Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and/or scenes from the show RWBY, which is trademarked by Rooster Teeth, and the video game Persona 3, which is trademarked by Atlus. I do not, in anyway, claim ownership over the characters, the world, the story, or any other aspect belonging to either one. This story should not be, in any way, considered canon. This story is written strictly for entertainment and not for profit.

Warning: This story will exhibit slight differences in character behavior since I will be taking the liberty to fill in blank points in the pasts of various characters. As such, expect that many characters will not behave exactly as their canon selves. I will attempt to keep their core personalities intact, but slight changes will be unavoidable.


I'm back everyone. That was a longer break than I expected. I know I promised to write at least one chapter per month at a minimum but I didn't think I'd get to that point this soon. I was thinking I'd only have to resort to that once I'm past fifteen or twenty chapters, not the seventh.

Lost some days off a while back since two people at work fell ill and I needed to go in and take their place. I also had to visit some family and take care of a couple of things so that cut into my writing time quite a bit too.

Planning for my new story isn't going as well as I had hoped but I got a decent portion of it planned out over the past few weeks. I wanna finish the planning before I get to work on it so don't expect the new story any time soon.

Similarly, I had a bit of trouble with this chapter as well. Specifically around the point where the group reaches their final destination of the night, or day as it so happens. I'll point it out at the end of the chapter so hopefully I can see whether it holds up well enough but I'm not feeling too confident about it. I'll try to edit this in the coming days but for now this is the best I could manage. Hopefully the standard didn't drop that much.

There were also questions about how Akihiko got past Russel's Aura last chapter. I've edited the scene to explain it better, but here's a quick explanation. Even in the show, we've seen that people still get knocked around despite Aura. From that, it seems to me like Aura cannot negate physics.

People still get pushed back when punched or kicked. They still get sent flying when hit hard enough. And sometimes you can see their expressions, showing that they felt the hit even if they don't get hurt due to their Aura. So the way I see it, Aura is like a suit of armor. Thin but very durable armor. People inside the armor can still feel the hits even if the attacks don't pierce the armor.

So, Aura or not, I doubt people can survive a huge boulder falling on their heads even IF it doesn't break their Aura. Nor would it save someone from getting their necks snapped from behind or something similar. Similarly, a powerful punch can knock someone out, especially if they weren't prepared for it. Which, as you remember, is what Akihiko did.

Hopefully this explains that bit with Aura and how Akihiko knocked him out despite the mostly full Aura.

Now, one last little note before we get started. To anyone interested, I also finished the class schedules at Beacon for all four year levels. The link is on my profile if you're interested in checking it out. If you want to use it, I don't mind. All I ask is to give me a heads-up if you do and to give credit where it's due.

Now, on with the show!


Chapter 7 – The Fools Pt. 3

October 3, XX13

The journey to Vale was made in near absolute silence. The uninvited half of the group seems to have picked up on the somber mood SEES had adopted upon realizing the date and maintained the silence as best they could. Some did it out of respect while a select few also did it out of shame for their poor decision.

Weiss sat with a frown and her arms crossed in front of her, doing her best to ignore everything around her as she cursed Yang in her head. She did not know if the buxom blonde had seen it, but Weiss had seen the brief flare of anger in Mitsuru's eyes when she realized that Yang had all but forced her to allow them to come. She didn't particularly care that Mitsuru was angry with Yang. She just hoped that the redhead's anger did not extend to everyone else. Or at least, not to her.

Ruby didn't know what was so important about the date, but she could see the effect it had on the entire group. Their mood had noticeably dropped, more than it already had over the past few weeks, when they saw the date and, apparently, remembered its significance to them. But at the same time, there was a hardness in their eyes, a small flame that he been missing since their breakdown. The dark-haired scythe wielder didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. She could only hope it was the former.

Pyrrha could not decide how to feel. Should she be grateful to Yang for giving them the chance to spend more time with their teams? The chance to, hopefully, help them recover while making sure nothing else happened to them? Or should she be ashamed for not speaking against going with them on what Mitsuru had explicitly mentioned was a personal matter?

Jaune felt much the same way. He hated seeing Junpei, who had been so upbeat and laidback during that first week, look so defeated, but he couldn't help but feel that they were going about it the wrong way by forcing themselves on SEES like they were. It felt so much worse since, as well as they got along with one another, they weren't all that close as friends. Certainly not enough to attend what should have been a private event.

Only Yang and Blake, and Ren and Nora did not maintain such a strict silence. They did, however, keep their voices down so as not to disturb anyone else.

"What made you think this was a good idea?" Blake whispered to Yang, doing her best to keep her tone neutral.

She may have gone along with it, but that did not mean she agreed with everything that Yang had done. More so when she learned that it was related to something personal to the members of SEES. But, much like her fighting style, Yang had simply powered her way through the obstacles in her way, heedless of the collateral damage she was causing.

And in this case, everyone else was the collateral damage caused by Yang's actions. Yang had gotten Mitsuru to let them come, but at what cost? Blake had felt the hostility in Mitsuru's gaze when she returned from their room carrying the bags that they had packed in secret after Yukari left their room. She had even seen the suspicion in Mitsuru's gaze, probably considering the possibilities behind their swift return from their rooms. How badly would Yang's actions damage their relationship to their teammate and leader? To SEES as a whole?

Keeping true with what Blake knew of the girl, Yang shrugged lightly. "Was it really so wrong?" Blake had no idea where and how to begin answering that question. "I mean, they've been in the dumps for three weeks now. I know you've been worried about them too."

"Worrying about them is one thing," Blake whispered firmly, trying to convey her feelings without letting others overhear their conversation. "Invading their privacy like this? Especially after Mitsuru mentioned that this was personal? That's a completely different thing altogether."

Yang sighed and leaned back against her seat, showing, for once, that even she had some doubts about her plan. "Well what would you have done?" she asked Blake in turn, her face a cross between exasperation and irritation. "None of them have opened up to us in the past three weeks. At all. I know we aren't exactly all that close but we're supposed to be a team. We're going to be spending the next four years with one another. How are we supposed to work together if we don't know the first thing about each other?"

Blake had to concede that point to Yang but she wasn't giving up the entire conversation just yet. "But don't you think this went a little too far? Yes, we might learn more about them but what if they close us off completely because they don't like how we did things? You saw Mitsuru's reaction to what you did."

"Then I'll just apologize later." Contrary to her words, Yang did not look the least bit apologetic. "Besides, I did this because I was worried about them. What's wrong with that?"

This time it was Blake who sighed. "Forget it."

Yang tried to get her to answer but Blake repeatedly refused to do so. She had known that Yang could be quite bullheaded about things but she didn't realize just how bad it was. Ignoring her partner's quiet but insistent questioning, Blake leaned back into the seat and shut her eyes to think about their situation now that Yang had singlehandedly and underhandedly managed to invite herself and everyone else to SEES's mysterious outing.

Blake was no stranger to the use of underhanded means to achieve a goal but she had always reserved that for enemies and for people who were in the wrong. Mitsuru… SEES was neither. They had done them no wrong, nothing to deserve the use of underhanded methods. Yang had a point that the enigmatic group of eight had not opened up to them in any way but Blake could see things from a perspective that Yang could not.

Blake found herself torn when the White Fang had first turned to increasingly aggressive acts. What was once loud but overall peaceful protests turned into angry, verbally violent and abusive accusations of racial discrimination. Carefully handled cases of known racists turned into public beatings, sometimes followed by spreading photographs and videos of the event to show what would happen to any who persisted in following their discriminatory beliefs. Attempts to negotiate with the government and various forms of leadership, or even just small businesses, turned into harsh, forceful demands of equality.

It had taken a few months before Blake realized that their methods did not just include new methods but had changed completely and utterly. That one realization drained her of her resolve to remain in the White Fang, making her question her continued membership. So she turned to the people within the organization that she had trusted the most. People whom she had been acquainted with even before they had joined the once peaceful group. And they all reassured her that what they were doing was for the best of all faunus, that force was needed to fight force in order to bring the change they all desired.

Even when many faunus turned against them, decrying their violent acts, her friends – some of whom had risen to a low-tiered leadership position by then – had reassured her that those naysayers were simply misguided or too idealistic, that they refused to see the truth of the matter. Humans would never see faunus as an equal unless they were forced to acknowledge that faunus were more than just mindless animals and beasts, that the faunus were capable enough to stand amongst the humans on equal footing

And so she fought, just as they did, to show humans that the faunus were worthy of being considered equals. For years she embraced the White Fang's new doctrine. Beating up racists in public, displaying the end result in public when the beatings occurred in private, sabotaging and destroying various businesses that refused to serve faunus, stealing supplies for the organization and less privileged faunus from those same businesses, and, in time, killing those who stood as public symbols for faunus discrimination. All in an effort to eliminate racism and discrimination.

But all the while her heart broke with every act. Every punch or kick delivered struck her heart just as hard, theft and destruction chipped away at her justifications for performing them, and every life she claimed, directly or not, tore at her very soul. And each time she felt herself begin to break, she would seek comfort from her friends in the organization, seeking reassurance that their violent actions, her violent actions, were just.

It was only on her second-to-last mission that she began to see, to truly see and acknowledge, just how far the White Fang had fallen, how far she had fallen. It pained her to leave her friends, to leave the only home she had ever known, the first place that made her feel safe. But she knew that if she stayed she would only come to regret it, that she would one day pay a price that no one should ever have to pay. And so, as difficult and painful as it was, she fled the White Fang, hoping to find another way to achieve her goal of equality for the faunus.

And just as Blake found it difficult to break away from the White Fang, it was clear to her that SEES was having difficulty opening up to their new teammates regarding personal matters. It wasn't surprising after hearing a bit about their shared past. Though they had initially come together due to their common ability to summon Personas, the bond was strengthened by fighting alongside one another against the Grimm. And when you could trust one another with your very lives, was it not natural that they would first turn to one another in difficult times rather than to a newly formed friendship?

Moreover, unlike her, who had broken away when she realized that the path she shared with the White Fang was not the one she wanted to follow, all eight of them still walked the same path. It would be doubly difficult for them to open up to newcomers, even to those who walked the same or similar road as them, while those they trusted wholeheartedly were still there by their side for them to rely on. While they would not need to break old bonds to form new ones, they would still instinctively reach out to those they knew long before they considered a new acquaintance.

That was something Yang obviously could not see. Yang seemed naturally outgoing, the kind of person who could befriend most everyone around them with her open and easy-going personality, with a bright and friendly smile that was as natural to her as breathing was to everyone else. She was the least likely among them to have difficulty opening up, even to new people. She wouldn't be sharing deep, personal secret or problems but she would be more willing to share things with them than anyone else in the group.

And now that bullheadedness of hers, compounded by her belief that they should be sharing their problems to one another as a team, just might cost them what cohesiveness their team had formed over the past month since arriving at Beacon.

As the airship began to descend towards the landing pads in Vale, Blake could only hope that the damage to their relationship was not too severe. That Yang had not inadvertently ruined their budding relationship with their new friends.


Sitting closer towards the back of the ship, Ren and Nora were having their own hushed conversation. Contrary to what one might have expected from the girl, Nora's face bore a fairly serious expression very much unlike her normally cheerful one.

"Do you think they hate us now?" she asked, one hand placed over the other on her lap while her knees were tightly pressed together.

Ren shook his head, half-turned to where SEES was sitting in solemn silence. "I don't think so. Only Mitsuru looked angry and that was only with Yang as far as I could tell. She looked suspicious that we came back down so quickly but I think she understands that this was mostly Yang's doing. Hopefully anyway."

Nora just nodded, her mood just as somber as everyone else's. It wasn't exactly the right time to be her usual bubbly self. Even she knew that. But just like everyone else she couldn't help but worry that they had damaged their relationship with their new friends. While it was, as Ren stated, mostly Yang's doing, none of them had really spoken against it even after learning that it was meant to be a private affair.

Sensing Nora's mood, Ren placed a supporting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. At the very least, nobody seemed to mind too much that we're coming along."

However, Nora shook her head before turning her gaze towards SEES. Following her line of sight, Ren found her looking at the youngest member of his team, of the entire group, watching as he absently stroked Koromaru's head with a sad look on his face. The level of sadness they could see was second only to that night three weeks ago.

"Ah."

It was unsurprising that Nora was worried about Ken the most. It was something he had yet to explain to his two new teammates. The reason why she doted on Ken so much. Then again, it wouldn't have made much sense unless they knew about their past.

Neither one of them have opened up to the other pair about their pasts, despite Akihiko and Ken speaking openly about parts of theirs. Akihiko was more forthcoming, as Ken was far too lost in his grief to converse on most days. He wasn't sure how Nora felt about their openness, or if she was considering opening up to them in return, but for the moment it didn't matter if they did. Even if they wanted to, now wasn't the right time.

And so all they could do was watch and show that they were there for them. Akihiko accepted it graciously but never took them up on their offer to talk. He hadn't needed to, though that didn't stop them from worrying. It was Ken who worried them more.

The twelve-year-old boy had practically shut down since that night. He wasn't completely lifeless, able to go about his day with only a small amount of difficulty, but they could see that it was merely the memories of his body going through the motions. Mentally and emotionally, he was absent. His studies were barely passable, which made their fellow classmates doubt his place in the school even though his combat skills were somehow just as sharp as it always was.

Ren attributed it to sheer instinct. With their past of having fought Grimm before, Ken, as well as the rest of SEES, most likely had a separate mindset going into a fight. It wasn't uncommon to have one but it honestly worried him and Nora just how easily someone as young as Ken could slip into a combat-oriented mindset despite how emotionally compromised he was outside of a fight.

Was it a side effect of how their Personas were awakened? He and Nora had discussed that in private one time when the latter mused on how amazing it would be if she had a Persona of her own. But leaving aside the fact that Personas were essentially their version of a Semblance, meaning that no one with a Semblance would be able to awaken one, was it really worth the trauma that would undoubtedly come with being so close to death in order to awaken it?

Neither he nor Nora were strangers to danger and they had come close to death on more than one occasion. And that was why both of them knew that there was no way Ken, or even any member of SEES, could have been completely fine even before they broke down.

Even now, roughly a decade after the loss of their home, neither of them could completely say that they had recovered from the things they've gone through since that time. So that begged the question, how was it possible for SEES to have completely recovered from their own experiences in less than a year?

It was possible that - especially after seeing their seamless transition from lethargic to battle-ready - they had utilized training and combat as a way to suppress their emotions. By losing themselves in the fight, they could forget all unnecessary feelings and thoughts to focus on surviving. Again, it was hardly uncommon in a world where monster killing was an actual career choice. It was simply disturbing to see it happen to people their age and especially to one who was five years younger than them.

But then what about outside of combat? How did they cope with their feelings then? They hadn't behave anything like someone suffering from a great loss in that short week after the Initiation. They had behaved so normally that Ren doubted that he would have seen them as anything more than students from a faraway town or village had they not revealed their troubling past.

They couldn't even bring up the subject with Akihiko or Mitsuru, the two oldest of the group. It wasn't a topic that could be discussed in a public setting, especially with everyone else around, and both Akihiko and Mitsuru had been fairly occupied the past three weeks, making it difficult to speak to them in private to share their concerns. At least now they could understand why they were so busy, even if they still didn't know where they were going.

"Don't worry," repeated Ren, his hand never leaving Nora's shoulder. "Whatever happens, he'll pull through. Even if there's little we can do, Akihiko will be there for him."

Nora nodded but he could see that his words did little to lift her mood. "I know. I just don't like seeing him like that. It reminds me of…"

She didn't need to say it. He knew exactly what she was thinking of whenever she saw Ken. Lifting his hand off her shoulder, he instead wrapped his arm around both her shoulders. Nora nodded her thanks but didn't take her eyes off of the despondent preteen across the room.

As they felt the airship begin its descent, both he and Nora could only hope that whatever Akihiko and Mitsuru planned would bring the life back to those dark brown eyes. It was just wrong and disturbing to see dull, emotionless eyes on a child so young.


After disembarking, Mitsuru and Akihiko led the entire group to the bus stop, making them wonder, once again, where they were headed. The two seniors remained tight-lipped whenever someone asked. Those familiar with Vale and its transit system were even more confused when the bus they rode took them south towards the residential district. A short walk from the bus stop brought them to the gates of a large, three-story house that stood one house away from the corner of the block.

A gray van was parked on the driveway but none of the lights in the house were switched on despite it being early evening, adding to everyone's confusion. The house itself didn't have any notable features asides from its size.

"Are we visiting someone you know?" asked Yang. Even after everything she did, or maybe because of it, she was the only one who had the courage to speak beyond a whisper, or even just speak in general, while in Mitsuru's presence. Mitsuru, however, pointedly ignored the question, causing Yang to sigh out loud even as Ruby placed a consoling hand on her sister's slumped shoulders. "Thanks Rubes."

The sound of tinkling metal drew their attention back to Mitsuru and everyone watched in growing incredulity as the source of the sound was revealed to be a set of keys. Keys that, to the observant, looked completely brand new. And one key, in particular, was now inserted into the lock that kept the gates shut. The loud clicking that signaled the unlocking of the gates was almost deafening in the silence of their shock.

Whose house was this? And why did Mitsuru have the keys to it? Even the other six members of SEES had trouble believing what they were seeing. Had Mitsuru actually gone and bought a house sometime over the past three weeks? Even knowing how much money Elizabeth had left behind for their use, none of them could believe what they were seeing.

When the gates swung open silently, nobody followed as the two seniors stepped onto the stone path leading to the front door. Everyone turned to each other with looks filled with uncertainty and disbelief, still unable to believe that they were actually there. The distant click of the doors being unlocked barely even registered to their ears, still in shock of the possibility that Mitsuru had bought a house.

"What're you all waiting for?" Akihiko's lightly amused call broke them out of their trance as they turned as one to see him standing beneath the doorway, a grin on his face. "Come on, we still have somewhere to be after this."

SEES and their teammates walked into the building, understandably still in awe of the entire situation. As they stepped through the front doors, breathy exclamations of awe escaped their lips as they saw the inside. It wasn't so much the beauty as it was the size of the interior and the way it was designed.

The room they were in couldn't even be called a simple room. From where they stood, they could see all the way up to the ceiling of the third floor without any obstructions. To their left was the living room, though considering the lack of a dividing wall it could be said that they were already in the living room. In it they saw two long couches in an L-shape, one facing a wall and the other facing the empty fireplace, and a large, square coffee table in the middle. Directly ahead they could see a large, round dining table with a turntable surrounded by ten chairs. There was a countertop close to the table and they assumed that the other side of the countertop was the kitchen.

To their right was another door but right beside the door were the stairs leading up to the second floor. The second floor, what they could see of it anyway, was a large, L-shaped balcony that overlooked the first floor's living room. There were three doors visible from where they stood but given the size and shape of the house it was safe to assume there were more.

Directly in front of the second floor landing was the base of another set of stairs, placed perpendicular to the first set to conform to the L-shape. The third floor looked much the same from their position, an L-shaped balcony that overlooked the first floor, with presumably more rooms on the outer side of the L.

The house was only decorated to the bare minimum, understandable since Mitsuru had to have bought it only recently. Yes, there was definitely no doubt about it now. Mitsuru had bought a house. An entirely new house at that since the interior lacked any signs of prior decoration or ownership. SEES was aware that Mitsuru, or rather they, could afford it. They had seen for themselves the funds available to them.

Their teammates, one the other hand, were now staring at the former heiress with looks ranging from awe to outright shock. While they were aware that SEES had a benefactor who had left them a sum of money to use, none of them were aware of just how much they had. Was this house bought with that money? Or did Mitsuru obtain the house in some other manner? Perhaps it belonged to their mysterious benefactor at some point?

A soft clicking sound drew their attention to the front. When they realized where the sound had come from, several of them gasped or just let out surprised or panicked sounds.

A mischievously grinning Akihiko lowered his Scroll while Mitsuru just shook her head behind him. "I thought you said you wouldn't do that." Despite her lightly chiding words, a faint grin could be seen on her own face. The silver-haired boxer just shrugged as he pocketed his Scroll. Shaking her head once more, Mitsuru addressed the members of SEES even as Akihiko went up the stairs. "Junpei, Ken, go with Akihiko."

The two wondered what they would be doing but obeyed with just a nod. As the trio left, followed closely by Koromaru, Mitsuru turned to the four remaining members of SEES. "As for the four of you, go on ahead up to the third floor. Go into the first room to your right and look in the closet. I'll be there shortly."

Yukari, Fuuka, Aigis, and Chidori proceeded up the stairs without a word. It didn't take a genius to imagine the different possibilities of why Mitsuru wanted to remain behind for a while longer.

Once she heard the door on the third floor click shut, Mitsuru turned to the eight teens who had been observing her with growing unease. Specifically, she turned to Yang, her arms crossed beneath her breasts and a frown on her face. "I hope you know how disappointed I am with what you did."

Yang winced as Mitsuru spoke. While her voice lacked the sharp and cold quality she had come to associate with a displeased Mitsuru, it also lacked the fairly warm tone she had gotten used to hearing. "Sorry," she said, bowing her head slightly but maintaining eye contact. "But… I'm just worried, you know? Heck, we all are. Is it so wrong to worry about our friends?"

Mitsuru sighed, shutting her eyes. "And I appreciate that. We all do." Yang raised her head, a small smile forming on her face that faded immediately as Mitsuru continued to speak, her eyes opening but still bearing that disappointed gaze. "But do you really think so little of us that you felt the need to invite yourself to a private event? Did you think us so incapable in our current state that we needed to be chaperoned like children?"

Yang winced a second time, looking down and away as her right hand traveled across her body to rub her left arm. As much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. Barely anything had changed over the past three weeks after all. In some small part of her mind she really did start to think that SEES needed them to be there as they recovered, that SEES could not recover on their own despite Mitsuru and Akihiko's constant reassurances.

The others shuffled uncomfortably and looked away as they considered Mitsuru's words as well. Though it had been Yang who came up with a way to join them, they were all just as guilty for not stopping her and considering SEES's opinion. Instead they all went along with it. Even Weiss had to admit that she could have tried harder to remain behind, possibly even convincing the more rational of her new acquaintances, rather than giving in to her own curiosity at the end.

And a few of them, like Yang, really did think that they needed to come along to make sure nothing happened to the despondent group while in Vale. It was, admittedly, incredibly arrogant of them to think so. Despite their depressed state and their lack of Aura, all eight of them were still accomplished fighters. They had proven that over the past three weeks. Even Fuuka was quite capable as long as she focused on defense. Even if they weren't, Aigis and Akihiko were with them. Neither one needed a weapon to be dangerous. And that was before they even considered their use Personas.

Mitsuru saw the various expressions on their faces that reflected different levels of shame. She took no pleasure in what she was doing but it was something they needed to hear. Yang especially. Mitsuru's thoughts might have distracted her far more than she liked, but she was still the former Kirijo heiress. It did not escape her notice that Yang was very much like Akihiko had been around the time they had first mer. From her perspective anyway.

Brash and headstrong, charging into a situation with little consideration for the possible consequences, easily excited by the prospect of a fight, and, as she had displayed just now, willing to bypass rules – hopefully not all of them – and authority if she felt it necessary to achieve her goals, strength and power in the younger Akihiko's case. There was very little doubt in Mitsuru's mind that Yang would have followed them, somehow, even if Ozpin did not give them permission. The blonde might have even just pretended to have a message from Ozpin if he hadn't given it.

Feeling that she had let them consider their faults long enough for the moment – they'll have more than enough time for that in the future after all – Mitsuru addressed the group once more. "I hope you realize your mistakes in this matter, all of you," she added the last part just to make sure they all knew she was speaking to them as a group. "Do not expect me to be so lenient should any of you act in this manner again. As I said, I appreciate your concern and I know everyone else does as well. But being concerned is not permission to do whatever you feel is necessary just to soothe your own worries."

None of them could do more than nod, suitably chastised by Mitsuru's calm but stern words. "Now then," she resumed with a slightly softer tone and demeanor. "What some of you are wearing can hardly be called suitable for where we are going. Yang, Pyrrha." At the sound of their names, the two stood slightly straighter. "Go to any of the rooms on the third floor, except for the one Yukari and the others are using, and change into something less revealing and, if you have it, preferably something in darker shades."

"The latter goes for the rest of you as well." Similarly, the rest of them also straightened their postures. "If you have darker colored clothing, please change into it as well. If not then remain as you are. Also, leave behind your weapons and any jewelry you are wearing in the rooms."

"Um… where exactly are we going?" Ruby asked with a hint of hesitation.

"You'll find out when we get there." Mitsuru's tone was just as relaxed as her facial expression, giving absolutely nothing away. "Consider not knowing our destination part of your punishment for what you did."

'That's a punishment?' was the thought that echoed through their thoughts but nobody dared to try fishing for more details and risk further punishment. If that was all she was going to punish them with then all the better. Instead, they all nodded and turned to the stairs.

"One last thing." They paused and turned back to the redhead, whose expression hadn't changed at all. "After you are dressed, remain in the room. Akihiko will come collect you when we are ready. Jaune, Ren, you can use the room at the end on the left side of the second floor."

As strange as her orders were, they just nodded and accepted it. Jaune and Ren, as instructed, entered the room on the far left of the second floor while the six girls proceeded up to the third floor, followed by Mitsuru. Ignoring the first door they saw, which the female members of SEES had entered, they entered the next room they came to, hearing Mitsuru call out a warning to the occupants of the room that she would be entering.

The inside of the room was as simple and bare as the rest of the house. The wall directly opposite the door they walked in through had tall windows that covered two-thirds of the wall's height as well as its entire length. Beneath the windows, towards the left side of the room, was a full-sized bed between two bedside tables, each one with a lamp placed on top of it. And on the right side, also beneath the windows, was a simple wooden desk and chair with another lamp situated on the corner of the desk.

On the wall to the left were two sliding doors with mirrors on the front. Sliding it open, they found a fairly large wardrobe built into the wall, with enough vertical space to hang even full-length dresses, a row of drawers, and a row of cubicles for the room's occupants to use however they wanted. Walking through the door on the right side of the room, the girls found a simple bathroom containing a countertop with a sink, a mirror spanning half the wall above it, a medicine cabinet on the wall beside the mirror, a toilet, and a shower stall.

Having explored the entire room, the six girls walked back to the main room and set their bags down on the bed.

"So," began Yang, hoping to break up the uncomfortable silence that had descended upon them all. "Asides from me and Pyrrha, do any of you actually need to change?" She glanced at Ruby and Blake but they just gave her a flat stare. She turned to Nora, who raised a finger to her chin for a moment before raising her hand with a nod. "Okay, that's three of us then."

The last occupant of the room, however, had something to say. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

In response, Yang turned to Weiss, who was glaring at her with her hands on her hips, and raised an eyebrow. "Do you even own anything that isn't white or pale blue?" Weiss growled and her eyes narrowed but said nothing to deny the blonde's words. "Thought so."

Yang entered the bathroom with a change of clothes in hand while Pyrrha and Nora waited their turn, neither the blonde nor the redhead really comfortable with the idea of changing clothes in front of everyone else. Nora didn't mind changing in the room with them but the others did, forcing her to use the bathroom as a changing room as well. Everyone else in the room was silent, not really knowing what to talk about given the current situation.

Yang stepped out of the bathroom wearing slightly different clothing. She kept the yellow crop-top but switched her vest for a dull, gray jacket she brought just in case it got too cold out. It was short enough that part of her midriff was still bare but she zipped it up high enough to hide the cleavage revealed by her top. She had also switched out her shorts and the belt she wore for a pair of tight fitting jeans. She had brought them with her hoping to take SEES to a club or something to try and get them to have fun. It didn't exactly match the loose jacket she wore but from Mitsuru's tone of voice she'd probably force them to stay behind if their clothing didn't pass inspection.

As Pyrrha entered the bathroom, Yang walked over to her bag to deposit her vest, belt, and shorts. Then, with a bit of hesitation, she undid Ember Celica from her wrists and placed them in her bag along with her gloves.

It felt strange knowing that she would stepping out of the house without them. The only times she ever took them off were when she was about to sleep, and when she needed to bathe. She didn't even like taking them off when she put on the Beacon uniform but it didn't feel as strange since she was still on campus, which was definitely safer than the streets of Vale, especially now that the sun had long since set. The city may have been behind the walls but there were more dangers than just the Grimm after all. Hopefully nothing she couldn't handle with just her bare fists.

After only a few minutes, Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom. Her appearance caused everyone to stare at her, Ruby even doing a double-take after seeing her. Gone were the armor-like top, miniskirt, gloves, and leg armor that Pyrrha favored even on the weekends. The bronze circlet she always wore, which she even wore while wearing the school uniform, was also gone along with the other accessories she normally wore.

Wearing only a long-sleeved, white dress shirt, light brown slacks, and her usual boots, Pyrrha Nikos looked almost unrecognizable in their eyes. Her face, which normally had a little eye-shadow to accentuate her eyes, was clear of make-up as well. Since Mitsuru had asked them to remove all jewelry and such, Pyrrha opted to remove the eyeshadow as well just in case her fellow redhead had simply forgotten to mention it.

All in all, Pyrrha's appearance was… plain. It almost seemed unbelievable that someone known across all of Mistral, as well as a decent portion of the rest of Remnant, could look so plain, so normal, with just a change of clothes.

"Wh-What?" Pyrrha stammered out, unnerved by how intently the other five girls were staring at her. Correction, four. Nora had already stepped around her and had entered the bathroom, seemingly unaffected by whatever had bewitched the other four. Whatever the reason for the staring was, it obviously wasn't as interesting to the orange-haired girl. The other four shook their heads, mumbling words like 'it's nothing' and 'don't worry about it' while looking away, completely avoiding Pyrrha's searching gaze.

Seeing that she would not receive an answer, the Mistralian just shrugged slightly and walked over to her bag, placing her neatly folded clothes inside it before placing the bag itself on the floor between the bed and the desk, right next to where Miló and Akuóu were leaning against the wall.

As someone trained in combat with the intention of being a huntress, one thing she had been taught was to always be armed whenever she stepped outside. Even when inside the city, no one ever really knew if something would happen. So, much like Yang, it felt strange to know that she would be walking around outside unarmed, especially at night. She was incredibly hesitant to do so and was even a little insecure despite knowing she could still fight even without her weapons. Not as well, obviously, but well enough to handle a bit of trouble.

Then, barely a minute after stepping in, Nora stepped out as well. And this time, five people stared at her change of clothing, though the looks they were giving her were different from the one they gave Pyrrha. But rather than pay attention to it, Nora hummed to herself as she half-skipped to her bag.

But before she could open her bag, Ruby called to her. "Nora?" The girl didn't stop humming but she turned to Ruby with a smile to show that she was listening. "You uh… didn't change?"

Nora seemed to look confused for a moment before looking down at herself. A white top with a heart-shaped opening above the center of her chest, a black, collared vest, that strange metal frame that went down from between her shoulders and neck and encircled her torso underneath her breasts and also around her waist, a short pink skirt, and white and pink high-topped shoes. Checking her arms, she saw he separate white sleeves and pink fingerless gloves that she usually wore. She looked back at Ruby. "Of course I did."

"Wha… But you… Huh?"

"I think," began Pyrrha as Ruby spluttered and gestured wildly, trying and failing to find the words she wanted to say. "What Ruby is trying to say is that the clothes you are wearing are the same ones you were wearing before you went in."

"Yeah! That!" Ruby shouted while pointing at Pyrrha and nodded vigorously. Blake and Yang voiced their agreement, though not as vocally or excitedly.

But still, Nora just looked confused. "What are you talking about? Of course I changed." She held up the articles of clothing in her right hand, showing them that she did change into something else. "See?"

"Wh-What the…"

"Gyah!"

"N-Nora!"

Three people cried out, two of them turning away, while the remaining two could only gape at the matching set of pink underwear in Nora's hands. All five had turned varying shades of red. Unbothered by their embarrassment and discomfort, Nora just grinned cheerfully. "Mitsuru said to change into something darker so I did. Here, I'll show-"

"NO!"

Nora's left hand, which was already reaching for the bottom of her skirt, shot up into the air in surprise along with her right, sending her pink underwear flying into the air. She recovered quickly though. She scratched her cheek and grinned sheepishly. "Hehe, sorry."

"Th-That's fine, Nora," said Pyrrha, looking everywhere but at Nora. "J-Just don't do that again. I don't think Mitsuru would take too kindly to that."

"I-Is it safe to look now?"

Yang sighed. "Yeah Rubes, it's fine. She didn't actually get the chance to do anything."

"Speak for yourself." Everyone turned to Weiss when she spoke and winced at the sight. Nora's underwear had somehow found its way onto the white-haired heiress. Nora's panties had landed on the girl's left shoulder while her bra now hung down in front of Weiss's face, one of the cups hanging in front of her left eye. "Would you like these back now or should I hold on to them a little longer?"

Despite the very noticeable sarcasm in the heiress's tone, Nora just literally waved off Weiss's concern, grabbing her bag from the bed and turning away from the group. "You can hold onto them, or even keep them if you want. I've got more."

"Weiss? What are you- No! Don't!"

Nora could hear a commotion behind her as she walked to the corner of the room. It sounded very much like a struggle, along with some shouting, but she paid it no mind, humming a merry tune as she set her bag down next to Magnhild. Next she removed her gloves and the white sleeves on her arms. No sense in wearing them after all.

When she turned back to the others, she found Weiss slowly dragging herself along the ground towards her with an angry look on her face, half-covered by the bra still hanging off her head, and the two siblings piled onto her back trying to stop her from moving. It didn't take long before Nora's eyes opened wide, realizing the situation.

"DOG PILE!"


Five out of eight pairs of feet arranged in a straight line shuffled nervously just as five pairs of hands were tightly interlocked behind their owners. The owners of two of the other three pairs of feet just glanced at the five with confusion. The last was rocking back and forth on her feet, humming another jaunty tune as though she had nothing to do with the situation.

And standing in front of them all was Akihiko.

Not long after Nora had jumped on top of the three girls, a knock came from the door with a voice calling out, asking if they were ready. Unfortunately, before they could correct their situation or think of a proper response, Nora decided to speak for them all, inviting the person on the other side of the door.

And so in walked Akihiko, who had barely stepped into the room when he froze at the sight of the four girls lying atop one another while the other two just looked on, one flustered and the other embarrassed. His face gave away nothing up until he slapped his forehead with one hand, shaking his head the whole time. "I don't want to know," he had said, turning around. "Come downstairs when you're done."

The girls swiftly corrected themselves and put away their things. Nobody said anything about what had happened, some out of embarrassment and some knowing that it would simply be a waste of time that they didn't have. And soon, not even a minute later, they stood in front of Akihiko along with Jaune and Ren. While he had not specifically asked them to, the eight of them stood in a straight line with equally straight postures like soldiers on inspection.

And while Akihiko glanced at each of them briefly, most likely checking their clothing, they also did the same. But as they did, a large, heavy weight began to settle in the pit of their stomachs. And with every piece of clothing they examined, the weight grew heavier and heavier.

He was wearing what some of them recognized as a black kimono with an oversized coat or a jacket of sorts over it with a piece of string holding the lapels together. Both the jacket and string were black as well. The collar of a white article of clothing – one that looked very much like the kimono itself save for the color – peeked out of his kimono. A wide sash was wrapped around his torso, beneath his stomach. Once again, it was black.

Covering his lower body was something that looked like pants that were pleated, almost like a skirt, with narrow, black and gray vertical stripes. In fact, the pants were so wide and loose that they couldn't even see where one pant leg began and the other ended. If they hadn't know any better – after all, Akihiko was male and showed no signs that he was the type to dress in female clothing – they would have thought that it was a skirt. A long one at that. They could barely even see his ankles without bending down first.

He was wearing white socks on his feet, but not a kind they recognized. The material looked smooth, like a single piece of cloth that had been sewn into the shape of a sock. Along with this, he wore what seemed to be straw thong slippers. The more observant ones, Blake, Weiss, and Ren, noted that the thong was black as well.

If Akihiko noticed their unease at the sight of his outfit then he gave no indication of it, instead looking them over. Neither Jaune nor Ren had changed their clothes, though Jaune took off the armor pieces he wore, leaving him clad in jeans and a black hooded sweater over a red shirt. Next were Yang and Pyrrha. After a brief inspection, he gave them a nod. Finally, he turned to the four who hadn't changed.

"You don't have any pants or a longer skirt?" he asked Nora.

"Nope. They're back at Beacon."

Akihiko nodded and moved down the line to Weiss, raising an eyebrow. "Do you… even own anything that isn't white or pale blue?"

Yang and Ruby didn't even try to hide their snickers. The corner of Blake's lips turned upwards just a hint while Pyrrha coughed into her fist, pressing her lips shut tightly to avoid grinning. Weiss just resisted the urge to growl. "I don't have them with me." It was an outright lie and she knew it. Hopefully, no one else did.

Again, Akihiko nodded and moved on. He barely spared Blake's outfit a glance and just gave his approval. When he came to the last person in line, Ruby just smiled in confidence. "Leave your cloak behind." Confidence that was shattered by four words.

"Wh-Why?" The look on Ruby's face was a mix of disbelief and distress.

"The color," came the curt response.

"B-But what about Weiss?" she stammered out, gesturing to the heiress's clothes. "A-And Pyrrha? They're wearing white."

Akihiko shook his head, his expression never once wavering despite the pitiful look on Ruby's face. "Assuming they aren't just pretending not to have any, then neither of them have anything in a darker color at the moment. The color's not that bright but it's still not an appropriate color for this. Since it's only your hood then you don't really have an excuse not to take it off."

"Hey, come on," Yang cut in, stepping up to Akihiko. "That cloak was a gift from her mom and it means a lot to her. Besides, it's like you said. The color's not even that bright. Can't you let it slide?"

"If it was only up to me I would. But it's not my call to make."

"So what? You're just gonna follow Mitsuru's orders?" asked Yang, her tone growing harsh as she took another step closer. "I know she used to be your group leader but you're not on her team anymore. You're both team leaders now. You don't have to do everything she says just because of how things were in the past."

Both Ren and Blake inhaled sharply at Yang's words, causing those who heard to look at them in confusion. But all heads turned back to Akihiko when they felt a shift in the air. There was no change in his demeanor or his expression but Yang's words clearly had an effect on him as the air seemed to grow heavier.

"That may be so." His voice was still calm despite the tension in the air. "But you're forgetting that this was supposed to be a gathering for SEES, not KYBT, ANKR, ASYR, and JACN. The only reason all of you are here is because you chose to be here despite the fact that none of you were invited. You're more than welcome to choose to stay behind if you want."

Yang swallowed nervously and took a step back, knowing that Akihiko was right on all points. It had been her plan that led to them accompanying SEES to Vale. It had been her plan that had more or less forced Mitsuru to include them in their plans. And it had been her plan as well that had gotten them, though mostly her, into trouble with the redhead.

Her words to Blake on the airship weren't false. Yes, she wanted to come along to help SEES. Yes, she did it to try and bring their teams closer, to let them know that they could rely on their new friends. But she knew. She had known from the start that, despite her goals, the way she had gone about achieving them was not very likely to endear her to SEES, Mitsuru especially.

But that was fine, wasn't it? She wanted to close the gap between them, between SEES and their new teammates. If she had to widen that gap a bit before she could close it, then that just meant she had to put more effort into closing it, right? They were all very reasonable people after all. All she had to do was apologize and explain how worried she and the other had been, let them know that they just wanted to make sure they were alright.

She'd even take the fall for it if need be. She'd let Mitsuru know that the idea was all hers, that she'd forced and coerced everyone else into going along with it, and then she'd apologize however much it took. She wasn't sure what she could have offered in order to make up for it but she had been prepared to do just about anything to show how sorry she was for doing what she did. Whatever Mitsuru threw her way, she would be ready for it.

Yang had expected Mitsuru to be angry. It would have been absolutely foolish of her not to. Yelling, and maybe even a slap or two, were just as expected. Quiet, smoldering anger? That she hadn't expected. Mitsuru often grew stern when she was upset, but Yang hadn't expected the redhead to express her anger in a similar manner. Then again, part of the reason why she had done what she did was because she wanted them all to get to know each other better. At least, in some strange way, she got her wish and learned more about Mitsuru.

Was what she had done been that bad? Was it so horrible that Mitsuru had just cause to react that badly? Or was it more to do with their plans for the day? Plans so important that their moods had gone from bad to can't-possibly-get-any-worse just by remembering the date.

And now, to top off her mistakes thus far, her overprotectiveness of Ruby, that instinctive desire to hurt anything or anyone that hurt her younger sister in any way, had caused her to say something she hadn't truly meant, causing even more trouble and most likely damaging her own relationship with the boxer as well.

There was no change in his expression, but everyone felt the tension lessen as Akihiko turned to the door. "We'll be waiting in the van. You have two minutes to make up your minds before I leave. Ren." The black-haired boy turned to his team leader just in time to catch a set of keys in his hands. "Lock the door when you leave or leave the keys with whoever stays behind." With those final words, the black-clad teen stepped outside the house, the door shutting with a soft click.

"Well that could have gone better," Yang said with a sigh.

"Yang." Blake stepped up to her partner, placing a hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "I understand what you were trying to do but that went a little too far."

"I know, I know." Yang's tone was both exasperated and annoyed, both at herself and Blake's admonitions, gentle they may be. "It's just…"

"I'm sorry." The low, almost pitiful voice that spoke stopped Yang before she could begin to voice her complaints about the situation. "I didn't… I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"No." Yang rushed over to Ruby, placing her hands on her sister's shoulders. "Ruby, it's not your fault. I'm the one who got us into this mess. He shouldn't be taking it out on you just because of what I did."

Ruby shook her head. "But if I just didn't argue and-"

"Ruby." Yang's firm tone and the slight tightening of her grip on Ruby's shoulders kept the girl from continuing her statement. "Stop blaming yourself. You didn't do anything wrong. Look, I'll stay with you if you want." Her declaration brought all attention to her, along with a few scowls. "I'm sure Mitsuru would rather not see me anyway. It'll be easier this way."

"Do you really think I'd let you do that?" The sharp response came not from Ruby but from the white-clad heiress. She stepped up to Yang and looked up at the tall blonde with a glare. "It's like you said, you're the one who got us into this mess." Yang stepped back as Weiss jabbed a finger into her chest, just above her breasts. "I can see why Ruby is such a dolt. How can she not be when her older sister is foolish enough to think she could worm her way out of this predicament she put us in."

"Hey!" Everyone predicted Yang's reaction the moment Ruby's name was brought into the conversation. They would have to be blind, deaf, and stupid to not notice how protective the elder was of the younger. "Leave Ruby out of this!"

"Then stop using her as an excuse!" was the equally heated response, one that caused the taller girl to wince in response. "Besides, if she gets to drag me along when I didn't even want to come in the first place then I'll drag her along to wherever we're going even if I have to rip off her cloak. Or maybe I'll let her keep it and see how much trouble she gets into when Mitsuru sees her wearing it."

"If you think for one moment I'm going to let you then you've got another thing coming, Ice Queen."

"I'd like to see you try to stop me. And for the last time stop-"

"Hey."

Perhaps it was the calmness in the voice that contradicted their heated exchange, but whatever the reason both Weiss and Yang looked away from each other and towards the speaker. When they did, they found Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, and Blake standing at the already open door. Just beyond, they could hear the sound of an engine starting up.

"You've got twenty seconds," continued Ren, even as the other four stepped out.

Weiss gave Yang another glare then huffed and turned away, following the quartet who had just left and leaving the siblings behind with Ren. Ignoring the heiress and trying to get her words out of her head, Yang turned back to her sister, the question in her eyes. 'Are we going?'


Much like their flight to Vale, the car ride to their destination was made in absolute silence. And in addition to the stifling silence, the ride itself was uncomfortable for some as there were sixteen people seated inside a van made to fit twelve.

At the front were Akihiko, Ken, and Mitsuru, with Akihiko as the driver. Given the tension, nobody dared speak up and ask the obvious question. Seated at the very back row, were Chidori, Yukari, Aigis, and Fuuka, with Koromaru stretched out at their feet. The row in front of them was occupied by Junpei, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren, with Nora taking a seat on Ren's lap. Nobody, not even Mitsuru, so much as gave them a second glance when the orange-haired girl did so. And in the last row were Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

Nobody paid too much attention to it, especially since the interior of the van had been dark even when they stepped in, but the short glimpse they had of everyone else's clothing showed that they were wearing something similar to Akihiko's attire. But it wasn't the style of dress that caught their attention. It was the color. It might have been easily mistaken due to the darkness, but they were fairly certain that every member of SEES was wearing almost completely black clothing, the only exception being the white collar peeking out of the kimono.

Again, nobody questioned it. But just like with Akihiko earlier, the sight of their black clothing caused them to grow uneasy. Slowly, some of them were beginning to pick up the signs. The black clothing, SEES's somber mood, the event three weeks ago, and even Mitsuru's desire to keep the event private. Those among them trying to piece together the signs could only come to one conclusion. And none of them wanted to be right.

Unfortunately, as they reached their destination, their fears were revealed to be true.

Akihiko parked the van outside the building, in one of the designated parking slots a short distance away. One by one, they stepped out of the van half of them unsmiling, the other half uneasy for one reason or another. As the looked up at the building, some of the latter half gasped sharply in surprise while the others just looked on with resignation at the sign above the building's main doors. Vale Funeral Home.

Those who hadn't yet managed to figure it out turned to SEES, specifically their black clothing, and back at the building, something that felt like dread growing within them. Looking back again, they took the time to examine SEES's clothing once more.

Junpei and Ken were wearing clothing exactly like Akihiko's. The five young women were wearing similar clothing. The only differences were that they lacked the black jacket the three young men wore, and the bottom half of their clothing was completely black instead of black and gray stripes. Everything else, the kimono, the sash, the socks, and even the straw slippers, was all the same. Only Aigis wore her usual boots rather than the slippers but considering her lack of human-like feet it was certainly understandable.

Pyrrha noted the lack of make-up on the girls' faces and sighed inwardly in relief at her earlier decision to remove hers. She next noticed their hair. Chidori and Mitsuru's hair, being longer than the rest, had been tied into a neat bun. She resisted the urge to reach back and touch her own crimson locks, knowing there was little she could do now.

SEES, including Koromaru, entered the building without a word, leaving the rest of them standing outside, still staring at their venue with great anxiety.

Was this what Mitsuru meant when she said not knowing their destination was part of their punishment? If she did, then Yang was certainly feeling incredibly guilty now, if she wasn't already. Even they were feeling much guiltier now for having gone along with Yang's plan with little to no protest. Nobody failed to notice the way the blonde blanched when she saw the building's sign, nor the way she had glanced nervously at Mitsuru as though waiting for the older redhead to point it out.

But no such thing came before the older redhead left with her friends. Not a single word or even a glance was sent their way. In many ways this was worse. They had absolutely no idea now what Mitsuru, or anyone else, was thinking.

Was she angry at all of them? Was the anger equal or would it be directed more towards Yang? Had she accepted their presence there or was she only grudgingly accepting it since there was little she could do about it? Or had she been hoping they would choose to remain behind? If this was to be part of their punishment, does that mean she was willing to forgive them? Or was it only to make up for their actions with forgiveness coming much later after another act of penance?

So many questions were running through their heads but none of them were willing to brave the currents to obtain an answer.

After a few minutes of hesitation, one of them finally began walking towards the building. "Weiss?"

The heiress paused and glanced over her shoulder at her partner, sending the younger girl a firm look. "There's little point in standing around out here. We may as well get this over with." Her ice blue eyes met Ruby's silver ones before meeting Yang's lilac-colored eyes.

Yang could see the challenge in Weiss's eyes. Similar to what happened back at the house, there was an unspoken threat in her eyes of what she would do should Yang choose to turn back, especially now that they were aware of what it was SEES had come to do. By the time she mustered up the courage to approach the building, Weiss was already halfway to it.

Seeing this, the others followed suit, nervously making their way into the funeral home. Inside, Weiss was already searching through a list on display, looking for any clue as to which room was their destination. Just as the seven of them reached her, she turned on her feet and walked away. Without sparing the list a glance, the rest of them followed her down the hallway.

All too soon they arrived in one of the rooms. It was empty, as to be expected, save for sixteen chairs, half of them already occupied, a table near the back of the room, a white casket with half the lid open, and a small table next to it with a small offering of flowers. Laid across the closed half was white piece of cloth with a large red circle in the middle. There was only a brief moment of hesitation in Weiss's demeanor before she approached the casket, followed by the rest of the group.

They paused once more just in front of the casket, a few of them taking a deep breath. Doubtlessly, a few of them still felt that it was wrong for them to be there, that perhaps they should turn and leave. But turning away now would be a far greater offense than what they had already done. Perhaps that's why Mitsuru had kept their destination a secret, to prevent anyone from leaving once they had chosen to come.

And so, with their retreat cut off before they even realized they would need it, the eight teenagers approached the white casket and peered into it. Soft mutters of confusion flowed past their lips as soon as they did.

Rather than a body, there were a few articles of clothing, all neatly folded and stacked. Each stack of clothing had a photograph on top. The first photo lay on top of a familiar jacket. Seeing the circular red and white symbol on its left side, was a boy roughly they immediately recognized it as the uniform that SEES often wore. Sure enough, a familiar red armband was neatly folded next to the photo of a teenage boy with dark blue hair, blue eyes, and a neutral, almost sleepy, expression on his face. Atop a maroon jacket or coat was a photo of another teenage boy, one with messy brown hair under a beanie, steel gray eyes, and a shifty expression. Lying next to the photo was another SEES armband

On top of a thin, pale blue jacket were two pictures. One was of a man with short bluish-green hair and the other was of a woman with shoulder-length brown hair. Both had terse expressions on their faces, almost as though having their picture taken was a waste of their time. Next in line was another brown-haired woman. Her hair was longer, and darker in shade, but her face held a soft, gentle expression. Underneath her photograph was an orange scarf with red diamond patterns.

One thing some of them noticed was that the articles of clothing in the casket were the same ones worn by those on the photographs lying atop them. Without a doubt, those in the photographs were the owners of those various pieces of clothing.

Other things in the casket included a picture of a middle-aged man with grizzled black hair, a stern, almost harsh, expression, and an eyepatch. That same eyepatch was neatly placed on one corner of the photograph. Another photo, its corner also underneath the eyepatch, showed a woman of roughly the same age with gentle, elegant features and dark red hair flowing down her shoulders.

Beside it was a picture of a young girl, perhaps nine or ten-years-old, with messy, chin-length silver hair and a bright smile on her face. Next in line was a photo of another middle-aged man with short brown hair and a tired but gentle smile on his face. Overlapping it slightly was a photo of a woman with long, straight black hair whose facial features resembled that of the brown-haired archer sitting behind the group, only more mature due to age. And finally, the last photo was of a large man with messy black hair and a sparse beard, with harsh but tired eyes on a slightly round face.

"These are…"

"Friends and family." All of them nearly jumped in surprise when someone spoke up from their left. Standing there, gazing down into the casket with a tired, forlorn look on her face, was Mitsuru. "There are more of course, but the people you see here are those whom we mourn for the most. Some of them died before that day we lost everything but we decided to include them nonetheless."

"Who…" Yang paused and hesitantly glanced at Mitsuru, wondering briefly whether the older girl would even deign to acknowledge her question. "Who were they?"

To the surprise of a few, Mitsuru answered without any form of hostility directed at her or the group as a whole. "Starting from your right would be Junpei's father, Kenichiro Iori. Yukari's parents, Eiichiro and Mayumi Takeba. Akihiko's sister, Miki Sanada." Yang flinched slightly at those words. "Next is…" A pained expression appeared on Mitsuru's face during that brief pause, one that a few of them caught along with the movement of her throat as she swallowed before speaking again. "My parents, Takeharu and Hanae Kirijo."

Several of them discreetly looked between Mitsuru and the photograph of the stern-faced man wearing an eyepatch, most of them unable to decide whether or not to offer their condolences at that moment, and a few wondering why Junpei's mother's photograph was absent from the line-up. The choice was taken from them when Mitsuru continued to recite the names of those in the photographs.

"Ken's mother, Megumi Amada. Fuuka's parents, Natsuo and Haruna Yamagishi. And finally…" Again, the redhead paused, gazing down into the casket. But unlike the last time, her gaze was softer, conveying a sense of fondness for the two people in the photographs. "The final two members of SEES. Shinjiro Aragaki, and Minato Arisato."

Shinjiro Aragaki. Shinjiro. Shinji. Ren's eyes immediately sought out the appropriate photograph. Even though he had heard a few things about the teen from Akihiko, it was hard to reconcile the image he was looking at with mental image he had built up of the silver-haired teen's best friend. The boy in the photo certainly looked nothing like the kind-hearted, rough-around-the-edges home cook that Akihiko often spoke of. Or perhaps that was just because of the image he had conjured up in his head. Either way, it was finally good to be able to put a face to the name. Afterwards, his eyes focused on the last photograph, that of the group's field leader, and committed the image and name to memory.

"I can see why he was the field leader," said Pyrrha approvingly, earning a few nods from the others even as they turned and made their way to the seats behind SEES. "Despite what his appearance suggests, he certainly seems strong and reliable."

"Wait, really?" Junpei was the first to react to the redhead champion's words, followed by Yukari, who gave her a dubious look. "That what he looks like to you?"

Junpei's tone was clearly that of curiosity, and his words were not meant to insult or belittle their former leader. Still, Pyrrha could understand her team leader's intent. Clearly he had not thought the same in the past. "Yes. Though I suppose it's my own experiences with such people. I have met many during the Mistral Regional Tournament over the past few years who are much more capable than their appearances suggest."

"Huh." The look of intrigue on Junpei's face was definitely surprising to Pyrrha. Was what she said really that strange? "That's new. Just about everyone who met him didn't really think much of him at first."

"Wasn't that just you?" quipped Yukari, a faint grin on her face. "I'm pretty sure I remember you complaining about how he didn't even look like a leader when he was picked to lead the three of us when we started out."

The dark-haired teen scoffed playfully. "You really gonna tell me you thought he was dependable when you first saw him?"

"More like scared, actually," the brunette admitted sheepishly. "We were expecting him to arrive earlier that night but the train was delayed so he ended up coming to the dorm a little after midnight. You can probably guess why I got scared and nearly drew my evoker."

Junpei winced as he imagined himself in Yukari's place. Having someone walk in during the Dark Hour, especially someone he had never met, would certainly be cause for alarm. Beside the archer, Fuuka couldn't help but giggle as she imagined that same scenario while Ken nodded understandingly to Yukari's words. Looking on, Mitsuru just smiled faintly at the memory while Akihiko did the same, remembering the brief conversation where Mitsuru explained that particular event.

And sitting on the row of seats behind them, their teammates couldn't help but smile at the scene. It was a small thing, all things considered, but seeing Junpei and Yukari bantering like they usually did was a greater relief than most people would expect. There were still traces of sadness in their eyes, a burden that they could not assist in carrying, but it was enough for them that their new friends were acting more like how they used to.

"You gotta admit though," continued Junpei. "Guy like that doesn't really scream 'leader'. I mean, come on. Half the time he looks like he's about to fall asleep. The rest of the time he is asleep."

'Wait, what?'

"Didn't Ekoda-sensei catch him sleeping once then make him stand in the back of the class?" asked Yukari. "I'm pretty sure he actually fell sleep again while he was standing up."

'Wait, what?'

Junpei chuckled. "I remember that. Ekoda was about ready to blow when he saw that. Didn't really help that Minato looked like he was falling asleep even when he was practically getting yelled at."

"I don't remember hearing about that," chimed in Fuuka, turning to Junpei was a look of interest. "When did that happen?"

The teen's face scrunched up in thought, his eyes looking upwards. "I think that was after…" Junpei's voice faded, and his expression dropped once again. "After Shinjiro-senpai died."

"Oh."

Immediately after that revelation, the trio of juniors' mood dropped again only to be caught by one of their seniors. "Hey, that's enough of that." The trio turned to Akihiko, who looked at them with a knowing grin. "We've already mourned Shinji once. No need to do it again even though his memorial is for him as well. Besides, knowing that guy he'd find some way to come back to life and kick us all back into shape. Literally."

There were some uneasy chuckles all around but Akihiko's words dispelled the gloom before it could return. "Yeah, I could see Shinjiro-senpai doing that," agreed Junpei. "Looked scary as hell but he turned out to be a pretty big softie."

'Wait, what?'

"Eh?" The dark-haired teen turned around to face the back row. "Something wrong Yang?"

It took the blonde girl a moment to realize that she had spoken out loud and that everyone heard her words of confusion. "Uh, well…" She hesitated a bit, a little embarrassed by her slip-up but pressed onwards at the sight of fifteen expectant looks. Some of those looks, she noted, seemed to be asking her to ask the question in their stead as well. "Are you… saying that the uh… scary looking guy is Shinjiro?"

"Yeah, that's Shinji," Akihiko replied with a nod. "Why?"

Yang ignored the questioned for the moment to bring up her second concern. "So does that mean that the sleepy looking guy is… Minato? Your field leader?" Akihiko and several others nodded, but now bore curious looks on their faces. "Really?" she couldn't help but ask, tilting her head sideways and giving them a disbelieving look.

To her left and right, everyone else in that row were giving SEES varying looks of disbelief or uncertainty. Then, someone giggled. Followed by a soft chuckle. Then two more joined in soon after. Another second later, two more added their laughter until nearly half the room occupants were laughing, struggling to keep their voices down due to the venue. Even Koromaru looked as though he were smiling with the rest of them.

Of the remaining ten, one remained somber and pensive, one merely watched with a soft smile, while looks of confusion replaced the disbelief and uncertainty on the faces of the other eight. "C-Come on, it's not that funny," whined Yang, looking embarrassed yet slightly annoyed by their laughter. "Besides, I'm not the only one who made that mistake."

"S-Sorry, sorry," Yukari apologized while gasping for breath. "It's… It's not you." The group took deep breaths to calm themselves but it was plain to see that some of them were struggling to keep their laughter contained. Once she was confident she could speak without her laughter bursting out, Yukari addressed her teammate once more. "It's just… It's just like Junpei said earlier. Minato-kun really doesn't look like a leader. We just didn't expect you to mix up Minato-kun and Shinjiro-senpai like that."

"So your leader was the… unmotivated looking one?" Weiss asked with just a hint of hesitation, hoping her words would not be taken as an insult, especially towards someone who was already dead. "Forgive me for saying so but I'm having trouble believing it."

Thankfully no one took her words poorly, understanding it for what it was. "Minato-kun may look lazy but you'd be surprised."

"Was he that strong?"

"Strong?" Junpei scoffed. "That's not how I'd put it. You name it, the guy could probably do it. Even if he couldn't, just give the dude a couple of weeks and he'd be good to go."

The skepticism on Weiss's face, as well as on a few others, was as plain as day. "You're exaggerating. Surely no one could be so skilled that they could be proficient at everything they do."

"Again, you'd be surprised," said Yukari. "Let's see, he joined SEES about the middle of April, then the Kendo club near the end of the month. So…" Yukari's voice lowered in volume, her chin in her hand as she muttered quietly to herself for a bit before looking back up at Weiss. "Less than three-and-a-half months. He was only in the Kendo Club for that long but he still managed to place third during the regional Kendo tournament, despite not knowing Kendo before joining the club. The only reason he didn't make it to the final round was because his opponent during the semi-final round was the defending champion."

"Hayase, right?" asked Akihiko, to which the three juniors nodded, having attended the event to cheer on their friend. "No surprise he lost that one. As good as Minato was, fighting against Shadows and formal Kendo are two different things. Not to mention Hayase's been the reigning champ in the region since middle-school. That tournament was his sixth straight win in as just as many years."

"Yeah, that guy was a freakin' monster. I heard a lot of things about him even before that tournament," Junpei added with a grin. "Dude probably could've handle more than a couple of Shadows by himself even without a Persona. I think Kaz said that he was impressed by Minato during their match and even invited him to hangout some time after the tournament. Not sure if they ever did though."

The boxer nodded to confirm the other teen's words. "They did. Saw them walk into the beef bowl place at the strip mall one time."

"You know, that reminds me. Minato-kun always did eat a lot," commented the brunette. "Makes me wonder how he stayed so thin when all he did was sleep through class most of the time. The Kendo Club didn't meet every day after all and it's not like we were training every night either."

"Well," Fuuka began, drawing all attention to her. "He was also part of the Music Club. Maybe playing the bass violin is more tiring than I thought."

The incredulous look on Junpei's face was nearly comical. "What the... How long's he known how to play that?"

"Only during the club actually. Keisuke-senpai asked him if he played an instrument and he said no. Then he said he'd just play whatever nobody else was playing." Fuuka giggled at the similarly incredulous looks that appeared on Yukari, Akihiko, and Ken's faces. "Everyone reacted the same way when he said that. But in the end it only took him two club meetings to get the basics down and another three before he could play simple songs without any mistakes. And as far as I know, he didn't have a way to practice outside of the club."

Mitsuru's soft laughed joined their conversation at that moment, shaking the others out of their shock. "I suppose something like that is to be expected of your year's top student. Even with two clubs and SEES he still managed to obtain top marks at every exam." Her lips then formed into a wry grin. "And that's considering how often he seems to have fallen asleep in class. Funny how the teachers seem to have only caught him sleeping twice that entire year."

"Huh, so you actually get reports on that too, senpai?" asked Junpei.

"She was the Student Council President after all," noted the archer. "That, and senpai's family owned the school. She probably got all sorts of reports that other Student Council Presidents wouldn't have gotten. Now that we're on that subject," Yukari turned to face the red-haired team leader. "Minato-kun joined the Student Council too, right?"

"As a reserve member of sorts, yes," said the redhead, confirming the brunette's words. "Unlike the other members of the Student Council, he wasn't required to attend every session. He usually came by to assist us once or twice every two weeks or whenever we urgently needed an extra member. I believe he also assisted Odagiri-kun with some issues the Disciplinary Committee was facing at that time."

"So." Yukari turned to face Weiss once more, a teasing grin playing on her lips. "Still think he can't be that good?"

The white-haired heiress had no rebuttal for their defense of their field leader. Sports, music, studies, and the school's council work, clearly he was as capable as they said to have done so much in so little time. And that was not considering his duties as their field leader and his ability to utilize multiple Personas where everyone else could only use one. As lazy and unmotivated as he appeared to be – though it was clearly true in some cases – he was obviously a gifted individual. One that even Mitsuru seemed to hold in high regard. And that was all that Weiss needed to know.

"He sounds like an amazing person," said Blake, her eyes wandering back to the open casket. "If it wasn't coming from all of you I'd think he was some sort of character from a book. Too perfect to be true."

Nobody bothered to hide their amusement, or their laughter in Junpei and Yukari's case. "Yeah well, don't forget that the guy's a lazy glutton about half the time," said Blake's teammate with a roll of her eyes. "And besides that, his face is pretty much frozen. I can count with both hands the number of times he had a different expression on his face." Then the archer paused and looked up thoughtfully. "Probably even just one actually," she mused then shook her head as another thought came to mind. "Don't even get me started on his jokes."

"Did he play a joke on you too?" asked Ken.

"Not that it worked," responded the archer. "It was back before Fuuka joined. We were looking for the key to the school's gym in the office. I couldn't read the labels since it was d- faded." Hopefully nobody not in the know commented on her slip-up. Explaining why they were looking for a key in the dark wasn't really something she wanted to do. "I asked him what it said. So he looks at the key then goes," Yukari paused and adopted a decent imitation of Minato's usual expressions. When she next spoke, her tone was perfectly bland like Minato's. "Morgue."

Understandably, a few reacted with strange, disbelieving looks though some did give her a look that said, 'I can imagine him doing that.' "Not exactly hard not to fall for it. I mean, we were in school after all. You'd have to be crazy to actually believe the school had a morgue. But still, I didn't really expect him to make that kind of joke."

"That's still better than what he did with me." Ken was clearly sulking as he thought back to his own experience with Minato's unique brand of jokes. "I asked him once how he drank his coffee and he told me he puts hot sauce in it." Already, a few of those around him winced as they predicted the way his tale ended. "He looked so serious when he said it that I didn't even consider that he might be joking, especially since I hadn't known him long at that time. So when I saw him drinking coffee one time before going out for the day I got curious and decided to try it."

There was really no need to finish the tale. Just by the looks on everyone's faces, Ken could tell that they knew how his story ended.

"I see. So that's what happened," said Mitsuru, remember that day when she went to the dorm's first floor to find Ken teary-eyed while drinking a cup of coffee and then running to get a drink of water. Thinking back, she could vaguely remember seeing the bottle of hot sauce in front of him as well. More importantly… "Now that you've brought it up, I think he may have gotten to me as well."

"You too Mitsuru? What'd he do?" asked Akihiko, shocked at the possibility that Mitsuru might have fallen for one of their field leader's jokes. Barring Fuuka's Persona abilities and Aigis, Mitsuru was easily the most observant and perceptive of the group, especially when it came to social interactions.

Then again, she might not have noticed since Minato's face was pretty much the perfect poker face. She's also never experienced having someone playing a joke on her so she probably didn't know what signs to look out for.

With those particular qualities in mind, Akihiko could actually see Mitsuru being pranked if it was done by someone who gave nothing away through their words, facial expressions, and body language. Unfortunately for her, Minato was one such person.

The red-haired leader nodded, her cheeks gaining a faint dusting of pink as the memory came to mind. "He… No... I-It's nothing." Her blush grew a bit darker as she turned away, forcing down the memory of their first outing together. Looking back at the moment, she could only image how she much have looked and sounded – especially the latter – when she first dined at Hagakure, that quaint little ramen bar that Akihiko and Shinjiro seemed to favor. 'He has a lot to answer for next we meet. Make a lot of noise indeed.'

Reliving the memory of loudly slurping up the noodles and sipping the broth just as loudly was far more embarrassing than having actually done it, never mind how it must have sounded to others when she let out extra loud noises of appreciation as she ate. It was doubly embarrassing now that there was a very distinct possibility that Minato had been playing a joke on her by telling her that.

Had she paid attention at that time rather than worry about her lack of understanding of the establishment's 'customs', she might have noticed that, contrary to his words, he had been completely silent as he ate. Still, while she did not have to like all of them, she would always treasure those little moments they shared. Even that particular moment, as much as she wanted to wipe it from existence.

Seeing that Mitsuru was not going to be sharing her own experience with Minato's jokes, the group decided that a change of topic was in order. Yang turned to the brown-haired member of her team and hoped that her question wouldn't blow up in her face. "What were they like?" Predictably, her question drew everyone's attention to her along with the unspoken question of whom she was talking about. "Everyone else, I mean. If… nobody minds me asking anyway."

For a moment, nobody knew how to respond to Yang's request. Though it had been a little over eight months since they awakened from their stasis, the scars left by the knowledge that everyone they knew and loved outside of their little group was dead was still too fresh, too recently felt and acknowledged as reality. There were two among them who had felt that same pain in the past, long before any of the others. But between the two of them, only one was ready to drudge up the memories of their own past.

"Well," began Akihiko, turning around to face the group behind him. "I can't speak for the others but I knew Shinji for a long time since he and I grew up in the same orphanage along with my sister, Miki."

Inside her head, Yang was repeatedly thanking the boxer for getting things started along with just as many words of apology for her words prior to departing the house. Things might not have worked out as well as she had hoped, but perhaps, in this way, she could at least accomplish her second reason for wanting to accompany SEES, getting to know them. "What were they like? Was he always that scary looking?"

The boxer chuckled as he thought back to his younger years. "Believe it or not, he was the friendliest kid in the whole orphanage. Had one of the biggest smiles too." Even SEES looked surprised by that admission and now, Akihiko had everyone's interest and attention.

Well, almost everyone. As Akihiko began to share stories from his time at the orphanage, beginning with how he and his sister first met Shinji, a single individual slipped out of their seat and left the room. Completely enraptured by the boxer's tale, none but a single pair of eyes caught the door as it shut with an almost inaudible click.


It was a small comfort to see that the night sky was the same as ever. Though hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years have passed, she could still recognize the constellations as they hung high above her. And a little lower in perspective was the highlight of the night sky, Remnant's shattered moon. Tonight, however, the moon had rotated to the point where none of its fragments could be seen, making it seem as though it were still whole. Only her sharp eyes noted that the moon wasn't completely full. Not just yet. Tomorrow. Tomorrow the moon would be full once more.

It was strange that, from hers and SEES's perspective, this year was exactly the same as the year they had just finished. Just like that fateful night one year ago – or would that be many years ago? – Tomorrow night, October the fourth, was the night of the full moon. A detail of lesser import was that tomorrow just so happened to be a Sunday as well. It was exactly the same as it had been last time.

Here they were, fighting the successors to the Shadows alongside those who had the power to do so. Similarly, those people could be considered the successors to Persona-users for their powers, much like SEES's Personas, were born from their very souls. It was almost as though SEES had been given a chance to relive the year 2009, having awoken from their stasis on the first of February. It was almost as though they had simply slept after their battle on the 31st of January and awoken the next day.

And yet, it was completely different, wasn't it? It may seem like it, but this second chance of theirs was not just a simple do-over like in the stories.

This time they were directionless. Unlike the twelve Arcana Shadows and Nyx, they had no knowledge of what and where they needed to strike to end the Grimm threat. And though the death of the Arcana Shadows had been a mistake in that it merely hastened the coming of Nyx, it was still a tangible goal that they could aim for. Now, all they could do was fight the endless horde of the Creatures of the Grimm just as they fought the endless army of Shadows within Tartarus.

They didn't have a place like Tartarus to explore and investigate this time around either. Then again, they still did not know exactly what Tartarus had been. All they knew for certain was that it was where Nyx would descend. Even then, that was something Ryoji told them, not something they'd discovered on their own. They still didn't know why the top of Tartarus was the chosen location or even why Tartarus appeared long before the reappearance and deaths of the twelve Arcana Shadows.

They were also bereft of the Kirijo's vast resources and technical support. The Kirijo group had been their lifeline in many ways. Their resources and connections allowed them access to nearly everything they needed to fight the Shadows. If there was anything at all they required for their fights, they needed only to channel the request through Mitsuru or, prior to his betrayal, Chairman Ikutsuki, and Kirijo group would do what they could to fulfill the request provided it was for the purpose of fighting Shadows and investigating Tartarus.

But the biggest difference, possibly the most important one, was the loss of their most powerful member. A proper goal and direction would come or be found given enough time. And Elizabeth's parting gift would allow them to build up their own connections and resources for the future, especially with Mitsuru at the helm. But nothing could replace the gaping hole left behind by the departure of their one and only field leader.

There was no denying that Minato Arisato was the linchpin of their field operations. Mitsuru may be their leader, but Minato was undeniably irreplaceable when it comes to combat. It wasn't just his versatility due to his numerous Personas and their varied abilities. Many of his Personas were leagues above theirs in terms of power, even at their very best.

The difference in power was not obvious in the beginning. But as time passed, his power grew to levels far beyond their own and he gained Personas with abilities none of them had ever seen or were capable of. Trismegistus and Cerberus's fire attacks fell short of Surt's Ragnarok. Artemisia's ice could easily be halted and shattered by Skadi's Niflheim. Odin's Thunder Reign was overwhelming in power compared to Caesar and Kala-Nemi's own lightning-based attacks. Isis, arguably the strongest in terms of their Personas' magic-type attacks, couldn't hold a candle to Norn and her Panta Rhei. And Alice and Daisoujou's dark and light-based attacks respectively had a higher kill percentage compared to Cerberus and Kala-Nemi's. Even Athena's physical attacks paled when compared to those of Shiva's and several others among Minato's collection of Personas.

And that did not even take into account Minato's unique ability to summon two Personas at once and then combine their abilities to form a new one. From Cadenza, his very first Fusion Spell that both healed and increased their movement speed, to Infinity, which shielded them from harm for a brief moment, and to Armageddon, an attack so powerful that all but the strongest of Shadows would be destroyed in an instant. And even those Shadows would not emerge unscathed. Many were the instances where his unique set of abilities brought them a swifter, more certain victory than they would have had otherwise.

And now, he was gone.

While the loss of his power was a great blow to their group, they would simply have to grow stronger to make up for it. She was certain that, given time, they would be able to make up for the absence of his power.

But that wasn't what shook them the most.

His death meant the loss of a great friend to them all. While it was true that they didn't know much about his personal life, there was no denying the bond that he shared with every member of SEES. It had taken him less than a year to forge powerful, personal bonds with a multitude of people, not just those within SEES. Something like that would have taken others at least twice that amount of time for far fewer people. And to those who knew him well his silence spoke volumes, and his unchanging expression reflected his inner thoughts far better than the most expressive person's own face could.

His strange taste for jokes aside, he was honest, painfully so, when it came to serious matters. He was never afraid to speak him mind whenever the need arose, and even when his words and opinions conflicted with another's, he always knew how to avoid any form of conflict using calmly spoken and carefully planned words to deliver his point without arousing aggression from the other party.

He did not judge. He never judged. He would tell them that he felt differently but no more than that. He never tried to convince the other to change their beliefs, and he had never once said that someone was wrong for believing what they did. He had not even condemned Strega or Ikutsuki for believing in death as a form of salvation. He had said that he didn't think it was right, but he had never once said that they were wrong.

Perhaps it was that ability of his to see things from a different perspective, to understand why others believed what they did, that allowed him to befriend so many people, from just as many walks of life, so easily. Combined with his honest and non-judgmental words and actions, it was plain to see how he had done so. Without fear of being ostracized for their differing beliefs, others would naturally feel more comfortable opening up to him. None could ask for a better friend.

Unfortunately, he was not just a friend to her. He was so much more to her. After all, he was…

"Aigis? Are you alright?"

The sudden intrusion of a voice not her own pulled the blonde android out of her thoughts even as she spun around to face the speaker. Black hair ending in crimson tips and silver eyes. Ruby. It surprised her a bit to see the younger girl there. Given what she knew of the others, the most likely to have been observant enough to notice her leave would have been Blake or Ren.

"I am…" Aigis paused, trying to discern what exactly it was she was feeling at that moment. "Conflicted," she admitted with a frown after a lengthy pause.

"What about?" Ruby asked on reflex then hastily added, "If you don't mind me asking." She hoped she didn't come across as too forward or even rude.

But rather than respond, Aigis looked away from Ruby and returned her attention to the night sky, a strange look in her artificial eyes as she gazed at the nearly-full moon. After waiting a full minute, Ruby assumed that Aigis didn't want to talk about it. Or perhaps just not with her, considering they had only spent about a week getting to know one another before SEES's breakdown. But just as she got ready to rejoin the others, Aigis answered. Or rather, she asked a question.

"What does it mean to live?"

"Huh?" The question had been so far off from what Ruby had expected that she was unable to form a more intelligent response.

But it didn't seem to matter as Aigis continued speaking, her posture as still as only a robot could manage and her gaze focused on a single spot on the moon. "Not too long ago, I lost my purpose. I was undergoing repairs at that time, after receiving heavy damage following a battle against a powerful Shadow. A few days before the repairs were completed, new information we received told me that no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, my initial purpose was an impossible goal. I wondered what it meant for me."

"A machine that cannot fulfill its purpose is useless." Ruby couldn't help cringe at Aigis's choice of words. Ignorant of the other girl's reaction, the android continued to speak. "When I realized that, without a purpose, I would no longer be needed, I felt fear for the very first time."

"It was strange. There had always been the possibility that I would be destroyed during a battle, and yet I had never once experienced the fear of being destroyed. So why was it that I suddenly feared deactivation when I felt nothing when faced with possible destruction? Between that day and the day that I rejoined SEES, I thought of nothing else but my feelings of fear, struggling to understand why I felt that way. It was only when Mitsuru-san came to the labs to pick me up that I began to understand. I had grown attached to them. To SEES. To my friends."

It was barely there. Barely noticeable. The dim lighting that illuminated Aigis's mechanical form made it difficult but Ruby could make out the slight changes on Aigis's face. The blank, fittingly robotic expression on the android's face had softened just a tiny bit, becoming more… human, in a way. Her eyes, which had been as blank as her previous expression, now held a hint of emotion that the silver-eyed girl could not identify just yet.

But before she could figure out just what it was Aigis was trying to express, what it was she was feeling at that moment, the blonde continued to speak. But the words she spoke were words that Ruby did not expect to hear.

"On the way back to the dormitory, I slowly began to realize that it was not deactivation that I feared, that it was not simply the loss of my purpose that disturbed me. What I feared most, what truly shook me, was the thought of losing them. In addition, the knowledge that all of us would die by the end of the next month, that nothing I or anyone else did could avert such a disaster, was a burden that I was not ready to bear."

'WHAT?!' Ruby almost had to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming out loud. What did she mean by that? Had they known that the Grimm would attack their city even before it happened? But that didn't make any sense. If that was true, then what happened? Why was it that they still lost everything despite having at least a month – judging by Aigis's words anyway – to prepare or even strike pre-emptively?

Had they underestimated the Grimm? Overestimated themselves perhaps? Or was there some truth to Aigis's words that nothing they did would prevent the destruction of their homes and the loss of all their lives?

Thinking back, Ruby remembered them saying that it was only due to something Minato did that saved them all. After they had lost consciousness that day, they had awoken to find themselves the sole survivors of quite possibly the greatest tragedy Ruby had ever heard of. An entire nation gone in one night. Even if she knew little about Remnant's history past the time Great War, she was certain that nothing in all known history could even come close to it.

And just now, Aigis had just told her that they knew it was coming and that they were helpless against it. Why didn't they prepare? Better yet, why not run? Why stand and fight a hopeless battle? She knew SEES was firm in their beliefs. She could only imagine what their equivalent to full-fledged Huntsmen were like if a group that was essentially a militia was this resolute. But surely there was a proper time and place to stand firm just as there was a time to run.

"When I met everyone again, the last of my resolve faded." Aigis, completely unaware of her teammate's thoughts, continued to speak even as her gaze remained firmly locked onto the pale, glowing orb high above her. "I questioned their foolishness for choosing to fight a battle that could not be won when they had a better alternative. And I questioned the purpose of my continued existence now that my mission was completely beyond my or anyone else's abilities. I had thought that it was because I was not truly 'alive' that I failed to understand their determination."

"It was at that moment, with their help, that I made a decision." Ruby heard it. There was a distinct change in Aigis's tone when she spoke just then. There was a definite firmness in her tone that had certainly not been there over the past few weeks. "My new purpose, one that I chose for myself, was to live. For the first time since my creation I had chosen my own path, of my own free will. And in the following weeks, Minato-san taught me more about what it meant to live, what it meant to be human."

Then much to Ruby's dismay, the firmness is Aigis's tone, and even in her demeanor, began to fade as words continued to flow from her mechanical lips. "But not once did I consider the possibility that he would be first to die." She heard Aigis's voice crack towards the end of her statement, followed by her head bowing down to face the ground. "I had prepared for the possibility that… that I would give my own life so that they could escape… so that they could continue to live. Even if it was just a little bit longer. And yet…"

Then, as though finally surrendering to some unseen force, Aigis collapsed to her knees, arms wrapping tightly around her torso as though embracing herself. Ruby, eyes wide with concern, acted in an instant, quickly closing the short distance between them. But as she reached out to check if Aigis was alright, she heard a familiar sound accompanied by the android's shivering shoulders.

She knelt down slowly next to Aigis, one hand gingerly reaching out to a mechanical shoulder. When Aigis made no move to remove the hand, Ruby slowly raised her other hand and inched forward. Slowly, cautiously, she wrapped her arms around the crying android and carefully tightened her hold, trying her best to let Aigis know that she was there.

Neither one noticed the red-haired young woman watching them, nor did they notice as she turned away and stepped back inside the building.


"Are you feeling better now?" Though Aigis nodded, Ruby could tell just by looking that crying hadn't improved her condition by much, that the burden on her shoulders was still just as heavy as it had been earlier.

Ruby had held the mechanical maiden in her arms for nearly ten minutes, listening to one heart-wrenching sob after another, each one tearing at her own heart. And once she had calmed down a bit, she helped her get to her feet and guided her to a nearby stone bench.

She had wanted to whisper words of comfort in the other girl's ears just like Yang used to do for her but she had no idea what to say. It's alright? Things will get better? Everything will be alright? None of those phrases, or any of the other dozen she had thought to say, sounded right to her.

Perhaps it was because she still wasn't sure of the reason for Aigis's pain. Minato's death played a large part, that much was never in doubt, but Ruby felt that there was something else that was bothering Aigis. And without that little shred of information, she couldn't be sure that she was reassuring Aigis of something that would not be true.

But finding that out could wait. For now, she had to make sure her team leader was alright. Not that she had any idea as to how she would go about that. Ruby had briefly considered going back to get someone more suited for the task at hand but when she saw Aigis's face, she quickly realized that doing so would be akin to shutting a door that may not open a second time. At this moment, she was the only one who could make things better. Or worse. Hopefully the former.

"So…" Ruby began but trailed off when Aigis didn't react the slightest bit. "Do you… wanna go back inside?" The black-haired girl inwardly cringed at the question, wishing she was capable of kicking herself for her thoughtless question. She could just imagine what Weiss would have said had she been there. 'Obviously she wouldn't want to go back inside. She wouldn't have come out in the first place you dolt.'

Thankfully, Aigis only shook her head, her demeanor remaining unchanged. Though given her current mood, Ruby wondered whether a scathing or sarcastic remark would have been an improvement. She shook her head slightly at that thought. 'I'm getting too used to being around Weiss.'

"Tell me, Ruby." The fifteen-year-old nearly jumped off the bench when Aigis spoke, surprised that the blonde had been the first to break the awkward silence between them. Thankfully, Aigis's head was still facing down where her hands rested on her lap, one on top of the other. "Have you… Have you ever lost someone dear to you?"

Ruby tensed at the question but quickly relaxed, inwardly thankful, again, that Aigis had not been looking at her. No doubt she would have caught even the slightest bit of tension in her posture had the blonde been facing her properly. As she prepared to answer, however, she couldn't help but slump forward, even more than Aigis, as she rested her forearms on her thighs. "Yeah," came her low, saddened response.

"If… If you do not mind me asking, how did you cope with it?" There was something in the mechanical maiden's tone that Ruby couldn't identify. It wasn't bad, that much she was certain of, but it didn't sound very positive either. "How did you come to terms with losing them?"

"I…" Ruby paused all of a sudden, unsure as to how to answer that question. "I…" she began again only to pause a second time, trying to find the proper words to use to explain her thoughts. "I didn't really cope with it, not for a long time." Ruby adjusted her body, trying to find a more comfortable position only to go back to how she started out. "My mom died when I was young, so I didn't really understand it at first."

Looking back, it had been less of coming to terms with her mother's death and more of coming to terms with her mother's departure and absence. She had just barely turned five-years-old when Summer Rose had died. Old enough to have memories of her, but certainly far too young to truly understand what it meant for someone to die.

She could remember wondering how her mother leaving them was different from whenever she left on a mission. She could also remember being told, or rather Yang trying to explain, that dying meant never coming back. But she had been too young. She had taken it to mean that Summer wasn't coming back because she was mad at them for some reason, or that she didn't love them any longer. Yang tried to reassure her that Summer loved her, loved them, but that simply led to young Ruby questioning why she left if she still loved them.

She had also been too young to realize that the constant questions and misunderstandings had only served to add to Yang's already considerable burden at the time. Between taking care of hers and Ruby's needs, and sometimes their father's as well such as with regards to meals, Yang had little time to try and explain things in a manner that the young Ruby could understand. After all, she had been a child at that time. There was no way she could care for a household, or even just a single person, with the same ease and efficiency as their deceased mother.

Because of that, Yang had prioritized taking care of Ruby and their home over trying to get her to understand the difference between leaving and dying. As a result, Ruby spent a long time trying to understand and come to terms with the fact that Summer had left them for some unknown reason. By the time that Yang had been released from her duties as caretaker, Ruby had, more or less, come to terms with her mother's absence.

And so, when they had finally gotten around to explaining things better to Ruby – which had been much later – she didn't need as much time to cope with the realization that her mother was well and truly gone from their lives, unlike Yang's, who was supposedly still alive. It had hurt, certainly, but not as much as it might have had Ruby been able to understand Yang's attempts at an explanation several months before. Probably because she simply had to change one small detail in her way of thinking.

As Ruby spoke more of her childhood after her mother's death, Aigis listened intently but silently. Now and then she'd throw out a quick question, trying to prompt Aigis into speaking, but the android merely looked down at the ground, her expression unchanging.

By the end of her tale, Ruby was feeling both depressed and hopeful. Thoughts of her mother always brought her down, though she tried not to let it distract her whenever it happened. She wasn't really sure what exactly the blonde was hoping to hear when she asked the question earlier, but the young trainee could only hope that her words provided her with the answer she was looking for.

Then, Aigis took a deep breath, and sighed, shutting her eyes as she did so. And when she opened them, her expression was just as dejected as it had been earlier. In fact, unless Ruby was mistaken, she seemed to be even more depressed now. "I see," she sighed out, her tone matching her expression. "I suppose this is the limit of my understanding. Or perhaps it is because I haven't 'lived' long enough yet that I am unable to understand."

The silver-eyed girl wasn't really sure what to say in response. This wasn't a conversation or situation she had ever expected to experience. Even if she did expect it for some reason, the fact that Aigis wasn't a human, or even a faunus, threw out most conventional logic.

By the time people reached their teens, they had most likely experienced something that made them sad or depressed. So on some level, even teenagers would know how to deal with similar situations. The death of a loved one was, obviously, far more devastating than not being able to eat the last cookie in the jar or having your newly built weapon fall apart completely in its first fight, but those smaller instances at least gave them some experience dealing with such feelings.

Aigis may look like a teenager, but she was certainly far from one in terms of emotional experience. By her own accounts, she had only been active for a little over a year. More importantly, she had only truly began to feel, express, and understand emotions around the start of the year. All in all, Aigis really only had about nine months of experience when it came to dealing with her own emotions.

It was, in a way, the complete opposite of Ruby's own situation.

At the time of her mother's death, she had been too young to understand the concept of death. But she had, somehow, managed to come to terms with her mother's disappearance despite that lack of understanding. Aigis understood death and what it meant for someone to die. But she was completely unprepared to deal with the emotional aspect associated with it. Especially when the person who died was someone she knew, someone she cared about.

'I wonder if this was how Yang felt back then,' she couldn't help but muse with a sad smile, watching as Aigis continued to stare dejectedly at the ground. Unable to do anything else, Ruby moved closer to the blonde android, and wrapped her arms around her torso once more. She felt Aigis tense up at the unexpected contact before relaxing once more.

"… Thank you."

Ruby hummed in response and tightened her embrace just a little more, trying to convey her intent and feelings through her arms. She may have lacked the words and experience needed to give Aigis the answer she needed, but at the very least she could stay by her side until she found them.


SEES and their friends stayed up the entire night. For the most part, they had broken off into their respective teams, with SEES sharing various stories about their past and those they were mourning.

Yukari did most of the talking for team KYBT, talking about her parents and how she came to join SEES. Needless to say her father's role in the birth of the Dark Hour was omitted, as was her initial reason for agreeing to join SEES. Now and then, Mitsuru would answer some questions about her own childhood but Yang was still a little apprehensive of directly addressing Mitsuru to ask for more details.

She was much less reluctant when it came to Yukari though, so the brunette ended up getting bombarded with questions by the blonde. Yang made sure to be careful around the more personal issues and questions at least. She certainly didn't want to overstep her boundaries again so soon after the first one. Especially not in front of Mitsuru.

Inversely, team ASYR had very little interaction among its members. After Ruby and Aigis returned – surprisingly nobody had questioned their disappearance though they did greet them upon their return – Ruby struck up a conversation with Fuuka while trying to get Aigis to join in. She would respond now and then with a hum, a nod, or different variations of 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', and 'I don't know'. It was better than complete silence but such half-hearted answers were not enough to soothe Fuuka's worries, which resulted in her worrying more about Aigis than conversing with Ruby.

It certainly didn't help matters any that Weiss had joined team KYBT, opting to try and speak more with Mitsuru. Her attempt hadn't fared very well, since the redhead opted to leave the majority of the conversation to Yukari, Blake, and Yang, but the white-haired heiress was not one to be deterred so easily and has simply settled for what little she could get out of the former heiress.

With Team ANKR, all four members were engaged in casual conversation, small smiles present on all their faces and sometimes growing into full smiles or grins.

Ken didn't have much to share, having lived quite an ordinary life up until his mother's death, and his hatred for Shinjiro, prior to his death, wasn't something he wanted to share, so he had very little to talk about. That wasn't to say he was entirely silent, however, as he began throwing in comments about Akihiko's boxing career when the older teen got to that point of his life.

"Akihiko-senpai was mostly undefeated but most of his losses were from when he started out." Akihiko turned away with a touch of embarrassment as Ken heaped up more praise and built up his image. While it was all true, it felt strange to have someone else describing it, making it sound so much more fantastic than it was from his perspective. It didn't help that Nora was encouraging Ken to tell her more.

Still, it was good to see Ken behaving normally after the past three weeks.

Seeing the relieved smile on Akihiko's face, Ren gave him a small smile of his own. "Feeling better?" he asked the boxer. Akihiko had been one of the more composed ones over the past three weeks, but Ren had seen that he was grieving just as much as the others. And although his sister had perished nearly ten years ago, and Shinjiro had died exactly one year ago now, that didn't make the death of another person close to him any easier. Something that Ren knew very well.

"A bit, yeah," the boxer responded with a slightly wider smile and a nod. "Though, it wasn't just the people who died that bothered me. In the end, we're still their seniors, so Mitsuru and I still feel that we have a responsibility to watch over them." His gaze traveled around the room, pausing briefly on each of the younger members of SEES. "They may have grown over the past year-and-a-half, but we're all still young. None of us can take on everything alone."

"And yet you and Mitsuru seem to have taken a lot of that burden on your shoulders," said Ren, pointing out the contradiction in his statement.

"Mitsuru and I have been through a lot, more than the others at any rate," he defended, shrugging to show that he didn't care much if he came off as hypocritical. "Besides, we're used to bearing more than we're supposed to. Not the best habit to have, but I think we can get away with it this time."

Ren certainly couldn't argue with that logic. The past three weeks had clearly been a tough time for the entire group. If Akihiko and Mitsuru hadn't planned this memorial event then who knows how long they would have kept mourning and grieving over lost loved ones. After all, funeral and memorial services were not something intended for the dead.

The two soon rejoined the conversation between Ken and Nora, Akihiko stepping in when Ken started mentioning some of the more exaggerated and outrageous rumors about him and his boxing career.

Not far from them, Junpei was telling the rest of Team JACN more about his life prior to joining SEES, not that there was much to tell. His life had been fairly mundane up until his induction into SEES. It had surprised the others that Chidori knew little about Junpei's personal life but she simply said, "We never really found time to talk about it," and they left it alone, choosing instead of focus on Junpei.

His family was a sore topic for several reasons, but one that he had come to terms with shortly before their battle against Nyx, so he only had a little difficulty opening up that part of his life to his team when they had asked. He had never known his mother so there was little he could say on that topic. His father was another matter altogether.

He had raised him as a single father, doing his best despite how hard it was to raise a child while having to work to earn a living. It had been alright at the beginning. It was difficult, no one could contest that, but he had managed. But around the time Junpei was in the fourth grade - when he was ten years old, he explained when asked his age at the time - Kenichiro Iori lost his job.

Their meager savings kept them afloat for a while longer along with what little Kenichiro earned doing odd jobs wherever he could. He eventually got a job working at an assembly line in a factory. It was hard work with little pay compared to his former occupation, but it was better than having to search for any paying jobs on a daily basis.

But then, Junpei continued to explain, Kenichiro lost most of their remaining savings to an investment scam. That, combined with the poor work conditions, harsh supervisors, and the stressful work, along with the low pay rate eventually got to his father, leading to his slow descent into alcoholism.

"He actually started getting better near the end of last year," he said, waving away the pitying looks he was receiving, thankfully not from his girlfriend. Inwardly he was glad he decided not to talk about how violent his father sometimes became while under the influence of alcohol. That certainly would have earned him looks and words of pity that he no longer needed.

"Talking with Minato helped a lot too." He leaned into his seat and tilted it back just a bit, careful not to tip it back too far lest he find himself on the floor. "It's 'cuz of him that I actually decided to go talk to my dad again after leaving home to live in the dorm with everyone else."

"Do you miss him?" When he turned to face Chidori, she repeated her question. "Do you miss your father?"

Junpei huffed and turned back to the ceiling. "That's a stupid question." He sighed heavily, shutting his eyes. "'Course I do. He and I didn't get along for a long time. But like I said, he started getting better 'round the end of last year. We were actually talking again instead of just yelling all the time. Last time I saw him was just after New Year's. Told him I won't be able to visit for a while since I had something important I had to do for a while. After that... well..."

He didn't really need to say anything more. They were well aware of what happened less than a month after that point.

As Junpei shook those thoughts out of his head - he'd been moping around for three weeks already after all - he realized that something felt... off with his team. His team. That was something he really needed to start getting used to. It didn't take him long to locate the reason for the odd feeling.

"Yo Jaune, you alright there?" Jaune's head snapped up from where it had been bowed down, low enough to fit in the space between his knees, when Junpei called to him, looking as though he had dozed off. But there had been a something in his eyes when he looked up, an emotion that Junpei couldn't place. "You've been pretty quiet tonight. Something up?"

Jaune, for all his shortcomings as a fighter, was a fairly outgoing person. A little goofy, and definitely more than a little awkward at times, but he wouldn't have described the tall blonde as broody. Seeing him so deep in thought about something, while not a cause for concern, was definitely new.

Seeing Junpei still waiting for an answer, the blonde quickly shook his head. "Oh, n-nothing's wrong. I was j-just... thinking." He could see that none of his teammates believed him. His excuse was hardly convincing, even to him. None of them pushed, at least, but he could still see the curiosity in their eyes even as they started up another conversation, something about Junpei's school if he heard Pyrrha's question right.

Rather than listen, he sighed and lowered his head once more, his forearms on his thighs and his fingers intertwined. Now and then his eyes would turn to the side where the casket was only to turn away the moment he saw it. But moments later, his eyes would wander once more to it then repeat its previous actions. His fingers clenched as though attempting to form a fist, but being intertwined with the others made it impossible at the time. Still, his muscles tightened as much as they could.

Then all of a sudden, "H-hey, Junpei?" He vaguely heard their conversing voices pause as their ears caught his words. "What's it... what's it like?" he asked, keeping his gaze firmly on the floor. "Fighting the Grimm I mean. And not just once or twice like we did back during initiation."

"Asides from dangerous you mean?" Junpei asked with a light tone accompanied by a short chuckle. Certainly not the kind of answer Jaune had been hoping for. "Well, it's pretty much what you'd expect from fighting monsters and stuff. Gotta say, video games, anime, and movies make it all seem easy. But it's a whole 'nother world when you're the one standing in front of something that could kill you in one hit."

'What's anime?' Jaune found himself thinking before he could stop himself. But just as quickly as the thought entered, it disappeared and was replaced by more sobering thoughts. "Not all fun and games, huh?"

"Dude, fighting Shadows... Grimm... uh, you know what I mean." There was a brief pause, Junpei gathering his thoughts again perhaps. "Anyway, anyone who thinks it's 'fun and games' is just asking for it." The levity in his team leader's voice was gone now, replaced by a dour tone. "Fun isn't standing there hoping you don't die and games aren't supposed to end with you dead if you lose."

"Yeah, maybe there was a time when I didn't take it seriously, when I thought that just having a Persona meant I was safe, powerful. Then on our first real mission I nearly got me, Minato and Yukari killed 'cuz I was being stupid." Jaune heard Junpei sigh, heavy and full of burdens and regrets. "Can't even say that I took it more seriously after that. A little bit more, yeah, but not enough. But we just kept winning, kept beating down whatever Shadow came our way without anyone getting hurt too badly. Couple of cuts, a bruise or two now and then, but nothing major. And then... Well... Shinjiro-senpai died. Right in front of us."

Jaune waited. For what, he wasn't sure. But Junpei just sighed again but this time he sounded more exasperated than tired. "Damn, I better stop there. Akihiko-senpai's right, he wouldn't want us beating ourselves up like this over him otherwise he'll beat us up." He heard a brief chuckle, and though it sounded a little bitter there was definitely a trace of amusement mixed into it. "Why'd you ask anyway?"

Good question. Why did he ask? It wasn't as if he didn't already know the answer. He'd known since the initiation after all. Fighting the Grimm was a dangerous career path, extremely so. And it was even more dangerous for someone who didn't know how to fight. And in this case, that someone was him.

Even a month of Combat Class and extra lessons with Pyrrha hadn't helped him very much. If anything, it just served to highlight his lack of combat potential. No matter how often he reminded himself of Pyrrha's advice, even just focusing on one of them at a time, he could never get his body to remember it the way Pyrrha said it would. He always had to consciously think about her advice otherwise he would find himself slipping back into bad habits. And by bad habits, he meant his complete and utter lack of skill that nobody knew about.

But the more he thought about it, the more he ended up confusing himself. There were just so many things he had to remember that he couldn't keep his thoughts straight. His stance, his footing, his footing while attacking or defending, the proper way to use his shield, and so much more. Not to mention nobody would give him time to think about all that while in the middle of a fight, let alone think of a plan.

The blonde boy took a deep breath and sighed. Maybe he should just-

"Try not to think about it too much." Jaune's head shot up when Junpei spoke. Did he just... "I mean, you're still in school, right? It's why you're at Beacon. So they can teach you how to fight the Grimm. Well, us I guess." The dark-haired boy shook his head wildly, trying to get back on track. "A~anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, it's alright to think it's scary and all that. Heck, I've been fighting for months and I know there's a part of me that still gets scared. I try not to let it get to me when I'm fighting, but... it's there. It's always there."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Jaune tried to process his leader's words, but Junpei quickly filled in that silence. "L-look, I'm... I'm not too good at this leader thing," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I-I've never been a leader for anything before so this is all new to me. But hey, I've got your back, alright?" Junpei gave him a smile that looked halfway between reassuring and uncertain, but Jaune could feel the sincerity in his words. "Heck, it's not just me. You've got Pyrrha and Chidori-chan too after all."

Pyrrha also gave Jaune a reassuring smile, one that looked far more confident than Junpei's but just as sincere. And while Chidori didn't smile, she gave him a nod to show that, yes, she would be there if he needed her help.

"Y-yeah... Thanks."

Weak though his voice might have been, but he meant it. It didn't do much to quell the fear of death that had sprouted up in his chest the day he saw hundreds of Grimm watching them with glowing red eyes, watching them like a predator observing its prey. In fact, a part of him bristled at his words, at the insinuation that he needed to be protected. But he couldn't deny that, deep inside, he was happy to hear those words. Happy to know that he wouldn't have to face things alone.


October 4, XX13

The light-hearted mood of the previous night and early morning was soon forgotten as sixteen students and one dog made their way to the final destination of their planned trip.

Mitsuru and Akihiko led the way, walking ahead of the group to guide them to where they needed to be. In Akihiko's arms was a small, dark gray urn that bore the ashes of the casket's earlier contents along with the white cloth that had been lain on top of it. It was only when Akihiko had folded it up and placed it with the other objects that they learned what it was. The flag of Japan.

While the memorial had mainly been for those closest to them, there were still countless others who had died that day. A vast majority were strangers, a few were acquaintances, fewer still were friends, but all of them were their fellow countrymen.

No more than five minutes later, the pair stopped in front of a grave located near one corner of the Vale Public Cemetery. And it was certainly one that eight of them would never forget. The gravestone was not only larger, but also far more elaborate than the ones they had seen along the way. In fact, it was more akin to a memorial stone due to its size.

The base was large block of granite, at least two feet in height, three feet from front to back, and four feet from one side to the other. The upper surface was wider than the base by at least an inch in all directions. On top of it, situated about a fourth of the way from the back, was a granite slab that was roughly two inches thick, three feet in height, and just shy of four feet in width. Unlike the base, it flared outwards slightly the closer it was to the base. Upon closer inspection, they noticed that both of them were slightly arced, with the visitor standing inside the arc.

On the upper piece of granite, they could make out a multitude of strange characters carved into the stone. What made it even stranger was that, unless they were mistaken, the characters seemed to be lined up vertically rather than horizontally. There were twenty-two vertical lines of those strange characters. And for whatever reason, nine of them were colored red somehow.

At the front were two round, steel vessels, almost like cups, set into each of the two front corners. They were only a few inches tall and the opening was about the same. Towards the center were two depressions in the granite block that were filled with sand while at the center was a shallow rectangular basin with rounded off corners. The front face of the larger block of granite had a large rectangular depression carved into it with a circle in the center sticking out. It took them only a second to recognize it as the Japanese flag they had seen earlier.

Two square, granite pillars stood slightly in front of the entire gravestone, just a few inches in front of the corners. Each one was at least as tall as the whole gravestone and was three inches wide. Several strange-looking characters were carved into the pillars on the side facing them. The characters on the left were different from the one on the right. And finally, another large slab of granite lay beneath the entire thing, with three one-inch steps at the front about two feet wide.

Akihiko passed the urn to Mitsuru before turning to Junpei with a meaningful gaze. No words were exchanged but the younger teen stepped forward nonetheless. Akihiko stepped up onto the granite platform and moved to one corner of the gravestone while Junpei went to the one on the other side. The silver-haired teen knelt down and placed one hand on the stone while the other reached down. The other teen copied him and, after searching with his fingers, found a deep indentation at the base of the stone.

Slipping his fingers in, he met his senior's eyes and nodded. With a grunt, the two lifted the front of the stone up about an inch before it stopped. The older teen motioned with his head and the younger followed, moving the slab of granite away from the grave. They set the slab down gently on the grass, allowing everyone to see that the inside of the grave was completely hollow.

Mitsuru approached with the urn in her arms. She knelt in front of the gravestone and carefully placed the urn inside it. The redhead remained on her knees for a brief moment before rising and stepping back to join the others. She knew that what they were doing was quite unorthodox in some ways by Japanese standards, but considering the circumstances none of them would speak out against it. And it wasn't as if anyone could scold them for it.

Everyone watched as the two males resealed the chamber, carefully setting the granite slab back into place. It took a moment to line it up, but soon the chamber was sealed once more, and Junpei and Akihiko stepped back. In turn, Fuuka and Yukari stepped forward, each one carrying a small bouquet of flowers they had bought along the way, picked out by Yukari herself.

Each bouquet was composed of gladiolas and white carnations. According to the brunette, the former represented remembrance, and the latter stood for pure love, which, she said, was fitting since those they were mourning were a combination of friends and family as well as those who only died fairly recently and a few who had long since passed on.

Nobody else really knew much about what different flowers stood for so they simply went with it. The two girls placed the bouquet into the two receptacles near the corners then stepped back.

Ken approached the gravestone next. Held in one hand was a candle while the other held a small candleholder. He set it up on the granite flooring slightly to the side then lit the wick with a match. After making certain that the candle wouldn't topple over or that the flame wouldn't go out, he stepped back.

Aigis went next, carrying with her a deep wooden bucket filled with water. Floating on the surface of the water was a wooden ladle. She set it down in front of the gravestone but off to the side, opposite the candle. She scooped up some water and gently poured it into the shallow basin in front of her. She did this twice more, filling it up close to the brim, before returning the ladle and the stepping away from the gravestone.

And finally, Chidori approached the gravestone. In her hands, she held the small box that Akihiko had passed her when they exited the van after arriving at the cemetery. The top flaps were already open but they couldn't see the contents from where they stood. She set it down next to the candle but far enough that even the open flaps wouldn't touch the candleholder. With her task accomplished, she rejoined the others.

Mitsuru turned to address the other seven members of SEES, their preparations finally done. "Who would like to go first?"

"I'll go," Yukari answered almost as soon as Mitsuru finished asking her question and she stepped up to the gravestone without delay. But though she had acted swiftly, her movements were slow and precise.

Yukari picked up the ladle, scooping up some of the water in the bucket. Reaching up, she gently poured the water on top of the gravestone then returned the ladle to the bucket. Then she knelt down on the ground. Turning to the side, she reached into the box and pulled out a dark red stick. She brought one end to the candle's flame, holding it there for a few seconds before pulling it back. The red stick held between the archer's fingers did not catch fire, though the tip was smoking.

The brown-haired girl brought the stick over to the gravestone and pushed the other end into the one of the sand receptacles. She repeated her actions, and placed a second stick into the other receptacle. She then brought her palms together and held them in front of her, bowing her head slightly, and shutting her eyes.

"Hey mom." Yukari spoke softly, using her native tongue for the first time since arriving in Vale a month ago. "I'm sorry it took so long. We've been really busy these past months so we never really found time for all this, you know? I have so much I want to tell you, but I'm not the only one here right now. I… I love you mom. I'm sorry I never got to tell you that one last time. I'll come back as soon as I can so we can talk, I promise."

"And dad, I'm still going to keep my promise to you. They may not be called Shadows anymore, but I'll still do whatever I can to bring an end to this. Don't worry, I'm not alone. I don't plan on dying anytime soon and I still have SEES by my side after all. So please, don't worry about me. And once this is over, I'll come let you know right away. I love you dad. Goodbye for now. I'll be back. I promise."

Yukari opened her eyes slowly only to be greeted by the blurry sight of the gravestone in front of her. She reached up with one hand to touch her face and felt something wet on her fingertips. She didn't let the sight of her tears bother her and blinked repeatedly until her vision was clear. This was one time when she would allow herself to cry in front of others.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, saying one final farewell to her parents before turning around and returning to the others. She noted that they had increased the distance between them and the gravestone, enough that they wouldn't have heard her, or understood her at the very least, even if she had spoken at a normal volume.

Throughout all this, SEES's teammates could only watch on in an uncomfortable silence.

Their night of bonding over SEES's stories of their past had caused them to forget that their presence there was not due to an invitation but due to their own actions. And while one person bore more of the blame than the rest, that did not change the fact that all of them carried their own share.

The sharp look that Mitsuru had sent them when they hesitated to enter the cemetery earlier had been enough to let them know that she had yet to completely forgive them and that their continued presence was to be part of their punishment. A highly unconventional one but certainly an effective one. They certainly wouldn't be repeating their shameful actions anytime soon. Perhaps ever.

On another note, some were beginning to wonder whether exhausting and starving them was part of that punishment. It was already well past eight in the morning and none of them had gotten even a wink of sleep – the conversations they held was more than sufficient to keep them awake through the night – nor had they eaten anything since their early dinner the night before. But considering they had left Beacon shortly after six PM, it meant that they had not gone more than twelve hours without eating or even drinking.

The pangs of hunger began to gnaw at them a little after dawn but by then, Mitsuru had told them that they would be departing the funeral home shortly so nobody mentioned their hunger. After all, SEES had gone just as long without food and rest so surely they must be feeling the same, right?

To their dismay, no one among SEES mentioned anything about it at all. After departing the funeral home, they had only stopped to pick up some flowers before heading straight for the cemetery. They hadn't thought to say anything during the entire trip and by the time they realized where they were, it was too late to bring it up.

Nora had it worst since she had returned to the dorm right after her Demolitions class only to join them on their trip to Vale soon after arriving. She had grabbed something to snack on from a vending machine along the way back to the dorm but given her metabolism a small snack was a far cry from the amount she usually ate at mealtimes. She was actually beginning to worry that the next time her stomach rumbled people would begin wondering where the Ursa was. Or if she'd eaten a live Ursa without them noticing.

Ruby's condition was just as bad but rather than hunger, she was just about ready to succumb to her exhaustion. Her hunger certainly didn't help. If anything, it made it worse. Yang had an arm around her shoulder, to support her just in case she fell asleep – she had drifted off a few times earlier despite being on her feet – but was also trying to keep her awake to avoid getting into trouble with Mitsuru or anyone else for being disrespectful.

And so they did the only thing they could. They endured. They watched as the other members of SEES approached the gravestone, repeating Yukari's actions of dumping water on the gravestone and sticking two of those red sticks into the sand. Then they would whisper a prayer – at least that's what it looked like to them – for a minute or so before rising and rejoining them.

By the third person, Fuuka, their noses began to pick up a strange smell. It wasn't unpleasant. In fact, inhaling deeply, a few of them began to feel a bit more relaxed, calmer. It smelled vaguely of fragrant wood mixed with something like a spice of some sort. It took a while before Ren pinpointed the source. The red sticks that SEES were sticking into the sand.

Despite the distance, he could see that the ones that had been placed earlier had burned away. Though it was strange to see that the burnt remains somehow managed to remain in place, making it seem as though the stick were still whole only with gray, ash-like tips rather than whatever the red material was.

Mitsuru followed after Fuuka returned, then Akihiko, Ken, and then Chidori. When the red-haired girl returned, everyone turned to Aigis, expecting her to approach. Instead, she looked conflicted, gazing at the gravestone with uncertainty.

Weiss was close to having to restrain herself physically. She was hungry and tired, and now Aigis was choosing that very moment to be indecisive. She didn't even know why they were waiting on Aigis. She was just a robot after all. It wasn't as if she had anything to say to the deceased.

As convincing as it was, there was no doubt in the heiress's mind that the 'emotions' Aigis had been displaying the past few weeks was nothing more than a program meant to emulate someone in mourning. Her current 'indecision' was probably a bid to buy time for her to create a program for the current situation based on what she had already seen.

If not for the fact that they were in enough trouble as it was, Weiss would have tried to urge them to just move on with or without Aigis. But when she heard and felt her stomach rumble once again, the heiress began to debate the pros and cons of doing so, damn the consequences and her image.

In the end, the decision was taken out of her hands when Aigis approached the gravestone with slow, hesitant steps. Her movements were shaky the entire time, nearly causing her to spill the ladle of water on the incense. And when she made to light her own stick of incense, she nearly knocked over the candle.

But she paid little mind to any of that as she knelt there before the gravestone, her hands on her lap rather than in front of her in prayer. From the moment the group reached the gravestone, to the moment she approached and knelt before it, her eyes were locked onto one thing. A name. Half of which she now bore in honor and memory of the young man who had changed her for the better.

"Minato-san." Unlike the others, her words were spoken out loud in English, rather than whispered in Japanese. But since everyone had moved further back when Yukari had approached the gravestone, her words were still unintelligible to those behind her. "Are you… Are you well where you are?"

Of course, no response was given to her query, but she nodded as though she had received one. "I see. That is good. As you can see, we are doing well. At least, given our current circumstances." She paused once more, but this time lowered her head. "I must… apologize, Minato-san. Although you took the time to teach me what it meant to live, what it meant to be human, lately I have been wondering whether my decision had been a grave mistake."

"Though my understanding has grown, there is still much I have yet to learn, so much I have left to experience. But now I…" Her fingers curled into fists, the fabric of her hakama gripped tightly in her hands even as her eyes shut tightly and her face contorted in pain. "I am… ashamed. Everyone else is suffering as well, and yet I alone hid from my pain rather than facing it. Though I have only done it at night, I still hid even though the others must have suffered even in their sleep. At one point I had even considered running from my pain, to make it so that I would never have to feel such a horrid feeling ever again."

"Does it… Am I a horrible person, Minato-san? Though I scorned those who sought freedom from pain and suffering through death, I now find myself wishing for the same. Not death, no, but merely by making it so that I would never have to feel pain, or any other emotion, ever again."

"I had thought, at that time, that I understood, though I disagreed, why the doomsday cult that worshipped Nyx would desire death. And yet now I… Now I find that my previous understanding was merely superficial. The pain of losing my purpose is so insignificant compared to the pain of losing you, or the fear of losing someone else. And though I am do not bear this pain alone I…"

"I… I do not know if… if I could bear this pain a second time, or a third." Her shoulders began to shake even as her voice grew weak and unsteady. "Our friends may be here with me, but the thought of losing someone again, losing them, cripples me with fear far greater any Shadow. What do I do? How is it, that people can bear such pain? I wish… I wish you were still here with us… with me…"

A drop of water fell onto her glove, the white material taking barely a second to greedily absorb it. Another fell onto her hakama, facing a similar fate as the first. More followed soon after, her tears slowly streaming down her face towards her chin even as soft sobs escaped her lips, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

The other members of SEES could only watch in concern and sadness once Aigis's sobs and cries grew loud enough to be heard, some of them looking away to hide the tears that threatened to fall at the sight of their friend's distress and their inability to help. Of the others, many of them looked just as sad at the sight before them. One, however, was affected more than the rest.

"Blake? Are you alright?"

The black-haired girl didn't turn to face her partner, but nodded without a word, hoping that she wouldn't push the issue. In truth, she was far from alright. She tried to keep the tears from falling. She wouldn't be able to properly explain why she felt so strongly for Aigis's pain without possibly revealing her faunus heritage. And while she could just lie her way out she didn't want to take any risks, not at this time.

Out of the eight Aura-users, only she truly knew what was causing Aigis's pain. Not because she had been in a similar situation, but because she had heard every word of Aigis's lamentations. But more than that, her sharp hearing picked up the undertones that most people would not have picked up at that distance, even if they heard the words.

Listening in, even unintentionally, to the others had been fine. All of them had spoken in their native tongue, a language that Blake had no knowledge of, so she only felt a small hint of remorse for having overheard them. But with Aigis… If she had had any doubts that Aigis was anything more than just a machine, that moment, just then, erased them all.

She had faced many of Atlas's androids in the past, including some of the latest models, and she had interacted with many AIs across the Kingdom of Vale. One thing they had in common, despite the advances in technology, was their flat, mechanical tone of voice or the artificial emotions programmed into their tone, depending on the model.

Certainly, the newer, more expensive models sounded real enough. Whether they were laughing in joy, crying in sadness, shouting in anger, or even pretending to die, the emotions they displayed looked and sounded very real. So much so that many people would have a hard time believing that the speaker was a machine if they only went by the voice. Some have even claimed that they could 'feel' the emotions that they were being shown.

But her faunus hearing allowed her to hear what most people could not. No matter how new or how advanced, the artificial emotions displayed by the AIs would always sound false to her ears. It was not something one could easily describe to those who could not experience it themselves. All she knew was that she, along with any other faunus with a superior sense of hearing, could always differentiate an AI's voice from a human's or faunus's, even through a Scroll or a recording.

And it was because of this that she could tell that Aigis was far more advanced, far more… human, than anything Atlas or anyone else on Remnant have created.

Even back when she first met them the day before the Initiation, Aigis had slipped past her radar and registered as a human in every way that counted. Her movements, her voice, her speech patterns – despite being somewhat formal in delivery – her emotions, everything about her had told Blake that the blonde was a human. Had they not revealed the truth, the feline faunus would have gone on believing that Aigis was nothing more than just another human being.

And even now, listening to Aigis's words and cries, Blake could not stop thinking of the blonde as a human. The slight movements of her body as she sobbed looked every bit as natural as anyone else's. The sounds of her cries sounded no different from that of another human's. And the raw emotion in her voice struck at Blake's heart in ways that no artificial being could have done.

But though her faunus instincts told her that the girl before her was human, her mind knew otherwise. For all her human traits, Aigis was still just a machine. Well-built and highly advanced even when compared to Atlas's best - a little strange since Japan's overall level of technology was far behind Remnant's - but still a machine nonetheless.

It was a first for Blake that her faunus instincts were being misled rather than logic and intellect. More often than not she, as well as many other faunus, trusted her instincts whenever they tried to tell her something. She didn't have enough fingers to count the number of times her instincts protected her from harm, or even death. So to find someone, something, that could deceive her instincts so perfectly was reason enough for her to be wary.

To add to her worries, Aigis was capable of communicating with dogs. Blake couldn't say for certain if that ability carried over to all other animals, but just being able to commune with canines, Koromaru in particular - she unconsciously shifted away from said dog sitting on his haunches just a few feet away - was bad enough.

Koromaru clearly knew she was a faunus, his 'words' after the initiation had been proof enough. Thankfully Aigis thought that she simply misunderstood Koromaru's message, but if she grew too suspicious then Blake knew there was little she could do to prevent the observant android from discovering the truth.

No, staying away from Aigis whenever possible was the best solution for her problems. She might have been a nice girl... machine... or whatever the right term was, but it was far too risky for Blake to stay by her side for prolonged periods of time. She had gotten this far already. Deceived instincts or not, she still knew the truth. She would not allow herself to grow complacent or careless because of it.

Even if her heart wept at the tears shed by the crying android.

After a few more minutes, Aigis's sobbing began to fade, replaced by her voice once more. "I… I am alright now, Minato-san." She heard Aigis sniffle and hiccup, trying to regain her composure after all her crying. "Speaking like this… reminds me of those times in the past. It is not the same, but I do feel better now. Only by a small amount, but better nonetheless."

"I do not know if I will have the strength to bear this pain should something happen again. But you chose to fight in the end, even when you knew that there was no point. It will be painful, I know, and I do not think I will ever stop mourning your death. But even so, I… I promise I will try to keep living. You gave your life so that everyone could live. I will not sully that sacrifice by throwing away my own."

Blake heard no more after that, but Aigis remained kneeling in front of the gravestone. Nobody could say for certain what she was doing, but all of them, save one, were willing to give her as much time as she needed. After a few, minutes of silence, Aigis rose with fluidity and grace that was absent in her earlier movements. Those who knew her well could see that she wasn't at her best just yet but nonetheless, they smiled at the improvement in her demeanor.

"I... apologize for taking so long everyone," she said as she approached, unaware that one person had heard everything she had said. "I… I had not realized that there was much I wanted to say... nor that I would…" Aigis paused abruptly and looked away.

Fuuka smiled gently and stepped closer, then wrapped her arms around the taller blonde. "It's alright Aigis, we understand," she said with a soft smile. "We miss him too."

Aigis hesitated for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around the diminutive girl and releasing the tension in her body. "Thank you, Fuuka-san."

The two separated after a brief embrace and Mitsuru took that moment to address the group. "We'll need to clean up before we leave."

As she made her way towards the gravestone, Yukari stepped in front of her and shook her head. "Senpai, you did more than enough just setting this up. At least let us take care of the rest."

The redhead gazed into Yukari's determined eyes, then turned to the others. Junpei and stepped in front of Akihiko, most likely for the same reason as Yukari. Fuuka, Aigis, Ken, and Chidori, all had similar looks in their eyes. Her silver-haired friend turned to her and just shrugged in defeat, to which she could only agree with a smile. "If you're all certain then I suppose I can't refuse. Thank you. All of you."

Aigis, Chidori, and Ken collected the items they had brought earlier, that being the bucket, the incense, and the candle and candleholder respectively. Aigis took a few seconds to place the remaining water into the vessels holding the flowers, leaving the wooden bucket empty. Ken made certain to check if the candle had dripped wax onto the granite. Junpei, Yukari, and Fuuka went around the gravestone, checking for any trash that may be in the area, placing any they found into the bag that Junpei took from Akihiko.

As the others waited for them to finish, Weiss approached Mitsuru to ask a question that had been on her mind since their arrived at the gravestone. "Pardon me Mitsuru, but what do these strange characters mean?"

The redhead followed Weiss's line of sight and saw the two granite pillars in front of the gravestone. "Chou wa suru futatsu ha, kanzen naru hitotsu ni masaru," she recited fondly, an almost nostalgic look on her face. Before Weiss, or anyone else could even ask, she spoke again. "Two in harmony, surpasses one in perfection. Those words are the Kirijo family's motto. I may be the sole remaining member of the Kirijo family, but I felt it was right to have these words here."

"Huh. That's interesting," said Yang, looking at the two pillars and the characters etched upon them. "Did you engrave the words yourself or did somebody else do it?" It seemed unlikely that there was someone in Vale with knowledge of Japanese, but she thought she'd ask all the same.

"The craftsman we hired to make the gravestone referred us to someone else for the engravings," responded the former heiress, confirming Yang's theory. "I simply wrote down the characters and he copied them."

"I see."

"I take it then that those are the names of the deceased?" asked the Schnee heiress, turning her gaze onto the gravestone itself. At Mitsuru's nod, she asked another question. "If you don't mind me asking, why are some of them in red? And also, I noticed that there are more names on it than those you mentioned before."

If Mitsuru did mind, she didn't say or show it. Instead, she turned to the names engraved on the slab of granite even as the others returned from their task of cleaning the area around the grave. "The very first name on the right reads Nippon, or Japan as you know it, the name of our country." She could see the question in their eyes as to how or why the name was different, but ignored them for the moment and returned her gaze to the gravestone. "The rest, as you've deduced, are the names of the people that I mentioned last night."

"As to the inconsistency of the number with regards to those you saw last night, I left out two names earlier for… personal reasons." She glanced at Junpei and Chidori briefly as she said the last two words. One looked ambivalent about it while the other gave her a grateful nod.

Takaya Sakaki and Jin Shirato. The other two members of Strega, with Chidori as their third. She hadn't included them earlier not out of malice, but simply because their complex history with Chidori, as well as with SEES and the Kirijo group, was not something she wanted to explain at that time. It was, on some level, selfish. But given everything that had already happened, that was one tale she did not want to have to share and explain just yet. Or at least, not under the current circumstances.

Their photos, the only ones they had of them, had been taken out of the casket and placed in Chidori's care for the night, returned only when the time came to cremate the items. Again, it was highly unorthodox but nothing about their situation could be considered normal by any means.

Junpei had looked shocked when he had seen the photos but a quick glance at Chidori calmed what anger he felt towards those two. It was a time to mourn, after all, and not one to bring up old grudges. And regardless of what he felt for them, the fact that Chidori held on to the photos meant that she felt something for their deaths despite their differences at the end.

A few people caught Mitsuru's glance towards the couple but, for one reason or another, said nothing. They had just served the punishment for intruding upon something personal – at least, they hoped they had served the punishment in full already – there was no need to tempt fate, or Mitsuru's wrath, by doing so a second time in just as many days.

"As for the nine names in red," Mitsuru paused, taking in the expectant expressions of their eight new friends. "Those names are ours." She quickly held up a hand to stem the expected reactions from the group. No doubt the idea of having one's own name on a grave while still alive was inconceivable to them. "In Japan, when a married man or woman dies, the name of the living spouse is sometimes engraved next to theirs but is colored with red ink. Upon their death, the ink is removed."

"There are several reasons why people do this," she began to explain. "One common reason is financial in nature, in that it is cheaper to engrave two names at once rather than adding one at a later time. Another…" she paused, her gaze returning to the gravestone. Or rather, to one name in particular. A few others, namely Junpei, Yukari, Fuuka, and Ken, did the same, though each of them looked to different names.

Seeing this, Akihiko picked up the explanation. "Another is that it simply means the person still alive is simply waiting for the day when they join their spouse in death." Absently, Mitsuru nodded. "What we did isn't exactly normal, but they are our family. And personally, I felt that it was only fitting that we, the sole remaining Japanese, be buried in the same place." Beside him, Mitsuru nodded in agreement. And one by one, the others nodded or voiced their agreement with his views.

Most people would have been enraged had they found out that someone had taken the liberty to do something like that without their permission. Some might have even assaulted whoever had the gall to do such a thing. But the other members of SEES were hardly most people.

Theirs was a bond forged in the chaos of the Dark Hour and tempered by adversity and the blood, sweat, and tears that had been shed over the past year. The loss of everything they held dear nearly shattered those bonds, but their determination and resolve to fight against even the impossible only strengthened those bonds beyond their previous limits.

They had started out as strangers, people who had only come together due to a similar power. But now, none of them could imagine a world where even a single member of their group, their family in all but blood, was missing. The idea that they would all rest in the same place was not only one they could agree with, but something they themselves might have come up with given time.

The uncomfortable moment – at least for those who still struggle the idea of having the name of a living person written on a tombstone – was broken by a loud growl that echoed through their ears. Turning to the source, they found a sheepish looking Nora, alongside Ren whose hand covered his face even as he shook his head. "Ehehe… Sorry?"

Akihiko and Ken looked at one another before chuckling. Their laughter soon spread, as everyone chuckled, giggled, or outright laughed at the ridiculous interruption. "Only you, Nora," Akihiko said while shaking his head. "Only you."

"It's hardly unexpected though," said Mitsuru, relaxing at the sight in front of her. "We haven't had anything to eat since yesterday." Then, seeing the drowsy and swaying Ruby, she added, "Not to mention we've been up all night."

Nora immediately perked up at those words. "Does that mean we get to eat now?" Ren just slapped his face again, while some turned to Mitsuru with hopeful looks, though not without a tinge of apprehension for some of them.

But their apprehension faded when Mitsuru just smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's what it means. We'll head back so we can get dressed and pick up our things, then we'll head out again to eat so you'll have to bear with your hunger for a while longer. Though I suppose there's nothing wrong with picking up a snack along the way for those who can't wait any longer. Afterwards, we'll return to Beacon. It's a Sunday so we can spend the remainder of the day recovering from last night and preparing for class tomorrow if need be."

Everyone agreed with the plan. Even Ruby nodded sleepily, almost fully supported by her elder sister.

With their possessions in hand, the area around the grave clean, and eight hearts relieved of a significant burden, seventeen figures departed, ready to begin a new day.

As they departed, Aigis paused and glanced over her shoulder. A quiet 'farewell' was carried into the wind even as she smiled and turned away.

The future was as uncertain as it ever was and she did not know if she could ever be as strong as her friends, strong enough to remain standing after losing people dear to them more than once. But even so, even in the face of that uncertainty, she knew one thing that she could be certain of.

As long as she had her friends, she would never have to fear the future.


And that brings an end to this mini-arc. (And no, I'm not talking about Jaune Jr.)

I hope you all enjoyed the ride thus far. There is still one issue from this arc left to resolve but that can wait for a little while.

Right now, I want to address the issue I mentioned in the opening author notes. As I've already mentioned, I had a lot of trouble with some parts of this chapter. Specifically Aigis's feelings.

In The Answer, we can see how Aigis dealt with Minato's passing and how she found the resolve to live. Don't get me wrong, I loved the story. But I just want to point out that she had less than month between Minato's death and the start of The Answer, which then thrust her into another conflict which pretty much forced everyone to come to terms with their feelings.

I'm saying this for two reasons. First is the person who reviewed (anonymously I might add, which allowed me to remove it since more than three quarters of it was composed of cursing and swearing) saying that SEES shouldn't have taken so long to deal with their feelings and that they shouldn't have been that badly affected.

If you look at it (if my mysterious reviewer is still reading this that is), my story had them grieving for three weeks before this chapter resolved most, if not all, their issues. And honestly, they won't be completely over it just yet. Most, if not all, people can't completely get over the death of a loved one just because the funeral and burial is over after all.

Canon had about the same timeline. Graduation was March 5, 2010, and The Answer took place on March 31, 2010, plus however many days they repeated, giving them at least 26 days between Minato's death and the point where they resolved their feelings.

In short their feelings were resolved at least five days faster compared to canon. Then again, we can't exactly compare canon and my story since the situation was different. Canon gave them time to grieve as soon as he died. Here, they barely had a day before they began their seven-month long training and studying period, only for all the feelings they repressed during that time to come crashing down in one instant.

Not to mention, in canon they only had to mourn Minato. Here, they lost everything else as well. That's a bigger burden to deal with than in canon.

The second reason I brought up The Answer is that Aigis resolved her feelings in the midst of adversity. Here, she had no such thing that necessitated a swift resolution of her feelings. No Abyss of Time to show the past, no Metis to point her in the right direction, no clash of ideals that sharpened her resolve. And so I had trouble writing how she felt about everything.

Hopefully I wrote it well enough. If any part of it feels off or wrong, feel free to let me know, without swearing and cursing of course, and I'll do my best to fix or correct it. As I said, I'm not feeling too confident about it so I don't mind any criticism if my writing at those points doesn't seem up to par in any way. Not that I ever really mind criticism as long as it's properly and politely worded.

On a brighter note, the coming chapters shouldn't take as long. I actually started working on the next chapter during the times when I was stuck with this one so I should have it out in a week or so provided nothing more important comes up.

As always, let me know what you think (I think I said this already but whatever), what you liked or disliked, loved or hated, about anything at all about the chapter.

I'll see you all in the next chapter everyone. Take care and I hoped you all the end of this part of the story.