Layfon walked with krutches as he walked through the school, Ruby being beside him as they conversed.

Seeing as he'd been put into another school, he felt that he needed to walk around it to get a better sense of his surroundings.

Since Ruby had been here much longer than he had, she'd personally volunteered to be his guide.

As they went, she told him the places he needed to know about to have a basic understanding of buildings and where to go at certain times to at least get around well during his time at Beacon.

Time would soon pass, and when they passed by a training hall, though the classrooms were made to withstand any moderate amount of attacks if something were to ever happen...

"There are still that many people training even though this is their day off?" Layfon asked, stopping as he looked down inside of the window.

There were several hundred heads that could be seen inside the hall.

All of them were obviously training, as though it was a natural part of their lives, even as they fought at what looked like blurring speed.

"Yeah, that's what a lot of people are doing nowadays."

"They must be pretty dedicated to getting stronger..."

"No, not really. It's because of the interschool tournament that going to be happening soon."

"Really?" Layfon glanced at her.

"Yeah, I think it's supposed to happen every year or something like that."

"Well, that sounds pretty familiar..."

The fact that Regios almost always went to battle with each other whenever they met up made this tournament remind him deeply of that fact.

He just hoped the outcome of it didn't affect the fate of the schools...

"I bet you could do well in the tournament. You should sign up!"

"Why do you want me to try signing up for the tournament?" He asked her, walking through the courtyard then, passing by a large statue.

"I guess it's a bit because I want to see just how strong you are."

"I don't really enjoy fighting all that much."

"Then why are you even a hunter to begin with?"

Layfon didn't find any confusion in him being called a "hunter". After all, the term was the equivalent to "military artist" from what he could tell.

"I did it to survive." He said, coming right out with it.

He really saw no use of utilizing his own power against anything but Contaminoids though (and maybe other military artists if he were ever forced to by circumstance, as he didn't even enjoy the inter-platoon matches in Zuellni whatsoever).

"You seem like the type of guy who would do it to help people."

"You think so? I don't really think I'm like that."

"Well, that's what I think at least."

"You don't really seem like the type of person who's very willing to fight though." Layfon pointed out.

"I do it because I want to help people live happily ever after."

"Huh?" Layfon turned to her again, seeing Ruby smiling up at him.

She nodded at him to confirm what he heard, "Yeah, my sister used to read me books all the time, and whenever I learned about people living happily ever after, I just wished that could happen in real life. So, to do that, I became a huntress in training."

"'Happily ever after'..." Layfon looked down, "I can't say I've ever heard of that."

"You never read fairy tales when you were younger?"

"I never read much at all honestly." He responded bluntly, albeit his expression was a bit sheepish, "But even then... I've never heard of something like 'Happily Forever After'..."

"That's a bit abnormal, but I guess you aren't the only one to be like that." Ruby shrugged.

"The way I grew up, everything was always about power and survival, in almost every aspect of everyone's lives that was necessary."

"That sounds like a pretty miserable and unstable place."

"It wasn't. There were things like government and other stuff like that. But I kind of like it here too. The sky's so vast and clear." Layfon looked up at the sky, smiling as he did this.

"You've never seen a clear sky before?" Ruby said after stopping and staring for a moment.

"I could see a clear sky, it was just that the air was so polluted that everything was all brown and dirty."

"That sounds like a pretty harsh place to live in..."

"It could be sometimes." He half-lidded his eyes, "What was it you said? You called it 'Happily Forever After'?"

"...Yeah."

"I honestly don't think it's possible for people to ever live like that. Even if it's in these fairy tales that you're talking about. Because I'm sure they must be very different from reality."

Ruby was silent.

She always got that same response from pretty much everyone she ever told about her ambition.

"But..." Layfon smiled at her, "That may be because things always seem impossible until someone actually pulls it off. So, if you really do want to make this life like a fairy tale... then I guess I can't do anything but do my best to support you."

Ruby blinked at this in surprise.

"You... actually think that I can pull it off...?"

This was probably the first time anyone other than Yang had actually supported her ambition and motivation to being a huntress.

She actually didn't know how to respond.

Even her friends at Signal laughed at her when she told them about it.

"It could be possible. But it's probably going to make life as hard on us than anything else can. I never said it'd be easy. But I've lived a life of constant fighting for a long time now. I just want to find some way to find a path that isn't involved in violence, even I am going to try and get into that life again pretty soon anyways. And even if I don't ever find my path, I want to make it so others don't have to do the same thing as me." Layfon looked down, "I want everyone to live in 'Happily Ever After'..."

Ruby walked up to him, smiling at him and nodding with her hands on her hips, "Alright Layfon, we'll do just that."

"Yeah. Let's make a new world of happiness."

Ruby lifted her hand up towards him then.

Layfon looked down at the hand, then lifted his own, convinced she wanted a handshake, only for Ruby to curl her pinky finger around his.

"Uh... What exactly are you...?"

"Surely you heard of a pinky swear where you come from?"

"No, I haven't." He shook his head, eyes closed.

"It's kind of like a promise to never lie about a certain thing." She tried to explain it to him.

"Okay... I promise not to lie about our progress and my determination in making this world a better place."

"Not like that!" Ruby exclaimed.

"How then?"

Ruby lifted their hooked fingers up, then bounced it up and down for every syllable she spoke, "Pin - Ky - Swear!"

"..." Layfon stared at their joined fingers for a long time, then did it as well, "Pin - Ky - Swear."

"There! Now you got it! Just hope you don't break your promise though."

"Why?" Layfon looked back up at her in curiosity.

"Because if you do, then you have to swallow 1,000 needles."

"..."

"What's wrong? Why are you looking like that?"

"...what kind of horrible tradition is this?!" Layfon said loudly, eyes wide.

"It's just a pinky swear, I won't really make you swallow 1,000 needles Layfon."

"You guys are such cliches." A voice dragged into Layfon's ear from beside him.

"Hm?" Layfon glanced behind himself, seeing a girl with white hair and pale blue eyes.

Instantly, he thought she was part of the Luckens family, as the similarities between the two weren't very distinct, only to have that thought shattered by Ruby's voice.

"We aren't cliches Weiss! We're just regular people dreaming about helping the world!"

"Yeah. Cliches." She shrugged her shoulders, hands out.

Ruby fumed at her, then sighed, "Layfon," she turned to him, "This is Weiss Schnee. Weiss, this is Layfon."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Layfon smiled.

"Nice to meet you too." Weiss said, crossing her arms.

"Will you be fighting in the tournament too?"

"Of course I will. Same thing for Ruby, Yang and Blake."

"I guess I'll get into the tournament too." Layfon walked to the

"Are you sure that you'll be able to actually fight in your condition?" Weiss was looking at his krutches.

"Trust me, I've been through much worse than this and barely had a day to recover before someone put me to work again." Layfon lifted a bended arm up and rotated it around for emphasis, feeling some part of his shoulder crack loudly.

"What proof do you have of that?"

"Is there really any way to prove that?" Layfon glanced at her.

"That's up to you. But I really doubt that you can actually prove that with any valid evidence."

"Really?" Layfon looked at Weiss fully, "I'm pretty sure I don't have to prove anything to you."

"You don't. It just sounds as though you're exxagerating. And usually, the exxagerators are much worse at what they do than they say."

"I'm not."

"I guess we'll see in the tournament, now won't we?"

"Why not now?" Layfon asked, voice suddenly becoming devoid.

"What do you mean now?"

"I mean, why not see if I can show you just how strong I am without being at my best condition."

"How on earth are you going to show me that?"

"We could try sparring for a bit. Wouldn't that give you some proof?"

"I am not going to spar with a guy who's on krutches."

Layfon looked at her again, then sighed, "Alright, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It could be a bit fun to see what powers you have."

Then he pushed himself away, head down slightly as the sound of the padding on his krutches made a scraping sound against the sidewalk.

"I wonder what got into him all of a sudden." Ruby said, eyes on the back of Layfon's head.

"It seems like you keep cocky company around with you." Weiss said, walking away.

Ruby didn't even bother to respond, only started walking behind Layfon, her not very surprised that Weiss and Layfon didn't seem very fond of each other already.

Though she wasn't sure what had come over Layfon in that moment though...

And his eyes... she couldn't be sure, but it looked as though his eyes had actually started glowing for a second there...

Meanwhile, Layfon was walking up to a table that had been set up, him having followed the directions of a series of signs that he'd passed that all were saying to go to the entrance if they wanted to go into the inter-school tournament.

Even though he didn't exactly enjoy fighting, he knew he was still pretty powerful as he was, even if he didn't have much use of his own legs without his krutches or his kei.

But, like he'd said before, he was a generally fast healer.

He'd be able to use his legs fully in a few more days of rest.

That fight with Savalis really did a number on him...

Regardless, Layfon soon realized as he was walking up to the signing desk that the main reason that he was signing up now was because of Weiss' comment towards him.

Typically he'd be fine or at least calm with a lot of things in his life, good or bad.

He was fine with half the girls calling him "idiot" so many times that it could be his new nickname, mainly as he had done multiple things in a more self-centered and stubborn way than was probably necessary.

He was fine with most of his fellow military artists being jealous of his skills. That was the feeling most people who lived to fight for others had. When someone else was constantly outshining you at your own job then it was a bit hard to be desensitized to it, let alone be fine with it. Especially when that person was doing it without having to push themself too hard.

But at Weiss' words, Layfon didn't understand until later on how they made him feel.

She had brutally offended him.

He knew he wasn't the strongest person in the world, though still powerful all in all.

Layfon never prided himself to being that way.

After all, in a food chain map he always considered Filth Monsters to be at the top, humans and the few other species that had managed to survive the pollutants that practically ruined the air or the Filth Monsters themselves being underneath them.

Yet, Weiss' voice wasn't only skeptic. It was mocking almost.

Even if he didn't exactly want to use his own power to fight anymore, he still worked himself to death trying to get the power he had then.

It was hard not to have negative feelings towards someone who basically dissed you without even knowing that about you.

So...

"Come on Nina, you know you won't be able to fight in the tournament the way you are now."

Layfon blinked at the voice as he held a pen over the name roster, then slowly looking at the source.

"Just shut up Sharnid! I'm going to fine."

"You should listen to him you know." A green haired boy said, hands on the back of his head, "Just because you want to see how strong everyone is doesn't mean you have to fight them head on."

"You too Harley?" Nina exclaimed, pushing herself forward slowly on her wheelchair.

Layfon stared at her for a long time, then set the pen down, walking up to the trio that stood there, "So you guys are signing up too?"

Nina turned to him, and she looked at him in confusion for a moment, "I'm sorry, but... have I seen you before?"

"Is the new look that dramatic a change?" Layfon lifted a lock to his face, looking at the black hair again.

"Yo, Layfon, is that you?" Sharnid walked up to him, leaning down and studying his face.

"Yeah, it's me Sharnid." Layfon answered, giving an awkward smile.

"What's with the new look man? You look like the emo version of your usual self." His senior put it bluntly.

"I don't know. It just... sort of... happened."

"You do look a heck of a lot different than the last time we saw you though." Harley said, looking him up and down.

"What are you doing here though? Shouldn't you be resting?" Layfon asked Nina.

"I'm just trying to see how strong our new classmates will be."

"Even so, you shouldn't push yourself too hard."

"Says the guy who did something completely insane when he was wounded." Sharnid said dryly.

"Oh, so you guys heard about that too..."

"I thought you said (fighting Contaminoids head on by yourself was stupid/not to show off all your powers). It's a bit hard not to get jealous after something like that. We can't let you hog all the glory Layfon. It just isn't fair."

Layfon smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"So I'm guessing that you'll be fighting in the tournament too?" Harley asked him.

"Yeah, I guess I will be."

"Hm. Well it seems like we'll get to see our trump card in action again." Sharnid looked at the sign in sheet.

"I just have to finish signing my name and everything..." Layfon turned back to the sheet.

"But are you sure that you'll be fine? I don't want you to fight when you're still in krutches." Nina spoke, rolling up to his side.

"That's coming from the girl in a wheelchair." Harley said.

Nina responded with a punch to his stomach.

He keeled over as soon as the impact hit, "What the heck Nina..."

"I'll... see you guys later..." Layfon said, not sure how exactly to respond to the scene.

"Alright Layfon. Good luck in the tournament."

"Thanks Nina." He turned to the table, finishing writing his name and signature.

"Let's meet up with the whole platoon sometime. It's been fun having you all as my subordinates for so long."

"That's only because you've been a great leader." Layfon gave her a smile.

"Thanks."

"Are these guys friends of yours Layfon?" Ruby asked, looking at his former platoon members.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce you guys. Ruby, these are members of my old platoon. This is Sharnid, Harley, and my platoon leader, Nina." Layfon spoke, gesturing each person, them waving in response to this, "Everyone, this is Ruby." He finished simply, gesturing towards her.

"Oh wow, so you were a leader of a team?" Ruby said, looking at Nina with fascination.

"Yes. I was."

"I'm a team leader too!"

Layfon looked at her, surprise taking his expression, "Really?"

"Yup!"

"Who do you lead?"

"Well, you already met Weiss, same thing goes for my older sister, but you haven't met Blake yet..."

"That's pretty interesting. But I guess it's a bit fitting. Someone with such high ambitions being the leader I mean."

Ruby smiled.

"So, did you guys ever get to know your way around this place?"

"We were planning on doing that but we never got the chance to until today."

"Okay, when you guys finish signing up we'll give you a tour of the place. Is that alright with you Ruby?" He glanced at her.

"Yeah, that's fine with me." She nodded, and they both waited as they wrote down their names in the roster.

And then they finally gave the members of the seventeenth platoon the tour of the academy.


Ozpin walked in front of the harbor, Alsherya at his side.

"You're saying that these Serenium mines are capable of making a substance similar to dust?" He asked, looking at the barely aloft Regios.

"Yes, if what we can tell from Zuellni's electronic fairy's behavior is valid." Alsherya responded, pulling a picture out.

Ozpin took it in his hand and looked, seeing what looked like a little blue haired and skinned girl sucking on a dust crystal as though it were a popsicle, "This doesn't exactly prove..."

"The only thing that electronic fairies can consume is, in theory, serenium. So what exactly else is there to think of that?"

Ozpin gave a look of thought about it, then sighed, "Nothing else I'm afraid. But if that is the case, then that would explain the theft that occured yesterday."

"Theft?"

"Yes. Apparently a group of people were trying to steal one of the serenium mines. It's still unknown which Regios it was stolen from, but they managed to get away nonetheless. That was the report from two of our subordinates at least." Ozpin explained, looking deep in thought as he looked at the Regios in question.

"That's a bit helpful. Have I convinced you now?"

"Yes, you have. I hope this partnership of ours should prove to be very beneficial in the days to come." Ozpin turned around, walking away.

"Of course Ozpin. Why wouldn't I try to help someone who helped find homes for my citizens at such short notice?" Alsherya called behind him, hand on her hip.

"There are some people who betray those who help them in this world." Ozpin responded, not turning back.

Alsherya smiled at the back of his head, then closed her eyes, looking back towards the Regios again, "Yes, that is a fact in this life."

Then she left as well, following behind Ozpin, who still had a thoughtful look on his face.

He recalled a message he got from Qrow, and as he did, he whispered the message to himself, "'Queen has pawns'..."

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

He'd have to prepare then...


"Beacon is a pretty big place..." Layfon said to Ruby, who walked slowly beside him, them near the hospital again, "I didn't think it would take this long to get through the whole tour."

"You'll get used to it after a while. I felt the same way when we first came here."

"It's fun to go to new places though. You're pretty limited back where I used to live."

"Good to know you aren't in that place anymore."

"I think I'll try exploring a bit more around here when I get the time."

"You do that. Just don't do anything reckless while you're doing it."

"What's with everyone thinking I'm going to do something reckless nowadays?"

"Look at the news and you'll find the answer."

"Alright, you got me there." He responded, a bit deflated.

They walked inside of the hospital, making their way to Layfon's room.

But when the duo reached the room, they found a red haired man standing in the middle of the room, standing over Jaune, turning around at their entrance.

"Hello..." Layfon said, seeing him but not recognizing him.

"There you are." He turned to the duo, green eyes almost carefree.

"Who are you exactly?"

He smiled, "Looks like you don't remember me at all... that's fine. I came to look for someone. Would you be the one who has the Fallen One inside of him?"

"Yeah. But why are you looking for me?"

"You're a carrier of a Fallen One, just like me. Only difference is I actually have two Fallen Ones inside me."

"Two?!" Layfon's eyes widened.

Usually only one was enough to destroy someone.

"I came to offer you a chance to learn how to control your newfound power. Would you be interested in something like that?"

Layfon considered it, then nodded.

"Alright. There are more things when it comes to a Fallen One's abilities than just their immense kei. It can be used as something that can make someone's attacks more powerful or even heal someone's wounds. It's probably more simple to start off with one of those two when you're trying to harness the Fallen One's power. Which would you like to learn first?"

Layfon considered it, thinking about it.

He had said that he could teach him how to control attacks and the power they had as he used the Fallen One's power.

If he were to ever try protecting everyone in a fight with a Contaminoid, that would come in pretty handy.

But he also mentioned healing others wounds...

Layfon felt himself glance at Jaune, his arm still in its cast.

If he could use the Fallen One to heal others...

"Any ideas of which you want to learn yet, or... would you like some more time to think?"

Layfon looked at the man again, and then finally made his decision.


Choice 1: Healing Light
Choice 2: Advent to Opposition's End