-" Scarlet stopped herself as she realized who exactly she'd bumped into, partially because she never thought she'd see an edge lord like Siyah all dressed up, or that he cleaned up shockingly well.

Then, she suppressed a giggle as she realized Lamia had somehow gotten him into a yellow suit with cream highlights while she wore a primarily red dress with black highlights, swapping their preferred styles. Normally, she'd just think it was a cute outfit idea for a date, but it just contrasted so hard with the hardass he normally presented himself as that she couldn't help but giggle. Predictably, Siyah was far from pleased, growling at the pair.

"What? Got something to say?"

"Siyah." The boy winced at his date scolding him, while her slapping his shoulder didn't really hurt, the last thing he had wanted to come from this was her being upset with him. "C'mon, you promised tonight would be nice."

"Right… I did." With a sigh, he begrudgingly nodded at the pair, doing his best to mask his irritation in front of the girl still in his arms. "Sorry, we'll be more careful."

"What just happened?" Jet whispered, his face in utter bewilderment at the way the other man had completely changed his attitude. To Scarlet, however, it was obvious, especially considering the way he pulled her into him afterward to try and make up for his transgression.

"You mean it's not obvious? They're totally fucking."

"Scarlet."

"Look at them and tell me I'm wrong." Looking over at them as they went back to dancing, he saw the same thing as Scarlet, a boy, more than happy to act like a total prick to strangers, being sweet on a girl and cracking a small but heartfelt smile as she giggled at some unheard joke.

"Okay, yeah, they totally are. Still, you shouldn't say it so casually."

"Do you think people are thinking that about us?" His exasperated groan was music to her ears, partially because they both knew anyone watching would absolutely think they were a couple.

Then again, were they? They were holding each other in a way that was too intimate to be something between people who were 'just friends', he'd absolutely considered grabbing her ass a minute ago, and… she was about to kiss him… the line between 'friends' and 'more' may have still been in the balance physically, but emotionally? Neither of them really knew. For the moment though, she was happy, leaning in and resting her head on his shoulder as they danced in silent bliss.

Back off the dance floor, Jin was astonished at how rude some of the people had become, stumbling about into people and just laughing it off or ignoring it completely. It was one thing when it was him being bumped into, his large frame and muscles made it easy for people to accidentally hit him, and it was pretty hard to push him around, but more people were bumping into Lumi as well, resulting in her needing to stay right behind him to avoid getting bowled over. It was frustrating, didn't people have manners? All they were doing was trying to make their way over to the tables back from the bathroom, something that had somehow turned into a challenge. Lumi didn't mind the attention of course, in fact, it was nice feeling protected in such a way by a boy she fully trusted, though she similarly found it strange. It wasn't everyone, but a strange amount of the students had suddenly become uncoordinated and surly, a lot like the club they'd visited back in Vale before leaving, but that didn't make any sense, seeing as there shouldn't have been any alcohol at the event.

Maybe they were just drunk off the atmosphere? It didn't quite sound right, but what other explanation was there? Maybe it was just a placebo, most people never actually went to a proper ball, so they may have assumed that it was just an excuse for rich people to get drunk off champagne and act stupid, which, admittedly, it could be, but those sorts of events were the exception rather than the rule. As they came to the tables, she assumed that their struggle to get across the auditorium was over and that no other buffoons would get in her way.

"Luuumi!" Apparently, she was wrong, as a woman with a familiar set of bright blue wings suddenly made her way over. The downright giddy Lapis was followed by a worried-looking Argentio, who stopped and gave apologies to the people as she pushed past them, quickly falling behind as the Faunus came right up to Lumi and threw her arms around her in an unexpected hug.

"Oh, uh, hello. Lapis, right?" Lumi asked, awkwardly reaching around her wings and patting the girl's back in a faux hug as she looked to Jin for help. He really didn't know what she expected of him, it wasn't like he could just pull them apart, especially since she technically wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Off coursh! Who else haz muh wings?" The poor girl sounded utterly trashed, a point further proven as she tried to twirl to show off said wings, only to stumble back into one of the tables. Rather than get upset as orange punch spilled onto the side of her pristine dress, she laughed heartily, but soon the laugh died as she started to sulk, rubbing her arm. "No one… No-not a single other Funish anymore…"

"Lapis? What're you talking about?" Jin asked gently as he pulled her back into standing up straight, but they were given little in the way of answers as she quietly mumbled to herself. Thankfully, Argentio finally caught up, wincing at the state his friend was in, trying to hand her a cup of ice water.

"I am so sorry about her, someone put liquor in the punch bowl."

Lumi's eyes went wide at this revelation, for a brief moment, she couldn't believe someone would pull something so childish and dangerous, then she remembered the caliber of students she was unlucky enough to have met over the course of the school year, and it was suddenly far more believable. It also explained the number of drunk students, dinner was provided by the school so most hadn't eaten in hours, intending to grab a plate near the end of the night.

"Really?" Lumi groaned as Jin tested this information by raising his cup and taking a sip out of the supposedly spiked drink. "I don't taste or feel anything strange."

"Nathin', I gots a bones to pick on yo- wi-with you." Lapis announced, ignoring the news that she'd unwittingly drank gods knows how much liquor, not even fully comprehending it, and jumping right back to where she was before, poking Lumi's chest accusatorily. "Wh-why aren't whe friends?"

"Excuse me?"

"Itsh like, you're- you're like bashically a princhess, right? An-and I am a princhess, a really real princess. We should, like- like totally be buddies!" Lapis explained gleefully, doing an exaggerated curtsy as she called herself a princess, nearly falling over before catching herself and giggling once again.

"Lapis, you can't force someone to be your friend." At the end of his rope, Argentio gently grabbed his friend by the shoulders in an attempt to keep her still, a move she responded to worryingly positively, leaning back against him and fluttering her wings happily.

"It's okay, really. I'm sure that if we spent more time together, we'd get along swimmingly." Lumi said, mostly just trying to keep the peace. Internally, she was debating on using a glyph to force the girl to lay down until she passed out, but unlike her cousin, she was no brute, so diplomacy it was.

"See, see! We, you an' me, got lots in common, we even like the same sorta guys!" It wasn't as if she'd tried to make everyone in their tiny group lose their composure, but she wasn't going to let the opportunity pass her by. As Argentio let go of her and tried to get out some explanation they both knew was an excuse, she once again moved in and threw her arms around Lumi, this time leaving the smaller girl unable to suppress her groan.

"Lapis, please stop." Argentio pleaded, at this point having accepted his new role as a babysitter rather than a date, but to his surprise, Lumi held up a hand, getting an idea.

"Hey, Lapis, you should come sit with me." Lumi said, taking the Faunus's hand and trying to gently lead her over to the table in order to get her to sit down. Unfortunately, it was at this point that Lapis stopped being cooperative, as, looking over and seeing the various couples on the dance floor, she imagined herself as one of them, being held by her big muscular knight, then immediately growing mad that her fantasy wasn't her reality.

"I cn't, I gotta get dis big, hunky shnak to dance wit me!" Lumi had given up trying to understand the woman, mostly too frustrated with her antics to care, leaving Argentio to try and steady her alone.

"Not while you can barely stand."

"Stahpit! Yer bein' a... dummy, a big ol dumby!" They'd officially started a scene as she shrieked and stomped her foot to the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. However, before he could muster up some sort of response to get her happy once more, Lapis shoved her finger into his face, a smug lopsided smile forming as she got an idea. "Imma' tell Naoh- he-he's teh-the boss, he'll order you to dansh!"

And with that, the girl suddenly turned on her heels and started off to find her fearless leader in order to tell him about what a stick in the mud her date was being so he'd make him dance with her. Back in the real world, Lumi and the others stared in stunned silence as Lapis ran off, giggling to herself. Just as she was ready to wish Argentio luck and head back to her seat, Jin started after her, seeing the woman not in her right mind weave in between a pair of students, nearly knocking them over with her wings. With an annoyed huff, she and Argentio followed in pursuit, trying to catch up and put a stop to the girl's chaos.

The watchful bio-mechanical eyes of Touko watched as the group followed the winged girl. A part of her felt that maybe she should have stepped in and helped, but honestly, it was a lot more fun to just watch, and besides, no one was being hurt. Taking a sip of her punch, she couldn't help but wonder why it suddenly tasted worse since her last cup, maybe her body was just trying to tell her she'd had too much. She also felt strangely warm, something she'd had to grow used to in Vacuo's gods forsaken heat. It was a little weird that it was happening at the start of night, but then again, it was probably her cybernetics being a pain as usual. They weren't all bad though, her auditory implants, for example, made it nearly impossible for someone to sneak up on her, like right now, as she could hear the soft footsteps coming up behind her even over the obnoxiously sappy song. Casually, she turned around and spotted Ruby, sauntering in like she hadn't just missed two whole hours of the event and left her to chaperone with total strangers from the other academies.

"Look who finally showed up." she drawled, putting her hands on her hips and wearing her stern teacher face. She had to hold in an amused snort as Ruby winced like she was being scolded, slinking over next to her off to the side of the dance floor.

"Yeah, sorry, I had to blow off some steam. Did I miss anything exciting?" Dropping the act, Touko chuckled. If only that were the case.

"Here? Not a chance." Despite being pleasantly surprised by the news, Ruby almost didn't believe it. Considering her luck, she'd been certain something big and stupid would've happened while she was gone.

"Nothing from the usual suspects?"

"Scarlet and Jet are dancing, Lumi's following a drunk Faunus girl, and I think SLVR's being well-behaved for once." Touko said, almost disappointed at how well-behaved her students were. Sure, it meant the event was going smoothly, but it meant she was bored out of her mind watching teenagers and young adults dance in ways that looked outright bizarre to her. Not only that, but it meant she'd lost a twenty thousand lien bet to Jaune, and would have to give the stupidly rich man even more money.

"So… an actually easy night." she said, the relief easy to hear in her voice.

With all the talk of security and potential cultist activity, she'd let it build up in her head that they'd let something slip through the cracks and that, once again, her students would end up getting to it before them, so the knowledge that they'd gotten to have a good and honest night to relax like kids instead of worrying about some big plot like she had lifted a weight off her shoulders.

"Good, they deserve it… Hey, remember our dance?"

"Mostly just falling down the stairs and into the punch bowl while trying to dance and you disappearing." She couldn't help but cringe at the memory, an embarrassing moment from her teenage years that she could never forget despite desperately wishing so, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur in comparison to how vividly embarrassing that moment was.

"Yup, it's a good thing Cinder sucked at sneaking around, or I'd have probably fallen flat on my face. Still, sometimes I do wish I'd have danced at least once."

The wistful expression on her friend's face wasn't one Touko was used to seeing over something so mundane. Sure, she had regrets, they all did about that point of their lives, but she knew Ruby in particular tried not to think about it, how what should have been their time to screw around and learn about themselves and the world was instead spent being inducted into a shadow war between two immortals that would likely persist long after everyone they knew had long since passed on. It was one hell of a wake up call, but at least most of them were adults by that point.

Ruby though? She'd gotten it the worst, still just a kid by most measures, and suddenly she was expected to think, fight, and kill like a warrior she shouldn't have had to be for a good few more years. The fact that she'd handled it as well as she did without suffering some sort of mental breakdown was one of the most admirable things about a woman she already admired to a slightly obsessive degree. But, even with how well she handled it, it wasn't like she didn't miss out. Damn it, why couldn't she just fix it, give her friend the carefree experience she should have gotten… Actually… She still could, they were literally at a dance floor after all.

"You wanna fix that?"

"Huh?" Ruby had to do a double take, was Touko asking her what she thought she was? It almost felt too bold for the cyborg woman she knew, but… it sounded nice.

"I mean, I never got to dance at one of these, you never got to dance at one of these…" Touko trailed off, starting to second guess herself, Ruby probably wanted to dance with someone who actually knew what they were doing. "I dunno, maybe it's stu-."

"I'd love to." Ruby said, cutting off her friend before she could talk herself out of it, a smile growing on her face as she unclipped her cloak from her shoulders and set it down on a nearby chair.

"Really? I mean, yeah, totally… just a fair warning, I uh, can't really dance." she muttered, the memory of how she'd been stared at after faceplanting into the punch bowl once again worming its way into her head.

Gods above, she'd felt so gross and sticky, and the dress she'd rented was ruined. If she messed up again, they wouldn't live it down for the next few years. After all, they'd already be standing out like a sore thumb on the dancefloor, given that neither of them had dressed up. In fact, both had taken the opportunity to dress down, yet Ruby wasn't deterred in the slightest.

"Who cares, neither can Goose, and that's never stopped her, let's make fools of ourselves and have fun!" Ruby grabbing her hand and dragging the woman onto the dance floor with her. As expected, neither of them were amazing dancers, or even just good dancers, yet for some reason, it felt easier than she remembered, and seeing those silver eyes almost literally light up, even with the obvious stares they got, couldn't make her regret this moment.

Unless, of course, she ended up covered in punch again.

Chapter Text

Belka watched the couples dancing on the floor longingly. It was hard not to let the feeling of bitterness taint her vision of the crowd, even feeling a spark of jealousy when laying eyes on Scarlet and Jet. A nagging voice in the back of her head reminded her that she should have been down there with Sherbet, dancing and smiling with the rest of them. She was sure Whiskey would have joined her for a dance if she asked, but it wouldn't feel right, sharing such an intimate moment with a friend while being spoken for. So instead, she was alone, her lovely boyfriend had been unable to join her, instead having a business to run that unfortunately couldn't wait for the Vytal Festival.

She told herself that it wasn't his fault, that it was just another aspect of her life that had decided it wasn't going to be fair, but she couldn't help the fact that she felt so strangely alone despite being surrounded by more friends than at any other point in her life. It was the first time she'd been away from him in so long, and granted, it was the first time she'd ever been involved with anyone romantically, and the calls and texts helped keep the distance between them out of her head, but now, seeing all the couples together created an ache in her heart. Raising her cup to her lips, she paused, noticing how the taste had shifted, along with carrying a slight burn to it that reminded her of hard liquor.

"I wouldn't drink more of that if I were you."A vaguely familiar voice to the side called out, catching her attention. Glancing over, she groaned, seeing Noah was just a few feet away, his back against the wall, probably in an attempt to look cool.

For some strange reason, her irritation was amusing to him, it must have been for him to chuckle at her reaction. He continued without further acknowledging her less than enthusiastic reaction, pointing at her cup.

"Someone spiked the punch, my teammate ended up plastered, poor guy's puking his guts up as we speak."

"That explains the taste." she muttered as her suspicions were confirmed.

Still, she hated how he'd walked up all assuredly, as if he was doing her a favor by pointing out what she could have easily figured out on her own. Spitefully, she raised the cup to her lips and filled her mouth with about half the cup, pretending to contemplate the taste before swallowing.

"Hmph. Not nearly strong enough for my taste."

"In that case…"

To her considerable disappointment, he didn't get annoyed, in fact, he somehow got the exact opposite idea, pulling a flask from his coat pocket and offering it to her like she was his buddy. Her face scrunched up in disgust at the idea that she'd ever willingly place her lips where his had been, but still, she wasn't going to turn down a challenge. Taking the flask, she poured it into her cup, watching as the dark liquid mixed with her remaining punch before handing it back over.

"You should know that, on top of the fact that I don't particularly like you on your own, I have a boyfriend, so if you're hoping to get lucky with the 'lonely prom girl', I'd recommend looking elsewhere." Finally, her words got through to him as he reacted as if she'd just slapped him, although it wasn't as satisfying as she'd hoped. In fact, for some reason, a hint of regret panged in her chest as he winced.

"You actually think that low of me?" She didn't, she was just looking for an excuse to bicker with someone she didn't like, and he was being frustrating by not giving in.

"Yep." Stubbornly, he refused to get mad, in fact, he had the audacity to look outright hurt, glancing around as if looking for an excuse to leave. Well, she supposed that was an acceptable alternative, he'd piss off to go irritate someone else and… she'd be alone, standing there, reflecting on that fact once more…

"But, if you can keep your unsolicited advice to yourself and keep sharing that flask of yours, I suppose I'll allow you to keep me company."

For some reason, he stayed by her side, and for some reason, it didn't make her want to vomit. If nothing else, at least him standing around gave her something else to focus on instead of how lonely she felt.

"Rough time?"

"Don't. I don't want to talk about it." She bit her tongue to stop herself from adding 'least of all with you' to the end of that sentence. Though, in hindsight, maybe it was needed, the boy seemed rather dense after all. Still, it wasn't like he knew about the landmine he'd almost stepped on.

"What do you wanna talk about then?"

That was a good question, the first idea that popped into her head was to brag about her progress she'd made and rub it in his nose that she didn't need his help, but that idea fell apart upon realizing she had no real way to prove it at the moment. She wasn't going to talk about Sherbet, and even if she did, he'd probably check out of the conversation if she made it about her mundane relationship woes. Deciding that the last thing she wanted to talk about was herself, she turned to him, realizing that despite the fact that she hated him and his big mouth, that she knew next to nothing about him. There was his odd getup, which she frankly couldn't care less about, but other than that, all she really knew was that he harbored some unexplained bitterness towards Jin.

"What's your deal with Jin? You barely know the guy but you act like you've hated him your whole life." The question hung in the air for a long, uncomfortable moment before Noah sighed, taking a frankly dramatic swig from his flask.

"I don't hate him, it's just… it pisses me off that he doesn't appreciate what he has, how lucky he is." That sounded strangely familiar, not the scenario itself, but the tone he used, it was the same one she used when she spoke about her personal issues. Maybe his weren't all that different from her own?

"Sounds like I'm not the only one dealing with family problems." Despite being little more than a hunch, it seemed as if she was right on the money, as he let out a dry, bitter sounding laugh.

"If you ask any of my teammates about my family, they'll tell you my mom and dad are great… The truth is, when I'm talking about my dad, I'm really talking about my uncle. My father never bothered sticking around."

So that was it? It was something as simple as that Jin had a happy family and he didn't? No, that was too broad, there was no way he was just as pissy with everyone who didn't come from a broken home, and there was no way he'd just know that from hearing his name. Maybe Jin's family had something to do with it? Was one of his mothers the mistress he'd left his child for? Even if that was the case, that had nothing to do with him. She could feel her mood souring further at that, it was childish, petty, and… the very same reason she didn't like Goose at first. Gods, was she a hypocrite?

"You know, I didn't like my partner for a similar reason at first, but then I gave her a chance, and now I think she's the only one in my family who even likes me." Belka paused as the words left her lips, family? Goose wasn't family, she was undeniably adjacent, but there was still that divide between them. So why did thinking of her as such feel so natural? Thankfully, he missed her moment of reflection, chuckling to himself as he took another swig from his flask.

"Oh, so you're allowed to give advice but I gotta keep my mouth shut?" he teased, nudging her with his elbow. She joined him in laughing at her hypocritical actions, it was hard not to.

"Well, yours was so surface level, I figured you might have a hard time seeing the obvious."

She'd only meant to tease him back in return, to continue the playful banter, but in truth, she'd momentarily forgotten how previously annoyed with him she'd been, but all the same, he took it as another genuine critique. Maybe it was her tone, or maybe it was just the fact that she'd been so harsh before, either way, the result was the same.

"Right… sorry, I really wasn't trying to be condescending."

Sorry? He had the audacity to kick her while she was down with so-called advice that a toddler could have pointed out, but that was okay because he was sorry? She'd almost scoffed before an idea crept into her mind. She could use thisIf he was vulnerable she could learn more about him and his team, sure, even if he wasn't stupid enough to just tell her, but he didn't need to. She could learn it all in just a few seconds of skin on skin contact..

"Ugh, enough with the kicked puppy routine, you're making me feel like a bitch here." She took a step closer, letting out a dramatic sigh to sell the act. Just a bit closer, and she'd be able to make contact with his skin. She'd probably have to wait for his next asinine line, but it would all be worth it. "And for the record, you aren't the worst company I could have had."

"Moaaaah!"

Unfortunately, she never got the chance to put her plan into action, as the sudden and surly voice of Lapis called out, dragging Noah's attention away from her and towards his teammate. Then, before he could even turn around to see his teammate, she suddenly collided into him, knocking the bluenette over. Undeterred by the fall, she continued to wail dramatically.

"Tell Arden-Argenti- Make this dumby dance wiff me!"

The petulant Faunus continued to repeat her demands, pointing towards the ceiling in an attempt to motion behind her. Thankfully, a moment later, Argentio slipped through the crowd, followed soon by Jin and Lumi, all three looking very unamused at the scene.

"How much has she had?" Belka asked, watching as the silver haired knight lifted Lapis up, the girl giggling like a gremlin as she took the opportunity to bury her face into her partner's chest.

"A lot less than you'd think." Argentio sighed, firmly holding the winged girl still, not that she minded.

"Guess you guys must have pregamed good, huh?" Jin said, attempting to make a joke as he reached down to help Noah to his feet. The tanned boy reached up without thinking before pausing. He had moved without thinking, without realizing who was in front of him, his face suddenly souring as he retracted his hand.

"No, we didn't." Noah practically spat, ignoring Jin as he got to his feet. Looking over at Lapis, he groaned, realizing that apparently half of his team were complete lightweights. "C'mon man, I'll help get her-"

"Why do you hate me?" Jin demanded to know out of the blue.

His patience had already been running thin with Noah's random dislike of him even before having to deal with all the people around them being rude and Lapis making them run around, but now, he had no intention of letting this guy be rude to him for no reason. He stepped right up to the blue haired boy, unintimidated by his hardening glare.

"I've been nothing but nice to you, and for some reason, you're acting like I spat in your face."

Belka watched from the sidelines, not once entertaining the idea of trying to get between them, even as Lumi motioned for her help, growing more and more frustrated the longer she stood by. She was having too much fun, the display of pettiness before her was like one of those soap operas Whiskey liked. Would he explode and reveal that one of Jin's moms was a homewrecking harlot? How would Jin react? Sure, he seemed like a gentle giant, but it was hard not to be a momma's boy when you had two moms.

The excitement was making her antsy, it was like waiting for a drop on a rollercoaster. Besides, if the idiot decided to swing on Jin, she was sure the monkey boy could put him in his place, and a busted lip would probably complete his churlish sailor look.

"Jin, come on, maybe we should just go." Lumi said, walking over and placing a hand on Jin's shoulder to try and lead him away. Now really wasn't the time or place to have this discussion, there was alcohol involved and tensions were running high, a recipe for disaster

"No!" To everyone's shock, Jin snapped, or really, just firmly refused and pushed past Lumi to walk right up to Noah, meeting his glare with one of his own. "We could have been friends, our teams could have been friends, but because you have an issue with me, that went out the window, and you won't even tell me why."

For a brief moment, that seemed to break through, Noah's gaze shifting down to his feet, contemplating Jin's words. On some level, he knew they were true, but his mind was still fuzzy from the drinks, and as he looked at Jin, he couldn't help but to see his uncle, causing the bitterness to come flooding back.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to grow up knowing you're unwanted?" The sudden tonal shift shocked everyone into silence.

As far as Lapis and Argentio had known, their leader had grown up with a normal happy family, so the sudden explosion of what seemed to be pent up trauma was a worrying development. Even Jin, who had been more than ready to yell back, didn't know how to respond. His silence vindicated him, scoffing as he continued his resentful rant.

"Of course you don't, you never had to wonder why you were the only kid you knew without a father, why your mom looked so hurt when you asked where your dad was."

"That's it? You hate him because he has two parents? Do you have any idea how pathetic that is? He doesn't have a father either, you know." As Lumi scolded him, his anger only got worse, of course he sounded pathetic when she made ridiculous assumptions like that!

"He does! He just doesn't appreciate him!" The tanned boy practically growled as he pointed at Jin. The Faunus was about to counter that he didn't have a dad… and then it clicked.

"Wait, Uncle Sun? How do you know him? What does he have to do with this?"

"Right, why would I care that you take one of the best men I know for granted? Why would I care that you're so willing to pretend you don't have a dad when yours is selfless enough to help raise his worthless deadbeat of a partner's son!?" There was a long silence between them as Noah's words set in.

Lumi and Belka both felt contempt at his reasoning, to know he'd be so antagonistic over something so petty. If there was even a shred of respect in Belka's mind for him, it was gone the instant he opened his mouth. Argentio and Lapis winced at the pain they heard in his voice, never having seen this sort of sheer anger from their leader before. Jin, however, was caught in the middle, his head going back and forth. Like his teammates, he couldn't help but feel pity, this was obviously more than he was making it out to be, something that had been eating at him for a while, but at the same time, how could he not be angry? How in Noah's mind was he the bad guy for being happy with the family he had? He didn't deserve to be the outlet for his resentment just because Noah's father walked out.

A crowd began to form as Noah's yelling had finally overtaken the music for a brief moment. Most of them were just curious about the commotion, only the few who were close to the group to begin with having heard the full rant. Of all people to step in between them though, Kenneth was probably the last one either expected, his hands stretched out on both sides to try and keep one of them from escalating with a punch.

"Hey, that's enough! My father was a walk out too, and I'm not taking it out on anyone." With Noah already embarrassed that a whole crowd had just heard his outburst, Ken's poorly chosen words only served to make him even angrier.

"Stay outta this!" he roared, and in his anger, he pushed Kenneth aside. Regret spread over his features the moment his hands made contact, but the damage was already done, the smaller boy was sent stumbling backwards, right into Lumi, the force knocking both of them over onto the tiles below.

Jin saw red as Lumi hit the ground, and before anyone could act, he stepped up to Noah, pushing the blunette with enough force to throw him back several feet, smacking his head on the ground. Jin winced, not meaning to push him that hard, but he had more important things to worry about right now. Looking back over at Lumi to see if she was okay, he saw Scarlet and Jet push their way to the forefront of the crowd, having heard the yelling.

"The hell's going on?" Scarlet demanded to know, looking between Jin and Noah.

Her expression turned cold when she saw Belka helping Lumi to her feet, and, putting two and two together, her anger spiked and she started stomping her way over. Before she could get close though, something snaked around her wrist, holding her back. Looking down, she jumped out of her skin as a tendril of darkness kept her pinned like an anchor. Then, more constructs of pure darkness shot forward, rigid and thorny. At first it was hard to make out the shapes, but eventually, they could make it out as a series of shadowy branches and brambles jutting out from the ground, forming a wall between the two teams. The vine holding Scarlet dragged her to the rest of her team at the same time Ruta stumped over, holding her hand out to maintain her Semblance's barrier between SJJL and NAYA. A moment later, the rest of BRST followed suit, Blitz flashing onto the scene with Sarasvati and Taimur close behind.

"Hey, that's enough!" Blitz shouted, staring SJJL down in disappointment. The entire team winced, with Noah still on the ground and groaning with a welt on the back of his head, it wasn't hard to see why she'd make the assumption she did. However, she softened her gaze, sighing as she shook her head. "Jin, can you just… take a walk? Please?"

"But he started it!" Jin protested, not even realizing that he still looked absolutely furious, an almost alien expression to his friends and family.

"Hey, c'mon big guy, we know, you just gotta cool down, okay? We'll sit with Lumi until you get back." Sarasvati said, pleading with him to just walk this off while they handled things. Jin wanted to argue, after all, he hadn't done anything wrong, but if they really thought it would make things easier, he'd go.

"I'll go with him, make sure he doesn't just sulk" Jet sighed as his partner walked off, no doubt in his mind that the big softie would take it at least a little personally.

"Hey, Jet?" As he turned to face her, she swallowed her nerves and leaned in, planting a kiss directly on his cheek in front of everyone. Ignoring the looks they got, she smiled fondly at him. "I had a really good time tonight."

"So did I." Jet mumbled, holding his cheek in surprise. Shaking his head clear of the deluge of thoughts that just flooded it, he turned back around and followed his partner out.

The server room was a complete mess as K entered it under the cover of darkness. As he made his way through, he nearly fell over one of the many loose wires that snaked their way across the floor. How on Remnant Shade could have a server room that was as much of a safety hazard as this boggled his mind, the IT crew must have given less fucks than a drunken honey badger. Thankfully, the dance being in full swing meant he could work as long as he needed to without being interrupted. Coming up to a disturbingly old access terminal covered with an equally disturbing amount of dust, he pulled out his scroll and a wire, praying under his breath that the terminal had a specific hexagonal shaped port. Fortunately, it did, and after dusting off the cobwebs that had built up in front of it, he inserted the other end of the cable to the terminal, connecting his Scroll to the server. He waited a moment for the decrypter to do its thing, and with a small beep, and the spooling of the server's many fans, he was granted access. Smirking, he started to poke around, there was plenty of information that could have been valuable, financial records, mission logs, etcetera, but all he cared about at the moment was combat data.

The school recorded all sparring matches as a precaution in case anything went wrong, including the fights between visiting students, but of course, he couldn't be so lucky as to have them labeled by the participating students, so it seemed he would need to download every video from the last two and a half months. It frustrated him that he couldn't go after her targets directly when they were so tantalizingly close, but tonight was only even a real possibility because student and teacher alike would be away in one area. His time to strike would have to come later, and besides, at least he would be prepared when that time came. He started to smirk as the download hit fifty percent, if things kept going so smoothly, then he'd be in and out without any hiccups.

"Freeze!"

"Mother fu-" As instructed, K went still. Looking up at the dusty but still reflective screen of the terminal, he could just make out a man in a security uniform pointing a gun at his back. Gritting his teeth, he slowly raised his hands up, doing his best to sound calm as he spoke. "I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding here mate. I'm part of the IT team, we've been having this problem with the server, and I'm staying late to fix it."

"And you need to hook up your personal scroll to do it?" The guard asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it's a storage thing, files getting corrupted an all that. Gotta make backups in case the system needs a reboot." The dismissive scoff from the guard irritated him. Okay, he didn't buy his story, but hey, it was worth a shot. Now they had to do things the messy way. "Look, there's an ID badge in my left pocket, pull it out and we can clear all this up, yeah?"

The guard doubted the intruder's claim, there was no scheduled maintenance as far as he'd been told, but then again, it wasn't the first time something had been neglected to be shared with him. Airing on the side of caution, he slowly approached the man, keeping his gun trained on his back. Slowly, he reached forward to his back pocket, and the whole time, K kept his eyes on the reflection until it was time to strike.

Spinning around without warning, he struck the man's wrist with his right elbow, knocking the gun from his hand. Following through with the spin, K reached out with his left arm, and as he did, the shackle on his wrist started to shift, swiftly encasing his arm in HADES a giant metal arm that served as his weapon. Its hand was bigger than his torso, so it was easily able to cover its target's head.

"MM- MMMPPH-" Screaming, the man struggled against the metal hand encasing his head, doing his best to pry the fingers away just enough to slip out of the hold it had on him. Unfortunately, his struggles didn't even so much as budge it.

"Now, why did you gotta go and do that bruv? Puting me on a time limit like that?" He looked back over to the scroll, and after seeing the download was nearly complete, he sighed. Good, that could have been a lot worse.

Looking back at the guard, his heart jumped into his throat as he saw the man reaching for a radio at his belt. He didn't hesitate, after all, it wasn't like he had intended on letting the guard live anyway. Closing his hand, Hades followed suit, the metal hand finding minimal resistance as it closed in on the guards head like a vice. He had no reaction to his gruesome murder, even as blood splashed onto his face and chest from between his metal fingers, and the body went limp, dangling from his grasp. The sound started as something between a wet crunch and a loud popping sound, but soon gave way to a wet squelch as the metal hand rended the skull's remaining flesh, followed by an equally wet tearing sound as the guard's neck could no longer support the rest of his bodyweight, collapsing straight down onto its rear before falling back, spilling blood onto the surrounding area.

Turning his hand over, he examined what was left of the head, barely recognisable as human save for some lingering chunks of skull amidst the pulp, before tossing it at the body.

"Heh, with a mess like that I should bill ya' for my dry cleaning." He looked down at the corpse as if expecting a response, though the closest he got to one was the growing blood puddle oozing under the wires and server racks. "Well, I thought it was funny."

Moving quickly, he disconnected the tablet from the server and shoved it back in his bag, knowing he couldn't be within a mile of the school when they found the body. Sure, it wouldn't cause the same ruckus that a dead student would, but he sure as hell wasn't going to be able to sneak back in at any point. Besides, sneaking back in didn't matter anymore, he already had everything he needed.

"Then I just… pushed him." Jin muttered, explaining what had happened as he and Jet walked aimlessly around the perimeter courtyard.

Even by Shade's low standards, it was nothing fancy, just enough space for a small park with some benches and a fountain in the middle. Jin could vaguely remember Lao mentioning the space as a good meditation spot because of how minimalist it was, but personally it just felt like a space to him, a place that merely existed as it was. As they made their way over to the center fountain, they noticed that there were a few students making their way from the dance back to their dorms, but none lingered except a pair of drunken men in simple black tuxes who kept slurring something about 'brother' They paid no mind, letting them have their moment.

"I dunno, maybe I took things too far."

"No, he started that shit, if he wanted to put his hands on people, then he should've been ready to face the consequences." Jet said firmly. A part of him wished he had been there to give Noah a piece of his mind, to think he'd act out over some ridiculous non-issue was some of the stupidest shit he'd ever heard. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Jet nodded along to his partner's request, while he saw nothing wrong with Jin's response, his partner was clearly less than proud of himself. Trying to change the subject, Jin gave a forced smile and kept going. "So, how was your dance? Less eventful than mine I hope."

"Good, really good actually." Jet couldn't help but to rub the spot Scarlet had kissed just a few minutes earlier.

Jin's melancholy expression turned a bit smug at the sight, it was obvious that he wanted to give him the biggest 'I told you so' he could, and byt this point, he'd probably have let it slide. After all, he had been right. Suddenly, as he was about to elaborate, a sharp ringing could be heard from Jin's pocket. Figuring it was Scarlet or Lumi calling to tell them to come back to their room, he went to answer, only to pause as he saw the caller ID simply display 'Private Number'. With his curiosity piqued, he answered.

"Hello?"

"-ello? Finally, is this Jet I'm speaking with?" Confusion overtook Jin, the voice on the other end wasn't one he recognised, and as far as he knew, his number wasn't close to Jet's.

"Uh, I'm Jin actually, who is this?"

"Jin? Must have mixed up the numbers. Wait, are you the smart one or the himbo?" The more this mystery man spoke, the more confused he grew, as despite not knowing who this was, they clearly knew about him and his friend. He started racking his mind, going over who this caller could be.

"I… well, Jet's the smart one, but I wou-"

"Himbo, got it. Look, there's not much time. There are two men in tuxedos following you, they aren't students or staff. They're going to try and kill you."

"What?" Jin felt his blood run cold, glancing over at the two men who were indeed stumbling towards them. Even so, that couldn't be right, the two could clearly hardly stand, let alone think straight. No, no the guy was just messing with him. "How do you know that? Is this a prank?"

"Jin? Who is that?" Jet said, turning his back to the two men, the mix of confusion and concern on Jin's face making him anxious. Yet Jin didn't look at him, keeping his eyes on the drunkards, unable to shake the feeling of uneasiness.

"No time Jin, they're coming up now, drop the fuckers already!"

As the man on the Scroll commanded, Jin noticed something in the sleeve of the red haired man behind Jin, roughly a foot long and pointed. He didn't hesitate to act after seeing that, pushing his partner out the way with one arm and delivering a haymaker directly into the man's nose. Blood gushed from the shattered cartilage, but no one paid any mind to that, as a dagger fell from his hand and clattered onto the floor. Jin almost wished he had been the victim of some jerk's idea of a prank, as in a split second, it sank in that these two had almost snuck right up to them with that weapon.

The next thing Jin knew, the other man lunged forward, wielding his own shorter dagger and thrusting it forward on reflex into his shoulder. The sharp pain shot through his nerves like fire as he jumped back trying to make distance, but the man was relentless, swinging his blade wildly in an attempt to cut down the larger of the two. By now, Jet had also started to react, grabbing the maniac's hand and twisting it to try and make him let go of the weapon. He just barely managed to get the weapon out of his grasp when the red haired man Jin floored earlier came back into the fray, jumping onto Jin's back before he could come to help. In one swift, obviously practiced motion, he locked his arm around the Faunus's neck and started applying pressure to his windpipe, cutting off his air, and locked his legs around his waist.

Stumbling back, he slammed his whole weight back onto the fountain, trying to break free, but the man was determined, hanging on as the larger man thrashed and struggled, trying desperately to just breathe. The struggle suddenly came to an end with the ringing boom of a gunshot, the lifeless body of the red haired man falling back into the fountain as his blood ran into the water. All three turned to the source of the sudden interruption, finding Nick standing there, smoke still rising out of Process's barrel.

With his shift as part of the Colonel's security detail over for the night, he planned to meet up with the pair after seeing the commotion that had happened back at the ballroom, and thank the gods that he had. In the shock, Jet drove his elbow into his attacker's solar plexus, finally getting the dagger free and pushing him away. Turning his gun onto the other attacker, Nick planned to arrest the man, only for said plans to be sent sailing out the window when he reached into this tux. Spotting the grip of a handgun, the soldier fired once again, hitting center mass and dropping the attacker with a single round. The three boys stayed perfectly still as the shot echoed around them, with the only sound in the courtyard after the shell hit the floor being their collective panting until Nick regained his bearings, breaking the silence.

"Are you two alright?" he asked, breath shaky as he kept his eyes on the corpses, hands shaking as adrenaline coursed through his veins. He'd never taken a life before now, though it was probably a blessing that he was too worked up to dwell on that fact, contemplating how this would make him feel was the last thing he needed at the moment.

"We're fine, thank you." Jin gasped out, still having a bit of trouble breathing from the intense pressure that had been on his throat.

"Who was that on your Scroll?" Jet said, trying to shake off the shock from what had just happened. As much as Jin wished he could give a proper answer, he was just as clueless. Picking his Scroll up from where he'd dropped it in the fight, he found that the call had already ended.

"No clue, but he really saved our butts." Before another word could be uttered, a figure suddenly manifested before them at speeds they could barely comprehend, yet the rose petals that flowed with it alerted them all to their identity before she could even speak.

"What's going o-" Ruby froze in horror at the sight she'd arrived at, her heart sinking at the sight of her nephew bleeding from a stab wound, two dead bodies, and her godson with his weapon drawn. Oh gods, what the hell happened to the poor boys?

"This wasn't just an incident." The Colonel growled at Theo's table, her fury at the events that had transpired tonight on full display.

This was nothing short of a completely presentable disaster if she'd just had been allowed to put her original precautions in place. She was in charge of security, not Theodore, nor any of the other headmasters and teachers, and yet, she had to argue back and forth with them over every little measure. Additionally, her mood was not improved by the fact that this entire fiasco was technically under her watch. Well, no longer, she was putting her damned foot down, and if they didn't like it, she would make sure they knew who was really at fault for this night.

"There were multiple break-ins in one night. This was no coincidence, it was a failure of our security measures on every level!"

Theodore sat in his chair, running a hand through his grey hair and trying to focus on something other than the two women at his desk for the time. Though Indigo's righteous fury and Ruby's nervous fidgeting made them hard to ignore, he managed to look past them at his trusted friend Xanthe, who looked equally on edge. With a sigh, he resigned himself to the present, deciding to deal with this one thing at a time.

"Any word on the body found in the server room?"

"It was Ainab, at least that's what the ID badge says, we're going to need to wait until the fingerprints come back to be sure though." The woman sighed, the man's head, or what was left of it, had been completely unrecognizable. They'd have to alert his family, no doubt a conversation that would be very painful. Looking back at the Colonel who demanded his attention, he let her speak, knowing he wouldn't get a word in edgewise until she'd said her piece.

"We need to heighten security. I've been lax for the sake of diplomacy until now, but this is unacceptable!"

"She's right." Shame could be clearly heard in Ruby's voice as she spoke.

She blamed herself for letting something like this happen, how could she let herself get complacent like that? She didn't know how she was going to face her sister after tonight, let alone Weiss. Gods, poor Nick shouldn't have had to take his first life as a teenager, and Jin, he'd been stabbed under her watch. In this moment, she felt like a complete failure as an aunt, as a Professor, and as a Huntress.

"I am?" Indigo said after a substantial pause, baffled at hearing the words that just came out of Ruby's mouth. The woman had been frustratingly difficult before this point, calling her measures excessive and self serving, so, despite the circumstances, she felt no shortage of vindication at the Huntress coming around to see things her way.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened, before the Fall of Beacon, there was a similar attack on Beacon's CCTS tower."

"Do you think this was the same group?" Theodore asked, looking right into Ruby's eyes. While unable to speak on the specifics, owing to Indigo not being a part of the circle, his meaning was impossible to ignore.

"I'm positive." she said, and the certainty in her voice made the entire room suddenly feel much colder. Soon, she'd have tangible information to prove it too if Asher's message was right, but even without it, this was too much of a coincidence to be anything but Salem's doing. Indigo got to work on her Scroll a moment later, pausing to address the other two before contacting the General.

"I'm ordering more munitions and personnel. If we can order a stronger Huntsmen presence as well, it might be an effective deterrent, and if not, then at least we're better off with a sizable force at our disposal."

"I hope it doesn't come to that." Ruby muttered as she watched Indigo leave the room, but more and more, it seemed like she wouldn't have a choice in the matter.

Chapter Text

Scarlet didn't have a problem being watched, it had bothered her a bit in her early teens when she'd first started to fill out, how the other kids in her class would shamelessly pay more attention to how she moved her body instead of how she moved her weapon, but it was something she got over quickly with the help of her mom. As usual, she didn't sugarcoat anything, telling her straight up that it was only going to get worse as she developed, and that she could either let it get to her, or she could demand their respect by kicking their asses.

Well, that wasn't exactly what she said, but it had been an important lesson nonetheless, and she'd never be able to compete in the tournament without it.

She'd severely underestimated the size of the stadium, with there being easily tens of thousands of people looking down at her, but even if she hadn't taken it seriously, they'd been warned about the fact that they'd be being watched not just in person, but all around the globe. Something no-one warned her about, however, was how hard it was going to be to focus with all the cheering going on, the cheers and taunts they heard while sparring in class didn't even come close to the deafening roar of the audience members in the stadium. The sheer volume alone was almost overwhelming, making it difficult to focus on the fight she was currently locked in with a strangely familiar opponent. She was pretty sure his name was Sin, part of team HYMN, and he looked like he was part of the same part of Vacuo near the border of Vale where Alaska came from, wearing a long duster coat over a vest and white shirt, the cowboy attire being completed by the hat atop his head of short and messy brown hair. Like her dad, he fought using iaido, and also like her dad, he was good.

His hand went to the grip of his sword, unsheathing it, taking a swing at her, then placing the katana back into its scabbard in the blink of an eye. If it wasn't for the fact that Scarlet used two swords, she wouldn't be able to keep up at all, barely raising up Bleed in time to block the blow. She retaliated by swinging low with Wilt to try and knock him off balance, only for the strike to immediately get deflected with another blindingly fast response from the cowboy that left her wide open. With one particularly hard swing, he pushed her back hard enough to lose her footing and be sent stumbling down the stairs of the walkway they'd been fighting on, rolling to a stop in front of an inactive fountain.

The arena was unusual to say the least, half of it was made up of a dense set of woods that reminded her of home, and Jin and Jet had ran in after two of HYMN, wielding a bow and sniper rifle respectively, had gone in to use the foliage as cover. The loud shots and Jin's higher than usual pitched yelling painted a picture of combat she currently couldn't see, but she trusted Jin and Jet enough not to worry about it. The half of the arena she was currently fighting in was made up to look like a set of ruins, complete with a fully built office building and street area with an overhead walkway to pass over the street. She didn't know how it worked, but she was sure Jet would have wet dreams about the engineering that had to have gone into an arena that could change its layout so easily.

"Ewewewewew!" Looking behind her, Scarlet groaned at the sight of her partner, the self-proclaimed "true scion to her name" shrieking like a little girl and crawling away in terror as a small swarm of pale yellow translucent rats climbed over her.

Desperately, she swatted away at the vermin only to yell louder as one harmlessly climbed onto her hand. Even her opponent looked shocked, the rat Faunus taking off the hood of her black cloak to do a double take and make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. Malattia had just intended to slow Lumi down with the swarm, so she actually felt kinda bad seeing the girl freak out the way she did.

"Lumi, calm your tits, they aren't even real rats!" Scarlet called out, running over and pulling the petite woman to her feet, brushing off the fake rodents. It was almost comical, the same girl who bragged about slaying a Saybr at fourteen left shivering with terror over some tiny little Aura constructs.

"They feel real!" Lumi protested.

She didn't know! She hadn't felt them crawling over her with their tiny claws or their long, hairless, creepy little tails! She grew even more indignant as her partner started to laugh at her. As she was distracted though, the rope dart swung by Malattia hit its mark, cutting the horned girl across the back, her amusement quickly giving way to rage.

"Ah- FUCK, stop worrying about the fake rats and deal with the bitch taking pot shots at us!"

Getting ready to re-engage in combat, Scarlet quickly found how obstructive the Aura constructs were, the little pests kept scurrying up her leg, causing her to jerk away from the tiny yet uncomfortable scratching, and jumping onto her wrist in an attempt to weigh her arm down. Okay, so maybe they were more of a nuisance than she was willing to admit. Deciding to deal with them, she channeled her blood into Wilt, collecting a substantial amount from her Aura before swinging the sword and crying out.

"Veil of Blood!"

Swinging the red sword, a wave of blood infused with a beam of Aura shot out, slashing apart the miniature horde at their feet. Malattia winced as the swarms' destruction resulted in her Aura dropping significantly. Seeing her opportunity, she sent a second Aura slash her way, only for Sin to move in the way, cutting the beam in half right before it reached them. One half of the crimson slash was sent carving into the concrete behind them, while the other was sent flying upward, cutting off one of the corners of the building and sending it crashing to the ground, throwing a cloud of debris into the air.

"Did you… name your attack?" Lumi cringed, ignoring the destruction her partner caused in favor of chastising her for her horrid choice of name, stunning her partner, who scoffed indignantly.

"Wha- oh come on, you named your Summons!" she retorted. Besides, her names were actually cool!

"That's completely different, and nowhere near as lame."

Scarlet gasped at the audacity at her partner to call her names lame when this was the same girl who named a Saybr 'Sebastian'! She didn't get the chance to point out her partner's blatant hypocrisy as she was forced to raise her sword to block Sin, who had rushed in for another attack. Thoroughly reminded they were in a fight, Lumi thrust her own blade forward, only for the rope of Malattia's weapon to wrap around her wrist and pull her off guard enough to stumble forward right into the cloaked Faunus's kick.

Hopefully the boys were doing better…

Keeping his back firmly against the tree he had taken cover behind, Jet slid the bullets down into Hephestus before removing the clip. He just slid it back into his pocket when the bark next to his head was suddenly blown away by Yara, the winged sniper keeping him pinned. Knowing the bolt action rifle she used would give him a brief moment of opportunity between shots, he rushed out, firing at his winged opponent. None of the shots landed, but they didn't need to, his counterattack made her move, the woman launching upward upon her eagle wings to avoid the shots. Moving on instinct, she fired another shot his way, one that was far less steady, missing and giving him time to run in closer.

He couldn't let her stay too far away from him, otherwise she'd be able to pin him down long enough for her partner to circle around and flank him. At the same time, he also couldn't get too close, otherwise he'd have to engage in hand to hand combat with someone who could fly, something he very much wanted to avoid if possible. Thankfully, getting in close was exactly what Jin was for, and, using his Semblance, he summoned a crystal of Wind Dust, throwing it up at the flying Faunus. Her eyes locked on to the object that was suddenly hurtling through the air, something she realized was a mistake as soon as it reached the apex of its trajectory only a few feet away from her.

Already taking aim at the crystal, he shot a single round into it, causing the Dust to set off and creating a powerful blast of gale force winds that knocked her out of the air, careening right over in Jin's direction, just as he had planned.

Hearing his partner's whistle, Jin jumped into action, leaping up to meet the falling girl with the aid of his Semblance, and delivering a spinning kick that sent her crashing into the dirt below. Letting himself fall back down to earth, he landed over her, raising his fist to deliver a powerful strike that would bring her under the elimination threshold.

"WAAA-AHHHH!" His kiai instantly transitioned into a high-pitched yelp as Harbun's Ice Dust tipped arrow struck his forearm, freezing it in place. He tried to break free from the sudden biting cold encasing his arm, only for Yara to slam the butt of her rifle into his nose, causing him to stumble back far enough for the leader of HYMN to let loose another arrow, this one right between his feet, effectively immobilizing him as the ice grew over the ground and engulfed his lower legs. Jet swore as Yara got back to her feet and started flapping her wings to once again take flight, knowing he couldn't just let her get air superiority once again. Without Jin to knock her out of the sky, he'd be overwhelmed in minutes. So, throwing caution to the wind, he ran forth and leaped onto the woman's back as she lifted off, now struggling to maintain elevation with the extra weight throwing her off balance and limited mobility of her wings.

"Get off of me! Are you trying to fall!?" Yara shouted, doing her best to throw the boy off to no avail.

Unconcerned with the boy frozen to the ground next to her, Harbun readied an arrow to shoot off her teammate's attacker, but there was too much movement, too much of a chance she'd miss or accidentally hit her, so instead, she tried a different approach.

"Yara,I got an idea! Use your Semblance!"

Responding to her leader's orders, she outstretched her hand towards her partner, her Aura condensing in her palm before levitating forward, taking the form of an impossibly small star. Harbun, having already notched her arrow, let it loose into the sphere. The plan had been for the Fire Dust of the arrowhead to strengthen the miniature star enough to burn the boy off of her winged teammate, and, in fairness, the plan technically worked, as the ball of burning plasma suddenly burned far hotter and far brighter, making Jet lose his grip and start falling.

However, it also began to burn faster than it could produce energy, and for a brief moment, the fireball turned a blinding white and shrunk inwards before exploding with a deafening roar, throwing both teens down to the forest floor with a miniature supernova. The force of the blast wasn't the worst of it, which was saying a lot considering Yara's Aura immediately shattered once her little star detonated, as the sudden wave of escaping heat caused the surrounding foliage to burst into flames.

"Shit! What the hell Harbun!?"

The blonde didn't get a chance to respond, not only because the explosion had temporarily deafened them all to the point that they couldn't even hear the buzzer signaling Yara's elimination, but also because the fire spread faster than any of them could have predicted. The idea of continuing to fight was quickly forgotten as they all started to run for the edge, none of them stupid enough to try and fight in a burning forest. Jet was the first to make it out, hauling ass until he came out of the treeline, his clothes and hair singed. Yara was next out, coughing as she nearly collapsed once out of the inferno, a large burn having already formed on her arm with a pinkish red mark that contrasted with her darker skin. As she patted down her crop top, which had started to smolder, she also threw her jewelry to the ground, wincing at the searing marks left by her golden armbands and the jewel-encrusted neck brace.

Harbun wasn't as lucky however, as with her ears still ringing from the explosion, she didn't hear the tree she was coming up on cracking under its own weight until it slammed down on her back, and had she not still had her Aura, the blow no doubt would have paralyzed her. As it stood, she was completely stuck, unable to pull herself free as the flames started to nip at her feet. She started to panic, clawing at the dirt desperately, trying to get enough of a grip to pull herself free, but finding no leverage. Just as the idea of dying live on international television started to set in, Jin's large hands grabbed the woman by her wrists, and with a powerful pull, heaved her out from under the burning tree.

Without thinking, he placed her over his shoulder and sprinted for the treeline, as by now, the fire had caught up to them, nipping at his heels as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. By the time he reached it, he'd lost a good chunk of his Aura from a mixture of fighting off the flames and pushing his body to its limits trying to get out even faster. Once at a safe distance, he set her down, both of them panting with relief.

"That was close, thank you." she gasped out, able to give him a small smile signaling that, despite how winded she was, she was more than grateful that he'd helped her. J

in smiled back at the woman, just opening his mouth to say it was no big deal when a pair of shots punched into her shoulder, causing her Aura to flicker as a loud buzzer signaled the elimination of HYMN's leader. Turning around in shock, both he and Harbun, who was similarly aghast that she'd be shot in such an unsportsmanlike way, sputtered at the sight of Jet calmly pulling back on the slide of his handgun as if he didn't just shoot someone injured on the ground.

"Jet!" The boy in question rolled his eyes at his whining, taking out another clip of ammunition and starting the process of reloading Hephestus.

"She wasn't over the threshold, now she is." he explained calmly before turning to the other half of the arena.

Back with the girls, Scarlet clashed blades once more with Sin, delivering strike after strike in a constant flurry of swings meant to overwhelm him, yet nothing she threw at him was enough. He was just too fast, able to either block or parry just about everything she threw his way, and whenever she did land a hit, he was able to return it in stride. Growing frustrated, she channeled her blood along her blade and swung as hard as she could. Predictably, he went to block the blow once more, but this time he was taken off guard by the sheer power of the blow, his guard faltering. As a result, Scarlet managed to follow through with her swing, not landing true thanks to his defense, but still managing to send him flying back several feet.

Well what do ya know, just hitting harder did work out in her favor, suck it Lumi!

Said girl was currently tied up in combat with Malattia… literally. The rat Faunus knew she couldn't match Lumi in direct combat, so instead she decided to keep her from attacking altogether, starting by wrapping her rope dart around her opponent's wrist as she evaded a thrust from the fencer, then sliding under her, wrapping the rope around her ankle as she tried to jump over what she had thought was an attempt to trip her, only for the blonde to faceplant as she pulled on the rope. Growling, the petite girl raised her newly modified dagger and fired a set of rounds at the similarly small Faunus, only to have her bullets deflected by the girl as she poured her Aura into her rope and swung it in a circle to intercept the shots.

Pulling hard on her rope, she brought the blonde to her knees, only to look past her and see Scarlet closing in. What she didn't see, however, was the mountain of a man coming up behind her until she heard a set of heavy footsteps far too close for comfort. Looking over her shoulder, her heart jumped out of her chest as she saw Jin sprinting her way, and out of desperation, she raised her arm, creating a swarm of rat constructs that all jumped up to try and slow him down. Unfortunately for her, the large Faunus boy was unbothered by the swarm, jumping up out of the horde and extending his foot out in a flying kick that landed directly on her face, knocking her flat on her back. The girl was able to do little more than groan as the buzzer rang out, letting her know that she'd just been eliminated.

Sin walked out from the rubble he'd been sent flying into, eyeing the team as he gripped his blade. Despite the odds currently being stacked against him, he remained calm, ready to act at a moment's notice. Stealing a quick glance at the screen above them, he noted that, aside from Lumi, they were all low on Aura, so if he played this smart, he could handle them. He readied himself as Jin moved forward, only to stop as Scarlet grabbed his arm.

"I got this." she said with a confidence that Sin felt was sorely unearned, considering he'd maintained a slight upper hand throughout their fight. Jin was similarly unsure, looking between her and their single remaining opponent.

"You sure?"

"Oh yeah, I've been dying to test the new toy." she assured him, sheathing both Wilt and Bleed into their new singular holster at her side.

Taking a firm grip, she started to channel the blood from her Semblance into the repository while slowly approaching Sin at the same time, ready to end their duel. The cowboy similarly made his way closer, keeping his gaze solely on her as they started to circle one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move. What followed was a lingering moment of the pair just staring each other down, the cheers of the surrounding audience having died to a murmur. The horned woman smirked as she felt the slight vibration from the sheath, signaling it was ready to deploy one of the blades. Keeping her finger on Wilt's trigger, she stopped in her tracks, her opponent doing the same, but taking a moment to tip his hat her way before gripping his sword once more. Then, once again moving nearly completely in sync, they charged one another, closing the distance in only a second.

As they got into range, he once again freed his sword, swinging at her while she pulled the trigger, the concentrated blood shooting the blade out just as fast as her opponent could move with his Semblance, with the added boost of her own Semblance not going unnoticed as Wilt's crimson blade arced with a trail of blood. The whole crowd went silent as they passed one another, each landing the intended blow, yet stubbornly, they both refused to fall, both powering through the pain. However, their stubbornness didn't change a thing as the buzzer rang overhead, though this one was longer and came with applause as Sin's Aura was pushed under the elimination threshold, thereby signaling SJJL's victory.

Still panting, Scarlet looked up in awe at the crowd cheering her on, and then at the rest of her team, who had already started celebrating, or more accurately, Jin had, easily lifting the other two up in a big celebratory hug. Not that she could really contain her excitement either, throwing her arms up in joy as she shouted.

"FUCK YEAH!"

"Order up guys, you earned it after that match!" Blitz cheered as she sat with Scarlet in the booth, throwing and arm around the redhead in a one armed hug.

BRST were treating SJJL and BGEL as congratulations on the former team's victory. Her chest swelled with pride for the team of troublemakers that she and her team had been assigned to watch over. Not that she was expecting the younger team to fail out the gate, but the odds were firmly against them considering that not only were they facing a second year team, but HYMN had always been good, especially back when they went by AAMN before Asher had been taken off the roster and replaced by Yara. With how close the fight had been, she didn't doubt that, had Asher still been a member or if they'd just had more time for the winged girl to fully synergize with the team, they probably wouldn't have walked away the winners.

"Thanks, seriously, you guys are some of the coolest people I know." Scarlet said, raising her shot glass in a small toast to her upperclassmen, a sentiment followed by the rest of SJJL along with Belka and Goose, though unlike SJJL, the pair each held up a soda can.

While they wanted to celebrate with their friends, the fact that they still had to compete in their round today meant that cutting loose wasn't really possible for them yet.

"Hope the drinks are good, because we expect the same treatment after we win this thing."

Despite knowing that Blitz was only teasing, Scarlet couldn't help but feel a bit competitive over it. They'd already proven they could handle upperclassmen, hell, she'd beaten one on her own! Not that it would be easy, she'd seen them fight, taking down less experienced underclassmen and her upperclassmen alike, but she was no less confident.

"Pfft- yeah right, we're gonna kick your asses!" The way it was said felt less like a rebuttal and more like a promise, a student swearing to surpass their master. It was an attitude that amused the blonde woman more than anything, especially considering that their relationship was more so one of just general guidance rather than having any direct influence.

"Oh? You must be feeling real confident knowing you won't have to fight all of us."

"Nah, we'd win, tell them Jet."

As both sets of eyes fell on him, it was clear he didn't share Scarlet's confidence. Then again, she shouldn't have been surprised, he was always looking at how things could go wrong.

"I won't lie, I'm pretty nervous considering that first match was as close as it was."

"I wouldn't say it was that close, none of us were eliminated after all." Lumi pointed out from her seat in the booth she and Lao were sitting in, a bit too confidently in Jet's opinion considering she'd been reduced to a crying mess by fake rats and then tied up.

"But our Auras were all pushed near the low end, and it was only round one."

"Jet, there was no way in hell we were losing to a team called 'hymen'."

"It's pronounced team 'hymn' actually." Sarasvati gently corrected, cringing at the crude misunderstanding.

"Seriously? Yeah, I guess that makes more sense." In truth, she hadn't really thought about it, she just saw the letters and her mind did what it did. Still, in her defense, HYMN wasn't really a color.

"Hey Scar, your Bloody Mary is ready." Blitz interrupted her train of thought, motioning over at the bar where her drink had been served. In her excitement to finally try the drink, she missed how the cocktail looked a lot thicker than she'd expected.

"Ooh, be right back." she said, gently patting Jet's back, keeping it there as long as she could while she pulled away.

Being touched by his friend wasn't a new experience by any means, she'd always been touchy and it wasn't just with him, yet the way she softly rubbed at his body was different, it felt more meaningful and lingering than what he was used to. But despite that, it didn't quite feel intimate. He knew he was probably just overthinking it, but at the same time, he couldn't help but crave that little extra something that felt out of reach between.

"So, what's the deal with you and Scarlet? You guys a thing now?" Blitz asked, also having noticed the touch as well as the way he longingly watched her leave. Ever since seeing them dance together, she'd assumed one of them had finally nutted up and made a move.

"I, uh- well what makes you think that?" It didn't bode well that she chuckled at his response, his attempt to play it cool falling completely flat.

"Well, she was real touchy with you for starters. Trust me, that's a good sign." She didn't elaborate too much, of course. It was obvious to everyone but them, but she wasn't going to take the fun out of teasing them by actually saying it. After all, he'd dig his own hole if she let him.

"And you've been spending more time together since the dance."

"Wha- have you guys been watching us?"

Rather than respond, the woman just smirked. It was a teasing, shit eating grin that reminded him of how Lupin would tease him after putting a spider on his back and watching him flip out. In short, it was a smile of malicious smugness that didn't bode well for him.

"It's kinda our job y'know." Ruta added from her spot in the booth behind him, having been eavesdropping on the conversation but was now more than happy to gang up on the poor boy. "Also, I ain't hearing a no."

Jet groaned, there was no hiding it, the girls had him backed into a corner. Then again, it wasn't like he had anything to lose, they couldn't make him more confused, could they?

"I… I don't know. It's like I know things are different, but we don't really have a label on what we are right now." The girls both shared an amused look, that was such a guy thing to think, that there needed to be some official label for what he was feeling.

"Okay, let me put it this way, do you think she'd be cool if you kissed a gal?" Ruta asked, dumbing it down as much as she could for him in the moment.

"Probably not." Really, he could think of less painful ways to kill himself. First she'd kick his ass, then Lupin would kick his ass, then his parents would kick his ass, and if he was still alive at that point, Adam and Cinder would kick his ass.

"Then you ain't single no more." Ruta said, making it as simple as possible. "Relax, there's a lot going on, and you two are still figurin' it all out."

"How is it all this… stuff just makes me feel like an idiot?" Jet groaned.

Objectively, he knew she was right on some level, but there was a part he just didn't get, something that felt as though it should have been simple, but remained annoyingly just out of his grasp.

"Because you are an idiot in this case buddy. Don't worry too much about it though, I believe in you." Blitz said, giving him a firm pat on the shoulder.

Maybe she was right, after all, everyone else somehow had a better grasp on this whole thing than he did. Maybe he should just take a page from Scarlet's book and try to look at it as something more simple.

"Bleh- what the hell is that!?" Scarlet gagged, spitting the bitter thick red drink back into the glass it had been served to her in.

"A Bloody Mary." the bartender answered bluntly, unimpressed with the dramatic reaction.

"It's awful!"

"It's what you ordered."

Okay, maybe not that simple…

Back in her booth, Lumi pensively looked up at the holo screen that adorned the far wall, playing back the highlights of their match. She remembered Jet mentioning how he wasn't looking forward to being watched by the whole world while he fought. She found it as a silly hangup to have, they were already scrutinized daily in their sparring sessions by the professors, and ultimately, beyond the heightened scale, this was really no different. Besides, he had nothing to fear from life in the public eye, growing up with near-constant media attention on her family taught her that, so long as she behaved, they'd have nothing but good things to say about her.

Scarlet, for example, wouldn't last a week like this if her unfiltered language was anything to go by, the screen playing a censored version of her celebratory cheer that had thankfully been caught before it had gone live. The last thing she wanted was to be reprimanded over an expletive that didn't even come from her. Her mood soured when one of these particular 'highlights' was the moment Malattia stopped trying to engage in an actual duel and started her underhanded trickery with the swarm of vermin. The footage didn't shy away in the slightest, fully showing the attack and her… less than brave response. She could see in perfect detail how her face contorted in terror as the transparent rats climbed up her legs making her shriek, and so could countless other people around the globe…

"That was quite the performance out there." Elizabeth said as she sat down in the seat next to her cousin, her teasing ripping Lumi's focus away from the screen displaying her 'fight' with the Faunus girl.

"Hush you, I performed perfectly adequately." she said matter of factly as she raised the wine glass to her lips. However, she couldn't help herself from meeting the smug grin with a piercing scowl that just amused her cousin further.

"Sure, sure, being saved by your partner was quite the display, you make an excellent damsel in distress."

The only response Lumi gave to the wholly unjustified taunt was to turn her back to her, crossing her arms with an overly dramatic 'hmmph!', refusing to turn her attention back onto her until she was given a proper apology. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of turning her back to a very unapologetic Liz, who, rather than give in to the pouting girl's desires, ever so gently trailed her fingers up the back of her shirt in a scurrying motion, resulting in yet another shriek from the girl as she literally jumped out of her seat and over the table to get away from the sensation.

"LIZ! That is not funny!" Realizing she was just being messed with only infuriated her further, stomping her foot and further making a scene that only added to her embarrassment. Liz couldn't care less about the attention they were attracting, openly laughing.

"Oh, it so is." In her mind, this was all just some good natured ribbing between family, something that at most would result in her getting the silent treatment for an hour before they'd forget about it, but Lumi thought differently, her pride just wouldn't allow for such flagrant disrespect.

"So smug, my performance was far better than what yours would have been."

"Oh really now?" The amusement quickly left the small woman's voice as it was replaced with a competitive edge.

"With your abysmal performance so far? I'm certain."

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to leave her seat, getting right up in the blond's face, or at least, as much as she could with how small she was, clearly now Lumi's turn to be smug as she looked down at her furious cousin. Back in the booth, the rest of BGEL stared at the cousins, Goose letting out a tired sigh as she deflated at yet another pointless argument starting up.

"Are they… fighting?" Belka asked her partner. Normally she'd have ignored such a petty argument unless it was getting in her way, but the fact that it was her nieces made her curious.

"Yup, they'll probably be at it for a while." Goose sighed. Unlike her teammates, she'd seen this play out more than once, and she knew she would again. Unfortunately, there was really no stopping it.

"I haven't seen them so much as disagree since I met Elizabeth." Lao said in his own uninterested sounding way, though Goose caught how he went to stand up and get between them, only to stop himself as he remembered how it typically went when he tried to de-escalate situations with his partner, deciding to just sit down and let them have their spat.

"That's because their attention has been somewhere else most of the year." The girls' aunt explained tiredly. "They get into it way more than you'd think."

"About what? Just… anything?" Belka couldn't have hidden the glee in her voice if she'd tried.

It was just refreshing to see a spat from her team that she wasn't a part of, and additionally, it was cathartic to see the two girls who were usually a unified front against her at odds. So much for that oh so perfect family facade they put on.

"No, it's always the same thing, one of them will say something about a fight or sparring match, and then it devolves into them arguing over who's better. Watch, Lumi's about to brag about her Aura." Belka and Lao both turned back to the girls having their spat, which had started to escalate.

"You know what I think? You're just jealous."

"Of what? I'm a better fighter than you, and we have the same Semblance." Despite attempting to sound smug, Elizabeth was red in the face, unable to mask how worked up she was getting even over something so minor.

"Sure we have the same Semblance, but unlike you, I actually have enough Aura to use it to the fullest."

"Oh right, your huge Aura, must be nice having a crutch like that. If our Aura was the same, I'd kick your ass every time and you know it!"

Goose recognized where this was going, really, it was the natural conclusion these little fights always led to, and the only difference was how fast this had escalated compared to previous incidents. Climbing out of her seat, she put herself between the smaller girls, laughing nervously

"Hey guys, c'mon now, Liz can't fight, we still have to have our match today, remember?"

While one aunt sought to defuse the situation, the other was downright delighted at the display of childishness, she couldn't let it end so soon, not when things were just getting good. Besides, even if they weren't exactly close by now she knew them well enough to know they were just blowing smoke.

"Such a shame, maybe if Liz had Lumi's Aura levels, they could spar and we'd still be able to compete."

Hiding her smirk was hard but worth it to see the midget's face turn red at the insinuation that she couldn't compete with Lumi. However, she cracked as the small girl started to tremble in barely contained rage, hiding her giggle by raising her empty can to her lips.

"That's it! Where's Uncle Jaune!? I'm kicking your bony white ass and then he's refilling my Aura!"

"B-bony!? My backside is nothing of the sort!" Choosing to let Goose handle the two girls, Lao turned his attention toward his leader.

"Was that necessary?" Belka just smirked in response, leaning over and grabbing Lumi's wine glass, after all a sip or two couldn't possibly hurt.

"Perhaps not, but it's very amusing."

Durga had never really understood bars as an idea. She had nothing against drinking, though she rarely partook herself, but the whole concept just seemed pointless. If she wanted to drink with others, it was far cheaper and safer to do so at home with friends and/or family rather than surrounded by other drunken strangers. She'd long been told that it was 'just a different atmosphere' and that 'you'd never know who you'd meet' but that wasn't a satisfactory answer either, typically she just got leered at by people she didn't want to share a ride with, let alone the night. Still, despite her own opinions, she wasn't going to tell others how to spend their time and money, especially given that she wasn't going to stay long regardless. Really, she was just here to break the unfortunate news to her daughter that she wouldn't be around to watch her compete.

They'd found her. Somehow, the bastards had found her, despite the fact that she'd only left the hotel room enough times to count on one hand, and only to be with Sarasvati. Theodore had been patient enough to give her a few days, but with what was at stake, she had no choice but to leave until they could be sure it was taken care of. Scanning the bar, it didn't take long for her to find her child, Sarasvati had come up to the bar to refill her glass. Stepping forward, she was quickly noticed, her girl doing a double take upon seeing her mother in a bar.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Quickly getting over her shock, she moved in and hugged her, pulling away and raising her glass up to take a drink, only to stop herself. "Oh, uh, don't worry, this is just juice."

"Darling, you're a woman now, if you want to have a drink or two then I'm not going to scold you." She couldn't help but chuckle at her daughter's need to reassure her that she wasn't drinking, though, having made it a point to make sure she never drink around her, it was no surprise she'd think she wouldn't approve of her indulging. It was cute, knowing that despite all these years apart from one-another, she still cared what she thought of her. She was lucky, most stories she'd heard about teenage girls painted a very different picture.

"Oh, okay… It really is juice for the record though." Taking a closer look at the golden drink, she noted a distinct lack of bubbles. Maybe it was the truth. As she examined the glass, she must not have hidden her feelings well though, as her daughter's own face dropped a bit, growing worried. "Is everything okay?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I have to go out on a mission." she sighed.

The disappointment on Sarasvati's face was painful, but she should have known better than to make a promise she couldn't guarantee. After all, this was her curse, her status as the Summer Maiden brought her power she scarcely began to fully comprehend, but at the cost of having to distance herself from those she loved.

"Now? Of all times? But it's the Vytal Festival." Sarasvati pleaded.

She knew how much this meant to her, and she kicked herself for not being able to stay, or at the very least, tell her the truth, but neither were possible.

"I promise, they wouldn't be asking me to go if it wasn't completely necessary." Reluctantly, she seemed to accept this, having grown used to it in the years since Durga had left her in Theo's care while she went off to help. Even knowing this, she felt horrible seeing her own daughter sulking in disappointment once again.

"Do you know when you'll be back?"

She didn't, she never did, it could just be for the Festival itself, or it could take months. It was frustrating, she was the most powerful woman in the kingdom, yet here she was completely helpless. She did know one thing however, that she would return as soon as she was able, and she'd find a way to make it up to her.

"Soon, I swear it to you."

Life in Vacuo had been an… adjustment to say the least. It was as though the very idea of luxury, as well as finer things in life in general, just ceased to exist the moment he arrived in Vacuo, hell, the place barely even had proper AC, but most of all, it was just so damn boring! Despite being in a Kingdom highly criticized for parts of it functionally being in a state of anarchy, he was expected to follow all these silly rules like 'stay out of sight', 'listen to the weird bald guy talk about his goddess', 'don't cane the masked lunatics when they got uppity', and so forth. Seeing as he was technically staying as a guest though, Romeo was expected to just go along with it.

"You shouldn't be smoking that."

Case in point, even sneaking away to have a smoke in the hall was impossibly hard with all the robed mooks he was forced to be around. This one wore an unmarked tan set of cloth to avoid drawing attention in the city, the color apparently indicating that he was somehow more important in a way he didn't care to remember. Apparently, it was some rule they were expected to follow about 'not allowing impurities into their bodies', a rule they foolishly expected him to follow as well. He couldn't actually see the moron's face thanks to the cloak obscuring most of it, so he had to just imagine the stupid look of indignance he wore.

"Oh, really? I must have missed the sign." he said, showing how much he cared by flicking ashes off the cigar down onto the carpet.

"Well?"

"What am I supposed to do? Just stamp it out on the nice, dusty floor? These are an expensive brand, y'know." The man growled, taking a step forward as if to take the cigar by force.

Tightening his grip on Melodic Cudgel, Romeo tensed in preparation to take a swing at the self-righteous bastard. Too many of them were comfortable sneering at him anyway, beating one of them black and blue would serve as a good reminder of their place.

"I'll handle him."

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who was asked, the robed man was quickly blocked from advancing any farther by Henna as she stepped in between the men, placing a hand on his chest, gently but firmly keeping them apart. With one last grumble and a final dirty look for good measure, he turned and stormed off. Now with just the two of them in the hall, she turned around, a hand on her hip as she similarly looked at the cigar disapprovingly.

"You enjoy making people mad, don't you?"

"What can I say? It's a gift." Henna chuckled at his dry response,

If there was one thing he could say about the woman, it was that she wasn't so sensitive and uptight like the other loons in this farce of a congregation. He certainly wouldn't say that he liked her, but so far, she was the only one besides Lavender he could at least stand to have a conversation with, when she wasn't trying to convert him to her little cult with the subtlety of an Atlesian battleship of course. Wordlessly, she plucked the cigar from his mouth and dropped it to the ground before grinding it out under her shoe.

"Walk with me." Without even waiting for a response, she started to walk off into the building, and left with nothing better to do, he caved, following the snake woman's lead.

It had been an… interesting few months…

Three Months Earlier

"Anything I should know walking into this?"

Romeo asked his sister as they were escorted through the compound just south of the main city, being led by a pair of mute weirdos wearing beige robes along with masks that resembled those horned rabbit-like Grimm that were native to Vacuo. Considering this was some sort of religious thing, it was shockingly barren aside from the necessities, he'd expected an ornate cathedral filled with spiky altars to death itself, not a glorified bunker in the ground. Even out of the sun, he was practically dying in his suit, he didn't know how Lavender kept her coat on without keeling over from heatstroke.

"Be respectful, and I mean actually respectful. From what Henna's told me, getting you in took some convincing."

Oh come on now, she knew him better than that to ask him to make a promise he couldn't keep, even if they were apart for three years.

"So… what's with the masks?" he asked, just loud enough to make sure they heard him, though disappointingly, they didn't react.

Instead, the only response he got was from Lavender, who promptly elbowed him in the ribs. After stewing for a moment, she leaned in, walking on her tiptoes in order to whisper in his ear.

"I dunno, it's some sort of ritual. I think it's symbolic, like leaving your past life behind to join something greater."

It always astounded him how she could say that and not realize what she just described was a textbook case of conditioning. Really, the only comforting part of this information was the fact that she was unfamiliar with it, meaning she hadn't been made to do it herself, though it concerned him that this was potentially something she may do in the future, if she didn't see through this cult's bullshit by then of course. However, regardless of his thoughts on the matter, that in itself just raised more questions.

"You don't know? I thought you were part of this cu-church."

Thankfully, she didn't catch his brief slip-up, too busy being embarrassed about her lack of insight on her own religion to give him another elbow to the ribs.

"What I do is different. I traveled with Henna while she made the Goddess's will known to the congregation… think of it as sort of like a missionary."

He wondered how being a missionary to a death cult even worked, the obvious answer would be something like wiping villages off the map, but that seemed too in your face, even for this group of easily manipulatable idiots. Eventually, they were led to a room that was closer to his previous expectations, the walls were lined with murals of a tall pale woman in black surrounded by Grimm that brought out a sense of familiarity that made his skin crawl.

In the center of the room was a simple altar that seemed just big enough for someone to be laid upon, a fact that, given what he'd been told about the nature of this group, probably wasn't a coincidence. The material it was made of was too dark to see any obvious bloodstains, but he was sure that if he got a closer look, he'd find them regardless. The room wasn't empty either, waiting for them was a tall woman in a white cloak, and while he didn't recognize her, Lavender definitely did, her face lighting up like an excited kid the second she laid eyes on her.

"Henna!"

Suddenly breaking from the proper act she put up, Lavender ran over and threw her arms around the woman, who immediately hugged her back, lifting the smaller girl off of her feet.

"I've missed you dearly, sister." she said in a sickeningly sweet display of affection that felt strange from the woman in front of him. Then again, people who only knew him as a criminal would probably think the same way if they'd seen how he treated his sister.

"Oh, I see how it is. She gets a hug and I get kicked through a wall."

Making his way over, he hid his nerves with a joke, though he wasn't completely joking as he was more than a little irritated by the difference in treatment, finally getting to meet this Henna he'd heard so much about. She certainly matched the description his sister gave him, but there was something more, an air of danger around the woman that he'd normally find enticing, but considering the circumstances, it instead had him on edge. Maintaining his poker face, he held out his hand to shake.

"Romeo Torchwick, I-"

Romeo didn't really know what to expect meeting this woman, all he had to go on was his sister's tales, and her judge of character had proven to be questionable at best. He'd planned for several possibilities, namely total indifference and outright hostility, but something he wasn't prepared for was for her to move right past his hand and wrap her arms around him in a tight, affectionate embrace. The hug, despite coming from a complete stranger, carried the same warmth that would come from a lifelong friend. Stunned into silence and not knowing what else to do, he awkwardly returned the embrace as well as he could until she pulled away, caressing his face with a soft, caring hand.

"I know exactly who you are, my dear brother." His overly warm suit finally paid off, at least this way she couldn't see the goose bumps her touch elicited from him.

"Brother, huh?"

"That's right, we're all children of Tyrian here. You and I may not be siblings by blood, but we were raised by the same man, and that makes you my brother as far as I'm concerned."

Right, as much as it bothered him, he had picked up on how Lavender called her 'sister' as a familial term rather than a religious one, he'd just never expected that treatment would extend to him. But, as far as he could tell, from the way she smiled and looked at him like a long-lost member of the family, she really meant it, which in its own way was equally as disturbing.

"You sure know how to pick them, huh sister?" As if to add to the already confusing pseudo-family dynamic he was piecing together, a new face entered the room as Azrael stepped in, not bothering to hide his disdain at the newcomer in his compound. "At least this one is more open about his degeneracy, the hair couldn't scream fruit any louder if you tried."

"Oh you poor thing, you have no clue how many closeted priest jokes you just opened yourself up to, do you?"

Seeing as he couldn't be as flippant with how he felt about the other creeps he'd passed on his way to the room, the big brute openly being hostile was a nice change of pace, especially when the big brute's face turned from insufferably smug to irritated at the slightest bit of pushback.

"Careful runt, my sword would smash that cane to bits if I ever took a swing at you." He had no doubts about that, seeing the massive blade he carried over his shoulder, though he wasn't intimidated by him, big guys were usually all bark and no bite.

"And just what is that compensating for I wonder? At least that answers the whole top or bottom thing."

Azrael looked past Romeo to Henna, the woman giving him a look warning that the man that as difficult as he may be for the moment, he was similarly under her protection for the time being. With a sneer, he looked back at Romeo.

"Watch yourself. Unlike the junkie, you're an outsider." Unlike the prior threats, the jab at his sister got a proper reaction from the smaller man. Satisfied at wiping the smile off of his face, the armored man turned back to Henna before he could run his mouth further. "Do what you want with him Henna, but if he causes trouble, I'm not giving some heretic the same leeway as your pet."

The three watched as he walked off, calling the pair escorting the siblings with him, leaving them alone in the chamber.

"And that was?"

"Azrael, don't listen to him, he's just an asshole." Lavender muttered, unable to look at Romeo. She'd done her best to keep her… problem from her brother the whole time she'd stayed with him, and if he found out because that bastard wanted to cause problems, she'd rip his tongue out.

"For the record, he's not completely wrong. You should do something about that hair, it's best that we avoid standing out." Henna said, cutting through the tension and running her hand through the line where the pink in his hair met the orange.

Present

Though it pained him greatly, he had gone and dyed his hair once more, picking a dark shade of brown to match with Lavender. Really, his whole attire was far more dressed down than he'd have preferred, wearing little more than a white breathable turtleneck with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a set of brown pants. He was wearing all the cheap stuff of course, he couldn't ruin his designer suits by getting filth, sand, and blood all over them. It all felt fundamentally wrong to him, he'd spent years actively dressing in the most flashy way possible specifically to stand out more when he committed crimes, the whole 'blend in and be unnoticed' bit was for cowards and people who couldn't fight their way out of a bunch of pigs surrounding them. Though on the bright side, it worked, at a glance, no one would ever recognise him in something so bland.

Stepping out onto the balcony of Henna's hotel room, Romeo stared over the city in full swing. He'd seen the festival in action at home once or twice, and it was no different here, aside from the architecture being more bland than usual. That, and he wasn't allowed to go around taking advantage of all the fresh faces. Yet, despite the amount of eyes everywhere, there was no need for the cover of some old unused warehouse or a shop to serve as a front for their presence. After all, this was the biggest tourist attraction in the world, a bunch of new faces showing up out of the blue was to be expected and served as the perfect cover for whatever plans his 'big sister' and her friends had cooked up that he was being kept in the dark about, something that both bothered and concerned him greatly.

"You know, you may have a more comfortable time here if you give our ways a real chance."

Though phrased as a suggestion, Romeo could clearly hear the frustration in her tone. Admittedly, he hadn't been the best house guest, but if they really expected a kingpin to suddenly bend the knee and turn into a pious little cultist, that was more on their unrealistic expectations than it was on how he acted. Then again, he supposed delusion and cultism went hand and hand.

"Not to state the obvious, but I'm a criminal by trade, following the arbitrary rules of people who want me to be all good and righteous has never really jived with my style." She looked at him, not angrily, but with a sense of disappointment and pity.

"I see you're still skeptical of our Goddess. You're a very close-minded man, aren't you Romeo?"

It took a real effort not to scoff or roll his eyes at her. He didn't know if he really believed in gods or not, it wasn't important to him. If they were real, he'd deal with it after he died, and if not, then it wasn't his problem, but he knew bullshit when he saw it.

"No offense, but I'm not exactly the religious type, I've planned too many cons not to end up putting together that most of it's just smoke and mirrors set up to con idiots into giving up their time and money." He paused, noting her unamused assessment of his point of view. "Oh, but not yours of course, I'm sure your faith is well placed."

"Faith?" she chuckled. "You think I worship the Goddess based on nothing but blind faith?"

"That's typically how this whole scam works, isn't it?"

"I suppose someone who hasn't seen what I have would think so. Make no mistake my dear brother, I don't use faith to know we're doing her work. It's because she's told me herself."

Ever since they'd met, this woman had the ability to make him uncomfortable, and most of the time, she wasn't even trying. She usually spoke to him with a motherly tone that made her nonsense almost sound plausible, it was no wonder she had brainwashed Lavender into believing in this crap, but her words weren't the part that left him unsettled. No, it was the fact that, as far as he could tell, she was being completely genuine.

Chapter Text

Dread, that was the most apt description for what Belka felt as she and the rest of her team walked back onto the platform. This was it, her trial by fire in front of a roaring crowd. They weren't ready for this, any objective measurement of her team's skill and cohesion would tell them that they weren't ready for a competition like this, so why the hell was she here!? Unfortunately, that was a question for another time, for now, she had to at least put up a good enough fight to look like she knew what she was doing. After all, Mother and Father would be watching, not to mention her dear godmother who put all that effort into training her.

Strangely, it seemed her team didn't share her doubts, Goose was hardly able to contain herself as she ran ahead. She was uncertain if Lao even wanted to win, given that he reacted to all the news about the tournament with the same non-existent enthusiasm he did with everything else, but he hadn't said anything that could be construed as negative. Truth be told, she didn't know what Elizabeth thought about the upcoming match either, but if she was having doubts, she didn't let it show, confidently walking with her head held high. She suspected the reasoning was similar to her own, with her father being a retired General and her mother being the current General's right hand woman. She had some big shoes to fill for such a small woman, but truth be told, she didn't care enough to ask. Focusing back on the imminent match, she looked at their opponents, the familiar and friendly faces of team KRMA.

"Hey guys!" Kenneth cheered from his spot, smiling and waving enthusiastically at BGEL. Goose waved back just as excitedly, while Lao gave a polite wave back, his expression still as lifeless as stone. Well, at least they would be losing to friends instead of, say, a team like SABL or SLVR.

"So Liz, you gotten any better than last time? Because I can go easy on you if you want."

If it wasn't for the good-natured smile that accompanied her jeering, Elizabeth would have taken Mercy's words as a genuine taunt, not that it made much of a difference. Unable to take the comment in stride, she drew Exenterator from its spot at her hip and lashed its blade into the ground in a flourish. Following suit, Mercy started to twirl the kama of her kusarigama, ready to swing Truth and Consequences at a moment's notice.

"Last time was nothing but a fluke, one that I'm gonna enjoy setting straight." Elizabeth muttered.

The memory of her previous defeat was still as clear as day, and the fact that it had been due to a ring out just added insult to injury. Before any more banter could be held though, the arena began to shift around them, the outer platforms detaching and lowering out of sight, while the loud mechanical noises of the battleground changing underneath them drowned out the roars of the surrounding crowd. With only moments to spare before the Faunus on the other team could hear them again, they quickly huddled together to form a plan.

"You got a game plan?" Elizabeth asked the obvious question, her faith in her leader being practically non-existent. She wasn't expecting much, maybe some insight on her one friend at most.

"Divide and conquer."

Elizabeth felt immediate vindication at those words. That was it? Somehow she'd overestimated Belka's plan, and furthermore, it was a plan that had never worked for them in the past. Why would now be any different? Belka, however, didn't see any other option, from her talks with Whiskey, it had been easy to figure out that KRMA worked best as a team, something her own team was seemingly incapable of. Thus, splitting them up was their only real option, trying to use KRMA's group-centric style to their advantage by keeping them from helping each other out and using their advantage in coordination. And besides, no one else had a better alternative to suggest.

"I'll handle Mercy." Elizabeth declared, obviously eager to have a rematch and set the record straight.

"Are you sure?" Belka asked.

On paper, it seemed like an obvious matchup, both making use of melee weapons that could be used at longer ranges, which would keep her from being a pest to anyone else, but she was skeptical of her niece's abilities, especially after finding out she'd already lost to this girl before. With a scoff, Elizabeth nodded, insulted at the doubt from her leader.

"We spared plenty of times, and I usually won. Lao should be able to handle Ken if no one gets between them." Lao nodded, not having any real preference to who he fought, though he appreciated that she was considerate enough to suggest Kenneth, who was the closest to his weight class.

"Okay, I'll handle Whiskey, Goose that leaves Anga to you, you think you can-"

"Kick his butt? Oh I betcha I can!" Frightening wasn't typically a word that any of them would associate with Goose, but the fact that she was positively giddy over the idea of beating up her new friend was cause for at least some concern. Oh well, at least one of them was having fun.

"Whiskey, can you beat her?" Lao asked plainly, preparing to be scolded for even asking such a question, but instead of her responding in her usual haughty attitude, Belka grew quiet, pursing her lips. She and Whiskey were almost identical in terms of weapon and style, but when it came to their Semblances, Whiskey's was a direct counter to her more long ranged style of fighting, and in close range, her flamethrower was going to cause problems…

"No, her weapon and Semblance are better than mine. If she's fighting to win, she's going to beat me eventually, but at the very least, I can keep her busy while the rest of you pick off her teammates."

In truth, it was the weakest part of her plan and she was sure they all knew it, but she doubted any of the others would fare as well, Goose and Lao wouldn't be able to get close enough to deal with her, and Liz's mobility advantage could be readily negated by her Semblance. With their plan set in stone, they got ready as finally the platforms raised back up to the left and right of them in half circles that met in the middle behind each team.

One half of the arena was a series of floating platforms, moving with the aid of gravity Dust in a path that was clearly designed to be difficult to fight within, while the other was more immediately appropriate for their destination, a set of sandy dunes arranged in a arena-like arrangement that seemed safe enough, but a closer look revealed the terrain was so uneven that no matter where you fought, it would be impossible to keep your footing. Both sides of the arena offered cheap and clearly artificial difficulty, but difficulty that still captured the utter misery of Vacuo's terrain well enough.

A loud buzzer went off, indicating the start of the match, and both sides rushed in. Unfortunately, the plan they'd agreed on went right off the rails almost immediately. As soon as she laid eyes on her friend, she raised Morgan to fire a gravity Dust infused blast at her friend, knowing she couldn't let Whiskey corner one of the others, but before the the blast could connected, Kenneth moved between them, somehow perfectly predicting where the beam would land and drawing his sword from his cane, angling it in such a way to deflect the beam away. However, even he didn't expect it to perfectly bounce back at the other team, a direct hit on Elizabeth were she not already forming a Glyph in her palm.

Barely reacting in time, she extended her hand out to catch the beam as it collided with her Semblance, the force throwing her arm to the side, now pointed directly at Belka and Goose. The still-forming Glyph absorbed the gravity attributes of the beam and without her full focus, shattered, releasing the energy, and sending the pair flying to her left towards the platforms.

The petite woman could only watch slack jawed as she accidentally sent her aunt and leader flying all the way across the battlefield, the odds of that beam deflecting the way it did in order to meet her Glyph just as it formed to imbue it with the latent gravity Dust were so astronomically small that… Right, odds didn't matter around Goose. KRMA didn't just stare and gawk at the unlikeliness of the events however, and Ken, along with Mercedes, started running over to the floating platforms to catch up with their opponents. She ran to catch up with the pair, Lao following suit, only to suddenly lurch to a halt as an unseen force held him in place as Elizabeth ran up ahead along with Anga.

Turning around to see what was happening, he saw a translucent orange tether connecting him to Whiskey who'd clearly decided to stay behind. The Aura construct connected to her offhand like a leash, and with her other, she held the trigger of Idris, the weapon that was nearly identical to his leader's own, which was now pointed right at him and spitting bursts of flame in his direction. Taking one last look behind him at his team, he took a deep calming breath, reminding himself that they'd be fine without him for a time, before he flicked his wrists, sending Ao Bing and Ao Quang into their active states and throwing both of them her way.

Belka hit the platform hard, rolling to a stop just before she'd be sent careening off of the edge and onto the rocks below. She got to her feet just in time for the platform to suddenly rise up, and, dazed from the unexpected impact, she looked around from her new vantage point to get her bearings, only to completely freeze as she realized her entire plan had gone up in smoke.

No, no, no. Damn it, that plan had been their only real chance at victory, and it had been thwarted by Goose's asinine Semblance before they could even put it in motion, a theory backed up by the fact that she was the only one still fighting the person she was supposed to, albeit with the caveat of also dealing with Mercedes taking potshots from the neighboring platform, while Elizabeth wrestled with just trying to navigate the altered gravity, and Lao had ended up in the unfortunate position of trying to essentially fist-fight someone with a flamethrower, keeping Whiskey at a distance with his chakrams, a strategy that would only work for so long as the fight refrained from progressing towards the sand.

Before she could even start to try and put together a backup plan, her thoughts were torn away upon hearing a set of quick footsteps closing in and she turned to find, once again, it was that little cat-tailed pest getting in her way. He closed the distance and thrust the tip of his cane her way, the shock baton at the end sparking to life just as it made contact with her. The young woman cried out as sparks arced across her body, her Aura keeping the electricity from reaching her muscles, but doing little to dull the pain.

"Man, you might just be the girl whose attention I have to work the hardest for."

Ignoring his asinine flirting and using Morgan's longer reach to her advantage, she batted the business end of his cane aside and readied a counter-thrust, Morgan's blade shimmering into existence in a flash of purple light. Since he was too close to move away, he instead chose to meet her head on, blocking her strike by driving it downwards before moving into melee range, once again swinging his cane her way.

She raised the other end of the polearm to interrupt the swing just before it made contact, however, completely undeterred, he drew his sword from Kilkenny and pulled back his arm to thrust past her guard. But, as he thrust the blade her way, he was caught off guard when she twirled her weapon, now bringing the violet blade of light downwards again, but now on her own terms, slashing into his calf while sending his own strike off course, missing her completely. She didn't let up either, spinning it one last time to send the blunt end slamming into his cheek and knocking him down.

"Has that cutesy crap ever actually worked for you?" The young woman asked, a smug look growing across her face as she managed to knock the irritating flirt on his ass.

Rubbing his bruised cheek, Ken briefly considered replaying that moment, but, seeing as he'd be sacrificing precious Aura and potentially show his hand over some wounded pride, he decided against it, using his cane to prop himself back up.

"Well, uh… no, not yet."

Watching closely, Belka smirked as a perfect opportunity showed itself as the platform behind him lowered, the over-designed obstacle course of an arena finally making itself useful. Ken jumped back as she fired from the hip at him, finding the floor that had been behind him moments ago suddenly missing as one of his feet tried to step on thin air.

Yelping in shock, it took all of his balance not to fall off, not that it would do him any good, as a second shot from his opponent knocked him back. Right, that one was getting a rewind. Focusing on the moment of her first shot, the world around them froze in a green haze, the entire arena going still before suddenly he started falling in reverse, the purple beams traveling back into her weapon as he once again found himself staring down the barrel of Morgan.

Rather than stepping off the platform this time, he jumped back, doing a backflip to avoid both her initial and follow-up shot. Belka's eyes went wide at the sudden reflexes, infuriated by how he had somehow yet again gotten out of what she was sure was a surefire hit and its subsequent kill-shot. Cursing herself for underestimating her opponent, she continued to fire at the boy, who slowly backed off while deflecting shots with his blade. Not wanting to let him get away, she jumped over to the same platform and continued to fire.

For a brief moment, the cat tailed boy looked like he was going to fall back, before he suddenly planted his feet, a sudden change she found odd, but not nearly as odd as the way he watched her feet. She continued to fire while advancing, making sure he couldn't get comfortable as she approached but, before she could make any real headway, the gravity platforms activated once more, this time from both above and below, leaving her floating at the unexpected change. Kenneth, however, had somehow known this was coming, and jumped up as the gravity switched, striking Belka who was too stunned at how perfectly wrong this had gone to react, sending the girl back. At the same time, a chain suddenly wrapped around her waist, jerking her off the side of the platform.

Looking down, Belka screamed as she saw the ring out zone rapidly approaching. Closing her eyes and bracing for the impact, she didn't anticipate something hitting her side, sending her tumbling off course for a ring out. Rather than the dirt of the ring-out zone, she found herself rolling in the sand with another body coming to rest on top of her. Opening her eyes, she was met with an out of breath Goose getting to her feet with a weak and tired smile.

"Hope you don't mind, but this time I did it on purpose."

Well, she supposed she couldn't be mad in this instance, though if she had to spend another second with her skin on this scalding sand, she would snap regardless. Letting her partner help her to her feet, Belka looked up just in time to see Kenneth slink away. She scowled at the boy, raising Morgan to take a shot at him but missed her opportunity by a second, lowering the naginata with a huff.

How the hell had he anticipated that? The timing was seemingly random and he hadn't seen anything she hadn't!? Was it his Semblance? Wait, no, that actually made sense, there was no way he'd just known she was going to shoot at her best friend at the start of the fight, the platform behind him had lowered without him seeing it, yet he'd perfectly jumped over it, and pushing her into the gravity shifter just as Mercedes's chain had made that arc was too perfect even for Goose's Semblance. He shouldn't have been able to anticipate any of that even once, but in three separate instances? That wasn't a coincidence.

Unfortunately, she couldn't focus on that as Anga and Mercedes closed in, chasing after their previous quarry.

With a sweeping kick aimed for her shins, Lao knocked Whiskey off of her feet and onto her back, but before he could follow up his blow, the Faunus swung Idris his way as she squeezed the trigger, wreathing her blade in flame. He managed to jump back in time to avoid the metal blade now sweeping past his chest, but Idris's flames still washed over him in a cascade of billowing light, causing him to recoil in pain as his top caught fire, the sand sliding under his feet as he could feel the fire start to spread across his arms and torso.

He grabbed the ruined fabric and ripped it from his chest, before letting it fall to the ground, where it quickly burnt to ash. Making her recovery, Whiskey readied another blast of fire, only to stop at the sight of his bare chest. Obviously, she knew that as a Huntsman in training, he had to be in good shape. but the firm toned muscle mixed with his soft, frankly beautiful features created a contrast that was very pleasing to the Faunus. Her face turned red as her floppy ears suddenly stood at attention.

"Woah… damn Belka, I see how it is, keeping the goods to yourself." Lao's cheeks gained a slight hue of pink as the woman blatantly ogled his exposed body along with his pink eyes, normally pink, faded into a pale shade red, the color of cheap wine. Of course, he knew his body would be considered aesthetically pleasing by most, but having it just be openly admired was a new… unexpectedly nice feeling.

Realizing she'd been caught ogling, Whiskey's face turned a deep red and she swung at him once again to try and cover her actions, however, rather than hit its mark, her weapon phased right through him as though he were merely an illusion. For a moment, she stared, Idris's blade resting in the false dunes, confused at the sudden change. His Semblance was some kind of intangibility? If that was the case, then why hadn't he used it before, and why had Belka mentioned it was super strength?

"Please focus on fighting me." Lao said, raising his arms to cover his modesty, not reacting in the slightest to the fact that her attack had just gone right through him like a ghost.

"What the- this is your Semblance!?" Acting more out of confusion at the sudden intangibility of her opponent, she spun her weapon in the vain hopes of hitting him, blow after blow going right through him as he took a deep, calming breath that caused his eyes to shift back to their natural pink hue. As they did, he reached out at the incoming weapon and caught it by the shaft in his hand, the blade resting mere inches from his face.

"Trust me, it's needlessly complicated." he sighed before pulling her into melee range.

She planted her feet to try and resist his pull, but her feet just slid through the loose sand, right into range of an Aura-amped palm strike. However, before he could land the blow, the crackling of electricity alerted him to an attack coming from behind. Pivoting on his heel, he redirected his strike at Kenneth as he moved in, his fellow ginger sliding under the strike at the last moment. Something that would have gone unnoticed to others but Lao easily spotted was just how last minute Kenneth's re-adjustment was.

He'd fully committed to the attack before suddenly changing his mind at the last possible moment, as if he somehow knew it would go badly for him at the precipice of when he could feasibly disengage. The hairs stood up on his tail as he caught a glimpse of the concentrated Aura in Lao's palm burst forward with the missed strike. Spinning around, Ken swung Kilkenny at his legs, the loose sand giving him nothing to stay steady on as his feet were knocked out from under him.

"Whiskey, blast him!" At her leader's command, she immediately caught on, aiming low and spewing fire from Idris, aiming to melt the sand under the boy into glass and immobilize him.

However, before the flames made contact, a glyph appeared between them, reflecting the flames back at the pair, who both jumped back to avoid being burned. Apparently, he was getting up too slowly for Elizabeth's liking, as by the time he'd gotten to his knees, she was already next to him, pulling him up by the bicep, only to then pause as she glanced at her shirtless partner.

After a moment of taking him in, she let out an approving hum before turning back to their opponents, but before combat could resume, Belka stumbled backward right into Liz, knocking both girls over into the sand. Things only started to look more bleak as the team was suddenly surrounded from both sides by KRMA, who began to close in.

Getting back to their feet, the girls had no intention of going down easy, preparing to make the fight as difficult as they could. The standoff was only interrupted at the sound of wind suddenly picking up from within the arena, specifically, from the arena itself, as the edges started to glow green with the signature howl of wind Dust activating, creating a sudden sandstorm enclosed within their side of the battleground. KRMA immediately fell back to the center of the arena while BGEL stayed behind in the whirling dunes.

Thinking fast, Elizabeth grabbed a vial of her own wind Dust and slammed it into the ground as she summoned a massive Glyph beneath all four of them, creating a wind tunnel to counteract the sandstorm. Okay, they had a brief moment to breathe, now they just needed a plan. Unfortunately, there was no real time to strategize, so they'd be winging it.

"Okay, I got this, I'll handle the twink, Belka you handle your little girlfriend while-"

"No, you can't fight him." The whole team turned at her alarmed tone, turning to their leader in confusion, unsure why she was worried about him fighting some obnoxious cat boy. "Whiskey mentioned his Semblance is dangerous, I thought it was some kind of attack, but I think he can see what's about to happen, he just knows stuff that he shouldn't."

"So, he can see the future or some shit?" Elizabeth scoffed at the ridiculous notion, only to pause as she looked at Belka, still maintaining that overly serious face. Shit, she was serious, which meant any worthwhile attack was likely to fail. Damn it, how were they supposed to beat someone who seemingly knew what was coming? "Okay, fine, what do we do?"

For once, her team was actually looking to her for an answer, and not taking her ideas as gentle suggestions. A part of her wanted to revel in the moment, but having only a few precious moments, she concentrated. The main problem she saw was Kenneth, but she didn't see a way around his Semblance if he could just predict what wa- Wait, that was it!

"Goose, I want you on Kenneth's ass the whole time."

"But he'll still know what she's going to do." Lao said, pointing out that her "plan" seemed to solve nothing. Even with Goose being a good, jack of all trades type fighter, such an ability would easily make up for a vast difference in skill or power if used properly.

"Exactly, if he has to keep watching out for Goose, then he can't focus on the rest of us."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that, she wanted to weaponize Goose's Semblance? Truth be told, it wasn't a terrible idea, and the logic was sound. After all, how could someone predict that kind of chaos? Goose's eyes went the widest, this was the first time Belka had talked about her Semblance as anything but a hindrance.

She didn't try to hide the growing smile on her face, and she didn't try to. She knew her Dad could focus his Semblance, so maybe she could do the same? She'd never really tried in fear of something so out of the blue happening like a chunk of the moon hitting her house, but it had to be worth a shot. Satisfied that her team seemed willing to roll the dice on Goose, she turned to their martial artist.

"Lao, I need you and Liz to deal with the others and stop them from helping, while I'll fall back and provide covering fire. None of them have a long range option, so I should be able to stay out of range." she said, ejecting the current gravity cylinder from Morgan and inserting an ice powered replacement. Liz's face turned into a scowl, as while not wrong, it rubbed her the wrong way to know she'd be on the front lines while her leader stayed in the back away from danger. Despite not hiding her displeasure in the slightest, it went ignored by her aunt as she continued to talk. "Elizabeth, focus on using your Glyphs to make sure you don't get jumped."

"You want us to fight on the frontline while you just sit ba-"

"Do you want to win or not damn it?!" Belka barked, clearly this wasn't a suggestion.

Opening her mouth, the pygmy woman was ready to bite back at her leader, to point out how stupid and self-serving it was. Except she couldn't. She was right, none of them had a weapon that would even remotely match Morgan's efficiency at range. She nodded, accepting the plan just in time as the sandstorm finally died after less than a minute, the whole arena now covered in a thin sheen of sand that had been blown around. In the center, amidst the sand-strewn stone, was KRMA, similarly ready to resume their battle.

"Stick to the plan!" Their leader called out, being the first to break off from their formation.

Seeing the leader of BGEL book it back toward the gravity platforms, Mercy broke off, closing in and swinging Truth and Consequences to try and snare the woman before she could get too far away, but a wall of Glyphs appeared midway through its arc, blocking the chain scythe. A moment after it bounced off the familiar construct, a pair of bullets slammed into her ribs, and, as she winced back, another shot whizzed by her head before she twirled the weapon to block the remaining three shots sent her way.

As she did, she accidentally left her side wide open, and to her shock, Goose immediately slipped by her, rushing in and swinging her blade at Kenneth. The boy ducked under her first strike and met her second with Kilkenny, however, the strength difference between them was immediately made apparent as his feet started to slide back.

Seeing his teammate in trouble, Anga raised his hand, the cybernetic glove powering up with a gentle hum as he made a finger gun at Goose. The hard light Dust woven through his attire and Aura concentrated into a point at the tip of his finger, ready to blast the girl when a chakram flew by, cutting into the Aura around his arm and causing him to release the shot, which was sent crashing against the hard light barrier of the arena, it's dull blue hue suddenly flashing neon as the barrier strained against the blast. He turned around to see Lao, who raised his hand out to catch Ao Bing as it returned. Seeing his apparent opponent, Anga readied another finger gun, but to Lao's confusion, he aimed just to the side, rather than just at him.

On Anga's end, his mind and eyes were a blur, his glasses having analyzed the travel speed of Lao's weapon, as well as its current arc, telling him that it would be coming back in just one second. Firing his second blast, the shot hit the chakram directly out of the air, sending it careening across the arena. Now disarmed of one of his weapons, Anga moved in with Whiskey at his flank. By now, the fighting had started to take its toll on them all, and Lao knew he had to end things quickly.

Taking a chance, he threw his remaining weapon at Whiskey, who raised her weapon instinctually to block, sending Ao Quang bouncing right off of the metal of the weapon's shaft and heading back towards Anga. Moments before Lao's blade otherwise would've made contact, he managed to raise both hands, projecting a forcefield from his gloves to hastily deflect the incoming weapon back at its user, who easily caught the weapon out of the air. However, the moment he dropped the hard light shield, something else hit his hands, encasing them in ice. His eyes widened as he briefly turned his attention to Belka at her spot above them. Had that been their plan, or was it just an opportunity the sniper had taken advantage of? Either way, it didn't matter.

As he gathered the dust needed to break the ice around his hands, Lao made his move, once again throwing his weapon at Whiskey's head, forcing her to block. As she did, he closed the distance, delivering a powerful punch under her guard and into her gut that threw her back several feet, causing her Aura to shine as it concentrated on one spot to stop any damage from breaking through. A moment later, a loud buzzer rang out, signaling her as the first elimination, causing Anga to swear under his breath.

That wasn't good, and what was worse was that he couldn't get a read on his opponent, his stoic face and complete lack of micromovements making it near impossible to predict his next move. It was… honestly, rather intriguing. There had to be a way to read the smaller boy, he just hadn't figured it out yet, but unfortunately, now they were outnumbered, and it looked like it was up to him to remedy that. Seeing that analyzing Lao himself was a dead end, he drew his focus away from his target, and more what his target did. While Lao himself was hard to understand, his fighting style was not.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're nearly impossible to read?" he asked, releasing the gathered Dust and shattering the ice around his hands before adjusting his glasses. As expected, Lao's response was uniform and devoid of any signs of emotion.

"Elizabeth doesn't like it either." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the girl in question locked in combat with Mercy, her whip sword being used to keep up with the length of Mercedes's chain scythe, so it seemed he'd have to deal with this on his own.

"I was thinking just the opposite, actually. I like puzzles, and while the answer is disappointingly simple, just fighting you regularly is a good , people's eyes give them away, or they'll make little microexpressions with their body, a hitch in their shoulder before a punch, a tapping or bouncing of the foot before a charge, but you're not doing any of that. Any other time, I'd be having fun trying to figure out how you work." Lao tilted his head, still unsure of where this talk was going.

"What makes this case different?"

"I'm here to win, and you have a very easy solution," he explained, reaching into one of the many pouches on his belt and retrieving a yellow Dust crystal. "If you can't touch me, you can't beat me."

Suddenly, he crushed the Dust in his hand, but rather than watch as the contained energy burst out in a violent cavalcade of elemental energy, his Aura started to visually shift color from its normal sky blue into a pale yellow, the sound of electricity crackling accompanying the sparks that arced off of his Aura. If it wasn't for his glasses picking up every little muscle movement, Anga would have missed the way Lao's lips twitched. Was it out of worry, frustration even? For once, he nor the device on his face could tell.

Either way, it didn't hold him back as he threw his chakram, the obvious solution to his problem, but one that wasn't going to work. Following the path and timing his glasses laid out in milliseconds, he sidestepped the flying blade, but rather than simply evade it, he caught it within his grasp, spinning around to maintain momentum as he channeled as much of the energy from the Dust as he could into his gloves before throwing it back, releasing the stored energy as he released Ao Quang.

The blade shot forward at speeds almost too fast for Lao to see, suddenly slamming into his chest and throwing him back before the shockwave of his weapon casually breaking the sound barrier could be heard. Shortly following this was the sound of a buzzer going off, and, looking up at the screens overhead, it was as he suspected. His Aura had been pushed far past the threshold with that blow. In fact, it was dangerously close to zero.

Hearing the buzzer, Elizabeth looked behind her, swearing as she saw Lao on the ground, but that split second of looking away cost her, as Mercy landed a blow that connected with her shoulder. Fortunately, she could be a bit predictable, and as usual, she went for a second identical blow as she twirled the chain, the blade already arcing back around. Already knowing this, Elizabeth readied a Glyph to catch Truth and Consequences as it came down, only for her opponent to pull back on the chain scythe suddenly. Apparently, she was falling into old habits as well, which meant it was time to change things up.

"C'mon, you really need your Semblance to beat little ol' me?"

"Is there a reason I wouldn't use such a useful tool at my disposal?"

"Hey, if you wanna beat me with mommy's hand-me-downs, I'm comfortable losing to Winter's Semblance." Mercy chuckled, clearly just trying to get a rise out of her. The problem was that she was far too obvious, the woman couldn't act to save her life. Unfortunately for her, Elizabeth wasn't the only one who could get riled up, and she was far better when it came to instigating.

"So does that mean if you win, I lost to Maria instead of you?" That got the desired reaction, and, gritting her teeth, Mercy ran forward with a battle cry that left her throat sore.

Elizabeth, however, stayed dead still, her feet planted, staring down her family friend and mentally counting down the seconds as she grew closer. Finally, she came to a sudden stop about thirteen feet away, her momentum suddenly crashing down to nothing, though she maintained her pose as she inched closer to Elizabeth by the second, now illuminated by the faint glow of the time dilation Glyph now visible beneath the sand at her feet.

Smirking, Liz raised her hand, another Glyph forming that turned black as she imbued it with gravity Dust. Circling around Mercy, she paid no mind to the frozen girl, instead lining up her outstretched arm with Anga as he advanced on Goose with his electric Aura. No words needed to be said, and, closing one eye, Belka waited for the right moment before firing at the man's feet, freezing them in place just as he stepped into the path of the Glyph still holding Mercedes still.

His eyes widened as he looked around, having just enough time to realize he fell into a trap before Elizabeth released the time dilation Glyph while pushing Mercy with the force of gravity at the same time. The silver-eyed woman only had a brief moment to scream before making impact with Anga, the two Atlesians flying off the edge of the ring as a buzzer rang out, their icons on the screen overhead going red simultaneously, leaving Kenneth all on his own.

Between the cat Faunus and Goose, the former was struggling far more than he had any right to. He slid back from the force of Goose's blade hitting him, his foot digging into the sand, fighting for any purchase in the loose terrain. He had hoped getting on her good side would buy him a bit of leeway, but as he discovered while leaning in for a wink only to get a face full of Dustshot pellets, it was clear no amount of flirting was gonna get him out of this fightMan, if this was how she treated the people she liked… nah, actually, he could get into this.

The woman didn't give him a moment to breathe, spinning around and dragging her blade through the sand before swinging up at him. He had enough time to jump back, avoiding the blade, but not the sand that flew up directly into his eyes. Wincing, he rubbed at his face, desperately trying to get his eyes clear when he heard the sound of a shotgun racking. Activating his Semblance once more, he rewinded back to the moment he jumped back, this time closing his eyes preemptively. However, this time there was no sand sent his way, instead feeling a blast of Dustshot slam into his chest as she squeezed the trigger by mistake, letting out an innocent 'oopsie' as he hit the ground.

Okay, what the hell was that? He didn't do anything all that different beyond close his eyes, and she was still mid-swing, so even if she somehow knew what his Semblance was, there was literally no time to change plans. That had just played out… differently, seemingly for no reason. Then again, weird stuff tended to just happen around her, maybe she just had really good luck in this instance.

Looking up, he gulped, seeing Elizabeth had closed the distance, her own sword at the ready in her hand. Raising his hands up, he chuckled nervously, looking for any escape.

"C'mon, you're not gonna jump lil' ol' me, are ya?" The silence from Liz was deafening as she approached. Looking over to Goose in a last-ditch effort, he froze as she happily loaded up Glücksfall with fire Dust slugs. "Oh shit, you're about to jump me."

As the realization set in, a blast of ice courtesy of Belka from across the arena hit his feet, freezing him in place just before Goose launched herself at him. With no choice, he activated his Semblance again, jumping to the side the moment time resumed its normal flow to avoid his feet being frozen to the floor. He wasn't out of danger yet however, Goose's continuous fire with Glücksfall forcing him to keep moving to avoid the shots. He tried to get in close, swinging his baton at the woman, only for the whip of Exenterator to wrap around his wrist, pulling him off balance right into Goose, who swung at his side.

He activated his Semblance once more, feeling the Aura rush out of his body as he rewinded once more in the span of a few seconds. He didn't need much, only rewinding to right before Elizabeth pulled him, and instead of trying to fight the pull, he moved with it, jumping over Goose's attack and spinning to untangle his wrist, landing with his sword drawn ready to move in and-

BZZZZ

Was that a buzzer? Did their leader lose her footing and fall or something? Adding to his confusion, the crowd reacted as though something big had happened, some cheering, some laughing. His curiosity getting the better at him, he looked up, only to find his name and icon had shifted red as a set of crown graphics formed over BGEL's icons. His jaw dropped as he realized he had just eliminated himself.

"Oh, come on!"

He hadn't been watching his Aura. Sure, he knew his Semblance took a lot out of him, but damn it, he thought he had more than that! Anga was going to give him an earful. Hell, Mercy was gonna kill him for this screw-up. His only acknowledgment was a small pat on the back from Lao, who, despite winning, looked at him with all the enthusiasm of someone waiting in line at the bank.

"You fought well." The brief bit of… sympathy? Reassurance? He really couldn't tell with the guy's face as unmoving as it was, but it didn't do much. Looking down at his feet, he groaned, only to have his head tugged back up by Lao. "My eyes are up here Kenneth."

"We won! Guys we won!" Goose said, coming up and picking Lao up, thankfully letting Ken ignore the implication that his fellow ginger apparently thought he was checking him out, instead just giving in for the moment and collapsing with a dramatic huff.

Belka had done something similar, sitting on the edge of her platform as she looked down over the arena. They'd done it. Hell, she'd done it, and they won. It should have felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders, but instead, the pressure mounted higher. Looking down at her team, she saw Goose twirling Lao around like a ragdoll in celebration, and next to them was Elizabeth, staring right back up at her. She couldn't make out her features, or the face she was making, but she didn't have to, they could both tell that the tension hadn't just gone away from this victory, yet there was… trust, maybe just a hint of it, but she could have sworn she saw a nod before Goose similarly gaffled up her niece.

Standing back up, she smiled, her mind already made up. There was no way in hell she was letting this victory be a fluke.

The moon hung low in the sky, casting a pale glow over the quiet suburban streets, but none of it mattered to Raven Blackthorn. Her heart pounded like a thousand war drums as she stared into Blaze Nightshade's piercing emerald eyes—eyes that seemed to hold the secrets of the universe, or at least the secrets of algebra class.

"I can't explain it," she whispered, her voice trembling like a leaf in the wind, "but when I'm with you, it's like the world finally makes sense... even though I know you're dangerous."

Damn it Vera, what kind of garbage was this? 'Not as bad as people said' her ass.

With a sigh, Alaska flipped the page as she sat on Pa's wagon, having been dragged along to help him stock up on supplies while in town. They typically bought from local vendors, but he wasn't above taking advantage of the lower city prices while in town. He claimed he needed her help, but she knew he could handle some bags of grain and seed just fine, not that she really minded, it was good for him to not overwork himself. And besides, it was good spending time with him now that he was finally getting off her ass over all that Beacon crap.

The stand they stopped at was near the edge of the market, just across from one of those big outdoor screens that normally stayed locked onto the eternally uneventful weather forecast or whatever news station paid them more. Now, though, they were all tuned into coverage of the festival, which was understandable, it was the biggest event in the world after all. Unfortunately, it just made it impossible to avoid coverage of the event, it felt like every hundred or so feet there was a different screen with an ongoing playback, something that was incredibly annoying while she was just trying to enjoy a good boo- okay, just a book in her case. Hearing the blaring of the trumpet from the holoscreen, curiosity got the better of her and she finally looked up, just in time to see the text pop up announcing that team BGEL had won.

Well she'd be damned, the little tart actually won? She was impressed, maybe those ass beatings really did toughen her up some. She couldn't help but feel a bit giddy, knowing she'd have another chance to publicly kick her ass, however small it was. She still owed her for sicking the feral femboy on her after all. Then, maybe she'd see if her new boy toy was in town for some fun.

"So, what's that one about?" Arkansas asked, ripping her from her indecent thoughts.

Oh right, the book. Pa had never been much of a reader, but he at least tried to act curious about the ones she liked.

"It's about this girl caught in between her feelings for some hunky demon and a skinny little angel prince." she said dryly, wanting to see his reaction.

Her dad made a face at that, his lips puckering like he'd just eaten something sour as he tried to think of a way to comment on it that didn't involve pointing out how stupid it was.

"Oh, that uh… "

"It's just as bad as it sounds," she said, no longer able to hold back her laughter, setting the trashy novel down beside her without bothering to save the page she was on. "Vera lent it to me, told me it's way better than people say. It really ain't."

Having had her fun, she hopped up out of her seat, sauntering over to where the burlap bags were stacked and started carrying them over and dropping them into the back of the wagon. As the pair loaded up, she quickly picked up on how different things felt. They weren't talking, for one. Pa'd always make conversation, either with the people they bought from, or her, yet this time, he was quiet, and his eyes felt like they were always on her. Trying to bury the feeling, she picked up two bags to try and make the process go faster.

"That's enough hon, I ain't get that many." She froze at his tone, it was unusually firm, like he'd given an order instead of just telling her she'd grabbed too much.

Looking his way, she saw a hard look in his distrusting eyes.

Seriously? What was all of that for? Did he think she was gonna try and load up more while the vendor wasn't paying attention? Did he really think so low of her after one little call from those pansies at Beacon? That… hurt. She understood him being mad, but acting like he couldn't trust her was bigger than that.

With a huff, she dropped the sacks in her hands back down into the pile and made her way back onto the wagon, shoving Vera's book back into her bag and grumbling to herself, watching as her father shook the man's hand before walking back over.

"You know, you don't gotta be lookin' over my shoulder all the time like I'm just itchin' to get up to no good the moment you look away." Alaska muttered as he climbed up into his seat, her voice lower and lacking its usual rowdy energy.

"'Laska, you know tha-"

"I know, I broke my word…" she trailed off. She knew she'd done wrong, at least on some level, yet Arkansas didn't see the regret he thought he should've out of her.

They sat in silence as the horse trotted along the path, neither knowing how to start up a conversation without it feeling forced. It wasn't as if he'd never punished her before, but what he'd been told just… it didn't sound anything like the girl he had raised.

"I just don't want you to lose your way honey. I don't… want you to end up like I was at your age."

"Yeah, because picking on some uppity rich brat is exactly the same as robbin' and shoo-" She stopped herself, the fire and irritation in her heart replaced with guilt in an instant. "I… I didn't mean that."

He'd never show it, but she knew that had been a low blow. She knew damn well he was ashamed of the man he used to be, she was just so mad at him and didn't think before speaking. He didn't even get angry with her, he just looked away to hide his shame, something that hurt even more.

"It didn't start with me robbin' people at gunpoint, it started with me being a young idiot with a chip on my shoulder who liked to throw my weight around, and a silver-tongued bastard telling me what I wanna'd ta hear," She let him talk, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. She'd started him on this, the least she could do was listen. "Now look, you're one of the smartest gals I know, and I can't begin to tell you how proud I am about that, but you don't use your head as much as you should… You get that from yer' Ma', thinking with yer' heart instead of yer' noggin."

"I'll be better, it ain't like I hate all city folk or nothin'. I mean, my girls are like the sisters I never had." she said softly.

She had really hoped she'd be able to introduce her Pa' and her team in a less… awkward way. Granted, the situation was probably the only thing that kept Aeth from trying to become her new step mother, so if nothing else, she was thankful for that.

"I know ya' will Lil' Blue… I didn't bring ya' out just to lecture ya'."

"Pfft- Lil'? I'm almost as big as you old man."

Had he been a smaller man, the playful shove to his shoulder would have knocked him out of his seat and onto the ground below, but her old man wasn't that weak just yet, and he certainly wasn't small. He retaliated by pushing her over with his shoulder, nearly knocking her over and making her grab onto the arm rail for balance.

"Almost don't count fer much." he laughed. Alaska joined him a moment later, that bright toothy grin he'd seen off nearly three years ago gracing her lips once again.

There she was, there was his little girl.

Chapter Text

"YES! That's my baby cousin!"

Ruby cheered as she watched the match come to an end on her scroll, not bothering to hide her blatant favoritism, doing a little fist pump into the air as she saw BGEL's victory play out, nearly knocking over her cup of soda in the process. Thankfully, before it could teeter over and spill onto the papers between them, Jaune reached out, steadying it as Ruby chuckled made a half-hearted attempt to scowl at her for almost ruining the paperwork she'd insisted on bringing along, but try as he might, he couldn't pretend to stay mad at the dork. Besides, it was the first time she'd actually relaxed since the incident at the dance.

It had taken him all but dragging her away from the security center just to get her to hang out on her break that she wasn't taking. He understood why, hell, he could have sworn his heart stopped when he'd heard Nick had shot someone, and Weiss had all but smothered the poor boy when he was done giving his briefing. He was shaken of course, but seemed to be handling it well. They were all shaken by the attempt on Jin and Jet's lives, but Ruby had taken it personally, and Touko had as well, just not to the same extent. She claimed she didn't blame herself, and for the sake of not pushing her into an emotional breakdown, he and Touko pretended to believe her.

Stealing a drink from the cup as payment, Jaune watched as similar replays from the more recent matches were shown in a recap format. SLVR had won their fight rather easily, and while he wanted to be similarly proud of their success, he couldn't help but worry at Alaska's cocky smirk in the replay. It reminded him of Yang's, back when she still thought she was invincible, but with a more mean-spirited attitude underpinning it, so, really, it was more like Cardin's old smirk. He just hoped she wouldn't also need to lose an arm or face watching people die on her watch to learn that she was far from it.

The only other team he recognized from this round of replays was NAYA, and that was only because of how much Lumi had ranted about the team's 'rapscallion' leader and how he had picked a fight with Jin over the most ridiculous reason imaginable. He hadn't been told exactly what this reason was, but he had been assured by Lumi's repeated insistence that it was childish beyond reason.

The replay of BEGL's fight played again, and, having missed it the first time, Jaune made sure to tune in, quickly growing confused when the cat-tailed-boy suddenly lost most of his remaining Aura by dodging.

"Hmm... Wait, how'd they win? No one even hit him?"

"Oh, his Semblance lets him reverse time," Ruby said matter-of-factly, taking her coffee back and taking a gulp to wash down the mouthful of corndog she'd shoved into her mouth. Meanwhile, Jaune did a double take at her saying one of the students had time manipulation abilities so casually. "Only by like, a few seconds though, and it takes a lot of Aura."

"Is it just me, or are these Semblances getting weirder and weirder?"

"Eh, I dunno, is it any weirder than me being able to fly?"

He supposed that was a good point, after all, there was no real known limit on what a Semblance could or couldn't be. A Semblance could be as simple as a constant string of bad luck, or something as stupidly complex and off the wall as rearranging your molecules into rose petals that could move at super speeds and fly. Then, there was himself, the walking Aura recharge center.

"I guess not," he drawled, taking a bite of his own unhealthily delicious food as he continued to watch the screen, smiling at the result as the replay showed Goose's celebration. "I'm glad they made it to the second round though, Qrow told me they were having some problems."

Ruby nodded solemnly. In spite of how proud she was of the team, BGEL was yet another example of how she needed to do better. She had no excuses, she adored Lao and her younger cousin, and she of all people should have done more to help them. At the very least, she should have stepped in and stopped the ill-prepared team from being selected for the Vytal Festival. Yet another reason she was against that stupid point system, she hated the idea that a student's potential could be narrowed down to a number regardless, but in this case it was especially egregious.

Their current victory aside, BGEL simply shouldn't have been sent to compete. That fight, as hard fought as it was, had seemingly been won in spite of their lack of teamwork, not actually fixing the issue itself. She just hoped this performance wasn't just the team only pulling together because of the festival, because if it was, it was going to make things even harder once they got home and Glynda dropped the bombshell…

"They are, I've been letting them slip."

There it was, she'd turned it back on herself once again. Admittedly, they hadn't done their best with BGEL, having let the wellbeing of teams across all year levels slip through the cracks while they were more concerned with the cult, but deep down, he knew that was just an excuse. Qrow and Touko probably would have disagreed, he could hear them now pointing out that 'they were protectors first', and 'it was more important to keep them alive by dealing with the threat of the cult and then go back to help them once they were safe', but they still should have noticed, and should have done their jobs as teachers.

Then again, it wasn't the first time an obviously underperforming student or team of students was left on their own, he was a prime example of that. Maybe there was just some unspoken sink or swim rule the faculty went by. Either way, letting his friend get caught up in her failures was helping no one.

"Hey, they have three more years to improve. Remember how I was? I could barely hold my own and I still got in!" he said, fondly reminiscing about how he'd bumbled his way through Beacon.

Ruby couldn't help but laugh as she also remembered those days, chasing a criminal mastermind and terrorists all while being more worried about homework… Honestly, the fact that they'd actually gotten away with it all was nothing short of a miracle.

In her reminiscing, she caught sight of a familiar set of cat ears atop a short black bob as she stared off into space, spotting Blake in the crowd, causing the now painfully familiar feeling of guilt to take over once more. She hadn't spoken to Blake or Yang since initially telling them what had happened at the dance, she just wasn't brave enough to.

She'd already apologized profusely to Jaune and Weiss, so much so that the former had forced her mouth shut with a Glyph to get a word in edgewise. They had forgiven her, or, well, it was more like they didn't seem to blame her at all, which felt… wrong. Nick had taken a life, two in fact. Of course, it was an inevitability in their line of work, but needing to do so at such a young age just… wasn't right.

Emerald had been… less forgiving, she'd practically spent an hour getting chewed out by someone whom she'd rather not have had to talk to in the first place, but it would have been wrong not to say anything. That call had created a very… particular feeling of frustration within her. Being cussed out by someone you hated was one thing, but knowing that they were completely right to feel that way made it so much worse. As angry as it had made her to have one of the people directly responsible for Beacon's fall go off on her about failing to keep students safe, the fact remained that she hadn't said anything untrue.

It wasn't right, she needed to set this right.

"Hey, I need to talk with Blake. I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Ruby said quickly as she stood, surprising Jaune. But, as abrupt as this was, he understood why she had to talk, nodding as he similarly got to his feet.

"Ah, yeah, go ahead. We'll talk later?"

"Definitely."

Walking over to Blake was nerve-wracking. Was she going to be mad? Did she still have her trust to look after Jin and the twins? She'd certainly tested it over the years, the first few months after Ruby had helped with the whole Cinder situation was stressful for everyone involved. Her mind raced with possibilities of how her friend would see her differently, and before she knew it, she was standing right next to her.

Blake had heard her coming and turned, smiling warmly as she initially saw the woman who'd come up to her, but quickly picked up on just how anxious she was. She kept her smile, taking a step forward and waiting for Ruby to talk.

"Blake, can we talk?"

"Of course, is everything alright?" she asked gently, having a feeling she knew what this was about.

"No. Blake, I can't even begin to express how sorry I am about Jin, I just- I wasn-" The cloaked woman started stumbling over her words, stopping briefly and recollecting her thoughts before starting once more. "I have no excuse…"

Blake didn't speak at first, pursing her lips as she thought about what to say. She briefly wondered if she'd said or did anything during that first conversation that would imply she blamed her sister-in-law for what happened, but she quickly tossed that notion aside. No, this was just Ruby trying to take everything on herself as usual.

She'd always seen a part of herself in Ruby, seeing her as a little sister long before that became an actual reality through her marriage to Yang, and right now was no different. But, instead of anything good, she saw the doubt and self-loathing she knew all too well. The same feeling that, if not for Sun and Yang literally dragging her back from Menagerie, she'd have similarly been consumed by.

"Ruby, that wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was, keeping them safe is my job, not just as their teacher, but as Jin's aunt. I should have been watching them."

"You enjoyed yourself in what you thought was a moment of safety, blaming yourself for the actions of others is a dangerous road Ruby." she said gently, pulling the woman who had become her little sister into a tight hug. "If you want to make it up to me and Yang. all you have to do is your best. That doesn't mean being perfect, because I'm not, and neither are you."

Ruby let out a shaky breath she didn't know she'd been holding in, wrapping her arms around the taller woman and burying her face into her shoulder as she murmured out a 'thank you'. It didn't fix things of course, she needed to do better… but knowing her friends and family still trusted her to be able to do so meant the world to her in this moment.

"Group hug!" the sudden but cheery voice of Sun announced just before wrapping his powerful arms around the two and lifting them up. "Hey guys, what's up?"

She squirmed in the embrace, never having been one who liked to be picked up. She used her Semblance to break free, poofing into a cloud of petals and reforming just a few feet away while Blake leaned into the hug more, laughing at Ruby's overreaction. Now free and calm, Beacon's Reaper stuck her tongue out like a petulant child at Sun, who did the same as he set Blake back down. Making his presence known with a dramatic groan, Guang quickly hid his face from the crowd around them, not wanting to be associated with the pair's shared display of immaturity.

It had been a while since she'd seen Sun, but she was happy he still looked like the same goofball she and her team had met back all those years, if a bit more wrinkly thanks to all the time he spent in the sun. The biggest difference since she'd seen him last was the wild mane of hair he'd let grow out a bit, and while it was nowhere near as long as Jin's, it was certainly more wild, and it was pretty obvious that he didn't have the chance to shave recently, his lower face coated in wisps of patchy stubble that eventually fused with his mane in a pair of sideburns. Different, but still easily recognizable as their old friend.

Next to him was her adorable nephew, and standing side by side next to him made their shared traits all the more obvious, but then again, the same was true as when he was with his grandpa, or when Jin was with Yang. Besides, what really caught her eyes were the boy's sunglasses, not the tinted prescription shades he usually wore, but instead a second, sleeker, and as she was sure he'd agree, cooler-looking set that rested over the first pair.

"Yo." The boy said casually, not acknowledging the unusual amount of accessories he wore.

"Young man, what are you wearing?" Blake asked her youngest, stifling a giggle at the ridiculous sight.

"Sunglasses."

"I see that, but why two pairs?"

Guang huffed at the question, crossing his arms in indignation at his Mom's amusement, writing her off, only to grow flustered as Sun similarly started to giggle as he realized how funny it looked. The real reason was obviously that he wanted to wear the 'cool' pair, but they didn't do as good a job protecting his eyes as the prescription set. Of course, he was never gonna say that part out loud, he was a teenager, he couldn't just admit that.

Thankfully, he had a super cool auntie to come to his aid.

"Well, when you've got a future as bright as his, you need a second pair," Ruby said, spinning around and crossing her arms as she leaned against her nephew, flashing her own cocky smile. "Isn't that right little man?"

Rather than respond, Blake pulled out her Scroll, using Guang high-fiving his aunt as a distraction to snap a quick photo of the pair. Guang froze upon hearing the snap of the camera, looking mortified as he'd had his picture taken while looking like as much of a mess as he did. Too flustered to even get out a response, he stormed away to go hang out with Yang and Liang down the road.

"Pfft- teenagers." Ruby scoffed at the dramatic display.

"So Ruby, sorry about the surprise hug," He didn't sound sorry, clearly operating on the rules of no harm no foul. "it's just been so long, how are ya'?"

"Good, I'm just surprised you're here, Blake said you were on a mission."

"I was, but it ended earlier than we expected. Then I got the call for more Huntsmen at the festival and figured, why turn down a free vacation?" Sun explained cheerily, missing the shared look between Blake and Ruby. One glance from her sister-in-law told the redhead that Sun didn't know about the incident with Jin, nor the situation in general.

"We hope so at least." Blake said, rubbing her arm as she failed to look him in the eye.

"How on Remnant have you not figured out how to relax after all this time? You live in a tropical paradise!" he chuckled, before changing the subject away from security to something she'd hopefully be more chipper about. "Has Jin fought yet? I heard the fights started already, but I'm hoping I caught it early enough."

"Yeah, he was one of the first actually, and he kicked butt!" Ruby spoke up, her voice high with pride.

"Ah, darn it, guess I'll have to catch the pay-per-view. How about team NAYA then? Do you know if they went yet?"

"NAYA? Wait, you mean Noah's team?" Blake asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Yeah? You know them?"

Sun, still slow to pick up on cues as ever, smiled wider as he realized Blake knew who Noah was, only for said smile to falter at the confused and displeased looks on the women's faces.

"Jin mentioned Noah's been…" Blake trailed off, it was a boy Sun knew, and apparently in a positive light if that big toothy grin was anything to go by, so she took her time to make sure her words were more… gentle. "Well he's Jin, he didn't say a single bad word about him, but he mentioned a fight."

Sun's face fell upon hearing this, and the girls could tell he knew what this was about, his mood suddenly shifting as if receiving some particularly bad news.

"Fuck…" he muttered quietly, the disappointed and tired swear sounding weird with his usually cheery voice.

"Is… everything alright?" Blake asked, gently rubbing his arm as she noticed his discomfort.

"Yeah, it's just… I know what's eating at him. I'm sorry, he's not- he's a good kid, I promise." "We… lost a member of SSSN at the start of this year. Do either of you remember Scarlet David?"

Ruby thought hard, she knew that name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on where, until she remembered seeing the name attached to one of the forms for a training mission right off the coast, suddenly remembering the red headed pirate themed huntsman she'd entrusted with a team just last year. Her heart clenched at the fact that she was just now realizing he had passed away.

"He chaperoned some of our student missions in the past… He's dead?"

"More like murdered… We think it was the White Fang." Sun confirmed with a heavy heart, shocking the women he was with.

"The Fang? I thought you guys helped Weiss and her mom smooth all that out."

Blake froze as Sun and Ruby both looked to her for an explanation. However, she was just as confused, this wasn't the first time she'd heard of attacks being credited to the White Fang, or at least a group pretending to be them, but there was nothing but rumors so far. This wasn't just some rumor though, it was Sun telling her that he believed his friend, a fellow Huntsman, was murdered by the White Fang. Her mind immediately went to Jin and the twins, looking back over her shoulder as her two youngest bickered, blissfully unaware of what this would mean for them if it was true.

"So did I."

Scarlet swore at the screen as Luna took a hard fall off the icy glacier, sliding at full speed into a bank of snow after JWEL had been slated against SABL, and as much as she wanted to cheer her friends on in person in order to get a front row view of them winning, she had more important things to do, Expect, there was just one little problem. They weren't winning, they were losing, badly. Juliet was being danced around that little shit Alyx with her bullshit infinite double jump Semblance, Rosaria couldn't land a strike with her weird taser whip nail things to save her life, and Elena was getting double teamed by the woman who'd threatened to tit punch her and the Aura summon that she begrudgingly admitted was pretty badass. Suddenly, she was glad Lumi had insisted on doing some training before the next round, mostly because she was booing the screen in the training room. Had she been in the stands like she originally wanted, she'd be throwing a legendary shit fit.

Lumi was substantially less furious, merely frowning as she'd gone ignored while trying to talk with her partner on what she was sure would be crucial to their success in this tournament going forward. Her patience wearing thin, she removed Crocea Mors from the magnetized plate at her hip and raised it up, making sure it was still securely in its sheath. She gave the louse one more chance, loudly clearing her throat behind her partner, but when she got no response, she let gravity bring the covered weapon down. It didn't hit with nearly the amount of force she could have put behind the strike, but still made a satisfying thump sound as it hit the top of Scarlet's thick skull.

"OW, hey! Cheap shot!" she growled, raising her hands to rub and cover the spot that had been struck, already feeling a warm bump starting to form. She took one of her hands off her head to flip off her blond assailant, who rolled her eyes in response.

"It's your own fault for not paying attention." Lumi chided back, reattaching Crocea Mors to its rightful place at her side.

"Please, you're just salty we decided I'd go on to the next round instead of you."

"I can acquiesce to not being brought into the second round, but if you're going on instead of me, you will take this seriously."

Despite her confident rebuttal, deep down, she knew there was a hint of truth to Scarlet's words, not that she'd ever admit it.

In the end, they had chosen Scarlet and Jin to go onto the next round. Cutting Jet was the logical choice, he may have been the best shot in their team but a 2v2 had a lot less room for a shooter to get away and while he wasn't a bad close ranged fighter persay, the rest of SJJL was undeniably superior in that area. Both were facts that he pointed out himself in the discussion, so that made one cut easy. Next, they'd decided to bring in Jin for the opposite reason. When it came to getting in close and dealing out punishment, he and Scarlet were their best picks, with the prime difference between them being that he was slower but tougher, meaning if it came down to the wire, he would likely last longer. Which brought them to their final decision, double down with an all out attack strategy for the second round with Scarlet, or bring Lumi in to balance things out.

Several good points had been raised on both sides, namely that Scarlet had proven multiple times to be the better fighter, an idea she still disputed as they hadn't had serious spar in a while, but she had been outvoted on that point. In her corner, her Semblance was the obvious driving argument for her moving on instead, being leaps and bounds more versatile, and better yet, countering Elizabeth on the off chance they were slated against BGEL. But some of the downsides were also pointed out, such as the fact that her summoning took time, and if interrupted, left herself wide open, or how a decent chunk of her abilities required Dust, meaning if they faced someone who could interfere with Dust in any capacity she was substantially limited with her options, while Scarlet had no such glaring weaknesses.

In the end, it was all but unanimous, and Scarlet was sent ahead instead of her. A part of her had thought Jin would defend her, but no, apparently Scarlet was so much better that it made up for the advantages of her Semblance, and as much as she tried to hide it, that hurt, especially knowing Liz was practically a shoe-in to get selected for the next round because of it. She tried not to be bitter about the decision, even if she felt it was wrong.

But, when she caught Scarlet looking up at the screen once more, this time scowling as Elena was eliminated, she couldn't help but to feel slighted. Here she was, doing her duty as an Arc-Schnee and Huntress in training by aiding and uplifting her partner even after being snubbed and she had the gall to ignore her?

Hearing the sound of Lumi detaching her blade once more, the horned girl jumped back, grabbing Bleed for self-defense.

"Okay, okay, fine! Shit, you still haven't told me exactly what we're doing anyway."

"Semblance training. You need to bring something new into the upcoming fights, because you've already shown everything you're capable of." Lumi repeated herself dryly and much faster than the first time, lest Scarlet's small attention span drift elsewhere.

"Wait, you expect me to just come up with a new technique on the fly?"

"Not quite, we're going to bring out something you've done previously."

The Faunus tilted her head, confused as to what forgotten move she'd had before that she hadn't already used either in one of the many training matches or the first round, and what did come to mind wasn't exactly promising.

"Lumi, look, I know it was badass, but the buzzsaw trick has like one chance to work, and then I'm gonna vomit again."

Lumi opened her mouth to explain that, no, that move had been asinine and would only ever work again in that particular scenario, but rather than go down that road, she cut to the chase.

"Your Semblance is functionally hemokinesis, right?" "You typically use it to attack, but you can manipulate blood freely, like when you drained that girl's venom out of me, or put my blood back in me when you cut my back open."

"Sorta?"

"I have a theory, do you remember that creature you conjured? The one you told us about when you fought your dad?"

Scarlet nodded along reluctantly. She'd tried to keep most of that day in general out of her mind, but of course she was still curious about it, she'd practically summoned a demon to fight alongside her, but it wasn't as if she'd meant to make it, it just kinda… pulled itself off of her. Trying to recreate it hadn't gone well, she could get the basic shape down and kinda move it around, but not any of the details. When she tried to get specific with it, it just brought back those painful memories of realizing she'd been lied to her whole life.

"Well… Yeah, I mean, I still don't know what it was or how I did it though. Do you think it works like your summons?"

"No, not in the slightest," Lumi deadpanned, scowling at the horned woman for daring to insult her with such a suggestion. "Your Semblance requires active concentration, right? So, how did you fight and use it to form a separate entity at the same time?"

"I dunno, I wasn't really thinking."

"Precisely."

"I don't get it."

"Not surprising." Lumi chirped back smugly, enjoying how her leader pouted. "It's instinct. You told us that you didn't think about what it did or how it would act, but it perfectly followed your will nonetheless."

Scarlet reluctantly thought back to the fight with her dad, all she could do was see red. Of course she knew now that she didn't really want to hurt him, she just wanted the truth, she'd just been too mad at the time to think, and that wasn't too far off from how the creature acted. Sure, it had moved to make an opening for her, but other than that, it was just as blind and rabid as she was.

"You think it's just following my lead? Like it knows what I want and does it with me?"

"I- yes, that is what I said in layman's terms."

"I still don't see how it's different from your summons."

Pursuing her lips at the question, Lumi took a deep breath in before exhaling out. Apparently, she'd need to dumb it down even more.

"Think of my summons like an attack dog, they follow my command to the letter but still have the capacity to think for themselves to an extent. They aren't chained to me, nor do I constantly need to give them input to keep them in line. Yours, on the other hand, is more akin to a wild animal that just so happens to be on your side, chained to your command, and constantly needing directions to function."

Scarlet rolled her eyes, feeling like the whole thing was a semantics argument, but deciding not to set Lumi off by saying as much. Besides, there was still a lot they were missing before they could actually do anything with this idea.

"Okay, but I don't know how I even made that thing."

"That's why I'm going to help you, as the one with the most experience summoning, I should be able to lead even someone like you through the process."

Scarlet huffed at the explanation. Oh sure, it was nothing like her summons, but she was enough of an expert to talk her through it. Complete bullshit aside, she couldn't help but to feel excited, this was something new, something badass, and while the stick wasn't all the way out of her ass just yet, at least they'd moved on from constantly bitching at each other.

Suddenly, a loud buzzer from the screen that had been left on rang out, interrupting them and drawing their attention back to the freshly finished match, the screen showing a dazed-looking Luna laying on top of Juliet as they both lay outside of the ring's boundaries.

"Oh Gods damn it." Lumi spat as the results showed on screen, confirming SABL's victory with the same animation that had played for everyone else.

"JWEL lost!? I thought Juliet handled two of them on her own?"

"Guess it's different on the battlefield. Yet another reason you can't afford to get cocky, now concentrate."

Scarlet scowled at the screen, the smug face of Siyah on display made her blood boil.

Right, no more fucking around.

"Will this mission be anything like the ones we took before?" Lavender asked as she walked alongside her sister.

The pair had just returned from their latest excursion into the city, Lavender's mood still dower over how little of it had been an actual outing as opposed to scouting. The scorpion tailed girl had obviously enjoyed playing the role of a tourist for what little time they'd had to do so. While it pained her to see her sister's disappointment, the fact of the matter remained that they weren't there to waste time on rigged games or overpriced food, they had a duty to fulfill. So, while disappointing her sister was the last thing she wanted to do, she'd been far stricter than usual all the same.

Even if it just felt good to share the feel of Vacuo's sun on her skin with her.

But she had coddled Lavender enough, and with Romeo involved Azrael was being more open about his objections. Lavender needed to start pulling her weight, which meant she had to be ready when the plan was put into action. The trip around town had solved part of that, making sure she had most of the main roads and shortcuts memorized. The only issue that still remained was her proving her devotion through blood, however, therein lay a perfect opportunity with the Maiden. It wouldn't be easy, but this is what she had been training her for, and now that Lavender had her family all together, it was only right that she'd be expected to fully devote herself to the faith.

Romeo would be his own challenge, but so long as she had Lavender's loyalty, his would eventually come as well. She simply needed to put her foot down and their brother would reluctantly follow suit, his devotion to Salem would come naturally once he saw her beauty first hand regardless. His small acts of defiance now meant nothing in the grand scheme anyways, akin to a child throwing a tantrum, acknowledging it would only add more fuel to the fire.

"No, this one is more involved, it's a decree given directly by Her Grace. I'll deal with the main threats, but I expect you to fight." Henna said bluntly. "The Heretic has a pair of bounty hunters guarding her. From what I hear, they're strong in their own right, but our priority is the Maiden."

Lavender nodded along, soaking up the information. She'd faced actual combat before, but only ever on her own terms or in self defense. This was different, her sister was trusting her to fight at her side. Sure, she'd already done so with Romeo, but that was different, he trusted her without question. It was a touching sentiment that wasn't lost on her, but in the case of Henna, she'd earned this, and she wasn't going to mess it up.

Given the late hour, it was fine for them to speak openly, not only were most of the guests asleep but the hotel they picked hadn't been at random. Both from the outside and on the inside, it looked to be an average inn, but what most didn't know however was that the hotel was a popular location for escorts to take their clients due to the thick walls making discussions of payment and often exaggerated sounds of ecstasy go unnoticed, a fact Azrael had tested personally by murdering one such woman of the night within one of the many rooms.

It was a morbid way of testing the security of their location, but proved that even screams of bloody murder wouldn't breach their room, which was good, considering the burning question on the scorpion girl's mind, still having the sense to wait until they were behind closed doors.

"What's a Maiden?"

As if on cue, a swivel chair spun around, making Lavender flinch, crouching down and readying herself to pounce. Henna stayed still, unbothered by the sudden appearance as she already had a suspicion of who exactly would have the audacity to break into her room. As the lights flickered on, her suspicions were confirmed as Romeo revealed himself, leaning his chin on his palm with an inquisitive yet smug expression, causing his sister to scowl at him for sneaking into their sister's room.

She didn't know what feeling he was trying to evoke from her by pulling these stunts. Really, she was more preoccupied by the sudden appearance of the swivel chair he had seemingly brought in just for dramatic effect.

"You know, that is a very good question." he pondered loudly, rubbing his nonexistent chin hairs before snapping his fingers as if suddenly piecing it all together. "I mean, it's gotta be real bad right? My guess is wrongfully parking in a handicap space. No, wait, I don't think Vacuo has those. Oh, I know, she kicked a puppy."

The women watched as the one sided guessing game played out for a moment, Lavender left mortified at the disrespectful tone he was taking. Henna, meanwhile, quickly grew agitated. Did he know just what he was playing games with?

"I'm not a fan of theatrics Romeo, say what it is you have to say."

Rolling his eyes, he stood before reaching down into the table drawer and pulling out a picture of the Summer Maiden. A curious place to find it, considering she hadn't kept any physical information on her in her quarters. She briefly wondered how much he knew, he clearly wasn't happy, but if he knew the full story, his reaction would probably be more extreme.

"Durga Sahara, registered Huntress, and a personal friend of Shade's headmaster." he started to dryly list off information he couldn't have possibly gotten from the pictures alone. "Even ignoring the many consequences for killing someone like that, there's simply no apparent benefit to doing so. What's your game?"

"Quite the curious one, aren't you Brother? Maybe next time there's information I don't want you digging through, I'll leave it in an unlocked room." Henna chuckled in an attempt to hide how agitated she was getting, but no one in the room missed the bite she had in her voice.

"Cut the shit Henna. Her? You wanna wack her? Why?"

"As much as I'd like to tell you, the fact is, you've done nothing to gain my trust."

Romeo's verbal confrontation had quickly come to a standstill, the tan woman had either deflected or outright ignored every word from his mouth. He had to admit she was good, it wasn't often he met a manipulator so good they could even fool themselves, not that he was surprised though, wackjobs who joined cults often lacked enough common sense to think inwardly about their own actions. It was something that he had tried to subtly show Lavender over the last few months, but frustratingly, he had been pushed into shoving this fact in her face instead.

The youngest of the trio had become fully silent, looking off to the side uncomfortably. A part of her knew Romeo was right, this was a risk they'd never usually take, especially for one woman. Surely she must have done something to warrant such a response, she was sure there was a good reason… Torn and unsure of what to say, she stayed silent, but not unnoticed.

In fact, both of her siblings noticed this, and both of them were equally displeased by her silence on the matter, but it was her brother who first lost his patience.

"Are you on board with this?"

"She's an enemy, no different from those cops you killed protecting me." Lavender said defensively, trying to force a scowl, but lacking the conviction to actually stare him down.

Romeo could feel his blood boil, he couldn't believe she was even comparing him protecting her to assassinating a woman who, as far as he could tell, was a mundane if well connected Huntress.

"Why? Because the Grimm worshipers told you to?"

That was Henna's breaking point, she'd been more than patient up until this point, but maybe that was the wrong approach. Romeo, as much as he liked to pretty it up and pretend what he did was more sophisticated, was a thug when it came down to it, a criminal who ruled through fear and intimidation. Clearly, appealing to him as family wasn't going to work, so she'd have to work with him in a way he'd understand.

Marching up to him, she got right in his face, close enough for him to feel her breath on his face as she snarled.

"It's not that simple you ignorant bastard!"

There it was, now he just had to push a little deeper.

"Then by all means, fill me in. Tell me why she needs to die. Hell, if it's a good enough reason, I'll help you."

Scoffing, the eldest of the three shook her head, not even bothering to play along with his obvious lie. He wasn't going to do anything for them just yet, he was a stubborn bastard, but they all cracked eventually. Bitterly, she looked back over her shoulder at Lavender, it would be far easier to wear him down if their sister would just stand up to him properly.

"She's a heritic, a pawn of the Emerald Devil."

"That's it? That's what convinced you to put a target on your back by killing a Huntress in the middle of the fucking Vytal Festival?." Romeo let out a dry humorless laugh near the end of that sentence, the absurdity- no, the sheer stupidity of his so-called 'sister' astounding him.

Trapped between Romeo's dismissiveness and Henna's expectant look, Lavender mustered up the courage to snap back at her brother. After all, this fight was all his fault, he had gone snooping for this information, he hadn't even tried to understand and now he was openly antagonizing them? Why? Why was he here if it was only to make her feel so wrong about this?

"Henna wouldn't lie to us, she's a threat, some of the same people who killed Dad!"

"Right, a single mother has done you and me so much harm," Hearing that broke her confidence, pausing to make sure she'd heard him right. "Oh? Did Henna not fill you in on that? That you were taking away the only parent a young woman has?"

Lavender flinched, looking away from his wrathful gaze and over to her sister, hoping to find an assurance that this was just Romeo saying whatever he had to to win the argument. But she didn't say anything, not even bothering to deny the accusation, as if it didn't even matter one way or the other.

Was… was he telling the truth? Was she expected to take someone's only family away from them, to leave them alone and scared, just like she'd been left? Why? Why was he making things harder than they needed to be? Why wasn't Henna just telling them the truth so this fight would stop? Why were they both just staring at her? They didn't need to fight damn it!

"After all, I assume you'd have a good reason for following Adam's footsteps." Romeo spat. Seeing her confliction, he dug the knife just a little deeper, hoping it would snap her out of this insanity.

His words certainly got a reaction, just not the one he had wanted.

Lavender flinched back as if he'd just raised his hand at her, but the shock quickly turned to rage as her breathing grew heavy.

"I am nothing like that bastard!" Lavender screamed as she stormed forward

Before he could react, a series of three hands latched onto his wrist, twisting it as Lavender used her Semblance to force his arm into a bent position. He hardly had time to yelp before he found himself being pushed, barely getting out a 'wait' before the door was flung open and she threw him out into the hall. Trying to recover from the suddenness of Lavender's response, the gangster lost his footing, stumbling onto his side and hitting the adjacent wall. Turning back, he opened his mouth to fire back another scathing remark, only to stop when he saw the mask of anger start to break as tears welled in his sister's eyes. Over her shoulder, a small but proud smile was clear on Henna's face.

"You have connections to your father, you got to understand him, to know him without knowing him!" As she spoke, the anger broke into pain, her breathing growing shaky as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why don't you want that for me?"

Romeo stumbled over his words, alternating between trying to blurt out an explanation, an apology, and a condemnation of the idea itself, that this wasn't about anything other than wanting her to not do something dangerous and stupid. But his mind worked faster than his mouth, and all that came out was incomprehensible nonsense. Lavender wasn't listening regardless, and with one last hurt look, she slammed the door, leaving him alone in the hallway.

Sitting against the wall, he slumped back, hitting his head against the wall. She was making a mistake, and rather than do any good, he just pushed her further into it. He'd fucked up, he was still the same failure who'd unintentionally pushed her away all those years ago. All he could do now was hope she wouldn't also have to learn that being just like your dear old dad wasn't the blessing so many made it out to be.

Chapter Text

Man it's hot out here!

Hope you guys are staying hydrated

We should grab drinks later, Jaune's rich so he's playing lmao

Touko frowned at the empty group chat she Ruby and Jaune were using, her messages being the only ones to have gone through in the last few hours. Jaune had at least responded to that last one with what they collectively dubbed the "Lao Emoji" with dashes for eyes and an underscore mouth, but Ruby's icon showed that she hadn't even read the incoming messages yet. Maybe the messages were just too pushy, she was probably coming across like a needy child in need of attention or something. Damn it was she being annoying, this was always how she was, she liked to think she'd kicked the habit but as usual she was a needy annoying little-

No, no, logically she knew why there was no response and it had little to do with her, well okay she was trying too hard to act normal but it wasn't because of that. Ruby tended to bury herself in her work when she had a lot on her mind, and she'd all but shut down after the incident at the dance. It wasn't that she didn't feel bad about what happened, she felt awful, but what had they been meant to do? Fret over the action of each and every student? Even putting aside the sheer impracticality of such an order, it would have killed any interest many of the students had in the dance. Yes, it was an oversight on their part, but one that was understandable. Why would they expect something so brazen? An attack in a concentration of some of the most dangerous people in the kingdom, only an idiot would try something like that!

But it had happened, and even with the attack being a failure, it painted a very clear picture of how brazen this new element truly was.

Sliding her scroll back into her pocket and resuming her patrol of the vip halls, she pushed her mind away from that line of thought, refusing to beat herself up for just trying to be happy, which led to her focusing on the present instead. She was alone, walking in the viewing area for snooty rich people who were too good to watch from the arena like everyone else, and her best friends were either busy or too high strung to even respond to her texts. Somehow, she was one of the lucky ones, her patrol was mainly stationed within the arena itself until the evening, and even then, she was stationed in the immediate surrounding area.

While she was grateful for the accommodation of her potential to overheat, especially with the midday sun being directly overhead, she quickly found it to be tedious, especially with how so many of the rich attendees sneered at her like she was some dirty unwashed vagrant for daring to wear her usual clothes.

A part of her wanted to respond by shoving her own family name in their faces, but, besides being childish, her name probably would have gone over most of their heads anyway, it wasn't as if she came from a dynasty that rivaled Weiss's family. Sure, she'd been rich growing up and her father had some impressive work connections, but what member of Atlesian high society didn't?

Making her way further into the halls, finally reaching the viewing booths, she passed by a checkpoint that marked the end between the vip booths and the start of the section that had been cleared off for security personnel. One of the soldiers, a blond lynx Faunus, waved her past without even looking at her ID card, already having scanned it twice in her previous rotations. Feeling curious, she glanced at his nametag, and noticed his name was 'Àgrios Bronzewing'. She tried to jog her memory for a moment, recognising that his name sounded familiar, but wasn't one she could immediately place. Ultimately deciding to not pay it any more attention than necessary, she smiled as she passed which he returned in kind, probably just to be polite.

This part of the route was spent with her body on autopilot, as she let her mind wander, once again going to her friends. She didn't dare actually pull her Scroll out, lest she be chastised by someone under the impression they outranked her, but she knew no one had responded from the clear lack of notifications or vibrations from her pocket. Again, she knew there was a logical reason for this, likely just being too busy, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was pushing them away.

Had she been too callous? It wasn't as if she'd ignored the incident, but she couldn't help but notice that she was the first one to come back to work after the dance. Maybe that had sent the wrong message, like work was more important than making sure the boys were safe. It was just… the boys didn't need her, Ruby, Jaune, and every member of RWBY was there for them. It seemed like a good idea at the time, they'd defend the boys and she'd check for threats. Not only had there been an attempt on Jet and Jin's lives, but a man had been murdered right under their noses. She just… she had to make sure they'd made adjustments, she had to.

Thankfully, no part of this route required much of her attention, mostly because the whole place was swarming with armed soldiers, making the fact that she was actually expected to be on alert for intruders here quite laughable. She made her way to the three locations marked, specifically the armory, command center, and finally passed by Indigo's quarters, which was yet another viewing booth. Though, this time, as she approached, the woman herself exited the room. Groaning at the coincidence, Touko planned to nod in order to get the bare minimum acknowledgment of the woman out of the way so she could make the interaction as painless as possible, but, much to her chagrin, as if expecting her, Indigo turned with a smile that was obviously forced.

"Ah, Ms Fuchsia, it's good to see you." Her voice was also too high pitched, trying to sound happy but coming across as condescending.

"It is?" Touko asked, trying and failing to remember a single positive interaction they'd had. "Why?"

With a sigh, Indigo dropped her smile, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I'm trying to be polite." The Colonel deadpanned before she forced a cough, going back to that forced smile. "Why don't you come in and take a seat, the current match has been a good showing so far."

She hesitated to accept. The simple fact was, she didn't like the woman, she was too full of herself, and far too eager to let people know how strong her troops and equipment was. If she didn't know any better, she'd say the woman was hoping for an attack. But, on the other hand, by the Brothers had her patrol been boring! At this point, she would have been happy to run into Weiss and get into some meaningless spat.

Cautiously, she decided to enter the booth, finding it to be a strange mix of lavish and military-themed. On one hand, there were satin curtains at the window and a fresh rug that matched her namesake, along with a steak that was so overdone it more resembled a piece of wood than meat..

But, on the other hand, her bed looked stiff as a brick with the bare minimum for blankets, and rather than some fancy outfit lined up, she had the standard white BDU's Atlesian soldiers wore draped over a desk with a riding crop and a standard issue handgun that was disassembled for maintenance. Deciding to ignore the contrasting style of her quarters, she wandered over to the window, tinted ever so slightly blue from the hard light projection stopping any attack from reaching those within.

Looking down, she saw the match that was currently in play. She could immediately tell that neither team was from Beacon, though she only really recognized BRST because they'd been assigned to babysit SJJL while the professors helped with the festival. The other team, ABAS apparently, was completely unknown to her, but the projector showing off the team's Aura for the viewers to follow along had the Atlas Academy logo next to their name.

Focusing in on the fight itself, it was clear that ABAS was on the losing side. One of their members, the leader, was out, the child-sized girl somehow having gotten buried up to her neck in the sand in the dunes biome of the arena, and the rest of their team wasn't doing great either. Two of the team's members were engaged with Blitz and Ruta in the arena's other half, a recreation of some kind of volcanic environment. Perched on one of the basalt outcroppings amidst the flows of what she hoped wasn't real lava, a veritable giantess of a Faunus with a reptilian tail was firing at both girls with a pair of equally massive revolvers, while an effeminate looking boy did his best to hold off hit and run attacks from Blitz with a sword.

Their final team member went down the moment Touko found him in the fray, one of the lava flows suddenly rising like a wave and splashing onto his cloak. Just being within spitting distance to the superheated rock drained his Aura rapidly, and by the time he got his cloak and shirt off, he was well past the threshold. With the blaring of the buzzer, the Faunus's long and hairy dog ears flopped down as he realized he'd been eliminated.

With his participation ended, Taimur, who had been trapped in some sort of navy-colored sphere, suddenly stumbled forward. She looked dazed and confused, looking around to try and get her bearings until Sarasvati helped her up and they made their way over to help their team deal with the remaining members of the Atlesian team.

While Touko certainly enjoyed the break from her monotonous assignment, she was confused as to why Indigo would invite her to watch this when her own Kingdom's team was losing, and pretty badly at that. It wasn't like they were on the verge of a comeback or anything, and to be honest, the fight was pretty ordinary in terms of how Vytal tournament rounds went. Then suddenly, things changed, as the effeminate boy in a kilt pulled out a camera and took a picture of the approaching girls, and with it, their Auras near instantly drained to zero.

"The fu- what did he-" she stammered, completely speechless by the sudden instant elimination of two Huntresses in training. Beside her, Indigo similarly reacted with shock, but unlike the other woman, there was more. An almost giddy smile graced her lips as she pulled up the file of Jade Blackmore.

"According to his file, that's his Semblance. Using that nifty little camera as a focus, he can trap the Aura of people in an object, specifically pictures."

"You didn't know this ahead of time?"

"I'm an acting Colonel, not an instructor." Indigo reminded her with a roll of her eyes, before turning her attention back to the boy, now with renewed interest. "Though, I wish I had known ahead of time. A Semblance like that is one that could do a lot of good."

"You understand you're talking about a student, right?"

"Yes, a student who has dedicated himself to using his abilities to protect others, from Grimm and people alike by the very nature of the profession he's going into." Indigo chided, scoffing at the idea that she wouldn't be thinking of the uses for the boy.

She didn't see how this was even a matter for discussion, a Semblance like that was once in a lifetime, she'd be the definition of an idiot to just let it slip by. No, the perception of these naive Huntsmen be damned, she would pull a few favors, have him serve under her after he graduated in a few months, show him the perks of being a valued asset of the Atlesian military.

As they debated, the leader of BRST took quick action against the boy. With the sun still beating down overhead, Blitz was able to charge up within moments, her body being enveloped in a bright light before bursting forward at a speed that not even Indigo or Touko could comprehend, despite the latter being able to keep track of Ruby at full speed. One instant, she's standing on the other side of the behemoth of a woman, and in the next, she's all the way across the arena, throwing the poor boy off the platform so hard he slammed into the hard light shield protecting the audience, and then bouncing off of it onto the platform below. Despite Indigo's posturing, it was to be expected given the circumstances. Sure, being able to near instantly drain your opponent's Aura at range was a powerful Semblance, but there wasn't much that could be done about being thrown from the arena at the speed of light.

"Of course, even an ability such as his can't win every battle on its own, it needs the right support to ensure it is used to its full potential, just like everything else."

"Oh nice, just turn this into some analogy, Atlas's big military is Jade and us lowly huntsmen are his teammates letting him get snatched up."

Indigo turned to look at her guest, having fully dropped the affable host act, now looking at Touko with a curious gaze.

"Have you ever been told that you're a confusing woman?"

"Am I meant to feel a certain sort of way about that?"

"I pulled your file the moment I was given the opportunity to. I like to know who I'm working with, a standard case of vetting, I assure you." Touko let out an annoyed huff at the information, a response Indigo noticed, but didn't acknowledge, continuing in the same casual tone. "You're no Schnee, that's for sure, but the Fuchsia name hasn't lost its prestige quite yet. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the advancements in Paladin technology knows the name Claude Fuchsia."

Touko bristled at the mention of her father. She hadn't even thought about the man since she'd been given the news that he had started the early stages of cognitive decline, news that she had felt just as numb to upon receiving it as she did now. That had been about three years ago, so chances were that he's gotten worse, not that she cared, he'd made it clear where his priorities were. He hadn't been there when she needed him, and while some thought it petty, she had no intention of being the bigger person.

She wasn't sure why Indigo brought him up though. To rile her up? As some sort of attempt at getting on her good side? Either way, she had no intention of giving her any sort of response.

"I thought you a spoiled product of nepotism, like that Schnee flaunting around with the title of Huntress despite spending less than a year training before being knocked up like so-"

"Don't talk about her that way." Touko snapped, cutting her off before she could make the mistake of insulting her friend any further.

The room grew tense after that. While she understood that she'd just technically threatened an officer of the Atlesian military, she had no intention of taking her words back. They may have gotten along like cats and dogs, but she'd fought alongside Weiss, they had been ready to lay their lives down for one another, so even when she truly wanted nothing to do with the pasty plank of a woman, she still respected her. This bitch didn't get to say she was less of a fighter, much less of a Huntress because she chose her family over combat.

"Perhaps I should get to the point," Indigo said firmly, clearly not intimidated by her sudden outburst. "Help me understand why a woman who was maimed to the extent of needing such in-depth prosthetics would argue against my measures."

"They're an excessive show of Atlesian 'greatness'. You can phrase it however you want, anyone with half a brain can see it for what it is."

"Excessive?" Indigo scoffed, offended at the cyborg woman's audacity. "Trying to make sure the students don't get so injured they require an artificial heart is excessive?"

For a brief moment, Touko was too stunned, too angry to respond to that. She was no stranger to being treated differently due to her cybernetics, but to have it thrown in her face like some sort of gotcha moment? She was so mad her ears were ringing.

"Fuck you." The words slipped out before she could think, along with enough figurative venom to make a Deathstalker keel over on the spot.

Indigo's face darkened, opening her mouth to speak, probably to chastise her and remind her of their positions, but she didn't care, cutting off the Colonel with just as much vitriol as before.

"You know why I hate you? It's because you're just like every other Atlesian egomaniac who thinks they're going to be the one whose genius is going to change the world. Well guess what, you're not. You're going to be just another middling military woman who, at most, will end up as a footnote in some book future generations will have to write about for extra credit."

Having forgotten to breathe, Touko panted as she finished her mini rant, leaving the two women staring each other down, both red in the face from anger just at the sight of each other. Touko watched closely, from her experience, most people like her couldn't stand being talked down to, and out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the Colonel's hand ball into a fist.

Their concentration on each other was broken by the sound of a buzzer indicating the match was over, though neither of them needed to look over to know that BRST had won, having worn down the final member of ABAS.

Turning on her heel, Indigo stormed over to the door, opening it and crossing her arms as she scowled at the cyborg.

"If you're done with your speech, you can go, you're far behind schedule on your patrol."

Having no desire to stay and argue further, Touko stormed out, but unwilling to give Indigo the last word, she looked over her shoulder, still glaring daggers.

"If you actually give a damn about that kid's future instead of just using him for your own gain, you'll let him have a normal career." she said, turning to leave before she could hear if Indigo had a response to her words, knowing they'd fallen on deaf ears.

As she thought, Indigo didn't even consider letting the boy slip past her, smiling as she started to dial the number of the former General - now Headmaster - Ironwood. She hadn't said a word about her plans for Jade, but Touko still had a good idea of it regardless. It just vindicated the idea in her mind. The others were thinking the exact same thing, and they were scared.

As the green-haired boy waited for Scarlet, he quickly decided that there were too many people around for his taste. Too many hidden faces, too many robes that could conceal a good number of weapons.

There was one girl, seemingly around his own age, who kept taking glances at him, which he supposed could have just been someone checking him out. Another man actually met his gaze for a moment after something shiny caught his eye, realizing only a moment too late that what reflected the flashing red and yellow lights of the food booth he stood besides was in fact not a weapon, but just the man's bracelet, making it very awkward when he in turn looked over at Jet with a confused look. The brunette's green eyes locked with his own crimson orbs for a moment, before the man simply nodded and went back to looking at his scroll, the silent exchange leaving him feeling very awkward.

Normally, he'd tell himself he was just being paranoid and to stop being weird before he freaked someone out, but after almost getting stabbed the other week, he told that part of his brain to shut the hell up and to focus on keeping his Aura up in public, and the darkness steadily creeping further and further into the streets as the last rays of the sun crested over some distant dunes certainly didn't help matters. While keeping his Aura up in training and in combat had become like second nature, keeping it up when there was no obvious threat or safety concern felt oddly tiring.

Eventually, he spotted a familiar red mane crowned with black horns amidst the passersby, practically dragging her feet across the sandstone cobbles. Her shoulders were almost slumped to the point of ridicule, and she bore a tired pout on her face, only for both to near completely vanish in an instant as she spotted him and sped up. As she approached, her shoulders went back down, and the pout emerged back on her face, which got a small chuckle out of him that made him relax just a little. After all, she was never that dramatic when she was actually upset.

"Uuuugh, Jeeet! I need a back rub!" his leader - and maybe girlfriend, he was still a little unsure of that part - whined dramatically as she dropped down into the seat beside him, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Scarlet, if this is a setup for a boob joke, I promise I've heard them all by now."

Her jaw shifted slightly as if she was still considering making one, before deciding against it, sagging against him more with a tired sigh.

"Lumi's been riding my ass into the ground with this Semblance training."

"How's it coming along?"

"Jet, can I not talk about it for like, five minutes?"

He nodded, knowing already from her tone that the training hadn't gone according to plan, which is to say, she didn't get it right on the first try.

She'd managed to get the shape down, the creature being just as badass looking as she remembered, but doing more with it was off the table at her current rate. Lumi insisting that she needed to be able to 'focus under duress' and forcing her to constantly slash at tiny Griffons that tried to cut and nip at her while trying to maintain her summon had proven that.

Yeah, that was it, the training was just frustrating. Her reluctance to talk definitely didn't have anything to do with her lack of progress. Nope, she was just tired of thinking about it. The fact that she would have loved to show off a cool little blood minion was only like… half the reason she didn't want to talk about it.

"Right, sorry." he said, patting her back, immediately noticing that her comment earlier hadn't just been a joke, the Faunus's back was stiff as a board.

He started to roll his hand in a small firm circle at the center of her back, noticing how she sighed, leaning into his touch absentmindedly. Maybe he should give her a massage. Sure, he wasn't exactly an expert, but if just rolling his hand like that was doing something for her, he couldn't actually make things worse. Then again, would this be weird? Even if he wasn't reading too much into things and they were actually a couple now, it was a bit more… intimate than anything he'd ever done before… No, it wouldn't be weird, they were never uncomfortable touching each other before, so what was the harm?

Scarlet whined once more as she was pushed into an upright position, tempted to elbow the boy for not letting her use him as a pillow, when she was suddenly turned to her side, her back now fully facing Jet and forcing her legs to rest completely on the bench. Before she could ask what he was doing, he answered with his actions, his palms firmly kneading at her shoulders in tight circular motions that made the tension start to disappear from her back.

"Mmph- okay, never mind, keep those hands going and we can talk about whatever you want." she sighed, leaning her head back and letting her muscles relax as he worked out a knot between her shoulders, making her groan shamelessly.

"Hey, do you remember the fair?" she asked, pointing the subject away from the training to something more pleasant. The festival going on around them reminded her of the yearly event on Patch they attended as kids in many ways.

"The one we went to every year? Rings a few bells."

"Ha ha- Ah-" She let out another groan that was just a bit too pleasing to his ears before looking over her shoulder with a smirk. "Stop being good at that, I'm trying to mock your sarcastic ass."

He couldn't help but smile, rolling his eyes. He knew where she was going with this, the various booths selling food, the overpriced souvenirs, and offering rigged games for tiny prizes did have the same feel as their hometown's annual community event, just on a much, much larger scale.

"I mostly just remember that time you mooed at the cows and your dad got all embarrassed." he said, unable to help but to laugh at the memory, Scarlet joining him a moment later.

"Hey, I was talking to my people!" she said in mock offense, trailing off as she let her mind wander. Even such a silly little thing from so long ago wasn't spared from the shadow that the recent revelations she had about her family cast on her childhood. "Do you ever think… I dunno, that it's weird to think our parents were carrying all this shit on their shoulders while they watched us and Lupin run around?"

"Not really, I think they just wanted what's best for us."

"I wish they were here, y'know? Cheering us on in the stands, letting Lupin drag us around to whatever caught her eye." she whispered, as if just saying she missed her mom and dad was something to hide, which, in her case, it was understandable why she may have felt it was.

"I don't think I could see your parents yelling like those ones you see on the sidelines at junior sports games."

"Mom would." she mused, a fond smile tugging her lips upward as she got the mental image in her head of her mom as one of those soccer moms who screamed at the top of her lungs. "She doesn't show it a lot, but she's competitive as hell."

Jet pondered the idea, remembering how she'd scowl on the rare occasions whenever Scarlet lost a sparring match to him. He supposed he could sort of see it.

They sat together like that for a while, a comfortable silence settling in as he worked on her back a bit more. This was nice, no big event going on, just enjoying each other the same way they had in the past. Things were so much simpler back then, so it was nice to have their lives slow down for a bit. Even with the festival in full swing around them, it didn't feel like it mattered, it was just them… and it was nice.

"I think Jin and Goose were playing some of those booth games down by the grounds, you wanna kill some time while we can?" she asked, looking back over at him with a smile she knew he couldn't say no to.

"Aren't those things rigged?"

"Hasn't stopped Goose from winning him a big monkey plushie." Scarlet said, hopping out of her seat, rolling her shoulder and making a pleased hum. "Do you think she'd win me a cow plushie?"

"Shouldn't you be asking me to win you something?"

"Aww, don't be jealous, we'll call you plan b." She couldn't hide her giggle as Jet pouted at being considered the backup plan, the silly boy. "I'm joking, you big baby. C'mon, I saw this target practice game you can show off at."

Without a word, she grabbed him by the hand and started pulling him along towards the games, just as she'd always done in the past. He wouldn't have it any other way.

As the duo walked off, the emerald eyed man continued to watch closely. It had been a close call when he'd first been spotted, that damn cultist trying the most blatant assassination in Remnant's history had made the boy all jumpy. K sighed, the heightened security was an unexpected and tedious turn of events. Had it not been for the fact that there were two huntsmen that he could clearly see walking by as he waited, he'd have just created a diversion, probably wait for no one to be looking, and off the little twat.

Hell, there was an opportunity for one in the unattended hot oil being boiled in the food stall right beside him. If conditions were ideal, he'd slip behind the stall, give it a little nudge through the fabric, start a grease fire, and use the commotion to drag the cabbage headed boy into an alley and snap his scrawny little neck. From there, he could just wait for the girl to show up looking for her boyfriend, and repeat the process.

But no, the heightened security meant what was an actually easy job for once was made infinitely more difficult, and he had to pick the right moment to make his move so he didn't get swarmed by Huntsmen the moment he so much as breathed out of place. Any form of loud option was off the table, it would have to be quiet and fast. It was during times like this that he found himself missing Thaddeus more than usual. He'd always been better with the quiet, hit and run style plans, but it is what it is, and he'd do what was necessary to finish the job.

For now though, all he could do was watch as they walked off, scowling at the missed opportunity. Mighty pissed, he turned around and began to walk off, only to have a small white haired girl stumble into him, splashing the front of his shirt with her cold drink. Looking down and swearing at the sudden ice cold liquid coating his torso, he was shocked to see another one of his targets, this one so close he could actually smell her.

"Omph-" Luna nearly fell back from the impact, letting the collar of her shirt drop from her mouth as she looked up, realizing what had happened. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I just, the lights were really bright and I wasn't paying attention!"

"It's uh… fine." K muttered, doing his best not to sound irritated at the situation. "I don't suppose you've got napkins at least?"

She sputtered out a non-response, patting her pockets and searching for something to help him dry off, when another girl came up beside them, offering K a stack of small brown paper.

"Oh, Luna, you gotta watch out more. What if that had been more than just a drink?" Juliet said, putting on a forced laugh as she tried to defuse any potential anger in the man. "Sorry about that, we're cool, right?"

Before he could actually answer, the woman shook his hand with an iron grip, the weight of the collapsed HADES shaking around on his wrist like it wasn't even there, before putting her arm around Luna's shoulders and pulling her away, leaving him to dry himself off.

"Not a problem Miss," he said absentmindedly, soaking up what he hoped was a drink that wouldn't leave him sticky by the time he got to his hotel. His eyes lingered on the strongwoman and her smaller teammate, his brow lowering back into an analytical scowl. Based on the tapes, he figured he'd likely have to kill her to get to Luna, which, if the strength she just displayed was anything to go by, would be more troublesome than he first thought. "Not a problem at all."

Asher's silver eyes squinted ahead of him, the faint outline of Onyx's sandrider barely visible even in the light from his own vehicle. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, he'd just let Onyx drive the rest of the way, but their third passenger currently holding on to him from the back seat made that idea tricky.

The cat Faunus currently leading them in the low visibility sped up to try and cut down on how much time they'd be spending in the dark, but in doing so, completely disappeared from his sight. Squinting even harder, he found it fruitless, it was just too dark, and he and Durga would soon be riding completely blind. It was time to pull over, it was just too unsafe when he could barely see a hundred feet in front of him.

"I think we should set up camp." he called out, coming to a full stop, Onyx quickly pulling a U-turn before coming back around.

"Are we far enough out for that?" the Faunus asked, pulling off her goggles now that she didn't need to worry about sand in her eyes.

"We'll have to be, the next outpost is too far out, we go much further out this late and two of us are walking blind in Grimm territory."

Nodding along, Onyx shut off her sandrider and climbed off, the bounty hunters both pulling their bags off and getting the supplies they'd need for the campfire as Durga took the opportunity to stretch her legs, now more comfortable that they weren't traveling blind.

For some reason, there were people who liked to travel in the cover of darkness, which was fine for treks that would only take an hour or two, most Faunus could do so without issue, but any more than that, and you were risking running into more dangerous Grimm. Asher and Onyx knew those dangers well, having lost more than one bounty because they were desperate enough to brave the sands at night, more than half of them later being found ripped apart. It usually didn't really matter in the end, most were willing to pay out considering the target was still taken care of, but they had no reason to try something so stupid, it was better to start a fire to ward off the Grimm and turn in for the night.

The three gathered close to the campfire, a simple set of logs and shards of fire dust carefully shaved down to serve as tinder that, with a small bit of maintenance, would last into the early hours of morning. They quickly got comfortable, Durga rolling out her sleeping bag as the bounty hunters snuggled up together

"I'm sorry about that, I should have been ready sooner." The older woman said. While no one had said anything about it, she knew she'd held them up past schedule by taking a detour to say goodbye.

"Don't apologize, we sleep like this all the time" Onyx shrugged, reaching down and igniting the fire with an angled strike of her knife against the shards of fire dust.

"It's fine, seriously we get it, I'd feel bad if I had to leave someone before a big event like that too." Asher offered with a small smile, understanding just how hard it was to leave the people he cared for behind, even if it was something that had to be done. An assurance she found comforting.

"Alrighty, let's see what shorty packed." Onyx said, cutting through the air of melancholy and opening up her backpack, scrounging around with an expression that slowly faded in excitement. "Canned beans, some rice, more beans, bread... Dude, did you pack anything with flavor?"

"Relax, that's just what's in your bag." Asher said with a roll of his eyes, a small part of him enjoying her pout. After all, if she wanted the good food in her sack, she should help with the packing next time. "And yes, I packed some salmon."

Her smile instantly returning at the news, she leaned over and planted a quick kiss to his lips. They lingered for just a moment before she remembered they had company and pulled away.

"Good boy."

"Am I going to need to worry about waking up to you two… you know?" Despite her teasing words, there was a bit of worry in her tone, it wouldn't be the first time she'd had traveling companions who couldn't keep their hands to themselves.

"N-no! No I- we'd never-"

"I'm not that shameless." Onyx said sheepishly. "Besides… sand crotch kinda kills the mood."

"Ugh, tell me about it." Durga groaned, glad that she wasn't the only one who'd had to find out the hard way that the desert was a less than ideal place for… fun. The pair of younger fighters both turned to her, wide eyes in shock at her casual admission, much to her amusement. "What, I was young and in love once, sneaking away for a moment of… intimacy."

Onyx couldn't help but laugh, reaching over the fire for a high five, which Durga couldn't help but give, laughing about it with her, even if it felt silly. The moment didn't last long as a deep, wheezing cough cut through their laughter and got their attention, all turning to face the source of the as it stumbled closer between the dunes. It was person-sized, vaguely feminine, and thin as a whip, though any more details were obscured by it's cloak and the surrounding darkness. But Onyx wasn't worried about the approaching woman, instead, she worried about what her ears had picked up on.

"Footsteps." she whispered to the pair, slowly reaching for her guns.

"How many pairs?"

"One, but there was more just a second ago." Onyx informed them, looking around. Her eyes, able to see far better than her human companions, darted around, searching for any sign of an ambush, but there were too many dunes. Their spot was fine against mindless Grimm that wouldn't think twice about passing by a mundane layout of dunes, but it was perfect to be used for an ambush.

"Stay still." Asher called out, warning the figure as it stumbled closer. As it didn't listen, he clenched his metal fist, preparing for a fight.

"Please…" The deep but unmistakably feminine voice wheezed out. "Water, I need- my children."

At the mention of children, Durga's instincts took over, reaching into her own satchel for her canteen.

"It's okay Ma'am, we have wa-" She was cut off as the bounty hunters stepped forward, Asher following his partner's lead as she got ready to fight, finally able to make out the bony horns adorned with red markings protruding from the 'woman's' cloak.

"That's not a person." Onyx said, pulling her handguns from their holsters and opening fire.

The creature dropped its facade instantly, springing into action and moving to evade the shots as it closed in, letting out the unmistakable rage filled roar of a Grimm. For a brief moment, they were thrown off by the creature's humanoid shape, having never encountered one able to mimic a person so well, but they soon fell back into form, Asher running in to meet it head on. The creature attacked in a far more coordinated manner than he was expecting, pulling its arm back for a haymaker aimed right for his jaw, a disorienting blow rather than trying to simply bludgeon him to death.

Not expecting the creature's intelligence, the first of its blows landed, but he quickly recovered and easily blocked the second. Wasting no time, he delivered a quick aura infused punch to its chest, however the strike didn't have the effect he had thought, as rather than surging into the beast, his Aura was… absorbed? Panicking, he brought his metal elbow down onto the mimic's arm, breaking it, but rather than oily blood or the black smoke that typically escaped damaged Grimm, a bone jutted out, tearing through the skin.

Horror set in as the beast's nature became clear to Asher, this thing wasn't just mimicking a human, it had taken one over.

More gunshots rang out, but not at the creature, but instead someone else who quickly closed the distance and leaped at him, thrusting her arm forward with a set of pincer-like blades that would have cut his throat open if he didn't move out of the way.

Onyx swore as she emptied her magazine, not a single shot having landed on the second attacker, and the Grimm having paid the bullets no mind. She managed to pull Asher back before the small woman aimed her gauntlets at them and opened fire with both sets of machine guns hidden inside. Were it not for Durga's quick actions and moving in to deflect the shots, spinning her trident with enough speed to effectively form a wall with the use of a small but powerful cyclone of wind concentrated in her palm, then they'd both have taken the full volley.

Now that they were in sight, they got a good look at their attackers. The girl's yellow eyes were unfocused, and dilated far past what was normal. If it wasn't for how smooth and coordinated her actions were, Asher would have assumed she was high. As she started to quietly giggle to herself as she reloaded her weapons though, he started to reconsider that option.

The other one was the Grimm hybrid. She appeared to have a bony mask grafted to her skin, complete with a twisted crown of horns emerging from the matted mess of her hair. The remnants of her old, tattered clothing was mostly obscured by the cloak, but now they could see why she wore it to begin with, to hide the growth of the black, leathery skin that replaced the mass lost from prior wounds, and the black veins that ran like rivers beneath her still human flesh. The creature in control was uncaring, yet seemingly not unaware of the agony its host felt as he forced the bone back into its arm with a sickening crack as a mass of black goo held it in place, before activating her Aura to mend the bone.

With the initial shock out of the way, the three of them prepared for a fight, it was three against two, and even if this Grimm was strange, it was still just a Grimm. The girl would need to be questioned, but after that, it didn't really matter. But, before they could move, they suddenly felt… off. He couldn't explain why, but he felt slower, and his arm felt heavier. A quick glance to Onyx showed a similar reaction, looking confused at her guns as if they'd suddenly gained more heft.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, and, turning to face the threat, he saw a hauntingly familiar face as Henna closed in from the side. With how slow he moved, and the fact that she was already close enough to touch him by the time he realized what was happening, he didn't have the chance to react as she slashed at his chest, the force alone sending him flying.

The women reacted in turn, with Durga moving in to engage while Onyx opened fire, but neither were able to do much more than use their better range to keep the dagger wielding Faunus at bay.

Asher groaned as he got to his feet. It was the same woman who'd attacked him and Durga last time, and now she had help. This was bad, even without looking, he could feel just how deep he'd been cut, and for some reason, his Aura was taking longer to heal… shit, it was her Semblance!

"She's weakening our Auras!" he called out, pushing through the pain and running in to help Onyx defend Durga, when the possessed woman cut him off. With her physical abilities being amped by the Grimm parasite, she was far less affected by the radius of Aura dampening, and with a single powerful blow, sent Asher flying directly into Onyx, sending them both sprawled out on the sand as it advanced on them.

Durga was doing everything in her power to keep the assassin at bay, her amethyst eyes alight with Maiden magic as she had to boost her own strength just to keep up. Even that wasn't enough however, as she overextended a thrust with Trishul that her opponent exploited, forcing the weapon up and moving past the prongs as she swung at her stomach in an attempt to eviscerate her. The only thing that saved her was that she was fast enough to pull Khanda from her sash and swing just in time to catch her attacker off guard, her Aura stopping the blade from taking her arm off at the elbow.

Before she could attack again, Lavender jumped onto her back, her Semblance creating extra arms to lock around her neck as she tried to stab into Durga's back from behind. Only an inch of hard metal was able to get past her Aura beforesomething grabbed her, something hot and scorching as well as something so cold it burned. She barely had time to register the pain before she was thrown to the ground, managing to roll out of the way just as the Maiden brought her trident down right where her head had been.

Still reeling from the near death experience, Lavender jumped back, and with that added distance, was now fully able to comprehend what had grabbed her. The woman had seemingly sprouted eight additional arms from her back and shoulders, but unlike her own Semblance, these weren't constructs made up of Aura. Instead, they all surged with a different power. Four of them represented the elements, fire, water, earth, wind, but the rest were different, being composed of electricity, ice, lava, and the final one looking to be some combination that shifted in color and form.

"Wha-" The young woman was left almost speechless. For a moment, she thought it was another hallucination, but no, it was real and that was no Semblance, it wasn't even Aura, but she could feel the otherworldly power radiating from the woman, epitomised by the brilliant purple flames that framed her eyes. "What is that?"

"It's magic, child." Durga explained, passing her trident to her new arms while her sword remained in her hand. As it was passed along, each of them imbued the weapon with a different element. "A power that's far too dangerous for me to let you steal."

"Steal?"

Looking to her sister, Lavender was met with nothing, just a cold determined look from the older woman as she stared the Maiden down. Uncertainty hit Lavender like a truck. Were they trying to take this power? Was… was that what this was about? No, no Henna wouldn't have her murder someone for something like that, would she? For some reason, she wasn't sure, maybe it was the lingering venom she'd dosed herself with to numb the guilt keeping her from thinking clearly, but no matter what, she couldn't let Henna fight someone with that sort of power alone. After they'd beaten her, she'd get her answers, there just had to be more to it than that.

For a brief moment, Durga's eyes softened at Lavender's ignorance, recognizing how the girl had no idea what she was getting into, but soon her gaze hardened. If she didn't act, she'd never see Sarasvati again, and that was something she wouldn't allow.

Onyx swore as the Grimm let her bullets bounce off of its Aura, she and Asher's weakened abilities turning what should have been a simple kill into a fight for their lives. She felt helpless as Asher tried in vain to land a hit, his stance uneven due to the unfamiliar restriction his arm brought with no Aura, allowing the Grimm to easily move around his blows and retaliate with hits that felt like he was being hit by a car.

But, not willing to just lay down and die, he put all of his weight and a good amount of the stored dust into a strike with his mechanical arm, a blow that, even in his weakened state, would take the possessed woman's head clean off her shoulders. It was a blow that never landed, as Gillian punched him in the throat, his Aura subconsciously focusing on the vital area being the only thing saving him from his neck snapping from the force. Doubling over as he struggled to breathe, his good arm was twisted and wrenched upwards, a cracking sound echoing through the dunes as its hand grabbed the back of his neck and started to siphon away his Aura.

"Asher!" Going into a panic at the sight of his Aura being pulled into the creature's own, Onyx sprang into action.

Holstering her handguns that had done nothing to the beast, she pulled her knife from her belt and ran in, ready to stab the beast in the eye. But, before she could make it, Asher's weakened Aura gave out and the pinpricks of crimson light that were its unfeeling eyes turned to meet her. The Faunus managed to strike first, thrusting her blade at its throat, only for the uncaring Grimm to raise its arm, allowing the knife to sink into the host's flesh before the black goo in its veins latched on, keeping it in place and pulling it out of its assailants hands.

Now without a weapon, Onyx was forced to try and punch through the creature, but, just as with the young man who had tried before her, it was pointless. It let her land the punch to its mask, scraping the skin from her knuckles, before it grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up and starting to drain her of her Aura just as she had drained him.

She fought, kicking and screaming, causing Asher to look up, his heart sinking as the monster watched, tilting its head curiously as it reached up, shoving its thumb into her mouth as it grabbed her jaw, unbothered as she bit down.

His eyes widened. It was going to pull her apart. His breathing grew heavy as the realization set in, along with the fact that he was powerless to stop it. Memories flooded in. The night he had met her when she saved him, bringing him under her wing and showing him the ropes of being a bounty hunter, drinking after a successful job and stumbling home with her, the first time she had kissed him…

For a moment, the battlefield was lit up by a blinding white light. The mask screamed in agony, its mouth opening and allowing Gillian to do the same. Taking her moment, Onyx pulled her gun from its holster and fired a single round into the mask, shattering half of it and causing the possessed woman to drop her. Falling to the ground, Onyx was too dazed, her head smacking against the dunes and rendering her unconscious.

Asher tried to move, but that power had exhausted him, and without his Aura, he couldn't move a muscle, already starting to lose consciousness.

The possessed woman didn't take advantage of this like he feared though. Instead, she immediately reached for the mask and started to pull, tearing away pieces of her own skin as she pried the Grimm parasite away from her, before throwing it away into the sand, where the glowing red light of its remaining eye faded as it turned dormant.

Gillian gasped and heaved. Free, after years of the endless pain and torment that had become her life, she was free. Her legs suddenly gave out, too much of the muscle being held together by now inactive Grimm goo, and one of her arms fell off just past the elbow. The cold realization set in that she was helpless, and just a few feet away were two people that had been happy to just use her moments ago. If they won, she'd be made to wear the mask again, that thing would be in the driver's seat, and she'd be forced to sit back and watch in silent agony. She started to hyperventilate, looking around for something, anything to free herself from that fate. Then she saw it, the cold metal of Onyx's handgun lying right next to her unconscious body in the sand.

No, never again, she was never going back to that hell.

The last thing Asher saw before losing consciousness was the husk shakily putting Onyx's gun against its temple with her remaining arm, and firing, freeing herself from whatever hell she had been forced to endure.

Durga was fighting a losing battle, constantly switching her attention between Lavender and Henna The women moved in tandem as they closed in, when one attacked, the other got in close and cut at her, slowly but surely wearing down her Aura. Knowing she couldn't continue like this, she waited for the exact moment they went to switch, with Lavender falling back with a sting from her tail meant to keep her from retaliating. Using the brief opening, the arm of condensed wind on her back raised its fist, and with it, a sandstorm surged to life, spinning around them mercilessly in a controlled gust of wind. Next, the Maiden raised her arms of earth and flame, causing the sand to clump together as the surrounding air superheated, creating a storm of glass shards that slashed into their Aura's as they flew past at high speed.

Weathering the storm, Lavender grit her teeth. Trying to dull the pain, she created Aura arms to wrap around herself, and, seeing her chance to end things, she ran in, watching closely for the Maiden's movements. The woman swung down with her sword, and seeing the opening, Lavender moved her arms to catch the blade mid swing. Rather than shoot or stab the woman, she thrust her stinger into her shoulder, and pumped as much of her venom as she could in that split second of contact before she jumped away.

She'd done it! Soon the woman would fall unconscious, and she could get her answers.

But nothing was ever that simple, as the arm of electricity pointed her trident at Lavender, and a split second later, a bolt of lightning shot forward, throwing her back as her Aura shattered from the force. With two of the assassins down, Durga turned her full attention on Henna, who watched closely as Durga moved in, before smirking as she saw the woman stumble. She tried to keep her focus, keep her control, but dizziness took over, and everything started to blur together.

Her control only lapsed for a moment before she used her magic to steel her mind, but Henna only needed a split second to close the distance and plunge her dagger into the woman's chest.

Wracked with pain, her trident fell to the floor as her extra arms faded away. Weakly, she clutched the weapon that had been thrusted into her hard enough to puncture her sternum, forcing herself to pull away and focusing her Aura, but, trapped within the clutches of Henna's Semblance, she couldn't heal on time, the blood loss and shock making her knees go weak. Before she knew it, she had fallen to the sand, looking up at the stars that had once guided her in the sky.

Feeling herself start to grow weaker, Durga thought of her daughter, just as she'd been instructed to do. She imagined Sarasvati's beautiful face, the soft red eyes she'd soon be faced with. She only had moments to decide what she'd say, thinking of how proud she was, how she was sorry, that she'd never wanted this for her little girl, but knew she would be able to handle the responsibility…

Suddenly, agonizing pain ripped her from those thoughts as Henna's blade pierced her thigh, screaming as the skin and muscle tore as the fanged woman dragged her back into her grasp. Fear and adrenaline took over, and, even knowing she was about to die, she fought, kicking with her good leg to try and stop her murderer from climbing on top of her, an act that she knew was fruitless. She raised her hand to try and hold her back, resulting in three of her fingers being severed in one quick, yet wrathful swing from her serrated dagger.

Her voice was starting to go horse from all the yelling she'd done, the agonizing pain making it hard to think clearly as her instincts told her to get away at any cost, but she was far too weak to fight back, the most resistance she could muster was using her elbows to crawl away as her vision started to blur. In her daze, she felt a pair of impacts against her lower back that, at first, felt like a set of punches, before her mind, starting to lose its grip, registered the agonizing pain of being stabbed in her left kidney. The second blow wasn't just a stab, however.

The golden eyed snake made sure she was looking right into the Maiden's eyes as she dragged the blade up, carving through her stomach.

The blood curdling screams caused Lavender to stir. Things were much clearer now, no blending colors or seeing the wrong faces, and she could clearly feel her hands sinking into the cool sand as she rose to her feet. For better or worse, her venom had finally worn off.

She could smell the blood before she saw it, a mix of copper and iron that hung heavy in the air. By the time she actually saw the red ichor staining the sands, the screams had died down into weak whimpers, interrupted by wet sounding coughs. Following the sounds, Lavender froze at the sight of Henna, nearly completely drenched in blood with a downright euphoric look on her face.

Her sister had the woman pinned down by her hair, an unnecessary act due to the state she was in. She had been completely disemboweled by the deep and repeated slashes to her gut, the sight making Lavender dry heave. Her disgust went unnoticed by her sister, as the older woman slowly and methodically dragged her dagger out, resulting in a pitiful little gasp from the woman as her one good hand limply pulled at the fist tangled in her hair.

She- She was alive? Henna was keeping her ailve!? Why? She understood why a woman this powerful might need to die if she meant to do them harm, but what did they gain from cruelly dragging out an already agonizing death? But, somehow, that wasn't the tipping point, it was her fellow Faunus's face, her eyes staring deep into their enemy's dull, lifeless-looking orbs in ecstasy, and bearing a wide, sadistic smile that reached from ear to ear.

There hadn't even been time to process what she had seen before Henna decided it was time to end it, raising her dagger to the woman's throat and making sure Durga was looking her in the eyes so that no one would occupy her final moments but herself, before starting to saw away at the woman's throat. Despite the already fatal amount of blood that had been lost when she severed the arteries of her neck, blood briefly squirted out, splashing Henna in the face. A fact she didn't mind in the slightest, absentmindedly licking her lips clean of the metallic-tasting fluid.

Lavender turned to look away, unable to watch Henna gleefully behead the woman for some sort of sadistic pleasure. This proved to be a mistake as her uneasy stomach couldn't handle the sudden turn, and, falling to her knees, bile forced itself from her mouth, soaking into the sand below her as the sound of vertebrae snapping and flesh tearing echoed throughout the silent dunes.

She didn't dare turn to look, even after she had nothing left to give in her. Her mind raced to find an explanation for torturing a woman to death… but found nothing.

She knew the state her father's body had been found in, Henna had been sure to detail. Tyrian had fought tooth and nail in his last moments, worn down between blade and bullet wounds littering his body before a single powerful strike bisected him at the chest. She'd always believed that the blood-churning descriptions were a necessary evil, to make sure she was fully aware of the cruelty their enemies were capable of and why they needed to stop them, why using the Grimm and attacking Huntsmen was a necessary evil to stop this hidden cabal controlling the kingdoms.

But if that was the case, what purpose did inflicting a slow and agonizing death on a defenseless woman serve? Would her daughter also hear of the state her mother had been left in? Would she be made to know that her mothers legs had been cut so deeply that her bones were visible through the wounds? How she'd been stabbed and slashed so brutally that she looked like a Grimm had feasted on her stomach? That she'd been decapitated only a few yards away from the people meant to protect her?

The thought made her gag, and had she not already emptied her stomach, she would have now.

It made no sense, if Henna was willing to do that, if she'd expected her to do that, then why had she told her the details of her father's demise? To be cruel? To foster her own hatred? Why? Why would her sister do that to her?

Why… why had she helped do that to someone else?

She couldn't think of an answer, not before a dull thud against the sand told her that Henna had finished her morbid task. Reluctantly, she turned her head back, and Henna stood up, her eyes glazed over as if in a trance, blonde hair slipping from her grasp as the head fell onto the sand. A moment later, her eyes burst into flames, or… that was what Lavender first thought had happened. What billowed from her face was no fire, it burnt too bright to just be fire, and bore no heat. It was the same energy that had emanated from Durga as they fought.

Reality set in hard, she had been telling the truth, Henna stole her powers for herself.

"Hen-Henna?"

The tanned woman blinked, coming back to her senses and turning to her sister. The yellow fire-like energy from her eyes fading as she looked over at the younger woman.

"Lavender…" Her voice grew lighter and she smiled, as if nothing was the matter. "Are you okay?"

"You… Why were we targeting her?"

"She was an enemy," Henna grew confused at the question, not used to Lavender doubting her, so she spoke bluntly. "If given the chance, she'd have used these powers against us, we only acted first."

Lavender's mind raced as she tried to follow the logic. Yes, she was a threat, that was why they'd killed her, it was basically self defense… except they had tracked her down, when she was isolated with only two other people, not moving towards anywhere of importance.

"But she was a Huntress, why did she wait so long?"

The older sister's eyes narrowed, her sister being shaky from witnessing such abilities was expected, but this was starting to sound like actual doubt. It was the sort of questioning her ignorant younger brother would ask, the sort of question a younger and stupider version of herself would ask.

"Did… did we do this just to steal her powers? I'm wrong, right? Tell me I'm wrong." The silence that followed was so thick she could choke on it. There had to be more to it, if Henna would just tell her it would be okay, at least then she'd have a reason. "Tell me I didn't help you kill her just so you could take her powers!"

"I've had enough of you questioning the will of our Goddess!" Henna snarled, pointing her dagger at the girl. With the gesture, the flames around her eyes returned, and a powerful burst of wind shot out from her.

She was done, done with the doubt, done with the questions. Hadn't she done enough for this girl? To feed, clothe, train, and love her when no one else would? But suddenly their brother comes along and now she's questioning her?

Lavender stumbled back in shock, falling over from the wind before freezing in fear. She… pointed her weapon at her. Her sister had just threatened her because she dared to ask a question.

Seeing those pale yellow eyes looking at her with fear snapped Henna out of her anger. Realizing what she had done, she lowered the weapon and stepped forward, guilt swelling in her chest at how the younger woman flinched. She tried not to get angry, it was understandable she'd be scared, Henna herself didn't understand why she had done that.

"Lavender… I… This was an order from Her Grace directly, not a petty grab at power." she spoke gently as she approached. "Do you trust me?"

For the first time since she'd started calling Henna her sister, she wasn't sure she did.

"I do." she lied, looking at her feet.

Henna nodded, reaching down to offer a hand to the smaller woman who, reluctantly, took it. Feeling her tremble, she pulled her sister into a hug that did nothing to calm her.

"Good, now what about the Bounty Hunters?" she asked, only sparing the three other bodies a glance.

"They're dead."

"Are you certain? One of them had Silver Eyes, they need to be dealt with."

"They weren't breathing." Lavender lied once more, hoping her shaky voice would be attributed to her shock rather than lying through her teeth, and that Henna wouldn't realize she hadn't even looked their way. "She must have killed them by mistake while using her magic."

"Good." Henna said, buying the story and turning away, stopping only for a moment to make a detour and pick up the discarded mask a few feet away, staring at it bitterly. Gillian had deserved worse, but what was done was done. Now they'd need to find a replacement. "We need to go, the Huntsmen will check the area first thing in the morning when they don't hear back from them."

Lavender nodded, doing everything she could to avoid looking at the body as she walked by, silently following Henna into the darkness of the night.

Chapter Text

A/N: Short note before the LONG overdue chapter, we have a Tumblr now under the blog RWBY-SOH the contents are mostly the same as the Deviantart (same name) but you can submit asks and we'll do our best to answer any question about the fic or AU as a whole!

Goose stared off into space as night fully descended on the festival grounds. Even with the flashing lights, the sound of buzzers and jingles of the various show games, and the lively Vacuan music all fighting for her attention, her mind was elsewhere, her usually bubbly demeanor replaced with a more subdued and quiet feel. She had a lot on her mind, at the forefront was the most recent team spat, though this one was more serious, resulting in them all going their separate ways to cool off. Belka was ignoring her to train, Liz was staying cooped up in the room, and Lao had gone to talk with Lumi. It wouldn't have made much of a difference tonight, as she had already made plans to hang out with Jin, but the fact that BGEL hadn't had one outing for themselves as a team just felt… wrong.

She tried to fake it as she and Jin went around the grounds, playing games and trying to win prizes, but her mood was in no way improved by her Semblance deciding to go haywire tonight. More and more little incidents kept piling up, such as a ring throw being lost because it had somehow spun up and off the bottle onto the floor here, Jin sneezing just before throwing a ball at some cans, causing him accidently hit the wrong pile, though the young boy who had meant to be playing that pile didn't seem to mind when he was given the prize automatically as a result.

It wasn't a bad night to be sure, at the very least Jin was having fun, even laughing at the most recent game they played when the booth attendant couldn't decide if the dart Goose had thrown was still in play after bouncing off the wall back their way and hitting his forehead at just the right angle to bounce back at the board and pop a balloon. They walked away from that game with the attendant deciding in their favor, with Goose picking a big monkey plushie that rested on Jin's shoulders. Jin snickered as he used a set of extra hair pins to keep the plush in place on his shirt. With Jinzi Jr secured, he turned around for his cousin to see, only to realize she'd paused in her tracks, a solemn look on her face. Doubling back to the young woman, he tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Goose? Goooose?"

"Oh, sorry Jin, I was just thinking."

"Got something stuck in your head again, huh? I get that. For me, it's trains."

"Trains?" she asked with a giggle. She knew his mind would wander to strange places every now and then, but that was a new one.

"Oh yeah, I even had this really weird dream the other night. Scarlet and her mom were trains, Jaune was a train, Jet was a bike for some reason though." The pair shared a laugh at the weird dream, Goose reaching out to hold him in order to keep herself from doubling over at the mental image of Scarlet as a train yelling 'Choo Choo'. "Really though, you seem down. Are you sure you aren't having another off day?"

Goose sighed and shook her head, knowing exactly what he meant by an off day. It was thankfully rare, but some days she just couldn't help but to feel all down in the dumps no matter what she did.

Her parents and older cousins called them mood swings, but it wasn't really a mood swing, not to her anyway. Didn't everyone have off days like that? They weren't some big deal, and she didn't need to bother her friends with it, they already had to put up with her stupid Semblance. She was a big girl, the oldest kid in her generation of Schnees in fact! Her friends didn't need to baby her over them, not when she could just curl up in her bed and play games while having a snack.

Besides, this time it really wasn't just her randomly feeling down. She was just tired of everything going wrong, and feeling like she was the reason everything went wrong.

Her lack of response and solemn expression said it all, and the young Faunus's smile faltered for a moment as he tried to figure out what to do. Looking for a distraction, he eventually landed on a simple strength game called 'Test Your Might'. It was just a rebranded version of the standard strongman game, consisting of three towers, each increasing in height, with a bell at the top and a lever at the bottom that would be hit with a mallet. It was an extremely simple game, but at the moment, that was probably what Goose needed, simple fun.

Putting his smile back on, the large boy put an arm around Goose's shoulders and started directing her towards the game.

"Come on, let's play the strength test. It'll be fun!"

"You go ahead, knowing me, the mallet will probably slip outta my hands and bop you on the head or something."

Jin frowned at her immediate dismissal of the idea, but, determined to include his cousin in on the fun, he didn't let up, walking her over to the game anyway.

"You should give it a chance." he encouraged her with a pat on the back. Seeing a small smile that signaled her resistance starting to falter creep onto her face, he added a bit more encouragement. "Tell you what, try adding one of my kiai's when you swing the hammer"

"You mean that yell you do?"

"It's more than a yell, it's about focus and power. Trust me, give it a shot. I bet it'll help you."

Goose tilted her head, not entirely sure how yelling would make her hit better or stop her Semblance from acting up, but he was the resident expert on hitting things hard. Swallowing her nerves and deciding to go along with it, Goose walked up to the attendant, an older man with an easy going smile who perked up at the approaching customer.

"Hello little lady, here to test your might and win a glorious prize?" The man said with a flourish of the mallet, adding some extra flair to the rather generic game with standard prizes. Still, it was enough to get a little giggle out of her.

"Yup, one game please." she said, pulling the required amount of Lien from her bag, and handing it off to the man, who unlocked the little gate, allowing her inside the play area.

"Alright, all that's left is for you to choose your challenge!"

"I want to play..." She trailed off, not actually having decided on which of the three towers she wanted to try. "That one."

She impulsively pointed at the largest of the towers, standing at roughly sixteen feet tall. At a glance, it felt the least likely to go wrong, as even with her Aura, it was the least likely that she'd accidentally hit it too hard and accidentally knock the bell loose or something silly like that. For once, she was confident that she'd finally win a nice simple game.

That was until she saw the sign on the side that read: DELICATE EQUIPMENT: NO AURA USE!

The no Aura rule was intimidating. Not that she was in bad shape, but, having grown to rely on her Aura in fights and training, her confidence in her ability to win the game went down the drain. But she was in too deep to back out now, so, picking up one of the large mallets, she stepped forward. Tucking a strand of white hair from her face, she steadied her stance, her fingers tightly wrapped around the handle of the oversized mallet as she focused on her target. If her aim was even a little off, she'd miss, and knowing her stupid Semblance, would probably hit something at just the right angle to send it flying somewhere, and after that, it was a coin flip as to whether or not something got set on fire. Taking a deep breath, she braced and-

"WAAA!" she screamed, mimicking her cousin's kiai as best she could.

A moment later, she brought the hammer down on the lever of the strength test bell with all her might, sending the weight all the way to the top where it hit the bell with a triumphant DING. Behind her, Jin cheered along, as did the old man, who even clapped for her.

"You were right! Yelling does let me hit harder!"

"That's not exactly what I meant, but you've got the right spirit."

As Goose walked back over to set the mallet down, the attendant walked over to a tall wall adorned with various prizes, motioning to it with his mallet with a similar flair as before.

"So little lady, what prize did you want?"

"Hmm…" Most of the prizes were simple enough, some assorted trinkets, some cups that were labeled with the Vytal Festival's logo along with the year 100 AGW. The larger prizes were predominantly simple plushies, and among them, she found what she would be bringing home, a small avian shaped plushie with black cloth making up the body and a white plastic mask adorned with red paint. "The Nevermore please!"

"One Nevermore for the little lady!" The man said, plucking the Nevermore from the wall and handing it over to Goose, who held it to her chest as the man waved them off, wishing them a good night as he drew his stall's shutters and flipped the sign over to "closed".

"That's cute, what're you gonna do with it?"

"Gonna give it to Dad, it reminds me of how he looks as a bird."

A part of Jin had always been curious about how that worked. It had always been explained to him as a side effect of his Semblance, like how Mama's eyes turned red and her hair burst into flames when she used hers, or how Mommy's shadow clones could take the properties of Dust if she made one while some Dust was activated on her person, like in a vial or bullet. It was just one of those things they just accepted as being a weird thing no one could explain, kinda like how Aunt Ruby's Semblance turned her into rose petals specifically, and allowed her to basically fly.

As they walked and talked, a tall, cloaked figure bumped into Jin, making him jump out of his skin. The memory of the dance was still fresh in his mind, and his hands immediately balled into fists, only for the figure to continue walking by, not even acknowledging that they'd bumped into him. It wasn't an interaction that was out of the ordinary for Vacuo, just another example of their so-called hospitality, but it was a wake up call to Jin that there were far too many people around. Even with the night coming to an end, the crowd hadn't dispersed all that much. What was worse was that a lot of them were in cloaks and shawls, obscuring their identities and even just their basic appearances.

Noticing her cousin pause, she looked back, noting his distant expression and the way his hand absentmindedly held his right shoulder, the same one that had been stabbed the night of the dance. Seeing the same faceless crowd as Jin, Goose acted quickly but gently.

"Hey c'mon, lets go sit over here for a minute where the crowd is less dense." Goose suggested, already pulling him away from the crowd towards a small bench.

"Goose, you don't need to baby me just because I'm a few months younger."

"I just… I don't want to see you get hurt again."

Hearing her voice soften like that made Jin cave, letting her pull him over to a bench away from the crowd. The momentary break from her melancholy having passed, he wrapped an arm around his cousin in a hug, knowing that while this break had been for him, she needed it just as much as he did.

"Are you sure you're okay? I heard about what happened."

Goose nodded, knowing there was no point in lying.

"Did Lao tell you?"

"Well, Lao told Lumi, and she told me."

"I just… I'm tired of all the fighting."

There were a lot of ways the situation could have been handled better. For starters, Belka probably could have talked with her team about it instead of entering the dorm room, her head held high, still riding the euphoria that came with getting their most significant win in months and announcing that she had sent in the paperwork for herself and Goose to proceed into the next stage of the tournament.

"Absolutely not!"

It was no surprise to anyone that Elizabeth had a problem with the announcement, whether it was because she was being shown up in the tournament or because she hadn't even been asked her opinion on the matter, Goose didn't know, that would've required them to actually talk instead of just yelling insults and trying to browbeat each other's point of view into each other. What was more surprising was that Lao was clearly also bothered by this decision, his typically stoic expression was, mostly, still there, but his lips pursed in a way that was just a touch too forced, and his brow had furrowed a bit. Even Goose felt uneasy about the decision, as while she did really want to advance to the next stage, Belka going behind their backs like that left her feeling uneasy. She could also feelLiz and Lao's anger whenever they glanced her way, even if it wasn't directed at her.

"I wasn't asking for your opinion, Elizabeth!" Belka snapped back even louder, trying her best to assert her authority over niece. "Goose and I are going onto the next stage and that's final!"

"Give me one, one good reason why it should be you instead of me! My Semblance is actually useful in a fight, I'm more skilled, and my Aura is better, so why are you more qualified to move on than me!?"

Every word Elizabeth said made Belka bristle even more. It got to the point that, even with the tan she had acquired thanks to their stay in Vacuo, her face had clearly gone red.

"Because you're a fucking idiot who only thinks about herself in a fight!" she exploded, the smaller girl flinching away from the venom coming out of her outburst. "I'm sure you have it in your dense little head that our failures are all my fault, but you are just as much to blame for our reputation as a failure. You are the most argumentative and stubborn little bitch I've ever had the displeasure of working with! If you'd actually paid attention to that last fight, to any of our team fights instead of trying to one up Lumi, Lao wouldn't have been eliminated. So no, I will not sabotage us by sending out someone as petty, small, and short sighted as you. If this were a real combat scenario, you'd get us all killed!"

Elizabeth reeled back. This was more than the little snipes they'd taken at each other throughout the year; this was all the anger and frustration pouring out at once. So much anger and vitriol was being sent her way that she didn't know how to respond to it all.

"That's not, I don't- You can't just blame me!" Liz shot back, failing to muster up the same anger in her attempt to defend herself. Deep down, she knew she'd played a part in their lackluster performance. No one member could completely sink a team, but the idea that she had directly caused a good portion of it was hard to argue, especially with it being thrown in her face that Lao's elimination was solely on her.

"Get it through that impossibly thick skull of yours, that you're not as good as Lumi, and if you don't get over it and start using your head as something other than a battering ram, that you never will be." Belka spoke, anger and venom in her voice.

The silence that followed was deafening as the two glared each other down. Elizabeth shook with rage, being too mad to even speak. How dare she, how fucking dare she say that to her as if she even paid even the slightest bit of attention to how hard she worked. She was supposed to be their leader damn it, someone supposed to lift them up, and instead, she was pushing her buttons, and putting her down. She didn't have to take this.

With a growl, Elizabeth stormed past Belka, shoulder checking her as she made her way to the door, swinging it open and slamming it shut as soon as she was out, leaving Belka to huff.

"What is wrong with you?" Lao finally spoke up, his usually stoic expression contorted in a mixture of disappointment and disgust.

"Lao, nothing I said was wr-" Belka winced at the boy's reaction, trying to remain calm and explain herself before being cut off.

"You didn't say it because she needed to hear it, you said it to hurt her." His tone held the same emotionless cadence like how he usually spoke, but there was an added coldness to it that stung more than if he had a proper outburst. For once, Belka didn't have to guess how he felt, his disappointment was more than clear. "Considering how much it hurt you to be on the receiving end of that treatment, I expected more from you."

Following his partner's lead, Lao got up from his seat and went out the door, closing it much more gently than Liz had, leaving just Goose and Belka in the dormitory.

Watching her partner, Goose saw something worrying. There was a mix of emotions in her eyes consisting of both anger and disappointment, but beneath it all, there was a hint of satisfaction at finally being able to get one over Liz in an argument, even if it cost her Lao's respect.

Biting her lip, she stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Belka's bicep as she spoke.

"Maybe we should rethink this, me and Lao can follow a plan if you and Li-"

"No. I tried being nice for almost a full year, and look where it's gotten us. The laughing stock of Beacon thrown into a situation we have no right to be in because the Headmistress insists on putting me through a trial by fire. You and I are the only ones on this team with even a semblance of cohesion, so we're the ones proceeding. Please, I need you to trust me. They'll come around when they see us win, I promise."

Belka's plea was nothing short of desperate. She still spoke with the bravado and confidence granted by their previous win, but now she couldn't hide the panic in her eyes, the need for someone else to buy into her narrative, to believe in her for once.

And while Goose didn't really believe in her, she just didn't have it in her to be the one to crush her leader in that moment.

"Okay. I trust you."

Goose sighed, resting her head on her cousin's shoulder. It was hard having teammates who were constantly at odds, especially when one of them was usually the underdog. She didn't want Belka to feel like she was trying to team up on her too, but at the same time, she couldn't just let Belka get mean or go behind the teams back like she did…

"How did you guys get over your fighting?"

"A crazy lady tried to kill Scarlet and Lumi."

"Oh, right… think you could find her again?"

Jin was the first between them to break, a snort of laughter breaking through as he covered his mouth. He knew he really shouldn't have laughed, but still found it hilarious regardless. His older cousin broke not long after he did, joining his bout of laughter at the joke, even if it was admittedly in poor taste.

Their unified laughter ended up getting a bit of attention, most of whom paid no mind, but upon spotting them, the focused yet gentle eyes of Argentio locked onto them, recognizing Jin right away. For a moment, he hesitated, knowing it wasn't his place to speak on the feud that had sprung up between his leader and the boy, but seeing as how things had turned sour so quickly and over something so small, he supposed he really couldn't make the situation any worse. Walking over, Lapis following suit at his side, the young knight coughed to get the cousin's attention.

"Excuse me, can we talk?"

Seeing the pair, Jin tensed for a moment, recognizing the two as Noah's teammates, but the worry passed as he saw their relaxed figures. Neither of the two looked like they wanted a fight, with Argentio even holding out his hand in a placating manner.

"You're part of NAYA. Argentio, right?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the dance." he said, choosing to answer Jin's question with a simple nod rather than words. "Noah… isn't usually like this."

"Even if that's true, your friend hurt my cousin's feelings." Goose said, rising to her feet, a small scowl on her face. "He didn't do anything wrong."

Seeing as how Goose was determined to fight this battle for him if he didn't speak on it himself, Jin stood up. He couldn't bring himself to be mad, not at them. He'd been in the position of apologizing for Lumi more than once, so he understood where they were coming from for trying to defend their friend.

"Look, I'm sure he's a good guy and all, but Goose isn't wrong. He was acting like a jerk over nothing. I don't even get why he's mad when Uncle Sun isn't."

"You're right, how he acted is unacceptable, and on some level, he knows it too."

"But you guys are still on his side?" Goose said with a frown, finding the situation feeling a little too familiar.

"There's not really a side to take."

Lapis rolled her eyes at the awkward interaction, stepping forward to take over.

"What he's trying to say is that Noah may be a big macho-brained bone-head, but he's still our captain." She caught herself a little too late, cringing at her accidental use of Noah's self imposed title. "Ugh, leader. I can't believe that idiot got a princess to call him cap'n."

The last word was spoken as more of a mockery of Noah's own fake pirate voice than anything else, her annoyance clearly on display.

"Wait, did you just say you're a princess?" Goose asked, partially looking for an excuse to turn the conversation away from the awkwardly similar situation, but also genuinely curious to find out if she was talking with genuine royalty.

"It's not something she should be saying so casually." Argentio answered, looking down at the winged Faunus as a scolding tone entered his voice, something Lapis either failed to notice or just ignored.

"You mean… the whole princess and knight thing isn't just some act like Noah's pirate voice? You're a real princess?" Jin asked, similarly surprised and a little in awe. While he knew and was close friends with people that were considered royalty in certain circles, he had never met a genuine member of any royal family before now.

The way Lapis smiled at the recognition of her status didn't go unnoticed, the young Faunus absolutely having mentioned it on purpose so her status would get some recognition. It was something Argentio had easily picked up on from experience, staring the girl down with a thoroughly unamused glower.

"That's right, but I bet you'll never guess why."

The pair from Beacon put their heads together and started to think. That is to say, they literally bumped their heads against one another, each stroking their chin in a mirrored gesture as if to try and combine their brain power through contact and sheer stubbornness.

"Maybe it's because of her pretty bird wings? I haven't seen any Faunus trait that looks quite like that." Goose eventually suggested, unintentionally causing Lapis to gasp in offended outrage.

"I- a bird? A bird!? How dare you! The Yddraigwens are not some simple Bird Faunus. We are proud Dra-"

Now, Argentio had to step in, placing a hand over Lapis's mouth before she yelled her people's history at them until she was blue in the face. He ignored her teeth biting into his finger to try and make him release her, instead turning his attention back to the pair of confused Beacon students.

"I'm so terribly sorry about her, she's…" The way he trailed off told Jin everything he needed.

"I get it. Believe it or not, Lumi is just as bad once you get her started."

The two men locked eyes, Argentio seeing the recognition and a hint of amusement in Jin's violet orbs. He couldn't fault him for that though, he'd probably also get a chuckle out of seeing someone else in his position.

"Good luck to you both in the tournament. Hopefully the next time we meet, it'll be on friendlier terms."

"Probably not, Belka really wants to kick your leader's butt." Goose said, trying to laugh it off, but said laugh trailed off as she remembered that there was no joke to be made. She wouldn't dare repeat what colorful language Belka had used to refer to the pirate-themed boy, but she really hated him.

"Hopefully for her, that doesn't happen." he said with a small but genuine smile before finally releasing Lapis, who spit on the ground, wiping her tongue before stomping her feet and turning away with a huff. "My Lady, please, this behavior is beneath someone of your station."

With the use of the phrase 'my lady', Lapis finally seemed to relent, begrudgingly holding her hand out for him to take. Her wings did a little flutter as he took her hand, leading her into the thinning crowd toward Shade's dorms.

"Was that meant to be smack talk?" Goose asked, genuinely unsure what to make of that interaction.

"I think it was just confidence, he trusts his leader." He understood where they were coming from, he trusted Scarlet with his life, despite her own abrasiveness, and the fact that she had her own quirks that could make it easy to misunderstand her. Deep down he knew that if things were different, he and Noah could have been friends, but that call had been made for him by Noah's own anger and insecurities, leaving him with nothing but what ifs.

Meanwhile, Goose hummed to herself as she looked up, taking in the shattered moon overhead as she once again got lost in thought. Confidence in his leader, huh? Maybe she needed more of that herself…

The ride home was completely silent. Usually, Lavender would break up the quiet of travel with questions about their objective, her father, or if she couldn't think of anything better, just make observations about their environment, but right now, she was at a loss for words. Really, she'd say just about anything to keep her mind from wandering off, thinking of the life she'd thrown away.

While they may have started as a simple distraction, she had grown to cherish the periods where there was nothing but idle chit-chat with her and her 'sister', which made the fact that she was the cause of her current hesitation to speak all the harder to swallow.

Without her breaking the silence, Henna was happy to ride home without even a word being spoken, feeling the breeze through her hair seemingly without a care in the world despite the murder she'd just committed. It was hard to believe that the carefree woman had just decapitated a mother. Did she really have no reservations about what she had done? She didn't act like it, and just looking at her, Lavender saw nothing but pride, and that made her stomach churn. Even with her actions seemingly serving the Goddess in a twisted way, the act was nothing short of monstrous cruelty that she desperately sought to make sense of.

For a brief moment, her anger started to fester, and she opened her mouth to ask how she could be okay with doing something so inherently wrong. Then, she remembered how Henna held her blade at her, looking ready to gut her in her fury, and she closed her mouth once again. It was a strange feeling, to feel so far away from her sister while she was pressed right against her. There had to be something wrong with her, something outside of her control. Maybe it was that power. It was nothing short of divine, so maybe it had some unintended influence on her, or maybe she was falling to the same delusions as Moon, that senseless killing and bloodshed was what their Goddess wanted.

Or maybe… maybe it was her own fault. Maybe Henna was just sick of being weighed down by her.

Upon reaching the hotel, the young Faunus remained silent, going through the motions of getting off the bike and following the older woman into the lobby. She immediately made her way towards the stairs just off to the side, wanting to get away from the stench of blood and regret. But as she started to wander off, a firm hand pulled her back.

Henna observed the younger woman, her gaze less reprimanding and more gentle and caring. But it felt hollow, like an act meant to make her forget her own transgression rather than any genuine remorse. For a brief moment, it was like looking at a completely different person, just with her sister's face. She was unable to pull away as Henna pressed their foreheads together, an act of affection she'd once relished in suddenly feeling cold and empty after what had happened.

"Hey," Henna began softly, stroking Lavender's cheek. "You did good out there, despite your mishap at the end. I'm proud of you, and I know your father would be too."

Those words had been said to her more than once; when she'd first put on The Queen's Servants, the first time she'd landed a blow on her instructor, and when she'd impulsively devoted herself to the Goddess. Each time, it elated her, taking the knowledge that her father would have supported her path as reassurance that leaving her home after just turning fifteen was the right decision.

Now though, Henna's praise was accompanied by a singular query. Why would that be something her father was proud of?

Once again, she didn't voice this question, instead trying to act unbothered, but she couldn't summon the look of joy those words filled her with any other time, barely being able to look her in the eyes.

"Thank you, Henna."

Even the words felt empty.

Eventually, the two parted and Lavender made her way down the hall. She didn't remember making her way through the halls, her mind consumed by the memories of Durga's screams, the look of agony on her face, and that unknown power that Henna had taken. Before she knew it, she had arrived at one of the many identical greyish-brown doors that made up the hall of rooms, only, it wasn't her room. It was Romeo's. She couldn't imagine why, he probably wasn't even awake at this hour, and if he was, she'd imagine he wouldn't want to see her anyway after their fight. Still, she found herself unable to move away, instead reaching out and turning the handle, expecting to find it locked, only to pause as she heard the quiet click of the latch pulling back.

That wasn't like Romeo to leave his door unlocked, so maybe he wasn't even there anymore. At the club, he'd often stay out for hours, getting drunk and flirting with anything with a pulse and a pretty face. Still, a part of her hoped he was inside, she needed him, after everything that happened, she just needed to know he was still there for her. She didn't care if he was even awake, she'd just crawl into his bed for the night and he could yell at her or kick her out in the morning, right now, she just needed that same feeling of safety, that same feeling of implicit trust she felt when she learned they'd be lying low together.

Entering the room, she knew right away that things wouldn't be that easy, seeing her brother tensely pacing by the bed, running a hand through his unkempt hair in an attempt to straighten it before giving up the act and cupping the back of his head in his hands. She hadn't seen him this upset since… since the night she'd run away. Knowing she'd put him through even a fraction of the grief she felt over Henna's threat made her chest tighten with guilt. Slowly, she closed the door, hoping to go unnoticed for a moment longer to compose herself, but the click of the latch was a lot louder closing than opening, and he didn't need her Faunus senses to hear it.

Romeo turned with quiet fury, looking ready to throw a punch at the sudden intruder, only to pause upon seeing Lavender and not some robed nut job coming to proselytize at him. While his expression softened, it was only to the extent that he no longer looked ready to fly off the handle. He was still furious, that much was clear, but the look of aggression he bore was just replaced with a mixture of disappointment and pity, the same look their mother had given her the night she ran away. A look she didn't need, not tonight, and not from him of all people.

"Well, someone was out late." he spat spitefully, using a tone of disgust that she'd never thought he'd direct at her. "Get all the blood washed out already? Or is this another one of your little fuck ups I'll need to clean up?"

"Can we please not do this right now?" she growled, trying to hold back and not take her anger out on him. There was too much going on, too many thoughts swimming through her head to try and argue with him without having a breakdown.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did things not pan out how you imagined?"

Her frustration returned. Damn it, why was he doing this? What purpose did kicking her while she was obviously down serve? She didn't want to fight with him right now, so, knowing that she'd probably snap if he pushed her any farther, she clenched her jaw shut, moving over to the dresser and dropping her coat onto it, pulling the sleeve of her purple shirt down to hide the injection mark on her forearm where she'd stung herself earlier. The last thing she needed was him to have more ammo to use against her, he clearly didn't want her around in the first place, so there was no reason to give him even more of a reason to want her gone.

However, being ignored only served to make him angrier. After everything he'd done for her, everything he'd put up with, she didn't get to just ignore him!

"Guess a pat on the back doesn't make the taste of putting an innocent person in the ground any easier to stomach, does it?"

That stopped her in her tracks. The snide comments had been frustrating before, but insinuating that she was capable of what Henna had done hurt far more than she was ready for. She just couldn't win, could she? Not bloodthirsty enough for Henna to be happy with her, but too much for Romeo to even respect her. Deep down, a part of her knew he was in the dark about how brutal and bloody the woman's death had been, but she wasn't thinking clearly, she had come to him for comfort, not to be treated like a monster by her own brother.

"I didn't kill her." she spoke with a sneer, sticking just to the facts to try not to let him see how much his words stung.

"For some reason, I find that a bit difficult to believe."

Of all things he'd said to her, that shouldn't have been her breaking point, especially after having to endure Henna's stoic act and go along with her, pretending everything was fine while fearing for her life had started driving her mad well before he'd started to tear her down further. No, it was the way he said it, like he had so little faith in her as a person, that pushed her over the edge. She thought that by bringing her siblings together, she'd have her family together, but she'd found a way to screw everything up, to involve him with a woman she was beginning to realize she didn't know as well as she thought.

"Of course you don't believe me! I'm never fucking good enough, am I!? Why do I even try? Obviously I'm the problem, right? Mom didn't want me, Henna doesn't really want me, and you only even put up with me because I'm your sister!" the young Faunus exploded at her brother, tears of anger trailing down her cheeks.

"Fuck you, Lavender!" More silence followed the outburst, leaving the young Faunus unable to respond, shocked at the anger in Romeo's voice.

This time, Romeo didn't shy away. Normally, he tried to calm her down when things got bad, but not this time, instead meeting her outburst with one of his own. If she wanted to run around making these reckless decisions, then she'd have to deal with the consequences of her own actions. Lowering his voice to avoid eavesdroppers but losing none of the venom in it, he leaned in close so she could hear every word.

"You're really going to say that to my face after everything I've done for you? Do you honestly think I'd be here, willingly surrounded by a bunch of wackjobs if I didn't love you? If anyone else helped kill a Huntress, I'd shoot them on the spot!"

She wasn't ready for that, he'd never spoken to her like that before, and his words cut right through her anger, hitting the scared little girl beneath it all where it hurt. She knew she'd been pushing him, trying to make him see things the way she did, to see Henna the way she did, but all she'd done was make herself a burden to him, and drive him away. What was worse was the nagging voice in her head telling her that it was all for nothing.

That's when the realization set in, that she might actually lose him too, all over a stupid, childish fantasy that everyone but her could see through like glass.

"I'm sorry!" She broke down, the sudden change from rage to desperation throwing Romeo off from continuing his rant. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad, I'll do anything, just please, please don't go! Don't leave me Romeo, please!"

Her mind raced. He was going to leave her, and she was going to be alone again, unloved and unwanted.. He had that same look of regret and frustration in his eyes that she saw in their mother's, a cold, empty look that didn't even attempt to hide how badly he wished he didn't even have to look at her. The same look that caused her to lash out and attack him when she finally hit her breaking point almost four years ago.

She couldn't take it, knowing he looked at her the same way as their mother did, not when those thoughts threatened to consume her. Without thinking, she lashed out with her tail, the tip of her stinger plunging into her bicep deeper than she had meant. The venom did little for her physical pain, but soon her mind would be numb and she could lose herself in… something else, anything else.

"What the fuck!? Did you ju-" Horror didn't even begin to describe Romeo's reaction to his sister injecting herself with her own toxin. Gods damn it, how could he have been so stupid!? That brute had said it right in his face and he just let his obviously unwell sister handwave it as a meaningless taunt. He wanted to puke as her eyes glazed over and the tension in her body slowly melted away like a junkie finally getting their fix. Worry overtook anger as she started to wobble, losing her balance and tumbling forward.

Leaning in, he barely caught her in time. While she wasn't heavy by any standards, the sudden dead weight in his arms made him stumble onto the floor with her, his knees taking the brunt of the impact and no doubt disturbing whoever was unlucky enough to be below his suite further.

"I fucked up." she whispered, sounding as delirious as she looked. "I didn't kill her! I didn't, I swear I didn't, but Henna… H-Henna…"

"Stop talking," he whispered, leaning her over to face the floor so if she threw up, there was no chance of her choking on her own vomit. His mismatching eyes went to the sleeve she'd pulled down earlier, finding more injection sites. Most of them were scars, fading, but never fully going away. One of them was far more recent though, looking to be just a few hours old. "Fuck, sis, these look like track marks, how much have you done this?"

"Jus-" She slurred her words, groaning as a sudden bout of nausea hit her. She'd injected too much in her haste to numb herself, so she didn't even think, just saying the first thing that came to mind. "Had to fight, mug people, hurt people, made it easier. Didn't need to as much after Henna."

"What happened out there?" he grimaced, turning her head to make her look his way.

For a moment, the small woman just stared at him, her brow furrowing as she tried to recollect what she'd seen. While she knew what had happened, visualizing it was suddenly impossible without another memory bleeding into her warped reality, be it Azrael mocking her, or Neo's cold stare. Then again, maybe that was a blessing.

"She butchered that woman. Sawed her head off…" Vaguely, she recalled a memory from the day before, a mention of a daughter the woman had. "Someone's going to find out their mom got ripped apart, and I helped. You're right, I'm just like…"

She swallowed, unable to finish the sentence. Romeo didn't say a word, he didn't have to, they both knew what she was.

"You must hate me, like Henna."

"What? I don't hate you, I'm pissed at you, yes, but I could never hate you." he whispered quickly, trying to dispel the thought from her head before it clicked. "Wait, Henna?"

"I just wanted to know why, then she got mad, sh-she pulled her knife out an-." She looked towards her brother, seeking answers, comfort, warmth, really anything to make her feel less alone, less unwanted, less like a mistake.

"Did she hurt you?" He looked her over quickly, seeing no serious wounds, just a few scrapes and bruises. But nothing that looked like a cut from the knife he'd seen at Henna's side.

Lavender shook her head. No, she would never, but if that was true, then why had she threatened her? She knew what it meant, but the implication of that moment was too much to bear right now.

In her delirious state, her mind bent her memories once again. For one brief moment, Henna was holding her knife at her neck, though this time, the blade was pressed right against her skin. She could feel the sting of the sharp edge just barely breaking through the skin, sending a sliver of blood down her throat. Then everything morphed, and suddenly, she isn't the one being threatened anymore. She's holding the blade, pinning Romeo down in the ruined apartment building she had hid in before he found her.

She'd done worse, she had tried to hurt him and only turned back because her guilt wouldn't let her leave after he'd saved her. What the hell was wrong with her?

"Is this how I make you feel? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I put you through this."

Romeo didn't say a word, just pulling her further into him. Yeah, it was a fucked up situation, but he wasn't going to let it get to him.

"Do you trust me?" She nodded her head weakly in response. "I'm gonna look into things, find out what's really going on around here. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of being kept in the dark."

She focused her mind to listen along. Yes, answers, that was what they needed, there was a reason for all of it, there had to be. She needed to know, even if it was an ugly and painful revelation, then at least she'd have something more than her own mind telling her how worthless she was.

"I wanna help, I need to know why she's acting like this, see if I can snap her out of whatever this is."

Romeo went to refuse at first, seeing as she'd already been put in danger just by questioning Henna's orders. He didn't want to put her in more danger by spying on the openly violent members of a cult, but the fact remained that he couldn't do this without her, she knew her way around far better and knew more about them, and without her, he'd be going in blind.

"Can you get me into the compound?"

"I think so, we're supposed to meet back there after the tournament for something important."

Well, that was ominous, but it was probably the only opportunity they'd have at this without being spotted.

"Okay, just play along until that point. When we get in we'll find out what the hell this little trip was really about. And maybe knock some sense into our sister."

He tried to keep the sneer out of his voice as he called that woman 'sister', but it proved to be pointless, both because the word audibly made him want to vomit, and because Lavender had already drifted off. Okay, he had a plan now. As soon as they were allowed the opportunity, they'd sneak off and find evidence of what was happening, and when it inevitably turned out to be some completely insane doomsday plan, he'd send the evidence to Ruby to make sure it was dealt with. If Henna really could be reasoned with, then he'd make an attempt to talk her out of this madness, for Lavender's sake if nothing else. If not, he'd put a bullet in the snake's head without hesitation.

Chapter Text

Scarlet sat down onto the hard plastic of the spot she'd picked out in the stands, as close to ringside as she could get, and immediately regretted her decision to come see the fight in person rather than watch it live from one of the many more comfortable spots available at one of the many other available spots at the arena, like the competitor's lounge. Blitz and Ruta had gotten the call that they'd been selected to fight SABL, or whichever two members they'd elected to go forward, and she, like the good friend she was, had gone in person to support them.

The chairs themselves were made from a hard red plastic,made primarily with longevity in mind. The stands could, and usually did, hold thousands of spectators when in use, so a material and design that was both easy to clean and would stand the test of time was needed. Unfortunately, this meant that basically every seat outside the lounges, the private boxes, and their viewing areas weren't exactly the most comfortable thing to sit in. At the very least, the fight being scheduled so early in the morning meant the sun hadn't had time to heat up the seat so that it burned to the touch yet.

Deciding to just make the most of it, Scarlet started taking bites of her popcorn. Knowing there would be a good few minutes before both duos were finished getting their gear together, she briefly wondered if she had enough time to grab a drink, only to hear a familiar voice coming her way.

"Is this seat taken?" Ruby asked, sidling her way closer. In her hands were two large cups of soda, one of which she wiggled as an obvious bribe.

"Nah, it's cool, go ahead." Scarlet hadn't planned on turning her away regardless, but the free drink did win over a bit of enthusiasm, patting the hard seat next to her in an open invitation.

"So, how have you been enjoying the festival?" Ruby asked, taking the seat beside her student, placing the drink in Scarlet's cup holder.

"It's fun, but really, I'm just happy to finally be able to sit back and chill, y'know? We've been busting our asses this year."

"I know. Trust me, I know." Ruby said, chuckling awkwardly at her own words.

Scarlet shifted in her seat, not knowing if that comment had meant to be reprimanding, or just an observation. Either way, it was clear that Ruby wasn't just talking about the monotony of her paperwork or the constant grind of training and studying on her end. It was a pretty open secret that the staff were aware of what she and her team had gotten up to and didn't like it, so to be called out on it so openly probably wasn't a good sign.

"Is this the part where you chew me out over going after the cult?"

Rather than the scowl Scarlet was half expecting, Ruby's face turned more thoughtful, something between nostalgia and contemplative wistfulness. A part of her did want to scold her and the rest of her team for making her worry, but she knew that would be a little hypocritical with all the times she had broken Beacon's rules and led team RWBY into acts that were also technically vigilante justice, considering none of them had been licensed at that point either. It was hard to be mad when her student had only done exactly what she did years ago.

"Nope, you did what a Huntress is meant to do, I can't punish you for that." Ruby spoke warmly, a clear sense of pride showing through before the Professor suddenly turned serious once more. "That's actually why I wanted to talk. I wanted to apologize, none of what's been going on this year should have been on your shoulders. We should have… I should have been there for you more. You shouldn't have had to handle that situation, and I'm sorry I helped make you feel like you couldn't trust me to handle it."

The guilt in her tone was obvious, she'd left her student alone to figure out a scary new revelation in her life, and in doing so, put her in the same situation as she'd been, fighting her generation's battle while she should have been enjoying life.

Scarlet nodded, a similar contemplative look on her face. She couldn't really bring herself to be angry with the woman, not anymore. She had been pissed in the moment, when everything went down, but she saw her teacher's efforts to make things right, working with a criminal to learn who had targeted her students, helping Jet with her weapon, and who knows what else behind the scenes. The more she calmed down, she kept coming back to the moment they'd first met, to that thousand yard stare she gave her after realizing who she was talking to.

It made her wonder, what had Mom done to her to make her so scared of her own student?

"It wasn't all about that, I just… I wanted answers." That was what it came down to, not the way people had looked at her, not even the attempt on her life. It was not knowing who her own family was for her entire life before Beacon.

"Did you get them?" Ruby asked empathizing with the girl, knowing full well what it was like to feel she'd never really known her own mother.

"Not really, I can't see my Mom being some fanatic like the guys Jin and Jet fought, it just doesn't fit her." she sighed, leaning back against the stiff seat. Looking back at her teacher, she could see Ruby reach out, but stop short of actually touching her, like she was made of glass and touching her the wrong way would cause her to shatter into a thousand pieces. She hated that look. "I'm not pissed at you anymore y'know."

"Really? No one would blame you if you were, I wouldn't blame you if you were."

"I'm just… tired of being angry at everyone. I was angry at Lumi, I was angry at Jet, I'm still kinda angry at Mom and Dad… but I don't really feel like adding more to that." Shaking her head, she put on a smirk. She was done letting herself be down about this sorta stuff. "Besides, it was good practice, I might even be as good as someone like you already."

Ruby knew it was probably just a joke, a youthful boast that she'd also made to Dad and Uncle Qrow when she was feeling particularly confident. But, just like her dad and uncle, she couldn't resist putting the young Huntress in her place.

"Pfft- please. Do you know what I got into during my first year?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, both curious and challenging her to mention something that surpassed helping take down a cultist base.

"I stopped Vale's most famous criminal from robbing a Dust store before even getting in, I blew up Lumi's mom, stopped a White Fang plot three separate times, beat an Atlesian Paladin piloted by that same criminal, caught your mom breaking into the CCT tower and fought her off while wearing heels, and then I survived the Fall of Beacon. All at fifteen, because I got admitted two years early." Ruby said smugly. Okay, she understood why Qrow and Dad did that, it felt pretty good.

"Okay, damn, remind me never to get into a dick measuring contest with you." Scarlet scoffed, unable to argue, as that definitely had her beat.

"You'll lose, every time."

Scarlet rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile. Compared to having the woman watch her like she was worried she and Luni were going to start a second Great War in her classroom, being talked to like an adult for once was refreshing.

"Seriously though, I'm proud of you for handling as much as you did. No one would blame you for deciding to just walk away from it all." she continued, surprising Scarlet as she reached over to tussle her student's hair, catching the small smile she tried to hide.

"That isn't me, I'm way too stubborn."

"Do you get that from your mom or your dad?"

"Both, definitely both…" Scarlet said, wistfully reminiscing on the many arguments neither of her parents would back down from, no matter how small.

"If you want answers, maybe stop taking a page out of their book and just talk to them." Ruby said, remembering her own limited memories of her own mother, someone she had been told her entire life that she was so much alike, but had never truly known. "I know you're angry, rightfully so, but enjoy what time with them you have, not everyone is lucky enough to be able to ask their mom for advice when they're feeling lost."

Scarlet pursed her lips. A part of her wanted to argue, but maybe she was right, she couldn't ignore her parents forever, not when she still loved them. Looking back over to Ms. Rose, the young Faunus's expression softened. If there had been any lingering doubt clouding her mind, it disappeared the moment she laid eyes on her professor. The sad look in her silver eyes told her everything she needed to know.

Stepping into the arena, Blitz felt the familiar warmth of the sun hitting her tanned skin, and she basked in it, letting the rays wash over her. Unlike many of her fellow Vacuans, who did everything in their power to avoid the unrelenting heat that came from above, she'd always found comfort in how it felt. Granted, that might have been due to how her Semblance converted ultraviolet rays into additional energy for her, as even now, she could feel her Aura passively absorbing and transforming the searing light into her own power to use. It was a familiar and comforting feeling of strength and security.

Eventually reaching their spot in the arena, she stared down her opponents, her white eyes gaining a hardened edge and her jaw shifting in clear irritation, an unusual look that most of her peers would find unnatural on her face. Her opponents, however, were both used to and unbothered by the look as she stared down the pair across from her with a mixture of frustration, disappointment, and regret. Were it anyone else, Blitz would have given them a smile and wished them luck in the upcoming fight.

Siyah didn't get that treatment, not after he'd spent his first year being a royal pain in the ass to just about everyone but his team. It was a damn shame, she saw how he was with his team, how there was more to him than just being an edgelord with too much strength to throw around for his own good, but she'd long since tried being nice, and that didn't work, so maybe putting the boy in his place in front of the whole world would.

"You know, normally I'd say something about how I'm not gonna enjoy putting you face down in the dirt." she said, the beginnings of a confident smile creeping on her face "But you? Oh, I'm gonna have fun knocking you down a peg."

The two SABL members were both unbothered by her declaration, Beryl barely reacting beyond letting an amused huff blow out of her nose, and a moment later, to no one's surprise, Faust detached from her form, the blank humanoid slowly taking its more monstrous shape. Siyah just rolled his shoulders, easily twirling Damocles, the zweihander that had been resting on his shoulder, and pointing it at his upperclassmen with a smirk.

"Please, the only thing you're going to feel is how hard I can knock you on your ass."

Blitz just sighed, by now she knew what to expect out of him, even if it was disappointing.

Beneath the pairs, the arena's mechanism started to shift as their battlefield would be decided. Unlike the full team matches, the duo portion of the tournament would only have one biome selected, forcing every combatant to adapt to the same environment. A few moments later, the rest of the arena rose around the main platform, a lush forest suddenly surrounding them on all sides. Blitz paused at the environment, as a native to Vacuo, that sort of thick vegetation was something she'd only ever read about in class or seen on the holoscreen. She'd never fought in it, no one in the arena had, but the others didn't need to worry about the sun being blocked by the thick foliage.

Her reaction to the arena didn't go unnoticed by her partner, the country girl nudging her leader softly to get her attention before speaking.

"Ya' sure you wanna do this thing one on one?" Ruta asked, pumping a shell into Cattleman, the shotgun extending its mechanism into its hybrid halberd form. "With our Semblances, we could end this in like a minute, tops."

"He won't learn anything if we win like that, he needs to be put in his place." The blonde woman was touched at her friend's concern, but it wasn't just about beating them, it was about showing him that he wasn't the big tough bastard he thought he was, that he still had plenty to learn from his peers.

On the opposing side of the arena, Siyah had similarly noticed Blitz's less than thrilled reaction to the chosen battlefield. While he was also annoyed that they'd have to fight in an unfamiliar environment, her reaction confirmed what he already knew, that her Semblance wouldn't be as powerful, and she couldn't use it as freely as she did during the opening round, a plan already starting to brew in his mind.

"You deal with the hick, Blitz is mine." he spoke confidently, leaving no room for Beryl to object to his order.

"What's wrong, can't take a woman talking back to you?" The other member of SABL asked teasingly, shooting him a smug look over her sunglasses that went unacknowledged by her leader.

"I put up with you plenty already, don't I?" he retorted bitterly. Even to Blitz and Ruta across from them, it was obvious their conversation carried more tension than what belonged in standard banter. For now though, the two ignored it, seeming to set aside their differences to fight their upperclassmen instead of each other.

There wasn't much more time to speak anyway, as a few moments later, the match started.

The moment the buzzer went off, Blitz moved in, bursting forwards in a flash of light with the aid of her Semblance and closing the distance between her and Siyah almost instantly. But, as she swung her scimitar, dubbed Daybreaker, at the boy, she was taken off guard. Instead of effortlessly cutting into the boy's Aura, there was a great metallic clang as her blade was stopped by his own. The speed and force of the impact sent the pair sliding back, their boots sliding along the masoned stone and sending them both back to the opposing edges of the treeline. Blitz immediately retaliated, using the break in the skyline afforded by the central arena to her advantage to quickly recharge and launch forwards again . Anticipating her renewed assault, Siyah acted quickly, kicking her feet out from under her once she manifested again in a burst of light, before shifting his blade to change the direction of her momentum, throwing her over him and through a tree, landing somewhere in the dense foliage.

Beryl glanced over her shoulder, an almost bored look on her face as she watched her leader follow his opponent into the forest, his big dumb macho bravado out for all to see, and she sighed, expecting nothing less. Like most boys, his fragile little ego needed immediate repair after having Blitz so openly talk down to him, but in this instance, it was more useful to her to let him have his little tantrum, so she refrained from properly hitting him while he was down. The sound of Faust's growling cut through her thoughts, reminding her that she had more important matters to deal with at the moment anyway. She turned her attention back to Ruta and Faust, only to see the two already locked in combat. Stabbing the halberd's point into Faust, Ruta opened fire with Cattleman, unloading several gravity infused shells into the construct, forcing it back, and causing a scowl to draw itself on Beryl's face. Apparently, she'd have to step in herself for this one, how tedious.

"Okay then cowgirl, let's play." she muttered, drawing her dagger from its sheath and closing the distance.

Blitz ducked under a wide swing from Siyah, narrowly evading the overhead blow he followed up with, and taking a swing of her own, one that he blocked by once again raising his sword and parrying the blow before slamming the pommel of Damocles into her nose. Reeling from the pain, she jumped back, swearing in frustration. She couldn't move nearly as fast as she wanted to in the wooded arena they fought within, as not only was the shade provided by the thick brush overhead significantly lowering how much sunlight she could absorb, there was basically no space for her to get to top speed while using it, meaning she had to be smarter and use it in bursts.

Knowing she was at a disadvantage without her Semblance, she focused on keeping him at bay, already needing to use her Aura just to properly block the powerful blows from his massive blade, each one pushing her back as her underclassmen continued his advance, smirking with that damn smug grin of his. A moment later, she realized why, backing into a tree. With her having nowhere left to run, he swung his sword, forcing her to use a burst of speed, and, not being used to fighting in such a cluttered environment , she tripped, getting her foot caught in a root and falling flat onto her face. She quickly scrambled to her hands and feet before turning her head back to face Siyah, only to see that he'd effortlessly cut through the tree that had been behind her.

Seeing her on the ground, Siyah didn't let up in his assault, not hesitating for even a moment to take advantage of her vulnerable position, raising his sword overhead to cleave through as much Aura as he could in a downwards strike. But, right before his sword made contact, the familiar, now elusive, flash of light from her Semblance followed her as she moved out of his swing. He braced himself, already knowing from watching her fight what was coming next as a hard punch aided by Comet, the hidden knuckle dusters that formed the handguard of Daybreaker, hit him in the gut, making him cough as he doubled over in pain. Then, before he even had a chance to recover, a follow up uppercut to his jaw sent him stumbling back, hitting the same tree that he had turned into a stump just moments ago.

"C'mon, is that all you got? I thought you were gonna knock me on my ass." Blitz taunted, casually flipping her sword as she watched the boy fume in anger as he wiped his mouth.

Only, he didn't stay fuming. Instead, he grabbed Damocles with both hands and activated its mechanisms, the weapon shifting as the blade retracted and began to take the shape of a firearm while he drew a belt of ammunition from within his jacket. Blitz's smug grin was wiped away as she realized that she was now staring down the barrel of an LMG, fully loaded with ammunition, and with a borderline murderous glint in its wielder's eye. With a pull of the trigger, he opened fire with a storm of lead, forcing Blitz to once again speed away, hiding behind a tree for cover. Taking a moment to try and let her Semblance take in what little light she could, she was interrupted as several rounds blew right through the tree she'd hidden behind, forcing her to speed away yet again.

Siyah held firm as he fired into the trees with reckless abandon, his constant rounds cutting down the thinner ones and forcing Blitz out into the open. Unfortunately for him, this also had the side effect of creating enough openings in the treeline to let more sun in, something Blitz took full advantage of, moving into the light to take advantage and recharge. Realizing his mistake, he started to advance, marching forward as he kept his aim focused on her, roaring in unison with Damocles as they unleashed their fury. But now invigorated by the renewed sunlight, she could simply deflect the rounds as they came, staying still for a moment longer to drain him of his ammo before rushing in.

Seeing this, Siyah shifted Damocles back into its original form, swinging it as he did so to try and hit her as soon as it fully reverted, but she was leagues faster, closing the distance and slashing at his exposed abdomen. However, mere milliseconds before her blade reached him, he suddenly disappeared, teleporting a few feet back and out of her range, causing her to miss and leaving her open. Blitz yelped as Damocles was brought up and across her chest in a rising cleave, knocking her back several feet. Wincing, she brought her hand up to her chest, feeling for any damage as Siyah let his sword rest on his shoulder.

"What, you thought just moving fast was all it took to beat me?" he scoffed, obviously taking a great deal of pride that he had landed such a hit on his upperclassmen. "Either put some real effort in, or give up now and save me the trouble."

Blitz groaned, openly cringing at his gloating, rolling her sore shoulder before pointing Daybreaker at the boy with a sneer.

"Gods above, it's like you're trying to sound like some edgy game protagonist. Did you steal your lines from the same place as your outfit?"

It was a petty, somewhat spiteful comment, but it wiped the smile right off of his face, so she considered it a victory.

Ruta did everything she could to keep up with the pair, but try as she might, the combined assault from Beryl and her construct was slowly but surely proving to be too much. Despite how bored and disinterested Beryl had always seemed in combat practice, she apparently wasn't stupid, as whenever she'd start going after Faust, the summoner was suddenly right behind her, either stabbing at her back or ducking around to her unguarded side and stealing a cut, and gods forbid she go after her actual target, Beryl. While Faust was undoubtedly the more dangerous of the two, the damage she inflicted on it wasn't getting her any closer to victory. Unfortunately, it was well aware of this, as every time she even looked in the blonde's direction it was right there to defend her, being laser focused on protecting her and giving Ruta no room to breathe.

Their last combined assault sent her back into the center of the arena, clearly doing everything in their power to keep Ruta from reaching the forest and using the shade to activate her Semblance, which meant she'd be doing this the good old fashioned way. Readying herself, Faust rushed in yet again, both of its arms extending into blades as it swung at her wildly. Aiming at the beast, she pumped a round into the chamber and fired, but when your opponent didn't feel pain, the threat of taking a few pellets wasn't much of a deterrent. Realizing her mistake too late, she was forced to take another slash from the translucent beast, but managed to recover before it could overwhelm her, throwing a retaliatory strike with the point of her halberd and forcing it to move aside to avoid being hit.

Beryl made no move to get in close, there was no need, at their current Aura levels, she was more than confident Faust could handle her on its own for the remainder of the fight. It wouldn't take long now, she was close, the creepy looking hick was already on the ropes just a bit longer and Siyah would finish up with that speedster leader of hers and help bring her down. Or, better yet, maybe she'd take her opponent out first and be the one to save him? Oh, that would be satisfying, to still achieve victory as well as getting to lord over the fact that she had to save him in the end. She decided that was exactly what she would do, it was just too satisfying not to.

Meanwhile, Ruta was forming her own plan. She knew she could take her opponent out quickly, with how little Aura she had left from bringing Faust onto the field, it might only take one hit, but she actually needed to close the distance to do so. For the moment, she just kept fighting with her summon, thrusting Cattleman at it in an attempt to force it back. Unfortunately, it evaded and grabbed a hold of the halberd, trying to pull it from her grasp. When that didn't work, it changed tactics, spinning around and dragging her with it, picking up speed, her feet eventually leaving the floor under them as she spun around faster and faster. Crap, she had to do something quick, otherwise she'd lose her grip and be flung quicker'n a cat on a hot tin roof!

Wait, that was perfect!

She waited two more spins before letting go of her weapon and praying that she timed it right, turning and holding her elbow out just in time to slam it right into Beryl's face, the impact sending them both sprawling out onto the ground as a buzzer sounded off. Getting to her feet first, Ruta looked up, smirking as she saw Faust starting to fade as its master had run out of Aura, using its last moments to stare her down with its eyeless face. She paid it no mind however, instead looking down at her underclassmen as she groaned on the ground, glaring up pitifully at the woman who'd defeated her.

"Oh, sorry, did I hit'cha too hard there missy?" Ruta taunted, looking down with a lopsided smirk. "Or are ya' just mad this cowgirl outsmarted you?"

Beryl just continued to glare in response, too sore to get up and do anything else.

The two leaders found themselves in a stalemate, their blades locked as neither of them were willing to give ground to one another. Both were pouring their Aura into their strength, trying to get any form of leverage on their opponent, but both finding none. Blitz was at the end of her rope, as while their fight had opened up some light for her to absorb, it wasn't nearly enough to give her a lasting advantage against Siyah, and now she was fighting completely without the aid of her semblance. This was bad, if she didn't find a proper source of sunlight soon, she might actually lose.

She jumped back, narrowly avoiding a swing from Damocles, with Siyah all but ready to follow, only he didn't. He jerked forward like he was trying to, but his body didn't follow suit, instead remaining in place. The two of them looked down, only to see that a pitch black set of vines had wrapped themselves around the boy as Ruta held her hand out, keeping him bound with her Semblance. Breathing a sigh of relief, Blitz walked up to her bound opponent, drawing Comet from its place on Daybreaker, and delivered a single, incredibly hard gut check, bringing his Aura down below the threshold and eliminating him.

"This isn't over." Siyah growled while wincing in pain, looking Blitz dead in the eye to make sure his words sank in.

"Oh, it absolutely is." Blitz declared, before high fiving her partner and raising her arms in victory, basking in the cheers of the audience.

Even before she'd left, Carmine knew that she was heading into a bad situation. Convoys going dark typically meant either a Grimm or bandit attack, and with how important of a task this was, it ruled out them encountering a sandstorm and simply forgetting to reestablish comms. At least, it better not have been something that stupid, not when she'd missed her student's match because of it. Deep down, she knew it was almost certainly worse than that though, with the best case scenario being that she'd find an abandoned convoy and would need to track whatever trail they'd left behind. At worst, she wouldn't find a trace of them at all, their memories swallowed by the vastness of the desert.

As she neared their last known location, she slowed the sandrider to a halt so that she could get a proper lay of the land. Like most of Vacuo, the land was indistinguishable from the rest, but an obvious set of dunes amidst the endless sea of sand stood out as a good spot to hide for the night. Shutting off the vehicle, she made her way closer, holding her sais ready to strike. She could smell the blood before she saw it, all but confirming her fears, hardening herself as she reached the peak. As expected, she was met with the grisly sight of bodies in the sand. She could tell that one was completely mangled beyond recognition, even from a distance, and another, while mostly whole, was too covered in blood to properly make out who the dismembered corpse used to be at a glance.

Focusing instead on the bodies she could identify, she ran to Onyx and Asher, relief flooding her as she realized the pair were both still breathing from the slow rise and fall of their chests, just unconscious from exhaustion, dehydration, and their wounds. Reaching Onyx first, she rolled the woman onto her side, and after looking her over and deciding her wounds weren't serious enough to impede her movement, she pulled out some smelling salts from her pack and held it up to the Faunus's face before cracking the capsule. As she inhaled the fumes, the unconscious woman gagged,suddenly jolting up and covering her face as the fumes burned in her nose.

"Get up," Carmine said firmly as she pulled the survivor to her feet, bracing the dark skinned woman as she stumbled, one again checking for signs of any serious damage. "Does anything feel broken? You aren't bleeding too bad, but some of these wounds need proper attention."

"I-I'm good, just sore…" Onyx choked out, finally getting on steady feet as Carmine let her go. "Ugh, that smell, what i- oh fuck…"

She trailed off, her heart sinking as her eyes landed on Durga's remains, left to rot in the sun. The two women stood in silence, the harsh reality of their failure hanging thick in the air. After the initial shock, Onyx started to panic, turning around and running towards the unmoving frame of her lover.

"Shit, Asher!?"

"He's alright, just knocked out, same as you were not even a minute ago." Carmine assured the panicking Faunus, handing over the smelling salts before heading over to the final body.

Turning the husk over, she gagged. The body reeked of rot and decay, like it had been there for weeks, but if the gun in its remaining hand was any indication, it had clearly been a part of the fight. Prying Onyx's handgun from the body's cold and stiff grasp, she paused, finding a tarnished ring with the Crown's insignia on it, one that looked a lot like Gillian's old ring. Swallowing, she turned her attention to the body's head, half buried in the sand, and slowly moved the veil of long, greasy, matted hair out of the way to reveal its sunken grey face. Her heart clenched as she confirmed the body's identity, as even in its current condition, she knew that face.

"What the hell happened to you Queenie?"

"Is… that the Grimm?" Onyx asked, still looking Asher over.

"She's not a Grimm," she muttered, laying Gillian's body onto her back and closing her tired eyes. "She is... was… a friend."

She'd known, on some level she'd always known, that Gillian and her brother's ambitions had caught up with them, but to see the woman she'd respected and cared for reduced to that… It was a painful truth to swallow.

Confident he was okay to move, Onyx held the smelling salts up to the boy's face, giving him a deep inhale of the same noxious fumes that had jolted her from the depths of unconsciousness. With a raspy gag, Asher pulled away instinctively from the fumes, blinking as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden light.

"Hey, shorty, you with me? C'mon, let me see you."

"Onyx? What happened? Where's Durga?" Asher asked wearily, still only half aware of what was happening as the sun blinded him.

"Don't look," Onyx whispered, pulling his head into her chest, away from the bloody sight behind him as Carmine pulled one of their blankets over Durga's body. "Just… trust me, you don't want to see."

The seasoned criminal turned Huntress sighed as she pulled her Scroll out, hitting the icon with Theodore's face on it, preparing to give the bad news.

"Theo, it's Carmine, I've located the convoy. The escorts are both alive… but the Maiden's been killed."

Hearing her tired report, Asher went stiff in Onyx's arms, a low ringing in his ears as the reality set in that he'd failed all over again.

Chapter Text

Scarlet and Belka clashed, the horned girl batting back an attempted blow from her peer, taking the opening to cut in an 'X' shape at her friend, only to be parried as the tanned woman spun Morgan in such a way that both Wilt and Bleed were deflected. Despite how intense their back and forth may have looked to an observer, neither girl had broken a sweat from their dance. With the tournament still ongoing, any truly intensive training would be off the table, but a simple warm up between friends was just fine. Both leaders were simply using the opportunity to get into form before they were called up for their respective matches.

To Scarlet, training with Belka was a welcome reprieve, as unlike with Lumi's endless demands for more and more Aura concentration, Belka wanted her to fall back into the usual swing of things and come at her as she would anyone else. The idea was to force Belka to learn to fight defensively, as she could hold her own against a Grimm without issue, but when it came to people, she had trouble applying her advantages in the right way. If her showing against Kenneth had been anything to go by though, she had made progress, and it showed in their current sparring session. She was lasting longer, reacting faster, and had built up some more confidence.

It was a fact she was quickly reminded of, as, rather than just block her next swing, she parried the blow, shifting her grip to quickly bring the glowing purple blade down so that it was held to her neck, a triumphant smile on her face. Despite being held at the business end of a high tech Atlesian energy naginata, Scarlet, while shocked, couldn't help but smile at seeing her friend so proud of herself.

"Ha! You let your guard down my horned friend, now surrender or fa-ah!" At Belka's gloating, Scarlet decided to bring her head back down from the clouds, suddenly bringing Bleed up to strike Morgan away. The tanned woman, completely unprepared for her opponent to keep fighting, let out a surprised yelp before stumbling back and falling on her butt, much to her sparring partner's amusement.

"Belka, I love ya', but leave the monologuing to the professionals, 'kay hon?" Scarlet teased, but offered her hand for Belka to take as a peace offering.

"Ugh, that was cheating!" Belka whined but ultimately accepted her friend's help, taking her hand and allowing herself to be pulled back up on her feet.

"Pfft- watching you two is like watching those bad old Mistralian cartoons," Blitz said, letting out a laugh as she walked onto the training platform, making her presence known to her fellow team leaders. "You know, the ones where the voices and mouths didn't match up?"

The girls gasped overdramatically in unison, a look of betrayal from Scarlet and a judgment filled sneer from Belka. They shared a quick glance at one another, confirming the utter blasphemy that had just come from her mouth.

"Wha- bad!? You take that back!"
"Don't mind her Scarlet, clearly she's just uncultured and wouldn't know art if it struck her in the face."

Realizing that she'd made the mistake of insulting the taste of a pair of Mistraliboos, Blitz held her hands up in surrender, hoping to appease them before she was forced to listen to their tirade of excuses and justifications as to why their beloved shows were actually good.

"Ouch, harsh. Okay okay, your cartoons are fine I guess…" She trailed off, quickly looking for a topic to escape to, noting the absence of a certain blonde that usually trained with Scarlet. "Where's Lumi? Doesn't she usually help you guys with this?"

That, however, proved to be an equally uncomfortable topic. Scarlet winced, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. Meanwhile, Belka's fake scowl turned real.

"Lumi and I aren't speaking at the moment, not that it matters, Scarlet has proven to be more than suitable as a sparring partner."

Based on their reactions, Blitz could tell there was obviously more to that than Belka was leading on. She turned to Scarlet in hopes of a clearer answer, but the horned woman just shook her head, silently warning her that it was better left unsaid for the moment. This lent the room an awkward air as Belka stewed in her bitterness.

Thankfully, a distraction was provided at the sound of the door flying open, and the trio turned around to see a very familiar and very unhappy face.

"Siyah," Blitz groaned, crossing her arms as he approached. "Look dude, I don't know what you think you're doing here but-"
"That didn't count." Siyah snapped before she could say another word, cutting her off by pointing his finger in her face.

Blitz was momentarily stunned into silence, she knew Siyah was a lot of things, and not many of them good in her eyes, but he was never one to make excuses, especially ones so childish. It felt off, suspiciously so, but she couldn't just ask about it, he was far too stubborn to just come out with what he really meant. So she decided to push him.

"Uh, excuse me, what? Dude you lost, get over it and start training for next time." she said, dismissively turning away to go back to talking with Belka and Scarlet.
"Fuck the tournament." Her plan worked perfectly as the boy got riled up, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to face him. "You owe me a one-on-one. No bullshit environment, no teammates butting in, no crowd, just you and me until one of our Auras hits the red."

That's what this was about? He was mad their fight got interrupted? Why did he care? With how things turned out, it wasn't like he walked away looking bad with how long he'd lasted. It obviously wasn't for bragging rights, he had never really cared about his perception and no onlookers meant no one would know anyway. Why was a one-on-one with her that important to him? Was he trying to prove something to himself? To her?

"Do all you boys think with nothing but your cocks and your pride? Back the hell off before I report you for harassment." Belka cut in, drawing her Scroll from her pocket, only to stop once Blitz held her hand out.

"No, it's fine." Blitz said, stepping up to Siyah, looking him right in the eye. "After the tournament,you and I can duke it out, winner take all, just like you want it."

"Are you sure? You don't need to prove anything to this punk."

While Belka couldn't see why Blitz was even humoring the hooligan before them, Scarlet caught the look of curiosity in her friend's eye. Maybe the blonde saw something they didn't, or maybe she just thought it would be fun to put her little shit underclassmen in his place. Either way, she wasn't going to stop her.

"I say go for it. If he needs to get his ass kicked properly for it to sink in, then that's what it takes."

Having gotten the answer he wanted, his scowl was replaced with a small, genuine looking smile that was quickly covered up by the usual cocky smirk he wore.

"Alright then. Right after the tournament, don't think I'll forget." With that he was gone just as soon as he'd arrived, turning and walking out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Belka asked as soon as the door closed behind him, bewildered by the bizarre interaction.

"That my friend, was progress." Blitz said with an oddly satisfied smile, further confusing the Atlesian woman.

Normally, she'd be put off by someone butting into her time to ask for, no, demand a fight, and she partially was. But at the same time, Siyah going out of his way to grab her attention to get a rematch was, strangely, the closest thing to respect she'd seen from him.

The three got ready to get back into training when the holoscreen above them flickered alight, the music theme of the reveal screen catching their attention, and Scarlet turning just in time to see the reveal. The screen displayed four pictures, arranged into two pairs. On the left side were her and Jin's photos, while on the other side of the screen were the images of Noah and Akato. A giddy smile spread across her lips, not expecting to be fighting so soon, or against someone she actually wanted to hit.

"Looks like you're up Scarlet." Blitz said, holding out a thumbs up of encouragement.

Belka, however, was in a more… vindictive mood.

"Do me a favor, humiliate that pathetic worm."

Icons whizzed along in a seemingly random arrangement, like that of a slot machine, the crowd oohing and ahhing as environments new, old, and unfamiliar appeared onscreen. Below, the competing members of SJJL and NAYA waited for the arena they'd be fighting on to be decided by the system, growing impatient as the deluge of random icons showed no sign of slowing. As he waited, Jin shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other under Noah's stone cold gaze. He tried to ignore it, but even when he looked away at Akato or Scarlet, he could still feel that intense feeling of being watched with utter contempt crawling up his neck.

Knowing why Noah resented him didn't make it any easier to swallow, he just didn't understand why he'd taken his relationship with Uncle Sun so personally. It didn't even involve him, he was upset on the behalf of a man who was perfectly content with the relationship they had. It just felt so… off. From their introduction, Noah had seemed like a laid back and fun loving guy, not too different from Scarlet, but when compared the version of him he saw then compared to now, it felt like he'd met a completely different person. Was it really just plain jealousy that had him acting that way?

In stark contrast to Noah's brooding, Akato was completely at home in the arena, working up the crowd with a flourish of his spear, followed by taking his shirt off to reveal his toned and defined figure, impressive even as a Huntsman in training. The act worked, the roar of the crowd reaching a fever pitch, yet even as he got the reaction he'd been after, his face showed not even a hint of joy or satisfaction, only a steely focus on his opponents that easily surpassed Noah's in raw intensity. Despite this, the fact that it wasn't targeted at anyone in particular somehow made it feel less intimidating.

Seemingly inspired by their opponent, Scarlet had made it a point to show off herself, readying her custom made sheath and lowering herself closer to the floor, her legs spread out in a battle stance and her hand hoveringed over Wilt, shifting into a pose that reminded Jin of a video game he'd seen Guang play. He chuckled as for the briefest moment he forgot all about the tension and awkward atmosphere, something that Scarlet noticed, rolling her eyes playfully in response. Soon enough though, the unease returned, and he was reminded of Noah's cold stare boring into the back of his skull.

Jin tried to shake off the feeling, throwing a few jabs into the air as if he was shadowboxing, but his heart wasn't in it. Then again, it was hard to really feel comfortable when one of their opponents had locked eyes with him the moment they'd stepped out. Scarlet, easily picking up on this, broke from her pose and showboating for the cameras, taking a step over and placing her arm on his shoulder.

"Hey, screw that guy. You're awesome, if he doesn't want to see that just because he has some weird hang ups about you and your dad or whatever, then that's his problem." she said, doing her best to try and reassure the gentle giant, remembering just how much it sucked when she had been on the receiving end of that treatment.

"Thank you, but it's not that." Jin said with a small smile that faltered as he thought about it some more. "Well okay, that is a part of it. It's just that… this just feels wrong, yknow? Remember how they were when we first met? Things shouldn't be like this."

Scarlet nodded in response, knowing exactly what he meant. Were it not for the tanned pirate's stupid little vendetta, she could easily see her team getting along with NAYA, not that she really felt bad about it, it was Noah who'd blown that up. But if Jin really felt like he had to try then she'd let him, after all he was the nicest person she knew, almost to a fault. If he couldn't win him over then he was just a lost cause.

"Well, maybe this is your chance to turn things around."

"Like with you and Lumi? How?"

"Well, it started with me kicking her ass. Maybe if you knock some sense into him, you can win him over."

Jin wasn't entirely sure if that was supposed to be actual advice, or she was just trying to make it easier for him to punch the pirate in the face. Either way he supposed he really had nothing to lose, either he and Noah got it out of their systems, or the one sided hatred would continue to fester and he'd just have to accept that Noah resented him. There wasn't much time to dwell as the arena shifted under them, and the SJJL duo, having been too caught up in their talk, missed the initial reveal, though their opponents looked rather pleased with the outcome.

As the arena started to lift into place around them, a new sound accompanied the usual mechanical shifting, the sound of splashing water. It took them a moment to figure it out, as it was the last thing they expected in the middle of Vacuo, let alone a combat arena, but as the platforms rose up, there was no mistaking it, a great amount of water was contained within the movable panels by walls generated with Hard Light Dust, just like the ones that protected the audience from stray rounds and the odd airborne competitor. The arena itself seemed to be ocean-themed, most of it being completely submerged in water, the depths of which ranged from only ankle deep to parts where even Jin could easily be submerged just by taking the wrong step. The spots they were presumably supposed to do the actual fighting were made up of the shallow water, a few sandbanks that circled the static arena centre, the odd sandbar further out, and in the center of one half, a sunken pirate ship, though Jin questioned if it really counted as 'sunken' if it was built to serve as a wreck to begin with.

They only had a few moments to take in their surroundings before the buzzer rang out, signaling the start of the match. Noah, who had been ready to act from the start, suddenly went transparent as he seemingly turned into water, the man's worth of liquid hitting the arena floor with a splash and leaving the bluenette nowhere in sight.

While the sudden disappearance took Scarlet and Jin off guard, they already knew where he had gone. The pair both looked over at the prop pirate ship, only to see Noah standing on the capsized vessel's mast with his aim drawn on Jin. The weapon, Jackdaw. resembled a heavily modified wheel-lock musket with a dual over-under barrel system, the top barrel being a simple muzzle while the under barrel contained a harpoon. Three shots rang out, but having expected the aggression, Jin just raised his fists to defend, using a mixture of his Aura and the Golden Path to block the shots. Jin winced, a water based teleportation Semblance was going to be next to impossible to deal with in this arena, no wonder Noah had looked so pleased with the outcome.

Neither Akato or Scarlet just stood idly by as this happened, Scarlet readying to strike just in time as the Mistralian boy closed the distance. Tonbogiri, his black spear done in traditional Azumi Mistrali style, was thrusted at her throat, but while the boy was more aggressive, the principle of his weapon and Belka's was the same. Firing Bleed from its sheath in a veil of red ichor, she parried his thrust, leaving him open for her to move in and land a cut across his chest hard enough to push him back several feet.

"Go on and teach that prick a lesson, I'll keep the show off busy with some redhead on redhead action." Scarlet said, smiling as she turned to face Akato, who sneered at her innuendo. Apparently, she had a tough crowd.

Jin ducked and weaved past the shots that came his way, a task that was made more difficult as he trudged his way through the water, doing his best to stay moving along the shallows where his mobility wouldn't be hampered as much, a necessity with Noah still firing at him from his vantage point. Despite doing his best efforts, he still took a round to the shoulder, nearly falling into one of the deeper sections before catching himself by rolling to evade yet another shot. Eventually, he reached the closest sandbar to the ship, but as he did, he realized the water separating them was too deep to run across, and swimming was out of the question with the current situation.

Another bullet whizzed by Jin's head, reminding him that he really didn't have time to think, so, taking a note from his mommy's playbook, he just went for it and jumped over the deep waters, activating his Semblance before throwing his arms back and letting loose a volley from both gauntlets to propel himself forward. It wasn't nearly as much of a boost as he'd hoped for, but it did get him to the half sunken boat, if barely.

Finally close enough for his own guns to be accurate, Jin opened fire with both gauntlets, forcing Noah to teleport once more to dodge the pair of bullets sent his way. Thankfully, he teleported down onto the deck and behind the blond this time, instead of once again reforming on the other side of the arena. His attempt at a flanking attack was predictable, allowing Jin to instinctually side step the projectile that came his way, however, unlike the bullet he had been expecting, the harpoon whizzed past, getting embedded in the mast of the ship, the rope going taut as his opponent tried to recall his harpoon.

Acting fast, Jin grabbed the rope and pulled as hard as he could, ripping Noah off his feet and into the air, hurtling towards him. The pirate themed student made no move to try and evade, giving Jin a clear opening, balancing on the ball of his left foot before raising his right leg, delivering a powerful chest high kick that he knew would be enough to drop him even under normal circumstances. But, as his foot was about to connect, the bluennett turned transparent, making contact as a splash of water that went around the Faunus.

"What the-"

The realization hit Jin at about the same time that Noah slammed the butt of his musket into the base of his skull. It was his Semblance, he hadn't just teleported and left behind some kind of water-clone like Mama, he'd turned into water and disappeared right out from under them! Maybe the teleportation was just a side effect, or maybe it was the other way around, but either way, the result was the same. This was going to be a difficult one.

Jin turned in time to block a follow up swing, the force of Jackdaw being slammed down into his arms causing some of the wood to crack under him. In the moment that Jin was predisposed with the splintered deck, Noah ripped his harpoon from the mast, causing the wood to split and start to list towards them. Now that it had been compromised on top of being built as a prop, the great wooden column didn't stay up for long, and began to crash downwards like the club of a giant, something that both men immediately noticed, disengaging from their brawl to dive out of the way. With a great crash and the crack of wood being torn asunder, the mockup of a wreck they were on started to sink even more, slowly but surely sliding down the slope of sand under the water.

Noah shook his head, regretful that he'd ruined such a beautiful piece of scenery, yet he made no move to leave, not when he had the monkey boy trapped.

"Had enough yet?"

"You gonna make me walk the plank if I say no?" There was a long moment of silence between them after Jin's joke, and for a small moment, he thought he saw a smile on Noah's face, but if he did it was quickly forced back into a scowl as he took aim once again.

Scarlet ducked under the swing from Akato's spear and swung Bleed as fast as she could, landing a slash along his gut, but the Mistral born warrior powered through the pain. With a press of a button, the blade that crowned Tonbogiri burst into flames, before it was brought down onto her head with a heavy swing, a blow that would have easily caught her hair on fire if not for her Aura protecting her. Both fighters stumbled back, panting and taking a short moment to catch their breath in between bouts of constantly hitting each other.

She was no stranger to fighting aggressively, but this felt more like a desperate duel to the death than a proper match. It couldn't even be considered a back and forth, as that would imply one of them stopped hitting each other long enough for the other to properly defend. Whereas Belka fought mostly defensively, trying to protect herself in close quarters and using openings create distance instead of counterattacking, this guy was the complete opposite. His tenacity was astounding, bordering on comical. No matter how hard she hit him, the boy stubbornly refused to give any ground, often choosing to push through the pain and land a hit of his own in return, making sure they stayed at around the same level of Aura.

Growing frustrated, she went for a feint, thrusting Bleed at his chest while reading Wilt for an attack from the side. However, he didn't let up, the initial feint being met by the tip of his spear deflecting the blow, and, seeing the real strike, shifted his spear, blocking the strike with the other end and leaving her wide open as he moved in, delivering a strike to her chest that sent her flying back and out of the arena's centre.

Landing in the shallow water, Scarlet groaned and stumbled up to her feet, letting out an annoyed huff as she wiped her now wet hair out of her eyes before reaching up and caressing her now sore chest.

"Damn, watch the tits man. I know they're irresistible, but that doesn't mean you get to go hitting them." she joked, though damn did that punch to her tits hurt. Yet her attempt at humor was met with outrage.

"You- how dare you make a mockery of me, of this tournament!" Akato exclaimed, utterly agast by her casual vulgarity.

In his anger, plunged Tonbogiri into the stone and drew his bow from where it lay across his shoulder and torso, as well as what Scarlet could only call a 'stupidly big arrow' from the quiver on his back. However, deep down, she was just happy that he was switching to a ranged weapon, she wasn't sure she could keep up with him much longer in their messy tangles of blows that they had been fighting in earlier. Her relief faded as she saw the string of his bow glow a bright purple, realizing the string was inlaid with Gravity Dust.

He released Fujin Yumi's string, the bow instantly sending the arrow flying across the arena and forcing her to raise both swords up, needing to use both to try and deflect the arrow, which was nearly as thick as her arm. Even with both swords, she couldn't fully avoid taking damage, the arrow grazing her left arm, the sheer force of which was still strong enough to throw her to the ground. Suddenly, she was very thankful for her Aura, as without it, that arrow would have easily taken her arm off, and she'd look even more likeMom with a prosthetic limb. Stumbling to her feet once again, she saw him already pulling back on another arrow, his face gritted from the effort of nocking drawing the behemoth projectile. Knowing she'd have to hit with more punch than usual, she focused, the blood created by her Semblance dripping up along the edge of her swords, coating them just in time as he released another arrow at her.

This time, rather than deflect, she swung her blade as he fired it, Wilt's blood-covered blade arcing through the air with as much strength as she could muster, carving right through the arrow. A wide smirk spread her lips as she repeated the act as he sent a second arrow her way. Just like with her joke from earlier, this only seemed to fuel his anger, gritting his teeth and letting out a growl of frustration. Scarlet just stared, unable to figure out what had the guy so pissed. They were being broadcasted to the whole world while fighting like complete badasses, how was he so damn grumpy?

"What's with the stick up your ass? Dude, this is just a tournament, try to have some fun with it."

For the third time, he looked as though Scarlet had offended him on a spiritual level, jaw clenched and eyes drawn to pinpricks. Despite this, he didn't blame her, she couldn't understand, not without having lived his life, without knowing the weight of the expectations that he had already failed to meet pulling down on him every day of his life. But, he wasn't going to let her ignorance stand in his way.

"I already failed once." he said, his voice heavy with conviction as he pulled his spear from the ground, now wielding both weapons. "And I have no intention of doing so again!"

With his proclamation, he did something that Scarlet found bewildering. Rather than toss the bow aside or draw another arrow, he once again activated the mechanism that caused Tonbogiri to burst into flames before holding it by the opposite end and nocking it on the string of Fujin Yumi, slowly lining up a powerful shot. Scarlet froze, realizing that there was no way in hell she'd be able to deflect or cut through that spear, so she decided to try and match it instead.

As she slid Wilt back into its sheath, she started to focus once again, filling the mechanism with as much blood as it could hold and then going even further, letting it pool around the hilt and seep into the sheath proper. She wasn't just going to attempt a quick draw to deflect the projectile, oh no, she was going to let him have the full brunt of her veil of blood. For a few seconds that felt like hours, the two stared each other down, both readying their respective attacks, putting as much power as they could muster into them, before eventually they both released with as much force as they could.

Scarlet let out her attack first, and rather than the usual sword beam or flying slash that someone's Aura created with such a focused strike, this acted more like a wave, the thick liquid flying her opponent's way carrying enough force that a shockwave followed it. Akato letting his spear fly had the same effect, the flaming weapon and her blood meeting each other midway and colliding. Time stood still for them both, watching as the spear wasn't sent back from its path, instead flying up as it was knocked out of its trajectory. But Akato wasn't willing to give up so easily, and in a last ditch effort, chose to use his Semblance rather than dodge. In an instant, his spear returned in a burst of flames, continuing on its previous path, even as Akato took the full brunt of her attack.

Now, despite her own attack landing, she was left wide open, having no time to move or block, only able to close her eyes and brace for the impact. However, an instant before the flaming projectile was set to hit her, she could hear a wet squelchy sound from in front of her. She didn't have time to focus on what exactly that was, as something slammed into her a moment later. It clearly wasn't the spear however, it was larger and had more give to it, feeling very wet almost like a thick liquid or ooze. Regardless, it sent her flying back either way, practically skimming across the water and coming to an uncomfortable rest atop a sandbar near the arena's edge as a buzzer rang out.

Damn it, how the hell was she supposed to predict that his spear would just come back like that? Now Jin was on his own fighting the both of them and she just had to-

She opened her eyes reluctantly, only to find Akato similarly on the ground in the arena centre, his Aura past the threshold on the big screen above.

Wait, but there was only one buzzer, she was still in?

Looking to the side, she saw a familiar red creature struggling to stand, the quadrupedal familiar unable to stand with the spear having run it through. After a moment, the Aura holding the beast together gave way as it collapsed into a pool of blood that quickly evaporated. Well shit, it was about time the thing was starting to work with her, now if only she could recreate it... Finally looking at her side of the screen, she winced, as even with the padding, she was a hair's breadth away from being eliminated. Despite feeling like she'd just been hit by a car, Scarlet stumbled to her feet, and gradually made her way back over to the boy who lay still, staring up at the open sky above them. Tears lay in his eyes.

"Sorry man, but you weren't the only one who wants to win this thing." she said, leaning over him with a winded but proud expression, only faltering when she looked down on Akato. The poor boy looked utterly devastated, like his entire world had shattered around him. "Seriously though, you throw around fire, shoot arrows thicker than my arm, and have the crowd eating out of your hand, how the hell are you not having fun?"

"This is no simple tournament to me. Everything was hinging on this, my pride, my honor, my very ability to use my own name!" he choked out, shocking Scarlet with how emotional he'd suddenly gotten over the loss. On anyone else, she'd throw out some mocking statement, but the look in his eyes and the hitch in his throat told her he was deathly serious.

"For what it's worth, you kicked my ass like no one else. Even if you didn't win, you should be proud of the fight you put up."

Her words clearly hadn't reached him, and despite speaking genuinely, it was clear that whatever was affecting him was too big to simply get over. In his eyes, it was just more proof that his father was right about him, he had failed all over again.

Jin and Noah fought for every inch of ground as the ship started tilting back farther and farther, the capsizing prop proving to be far more difficult to fight on than either of them had assumed. It was a fight just to stay standing upright, let alone properly throw punches or fire at one another. Frustratingly for Noah, Jin actually had the upper hand in this environment, his Semblance along with his weapons allowing him to circumvent the situation somewhat, putting him on the defensive

Reacting to the Faunus, he raised his musket and fired the harpoon, hoping to ensnare him and throw him against the ship, only for Jin to fire out of one of his gauntlets, changing his trajectory just enough to evade the harpoon, before firing again to head his way.

Letting out a powerful kiai, Jin delivered kick after kick into Noah's chest at lightning speeds, his lack of gravity and the angle of their chosen arena letting him pin Noah down with the force of his strikes. Eventually, he was able to focus, transitioning into water and sliding past Jin, letting himself fall until he caught himself on the remains of the mast. With a flip, Jin landed on the remains of the mast, raising up a single leg in a guarded stance as Noah pulled himself up, panting.

"Damn it!" he swore, It was bad enough he was taking a beating, but doing so in an environment that should have been his home turf made it sting all the more. "You guys are going down, you hear me?"

Well, Jin was normally happy to banter back with such an overly dramatic declaration, but the venom in Noah's voice gave him pause. This wasn't like Scarlets showboating and playful attitude; he was dead serious. Shouting at Jin as if he were a mortal enemy, his stance faltered, a frown forming on his lips once again as he was reminded of the resentment his opponent held for him. A part of him, albeit small, wanted to shout back like he had at the dance, to tell the man just how much of an asshole he was being. But, the last time he had lashed out, it hadn't helped anything, in fact it had only made things worse, a thought that just made him feel even sadder. So he made up his mind, he wouldn't.

"Sorry, but I won't fight you this way."

"What?" Noah asked bewildered, tilting his head, suspecting that he had misheard him.

"I don't hate you, and I'm not going to take part in some weird one-sided grudge match. "

"This is a tournament, why did you even show up if you're not going to fight?"

"I never said I wouldn't fight you, I just said I wouldn't be doing it under your rules." Jin explained, shaking his head and response. He planned to fight, and he planned to win, but he wasn't going to do so out of spite.

Noah didn't know how to respond to that. Well, he had expected a few responses, but a complete refusal to return his anger wasn't one of them. For a brief moment, he looked away with a look of pain covering his face, briefly considering why he was even so angry to begin with. Then he heard a buzzer and turned just in time to see Akato's icon go red out of the corner of his eye. With his anger reignited, he growled, his frustration reaching a new peak. Not only was Jin not taking him seriously, but it was looking like he was actually going to lose. Well, not if he had anything to say about it.

There was no time to form a real plan, as the ship's overturned keel finally reached the tipping point on the slope, causing the entire structure to start rapidly sinking as it began to slide down. Knowing he had only seconds to act, Noah took advantage of Jin's surprise. Aiming up, he fired his harpoon right past Jin, making the boy dodge, and as planned, the harpoon stabbed into the figurehead, embedding itself in the wood before he jumped, letting the mechanism pull him up. As he passed by, he raised his knee, driving it up into Jin's chin as he passed, causing the boy to lose his footing and fall into the water.

Reaching the figurehead, he clambered up, looking down in shock as Jin was nowhere to be seen. For a brief moment, worry shot through him, as while he didn't exactly like the monkey man, the idea of being responsible for him drowning wasn't something he could live with. However, before he could retract the harpoon, he heard more shots, then Jin suddenly flew up, using the last of his limited ammo to repeat the trick he used to reach the ship in the first place, now using it purely to gain elevation and reach Noah. At the height of his leap, the blonde delivered one final axe kick, sending Noah right through the wooden figurehead. He held on to Jackdaw for dear life as he hurtled through the air, trying to reel in the harpoon like before, only to be met with a chunk of airborne wood being pulled towards him, rather than being drawn back to the ship, . With a great splash, he landed in one of the shallows, the buzzer ringing out, signaling his defeat and NAYA's elimination.

Jin jumped over, landing next to him a moment later as the tan boy crawled onto the sand and collapsed onto his side, groaning from the pain of being knocked through solid wood.

"You fucking asshole." Noah spat glaring up at him bitterly. "Making me think you were gonna drown."

"Oh, sorry, that wasn't what I was trying to do. It just took me a moment to catch myself." he said, sounding genuinely guilty over making him worry. "But hey, you were worried, so that means something, right?"

With a smile on his face, Jin offered the pirate-boy his hand, despite the scowl being sent his way in return.

"Just… fuck you man." Noah groaned, reluctantly accepting his help back to his feet. Yet, unlike the previous times they spoke, his words lacked the same coldness.

Jin couldn't be sure, but to him it seemed like progress, even if only a little bit.

Elizabeth stomped her way through the festival grounds, no real destination in mind, just needing to get away from any reminders of what had happened. It wasn't like she was really surprised, Belka had always been selfish and bitter, it was just like her to pull her little 'me me me' stunt! She should have known the woman would let one stupid victory go to her head. So why did she feel so betrayed by Belka going behind her back? Why did it hurt when she exploded at her?

Coming to a stop, she let out a shaky sigh as she started to feel light-headed. Shit, were her sugar levels dropping? Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small rectangular device, squinting at the tiny screen in an attempt to try and make out the numbers it displayed. After shading the display with her other hand, she was able to see it read 5.3, which was a little low, but she hadn't eaten yet today, so that was normal. Well if it wasn't that, then it was probably just the heat, she probably just needed some water and shade for a few minutes.

"What's that?" The sudden and ever calm voice of Lao asked from behind.

Elizabeth spun on her heel in surprise at the sudden interjection, as in her fuming, she'd forgotten that Lao had followed her, and nearly clocked him across the jaw for startling her. She considered hitting him anyway after the surprise had made her practically jump out of her skin, but thought better of it, motioning for him to follow again as she looked for a place to sit.

"My glucose monitor, it makes sure I don't forget to check my blood sugar and drop dead from shock."

Her explanation was a tad overdramatic, she had never gone too long for it to ping without checking it herself, so that wasn't a real risk for her. But what did it matter? The most he reacted to it was a slight lift of his orange eyebrows, and even that was more out of realization than anything else. However, her condition wasn't exactly casual conversation material, people always made these stupid assumptions about how she had to have been super unhealthy as a child or worse, they'd fret over her like she'd keel over dead at any minute. So, to avoid cursing him out like some sort of emotional punching bag, she turned the questioning around on him.

"So, why'd you follow me, just making sure I don't tear someone's head off?"

"Enough has been said between us in anger, I wanted to avoid adding to that by speaking to Belka when I know it won't go well."

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. Had she just heard that right? No, that couldn't have been Lao, even in that monotone voice it sounded far too human and understandable to be him. She turned around and looked her partner up and down, a response that, strangely enough, got another reaction out of the boy, a small tilt of his head to the side just a few degrees. Now that was unlike him, since when was he so expressive?

"Wow, she even managed to piss you off. And here I thought nothing really got to you." she chuckled. Well, at least her aunt was good for something, she finally made her weird robot of a partner break his nigh invulnerable composure.

While she wasn't expecting it, Lao's expression showed no signs of humor. In fact, his brow furrowed just slightly, and she dared to say that he actually looked annoyed with her.

"I'm still human, Elizabeth. Just because I have better control of my emotions doesn't mean I don't feel them."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to make a rebuttal, as from the way he spoke, it sounded like she was treating him like some sort of defective AI, like the various pre-Penny attempts Atlas made that eventually ended up using to program their target practice androids. But, she stopped herself, realizing that she had indeed thought of him like some sort of defective robot just a few moments ago. So instead, she closed her mouth and let him keep talking.

"I hurt, I get angry, and I feel joy just like the rest of you."

"Then why do you act the way you do? Like you're always in this state of zen where I only get to see the real you through the minute cracks in your shell?"

Lao winced at the question. He wasn't blind to the way people saw him, he knew his demeanor could be off-putting, especially to those who hadn't known him back when he was a normal child, for lack of a better word. He was used to it by now, after years it was impossible not to be, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Because I learned the hard way that if I don't, people get hurt."

"Like… with SLVR?" she asked, remembering the state the team had been left in.

"Yes. I know you resent me for how I act-"

"That's not-"

"Please, let me finish." he said, holding his hand out. Reluctantly, she nodded, letting him say his piece. "Regardless of how it makes others feel, what I do is necessary. I don't like to put walls up between myself and anyone else, but I do what I do for a good reason."

Elizabeth didn't know what to say to that. While he hadn't said it explicitly, the fact that something very bad had happened because of his emotions was clear. A mixture of guilt and frustration swirled within her, as on one hand, she did genuinely feel bad for the way she judged him previously, not knowing that his stoic demeanor was some sort of coping mechanism / method of keeping himself in check, but at the same time, it just made her more angry. Going through life pretending like he was some sort of monk couldn't be healthy. It wasn't even addressing the root of the problem, just masking it, hiding it away and leaving it to fester.

Before she could voice her feelings on the matter, Lao looked off to the side, pointing over at a table under an umbrella with plenty of shade.

"I believe that's Nicolas waving us down."

Looking over to where he had pointed out, she also saw her cousin waiting at them. Next to them was Mercedes, as well as Kenneth, and surprisingly, a boy who she was fairly certain was Jin's younger brother. Lao didn't wait for her to agree, starting to walk towards the group just as calmly as he usually did, no evidence of the heart to heart they just had anywhere to be seen. As she watched him start to walk away, she decided to let it go. Just acknowledging the elephant in the room felt like enough progress for now.

And besides, she really needed to get in some shade.

"Yo, Lao my man, wassup bro?"

It was Guang who greeted them first, standing up and holding his hand out for a fist bump, to which Lao lazily reached his fist out to meet. The fist bump then suddenly transitioned into some kind of horizontal high five, before devolving into a tangle of fingers as the Faunus tried to do some sort of secret handshake that the smaller boy obviously wasn't ready for.

"Hey, almost dude. You'll probably have it down next time."

Catching up with her partner, Elizabeth did a polite wave at the rest of the table, Nick returning the gesture eagerly, along with Ken, though she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from letting the cat-tailed boy know exactly how she felt about the way he wiggled his fingers. The only one who didn't directly reciprocate the gesture was Mercedes, the young woman letting out a scoff and rolling her silver eyes at the petite woman. She paused, not sure what exactly she'd done to deserve such a reaction, but before she could ask, Guang finally noticed her, walking up confidently and giving her a wide toothy grin as he rested his hand on her shoulder, somehow missing the way her body fully tensed at the sudden touch.

"Oh hey there, my name's Guang Bella-"

"You have half a second to take your hand off of me before I break it."

Guang, for all his faults, didn't need to be told twice, jumping back several feet before moving behind Ken, his sudden inability to make eye contact with the shorter woman obvious for all to see, even behind his sunglasses.

"Pfft- I'll give you points for taste, but maybe aim a little lower next time. Liz is a little out of your league for now." Ken said with a gentle laugh, giving the younger Faunus a small, encouraging nudge to his elbow.

"Who pissed in your cereal? I get he came on pretty strong, but you don't need to threaten the kid." Mercy spat, crossing her arms at Elizabeth, again showing more of her strangely hostile attitude.

"We had a… disagreement with our leader." Lao explained for her, already seeing the start of irritation on his partner's face.

"A bad one?" Nick asked. While he knew of Belka, his interactions with her had always been short greetings at charity or political events when they were younger, something Elizabeth envied at the moment.

"It's Belka, take a guess."

Sensing the growing tension only starting to get worse, Ken cut in with a suggestion.

"Well, if you guys need to blow off some steam, you can come hang out with us. I'm taking Guang here to Velvet Escapades to work on his game."

Unfortunately, his efforts had little effect, as Liz, still bitter about the boy's ill-thought advances and Mercedes's sudden hostility, stayed fully silent, staring down her opponent as if she was ready to start trading blows all over again. While the monkey boy sat ready to watch the brewing catfight, his newly met cat-tailed friend had the sense to leave before things got heated, grabbing the shades-wearing boy by his collar and pulling him away towards the club.

A thick silence covered the group as Lao and Nick nervously traded glances between the girls and themselves, neither one knowing what to do or what had even caused this to begin with.

"Okay fine, I'll bite, what are you so pissed about?" Elizabeth asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe that comment about being a copy of my mom?"

Elizabeth scoffed at the hypocritical complaint. How could she possibly complain about that after being the one to start trash talking in the first place. Neither of them were strangers when it came to meaningless verbal jabs exchanged during a fight, so why was this time so different?

"What? It was just trash talk. Besides, you basically said the same thing to me first."

"No, don't even act like what I said was the same, not when you know how much that shit bothers me!" Mercy shouted, her voice cracking with a mixture of hurt and anger, all directed at her friend.

It was a feeling she knew all too well, the feeling of having your own insecurities flowing at your face so casually, and once again, guilt started to overtake her frustration. She had been so upset at Belka for being so callous with how she spoke to her, but she had done the same thing to Mercy without even thinking about it twice now. Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth stood up, the anger falling from her face as she looked her friend right in the eyes.

"You're right." Elizabeth said softly, surprising everyone left at the table. "I'm sorry Mercy, that was uncalled for."

While the atmosphere still held tension, it had lifted significantly. Mercedes, seeing the sincerity in the smaller woman's eyes, couldn't stay mad, and she supposed if she was being reasonable, she had still started it, not that she was going to give up so easily.

"...You still owe me."

Despite her best efforts, the beginnings of a smirk found their way onto the silver-eyed woman's lips. Seeing right through her false pout, but saying nothing about it, Elizabeth decided to play along. After all, they had some perfectly good entertainment that was happening just down the street.

"How about we follow those losers to the club and I'll buy you some drinks while we watch them make fools of themselves."

"Hmm," Mercy rubbed her chin, making a show about thinking it over, before giving up on trying to act conflicted all together.

"Deal. C'mon boys, little Liz is buying shots." Mercy proclaimed, her mood pulling a complete 180 as she draped one of her arms around her friend's shoulder.

"Will you be coming with us as well Nicolas?" Lao asked, his eyes betraying the fact that he really didn't want to be the only one to be left sober while having to drag the rest of the group around.

The young soldier considered it for a moment, but looking down at his watch, he frowned, seeing that he'd actually already gone over his assigned break by just sitting and talking. Well, it wasn't like he was able to drink on duty anyway, not without being very publicly court-martialed at least.

"Sorry man, I'm on duty still, you're on your own for this one."

"Well, hit us up when you get off, we'll probably still be there." Mercy said, extending the invitation as Nicholas parted from the group, heading along his patrol route once again.

Lavender stood against the sandstone wall of a convenience store as she glared daggers at the food stalls across the street. The greasy scent of overly fatty foods and sweets filled her nostrils with every breath, and damn did it smell good to her in the moment, her decision not to eat before leaving coming back to bite her as her stomach growled.

She'd just been in such a hurry that eating didn't even occur to her. Romeo had seen her injecting her venom into herself like some kind of fucking junkie, and she knew just from the way he glanced at her tail when they'd finally woken up that he had something to say. He probably thought the only way she was stupid enough not to see that something was wrong was because she was too high out of her mind to see the truth, yet somehow, the truth was worse, that the venom offered an escape, a way to make everything feel less awful.

The irony that she'd injected herself once again to ignore the consequences of doing it previously wasn't lost on her, though she tried not to think about it.

It wasn't only her fear of Romeo's judgment that made her seek a distraction though, it was just the final straw. She had tried to rationalize what had happened the previous night, to try and make sense of it based on what she knew. Henna had acted so differently from how she usually did that there had to be some sort of explanation, the woman wasn't some brainless fanatic like Azrael, so she knew there had to be some sort of explanation for what was going on. But that line of thought came with its own worries, she was acting like Azrael that night, indulging in bloodlust seemingly for the sake of it, and justifying her actions behind the Goddess.

In truth, Lavender didn't know as much as she should about the Goddess. Really, it was just what she'd been told and what she'd read in her father's journal, and that didn't paint the clearest of pictures aside from the fact that she was apparently perfection incarnate, and that the Grimm were personifications of her will. Never before had she questioned it, she never had a reason to, but now she couldn't help but wonder why a goddess so powerful would only work through beings of pure destruction, or why her followers all seemed to revel in bloodshed and suffering. If everything she'd been told and read about was true, if her father really was her most devoted follower… then what did that mean?

The possibilities and implications made her want to vomit, so she did what she always did when her thoughts became too much, she escaped into her mind.

This led her to her current predicament, she was hungry, had no money, and was still out of it enough to ignore how bad of an idea stealing in a heavily populated area was. She fell back on her instincts from when she'd first left home, spotting a stand without many people eating and decided it was as good a target as any, crossing the street as she pulled her hood up over her head. She stumbled slightly as she walked, trying to play the lingering disorientation as a limp, but she probably looked like a drunk to anyone who moderately paid attention.

As she got close to the stand, she eyed the people occupying it, four in total including the vendor. Two of the customers were obviously a couple, feeding each other in a disgustingly sweet display of their love, which only really left the woman eating off to the side by herself.

Moving in, she waited until no one was looking before moving to act. With the art of skullduggery being second nature in her family, utilizing her tail to get what she wanted had come to her as easily as breathing. She kept the chitinous limb low to the ground before striking as fast as she could at a drying rack, knocking down the plates and silverware. Everyone's attention being drawn to the noise of ceramic shattering and metal hitting the ground gave her a small window of opportunity. She acted fast, grabbing a sandwich off the nearest plate before walking away, taking the first available turn in order to break line of sight. Waiting a few more seconds before looking back over her shoulder, she saw the lone woman just realise her sandwich had disappeared, and was now checking the floor.

With her petty theft successful, she walked over to the nearest bench, seeking her teeth into her prize and savoring the taste. It was unfortunately just as greasy as it had smelled, but she didn't care, it was something to fill her stomach for the time being. She scarfed down the food, nearly choking on it as she practically shoved the burger down her throat, a leftover habit from the months she had spent on the streets, not knowing where her next meal would come from, let alone whether she'd eat it all that day. In less than a minute, she had fully devoured the meal, earning stares of judgment from those around her for her less than proper manner of eating. She ignored them, the same way they'd ignore her if she actually wasted the energy to look over at them.

That changed when she heard footsteps coming her way, glancing up in case it was the woman she'd stolen from, or worse, security. But no, instead she saw a familiar blond monkey Faunus walking up to her. The deaf girl whose name escaped her stepped up, a worried look on her face.

'Are you okay?' Liang signed, having noticed how Lavender stumbled as she walked, coming over to make sure her fellow Faunus was feeling alright.

'I'm fine thank you, just not feeling well.' The scorpion-tailed woman signed back with a sigh of relief.

She wasn't sure why the girl she'd only spoken with once before seemed so worried, maybe she wanted something again? Another restaurant recommendation or some other part of the festival explained? Either way, she wasn't interested in small talk at the moment, hoping her half-truth would satisfy her acquaintance enough to lose interest.

However, with her attention focused on Liang, Lavender failed to see someone else take notice of her. Nick's eyes had originally been caught by Liang, intending to stop by for just a moment and say hi before continuing on his route, but then he noticed the strange woman she was with, his instincts immediately going off. First of all, who the hell wore a coat in this heat? And then there was the way she swayed impatiently in her seat, glancing around like she was worried she'd be caught doing something wrong, and the bladed gauntlets poking out from under her sleeves sealed the fact that she was no civilian. Either she was a student and just unfortunately weird, or she was hiding something.

Trying to act casual, he walked right up, tapping Liang on the shoulder. The deaf girl turned around, confused for a moment, before her face lit up at the sight of a family friend, throwing her arms around the young soldier without hesitation.

Lavender watched closely, the affectionate greeting seeming similar enough at a glance, but she knew how people acted when they were tense. He was too guarded, too concerned with her despite pretending not to see her, even though she was only a few feet away.

'Good to see you too, Liang.' he signed before turning and pretending to only now notice Lavender, the woman's eyes narrowing as he spoke, signing at the same time so both women could understand. "Is this a friend of yours?"

'Sort of, she pointed out some spots to eat around here to me when we first showed up.' Liang signed back innocently, none the wiser to the growing tension.

Seeing right past Nick's facade, Lavender stood, ready to bolt despite her dizziness coming back just from standing. From the way that he tensed up at her just moving, it was clear he knew, and probably knew she was on to his bullshit too, she needed an excuse to get out of there before he started to question her.

"Sorry, I was just passing through, I need to go meet up with my brother." With yet another half truth carelessly thrown out, she started to walk off, not bothering with further pleasantries. She couldn't handle being under scrutiny at the moment, not in the state she was in, and not with the people she was involved with.

Nicholas continued to watch as Lavender walked off, stumbling down the lanes once more. She was hiding something, he knew it, he just wasn't sure what it was, but it was safe to assume he'd figure it out by following her. Liang was confused, but saw no reason to assume she was lying, accepting her words and turning back to Nick. Thankfully, he didn't have to think of his own excuse, as at that moment, he received a text from Mercedes. Looking down at his scroll, he chuckled at the messages.

Nick, make up some excuse to come to the club, Ken's trying to teach your boy to look cute.

He's failing.

It's fucking hilarious.

Attached just below her words was a picture of Ken and Guang in an identical pose, both of them winking at the camera while curling a closed fist. To Nick, it didn't look natural on Ken to begin with, but it was downright alien looking on Guang. Still, he got a good laugh out of it, and it was the perfect distraction for Liang.

'Your brother is making a fool of himself down at Velvet Escapades if you want to go see.'

The moment Nick held up the picture for her to see, she couldn't contain herself, bursting into laughter. While the tone was a little lower due to her never having been able to control her own voice, her amusement was unmistakable, nearly doubling over and holding on to her knees before looking back up with a wide grin as she signed.

'You bet your nonexistent ass I do, I'll send you pictures.'

And with her frankly uncalled for comment about his butt, she head off, taking her scroll out of her pockets to look up directions to the club. Good, now he could go after that woman without worrying about Liang being caught in the middle of it. He was able to just make out her hood cutting into an alleyway before she disappeared, heading over in a jog. He turned, only to find that she had somehow completely disappeared. It wasn't a short alleyway either, so unless she'd broken out into a full sprint the moment she turned into the backstreet, there was no way she could have escaped already. Slowly and carefully, he walked farther into the alley, looking for any sign or hiding place for her to have gone.

He didn't have to look long, mostly because she had found him first, slamming into him from the side. However, she stumbled once more during the shunt, so rather than driving her shoulder into his side, she practically threw herself against his chest, though in the end, the result was the same. As she recovered, she pressed her arm against his solar plexus and readied The Queen's Servants to keep him pinned against the wall.

For a brief moment, the pair sized each other up. Nick was bigger, significantly so, and his gun was a problem, but with her blade and stinger, along with how close she was to him, it was clear she held the advantage. Really, he was just thankful she hadn't killed him right off the bat like he was afraid she would try.

Lavender just watched him closely, trying to figure out what his game was. He didn't act like he knew who she was, either that, or he was stupid enough to think that he wouldn't need backup to bring her in. As she eyed his uniform, closely her eyes widened as she noticed the name tag on his chest, the all too familiar name of Arc-Schnee upon his left breast. This was no mere soldier, this was someone who stood against everything The Goddess's Shadows stood for. If she had been anyone else, they would have killed him on the spot. Hell, she was considering doing him in herself after she learned what he knew.

"Why the hell are you following me?" she growled, pressing against him harder to try and intimidate him into giving her an answer.

Annoyingly, he didn't seem very afraid of her, probably because she was just shy of five feet and he was easily over six. Over a foot's difference in size made it a little hard to be intimidating, even with her tail raised and ready to sting.

"There have been some suspicious people around lately." he said calmly, knowing better than to try and escalate the situation, though he kept a very close eye on how she moved, seeing she was unsteady. If he waited for the right moment, he could potentially turn this around.

"And you just assume I'm one of them huh?"

She could kill him now, no one would know, Henna would be pleased, after all, he was an enemy, an Arc-Schnee.

But why was he an enemy? Just because Henna had said so? She'd also said Durga was an enemy, Moon had said her own daughter was an enemy. This boy probably didn't even know about the Goddess, let alone believe in her. That wasn't worthy of a death sentence, not in her eyes.

"Those are some serious weapons, what school are you from?" Nick asked, finally breaking the silence.

Damn it, she didn't have any answer to that, and there was no reason to make him think he was wrong about the assumption. So instead, she tried to shift the conversation back to him once again.

"Why would I tell some stalker where I… where I'm…" Her attempt at deflection started to break up as she coughed, gagging as something wet and thick made its way up her throat. She started to swallow to try and keep it down, but it quickly proved to be a losing battle.

Nick wasn't sure what to think at first, raising an eyebrow as her head lowered, the color suspiciously draining from her face for a moment. While the girl was undeniably weird, this felt especially strange, wondering what she was doing. But his answer came swiftly as Lavender gagged, fruitlessly trying to hold back the tide, and with a sickeningly wet wretch, the greasy sandwich she had just eaten came right back, spilling out onto his uniform and boots, the mixture of her own venom, the overly greasy sandwich, and the unyielding heat of Vacuo having proven to be too much for her.

Nick couldn't really do much, going tense as he realized that the behavior he had assumed was suspicious had a very different explanation, Lavender was just sick. This poor woman was probably dealing with enough already, and he had just gone and profiled her as some whack job. He couldn't have seen the obvious guilt on his face if he tried, feeling absolutely terrible.

"Oh-oh god, I- I'm sor-" Lavender tried to speak, similarly embarrassed and guilty as she wiped her mouth, trying to ignore the foul taste of bile and partially digested food on her tongue.

"N-no it's fine, really, don't worry about it." the soldier muttered guilty, unable to make eye contact. "Uh, here, let's get you to some real shade."

"Sorry, I'm just not used to this heat." she coughed, letting herself be pulled back over to the food stands, being led over to one with a fan spraying mist just overhead.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing, I shouldn't have assumed, I just…" he trailed off, remembering the night of the dance, seeing the man with his knife moving towards Jin, taking aim and… He shook his head slowly to get back on track. "Like I said, some suspicious people have been around, I guess I just need to learn the difference between suspicious and sick. Let me start over, my name is Nicholas Arc-Schnee."

"I'm Lavender."

The two sat in silence for a minute before Nick headed over to one of the stands, grabbing as many napkins as he could carry as well as a pair of water bottles before returning. He handed her one of the bottles before awkwardly trying to clean the lingering bile off of his uniform.

Lavender looked away as she drank half the bottle in a single gulp, embarrassed by the fact that she had just thrown up all over this man and now everyone knew, a weird feeling to have considering she'd contemplated killing him for a brief moment. Bloodshed was messy, yes, but vomit was just plain gross.

"Nice to meet you Lavender." he shook her hand softly, causing her scowl to return as she squeezed his hand hard, causing him to wince and pull away. "So, if you aren't a student, I'm guessing you're here with family?"

Lavender paused, she had never confirmed that she wasn't a student, but at the same time, he wasn't acting suspicious in the same way as before. Figuring it wasn't worth making some fragile web of lies for this one conversation, she nodded.

"My brother and I are visiting our sister." It was another half truth, but it wasn't as if she could be completely honest either.

"No parents?"

"Well, my mother is back at home at the bottom of a bottle, so no."

The mood turned to tense once again, though with a very different feel. This time Nick didn't try to match her glare, instead wincing slightly like a kicked puppy.

"Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, I shouldn't have snapped at you, you couldn't have known."

Despite her apology, Nicholas still looked on edge. Damn it, how was he doing this? She didn't owe him anything just because he got her some water and helped her find shade. If the stubborn boy hadn't insisted on following her in the first place, she never would have thrown up on him. But while he was still here, she didn't want to deal with his sulking.

As she sat there, thinking about a way to turn this conversation into anything else, it occurred to her just how weird the situation was. They're enemies, whether he knew it or not, and what was weirder neither of them should have been in the situation to begin with. Lavender was meant to be laying low, staying in the hotel and waiting patiently for the next step of whatever plan had been decided on, and the dashing prince next to her should have been above this kind of work. Typically, the ultra wealthy wouldn't dare be assigned a position so low on the chopping block. It made her wonder just how badly he had to fuck up in order to be doing grunt work.

"So, how does an Arc-Schnee become a rank and file Atlas soldier? Did you blow too much of mommy and daddy's money and this was your punishment?"

She chuckled a little as the question brought back memories of all the times Romeo had partied a little too hard and had been made to do grunt work as a punishment for his messes. She could easily see some boy with enough money to make her family look poor being similarly as stupid with his funds. Yet for some reason, he laughed, probably thinking she'd just been joking.

"Nothing like that, I just felt like enlisting because it was the right thing to do, simple as that."

"The right thing to do?" She blinked, doing a double take as she looked up at him to make sure she had heard him right. Yet his face showed no sign of deception.

"Yeah, I come from a rich family, have good Aura stats, and a powerful Semblance. Really, it would be selfish not to go into a career where I couldn't help people." Nick explained, somehow keeping a full and genuine smile as he looked at her, as if he actually believed all that crap. "Don't get me wrong, Huntsmen are cool and I respect what they do, but it's not the only way to make a difference. It's like my Dad always says, anyone can be a hero, it's just about doing the right thing."

"So what? You wanna be just like your dad?"

"I guess so, doesn't everyone want to be a little like their parents?"

Lavender paused, not ready or expecting to be hit with that question. She knew there was no way for him to know just how much of a gut punch it would be to hear that after everything that had happened to her in the last forty eight hours, but she still wanted to punch him for how stupidly optimistic he sounded.

In a way, she was jealous of his naive levels of confidence. Things had been so much simpler when she shared his mindset, but now, knowing what her father had taught Henna to do, the sort of things he'd done… Was… was that what she really wanted to live up to?

"Hey, sorry, we don't have to talk about that. What about you, are you enjoying the festival?" he said, picking up on her sudden change in mood and changing the subject.

"Not really, I've spent most of it following my sister and watching her and my brother fight." she shrugged, taking the obvious change in subject without question.

"Well, how about I show you around then?" the boy said, taking a stand, having cleaned off as much of the vomit as he was going to get and holding his hand out to Lavender. The woman in question tilted her head, obviously not buying that his motives were purely altruistic. "Come on, I owe you for earlier, it's not like I'm hurting for money or anything."

"Well, aren't you just a regular prince charming?" she laughed, leaning back and finishing her water bottle. "Tall, handsome, wanting to do the right thing for the sake of it."

"Most people find it endearing."

"I'm not most people… But I could use something to wash my mouth out."

Having made up her mind, Lavender stood, smirking up at Nick as she waited for him to lead the way. It was a distraction, it wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't make her feel better or answer all the questions floating around her head, and they both knew it. But right now? A distraction was exactly what she needed.

"Okay Princy, wow me."

Chapter Text

Belka did everything she could to appear nonchalant as she stood in the middle of the arena, examining herself in her makeup kit and pretending to admire the tan she'd gained over her months in Vacuo. The act didn't work, even Goose saw right through her bravado, stealing uncertain glances at her partner as they waited for the machinery underneath them to bring up the ice covered arena they'd be fighting on. Then again, it wasn't like it would matter how good her act was in a few minutes, there wasn't much to hide her nerves when she was about to be trading blows with the one person she dreaded having to face. Deep down, she knew it was a possibility that things would end up this way, especially with how few teams were left, but it just felt like a cruel joke that of all the people she could have had to face, it had to be her.

"Now this is a surprise! The little tart is fighting her own battles for a change, I am just so darn proud." Alaska taunted from her edge of the arena, cracking her knuckles in a brutish display obviously meant to intimidate the smaller girl. "And no ginger attack dog at yer side? Someone's feelin' awful brave."

Belka stared down her bully, trying to hide how nervous she was. Alaska had beaten her senseless out of view from everyone, and now that the brute was allowed to beat her, she wondered just how much harder the hits were going to come down.

Taking another glance at her partner, Goose saw her leader standing stock still, her arms trembling as she held Morgan close to her chest in a defensive stance.

"Don't let her get to you Belka, we can do this." Goose said reassuringly, doing a little fist bump of encouragement to try and raise her spirits.

That was right, Goose believed in her. Frankly, she was probably the only one in the entire school that did. She couldn't show weakness, not now, not when everything rested on her shoulders. Not when this was her one chance to prove everyone wrong, to show that she could be the leader BGEL needed to succeed, or at the very least, that she could pretend to be.

"Hmph, what do you take me for? A helpless damsel waiting to be rescued? So long as we stick to my plan, we'll put that stupid bitch in her place." Belka said confidently, holding her head up high and tightening her grip on her naginata, exuding confidence as best she could.

"Oh, okay, cool." Goose trailed off, waiting for her leader to continue. When it became apparent that she wasn't going to explain said plan, she leaned in and whispered. "You just um… haven't told me the plan yet."

"It's simple, you handle Vera, that Semblance of yours and her whip is an accident just waiting to happen. Until you bring her down, I'll keep Alaska busy."

"Are you sure? Do you think you can beat her?"

"No." Belka answered through gritted teeth. Despite her training, there was no chance she'd be able to match the bully just yet. "But I can try and wear her out a bit before I go down. Just try and focus your Semblance on her like you did with Ken."

"I don't know about this plan Belka, that's not really something I can do on purpose. Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

She was absolutely sure, because that was the only way they were going to beat their opponents in a fight like this. She turned, looking Goose dead in the eyes, keeping her gaze firm and confident.

"Goose, I have faith in you, so give yourself some credit and have some faith in me."

The taller woman saw right through her partner's act, she knew exactly what this was, a do or die gambit in which she was the pivotal piece. She swallowed hard, not having expected Belka to put so much weight on her shoulders, but at the same time, had no intention of disappointing her. She gave her a firm nod as the arena solidified into place around them, signifying the imminent beginning of the match.

As soon as the platforms were elevated, the contestants all assumed the arena must have been misnamed. The icon that the system had landed on was marked as 'Tundra', and depicted such an environment, but what rose into place around them was more like a glacier, most of the arena being composed of solid ice. The majority of the snow rested where the default platform met the expanded stage, the rest of it being small paths of rock surrounded completely by floes of ice. Just off to Belka's left was a decently sized hill that looked like a death trap to navigate, the foundation formed from tall, jagged bits of rock, but most of its mass was made up by ice. Rather than being intimidated by the mini mountain, Belka saw an opportunity there. If the whole arena was an icy death trap, she may as well try and use it to her advantage. Smirking, Belka swapped the Wind Dust vial she'd planned on using out for Fire Dust, already forming a plan of attack.

"Don't look all smug, a home field advantage ain't gonna do you no good." Alaska called out, cracking her neck with a satisfying 'pop'.

Belka let out an irritated growl at the cowgirl's taunt, her smile being wiped right off her face. Thankfully, a moment later, the buzzer signifying the start of the match rang out, giving her the go ahead to attack. Readying Morgan in a split second, she sent the beam of super heated Dust at her face without hesitation.

With less than a second to react, Alaska couldn't think. On instinct, she activated her Semblance, and as she did, her sky blue eyes began to glow as the world around her suddenly became more… clear. She never really knew how to describe her Semblance in another way, as, contrary to what most thought, her perception didn't really slow down, it was more akin to a fog lifting, or if she'd put on glasses. For example, the exact angle she needed to raise her blade to deflect Belka's attack became obvious, but bringing Jacinta up fast enough to meet it was still a challenge. The beam hit the edge of her blade, deflecting off to her left, going right past Vera's head, shocking the blonde.

"Hey! Watch it! You almost seared my hair off!"

Ignoring her partner's complaint, Alaska stomped forward, rolling her shoulders. She'd been waiting months for this, and she wasn't going to let a golden opportunity slip out of her hands.

Goose ran in, meeting the older teen halfway, swinging Glücksfall and locking blades with the bluennette. For a brief moment, she pushed against her upperclassman in hopes of driving her back, a plan that quickly went out the window as Alaska started to overpower her very easily, pushing her back with enough force that her boots were left sliding along the arena floor as she tried to gain ground. The exchange was short-lived, as a second blast from Belka ended the lock, hitting SLVR's leader right in the gut, the pain making her drop to her knees. She swore as Goose slipped past her, growling at the realization that she'd been played.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, I'm your opponent here." Belka declared, activating the hard light blade of Morgan before swinging down with the naginata.

Alaska rolled to the side, avoiding the blow and firing a shot of her own that was easily deflected. Seeing her opponent get to her feet, Belka shifted into a defensive stance, watching closely as Alaska pointed her gun sword her way, but didn't fire, instead just tilting her head as if amused.

"You really want to go at me that bad? Fine, your funeral."

As Vera swung her whip, Goose was forced to try and bat the weapon away with Glücksfall, only for the whip to simply curve around the new weapon, ripping along her shoulder as the spiked chains that made up the whip continued with their momentum. The first blow having landed on her was a sobering moment for the red-eyed girl, realizing that the matchup wasn't exactly going to be a simple fight. She had to get in close, but the whip-wielding woman had no choice but try and keep her at a distance. This fight, more than anything, would be about control, something Goose unfortunately didn't have much of in her life.

Doing what she could to try and keep her opponent from keeping her down, she aimed Glücksfall and unloaded Gravity Dust laced buckshot at the woman. Successfully blocking one shot with a weapon like a whip was tricky, successfully blocking eight pellets all moving in unison and hitting with the concussive force of raw gravity embedded into them was all but impossible, yet by some stroke of luck, Vera, moving on instinct, swung her whip in the perfect arc to catch all of them and successfully repel the shot.

Goose didn't swear often, but seeing her own Semblance work against her like that made her come close. Well, what else did she expect? Of course the one time someone believed in her was when her Semblance decided to start mimicking her dad's. She let out a little whine, fearing that this was just the start. It wasn't the first time her Semblance had decided to go out of control, but thankfully, no one had ever been seriously hurt before because of it. However, this was a combat zone, things could very easily be different this time. She swallowed, thinking back to what Belka said, to have some faith in herself, like she was trying to have in her leader. So with a deep breath, she decided to play the odds, focusing hard on Vera as if trying to will her Semblance on the woman. Not that she was even sure it worked that way, but it was all she could really afford to think about.

Thankfully, the second shot proved more successful, Vera trying to repeat her previous performance, but ending up taking the brunt of the shot, staggering back in pain. The third shot was evaded entirely, with Vera dodging to the side and trying to come to a stop, only to go sliding on the ice as she failed to notice they had wandered outside of the stable flooring of the arena.

Off balance but still determined, the faux blonde swung her whip once more, the barbed links of the whip's chain wrapping around the shotgun sword hybrid. Smirking, she tried to rip it out of her underclassmen's grasp, but all she ended up doing was pulling Goose towards her, as she'd also wandered onto the ice by this point. She swore, but kept her cool, and, seeing her opponent off balance, readied a kick to try and knock her onto her back so she could create more distance.

Unfortunately, as she raised her foot to strike, the younger woman stumbled, falling back onto her rear with a soft 'oof' and sliding right under the blow. Now off balance and with the chain being pulled by her opponent sliding right past her, Vera fell onto her stomach, groaning as she slipped, trying to get back to her feet.

Seeing her opening, Goose decided that untangling her weapon could wait for a moment, running in just as Vera got her feet. Undeterred, she swung Glücksfall down, but her upperclassman was ready, catching the weapon with Grimm Killer before wrapping the chains around the weapon, tangling it even farther and forcing them into a lock. Neither girl relented as they each pulled and pushed at their respective weapon, Goose trying to untangle her own while Vera just tried to keep herself in an advantageous position.

As Goose focused harder, trying to force her Semblance to activate and let her slip through the chains, something happened that she didn't even realize, her eyes started to flicker. It was a split second moment that Vera almost missed before it happened once again, her eyes fully shifting to lilac with a faint glow. Not knowing exactly what was going on, the tanned woman just scoffed, assuming it was some sort of intimidation tactic. She could see her opponent thinking light purple was an intimidating color, she was childish enough for that.

"Pfft- what? Is your eyes changing color supposed to freak me out or something? What a total cliche, maybe it would be a little scary if your eyes weren't usually red to begin with."

To Vera's surprise, Goose didn't react the way she expected, pausing and tilting her head as if she was confused.

"Huh? My eyes? I'm not doing anything with those." she said, tilting her sword so that she could use it like a mirror, and noticing the way her eyes had shifted colors. It reminded her of her cousin Yang's Semblance, only in reverse.

However, she also saw something more concerning, as the ice from the mountain on their side broke apart, an avalanche heading right for them with the pair still tangled together by their weapons.

"Shit! Get us untangled!" Vera shouted, trying to unwrap Grimm Killer from Glücksfall, only to gasp as two of the chains had hit a snag.

"I can't!" Goose shouted as she fruitlessly pulled, turning back to see that it was already too late and bracing herself for the impact.

A moment later, the ice and snow barreled down on them, covering both of the girls under several feet of snow and ice.

The strikes from Jacinta came down hard on Belka, hitting even harder than she had expected. Even when she raised her own weapon to block the strikes, the impact sent tremors down her arm that left her sore. She hardly had enough room to breathe, let alone retaliate, so she elected to play defense, avoiding and blocking strikes as they came. Unfortunately, on the icy terrain, that proved to be easier said than done. Raising Morgan to defend herself once again, she tried to deflect Alaska's blow, only to get knocked off balance and stumble. Panicking, she swung the hard light blade at the larger woman's neck, but, being in the middle of falling, Alaska didn't even need to move for the attack to wiff.

Instead, Alaska grabbed Morgan as Belka tried to steady herself, waiting for the weaker girl to try and pull her weapon free, only to force it back, slamming her own weapon into her nose and stunning her, leaving her open for her to thrust her sword into her guts. Were it not for her Aura straining to protect her, the blade would have easily ran right through the Atlesian, instead just sending her sprawling back. The Vacuan woman sighed as she watched Belka scramble back onto her feet. She hadn't been expecting all that much to be fair, but this was just pathetic. She couldn't even enjoy this, but maybe that was her fault for expecting a proper fight out of the freshman.

Getting back to her feet, Belka took a few more steps back, coming close to the edge and looking down. It was a long drop, not long enough to break all her Aura, but enough to do significant damage if she were to be pushed off. Good, she was right where she wanted to be.

"Nice goin' there, genius." Alaska said, her tone more disappointed than taunting. "Nowhere left to run now."

In an instant, Belka's whole demeanor changed. The woman stood up straight as she stared her tormentor down, a smug look appearing on her face that looked just oh so punchable to Alaska.

"Bold words considering I have you right where I want you."

"You want me here? Cornering you against a drop higher than your ego?"

Rather than answer the woman's smug taunt, Belka decided to show her what her plan was. Flipping Morgan in her arms, she stabbed the blade down into the ice below, the superheated blade easily melting through the ice. Narrowing her eyes, Alaska activated her Semblance once more, seeing that there was no rock underneath them, just solid ice, so why on Remnant would she even consider using fire dust on a glac- oh… oh shit.

Belka smirked as she saw her opponent realize her gambit a moment too late. The Atlesian pulled the trigger and held it down, sending a continuous beam of concentrated heat into the ice. The Dust beam effortlessly carved through the ice and bored down into the miniature mountain, and within moments, the entire structure became unstable, cracks forming from all throughout. Moments later, plumes of steam burst out, the added heat making the cracks yawn even wider, and within seconds, the structure started to fall. Alaska ran forward, trying to stop this crazy plan before they both ended up smashed under the ice, but it was too late, and just the added weight of her running over was enough for the edge they were on to collapse.

The two women hit the ground hard, blue and purple Auras flickering from the damage of hitting the ground so hard. Alaska got up first, forcing herself up just before Belka, who was clearly worse off, stumbling and using her naginata to help herself up. Seeing that her opponent was getting ready to attack once more, she aimed Morgan and fired, needing to keep her in place for just a few more seconds.

Just like last time Alaska, activated Angel Eyes, seeing exactly how she'd have to position her blade to deflect the incoming laser away, only this time, she saw something that was more advantageous, a section of ice that had fallen with them that was in the perfect position to reflect back at the little tart, the only problem was this time it wasn't just a simple blast. Belka once again shot a continuous stream of searing light at her bully, only for the results to be even worse than before. Just as Alaskahad planned, the beam was deflected from her blade and into the ice, striking her in the side, which, while weakened from the ice absorbing some of the heat, was still more than enough to burn away at what remained of her Aura. The pain getting to be too much, Belka let go of the trigger, collapsing to the floor and covering her head and neck with her hands as the elimination buzzer rang out.

Alaska huffed and puffed, letting go of her own sword and waving her hand to try and shake off the pain from holding onto the superheated blade, which now hissed against the frozen ground. For a moment, she didn't notice Belka's position, but when she did, it just left her confused. Was this some sort of tantrum she was throwing because of being beaten so quickly? She wouldn't put it past her, but the fact that she was still and tense like she was expecting a hit made her second guess that thought. Looking back up at the ice, Alaska's eyes widened as she realized that they hadn't fully escaped the collapse. A moment later, bits of ice pelted her, dropping her to her knees before she could dodge, before a massive chunk landed right on top of her, dropping her Aura well below the elimination threshold, nearly emptying it, and signaling a second ring of the buzzer at her elimination.

As the debris cleared and the chaos slowed down, Belka got to her feet once again, winded, but oh so satisfied. It was a feeling that was compounded when Alaska crawled forward, shoving chunks of ice off of her back, her Aura flickering as it struggled just to stay up. The bluenette was just as worn down as she was, but unlike Belka, she held a look of pure hatred as she looked at her underclassman. She didn't expect much from Belka, not as a fighter or a huntress, but if that wasn't the most underhanded bullshit she'd ever seen, Alaska didn't know what was.

"So how's it feel? Going down to the weakling you pushed around all year?" What's wrong? Nothing to say? Or is your dumb hick mind still processing that you couldn't beat me?"

Who the hell was this girl? What kind of pathetic little brat always needed to stack the deck in her favor? She hadn't worked for that, if that was a real fight, they'd both be dead right now. If she couldn't fight on her own, then what damn business did she have trying to help others? And she had the audacity to stand there like what had just happened was a win, to smirk and gloat. No, no she didn't think so!

"I fucked your boyfriend." Alaska growled bitterly, her eyes widening for a brief moment as she realized what she'd just said.

"W-what?" Belka recoiled, shaken to her core at those words. After her kneejerk reaction faded, she shook her head, rationalizing it as just another taunt that had unfortunately gotten under her skin. "Bullshit!"

Alaska thought about it for a minute. She hadn't intended on spilling her little secret at that very moment, but now that it was out in the open, there was no putting it back in the bag. Whatever, if Belka wasn't going to have a real fight on her own, then she would force one.

"A bit on the short end, has his hair done up like a lollipop, real smooth talker at Junior's, and fucks like a stallion. Oh wait, did you not get there yet?"

"Th-that doesn't prove anything! It just means you know who Sherbet is! You're not going to fool me!"

"Yer right, but your Semblance can read minds, right? That's the only way you can be certain, right?"

"I see memories you ignorant-" she trailed off into a growl, too angry to even speak. Her face turned red in anger at the obvious lie. Yes, that was it, she was just mad that Alaska thought she was that gullible to begin with, she didn't doubt Sherbet, not one bit!

"Even better." Alaska smiled cruelly, getting to her knees and holding out her hand for Belka to take. "C'mon, put 'er there partner. You got nothing to worry about if I'm lying, right?"

It was a lie, it had to be… so why was she so afraid to confirm it? Swallowing hard, Belka reached out, grabbing Alaska's hand and starting the connection once again.

She saw… Sherbet, panting, his face flushed with exertion from the unmistakably lewd and intimate act he and Alaska were taking part in. She felt like she was going to vomit, but unfortunately, it didn't end there. It just kept going and going, the kissing, the panting and moaning, the sound of Alaska calling out a name she didn't recognize. Romeo? Who the fuck was Romeo? Had he given her a fake name? Had he given Alaska a fake name? Did she even know who this man was? Her heartbreak solidified as she saw them in countless different positions that lasted what felt like an eternity, culminating in her looking deep into those mismatched eyes as he pressed his forehead against Alaska's in an intimate moment that went far beyond anything the two of them had shared.

Something snapped inside Belka that moment. She didn't know when she'd pulled her fist back, let alone swung her fist into Alaska's face, but by the time Alaska hit the ground, she was beyond caring. There was another buzzer, louder, and with a harder tone, but she failed to find any significance in that fact. Blinded by rage, she acted without thinking, kicking the recovering woman square in the face resulting in a crack when the cartilage of her nose shattered under the force of her kick.

Alaska laughed, ignoring the gasps and boos that came from the audience from the blow she'd just taken. Spitting blood onto the arena floor as she got to her feet, her fists were clenched and more than ready to throw down now that the kiddie gloves were off. But, before things devolved into an all out brawl, security Knights moved in, dropping from above and wrapping their mechanical arms around the girls, restraining them.

"The match is over!" The voice of the announcer shouted from the speakers overhead. "Due to unsportsmanlike behavior, BGEL is hereby disqualified!"

"What!?" Belka shrieked, already at the end of her rope from realizing she had been cheated on by an utter bastard who may have not even bothered to tell her his real name, and now she had this damn bucket of bolts holding her down like she was some psycho!

"Wait, huh?" Alaska questioned, similarly shocked at the results, but more frustrated than anything else. She'd wanted a real fight, not to accidentally oust Belka and her team out of the tournament altogether. "This is between us. What the hell are you all butting in for?"

Alaska's complaints fell on deaf ears as the officials moved in, getting between Goose and Vera as well, even as the two were too busy climbing out of the snow to even consider fighting. The match officially came to an end as the four women were escorted off of the arena as it started to lower, both pairs hurtled towards their respective entrances and forced back into the depths of the airborne stadium. As she and Goose were led away in silence, Belka looked down at her bloodied knuckles, her heart sinking as she realized that she'd just made the biggest mistake of her schooling yet.

What the hell had she just done?

"Damn it!" Lavender spat as the stacked pile of cans next to hers tumbled down after Nick's wooden cork hit the middlemost can at center mass, sending the whole triangle shaped stack tumbling down with a series of clangs.

With a sigh, the young Faunus set down the model rifle, regretting having challenged the young man in the first place. She had never been known as a graceful loser, but this was different! As a soldier, he had a huge advantage with that kind of gun! Her aim was never the best with traditional firearms, just pointing her arm and letting a volley of rounds loose with The Queen's Servants came so much more naturally, something she only remembered after missing her third shot in a row.

"Maybe next time, don't challenge an Atlesian soldier to a shooting contest." Nick teased, shifting the model gun so that the barrel was pointed upwards before handing it back to the stall operator, who in turn pulled down one of the many prizes, a simple blond tabby cat plushie.

He wandered back over to Lavender as she pouted against another stall. It was surprisingly cute from a woman who looked ready to cut him open less than an hour ago. He was no stranger to helping someone with their wounded pride, Lumi was an especially sore loser growing up, and gods help him if he didn't let Alexandria win.

"Whatever, if I was allowed to use my guns, you'd be eating your words." she huffed, looking back to him and scowling at the plushie. Her eyes widened for a moment when he offered it to her, before narrowing at the obvious consolation prize. "Try and give me that thing and I'll sting you."

Okay, not like his sisters then, now he had a plushie he had to find a way to get rid of before someone from his unit saw him with it. Looking around, he searched for somewhere that he could set it down and conveniently 'lose it' when he met the eyes of a small child, a young Faunus boy with blonde hair and two cat ears atop his head who, even with the ears, didn't even come up to Nick's waist. The boy looked to Nick, then to the stuffed animal in his hand, and with a smile, Nick knelt down and held out his prize. The child's face lit up as he grabbed it from the soldier and held it tightly to his chest before running over to his father to show off the cat that matched his own features.

Lavender looked away guiltily as he handed the stuffed animal to the child. He'd gone out of his way to help her get her mind off of everything going down and this was how she repaid him? It wasn't like he was a bad guy or anything, naive yes, but it was refreshing to see someone so genuinely nice for the sake of it. But that just confirmed what she already knew, that she couldn't stay around him. It was better for both of them this way, if he got close, she'd just get attached, then she'd screw everything up, find a way to make him hate her, then they'd both end up hurt. So instead, she tried to give him a reason to go, to realize she wasn't worth it and to take the first out he had.

The only issue was that he's apparently just as stubborn as he is nice. Even as she walked off without waiting for him to finish, he jogged back up until he was walking with her once more. She couldn't decide if this was annoying or endearing, but either way, it didn't make sense, he didn't know this girl, and whatever debt he thought he owed her had been long repaid, so what was his deal?

"Why are you putting up with me?" she asked abruptly, spinning around on her heel to look him in the eye.

"What?" Nick asked, confused. "What do you mean? I'm having fun."

"Bullshit, everyone gets sick of me sooner or later, it's just how I am, and unlike my siblings, you don't have a good reason to feel responsible for me. So why are you still around?"

The look on his face said it all, It was subtle, well hidden behind a mask of worry just like with Romeo, she wasn't sure at first, but she knew it well. It was a look that assumed she was unwell, that wanted to leave her behind, but knew she was too screwed up to be left alone. It was a look she'd gotten a lot lately from her own flesh and blood.

"See! You have that same look my brother gets when he's sick of me but can't say anything because he thinks I'm his problem to fix!" That… had come out a bit more specific than she had intended for it to.

Nick paused, realizing what this was about. The comment about her mother earlier made it clear there were some family issues at play, but he didn't need to be a licensed counselor like his father to know that thinking her own sibling resented her when he looked worried meant there was something deeper at play. He thought he had been helping her by giving her a distraction, an opportunity to think about something other than the problems clearly eating away at her, but it seemed even now they were all that was really on her mind. He didn't know exactly what was going on with his new friend, but he wasn't going to just sit there and ignore it anymore.

He turned and motioned for her to follow him as he walked away from the crowd.

"Has he ever said that?"

"No, but I'm not stupid." she muttered, looking away as she mumbled, murmuring as if she didn't want to hear her own words. "I'm an obligation, he loves me because he feels like he has to, not because he likes me. I've always been his problem, now I'm just terrified that I might finally be giving him the excuse to give up on me."

The thought terrified her, even though she knew it wasn't fair. He may have been a walking reminder of how differently their mom had treated them, but at the same time, he was still her big brother, possibly the only real family she had left if his thoughts about Henna were confirmed. Part of her wanted to think that he really would be there for her no matter what, but the more realistic part of her understood that even he could only put up with so much before she drove him away. And then, she'd be alone all over again.

"I'm sure that's not true. Yeah, little sisters can be difficult, trust me, I'm probably Remnant's leading expert on that."

Nick winced as Lavender turned and shot a glare at him, his attempt at humor going unappreciated in the current circumstances. Quickly realizing his mistake, he cleared his throat before continuing in a more serious tone.

"But trust me, being family isn't a good enough excuse on its own." he said, glancing over at the screen that replayed the end of his aunt's match, a close up shot of Bleka kicking Alaska in the face playing in the background as commentators gave their opinions.

The truth was he didn't know much about his aunt. She wasn't some off limits topic, it was just that his mother was distant from that side of her family, to put it mildly. He could see that, even all these years later, just knowing that his grandfather had it in him to be a loving father to his children, but simply chose wealth and status over being a proper father to her, hurt his mother on a level he couldn't even understand. Regardless of the reason, the distance between them was clear.

Lavender paused, his words ringing true. Their mother probably needed more help than the both of them combined, yet he did nothing to hide the fact that he wanted nothing to do with her. He hadn't hesitated to cut the woman who had raised them off, but he wasn't just writing her off completely. It didn't fix everything, but it was proof that she still had a chance.

"What's wrong with me?" Lavender asked, letting out a laugh that even she didn't know if it was genuine or not. "I try to bring my siblings together, and I end up ruining everything. I try to push a complete stranger away, and I end up spilling my guts to him."

"Have you tried that with them? Just talking, telling them how you feel?"

"Not unless starting a screaming match and then having a nervous breakdown when I start losing counts." she muttered, looking up at the sky as a pair of colossal humanoid shapes flew by.

Nick watched as well, the Atlesian mechs meant to serve as a deterrent moving gracefully overhead. He hoped she took his words to heart, or at the very least, that he'd actually said the right thing. Without much experience with what she was going through, it was hard to tell if he'd been helping or just talking at her, but at the very least, she looked to be thinking about it. Whatever happened next was up to her.

Once again realizing how heavy the conversation had gotten, he took the opportunity to inject a bit of levity now that she was at least considering his words.

"You want to know a secret?" he asked in an obviously leading manner, almost like a little kid eager to show off, but who still wanted to make her guess.

"What kind of secret?"

"I'm going to be piloting one of those soon." he said pointing up at the sky, following his finger her eyes went wide as she realized he was pointing right at the war mechs. "There's still a minimum amount of time I need to serve as infantry, but I've already met most of the requirements. Really, the rest is just a bunch of paperwork."

An unexpected conflicted feeling washed over Lavender. She was happy for him, especially since the boy seemed genuinely excited about the prospect of flying one of the mechs, but it didn't take a genius to know that you don't send military machines into run of the mill operations.

"Isn't that dangerous? I thought Atlas's mechs were built for dangerous missions and frontline combat?"

"Being a soldier is dangerous, if I wanted some cushy office job, I'd have just had my mom and uncle show me how to run the family business."

"Just don't get yourself killed." she scoffed, more playful than dismissive as she tried to act casual.

She knew it shouldn't have bothered her, but the idea of Nick, one of the few people who'd been nice to her just for the sake of it, willingly taking on more danger for some naive sense of duty made her stomach drop. The irony of her having done the same thing wasn't lost on her, but if anything, that just made her worry more about the boy.

"Is that worry I hear?"

"I don't have a lot of friends, Princy, you don't get to complain about me caring when you force your way into being one of them."

A friend… it was weird to think of him that way with all their differences. If he knew what she was a part of, she doubted he'd give her the same treatment. But, she supposed it didn't matter, she'd probably never even see the boy again, so what was the harm in letting him be her friend for just a little while?

"Nick? Nicholas!"

A voice called out suddenly, closing in as someone approached. Turning around confused, Nick filtered his head, not expecting his own father to track him down in the middle of his patrol.

"Dad?"

Lavender's eyes went wide once more. Carefully looking around Nick without giving herself away, she immediately recognized the tall built figure of Jaune Arc. Her heart started to race, if she didn't act, the man would absolutely recognize her, Nick would realize who she was and what she had done, and their friendship, however brief, would be over in just a few words.

"Nick, where have you been, you haven't been checking in and no one's seen you on your route." Jaune asked, concern clear on his face as he finally reached his son.

The young man's face went pale as he realized he had unintendedly abandoned his post, he slapped his forehead and groaned, realizing there would be hell to pay once he got back to base.

"Shi- I mean crap, I got distracted with La-" before he could finish speaking, he turned, realizing that Lavender had suddenly vanished. "Where did she go?"

"You were with someone?" Jaune asked, looking around cautiously.

Nicholas frowned as he looked around, he would have at least liked to have said goodbye before she left. If nothing else, he just hoped that things turned out alright for the young woman.

"Yeah, a girl… She just needed some help."

Lavender watched the conversation play out from around a corner, having made a break for it before Jaune was close enough to recognize her. Guilt welled up in her gut seeing the disappointment on his face, she had intended for things to end like this, but in the end, it really couldn't go any other way, she supposed. Maybe this was for the best, after all, it was only a matter of time before her lies started to raise some suspicion within him, at least this way, she'd be remembered as just an unwell girl instead of a manipulative psycho who tried to get close to him for her own gain.

It left a bitter taste in her mouth to not say goodbye, but she had no choice. She pulled her hood up and lowered her head, walking away before she could be seen.

"Well obviously this was motivated by something deeper. No sane person throws away a chance at winning the Vytal Festival over something small.", one of the talking heads on the holoscreen speculated. The station was currently set to some big news network from Atlas that claimed to be an independent outlet. Across from the woman sat a well-known politician currently campaigning against Jaucqes, and while Scarlet didn't really know anything about the man; his smarmy grin and holier than thou demeanor made her hate him right off the bat.

"Oh please, we all know who her parents are, are we really supposed to pretend a Gele being ruthless is abnormal? If this is how that man raised his daughter, how has he been running our city?"

"Ugh, turn that shit off." Scarlet grumbled, having heard enough.

It was bad enough to hear people talking about her friend like she was some savage, but to hear them speculate on what made her snap like it was a mystery in one of her mom's soap operas and then use her personal problems as ammunition against her father made her want to put her fist through a wall.

"This is nothing new, paparazzi and journalists desperate for a headline have been harassing my family since before my mother was born." Lumi spoke matter of factly, though while her tone was steady, the look of disgust on her face as she turned off the screen revealed her true feelings about the journalists making a profit on her aunt's outburst.

"Almost sounds like you feel bad for her."

"It's not like I'm incapable of sympathy just because we don't get along." Lumi said, her jaw shifting as she considered her next words carefully. "Still, it does show a level of carelessness, pulling a stunt like that in the middle of the Vytal Tournament."

"Oh please, like you wouldn't crash out worse if you found out your boyfriend was fucking your bully."

Lumi paused, unable to really argue against her leader's point. Silence grew between them as she properly gave thought about being in Belka's shoes. Just the thought caused her grip on Crocea Mors to tighten. Well… perhaps it was somewhat understandable.

"Let's just focus on the exercise, can you still form the summon?"

Scarlet nodded, holding her hand out and focusing, the blood from her Semblance gathering just a few feet in front of her, and slowly starting to form a familiar shape. To the surprise of both girls, the creature began to stretch its legs before it had even finished coalescing. She watched carefully as her summon started to look around, hesitant but nonetheless curious, even acting like it was sniffing the air as it looked around. Despite its appearance being vaguely dog-like it moved more like a cat, examining a new environment. What was even weirder was that Scarlet wasn't commanding it to move at all, she recalled how Lumi theorized it might be based on instinct, but what instinct was it going off of to do this?

Lumi, similarly curious about the blood-born beast, knelt down in front of it. It looked more solid than its previous manifestations, almost like that gross looking middle point between a wound and a scab, the ichor that composed its form gluggy and partially coagulated. As she leaned in, it tilted its head curiously. She smiled, as despite its gross appearance, the creature was kinda cute in a morbid way, sort of like Sebastion when he would practice sneaking up on her. A moment later, it leaned in, a wet, viscous tongue slipping out from its maw and dragging itself up along her face. Lumi immediately jumped back, falling onto her rear as she spluttered and spat as the summon left a thin trail of blood on her lips and cheek.

"Ack! Scarlet! That's disgusting on so many levels!" Lumi spat, using her sleeve to wipe her face clean with a disgusted groan, only to become mortified as she looked down at her sleeve and realized she had just stained her shirt.

"Woah, hey I am not doing that!" Scarlet said, raising her hands up in defense. Though, despite her words, Scarlet couldn't help but to laugh at the sight of her partner so flustered.

Lumi took a deep breath, centering herself, reminding herself that it was just a shirt and that she could get 20 more when they went back to Vale. Focusing back on the task at hand, she walked around the summon, appraising it as it continued to look around its surroundings. She glanced over Scarlet, humming as she pondered what exactly had changed that was now allowing Scarlet to consistently summon this creature.

"Perhaps it was some subconscious block before? The first time you summoned Icarus, it couldn't have been a pleasant experience."

Scarlet looked away, remembering the first time she had summoned the creature. That was a dark day for her, maybe the darkest of her life so far. It was hard to imagine her willingly raising her weapon at her dad like that again. Even just the idea of being that angry at someone was hard to fathom after everything was set and done.

"Yeah, it was ha- wait, Icarus?" Scarlet asked incredulously, realizing that Lumi had just named her summon.

"It's from an old fairy tale my father used to read to me. A poor birdlike creature of wax that could neither stay in the sun, lest it melt, nor hide in the shade, lest it harden."

"Eh, I dunno, I like how it sounds, but it doesn't really match my vibe."

"I suppose you could name it something like 'Bloodhound'."

Scarlet opened her mouth to protest, but stopped upon realizing that she actually really liked that name. There was just one problem though, if she went with that, not only would she still be letting Lumi name it, but she'd be proving her right about the edge lord thing. Eh, she just remember that for some other attack she'd come up with down the line.

"Hmm… okay I like that, but…" Scarlet trailed off. She actually did like how the name sounded, but it was just.. distinctly Lumi, though if she changed the name just a bit… "I got it! Ichorus!"

"That's what I said." Lumi pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"No, you said Icarus, think spelled similarly but with 'ichor' instead of however you spell what you said."

"That's… surprisingly clever for you." Lumi said with a smile. While it was just as on the nose as the name she had suggested in jest, she had to respect the wordplay to some degree, especially since it wasn't something she'd expected out of her leader. "I like it."

As the two settled on a name, the newly dubbed Ichorus let out a low growl that almost sounded like a hum, the creature laying down on its side to rest while the two women both turned to stare at it, wondering how a creature with no vocal cords or even a throat was making noise.

A moment later, the door to the training room slit open as Sarasvati hurriedly walked in, looking around for just a moment before her eyes landed on the girls. She didn't look well, her hair was noticeably unkempt and frazzled, and there were heavy bags under her reddened eyes like she had lost a lot of sleep. The two women of SJJL shared a worried look, immediately something clearly wrong. Sarasvati was never the sort of person to be so debilitated by something minor, or at least, in the brief time they knew her she certainly wasn't. By the time they turned back to ask what was going on, she had already closed the distance, having speed-walked over in just a matter of moments.

"Um, excuse me." Sarasvati spoke up, her voice small and hoarse with a clear edge of worry in her tone. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but could I please borrow one of your Scrolls for just a moment? I think something's wrong with mine."

"Of course." Scarlet said, casually handing over her Scroll. "Is yours broken or something?"

"I don't know, I've been trying to call Mom for the last couple of days, but it won't go through." The tanned woman explained as she waited for the Scroll to stop ringing, only for her to be met with the same default voicemail message as with her own scroll. "Damn it! Sorry, she's probably just in an area without reception… It's just… She said she'd stay in contact and… something just feels wrong."

"Here, try my Scroll, it's a bit more advanced so if it's a range or reception issue, it might help." Lumi offered, the pair walking off with hopes of finding an area with better reception, preferably not hindered by several layers of stone.

Scarlet watched as the two walked off, her stomach dropping with worry. She shook her head, affirming to herself that it was probably nothing, just a lack of reception like Sarasvati had said, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of worry. She knew that feeling, the gnawing desire to call her parents, to just hear their voice for a moment when she couldn't… No, that wasn't right, she could call her parents whenever she wanted, she was just too angry to do so. Guilt started to eat away at her, how long had it been since she talked to her mom or dad? It had to have been a few months at least, since she left home for a second time after confronting her dad. Gods above, that was over half a year ago, she'd been so busy that she had never bothered to keep track of how long it had been.

Still holding her Scroll, she opened it up, heading to her contacts and opening up her mom's message history. Months of unanswered messages stared her in the face, all attempts to reach out or just to simply talk that had stubbornly gone ignored. Scarlet bit her lip, any of those calls could have been the last time they'd spoken, what with the cult coming after her, or even just a freak accident during training, and she'd ignored it. She didn't know why she was thinking like this, as realistically speaking, she knew that she wasn't going to kick the bucket anytime soon, and her parents were safe on Patch, but Ruby's words and Sarasvati's inability to reach her mother couldn't help but to place the idea in her head that at any point, they could lose each other, that any conversation could be their last… and she wasn't going to let her last memory of her mother be pushing her away.

With a heavy sigh, she swelled her nerves, pressing the call icon and pulling the Scroll's speaker up to her ear. There wasn't too big of a time difference between the part of Vacuo she was in and Patch, a fair few hours behind, but certainly not enough to be too late for a call. After a few moments of ringing, the call was answered, and for a moment, silence fell between Scarlet and whoever was on the other end, their nerves stopping both women from being the one to start talking.

"Hello? Scarlet?" Cinder eventually asked, her voice shaky and quiet. For the first time in what might have been her entire life, she realized her mother sounded afraid.

"Hey Mom, it's me… How are you?" Her own voice proved to be just as wavering, the flood of emotions suddenly hitting her harder than she had expected. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, even though no one was around to see them, not wanting to get overwhelmed just from talking with her mom again.

"I've been… Good." Her mother's tone grew more measured as she responded, and while Scarlet couldn't see it, it was obvious even just over the call that a lot of tension had just lifted from her shoulders. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great, I just…" Scarlet caught herself as her voice broke, more tears flowing down her face as it hit her just how badly she'd wanted to hear her mom's voice. After taking a moment to compose herself, she continued. "I missed talking to you, and Dad."

"I missed you too darling. We both did."

There was a pause after that, the pair each reminded of the distance between each other. Cinder wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around her child, the girl who had become her sole reason for the way she lived her life, and now she was so far away that she couldn't even comfort her. They each took a moment to compose themselves, simply missing each other, feeling so close but so far away at the same time.

"Is he still at work?" Scarlet asked upon finding her voice once again.

"He should be back soon. If you're busy, I can let him know you called."

"No, it's okay, I want to talk."

There was a brief, uneasy sigh of relief from Cinder the moment Scarlet's words left her mouth. Guilt welled up in her chest once again, the realization of the stress and worry she had put her parents through filling her with regret.

"I saw your fights on the broadcast, you seemed to be enjoying yourself." her mom said, trying to start the conversation casually.

"Well duh. A chance to get some good sparring in and look badass in front of the whole world while doing it? What's not to enjoy?" Scarlet asked with a small but genuine laugh.

"You haven't changed a bit." Cinder said warmly, Scarlet practically able to see the smile on her mother's face even over the audio call. A smile that wasn't common, but one she knew all too well.

"Guess not. How about you guys, anything new since I've been gone?"

"Well, your father's been taking his training more seriously, I think your friend putting him in through his own back door hurt his pride a little more than he wants to admit."

The pair shared a laugh at that, each imagining Adam brooding as he practiced swings because a teenager had gotten the drop on him once. It occurred to Scarlet that she hadn't even taken the time to poke fun at her old man for that, a mistake she decided she'd immediately fix once she got done crying from hearing his voice again.

"Enough about us though, Emerald told me Jet took you to the dance. Has that gone anywhere, hmm?"

"Ugh, Mooom!"

Scarlet groaned at her mom's teasing question, though despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but smile. It had been more or less expected between the families that she and Jet would become an item sooner or later, and while how far that was going currently was kind of nebulous, it was clear it was leading somewhere, even if she wasn't sure where exactly.

"Because, while I do want grandchildren, you need to wait a few years. Protection is important, especially at your age."

At her mother's blunt declaration, Scarlet's face went…Well, Scarlet hadn't even shared a kiss with the boy, so it went without saying that the topic of children caught her just a teensy, tiny bit off guard.

"M-MOM!"

Goose was silent as she sat at the edge of Belka's bed alongside Whiskey. The blunt, nibbled off edges of her nails dug at the soft fabric beneath then as she fought between the urge to pull Belka down onto the bed and hug her until she smiled, and the equally strong desire to lift her up and shake her until whatever was wrong with her leader either fixed itself, or until she was too worn down to argue against common sense! It was a very close call, but it was clear how much learning about her boyfriend's betrayal had hurt her, so she held her tongue for the moment.

Belka didn't notice the constant looks of concern from her partner whatsoever, too preoccupied staring down at her Scroll as she paced back and forth in her room in an almost mindless loop. The constant stomping of her dress shoes against the fabric of the carpet created a sort of white noise that set the current mood of their temporary room, and was starting to cause visible wear on the flooring.

She wasn't technically restricted in her movements to any meaningful capacity, though she was warned not to step out of line during her remaining time in the kingdom. No, the reason she was confined to her dorm was her own shame. The knowledge that everyone would be watching her, whispering behind her back, it was a feeling she was all too familiar with, and one she knew she'd be going home to. Even if her little outburst didn't get her kicked out of the school, the other students would all be watching her, judging her, so she chose to just stay in her room and avoid it while she still could.

So, she isolated herself, only letting in a few people as she processed the shame of her behaviour, and what's more, the betrayal of her so-called 'boyfriend'. Despite knowing one of her friends was talking to her, she couldn't hear them, as in that moment, all that mattered was that name in her contacts mocking her, the word Sherbet with a pair of pink and green heart emojis staring back at her. Gritting her teeth, she shushed whoever was talking, either Goose or Whiskey, it didn't matter to her, she needed silence for this. She tapped the call icon and raised her Scroll, her pacing getting faster until the click of the call being answered stopped her in her tracks.

"Belka? Hey what's up?" The bastard answered casually, like he hadn't been playing her, like he didn't let her kiss him after he'd fucked her tormentor!

"Don't you 'what's up' me you fucking asshole!" she exploded into vitriol the moment her mouth was open.

She hadn't even really meant to swear at him. In fact, she didn't have a plan at all. All she really knew going into this was that she had to hear it from him. She hated that part of herself, and truthfully, she didn't even really know what it was. All she knew was that, however small it was, she had to snuff it out.

"Woah, where's this coming from?" Romeo asked, actually sounding blindsided.

While there was a small bit of satisfaction at the fact that she'd pulled the rug out from under him, it was quickly buried as in her mind his shock further confirmed that he really thought she was so stupid that she'd never figure out his little game, bringing her right back to her righteous anger.

"I don't know, you tell me Romeo." While she couldn't see the look on his face, she was able to take satisfaction at the sound of his breath catching over the line. "Oh? Missed my match? I should have known, it's not like anything else about you is real, so I guess I should have known you wouldn't keep your word for either of us."

She could feel her heart quicken as the silence between them lingered. Despite having him cornered and springing this on him out of the blue, the small pit of anxiety that made her hesitate to confront him at all kept her tense, a hint of fear of some sort of reprisal lingering even just over the phone.

To her surprise, he didn't yell or make threats, but somehow, the lingering silence he left instead was worse than that, knowing that the man was clearly thinking over his options on how todeal with her. A small part of her hoped he would just hang up, that she could write him off as a coward who fled with his tail between his legs the moment she figured out who he really was. That hope was soon dashed.

"Okay, okay. Yeah, my name is Romeo, I just go by Sherbet with friends, it's like a nickname."

"A nickname huh? And it had nothing to do with keeping me from looking up how long Romeo Torchwick's rap sheet is?!" she asked with a dry, bitter laugh at his half assed excuse.

Her anger started to boil over once more at just the thought. What would have happened to her if it got out that she was dating a known criminal? Did he care? Did he even consider the consequences? Probably not, he probably didn't care about anything so long as he had his fun.

"I mean, that's not really the reason. I mean, you didn't catch Malachite eith-." he rambled, catching his mistake just as she started to wonder what was supposed to be off about the surname of Malachite. However, the slippery little rat had a faster mouth than her, continuing with his excuse. "I- look, this is just a misunderstanding, just tell me what you heard and I'm sure we can figure ou-"

"Oh shut the fuck up! We're done. Have fun with your whore, you two deserve each other!"

"Don't call he-" She hit the end call button on instinct the moment his voice started to raise.

He was going to defend Alaska… the woman he knew had made her life hell, she had to cut the call short. There was so much more she wanted to say, even if just to yell at him, but she wasn't ready in her current state, and she couldn't let him see just how weak he had made her feel.

"Are you okay?" Whiskey asked, reaching her hand out to try and pull her friend down onto the bed, to take a moment to just breathe and calm down, however, Belka brushed right past her, not even noticing the gesture.

"No…" Belka muttered, unable to look up from her feet, the shame returning at falling for an act that now seemed so obviously fake, and for losing control over that pig to begin with. "Damn it, I can't believe I was so stupid!"

With the last of her composure shattering like glass upon stone, Belka dropped down onto the bed, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes as a strained, painful wail escaped her. Whiskey pulled her into a hug, just comforting her as she let out her pain.

"Maybe I should call Liz and Lao back to the dorm." Goose said gently from off to the side, not yet looking at her partner as she was still thinking over her words, trying not to say something that could be taken the wrong way "I'm sure if you apologize, the-"

Before she had even finished, Belka had stood back up in a surprise bout of energy as she once again shifted moods from sadness to fury.

"Why are you even here? You're not the one who's going to be mocked and harassed the moment you step outside. If you'd rather spend time with your niece and her partner, then go!" Belka snapped, ready to tear Goose a new one for implying this was her fault. But, as she opened her mouth to continue, she faltered. It was her fault. "I'm sorry I just… damnit, I need a minute."

Without waiting for a response, Belka hurried to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and leaving the two other girls alone in the room. The moment they were alone, Goose let out a long shaky sigh, letting herself fall back onto the bed and stare up at the ceiling. A moment later, Whiskey reached out and gave her a pat on the shoulder with a reassuring smile.

"Don't take it personally, she just needs a minute to cool down." Whiskey explained, having been on the receiving end of Belka's outbursts more than once herself.

"It's not that, it's just… I'm just so mad at her." Goose sighed, her mask crumbling as her eyes furrowed, tiredly glaring up at the ceiling. She had expected Whiskey to defend her friend, to remind her that 'it wasn't her fault' and that 'it wouldn't be right to get mad at her at the moment'. But when that didn't come, and the Faunus kept her hand gently on her shoulder, she felt comfortable enough to vent a little bit more. "I tried to tell her this was a bad idea and she didn't listen… but I don't want to be mean about it, certainly not right now."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, she's always been like this. Hopefully, whatever fallout comes out of this knocks some sense into her."

"Really?" Goose asked, turning her head over to look at the brunette who was still sitting calmly. She chewed her lip, trying to remember a time when Belka had talked about how she had been before Beacon. Coming up with nothing, she hummed in curiosity. "Belka doesn't talk about home much."

"That doesn't surprise me, there's not a lot of happy memories to talk about."