Chapter Nine: Getting On Our Feet:

November 4th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Greta didn't know how to feel about her day at the moment. She had been prepared to go with her friends in order to find her errant partner as well as the sole member of Team TEAL who had missed out on their inter-team meeting and try to figure out how to help said partner. They had gathered their things, worked out a plan of action to find Peter and just stepped out of the dorms when they saw both him and Adelheid walking up to them.

No-one had said anything beyond casual greetings and a few rather tense questions about where either of them had been. All Peter had said was that he and Adelheid had talked with one another and that he was feeling a lot better for it. It was all rather grating for her as she had been trying to plan out some way to work out how to help Peter. Of course she hadn't had much of an actual idea but she had a vague notion of what she should have done and that was good enough. She would have been able to figure it out.

Now they were all standing in the hall between their rooms, everyone waiting to see what would happen. Team TEAL, with the exception of Adelheid, had all agreed to get involved with the investigation – not that Greta was comfortable with continuing it herself – and she could now feel the expectation pressing down on her.

"I really don't want to do this," Greta thought, trying not to grimace.

'I think we should, um, call it a day for now,' Greta said as decisively as she dared.

'Shouldn't we try to coordinate our teams or something like that if we're going to be working together?' Tom asked, hesitating at his door.

'We, uh, have things to take care of,' Greta replied, thinking of her partner. It was a convenient excuse though she saw him frown at her.

'Alright then,' Tom said warily. 'We'll talk tomorrow, right?'

'Yeah,' Greta quickly said in response. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

With a nod of affirmation, Tom opened the door to his room and walked in, his team following him. Greta saw Adelheid nod slowly at Peter as she went after her team. Peter did the same and smiled a little, the edges of his thin frown rising slightly.

'Uh, Peter,' Greta finally said with a degree of uncertainty. 'Could I, um, talk with you?'

'Oh, of course,' Peter replied in an even tone.

'Not here though,' Greta continued. 'Is that alright?'

'Of course,' Peter repeated, one of his eyebrows raising. His frown was back but it appeared rather passive and unconcerned with what she was saying.

Aurora and Rapture both walked into their room, Aurora saying that she was going to try to work out some kind of plan for their investigation. She also offhandedly mentioned that they would be receiving the last of their school assignments for the semester soon, a fact that elicited another groan from Greta. The moment they shut the door, Greta remembered she was now alone with her partner.

'So,' Peter began. 'What would you like to talk about?'

Greta felt slightly uncomfortable again as she looked her partner in the eye. She couldn't help but remember the savage look on his face yesterday, seemingly laid over the top of the more comfortable expression he now presented to her. Greta swallowed as she tried to think about what she was going to go. She hadn't actually planned this far and the inkling of an idea that she had formed beforehand definitely hadn't accounted for him coming back to the dorm so soon. She had initially hoped she would have the time it would take to find him to think about what she wanted to say to him.

'Uh… do you mind coming with me, please?' she suddenly said. If she could find another place to talk to him, she could buy time to plan.

Peter complied and so Greta set off to find somewhere she could talk to him that was far enough away so that she could plan her conversation and wouldn't be awkward or weird. She wandered up the stairs to the next floor and began to walk down the corridor, Peter still following after her. She knew she had no idea where she was going and was expecting to reach the stairs at the other end of the hall and just go back down. It was then that she saw an open door on the side of the corridor that faced the outside wall and through it was an opening out into the night.

Curious and somewhat desperate, Greta walked down the short passageway and peeked through the door. Outside it was an open balcony that overlooked the grounds between the dormitories. It was also, thankfully, unoccupied, the empty space looking out to the skyline the main academy presented in the dimming light of the late afternoon.

"Oh thank the gods,"Greta thought, sighing gratefully as she stepped out onto the balcony.

'Is this where you wanted to talk?' Peter asked. His tone was somewhat impatient and when Greta turned to look at him she saw that his frown was one of slight irritation.

'Uh, yes,' Greta replied with a quick smile plastered on her face.

'Great,' he said, his usual smile reappearing but looking a lot less relaxed and more brittle than it normally was. 'So, what is it you wanted to talk about?'

'Well, I,' Greta stuttered, still unsure of how to begin. 'I wanted to talk about yesterday.'

Greta tried not to cringe as she saw Peter's smile disappear and what looked like a scowl emerge on his face. His stance became tense as well and his breathing slowed and became heavier. It was clear that he had been as afraid of this conversation as she was.

'Are… are you alright?' she tentatively asked.

'What?' he abruptly hissed before collecting himself. 'Oh, yes, yes. I'm fine.'

'O… okay then,' Greta said. She still felt uncomfortable but she wanted to know. The outburst from the day before was still in her head and she couldn't get it out of the forefront of her mind. 'I just wanted to know, um… well, about what happened yesterday.'

Peter didn't reply, instead he sighed, rubbed his face hard with both of his hands and then turned around to walk away. Greta was confused and feared that he would just walk back into the dorms but instead, he went over to the wall next to the door, stood in front of it for a few seconds and then turned back to her. He now had a resigned and tired look on his face. Looking into his eyes, Greta almost felt spooked but not for the same reasons as yesterday. She had never seen her partner with such a depressed and tired expression on his face before.

'You really want to know?' he drawled in a voice that matched his expression. Greta nodded, wondering if it was worth backing out and leaving him be but automatically responding anyway.

'Right,' Peter said. He then – surprisingly – sat down on the concrete floor of the balcony. Feeling awkward at staring down at him, Greta did the same. Once she was on the ground, she looked back at him, meeting his eyes.

'Okay,' he began. 'This is going to be difficult to explain but I'm going to do my best. I didn't expect this conversation to happen back when our team was formed but after yesterday… I guess it's just not worth hiding it.'

He paused for a moment and looked up at the sky. Greta waited, expectantly, feeling awkward as she watched her partner stare into space and frown to himself.

'How much do you know about my family?' he then asked, breaking the silence that had descended between them.

'Um… not much really,' Greta answered. 'Oh, yes. You're from an island in Atlas right?'

'Avalon, yes,' Peter clarified. 'Well my family aren't just from there, we're actually nobility, the most powerful family in the region.'

'Really?' Greta said as her eyes widened, shocked at what Peter was saying. "That can't be real," she thought. "I mean he's rich but he can't be a noble. Can he?"

'Yes, really,' Peter continued. 'We've essentially been running the island for generations since most of the other noble families moved to the mainland. That's not important though.'

'You obviously know about the Witch War don't you?' Peter then asked. Greta nodded and grunted an affirmative, prompting him to continue. 'Well in the early years my family were the ones who practically ran the island after the council ordered Atlas to shut its borders. We did the same but since we were an island we needed even more control than the mainland. Then the news about the White Fang backing Cinder Fall came out, then there were the terrorist attacks, the assassination of the royal family and everything else that the White Fang did.'

Peter, slumped forward a little, slouching and frowning again. Greta had heard about most of the things he had listed off, having read about them in school. Usually, when the events of the Witch War were brought up, the conversation would be a morbid or disturbing one and Greta could see where Peter was probably going to go.

'Atlas started going after the faunus then and, well, Avalon and my family weren't any different.' Peter's voice had become more level but it was somewhat monotonous as he carefully spoke. 'We started profiling them, we rounded them up, my grandfather started organising the detainment. We built a bloody camp out in the woods, where everyone knew the local Grimm nested.'

'Then, then it just went insane,' Peter said after a short pause. 'I heard everything from my grandfather. They rounded up every faunus they could find on the island. They started… torturing them, they tortured them, they started executing them. The witch hunts became witch trials.' Peter looked up at Greta and fixed her with a glare. 'I saw a massive clearing in the woods my family owns filled with burnt stakes of wood. There's still piles of old ash fused into solid chunks of charcoal. It was a forest of burnt up stakes going on and on and my grandfather, my family, were the ones who made that.'

'Peter… I,' Greta started, completely lost on what she could or should say. She was shocked by what he had told her but also confused. 'That's… um, it's not your fault.'

'That's not the point, Greta!' Peter snapped. He was glaring at her now, the look he was giving disturbingly similar to the one he had worn the other day when he beat down the gang. 'My family went mad. Only the gods know how many faunus my grandfather put to death. My grandfather, he, he murdered hundreds, thousands and he says he didn't care until years afterwards, when everyone was condemning him for it.'

He calmed down, his expression turning from angry to depressed and, most surprisingly, afraid. 'When I beat up those men I was only angry. I wanted to hurt them and I did. When I blinded that man I felt good about it. I was happy to see him crippled. I wanted to do more. I would have done more. If I hadn't stopped… if I hadn't I... I, I just don't know what I would have done.'

'But you did stop, Peter,' Greta interrupted, worried about how he was acting. 'You didn...'

'But I could have!' Peter shouted, tears in his eyes. Greta flinched as he turned to her. 'I crippled a man! I hit them in ways I knew would hurt them. I knew they were unprotected and that made it feel even better. I could have done more to them. I was… I could have...'

Greta was stunned by what she was seeing in front of her. Peter's voice had quickly become broken as he ranted, no longer focusing on her. He had put his hands in his hair and was pulling at it as words spilled out of his mouth in an increasingly panicked tone.

Suddenly, an idea came to her. It was something she had never done before but she had heard it helped sometimes. She bit her lip as she wondered whether or not it would work.

"What would he do if I did that?" she thought, worried he might lash out, intentionally or not. As she saw her partner become even more worked up, she finally made her decision and steeled herself. As Peter continued to work himself up, she stepped forward, her arms spread and hugged him.

Peter immediately went silent the moment Greta made contact, wrapped her arms around him and placed her head just next to his. He did rock back on his heels and move one of his legs back a step to keep himself from falling over but otherwise he seemed to be stunned. His arms were raised in the air, having moved to keep from hitting Greta when she had lunged at him but he was otherwise frozen.

'I… it's alright Peter,' Greta said, trying to think of something to say to him. Now that she had actually hugged him she was once again at a loss of what to do. She had never hugged someone to calm them down before and felt incredibly awkward.

Her neck started to feel a little stiff from keeping it by Peter's head and so she let it rest on Peter's shoulder. Slowly, she saw Peter's arms lower and then wrap around her as well as he relaxed a little. Despite herself, Greta started to feel a little relaxed herself.

"This is… actually kinda nice," she thought as she stood there, unsure of what else to do. "It's also really weird."

'Um, uh, thank you,' Peter mumbled out, his voice sounding bizarre now that his head was right next to one of her ears.

'It's, uh, it's no problem, alright?' Greta said. She stood there for several seconds, feeling both incredibly awkward and strangely comfortable. Though Peter was with her, she couldn't tell what he was thinking or even see his face. He was completely silent and not masking any movements.

'Um, listen,' she then said, breaking the silence. 'Peter. You're, well, you're not like that. I know you're not like that. You're a good person.'

'You don't know that,' Peter muttered back to her.

'Yes I do,' Greta said instantly. She then hesitated immediately afterwards. She thought about how she had felt for the last day, ever since she had seen her partner maim several men in an unsettling rage.

"Oh gods I've been thinking he is like that," she realised. Ever since the fight the other day she had been afraid of her partner, terrified of the cruel hunter he had become. Even when she had calmed down there had been a few small thoughts and fears in the back of her head.

'I do know that,' Greta said, haltingly and afraid that her hesitance had made things worse. 'Peter, I… I've been your partner for two months now. I've lived in the same room with you, gone to classes with you, fought Grimm with you. This is the first time I've ever seen you like this.'

She backed away from him, still keeping her arms on his but putting some space between them so she could see his face. Looking into his eyes, she saw that he was still afraid, both of himself and what she and everyone else thought of him. She couldn't say that she wasn't unsettled by what he had done but she also didn't want to see him so torn up and scared.

'Peter,' she began, thinking hard about what would be best to say. 'You, well, you made a mistake, right?'

She saw him sigh and give a nod, his eyes averted from her own. His mouth was set in a thin line and he seemed to look shrunken and strangely embarrassed as Greta continued to hold his arms.

'Right, then you just need to do your best to, um, not do that,' Greta continued, trying to sound as confident as she could even as she scrambled her brain for the right words. 'I'm here to help you. I'll make sure that this doesn't happen again. So will Rapture and Aurora, right?'

Peter now looked a little torn and confused. Greta hoped that what she was saying made sense and was getting through to him because she didn't like seeing him looking so depressed and also because she never wanted to see him lose control like he had ever again.

'We're all here to help and if you need someone to, I don't know, um, talk to or do whatever you think helps with your problems then I'm here. And so are Aurora, Rapture, even Tom and the guys in TEAL.' Greta almost felt calm as she became more sure of herself and what she was no sure wasn't just nonsense. 'You're not a bad person, Peter. I know that and so do the rest of us, no matter what happens.'

I don't care what your grandfather did,' Greta said, continuing as she gripped Peter's arms again and shook them a little emphatically. 'You haven't done that, you didn't attack that gang first, right? They attacked us and you stopped before you did worse stuff to that guy. A bad person wouldn't have stopped. A bad person wouldn't have cared.'

'Uhhh, yeah, yes, you're, you're right, Greta,' Peter said after a heavy sigh, his eyes on the ground. 'I just… I needed to get that out. I already talked to Adelheid but it looks like it wasn't all out yet.'

'Well I did just say I'm here to talk with you when you need me,' Greta replied with a smile, feeling a little nervous as she recalled her sudden promise. She had felt uncomfortable and panicky through her entire pep-talk with her partner and wasn't looking forward to doing another.

'Thank you,' Peter said as he straightened and his voice calmed.

'Great,' Greta responded, smiling more surely. It was then that she noticed that she was still holding Peter in place and had her arms holding his. Flushing in embarrassment, she immediately let go and stepped back.

'I… I, uh, sorry about the, you know, hugging you, thing,' Greta stuttered, looking away from her partner.

'No, no,' Peter replied calmly, chuckling a little. 'I needed that and I appreciate it, honestly. Thank you, Greta, for everything.'

Greta looked back to find that he was smiling though it was a little hesitant and his eyes still seemed to be unsure. It was an improvement though and Greta could see that he seemed a lot happier than when he had shown up at the dorm about twenty minutes ago.

'Alright,' Greta said with a sigh. 'I guess we can go back to the dorm now. I feel really tired now.'

'Of course,' Peter replied, turning to the door. 'We probably need to talk to Rapture and Aurora as well,' he added. 'I won't be telling them my family history though.'

'That's fine, that's fine,' Greta said as she walked to his side. 'I'm just glad that we can talk about it.'

'Yeah,' Peter said. Greta couldn't see his face but she heard the weariness in his voice. That probably wasn't the best sign but it wouldn't be that bad. Right now, she was ready to put the issue to bed along with herself and by all the gods she was going to do so.


November 7th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Nox Skye, Headmaster of Shade Academy, Patriarch of Vacuo's armed forces and one of the most infamous men alive in all of Remnant sighed as he watched his flagship, the intimidating, Ausfuhrung hovered closer and closer to Beacon's airdocks. The massive Atlesian made battleship had been in orbit with its escort cruisers – the Verwusten and Entschlossen – for three days now as he waited for his accommodations on Beacon campus to be sorted.

His arrival was on a Saturday. It was now the following Tuesday and it was clear that he was going to be staying for some time since it had taken all of that time to finally secure full accommodations for himself and his men. The process had been frustratingly long, as it had been before at Atlas and Haven but now that he had been given everything he had requested, he could begin offloading all of his, his men's and his children's belongings.

Many people had called him out in the past for acquiring the decommissioned Atlesian battleship when it was about to be sent to be scrapped and recycled. Not only was it an obsolete model but it was the flagship of the infamous Atlesian Third Fleet, the taskforce responsible for the Menagerie Massacre. The ship had gone down in history as the tool responsible for countless horrific deaths and many of Nox's colleagues had protested him buying it for the Vacuite fleet.

Nox, however, had not cared. He had wanted a ship that would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies and an Atlesian warship with a reputation like the Ausfuhrung was perfect for him. He had bought it and personally overseen the renovations and upgrades that had made the Ausfuhrung worthy of leading Vacuo's armies. On top of the formidable weaponry it carried, the ship was also built with substantial cargo storage, perfect for carrying the various items that he considered necessary for his journey.

The hum of engines suddenly interrupted Nox's thoughts, returning his attention to the open bay doors of the Ausfuhrung's cargo hold as the crew carefully drove out a pair of large black cars. Nox smiled behind his fully enclosing mask as he saw both of his prize possessions, a pair of massive Vacuite made cars, made their way off of the ship and were parked on the dock's service road leading up to Beacon's main avenue.

Both vehicles were identical sports utility vehicles with black bodies and large, reinforced wheels. They were raised high on their suspensions and had been discreetly armoured, the reinforced armour plates discreetly hidden within the chassis. Nox was proud of both vehicles, having personally customised them himself. He had spent many months taking the two cars and rebuilding them from the ground up to be absolutely perfect for him for both recreational and military purposes. He alone knew exactly what the cars were fully capable of having forbidden anyone else from working on them with him.

"They'd better be careful with those," Nox thought, glowering as he watched the crew get out of his personal vehicles and return to offloading the rest of the cargo.

He was going to be in Vale for a while, he knew that and so he was preparing for any eventuality. Atlas and Mistral had been disappointingly dull but Vale was currently going through a crisis, one he would be more than happy to help with and so he had taken steps to ensure he would not only involve himself in the issue but resolve it, quickly and effectively.

'Patriarch Skye, sir,' a pair of voices spoke behind him. Nox turned around to see a group of students standing behind him at attention, all of them dressed in brightly coloured armour.

Nox turned and smirked. These were the Atlesians that were working with Professor Arc. Nox wasn't sure how much these students, all of whom couldn't be older than his own children, actually knew about the bigger picture that their mission was encompassed by but he knew they were an asset. They were all trained to the exacting military standard of the northern kingdom and the personal students of Professor Lupina – whose own granddaughter was in one of the two teams.

'Good, you're here,' he replied simply, turning fully to face them. He saw none of them flinch when he bore his full presence down on them but a few lips and eyebrows did quirk.

'I will make this simple for you,' he said, examining each of them as he spoke and watching for their reactions. 'I will be… intervening in the investigation you are currently a part of. It would be in your interests to assist me in this matter.'

The reactions he got from them were much more understated than what he had expected. There were looks of shock and confusion but they were mild, somewhat suppressed and controlled. The tall, male leader – Geoffrey Strong, according to the file – looked like he was slowly transitioning to irritation as well, whilst Selene Lupina looked rather disgruntled and torn. Otherwise, however, they were all standing in place, quietly digesting his proclamation. Though Atlesian discipline hadn't dulled their youthful thoughts and considerations completely it had taught them the value of keeping their mouths shut.

'Um, Patriarch Skye, sir,' Strong began, completely dashing Nox's previous evaluation of him. 'With all due respect, we've… heard nothing about you… "intervening".'

Nox smiled behind his mask. "Ah, the foolishness of youth."

'You have heard nothing about it because the decision was reached shortly after my arrival,' he said simply. 'I will be intervening. That intervention will no doubt bring with it a level of political fallout, but I suspect in the long term the benefits will outweigh what complaints Vale's government have - no doubt my assistance to local law enforcement will help to… motivate them.'

'Have you cleared this with Professor Arc, sir?' Lupina asked.

Nox fixed her with a glare. Even though it was covered by his mask he knew that he could quite easily cow grown men down with his look. It was a gift he possessed and had spent years perfecting over the course of his career and had been instrumental in not only making his enemies fear him but also aided in bringing dissident Vacuites into line.

'With all due respect to Professor Arc,' Nox said, a hint of disingenuousness in his voice, 'he is not a soldier, and while he and I are equals, I do not answer to him. He has spent more than twenty years away from military action and it is quite clear, when considering the state that Vale is in, that his skills have dulled. My own work in that regard is, shall we say, "more recent". In the interests of Vacuite security – and indeed, Valesian security, which is as much an issue given the upcoming tournament – I will not stand by and watch, not when these traitors may threaten my people.'

The group's reactions were varied. Some seemed a little unsettled by his assessment of Beacon's headmaster whilst others gave small indications that they, in some way, agreed with him. They weren't on his side just yet but that wasn't an issue.

'With respect, sir,' Strong put in, 'why tell us?'

Nox smiled again. 'As I said. It would be in your interests to assist me. I know something of your mission and the goals you have – with my support on the field, the matter can be brought to a swift resolution, far quicker than would be possible otherwise.'

'You don't think we can do it?' Lupina challenged him.

Nox snorted. 'Your youthful pride tells me you think you can. Whether that translates to ability is unclear. Do you think you are the equal of the military commander of Vacuo, a veteran of the Witch War? Do you deny that my presence would be of use?'

'Your presence in what capacity?' Strong asked, forestalling Lupina's response. 'You'd take command?'

'Is there some objection?' Nox asked.

'We were placed under Headmaster Arc's command by our own Headmaster, sir,' Strong explained. 'To switch to your command is not in our -'

'Professor Arc has put his duties as headmaster first,' Nox stated, speaking as if his words were absolute fact, 'which, although an admirable principle in peacetime, hamstrings his ability to hunt down Vale's enemies. I, however, am not restrained in that capacity.'

He saw the two leaders give one another aside glances. Both of them still looked sceptical but Nox could also feel a hint of hostility behind their supposedly passive expressions. It was difficult to tell exactly what decision they would make but he now knew they both didn't like him.

'With respect sir,' Geoffrey began. 'We were assigned by Headmaster Lupina to Professor Arc's investigation. Unless we receive an official reassignment order from him we must remain under his command – and thus, refuse your… offer.'

Nox raised an eyebrow at the boy. He wasn't entirely surprised by what he had decided upon. Instead it was the steadfast manner in which Geoffrey had addressed him. Lupina had a similarly stoic look on her face, indicating her agreement with the GOLD leader.

'As you wish,' Nox said, acquiescing to their decision. 'Know that I will be involving myself regardless. I would recommend you follow my,' he paused for a moment as he searched for an appropriate term, 'advice, should we cross paths. I will not accommodate your plans when I intervene so it's best that you work with me, not against me.'

With that he turned away from the students and strode over to his belongings. The Ausfuhrung had already unloaded his things and was returning to its position above the school. Now that he had access to his car again he could more easily move about Vale without concerning himself with local assistance. With his belongs ready to be transported to his accommodations, his children settled into the visitor dorms, the paperwork for the Vytal Festival now in the hands of Professors Arc and Smith and his fair warning delivered to the students who were Arc's contacts with the investigation, he could finally start making his move.

Nox smiled behind his mask as he looked up to his small flotilla hovering overhead like a trio of birds of prey ready to strike. He would do whatever it took to cleanse the world of the taint of the Society, the Red Fang, the Grimm and anyone else who threatened the security of the kingdoms. Vale had no idea what was about to hit it but he did and he was going to make sure that he struck first.


Jaune stared down at his desk and sighed at the digitised projections of the Vytal festival participation forms. The documents needed reading, signing and ratifying in triplicate along with the ancillary security and expense forms that would grant Vacuo complete responsibility for anything that happened at the festival. That of course meant that unless he signed the forms carefully, the Vacuite government would also be given the right to arrest and prosecute the visiting foreign participants as well.

Once again, he pressed his thumb to a dotted line on a document and saw his digital signature appear on it. Bureaucracy was one of the things he definitely loathed about the headmaster position, especially since it meant that the Council often believed the importance of the paperwork granted them an excuse to interfere in the running of the school. He wasn't on the best of terms with most of the elected officials and the few he could count as friends were usually ganged up on by his opponents.

'Is it too late to just run off and join Ruby?' he mumbled to himself.

It was during times like this that he truly envied his wife. She was free to pursue her career as she had wanted, her days of genuine heroics never ending. Of course she would always regale him with the horrors of surviving in the wilds, far away from any form of civilization. He didn't know how many times she would complain about the fights with random bandits, the need to find secure places to sleep so that wandering Grimm didn't find her, the long periods without a fresh change of clothes, the lack of showers or toilets or the indescribably gross feeling that came from wearing the same pair of underwear for weeks on end.

Though he was always sympathetic when she brought up the same old arguments he wasn't a complete stranger to these things. He had spent eight years fighting the worst war in history alongside her after all. Of course she knew that as well. By this point, her complaint sessions were more of a game where she tried to adopt the whiniest tone she could and pull the most over the top and exaggerated faces she could as she listed off whatever she could think of in a silly voice. By the end of it they were usually laughing, Ruby settling down to enjoy the little luxuries she had gone without during her missions as the two of them got ready to enjoy their time together, however short it often was.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a ringing from his scroll. Dismissing the documents from his desk, Jaune placed his scroll on the interactive surface and immediately projected the display up to his face. His eyebrows rose as he saw the lack of details other than an encryption identification code. It was Ruby.

"Well, speak of the devil," he thought bemusedly as he accepted the call.

'Ruby?' he said warmly, waiting for his wife's response.

'Hi honey,' Ruby's voice replied. 'Just calling to say I finally got a ship back to Vale. Sorry, but it's an ocean ship so I'll be taking a while.'

'Right, right,' he said, thinking over the news. 'That's alright. I can't say what you'll be coming home to though.'

'I've heard some things,' Ruby said in response, her voice turning weary and concerned. 'Something about a war against the city's criminal gangs. I also heard about the bombing at the square. You're okay aren't you?'

'Ruby, I'm fine,' Jaune chuckled. 'It's been getting out of hand though. It looked like the police were going to pull out but then the bombing happened. Now they're throwing military forces into the north of the city. I've also got Nox Skye over here as well.'

'Really?' Ruby groaned. 'Great.'

'Yeah,' Jaune sighed. 'It looks like he's on some kind of warpath too. If we're lucky he'll be gone before you get back but this paperwork is a nightmare... a nightmare'

Ruby giggled as Jaune finished his sentence with an exaggeratedly despairing tone. 'Well I can't talk for much longer. I've got to say that things were looking really weird in Mistral before I had to go. I can't say much right now but a lot of people have been moving west and joining the refugee groups and I think some of them are in the group I've been following.'

'Right,' Jaune said, frowning at the news. 'We'll talk more when you get back.'

'Sure, I'll wait,' Ruby said in response. Her tone then shifted back to a cheery one. 'I'll see you soon. Love you honey.'

'Love you too,' Jaune replied before hitting the cancel button and ending the call. He sighed as he slumped back into his seat, pulling his scroll off of the desk and rubbing his face with his free hand.

Bringing his paperwork back onto the screen, he went back to reading over them carefully. He felt a little bit better for having talked to Ruby, something that didn't happen as often as he wished it could. At the same time, the small amount of information she had been able to give him was disheartening. When he added it to the increasingly large puzzle he was trying to solve it was just one other thing he had to worry about.

"I need more help," he thought as he finished signing one of the forms and sent it to be copied in triplicate before submission.

Grimacing, he pressed his thumb onto the desk and brought up a list of individuals that he kept. They were the details of several key members of the Order. He only kept a few profiles on his person, specifically those whose contact details he needed to coordinate resources and strategies. He scrolled along it until he came upon the profile for Regnus Lupina, the headmaster of Atlas.

Jaune frowned as he looked at the stoic picture of an older man with hard eyes, a square jaw and long blonde hair that reached down to his broad shoulders, streaks of silver showing through the almost heroically, wavy locks. A former soldier, war hero and regent of the throne of Atlas during the Witch War, Regnus was one of the more overt leaders of the Order. Whilst not intolerably belligerent or foolish, he was still too aggressive for Jaune's taste. He was also, however, the one with the most resources at his immediate disposal and the man the other leading members of the Order were often forced to go to when they needed extra manpower and equipment.

Jaune poised his finger over the contact symbol, pondering whether or not it was worth calling for another favour. He was already indebted to the Atlesian headmaster and wasn't sure when or how the favours he had asked for would be called in. Sighing, Jaune pressed on the button and then selected the secondary, email option.

'I'm not making a decision,' he muttered to himself as a holographic keyboard appeared on his desk. 'I'm just hedging my bets.'

"We need to talk," Jaune typed onto the screen in front of him, keeping things short and simple. "Reply when you're able. Jaune Arc."


November 8th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Greta tried to suppress another groan of fatigued frustration as she glared down at the pile of homework in front of her. With the Winter holiday right on its doorstep, the school had decided to offload the last of the assigned course work on the student body before they ended the semester. This had meant a variety of assignments had been pushed on Greta and her classmates and after having to deal with the ordeal that had been the previous week, Greta was wishing she could just dissolve into the carpets of the school library and be forgotten about until the holiday started.

She had been careful with her team over the past few days. Peter had, for all intents and purposes bounced back but he still seemed a little off around everyone, as if he was expecting them to condemn him. Aurora and Rapture had listened to his story and his concerns and then did their best to assuage his fears. Greta was glad to see that they were a lot more easygoing around him since his explanation and she guessed that they had been as surprised as she had been at seeing him reveal such a massive personal vulnerability to them.

They had all avoided the topic of their impromptu investigation. Greta wasn't sure if it was a good idea to continue after the terrible experience that their last venture had been. No-one in her team had complained either, none of them feeling particularly eager to go after the Atlesian teams or the Red Fang.

That had left them with a lot more free time that they had previously been filling with their speculating over what Teams GOLD and SWRZ had been after and what the Red Fang were planning with their terror attacks. Greta had been relaxing for the first half of Monday when she received a small pile of assignments through the student post from their teachers. Immediately after that all thoughts of snooping were wiped away and she had started panicking over the work that had suddenly appeared.

Since then she had spent several hours in the library, attacking the pile as much as she was willing to get it out of the way. She had learnt her lesson after having to rush through the last great pile of assignments that she had let build up through her procrastination. It was currently one of her self-assigned work sessions in the library and she was trying to reach the halfway point of the workload.

'So,' a voice suddenly asked, jolting her out of her focus on the last of her geography papers, 'when are we going to talk about this investigation?'

Greta span around to see Elizabeth Coburg standing across the desk from her. The red-headed bruiser of Team TEAL was standing in place with her hands on her hips and one of her normally inscrutable expressions on her face. Greta was surprised that the girl was talking to her as they had never really spoken to one another alone before.

'Sorry. What was that?' Greta asked.

'This investigation,' Elizabeth repeated. 'The one we volunteered for. You said you would talk with my team about it and we haven't heard anything since.'

'Sssssssshh,' Greta shushed the other girl, a nervous expression on her face. 'Do you want everyone to hear you?' she hissed as she looked around the library to see if anyone had heard them.

'Who?' Elizabeth asked, looking around as well with a haughtily calm look.

Greta looked around to see the area they were in was actually rather empty. Surprised, she took out her scroll to check the time and was shocked to see that it read three forty seven, quite far into the afternoon. She had started at around ten in the morning and only thought she would have spent a couple of hours on her homework.

"When the hell did it get this late?' Greta asked herself. "I can't have been taking that long.'

'Uh, forget it,' Greta groaned as she put her papers away and got up from her seat. 'Yeah... just, I can't really talk about it right now.'

'Why not?' Elizabeth asked, a frown forming on her face as she followed after Greta. 'We've been waiting since Saturday and you haven't said a thing.'

'Listen,' Greta said, feeling annoyed as she fixed the girl with as authoritative a look as she could muster. ''We've just not got anything to work with right now and none of us want to go looking for anything.'

'Really?' Elizabeth deadpanned, a slight hostile hint to her voice. Greta turned to see the other girl was glaring at her. She almost took a step away from Elizabeth due to the intensity of the look she was receiving. Though she wasn't doing anything other than frowning and furrowing her brow, Greta felt like she was facing an oncoming storm, pressure building up around her as she was stared down.

'Okay alright,' Greta stammered, desperate to end the unsettling ordeal. 'I… I'll let you know when I get something.

'Wonderful,' Elizabeth beamed, her glare immediately turning into a satisfied smile that still managed to disturb Greta. She realised that she just couldn't figure out how the other girl thought.

'Don't worry,' Elizabeth then said, her voice a lot lighter and more friendly. 'I won't pressure you anymore. I just wanted to remind you that we're all still waiting.'

Greta watched in stunned disbelief as the red-head span on her heel and walked out of the library and away from her. She was still rather shocked from the oppressive atmosphere that had surrounded her a moment ago. Elizabeth, whilst her friend's partner, was a complete mystery and bizarrely unreadable. Whilst she normally seemed to either be passively haughty or grumpy her mood could change in an instant and it was hard to figure out what that change would end up being.

'How does Tom put up with her?' Greta muttered to herself as she quickly strode back to her dorm room. She wasn't in the mood to do any more work and she felt like she needed to do something to keep Elizabeth from tracking her down again. She definitely didn't want the girl to glare like that at her ever again.


Aurora was coming back from the training grounds, having tried to once again improve on her close combat abilities. It was difficult, Dark Majesty proving to be somewhat unwieldy in its glaive form even after years of practise. She found that the moment her opponents got within arms length of her the glaive's long length made it impossible to defend herself with.

After going several rounds in the combat simulator rings, she had decided she was done for the day and that it was time to go back to the dorms and grab their room's shower before anyone else could. She was just entering the dormitory section of the campus when her scroll beeped.

"We need to get something for the investigation, now. Greta," the message read. It was a mass email that had been sent from Greta to the rest of the team.

Aurora sighed as she stared at the single sentence displayed on her scroll. She hadn't expected them to pick the search for the Red Fang back up so soon, especially after Peter's breakdown but it seemed that Greta had finally made a decision for them all.

Stifling a groan, Aurora changed course and headed in the direction of the dormitory that they had learnt Team GOLD was staying in. It was as good a place as any to start with and Aurora also wanted to use the opportunity to try out a use for her semblance that she had been practising for a long time now. A part of her lamenting that her decision was keeping her from taking a shower, Aurora set off to the dormitory wall Team GOLD's window was set in.

It didn't take her long to find the dorm building but she had to carefully count the windows to make sure she was positioned under the right one. Concentrating hard, she then focused her Aura and activated her semblance. She could feel the air pressure building around her until it felt she was being gripped by an invisible hand that slowly started to lift her up. Her feet left the ground and the first row of windows passed her by leisurely as she rose into the air and approached the upper floors.

It was when she reached the window that she realised just how slim the ledge beneath the windowsill really was. Slowly turning in the air, she tried to carefully back herself up to the wall, her legs flailing a little in search of the ledge. Aurora finally made contact and grabbed out for some part of the wall she could use as a handhold without giving herself away. Stifling a cry of panic, Aurora was just able to secure her feet and get a hold of the edge of the window.

The window was open but thankfully the curtains were drawn so her hand wouldn't be seen. Not taking any chances, she tried to keep as little of herself visible as possible. Seeing the window open did raise her confidence though. Students were advised to shut the dormitory windows if they were not in their rooms so if it was open it meant someone was inside. Leaning in, she then concentrated on listening for anything that could come from inside the room.

'And you're pretty sure that's where they are?' the muffled voice of a girl asked, stifled somewhat by the material of the curtains.

'That's what the interrogation report said,' a male voice replied. 'They were apparently moving everything out of their other bases to this new one for some kind of operation.'

'And he didn't know what it was?' another added.

'Sorry but no,' the boy's voice answered. 'And he's the only one they've gotten to talk. All the others won't say a word.'

'Well at least we've got something,' another girl said, a noticeable hint of boredom and aggravation to her tone.

'We should just cut our way through to them now,' a deep, gruff voice practically grunted, his disdain and irritation evident.

'The police haven't finished readying their forces and after losing one of their Paladins they aren't as willing to assist us with heavy equipment as they were,' the first boy said in response.

'That is a problem,' another girl stated. 'Their quarantine is still holding though and we haven't seen any breaks like before.'

'Which is why we should strike now,' one of the previous voices almost shouted. It was a girl's and her tone was filled with decisive confidence. 'We don't know how long that cordon will hold and if we are squeezing the Fang then who knows how long it will take before they try to make a breach and escape. We need to cut them down now, break them, take out their leaders and make sure they never rise up again.'

'Cut them down and finish this war,' the gruff voice said in agreement.

'We can't keep dragging this out,' another voice cut in. Aurora was losing track of who was talking and wasn't sure if they were a new speaker or not. 'Public opinion is backing us but the Council are split and the de-escalation faction are gaining ground again.'

'A swift blow before the government turns on us,' one of the previous voices stated.

'Professor Arc's reputation with the Council is unreliable as well,' another voice said, wearily as the chatter began to emerge from other parts of the room. 'The longer we drag this out without results the less our chances of continuing our work become.'

'Alright, alright,' the first male voice interrupted, silencing the others. 'We'll be making a decisive blow. Did the captured Fang give us any details about their hideout?'

'Oh, plenty,' one of the girls who spoke earlier said with confidence. 'He gave us an address and told us that they've been getting weapons, money and even cars from some other group. He couldn't say exactly what they've been given and who was sending them it but we definitely know someone else is backing the Fang.'

'Well we all know who that is,' a girl drawled.

'We'll try to secure as much of these supplies as we can,' the earlier male voice, now more authoritative than before said. 'Selene, try to get as much information as you can by tomorrow. I want to move as soon as possible.'

'Sure,' the girl, Selene, answered.

'Good,' the boy continued. 'In the meantime we'll return to training. We've been falling behind and the recent fight with the Red Fang has shown a flaw in our fighting style. I don't want to go through another fight like Louie's.'

'Understood,' everyone in the room echoed simultaneously.

Aurora stayed in place, clinging to the wall as she heard the sound of marching feet. People were leaving the room but she didn't know how many. For several seconds she stayed completely still, trying not to make any noise and thinking over what she had heard. It wasn't much but she had got Greta what she wanted.

Waiting in place, Aurora strained the hear anything else from the room but there was nothing that she could discern. Satisfied that the room was likely empty now, Aurora prepared to leave. Searching for another handhold to steady herself and prepare for the Semblance assisted jump down to the ground. Concentrating on her Aura, she began to stir the air around and under her body once again.

She was just about to jump, tensing her body for the leap and the sensation of walking on air when her hand slipped. Aurora's eyes widened in shock as she felt herself overbalance, her shoes skidded on the thin ledge and she twisted in place as she toppled. Her concentration broken, the air cushion dissipated quickly and Aurora found she was falling off of her perch.

Arms wind-milling, Aurora fell off of the ledge with a panicked and unladylike squawk. As she fell over to face the ground, she noticed that one of the trees that were planted around the dormitory grounds was also situated right underneath her as well. Trying to change the direction of her fall, Aurora struggled to activate her Semblance again as the upper canopy of the tree rushed towards her.

Despite the pleasant and soft-looking leaves that covered the top of the tree, Aurora did not feel the least bit cushioned when she impacted with the tree. Falling through the thin upper branches, she felt twigs and leaves pull and scrape at her face and body, her Aura preventing injury but not blunting the pain and discomfort. Dark Majesty – which she had kept shouldered through the endeavour – immediately snagged on a branch, pulled at her arm excruciatingly and jerked her around, spinning her over and unbalancing her even further as she fell down into the tree. There was barely a second between breaking through the upper canopy and her impact with the first of the thicker and sturdier branches. She bounced off of the limb and hit another as she fell down, knocking herself against several more before she finally struck the ground, Dark Majesty violently slamming down on the back of her head.

Groaning in pain and embarrassment as leaves and broken twigs rained down on her, Aurora propped herself up on her elbows. Running her hands along her body to brush the debris off of her body, she flushed as she felt her skirt had fallen up when she landed and rushed to fix her clothes. Leaping to her feet, she straightened her outfit and then looked around to see if anyone had seen her.

She walked out from under the tree and nervously looked at the window to see if anyone had heard her but thankfully the window was still obscured by the curtain. No-one else had been in the area either and so her brief attempt at spying on the room and her humiliating fall from the third story window had gone unnoticed.

Sighing in frustration, Aurora remembered why she was doing this and went to check her scroll. She opened it up and began writing a text, transcribing everything she had heard and sending it to Greta.

'This had better have been worth it,' Aurora grumbled as she brushed herself off one last time, folded her scroll and turned back to where her dormitory was. 'I'm definitely grabbing that shower.'

Picking herself up and rubbing her head which was still aching from the impact of Dark Majesty's shaft on the back of her skull, Aurora began to stride back to the dorm. She didn't think the information she had managed to gather was any use but hopefully it would keep her from having to find any more for a while. All she could wonder as she walked away from the other dorm building was what Greta planned to do with it.