Author's Note:

Hey everyone, here's a new chapter.

This chapter will cover the entire Jaunedice story arc, though, Faen and his team will not be present for everything that happens with RWBY and JNPR.

Hope you enjoy.


FFOG, having finished cleaning up their dorm as well as calming down a bit, were now in the Academy's amphitheatre for Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch.

The lesson had gone as usual for the most part, this time the fights took place on the amphitheatre's stage. Professor Goodwitch picked out students to spar against each other, or a student or two might volunteer to spar. The Huntsmen or Huntresses-in-Training would spar against each other until one came out on top, and once that fight was done, a new pair or group would be chosen and fight each other.

Earlier in the class, Faen had sparred with Yang, and boy, saying that she hit like a brick would be a severe understatement to how strong she was. The blonde human girl could hit like freaking train! Having at one point sent him flying into the stage's back wall with a single punch during their spar. Not something that he wanted to relive anytime soon to be honest.

Right now, Jaune was getting absolutely battered by Cardin. And boy was he losing. Losing badly.

The elf and the rest of FFOG had seen this dance before, and were honestly paying very little attention to the fight going on in the arena. In fact the four demi-humans had gone ahead and were doing their own things while they waited for the outcome that they knew was going to happen.

Grey was on the verge of falling asleep, the refreshing effects of her shower and breakfast starting to fade away. Friesian, who was sat next to Grey, had taken it upon himself to pinch the werewolf whenever he thought she was about to succumb to her want for sleep. As of right now, the dullahan had pinched Grey three times to make sure that did not happen. Right now, Friesian looked like he was preparing a fourth pinch with the way that Grey was struggling to keep her head upright.

At least the dullahan was doing something useful while they waited for the current spar to end. Not that Grey seemed appreciate her partner's efforts if those annoyed groans were anything to go by.

Meanwhile, Akagi had sat next to Faen and was currently inspecting her nails, while shooting quick looks up at the raised stage that served as an arena every now and then. She had tried focusing on the fight earlier, but gave up when she saw that it would turn out like all the other spars Jaune got into.

What was Faen doing? Faen had crossed his arms, and let his mind drift to thoughts of things other than the fight.

It was a way to kill time when he had no book or anything else to preoccupy himself with when in similar such situations as this. It was not always a useful or even healthy thing to do, for his mind could stray for too long, or it could go to some dark places. Still, it was a hell of a lot better than watching the mess going on the arena floor. No offense meant to Jaune, but the way he was fighting was indeed a mess.

One of the things Faen's mind went to was his home back in Selene. It had been several weeks since he first set foot in Beacon, coming close to a month now, and he was missing his home. He was acclimating to the new social environment that attending Beacon put him in, but a slight sense of homesickness had started to nibble at him from the inside. What was odd was that he also missed Vigil. Sure he had not exactly liked some of the memories he had about the place, but he did miss the Martial School, especially how much quieter it was when compared to Beacon.

The other thing Faen's mind wandered off to was what he and Professor Taupe had discussed back in their counselling session. From his attitude towards his human acquaintances to his future plans as a Huntsmen. It was something that he should have serious think about if he wanted to stay in Beacon and remain as team leader of FFOG. Yet, trying to do so hurt his head, so he turned his mind on to other things. He'd figure those things out later.

A random thought that just flew into his head whilst he was in this state was what he should have for lunch. He was starting to feel a bit hungry, and lunch was after this lesson. Finding that thinking about food only made him hungrier, Faen tried to turn his thoughts to other things that wouldn't make his stomach start rumbling.

The elf was spared from having to, for his mind returned back to what was going on in the class when Akagi gave him a gentle shake of his shoulder. Looking towards her, the Akagi nodded her head towards the stage. The spar must have finished at last. Needless to say, when Faen turned his face up to the stage he saw that it had ended precisely how he and the others predicted it would. Jaune lost and Cardin won, again.

As she had done so many times before, Professor Goodwitch strode into the arena, gave her assessment of the fight and then provided advice to the participants of the spar as usual. This time however, the professor decided to end her class with a very important announcement.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" This Combat Class professor's announcement sparked a reaction from the class. Why shouldn't it?

The Vytal Festival, a worldwide event meant to celebrate the end of the Great War, and the 'peace' that had come with it. It was also a means by which Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-Training might earn prestige, fame and glory for themselves, their Kingdom and their Academy. The combat tournament that took place during the Festival was probably the most televised event in the world. This Festival was going to be the 40th, and it would take place in Vale, while Faen and his team were in their first-year. The elf had only ever watched the Vytal Festival on a television or through livestreams. This was going to be the first one he'd get to watch it in person, and maybe participate in. Now that would be something.

Looking to his teammates, Faen saw excitement sparkle in their eyes. The same could be said for almost everyone else in the class, some expressing their eagerness for the coming event more openly than others.

Now, Faen would be lying if he said that he did not understand how they felt. He didn't let it show on his face, and neither did he want to admit it to anyone, but Faen also felt anticipation for the coming Vytal Festival. The prospect of being able to fight in the famed Amity Colosseum in front of millions all of the world, and, this was some seriously wishful thinking, possibly winning the Festival's combat tournament. Now, Faen was not very confident that he and his team of first-years could win the tournament, and would not normally seek the attention that the Vytal Festival's tournament would certainly bring. But such a chance for glory was very tempting to his young mind.

Elf Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-Training had partaken in the tournament, but none before him had ever won. If he won, and as student in his first-year, that would be absolutely incredible. A good part of him spoke against the idea, trying to tell him to calm his ambition. However, Faen found it very hard to ignore the temptation that the Vytal Festival posed to him. He could practically hear a voice whispering into his ear, tempting him to go ahead and... Wait a second.

"We should take part. We can win. We should take part. We can win. We should take part. We can win." A familiar voice repeatedly whispered into his ear. Turning his head to face the person, Faen saw that Akagi had leaned in close to him, her lips a few centimetres away from his ear, and had been whispering into it for the last few seconds. Seeing that she was caught, Akagi backed away and gave him an innocent smile.

Faen just rolled his eyes at her behaviour. Sometimes the kitsune would act... he wasn't sure how exactly to describe how she acted.

The bell rang, alerting everyone that the class was over, and that it was now time for lunch. Everyone in the class got up from their seats and started to make their way out of the amphitheatre, making sure to take their chairs and stack them away as they did.

As they were doing this, Faen cast a quick look up towards the amphitheatre stage. There, Jaune was sitting, his head stooped down in shame.

Faen felt a measure of pity for the boy, despite his own growing reservations about the human and his abilities as a combatant. Not because of the beaten look that Jaune gave off as he sat there.

He pitied Jaune for many reasons. For one, Jaune was a poor fighter in and out of Combat Class, probably the worst in their current year group. His grades in other subjects showed that he was underperforming in them as well, a bit of eavesdropping helping Faen learn that. What was probably the biggest source of pity that Faen felt for Jaune was because of how he was bullied by Cardin.

Cardin and Jaune shared positions in their year group as two of its weaker members. There were others who performed badly, but Cardin and Jaune stood out to Faen because he had a personal grudge against former, and he was positively acquainted with the latter. Positively acquainted was probably an over exaggeration, or maybe unnecessarily cold if Grey was correct. Either way, Jaune was the weaker of the two, and because of that, he was naturally the target of bullying from the stronger individual. Cardin.

It was not right. That Faen knew and understood, having once been a victim of bullying himself. However, this was ultimately Jaune's problem to deal with, and it would be up to him on how he handled this. Jaune's bullying would only be Faen's problem when it was made into his problem or if Cardin's bullying became too much for even him too stand by and watch. Anyway, the elf had his own troubles with Cardin to deal with in time.

Turning away from the stage, shaking his head once at Jaune as he did, Faen joined his team. Who had finished stacking their chairs and had hung back when they noticed his brief pause. They did not ask him what was up. He would have said that it was nothing anyway.

Leaving the amphitheatre, the team headed for the cafeteria for lunch. As they walked, the team discussed the Vytal Festival.

"The Vytal Festival. Man, is this going to be the longest few months of my life." Friesian said with a grin on his face, oblivious to the disturbed looks he was getting from passing students. Yeah, seeing a grinning head detached from its body would certainly arouse such a reaction.

"Oh yeah! I honestly can't wait. Not just for the tournament, but can you imagine the food vendors that'll be in the fairgrounds? Oh my gods, I can already imagine the smells right now!" Grey was quick to add, starting to salivate at the very thought of the various foods often available at the Festival's fairgrounds. Plenty of them would be of local Vale cuisine, but food was food, and Grey really liked food.

She had been tired not a few moments earlier, and here Grey was, excitedly talking about food. The sudden shift was not something new to Faen.

"Of course your mind goes to food. You're a vacuum cleaner without an off-switch when it comes to that of all things." Faen remarked after hearing what Grey had to say, the other members of FFOG, apart from Grey, chortling at his words.

He wasn't wrong, and Faen guessed that was why the others found it amusing. Of course, Grey did not find it amusing, but she was certainly not offended by his bit of banter. If she was the werewolf would have tried to rip the elf's head off his shoulders or tear his throat out. Faen had the personal experience to back up that claim, having had to hold Grey back a few times to prevent her from attacking people when she was truly offended or incensed. Not an easy task considering how much stronger she was compared to him.

"Tch, you don't know what you're talking about, besides, you should eat more. I mean, look at you, Mister A-strong-breeze-will-send-me-flying-like-a-kite!" Grey responded to his jest with a gentle punch to his arm, which honestly kind of hurt a bit. His Aura was still recovering from his fight against Yang.

Honestly though, in comparison to Grey, he was slightly thinner and less muscular than her. At least he was not skinny or underweight.

"Heh, you guys. You guys are..." Friesian started to say, though, he stopped before he could finish what he was going to say. "Actually... nah, nevermind!"

"You were going to say something? What was it going to be?" The elf questioned Friesian.

"No it was just... it had to do with something me, Grey and Akagi talked about earlier. It isn't anything important," the dullahan waved their concerns away. Grey and Akagi were confused for a moment, but they seemed to understand what he was talking about. However, all three seemed to wordlessly agree to keep whatever it was between themselves.

Faen was somewhat intrigued by what the three seemed had decided to keep all hush-hush. He let it be, however, it might be something he should confront them about. But, he would do so later.

They had the important matter of lunch to attend to.

"Come on, we should hurry up and get to the cafeteria. All this talk of food is actually making me hungry!" Akagi butted in.

"Heh, that's what you get when you only eat instant pot noodles for breakfast." Friesian remarked, earning a quick glare from the kitsune. The two were still a little on edge around each other because of the little altercation that had occurred earlier today.

"Let's get going. We have a lesson with Doctor Oobleck after lunch, and I'd rather we possess enough energy to get through his class than not. You know how he is," Faen interjected before anything too serious broke out between the two. The elf not wanting another fight to occur, especially while in public. In response, the kitsune and dullahan backed off, and continued walking while staying a small distance away from each other.

Grey turned her head towards Faen and gave him a quick nod of approval. Probably liking how he had prevented their teammates from fighting again. He might actually be getting good at this team leader thing.

With lunch on their minds, and the two other members of FFOG back in line, the four demi-humans carried on walking to the cafeteria. Quickening their pace slightly as they did. On their way to the cafeteria, the group ran into another team who they had became fairly acquainted with during their stay in Beacon. They were Team AMRT.

Amarantha Tanith, Monica Dusk, Reuel Taner, and Tora Yamazaki. Each member of this team, like FFOG, were all Demi-Humans.

Monica, a vampire, Faen had met and got to know on their first day as official students of Beacon. And later on in the infrequent conversations that the two would sometimes partake in. Same went for the team's leader, Amarantha. Though, they had not spoken much that day and were pretty indifferent to each other when they interacted with each other.

The other two were quite a pair as well.

Reuel Taner, the 'R' of Team AMRT. He was an Angel, men and women with massive wings on their back which they could use for flight. Faen had not really interacted with Reuel too often aside from the odd conversation and spar. But, the elf thought him to be a fairly decent and well-mannered person, as well as a good fighter, though, a bit of a stickler for the rules and stuff. When it came to fighting Grimm, Reuel became an almost completely different person and could be a little... zealous as he fought.

No doubt both traits of sticking to the rules and his attitude when fighting Grimm were picked up from his upbringing in Solaria, the famed Enclave of Angels. These things such as abiding by the rules and doing battle against the Grimm were two of the most core tenets of Angelic society.

Appearance-wise Reuel had short, well-kept blonde hair, fair skin, grey eyes and his wings were as white as snow. The guy was also more than attractive, and had garnered a fair number of admirers during the weeks he'd been in Beacon.

And then there was Tora Yamazaki, the 'T' of Team AMRT. The guy was an Oni, a kind of demon-ogre in the mythologies and beliefs of a few cultures that existed in Anima. Guy was undeniably the tallest person in Faen's year-group, and was counted amongst the tallest students to attend Beacon. He also had a great love for fighting, and would fight just about anyone and everyone without a second thought. Thanks to his considerable strength and great endurance, Tora tended to win whatever fights he got into.

A near stereotypical oni.

Tora had a mane of wild and unkept orange hair, and a pair of horns protruding from the top of his forehead. He had his the jacket of his Beacon uniform, which was several sizes larger than Faen's, slung over his shoulder and had his shirt sleeves rolled up past his elbows to show of his muscular arms. His personal accessory to his uniform was a sash with a tiger stripes design printed on it wrapped around his waist.

The two teams had just been in the same Combat Class together, but had not spoken to each other while the lesson went on. With the class over, both teams now had an opportunity to converse with each other.

Normally, FFOG would walk with Teams RWBY and JNPR. On this occasion, however, the two teams had hung back a bit, probably waiting for Jaune to join them. FFOG did not want to wait for the human boy, so they went on ahead of their friends/acquaintances.

If they couldn't walk and talk with RWBY and JNPR. They would settle with AMRT.

"Hello Team FFOG, it is a pleasure to see you four again." Amarantha greeted Faen and his team in her usual uptight and almost emotionless demeanour.

Grey had once called him as 'cold as ice water' after the way he had acted back in Vigil. A claim that Faen could not say was untrue. Now, after the two FFOGG and AMRT became acquainted with each other a few weeks, Grey privately told Faen the naga had 'the emotional spectrum of a rock', after that first encounter. Amarantha's demeanour making her almost completely unapproachable and unable to connect to everyone else in the Academy.

"A pleasure to meet you and your team as well, Amarantha." Faen was quick to return the naga's greeting with one of his own. "How are you?"

"We are fine," the naga replied. Her voice and facial expression not changing at all. With a personality like that, Faen wondered just what the Headmaster had seen in her to appoint the position of team leader, but then again, the same could be said for him.

"Ugh, the two of you sound like you're at some super formal dinner party or business meeting." Grey interrupted the two with an impatient groan.

"Hehe, can you imagine the conversations they would have if we left them alone together? I'd bet good Lien that they'd sound like robots." Tora snorted in amusement at his own jest, other members of both teams sharing the oni's amusement and expressed it through snorts and chuckles.

Faen and Amarantha turned to their teammates and sent them disapproving scowls. The elf disliked being interrupted, something that happened all too often with Grey, and neither did he like being compared to a robot. He wasn't being a robot, this was just his way of being polite.

At least they hadn't the gall to make a poor impersonation of him. That would have been going too far in his book.

Gods' only know what was going on through Amarantha's head right now. He sure as hell didn't know.

"Are you going to the cafeteria? If you guys are, maybe we can have lunch together." Akagi suggested to Team AMRT. Man, she must be really hungry if all she seemed to talk about was related to lunch right now. Then again, Faen was hungry, too, so having food in her mind wasn't bad or odd really.

"Thank you for the kind offer, but we're afraid we cannot join you. We plan to quickly grab our food and head back to our dorm. Perhaps another time, my friends." Reuel politely declined Akagi's suggestion to join them for lunch.

"Yeah. Someone accidentally left their history textbooks back in our dorm." Tora remarked as he, Amarantha and Reuel turned their eyes towards Monica, who meekly squirmed under their gaze. It only got worse for her when FFOG joined in and focused inquisitive stares on the vampire.

"My apologies everyone. I promise to do better in the future," Monica spoke up in response to how everyone was now looking at her. She avoided looking into their eyes and focused her eyes on her feet in shame.

"That's a shame. Still, mind if we walk to the cafeteria together? The more the merrier, as the people of the Kingdoms like to say." Friesian suggested to his team and their fellows in Team AMRT. The idea proposed by the dullahan was a sound one in Faen's opinion, and the other demi-human students appeared to agree with it. It wasn't too long a walk, and at least they would have decent company along the way.

"Not at all. We welcome your presence as we make our way to the cafeteria." Amarantha responded with an affirmative nod, her teammates doing the same. Coming to a mutual agreement, the group of demi-human students walked, slithered in Amarantha's case, to the cafeteria together.

As they walked, the group of eight students talked. In typical fashion, Faen did not engage in the conversation between the two teams too much. He listened, but kept quiet most of the time. The number of people present and involved was a major factor, Faen found, in determining the level of participation he did in these kinds of things.

"Crazy fight you had with the Yang human, eh? She sent you flying into a wall!" Tora chuckled, joined in by a couple others in the small group of students. Faen kept a blank face at Tora's words. Not at all finding the memory of being launched off his feet and getting slammed into the arena's wall amusing. He knew it was a jest, but it wasn't funny to him.

"It was... an experience." Faen mumbled when the others looked to him, expecting a response. Just thinking about it made Faen rub the cheek where Yang had punched him, and in doing so, sent the elf into a wall.

It was an embarrassing moment for him, but he held no grudge against Yang for it. If she were anyone else, he would. But, because of his fairly positive opinion of the blonde human, Faen did not feel any animosity towards her. The same went for the other members of RWBY, FFOG, and JNPR. But it most certainly could not be said for others.

"Sure looked like it. A pretty painful one at that. For a moment I thought we might have to pull you out of the wall," Friesian said with a teasing smile. For goodness sake, him too?

"It wouldn't be the first time," Grey off-handedly commented. Earning both Faen's ire and the attention of the others present.

"What? Really?" Akagi inquired, the tone in her voice telling Faen that the kitsune was more than a little interested to know what Grey had meant.

"Mind telling us?" Tora eagerly requested, to Faen's growing chagrin.

The elf cast a glare towards Grey, one he'd sent her more than a couple times during their time together as friends. Silently telling her to not say a word about what she was planning to tell the others. Rather frustratingly, the werewolf ignored him and went ahead with her plan anyway. A devilish grin that Faen had grown to dread seeing plastered on her face as she began to recount what had happened.

"Hehehe. Where to begin?" Grey hummed in faux-contemplation before proceeding ahead with her tale. Much to Faen's silent irritation. "It was three years ago..."

'This is a pile of bull,' Faen thought to himself as he tuned out the others' conversation. What Grey was going to talk about was an... embarrassing moment in his life. Not the most embarrassing, but it was not something that the young elf liked to recall.

It had been a training spar back in Vigil, where he duelled another student, a dwarf in fact. A dwarf who used what Faen could only describe as an axe-cannon for a weapon. During the spar against the dwarf, Faen may or may not have underestimated his opponent. That very poor and regretful decision led to his defeat at the dwarf's hands.

The elf thought the dwarf would be slow and that he had the advantage of reach. To his surprise and misfortune, the dwarf was quicker than he had initially anticipated, and their weapon's cannon-mode more than made up for their lack of reach. Faen's opponent won the duel when they pulled off a clever riposte after baiting Faen to strike at an opening they'd intentionally created, and then following it up by a point-black blast of their weapon's cannon-mode. To his face.

The shot from the dwarf weapon's cannon-mode knocked Faen off of his feet and sent him crashing into the wall of the sparring arena.

That had more than a little been humiliating for Faen.

After that Faen then decided to challenge the dwarf to a second duel a couple days later. Which he then subsequently lost due to being baiting, again. Of all his opponents in Vigil, that dwarf had been the most infuriating adversary, for it took three more spars until the elf was finally able best them. A kind of rivalry then formed between the two, one that Faen believed to be unresolved. Faen wondered where the dwarf was now, and if he might have a chance to cross blades with them again. Maybe they could face each other in the Vytal Festival.

A duel there would be a fitting place for their rivalry to be finally ended.

"Faen, are you alright?" Faen heard Monica's voice ask him, concern for the leader of FFOG in her voice. Looking towards where the vampire nun's voice had come from, Faen saw that Monica had decided to walk right beside him.

"I'm alright, Monica. Just don't want to listen to the moon-howler's ramblings right now." He quickly replied, pointing a thumb towards Grey.

Sending a quick glance her way, Faen saw that the others' attention was focused on Grey as she told her story. Regaling them all on that less than proud moment of his life. The only ones not listening to the werewolf were himself, Amarantha, and Monica.

"Anyway, how are you?" Faen asked Monica, turning his eyes back to the vampire as he walked and spoke. Having a conversation with Monica would help him ignore Grey for the most part.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking," Monica responded to him with a polite smile and nod of her head.

"Do you want to talk about vampires again, or..." He suggested to Monica, but left the possibilty for a different subject to talk about on the table. Today, it seemed, Monica was not interested in learning more about her kind.

"No. Not today," the young nun shook her head at his suggestion. "Again, thank you for everything you've told me thus far. It has done me a good deal of help."

"It's nothing." Faen replied, waving off her thanks.

Faen had told Monica much of what he knew of Vampires, both from reading on them and his own personal experiences with that species of demi-human. To be fair, it was not a great deal, for like the Elves, Vampires kept to themselves most of the time. Though, they could not be described as anywhere nearly as taciturn when compared to Faen's own people. Still, he knew a lot more about Vampires than Monica herself did, so she lapped up what information he did know like a thirsting animal.

It was then that Faen decided to listen in on what Grey was talking about now. See if she was anywhere close to finished telling her tale.

"...he was then looking down the barrel of the cannon. The look that was on Faen's face was priceless! He was wearing his mask, but..."

"Oh joy," Faen muttered under his breath. His best friend had finally gotten to the 'good part', as she would phrase it. It most certainly was not the 'good part'in Faen's opinion.

"Is it really that embarrassing?" Monica innocently queried, but after a few moments, she swiftly knew why he had reacted in the way he had. For a moment Monica appeared as if she were about to laugh or at least snort at Faen's moment of misfortune. Yet, the vampire was able to restrain herself. "Oh. Um, I see. It's certainly not something to be incredibly ashamed of. We all falter and make mistakes every so often."

Though Faen appreciated Monica's kind and sincere words, they didn't really help improve his mood or opinion on that particular tale. If Grey was not his best friend, Faen would have tried throttling her by now. Unfortunately, she was his best friend, and it was against his personal code to attack a friend over something such as an embarrassing story of his past. The best he could do was get back at her with a story of his own. For Grey had experienced her own share of embarrassing moments.

Faen just needed to pick the right moment and the right memory to tell the others.

After that, Faen and Monica started to make more idle chatter with each other, and continued to do so until they finally reached the cafeteria. Plenty of other students were already there and enjoying lunch together. Teams RWBY and JNPR were not yet present, and a quick look back the way they had come showed the two teams of humans were a small distance away.

Deciding to go ahead of their human friends/acquaintances, the two teams grabbed their lunch together, but while Team FFOG sat down to eat, Team AMRT remained standing. Both teams then said their farewells for now and parted ways. They had a history again later, so they would see each other soon. Now, all FFOG needed to do was wait for RWBY and JNPR to join them.

If anything, the two teams of humans would make lunch an interesting affair.


"So, there we were... in the middle of the night." Nora Valkyrie, the 'N' of JNPR said in a low, dramatical voice. Adding a theatrical pause for affect to draw those listening to her even deeper into her tale.

Not long after Team AMRT had left the cafeteria Teams RWBY and JNPR joined Faen and his team for lunch. Some of the humans did complain about how he and the rest of FFOG didn't wait for them, but quickly got over it, and started exchanging friendly banter and conversation with one another.

The aforementioned Nora excitedly brought up a dream she had last night, and started to recount what she remembered of it. Despite how only a few expressed any interest in hearing about her dream. Then again, this was Nora. So this kind of behaviour was honestly to be expected by now.

"It was day," Ren abruptly interjected. Faen and a couple others who were listening to Nora looked on with confused expressions at both Ren and Nora. They quickly figured that the human girl had already told Ren about her dream. Wouldn't be odd considering their relationship as childhood friends.

"We were surrounded by Ursai," Nora continued. Ignoring Ren's interruption, and carried on reciting this dream of hers, only to be interrupted by the same boy again not a moment later.

"They were Beowolves."

The elf looked around to the others who were paying attention to Nora's dream. Of the twelve people in their group, only he, Grey, Friesian, Pyrrha, Ruby and Yang were listening to the story that Nora was telling. Ren as well, but he was barely looking at his childhood friend while he made those previous corrections. Blake was reading a book. Weiss was filing her nails, an impolite thing to do at a table in Faen's opinion. Akagi was idly staring out a window. While Jaune was poking at his food with a glum expression on his face.

What had happened last Combat Class must have really gotten to him or something.

"Dozens of them!" Nora abruptly yelled whilst also jumping onto her feet. Startling Faen, a couple of those listening, and even a few other students that were sitting near the group of twelve. One random student who was sat nearby actually fell off his seat because of how surprised he was by Nora's sudden outburst. A not too uncommon occurrence really.

"Two of 'em," Ren calmly stated.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" The orange-haired girl then said, having seemingly finished her story about her dream.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren sighed as soon as Nora was done speaking.

"A month?" Yang was heard questioning Ren.

"That's certainly something, I'll say." The dullahan member of FFOG also spoke up, as surprised as those who bothered to listen.

Nearly a month of the same dream? Faen had heard of people having recurring dreams and nightmares, but a dream that lasted for nearly a month? That was a first.

Personally, Faen was unsure as to how he should think about Nora's dream. It was not as... exciting, nor explosive, as he thought that it would be. That Ren had to correct Nora was not too big a deal because this was Nora, she tended to exaggerate a few thins whilst excited. This dream was also rather tame when compared to some other bombastic tales Nora had told in the past. Sure there were a few things that were fantastical in the way that only dreams could be, such as the whole Ursa/Beowolf skin rugs, but Faen stood by that previous statement.

Either way, Nora's dream had been somewhat interesting, and a fairly decent way to kill time. A quick check of his wristwatch showed that there was still a good amount of time before they had to head off to their next class. What could he do now?

Faen was done eating like most of those at the table. He didn't have any reading material on his person like Blake did. His physical appearance was not too high on his list of priorities like Weiss. There were no dreams that he wanted to tell the others about like Nora just had. Would he have to fall back to letting his mind drift again?

Before Faen could decide on what to do, the elf overheard his companions bring up a subject that might be worth listening to.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school." The elf heard Pyrrha, the red-haired champion amongst them, say to Jaune. A great deal of concern for the human boy lacing her voice.

Oh yes, Jaune's bully problems. This might be an interesting enough conversation to join in.

"Wh-Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... H's just-He's just messing around guys. You know, practical jokes and stuff." Jaune tried to deny to Pyrrha and the others.

"'Practical jokes', my ass. Jaune, he's bullying you!" Grey spoke up, with those amongst them who were listening nodding in agreement with what Grey had said. Faen was not at all surprised that his best friend would join in, for she had been there to help with his bullying problem, and would no doubt have an issue with another of her friends being bullied. As new as they were to her.

"Grey's right Jaune. Cardin is a bully, and his targeting you." Ruby added in a surprisingly mature manner.

"What? Come on, guys. Name one time that Cardin's 'bullied' me." The blonde human boy responded to Grey and Ruby's words. Continually trying to deny to his friends and teammates that he was being bullied.

"You're not serious, are you Jaune?" Friesian incredulously said. Having decided to add his voices to those trying to confront Jaune about his bully problem. Faen himself did not join in yet, but continued to listen in on what they were all saying. He was sympathetic to Jaune's plight and understood his position, but did not say a word just yet.

Instead, the elf cast his eyes towards where Cardin and the rest of his team, Team CRDL, were sat. There was Cardin himself, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark. All four of them were utter knobheads and bullies. Hardly exemplars of what Huntsmen should be, no matte their skills in combat.

Right now, the team of four humans were harassing a female rabbit faunus. Faen did not now her by name, but he was aware that she was not of their year group, but was in fact a member of the second-year group. The one above his own. Seeing her being tormented by Cardin and his team, apparently due to her status as a faunus from what the elf could hear, sparked a desire to intervene. To challenge Cardin to a duel right here and now. To defeat him and his team in an act of public humiliation, and to show the elf's superiority over that gang of brutes.

Yet, Faen restrained himself.

Resigning to just silently glaring and clenching a fist at Cardin's behaviour. The human would get his soon, that Faen would swear on Gwaedh's blade.

"And let's not forget the time he stuck you in your locker and sent you flying out the school!" He overheard Ruby say to Jaune. The group having been listing off the occasions where Cardin had bullied Jaune, of which there were many, in an attempt to reinforce the fact he was being bullied by brute. To Faen's disappointment, Jaune continued to deny that he was being bullied and tried to laugh off the moments the group recounted.

"Uh, yeah, I remember that. But it was okay, I didn't land too far from the school." Jaune was quick to reply. Again, as stated before, he tried to act as if such acts were not as serious as they actually were.

"You landed in the Emerald Forest and got stuck in a tree." Friesian countered Jaune's weak assurances. "We and Professor Goodwitch had to rescue you from a pack of Beowolves that were planning to have you for their afternoon tea. Remember that?"

What Friesian had described had happened a couple days after Initiation. Faen had not expected to be back in the Emerald Forest so quickly, and for the purposes of rescuing Jaune of all things. Yet, it had been an interesting little venture if Faen had to admit anything about it.

That aside, Jaune's constant denial of being bullied was a cause of concern. In Faen's eyes, one of the first steps to overcoming being bullied was to admit that you are a victim of it. Only after that had been done could a victim do something to stop it. If Jaune kept on refusing to admit that he was being bullied, then there was very little that Faen or anyone else could do to help him sort the matter out.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask. We can help you." Pyrrha said, offering the support of herself and the others at the table.

"Ooooh! We'll break his legs!" Nora abruptly spoke up, proposing a very interesting solution to Jaune's trouble with Cardin. Faen couldn't say that the idea Nora had was a sound one, it would be a satisfying one in Faen's opinion, but it wouldn't really solve the issue. Still, it might be a good idea to keep it on the table, just in case circumstances where such an action would be beneficial presented themselves.

"Did someone say something about breaking legs?" Faen's partner jumped into the conversation. Akagi had apparently not been paying attention to what they had been talking about, but the mention of breaking legs was what drew her in?

"Guys it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." Again Jaune persisted in trying to wave off the concerns of his friends. Faen shook his head at Jaune and started to tune out the conversation, finding that the others were getting nowhere. Anything he said now would probably not do anything either.

'Yeah, "fine". So very fine,' Faen mentally grunted. The elf then went ahead and let his mind drift for a bit.

Hopefully the rest of the day would be both interesting, and not as tiresome as trying to get Jaune to admit he was being bullied.


Several hours later, Faen was alone in his team's dorm, laying on his bed and reading a book. A fine past time in his opinion.

They had a couple other lessons after lunch, but nothing noteworthy had happened during or in-between them. After lunch, Jaune had refused to even speak about Cardin to him and the others, much to the distress of a few of the others. Faen let the matter be, and would confront Jaune about it at a later time. Right now, he had a couple chapters of his book to read.

The rest of his team had gone out to do their own thing. Grey had apparently challenged Yang to an arm-wrestling contest some time ago and she intended to win that challenge, and probably break whatever table they were using as part of their contest. Friesian, meanwhile, had gone out to the Academy's garage to tend to his motorbike or something. Akagi said she needed to go speak to Professor Port about an assignment he had given them, what exactly she needed Faen had no clue, but let her be on her way.

It was odd how the silence that filled the dorm was actually calming to the elf. He guessed that after being around so many people, people who talked a lot mind you, he desired the quiet that solitude offered. The silence did allow him to read his book in peace, so that might be another reason why.

However, Faen did not have long to enjoy this blissful quiet, as the dorm's door opened after a short while. Peeking over his book, Faen saw that Akagi had come back. She was honestly earlier than he had expected.

Faen had expected her to be held back by Professor Port because of one of his 'lectures'.

"Hello Faen!" Akagi greeted the elf as she entered the dorm and quickly closed the door behind her.

"Akagi." The elf replied with a quick nod of his head towards his kitsune teammate. "Did you get what you needed from Professor Port? He didn't try to bore you to death with one of his 'lectures' did he?"

"Hehehe, yes, I got what I needed. And no, Port didn't but he almost did start telling one when I asked him a simple question." Akagi spoke as she put a couple books she had brought with her on her desk, whilst also placing her coat on back of her desk's chair. Noting the others' absence, the kitsune continued on and said to him. "Where are the others?"

"Grey's arm-wrestling in the common room. While Friesian is in the Academy's garage with his motorbike," he swiftly answered.

The kitsune frowned at the mention of Friesian and is motorbike. Faen was not sure why she held such animosity towards motorbikes, but he felt little concern for the matter. The only time it would be of concern to the elf would be when the issue would start to negatively affect the team in a very major way.

"I'm going to change. Turn around please!" Akagi alerted him. In response, Faen turned his body away from his teammate and continued to read from his book. Why she didn't just go change in their dorm's bathroom, and spare him from having to listen to the kitsune peel off her clothes behind him, the elf did not understand.

As Faen waited for Akagi to get it over with and finish changing into her sleepwear, the elf tried to focus on his book. Not at all an easy task given that this was the first time this kind of thing had happened, in spite of all that time he spent living with Grey. It was a struggle for Faen to not even think about the possible sight that could greet him if he were to just turn his body or head around right now.

Now, Faen knew that this was a 'dream' position in the eyes of other members of his gender. Was it his? No, it was not.

He had come to Beacon to be with Grey and to learn how better to kill Grimm, not to eye up his teammate or other girls in Beacon. However, this did not mean he was not interested. Faen was still a teen on the verge of adulthood, so, as much as he disliked having to admit it, he could not ignore the impressive physiques his female teammates and other female peers possessed. Nor could he deny that said physiques were rather appealing to him.

To keep his mind off the mental image of a half-naked Akagi, Faen decided to strike up a conversation with her. That and reading his book would be a sufficient enough distraction, he hoped.

"What was it you needed anyway?" Faen asked his partner and teammate. That would be a decent enough start for this conversation/distraction.

"Oh you know, just a few notes about the Thunderbird Grimm he mentioned yesterday. Particularly it and its supposed relationship with the Mishipeshu Grimm. Nothing too big or serious." Akagi replied, arousing a fair amount of interest from the elf when she mentioned the Thunderbird species of Grimm.

"The Thunderbird, huh? Yeah, those are... they're quite the Grimm." He muttered in response to Akagi's words. While he and Grey were on their way to Beacon, he could have sworn that they saw a Thunderbird off in the distance while they were crossing the sea between Avalon and Sanus. The beast was larger than the Nevermore that Team RWBY killed back in Initiation, and physically resembled a gigantic eagle.

Killing such a beast had won quite a few Huntsmen and others who fought the Grimm great fame due to how deadly the Grimm was. Able to somehow throw bolts of lightning with a flap of its massive wings. Faen had once dreamed of battling and defeating a Thunderbird as a child, imagining himself as an old elf hero who single-handedly bested a Thunderbird in an old tale. Time had worn that dream away, seeing the Thunderbird on the way to Beacon and hearing Akagi bring the Grimm up reminded him of that childhood dream.

"Have you personally seen one before? They are quite... monstrous from what I've heard and read." Akagi now asked him, seemingly sensing his familiarity with the Thunderbird type Grimm in his response. Figuring it would not hurt, Faen told the kitsune of the Thunderbird he and Grey saw.

"Yes. It was while Grey and I were on the airship to Beacon. Thankfully, it was in the distance and flying west. No idea what it was doing flying that far from land." Faen replied to her question as he turned a page of his book, and heard her open her closet full of clothes.

"Well then, you and Grey were extremely lucky. I've heard incredibly ghastly stories of lone Thunderbirds downing travelling airships." Faen hummed at his partner's words, having heard those same stories as of the most infamous happening forty-six years ago, when a Thunderbird attacked and downed an airship three members of Vale's Council were on while travelling to Mantle. It took a full month before the remains of the Councilors' airship and its escorts were discovered, and the black box containing a recording of the attack recovered.

Needless to say, a good deal of fear surrounded airship-travel for over a year after that tragedy. When it died down, air travel companies took precautions to avoid areas where sightings of Thunderbirds were reported.

"How long have you been here all by yourself, anyway?" Akagi now asked him, choosing to change the subject of their conversation. "Hope you weren't too lonely without the rest of us to keep you company."

"Fifteen minutes, and I didn't mind." It was true. Faen had not minded being alone for a while, and wouldn't have minded if he was left alone a bit longer.

Gods, how long would it be until she was finished changing? The longer Akagi took to change clothes, the more uncomfortable he was with their current situation. As long as he was able to keep himself distracted from the thought of Akagi's current state of dress, or possible lack of if Faen was to be honest, the elf could stand this discomfort for a while longer.

"Okay then," the kitsune said before asking a couple more questions. "Anything interesting happen while you were here by yourself? Or were you just reading your book?"

"Nope, nothing happened. I just lay here and read my book," Faen quickly replied to her. He did recall something, however, and decided to bring it up. "Then again, for a moment I thought I heard voices outside the window. Maybe from the roof, but other than that nothing. Very exciting aren't I?"

Akagi let out a low chuckle at his last sarcastic remark. Finding it somewhat humorous in some way.

"Maybe you really are at times. At the very least, I believe you aren't boring to be around." Akagi then paused. The sound of her slipping something on telling Faen that she was finally putting on her nightwear. "Now, about those voices you overheard. Did you hear what they were talking about? Could you tell who they were?"

"No," Faen quickly replied to both of her questions. If he weren't lying on his side he would have added a shrug of his shoulders to help convey his lack of knowledge, but that would have been uncomfortable to do. "Whoever they were, they were too far for me to hear properly. Honestly sounded like they were on the roof or something. Doesn't really matter."

The kitsune hummed in what might have been disappointment. Most likely because she wanted to hear some juicy secret information on the people he had heard. In the time he'd come to know her, Faen had discovered that Akagi liked to gather information on people, using her heightened sense of hearing to eavesdrop on people to learn quite a few things about them.

When Faen first learnt about this habit of hers, he had initially wanted to order Akagi to stop. However, he quickly realised that him demanding her to stop eavesdropping on people would have been hypocritical of him, for he too eavesdropped on others. That reason, and because of the odd chance that Akagi might hear something useful through her eavesdropping, made Faen leave the matter be.

"Done. You can turn around now!" Akagi called out to him, having apparently finished changing into her nightwear.

Relieved that Akagi was finally done changing, Faen let out a quick and quiet sigh of relief when he heard those words pass from Akagi's lips and into his ears. However, the elf did not let down his guard and took a few seconds before he turned round to look at his partner. If she was messing with him, all Faen believed he could do was try his best not to freak out or anything.

Thankfully, Akagi had spoken true, and was fully clothed when he turned around to look at her.

When he turned around, Faen saw that his partner was sat on her bed, and wearing red pajamas made of lightweight cotton.

For someone from a quite noteable background and who usually wore some fairly pricey clothes, the elf was surprised when he first saw Akagi wear rather plain clothes for nightwear. Faen had expected her to wear a satin or silk nightgown or something, not a set of simple jim jams. He was not complaining about it. Akagi's choice of nightwear was just surprising to him.

Akagi sat down on her bed, which was on the same side of the room as his, and smiled at the elf. In response, Faen nodded once at her and turned his eyes back on his book's pages.

"Looks like an interesting book you're reading. What is it?" Akagi asked him not a moment after he had tried to get back to reading. Looking to his teammate, Faen saw her eyes trained on the book that Faen held in his hands. Faen then glanced back to the book he had been holding in his hand.

It had a dark-red hardback cover, and the pages of the book had turned yellow due to exposure to the air and sun. The book was given to him as a parting gift by his mother when he left for Beacon. Apparently she had received it a few years ago as a gift from a friend, now she wanted him to have the book and read it. He was one-fifth of the way through the book, and it had been an interesting read thus far.

After a split-second debate, Faen decided to tell Akagi what his book was.

"'The Red Prince'. It's a story in a medieval setting about an elf prince, Caraphinnor, and his struggle to uphold his duty to the gods, his family and his people."

"Sounds like a fascinating read. Would you mind if I borrow it sometime?" The kitsune from Shangri-La requested to her team leader with an interested look in her eyes.

He was hesitant to give into her request, partially because this was his book and he was quite possessive of his belongings. That and because the book was written in a completely different language, Elven actually, and Faen was not really sure if his partner was fluent in the written and spoken form of the Elf language.

She had never given him any indication of such a thing.

"The book is written entirely in Elven. Can you read Elven?" Faen responded to Akagi's question with one of his own. He doubted if she could, and would be legitimately surprised if she could.

"Oh. No I cannot," Akagi admitted after expressing a bit of surprise. Her suprise did not remain for long, for the kitsune then came up with a new proposition. "Well, if I can't read it, how about you read it to me? You can translate it, right?"

Faen was initially unsure as to how he should respond to his partner's new request. A part of the elf told him to politely decline the request, that it would be better if he said nothing about it. Yet another part of Faen was opposed to the idea. This other part of him was encouraging Faen to indulge the kitsune, to tell her about the book in his hand, and see where it might lead.

The part of Faen trying to persuade the elf to tell Akagi about his book was the same one that encouraged him to open up to Grey so many years back in Selene, and to talk to Monica just weeks ago here in Beacon. Grey because she was the only person who had, persistently, tried to reach out to him as a friend. Monica because she was a curiosity to him.

Akagi was his teammate, and more importantly, the partner he was paired with for the next four years in Beacon. This... could be an opportune chance to deepen their bond as teammates. Besides, it was not as if he would be revealing any super-secret information regarding himself or the Elves by reading a piece of classical literature to Akagi.

"Uh, sure. Do you want me to start at the first page?" Faen finally said to his teammate, sitting up in his bed as he did so.

"Why yes please," Akagi smiled at his acceptance of her request and quickly sat beside him, her tails perking up to their maximum height. The same went for the tall fox ears atop her head.

Well, it looked like he had her undivided attention. Might as well live up to what he had said to her.

Turning to the first page of his book, Faen focused his eyes on the first paragraph at the top of the page and began to read aloud to Akagi. Translating the Elven script that 'The Red Prince' had originally been printed in, into English for his teammate and partner. The kitsune diligently listening to every word and sentence that passed his lips. The elf wasn't sure how this whole thing would turn out, but Faen guessed that all he could do now was to go along with this and see where it went.


In another part of the Academy, Professor Taupe had just kicked off her heels and lazily sat on a sofa with a bottle of brandy in hand. A stark contrast to the stern and very forboding image she had erected around herself.

The day had been a fairly uneventful one. The new students were getting used to being in Beacon, while the older students got back into the mindset they needed for school. Taupe did have a few counseltation lessons to perform. She did have to fill in for Port who decided today of all days to go charging through the Emerald Forest in search of a Grimm to capture, and then let loose in his class. There was also a small incident where the gorgon had to break up a fight between a couple of Human and Faunus students.

Other then that, the day had really been fairly uneventful.

All alone in her private quarters, Taupe was finally allowed to pull the clay mask off of her face. Though she was used to wearing it, having worn a mask for almost all her life. Wearing the mask over her face for an extensive period of time was quite uncomfortable.

Carefully taking the clay mask off, she then laid it on the short coffee table in front of her. Performing both things while her eyes were closed.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she laid eyes upon was of a picture frame hanging on the wall opposite her. The photo set in the picture frame was taken years ago. The picture was of her and her friends after their graduation from Beacon. Looking at it sent memories, both joyous and sad, coursing through her mind.

Quite a few of the people in that picture were dead, either killed-in-action or of some other cause. There were others she become estranged from, while at the same time, there were those she remained able to contact. And then there were some she had not heard a word from since.

Shifting her mind away from the past, Taupe focused on the very important matter that was in her hand.

Taking up a wine glass, the gorgon professor poured some of the bottle's contents into the glass, and let it warm in her palm for a couple minutes. Feeling it sufficiently warmed, Taupe rose the wine glass of brandy to her waiting lips.

As she raised the glass to her mouth, a sharp ping came from Taupe's nearby Scroll. A message.

Annoyed at this interruption, the gorgon lowered her glass and picked up her Scroll, her eyes narrowing when she saw that it was from Ozpin. Messages from him at this time of day meant the Headmaster was most likely dumping a metric tonne of work to her current work load.

Opening her Scroll, going to her message inbox, and opening the message, Taupe almost dropped her glass of brandy when she saw what Ozpin had messaged her. The message he had sent her was of a kind she had received numerous times before, yet it was not a message that she ever liked to find in her inbox. It read:

'Peach will be away for a week, and will only be back the day after her first-year class' trip to Forever Fall Forest. Would you please fill in for her lessons and the trip?'


Right, next chapter FFOG will be going to Forever Fall Forest. As you can already see, there's going to be a few changes in regards to what happens there.

As I said, FFOG didn't get too involved, this fanfiction is supposed to be their story after all. They will be a part of RWBY and JNPR's story, but like I said, this is their story.

Next will be Forever Fall Forest, and there are going to be more than a few things happening there. That I can tell you.

The mention of 'Thunderbird' and 'Mishipeshu' are a reference to two creatures from Native American mythology. The Thunderbird is a creature that controls the upper world, has the ability to throw lightning and create thunder with the flap of its wings according to one source. Mishipeshu, or underwater panther, is a water creature that is the opposite of the Thunderbird.

New Characters:

Tora Yamazaki: 'Tora' means 'Tiger' in Japanese, while 'Yamazaki' is a Japanese surname meaning something like 'Mountain, Cape/Peninsula'.

Reuel Taner: 'Reuel' is a variant of the name 'Raguel' meaning 'friend of God', and is the name of the Angel of Justice in Judaic traditions. 'Taner' is a Turkish name that means 'born of dawn'.


A Guide to Demi-Humans by David Silver

Angels: Among the Demi-Human races, the Angels were one of the few Demi-Humans who were not often persecuted by humans, but were in fact revered and viewed as divine messengers by many early civilisations. Despite this more positive relationship with humans, the Angels also retreated to the Enclaves, though at a later date than the other races.

Angels are also subjects of a rare phenomen that occurs with a rare few other Demi-Human races. When Angels interbeed with humans and faunus, there is a very high likelihood that the progeny produced from the union will be a Nephilim. Half-angels with wings that do not develop to a large enough size to allow flight, though they tend to grow larger than either of their parents.

Oni: Commonly found in Mistrali Enclaves, the Oni possess a long and proud history as guardians of the Enclaves. It was only in the last one-thousand years that the Oni became the mighty defenders of the Enclaves that they are now. Histories and legends from both Demi-Human and Human sources state that the Oni were once pillaging marauders or cruel villains.

Oni legends claim it was after being defeated by the Yuki-onna in a short, yet brutal conflict that the Oni were forced to change their ways. Many being made into the guardians of the Yuki-onnas' hidden settlements. Over time, the Oni grew into their position, and most abandoned their old ways as bandits and marauders, though still retaining their belligerent nature.