Chapter One: A New Semester:

January 1st 1463 of the Vytali Calendar:

A cold wind blew in from the sea, bringing chilling snow to the island of Patch. A thick layer of snow covered the land in a white blanket, undisturbed except for the occasional tracks of the local Grimm. It had been a difficult winter, forcing most of the island's community indoors to wait out the icy storms. At one particular cliff overlooking the sea, battered by the waves and spray kicked up by the harsh weather, were two people who had braved the chill to make a very important visit.

One was a tall man with heavily greyed blond hair and an age and worry worn face wrapped in a thick, brown overcoat that he kept shut tight, his arms crossed as he hung back on the edge of a treeline near the cliff. Further ahead, on the other end of a clearing that extended from the edge of the nearby forest to the cliff's edge, was a woman, standing silently.

She was of average height, with dark hair that extended just beyond her shoulders and dressed in a dirty, black environmental jumpsuit that covered nearly all of her body. Over the suit was an equally dirty and bedraggled black skirt and corset, both of which had smeared, red cloth along the lining. With the exception of a few lines of age and wear, her face was surprisingly youthful with large silver eyes framed by rather rounded features. Her arms were crossed, keeping the long, tattered, red cloak that was whipping around in the wind close to her as she looked down at the ground at the end of the clearing, right in front of the cliff's edge and the broiling sea beyond. Her hood was down, letting her face feel the chilled winds as they buffeted her, the expression she wore an odd mixture of sombre melancholy, acceptance and slight, abnormal joy.

Ruby Rose gave a tired smile as she stared at the gravestones that were laid in the ground in front of her. They were simple slabs of stone that had been laid over un-dug graves that would have been empty even if they had been made. They were memorials, one laid next to the other in silent remembrance of the two women who had meant so much to the Xiao-Long and Rose families.

'Hi, Mom,' Ruby said as she looked down at the gravestone on her right, giving the same awkward smile she always wore when talking to her mother's grave. She then turned to the second on her left. 'Hi, Yang.'

Both gravestones were identical, rectangular slabs of featureless grey stone that were planted in the cliff's soil at an angle so that their faces could be more easily read. The right-hand gravestone had a stylised rose carved into its face, an epitaph that read, "Summer Rose. Thus Kindly I Scatter," etched beneath it in a lowered rectangle sunk into the stone. The left-hand gravestone had a stylised burning flame carved into it, the sunken box containing it's own epitaph, "Yang Xiao Long. I Burn, Brightly." Ruby and her father had chosen Yang's words, thinking that they, above all others, had suited her the best, even if some people had been confused.

'It's been a while,' Ruby continued, looking between the two gravestones for a second. 'I'm sorry I'm late this year. I kind of got sidetracked on the way back from Anima and the snow really slowed me down. Dad wanted me to catch up with him as well when I got home so you can blame him if you want.' She angled her head back for a moment, indicating her father who was still waiting by the trees.

'I'm not really supposed to talk about where I've been,' Ruby then said. 'You know how it is with these secret missions. I mean, I don't exactly know who'd be listening here, other than you two. Still, it's supposed to be the principal of the thing; you know.'

Ruby's smile disappeared as a sad frown took it's place. 'Its all been getting harder out there, you know. Pierette's still not talking to us and the last time we tried she told the Council to bar all of our calls. The Society's been getting bigger and bigger as well but it's also harder to track them. Me and Jaune are trying our best but I just…' Ruby trailed off as she sighed and tried to put her smile back on.

'Sorry,' she said. 'I just needed to say that to someone who won't actually make it about work. Jaune knows, you know, but it's his job as much as it's mine and he has to work out what it all means. He can't just let me unload anymore.'

A particularly strong breeze then flew in from the sea, hitting Ruby with full force and pushing her back a step. Ruby shivered and clutched her cloak, pulling it around her body as her teeth chattered a little. Even after winters in Solitas the cold was difficult for her to ignore.

'Sorry,' she said to the gravestones again. 'I'm going to have to finish things here. I'll try to visit again before I have to go out again.'

With that Ruby turned away from the two graves and walked over to the forest. Still feeling the cold, she wrapped the cloak around her tightly. "I'm going to have to patch this up again," she thought as she looked over the rips and holes in the stained, red cloth.

Her father straightened out, pushing himself off of the tree he had been leaning against and uncrossing his arms as Ruby approached. Ruby gave the man a smile and nodded, indicating that she was definitely finished with her little tradition. He used to do the same thing after Yang died but he had stopped years ago, finding the whole thing as a little unsettling and more likely to dredge up bad feelings than it did for Ruby.

'I'm done,' Ruby said. 'Thanks for coming out with me, dad. I know it's difficult but...'

'It's alright Ruby,' Taiyang Xiao-Long interrupted, raised his hand to wave her concerns away. 'It's not a problem, really.'

'Still,' Ruby continued, 'you know it means a lot to me. Thanks.'

'No problem,' Taiyang said with a smile. He then turned and began to walk into the woods. Ruby followed after him, picking up her pace a little so that she could catch up and take a place by his side.

'So,' Taiyang began as he and Ruby moved deeper into the forest. 'Will you be staying on Patch much longer or...' he trailed off, an expectant look in his eye. Ruby knew that he already knew her answer and smiled apologetically.

'Sorry, dad,' Ruby said. 'I won't really be staying any longer after tonight. I've got to get to Beacon and make a report at some point. I'm already kind of late anyway. Besides, I need to see Jaune as well. I've been putting it all off for long enough. You understand right?'

'Yeah, yeah,' Taiyang answered, a slight downcast look to the smile he wore. 'I knew this would be happening the moment I let you go to Signal.'

'You sure you're not lonely?' Ruby asked. 'I mean… I could always see about getting some help, take the edge off my workload and visit more.'

'Ruby,' Taiyang responded, frowning. 'I'm fine. You ask me this every time you come back.' His smile quickly returned. 'Don't worry about me. I know how to look after myself. Besides, Signal's keeping me busy enough.'

'Really?' Ruby asked, her smile turning sly. 'You haven't been looking on any interlink dating sites have you?'

Taiyang's face became comically nervous and suspicious and he stopped, stooping a little to look around as if he was being watched. 'No,' he said in an exaggeratedly trembly voice, 'why would you think that.' Ruby sniggered a little as her father straightened again. 'Seriously, Ruby?' he chuckled. 'Are you still making that joke?'

'No,' Ruby immediately answered, adopting the same pose and voice that her father had just taken. She then laughed and straightened again. 'Alright, you've got me. I still try it with Jaune. I think he's humouring me these days, though.'

The two of them laughed a little as they continued down the path that they had practically single-handedly beaten through the underbrush. Ruby felt a little better as she took in the almost pristine snow covered woodland around her. Despite seeing much the same in the wild Solitasian mountains for several months in the past year, Patch's version of the scenery was so much more soothing.

'Ruby?' Taiyang then said, a concerned tone in his voice. 'You alright?'

'Yeah, dad,' Ruby replied. 'Just glad to be home for a bit.'

Taiyang sighed, his face downcast. 'I wish you could stay for a little longer, you know?'

'Yeah,' Ruby replied. 'Sorry, dad. I wish I could too. I wish I could bring Jaune here; and Pierrette.' A sad frown emerged on her face. 'I can't right now though.'

'It's really that bad isn't it?' Taiyang asked.

'Yeah,' Ruby answered, honestly. She had to keep a lot of secrets but her father was one of the people she believed needed to know. He had seen enough to qualify. 'It's getting worse. Not in the kingdoms but the wild lands and the disputed territories are getting more dangerous. There's Grimm and the Society out there and they're planning something; something big.'

'Well,' Taiyang said as he seemed to digest the vague words he had been given in a heavy, meaningful tone, 'I believe in you.'

'Thanks, dad,' Ruby said in response.

'It's no problem, Ruby,' Taiyang continued. 'I know you'll deal with this head on. You always have.'

Ruby didn't say anything, merely smiling at her father. She knew he meant every word he had said and, for the most part, she believed him as well. A small part of her, however, continued to worry and doubt. She had seen only a fraction of what the Elder Grimm Society had been mobilising and, after what Salem's faction had done during the Witch War, she knew how dangerous they were if they were prepared enough. She, Jaune and the rest of the Order needed to act as soon as possible but there was just so much they needed to counter and less and less time to prepare.

"I'm sorry, dad," Ruby thought as she looked away from her father and back at the woodland again. "I do want to stay a little bit longer but I need to get back to Beacon as soon as I can. My work's just never done."

January 2nd1463 of the Vytali Calendar:

Rapture Brostein looked out of the window of her bedroom and sighed. The view of her home-street was rather depressing. She had always thought it had been a dejecting sight but after the decorative architecture and carefully tended vegetation of Beacon, surrounded by the natural beauty of the plateau that shared the academy's name, the drab, aged terraced housing that stared back at her through the window were especially disheartening. She had heard that Stefan Basilikos, Aurora's father and her own father's employer had built the block better than most others in the district but they were still rather unimpressive from the angle she was watching them from.

'Gods I want to get out of this place,' Rapture mumbled to herself as she packed several more sets of clothes into her extra duffel-bag. The shopping trips with her friends in the previous semester had left her with more clothes and, therefore, she had more luggage to bring. It was a new experience for her.

Her time back home hadn't been that arduous. Her parents had welcomed her with open arms, all too happy to have her back and some of her neighbours had even recognised her and given their own well wishes. The Winter Solstice had also been very nice, her father's seasonal bonus having gone to the holiday's dinner celebration like usual. This year her father had managed to come across a particularly large smoked ham at a bargain, making the meal that bit more special.

For what was going to be the last time for several months, Rapture looked around her room. It was small but she hadn't really had to adjust back to it, having remained used to having little space after sharing her dorm room with three other people. The single person bed took up most of the space, the rest filled by a cupboard that also had the chest of drawers built in. After spending several months in Beacon with the numerous appliances and amenities that they had built in, it had been a bit harder to get used to having so little again; much more so than the space issue.

Folding up some clothes, Rapture placed them in her extra bag. They were the last of her essentials and the rest of the space would be given over to her books and the accessories she actually did use. The first to go in was the ammunition belt she had bought a few months ago. It still didn't have any ammunition to be placed on it but she had spent much of the holiday planning the upgrades she was going to make to her weapons and equipment.

'Rapture,' a deep voice called out from outside the door. 'You in there?'

'Yeah, dad,' Rapture said as she closed up the bag.

'I'm coming in then,' her father said. The door opened and a large figure squeezed his way through the doorway.

Harrow Brostein was a massive man; a crocodile faunus, like her, who had most of his body covered in thick, leathery scales with the exception of his fingers and the front of his face. Like Rapture his more human skin was a dark, greyish green colour like the scales that framed it and looked a lot rougher, having been hardened by countless hours of hard work in difficult weather on construction sites across much of the megacity. Unlike Rapture, however, he had grown his hair quite long – almost down to his shoulders – and shaggy, letting sideburns and a rather short beard frame his human features and blur the area where his scales and softer skin met with thick hair. His body was large and thick with muscle, his arms and broad chest and shoulders straining the sleeveless shirt they were forced into. Even his legs looked powerful though the dusty coloured trousers he wore were, thankfully, a lot larger and looser.

'How you doing, baby girl,' Harrow asked, a small smile on his face.

'I'm almost done,' Rapture replied, slinging her bag over shoulder to show him and then picking up the other one she had already filled.

'You know I'm going to miss you, don't you?' Harrow asked, his smile dropping a little.

'Yeah, dad,' Rapture answered giving him a similar expression. 'I know. Don't worry about it though. I promise I'll call and I'll be careful.'

'You sure,' he immediately said, his frown deepening. He had noticed the remains of her wound from last November. She had passed it off as a training accident which, given their lessons involved going into Grimm infested territory, wasn't unbelievable but he hadn't really believed her. It had been an awkward, unspoken issue over the holiday.

'Don't worry, dad,' Rapture reassured him. 'Seriously, I know what I'm doing. I won't let,' she patted her chest where the thin scar from Aanjay Laal's slashing blow lay, 'this happen again.'

'Alright then,' Harrow responded with a sigh. He then gave her a small smile. 'It's not like I could stop you going back.'

'Dad, come on,' Rapture groaned. 'I'm not leaving you and mom.'

'Well you should be leaving,' Harrow said. 'It's a long walk to the nearest station. When's your flight?'

Rapture put down the other bag in her hand glanced at her scroll. 'I've got to get to the airport in about… four hours.'

'Better get going then,' Harrow said, stepping aside as Rapture picked up her second bag again and began to walk towards the door.

'Where's mom?' Rapture asked as she stepped out of her room and made her way to the stairs down to the entrance hall of the house.

'She's downstairs,' Harrow answered. 'Just got back from work; probably to see you off.'

'Great,' Rapture said. 'Mom!' she then called out as she rushed down the stairs, raising her voice.

'Yeah,' another voice called back. 'I'm coming.'

Eideann Brostein was, like her husband and daughter, quite tall, full-figured and a crocodile faunus. Her body was covered in leathery scales except around her face which looked very similar to Rapture's, a slight thickening of her cheeks and a few stress lines and creases on her brow and around her eyes the most noticeable differences. Like Rapture, she also wore her hair short, keeping it cut close – though Rapture had never asked why. She was dressed in dark trousers and a thick jumper that she had rolled the sleeves of up, revealing arms that were thinner and less muscular and defined than Rapture's.

'I'm off, mom,' Rapture said, shrugging her shoulders to show off the bag slung over them.

'Well you're not getting away without this,' Eideann said as she walked up to Rapture and then engulfed her in a hug. 'You'd better remember to call us before you go to the Vytal Festival.'

'I will, mom,' Rapture said, groaning a little as her mother's embrace tightened. How Eideann was able to exert so much pressure on a Huntress trainee without active Aura and seemingly weaker arms was a genuine mystery that got even more inexplicable every time Rapture became stronger. 'Don't worry about me.'

'Are you sure you'll be alright?' Eideann then asked, giving Rapture a worried look and pressing the tips of her fingers over Rapture's collar, just above the scar.

'Mom,' Rapture said with a sympathetic frown. 'Don't worry. I'll be more careful; I promise.'

Eideann sighed, her own frown deepening. 'If you're sure.'

'Mom, come on,' Rapture tried to say in as confident and careful a tone as she could. 'I've already said the same thing to dad. I… uh,' she paused as she genuinely struggled to think of what next to say. 'I'll… be more careful. Trust me.'

Eideann looked sceptical, having picked up on Rapture's sudden stutter, Harrow doing the same. Rapture sighed in resignation as she realised just how much her parents were now worried about her dreams of being a Huntress. It was a look she had received a lot over the holiday but they hadn't started that winter. It was a concern of theirs' that their home had been harbouring for years now.

'I, uh,' Rapture floundered a little, trying to break the tension she knew was building. 'I've got to go alright. It's a long trip to the station.'

'Alright then; be safe,' Eideann said with a small sigh and a smile.

'I will, mom,' Rapture replied.

'We know you'll do great, baby girl,' Harrow then said, stepping forward and wrapping Rapture in his own firm hug. 'If we don't see you before you go we'll try to catch the Vytal Festival Tournament.'

'Thanks, dad,' Rapture said in response, smiling as she returned the hug. Despite being so much larger than Eideann, Harrow never seemed to try to crush his daughter.

'You'll knock 'em dead,' Harrow continued. 'I know it.'

'Yeah,' Rapture agreed, letting out a little chuckle. Then she felt her father relax his grip and let her go.

'Well, this is it,' Rapture said as she walked over to the door. 'I'll call sometime soon.'

'Alright,' Eideann replied with a smile. 'Good luck.'

'Have a great time, baby girl,' Harrow added.

'I will, thanks,' Rapture said as she opened the door and stepped out. As she reached to shut the door she turned back to her parents. 'Bye,' she called out with a wave, her parents returning it as Rapture swung the door shut.

Shutting the door, Rapture took in a breath and walked out into the street. There had been iron railing separating a thin strip of concrete that served as the front of the property from the pavement of the street but that had been ripped out and taken away long ago. Walking past the short stone wall that had once borne the railing, Rapture immediately turned left and walked down the avenue. None of the stations in her sub-district would actually take trains, all of the public services having abandoned the faunus ghetto years ago and so she would have to walk to a human region to find some kind of public transit. It was going to be a very long journey.

Garbage was piled up on the edges of the streets, some of it packed into bulging bags that, in several cases, had split open and spilled stained refuse back onto the pavement. Some of it was, at least, piled back up and out of the way so that people didn't have to kick rotten food and other miscellaneous or unidentifiable rubbish aside in order to make it down the streets. Rapture knew that some local people had set up a garbage collection service of their own, otherwise there would be months of uncollected garbage but it was infrequent and usually under-equipped, struggling to keep up with the rising amounts of rubbish and refuse. Graffiti covered every reachable wall, some of it layering over and obscuring others. Only the images that Rapture knew were local gang symbols were untouched by newer graffiti, in some cases having been retouched to make sure that the symbol didn't fade away.

Rapture kept her eyes forward as she walked down the street and shook her hands a little, feeling the bracelets of Long Claw rubbed against her skin, reminding her that they were there. Few people walked the streets unless they had to and there were really only two reasons for that. The first reason was that they had work; the other was that they were in one of the gangs. Otherwise the streets Rapture walked were eerily empty.

"Gods I want to get out of this place," Rapture thought, scowling as she continued down her street. For an instant she thought of her home and parents as she walked past another pile of bulging garbage-bags that lay on the side of the road and scowling. "The sooner I get us out of this shithole, the better."

Aurora Basilikos walked through her room's ensuite walk-in wardrobe, carefully going through her considerable collection of outfits in preparation for the new semester. She had already set aside her school uniform sets as well as her Huntress outfits but her more casual clothing was still largely undecided.

'Probably too much for Vacuo,' Aurora thought as she looked over a long, jet black dress with purple highlights around the hem and sleeves and a pair of slits on either side that went up half of the leg, to the thigh level.

Everything she picked had to be practical now, the climate of Vacuo making most of her preferred outfits rather inappropriate for the coming trip. Putting the dress back on its hanger, she sighed and picked up several other articles of clothing she had already selected and walked back into her bedroom.

Aurora's room was massive, verging almost on cavernous. Her father had designed the house long ago and her room had been planned to be one of his more luxurious statements of his – then – newfound wealth. Apparently her father, whilst not exactly irresponsible with money, had once had a habit of showing off and living the "high-life" before he met Aurora's mother. The idea of her father being some kind of tabloid-feeding playboy, whilst running a growing construction and real estate empire at the same time, no less, was practically absurd to Aurora. Still, her room continued to serve as a statement that the Basilikos family had plenty of money to spare.

The room rose up on tall walls to a vaulted ceiling that, thankfully was bare and stark, alabaster. The walls had been painted long ago in a rose-pink shade of colour that she had stopped liking years ago when her wardrobe and personal fashion choices shifted to black and darker shades of purple. Her bed, which was situated next to the door of the ensuite, was a massive four-poster design with a purple cover over the tester that hung and secured slightly lighter purple drapes that surrounded the rest of the frame.

A series of ornate, white desks and bookshelves took up the wall across from the bed, every piece of furniture bearing the same colour and Classical design with imitation gold filigree script – supposedly written in dead, pre-Valesian languages – carved into the borders of every surface and along the legs. With the exception of some pillars, the wall to Aurora's right was made entirely of glass, the pillars holding up the hinges for the glass doors that led out onto her room's balcony. Across from that was the door to her room, the wall it was set into bare and unfurnished but still painted in the same colour scheme as the room.

Aurora's room had been like this for as long as she could remember and after sharing a smaller room with three others for several months, it had been both a relief and a little odd to have her cavernous room to herself once again. For the first time since she was thirteen, Aurora had noticed that noises echoed in her room – she had proceeded to childishly play around with that every now and then over the holiday. It had, however, made her feel rather alone over the winter, something that hadn't exactly been a problem to her for a long time; until now.

She had, of course, had her family to keep her company, especially during the Solstice celebrations as well as the children of her parents' friends who they had hosted. Talking with several of her older friends had become awkward, especially those who weren't even close to the Hunting profession. That too had been a problem over the past few years during her time at Signal but since she had started at Beacon it had now become much more apparent.

As she lay the clothes she had selected down on her bed, ready to be picked up the serving staff to be packed, Aurora sighed. 'Two hours before I leave,' she mumbled to herself, looking at the large, silver-bodied clock that hung on the wall opposite her bed.

"That's the last of my casual clothing," Aurora thought, frowning as she went over what had been a considerable mental list of items she was organising. "The servants have already been told to pack my personal items and I've already taken care of Dark Majesty, ammunition and spare parts. My textbooks are also packed along with the reference material I asked for. What else is there? Make-up?" she looked over at the series of packed boxes by her door. "Check. Looks like everything is ready."

Aurora thought of reading a book and went over to the book shelves to pick something. She walked back and forth in front of them as she scanned the titles, looking for anything that would catch her interest but then paused. Aurora finally noticed that she had been pacing, something that didn't happen very often and that she only ever did if she was both bored and restless. A book wouldn't exactly help her there, Aurora had tried that before and failed.

"I should go for a walk," Aurora thought as she straightened up again.

Walking away from the bed, Aurora opened the door to her room and stepped out into the corridor. She stepped into a stark, marble white hallway with walls that led to a vaulted ceiling, as high as the one in her room. Gold filigree crawled up the pillars that intersected the walls and the lintel at the top, exactly like the script on her furniture. The ceiling, meanwhile, had been made of a Dust infused stone that glittered like water in the light of the crystal chandeliers that hung from the stately arches that intersected the ceiling.

Portraits and statue busts were lined on or along the walls. The Basilikos family had only been wealthy for one generation and didn't have storied history that was worth commissioning paintings over. Most of the artwork in their home, with the exception of a few new family portraits, were unrelated art pieces that Stefan and Naeva had bought for their own preferences. Aurora paused in the doorway to her room and looked up at a painting depicting a quiet garden scene with a gazebo by a lake and a background composed of densely packed trees and a clear, blue sky. It was supposedly an authentic production from a famous artist but Aurora found it generic and uninspiring, especially since it was the first thing she saw every time she stepped out of her room.

Without missing a step, Aurora walked out of her room, letting the door swing shut and then lock automatically and turned left. She strode down the corridor, turning right at an intersection and wandering. The Basilikos mansion was massive and the estate that surrounded it was many times larger, situated in the Vale megacity's North-West Residential District, a vast territory of hundreds of miles given over to the kingdom's landed wealthy and elite.

Taking a left turn at another intersection, Aurora leisurely strolled through the maze-like halls of her home. She had just turned onto the corridor that led directly to the grand staircase of her home when she saw someone else walking up the stairs from the main hall below.

'Aurora,' Naeva Basilikos said in an even tone. 'I was just about to come for you.'

'Mother,' Aurora greeted.

'Have you packed and made sure that everything is ready?' Naeva asked as she strode to her daughter. She was wearing a long, golden dress that was highlighted by darkened silver lining and reached down to her ankles. The dress was somewhat conservative, with long sleeves and a high neckline but still clung to Naeva's form and showed the Huntress grace that she exhibited when she walked.

'Yes, mother,' Aurora replied as Naeva walked up to her. Her mother had her usual, naturally authoritative expression on her face.

'Good,' Naeva said in an even tone. She then relaxed, a small smile emerging on her face. 'And what yourself? Are you ready to go back to Beacon.'

'Yes, mother,' Aurora replied with any hesitation. 'I'm looking forward to going back.'

'That's good to hear,' Naeva said in response, her tone softening and the smile growing.

'Thank you, mother,' Aurora said. She felt a little awkward, especially since she had her mother following her on her aimless wandering.

'Aurora,' Naeva then said, startling Aurora out of her thoughts. 'Will you be alright?'

Aurora blinked a little in confusion. 'Yes, mother,' she finally answered. 'I'll be fine.'

'Listen, dear,' Naeva then said. 'I know you don't want to hear this from me, especially after all of the conversations we've had, but you need to be careful. I don't want any repeats of the incident last semester.'

'I understand, mother,' Aurora replied, holding back a sigh and trying not to look depressed.

'I really hope you do,' Naeva responded, a hint of concern in her voice. 'I don't like to keep bringing this back up or repeating myself either but I know, better than anyone, what this means for you. I don't want to see everything you've worked for thrown away because of a mistake. Senior-school training is the crucial part of your education. You need to make sure that you graduate, with honours.'

'I… I understand, mother,' Aurora said after a momentary pause. She had told herself this many times in the last few years and been told it be her parents as well. The last few times, however, her parents had become so much more foreboding about the subject. Her near brush with public arrest and expulsion had frightened them just as much as it had frightened her – and they didn't even know about the battle in the Agricultural District that had taken place after he first warning they had given her.

'I'm glad to hear that,' Naeva said in response, her smile returning.

The two of them continued to walk, Naeva following every time Aurora turned a corner to continue her wandering. Still worried and a little downcast after yet another reminder of her mistakes, Aurora focused on the artwork they were passing by. It was when they reached a large pair of window-doors that led to the balcony that lay over the main entrance to the mansion that Naeva stopped.

'Aurora,' Naeva said, stopping Aurora in her tracks. 'I know it's been difficult dealing with all of these lectures from your father and I.'

Aurora turned and looked at her mother, blinking a little. 'Mother,' she began.

'I just want to say,' Naeva interrupted, 'that your father and I do believe you can do this. More than anyone, I believe you can definitely become a fine Huntress.'

'Tha… thank you, mother,' Aurora said.

'I don't want you to leave thinking that we believe you will fail at Beacon or that we're going to drag you out of school the next time we get a concerning call from them,' Naeva continued. 'I understand we've probably not been that helpful with all of these reminders but we only want you to do your best and succeed.'

'I understand, mother,' Aurora replied, smiling for her mother. 'Thank you.'

'Good,' Naeva said in response. She then looked around. 'Would you rather we walk in the gardens?' she then said. It may still be cold but the weather is supposed to be clear and I'm sure it would much nicer than the corridors.'

Aurora looked at her surroundings and then took a quick glance through the balcony doors. The sky was clear, the snow from November and December had melted away completely and the still trees in the distance indicated that there as barely a breeze. Whilst not exactly brilliant, the weather looked harmless for January.

'That does sound nice, mother,' Aurora said and with that, followed after Naeva.

The Vale National Airport was full, crowds of people bustling back and forth and practically jostling with one another for space in the clogging thoroughfares. Late returning holidaymakers and commuting businessmen, humans and faunus, people from near and far, all of them filled the airport as they tried to catch their flights or find the exits back into the city. Security and other staff tried to keep the throngs of people in orderly queues as they tried to access terminals and information points and received endless tides of abuse and complaints from the stressed and impatient customers.

Looking down from the VIP interior maglev that carried himself and other wealthy passengers above the chaos, Peter Hamlin thanked each and every god he could think of that he was not down there. He sighed in sympathetic exasperation as the maglev passed over the other customers below, several of them looking up at him and the other wealthy passengers with envy and irritation.

Ignoring them, Peter watched it all pass by quickly, the maglev rocketing over the raised railing built high up the building's walls. Despite the speed, the interior of the train remained still, inbuilt buffers keeping the passengers and their belongings from feeling the acceleration. Peter took out his scroll and opened an interlink page, idly flicking through the local news as the maglev moved into a tunnel and disappeared from the sight of the customers below them.

Several minutes later the maglev smoothly came to a halt in a pristine, silver coloured station and opened its doors, letting the passengers disembark. Peter put away his scroll and strode out into the station, holding his coat closed so that his arsenal in Symphonic Edge didn't catch on anything – or anyone – and letting several older passengers by before stepping through the doors.

The station was a meticulously clean area with high, plastalloy walls and a panel floor that gleamed in the light cast from the thin, rod shaped lights fixed directly into the ceiling. Several glass, interactive panels were also built into the walls, passengers standing in front of them to access information or take care of business. Peter took a breath as he walked forward, detecting the scent of cleaning products that were being masked slightly by the smell of mint that was likely being dispensed for the sake of the VIPs. To Peter the entire design was very familiar; practically Atlesian.

Peter had been told upon landing that his luggage would be picked up by the staff and loaded onto the skywhale to Beacon and that he didn't have to physically collect it – a fact that relieved him as he had brought quite a lot with him. All he had to do was head over to a terminal so that he could confirm his tickets and then wait at the gate. He was about to go directly to one of the interactive screens when a voice called out to him.

'Hello, Peter,' Adelheid said, causing Peter to turn around and see the Schnee heiress approach him.

'Ah, Adelheid,' Peter said, smiling as he slowed down to let her catch up and stand by his side. 'It's good to see you. How was your holiday?'

Adelheid gave a tight smile that had heavy tones of disingenuousness behind it. 'It was… alright, if uneventful, by my family's standards. Yourself?'

'Oh quite alright, thank you,' Peter answered as the two of them walked up to an unoccupied interactive terminal. 'Not much happened aside from the usual family celebrations; and preparations for the Vytal Festival, of course.'

'Is that so?' Adelheid then said smirking as she reached forward and pressed her scroll to the terminal's screen. The screen read her ID quickly and brought up a menu with the symbol for the international transportation community's platinum membership card on it.

'And how are you coming along?' she asked as she flicked through the options and then pressed her scroll, which a digital copy of her ticket on it, to the terminal and received a chime of confirmation.

'Quite well,' Peter preened as Adelheid logged off of the terminal and stepped back to give him access. 'If I do say so myself.'

He pressed his own scroll to the screen and received a similar screen. His membership card's symbol was gold, however, getting a somewhat superior smirk from Adelheid. Peter gave her a look of exaggerated dismissal in return and then turned back to the screen. He submitted his own ticket and received confirmation and stepped back.

'And how about you?' he asked.

'Quite well, myself,' Adelheid replied, like him she was holding back on the details. It was clearly going to be a game now. 'I do come from a somewhat accomplished Hunting family after all.'

'And I from a lineage of warriors and lords,' Peter said in response, playful pomposity in his tone as he put a hand to his chest.

'Do you really think you should be acting like that in public?' Adelheid asked as she gave an aside glance to the rather full station.

'Hmmm, probably not,' Peter replied. He then looked about to see other passengers were waiting for their opportunity to use the terminals. 'We should probably head off to the gate now,' he suggested.

'Yes,' Adelheid agreed. 'Shall we?'

'Sounds best,' Peter agreed, giving Adelheid one of his more charming smiles. She gave a reserved smile in return and Peter resisted the urge to grin wider at earning demure behaviour from her. He then gave a half-bow. 'Ladies first.'

Adelheid's smile quickly turned into a self-assured smirk as the game began again. 'Of course,' she said and then walked away from the screen and ahead of Peter as he turned and sped up his pace to get back to her side.

They exited the station and entered the corridor that connected it to the VIP section. Like the previous area it was a clean, almost sterile section of polished glass and silvery walls. There were several more interactive panels and three doors rimmed by metallic panelling that had been coloured gold. Peter was familiar with them. The one on his left led to the VIP lounge, a luxurious space that he knew included a bar, restaurant and cinema for those who wanted to use them. The right-hand door was the information registry desk, where visitors could get further information and use one of the minor CCT hubs that the airport contained. The last door, directly in front of him would take him and Adelheid out into the public areas.

'So,' Peter began as they stepped through the door and walked out into the corridor, 'how was your Solstice?'

Adelheid frowned and let out a small sigh but didn't interrupt her pace. 'It was… adequate. The Schnee family had their annual family celebration.' She then paused for a moment, still walking alongside him. 'How about yours?'

'Mine was fine, thank you,' Peter replied. 'My own family had their annual celebration as well. My father also organised the festival in the Caerlorn settlement for the Solstice events.'

For a moment he thought back to the feast his father had organised in Caerlorn's town hall and gave a small smile. It had been especially extravagant to celebrate the Solstice and the coming year, especially the returning Vytal Festival tournament. Offerings had been made to the gods in hope of a good spring and for requests for Atlas' victory in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Being in a different school and thus torn between patriotism and his own ambitions, Peter had simply wished for his own success and left it there. Around the middle of the evening, when the afternoon snowstorms had cleared, the younger members of the Hamlin family had gotten into a snowball fight with several of the local children. It had started a small fight between many of the Hamlin's aristocratic and middle class family embers over who was responsible for the state the kids were in when they returned to the town hall. Thankfully that had been smoothed over before it escalated into anything too embarrassing.

'Your family handle public festivals?' Adelheid asked as they rounded a corner and moved over to one of the large central elevators.

'Only for the Caerlorn district,' Peter answered, a hint of pride in his tone. 'Our family have been involved with the regional capital for several generations; since the royal family married into the Mantleic monarchy. My father has always been rather enthusiastic about festivities and he really wanted to get involved this year, what with the Vytal Festival restarting.'

'Yes,' Adelheid then said as they arrived in front of the elevator and walked into it along with a large crowd of other passengers. 'My parents also held a special party this year to celebrate the Vytal Festival.'

'And how was it?' Peter asked. He took a moment, as he asked the question, to look up as the elevator started moving smoothly.

Adelheid frowned and looked down for a moment, an intense look of contemplation on her face. 'It was… alright, I suppose,' she then said in a careful tone. 'It was essentially an extension of our usual family celebrations so it was rather exclusive. The entire family attended this year.'

Peter frowned a little as he watched the heiress. Adelheid's face had fallen as she spoke, her own frown slowly morphing into a slight grimace as she spoke. He then noticed, as she was finishing, that the elevator had reached their floor. The door opened and Adelheid stepped forward ahead of him, the grimace now gone and the more controlled frown back on her face. Peter followed a step behind her, picking up his pace again to catch up with her as they both walked in the direction of the gate they were supposed to wait at.

'I see,' Peter said, trying to think about what to say as quickly as he could, realising what he had done by bringing up the topic of the party. 'Speaking of the Vytal Festival a moment ago, did you hear anything from your team over the holiday?'

'Tom called me and sent me a training plan he had made for when we head over to Vacuo,' Adelheid answered. 'I don't think Lach was able to afford a long distance call outside of the school's system and Elizabeth wouldn't bother, at last as far as I see it.'

'I see,' Peter said, considering the new conversation a little safer. 'I received a few calls from Aurora, who relayed some messages from Rapture and Greta on the Solstice.'

'What did they say?' Adelheid then asked.

'They were just wishing me well,' Peter replied. 'I gave them my good wishes for the holiday as well.'

'That sounds nice,' Adelheid said. She then sighed, looking a little depressed. 'I did get well wishes from Tom in the plan he sent, in fact that was the first thing he wrote in the message. I think he also tried to send me some on behalf of the rest of the team.'

'That's good to hear,' Peter said in response, giving a sympathetic smile. Adelheid smiled a little in return and then sighed again.

The two of them made it to the gate and took a seat as they waited. There were dozens of students already standing around, chatting or waiting in their own seats for the announcement to begin boarding. As he looked around, he realised that this was it, the second semester was about to begin.

'So,' he began, turning to Adelheid. 'Do you feel ready for the Festival?'

'No,' Adelheid answered. Peter raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked. 'But that doesn't mean I won't win.'

'Oh I see,' Peter said in response, smirking back at her. 'Well I will do my best to give you a challenge and who knows; maybe I'll win instead.'

'Alright then,' Adelheid drawled in a lightly mocking tone. She then extended her hand out. 'Then may the best Hunter win.'

'Yes,' Peter said, taking her hand in a firm grip and shaking it, his own challenging smirk growing and threatening to turn into a grin. 'May the best Hunter win.'

Greta laid back on her bed, reached out her hand, grabbed a small handful of crisps from a bag that was by her side and tried to fit them in her mouth, a couple almost slipping from her grip as she realised she had taken too many. Swallowing her snacks and brushing loose crumbs off of the duvet, Greta sighed and settled back down again. In her other hand was the latest issue of the Huntsman comic series which she had been reading for the last few minutes as she waited for the returning students to arrive.

The current issue had been gripping her; the Huntsman, having once again faced his sworn enemies in the Crimson Syndicate, had been captured by the dangerous and seductive villainess, Asha Rouge. He and his sidekick, Bok, the Hunting Hound, were currently tied up, upside down and hanging over a vat of steaming acid as Asha, flanked by her elite minions, once again gloated about her latest nefarious scheme and offered the Huntsman one last chance to join her.

Greta turned the page, not exactly gripped by the story anymore but still giving it attention – it was a cliffhanger ending anyway. She liked the Huntsman series and had been rather surprised at the school library's extensive collection, going all the way back to the first ever issue published back in the fourteen-forties. At the moment, however, it was just a way to kill time.

As she had promised her team, she hadn't been bored, having found several ways to keep herself busy; she was just rather lonely. She had called Rapture and Aurora, outgoing calls from Beacon being free but the school was only willing to cover national calls during the holidays. International calls were charged for use and she had nowhere near enough money to call Peter over in Atlas. Aurora had, thankfully, agreed to send messages to him on her behalf, to help keep him up to date with the rest of Team GRAP.

The Solstice itself had been an odd affair. Most of the teachers had gone home and the few remaining staff on campus had organised some celebrations for the students who were left. There were some prayer sessions for the more religious students and then a small, mandatory party and feast. Greta had been forced to join in and, despite not knowing any of the others who had been forced into the cafeteria with her, had managed to make it through with only a few people attempting to make awkward small talk with her. She did remember her promise to make more friends at the beginning of the previous semester but now that she had comfortably befriended her teammates, Team TEAL and, to a lesser extent, Team JETT, meeting new people now was just a bit too much for her.

Sighing, Greta put down the comic and picked up her scroll from the bedside table it had been lying on. She flicked it open and brought up an interlink page. Aside from some basic news about kingdom affairs and the constant reports on some new councilman named Duncan Raine, there wasn't really much going on. Talk of the Red Fang had died down months ago and last year's crime war, as the news now called it, was over. Everything was peaceful and despite offering her nothing to read about, that was all Greta asked for.

'Maybe another movie,' Greta mumbled to herself, ready to bring up the saved selection of downloads she had made over the holiday when, suddenly, her scroll then began to buzz.

Greta blinked as her scroll's holographic surface was taken up by a timer. It read three-fifteen with a calendar entry underneath the emboldened numbers. "Everyone get's back to Beacon," the entry read.

'Yes,' Greta exclaimed, her face lighting up and a somewhat giddy energy filling her. The wait was finally over; her team would be returning to the academy.

Throwing herself off of her bed and almost tripping over the hem of her dress as she did so, Greta grabbed her shoes and put them on. Pocketing her scroll and pulling a thick coat off of the doorknob of her wardrobe, she threw open her dorm's door and raced out into the hall. She couldn't wait for everyone to get back, her partner's face taking up the most space in her mind's eye as she tried to recall them, ready to pick them out of the crowd. She couldn't wait.

Aanjay Laal sat in her cell, silent except for the occasional hissed breath of exertion. For the last few months of her solitary confinement she had made a habit of digging her fingers into the ceiling of her cell. Once adequate handholds had been made she had begun to do pull-ups to keep herself in shape. When the guards had noticed and moved her to another cell, she had simply done the same again, shrugging off their attempts at intimidation and physical force and continuing on until they had tased her and brought her to the ground.

After eight cells and seven transfers they had simply forced thick, all enclosing cuffs on her to keep her hands encased in metal. Despite the horrific sensations in her hands after several months of almost total immobility, Aanjay had found a way to carry on. She now used the heavy metal cuffs as weights, keeping her strength up through constant lifting of her thick shackles.

She couldn't let herself grow weak. She had seen what was coming.

The sound of air parting to an odd slicing noise heralded what Aanjay had been anticipating and fearing for months. A black slit opened up in the air in front of her like a wound in reality and began to leak red light that pulsated and throbbed as it expanded into a spherical portal. From out of it stepped Iseabal Beathas, her elder sister in the Elder Grimm Society. Iseabal was, as always, immaculately dressed in her favoured black dresses, an ornate handgun holstered at her hips and another in her right hand. After stepping through the portal, she took a relaxed pose, her free hand hand on her hips and a superior smirk on her lips.

'Aanjay,' Iseabal greeted, nodding her head a little but always looking down at Aanjay on the floor in front of her.

'Beathas,' Aanjay grunted in response. The woman may be her superior but she would never grovel at Iseabal's feet like so many others.

'It's time to get to work,' Iseabal said simply, her smirk turning into a vicious grin. Raising the handgun in her hand, she aimed it at a spot behind Aanjay's head and fired.

A Dust round shot out and snapped a plastalloy tether that had chained Aanjay to the wall. Iseabal then turned and walked back through the portal, leaving the wound in the world to throb harder and brighter, as if both inviting and urging Aanjay to step through.

Aanjay stood up and stared at the portal for a moment, wondering if she would see the dark things that swam in the space between the portals in the pulsating light. Then with a deep breath and an icy feeling in her stomach that she just couldn't quash, Aanjay stepped through the portal, finally free of Vale and ready to begin her servitude to the true gods of Remnant.