RWBY 1. The Worst Mission Ever

**The summary says it all folks, so enjoy and happy fourth guys!**

"Get her you idiots! She's got the package!" Roman screamed at his henchman as he fired his cane repeatedly at the thieving nuisance.

This was by far, the **worst** mission Blake has ever done in her entire freaking life.

This was the dominant thought in her mind as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop, dodging Roman's screaming projectiles Roman was firing and clutching the black bag in her arms. She could feel the bullets zip by as they failed to hit their target. She tried her absolute best to shake the criminals off of her tail, but every attempt to lose the murderous thugs was met with failure. Every time she sped into the darkness of an alley way and every time she slid into a vacant house to seek hidden refuge, the thugs were always there to cut her off, firing guns and swinging blades at her.

In her line of work, she was famously revered for her ability to disappear without the leaving the tiniest trace, but those famous talents of hers were proving to be useless in this situation. The sting of the bullet wounds in her side was a screaming reminder of this.

Desperately searching for a way to evade her pursuers, she noticed a large gap separated by two parallel roads. There was no way the thugs possessed the ability to jump that far, so if she could jump across, she could finally escape the suited men chasing her. As soon as she landed, she would find the closest and most efficient hiding spot, hide the cargo she was assigned to retrieve, and focus all of her attention to escaping.

Normally, she wouldn't take the risk of losing a package she was assigned to collect, but if this continued, Blake wouldn't even be able stay alive long enough to drop it off. She would just have to come back for it later.

"_Whatever is in this package better be worth it, or the Council is going to get it." _Blake angrily thought as she increased her momentum in hopes of making the jump.

Summoning every last ounce of her strength, she gritted her teeth, planted her feet on the edge of the building, and launched herself across the gap as far as she could.

Skidding to a screeching halt, Roman dug his feet into the ground before he sent himself careening off of the rooftop.

"Damn it!"Roman growled as he glared at the back of his target. The bitch still had his merchandise and was about to get away with it. There was no way he or any of his men could pursue her, for they didn't possess the unnatural athletics of a Faunus. There was only one way he could hope to retrieve his objective. He may damage the merchandise, but he would be damned before he lets a filthy animal like her do him over one.

With malice in his eyes, he raised his cane and aimed carefully at the black figure in the distance. He would only have one shot at this.

"_Now!"_

Satisfied with his aim, he pulled the trigger, firing a screeching red firework at the girl in the middle of her leap.

Blake could hear the obnoxiously loud projectile flying at her, but there was nothing she could do. She was completely vulnerable, for no matter how agile she was she couldn't change direction while in the air.

This was going to hurt…a lot.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" she screamed as she was engulfed by the scalding explosion and was sent flying further off course. She anticipated the pain of being shot, but she did not anticipate the edge of the roof grazing her stretched fingers as they slipped from her reach.

Screaming in horror, she flailed and spun in the air trying to grab anything that could save her from the impending collision with the ground. Unfortunately for her, there was nothing to break her fall.

Except for the dumpster that she landed on and dislocated her arm against.

As she lied face down on the dirty ground with burns littering her pale skin, she was focusing heavily on the conundrum racking her brain instead of paying attention to the agonizing pain she was in. She couldn't decide who she hated more at the moment.

The Council for sending her on this mission.

Adam for recommending her for the mission.

Or the first person who said that cats always land on their feet.

But she had no time to find out, nor did she have time to lick her aching wounds. She was pretty sure that the bastards were rushing towards her location, and if they found her in her terrible condition, she would have a lot more to worry about then a broken arm and a few burns.

Raising her head slowly, she shot her eyes in every direction in a panic, scanning for any and every potential hiding spot. Once again, her luck soured as the only hiding spot was in the dumpster that broke her fall and her arm, and even if she hid in it, she wasn't small enough to completely conceal herself.

The only way she could possibly fit in there would be to…

Oh no…

Hell to the no!

She promised herself multiple times she would **never **transform again. As a Faunus, it was degrading on a monumental level and she abhorred even possessing the damned ability, and not only was it humiliating on a personal level, it was also on a physical level. Despite how useful transforming was when she needed to blend in, she needed to abandon almost all of her clothes whenever she did, adding further insult to injury. (Literally in this case)

For her to even consider doing this, she would have to exhaust absolutely EVERY other option.

"I think she landed somewhere over here!" a thug shouted from the distance.

Well… crap…her options just ran out. Well, at least Yang wouldn't be around to annoy her with her constant cat puns.

Bracing her for the appalling smells her poor nose was about to be subjected to, she crawled back towards the rusty dumpster that was the nesting ground for a colony of flies.

It was official; she hated all three of them evenly right now.

Roman was not a happy man. Tonight was supposed short and sweet so that he could return to his quarters and spend the Friday night relaxing with a cigar and a drink, but of course someone from the White Fang had to complicate things for him. The woman had better hope that his shot had killed her, because if he found the contents of his package damaged, she would be begging for death after he was done with her.

"I think she landed somewhere over here!" one of his henchman shouted from ahead.

Good. If he hurried, he would be able to get back before his wine got warm.

Readying his cane to finish the thief off, he followed his henchman into the dark alley way as they marched towards their prey, but they were confused by the abnormal sight before them. Lying on the ground abandoned in the middle of the alleyway was the annoying thief's clothes, torn all over and smoking from the recent explosion. Was she really running around in the dark of night stark naked?

And was one of his henchmen seriously playing with the missing girl's panties?

Bringing his cane up to punish his underling for his utter lack of class, he smacked the back of his head, sending his hat flying off while screaming, "PUT THAT DOWN!"

"Yes sir!" he yelped in pain as he dropped Blake's unmentionables while rubbing the pulsating pain on his head.

Roman would have continued to reprimand the fool, but his concentration was torn away from him as his eyes caught sight of the garbage dumpster next the pile of clothes.

"_I wonder…"_

"You, search the dump." He commanded as he pointed towards the perverted henchman.

Desiring not to anger his boss any further, he moved quickly towards the garbage ready to get his hands dirty.

After two minutes of swallowing his need to hurl his dinner, he halted his efforts as he saw the "diamond in the rough".

"Sir, I found it!" he shouted excitedly as he ripped the grease stained package out, handing it towards Roman.

Backing away from his smelly peon, he said, "Good job, now stay at least ten feet away from me and carry the package."

"Sir, what about the Faunus?" another henchman said as he sheathed his combat knife.

"It doesn't matter. We have what we want, and if we just so happen to find her, we'll finish her."

Hoping to avoid any more interruptions, Roman signaled his thugs to follow him as they walked through the hallways.

If he had stayed a few more minutes, he probably would have heard the quiet, but painful, mewls coming from deep in the dumpster.

Work today was absolute hell!

Usually, the pizza place was always busy on a Friday night, but today was especially busy because of the all-you-can-eat buffet. Due to the overwhelming amount of people, Jaune and his two friends, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, were forced to work unpaid overtime by their asshole boss. It was bad enough that they had to work three more hours with no pay, but it was even worse when there were only three people to do all of the strenuous work involved.

Sometimes he wondered why he kept this job. He didn't absolutely need it, his house was paid for by his adopted mother, his adopted father was the headmaster of the college he attended so tuition was taken care of, and he could always find another job to pay for his groceries.

The only reason he didn't quit was that his two closest friends were there to make it worthwhile. Whenever he needed personal guidance from someone he could confide in without concerns for judgment, he would consult Ren, for he was perhaps the wisest seventeen-year old in Vytal. As for Nora…well…she was always good for a laugh. Sure, she was an insane menace to society, but she was always good for a laugh.

Oh well, maybe a nice shower and warm cup of tea would clear his mind. He wanted to relax before he went back to class Monday.

As he walked through the streets, brushing past many people quickly so that he could get home faster, he was interrupted by the subtle sound of whimpering coming from the ally way to his right.

Now there were many rules that one should follow if they wanted to live a healthy life in a city like Vytal, and one of the rules that was high on the list was, "Never go into a dark alley way, especially at night.", but Jaune could tell that whatever was whimpering was in pain, and that alone was reason enough to convince him to temporarily abandon the golden rule.

Steeling himself and shivering in fright, Jaune cautiously tiptoed into the intimidating darkness of the alley.

"_Oh man, this is a huge mistake! I'm gonna get mugged and die! My parents are going to be devastated when they find out that I died for being stupid. They won't be surprised, but they'll be devastated!"_

As Jaune progressed further into the death trap, he slowly began to pinpoint where the source of the small whimpers. To his surprise, the sounds were coming from a garbage dump.

"_Ok…here it goes." _He thought as he slowly looked over the side of the dumpster, ready to retreat if anything jumped out to attack him.

But as soon as he saw what was in pain, he abandoned any thoughts of running.

"_Oh no…"_

Curled up in a shivering bundle, coated in dried blood that was leaking from its rib, was an injured and moaning black cat. It was breathing heavily with raspy breaths and favoring its right side, which indicated that its left arm was broken, and he could tell from the singed fur on its spine that it had been burnt recently. But what disturbed Jaune the most was the fact that the blood leaving its body was due to bullet wounds in its left rib, and this disgusted him deeply that someone would shoot a defenseless animal like this.

Feeling immense pity for the poor animal, he racked his brain for any solutions. The feline was in dire need of medical attention, but the vetenarian's office was closed for repairs. He would tend to the animal himself, but he wasn't sure if it would allow him to carry it to safety in its injured state. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he needed to figure it out fast before the animal caught an infection.

"Uuumm…hello?" Jaune greeted questioningly, testing whether or not the poor creature was even conscious.

He received no response. The cat just continued to pant and wheeze.

"_Well, I guess as long as its asleep it won't mind."_

He didn't care that it smelled like week old cabbage, and he didn't care that he was likely to be clawed and scratched to hell and back. His kind nature simply wouldn't allow him to abandon the poor thing.

"_I guess that shower's going to have to wait."_

Blake was by no means a morning person.

Whenever her sleep was disturbed and she was forcibly ripped from her pleasant dreams of a better time, she would wake up ready to destroy the one responsible. But as she sluggishly woke up, her mind slowly began to register the aching pain radiating from her injuries from last night. So Blake was woke up against her will and she was in pain; a **dangerous **combination.

"_Ooooowwwww…I haven't felt this crappy since the morning after Yang's last birthday party."_

As her eyes slowly fluttered open from the morning sun's rays peaking through the windows, she noticed the clean and inviting bedroom she was in. It was filled with possessions that would typically, belong to a teenager, which included a few video game systems, a T.V, a computer, posters of famous animes, and to Blake's great delight, a large rack of books. She also noticed the large and soft, king-sized bed she was comfortably lying against. The sheets were recently cleaned, as if to intentionally add to Blake's comfort.

"_What happened last night? What am I doing here? I remember getting shot…and then the garbage dump…and then…"_

Recalling her last memory before the pains of her injuries sent her into unconsciousness, she slowly brought her "hands" to her face, only to be met with the sight of furry black cat paws.

"_Oh yeah, this." _Blake thought disdainfully.

As she inspected the results the transformation had on her body, she was more interested in the evidence of someone's great care for her condition. Bandages were firmly, but gently, wrapped around her ribs where she was shot. Her injuries and burns were cleaned, her fur was shiny and lustrous from a fairly recent bath, and she tasted the familiar after-taste of pain killers. She was also interested in the fact that her left arm was no longer dislocated. It was safe to assume that whoever gave her all of this generous medical attention was also the owner of this clean and homey room, for it smelled identical to the subtle scent of a human left on her bandages.

As Blake observed her surroundings, her attention was diverted to the sound of the door opening. A blond boy who appeared to be around her age walked through the door carrying two bowls in one arm. To Blake's great amusement, the boy was wearing a blue onesy as pajamas, leading Blake to infer that it was morning.

Noticing the tiny black creature observe his every move with her large and hypnotizing gold eyes, Jaune slowed his movements down, as not to alarm her, and spoke to Blake in a gentle and collected voice.

"Hey there . Are you feewing better this morning?" He cooed at her in a voice usually reserved for babies.

"If you keep speaking to me like I'm a child, I will bitch-slap you with my claws." She growled in reply, but due to her feline form, the only sounds that escaped her fuzzy lips were angry "meows" and hisses.

The nerve of this boy! Talking to her like she's his house cat! Although she was grateful for the care she received from him, she refused to be treated like a pet!

Flinching from the menacing growls from the cat, he quickly replied while placing the bowls on the bed next to her, "Okay, if you don't like the voice I'll stop. Are you hungry?"

Suddenly out of nowhere, Blake zipped off her spot and pounced the bowl on her right.

"You got me tuna! I LOVE YOU!" she uncharacteristically squealed in delight. If he gave her tuna for breakfast every morning, he could talk to her anyway he wanted!

"I'll take that as a "yes"." Jaune chuckled as he collected clothes from his dresser. "Oh yeah, I think this belongs to you."

Instantly seizing Blake's attention, Jaune pulled a tiny black strip of clothe out of his dresser. It was the only article of clothing that managed to stay attached to her when she transformed.

"My bow?" she meowed as she felt her neck for it, only for her paws to feel bare fur.

Hearing the high pitched meowing from the cat; he could tell that she recognized the soft strip in his hands. After putting his cloths aside on the bed, he pulled on the bow to read the tiny golden writing neatly sewn into it.

"Blake; that's a nice name." he said as he slowly approached the cat and started to gently tie the bow around her neck, making sure that it didn't inhibit her ability to breathe. After he finished his delicate work, he raised his right hand and gently stroked her left ear, eliciting soft purrs from her in the process.

"Woooooooowwwww, you have magic hands my friend!" she purred lovingly, greatly enjoying what Jaune was doing to her. Usually she wouldn't let anyone touch her precious appendages, but she just couldn't resist the soothing and relaxing sensation of Jaune's fingers dancing across the back of her ears.

"Well, if you're wearing a bow with your name on it, then you obviously belong to someone. We'll find your owner soon, so don't worry." Jaune smiled as he retracted his hand. After collecting his clothes from the bed, he left his room for a relaxing morning shower.

"l'll be right back, so you just rest for now." He said as he closed the door behind him.

After Jaune left and she washed down her tuna with the water in the other bowl, Blake slowly limped back to her spot on the fluffy pillows.

As she snuggled back into the warmth the pillow collected from her body, she began to consider her next move. The Council would want to know that she had failed her mission, news that Blake was not looking forward to delivering, but in her current condition she wouldn't be able to make it out of the window without collapsing. Her scroll no doubt was destroyed by the explosion that scorched her last night, so there was no way to contact them, or any of her friends, from a distance. With no other choice, Blake simply resigned to the fact that she was going to be staying with the weird, but pleasantly hospitable, boy for a while, at least until her injuries heal and she's fully mobile again. However, she would have to make absolutely sure that he continued to think that she was just some lost cat he rescued, for she didn't want him involved in the dangers of her daily life.

"_Oh well, at least the boy will keep me entertained during my stay." _Blake thought as she resumed her refreshing slumber.

But what neither Blake nor Jaune knew at the time was from that moment on; both of their lives were to become much more entertaining, and **much **more chaotic.

**Any questions, comments, or concerns? You know what to do! :-)**


	2. A New Friend

**Wow…just…wow.**

**You guys completely blew my mind when I saw how many people like this. All I have to say in response to that is "Thanks!"**

"_Oh Blake, you're such a sweetheart."_

"_Thank you Mommy." She squeaked cutely from her mother's lap as her mother lovingly caressed her head. _

_Most people find the comfort of a warm bed with a fluffy pillow the most appealing place to fall asleep, but to Blake no bed in the world could compare to the soothing warmth of her mother's lap, and no pillow could lull her to sleep more easily than her mother's fingers brushing against her ears._

_Before she allowed herself to fall into a blissful slumber, Blake looked up to her mother and innocently asked her, "Mommy, what's an abomination?"_

_As soon as she finished her question, she immediately regretted it as her mother's hand froze and ceased her petting._

"_Where did you hear that word Blake?"_

_Confused by the pain in her mother's voice, she simply replied, "One of the teachers at school whispered it after I left the classroom. What does it mean?"_

_But before she could receive an answer, her face was instantly met with her mother's chest as she was embraced into a heartfelt hug. She would have asked what was wrong, but she was afraid to ask any more questions. The subtle, but violent, compressions of her mother's chest and the wetness traveling down Blake's back was a clear indication that she had unintentionally upset her with her questions._

_Did she do something wrong?_

As Blake's consciousness returned to her, her mind slowly receded from her reminiscent dreams of a better time, before she became fully aware of the harsh and unforgiving circumstances of the life as a Faunus.

"_Those were the days…" _she depressively thought as she yawned and stretched.

As she stretched her exhausted limbs, she was completely yanked back into the world of consciousness as her injuries were unintentionally stretched and flared with instant pain. Momentarily startled by the injuries and the unfamiliar surroundings, she once again recalled the events of last night and also her brief meeting with her goofy savior. Speaking of which, she really needed to find out what his name was, she didn't want to keep referring to him by various nicknames. He wasn't in the room with her, so unfortunately she was going to have to grit her teeth, bear the pain, and begin to get used to walking on four legs again if she wanted to see him.

Grunting in pain, Blake sluggishly rose from her spot on the bed and practiced walking by marching in circles on the bed before she attempted to leap off of it. It took about ten minutes, but she was able to grasp the basics efficiently. There was no way that she would be able to run without extra practice, even if her injuries didn't inhibit her ability to do so, but her current progress would have to suffice.

After painfully jumping from the bed to the floor with grace only a feline could achieve, she put her new walking skills to use as she strode through the open door. For a house that was seemingly inhabited by one lone teenage boy, it was surprisingly big. As she walked through the hallways, she counted at least three rooms and when she reached the end of it and saw stairs leading down towards the floor Jaune was on. Despite seeming like a quiet and meek boy, his voice carried throughout the house clearly.

Or maybe she could chalk it up to her enhanced hearing, one of the few benefits of being a Faunus.

"Look, I know you and Nora are tired, but I really need you to come over. It's important." He said as he spoke to his scroll.

As Blake observed her temporary caretaker from atop the stairs as he sat on his couch with his new clothes on, she pondered what could be so important as to disturb his tired friends. More than likely she was the reason, but didn't want to assume.

"_**What could require my immediate attention so much that you would disturb our anniversary to call me about it? Need I remind you how Nora pranked you the last time you interrupted our private time?" **_a boy asked as his voice reverberated through the scroll.

Shuddering from the chilling memories of his toilet paper coated in itching powder, he shakily replied, "I k-know, and you know I wouldn't dare call if I didn't really need your help."

Chuckling at her new friend's previous misfortune, she decided that they had more in common then she originally thought. This "Nora" reminded her a lot of Yang, as Blake was the target of her blonde companion's mischievous pranks just as he was to Nora's.

After sighing in resignation to his friend's request, the voice replied, _**"We'll be there in fifteen minutes."**_

"Thanks Ren, you're a real pal! Oh yeah, and could you please bring your first-aid kit?"

"_**Sure thing Jaune." **_He flatly replied before hanging up.

So that was his name. Frankly, Blake was expecting a more average and typical name from him, but the name "Jaune" sounded like a name given to heroes in folklore and fairy-tales. Maybe she was just jealous that his parents were more creative then hers when it came to names, for she always found her name to be plain and colorless, even if she felt it was a fitting reflection of her personality and fashion sense.

"_I wonder what his last name is?" _she thought as she carefully walked down the stairs.

Noticing the tiny black figure descending the stairs to his left, he was shocked to see his damaged guest up and on her feet.

"Oh, you're awake already? You didn't really stay asleep for long." He said as he put his scroll down on the sofa and walked towards her.

Curious to see how much time had passed since she first woke up, she glanced at the clock hung on the wall, and true to Jaune's word she was only asleep for an hour.

"_Did she just look at the clock?" _he thought as he also glanced in the direction Blake did, but ignored the impossible idea that a cat could tell time.

As he gently picked up the feline, taking great care not to irritate her wounds, he carefully sat back down on the couch.

"So, do you feel any better?" he asked as he tenderly pet her back.

"Do you really expect an answer from someone that can't speak human tongue?" she replied through a series of annoyed "meows".

"I'll take that as a "Yes"." He happily replied as he continued to stroke her back.

So this was what she was going to be subjected to during her stay? These weird and immensely awkward one-sided conversations that owners had with their pets? If this was true, he may as well have named her "Garfield".

Oh well, it's not as if she had much to say to him anyway. The only people she really engaged in full conversations with were Adam, Yang, and Sun because she had known them for most of her life.

As time passed, Jaune was keeping himself occupied as he caressed Blake by watching T.V. Usually he would spend his Saturday mornings playing his Xbox with his friends online, but he didn't want to disturb the tranquil creature in his lap with the sounds of people angrily screaming and gunfire. Besides, he had always wanted to have a pet when he was a kid, but due to unfortunate circumstances he'd rather not recall, he was never gifted with the experience. But now he had the opportunity to care for a pet like he always wanted, even if he would eventually have to return her to her rightful owner.

Simply choosing to enjoy the feel of soft and slick fur brushing against the palm of his left hand, he became content with just watching T.V, but Blake was not settling in to this new experience as easily as he was.

It had been many years since she allowed anyone to constantly touch her like Jaune had been doing for the past ten minutes. Recently the closest thing she has to physical contact is the occasional noogie from Yang and a pat on the back from Sun, but to have her head stroked tenderly for so long brought back many memories she would rather leave buried. Not to say that she didn't enjoy it, it was so relaxing that she caught herself dosing off a few times, but as he pet her lovingly, her mind was constantly assaulted with images of her mother's face.

As Jaune continued to massage the purring kitty that was nuzzled into his lap, he was interrupted by the sound of knocking coming from his front door.

"Coming!" he shouted as he gently placed the startled and fully alert cat on the couch cushion to his left.

As Jaune opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of an indifferent Lie Ren carrying a white case with a red cross on it, and, to Jaune's great discomfort, a very annoyed Nora Valkyrie.

"Uuuhhh, hey guys! Glad you could make it!" he greeted as he embarrassingly rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously as he knew he was in trouble.

After giving Jaune a huff of frustration, Nora crossed her arms disapprovingly and said, "Y'know Jaune, just because _you're _a virgin doesn't mean you have to ruin _my _fun!"

"Say what?! You guys were...eeewww!"

Well, that explains why Ren kept the screen covered during their call…

"Was there a reason that you called me here?" Ren asked as he kept his left arm at the ready to hold Nora back should she attack the blushing blonde.

"Yeah, come in." He said as he made way for the contradicting couple.

After stepping into warm and inviting abode of their blonde friend, the two instantly took notice of the bandaged black cat staring heavily at them with its golden gaze.

Ren had a great amount of experience with animals of all types due to the many times he helped his uncle with his job as a vetenarian, and one of the first things one should never do around timid animals like cats is never make any sudden movements or loud noises.

Too bad Nora lacked the self-control to do either of those.

"OH. MY. GAWD IT'S SO CUUUUUUUTE!" she squealed as she cupped her hands to her cheeks in adoration.

Anticipating that Nora was about glomp the poor thing, Ren shot his hand out to hold her back.

"Nora, please refrain from scaring the cat." he requested/ordered calmly.

"But Reeeeeeennnn…"

"It's injured. If you hug it, you're going to hurt it." He reasoned as he slowly retracted his arm.

After calming down Nora to ensure that she wouldn't unintentionally hurt the cat, he slowly stepped towards the creature, whispering soothing things to her to keep from startling her.

"I didn't know you had a cat, Jaune." Ren said as he inched closer to Blake.

"I don't. I just found her last night in a dumpster after we left work. I couldn't just leave her in there bleeding the way she was."

Appalled by Jaune's story, Nora shot her head towards him with a shocked gasp. "But who would hurt a little cutie like her?!" She said as she cooed at Blake. "What's her name?"

"Blake." Jaune answered plainly as he observed Ren inch closer to his fuzzy guest.

Blake would have reprimanded Nora for cooing at her like Jaune had earlier, but she was completely focused on the green-clad boy. Amused by how cautiously the boy was approaching her, she whispered, **"Yes, that's a good human. Appease your lord and master." **while imitating the voice of the villain from a movie that Yang and Sun forced her to watch with them. What was his name again? _Scourge _or _Blight _or something.

Slightly intimidated by the low and raspy purrs the feline was giving him and surprised that it wasn't the least bit intimidated by him, he sat down next to her and slowly began to unpeel her bandages to fully inspect her wounds. After he finally undid all of the medicinal cloth, he opened his first-aid kit to treat her. Jaune was right to call him, for her wounds were in dire need of care from an experienced individual. Not to say that Jaune didn't do well, her wounds were clean and well taken care of, but he did miss a few spots.

As he did his work, Blake couldn't help but notice the familiar scent seeping from the gentle boy. It was a scent that Blake was well accustomed to.

It was the smell of fur….

"I'm rather surprised that you managed to care for her so efficiently. Cats don't usually let strangers bathe them so thoroughly. Good work." Ren complimented as he tended to the oozing red holes in her side.

Flattered by his praise, he replied embarrassed, "Thanks, but she was unconscious until an hour ago, so it wasn't that hard to bathe her."

"Wait, how does he know I'm a wome-"

As she pieced together Jaune's words concerning her bathe, her face's complexion skyrocketed as she realized the only way he could possibly know her gender.

"_That irredeemable pervert! I feel violated!" _she internally screamed as she shuddered from embarrassment.

Just when she thought she could overlook the humiliation of transforming, Jaune completely ruins her security with a single sentence! She was perfectly capable of bathing herself!

Even though she knew that it was only a matter time before he would find out, but the mere thought of some looking at her "junk" was horrendously appalling, **especially** when she was unconscious.

Noticing the relentless shivering from the horrendously humiliated girl, he politely asked, "Jaune, could you please get me some blankets? Blake seems to be cold."

"Oh yeah, sure." He said as he walked up the stairs fulfill Ren's request.

"_I'M NOT COLD, BUT I WISH I WAS!" _she thought, desperately wishing the heat radiating from her cheeks would dissipate.

Completely infatuated with the shivering bundle of cuteness that Ren was tending to, she shot her right hand up excitedly shouting, "OOH OOH OOH OOH, can I hold her while you work?!"

"_**NO." **_The three teenagers forcefully responded with no-nonsense tones.

Whimpering in hurt dejection, Nora assumed the "fetal position" in the corner of the room to sulk while whining, "Meanies…"

_(Elsewhere)_

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S MISSING?!" Yang angrily shouted as she held Adam against the wall of the hallway by his collar and kept her gauntlet aimed at his face.

"Whoa! Calm down Yang!" Sun screamed as he held his furious friend back and detached her hand from Adam.

Yang was angry. No, she was absolutely murderous right now. She begged and begged and **begged **the Council to let her assist Blake on that ill-fated mission, but she was denied the satisfaction because she was already assigned a mission and Blake was already given assistance. Usually she would have just accepted this and would just be happy that Blake wasn't going alone, but she was enraged when she found out that her partner failed to arrive at meeting in time, a mistake that more than likely cost Blake her life.

Everyone knew that sneaking into one of the Order's bases alone was practically a death wish.

"You were supposed to go back her up! How the hell could you let this happen, you son of a bitch?!"

Completely unfazed by her furious shouting and the flames dancing across her golden hair, Adam simply fixed the collar of his suit and coldly responded, "I got there as fast as I could, but I was cut off by some of the Order's henchman. Don't blame me for happenings out of my control."

"But YOU were the one who volunteered her! Aren't you-"

Before she could finish her angry bellow, she was interrupted by the feeling of cold steel against her neck, right where her jugular was.

"Exactly, **I **was the one who had her sent there." he growled from behind Yang and Sun, "**I **was the one who was supposed to provide support, and **I **was the one failed to get there in time. So tell me this, how do you think **I **feel about my friend missing?"

As he questioned the blonde menacingly, Yang could feel his Aura channeling into the blade, increasing its sharpness and heating the blade to dangerous temperatures. If he wanted to, he could end her life easily with the slightest of motions.

"Do not assume that you are the only one concerned for Blake's safety, Xiao Long." He icily whispered in her right ear as he retracted his sword.

After sheathing his weapon and leaving a slight cut on her right cheek out of spite, he disappeared in a black blur, leaving a still livid Yang and an intimidated Sun alone in the hallway.

Concerned for his livid friend as her fists viciously shook and her flames slowly retracted back into her body, Sun put a consoling hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

Ignoring the stinging burn on his hand, he asked, "Yang, you gonna be okay?"

Gently shaking off her friend's hand, she responded with a curt "No" before angrily marching back to her quarters.

_(Jaune and Blake)_

After Ren spent a half-hour tending to Blake and making conversation with Jaune and Nora finally got to pet a reluctant Blake, the "dynamic duo", as Jaune liked to call them, left Jaune's house to continue with their special day, but not before Nora threatened to tie Jaune's "boys" into a ribbon and put it on Ren's anniversary gift if he made anymore interruptions. Most people would assume this to be an idle threat, but Jaune knew better, so he wouldn't even dream of testing her patience by calling them again.

With his best friends gone and his furry guess nuzzled back into his lap, Jaune kicked back on his sofa to resume watching T.V as he caressed Blake once again. But before he was completely settled back into his spot, he reached into his pocket to grab his scroll. "Hey Blake, look over here." He gently said as he turned on the scroll's camera.

With an indifferent meow, Blake did as he asked and looked at the lens of the scroll, keeping her eyes open and alert in preparation for a possible blinding flash.

After clicking the "Snap" button, the device took the picture of the cat and saved it with all of his other pictures. As he put his scroll down on the cushion to his right, he couldn't help but remember Ren calling her "his cat".

"_Too bad she's not…" _Jaune dejectedly thought with a melancholy sigh.

A part of Jaune didn't want to give Blake up, but it was only right that Jaune at least try to return her, no matter how much he would miss her. After shaking the depressing thoughts out of his head, Jaune simply decided to enjoy Blake while he still could.."You're such a sweetheart." He gently praised as he continued to pet Blake, completely oblivious to the effect his words had on her.

"_Sweet…heart…" _she thought as she bit her lip in a futile attempt to swallow her body's need to express her sorrow, struggling desperately to erase the memories of a time when she would find delight in the nickname.

If Jaune wasn't so focused on the news program, he would have noticed the lone tear trailing down the cat's face as she snuggled further into his lap for familiar comfort.

**So there you go! Questions, comments, or concerns anyone?**


	3. Unusual Aquaintances

**Fair warning: there might be a lot of typos in this because I was in a rush to upload this before tomorrow, but I think I fixed them all. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

_Inhale…_

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

_Exhale…_

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

_Inhale…_

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

_4…_

_Exhale_

"_Oooh…that one took a second later…" _Blake mentally droned in false amazement.

It was currently 7:28 in the morning, and Blake was lazily curled up on Jaune's chest, passing the time by measuring the intervals between its rise and fall. Normally she would be spending her time doing something productive, but confining herself to her transformation left Blake very little to accomplish.

If her wounds didn't inhibit her ability to move properly, she would've left the house to collect her belongings from the dumpster, but she was healing more slowly than she initially thought. She would've loved to read the contents of Jaune's bookshelf that was placed in the far corner of the room, but her paws wouldn't allow her to turn the pages properly without possibly damaging them. She already explored and memorized most of the house, and she also practiced walking on four legs to the point that she could jog lightly. As long as she was posing as a cat and still healing, there was little else to do to entertain herself, but hopefully she would get a break from her disguise today. It was Sunday and hopefully that meant that Jaune would leave the house to do something. She was almost tempted to transform, steal some of Jaune's clothes, and entertain herself with a book while Jaune was asleep, but she refrained from doing so, for it was far too risky.

God forbid he wakes up and finds a complete stranger walking around his house wearing his hoody. The poor guy would probably have a heart attack.

"_7:30…okay… time to wake up now." _She thought as she carefully stretched and yawned, making sure not to irritate her injuries like yesterday morning.

"Hey Goofy, get up. Don't you have errands to run or something?" she meowed as she lightly pawed at his forehead.

Her only reply was a perverted giggle from her new friend.

"Aaah my sweet Princess, I knew you would come around eventually." He giggled through a blushing smile.

For some reason, she didn't like how he was blushing as he dreamed about this so called "Princess".

"Can you have your weird fantasies another time?" she asked annoyed as she continued to try to wake him up.

After spending a full minute relentlessly tapping his face, Jaune finally showed signs of consciousness as his eyes slowly peeled open. With a long, raspy yawn he slowly rose from his pillow and rubbed the crust from his eyes.

"What's wrong Blake? Do you need to go outside?" he moaned as he faced the cat on his lap.

"No thanks, I just wait until your asleep to go to the bathroom." She answered as she hopped off his lap and onto the floor.

With another drowsy yawn, Jaune sluggishly swung his legs off of the comfort of his bed and firmly planted them on the floor. With a heavy grunt of effort, he stood up from his bed and stretched his limbs.

"Shower time." He groaned as he lethargically walked out of his room, resembling the zombies in that show that Blake had seen Sun watching when he was bored.

"And here I thought that you were a morning person, considering your sunny disposition." Blake jokingly commented as she followed her drowsy companion out of the room, mentally restraining herself from snickering at his choice of pajamas.

Thought she had to admit, the blue onesy _was _adorable in a dorky way.

"_Well, I guess as long as he's occupied, I might as well watch the news." _She thought as she separated from Jaune and carefully descended the stairs.

After locating the remote and comfortably seating herself on the couch, she pressed the power button on the remote, making sure to keep it close to her paw to turn the T.V off when she heard the shower upstairs stop running. If Jaune saw that "his" cat turned on the T.V, it would certainly complicate matters.

"_**In other news, an equal rights speech by civil rights leader Martin Maroon was prematurely ended as a group of armed men in black suites arrived and fired rounds at the stage in an attempt to kill Mr. Maroon. Luckily, the local police intervened and drove off the armed men before they could kill Mr. Maroon, unfortunately they managed to injure one of Maroon's bodyguards and at least six civilians."**_

"_Oh no…" _Blake woefully thought as she watched the news report.

Martin Mahogany Maroon was a devout and well-respected politician that was currently campaigning for the position of Mayor of Vytal. He was a kind and generous individual that was always doing whatever he could to help others and better the community. He was truly a great man, but to Blake he was more than just a revered politician, he was a ray of light that illuminated the darkness that had consumed society.

Maroon was undeniably a likeable and charismatic individual, but the most outstanding quality of his character that attracted the attention of the people was his desire to once and for all end the prejudice and discriminative treatment of the Faunus. His entire purpose and desire to become mayor was to further progress the completion of his dream; a society in which Faunus and Humanity could co-exist on equal terms and in absolute harmony. This greatly improved his public image in the eyes of not only his Faunus supporters, but also in the eyes of humans as well. Despite being a minority, there were still large numbers of humans and Faunus alike that shared Maroon's dream in the complete unification of the two races and an end to the conflict between them, and gladly supported him in his endeavors to achieve it.

Unfortunately, Maroon was a man that attracted both positive and negative attention from the community. This was evident in the recent attack currently on the news. There was also an enormous amount of people that wished for nothing more than the complete separation of Humanity and Faunus. Hell, in the more extreme cases, there were even people who pushed for the complete extermination of the other race, and if there was anyone who would be the first to put an end to their attempts, it was Maroon. This made him a target to extremist groups all over Vytal.

"_**Unfortunately, the police were unable to identify the attackers. All we know about them is that all five men wore black suites, hats, and adorned crimson red sunglasses. Here is an artist's rendering."**_

"Oh crap!" Blake shouted as she looked at the picture the T.V was currently displaying.

Skillfully drawn with markers and colored pencils was a clear picture of the described thugs, and they were people that Blake were well acquainted with.

They were dressed **exactly like **the men that pursued her last night.

They were part of the Order.

_**Law enforcement has requested that if any individual has any information concerning the whereabouts of the thugs, please call the number on the bottom-right corner of the screen. This has been Lisa Lavender with Vytal News."**_

It wasn't a shocking surprise that the Order wanted Maroon dead, for he was a compelling individual with power that stood for everything the Order opposed. Blake was sure that the occasional assassination attempt was something that Maroon was well prepared for, being a very popular politician, but usually he would only have to deal with untrained and undisciplined gang members with pistols and pocket knives.

The Order was anything but untrained or undisciplined. They were an enormous, secret and well hidden, dangerous organization full of well-trained and heavily armed humans. If they were planning to kill Maroon, then he was in grave danger.

Hopefully the Council saw the news and was taking immediate action to protect the endangered politician. If the Order managed to murder Maroon, then it would be a crippling blow to the development of harmony between Humanity and Faunus, and that would be a horrendous failure for Blake's organization. She would have liked to make sure that her leaders and friends were aware of the situation, but her scroll was destroyed. She also would have liked to use Jaune's as a substitute, but it was never safe to transfer sensitive information like that on an unsecured line. One could never know when the Order was listening in on a conversation.

As Blake fretted over the danger Maroon was in, she noticed the lack of sound coming from upstairs, which meant that Jaune was finished with his morning shower.

"_I'd better turn the T.V off before he gets out."_

After shutting the T.V off and crawling back up the flight of stairs, her nose was assaulted by a strong, but alluring, aroma as she walked through the hallways.

"_Ooooohhhh…smells like apples…" _she thought as she whiffed the air with her tiny pink nose.

As she stopped in front of the closed door denying her access to Jaune's room, the calming scent that was permeated throughout the hallways smelled twice as strong in front of the door.

"_Must be Jaune's body wash and/or shampoo. I must say, he has good taste." _

"Hey Jaune, let me in." Blake meowed as she pawed at the door, signaling the blonde teenager inside to open the door.

Her command was instantly heeded as the doorknob turned and clicked, but Blake was completely unprepared for the shocking sight before her as the door completely opened.

Standing before her, slightly wet, steaming, and smelling of green apples, was a half naked Jaune whose only article of clothing was a white towel securely wrapped around his waist.

"_Oh…my…god…" _she thought dumbfounded as the wet teen picked her up gingerly and carried her into the room.

"Aw, you poor thing. If you're having a nosebleed, then there must be more wrong with you then I thought. Don't worry, I'll take you to the vet after they're done with repairs." He said as he carefully laid the cat on the pillow of his bed and wiped her nose clean with piece of tissue paper.

"If you don't want me to have nosebleeds, then maybe you should put some damn clothes on, you weirdo." she embarrassedly replied she kept her eye's screwed shut and her head held up to prevent further leakage.

After Jaune got dressed and prepared himself for a day out in the city and Blake recovered from her unexpected loss of blood, the two teens descended the stairs to indulge themselves in their respective breakfasts in the kitchen, a plate full of warm chicken nuggets for Jaune, and, to Blake's great delight, a bowl full of freshly opened tuna for Blake.

As Blake finished her delectable treat, she noticed that her "owner" finished his nuggets and was walking back up the stairs. Leaving her bowl completely vacant of any morsel of food, she quickly, but carefully, followed him back up the stairs, curious as to what her friend was doing. When she entered Jaune's room, she found him rummaging through his closet, grunting in effort as he moved boxes aside and made sure that they didn't fall from the overhead shelf and nail him on the head.

"_What's he looking for?" _Blake pondered as she observed her friend as he dug through boxes.

After spending a full minute searching his closet, he finally ceased as he pulled out a large, dusty, and white box from the very back of the shelf. Carefully, he placed the box at the foot of his bed and took the lid off.

Blake would have expected Jaune to pull out a stack of old magazines or perhaps even an old electronic device that had been obsolete for some time, but she would have never expected the extraordinary treasures that radiated with beauty as it left their cardboard prison and found refuge in Jaune's arms.

Radiating with captivating beauty as it rested in Jaune's embrace was a sheathed sword with a gold gleaming guard and sapphire blue hilt. Blake could only imagine how strikingly beautiful the blade must have been, for the sheathe itself was a wonderfully crafted work of art with its snow-white color and its illuminant luster. In all of Blake's years as an agent, she has seen many different types of weapons, most of them with the ability to shift into a destructive firearm capable of mowing down an entire squadron, but none of them possessed the alluring beauty the simplistic weapon had. As Blake admired Jaune's sword, (Bow Chicka Bow Wow), she not only questioned why a simple civilian like Jaune would possess such a regal looking weapon, but also why Jaune was staring so heavily at it.

Blake wasn't even entirely sure if he was looking at the sword. His gaze seemed so hollow and devoid of focus, as if he was reminiscing intensely.

"Are you okay Jaune?" she asked, knowing full well that he couldn't understand, but simply hoping to grab his attention.

Brought out of his immense daydream by the cat's meow, Jaune snapped out of his daze and looked towards his furry companion as she hopped onto the bed next to the vacant box.

"Oh, sorry about that Blake. Just got distracted by a daydream." He said as he embarrassedly scratched the back of his head.

"More like consumed by it." Blake replied as she once again looked at the source of Jaune's reminiscent behavior.

Noticing how Blake was staring at the sword cradled in his arms, he unsheathed it to expose the sword in all of its glory. "Do ya like it? It's called Crocea Mors and it's been in my family for generations." He informed as he carefully waved and turned it to allow Blake to look at every inch of it.

"_Crocea Mors…Yellow Death? Does everything about him have such glorious names?" _Blake thought as she smiled at the blonde. As Jaune waved his blade around, Blake couldn't help but once again be reminded of the heroes in her books.

"_Blonde hair, blue eyes, majestic sword, all he needs is a shield and a suit of armor and he would be the stereotypical knight in shining armor."_

"Yeah, it's a nice sword, but I try not to display it, so I keep it in my closet. Unfortunately, that means that the blade has probably dul-OOOOWWW SON OF A BITCH NEVERMIND IT'S STILL SHARP!" Jaune shouted in pain as he clenches his fist, trying to stop the bleeding from the deep cut in his palm.

"_On second thought, maybe calling him a knight is a bit too complementary." _Blake thought as she face-pawed in embarrassment.

Looks like Jaune's gonna need to pick up more bandages when he's out.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Come on! Hurry up damn it!" The thug screamed to his four co-workers as he sprinted through alleyways.

"Is she gaining on us?!"

"We're gonna freaking die!" the thug in the back screamed as he broke into a fit of unmanly sobs.

In an attempt to silence the spineless wimp's effeminate wails, the thug in front of him reared his ring hand back and mercilessly backhanded him while screaming, "SILENCE HE-BITCH!"

"What I don't understand is how this chick found us when the entire freaking police force couldn't! We all made sure that no one followed us or saw us on our way to our rendezvous, right?"

"Really? I had to ask directions from someone who looked just like her." The thug said as he rubbed the throbbing handprint on his left cheek.

"YOU FREAKING IDIOT YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL!" The other four shouted at him, using every ounce of self control they had to refrain from murdering the idiotic member of their team.

"Hey guys, we have a problem!" a thug shouted from in front of the group as he dug his feet into the ground to stop sprinting.

Lady Luck did not favor the horrendously unlucky group of criminals. Erected in front of them, as if to mock them for their misdeeds, was the dead end of the alleyway.

"Damn it! Come on men! We have to find another w-"

Before he could finish his suggestion to his teammates, he was interrupted by echoing blast of a shotgun and the instantaneous pain assaulting his chest.

"Crap! She's here!" a thug shouted as he readied his rifle and pointed it towards their attacker as she reloaded from the other end of the alley.

"A word of advice boys: If you're going to try to assassinate a politician, I recommend you don't do it in broad daylight." Yang growled as she readied her shot-gauntlets.

"What the hell is your problem lady?!" The thug in front shouted angrily as he pointed is pistol at the women.

"Wait…I know this chick man. She's the one who wrecked Junior's club last night!" A thug shouted in blatant fear, unintentionally shivering as he attempted to keep a steady aim at the buxom blonde.

"Awesome deduction dingus, now if you don't want to suffer the same ass whooping your other pals in the Order did last night, I **strongly **suggest you make it easy on yourselves, drop your weapons, and answer my questions!" Yang shouted angrily, irritated that not only were these dim-witted dumbasses so hardheaded that they refused to give her answers, they also ruined her day off by trying to kill Maroon.

Understanding what the blonde was capable when she was enraged, the fearful thug in the back lowered his rifle and whispered to his cohorts, "Hey guys, I think we better take her offer. I don't think we stand much of a chan-"

"FIRE!" the thug in front screamed as he fired his pistol, instigating the last two thugs to unload their rifles at the brawler.

The foolish bastards didn't even make a dent on her.

Displaying skills that both impressed and shocked her attackers, Yang utilized her speed and mental aptitude to block every bullet fired with her gauntlets. As soon as their clips were emptied and their guns fired nothing but the rapid sound of hollow clicks, Yang blasted forward in a fiery streak and slammed her fist into the face of the thug in front of the group, sending him sailing into the thug in the back. The other two thugs who fired at her immediately dropped their rifles and yanked out their large red blades in an attempt to slice her, but before their blades could even nick her, Yang deflected them both and fired shotgun rounds into both of their chests, sending them both into the ground motionless.

After making sure that the four thugs were down for the count, she stomped angrily towards the last thug who was sobbing uncontrollably as he backed up against the brick wall.

"Please don't kill me I don't wanna die a virgin!" he pleaded as he got on his knees and begged for his life.

"SHUT UP!" Yang shouted as she back handed him, silencing his wails of terror.

"_Why is it always the face?!"_ the criminal thought as he held his hand against the second handprint on his cheek.

"These are **concussive **rounds dumbass! They're supposed to knock you on your ass, not kill you! Do you see them lying in pools of blood?! I may hate your kind, but I won't become you." Yang growled as she grabbed him by his collar and held him against the wall menacingly.

As the grunt looked behind the vicious beast that was ready to pummel him, they were indeed alive, just unconscious and moaning in pain.

"Now you're gonna tell me **exactly **what I wanna know, or I'll repeatedly hit you in the jewels until you turn into a woman! Got it?!" Yang threatened as she cocked her left gauntlet in an intimidating fashion.

"Yes sir!" he whimpered as the memories of what she did to Junior's groin came to him.

"Good. Now I'm looking for a friend of mine. I'm looking for a woman around my age. She has black hair, golden eyes, and is always wearing a black bow on top of her head. She had a run-in with you guys last night and I haven't seen or heard from her since. Where is she?!"

"Uuuhhh…I don't know?" he hesitantly replied, desperately hoping that she would believe him.

She did not.

_***THWACK* *THWACK* *THAWCK***_

"AAAAAAHHHHAHAHAHOOOOOOOWWWWW!" the criminal screamed as he grabbed his abused groin.

"_**DO NOT LIE TO ME!" **_Yang roared as she spontaneously combusted into angry red flames, further intimidating the poor man.

"I'm not I'm not! The boss chased her into town after she stole something the higher ups excavated from a dig site! All he found was her clothes next to a dumpster in an alleyway! That's all I know I swear!" he screamed, terrified that the merciless beast was going to inflict upon him more damage to his "precious".

After taking a few moments to calm herself, she slowly lowered her fist, taking long and deep breathes as she slowly processed the information given to her. If what he said was true, then Yang could take comfort in the high probability that Blake was still alive, or at least she was when she escaped the pursuit of her enemies. Blake would never simply abandon her clothes unless she transformed. However, Yang was well aware of the fact that Blake despised her unique "gift". If Blake had transformed, then it was under excruciating circumstances, so she was also most likely incapacitated, but it didn't explain why she hadn't returned to HQ yet, or why the Council hadn't heard from her.

As Yang was contemplating the disappearance of her best friend, she was completely unaware of the thug rising up from the ground as he clutched his bruised chest. After shaking off the aching pain of his beating, he pulled a pistol out of his suit and carefully aimed at the back of Yang's head, ready to kill her for her out of spite for attacking him.

"_Headshot." _He thought as he grinned in the pleasing thought of ending this woman's meddling for good.

_***BANG***_

Completely startled and taken off guard by the alarming sound of a gunshot, Yang dropped her prisoner and spun around, ready to beat the living hell out of whatever fired at her.

Any sense of violent intent was completely abandoned as she saw the freshly unconscious thug on the ground with a readied pistol in his hands, and the figure at the end of the ally way holding a sniper rifle with a smoking barrel towards him. Yang didn't need twenty-twenty vision to tell who the person who just saved her life was.

She would recognize that prominent red hood anywhere.

"Ruby?!" Yang shouted in disbelief.

"Hi Yang!" she shouted happily as she holstered the sniper rifle on her back and waved as she walked towards her astonished sister.

"Ruby, what are you doing here?!" she asked the hooded girl.

"I could ask you the same thing! I was attending Maroon's speech and listening from the top of a building. The next thing I know, I see these weird "Men in Black" rejects at the back of the crowd pull guns out of their suites and aim at him. After I sped past Maroon and threw a body guard into him to knock them down to the floor so they wouldn't get shot, I blended in with the crowd to make sure that nobody died and to make sure nobody saw me. After I did that, I track them down here and I see you about to get shot in the head by this creep." She answered as she pointed towards the groaning criminal in front of her. He was probably suffering the worst headache imaginable, due to the concussive round that slammed into the back of his head.

"Why were you chasing down armed men?! Did the Council order you to back me up?" Yang asked, not at all comfortable with the thought of her little sister in danger. If they did order her to, then she was going to exchange "friendly" words with them.

"Nope, I didn't even know you were here on a mission to capture these guys. I just happened to be there at the time. You're welcome by the way!" Ruby sarcastically said as she crossed her arms in annoyance that her sister didn't praise her for saving her blonde ass.

"Ruby, that was extremely dangerous! What if you had gotten hurt?! **Are **you hurt?! Were you shot on stage?!" Yang frantically questioned as she zipped to her baby sister and turned her around constantly to inspect her for any wounds. If she found a single scratch on her precious baby sis, she was going to throw them in a pit of rabid bears and keep a lid over the hole until the screaming stopped! Yang even went as far as to pull her sisters hood down and check her face for any marks.

She even gently grabbed the furry wolf ears on top of her head and turned them ever so slightly to examine them for any scratches.

"Yang, cut it out! I'm fine!" Ruby shouted with annoyance evident in her now-visible silver eyes as she wiggled out her overprotective sister's grasp, shielding her ears with her hands with a blushed face. Truth be told, she really did enjoy the feeling of someone touching her ears, but Yang didn't need to know that.

"I'm just making sure! I don't want you to get hurt!" Yang said defensively.

"**Actually, Ruby has sustained a wound on her left thigh from a bullet."** A computerized, but noticeably female and concerned, voice added.

"Who the hell was that?!" Yang screamed as she protectively brought as she brought Ruby into her chest and pointed her right gantlet in all directions.

"Yaaaaaaahhhhhh, Uuuuuhhh kaaaaaaat breeeeeehhhh!" Ruby muffled as wiggled and struggled against her sister's grasp.

"What was that Ruby?"

"**Yang, Ruby is only getting forty percent of the necessary oxygen she requires to breathe properly!"**

As Yang released her grip on her sister's head, Ruby greedily inhaled every bit of air she could.

"If you do that to me again I'LL BITE YOU ON THE NIPPLE!" Ruby screamed in anger as her face slowly lost its color and returned to its naturally pale complexion.

"You would do that to me?" Yang whimpered as instinctively shielded her chest with her arms.

"**Disregarding Ruby's unusual threat, I recommend acquiring bandages to stop the bleeding until she can receive proper medical attention."**

"Wait…is that…Penny?" Yang asked, baffled that she could hear her voice outside of HQ's computer systems.

Choosing to answer her question in a more direct fashion, Penny appeared in front of Ruby's face in a green flash, surprising Yang as she took in her appearance. She looked exactly as she did when she was speaking to them through HQ's computers, only now she was approximately one foot tall and radiating a spring green light from her holographic body.

"**Yes, my father has recently given me an upgrade that allows me to transmit my data to and from other electronic devices! I'm currently housed inside Ruby's scroll and I'm finally getting to see the world in person! Isn't it great?!" **Penny happily said as she animatedly jumped up and down in excitement.

"Uhhhh…that's…pretty cool…I guess?" Yang said as she scratched the back of her head in confusion. She truly was happy for the quirky red-headed A.I, it was just unusual to see her out of her computer back at the base. Not to say that was a bad thing, Penny had always proven to be an invaluable source of information, it was just that their entire organization was built on the foundation of secrecy, and Penny wasn't exactly the most subtle of individuals. Yang wasn't entirely sure that letting her leave the base and going in public was the best idea, even if she was accompanied by Ruby.

She would have asked Ruby more about Penny's new mobility, but her vision was completely shrouded in red as she processed what Penny had said earlier.

Her rage returned in full force as she saw the small dots of red on the ground under Ruby.

"SCREW THESE NON-LETHAL ROUNDS I'M GONNA HANG YOU ALL BY YOUR ENTRAILS!" Yang screamed at the four unconscious thugs and the shivering one she recently interrogated. The only thing keeping them alive was her more merciful sister as she grappled Yang from behind by her stomach and pulled the fiery behemoth away from her prey.

"PENNY, PLAN ALPHA: CODE YANG!" Ruby screamed to her digital companion.

"**Requesting assistance from all nearby allies with tranquilizer darts now!" **Penny cheered as she saluted and sent a distress signal to HQ.

_(Blake)_

"Bye Blake! I'll be back in a while!" Jaune shouted as he opened the door and waved his bandaged hand to the black cuteness sitting on the couch.

"Later, and make sure to pick up some more milk." She meowed as she pawed in his direction.

As Jaune closed the door behind him, Blake leaped off of the sofa and walked back to Jaune's room upstairs, relieved that she could finally indulge herself in some alone time now that her caretaker was gone. After walking into the now familiar room, she made sure that every window and curtain was closed, for she wanted to make absolutely sure that no one would be able to see her as she did this.

Satisfied with the security of the room, Blake jumped on top of the blue bed and sat herself down on the center, making sure to give herself adequate comfort and space.

"_Okay…focus…strong focus on my shape…" _she thought as she closed her golden eyes and took deep and calming breathes as she meditated, picturing every last detail of her original body that she could. The effect was instantaneous as she felt her tranquil aura consume her body as she felt every muscle in her body pulsate and stretch painlessly. She could feel every strand of fur on her body slowly recede back into her skin and travel back up to her head where they formed her wavy and silky smooth curtain of hair. The only things that remained stationary on her entire body were her trademark black ears that remained undisturbed on the top of her head.

"_Done." _ She thought triumphantly as she opened her eyes to the now misty room.

As much as she abhorred her ability to transform, she could not deny the physical pleasure it gave her as she planted her bare feet onto the floor and stretched. The feeling of loosening every muscle fiber in her body in less than ten seconds felt marvelous on a scale that she doubted anyone else could understand unless they themselves had experienced it. It was like giving oneself a thorough massage on a molecular level.

It felt great to walk on two legs again. Now Blake could finally do something productive with her time. She could finally go through Jaune's collection of books and indulge herself in her favorite hobby. She could watch T.V without worrying about raising suspicion from Jaune. She could finally walk around without having to ask Jaune to open the doors in the house.

But before she could do any of those things, she needed some freaking clothes.

She didn't care one bit that she was the only one in the house and all of the windows were blocked, she was NOT going to strut around naked in someone else's house! Especially a boy's house!

Well, technically she has been walking around naked in Jaune's house as a cat, but that's beside the point.

After rummaging through Jaune's dresser for about ten minutes, she finally found a combination of clothes she could wear comfortably: a black tank-top and a pair of white jogging pants. Unfortunately for her, all of Jaune's boxers were too baggy for her to wear, his socks were too loose for her, and she was pretty sure that he didn't keep any bras or panties around his house.

And if he did, she was going to carve a list of all of the books she has read into the pervert's back with her claws.

After she got dressed in her temporary attire, Blake decided to go through Jaune's bookcase to see what she could read to pass the time. So far, she was somewhat impressed by his choice of reading, for he possessed some notable reading material, including _Of Mice and Men_, _The Art of War_, _Call of the Wild,_ one of her favorites _Mr. Hyde, _and many Mangas and comic books that were neatly stacked in order. Every last book she scrolled through was a book that she had previously read, a fact that surprised Blake for she had no idea that she and Jaune shared such a similar interest in reading. He even reads the same comics as she does. As enlightening as that was, it was also unfortunate for Blake as she wanted to read something new to pass the time, and she had yet to find something that fitted that criteria.

That was until she noticed the black book cleverly hidden behind the row of mangas.

"What's this?" Blake muttered, wondering why it seemed that Jaune didn't want the book to be discovered by anybody.

As she pulled the mysterious tome out of its hiding spot, her eyes almost shot out her skull in shock and excitement as she read the title on the front that was printed in crimson red.

_Ninjas of Love II: Love is a Battlefield_

"Oh…my…god…" Blake breathed in amazement as caressed the treasure of the world of literature.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Jaune was a fan of such a beautiful work of art. Most men she knew were not interested in romantic novels as well written as the _Ninjas of Love _series, and were usually only interested in the "steamy bits", as Yang would call them, prevalent throughout every installment. Many people would jump to conclusions and make biased assumptions that the series was nothing more than pornography in the shape of words, but apparently Jaune thought otherwise. Blake could tell from the plastic bookmark placed in the middle of the book that Jaune was genuinely interested in the material just as she was, an observation that sent Blake's fondness of the goofy boy skyrocketing. But what Blake didn't understand was how Jaune managed to obtain the treasure encased in her arms. The second installment was not due for release until three months from now, so how did Jaune manage to get an early copy?

Now that Blake thought about it, she truly didn't care. She had found a book that she had not read yet and she was dying to dive headfirst into the sequel of her most beloved book.

As her thoughts slowly shifted towards the goofball she had been living with, never before in her life did she wish that she could converse with someone outside of her organization.

_(Jaune)_

As Jaune walked through the busy streets of Vale, toting over four bags full of shopping supplies, he couldn't help but feel a slight chill down his spine, giving him the sensation that someone somewhere just uncovered one of his deepest and darkest secrets.

"_Well that's unsettling…" _Jaune thought as he entered a store with the intention of grabbing bandages for him and Blake, he used the last of them on his hand that he cut a few hours ago.

Not that it was his fault or anything! How was he supposed to know that a sword that has been in a box for a decade hadn't lost its edge like a normal sword should have?

It took him about ten minutes to find what he needed, but after ten minutes of fruitless searching, he finally found a box of medicinal bandages. Hilariously enough, he walked right past them when he first stepped into the store.

Sometimes he wondered how he didn't drown himself in the shower…

"What do you mean you're not gonna serve us!" a female voice asked angrily from the register.

"_What's going on over there?" _Jaune thought as he grabbed four boxes of medicinal bandages and walked towards the front of the store where a few other customers were gathered. As he peeked over the shoulder of one of the other customers, he saw a very furious looking blonde girl around his age and a younger girl with dark red hair and what appeared to be pointy and furry ears on her head. The two things about the girl that stood out the most to Jaune was the bright red hood she was wearing, and the way she was favoring her right leg, almost as if it hurt to use the other.

Judging from the way that the clerk was glaring disapprovingly at the duo, mostly at the red head Jaune noticed, Jaune could make an educated guess as to what the problem was. Due to the stressed relationship between humans and Faunus, shop owners would often deny service to the opposite race, an act of racism that Jaune absolutely despised. In most cases, it was often a human who was often in the wrong in these situations, and it made Jaune ashamed to see his own kind reduced to that level.

It was this type of ignorance that instigated undue tragedies, a lesson that Jaune knew all too well…

"You heard me! Get that disgusting dog out of here before I call security!" the shop owner shouted from behind the register as he reached for his phone.

"I'm not a dog! I'm a wolf!" the Faunus girl shouted as she winced from moving her leg.

"Whatever! Just beat it!"

"My sister got shot and she's bleeding as we speak! Are you **that** freaking heartless that you won't let us buy some damn bandages?!" she roared as she slammed her fists on the counter.

Jaune could have sworn that her eyes turned red for a split second as she glared murderously at the racist store owner.

"I don't care! You can take this mutt to a veterinarian for all I care!"

The blonde girl almost looked ready to pounce on top of the man and strangle the life out of him as he abusively insulted her kin, but before she could beat the life out of him, her arm was grabbed by her younger sister.

"Come on Yang, let's just go. We're attracting too much attention anyway." The younger sister said dejectedly as she limped towards the door while dragging her growling sister with her.

"PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE ME SICK!" Yang screamed as she slammed the door with all her might, making everyone flinch from the echoing impact and more than likely damaging the door in some way.

"_No one's gonna help them?" _Jaune thought as he looked around the store to gauge everyone else's reactions. There were indeed two people besides him who looked sympathetic towards the two sisters, but sadly there were about ten others who wore satisfied smirks and continued with their business with no intention of going to the girls' aide.

It was fitting representation of just how awfully stained society had become…

_(Yang and Ruby)_

"MONTY COW-F*BEEP*ING OUM, WHY THE *BEEP* CAN'T WE CATCH A *BEEP*ING BREAK FOR ONCE IN OUR *BEEP*ING LIVES! IS IT TOO MUCH TOO ASK, FOR JUST ONE DAY, THAT PEOPLE DO NOT GO THROUGH *BEEP*ING LEAPS AND *BEEP*ING BOUNDS TO *BEEP*ING PISS ME OFF AND GIVE ME A *BEEP*ING ANEURISM **PENNY I SWEAR TO THE COUNCIL IF YOU CENSOR ME ONE MORE TIME I WILL UPLOAD A VIRUS INTO RUBY'S SCROLL!" **Yang screamed as she ranted and stomped with her sister hesitantly limping behind her. Due to the murderous intent oozing from Yang's Aura, people who were traveling on the street instinctively fled, terrified of the feeling they were receiving as they were on the street.

"Calm down Yang!" Ruby said, glad that their weapons were confiscated by their fellow agents when they retrieved the thugs. She was also happy that they forced her to wear technological bracelet that made it impossible for her to release flames from her body. If they didn't, they would have attracted even more unnecessary attention than they already had. The store would have also most likely erupted into a mushroom cloud of the likes this world had never seen.

"**Actually, I am currently inside your Aura-restricting bracelet to ensure that it is working at optimal capacity."**

"GOOD, THEN I CAN TEST WHETER OR NOT AN A.I IS WATERPROOF!" Yang shouted as she growled at the bracelet locked on her right arm.

"**Returning to Friend-Ruby's scroll NOW!" **Penny yelped in fear as she instantaneously uploaded herself back into the safety of Ruby's scroll.

"Yang, quit threatening Penny!"

"God I need a drink right now!"

"No Yang! That's not good for your health!"

"I'M DON'T GIVE A *BEEP* **THAT'S IT GET OVER HERE YOU DIGITAL BITCH!"**

"**AAAAHHHHH! RUN FOR MY LIFE RUBY!" **

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruby shrieked as she balanced herself on her good leg and hopped away from her murderous sister at an unbelievable speed, gaining a decent distance from Yang as she chased her. Unfortunately, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and as soon as she turned a corner of a building she slammed into someone, sending them toppling over into the ground.

"Oooooooooowwwwww…" the boy under her groaned in pain as she lied on top of him while trying to regain her bearings.

"Oh crap! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!" Ruby apologized frantically as she jumped off of him and held her hand out to him. Gripping her hand firmly, he ignored the throbbing pain in him back and pulled himself back up to his feat while groaning, "It's okay."

However, in yet another spurt of bad luck, Yang rounded the corner while maintaining her undisturbed speed and accidently collided with an unsuspecting Ruby's back, sending them both falling on top of the boy.

Only this time, Ruby's knee was shoved into his groin as he collided with the ground.

_(Elsewhere)_

_Koharu and Tsukino stared lovingly into each other's eyes as their tongues wrestled one another in steamy and violent frenzy. As they rolled on top of one another on the moonlit grass in a sweaty embrace, Koharu grew more bold than he had ever in his life and groped his love's warm bosom, eliciting a feminine squeal from her._

"YYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Startled by the feminine squeal she heard, her ears slightly twitched towards the direction of its origin.

"Well that was uncanny." She said as she turned the page.

For some reason, that scream sounded familiar.

_(Jaune)_

"Sorry about that again dude. I guess we kinda lost control there for a second." Yang apologized as she chuckled in an embarrassed manner.

"Speak for yourself!" Ruby shouted grumpily as she cradled her injured leg from her spot on the bench in between the two blondes.

"It's alright, I was looking for you two anyway." Jaune said in an attempt to ease their regret.

"Huh? Why?" Ruby asked.

Knowing that it was a sensitive topic to bring up and choosing his words carefully, Jaune hesitantly said, "I was…there…at the shop…" as he looked down in shame for not stepping up for them.

"Oh…" they replied dejectedly, mimicking Jaune's action as their gaze slowly descended towards the ground.

The silence between the three lasted an uncomfortable minute as they contemplated what happened earlier. It wasn't anything they hadn't seen before, especially in a city like Vale, but it was simply something that they couldn't desensitize themselves from and it was certainly something that wouldn't change anytime soon, but it was still disturbing to them.

But it didn't mean that they had to let it change them.

"I got this for you." Jaune said as he reached into one of his small plastic bags at his feet. To the girls' great surprise, Jaune handed Ruby the bag. The two girls almost hugged the kind boy as they looked at the contents of the bag: two boxes of bandages, a bottle of painkillers, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol with complementary cotton balls next to it. It wasn't often that Ruby was shown such compassion from a human outside home. It was a heartwarming experience that reaffirmed their faith that their goal will one day be achieved.

"I…don't know what to say. Thanks, uhhhh…" Ruby said as she attempted to thank the generous stranger that she had not long ago caused immense pain.

"Jaune." He finished for her, smiling happily at her to show that she was welcome.

"Thanks a lot Jaune-y boy! You're a real pal! The name's Yang, and that's Ruby!" Yang said as she got up from her spot on the bench and gave him a playful noogie.

"You're…welcome…Yang." Jaune said in embarrassment as he blushed, trying not to think about the girl's "endowment" as it waved in his face.

"Yang, I think you're choking him!" Ruby said, worried for their new friend and misinterpreting the red in his face.

"Whoops, sorry!" she said as she released him from her grip.

"It's okay." He replied as he tried to mentally beat down the redness growing in his cheeks.

"Hey Ruby, I think we better starting heading home now." She said as she helped her up onto her back so that she didn't need to put any more pressure on her bad leg. Yang felt slightly guilty that she didn't offer sooner.

"Okay, bye Jaune!" Ruby said as she waved goodbye to the blonde as he did the same.

As Jaune gathered all of his belongings and walked home, he was happy that he had done some type of good for a stranger who deserved it.

Speaking of doing good for a stranger, he wondered how Blake was doing being home alone.

_(Blake)_

"Holy damn I love this freaking book." Blake whispered to herself as she turned to page one-hundred and twelve.

She had been thoroughly enjoying her morning so far, curled up in Jaune's bed, lying under his covers, and reading the wonderful book. She initially planned to do other things with her time, but the book was simply too damn good! It contained everything that she enjoyed in a book: action, drama, and romance. She just simply could not separate herself from this book.

"Hey Blake, I'm home!" Jaune said loudly from down stairs as he closed the door behind him.

"_OH CRAP!" _ Blake thought as she panicked and leaped out of the bed.

In a blind rush, Blake sped around the room, doing everything she could to make the room undisturbed as possible. She reopened every window and every curtain, turned off every light in the room, and made his bed back up to the point where it looked as if nobody had even touched the sheets.

"Blaaaaaake! Here kitty kitty kitty kitty!"

She could hear Jaune's footsteps as they ascended the stairs, but Blake wasn't worried. She managed to make the room spotless in its entirety. The only thing she had to do was put his book back and his clothes back into the dress-OH CRAP SHE WAS STILL IN HER ORIGINAL FORM!

The door was opening!

No time!

_(Jaune)_

Well this was odd.

Jaune was currently searching the house for any sign of his furry guest, but she wasn't responding to any of his calls. He knew that she couldn't have possibly left his house because all of the windows were closed, but he was still worried about her. What if she had passed out from blood loss while he was gone? What if she …

"Blake?!" he called again more frantically as he opened the cracked door to his bedroom.

"OH MY GOD!" Jaune shouted as he was met with the shocking sight in front of him.

His _Ninjas of Love _book, that he made sure almost no one knew about, was lying on his bed for the world to see.

"How did this get out?! I made sure to put it back after I was done! Did I?" Jaune asked himself as he picked his book back where it belonged behind his stack of mangas.

Deciding to disregard it and simply deciding that he forgot to put it back, he opened his bedroom door and left the room to continue his search for the illusive cat.

If he had simply looked up when he was in his room, he would have saw her wearing his clothes and keeping herself attached to the ceiling with her claws while she mentally chanted , _"Low fat thoughts low fat thoughts low fat thoughts!"_.

_(Later at night)_

The assassin simply couldn't believe that Roman had failed to kill one measly woman. All he had to do was kill her when she was retreating, but it would appear that he couldn't even do THAT without screwing it up. True, she was more than likely dead due to her injuries, but there was no room for assumptions when it concerned her.

As the assassin zipped and sped through the darkness of the alleyways, it wondered why Cinder kept the man around. It wasn't as if he couldn't simply be replaced. Anyone could control and organize an army of low-life thugs if they had the resources, and it wouldn't be hard to find someone besides Roman who met that requirement.

As the assassin was contemplating the mystery behind Roman's continued involvement with the Order, he ceased his sprinting as he finally reached his objective: the last place the woman was seen before she disappeared. Due to his extraordinary observational skills, he could definitely tell that she had been here days prior. Speckled throughout the alleyway were small, but noticeable, dots of blood; **her **blood. Roman said that all that was left in the alleyway when he arrived here were her clothes, so it was likely that she had transformed and desperately took refuge in the dumpster, even though Roman said that only the artifact lied within.

The assassin was glad that he assumed that Roman had missed the spot, for when he dug through the dumpster himself, he found one of the woman's most valued possessions; her katana-pistol hybrid affectionately called "Gambal Shroud". But it wasn't the weapon that he was glad he found, it was what he didn't find.

The bow that she would never separate from, even if her life depended on it, was missing from the butt of the weapon.

She was still alive.

And he intended to change that.

**Looks like Blake is in trouble. I hope you guys enjoyed it! R&R and I'll see you guys later!**


	4. To Be a Man

"_Remember son, In order for you to achieve manhood, you must have honor! HONOR AND A PE-"_

"_DON'T! SAY IT!" Jane growled at her husband as they walked through the supermarket with her hands ready to shield her eight year old son's ears from Jack's inappropriate statement._

"_-NUTS" Jack smoothly in an attempt to spare himself a beating from his beloved._

_Confused by his father's logic, Jaune blinked curiously at him and asked, "Why would I need peanuts to grow up Papa?"_

"_Uuuuuummmmm….because…" Jack said as he scratched the back of his head in thought, trying to support his lame correction with a believable reason._

"_AHA! BECAUSE SON, PEANUTS ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF NUTRITION! EVERY GROWING BOY NEEDS NUTRITION TO BECOME A HEALTHY MAN, LIKE EVERY VEHICLE NEEDS TO CONSUME GASOLINE AND EVERY WOMAN NEEDS TO CONSUME A CHILL PILL AND LIGHTEN UP BEFORE THEY SEND THEIR MAN INTO A COMA!" Zack shouted in triumph as he ruffled his son's blonde silky hair._

"_Most men don't have a head as hard and dense as yours honey." Jane jabbed as she grabbed a can of green beans from the shelf above her._

"_That's what you said last ni-"_

_***PANG***_

"_OWWWWW!" Zack yelped as he crouched down and rubbed the throbbing fresh bump on the back of his head._

"_Why would you say that at night Mama? Do you beat Papa at night too?" Jaune asked innocently, worried for his father's physical health._

_Lacking any self control and simply refusing to learn from his mistakes, Zack interjected, "Well son, that depends on what you mean by "beat"!"_

_***PANG***_

"_OOOOOWWWW! I THINK YOU DREW BLOOD THAT TIME!"_

"_What?" Jaune asked, completely confused by the exchange between his eccentric father and his stoic mother._

_As she placed the slightly bloodied can into the shopping cart, she smiled sweetly at her precious baby and said, "Just ignore your silly father and stay my innocent little angel. Okay?" as she pinched his squishy cheeks._

"_Oh please, he can't ignore me! He looks up to his old man too much! JAUNE MY BOY, POP QUIZ! WHAT DOES ONE NEED TO BE A MAN?!"_

_Seizing the chance to make his father proud of him, the child leaped out of his mother's embrace and mimicked his father's stance, putting his hands on his hips confidently and resembling a stereotypical super hero._

"_TO BE A MAN, YOU MUST HAVE HONOR! HONOR AND NUTS!"_

_Every man in the vicinity who heard the little boy shout his crude exclamation instantly broke down in a series of howling laughs, amused by how irresistibly funny the boy was. Every woman instantly adorned red coloring in their cheeks as they heard how confidently he shouted it as they wondered how a little boy would be aware of their anatomy on that level._

"_AHAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S M'BOY!" Zack praised as fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and losing his balance to his laughter._

"_ZACKERY ARC QUIT CORRUPTING MY BABY GODDAMMIT!" Jane roared angrily as she strangled her husband with all of her might._

_Jaune had always wondered how his parents fell in love with one another. Most couples he saw were always exchanging kisses and holding hands as they walked beside one another, like his Uncle Ozpin and his Auntie Glynda, but whenever he saw his parents together, his father was always saying something to infuriate his mother, which would almost always lead to her beating the day lights out of him. In addition to their completely unromantic behavior towards each other, they were also different as night and day. His father was a hyperactive, obnoxiously loud, muscular blonde, while his mother was a calm, quiet, and lean woman with ebony black hair. How could two people who were so different be married and in love?_

_As Jane released her furious grip and allowed a wheezing Zack to breathe again, their ears were assaulted by the voice of an angry man and the voice of a frantic woman._

"_Why do you keep coming back here?! I told you a thousand times that I won't serve your kind, now beat it, you street urchin!"_

"_Please sir! No shops in this part of town will serve me! My little girl and I are starving!"_

_As the family of three made their way to the source of the ruckus, the two adults were angered at the sight before them, while Jaune was confused. A poor woman with brown rabbit ears, who looked like she hadn't had a decent meal in days, was on her knees in front of the man behind the cash register, crying and begging to the man. _

_Scowling at the pathetic pest on the ground before him, he displayed how heartless he truly was by spitting on the Faunus woman's face and snarled, "I don't serve trash!"_

"_PLEASE! I'LL PAY DOUBLE THE FEE! TRIPLE EVEN, JUST DON'T LET MY BABY STARVE!" The woman wailed in despair as she desperately begged the man, not even bothering to wipe the green flem trailing down her cheek._

"_I SAID LEEEEAAAAVVVE!" the store owner roared as he grabbed a baseball bat from behind his desk and brought it over his head, eliciting gasps of shock from the group of people watching._

_Terrified by the sheer brutality of what was about to happen, Jaune shoved his teary face into his mother's legs, desiring not to see the poor woman get stricken._

_Many people in the crowd were about to rush to the sick man in order to stop him before he swung, but their reaction timing was too slow, for he was already in mid-swing._

_He completed his swing, but all he hit was the vacant air in front of the shivering woman, and all he could feel at that moment was the cold sensation of sharp steel dangerously close to his neck._

_As the store owner gaped horrified at his bat that looked as if it had been cut in half, he felt the steel press against his neck with enough force to leave a slight cut._

_After hearing how silent the store had become, Jaune separated his face from his mother's legs to see his Papa right behind the monster with his sword ready to cut him should he make any sudden moves. His father didn't look anything like the father that he was used to, the man he saw wore a scowling and disapproving glare on his face as he stared at the back of his target's head. Under normal circumstances, Jaune would've been scared of his papa's angry transformation, but when he saw the lady with bunny ears unharmed, his chest instantly swelled with pride and adoration for the man._

"_If I were you pal, I would drop the other half of that bat and get on your knees with your hands behind your head." Jack growled with contempt._

"_Why are you helping a damn Faunus?! Their race caused ours so much pain and killed thousands of us, and you want to help them?!" the store owner exclaimed, shocked that his assailant was a fellow human._

"_That was during a war two whole decades ago, a war that never should have happened to begin with. Both sides have suffered enough and the world doesn't need people like you causing any more grief. I can understand you having reservations against the Faunus, but that doesn't give you any right to mistreat them on this level, now I said GET ON THE GROUND." Jack replied as he pressed Crocea Mors further into his neck, forcing the middle-aged man on to the floor._

_After he tied up the man's wrist and made sure that he wasn't a danger to anyone else, he walked over to the rabbit Faunus and gently helped her up, wiping away the spit on her tear-stained cheek as he did so._

_Shocking the woman to the point of almost passing out, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a sizable amount of money and put it into her, squeezing her hand gently so that she had a good grip. He also put a slip of paper into her pocket while smiling caringly at her._

"_Go to the address on that piece of paper. They'll take good care of you and your little girl, okay?" he said as he brushed her clothes off._

_To his surprise, the woman pulled him into a heartfelt hug as she sobbed into his chest, "You're an angel! I wish there were more humans like you!"_

_Impressed and amazed by the heroics of the blonde man, a large fraction of the crowd slowly erupted into a collaboration of clapping and whistling as they praised the heroic man with the beautiful sword._

_Wishing to see what his mother's reaction would be to her husband hugging another woman, Jaune looked up to her face, only to see the exact opposite of what he was expecting. Instead of being filled with contempt or jealousy like a lot of spouses would, his mother's sapphire blue eyes were filled with absolutely nothing but pure adoration and love as she looked at the generous man she was married to. _

_It was at that moment that Jaune had his answer as to why they fell in love. It was because underneath all of the jokes and goofiness, his father was in fact a brave and benign man. _

_It was at that moment that Jaune aspired to be the man his father was. _

_If only he had succeeded…_

Waking up from the reminiscent dream of his childhood, Jaune's eyes lazily split open to see his dark room with only the rays of the morning sun peaking through his blinds to illuminate it.

"Another dream about them…" Jaune depressively muttered as he rubbed his eyes.

For the past few days, Jaune's nights were spent tossing and turning in a cold and sweaty frenzy as his sleep was disturbed by the haunting dreams of his parents. It had been many years since he had healed from their untimely… "departure", and ever since then he had learned to push on and live his life happily as they intended, but lately they would often take precedence over his thoughts day and night as he tried to complete his daily tasks. Every attempt at washing the dishes was met with the images of his mother doing the same and destroyed any motivation he had in doing so. Every minute spent exercising to keep his skinny, yet somewhat muscular; body in shape was interrupted by heart wrenching flashbacks of his father doing it effortlessly with his trademark grin on his face. It had gotten so bad that he could barely look at their pictures in his photo album anymore without feeling his eyes moisten from grief. He thought that then ten years of coping would have gotten him past this by now, but evidently it didn't.

The incident with Yang and Ruby yesterday surely didn't assist in that department, for it instigated memories of the time that his father was put in that very same position as him. It was a day that Jaune couldn't forget no matter how hard he tried, for it was the day that he knew who he wanted to be as a man; a courageous and confident man that resembled his father in every way, but never before had he recalled the memory as vividly as last night. Jaune would have liked to honestly say that it was a happy memory in which he could reminisce on and be proud of who used to be his father, but no happy memory made Jaune ashamed of himself every time he recalled it. If his father had been in Jaune's shoes yesterday, he would have instantly stood up for the Faunus and her sister faster than a heartbeat like a man, something that Jaune had failed to do.

It was no longer a memory that inspired pride in who his father was, it was now a glaring reminder that Jaune was not even half the man he was, and it made Jaune ashamed to look at the wimp staring back at him over every surface of water and every pane of glass. Jaune didn't even know how he found the strength to dig through his closet and pull Crocea Mors, the only thing he inherited from his parents, out of its decade-long prison. In his family, it was traditionally given from father to son as an acknowledgement of manhood, and Jaune felt he was completely undeserving of it. Yet another reminder that he was not a real man.

As his thoughts shifted towards the sword sitting in the corner of the room, he slowly rose up from his bed and turned his head towards the digital clock on his night stand.

"_7:14…crap. I gotta get ready for classes." _Jaune mentally complained as he realized that today was Monday, the bane of every teenager's existence.

Taking great care to not disturb the sleeping cat nuzzled into his side, he slowly and gently rose from his bed to leave his room and start his day off with his routinely shower, but before he even touched his door knob, his gaze instinctively shifted towards the cherished family heirloom as the sun's rays bounced off its reflective surface and hit his eyes as if to intentionally seize his attention. The sword had indeed withstood the test of time, for it was still beautifully captivating. It was nowhere near as beautiful as it used to be, but what could one expect from a sword that hasn't been properly taken care of for a decade. As much as he thought that it shouldn't rightfully be his, he did feel ashamed of himself for letting the condition of his only inheritance dwindle.

Jaune left his room with a woeful sigh, but not before promising himself to have his sword polished and cleaned by a professional soon.

It was the least he could do for his parents…

_(Ruby)_

"Come on! Please Yang!" Ruby whined to her sister with her leg elevated as her sister finished cleaning her bullet wound.

"No, Dr. Scarlatina said that you had to stay off of your leg for the next few days. You can't leave the room until then." Yang said as she cleaned her baby sister's bullet wound with the supplies Jaune had so graciously given them.

"But Yaaaannnnggg! I'll get bored staying in bed for half a week!"

"No you won't! You've got dozens of books, plenty of video games, and a laptop with Hulu and Netflix! You've got plenty of stuff to keep you occupied!" Yang said as she gently wrapped Ruby's leg with freshly opened bandages.

"But I've read all of those books at least twice, I don't really watch T.V that much, and most of my video games are no fun alone! Are you at least gonna stay here with me while I recover?" Ruby asked, hoping that she would not have to endure hours upon hours of loneliness.

Ruffling her pouting sibling's dark red hair and wolf ears, Yang replied, "Sorry Sis, I have a meeting with the Council in about ten minutes, so more than likely I'm going to be sent away on a mission."

"Aaaaawwwww…" Ruby whined as her dejectedly lowered and her silver eyes began to moisten.

Yang truly wanted to do nothing but stay by her precious sister's side and tend to her leg injury for the next week, but she couldn't ignore a direct order from her superiors. She knew that Ruby hated being alone for extended amounts of time, despite being anti-social and socially awkward, for she craved companionship from people she felt comfortable with. She wouldn't get that from the occasional visits from a doctor she didn't know.

As an idea popped in Yang's head, she happily pulled her scroll out of her pocket and started tapping buttons on her screen, making Ruby wonder what she was attempting to do.

"**Do you need something Yang?" **Penny asked as she appeared over Yang's scroll in a bright flash of green light, startling Ruby and eliciting a surprised yelp from her.

"Hey there Penny. Can you do me a favor?" Yang asked as she waved at the digital hologram of the A.I.

"**Of course! How can I be of assistance?" **Penny happily confirmed as she put her arms behind her back, awaiting the blonde's request.

"I need you to keep Ruby company and help her with whatever she needs while I'm gone. Can you do that for us?"

As the hologram happily saluted Yang, she disappeared then reappeared next to Ruby as she uploaded herself to the red heads scroll that lied on her nightstand.

"**It would be my pleasure to spend time with Ruby!" **Penny cheered as her hologram sat down on the nightstand.

"Uhh…Penny? Not that I'm ungrateful for you staying with me, but don't you have assignments to do in HQ's main computers, or something." Ruby questioned, choosing her words carefully so that she didn't accidentally offend her.

"**Yes, but I left a temporary reconstruction of my data, a "copy" if you would, in the system to do all of my normal duties in my absence. This way, I can make sure that all of my assignments are completed and that you are taken care of as well."**

As Yang put her scroll back into her pocket and she opened the door, she waved while saying, "Bye Ruby, I'll be back as soon as I can. Have fun with Penny and stay off that leg!"

"Ok, bye Yang." Ruby said as she waved back.

After Yang closed the door behind her as she left, Penny looked towards her red headed charge and asked happily, **"So Ruby, what would you like to do first." **

"Well, I would say that we could start off with a few games, but you don't have any hands to use the controllers."

"**My lack of hands poses no problem in this situation!"** Penny cheered as she disappeared from the nightstand in a flash. Surprising Rube immensely, Penny reappeared over one of her Xbox's controllers as it turned on automatically.

"No way! Did you just upload yourself into the controller?!" Ruby asked, amazed by the A.I's feat.

"**Affirmative!" **Penny replied as she sat down on the controller. In an attempt to add a more comfortable atmosphere for Ruby, Penny snapped her holographic fingers and made a small neon-green controller appear in her hands.

"Awesome!" Ruby shouted excitedly, happy that Yang had called the girl over.

Maybe the next few days wouldn't suck so much.

_(Yang)_

"Identify yourself please." One of the two heavily armored guards at the door said as they stood securely in front of the large metal door behind them. As he gave Yang his request, he raised his left wrist towards her mouth.

"Yang Xiao Long." She replied, making sure to speak loudly and clearly.

As he retracted his hand, he press a few buttons on the device she spoke into. In a computerized voice, the device droned robotically, _"Voice Identification confirmed. Yang Xiao Long. Female. Eighteen years old. Rank: B+. Access Granted."_

No sooner had the device finished its confirmation, the guards immediately dialed numbers into the doors security system. With a resounding ping followed by a small green circle appearing on its screen, the doors elevated slowly as the two guards stepped aside, giving Yang access to the poorly lit room. She slowly walked into thick dark of the room until she halted in the middle of the room. Surrounding her were four wisps of candle fire that were lit as soon as she ceased walking. Although they did little to pierce the consumptive darkness, they were more than enough to illuminate the four shrouded figures holding them.

"_**Ms. Xiao Long, we are pleased to see you could join us." **_ A shrouded figure with the number "one" crested on its chest said in an androgynous, echoing voice.

Secrecy is power.

That was the first lesson Yang was taught when she joined.

It was the first lesson that every agent was taught when they joined.

The Council embodied this lesson, for they were the individuals whose identities were hidden from even the people of the organization they governed. They were never seen outside of their shared quarters unless the situation called for it, they trained themselves to speak through a uniform voice that did nothing to reveal their gender or true voice, and they were never seen in a meeting without their trademark cloaks that completely concealed their appearances. The only times they were ever clearly seen or heard was when they abandoned their secret persona to return to their original, and one could never know when they were walking past them in plain sight.

"I would say the same to you guys, but then again, I can barely see anything in this room." Yang joked dryly as she locked her arms behind her head, shifting to a more relaxed demeanor in an attempt to calm herself.

"_**You seem slightly…agitated, distracted even. Is there something troubling you?" **_One asked, noticing how she subtly rocked back and forth and the far off look in her eyes as if she was thinking heavily on something.

"One of my best friends is missing and probably passed out in a ditch somewhere after being screwed over on her mission, a mission that **you **wouldn't let me assist her on by the way, and now I'm pretty certain that you're going to send me on another mission after this conversation is over when all I really want to do is stay at my little sister's side while she recovers from being shot. So yeah, I'm kinda disorientated right now." Yang calmly replied, doing little to disguise the anger lacing her voice.

"_**Your anger is misplaced, Xiao Long. We aren't at fault for Ms. Belladonna's disappearance." **_Two scolded while crossing its arms disapprovingly.

Yang was doing every mental exercise she knew as she tried to refrain from exploding in an angry burst of flames.

"Oh really? I told you all that sending her in there would go wrong somehow, but you didn't listen. You could have let me join her on the mission like I practically begged you all to allow, but you didn't! Now she's missing and probably dying as we speak! If I had been there, she would have had a better chance!"

"_**If you had been there, you would have done more harm than good!" **_Two shouted angrily.

"_**The mission that we assigned Blake Belladonna and Adam Taurus was one that was of the utmost importance and required an immense amount of stealth and subtlety! YOU, on the other hand, are loud, destructive, and whenever your anger is aroused you explode into an eruption of fire and verbal vulgarity! You would have only acted as a hindrance for you are about as stealthy and subtle as a tank!"**_

As much as Yang would have liked to roar at Two and deny all of its accusations as it belittled her, she could only keep her mouth sealed as she endured the verbal beating, for everything it was saying was undeniable fact, and Yang knew it.

To spare the young woman some of the crippling depression that Three noticed was gradually degrading her self-confidence, it interjected, _**"Ms. Xiao Long, what Two is trying to communicate is that your specific talents and abilities were not necessary in the given conditions. We know that you are deeply concerned for the well being of Ms. Belladonna, many of your companions are, but you can't let rampant emotions obstruct good judgment. Do you understand?"**_

Taking a deep breath to recollect her thoughts, Yang answered, "Yes."

"_**Have faith in your friend young one. She is a very skilled agent that is not bested so easily." **_Three said.

"_**Agreed, but Ms. Belladonna's disappearance is not the purpose of this meeting. We would like to discuss your next assignment." **_One said.

"Yes."

"_**We would like you to go to the docks and investigate suspicious activity that has been reported recently. We will provide you a folder with copies of their detailed reports when you leave HQ."**_

"Suspicious activity? From who, the Order?" Yang asked curiously.

"_**Unknown, but if it is, then all the more reason to investigate. This could also be an opportunity for you to collect additional information concerning Ms. Belladonna's whereabouts."**_

"Both of my usual team mates are missing or incapacitated at the moment. Am I going solo on this?"

"_**No, we cannot be certain that this is not an insidious trap of some sort. As a safety precaution, we will be sending Sun Wu Kong and Neptune to replace Ms. Belladonna and Ms. Rose." **_Two answered.

"_Good, I'd rather have Dumb and Dumber on my side then Adam Pompous." _The brawler mentally growled, still angry at Blake's friend.

"When do I start?" Yang asked, ready to get it over with so that she can return to her and her sister's room.

"_**Immediately, and do not fret. After you complete this mission, we will give you time off to care for your sister and also search for Ms. Belladonna." **_One said with care.

Startled by One's generosity, Yang flinched in surprise before bowing while stuttering, "T-thank you."

After rising from her bow, Yang began to walk out of the circle towards the exit, but halted when the last Councilor spoke for the first time and said, **"Wait."**

"Yes?" she said as she faced it.

"_**We understand that Ruby Rose was injured saving the life of Martin Maroon. As a token of our appreciation, we would like you to give her this." **_Four said as he walked towards her. Pulling a manila folder out of his sleeve, he placed it in Yang's hands with great care.

Curious as to what they bestowed upon her little sister, Yang gently opened the folder and read the sheet of paper with the Council's stamp of approval shining on the top. As she read, she almost dropped the folder in shock.

"_Ruby Rose_

_ In honor of your brave and selfless act of heroism in saving the life of Martin Mahogany Maroon, we are pleased to inform you that we have seen it fit to ascend your rank from B- to B+. You will receive an increased pay raise, permission to undertake higher ranked missions, and eligibility to receive more advanced training. Thank you for your hard work and determination._

_ Sincerely, the Council_

"Holy crap! You're promoting her?!" Yang shouted in surprise after reading it twice.

"_**She has always had skills well beyond her rank, all we needed to confirm was that if she had the will and determination for a promotion. Her actions yesterday are a testament to those desired traits." **_Four answered as he returned to his desk.

"Umm…okay. I'll be sure to give it to her when I return." Yang said as she bowed one last time before leaving.

"_**Good luck, Yang Xiao Long. Remember our code." **_The entire Council said simultaneously as an act of praise.

Yang stopped at the door and turned around, locking her arms behind her to shift into a stance of professionalism and taking a deep breath as she prepared to recite the words that were beaten into her head since she was a child.

"We are a light house that provides sanctuary in a raging sea of chaos and disorder, we are a signal fire for the innocent who are lost in a perpetual field of danger, and we are a small flicker of light that will one day evolve into a beam of sunshine that will pierce the clouds of darkness and bathe the world in its indiscriminate light."

As she spoke proudly and clearly, her body shined with an illuminant yellow glow, brightening the dark room and leading to the Council extinguishing their candles, as they were now unnecessary.

"**We are Beacon." **

_(Jaune)_

"I'm just saying, if I was a cop and I saw a bunch of shady looking dudes dressed exactly like each other at a freaking civil rights speech of all things, I've would've kept a closer eye on them." Cardin said as he ate his ham sandwich.

"But weren't there hundreds of people attending the speech? I'd imagine that it would be difficult to keep watch over such a large crowd." Velvet said as she nibbled on a carrot.

"She has a point." Ren added in between sips of his tea.

"Well yeah, but they did kinda stand out since they wore black in the middle of a brightly colored crowd, like a mole on someone's skin, y'know?" Russel said as he tossed chips in the air and caught them in his mouth.

"What do you think Jaune?" Velvet asked, hoping to include their silent friend in the conversation.

…

"Jaune? Helloooo?" Nora called in an attempt to grab the blonde's attention as he mindlessly poked his chicken nuggets with his fork.

"JAUNE!" Nora roared in his ears, sending the startled boy leaping out of his seat while screaming effeminately.

"Dude, you've been spacing out all day! You okay man?" Russel asked with a rise of his left eyebrow.

"Uuuhhh, yeah. I just haven't been sleeping very well. What were we talking about?" Jaune said as he sat back down next to Nora.

"We were talking about the assassination attempt yesterday." Ren said as he finished his soothing drink.

"Oh yeah." Jaune said as he pushed his plate of nuggets towards Cardin, failing to find his appetite and deciding not to waste food.

Jaune really didn't feel like talking about Maroon, for the topic was discussed to death in the classrooms and hallways of Vytal University, and there wasn't anything he could contribute to the conversation that hadn't already been said. Plus he didn't feel like talking about a brave and honorable man that his father that his father would have wanted him to become.

As the five teenagers looked at their favorite goofball, they became slightly worried for him as they observed him. The first thing that aroused their worries was the fact that Jaune pushed his chicken nuggets away. Jaune was addicted to his nuggets as much as Nora was addicted to her sweets, so to see him reject them at any time was surprising. The second thing that caught their attention was the dark bags under his eyes, a clear testament to the truth behind Jaune's earlier statement concerning his lack of sleep. And finally, the last thing that concerned them all was how distracted he had been all day. During classes, he would stare off into vacant space with an empty look in his dulled blue eyes, the Jaune they knew was always alert and attentive during his classes, even through the ones he found boring.

Choosing to pick a more enthralling subject in hopes of keeping the boy's attention, Nora asked, "So the big dance is right around the corner. You guys ask anybody to it yet?"

"Uuh, actually, women have been asking me to it all day, so I'm going through all of my options right now! Y'know, making sure to pick the right one!" Russel confidently said as he crossed his arms to look convincing.

Chuckling at the obvious lie from his mohawk-haired friend, Cardin swallowed the last of his sandwich and replied, "I didn't know you were constipated Russel."

Confused by the statement, Russel asked, "What makes you say that?"

"Because you're full of crap."

"Toasty!" Nora sing-songed as the rest of the table laughed and Russel covered his face in embarrassment.

"Ok, what about **you **then smart ass! I don't see women throwing themselves at you for a dance!" Russel shouted angrily as he tried to save himself from any more embarrassment.

"Who me? **I'm **going with Selena. Y'know, that athletic super-hot cheerleader that sprayed you with mace when you leaped out of an alley way in front of her to ask her to be your Valentine." Cardin replied smugly as he mimicked Russel and crossed his arms in a show of confidence.

The only thing that could be heard over the sound of Russel banging his head repeatedly against the cafeteria table was the eruption of laughter from Velvet, Ren, and Nora as they enjoyed the banter between the two boys.

"Oooh! Do you think you can ask her to get me a date with Melanie?!" Jaune asked Cardin excitedly with hope oozing from his voice.

"Jeesh Jauney-boy, how many times do I gotta tell you?! Just give it up man!" Cardin said exasperated, yet happy that the boy was lightening up for the first time today.

"Never!" Jaune shouted dramatically and defiantly with fire in his eyes.

"Jaune, throughout the entirety of our enrollment in this school, Melanie has probably rejected your requests for a date over a hundred times." Velvet said as she tried to make him see reason and cease his attempts to "woo" the cold girl.

"One hundred twenty-four times, actually." Ren added as he poured himself more tea.

"So?! She'll come around…eventually…" Jaune said, more so attempting to convince himself rather than his friends.

"Well, this has been entertaining, but I think we'd better get ready for work." Ren said as he rose from his seat and addressed Nora and Jaune.

As he looked at his watch, Jaune noticed that they had about forty minutes to get to the pizzeria and get in their uniforms so that they could begin their shift.

"Yeah, good idea. See you tomorrow guys." Jaune said as he waved while following a walking Ren and a skipping Nora out of the cafeteria.

After waving back at the retreating half of their group, Russel slowly looked towards the rabbit Faunus sitting to his right with a suave look on his face.

"Soooo, Velvet."

"No thank you Russel, I'm not interested."

"DAMMIT!"

_(Blake)_

"_Damn…I need a shower." _Blake angrily thought as she took painful strides across the streets of Vytal.

If there was a single day of the week that Blake despised, it was Monday.

Every time she got out of bed and checked her calendar, her mood instantly soured when her eyes landed on its label on the current day. Most people her age despised the day because it was the day when their weekend ended and they were forced to abandon the warm embrace of their bed and venture into the "jaws of hell" known as school or work, but that was only a partial reason for her abhorrence. The primary reason she disliked Mondays was because every time she left her house to accomplish something, something unfortunate would occur and completely ruin her progress, and if that was not the case, then the objective of her day was one that was unpleasant on many levels like the one today.

Today was no different. This morning, Blake planned to take full advantage of Jaune's absence for the whole day, for she knew that he was a college student and would have classes all day on Monday. With that in mind, she borrowed one of his black t-shirts, a black jacket, and a pair of his blue jeans, and the smallest pairs of shoes she could find in his closet. None of the articles of clothing were a comfortable fit for the Faunus, but it was sufficient for what she needed to do.

There was no doubt in Blake's mind that the Order had acquired the cargo that she was ordered to steal. She left almost everything she had on her person in the dumpster when she was forced to hide in that disgusting dumpster, and the only reason she didn't lose her bow was because it was the only article of clothing that stayed attached to her during her transformation. Regrettably, the second item of her inheritance was left behind; her mother's weapon that Blake now used in her honor, Gambal Shroud. She was fairly sure that neither Roman nor Jaune found it because everything they retrieved of hers was closer to the surface than Gambal Shroud, so she was fairly sure that it was still lying unattended in the pool of trash, a thought that both saddened and angered her. It was just as precious to her as her trademark bow and she didn't feel complete without it. She had hoped to recover more from her injuries before going out into the city, but she was not healing fast enough for her taste, and she desperately desired to retrieve her precious weapon.

After spending hours walking through the streets in uncomfortable baggy clothes and enduring stinging injuries, she finally found the reeking trash can that Jaune found her in. Blake knew that she would need to "dumpster dive" in order to retrieve her precious weapon, but she didn't want to ruin clothes that were not her own. Making sure that she was securely hidden in the darkness of the alleyways, she transformed into her smaller form, held her breathe, and swam through the various types of garbage in hopes of locating Gambal Shroud.

She dug through the dumpster for a large majority of her day, enduring stenches that almost killed her due to her heightened sense of smell, and swallowing her body's desire to vomit, but her efforts finally came to fruition when she finally found the other half of her inheritance lying next to a half-eaten green corndog and what appeared to be a dirty diaper. She would have leapt in joy, but as soon as she grabbed her weapon, she pounced out of the dumpster, transformed into her original form, and vomited her guts out in the darkness of the alley way, making sure that no one saw the nude teenager crouched on the ground releasing the contents of her stomach in a stream of puke.

So here she was now, painfully limping home with aggravated wounds with a horrific after taste in her mouth. As she passed by the various pedestrians on her way back to Jaune's house, she couldn't help but appreciate yet another benefit of her transformation; the ability to conceal odors in between forms. In her current state, she smelled no different from when she left the house, but were she to shift back into her feline form, she would smell exactly like the dumpster she previously bathed in. Hopefully, she would have time to bathe herself in an actual shower when she returned so that she wouldn't subject Jaune to the putrid aroma caking her fur.

"_Uuuggghhh… I can still taste it…" _Blake mentally groaned as she grimaced from the after taste of puke in her mouth.

It was safe to say that by now Jaune's classes were over, but he was more than likely making his way to his job, so she had ample time to get back home. She would've loved to take the time to find a water fountain and clean her mouth out, but she didn't know how long his shift was, so she wanted to get home as quickly as possible. She also didn't want to alarm the boy with another disappearing act like yesterday.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!" a voice shouted in panic from behind her.

"We have about thirty minutes!" another voice shouted from farther away.

"JAUNE WATCH OUT!"

"_JAUNE!" _ Blake mentally screamed in disbelief as she spun around.

"WATCH OUT!"

Due to the shock of encountering the blonde, her mental reflexes were clouded by surprise, leaving her unable to dodge the collision with the sprinting blonde. With a pained yelp, the teenagers were sent collapsing into the sidewalk.

God damn it she hated Mondays.

"Oh my God! I am so sorry!" Jaune shouted in fear that he might have hurt the girl he was currently on top of, feeling horrible that he, in an act of carelessness, had possibly hurt her in his mad rush to get to work on time. Before he could get off of the poor girl and help her, he froze in shock as he looked at her. To put it simply, she was possibly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his entire life. Her flawless, slightly pale skin radiated as the sunlight reflected off of her, giving her a radiant appearance and making her resemble an angel in his eyes. Her hair was blacker than sky of the darkest of nights, and was equally as beautiful as it cascaded down her shoulders in silky waves. Despite both of these divine qualities, the thing that Jaune found absolutely heavenly about her was her eyes. He couldn't help but stare amazed into the sparkling pools of glowing gold as they stared back at him.

There was something familiar about them…

"Uuummm…could you please get off of me?" she requested, looking surprised and sounding slightly intimidated.

Becoming aware of the compromising position he was in as he lied over her on the sidewalk, Jaune's face grew the darkest shade of red and jumped off the woman and held his hand out while screaming, "I AM SO SORRY!"

Still surprised that she "bumped" into the boy by complete chance, she took his hand while hesitantly saying, "It's…okay, just watch where you're going next time."

Jaune would have liked to start a conversation with the enchanting woman who, for some reason, looked surprised to see him, but before he could attempt to make conversation with her, the collar of his shirt was pulled as he was dragged away by a panicking Nora.

"PICK UP CHICKS LATER JAUNEY-BOY! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" Nora shouted as she forced Jaune into a fumbling sprint behind her as she drug him away.

Trailing behind his lover and his best friend, Ren stopped and bowed towards the still surprised girl while sincerely saying, "I am very sorry for my friend. He is a grade-A klutz and has the grace of a remedial flamingo. Please don't call the cops on us."

After making his apology and request, he sprinted in the direction his companions sped off, hoping that he could catch up.

After she lost sight of the retreating backs of the awkward trio, Blake released the breathe she didn't even know she was holding and continued on her way back to Jaune's house, fighting the blushing in her cheeks and trying to forget the look she received from her blonde companion.

The rosy shade that stained her pale face was a clear indication that she had failed in doing both.

_(Elsewhere)_

If there was one thing that Sun Wu Kong hated to do, it was sit in one spot for an extended amount of time without entertainment, which was exactly what he was doing as he sat on the top of a building in between his partner in crime, Neptune, and his child hood friend, Yang.

Currently, they were waiting patiently on the building, using binoculars to scope out the docks and waiting patiently for any sign of suspicious activity, but the past three hours of observing and scouting were fruitless as they didn't see anybody enter or leave the docks. Scouting the seemingly barren docks in search of activity was hard enough, but the sun had longed retreated behind the horizon and was replaced with the fragmented moon, hindering the visibility of both Neptune and Yang and making it more difficult for the team to split up and search. Sun was the only one out of the group that could see clearly due to him being a Faunus, but he had long given up on their search.

That was why he was entertaining himself by conversing with Neptune until Yang decided to go home.

"So you're telling me that you would choose a bunch of frag grenades over stickies?" Neptune asked in disbelief.

"Hell yeah I would! Frags are way better when it comes to blowing people away! Sticky grenades just don't have a satisfying blast radius to me." Sun said as he lied down on his back, gazing at the moon as he tried to count all of its separated pieces.

"Yeah, but sticky grenades are more likely to knock an enemy out. A frag would just temporarily blow a few enemies away."

"Not if you have awesome grenade tossing skills like this guy." Sun boasted as he pointed towards his toothy smile.

"Oh please, I've seen you miss targets five feet away from you."

"Shut up Blue-tard." Sun growled as he flipped off the smiling bluenette.

"What do you prefer Yang; frags or stickies?" Neptune asked he faced the buxom blonde leaning towards the edge of the rooftop as she scoped the docks with her binoculars.

"Yeah cool whatever." Yang quickly replied as she continued to observe the docks, not at all paying attention to the boys' conversation.

The two males exchanged a worried glance in response to her careless response from their friend. Usually, she would be the ones to initiate the seemingly irrelevant conversations between the trio, but ever since their friend Blake went missing Yang had been unusually, and understandably, testy. Her erratic behavior only worsened when she returned when she returned from her mission briefing with the Council, so Sun and Neptune could infer that the Council somehow upset her.

"Yang, are you okay?" Neptune asked despite already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she replied, keeping her eyes glued to her binoculars.

"You've been kind of…off ever since you came back from the meeting. Did something happen?" Sun asked, sitting up and facing her to let her know that he was giving her his undivided attention.

Under normal circumstances, Yang would have lied and erected a façade in order to convince them that there was nothing bothering her, but she simply lacked the motivation to lie.

"Is it because of Blake?" Neptune asked.

"Sort of…" Yang mumbled.

"What's the problem?" Sun asked.

With a heavy sigh of pent up stress, Yang decided to indulge her two friends and said, "My sister is getting promoted."

"Why would that upset you? I thought that you, of all people, would be happy for her." Sun asked, confused as to why Ruby ascending the ranks and becoming more successful would upset Yang.

Saving Yang the trouble of attempting to explain herself to the blonde monkey, Neptune answered, "Because a higher rank means that she will participate in more dangerous missions than she previously did."

"Oh…" Sun said, understanding Yang's reason for her concern.

It was common knowledge among the agents of Beacon that Yang was extremely protective of her little sister, and for good reasons. She was never comfortable with her sister becoming a fellow agent, but submitted to the fact that it was ultimately Ruby's decision in the end. Every time they were sent on a mission together, Yang would double her efforts to succeed and shield her sister from harm, but if Ruby was ascended to the rank of _B+_, then she would be eligible to start undertaking solo missions, meaning that Yang wouldn't be there to protect her. She had already lost enough of her family, and now possibly her best friend, so if anything happened to Ruby it would destroy Yang, so Sun could understand why Yang was fearful and uncharacteristically distressed. It would also explain why she was taking their current mission so seriously. If the Order was involved in the investigation, then the mission could possibly gain them a lead on their missing bibliophile, but it was clear that the stress of the past few days was beginning to take its toll on the blonde girl, for she was tired and drained. She wasn't in a favorable condition to fight, so if they were to be engaged in a combat situation, then she would most likely pay for it.

With that in mind, Neptune put a comforting hand on her shoulder and beckoned, "Let's go home now Yang."

"But what if something happens while we're gone? What if we miss a lead…" Yang questioned, worried that their absence would end negatively for them in the end.

"Yang, you're exhausted and stressed out. It's eleven o'clock and we've been here since six. You've been staying up all night in clubs trying to find leads on Blake. There's nothing here right now and if we spend all night here and something does happen, you'll be too tired to deal with it properly. You need to go home and rest." Neptune said, trying to convince her to see reason.

A full minute passed before Yang slowly separated her eyes from the binoculars. With a hefty sigh, she rose from her spot while breathing, "Okay…"

They would just have to come back later.

As the three teenagers collected their belongings and leaped off into the distance via rooftops, they were completely oblivious to the figure perched atop a crane, observing there every move through the lens of a sniper rifle.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Blake, I'm home!" Jaune shouted as he closed the door behind him.

"_Hopefully she isn't playing hide and seek with me again." _Jaune thought as he walked up the stairs on his way to his room.

Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to comb through every inch of the house while shouting her name in worry. As he opened the door to his room, he found her curled up comfortably on a pillow in the corner of the room, next to his sheathed sword. Trust Blake to unintentionally brighten his day with her irresistible cuteness; she made it possible for him to look at Crocea Mors and not get sad or depressed from it. As much as he didn't want to disturb her peaceful sleep, he needed to change her bandages and feed her dinner. He didn't want her wounds getting irritated and she needed ample nutrition to heal properly.

"Wake up Kitty Lovin's." he gently cooed as he walked towards the cat, waking her up and causing her to look towards him drowsily.

He would have liked to gently pet the black kitten and then nuzzle her in a warm hug, but there was one major problem that stopped him from doing so.

Blake smelled fricking horrible!

"Aaauugghh…Blake, what the hell did you do while I was gone!? Did you swim in the toilet or something?" Jaune shouted disgusted as he pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose.

"No, but I'm pretty sure that I would smell ten times better if I had, and you're one to talk; you smell like greasy pizza drowned in sweat." Blake sassily replied as she rose from her bed and stretched her limbs, slightly irritated that she over slept. She had originally intended to bathe herself before Jaune returned home, but painfully limping across the city twice and losing her breakfast took its toll on her body. No sooner had she snuck back in the house, her body screamed at her in demand for a, as Yang would say, "cat nap". She inevitably submitted to her body's needs, but she didn't expect to fall into such a deep sleep.

"Come on Blake. Let's get you cleaned up." Jaune said as he gently picked up the cat.

"Wait…what do you mean "cleaned up?" Blake asked fearfully as the blonde carried her gingerly as he left the room and walked across the hallway.

To Blake's great horror, he was heading towards the door on the far left.

As soon as she realized which door it was, all of her reasoning as a Faunus completely vanished as her animalistic nature slowly clouded her mind.

It was the door to the bathroom.

"Time for a bath Blake!" Jaune said happily.

He was completely unaware of the savage beast that awakened in his arms.

**Oh Jaune, you poor fool. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Me-OUCH!

**Happy Labor Day guys!**

**I'm sure that you have noticed the new picture for the fanfic. The last time I updated, Kegi Springfield, a very talented artist and fan of A Friend in Need, posted fanart of it and it was FREAKING BEAUTIFUL! I STRONGLY suggest you give his stuff on a look. He has drawn fanart for a few RWBY fanfics and they are all well drawn and definitely worth a look!**

**Let the story commence! **

"Y'know Ren, sometimes I think that we should just go ahead and move in with Jaune." Nora said as she walked beside her silent boyfriend in the dark of the night.

"Reason being?" he inquired.

"Because the poor guy needs us in his life! Where would he be if he couldn't call us to help him every time he manages to get himself in some type of trouble? We might as well live with him. Save him some minutes on his scroll." Nora answered with a humored chuckle.

"So you would be perfectly fine with never being alone with each other again? Never being able to do "you know what" without having to make sure that he is out of the house?" Ren asked with a rise of his eyebrow, amused that Nora could never go a day without their special alone time.

"Uuuuuhhhh…on second thought, Jaune has a job. He can afford the extra minutes." Nora amended, realizing the truth behind Ren's words.

"All joking aside, I am worried about the text message he sent us. It had so many typos it almost looked like he was typing it in a rush."

"What did it say exactly?"

"Ten and nota i ned help rite now pleese." Ren said, making sure to enunciate on every mistake in Jaune's usually decent grammar to prove his point.

"Aw come on, it can't be THAT bad!" Nora said, thinking that either Jaune was exaggerating his distress or Ren was over reacting.

Until she heard the most unmanly shrieks of pain coming echoing from the distance.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

After the ringing in his ears subsided to a bearable level, Ren looked towards the startled ginger with a challenging look, as if to say "You were saying?"

"That could be anyone!" Nora said defensively.

"REN! NORA! HEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPPPPP!" The voice screamed through a fit a sobs.

Ren's maintained his stare, increasing its effect by raising his eyebrow questionably.

"Well Jaune isn't the only one that knows us Ren! We have other friends too y'know!" Nora shouted as she crossed her arms, refusing to admit that her lover was correct.

As soon as she finished her excuse, Ren's scroll lit up and started playing "Slow Ride", Ren's favorite song and his personal choice of ringtone. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, but almost dropped it out of surprise as he opened it and the line came through.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

Ren closed the scroll immediately before it blew his eardrums out. After swiping his finger across the screen a few times, he pointed the device towards Nora to show her its contents. Much to her chagrin, it was the "Recent Calls" list showing that the last call was from Jaune.

…

…

…

…

"Screw you Ren." Nora said flatly before breaking off into a mad sprint in the direction of Jaune's house.

"Again? But we just finished a half hour ago." Ren replied like the smart ass he was as he sprinted next to her.

They didn't have to run far, for they were only two blocks away from his house. As soon as they reached his house, they immediately grew concerned from the lack of screaming coming from the house. Wasting no time with unnecessary manners, Nora kicked the door open while shouting his name. Much to their confusion, they saw Jaune whimpering with tears staining his cheek as he stood rigidly in the center of the living room, looking towards the two with a look of pure plea in his frantic eyes. It was a strange sight for Ren and Nora, but the most unusual part of their friend's condition was the fact that the only article of clothing he was wearing was his boxers.

"Holy crap! Are you ok?!" Nora shouted concerned that her friend's face was littered in what appeared to be small scratches.

Jaune's right index finger zipped over his lips as he shushed her in pure fear.

"Be quiet. You'll startle her." He whimpered as he shivered in fright.

"What? Startle who?" Ren asked, curious as to what happened to put his friend in such a deplorable condition.

"Look…behind…me…" Jaune wheezed as he started to sweat profusely.

The worried couple to a step towards the blonde after Ren closed the door behind them, but they immediately halted as Jaune swiftly shot his hands out while squeaking "Don't get close!"

Making sure to abide by his odd request, the two teenagers slowly kept to the walls of the living room as they walked around Jaune to see what his problem was.

Ren had to slap himself twice to ensure that he wasn't hallucinating.

Nora had to bite her lip to ensure that she didn't shout "WHAT!?" in confusion.

Blake, the usually harmless and docile cat that Ren and Nora had taken a liking to, was growling and hissing at Jaune as she was securely attached to Jaune's ass, using her claws to secure her spot and cause the blonde as much pain as possible. For some reason, her usually fluffy coat of fur was dripping wet, making her fur look unkempt and spiky. She now resembled a demonic feline instead of an adorable kitty.

"What…How…Why?" Ren asked in a loss of words out of pure disbelief as he futilely attempted to figure out how Jaune got in this situation.

"Dude, what did you do to this poor cat?" Nora asked as she checked the cat twice to make sure that it was Blake; she wasn't wearing her trademark bow around her neck.

Making sure to keep his voice down so that he doesn't alarm Blake and give her reason to dig her claws further into the flesh of his cheeks, Jaune said, "Well…"

_(Earlier that night)_

_Jaune could tell from the second that he closed the bathroom door behind him that Blake was not going to enjoy this, because as soon as he entered the white room, she started meowing constantly with the occasional hiss directed towards the bath tub. This was going to be the first time he ever bathed an animal, so he didn't know exactly what to expect or if there was a uniform, proper method to do so, but Blake smelled absolutely horrific. Her stench indicated that she was somehow filthy, and if he wanted to make sure that Blake wouldn't develop an infection in her still-healing wounds, he would need to make sure that she was regularly clean so that the filth wouldn't fall into them. To be honest, Jaune was slightly intimidated by the feral growls coming from the kitty that was usually calm. He had always heard that one of the most difficult things to do as an owner of a pet was to give it a thorough bath, and that especially applied to cats, but it was a task that needed to be done to take proper care of his furry charge._

"_There there, easy now kitty. This won't hurt a bit." Jaune cooed gently in an attempt to calm the cautious feline as he gently placed her in the center of the tub after removing her bow and putting it near the sink. _

_It seemed to elicit the desired effect. Blake's growls and hisses slightly subsided as she crouched low to the ground with her tail in between her legs._

_Deciding that she was now calm enough to attempt to bathe, Jaune reached over to the right of the tub towards the knobs. After gripping the knob that controlled the flow of warm water, he turned it towards the right, causing the warm water to spill out of the faucet and into the white porcelain tub._

_It was the first of many mistakes he would make that night._

_As soon as the water slapped against the surface of the tub and echoed throughout the bathroom, Blake jumped into the air with a sharp yelp of fright and tried desperately to claw her way out of the tub, but she couldn't maintain a decent grip on its surface._

"_Whoa easy Blake! It's not gonna hurt you." Jaune said as he reached over and tried to gently grab the cat as it panicked._

"_RRREEEEOOOOWWWWRRRR!"_

"_OOOOWWW SON OF A BITCH!" Jaune screamed as he clutched his abused arm._

_Alarmed that the blonde tried to grab her while she was trying to escape from the menacing sound of the pouring wetness, Blake seized the opportunity to escape and used the boy's arm as a stable foothold and dug her claws into his skin, leaping out of the wet trap and curling into the corner of the bathroom next to the door._

_Jaune never knew how painful the scratch of a cat could be until now! Despite how small her claws were, they still managed to inflict such horrible pain!_

_After Jaune felt the pain in his arm begin to numb, he turned towards the hissing feline after turning the water off. "I'm sorry Blake. Did I scare you?" _

_An angry hiss and a swift swipe in his direction was his only reply._

_Flinching from the furious body language the Blake communicated, he gently picked her back up while whispering, "Okay, I'll make sure to be gentle this time okay."_

_Praying that she wouldn't pounce on him or leap away the second he turned away from her, he turned the knob once more, only this time he made sure to do it lightly to minimize the amount of noise. To Jaune's great relief, Blake didn't have an intense panic attack this time, so he assumed that as long as he didn't make too much noise he would be safe. His assumption was immediately punished as he cupped water in his hands and brought it towards the miffed cat._

_Before he could even get a drop of water on Blake, she shot towards the unsuspecting boy in a black blur and wrapped her limps around his right arm and hooked her claws into it, causing the boy to squeal in pain as he dropped the small collection of water._

"_OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!" Jaune cried as his cat cut off the circulation in his arm and penetrated his flesh._

_Never in Jaune's wildest dreams did he think that bathing such a small creature could be such an excruciatingly painful experience! If he knew that it was going to be this difficult, he would have waited a few days so that he could prepare, if that was even possible. He wasn't even sure that one could prepare to take on such a ferocious beast!_

"_Blake! Could you PLEASE let me go?!" Jaune wheezed painfully as he brought his arm up to make eye contact with Blake._

"_HEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!" Blake growled as she displayed her miniature, razor sharp fangs to him, making Jaune flinch in momentary fright._

_Jaune's first thought was to try to separate the hissing demon from his arm by pulling her off, but an idea struck him as he looked at the faucet again. Hoping to motivate Blake to release his pale arm, he turned the warm water on and hovered Blake under the pouring faucet._

_Jaune's plan achieved the desired results, just not in a way he had hoped._

_Infuriated that the boy soaked her with such a dirty tactic, Blake released Jaune's captive arm, leaped from the spot where she landed, and attached herself to Jaune's face._

"_Oh crap…" Jaune thought, knowing what was to come._

"_RRRRREEEEEEEOOOOOOOORRRRRRR!"_

"_OOOOOOOHHHHHH MMMYYYYYY GOOOOOOODDDD!" Jaune wailed as he ran blind circles in the bathroom, fumbling and trying desperately to separate the cat from his face as she slashed and bit it. After a full minute of mercilessly using his face as a scratching post, Blake jumped off of his aching head and returned to her spot in the corner of the room._

"_WHY ARE YOU BEING SO EVIL?! IT'S JUST A FREAKING BATH!" Jaune screamed as he fell to ground and cradled his face while he miserably rocked back and forth on the ground._

_For the love of everything holy why was this cat being such a douche?! He knew that cat's despised getting wet, but he was pretty sure that NO CAT would react this badly to it! _

_That's it! NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!_

_As a fiery blast of determination engulfed his soul, Jaune angrily slammed his fist onto the ground as he gritted his teeth through the pain of his scratches. With renewed vigor, he jumped up to his feet and glared heavily into Blake's furious yellow eyes._

"_You are indeed a very difficult adversary to defeat Blake the Cat, but I promise you that I possess the superior will between us. I have been rejected by my crush over one hundred times and I still have the determination to ask her out for a night on the town every freaking day. If I can do that, then I'm pretty sure I can find the strength to bathe you. So know this you little fur ball, I don't care if I have to wrestle you in the tub myself, I don't care if I have to keep you close with a leash, and I don't care if I have to endure the pain of a thousand cat scratches! BY THE END OF TONIGHT, YOUR FURRY BLACK ASS WILL BE LATHERED AND RINSED, OR MY NAME ISN'T JAUNE MILES ARC!" Jaune roared as he threw all of his clothes off, except for his white boxers._

_As he glared challengingly towards his adversary, he reached behind him and grabbed the blue bottle filled with his thickest shampoo. In an intimidating fashion, he squirted the blue gel into his fingers and slowly traced symbols on his face, using the shampoo as a type of war paint. After he finished applying his face paint, he crouched towards the ground and grabbed his knees, resembling an enraged sumo wrestler._

_This…__**WAS A TRIAL OF MANHOOD!**_

"_TO BE A MAN YOU MUST HAVE HONOR! HONOR AND A PE-AAAAAAHHHHHHH THE SHAMPOO GOT IN MY EYE'S IT BURNS!" Jaune screamed as he spun around, bent over, and drowned his eyes in water to alleviate the burning._

_Unfortunately, Jaune didn't know the first rule of battle: __**never turn your back on the enemy.**_

_Noticing that the intellectually questionable human that had been trying to drown her foolishly turned around and exposed himself, Blake seized this opportunity to attack him once more, but where should she strike? It would have to be somewhere sensitive to ensure that the maximum amount of damage and pain was delivered. Noticing the swaying of the boy's backside, Blake's eyes zoned and locked on her target. After instinctively licking her lips, Blake flew through silently, like the most deadly of predators, and extended her claws._

"_**Try to dominate me with your evil wet substance, will you? You will pay for your insolence human." **__Blake's inner animal growled as her claws penetrated the smooth flesh of her target._

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-_

_(Elsewhere)_

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

_Alarmed by the screaming from the distance, Yang stopped in her tracks behind Neptune and Sun._

"_What's up?" Sun asked._

"_Nothing…it's just…that scream sounds oddly familiar." Yang said before shrugging her shoulders and continuing their trek back to HQ._

_(Present)_

Nora and Ren could only stare baffled at the half-naked boy and his cat that had a firm grip on his butt.

"Soooo…why did you call us again?" Nora asked, still trying to process the anomaly in front of her.

"Please…get her off…" Jaune painfully wheezed.

In most situations, Ren would have instantly jumped to his best friend's rescue, but as soon as he took a step towards the feral cat, she twisted her head towards him and growled menacingly at him.

"**This frail human is MY bitch now. If you would like to avoid being designated as the same, I suggest you don't come any closer." **Blake hissed as her grip tightened, sending Jaune into even more pain.

"Uuuummm…and how exactly do I do this without dying?" Ren asked as he took a cautious step back.

"Aw c'mon Ren, it's just a fifteen pound kitty! How dangerous could she be?" Nora asked as she walked towards the cat to grab her.

"NO NORA WAIT!" Ren screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nora screamed as Blake leaped off of Jaune's rump and onto Nora's chest, punishing her severely by scratching her vulnerable face.

It was going to be a long, **painful **night for the three teens…

_(Elsewhere)_

"_OH MY F***ING GOOOOODDDDD! I CALL HACKS! THERE IS NO WAY YOU COULD HAVE POSSIBLY KNOWN I WAS GOING TO BE THERE!"_

"**Actually N00bxSlaya, you have spent over 53% of the game in the Southeast region of the map. It was not difficult to predict your location."**

"_SCREW YOU! AND WHY ARE YOU TALKING LIKE A F***ING ROBOT, YOU GODDAMN NO-LIFE!"_

"**Your insult is illogical, for if I did not possess life, I wouldn't be able to play the game and speak to you."**

"_DON'T BE A SMART-ASS YOU BITCH!"_

"**I believe the appropriate response in this situation would be "You mad bro"?"**

"_I F***ING HATE YOU!"_

"_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" _Ruby thought as she watched her digital friend play against people on Call of Duty.

To Ruby's great surprise, despite having no experience with anything of the sort, Penny was great at video games. Ever since Penny displayed her unusual ability, Ruby suggested that they spend the day playing video games with one another. Out of all of the games that they played, it became apparent that Penny preferred first-person shooters, not to say that it was because it was the only type of game she excelled at. In every game that Ruby challenged the A.I to, she would have her butt kicked in every one. Interested to see just how good Penny was, she later suggested that they play online, an idea she now regretted. Penny completely dominated the competition and had yet to be killed, a feat that attracted negative attention from the enemy team and many praises from her team.

In the game she was currently in, her K/D was 25/0 with over half of her kills being at the expense of "N00bxSlaya", a player on the enemy team that took offense to her skills. For the past twenty minutes, he had been verbally assaulting the A.I, but she would always reply with a logical statement assessing the flaws in his accusations and censor him much like she did Yang, angering him even further.

If Ruby didn't know any better, she would say that Penny was enjoying toying with the immature player.

"_HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU KILL ME FROM ACROSS THE F***ING MAP WITH A GRENADE?!"_

"**I deduced that in an attempt to maintain distance from me, you would switch to your sniper class and try to kill me from afar. I simply chose one of the two most used spots people snipe from and threw the fragmentation grenade in its general vicinity. May I suggest that you try to find a less predictable position?"**

"_MAY I SUGGEST YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND DIE ALREADY?!"_

Taking offense to the snide remark from N00b, Penny responded by giving him a taste of his own medicine and preformed a perfect headshot on him as soon as he respawned, subtly chuckling as she pulled the trigger.

Okay, now Ruby knew she was enjoying this.

"_ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!"_

"**I didn't realize that you were a boy scout until recently N00bxSlaya." **

"_WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME A BOYSCOUT?!"_

"**Because all you do is **_**camp**_**." **She answered happily, joyous that she successfully made a joke.

Immediately after she finished her insulting joke, the entire lobby full of players erupted into a sea of "OOOOHHHHHHSSSS!" and outrageous laughter.

"_Shots fired!" _one player screamed as he laughed.

Shocked that her profile just received over ten friend requests, Ruby said "I think that's enough video games for now Penny. It's time for bed anyway."

"**Ok!" **Penny said happily as she shut off the Xbox and transferred back to Ruby's scroll.

"Did you enjoy making that guy angry?" Ruby asked as she lied down on her bed.

"…**maybe…"**

Ruby had to restrain herself from laughing at Penny's mischievous answer and falling out of the bed.

One would think that all A.I had the personalities of stereotypical robots, but Penny was more than enough proof that it was nothing more than a stereotype. As long as Ruby has known her, Penny has always been the cheerful type that was almost always smiling about something. Despite having poorer social skills than Ruby, she was possibly the friendliest individual in all of Vale and was always vibrantly full of life. She also possessed a mischievous nature, as proven by her encounter with N00b and the occasional pranks she would play on certain agents in Beacon. A personality as happy and endearing as hers was something that no simple computer could imitate or fake, but it was still something that made Ruby curious. How was a digital fabrication like Penny able to have feelings and personality as if she was a normal girl?

"Hey Penny…" Ruby asked as she turned towards the green hologram lying next to her.

"**Yes?" **Penny replied as she smiled at the red-head.

"Can I… ask you something personal?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"**Of course!" **Penny happily complied.

"Ok…umm…how are you…so happy all of the time?" Ruby asked.

Confused by her question, Penny asked, **"Can you elaborate?"**

"Well…you're an A.I…right?"

"**Correct." **Penny confirmed with a nod of her holographic head.

"…how do you have…feelings? You're the only A.I I've ever seen with…so much personality. What makes you different?" Ruby asked, hoping that Penny understood the question and didn't take offense.

Ruby instantly wished she hadn't asked when she saw Penny's smile reverse into a subtle frown.

"I mean you don't have to answer that! I was just curious! I'm sorry!" Ruby shouted in a panic as she wildly shook her hands towards the A.I.

"**No no it's fine…it's a perfectly reasonable question." **Penny replied in an attempt to calm Ruby down.

"**It's just…a difficult question to answer…" **Penny said depressively as she closed her eyes.

"**May I answer that another time Ruby?" **she asked sadly.

"Yeah…sure…" Ruby said comfortingly as she closed her eyes.

"_Me and my big mouth…" _Ruby mentally scolded herself, ashamed that she made one of her friends so depressed with just one insensitive question.

Before she let sleep consume her consciousness, she made a mental note to apologize to Penny later.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Come on B-B-Blake. Nice kitty, p-pretty kitty." Jaune stuttered frightfully from the corner of the living room as he hid behind Nora as she held a frying pan to shield herself.

"**DIE HUMANS!" ** Blake roared at the cowering teenagers as they flinched, keeping them trapped in the corner as she crouched towards the ground and prepared to pounce them as soon as the ginger put her weapon down.

"I hope Ren comes back soon with whatever he said he was getting." Nora whispered to Jaune as she readied the pan to block any of the cat's attacks.

"You're not going to hit her with that thing are you?" Jaune asked as he looked at Nora's choice of weapon, worried for his cat's health.

"No…but she doesn't know that."

"**Now I do fool!" **Blake meowed as she pounced at the two screaming friends.

"OH MY GOD!" they screamed as they dodged Blake's pounce and retreated up the stairs as fast as they possibly could.

Unfortunately for them, Blake utilized her almost unnatural speed and cut them off in the middle of the stairway, forcing them to retreat back down the stairs.

"**Target acquired!" **Blake growled as she chased Jaune and repeated her initial strategy.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GO FOR THE BUTT!"

"**YOUR ASS IS MINE!" **Blake roared as she extended her claws and dug her fangs his right cheek.

"Don't worry I got her!" Nora shouted as she grabbed Blake and tried yank her off of Jaune, but instantly regretted it when Blake switched targets and dug her claws into Nora's chest.

"YEEOOOWWWCH! BAD TOUCH! BAD TOUCH! I NEED AN ADULT!" Nora screamed as she wrestled Blake on the floor.

As the two females tumbled over one another as they grappled each other and Jaune lied on the floor cradling his bleeding rump, the chaos destroying the living room was interrupted by the thunderous echo of the front door slamming open. Combat rolling dramatically into the room and aiming a tranquilizer pistol in Blake's direction was Ren, breathing heavily as if he sprinted to his house and back.

"Why can't you two just open the door like normal people? You're gonna break it." Jaune moaned miserably from the floor.

"Because you have no respect for the dramatics and I'm ashamed of you for it." Ren answered as he aimed his pistol at the growling cat clinging to his girl's chest.

"Those belong to me Fuzzy." Ren growled as he pulled the trigger.

Most cats would have been hit by the flying tranq and knocked out cold, but Blake had been dodging projectiles fired at her since she was a child, projectiles much more dangerous and quick than a syringe. She didn't need to be in her right state of mind to dodge it, for dodging was practically instinctual. With her highly trained reflexes beaten into her from years of harmful scenarios, Blake leaped off of Nora's chest and dodged the syringe as it flew past her cheek and pierced the skin of the teenager's chest.

"OOOWWW! REN WHAT THE FUuuuussssmmmlllliiii…" Nora garbled dizzily as her eyes dilated and drool poured out the side of her mouth.

"Uuummm…whoops. Nora, you okay?" Ren asked after mentally slapping himself for his atrocious aim.

Nora's only response was her unceremonious collapse as she fainted.

After watching the ginger pass out from the fresh drugs pumping through her body, Jaune, and interestingly Blake, looked at Ren with an expression that said, "Really dude?"

"Wow…you're really not good with that thing, are you?" Jaune asked despite knowing the answer.

"Shut up, you're a virgin." Ren insulted as he loaded another tranq into his pistol and aimed at the hissing feline.

To increase the chance of Ren missing his shot (if that was even possible), Blake channeled her Aura into her legs and leaped on to the stationary ceiling fan and took cover behind one of its blades, pulling its chain and sending it in motion as she landed.

"Damn…your cat has extraordinary legs." Ren complimented as Jaune got up from the floor and stood by him as they looked up towards the spinning cat.

"Think you can make the shot?" Jaune asked as Ren pointed his pistol at the fan.

"…no…" Ren shamefully admitted as he pulled the trigger.

Almost as if the goddess of fate despised the two boys, the tranquilizer was deflected by one of the spinning blades and sent flying wildly around the room as it ricocheted off of every surface it hit.

"Duck and cover!" Ren screamed as he and his half-naked friend dropped to the floor and covered their heads.

Unfortunately for Jaune, hugging the floor did little to protect their exposed backsides. The projectile finally ceased its sporadic flight, but not before lodging itself into Jaune's already damaged butt cheek.

"FOR THE LOVE OF MONTY WHAT DOES THE WORLD HAVE AGAINST MY ASiiimmmaaaattttoooo-"

Suffering the same fate as the maniacal ginger lying in a pool of her own drool, Jaune's eyes dilated as he succumbed to a drug induced coma.

"DAMN IT ALL!" Ren shouted furiously as he reloaded and aimed, determined to hit his target. His aim was undeniably terrible, but there was only one thing left conscious in this room beside himself, so he couldn't do any worse than what he has.

A full minute of spinning with the ceiling fan was beginning to take its toll on Blake's equilibrium as her secure position on its blade began to falter. Before Ren could attempt another shot at the destructive kitty, her balance finally gave in as she fell off the blade. In yet another astounding spurt of bad luck, she landed right on Ren's face as he pulled the trigger for the third time.

"YYYYEEEEEEOOOWWW!" Ren screamed as Blake delivered the same punishment to him she did the other foolish humans.

The pain of being mauled by the vicious kitty was a indeed a terrible experience that would mentally scar him for the rest of his days, but the pain of the needle entering his arm was a far more terrifying sensation.

"_Oh you've got to be freaking kidding me!" _Ren mentally screamed in anger at the just how unbelievably horrible his aim truly was.

His aim was so bad, he managed to actually shoot himself…

The last thought that went through Ren's head was his immense gratitude for whatever omnipotent power that was looking out for him that decided to leave his friends unconscious so that they didn't see how badly he screwed up.

It was a hard fought battle against the worst of odds, but as the final human fell beneath her feet, Blake withdrew her claws from the black-haired one's face and released a mighty roar of victory to alert the world of her victory. She successfully defeated her bi-pedal adversaries and avoided being drugged, thus proving her dominance over the trio of mentally inferior humans!

As Blake jumped off of Ren's face with her head held high and proud, her dizziness she developed from her ride finally settled in and sent the exhausted cat careening towards the floor unconscious.

It would be a cold day in hell before Jaune would try to bathe the bipolar cat again.

_(Beacon HQ)_

As much a Yang didn't want to admit that Neptune was right, Yang's lack of sleep was starting to get to her and affect how she normally functions. After they all agreed to return home and try reconnaissance another time, she tried to drive her precious bike BumbleBee, but she almost crashed when sleep almost consumed her mind. She had to swallow her pride and let Neptune driver her back on HER bike, and she didn't enjoy it one bit. It was the first time she had ever allowed someone other than Blake to use it, and she hoped it would be the last. She desperately needed sleep, but every time she lied down to get even a wink of rest, her head would always be filled with worry and concern for her best friend. Eventually she just gave up, but now it was taking its toll on her health.

"_Maybe a couple of Benadryls will do the trick." _Yang thought as she opened the door to the room she and Ruby shared.

As soon as she saw the position in which Ruby fell asleep, it took almost all of Yang's self control to keep from squealing from how she looked.

"_WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO FLIPPIN' CUUUUTTTTTEEEEE!_" Yang mentally screamed as she willed herself to not glomp her sister.

The adorable Faunus girl fell asleep on her back with her arms and legs raised and bended, making her actually resemble a sleeping canine. If that wasn't cute enough, she was dreaming so heavily about chasing something that her arms and legs were waving back and forth constantly as she subconsciously ran on all fours. The small, but deep, sounds escaping her lips indicated that she was barking at her prey as she chased it.

Yang couldn't help it.

Her sisterly desires demanded satisfaction!

With no shame in her actions, Yang walked up to her sister, raised her hand, and gently scratched Ruby's left ear. The effect was almost instantaneous as Ruby's unharmed leg shook furiously in the air as her tongue fell out of her mouth out of pure pleasure.

It had been many years since Ruby allowed anyone to massage her ears like this. The last person she ever willingly allowed to do this to her was their deceased mother, and Ruby felt that it was a privilege she would only give their mother. That of course didn't stop Yang from sneaking them on her unsuspecting sister every now and then, but Ruby never let her have it without a fight.

There would probably be no sleep for Yang tonight.

She could happily do this all night when she had the chance.

_(Blake)_

"_Uuuuuggggghhhhh…my head…" _ Blake moaned as she slowly slipped back into the world of consciousness. (Déjà vu)

After regaining her senses, she wobbled up from the floor and shook her head rapidly in an attempt to wake herself up. When she was fully alert of her surroundings, she was shocked by the condition of the usually neat living room. The couch was lying on its back, its cushions were scattered throughout the room with some of its stuffing in the corner of the room, there were picture frames lying face down on the floor below their rightful place on the wall, and for some reason the room smelled like blood, sweat, and fear.

But that wasn't the weirdest part of the current scenery. For some reason, Jaune and his two friends (Rin and Dora was it?) were lying on the ground in the most uncomfortable positions with drool leaking out the side of their mouths.

Why was Jaune half naked?

What the hell happened last night?

She remembered being awoke from her nap by Jaune, then being carried out of the room towards the bath-

"Oh no…" Blake groaned embarrassed, piecing together what most likely happened and cursing her transformation to hell.

She better make sure that they were still alive.

"Jaune…Jaune. Are you alright?" she asked as she jumped on his pleasantly toned chest and pawed lightly at his face. Much to her shame, his beautiful face was covered in tiny scratched that she no doubt inflicted on him when he tried to bathe her.

Slowly, his sapphire eyes opened and focused on her gold ones, but she noticed three prevalent emotions communicated through them.

Confusion, Recognition, then unadulterated Terror.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Jaune shrieked as he leaped from his spot on the floor, scaring the hell out of the other occupants of the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Ren and Nora screamed as they jumped to their feet in surprise.

When they all saw the startled black cat on the ground staring at them confused, the three terrified teenagers simultaneously reacted in unison with one another.

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Screaming and tripping over one another in a panicked frenzy, the three college students sped up the stairs and into Jaune's faster than any living creature Blake had ever seen, leaving her confused and a little concerned for her action's last night.

No seriously, what the hell did she do to them last night?

**There you have it guys! I'm gonna go work on Wrath of Valkyrie now. Drop a review please, your wonderful feedback is what keeps me motivated! :-)**


	6. Insomnia

**It's official; I am now officially a college kid. To be quite honest, it doesn't feel that much different from high school. Anyway, due to my college work, updates will be a tad bit slower, but don't worry! To reward you wonderful people for your patience, every now and then I'll update a piece of a mini-series I've been working on. They will be short little flashbacks that further explain relationships between characters, events, etc.**

**Also, if any of you like the story "Faunus in Heat", Kegi Sprinfield made a new fan art for it, so go give it a peek!**

**Let the story commence!**

**P.S: The last episode of RWBY…Team JNPR's got dem moves…**

As Blake rose up from the bed in a drowsy haze, she noticed the curious absence of Jaune's familiar warmth. At first she thought that he woke up early to get ready for school, but when she looked towards the clock, she instantly thought otherwise. It was 5:30 in the morning, far earlier than he would usually leave the comfort of his bed.

Her second thought concerning his whereabouts was the possibility that he went to the restroom, but Blake's perfect night-vision allowed her to see an alarming anomaly that immediately told her that something was wrong.

Crocea Mors, the dusty sword that was usually lying unattended in the corner of the room, was absolutely nowhere to be found.

That sword was almost taboo when it concerned Jaune, and Blake knew this well. Every time she saw him look in its direction, he would instantly shoot his head in the opposite direction and try to continue with whatever he was doing, not even allowing it to glanced at through his peripheral vision. During the very rare times that Jaune would hold his sword and gaze upon its beauty, Blake would smell the subtle smell of salt building in his eyes and she would notice the way his jaw aligned as he bit his quivering lip in an attempt to swallow the sobs that reverberated through his chest that desperately needed to be released.

Worried for her blonde friend, Blake rose on all fours and leaped from the bed towards the open door. Her ears twitched when she picked up a heart wrenching sound from downstairs. Quickening her pace, Blake silently sped down the hallway to the bottom of the stairs.

Her heart was pierced with a momentary burning pain as she looked at her friend.

With only the still screen of the T.V illuminating the living room, she saw Jaune on his knees with his family's sword cradled in his arms. Although he was desperately trying barricade his mouth, his sobs of despair clearly reverberated in Blake's hyper-sensitive ears.

Blake looked towards the screen to see what he was watching before he broke down. Paused on the screen was the image of a small, but awkward, family of three. The first member she took notice of was the central figure who had a woman and a small boy in an uncomfortable looking bear hug. He was a strikingly handsome, blonde spiky haired man with a very muscular build that Blake could see clearly, for the man wore no shirt. His cheek splitting smile complemented the mischievous glint in his emerald green eyes, but Blake could see that he was mindful of how much force he was putting in his hug, careful not to harm the precious treasures in his arms. The second person she observed was the amazingly beautiful woman glaring playfully at her husband. Her hair was just as dark as Blake's, if not darker, and her eyes were bluer than the summer sky and shone brighter than the sun itself, only magnifying her already astounding beauty. The final member of the family Blake instantly recognized as she looked at the child who was nuzzled in between his parents as he was held lovingly by his mother and his father happily grabbed them both. Jaune was indeed an adorable boy who without a doubt possessed the most attractive traits from both of his parents. He had inherited his father's golden hair, the only difference being that Jaune's looked combed and well kempt while his father's looked wild. He inherited most of his facial features from his mother, most notably her gorgeous sapphires, giving him a more feminine appearance than most boys, but it worked in his favor and only made him look more attractive, in Blake's opinion.

They looked like the happiest family in the world that almost brought a smile to Blake's face, but her lips were yanked into a quivering frown when she saw what was strapped securely on the father's back.

It was the same sword that was tightly locked in the boy's arms now.

It was the answer to Blake's question as to why Jaune couldn't maintain emotional stability when around the sword.

It belonged to his father, who Blake could easily deduce had died a very long time ago, and most likely his mother suffered the same fate.

It was his inheritance, and also his eternal reminder of what he had lost.

"_Oh Jaune…" _Blake thought woefully as she felt her eyes moisten, feeling nothing but absolute sympathy for the heartbroken boy.

She knew all too well what it was like to lose your parents…

Blake walked up to the form of the crying blonde who was completely unaware of the girl walking towards him. He became aware when he felt his arm being rubbed up against by the feline.

After quickly wiping the tears from his moist cheeks and clearing his throat, he said in strained voice, "I'm sorry Blake, I didn't mean to wake you up."

She said nothing as she leaped into his arms next to his sword. She usually wouldn't be caught dead doing what she was about to do, but at that moment she didn't care. She knew why she was about to completely embarrass herself, and she found no shame in it. For the first time ever in her entire life, she allowed her feline instincts to prevail over her natural reasoning with absolutely no resistance on her part.

She wanted to do whatever she could to comfort Jaune, because over the past week she did the one thing she swore to herself she wouldn't during her temporary stay.

She grew attached to the caring blonde..

Surprising Jaune by her alarming and unusual display of affection, Blake gently licked away the tears coating his cheeks, nuzzling her cheek against his as if to say, "I'm here for you". This was a new completely new experience for Jaune; being kissed so gingerly by the cat that always hissed at him whenever he tried to do the same, but he welcomed it as he set his sword aside and wrapped his arms around her. His sobs slowly subsided with each passing minute and the violent compressions of his chest eased into relaxed breathing.

As she ignored the taste of salt on her tongue, Blake was happy that she managed to alleviate some of his suffering, but Blake wasn't naïve. She knew that although her comfort was soothing for him, it wouldn't have the desired effects coming from an animal, and it hurt her to know that she couldn't comfort in him the way she desired.

Well…at least until she could talk to him "face-to-face"…

_(Elsewhere)_

"Ruuuuubyyyy. Ruuuuuuubyyyyyy. Wake up wake up. The doctor's gonna be hear any second." Yang happily whispered as she gently rocked her sleeping sister back and forth.

Her only response was a defiant moan from the bundle completely concealed by the white sheets of the bed.

"Oh don't be like that." Yang playfully scolded as she increased the force behind her shakes. They did nothing to wake the stubborn Faunus; she fell right back to sleep as she snored and lightly kicked her leg.

Deciding that the gentle method was proving to be futile, Yang resorted to more drastic measures as she brought her lips close to Ruby's left ear.

"Hey…Ruby…Sun just got through eating all of your cookies." She whispered while trying not to giggle.

"**I'LL RIP HIS TAIL OFF!" **Ruby roared monstrously as she threw her sheets off and growled ferociously in every direction as she stood on all fours.

She was brought back to her senses as soon as she heard Yang's obnoxious laughter.

"Yaaannnnggg…" Ruby growled as she refrained from biting the tempting flesh of her annoying sibling.

"Oh whatever Ruby, that was funny and you know it!" Yang said as she swallowed her chuckles, trying to regain control of herself.

"I am **so** gonna remember this." Ruby warned angrily as she regained common sense and her bestial instincts receded.

"Yeah sure whatever. Get down from the bed, you have a doctor's appointment." Yang said happily as she walked towards the door and waited for her sister to get dressed.

"Ahh man…" Ruby complained as she jumped off her bed and landed gracefully on the soft carpet floor.

Yang was impressed, and admittedly a little jealous, by how fast Ruby healed from wounds, a trait that most Faunus possessed. She didn't exactly know how, but Faunus had smaller Aura reserves than the common human, giving them more conscious control of how much they use and where they focus it. If she had been human, her body would have spent more of her Aura healing over a longer period of time, and with less precision. One could say that the Faunus were usually superior to humans when it came to Aura control and on a physical level. They were usually faster, more agile, stronger, sometimes possessed claws and/or fangs as a means of self defense, and possessed hyper advanced senses like their night-vision. The only thing that set them on an equal level with humans was their notorious "Achilles Heel"; young Faunus were often completely submissive to their animal instincts.

Yang could recall a time when she was trying everything she could to force her sister out of their room so that she could have a private talk with Blake, but Ruby tenaciously refused. At first, Yang tried to bribe the wolf Faunus with cookies, but it proved futile since Ruby already kept their refrigerator stocked full of them. She then tried to bribe her with money, but unlike her blonde counterpart, Ruby wasn't in the slightest bit greedy, and denied her offer. Yang exhausted just about every other option possible, but as she observed the twitching furry ears atop Ruby's head, she formulated a hypothesis. Eager to test out her theory, Yang dug around underneath her bed, where she kept seemingly useless items, and pulled out a tennis ball that she used to play tennis with Blake when she wasn't mentally buried in a book.

With absolutely no shame in her actions, she waved the green ball in front of Ruby to catch her attention and said in a voice usually reserved for a playful puppy, "YOU WANT DA BAWL?! YOU WANT DA BAWL WITTLE PUPPY?!"

Yang mentally danced in celebration as Ruby's eyes dilated and she immediately jumped off her bed on all fours and started barking excitedly. Ecstatic that her plan succeeded, Yang threw the ball out of the room and down the hallway at an angle so that it went as far as possible when it hit the walls. Ruby instantly gave chase to the bouncy toy, zipping out of the room and dodging very confused co-agents as they stared curiously at the girl. As soon as Ruby left the room, Yang slammed the door shut and locked it, chuckling mischievously as she soundproofed the room so that she could shield herself from the murderous verbal onslaught from her sister when she regained her reasoning.

"You're horrible." Blake said as she crossed her arms and glared at her best friend in disapproval.

"I know." Yang replied as she grinned shamelessly at her best friend.

"_Good times…" _Yang nostalgically thought as Ruby finished getting dressed and put on her trademark hood.

"Alright let's go." Ruby said grumpily as she followed her sister out of the room, annoyed that her sleep was disturbed and still angry at Yang for her cheap tactic to waking her up.

It didn't take long to navigate through HQ and arrive at the doctor's office, but it did take a while longer than normal because they were often greeted by their many acquaintances with their customary "good mornings" and the intermittent "congratulations" to Ruby for her promotion. Apparently saving a civil rights leader from the sudden and unexpected cold grasp of death earned Ruby much respect not just from the Council, but from almost every other agent in Beacon. Yang's heart swelled with pride as people stopped what they were doing and looked towards the sister's and breathed whispers like "Dude, that's her!" or "Holy crap, that's the girl who saved Maroon!"

Of course Ruby was feeling slightly uncomfortable by all of the unexpected attention and not as proud because of it, but that was just fine. Yang would be proud enough for the both of them.

After opening the door and checking in with the secretary at the desk in the waiting room, they walked down the office hallway to the room where they found the rabbit eared doctor at her desk, typing on her computer while taking casual sips from her coffee mug. As soon as she noticed the siblings open the door and enter her office, she smiled happily and politely said, "Hello Yang and Ruby."

"What's up Doc!" Yang said, imitating Bugs Bunny as she cheekily smiled at the doctor while making her horrendously horrible pun. Ruby face-palmed out of pure embarrassment from her sister's behavior and crappy joke, while Dr. Scarlatina honestly giggled at the tasteless, yet clever, joke Yang made.

If it had been any other doctor who was a rabbit Faunus, Yang would have never made the joke out of fear she would offend her and pass off as racist, but the sisters had known Dr. Scarlatina ever since they first joined Beacon as children, so Yang felt completely comfortable opening up to the doctor with a joke she knew that she wouldn't take the wrong way. That was why she was the only doctor Yang would go to; she was one of the very few individuals in Beacon that actually laughed at her jokes.

"How are you doing today?" Dr. Scalatina politely asked as she slid away from the computer on her wheel-chair and faced them.

"I was having a great morning, until Yang woke me up." Ruby said as she glared at her sister who was chuckling nervously.

Used to the common behavior between the two and having long accepted it as normality, she slid towards the patient's recliner and patted down on its cushiony surface while beckoning Ruby over with a hand gesture. Ruby silently obeyed as she sat down on it and pulled her black legging from her injured leg, already knowing the routine. The rest of the next five minutes were spent patiently waiting for the doctor to finish her work, which included gently elevating Ruby's leg to look closely at the now-healed wound and asking her to walk around the room for careful observation. As she finished writing her notes on her notepad, Dr. Scarlatina smiled happily at the duo and said, "It looks like you've made a complete recovery and you'll be ready to resume active duty whenever you please."

"Awesome! If I had to stay in that bed for one more freaking day, I was gonna go nuts!" Ruby exclaimed in relief as she leaped from the patients table.

"Why are you so eager to leave our room all of a sudden? Half the time I can't get you to leave." Yang asked curiously.

"Because I've been working on a secret project and I'm almost done! I would've finished sooner, but you wouldn't let me go to the workshop." Ruby answered as she extended her lip and angrily frowned at her sister.

"Your health comes first young lady." Yang said with finality in her voice as she mimicked Blake and crossed her arms disapprovingly, resembling a concerned mother scolding her child.

"Well, your leg is in great condition now, but try not to use your super-speed unless you have to okay? It could strain your freshly-healed muscles past their limits." Dr. Scalatina said as she rolled back to her computer and started typing on it again.

"Yes ma'am." Ruby said obediently, though slightly annoyed that she wouldn't be able to burn off the energy she built up during bed rest.

As soon as they turned towards the door to leave the doctor to her work, the sisters stopped in their tracks when the door was opened by someone else on the other side.

"Sun? What are you doing here?" Yang asked as the monkey Faunus walked through the door and looked towards all three of them. For some reason, he was holding a neatly folded letter in his right hand.

"I was sent here from the Council to give Ruby this. Sounded important…" Sun answered as he handed the letter to Ruby, who took it with confusion evident on her face.

"What now?" Ruby whispered as she broke the seal with her finger nail and pulled the piece of paper out of the folder.

"What does it say?" Yang asked, wondering what else they wanted to do with her baby sister.

Surprise was evident on Ruby's face as she looked towards the two blondes and said, "It says…I'm supposed to join you on your assignment…"

…

…

…

"What?" Yang asked.

_(Elsewhere)_

"And that's all for class today!" Bartholomew Oobleck said as he slammed his coffee cup down on his desk.

"YAHOOOOO!" Nora screamed in delight as she zoomed out of the classroom in an orange blur in speeds that put Oobleck to shame.

"_Well then…I feel old now…" _Oobleck thought shamefully as he watched his other students leave the classroom in a more orderly fashion than Nora.

Well…all except one student.

"Mr. Arc, could you stay for a few minutes? I would like to talk to you." he requested as he sat behind his desk, moving towers of paperwork aside so that his student would be able to see him.

"Yes sir…" Jaune moaned from the back of the class as he collected his books and notes.

For the past few days, Oobleck had been greatly worried for the goofy blonde. During the week, Jaune had seemed incredibly distracted and sleep deprived, and his grades were beginning to reflect on that. The boy had never been the best student in his class, Jaune would be the first to admit it, but he would always try his best to pay attention and succeed, and for that Oobleck grew fond of him. But lately, Jaune would always have a soulless gleam in his bloodshot eyes as he followed his teacher's movements, not at all fully processing the material presented to him. Oobleck could clearly tell that he was suffering from a case of insomnia; the boy had the darkest of rings surrounding his eyes. He didn't know why Jaune's health was taking such a drastically negative impact, but he wanted to try and help him in his time of need if he could.

After the rest of the students cleared out and Jaune sat drowsily in front of Oobleck, he initiated the conversation by folding his arms on the desk and asked, "Mr. Arc, are you okay? You don't look like you've been sleeping well at all."

"I'm fine sir, I've just been busy at work lately. Nothin' to worry about." Jaune lied as he tried to put on a mask of happiness and contempt, but was foiled by the bags under his eyes and his dizzy movements.

His answer didn't surprise in the slightest. Jaune was notorious for trying to solve his emotional problems on his own without accepting help he needed, as if he always had something to prove to himself. It was admirable, yet at the same time foolish.

"Mr. Arc, you've been working at that pizzeria for the past year, and your ludicrous hours of work never interfered with your ability to function during the day. I know there's something troubling you that isn't work related at all." Oobleck said, proving Jaune's lie to be false on many levels.

Jaune noticeably flinched as he racked his brain for an excuse more viable and believable than his job, but couldn't. The professor was simply to observative and intuitive to easily lie to. Slowly, Jaune's mask began to falter and his mouth subtly dropped into a frown, but Jaune forced it to rise again in an attempt to look convincing.

Oobleck sighed in disappointment as he rubbed his temples. Jaune's stubbornness was impervious to the words of a teacher he still barely knew. Any attempts on his part to get the blonde to confess his issues and open up would be futile. The matter was obviously a deeply personal one if it was this destructive to his health.

Greatly surprising Jaune in a gesture of assurance, Oobleck removed his glasses and abandoned them near his seat as he grabbed an unused chair and sat next to Jaune, gently placing his hand on his shoulder and meeting him eye-eye to further communicate his concern.

"Jaune," he said, using his first name in conversation for the first time ever, "I know that you don't know me well enough to comfortably speak with me about personal matters. I do not blame you in the slightest, but you are my student and I care for your wellbeing. So please, if something is wrong, talk to someone about it. I won't even ask you to talk to **me**, just talk to somebody, anybody, about whatever is bothering you. I'm not asking you this as a teacher; I'm asking you as a friend."

His words had the desired effect.

Jaune's face slowly distorted and his forced smile finally gave way as he looked down at his knees in woeful contemplation. Satisfied that he was at least thinking about what he said, Oobleck removed his hand from his shoulder and returned to his usual spot behind his desk.

"You're free to leave." he said as he put on his glasses.

Jaune rose from his and walked towards the door with his book-bag in hand. Before he left the classroom, he looked towards said, "Thank you Professor Oobleck…"

"You're welcome." He replied as he picked up his pen and began to do paperwork.

Immediately after his student closed the door behind him, Oobleck ceased his paperwork and put his pen aside. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll, scrolling through his contacts as soon as he opened it. After tapping the name of the person he wished to speak to, he held the scroll at a reasonable distance so that the person on the other line could see him. It didn't take long for the other person to answer his scroll.

"**Hello Bartholomew. Did you need something?" **

"Yes. May I speak to you privately in your office?"

"**Can it wait until later? I'm investigating possible Order hideo-"**

"Ozpin, with all due respect, that needs to wait. This is about Jaune." Bart interrupted with a sharpened voice, communicating the importance of his request.

…

…

…

"**Please come at your earliest convenience…" **Ozpin replied, clearing his desk of any and all work in preparation of giving Bart his full attention.

_(Jaune)_

After he left the concerned professor to his work and exited the building,, Jaune checked his scroll to see what time it was. It was 12:30, which meant that he had exactly two hours before he should start heading to work. His first thought was to find Ren or Nora, but they sent him a text message saying that they were going on a short date before work and that they'll see him soon. With nothing important to do, Jaune lazily walked around campus, eager to find anything to keep his mind off his parents. Luck was finally on his side as he turned his head towards the gym, knowing that a distraction he was hoping for was most likely inside beating up a defenseless punching bag.

To Jaune's great surprise, there weren't nearly as much people in the gym as he first anticipated. Jaune could only see about four other people inside and they were distanced considerably from one another, but that simply made it easier for Jaune to find who he was looking for. He was in the corner of the large room, dressed in a tank top and sports shorts while benching hefty looking weights.

The physically fit man placed the weights back on the rest above his head as he noticed his blonde haired friend walk towards him. "What's up Jauney boy?" he greeted happily as sat back up and smiled at the blonde with a sweat drenched face.

"Hey Cardin." Jaune replied as he took a seat on one of the chairs lined up against the wall next to the weights.

"So what are you doing here?" Cardin asked after swiping his face with a nearby towel.

"I'm just…walking around…killing time until work starts." Jaune replied as he dozed off into a yawn.

Cardin looked at him with subtle concern.

"Are you okay? You haven't been yourself lately." He asked, already knowing that Jaune would lie and say he was fine, but it never hurt to ask.

"Yeah…just a little tired. I haven't been sleeping well." Jaune replied as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

"You don't say?" Cardin sarcastically remarked, but still curious as to why Jaune had been sleeping terribly as of late.

Had his boss been making him work overtime again? It's not like he hadn't always worked his ass off during the week, but he never looked **this **horrible before. The poor guy could barely finish a sentence without being interrupted by his own yawns, and he looked like he was about to fall out of his seat unconscious. There was no way he would be able to work like this, or at least not work efficiently.

Cardin rose up from his spot on the bench and reached into his back pack, deciding to lend Jaune a helping hand.

"Here, you're gonna need it." Cardin said as he handed the exhausted boy a potent energy drink.

"Umm…thanks…" Jaune said, somewhat surprised by his buff friend's generosity.

Jaune popped open the top of the can and downed it in less than ten seconds. He felt the effects immediately; it felt as if the sugar and caffeine literally washed away the weight of his eyelids and the drowsiness consuming his consciousness.

"Wow…that really helped." Jaune said amazed as he got up and tossed the empty can into a nearby trash can. As soon as he turned around to walk back to his seat, his chest was hit by a pair of blue boxing gloves, of which he caught in surprise.

"Good, now let's go waste time. You look like you need a distraction." Cardin said as he put on his own red gloves and walked towards the boxing room.

"_You have no idea…" _Jaune thought miserably as he followed him.

It was funny how friendships were. Some friendships originate from mutual feelings of understanding and acceptance, some friendships are born from competitive rivalries that evolve into partnerships, but it is very rare when a friendship starts from a bitter conflict between two enemies. And that was exactly where Jaune's and Cardin's friendship started. In high school, they would have never been seen together unless they were fighting, but now here they were in college, heading towards the ring for a friendly sparring match.

"_Who'd have thought…" _Jaune thought as he recalled the day that Cardin went from being a bully that made his life a living hell, to a kind and supportive companion that always had his back.

"_Get him!" Cardin roared to his three friends as they chased the blonde weakling through the trees and shrubbery._

"_Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap of crap!" Jaune chanted as he sprinted through the forest as if the devil was at his heels._

_The day had instantly soured when the final bell rang through the school. Jaune was happy to get home and finish his homework so that he could spend the weekend at Ren's and Nora's house, but his happy mood was instantly shattered when he walked out of the double doors and into the back of the school. For the third time today, Cardin Winchester was yanking on Velvet's ears with painful force while his three cronies taunted her. Every time he had to watch him get away with his abusive treatment of his Faunus acquaintance, his anger would spike and his fists would clench in restrained fury. He had stood up to the atrocious bully on a few occasions before, attempting to shift their attention away from the poor girl so that she could escape, but every time he did, he was beaten into the ground and sometimes left in the school dumpster. One would think that he had grown used to these horrendous and inhumane acts from Cardin, but this time…Jaune's eye's were blinded by a raging inferno of hatred and spite. Whether he knew it or not, Cardin had dislocated the ear he was carelessly tugging against, sending Velvet into an unbearable amount of pain. She sobbed and tugged against his solid grip as she desperately tried to run away, but all she succeeded in doing was dislocating the appendage further._

_The mere sight of the tears pouring from the Faunus's eyes was enough for Jaune to finally snap._

_Sprinting in a mad dash towards the abusive brute, Jaune leaped towards Cardin, reared his fist back, and slammed his knuckles into his right eye with as much force as his skinny muscles could possibly create._

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Cardin roared in pain as he released the Faunus and shot his hands to his face to shield his face. The other three bullies could only stare shocked at the growling blonde who was usually to weak to make a dent on their leader. _

_As his momentary burst of adrenaline and rage subsided, Jaune's common sense returned to him as he looked at the expressions of those around him. Cardin looked absolutely pissed as he glared murderously at him with a new black eye, his three friends smiled evilly at him as they cracked their knuckles, and Velvet stared at him through teary eyes as she looked at him appreciatively._

"_Oooooohhhhhhhhh crap…" Jaune thought as he realized the fresh hell that awaited him._

"_HOLD HIM DOWN!" Cardin growled as he shot up from the ground, having lost all interest in the Faunus girl and ready to beat the stupid blonde within an inch of his life._

_And so the chase began, first through the streets of the city, then through the junkyard, and now through the forest._

_So here he was; running through the bushes and around the trees as he forced the screaming muscles of his legs to continue their work so that he could live to use them another day._

_After bursting through another collection of shrubs, Jaune ran undeterred across a rail of train tracks that continued through the forest, making sure no to get his feet stuck in the gaps in between. The four bullies weren't far behind him, for as soon as he made it across the tracks, they also sprinted through the bushes with Cardin in the lead. Cardin knew that it was only a matter of time before Jaune finally lost his energy and slowed down, so his inevitable beat down was painfully imminent. He just needed to keep chasing him until then._

_Unfortunately for Cardin, his karma finally caught up to him as he carelessly sprinted across the train tracks. Right in the middle of the train tracks, his sprint was painfully cut short as his foot became wedged and stuck in the rails. _

"_SON OF A BITCH!" Cardin screamed painfully as he tried to pull his newly-sprained ankle from the gap in the tracks._

"_Cardin, are you okay?" a bullies asked concerned as he and his other two friends crouched down and tried to help him pull his foot out._

"_Yeah…I'm fine…just a sprain…" Cardin breathed as he futilely pulled at his foot._

_And then the most horrifying sound erupted next to them…_

_**DING DING DING DING DING DING DING**_

_Terror instantly seized a burning grip of Cardin's heart._

_All four of their pairs of eyes widened to unbelievable lengths as their heads shot towards the far distance._

_Cardin's heart skipped a beat when he saw the smoking locomotive in the horizon._

"_OH MY GOD!" Cardin screamed as his efforts to get free immediately tripled._

_The four bullies panicked as they tried their absolute hardest to get Cardin free, but his foot was simply too stuck to be simply pulled._

_Not without a lubricant at least…_

_Seeing that there was no conceivable way to free Cardin in time, two of the bullies grimly frowned at him and whispered, "I'm sorry…", before rising up and started running away._

"_DOVE! LARK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Cardin screamed at his two "friends"._

_They didn't even give him a second look, they just continued their mad dash back into the forest so that they didn't have to see the gruesome death that was about to occur._

_Only Russel stayed, trying desperately and futilely to free his doomed friend._

_And just like that, the proud and condescending nature that was usually prevalent in Cardin was instantly destroyed and replaced by pure fear and unadulterated sorrow._

"_HHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPP! __**HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!**__"Carding screamed and sobbed uncontrollably as he and Russel pulled his leg with all of their collective might, terrified that the sound of the train's horn was growing even louder and more frequent._

_This was it…_

_He was finally being punished for his massive amount of misdeeds…_

_Cardin Winchester was going to die…_

_Or at least he thought he was…_

_Instantly swooping in from the bushes he retreated in to and completely baffling the two bullies, Jaune jumped to Russel's side and hurriedly assisted in pulling Cardin's leg._

_The train was twenty seconds away from a bloody collision, and its deafening horn rattled their ears and hearts as it came closer._

_And then in a stroke of genius, Jaune threw his backpack off and shoved his hand inside the front pocket to retrieve the only thing that could save Cardin's life._

_A bottle of rose scented lotion._

_After ripping off the cap, Jaune began to pour every single drop possible onto Cardin's foot while screaming frantically at Russel to continue in his efforts to free his enemy from the painful grasp of the rattling train tracks. Slowly, Cardin's leg finally began to slide out of the death trap, but the train was mere seconds from colliding with the trio._

_5…_

_4…_

"_COOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEEEE OOOOOOONNNNNNN!" Jaune screamed at the top of his lungs as he pulled on Cardin's foot while Russel pulled from his leg._

_3…_

_2…_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cardin roared in mind numbing pain as his ankle finally slid out. Russel and Cardin collapsed safely out of the way of the steel behemoth barreling towards them._

_Unfortuneately, Jaune was still on the tracks…_

_1…_

"_JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEE!" Cardin and Russel screamed in horror as the boy tried to leap out of the way._

_0…_

"_**NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" **__Cardin screamed as the train slammed into the bloodied blonde_

_(Present)_

That day had almost ended with the horrifically bloody death of Cardin, but he managed to survive with a minor injury. Cardin's ankle literally broke free when Jaune and Russel freed him, but Jaune suffered much worse injuries in his attempt to save the ex-bully's life. He didn't have enough time to completely jump out of the way of the train; it slammed destructively into the right side of his body, much to Cardin's deep regret. Cardin left the forest with a busted foot, but the heroic blonde, who Cardin felt had every right to leave him to be punished for his actions against him, left the forest in an ambulance with a broken right arm, an unnaturally bent leg, and head injury that would leave him comatose for more than two weeks.

Cardin never forgot the second chance that Jaune almost died giving him. Ever since that near-death experience, he vowed to be a better person so that he could atone for his actions. He started by helping Jaune when he finally awoke from his coma. It had taken a lengthy amount of time for Jaune to truly forgive him, even longer for Ren, Nora, and Velvet, but after months of apologies and selfless action he finally earned their forgiveness. They had even forgiven Russel after a bit of convincing from Cardin. Ever since then, Cardin had always helped out the group of friends in any way possible, eternally grateful for his rescue and redemption.

Now as the two teenage boys threw their fists at one another, their intent was to now assist, rather than harm, an occurrence that years ago most would have laughed at the mere thought.

"You're getting a bit sloppy there Jauney boy!" Cardin playfully taunted as he dodged Jaune's gloved punch and swiftly countered with his own, landing a quick and almost harmless strike on Jaune's right cheek.

"I'm sorry I don't spend every waking moment getting practice by beating the holy hell out of random crap like you do!" Jaune sarcastically replied as he quick stepped towards Cardin and struck him in his strongly toned abdomen.

A strange friendship indeed…

_(Elsewhere)_

"Hello Bart." Ozpin greeted from his seat behind his desk as he interlocked his hands and placed them in front of him.

"Oz…" Oobleck said, reciprocating the greeting and taking a seat in front of the grey-haired man. He immediately took notice of the fact that Ozpin's desk, which was usually littered with various types of paperwork, was wiped clean of any and all distractions. The only items that lied on the slab of waxed mahogany were the two cups of steaming coffee in front of the two men on opposing sides of the desk.

"You said that you needed to talk to me about Jaune. Is something wrong?" Ozpin asked after taking a much needed sip from his coffee mug.

"Yes, I'm afraid. He seems to be suffering from a case of insomnia." Oobleck answered solemnly, still greatly worried for the boy.

Ozpin eye brow rose in skeptical indication and asked, "That's odd. The boy usually sleeps so deeply I've had to pour ice water on him in the past. Is his job interfering with his sleep?" he asked.

"He has had that job for almost a full year, and not once has it interfered with his sleeping schedule. I'm afraid his lack of sleep stems from a personal issue." Oobleck replied.

"I assume you tried to speak with him." Ozpin said as he pulled a canister of coffee from under his desk and refilled his cup.

"Indeed…but I could tell that he wouldn't speak about it with someone he barely knew." Oobleck said as his head slowly dipped towards the ground. "He fell asleep briefly in my class and whimpered "dad" before his friend Nora woke him up…"

"I see…" Ozpin dejectedly whispered as he mimicked Oobleck and bowed his head.

It was painfully obvious what was wrong with Jaune. If what Oobleck said was true, then Jaune was suffering a crippling depression, not at all unlike what he experienced when his parents had died years ago. Ozpin would never forget the night when he walked into his teammate's home, only to find two bloodied corpses of his close friends, and a small boy whimpering and sobbing into the cold body of his father. Ozpin had to gently knock the poor child unconscious so that he would release his iron grip from the body, and even after he was unconscious he had to pry his small fingers off of it. In a way, Jaune had never truly healed from the psychological damage he suffered that night, and today was clear proof of that. Even three years later after hundreds of hours spent in therapy, the poor boy would wake up in night terrors. Ozpin had hoped that he would eventually make a full recovery, but Jaune had apparently not achieved that yet.

"Why must we hide such an integral part of his life from him like this…" Oobleck asked as he gently pushed his barely touched coffee mug away, not at all in the mood for the decaffeinated liquid.

It was a question Ozpin asked himself every day, despite already knowing the answer. As much as he would have liked to end the years of secrecy and ignorance for his beloved god-son, he couldn't bear the thought of involving him. Beacon already had moral issues with involving children in this destructive war, but there simply weren't enough people on their side to be exceptional. Ozpin knew this and had long accepted it, but the mere thought of sending his best friend's only child into harm's way left him with a stinging pain in his chest.

Ozpin lost a brother that night, and Jaune lost both his parents. He would be damned if he would allow this war to steal anything more from the distraught teenager.

"You know as well as I do that we can't involve him in this war. It wouldn't be fair to him." Ozpin answered.

"Then why do we keep something as important and dangerous as Crocea Mors with him?" Oobleck asked.

…

…

…

…

"Because it rightfully belongs to him." Ozpin said as he looked his old friend in the eye, understanding his concern for Jaune.

Oobleck only sighed woefully, knowing the truth behind Ozpin's reply and understanding why he had let Jaune keep it. He didn't like it, but he accepted it none the less.

A full minute of silence passed before Oobleck rose from his seat and asked, "Please talk to him soon. This is an issue that a boy needs his father's help with."

Ozpin almost flinched in response to Bart's plea.

"_If only I __**could**__give him that…" _ Ozpin sadly thought.

"I will. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Ozpin said gratefully.

"You're welcome…" Oobleck said before taking his leave and gently closing the door behind him.

Ozpin would have liked to continue his work and keep himself busy until it was time to return home to his wife, but the conversation with Bart had completely ruined his motivation to work. He opened his desk cabinet, but instead of reaching for the folder full of files on the Order, he instead reached for the small picture frame he kept in the back.

He looked upon the picture of the once-happy family of three as a lone tear slid down his cheek and landed on the floor.

"_You left him too soon…" _Ozpin thought as he looked directly at the two adults in the picture, and did everything he could to not gaze upon the innocent smile his god-son used to wear.

_(Jaune)_

"Jaune, we need a large pepperoni to go!" Nora said from her spot behind the cash register.

"Got it!" Jaune replied as he took out the last pizza he prepared out of the oven and began making another.

Much to Jaune's relief, the pizzeria wasn't nearly as packed as it usually was on a Friday. He could take his time as he cooked the various types of pizzas and breadsticks, without the need to rush to satisfy a large growing number of hungry people, which was good because he often burned himself when rushed. He usually hated working on Fridays, even when they were less busy than usual, but tonight was soothingly relaxing, for his boss left them to themselves to tend to private matters.

Jaune, Ren, and Nora never really liked their boss; he was always screaming orders at them as they worked like they always needed to be reprimanded for everything they did and always threatening docked pay if they made a mistake. Whenever he was in an extremely bad mood, he would sometimes keep them overtime with little to no extra pay.

So the combination of the boss's absence and the low number of customers left the three teenagers with some much deserved breathing room, and they intended to enjoy it as they finished the last of their duties.

"_Aaaannnndddd…done." _ As he boxed the last pizza for the night and placed it on the counter for the customer to retrieve and leave.

"Do you need help with the dishes Ren?" Jaune asked as he looked towards his friend who was speedily scrubbing plates and cups.

"No thanks, you can go sit down and cool down. I know you get hot from the oven." Ren replied caringly, not once taking his eyes off of the dishes he was cleaning.

"Alright, thanks." Jaune said gratefully as he untied his cooking apron and wiped the small beads of sweat coating his forehead.

"Yo Jauney, can you go let the last customer over there know that were about to close in ten minutes?" Nora asked as she counted the money in the cash register and counted her rather generous tips.

"Ok." Jaune replied as walked towards the freshly cleaned tables and out of the kitchen.

Just as Nora said, almost all of the tables were completely vacant, save for one two-seater in the darkest corner of the room. Quietly sitting in the corner of the room while nibbling on a single piece of pizza and reading a black book, was a hooded figure. Jaune couldn't tell if the person was a male or a female, for the figure's clothes were extremely baggy, as if they were way too large for the person. The hoody that concealed the figures head was a large black pull-over with pockets sewn into the front for warmth, and the blue jeans he/she wore were securely wrapped around the waist of the figure with a long black belt, a much needed accessory for the overly large pants. The only clothes that seemed to somewhat fit the figure were the old sneakers that he/she was wearing, and even they looked a bit large for the person.

Now that Jaune thought about it, the clothes did look oddly familiar, but he quickly brushed the thoughts aside to fulfil Nora's request.

After walking up to the androgynous figure and gently tapping his/her shoulder to gain attention, Jaune said, "We're about to close the shop in ten minutes; just thought you should know."

The figure turned its head towards the blonde and responded in a clearly feminine voice, "Oh, alright. Thank you for letting me know."

Jaune's eyes almost shot out of his skull in pure surprise as the revealed woman rose her head towards him, allowing the over-head lights to illuminate her face and leading Jaune to instantly recognize the girl.

"You?!" Jaune shouted, shocked that he had encountered her again.

"Oh, hello there." Blake replied as she closed the book in her hands.

Jaune almost swore he saw a mischievous glint in her ocular orbs of gold as she subtly smiled at him.

**Thanks for reading! Any feedback is immensely helpful and uplifting! :-)**


	7. Blake and Yang: Best Friends

**I know that this is a bit overdue, and I'm sorry about that. I recently had to put down my beloved dog and it sent me into a depression that has destroyed my motivation to write for the past two weeks. Anyway, here's the first of many installments of the mini-series. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.**

"Stop it! Give it back!" Blake cried as she futilely tried to reach for the bow the bully was keeping out of her reach.

"Make me ya flee bitten nerd!" he derogatively taunted as he kept the bow out of the poor girl's grasp and pushed her into the ground with his free hand.

As the young Faunus glared murderously through watery eyes at the boy who was torturing her so mercilessly, she finally began to understand why so many others of her kind despised humans, all they ever seemed to do was find different and more creative ways to discriminate and humiliate the Faunus. Initially, Blake tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but not one human she has ever seen has done anything to inspire her faith in Humanity. Whenever she was in class, the teachers would always single her out and give her the most difficult of questions and punish her when she got them wrong, even when the other kids surrounding her were blatantly not paying attention and falling asleep. Whenever she tried to tell the principal about her problems with bullying, he would immediately disregard her and tell her to leave before she could even get through the door. And whenever some abusive kid decided to ruin her day by bullying her viciously, the other kids would simply group around the scene and idly watch without lifting so much as a finger to help her, sometimes even joining in the bullying.

This moment was not any different. During recess, Malcom, a rich kid who was one of her regular bullies, decided to steal her treasured bow that she received as a gift from her mother, exposing the furry appendages atop her head. Unfortunately for her, Malcom was a full foot taller than her, so he had more than enough height to keep her from taking it back. Every time she made a grab at it, he would push her into the grassy ground. Nobody even tried to help her, they just sat down and enjoyed the show. Even the teacher passed by, maliciously smirked at Blake's dirt smothered form, and continued walking as if she didn't notice the brutality the girl was currently suffering.

Making yet another attempt to retrieve her precious property, Blake angrily dove towards Malcom with a desperate tackle, but the bully simply dodged her attack and stuck his foot out in front of her, tripping her and causing her to slam her face into the dirt.

The children laughed cruelly at her as she spat out a lump of grass and a lady bug.

As she got up from her spot on the ground with streams of tears pouring down her face, surrounded by offensively laughter and cheers for the bully, Blake came to a full realization; **she herself was beginning to hate humans**.

She hated Malcom!

She hated her classmates!

She hated her teacher!

**She hated them all!**

Enjoying the sight of the anguished girl, Malcom cruelly grabbed her by her obsidian locks and roughly pulled her up to her knees, showing every one the patches of dirt caking her face and eliciting a squeak of pain from Blake. As the group of monstrous bullies laughed at her misery and called her every racial slur they knew, Blake almost broke down into a fit of sobs, wishing nothing more than the comfort of her mother's lap or for any kind soul to come to her aid.

Her prayers were immediately answered in the form of a vulgar exclamation from behind Malcom.

"HEY ASSHOLE!"

Infuriated that someone had the balls to insult a kid of his stature so openly, Malcom shot his head behind him and shouted, "What the hell did you call me?!"

Every kid in the group simultaneously turned their heads to the brave soul who was in for a world of hurt, but was shocked immensely when they saw the foul mouthed culprit.

Standing about 15 feet away from the group with fury evident in stature, was a little girl with golden hair tied into twin pig-tails. Her clothes consisted of tiny brown boots, black shorts, and blindingly bright orange shirt with the letters "TNT" proudly sewn on the front. Her lilac eyes almost seemed to glow in an intimidating fashion as she growled ferociously at Malcom.

"DROP THE FAUNUS **RIGHT NOW!**" the little girl commanded with the ferocity of an enraged dragon.

Amused that the lowlife thought she had any type of intimidating effect on him, Malcom chuckled humorously as tightened his grip on Blake's hair and taunted, "And just what exactly are you going to do if I do-"

Malcom was abruptly interrupted by the searing pain of his broken nose; courtesy of the girl's airborne boot she sent flying into his face.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Malcom screamed in pain as he brought his hands up to his oozing nose, releasing Blake from his painful grip and dropping her precious bow. After immediately shaking off the shock that someone came to her aid, a HUMAN of all people, Blake's instincts shrouded her concern for her bow and commanded her to instantly speed through the crowd of kids who were staring in pure astonishment at the now one-shoed girl.

Aware that his feline prey had escaped his grasp, Malcom glared viciously at the little blonde who was currently slapping her chest at him, as if to say, "Come at me bro."

Malcom roared like a feral monster as he sprinted towards the grinning girl with his fist reared back; ready to slam his knuckles into the softest parts of her face to ensure the maximum amount of pain.

Unfortunately for him, the girl was able to easily duck under his sloppy attempt at a punch and perform a well timed sweep-kick on him, knocking his legs out from under him and, in a sense of irony, dropping his face into the same patch of dirt he sent Blake into.

"You wanna know my favorite game ever?" she asked in a taunting fashion as she rose from her attack and reared her foot back. She didn't even give him adequate time to answer her question or let him get up from the insect filled ground, and slammed the tip of her booted foot into his vulnerable groin.

"**FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!" **Yang roared victoriously, imitating the excited announcers of sports games on T.V.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!" Malcom squealed as his voice rose to heights that would make one far away believe a pig was being slaughtered somewhere.

All of the observing students recoiled in pure terror of the blonde monster that was repeatedly kicking the rich boy in the nads. The boys felt in a stinging in their own male anatomy as they instinctually shielded their man-hoods with their hands and slowly backed away from the horrific female.

Noticing the subtle movement of the shivering crowd, the girl shot her face towards them while demonically screaming, **"WHAT?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED! YOU WANT SOME OF THIS TOO?! I DARE YOU TO COME OVER HERE!"**

In a frightening display of brute strength, the girl angrily grabbed a sobbing Malcom by his foot and raised him over her shoulder with both hands as if she was holding a weapon.

"**I WILL BEAT ALL OF YOU MOTHERF***ERS, WITH ****THIS ****MOTHERF***ER!" **She screamed with glowing crimson in her eyes.

The effect was instantaneous.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The crowd of students shrieked as they randomly dispersed throughout the spacious playground, simply wishing to be as far away from the evil little girl as humanly possible.

After all of the terrified kids sprinted away from the snarling wolf, she took half a minute to regain control of her breathing and, more importantly, her temper. With complete disregard of Malcom's condition, she carelessly let him slide out of her fingers and drop on the ground near her feet.

"Ah maaannnn, I just got these boots…" She complained as she went to her discarded boot and grimaced at the dots of blood littering the surface of the boot. She would have chose to get a head start on the inevitable and make her way to the principal's office, for she was sure that one of the terrified wussies went crying to the teacher and snitched on her, but she couldn't help but notice the silky bow lying abandoned next to her boot.

She didn't have look far for its owner; she was hiding behind the closest tree, no doubt shivering in fright of the monstrous blonde.

"Yo." The girl casually said as lightly waved at Blake after stepping around the tree to meet her face-to-face.

Blake could only stare baffled at the human who had just saved her from mistreatment, the FIRST human who showed her any emotion besides hate. It was a new, and somewhat frightening, experience for her, especially since this girl could apparently lift other people with ease and use them as weapons.

"I think this belongs to you!" The blonde said happily as she held Blake's bow up from her pocket.

"Ummm…thank...you?" Blake hesitantly replied, still astonished by how kind the human girl was treating her. "Why did you help me human?" she asked, desiring nothing more than to understand why this unusual girl did for her what no other human had ever even attempted.

The girl grinned humored as she started dusting off Blake's shirt with her small bare hands. "Because you needed help. Duh!" She replied happily as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It certainly wasn't the answer Blake was expecting, but it served its purpose. It was an enlightening experience for the Faunus; to finally meet a human who spoke to her with a good-intentioned smile and who didn't seem to care that she was a different species. It was all the proof Blake needed to reinvigorate her confidence in a fraction of humanity, no matter how small it was.

After she was finished brushing off Blake's shirt the best she could, the girl grabbed her's and gently gripped it, making sure that the girl knew she had her bow back in her grasp.

"The name's Yang! What's yours?" Yang asked with grin.

"Blake." She answered with a smile, the first smile she ever wore in school in her seven year old life.

"Nice to meet ya pal!" Yang said she shook Blake's still interlocked hand.

"Pal? What is that?" Blake asked in confusion, unfamiliar with term Yang dubbed her as. It certainly didn't sound offensive like the other names she has been called, in fact it was actually nice on the ears.

"You don't know what "pal" means? It means "friend"!" Yang said, confused that anybody her age didn't know the meaning of the word.

Blake's furrily adorable cat ears twitched at the unfamiliar word that tickled her ear drums.

"Friend…" Blake mumbled, as if she was testing the word out for the first time ever.

"You don't know what that means either?" Yang asked in disbelief, misinterpreting Blake's tone of voice.

"It's not that, it's just…I've never really had a…friend." Blake hesitantly said, almost ashamed to admit how helplessly lonely and socially inferior she was.

Yang subtle frowned as she noticed the clear sadness in her new friend's golden eyes. It didn't surprise her one bit, Yang was fully aware of the fact that the Faunus were treated like second-class citizens, and she felt nothing but absolute sympathy for them. Yang's mother and precious baby sister were both Faunus, so she was well acquainted with the challenges they face on a daily basis in today's society, and it sickened her to watch it ever day. This poor girl was no different, and although Yang had only been in this school for about a half-hour, Blake appeared to be the only Faunus in the school. No doubt other Faunus children were pulled into home schooling, and it only made poor Blake a larger target.

"_Not anymore she's not." _Yang thought with trademark determination in her lilac eyes.

With a wide smile that revealed to Blake that she was missing one of her baby teeth, Yang swung her arm around Blake's neck and shouted happily, "Well you do now pal!" as she gave her a light noogie.

A lone tear slid down Blake's left cheek.

A friend…

She finally had a friend.

"Thank you...Yang." Blake whimpered in restrained joy, trying her best not to cry in front of her first friend.

This was the best day of her life!

"You want some candy?" Yang asked cheerfully as she let Blake go and started to dig into her pocket.

"Yes!" Blake excitedly confirmed, delighted at the thought of a sugary treat like any other seven year old would.

But she immediately grew worried when she smiled mischievously as she pulled out a chocolate bar wrapped in orange paper and held it towards her.

"Would you like a _Kitty-Kat _bar?"

…

…

…

…

…

…

Dear Monty what has Blake gotten herself into…


	8. The Observant Predator

"You don't look very happy to see me. I'm hurt…" Blake teased as she feigned exaggerated sadness.

Jaune, of course, couldn't tell when someone was simply playing a joke on him, and immediately panicked when he heard the pain in her voice. Believing that he had unintentionally hurt her feelings, Jaune hastily shouted, "NO! I didn't mean it like that! I was just surprised to see you again! I am so sorry!"

He flinched in confusion when the hooded girl subtly chuckled as she tried to block her laughter with her hand. "Relax, I was only teasing." She said in an attempt to calm him down.

"Oh…" Jaune said, slightly embarrassed that he overreacted so vividly from a small joke.

"Care to take a seat?" Blake asked as she beckoned him towards the seat on the opposite side of the table with a wave of her hand.

"Um…sure?" Jaune answered disbelievingly, confused as to why she was being so casual and friendly with the person who ran into her a few days ago.

Jaune took his seat as he contemplated and observed the unusual girl in front of him. She was every bit as beautiful as Jaune had remembered, in a reserved "tom-boyish" way. Now that he knew it was a woman under those baggy clothes, he began to wonder why she was wearing such oversized and concealing clothes. Her hoody almost completely shrouded her face in a veil of thick shade, and kept her waves of ebony locks tucked behind her head. The only thing keeping her incredibly baggy pants from falling off was a tight belt fastened to the last available hole, and even then they seemed to slightly sag down her thin waist. She looked as if she was wearing men's size shoes, and at first Jaune thought that she just had a bigger foot than most girls, but they were completely disproportionate with the rest of her body, so he knew she was wearing a man's shoes.

"Like something you see?" Blake, once again, teased the blonde that was staring and observing her so vividly. She chuckled mischievously as angry red blush instantly stained his usually pale face and his eyes almost popped out of his skull in embarrassment.

As she took guilty pleasure in the shy boy's reaction, she finally began to understand why Yang was so obsessed with teasing others. If you did it to the right people, it was invigoratingly satisfying and addictive.

"I was just looking at your clothes!" Jaune shouted awkwardly, hoping to Monty that she didn't think he was some kind of weirdo.

"What about them?" Blake asked as she looked down at her current attire.

"I was just wondering why you were wearing such…baggy…clothes." Jaune hesitantly admitted, hoping she wouldn't somehow take offense.

"_And so it begins…" _Blake though as she began to formulate the first of many lies she would have to tell the blonde. Before tracking him down to work, she took initiative and began to think of many answers to questions he would no doubt eventually ask her. She was no stranger to undercover work; making false identities and lying was part of the job description, but it did feel slightly uncomfortable lying to the sweet boy. It was necessary if she wanted keep her real identity concealed, but it did little to comfort her guilty conscience.

"Oh these? My actual clothes were damaged and this was the only thing I could find on short notice. I'm borrowing these from a friend." Blake answered, not completely lying to Jaune.

After all, the first rule of lying while undercover was to keep one's lies closest to the truth.

"What happened to your clothes?" Jaune asked curiously, wondering what could possibly to ruin the entirety of her normal attire.

"They were lit on fire…" Blake admitted in shame, remembering the night that Roman landed his lucky shot on her back and grievously wounded her. On the bright side, she at least met Jaune because of her being shot, so there was some type of silver lining.

"Do I want to ask?" Jaune asked, surprised by the unexpected cause of her attire.

"No, you really don't." Blake replied, wishing to change the subject.

She would hate to tell the boy that she was currently "commando" because she couldn't find any underwear. He would most likely have a heart attack.

"So are those two behind the cash register your friends from the other day?" Blake asked, humored by the spike of surprise emitted from the awkward couple crouched and hiding behind the shelf of the cash register. They were most likely eavesdropping and didn't expect Blake to hear their breathing so clearly.

For some reason, they could hear her and Jaune from all the way across the restaurant. Jaune she could understand from his outburst, but she naturally made sure to keep her voice down, so there was little chance they could hear her.

Unless they had very good hearing…

"GUYS!" Jaune shouted in embarrassment, ashamed of his two friends' behavior in front of his new friend.

"IT WAS REN'S IDEA!" Nora hastily replied as she and her lover rose from their hiding spot.

Ren's only reaction to the obvious lie was a disapproving frown in her direction.

"Can you guys finish your work so we can go already?!" Jaune complained, egging them to leave so that he didn't make any more bad impressions on Blake.

"Sorry Jaune!" Nora apologized before speedily dragging her companion into the back of the restaurant.

"Well then…you certainly have some…"colorful" friends." Blake commented, still not used the two teenagers' weird behavior.

"Sorry about that. They're always looking for reasons to tease me." Jaune shamefully admitted after growling in their direction.

"They sound like a real hand-full." Blake said, trying not to laugh at the irony of Jaune calling someone else a hand-full.

"Sometimes, but I'm no better most of the time. Why just a few days ago I called them late at night to save me from my cat.

"Could you…elaborate?" Blake asked with a subtle flinch.

"I tried to bathe this kitty that I've been taking care of, but when I tried, she attacked me and latched herself onto my butt, and then she attacked Ren and Nora when they tried to help me and destroyed my living room…and by butt…" Jaune whimpered, shivering in terror from the fresh memory of the demon the little kitten became that night.

"_Oh…my…god…" _Blake thought as an angry blush consumed her face. Did she really do that to them?! Well, no wonder they were so terrified of them when they woke up that morning, and did she really tear into Jaune's rump so viciously?!

"_God damn it…" _Blake thought as she mentally beat down the blood rushing to her cheeks, cursing her transformation and her carnal instinctsto hell and back.

"Well, it must be nice to have such dependable friends…" Blake said as she tried to disguise to sheer look of nervousness and guilt on her face. The vivid mental image of her taking a bite out of Jaune's ass did nothing to help her accomplish this.

"Yeah, they've always been there for me. Even through the worst times of my life…" Jaune said, but mumbling the last part and wishing it didn't escape his, definitely not wanting to recall those hellish times or talk about them.

But Blake heard him clearly through his mumble. Now was a good enough time as any for her to do what she came here to do.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked with restrained, but obvious, concern for the boy, hoping that Jaune would open up to her and make things go more smoothly for the both of them.

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine." Jaune replied with a small smile to ease her worries.

Blake could clearly see through his poor lie and fake smile; she could still smell the scent of salt leaking from his tear ducts. Though she had to give him credit, if it had been used on anyone else, they would have most likely been fooled, but it was only a depressing testament to how much he practiced wearing it on a regular basis.

It would appear she would have to be more direct with the emotionally barricaded boy.

"No…no you're not…" Blake frankly stated, making Jaune flinch in surprise in response.

"No really, it's nothing I can't handle myself. Don't worry about me." Jaune defensively said in another futile attempt at assuring her.

"Don't lie to me Jaune." Blake said in tone that commanded his full attention.

And got it she did, her voice ensnared his desire to lie about his feelings and devoured it.

She kind of reminded him of his moth…damn it.

"Your eyes are slightly bloodshot and you have bags under your eyes, which means that you are having problems sleeping and that you've been crying frequently. You are obviously emotionally distressed and you hide it under a façade of goofy happiness, either because you don't want to trouble those around you, you think it's a sign of weakness, or possibly a combination of both."

Jaune could only gape astonished at the girl that had just so thoroughly analyzed him. In a matter of minutes, she did what his closest loved ones had yet to do and picked him apart on such a personal level, reading him clearly like an open book and destroying any of his attempts at lying.

This girl both amazed and scared him…

He probably would have excused himself from the table to go help Ren or Nora with something, anything, to escape the conversation, but her next action left him paralyzed and cemented to his seat in shock.

In a surprising act of care and concern, Blake gently grasped his hand with her own, gently caressing his hand with her silky smooth palms.

"Please…tell me what's wrong."

…

…

…

…

"Ok…"

_(Elsewhere)_

"Frostbite to HQ, I have located the target." The Assassin whispered, taking caution not to be heard by the target's sensitive hearing.

It had taken longer than first anticipated, but Frostbite had finally tracked down the illusive Faunus that evaded Roman's pursuit. The difficulty did not lie in locating her position, but in seeing through her completely unorthodox method of disguise. Frostbite had long her down to a house not far away, but the girl's unusual ability completely blinded Frostbite's pursuit. It was a rather clever and astonishing method, something that Frostbite respectfully admired.

It was not often that a Faunus could transform into something as normal as the common house cat.

At first when Frostbite scouted the house in search of the prey, the only living beings to be found were a teenage boy and his injured kitten. After days of reconnaissance, Frostbite was begrudgingly withdraw from the house and retrace steps, but immediately abandoned that plan when the cat started closing curtains, an act that revealed intelligence no pet was capable of. Frostbite pursued this clue and quietly observed the kitten through the walls, utilizing X-ray contacts and Aura-sensing techniques.

Frostbite was baffled immensely when the small feline became shrouded in cloud of mist and morphed into a nude teenage girl.

The assassin immediately reconsidered taking the girl's life, finding great value in her ability, but that wasn't the only unexpected boon that revealed itself. Throughout Frostbite's time spent spying on the Faunus, the boy was completely disregarded from interest and was assumed to be an average college student, but the sight Frostbite saw this morning clearly refuted this assumption.

The boy that had been nursing her back to health, completely unaware of the cat's true identity, possessed one of the most powerful weapons in the society of Aura.

The boy was a living, breathing Arc.

**The last Arc…**

Now here he was; speaking face to face with the women he had been unknowingly hosting, in a pizzeria of all places.

The girl had led Frostbite to an invaluable discovery.

"_**Are you sure?"**_ a cold commanding voice asked.

"Absolutely." Frostbite replied with clear confidence.

"_**Then why are you wasting my time speaking about this? Do as you're assigned and capture her." **_The voice commanded with spine-chilling ice in its voice.

"Sir, she has led me to an interesting discovery that I think you should know." Frostbite answered respectfully, wishing not to anger the dangerous individual on the other line.

"_**And that is?" **_

"The boy that she has been living with is not an average teenager after all. He is the missing Arc."

Silence consumed the conversation as Frostbite's superior was no doubt recoiling from the shocking news. The Order had been searching for the boy for over a decade, but all of those years of searching were fruitless due to the meddling agents of Beacon. They had successfully kept him hidden and out of their sight until he had matured to the point that he was unrecognizable. The White Fang didn't help matters either with their constant attempts to kill their agents on sight. But by complete chance, the boy was unintentionally exposed so fortuitously.

Frostbite would have chuckled at the hilarity of the situation, but something as dangerous and threatening as an Arc possessing Crocea Mors was absolutely no laughing matter.

"_**Are you sure? You have to be ABSOLUTELY SURE that he is THE Arc. There are other families in Vale that have the same na-"**_

"Sir, he possess Crocea Mors and keeps it in his room. **I'ts him…**" Frostbite interrupted, communicating the utmost certainty.

"_**AND YOU'RE POSITIVE THAT THE SWORD IS NOT MERELY A LOOK ALIKE LIKE THE LAST THREE HUNDRED?"**_

"I can see a dormant, but divine, Aura resting untapped in the blade with my vision. I swear this on my life."

…

…

…

…

"_**DO. NOT. ENGAGE. We need to prepare for this." **_The voice ordered with ferocious authority oozing from its voice.

"Understood. Do I continue to spy on them?"

"_**NO.**_ _**You are to assist Beta squad during their mission at the docks. Leave the targets be for now, AND DO NOT SPEAK A WORD OF THIS TO ANYONE."**_

"Affirmative; progressing towards the docks now. Frostbite out."

After ending the line with the Superior, Frostbite stood from the position atop the building overlooking the pizzeria and teleported away in white blur.

It was so dissatisfying to leave such tempting prey, but Frostbite was never one to disobey a direct order from the Superior.

Besides, when the Superior was done with the two deliciously unaware teens, there would be plenty of opportunities to kill them.

_(The Docks)_

"So you're telling me that you guys have been scouting this place for days and you **still **haven't found anything suspicious?" Ruby asked her three teammates as they sat around one another on top of one of the buildings with only the moon as a light source.

"Yep…" Yang, Sun, and Neptune admitted, slightly ashamed of how unproductive their investigation had been so far.

"Wow…you're really not good at this detective thing, are you?"

"Then I suppose you have a plan then Smart-ass?" Sun sarcastically asked, calling her out for her slightly offensive comment.

"As a matter of fact, I do!" Ruby shouted defensively as she ripped a roll of paper out of her pocket and slammed on the ground in the middle of their circle. Sun effectively shut up when he saw that it was a large map of the docks labeled "Plan".

Neptune chuckled at the downtrodden look on Sun's face and taunted, "Looks like you just got told by a fifteen-year old. You mad?" while he annoyingly poked his arm.

"Shut the hell up!" Sun growled as he swatted at the bluenette's head, only for Neptune to duck under the fist and dodge as he laughed.

Ignoring the banter of the immature boys, Yang turned towards her sister and asked, "So what did you have in mind Rubes?"

"It's simple actually. Let me show you." Ruby said as she crouched towards the ground and signaled Sun and Neptune to gather around the map and quit, as Yang would affectionately term, "bro-mancing".

After the boys finished their small argument and did as Ruby asked, she continued while pointing at the small "X" that symbolized their current position.

"Were here on top of this building near the entrance of the area, which means if we split into two groups of two, each duo can cover half of the area and meet back on this building if nobody finds anything."

"Why only groups of two?" Yang asked, "These docks are huge and spacious. Wouldn't it make more sense for us all to split up so that we can cover more ground?"

"If it was daytime, then yes, but it's late at night, so this means that visibility is low. Sun and I are the only ones who can see clearly right now, which is why one of us will have to accompany you and Neptune to make sure we don't miss anything. We don't know if there is a high possibility of engaging in combat, but just in case there is, I think that Sun and Neptune should be in one group and you and I in the other since these duos already have great synergy during battle. Any questions?"

Sun and Neptune could only stare blankly at the hooded red-head, completely surprised how efficiently she seized control over the situation.

Yang, completely used to how much of a brainiac her sister was, was the only one to understand the plan.

"Got it!" Yang affirmed as she rose from her spot on the roof and started her stretching her toned legs for a night full of jumping across rooftops.

"Ok…" Sun said as he came back to his senses, "but how are we supposed to let each other know if we see something?"

"Duh! Just buzz us on your scrolls!" Ruby explained, patting her own scroll in her pocket.

"Oh…" he replied as he realized just how stupid his question really was, "…I knew that…"

"Dumbass!" Yang and Neptune insulted as they face-palmed out of the embarrassment that he was their friend.

"Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd BREAK!" Ruby shouted as she clapped her hands.

Immediately, the four teenagers zipped off of the rooftop and began leaping across others to hopefully locate any oddities.

They would indeed find one soon in the form of a group of odd people entering the docks behind them.

_(Jaune and Blake)_

"Is here fine?" Blake asked as she observed the alley way Jaune had led her into.

"Yeah…this'll do." Jaune confirmed as he took his uniform hat off and stuffed it into his pocket.

Deciding that privacy was a must-have if they were going to engage in this kind of conversation, Jaune suggested they take it behind the pizzeria after Ren and Nora went home. Of course Nora took it the wrong way when Jaune told them, and in response to him telling them what he was going to be doing, she reached into Ren's right pocket and pulled out a condom while screaming "Congratulations!" as she rapidly shook his hand and slapped the condom in his other.

Jaune thanked his lucky stars that the girl was waiting outside at the time and didn't see or hear the incident.

After Ren dragged his woman out of the pizzeria and towards their apartment so that Juane and Blake could have the privacy they needed, Jaune led her to the secluded, but slightly spacious, alley. Although Jaune was very hesitant to speak about such a sensitive matter with someone who was still essentially a stranger, or anyone he knew really, he decided to take Prof. Oobleck's advice and talk to somebody about his issues. Although he didn't really know this girl, hell he didn't even know her name, she seemed as if she was genuinely concerned about him and wanted to help him, for whatever reason.

And for some unknown reason, he could tell that she was exceptionally wise beyond her years just by looking at her eyes.

Those gleaming…familiar…eyes…

"What's troubling you Jaune?" Blake asked as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, deciding to initiate the conversation.

He didn't even know where to start…

"I can't sleep well anymore…" Jaune said as his head dipped towards the ground in a depressed fashion, deciding to start with the most obvious thing wrong with him.

"And why is that?" Blake asked, gently pushing him to go on.

With a heavy sigh, Jaune continued.

"Every time I try to sleep, I have dreams….no…**nightmares**… about my parent's deaths." He hesitantly said.

"How long ago did they pass?" Blake questioned while choosing her words carefully as to not upset him any more than necessary.

"Over ten years…" Jaune answered lowly.

"…I understand…" Blake replied, internally shook that this issue had been eating away at him for over a decade.

"This has been bothering you for a long time, hasn't it?" she asked with a comforting tone.

"Kind of…" Jaune cryptically answered, deciding it wasn't important to tell her it was getting worse recently.

"Do your friends know this? Have you told them?" she asked, wondering if Nora or Ren had tried to comfort him themselves.

"Yeah, I told them both years ago, but it's like you said. I don't let them know how bad I feel about it. They have enough of their own family issues at the moment. I don't want to trouble them with mine…"

"Do you have any god-parents you could talk to about this?"

He nodded slowly. "I do, but they're always overwhelmingly busy. They've already done so much for me during my childhood. I don't want to bother them anymore with my issues."

Did Jaune really believe he was **that **bothersome?

Sure, he could be a little needy at times, but he wasn't completely and hopelessly dependant. Blake could see this, why not him?

"Jaune, if your god-parents took you in during the most horrible time of your life and have done so much for you, than they obviously love you, and I can clearly tell that your two friends care deeply for you just by watching them. Why do you feel that you are such a hindrance to them?" Blake asked, not understanding her friend's logic.

"Because I've **always **been a hindrance." Jaune answered forcefully as his voice slightly escalated.

Blake could see that his usually calm and soft eyes hardened as he continued his answer.

"I can't do **anything **right! I'm so weak I can't protect myself without somebody backing me up! I'm so stupid I can't pass any of my college classes without hours and hours of tutoring, and even then I barely pass! I look like the total wussy I am, so I'm not in the very least attractive and have never even had my first kiss! I'm a complete klutz, so I usually can't be trusted with even the simplest of tasks without hurting myself. Hell, I can't even support myself financially! My house is paid for by my god-parents and I can't get a better paying job than working in a pizza place!" Jaune shouted with a breaking voice, a clear indication that he was about to cry.

As Blake listened to her friend's rant, her heart felt as if someone had a tight grip on it. It hurt her soul to here just exactly how Jaune felt about himself as he went on an all-out hate speech about himself. It only worsened as Jaune's eyes finally started to leak, even though he was trying his absolute best not to.

"I am nothing **but** a hindrance." He continued as he began to tremble. "It's why I was avoided like a plague as a kid, It's the reason why I'm so pathetic, and it's why I'll never be a real man…"

His next words would shake Blake to her core.

"It's the reason why my parents are dead…" Jaune whimpered as the barricades he had been tirelessly erecting for years finally crumbled. He legs gave out as he fell to his knees and sobbed uncontrollably.

He would have completely fell to the ground were it not for Blake embracing him in a soothing hug after getting on her knees in front of him.

"It's okay Jaune…you need this. Just let it out…" she whispered as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and consolingly rubbed circles in the back of his head.

Jaune made no effort to protest; he wrapped his arms around her torso and cried heavily into her chest.

"I'm here for you." Blake whispered delicately as her own eyes began to water.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Aw come on Emerald. Are you still mad at me for yesterday?" Mercury asked, knowing full-well the answer.

As he walked across Vytal's rooftops beside her, he almost flinched when her fingers flexed and inched towards one of her blades on her waist.

"You know god-damn well I am, you yellow-bellied son of a bitch!" she growled viciously as she did everything in her power to refrain from cutting her friend a new one.

"I don't suppose you can just learn to forgive and forget?"

"You left me handcuffed to Cinder's dresser with her diary!" Emerald angrily shouted.

"I don't know which one's a better question: How you got yourself handcuffed to begin with, or why Cinder was hiding a pair of handcuffs under her bed to begin with." Mercury thought out loud as he pushed his hands inside his pockets and walked ahead of the infuriated green-haired girl.

"I'm going to remember this you narcissistic mother fu-"

"WOAH WOAH WOAH easy there sailor!" Mercury interrupted as he turned towards his companion while walking backwards. "Dirty mouth much?"

Emerald's blood pressure skyrocketed when the immensely annoying boy pulled out a stick of gum and held it towards her.

"Clean it up with Orb-"

***SMACK***

"…Ow." Mercury whimpered after taking a few seconds to process the pain his cheek was in.

"You're telling me. Your head is a lot harder than it looks." Emerald growled as she cradled the hand she used to slap him.

"Bow chika bo-"

"Shut up!" Emerald shouted through a blushing face.

The two would have continued their bickering were they not interrupted by the third member of the trio who was ahead of them.

"How about you BOTH shut up! In case you've forgotten, we have an assignment to complete!" she screamed, sick of the insistent arguing between the two.

"Y'know something Weiss, you need to learn to chill out and relax a bit while on the job. All of you Schnees are all work and no play man, seriously." Mercury said as he turned around and rubbed the throbbing hand print on his right cheek.

"And YOU need to learn to take your job more seriously and stop antagonizing your girlfriend like an immature five-year old!" Weiss responded with an angry huff before leaping onto the next building.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Emerald immediately protested, hopping onto the same building after Mercury.

"SHE STARTED IT!" Mercury whined, killing two birds with one stone by annoying both Weiss and Emerald.

"DID NOT!"

"DID SO!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID SO!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID SO-WAIT! GOD DAMN IT!" Emerald shouted angrily, realizing her slip-up that Mercury led her into.

"Ha-ha!" Mercury taunted while pointing his finger mockingly at Emerald, resembling that annoying character from that cartoon they used to watch together.

"The Simpsons" was it?

"_I'm going to stab them…I am going to stab them like a psychotic prison in-mate if they don't __**shut the HELL UP!**__" _Weiss thought darkly as her hand slowly inched towards her Dust-rapier, Myrtnaster.

Weiss had absolutely no idea why she was here with these buffoons. She already had an assignment for the day, given to her by her father days prior no less, and right before she left this morning to accomplish her mission, she was suddenly dragged away by these two idiots saying "That her assignment's been changed." She didn't even know why her presence was required on this mission. As far as she knew, this was just a simple retrieval mission in which they were picking up some important item from Roman Torchwick and then going right back to HQ. Although she found Emerald and Mercury to be childish at times (**Especially **Mercury), Weiss was well aware of their skills and capabilities. They were more than enough for a simple delivery mission and there was no need for her presence.

Feeling the need to satiate her curiosity, Weiss turned towards the two idiots who were STILL bickering and asked, "So what's so important about this mission that constituted my involvement?"

Temporarily ceasing their argument to answer the heiress's question, Emerald and Mercury caught up to her to walk beside her. Emerald replied, "It was a direct order by the Conclave to bring you along. We'll need you for the second half of the mission after we obtain what we need from Roman."

Second half? Weiss was never told of a second half…

"And what does this "second half" involve?" Weiss asked.

"Don't worry about it Weiss. We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Emerald answered happily with a light pat on the back as she jumped ahead to next roof.

Weiss couldn't help but worry about it.

She didn't like the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as her two teammates stayed silent after the conversation.

_(Ruby and Yang)_

"I got to hand it to you Ruby, you really know how to plan for stuff like this." Yang complimented happily as she scoured through the docks with her sister behind her.

"It's not _that _great of a plan…" Ruby said lowly, blushing at the praise she felt was undeserved due to the simplicity of her plan.

"No really, you really organized this investigation, and that makes all the difference Sis." Yang praised as she lightly patted Ruby's head.

"Thanks." Ruby said as she thoroughly searched the ground below with her night vision.

The next ten minutes were spent in silence as the two sisters continued their search for any suspicious activity. Yang was passing the time by lightly humming her favorite song while Ruby was spending her time contemplating her sister's recent behavior. For some reason, she had been acting weirder than usual, if that was even possible for Yang. She was moody as hell in the mornings as of late, when normally she was a happy morning person (if she decided to wake up that is…). She was making fewer puns than usual and refraining from joking with the group when she was usually the first one to do so. But the most noticeable thing that really bothered Ruby was how all day, ever since they left Dr. Scarlatina's office this morning, Yang would eye her like a hawk every time Ruby took a step on her recently healed leg. Yang had always been over protective, Ruby was under no illusion to the contrary, but now it seemed to be getting worse with each passing day.

Ruby honestly didn't know how much more she could take before she would start hiding from Yang.

"Hey Yang." Ruby said to grab her attention.

Yang instantly stopped humming "I Burn" and turned her head towards Ruby with a "Hm?" to show she was listening.

"Why have you been acting so weird lately?" she asked, deciding to get straight to the point.

"How have I been acting weird?" Yang asked confused. If **Ruby **of all people was saying she was weird, than something was up.

"Well for starters, yesterday morning I asked if you were feeling okay and you shot at the wall behind me with Ember Cicila." Ruby said with a huff, still angry that her sister made her soak a perfectly good pair of panties.

"I was hung over and you were being too loud!" Yang hastily defended herself.

"Ok," Ruby continued, giving Yang that one point, "You haven't made any stupid puns for the past few days."

"Weeelllll if you're complaining, I could always-"

"**NO." **Ruby growled forcefully in interruption, not at all liking the "Cheshire" smile stretching across Yang's face.

"I still don't see your point Ruby." Yang replied as they leaped onto the next building.

"You've been EXTREMELY over-protective ever since I got shot saving Maroon."

"Aren't I always?"

"Well yeah, but it's gotten way worse! I swear all day, every time I've walked around Beacon, you're always right behind me, watching my **every move**." Ruby complained with an escalating voice that clearly communicated just how irritated she was. "Is there something wrong Yang? You're kinda creeping me out and I'd really like it if you stopped or at least told me why."

"I'm just worried about your leg Sis. I'm actually kind of pissed that the Council is sending you out on a mission when you've only just recovered." Yang said as she glanced at Ruby's leg for the ump-teenth time that day, checking to see if she was limping.

"Every time they send me out on a mission, you find some reason to get mad at them or try to get me to not go! Of course they're gonna assign me missions that I'll go on, it's our freaking job! Why can't you just accept that?" Ruby asked crossly.

"Well excuse me for worrying about the safety and well-being of my only sister! Do you really expect me to be okay with you being in harm's way?!" Yang asked, reciprocating the same irritation as her red-headed counterpart and halting their walk atop the building.

"I **expect **you to not try and stop me from doing my duties as an agent! Do you really have so little faith in me that you feel like you have to stop me from fighting?!" Ruby shouted while crossing her arms.

"No! I know you can handle yourself!"

"Then why are you suffocating me if you think I can handle myself?! I'm fine Yang!"

"MOM, QROW, AND BLAKE COULD HANDLE THEMSELVES AND THEY DIDN'T TURN OUT FINE!" Yang screamed with crimson red eyes and flames dancing across her hair.

She immediately adorned a look of pure shock and regret as her eyes bled back into their normal shade of purple.

Ruby could only stare astounded at her sister as the next minute was spent in uncomfortable silence.

Being the first to break the silence she unintentionally initiated, Yang breathed, "I know that you can't be taken down so easily. I know that you've been fighting in this war almost as long as I have, but that doesn't mean you **can't **be taken down. All of the experience and skill in the world can't save you if some thug manages to get a bullet in you where it counts. I learned this at Mom's funeral and I definitely learned this when Uncle Qrow went missing…leaving nothing but his hood lying in a battlefield in a pool of blood…**his **blood ..."

Ruby had yet to move from her spot, completely baffled by the sorrow and darkness lacing her sister's usually happy and vibrant voice.

Her worry only increased when Ruby saw the tear sliding down her cheek.

"But now Blake…" Yang continued as she tried to get her breathing under control. "I've lost my mother to this war…I've lost my uncle to this war…and now my closest…**most irreplaceable**…friend…."

Yang slowly brought her hands up to Ruby and grasped her shoulders in a tight grip as she sobbed and broke down from days of stress and worry.

"If I lost you or dad next…I don't know if I could go on in life. If those thugs had aimed even a little higher that day and hit a vital spot instead of just your leg, **I would have died**."

Ruby felt absolutely horrible.

She should have figured it out sooner…

Yang wasn't hovering over her just because she was overprotective, she just didn't want to further suffer the pain of losing someone. Losing their mother ruined her innocence as a child, losing Uncle Qrow broke her heart, and the high possibility of losing Blake destroyed her.

But if Yang lost her of all people, right after losing her best friend, it would kill her…

She now felt horrendously guilty for shouting at her sister and could only bring her in for a hug as Yang blubbered.

"I'm sorry Yang…I didn't know." Ruby apologized as she patted her older sister's back.

It would be two additional minutes of hugging before Yang's crying would subside enough for her to apologize back.

"I'm sorry too…" she replied through sniffles after releasing her sister and wiping her face.

"…I'm not gonna stop fighting because I might get hurt…" Ruby said sadly.

"I know…I don't expect you to either. I just wish none of us had to fight and die like this…" Yang said, mirroring Ruby in sorrow as her head dipped down, but was slightly raised by Ruby's caring hand.

"If it makes you feel any better, I promise I'll be careful." Ruby confided in an attempt to make her feel better.

With a hefty sigh, Yang calmed down emotionally and replied, "Thanks Rubes."

"No problem." Ruby happily replied, glad that the air finally cleared between them.

The tender moment was suddenly interrupted by the buzzing sound of Yang's and Ruby's scrolls.

They ripped them out and read the text message they both received, but recoiled in momentary surprise as they read it.

_From: Sun_

_ Found something! Get over here NOW! __**KEEP QUIET**_.

_(Minutes later)_

"We're here. What did you find guys?" Yang whispered as she and Ruby crept behind the two crouching boy, who were attentively observing something in the distance.

They said nothing in response, they just slowly pointed in the direction they were looking so that she would do the same. The two sisters crouched next to Sun and Neptune and growled angrily at whom they saw, leaning against wall with a cigar in his mouth as if he was waiting patiently for something.

"Roman…" Yang angrily hissed as her fists tightened, wanting nothing more than to cave in the face of the man she felt was partly responsible for Blake's disappearance.

"What the hell is **he **doing here?" Ruby asked, finding it exceptionally odd that the notorious criminal was exposing himself in such a spacious setting without any of the Order's thugs following him around. It wasn't even a dark area like the rest of the docks, there were no huge buildings around him to block the moonlight, so it was fairly illuminated so that even non-Faunus vision could be used to observe him. Even the huge shipping containers surrounding him did little to conceal him.

It just wasn't like him to be so indiscreet…

"I have no idea, but my guess is he's waiting for something…or someone." Neptune answered as he squinted his eyes, trying to get a better view of the dangerous gangster. "If only we could get a closer look at him…"

"Leave it to me." Ruby said confidently as she reached for her hip and pulled out a slab of red metal, instantly grabbing the attention of the other three teens.

"What the hell is that?" Yang asked, wondering how she didn't notice the object before.

Ruby smirked gleefully as she pushed a small black button on the slab.

"My secret project." She answered as it began to make subtle sounds of metal clicking against metal.

The slab extended in Ruby's small hands until it grew into the shape of a long and slender sniper rifle, but the fact that it was a firearm wasn't what had the other agents of Beacon staring horrified at the horrifyingly intimidating weapon. What really left them with widened eyes and gaping mouths was the eerily wicked blade attached to the end of the barrel.

"What... the hell…is that?" Sun whimpered as Ruby aimed down the scope of the weapon at Roman.

"It's a sniper rifle-scythe hybrid I've been working on for about two years. It has a firing range of about a mile and a half and is equipped with an electronic scope with heat vision and a blade so sharp it can slice through hardened steel. It also fires bullets with so much velocity they can penetrate all kinds of constructs like walls and armor. I call her Crescent Rose." Ruby speedily said as she continued to spy on her target, flipping the heat vision of the scope on and off to make sure it was functioning properly.

…

…

…

"Remind me not to piss you off ever again." Sun said as he returned to looking at Roman with a slight shiver of fear.

"Same here." Neptune whimpered as he slowly scooched away from the red-haired menace.

Only Yang found something to smile about in this situation.

"Soooooo…would you say that it's a _scyther_-rifle?" she asked with a taunting grin, resembling the "troll face".

"Remind me to hit you after this mission's over with." Ruby growled with her canine fangs poking out of her mouth.

"Uuuuuhhhhh…guys." Sun said with unusual seriousness in his voice.

"What?" they all replied while looking towards him.

"We've got company." He said as he pointed towards the distance.

Ruby immediately aimed down Crescent Rose's sights toward the direction Sun was pointing in.

"Uh oh…" Ruby groaned, signaling her sister and the boys to keep quiet so that they could hear the impending conversation.

Aware of the arrival of the group of three, Roman took the cigar out of his mouth and threw it behind him into the shipping container.

"Could it have killed you to show up on time? I'm don't have all the free time in the world y'know." Roman asked in a voice laced with restrained anger.

"Maybe, I know that **I** die a little inside every time I have to look at you." Mercury answered, clearly not fond of the annoyed ginger.

"And what the hell are **you **doing here?" Roman asked while pointing his cane at Weiss.

"I don't see how that's any of your business." Weiss replied as she crossed her arms and scowled at Roman.

"Hey, it's bad enough that I have to deal with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dick head over here!" Roman he testily said as he pointed towards Emerald and Mercury. "You have no freaking idea how much trouble I went through to get this damn "thing". I had to get it shipped in from overseas without alerting the authorities of its presence, keep it safe for much longer than I originally intended, and then take it back from some White Fang hussy who tried to steal it. So yeah, I think it's my business to know who the hell I'm giving it to. I don't want Cinder coming after my head if one of you botches this somehow and loses it."

"And what exactly did you have so much trouble acquiring. I mean beside your manhood of course." Weiss asked as she followed it with a demeaning insult.

"Ha Ha Ha…you're so clever." Roman sarcastically laughed as he reached into his pocket. Not at all trusting Roman, her initial thought was that he was reaching for some type of concealed weapon. Her reflexes flared as her hand twitched toward Myrtnaster in case he tried something, but she immediately calmed down when he pulled out a glass cube container. Contained within the cube, much to Weiss's surprise, was what appeared to be a crimson-red diamond that was the size of her fist, but Weiss could clearly tell that it was not. It emitted a bright red glow that easily pierced through its prison.

It was a glow that Weiss was very familiar with, and she grew infuriated with Emerald and Mercury when she realized what it really was.

"Are you telling me that you two dragged me away from HQ in the middle of the night just to secure about four pounds of Dust!?" she angrily questioned as her voice escalated.

"Chill out Whitey, that isn't just your ordinary Dust." Emerald replied in an attempt to calm the seething heiress.

"Elaborate." Weiss commanded, giving them no choice in the matter.

As the three criminals explained the significance of the crystal to Weiss, the Beacon agents were trying their best to hear the conversation, but could hear little from such a distance, especially with the wind blowing into their ears since they were so high up.

"Are you guys catching any of this? I can't hear anything they're saying." Sun asked as he cupped his hand over his ear in hopes that it would improve his hearing.

"Your hearing is better than me and Neptune's. What about you Rubes?" Yang asked.

"Nope, but I can see what they're talking about." She replied, not taking her eye off of the scope as she did so.

"What is that anyway? It's really shiny…" Neptune asked while squinting his eyes, trying to get a good view of the object.

"I think its Dust." Ruby answered with uncertainty evident in her voice.

"Why would they be so secretive about that? The Order's got plenty of Dust, so why are they trading with Roman?" Yang asked rhetorically, knowing that her companions were just as clueless as her.

As Ruby observed the conversation through her scyther-r-…_**sniper **_rifle, she couldn't help but take notice of the white-haired girl's change in facial expression and body language. At first she look upon the Dust crystal with anger and carelessness as if it was completely unimportant, but ever since her three comrades started talking to her as they pointed at it, the girl looked visibly panicked as she now looked at it as if it was a bomb with a lit fuse. It was obviously more dangerous than it looked, and Ruby wished she could hear the conversation so that she knew why. Either way, if the Order wanted it, than it was obviously bad news if it got into their hands. It would be irresponsible of them to just let the Order have it.

"Guys," Ruby said to get their attention, "we can't let them have that thing."

"Agreed." Yang complied as she made sure her gauntlets were loaded and ready for the ensuing battle.

"Woah Woah Woah wait a second." Neptune interjected as he noticed the way Sun and Yang were checking their weapons, "I'm all for kicking some Order-lackey ass as much as the next guy, but do we really want to get involved over some Fire Dust?"

"I don't know why they want it or why it's so important, but if the Order wants it, than we can't let them have it." Ruby answered as she continued to observe the group below.

With a sigh and a scratch of the back of his head, Neptune replied, "Well…I guess that's true."

"Damn straight!" Sun added as he finished loading his gun-chucks. "I've been waiting for some action all week!"

"Same here, but let's try to take Roman prisoner if possible okay?" Yang requested as she finished checking Ember Cicila. "I want to interrogate the bastard in case he knows anything about Blake those thugs didn't tell me."

"Got ya." Ruby confirmed as she continued to spy on the group of criminals.

Weiss could not believe how non-chalant they were acting as they explained just how powerful of a weapon they were transporting. Were they really not concerned about the ramifications should someone decide to abuse it or misuse it?

"I strongly suggest we destroy this thing right now! This is far too dangerous for anyone to use!" Weiss protested with panic in her voice.

"Hell no!" Roman replied as he returned the Dust to its spot in his pocket. "This little pretty is my next paycheck, and unlike you, I have bills to pay."

"But think about the consequences if someone misuses it!" Weiss said, trying desperately to get them to see reason.

"Are you suggesting we disobey a direct order and hamper their progress by destroying precious cargo? That's called treason y'know, and last time I checked that was punishable by death." Emerald replied with a slight edge in her voice.

"We don't have to do it behind their backs! We can convince them to do it themselves."

"After all the trouble they went through to get it?" Mercury asked. "And why do **you **care anyway? They're gonna use it to burn the White Fang and Beacon into a crisp, so what's your problem."

Before Weiss could deliver her rebuttal, she was interrupted by Roman. "Could we continue this conversation in HQ after we take care of our guests?"

"Guests?" Weiss asked, not understanding who he was referring to. "What guests?"

With an evil grin with obvious ill intention, Roman slowly brought his cane up to the building that the Beacon agents were hiding on.

"The kids that have been camping here for days." Roman answered plainly before firing an explosive ball of aura at the top of the building.

"OH SHI-"Yang screamed before she was interrupted by the explosion that sent all four of them falling off the top. Fortunately for them, a large fraction of their training consisted of formulating landing strategies when falling from great heights, so they were able to land safely on the ground below without too much damage.

"Who the hell are these people?!" Weiss asked as she grabbed Myrtnaster and assumed her battle ready position.

"Douches who have been spying on this place for about a week." Mercury insulted as his boots clicked and loaded, ready to fire into his enemies.

"AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME THIS BEFORE WE CAME HERE?!" Weiss screamed at the two teens at her side, debating on whether or not to stab them before the Beacon agents.

"You didn't ask." Emerald happily answered as she pulled out her twin blades and readied herself for combat.

"I HATE YOU ALL!" Weiss shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Monty-freaking-Oum, that girl's loud." Ruby moaned as she covered her wolf ears.

"And hot!" Sun and Neptune added excitedly with their tongues hanging out of their mouth.

"Stupid boys…" Ruby growled as she readied her scythe.

"Hey, asshole with the stupid hat!" Yang shouted angrily while pointing at Roman.

Snickering at the insult, Mercury whispered to Roman "Told you sooooo…"

"Shut the hell up!" He seethed in response. "What do you want Blondie!" Roman shouted.

"You shot my friend a while back you bastard!" Yang growled as her eyes slowly bled into a glowing red.

"Could you be more specific? I'm pretty sure I've shot about one-hundred people in the past week." Roman replied with a raised eye-brow.

"THE FAUNUS WEARING THE BOW! WHERE IS SHE?!" Yang roared as she erupted into a cyclone of angry flames, causing her three teammates to back away so that they wouldn't be burnt.

"Oh…that bitch." Roman said as he recalled the night he almost lost the precious cargo to the cat burglar. To be perfectly honest, he had no idea she was a Beacon agent or where she was or if she was even still alive.

But this obviously irritated girl didn't know that.

"I don't knooowww…" Roman answered the way a lying four-year old would, succeeding in angering Yang even further.

"SO YOU DO KNOW!"

Roman smirked at her assumption. "Maybe, maybe not. But I do know one thing," Roman said as he waved her over with his two fingers in a "bring it on" fashion.

"**She screams like a total bitch when she's on fire." **

One could almost hear the sound of Yang's fragile restraint shattering as he finished his malicious insult.

"**THAT'S IT!" **Yang bellowed demonically before blasting herself towards the chuckling jerk and his teammates.

"YANG WAIT!" Ruby shouted in concern for her sister.

Assuming that the girl was too emotionally unstable to dodge properly, Roman took the opportunity to fire his cane, Melodic Cudgel, rapidly at her in an attempt to kill her before the battle even began. However, much to Roman's surprise, Yang made no attempt to dodge the screaming projectiles and tackled them head on. Roman's jaw almost dropped to the floor when his bullets bounced harmlessly off his target as she continued her mad dash towards him.

"OH CRAP!" Roman exclaimed as he realized his obvious mistake. Melodic Cudgel's bullets were purely incendiary, and since the blonde's semblance was obviously fire-related, they would have little effect on her, if any.

Taking immediate action against the girl who was flying towards them in a streak of fire, Weiss sped towards her with Myrtnaster poised to strike and encased in Dust-borne ice. Ready to slam into each other, Yang reared her flame consumed fist back as Weiss aimed the tip of her ice blade to meet it. With a mighty scream from the two girls, ice and fire met in an explosive collision that birthed a permeating shroud of mist throughout the area and sent the rest of the combatants flying and tumbling into random spots of the Docks, screaming at the top of their lungs. The explosion indiscriminately sent Yang and Weiss flying as well after their respective comrades, but there was no way they would be able to locate them by sight due to the fog from the collision.

And thus, the vicious game of hide-and-seek began.

_(Sun)_

"Dude, where the hell am I!" Sun shouted as he tried to locate any of his friends. He had been searching for about five minutes and he had absolutely no idea where he landed or if he was even close to any of them, so in an attempt to regroup with them, Sun cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "RUBY! YANG! BLUE-TARD! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!"

"Hello?!" a high-pitched feminine voice called out in response.

"Ruby?! Ruby, is that you?!" Sun called out, not at all liking how frantic the voice sounded.

"Help me!" Ruby screamed, sounding as if she was in a considerable amount of pain.

"Oh crap! Hang on!" Sun shouted as he sprinted in the general direction of her voice. After he sped through the docks and around various metal containers, the voice grew closer and easier to follow.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The voice shrieked in pain, motivating Sun to double his speed.

He finally arrived in the vicinity of the voice and called out to Ruby once more. "Where are you?!" he shouted out to her.

"OVER HERE!" she screamed from behind a building to Sun's right.

"I'm coming!" he shouted as he ran towards the building.

He sprinted around the building and shouted, "Ruby, are y-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the tanned fist that slammed into his face and sent him tumbling away into a shipping container. As he rose from the ground dizzily, he regained his senses right in the nick of time before his head was almost lobbed off by the blade he rolled away from. Sun observed his opponent and recognized her as the green-haired girl that was accompanying the other teenagers on her side. He noticed that she wielded a pair of twin blades, so she most likely relied on speed and agility to take her opponents down.

Knowing that his only chance at combating the dangerous female was to utilize his own speed and agility, he decided to not interlock his gun-chucks into their staff form and readied them for battle.

As she waved her throbbing hand, Emerald hissed angrily, "Damn it! Do ALL men have such rock-hard heads?!"

Sun smiled mischieviously.

"Bow Chika Bow-"

"IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE, I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL SKIN YOUR PENIS LIKE A POTATO!" Emerald screamed murderously as a blood vessel throbbed inside her head.

…

…

…

…

"Wow..." He said, slightly disturbed by her chilling threat.

He flinched in fear as he realized what left his mouth.

"**DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" **Emerald roared monstrously as she dashed towards her doomed target and swiped at his neck, only for him to block the blade with one of his gun-chucks. But Emerald didn't stop and followed up the blocked strike with a flurry of continuous and more powerful strikes. The girl was simply too fast to block all of her swipes, so he relied on his natural reflexes to dodge them. The endless cycle of slash-and-dodge finally ceased as Sun chose to go on the offensive and wrapped his tail around Emerald's right ankle after she missed her last swing and tugged as hard as he could on it. Naturally, it caused her to lose her balance and interrupt her barrage of attacks, giving Sun the chance to slam one of his gun-chucks into her face as an act of revenge. Not giving her ample time to recover from the strike, Sun instantly began to mercilessly attack her with the full fury of his weapons, unleashing bursts of shot-gun rounds at her with every swing. Emerald was barely able to deflect the shot-gun blasts as they wizzed by dangerously close to her face. Unfortunately for her, she was only able to defend against the attacks effectively for so long and eventually missed a strike that slammed painfully into her chest, sending her flying a considerable distance away from him.

Much to Sun's shock, she collided painfully into her partner who was previously engaged in his own battle with Neptune.

"Thanks dumbass!" Neptune shouted appreciatively with none of his usual sarcasm for once..

"Your wel-HEY!" Sun angrily shouted as he realized he was being insulted.

Ignoring the banter between the two idiots, Emerald separated her face from Mercury's chest and growled, "I'm really getting sick of this bullcrap! Any ideas?"

"Well for starters, you could stop straddling me with those… voluptuous…hips…on second thought, continue with what you're doing." Mercury answered lecherously.

"SHUT THE HELL UP PERVERT!"

"What did I say?" Sun and Mercury simultaneously replied with confusion.

"**GOD DAMN IT I HATE MEN!"** Emerald screeched as she leaped of off her despicable teammate and charged back at Sun with renewed blood-lust.

"She knows she wants me." Mercury chuckled as she rose from the ground and blasted toward his own enemy, using his shot-gun grieves to thrust himself towards Neptune with greater speed.

As Neptune swatted Mercury's acrobatic kicks away with his trident, Neptune could only wonder how the other two members of his team were doing.

_(Elsewhere)_

The field the two trained fighters were in was eerily silent as they carefully observed one another, carefully analyzing their opponent so that they can possibly make out an exploitable weakness. However, neither enemy found one and readied their weapons to beat the other into submission or kill them need be.

As Ruby stared into the cold girl's icy-blue eyes that glared disdainfully back at her, she couldn't help but notice how different she looked compared to other agents of the Order. Sure, she was the first person she had ever met with ivory-white hair that wasn't elderly, but that wasn't what grabbed Ruby's interest. Throughout her entire life as an agent, she had seen the eyes of many other agents of the order she had encountered in combat. They were usually filled with venomous malice as they glared hatefully at the furry wolf ears atop her head. That was exactly what intrigued Ruby; the girl wasn't glaring heavily at her ears, but actually making eye contact with her. And unlike the other agents, her eye's withheld another emotion that was not common in the others'.

Sadness…

Before Ruby could analyze the heiress any further, Weiss initiated the fight by angrily flying towards the Faunus with her rapier out and ready to stab her. After dodging the stab that almost pierced her chest, Ruby speedily swung her scythe at Weiss's legs in an attempt to trip her, but Weiss dodged the blade by back flipping into the air. Ruby expected Weiss to land back on the ground and attempt to attack her again, but was shocked when she instead landed on a white symbol in mid-air.

"What the hell?!" Ruby questioned in sheer shock.

Taking advantage of the shock that the Faunus was currently inflicted with, Weiss instantly shot off of her gravitational glyph at Ruby and swung the razor-sharp tip of Myrtnaster at Ruby's chest. Luckily for Ruby, she recovered from her shock quickly enough and brought up the shaft of Crescent Rose to block the swing of the blade. The blade slammed into the scythe to send Ruby flying meters away, but to avoid tumbling painfully on the ground she dug the blade of her scythe into the ground to stabilize herself and stop her flight.

Ruby could definitely feel the sting of a cut across her chest, so it was clear that close combat wasn't going to be beneficial for her, especially since her weapon relies on range and reach. Determined to keep Weiss at a healthy distance away from her, Ruby kept the blade of the scythe dug into the ground to maintain stability and began to fire sniper-rifle rounds at her. Weiss was not expecting the surprise gun-fire and began dodging the bullets using side-flips and flexible acrobatics. She continued to do this until the red-head finally ran out of bullets in her current magazine, but could feel the pain on her legs and sides from the bullets that managed to graze her. Strangely enough, they did little to actually cause her harm. All they succeeded in doing to her limbs was slightly bruising them, when normally bullets would tear bits of flesh off, even if the target had the benefit of Aura-shielding their bodies.

"Is she using concussive rounds?" Weiss whispered to herself in confusion.

Was this Faunus trying to refrain from…killing…her?

Weiss violently shook the thoughts out of mind as her grip on her rapier tightened enough to cut the circulation off of her left hand.

NO!

Every Faunus she has ever met has tried to kill her, and just because she was using different ammo meant nothing! If she truly wasn't trying to kill her, she wouldn't be trying to slice her in half with her gigantic blade.

She was no different from those White Fang bastards that have been killing her family for years.

With invigorated murderous intent, Weiss brought Myrtnaster down and stabbed the ground in front of her while aggressively channeling her Aura into the Ice Dust housed within the chamber. As soon as the tip of the rapier pierced the ground, a wave of menacingly sharp ice erupted from the point of contact and destroyed everything in its path as it continued towards Ruby. The Faunus barely dodged the fatal streak of ice as she athletically cart-wheeled to the right, but not before the ice sliced her left cheek, leaving a painful cut that started to bleed.

Attempting to end this fight, Weiss sped towards Ruby with another attempt to stab her while she was still recoiling from her dodge. Ruby knew that she didn't have the time to dodge the lethal attack by normal means, so she was only left with one option.

"Sorry Doctor…" Ruby whispered to herself before channeling her Aura at the last possible moment.

Weiss was both shocked and angered when her rapier was only a centimeter away from killing her enemy, only to stab vacant air as the Faunus vanished in a flash of red, leaving nothing behind but rose petals. Weiss shot her head in every direction in hopes of locating her, but she had apparently vanished in thin air. Her first thought was that she teleported away for a hasty retreat, but that thought was instantly abandoned as a red streak zipped by from her right and speedily hit her face. Weiss angrily tried to slash at the streak when it circled around to hit her again, but she missed her target yet again due to the inhuman speed of her target. Knowing full well that she wasn't going to be able to hit the girl who had quadrupled her already advanced speed, Weiss decided to use her enemy's speed against her and once again stabbed the ground below her and channeled her Ice Dust. Instead of a row of ice erupting in front of her, the ice instead spread around her in a clean sheet, icing over the ground around her in a five meter radius. Her pride was aroused as her plan succeeded, for when Ruby sped back towards her for another attack, she lost control of herself due to the now-slippery ground and involuntarily slid by screaming and painfully slammed into a metal container.

"Oooooowwww..." Ruby moaned from the ground as she dizzily tried get back on her feet while trying to ignore the stars clouding her vision. The back of her head met the container she just ran into as Weiss sped over and slammed the heel of her high-heeled boot into Ruby's stomach. Ruby was still too dizzy to immediately retaliate, and felt a grim sinking in her stomach as she looked up to the heiress who was sneering down at her.

Without breaking eye-contact with her soon-to-be kill, Weiss brought Myrtnaster up for one final stab that would end the battle once and for all, making Ruby's heart skip a beat as she realized that the heiress was about to end her life. Ruby would have tried to swat her away with Crescent Rose, but it was lying on the ground to her left, far away from her reach.

She had to think quick!

"_Wait…that's it!" _Ruby triumphantly thought as she reached for her neck.

Before Weiss could succeed in killing the red-haired scythe wielder, Ruby swiftly pulled her hood off, and in a clever, yet unorthodox, plan to save her own life, Ruby threw her precious hood into Weiss's face. The unusual distraction did exactly what it was supposed to. With her eye-sight rendered useless, Weiss missed her stab and hit the container instead, causing her to scream angrily "SON OF A BITCH!" and giving Ruby enough time to perform a sweep-kick on her and kicking her legs out from under her. Immediately after Weiss landed painfully on her back, Ruby swiped at Weiss's Myrtnaster and swiftly pried it out of her fingers.

Weiss ripped the offending article of clothing off of her face so that she could see, but the first sight she was greeted was the razor-sharp tip of her own weapon pointed dangerously close the her jugular. Weiss glared hatefully up towards Ruby, who was reciprocating her own disapproving glare back at her.

One push; One tiny, little push, and Weiss's life would come to a quick and sudden end…

Weiss couldn't believe that she was going to die at the hands of this girl that had so cleverly outsmarted her.

And now she was about to die for her momentary lapse of judgment, at the hands of a Faunus…

She wouldn't be the first Schnee to meet their end in this manner…

Screwing her eyes shut so that she didn't have to look into Ruby's eyes as she died. She anxiously awaited the stinging pain in her neck that would be the last thing she would ever feel.

Instead of feeling the cold embrace of death, she instead felt literal cold embraces as her arms were frozen and attached to the container.

Weiss looked up towards her enemy with a baffled expression as Ruby finished immobilizing her.

Without giving her another look, Ruby threw Myrtnaster to the side and quickly collected her scythe and hood.

As the Faunus abandoned her to her icy prison, Weiss could only stare dumbfounded at her retreating back with her mouth wide open.

Not once, in her **entire **life, did any of her enemies so much as hesitate in killing her. She never gave them the opportunity, but that surely didn't stop them from trying, especially if she was fighting a White Fang member, or any Faunus actually. The Schnees were a common hatred among the Faunus, after all. This instilled in her the belief that any Faunus wouldn't think twice before jamming a blade into her heart if give the chance.

And yet…**this** Faunus spared her life…but why?

She didn't have time to contemplate the immensely unusual girl; she had to go assist her comrades, using the broadest application of the word "comrade". Luckily for her, the wolf-Faunus apparently wasn't very skilled in using Dust, for the constraints encasing her arms were thin enough to already start cracking and weakening.

After applying enough force for about a minute, the ice finally shattered as she ripped her arms free from the shattered remains.

As she rose from her spot on the ground and dusted off her rump, she bent down to retrieve her weapon so she could go assist the idiots that drug her out here, but before she could even take a step in the direction the Faunus sped off in, she was almost tripped by the tremors of a fiery explosion in the distance.

"What the hell?!" Weiss shouted as she turned around and saw the resulting smoke cloud rising towards the sky.

If the enshrouding fog they created during the fight didn't attract the attention of civilians, the fire would certainly accomplish that.

They had to get out of here now!

Wasting no more time, Weiss began to sprint in the direction of the black smoke with Myrtnaster in hand.

She was completely unaware of the shadowed figure calmly and silently walking after her.

_(Elsewhere)_

"What the hell was that?!" Emereral questioned as she took her eyes off of her two opponents ahead of her and looked towards the fire in the distance behind her.

"Well, either Roman is getting his ass pulverized by the blonde chick, or he decided to play with the Dust. Either way, the dude is probably cremated." Mercury answered while keeping an eye on Sun and Neptune.

"If only we were that lucky…" Emerald growled as she looked back towards her enemies.

"Should we…y'know?" He questioned through a whisper.

"Already on it." Emerald answered with a smile as she reached into her pocket.

Noticing that the green-haired chick was up to something, Sun shouted, "What are you doing?"

Emerald smirked as she felt what she was looking for.

"Flashing you." She answered cryptically with an untrustworthy smile.

"SAY WHAT?" Sun and Neptune asked with widened eyes and blushing faces.

Before the boys could regain their bearings, Emerald yanked a flash-grenade out of her pocket and tossed it in front of them, blinding them and giving her and Mercury ample time to pursue the origin of the explosion.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH THAT JOKE WAS CLEVER AND MISLEADING!" Sun screamed in pain as he covered his aching eyes.

"YOU DON'T FREAKING SAY?!" Neptune sarcastically screamed as he did the same as his monkey-tailed partner and shielded his eyes.

_(Yang and Roman)_

Roman and Yang breathed heavily as they slouched and heaved with soot covering their clothes. The fight had been more difficult and tiring than either of them were expecting. Roman's Melodic Cudgel's primary means of offense did little to harm Yang. True, fire could still burn her like any other person, but her Semblance provided her an immense resistance to burns, so he was forced to resort to melee to take her down. Yang was in a similar predicament as her arrogant foe. Ember Cicila's bullets could harm him effectively, despite being concussive, and she was an equal match for Roman when it concerned close-range combat. However, Roman was an expert at defensive maneuvers, and dodged or blocked almost every attack she threw his way.

But Roman was growing weary of this endless cycle of attack and dodge. He needed to get out of here before this kid managed to get a lucky shot on him.

If only he could somehow strengthen Melodic Cudgel rounds to the point that they actually damage her…

Wait…that gave him an **excellent** idea.

Much to Yang's confusion, Roman started chuckling nefariously as he reached into his pocket.

"What's so funny?!" Yang growled with animosity in her tone.

"Oh nothing, I just thought of a wonderful joke!" Roman said as his laughter subsided.

"_Uh oh…" _ Yang thought as she saw Roman pull the Dust crystal out.

She didn't like how it appeared to be glowing even more brightly now that it was free from its casing.

"I'm about to fight fire…" Roman growled as he channeled his Aura into the crystal.

In an intimidating display of power, Roman's body began to elicit flames that mirrored the Dust in color, illuminating the area in a beautiful, yet horrifying, red light.

Roman aimed his cane at Yang with the utmost confidence in his smile.

"…**with fire." **Roman finished darkly as he pulled the trigger.

Yang was more than ready to dodge the imminent round, but she never expected what was to fire out of the cane.

Instead of the usual mid-size pink firework that usually left the barrel of Melodic Cudgel, a roaring blood-red fireball blasted towards Yang at double the speed. She jumped back to avoid the menacing orb of dark fire, but dread consumed her heart when she saw it perform an unusual quality.

Instead of blasting the ground below, it instead changed its course in mid-air.

Right towards her…

"HOLY FU-"

Her vulgarity was interrupted by the monstrous explosion of hell-fire that set the surrounding area aflame.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yang screamed as she was sent flying into a building. A normal explosion would have just sent her colliding into the building, but the unnaturally magnified explosion sent her **through **the building.

"Oh…my…god…" Roman whispered in amazement as he slowly looked towards the gem glowing beautifully in his left hand.

He knew that the red diamond was a powerful weapon, but he had no idea it was capable of this much destruction! He barely applied any Aura into the damn thing and he almost blew the entirety of the freaking docks!

No wonder the Order wanted this thing so badly!

"Roman! What the hell did you do?!" Weiss angrily shouted as she sprinted past flames and skidded to a screeching halt beside him.

"Testing the merchandise." Roman plainly answered. "A better question is: Where the hell were you three minutes ago?!"

"It doesn't matter! We have to get out of here before the police ar-!".

Weiss would have continued speaking, but she was interrupted by a sharp pain in her chest. She slowly down, but slowly gasped in a horrified moan as she realized why she was in pain.

Sticking out of her chest, only a few inches from a shocked Roman's face, was a gleaming white sword soaked in her blood.

The blade violently retracted from her chest as she fell to her knees in a fit of aggressive coughs.

"Roman, you'd best have a decent excuse for attracting this much unnecessary attention." Weiss's attacker threatened icily with an intimidating, metallic voice.

Roman had to force himself to speak to the horrifying monster in snow-white armor.

"F-F-Frostb-bite…I didn't know y-you were coming." Roman stuttered as he tried to maintain his cool, but failed horribly as he shivered in fear.

"I was assigned to make sure that there were no failures on your part…." Frostbite replied as he walked around Weiss towards her front.

Weiss could only fearfully stare up into the small black slits in Frostbite's helmet that served as his eye-holes. Somehow, they completely concealed his eyes, yet they didn't seem to hamper his eye-sight at all.

It was for the best, one could only wonder what nightmares his eyes could possibly inflict upon anyone unlucky enough to see them…

"…and evaluate **this **failiure." He finished as he looked down upon the heavily bleeding heiress.

"What…the hell…are you…doing?" Weiss questioned through raspy breaths as she breathed heavily and covered the bleeding hole in her chest with her right hand.

Frostbit kneeled down towards the dying heiress and got on one knee so that he could look her in the eye.

"Fulfilling my assignment given to me by the Superior…and my primary client: Assassinate Weiss Schnee."

Weiss throat instantly dried and her heart clenched as she fully processed what the armored assassin said to her in a mercilessly cold voice.

"…What?" she breathed as she began to tremble.

Before Frostbite could repeat his previous statement, he was interrupted by the intrusion of Mercury and Emerald as they casually walked towards the group.

"Awww maaannn!" Mercury complained as he stopped beside Frostbite and cruelly smiled down at Weiss. "You couldn't have waited until we showed up? I wanted to see her get shanked!"

"…You…two…knew?" Weiss whimpered as she looked towards her supposed "comrades".

"Welcome to the other half of the mission Weiss." Emerald answered with a smirk.

She knew it…she knew that something felt wrong about this mission…

"Why…" Weiss growled as her shock and fear dissipated and was gradually replaced with sheer rage.

"WHY AM I BEING BETRAYED BY THE ORDER?! I'VE SERVED THIS ORGANIZATION LOYALY MY **ENTIRE **LIFE!" Weiss roared angrily at the traitors surrounding her.

"The majority of the Conclave has agreed that you will only grow to be a nuisance in the coming years due to your hesitance to kill our enemies and blatant distrust of your authorities. As of now, you are no longer an agent of the Order." Frostbite answered.

"Then why did you all bring me out here just to stab me in the back!" she angrily questioned, not at all understanding their logic.

"It was an attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt. I was assigned to judge your performance on this mission and decide if you were worthy of a second chance, but you failed to kill your enemy and was only spared out of naïve kindness from her. You are also partly to blame for separating your team from each other due to your collision with the blonde. I have come to the conclusion that you will do as the Conclave anticipate and only interfere with our plans, unintentionally or no."

A test?

…

…

…

This was all just a test?

Weiss's hands slowly clenched as her lips quivered and jaw shuddered.

She glared murderously at them all through tear-stained eyes, wanting nothing more than to skewer them all through their skulls like the snakes they were.

"Awwwwww, is da wittle Schnee gonna kwy?" Mercury taunted as he rubbed under his eyes in a mocking fashion.

"Enough." Frostbite ordered as he rose from his knee and signaled them to leave. Emerald, Mercury, and Roman didn't dare argue and turned to leave the heiress to bleed out.

"My father…is going…to **KILL **you." Weiss growled murderously as all but Frostbite leaped on top of the closest building to begin retreating back to HQ.

Frostbite shattered her soul as with his final sentence.

"Who do you think hired me?"

Weiss's mouth slowly gaped open as his cruel words repeated over and over again in her mind.

Her father did this to her? Her own flesh and blood…organized her assassination…

Feeling that he had inflicted ample damage to her body and, most importantly, her soul, he turned to follow his comrades as they retreated from the burning docks. He only proceeded five steps before he heard a surprising sound behind him. Although she lost most of her blood from the surprise stab to her chest, Weiss rose from the ground with her rapier tightly clenched in her hand. The blood loss was obviously taking effect on her, she could barely stand straight due to her dizziness and nausea, but she fueled by the unquantifiable amount of hatred poisoning her soul and the resulting adrenaline pumping through her body.

It was foolish decision to try to attack him in such an un-healthy state, but Frostbite couldn't help but feel slight respect for the Schnee as she speedily leaped towards him with her blade ready to strike.

She didn't stand a chance.

Before Weiss could even begin to swing her rapier, Frostbite intercepted her attack by slicing her face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Weiss screamed as she grabbed her damaged eye and shrieked in unbearable pain.

She was silenced as Frostbite once again pierced her chest, this time aiming for her sternum.

_(Ruby)_

"Yaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg!" Ruby frantically called out to her sister as she ran through the flames currently devouring the docks.

She had been searching for her sister frantically as she sped around the part of the docks where her sister had obviously fought. Ruby easily recognized the red shot-gun shells littering the floor as Ember Cilica's, so that meant that she wasn't far.

She rounded the corner of a building and felt immensely relieved to find her sister standing in the middle of the clearing with Sun and Neptune.

They all seemed to be gathered around something…

"Over here!" Yang responded while keeping her immobile left arm held down with her right, indicating that it was dislocated. The dislocated arm also seemed to be burnt to some degree, an observation that worried Ruby. She would have asked if she was okay, but the primary focus now would be to escape the scene.

"What are you guys doing? We have to get out of here." Ruby asked, wondering why they were just standing there.

"Yeah but…" Sun responded while scratching the back of his head, looking nervous and sad as he tried not to look behind him.

"What? What's the prob…lem…oh…" Ruby said, unable to finish her question as she saw the horrible sight behind her friends at their feet.

Lying still in a pool of her own blood, was the white-haired girl she was fighting only minutes ago. Her lustrous ivory hair was coated and dampened in the sticky red liquid, dying fractions of her hair into a sickly pink. Her once flawless face was now adorning a fresh vertical cut across her left eye, more than likely blinding it. The agents of Beacon could easily determine that the cause of her death were the two oozing holes in her chest that vividly stained her clothes beyond the point of washing out.

The sight of what was once a respectably skilled agent, even if she was allied with the enemy, greatly disturbed them all, but it was not only the sight of her cold…**lifeless **body that distressed them.

It was the fact that they knew that none them had it in their hearts to take someone's life away from them, even the enemy's, meaning that the only other people that could have committed this grotesque murder was her "teammates"…

Even though the poor girl had tried to kill her during their fight, Ruby still felt nothing but pure sympathy for the betrayed agent.

She must have died a broken woman; her tears were still dripping down her bloodied cheeks.

There moment of silence for the fallen heiress was interrupted by the familiar sounds of police and fire truck sirens in the distance. They probably had about five to seven minutes to leave before they arrived to investigate and put out the fire.

"Guys…" Neptune said with regret in his voice, "…we need to go before we're seen."

Ruby shot her head towards him in surprise and replied, "But we can't just leave her like this! Shouldn't we at least bury her?"

Neptune was usually the voice of reason in their group, and was about to fill that role once more as he began to explain to the still some-what innocent member of their team, but he was surprised when Yang gently grabbed her sister's shoulder to get her attention and beat him to the punch.

"Ruby, we all want to give her a proper burial, but we just simply don't have the time. If we try to drag her with us, than we might get caught." She explained in a completely mature manner, which was heavily unsettling coming from her of all people.

"But…" Ruby lowly said, trying to find an effective rebuttal.

"There's nothing we can do for her now…we have to go." Yang said with regret as well as comfort as she patted Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby sighed depressively as she looked down at the cold body.

"Ok…" Ruby breathed as she slowly nodded, knowing that her sister was right.

"Come on." Neptune said as he turned around to start jogging away in the direction of an exit they could use.

As the rest of her teammates prepared to leave, Ruby knelt down to wipe the blood dirtying her pale skin and whispered to her, "I'm so sorry this happened to you…" with a small tear building in her right eye.

Ruby would have left as fast as she could with her teammates to avoid seeing the demoralizing sight any longer.

But she immediately abandoned the thought when she heard a small, subtle sound reverberating from the girl's body.

"No way…" Ruby whispered in unadulterated disbelief as she got on both knees and put right wolf-ear against the girl's left breast, not at all caring for personal space or the fact that she was getting her cheek wet with her blood.

_Bump…bump…Bump…bump_

"SHE'S ALIVE!" Ruby shouted in shock as she jumped to her feet, seizing the attention of her teammates.

"Say what?!" they shouted in unity, believing that they all misheard her.

"She's still alive guys! She can still be saved!" Ruby shouted before taking the dust-rapier out of the girl's hand and fastening it on its rightful place on her right hip.

"Wait…WHAT?" Neptune screamed, astonished by what Ruby was implying they do.

Ruby's implication proved true as she picked up the heiress and began to piggy-back her. "I'm going on ahead! One of you call them and let them know we have wounded." She shouted authoritatively as she made sure she had a secure grip on her.

"Wait Ruby!" Yang protested as she waved her good arm. "We can't just bring an enemy into Beacon like this! What if she attacks us when she wakes up?!"

Ruby didn't stay long enough to answer the concerned, and noticeably panicked, question. As soon as she made sure the wounded girl wasn't going to fall off, Ruby began to speed away in a streak of rose petals.

"RUBY WAIT A GOD DAMN MINUTE!" Yang shouted angrily as did what was asked of her and ripped out her scroll. She tossed it into Sun's hands as she and Neptune ran after the bolting Faunus.

"Awwww crap!" Sun complained as he opened the scroll and called Beacon's emergency line, knowing that they were going to pay for this.

No good deed goes unpunished after all.

"Come in, come in! This is Sun Wu Kong calling from the docks! We are immediately returning back to HQ with a wounded female! Prepare for surgery **RIGHT NOW!**" he shouted into the scroll.

There was only one thought in Yang's mind as she speedily followed the trail of rose petals and sporadic dots of blood.

_The Council's going to be soooooooooo pissed when they hear this…_

_(Jaune)_

"Blake, I'm home!" Jaune exhaustedly called out as he closed the door behind him. As usual, she was nowhere to be found in the living room. She was most likely curled up comfortably on his bed.

After he managed to make it up the stairs and to his door, he pushed it open to confirm his assumption. Just as he had predicted, Blake was waiting patiently for him to return as she lied down on her side snuggled contentedly in his pillow.

"I starting to think I should take you somewhere when I go to work, or leave the TV on, or something. You must get so bored being here alone all day." Jaune concernedly said as he dropped his book bag carelessly on the floor.

"Actually, I enjoy the peace and quiet. I've also been keeping myself occupied by reading your books and browsing the web. No need to send me to any of your strange acquaintances homes." Blake answered as she moved over so that Jaune could collapse on the bed without landing on her. Without even taking off his uniform, he did just that with the intention of falling asleep as soon as possible.

Seeking the comforting warmth of her "owner", Blake rose from her spot and lied back down closer to his chest so that she could snuggle. Jaune openly welcomed it as he hugged her close like a child would a treasured stuffed animal.

The warm embrace he was tenderly giving Blake reminded him of his new friend.

_Jaune couldn't even begin to guess how long he had cried into the girl's chest before he finally got it out of his system, for the moment at least._

"_Do you feel any better?" the girl asked kindly as they separated and rose from the ground._

"_Actually…yes." Jaune slowly admitted in a raspy voice. The pressure that had been building in his chest over the week had finally dissipated, making it much easier to breathe. It was like someone removed ten pounds of iron from the inside of his heart._

"_I'm glad." Blake said with a smile. "There's no telling how long you've needed to do that and I'm glad I could help."_

"_Yeah…thanks." Jaune embarrassedly said as he scratched his head._

"_May I make a request for you in return Jaune?" She asked._

"_Of course." Jaune replied, willing to do pretty much anything for the girl that had just so selflessly eased his emotional pain._

"_May I speak with you again in the future?" _

_Now that was an odd request._

_Usually Jaune would have to be the one to ask that, and it tickled his ears as he heard the question being directed towards him for the first time, by a __**girl **__no less._

"_Sure," he agreed, trying not to sound too eager, "do you have a scroll?"_

"_I did, but it recently broke. Don't worry, when I want to talk to you again, I'll come to you." She answered._

"_Oh, ok?" Jaune replied as he wondered why she was smiling so mischievously, as if she knew something he didn't._

"_I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you helping me? You barely know me, yet you've gone out of your way to console me so directly. Why?" he asked, trying to understand the girl's reasoning. He almost wished he hadn't as her face slowly contorted into a frown._

"_Your eyes…I used to have them" she cryptically answered._

"_Uuuhhh…what?" Jaune asked for clarification, confused by the short statement._

"_I knew that you were suffering internal strife as I looked into your eyes, because there was a time in my life when those same eyes would stare back at me in the mirror every morning. I, like you, used to suffer deeply and tried to maintain a façade to disguise it. The only difference between our situations is that you disguise your pain by acting happy, while I acted aggressively and hateful. The only reason I healed properly from that damage was because one of my dearest friends gave me a shoulder to cry on. If she had not intervened, I would have destroyed myself…" the girl answered sadly, making Jaune feel slightly guilty for making her recall these horrible memories. "That's why I want to help you. I don't want you to suffer the fate I almost did."_

_Jaune could only stare amazed at the girl as she brought herself back from her depressing memories and said, "I believe it's time for me to return home now. I will see you again soon Jaune." Before beginning to walk out of the alley._

"_Wait. One last question please." Jaune quickly said before she took her leave._

"_Yes?" she replied._

"_What's your name?" he asked, mentally hitting himself for not asking sooner._

_There it was again; that mischievous smile of hers…_

As Jaune slowly pet the slumbering cat at his side, he quietly let the name slide off his tongue.

"Arryn "Bell" Belladonna…"

**Holy crap! This is by far the longest freaking chapter I have EVER written! I hate to ask so vividly, but **_**PLEASE DROP A REVIEW FOR THIS CHAPTER GUYS!**_** I think I've earned it and it'll motivate me to get the Halloween chapter out in time! :-)**

**Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	9. ParaNeo Activity

**I know the Halloween spirit has come and passed, so this is a little late. Sorry, finals are coming up and I've been extremely busy. To be honest, I don't think this chapter is that great due to the stress I've been suffering from school, but here it is. I'll let you decide!**

**Anyway, here's the Halloween chapter I promised!**

"Are you sure this is gonna work Ren?" Jaune asked skeptically as carefully held the tiny plastic baggy of grass.

"I'm positive Jaune. I've seen my uncle use this before on cats he treats at work and they turn into mewling sweet-hearts. Trust me, it'll work." Ren replied with the utmost certainty in his voice.

As she casually flipped through different Halloween specials on Jaune's T.V, she asked the two boys sitting to her left, "So why are you trying to get Blake high again?"

"Because in order for Blake's wounds to heal properly, her wounds need to be cleaned on a regular basis. It takes more than just changing her bandages, otherwise she could contract an infection from filth amassing in her fur." Ren explained after an annoyed sigh, not understanding why she kept asking the question. "And we aren't getting her high Nora, we're just having her sniff a plant that chemically influences her to become more docile so she doesn't try to murder us when we bathe her."

"Yeah, there's a plant for humans that does the same thing. It's called weed, and what do people use weed to do? Oh that's right, get high!" Nora responded sarcastically. "And what's this "we" business? Last time I checked, she was Jaune's cat. I'm not going near that satanic crotch licker!" Nora added fearfully as she was haunted by the memories of the hell they suffered that night.

"HEY!" Blake meowed angrily as she hissed in Nora's direction.

"Exactly. This way he'll be able to bathe her without dying, screaming for our help, and getting us killed or knocked out." Ren said.

"Hey!" Jaune interrupted as he pet the purring cat in his hands. "I'm not the one who shot everybody in the room with a tranquilizer gun EXCEPT the intended target!"

"SHUT UP VIRGIN SEXY PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING!" Ren roared angrily at Jaune, sensitive about the fact that his aim was horrible.

Jaune and Blake leaped into the air and hugged each other tightly as they shivered in fear, terrified by the predatory gleam in Ren's usually docile, pink eyes.

After regaining his composure and coughing into his fist as he cleared his throat, he continued, "Anyway, the catnip will even her out so she doesn't fly off the handle next time."

"Well…I guess." Jaune hesitantly said as he began to open the packet.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Blake asked with an edge in her meow.

Although she would never admit it, she had always been curious as to why felines found the drug to be so irresistible, but she never allowed herself to find out for herself because of her line of work. Remaining vigilant and prepared for anything at anytime was one of her qualities that made her a respectable agent, and she didn't want to ruin that by possibly becoming addicted to the plant like a drug addict.

But then again, she wasn't on duty today and she wouldn't be for a while…

Perhaps a small sniff was in order?

"Well, get ready to go on a trip Blake." Jaune said as he put her down on his lap and got ready to pour some of the catnip in his hand.

"Wait!" Nora interjected before Jaune could pour any. "You can't bathe her now! We have a Halloween party to get to in about an hour and a half!"

Jaune looked towards the clock on the wall with slight surprise, and true to her word, it was currently 6:28 PM.

"I guess we better get into costume and leave then. Speaking of that, what costumes did you bring for us Nora?" Jaune asked, eager to know what character he would be portraying for the night. It had always been tradition between the trio to adopt a common theme between them for costumes, and they would take turns deciding what that theme was. Currently, it was Nora's turn, which excited Jaune greatly. Out of all three of them, she always seemed to pick the most unique costumes, like last time when they dressed up Team 7 from Naruto, and the time before that when they dressed up as the Avengers.

Though to be honest, that year was extremely tiring. Nora took her role as Thor a bit too far and hammered some guy dressing up as Loki in the groin while screaming "Hammer time!" They spent the next two hours out-running the police. One could imagine the hilarity of the situation when they showed up on the next day's news on a wanted notice that described them as "The Cowardly Captain America, the Scrawny Hulk, and the Psychotic Thor."

"Well," Nora began proudly as she got up from the couch and reached for the bag to the right of it on the floor, "after hours of digging through the mall, I came to the awesome conclusion that we should dress up as video game characters, and I chose for us to dress up as the characters from _Super Smash Bros_!"

"Nice!" Jaune and Ren cheered as they high-fived each other, pleased with Nora's choice. The three teens had been avid fans of the game ever since they were children, and to this day played the newest one on the 3DS every game night.

"Here you go Jauney-Boy!" Nora shouted happily as she threw him his costume in a smaller plastic bag.

Like an excited child on Christmas morning, Jaune ripped open the bag and erected stars in his eyes as he gawked happily at his costume. It consisted of a green vest, a long green hat, a plastic sword and shield, and a pair of elf ears.

It was everything he needed to dress up as his favorite character Link.

"Thanks Nora!" Jaune ecstatically thanked as he began to put on his costume.

"No prob! And this one's for you Renny-Bear!" Nora continued as she referred to Ren by his embarrassing nick name, not to necessarily say that he didn't like it. As he opened his bag, he smiled at the sight of black angel wings, a black toga, roman sandals, and a pair of shiny plastic blades. Pleased that he was going to be Dark Pit for the night, Ren bestowed upon his mentally questionable love a peck on the lips as a way of showing gratitude.

"You're welcome Ren!" Nora said as she took her own costume out of the bag. As she opened her bag, Jaune and Ren were unsurprised as they saw the large pink dress extend out of the bag. Of course she would want to dress up as Peach, it would give her a viable reason to happily sing her favorite song _I'm Queen of the Castle_.

"Oh, that's right. The cashier gave me an extra costume as part of a buy-three-get-one-free deal." Nora said as she looked at the last white bag at the bottom of the larger bag.

"Really?" Jaune asked in surprise. "Which character is it?"

"Um, guys." Ren interrupted while pointing at the clock again.

They had wasted about ten minutes enjoying the mere sight of their costumes.

"Crap, we better hurry and get dressed!" Jaune said quickly as he turned around and started to strip, almost causing Blake to suffer a powerful nosebleed from the show before her.

"Do you guys seriously strip in front of each other so casually?" Blake embarrassedly complained as she kept her eyes separated from Ren and Nora, who were following his example by taking every article of clothing off except their underwear. She was trying her best to keep from ogling Jaune, "tried" being the key word. Now that she thought about it, they acted as if they knew each other since childhood, so Jaune was probably more than comfortable stripping around his two friends. The two lovers probably thought of him as a sibling, so they more than likely didn't care either.

"All right, I'm ready." Jaune said as he put Link's trademark hat on.

"Same here!" Nora replied as she put her crown on, and Ren finished making sure his wings didn't fall off.

"All right, let's go." Jaune said as he knelt down towards the couch and pet Blake.

"I'll see you in a few hours Blake, okay?" he softly whispered as he soothingly scratched her ears.

"Be careful, try not to let Nora get you guys incarcerated. No offense, but I don't think that you and Ren would last long in there." Blake replied jokingly, yet at the same time completely serious.

"_**That ass belongs to me and me alone." **_Her feral side growled predatorily from the darkest pits of her unconscious mind.

She watched Jaune happily as he and his two friends left the house, happy that he seemed to be much more relaxed than yesterday. The poor guy needed something to go out and engage in something fun. Personally, Blake would rather curl up in her bed with a good book and a cold glass of milk on a Saturday night, rather than go to a teenage dance where the music was unbearably loud and the people were inebriated, high, or immeasurably horny.

"_Sometimes all of the above." _Blake thought with a chuckle as she recalled the time she was dragged to a concert by Yang. It was most definitely fun, but her preference of down time didn't involve a brain-splitting head ache the next morning.

Speaking of down time, now that her blonde companion left the house, she could resume reading the glorious work of art known as _Ninjas of Loves Vol. II_. Usually she would immediately transform so that she could continue reading her favorite book, but she froze in puzzlement as an alluring minty scent invaded her nose. She didn't need to think about what or where it could possibly be coming from; she already knew where the source was as her head slowly turned towards the catnip lying temptingly on the coffee table.

Blake rose from the couch and hopped on top of the coffee table, looking down at the packet that was left open accidentally, allowing the scent to reach her. She knew that she shouldn't be doing this and she was ashamed of herself for her momentary lack of self-control, but it was just simply too tempting! Her instincts demanded that she at least inhale a few specks.

"Well, I guess a little bit couldn't hurt…" Blake mumbled as she slowly dipped her head down for a tiny whiff.

Making sure not to inhale too much of the enticing plant, Blake carefully drew in the plant with a tiny breathe, then immediately retracted her head. She waited a few seconds patiently for any noticeable effects to occur, but felt slightly relived that she didn't suffer any drastic repercussions.

She couldn't be any more wrong.

As soon as she felt secure about the fact that she was unaffected by the nip, she slowly began to notice how her vision became distorted.

"Whhhhoooooaaaaaa." Blake sluggishly moaned as her eyes became dilated.

As Blake's euphoric high began to kick in, she began to notice subtle changes in her body and environment. Every visible object in sight had suddenly became so focused and clear, and the room became so bright that Blake couldn't bear to look directly at the over-head ceiling fan light illuminating the room without squinting in pain. Her body felt as if it had become hyper sensitive, so receptive that the cool afternoon breeze easily rolling into the living room through the half-open window felt as if Mother Nature herself was giving her the most sensual body massage of her life with hands colder than ice.

**And it felt freaking amazing.**

Blake was experiencing a sense of euphoria that even the relaxing sensation of transforming couldn't hope to compare.

"Duuuuuuuuuuuddddddeeeee…everything feels so RIGHT." Blake unfocusedly moaned in pure pleasure as lied down on her side on the coffee table, focusing intently on the ceiling fan with a hollow and oblivious gaze as her eyes readjusted to the light.

To put it simply, Blake was so high right now, she didn't know what was going on.

_(Elsewhere)_

"C'mon Yang! The night's not getting any younger!" Ruby complained as she repeatedly knocked on their room's bathroom door.

"Would you give me a minute?!" Yang sassily replied through the door.

"You've been in there for over two hours! It doesn't take that long to put on a costume!" Ruby shouted angrily, not understanding what was taking her sister so long.

"That's easy for you to say! Your costume is just a zip-over!"

As much as Ruby didn't like to admit it, Yang did have a point concerning Ruby's choice of costume. Her Cookie Monster costume was extremely easy to put on, like a pair of feety-pajamas.

Slightly ashamed that she lost the debate with her sister, Ruby begrudgingly replied "Touché" as she stepped away from the door and sat down on her bed with a pout. She didn't know when her sister finally decided that her costume was finished, but at least she had something funny to watch in the corner of the room.

"_**Overkill!" **_The voice from the T.V shouted in celebration with his deep, yet oddly smooth, tone.

"_GOD F***ING DAMN IT! HOW THE HELL DID YOU KILL OUR ENTIRE TEAM WITH THE FREAKING PISTOL?! THAT'S F****ING IMPOSSIBLE!"_

"**N00bxSlaya, you're unskilled use of the grenade launcher led to you accidentally shooting your teammate's shields down. Consequentially, the most logical method of execution is an accurate headshot by any precision weapon, and all it takes to kill you is to make sure you do not have access to any power weapons. You have no one to blame but yourself." **Penny said from her spot on Ruby's nightstand as she reveled in her "rival's" anguish.

"_I'M GONNA TEA-BAG YOUR CORPSE WHEN I KILL YOU, YOU ROBOTIC WHORE!"_ he threatened ferociously with hatred oozing from his escalated voice.

Penny only giggled in response to his empty threat after N00bxSlaya re-spawned, grabbed an abandoned energy sword, and started sprinting towards her location. **"I do not believe that's going to happen."**

"_WHY NOT?!" _ He mockingly asked, confident that Penny's fate was sealed now that he possessed a one-shot melee weapon and the only weapon she had left was a sniper rifle with one bullet.

He prepared his trigger finger when he saw the lone blue Spartan standing in the middle of the field like an idiot. Without any further thought of the situation, he continued his relentless sprint towards her with the intention of finally scoring a kill on her.

His hopes were shamefully extinguished as a surprise grenade next to him exploded and destroyed his shields, giving Penny the opportunity to score the final kill of the game by shooting him with the last round in the sniper rifle.

Right where his Spartan's groin was.

"**Because you don't have the balls." **Penny wittily finished as a pair of sun glasses materialized over her hologram's eyes.

The game's audio was immediately flooded with the sound of hysterical laughter and N00bxSlaya's screams of madness. Even Ruby found the joke to be utterly hilarious as she grabbed her aching stomach and laughed all over the mattress of her bed.

Satisfied that her weekly goal of ruining N00bxSlaya's Saturday night was fulfilled, Penny remotely shut off the Xbox and faced Ruby with an innocent smile.

Ever since Ruby had introduced her to the wonderful world of videogames, Penny adopted them as a personal hobby and always took time out of her day to indulge herself in them. She had even made her own profile on Ruby's Xbox in which her gamer-tag was "NoStringsAttached". Ruby didn't understand the reference at all, but Penny wouldn't accept any other name for some reason.

Her new found passion for gaming even motivated her choice of costume for Halloween since she "dressed" as Cortana from the _Halo _series. Instead of her usual green glow that radiated off of her hologram, it now emitted an electric blue shine. Her orange hair was changed into an indigo blue, her green eyes were changed to blue as well to match that of her glow, and finally her "clothes" were changed to mirror Cortana's…or near lack of, to be more precise.

Ruby and Yang strongly suggested that Penny not show her costume to her father for obvious reasons; advice that Penny wisely followed.

"Now _**that **_was funny!" Ruby complimented as she regained control of her breathing. "Yang needs to take comedy lessons from you!"

"I heard that you leg humper!" Yang shouted as she kicked the door and made the room shake.

"It was only ONE time!" Ruby screamed embarrassed with a scarlet streak across her normally pale cheeks.

"**You humped another person's leg before?" **Penny asked incredulously with a raised eyebrow.

"I was in heat and I don't want to talk about it!" Ruby screamed in an attempt to defend herself and end the subject concerning her period of hormonal instability.

Penny only looked at Ruby with a confused look, deciding that it would probably be best if they did indeed drop the subject.

A Faunus being in heat did sound like an awkward story to tell, even if humorous.

"I'm ready!" Yang singed happily as she kicked the bathroom door open.

"Whoooaaaaa…" Ruby whispered in awe as she observed Yang's creative costume.

Ruby had to give it to Yang; her costume certainly did look as if it would take time to put on. The first thing that caught Ruby's attention was the fact that Yang lustrous hair was dyed into a shade of red that reminded her of Yang's eyes when she was angry. Her cloth consisted of a dark maroon tube-top that proudly revealed her toned stomach and was designed with glowing flame designs, and a regal looking skirt with the same flame designs of her top that flowed down her strong lean legs. Her boots remained the same, but they were bejeweled with tiny red stones to compliment her outfit. The costume was indeed beautiful, but the icing on the cake was the transparent pair of fairy wings attached to her back, and the reddish-orange glitter lightly speckled throughout her body.

"That costume is so awesome! What are you supposed to be? A fairy?" Ruby asked in admiration of the beautifully crafted costume.

"Not just a fairy Rubes," Yang said proudly as she activated her fire aura and put on her sunglasses.

"A _Flairy_." she finished with a cheek splitting grin.

"And just with one freaking sentence, you've made me despise that costume with every inch of my soul!" Ruby roared as her fangs extended past her lips, making her resemble an evil unholy version of the Cookie Monster.

"**So why did you want us to come here Yang?"** Penny questioned as Yang laughed at Ruby and put her shades into her skirt's pocket for later use.

"Well, since we have had such a busy week and yesterday was such a hectic dilemma,"

"_Tell me about it." _Ruby thought with an exhausted sigh, still remembering the brutal tongue-lashing they received for saving that girl from the Order and bringing her into Beacon.

"I decided that we were in need of some good old-fashion fun!" Yang said excitedly as she fist pumped.

"_Uh-oh…" _Ruby thought with a slight shiver. Yang's idea of "good old-fashioned" usually involved someone getting scarred for life.

She still had nightmares about the time that Yang showed her that horribly disgusting video online and taped her reaction.

To this day, she still can't eat chocolate ice cream.

"**What are we going to do?!" **Penny asked as her hologram giddily bounced up and down, excited at the prospect of spending quality time with her friends.

"We're gonna go to a party, pick a few target party guest, and then were gonna go on a pranking spree!"

Oh, actually that sounded rather tame compared to the other things Ruby had witnessed Yang do to others for enjoyment.

"**Will Sun and Neptune be joining us?" **Penny asked, hoping that more people would be included in the fun.

"Sun is, but unfortunately Neptune is too tired from yesterday to come with us." Yang answered with slight disappointment in her voice. "But that's ok! It'll just be a girls' night out!"

"Hey!" an offended voice growled from the door.

"Oh, hey Sun!" Ruby greeted with a happy wave. "Nice Goku outfit!"

"Thanks!" Sun gratefully said as he flexed his muscles and showed off his costume.

"Yeah, nice outfit…" Yang suspiciously complimented as she slowly put her shades back on, "…_Sun _Goku."

"GOD DAMNIT YANG!" Sun screamed as he turned around and hatefully punched the door as he left the room.

After running past a laughing Yang to the door, Ruby shouted down the hallway, "Where are you going?!"

"To change f***ing costumes!" Sun roared as he angrily stomped past terrified agents and soldiers that wisely made way for the livid Faunus.

"**That wasn't very nice Yang." **Penny disapprovingly said after using her "Censor" program.

"Nobody asked you _Whore_-tana." Yang sassily replied, defending her right to ruin people's hopes and dreams with her puns.

"No, she has a point Yang! Stop with the puns already!" Ruby added angrily.

"Can't you guys just let me have my fun?" Yang rhetorically asked with a pouting lip.

"NO." Ruby forcefully growled with a scowl.

Yang delivered yet another unsettling grin as she reached for something in her back pocket.

"Would you do it for a _Ruby-_snack?" she asked as she pulled out and displayed a chocolate-chip cookie.

"**GET THE F*** OVER HERE!" **Ruby bellowed monstrously as she chased her cackling sister around the room on all fours with her fangs and claws extended, ready to tear into the criminal of the comedic world.

_(At the party)_

"DUDE! I AM DRUNK! OFF! MY! **AAAAAAASSSSSSSS!" **Nora screamed merrily from the middle of the heavily populated dance floor as she shook her butt to "_Jungle Boogie"_.

"Nora, I think you've had a little too much." Ren commented as he danced beside her, trying to keep close to her so that he could make sure that she didn't do anything drastic in her drunken state.

"Too much is never enough!" Nora screamed as she chugged down another bottle of alcohol and hopped on top of her lover's shoulders.

"_I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE!_

_I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE!_

_STAYING SOBER'S A HASSLE!_

_I RODE REN WITH A SADDLE!-"_

"NORA!" Ren shouted in embarrassment as the surrounding dancers laughed heartily at the couple.

Meanwhile, Jaune was trying his absolute best to pass one of the many excruciating trials of manhood; getting a girl to go out with him.

"So I couldn't help but notice that you were checking me out a few minutes ago. You like what you see?" Jaune asked "smoothly" as he flexed his barely noticeable muscles at the girl dressed up as Wonder Woman in an attempt to woo her.

"Oh please, I've seen women who take estrogen pills that still look more like men than you." Wonder Woman insulted as she turned her back on the disheartened boy and walked off.

"Damn it." Jaune whimpered woefully as he dejectedly walked to the punch-bowl and sat down at the table.

It wasn't anything he wasn't used to, being rejected was like a sport to him now, in which the only other competitor was Russel. But even Russel has had at least one girlfriend in his life, as opposed to Jaune who had never even been on a measly date. Hell, Jaune could see him right now in a Joker outfit dancing with Velvet of all people, who was dressed as the Grim Reaper.

If Russel could do it, why couldn't he!

"Havin' lady troubles there Jauney-Boy?" Cardin asked as he sat next to his demoralized friend in his _Terminator _outfit.

"I just wish that once, JUST ONCE, that some girl would decide to give me at least two minutes of their time! Maybe even a pity date if I get lucky enough." Jaune complained as he slammed his head into the table in shame.

"Relax man, you'll find somebody." Cardin comforted as he patted the blonde on the back in a supporting manner. "You just need to keep trying."

"Oh that's easy for _you _to say! Women throw themselves on top of you as if you came with a complementary pair of shoes!" Jaune replied, not taking any comfort in his friend's words.

"That may be true, but my point still stands. Besides, most of the women around here are either all ready in relationships, or just plain assholes, but there are a few out there who are neither. Persistence will eventually pay off if you keep at it!" Cardin said as he tried his best to raise Jaune's spirits. It had a slight effect as Jaune raised his head off the table with small glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Just keep trying huh?"

"A clever pick-up line never hurt either." Cardin said with a confident smile as he handed Jaune a little black book labeled _"Cardin's Guide to Manhood"._

Jaune hesitantly took the book with a skeptical look on his face and said, "I don't know…"

"Hey look, there's Melanie!" Cardin excitedly said, knowing full-well that would get Jaune's attention.

"Where!" Jaune shouted joyously as he leaped from his seat and shot his head in all directions.

His eyes immediately locked on the girl sitting in one of the booths while dressed up as a devil, sitting next to her twin Miltiades who was complementally dressed up as an angel.

"I'm going for it!" Jaune happily said as he straitened his hair and checked his breath.

"Go get her dude!" Cardin cheered as his blonde friend speedily strode towards his intended target.

"Oh no, here he comes." Melanie complained as the headache in green came walking towards her and her sister, more than likely trying to make his one hundred twenty-fifth attempt at asking her out.

"Aw c'mon Mel, give the poor guy a chance. I, personally, think he's cute." Miltiades said in an attempt to help Jaune out.

"Good, you go date him then." Melanie grumpily replied as she crossed her arms.

"But he likes you, not me."

"Just grow your hair and switch clothes with me. The idiot will never know the difference." Melanie insulted as Jaune put the book in his pocket and walked up to them.

"Hello beauties." Jaune suavely greeted.

"Hello Jaune." Miltiades civilly replied with a smile.

"Goodbye." Melanie growled with a scowl, letting him know that she wanted him gone.

"Oh come now, are you sure you don't want a date with Jaune?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Yes." She said with emphasis.

"Are you sure you don't have a little Jaune in you?"

"**Yes." **She repeated with restrained anger.

"_Okay, let's do this!" _Jaune thought with determination, remembering the final line the book told him.

"Would you like to?"

The two twins wore the same identical expression of vacuity that slowly morphed into shock as their faces begun to fill with blood for different reasons. Miltiades blushed heavily as she repeated what he said in her head, not believing that Jaune could be so bold as to say something so dirty. Melanie's face grew red due to the rising anger at the blonde's nerve to ask her something so blatantly perverted.

With the desire to cause him unbearable amounts of pain, Melanie slowly rose from her seat and met Jaune face-to-face. In an act of deceitful good will, she held her hand out for Jaune to take. Overjoyed that Melanie didn't say no and was allowing him to touch her, Jaune gleefully thought _"Holy crap! It's actually working!" _with a small tear of happiness building in his left eye.

His bliss was abruptly shattered as Melanie reared her right foot back as far as possible to ensure maximum momentum, and slammed the tip of her high-heeled boot into his…"unmentionables".

Every person at the party jumped startled and immediately ceased what they were doing to look in the direction of the effeminate screams coming from the booths.

They all recoiled in shock and pity as they saw Melanie repeatedly smashing her foot into Jaune's groin, eliciting the most ear-grating cries of agony as he tried to crawl away from the hellish torture, but could not due to the tight grip Melanie had locked on his hand.

"Melanie! Stop it Mel, you're gonna kill him!" Miltiades shouted as she separated her sister from her prisoner and pulled her away in a Full Nelson.

"Damn right I am!" Melanie hissed as she tried to resist the grapple her sister locked her in, but Miltiades's superior upper body strength didn't allow it.

"Um, Jauney-Boy? Are you still alive man?" Cardin asked as he crouched on one knee next to the blonde who was curled up on the floor.

"It…didn't…work." Jaune wheezed painfully.

"What happened?"

"I opened the book to a random page…read a line…then she delivered the swiftest series of kicks directly into my testicles so powerful…I think I am currently a woman…"

"No kidding. Dare I ask, what pick-up line did you use?" Cardin asked, curious as to why Melanie flew off the handle.

"Page seventy-two…paragraph two." Jaune weakly whimpered as he tried his best not to cry.

After retrieving his book from his anguished friend's pocket, he opened it to read exactly what he said. Cardin face-palmed in embarrassment as he tried to contemplate why Jaune didn't notice how inappropriate the line was.

"You do realize that this is listed under the examples of horrible things to say, right?" Cardin rhetorically asked.

"God…damn…it." Jaune quietly sobbed as Cardin dragged him towards the bathroom so that he wasn't exposed any longer in his moment of weakness.

_(Blake)_

After Blake took her first whiff of the catnip at Jaune's house, she transformed back into her normal form as she stared at the ceiling fan for an hour and a half. As she observed the spinning mechanism above her as she lay nude on the coffee table, she verbally engaged herself in a full and insightful conversation about how the ceiling fan was an accurate portrayal of the endless cycle of war that would inevitable repeat its course and could only be stopped by an external force she designated as "The Divine Off-Switch."

Yes readers, Blake was _that _high.

After deciding that she was exceptionally hungry with the munchies, Blake rose from her spot and made it her personal mission to retrieve some snacks. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't remember where she stashed her clothes that she borrowed from Jaune and debated with herself to either stay home to eat Jaune out of house and home, or find a way to get some clothes. She didn't have it in her to do that to her friend, so she improvised by locating the closest set of clothes in the room; the unopened plastic bag containing the unused costume. After she tore it open with her claws, Blake put on every article of clothing while humming the _Meow-Mix _theme song happily.

With her new-found Sheik costume fully equipped, she left the house to locate the closest store. She almost pissed herself in horror when her drug-induced mind processed the multitudes of ghouls a goblins walking down the sidewalks in the dark of night.

"Oh my god! The demons of hell have arisen to walk among us! The Apocalypse must have come to fruition. YANG MUST HAVE FINALLY TOLD A FUNNY JOKE!" Blake screamed as her heart-rate escalated to the point that she almost had a cardiac arrest.

Every trick-or-treaters passing by stopped to look at the seemingly insane girl, but brushed it off as some type of theatric exclamation to attract trick-or-treaters.

"Oh…Halloween…whoops." Blake said as she face-palmed, feeling incredibly stupid for her outburst.

She shook off the near overwhelming embarrassment and continued to walk down the streets, but in the middle of her trek she realized she had absolutely no idea where anything in Vytal was. Sure, she had been out and about a few times on business, even before she started staying with Jaune, but she was never trying to locate something as simple as a store. It looked like she was going to have to ask someone for directions, but who?

As Blake searched the crowds for anybody that stood out and looked as if they were knowledgeable, her eyes darted towards and locked on an interestingly dressed girl walking towards her direction. Even by Halloween's standards, the noticeably short girl was dressed rather oddly with her many necklaces and her dual colored hair that was split right down the middle. She seemed to be carrying an enormous suit-case that seemed rather heavy for a girl her size; another trick-or-treater perhaps?

"Excuse me?" Blake said to the girl when she got close enough to her.

Interestingly enough, the girl didn't verbally respond and simply blinked at Blake, communicating that Blake had her attention.

Strange…her eyes were dual colored as well.

"Could you give me directions to the nearest store, please?" Blake asked, managing to stay polite and coherent in her request, despite her high.

The girl grabbed her own chin as she closed her eyes in thought, obviously trying to remember where it was. The duel-haired girl's eyes shot back open as her face adopted a look of enlightenment after a few seconds of thought.

"_Wait, did her eyes just change color?" _Blake thought skeptically, but immediately passed it off as a hallucination from the catnip.

Did catnip even make a cat hallucinate?

Blake was brought out of her contemplation by the girl as she gently grabbed her costume's scarf, pulled it down to reveal her face, and waved her tiny hand in front the drugged Faunus.

"Wait…what?" Blake asked after coming back to her senses.

The girl smiled as she waved her fingers back and forth in a "follow me" motion as she walked past the baked Faunus.

"Oh, thank you." Blake said gratefully as she followed the peculiar mute.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Ok, we're here." Yang said happily as she sat down on the windowed ceiling of the building.

"So what are we doing here? It looks like there's a party going on down there." Ruby observantly said as she looked down the window, visually attracted to all of the different costumes the people were wearing and the flashing lights on the dance floor.

"I'm glad you asked! Sun, drop the backpack!" Yang commanded.

"Oh thank Monty, this thing's freaking heavy!" Sun complained as he dropped the backpack on the ground. True to his word, he changed his costume from Goku to Monkey D. Luffy, making sure to beat Yang at her own game by making the "monkey" pun in the form of a pre-emptive strike.

"Oh, and can you pass me my juice, please?" Yang asked as she sat on the ground next to Ruby and Penny.

"Yeah sure." Sun replied as he took the sealed cup, of what appeared to be orange juice, out of the backpack and tossed it to her.

"Thanks…" Yang gratefully said as she caught the cup, "…_**Sun-**__ny D. Luffy."_

"SWISS F***ING CHEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSEEEEEEE! Sun raged as he repeatedly punched the ceiling in pure fury.

"Did you really just have him pack that just for the pun?" Ruby asked as she looked at her sister with a disgusted look on her face, slightly ashamed that they were related.

"Damn right." Yang coolly finished as she took a sip of her Sunny D.

"**So what are we doing?" **Penny said, repeating Ruby's earlier question.

"We're going to be annoying the hell out of those poor unfortunate souls in the party!" Yang answered.

"How?" Ruby asked, almost afraid to ask.

"With this!" Yang responded with an evil smile as she reached over and grabbed the backpack, pulling it away from Sun who was still abusing the ceiling in a blind rage. After Yang pulled out her tool of destruction, Ruby could only stare at it in curious puzzlement.

"What's that?" she asked with a raised eye-brow as she observed the strange device. It looked like a satellite dish connected to the handle of a large pistol and a pair of head phones.

"**That is a prototype long-range communications satellite gun, used to exponentially improve the hearing of the user in the direction the satellite is directed. It is commonly used during reconnaissance to eavesdrop on conversations at a distance. " **Penny descriptively informed Ruby. **"How did you acquire this Yang? Only agents who have attained Rank A- status are given these."**

"I know a guy; let's just leave it at that. So who wants to have the first tuuuurrrrrn!" Yang sing-songed as she waved the device temptingly towards the other members of the group.

"I don't know how to use that thing." Ruby said as she looked at the gun with skepticism.

"It's super easy Rubes! Here, I'll show you, just pick a target down there." Yang said as she scooted closer to her sister.

"Ummmm…I guess the Dark Pit guy holding up the Princess Peach on his shoulders." Ruby said as she pointed at the couple in the middle of the dance floor.

"Nice!" Yang complimented as she pointed the satellite at the boy and put on the connected head phones. "Yo Penny, transfer yourself into that guy's scroll and repeat what I say into the mic!"

"**Roger!" **Penny confirmed with a salute before disappearing in a blue flash.

"What did you just whisper to her?" Ruby asked with suspicion evident in her voice.

"Just watch little sis."

"Reeeeennnnn! I feel dizzy!" Nora slurred as she tried to keep her balance atop her lover.

"Well that's what happens when you drink so much Nora." Ren replied as he noticed her lack of balance and gently grabbed her from his shoulders and held her in his arms bridal style.

"Maaaaayyyyyyybbbbbeeeee…" Nora slowly said as she grabbed Ren's neck in a vice grip. "…but you know the best part of me being drunk?"

"What?" Ren hesitantly asked, not liking the suggestive tone of her voice.

"The bad decisions I make." Nora suggestively growled as her grip tightened.

"Nora, no! This isn't the time or place for that." Ren said as he separated her arms, allowing himself to breathe more clearly.

"Awwwww, c'moooooonnnnnn!" Nora complained.

"No, we can't do that here. LET'S DO IT AT OUR FRIEND'S HOUSE!" Ren's scroll blared out of nowhere, attracting the attention of other dancers and making them laugh out loud.

"Really!?" Nora asked eagerly with stars in her eyes as she misinterpreted the origin of the suggestion.

"HELL YEAH! AND YOU SHOULD TIE ME DOWN WHILE WE DO IT, NO MATTER WHAT I SAY BABY!"

"_What the hell?!" _Ren thought in a panic, not at all understanding what had overcome his scroll.

"To the guest room we go!" Nora screamed as she jumped out of Ren's shaking arms, grabbed him by his collar, and started dragging him towards the exit.

"Nora! Wait a second! MY NIPPLES ARE SO GOD DAMN HARD RIGHT NOW!"

The involuntary outburst from the scroll had the rest of the party laughing their asses off as the couple left the building.

"Oh my Aura! That was great!" Yang screamed through an onslaught of laughter as rolled on the ceiling.

"**Did I do well Yang?" **Penny asked joyously, enjoying the rush she was feeling from performing the prank.

"You did great!" Yang complimented as she gave Penny's hologram a high-five.

"That was funny, but I can't help but think that you could've done better." Sun said to Yang as he got down next to her with throbbing and bleeding knuckles.

"That was just a test run, my easily irritable friend. Now it's your turn, unless you think that you can't do any better." Yang handed over the device to Sun with a challenging glint in her eyes.

"Whatever." Sun said uncaringly as he swiftly snatched the device and scoured through the party for a target. His eyes landed on the DJ dressed as a vampire; his voice echoed throughout the large building as he spoke into his microphone.

"Oh hell yes!" Sun shouted in success as he pulled the headphones over his head and pointed the satellite to let Penny know her knew target.

"And now I would like to call the name of the lucky individual whose name we drew from the pot to receive a free visit to the spas with three friends!" the DJ announced as he held up a small slip of paper and cleared his throat into his microphone.

"The prize winner is **Dienda Madeck!**"

The DJ's hands shot up to his mouth in puzzlement, having no idea why he said that. Despite the randomness of the outburst, the crowd found great hilarity in the name and broke into a chorus of laughter.

Sure that he would be able to say the actual name without any more unexpected anomalies, the DJ continued, "Umm, what I meant to say was **Isaac Balls!**"

Half of the crowd fell to the ground crying as painful laughter devoured their stomachs.

As Yang choked on her own laughs, she patted Sun on the back while complimenting, "Ok! You win! Just stop it you're killing me!"

"No, I meant the winner was **Hugh Jazz. **SCREW IT! The winner is Jaune Arc!" the DJ speedily shouted before anything else was crudely announced.

"You wanna try?" Sun asked as he walked around the dying blonde fairy and tried to hand over the satellite to Ruby.

"No thanks." Ruby answered confusedly, not at all understanding any of Sun's jokes besides the fact that they were somehow dirty. 

Sometimes, Ruby detested her own innocence.

_(Blake)_

"Finally, were here." Blake moaned in exhaustion, unusually tired from the hour-long walk.

It had taken much longer to get here than she originally anticipated, but it didn't worry her at all. Jaune, Ren, and Nora weren't due back until much later in the night, so Blake had plenty of time to return. Her high had finally worn off, only leaving behind a few after-effects, so she wasn't as hungry as she was before. However, that didn't stop her from wanting a few snacks. One could only eat tuna for so long before she eventually got sick of it.

Her odd acquaintance grinned as she dramatically presented the store with her arms while humming "_Ta-Dah!" _

"Y'know, we probably could have gotten here much sooner if you hadn't stopped by every single house along the way to trick-or-treat." Blake said with an irritated huff.

The girl just continued to smile at Blake as she completely disregarded what she said and entered the store with her suitcase overflowing with colorful sweets. Blake followed and pushed the door open, making the bell above the door jingle as a notice that she had entered.

She was abruptly halted by the angry screeches of the clerk as he shouted, "No! You with the concealed face, get the hell out of here! I've had enough of you Faunus!"

Blake instantly flinched as she questioned just how the clerk could have known she was a Faunus, but her questions were answered as soon as she felt her left cat-ear betray her as it poked out of her hat for the world to see.

"_Aw crap." _Blake mentally growled, annoyed that she hadn't noticed her ear minutes ago, and that her mute acquaintance had unintentionally led her into an anti-Faunus store.

The girl looked surprised at first from the clerks outburst, but then extremely guilty as she face-palmed out of self-frustration.

"First some short-tempered blond hussy and her dog of a sister cause me problems, then some other little blonde bastard throws money he owed me in my face saying how I lost myself a customer, and now you!" the clerk ranted.

"Fine, I'm leaving, you bigot." Blake hissed angrily as she stormed out of the store, followed closely by her silently apologetic companion.

She didn't know why occurrences like this still agitated her so. She had been putting up with behavior like the clerks ever since she was born, and yet it still shook her soul every time she was mistreated so heartlessly just because of a few extra appendages. Any desire for snacks at this point was destroyed and replaced with a sour mood.

As soon as they were outside, Blake noticed that her dual-hair-colored friend was writing something down on a slip of paper with a venomous glare in her eyes. She finished hastily and turned towards Blake a facial expression of sheer apology. Blake never held it against her, but the puppy-dog pout the girl was giving her was a surprise jab in the heart.

"It's okay, you didn't know." Blake said as she put her hand on the girl's shoulder in understanding. "It doesn't matter now anyway, I'll just go home."

The girl still maintained that same look of guilty as she nodded her head, but her face swiftly shifted into a look of enlightenment as if she just remembered something.

Blake could have sworn that she saw a lit light bulb flash above her head, but that was most likely the cat nip still playing with her vision.

The girl's smiled was renewed and strengthened ten-fold as she grabbed Blake's hand off of her shoulder and started to drag her away from the store, heading towards an unknown destination.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Hey!" Blake protested as she tried to walk on her own, but couldn't due to how quickly she was being dragged away.

The mute was surprisingly strong for someone so small.

For the life of her, Blake simply could not understand this weird girl that was dragging her to Monty-knows-where. In the short time she has accompanied this odd individual, she hasn't so much as said one word, and Blake didn't know whether it was the girl's choice not to speak, or simply an inability to do so. The girl was shorter than Ruby, the shortest person that Blake had ever known mind you, and here she was physically moving Blake with one arm and with a grip that could rival Yang's, as if she was as light as a grocery bag. Blake truly didn't understand or know anything about her besides that she was obviously a kind person and evidently not a racist like most humans she's seen outside of Beacon, but she still intimidated Blake to an extent with her silence.

Also, Blake's instincts were uneasy around her as well…

The "walk" lasted about fifteen minutes before the mute finally released Blake as they reached her destination. Blake raised her head to get a full view of the three-story building, and took note of the various Halloween decorations littered around the entrance, such as cob-webs, skeletons, and carved pumpkins. She could also plainly hear the dance music escaping through the doors every time someone opened them and see the flashing lights that gave Blake's drug influenced head a slight aching sensation the longer she stared at them. This place was obviously the setting of a wild costume party, and although she understood that the mute brought her here to cheer her up, she had no desire to be in such a loud environment surrounded by strangers.

"I appreciate the thought, but I…" Blake began to say, but slowly halted as she noticed how her acquaintance was looking up towards the top of the building with her tongue hanging outside of her mouth. She seemed to be panting in anticipation of something with an almost predatory look in her eyes.

If Blake didn't think that something was wrong with the girl before, she certainly did now.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked, concerned about how hungrily she was licking her small lips.

The girl gave no reply as she zipped behind Blake and began to forcefully push her into the building. "No wait!" Blake futilely shouted as she was pushed through the doors and into the thick of the party.

"I don't want to-"Blake agitatedly growled as she spun around to face the pink/brunette, but was surprised to see nobody behind her. The mysterious girl had completely vanished, leaving nothing but the vacant space she used to occupy and the subtle fragrance of her strawberry-scented perfume behind.

Blake looked in every direction of the animated party to see if the girl had jumped in to join in the merriment, but found no trace of her. Blake wasn't too terribly disappointed that she had been ditched by the girl anyway, for she planned on leaving immediately and returning to the house. Her plans immediately changed as the DJ called over the microphone, "Congrats Jaune Arc for winning the draw!"

"Jaune?" Blake whispered in puzzlement as she looked up towards the DJ booth to see the DJ handing her green tights-wearing friend a green piece of paper.

He didn't look too well, and that worried her greatly. He looked as if it hurt to stand up and he looked like he had just finished vomiting himself dry. Even as he stepped down the stairs and towards his seat near the punch bowl in slow and careful manner, she could tell that every step he took sent shockwaves of pain through his body.

Her worry for him motivated her to lightly push her way through the crowd of dancing fictional characters and take a seat next to the pained boy.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern radiating from her tone.

The blond painfully chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head nervously and replied, "Nothing that a night with an ice-pack can't fix, but thanks for asking."

He would have held his hand out to initiate the formal exchange of greetings, but as he jumped in surprise as he looked into the Shiek's eyes. He instantly recognized who they belonged to.

"Bell? Is that you?" Jaune asked, just to make sure that his assumption was correct.

Blake twitched in surprise that he was able to see right through her costume's concealing features and instantaneously identify her just by looking into her eyes.

"Am I that obvious?" Blake answered/questioned as she pulled down the wrapping around her mouth so that Jaune could hear her more clearly.

"No, I just recognized your eyes."

Blake's could feel the miniature sprite of herself adorning a devil suit, sitting on her right shoulder screaming , _**"Teasing powers: Activated!"**_

"Oh? Paying such vivid attention to my eyes, I see." Blake verbally poked with a suggestive tone to her voice.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Jaune defended in embarrassment as his face was stained in red. "Your eyes remind me of my cat's!"

"_if you only knew." _Blake thought as she chuckled knowingly and patted her friend on the back. "Relax, I tease. Care to explain why you look like you're in constant pain?"

Of course Jaune had no desire to tell Bell that he had suffered an onslaught of kicks to his groin because of a terrible pick-up line; it was definitely more difficult to talk to women about embarrassing moments like that when it considered picking up chicks. However, Jaune knew that there would be no use dodging the question, because Bell had clearly proven she could see through any and all of his lies as if they were freshly wiped windows.

With a heavy sigh of resignation, he began to answer the embarrassing question.

"Well…"

_(Elsewhere)_

"So what do you guys want to do when we get home?" Yang asked as the group walked casually across the rooftops.

"Well, since it's Halloween do you want to watch a scary movie?" Sun offered.

"No way!" Ruby critically argued. "All scary movies are these days are either snuff-films or pornos with stories!"

"You just don't want to watch one because you get scared and hide under the pillow when you do watch one." Yang laughed as she pointed her finger accusingly at her sister.

"That's not true!" Ruby denied with dramatically waving arms.

"Oh please," Sun said with a mocking grin, "remember that time we watched Nightmare on Elm Street. You didn't go to sleep for almost a week, and I think you tried to get Dr. Scarlatina to inject caffeine into your bloodstream to keep you awake."

Ruby's head dropped in depressed shame as she knew she had lost the argument. "Shut up Sun…" Ruby growled in defeat.

"What do you think Penny?" Yang asked as she looked towards the blue hologram seated on Ruby's left shoulder.

The A.I gave no reply; she was too busy looking behind them with an alerted look in her eyes. If something alerted Penny to the point of silence, then something was definitely wrong.

The teenagers all turned their backs to see what was bothering Penny so, only to recoil in fright from the sight of the intensely insane looking girl who was smiling as hard as humanly possible at them from the previous rooftop they crossed. As she tapped her foot against the ceiling, her gleaming white eyes glowed with an evil predatory aura as they pierced the group's souls with their gaze.

The girl was downright horrifying.

As she trembled and stuttered in pure fear, Ruby whimpered, "W-why is she t-tapping her foot?"

"**It's Morse code…" **Penny answered as her hologram fizzled, indicating that she too was intimidated.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm going to regret asking, but what is she saying?" Sun asked as he took a small step back, wishing that they had brought their weapons.

"_**Tonight…you." **_Penny fearfully translated.

The silence that followed the translation slowly wilted away their normally indestructible sense of courage.

The dual-haired girl just continued to tap the same message over and over again.

And again…

And again…

She let the suitcase fall from her hand and destroyed the silence as a parasol mysteriously appeared in her hand.

"RUN!" Yang screamed sharply.

The terrified agents poured every last usable once of their Aura's into their legs as they vehemently dashed away from the girl, hopping from rooftop to rooftop while they squealed like little girls.

The girl's smile grew in intensity as she sprinted after her prey and began to chuckle darkly under her breathe. Most individuals wouldn't be able to hear the small degree of laughter the predator let loose, but Ruby and Sun could hear her perfectly with their enhanced-hearing and increased the strain on their legs and throats.

Yang's motivation to increase her speed did not lie in her ability to hear her pursuer. It arose when she looked back behind her, expecting to see her become smaller and smaller as they gained distance, for all three of them were Beacon agents: the epitome of physical fitness and stamina.

Yang's heart skipped a beat when the girl only grew closer, so close to the point that Yang could see the white depths of insanity that were her eyes.

"We're gonna die!" Yang and Ruby sobbed as they began to feel the girl's Aura growing ever closer, almost gnawing at their sweaty heels.

"Screw that!" Sun defiantly screamed as he ripped the most peculiar item out of his shorts.

A fresh and unpeeled banana.

"How the hell can you think of food at a time like this, you fat ass!" Yang angrily questioned. Consequentially, her speed faltered slightly as she lost focus, and it almost cost her. Yang's speed was revived and almost doubled when she felt the beautifully decorated wings of her costume being ripped off by the psychotic pursuer.

"NEVER MIND NEVER MIND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF MONTY DO SOMETHING!" Yang squealed as the wind brushing against her back served as a grim reminder that she had almost been caught.

Sun didn't believe for a second that this would work, but the girl was going to eventually catch one of them if he didn't do anything.

Not even bothering to eat the delectable fruit, Sun violently stripped the peeling off of the banana and threw it behind his feet, hoping to the powers above that all of those hours spent watching cartoons as a kid would eventually pay off.

It did.

The girl squeaked in shock as she lost her balance by stepping on the peel and slid into a painful tumble into the ground.

Hearing that Sun's cliché, yet traditional, tactic at shaking off the attacker succeeded, the teenagers made one final push towards home as they disappeared in red and yellow streaks, leaving only echoes of their sobbing and remnants of shed tears.

As the slightly exhausted girl's adrenaline began to diminish, she separated her face from the ground and shot her head in the direction her prey took off, only for a cloud of rose petals to brush against her cheeks as if to mock her for her failure. After spitting out a stray petal that found its way into her mouth, she angrily stomped her foot before disappointingly marching back to her abandoned suitcase with a childish pout.

As much as she wanted to have more fun tonight, she needed to get back home. Her partner was no doubt waiting for her late return.

She'll get them next time…

_(Blake and Jaune)_

Blake's lips rattled against her teeth as Jaune finished his story about how awful he failed at his pick up line.

"Bell? You okay?" Jaune questioned, curious as to why her eyes seemed to be watering and her cheeks were puffing slightly.

His wonder was extinguished as Blake's resistance finally gave in and allowed her to release the unusual howls of laughter that overflowed her chest.

"Aw, come on! It's not that funny!" Jaune animatedly complained as the dark-haired beauty grabbed her sides and broke down in a fit of laughter. He knew that it he probably would have found it funny were it not him who was suffering, but he would never admit it. Actually, he couldn't help but listen intently to her verbal amusement; her laughs were a symphony of lovely dark giggles that teased his ears with their alluring tone and intense volume. It made him feel slightly less bad about his failure if it was able to elicit such an attractive melody from her.

Blake did not know how much time had passed in her life since she had last laughed so openly and aggressively. During most of her childhood, she found very little to laugh about, and even less during the majority of her adolescence. Sure, Yang, on occasion, could pull a chuckle or two out of her when she was in a good mood, but never before had anybody seized control of her funny bone the way the "adorkable" blond had. It may have been in part to the small traces of her high lingering in her system, but it was still a monumental achievement in her eyes.

"Maybe next time we speak, I'll teach you how to properly speak to a lady." Blake managed to say as she slowly reeled in her laughter. She needed to calm down before she irritated her wounds any more than she already had tonight.

"And on behalf of every man who has been neutered by the opposite sex," Jaune extended his rigid hand across his forehead, "I salute you."

This sent Blake into yet another fit of chuckles.

Jaune smiled in success as he looked towards the crowd of dancers, surprised that in the middle of his conversation with Bell, they had started dancing to a slow song.

"I don't suppose you'd want to…dance?" Jaune hesitantly asked, hoping that he would be able to salvage the night with a bit of dancing.

The tables humorously turned as Blake's face communicated how alarmed she was by the question. Her blush heavily contrasted her natural pale complexion as she lowly answered, "I've never really actually danced before."

"Maybe next time we speak, I'll teach you how to dance." Jaune wittily replied with a snicker, of which he received a light smack on his arm from the embarrassed Faunus.

"Maybe." Blake answered as they both relaxed next to one another, choosing to simply watch the other party-goers dance.

Neither realized that their shoulders were comfortably interlocked as they silently enjoyed each other's company.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Neo! Where have you been?! You're three hours late!"

The girl slammed her weighty collection of candy on the table with an exhausted puff as she sat down on her partner's bed.

Her partner swirled around in a wheel chair, temporarily abandoning the computer that was processing important data. She apologetically smiled at her worried partner, hoping that she wasn't in too much trouble.

"…"

"You could have at least texted me on your scroll if you were out trick-or-treating!"

"…"

"Of course I was worried!" the partner replied angrily in response to the grinning midget's tease. "You aren't exactly the most inconspicuous looking individual in Vytal, Neo. What if someone found you and tried to capture you?"

"…"

"What costume?! You aren't wearing anything to conceal your looks!"

"…"

"You aren't anything like Two-Face from _Batman_!" Neo's partner argued. "You both just have unsymmetrical faces and wear…suits…and are both insane… ok fine. You win this round."

Neo through her hands up in celebration while humming the victory theme from one of her video games.

"Can you at least make sure to let me know if you'll be home late?"

She happily nodded towards her partner in confirmation as she crossed her heart.

"Good." Her partner said with relief. "So where are the groceries?"

Neo flinched as she face palmed in frustration.

"You forgot the groceries? What were you doing all of this time?"

She would recognize that guilty look on her midget-of-a-companion's face anywhere. It was the same look that she would adopt whenever she had just finished "indulging" herself.

"Do I even want to ask?"

She shook her head with a nervous chuckle that clearly communicated _"Nope"_.

It was probably for the best. The last time Neo lost control of herself, it resulted in the mental trauma of at least ten people and an hour long chase through a hooker house. It was definitely a conversation that neither of them was in the mood to discuss.

"Well, I suppose you have an idea as to what we're going to eat tonight?" Neo's partner asked with raised eyebrow.

Neo's eyes suspiciously brightened.

"No, we are not eating candy for dinner."

They then dimmed with a disappointed pout as Neo stomped her foot.

"Oh don't pout. Would it make you feel better if I made pancakes for tonight?"

And just like that, Neo's glowing pink/brown eyes gleamed with pure ecstasy as she excitedly zipped around her friend in circles.

If there was one thing in the world that Neo loved more than candy, it was ice cream, but even that couldn't hope to hold a candle to fluffy circles of nirvana that were her partner's pancakes.

They were Neo's heroine, crack, and cocaine.

"Ok ok ok calm down! I'm going to make them right now."

Neo had no patience as she yanked her partner out from the computer chair as she heaved them both towards the kitchen.

"Hey! I can walk by myself you know!"

Oh well, it was probably a good thing to keep Neo happy in any way possible, especially since she most likely just got through traumatizing some poor unfortunate soul.

Hopefully they weren't _too _horribly scared for life.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Guys, for the last time, get the hell out from under my bed!" Neptune shouted at the duo of whimpering girls.

"My body: my choice!" Ruby sobbed as she emotionally swallowed cookie after cookie as she buried her face in the warmth of her sister's chest.

"Don't worry Ruby, she's gone…for now." Yang comforted silently as she kissed the top of her sister's head, trying not to break down as well.

"Who's "she"?!" Neptune asked, wondering exactly what the hell was wrong with the usually fearless girls.

"Scratch that: What the hell was wrong with Sun?!" Neptune angrily questioned as he pointed towards the Faunus in the corner of the room who took the liberty of building a shrine of the "_Peanut Butter Jelly Time_" Banana out of banana peels for worship.

"Oh thank you Oh Holy One! Bless you and your Peel of Salvation!" Sun shouted religiously as he got on his knees and bowed down the idol with maracas duct-taped to its arms.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!"

**Well here you go guys. Gotta go study for finals and work on next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	10. An Old Friend

**You guys have no idea how excited I am to get in the meat of this story. I can't wait!**

It's amazing how fragile the human body truly is.

Even with all of their training, all of their skills and talents, and even with powers and abilities that far transcend those of mortal men's, agents were no exception. The poor discarded girl that lied before Ruby on the hospital bed, unconscious and still with two bloody holes in her chest and adorning a medicinal eye-patch, served as a glaring reminder of this. Even if she had tried to kill her during their confrontation two days ago, Ruby strongly respected the proud warrior that almost bested her and sympathized with her fate.

To see such a strong and capable individual such as her fall so tragically sickened Ruby to her very core.

Upon seeing just how skilled her enemy was, Ruby would be the first to admit that bringing her with the team back to Beacon was possibly the worst idea she had ever had. True, there had been some people in Beacon who have shifted allegiance in this war in the past, like her good friend Blake, but the main difference between them and this girl was that they came here by choice with the intention to help them. Even if the Order had so evilly betrayed her and left her for dead, there was no guarantee that she would be willing to join them. If that were the case, her only options were either to be Purged…or executed.

And yet, despite all of this incriminating evidence against her choice of action, she still didn't regret it for one second. Ever since she began her training as a small child, it had been her personal goal in life to save lives in jeopardy, and this girl's life was unmistakably in jeopardy.

To be raised and supported by your leaders, to swear you allegiance to them for the rest of your days, only to be sacrificed so heartlessly and brutally; nobody deserved that treatment. Not even the enemy.

How could Ruby not save her life?

Ruby exhaustedly sighed as she leaned back farther into the guest's bed beside the white-haired fencer and pulled out her scroll, choosing to pass the time and clear her head with a game of _Pokemon: Ruby_.

The small distraction did little to relieve her of the heavy memories of her meeting with the Council.

_(Two days ago)_

"_Do you understand the sheer gravity of the trouble you are in Ruby Rose?" Two growled venomously at the girl sitting in a lone chair in the center of the poorly lit room._

_Ruby flinched from the menacing tone of Two's voice, knowing that she was about to suffer severe consequences._

_Immediately after the team returned with the dying girl in tow, they were forced into trial in the court room to explain themselves. After finishing their collective report, Yang, Sun, and Neptune were ordered to leave the courtroom and return to their quarters, under the grounds that it was Ruby's sole decision to bring the Order agent into their home. She sat now sat in the dark court room where she was surrounded by at least one hundred of Beacon's superiors, the Council and high ranking agents included._

_She fully understood that she was in a very dire position. They only held trials of this magnitude for people who were accused of treason._

"_After an entire week of investigation, all your team managed to do was fail in securing this "Dust", set the entire goddamn docks on fire, almost get caught by the police force, and have a member of your team injured."_

_Two leaned forward on its table._

"_And then you decide to bring an agent of the Order into our walls, and not only that, but she momentarily regained consciousness as you entered Beacon, therefore seeing our location." Two continued, not at all losing the edge in its voice. _

_It then slammed its fist onto the table with a resounding boom that elicited a whimper from Ruby._

"_What in the holy hell were you thinking!" Two shouted angrily._

_Ruby shivered in fright as she stuttered, "I-I-I couldn't just l-leave her to d-die! It was the r-right thing to d-do!"_

"_That is exactly what you should have done, you foolish child! Are you saying that you would compromise our position because you weren't willing to kill the enemy who wouldn't think twice about doing the same to us?!" Two rebutted ferociously._

_The people of the court chattered disapprovingly amongst one another, obviously not pleased with Ruby's decision to foster an enemy. _

_Two took the next minute to calm down as the rest of the Council and court remained eerily silent. After taking a deep breath, Two calmly, yet irritably, growled, "The punishment for revealing our location to an enemy, incapacitated or not, is immediate Purging."_

_Ruby soul violently shattered as the forbidden word that every agent dreaded echoed in her mind. Her eyes began to water as and her body coldly shivered as she tried to refrain from breaking down in heart-wrenching sobs. _

"_**Purged?" **__Ruby miserably thought as a tear slid down her cheek. __**"I'd rather die."**_

"_However, regulations require the court to vote on whether or not you are Purged, so we will take the next two minutes to vote on your fate." Two said as it pressed a button on its desk._

_Every seat that housed a voting superior erected two buttons, one green, one red. There was no need for an explanation of which button counted for which vote._

_Ruby's heart escalated in terrified anticipation of the resulting vote as she silently prayed that she would be shown mercy by her fellow operatives._

_She was not._

_As two read the scroll in front of it that received the total number of votes, Two grimly announced, "Due to the majority vote of the people of this courtroom, you, Ruby Lindsay Rose, are to be immediately stripped of your rank, privileges, and all related assets in preparation for Purging."_

_Her once rapidly beating heart halted in a cold freeze as her chest was overwhelmed by a painful grip of sorrow._

_Her throat became drier than the most sun-baked of deserts._

_Her breaths became little more than shallow wheezes as she internally wished this life-shattering moment was nothing more than a terrible nightmare._

"_Please…no." Ruby begged meekly to everyone in the court, barely able to refrain from sobbing uncontrollably._

"_It is final." Two growled as it snapped its fingers._

_As soon as the grim snap echoed across the room, three shrouded figures rose from their seats and gently grabbed Ruby by her trembling arms and began to politely lead her out of the room._

_Ruby lost any will to maintain her dignity._

_As they sympathetically and gently dragged her out of the room, Ruby finally gave in and collapsed on to her knees in a series of mournful sobs._

_It was over._

_Her entire life as an agent, her dreams, the very reason she got up out of bed in the morning, was about to come to an end._

"_I'm sorry young one." One of the shrouded agents gently whispered as they rubbed her back and helped her up. None of them wanted the young girl to be Purged, but the rules and regulations were to be obeyed, and a Councilman's words were absolute and final._

_Which is exactly why Three slammed its palms against its table and rose from its seat with an authoritative "STOP!"_

_Everyone shifted their attention towards the infuriated Councilman with both confusion and interest._

"_As the Third Councilman of Beacon, I hereby interrupt Ruby Rose's sentence to Purging and request a second Majority Vote for her Right of Amnesty!" Three shouted professionally, but with plenty of passion in its androgynous voice._

"_What?!" Two angrily exclaimed as the courtroom erupted into a conglomeration of confused dialogue._

_With a subtle chuckle, One replied with a calm "Request: Accepted."_

_Two sharply turned towards One and protested, "But One-"_

"_**I said: REQUEST. ACCEPTED.**__" One interrupted with power in its chilling voice, reminding Two of who was in charge and effectively silencing the courtroom._

_Two begrudgingly sat back down with an infuriated huff as it tightened its fists in aggressive silence._

_Seeing that the chain of Command had been reestablished, One held its hand out to Three and said softly, "You may speak."_

_Relieved that his request passed, Three continued with, "Fellow Beacon operatives, I strongly believe that Ruby Rose's punishment is too severe in relation to the situation."_

"_Reason being?" One questioned professionally._

_Though if one could see its face at that moment, they would have seen the subtle smile on its face._

"_Ruby Rose's actions tonight are a fine reflection of the goals and motivations of this organization, and I believe that she should be praised for her selfless actions instead of punished."_

"_Praised?! She put this entire establishment at potential risk and you think she should be praised?! She clearly, and knowingly might I add, violated one of our most sacred regulations and you're saying she should be exalted for it?! It is behavior like that makes the Authority reconsider allowing our operations!" Two protested angrily._

"_Do we honestly have any use for agents who have no mind of their own who sacrifice their creativity to follow a list of regulations word for word?" Three questioned the other Councilman._

_The rest of the court remained silent throughout the conversation, choosing to listen intently to Three's appeal and Two's arguments._

_Ruby had also been listening while the shrouded agents maintained their gentle grip, shocked that one of her bosses was defending her so vividly. She had always assumed that they would agree with one another concerning such a serious matter, but Three was clearly dead set against her removal. _

_But why?_

"_No, we don't." Three answered powerfully. "That is the most valuable trait of an agent: being able adapt to the situation and make decisions for themselves."_

_The shrouded agents released Ruby as Three left its desk and walked towards the startled red-head. In a compassionate act of kindness, Three gently grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back up to her wobbly feet, then placed a comforting hand atop her head in between her furry ears._

"_This good soul, this __**pure**__ soul, is an outstanding testament to what we stand for. Our mission is to not only one day unite Human and Faunus kind, but to save as many lives as possible in this war. If we are so quick to punish our fellow operatives for showing compassion or mercy and encourage them to indiscriminately slaughter our enemies, than I believe that we are no better than the Order or the White Fang."_

_The court remained silent as they allowed Three's zealous words to soak. Many of the people eventually became disgusted with themselves that they had almost exiled one of their own for doing the humane thing and saving a life. Three was right, if they were to save this world from the corrosive jaws of hatred, they would have to be willing to be the change they want to see._

"_It takes a good soul to save the lives of the innocent, but I believe that it takes a __**beautiful**__ soul to save the life of their enemy, and that is why I implore you all to reconsider your vote before you so severely cast out this wonderful agent." Three said with finality as it returned to its seat beside its fellow Councilmen._

_With Three having said it's piece, One pressed its own button to wipe clean the last round of votes and initiate a new one._

_It didn't take even half as long as the new one as Two's scroll lit up once more to show the second result of the votes._

_With angry disappointment evident in its voice, Two announced, "Due the majority vote of the people of this courtroom, Ruby Lindsay Rose is hereby granted amnesty and relieved of her Purging."_

_The tears of sadness that stained Ruby's flushed cheeks were happily washed away by the tears of joy and relief that followed as she sped towards Three in a streak of rose petals and vehemently trapped it in a grateful hug while repeating "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!"_

"_You're welcome. Please…release me." Three wheezed as Ruby's heartfelt embrace slowly robbed it of its ability to breathe._

"_Oh, sorry." Ruby replied embarrassed as she released her superior and zipped back to her seat._

_Four slowly chewed on a rose petal that had managed to find its way into Four's mouth as Ruby retreated back to her seat._

"_Mmmm…strawberries." Four whispered delectably, speaking for the first time during the trial and slightly creeping out Three._

_One interrupted the sea of conversations with a short, but booming, cough into its fist._

"_Although it is agreed that Ruby is deserving of amnesty, I'm afraid that she cannot simply be excused without some form of punishment."_

"_Agreed." Two grumbled, glad that some type of repercussions were in order._

"_What did you have in mind?" Four asked after spitting out the chewed rose petal._

"_Hmmmmm…" One hummed as it thoughtfully stroked its invisible chin. The gathered agents and leaders all looked towards One in patient anticipation as it hummed in contemplation._

"_Well…" One began with noticeable humor as it came to an interesting solution, "…there is still the matter of our interesting guest."_

"_Surely you jest." Two angrily growled in resentment as it understood what One was implying._

"_It does seem to be the most productive course of action." Four added in favor of One's idea._

"_I agree." Three confirmed._

_Two lowly snarled as it chose to remain silent. There was no use arguing One's choice since its third and fourth counterparts voted against Two. _

"_Very well." Two replied with dissatisfaction as it crossed its arms._

_Seeing that the motion had passed, One turned towards Ruby and said, "Then it is settled. Ruby Rose, as a substitute for Purging, you are hereby charged to keep a vigilant eye on our guest during the remainder of her stay."_

_One rose from its seat to indicate that the trial had ended, thus encouraging every other occupant of the room to do the same._

_All except Ruby, who was frozen motionlessly as her new sentence repeated mockingly in her head._

"_Uh, what?" Ruby questioned her leader as her right eye twitched._

_(Present)_

Ruby sighed exhaustedly as she continued to play her game. Although she was ecstatic that her career hadn't come to a complete end yet, her new sentence wasn't exactly going to be the most enjoyable of experiences, especially since they had recently engaged one another in brutal battle. Hopefully she wouldn't be too angry when she awoke from her sleep.

And speaking of anger, the words that flashed across the bottom of Ruby's scroll bred said emotion as she read them and hatefully gritted her fangs.

_**Ruby is out of useable Pokemon! Ruby whited out!**_

"Goddamn it I hate Flannery and her stupid Attract." Ruby growled under her breathe.

Deciding that the game was doing very little to ease her mind, Ruby shut off her scroll and pushed it back into her pocket. She would have enjoyed the company of any of her friends during the dull wait for her charge to regain consciousness, but Yang left early this morning to resume her search for Blake after running an errand, Neptune was too busy training in the simulation grounds, and Sun...well…he was busy spreading the good word of "The Holy Banana", going door to door with hand-drawn pamphlets and invitations to his room for sermons. Therefore, she was left alone in the sterile hospital room with only the constant beeps of the heart monitor and the patient's barely audible breathes to keep her company.

Wait, why did her breathing stop?

Ruby swiftly turned towards the white-haired girl to see if she was okay.

The single icy blue eye staring at her was her immediate answer as her own duo of silvers met it in an alarmed fashion.

No words were exchanged for minutes as they stared at each other in uncomfortable silence. Ruby slowly scratched the back of her head, not at all appreciating the sheer awkwardness of meeting her foe as the albino slowly began to glare at her with her one uncovered eye.

"Uhhhhh…hi?" Ruby lamely greeted in an attempt to diminish the awkward tension that was slowly escalating with each passing second.

The glare only intensified as Ruby chuckled nervously, wishing that she possessed better social skills.

"Right." Ruby said as she slowly pressed the button in her unlikely acquaintance's bed to alert the doctor that the patient was awake.

The awkward silence persisted for approximately ten minutes, and with each passing minute Ruby only felt more and more disturbed as the girl continued to intensely stare at her with her venomous gaze.

Being Purged slowly began to sound less and less horrible the longer Ruby was subjected to this unusual form of social torture.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Blake…Blaaaaaake." Jaune gently whispered to the kitten curled up in his bed.

"Go…away…dork." Blake groggily mewled as she tried to ignore the blonde that was tenderly shaking her awake.

"I know, it's Sunday morning and all you want to do is sleep, but we've got somewhere to be kitten." Jaune comforted as he lifted her off of her spot on the bed and carried her out the door.

"Nora, Ren, for the love of Monty, please be decent." Jaune pleaded as he opened the door to the guest room, then sighed in relief as he saw his friends lying on the bed fully dressed still in their costumes from last night. Nora was still passed out as she maintained a constricting grip on Ren and lightly snored into his chest. Ren silently waved at his friend as he flipped through TV channels, making sure to keep the volume down as to not disturb his lover's slumber.

"Morning," Ren greeted quietly as he set the remote aside, "you're leaving already?"

"Yeah, I want to get their early so that I'm not in the office all day." Jaune answered.

"_Office? Where is he taking me?"_ Blake internally questioned, wondering what Jaune was being so punctual about.

"Can you do me a favor and tell him that Nora and I will visit next week?" Ren requested.

"Sure." Jaune happily replied.

"Just make sure to clean up when I get home this time." He then sourly finished with a disgusted grimace as he recalled the visual atrocity he returned to last night when he returned home from the party.

"Nora did it." Ren ironically, yet truthfully, replied with a straight face, wincing from the fresh whip marks that were still littered across his skin.

Jaune ended the conversation by quietly closing the door, as to not wake Nora, then descended the stairs, grabbed his wallet and his back pack, and sat in his usual spot on the couch. After Jaune softly placed the kitten beside him, Blake stared at her blonde friend in wonder as he emptied all of the text books and notebooks onto the coffee table out of the bag and then began to stuff the inside with comfortable-looking blankets, folding them as carefully and neatly Blake noted.

"There." Jaune conclusively said, proud of his work. "Alright Blake, your carriage awaits."

Blake skeptically blinked as she observed the open backpack that Jaune was beckoning her towards with his hand.

"And why exactly are you planning to tote me in your book-bag?" Blake mewed.

"C'mon Blake, it won't bite." Jaune comfortingly said as he picked her up and brought her closer to the bag so that she could get further acquainted with it.

Of course Blake knew that the bag was harmless, but her damnable instincts still demanded that she treat it with the utmost of caution, thus encouraging her to take deep and analytical sniffs of it with her rosy-pink nose.

Her body trembled in delight as the pleasant scent of Jaune's body-wash assaulted her nose.

"Well, I guess there's no harm." Blake muttered to herself as she took a few careful steps into the bag.

Surprisingly enough, the backpack was surprisingly warm and inviting. True, it was a tad bit stuffy, but the warmth that enveloped her small, furry body and pleased her drowsy form. It was cozy enough to serve as a wonderful bed.

Before Blake could have any further thought on the matter, the cat lost its balance as the center of gravity suddenly shifted under her. Her instantaneous, but momentary, sense of panic was immediately eased as she rolled harmlessly onto the silky smooth blankets, further adding to her comfort. She could feel the backpack rise from the sofa as it was gently fastened onto another surface, no doubt Jaune's back.

"You can take a nap on the way there little kitty. Just enjoy the ride." Jaune said caringly as he opened the front door.

Blake's ears twitched at the sound of the front door closing. She had no idea where Jaune was planning to take her or how long it was going to take to get there, but Jaune's suggestion was sounding quite gratifying as she cutely yawned and stretched. She was still sleepy from being awoken earlier and the constant and gentle motions of the backpack as Jaune walked to his destination lulled her deeper into a soothingly sleepy state.

In a matter of minutes, Blake's consciousness returned the realm of dreams as she curled further into the blankets with a contented exhale.

Jaune chuckled at how quickly the kitten resumed her slumber, and hoped that she would continue to sleep until they returned.

He had experienced how violently she reacted to a simple bath, he could only fathom how she would respond to a visit to the vet.

_(Beacon)_

"Miss, please. I can't properly medicate you if you refuse to cooperate." Doctor Scarlatina softly said to her difficult patient, who was venomously glaring at her from her spot in the hospital bed with her good eye.

Hoping that her polite request had swayed the girl's attitude even a little, the doctor made one more attempt to inject the needle in her pale arm, only for her hands to be violently shaken off once more by her bitter patient.

Dr. Scarlatina dejectedly sighed in disappointment. Ever since the girl had awoken and Ruby called for the doctor's care, the girl had refused to even speak a word to either the doctor or Ruby, who was asked to wait outside until her work was done. The only slivers of communication she would attempt to indulge them in were her salty glares and the occasional growl, unsurprisingly harboring great mistrust towards her saviors.

"Won't you let me help you? I assure you I mean you no harm."

For the first time since she awakened from her sleep, the girl surprised the astonished doctor by speaking to her, but still clearly expressing her dislike for the Faunus.

"Why would you help _me_? Every other time I've met one of your kind, it has always resulted in a murder attempt."

She looked away from the bunny-eared woman to aimlessly gaze at the wall, trying to avoid eye-contact.

"I'll bet you don't even know who I am. No Faunus who does would ever consider helping me." She continued with an even more sharpened tone.

Dr. Scarlatina sighed as she placed the vial in her coat pocket, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get her patient to submit to a medical procedure on her own accord, not without first gaining a small sliver of her trust, which was an almost unfeasible goal by itself. As hopeless as it seemed, Dr. Scarlatina didn't get to where she was now by giving up on the impossible, and this girl was simply another challenge to be accepted.

The doctor gently pulled the guest chair to the hospital bed's side so that she could sit more closely to her patient, who was still refusing to look her in the eye.

"I know you better than you think, Weiss Schnee."

Weiss flinched and slowly looked towards the smiling doctor with pure shock caking her face.

Ever since she was a little girl, her identity as the heiress of the Schnee instantly earned her the hatred and contempt of the Faunus. Her father was notoriously anti-Faunus and his methods of preserving an unfavorable society for Faunus were a clear reflection of his reputation. Due to his immense wealth, he had a powerful pull on politics, and on more than one occasion had ensured that political decisions never ended in the Faunus's favor. It was for this reason that pro-Faunus people despised him and everything associated with him, which included, but was not limited to, his company and his family. No Faunus in the entirety of Vale would even dream of helping her.

And yet, despite knowing her identity, this woman held no malice in either her voice or her wine-red eyes. She genuinely sounded as if she truly wanted to help her.

But why?

The kind doctor softly placed a consoling hand on Weiss's shoulder as she looked into her icy-blue eye with nothing but the utmost gentleness.

"You may have been affiliated with our enemy, and you may be the spawn of one of my people's greatest enemies, but I can never turn away a soul in need of help, especially a child." Dr. Scarlatina assured with a smile.

Logic dictated that Weiss should have continued not to trust this woman, no matter how kind she appeared to be, but the doctor proved to be charismatically assuring.

For the first time in years, Weiss allowed herself to have the slightest amount of trust towards a Faunus, despite her better judgment.

With a small huff of frustration stemming from her internal confliction, Weiss finally submitted to the woman's pleas and hesitantly extended her pale left arm.

"Just get it over with." Weiss said with annoyance lacing her small voice.

"I'll be gentle and as quick as possible." The doctor caringly responded as she applied small wipes of alcohol to Weiss wrist in preparation for an injection.

As the needle pierced her wrist and pumped the unknown liquid into her bloodstream, Weiss prayed to Monty that the doctor wasn't submitting her to a lethal injection, but took internal comfort in the fact that she has had plenty of chances to end her life while she was unconscious and has yet to harm her.

As the doctor retracted her syringe and applied a band-aid to the miniature hole in Weiss's wrist, she said, "Alright, now I need you to lie down."

Weiss did as she was told, deciding not to argue with the Faunus any longer so that she could be done with the procedure. At first she was compliant with whatever the doctor had to do, but yelped in a panic as the doctor began to undo the front of her hospital gown.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Weiss shrieked with an angry blushing face as she grabbed the doctor's slim wrists.

"Relax Ms. Schnee, I was simply attempting to treat your stab wounds. They were…disturbing, to say the least."

Weiss's heart almost skipped a beat as the memories of her near death experience flooded back into her mind. She could almost still feel the stinging sensation of cold steal sliding through her abdomen. And that man that had almost killed her, Frostbite if she remembered correctly, was possibly the most terrifying person she had ever seen.

It was a little known fact that Weiss possessed smaller Aura reserves than most, which was why she relied more on Dust than her Glyphs alone, but this short-coming came with an uncanny and underlying advantage: The heightened ability to sense Aura. Most people could sense Aura on a minimal level, but Weiss was different. Her sensory abilities rivaled that of a Faunus's, allowing her to sense levels of Aura, small and large, more accurately than most humans.

Unfortunately, this meant she was hyper-sensitive to large collections of Aura, and Frostbite possessed the largest amount of Aura she had ever felt in her life.

The mere memory of his cold, menacing Aura as he stared into her soul behind the helmet that concealed his appearance; it sent shivers down her spine and escalated her heartbeat.

No living creature in existence should ever be able to possess the ludicrous amount Aura she sensed from him, and she could clearly tell that it was merely a fraction of what he truly possessed.

It was…monstrous.

She was instantly soothed by the gentles shushes of the doctor above her as she comfortingly rubbed her forehead with her silky smooth palms.

"Calm down, you are safe now." Dr. Scarlatina caringly whispered as she channeled her Aura into her hands.

The effect slowly withered away the adrenaline coursing through Weiss's body, slowing down her breathing and heartbeat to normal levels.

"May I?" She politely asked as her fingers hovered over Weiss's chest once more.

Hesitantly, Weiss slowly nodded as she closed her eye with a slight blush.

The doctor wasted no time in unlacing the front of the hospital gown, eager to clean and further heal her patient's once-fatal wounds. She swiftly and expertly untied the knots keeping the gown attached to its wearer, and then began to lowly remove the crimson-stained patches that prevented the gaping holes from leaking too much blood.

She flinched as her enhanced vision scoped in on the small traces of ice that were still forming inside the girl's chest.

"May I ask a few questions?" Weiss weakly questioned, greatly disturbed by the sensation of air brushing against her new cavities.

"By all means. I have to clean your wounds anyway and it will take a while." Dr. Scarlatina kindly answered, doing her best to mask the disturbed tone in her voice as not to unnecessarily alarm her patient.

Weiss would have began to question the doctor, but preemptively paused as she observed the doctor who was focusing intently on her hands. Weiss immediately sensed the Faunus's Aura flare from within her body as her bare hands began to illuminate the room with a heavenly bright green glow. Slowly, a small globe of transparent green liquid formed in front of each of her palms, and sloshed back and forth with the smallest of movements from her hands. With her tools in hand, Dr. Scarlatina eased the globes of liquid down into the holes in Weiss's chest.

"Eeep!" Weiss yelped at the foreign and cold sensation of the liquid in her chest.

"Sorry, it's cold." The doctor warned too late as she focused on the task at hand.

Comfortable with the position of her Aura globes, she willed them both to spin at her command; literally washing the cavities as they cleaned the wounds and absorbed any foreign matter inside.

It took Weiss a few minutes to adjust to the commotion in her chest, but after a few deep breathes to calm herself down, she felt comfortable enough to ask her questions.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Only two days. Happy late Halloween." Dr. Scarlatina lightly joked.

"How did I get here?"

Weiss vaguely recalled the events that followed Mercury and Emerald's betrayal. All that she could remember was the feeling of her stomach dropping, as if she were in an elevator of some sorts, then the panicked bickering of two boys that followed her momentary return to consciousness.

"_Holy crap she woke up! She saw where we were!"_

"_Calm down Blue-tard! She might be delusional from the lack of blood."_

Indeed she was.

She could barely make out anything past her blurry vision. The most she could make out were two yellow blurs, a blue beside them, then a vast blur of green surrounding them, not nearly enough to make a reliable inference on their position.

Oh well, it didn't matter anymore. As far as her employers were concerned, she was burnt to ashes with the rest of the docks.

"The agent you saw earlier brought you back before it was too late. It was good thing that she managed to get you here in time. Another minute longer and I'm not sure I would have been able to treat you in time." Dr. Scarlatina explained, glad that Ruby's Semblance was super speed.

The agent that woke her up? The same agent that spared her before?

Weiss subtlety gritted her teeth in silent lividness at the fact that the hooded girl had not saved her life once, but twice. She was grateful that she still breathed due the girl's unexpected mercy, but it was insulting to her pride that she was spared so wearily often by the enemy.

"I see…" Weiss breathed, expertly shrouding the frustration in her voice.

"You say that she got me here in time? How bad are my injuries?" Weiss asked.

The doctor looked towards her with concern, frowning as debated on whether or not to answer.

"Are you sure you want to know?" she replied.

Weiss nodded, steeling herself for the impending bad news.

"I won't lie to you, the mere fact that you are still alive is nothing short of a miracle. Your first stab wound scratched your right lung, and your second wound scratched your sternum, but your Aura managed to heal both of them adequately. Normally this wouldn't be a dire problem, but whoever tried to murder you knew the body very well and was very proficient in their Ice Semblance. Instead of trying to kill you by piercing your vital organs, they instead left lingering amounts of their Aura inside your body where they stabbed you. As we speak, there are small bits of ice growing inside of your chest, slowly lowering your body temperature. I've been keeping your body temperature regulated by removing the ice from your body with this current procedure, as well as modifying it by using another agent's fiery Aura to warm you, but you can't fully heal until the assassin's Aura eventually leaves your body. This type of method is unproductive for an assassin, for they are usually required to end their target's life as quickly as possible, but this was no professional attempt. Whoever tried to kill you…wanted you to die as slowly and painfully as possible. If you had been sent to any other doctor, you would have surely died."

Weiss shuddered as she swallowed the breath she wasn't aware she was holding. Frostbite was every bit as monstrous as he seemed if he was this brutal.

"Don't worry, your life is in no danger now. I just need to keep treating you for a few weeks, and you'll be fine. I'd say that you'll be adequately healed in a month or two." Dr. Scarlatina informed, hoping to ease the worry her answer obviously instilled in her patient. It did little to calm her down.

"What about my eye?" Weiss asked, hoping that it was in better condition than her chest.

"It will heal with time, but I managed to repair most of the damage. The only permanent damage is a scar."

Thank Monty above. She wasn't sure that she could adjust to being a Cyclops.

"I am finished now." Dr. Scarlatina said as she carefully and painfully retracted her liquid globes of Aura from Weiss's chest.

Weiss was slightly disgusted at the sight of the small bits of ice and her blood swirling inside the liquid as the doctor emptied it into small canisters on the shelf.

"I'll be back later for another round of treatment. If you need anything, you can call a nurse with the buttons on your hospital bed, or you can send Ruby out to get me personally." The doctor said as she turned towards the door to leave.

Wait, Ruby? The Faunus in the hood?

"Please don't leave me alone with her." Weiss begged with a grimace.

The doctor lightly giggled as she opened the door.

"Sorry, orders are orders." She replied with a smile. "I'm done Ruby. You can come in." She said to the girl sitting on the bench next to the door.

"Ok." Ruby replied as she rose from her seat and apprehensively looked towards the hospital room. After the doctor left to tend to her next patient, Ruby took a deep breath before taking hesitant steps into the room with her angry charge.

"Uh…yo." Ruby awkwardly greeted with a wave.

Weiss angrily huffed as she closed her eye and shifted her head away from the Faunus, towards the window to her right.

Ruby slowly took her seat beside the clearly annoyed albino, trying to find a way break the ice.

"So…how are you?"

"Please keep quiet. I'm thinking." Weiss growled grumpily.

"Oh, ok." Ruby complied.

Now that she had the benefit of silence, Weiss contemplated her current situation. As of now, she was officially removed from the Order and declared dead, but that would most likely change in the future. Were they to find out that the assassination failed and she was still alive, they would do everything in their power to finish the job, and there was no conceivable way she could hide from them forever. With that in mind, her only options were to take her chances and try to hide, or, dare she say, join-

"You wanna watch T.V?" Ruby asked, interrupting the silence and Weiss's train of thought.

Weiss gritted her teeth angrily as she tried her absolute best to refrain from killing both of them.

If Monty truly did exist somewhere, he apparently hated her.

_(Jaune)_

"Um, hi. I'm here for an appointment." Jaune greeted the receptionist at the desk.

"Fill this out and wait to be called sir." The receptionist politely said as she handed the boy a sheet of paper with various blanks.

"Ok." He replied as he took the sheet and walked towards the various seats in the room.

There weren't many other people occupying the room. Jaune counted three persons spread out through the room, each occupying one of the twenty seats with their respective pets lying in their laps or at their feet. They were all patiently awaiting their turn to speak with the veterinarian as they watched the T.V perched above them in the corner of the ceiling. The first person he saw was an old man carefully holding a bird cage in his lap as he silently cooed at the silent green and blue bird roosting inside. Jaune had little knowledge concerning the different types of birds, so he hadn't a clue what kind it was, but it was indeed a beautiful bird. The next person he saw was a guy around his age hand-feeding his small pet rabbit a carrot. The white creature seemed to enjoy the vegetable as it nibbled on the delectable treat, completely ignoring its surroundings and focusing only on the delicacy in its master's hand. The third individual was an extravagantly dressed woman who was gently caressing a fuzzy white cat in her lap that shimmered with a glow that clearly expressed how pampered the feline was.

Being the shy boy he was, Jaune sat as far away from the other occupants of the room near the exit. He then gently placed his open back-pack on the seat to his right, taking great care not to wake the kitten within. As he waited for his name to be called, he diligently filled out the information in the blanks, but grew slightly annoyed with every blank he couldn't fill in. He only had Blake for a short while, thus had no idea if she had all of her shots or if she had any allergies. Jaune begrudgingly put the form behind his backpack and decided to leave it be for now.

He turned his head towards the T.V on the opposite side of the room in hopes to find a distraction on the T.V screen, but frowned as he read the headline on the news channel.

_**More mysterious disappearances occur! All missing persons are still Faunus!**_

Great, first a famous pro-Faunus politician almost gets killed, and now Faunus are disappearing. The poor people couldn't catch a break these days it seemed. The occasional disappearance of a Faunus wasn't particularly rare these days. Most of the time, the Faunus individual would eventually break from the harsh conditions of living in an anti-Faunus society and leave their life behind to join the White Fang, a notorious terrorist organization of Faunus that seek to overthrow the human race as the dominant species of Remnant. However, there would only be few disappearances at a time in that case, not the astonishing numbers that the T.V was displaying.

Over one hundred people, disappearing into thin air, vanishing over night with not a single trace. It was a terrifying thought that left him with complete wonder as to how so many people just disappear without alerting anybody, where they went, and if they left on their own volition.

He just hoped that all of those people were ok.

The door that led further into the interior of the building opened, ripping Jaune's attention away from the T.V, but instead of the vet walking through, it was a teenage girl holding a small dog in her arms as she made her way to the exit. Her long, slightly curly hair was a beautiful shade of crimson, but he could see small roots of blonde near her scalp, indicating that her hair was dyed.

Wait…she looked oddly familiar.

"Yang?" Jaune asked skeptically.

The girl stopped in her tracks and looked towards him with confusion that was swiftly replaced by joyful recognition.

"Hey Jaune! Long time no see!" Yang greeted excitedly as she hastily took a seat next to her acquaintance.

"Why is your hair dyed red?" Jaune asked.

"It was part of my costume for Halloween. I just haven't washed it out yet." She answered proudly as she twisted her locks with her right index finger.

"Really? What did you dress as?"

"A fire fairy." Yang answered with a smirk as she pulled her trademark shades out of her pocket in preparation for the impending pun.

"A _Flairy_."

Jaune processed the obviously terrible joke that left Yang's mouth, giving Yang the impression that he was about to chastise her for it just like everyone else she knew besides Dr. Scarlatina. She was pleasantly surprised by the small chuckles that escaped Jaune's mouth.

"Wow, you are one of two people who find my jokes funny. I believe this is the start of a wonderful friendship." Yang happily said as she patted her laughing friend's back.

She managed to hear the tiny, muffled hiss that came from Jaune's backpack.

"Goddamnit Yang." Blake groggily hissed in her sleep, completely unaware that her best friend was in the same room as her.

"Please tell me you didn't bring a snake here." Yang whimpered as she fearfully retracted her arm and slightly scoot away from him.

"No snakes; just a cat." Jaune assured his terrified friend.

"And you brought it here in a backpack?" Yang questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm trying to keep her asleep and docile. She can get a little violent." Jaune lowly whimpered as to not awake Blake.

"Oh, gotcha." Yang agreed, knowing full well how scary an angry feline could be, having no idea that they both had the same individual in mind.

"So, is that your dog?" Jaune asked as he observed the small pooch happily seated in Yang's lap, identifying it as some type of Corgi. The dog panted and scratched its right ear as it perpetually stared at him with its wide eyes. It kind of creeped Jaune out; the dog had yet to so much as blink.

"Zwei? No, he's Ruby's. I was just taking him to the vet because she's too busy right now." Yang answered as she lovingly scratched his furry ears.

Jaune's eyes slightly widened as he remembered what Ruby was.

"So she's ok?" Jaune asked with subtle relief in his voice.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

Jaune's face shifted into a grim expression as he pointed towards the television many seats behind her. Yang gazed at the screen shortly before turning back towards her worried friend with a small frown.

"I've heard about that. Don't worry, Ruby's safe."

Yang noticed how Jaune's shoulders lowered as he let loose a lengthy exhale, showing that he was concerned for her sister.

This both surprised and delighted her.

"That's good." Jaune said in relief.

"Were you worried about my sister Jauney-Boy?" Yang asked with a teasing tone.

If one listened closely enough, they would be able to hear a slight hint of jealously in her voice.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Jaune asked in confusion, completely missing the intent behind the question.

"No reason." Yang answered as she looked away slyly. "I'm still adjusting to how unusual it is for someone out of our usual group of friends to care about her."

"I don't see how anybody can't care about her. She's too nice not to." Jaune commented, recalling their unorthodox meeting and how friendly the red-head was to him.

Yang's smile slowly morphed into a frown as painful memories of her sister's horrible experiences as a Faunus came back to her.

"Well, not everyone is willing to look past her ears like you are." Yang begrudgingly replied as she stared angrily at her knees. "Sometimes I don't completely blame the White Fang for how they act sometimes. My sister's forced to live in a society that hates her and it eats at me every day she's mistreated. It almost makes me want to give up on Humanity."

Yang was yanked out of her negative by the gentle hand that was consolingly patting her back.

"Don't lose hope Yang. There's always a chance for change, so long as we hold on to faith and always try to be that change. Only in the abandonment of hope and effort can there be no room for change." Jaune wisely consoled, trying to lift his friend's spirits.

It seemed to work as Yang's frown reverted back into the smile that more suited her cheeky face.

"Wow…" Yang said in small amazement at Jaune's words, "That was very profound and sagely of you. I didn't know you had it in you." She complimented

"Well, actually those are my Uncle's words, not mine. I'm nowhere near as wise as him." Jaune humbly and embarrassedly admitted as he scratched the back of his head.

"Wisdom recognizes wisdom buddy. Thanks for the pick-me-up!" Yang gratefully thanked as she affectionately punched him in his arm in an act of friendship. Unfortunately for Jaune, she had a terrible habit of underestimating her own strength and applied a tad bit too much strength in the punch, sending his arm into waves of pain.

"You're welcome." Jaune wheezed as he tried to withhold the tears that threatened to leak from his eyes.

With a happy and excited yip, Zwei leaped from his master's sister's lap and into Jaune's. The startled boy froze as the Corgi began taking deep whiffs of his hoody.

"I think he likes you." Yang joked as she tried to pry the family dog off of her friend, but Zwei was adamant in his efforts to sniff Jaune down, eagerly inhaling the oddly familiar scent of a female from his clothes. His eyes then zipped towards the backpack lying next to Jaune as he slipped from Yang's grasp and began vehemently sniffing the bag.

"Please don't wake her up!" Jaune whispered in a panic as he grabbed the whining canine and returned him to Yang.

"I guess I should get him home. He seems kinda restless right now." Yang said as she rose from her seat while holding on tightly to the dog that was trying desperately to escape from her grasp.

"See ya around Jauney-Boy!" Yang said with a wink as she exited the building. "Geesh, what's your problem little guy?"

Zwei whimpered and barked frantically as he tried to tell his master's sister that her best friend was alive and well inside the boy's bag, but to no avail.

"Later." He replied with a wave before she closed the door.

Thankfully, he didn't have to endure the discomfort of a lack of company as one of the vet's employees called his name as soon as the buxom blonde left. Happy that he was next and the rest of the patients were already tended to during his conversation with Yang, Jaune rose from his seat and gently carried his backpack with him as he walked towards the open door. He was led down a long hallway until the employee beckoned him into a room that looked no different from the rest, except for the tall goateed man with long black hair patiently waiting for him.

The man smiled at the blonde's presence and happily shook his hand after Jaune gently placed his backpack on the operating table.

"It's nice to see you again Jaune. It's been too long." The man greeted happily.

"It's nice to see you too Mr. Lie." Jaune politely reciprocated the greeting, happy to see the man that strongly resembled his best friend.

"Ah-ah-ah," The man chided playfully as he waged his finger. "I've told you before, just call me Lan."

"Oh, sorry." Jaune apologized.

"Don't worry about it. So how's my nephew been? A while ago he barged in my office and took my tranquilizer gun and a tiny packet of catnip." Lan worriedly commented as he read the form Jaune filled out.

"Uh…I rescued a cat recently and I tried to bathe her, but she took offense to that and tried to kill me. I called Ren for help and after seeing how demonic the cat was for himself he must have borrowed the gun and catnip from you. Don't know why, he didn't have the aim to be able to shoot the cat. Suffice to say, we suffered horribly that night. Nora got her breasts clawed and shot, I got my butt chewed on twice and shot, and Ren managed to shoot himself in the arm after the cat slashed his face." Jaune shamefully narrated, feeling the lingering pain in his posterior.

The veterinarian lost all ability to restrain his laughter as he broke into howls of laughter, finding great merriment in Jaune's tale.

"It's not that funny." Jaune complained.

"Right you are, it isn't funny. It is hilarious!" Lan joyfully replied as he continued his onslaught of laughter.

"Goddamn it."

Awoken by the commotion of the veterinarian's laughter, Blake drowsily crawled out of Jaune's backpack and extended her tiny limbs for a powerful stretch.

"Is it too much to ask for people to not bring me to loud places?" Blake grumpily meowed as she yawned.

"_And why does it smell like Zwei here?"_

Blake's question was immediately answered as she took in her surroundings. Jaune looked annoyed as he glared at the laughing man wearing a white coat, who smelled like a variety of different animals. The room mirrored his scent and had pictures of the anatomy of different animals like cats, dogs, birds, and interestingly enough fish.

"You took me to the vet! What the hell?!" Blake angrily meowed at her caretaker, seizing his attention and the older man's as well.

Lan ceased his laughing as he observed the little ball of fur perched on his operating table, almost glaring at him with her dazzling yellow eyes.

"You mean to tell me that all three of you were terrorized by this adorable little thing?" Lan asked skeptically as he continued to observe the young feline from every angle.

"She's a lot more feral looking when you try to bathe her. Trust me." Jaune reassured, hoping that he could avoid another incident should the little kitty lose her temper again.

Lan smiled warmly at the kitten before he slowly brought his hand on her back to pet her. Normally Blake would be against someone she just met touching her in any way, and only allowed Jaune to do it because he had charmed his way into her good graces, but any thoughts of resistance were destroyed as the experienced veterinarian thoroughly massaged the tensest areas of her back with his fingertips. The man evidently knew exactly where to rub along her spine, most likely having learned how from years of treating the feline body, and within seconds had Blake purring as she melted into his touch.

Blake was such a tool as a kitten, another reason why she detested this form, but damn it all if she wasn't currently enjoying the heavenly massage she was succumbing to.

Lan frowned as he noticed the bandages wrapped around the cat's waist.

"I assume there is a medical problem I need to tend to." He said as he lightly trailed the fingers of his unoccupied hand across the bandages.

"Well, I've been trying to take care of her wounds ever since I found her in a dumpster on my way from work, but I don't know if she's getting any better. I figured I should get professional help."

"May I?" Lan requested as he pointed towards the bandages, indicating his intention.

"Go ahead, just don't spook her."

Lan nodded as he slowly unwrapped Blake's bandages as he continued to indulge her in his massage. He winced as he fully observed the damage to her side.

"What the hell happened to this poor cat?" Lan asked, used to tending to injuries of all levels to animals, yet still disturbed by the reddish ooze coating the feline's side.

"When I found her, it looked like she had been shot in her rib, suffered burns on her back, and had her arm dislocated. I managed to get her home and push her arm back into its socket, and it looks like the burns on her back healed by themselves, but I think she still kind of limps when she walks around."

The veterinarian's left eye twitched as Jaune finished his explanation.

"If what you say is true, than you probably saved this poor cat's life when you found her. I doubt she would have lasted long without the immediate medical attention you provided her.

"Indeed." Blake meowed in agreement.

It was a grim thought that she tried not to contemplate for too long, but she knew that if Jaune had not come to her rescue, she would have had no chance for survival. She was eternally grateful for his assistance, another factor in how quickly she had warmed up to him.

"Will she be ok?" Jaune asked.

"From what I can tell, she's healing rather quickly compared to other cats,"

"_Thank you Aura." _Blake thought with a proud smirk.

"So whatever you are doing to treat her is effectively maintaining her convalescence. I can give you a few painkillers and supplements of catnip to ease the pain, but besides that, there's nothing I can do that you haven't."

"Can you give her a full checkup to make sure? I want to be sure that she's healthy when I return her to her owner."

"Well…maybe you should consider adopting her instead."

Jaune questioningly tilted his head at Lan's suggestion. "I can't keep someone else's pet away from them. It doesn't feel like the right thing to do."

"And in most situations, I would agree with you, but what bothers me is the fact this cat obviously didn't shoot or burn itself. I hate to assume the worst, but there is always the possibility that she may have belonged to an abusive caretaker."

Jaune flinched in momentary heart-break and was overcame with a brief, instantaneous flash of anger as he thought of anyone abusing his adorably kitty.

For some reason, he saw white as his anger grew.

"I'm not saying to not return her to her original owner, I just suggest that you wait for a sign that they are looking for her, like a missing flyer for example. If you don't see any indications that her owners are looking for her after a while, why not adopt her as your own? You obviously care for her."

Jaune scratched his head in contemplation Lan's reasoning. True, the thought of officially adopting Blake had crossed his mind occasionally, but he would mentally swat away the idea in hopes of not getting too attached to her. Of course now it was too late to keep from getting attached, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. However, Lan did bring up some good points. The mere thought of sending the cat back to an abusive owner sent chills down his spine.

"You don't have to decide now. It's just something to think about." Lan said as he opened various shelves to collect the materials needed for Blake's checkup.

"Alright, let's get started. Do you think she'll be fine with me extracting some blood?" Lan asked as he held up the syringe.

Jaune gulped fearfully as he stuttered, "S-she almost killed m-me over a bath for Oum's sake."

"Oh come now, she looks harmless. Hold her still for me, will ya."

Jaune did as he was told and kept a firm grip on Blake, ready to shield his face and his rump should the worst happen. Much to his surprise, Blake made no effort to harm either him or the veterinarian as he slowly drew her blood into his syringe. She didn't even so much as flinch when it pierced her skin, and this relieved Jaune comfortably.

His cautious behavior towards her current situation tickled "Feral Blake" as she found great hilarity in the terror she had inflicted into her bitch's heart. Of course, Blake was blissfully ignorant of her darker side's jollity, and was simply accepting the medical treatment with a passive and docile demeanor.

"There." Lan said as he retracted the syringe and placed the vial of blood in a sealed container on the counter for later use.

"Well that wasn't so bad. I don't know why you're so worried." Blake meowed to Jaune, who released a heavy breathe he was withholding out of fear.

"Is that it? Are we done?" Jaune asked hopefully in a shaky voice that was not unlike that of a man who had just dodged a bullet.

"Actually, no." Lan answered, dashing Jaune's hope mercilessly. "I still need to check her temperature." He continued as he pulled out a thermometer from his coat pocket.

Sometimes Jaune wondered if Lan's coat was the "Batman Utility Belt" of the medicinal world; the man always seemed to have what he needed in the damn thing, no matter what.

"How am I going to get her to open her mouth?" Jaune questioned cluelessly.

Lan chuckled nervously at the awkwardness of the situation.

"It's not for her mouth Jauny-Boy."

"_Oh crap." _Jaune thought woefully, praying to the deities above that he'd make it out of this alive.

Blake, being the sheltered individual she was and having never been to the vet before, had absolutely no idea what the man was implying.

"What, are you putting that in my ear?" Blake questioned innocently, unaware of the impending humiliation that awaited her.

She realized that that was not the case as Jaune gently turned her around to face him.

"Sorry Blake. It'll be over soon, I promise." Jaune consoled as he secured her position on the table with his arms.

"What are you talking-"

Blake's heart froze painfully as she finally put two and two together.

Her fears were confirmed as she heard the sound of plastic gloves being stretched and released.

"OH HELL NO!" Blake screamed in pure terror as she broke out into a frenzy of squirms, trying desperately to escape from Jaune's grasp.

"Calm down Blake! You're only making it worse!" Jaune squealed as he held her down.

"Just a few more seconds Jaune. I'm going in." Lan notified as he readied the thermometer in his gloved hand.

"LET ME GO YOU GODDAMN DEGENERATES! DON'T YOU DAR-**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**" Blake screamed at the top of her lungs, almost shattering Jaune's eardrums as she roared angrily.

"Shush shush shush, easy now. It's almost over kitty-kitty." Lan whispered as he kept the intruding object in place for a few seconds before gently pulling it out. Making sure not to let it touch him, he carefully observed where the red line ended, and smiled as it didn't progress to higher numbers.

"No fever or anything, like I said. Nothing to worry about Jaune." He said as he placed the thermometer in a sink for cleansing.

"So if you don't need anything else, you can-"

"**REEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRR!"**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jaune screamed, suffering the familiar hell of a thousand slashes to his face from the demon clutching on to it.

"Oh crap!" Lan shouted as he rushed towards the distressed teenager.

Big mistake.

"**I WILL OBLITERATE YOUR INNOCENCE IN RETURN YOU HUMAN BASTARD! AND THEN I WILL SODOMIZE IT JUST TO PROVE A FREAKING POINT!" **Blake murderously roared as she leaped off of Jaune's mutilated face and switched to Lan's.

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD GET HER OFF GET HER OFF GET HER OFF!" Lan screamed as he tried to yank Blake off of his face, but only succeeded in pissing her off even further and fueling her swipes.

Feral Blake reveled in the shrieks of agony of her attackers as she destroyed their pretty faces. They dared to dominate her and violate her in such an undignified manner like she was their bitch, but who's the one screaming in pain now?!

With a mighty swipe of finality, Feral Blake delivered one final, mighty swipe to Lan's face, making him lose his balance and collapse to the ground and slip into unconsciousness from the pain. Invigoratingly satisfied that justice was served, she leaped off of her prey's face and flexed her claws for a second round of slashing.

There was a certain ass that was in need of brutal punishment.

As soon as Blake turned towards her intended target with a hungry gleam in her eyes as she licked her lips in anticipation, Jaune immediately sprinted out of the door and shot out of the room towards the exit of the building, screaming with a voice so high it could contest with females of the opera.

Feral Blake shuddered in morbid pleasure as she gave Jaune a brief head-start, fascinated with the thrill of the chase.

"**You'd best break up a sweat boy." ** Feral Blake hissed as Jaune's head-start ended and she sped through the door to lock in on her prey.

"**Because I like my fish wet and squirming." **She finished as her eyes dilated and zoomed in on the two pieces of meat that were trying to make it towards the exit.

"No no no no no no no no no no!" Jaune shrieked with each step, like a woman in a classic horror movie.

The poor bastard wasn't even able to touch the door before Blake secured her prize.

_(Hours later)_

"What about Velvet? Her and Jaune seem to get along pretty well." Nora suggested to Ren.

"I don't see it. Plus, I think Russel may have a crush on her, so I doubt Jaune would want to interfere with that." Ren rebutted as he turned a page in the book he was reading.

If there was something to be said about the relationship between the hyperactive ginger and her docile lover, it was that they never found a lack of material to talk about. It was one of the positive qualities during their time together and it kept them entertained when they had nothing to do. Currently, they were indulging in their hobby of hypothetically pairing Jaune with various women they knew, then maybe making an effort to hook them up.

They had yet to find an ideal match.

"Ok, what about Coco? She thinks he's funny as hell, and since he's helped Velvet out a bunch of times, that would get him some points."

"Coco doesn't seem to be the dating type. Also, I'm concerned that she would break him somehow."

"Well we gotta find him someone! He can't become a forty year-old virgin! I want little blond rascals to pick on damn it!"

"I agree…for different reasons." Ren cryptically added.

"What reasons?"

"I would just like to kill a rumor floating around campus concerning the three of us."

"What's the rumor?"

"Apparently half of the student body believes all three of us to be in a polygamous/sexual relationship with one another."

"Whoa! Where the hell did that rumor get started?!" Nora questioned incredulously.

Ren removed his eyes from his spot in the book and disapprovingly glared at his lover. "Perhaps it's because you suggested at the top of your lungs when you were drunk that we all have a threesome in celebration of Smash Bros. coming out."

"Oh come on! YOU haven't thought about it before?! Not even once?!" Nora joked with a chuckle.

"HELL NO!" Ren shouted with a shudder, disturbed by the mere thought of fornicating around his best friend, or his best friend with the love of his life.

"You sure? We could always ask. We'd spice up our sex life, and Jaune wouldn't be a virgin anymore. EVERYBODY WINS!" Nora joyously joked, laughing at the angry blush staining Ren's face.

"I'm sure!" Ren reaffirmed as he turned back towards his book.

Nora would have continued to tease her lover, but she was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open and Jaune's pained sobs.

"Reeeennnn, Nooorrrrrraaaaa. Heeeelllllllppppp." Jaune whined painfully from downstairs.

The two grew concerned as they jumped off of the guest-bed and descended the stairs to see what painful situation their friend got into this time.

"Ahhh, not again!" Nora complained as she saw the sweating blonde near the open door with a purring demonic cat latched on to his posterior.

"**This pleases me." **Feral Blake moaned darkly as she tightened her grip, forcing another whimper of agony from her bitch.

Ren face-palmed with a sigh. "I'll go get the tranquilizer gun."

"**NO!"** Jaune and Nora screamed in horror.

_(Elsewhere)_

Roman released an exhausted sigh as he carelessly dumped his suitcase full of loot on the sofa as he ungracefully flopped beside it.

"Monty-tap-dancing Oum what a day." Roman sighed tiredly as he tried to relax during his wait for his employer.

As much as Roman enjoyed the massive paychecks he was receiving from the Order, they had an annoying habit of making the jobs they assign him much more difficult than necessary. Like today, for example, he was tasked with his usual duty of stealing as many gems as possible from anywhere he could. Naturally, a day full of thievery would undoubtedly attract the attention of the police, but this usually wasn't a problem for the illusive gangster. However, thanks to the Order's kidnappings recently, police activities were at an all time high, and their little assassination attempt a while back certainly didn't help matters either. Today was the first time in a long time that he had been caught in the act of stealing, therefore he had to escape the pursuit of various police squads all day. Now here he was, exhausted with sore leg muscles and hiding in an abandoned warehouse, waiting for his next cut.

Perhaps a small vacation was not out of the question?

"You're late." A metallic voice said from behind Roman.

"HOLY CRAP!" Roman exclaimed in a panic as he leaped off of his seat and spun around.

Roman's heart froze ironically when he saw the individual responsible for scaring the hell out of him, standing perfectly still in an ominous manner behind the sofa. It amazed Roman how Frostbite managed to stealthily sneak while wearing shining white armor.

"What the hell are you trying to do?! Give me a heart attack?!" Roman angrily questioned as he grabbed at his chest in a futile effort to calm it down.

"You're an hour late." Frostbite informed, completely ignoring the thief's complaint. "Why is that?"

Roman's left eye twitched in restrained aggravation at the obvious question. "Sorry if my progress has been a little slow, but you guys aren't exactly making this easy with your constant attempts to piss off the police." He sarcastically rebutted, clearly communicating how irritated he was. "I swear, I couldn't stretch my damn arms on the sidewalk without touching a cop."

"Excuses will get you nowhere Torchwick. Where is today's stash?" The intimidating assassin questioned professionally as he walked around the couch, choosing not to entertain the thug with petty small talk.

Roman huffed in annoyance as he pulled the case full of jewels from its spot on the couch cushion and begrudgingly handed them over. The first rule of illegal trading was to never present one's merchandise until the recipient presents the pay, less one wants to be ripped off. However, this mainly applies to trades between equals, and this was most certainly not the case in this situation.

If he wanted to, Frostbite could completely obliterate Roman, and they both knew this.

"Is this all?" Frostbite disappointedly asked as he looked at the relatively small collection of gems.

"It's all I could get." Roman shamefully admitted.

"You should have managed to acquire more, even with increased police activity."

"How am I supposed to make a profit if my operations are always compromised by those damn Beacon agents and the White Fang? I am having a difficult time keeping my men active because the blonde keeps ransacking some of their bases for information concerning her little Faunus friend, the red hooded one almost caught me last year, the Faunus almost stole the goddamn Crystal from me, and then the other two and more of their stupid friends almost finished the job and tried to steal it." Roman angrily ranted.

"Is there a reason you're declaring a list of your failures?"

"What I'm trying to say is that the longer your bosses refuse to lend me more assistance, the more damage to my operations will occur. So unless you want to lend a goddamn hand more than once, don't you dare insult me for trying-"

Roman was silenced by the lightly armored hand roughly grabbing him by his throat and slamming him painfully against the wall. He could barely scream or wheeze as the hand inhibited his ability to breathe, but that wasn't the worst part of Frostbite's attack. Roman could feel his body being invaded by the intrusive Aura of his attacker, and he could feel his body temperature slowly decrease with each passing second.

"Don't forget yourself Torchwick. You would do well to remember the fact that you are easily replaceable." He growled into Roman's paling face, applying more force with every venomous word.

"Frostbite, that's enough." A feminine voice commanded from the entrance of the warehouse.

The armored assassin slowly dipped his head in the woman's direction to confirm her identity. He growled disappointedly before releasing his grip on Roman's neck and letting him fall on to the ground in a fit of cough and shivers.

"Perhaps you should give him a healthy reminder of his position next time, preferably before I do, Cinder." Frostbite suggested as he retrieved the case from the spot on the ground where he dropped it.

"But he has a point. Beacon's constant interference is becoming problematic." Cinder said in Roman's defense.

"I'll be sure to bring that to the Conclave's attention." Frostbite uncaringly responded as he took his leave, leaving Cinder alone with a wheezing and cold Roman.

"N-nice t-t-to see you're o-on my s-side for once." Roman shivered as he unsteadily rose from the ground.

"Don't test me." Cinder commanded as she gently placed the smooth palm of her hand on his chest and channeled her Aura into his body for warmth.

"What the hell is his problem?" Roman grumpily asked as he massaged his sore throat.

"Don't mind him." Cinder said as she retracted her hand and held it out to her side. With a slight pulsation of Aura sent into her dress, a thick roll of money appeared in her hand in a tiny, beautiful flurry of flames that seemed to do no harm to the money.

"Here." She said as she handed him his cut.

"I can't keep doing this, y'know. If you guys don't start sending me backup, I'm either going to get captured or killed. And as much as I enjoy the thrills of near-death experiences, I kind of want to live to see retirement." Roman complained as he took the roll and placed it safely in his pocket.

"Relax Roman. I'm sure the Conclave will see reason and send you the proper reinforcements. You just need to be patient."

"But what's the point of attracting all of this attention? What exactly is the Conclave plotting that is so important?" he asked, futiley trying to understand his employers' logic.

Cinder chuckled darkly at how worried the usually care-free thug was acting. "Let's just say that due to locating two unexpected treasures we have found in Vytal, we are moving forward with our plans at a more fast pace than expected."

Roman sighed in disappointment at her answer and asked, "Do you always have to be so cryptic?"

"How about this Roman: you've earned a great deal of respect from us in your acquisition of the Fire Crystal. With that in mind, I'm sure that with my permission, you'll be welcome to attend their next meeting soon. We can supply you with as much information as necessary then, ok?"

"And when is this meeting, exactly?" Roman asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Two months from now."

"What?! Two months?! You guys are going to keep me in the dark for two months?!" Roman wildly complained in disbelief.

"You'll know what you need when you need to know. Just continue with the tasks assigned to you." Cinder chuckled in response to Roman's disappointment.

"So does this mean I can "patiently" wait while I'm on vacation?"

"No." Cinder said with an assertive tone as her eye's gleamed predatorily.

"You're no fun." Roman pouted as he crossed his arms.

"Until the condition of your operations improve, I will lend you some of my men personally, so that you can continue your work."

"So long as you don't send me those brats, I'm perfectly okay with that." Roman happily said, relieved that he would have a few helping hands for once.

Cinder's only response was a meaningful blink.

Roman's hopes were dashed as he angrily gritted his teeth.

"Goddamn it I hate them." Roman growled with a forceful face-palm.

"You don't have to like them; just co-operate with them." Cinder commanded as she took her leave and began walking back towards the exit.

"Well where the hell are they then?" Roman questioned with an annoyed grimace.

"They are on a mission right now. I'll send them here afterwards." She answered before continuing on her way.

"Yaaaayyyy." Roman unenthusiastically cheered as he sat back down on the coach to resume his rest.

He'd be surprised if there was anyone in Vytal who was as exhausted and angry as him right now.

_(Blake)_

"Stupid goddamn vet and his stupid goddamn thermometer and that stupid goddamn Jaune for helping. I'll kill them both." Blake growled under her breath as she angrily stomped across Vytal's sidewalk.

Unlike the last time her instincts overtook her consciousness, she clearly remembered the events that transpired to trigger them. She had never felt more violated in her entire life and she gladly allowed her instincts to guide her revenge. She couldn't remember what she did to them, but whatever she did put the fear of Monty into Jaune, and he remembered him whimpering "Never again" repeatedly as he shivered in his sleep, so she didn't have to worry about that again.

That still didn't erase the pure humiliation she suffered, so she was still a tad bit pissed at Jaune. She felt that she deserved some type of compensation for her troubles, so she took it upon herself to locate his piggy-bank that he kept in his closet and retrieve what she felt she deserved. Surprisingly, Jaune had more money than she had anticipated. He had more money than what his job suggested, but she still decided not to take too much, just enough for what she wanted. And if Jaune had any complaints, she would shove a glass object up his ass and see how he liked it.

Still though, over five-thousand Lien was nothing to shake one's head at.

After Blake took as much as she felt she deserved, she snuck out in the night to locate a bookstore, hoping to purchase more books to occupy her free-time when Jaune went to school. As much as she adored the second volume of _Ninjas of Love_, she needed something else to read when she finished it. She had asked a few people still out at night for the directions to the closest bookstore, but all they managed to tell her was the general vicinity; not even the name of the store or the address.

It saddened her how few people understood the value of a good book these days.

"_Uncultured swines."_ Blake disdainfully thought as she carefully scanned the surrounding buildings.

There were few stores with their lights on to indicate that they were still open, but from what she gathered, the store she was looking for was open around this time. Deciding to test her luck, she walked up to the nearest lit building and grabbed the handle to open it.

She halted in her tracks as her hooded cat ears received the most shocking sentence from within the store.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep Tukson." a female voice ominously spoke from the inside of the store.

Blake swallowed a gasp as her eyes widened to unbelievable lengths.

Tukson; it was a name she never thought she would hear again. The last time she heard of her old friend was very recently after she defected from the White Fang, and from what she heard, he had followed her example and defected as well. She had tried to track him down to see if he was ok, but she had no luck. Nobody had heard from him since, and usually when someone disappeared after abandoning an organization like the White Fang, then it was safe to assume that they were in hiding or dead; most often the latter.

But not in this case apparently, which raised the question as to why he was in Vytal. And the woman speaking obviously wasn't there to purchase anything.

Was it even the same Tukson she knew?

The lights had dimmed noticeably as she overcame her initial sense of shock. Even if it wasn't her Tukson, he was in trouble and it didn't take a genius to figure that out. She had never been more thankful for her cautious nature, glad that she had brought Gambal Shroud in case of emergencies. She swiftly retrieved her beloved weapon from the inside of "her" hoody and began to formulate a strategy. Judging from the frequency of the sound waves that reached her ears, she indicated that the woman had her back towards the front door, meaning Blake could attempt a preemptive attack. Unfortunately, her ears also detected the subtle breathing of a third person inside behind the woman; an accomplice no doubt.

If she were to engage them right now, it would result in a double battle against the enemy. This would usually even the playing field, but there two issues that gave the enemy the advantage. One: Blake's rib hadn't fully healed, and Two: Blake hadn't seen Tukson (if it was even him) in action in years. She didn't know if he was still in fighting shape or not and a rusty soldier and an injured agent didn't make for the most effective of teams. Maybe if she could sneak in through the windows on the floor above, she might be to attack the enemy without alerting them by opening the door. She looked up at the windows above (making a mental note to slap herself in the future for not seeing the glaringly obvious sign above that read _Tukson's Book Trade_) and judged that she might be able to make the jump in time despite her injuries, with enough time.

Hopefully Tukson didn't do anything rash to piss them off.

"So…are you going to fight back?" The woman questioned with curiosity in her voice.

"YES!" Tukson responded angrily.

**God. Damn it. Tukson.**

As soon as she heard thudding atop a wooden surface, she immediately took action and swiftly slammed the door open. She caught the attention of the female attacker after she sidestepped Tukson's first swipe of his claws, but the male attacker was too focused on his target to notice her. Tukson made the horrendous mistake of leaping at them both in his rage.

The grey haired male smirked evilly as Blake heard the ever-familiar sound of Dust rounds clicking into place at his feet.

"TUKSON NO!" Blake shouted frantically as she rushed to save her doomed friend. With her cat-reflexes, she acrobatically leaped over the male and precisely swatted his raised foot away from Tukson with her blade. The male's shot completely missed his intended target and almost shot his green-haired partner, but the partner had anticipated Blake's move and crouched to the floor at the last second.

"Son of bi-"

The grey-haired male's exclamation of frustration was cut short by Tukson's successful attack. His enormous claws slammed destructively into the boy's chest and sent him flying into the door, almost breaking it down as he painfully bounced off of it.

Blake gracefully landed behind her friend, but was unable to dodge the swift kick to her injured rib by the girl. Blake was sent tumbling into a book shelf and was buried by the avalanche of tombs that fell from it. Deeply worried for her partner, the green haired girl leaped over Tukson and zipped over to his side as he crawled up from the ground while clutching his chest.

"Are you okay Mercury?!" She questioned concernedly as she slung his arm over her shoulder to help him up.

"I'm fine…I think." Mercury answered in deep breaths as he clutched the bleeding slashes across his chest.

"Damn it." The girl hissed as she grabbed a flash-bang from her side and pulled the pin.

"This isn't over." She growled at the two Faunus before dropping the grenade.

Tukson growled ferociously as he shielded his eyes from the blinding light. After his eyesight bled back to normal, he shot his head in all directions, but found no trace of his attackers.

He still didn't know how the hell they knew who he was or how they found him. If his mysterious rescuer didn't show up when she did, he more than likely would have died.

Speaking of which, he rushed to the mound of books crushing his savior and started swiping them into the walls to free her, not at all caring for the condition of his merchandise. It wouldn't matter soon anyway.

"Are you alright?" Tukson asked the girl as she clutched her bleeding rib.

"No." she honestly replied as she wobbily got back on her feet, clutching the re-opened wounds on her side. Her loss of balance was so great that her hood managed to slip off, revealing her identity to older man.

Tukson gasped in pure shock as he saw his rescuers face, as if he was looking into the eyes of a ghost.

"Blake!" Tukson question in complete disbelief after rubbing his eyes, checking to see if he was suffering from a hallucination.

Blake took a few seconds to adjust to the almost unbearable amount of pain she was in, then gave him the smallest of grins as she observed him. It was definitely her Tukson; he was the only one able to make those dreaded mutton-chops look good.

"Long time no see, old friend." Blake warmly greeted.

"Holy crap it is you!" Tukson ecstatically cheered as he wrapped her in a bear hug and twirled her around.

"_I'VE NEVER FELT SO MUCH PAIN!" _Blake thought as she almost cried from the pressure her friend was unknowingly applying to her weak spot.

"Please…let…go." Blake wheezed weekly, lacking the strength to resist his painful grip.

"Whoops, sorry." Tukson apologized sincerely as he put her down. "I'm just so glad you're okay!"

"Okay isn't the most accurate term I would use to describe my current condition." Blake admitted as she rubbed her rib. "Why so worried?"

"Of course I was worried from what I heard! Almost all of your friends at Beacon think you're dead!" Tukson exclaimed.

"What? How do you-"

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of police sirens in the far distance, most likely a patrol that was called to investigate the sound of gunfire.

"Damn it!" Tukson cursed as he sprinted towards a book shelf on the far side of the room. Demonstrating his superb strength, he effortlessly lifted it from the ground and tossed it aside to reveal a well hidden safe, but it failed to attract her attention.

She was focused heavily on the pile of discarded books that poured out of the book shelf and allowed a lone tear to slide down her cheek at the tragic sight.

All those beautiful books…so hazardously mistreated.

Her head snapped back toward her friend as he dialed in the combination and pulled the safe's door open. Blake was expecting a large amassment of money to lie within the safe, but was surprised at the fact that there was only one item that lied inside: a slim piece of hardware that looked similar to a scroll, only thicker.

Tukson snatched the object and quickly pushed it into Blake's hands.

"Look, I know you have questions, but we don't have the time. Keep this safe for now and go lay low somewhere." Tukson said before he jumped over his desk and began to hurriedly pack many unknown possessions of his in a bag.

"Wait! Hold on! Where are you going?! What am I supposed to do with this?!" Blake questioned.

"There's no time, just go!" Tukson shouted before slinging the sac over his shoulder and retreating behind the back door.

"Wait! Tukson!" Blake shouted as Tukson slammed the door shut. Blake gave chase to the oddly behaving Faunus and yanked the door open, refusing to leave without answers, but was perplexed by the sight of an empty room.

"What?" lowly said in disbelief. There was no way Tukson could have just disappeared. She was almost positive that his Semblance was strength, not the immensely rare teleportation, so how the hell did he just vanish?

She didn't have the luxury of being able to stay and investigate. The police would be here soon and she didn't want to be caught in here wearing a black hoody of all things; one of the most cliché articles of clothing for the common thief.

She quietly cursed under her breathe as she ran/limped towards the front door for a hasty escape, but dug her feet into the ground when she saw the pile of abandoned babies lying unattended on the floor.

"_Save uuuuuussssss…save uuuussss." _They wept, almost pulling another tear from her.

Blake's eyes slowly drifted to the large, empty sac that strongly resembled Tukson's, lying in the corner of the room.

Well…she did come here for more books.

_(The next morning)_

"Bye Blake! I'll be back later!" Jaune said as he waved his little kitten farewell.

Blake meowed innocently at him as he departed and closed the door behind him.

"Finally." Blake sighed as she transformed back into her original form and began walking up the stairs towards the guest room's closet. After moving aside many of Ren and Nora's crap on the closet's floor, she inserted her finger in the small hole that was carved in the corner and pulled. A perfect square shaped piece of the floor was pulled as Blake set it aside and smiled happily at the contents of her secret compartment: Gambal Shroud, the mysterious piece of technology that Tukson had forced on her, and over twenty different books stacked neatly next to one another.

Oh yes, she wouldn't be bored again for a long while.

Blake randomly took one of the colorful tombs in anticipation of spending the day reading, and sealed the compartment as she closed the door behind her.

She was completely unaware of the illuminant blue light that emanated from the device as she closed the door, as well as the message that was displayed on its concealed screen.

_**Charging initialized.**_

**Now that that's done, I'm going to start working on the Christmas special I have planned. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I promise that the next one will be a hundred times better and that it's coming out very freaking soon! Read and Review please: your generous feedback is what drives me! :-)**


	11. A Gift Worth Giving

**Words cannot describe how guilty I feel for making you all wait this long for this chapter. I had originally planned to update this during Christmas break, but one of my closest buddies from the military surprised me with a two week long visit, and then after that my college professors decided to make it rain assignments all over me, but that's still a crappy excuse. WHO THE HELL UPLOADS A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL OVER A WHOLE F*&#ING MONTH LATE?! GOD I'M DISGUSTED WITH MYSELF!**

**Self-chastising aside, I love you guys. No really, I do. When I first started this story, never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would grow to such a scale as this. Hell, I'm not even beginning to scratch the surface of what I have planned for this, and this already has over 400 favs and 600 followers at 100,000 words. I want to let you all know that it is thanks to you, the readers, that I find the motivation to do this. I look forward to another fun-filled year of this story and your continuing support.**

**Thank you; all of you. :-)**

**Anyway, without further ado, here's your Christmas special as promised!**

…_Beep_

…

…

…

…_Beep_

…

…

…

…_Beep_

Blake's drowsy golden eye's groggily unpeeled as she was awoken by the constant sound of the annoying beeping from inside the dark house. She rose from her spot on Jaune's chest, crawled off, and stretched her small limbs with a tiny yawn, careful not to wake him in the process. She looked towards her blond companion to see if the beeping had woke him up as well, but Jaune remained asleep, not even aware of the sound. Apparently the beeping was so subtle that only she could hear it with her sensitive hearing.

And speaking of sensitive hearing, it allowed her to hear Jaune's alarming whispers in his sleep.

"Take it off Bell…"

"_WHAT THE F*&%?!" _Blake mentally screamed as her face bled into a deep red.

Was Jaune seriously having _that _kind of dream?! About her?!

"Take off your hood so I can see all of your face…you'd look so much better without it…"

"_Oh…less awkward…I think."_ Blake thought as she silently jumped off of the bed and left the room to follow the noise.

If she had been more aware of her own emotions, she would have noticed the microscopic sliver of disappointment buried underneath her relief.

Blake's ears resembled satellite dishes as they slowly flicked in different directions in her attempts to track down the source of the constant beeping. She was surprised when she realized that the source was within the guest room. Her initial thought was that Ren and Nora had forgot to turn the T.V off when they left, but Ren was always considerate enough to leave the room how he entered it, so that wasn't the case.

She walked up to the door and pawed at it in an attempt to open it, but huffed in annoyance that it was closed. Making sure to keep as quiet as possible, she transformed into her natural form so that she could open the door, but slightly regretted it as the cold December air chilled her now nude form.

With a mental note to turn the heat up a bit before she reverted back to her feline form, she carefully opened the creaking door and observed the inside. Her eyes narrowed in confusion at the sight of complete darkness throughout the uninhabited room. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary, but her ears were definitely not lying to her; the sound was coming from the room. The T.V was off, so it wasn't that. But the only other electronic devices were the unplugged alarm clock and…

No way…

Blake zipped over to the closet door, opened it, then immediately pulled the lid off of her secret compartment in the floor. Lying in between her stack of books and her Gambal Shroud was the device that Tukson had crammed down her throat two months ago. Ever since her troublesome, yet relieving, reunion with her old friend, she had been trying to get the mysterious piece of hardware to work, but to no avail. All that she could deduce from the device was that it was some type of scroll. When she realized that it was a scroll, she almost beamed in joy at the possibility of letting her friends back at Beacon know she was alright, especially Yang, but was angrily disappointed that nothing she did managed to turn it on. She tried to use Jaune's charger, thinking that it was suffering from a lack of power, but she quickly noticed that there were no holes to insert a charger. She eventually gave up on the thing and left it to collect dust in her compartment.

But how did it turn on by itself after so many weeks without power?

She pulled the device out of its place and pulled it open to see why it was beeping consistently. She almost dropped it in shock as the screen came to life and displayed a smiling, familiar face.

"Tukson?!" Blake whispered in shock.

Tukson looked as if he was about deliver a witty comeback like "The one and only" or "Who else rock these sexy mutton-chops", but his happy grin slowly morphed into a small frown the longer he looked at Blake.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked, concerned that something was horribly wrong with him.

She took notice of how he screwed his eyes shut as he covered them with his calloused hands.

The cold air was a degrading reminder of her current appearance.

"Oh crap!" Blake breathed as she dropped the scroll in mortification that the man had seen her naked, and hastily grabbed her borrowed clothes from the compartment.

"So…" Tukson hesitantly said through the scroll, trying to ignore the sheer awkwardness of the situation. "I can see that it's cold over there."

"Shut the hell up Tukson!"

_(In another residence)_

Neo's dual-colored eyes shot open as she awoke from her slumber and realized what today was. With a silent and giddy squeal of pure joy, she leapt out of her pink bed and sped out of her room, barefooted and still in her pink pajamas. With no concern for her partner's privacy, she pushed the door open and began excitingly jumping up and down on their bed.

"Neeeooo…it's my week off and it's mid-night. Let me sleep." They requested groggily through their pillow as they pulled the covers over their head.

Neo defiantly chuckled as she ripped the covers away from her drowsy partner and began to shake them back and forth, refusing to leave the room until her victim was awake to enjoy the day with her. As soon as her partner opened their drowsy eyes, Neo grabbed their scroll from the nightstand and shoved it into their face, making sure to open the calendar before doing so.

Her partner's eyes widened to the point of full awareness as they saw the current date.

"It's Christmas Eve!" Her partner shouted excitedly as they rolled out of bed, onto their bare feet.

This brought a smile to Neo's face as she observed her partner as they sped off into the shower. Usually her partner was the serious one out of the two of them, and was also more reserved and less expressive then Neo, but Christmas always seemed to do wonders for their spirits. Ever since they escaped from their old life and began their new life on the run, every Christmas they would perform their annual good deed and would have a little fun along the way. It was the highlight of their year and they always took the week off to prepare for it.

They only had one thing left to do before they could start, and oh boy, Neo was shivering in pure excitement of the day's events. Her partner obviously felt the same way as they finished their brief shower and immediately got dressed in the stereotypical spy outfit that one would usually see in old action movies.

"You ready for some old fashioned fun, my mentally insane ally?" They questioned with a mischievous smile.

No words were necessary for Neo's partner to understand her; they had been through enough to be able to understand each other without the need for petty words.

"_Oh f%*& the hell yes."_Neo communicated, growling suggestively as her eyes gleamed with their familiar white glow, indicating the insanity that was coursing through her mind.

"Good." Her partner replied happily as Neo put her tiny hand on their shoulder, ready to teleport them both to their destination. "Then let's go pay Mr. Torchwick a holiday visit then."

They both chuckled naughtily as they disappeared in a white flash.

"_His nuts will roast on an open fire." _Neo evilly giggled.

_(Blake)_

_**Ding-Dong**_, the doorbell rang as Blake pushed the small white button besides the door to the small house.

The door immediately flung open as Tukson almost ripped it off of its hinges in his goal to embrace the hooded girl in his heartfelt embrace, not at all unlike the last time they met.

"Man, am I glad to see you!" Tukson happily said as spun her around in his hug as carried her inside his home and closed the door behind him with his foot.

"The feeling is mutual." Blake wheezed with a smile as she patted his back, trying to ignore the small amount of pain he was unintentionally causing her.

Tukson released her from his manly embrace and gently placed her on his sofa before taking a seat beside her and turning off his T.V.

"So, I didn't really get the chance to properly thank you for saving my ass a couple months ago." Tukson said as he grabbed a cup of freshly brewed tea from the coffee table and handed it to his guest. Blake warmly smiled at her friend as she gratefully took it and immediately began taking sips of the warm drink that did much for her cold and slightly snowy body. Evidently, he planned for her company and made her tea almost exactly how she liked it, just like old times.

"Speak nothing of it old friend. I was happy to save your life for the umpteenth time." Blake jokingly jabbed.

"Screw you." He replied in the same joking manner she did.

Blake would have loved to spend the next few hours enjoying playful banter with the old puma that was happily sipping his hot chocolate, but there last confrontation ended so abruptly that she didn't get the chance to ask any of the questions that had been lingering in her mind the past two months. Her curiosity overcame her desire to catch up, thus demanding that she ask her questions now while she had the chance.

"Tukson, where have you been all these years? I looked everywhere for you when I joined Beacon and I never found a single trace of you. I assumed the worst when my searches proved fruitless." Blake questioned, immediately jumping into her series of questions.

Tukson's smile slowly morphed into a frown as he slowly set aside his chocolate, trying to provide a satisfactory answer. "Well…I deserted not long after you did when I watched that video you left me detailing exactly why you left. Unfortunately, someone must have caught wind of my plans and ratted me out to the Alpha. I was on the run for weeks throughout Vale and Vacuo before I inevitably ran out of places to hide. As luck would have it, I managed to attract the attention of my current employer during my run, and she managed to save my ass right before the White Fang killed me. I've been working for her ever since." Tukson summarized efficiently, making sure to cover the basis of his experiences.

"The last time I saw you, you were working in a book store. What did that have to do with your work?" Blake asked, knowing that selling books would have been the last of his interests. Tukson was a fellow avid reader, but there must have been more important matters going on.

"The bookstore was just a cover up. In addition to selling books to the common folk of Vytal, I also worked as a liaison between my employer and her important clients. She sells important information to important people and I'm basically the one that personally trades it."

"So she's an information broker?"

"Precisely."

Well, that would explain how Tucson was so informed on the going-on's of Beacon. His employer was probably keeping him up to date with her situation.

"So who were those two that tried to kill you? Dissatisfied clients?" Blake questioned as vivid memories of the two teenagers returned to her. The two were obviously well trained, and from what she sensed from them both they were trained in the ways of Aura, so they were definitely a threat.

"My boss's information is always good. There's no way anyone would be dissatisfied with any information she sells. No, these guys were after information concerning my employer's identity, and they were damn smart about it too. At first they were posing as normal customers, asking about the different books I had for sell and what not, but I knew something was wrong when they said the codeword me and my boss use when a hostile customer entered the shop, and the only way they could have possibly know it was if they got it from one of our clients. No doubt they tortured them for the information, like the Order is notoriously known for doing."

"What was the password?" Blake asked curiously.

"Third Crusade." Tukson answered, still not abandoning his grim tone.

Blake frowned at the infamous subject that depressed any educated Faunus with its mere mention. The Third Crusade: The bloodiest and final failure of the first Faunus Revolution when the Faunus made one last desperate push to drive the Humans out of the Faunus home continent and reclaim it, only to fail miserably. It was a failure that resulted in the complete enslavement of the Faunus as they were killed off, raped, or exported in chains by ships to Vytal by their new masters, and would forever be remembered as the bloodiest moment in Faunus history when they were completely stripped of their dignity, rights, and culture.

"As soon as they made it clear they weren't friendlies, they began interrogating me for my boss's identity and/or location, even going so far as to bribe me with better protection from the White Fang and higher pay, but I didn't believe them. Hell, even if I did, I still wouldn't have betrayed my boss. She's been too good to me."

Blake smiled at as she took another sip of tea. One of Tukson's most endearing qualities was his unfaltering loyalty to the ones he cared for and she was happy that he still retained this quality, even if it had almost gotten him killed.

"They were armed to the teeth and made sure that I couldn't escape without a fight, and if you hadn't interrupted when you did, I'm fairly certain they would have murdered me and stole whatever they could find in my shop."

"You mean this?" Blake asked as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the device that Tukson had given to her.

"Exactly." Tukson confirmed.

"What exactly is this? A scroll?" Blake asked as she gave it back to Tucson.

"Not exactly. This is my boss's new invention; a technologically operated metadata encyclopedia, or "T.O.M.E", for short. It's a hyper-advanced version of a scroll that allows one to effortlessly access information of almost any other data bases and exchange it with my boss's computer and other Tomes." Tucson explained.

"Interesting. I've been trying to operate it for weeks and I couldn't even turn it on." Blake commented.

"I'm not surprised. This one's brand spanking new and just recently finished charging."

"But what does it run on? There's no port for a charging cable."

"That's because it runs on Aura, and since most of your Aura's been spent on healing that nasty looking injury on your side, it would probably take longer to charge."

Blake's eyes widened as they observed the slim piece of hardware. She was immensely impressed with its capabilities, for whoever was Tukson's employer was most likely a genius to be able to build something so intricately useful.

"So if they had found this after killing you…"

"They would have discovered more about my boss than what would be considered safe." Tucson finished for Blake as he put aside on the table.

"So it's basically a super computer that fits in your pocket?"

"It's a prototype, so it's still not complete yet and has a few bugs to work out, but yes." Tukson confirmed.

Wow, Blake wished that Ruby could have seen this. She most likely would have had, as Yang liked to dub it, a "Nerdgasm".

And speaking of old friends…

"Can I use it to call my friends at Beacon? I would really like to let them know I'm okay." Blake asked in hope, imagining how worried sick they all must be.

"Sorry Blake, one of its current short comings is its inability to send data or information to anything but other Tomes and my computer, so you can't communicate with any scrolls yet." Tukson answered, sorry that he had to disappoint her.

"Of course." Blake sighed in dejection.

"However, my boss might be able to help in that matter. I just need to establish a secure line of connection in this house, then we can talk about getting in touch with Beacon."

"If you haven't been communicating with anyone at Beacon, how do you know anything about them to begin with?"

"I don't know the specifics, I'm no techo-geek, but Beacon's communications are tightly secured to the point that gathering data on them is almost impossible. The only reason we know that your friends are concerned for your life is because many of the Order's smaller bases have been infiltrated more frequently for information ever since you disappeared, and from what my boss was able to gather from some of the Order's intercepted communications is that Adam and some blonde girl I don't know are the culprits. Some of the more descriptive words concerning the girl were "ferocious", "merciless", and "crying".

"_Yang…" _Blake depressively thought as her sad gaze dipped towards the ground. She knew that out of all of her friends back home, Adam and Yang were going to take her disappearance the hardest, but she underestimated just how worried they truly were. It saddened her that she was causing them so much grief due to her absence.

"Hey," Tukson said to catch her attention again, "Don't worry, ok. We'll get you home soon, so no worries." He comforted with a consoling grin.

"Thank you Tukson." Blake replied with a small grin, somewhat happy that there was some hope of seeing her friends again.

"So, I've told you my story, now it's your turn. Where have _you_ been the past few months? The last I heard of you, you were on a mission with Adam and disappeared. What happened?" Tukson asked, desiring some of his own answers.

Blake took a moment to sip her tea and recall the various events that led to her stay with Jaune, and answered, "The Order had acquired some type of artifact and transported it to one of their secret bases in Vale. Adam and I were tasked to steal it and bring it back to Beacon for study, but Adam was late for some reason, and I arrived at the base first. They were getting ready to move it again and I couldn't just let them leave with it, so I tried to steal it myself. I was successful, but unfortunately I wasn't able to escape their pursuit when I tried to flee. For some reason, Roman Torchwick was there and chased me throughout the city. He and his henchman had managed to land a few shots in me, and that negatively affected my efforts to shake off their pursuits. Roman managed to land a well aimed shot on me from his cane that almost killed me, and it sent me careening into an alley way. There was no way I could have hoped to defend the artifact in the condition the shot left me in, so I transformed into my feline form and hid in a dumpster with the artifact. They managed to find the artifact, but I managed to avoid detection."

Tukson grimaced at Blake's tale of her ill-fated mission, knowing that it would have took quite a bit of desperation on Blake's part to even make her think of transforming. But then he grew confused by the small smile that took the place of her frown.

"I was so close to death that night. I lost too much blood, my arm was dislocated, and I suffered horrible burns from Roman's cane. In all honesty, I should be dead. However, fate saw it fit that I got a second chance in the form of a heroic knight."

Tukson was definitely surprised by how affectionately Blake described this "knight", for he had never heard her speak so warmly about another.

"A boy about my age, heading home from work, was walking by the dumpster I was slowly dying in and took notice of my near-death state. He brought me back to his home and tried his absolute best to heal me, thinking that I was some poor kitten that had lost its home. As time passed and my wounds healed, I continued to pose as his cat and got to know him, the real him that he disguised to spare his loved ones the pain of his own issues. He was a goofishly charming boy that lost his parents at a very young age, and grew to become a self-hating individual that carried the burden of his parents' deaths on his shoulders for the rest of his days."

Tukson looked at his friend in understanding, now knowing why she was so affectionate to this boy.

"You sympathized with him." Tukson declared knowingly.

"Indeed." Blake confirmed as she continued her tale, "I eventually desired to actually forge a true friendship with him and started making efforts to meet him outside of his home in my true form as I borrowed his clothes, hoping to gain his trust so that I could give him a shoulder to cry on and an ear to speak to. I eventually grew attached to him to the point that I was complacent with patiently waiting for my wounds to heal until I could safely return to Beacon. In my condition, there was very little chance that I could return to Beacon or locate any of my friends in a city as large as Vytal to even know where to go, so I've been living with him as his cat and socializing with him as his friend ever since."

Tukson processed the story for a bit as he gulped down the rest of his hot chocolate.

"Have you told him?" Tukson asked curiously.

"Told him what?"

"About you. About what you are, about your real identity." Tukson clarified.

"No, and I've no intention to. He's so sweet, so kind, and I want to keep him away from this war as much as possible, even if it means lying to him." Blake answered, with a hint of regret Tukson noted.

"But you do plan on returning to Beacon, right?" Tukson asked.

"Of course."

"But if you don't want him involved in this war, you do realize that means leaving him behind, right?"

"…"

Blake couldn't bear to confirm the truth of Tukson's question and it was an issue that always tugged at the back of her head. She had grown attached to Jaune to a degree that she, at first, never even dreamed. At first she was somewhat content with the plan of leaving him by making him think that the cat he had been taking care of scampered off into the wild, never to be seen again, but now even the mere thought of leaving Jaune sent waves of pain into her heart with each breathe. She never understood why, but she now grew to be depressed with the idea of leaving him permanently.

But Tukson understood why, even if she didn't.

He had adorned that look of longing too many times in the when he was in a similar position.

"Tell me Blake, you care for this boy?" Tukson asked.

"More than I ever thought I would." Blake replied, still staring vacantly into her reflection of the coffee table.

_Strike One_

"You're willing to sacrifice whatever you want, just to make sure that he's safe?"

"And more." Blake answered, taking notice of the small grin on Tukson's face.

_Strike Two_

"And does your chest start to ache painfully at the mere thought of never seeing him again, never speaking to him again, and imagining how hurt he will be when you leave him?"

"Um…yes? Are you going somewhere with this Tukson?" She asked in slight confusion, not at all liking the twinkle in his hazel eyes.

_Strike Three. You're out._

"You want to know what I think Blake?" Tukson asked with chuckle.

"What?" she responded with a raised eye brow as she took another sip of tea.

The older puma gently placed his large hand on her shoulder and completely shook her world with his diagnosis from her answers.

"I think you're in love."

"SAY WHAT?!" Blake screamed before choking on her warm drink and coughing her lungs out.

Tukson chuckled as she finished her little coughing fit and began taking even larger gulps to ease her throat.

"You. Are. In. Love." Tukson clearly enunciated with each syllable, making sure that Blake understood his declaration.

"No! That's-that's-no-me-can't-won't-love!" Blake stuttered in a panic as she was unable to form a covalent sentence.

"Denying it won't do you any good, little kitten." Tukson affectionately advised as he grabbed the tea kettle from his side of the table and poured her another cup of tea.

"There's no way! I just care about him as a friend! That doesn't mean that I'm in love!" Blake shouted in denial as she animatedly shook her head, refusing to believe in Tukson's reasoning.

"Blake, I've known you ever since you were a little girl. I've listened to you speak of many times of your life, and I've listened to you describe many individuals. But not once have I ever heard you speak so affectionately about anyone like this."

"Ok, fine. **Maybe** I do love Jaune, but I'm not _in_ love with him." Blake defended.

"It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself more than you're trying to convince me." Tukson rebutted with a smirk.

"Then how can you be so sure?" Blake questioned inquisitively, but immediately regretted it as she noticed the depression in Tukson's eyes. His head slowly dipped toward the ground with a tiny sigh of sorrow.

"Because I've also suffered the confusing dilemma of love." He answered with a voice that clearly expressed inner pain that Blake had never heard in his voice before. Before she could ask him to elaborate on his answer, Tukson erratically shook his head and stood from his seat. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I think you'd better go home now before your "owner" gets worried about his missing cat."

He picked up the Tome from the table and placed it in here hands after she also rose from her seat.

"I'm going to start trying to get in touch with my boss to see if she can help you get back to Beacon, or at the very least get in touch with someone over there. I'll message you on this to keep you updated on my progress."

"Thank you very much Tukson." Blake thanked warmly as she hugged the bulky puma.

"No prob kitten, now scram. I have work to do." Tukson playfully remarked as he returned the hug.

Blake did as she was told and exited the house, ready to begin her walk back to her sleeping blonde.

"Oh, and Blake?" Tukson called out before she got too far.

"Yes?" Blake replied as she pulled her hood over her hair to shield it from the snow.

"Think about what I said. And please remember to put on a shirt the next time I call." Tukson advised with a wink as he closed the door.

Blake blushed heavily as she mentally cursed Tukson for reminding her of the asinine topic. As she began her long walk back home through the dark of the night, she performed every possible mental exercise to repress the thoughts of the slim possibility that Tukson might have been correct in his diagnosis.

None of them worked.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Come on, get the led out you idiots! I would like to get ready in time for Christmas!" Roman shouted authoritatively to his henchman as they scampered around the base, working diligently as to not anger their boss.

His scheduled meeting with the Conclave was right around the corner and Roman was rushing to get ready for it. He planned to move his base of operations further out of town due to increased police activity and was motivating his henchman to pick up the pace with a promised Christmas bonus, but only if they managed to finish their work before Christmas day.

It was Christmas Eve, and all of the criminals were working their hardest.

Well…almost all of them.

"Where the hell are the brats?!" Roman angrily questioned a passing goon, enraged that he didn't see either of them working as hard as their co-workers.

"They said that they would be in their room getting ready for Christmas, and to not bother them unless it was an emergency or they would get Cinder to dock your pay." The goon replied as he carried a box to one of the awaiting moving trucks.

"Goddamn it!" Roman exclaimed as he face-palmed in frustration, wondering why he even kept them around. They were supposed to act as his body guard and shield his operations from any interference, but there had been very few of those as of late, so their jobs were very easy. Now all they did was hover over him, criticize his every action, and test his ability to refrain from team-killing, reminding him to never have kids and get a vasectomy when he secured his funds.

Speaking of which, he had better do that now so that he could transfer his goons' bonuses to them electronically when they were done.

"Yo, Franky!" Roman shouted to one of the very few of his henchman that he trusted with his money.

"Franklin Dominic: reporting for duty sir!" The henchman enthusiastically called out as he professionally stood before his superior with a salute.

"Do me a favor and go make sure my funds are ready for withdrawal, would ya?"

"Yes sir!" Franklin shouted as he marched towards Roman's office to do as he was asked, making Roman wonder if he had been in the military at some point of his life.

Franklin continued his march through the only section of the base that was quiet and peaceful, making various turns through different hallways as he did so. Eventually, he entered Roman's rather spacey office, sat down in his custom-made seat that was built for maximum comfort, and began booting up Roman's PC in preparation of fulfilling his orders.

He took notice of the lingering warmth of the seat, as if someone had abandoned the seat not long before he showed up, but disregarded as he typed in the requested password in the computer.

_**Roman'sthebest,f*#%therest**_

"Aaaaaannnnnd…done." Franklin proudly whispered as he opened Roman's desktop.

"Thank you very much." A voice from behind him gratefully commented.

Franklin spun around in the revolving chair in an alarmed fashion, but only saw a flash of pink, white, red, and brown as he was knocked unconscious by what seemed to be a candy-cane.

"…" Neo smiled cockily at her partner beside her as they dragged the henchman away from the computer.

"I don't owe you one-hundred Lien! You didn't guess the password correctly until we decided to wait for someone else to enter it in!" they defended as they sat down in the chair and began typing away at the computer.

"…"

"So what if you guessed closer than I did? I'm still not paying you."

Neo angrily pouted with slight stomp as she crossed her arms.

"Call me names all you want, just get ready to keep me safe as I do my work." They said as they placed an open scroll in front of the computer and began connection it to the computer.

The dual-colored midget saluted happily as she sent a wink of good luck at her partner. Neo left the office and began setting her carefully planned traps around the hallway, giggling mischievously as she activated her Aura and began to be enveloped in an illusion that changed her clothes.

"Ok…" her partner whispered roguishly as they began to open windows that displayed feedback of all the bases security cameras.

"Let's have some fun."

As the duo of mischief set the stage for the chaos that was about to ensue, Mercury and Emerald were in their shared room discussing the neatly wrapped and small present they placed a fancy red bow on.

"Do you think that she'll like it?" Emerald asked as she placed the present on their nightstand.

"She should. Girls always seem to like stuff like this. Besides, I'm more concerned about what she got _us_ for Christmas." Mercury selfishly responded as he kicked back in his bed.

"Okay, 1: I'd be very surprised if she even cared enough about Christmas to even buy presents, and 2: You're a selfish jackass." Emerald insulted as she sat down on her own bed and glared at her friend.

"You know you love me." Mercury declared suggestively with a wink.

Emerald would have responded with another insulting rebuttal, but she was interrupted by the most unusual of oddities coming from the intercom.

_**Troll-lol-lol-la-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol!**_

_**Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!**_

_**Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!**_

_**Troll-lol-lol-la-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol-lol!**_

_**Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!**_

_**Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!**_

The two criminals stared at each other with confused looks as they listened to the unusual song echo throughout the entire base.

"What the hell is that?" Mercury asked as he looked up at the ceiling.

"I think that's the _Troll Song_." Emerald answered.

Back near the center of the base, Roman looked up from his scroll to the ceiling with a scowl of disbelief as he and his henchman immediately stopped what they were doing to listen to the song.

"**Sir, somebody has infiltrated our base and is tampering with the intercom!" **A concerned henchman buzzed through Roman's scroll from the computer room.

"You don't freaking say?!" Roman sarcastically shouted in response to the obvious declaration. "Pull up the security feed from my office!"

"**Um…sir? I don't think that's gonna happen." **

"And why the hell not?!" Roman angrily shouted.

"**Apparently whoever infiltrated the base has hacked your personal computer in your office, and has complete control over the security cameras and all of our data. Every time we attempt to pull up security footage, we keep receiving a picture of the Troll face with a Christmas hat."**

"What?! How is that possible?! I made sure that it was protected by a password! How did-oh crap! Franky, you had **one **job!" Roman complained after piecing together what most likely happened. "Fine, get out of there, grab some guns, and meet near the office so we can eliminate this douche bag!"

"**That, also, probably isn't going to happen sir. All of the doors throughout the base have been sealed shut somehow."**

"I don't suppose you could just break them down?" Roman asked as he exasperatedly rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"**They're metal doors…sir." **

"Goddamn it! Fine, stay put. I'm gonna go free Emerald and Mercury so they can-"

"What about us?" Emerald askedas she and her limping partner entered the room.

"How the hell did you guys get free?" Roman asked as he closed his scroll, conflicted on whether or not to be happy that the annoying kids were free or angry that he had to deal with their smart ass remarks.

"Well, Mercury had to try to kick the door down…over fifty times." Emerald answered with a hint of humor in her voice.

"My leg hurts." Mercury whined as he limped to Emerald's side.

"Too bad, you two are gonna have to go ahead of me and try to get into my office so we can kill whoever is doing all of this crap."

"Fine," Emerald begrudgingly obeyed as she dragged her limping friend towards their destination. "This song's giving me a head ache anyway."

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Mercury repeatedly said with each step of his bad leg.

As soon as the two pains in his ass exited the room through the hallways, Roman quietly whispered in prayer, "Please let them be killed." before he began to distribute weapons to the fifteen henchman that weren't imprisoned.

Emerald and Mercury hastily made their way down the hallway with their weapons ready, ready to end the nuisance that had ruined their easy day. However, they were surprised by the lone wooden sign that stood mysteriously in the middle of the last hallway. They both looked at one another in confusion before cautiously taking steps towards the sign. Mercury walked further ahead of Emerald to read the beautifully neat and cursive handwriting on its surface.

_**Deck the balls with hits so jolly!**_

_**Ha ha ha ha ha!**_

_**Ha ha ha ha!**_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mercury questioned as turned towards his friend.

For some reason, the intercom was playing _The Nutcracker_.

"MERCURY GET BACK!" Emerald shouted with an outstretched hand.

Mercury spun around to see what had alarmed his partner and readied himself to deliver a flurry of kicks at whatever it was, but did not have the reflexes to be able to dodge the attack of the assailant that had replaced the sign.

With a tiny giggle of glee as she came out of her sign-illusion, Neo delivered the mightiest, Aura-filled swing of her candy cane colored umbrella into Mercury's groin.

With a sonic boom that almost shattered Emerald's ear drums, Mercury was sent rocketing through the base's ceiling with the lingering echoes of his squeals of agony as he disappeared into vast blue of the snowy sky with a dinging twinkle.

After watching her friend painfully ascend into the heavens, Emerald fearfully lowered her head toward the girl proudly resting her weapon on her shoulder.

The noticeably short girl was dressed in a tight Santa outfit that snugly hugged her petite figure. To complete the attire, her hair was a beautiful gleaming sheet of white that neatly framed her face and was held in place by the classic and symbolic Santa hat. Neo sent a mocking wink at the tanned girl, thoroughly enjoying the benefits of her Semblance.

"You'll pay for that." Emerald growled as she reached for her dual blades fastened to her hips.

Or at least she tried to; her hands grasped vacant air where her weapons were supposed to be.

Neo smirked happily as she dangled Emerald's blades from her unoccupied hand, hoping to anger her adversary.

It worked.

"Oh hell no." Emerald growled ferociously as her dark green Aura visibly flared around her body. This bitch, this cocky arrogant midget, stole from her, **HER!** Emerald Sustrai: Master Thief!

She was going to die.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Emerald roared monstrously as she sped towards the she-Santa with her fist reared back, ready to plow into her grinning face.

Strangely enough, Neo made no effort to dodge the attack and egged Emerald on by waving her over with her finger. To add insult to injury, she kept her gaze on her watch and ignored her attacker completely, angering Emerald and increasing her pace. Emerald thought it was a cheap attempt at angering her, but that was not the case at all.

Neo was counting down the time it took for Mercury to descend back down from the sky.

Still screaming in unparalleled agony, Mercury zoomed back down the same hole he created upon his exit and fell right back into position in front of Neo.

His fall was broke by the powerful punch to his crotch that was intended for Neo's face.

"OH MY GOD! MERCURY!" Emerald shouted, concerned that she may have accidentally broke him.

Mercury's only response was a miniscule and high pitched wheeze as a tear slid down his sweaty red face.

Neo seized the opportunity to zip behind Emerald and slam the handle of her umbrella into the back of her head, effectively knocking her out and causing her to collapse atop her gray haired friend, who had also fell unconsciousness from sheer pain.

Happy that the two biggest threats were taken care of, Neo walked further ahead and began to conjure her next illusion.

She was merrily whistling along with the new song that was playing, _Here Comes Santa Clause_, as she pulled out a simple pistol.

As Emerald and Mercury suffered the pain of their defeat, Roman was finished distributing every weapon available and ready to attack the intruder.

"All right guys," Roman said as he began marching after his annoying co-workers. "Let's do this."

His henchman finished loading their guns and sharpening their swords, they marched behind their leader in an orderly fashion. But before they could enter the hallways, they were interrupted by two things. The first was the new song that was playing, the second was the echoes of marching reverberating through the hallways.

"Halt!" Roman commanded with a raised hand, choosing to wait for the enemy to show itself first.

He visibly flinched at the sight of a portly Santa, grinning maniacally at him as he marched towards him to the beat of the song, with a giant candy cane he was using to direct his troops. All of his henchman's jaws collided with the floor at the sight of the army of gingerbread men following the evil looking Santa, all wielding menacing looking candy cane swords and pointing them all at the henchman.

"**Oh Roman! You've been a very bad boy this year!" **The Evil-looking Santa singed in a demonic, booming voice as he began to lick his lips viciously in Roman's direction, scaring the color out of Roman's body and leaving him paler than the falling snow outside. **"I'm going to leave coal inside of places you didn't even know you had!"**

If Roman wasn't intimidated before, he sure as hell was now.

"Fire!" Roman shrieked/ordered as he fired Melodic Cudgel at his enemies, motivating his henchman to do the same. Fear instantly gripped their hearts as all of their bullets passed through the army harmlessly, not at all deterring their progress towards the criminals.

"Our bullets don't work sir!" One goon cried out in pure fear as most of the others began to recoil.

"Relax! This just means their fake." Roman said in an attempt to inspire confidence in his terrified men.

Almost as if to intentionally refute the crooks assumption, one of the ginger bread men pulled a tiny candy cane pistol from its side and fired at a random henchman's foot, eliciting a yelp of pain from him as the bullet penetrated his foot.

"_Holy crap it's not fake." _Roman thought as the army advanced ever closer to them.

When against an enemy that could harm you when you couldn't harm it, there was only one sensible thing to do.

Run away screaming like a total bitch.

"RETREAT!" Roman squealed effeminately as he hauled ass towards one of the loaded trucks, followed closely by the screaming henchman as they all jumped in their own while leaving behind a faint smell of urine.

After all of the terrified criminals fled as fast as their trucks would allow them, Neo giggled cutely as she allowed her illusion to drop, removing any sign of the gingerbread soldiers and returning her appearance to its normal festive self.

She teleported back to her partner and gave them a thumbs up as a sign of praise.

"Did you have as much fun as I did?" Her partner asked with a chuckle.

Neo enthusiastically nodded her head repeatedly.

"Good, because I've just finished getting everything I need. Let's go, we have many gifts to buy and little time to do so."

Neo grabbed her partner's shoulder with an affirmative nod as she teleported them both to safety as quickly as possible.

There was no time to waste if they wanted to buy enough presents for every house in Vytal.

_(Elsewhere)_

Ozpin sighed contentedly as he sank into his recliner with his hot chocolate in hand. The fireplace crackled and crisped as it caressed his body with its comforting warmth and glow, the Christmas specials on T.V humored him as they arose memories of the times he would watch them as a child, and the delicious aroma of his dearest wife's cooking aroused his taste buds with their scent that promised a delectable meal.

Everything was perfect for the impending visit of his family and friends.

"Are you positive that you don't need any help in there Dear?" Ozpin asked his wife in the kitchen for the fourth time.  
>"DAVID SHANNON OZPIN, I SWEAR TO MONTY, IF YOU TAKE ONE STEP IN THIS KITCHEN I WILL BEAT YOU WITH YOUR OWN CANE!"<p>

"Yes Dear." Ozpin whimpered fearfully, knowing full well that she would do it.

Apparently she still held it against him that he couldn't cook to save his life. The last time he had tried to cook for the two of them, he ended up almost burning down the entire house and accidentally burned almost all of the groceries. Suffice to say, his wife had unleashed the fiery fury of a thousand suns upon him, and put the fear of Monty in him from then on every time he tried to help her in the kitchen. After all, angering Glynda was the equivalent of jumping into a pit of fire, and the only fire extinguisher nearby was filled with gasoline.

Ozpin was brought out of his fearful shivering as the doorbell rang, signifying that some of their guests were at the door. After placing his hot chocolate on the coffee table, he rose from his recliner and gracefully walked to the door to greet his guests. As soon as he opened the door and saw who had rang the bell, his spirits rose to unimaginable heights and commanded him to embrace his guest in a swift hug.

"Season's greetings Jaune!" Ozpin enthusiastically welcomed, immensely happy to see his god-son, who was wearing the green and red Christmas sweater that Glynda knitted for him, and his two close friends behind him holding hands.

"Hi Uncle Ozpin." Jaune replied as he hugged the grey-haired man back.

"And a fine hello to you as well Ren, Nora." Ozpin greeted as he released Jaune.

"Heeeeeelllllloooooo!" Nora singed happily while Ren simply greeted Ozpin with a polite bow.

"Excellent timing on all of your parts; Glynda is almost done cooking…I think."

"Auntie Glynda still won't let you in the kitchen huh?" Jaune jokingly inferred.

"Oh hush you." His god-father gruffly replied with a smile as he beckoned them all inside the warm and inviting house.

All three of the teens wiped their feet on the welcome mat and walked into the house that they all remembered as their favorite place in the world as kids. Ever since Ren and Nora had technically become extended members of Jaune's family, the two had basically lived here alongside him, and they were a pleasure. Even as a child, Ren was delightfully polite in every conceivable way, and Nora…well…she was funny. Not many could claim that they were able to make Glynda blue faced from laughter.

"Does Mrs. Goodwitch need assistance in the kitchen, Prof. Ozpin?" Ren asked.

Ozpin chuckled at Ren's refusal to refer to him informally outside of school, no matter how many times he told the young man that it was unnecessary.

"I'm too afraid to ask another time, less she beats me into a bloody pulp." Ozpin shamefully admitted before taking a sip of his cocoa.

"Don't worry Prof. Ozzy!" Nora cheerfully consoled with her affectionate nickname. "A woman beating you down is just her way of saying she cares! I beat Ren every night!"

Ozpin eyes resembled that of colorless baseballs as he choked on his drink and spat some of it back into the cup.

"NORA!" Ren exclaimed in embarrassment as Jaune face-palmed with a blush.

"What? What did I say?" Nora cluelessly asked, completely missing the unintentional suggestiveness in her declaration.

Glynda walked in, wearing a white sweater under her Christmas themed apron, as she dried her hands from washing them. She couldn't help but take notice of everyone's disturbed and surprised expressions, except for Nora who looked confused.

"Do I even want to know?" Glynda skeptically asked.

"No." All of the men simultaneously moaned as they all rose from their seats with a shared grimace.

Glynda's completely disregarded the many possibilities of what could have happened in favor of lovingly embracing her godson in an affectionate hug, of which Jaune happily returned.

"I missed you." Glynda tenderly cooed as she tightened her hug.

"You're…crushing…me…Auntie…Glynda." Jaune wheezed painfully as he tried to separate from his mother figure.

"I know." Glynda whispered darkly as she increased the pressure she was applying to Jaune's ribs. "I saw the D you made on your last quiz." She growled as she refused to let Jaune escape her motherly wrath.

"Glynda," Ozpin interjected, concerned for his godson's life. "I do believe you are killing him."

"Please…let go." Jaune pleaded through a blue face.

Deciding to grant her godson mercy, just this once, she released him from her death grip, allowing him to greedily inhale every bit of oxygen he possibly could from his spot on the floor.

"She scares me Prof. Ozzy." Nora whimpered fearfully as she and Ren slowly took small steps behind the professor.

"Nora, Glynda scares us all." Ozpin informed as he took the last sip of his chocolate.

The terror that gripped the hearts of Ozpin and his godson's friends immediately dissipated and was switched with surprise as the front door was slammed open by an unusual looking man.

"Ho Ho Ho! Meeerrrryyyy Chriiiistmaaas!" The man shouted joyously through a series of deep and booming laughter as his belly jiggled like a bowl full of jelly.

Nora merrily broke into a fit of celebratory "Whoo Hoos!" as she danced happily around a confused Ren. "In your face!" She shouted at her lover with a finger pointed in his face. "I told you he was real!"

Ozpin chuckled humorously at the sight of his oldest friend's merriment, happy that he was enjoying his annual job as a mall Santa. "Enjoying yourself Peter?" he asked jokingly as he enthusiastically shook his hand after the Santa closed the door behind him.

"Every year, my good chum! Nothing delights me more this time of year than bringing a smile to children's faces. Being a mall Santa is merely a bonus!" Peter boisterously answered to his old friend.

"It is rather fitting, considering your physique." Glynda verbally jabbed with a challenging smirk.

"I shall take that as a compliment, which is a rare thing from you." Peter replied, reciprocating a joke in the same matter Glynda did.

Nora halted her excited dancing as she listened to the conversation between the adults. "Wait, you mean he's not the real Santa?" Nora asked disappointedly with a quivering lip.

"Sorry Nora." Ren comforted consolingly with a hug as Nora's happiness withered away in a fit of quiet sobs, muffled silently by his chest.

Peter turned his head towards the silent blonde teenager observing him carefully from behind his godfather. As Peter observed the young lad in return, a small grin grew along his lips that were completely concealed by his thick moustache. The boy still retained many of his baby features that Peter fondly remembered from years ago during happier times, making him easily recognizable to the older gentleman. He could still remember the times when he would bounce the little toddler on his kneecap, entertaining the boy and turning him into a rapid bundle of laughter as he clenched onto the older man's leg. But that was so long ago, he most likely didn't even remember him.

"Hello there! It's nice to see you again little Jaune!" Peter greeted as his hand swallowed Jaune's own in a tight shake.

"Uuummm…hi? Have we met?" Jaune awkwardly asked, trying his best not to sound rude, but still slightly anxious around the stranger.

Peter chuckled as he released Jaune's hand and stroked his moustache, entertained by how nervous the boy had become. "I suppose you wouldn't remember me considering that the last time you saw me, you were a wee lad." He replied as he inched his thumb and index finger towards one another. "Allow me to reintroduce myself! My name is Professor Peter Port, and I am a long time friend of David and your father!" he said with a dramatic and well rehearsed bow.

Jaune's eyes widened at Peter's proclamation. He had always assumed that his dad had very few friends when he was alive, for they rarely had any visitors beside Uncle Ozpin and Auntie Glynda. However, the large and friendly man did feel endearingly familiar, and he spoke with a tone jollity and confidence that reminded him of his father. Jaune instantly believed the Peter, seeing the similarities between the two.

"Nice to meet you Professor Port." Jaune greeted politely with an honest smile, no longer feeling nervous around the charismatic man.

Port, once again, laughed jollily at the respect the young man showed him by addressing him by his position. "Although I appreciate your respect lad, there's no need to be so formal with a friend of the family! Just call me Peter, or Port! Whatever works for you!" Peter said exuberantly as he playfully patted Jaune's back. The man was stronger then he appeared to be, Jaune noticed this as he almost fell to the ground from the unintentional force behind Peter's pats. Many of the people he knew were stronger than they looked and much more so than him, for some reason. Nora could pick up his couch and throw it at someone (don't ask), Yang almost dislocated his arm with a playful punch, and now Pete was almost sending him tumbling to the floor with "gentle" pats on the back.

Maybe he needed to eat more, or something…

"And you two must be Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie; Jaune's partners in crime." Peter proclaimed as he walked past Jaune and towards the couple, who had immediately rebounded from their "moment".

"Hello sir." Ren politely greeted while his antithesis of a lover greeted Peter with an excited "Yo!" and a wave in his direction. "You know of us; do you teach at our college?" Ren asked, curious as to how the man knew them.

"I've heard many stories from Ozpin and my other friend who just so happens to be one of your teachers. My personal favorite was when you and Jaune were dripping wet, screaming, and sprinting through campus wearing nothing but towels as you were chased by Nora, who was violently whipping both of your posteriors with a wet towel while singing _I'm Bringin' Sexy Back _at the top of her lungs." Peter laughed in response.

"Indeed. It was a rather humorous example of your escapades with one another." Ozpin commented with a sly grin.

"How did you see it? You were in your office at the time." Jaune asked, wondering how his uncle managed to observe his embarrassment.

"I may have watched the entire spectacle through the security cameras in my office…and then proceeded to save the footage for future laughs." Ozpin answered with a malicious chuckle.

"You did what?!" Jaune shouted in embarrassment as Ren shamefully face-palmed in silence and the other occupants of the room laughed at their expense, except for Glynda who was silently giggling into her fist.

"Can you at least promise us to not show it to anyone?" Ren requested through his palm in an attempt not to look anyone in the eye.

"I can promise not to show anyone **else**…on Youtube."

"AW COME ON!" Jaune shouted in frustration as Ren dramatically collapsed on the floor, sending everyone else into a renewed wave of laughter at the boys' embarrassment.

The hilarity of the moment was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell, signifying that Ozpin's and Glynda's final guest arrived.

"And speaking of lost bets." Peter chuckled evilly as he twisted his moustache, not unlike a stereotypical cartoon villain.

"Oh dear." Ozpin apprehensively breathed as he opened the front door, wondering what his plump friend did to the youngest of his generation.

He almost dropped his cup in shock as he saw the oddity awaiting him after opening the door.

Standing erect on the welcome mat, looking a tad bit embarrassed with a small frown, was Bartholomew Oobleck. Jaune, Nora, and Ren were surprised enough to see their History teacher to begin with, but their brains were overloaded by shock when they noticed the fact that he was wearing a reindeer costume, that was a few sizes too small, and a dab of red face paint on his nose.

"Prof. Oobleck?" Jaune asked skeptically, trying to make sure that it was him.

"**Doctor**…" Oobleck unenthusiastically corrected, ashamed that he was forced to show his face in his current attire. "Do you have any alcohol?" he exhaustedly asked Ozpin, needing a good supplement of the liquid to get through the day.

Ozpin's lips shuddered before he finally gave in.

All three of the adults and Nora almost destroyed their own lungs as they laughed twice as hard as they did at Jaune's and Ren's embarrassment. Jaune and Ren stood paralyzed and silent at the poor professor who was face-palming with a frustrated huff, or at least trying to, but failed as a fake hoof covering his hand met his face instead.

It was hauntingly ironic that the adults mirrored the same experiences that they had.

"You all will be the death of me one day." Oobleck sighed as he made himself home, walked past everyone else, and unceremoniously collapsed on the couch.

"Wait…**you're **friends with my family too?" Jaune asked in slight shock, not ounce remembering seeing the green-haired intellectual before he started college.

"Yes, longer then you know." He answered solemnly, making Jaune wonder as to why he sounded so depressed in his answer. Jaune has never remembered seeing his professor in his current mood, as he was always hyper-active and excited, and it was unusual to see the man act so calm and sad.

"Here." Ozpin kindly said as he handed his friend a rather large bottle of beer, knowing that he was going to need it.

"Thank you." Oobleck gratefully replied as he wasted no time popping the cap and taking generous sips from it.

"Wow…look at him go…" Nora commented in amazement as Oobleck guzzled down the beverage like a champ, looking as if he could easily out-drink the frat boys on campus.

The adults were completely used to Bart's ability to consume massive amounts of alcohol and were unperturbed by it.

"Well, Bart's humiliation aside, dinner's ready." Glynda said happily as she beckoned everyone towards the kitchen.

Not two milliseconds after she finished her declaration, everyone zipped in blurs towards the kitchen, excited at the prospect of Glynda's scrumptious cooking. Everyone except for, ironically, Oobleck, who was walking towards the kitchen in a more controlled manner.

"I call first dibs on the coffee cake!" Nora singed happily.

"The hell you say?!" Ozpin uncharacteristically shouted in a challenging manner, ready to kill over his beloved's coffee cake.

Glynda sighed with a subtle smile as she shook her head.

"Got to love the holidays." She whispered with a chuckle.

_(Beacon)_

"Come on." Ruby whined/begged.

"No." Weiss growled as she turned away in her bed, away from the hooded pest.

"Come oooooonnnnnn."

"No."

"Come ooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn."

"No."

"Come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on come on!"

Weiss's mental capacity for rage and murderous intent finally met its fill as she ripped the covers off of her hospital bed and screamed at the top of her freshly healed lungs, **"OK!"**

"Really?!" Ruby excitedly asked, making sure that her charge wasn't being sarcastic this time.

"Ruby if it will shut you the f%#$ up for five minutes then yes!" Weiss shouted angrily as she leaped from her bed and began putting on her shoes, having already gotten sick of her hospital gown and had already put on her combat skirt.

"YES! Victory is mine!" Ruby excitedly shouted as fist pumped in celebration.

Weiss growled ferociously as she finished putting on her shoes and grumpily followed the Faunus out of the door.

Today was Christmas Eve to Weiss's understanding (she had long lost the motivation to keep track of time), and ever since she woke up this morning, she had hoped to have a break from the young Faunus for the day, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be. The red-head returned with excitement that doubled her usual quota and demanded that the heiress spend some time with her outside of her room. Well… "cell" would be a more accurate term. Some of the higher ranked members of Beacon that visited her during the first few days of her undesired stay made it abundantly clear that she was forbidden to leave the room without a pair of handcuffs restraining her, but today was apparently the exception since Ruby was so adamant in taking her out. Not that she cared, mind you, she was perfectly content waiting in her room for her trial with the leaders of Beacon only known as "The Council", but a Ruby full of Christmas cheer would not allow it.

Even as Weiss begrudgingly followed her forced acquaintance, the red Faunus was merrily whistling "Jingle Bell Rock" as she skipped down the busy hallways.

Weiss tried her best to ignore the various looks she was getting from some of the people walking through the hallways, ranging from pure shock to utter disgust.

"So what was so damn important that you needed to drag me out of my room?" Weiss grumpily asked, not at all enjoying the sour glare a ferret Faunus was giving her from afar.

"Because I need your help with something." Ruby answered as she momentarily ceased her whistling before grinning widely. "Besides, no one should be alone on the holidays!"

"_Shows what you know." _Weiss thought disdainfully, wanting nothing more than to be alone, away from her enemies.

After a rather lengthy walk through Beacon's hallways (it was much larger than she had originally anticipated), they finally approached the enormous double doors that served as Beacon's entrance apparently. Ruby grunted in effort as she pulled them open with her skinny arms, slowly peeling open the doors and allowing the cold air to seep through. After she finally opened the door, Weiss's eyes widened a bit as she gazed upon the festivities throughout Beacon's front yard. For the first time ever, she was able to take in the surroundings of Beacon, and she was fairly surprised by what she saw.

There were hundreds of people walking through the snow-covered streets of the buildings, all adorned with beautiful and multi-colored Christmas lights, surrounding the colossal towers that they just exited, and almost every one of them were wearing something Christmas related and carrying neatly wrapped Christmas presents. Christmas songs were playing through the area at a volume that made discernible, but not loud enough to the point that the people couldn't hear one another. She raised her head up to look to the cloudy blue sky that was littered with descending flakes of snow that melted against her face. In all honesty, she half expected Beacon's base of operations to be in some type of underground base, for they were notorious for being the most elusive of the three warring factions, but her current surroundings were anything but elusive. You could hear the merriment coming from the crowd from miles away, and one could easily see the many lights from even the farthest of distances. If this was how they operated on a daily basis, the mere fact that Beacon remained hidden from the eyes of their enemies was nothing short of a miracle.

"C'mon, this way!" Ruby shouted as she began to jog around through the crowd of people.

"Hey! Wait up!" Weiss called out as she struggled to keep up with the Faunus who obviously underestimated her own speed. Or perhaps Weiss was just out of shape, weeks of doing nothing but resting would do little to maintain her stamina.

After chasing the Faunus through the hustle and bustle of the small town for what felt like forever, she skidded to a halt behind her and leaned the palms of her hands against her knees as she tried to satisfy her aching lungs.

"Oh c'mon, we only ran a few miles! You're really out of shape!" Ruby commented with a mischievous smile.

"F%&#...you…" Weiss breathed through a series of raspy breaths, then gritting her teeth in frustration as she was censored again by some mysterious means. She had absolutely no idea how she was being censored, but that wasn't the primary thought on her mind at the moment. She wanted to know why Ruby had brought her so far away from town.

She looked up from the ground to look at Ruby, then immediately took notice of the forest of evergreen trees behind her, coated in snow and glimmering and sparkling in the sunlight. The scenery was an immaculately beautiful sight that any artist would have immediately abandoned what they were doing to paint, and Weiss could only stare dumbfounded at the forest of magnificence.

"Yeah, the Emerald Forest is pretty, huh? Especially this time of year." Ruby said, remembering the first time she saw the forest. She would have followed the heiress's example and take a few minutes to appreciate the beauty of the forest, but they were interrupted by the sound of high-pitched barking. At first, Weiss thought that it was wildlife, but was corrected when a small puppy leaped out of one of the bushes into Ruby's chest.

"Reconnaissance Officer Zwei! Have you found anything boy?" Ruby asked the small dog that was obviously hers.

"_She seriously made a dog an officer? What in the world is wrong with this girl?" _Weiss thought as Zwei frantically yipped at his master.

"Oh crap!" Ruby shouted in fear as she hastily dropped Zwei on a patch of soft snow and began to make the best wall of snow she could. "Weiss, prepare for battle!" Ruby fearfully commanded as she did her quick work.

"Wait, "battle"?!" What are you talking about?!" Weiss questioned as she stood up straight, alert and completely confused by her statement.

Ruby didn't have time to answer as she was interrupted by the booming sounding of cannon fire that sent panicking birds flying to the sky. The sound that immediately followed was the sound of screaming that grew ever closer. The source of the screaming presented itself as it blasted through Ruby's poorly built barricade and fell at their feet, groaning in pain and trying to get back up. Weiss instantly recognized him as the other Faunus in Ruby's group when she fought them at the docks, but he didn't look nearly as fearlessly now as he did then.

"Sun?! What happened?" Ruby asked, concerned for her friend who looked as if he stared down Hell itself.

"RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Sun squealed as he brought his arms over his head to shield it from oncoming fire.

"Run from wh-"

Before Weiss could ask the terrified boy what was wrong, she was abruptly cut off in the middle of her sentence by a snowball to the face. Normally, getting hit by a snowball wouldn't be such a big deal. However, it struck fear into Ruby's heart when she saw her acquaintance being slammed into the ground by a snowball the size of a freaking horse.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Ruby and Sun screamed before another enormous snowball landed on top of the previous one, burying Weiss further into the ground.

"Oh Ruuuuubbbbyyyy…" a gleefully insane voice called out from afar, sending chills down Ruby's spine as it put too much emphasis on her name.

She slowly looked over the devastated remnants of her barricade and looked towards her two enemies who had walked through the thicker parts of the forest and into the clearing with them.

"Surprise Mutha F$%*a!" Yang laughed evilly with a ludicrously oversized bazooka filled with snow hefted over her shoulders as Neptune began making another round of ammunition for their shared assault.

Weiss painfully crawled out of her coffin of snow with the help of Sun and Ruby, coughing and spitting out globs of snow as she growled, "She's going to pay for that."

"I don't think we stand much of a chance against her right no-DUCK!" Sun shouted before they all hit the deck, except for Zwei, who was too short to be hit by the gargantuan projectile.

Ruby immediately began trying to formulate a plan to take down her tyrannical sibling as her silver eyes darted in every possible direction, trying to find something, anything, to use against her. Her eyes then widened considerably as her mind gave birth to another one of her unorthodox plans. She chuckled triumphantly as she turned towards her tiny four-legged friend.

"Zwei…" Ruby said with a cheek splitting grin.

Zwei barked in acknowledgement, letting his master know that she had his full attention.

"KICK THE PUPPY ZWEI!" Ruby screamed authoritatively as she threw her companion in the air.

Zwei barked excitedly, knowing what Ruby intended and happily curled into a tight ball as he prepared for their combined attack.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Weiss questioned in shock, mortified that the girl just through her pet into the air.

She never could have anticipated what would happen next.

"**KICK THE PUPPY!" **Ruby and Sun, who had joined in the attack for added effect, roared victoriously as they both raised their left and right legs respectively, concentrated their Aura into their feet, and delivered a synchronized and powerful kick into the ball of fur. Making Weiss question her concept of reality, the howling rocket soared towards their enemy at the speed of sound, destroying trees and shrubbery alike as it sailed the air, but that wasn't the most unusual part of the attack. As soon as Zwei began making contact with the ground, he began accumulating snow during his high-powered roll and quickly became a destructive rolling ball of snow, and he had only lost a fraction of his speed.

"Oh…my…god…" Neptune whimpered squeakily as the gigantic ball of destruction continued its path towards them.

Yang, refusing to back down from a challenge, aimed her snowball launcher at the boulder and ferociously shouted "I'LL SEE YOU IN HAIL!"

"Goddamn it Yang!" Ruby, Sun, and Neptune shouted angrily, while Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose in disgust.

Ready to end their attack, Yang fired her gun and sent her own projectile soaring into Zwei. Although the colossal snowball absorbed Yang's own and became noticeably larger, it did however slow its pace considerably and would most likely stop before it could even touch her or Neptune.

"Damn it! It's too slow!" Ruby cried out in frustration, extremely disappointed that their ace in the hole was going to fail.

Weiss, for the first time in a very long time, smiled roguishly as she began to tap into her Aura and thought, _"Not for long."_ as she extended her hand towards the gigantic snowball. Immensely surprising everyone on the battlefield, a trail of glowing white glyphs materialized in a strait row in front of it. The ball systematically began to pick up more and more speed each and every time it passed through a glyph, until it eventually became twice as fast as it originally was.

If Yang wasn't worried then, she sure as hell was now, but Weiss wasn't done yet; not by a long shot. Normally she wouldn't get involved in an affair as trivial and childish as a snowball fight, but the thought of revenge was simply too delicious to pass up. With vengeance guiding her soul, she raised her extended hand, commanding the last few glyphs to rise further into the air. In a matter of seconds, the mammoth-sized boulder was an airborne meteor of ice, descending rapidly and flying forebodingly towards their target.

As Yang looked up towards the looming planet of ice descending upon her, she could only utter one thing before she helplessly dropped her weapon and Neptune shielded his head with his arms with a whimper.

"Meep…"

Yang and Neptune were lost in the cataclysmic blast of ice that reached heights so high that it formed a mushroom cloud. The explosion of snow was of biblical proportions, and could even be seen from all of the people back at Beacon HQ. After staying submerged under the ocean of ice for a good minute, Yang and Neptune finally crawled out of their burials, coughing out bits of snow and shivering from the freezing temperature, but were only able to erect their heads out of the snow. They would have tried to escape their perspective holes and hide before their opponents found them in such a vulnerable state, but unfortunately for them, Ruby and her subordinates were standing over them long before they crawled back to the surface, and they all held a snowball and were ready to slam them into their face. Yang may be one of the most stubborn agents in Beacon, but even she knew when she was beaten.

With streams of shameful tears dripping from her violet eyes, Yang managed to yank her right arm out of the snow and wave a miniature white flag while whimpering, "Ok…we surrender."

"BOOYAH!" Ruby and Sun shouted in celebration as they high-fived one another before breaking out into dance. Interestingly enough, Weiss noticed that Ruby's Scroll began glowing an illuminant bright green glow and started playing the most fitting of songs.

_**Ceeeeeellllaaaabraaation time SH'MON!**_

Disregarding the unusual behavior of Ruby's Scroll, Weiss chose not to include herself in her celebration and dropped her snow ball. However, she did allow herself a very subtle smile of pride as she watched her unusual acquaintances celebrate their victory.

"Wait…where's Zwei?" Ruby asked as she ceased her dancing and spun her head in every direction, trying to find any hint of her beloved dog.

Her search ended when the dog in question extravagantly blasted out of a random spot in the snow, still spinning as if he was still attacking, then landed comically on top of Neptune's head, burying him further into the ground so that only his hair was above the surface.

"_Bark!" _Zwei yipped happily as if he didn't just bury Neptune again.

Ruby and Sun fell to the ground laughing their asses off while Weiss almost let a giggle slip through her lips as she covered her mouth.

For the first time in years, she was actually having fun.

_(Later that day at night time)_

"And then I said "I'm not fat, my body just can't handle all of this sexiness!" Port narrated energetically as the rest at the table laughed at his story in between bites of their Christmas meals. Port was indulging in his favorite hobby of telling stories to rest of his friends, Ozpin, Glynda, and Ren were eating with more controlled laughter than their guests but still a tad bit blue faced from laughter, and Nora was dying laughing in between bites of coffee cake. Even Oobleck had lost his dreariness with enough alcohol and was grabbing his aching sides as he laughed the night away.

After Jaune finished eating his portion and calmed his laughter down, he rose from the table with his plate and utensils in hand, and washed them at the sink before placing them back in their rightful place in the cupboard. Jaune knew that as soon as his friends and family finished their respective meals, everyone would relocate to the living-room to open presents, but he wanted to grab something from his old room before then. After politely excusing himself and promising that he would return in a few minutes. He ascended the stairs to the second floor of the house that even after living elsewhere for almost a full year, still felt as if he never left. Jaune always thought it was because the basic layout of his new house was almost identical, but he also felt that it was because this place was still his home. Nostalgia began to kick in overdrive as he opened the door to his old room and gazed upon it for a few seconds. Some of his belongings that he had left here were still left exactly where he remembered, like his old dresser, bed, and a few of his toys he used to play with as a child. The room was well kempt and clean, almost as if he never left, most likely thanks to Auntie Glynda. He could have spent hours in the room, swimming through the vast collections of memories, but there was one item in particular that he returned for. With a deep sigh of hesitancy, Jaune walked to the far end of the room, crouched over to reach under his bed, and pulled out a rectangular slim box that, just like the rest of the room, was well dusted to point that it looked brand new. He sat on the clean sheets of his old bed, placed the box atop his lap, and opened it with a small smile.

Lying inside the box, without a single speck or stain on it, was a neatly folded and magnificently sewn hoody. It's sky blue color seemed to glow vibrantly in the poorly lit room, and the material it was made with was almost a soft as pure silk. Despite both of these interesting qualities about the article of clothing, the most eye-catching quality about it for Jaune was the golden symbol masterfully sewn into the left shoulder. It was the same symbol that was etched into Crocea Mors; his father's symbol. Much like his father's sword, merely looking at the hoody brought back many memories of his parents that he had tried to bury. It wasn't unexpected; much like Crocea Mors was his inheritance from his father, the hoody was his inheritance from his mother. If he had tried to reclaim this months ago, he most likely would have shoved it back in the box and immediately stuffed it back under his bed, but that was before he met Arryn. She had done so much for him when it concerned coming to terms with his parents' deaths, always giving him an ear to listen to and a shoulder to cry on. It had done wonders for his depression; more than she'll ever know. He still felt partly responsible and woefully guilty about it for reasons that he had yet to tell the helpful girl, but he had finally healed emotionally to the point that he could face it. He could finally keep Crocea Mors out of his closet back home and perched on the wall where it belonged, and now he could wear the article of clothing that was built with as much adoration and care the crafter had for him.

He was brought out of his thoughts when his uncle lightly tapped on the open door with his knuckle. "Would it be alright if I sat with you?" he asked, though inwardly surprised that Jaune had finally retrieved the hoody his mother made him.

"Sure." Jaune confirmed as he scooted over to make room for his godfather.

Ozpin gratefully took his seat next to the boy after closing the door behind him, trying to find the words that he had been struggling to form ever since Bart had notified him of his inner turmoil. "I hear you've been thinking heavily of Zack and Jane lately." Ozpin said carefully, choosing to get right to the point.

"Yeah…I have." Jaune answered lowly, staring at the hoody in his hands.

Ozpin sighed in solemn contemplation, wishing that he had planned more to say before confronting Jaune. In the end, he didn't need to; Ozpin always managed to say how he felt sooner or later. He placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder, finding three simple words to summarize his feelings.

"I failed you." He said dejectedly with dense regret oozing from his tone.

Jaune confusedly turned towards his uncle with a frown and asked, "What do you mean? You haven't done anything wrong."

"Yes, I have. I failed you as an uncle, I failed you as a godfather, and most insultingly, I have failed you as your parents' brother." Ozpin asserted as he gently tightened his grip.

Jaune would have immediately protested that that was not how he felt at all, but if his visits with Arryn had taught him anything, it was that sometimes it was just better to let someone vent and express their concerns. With that in mind, he stayed silent and let his uncle say what he had to say.

"When Glynda and I took you in after Zack's and Jane's untimely demise, my first sin against you was that I allowed grief to almost swallow me whole, ignorant of the fact that you were suffering a thousand times more horribly than I ever could have. It took you almost dying from being hit by a train and a brutal beating from Glynda to make me realize that, and by the time I pulled myself together, your emotional wounds had already scabbed over and scarred. I should have been there to help you recover more efficiently, but I wasn't. My second sin was burying myself in my work to cope with my pain and not spending enough time with you. Even now I tend to get buried in my work and repeat that same mistake. For Monty's sake, you've spent more time in therapy than with me, a fact that I'm grievously ashamed of. My final sin against you is that I failed Zack and Jane when they entrusted me with a title and sacred as "Godfather". Yes Jaune, I failed you in almost every possible way, and for that I'm irredeemably sorry. Could you ever forgive me?"

Jaune was honestly shocked that his uncle was plagued with such regret that stemmed from his feeling that he was a terrible parent.

"You take me into your home, made sure that I never went hungry, and always made sure I returned home safely, but you think that you failed them, me?" Jaune asked in confusion, not understanding Ozpin's logic.

Ozpin was certainly not expecting Jaune's reaction to his confession. He was expecting something along the lines of the boy confirming everything he said and accepting his apology, or even Jaune blowing up in his face like Ozpin personally felt he deserved, but he had surprised him greatly with his question. Jaune genuinely seemed confused as to how he felt that way.

"Uncle Ozpin, if you did all of that for me and more, and still think you were a bad parent, than I think you're setting too high of standards for yourself. Yeah, maybe you didn't spend a lot of time with me, and maybe you did screw up at first, but I don't think anyone can say that you failed as a godfather. To be frank, if I had ended up anywhere else, I would have ended up far worse than I did. So you don't need to apologize; I'm happy you took me in." Jaune assured as he brushed off Ozpin's hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

Ozpin mentally scratched his head, perplexed by how the tables had unexpectedly turned. He followed Jaune up to his room to comfort _him_ because he knew that he was retrieving his mother's gift that would undoubtedly stir up depressing memories, but Jaune had ended comforting him in retaliation, for some reason having already picked himself up and came to terms with Zack and Jane's death.

God damn it, the boy was his parent's son to the core, a fact that made Ozpin chuckle in morbid amusement.

"Zack and Jane would have been proud of you." Ozpin complimented as Jaune rose from his seat on the bed with his hoody draped over his shoulder.

"I can only hope; I'm still the coward who let them die." Jaune replied with a chilling deadness in his voice that greatly unsettled Ozpin. "Come on Uncle, let's go open presents before Nora makes off with them…again." Jaune laughed as his tone swiftly shifted back to its usual lightheartedness.

"You go ahead. I need to think for a bit." Ozpin said with a smile and a wave, motivating Jaune to go on without him. Jaune complied with a happy nod before leaving the room, leaving Ozpin to his conflicting thoughts.

As much as it comforted him that Jaune had finally recovered considerably from the tragedy, it still tore Ozpin up incalculably that Jaune _still _blamed himself for the results of that ill-fated night, more so than the actual culprits who were truly responsible. The option of enlightening his godson by fully explaining to him exactly how and why there was absolutely nothing he could have done to save his parents; it was a nagging temptation that had always distracted Ozpin on a daily basis. If he did this, the weight that would be lifted from Jaune's shoulders would provide him a vast amount of emotional breathing room, and would most likely cure him of his heart-shattering survivor's guilt. However, if he were to do that, that would also mean that Ozpin could no longer hide the hidden society that he should have originally been involved in, it would mean exposing the existence of the war that still raged on in the shadows of the only society he knew, and it would mean that he would have to become involved in said war. But with a position in this war, his burden's and losses would quickly outnumber his gains. Jaune's powers would grow to biblical scales like his father predicted, making him a target to all of Beacon's enemies and perhaps even a few of Beacon's supposed allies, and he would most likely have to leave his old life behind, or at the very least distance himself considerably from it from then on, and that included leaving Ren and Nora, his brother and sister in spirit, behind for their own safety.

No, it was better for Jaune to continue to live peacefully in the manner he was accustomed to, for his own sake.

But then again…did Ozpin truly have the right to deny Jaune the choice?

Ozpin groaned as he cursed his own indecisiveness.

"Oh Prof. Ozzy! I'm gonna eat the last of the coffee cake!" Nora singed/bluffed from downstairs in an attempt to get him to come down more quickly.

It worked.

Abandoning his inner turmoil, Ozpin swiftly sped out of Jaune's room and towards the kitchen, fearing for his beloved cake.

It was a decision for another time; there was a holiday to enjoy and precious coffee cake to rescue at the moment.

_(Beacon)_

Dr. Scarlatina gracefully strode through the hallways of Beacon's medical sector with an infectious smile on her face. Tonight was Christmas Eve, which meant that her day off was tomorrow, a day that she fully planned to spend with her beloved daughter. But before she could take her leave, she had to make sure that all of her patients were well enough to be left in the hands of another doctor. After spending an hour checking on all of her current patients, she stopped at the door of her final, and most interesting, patient. She was not expecting the sight that awaited her inside.

Weiss, Ruby, Yang, Sun, Neptune, and Zwei were all covered head-to-toe in snow and blissfully asleep in varying locations of the room, no doubt having exhausted themselves from a full-day of snowball fights. Weiss was peacefully asleep in her bed as usual, but Dr. Scarlatina was surprised to see Ruby asleep next to her in the same bed with Zwei comfortably spread out on top of both of their chests. Yang was snoring and kicking in her sleep from the guest's chair that doubled as a bed, and Sun and Neptune were asleep side by side, seated on the floor with their backs against the wall and their heads unintentionally resting against the other's. The room was provided a tranquil and lulling atmosphere as Ruby's scroll, that was lying undisturbed on Weiss's nightstand, quietly played soothing Christmas songs such as "Silver Bells" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas". Dr. Scarlatina knew that the scroll's choice of music to put the agent's to sleep was undoubtedly Penny's doing, for she could see the subtle green glow from the scroll.

After admiring how cute the scene was to her, she giggled affectionately as she left the room for a few minutes, then returned with as many pillows and blankets she could carry, as well as a sleeping mat for Sun and Neptune so that they didn't have to sleep on the cold floor. The doctor effortlessly placed the pillows under each of their heads and draped the thick, warm blankets over each of their bodies, trying to supply them with as much comfort as possible, though she had to physically move the teenage boys on the ground and place them atop the sleeping mat. The only reason that they didn't wake up was because the average agent burnt so much energy during the day and almost nothing could rip them out of their sleep as their body replenished its lost energy.

After making sure that all of the children that she adored were comfortable and still asleep, she quietly left the room and shut off all the lights before she closed the door.

"Goodnight, young protector's of the world." She whispered lovingly as she closed the door, happy that the teenagers had enjoyed their much deserved holiday.

_(Blake)_

Blake patiently awaited her blonde friends return late at night as she curled up on the sofa in her cat form, watching the Christmas specials on the TV that she fondly recalled watching with her mother many years ago. Jaune had left in the morning to go visit his godparents for the holidays, and promised that he would return that night. She had spent the day alone as she usually did; reading all of the books she had collected, watching TV on whatever channel Jaune would leave on for her, and doing minimal exercises to keep herself in shape but not irritate her injuries. Though, truth be told, her injuries had healed immensely by now to the point that she didn't need to stay with Jaune anymore as his pet, and if she ever need a place to sleep, she now had Tukson to turn to. The only thing that kept her from returning to Beacon was her inability to find or contact anyone from Beacon, but that would most likely change whenever Tukson would re-establish connection with his enigmatic employer. Yet even so, she had eventually stopped trying as hard to return to Beacon, even before she found Tukson and acquired his help. "But why?" Blake would constantly ask herself, even though deep down she already knew the answer. She wanted to stay with Jaune for as long as possible before having to return to her duties, so she was in no rush to return, not anymore. It almost scared her how Jaune had so much influence in her actions as of late, giving more credit to Tukson's diagnosis then she was comfortable with.

She had eventually abandoned the thoughts of her personal dilemmas and chose to pass the day by watching Christmas specials, even though she secretly wished that Jaune were here to watch them with her. She was currently watching "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", her personal favorite ever since she was a child. It had been her favorite because she could heavily identify with the story as a child, being out casted and mistreated by society because of a small difference in your physical make-up, yet in the end managing to do something good and earning the love and respect of those who once hated you. Now as a young adult, she was far less naïve and knew that it was nothing more than just that; a child's story. However, she still liked the idea of the plot and still enjoyed watching it every year, only wishing that her mother was still around to watch it with her, to pet her ears as she curled up on her lap as they watched the all-time classic.

Blake was brought out of her thoughts as Jaune finally returned home, wearing a new hoody and carrying a small plastic bag in his left hand. "I'm home. Sorry I'm late, I had to pick up a few last minute presents." Jaune apologized as he closed the door behind him and sat beside his cat.

"No need to apologize, I don't expect that one of your few redeeming qualities is punctuality." Blake sassily joked at Jaune's expense.

To this day, she still had no idea why she bothered trying to talk to him in this form and vice versa.

Blake took notice of the contents of the bag and almost snorted at the sight of various cat toys inside, now knowing what he meant by "last minute presents."

"I got you something." Jaune affectionately said as he dug into the bottom of the bag and pulled out his primary gift for the little ball of fur.

Blake was grateful enough that he had even thought of buying presents for her, but she couldn't believe what he pulled out for her. Shining beautifully in the palm of his hand, was a golden tag in the shape of a heart. Etched into the front was her name, and on the back was his address and phone number.

"I don't know what it is about you little kitten, but ever since I've taken you in, my life has been taking a lot of turns for the better. As far as I know and I've seen, no one is making any attempts at claiming you, so I'm making it official tonight. You're not just a little ball of fur anymore, you're _my _little ball of fur now. Welcome to the family." Jaune affectionately said as he placed her on his lap and gently and securely attached the pendant to the bow around her neck.

Blake was at a loss of words by Jaune's decision. Although it warmed her heart to see just how much she meant to him, it also saddened her that he had become just as attached to her as she did to him. This would only make it more painful for the both of them when she would inevitably have to leave him.

Her heart ached at the mere thought of how hurt he will be when that day comes.

"Y'know, I have to go meet this really nice girl tomorrow, and I should probably go to sleep now, but I think my favorite Christmas special takes priority right now." Jaune happily commented as he turned the volume up on the TV and began massaging Blake's ears as he watched Rudolph.

Blake sighed sadly at the premonition of impending sorrow for the boy, yet eventually smiled as she found herself getting what she wanted.

She was atop a loved one's lap, being petted lovingly, watching her favorite Christmas special.

With a mental note get ready tomorrow for her meeting with Jaune, she curled up in his lap and enjoyed the movie in silence, enjoying the time she had left with her goofy blonde.

_(Neo)_

Neo stealthily exited her target's house in her Santa outfit after leaving behind the wrapped present under the Christmas tree for the six-year old boy living there. It was currently mid-night, which meant that her partner should also almost be done covering their half of the work. It was a long and difficult night for the two of them, just as it was every Christmas Eve, but it was their annual job that they took great pride in and happily completed with no complaints. Brightening up a child's Christmas morning with a gift from "Santa" always made it worthwhile for the two.

Neo had one last child to deliver a present to, and was almost tempted to teleport to her destination to get it done more quickly, but decided against it. Her partner would be very upset with her if they found out that she had teleported such a distance again; they made it abundantly clear that she was only allowed three long-distance teleports a day. She had used two of them getting into Roman's base earlier that day and out, and she would need the third one to return home in a timely manner.

It took a little while, but Neo finally located her final target's house. Using skills honed from several years of work with her partner, she silently opened the window to the child's room and quietly tip-toed her way to the Christmas tree in the living room. She almost squealed in delight when she saw a tray of frosted sugar cookies lying on the kitchen counter beside a glass of milk with a letter attached that said "For Santa" in a child's poor, but cute, hand writing. Neo really shouldn't have eaten the tray of sweets so late at night, but she had one hell of a sweet-tooth to satisfy and she was a Santa, so she was entitled to a few cookies. She gratefully swiped cookie after cookie and began shoveling them into her mouth as they ceased to exist as soon as they were within biting range, and she only took small brakes to wash the delectable treats down with sips of milk. She finished off the poor mutilated cookies and glass of milk with a small satisfied belch, and turned back towards the living room to finish her job. She froze horrifically when she saw an amazed little girl (Nina if her partner's information was correct) staring at her in shock, wearing pink pajamas and carrying a brown teddy-bear in her arms. Neo almost slapped herself in embarrassment of the fact that a child of all people was able to sneak up on her when the most trained and deadly of assassin's could not.

"Santa?" The little girl asked with skepticism, expecting Santa to be a jolly and plump old man with white hair, not a petite and beautiful young woman.

Neo didn't know what to do in this situation, scared that the she had unintentionally ruined her childish innocence by exposing the fact that Santa wasn't real. Deciding to just roll with it, "Santa" held her index finger up to her lips as she held her hand out. Amazing the girl even further, a present wrapped in pink wrapping paper appeared in the hand as Neo beckoned her to take it.

"Oh, are you one of Santa's elves?" Nina asked excitedly, though making sure to keep her voice down.

Neo's eye twitched in withdrawn fury that the little girl had basically just called her short, a mistake that most people didn't live long enough to correct, but she dropped this knowing that was not the intent behind the girl's question. Shamefully and hesitantly, Neo nodded her head as the little girl politely took the present from the "elf" and walked to the living room to put it under the tree.

"Was Santa a bit busy this year?" she asked curiously, still amazed that she was speaking to one of his elves.

Neo nodded as she poured the little girl a glass of water (as is fake-Santa-catches-him/her-in-her-house tradition) and politely put her hands as she lightly pushed her back towards her room before her parents woke up.

Monty forbid that her parents would show up with guns loaded and ready and try to shoot her for basically breaking and entering their house.

After Neo led her into her pink-walled room, she carefully tucked Nina in her pink-sheeted bed (Monty Oum this girl liked the color pink) and waved goodbye to her as she teleported out of the house onto the rooftops of Vale, eliminating any doubt in the girl's mind that she wasn't a real elf, even if she didn't have pointy ears like one.

"Wow…" The girl breathed in giddy excitement, imagining the looks on her friends' face when she told him that she talked to a real elf.

Neo released a breath she didn't even know she was holding as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop towards her and her partner's rendezvous point. That was too close for her taste; she could sense the girl's parents' presence stirring in the next room, signaling that she and Nina had almost woke them up. She decided not to tell her partner that she had almost blew it, for her partner would lecture her for hours and hours about "being more vigilant" , and Neo didn't have the patience for that.

"There you are." Her partner said in relief as Neo leaped from a random rooftop into the ally that served as their rendezvous. "What took you so long?"

Neo subtly sweated as she lied and tried to assure her friend that she just took a small break to eat cookies, but her partner did not believe the obvious load of crap for a second.

"Neo, I know you're lying." Her partner stated with a raised eyebrow.

Neo continued to lie her way out of a lecture, but it was having absolutely no effect. Her partner knew her too well to fall for any lies. If they could communicate without the need for words, then they could easily tell when she was lying. Luckily for her, they currently didn't have the energy for it and decided to just drop the subject all together, wanting to get home as soon as possible.

"Whatever, just get us home please." They requested.

Neo happily saluted, glad that her partner was feeling particularly lazy right now, then put her tiny hand atop their arm. She closed her eyes and focused intensely on her mental image of their home, picturing every detail down to the smallest crack on the floor. With her destination engraved in her mind, she tapped into her Aura and instantaneously felt her body fade out of existence and back again. She opened her glowing dual-colored eyes and found herself back in their shared living room.

However, it was nothing like the way they left it.

"What the hell?!" Her partner shouted in confusion as they took in the current state of their living room. Stacked in towers throughout their living room were beautifully wrapped presents of varying and shiny wrapping paper, making the room look like an orgy of colors. Standing in the once vacant corner of the room was a classic Christmas tree with multi-colored lights twinkling all over and a golden star sitting on its top.

Neo walked up to one of the stacks of presents and read the tags to see if the intruder had left a name, but as expected, the tags only contained their names. After walking pass the towers of presents to get a clearer look at the Christmas tree, they both noticed a red envelope addressed to them lying under the tree and wasted no time in reading the letter inside.

They both resembled gaping fishes as they read the letter that made them question reality itself.

_**Dear Little Helpers**_

_** I couldn't help but notice that you've been saving me a generous amount of work for the past few years and I'm very grateful for the help. I felt that it was time to repay the favor, so I took the liberty of making your abode more festive, as well as making up for years of vacant presents.**_

_** Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!**_

_**P.S: I helped myself to a few of Neo's cookies and sip of milk. I hope you don't mind!**_

_(Christmas Day)_

Blake contentedly sipped her hot chocolate as she observed the merriment of the hundreds of pedestrians walking by the café she was patiently waiting outside of. The people wore their Christmas sweaters to shield themselves from the chilling winds, the Christmas lights encircled at least five buildings on every street, and Christmas music was playing through every open window. Even the café was playing _It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year_. The scenery reminded her of the Christmas festivities of Beacon, only with less pandemonium, alcohol, and explosions of snow.

She wondered if her friends still decided to have their snowball war this year, even if Ruby's team would be a team member short with her absence. Hopefully she found someone to fill the void, whoever that poor soul was.

Blake sighed as she put down her cup, shaking off the thoughts of her friends, missing them terribly so. With any luck, she would be able to talk to them soon, but hopefully not too soon. She wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to leave Jaune as quickly as possible.

And speaking of the goofy blonde, he separated himself from the sidewalk and walked pass the various tables outside the cafe. His eyes met hers and he smiled happily as he made his way to her and took a seat in front of her.

"Merry Christmas Bell!" Jaune greeted excitedly, happy to see his helpful friend.

"Merry Christmas Jaune." Blake warmly greeted with less enthusiasm then Jaune, but still reciprocating the same friendliness he was showing her. "I like your new hoody. You look good in blue." She complimented, having wanted to compliment him since last night, but unable to for obvious reasons.

"Thanks. My mother made it for me a long time ago, but I've never had the heart to wear it until now."

Blake smiled at his explanation, proud that he was finally able to embrace the memory of his parents instead of suffering from them.

"So, why did you want to meet me here?" Blake asked, curious as to why he scheduled this little meeting.

Jaune gave no answer, only a wider smile, and reached into his pocket. Once again, he surprised the girl with a beautifully wrapped present that fit in the palm of his hand.

"You got me a present?" Blake asked in slight surprise. She was astonished that he thought enough of her as his pet to get him a few toys for Christmas, but she never expected for him to go out of his way to by a present for "Arryn".

"Of course I did! You've been such a great friend to me for the past few months, so I wanted to show you how much I appreciated your help." Jaune answered with appreciation oozing from his voice.

"Well…thank you." Blake gratefully and hesitantly thanked, somewhat guilty that she didn't have any money on her to have bought him a present in return. Of course Jaune would vehemently tell her that she wouldn't have to, she still felt that it was only fair.

"C'mon, open it." Jaune requested in anticipation of seeing her reaction.

Blake abided by Jaune's request, slightly curious as to why he was so excited. Perhaps it was just the holiday spirit in him, or he **really **to see if she like his present. She used her nails to gently peel away the purple wrapping paper, careful not to scratch the present itself, and flinched at the sight of the present.

It was a box; the type of box that one would keep a valuable piece of jewelry in.

"You bought me jewelry." Blake asked in amazement.

"Keep going." Jaune beckoned.

Now excited herself to see what piece of jewelry Jaune had so generously gifted her, she grabbed the top of the tiny box and pulled it open.

She audibly gasped as she froze in shock.

It was…magnificent…so beautiful.

But it was not the gem itself that pulled at her heart and slightly clouded her vision with restrained tears.

It was what it represented.

_(Weeks ago)_

_Blake chuckled at the humorous tale that Jaune was telling her as they sat on a random bench in the park. The story was about how as children, Jaune, Nora, and Ren made the "greatest snowman ever" and Jaune was doing everything he could to not die laughing as he narrated the experience._

"_So we tried to find a carrot to put on our snowman, but Ren ate the last one the day before. We almost gave up right then, but Nora shouted in defiance that she would improvise. So, she runs into my Uncle's and Aunt's house and returned with our substitute nose and we didn't know what the hell it was, but it worked. We finished it and left the snowman on the front yard for everyone to see. Unfortunately, Auntie Glynda got a few phone calls concerning the nose after a while, and boy…was she embarrassed."_

"_What was wrong with it?" Blake asked curiously._

_Jaune took a few seconds to stifle his laughter so that he could effectively finish his story._

"_Well…let's just say it was long, purple, and ran on batteries. Uncle Ozpin has never let her live it down ever since." Jaune finished before clutching his sides as he finally released the pent up laughter that rattled his insides._

_Blake mirrored Jaune as she almost fell out of her seat laughing, trying and failing to restrain her laughter as she imagined people's reaction to the snowman._

"_Your family sounds like a lively bunch Jaune." Blake complimented as she finally regained control of herself and calmed down._

"_Yeah." Jaune agreed as his laughter subsided to tiny chuckles. "What about you? What's your family like?" Jaune curiously asked._

_He immediately wished he hadn't asked, for as soon as the question left his mouth, Blake's wonderfully enchanting smile degraded into a subtle frown. He felt painfully guilty that he had unintentionally spoiled her good mood and was afraid that he had been insensitive to her feelings by asking a personal question._

"_I'm sorry, that was probably too personal of a question." Jaune, without delay, apologized. He hoped that he had not inadvertently offended her._

_Blake noticed that she had alarmed Jaune with her silence and responded, "No, it's alright. It was a sensible question. If anything, I feel that you have the right to know, considering how much you've told me."_

_Jaune felt that he hadn't exactly told Blake __**that**__ much, as he still chose to refrain from detailing exactly how his parent's died; he was nowhere near ready to relive that, but he had confided in her by spilling his guts. He was grateful that she was willing to do the same for him, and he hoped to give her a source of comfort should she need it, as she did for him._

"_Well…I don't really speak of my family often, but I hope my answer is somewhat satisfying." Blake said lowly as she tried to formulate a covalent answer._

_Her eyes widened and her heart beat escalated as Jaune gently placed his hand over her's, gave it a gentle squeeze, and comfortingly said, "Tell me only what you feel comfortable telling me. Don't force it, I won't press the subject, but know that you can tell me anything."_

_That meant more to Blake than Jaune knew, and under any other circumstances, she would have took his offer, but she simply couldn't. She would tell him what she could, but for his own safety she would keep many damning details to herself._

"_In that case…I guess for now, I'll tell you of my mother." Blake replied solemnly as she retracted her arms and folded them, thinking of what she was going to say._

"_I guess the most important thing to say first is that she's dead." Blake said, greatly surprising Jaune by how lifelessly she presented the fact._

_Jaune sympathized with his enigmatic friend, knowing that it had devastated her just by the way she said it. However, it did explain why the girl was so comforting towards him. They both knew the pain of losing a parent, and Blake knew this well. Perhaps that was another reason why she had been so thorough in getting him to talk the first time they truly conversed._

"_To almost everyone she met, she was an angel that didn't possess even the slightest trace of evil in her soul. She was a compassionate and beautiful person that made even the worst of days seem the happiest with her mere presence, but she meant so much more to me than that. She was my entire world, she was my emotional anchor that kept me from drifting into despair, and she was the only family I knew for a very long time. When she was taken from me…I lost it. I spent the next ten years of my life in a self-destructive rage, hating everything and everyone with few exceptions." Blake summarized darkly._

_Jaune was very hesitant to ask any more questions when he truly began to understand how much the subject bothered Blake, but he swallowed his fear and readied his next question. However, he chose to not to ask her how her beloved mother died; he had no right if he could not answer that himself._

"_Who took care of you if you didn't have any other family at the time?" Jaune asked, hoping to Monty that at least someone was there for the poor girl._

"_My father." Blake answered, with a venomous enunciation on the word, as if she loathed the very word. Her father was obviously a taboo subject. "I won't go into details, but he wasn't exactly what I needed in a father. To be quite honest, my mother's friend treated me more like a daughter than he ever did. He still does." Blake answered as she calmed herself down. _

_Jaune let the next two minutes fall in silence as he processed everything his friend had revealed. She had lost her true parent, only to be taken in by her father, who didn't sound like he inspired feelings of love from Arryn. She obviously didn't have the emotional support that he had during his emotional breakdown and it had lasting effects on her, and he didn't even know what she had been through during her decade of rage. There was more to her story then she was telling, but he didn't push her as he said he wouldn't. He would have hugged her if his shyness didn't prevent him from doing so._

"_It sounds like you've had a very difficult life." Jaune said sympathetically, having gained more respect for his friend. She had been through the same pain as him and more, yet still matured into a kind and strong person, and that alone gained his admiration. "Do you have anything to at least remember your mother by?"_

_Blake decided not to inform her companion that her bow was her inheritance. It was highly doubtful that he could come to the conclusion that she was his cat, but it never hurt to be careful._

"_No." Blake lied as she looked toward the sapphire blue sky, observing the clumps of cotton as they floated by. One of them, ironically, resembled a cat, and it reminded her of an irreplaceable item that she wished she had somehow retrieved from her mother before her death._

"_Come to think of it, there was one possession of my mother's that I wish I had." Blake informed reminiscently as she cloud-watched._

"_What was it?" Jaune asked curiously._

_Blake mentally chuckled at her friend's constant onslaught of questions, amused that he found her so fascinating._

"_Her most prized possession; her necklace. It was made of black gold that radiated with a dark light whenever it shined and was iridescently beautiful. But the most noteworthy thing that was beautiful about it was not the necklace itself, it was what dangled from it; an amethyst the size of an infant's fist. My personal favorite quality of the amethyst was its shape, for it was the shape of a prowling cat. As a baby, I used to spend hours playing with it, amused by its beauty, whenever my mother would cradle me in her arms. Even as a child I would admire it as it dangled from my mother's chest. She was supposed to give it to me when I became a grown woman, but she never got the chance."_

_Blake sighed out of depression as she described the exquisiteness of the long-gone necklace._

"_Every day I wish I could have somehow acquired it before it before her death, instead of some low-life thief that ripped it off of her body without truly understanding the beauty of the person wearing it, but it's just wishful thinking at this point. I have my memories of my mother, and that's all that matters." Blake said as she stood up from her seat, ready to return home and get a head start on Jaune._

"_I'll talk to you another time Jaune. It was nice speaking with you." She said with a gloomy smile as she began walking home. Her side was bothering her again and she wanted to take a nap to ease the pain._

"_Bye." Jaune said with a wave as she walked off._

_He followed her example and began walking to the store for groceries before he began heading home. His thoughts were centered around how sad Bell sounded as she spoke of her mother's necklace. He truly felt sorry for her and was disappointed that she didn't have anything to remember her by. He had his father's sword and his mother's hoody, even if he still couldn't stomach to look at them for too long, but poor Bell had nothing._

_Maybe he would have to change that soon; the holidays __**were **__around the corner._

_(Present)_

And indeed he did.

Resting inside of the box, glowing just as brilliantly as expected, was a necklace exactly identical to her mother's in almost every aspect. The amethyst, the black gold, the size, even the weight, all of it completely matched it.

"How…what…I don't…" Blake stuttered in pure astonishment, not believing what was resting in her hands.

"It's not the real thing, but I had it made to match your description. I thought that you should at least have _something _to remember your mom by." Jaune explained.

"How…much did this cost you?" Blake breathed lowly, barely able to speak from shock.

"Well, it wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. Do you like it?" Jaune asked, hoping that he pleased his friend.

Blake lost the strength to maintain her self-control as she slowly placed the necklace down on the table. Tears slowly dripped down her blurry eyes as the only sounds that escaped her quivering lips were small sobs. Her body shook with each sob as her tears trailed down her cheeks and fell onto the table, alarming Jaune and making him believe that he had made her cry.

"Oh crap I'm so sorry Bell!" Jaune panicked and shouted as he leaped from his seat to her side. "I didn't mean to make you cry! Please don't cry! I'm really sorry! Is there anyt-"

Jaune was interrupted and effectively silenced by Blake as she instantaneously rose from her seat, wrapped her arms around his chest, and buried her face in his chest as she tried to speak through her sobs.

"*sob* Thank you. This is…the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. From the bottom of my heart: Thank you." She said with tears and happiness coating her face.

Jaune's heartbeat rose to speeds that made the inside of his chest sound like the deadliest of machine guns, and his face adopted the most vicious of blushes as his mouth became dry. He was a socially awkward teenage nerd being hugged by a girl who was, to be frank, one of the most attractive women he had ever met and had never hugged him so affectionately unless _he _was the one crying. With no other options to be thought of, he simply did what felt natural and hugged her back with just as much affection, gently patting and rubbing her back as he tried to control his nervous sweating.

"You're welcome." Jaune replied nervously, joyous that he was able to make his friend so happy with his gift like he had hoped.

They were completely unaware that they had attracted the attention of many of the surrounding customers of the café. There little display elicited a few loving "Awwws" from their audience and few rambunctious compliments from a few of the men, but the two didn't even notice them as they were enjoying their moment too thoroughly to pay attention.

There was one man in particular, that Blake knew very well, who was sitting in one the tables inside the café and observing the loving moment over his newspaper through the window. He chuckled mischievously as he took a well-timed picture of the two teenagers before returning to his coffee and newspaper.

"God I love the holidays." Tukson chuckled as he took a sip from his coffee cup, feeling that his life was to become much more interesting this year.

**Well, there you have it!**

**If you any of you want to see what Jaune's new hoody looks like, look at the story's picture up above. Or better yet, look at the artist's page on deviantart! All credit for its design goes to that wonderful reader!**

**Thanks for reading guys, and remember to drop a review please! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a prosperous new year!**

**Next chapter's a mini-series chapter!**


	12. Monty Oum's EMERGENCY

** No, this is not the next chapter, but it is vital that every RoosterTeeth fan knows this as soon as possible.**

** It has recently come to my attention that Monty Oum, beloved member of RoosterTeeth and creator of RWBY, is currently being hospitalized and is in critical condition. Due to the RT crew's desire to respect Monty's privacy, I have very little information concerning the events that led to this travesty, but that is not important right now. What is important right now is that we, the fans, need to do our part for our heroes and support Monty in any way we can.**

** If you claim yourself to be a RoosterTeeth fan, if you have even the tiniest sliver of love for any of their works, if you truly support the group that has entertained the masses and has supported many of us with unparalleled joy throughout our lives, then please do what you can for our heroes in their time of need. There is currently a fundraiser established to assist Monty in his medical emergency. From what I've heard, they have long met their quota, but ANY donation you can make shows your love and support for the RT crew during this time of crisis. The link for the fundraiser is on RoosterTeeth's website****, you can't miss it as it should be the first thing that pops up.**

** Please readers, I advise you-no…****I IMPLORE YOU****, to do whatever you can for the RT crew right now. Even if you can't donate to the fundraiser, ****PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD****. **

** Long Live Monty, Long Live RWBY **


	13. Team SPRB: The Puppeteer

_(Many Years Ago)_

Summer sighed exhaustedly as she made her way to the Council's room, irritated that she had to work on a Saturday.

When she returned yesterday from her last mission, she had hoped to spend the weekend in blissful peace and relaxation. Listening to good music, playing some Sega Genesis, training with her semblance, all were things that she had planned to do for the next couple of days. However, she was sorely disappointed when she received a call from the Council at five in the freaking morning saying that she was assigned another mission.

She was fifteen for Monty's sake, she needed her damn rest.

As much as it annoyed her, she supposed that it was the price for being promoted to a B rank agent; **the** youngest B rank agent in Beacon's history. She even heard a rumor through the grapevine that the Council was talking about giving her her own team, separate from her current one. She didn't know how she felt about it; she didn't like the sound of so much responsibility, and she liked her current team. Oh well, it was a thought for another time.

After ascending the multiple floors of Beacon with the elevator, she finally reached the giant double doors that led to the Council's poorly lit room. She effortlessly pushed the door open with one hand and walked in, surprised to see that only one of the Councilmen was there. It was currently scrolling web pages on its personal computer as it sipped from its coffee cup. The symbol that was on its chest was "IV", making Summer aware that it was the Councilmen known as Four. It turned towards Summer as she stopped in front of its desk and silently sat down in the seat in front of the desk that was so generously provided for her.

"Hello Ms. Rose, how are you today?" Four asked politely as it moved the computer aside, giving the proficient agent its full attention.

She pulled her hood down so that she could see more clearly, exposing the twitching wolf-ears atop her head.

"Well, I'm tired and I haven't had breakfast yet, so yeah. I feel great." Summer sarcastically replied, but in a joking manner to ensure that she wasn't angry.

Four chuckled deeply as it sipped from its coffee. "My apologies, but there are pressing matters to be discussed as soon as possible before your next mission."

"Like?" Summer asked curiously, wondering what was so important that it couldn't wait.

Four smiled in anticipation of Summer's reaction when it broke the good news, or possibly bad news through her point of view.

"It has been decided and agreed upon by all of the Council that in light of your new promotion, we have decided to assign you your own team to train as a team leader. Congratulations."

Summer slammed her face against the table dramatically, slightly groaning in pain and frustration by the news and her aching face.

"Well…you took that better than I thought." Four commented with another sip.

"Although I'm grateful for the new position, I'm still not sure that I want to be a leader. I mean, what about my current team?" Summer asked with a slightly disappointed frown and a red forehead. She had been through a lot with her friends and she wasn't comfortable with the thought of replacing them.

"Worry not, you will still be a part of your team. Consider this…a side project." Four consoled with a hint of humor in its voice.

"Ok, fine." Summer pouted in resignation to her new job, though still skeptical about it, "So who are my new teammates?"

"Actually, your next mission is in relation to that. Our intelligence has informed us of a warehouse in which the White Fang have been collecting weapons. Your mission will be to apprehend and detain all White Fang members inside, then secure the cargo and prep it for retrieval." Four informed.

"Sounds easy enough." Summer commented, somewhat glad that the mission wasn't going to be too tedious.

"This is mostly to familiarize yourself with your teammate under minimal danger." Four explained.

"So is my partner an infiltration specialist?" Summer asked, curious about the person she would be shedding blood with soon, but then gasped in excited giddiness. "Is she a ninja? That would be awesome!" Summer excitedly said as she fantasized about curb-stopping a White Fang member's ass alongside a silent figure in black.

Summer was stunned when Four started to chuckle darkly at her question. She was completely confused, and a tad bit intimidated, when Four's dark snickers escalated into full out evil laughter as the hooded figure grabbed its side and repeatedly slammed its fist on the desk.

"What's so funny?" Summer hesitantly asked, wondering what kind of evil spirit suddenly possessed her superior.

Four's laughter subsided as it regained the ability to reel it in and answer her question. "Let's just say that she's anything but subtle, an exceedingly necessary trait in a ninja. You'll see." Four mischievously chuckled as it handed her the mission files, detailing where she was supposed to go and preferred information to look for.

Summer respectfully took the files from her chuckling boss, still slightly confused by its behavior.

Now she was even more curious about her new partner.

_(White Fang Warehouse)_

The soldiers of the White Fang worked diligently as they moved cargo from their vehicles outside, getting ready to move in for the next couple of weeks or until the Alpha said otherwise, whatever came first. Their lieutenant was currently away, attending to other matters of importance and left them specific instructions that would keep them busy for the next few hours, the estimated time it would take for him to return.

Unfortunately for them, that meant hours of entertainment for the grinning figure above them, perched silently on the rafters above. The figure giggled femininely as she plotted the various pranks she could pull from her concealed position. It was slightly unprofessional to toy with her prey, but all work and no play was a dull way to live. With devious intention evident in her gleaming eyes, the girl extended her arms and tapped into her Aura to activate her Semblance. After her Semblance began to kick in, miniature, almost invisible, strings began to extend from her finger tips and travel down towards her enemies. The gorilla Faunus carrying around the very heaving looking crate was her first target.

"Son of a bitch!" the gorilla shouted in surprise as he felt something pull the front of his feet, causing him to fall on his back and allowing the weighty crate to slam painfully on his chest.

"Holy crap dude! Are you all right?" A lemur Faunus shouted in concern as he bent over to help his comrade back up.

Big mistake; his underwear was now vulnerable, a weakness that the figure above took grievous advantage of as she attached one of her strings to it.

She forcefully pulled her right index finger back and reveled in the sound of her prey's effeminate screaming.

Almost all of the soldiers in the room stared fearfully at the floating soldier above them as he possibly suffered the most painful wedgie in the history of Remnant. The lemur dangled his legs and shook back and forth in the air, trying desperately to free his ass from the painful humiliation it was suffering, but only succeeded in digging his under in his ass even further.

One of the soldiers put two and two together and began aiming his assault rifle in all directions in a panic.

"Men, there's an intruder among u-"

He was cut off as the front of his assault rifle rose and destructively and painfully slammed into his face, immediately knocking him unconscious and sending the soldiers into a panicked frenzy as they scattered to look for the culprit responsible. No amount of unnatural speed was able to save them from the fresh hell that descended above them.

For the next sixty seconds, the soldiers all suffered their own personal humiliation that resulted in their inevitable unconsciousness. One hippopotamus Faunus was tripped by one of the many strings devastating the entire squad, but instead of being crushed by a box of cargo like the elephant before him, he ended crushing someone else; a terrified and shrieking mouse Faunus that tried to crawl away before it was too late, but failed as he was trapped under the hippo that hit his head on the floor and became immobile.

Another poor unfortunate soul tried to abandon his post and haul ass towards the closest exit. The puppeteer above, having very little mercy for deserters, friend or foe, wrapped a string around both of goat Faunus's legs.

Then proceeded to give him the trip that made him perform a powerful split that his untrained groin was not prepared for.

The final soldier, cowering in fear in the middle of the floor littered with unconscious Faunus, witnessed the sheer brutality the goat suffered as he screamed and bawled before he passed out from sheer pain. He whimpered and quietly sobbed as held a shaking assault rifle in all directions, scared for dear life as he tried to locate the monster doing this to them. The figure chuckled as she attached one of her strings to the light switch and twitched pinky down, shutting off the lights and intimidating the chicken Faunus even further. Being a Faunus, the lack of light didn't do much to impede on his ability to see, but it was the principle of the attacker's action that truly scared him: whoever was attacking him, they were toying with him. Giggling mischievously, the puppeteer used her strings to silently descend to the floor while making slight noises in other spots to intimidate the chicken even further, and it worked.

The chicken screamed at the top of his longs as he shot at the spot where he heard the random sound, but the only thing he managed to shoot was vacant air.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M SERIOUS!" The chicken sobbed uncontrollably as he backed further away.

He almost soiled his underwear when he bumped into a person shrouded in the shadows.

Almost completely paralyzed in terror, the Faunus slowly turned around and successfully relieved his intestines at the only thing he saw.

A pair of glowing green eyes.

"SAAALLLUUUTAAATIONS!" The girl greeted enthusiastically as she saluted at the terrified chicken. Her strings gleamed with an illuminant green glow as they began to fling towards her enemy.

The screams and woeful clucking that followed echoed throughout the city, making people in the distance assume that someone was butchering a poor bird somewhere.

_(Summer)_

Summer almost tripped in surprise as she began to hear the sound of gunfire and screaming chickens in the warehouse she was leaping towards from the rooftops. Not knowing what to expect inside, she pulled out her four-foot long twin swords from their sheaths on her back and kicked the door down, ready to rip into her enemies that she had assumed were torturing some poor individual. Her preconceived assumptions were proved to be one-hundred percent wrong as she almost tripped over the unconscious form of a lemur with bloody underwear for some reason. To her surprise, the entire floor was smothered by the unconscious bodies of groaning White Fang soldiers. They weren't dead, but a few of them probably wished they were.

Did her partner do this?

She walked further into the warehouse with her twin swords in swiping position. She was ready for anything and everything and made sure not to step on any of the unconscious soldiers as she proceeded. She spent the next two minutes scouring through the room, but she found no clue as to what happened to the soldiers.

"So, you're the little twat who's been giving my men trouble? Pathetic." A gruff, thickly accented voice growled from the entrance of the warehouse.

Summer spun around in an alarmed fashion to see who had entered the building. It was a heavily muscled man with scars littered across his tanned skin. He was dressed similarly to the other White Fang soldiers, wearing black clothes while wearing ivory white masks, but he was noticeably more armored than his apparent underlings. The man was plenty intimidating on his own, but the menacing looking chainsaw in the man's left hand only magnified his horrific appearance. She took a few quick whiffs in the man's direction to analyze what kind of Faunus he was, and was unsurprised to smell the scent of a bear.

The man chuckled darkly as he observed the twitching red ears on the girl's head.

"So traitor, care to explain why you're here interfering with my operation?" the man asked, putting grim emphasis on the word "traitor".

Summer growled like the wolf she was, not appreciating being called a traitor by the bear.

"I didn't do this, terrorist. It's not my fault your men suck balls." She replied vulgarly with a sharp edge in her voice.

"I don't believe you, but then again I really don't care." He said as he gripped his chainsaw in both hands, ready to saw off the wolf's pretty little head. "Before I reduce your body to crimson mush, may I know the name of my next kill, Beacon agent?" he requested, having deduced her allegiance.

"Only if I get the name of my next punching bag." Summer wittily replied in a challenging manner.

The bear of a man laughed darkly at the young girl's attitude. Such a shame he had to kill her; she would have made an excellent associate.

"Fine, I'll give you the courtesy. My name's Lieutenant Bane, and I'm the one who's going to be pulling your furry little ears off."

Summer grinned challengingly as she readied her swords for combat.

"The name's Summer Rose, and when this is over, my boot is going to resting comfortably in your ass."

Lieutenant Bane howled ominously in laughter as he pulled the trigger on his chainsaw to activate it. Almost nothing could be heard over the ear-shattering roar of the chainsaw as he began running at his prey.

It was going to be so invigorating when he bathed in the wolf's blood.

He made the first attack with a horizontal swing of his dangerously vicious choice of weapon, but Summer took a swift step back and avoided its teeth by a centimeter. Unfortunately for her, there was a soldier lying on the ground behind her. She tripped over the soldier and landed on her rump, but immediately flipped back up and away from the blood thirsty lieutenant.

Lieutenant Bane growled bestially as he stopped his chainsaw in mid-swing, refraining from swinging where the girl was and accidently sawing one of his underlings in half. He silently seethed in anger that even in a state of no motion, his men still found a way to infuriate him.

With a bellowing roar of power, he focused his Aura in an explosion around him, sending the rest of his men flying into the walls and landing into neat little stacks along them. One would assume that he did this to make sure that his men would not be harmed during his fight, but in reality he was simply making it so that his adversary had nothing to negatively affect her performance in battle.

He wanted to enjoy this battle in the fullest, and he wanted his opponent to give him the best fight she could.

"_Oh great, he can use Aura."_ Summer sarcastically thought in frustration. This guy was going to be more difficult to take down than she originally thought.

Deciding to go on the offensive, she sped towards Bane with her superior speed and repeatedly swung her weapons at him. Bane did his best to block the strikes from the gleaming white twin swords, but the girl was simply too fast compared to him.

But there were two things that he could use to his advantage to regain the upper hand: the wolf was wide open after every swing of her swords, and he was three times as strong as her.

After blocking another swift strike from the girl, he wasted no time in counter-attacking.

"DIE!" Bane roared evilly as he grabbed Summer's face with his right hand. Offering the girl no mercy, he brutally slammed the back of her head into the ground with enough force to send her bouncing back into the air in front of him. The impact with the floor was so merciless and powerful that it sent both of her swords flying away, far out of her reach.

Bane grinned sadistically; she was vulnerable.

With a might roar of victory, he delivered one final swing at the air-borne wolf with the intention of spilling her blood all over the walls.

"_OH CRAP!" _ Summer mentally screamed in horror as the instrument of her demise closed in on her. As her life flashed before her eyes, she brought her arms to shield herself and closed her silver eyes, regretting not being able to say goodbye to her friends. She expected to feel the agonizing pain of spinning metal to rip her apart, but instead she felt herself colliding with the floor. She opened her eyes to see what the hell was going on, and gasped in surprise at what she saw.

Bane had indeed tried to eviscerate her with his chainsaw, but it was halted in mid-air by some unknown force that refused to allow it to move an inch further. The ferocious bear tug and pull against the unknown force to try and finish her off, but to no avail. To the untrained and natural eye, it would have looked as if the force was invisible, but Summer's Faunus vision allowed her to see exactly what was stopping the weapon: glowing green strings.

Summer's eyes followed the multiple strings to their origin as they continued to the entrance of the room. Standing with her fists clenched and her green aura flaring near the entrance of the building, was her savior: an orange haired girl with freckles on her face pulling the glowing strings with all of her might.

"You bitch!" Lieutenant Bane roared angrily as he gave one mightier heave of his chainsaw, sending the ginger girl flying towards him screaming.

Summer gasped audibly as Bane extended the claws of his unoccupied hand as the girl helplessly flew closer.

"NO!" Summer screamed in a panic as she activated her Semblance.

Bane's claws were only a few inches from piercing the interferer's chest, but his attack proved unsuccessful. Floating in front of the ginger, ceasing her flight and shielding her from harm, was a shining wall of ivory-white rose petals.

And if his now bleeding hand that was trapped in the wall of petals told him anything, it was that they were as sharp as any blade as they dug into it.

Surprising the bear even further about the rose petals was the upper half of Summer's body materializing from the wall, and her once calm silver eyes were now a glowing blood-red as they glared dangerously at him.

"Oh no…" Bane growled.

"Oh yes." Summer seethed with toothy grin as she reared her fist back.

Ready to end the fight, Summer rammed her pale fist into the lower jaw of her enemy and sent him flying into the ceiling, but she wasn't done yet. Making sure to injure her enemy, her body dissipated into a flurry of razor sharp rose petals and blasted into her enemy, sending him flying all over room screaming in pain. She reassembled her body under her enemy as he was descending back to the ground, and with one final attack, she performed a powerful roundhouse kick into Bane's masked face and sent him careening into the wall in a bloody heap. With an echoing thud followed by a pained grunt, Bane collided with the wall that now had an enormous dent in it, then slid down to the floor as he coughed painfully.

Summer would have made some sarcastic remark about how she kicked her enemy's ass then would start to dance in celebration, but she exhausted most of her Aura using her Semblance, of which she still couldn't control sparingly. She was too tired to even stand on her feet, and this became evident when she fell to her knees as she breathed harder than she normally would.

Bane slowly rose from his spot on the ground, using his chainsaw to support himself, then somehow intimidated Summer even further as his coughs began to turn into full blown out laughter. Assuming that the White Fang Lieutenant was getting ready for a second round, the girl with the strings swiftly stepped in front of Summer in a protective manner as she readied her strings. Summer stared in horror as her enemy rebounded from her attack so quickly, and he didn't even look like he was tired; he looked as if he wanted more.

"Now that's what I'm talking about! Finally, a Faunus worth her fur has finally presented herself! It's opponents like you that give me reason to get up in the morning! Come, get up! Let's play some more!" Bane cackled insanely as his chainsaw came to life once more and his blood red Aura flared menacingly. The puppeteer's strings glowed dangerously as the man activated his chainsaw again, but grew still as it shut off once more.

"That's what I would like to say anyway, but it seems that you're at your limit." He continued with a chuckle after he shut off his weapon.

"Summer Rose…Dog of Beacon." he breathed in ecstasy, letting the name and the personal nickname of his entertaining enemy tickle and roll off his tongue. "I look forward to confronting you on the battlefield again, but until then, get stronger for when that day comes. And when you've reached the pinnacle of your strength and we meet again, **then **I shall achieve true satisfaction in killing you. Until then, farewell."

With his warning given, the bear focused his Aura into his legs and destructively leaped through the ceiling, leaving the two girls alone with his unconscious underlings. Summer released a breath of relief, happy that the juggernaut had left them alone.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" The string-girl asked concernedly as her strings dissipated and she bent down to Summer's level to help her up.

"Just my pride, but it'll heal. Thanks for saving my ass." Summer answered with gratitude as the girl helped her onto a random seat in the room.

"It was my pleasure! I would have hated for my new leader to be torn in half and gutted before I've even met her!" The girl happily replied, not at all noticing the morbid content of her sentence. It kind of creeped Summer out, but not much. She was just glad that her new teammate could hold her own and assist when needed, plus she seemed fairly nice.

"So…strings?" Summer asked with a chuckle. By no means was she making fun of the girl's weapons, they proved their effectiveness in battle, but she couldn't deny that they were a very unorthodox weapon.

"Yes! My Semblance allows me to extend strings made of my Aura from my fingertips that are as strong as steel. I use them to control the movements of objects and, to an extent, my opponents' movements. This method of combat has bestowed upon me the title: The Puppeteer." The girl informed enthusiastically as she used her Aura strings to grab Summer's dual swords from across the room then demonstrated their precision by placing the swords in their sheathes on Summer's back.

Summer whistled as she watched her new partner's demonstration.

A ninja would have been great to have on her side, but a puppeteer was F*#%KING AWESOME!

"Ma'am, I think we should return to HQ to get your head injury medical attention." The girl advised as she pulled out her Scroll and began messaging HQ that the mission was a success and the cargo would be ready soon.

"Yeah, just give me a sec." Summer replied as she slowly rose from her seat. "And don't call me Ma'am. It doesn't feel right."

"Alright then, what should I call you then?" The girl asked politely.

"The name's Summer, Summer Rose." Summer greeted as she held her hand out to shake her new acquaintance's.

The girl smiled joyously as she ecstatically grabbed Summer's hand with her own.

"My name's Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

_(Present Day)_

Penny observed Ruby, who was training vigorously on the training floor, with pride through the security camera as the young Faunus skillfully decimated the training drones surrounding her. It was one of her favorite pass times to watch the young girl improve, growing faster and more deadly with each passing day. It would remind her of the days when she would observe the girl's mother train. Sometimes, when Penny would become heavily engrossed in watching Ruby, she could swear that she could see the red of Ruby's hood flash to white for split seconds, almost as if her dear friend was still with her in spirit and letting her know that she lived on in her baby.

Or at least that's what Penny liked to believe.

Maybe one day, when the world was at peace and her promise was fulfilled, she could see her dear friend again, but that was still years away. So Penny would continue to endure her cruel fate, and she would continue to watch over Summer's legacy, until the day comes when she is no longer needed and she can stop being a hollow remnant of the past.

The day in which she can cease being a remorseful ghost.


	14. Long Live Monty Oum

**It is with a heavy heart and soul-shattering sorrow that I say this: On February 1, 2015, at 4:43 PM, our beloved Monty Oum passed away at the age of 33. I currently do not have the strength right now to go into details on this, I'm sure many of you already know or will immediately Google this, but I felt that this needed to be said.**

**I had always felt uncertain and afraid of what the future might hold for me, considering my staggering lack of talents. The only thing that I felt I was, in the slightest bit, good at was being creative when it came to fiction. I felt that in the future I would have no place in society because there would be nothing of relevant value that I could contribute. However, whenever these depressive thoughts threatened to completely demoralize me, I would always look up to Monty as a personal example. He was a high school drop-out that, despite society's typical disapproval, broke free of the shackles of social normality and lived to do great things, and served as a magnificent example of creativity. I, as many of you, did not have the blessing of meeting him face to face, but he still taught me an irreplaceably valuable lesson that has continued to sustain me to this day: Happiness and victory is within **_**anyone's**_** reach if they pursue a lifestyle they truly desire. He was one of my personal role-models, he was and still is a shining example of what creativity can achieve, and he will be missed dearly by thousands.**

**I'm going to be spending the rest of the night mourning the loss of one of my heroes, and I'm sure many of you will do the same, but before I log off to do so, I would like to say one more thing.**

**He is not gone.**

**He still lives on in us all, in RoosterTeeth, in Red vs. Blue, in RWBY (especially), in our fan-art, in our fanfictions, in our**** hearts****. I ask you all, my fellow RoosterTeeth fans, to always preserve his spirit and always remember that you are never too old to have an imagination, and that anyone can live happily doing what they want. That is how I'm going to honor my hero and I implore you all to do the same.**

**Long live RWBY**

**Long live Monty Oum**

**We love you**


	15. NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE!

**Hey guys, sorry this took longer than I expected. I was still grieving for a bit and I started another fic to take my mind off of things, AND THEN I had finals to worry about, but I'm all good now. I FINALLY have a Beta-Reader now and he's been a total blast talking to, so I would like to thank demonic1556 for being awesome!**

**Anyway, without further ado, let the story commence!**

Dreams are such wonderful things.

To Blake, they were like story books, every different one unique and exciting in their own way. She enjoyed scouring through the events that would transpire in her personal sleep realm, eager to see what the next would bring.

The dream she was currently having was one of the few exceptions to her eagerness; she wanted to savor every last second of it.

She was tranquilly walking through fields of jade-green grass littered with a sea of flowers of all different colors and shades. The endless cerulean sky above expanded across the horizon and passed the thick forests beyond to create a blissful scenery the likes of which Blake had never seen in reality, the glimmering lake to her left was teaming with wildlife of all types, and the wind was gently caressing her bare-cat ears so smoothly that it made them twitch in delight sporadically.

It was the most beautiful environment that she could have possibly imagined, but that was not the most enjoyable piece of the dream. It was the presence of all of her friends walking with and around her just as happily as she was.

Yang and Ruby were in the front of the group, laughing ecstatically at a joke Penny's hologram, who was sitting contentedly on Ruby's left shoulder, was currently telling them. Sun and Neptune followed behind them, arguing about some unimportant and asinine topic, but were still merrily enjoying their conversation as they verbally jousted at one another. Even Adam was in the back of the group enjoying himself, staying silent as usual, but the characteristic angry scowl that had always stained his face was replaced with a wide blissful smile that was almost believed to be impossible to show on his face. And if that wasn't enough to make this the happiest dream possible, then their choice of clothing was. No longer were they geared with clothes with Dust sewn in for protection, no longer were they armed to the teeth with deadly weapons, and no longer did they constantly keep their Aura activated in case of an attack. They were simply dressed like a bunch of teenagers ready to enjoy a fun-filled day.

They had won.

The war was over, the world didn't need them anymore, and they could finally live peaceful lives without raising another weapon again.

The dream was a lie; a hypnotic fabrication of her mind as she slept, and Blake was under no illusion to the contrary, but it was a happy lie.

The group stopped in their tracks to wave happily at something in the distance, surprising Blake as she almost walked into Sun's back when he stopped. She looked over his broad shoulder to see what the sudden excitement was, then almost leaped in joy when she saw who they were waving at.

Standing in front of the entrance to a beautiful looking village filled to the brim with Humans and Faunus co-operating with one another under the banner of friendship instead of hate, were her three newest friends: Jaune, Nora, and Ren.

Her instincts once again shrouded her reserved nature as she ecstatically zoomed past all of her fellow former Beacon agents. She zipped past the roses and the lilies and the violets in her mad dash towards her loved ones, ready to embrace all of them lovingly. She inadvertently changed forms during her run and was now running on all fours towards them with vigor as they all huddled closer and simultaneously beckoned her over with open arms, ready to hug her as if she was one of their own.

With a happy meow, the kitten leaped towards the group with her paws extended and ready to grapple on to her friends.

Unfortunately, as soon as her paws made contact with them, her team took an immediate shift for the worst.

She opened her eyes expecting to see the happiness that she quickly became accustomed to, but instead found herself to be in the center of nothing but darkness and despair.

The once thriving village full of co-operating Humans and Faunus was now a bloody battlefield littered with dead bodies and roaring with Faunus and Humans murdering one another. The once architecturally astounding buildings that magnified the beauty of the establishment were now nothing more than smoldering remnants lit ablaze by the various weapons being used by the combatants. Blake would have tried to stop them, but was paralyzed in horror as she began to closely observe some of the bodies lying at her feet.

Her friends, her extended family that she treasured above all else, were lying on the ground in lakes of their collective blood. They were all dressed back in their normal attire for battle and their weapons lied next to their corpses in smoking shambles. Hysteria and sorrow began to arise in her heart, and she completely forgot that she was in a dream. The scorching heat of the flames of the buildings, the stinging wounds speckled throughout her body, and the metallic scent of the blood soaking the dirt; it felt all too real to feel like a dream.

And the worst part of the entire scenario was not the blood and carnage that surrounded her, but the scent of her friends' blood oozing off of her hands.

"**So, how does it feel?" **a hauntingly demonic voice whispered in her ear from behind her, motivating her to spin around in fright.

She couldn't make out the shape of the figure that was snickering darkly at its own question; all she could make out was the ebony-black cloud shrouding her vision of it.

"**How does it feel to be the perpetrator of your "family's" demise? Assuming that an animal has the capacity to feel to begin with." **The voice mockingly asked again, taking great pleasure in Blake's horror and despair.

"NO! Shut up! I didn't do this…I couldn't!" Blake screamed through tears in defiance as she closed her eyes and cupped her blood-soaked hands over her ears, trying to shield them from the figure's hurtful words. However, it proved fruitless when she heard its voice as clear as day in her head.

"**Oh, is that so?" **The voice sarcastically asked as the scenery began to change once again.

Blake fearfully opened her eyes again to find herself atop a hauntingly familiar cliff side, and not only was the current setting of her nightmare off-putting, but so were the two figures engaged in combat in front of her.

It was both herself and her dearest friend Yang, exchanging menacing blade swings and passionate punches towards one another respectively. It was no longer a nightmare; it was now a memory of a time in which Blake wished with all her heart that she could erase.

"**If I recall correctly, you've made plenty of attempts on a friend's life before. Even after she tried oh so desperately to make you see the errors of your ways, you refused to listen and tried to take her life, even when she refused to reciprocate the intention." **

Almost to intentionally magnify the effect of the voice's words, the Blake engaging Yang in combat attempted a lethal swing of Gambal Shroud at the blonde's neck. Yang managed to dodge it, but not without sustaining a small cut that did little to harm her health, but undoubtedly inflicted emotional pain that far outclassed any possible physical pain.

The betrayal and hurt that oozed from Yang's tears as she threw punch after punch at the Faunus, it sent waves of aching regret through her heart.

"**Abandoning all reason, trusting only yourself, and lashing out at all who oppose you with the intent to kill; if that's not becoming of an animal, then I don't know what is." **

Blake wanted nothing more than to escape the emotional torture the figure was inflicting upon her and tried desperately to sprint away from it. She was painfully tripped by a black tendril of darkness that slithered out of the figure's cloud as it gripped her ankle, then began to drag her back towards it while laughing evilly at her sorrow.

"**You couldn't remove yourself from me any more easily than you could remove heat from fire. Running from me won't solve anything." **The voice cackled with the intent to demoralize as it dragged Blake closer and closer into the cloud of darkness.

"LET ME GO!" Blake roared angrily and fearfully as she desperately clawed at the ground in a tearful frenzy.

The voice laughed ominously as more tendrils latched on to her, systematically destroying any hope of escape with each tendril. Both of her ankles, wrists, her waist, and her neck bore astem of terrifying darkness that pulled her further towards the growling monster.

Blake gave one last fearful glance at the evil that was consuming her.

Her heart froze at the sight of the gleaming blood-red eyes smiling at her.

Blake eyes shot open as she jumped to her four feet in an alarmed fashion, finally awaking from her nightmare and returning to the world of consciousness. As she gradually regained control of her breathing, the panic coursing through her system began to wither as well, but still leaving Blake in shivers.

She knew it was a dream, she was always aware of that.

So why did it feel so real?

Blake rapidly shook her head to help discard the disturbing memories, simply grateful that the nightmare was over.

She craned her neck to observe Jaune's room around her, hoping to see the comforting face of her blonde friend, but then took notice of his absence and the lingering traces of his warmth in the bed she was lying on. Deducing that he must be downstairs getting ready for school, she released a drowsy yawn of exhaustion she exited the room and descended down the stairs leading to the living room.

Just as she suspected, he was sitting comfortably on his couch enjoying a plate full of chicken nuggets and watching an episode of _Attack on Titan_.

"_Is if Friday already?" _Blake thought as she looked at the calendar, knowing that Jaune would usually celebrate the last day of the school week with a morning routine of his favorite food and anime. The calendar confirmed it, reminding Blake that Tukson had messaged her to visit him today for some reason.

Noticing the tiny black fur-ball at the bottom of the stairs observing him from afar, Jaune smiled at his favorite cat and greeted her with a friendly "Hello!" as he waved.

"Someone's happy." Blake commented in the form of a calm meow as she walked towards the bowl of warm tuna that Jaune always prepared for her in the morning. Not realizing just how hungry she was until the enticing scent of her favorite meal reached her nose, Blake wolfed down every last bit of the delectable meal in a matter of seconds.

After annihilating any trace of the tuna's existence, she blinked confusedly at the empty bowl as she licked its remains from her fuzzy mouth. She had no idea why, but for some reason her appetite grew stronger with each day. Usually, she would be satisfied with one bowl of tuna, but that began to change over the course of the week. Every time Jaune would leave the house to go to school, it was a struggle to refrain from raiding his fridge for additional sustenance. It was tempting, but she didn't want to risk Jaune noticing the unusual absence of food, so she endured the aches and pains of her growling stomach.

Speaking of growling stomach, the rumbling in her stomach returned with an angry vengeance that had Blake groaning in discomfort.

With her bowl of tuna completely vacant of any more chow, her golden eyes zoomed in on the plate of steaming chicken nuggets that had her mouth overflowing with drool at the mere sight.

He wouldn't be too opposed to giving up just one would he?

Jaune looked away from the T.V. and turned towards the feline that abandoned her bowl and leaped next to him on the couch.

"What's up?" he asked, curious as to why his cat was staring at him so heavily.

Almost as if to intentionally answer his question, Blake's gaze shifted towards his plate as she hungrily licked her lips. Jaune looked behind her to see if she had even touched her plate, then flinched at the sight of the spotless dish.

She must really be hungry.

"Do you want some more tuna?" he asked with a humored chuckle.

The prospect of additional tuna did sound pleasing, but in all honesty, there was only so much tuna she could consume before even she would become sick of it.

Jaune's chicken nuggets sounded much more appealing at the moment.

"Meow." Blake mewled as inched closer towards the plate of seasoned poultry.

Before she could even so much as touch even one of Jaune's nuggets, he retracted them further away from her and out of her reach.

"No kitty, there _my _chicken nuggets." Jaune whined with a disapproving frown.

Normally Jaune would be happy to share his food with the kitten, but chicken nuggets were his absolute favorite and he intended to savor every last bite.

This did not please Blake in the slightest.

"Reeeoorrrr!" Blake angrily cried as she leaped at the plate in Jaune's hands. Her attempt at the nuggets was as successful as the last as Jaune swiftly raised the plate higher.

"No kitty, that's a bad kitty!" Jaune scolded in an irritated fashion.

"REEEOORRR!" Blake protested.

"No kitty, there **my **chicken nuggets!" Jaune shouted defensively as he shielded his precious food with his arms, making sure to deny Blake access to them.

He would have continued to reprimand his kitten for her unusual naughty behavior, but visibly cringed as he noticed the voracious gleam in her eyes.

The last time he saw that look in her eyes was when he took her to…the…vet…oh crap.

"**RRRREEEEOOOOORRRR!" **Blake roared ferociously as she charged at her unfortunate caretaker with her fangs and claws extended to their peak, ready to reunite with the subtle flesh of their favorite victim.

"No kitty that's a bad goddamn kitty!" Jaune screamed fearfully as he prepared to flee the demon that was about to send him careening back into the ever familiar world of pain he was accustomed to.

"_Wait…" _Jaune thought before turning around.

Horrific flashbacks of the pain his rump was subjected to every time he tried to escape the pursuit of his cat. If he simply refrained from turning his back on his adversary, there was no way she would be able to attack his bottom if just made sure to keep her at his front.

It was foolproof!

"I'm ready for you this time! Bring it on pussycat!" Jaune growled challengingly he braced himself and stood his ground with his arms ready to block her attacks.

He expected the rabid feline to slow down to at least attempt a change her course of direction, but he was baffled by Blake's unperturbed charge.

If anything, he could have sworn that the cat chuckled sinisterly as she increased her speed.

But why? How could she possibly cause him more pain than how she usually did?

The only place that she could damage that would even come close that amount of pain was his…

Oh crap…

"**Oh, looks like I found a new scratching post." **Blake chuckled darkly as she leaped at her target.

If there was anything that could be said about Jaune as a man, it was that he had endured colossal amounts of pain like a champ throughout his life. He had been hit by a train that broke half of the bones in his body, he was slammed into the wall by an airborne couch thrown by one of his best friends, shot in the ass with a tranquilizer gun by his other best friend, and on more than one occasion suffered the agonizingly painful barrages of kicks to his groin from his crush.

None of those painful experiences could hope to compare to his current incident in terms of agony.

_(One hour later)_

"So after we took our seats, this incredibly rude waitress walks up to our table and basically calls me fat!" Nora angrily narrated with an irate huff as she crossed her arms.

"Nora was getting impatient because our food hadn't arrived yet, and the waitress offered her a salad as an appetizer, free of charge." Ren corrected in a bored monotone voice as he sipped his water bottle.

"Ren, being the manliest man of manly men, decided to defend my honor and attack that bitch for her rude comment!" Nora continued with a celebratory fist-pump.

"Offended by the waitress's offer, Nora grabbed me by the collar of my suit, used me as a weapon, and sent me flying into the poor lady."

"But if calling me fat wasn't enough, that tramp decided to piss me off even further by making a move on **MY MAN**!" Nora shouted ferociously, livid by the mere memory of the confrontation.

"I accidentally landed face first on her chest, and the waitress was too shocked and scared to react."

"Knowing that I was upset, Ren heroically ceased attacking the witch that insulted me and carried me away from the emotionally distressing scene in his arms." Nora cooed as she wrapped her arms around Ren's left one and nuzzled her cheek against his bicep.

"The manager threatened to call the police if we didn't leave the building in the next ten seconds."

"And during the morning that followed, Ren looked me in the eyes and said "Don't worry baby, I won't take you back there."

"We're forbidden from walking within fifty feet of that restaurant for the rest of our lives." Ren concluded the wholly exaggerated tale with another sip of his water.

Cardin, Velvet, Russel, and interestingly Coco, all stared dumbfounded at their friends from their seats as the eccentric couple finished their comical tale.

"So how often do you guys have normal dates?" Velvet skeptically asked as Cardin and Russel started snickering at the couple's story.

Coco simply remained silent as she pushed her sunglasses further up the bridge of her nose and tried to restrain the laughter that threatened to escape her wiggling lips.

Ren chuckled at the Faunus's question. "Oh Velvet, don't be silly."

Velvet's head leaned slightly to the left in confusion at her friend's response.

"We've never had a normal date." Ren finished wittily, yet truthfully, sending his fellow men into stronger fits of laughter and shattering any of Coco's restraint on her own.

Nora was about to indulge her friends in yet another story of one of her various misadventures, but her eyes shot towards the door as the last member of their group limped through it and towards the unoccupied seat next to Ren.

"Oh look, there's Jaune! Hi Jauney-Boy!" Nora greeted her long-time friend as she happily waved at the blond.

His only response was a moan of pain as he collapsed onto his seat with his face plastered against the surface of his desk.

Ren and Nora exchanged knowing looks with one another, easily guessing the culprit behind Jaune's current condition.

"What the hell happened to you?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kitten?" Ren and Nora asked as they chuckled at the boy's misfortune.

"Kitten." Jaune wheezed in confirmation without separating his face from his desk, strengthening Ren and Nora's subtle laughter and confusing the rest of their group even further.

They would have liked to ask the unfortunate blonde to elaborate, but their professor started his lecture before they had the chance.

As they spent the next hour and a half listening to their teacher ramble about the subject of their study, they strongly questioned whether or not Jaune was conscious to listen along with them.

He had yet to remove his face from his desk, and was silently whimpering "Why me?" as he kept his legs crossed.

_(Beacon)_

"Come on Weiss! Just a bit further!" Ruby called out from ahead of her albino "friend" as she brushed aside any tree branches out of her way.

"Whatever." Weiss grumpily and uncaringly responded as she stepped over a pile of sticks and followed the annoying Faunus.

For whatever reason, Ruby felt it was necessary to once again disturb Weiss's sleep early in the morning to bring her back to the Emerald Forest. Weiss had very little patience for the red agent's antics today because her meeting with one of Beacon's Councilman was very soon and, truth be told, she was nervous. She only wished to stay in her room and collect her thoughts, so she resisted by burying her head under her pillow in an attempt to block her out, but Ruby was apparently hell-bent on making her life a living hell and threatened to impose upon her a fate worse than the most agonizing of hells: having the monkey-tailed rapscallion sing karaoke in her room.

Weiss shuddered at the mere memory of the Faunus boy's atrocious singing booming through Ruby's scroll last week, and certainly didn't want to subject herself to such heinous torture, so she begrudgingly did as Ruby requested and followed her out into the forest.

She just hoped that Ruby wasn't leading her into another all out war. She was still cleaning snow out of her ears from Christmas.

Weiss patiently walked behind Ruby in comfortable silence as they traveled through shrubbery for what seemed like forever until exclaimed "Aha!" in triumph as she moved aside one final bush.

They had apparently arrived at Ruby's destination; a cliff, barren of any trees or bushes, that gave them both a wonderful view of the rising sun.

The globe of warmth inched its way above the vast horizon of trees and painted the sky a magnificent shade of pink that instilled within Weiss feelings of awe and serenity, very rare and unfamiliar emotions that she rarely allowed herself to feel due to the nature of her lifestyle.

"You haven't even seen the best part yet." Ruby commented with a grin, humored by the gaping mouth of the former-Order agent.

Ruby walked further ahead of Weiss, who instantly collected herself with a small embarrassed blush, and surprised her by sitting on the edge of cliff, letting her slim legs dangle in the air and planting the palms of her hands on the ground to make sure she didn't fall.

"Look down." She suggested happily in anticipation of seeing Weiss's reaction to the sight below.

Weiss was very hesitant to do as Ruby asked, she didn't like the mischievous grin on her face as she did so, but she had already spent so much time being led that she decided that she might as well see if it was truly worth it.

With a deep sigh of resignation, Weiss walked to Ruby's side, made sure that she was at a safe distance so that she didn't accidentally fall, and peeked her head over cliff to see what Ruby was grinning so giddily about.

They were high up; **extremely **high up.

The multitudes of trees below blurred together into a sheet of rigid green and barely discernible treetops that seemingly crawled further away from the cliff with every second, the birds themselves seemed as if they were completely unaware of their presence above them as they flew in flocks below them, and clouds of white floated peacefully and undisturbed right under the cliff.

Weiss wiped her eyes to see if her drowsiness was affecting her eyesight, but the sight below remained unchanged.

It struck upon her a shocking revelation concerning Beacon HQ that explained how Beacon had become the most elusive faction of the war. They were not located in some hollowed out cavern underground, and they were not hiding in a secluded field surrounded by normal society. They were located in the direction that one would be least likely to look: up.

Beacon was a floating island in the sky.

"How…I don't…what?" Weiss stuttered as she stared at the world below her, trying to find the words to convey her shock.

"Relax Weiss, it's just a twenty-thousand…foot…drop." Ruby said with initial comfort that slowly shifted into hesitance as she finished her absurd sentence. "Well jeesh, now that I say it out loud, it does sound pretty dangerous."

"Beacon is on a floating island the sky?! This is completely impossible!" Weiss shouted after finally regaining her ability to speak.

"Nothing's impossible." Ruby replied as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"How?!" Weiss questioned, completely stunned that she had been residing on something so fictional for weeks and didn't know until now.

"Umm…" Ruby hummed nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "I don't think I'm aloud to tell you that Weiss. I almost got Purged for just **bringing** you to HQ. I don't think that I'm allowed to tell you much about our main means of secrecy. My boss barely let me bring you here actually." Ruby explained, looking apologetic as she did so. "Your meeting with my boss is right around the corner and I noticed that you've been kinda nervous, so I just wanted to show you the prettiest thing about Beacon to calm you down, and just in case you're Purged."

Weiss's shock morphed into confusion at Ruby's answer.

"Purged?" Weiss quoted, hoping Ruby would elaborate on the dismal sounding term.

"Well…sit down, and I'll tell you." Ruby offered as she scooted over and patted the vacant space to her left.

Weiss sighed in frustration, not at all desiring to sit closely to Ruby, but her curiosity overcame her pride as she begrudgingly complied.

Ruby smiled victoriously as Weiss grumpily sat down next to her and kept her sour gaze focused on the beautiful scenery before them.

"Well, you know this already, but the Order and the White Fang have a habit of killing people who know too much about them, or agents that betray them or are considered a hindrance."

"_You don't say?" _Weiss cynically thought, still emotionally sore from the conditions in which she arrived at Beacon.

"Beacon…is different." Ruby continued with hesitance.

Weiss looked towards the Faunus with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"I won't lie; Beacon has had to kill before to stay alive in this war, but the majority of us try our best to avoid killing unless we truly have to. Instead of killing a person because they know too much, we found an alternative method: Purging." Ruby explained as she shivered at the mere word.

Judging from Ruby's body language as the word left her mouth, Weiss found it hard to believe that Purging was a more desirable fate than death.

"When someone is Purged, they are surgically put into a near-death state and hooked up to an electric chair. However, instead of electrocuting the person inside to death, the chair sends non-lethal pulses of heavily controlled electricity directly into the hippocampus of the brain."

Weiss's eyes narrowed as she came to a conclusion from Ruby's explanation.

"You wipe their memory." Weiss answered knowingly.

"Yep." Ruby confirmed.

"So Purging is just a memory-wiping procedure?" Weiss asked, not at all seeing why it disturbed Ruby so.

"Not exactly." Ruby answered as she continued. "Even after their memories are wiped, there is always a slim chance that their Aura might repair the damage to their hippocampus and repair some, if not all, of their memories. So, after the person's memory is wiped and they are unconscious, they then undergo a complicated surgery; a surgery designed to ensure that they can never properly use Aura again. **That **is Purging."

Weiss remained silent for a few seconds as she processed the information presented to her.

"And what do they do with the people after they're purged." She asked.

"They are thrown back into normal society to live a normal life, completely unaware of who they were and what they were a part of." Ruby finished solemnly as she hugged her legs to comfort herself.

Weiss gradually looked back towards the horizon, know knowing what Purging entailed. It did indeed sound like a better alternative to death, but she also understood why the mere prospect of being Purged disturbed Ruby. If there was anything that Weiss learned about her during their time spent together, it was that Ruby was very dedicated to her job, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Through Ruby's eyes, Purging was most definitely a fate worse than death.

Which raised a very good, yet infuriating, question.

"So why?" Weiss asked forcefully, surprising Ruby by the frustration in her voice.

"What?" Ruby asked, confused by her question?

"If you're so afraid of being Purged, they why did you risk your entire reason for living by saving **me**?" Weiss growled as she jammed her finger towards herself.

Ruby was slightly taken back by how angry Weiss became so suddenly, but she chose not anger her further and answer her question.

"It…was a very personal choice Weiss." Ruby started with nervousness oozing from her voice. "Ever since I started basic training as a little girl, I wanted to do my very best to save lives that were in need of saving. You may have been my enemy, and you may have tried to kill me, but what they did to you at the docks that night was just…**monstrous**. Your life was definitely in jeopardy; I couldn't just leave you to die like that, so I did what my heart told me to and saved you."

Weiss's face was a mixture of puzzlement and anger as she shot to her feet.

"Ruby, I tried to kill you!" Weiss enunciated forcefully, slightly intimidating Ruby and making her jump slightly. "I utilized almost every tactic and technique at my disposal in my attempts to end your life! I was going to stab you in the heart, then move on to your friends and kill them as well! I am a Human, you are a Faunus! Are you seriously telling me that, despite all of these things, you brought me here because you took pity on me?! You dolt!" Weiss shouted angrily.

"Jeesh! What's your problem?! You're alive, aren't you?!" Ruby complained as she rose to her feet as well, confused and slightly hurt by Weiss's soured attitude.

"And that is only because of you, believe me, I know this, but being merciful in a war like this is a luxury you cannot afford!"

"So what?! Am I supposed to just kill all of my enemies like some remorseless machine?!" Ruby shouted back.

"YES! That is exactly what you should do! The Order isn't going to show you any mercy, ESPECIALLY since you're a Faunus, so you must be willing to reciprocate that same ill-will if you want to survive!"

"What does that solve Weiss?! I became an agent to save as many people as possible and heal the hatred plaguing the world! If I just kill my enemies indiscriminately out of sheer hatred, then I'm not solving the problem of this war, I'm just adopting it! I spared **you**!"

Weiss took a forceful step towards Ruby with a grim frown on her lips.

"Look where we are Ruby." Weiss commanded icily without breaking eye-contact with Ruby. "I have been an agent of the Order for as long as I can remember. I've seen firsthand the brutality of some of their more questionable members, and I have come to understand that they heavily outnumber agents who, like you, try to maintain a tight grip on the foolish weakness called "compassion" because they're willing to do what it takes to survive and win. Hear me when I say this Ruby, if I had been almost **any** of those agents that have no regard for you as another person, if my situation was **any** different, I could have easily pushed you off this cliff, sent you falling to your death, then use my Semblance to escape Beacon while supplied with all of the information you've foolishly granted me. You know this, so why would you even consider giving me, a Human and an Order agent, so many opportunities to jeopardize you?"

"I brought you here because I trust you! Because if the Council does decide to Purge you, I wanted your last moments here spent with a friend who's willing to overlook your past and especially your race!"

Ruby's heart felt as if someone delivered the swiftest and most painful of strikes directly into its core as Weiss heatedly hissed her response.

"We. Are. Not. Friends." Weiss growled angrily as she stomped towards the incredibly hurt Faunus with every word.

Ruby couldn't find the words to respond to the livid albino as her face was only inches away from her own.

"I am a Human; you are a Faunus. If the bloody history of both of our species has taught the world anything, it is that we lack any hope of ever co-existing with one another, and despite any measures we take as a whole to promote an environment of equality and kinship, it will all come crumbling down and we will inevitably try to destroy each other in the end. Beacon is fighting a lost cause."

"That's not true!" Ruby shouted angrily, fed up with Weiss's pessimistic and hostile behavior. "Beacon is living proof that that's not true! My **family **is living proof of that! We've withstood everything that the world has thrown at us and we're a closely bonded family because of it. Humans and Faunus can live together; you just refuse to see that because you were raised to despise everything we stand for without even trying to see the good that we've accomplished!"

The fury that was rampant across Weiss's face slowly transformed to display an emotion that Ruby had never truthfully seen before on the proud ex-heiress's face: Sorrow.

"You think that I've abandoned hope for the world because of my upbringing? Is that what you really think of me?" Weiss lowly questioned in a strained voice.

Ruby couldn't bring herself to answer as she felt her own anger begin to wither; the sadness oozing out of Weiss's usually proud eyes put her off immensely.

She was brought out of the hypnotism of Weiss's sad gaze as the ex-heiress slowly raised a single finger in front of Ruby's face, confusing Ruby greatly in the process.

"Name one time, just one outside of Beacon, when Faunus and Human kind were able to live in harmony and tandem with one another, and it didn't result in a destructive amalgamation of animosity, racism, and conflict. Name one time when Faunus weren't living on the lower rungs of society and struggled to sustain themselves because they were forced to live in an oppressive environment filled to the brim with racist humans. Name one time that humans weren't constantly attacked in the streets by disheartened and violent Faunus who have perceived every human to be as evil as the ones who have wronged them. If you can do that, I swear on everything under the sun I will take back what I've said. Just name one time Ruby." Weiss requested without abandoning the depression coating her voice.

For the first time in a very long time, Ruby was speechless.

As much as she would have liked to do as Weiss requested and inspire some sliver of hope in her icy heart, but she simply couldn't. Humans and Faunus could co-exist with one another, Ruby still strongly believed that, but there had never been a time in which peace was as strong as Weiss was asking for. Beacon was truly the only establishment in which peace between the two races had withstood the test of time.

With no satisfactory answer in mind, Ruby's lips remained sealed as her head depressively dipped toward the ground.

"That's what I thought." Weiss said as she retracted her finger. Her eyes no longer bore the glow of anger; just the milky haze of sorrow. "Peace is nothing more than a fabricated illusion that desperate victims of war pursue in hopes that they will find solace in a dark and dreary world, but the only thing that they truly find in the end is a violent and gruesome death. Deep down, I think you know this. I can see it in your eyes; you've lost plenty of friends and family to this war, just like I have."

Ruby's eyes widened as they rose to meet Weiss's. She sounded so dismal, so lifeless, when she added their similarity.

At first Ruby was angry at Weiss for her cynicism, but now as Ruby gazed into the pools of foggy ice that were Weiss's eyes, her anger was replaced with nothing but pure sympathy.

What happened to her?

Weiss sighed as she felt she was being a bit too harsh on the girl, but she felt that the girl needed a strong dose of reality. Too many good people have died without it, and as much as Ruby annoyed the hell out of her, Weiss did not wish for her to die because of foolish optimism.

"For what it's worth Ruby, in another time, in another world, in another reality, I would have called you friend. If there were more Faunus in the world like you, a great deal of fear of your people would be non-existent, and if there were more humans like your friends, Faunus could actually have ample chance in this world, but it is simply not meant to be." Weiss sadly said as she began walking back to Beacon HQ, trying to avoid eye-contact with Ruby as she walked away. "I'm grateful that you tried to save me, I truly am, but I died long before my father even tried to have me assassinated."

Before Weiss completely disappeared behind the thick shrubbery and collection of trees, Ruby's sensitive ears managed to pick up the last utterance that left Weiss's lips.

"You should have just saved us both a lot of trouble and killed me."

Ruby's heart dropped drastically at the horrible declaration, but that was not the worst thing that disturbed her the most.

It was the subtle scent of tears that were left in Weiss's wake when she left.

_(Elsewhere)_

"Tukson?" Blake called out as she closed the door behind her.

"In here!" he shouted from the back of the house, obviously busy with something.

Curious as to what exactly the old puma was doing that he couldn't greet her at the door, she walked down the hallway, passively observing the painted frames hung on the wall as she passed them. It was refreshing to see that Tukson still managed to find the time to explore his artistic side and paint as well as read. It reminded her of better days in the White Fang when her old friend would be constantly paid to paint for them. Even Adam bought a frame or two to decorate his quarters, even though he would never admit it to anyone in Beacon.

Hearing the furious rapping of typing on a keyboard behind the final door on the left, Blake opened it to find the old puma in a room full of beeping computers along the wall connected to one another by various different wires, but the most interesting thing inside the room that caught her attention was the enormous screen connected to the computers as it hung on the wall opposite of the door. Tukson was typing on a keyboard as he was talking on the phone, and he didn't look too pleased with whoever he was speaking with.

"You tell them that there's a huge freaking difference Fox! For the last time, I am not a leopard, I am not a jaguar, I am not a tiger, and I am most definitely not a god damn rat! I AM A F*&#ING PUMA! Say it with me now!" Tukson roared as his claws extended and his fangs began to poke out from his mouth.

"Um, Tukson?" Blake said, wondering if he was too angry to even notice her presence.

Tukson shot towards her with a short look of apology as he turned back towards the screen and leaned his head further into the phone. "Whatever Fox! Look, I have company right now, but this isn't over yet!" Tukson growled as he hung up and placed the phone aside. "Sorry about that Kitten." He apologized as he continued to work on his computer.

"So, is there a reason you called me over?" Blake asked, smirking at her old friend's frustration at being called anything but a puma.

"Yeah, just give me a sec. I'm almost done, so you can take a seat if you want."

Blake took one the seats next to Tukson as she observed the various pieces of technology littered across the room.

"And what exactly are you doing?" Blake asked as Tukson continued to type.

"Contacting my boss." Tukson answered plainly.

"Really?" Blake asked as her eyes widened in surprise.

Ever since Tukson and her had reunited weeks ago, he had always spoke fondly of his superior, often describing her as a strict mother hen, yet caring and considerate as well. Blake was rather interested and somewhat excited to finally meet this "Broker", not only to ask for her assistance in contacting Beacon, but also meet the person who had earned Tukson's unconditionally loyalty, a great feat to anyone who knew him.

"Yep, just need to establish a secure line, and we'll be good to go." Tukson confirmed. "So, I see your little boyfriend got you something special for Christmas." He teased with a snicker as Blakes cheeks brightened in embarrassment.

"Shut up." She growled as her left hand grabbed at the gem stone hanging from her neck and resting on her bosom. Ever since she had received the beautiful gift from Jaune, she always kept it around her neck at every possible opportunity and never took it off unless she needed to continue posing as a cat. She treated it with the utmost care when it wasn't dangling from her neck and kept it in its box when it was hidden in her secret compartment. She treasured the loving gift, and she always would.

"Y'know, I got to hand it to the kid, it does look exactly like the real thing. He sounds like he really cares about you Blake." Tukson said with obvious respect for the boy, but also with a cracking voice that reverberated with subtle sorrow.

"Tukson…are you alright?" Blake asked out of concern, already knowing the answer, but still feeling the need to ask.

Tukson fingers ceased their frenzy across the keyboard as he took a deep breath, completely losing focus on his work as he froze.

"Tukson?"

He looked towards the cat with a subtle quiver on his lips. "I…I don't want to…talk about it right now. Another time perhaps." He responded solemnly as he continued to type on his computer.

Blake wished that he would indulge her and satiate her concern for him, but it was clear that the subject was a painful one to discuss for Tukson, so she respected his wishes and dropped it.

"Annnnnndddd…done. We're ready to make the call. You ready?"

Blake nodded her head, ready to finally meet the enigmatic woman.

After pressing one last key, he rose from his seat and motioned for her to stay in her seat as he stood alert and erect in front the large screen. It flickered to life and displayed static at first, but then it quickly cleared up as the screen displayed video feed of the one receiving the call. Whoever answered the call was sitting comfortably in a large wheel chair, and was going through great lengths to conceal their appearance by wearing a torn up crimson hood that shadowed their face. And for extra measure, the person was keeping the room poorly lit so that they could barely see their surroundings.

Tukson wasn't kidding when he said that his boss was secretive; they almost reminded her of the Councilman back at Beacon.

"Tukson?!" the figure shouted in a surprised, feminine voice as she realized who was calling her. "You haven't reported in weeks! Where the hell have you been?!" she crossly asked out of concern for the puma.

Tukson chuckled embarrassedly as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, there was kind of a problem back at the book shop."

"What happened?"

"Long story short, the Order found out that I work for you and tried to squeeze me for information concerning you, but thanks to an old friend of mine I was able to escape with my life. Sorry it took me so long to reestablish connection." Tukson explained apologetically.

"It's quite alright Tukson. I'm just glad that you're safe. However, I would like to find out how the Order discovered our connection." She replied forgivingly as she stroked her shrouded chin in contemplation. "So you say that your old friend from Beacon saved your life? Does she know of our connection?" she asked, apparently already knowing of her.

"Well, she didn't know when she saved me if that's what you mean. To be honest, she kind of showed up completely by accident."

The cloaked woman seemed more relaxed by his answer. "Good, I don't want more people knowing of me than necessary."

"Weeeeelllll, that's kind of the reason I called you. Promise not to get mad?" Tukson fearfully requested as he nervously gulped.

"Tukson…" she growled warningly as she crossed her arms angrily.

"I kind of told her about you." He nervously admitted as he began to sweat profusely under the woman's disapproving glare.

"You have approximately twenty seconds before I send my friend over there to "relieve herself" at your expense." She threatened as she flexed her fingers to make quotations.

"WAIT! Let me explain!" Tukson shouted fearfully, surprising Blake immensely.

As long as Blake has known him, she has never seen the man afraid of anything before. He has fought off entire squads of Order soldiers with nothing but a pistol and his claws, defected from one of the most dangerous organizations in the world with no fear for the repercussions, and has put himself at risk by working for this woman. Even with all of these fearless feats under his belt, the mere mention of his boss's "friend" had him almost pissing his pants.

It was rather hilarious actually. Blake enjoyed the fact that she now had more ammunition against her friend should she decide to tease her boyfriend…wait…what?

"Look, she's stranded here in Vale because she was too injured to go out and look for her friends and her scroll is destroyed. Can you help her out? Plleeeaaaaassse." Tukson begged while clasping his hands together.

The woman groaned in a frustrated manner as she face-palmed in restrained aggravation.

"Tukson, I can't help everybody who just asks." The woman groaned.

"C'mon boss. She's been my friend since my days in the White Fang and I trust her with my life. She won't talk about you, she's one of the most tight-lipped bitches I've ever met." Tukson complimented/insulted Blake in his attempt to inspire trust in his boss.

"_Well screw you too Tukson."_ Blake mentally hissed as she was almost tempted to flip him the bird.

The woman spent the next half-minute silently contemplating if she should trust Tukson's friend to keep quiet about her, and trust her enough to go out of her way to do something as difficult as track down Beacon. But then again, Tukson's trust was something he rarely gave to others, so that spoke volumes of his friend's character.

With a huff of exhaustion, the woman uncrossed her arms and asked, "Where is she?"

"Right here in the room, actually." Tukson happily answered as he motioned for Blake to come next to him.

"GODDAMN IT TUKSON!" the figure screamed angrily, pissed that the puma was going through such great lengths to expose her.

Blake did as she was told and walked to Tukson's side, slightly enjoying the way Tukson was cringing at the sight of the livid figure.

"If it's of any consolation, I would never do anything to jeopardize anyone that can make Tukson shudder like this." Blake greeted with a small joke at her friend's expense, doing her best to make a good first impression.

"Screw you!" Tukson growled angrily.

"I'm finding it rather difficult to believe that you two are friends." The shrouded woman joked back with a chuckle.

"You and me both." Blake replied as they both chuckled at the way Tukson was angrily gritting his fangs.

"JUST GET TO THE F#% ING POINT!" Tukson roared ferociously, fed up with being the center of his friends' ridicule.

"My apologies Tukson." The woman chuckled one last time before abiding by his request. "So, you wish for my assistance? Why me exactly?"

"Well, after I saved Tukson from the Order agents that almost murdered him, he let me borrow your T.O.M.E to keep in touch with him. I met him again weeks later and explained my situation to him, and he said that you might be able to help me get back to Beacon." Blake explained.

"Of course he did." She commented exasperatedly as she narrowed her eyes at her employee, making him gulp timidly again. "Look, I don't know what Tukson has told you about my capabilities, but I have absolutely no idea how long it would take to locate Beacon, and even if I did, there's no guarantee that they'll be in that same position. Locating a floating castle in the sky is almost a miracle, especially since you Beacon agents go through great lengths to remain hidden."

"_Look who's talking." _Blake and Tukson thought with raised eyebrows at the hypocrisy behind her statement.

"So…it is hopeless?" Blake asked disappointedly with a small frown.

"I never said that." She added, noticing the depression behind the Faunus's tone. "It would just require much more time than I'm willing to spend at the moment. Something... "urgent" requires my attention these days and I can't afford to derive away from that at the moment."

Blake sadly sighed as her gaze dropped to her feet. "I understand." She moaned in resignation.

"Wait, boss, if I might interrupt for a second?" Tukson interjected, desperate to get **some** assistance for Blake.

"Yes?" she replied curiously as she turned her head towards the puma.

"What if she traded you a favor? Maybe do a job for you in return for your help." he offered hopefully, surprising Blake by the offer.

It sounded sensible enough, and fair considering what Blake was asking of the enigmatic woman, but she wasn't sure of what kind of job she would be asked to fulfill. Tukson trusted her, so she didn't have to worry if the woman's morals were questionable, but she was still very hesitant to do potentially dangerous work for someone she barely knew.

"Hmm…" his boss hummed as she stroked her chin in contemplation. "Well, there is one thing I could use help w-"

Before the cloaked woman could finish her sentence, she was abruptly cut off by the lights in her room flashing on and the booming sound of a door to her right being slammed open. The cloaked woman spun her head towards the source of the disturbance with an irritated huff, but was then further interrupted by the culprit as they swiftly sped over to the woman, rudely pushed her off of her seat, and gave Tukson the most horrifying smile that Blake had ever seen in her life.

The culprit was a very familiar face to Blake; a face that surprised her greatly as she recognized the girl giving Tukson an unholy smile, motivating him to scream like a prepubescent female and hide behind his friend.

"You?!" Blake exclaimed in shock as the girl on the screen also recognized her and ceased scaring Tukson to wave excitedly at her.

"GODDAMN IT NEO! How many times have I told you to not interrupt me while I'm working?!" The disgruntled woman shouted at the tri-colored girl who was completely ignoring her and waving happily at Blake.

"Wait, you know her?" Tukson asked incredulously as he receded from behind Blake's back.

"I met her Halloween night." Blake answered lowly, still shocked to see the weird girl again.

"You were the girl Neo was out with Halloween?" the Broker asked cautiously asked as she grabbed Neo by the collar of her coat, pulled her up into the air out of her seat, and placed her to the side.

"Yes? Why?" Blake asked, curious as to why the woman sounded so wary.

"She didn't do anything "usual" did she?" she asked as she slowly turned towards her partner.

Blake's eyes darted towards the mischievously snickering girl as she tried to stiffen them with her small hands.

"Not that I know of? She ditched me in a party and I never saw her again." Blake answered, recalling the Halloween party and how she ended up there.

"Right…" the Broker said as she dropped Neo on her feet and sat back down in her seat, but letting Neo lean against it as she stood. "Well, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," she growled in a giggling Neo's direction, "I indeed do have a job that I could use your help on, but it is highly dangerous and I can't guarantee you won't come out of it."

"_Sounds about right." _Blake mentally deadpanned as the Broker continued to describe the job.

"However, if you do accept, you'll have my trust, and I swear to you I will do my absolute best to find you a way back home. I can't give you too many details just yet, but you will be fully informed prior to the job. So, do we have a deal?"

Blake contemplated the Brokers offer as she thoughtfully crossed her arms in concentration. The job didn't sound too different from her missions back at Beacon, and she currently didn't have any other options at the moment.

There was very little to think about actually.

"Deal." Blake complied as she nodded her head.

"Then it's settled." The Broker happily commented as she interlocked her gloved fingers and Neo excitedly gave Blake a thumb up through the screen, ecstatic by her choice to work with them for the time being. "I look forward to working with you Ms…"

"Blake. Blake Belladonna." She replied with a respectful bow in her direction.

The Broker chuckled at the Faunus's formal attitude, then reached for the hood concealing her face to pull it down so that she could properly greet her new acquaintance.

Blake was expecting a wizened older woman under that cloak; definitely not very young woman who didn't look much older than her.

"My name's Pyrrha Nikos. It's very nice to meet you, Blake Belladonna."

_(Jaune)_

"Now class," Bartholomew continued in his lecture as he zipped from place to place in a matter of seconds, completely astonishing his students as they tried to keep up with the Doctor's movements. The only student who was able to actually keep up the speedster was, interestingly enough, Jaune, and that was only because he has had teachers in the past just as quick as Oobleck.

Now that Jaune thought about it, they kind of sounded like Oobleck as well…

"One of the most important things to know about the beginning of Human-Faunus relations was that it was filled with suspicion and animosity from both sides! Humans colonized the wilds of the Faunus homeland continent, of which is now known as Fera, expecting to mine it dry for its natural resources! This did not please the local Faunus that had been living there for centuries, so the Human's were seen as invaders aiming to destroy their home, so they did whatever they could to impede their progress! Unfortunately for the Faunus, human technology was far more advanced than theirs, leaving them at a grievous disadvantage!"

"How the hell can you keep up with this guy?" Cardin whispered astonished to Jaune as the blonde effortlessly took notes.

"Practice makes perfect." Jaune answered with a subtle chuckle.

"Another strong disadvantage that the Faunus suffered was their separation into warring tribes that left them divided and weaker compared to Humanity! The Faunus tried their best to mend this issue by setting aside their differences and united to drive out Humanity under organized attacks referred to as "Crusades", but they did so far too late! They were able to mount three Crusades, but the Third Crusade was their final failure that resulted in their enslavement by Humanity.

The usually hyper and peppy doctor's voice took a complete turn and became slow and grim, surprising most of the students who knew the doctor well.

"If they were not killed, they were shipped back to the continent of Vale as property and wouldn't gain the simplest of basic freedoms for decades, and by the time they were finally granted citizenship and some semblance of equality, they were too domesticated to return to the wilds from whence they came. Even today, more than seventy-five percent of Fera remains untamed and unsettled due to the harsh weather and violent wildlife, but more and more Faunus of today's society disregard the dangers and are emigrating to their ancestor's homelands, hoping to escape the hostile environment of oppression they usually reside in."

"But sir," One student interjected with a raised hand, "wouldn't the Faunus have had an additional advantage in their extensive knowledge of the land?"

"Right you are Mr. Eyup," Bartholomew confirmed ecstatically as his trademark hype and excitement returned with a vengeance, making some of the other students snicker at the mention of the class's affectionate nickname for the boy, "knowledge is a very powerful weapon that can mean the difference between victory and defeat, but to quote an old friend of mine, **Knowledge can only take you so far.**"

Jaune, Nora, and Ren snickered quietly into their hands at Bart's flawlessly executed impersonation, knowing full well who he was referring to.

"Even armed with all of their knowledge of the land that held enormous strategic value, it was their lack of unity that enabled their downfall! I encourage you to learn from this, and-"

Bartholomew was cut off by his alarm clock that alerted him that his class time was over, eliciting a few relieved sighs from a few students.

"Well then, class is over students, and good news everyone: no homework!" Bartholomew shouted cheerfully, making the majority of his students leap in joy as they almost literally trampled over one another during their speedy exit.

"Owww…" Jaune moaned from the floor as he attempted to climb back up to his feet with his back now covered in shoe prints.

Bartholomew chuckled at the hilarious chain of unfortunate events that was Jaune's life as he walked over to him and helped him back up to his feet. "Might I recommend sitting closer to the front of the class so that you can get a head start?" he chuckled.

"So I can get trampled by the entire class? No thank you." Jaune wheezed, making Bartholomew chuckle even harder.

"Care for a quick cup of coffee before you leave?" Bart offered kindly as he zipped back to his desk.

"Sure." Jaune replied as he took a seat in front of the desk, observing how swiftly and expertly Doctor Oobleck was pouring two mugs of coffee.

Bartholomew handed Jaune his beverage as he took his seat in front of Jaune.

"Thanks." Jaune gratefully thanked as he took a sip of the warm drink.

"_Decaf? He's so hyper during class, and he doesn't even drink normal coffee?" _Jaune thought in amazement as he swallowed, fearfully wondering what the results would be if the speedy doctor decided to drink normal coffee.

"So Jaune, I see that you've been getting much more sleep as of late." Bartholomew commented as he sipped his coffee, happy that his student was recovering from his insomnia.

Jaune scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile and replied, "Well, I've been taking your advice and talking to someone about my problems. It really helped a lot."

"Excellent!" Bart cheered before sipping his coffee again. "Might I ask who has been helping you?"

"Well, she isn't anyone you know since she doesn't come here. She's just a girl I accidently ran into one day…literally." Jaune answered, mentally smiling at the memory of how he met the amazing girl that has done so much for him.

Bartholomew almost spat his coffee onto the desk at the mention of a girl outside his usual group of friends that actually wanted to spend time with him.

"A **girl** you say?! Remarkable!" Bartholomew responded curiously as he stroked his chin with his unoccupied hand.

Jaune flinched as a sly grin stretched across the doctor's lips.

"It's not like that!" Jaune protested frantically with the vivid stain of a blush caking his cheeks. "She's just a really good friend! That's all!"

"The crimson tinge flushing your face says otherwise Jaune." Bartholomew rebutted slyly as Jaune did his best to wipe the blush from his face, but to no avail. "If it makes you feel any better Jaune, I'm also infatuated with a special woman."

"Really?" Jaune asked in disbelief. "Who?"

"Oh just a friend, not anyone you know." He replied, annoying Jaune that his own words were turned on him. "But my point still stands, though to be honest, it would be rather refreshing to see you pursue a woman who might actually return your feelings."

Jaune couldn't help but agree with the doctor's statement. It had taken an excruciatingly long time and over a hundred physically painful rejections, but his misplaced feelings for Melanie were finally beginning to wane. It had become apparent to him that he most likely wasn't really infatuated with her to begin with. Perhaps, he was more infatuated with the idea of dating her. Not even her specifically, just the fantasy of having a girl that was always there for him, always having fun with him no matter what they did, laughing with him instead of at him, and giving him a shoulder to cry on when he truly need it.

Just…like…Arryn…

"_Oh…my…god." _Jaune deadpanned as the shocking possibility occurred to him.

Did he…**like** Arryn?

"And there it is." Bartholomew commented with a smile, confusing Jaune greatly as he recoiled from his shock.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked with a nervous stutter.

"That's the same face your father had when he realized that he was "interested" in your mother." Bartholomew answered with a smile, a smile that efficiently hid the inner pain that threatened to reveal itself as he spoke.

"Wow…you've known my parents that long ago?" Jaune asked amazed, clearly remembering that his parents had been together for a very long time before he was born.

"Indeed." He confirmed with a small smile. "In fact, if it weren't for your father, I wouldn't be the man that I am today."

"What?" Jaune replied incredulously, wondering just exactly what was the relationship between his father and the speedy doctor.

Professor Port reminded him of his dad because they both shared such a boisterous and animated personality, so it was easy to believe that those two knew each other, but he could barely see anything in common between him and Doctor Oobleck.

"Well, as a young man I, like you, used to suffer from a crippling depression and lack of confidence. I felt that I didn't, and never would, amount to anything significant and would often lose hope for myself. However, whenever I almost completely lost my will, your father would always be there to encouragingly punch me out of my rut." Bartholomew narrated nostalgically as he looked upwards toward the ceiling, as if to speak to the soul of his deceased friend.

If Jaune didn't know his father any better, he would have assumed that the doctor was using a metaphor to describe his father's "pep talks", but he did indeed knew better. If Uncle Ozpin's stories were true, his father was very notorious for forcing his friends into a fist fight to invigorate them and cheer them up, as well as sending them to the hospital accidentally.

"Every time that I hopelessly believed that I would grow to become a failure and say that it was impossible for me to be anything else, he would charge at me with the speed and ferocity of a rhinoceros and slam his fist into my face screaming **"NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE!" **as I tumbled to the floor. It was because of him that I was able to believe in myself and become what I am now."

They both chuckled at the mention of Zackery Arc's personal motto that he would shout to the heavens at every possible opportunity.

Jaune could have sworn one time, as a child, that he heard him shout it from his parent's room during their "activities" at night.

Jaune shuddered in slight disgust as he shook his head to stave off the disturbing memory.

"Well, I believe that's enough socializing for now. I have papers to grade, and I do believe you have work in an hour." Bartholomew said as he finished his coffee.

"Don't remind me." Jaune moaned miserably as he did the same with his own coffee. "Thanks for checking in on me Dr. Oobleck." Jaune gratefully thanked as he walked towards the front door.

"You're welcome." He replied happily as he began digging in one of the cabinets of his desk for the many papers he would be working on for the night. "Oh, and Jaune,"

"Treat her right." Bartholomew teased merrily without turning away from his work.

Jaune's blushed returned with a furious vengeance as he froze in place before speeding off at speeds that would put the doctor to shame.

"Heh heh heh…Arcs." Bartholomew chuckled under his breath, coming to the conclusion that all Arcs were romantically awkward as they were socially.

_(Hours later)_

Blake strode down the dark, yet busy, streets of Vale on her way to visit Jaune at work again, carefully contemplating her situation as of now. After weeks of healing and patiently waiting for the opportunity, she may have finally found a way back to Beacon. She could finally return to her dear friends and resume her life as an agent, just like she had always planned.

She thought she would be happier.

Her conflicting emotions continued to rage inside of her soul whenever she realized just how close she was to returning to Beacon, but leaving Jaune behind in the process.

And Tukson's constant attempts to convince her that she was in love with the blonde did little to ease her emotions.

As much as she gave Tukson hell every time he attempted to do so, she could not deny that **something** was there. The way Jaune smiled at her whenever he managed to make her laugh, how caring he was whenever he asked her if she was alright during a bad day, how awkward he would act at the most tame of her teasing jokes, all of these qualities bred butterflies in her stomach whenever he would do these things. She had never felt this way before about anyone before, and it scared her.

She was not admitting that Tukson was right, but she wasn't removing it from the realm of possibility that he **might **be right.

She prayed to Monty Oum that he was wrong. She didn't desire the emotional torture of leaving a boy she fell for, and Jaune deserved someone so much better than someone like her.

Deciding to abandon the thoughts for another time, she shifted her focus on her walk through the sidewalk among her fellow night-prowlers. As soon as the pizza shop entered her sights, she grinned in anticipation of seeing her friend in his uniform that he despised to no end.

Her anticipation was immediately morphed in to shocking dread as she felt the ever familiar feeling of a blade being pressed against her back.

"Do as I say, and you **might** live tonight." A gruff and raspy voice threatened as he increased the pressure on her back.

_(Jaune)_

"Hurry the hell up Arc! We have another order!" Luigi shouted angrily at the blond who was making pizzas.

"Sir, there's no more room in the oven. I can't cook any faster." Jaune plainly replied to his asshole of a boss who was reprimanding him for every little thing.

"I don't want your excuses Arc! I want to do as I say!" the fat bearded man shouted began preparing another order.

Jaune sighed out of frustration as he opened the oven to see if any of the cooking pizzas were ready to be taken out so that he could appease his boss by putting the next one in. None of them were even close to being ready; the cheese was barely beginning to melt, and the crust still looked considerably doughy on all of them.

Ren and Nora were also beginning to get a tad bit annoyed with how their boss was treating their friend. Ren was scrubbing soapy plates and cups as he usually did, but if one looked closely enough, one could tell that he was applying much more force than necessary with his clenched fingers. Nora was tending to the cash register away from the kitchen, but her usual smile that she greeted customers with was forced and barely restrained the rage she held for her boss.

To be perfectly honest, Ren and Nora would have quit the frustrating job of working under Luigi, but they had few other options financially. They would rather be jobless and poor then ask their parents for help, and although Ren's uncle Lan had always took care of them in the past years, they didn't want to burden him and depend on him for money, so they put up with Luigi's verbal abuse, but working with Jaune was the only thing that made it worthwhile.

As Jaune did his work, his thoughts returned to the subject of his hoody wearing friend in black. Doctor Oobleck's teasing was most likely nothing more than that; harmless teasing. However, it stimulated serious questions that teasing usually never did. Could he actually be starting to have romantic feelings for the mysterious girl? Does she feel the same? How does one know when you really like a girl and not the idea of just having a girlfriend? All were questions that floated within his mind the more he thought about Arryn. There was so little he knew about her, and yet he felt that he already knew her well enough to be able to answer these questions himself, but he could not.

He gave a huff of mental turmoil as he aimlessly turned towards the window in thought.

It wasn't just her personality that instigated his interest in her. To quite frank, she was still possibly the most attractive woman he had ever met. Even though she wore a hoody and pants that were many sizes too large for her, he could easily tell that her figure was slim and well toned, which meant that she worked out often.

And her chest…that ample…cushiony chest…

WAIT WHAT?!

Jaune furiously and repeatedly slapped himself as his thoughts took a sudden turn to perverted territories. His slaps magnified in force and speed as he failed to succeed in deriving his thoughts away from the subject his friend's…voluptuous…frame…

"_GODDAMN IT!" _Jaune mentally screamed as he began to use both hands in the rapid assault on his face.

"Y'know, I think your cheeks aren't red enough." Nora joked mockingly as she closed the cash register and turned towards her friend with a cheeky grin.

Jaune angrily spun towards the maniacal ginger and shouted, "SHUT UP NO-"

He froze in a cold sweat as he turned towards Nora.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Nora asked curiously as she wiped her cheeks.

She initially thought that Jaune was just being his usual goofy self, but nothing could be further from the truth, and this became painfully obvious when she looked into his eyes.

They were not eyes filled with comical anger; only soul strangling shock and fear.

"Jauney-Boy? What's wrong buddy?" Nora asked worriedly, not at all liking how her friend was acting.

It didn't take long for her to realize that he was not staring horrified at her; he was staring behind her.

Nora turned around at the sound of the surprised chattering of their customers as the front door opened and the bell above ringed in tandem with it.

"Bell?!" Jaune shouted frantically at the sight of his injured friend.

Blake winced in pain with the smallest of movements of her left arm.

"Do you have a first-aid kit I could use?" Blake politely requested through painfully gritted teeth as she grabbed at the angry-red, deep cut along her left arm.

"Ren get the first-aid kit!" Jaune shouted as he leaped over the counter separating the kitchen and the cash register to get to Blake. "Oh my god! What happened to you?! Are you alright?!" he questioned frantically as he led her away from the crowd of shocked customers and towards the storage room in the back of the building.

"Calm down Jaune, I'm not dying." Blake replied in attempt to ease the boy's worries as he gently led her into the room filled to the brim with sealed cardboard boxes. "It's just a cut from a thug that tried to rob me. Nothing more."

"But…your arm." Jaune lowly said as he caringly sat her down on one of the boxes.

"It's nothing rubbing alcohol and bandages won't help. You can relax." Blake comfortingly said before Ren rushed in carrying a white case with a red cross on it.

"Bell, I need you to take off your hoody, please." Ren professionally and politely requested as he opened the case and began preparing alcohol-soaked cotton wipes to treat Blake's cut.

Blake gulped in slight apprehension at his request, and this did not escape Jaune's eye.

"I'll…try." She said as she grabbed the bottom of her hoody.

She yelped in pain as she tried to bend her arm to the necessary angle to pull the hoody off. Every attempt at doing so was met with searing pain that shot up her appendage as she gritted her teeth and futilely tried to suppress her exclamations of pain.

"Arryn stop, we'll help you." Ren said as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Jaune, come to her left." He commanded kindly as he strode to her right side and laid one hand on her hoody, and used the other to raise her arm.

"Right…" Jaune complied as he mirrored Ren's actions, only with Blake's bloody left. He tried desperately to cause as little pain for Blake as possible, but it sent shockwaves of numbing sorrow through his soul with every one of her whimpers and flinches.

Among his group of friends, it was commonly believed that Jaune didn't possess a mean bone in his entire body, but the current feeling circulating his soul proved that to be a false conception. As he and Ren pulled her bloody hoody over her head and off as she squirmed in agony, for the first time in Jaune's life, he truly wanted to end another living being's life. He wanted to plunge his fist into the heart of the person responsible for hurting his dear friend like this.

Jaune's anger disappeared as he and Ren finally relieved Blake of her heavy clothing. He was now shocked and speechless as he finally saw his friend's full appearance in its entirety.

Including the furry cat ears twitching atop her head.

"Arryn…you're…" Jaune mouthed silently, baffled by the revelation in front of him.

"Yes…I am." Blake admitted as she suddenly found the ground easier to look at than her friend.

"It's…off. I can treat your cut now." Ren hesitantly said as he leaned down to her level and carefully rolled up the left sleeve of her white t-shirt that was stained with her blood. With expert thorough precision and swift speed, Ren cleaned her wound with expert proficiency that she had only seen in Beacon's lower class medics. As effective as he was at the moment, he still felt incredibly awkward that he was in the middle of such a heavy moment between the two.

Jaune was still trying to find the ability speak again as he stared at Blake's ears, still recoiling in surprise and not expecting it for one second.

All he could manage was one question. "Why hide this from me?"

Blake's somber gaze hesitantly rose to meet his own, filled with guilt and shame as she replied, "I wasn't hiding it from you Jaune, I was hiding it from the world…I always have."

Ren's fingers froze at her answer as they were in the middle of cleaning her cut with disinfectant. Blake didn't see the volley of feelings oozing from Ren's eyes, for she was too busy facing Jaune, but Jaune saw them clearly. It was not the look of surprise at her revealing, and it was not the look of pity that would anyone else would usually give someone like Blake in this situation.

It was a knowing look of pure understanding.

"But why?" Jaune repeated, still not understanding why she had been so secretive of her Faunus heritage.

"Why not?" Ren calmly interjected as he continued to treat Blake's cut. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to Jaune. You know as well as I do that it isn't uncommon for Faunus to masquerade as humans in order to be treated with some type of respect in this world. I can't truly say that I blame her."

"It's as he says…" Blake regretfully admitted, but not before giving Ren a momentary look of confusion.

For a human, he certainly seemed to know her intentions rather well…

"If it's of any consolation, I didn't intentionally try to keep this hidden from you, I've tried so many times to tell you in the past, but whenever I could work up the courage we would be in a…crowded area." Blake explained in her defense, trying to answer his question the best that she could.

Jaune remained silent as he soaked in her answer, but then dropped to his knees to meet her at her level.

"Arryn…I-"

Jaune was interrupted by the echoing sound of the door slamming open and the angry shouting of an enraged Luigi.

"What the hell is this I hear that you let someone in…who's…who's…"

Luigi couldn't finish his angry shouting as he stared horrified at Blake, confusing Jaune and Ren greatly as he clenched his fists with a ferocious growl projected towards her.

"Get out." He growled venomously at Blake, looking ready to attack her at any given second. This both alarmed and angered Jaune as he protectively moved in front of Blake.

"Luigi, she's hurt badly and she needs medical attention! You can't just kick her out!" Jaune shouted frantically, appalled by how heartless his boss was acting.

"I don't care!" Luigi roared with a forceful stomp, making a few of the stacked boxes around sway slightly from the resulting vibrations. "I refuse to help one of the god-forsaken beasts who killed my father! Put my first-aid kit down, get the hell out of my restaurant, and DON'T COME BACK!" Luigi shouted at Blake.

Jaune flinched at not only the fact that his boss was a blatant racist against Blake's kind, but also the reason why exactly he was so. He didn't know much about Luigi, he didn't like him enough to make the effort to get to know him well, but what he did know was that Luigi was very proud of the fact that his deceased father was a soldier of the Valean military, and he also knew that his father died in service decades ago.

However, he had no idea that a Faunus took his life, which led him to believe that his father must have been involved in the Faunus Revolution and died as a result.

"Luigi, I know what it's like to lose a father, **believe me**, I know the pain, but you can't associate every Faunus with the ones who killed him! My friend wasn't even born by-"

"SHUT UP! YOU SHUT THE HELL UP ARC!" Luigi shouted monstrously as he slammed his fist into a nearby box, making Jaune and Ren flinch at how livid the man was. "YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH BECAUSE OF MY FATHER'S DEATH. MY MOTHER DIED OF HEARTBREAK AND LEFT ME ORPHANED AND LONELY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE BECAUSE OF IT! You at least had godparents to look after you, but I had no one, and it's this bitch's people's fault!"

"That's not true! You're not being fai-"

"Enough!" Blake loudly interjected, silencing the ferocious argument between Jaune and Luigi. "I will do as you ask and leave." Blake lowly said as she gently separated her arm from Ren's cotton balls, grabbed her blood-soaked hoody from the ground, and left the room before she got Jaune and Ren in any more trouble than she already had.

"You're a heartless bitter old man Luigi." Jaune growled angrily as he stomped past him to follow Blake, concerned that her cut hadn't been bandaged properly yet.

"And you're fired! Now get the hell out of here!" Luigi shouted at Jaune's back as he left with a threatening tone to his voice.

He turned towards Ren with a furious glare to make sure that he didn't make off with his first aid kit, then grew even more angry at the disapproving scowl Ren was giving him in return.

"If you've got a problem, you can go join him." He growled at Ren.

"Gladly." The boy replied as he uncaringly dropped the first-aid kit on the ground and began to follow his friend. "But before I go, let me say one thing."

He gave one last glance at Luigi with a dark gleam in his eyes, sending shivers down his spine as the usually docile and calm eyes bore into him. "I won't pretend to understand what you've been through Luigi, unlike you I have no respect for my father, but what you're doing is a spit on the face of your father's memory. He died fighting a war that came to be because of people who degraded the Faunus and treated them with undue hostility, just like you. All you are accomplishing for your father is becoming the kind of person that allowed such darkness to grow to such a level. You're pathetic, you dishonor your father's soul with your attitude, and it's people like you that allowed his death to come to fruition."

He gave one last soul-damaging insult before he closed the door behind him.

"Before blaming some of my people for the untimely death of your father, take heed that you don't help instigate another Rebellion by becoming the kind of person that had him killed."

_(Blake)_

After discarding all of her clothes and placing them in her compartment, Blake sighed exhaustedly as she sat down on Jaune's bed with a wet cloth prepared to clear her cut. As soon as she was out of Jaune's sight, she stuck to the rooftops to avoid him and return home unperturbed. He was undoubtedly out there looking for her, worried for her condition and still needing to speak to her about her newly discovered ears, but she was simply not in the mood to speak. She felt guilty for keeping so much from him, but it was for the best considering that she would have to leave him forever soon. It hurt her in ways that outclassed any wound she had ever received in battle, but she had no choice.

She was also still depressed about the way the old man had treated her, like she was less than a person; like an animal. But her inner pain was immediately soothed as she recalled the way Jaune had jumped in front of her in such a protective manner, and before that when didn't treat her any different when he saw her ears. He wasn't hurt that she was a Faunus, he was hurt that she had neglected to tell him. His pain tore up her insides, but it was so relieving to see that he was as open minded and caring as she always thought she was.

She huffed in silent frustration as she tried to ignore the increasing beating of her heart and the rising heat in her cheeks the more she thought of the blonde, and chose to shift her attention towards her newest wound. It wasn't as bad as it looked, even though it was deeper than the average cut, but it was nothing a night of healing from her Aura wouldn't fix. It had already healed a considerable amount on her way home, Ren's attentive and thorough cleaning did much to speed up the process, and it was barely bleeding anymore. If she transformed, she would easily be able to hide it from Jaune whenever he returned home.

After giving her cut one more thorough cleaning with the wet rag and hiding it under the bed, she situated herself on the center of the bed and assumed her customary meditative stance; folding her bare legs and resting her arms on them to attain full concentration, but not before putting her bow and collar back on to avoid suspicion. She did everything as she was supposed to like the last fifty times she had transformed, but something wasn't right this time.

"_What the hell?" _Blake thought as she grunted in effort, forcing her Aura to travel throughout her body and transform, but it was unusually difficult this time. With enough effort, she was finally able to initiate her transformation, but gasped in shock as she looked at her left arm.

It was gone. The painful cut that trailed along the length of her arm was completely gone, leaving no indication that she had ever been injured to begin with. But how? Never before has she ever healed from an injury just by transforming, yet her arm was as fit as a fiddle. Was it possible that her transformation held more abilities than she had originally thought? She had no time to contemplate the oddity as she heard the sound of the front door opening, indicating that Jaune had returned.

As usual, the first thing he did was head straight to bed, but not with the humorous glow he usually exuberated after a hard day's work. The dullness of his sapphire-blue eyes was hauntingly chilling as he stripped himself of his uniform for the last time ever and lied down on the bed next to her as she carefully observed him. He had apparently decided to sleep without his blue onesy this time, wearing absolutely nothing but his boxers. Normally she would have been nervous about his lack of clothing, but the somberness of both of their moods eliminated any capacity for nervousness.

"Well Kitten, I got fired." Jaune sadly chuckled as he grabbed Blake and placed her atop his bare chest.

Blake's guilt returned with a vengeance as she realized that she had just cost her friend his only job.

She was slightly surprised at how he smiled as he continued. "Not that I'm particularly sad about it. Luigi was an asshole, and I'm kind of glad to be done with him. But I am worried about my friend though."

Blake remained silent as the topic of their one-sided conversation shifted towards her. Jaune began petting her gingerly as he stared longingly at the ceiling.

"Tonight, I found out that she's a Faunus, but that's perfectly fine, I'm not a racist, but I was hurt that I had to find out under the circumstances I did."

Blake's eyes watered at the depression oozing from his voice. _"I'm sorry Jaune. Truly and deeply sorry."_ She thought as lied down in between his pecs to lean closer to him.

"I don't blame her one bit for hiding it though, especially considering how awfully Faunus are treated in this city and beyond. I just wish that she could have told me herself; trust me enough to reveal herself to me. She's done so much for me Blake, more than she'll ever know. She wormed her way into my emotions and healed my spirit, whether I wanted it or not. She gave me the blessing of having a friend that would always be willing to listen to **anything** I had to say, and she gave me back a large fraction of my self-worth back. I…will never be able to repay what's she's done for me, but I had always hoped that I could return the favor for her, and give **her** someone to speak to for a change."

Blake's lip quivered more strongly the more Jaune spoke of her.

"She's been through so much. I don't know what, and I don't know why, but I know that she's suffered horribly in the past. I just want to hold her consolingly in my arms; let her know that I would always be there for her, just as she has been for me."

Jaune reached over to his lamp and turned it off; shrouding the entire room in thick shadows that were barely touched by the moonlight seeping in through the window.

"My history teacher says that I like her…and… I think he might be right."

Jaune sighed exhaustedly as he ceased petting the small black frozen on his chest.

"Oh well, goodnight Kitten." Jaune yawned as he allowed sleep to consume him, completely unaware of the bomb he had just dropped on the creature before him.

He liked her.

Jaune Arc, the goofy blonde with a heart made of a beautiful gold, liked **her**.

Blake stared at his sleeping form for what seemed like hours as that one thought echoed in her mind.

Tears dripped down her fuzzy cheeks as she recalled how tenderly he had described her and how much her friendship truly meant to him. She couldn't believe how much her help had healed him and how much he wanted to help her with her own issues, but she could finally allow herself to believe one thing as she rested her head against his chest and wiped her tears away against it.

Her heart was beating more furiously than she had ever thought was possible as the slow rising and descent of his chest lulled her to sleep with her own revelation.

There was no denying it now.

Tukson was right.

Blake Belladonna had fallen in love with Jaune Arc.

_(Elsewhere)_

Tukson violently sneezed in the middle of his sentence during his conversation with his boss.

"Bless you, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked through the screen out of concern for her employee's health.

"Yeah, I'm fine, and thanks. Anyway, as I was saying, what do you think about Blake?" Tukson asked curiously as he leaned back in his seat.

"Well, I've been doing research on her, and I must say I'm very impressed by her skills. She will certainly be a welcome asset in the job to come." Pyrrha replied as she complimented the Faunus's abilities.

"I wasn't talking about her combat prowess boss. I meant her personality." Tukson elaborated, yet still happy that his younger friend had so easily gained his boss's respect.

"She's very polite and calm, both welcome traits in a good person." Pyrrha continued. However, she frowned sympathetically as she crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat. "And yet, I sense great pain in her."

Tukson mirrored her facial expression as he recalled his years in the White Fang, as well as the person that Blake used to be. "She's had…a very hard life boss."

"Haven't we all?" Pyrrha rhetorically commented as she took a delicate sip of her wine, looking towards her partner who was sleeping peacefully in Pyrrha's bed with a blissful smile.

"How is she?" Tukson asked sadly, noticing how heavily the woman was staring in her closest friend's direction.

He frown grew in size and intensity at her answer.

"I found another strand of white hair this morning." She replied somberly as she turned away from Neo, finding it too painful to look at her friend at the moment.

"Damn…" Tukson growled as he angrily rubbed the back of his head. "Any leads?"

"That's why I need this job to succeed Tukson. It is my lead. My **only** lead." She replied heavily so that the Faunus could understand exactly why she was so desperate for its success.

"Don't worry boss," Tukson comforted confidently as he leaned forward in his chair. "Blake won't fail you, I'm sure of it."

"Don't be so sure," Pyrrha replied sadly, "As I said before, the chances of success are rather low, and as credible as her skills are, I don't think that she alone can make such a difference. What makes you think so?"

Tukson chuckled heartily, despite the dismal atmosphere of the conversation. "Because I believe Pyrrha." He answered plainly and informally, referring to her by her actual name instead of his affectionate title for her. "Not everything has to be reduced to arithmetic and probabilities. Don't you ever rely on fate every now and then?"

Pyrrha smiled sadly at the question, having already answered that question years ago. "Not anymore Tukson. Not anymore."

Tukson frowned sympathetically as his boss rose from her seat, still retaining the sorrow on her face. "We should probably go to sleep now Tukson. We've a busy day tomorrow."

"Right…sweet dreams Pyrrha." Tukson warmly saluted.

"Likewise, Tukson." She replied as she ended the line, making sure to reciprocate the same warmth in her tone as he did.

She turned towards the peacefully slumbering girl, who had made sure to leave plenty of room for her should she decide to go to sleep. Smiling at the cute sight of Neo lightly kicking in her sleep like a puppy, she silently strode to the bed and lied down next to her dear friend, deducing that Neo was probably chasing some unfortunate soul in her dream.

"Chasing Tukson through the Gumdrop Forest with a whip again?" she whispered with a giggle as she petted the sleeping girl's hair that identified her.

Neo giggled drowsily as she continued her chase without waking up.

Pyrrha continued to enjoy the lovely sight of Neo's cuteness, but any happy feelings were erased as her hand brushed over the white of the pink half of her friend's hair. It was becoming painfully obvious that Pyrrha, and most importantly Neo, was running out of time, and every new strand of white hair atop her dear friend's hair was a hurtful reminder of this. She would have loved nothing more than to take a page from Tukson's book and believe with all her heart that she could find what she was looking for, but she had lived without faith for so long that it was now foreign to her. There was very little faith to be had in a goal such as hers.

After all, how could one believe that they could find something that didn't truly exist.

_(The next morning)_

"_No dreams this time? Odd..." _Blake thought as her eyes sleepily unfolded and opened after hours of calm sleep. She could still feel the elevation and descending of Jaune's chest as she awoke, so she knew that he was still asleep. She rose from her spot on his chest and completely peeled her eyes open as she felt her stiff body shudder due to the movement of her muscles. Now completely up and awake, she looked at Jaune to observe him sleep peacefully, then giggled affectionately at the small trail of drool that escaped from his mouth as she snoozed.

"I think you drowned your pillow." She lightly joked as she noticed the soaked pillow.

Her mind went blank as she slowly realized something damning.

Meows did not escape her lips as she spoke; fluent and proper English did.

"_Oh no…"_ Blake thought in horrification as she slowly looked down to confirm her suspicions.

There was none of her fur to greet her eyes as she looked upon her own body that was straddling Jaune's; only her shimmering pale skin, her normal arms and legs, and her uncovered breasts.

"Oh crap!" Blake breathed silently as she slowly and very carefully rose from atop Jaune's abdomen, trying her best not to accidentally shake him awake. As soon as her bare feet met the floor, she utilized a lifetime's worth of stealth training and sped off to the Jaune's bathroom with speed and silence only a cat could achieve.

"_How the hell did that happen?!" _Blake mentally screamed after quietly closing the door behind her.

She had absolutely no idea exactly why she had inadvertently transformed in her sleep. Ever since she had discovered the ability as a child, she had always maintained perfect control over it with no difficulties. Memories of last night struck her as she recalled how difficult it was to transform the night before, minutes before Jaune returned home. Why was she having so many problems with her transformation all of a sudden?

Her frantic thoughts were interrupted by a sudden realization concerning her body's state of balance. The bottom of her spine where it met her rump felt a tad bit heavier than usual.

She looked towards the mirror to her right to observe her body for any abnormalities.

And boy, did she find some.

Dangling from her bottom, hypnotically swaying back and forth in the air against her will, was a two-foot long furry black cat's tail.

"What…the actual…hell." Blake whispered in shock she turned neck back as far as she could and grabbed the new appendage to get a closer look, flinching in surprise as she felt the tail being grabbed; **her** tail. The fur on the tail was as slick and shiny as her hair, and it emanated the same amount of warmth the rest of her body did, eliminating any doubt that it was the same tail she would always grow when she transformed, only longer.

Her head shot back towards the mirror to see what else had changed about her appearance and instantly took notice of her eyes. Her pupils were no longer perfect circles and were now more vertical and sharp, not unlike an actual cat's. Her irises retained the same golden color they always had, but Blake could clearly see that they were now glowing more brightly than usual. One of the most subtle signs that someone possessed the ability to utilize Aura was an unnatural glow of their eyes whenever they tapped into their Aura, but Blake wasn't tapped into her reserves at all and her eyes could practically illuminate a mildly dark room with their current glow. Another thing she noticed was how clearly she could see her own Aura within her own body, another thing that she shouldn't have been able to see so clearly given her conditions, but that was not what really alarmed her. What alarmed her was the color of her Aura. Her Aura had always been a forebodingly dark violet shade, but now it appeared as if her Aura had been bleached, giving it a brighter shade of purple that was much more serene in appearance. What the hell happened last night?!

She didn't have time think anymore on the subject; her ear's twitched at the shocking sound of a deep yawn and two feet meeting the floor in the other room.

Jaune had woken up and was undoubtedly heading to the bathroom, and she was completely nude inside with her bow and collar still on.

"Oh crap!" Blake squeaked as she shot her head in all direction for a hiding place. She would have clenched on to the ceiling with her claws like before, but she couldn't control her tail and she didn't want it thumping against the ceiling to give her away. She only had one option: the shower.

Wasting no time, she leaped into the shower and pulled the shower curtain to conceal herself, praying to Monty that Jaune would decide to eat breakfast before showering.

As the bathroom door opened, Blake froze and held her breath in fright, trying her best to remain calm and silent so that Jaune wouldn't hear her.

She could hear Jaune turn the sink on as he brushed his teeth, but even though she couldn't see him during the start of his morning ritual, she could instantly tell that something was wrong. The first thing that tipped her off that something was amiss was how slowly he was brushing his teeth. The bristles of the brush were scraping against his teeth much more slowly than usual. The other thing that let her know that something was wrong was that he wasn't humming happily, indicating that he wasn't as energetic as he usually was on a Saturday morning. At risk of her hidden position, she moved the curtain slightly to peak on her friend.

He looked so depressed, much worse than he did when he was suffering the nightmares of his parents' deaths. He obviously didn't sleep as peacefully as she had initially thought he did, the tired look in his dull blue eyes was clear proof of this. What was wrong with him?

Jaune released a depressed sigh as he finished brushing and left the room, not even bothering to so much as look towards the shower and dragging his feet as he left.

Blake was deeply worried for him now. Showering was the thing he enjoyed the most in the morning and it looked like it was the last thing on his mind.

As soon as Jaune left the room, she took her chance and focused heavily on transforming, gritting her teeth and grunting in sheer effort as she tried her best to initiate the process. Her efforts finally paid off as her body released the usual amount of steam as her muscles and hair shifted. She was exhaustedly breathing from the enormous effort she put into her transformation, then leaped out of the shower and onto the sink to see if there were any changes to her appearance as a cat. Surprisingly, there weren't any differences to how she usually looked, even to her eyes. This only confused her even more, but that wasn't her primary concern at the moment. She exited the bathroom to find Jaune sitting on his bed as he pressed buttons on his scroll. He looked towards her as she jumped up to the bed and landed beside him, then gave her sad smile that was obviously forced.

Blake frowned at his façade as whoever Jaune was calling answered their scroll.

"_**Hello Jaune." **_The voice greeted politely, who Blake easily identified as Ren. The screen was black as he had turned off the video feed for some reason.

"Hey Ren, I don't mean to bug you or anything, but have you been out to town today?" Jaune asked hopefully, sounding apologetic as he did.

"_**I haven't seen Arryn today, no." **_Ren answered knowingly, already understanding the intent behind Jaune's question.

Jaune's face flinched at how well Ren knew him. Blake would have found the small moment between the two comical if she wasn't emotionally hurting for Jaune. He wasn't depressed, he was worried about her, and this touched her.

She would have loved nothing more than to just stop pretending to be his house pet and reveal herself, ending his worry for her and finally tearing down any barricades between the two, but it was never going to happen. She would be breaking so many rules that would have her Purged, and she couldn't risk that.

"Oh…alright." Jaune replied demoralized as he frowned.

"_**Are you worried for her?" **_Ren asked, already knowing the answer but still feeling the need to ask.

"Yes." Jaune admitted sadly.

Arryn's arm did not look healthy in the slightest and didn't receive enough medical attention before Luigi heartlessly kicked her out, and Jaune was never able to find her after leaving the pizzeria to go after her. He wasn't able to sleep very well knowing that one of his closest friends was badly hurt, especially since she meant more to him than just simply a friend, even if she probably didn't feel the same.

If he only knew.

"_**Do you like her?"**_

Jaune didn't see any point in lying to Ren; it was clear that he already knew.

"Yes."

The volume of Ren's voice elevated to heights that Jaune rarely heard and Blake had never, surprising them both and making them jump in shock at his booming voice.

"_**Then what the hell are you calling me for?! Go out and get your woman!"**_ Ren shouted at his blonde brother-in-spirit with more passion than either of them thought he was capable of expressing.

"But-"

"_**NO BUTS!" **_Ren interrupted vigorously, silencing Jaune and intimidating Blake as a result. _**"A woman that you have feelings for is out there in pain, physically and emotionally, and if you truly want to prove to her that you have these feelings, then get out there and give her the help she needs! Love is the most precious and heavenly of bonds that anyone can possibly dream of having with someone in this world, and if you've found someone that you feel that you can have such a bond with, even if it was only temporary, than you should do whatever you possibly can to pursue that bond! So pursue that bond, find that special someone, and never let them go, because if you let that chance at love slip through your fingers you will regret for the rest of your life!"**_

There was no telling how much time had passed as Jaune and Blake stared at the scroll with gaping mouths as they processed his zealous speech. His words soaked further into their spirits as the silence continued and they reeled from the inspirational dialogue from their usually quiet friend.

"Ren…that was…beautiful." Jaune complimented as his vision watered and he stood up from his bed, truly touched by his best friend's words.

Blake was still surprised as she herself felt inspired by Ren, but she curiously took note of how personal Ren sounded during his speech.

It felt as if he was speaking more to himself than Jaune, and this left Blake in wonder.

"_**ARE YOU STILL THERE?! FIND YOUR WOMAN! YOU'RE SO CLUELESS ABOUT LOVE! DON'T LET THIS ONE CHANCE GET AWAY!"**_ Ren shouted with more passion than before.

"AAAHHH OK!" Jaune screamed effeminately as he quickly hung up and jumped to his closet to get dressed.

After swiftly putting his clothes and his hoody on, he put his scroll in his pocket and gently grabbed his black kitten and held her towards his face.

"I'm going to have to feed you later Kitten, but I'll be back soon. Stay out of trouble." Jaune affectionately said as he kissed the top of her head, making Blake blush heavily as his lips met the spot between her ears.

He carefully dropped her back on his bed before speeding out of his room to find Arryn, completely oblivious to the fact that the object of his affections was sitting on his bed in emotional conflict.

Although Ren's speech was intended to inspire Jaune to pursue his feelings for her, it had a similar effect on her as well. His infectious ideal of love instilled within her a small sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, she **could **be with Jaune, even if it was only temporary. Ren was right, it might hurt her deeply to have to say goodbye to the boy she loved, but if she let it stop her from loving him at all, than it would cause them more pain overall.

Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.

With a spark of inspiration in her eyes, she leaped off of the bed and followed Jaune's scent, hoping to lead him back as a cat, bring him home, leave the house to transform when he wasn't looking, and confess her feelings.

She was completely unaware of how she was literally glowing as her Aura gleamed around her body as she leapt to the rooftops.

_(Jaune)_

Jaune probably spent hours searching for Arryn, looking at all of their usual hang-out spots and all of her favorite tea shops, but ultimately found nothing. He tried asking passing people if they had seen someone that looked like her, but the city of Vytal was far too large to locate anyone specifically. He was beginning to lose hope, but he shook off any demoralizing thoughts and continued his search for the girl that he had fallen for, even if he had to search every inch of the city in his efforts to find her.

His search for the Faunus was abruptly interrupted as Jaune was walking past an alley way. He barely heard it over the sounds of cars loudly driving by, but he definitely heard restrained whimpering and sobbing from inside.

"Why is it always a freaking alley way?" Jaune muttered to himself as he quickly ran inside the alley to see who was in pain. He followed the alley way that took a left into a dead end that was completely hidden by the surrounding buildings.

His blood boiled at the sight at the end of the alley.

Shivering in fright as her back hugged the dead end, was a sobbing squirrel Faunus that didn't look much older than thirteen, and in front of her was a dirty looking older man wearing a dark red jacket and a ski-mask.

He was holding a menacingly sharp knife towards the girl with one hand and holding his other hand out in a receiving manner.

The poor girl was being mugged, and this enraged Jaune to the point that any common sense or cowardice was thrown out the window, motivating him to run at the thug screaming his lungs out as he ferociously tackled him to the ground and away from the Faunus.

"RUN!" Jaune screamed at the girl as he wrestled with the thug, trying to buy her enough time to escape.

She looked very hesitant to abandon the boy that had possibly just saved her life, but she did as she was told and sped away in a fearful haste.

Jaune was thrown off of the thug as the criminal slammed his fist into Jaune's face, sending him rolling away.

"You little snot-nosed punk!" the thug growled angrily as he charged at Jaune with his fist back and ready to slam into the boy's face again as he rose up.

Jaune quickly got back up to his feet with a busted lip as he scowled at thug charging at him and readied his own fists for combat.

The masked thug swung his fist at the blond expecting to knock him out early, but Jaune swiftly ducked under the sloppy attack and delivered his own in the form of three-hit combo to his face, stunning him and giving Jaune plenty of room to send a barrage of powerful punches to his covered face. Finally, years of sparring with an experienced boxer like Cardin and a black-belt like Ren were finally paying off. The thug was quickly losing the battle as Jaune ended his barrage with a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him tumbling back to his original spot.

The thug crawled back up to his feet and sent Jaune a venomous look that promised death, but not before grabbing the knife he dropped when the blond tackled him.

"_Uh oh." _Jaune thought nervously as the thug charged at him again, only armed with a lethal weapon this time.

Jaune tried to dodge the quick swipes of his enemy's blade, but couldn't completely. He was able to avoid most of the damage, the thug obviously wasn't trained enough to effectively use it, but Jaune was beginning to sustain a few deep slashes to his chest and a tiny cut to his cheek. He was losing blood and he was beginning to get tired; a dangerous combination.

Jaune attempted one more punch at his enemy in hopes of ending the fight before he grew too tired to fight, but thug slipped by his fist as he dodged the punch and tackled Jaune.

He made sure to dig his bloodied blade into Jaune's stomach as he rammed into him.

_(Blake)_

Something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong.

This was the only thought that could be processed through Blake's mind as she sped from rooftop to rooftop in her intended direction. She couldn't explain why, and she couldn't explain how, but she knew in her soul that something was wrong with Jaune and that she was heading in the right direction towards him.

She had been tracking down his scent before she lost it in the ocean of different smells of the city's other occupants, almost making her wish that she were a dog instead of a cat, then proceeded to visit any spots he might have been at, but eventually gave in and decided to return home to wait for him. She was halfway to Jaune's house before she was flooded with feelings of dread and fear, as well as a familiar presence in her soul that she immediately identified as Jaune. Ruby couldn't have hoped to match Blake's speed as she ran full-tilt along the various rooftops, fearing for Jaune's safety and hoping that he was alright.

She stopped on one last rooftop as she felt that Jaune was close and looked down an alley way to see if she was correct.

Time seemed to slow down as a tidal wave of perpetual rage and murderous intent crashed down upon her soul when she looked at the situation Jaune was in.

Jaune was crawling away from what appeared to be a common thug as he tried to cover a bleeding cut on his abdomen. The thug was taking grievous pleasure in the boy's suffering as he played with the knife coated in his blood and calmly walked towards him as he chuckled mockingly. The thug gripped his knife tighter and tighter the closer he got to his foe, and this sent Blake's instincts into overdrive.

"**NOOOOOOO!" **Blake roared monstrously as she jumped off of the building and at the thug with murder on her mind.

She didn't care if she was going to be Purged for almost killing a lowly human, and she didn't care that she was attacking the thug like a rabid animal. This man had harmed the boy she loved and was trying to kill him, and he was going to pay in blood.

The thug looked up for a split second to see where the ferocious growls were coming from, only for a black blur to slam destructively into his face and latterly send him flying into the wall, almost knocking him out as the back of his head met the wall.

Jaune also looked at the source of the inhuman growling, but was completely shocked by who had saved his life.

He would recognize that bow anywhere.

"Blake?" Jaune said out of pure astonishment as he gazed upon the vicious looking feline that was hissing darkly at the thug as he groaned and tried to get back up.

Sometimes Jaune wondered just how much truth there was to his father's personal motto. Jaune could admit the possibility of getting into a bloody fight with a thug that was trying to mug a Faunus girl, he **MIGHT **have been able to admit the possibility that his pet would follow him from home and save his life, and with enough alcohol in his system he might have been able to admit the possibility that his tiny pet would possess the strength of a truck and send his attacker into a brick wall.

The sight before him that followed all of that almost made Jaune completely remove the word "impossible" from his brain as he stared at his kitten, who was glowing an ethereal violet as steam began to shroud her body.

He could literally hear his father screaming "Nothing's impossible!" when the steam and glow dissipated, revealing the nude form of the Faunus girl he had spent hours looking for.

"**I'LL DESTROY YOU!" **Feral Blake roared monstrously as she sped at the dizzy thug, who was just now getting up**, **as he stared horrified at the girl running at him on all fours looking ready to tear into him.

His heart skipped a beat when he recognized her as the same girl he tried to mug last night who knocked him out after he cut her arm.

There certainly would be no mercy offered by the monstrous girl.

Blake roars were not unlike a lion's as she delivered punch after claw after punch to the thugs face, obliterating his ski-mask so that she could see the terror she was instilling within him. She wasn't satisfied with simply assaulting his face, so she decided to get creative and give him false hope that he might get out of this still conscious. Noticing that her flurry of attacks to his face had slowed down considerably, he attempted a desperate stab at her chest, but shrieked in confused mortification as his blade passed through her as she seemingly faded away. He couldn't be more wrong, as she was now under him, giving her the perfect opportunity to grab his arm as she rose up and snap it like a wet toothpick.

The thug's blood curdling screams were silenced as Blake grabbed him by his face, channeled her Aura into her arm, and slammed his head back into the brick wall, creating a spider-web of cracks at the point of contact, almost killing her prey, and effectively sending him into the world of unconsciousness. She released her hold on the thug as she allowed him the sweet embrace of the pavement, but not before delivering one final kick to cheekbone out of spite before he met the ground.

Her heavy breathing and her erratic Aura began to calm down with time as her instincts slowly receded back into the dark confines of her mind. Her sense of self returned to her as she looked down upon her body, seeing that her Aura had finally stabilized to normal.

The sight of her body also made one thing clear to Blake: she had transformed, right in front of Jaune.

She slowly and apprehensively turned towards Jaune to see if he was alright, and gulped audibly as his sapphire eyes bore into her golden ones with apparent shock.

There was only one thing that she could mutter at that moment.

"Oh…crap."

**A/N: And so…it…begins. :-)**


	16. New Beginnings

**Hey! Guess what guys! I'm not dead! ^_^**

**Sorry about my hiatus, once again. You know how busy school gets at the end of the semester, but I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear that I'm taking the summer off, so you can fully expect faster updates for the next three months! Now that I have all the time in the world, unless I get a summer job, I will be making sure to make up for lost time and will update more frequently as thanks for being so patient with me. THANKS GUYS!**

**Now, without further ado, let the story commence!**

"TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW!" Blake screamed frantically with a scarlet stain in her cheeks as she tightly folded her arms to shield the view of her busty pale breasts, and crossed legs with her new tail in between her legs to shield the rest of her shame. Jaune couldn't move the slightest of muscles as he stared gapingly at his savior, one of his best friends, and most shockingly **his cat**. He still could barely believe the sight before him, no one could blame him, but his eyes fell to her side to observe the blatant scars on her side; undeniable proof the woman before him was his kitten. Seeing is believing, but he was still internally debating on whether or not that what he was currently seeing was a hallucination from being stabbed in the gut.

Whether it was a hallucination or not, there was one thing that he could not deny at the moment: he was seeing the sight of his crush in all of her buxom glory, and that vision was forever burned into his mind as the color of his face matched that of the embarrassingly nude Faunus before him.

"I said turn around you pervert!" Blake shouted as she ducked behind a trash can and threw a large stone at Jaune to enforce her command. The thrown object was merely intended to snap Jaune out of his vacant, blushing, and drooling hypnotism at the sight of her body, but for some reason she was a tad bit stronger than usual, another possible side effect of her unusual transformation. Instead of lightly smacking Jaune to bring him back to reality, the stone made strong and direct contact with his forehead, and with an audible thunk Jaune fell to the floor unconscious and still blushing deeply with a gaping mouth. Blake felt incredibly guilty for just accidentally knocking him out, but at the same time relieved that she wouldn't be giving him a show anymore…and maybe a little disappointed?

"_NO NO NO!" _Blake internally shouted as she violently shook her head back and forth, trying to shake away the perverted thoughts from her mind and instead focusing on the condition of her friend. She quickly padded over to him, only stopping once to flinch at the sensation of her bare feet meeting small glass, and bent over him to inspect his stab wound. Thankfully, the knife didn't penetrate him too deeply and missed his vitals, so it was just a painful flesh wound that didn't jeopardize his life, but it still needed to be tended to medically to avoid infection. He didn't need a hospital, so that spared her the horrific embarrassment of carrying him to the hospital in the nude, but she would have felt better if she could leave him in the care of Ren, having seen his first aid skills first hand. Unfortunately, she has never learned where Ren and Nora lived, so she wouldn't even know where to look for them, and calling them on Jaune's Scroll would only complicate her already difficult position. With no other options, she swallowed her embarrassment temporarily and gently hefted the boy she loved over her bare shoulders, then took to the roofs again to rush back to his house.

She made sure to stay out of sight as usual while speedily leaping from roof to roof, but she was considerably surprised by her current speed. It's not as if she wasn't always quick on her feet, and it was highly possible that it was just her concern for Jaune fueling her pace, but she couldn't help but think that her increased speed was also a side effect of her new features. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, and it wasn't something she could ask other Faunus for an educated opinion since to this day she was still the only Faunus she knew that could transform into an actual animal, so she was completely at a loss of what to make of it. It mattered not at the moment since it was the last thing on her mind right now. Jaune's health was her primary concern at the moment; she could figure out what was wrong with her body another time.

It didn't take long to slide into their house through a window undetected by their neighbors, and after Blake made sure that she closed all of the curtains to ensure privacy, she carried Jaune upstairs to his room and gently laid him down on his bed. She made sure that he was as comfortable as possible before walking to his bathroom and proceeded to dig through his cabinet for medical supplies. Luckily for him, he was still stocked well from treating her wounds, so she had all she needed to clean his wound for him. After collecting what she needed, she gently sat down next to him and carefully pulled off his hoody and his t-shirt so that they wouldn't interfere with her disinfecting his wound. She wasn't used to doing this, the only time she really did this was during the few times she accidentally cut Yang during their sparring matches, but she knew enough to ensure that Jaune's stab wouldn't become infected. She frowned as Jaune winced in pain from her cleaning, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty that he had been stabbed while looking for her. It made her wonder what exactly happened to initiate the confrontation with the thug, but she didn't care. Jaune was alive and safe now, but she had what felt like a years worth of explaining to do.

After bandaging the wound and nursing the bump she had inflicted on his forehead when she accidentally knocked him out, Blake rose from the bed and dug into his closet to borrow a white t-shirt and a pair of black jogging pants to wear, of which was a little more difficult to wear now that she had her tail, and slid them on to avoid being nude. She didn't want a repeat of what happened in the alley way…or did she?

She blushed hard as her thoughts took yet another turn into perverted territories and tried her best to avoid thinking that way again as she gently sat back down near him and patiently waited for him to awaken.

Now that the blonde was resting and healing, Blake's mind was now at rest, but it allowed a disturbing thought to make itself know in her head as she gently rested her hand on his bandaged stab wound. She had been so close to losing the boy that she loved; if she had arrived even a second later, if she had been even the slightest bit slower in making her way to Jaune to save him, he would have been murdered by that scumbag. She would have lost another loved one, and that would have killed her. This thought left her eyes cloudy from restrained tears as she rested her head against his abdomen as she gently kissed his bandage. Life was too short, and Jaune's near death experience was a depressing reminder of this. When he woke up, it would be best to come clean with him concerning her feelings, because if he had died only half an hour ago, she would have never had the chance to tell him. She was alarmed by Jaune's moaning as he began to awake from his unconsciousness and shot up from kissing his bandage with a blush as she straightened herself and prepared to face the music. She only hoped that he wouldn't be too shocked by what their impending conversation.

Jaune had a slight headache as he peeled his eyes open with a groan and lowly moaned, "Uhh…what a weird dream…"

As he rose up from his comfortable position on his bed, he instantly flinched with a sharp gasp as he felt the sting of a wound on his abdomen. He was even more surprised by the presence of his beautiful Faunus friend, and completely woke up as his shocked gaze met her nervous one. "It wasn't a dream?" he asked, yet already knowing the alarming answer.

Blake swallowed the air trapped in her throat before sighing in resignation, "No…it wasn't."

The room was filled with a pregnant silence as both teenagers could barely find the words to begin the conversation that would change their relationship forever.

The silence continued for what seemed like forever without any signs of being disrupted by either of them until Jaune completely rose out of his lying position and situated himself next to his friend as he stared nervously at the floor, finding it very difficult to make eye contact with her now that he knew her secret.

"I'm so confused." Jaune began as he slowly looked towards Blake while still retaining his look of puzzlement.

"I…know. I…don't even know…where to start." Blake hesitantly replied as she looked back to her friend with a conflicted look that showed the difficulty of trying to even begin her explanation.

Blake was surprised greatly as Jaune immediately rebounded from his puzzlement to tenderly place his hand on her shoulder and give her a comforting smile of understanding. "There's no rush Arryn. You can start out small, so take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

Blake could only stare at him with a look of pure disbelief as she herself was confused by Jaune's capacity for patience. He acted as if he was no longer completely bewildered by the revelation that his pet and one of his best friends were one and the same, and was treating her as if she hadn't spent months deceiving him and as if nothing had changed between them. It was both stunning and heartwarming, to say the least.

"Jaune, aren't you at the very least shocked by any of this? Aren't even angry at me for deceiving you all of these months?" Blake asked as she put her own hand on top of his on her shoulder as she tightly gripped it out of a need to understand him.

Jaune looked back to the ground with a small chuckle, taking a moment to contemplate his own answer before replying, "Shocked doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now. To be honest, I don't even know if I'm still dreaming or not, but I could never be angry at you Arryn. I'm sure you had your reasons for keeping this a secret. But I would like to know what's going on with you, and why you've been pretending to be my cat, and a lot of other stuff I'm confused about, but I'm willing to go at a pace that you're most comfortable with."

He looked back at her with an accepting and understanding smile as he laughed a little, "But we are gonna talk about you scratching and biting my butt."

Blake's nervousness was eased as she couldn't help but reciprocate her own smile at his attempt to break the ice, and she allowed herself to share a few chuckles with him as she smiled warmly at him. After they shared their short spurt of laughter, Jaune resumed his questioning facial expression as he allowed his hand to fall back down from her shoulder, and said, "How about this then, can I get you started by asking questions?"

Blake nodded as she situated herself on the bed to get more comfortable, knowing that their impending conversation was going to be emotionally and mentally taxing.

"What…_are_ you? Are you a Faunus? Are you a cat? Or are you something entirely different or what?" Jaune asked, still a little shook up from the revelation of his pet's identity.

"I'm a Faunus Jaune, make no mistake about that. I just have a… "gift" that allows me to take the shape of a cat."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at her cryptic answer, but didn't push the subject just yet.

"Why have you been posing as my cat all of this time? Why were you hurt so badly in that dumpster that night? Why didn't you just leave me when you had the ch-"

Jaune's rapid series of questions was ceased as Blake gently grabbed his lips and pushed them together to silence him.

"Jaune, one question at a time please. I promise I will answer your questions to the best of my ability…" Blake sighed as she realized that she would have to reveal more than what was considered safe, but he had the right to know after months of deceiving him. "But before I do that, I must ask one thing of you Jaune."

She released his lips and gave him a serious frown that showed that she would accept nothing less of satisfaction if she were to enlighten him.

"You have to promise, **swear** to me, that anything and everything I say to you in this room stays **completely** between you and I. You must not tell **anyone** what I am about to tell you. Not Ren, not Nora, not your parents, **not anyone**, or there will be serious consequences for us both. Do you understand?"

Jaune was taken back by the sheer severity of her tone and the hardened glare she was giving him that he had never seen on her face before. If she was being this serious about keeping this secret, then it must be ridiculously important that he doesn't speak a word about this conversation. With a nod and his own serious look, he calmly and honestly pronounced with his hand raised, "I, Jaune Miles Arc, swear to you that I will never speak of this conversation or any of its information to absolutely no one. I make this promise as a man, and as an Arc." He flawlessly recited the words his father would dictate when making the most serious of promises on the rare occasions he was serious, and he had made sure to drill those words into his head as a child. A man was only as good as his word; a lesson that he made sure that Jaune understood and adopted, and Jaune took his promises as seriously as a heart attack.

Satisfied with his answer, Blake's face softened as she decided to start from the beginning. "There is far too much to explain to you in one sitting Jaune, but the most important thing that you must know is that there is a war raging underneath the public eye, and it has raged on for years without the populace ever being aware of its existence."

Jaune was still and speechless from the grim tone of her voice as she revealed the chaos and turmoil that has endured and thrived without the world ever knowing. To think that something as awful and dangerous as a war has existed for so long without anyone noticing; it was almost fictitious to Jaune, but he would soon realize that there were far more unbelievable events transpiring under his nose.

"But why? Why does this war exist?"

Blake snorted in false humor before bitterly replying, "Because of the greed and ignorance of society that has allowed and fostered the suffering of the Faunus. The history books would tell you that the last Human-Faunus War ended decades ago, but that is nothing more than an ignorant conception. The war still continues on in today's time, only it is now fought in the shadows and underneath society's nose. You could say that the participants in this war live in an entirely different world than that of the one in which normal society exists. They live in a world where they are granted powers and abilities that far transcend that of normal man's, and that is how they are able to keep this conflict a well kept secret."

"But…what about you? Do you have these powers?" Jaune unsurely asked, already knowing the answer but still feeling it necessary to ask anyway.

"Indeed." Blake confirmed before channeling her Aura to slightly reverberate off of her body and as a result making it glow an enchanting shade of bright purple. "Aura: it is the essence of all living creatures that have a soul. It is the very power and ability of your soul given direction and form, but most importantly, it is the very life blood of my world. I live in a world dominated by powerful individuals who have learned the ways of Aura and have used it as a tool to fight for what they believe in and make the impossible possible."

"_You're telling me…" _Jaune thought as he rubbed his head feeling a slight headache coming. "This sounds like complete fiction." He commented with a groan.

"It is anything but fiction Jaune. You've seen firsthand what my Aura can do, and I'm still technically a novice in the world of Aura." She replied with a small grin, slightly amused by Jaune's confusion as she allowed her Aura to settle down.

He looked back to her with a nervous jitter at the mention of what he has seen today. "Right…about that, so this Aura can make people turn into animals?"

"Aura can do many things depending on the individual using it. Every individual has an ability that they can use that comes to them naturally when using their Aura, and this is defined as a Semblance. There are persons who can control the elements of Remnant, there are persons who can perform super human feats like super speed or strength, and there are even people with Semblances so powerful that they can easily defy the laws of reality." Blake uneasily answered as she contemplated how to explain the subject of her transformation that even she didn't fully understand. "I have my own Semblance, but it is not my transformation. Ever since I was a little girl when I first tapped into my Aura, I have been able to assume the shape and characteristics of a feline. I don't know why and I don't know how, but I am the only one I know with this ability. I don't fully understand it, and I've never tried to because I dislike this ability."

Jaune tilted his head in confusion at her obvious resentment for her ability and asked with a small smile, "Why would you hate it. You look so cute as a little fur ball." Blake blushed ever so slightly at his coy compliment and looked away from him slightly to avoid his gaze for a little bit. "Thank…you, Jaune. However, I dislike this ability because of many reasons, the primary being that I become a slave to my bestial instincts in my cat form and do the most embarrassing of things without realizing it until it is too late."

"You say embarrassing; I say adorable." Jaune commented back with a wider smile, recalling the time he saw his kitten become invested in a ball of yarn he bought her for Christmas.

"You don't understand Jaune. You find it cute, but the racism maintaining a stranglehold on today's world says otherwise. Every time I turn into a cat and lose myself to my instincts, every time I repress my human side to shift even further into my bestial, all I'm doing is proving society right; that I'm nothing more than a stupid animal in human clothing. How can I deny these hurtful accusations and opinions about my people if I am a literal example of them?" Blake asked somberly as her head dipped down to the floor. Once again Jaune pulled her out of her negativity by securely grabbing her by her shoulders and pulling her face close to his so that blue and amber could engage one another in a hard and meaningful confrontation.

"Because those statements are nothing more than slander created by an unjust fraction of today's world. You may be an animal Blake, a Faunus is definitely a blend of man and animal and we can't deny that, but you are not a monster. There's a difference, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Blake appeared less and less somber by the subject of her transformation as she absorbed Jaune's words. Even if deep down in her soul she had already known that monsters and animals were not the same thing, it was only now that the message fully sank in. Perhaps it took an unbiased opinion from someone who wasn't jumping into gunfire to really show her this, or maybe after years of suffering hateful slander she had finally broke and began to believe the cruel words herself. Either or, Jaune's words had worked their magic, and it made Blake begin to reconsider whether or not her gift was a blessing or a curse.

"Which brings me to my original question…" Jaune cautiously added as his face reverted back to the usual look of confusion and nervousness. "Why have you been keeping this from me?"

And now they reached the real meat of their conversation, the juicy center of her confession about her identity that was going to either make or break her relationship with her blonde friend, and it sent Blake back into emotional turmoil as she tried to pull the words out of her throat, but found it difficult to do so.

"Jaune…you have to understand, my world is supposed to remain a secret. Could you imagine the panic, the sheer pandemonium, that would engulf society if they found out that a war between factions with supernatural abilities was being waged right under their noses? It is very imperative that the people of my world keep this a secret to preserve the peace. Also, the faction that I'm a part of strictly forbids us from exposing this, and there are severe punishments involved if we do."

Jaune frowned at the prospect of her suffering these punishments, feeling slightly guilty that she could get in trouble for transforming and saving his life, but it was all the more reason to not speak a word of this to make sure that she wouldn't suffer the consequences. But still, there was one thing that he couldn't understand about her that she had yet to explain.

"If you were afraid of being punished…then why would you put yourself at risk being my cat…being my **friend**? You could have just left while I was asleep and I wouldn't have known any better, you could have just left me alone and never spoke to me again to make sure that you wouldn't accidentally expose yourself to me…but you didn't. Why?"

"_Well…no turning back now." _Blake mentally sighed before she reluctantly continued to explain herself. "There were a lot of reasons why I couldn't leave. Before you found me in that dumpster, I failed a mission that I was assigned and was horribly wounded by an enemy. As I'm sure you're aware, I was far too injured to leave at first, so even if I decided to leave I wouldn't have gotten far and there was always the possibility that I would have ran into an enemy again in my weakened state. The second reason is that the headquarters for my faction is very elusive and is always changing locations, so I wouldn't have even known where to look to go back home. And lastly, the third reason I didn't leave..."

Blake's throat froze up again as she found it difficult and apprehensive to reveal the biggest reason why she couldn't bear to leave him sooner, and Jaune picked up on that as he gently grabbed her chin and rose her head back up so that he could look her in the eye again. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?" he softly questioned, though with a slight tinge of fear that she didn't trust him enough to come clean with him.

Nothing could be further from the truth; Blake trusted Jaune with her life and she wanted to make that clear.

"…it's you." Blake finally admitted after forcefully swallowing her anxiety down like a bitter pill.

Jaune let his hand fall from her chin and back into his lap as he tried to understand her short and incredibly vague answer. "I…don't understand."

It was times like these when Blake truly wished that the adorable, yet naïve, blond could take a hint, but it would seem that she would have to be more thorough in her answer.

With for what seemed like the hundredth time she's sighed, she elaborated on her answer as her cheeks began to redden and she began to play with her fingers to distract herself from her own nervousness and embarrassment. "I didn't plan on staying with you this long. To be perfectly honest, I had healed enough to fend for myself a long while ago…but I couldn't bear to leave sooner because I did the one thing that I swore I wouldn't do when you took me in; I got attached to you. As you nurtured me and began to show me the kind of person you were, I eventually found myself beginning to care for you as a friend. You were in so much emotional pain, and you needed someone to help you, someone who had an idea of what you were going through, so I vowed to be that friend you needed to help you recover from your pain. That is why I decided to become more than just your pet and meet you outside of the house in my true form. I was glad that after weeks of getting to know you even more and helping you cope with your pain, you were finally showing signs of healing emotionally…but something else happened as a result of getting to really know you."

"_No way…" _Jaune thought in disbelief as he came to a preconceived assumption as to why she was acting so fidgety and blushing so embarrassedly, but it seemed too good to be true.

"The more time that I spent with you, the more that I cared for you in return. Eventually, I cared for you so much that I slowly began to care less and less about how quickly I returned home because I wanted to savor every last moment I had with you…because…because…"

"_Could it be?" _Jaune thought as he desperately wished that she would finish her sentence, even if she was sweating and blushing profusely.

Blake swallowed another gulp of air and saliva as she gave one more forceful tug at the words lodged in the recesses of her throat. "…because I grew feelings for you…" she mumbled lowly as she found the ground to be the best thing to observe at the moment.

The words that left her mouth were small and barely audible, but Jaune heard them clearly and they ringed and echoed throughout his brain as he felt his spirits soar to unimaginable heights. The girl that he liked, the girl that wormed her way into his soul and repaired the damage done to it, the girl that healed his sense of self-worth, **liked him back**. It was the most wonderful and fulfilling sensation he had ever felt in his life, and he could still barely believe that it was true.

"You…like me?" Jaune asked, just to make sure that he hadn't somehow misheard her. If he had misheard her he would be so destroyed by disappointment. Please don't let him have misheard her…

It wasn't as if Blake was afraid of rejection like most other people in her position; Jaune had made it clear that he had these feelings for her in return, but she was still trying to come to terms with them herself. To openly admit to the object of her affections was a difficult step for her, and as honest and true her feelings for him were, she was still afraid to act on them despite Ren's inspiring speech hours ago. It hurt that even if they were to become involved in a relationship, she would still have to go back to Beacon and leave him behind, but she wouldn't let that stop her from loving him if they did become involved with one another.

She nodded her head silently at his question as she rose her head to him so that he could see the unadulterated truth gleaming in her golden eyes.

Jaune could only stare at the beautiful eyes of his crush, feeling nostalgic and remembering the first time he met her in the streets when he accidentally ran into her. To think that the entire time he had been caring for the kitten he found in the dumpster, he had also been gaining the affections of the most beautiful girl he had ever met in his life. There really was no such thing as impossible.

He smiled with a small chuckle as he rubbed his head for a few seconds, confusing Blake greatly as his chuckles continued to reverberate through his throat as he continued to ruffle his own hair. Before Blake could ask him if he was alright, he took her completely off guard as he leaped on top of her and rolled her over closer into the center of the bed as he positioned himself over her.

"Jaune! What are you doing?!" Blake asked alarmed as her ears twitched sporadically and her new tail curled and coiled frantically as it responded to her momentary surprise, but she immediately calmed down when Jaune began to lovingly rub his forehead against hers. She had no idea what he was doing, but damn if it didn't feel good to feel the sensation of his skin tenderly brushing against hers. To her slight embarrassment, she began to purr from the physical contact as she began to reciprocate the affection and rub her forehead against his as well.

"Is Arryn your real name?" Jaune asked as he closed his eyes and continued to rub the girl he had fallen for.

It was a perfectly sensible question, a question that she had no problem answering, even as she was thoroughly enjoying the attention he was giving her.

"Blake Arryn Belladonna." She purred, only making Jaune think that she was even cuter because of her Faunus heritage.

"Blake Arryn Belladonna…" he recited, enjoying the way it rolled off his tongue even more so then the false name she had given him before, even if it was simply a matter of adding her real first name in front of it. He opened his eyes so that he could gaze deeply into the glorious pools of gold and the feline pupils floating atop them. "Will you be mine?" he requested longingly with nothing but the utmost of adoration in his silky smooth voice.

She frowned at him sadly as she restrained herself from shouting "YES YES YES" at the top of her lungs. She wanted so badly to agree to the request, but before she could allow herself to release the words from their cage as they slammed desperately against the bars, she needed to know that he realized that this heaven couldn't last forever, and wouldn't.

"Jaune…you know we can't be together forever…right?" Blake asked sorrowfully as her ears dipped down in a depressed manner. "As much as I would like to be with you for as long as I wanted, I simply can't. I have responsibilities back home that I can't run away from, and I will have to return home sooner or later. When I go home…I'll have to leave you, and there is a high possibility that I will never see you again. Do you understand?"

Jaune just continued to smile at the adorable kitten beneath him as said, "I don't care Blake."

Blake's frown became more curious than sad at his answer.

"_**Love is the most precious and heavenly of bonds that anyone can possibly dream of having with someone in this world, and if you've found someone that you feel that you can have such a bond with, even if it was only temporary, than you should do whatever you possibly can to pursue that bond.**_ – Lie Ren. Good words to follow…right?" Jaune asked with a twinkle in his cerulean blue eyes.

Blake was at a loss of words as she listened to Jaune flawlessly recite the words spoken to him by his best friend hours ago. Her heart fluttered at the twinkle in his eyes and the affection laced in his voice, and she could feel one lone tear slide down her cheek as she felt her soul reach out to the boy above her.

Love was so rare and precious, even if it was temporary.

As she smiled fondly at the blonde knight staring lovingly down at her, she wrapped her arms around his chest and mewled preciously at him, "I'm yours for however long we may have Jaune."

Jaune smiled even more happily at her as he closed more distance between their faces so that they were only centimeters away from each other. "Please, say that one more time."

She reinforced her statement as her legs matched her arms as they wrapped tightly around his waist and pulled him more closely against her. "I'm yours. For as long as my stay here continues, I want to be yours and only yours. So please…have me?"

Jaune couldn't have interlocked their lips any more quickly as he eliminated any distance between their lips and gave Blake the title of "His First Kiss", and sucked the air out of her mouth and lapped his tongue against hers. Blake gave no resistance to the kiss and happily fed into it as she allowed Jaune full access to her mouth and every nook and cranny inside as he wrapped his arms around her to gain even more depth into the kiss. They swapped saliva vigorously as they moaned into each other's mouth, and they were completely lost inside of their own heaven as they enjoyed every second of their first kiss. Eventually, they separated their lips with an audible pop as they were still connected by a thin strand of their combined saliva.

"Wow…that was…amazing." Blake moaned ecstatically as she stared euphorically into Jaune's eyes, licking away the spit around her lips not unlike an actual feline.

"_So cute…and she's mine."_ Jaune thought happily as he was doing cartwheels inside of his head. "Enjoy it kitten." He suavely said in an attempt to impress his new lover.

Blake smirked with a giggle as she replied, "Don't try to act so smooth you dork. It's unbecoming of you."

"Don't try to act like you don't love it, furball." Jaune shot back with an equally mischievous grin.

"Don't make me bite your ass again." Blake warned challengingly as she purred dangerously and her grin widened ever so slightly.

"Well it's better than you scratching my d-"

He was abruptly cut off in the middle of his crude retaliation as Blake forcefully grabbed him by his chest and threw him off of her into the head board of the bed. Jaune dizzily shook his head to get rid of his momentary double vision, but as soon as he regained his normal vision he was slightly intimidated by the sight of his newly christened girlfriend. She was standing on all fours as her strong looking muscles coiled and bended, almost to warn him that he was about to be pounced like a helpless mouse, her ears were flattened against her head to enforce that warning, and finally her eyes were glowing with a predatory gleam that promised domination.

All of a sudden, Jaune didn't feel very confident and manly when he fearfully stared at the ravenous looking Faunus about to pounce on him.

"Um…nice kitty…who's a pretty kitty? You are…y-you are." Jaune fearfully stuttered and cooed in an attempt to calm down his predatory kitten/lover.

His fear tripled as she purred back in a smooth, yet rumbling, voice that he had never heard escape her mouth before, **"Damn straight." **

"…meep." Jaune whimpered right before his girlfriend leaped at him with her claws extended.

And thus began the start of a wonderful, beautiful, and somewhat painful relationship between the Knight and his Black Cat.

_(Beacon)_

"Why don't you go suck a dick?!"

"Why don't you suck TWO dicks!"

"Why don't you suck **FIVE **dicks!"

Sun slammed his 3DS on the table as he shot out of his seat to glare at his fellow blonde face to face and shouted at the top of his lungs, **"BITCH YOU'RE SUCKING EIGHT DICKS FROM EIGHT DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS LIKE AN OMNI-DIRECTIONAL DICK SUCK FEST!"**

"You son of a bitch!" Yang shouted angrily as she leaped over the table, after slamming her own 3DS down, and tackled Sun with the ferocity of a rabid bear as they tumbled into the floor is a dust cloud of violence and angry cursing.

Neptune sighed with a face-palm as he put his own handheld back in his pocket as he shook his head at the immaturity of his blonde friends. They chose to spend Saturday playing Pokémon on their 3DS against one another in Sun's and Neptune's room, and their last game was a double battle between "SunFire" and "WaterLily". Neptune and Ruby had respectable teamwork, but Sun's and Yang's teamwork was positively atrocious and they often forgot to take into account moves that would also harm their partner's Pokémon and would often completely knock each other out during battles. Eventually the anger and frustration between them escalated into the current brawl that they were engaged in with each other.

"I guess that's enough Pokémon for one day?" Neptune rhetorically asked as he scooted away from the fight and towards Ruby so that he could watch from a safe distance.

"Yep." Ruby unenthusiastically replied as she sighed and put her 3DS in her pocket. She lied her head on her fist as she watched the battle between the dragon and the monkey with a bored demeanor, almost as if she wasn't even really watching the fight but deep in thought about another subject. It didn't take a genius to know what that subject could be.

"You and Weiss still not talking?" Neptune asked as he slid her the glass of root beer among the other three glasses full of alcohol on the table. Yang wouldn't let a drop of alcohol touch her baby sister's lips until she was sixteen, and that was still months away not like she'd drink a drop anyway if the smell had anything to do with the taste.

Neptune had his answer when Ruby's forehead dismally met the table with a small thud as she groaned slightly. Whatever had happened or what had been said between the two when Ruby took Weiss out for a walk yesterday had obviously had a negative effect on their already shaky relationship. Ever since the Ice Queen had been staying with them, the relationship between her and the little red wolf had always been somewhat strained, but despite that Ruby was the only one whose presence Weiss would tolerate for a long period of time out of everyone in Beacon. Ruby liked to think of them as friends or at the very least "friendlies", but it was unclear to them if Weiss felt the slightest bit the same. They could take an easy guess when Ruby came back with tears in her eyes almost a full hour before Weiss returned and angrily stomped back in her hospital room with a few tiny tears of her own. Yang wanted to go into Weiss's room and have a "friendly chat" about the ramifications of making her little sister cry, but Ruby talked her out of it barely. For the rest of yesterday and today, Ruby had chose not to visit Weiss as she usually did everyday and asked One for a few days off from watching her, a request that One happily fulfilled. Whatever happened between them had hurt Ruby deeply, for she was acting rather depressed for the past two days. Yang had tried to cheer her up, but she herself found it difficult to cheer herself up these days since she had yet to find any leads on the whereabouts of their still-missing "Kit-Cat", so she wasn't the best at the moment for a pep talk. Today was the first time in a few days that she actually smiled.

Neptune wished he could offer her comforting words of consolation, but they would be empty and meaningless considering that he had no idea how to make Ruby feel better about her situation, so he did what little he could and hoped for the best. "Why don't you go take a small nap? It'll help clear your head a bit." Neptune advised gently as Ruby downed her soda in a few gulps.

Ruby thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and slightly nodding her head towards the bluenette and silently walking out of the room, deciding to watch the fight later as she was sure that Neptune would be recording it for shits and giggles later. She walked down the hallway and past many other rooms inside it, including the unoccupied room of their missing friend. She was almost positive that Blake's bookshelf was dusty from lack of attendance; maybe Ruby could convince Yang to help her clean it to help her reinforce her hope that Blake _will _be back any day now.

After entering hers and her sister's room and closing the door behind her, she placed her Scroll on her nightstand then ungracefully fell upon her bed before burying her face into her pillow. As much as she hated to admit it, a few of the things that Weiss had said had bothered her and made a considerable dent in her usually impervious resolve. It was so easy to believe that with enough effort and spirit, one could end a war of hatred and darkness, but when you see a victim of that war that proved that it wasn't that simple, it really made one rethink their philosophy. She still wouldn't resort to ever killing her enemies, she still believed that it would only do more harm than good in the end, but she did feel less confident that Humans and Faunus as a whole would ever coexist in the way that Beacon has. And if they ever could, how would that come to fruition? All Beacon could do at the moment was prevent the Order and the White Fang from making things worse since Beacon was so low on forces at the moment, so what could they really do against an entire country, hell an entire world, rampant with the hatred they were trying so desperately to fight.

What if Weiss was right? Were they really fighting a lost cause?

Her depressing thoughts were temporarily disrupted by the ever familiar green flash that shot out of her Scroll. Interestingly, there wasn't a cheery "Saaaallluuutaaations!" that usually followed it, there were no animated requests to play Xbox with her, and there were no caring questions as to how her day was going. Ruby turned her head to the hologram of her old friend and was slightly surprised by the frown on Penny's usually exuberant and cheerful face.

"Hey Penny," Ruby greeted as she managed to pull her lips into a smile for the A.I, "What's wrong?"

"**I could ask you the same thing Ruby."** She replied sadly as her hologram rematerialized on her bed and sat down in front of her.

Ruby sighed as she rolled over onto her back and sadly looked back at her friend, knowing that she probably wanted to speak with her about her depressed state.

"**Ruby, what's wrong? Talk to me."** Penny asked sadly as she crossed her digital legs and gave Ruby her full attention.

Ruby knew that Penny wasn't going to leave until she was satisfied, and she knew that Penny knew her well enough to tell when she was lying, so she didn't even bother trying to lie her way out of the conversation by saying she was fine, so she just resigned herself to speaking with her friend about what her problem was.

With a deep breath to prepare herself, she reluctantly replied, "It's Weiss…"

Penny nodded her head and gently held her hand out to beckon the Faunus to continue.

Ruby curled up and hugged her knees as she continued. "I brought her out to the cliff where I always go to calm down because I wanted to help her nervousness about her meeting today…but it didn't really end well."

Penny wasn't surprised at all since she was well aware of how Ruby and Weiss didn't always get along. Ever since she heard that Ruby was to be watching the daughter of Arcticus Schnee, she had been watching them closely from Ruby's Scroll and Beacon's security cameras to make sure that Weiss wasn't a threat to Ruby, but eventually she came to the same conclusion as Ruby that Weiss wasn't an evil person, just misunderstood. The only reason that she hadn't introduced herself by now was because she had been ordered by the Council not to. They still didn't fully trust Weiss yet, so they were unwilling to reveal that Beacon had something as valuable as an A.I. to an ex-Order agent, but that didn't stop her from watching how she and Ruby interacted.

"**She finally exploded from your attempts to be her friend, did she?"** Penny asked, deducing what had happened to make Ruby so sad.

"Yes…" Ruby confirmed as her frown deepened ever so slightly. "But I'm not even sad about that; I'm sad because I finally see how damaged she is now…and I'm starting to doubt if there's really a chance of winning this war."

Penny's hologram fizzled as she felt a stinging sensation in her soul. She never thought she would see the day when Ruby would start doubting their goals, but Ruby's vigor and spirit had evidentially taken a hurtful blow.

"**I'm shocked Ruby. You've never doubted our success before." **Penny commented sadly, wishing now more than ever that she had a physical body to hug and comfort Ruby.

"I know and it hurts to say that, but Weiss really got to me before she left me at the cliffs." Ruby said as she snuggled deeper into her bed for comfort. "She said that we aren't friends and we never will be because Humans and Faunus have never been able to live in harmony outside of Beacon, and it really made me question if what we're doing really matters in the end. It seems like we haven't made a dent in making our goal a reality, and we've lost so many people trying…like Mom." Ruby wiped away a tear before it had the chance to fall down her cheek, and this hurt Penny to see her so depressed.

Ruby looked back at Penny with slightly watered eyes as she asked, "Penny…do you think we're fighting a lost cause? Do you sometimes feel that there's no hope?"

"_More than you know." _Penny thought with a frown as she stood up and materialized closer to Ruby lying down next to her so that they could see each other eye to eye.

"**Ruby, I'm going to tell you something that my best friend once told me: 'There's no such thing as a lost cause. No matter what the cause is, no matter how slim the chances are, and no matter how hopeless it seems, there's always a chance to make it a reality. Nothing's impossible, right?'"**

Penny continued to speak her thoughts as she looked up towards the ceiling with a small spark of encouragement in her electric green eyes and continued with, **"Look at what we've accomplished Ruby. Despite the odds and damage done to society by the rampant racism and violence corroding it, we were able to build a community in which both Human and Faunus are equal, a community that has withstood the test of time and has only grown stronger with time. Sure, we may not be as powerful as the Order, and we might not have the numbers of the White Fang, but despite that we've managed to overcome the odds and always pull through when we needed to. We've provided a safe haven for the victims of the last Human-Faunus War, we even had a hand in stopping it, and thanks to us more lives have been saved than if we would have never fought to begin with."**

The A.I. turned towards her Faunus companion with a small smile gracing her lips as she asked, **"After all of that, do YOU think it's a lost cause and hopeless?"**

A pregnant silence took control of the conversation as Ruby allowed Penny's words to sit inside of her mind and soul, and after briefly contemplating the matter a bit more, Ruby wiped her tears before allowing herself to smile at her digital friend. "Thanks Penny, I needed to hear that."

"**You're welcome Ruby."** Penny replied as her own smile increased in width. She was relieved that Ruby wasn't as sad now, and she was also happy that she was able to make Ruby feel better, even if it was only temporary.

Ruby's smile didn't last long as her gaze shifted to the ceiling unhappily as she recalled her argument with Weiss. "I just wish that I could make Weiss see that. She's completely convinced that there's no room for peace in this world, not that I blame her too much."

Penny tilted her head curiously as she asked, "Did she tell you why?"

"Not exactly…but before she left she could tell that I had lost plenty to this war just like her…she was crying when she left, I could smell it." Ruby explained solemnly as she recalled how the disgraced heiress left her. "I just don't understand it Penny. I think…no…I **know **that she wants there to be peace between Humanity and Faunus, but she refuses to give it a chance." She buried the back of her head further into her pillow frustratedly as she groaned at the oddity that was Weiss Schnee, then turned her head back towards Penny and asked, "What do you think Penny?"

Penny's digitalized voiced hummed under her artificial breath as she thought on the subject of Weiss. Penny knew enough about her to know what could be done to prove to her that Beacon's goals were feasible and not just a hopeful fantasy, but she was trying to find the words to make Ruby understand. It was funny how she could formulate ridiculous amounts of battle strategies in mere seconds, but when it came to communicating a difficult thought she had the most trouble; another trade off of being an A.I. most likely.

Eventually Penny came to the conclusion that Ruby would better understand if she provided an example, and replied back to the hooded Faunus, **"Now that I think about it Ruby, I recall another person we both know that used to believe that there was no chance of true peace."**

Ruby had a feeling that she already knew who she was referring to, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Are you talking about Blake?" Ruby asked unsurely.

A simple nod and a small smile was her answer before she continued in giving her opinion. **"You remember how she used to be, right? There was a time that we used to call her an enemy, a time in which she was nothing more to Beacon than a dangerous White Fang agent who wouldn't hesitate to shoot one of us down; a time when she and Yang clashed against each other both in combat and ideals."**

Ruby nodded as she shivered at the memories of her friend before she could be called as such. "Yeah, the first time I fought her I couldn't believe that she was that shy, but a very nice, girl that used to be Yang's best friend before she disappeared for years. She was…scary."

"**And do you recall the reason as to how she began the change from "enemy" to "close friend" over time?" **Penny quizzed.

How could she not? Ruby was related to the reason by blood and bunked with her for years.

"It was Yang." Ruby answered with a small smile. "Ever since Yang found out that Blake was still alive and working for the White Fang, she made it her personal goal to save her and show her that she was on the wrong path. She intercepted a lot of mission's that Blake had and always tried her absolute best to show her that she didn't have to be a White Fang to bring about change, and no matter how many times Blake attacked her or tried to kill her or denied Yang's offers of another chance, Yang never gave up on her, even when the rest of Beacon did. Eventually her efforts paid off, and one night Blake came to Yang begging for forgiveness and accepted her offer."

"**Precisely."** Penny confirmed happily. **"Yang always extended a hand of friendship and salvation to her distressed and warped friend, and she never retracted it or denied Blake access to it. She always kept it out to Blake, and she never pulled it back until Blake took it."**

"Penny, are you going somewhere with this?" Ruby asked, wondering how Blake was involved in this.

Penny nodded again before elaborating on her point. **"In some ways Ruby, Weiss and Blake aren't so different. They were both almost completely shaped by the hateful ideals of both our enemies, and both firmly believed that there was no such thing as peace. They were trapped; trapped in their own worlds of hopeless darkness, without a single speck of light to be seen."**

Unbeknownst to Penny, her voice had shifted into a somber tone that unsettled Ruby greatly. The sad hologram slowly raised her hand level with her eyes so that she could stare into it. Every microscopic beam of light that comprised her "body" sparked mockingly at her as she lowly spoke, **"One spends so much time living in darkness that they can even forget that there even is such thing as light…"**

"Penny…are you alright?" Ruby asked concernedly, not liking how dismal her green companion sounded at the moment.

Penny either didn't hear Ruby or chose to ignore the question as she turned her gaze back to Ruby as her smile returned slightly. **"That is, until a light shines directly in front of you."**

Ruby still didn't exactly understand Penny's metaphor, but just remained silent so that she could continue.

"**Weiss has forgotten that light still exists in this world, just as Blake once did. She's confined herself into the only world she's ever known, a world of darkness. She just needs someone to show her that there is a way out, another path that is available for her leads into the light, should she choose to take it. She needs her own "Yang", just as Blake did."**

It much elaboration on Penny's part, but Ruby finally understood what she meant. If Ruby was to convince Weiss that there was still such thing as hope, or "light", she would need someone to push her towards it. Ruby would have to play the part as her guide and lead her to it, just as Yang did for Blake.

Easier said than done, Weiss was perhaps the most stubborn girl Ruby had ever known.

"Penny, I get what you mean, but how am I supposed to do that? She hates me, and she won't listen to me. She's WAY too stubborn." Ruby complained with a annoyed sigh.

Penny's response was a light laugh. **"I never said it was going to be easy Ruby. At least you have the hard part out of the way already. You've got her attention, and more importantly her respect. If she truly hated you, she wouldn't have put up with you these past weeks. She's just afraid to let anyone get close, especially someone she used to call enemy."**

"I guess…" Ruby reluctantly admitted as she lied on her side to look at Penny more clearly.

"**For what it's worth Ruby, she's not far beyond saving, at least compared to how Blake was, and I haven't a single doubt that you'll be able to save her. You just need to keep trying, that's all."**

Ruby frowned without any of the confidence that Penny had for her as she scratched her right furry ear. "I don't know Penny. Saving people from getting physically hurt; that I can do, but saving someone's soul is completely different. I'm not Yang, I've never saved someone from darkness before. I don't even know if I can…"

Ruby almost leaped out of her spot on the bed as she was surprised by the sudden and unexpected flash of green in front of her face as Penny gave her a determined and forceful look that strongly disagreed with her statement. **"Don't ever say that again Ruby."** She commanded with a tone that left no room for argument. **"You **_**can**_** save someone from darkness; you already have."** The A.I's gaze depressively fell back to her holographic hands, confusing Ruby even more. **"More than you know…"** Penny finished sadly.

"Who have I saved before?" Ruby asked gently as she sat upright and bent forward slightly to establish deeper eye contact.

Penny seemed apprehensive before answering, as if it hurt her soul to recall certain memories that arose her previous statement, but she eventually found the strength to respond to the red Faunus, and left her with even more questions than enlightenment.

"**Me…"**

That…was certainly not an answer she could have ever guessed. Ruby could barely believe her ears, but she knew that she hadn't misheard her friend.

But still, it was both shocking and confusing to hear Penny say that.

"Penny, what do you me-"

"_**BEEP"**_ A loud sound echoed out of Ruby's Scroll and cut her off in the middle of her sentence, and she fully intended to ignore it since she was in an important conversation, but Penny already knew what message had been sent since she was currently inside the Scroll. **"Ruby, the Council has requested your presence in their chamber. We will speak of this another time." **Penny declared professionally, but with a slight hint of sadness in her voice.

"Wait Penny!" Ruby called out futilely with an outstretched hand, but Penny had flickered away and off somewhere else, officially ending their conversation.

Ruby lowly cursed under her breath as she dropped her hand and rose up from the bed with a stretch. The Council had the absolute worst timing, she really wanted to question Penny and ask her to elaborate on her puzzling question, but it wasn't meant to be yet. Hopefully she would be able to speak with her again soon, but she had duties to fulfill at the moment. If they were calling her specifically then it most likely had something to do with Weiss.

Hopefully she would be willing to speak with her by now.

_(Elsewhere)_

If there was one thing that could be said about Weiss Schnee, it was that she had a full capacity to be patient. She had patience that far exceeded that of the most wizened of Agents, she could wait any amount of time it was necessary and it has proved to be one of her redeeming qualities. However, today was the exception to her endurance, because today was the day that the enigmatic Council would decide her fate.

This morning, at about five in the morning, she was gently awoken by Dr. Scarlatina and advised to get dressed early today; it was time to meet the Council. Weiss could tell, for whatever reason, that Dr. Scarlatina was fearful for her. Perhaps she had grown fond of Weiss as part of a "doctor-patient" bond she had unintentionally established, and although Weiss admitted that the kind doctor had treated her with nothing but the utmost kindness and respect, she still couldn't be called a friend. Faunus and Humans can't co-exist, it's just simply impossible.

Weiss inwardly flinched at the topic that had instigated the argument she had with her red acquaintance yesterday, and immediately shook off the thoughts to get dressed, and as soon as she slipped on her second high-heeled boot the door opened to reveal her three escorts; an agent with bladed gauntlets and two soldiers with lethal looking assault rifles. She had felt the rifles trained on her back as she followed the agent as he led her through Beacon, as if the soldiers were daring her to try anything so that their itchy trigger fingers could achieve satisfaction. Weiss wouldn't be giving them the satisfaction; at this point she could care less if they shot her.

The agent led her into a poorly lit room after taking the elevator many floors down, more floors than Ruby had ever took her, and led her down a poorly lit hallway into an equally dim room, but not before ordering the soldiers to wait outside the door. All that was in the room were a metal desk in the center that was lit up by a single light above it and two chairs on opposing sides. Whoever had designed the room obviously had an appreciation for the classics, this room was not unlike that of every cliché interrogation room in movies. The agent ordered her to sit down in the chair farthest from the door, facing the door and the opposing chair, but before she sat down the agent firmly clasped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists, and she could feel her Aura being blocked off from her control.

"Alright Schnee, one of the Council will be here to speak with you, and for some reason they requested that you be alone without us here, but I'm not taking any chances with you. If we see you outside this room without authorization, we **will** destroy you, and you **won't** be able to fight back, so it would be in your best interests to be a good girl, got it?" the gruff voiced agent said icily as he sat her down.

"Whatever." Weiss uncaringly responded as she uninterestedly and nonchalantly rested her elbows against the table and kept her gaze trained on the door.

The wizened agent gave her a slight "hmph" before replying, "For your sake, I'll take that as a yes." The agent then left her by her lonesome after slamming the door shut and locking it, just in case she did try something.

Now here she was, bored out of her mind as she was waiting for someone to walk through the door to end her impatience for what seemed like hours. Whoever these Councilmen were, they were making a bad first impression on her by making her wait this long.

Just as she was about to rest her head on her folded arms for a small nap, the door clicked and opened on cue before a figure shrouded in a black hood walked through carrying a thick manila folder. Interestingly there was a large Roman Numeral for the number one printed on the front of the hood.

"You're late." Weiss grumpily informed after sitting back up straight, ready to get this over with.

The figure certainly wasn't emotionless as she was expecting, and lightly chuckled in a distorted voice that made it impossible for her to judge whether or not the Councilman was male or female. They were going through great lengths to conceal their identities apparently, a wise choice that many could learn from. _**"My apologies Ms. Schnee, someone pressed all of the buttons in the elevator on the way down here…it wasn't me."**_

Weiss's eye twitched in internal aggravation as she could clearly recall Ruby using that same exact lame excuse a week ago. This Councilman was obviously just joking, at least she hoped they were.

The Councilman reeled their small laughter back in to compose their self as they reached for the manila folder and opened it to gaze upon the sheets of paper inside. _**"As you can plainly see, my identity must remain a secret, so you may call me 'One'." **_After their short and brief introduction, the shrouded leader sat down in the seat opposite of the white Dust-user as they read the file. _**"Weiss Kara Schnee. Rank: B+, Mission Success Rate: 92%, Semblance: Glyphs, Known Teammates: None. Graduated top of her training division and became an agent at the age of thirteen." **_ One rose their head up from the folder as they stopped reading from the folder momentarily. _**"You have quite the impressive record."**_ They complimented respectfully.

"Not impressive enough, evidently." Weiss bitterly replied, still very sore from her betrayal, but she reeled in her pain and beat it into submission before rising her gaze back up from the files and to the shadowed and indiscernible face of her "interrogator".

"_**They lost a good comrade, and you have my sympathy. Betrayal is the worst kind of pain." **_One replied empathetically in an attempt to comfort her, but they knew it would have little effect coming from a stranger. _**"I know you must be feeling slightly agitated at the moment, but I would like to ask you a few questions."**_

Weiss sighed as she interlocked her fingers and rested her hands on the table as she gave One a slight nod. The shrouded figure appreciatively nodded their head at Weiss's cooperation as they pulled a few select files from the folder and placed them on the table so that they could see them. _**"Tell me, do you have any idea why they would betray you?"**_

Weiss's frowned deepened as she recalled Frostbites heart wrenching words that night before he stabbed her in the chest. Even months afterward she could still barely believe it, but she knew without a doubt that he spoke the truth. "Apparently they saw me as a potential traitor because I didn't blindly follow the Conclave, the group that controls the Order. I disagreed with them on many subjects, but I knew my place and didn't speak out against them, but apparently I had earned enough of their ire for them not to trust me."

Weiss suppressed a growl that almost slipped past her gritted teeth as her left hand tightened balled into a pale fist. "My father assigned me to that mission at the docks as part of a test to see whether or not I was worth keeping around, and apparently I failed, so he hired an assassin to skewer me dead, an agent wearing white, light armor, who could control ice and called himself Frostbite." Her anger was momentarily disrupted by the shiver down her spine as she recalled the memory of the intimidating agent that almost took her life.

"_**I see…I am very sorry to hear that. I had always known Arcticus was ruthless…but to do that to his own flesh and blood…it is unforgivable."**_ One said as its androgynous voice that was tinted with the slightest trace of anger. They obviously had no idea that her own father orchestrated her attempted murder, and it only further proved how far he was willing to go to accomplish his goals. He needed to be stopped, but that wouldn't come to be for years possibly. He was a very powerful man who was well protected and a zealous politician, taking him down was going to be problematic, especially if he commanded agents such as this "Frostbite".

"_**My reports tell me of an unusually kind of Dust that was the primary objective of that mission. What can you tell me of it?"**_ One asked, both needing the information and using it as an excuse to change the subject that was distressing Weiss.

"I wasn't told exactly what it was; I was only told what it was capable of. From what my temporary "teammates" and Roman Torchwick told me, it is an invaluable gem that is an advanced form of Dust, but there are two extreme differences between the two. The first is that it is much more potent than regular Dust. The fire at the docks, it was caused by Roman's use of the gem."

"_**As I was told in Ms. Xiao Long's report, but the fire was not any more powerful than that of a normal Dust fire, to my understanding at least."**_

Weiss nodded her head once in response to his statement. "Yes, but as you know, Dust's abilities are activated when someone feeds Aura into it. In order to create a fire that large, one would have to use a decent amount of Aura. I have the ability to sense Aura, and I know without a doubt that Roman only used a small sliver of Aura to create that fire. **That's **how powerful the gem was."

"_**And the other difference?"**_ One hesitantly asked, somewhat put off that the Order now possessed something this dangerous. What else could this Dust do to make it any more dangerous?

"The Dust is inexhaustible. No matter how much it is used, it will never lose its power." Weiss finished.

One's gloved fingers met their invisible temples as they sighed and massaged them, feeling an imminent headache from the information. _**"The fools. Nobody should possess that kind of power."**_

Weiss nodded her head as she replied, "Agreed. I said the same thing, and that was another strike against me during the mission."

"_**Then you are far wiser than even the most powerful of our enemies."**_ One sighed complimented as their hand left their shrouded face. _**"Which begs the question: Why did you fight for them if you disagreed with them so often." **_

Weiss scowled slightly in response to the question. "Because even though the Order is only concerned for the well-being of Humans, they were more preferable than the White Fang, or even Beacon. At least they used to be."

"_**I can understand your grievances against the White Fang, but what of us? You do not agree with our goals?"**_ One asked curiously.

"It's not a matter of me agreeing with your ends. It's a matter of me acknowledging that Beacon is fighting a lost cause. If it were possible I would fully condone your actions, but I've long stopped believing in any chance of peace between Humanity and Faunus. It's never been feasible before and I don't believe it ever will be." Weiss answered bitterly, but not aggressively.

One leaned back in their seat slightly as they hummed in thought and observed Weiss carefully. A stagnant silence filled the room as One stared thoughtfully at the disgraced ex-heiress, and this unsettled Weiss slightly. What were they thinking so intensely about?

"_**So, you have been betrayed by the organization that you have dedicated your life to, you have no home or support anymore, you are almost completely alone now. So, what will you do now?"**_ One leaned forward again, only much more closely in a slightly intimidating manner. _**"What are WE to do with you?"**_

Weiss, to be frank, was scared of the figure before her, even though she would never admit it, but she stood her ground with a tiny swallow before calmly replying, "Well, the way I see it, there are four options available to you. The first option you can take is to continue as you are doing now and keep me prisoner, but that would just mean an unproductive mouth to feed for you. The second option, and most beneficial for you, is to Purge me and destroy all of my memories of the war, and most importantly Beacon, then dump me back into normal society, thus getting rid of me and eliminating any chance of me disclosing any information about Beacon. However, this will inevitably lead to my death because when the Order finds me, and trust me, they **will** find me, they will kill me and I will not be able to fight back without my memories or abilities."

"_**As far as they know, you are dead; burnt into ashes to never be seen again. Why would they pursue you?" **_One asked curiously.

"Because you know that the Order has informants in many places. It would only be a matter of time before they become aware of my survival while I would be on the run." She replied before continuing listing One's options on how to deal with her. "Your third option is to take a great risk by trusting me not to disclose any information about Beacon and allowing me to leave with my memories, thus giving me a chance against any pursuers, but this will end just as badly for me as option two. If they truly want to make sure I'm dead, I will have no chance of survival."

Weiss sighed as she found it surprisingly difficult to state the last option possible.

"_**And the final option is to cover all of our tracks and save the Order the trouble by executing you, correct?"**_ One easily and unperturbedly asked without any difficulty, unlike Weiss.

With a somber sigh and her eyes closed, she responded with a gentle, yet sad, "Yes."

One's gloved fingers drummed across the table temperately in a relaxed manner for a few seconds before they replied, _**"I don't believe for a second that we would come to a deciding vote to kill you, but I'm afraid we can't allow you to leave with your memories of us intact. That being said, option two would be the most appropriate choice."**_

Weiss sighed as she calmly stood up from her seat and dejectedly, with slight anger, said, "Then let's get this over with then."

One swiftly raised their hand to stop her prematurely before surprising her with the declaration, _**"However, there is a fifth option, Weiss Schnee."**_

Weiss blinked questioningly at the shrouded figure as she asked, "And that is?"

She could have never anticipated the words that left their concealed lips.

"_**Join us Weiss. Become an agent of Beacon."**_

And yet, even after she clearly understood those words, she still found it almost inconceivable that they would extend the option to her. Weiss's mouth lightly opened then immediately shut closed as she tried to form her own words, but all that could slip past her pale lips was an unintelligible "What?".

"_**You're fifth option is to join us and become one of our agents Weiss. You do not have to die or be cast out into the world on your own. You can stay here so long as you swear loyalty to us and fight the very ones who betrayed you. A fair trade for saving your life, wouldn't you agree?"**_

Weiss finally regained her ability to speak as she confusedly replied, "Why in Monty's green world would you offer me this? I've already told you that I don't believe your cause is within the realm of possibility and that I don't believe that Beacon can accomplish much. Why would you want me on your side despite my utter lack of faith in you?"

She could hear the slight flutter of One's voice as they chuckled under their breath and replied, _**"Weiss, I think that you have more faith in our goals then you believe you do."**_

"How do you figure?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"_**As much as you say that our goals are impossible, you have failed to take into account our affect on you during your stay here. When you first arrived here you showed blatant distrust and aggression to anyone that you made eye contact with, despite the fact that we saved your life, but I've been carefully observing you as you spent more time with Ruby and her friends."**_

The edges of Weiss's mouth twitched down with an instinctive frown at the mention of the Faunus she had such a falling out with yesterday, but she didn't let One see it.

"_**Did you not wonder why you were allowed to leave your room in Ruby's company, why you were allowed to play with your acquaintances during Christmas, and why you were allowed to go with Ruby to the edge of Beacon?"**_

Weiss's eyes showed a spark of surprise before she unbelievingly answered, "You were testing me?"

"_**Precisely. I wanted to see if you were worth saving from the Order, and I am very satisfied with how you've behaved. You had so many opportunities to harm my subordinates while you were playing with them, you had the opportunity to leave Beacon at the cliff and kill Ruby in the process, maybe even trade information with the Order for survival, but you didn't. You might think that you chose to discard hostilities with them because you had no choice, but if that were true you wouldn't have been so cooperative with this interrogation and you wouldn't have opened up to anyone here in the slight manners you have."**_

One leaned forward and surprised Weiss even further by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. _**"A friend of mine watched you as you played with Ruby and her friends. You smiled, truly smiled, for the very first time since you've been here, and you were happy. You were happy in the company of Faunus and you shared a joyful memory with them. If we can have such an effect on someone as emotionally guarded as yourself, a human who has been exposed to the darker side of this war and has been raised to never do what you've done during your stay here, isn't that proof enough that our goals are not COMPLETELY impossible?"**_

Weiss would have like to deny One's analysis of her and disprove their deductions, but proved to be impossible for her as her gaze slowly descended to her hands. It was all true; she should have continued to hate Beacon, to never show them any type of compassion if she was completely dedicated to the idea that there couldn't be peace, but she had contradicted herself the longer she stayed in Beacon. Despite all that she said to Ruby yesterday, the red Faunus had been the closest thing to a friend she has ever had, even when Weiss refused to call her so. She still didn't consider them real friends…but they were definitely not enemies, not anymore thanks to her time in Beacon.

"_**I do not blame you at all for continuing to be cautious with us, it's only natural considering your upbringing, but if you truly believe that our goal is impossible despite the proof in front you, then help us make it possible. You've already started by befriending a Faunus, so why not go all the way?"**_ One gently said as they retracted their hand and interlocked their fingers patiently, waiting for the her answer.

The silence returned as Weiss gave the subject serious thought. Her thoughts were indeed swayed by One's words, but she still withheld that small shred of doubt that interfered with her ability to answer to their offer.

After a full five minutes of thought, Weiss's icy-blue eyes finally rose up from their descent and met the darkness shrouding One's face.

She couldn't see the grin obscured by the hood, but she could feel it directed at her as she finally gave her answer.

"I accept."

_(Elsewhere)_

Adam was a man that possessed many things.

He possessed power and skills that made him a dangerous adversary on the battlefield. He possessed drive and determination that were almost indomitable in any situation. He even possessed a fearsome reputation for his brutal, yet oddly graceful, fighting abilities that made lesser skilled enemies cringe at the sound of his name.

Patience however…was not something he possessed.

"Do you want to die here today?" Adam questioned forcefully as he kept the Order soldier painfully pinned to the wall with his right forearm.

"No please! I don't want to die! I want to live!" the soldier cried pitifully as he kept his head against the wall, trying his best to keep the crimson sword in Adam's hand other hand as far away from his jugular as possible.

"Then it would be in your best interest to cooperate." Adam replied without loosening up on the terrified soldier.

It was just supposed to be a routine day in the small base. Due to them being outside the city limits, there was almost no chance for any White Fang or Beacon agents to happen across it. Unfortunately for the soldiers at the base, their peaceful day of work was painfully interrupted when the front door exploded outwards, and a menacing Adam Taurus zipped through the smoking hole in the wall before brutally attacking everything with a pulse inside. The soldiers inside didn't stand a ghost of a chance against the brutal swipes of his sword despite their numbers.

That was the distinct difference between an agent and a soldier. Soldiers did indeed have the advantage when it came to numbers, but agents usually made up for their lack of quantity with their sheer skill, and Adam supplied the enemy soldiers with a painful reminder of this statistic. Not one single bullet fired from their guns so much as scratched the menacing agent, and after a short battle that was over before it even started, the entire base was littered with badly bleeding soldiers lying on the floor unconscious, all except the one that he was currently interrogating.

"Where is Blake Belladonna?" Adam questioned with a dark tone in his voice that promised pain and misery should he not give him a satisfactory answer.

"Blake Belladonna? The White Fang's-"

"Correct. I know you know where she is because this is a remote facility that receives captured individuals from Vale." Adam interrupted the sweating soldier that looked like he was ready to piss himself.

"But we never captured her! She got away the night she stole our property!" the soldier fearfully replied.

"I know this already piss ant, but I know that this base receives more valuable information than the other bases since it is less likely to be discovered by your enemy and it is where you transported a large fraction of the Faunus you've captured. Quit dodging the question and answer me, or I will be the last person you ever see." Adam threatened as he increased the pressure and allowed his sword to scratch his throat slightly, leaving a very shallow and slightly painful cut on his throat to reinforce his threat.

"She's still in Vale! We've been keeping a close eye on her at her hiding spot!" The soldier whimpered loudly in a desperate attempt to survive.

The soldier couldn't have been more relieved as Adam sheathed the gleaming blade then ordered, "Continue."

"We found out where she was hiding after she was injured and have been spying on her. She's been staying with a kid as she recuperated from her wounds that night Roman Torchwick almost killed her!"

Adam frowned slightly at the information, knowing that the soldier wasn't lying, but still finding it hard to believe that Blake would do something so reckless.

"Why is she staying with this kid?" Adam questioned.

"She transformed into a cat somehow and the kid found her and nursed her back to health! We think she has been trying to get back in touch with Beacon, but we don't know how! The higher ups have elected to leave them be until they are prepared to capture them both!"

"Why are your superiors so interested in Blake and this kid, and who is he?" Adam questioned, finally happy that he was finally going to be able to find his friend after months of searching.

The soldier was close to answering his question, but he froze with a look of terror etched on his face as he stared directly behind the menacing Faunus.

"I'm afraid that is all the information that you will be getting today." A dark, metallic voice said from behind him as they calmly walked closer to him.

Adam immediately abandoned the soldier and jumped far to his left before turning around with his hand on the hilt of his blade, slightly surprised to see a figure in white armor walking calmly towards the soldier Adam dropped onto the floor.

"Frostbite?! Uh, sir, I d-didn't know you w-were coming. Thank…you." The soldier nervously stuttered as he quickly rose to his feet and saluted the ominous white assassin. His expression of gratitude was slowly halted to an uneasy end as the armored agent stood forebodingly over him.

The soldier could feel the air grow cold as Frostbite replied, "Why are you thanking me? I am here to destroy this base, as well as any factors that could contribute to a leak in information."

Frostbite's head inched closer to the soldier's face darkly as he sent shivers down his spine with his following utterance. "And you, little weakling, definitely qualify as a factor."

The soldier gasped horrified as he shivered and asked, "What do you mean sir?! I don't underst-"

He was cut off as his throat was violently and forcefully constricted by the agent's icy-cold grip around it, and as he was rose up into the air he could feel the dark, cold Aura coursing its way through his body.

"You almost gave this agent classified information concerning a vital subject. You are supposed to be a soldier; a pawn of your superiors whose purpose is to die fighting for the progression and actualization of their plans. But instead of fulfilling this role assigned to you, you allowed cowardice to overcome your sense of loyalty, and you almost jeopardized our plans, all out of a selfish desire to live. **You** are weakness that needs to be eliminated." The cold agent explained as his grip tightened with every word.

As the blue faced soldier desperately tried to pry the metal-covered digits off of his constricted throat, he wheezed painfully, "Please…I was…going to…die…I'm…sorry."

"Was?" Frostbite asked questioningly.

Adam could only stare with a slight grimace on his face at the brutality of the soldier's death by the merciless agent's hand. As soon as he questioned the soldier's wheezed words, he tightened his grip and channeled his Semblance into the poor man's body, and his death was slow, cold, and terrifyingly painful. Over the course of ten seconds, the soldier's body was completely robbed of all warmth and infused with blood freezing Aura that reduced his body to a human shaped icicle.

With no respect for the dead, the agent dropped the frozen corpse onto the ground, and as soon as it hit the floor the corpse shattered into a pile of dust-sized ice particles.

"**Am**." The agent corrected as he turned towards the gawking Faunus.

Adam, for the first time in years, felt fear as he stared disbelievingly at his enemy as he turned towards him, sending him a clear atmospheric message that the Faunus was next.

Adam was no saint, he would be the first to admit that. He had plenty of kills under his belt, and he was not bothered by that fact at all, but **never** had he killed anyone so brutally like the agent before him just did. Whenever he killed someone, they were always both an enemy and a threat, and the kill was always quick and as painless as possible.

He was a killer, but he had honor. He would never do something as despicable as kill an unarmed man, even if they were a coward on his side.

This agent, Frostbite, instantly earned his ire as he carelessly swept the remnants of the soldier off his armored feet and took a few steps forward.

"What…in the several levels of hell are you?" Adam growled as his bright red Aura glowed angrily around his body.

"I'm an agent, Adam Taurus. I am a proprietor and representative of my superiors' will, a means to an end for the betterment of my faction and their beliefs, just like you." The agent calmly answered as he reached onto his back for the longsword attached to the chest plate of his armor.

"Don't compare us like you know me. That is the only similarity you and I have." Adam growled as he kept both hands ready to draw his katana for the impending fight.

"I know more about you than you think. I know that you and Belladonna are both ex-White Fang agents that were directly under the command of the Alpha, I know that you only joined Beacon because you value Belladonna like a little sister and not because you believe in their cause, and I know that you have no internal quarrels killing a dangerous enemy on the battlefield unlike most of your fellow Beacon agents." Frostbite informed with the clear intent to both inform and taunt his enemy.

Adam narrowed his hidden eyes at his enemy as he angrily replied, "You're well informed, but you've yet to state anything we have in common."

"Then let me start now; you are a realist, like me. You are not under the false impression that one wins this war with pathetic policies like mercy. You identify a threat, then you kill it, and you know better than to believe that Humanity and Faunus will ever build the society that Beacon strives for. Blake Belladonna is the only thing that keeps you at Beacon, and I know without a doubt you would still be under the Fang had she not left."

"SHUT UP!" Adam growled menacingly as his grip on his sheath increased to knuckle bleeding pressures. "I left on my volition, not Blake's! I left because the Alpha wasn't accomplishing the goals the White Fang stood for, not because I was following Blake like a lost puppy! She was just the trigger! I'm my own man damn it!"

"Oh, is that so?" Frostbite tauntingly and sarcastically asked before following up the mocking question with another.

"Then why do you still wear your White Fang mask, Faunus?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The question echoed mockingly inside Adam's ears, finally shattering his already short temper and motivating him to initiate the battle by pulling the trigger on his sheath. His blade blasted speedily out of his sheath and penetrated the very air it sailed through before Frostbite skillfully blocked it with his own blade. The surprise attack surprised the white agent, and he barely had time to block the second strike from the black blur that caught the deflected blade out of the air and attempted a slice at the Order agent's head.

"The element of surprise; a powerful weapon in the hands of the subtle." Frostbite commented as they locked blades so tightly against one another that sparks spurted off the points of contact between them. "But as effective in battle as a ceramic sword in the hands of the easily irritable."

Adam had enough of the armored agent's taunts and attempted to sweep his feet out from under him, but the white assassin leaped up to dodge the kick and landed on the kicking leg and kicking the Faunus a few feet back in the chest.

"As I said; easily irritable. I can expect nothing less from a bull." Frostbite insulted before his sword mechanically shifted into a sniper rifle.

He fired his rifle constantly at the Faunus, but all the bullets were either swatted away by Adam's sword or expertly dodged. Adam was so focused on planning his counter attack that he didn't anticipate the alarmingly speedy round house kick into his face by the agent that blurred in front of him with speed that was superior to his own.

The kick was as powerful as it was speedy, and it sent Adam flying destructively through the wall of the room and onto the floor of the hallway outside.

"Damn it…" Adam growled as he got up from under the debris of the destroyed wall.

"You were confident in your speed, and while I do admit you have reason to believe yourself to be quicker than most, you didn't even plan for the possibility that I was quicker than you." Frostbite verbally analyzed as they casually walked through the hole in the wall. "You're arrogance has blinded you to that possibility."

Adam almost flinched at the sight of his enemy's body as it gave off a pale blue color, a clear sign that he was preparing an attack.

"Dodge this with your speed, Bull." Frostbite icily commanded before shooting his right hand out at Adam.

As soon as his hand extended, the Aura around him fired at Adam in the form of a concentrated beam that instantaneously hit Adam. If Adam had been even the slightest bit slower, the beam would have surely hit him square in the chest, but his reflexes and speed were honed enough for him to block the beam with his blade.

The beam was continuous, and it continued to push against his blade as Adam struggled to keep the beam from overpowering him. He felt cold, and his sword was being coated in more ice the longer he resisted the beam.

"Cease your fruitless attempts at resisting this. It's only a matter of time before my Aura Beam overpowers you and reduces your body to an ice cube. Face it; you've lost." Frostbite demanded in an attempt to demoralize his adversary.

He could have continued to allow his beam to fire for as long as he wanted, but he decided against doing so after Adam proved this strategy to be inefficient.

With no other option available when he realized overpowering the beam was out of the question, he activated his Semblance.

His blade glowed the same intimidating gleam of his Aura as it absorbed the beam of ice, and after Frostbite realized what he was doing he halted his attack and cut the beam off. After his blade absorbed the attack, Adam's hair, body, and the designs on his clothes glowed with the same angry red light of his blade, and a confident smirk found its way on his face as he assumed an offensive stance.

"So, this is your Semblance. You absorb Aura using your blade as a conduit and combine that energy with your own to improve your fighting abilities. Against someone who relies too heavily on their Aura attacks you are almost unbeatable. Impressive." Frostbite complimented as he trailed the sharp fingers of his armored hands along his blade as he activated his own Semblance. As soon as he channeled his Semblance into the conductive metal of the blade, a thick layer of ice coated it and doubled its size and sharpness, making it twice as lethal despite its lack of long range capability in its current state.

"It's an effective ability, but it's not my Semblance. However, it'll be more than enough to take you out." Adam growled before dashing towards his enemy in a bright red streak. His enemy did the same in a pale blue streak, and as soon as they met the entire hallway was filled with a rapid series of red and blue sparks and the sound of metal hitting against ice.

If one were to observe the raging battle, they wouldn't have been able to see the two enemies past the series of blinding lights that gleamed off of the blades with every swipe.

Adam attempted a diagonal swipe at Frostbite's chest with his blade that was, ironically, heated by the energy he had absorbed, but Frostbite finally landed another hit as he blocked it and used it as a center of balance as he swung his body into a kick.

A loud resounding thud echoed across the base as the counter-attack met its mark and forced Adam to reel back, but he immediately recovered from the hit and delivered a swift, but very powerful, slash across Frostbite's chest that both left a clean hot scratch on his chest plate and sent him careening through the air into the wall, but before he hit the wall the agent twisted his body and skillfully rebounded off the wall to plant his armored feet on the surface and blasted back at the Faunus with his longsword ready. Normally Adam wouldn't have been able to dodge the attack and counterattack, but thanks to his increased speed allowed him to duck under the swipe at his head and forcefully bring his foot up to kick the armored menace up into the ceiling.

"DIE!" Adam venomously roared as focused his natural Aura, as well as the Aura he had absorbed from Frostbites beam of ice, and released it all out of his blade in a Aura attack of his own, only his was a crescent beam.

"**ARC BLADE!" **Adam screamed as he fired his attack at his enemy.

"Damnation!" Frostbite exclaimed as he blocked and pushed back the beam with both his ice-coated longsword and the sheer force of his own Aura, but he found himself in the same position his adversary was in as he continued to struggle against the attack.

Adam wasn't about to let him possibly deflect the attack; he was going to end this fight now.

With another angry growl that communicated nothing but murderous intent, he swung his blade once more to release an additional Arc Blade, only much smaller and less lethal. It served its purpose despite its size, for as soon as it made contact with its much larger sibling, both beams exploded destructively in a bright dome of crimson energy with heat so intense inside that the chances of survival were incredibly low for his enemy.

Adam released an exhausted sigh as he dug his blade into the ground and used it to keep himself steady so that he could rest for a minute. An Arc Blade was a technique that required a lot of Aura and an even greater amount of focus to perform, and he had just performed it twice in a row. He was feeling the effects of its use now, but it mattered not. He had triumphed over his enemy, and that was worth a small amount of exhaustion.

At least that's what he thought before he noticed that the familiar crimson glow of the dome above him slowly shifted into the pale blue color of his enemy's Aura, and as he began to feel the temperature around him drop drastically as the pressure of the dome only increased.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me." Adam growled as he yanked his blade out of the ground and began sprinting away from the sphere, and as soon as a safe distance away from his own attack it dissipated and burst outwards with twice the ferocity as before in an icy blizzard accompanied by Frostbite's powerful shout and a bone-tingling surge of his Aura.

Adam was sent tumbling into the wall by the unexpectedly powerful blast of ice that completely shook of his attack, but he immediately jumped up to his feet ready to continue the fight that he had wrongly assumed was over.

The surge of power that erupted from the dome finally began to dwindle down, and very soon it ceased to exist as Frostbite landed on the floor without a scratch, or any other type of indication that Adam's last attack had done any harm to him.

"Ah yes, the "Arc Blade"; one of Beacon's trademark techniques that only the most skilled of their agents can learn. If I hadn't possessed such large amounts of Aura you possibly could have ended me with such a lethal technique." Frostbite said as his white armor began to frost over by the effects of his Semblance. Much like his blade, his armor was further strengthened by layers of ice, but the most eye catching effect of his Aura were the jagged wings of pure ice that extended out of the back of his chest plate. They were not still and motionless as ice should be, they were fully mobile, and Frostbite demonstrated this as his armored feet gently levitated above the floor with every flap.

"Goddamn it." Adam growled under his breath as he channeled his Aura again, ready to battle against the renewed strength of his adversary.

"The real fight begins here, Adam Taurus." Frostbite icily growled as he speedily flew towards his enemy and fired a wave of penetrative iceicles with a wave of his longsword.

With a mighty roar, Adam met the challenge head-on as he blasted towards his enemy with the intent to kill. After swatting away any icicles he didn't swiftly dodge, his red hot sword destructively met his enemy's ice-cold blue blade, resulting in an explosive eruption of power and steam that destroyed much of the building around them.

The battle that raged on between the two powerful agents was savage and focused; so fierce that they didn't even notice the third occupant of the building as they entered.

_(Beacon)_

Ruby and Yang felt very uneasy as they stood ready and alert in the center of the half-circle the Council's desks formed around them. They wasted no time dropping what they were doing to come here as their orders commanded, but strangely enough One was missing from the roster of their superiors, and Three said that they would begin the meeting as soon as One arrived with the last person required for this meeting.

Now they were silently and patiently waiting for the last two persons so that they could discuss the important matter that, for some reason, required the presence of Ruby and Yang.

Well…Ruby was waiting silently and patiently. Yang…not so much…

"Geesh, why the hell is One always so late?" Yang complained/whined as she used the top of her younger sister's head as an arm rest to lean on.

"_**A very good question Ms. Xiao Long, for once."**_ Two growled grumpily from their seat as the grip on their folded arms tightened angrily. Two was usually a hard ass when it came to tolerating One's "interesting" mannerisms that included often being late, but Yang and Ruby could tell that something else was bothering the no-nonsense superior. Did it have to do with the purpose of the impending meeting?

Yang pouted slightly at the slight insult from Two and whispered to her sister, "Somebody's mad bro. Who pissed in their cornflakes?"

"**I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!" **Two hissed angrily with a pulsation of Aura that made both Yang and Ruby flinch in momentary fright.

Ruby swiftly swatted her sister on the back of the head as she apologetically said, "I apologize for my sister, she'll shut up now. Right Yang." She angrily growled the last two words of her apology at her older sibling as the blonde continued to pout and rub the pain on the back of her head.

"They started it…" Yang immaturely grumbled under her breath, resulting in an audible groan from her sister, Two, and Three as all three facepalmed. Four, interestingly enough, just chuckled under their breath at the unusual hilarity that was a foreign and rare pleasure within the Council's office.

"_**Ms. Xiao Long, that is no way to speak to a superior and you would do well to exercise professional language when speaking to one, and Two, quit pouting immaturely about One's decision. You're acting like a five-year old that was denied candy."**_ Three chastised, slightly fed up with the unprofessional behavior of both Beacon.

Both of the sisters jumped slightly in response to the booming sound of Two's fist meeting their desk as they angrily replied, _**"Well excuse me Three, forgive me if I'm a little testy about letting such an untrustworthy individual free within our walls where we sleep!"**_

"_**If all individuals looking for a second chance in life were as untrustworthy as you say they are, Beacon wouldn't have a large fraction of their agents and soldiers. You just refuse to look past labels and names to see a person's individual merit outside of those, and that's called "profiling". In case you've forgotten, it is behavior like that which incites the very racism and conflict we're working to end."**_ Three icily replied with a flare of their own Aura.

"_**Profiling is a necessary attribute for those who work with logic instead of faith, and from a logical point of view, if we wish to continue working towards that end, like you so desperately want to, then we can't pick up every damn stray that we come across, especially strays with such disconcerting backgrounds."**_ Two growled in response as the air between Two and Three was more thick with their aggressive Aura than any armor possible. It was clear that Two and Three disagreed severely about something, but what it was completely escaped Ruby and Yang.

"Are we caught in between some weird type of lover's quarrel?" Yang asked her younger sister without even bothering to whisper it.

"_**SILENCE!" **_Two and Three commanded forcefully to their blonde subordinate.

"Yes sirs!" Yang whimpered obediently with a salute as she hid behind the hooded meat-shield that was her facepalming sister.

"So what is so important about this meeting that we had to be here?" Ruby asked Four, who was the only Councilman in the room that wasn't agitated at the moment.

After making sure that Two and Three weren't about to leap across their desks to kill each other, the currently more level-headed leader turned towards the Faunus and replied, _**"It has been decided that a new agent will be joining Beacon, and that this agent will be assigned to be your new teammate."**_

Yang frowned disapprovingly at the answer as she asked, with a slight tint of anger in the back of her throat, "The third member of our team is Blake, and it should stay that way." The blonde brawler wasn't angered by the fact that they would be getting a new teammate, but by the possibility that the Council had decided to give up on Blake and replace her, and that thought both angered and disturbed her.

"_**Ease yourself Ms. Xiao Long,"**_ Four gently advised with a slightly raised hand. _**"We are not replacing Ms. Belladonna, nor have we forgotten about her, we are simply adding to your team to make up for the lack of manpower. She will not be transferred to another team when she returns, you have my word."**_

Yang's visible signs of anger diminished as Four eased her worries with their soothing explanation. She just hoped that this new teammate would be a tolerable individual, or better yet friendly so that she could get along easier with them. She would hate to have somebody like Adam around her more than necessary, the mere thought sickened her.

Ruby was more excited than worried about a new teammate, and she wasn't subtle about as she gave a slight and giddy squeal under breath as she quickly clapped her hands. "Oh I can't wait to meet our new teammate! What are they like? Are they a boy or a girl? What kind of Semblance do they have? What kind of weapon-"

Ruby was cut off during her series of rapid and relentless questions as Yang pulled her away from a slightly confused Four and wrapped her gloved hand over her mouth. "Easy Sis, you don't want to creep out the newbie when they get here do you?" She then looked back at her superior and asked uncertainly, "When do they get here?"

"_**I would saaaayyyyy…now."**_ Four answered.

Right on cue, One opened the door to the meeting room and walked in casually as if they weren't late, and this slightly angered Two and Three as they temporarily ceased their bickering to address their fellow Councilman.

"_**Your late One."**_ Two icily commented with anger evident in their androgynous voice.

"_**And you'd better not say that you pressed all of the buttons on the elevator again."**_ Three added as they crossed their arms disapprovingly.

One chuckled in response to Three's angry comment and rubbed the back of their hooded head. _**"Well technically it really wasn't me this time. It was the new addition to the children's team," **_they answered as they took their seat in the center of the half-circle of desks.

"Ooh ooh, are they coming?!" Ruby excitedly asked as she slightly bounced on the heels of her feet.

One chuckled in anticipation of seeing his young subordinates' reaction to the oncoming bomb that was about to be dropped in their unsuspecting laps, then positioned their slightly opened hand next to their shrouded mouth and projected out to the open door, _**"You may come in now."**_

They never would have guessed the identity of their new teammate as they lightly stomped into the room, grumbling and complaining under their breath about stupid pieces of junk elevators before their eyes widened at the sight of the two sisters.

"YOU?!" Yang and Weiss shouted questioningly as they pointed in each other's directions. Ruby could only stare shocked at her white-haired "friend" as she tried her best to make absolutely sure that she wasn't seeing things.

Weiss? Weiss Schnee? The very girl that she herself admitted that she didn't believe in what Beacon stood for, was a BEACON AGENT now? Ruby couldn't properly process this thought in its entirety due to how improbably it was, and if the ex-heiress hadn't been standing in front of her at that moment and if the Council would have told her who the fourth member of her team, she would have definitely called them liars.

"_**Correct. Weiss Kara Schnee has agreed that in return for saving her life and offering her a safe place to reside, she will be giving us her services as an agent. That isn't a problem, is it?"**_ One asked patiently, awaiting their answer as they found slight amusement in their reactions.

Yang's gaze shifted from shocked and skeptical in Weiss's direction to confused and questionably in the Council's direction for a full minute before she could manage to form even the simplest of answers. She sighed resignedly as she rubbed the temples of her head and felt a bitch of a headache start to sprout in the very core of her brain, then finally answered, "Sure…I guess."

Ruby still found it hard to meet Weiss's eyes, and had been keeping her gaze locked on the Council. Two was noticeably not happy with the decision to make Weiss an agent, and Three and Four were much more composed about their feelings on the matter so she couldn't tell what they thought, but after thinking it through and recalling Penny's advise from earlier, she nodded her head with a small smile and answered, "I don't have a problem with it. Sure."

"_**Then it is settled."**_ One stated with a hidden grin before they extended their hand and nodded towards their fellow Councilmen before saying, _**"Now to make it official. Ms. Schnee, please step forward."**_

Weiss was having just as much difficulty looking at Ruby, and made sure not to make eye contact with her as she stepped past her and her sister and right into the center of the room before placing the palm of her hand over her heart and tapping into her tiny reserves of Aura. She was briefed on what to do by One prior to their departure of the interrogation room, and performed the steps told to her as Three and Four did the same as One and extended their hands. One turned towards Two expectantly, and after an irritated growl was sent One's way, Two finally decided to conform to actualizing her alignment and extended their hand, but not before growling at One that they were going to talk about this later.

Weiss soon felt her Aura intermingling with that of the four leaders and could feel the massive amounts of Aura they possessed that completely dwarfed most others she had sensed, and she finally had a fair gauge as to how powerful these Councilmen really were.

Deciding to put her amazement on hold for now, she cleared throat in preparation to recite the words she had been told to say. "I will become a light house that provides sanctuary in a raging sea of chaos and disorder, I will become a signal fire for the innocent who are lost in a perpetual field of danger, and I will become a small flicker of light that will one day evolve into a beam of sunshine that will pierce the clouds of darkness and bathe the world in its indiscriminate light."

Her Aura flared slightly and glowed a illuminant white around her body as she finished reciting the inaugural speech required of her.

"**I will become a Beacon." **

_(Jaune)_

Life was pretty damn good right now for Jaune at the moment.

Even after almost being stabbed to death by some random thug in the streets, and even after being fired from the only job he had yesterday, nothing could bring him down from the emotional high he was feeling as lovingly held his arms around the snoozing girl that was snuggled contentedly into his chest as she purred. It felt so good to finally call another your own and knowing that they called you the same, and it felt even better to hold them in your arms and feel every compression of breath, and every rumble of their body from every sound that escaped their chest tickle your own body as you both held on to another affectionately. It was a soothing and heartwarming sensation that Jaune wouldn't trade for anything in the world, especially after making out with his new lover for who knows how long.

He decided to indulge himself a little more as he felt the need to caress the purring beauty latched onto him, and gently rubbed her tender and attentive under into his loose fitting t-shirt that she was wearing, then gently rubbed affectionate and pleasing circles along her flat and sexily toned naval. The effect was immediate as Blake smiled in her sleep as she arched her back and cuddled deeper into him as her tail elatedly curled and uncurled from the rubbing.

Her skin was incomprehensibly soft under the palms and digits of his hand as he lovingly circulated his hand on her stomach, and it made him give out a small amused chuckle as he couldn't help but remember that he used to do this for her all the time when he still thought she was a cat, only now it felt much more pleasing now that she was in her true form before him. He was still trying to swallow all of the alarming information she revealed during their earlier talk, but his mind was more focused on the fact that he had his crush and newly christened girlfriend purring his name euphorically in her sleep.

He could happily spend the rest of his Saturday caressing his pale beauty in her sleep, but he was interrupted by the alarming sensation of someone behind him tapping his shoulder.

"Wow Jauney, you work fast huh? I never thought you were such a smooth operator." Nora giggled mischievously as she gave him a thumb-up for approval.

Jaune, being the easily intimidated and alarmed individual that he was, let out a short scream of surprise as his arms untangled themselves from Blake's body and as he fell off his bed. Blake followed him shortly after being immediately awoken from her pleasing dream and fell onto Jaune on the floor as she fearfully latched onto his chest with her claws, making him wince in slight pain.

"Goddamn it Nora!" Jaune shouted at his friend angrily and embarrassedly as he and Blake both glared annoyed at the giggling ginger.

"I guess I should have knocked first, huh?" she asked rhetorically as she scratched the back of her head.

"Ya think?!" Jaune embarrassedly replied as Blake realized that she was wearing his clothes and shyly retreated behind her boyfriend.

Nora looked as if she was about to give them both some grievous teasing concerning their previous position before she ruined the moment, but her eye's landed on the slightly bloodied bandages on his stomach, and any feelings of mischief were replaced with that of concern as she pointed at his stab wound and asked, "Jaune, did you get hurt today?"

Jaune flinched as he remembered not to tell her anything about Blake's…abilities and vaguely answered, "I got cut by a thug today while looking for Arryn, that's all."

Both he and Blake felt slightly uncomfortable under Nora's analytical and hard gaze as she placed her hands on her hips, knowing that just by looking at their body language they were hiding something crucial from her, and she didn't like that one bit. Before she could start nosily grilling them for information, Ren came to their rescue by walking in and pulling Nora by her ear away from the awkward couple disapprovingly. "Nora, quit being rude." He scolded calmly as Nora fidgeted from his grasp.

"Ow ow ow okay okay I won't be nosy." Nora said to appease her lover so that he would release her.

"Ren? You too? What are you both doing here?" Jaune asked surprised.

Ren sighed with a facepalm as he released his lover from his hold and replied, "It's sleepover/game night tonight in case you've forgotten, but I had assumed that you would have…other company for the night so I tried to talk Nora out of coming."

Blake blushed deeply as Ren rose his eyebrow at her current attire, knowing that he had come to the conclusion that they were doing dirty things with one another.

The insinuation completely flew over Jaune's head as he replied, "Oh yeaaahh, I forgot that was tonight. Sorry."

Nora, being much more sneaky than Blake had anticipated, wrapped her arms around Blake from behind and happily hugged her as she said, "Don't worry about it Jauney-Boy, now we have a fourth member for our little games!"

Blake felt a little uncomfortable being hugged so forcefully, or being hugged by someone who was still new to her, and asked with a slightly blue face, "Could you please…let go."

Her request was immediately abided as Nora nodded and released her, and after Ren pulled her back a safe distance away from Blake, hoping that they weren't making a bad impression on her, he turned back towards Jaune and said, "That's not the only reason we came here though. We…need a favor from you."

Jaune blinked confusedly at his best friends before asking, "What's wrong?"

Ren was about to explain their dilemma in a calm and reserved manner, but Nora beat him to the punch as she replied bluntly, "Someone broke into out apartment and stole our money! Can we crash here with you for a few days?"

Jaune completely ignored how weird it was how happily Nora exclaimed what would usually be a sad or disconcerting dilemma, and instead panicked a little on the inside at the thought of them staying with him while Blake was as well. Normally he wouldn't give it a second thought and would gladly open his home to his closest friends in life, but it could be problematic if they somehow figured out what Blake was since she couldn't be his cat and his girlfriend at the same time. He felt horrible because he knew that they either quit or got fired from working at Luigi's and couldn't earn anymore money for a while, so there was no way he could turn them down in their time of need, but he had to put Blake into consideration as well.

His inner confliction was immediately remedied as Blake gave him an unnoticeable pat on his back from behind him, letting him know that she was alright with it.

It felt so amazing to have a girlfriend so kind and understanding.

"Sure thing guys, you can stay here as long as you need to." Jaune answered with a happy smile.

Ren appreciatively nodded and bowed a bit to his friend for his generosity as his lover cheered in celebration, "YES, multi-day sleep over for the win! But before that,"

Blake soon found herself being pulled gently out of Jaune's room by her hand by Nora, who was just as unexpectedly strong as she was sneaky, as Nora happily said, " I brought plenty of clothes, so we need to get you into some more fitting PJs so that Pervy Jaune can't see your hooters!"

She then turned towards Blake again with a mischievous grin and added, "Unless you want him to."

"NORA!" The boys shouted chidingly at her as she dragged a fiercely blushing and gawking Blake out of the room to get changed.

Jaune was still blushing madly from her unexpected comment as he said, "Uggh, how do you live with her?"

"One day at a time my friend." Ren replied before coughing into his fist to dissuade any embarrassment so that he could ask him something.

"So…" the black haired boy began hesitantly with slight confusion in his voice.

Jaune gave his best friend his full attention as he replied, "What's up?"

His heart froze and skipped a beat by the completely mind-blowing question that left his lips.

"Has Blake always been a Faunus?"

…

…

…

…

Sometimes, Jaune thought that his friend was far too smart for his own good…

**And now I would like to ask something of you guys.**

**As you are well aware, this story will start to delve further into the passionate and romantic side starting now, which could develop into certain scenes that would most definitely transgress the T-rating.. With that being said, I want your opinions concerning a possibility brought to mind by a few friends a while back.**

**Should I upgrade this fic's rating to M-rating?**

**It's a choice that has been dancing around my head for a while, but I feel that the only clear way I'll be able to decide is to hear your opinions about the matter, BECAUSE CREATING IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT! ^_^ I just want you to know before you start to think about it that the rating will not, I repeat, WILL NOT, change the plot.  
>Anyway, if you guys haven't abandoned this story thanks to my hiatus, if you would be so kind as to drop a Review with your opinion, as well as a comment on the chapter, I'd appreciate it greatly.<strong>

**Have a fun summer! I know I will!**

**B/N: Hello fellow readers this is Demonic1556 with a small note of my own now I won't be doing this often and not for this reason in the future since I feel quite scummy doing this in the first place but I have a fic up on my profile and really just need some feedback to know that I have potential to say the least so if you could just do me the favor of checking it out and leaving a review it would mean a lot from the bottom of my heart so after self promoting my account I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will speak with you all in another note in the future whenever that may be**


	17. Every Day's a Gift

**Hello all of you wonderful people out there that are still waiting patiently on this slow dumbass behind the screen. I am terribly sorry that I am behind so much on this; I should have let you all know thin in advance, but I hit a mental brick wall that made writing twice as difficult. After my last post, I began working on the next chapter, but I just couldn't write with the consistant quality that I had in other chapters, and I couldn't feel comfortable posting a chapter that I felt wasn't up to par and unsatisfactory, so I took the summer off the refresh my batteries, read books to improve on writing wise, play video games to relax, etc. Do not worry; I've still been working on the chapters and I promise you, the next time I update, I will be posting 2-3 chapters to make up for lost time. And yes, I know that my word isn't very reliable after being so late, but trust me on this, I feel absolutely horrible for keeping you guys waiting, but I really needed a large break, any of you other fanfic authors can probably relate.**

**However, I would like to address a matter concerning my Beta reader. First off, please don't spam him with questions and answers about my progress, it does more harm than good because it stresses him out. Secondly, same subject, but it hurts me deeply to hear that my Beta reader has been getting some less than polite emails from some of you, specifically emails that threaten him.**

**And yes, one of you, to my knowledge, found it appropriate to send him a death threat and actually tried to make good on it.**

**NO!**

**I am grateful for your support thus far, but I will not stand for that, even if it is a bluff. Demonic has been nothing but helpful ever since Monty's unfortunate passing. He is a large reason that this story is still going, because without his friendship my motivation and spirits would be too damaged to even type. DO NOT THREATEN MY FRIEND, OR ANYONE ONLINE OVER SOMETHING AS TRIVIAL AS A FUCKING FANFICTION!**

_**(listen everyone who has sent me a fucking PM threatening me harassing me or just all around being a fucking dick I might talk with Afro and yeah I beta for him but under no circumstances do I control him so if it was your bright fucking idea that I cracked the whip on him like a slave driver you are sorely fucking mistaken and guess what I'm sick of it in the past week one person tried to go through with their death threat I'm still here three days ago someone hacked into my bank account and spent all of my money I've just finished fixing that Afro might have my back and I love him for that in a platonic way but seriously you all need to grow the fuck up and stop harassing me since from now on every threat I get I will report you to everyone who has shown me even a little support thank you all of you guys are Afro's true fans)**_

** I could not have said it any better myself. Seriously, to everyone who has waited patiently on updates, no words can describe my gratitude to you all, However, to the small fraction of you that have been doing nothing but turning this into a horrible experience, STOP. If you are so immature that you feel the need to harrass someone when you don't get what you want, than I don't want you reading my writing. There are thousands of better fanfictions out there that update more consistantly, go read them, because you select few have seriously made me wonder if this story is worth continuing.**

**Anyway, with that out of the way, here's one of the long over-due chapters I owe you wonderful people who have been waiting PROPERLY. Enjoy. ^_^**

**P.S: 10 MORE DAYS!**_**  
><strong>_  
>The sound of keys tapping rapidly against the keyboard was the most prominent sound that filled Pyrrha's room as she focused all of her attention on her computer. For the entirety of the day and the night before, she had been focused completely on her computer, planning out the impending mission in which she, Neo, and her new associate would be partaking in, and ever since said associate had solidified their agreement she hadn't separated herself from her computer. After hours of research and planning, she was glad that Blake would be joining them, for her assistance would be invaluable considering the possibility that her target would either be guarded by staggering numbers of guards, or possibly a member of the Zealots, maybe even both. If that were the case, then they would need all the help they can get.<p>

Poke…

If it were just an assembly of guards, then there would be no worry at all. Both Pyrrha and Neo were well trained and able to take out small armies each on their own, but the situation wouldn't be so secret. The cargo was far too valuable to leave in the care of just soldiers, no matter how trained they were. If anything, they would have the highest caliber of agents under their command, an agent from the Zealots.

Poke Poke…

If they had sent both a collection of guards AND a Zealot, then Pyrrha wasn't entirely that even the combined efforts of Neo and herself would be enough to take them down. Neo's skills were well sharpened due her fraction of the work they do, but regrettably Pyrrha's skills had dulled due to her own job as the Broker. Trading information and selling it wasn't exactly the most physically demanding of work, so she had very little opportunity to keep her combat skills at one hundred percent outside of her occasional sparring with Neo. Not to say that she was out of shape; she was still very dangerous on the battlefield and physically fit, but she wasn't as effective battle-wise as she was years ago, so having Blake to make up for her lost skill would make all the difference for the success of the mission. She just hoped that it would be enough…Neo's life depended on it.

Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke Poke!

"_Speak of the devil." _Pyrrha thought with a frustrated sigh as she turned around in her seat and caught the offending finger that was insistently jabbing into the back of her head. "Is there something you need Neo?" she asked with a slight edge to her voice. She could feel a blood vessel thumping in the back of her head as she gave her shorter friend a light glare of frustration.

Neo wasn't fazed at all by her companion as she retracted her finger, crossed her arms, and stuck her bottom lip out in the form of a cute pout.

"Of course I haven't slept, this mission is too important to waste time sleeping on." Pyrrha replied as she rubbed her baggy eyes in an attempt to remove their instinctive need to shut.

Neo obviously wasn't pleased with her answer as she silently huffed and kept her foot on one of the wheels of Pyrrha's chair so that she couldn't roll back to her computer. Pyrrha had done nothing but work feverishly on her computer all day and night, not once even taking the time for a small nap at least, and it was starting to both annoy and concern Neo. She knew why she was working so hard today, she probably found another strand of white hair on Neo's head recently and it probably shook her up emotionally. It hurt Neo to see Pyrrha like this, and the only way that she would leave her alone if she saw Pyrrha's body in the bed under the covers.

"The answer is no Neo. I don't have the ti-" Pyrrha said with restrained anger before she was cut off in the middle of her sentence.

Not giving her dear friend much room to argue, Neo pulled the chair closer to her and quickly walked around it so that she was blocking the screen. She stared deep into Pyrrha's illuminant green eyes as she expressed her concern through her facial muscles and the sad gleam in her eyes, and even took her friend's hand in her tinier ones to emphasize how concerned for her health she was.

Pyrrha felt a sharp pinch in her heart as she stared into Neo's dual colored eyes, feeling considerably guilty for worrying her even though she felt it was necessary. She sighed sadly as she stared back at Neo and said, "I apologize for getting cross with you Neo…I just…want this mission to succeed."

Neo fully understood Pyrrha's concern, but she didn't feel comfortable that she was working too hard, even if it was for her sake. She simply wouldn't just stand by and let her friend work herself unhealthily, so with another effort to get Pyrrha to give in to her she sat down in her lap and hugged her chest as she snuggled her cheek against her.

"Puulleeesss…" She wheezed painfully under her breathe before coughing a bit into her hand.

Pyrrha sighed again as she leaned back in her seat, only now her sigh was one of resignation instead of frustration. If Neo attempted to speak to her through her damaged vocal chords, even if it did hurt her to do so, she truly was concerned for her. How could she say no to that?

"Ok, ok, you win Neo. I'll go to sleep." Pyrrha gave in as she reached over and grabbed a bottle of water, that she had yet to open, and gave it to Neo so that she could sooth her throat. Neo's smile returned happily as she took the bottle and downed in a few measly gulps, easing the burning pain with the ice cold liquid until there wasn't any more to be drank. After throwing it across the room into the trashcan, she got up from her companion's lap and happily pointed at the red-sheeted bed across the room.

"Yes, yes, just let me save my work." Pyrrha said as she pressed a few more keys to make sure that she didn't lose any progress.

She stood up from her chair and walked to the bed, but Neo could easily see that she was very hesitant to get inside the bed at all. She placed a gentle hand on the broker's shoulder and gave it a tiny squeeze, not liking how she was shivering a bit under her breath.

"I'm fine…it's just…I tried to sleep yesterday…then I had a dream about them…" Pyrrha shamefully admitted, exposing another crucial reason why she refused to sleep.

Neo frowned sadly as she rubbed soothing circles into Pyrrha's back. She should have known, she had another nightmare about their team…and most likely the vivid memory of their demise before they both escaped their old life. It had haunted Pyrrha for the rest of her days, and it was a constant fuel for Pyrrha's efforts. She didn't want to lose the last member of her family, but that would inevitable happen due to Neo's condition if nothing was done.

Hoping to do whatever she could to make her friend feel more comfortable, Neo pulled back the covers of Pyrrha's bed, then began to remove her clothing, much to Pyrrha's surprise and slight embarrassment.

"Neo what are you doing?" Pyrrha asked as the small agent finished undressing until she was only in her pink underwear. Her only answer was her assuring smile as she crawled into the bed and gently patted the unoccupied space next to her on the bed, asking her to do the same. The best thing she could do for Pyrrha was give her some form of comfort as she slept, just as she would do for her when she had nightmares about the past.

"Neo, really, you don't have to-"

Neo smiled dangerously at her partner, the same smile that she would wear when she was going to prank or scar an individual for life, like when she chased those three kids and that A.I. during Halloween.

Pyrrha flinched with a slight shiver of fear before she began pulling her clothes off. "Ok, ok, no need to be so pushy." she said with a gulp.

She was now only in her crimson red underwear, and after she made sure that she wouldn't be hogging the space on the bed she rested her head on the pillow with a relaxed release of breath. She had to admit that Neo's presence next to her in bed was soothing, but Neo wasn't just satisfied with keeping to her own side, she never was. She shut off the lamp next to them to allow darkness to gain dominance over the room, then did as she always and wrapped her slender arms around her friend so that she could cuddle in her sleep. Pyrrha didn't fight it, in fact she returned the favor and held Neo closer to her as she enjoyed the comfort the cuddling provided.

Neo almost had her face buried in between her companion's breast with how close she was and how tightly she was holding onto her, and soon enough Pyrrha felt the warmth and feeling of fur wrapping around her legs and brushing against the tips of her fingers as she gently rubbed Neo's head.

"You can relax Neo, I will sleep easier now, no need to squeeze me to unconsciousness or use your tails for warmth…but thank you." Pyrrha thanked, already starting to feel drowsy as time passed.

Neo nodded her head as she decreased some of the pressure she was accidentally putting on her friend, but she still kept her tails around her long legs anyway. Happy that Pyrrha was comfortable and getting drowsy, she slowly ran her small hand up her feminine waist, enjoying the feeling of her silky smooth skin as she rubbed moderately sized circles around and on her abdomen to lull her to sleep. Just as she hoped, Pyrrha's body finally succumbed to the sweet and pleasant world of sleep.

Neo silently giggled at how it was rather easy to get Pyrrha to sleep so long as she was under the relaxation of a gentle tummy rub, not unlike a small child, and she couldn't deny that it was a cute quality of her friend. She continued to rub her stomach for an additional few minutes to make sure that she was asleep, and after she felt that it was safe enough to move around a bit in bed without waking her up, she smiled as she took the chance to do one last thing before she herself attempted to sleep. Confident that she wouldn't be awake to notice, Neo pulled herself up in the bed so that she was face level with her red-haired partner, cuddled into her a bit more, and planted a tiny, but loving, kiss on her cheek.

She would never admit it, but she did have feelings for her partner, feelings that had been present ever since Pyrrha had saved her from an untimely death when they first met, and that had remained hidden from Pyrrha since she simply couldn't reveal them to her. She wanted to make her affection known to her partner, but she wasn't entirely sure that she felt the same about her and didn't want to complicate things between them, but that was only part of the reason why she kept them hidden. Neo knew that even if Pyrrha worked hard as the Broker, there was still only a very slim chance that Neo would have the luxury of a full life. At best, she would probably live for only a few more years before the worst would occur, and she didn't deny it. Pyrrha was already devastated that she could very well lose her best friend in time, but if she were to lose a lover on top of that, it would do far worse to her already withered soul. Neo couldn't do that to her, even if it meant never acting on her feelings.

She was content with spending her final years with the one who she cherished above all else, even if she failed and didn't find a way to save her life.

After giving her hidden expression of love through her kiss, Neo rested her head against her companion's chest and followed her into a deep sleep, but before she closed her eyes and fell asleep she was grateful for having night vision.

It wasn't every night that she got to see Pyrrha smile peacefully in her sleep.

_(Elsewhere)_

The silence that overtook Jaune's bed room persisted for an indiscernible amount of time as Jaune stared at his best friend in vivid shock. Blake and Nora had yet to return yet from getting Blake dressed in more suitable clothes, leaving Ren and Jaune in private. They hadn't really done anything since then due to Jaune's complete astonishment from Ren's question.

"How...did you know?" Jaune asked after recovering from his shock.

"Well, after dressing her wounds last night and noticing the scars that looked like they were freshly healed in the same place as your cat, it wasn't that hard to figure out." Ren answered simply with a shrug of his shoulders, showing that he wasn't as surprised by the revelation as most others would be.

"How can you say that?! I had no idea until she showed me personally!" Jaune questioned, finding it hard to believe that even Ren, one of the logical individuals he knows, came to the deduction of something so outlandishly unrealistic. Who honestly comes to the conclusion that a teenage girl could turn into a cat?

"Here's a better question; why didn't you figure it out sooner, because I'm not around her nearly as much as you are. For starters, her eyes stay constant in between her forms. You didn't notice that your cat had the same exact eyes as "Arryn"." Ren questioned as he flexed his index and middle fingers in quotations, showing that he correctly suspected that the name he knew her by was a false name.

"Well…they did kind of look alike…but still." Jaune somewhat admitted as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ok then, let's aim higher. You honestly didn't find it suspicious at all that she knew exactly where to find you at all times without calling you, almost as if she already knew you well enough to predict where you would be?" Ren asked, obviously having put a lot of thought into the subject ever since last night.

"I'm a very predictable person?" Jaune replied in an attempt to somewhat justify his lack of knowledge concerning Blake's identity.

"Jaune, she wears your clothes." Ren said with a look that showed just how obvious it was. That fact alone made him slightly ashamed of himself that he didn't figure it out the first time he saw her at Luigi's.

"No she doesn't! My clothes are…too…big…" Jaune quickly replied before slowly realizing how self-defeating his response really was. It explained why she always wore such baggy, and very familiar, clothes whenever they met with each other, and why he felt like he was missing a hoody and pants. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he really should have figured it out sooner. "Ren…am I stupid?" Jaune asked as he facepalmed with a light groan.

"Well if you have to ask…"

"Don't be a dick." Jaune complained with a frustrated growl as he threw a pillow at his friend, only for Ren to catch it in his right hand.

"Then don't be an idiot." Ren rebutted with an amused grin before gently tossing the pillow on to the bed.

Jaune gave the smirking teen a light glare that practically proved that Ren had won their tiny argument as he replied, "Ok fine, it was a fairly obvious thing to notice, but if you found out why didn't you ever say anything today?"

Ren's smirk faded as a frown took its place, but Jaune could almost catch a hint of slight anger behind his magenta-pink eyes as he answered his friend's question. "Because I noticed the positive effect she had on you, especially if you were mourning your parents again. I didn't want to disrupt that by exposing her, but seeing how that she wasn't in her cat form I correctly deduced that she had already shown you."

He was slightly surprised that Ren was able to deduce what his emotional issue back then was, but at the same time he wasn't. Ren was one of the few who knew him better than he himself sometimes. Jaune could not deny that knowing who Blake was might have interfered with his healing, but he was still curious as to why Ren looked a little hurt as he answered him. "Ren, are you mad at me?" he asked unsurely.

"Slightly." Ren answered as he crossed his arms and began to lightly tap his foot.

"Um…and you're mad because?" Jaune added to his question, slightly confused as to why Ren would be mad at him.

"I just find it mildly disappointing that you didn't feel that you could speak to me and Nora about this and turned to someone who was practically a stranger at first." Ren explained.

"Oh…" Jaune said as he slowly looked towards the ground nervously. "Sorry…it's just that I didn't want to worry you or Nora about my problems. You guys have enough of your own problems to deal with."

"Well if your intention was not to worry us, your methods of doing so had the exact opposite effect on us. We were constantly worried about how you were failing to function properly during the day due to your lack of sleep, and we were even more worried when we would find the very subtle trails of tears on your face. The only reason we didn't pull you into a room for an intervention was that Blake beat us to it and began helping you heal."

Jaune now felt like such an ass that he had worried them so much despite trying not to, and he knew that he now owed them for doing so if he wanted to make amends. "Sorry Ren, I promise I won't try to hide my problems from you guys anymore if they're that serious from now on." Jaune said with clear shame and regret that Ren easily understood.

With a dismissive shrug and a light smile that contradicted his previous demeanor, "Apology accepted, but do know that Nora and I have agreed to enact swift and unexpected payback on you without warning."

Great…Jaune was so screwed now, but he was glad that they weren't **too** pissed off at him.

He was ready to jump out of the window and hide in case that was the reason why Nora was taking so long, planning a trap for him or something along those lines.

As if on cue, the door opened to present a happy looking Nora Valkyrie dragging Blake into the room with her. "Were back!" Nora said happily as she walked in the room and pulled Blake in with her. Nora was wearing her usual house attire that consisted of her "Boop" shirt and shorts, leaving her feet bare since she wouldn't be going outside. Blake was blushing madly as her hair was a bit fritzy, and her clothing consisted of a black tank top that hugged her figure snugly, and a matching pair of shorts. Her feet were bare as well and her new tail dangled behind her through the hole that Nora tore in her shorts, but she still wore her bow over her ears and the gemmed necklace that Jaune gave her for Christmas.

Jaune noticed her embarrassment, and curiously asked, "What's wrong Blake?"

Nora giggled as she decided to answer for her new friend and said, "Oh nothing, I was just telling her some interesting things she could do for you in bed. She seemed like she was all for it because she was purring under her breath even though she tried not to. She even did this one thing with her tail tha-"

The boys could feel beads of sweat roll down the backs of their head as Blake immediately protested without losing her blush and pressed her hand over Nora's mouth. "For the last time, it's because I can't control my animal instincts on occasion! Just drop it!"

Nora was clearly showing that she was going to be just as much of a pain as Yang as she replied, "Weeeellll, I guess I could…but you've gotta do something for me in return."

"Are you blackmailing me?" Blake asked rhetorically as her left eyebrow twitched in slight aggravation.

"Blackmailing such a dirty word, I prefer to call it "fair trade"." Nora replied happily. "Oh, and I want little blonde kitties to play with in the next four years."

"NORA!" Jaune and Blake shouted embarrassedly as Ren subtly chuckled into his hand. "We just started dating for Oum's sake!" Jaune quickly said with a dark blush, trying to get the mental image of Blake with a slightly extended stomach out of his head.

"Relax guys, I was only kidding…I want them as soon as next year."

"GODDAMN IT NORA!" Jaune shouted as Blake just decided to treat the situation as if Yang were the one to tease her. "You're impossible." Blake said exhaustedly as she just decided to stop protesting heavily.

Ren decided that maybe would be a good time to intervene as he said, "Nora, we can discuss the terms of Blake's blackmail another time."

"Fiiinnneee." Nora whined under her breath before grumbling about wanting blond kitties. She immediately perked up as she then asked, "So, what do you guys wanna do tonight?"

"Well, considering that this will be the first time that we'll have a fourth member, perhaps we should ask her." Ren answered.

Blake admittedly felt a bit uncomfortable being the center of attention as her three friends all turned their heads towards her, waiting for her input as to how they'll be spending the night. She wasn't exactly the best at picking activities, and on the rare occasions that she partook in the "sleepovers" between her friends back at Beacon she would simply let either Yang or Ruby decide what they do, so for her to be the one with the decision was an unusual change for her. "Um…I don't know. What do you three usually do?" she asked unsurely.

Jaune smiled, finding Blake's shy nature adorable in so many ways, and answered, "We usually play video games, watch TV, a few drinking games, or play card games. We USED to play Truth or Dare, but Nora takes that game waaaaaaaaaay too seriously."

"Oh come on, it wasn't **that **bad." Nora said with a happy giggle, genuinely believing that it wasn't.

"YOU DARED ME TO DRINK A BOTTLE OF WHISKY FOR EVERY DOG I SAW THAT NIGHT!" Jaune shouted angrily at his friend.

Blake's head dipped to the side slightly in confusion, not seeing why her boyfriend was being so dramatic about a seemingly safe dare. "That doesn't sound too extreme." she commented, only making Ren laugh a bit louder at her statement.

"Nora made us watch 101 Dalmatians that same night. 'Nuff said." Jaune added as he glared at Nora, who was joyously recalling that night.

"What are you complaining about? You're still alive; you just forgot how to do math for about a week." Nora said without a bat of her eyelash. Ren chuckles were now just barely contained as his efforts to swallow roaring laughter were now clearly visible in his red face. Blake couldn't help but stare stunned at her boyfriend after he explained why he was so hesitant to play the dangerous game with Nora. "You consumed over one-hundred bottles of whiskey and lived?" she asked, finding it extremely hard to believe that a normal teenager could live through that.

Jaune simply nodded his head as if he wasn't impressed with himself as he replied, "Yep, I have a very high alcohol tolerance for some reason, so I can drink more than a bunch of hardcore drinkers. Never understood why."

Blake just blinked blankly at Jaune as she tried to make heads or tails of what she was just told. The only reason that she could think of that would explain an inexperienced drinker, a **teenager**, being able to consume that much without suffering permanently was to have a powerful Aura to negate the effects of the alcohol more quickly, but Jaune didn't have the ability to use Aura, so that wasn't possible. She just chalked it up to him just being gifted with good health and let it be. "Well…I guess we could play a few drinking games to start the night." Blake suggested, knowing from experience with Yang that the best way to start parties, small and large, was with alcohol.

Jaune and Ren grinned slightly as they nodded, enjoying the idea of taking some stress off of their shoulders with booze, especially after the drama they've been suffering lately.

"Oooh! I have the perfect game in mind! How about a double-team drinking contest?!" Nora suggested excitedly. "We'll keep it simple this time, we'll split into teams and take turns matching how much the other drinks until onw team completely falls over."

Jaune groaned nervously as he considered the option. They had plenty of whiskey for it since they restocked a while ago, but he wasn't sure he wanted to engage in such a dangerous game with Nora, and for good reason. Sure, he could out drink both of his friends, but there would be stakes since that's how Nora played. "What happens to the losers?" he asked cautiously.

Nora snickered as she answered with a challenging grin, "The usual, whoever wins gets to have the losers do whatever they want. We'll split the teams into me and Renny-bear, and you and Kitty. Last one standing wins their team the game, and whoever gives up, throws up, or passes out automatically loses. If there are an equal amount of people on each team if we run out of booze, then we'll call it a draw. Fair enough?"

Jaune grunted as he knew that the "throw up" rule was designed as a handicap against him, but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge from Nora of all people. They had a slightly competitive relationship, even though Nora would usually be the one who would reign victorious over him, so he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of him backing down. "Bring it on Nutjob!" Jaune shouted passionately as he pumped his fist in the air.

Blake and Ren just watched their respective lover's butt metaphoric heads in their rivalry as they smiled amusedly, knowing that they were both just getting dragged into the rivalry tonight.

Oh well, they both could use a drink…or over a dozen…whichever it ends up being tonight.

_(Beacon)_

Ruby unlocked the door to her room and walked inside to let her reluctant new roommate in. "Well…home sweet home." Ruby said with a light smile as Weiss took small and careful steps inside with a slightly grouchy frown tugging at her lips. As soon as she was inducted into Beacon officially, she was evicted from her private room in the medical wards and told to move in with her new teammates. It posed no difficulty since Weiss had no possessions to move. The only object she had on her person besides the clothes on her back was her only true partner Myrtenaster, and to this day she had absolutely no idea where it was. She prayed that it wasn't destroyed in the fire that Frostbite left her in, but she could lament the loss of her cherished weapon later. She had to come to terms with being forced to live in the same quarters as her naïve acquaintance and her sister, who went absent for some reason during the finalization of Weiss's induction. There were far too many papers she had to sign just to join this place…she wouldn't have stayed either just to watch someone sign a mountain's worth of paper.

Weiss took notice that there was a bunk bed set a fair distance away from another bed that was lying in complete solitude, but the bunk beds could barely be called that. One of the beds, of which she assumed was Ruby's due to its red sheets, was hung up over the brand new looking bed that was most likely hers, and it was suspended as such by VERY unsecure looking ropes that did little to inspire confidence in Weiss that it was safe to sleep under it.

"This is a deathtrap waiting to happen." Weiss said with annoyance, and small traces of fear, tinting her voice.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad. This is only temporary until we can get some actual bunk beds in here. Besides, I personally made sure that they would hold up with my weight, so no big." Ruby informed with the utmost confidence as she pointed at herself.

"Forgive me if I'm not fully inspired by your assurance." Weiss replied sarcastically as she walked towards her bed, and after mustering up enough courage to hope that Ruby hadn't miscalculated, sat down on her new bed, sighing in slight relaxation as the cushiony surface bent and indented to match her body. Although the bed wasn't nearly as comfortable as her bed back in her old room, it was a welcome substitute to the hospital bed she had been sleeping in. The lack of comfort in the mattress was easily overlooked due to the relaxed atmosphere permeating the room and made the bed worthwhile even though she had to live with others as well now. She hadn't slept with anyone in the same room as her since…**her**.

"Wanna talk about it?" Ruby asked, knowing from the slight signs on Weiss's face that she was troubled by something, as she sat down on Yang's bed to face Weiss from a distance comfortable for the white-themed heiress.

"No." Weiss curtly answered as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms, clearly showing that she was maintaining the barricade between her and Ruby. Her talk with the red Faunus had arose sad memories that she would rather not dwell on, memories that she had hoped would stay buried in the past, but did not much to her dismay.

Ruby sighed as Weiss proved her right. Getting through to her would be as difficult as driving a toothpick through a brick wall, just as she had feared and anticipated, but just as Penny encouraged she would just have to keep trying. "Y'know…since we're going to be teammates, it would probably do us both some good to clear some of the air between us, wouldn't ya say?" Ruby asked, trying to ease Weiss into it.

"Just because you're my teammate doesn't mean that I have to open up to you. The only time teammates should is if it is beneficial to producing better results on the battlefield." Weiss replied stubbornly as she kept her face turned away from Ruby and her eyes shut.

Ruby rested her head against the palm of her hand as she looked at her acquaintance with slight pity. "Geesh, the way you talk about teammates makes them sound like…enemies under a truce."

"The last time I showed even the slightest amount of trust to teammates they stabbed me in the back…in more than one way." Weiss sourly commented before resuming her hardened exterior as not to show Ruby any more indulgence in her emotions. "Stop trying to understand me Ruby. You and I have opposite views on the world; it would be best if we just limit our interaction outside necessity."

Ruby shook her head defiantly with a frown. "Weiss, that's not going to work at all. You're not just my teammate on missions; it doesn't work like that over hear. Being someone's teammate in Beacon means a lot more than just helping me fight. I'm gonna be put in a lot of situations when I'm going to be putting my life in your hands, when I'm going to have to trust you without a single spec of doubt between us, and when you have to trust me in return. In order for this to work, we have to cooperate as much as possible."

Weiss frowned even harder as her eyes opened to bore into Ruby's own. They held a sense of pain that Ruby could immediately pick up on, showing that Weiss most certainly had issues with trusting others if it weren't obvious enough. "You make it sound as if groups have to be friends to be teammates. We've been over this before."

Ruby sighed once more as she nodded her head. "You don't believe we can be friends, I know. Can you at least tell me why? Is it because I'm a Faunus?"

Weiss was clearly starting to get irritated as she gritted her teeth from Ruby's constant onslaught of annoyance. "You're not going to drop this until I give you something, are you."

Ruby's eyes ascended to the ceiling as she thought on the subject for a few seconds, but she quickly came to a conclusion that sounded like it had very little thought to begin with. "Nope."

Weiss was briefly overcame with a flash of anger from Ruby's nonchalant response, but she immediately forced herself to calm down, less she just egg Ruby further to pry her for information. "Fine…you want to know why I don't trust anyone anymore? Why I don't believe in Beacon's cause as a possibility, and why I don't think you and I can ever be called friends?"

Ruby was inwardly happy that she finally had made progress with Weiss, but she kept it back as not to offend her during this rare breakthrough. She only nodded and kept eye contact with the ex-heiress, letting her know that she had her complete and undivided attention.

Weiss's frown shuddered a bit as she tightened her fist to painful pressure's before she gently released it and let loose a deep breath, whatever she was about to say was obviously very painful for her to speak of. "My sister…she was a trusting individual…she was an agent of peace and unity…and she was the friendliest angel one would ever meet…and she was killed because of this…by **Faunus**."

Ruby was certainly not expecting to hear such a astonishing reason from Weiss as to why she acted the way she did. She had a sister? She had never, not once, given any indication that she had other close family members besides her treacherous father, but Weiss's sister sounded as if she meant much more to her than her father ever did to her. The pain…the anger in Weiss's voice when she said this, it was so thick that Ruby could almost smell it.

Ruby only stayed silent and continued to keep eye contact, but her furry ears were now drooped down a little to show that she was disheartened to hear such tragedy in Weiss's past.

"My older sister…was the only person in the world that made me happy. When I was born, my mother died of childbirth, and ever since then my father's heart had frozen over, leading him to become the hateful man that he is today. He fully intended for me to follow in my sister's footsteps from the earliest age possible, to become an agent for the Order. Whether or not he considered this as repayment for taking his wife's life, or if he had planned this all along, I have no idea, but he was very forceful about this and gave me no choice in the matter. He only pushed me harder when it was discovered that I had lower than average Aura reserves, a weakness that was heavily frowned upon since it could easily jeopardize my development as an agent. He gave me almost no time for anything else besides training, I grew up with no friends, I grew up without the innocence that most children are entitled to, and I grew up being trained to be used as a weapon against my father's enemies. My life was miserable…until my sister took me under her wing."

Ruby had no idea that her father was this cruel. She knew that he was brutal against her people and fought any type of progression that they made to becoming more equal to humanity, but to force his own children into that lifestyle…what kind of man does that? Father's were supposed to protect their daughters, did he hate his enemies so much that he'd sacrifice his own children to be used against them? Well…the answer was obvious due to the point of this tale and why Weiss was in Beacon in the first place.

"It was evident in my progression that out of all the tutors that I had learned under at the time, I responded the most positively to my sister teaching me, and my father knew this. Even though my sister was only sixteen, she was gifted with skills and abilities that put her at the highest of ranks in the Order, so she was more than qualified to take a student under her wing. My father could never understand this, but the real reason why I excelled under my sister was because she didn't treat me like just an agent in training; she treated me like I was a little girl as well. She was gentle in her methods of teaching and applied pressure just as easily as comfort when the time called for it. She showed me the joys that life had to offer, more than what my father had ever attempted to do for me. She…was more than a sister to me…she was like a mother to me."

Ruby could smell it, the scent of tears again, but Weiss had yet to release any tears yet even though she looked as if she wanted to. It was then that she realized that the tear that she smelled was her own, but Weiss didn't seem to notice it. She was too busy staring at the floor as she told her tale.

"One day…she was sent to Vacuo on a mission to weaken the White Fang presence in the capital and areas around it, but she wasn't like other Order agents. She avoided killing completely; not once in her entire career did she ever have a kill under her belt or anyone's blood on her hands. She strongly believed in diplomacy and mercy, and whenever she did fight an enemy she always aimed to knock them into unconsciousness rather than take their life. This irritated the Conclave to no end, but she never let them sway her sense of purity. That mission…was no different. She beat the White Fang forces into a retreat, or persuaded them to leave on their own volition. At one point during her mission there, she had found a horribly wounded White Fang grunt in the wilds, a grunt who had accidentally gotten separated from his group and was attacked mercilessly by the dangerous wildlife there. The smart thing to have done in that situation was to kill the grunt to end his pain, or at the very least stay away from him to avoid any trouble that might occur due to being around him…but that wasn't my sister. She didn't see a wounded White Fang soldier at her feet, nor did she see a wounded Faunus, the very people that her organization oppressed regularly. She saw a wounded living being at her feet…so she carried him into one of her hideouts. She fed him…bandaged his wounds…did everything to bring him to a quick and healthy recovery…and what does he do to repay her angelic kindness? The bastard…sells her out to other White Fang groups in the area that she hadn't evicted yet. They killed her…because not only was she an Order agent, she was a daughter of Arcticus Schnee, one of their worst enemies."

Weiss gritted her teeth angrily as her fist vibrated and clenched as she was consumed in hate for the White Fang, mentally damning them to hell for taking someone so precious away from her, the only precious person she had ever had in life. "My sister died a horrible death, alone, surrounded by enemies…because she was the ideal Beacon agent…just like you."

Ruby finally got it now…why Weiss could at the same time tolerate Ruby more than anybody else in Beacon, while at the same time be so hostile towards her. Ruby…was a living breathing reminder of her sister. Her rant at Beacon's edge made more sense than ever now; Ruby had essentially done the exact same thing as her sister had. She had taken in an injured enemy into her walls and tried to help her when the smart thing, just as Weiss said now and last time, would have been to let her die, but she let mercy and compassion guide her actions instead of cold and ruthless logic , and if Weiss were anything like that White Fang grunt Ruby could have ended up just like her. Her anger towards Ruby…was more clear now…so was her way of thinking when it came to trust and the possibility of peace between the two warring people.

"Weiss…I'm…so sorry. I had…no idea." Ruby said with nothing but pure sympathy filling her voice.

"Well, now you do." Weiss seethed angrily as she glared menacingly at Ruby, but the Faunus didn't react to the hostility at all. She only continued to stare sadly at Weiss, being as understanding as possible right now for her. The ex-heiress slowly calmed down and eased her anger, knowing that her anger was misplaced at Ruby right now, even if she had been the one to initiate this disturbing conversation. She stared solemnly back at the floor as she felt a sense of deadness in her core.

"Don't you see now Ruby? I can't believe in my sister's and your ways…in the end, all they accomplish is your death. My sister died…because she was an angel in a world consumed by devilish conflict. She was a human who showed Faunus nothing but compassion despite who she represented, but her death was as certain as any other human's in the Fang's eyes. She was the only one in the world that I felt like I could trust, she promised me that she would come back and teach me how to use the weapon that she passed on to me, but she didn't. She died…trying to be the change that Beacon wants in the world…and accomplished nothing."

Ruby doubted that Weiss had any energy to get angry at her at the moment, so she deemed it was safe to try a personal, but bold move. She rose up from her spot on Yang's bed and sat down next to her so that she was closer to the pillows than Weiss. Just as she hoped , Weiss didn't protest her closeness or show signs that she cared, maybe she wanted the comfort and even despite her current depression she wouldn't admit it. Ruby could only imagine what it was like to go through life with such depression every single day. In way, she could envision it happening to her even if Weiss's scenario was much more dismal. She had lost someone similar, her mother, but she still had **her** older sister. Her father was nothing but kind and gentle to her, the complete opposite of hers, and she still had friends she could turn to when all else failed. Weiss…lost both her Yang and Summer in the form of her sister, her Taiyang had been anything but fatherly to her, and she now understood why she had no friends. Nobody could heal the damage that had been done to her, nobody could make friends with that much damage.

"What was her name?" Ruby asked, wanting, needing, to know the name of such a person that she wished that she could have called ally in Beacon.

"…Winter." Weiss answered in an emotionless, dead tone, almost as if the very sound of her name off her own tongue pierced her already damaged soul. Ruby found the name ironic; it was a name associated with cold and lifelessness, but that was the exact opposite of what she embodied from the way Weiss spoke of her. It was also ironic that both her mother and Weiss's mother figure be named after two opposing seasons of the year, yet share so much in common with each other. Maybe after Weiss had calmed down, and she felt more comfortable speaking to her about personal things such as this, she would tell her about her mother, but that was for another time.

Feeling that she might be overstepping her boundaries with her next move since she knew that Weiss didn't like to be touched, she decided to preemptively sooth Weiss by springing her surprise now, a surprise that she had planned for her new teammate when she went to bed. As she gently placed a hand on Weiss's back and rubbed soothing circles in it, she reached under Weiss's pillows and pulled out her gift, then gently slid it into Weiss's lap as she continued to rub her back.

Weiss's cloudy hazed eyes widened as her hands gripped Myrtenaster, the weapon passed down to her by her beloved sister. She thought she lost it, but she could tell just from the slight extra weight and it's polished shiny gleam that Ruby had been taking good care of it. It looked like she had even added an extra compartment for more Dust, a welcome upgrade that would prove to be helpful.

"Your sister…sounded like she would have made a great Beacon agent…just like you."

Weiss's gaze turned away from her cherished blade and to Ruby with a look of confusion, silently asking her to explain.

"I know you don't think that your sister accomplished anything trying to be the change that this world needed, even if her superiors disagreed, but I don't think that's true at all. She was able to make sure that your father didn't break you and turn you into the heartless person he wanted. The things that made her…"her" was what gave her such a sweet personality to help you. Not to mention how brave she was in speaking against her superiors, bravery I'm sure you got from her. Weiss…she's not **really **gone, you're her inheritance; she lives on in you. That's what daughters and little sisters do…we carry on the lessons from our big sis's and mom's." Ruby said with a small smile as she continued to rub her back. She felt the subtle vibrations of sobs that ached to be released, but Weiss maintained a steel tight grip on them as all that escaped was a lone tear that slid down her cheek and landed on her blade.

Ruby continued to console her as she added, "Maybe…it was destined to be this way with you being here. Even if you tried to kill me, and even if you don't think there's a chance for peace, I don't think that you belong there. Just like your sister, you at least acknowledge that you would want to live in a world like that, and that alone says that you belong here with us, just like your sister should have. If you want to honor her memory…why not at least try and fight for a world she would have wanted…as the Beacon agent she should have been?"

Weiss remained silent as she took great, but silent, comfort in her acquaintance's back rub and words that held more wisdom than she had ever heard from her. It certainly put her into a new perspective on how she had handled life after the loss of Winter, and how she had lived ever since she woke up in Beacon. Should she have betrayed the Order before they betrayed her and left for Beacon earlier, even if she still thought that their ideal world was purely fictitious? What good came out of her choice to stay with the Order? What would Winter have said to her if she knew that her little sister was on a slippery slope to being a hateful warmonger like her father? These questions rattled on and on inside her head as she calmed down from her emotional turmoil, but thanks to Ruby's comforting words of wisdom, she was able to come to at least one definitive conclusion.

Ruby was right, the best way to honor her memory was to be the Beacon agent that her sister should have been, and even if she thought their goal was asinine she should do what she can to at least make it slightly possible like her sister would have done.

"Thank you…Ruby." Weiss finally said, shocking Ruby for a split second with the sincerity behind her voice that was masked by her composure. There was genuine gratitude in her voice, Ruby could hear it, and it made her immensely happy that she was able to make such huge progress with her to get such words out of her.

"Anytime Weiss." Ruby replied happily as she retracted her hand and rested it on her own lap as she smiled proudly and happily as she stayed quiet, not daring to say anything to ruin the moment between them.

"By no means does this make us friends, you know this right?" Weiss asked, immediately killing the moment instead of Ruby and causing her to gawk at her white teammate before falling to the floor in pure shock and disappointment.

"AW, COME ON WEISS! Pleeeaaaassse can we be friends? We can't have such a breakthrough after all of this and not be friends! Pleeaaasssee?!" Ruby begged as she looked up at her teammate with the notorious "Ruby Pout", the most feared weapon in Beacon's arsenal besides the legendary "Reality Breaker Cannon", that not even Yang herself was COMPLETELY immune against.

Not even Weiss, despite the layers of ice cocooning her soul, was unable to completely stave off the soul-warming waves that emanated from Ruby's large watery eyes and quivering bottom lip.

The fencer sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose and decided to throw the wolf Faunus a bone…ironic. "Ok…I'll compromise. How about instead of "friends"…we'll be… "friend…lies"?

Ruby instantly took the bone and gnawed on it voraciously with glee and excitement as she leaped at her new "friendly" and said happily, "I'll take it! Welcome to Beacon my icy teammate!"

"Personal space, PERSONAL SPACE, **PERSONAL SPACE**!" Weiss shouted as she barely kept Ruby back and off of her with her hand placed firmly on Ruby's face as the overly excited puppy tried to wrap the "touch-me-not" into a powerful hug.

It wasn't the perfect start to their "friendship"…but it was a start none the less, and that was good enough for Ruby.

_(Elsewhere)_

The building that once served as the battleground for the vicious confrontation between Adam and Frostbite was now little more than a pile of destroyed burnt hardware, and frozen remnants of the structure of the building. The fight between them was long and destructive, and the only reason that they hadn't attracted the presence of any of civilians was due to the fact that the base itself stood far away from civilization. This did not help matters at all for Adam, because despite all of his power, and all of his skill that matched that of his opponents, Frostbite simply possessed more raw power than the bull Faunus, and he definitely knew how to use it. Adam simply couldn't maintain the levels of power necessary to win the fight, but Frostbite looked as if he was an inexhaustible well of Aura, not once showing signs that he was running low on it or energy.

Adam was panting and using his blade, which was stabbed in the ground at his feet, to keep himself standing as he glared angrily at his enemy, who was calmly floating a safe distance away from him as he kept his arms crossed. His armor was much more sharp and fearsome despite not losing its pure white color, the plates were much more sharp and sleek to match the icy wings that flapped behind him, and the helmet had changed shapes to be more sharply angular with twin horns that extended cleanly and gracefully in an arc behind his head.

"Hmm…I see. So your actual Semblance is the conversion of the adrenaline in your body, aroused by your anger, to Aura that you use to increase your power and stamina, as well as give yourself accelerated regenerative properties. How fitting for a bull, but it would seem your anger has reached its limit." Frostbite analytically commented as he floated gently to the ground, still radiating a cold force around his body that froze the very dirt he stood on. "Tell me, before I destroy you, for what reason would you go through such lengths for one girl. You obviously hate humans, you are still attached to your roots as a White Fang despite being a Beacon agent, why follow through with such folly of being with Beacon just for her?"

Adam stood more upright as he glared at his enemy with anger, but his Semblance had worn itself out from overuse. He had long lost this fight, but even if he had found a way to turn the tide of this battle in his favor he still wouldn't have been able to get back to Beacon to give them this crucial information about Blake. He could feel it, there was a third presence hidden in the shadows of the destroyed building, a dark presence that was merely acting as a passive observer during the battle, but that presence would spike whenever it looked as if Adam was going to land a lethal hit on Frostbite, proving that they were on his opponent's side. He didn't understand why the dark one hadn't come to help Frostbite, but it didn't matter at this point. He was most likely going to die, but he was ok with that. He had one last trick up his sleeve to kill his enemy before the presence could intervene and kill him.

"Because…she was the only one that made me feel like I was more than just a killer…a monster. You are correct…I don't particularly care for humanity after the pain they've put me and my people through…but for some reason she does…so I tolerate them…because she's my family. Not like you'd understand…" Adam panted and growled as he held his chokuto, Wilt, out in extension to ready himself for one last attempt at victory.

"Hmph…Love? Love is what motivates you?" Frostbite questioned lowly, yet still carrying weight in his question so that his chilling and metallic voice could be audible through his helmet. The armored menace gave a genuine chuckle of amusement as he walked slowly in Adam's direction. "I've no need for such frivolous concepts as love and family…not anymore. I've learned through experience that they hold no real meaning in this world, only power does. One does not change the events that transpire around them with "love", they do so with power and abilities at their control. And family…heh, if you can't find your own motivation on your own terms, you are merely dependent on those who simply share the same blood as you. It is through that sickening dependence on those individuals that formulates the romanticized vision of "family"." Frostbite immediately zoomed at Adam with his longsword ready to lob the Faunus's head off, but Adam anticipated it and summoned the very last of his strength to speed at his enemy and swipe his glowing red blade at the menace. The two locked once more in a vicious power struggle between their bright red and blue radiances as their blade's spurted hot sparks from how hard they scrapped against one another, but it was clear that Frostbite now had the most strength between the two of them.

The armored assassin roared with power as he completely pushed Wilt away then wrapped his hand around Adam's throat to hold him up in the air with a tight grip. Adam gagged painfully as he felt his enemy's cold Aura seep into his body and freeze him from the inside, and as his enemy relished in his suffering they growled, "In the end, what did your "love" accomplish? What did it do for your already slim chances of survival?"

Adam merely laughed past his lack of air as his enemy interrogated him angrily, not realizing that he had fallen right into Adam's trap. The Faunus's finger slowly slid down the length of Blush as it brushed up against its trigger, and the bullets inside that he had yet to fire were being aimed directly into the opening past Frostbite's chin near his throat, and he was none the wiser. Just a few more seconds of careful aiming and they would be lodged in his brain.

"What did *cough*… your blind anger… accomplish?" Adam asked in return, reciprocating the same insult that Frostbite had thrown at him during the beginning of their confrontation.

Frostbite was slightly confused by the bull's words, but didn't care enough to think on the subject much further than that. He raised his longsword up to Adam's chest where his heart was as it clicked and whirred during its shift into sniper-rifle form.

Adam was ready to fire Blush into Frostbite's head at that moment, just as Frostbite was ready to fire his rifle into Adam's chest, but one completely unexpected occurrence left them both still with shock long enough for both of their attacks to cease.

"faaaallllccoooOOONNN…" a voice shouted in the distance as it grew closer and closer.

Frostbite shot his head in the direction of shout just as Adam rebounded from the surprise. "What the he-"

"**PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!" **Yang screamed triumphantly as she buried her gauntleted fiery fist into the face of Frostbite's helmet. Ember Celica fired upon contact and sent Frostbite spinning and flying through piles of the frozen and ruined remains of the building. This shook Adam violently as Frostbite released him, but unfortunately for him this meant that the round he fired, that was intended to kill Frostbite, missed its target completely and sailed the air over Yang's fist and where Frostbite's head used to be. As Frostbite was buried under the pile that fell on top of him, Adam fell onto his knees at Yang's side, then shot his head up at her and shouted angrily, "You idiot! I had him, and you just blew it!"

Yang's once exultant smile spoiled into a sour glare as she looked down at her ally and shouted back, "What the hell is your problem! I just saved your life you ungrateful ass!"

Adam growled angrily as he came to the conclusion that Yang was completely oblivious to the presence of the other person hiding in the area. For some unknown reason, the dark presence's Aura spiked as soon as Yang entered the area, and before he could shout this information at her the pile of debris that Frostbite was under exploded in a blast of ice, freeing him from the crushing weight of the destroyed pieces of the building. He stared angrily at his surprise attacker with murderous intent leaking off of him in waves, but he was slightly shocked by her face.

"Who the hell are **you**?" Frostbite asked with anger clear in his intimidating voice.

Yang grinned with confidence, not intimidated at all by the strength of her opponent as she slammed her fists together and flared her fiery Aura around her as she replied, "Yang Xiao Long, and I'm here to do what I do best; **break the ice!**"

The area around them remained silent as both Frostbite and Adam stayed in place, trying their hardest to understand both why the blond was making jokes during such a critical moment AND how she thought that her joke was funny. A tumbleweed rolled along the ground with the wind across the space between the Beacon agents and their foe before Frostbite finally regained his ability to speak. "Your death…will…be of legendary pain of the likes this world has never seen." Frostbite responded with disgust lacing his voice.

"Heh, says you Ha." Yang shot back insultingly as she cocked back both her fists to ready her gauntlets for another shot each.

Frostbite was once again confused by his new enemy's choice of words as he readied his sniper rifle for an extra round of combat. "Ha?" he asked with irritation heavy in his voice.

Yang grinned her mischievous and taunting smile once more as she replied, "Well…your last name is obviously Snowballs."

Frostbite instantly connected the two names in his head, and after realizing he was being crudely insulted once more by the blond he shot his rifle at her multiple times in anger. Yang leaped away from her spot as Adam did the same and crawled behind a piece of a wall for cover since he was in no condition to fight now.

Yang cart-wheeled and back-flipped in various directions as the bullets whizzed by her body, sending a slight chill down the skin it almost penetrated and letting her know that the bullet's were soaked with his freezing Semblance, and after Frostbite ceased firing he sped at his enemy as his rifle shifted again. Yang bent her back mid-dodge and blocked the swipes and stabs of her enemy with Ember Celica, illuminating the surrounding area with the resulting barrage of sparks as the clanging of metal meeting metal reverberated through it. Yang finally found an opening and delivered a powerful surprise upper cut into Frostbite's chin that sent him meters high into the air. Frostbite stabilized himself in the air after flapping his icy sharp wings, and as he stayed afloat in the air he waved his sword across the air to fire a volley of sharp ice sickles down at Yang. Yang's fiery Aura blazed around her and centered around her fist as she swatted and punched the ice sickles away, making it easier to break and deflect them. She then fired round after round at her enemy in the air to force him to dodge or back up, and succeeded in doing both before she rolled to a large flat piece of wall and grabbed it with both hands.

"Get ready for a **wall**op!" she shouted as she spun the piece around with her body and released, letting it fly and spin at her enemy.

"You're sense of humor is atrocious!" Frostbite growled as he sliced the piece of wall in half, then shot his hand outward and concentrated his Aura in the palm of his armored hand.

Yang narrowed her eyes and held her tightened fists out, ready to block or dodge whatever Frostbite was about to do, but as Adam observed the fight from behind cover his eyes widened as he recognized what Frostbite was about to do.

"_NOW!"_ He mentally screamed as he forced himself to jump over cover and speed his way in front of Yang with Wilt ready to intercept the imminent attack, despite his body's painful protests. Just as he had predicted, Frostbite fired the concentrated Aura Beam at Yang with the intent to freeze her into paralysis then kill her, but Adam had just saved her from the attack as he absorbed the ice cold energy through his blade. Adam glowed with a bright red gleam after absorption, but even though it was a welcome boost it still wasn't enough to keep him going for too much longer.

Yang was not expecting the sheer speed behind Frostbite's attack, and if Adam hadn't intercepted it she would have mostly likely been iced…in more ways than one. "Um…thanks." Yang said appreciatively as she kept her eyes on Frostbite as he glared at them from above.

"I didn't do it save you, you daft idiot. I needed the energy." He informed with a sneer.

"Asshole." Yang insulted before firing another barrage of shots at Frostbite, only instead of simply dodging them, he flew past every shot with evasive twirls and barrel rolls. Before either Yang or Adam knew it, Frostbite blurred in front of them and grabbed them both by their face.

"ENOUGH!" He roared angrily as he slammed both of their heads into the ground, then back handed Adam during his rebound so that he flew right into a wall. Before Yang could get back up from the unexpected attack, Frostbite immediately focused his aggression on her as he quickly and powerfully slashed at her with his blade. Yang was able to roll away from the initial slash as she got back to her feet, but she was left very little breathing room afterwards as she soon found herself not being able to keep up with the swift and violent slashes. She yelped in pain after every successful cut on her body that she wasn't able to block, and even with her fiery hot Aura coursing inside her she could feel the cold seep in through her wounds and numb her slightly. Her stomach and arms now bore a few mildly deep cuts that bled considerably, and with the hope disarming her opponent before he got a fatal cut on her she charged him and grabbed at his blade.

This was a mistake, for as soon as she attempted this Frostbite promptly gripped his free hand and mercilessly slammed his armored fist into her stomach. Yang bent over and wheezed as her foe brutally knocked the breath out of her body, and before she could regain her bearings Frostbite followed the blow with another to her face that sent her zipping through the air before her body made painful impact with the same wall that Adam was keeping himself up against.

Yang's mind was reeling in pain as her body formed a deep indent in the wall and a spider-web of cracks before she fell to the ground on her stomach. As she tried to fight off the dizziness of the blow, Adam stumbled and wobbled to his feet as he gritted his teeth in frustration, simply not understanding how Frostbite had not run low on either energy or Aura at this point. In fact, he could feel it; Frostbite's Aura levels hadn't dropped at all…they were rising.

"Heh heh…man…and I thought my combat instructor during training was merciless…but this guy's…just **cold**."

"If there is any solace to the situation, it is that you and YOUR PUNS will die with me." Adam growled darkly as he was tempted to cut Yang for her jokes during such a critical moment.

"I couldn't agree more." Frostbite commented as he stomped towards the two downed Beacon Agents, taking his time to relish the hopelessness of their survival.

As if to deny Frostbite complete satisfaction, Yang just laughed a little more through her pain as she struggled and pulled herself up to her feet as she activated her Semblance. Her long, flowing locks of gold shined as bright as the sun with fire dancing across its length, and her eyes glowed a dark red that contrasted the amused grin on her face.

"No way dog…I'm gonna live forever." She coughed as her Semblance kicked in, giving her a much needed second wind.

Frostbite growled as his foe refused to just simply lie down and die. He didn't just come here to eliminate any leaks of information, he also came here to preserve any data that hadn't been sent to HQ yet. He wouldn't be able to do that if the entire area was reduced to nothing but cold dust, so with that in mind he had been trying to hold back his power, but apparently it was only serving to extend the short lives of his enemies. He could have frozen them easily, but not without possibly jeopardizing his mission, and it was infuriating him to no end.

"While I respect your tenacity and indomitable will, even you must learn when to give up. There is no possible way you can win." Frostbite growled as he channeled Aura into his blade to sharpen it two-fold with ice.

Yang shook her head, still retaining her grin as she did so. "Nope. Unluckily for you, I…don't…learn…"

Frostbite was, admittedly, curious as to why the girl trailed off mentally in her sentence, but he soon found his answer as his eyes followed hers to the small object that landed at his feet.

Was that…a strand of yellow hair?

"**yoouuuu…" **Yang hissed under her breath as the flames fluttering through her fiery mane emitted even more heat, almost as if to angrily mourn the loss of the strand of hair. Her eyes shut as her fists tightened with knuckle-straining force; the heat around her was so intense that Adam began to sweat as he wisely stepped a few feet away from the ticking time bomb.

"**YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU MOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!" **Yang roared monstrously as she exploded in a fiery geyser of rage and destruction that sent building debris around her flying into the distance at dangerous speeds. Adam had to stab Wilt into the ground and hold on with most of his strength to refrain from being blown away from the force of Yang's explosion, and immediately after the force calmed down the slightest bit Yang blasted towards Frostbite with the ferocity of a blood-thirsty behemoth out of Hell. Her blazing hot roars echoed across the field with the forceful eruption of an active volcano as she sent fiery punch after fiery punch into her enemy, most of which were blocked by the alarmed icy agent, but a few had actually managed to slam powerfully into his armor and bruise the hidden flesh underneath slightly and leaving noticable dents in his once prestine armor. Yang's wrath didn't cloud her mind enough to prevent her from seeing an opening in Frostbite's defense, and as soon as it caught her ruby-red eyes she took the chance to launch her enemy directly up into the air with a swift upper-cut to the chin. The assault didn't end there; as Frostbite reached the apex of his painful ascent, Yang blurred above him in a streak of golden fire and pulled her fist back as it was consumed in a small vortex of red-hot flames.

"_**HEAT **_**THIS!" **the monstrously livid girl roared as she rammed her fist into Frostbite's chest plate and sent the evil agent bulleting back towards the ground screaming angrily in a ball of fire. The explosion that followed shook the land with its intensity and sent plumes of dust clouds rising into the air that concealed the results of the attack on her enemy. Gravity reclaimed its hold on Yang's body and sent her falling back onto the ground with her rump as the cushion, and after her energy finally gave out her hair returned to its normal lustrous blond, and her eye color bled back into a royal violet.

Adam was lying on the ground silent with his back resting against the wall, stricken speechless by the insane comeback that his fellow Beacon agent had just performed. He actually found himself finding a muster of respect for the girl despite they're vivid dislike for each other that sometimes bordered on the cusp of hatred, and as much as he didn't want to admit it she had in fact saved his life with her intervention. Yang released a deep breath of relief that the dangerous foe had finally been defeated, then summoned a small speck of strength she used to crawl painfully in the direction of the wall Adam was resting against. The bull blinked confusedly behind his solid eye-mask wondering why the blonde looked so crestfallen when she, of all people, would be dancing in victory or making another victorious pun to sweeten her victory. He gritted his teeth in disbelief at the asinine blonde as she revealed the cause for her sadness. "You've got to be kidding me…" he groaned as his gloved hand met his face.

"Don't worry my little gold one…" Yang whimpered pitifully as she cradled the strand of hair she lost into her bosom. She held onto the strand as if it were a grieving and lost child that had been thrust into a dark lonely world, and patted its metaphorical back as she whispered, "…you have been avenged."

"It's just a strand of dead cells you idiot. Get over it." Adam groaned exasperatedly, slightly annoyed by the stupidity of Yang's anger. She was an agent for crying out loud, didn't she have more pressing concerns in life besides her hair? Though to be fair, it was her insane attachment with her hair that had allowed her to beat their adversary in the end.

"Kiss my ass!" Yang shouted angrily at the Faunus with an angrily pointed finger. "My hair is beautiful and a work of art! Do you know how hard it is to keep it that way sometimes?!"

"Oh for-"

Adam was swiftly cut off by the sense of dread in his core as he felt a powerful chilling wind pass them both. What followed was a heated and murderous bellow from the small crater that was consumed in a thick shroud of dirt, and an explosion of cold icy-blue Aura that violently dissipated the air-borne dirt surrounding the area and revealed the irate armored agent at the center of the explosion. His chest plate had a notable fist-sized dent in the center that was charred slightly from Yang's flames, and the plating around his arms had come off slightly in disorganized cracks, indicating that he had used his arms to guard himself from the brunt of the collision and revealing the tight black under-suit that clung firmly to his surprisingly slim arms.

He glared menacingly at the blond and brunette/red-head as his Aura climbed even higher. The dark slits that were his eye-holes glowed the evil blue of his Aura, further communicating the murderous intent that he had for them at this point. All thoughts and concerns of completing the other half of his mission were swept aside as the armored agent rose up into the air and set his feet on the top of a tall fraction of wall and aimed the palm of his hand in the direction of his enemies.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Yang and Adam shouted both in anger, shock, and fear as they felt a deadening sting of hopelessness at the sight of their enemy readying himself to kill them.

"Congratulations Beacon Agents, you have officially pushed me over the edge. I'm going to enjoy striking your frozen corpses into dust." Frostbite growled forcefully as his Aura collected around his outstretched arm. Adam gritted his teeth as a small sphere of blindingly bright blue Aura, no bigger than a marble, formed and floated in front of his palm. The Faunus could tell just from the sheer intensity of the light beaming from the sphere that it was a highly concentrated collection of Aura. He was not confident that he would be able to absorb all of the energy, for even he had his limits on how much energy he could absorb. His body could end up releasing all of the absorbed energy by exploding like a balloon with too much air, and from the intensity of the sphere Frostbite was creating he was fairly sure that would happen.

There was no room for a come-back now. Death was practically imminent now.

"Man…talk about do _Aura_ die huh?" Yang chuckled and panted without energy as she crawled painfully to the wall next to Adam and rested her back against the wall.

"You just **had** to get one last shitty pun in before we died…I fucking hate you" Adam groaned as he leaned his head back against the wall, wondering what kind of sadistic bastard power in the sky would put him through the hell of dying next to this woman.

"I know." Yang replied with a hopeless chuckle, preferring to go out with a bit of humor.

The two exhausted and immobile agents screwed their eyes shut in fearful anticipation of their demise, both slightly regretful that it would end this way before much had been done. Adam lamented not being able to do more for his race in his life, and hoped that Blake would somehow elude these dangerous enemies, while Yang was slightly more content internally, taking solace in the fact that she would get to see her beloved mother again. Her only regret was not being able to give Ruby a proper goodbye and last loving sisterly advice for life, but she was confident that Ruby would do fine, even without her.

Frostbite readied his attack that would freeze every ounce of liquid in their body as well as considerable amounts of moisture in the air around them, but right before he would be able to fire at them, an unexpected presence appeared beside him and grabbed him by his forearm and interrupted the flow of his Aura, cancelling the attack in the process.

Adam flinched at the arrival of the dark presence from before, having completely forgot about it in the middle of the fight, but he, as well as Yang, were shocked to open their eyes see this unusual looking individual arrive out of nowhere and practically save their lives. It was a woman carrying a ridiculously long red blade in hand, with hair blacker than the most vivid of darkness. With the exception of her intimidating red and black themed clothing, that was all they could see of her, for her face was concealed by a grimly chilling bone mask that allowed the tiniest glimpse at crimson red eyes if one were to squint hard enough.

Frostbite growled from having his kills rudely interrupted by the unexpected arrival, and calmly asked in a voice with evident anger, "What are you doing here, I have this under control. Release me."

The enigmatic woman shook her head in response as she replied, "Evidently not considering you were about to freeze all remnants of this area, thus making leftover data retrieval impossible. I've already done that part, but I sense that you're battle has attracted a strong ally of theirs. I can sense that they will be here soon. Fighting is pointless; we should go before more possibly arrive."

As much as Frostbite was confident that he could take on whoever was on their way, fighting on a larger scale would only be problematic in the end, and he knew this despite how infuriating it was. He yanked his arm out of the woman's grasp and glared down at the enemies he had made today as he powered down. The icy wings on his back melted away as he gave them a final remark before they began their departure. "Luck is on your side, but shall we ever meet again, no unexpected arrivals will save you from death's cold embrace."

Seeing that her ally was finished and ready to leave, the dark woman reared her blade back and sliced the air behind them. As if the very air itself was rice paper, the slash tore a sinister black and red portal where the air was sliced, baffling the two injured Beacon agents since they had never seen such an unusual ability before. Frostbite gave them one final glare before calmly hopping through the portal, but the masked woman stayed behind momentarily, having stared at Yang as her comrade took his leave. Instead of her sensation of being a fearless dragon that she was used to, Yang felt more like a paper lizard in front of the most sinister and windy of storms as her violet eyes made slight contact with the gleaming crimson orbs that looked far too familiar for comfort as they hid behind the mask. The woman radiated a dark Aura among herself effortlessly, easily matching that of the icy enemy they had almost been slaughtered by, and even Yang herself could feel it despite having no talent for sensing the Aura of others.

"A word of advice children: You should learn to cooperate more effectively. Your teamwork is poor; you won't live long in this war in the future if you can't improve on such a key factor of combat. I can't help but feel that you would have found Belladonna by now if you too would simply combine your efforts." The woman wisely advised despite clearly being on the Order's side. Adam was perplexed to say the least; not only did this mysterious woman save them from her own comrade, she was also even giving them words of wisdom as if she wasn't the enemy. She was a walking contradiction at its best, and this confused Adam, but the mention of Blake was enough to anger him and growl under his breath.

"I don't usually make a habit of listening to the enemy's advice." Adam replied with a light sneer as he kept Wilt in hand, even though he was in no condition to fight.

"Then consider it a warning then Adam, Yang. This war is on the verge of escalating to a scale the likes of which either of our sides have ever seen, and if you want the slimmest chance of succeeding, you will heed it." The woman retorted, not at all effected by the rudeness of the Faunus below her as she had yet to step down from the large piece of debris.

Yang frowned as even she could tell that the person coming on their way to help them wasn't as close as the woman had made them out to be if they hadn't shown up, so this woman clearly intended on sparring their lives for some reason. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but why did you save us?" Yang asked.

The woman turned her back to the Beacon agents to face the portal, clearly getting ready to take her leave. Yang could almost hear the faintest sounds of a sigh from the woman before she answered her question after a short silence. "That is a question for another time. Do not mistake this as an act of kindness, the next time we meet, I will attempt to end your life myself…and I fully expect you to do the same." Before Yang could even utter another word, the woman jumped into the portal as Yang shouted with an outstretched hand, "Hey wait!"

The portal dissipated silently, leaving the two agents where they were as Yang let her hand fall back into her lap when it was evident that the woman was gone for good. She could feel the deadness in the woman's voice during her last statement, and it only confused her even more that an Order agent sounded as if she was speaking directly to her and disregarding Adam.

"Who…was she?" Yang lightly asked under her breath with a sigh as she leaned back against the shattered wall.

Adam gave a disinterested grunt as he relaxed his hold on Wilt, just glad that both Frostbite and the masked woman were gone now. Now that the intimidating Aura of their "savior" was absent, he could now sense that a presence was indeed headed their way, and he was fairly confident that it was a friendly just as the woman said.

Yang rolled her eyes at her company's aloof attitude, but still asked, "So…did you find out anything about Blake? I didn't think you'd be here since my information pointed me to here."

Adam ignored the blond and continued to wait patiently for the arrival of the friendly, not in the mood to answer her questions. Although he was confident he had more information than her, he was sure that when he reported to the Council she would find out through them anyway. The fact that the Order was actively interested in Blake and observing her and her unknown friend from wherever they were deeply troubled him, but he didn't feel that it was necessary to tell Yang this. That and he simply didn't want to speak with her, she disliked him just as much as he disliked her after all.

Yang eyebrows bent into a vaguely frustrated glare as she replied. "Look, you don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you, but she's right y'know. We would have an easier time finding her if we worked together. Don't you think her safety is more important than the beef between us?"

Adam gritted his teeth as he was getting irritated from Yang's attempts to push him into a temporary truce. "I don't need your help Xiao Long, I can find her without you. You'll only be a nuisance."

Yang's eyes would have bled into their indicative red color if she had any usable Aura left from the fight. She didn't take too kindly to his tone or his blatant insult and replied with her own growl. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you think it means. Your skills at reconnaissance are mediocre at best, and the fact that you even found this place is laughable considering you probably repeated the same foolish tactic of walking into their territory and punching the information out of them. Stick to field combat." Adam retorted, not at all caring that Yang looked fully prepared to sock him.

"Oh I'm sorry, I guess I should be more thorough and kill my enemies but leave one survivor for information like I'm some kind of sadistic monster." It was blatantly clear that she was referring to him, the sarcasm made it a little more stinging, and while Yang could admit that showing her enemies that she would kill them would most likely yield more results information wise, she couldn't bring herself to go that far, unlike Adam who was more merciless than the average Beacon Agent. "I saved your pathetic ass didn't I?"

"If you had taken the time to observe the situation like any agent with a brain would, you would have seen that I was preparing to kill him. Like I said, nothing but a nuisance." Adam growled back, though a small part of himself knew that the only reason that the masked woman even saved him was most likely because of Yang. She seemed to be far more interested in preserving her life than his.

The muscles in Yang's arms clenched as she was ready to punch the Faunus square in the jaw for his complete lack of gratitude, making her wish for a split second that she had left him to twist in the wind, but it would hurt Blake to hear that the asshole was dead, so she stood by her decision. She still wanted the satisfaction of knocking that mask clean off of his face, but before she could achieve this she was halted by the sudden explosive entrance to their right.

"Alright you heinous devils, prepare for righteous punishment from the illustrious and dashingly handsome stud of Beacon that will leave you soaring through the sky into the sun, or my name is not Peter Po-"

Port ceased his speech of bravado as he noticed the battlefield's lack of enemy inhabitants, finding that the only souls in the audience to his entrance were the two young Beacon agents who were staring at their late assistant as if they were contemplating whether or not being left alone with their murderous Icy enemy was such a bad thing. After observing the field full of the shattered remnants of what used to be a building and the left over ice of the enemy they were fighting, the wizened agent grunted as he placed his blunder buster back on the holster on his back as he stroked his animate moustache. "Shame, and here I was looking forward to an invigorating challenge for the first time in years…"

"You're late." Adam said with an irritated frown, probably glaring at the man behind his eye mask, but the older man laughed it off boisterously as if he didn't have an ounce of concern. "Well, as the old saying says, better late than never!"

"If we hadn't gotten lucky this time, we would have both been dead when you got here." Yang informed with a twitching eye brow, slightly less irritated by the older man than Adam but only slightly.

"Well perhaps if two young hot heads would make more of an effort to report in to HQ concerning their whereabouts or their intended destination, they wouldn't feel the need for an unexpected rescue now would they?" Port laughed at the slight flinch his comeback elicited, believing it to be an indicator that he had won their small argument. It did, but Port had no idea how accurate he was when he said "unexpected rescue", and he wouldn't until they reported in to the Council as far as either of them were concerned.

"Can you please just help us get home now please? I think I have ice cubes in places I didn't even know I had." Yang complained lightly, wanting nothing more at that moment than to fall face first into a comfortable bed and fall asleep until next year, preferable next to a fire place until said ice cubes melted.

Yang and Adam soon found themselves hoisted over the surprisingly strong shoulders of the old man, not expecting him to be this strong at all given his age and physique, even with the assistance of Aura. Adam was less than pleased at his position and would have preferred to limp home than be carried like this, but Port's hold on him tightened momentarily to squeeze out a pained gasp from the Faunus and let him know that he didn't have a say in the matter as the man effortlessly began walking back to Beacon with them in hand. "You youths are so reckless I'm surprised you've made it this far. When I was a boy, we enjoyed our youth while it lasted, but we didn't let it blind us to common sense and acts of wise caution, or at least most of us did. I recall this time when a select few of our team during my starting years at Beacon chose to throw caution to the wind and charge a base full of Order agents that was considerably fortified, far too much for simply the two of them, but didn't even possess the equipment necessary for such a foolish attack. Luckily for them, I was on their team, and charged with them against my better judg-."

"For the love of Monty can we please just spend the next hour in sile-AAAAuuuuugggghhh!" Adam gasped and gargled slightly from the increased pressure around his injured ribs that effectively shut him up for his interruption. Yang would have been laughing her ass off at how Adam helplessly squirmed and wiggled around in the old man's grasp if she hadn't been contemplating doing the same. Port was tightening his grasp on her as well, but not enough to hurt her since she wasn't being as rude as Adam was, but it did keep her arms to her sides so that she couldn't use her hands to shield her ears from the tale that was sure to be longwinded and self-absorptive. The two teens were now in a fate far worse than any death Frostbite could have forced on them: being the prisoners to Port's stories….Monty bless their poor souls.

By the time they got back to Beacon hours later, Yang was in a catatonic coma from boredom, and it would forever be remembered as the day that Adam had actually shed a few tears in public.

_(Jaune's House)_

The night hadn't been as relaxing as Ren and Blake had hoped thanks to the intense competitiveness of both of their respective lovers. Their friendly drinking game had turned into an all out drinking war when neither Jaune nor Nora showed any signs of giving up on their game until their opponent was defeated. Ren and Blake wisely submitted, leaving the two to play a game of poker until the two were done, but their lovers had began to drink too much to the point that it was starting to get unhealthy. Ren chose to end the drinking game after Blake beat him in poker, and pulled the ever-familiar tranquilizer gun from his pocket and gave them both a dose since he knew he would have to fight them to end their game otherwise. The only reason he was able to hit them was because he had the gun no less than a foot close to them…but he would be damned before he told them when the woke up. Blake stared with a raised eyebrow as Ren got to work putting up the bottles that were finished yet and throwing away the ones that were empty after rinsing them out.

"It's hard being the responsible one." Blake said sympathetically as she got up to carry Jaune over to the couch. She would have done the same had Ren not beat her to the punch after finishing cleaning up quickly, and sat down on the couch while placing Nora's head on his lap after putting one of the pillows between her head and his lap for comfort. "A burden that I'm guessing you're familiar with?" Ren asked with a small smile as he gently pet her forehead, knowing that she liked while she slept. Nora smiled contently as she curled up in her sleep further into her lover, proving this to be accurate.

"You have no idea." Blake replied with a low chuckle as she followed Ren's example and, after situating him comfortably on her lap, gently pet her own lover in his sleep as her tail rested on his chest. Jaune hummed lightly in his sleep with a relaxed smile, but unlike Nora he hadn't curled up into her. The two quiet teens stayed in peaceful silence as they provided soothing comfort for their unconscious lovers, and after a few minutes of persistent silence Blake broke it with a curious question.

"How long have you known?"

She was slightly surprised to see that Ren wasn't fazed by her question at all and answered back as if she had only asked him what time it was. "If you mean besides the fact that I haven't seen a black cat all night besides you, Nora and I've had our suspicions, but it was clear after I gave you first aid at Luigi's." Ren answered as he petted.

"And…you're not at all shocked by this? Not even a little?" Blake asked, not at all expecting such a relaxed response from even someone like Ren.

Ren uncaringly shrugged his shoulders. "I've learned to accept that the world is full of unique oddities that society deems impossible or unrealistic. Your simply proof that this lesson has merit, and you've been a blessing to Jaune, so I won't argue with it…just please…no more attacking us." Ren shuddered at the horrific memories of when he and Nora had tried to save Jaune from Blake's wrath after he tried to give her a bath, only to fall prey to her as well. Blake embarrassedly blushed as she looked away and replied, "No promises if you try and take me to the vet or tub again."

Ren found her response funny enough to chuckle slightly, recalling the tale his uncle told him in which how he got those scratches on his face.

Now that Blake thought of it, this was truly the first time she and Ren had ever truly spoken to one another. Not just the occasional one word greetings they would exchange with respectful head-bows to each other, but truly spoke to one another. He was ever so calm and accepting, just as she always felt he was from the times she would watch him and Jaune interact, and it was nice to have a conversation with someone more like her than any of her other friends.

"I won't tell anyone and neither will Nora, so you can rest easy on that subject, I can assume that either you choose not to reveal yourself for personal reasons or that perhaps you maybe are limited by rules from some third party." Ren assured.

Blake giggled lightly as she leaned back more comfortably against the cushiony couch. "Jaune's right about you. You know so little sometimes, yet you always know so much at the same time." She was glad that she wouldn't have to explain why she couldn't make this known to others, it was hard enough explaining to Jaune.

Ren chuckled as he slowly trailed his petting to Nora's soft orange hair and let it slide in between his fingers as he pet her. "Well, it is one of the many gifts that I have been blessed with. If you'd like, I can reveal a secret of mine as well so that I don't have you at an disadvantage?"

Blake would usually decline such an offer, but Ren was an enigma and intrigued her. She knew very little about him, and for him to be willing to share something as personal as a secret with her spoke much about comfortable he was with her. It would be rude not to accept, at least that was how she felt. Blake nodded her head, wondering what Ren had to be secretive about. She couldn't have predicted what she saw next, and it left her with slightly widened eyes and a somewhat dropped jaw.

Ren's free hand reached back to the band that kept his hair back into a neat tail and pulled it off to let his hair breath. He then smoothed out his ebony-black hair to release some of its tension since he usually never let his hair free, but the real surprise was when two furry ears rose from the black locks that kept them flattened against his head.

"You're…a Faunus?" Blake asked, seeing the very answer in front of her, but not being able to find any other words to speak at the moment. She found this to be incredibly ironic to be on the receiving end of such a reveal since it was usually her doing this exact same type of revealing, the only difference being that he used a hair band instead of a bow.

Ren nodded his head as his round ears twitched, almost as if to stretch from being in a ungodly long slumber. "A sloth-bear to be precise."

It certainly did explain a few things for Blake, like when the first time they met she smelt the faintest scent of animal fur from him, but she assumed that this was because he helped his uncle at work sometimes, and like when he and Nora had eavesdropped on her and Jaune when she introduced herself as "Arryn", all the while from a considerable distance.

"And…you hide this? Does Jaune know?"

Ren nodded his head to both questions before replying, "Yes, he knows, I wouldn't hide something like that from him. I do hide it…for the same reasons you do I suppose. Less racism to worry about when humans believe me to be one of them, it's easier to find work, and it protects me…" Ren looked down at the angel in his laps as he stoked her cheek lightly. "…and her."

Blake also looked down at her friend, having a bit more respect for her for falling in love with a Faunus willingly without being intimidated by the hardships associated with it. This new knowledge only made it more clear just how much the young lovers were devoted to each other and adored one another. Nora was six handfuls due to her wild and unpredictable personality, no normal man could even dream of having the patience to maintain that twenty-four seven, but Ren was that exception due to his love for her, and Nora was just as brave since there were so many negatives to dedicating one's self romantically to someone whose race was black-listed and constantly under racial attack by her own race, but she evidently did not care and loved Ren all the same. "You two…really love each other, don't you?"

Ren nodded his head as he continued to lightly run the tip of his finger down her cheek. "I came from a broken home as a child. My mother died when I was very young…and my father just couldn't handle it. He let his grief take control of him, and I spent the next few years of my life being beaten by him over the smallest of things, sometimes for nothing at all. To top it all off, I had to deal with the racism a lot of our kind learn to deal with as we grow, so as you can imagine I had a particularly difficult life at the time, with no light in sight for years."

Blake was completely appalled by this story she found herself listening to attentively, clinging on to every word since she had no idea that Ren had been though this. "Dear Monty Ren…I'm so sorry. Didn't you tell anyone? You uncle surely must have done something?"

Ren shook his head as he continued to stroke Nora lovingly and gently. "I didn't tell a soul, and to this day I still don't fully understand why. I hated him for what he put me through, there was no definite reason not to turn him in or make my uncle aware…and yet I never had it in me to do so. Maybe it was pity for him…maybe it was because I knew that wasn't who he really was because I briefly remembered him being a loving father before Mother's passing…maybe because the pain was the only thing that felt real at the time, I never knew and still don't. It didn't really matter, in the end he took his own life one night while I was asleep and the police found out about what he did to me afterwards, but it's behind me now, so don't pity me." For the first time during his story, he frowned dismally before he continued. "When I was taken under the care of my uncle, I was considering taking my own life…nothing brought me happiness anymore…everyone either hated me for being a Faunus or were put off by my silent personality…it was a tempting choice, and I was fully prepared to do it…until I met her." Ren's somber mood disappeared just as quickly as it came as he smiled lightly and chuckled at the memory playing across his brain as if it happened yesterday. "It was pancake-day in the cafeteria at school one day, and I was sitting alone in the corner as usual, eating my own stack in silence, but my concentration was broke off by the sound of pitiful crying at a table close by. It was the new girl at school, and she had arrived late to school and missed out since the lunch line had ran out shortly before she arrived. Nobody wanted to share since pancakes were like gold in the cafeteria, it was one of the few foods the school served that didn't taste like crap, and they were of surprisingly good quality. Deciding to help her, I gave her my plate and gently put it in her hands. She looked up and down from the plate and me with the most shocked expression on her face as if I had just given her a plate of diamonds. I instantly found myself on the ground after she put the plate down and trapped me in the tightest hug I had ever found myself in, and as I could feel my soul bubble out of my body from the pressure being applied to it she shouted happily and excitedly "I LOVE YOU!" at the top of her lungs. She followed me around ever since, and no matter how much crap she was put through for being with me because of my heritage, not once did she ever leave me…and as the years went on I grew to love her back."

Ren slowly and carefully hugged Nora closer to his abdomen with a smile as he kissed her on the forehead, thanking the powers that be for giving him such treasure. "Everyday has been a gift since then, she saved me from myself and I'm grateful every day, good or bad, that I was blessed with her. That is why I told Jaune that if he ever found his soul mate, the one that he truly loved, make the most of it, because I can't envision my life having gone anywhere without mine."

Blake slowly looked down at her blonde boyfriend as her petting slowed down to an eventual halt. She let the story settle now that it was over, and replied, "That's…beautiful Ren…but why share this with me?"

"Because I can tell that you are very conflicted, it's on your face every single time you look at him, and since you've already come to terms with your feelings for him, that most likely means that your conflicted on whether or not to stay and be happy with him, or go back to wherever you came from." Ren answered, making Blake wonder if he himself had unlocked Aura at sometime in his life and his Semblance was mind-reading. She saw no reason in hiding it, and replied with small voice mixed with sadness and confusion, "What should I do…I want to stay with him…but I can't abandon my responsibilities."

Ren smiled, not seeing why she was so torn between the two as he asked, "Why not both?"

Blake looked at him as if he had spoken in a completely different language. "What?"

"Why. Not. Both? I don't fully understand the gravity of your situation, but I know that you shouldn't have to choose between love and responsibility. If Jaune truly loves you, and trust me he does, then he'll accept any consequences of allowing you that third choice, just as Nora has loved me despite my heritage."

Blake shook her head, not seeing the possibility of the golden third option to be feasible at all. "Ren…I can't get him or any of you involved in my real life. It would be dangerous, and I've already broken so many rules even telling you this much. What if there is truly no middle ground?"

"Then you **make **one." Ren answered without a shadow of a doubt that the only reason that it wasn't an option was because Blake wasn't trying to make it so. "There's always a way Blake…you just have to look for it and find it…and looking is not always through the means of the eyes."

Blake was struck silent by Ren's powerful, wise, and more than impactful words on her soul as she looked back down at Jaune. Was he right? Had she been agonizing over nothing this entire time when this option could be a choice? She honestly didn't know, Ren was making it sound like the easiest choice in the world, but she was confident that he didn't know the ramifications and potential blowbacks of trying to make such a choice…what it could mean for Jaune….but damn was it tempting now.

Ren stood up with Nora in his arms bridal style, happy that he had at least made me consider it, and gently added, "I'm not saying that it's the best choice, but it's a choice none the less and you should give it more though than you apparently have been. If you'll excuse me, I should get my destructive ball of sugar in bed. She tends to get very grumpy and whiny when she has a hangover, I recommend you do the same with your lovable idiot. A word of advice: keep the trash can next to the bed, he pukes when he does get hung over. Goodnight Blake." With his final words said, he left Blake to tend to Jaune with his lover in his arms. She stared intensively into his face as she was truly giving Ren's words serious thought, wondering how Jaune would feel on the subject. Taking momentary comfort in the fact that she couldn't even make the choice without consoling her boyfriend first, she put the thoughts at the very back of her mind for now and carried the blond on her back as she walked carefully up the stairs to his room. His arms instinctively wrapped around her as he snuggled his face into the nape of her neck, almost as if to reassure her that everything would be fine no matter what choice became the final conclusion to the dilemma, and she couldn't help but feel calmer and smile as she gently rested him onto the bed.

Blake stretched her body out with a tiny yawn, planning to join him in bed and start the next morning with a workout since she needed to get back in shape now that her injuries were gone, but before she could lie herself down her furry ears twitched from the familiar sound of her TOME beeping just loud enough from the other room for her to hear.

"_Tucson? No…he would be asleep by now…Pyrrha." _Blake concluded in thought as she immediately began walking over to the guest room, but stopped in her tracks as Ren was waiting outside the door with her secret stash in hand, having placed the beeping TOME on the top so that she could grab it easily.

"Um….thanks." She said awkwardly, grateful that Ren had respected her privacy enough to not open the TOME. He had sensitive hearing just as she did, so it wasn't surprising that he had heard it.

"No problem, just be glad that Nora isn't the one with sensitive hearing. She would have shoved it in places you didn't even know you had then call it." Ren replied with a smile, taking mischievous delight in Blake's shivers since she knew that he was telling the truth.

"Noted…" Blake said with terror in her eyes and body language, vowing to never wake up the beast that was Nora when she was asleep, even though she couldn't see it being worse than Yang with her hair cut….she still shivers from the memory of being chased with a whip.

After Ren left to return to the guest room, Blake immediately placed her box down and retrieved the TOME to open it, wondering what Pyrrha could want at this time of night. She got her answer as soon as she opened it and read the message that popped up.

_Next week we begin our mission._

Her workout regime went through some extensive changes as she closed the TOME.

**Hope you enjoyed it guys, but I would like to address a few more things now that you're done. As you may have have noticed, the rating has changed to M, so I will hold back a bit less on some of the sexual, dark, and violent themes, but don't worry. Like I've said before, this won't change the plot in any way, there will just be less censoring at certain parts. Also, addressing Ren's backstory, please, if you are in a similar position and you feel as if you're having suicidal thoughts, please don't do it. There is help out there for you , and if you can hang in there you might even find something (or someone in this case) that will make life much better than before for you.**

**Anyway, 'till next time guys.**


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