"The Schnee Dust Company has been wantonly placing kill-orders on Faunus individuals suspected of having ties with the White Fang. All contacted PMC's and other groups required for those hits have been neutralized, shut down or otherwise impaired. Their actions are straining the already-weak relationship between humanity and Faunus-kind. Their actions will cause war. A hit has been prepared to avoid that outcome."

- Executive order [DATA DELETED]

Location established. Timelink established. Beacon Academy medical bay, 20:16

She was back in the house again, back before it had burned to the ground. Everything was still intact, even the little pieces of art that hung at the wall behind the living room. There were lights illuminating the house, bathing the wooden interior in a pleasant, yellow glow.

Why was she here? How had this happened? It was supposed to be just another small mission, not…not this.

And her mother was there too. Her long, messy hair flowed loosely down her back and her dark clothes had a welcoming tint to them. "Yang!" she said, looking up at her daughter with a happy expression. She looked so genuine. So real. "You're back!"

Yang backed away, slowly shaking her head. There were things she wanted to say…things she wanted to do. She wasn't supposed to be here, she wasn't supposed to be like this! "Hey mommy."

"Come on, I want to show you something." Her mother turned around to show her the way, revealing the black feathers she had adorned her hair with this evening.

She wanted to shout at the woman. Demand why she had done what she had done, anything but a simple greeting. Why? Why had she said that? Why couldn't she do what she needed to do?

Yang looked down at her own body and, much to her dismay, saw that she was a small child. Her hair was shorter, her clothes a bit too large to fit her. Little children weren't supposed to be angry.

And then it changed. The light turned dark, the air grew chilly and thick, pressing down on Yang's heart like a thick, smothering carpet. Her face hurt…and she knew why.

Yang carefully touched her cheek, which was burned and ached. Her tiny body lay on the ground, while her mother sat in the corner, crying. Just like that, all that malice and anger had turned into sorrow and guilt.

It was just like before. Like all the times before. But this time, it was different. The floor was on fire. Smoke, dense and filthy, rose up from the burning wood and slowly started to gather in the room.

Yang screamed and the walls exploded into fire as well. Her mother did not move.

"Yang?"

Something drove her to get up and move –to get away from the exploding fire and all-consuming heat. She staggered through the thick screen of smoke, but the flames did not hurt her. Pieces of her clothes caught alight, but she did not feel the touch of the fire-

"Yang!"

The entire house was burning now; the front door simply broke apart underneath her hands and she fell outside, where the cold air of the night rushed to meet her face. There were creatures standing there, with hides that were as black as the night. They stood upright like real people and their faces were reflective visors in which she could see her own, blood-red eyes-

Yang woke with a start and jumped upright, her fists ready to strike. It took her a few moments to catch her breath though. "Wha…what?"

It wasn't mother. Weiss stood in front of her with a skeptical expression, with white hair and clothes. No feathers. She had her hands on her hips and she did look rather irritated though. "Finally awake?"

Blinking a few times, Yang replied, "Y-yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Ruby's awake!"

"Ruby…?" Yang looked over at her sister, who shyly waved at her from underneath her white blankets. Freaking finally, it had been hours! "Ruby!" She banished the feelings of hate and pain and rushed to her sister's side at once.

"We didn't want to startle you," Blake said from the other side of the medical bay. "Were you dreaming?"

"No," Yang replied. She gently reached Ruby's shoulder and lifted the bandages, inspecting the wound underneath. "Or maybe. I don't remember."

"Hmm…" Blake didn't further inquire on the subject, but she didn't look completely convinced.

It had been a few hours since they had returned to Beacon and, following their fight, they had been deported straight towards the medical bay. It seemed that the little redhead had really needed her rest.

"Ouch!" Ruby gave a yelp of pain as Yang rubbed some disinfectant on the wound in her shoulder. "Careful, that hurts!"

Yang quickly pulled the bottle away, but she wasn't done with it yet. "Sorry." Even though it was important, she could at least try to take it easy. Ruby had been through a lot lately and she didn't want to force things. With what had happened still being left unspoken, it was only a matter of time anyway.

"You know what will hurt more?" Weiss angrily said, sitting at Ruby's bed with her arms crossed over her chest. "A nasty infection because you neglected to clean it. Yang, continue."

Ruby grumbled and reluctantly allowed Yang to continue treating her. Medical personnel had left the bay after they had determined Ruby's wound to be superficial. Her Aura was perfectly capable of healing the muscle-damage and all that was left was to keep it from growing nasty. A responsibility that Ruby should be capable of holding.

Of course, Yang was nowhere near ready to accept that. It wasn't every day you were stabbed in the shoulder like that, especially not for a fifteen-year-old. Well, almost sixteen, but still. "I still can't believe he broke your Myrtenaster."

Weiss scowled and looked away. "Thank you for reminding me. I did not think he would stab Ruby either."

"Guys," Ruby muttered.

"Well, to be fair, she stabbed him first," Blake dryly remarked. A book lay by her side, unopened. She had brought it with her to kill the time during their medical check-up, but Yang didn't think she had actually opened it.

"Guys?"

"Can we please not talk about who stabbed who?" Yang loudly demanded, using a piece of bandage to clean Ruby's exposed wound and another one to bind it again. "This is bad enough as it is!"

"Guys!" Ruby interrupted, her small frame nearly tremoring with pent-up emotions. "Can you just quit arguing for a few moments?"

The three of them grew quiet as they stared at their leader. A few hours of sleep and now Ruby was ready to take action again, it seemed.

"Ruby?"

"Myrtenaster can be repaired. My wound will heal. But right now, we need to focus on the bigger picture." She looked as determined as when she was making plans to take on giant Grimm, organized crime or friends running amok. "He was supposed to abandon Beacon to find and murder General James Ironwood."

It was just so complicated.

"Ironwood wasn't there," Blake said. She glanced at Ruby with a concerned expression, before adding, "Nobody was there…except for the voices in his head, I guess."

"That's not true," Yang started to protest, but her voice already broke off halfway. The truth…what was true? Had he truly lost his mind, went crazy and ran off to get himself killed? Was he still suicidal? No, that couldn't be. They had…they had solved that.

Hadn't they?

"We can't be sure," Ruby said. "First things first. The General was not there, but he was supposed to be the target. If he wasn't there, there are two options left. The first?"

Weiss sighed. "Theoretically, that would suggest that General Ironwood was not the target."

"Right. The second?"

"Ironwood knew that a hit was coming and fled," Blake then added. Compared to Yang and Weiss, she had suffered the least during the fight. Minor lacerations and a nasty bruise, but her ribs were still intact and her lungs completely undamaged.

Yang could think of multiple reasons why both options were false, but she kept her thoughts for herself. She trusted that Ruby's judgement was intact.

"But that won't work, because…"

"Because that place wasn't an Atlas structure," Yang replied. She was the only one who was standing, but not because the others were too hurt to do so. She always grew uncomfortable when she sat down during important arguments or problems –it just made her feel restless and frustrated. Standing worked the best. "Strange machines, nasty technology, several dead bodies…"

"And let's not forget the obvious style that we know so well," Weiss then sneered. "Black and metallic. For an organization with unlimited resources and equipment, they sure lack creativity and subtleness."

"What's wrong with black?" Blake then asked.

"Nothing's wrong with black on occasion Blake," Ruby said with a small smile. "But when your clothes, your weapons and the interior of your rooms are all black, something is wrong."

"Right then," the Faunus replied with a small hint of annoyance. "Continue."

Ruby scraped her throat. "Ehm…yes…not an Atlas building, corpses that were badly composed…not Ironwood…I'm missing something. What am I missing?"

"Apart from a functioning shoulder?" Weiss suggested. "How about the fact that the place was empty? Completely devoid of people, weapons, files and information? Or the fact that the facility was suffering from uncontrolled plant growth for at least months?"

Wow…Weiss sounded really pissed off. At Ruby, no less. That was…odd. Ruby hadn't broken her rapier, Ruby hadn't caused her to be injured and Ruby hadn't allowed their target to slip past them.

Yang; wasn't very certain about that. One thing she did know: Ruby had gotten hurt. Knowing Weiss's ways of thinking…was the Heiress pissed because of worry? Upset that Ruby could have gotten hurt worse than just stab-wound in her shoulder? If that was the case, the two of them were very much alike in that aspect. Big-sister instinct and all that.

"That is true," Blake verified. "The facility was abandoned and there was no sign of any clear goals. Again, mental damage."

Ruby stared at her for a few seconds. When she next spoke, her voice was less certain than before. "Moving on…team CFVY. What were their injuries again?"

Yang reached for her scroll and opened the dossier again. "Wait one, I got it right here." Team RWBY hadn't been the first team to be deployed against him. Just a day ago, Headmaster Ozpin had sent team CFVY to intercept and capture the idiot. The results had been…mixed. She had expected no less from her little soldier when she had heard the news, but those who did not truly know him…boy those people had to have been upset. Coco's team wasn't exactly a team of pushovers.

"Velvet was fine, right?" Blake asked.

"There's a big line between fine and conscious," Ruby said. "That she was still aware of people prodding her with needles doesn't really mean that she was fine."

"Velvet had a dislocated shoulder and several bruises," Yang said.

The team grew silent for a few moments, before Weiss carefully said, "So she was fine after all?"

"Well, considering who she went up against…yep. Velvet's fine."

Yang chuckled. "Coco had it the worst, followed by Fox and Yatsuhashi." Badass as they might be, she was not the biggest fan of team CFVY. She liked Velvet, but Miss Adel had a special case of head-lodged-up-arse syndrome. Arrogant, cruel and pretty much blind to dangers. "She's gonna need new sunglasses now."

"Are you sure that you are not taking this too personal?" Blake asked.

Yang simply raised an eyebrow and gave her a skeptical look, before reading the rest of the injuries. "A concussion for Coco, a minor case of oxygen-starvation for the big guy and Fox was used as a punching bag. Huh…so he did learn something from me."

"He didn't kill them," Weiss said. "Most fortunately, but still. That is not like him. If he was really growing mentally unstable, he would have murdered them."

Yang grunted. "According to Velvet's report, she told him that he didn't need to kill them. If he spared her team, she would let him go. Which she did."

"Clever girl," Ruby remarked. "Gimme!"

She reached for the scroll, but Yang pulled it just outside her reach and smirked. "How do you say that?"

With an explosive sigh, Ruby corrected herself. "Please give me your scroll before I am forced to steal it from your fingers?"

"Good enough."

"So if I understand this, he did not kill team CFVY because he was still stable…and he wasn't truly after General Ironwood?" Blake asked.

"Not sure…he was unconscious when Yang found him…the wound I gave him was already healing."

"Well," Yang then said, deciding that she had had enough of these speculations and wild guesses, "there is only one way to find out. We ask him."

She was met with a disturbing lack of response. Weiss and Ruby exchanged a meaningful look, Blake shook her head and looked away…and none of them agreed! "What?"

"I…don't think that is a good idea today," Ruby hesitantly said. "Today was a difficult day…I think it's for the best if we leave him alone for now."

Weiss stood up from Ruby's bed. "And not just for now. Remember what Headmaster Ozpin said? He wants to talk to us when we've recovered enough. And I just know that someone did not write her mission report! I won't say any names though…Ruby."

Young Ruby chuckled nervously and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever do you mean?"

"The mission report concerning the engagement and subsequent captivity of the Operative?" Blake innocently suggested.

"Oh, you mean the report I couldn't write because of my poor, very much stabbed shoulder?"

"Right."

"In that case, we're good to go. Weiss, Blake? Could you go ahead and find the Headmaster? I need to have a small talk with my dear sister."

Oh…uh-oh. That sounded serious.

Weiss and Blake both nodded and moved towards the exit. While Blake understood the need for privacy for the two sisters, it didn't look like Weiss shared that same thought. "You had better take it easy!" She firmly told Ruby. "If I hear you two argued, I will personally see to it that Braunschweiger will serve as a mediator!"

"It won't come to that," Ruby replied with a smile. "I promise!"

Weiss visibly hesitated before accepting that nothing worthy of concern was going to happen. However, when she closed the door and left, Yang knew that whatever it was Ruby wanted to talk about, it would be anything but unworthy of concern.

"So," Yang asked, checking to see if Weiss and Blake had really left, "What do you want to-"

"Are you angry with me?"

"-talk about. Okay then." She sat down next to her sister on the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist, carefully so as to not hurt her shoulder. "Because you stabbed him?"

"No, stabbing is what happened to my shoulder. What I did to him was impalement on Myrtenaster, all the way to the hilt."

Yang couldn't help but notice the guild in her sister's voice, the brief break in her voice at the end of her sentence. "I'm not angry with you. The two of you both hurt each other, but the circumstances were different."

"It was in the same fight."

"Yeah, but you did it believing you had to prevent war between Vale and Atlas and safe a friend. He did it because he had to get past you. The only way to keep us occupied long enough…was to hurt you."

"I could have killed him!"

"If you used Crescent Rose, you might have. It was a rapier, Ruby. He's had worse."

Ruby looked away. "I… guess. So how are you holding up?"

With a grin, Yang ruffled her hair and said, "Depending on what Ozpin wants to say to us, I think I'm content. Nobody died, team RWBY didn't need to avoid some big political incident and we've got our friend back. I think I can call this a victory."

"If this is victory, I don't want to see defeat…" Ruby muttered.

"That's the spirit! Come on, Ozpin wants to talk to us, right?"

"Yay…"

Yang pulled Ruby back to her feet and checked the bandage on her shoulder. "Then we're good to go! Come on."

As it turned out, the Headmaster was not already waiting for them in his office. His really big office with all the cool gears and things. Blake and Weiss were standing at the ready in front of his door, but they didn't look very confident. Had something happened?

"Ready?" Ruby asked her partner.

"As if," Weiss replied with a soft voice. "The Headmaster is…busy. We can come in within a few minutes, but…"

"Busy? Busy how?"

"Something happened," Blake said, her expression grave. "Something bad."

"Well, what is it then?"

Weiss and Blake exchanged a meaningful look before the Heiress said, "Listen, the Breach caused more trouble than we initially thought. When that Torchwick guy let those Grimm in…and when the Tormentor and the Juggernaut showed up, Vale was pretty much leveled. But that was structural damage. Buildings and infrastructure. But when Onyx was revealed to be…well, what they did…the Kingdom of Vale suddenly got the interest of the entire world."

Onyx…even speaking that word lately was bound to piss somebody off. The n=on-governmental organization responsible for half the world's problems and the disappearance of the other half did not leave a lot of room for morality. They experimented on people, but also saved them. They destroyed entire cities' worth of human beings, but saved even more of them.

And Yang despised them. Everybody at Beacon did. "And?"

Blake sighed. "And Vacuo sent an entire division of their military police to Vale to keep an eye on things. They arrive today and they have the Headmaster worrying sick."

Damn.

"Why would Ozpin be worrying about new police units?" Ruby asked. "After the thing that Torchwick pulled, more police is a good thing, right?"

"Ruby," Blake said, "you do know what a military police is, right? What Vacuo's unit is infamous for?"

The redhead shook her head. "No idea."

"Let me explain. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but Vacuo…that's different. When Ash kills someone, does he do that because he is evil? Or a murderer?"

Ash…now that was an ethical comparison. An unfair one at that; the guy was mentally fractured.

"No," Ruby replied with an unsure expression. "At least…he only kills people he thinks are threats to him. In his head, it is self-defense. He doesn't know any better."

"Exactly. He doesn't know any better. Now imagine you did know better, but you just don't care. That you had military training and that you don't care if the person you are facing is a Grimm, or a woman, or a child. That you just cared for using your training to hurt others."

"Then I would be a psychopath?"

"Correct. Vacuo's military police is infamous for having the world's shortest fuse –shorter than that of a Death Stalker- and for their vulgar displays of violence and police brutality." Blake finished that sentence with a bitterness that she had not used since the time she had spoken about how the White Fang had fallen from their original political viewpoint. It was the same bitterness that Yang had often heard from people who spoke of sensitive subjects when they had too much experience in that matter to stay objective or calm.

"You've had contact with the Vacuo police then?" Yang asked.

Blake crossed her arms and looked at the ground. "Yes. A small protest on the Faunus side, six years ago. Some city in Vacuo."

"So what happened?"

"Violence happened."

With a hearty sigh, Yang nudged her partner's shoulder and said, "So these guys resort to violence with everything they do?"

"That's putting it subtly, yes."

Ruby groaned and slid down against the wall. "Great. That's about the last thing we need right now. And this unit is supposed to keep Onyx out?"

"According to the call that Ozpin was making, they are."

"Then I can't wait for them to meet our friends," Yang said with grim satisfaction.

"Yang!" Ruby said with a shocked tone. "Don't say that! If they get into trouble with the police, they will be arrested and deported to some asylum!"

Wait, what? "I beg your pardon?"

Before her sister could give her reply, the door swung open and revealed the coffee-drinking glasses-wearing form of Headmaster Ozpin, fresh from his recent phone call.

"Ladies?" He said, taking a sip from his cup. "I take it that the four of you are healthy enough to do this?"

Ruby jumped to her feet. "Of course sir. Team RWBY stands ready."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. If you would follow me?"

The team silently followed the Headmaster into his office, whereupon he sat down on his chair and the four of them kept standing. Just like old times.

"So," he said after a few moments of silence. "You four have had an eventful day today. How is your injury, Miss Rose?"

Ruby straightened. "Healing just fine, sir."

"I trust that it is. Miss Schnee, your weapon was destroyed during the fight. Is that correct?"

Weiss scraped her throat before replying. "It was. I will find a way to repair it though. Sir."

"Good." Ozpin sighed and leant forwards, resting his head on his intertwined fingers. "We live in uncertain times these days. The White Fang has retreated to the shadows, fearing that Onyx would hunt them to their destruction. General Ironwood has captured Roman Torchwick, but that is not enough for him. He fears that Vale will not be able to cope on its own. Do you?"

Yang did not know to whom the question was posed, but it was Ruby who replied. "I think that Vale will overcome whatever gets thrown at it."

It wasn't that simple. During the Breach, the rarer forms of Grimm had shown their ugly faces at the worst possible time. Onyx had been forced to destroy half the city with a bombing run to take out the Juggernaut, while the Tormentor had disappeared. If the thing had managed to survive that…

"Unfortunately, the remaining Councils do not believe so. Mistral has stayed out of our business, but the Kingdom of Vacuo has chosen to take a more…active role in maintaining peace in our Kingdom. I am certain that Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee already overheard that section. Vacuo has agreed to send a unit of well-trained military police forces to this city, to help safeguard our wellbeing."

"Sir, can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"Why do you tell us specifically? Why not just…hold a speech? And tell everyone in general?"

A glimmer of amusement played over Ozpin's eyes. "Because it is your team that is the most likely to get into trouble, Miss Rose. And while you may, as the term goes, play around with the Vale Police Department, this new unit will not let such actions go unpunished. Consider what were to happen if a team of Huntresses-to-be got themselves involved in a fight with the Vacuo police force? Surely that would be a political incident waiting to happen. And…"

"And if some of our friends got themselves involved in such a fight, it would be instant war?" Ruby suggested.

"Indeed. Onyx has not made itself popular lately. Their crimes of war and disregarding of martial law has stretched their relationships with the other Kingdoms rather thin. So consider this an official warning, ladies. Keep yourselves out of trouble, keep your friends out of trouble and contact team JNPR, LACG and CRDL as well."

"Will do sir."

"See to it that you will. Also worth mentioning is that a psychiatrist has been assigned to Beacon."

Ruby blinked a few times. "A doctor?"

"No," Weiss whispered, "that's a physician."

"Considering our recent problems, the school board has considered it wise to stage conversations between specific individuals and this psychiatrist. Rest assured that she is considered an expert in what she does. I would recommend speaking truthfully if your turn comes up. It will not do for teams to fall apart in the middle of a mission because of unresolved tensions, issues or problems, now would it?"

"Why a shrink?" Yang asked. "For Ash and Lily? Cal?"

"For any individuals who are in need of counseling, Miss Xiao Long. I cannot imagine what were to happen if one were to experience the full effects of the Tormentor Grimm in the middle of a fight, or how a near-death situation would affect one's psyche. To say nothing of the strain of a war on the development of students blooming in their teen years, affected by experiences on the field that clash with hormonal influences." He paused. "Sometimes, those who are in dire need of such services are closer than you might think. Onyx is not the only cause of traumas."

"I'll assess if my team has members in need of a psychic shrink, sir. If that is all, I would like to-:

Ozpin reared back and observed them for a few moments, shutting Ruby up with nothing more than a stern look "We've placed the Operative in isolation, which includes measures to keep him from hurting himself or others. There has not been any improvement in his situation, I am afraid. Miss Xiao Long? Do not visit him until you are allowed to."

"Why do you need to tell me?" Yang exclaimed, looking around for support. Ruby, Blake and Weiss were just staring at her with skeptical expressions. "Oh fine, I'll behave. Sir."

"That will be all then. You may take your leave."

The four of them nodded and turned towards the door. At the last moment, Ruby turned around and asked, "What will happen to them now? Can they stay at Beacon?"

For the first time since she had known him, Headmaster Ozpin hesitated before he spoke. "I do not know."

"Worst and best case scenarios?"

"Ruby!" Weiss hissed.

But Ozpin didn't seem to mind. "In the best case scenario, others will recognize that the best way to help these people is to have them stay with those they like. In the worst case scenario, Fireteam Lima and the Operative will be removed from Beacon Academy and taken to a different Kingdom, where they will have to go through a full psychiatric workout, which might take years. That is not even considering the possibility of Onyx taking them back with force."

Yang barely had the time to let those words sink in before Ruby thanked the Headmaster for his answer and went for the door again. What she did hear was Ozpin placing one last remark before she did.

"Ruby, you will have to consider what will be better for them. Sometimes, the right path is not the most pleasant or fair path."

Ruby inhaled sharply, but she did not turn around to face the Headmaster again. "Noted, sir."

It didn't take an older sister or partner to see that the last part of the conversation had deeply disturbed Ruby. Blake politely closed the door behind them and then watched as Weiss placed an arm around Ruby's middle and gave her a hug. "Come on. Ozpin doesn't always know what's best either. He makes mistakes, right?"

"Yes," Ruby replied with a soft voice. "More than any man, woman or child, according to him. But that's what I'm afraid of."

"What do you mean?"

Ruby took another deep breath. "How do we know when a mistake has been made? Won't it be too late by then?"

"I don't know if the choice is ours to make," Blake said. It wasn't really the best way Yang knew to cheer someone up, but anything would do right now. "That's the problem with free will. It only becomes a mistake of you make the choice."

"That's great," Yang loudly said. "So long as someone else forces their choice on us, it's fine!"

"That's not what I said."

"Then let me say something," Weiss snapped. "It's late and I'm hungry. Worrying isn't going to repair Myrtenaster and it won't heal Ruby's wound. So what do you say?"

"I'm for!" Ruby said, nearly teleporting to her partner's side. "And tomorrow, we can decide on what to do."

"Very well," Blake said.

Yang groaned, but she failed to see how Weiss's plan could be wrong. "Fine. I'm in. But tomorrow we're going to do some serious meddling again!"

"Wouldn't want to go without it.

*Field Agent "Frost" Schnee calculated worst-case scenario: the complete and utter destruction of the Schnee Dust Company, including the loss of potential heirs and allies. Request pending.*

"Ah yes, the prodigal son. Of course he would suggest that. Get this message to Agent Granit. Tell him that Ozpin needs to know that we will not stand idly by while the world succumbs to war. Have Ozpin know that we know."