So, first things first. I apologize for how close to the wire this got in the two week maximum I set for myself. And for the fact that this just another filer/exposition chapter. This will be the case for a little longer though as we finish setting things up for the larger portions of the story. Fear not though, things will start picking up very quickly very soon.

So for those of you still reading thus far, I appreciate your continued interest and wish you all the best.


"So tell me again why we promised that Blake would be the first person we tried to find?" Neo asked Frost out of curiosity as the two approached a large landing pad that currently had one of the emergency bulkheads stationed and was currently dropping off any recent refugees they had moved from closer to the city of Vale. "It seems to me like your friend, the Schnee girl, would be our easier first choice given we actually know where she is at this point with no likelihood of her moving out of there anytime soon."

"Ok, for one, her name is Weiss." Frost stated quickly as he raised a finger. He raised another as he continued responding to Neo's question. "For another, Weiss will still probably end up being who we go to talk to first, I just want to see if we can find any leads as to what Blake might be up to while she's off on her own. I've had a gut instinct this entire time that she wouldn't just up and leave without what she thought was a good reason for it. The White Fang appearing and Yang losing her arm from their leader likely has Blake feeling responsible, as ridiculous as that sounds. So she probably left to do something about them herself to avoid getting anyone else involved." The sound of leather crinkling filled the air around them for a brief moment as he clenched his fists in his gauntlets, pulling the inner lining tight as he took a deep breath to calm himself. "So we're going to the last place they ran into the White Fang to see if there's any clue to where Blake might be headed, barring she didn't destroy her trail behind her."

"Well, whatever we end up deciding on if we even find anything, I still say that from what little I've heard and seen of this girl, she really doesn't sound like the brightest Faunus I've met." Neo mumbled under her breath as they neared the assorted civilians and Huntsmen surrounding the landing pad. "Not that I've met any smart ones yet at this point."

"Might wanna consider rewording that last statement there, sweetheart." An unknown voice said from behind the pair. "I've got a friend and teammate that's a Faunus, and I don't appreciate hearing others badmouth her kind for something she didn't get involved in."

"Wait a second," Frost said with a sound of surprise as he started to turn around, "I've heard that voice before." As he finished turning, his eyes widened at the sight of the person that had been speaking to Neo. "Coco!"

"Still alive and kicking, not that the Grimm haven't been trying their hardest to change that fact anytime we head into the outskirts of the city for anyone that hasn't been fully evacuated yet." Coco stated with a smirk as she placed one hand on her hip with a brief glance at Frost before returning her gaze to Neo. "Don't think I've met your friend before though; never saw her at Beacon before shit hit the fan, or during the chaos after all of the Grimm swarmed the damn place at least."

"Coco, this is my childhood friend, Neo." Frost began as he gestured towards the petite girl next to him before returning the gesture towards Coco while turning to look at Neo. "Neo, this fashion-crazed girl is, or I guess was, a student in her second year at Beacon as the leader of Team CFVY. Mercury and Emerald fought against her and her teammate Yatsuhashi back in the doubles round, remember?"

"Wait, that was you?!" Neo exclaimed as both hands moved to her mouth in shock. "I am so sorry I didn't recognize you right away! I hope your team is doing alright now, even after everything that's happened to them!"

Coco gave the two of them a look as she raised one eyebrow while pulling down her shades a small way. "I appreciate the comment, but now I've got a few questions both in regards to what you two are doing here…" Coco paused for a moment before turning a cold gaze towards Frost, to which he shuffled his feet slightly at the piercing gaze. "Why does it sound like you two knew them more than just by name, and that you haven't been upfront with everyone about something?"

Frost chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head a bit before gesturing towards the landed bulkhead. "Any chance we can talk while we fly towards the city? It'll take some time to explain."

"And what makes you think that my team and I are even the ones getting on this pass anyways?"

Neo spoke up as he gained Coco's attention once more, "Because you have your handbag with you, and we can see your teammates approaching with their own weapons readied as well."

Coco glanced behind her to see that her team was in fact, just now approaching with their assorted gear in place as people, both Huntsmen and civilians alike, parted to let them pass with words of thanks and prayers of safety. "Huh, lucky guess I suppose." She turned back to the two as she motioned towards the bulkhead as she walked between the two of them. "Well, follow me I guess, and we'll get to talking on the flight in. Just know that if we either think you're withholding anything or don't like what we hear, we won't be letting you out of our sight anytime soon, even when we land outside the city."

"That's fair, considering we don't have any faster way in at this point." Neo bowed her head in thanks as they all started to pile onto the airship.


"Good grief." Coco's eyes were wide as her shades were currently raised while the rest of her team gave Frost and Neo looks of pity and shock. "You two went through all of that, and you were actually caught right up in the middle of it all, huh? Shit sucks."

"Coco!" Velvet exclaimed from next to her leader. "Be nice, I doubt this is hard for them to say at this point."

"Not as hard as you'd think actually, considering we've had practice explaining to a few people now." Frost stated with a shrug. "That's actually partly why we're even here right now. We just finished coming from seeing how Yang was doing and speaking to her father. They know the story now too, and we're off to see if we can find any leads as to where Blake went off to."

"Wait, Ruby wasn't with her sister?" Velvet spoke up once more with a sound of confusion and worry as all attention was turned to her. "What happened?"

"Nothing serious, if that's what you're concerned about." Frost said with a raised hand as he attempted to lower Velvet's concern. "She had already left with the rest of Team JNPR…or I guess whatever you call them without Pyrrha…to find answers of their own." No one missed the cold look Frost gained on his face and the tightened muscles in his shoulder as he finished his statement.

"Hey, listen." Coco said softly as she reached forward to place a hand gently on Frost's shoulder in the small space as the airship began to descend towards their destination. "I know you would have known them a bit more than us considering how much time you had to spend around Team RWBY and by extension JNPR, but you need to let this go and admit that this is how things are now."

"And accept that one of the best people I've ever known got killed by some psychotic bitch that's also responsible for that?!" Frost shouted as he pointed one finger accusingly at the sight ahead of them, where the ruins of the City of Vale sat as Grimm could be seen moving to and fro amongst the rubble closer to the edge of the city where Beacon's remains sat. "You're telling me I have to accept it?! Just give up and admit that Cinder won and killed who knows how many people with her sick power play for whatever schemes she's enacting? You heard that announcement as well as I did when it was her voice over the coliseum intercom system as she basically admitted that this was her whole plan this entire time!" Frost looked over to Neo as he placed a hand on his arm in an effort to get him to calm down. After taking a deep breath when seeing that his arms had been starting to glow somewhat to calm his Semblance and muscles, he continued with a more controlled tone of voice. "Cinder is the one behind all of this, and I intend on finding out what her plans are before I beat the living shit out of her myself for what she's done."

"That's all fine and good, Frost." Neo said from beside him. "But don't lose yourself while doing it. I know what that feeling is like, and I don't think I could take it if you had to deal with the same thing I did."

"Did you guys forget to mention something when we were talking earlier?" Coco said with a small smirk. "Cause if you two need some privacy for some boyfriend-girlfriend talk then we're already satisfied about everything we've heard. Don't need to get us involved in this kind of stuff, just saying."

Frost's face froze with a look of shock and a very small, almost unnoticeable blush while Neo spluttered with an exasperated voice as she turned her gaze to Coco with a blush of her own. "Excuse you, miss fashion sense. But we are NOT like that. The truth is there are certain things we aren't comfortable with telling everyone unless one of us knows them well enough, so kindly leave your assumptions to yourself. Now if you'll excuse us, we have places to be."

With Neo's impromptu speech out the way, the two of them disappeared in a flash as Neo teleported them into the city itself, leaving Team CFVY behind as they started climbing off of the airship. Velvet turned and gave Coco a disapproving look as they signaled the airship with how long they would be.

"Was that really necessary, Coco? They're likely still hurting from everything that went on. Why did you have to tease them like that?"

"Oh come on Velvs, it was just in fun. You know me." Coco said with a shrug as she re-positioned her shades in front of her eyes. "Besides, don't lie and tell me you didn't see it as well. Those two are some of the closest people I've ever seen, and it's not often a simple gesture like a hand on the arm can calm someone that worked up. Call it what you want, but even if they don't realize it themselves, they're pretty fucking close compared to most people. Even if I'm wrong, I say there's still something there, just depends on if anything comes from it."

Velvet shook her head with a sigh as she accepted it as Coco just being her regular over-dramatic self. "Either way, we have people we need to evacuate. Are you coming or not?"

"Hey, I thought I was team leader? When did you suddenly start muscling in on my territory?"

"Coco! You know I didn't mean it like that!"

"I know Velvet, I know."