If you've read up to here, thanks for sticking with it. Please enjoy!

Chapter 10

(Vale Confectioneries)

Summer took a deep whiff of the chocolate muffin she had just bought. Vale looked beautiful at night time and she had taken the opportunity to visit her parents. Unfortunately, their neighbour informed her that the Roses were gone on holiday in the country and would not return until Monday. In light of this, she decided to eat something and take in the scenery.

The Huntress-to-be sat on a nearby street bench and closed her eyes, unaware that her moment of peace was about to be shattered by a certain macho mohawk. "What's a cute brunetteish, blackish redhead like you doing out her at a time like this?" Tristan less sat on the bench and more dived onto it.

"When she wants time to think away from some love-struck Xiao Long,"

"First off, Xiao Long? Are you in one of those moods where you forget my first name. Second, I'm not 'love-struck'. I just find making pretty girls blush very entertaining,"

"Then why not hit on Glenda or some of the other girls at school,"

"Glenda?" he laughed, "Are you kidding me? She'd turn me into a frog or something,"

"I don't think she can do that…"

"But if I did she'd certainly try," the image of Tristan running from their leader around Beacon as she hurled frog-changing spells at him cracked her up, "There we go," Tristan crossed his hands behind his head, "Back to your normal self," her teammate looked up at the sky pensively. This in itself was unusual as Tristan was never one to give much thought to anything, "We're all worried about you, you know?"

"What? Why?" she frowned.

"Glenda and Oscar both think you're acting weird- you know, weirder than usual- and I'm starting to agree,"

"And what makes you say that?" she asked defensively though she didn't understand why.

"You seem… distant, like your mind's somewhere else," he put a hand on her shoulder, "You can talk to us if you want. That's what a team is for, right? To help each other when there's a problem?"

Summer shrugged his hand off. While she would never admit it to anyone, she did like Tristan, or at least as close as she had come to liking anyone. But she had more important things on her mind than some schoolgirl crush, "I know I can talk to you guys, but this isn't a problem, it's a decision. One that I need to make on my own,"

Tristan looked at her, betraying no emotion for once, "If that's your choice," a silence fell between them before he broke into a smile, "You look stunning in the moonlight, by the way,"

"Oh for Dust sake," she stood up, "way to kill the serious mood,"

"Aw, come on, Rose just one little ki-Owwww!"

(An hour later)

The pair of them returned to Beacon, one clutching his slightly reddened cheek, "Wow that right hook is incredible," the mohican complained.

"I just slapped you," Summer took Glenda's signature move and rolled her eyes, "You didn't need to waste so much time. Was the pharmacist really necessary?"

"I could have had a concussion or something!" he complained, "I had to look to my health,"

She pushed open the door to their dorm room. The darkness inside was surprising. Were Oscar and Glenda really asleep already? Her assumption was proven false when the lights suddenly turned on and a chorus of eight voices shouted, "Surprise!"

The shouts coincided with Summer remembering the plans for a party. The rest of team GOST were here as well as team QROW and two of her friends from class, Baca Bluemoon, a bear Faunas she knew from Signal and Caroline Dakin, a girl she worked with in Weapon Training class. They stood in a line, cheering and clapping way too loudly for half nine at night in a dormitory. In the centre of it all was a cake inscribed with "Welcome Home" with a knife ready to cut.

"I should have known," the cadet smiled widely.

"Let's party!" Qrow shouted and blew a vuvuzela.

The welcome dissolved into an amicable hum of chatting, drinking of soft drinks and eating of cake and sweets with Summer being the centre of attention. It felt good to catch up fully with her closest friends. Team QROW had made a whole tray of piping hot muffins, courtesy of Roman and Willow (while she truly appreciated them, Summer was really full from the already ample amount of food), her own team had crafted a new container for Moonshard and her ammo, Baca gave her a book titled "History's greatest Hunters" and Caroline had made a necklace with red and white rose. The gifts were incredible. She'd only been gone for a short time and they do all this for her? Summer thanked the spirits for friends like these.

"Ok," Tristan clapped to get everyone's attention, "we only have a half hour at most before the teachers break our get-together up so let's play a game or two while we can,"

There was a murmur of agreement but no one was initially forthcoming with a game to play. Of all people, Summer wasn't expecting Glenda to step forward, "How about truth-or-dare?"

"Why not?" Tristan shrugged and the others agreed. They began to sit cross-legged in a circle in the middle of the dorm room. Summer was initially buzzing from the atmosphere until Tristan whispered conspiratorially in her ear, "Now we're gonna find out all about your little trip,"

Oh crap, a cold feeling hit her stomach. This is going to go badly. It went without saying that she couldn't reveal anything about her mission with Vulcan, but the sacred rules of the game meant she either had to leave the room before she was asked, or constantly pick dare, which, among her friends, was dangerous.

"I'll start," Qrow spoke up and pointed at Baca, "Truth or dare," her brother was putting way too much enthusiasm into this.

"Truth," the Faunas shrugged.

"Do you get fleas?" the completely inappropriate question was thankfully laughed off by Baca who was much more at ease with his heritage than most, "Only if I don't take care of my hair, like you with head lice,"

The game continued for several minutes, during which Summer slightly zoned out. She remembered Caroline telling them about the most embarrassing moment in her life, Ozpin being dared to kiss Glenda (which made him fumble around the room trying to kill Tristan for asking) and Roman shooting a firework out the window. Her daydream was interrupted by Glenda posing the question to her, "Truth or dare, Summer?"

The look in the young witches eye told Summer to tread carefully around this. Something told her that picking dare right now was a very bad idea, "I'll go with truth on the condition that you don't ask anything to do with Vulcan,"

She rolled her eyes and Qrow groaned in annoyance, "That's not how the game is played, sis,"

"Fine, whatever, dare,"

Glenda smiled, "Kiss Tristan," I should have known! Several of the others let out a few laughs but Summer could only scowl.

"You planned this," she accused no one in particular.

"You can still opt for truth sis. We'll make an exception,"

No one actually expected for Summer to lean over and briefly peck the blonde boy on the lips. And certainly no one expected her to slap him immediately afterwards, "If you had any knowledge about this…" she warned.

"Twice today," he moaned, "You are such a violent girl," he laughed without warning, "but it was totally worth it,"

"Summer and Tristan, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-" Qrow's little chant was cut short by a bolt being thrown at him, embedding itself in the wood just centimetres from his ear, "You really aren't the best shot," he noted. A second bolt struck the same distance from his other ear,

"I've just killed you on average," Summer said, holding a third bolt up, "Finish that sentence and you'll see I keep my averages perfect,"

"Qrow held his hands up in defeat, a slight smile on his face, "You wouldn't but I relent,"

The group laughed. Everyone knew Summer's sense of humour was…. unusual in some cases. The game continued without interruption. Summer wasn't asked again for a while as everyone respected her enough not to pry again, even in jest. Once again she spaced out, just taking in the warm atmosphere, and once again she was brought back by the same question, "Truth or Dare?" Qrow asked, "And don't worry if you pick truth. I like to keep my forehead unblemished,"

"Ok, truth,"

"What makes or has made you feel the most alive? Fighting? Muffins? Tristan?" more laughter, but Summer gave the question serious thought. What did she enjoy most in life? Her family were the greatest even with Qrow and Dad's terrible senses of humour and Mom's obsession with cleaning and gardening. But that wasn't the reason she got out of bed every day. No, the dream of being a Huntress did.

That was when she realised what really made her feel alive recently. Ironic how Qrow had hit the mark without even meaning to and since it wasn't secret, she decided to answer this much, "Hunting with Vulcan," she said simply, "it was…. incredible," she took a sip of her drink.

"You know," Tristan said, "saying it like that makes the old man sound like a pervert,"

Summer did a spit-take and everyone laughed at her expense, "Xiao Long that was NOT what happened. Oh Dust, its YOU who's the creep!" she tried to grab him only to find he was already moving away behind Ozpin for cover.

"Never gets old winding you up," he smirked.

The party ended shortly after. Her other friends left for their rooms and her teammates went to bed after showering and other assorted preparations. But while everyone else was asleep, the cadet lay awake, her mind still dwelling on that question. It was true going around with Vulcan had been great but this was the first time she'd even noticed how well she enjoyed it. It had come naturally to her, travelling, investigating and fighting an unspeakable evil. Her last thoughts before losing conscious were that she guessed the choice wasn't much of a choice at all.

The next day was Saturday and Summer was looking forward to going into Vale as a team. Shopping represented the one time Glenda ever let her hair down (both literally and figuratively) and lighten up so the opportunity couldn't be passed up. They passed their time visiting a myriad of stores; Glenda insisted on going to major fashion outlets once living expenses were paid for, Oscar meekly asking to visit the bookstore and Tristan dragging them to the weapon shops, all the while keeping conspicuously quiet about last night. No more questions about Vulcan or her journey which was a relief. Summer suspected after talking to Tristan in town, he must have asked the others to remain quiet on the subject.

"Where to now?" the blonde swordsman waddled out of the store with his hands brimmed with bullets, books and weapon attachments he couldn't possibly use.

"I feel hungry," Ozpin said, "Why not a café or something?"

Team GOST ambled for a while longer in search of food, finally discovering a bustling café near the dock, the Crystal Pearl. Despite the crowd, they managed to find a table near the window, but the luck ended there and there was no waiter in sight. "This is taking forever, I need to use the toilet," Summer stood up and left them as the rest bickered over their orders.

The air smelled of disinfectant and made her gag as she entered the room. After she left the one of the cubicles, she splashed some water on her face just to refresh herself. Someone entered the toilets and Summer immediately felt off. Something about the way they walked made her think it wasn't a woman and made her turn. Only instinct and her semblance stopped the needle from jabbing her arm. The masked man grunted in frustration at her resistance. He grabbed her by the throat and tried to overpower her, all the while trying to inject her with the needle. Summer couldn't reach for Moonshard without losing control of the needle.

What she could reach was the soap dispenser, which she squirted into the visor of his mask. The man hissed and his grip on her throat loosened. She bit on his finger, prompting a muffled yelp. Tired of the struggle, the man head-butted her, exploding Summer's vision in white light and pain. When her vision returned, she was on the ground and the needle penetrating her shoulder and injecting its contents. A wave of tiredness came over her but she still had sense enough to still fight.

The moment the needle was removed, she grabbed the man's arm and elbowed him in the nose. Her assailant stumbled back, clutching his bloody face and Summer tried to escape. Two steps towards the door told her she wouldn't make it. Whatever sedative he gave her was working fast. As her legs gave way, her fingers brushed the door handle, frustratingly not enough to open it. Her attacker- no, captor- rolled her onto her stomach and began to bind her hands and feet. He spoke into a micro-bead in his ear, "I have Rose," his voice was all fuzzy due to the drug, "I'm going to throw her out one of the stall windows… Yes that's exactly what I meant by 'throw'. Now be quick about it, we have about a minute before her friends notice anything."

Summer looked at her captor with fading vision. All she could do now was try and identify her attacker but his whole appearance was unremarkable except for his white mask which reminded her of David's, but that conclusion was far too horrible to contemplate. But something else also caught her eye: he wore a ring, a white wolf head surrounded by a white ring on a blue plane. The symbol was familiar but Summer lost consciousness before she could make any connection.

Would like to point out that the next chapter gets very violent and I'm still naive in the ways of ratings so if anyone thinks the next chapter too much, please tell cause it will only get worse. That aside, comments and critisism is appreciated.