Inside of the amphitheater, Yang stood in front of the mission board. Team RWBY stood behind, their gazes boring a hole into her neck. No matter, it's been five days since her best friend Pug disappeared, seven if she counted the day he was supposed to come back. Every day that passed without seeing him made her feel more and more hopeless.
Three boxes appeared on the hologram. She tapped the third box and typed on the keyboard that materialized in front of her. Typing in Peppermint yielded her with one result, she pressed it and pursed her lips. Team Peppermint was still counted as Missing in Action. Four rectangular boxes appeared on top of one another, each containing a team member and some information regarding the individual. Everyone was still the same, MIA and zero percent Aura.
The blonde fighter sighed and tapped her way back to the menu. She stepped back and went to her team. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked at her worriedly. Yang mustered a weak smile, patting Ruby on the back.
"I'm sure he's fine." She lied to herself.
In a lot of ways, Pug rubbed off in a good way to all of them. Even in the short moments he spent with Zwei, they both became buddies. He was good friends with almost everyone that Yang knew, and he was also a person she could trust to babysit Ruby. Pug even had something in common with Blake; He read books every night. They usually were seen trading books, from fantasy novels to the rather explicit ones.
Even Weiss had something in common with the boy! Pug's parents used to own a mutli-million Lien business company, almost like the Schnee Dust Company. However, something seemed to happen to the business, and it permanently shut down. Yang had yet to ask him about it during one of their training sessions at the gym, she doubted that she'd ever get the chance to.
Team RWBY walked down the halls to their first class with Professor Peach. Blake glanced at the blonde constantly before resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Do you need time... Alone?" Blake asked, giving Yang some comfort. She was glad fate paired her up with the faunus, they were best friends now after all that had happened.
"I'm fine Blake." Yang smiled at Blake and pulled a glued-together button from her pocket.
The button was one of Yang's only memoirs of her friend, who had been with her since her second year at Signal. It came to her shattered in a letter, delivered by a fellow first year named Azure. It was difficult to comprehend once she found out what it was. The blonde remembered staring at it for a long time, before Blake broke her out of her trance. She felt the same wallowing sadness in her when she found out her mother left her. Except with this one, she knew the most logical thing that could have happened to him.
"It's been five days now- I'm sure he's fine Yang." Weiss comforted, popping up beside Yang.
"Yeah, he should be fine." Yang smiled and put away the button. He better be fine, she thought.
Ruby, unlike her usual self, was silent. She walked ahead of them, possibly trying to sort out the feelings in her heart. Pug was one of her very first friends at Beacon, the other one being Jaune. Yang walked up beside her sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"It'll be fine Ruby. He'll come back, I'm sure of it." Yang comforted her sister.
"Mhm." Ruby sounded.
"So," Blake looked at her team. "We ready for sparring lessons later today?"
Ruby, suddenly snapping out of it, fist pumped the air, "Yeah! I'm ready for it!"
"I heard one of the transfers boasted about fighting yesterday. I'm interested to see how they fare." Weiss said.
"Hopefully he's more interesting than the last guy." Yang chuckled.
They walked into Professor Peach's class and learned about the beneficial values of harvesting bait and effectively using it to neutralize a Grimm threat. Yang zoned out sometime during the lesson, staring at Ruby's notes of the now deceased Professor Bourbon. Her sister drew a large pine cone with stick arms and a fedora holding large bottles. Weiss glared at Ruby, Blake chuckled while she actually took notes. When the class was over, they were assigned a rather lengthy homework assignment from the textbook.
Their next class would be Professor Bourbon and his survivability lessons. Since he was gone, Professor Goodwitch taught them. She referred to a book on the desk detailing the differences between safe and raw meats. Then she went on and explained how certain moves could prolong bleeding and how everyday items can be used to stem wounds. When the class was all over and done with, they were assigned a paper with forty questions.
Professor Port taught them another Grimm lesson. Detailing weak points and tactics to fight them. Today he introduced another species of Grimm that were rarely seen and very dangerous. It was huge, spanning two hundred feet and lived underwater. He was in the middle of explaining how the monster came to be so, when he branched off into his own stories. Luckily, they didn't get assigned a long and hard homework assignment from Port, instead he told them to read chapter 34.
Weiss sighed in relief and Ruby shared her expression. At this time of day, Ruby voiced her protests against the long walks from class to class and complained that her stomach was grumbling. Blake read her book between walks, managing to read a paragraph or two before looking up to avoid crashing into Weiss.
One more class before lunch for Monday. They had History of Remnant with Professor Oobleck. As usual, the green haired professor bounded left and right across the room. Team RWBY furiously scribbled into their notebooks, taking his information in word by word. Yang watched amusingly as Blake's cat ears squirmed behind her ribbon, trying to focus. They endured Professor Oobleck for an hour. Then they were assigned an essay... Ruby groaned as they walked back to their dorm.
"Too much...Homework... Weiss! Hold me!" Ruby dramatically sobbed.
"Ew! No, you dolt! It's just the usual amount, I don't see the difference!" Weiss quickened her pace and distanced herself from Ruby's outstretched arms.
"Awh Ruby, maybe next time." Yang joked, flashing a dirty look.
Weiss and Ruby shouted in unison, "Yang! No!"
They deposited their things on their beds and made their way towards the mess hall. Blake as usual, never left without a novel in her hand. Weiss made sure her hair was tied asymmetrically, and Ruby patted and rubbed Zwei happily. Yang gave him something to eat before they left together.
Outside their dorm, they greeted Nora and Ren as they walked together to lunch. Nora was talking about how a cow could possibly eat a watermelon whole, while Ren listened to her. Jaune was leaning against the wall of his dorm room as he waited for Pyrrha. Noticing Weiss, he scooted closer to her, flashing his teeth in a wide smile.
"Don't," Weiss raised a finger and stared at Jaune with her icy blue eyes. "Even think about it."
He pouted and the door to Team JNPR's dorm opened. Pyrrha closed the door behind her and waved. Yang smiled and walked ahead of their team with Ruby.
"Pyrrha?" Blake asked behind her. "What happened?"
Yang looked behind her to see a large bandage on Pyrrha's shin, the surrounding skin bruised. Pyrrha chuckled awkwardly and waved a 'don't worry about it' hand in the air. "It's-It's a long story. It'll heal by tomorrow."
Yang shrugged to her sister and they walked ahead of their team, a spring in their step. They were hungry for some food and they also had sparring lessons later in the day as well. Best have a strong and full stomach than a weak and empty one.
"Teeeeeeaaaam RWBY, off to lunch!" Ruby shouted valiantly, then added in a small voice. "Aand Jaune and Pyrrha!"
They all walked with a spring in their step, glad to be done with the grueling hours of lessons. The rest of their schedule consisted of sparring, and then it was to their dorms for the rest of the night to study and complete their assignments.
On they way they passed by Neptune and Sun, who were bantering about how a hover board would function as a weapon. Sun stared blankly at Blake as Neptune drilled facts into his mind. The monkey faunus placed a hand on Neptune's face, shutting him up. He walked over to Blake and smiled, accompanying her to the mess hall.
Neptune sighed and walked beside Weiss.
"Hey Snow Princess." Neptune smirked when Weiss gave him a look.
"How were classes for you, Neptune?" Weiss asked, feeling her heart flutter slightly when their eyes met.
"Oh the same old, same old. Yours?"
"Same." Weiss giggled awkwardly and looked ahead.
The mess hall was bustling with students as they savored their retreat with full trays of food. They entered the lunch line, gazing onto the choices they had to select from today. Weiss fidgeted with her feet, Neptune noticed and scratched the back of his head. Ruby's voice came from his right and he turned to see her drag Weiss further down the line, much to her protesting.
Yang snickered.
"Weeeissss! Look, these cookies look like Zweeeiiii!" Ruby jumped up and down on her toes, pointing frantically to a dish of Corgi shaped cookies. Whatever Weiss was going to say, she forgot and shared Ruby's expression of cuteness.
They grabbed their trays and sat down at one of the four long tables. Sun and Neptune waved goodbye and sat with their own teammates, bringing up the argument about the hover board to them. Weiss sat across from Ruby and stared agape at how fast Ruby was plowing through her lunch. Blake, sitting beside Weiss, closed her mouth and returned to her book.
"Ruby! Slow down, you'll choke!" Weiss snapped out of her trance and stuck a napkin into Ruby's hand.
"Mmfgmm" Ruby tried to speak with a mouthful, she swallowed and apologized. Yang smiled and ruffled her sister's hair.
Pyrrha came to their table, a dark expression on her face. She tapped Weiss and Blake's shoulder, drawing Blake away from her book.
"Will you two come with me for a second?" Pyrrha whispered. Blake nodded and rose, bookmarking her page and closing it. Weiss raised an eyebrow at her teammate. She grabbed a cookie from Ruby's tray, whom protested while munching on her own, and followed Blake and Pyrrha out.
"What's up with Pyrrha today?" Ruby asked her sister in between chews.
"Dunno." Yang replied. She felt as if she knew what it was, but she ignored the thought as she grabbed a Zwei shaped cookie. Ruby slapped her hand away, but Yang snuck her other hand to snatch two.
Weiss followed Pyrrha and Blake along the halls. Pyrrha was silent, almost fuming as she walked beside them. Weiss and Blake exchanged a worried look, before Weiss stopped in front of Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha, what's going on?" Weiss asked, smoothing out her uniform. They stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, the sound of cheerful banter coming from the mess hall.
"It's-" Pyrrha croaked. Whatever this was it was important, Weiss never heard Pyrrha croak before except for that one time when she was sick. "It's Jaune's friend; Pug."
That was all Weiss needed to hear, she pulled Pyrrha along the halls. She wanted to know what happened to the boy as well, not for herself, but for Yang. Blake followed close behind. They turned left and entered a room.
The infirmary's lights bounced off it's white tiles, giving the room an unnatural glow but making everything appear smooth as glass. Pyrrha walked over to one of the draped operating tables and pulled the curtain aside.
Weiss and Blake stopped, a short exhale from their mouths. They were horrified at what they saw.
The cardiac monitor beside the head of the bed beeped weakly. It took a couple of seconds for it to beep again, the screen showing a small green spike. Following the spike the line became straight, unmoving until the next beep.
That didn't even begin to describe Blake's worry. The faunus moved closer to him, trembling at what became of someone she could relate to.
Pug was unconscious or asleep on the bed. Surgical tape covered his entire body except for his left eye, mouth, and right arm. The skin that showed was pale, very pale compared to his fair complexion. Weiss stared at him, her mouth open.
"That's vicious... And cruel, whoever-whatever did this." Weiss hissed to Pyrrha.
"What..." Blake couldn't finish her sentence.
Pyrrha handed her a clipboard, Blake took it and Weiss peered over her shoulder. It was the list of injuries that Pug had obtained. Weiss grimaced. The paper only further described how vicious and cruel Pug's attacker was.
Skull cracked in multiple areas, starting at right temple.
Lower jaw dislocated.
Moderate concussion.
Lacerations all over arms and legs.
Bruises all over body, evidence of a fight.
Mild cut on cheek.
Busted lip.
Split temple.
Shattered, but not broken ribs.
Tender liver, big bruise on skin.
Left hand bone shattered, arm socket dislocated.
Spine dislocated, vertebrae twisted.
Neck dislocated.
Shows difficulty breathing.
Yang's friend must have taken a severe beating. From who, she wondered. It couldn't have been the White Fang, because they were scattered following the Breach. It could be a Grimm, but that wasn't likely either, their mission was far from a dangerous part of Vale. Criminals maybe?
Weiss walked over to him, hovering beside the bed. Pug's skin felt clammy and cold, Weiss retracted her finger. Blake set down the clipboard without a word, Pyrrha patted her on the back. The faunus searched for something to say, but only managed a soft whimper.
"Who did this?" Blake softly asked.
"I don't know. " Pyrrha answered.
Weiss turned around and faced them, "He could have been attacked by a Grimm. As it said on the clipboard, there was evidence of a fight. If he was in the city, why didn't he call for help?"
"Could be he was outside of the city, running away." Blake answered.
"How'd you find him Pyrrha?" Weiss asked.
"I tripped over Jaune this morning... And I needed some bandages for a cut on my shin. I came here with Jaune and the drape was open just by a crack. I peeked in and saw him. He was awake, but all he did was stare at the ceiling."
Blake suddenly held a finger up in the air and silenced them. The faunus heard someone walk inside, and Weiss could hear the tap tap of heels on the tile floor. They all stayed silent, hoping the person would leave. A nurse popped into Pug's operating room, surprised when she saw the three girls.
"W-what are you doing here? Haven't you been taught that snooping in other people's business is wrong?" The nurse snapped, furious at them for taking her by surprise.
"I'm sorry Miss..." Weiss trailed, her icy blue eyes darting over the nurse's shirt. The nurse glared at Weiss with her dark brown eyes, her jet black hair let loose behind her back. Weiss didn't particularly want to meet the nurse's wrath. She didn't wear a name tag.
"Nurse Inkwell." Inkwell replied sharply.
"Miss Inkwell, we're his friends, and we couldn't help but to worry about him." Weiss continued.
The nurse understood and nodded. "Well, can't keep you children from finding out the fates of your loved ones."
"How's he doing?" Pyrrha asked.
"He's stable, I've been working 24/7 keeping my Aura levels up and then mending his wounds. He should most definitely be done healing in a couple of days. You need to leave.. and girls?"
The three turned back around, bracing themselves for any side effects or bad news that the nurse might throw at them.
"Don't tell anyone about his condition, please. He stressed that he didn't want people to know that he was incapacitated, he'll greet you in person when he's mended. Thank you girls, you may leave now."
Back in the mess hall, Ruby raised an eyebrow at them. Her previously empty plate of Zwei shaped cookies was now restocked. Weiss walked over to Neptune and engaged in a conversation, showing no signs of what just happened. Pyrrha sat beside Jaune and hunched close to him, despite the blonde still being head over heels for Weiss.
Blake's eyes met Yang's. Her teammate was staring at her with her brows arched and her lips twisted in a mischievous grin. Blake glanced behind her, wondering if she mistook the gaze as hers. Yang slowly raised a small rectangular book in her hands.
"So Blake, I never thought you were... a connoisseur of such fine arts." Yang held the book up in clear view. Blake blushed and tried to grab it, only for Yang to tease her by keeping it out of her reach.
"No! Yang!" Blake stretched over the table, face red with embarrassment, her fingers only millimeters from the book's corners. Ruby snickered as she ate another cookie.
The next table over, Pyrrha sat beside Jaune, who drank from a juice box. The blonde boy looked at her despondently. Jaune was very close friends with Pug, that Pyrrha knew. They were essentially best bros since day one of Beacon. When the news that Pug had gone missing had reached Jaune, he took it seriously, feeling bad that he couldn't do anything to help. Although he tried not to let emotions take hold of his usual upbeat personality, he wasn't as successful as Yang did in hiding his true feelings.
"So..." He started, staring at the table and drinking juice. "How is he?"
"Who're you excited to see spar today Jaune?" Pyrrha changed the subject, pretending to not have heard him. It was so obvious that he was down, even Nora and Ren took notice. Although Pyrrha assumed they noticed a lot of things, they just didn't convey it.
"Is he doing okay? Pug, I mean." Jaune asked again.
She sighed and wrapped a hand around his shoulder.
"Jaune, he's doing fine. Don't worry about it."
He nodded, believing her. Or she hoped.
They left for the amphitheater once the bell rang. Jaune returned back to his upbeat personality and tried to hit on Weiss again, who glared daggers at him and only needed to raise a finger for him to retreat. They changed in the locker rooms and made themselves comfortable in front of the arena.
Professor Goodwitch lectured them again about the basics. She expressed the importance of being able to adapt to a situation in the battlefield. Where if one is overpowered, he or her must play a defensive or evasive. She also stressed the importance of playing battles safe and trying to keep risks minimal. Then Goodwitch opened it up for free sparring between students.
They sparred with each other and worked on their own mistakes for the duration of the class. Jaune still had to work on countering with his shield. He made good progress he had made during the mast few months, surviving for an average of two minutes on the battlefield.
Ruby and Yang found themselves against one another, a fierce battle between the two siblings commenced. The students all around placing bets on which sister would win. Pyrrha felt bad for those who bet a lot of lien on Yang, after a tense match, Ruby easily finished off her sister with her speed.
After class Team JNPR said their goodbyes and left for their dorms for a long night of studying and homework. Ruby bounced up and down, clearly pleased that she had won the match between her sister. Yang stopped by the door and cast a fleeting glance at the mission board.
"Can you guys wait for me? I'm going to check once more." Yang smiled and started off towards the mission board before Blake stopped her
"I think we should go back to the dorms, we've got a long night ahead of us." Blake said, pointing at the exit.
"This'll only take a minute Blake, no worries." Yang smiled and pushed her away.
Blake didn't move and stood in her way. Yang pushed her away again and continued for the hologram.
"No! Don't!" Blake said loudly, louder than she had intended.
Yang looked at her questioningly, her eyebrow arched. "Why not?"
"Because," Blake sighed, running out of words to deter Yang from proceeding. She spoke quickly, almost mixing her words together. "Zwei-misses-you-and-wants-to-hang-out?"
Yang nodded slowly. "Ookay..."
Yang navigated the menu like she did this morning. Blake bit her tongue, conflicted. One side of her wanted Yang to know what had happened to her friend and the other side of her didn't want to. Lightly tapping the holographic keyboard, Yang typed in 'Peppermint' , and searched it. One result came up and she pressed it. One by one the names came up.
They were all listed as Killed In Action.
She stepped back, terminating the screen, and walked back to her team. Yang smiled, but they all knew the pain in her heart. Especially Weiss and Blake.
"Ah well, nothing new." She shrugged and walked back to the dorm with Team RWBY following behind. Weiss exchanged a look with Blake, her question was clear to Blake without the need to word it out.
Let's talk for a minute later.
Back in their dorms, they changed into something comfortable and made themselves at home on their beds with books, papers, and pencils scattered about. They stabbed the essay for a few minutes before Weiss stood up, yawned, and stretched.
"I'm headed outside, want to come Blake? You seem exhausted yourself."
"Oh uh, sure." Blake stood up and followed her teammate out of the door.
They closed it and pressed their ears against the wooden board, listening for any signs of movement from within. Blake tuned her catlike senses and waved her hand, giving the signal that it was okay to converse.
"So, " Weiss placed her hands on her hips. "What's with the sudden change in Team PPMT's status? They were all Missing in Action this morning, and now they're dead?"
"Mysterious, it could actually be a Grimm attack that wiped them out. But then again, the White Fang could have a hand in this." Blake suggested.
"You think it's the White Fang? No offense, but after what we did with the train I think they'll be scattered for a while by the least."
The two talked about it for a short bit, greeting Ren with a wave as he walked back into his dorm with a cup of coffee. They decided to go back inside, having nothing else to discuss.
Blake closed the door behind her and Weiss stretched again, yawning. They sat back down and let the evening rays shine through along with the light from their lamps. They spent most of the night scribbling words and notes down onto papers and notebooks. Team RWBY finished sometime around midnight, the entire team dozed off, exhausted from the workload.
Weiss awoke and rubbed her bleary eyes. She stood up and opened the window a crack, letting the night breeze cool her face off. Closing her ice blue eyes, she enjoyed the wind's cold breath.
Someone mumbled beside her. At first she thought it was Blake, but when she peeked over, the faunus was sleeping peacefully hugging a book. She peered at the bed above. Yang was leaned against the wall, her head against her poster, hugging her adorable Corgi pillow.
Yang mumbled in her sleep quite frequently. Most of the time it wasn't noticeable, but recently she'd had this bad dream in which she spoke in a loud voice, stirring them all and asking questions such as 'Who're you?' , 'What do you want?' , and 'Answer me, why won't you!?'
This was different than that dream. Weiss looked closer and noticed that Yang was actually drooling. She was drooling on her poster, her lips slightly smooching it while she rubbed her Corgi pillow. Weiss suppressed the will to giggle and focused on what she was mumbling.
"Mmm, Zwei stop licking me..." Yang squeezed her pillow a little harder.
"Stay please." Yang smooched the poster and sniffed.
Weiss snickered, covering her mouth to avoid waking her teammates. She pulled out her Scroll and took a sneaky picture of Yang drooling on her Achieve Men poster, before turning and laying back in bed. It hard to sleep when she was listening to Yang's fantasy dream, but eventually he did.
Yang's friend was going to be okay, she was sure of it. Luck has always been on their side.
