Through Her Eyes: Remastered

by Peroth

Ruby is born with the dangerous power to summon Grimm. Sheltered, shy, and under constant watch, Ruby is suddenly invited to join Beacon Academy. With the awful potential her power carries and a disturbing deformity that could out her to her peers, Ruby is tested in protecting the humanity of Remnant while keeping a dangerous secret. - AU, sorta follows canon. (Remaster of THE V1.)

10. Physical Education

Velvet moved a few steps closer to the counter with a timid posture, her tall ears almost bent in half to make her look adorably wilted while she was presenting herself to Beacon's head chef with an expectant, though modest smile. "Hello Mrs. Kurri!" She said chipperly.

The bald, dumpy-looking woman put on a flat look as she reached underneath the counter and opened a drawer, her eyes flicking up to Velvet as she dug through the hot-hold below. "You know, you don't gotta come up and act cute, miss Scarlatina. Told'ja last year that we're always happy ta handle special needs."

"I just don't want to you to think I don't appreciate it..." Velvet's eyes dipped down, but the moment Mrs. Kurri scoffed and held up a tall styrofoam container, Velvet nearly bounced on her toes in delight. She took the container in both hands, the promise of the warm broth inside making her salivate in anticipation of a coming meal. She lifted it to her nose, sniffing at the steam escaping the tiny puncture in the plastic lid, and her eyelashes fluttered in delight.

The dish was gloriously close to her grandmother's recipe, and the firm reminder of home was always a welcome distraction from the day's stressors.

"I'm expectin' you every day, Velv, and trust me, you'd get a tongue-lashing if I thought you were actin' smug." Kurri said as amusement tugged at the edges of her lips. "Anyways, enjoy your vegetable stew, hon, I made sure we start'd sourcing tofu early this year."

"You're so sweet, Mrs. Kurri, thank you so much!" Velvet beamed, then turned on her heels after waving goodbye to the chef. The older women let out a rusty chuckle, and turned to deal with the next of the seemingly endless parade of starving young customers.

The dining hall was jam-packed with first year students who had yet to discover their hour-long lunch period could be spent away from the cafeteria. Velvet slowed her walk to casually examine a few of the dozens of new faces. It was certainly hard to believe that just last year she'd started her own education here. She hadn't been a fan of the dining hall then, and knowing there were better options available didn't improve her opinion of it now; it was still too open, too bright, and had far too many loud, pushy people milling about for Velvet to feel comfortable.

She loved Beacon itself though. It was picturesque and beautiful through all the seasons; it was exactly like the photos in the pamphlet! Despite the hundreds of students, if one knew where to look at the right times of day, you could find a nice, private place to train, study, or relax! Velvet had spent every weekend for the first month finding little pockets of quiet tranquility that spoke to her, and the school felt much less intimidating and more… cozy afterwards.

Velvet scooted around a group of students heading back up to the counter for thirds, her ears standing straight up in case they could be a bother to anybody. The long rabbit ears did more than just identify her as a Faunus, however. They afforded her excellent hearing, and being such a wallflower meant she had experience picking out particular conversations she wanted to eavesdrop in on. The brown furred ears swiveled gently above her, helping her zero in on any one voice almost instantly.

"—my third hunt with my dad, that's when I lost my ring finger, but you can barely tell with the prosthetic, right?"

"—like sixty-eight percent girls, the statistics are ridiculous! We're outnumbered! There's no way the four of us won't find a date before midterms."

"—five notable weak points: the mouth, each haunch, the underbelly, and the rump. Everything else on the front and the back is armored, so you'll wanna flip it or get behind it."

"—saw the new PE coach?! He is the yummiest—"

Velvet's ears flicked left and right, drawing in the conversation around her. Her eyes were still pointed straight ahead, but she wasn't really seeing anything, being so busy listening in, and nearly collided with a pair of students. They almost jumped back as she hugged her cup to her chest for safety. "Ah!" She stepped away, a blush entering her cheeks as the two first years stopped in place in surprise. "Sorry, my mistake! Don't mind me!" Velvet waved a hand apologetically, then focused on the two.

One of the young women was completely unremarkable, a bit on the short side and with extremely dark hair that turned red at the tips, and a long red cloak around her shoulders, but her big, black goggles were certainly… unique. Perhaps they were prescription? It seemed strange to Velvet that anybody would keep wearing their goggles or sunglasses indoors, especially while at lunch, but then again, she knew Coco... She didn't know what to make of the red-cloaked girl, but the other one…

"Watch it!" Weiss Schnee huffed, looking briefly annoyed. Velvet's ears drooped as she took in her face. The moment the annoyance passed, Weiss's expression reset into a neutral frown, her posture calm, yet ladylike. She looked exactly like how Velvet thought she would from all her interviews and performances, refined and lovely, yet somehow tinged with a bitterness that Velvet couldn't explain… and kind of short… "Ahem…?" Weiss prompted.

Velvet blinked, and quickly hurried past the two, slowing once she heard their footsteps resume behind her. She turned her head to watch Weiss Schnee, the heiress to one of the most controversial companies in Remnant, head towards the counter. She bat her eyes slowly, and set her cup of stew on a nearby table, craning her ears towards the two. "S-so…" The dark-haired girl started. "How do I be more… leaderlike?" She asked, sounding unsure.

"Leadership is something that comes to some people naturally, but it's also a skill that can be cultivated. It means taking initiative and making decisions that reasonably balance risk and reward. A leader needs vision, to understand what really needs to get done beyond the noise and bustle of business or combat around them. Listening to your subordinates is also important, so when I say 'this is a bad idea', it's not your cue to ignore me and commit petty theft or vandalize our room…"

"Sorry!" The cloaked one squeaked.

"And don't apologize so much, you need to act sure of yourself! A leader must project control, it helps their team remain calm!"

"... Don't panic, Weiss, I've g-got this?"

"Ugh…" Weiss' voice dripped with disgust and the other girl squirmed, as if struggling to physically contain the desire to apologize again.

Velvet wasn't sure what would prompt such a discussion, but a familiar itch was in her palms. Biting her lower lip to try and contain a smile, she reached into her hip pouch and withdrew a large, professional camera before spreading her feet a bit for balance and focusing its sights on the retreating Weiss Schnee. A real-life celebrity, from a family of bullies and schemers, somebody whose voice graced the radio yearly, and whose family business earned her the ire of every animal-eared, clawed, fanged, and gilled individual in Remnant.

Her camera clicked and whirred–the flash turned off so she didn't have to worry about drawing too much attention–and she stared at the little screen. A tiny, candid, human moment of the recognizable Weiss Schnee's back, gesticulating wildly as she explained something to a confused looking friend. Certainly not worth selling to some gossip outlet, but it satisfied Velvet. Her moment of recognition and trepidation forever captured, for her to privately mull over and wonder…

She returned her camera to its holster and reached back to grab ahold of her stew, but only found empty air. A confused frown crossed her face as she turned, and confirmed it missing. However, her darting eyes quickly encountered someone's hip, before they slowly traveled up the broad torso of a boy much taller than her, his indigo eyes focusing on hers as he cracked off the plastic lid and sniffed at her meal.

"The heck's this, bunbun? All I'm smelling are greens." He asked in amusement, the red-headed boy putting the cup down roughly enough for some of the hot broth to spill out of the partial opening.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm a vegetarian, I get it special ordered so—" Cardin's laugh cut her short.

"You know, if you're aiming to be a huntress, you could at least try to be less of a stereotype." The boy crossed his powerful arms over his chest, his eyes roaming Velvet's slender curves like a wolf eyeing a piece of meat. It made Velvet feel small, a nervous blush entering her cheeks, even as every muscle in her body coiled in response to her rapidly rising tension.

"I don't know what you mean…" Velvet mumbled as she took the soup and looked away from the tall boy. Many rabbit Faunus were vegetarians by birth, not just by choice; sharing a similar enzyme deficiency with other herbivore-based Faunus, meat was difficult to digest and lead to intestinal difficulties.

He put on a cocky smile, and Velvet flinched as his hand ran along the backs of her ears in a very intimate manner. She did not want to make a scene, even as instinct told her to get away as soon as she could. "Well, a little huntress has got to eat her meat, get big and strong to fight the Grimm." He leaned down, smiling in her face, his eyes so smug and self-confident it made her teeth grind unhappily. "But I got a perfect substitute for a little bunny like you to nibble on if she wants to stick to her greens…"

Velvet's nose twitched, and then his meaning hit her. "... Don't…" She took a step back, away from his hand as his eyes narrowed and his smile shrank. "I'm not sure what you've h-heard, but I'm not like that." Her lips tightened into a thin, pale line as she did her best to set her shoulders and make her gaze firm.

The boy sniffed loudly, clearly displeased at the rejection, but then his smile came back, just as easy as before. "So we got off on the wrong foot," he walked forward, setting a hand on her shoulder. She squirmed to get away, but he squeezed, just hard enough to keep her still. "Name's Winchester. Cardin Winchester." He stared down into her eyes, watching them quiver. "I'm a big up-and-comer, a whole family tree of hunters backing me up. We got some good money, we got a lot of history, we got some nice property out on Patch…" He smiled with all his teeth, and Velvet turned away, nervousness and disgust swirling within her like a maelstrom of revolting unease.

"Th-that's good, but… I really should be going. My team's waiting for me." Velvet tugged away from his hand, but he didn't let go. It made her sweat harder and reluctantly begin picking out soft spots on his body to aim for if she couldn't talk him down. "Please? We're second year, w-we have a first week test to focus on! I need to eat so we can study and-"

"Second year, huh?" Cardin's eyebrow shot up, and his smile turned feral. "Well I like my girls a little older. Why are you struggling so much, bunny?" He asked, pinching to keep her still. "I can be a real good guy, but if you push my buttons…" He squeezed until her autumn-brown aura sprang up to prevent her from bruising, "I can be a real bad one too. Quit playing hard-to-get, I'm good with pets, I can keep a little rabbit like you happy…"

"S-stop! Stop! Please!" Velvet finally squeaked, grasping his wrist tightly, trying to break his grip so the pulsations of sympathetic pain would end. Conversation around them slowed as people stopped to watch. Cardin let out a small, unhappy growl.

"Quit playing, rabbit." He spoke through grit teeth, his expression suddenly furious. "Everyone knows you long-eared freaks'll crawl into the bed of whoever can keep you fat and happy! I'm your breadwinner right here, so stop making this difficult!"

Velvet's face turned tense as anger suddenly filled her, and she stared up at Cardin with a glare that completely masked the scared young girl from before. "I…" She gasped, her grip tightening as her aura surged through her, causing his aura to spark to prevent her from crushing his wrist. "I am not a slut." She hissed. "I am a huntress. Stop right now, or—"

Without warning, Cardin's aura flared to a dangerous level, strengthening as she struggled to escape him, far beyond the acceptable level to handle another person. He was attempting to prove a point, to overpower her through his immense brute strength and raw aura; the exact opposite of professional behavior between hunters. "Little rabbits shouldn't go around telling humans what to do. It doesn't end well for little rabbits, does it?" Cardin said in a low, controlled, but dangerous tone.

"This is- this is Beacon, I won't be treated like some common animal!" Velvet yelped as she was jerked closer to Cardin, barely able to stop herself from colliding with his chest. "This sort of thing won't be tolerated! People like you are why the White Fang have support!" Velvet didn't want to expand her aura, to cause a fight, a scene, but Cardin wouldn't relent. She had to do something decisive.

Cardin's smile made her skin crawl, Velvet focused her power into her leg while subtly positioning her knee, but before she could attack, a loud 'clang' silenced every voice in the hall. Cardin leaned back a foot, a metal tray wrapped around his face. Velvet blinked her big brown eyes and took the opportunity to swat Cardin's hand away to take a step back. Three boys stood up from their seats a few tables away and raced to Cardin's side, as Cardin grabbed the dish and threw it to the floor, his face caked with a thin layer of vanilla pudding.

Nobody said a word; everyone just stared at the boy and his would-be victim.

"…That is not what I meant." Weiss broke the silence unsurely, her eyes wide with plain surprise as Ruby drew her arms back, squared her shoulders, and put on a very unhappy frown.

Cardin wiped the dessert off his face and focused his furious glare on Ruby. "Well lookie here…" His neck tensed, his face turning a violent shade of red as Ruby's firm expression began to slip into worry. "Today's just fulla surprises… I saw your fight with the pig in class, Ruby Rose. Musta been easy for a little murderer like you." His jaw went rigid, his eyes wide, the three boys by his side looking to him in confusion, as did Velvet and Weiss.

"I-it was an accident." Ruby shifted herself into a more confident posture, only her quivering lip betraying her emotions. Cardin seemed to swell at her defense, his thick chest filling with air as she swallowed thickly. "But t-that's not what this is ab-bout! You s-s-shouldn't pick on people, Cardin. We're s-suposed to be the good guys."

"You know him?!" Weiss hissed in surprise. Ruby jerked her head up and down in a nervous approximation of a nod.

"You know her?" Russel, Cardin's partner, looked up to him in confusion.

"Yeah, I know her. She's the bitch that killed my dog!" Cardin's sucked his lips in angrily, stomping forward, finger pointed between Ruby's eyes. The younger girl tried to stand her ground, but slid back a step as Cardin drew closer, only stopping when she was in reach of him. The cafeteria was silent, everybody watching the drama unfold with big, curious eyes. "And it wasn't a quick death, was it Ruby? Were you disappointed with the Boarbatusk? That it didn't leave you soaked in blood?!" He demanded loudly, veins in his temples beginning to bulge.

"I-I-It- I didn't- it w-wasn't on p-purpose…" Ruby stammered through her grit teeth, her shoulders hunching in distress as Cardin grew a vile smile.

"Who the hell even let a b-b-brat like you in here? You never went to Signal! Did Yang crawl into Ozpin's bed for you?" The accusation sent Ruby's heart right into her throat, and she turned a worrying shade of red as Weiss' own startled confusion turned into an icy glare of contempt.

"Hey!" Weiss grabbed his finger, wrenching it away from her partner angrily. "Who do you think you are, throwing around baseless accusations towards anybody? You don't think she could have gotten in on her own merits?!" Weiss's voice rose, her eyes shimmering furiously.

Her face wrenched to the left from his open-handed slap, her eyes wide with surprise, her white aura spreading across her cheek. "Shut up, Schnee. Don't even think about getting between us! This is Vale, your money can't- what- what the f-?!" Cardin was thrown back as Ruby slammed into his midsection, roaring like a demon as her small fists rained down on his stomach. Russel, Dove, and Sky descended on her, grabbing her arms, kicking at her ribs as Cardin grabbed her face, but her teeth dug into his thumb, making him yelp as she, with surprising ease, thrashed her way out of his teammates' grip, her entire body briefly outlined in inky darkness from the burst of Aura. Sky Lark aimed a kick square at her forehead, knocking her off of Cardin and onto her back. She sat upright with a furious expression, her inky black aura fading from her face as a subtle, but noticeable clicking filling the air, while her shadow roiled beneath her, the monsters inside hidden underneath her cloak.

Cardin stood, shoulders squared as Weiss ran to her partner and grabbed Ruby's arm to help her up, but froze as the bigger boy strode forward, snarling as he flexed his thick, powerful arms. "This has been a long time coming, b-b-bitch."

"Cardin!" A new voice made him stop in place. Almost instantly, the heat of the moment turned ice-cold, and the boy snapped straight up, his eyes shivering in sudden fear.

Warmth enveloped the room, and a brand new terror sprang forth in the audience as a new person entered the scene. Her golden locks glowed like a wild flame, her eyes blazing a bloody red, steam venting from her uncontrollably as Yang Xiao Long stormed towards the taller boy like pure rage incarnate. Cardin turned away from Ruby, facing the older sister with sweat on his brow as his three teammates moved to his sides, taking ready positions as Yang slowed, finger extended towards the boy.

"It. Is our first. Goddamned. Day." Yang spoke in a surprisingly controlled, articulate tone before jerking her thumb towards the exit. "You and your team better be out of my sight in the next five seconds or we are reliving that whole first year at Signal here and now." Yang cracked knuckles of one hand simply by forming a very tight fist.

Cardin, suddenly fearing for the safety and wellness of himself, looked to his teammates, then to Yang, then back to Ruby. His eyes narrowed, and spoke between furious huffs, "This isn't over, killer. When Yang's not around…" The statement hung in the air warningly, and only turning back to face Yang's savagely bared teeth did he realize his mistake.

He crumpled over, and only when he let out a delicate, unmanly whimper did Yang pull her fist from his gut. An elbow to the back of his head sent him to the floor with an unhealthy crack, his aura flaring up vibrantly to protect him, and Yang strode through his panicking teammates fearlessly, her tight lipped scowl and searing eyes daring them to touch her. The three boys, having better survival instincts than their leader, wisely stood aside for her, and only rushed to collect Cardin when Yang had stepped on and passed him. They hauled him out of the dining hall, and with a final cloud of steam escaping her hair, Yang let out a long breath and went back to normal. She grunted, squeezing her right shoulder with her left hand as she looked over her sister and Weiss for obvious signs of injury. Finding none, she finally took note of the very still mass of students gawking at the three of them. She clicked her tongue and planted her hands on her hips with a frown.

"Show's over, folks! Get back to lunch!" The blonde called. Most of the students forced themselves into conversation to try and alleviate the suddenly violent atmosphere, but some decided to take their lunch elsewhere. With an unhappy sigh, Yang reached down and took Ruby's hand, pulling her to her feet. Gentle fingers ran through the younger girl's hair, soothing her as Ruby's lips quivered, threatening to break out into a full-on wail. "If I knew that ass-and-a-half was roaming around I wouldn't have let you outta my sight." Yang murmured, pulling Ruby closer.

Ruby wrapped herself around Yang and hid her blubbering against her sister's collarbone, getting delicate head rubs and consoling whispers from her older sister. Weiss stared in a mixture of unease and anger, rubbing her cheek where Cardin had struck her. "...Who was that?!" She finally demanded, her lip quivering, the anger of the moment fading to just leave her confused and anxious.

"A big nobody who thinks he's somebody." Yang scoffed, then tilted her head as she took in Weiss' wilted posture. "... You need a hug too, princess?" She asked, rubbing Ruby's back with one hand while offering the other.

"No!" Weiss snapped, then after a moment of consideration, deflated while staring at Yang's palm almost longingly. "... Such a thing is unnecessary, I'll be—" She was silenced when Yang tugged her into a one-armed embrace. Weiss worked her jaw furiously as she found herself wrapped up in another hug from this stupid, overly affectionate family. She pulled her head back to give Yang a thin-lipped pout. "We are going to need to discuss personal space. But, seriously, who was that?"

"Uh, yeah, seems like you three have history." Blake piped up from behind, glancing at Velvet, who quietly recoiled. Blake forced herself to leave the girl to join her teammates. "Well? Spill." She ordered, Velvet watching the four of them unsuredly.

"What, you skip out on the whole thing and just demand answers?" Yang scoffed. Blake crossed her arms and looked entirely unphased while Weiss cleared her throat as if to remind everyone she still wanted an answer. "... Ugh, fine." Yang grunted, letting Weiss go. "But not here." She motioned towards the door before turning on her heel to stride towards it. Yang all but carried Ruby out the exit, while Weiss followed with a curious frown. Blake glanced to Velvet, nodded in silent sympathy, and followed her team, breaking into a light jog to catch up.

Velvet watched the four of them go, then glanced down to her cup of stew with a small frown.

Team RWBY walked far down the hall, taking a few turns to get away from the main halls connecting major wings of the campus, towards a cushioned bench mounted on a wall. Yang dropped down, essentially dragging Ruby along to plop down next to her. Weiss and Blake stood in front of them both, refusing to squeeze in with them or sit on the next bench over. It took a minute for Yang to check over Ruby and stroke her cheeks before realizing she had no more excuses to delay things. She emitted an unhappy groan as Ruby hugged her arm in silent comfort.

"...Well?" Blake quirked an eyebrow, agitated by the silence. "Who was that? And why was he saying Ruby killed his dog?"

"Because she did, but it wasn't her fault." Yang growled, stroking Ruby's head as the younger girl paled, not wanting to meet their eyes. "I mean… it was, but, like, she didn't want to."

"Right…" Weiss suddenly recalled, touching her chin and rolling her eyes upwards as she thought back to the heated exchange of words. "It... attacked her, correct?" Weiss frowned when she got a nod.

"Bastard thought it would be funny to take his hundred-pound mutt off its leash and let it come charging the house for whatever joke he thought he was playing. Ruby was doing whatever and… yeah." Yang shook her head, her eyes sinking at the memory. Ruby made an unhappy sound and cuddled Yang's bicep more tightly at the memory. "I don't know who attacked first, but it scared the hell out of her, and her semblance activated…" Yang trailed off as she looked from a rapidly paling Weiss to an attentively watching Blake, her lips going thin as she forced her mouth to stop. Blake's curiosity rapidly soured into impatience.

"And?" Blake tapped her foot. "Ruby's semblance activated…?"

"And it died! Badly. That's it." Yang huffed, making Blake's nose crinkle, unsatisfied with the answer.

"Not that we need details about that particular incident, but Yang, you never answered us: who is he?" Weiss crossed her arms and gave her a demanding look.

Yang sat there, her face sporting a big frown as she huffed, puffed, and seemed like she was about to start her explanation, but ultimately failed. Ruby roused herself up to look at her teammates, her panic and misery gone for the most part. She sighed and, for once, it was her hand patting the top of Yang's head. "He's Yang's ex-boyfriend." She supplied, and Yang's unhappy expression became a full on pout.

Weiss and Blake stared at Ruby in quiet disbelief, then to the aggravated Yang in horror. "... WHAT?!" Weiss shouted, eyes squeezed shut as if she had heard an atrocious lie. Blake's jaw worked but no sound came out, her mind completely failing to imagine Yang flirting with… that.

"Two. Months." Yang grunted, pressing her hands to her face as she burned in shame. "We dated for two months because, at the time, baby Yang didn't know how delicious chicks were and went out with a guy or two, including tall, handsome, and god-awful!"

"H-his name i-is Cardin Winchester." Ruby said with a rigid frown. "A-and he's an asshole."

"Ruby, language!" Yang stared aghast at her sister's profanity, making Ruby pout childishly. Yang shook her head. "She's right though, he's a prick. He can be charming if he wants to be, it's how he nabbed me, but then the dog thing happened, he hurt Ruby, and for the next year he was my go-to punching bag while I scored more chicks than he ever did." She huffed. Weiss seemed… weirdly pleased to hear it, and Blake rubbed her temple a moment, lamenting that revenge seemed to be the most consistent way to make Yang focus on anything.

"Inspiring." Blake said dryly, her eyes softening. Something edging on concern tugged at her lips as she considered the implications of who Yang was, and what she'd seen of Cardin. "You two dated, but did you… I mean, did you ever…?" Blake raised a hand, awkwardly gesturing in nonsensical ways. She didn't want to guess why she cared, but it was an odd drop of panic as she recalled a few of her own scars.

Yang rolled her eyes as hard as she could, more so to hide her embarrassment than out of any real annoyance. "I can tell you his measurements, but no, he never got in me." Yang said flatly. Ruby and Weiss made near-identical little noises of disgust. Yang blinked and stared at them, wondering if they noticed.

"I think I can live with the mystery of what's in his pants." Blake shook her head. Silently, she moved to Yang's side, and took her hand. Yang snapped her gaze towards Blake with earnest surprise as the dark-haired girl soothed her by gently kneading the back of her hand with both thumbs. Her cool hands and the gentle massage made Yang's cheeks turn pink at the casual intimacy of it all. "We all make mistakes, and you clearly learned from it. You got away from him far faster than most girls would have. It's okay."

"She's right," Weiss nodded, lowering her head and putting on a small, if forced smile, "It's nothing to be ashamed of, lord knows I've had to fend off my own scandals and rumors." She sighed, rubbing her cheek.

"... Right. I'm not the first girl to date a lemon." Yang grunted, her shoulders tensing in anger. "He hit you." As she said it, an evil look went through her eyes. "I'm gonna kick his ass."

"I'd normally say 'please do', but I'll ask you to refrain from doing anything that might get us expelled." Weiss warned, finally sitting next to Ruby while quietly giving her a thankful look for defending her.

"Ruby!" A familiar voice called. Team RWBY glanced down the hall to see team JNPR running towards them with worried looks. Jaune lead the four to a halt in front of their sister team, panting in clear distress. "Dude, what the hell was with that guy?!" Jaune asked, looking from Ruby, to Weiss, to Blake, to Yang.

"We've been here for ten minutes, why bother running if you were going to take so long to follow us?" Weiss snapped. Jaune rubbed his neck sheepishly, but Nora just planted her fists on her hips and glared.

"A: we were in the middle of that crowd when the screaming started, and two: we can't exactly follow broken twigs and tracks in mud in the middle of the stinkin' school, can we, Miss Thankless!?" She growled. Ren sighed and lightly swatted his love's hip as a gentle admonishment while Weiss squeaked out an apology. Pyrrha wore her best, most plastic, smile.

"Sorry… but we are concerned about what happened between all of you and…?" she trailed off, looking among the four girls to see if one of them might provide an answer.

"Yang's ex-boyfriend, complete jerk." Blake recited, earning an unappreciative elbow to her ribs from Yang, which was answered with a dismissive grunt and an expression that begged if she was wrong. Yang sighed, hung her head, shrugged her shoulders, then nodded.

"That about sums it up. If you four wanna have a good time, don't mess with him. Macho meathead who thinks he can solve everything with a dick-waving contest." Yang stood, settling a hand on Ruby's head.

"... You dated him?" Jaune asked with a slow blink.

"Ugh." Yang quickly re-explained her relationship with him as Nora embraced Ruby, pulling her into an unusually gentle snuggle that made the smaller girl much less inclined to try and escape. "—and no we didn't bang."

"Well that's a relief." Jaune frowned, making Yang give him a curious, if amused smirk.

"Why's that? I prefer the finer sex, but that doesn't make me any less a player. He'd just be another notch on the bedpost." She tossed her hair and put on her most confident smirk, while Blake looked at the floor and frowned to herself.

"It's not that, but, like… isn't it different between girls and boys?" Jaune was clearly trying to puzzle out something he couldn't explain in his head. "I dunno, giving him the satisfaction…"

"I'm sorta ticked that you think a penis being involved somehow makes it mean more but you're not wrong, it would've sucked... but it didn't happen, so it's fine. It's all fine. I'm fine! Why's everyone interested in whether or not I got physical with the guy?!" Yang threw her hands up, trying to end this conversation.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, a frown on his face. "I don't mean him being a guy makes it more important it's just… I dunno, I just don't like the idea of him holding it over your head!" He answered, hands held up in uncertainty. Yang's composure briefly gave out as she stared at Jaune, then waved the conversation away with a grouchy look and a glowing blush. The boy wasn't about to divulge his own family's drama, but he had half a mind to pay Cardin back based on some past, unexpressed tension.

"W-whatever, just don't get involved with the guy and you'll be okay, if he starts giving you crap, come tell me." Yang fought to put on a confident smile. "I have zero issues bruising his pretty-boy face and his ego."

Understanding, though uneasy, nods went through the other seven as the conversation turned into a question and answer session. When it was brought up, Yang retold the story of Ruby and the dog. Ren leaned against the far wall, watching his new friends socialize and comfort one-another, when a thump by his side got his attention. He glanced to Blake as the dark-haired girl frowned at nothing.

"Hm." He nodded to her when their eyes happened to meet.

"Mm." She nodded back, loosely crossing her arms and ankles to get comfortable.

Their acknowledgements given, they went back to observing their teams. Ren watched Nora as she and Yang took turns coming up with worse and worse names for Cardin, Jaune sat with Ruby and awkwardly rubbed her shoulder, clearly unsure if any more would be acceptable while Ruby not-so-subtly lowered her chin to offer her scalp, and Pyrrha inspected a blushing Weiss's cheek while gently holding the smaller girl's chin to keep her still. Ren tilted his head, looking to Blake thoughtfully, "Sort of makes you understand the White Fang, doesn't it?"

He took note of the way Blake tensed up instantly, but then forcibly relaxed her posture back to an easy lounge before she glanced over at him. "What makes you say that?" She asked in a tone neutral enough that he had no idea what to make of it.

"This all started because he was harassing that rabbit Faunus, yes?" Ren looked back at Nora. He put on a fond smile as Nora said something that made Yang nearly double over laughing. "Had Ruby and Weiss not stepped in…"

"She would more than likely have been fine." Blake said calmly, even though her gaze was now on the floor. Ren shot her a questioning look she could barely make out from the corner of her eye. She took a breath and shifted to face him a bit more. "She's a huntress, and I don't remember her from orientation so she might be in a later year. She probably would have done something. Besides, if not her or Ruby, then somebody else would have stepped up…"

"We'd like to think that, wouldn't we?" Ren asked softly, a small frown tugging at his lips. Blake gave an ambiguous grunt as he shifted slightly. "A room full of people, and nobody else made a move to stop him. I'm ashamed to admit, we were not paying enough attention until things became physical. Yourself and Yang arrived before we could really get moving..."

"I mean, that's how it is, isn't it?" Blake wasn't really asking him, or anybody else in particular, it came off rhetorically, yet it drew Ren's questioning eye as Blake stared a hole into the wall between Ruby and Weiss. "People only seem to arrive right when the Faunus has already been mugged, or mutilated, or killed. They find the victim and call it a 'damn shame', but god forbid somebody do something five minutes earlier."

"Nobody likes to draw conflict onto themselves, it can take time for somebody to overcome their instincts to put themselves into danger." Ren murmured, as if knowing the feeling all too well. "But that's why we hunters—"

"Are trained to respond to Grimm attacks, to protect humanity from the monsters outside of our cities, rather than within. It's easy to say 'that's not my job' when you're a hero, you have better things to do, but some of them have no issue getting a paycheck for hunting Faunus down." Blake's eyes narrowed into slits, deadly and razorsharp, planning something Ren dared no try to guess at, but then they melted away as her convictions failed to latch onto anything tangible nearby. "One day that's going to change."

Silently, Ren evaluated the girl before him, from the top of the bow on her head, down to her tailless bottom, and he concluded–incorrectly–that for all of her fire, she could not have been a Faunus. "And I'm sure the Faunus–as well as the White Fang–will achieve greater things with you fighting on their side." He meant for his words to come off as encouraging and friendly, but the way her eyes dipped and her posture wilted, he missed his mark.

"... I hope so." She whispered, too quiet for him to hear the pain in her voice.

"Hello?" The eight teens turned towards the new voice. Holding a styrofoam cup, her tall ears flicking nervously, Velvet blushed and took a few steps towards Ruby and Weiss.

"H-hi." Ruby shot up, shuffling forward to meet the older girl with a stiff gait, her fists visibly trembling as she forced herself to engage the rabbit girl in conversation with an audience. "Sorry w-we kind of left you behind, we had… stuff to work out. A-are y-you okay?" Ruby asked, awkwardly sticking a hand out.

Velvet took the offered hand with a small smile. "Fine, thank you. Err, thanks to you, I should say. I didn't want to get caught fighting a younger student… you have no idea how strict Professor Goodwitch can get about that sort of thing." With a limp shake, both girls let go, Ruby's retracting as if Velvet had bared fangs at her. Velvet cleared her throat and blushed. "I'm Velvet Scarlatina, I'm a second year here at Beacon."

Ruby smiled a little nervously, fumbling to introduce herself. "Oh! Uh, I'm- err, I'm Ruby Rose! Th-this is my first year h-here! I-it's nice to meet you Velvet! Oh!" Ruby reached out, tugging Weiss away from Pyrrha, drawing a surprised yelp, to push the Schnee heiress in front of Velvet, the two women blushing as their bodies nearly pressed together. "This is Weiss! She was the one who t-told me we should do something!"

Weiss' nostril twitched in agitation at her forced inclusion, then straightened up and bowed her head, saving her ire for when they weren't entertaining a new acquaintance. "I'm sorry you had to experience such… rudeness, Velvet. It's pathetic there are still people who will attack someone with a total disregard for their station over something as silly as being a Faunus."

"Oh, thank you…" Velvet took in Weiss, all of Weiss, her ears straight up and her jaw flexing in discomfort, "Um… what do you mean?" She asked in trepidation, Blake watching while glaring daggers at Weiss from a distance, both expecting something… but Weiss easily recouped with a small clear of her throat.

"I mean that you're a huntress. Faunus or not, hunters should be respected, especially by other hunters." Weiss explained with a neutral tone that betrayed no ulterior intentions, and Velvet gave a slow, unsure nod.

"Thank you, I think." She tilted her head. "... Sooo… if you're here, does that mean you're not putting out another album?"

"No time soon, certainly, but I was hoping to find inspiration in— hey!" Weiss squeaked as she was shoved aside. Velvet blinked as another hand took hers, far larger and warmer than Weiss', and she found herself looking into the lavender eyes and alluring smile of her third savior.

"Hey cutie, name's Yang." Yang bat her eyelids, her voice containing a low rumble of approval that made Velvet feel heat fill her cheeks. Unlike the thug of a boy that had harassed her earlier, Yang did not intimidate her, but she was left wondering why everyone seemed to have a hankering for rabbit today... "Don't worry about that asshat, if he gives you any trouble, just call for me. I can handle it, or give you a cheering section while you kick his ass, whichever mood you're in at the time." She winked and Velvet let slip a giggle; Yang's eyes danced at the perceived victory! "In the meantime, you wanna talk rewards? I would love to take you out…"

The heat reached Velvet's shoulders, and Yang was subtly inching a tad closer while maintaining eye contact, preparing the next crucial line to tilt this lovely older woman into saying yes… until she was unceremoniously tossed away by Ruby, drawing a surprised curse and an agonized wail of failure. The younger sister shot the older an annoyed glare, then looked back up to Velvet with a small smile. "D-don't worry, like Yang said, we're willing to help you if Cardin comes b-back. I hope he didn't spoil your appetite!"

"Not at all!" Velvet chuckled, favoring Ruby with a pleasant, happy grin while giving Yang an apologetic look. Nora rubbed Yang's shoulders, whispering for her to get back in there and try again! "If anything, all this activity's made me much hungrier, but thank you for your concern. Oh!" She perked up. "Listen, Ruby, if you ever need some advice or help around Beacon, don't hesitate to ask me or my teammates. I'm part of team CFVY, spelled c-f-v-y. My team leader will hear all about you, so I'm sure she'll be more than willing to return the favor. Coco's awesome that way."

"Th-that sounds great!" Ruby bobbed her head, shifting in place excitedly. "And, um, we're team RWBY." Ruby gestured for her teammates, and Blake and Yang stood with Ruby and Weiss, the four of them putting on a confident display.

"Team JNPR." Jaune waved, standing as Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren gathered around him. Velvet smiled, bowing low.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I wish I could stay, but I'm expected… and late. Fox is going to harp on me… anyway, I hope to see the eight of you some more around campus!" She waved to the eight of them, walking past them with her stew in hand before breaking into a swift jog. Yang reached after her silently, lamenting the lost chance to date a hot, older rabbit Faunus. Her life's dream… gone...

Velvet headed down the hall, stopping before turning the corner to throw them one last look, and smiled. Silently, she pulled her camera out of her hip pouch. The eight of them intermingled, teasing, chatting, comforting and poking one another. Their teams were once again indistinguishable from each other in the moment. She snapped a picture and smiled down at the preview on the tiny screen as she walked off once more. She would be able to tell Coco that there were at least eight new hunters worth getting to know…

---

"If you're going to follow me, you could at least try to keep up!" Blake called down with a smirk. She deftly grabbed ahold of protrusions in Beacon's wall, hauling herself quickly and surely up toward the roof. Down below, standing on the balcony Blake started her climb from, Yang just planted her hands on her hips and grinned.

"Ya ever think I'm staying here 'cause I like the view?" Yang shouted back. Blake looked down from the ledge she was clinging to and at her skirt. Right. She'd forgotten she did most of her climbing before in pants. This certainly explained the sudden draft betwixt her thighs and the goofy intensity of Yang's stare.

Annoyance passed through her, then begrudging acceptance, then an amusing little idea. "Sorry I don't have a cotton tail for you to chase." She shot Yang a small grin and shook her rump, drawing an enthused gasp from below, then hauled herself onto one of Beacon's many roofs. She wasn't one-hundred percent sure why it seemed like a good idea to tease her partner, but it had felt good to get such an enthusiastic reaction; not to mention it'd get Yang up the wall faster if she really was intent on following.

In the meantime, the flat-topped, square roof was pleasantly private compared to the opulent halls and vast rooms, packed with mingling, busy, or relaxing students. It was flanked by other buildings connected side-by-side, and backed by the tall, central tower of Beacon, providing a barrier to the wind and sun. Which would be wonderful if it was too hot out, but in the shade and caressed by a breeze, it was a touch chillier than she prefered… she'd be moving on soon to find some sunlight.

It was nice to be in the open air again, away from people, but also not surrounded by seemingly endless forest. If Blake had missed anything while she was still with the Fang, it was the sense of security a city provided. It was an exciting realization that she'd have access to central heating, hot water, and a cozy bed at all times.

Finding one's privacy just took a bit of effort, and Blake enjoyed high-places, cool breezes, and zero chance of running into anybody else. It was just her luck that, after dismissing herself from the rest of the group, Yang decided to follow her instead of Ruby and Weiss. She hid a twitch in her ear; it was irritating enough that her partner was one of the loudest people Blake had ever met, but that girl also stuck to her like flypaper.

Despite telling Yang she would be fine alone, the blonde continually followed her while endlessly rattling off jokes, musings on their surroundings, theories on things their team could do in Vale-proper once they were allowed to visit… anything, that popped into her head, really. It was looking to be an annoying day, and if it was any foretelling of what was to come, the future as well… but Yang's joviality and good-humor wasn't the worst thing in the world. If anything, her persistence in sticking with Blake was kind of nice, despite the associated spike in localized noise pollution. At least it meant Blake wasn't being followed around by yet another damaged, vengeful individual; a pain in the butt, maybe, but a normal one.

Still, Blake had come up here to think; too much had gone on in the morning for her to properly internalize in an instant. Ruby was a dog-killer, had an enemy, and had openly attacked another student for harassing a Faunus girl and slapping her partner. Weiss had said a lot about helping her team and helping others, standing by Ruby's side when Cardin had made himself known… Yang, apparently, had terrible taste in men. Blake conceded that she could relate on that point, but she still wanted to think on everything, and needed the right place to do it.

"Nng!" Blake glanced over at the edge as Yang pulled herself up slowly. Not slow for your average hunter, granted, but slow for Blake. "Jeez, you make this look easy!" Yang stared up at her partner with some admiration, holding a hand out. With silent, grudging acceptance, Blake grasped Yang's hand and helped haul the blonde up, mentally noting that Yang's eyes were free of the anger and frustration she'd displayed during the confrontation. Blake wondered if her partner was truly capable of letting her emotions go so easily, or if she was uniquely gifted in hiding them when she wanted to. She stood back to let that idea bounce around her head while she watched Yang dust off the front of her skirt and turn, whistling at the view. "Okay, you're right, way better than finding an open window to chill at."

"Mm." Blake hummed with a small nod, heading for the next rooftop, which stood higher and at a slant, but was less likely to be shaded over like the little nook they'd clamored onto. She stared up at the ledge, which would require a reasonable jump and a catch to climb up, but would provide no real issue. She was picking out the best way to scale the wall, maybe something a bit flashy to get Yang all awestruck again, the larger woman didn't seem to have much acrobatic flair...

"Boost!" She heard behind her, and she nearly screamed as she was suddenly picked up by the knees, Yang easily tossing her onto the roof like she weighed less than half of what she did, and Blake landed on her feet with an annoyed grimace, arms briefly spread out for balance after the unexpected launch. Her scowl only grew when she heard Yang land behind her, and could feel that cheeky smirk on her face despite clearly hearing her struggle for balance a moment, apparently not anticipating how to shift her weight on the angled slope when she'd jumped. Using Aura to outperform Blake was cheating... "So, watcha need ta be alone for anyways, Blake?"

"To think." Blake responded, testing her steps across the shingles to ensure they were stable, pleased to find that they were and even offered a good grip. Probably not purposefully, what establishment would want its inhabitants climbing around its roof freely? But, Blake appreciated the lack of slipperiness, and walked to the far end, where the sun shone down on it temptingly.

"'Bout what?" Yang asked, walked after her partner with only a slight balance issue that she resolved by angling her feet and occasionally holding out her arms, especially when the wind gusted a bit.

"Do you actually care?" Blake almost demanded, looking back at Yang with an arched eyebrow, but the blonde's curiosity was evident amid a quick bob of her head and an oddly cute little smile, and Blake let out a small, tired sigh. "Weiss, I guess."

"Oh, yeah," Yang's voice went distant, and Blake immediately gave her a surprised look, wondering if she was mulling over the heiress and the staggering implications of her behavior to a significant minority of the world, but of course, she was not, "girl's got some damn fine legs, and the cutest little patoot!" Yang let out a perverse little giggle, and Blake resisted the desire to jump off the roof to escape.

Blake groaned and briefly rubbed her forehead instead. "Real question, do you have an off button?" She asked haughtily, only getting a bigger grin from her partner.

"Don't know watcha mean, Babs." Yang stuck her tongue out.

Blake turned away so that Yang couldn't bask in the way her eyes rolled. "I'll have to ask Ruby what gets your mind off girls, she seems like she'd know a thing or two…"

"Hah! As if Ruby could hobble me for long, I got my secrets!" Yang beamed. "'Sides, I'm not always thinking about girls; sometimes, I wanna hit stuff. It wounds me that you'd think I'm so one dimensional!"

"Let's see, you flirted with me, you flirted with Weiss, you flirted with that Vacuan girl in class, you flirted with Velvet…" Blake counted on her fingers, a tiny smirk growing, despite herself, as Yang just stretched her arms above her head. "And, so far, only one punch was thrown."

"Hey, I just want people to know that there's a hot new piece on campus who is both smooth and available." Yang wiggled her eyebrows, her smile as confident as ever. "I'm going to take my time picking the perfect Mrs. Xiao Long, so I might as well make sure I 'sow my seed' in the meantime. I am going to bring at least a few girls a revelation on the better half of the gender line!"

Blake sank to her rear and looked up at the sky, taking in the breathless blue with an air of relaxation and peace, happy to be off her feet. "I hope you aren't trying to teach these poor girls humility; I can only take so much hot air."

Yang laughed, sitting down next to Blake with a cocksure smile. "Hey, when you're the sexiest babe on campus, you can't act humble."

"You think you're the sexiest?" Blake raised an eyebrow, offering a suddenly devious smile.

"Have you looked at me?" Yang asked, lifting her bust tauntingly. Blake rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I don't know, was never a fan of blonde hair and big boobs. I like things small, sweet, cute…" Blake tapped her lip, a mean look crossing her face. "Your sister's single, right?" Blake tilted her head in obvious interest, and Yang's proud exterior crashed, her hands dropping off her hips as she gave Blake an offended expression.

"You can't be serious. Ruby? She's two years younger than you!" Yang huffed with a sudden anger. "And even besides that, she's off-limits. Big sister's orders!"

"Mm, but it's such a big school, not like you can always be there to stop me from stealing her away." Blake fluttered her lashes, making Yang lean over with a posture that practically roared danger.

"I have one rule." Yang said warningly, jabbing Blake's collarbone with one finger. "Nobody lays a finger on my sister. I don't care who it is, she's sheltered, innocent, if she gets the wrong idea about what romance or sex is—"

"And you are providing her with a good example?" Blake interrupted, raising an eyebrow. The question made Yang's speech screech to a halt, grasping at half-formed excuses that fell apart mid-word. Yang held her hands up, making an enraged noise as Blake just smiled in triumph, and laid back, ending Yang's attempt at a tirade as she stretched her body out in an almost sensual fashion, a low groan escaping the black-haired beauty that left Yang with a small, defeated blush.

Blake watched the sky with a calm sense of wonder as Yang gave her an embarrassed stink-eye, then shuffled to get comfortable before laying back alongside her partner. "Okay…" Yang finally said. "You got me."

"Mm?" Blake inquired, not looking to her partner.

"The whole 'make-Yang-grouchy-to-shut-her-up' thing? Brilliant." Yang didn't sound convinced even as she said it, and Blake snickered.

"I thought so. Better than asking you for some peace and quiet. I'm about seventy-percent sure you don't know the meanings of the words." Blake put on a half-smile, amused, but distracted as she watched a pair of birds quarrel in the air. "Besides, I don't feel like you're trying to eye-hump me anymore. I swear you only followed me to see up my skirt."

"You realize we'll be using the same showers, right? I've seen you naked, Blake." Yang snorted. That only made Blake's smile grow, though she didn't know why. It amused her more than she was willing to admit to show sudden humility after the display she'd given Ruby and Yang before… but… it tickled her.

"Mhmm. And if I recall, you couldn't take your eyes off me." Blake pointed out, lazily extending a hand and prodding Yang's nose with one finger. The blonde gave a dismissive grunt, leaving Blake feeling triumphant. She was vaguely reminded of going on recon with Adam or Ilia so long ago, before Adam began to… change. All the sniping, flirting, and quiet giggles, all the small promises of the future... "I bet you're all excited to see me again next time." Blake said, finding herself, perhaps, a little too comfortable with this strange, but friendly human.

"What can I say?" Yang suddenly leaned close, pressing to Blake enough to share some of her intense body heat. Blake felt two impulses: one to recoil as far away as she could, and the other to lean in closer, to feel safe, to feel warm, to feel loved... "I'm in a school full of gems, and I spotted a diamond among them." She purred, boldly nudging Blake's human ear with her nose.

"...You're too much, Yang." Blake scooted away after a moment of surprised deliberation, her smile twitching nervously. Yang just laughed in victory, even if it was a small one. Blake resumed staring upwards, never looking at anything in particular. Yang laid in silence with her. The wind made the trees below shiver, the sounds of shifting leaves filling the air, followed by the call of a bird in the distance. It was warm, cozy, and boring.

Just how Blake liked it.

"So, watcha looking at?" Yang asked, trying to follow Blake's eyes.

"Nothing, really." Blake shrugged. Yang pouted, then began to kick her feet.

"Theeeen watcha doin'?" Yang cocked her head at Blake.

"Digesting, mostly." Blake answered dryly. Yang groaned.

"So… done thinking yet?"

Blake gave Yang an impatient look. "We've laid down for maybe a minute and a half, how could I possibly get any thinking done?" She asked incredulously, which only made Yang look… thoughtful? That didn't seem right, Yang's pursed lips, rolled eyes, and low hum were too… patronizing.

"Well I just had a thought right now: booored!" Yang stretched her limbs out, sitting up and drawing her knees up to give her chin a rest. She closed her eyes and made a low whine. "I figured you'd be doing something fun while thinking, otherwise I woulda gone with Ruby and Weiss to the library! At least that's something."

"We need to give them their space. They're still adjusting to each other, they need to have time to work on their partnership." Blake didn't open her eyes, her mind shifting towards Weiss again, the gulf of uncertainty widening once more… at least until she heard clothing shift, and a low, annoyed puff of air escaped her as she saw Yang sliding her skirt up enough to show some silky thigh.

"Then c'mon, let's work on our own partnership!" Yang wiggled her eyebrows, her smile confident. "What's a little fooling around between partners? Eh?" Yang grinned.

Blake turned back and closed her eyes. "No." No tan lines, she noted. Bold, but not surprising given how bold everything else about Yang was...

"Oh come on, you can't think for an hour straight! Recess is supposed to be used for, like, studying, or practicing, or doing something." Yang grouched, arms crossed over her chest.

"Quit whining, just enjoy the sunlight. Might do you some good to take a breather." Blake sighed. Maybe this was a mistake, she should have figured Yang would be the overactive type. Blake just wanted to let the outdoor comforts wash away the daily stress before she was whisked back inside for more schoolwork, and more confrontations that contradicted the dearly held beliefs of her former group. She wanted to figure out what to do about Weiss...

"This is supposed to be the time of our lives!" Yang threw her hands out anxiously. "The years before we become full-fledged hunters; we're supposed to be going out there and making mistakes and memories! Fighting, fooling around, sneaking booze; what's the fun in just lazing around for an hour?!"

"The fun comes from not having to worry about having fun." Blake sat up, meeting Yang's eyes with a frown. "I spent years in a sleeping bag, under a tent, worried about Grimm, food, and basic hygiene. I'm finally back in civilization where I can live normally. I don't need to go out to have fun, I can lay here, count my blessings, and close my eyes for an hour and be fine."

"Isn't your life passing you by, then?" Yang demanded, hands on her hips now. "Like, what are you going to tell people, 'my Beacon years were great, I went to class, took a nap, then went to bed?!'" Yang grumbled.

"Yeah, and I'll tell them it was amazing because I didn't spend the whole day wondering when my next meal would come, or worrying there was a Grimm hiding out nearby!" Blake matched Yang's growl, and her eyes sharpened. "Just because you're a bloodthirsty horndog doesn't mean the rest of us have to be."

"But- I mean- I'm not bloodthirsty, I just like fighting! I don't like wasting my time, though!" Yang gestured to the both of them, sitting there, doing nothing. "It just feels like a waste. You said it yourself, we're in civilization, it's safe! Sure we can nap, but… there's so much more to do when you want to do nothing."

"Like?" Blake asked sharply, the comfort from before evaporating in their growing anger.

Yang thought for a moment. She shifted in place, trying to get her blood flowing, trying to think… then, with a little grunt, she finally spoke. "When I was laid up in bed with a broken leg, Ruby and I used to talk for hours. Playing little word games, playing board games, just discuss philosophy, and training, and hunting. It was so boring at the time, but once I could run around again, those talks and games became fun. It was bonding time with my sister, I wasn't forced to sit there. I don't like being lazy for too long, there's too much to do in this world before I become a fully licensed huntress." Yang frowned. "I'm just worried I won't get to do it."

Blake considered the blonde for a moment. It was a small, but notable moment of weakness. Yang seemed easily susceptible to those, especially regarding her sister. Her boisterousness didn't seem like an act, but there was still a young, bruisable little lady beneath it. Blake sighed; she enjoyed silence and stillness, it allowed her to think, but Yang wasn't open to sharing that. However, Blake relented that, as they were both being selfish, some compromise must have been in reach. "... Shiritori?" Blake offered.

"Eh?" Yang blinked.

"Ever heard of it? Mistral word game." Blake stirred her hand in slow thought. "I'll start with a word, and you have to take the sound that word ends on to start the next word."

"Oh, er, I've heard of it." Yang nodded, watching Blake curiously.

"Alright. Flirt."

"... Flirt?" Yang blinked slowly. "You, uh, you rock that skirt?"

"No, fool, that's the starting word." Blake rolled her eyes.

"Oh! Shoot, uh…" Yang worked her jaw. "Tale."

"Love."

"Villain? Isn't this game only supposed to be played with nouns?"

"Love is an abstract noun. Nuisance."

"Slate."

"Tap."

"Pollen."

"Nuisa- uh… niche."

"Hah! Sugar."

"Rib."

"Back."

"Kebab."

"Hmm, bra!"

"F-cup."

"Eh?" Yang tilted her head to the side, staring at Blake with a raised eyebrow.

Where had that come from? Blake didn't know why she suddenly so confident with herself, easing into the game made her feel… loose again. Blake lazily raised a finger and pointed to Yang's chest. "F. Am I right?" Blake had a neutral expression, making it impossible to tell what her intention was, or that she was struggling to understand her own playfulness.

Yang fought the urge to blush again, and simply grinned. "Only one way to find out, Blakey."

"Mm. You're right. I'll go through your laundry over the weekend." Blake smirked.

"You're so weird." Yang chuckled, giving Blake a fond look. "I think I like it."

"Then the next four years might be tolerable." Blake sighed softly, closing her eyes as she gave a small smile. Okay, this was sort of fun; she would have enjoyed the silence just as much, but her brain lazily stirred with the game rather than going totally kaput… and it was kind of nice hearing she was liked. It was a far cry from being stared at like she was a burden because she'd spoken her opinion one too many times. She heard Yang lay down next to her, and she briefly wondered if she was going to actually enjoy the silence with her.

"... Puke."

Blake cracked an eye open and frowned. "Mm?"

"F-cup ends with a 'p'. Puke."

"... Cuddle."

"Is that an invitation?"

"No."

"Lair, then."

"Rune…"

It was strange, Blake thought stared up at the sky, absentmindedly playing the game, she had momentarily forgotten why she was here in the first place, she had momentarily forgotten about Weiss. Blake often forgot she was a teenage girl, and always wondered what she missed while in the Fang, but she came to realize how much she missed being out of it.

There was a… peace to it all.

---

"... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!" The squealing continued for at least another ten seconds as Weiss plugged her ears, quietly wondering when the joy would end. "It's so huge!" Ruby shouted, running into the library with Weiss swiftly chasing after her.

"Ruby, don't go running off! And be quiet, we are in a library!" Weiss hissed at her partner as they ran.

Behind them, walking at a more sedate pace, Jaune rested a hand on his hip as he came to a halt and stared blankly around the Beacon Academy library. Bookshelves four times his height stood row by row from the entrance to the back wall, with a second story way, way up high, where there were even more bookshelves. Wall-to-wall, it was endless literature, and Jaune could feel his head spinning as he looked up to the tall, arched ceilings.

Ruby was right, the place was massive. The ground floor had such an enormous study area bisecting it that even the dozens of long, white study tables left perfectly comfortable walking room down the middle, or even into the aisles. Jaune scratched the back of his head as he felt an elbow brush against his.

"It is amazing." Pyrrha whispered by his side, eyes glimmering in delight. She glanced to Jaune with a pleasant, happy expression, and lead the way down the middle, glancing left and right at everything, to try and take it all in. "My goodness, not even Shade was so…" Pyrrha spun gracefully on her heels as she walked, beaming as she did. "I mean, it had a perfectly suitable library but…" She sped down an aisle, Jaune rushing to keep up. "This…!" Pyrrha ran her fingers along the spines of the books on both sides of her as she walked.

A small squeal of joy told Jaune and Pyrrha that Ruby had found something of interest, and the loud hush that followed let them know that Weiss had caught up.

"I've never seen so many books in my life." Jaune admitted, looking to his left. 'Following in Their Footsteps: Where Did We Learn to Hunt?' He examined the book thoughtfully, before tugging it off the shelf and putting it under his arm. "I think, back on the farm, we only had storybooks and, like, a Holy Trilogy set. Do all of these have stuff on being a hunter?" Jaune asked, bewildered.

"Not this one!" Pyrrha stood on the steps of a pushable staircase, perusing the table of contents in a thick book. She snapped it shut and waved it to Jaune. "Camping Recipes for Game Hunters!" She put it back, then grabbed another of the shelf. "And here's one about the Vacuan Spice Industry, and here's an Atlas Home Cookware Guide! I really should learn to cook one of these days…" Pyrrha said idly, making Jaune smirk.

"Y'know, it used to be real hard for me to read." Jaune mentioned, walking past the pushable stairs to look at an enormous book jutting out from the shelf due to its sheer size; 'A History of Heroes: Hunters Through the Ages, from A-Z.' "Huh…" Jaune stared, then slid it off the shelf.

"In what way?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune backed away from the shelf as the metal staircase let out a low hum, reminding him of an old tv turning on, and suddenly began to move, slowly rolling down the aisle as Pyrrha simply read passing book titles, apparently unconcerned that the stairs were moving on their own. Jaune didn't notice that, when the stairs stopped, Pyrrha's shoulders relaxed.

"There's some condition for it, I dunno. Words just got all jumbled up." Jaune looked up to Pyrrha with a small smile. Somehow, it was hard to believe this girl was a world-class gladiator, but she was no doubt incredibly competent during their initiation. Jaune's hand subconsciously felt for his sword, for reassurance that he himself was skilled… he envied Pyrrha for her fame and talent, but he didn't let the feeling dig too deep. Glancing at 'A History of Heroes' made him silently ache, wondering if his ancestors were in it.

"And are you okay now?" Pyrrha called from up high. She pulled a book off the shelf and flipped through it idly, a small smile on her face.

"S'long as I take it slow, it's no biggie." Jaune watched Pyrrha descend the staircase as they got to the end of the aisle. Underneath the second-floor balconies, at the far edges of the room, there was still plenty of space for students to walk shoulder-to-shoulder between the aisles and the bookshelves against the wall. However, the bookshelves on the edges were different, in that they contained other learning materials than books.

Audio CDs, plastic cases containing education flash-drives for their scrolls, magazines, even some children's guides to hunting for kids ten and under. They both stopped as they found a shelf full of movies. "Oh wow, look at these old tapes." Pyrrha slid a large, square case out of the shelf. The old tape inside had a faded sticker advertising the movie recorded on it. Pyrrha returned it, took a step, glanced… "Eee!" She suddenly squeaked, making Jaune nearly jump out of his skin as her tone suddenly matched Ruby's. "They have the Bunshido Blade collection!" Pyrrha whispered in awe, grabbing a case off the shelf.

Jaune leaned over to look at the cover of the movie, which prominently featured a male rabbit faunus in a traditional Mistral-style yukata wielding a katana. The cover was so absurdly cheesy that Jaune had to hide his mouth behind his hand to not burst out laughing as Pyrrha poured over the case carefully, reading the blurb on the back with a fascinated expression. "Y'know, when I think 'gladiator tournament star', I don't think 'movie fanatic.'" Jaune teased, making Pyrrha blush, huffing obstinately.

"Unfortunately, when your schedule is busy, sometimes the best thing you can do for entertainment is to load up a movie between classes and training. Believe me, I hadn't put much value in an advanced scroll until I found I could download 'All My Shadows' on it."

"... Isn't that the forty year-running soap opera about the immortal, shapeshifting vampire dude whose girlfriends keep getting killed?"

"Life just keeps finding ways to torment his fragile heart…" Pyrrha sighed sadly.

Jaune decided to end the conversation early…

"Ruby-that-is-a-staircase-not-monkey-bars!" Weiss's voice rang out across the library as Jaune and Pyrrha travelled upstairs. The second floor was packed to the gills with novels, everything from picture books parents would read aloud to their toddlers to modern dark fantasies written for teens.

Jaune couldn't imagine why a professional hunter school would keep so many fictional stories, especially when so many of them were aimed at kids, but judging by the pile of books marching along the other balcony, tailed by a facepalming Weiss, it made Ruby happy.

He and Pyrrha plopped down at a table with their books. Jaune opened 'A History of Heroes' and began to search the index. As his eyes ran down the huge number of 'A' names, Jaune sighed, thinking of his family.

Since he was a young man, just barely allowed to hold the garden hose, back when his mother's enormous sun hat would slip down and cover his eyes, he remembered his grandfather as an extremely slow, tottering man. He was always hunched over his cane whenever he came and visited with his wife, his smile warm, his eyes milky with early signs of blindness, always complaining about his joints, his back, his feet, and always telling Jaune to square his shoulders and speak up.

He always brought little hard candies for the eight Arc children, and liked to sit next to Jaune so the younger man could stealthily sneak his grandfather his vegetables, letting him leave the table early to go play outside with his older sister. His grandfather, Jaune Arc the 11th, spoke slowly, clearly, and fondly of his retired life in the country, and visited every week that he could to swap stories, rumors, and jokes with his son, Jaune Arc the 12th.

Jaune Arc the 13th's eyes stopped as he focused on a name in the enormous index: Jaune Arc the 4th. He flipped to the page number, watching the pages fly by like a movie effect.

His uncle, Jameson Todd Arc, wasn't a hunter, but was a border guard by trade. Vale had become a pretty safe place in the past few generations, but the Grimm were still restless and relentless, just not as numerous. When Jaune–the present Jaune–turned thirteen, he was allowed to sit in with his father, uncle, and grandfather and share a small sip of alcohol around the fire. It was there Jaune learned something that changed his perspective on his little farm life: his grandfather was once a hunter. Not just any hunter, but the 11th in line for a lineage of blonde, knightley hunters that dated back to a time when Vale still had kings, still treated Faunus like savages stalking the woods, and saw Grimm hunting as a glorious task of eventual martyrdom. There was an old saying Jaune's grandfather had shared: "There's two reasons hunters turn old: they're cowards, or very very lucky."

The Arc lineage was (in)famous as both.

The 11th, a decorated knight from the Color Wars, fought in sixteen battles, and was recorded to have gotten drunk and dumped a bottle of robin's-egg-blue hair dye on some Mistral captives before sending them back to their country; his regiment even came up with a drinking song in his honor. Every Jaune Arc before him had a record as either a man who saw the end of many battles until their old age caught up to them, or were court martialed for fleeing their positions.

The two exceptions to both of those, so far, were present Jaune and his father.

Jaune eventually came to understand why his father had broken the trend: Jaune Arc the 12th was a kind, loving family man, who, to this day, refused to get the arm on his glasses fixed, whose favorite breakfast was scrambled eggs and ketchup, who started a small farm with his wonderful, if stern wife to feed their coming brood. He could swing a sword, but had locked Aura. He was a man who was more than content with obscurity, wanting to take advantage of the post-war peace for a quiet country life, and thought his family would want it too…

Then there was Jaune Arc the 13th. A young man who spent his whole life believing that his family was as unremarkable as the tough, tasteless carrots they grew, who heard his grandfather's war stories for the first time while the old man and his sons were drunk on cheap bourbon. Never once had Jaune thought his family was anything more than simple farmfolk. His grandfather, old and bent like the gnarled limb of a world-worn tree, wasn't a general store owner all his life; he was an old warrior, one from a line of fondly remembered martyrs and disparaged charlatans…

Finally, Crocea Mors, his family sword, which had belonged to his grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather. It was at that time Jaune found out that he wasn't just some country boy, his family had a history. Maybe not a famous one, but every noble Arc before him did their country and fellow man a service. At first, Jaune had felt betrayed he'd had this information hidden from him, but then he grew dedicated.

Fighting lessons from his uncle using an old wooden sword, stories from his grandfather about his time on the battlefield, working until his fingers were bleeding to prove he was serious about taking Crocea Mors for himself… and slipping out late at night with a letter of acceptance from the most prestigious hunting academy in Vale.

As Jaune read about his ancestry in the book of heroes, he once again pondered what he hoped to prove by coming here…

"Here, Jaune." Pyrrha slid a book across the table, smiling at her partner as Jaune blinked, broken from his trance, and took the offered book. It was already opened to a page simply titled: 'Aura.' "This is the book I used when I was young to understand Aura, and refine it into a honed shield and weapon. If you have any questions…" Pyrrha nodded to him, smiling in offering.

"Sure, thanks Pyrrha." Jaune looked down at the book, but the words were blurry, as his mind elsewhere. "Actually, know what, I got a question for you right now." Jaune sat up straight, squaring his shoulders, his grandfather's voice reminding him that girls liked that. Pyrrha's eyes fixated on him attentively, fingers lacing on the table in front of her. "Pyrrha, why do you want to be a hunter?"

Pyrrha drummed the table with her fingers thoughtfully, humming as she thought of an answer. "To become something greater than just a cereal box mascot." Pyrrha closed her eyes as the answer came to her. "This may sound selfish, but I loved when people grew excited by the mere mention of my name, to know that I was an inspiration and a hero. However, I felt that, as a gladiator, I got that sort of fame for all the wrong reasons. I want to be a hunter to protect people, and inspire them to stand against the terrors and wrongs of the world." Pyrrha spoke with confidence, but left out her desire to befriend people her own age, to grow that friendship and trust that teams of hunters cultivated in a way that no normal person could.

"Good reasons." Jaune smiled at his partner, causing her cheeks to redden as she returned it. "I think most people these days want to become celebrities, you kinda already have that, so this is just you being… what's the word? Altruistic?"

"Yes, but…" Pyrrha squirmed, her smile faltering. "I do crave that sort of fame again, just… not from the MRT. I have resolved to become the best hunter this world has ever seen. Even if there are no ways to measure such a thing, I someday hope that, with the success and safety my team and I bring to the world, I will be remembered fondly as somebody to be looked up to."

"See? That's an awesome dream. Save everyone and be a celebrity! That's kind of what I want too…" Jaune sighed, looking at an old portrait of his great great great etc. grandfather, his straight blonde hair draping around his head as Crocea Mors was proudly laid across his shoulder.

"Then what do you want out of becoming a hunter, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

Jaune was silent as he looked at his ancestor. His fingers twitched as he mulled the question over in his head, and he suddenly itched to hold Crocea Mors again, his connection to his family, an heirloom that felt natural and… right in his palm. He hummed thoughtfully, crossed his arms, and leaned back to look up at the ceiling. "I mean, I guess I want people to know my name. I wanna show up in books and on TV and stuff, but… I dunno. I spent a long time just living on a farm, I never thought about what was behind the hills, or over the mountains. When I found out my peepaw was this totally amazing soldier in the Color Wars, like… I dunno. I felt like I had to do something."

"You felt there were expectations you weren't living up to."

"Right, thanks Weiss. I want to make my family proud, I want to stand with the other Jaunes in my family as a hero, I don't want to be stuck on a farm pulling vegetables all my li—Weiss?!" Jaune suddenly jumped away from the girl in white, who stood there with an almost sympathetic look, but as Jaune scrambled to regain his composure, she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Can I sit here?" Weiss asked Pyrrha, earning a tentative nod. "Thanks. Somebody came here to learn about the old leaders of great. Somebody, instead, decided they wanted to read the whole Fox Hunter series instead."

"They're signed by the original author!" Ruby's voice rose up from behind a shelf some distance away.

"We agreed to work on your—forget it!" Weiss threw her hands up, plopped down next to Pyrrha, and cracked open a Remnant history textbook.

Weiss quietly groused below her breath. Jaune stared at his book for a second, then stood, hands on the table. "Ruby Rose, come here right now!" He ordered at the top of his voice. Pyrrha and Weiss both stared at him in shock as, a minute later, Ruby shuffled into view holding an open novel.

"B-but I just started!" She squeaked, holding the book up.

"Young lady, you came here to learn, so sit down with Weiss." Jaune stared at her firmly, and Ruby whimpered, sighed, and slowly slid into the chair by his side. Satisfied, Jaune sat down and went back to blankly staring at the chapter on Aura as both of their partners looked to each other in a bewildered fashion.

"D-don't gotta be so sh-shouty about it." Ruby mumbled as Weiss took a large, old tome and slid it to Ruby. 'Jameson Bravo: The First Leader of Vale.' Ruby cracked it open with a beleaguered sigh, and began to read as Weiss inspected her.

"Hey, I grew up with seven sisters. I know what it takes." Jaune said triumphantly.

"... Thank you, Jaune." Weiss nodded her head. Pyrrha appraised her leader, her eyes sparkling as Jaune flexed.

"Anything for a lady in need." Jaune wiggled his eyebrows at Weiss, her pleased look turning sour. Jaune winced as Weiss rolled her eyes and stood by Ruby's side.

"So, what made Bravo a good leader?" Weiss asked her partner, and Ruby paused on a page prominently displaying his portrait.

"...His gigantic moustache. Definitely that." Ruby rubbed her bald upper lip. Weiss slapped her own forehead, then flicked Ruby's nose. "Oooowww… shoulda j-just stuck with Fox Hunter..."

"I'm starting to think that I'd be better off with your sister as a partner…"

Ruby pouted even more, and continued to read.

Jaune looked between the three girls around him, and the realization struck: three girls. His grandfather and uncle would have high-fived him. They were a diverse three too. A formerly-professional Mistral gladiator, an underage Vale shut-in, and an Atlas debutante who was just… so…

Jaune hid a shudder and tried to focus, but his musings on his home life left him distracted. He did not get much reading done before the class bell rang...

---

Beacon Academy's PE grounds were a professionally cared for field of green behind the school building. The grass was trimmed to a uniform height, an inch tall across an entire, empty mile, contained by a tall, sturdy, steel-cable fence in the event that the student's activities attracted Grimm.

Ruby looked up at the prominent feature set in the exact middle of the field: a simple obstacle course had been built using a tall, sloped rock-climbing wall, a long, simple wooden balance beam suspended over an above-ground pool, and a forty-foot wooden tower at the other end. The tower itself looked like a slender, octagonal grain silo, its sides made up of dozens of opened or closed slats. Sitting at the top was something metallic, shining in the sunlight. She couldn't immediately tell what it was, no matter how much she strained her eyes.

As good as her vision was, the stupid goggles still got in the way. She scratched at the edges of her headwear subconsciously, trying to get rid of the nervous itch she suddenly had.

"You should probably remove them." Blake murmured by her side. Ruby glanced over at Blake with a small frown, and shook her head.

"B-but my eyes…" Ruby sighed, sincerely wishing she could take her goggles off. The breeze today was nice, it whispered temptingly into her ear, but Ruby only had to imagine the headmaster's disappointed frown to cease those rebellious thoughts.

"Whatever condition you have can't be that bad." Blake ran the back of her pointer finger along Ruby's cheek consolingly, and Ruby blushed, leaning into it, ever hungry for a friendly touch.

"It really is." Ruby sighed. Blake took her finger back after a second and ignored her curiosity. Blake knew of very few eye conditions, but she had the feeling she would have at least heard of one that demanded complete privacy…

She quietly mused over the idea that Ruby was missing an eye and wanted to hide such an obvious defect with those goggles. She quietly watched Ruby look around, seeing if she favored looking at people in one particular direction.

"Oh my god." Yang whispered, leaning against Blake with an excited smile. Blake shrugged her off with a quirk of her eyebrow. "These PE uniforms are amazing." Yang pointed to a group of girls not too far away, chatting amongst each other and paying no attention to Yang's lecherous gaze.

All of them wore a simple uniform: a white, fitted sports shirt made with a soft material to prevent skin irritation, emblazoned with the Beacon Academy twin axes on the left breast, and knee-length blue running shorts that clung to the thighs for ease of movement and no snagging on nearby scenery. Tall, white tube socks and running sneakers protected their feet, and the girls were given sturdy and stable sports bras that, to numerous students' disappointment, actually did a reasonable job of shrinking Yang's bust.

It had the exact opposite effect on the students' backsides, however.

"Daaaaaaaaamn, check out those buns." Yang let out a loud, audience-gathering whistle.

"Please don't!" Jaune whimpered, hands shielding his backside as Nora cackled.

"I know who brought dinner tonight, arf arf!" Nora cooed. A snicker ran through the crowd as Jaune groaned, moving his hands.

"Work it, blondie!" A boy shouted from somewhere in the crowd of students.

"Hey!" Jaune whirled around, pointing to his audience. "I am not just a piece of meat!" He insisted, only to draw out a few more giggles.

"Your skin and muscle say otherwise." Ren said, his lips tugging up into a ghost of a smile as Jaune turned his finger to Ren.

"Don't you go encouraging them!"

Pyrrha covered her mouth, watching her leader protect his butt from the suddenly curious eyes of his peers, though she had to admit, there was definitely an appeal to that muscled rump.

Ruby stared at Jaune, then to her older sister, who was chatting with some girls and boys as they openly eyed her up. Unlike Jaune, Yang soaked in the attention, almost revelling in having her good looks appreciated. Ruby turned towards Weiss, who stood off to the side, trying to ignore everyone else's hormonal childishness. "Weiss?"

"Yes Ruby?" Weiss responded, glancing to her partner, almost looking relieved she was being distracted from this tomfoolery.

Ruby then turned, looking over her shoulder, wiggling her shapely backside while staring down the back of her legs. "Do I have a nice butt?" She asked.

Weiss risked a glance down. Blake leaned closer to join in. "... No comment." Weiss grunted, turning away with rosey cheeks.

Blake just hummed.

"Hey!" Nora suddenly popped in, grabbing their attention with an excited smile. Ren followed behind her, giving Ruby the time to notice that he had quite a nice set of calves. "So while Ren and I were scoping out the best make-out spots—"

"Exploring our school's facilities." Ren asserted with a small glare at Nora.

"So while Ren and I were scoping out the 'school's facilities', we heard an iiiiinteresting rumor." Nora's smile grew feral, while Ren rolled his eyes.

"Interesting how?" Blake asked, stopping her ears from quirking in interest.

"It's merely a rumor, and we only heard a bit from a pair of girls we were passing by." Ren said with a small sigh. "It's not amazingly thought-provoking or anything."

"Ren, hush!" Nora ordered, planting her hands on her broad hips. "So, according to a couple of clucking hens we overheard, apparently the new PE teacher is, like, the hottest thing since Fire dust." Her toothy smile told them all they needed to know about her excitement.

"Whoa, for real?" Yang stepped in, having excused herself from showing off to strangers. "Man coach or woman coach?" She crossed her arms over her imprisoned bust.

"Man!" Nora said with a confident nod.

"Ugh. Well, eyecandy's eyecandy, he'd better not start offering me some after-class tutoring." Yang snorted.

"Didn't dad break that guy's ribs?" Ruby perked up.

"Four of 'em." Yang nodded.

Weiss let out a bemused groan. "Why does it even matter? This isn't a fashion magazine, we're not here to look at cute boys, or hot men, or whatever you oafs are thinking."

"What's wrong with a little admiring, Weiss?" Blake asked with a tilt of her head. "Unless, princess is feeling all lonely without attention?" She added with a prodding lilt in her voice, keeping it playful, but unable to keep all the barbs under her tongue.

"I am not!" Weiss stamped her foot.

"If anything," Ren barely had to raise his voice to get their attention, "It's promising. If he is attractive, then he is more than likely physically fit. We want to get physically fit."

"Ren is correct, we should look forward to meeting our coach for his educational potential, not just his physical attractiveness." Pyrrha said with a pleased smile. She was only thinly aware that Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Nora were each checking her out. Between her long, long legs and shapely hips, she was a lot of good-looking young woman. Ren, being a committed man, ensured Nora was distracted before chancing a look of his own.

"Ahem." Weiss sighed at Nora's enamored wiggling as the other girl shamelessly pressed on with her ogling. "Pyrrha's right, of course. We should make the most of the lesson regardless of what our teacher looks like. This appears to be an intriguing way to workout." She looked up at the obstacle course and pushed down a bubble of worry in her belly. She had been tried and trialed many times before, but while her knowledge was something to sing praises of, she was still afraid for her physical performance.

"Oh this is nothing." Yang snorted, patting Ruby's shoulder. "Tell 'em Rubes. When we were kids, Uncle Qrow used to make us dig holes until we were tired, then made us climb our way out. Heck, remember the time he took us to the Patchwork Cliffs?"

Ruby shuddered, rubbing her fingertips together. "Every hole, s-scorpions… Every. Single. Hole." She whimpered. Weiss raised a tall, curious eyebrow as Blake gently knit her brow in mixed concern for her teammates and confusion at the logistics involved with that task...

"Heck, we didn't even do our stamina swims in a pool! He took us out to the ocean, threw a javelin, and told us to go find it." Yang grunted, her muscles flexing at the memory. Her sister rotated her left shoulder, as if trying to work out a phantom kink in the lean muscles.

"He tied a rock to one and didn't tell us it would sink. W-we were swimming for six hours looking for it!" Ruby said grouchily. "We didn't figure it out until high-tide took us u-under and I ran into it! Th-the stick end, not the sharp end."

"Oh man, we kicked his ass for that one." Yang chuckled, and Ruby smiled widely, flashing her neat little teeth in a blend of a grin and a snarl.

"I hope he still has that scar." She purred to herself, her tone dripping bloody vengeance. Yang nodded and laughed, slapping Ruby on the back, but everyone else felt a chill go down their spine as they watched their young friend flex her strong little fingers into angry claws…

"So, yeah, this'll be nothing. Ruby and I are pros at handling weird, random, physical crap." Yang said with a smooth, pleased smile, ruffling Ruby's hair and breaking her little sister out of her bloodthirst. Ruby squeaked cutely at the affection and leaned into it, the sisters ignorant of the relief that surged through their team and friends.

"I hope you're right." Weiss nodded, flicking the pair one last unsure glance before resetting her focus on quietly watching the obstacle course. As her friends fell into idle conversations around her, Weiss tried to recall the most trying physical task she'd had ever experienced as part of her training. She had climbed walls, ran miles, swam laps, jumped hurdles, caught rings fired out of spring-loaded launchers, she had done dozens of different physical activities, and she was somewhat pleased and entirely satisfied that none of them involved scorpions. The knot in her stomach eased… she'd probably done everything this course looked to offer, if not in a single marathon. Her stamina would be a factor, but she felt more sure of her ability to actually perform the tasks at hand. Her self-doubts somewhat mollified, she widened her musings to try and measure her teammates potential matchups with the challenges ahead.

Yang seemed like a physical beast, Weiss wouldn't be surprised if their most perverse teammate was also their ringer. Those curves were laid over potent, steely muscles… the only question in Weiss' mind was if Yang had persistence to match her raw power, and she strongly suspected Yang would make a lewd comment about being able to 'go for days' if asked. Blake was nimble, quick, so sure of her balance, capable of high-flying acrobatics, all with the casual ease of someone long used to such exertion… this wouldn't be too difficult for her at all. Ruby, for all her faults, was genuinely capable when it came to fieldwork. Swinging that massive scythe took core and upper body strength and Ruby's legs had worked like tireless pistons in the forest when the need to run arose. The younger girl's only questionable skill may be a lack of balance without her weapon in hand, Ruby somehow seemed… clumsier without her scythe. Weiss frowned a bit as her tabulation of her teammates strengths caused her to silently worry that she wouldn't measure up… there was no room for the skills of a promising Dust Sorceress in a test of physical prowess.

She took a deep breath, and let it go. She flinched as something brushed her arm, and she glanced over to see Ruby smiling at her. Weiss blushed, but when Ruby nodded at her, smiling like the day had done nothing but go her way, Weiss felt her tension ease. Yes, they could do this, together, and if Weiss did not shine brightest, that was fine, since the whole point was to test and improve everyone's limits. Weiss was slightly unnerved that just one simple expression from someone she'd know for all of two days made her feel so much bolder, but she returned the smile, if smaller and less sure, regardless of her jumbled emotions.

Professor Port's advice whispered in her ears. This was a place of learning and growth… this was the one place it was okay to fail as long as failure made her stronger. She couldn't give in! She had to try… even if she fell over, she had to pull herself to her feet and drag herself to the finish line.. She, and everyone on her team had to work together to succeed. She wouldn't be the weak link… no, even if she was the weak link, she would still be strong enough to see her team through. Today, she might need their strength and skills, but tomorrow it could be her talents that won the day!

No looking down on herself.

They could win.

Weiss' shoulders straightened and her eyes shone with silent determination as the rest of RWBY and JNPR intermingled, waiting for the lesson to start. A small gasp came from the back of the crowd, drawing all of their attention, causing the eight teens to crane their heads and, in one case quirk her pointed ears, as they heard excited cooing, squealing, and 'awwww!'s from the back of the crowd of students. Weiss looked to her teammates with a small, curious frown, earning only shrugs in return.

"A puppy!" Nora suddenly squeaked, having pressed closer to whatever was drawing everyone's attention.

"Puppy?" Pyrrha asked, following Nora's eyes. The other six swarmed the two to get a closer look. Pyrrha gasped. "It's… it's so precious." She whispered.

"It… it has little dog goggles. Doggles?" Blake queried, rearing backwards as the dog trotted around the students, tongue hanging out of its mouth.

"And swim trunks?" Weiss cocked her head, staring at the mangy, flea-bitten little mutt as the urge to go swamp it in love filled her.

"And a shark's fin." Jaune blinked slowly, staring at the fake fin that swung on its back with each happy little step the dog took.

Ruby and Yang both stared at the dog as it stopped at the front of the group and fixated on them in particular. Its tiny tail wagged in absolute joy as it whined and yipped up at the two stunned teenagers. "... Zwei?!" They both whispered in mounting confusion. The corgi ran in a brief circle, the yap turning into a short bark of excitement at the sound of its name.

"Zwei?" The other six repeated back to them, their quest for answers distracting them from the now whispering crowd and the tall figure pushing through it.

"Hey kids! Sorry I'm late, had to go dig something out of my luggage!" A voice rang across the crowd. Ruby and Yang froze, a sudden realization sending a shiver up their spines as they swiftly pushed through their friends to stare.

"... Uh…" Was all Nora managed, watching the coach strut forward.

"Uuuuhhh…" Pyrrha's groan was significantly less dignified.

"... Hubba hubba." Blake added under her breath as her eyes widened, trying to take it all in.

Ren, quiet, but no less impressed than the three ladies voicing their approval, found himself trying to quit a tremble that had started up his left leg.

"Dad?!" Yang's screech made nearly everyone flee as her hair fired up in a brief, if radiant, fit of defensive surprise. Ruby just pointed at her father and made a sound somewhere between the muted shriek of an excited five year old and the pitiful noise of of a deflating balloon.

"Hey girls!" Taiyang Xiao Long strode through the throng of students that parted before him, a confident swagger in his walk, a large camp cooler in his hands. His broad, happy smile and quick, appraising glances toward the passing students sent more than a few heart rates up. Wearing a larger version of what his students were wearing, except with orange stripes along the sleeves and a whistle around his neck, Taiyang set the cooler down before him and stared down the daughters and their new companions with his fists on his hips, muscles bulging from his arms to his legs, the pool-ready corgi plopping down in front of him with an unwavering, dim joy that only dogs could have. Tai's ever-present blonde stubble and piercing blue eyes went from face to face, before finally settling on the only two that weren't utterly thrilled to see him. "Okay, so, before we get class started, I know what you two are thinking…" He raised his hands towards his daughters with a calming smile.

"You…" Ruby spoke up softly. "Y-you defeated the old PE teacher in a fight to the death and took his power?" She asked in uncertainty, her voice shaking. Behind her, Weiss would have buried her face into her hands if she wasn't busy tugging at the edge of her shirt in silent embarrassment.

"... Okay, so I don't know what you're thinking, Ruby, but I like that train of thought." He rested a friendly hand on her head and rustled her hair, making her shoulders relax as an unsure giggle escaped her.

"Dad?" Yang finally spoke up, one eyebrow raised way up high as she leaned in with a small, bewildered voice. "Why are you here?" She whispered.

"Hey, I told you two before you left I had a surprise when you first settled in here." Tai knelt down with a small, evil smile as he got face to face with his daughter. "And that's Coach Dad to you, sweetheart." His smile grew as Yang's eyebrow twitched violently.

"... How?" Yang whispered in disbelief.

"Well…" Tai's grin grew. "I got a call from Professor Ozpin not too long after Ruby got accepted into Beacon. He was nice and honest about Qrow wanting me to get a job to stay busy out of the house. Now, Qrow's usually not the most affectionate guy, so I was kinda surprised, I didn't expect him to be so concerned with me being all alone." Yang stared at him, comprehension dawning, mouth widening in a silent scream. "Good to see you too, sweetie pie." Tai winked and took a few steps back to start his class.

Ruby and Yang silently glanced to one another. "... I did this." Yang whispered in horror. Yang didn't see it, but Ruby's eyes got as wide as saucers. She glanced up at her father as he planted his hands on his hips and looked among the gathered students. His voice raised into what Yang and Ruby thought of as his 'dad voice', strong and carrying, unyielding and firm, but only demanding attention and respect. He wasn't shouting… yet. It was simple habit that made Ruby twiddle her fingers and wonder if she'd finished her chores, and Yang's eyes darted a bit as she mentally reconstructed the last few weeks, looking frantically for anything she might get grounded for.

"Alright kids, unfortunately I don't have a fancy introduction for you, I'm Taiyang Xiao Long, but y'all can call me Coach Tai." With a heart-meltingly happy smile, he pointed down to Zwei. "And this is my good buddy Zwei! He's a hunting corgi!" Zwei stood up on his two hind legs, hopping in place and barking in excitement, drawing girlish squealing from the crowd… and not just from the girls. Taiyang jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the obstacle course. "I got this set up today to see how each of you works as a team. Don't expect this sorta stuff every day, I'm mostly gonna focus on buffing y'all up. I expect hard work, dedication, and a good attitude coming out to this field! That being said, if you're sick, hurt, or having a crap day, we can talk about it, but without further ado, the most important part of exercise: warm-up! Everyone spread out and split into your teams, I want the leader in front of the team where I can see them."

The crowd did as they were commanded without a grumble of protest. After an attempt to slink off to a different part of the field was aborted by an intense look of fatherly disapproval, Team RWBY stood up front and center, with team JNPR immediately behind them, Ruby and Jaune standing in front of their teams.

Blake nudged Yang, her eyes firmly on the Xiao Long patriarch. "He's your dad?" Blake whispered with fascinated eyebrows.

"Yeah…" Yang groaned, staring at her father as if he'd magically change into somebody else if she focused her eyes the right way.

Blake swept her eyes up Yang's tense frame and put on an extra mischievous smile as she glanced to Tai, forcing a gleam of calculating infatuation into her eyes and voice. "Hmm, think you could introduce us? Put in a good word for your partner?" Blake all but purred, and Yang's entire face turned grey for a heartbeat, before being overtaken by a bright red hue as she reached over and swatted her partner's shoulder.

"Would you quit trying to fuck my family?! Seriously not cool! Don't- stop laughing dammit—are you kidding or not?!" Yang hissed too low for Ruby to hear her, as Blake hid her mirth behind her hands. Despite her irritated outrage, Yang made a mental note that Blake's eyes lit up as brightly as Ruby's smile when she was giggling uncontrollably. If only she liked cookies rather than Yang's suffering...

"Would the both of you calm down?" Weiss asked in a sigh, rolling her eyes as she kept her face pointing forward. Yang sighed and turned her back on the smugly grinning Blake.

"... At least you aren't interested." Yang looked to Weiss with relief and a tiny smile of approval. Weiss tossed her head, resettling her braid as her chin raised a proud fraction of an inch.

"He is an attractive man, but I am here to improve, not to count his luscious abs through his shirt." Weiss stated factually.

"Right, thank you Wei—wait, what was that again?" Yang glared at the shorter girl. Weiss shot Yang a victorious smirk over her shoulder, and Blake began to tear up trying not to giggle out loud as Yang growled at just the right pitch to mellow Zwei's mood and glance her way.

Ruby stood up front, ignorant to her team's foolishness, and focused on her father before her. Taiyang looked across the field, identifying the leader of each team, with Ruby being the last for him to settle his gaze on. A small, proud smile crossed his face, which Ruby returned. With a small bow of his head, he crossed his arms over his visibly powerful chest.

"Leaders, be sure to keep your team on task. We're going to be starting with some loosening warm-ups before we get into muscle warm-ups. Now follow along, try and keep up." Taiyang ordered.

To Ruby and Yang, this was perfectly normal; Taiyang was their trainer as much as he was their father. While Qrow was Ruby's combat and field instructor, it was Taiyang that helped her gain the strength, flexibility, and endurance to keep in the fight through daily, unbroken, at-home routines. She had memories of countless laps, endless lifts, and enough push-ups to last her a lifetime… and that was before she entered a school dedicated to honing her into a weapon of protection.

Her father knew what she was capable of, but that didn't mean she couldn't surprise him. She would prove, even to him, that she deserved to be here; she would make her father proud.

It always started simple: rolling shoulders and wrists, curling and uncurling fingers, twisting their torsos, and carefully loosening their legs, but then came the push-ups, the sit-ups, the curls, and the side-hops; Ruby was just happy he wasn't demanding dragon flags. Ruby hated dragon flags… but she kept her eye on the obstacle course the entire time. Her father wouldn't push them too far if he intended for them to run the course. He had his class warming up for a good twenty minutes, with barely any time to take a breath or a break.

By the time he called an end to it, Blake collapsed on her front, her limbs aching as sweat poured down her body, too sore to even care at the way her breasts complained at being used as airbags. She glanced up at her coach, who now seemed sensibly buff if he considered that a warm-up. The drills in the White Fang were tough, but those were the actual work-outs. If the coach was allowed to build an obstacle course, she could only imagine the sort of devices he could pull out of the gym to make the ache worse.

"Everyone take a five minute break! We got water if you need it!" Taiyang called out. Plenty of students stayed on their backs or fronts to catch a breath, barely any of them having the strength to stand and shamble over to the cooler. Blake lifted herself up and watched Ruby and Yang head straight to their father, both sweating, their arm and leg muscles visibly bulging, and despite this, neither of them looked dog-tired.

It clicked: they were this work-out freak's daughters… Blake glanced over to Weiss, seeing the princess cooling off in the grass, sprawled spread eagle on her back, eyes closed, panting heavily, and Blake subtly shifted her ears forward to listen in on the three as other students dragged themselves to water.

"Well, some things aren't gonna change, I guess." Yang said, her tone a little more relaxed as she looked up at her dad. Taiyang chuckled, resting a hand on her blonde head. Blake marveled at how easily Tai made Yang, one of the tallest and heavily muscled girls Blake had ever seen, look lean and small under his hand. She swallowed, remembering another giant of a man with huge, warm hands, and violently shoved the memory away.

"Sweetie, as long as I'm here, you're gonna have no chance to relax, believe me." Taiyang's smile was daring in a way that would normally offend Blake, like he didn't believe his own daughter was capable of keeping up, but Yang merely laughed.

"Yeah pops, I'm in so much trouble. Not like I rocked your workouts before." Yang sipped at a water bottle, shimmying her rounded hips with a smirk.

"I'm not concerned about you getting fat, honey, but if you thought what I put you through before was bad?" Taiyang snorted, his smile growing more and more smug. "You and your sister are going to come out of this stronger than ever. Now that your pop's got a job making you kids serious butt-kickers, I'm going to make sure you two will out bench Ursas."

"You're such a pain in the ass, dad." Yang didn't sound angry, and Taiyang let out a happy laugh.

Ruby curiously stared up at her father, clutching her water bottle. "So you are staying here? You a-and Zwei?" Upon hearing his name, the corgi toddled over and laid on Ruby's feet, yapping in delight when Yang knelt to pet him.

"Yeah Ruby." Taiyang smiled in delight at his youngest, a much different smile than how smug he looked towards Yang. "And I promise I'm not here to crowd you two, you both know how much I wanted to teach."

Ruby beamed up at Tai, nearly shaking in delight, her arms flexing in a suspicious way like she was trying to work out an excuse to jump onto her father. "We all came to Beacon!... I-is it okay to hug you? I remember you beat up that one teacher for hugging Yang."

"That's because it was a bad hug." Tai explained, pulling Ruby close and stroking her back. "Real proud of you for keeping up with your sister, Ruby." He murmured, making Ruby squeak in joy.

"Gotta keep control of her somehow!"

Yang scoffed. "As if!"

The three turned to look as Jaune stumbled forward, flanked by his team. Pyrrha looked surprisingly fine; sweaty, but no worse than Yang, while Nora's small, compact muscles pumped up to the point of looking ready to burst from her limbs. It genuinely surprised her surrounding friends that she was built like a tree. Ren, meanwhile, took slow, light breaths, but he hunched and moved sluggishly, clearly as winded as Blake.

"Water?" Jaune rasped. Yang knelt down to open the cooler, tossing four bottles up to team JNPR, pausing briefly to grin at something in the chest.

"Really, dad?" Yang snickered, and her father cracked a smile.

"Oh, just you wait and see, sweetie." Taiyang rubbed his hands together in sadistic delight as others looked on in quiet fear.

"Ah!" Ruby perked up, grabbing Jaune's arm. Jaune glanced down from chugging water, giving her a questioning look. "Weiss and Blake w-weren't any help, and I can't ask Yang, so, Jaune?" Ruby managed a completely innocent look, despite the goggles blocking the view. She spun on her heel and stood on her toes, "Do I have a nice butt?"

Pyrrha covered her mouth, water shooting out her nose to her pained embarrassment, while Nora didn't even get far enough to cover her mouth, spraying water out through the gaps in her teeth. Ren took a step back, his eyes swiftly looking over to Taiyang and Yang and at absolutely nothing else. He was a survivor, and had learned long ago the difference between a tactically necessary risk and courting death through one's own idiocy.

"That's Jaune?" Taiyang asked Yang under his breath, his eyes darkening.

"Mhmm." Yang nodded, drinking as she her eyes fixated completely on Jaune, just waiting for him to make one wrong move.

"Ruby's friend?" Taiyang recalled from Ruby's letter, and cracked the knuckles of one hand.

"Mhmm…" Yang hummed, popping the bottle out of her mouth and screwing the cap back on with a smirk.

Jaune, without a word, motioned for Ruby to hold still, and she obliged. He leaned back and glanced over her frame with the well-practiced, neutral objectivity of somebody who had far too many sisters asking the same questions. His team went stiff as Taiyang cracked the knuckles of his other hand, then his neck.

"It's great." Jaune nodded his head, barely noticing the tension to his side as his eyes went back to Ruby's jubilant face without so much as a victorious smirk. "Why?" he asked as she turned to face him fully once more.

"Everybody's talking about how great your butt is… Is having a great butt a quality of a great leader?" Ruby asked curiously, glancing back at her rear as best she could. Jaune turned an annoyed shade of red and Blake bit down on her lip as Ruby's attempts to check out her own rump showed off her lean but shapely legs in ways Blake usually only got to read about. What was it with the women in that family?!

"My butt's not that great!" Jaune puffed. "And I'm not too sure about me being a great leader…"

"I'm not sure I'm a good leader, either…" Ruby sighed.

Jaune fixated on Ruby's small frown, and decided that she was not allowed to doubt herself. He rested a hand on her sweaty back and smiled a goofy smile, shooting her a thumbs up. "But if we're basing leadership on butts, you're a good leader!" He said confidently. Ruby turned a little red, her smile returning.

"Aww…" Ruby cooed, flattered. Then she paused, frowned, and glanced up to her father. "Dad, if you hurt Jaune, you're grounded." She spoke with a firmness unbecoming of her normal sweetness.

"Yes sweetie…" Taiyang muttered bitterly, pulling his hands away from Jaune's neck in response, though his eyes still burned with malice, and his body remained a small inferno of aura until he took a few calming breaths. Blake suspected she knew where Yang got her protective streak from. "Get back in place, I'm gonna start the obstacle course runs soon. Ready to have some fun?" He asked Yang in particular. The blonde tossed him a smile brimming with confidence, and he nodded as the six of them returned to their spots, Yang tossing Weiss and Blake a water bottle each.

Taiyang's voice rose, booming across the field, "Everyone, back on your feet! It's time for the real meat of this course!" He raised a finger, pointing to the conglomeration of gym equipment–and the grain silo abomination along with it–set up behind him. "We're going to have the teams line up. Team one will be told when to go, and as soon as team one clears the first obstacle, team two goes; this is not a race, but if your team laps a team ahead of you… well, somebody is getting drilled harder." Taiyang glared at the students in front of him, and the memory of their warm-up still fresh in their minds, a nervous wave crashed over the crowd. The only people who did not look particularly worried were Ruby and Yang. "Your objective is to reach the bell at the top. Once you do, get down here, tell me your team name, and you'll be given the chance to relax. 'Til then… get in line."

As a solid mass of bodies, the students headed towards the first obstacle: a twenty-foot climbing wall. It didn't look too difficult, but Ruby knew that reaching the top wasn't the true goal; rather, it was doing so quickly. She'd read about too many teams failing to pull themselves to safety in a timely manner and losing lives and limbs to the dangers crawling after them. Her father and uncle were especially insistent that she and Yang knew how to climb quickly and surely, even with the threat of evil, angry, stingy arachnids waiting for fingers...

Team RWBY stood second in line behind team JNPR, and Weiss grinned silently. This did not go unnoticed by Blake, who only briefly hesitated before deciding to indulge her curiosity and nudge Weiss with her elbow, "You look like a fox in a hen coop." Blake whispered.

"This is perfect." Weiss murmured, arms crossed over her chest. She pointed to Pyrrha, who stood by Jaune's side with a tender hand on his shoulder, speaking quietly with him while Nora and Ren stretched to loosen up behind them. "We're going second, if there are any surprises, we'll see them before our turn. On top of that, that is Pyrrha Nikos in front of us, we'll know exactly where to go and what to do just by watching her."

"... Normally I'd accuse you of being far too happy to use them as bait, but intelligence is intelligence." The dark-haired girl nodded in hesitant agreement. A thought occurred to her: Weiss had vocally invested herself to being a team member, but words did not equate to actions. Blake stared at the wall, then the tower as an idea formed, a test to see just how much Weiss meant her words. It may put them on the wrong footing, but Weiss's reaction could tell Blake everything she needed to know about Weiss's honesty...

"It's the perfect position: early enough we won't get lazy, but not so early we won't know what to expect." Weiss nodded, her eyes remaining focused on Pyrrha.

"Like a dog with a shark's fin going for a swim?" Blake asked, her dry voice tinged with confusion. Weiss rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to chide Blake for being as irreverent as Yang until she followed where Blake was looking. Taiyang was petting Zwei's head, the dog resting his forepaws on the edge of the above ground pool, yipping and chasing his master's fingers with playful nips as his squirming rump and kicking back legs sprayed water behind him. Taiyang's smile appeared so innocent and childish as he teased the pooch, but after he ruffled Zwei's ears one last time, he turned to face the students. Zwei, meanwhile, happily doggy-paddled around, seemingly content to stay in the water all day as the plastic fin bounced and bobbed on his spine, while his short legs propelled him through the water with surprising speed and ease.

"Alright boys and girls–and whatever else you might be, I try not to judge–we're about ready to begin!" Taiyang announced. He planted his fists on his hips and stuck out his chest, chin raised so he could look down on his students, despite some of them being taller than he was. "What you're looking at may seem simple, but this isn't about challenging you, this is about proving to me you were taught right. You can be the toughest badass in the field, but if you die because you can't haul yourself up a cliff, nobody's going to remember you as that tough badass. Ring the bell, that's all you gotta do. Oh! And no Aura or semblance usage! This is about building up your body!" He shot his daughters a quick glare that was met with far too innocent smiles. He reminded himself that, this time, it wasn't his stuff in the line of fire. Beside them, Weiss secretly squeezed something in her short's pocket. "Now get ready!"

Team RWBY stood in a readied position as team JNPR primed themselves. Ren and Nora entered the same stance, one leg forward, one leg back, eyes to the front of their team. Pyrrha was crouched in a runner's position, eyes straight ahead, while Jaune glanced over his team with a thoughtful frown. "Real quick," The blonde began, making them ease and look up at him, "Ren goes first." He stated, making the boy blink in surprise. Jaune squirmed in place, feeling compelled to explain himself to their questioning eyes, "Ren, you have a good eye for detail, good at high-flying stuff, I want you guiding the team."

"... Understood." Ren answered with a firm nod. A small part of the raven-haired boy was pleased to take point, and Jaune stepped behind him. The blonde looked nervous, but was quietly hopping on his sore feet, rolling his shoulders.

"I'll go next." Jaune ran his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair, a wince crossing his face, "I'm gonna hedge my bets and say I'm not the best climber here, so Nora? If I go too slow, you have my express permission to motivate me to hurry up." Jaune looked into Nora's eyes, which grew wide as a… promising smile crossed her face. Jaune had the distinct feeling he would soon regret his decision.

"I'll be last?" Pyrrha asked, and Jaune hesitantly tore his eyes away from Nora's blatant glee, and nodded to his partner's vaguely uneasy expression.

"Not to knock your skills, I bet you could knock us all out of the park, but that's why I need you bringing up the rear. Keep an eye on us and tell us what's what, okay?" Jaune asked. Her shoulders squared, her face shifting to pleased understanding.

Pyrrha smiled confidently, tapping her fist to her heart and nodding at him, "You have my word, Jaune."

Team JNPR moved to their new positions. Jaune did not have much confidence in his classwork; history was full of stuff the old marm of the schoolhouse never even hinted at in her long, dry lectures on Remnant, and Dust? He'd only ever mixed together the compounds for the farm vehicles, creating homemade explosive Dust as opposed to the store bought stuff was complicated. And Professor Port just kept on yammering about his adventures… he shook his head. So he didn't have much to look forward to in classwork, but this was more his element. He was a physical boy, he was a farmhand after all, so he could do the strongman stuff no problem…

… Right?

Jaune stared at Ren's back, briefly blanking in concern. What if, somehow, he still wasn't good enough? Even if his teammates were each smaller than him, they trained in harsh conditions compared to picking crops all day, they were probably more agile than him, maybe even more athletic.

Jaune swallowed thickly. He couldn't doubt himself now, he could do this—

"Three!" The coach's voice thundered, and Jaune's mind turned into a frantically spinning set of tires digging into loose sand. "Two!" He was second-guessing himself, he—"One!"

Crap crap crap crap crap crap—

A piercing gym whistle interrupted his internal tirade. Ren shot forward, and a heartbeat later Jaune yelped, lurching into motion when he a painful sting erupted from one asscheek. He fled forward, arms swinging to catch up to the other boy.

The rock wall felt like it grew ten times its height as Jaune drew closer, staring up at its daunting edifice in worry, but a malicious giggle, followed by another burst of pain across his backside, ended his hesitation. Ren didn't even seem to slow while transitioning from running to climbing; Jaune couldn't see his eyes, but the black-haired boy was picking his path up the rocks with no pause between his movements.

Jaune matched him as best he could, but Ren's nearly mechanical movements propelled him like he'd climbed it a dozen times before. Jaune's did his best to keep up, clamoring up the plastic outcroppings while trying to see exactly how Ren moved. He felt gravity pulling at his back, and he put as much strength into his feet as he could to negate any chance of falling, but it locked up his joints and made him hurt.

Lessons with his uncle involved a lot of swordplay and exercise, but Jaune had to teach himself to climb. As he carried himself up the wall, he recalled a borrowed almanac on hunter training and the phrase: 'A poor climber is a dead climber!' The little stick figure man had looked so sad falling into a pile of cartoon Beowolves.

Somehow, the image of that little stick figure's demise kept Jaune sticking to Ren's trail as quickly as he could. He couldn't even think about failing at Beacon, he had to pass, to carry on his family's name. He would keep Crocea Mors' legacy alive!

He reached after Ren's foot with purpose in his movement, but Ren's foot didn't move. Jaune jerked to a halt, throwing his weight back down suddenly to avoid colliding with his teammate, and Jaune winced as his left foot slipped. He hung on with his right hand and right foot, off-balance, but not enough to go tumbling down the wall. Nora shouted something from below, but he was too busy making sure his hand, then his foot, found purchase once more to register what she said.

"Ren?!" Jaune called up after regaining his grip, and Ren glanced around rapidly, his head twisting left and right. It took Jaune a second to realize they'd cornered themselves beneath a ridge. What had appeared to be a grabbable rock was actually just a slightly discolored slope, not rugged enough to support Ren's weight, nevermind Jaune's or Pyrrha's larger, heavier frames.

"Hm... Trust me." Ren ordered. Jaune wasn't sure there was a choice in the matter, as the moment he opened his mouth to ask for clarification, Ren flung himself sideways, away from Jaune, arms outstretched like a chimpanzee's. Jaune stared in quiet disbelief as Ren caught himself on a rock far out of their current grabbing range, dug his toes into the wall to keep from swinging, and looked to Jaune with sharp, pink eyes.

Jaune glanced at his grip, then to his feet, then to the expectant girls below him. Crap crap crap crap crap craaaaaaaa-

Jaune bent at the knees, and launched himself towards Ren. The raven-haired boy held out a hand and leaned in, his fingers closing around Jaune's. Worry filled the blonde boy's eyes as his momentary leap began to turn into a fall, and he tightly grasped his teammate's digits. Ren's arm stretched, going taut as Jaune's weight began to pull him, but Jaune's free hand quickly closed around another rock, relieving Ren of most of his weight as he hung between the two handholds.

His feet scrambled, and he found purchase on a pair of stones, then looked up to Ren with a relieved smile. Ren returned it, letting Jaune's hand go. Ren scrambled up the wall as Jaune took his place, and nervously looked to Nora. The redhead curled her legs, eyes focused on Jaune's extended hand.

He could do this, he had to. He needed to keep up, even with what he discovered was incomplete training, he had to focus every ounce of effort into this. He nodded to Nora, his jaw tight in nervousness, and she used those powerful legs of hers to fling herself at Jaune, hand outstretched.

She flew, faster than he'd been prepared for, speeding towards him like a rocket. His eyes widened, his hand flew out, he grabbed ahold of her wrist, but she just about slammed into his legs. A yelp escaped them both as Jaune's feet flew out from under him, and panic shot through him as Nora scrambled to find purchase on the wall. Jaune's one hand, still clinging tightly to the wall, briefly glowed as his fingers dug hard enough into one of the small, fake rocks for the plastic to begin to crack, his muscles bulging as he loosely hung in place, and Nora barely grabbing ahold of the wall.

"Little to the left, far to the right!" Nora shouted up. Jaune's mind was still at a stall, failing to fire as he focused on the immense pressure on his arm, but a hand slapped his leg. With teeth grit, his left foot found purchase on a stone, his right having to lift higher to find another. He finally slid his hand out of Nora's and grabbed ahold of the wall above him, his right arm aching as he rested a moment.

Pain! Jaune jumped with a yelp, his backside stinging as, down below, Nora's cheeky smile grew cruel. Jaune made the mistake of shooting her a glare, earning him a rough slap across the other cheek and a blown kiss. With grit teeth and determination to not be further humiliated in front of the entirety of his class, Jaune hauled himself up the wall, pushing through the aching tiredness already settling around him to clamber onto the top of the wall after Ren.

Down below, Nora lowered the center of gravity on her body. Her feet were pressed against the plastic stones, her weight evenly distributed, her stance sure and steady. Pyrrha eyed Nora carefully, then threw herself through the air. A nervous tick went through Pyrrha's expression as Nora reached out to her. Pyrrha's leap had been suboptimal: it was too high, and would put undue stress on Nora to catch her when Pyrrha inevitably fell.

They clasped hands before Pyrrha briefly plummeted. The extra height meant Nora's arm wouldn't be as prepared for the sudden weight put on it, and indeed, Nora's teeth grit at the strain and slight pain as Pyrrha swung underneath her, quickly grabbing ahold of the available stones. Once their hands released from one another, the redhead above her threw down a cocky smile and a thumbs up, making Pyrrha sigh in relief and nod.

A sharp 'smack' up above made her smirk, and blush a teensy bit. Of all people, why Nora? Sure, Nora took to it with great enthusiasm, but Pyrrha wanted a chance at that rump too…

Nora clambered over the wall, her feet disappearing, to be replaced by an energetic grin and an open hand. Pyrrha took Nora's offer palm, and used a quick kick to give Nora the momentum to lift her over the rock wall's edge. Not that she needed to, Nora might have been even stronger than Pyrrha herself was, but it just seemed polite to not strain the smaller woman after the slip up of her misaimed leap.

Down below, Coach Taiyang blew his whistle, ordering the next group to follow, and Pyrrha surveyed her team as their friends blitzed the wall below. Ren was flexing his fingers and legs, working out the ache of the climb, while Nora bent her knees, hands resting on her kneecaps, her smile as bold as ever. Jaune, meanwhile, was sweating, arms hanging limply by his sides. He had a worried frown, and what was visible of his legs was red and tense. He sucked in deep breaths, and wiped the moisture off his brow to keep it from getting into his eyes.

Pyrrha worked her strong arms, making sure they stayed supple and soft as she walked ahead of the pack. She looked over the balance beam, at the water below, and whipped her eyes up to stare at the tower as vertigo threatened to set in. She wasn't a fan of heights, but she pushed her worries out of her head and relaxed with a deep breath. "Same order, Jaune?" She asked, not wanting to waste time, but wanting to remain patient for her partner.

It was a delicate balance, but Jaune seemed ready to oblige. "Yeah." The blonde stepped out to the balance beam, and as Pyrrha did, glanced down… and took a step back, looking momentarily dizzy. "... Good time to find out I hate heights." He swallowed thickly and made a small, defeated noise from the back of his throat as he quickly made a decision. "Nora…?" He said in a tone full of regret.

"... Yeeeeeeessssss?" Nora all but purred, her smile turning a shade of evil that made even Ren.

Jaune took a deep breath, and groaned. "I… may need your help crossing the bridge…" He trailed off, resigning himself to a fate of permanently red buttcheeks as Nora spit into her palms and rubbed them together eagerly.

"Well, you should get started then." A vaguely amused voice cut in, making Nora shriek and Ren and Pyrrha both twirl around in surprise. Jaune simply nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, don't worry, we're- Blake?!" Jaune reeled back. Team JNPR quietly stared at the dark-haired huntress, who stood at the top with them with a look of slight boredom and casual curiosity, her arms crossed under her bust and hips cocked in a shockingly casual manner for someone with a cliff two inches behind her heels. Jaune stared at her, then peeked over the side, seeing Yang, followed by Weiss, and then Ruby just barely a third up the wall. He noted that the trio were making good, swift progress so… "... How?!"

"None of your business." Blake smirked, her tone a blend of mysterious and smug that she knew made everyone around her want to choke her a little, and Jaune groaned as he realized just how far behind he was in his skills.

It was honestly daunting beyond measure. His partner was a world-class gladiator, Ren and Nora were both skilled and barely winded, he was half-convinced Blake could teleport...

There was another moment of fear and worry: could he actually catch up? Could he even keep up? The question had been cropping up a lot today, with every class he'd been to. His jaw shuddered, then firmed. He respected his father as a man… but the Arc legacy of knights wouldn't end with the eleventh. Jaune stood up, firmed his shoulders, and took a deep breath.

"Ren, get going, I'll be right after you." Jaune ordered, willing the numbness in his legs away. It took a lot of focus to stop feeling the ache in his body, but by remembering what he had to live up to, by focusing on the goals–reach the tower, ring the bell, climb back down–he could separate himself from the difficulty of the scenario. He'd barely begun his time here but he was already so much closer to where he wanted to be thanks to his team.

Ren did as he was asked, and Jaune stood behind him. Nora's fingers twitched, her palm itched, and she was at the ready. Pyrrha stood behind Nora, curiously eyeing Blake. Had she really scaled the wall so quickly…? Pyrrha turned her head forward, knowing Blake was watching the four of them, while Jaune barked: "Go!"

Ren was off like a shot, Jaune grit his teeth, his backside stinging from his 'motivator', and the four started across the balance beam. Jaune had to remind himself to not look down as he tried to keep pace. The beam was a few inches thick, but Jaune was running on wobbly legs. He focused squarely on Ren's back. His safe, stable, not-twenty-feet-down back..

This wasn't that bad, they could make it easy. Just make it to the end, just—

PWOOMF!

Jaune barely had time to consider what the hell that noise was when something collided with Ren mid-run. The black-haired boy was knocked off balance, and Jaune lunged to grab ahold of the back of his shirt, but was a second too late. Nora shouted after her boyfriend as he hurtled towards the water, his arm lashing out to grab ahold of the balance beam. He swung underneath it and hung there with wide, surprised eyes.

Ren's senses were finely tuned, but in his effort to reach the tower, he had gained tunnel vision, blocking out the world around him instead of actively examining as he usually did. It was a rookie mistake, to not expect the unexpected, which, in this case he had snagged right after it collided with his side. He berated himself for the lapse of focus as he stared at the white tube in his hand, squeezing the cloth once, then pinching a corner to let it unroll. His left eye twitched.

A T-shirt.

He dangled by one arm, reconsidering his life choices; he'd been assaulted by a T-shirt labeled: 'I got this shirt because I suck!' He slowly looked down to the ground, where Coach Tai was being stared at by the incredulous throng of students. Held in a minigun grip, Taiyang just smiled a happy smile back at him as he lifted his T-shirt cannon, the large, revolver-chamber making a loud 'ka-thunk' as it spun to load the next shot.

Well... That was new.

Coach Tai took aim, and his voice thundered up the tower, "If a Grimm has any sort of ranged advantage, you can bet your ass they'll abuse the hell out of it at the suckiest moments possible! So keep your eyes open! Like now!"

PWOOMF!

Jaune dropped to his knees to avoid the flying t-shirt, and the world tipped left, then right, then left again before Nora grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him steady before he lost his balance or his vertigo-induced lunch. Jaune made a low whine, but finally remembered what he was doing. He reached out for Ren's free hand, and after the T-shirt was tossed away in embarrassed disgust, their fingers lashed together.

Jaune tensed his arm, feeling the muscles groan in protest, but something made him pause, unsure. With unease, he stared down at Ren, whose face flickered in confusion. "Jaune?" Ren asked. Jaune couldn't explain it, but something down below had made him pause…

… Where was the dog?

There was a sudden geyser as something launched out of the water, an angry yip that approached a snarl, and Ren's eyes widened as a high-pitched squeak escaped him. He hung from Jaune's hand in silent shock, and Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha's jaws fell in silent surprise as Zwei began to growl and thrash like a playful puppy, his teeth sunk deeply enough into Ren's groin to allow the dog to hang on. Despite herself, Blake flattened her ears and peeled her lips back to flash her teeth in sympathy.

A collective whimper escaped the male students below as they stared.

"... Jaune…" Ren whimpered pathetically.

Jaune couldn't hide the horror in his trembling voice, "W-we'll get you up, Ren, d-don't-"

"Let me go." Ren ordered, his grip slackening, the blood draining from his already pale face, leaving him a chalk white.

"What?! No way! We're nearly to the-"

"Jaune. For the sake of my future children, please, drop me." Ren was no longer staring at Jaune. His eyes were unfocused, clouding over as he watched the clouds.

"Ren, we-"

"And take care of Nora."

"Ren, you're not dying!"

"Tell her I love her."

"Ren! I love you too!"

"Nora, don't encourage him!"

"P-perhaps we're wasting too much time, Jaune-"

"I'm not going to-" But before he could finish his sentence, Ren slid out of his grip. Jaune stared in breathless disbelief as his teammate hit the water below, emerging to float on his back and stare at the sky with dead eyes. Zwei's little shark fin poked through the water, and the goggled dog grabbed ahold of Ren's sleeve, to drag the boy to the side of the pool.

Tai took a firm grip on the stunned student's shoulder and arm and pulled him out, waving him bonelessly at the surrounding students. "First catch of the day, boys and girls! See to it you don't end up the same way!"

A fearful murmur spread through the crowd, as, up above, Nora had to deliver an especially painful smack to Jaune's rear. Blake turned from the disheartened team JNPR and helped haul her three teammates up to the top of the wall, her face a little green. "Okay, it's official, your dad's a psychopath." She whispered in disbelief to Ruby and Yang.

The two girls stood and straightened their shirts, their expressions full of confusion as they stretched. "Whaddaya mean?" Ruby asked quizzically, sliding a thumb under the tough, rubber strap of her goggles to clear out irritants.

"Yeah, this is totally normal." Yang shrugged, reaching down to pull Weiss up off the wall with one hand, placing the heiress on her feet and eliciting a surprised squeak.

Blake eyed the sisters in silent horror as they headed to the balance beam with unashamed looks of confidence, and her eyebrow twitched as she looked to Weiss. "... Oh my god, this explains so much." Blake muttered under her breath as she began making connections between the two teenagers and their father.

"What?" Weiss asked her, panting loudly as she stretched her arms and her legs for a moment before moving up to jab a sharp finger against Blake's collarbone, making the taller girl glare through a wince. "And what was that?!" Weiss demanded heatedly, gesturing to the wall they'd just scaled.

"What was what, snowflake?" Blake asked back in a deliberate snap, watching Weiss's eyes get stern, her cheekbones sinking as she frowned.

"You asked to be the lead, so why the hel- heck did you leave us behind?! You went so fast, Yang had to take point!" Weiss pointed out furiously.

"You made it up here fine, I don't see the problem." Blake crossed her arms over her bust, forcing a roll in her eyes, but hiding her secret approval.

"And that's the problem! You can't just decide to go off on your own!"

"I'm the scout, it's what I was raised to do!"

"Then resist the impulse to—"

"Girls!" Yang snapped, ending their feud. They wordlessly looked her way, Weiss fuming with a pout, while Blake looked unperturbed, and the boisterous blonde pushed Ruby forward a step, making the younger girl squeak.

She blushed, staring up at her two older teammates as she realized she was being pushed to be the leader, despite Yang getting their attention. She swallowed loudly, looking between the two, her mind blanking as they looked to her for whatever guidance she might offer up, before finally… "U-um…" She gulped, thinking back to their objective. "Actually… m-maybe it's better if B-Blake goes ahead?"

"... Are you serious?!" Weiss demanded angrily, causing Ruby to wilt, while Blake shot her leader a confused look.

"Really?" The taller girl asked in confusion.

"I-I-... yeah." Ruby bobbed her head, dredging up the reason once more, "W-we just need to ring the bell. Um, d-dad didn't say as a group, just… ring the bell. The sooner Blake does it—"

"The sooner we complete our objective." Weiss rounded off her thought in a calm voice, her expression softening as she glanced up at the top of the tower.

Blake… simply looked surprised at the revelation, and as much as she wanted to take credit for thinking of it first, it was immediately obvious by her expression alone that she hadn't, and Weiss rounded on her with her arms crossed.

"Don't think this is an excuse for you to do this all the time. If something happens to you, we should at least be in range to bail you out!" Weiss gave her a stubborn expression, and Blake rolled her eyes for real that time, shrugged, and sighed.

"Fine, fine, just this once." So… Weiss apparently gave a crap about the team and sticking together. That was… one step forward, though Blake refused to let relief seep into her veins…

She stopped her ear from twitching as she heard a whisper behind her, and she simply listened as Yang praised her sister, "Good plan, Rubes, but you gotta step it up yourself next time."

"I-I know…" Ruby responded, sounding embarrassed, but Blake could hear Yang's smile.

"Then do it! Now c'mon, what's the next step?"

"U-um… oh! Same order as last time!" Ruby announced, pointing dramatically at the backs of Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha as they sprinted to the tower, trying to keep balance and dodge flying T-shirts at the same time. "Blake, you carve the trail! Then Yang, and then Weiss, and then me." Ruby gestured to herself with some confidence. After all, the order made sense in her head, and it was just a balance beam and a T-shirt cannon. They even had a pool to fall into this time! She glanced back to the ground to see Taiyang reload his weapon and watch the four of them with near-sadistic glee. She wiggled in place briefly; she was glad her dad was having fun!

"Got it." Blake bobbed her head, one foot out on the beam. Her golden eyes focused on Taiyang down below, who was now eyeing her expectantly. She flared her nostrils. This should be easy enough.

She felt Yang's presence behind her, looming and somehow always too warm, and quietly noted that Yang wasn't humming like an appraising merchant… Either her partner had somehow learned subtlety in checking out her rear end just by climbing a wall, or Yang was focused on the objective and her proximity was just her way of being ready to help. Blake thought she had a pretty good handle on Yang by now, so she assumed the latter.

"Go!" Ruby shouted. Blake complied, launching herself across the balance beam as the cannon below tracked her. This was basic stuff, simple diversionary tactics. Make it to the objective, but be the first target. The chances of her getting hit were—

Blake skid to a halt, her eyes wide as wind rushed across her face, the tip of her nose stinging in scraping pain as a flying T-shirt skid across the front of her face with deadly velocity.

She glanced to Coach Tai, and saw he had abandoned the cannon on the grass, and was reeling his arm back like a quarterback, his smile as bright and cruel as the Vacuan sun. Blake fell to all fours, her palms and the knees planting on the narrow beam as the T-shirt was thrown with the force of a cannonball, 'whoosh'ing over her head hard enough to make her hair and gym shirt ripple.

'This is totally normal.' Yang's words echoed through Blake's head again, and the black-haired girl's eyebrow twitched. As she sprang to her feet and sprinted forward, dipping her head beneath another T-shirt, she thought of her training out in the forests. The White Fang was demanding, and harsh. It trained its members savagely, pitting member against member for combat, the courses were little more than sprints through the wilderness, through tree tops, cliffs, and raging river rapids, with the constant possible threat of the Grimm to keep them on their toes.

It was dangerous, it was tough, it taught her to climb nimbly and swiftly, to keep her senses tuned, to have excellent balance and endurance… but something about Taiyang made her hunger for the simplicity of bloodthirsty Grimm and a yawning chasm, as opposed to being at the mercy of a beaming psychotic.

"You suck, dad!" Yang roared mockingly behind Blake after swatting one of the incoming projectiles away like an oversized fly. There was a happy cackle below, and Blake skidded to a halt as another clothing-turned-projectile shot past her ribs… then another behind her back, making her clap her hands to her own bottom to make sure it was still there. He was throwing faster, his throwing arm more powerful and more accurate than the cannon. Blake launched herself off the balance beam and onto the side of the tower, fingers digging into the separated slats to escape the obstacle course from hell behind her.

At least she hoped it was an escape.

"MY FATHER WILL HEAR OF THIS!" Weiss roared somewhere behind Blake, her voice pained as Ruby hung onto her partner's wrist for dear life, yanking her back up before Zwei could snap at Weiss's foot.

"You know…" Yang's voice sprang up from below, making Blake wince, wondering if this could somehow get worse than it already was, "I'm glad he finally found something to do with these shirts. They were a hard sell on Patch." Blake glanced down. Yang had one of the shirts over her shoulder as she crawled underneath Blake, following her path up the tall tower.

"I can't imagine why." Blake groaned, looking up at Pyrrha above, focusing on the path that would take them up to the remainders of team JNPR.

"Me neither. There were so many people on Patch that sucked." Yang replied evenly.

Blake twitched again. And she thought the anti-Faunus hunter groups were crazy…

Up above, it was Jaune leading his team to the top of the tower. The tower was not sloped, and there was no place to offer a moment of respite. Even if Jaune relaxed and hung in place, his weight would still be pulling him towards a thirty foot drop right to the ground.

Jaune knew that if he looked down, he was doomed. The thought nagged at him from the back of his mind; there was no way he'd accomplish this. How could they expect him to do this regularly?! His body was already crying out for rest, it wanted him to go down, to make an excuse, to put a stop to all of this…

… It wanted to give up, call it quits, and go home a coward.

Jaune grit his teeth. The very last thing he wanted to do was admit that he wasn't good enough, but the ache in his limbs were the final warning he had before his body simply gave up. Pushing himself past his limit at this point would only hurt him, and he felt the urge to cry out of frustration.

His hand stretched out towards the next slat to climb, but his shoulder gave a small, audible, pained crick. His eyes squeezed shut, and he retracted his arm, so numb that he didn't even feel Nora's next slap to his backside.

"Are you okay, Jaune?!" Pyrrha called up from below, her worried eyes fixated on her partner as Nora glanced around their entrenched position.

"Yeah! Just…" Jaune took deep breaths, his fingers stinging, and slippery with his own sweat, "Just need a break." He needed far more than that, he knew that for sure. His body wanted down, but his spirit, desperate as it was, begged him to take the climb up.

"Jaune, there's a place to go to the right!" Nora called up, and Jaune confirmed it with a glance. He slowly, carefully crawled over to the slats, fully aware of how long he was taking. "... Okay, no." Jaune heard, wincing as he knew exactly what Nora was commenting on, "You need to get down."

In a clamor of movement, Nora was by his side, and Jaune was trying to not beat his head against the wall in his shame, "I can't. I gotta make it to the top or-"

"Or what?" Nora asked in a serious voice, leaning her face closer to his in an almost threatening way. "What, your dick's gonna lose an inch if you don't make it to the top?" Jaune grit his teeth at the mockery, and he shook his head.

"Nora, I just gotta, okay? I wanna pass the class."

"Coach Tai didn't specify that each of us had to ring the bell." Pyrrha's voice came from past Nora, and Jaune's jaw clenched. "He didn't disqualify us for losing Ren. Jaune, if it's too much, you should go down."

"It's not too much, I can do it!" He insisted, despite the way his digits tried to tell him otherwise.

"Doesn't matter how loud ya lie, Jaune, I see right through it!" Nora slapped his butt again, but this time, not with a threatening pain. "You got nothin' ta lose headin' back, Jaune."

"If I can't keep up with you guys, then what's the point of coming here?!" Jaune demanded, his voice scratchy from his heavy breathing, as well as tight with frustration. He just wanted to reach the top.

The two girls stared at him, quiet and stunned at his question. They shared a quiet glance, and Nora's expression flickered with a bit of annoyance, as if she'd dealt with this before. "Dude, your 'manly pride' isn't worth breaking bones over."

"There's no shame in retreat, Jaune, it's better to come back when you're stronger." Pyrrha leaned past Nora, reaching past her back to stroke Jaune's comfortingly, "Nobody will think less of you, I promise."

"Pyrrha…" Jaune whispered pleadingly.

"Everytime Ren broke a bone because he thought he needed to push himself that extra mile, it put him back weeks, so don't be a stupid idiot, okay?" Nora ordered, reaching out to ruffle his sweat-streaked hair and make him swallow thickly. "You already got us all impressed with the Deathstalker from yesterday; take it from me, 'cuz I certainly haven't forgotten!" She gave him her cheeriest smile, and a blush crossed his face.

"I-... okay." He gulped, his body almost lightening up in the relief of his decision. "Okay." He'd already come so far, but here he was about to call it quits… though, he meekly consoled himself with the knowledge that, at the very least, it was the tactically sound thing to do. "Just crawl over me, I'll be okay. As soon as you do, I'll make my way down and rest, I promise." Despite his aggravation, he intended to keep his promise. 'Don't go back on a promise with a lady, or they'll never trust you again.' His dad would say whenever he was doing something backbreaking for his wife.

His eyes closed and he focused on numbing the pain in his limbs as he felt Nora crawl over him. He managed to ignore the way Nora felt crawling over him, but he couldn't ignore it when Pyrrha's lips hovered near his ear, "We'll make it up just fine. Please take care getting down." With that, she climbed past him, and he felt a different sweat on his forehead. For a rock-hard gladiator, Pyrrha managed to be awfully soft…

With the two girls on their way up, Jaune took a deep breath, and internalized his new mission: reach the ground. With his foot guiding the way, he began to creep downwards step by step, hoping that each one would reach the grass. He passed by Ruby and Weiss, the latter looking more gorgeous than ever, despite being red-faced and covered in sweat, while Ruby hung below her, calling up encouragement to her teammate.

Up above, he spotted Nora and Pyrrha both making good progress up the tower, but around the same level was Blake. Somehow, someway, the girl had hauled some good ass and was well past her own team, though seemed to be stuck looking for a path upwards. Jaune was somewhat unsettled that he was easily being beat out by a group of girls, a feeling he tried to quash; his partner was the RTM champion or whatever, despite his turnip confidence, he couldn't disregard her strengths because of her gender. His big sister would have given him one hell of a rant if he'd brought it up...

His mulling was stopped as something closed around his ankle threateningly. He shot a frantic look down to meet the eyes of the brutish boys from the cafeteria. "You're in the way, blondie!" Cardin called up at him with a sneer, and before Jaune could so much as offer an apology or an explanation, the bigger boy hauled himself up, roughly grabbing ahold of Jaune's shoulders and arms to pull himself upwards, and Jaune felt his body turn into a giant knot of terrified muscle and pain.

The bottoms of Cardin's soles kicked off of Jaune's head to push the boy higher, and Jaune's fingers felt ready to fall off. He wasn't sure if the numbness was a good thing or a bad thing, but he didn't have the time to question it when a mohawked boy grabbed his legs to follow his leader up and over Jaune, "Hope ya got a good grip, dude!" Russel jeered, leaving Jaune gasping in pain as his trembling knees threatened to give out.

A much heavier boy at least had the decency to try and climb around Jaune where he could, but Dove still shot him a withering look of annoyance before using his shoulder to boost himself up and over, sending Jaune's aching hand off the tower. Jaune couldn't lift it, which he knew was a bad thing, but then one more boy started climbing over him, making Jaune violently shake. "Stop shaking man, this is hard enough!" Sky yelped in terror, barely getting up Jaune's shoulders to kick off him for a grip on the slats above. Barely a whisper passed Jaune's lips as he finally gave out.

The rush of air, the gasps of terror from across the field, the burning in his arms, Jaune couldn't even breath as the sky fell away from him. He was aware of what was happening in theory, but the panic hadn't caught up to him just yet.

"Down low!" A voice shouted. Jaune's fall was suddenly broken by a pair of thick, hairy arms. A surging ache shot through Jaune's back from the sudden impact and he hung limply, one arm under his neck, one under his legs.

Jaune stared up at the tower, the students crawling all over it, and the realization he'd just fallen finally hit him, "... Holy shit." Jaune whispered hoarsely.

"I'd better not hear you curse like that around my daughter." Coach Tai said in a low, warning rumble. Jaune lifted his head to stare his teacher in the face… and yelped as he was dropped onto the ground.

"Ow." Jaune rubbed the top of his head. His fingers hurt like nobody's business, and he wanted nothing more than a hot ice bath. Or a cold steamy bath. He had no clue what he wanted more, he just wanted to get off this wild ride and gorge himself on his mom's beef stew.

The ripped, towering figure above him knelt down, looking Jaune in the eye with a slow roll of his whiskered jaw. "Alright Arc, you gave a good effort today." Taiyang said in a calm tone, a small smirk crossing his face. "I gotta say, that was a pretty sneaky way to get the girls on top of you, something I would'a done in my Beacon years." Tai smirked, and Jaune, panting, sweating, twitching… let out a dry chuckle.

"Ugh, I couldn't enjoy it though." He admitted, eyes slowly closing. "Everything hurts too much." He sighed, just happy to have the earth under his back and nothing to hold onto.

"Well, you made it a good distance. Your chew-toy buddy is lying out in the field somewhere, roll on over to the cooler if you need some water." With that, Tai walked away. Jaune slowly and painfully pulled himself to a sitting position to see the coach cackling as he assailed a team with his gatling T-shirt launcher, and some distance away, Ren sitting up, watching the tower with an ice pack on the front of his shorts.

It took a few minutes for Jaune to convince himself to move and settle down next to Ren with a small water bottle and a sympathetic look. Ren, for his part, had his ethereal calmness once more. His eyes calmly scanned the tower, before looking down to meet Jaune's. The two boys looked to one another… and Ren sighed.

"... How's the kids?" Jaune asked, while Ren looked back up at his girlfriend with a grimace.

"Still a possibility." Ren answered. He blinked slowly, and let out a small breath through his nostrils, briefly looking to the ground. "I apologize, Jaune." Jaune slowed in sipping from his bottle, staring at Ren curiously. "In my haste to complete our objective, I lost sight of my surroundings."

"Well, I mean… was anybody expecting that?" Jaune asked. Where was the coach getting so many T-shirts, anyway...? Did he have some sort of T-shirt creating semblance?

"I highly doubt it, but I still fell." Ren's lips tightened silently. There was an ear-splitting shriek, and the two boys watched a girl fall into the drink, where Zwei immediately latched onto her ankle and tried to steal her shoe.

"Happens to the best of us, man. I don't blame you." Jaune hummed, then took in some water with deep, greedy swallows.

Ren hummed. Jaune was a surprisingly forgiving person. In its own way, it was admirable, but it did little to soothe Ren's aching ego. He knew coming to Beacon would put his practiced stoicism to the test, but in one day, he'd felt such powerful pangs of jealousy, and now the resentment of failure. Was there a greater pain than letting down the people who trusted him? Than falling in front his peers in such a humiliating way? Embarrassing himself in front of Nora like that?

His pink eyes burned as he allowed himself a moment to truly wallow in his shame, using it to sharpen his resolve. Ren wouldn't let this stand; he silently resolved to do better, to become worthy of his leader's trust, to earn Pyrrha's respect as a warrior, to make sure he was always there for the woman he loved... and so he'd never have to feel dog teeth digging into his nuts again.

'Cuz wow, that had sucked.

The first 'ding!' rang across the training field, drawing both boys' attention. Nora and Pyrrha both stood at the top of the tower, waving down to Jaune and Ren below as Nora flicked the bell. Standing high above, the two girls were stunning figures, casting shadows on everyone below, even as others climbed after them. Jaune let out a relieved groan, sitting back to wave up to his teammates, trying to shoot a thumbs up that they could see. Ren simply stared, filled with both approval at their success and shame that he couldn't be there with them.

From up top, Pyrrha could just barely pick out her two fallen teammates on the ground. This had been a far… stranger trial than she'd could have ever dreamt it could be. Coach Tai's laughter could be clearly heard even from a-hundred feet up, and it wasn't looking to settle down anytime soon. Her old coach favored drilling the basics into her, improving her core, then sending her against assault after assault to strengthen her body and reflexes. Terrain wasn't as large of a factor in the MRT as it was in hunting, and despite the oddity of what they had done to reach the bell, Pyrrha simply had to recall the athletics involved in keeping herself and her friends alive the day before.

Pyrrha turned to her fellow redhead, who was flexing her fingers to remove lingering stiffness. "Nora, we should probably make our way down." Pyrrha advised, peering over the edge of the tower. It was rapidly filling with bodies. The maze-like nature of the opened and closed slats meant that there was no one sure path to the top, so it was encircled by people scrambling to get up before their arms gave out on them.

"Got it! Any ideas?" Nora asked. She wasn't too great at coming up with her own routes, and prefered to defer to somebody else on the matter, though climbing up had been a simple matter of following gut-instinct and ignoring the need to curse out the boys on her team for falling out early.

"Not immediately. Blake, any clue?" Pyrrha turned around. Nora followed her eyes to the edge behind her, where there was… nobody. They were alone at the top of the tower, and Nora shot a very idle, questioning look to the nervous Pyrrha, until a black mess of hair popped up and Blake peered at them with golden eyes. Pyrrha sighed in relief.

"What, am I predictable now?" Blake asked, her tone more amused than anything as she hopped up to her feet.

"You pulled that trick on us once already, Blakey!" Nora grinned, then suddenly tipped over as something collided with her. She caught herself from falling at the last minute as a T-shirt fell out of view, down onto the climbing students below. With a snarl, Nora leaned over the edge and roared: "TRY THAT AGAIN COACH, AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!"

"GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!"

"GIMME A MINUTE AND I'LL BE RIGHT DOWN TO SHOVE MY FIST UP YOUR—!"

"Looks like we'll have to wing it once the rest of my team gets up here." Blake's eyes scanned the tower, reaching out to idly flick the bell, sending a clear ring across the PE grounds. With her mission accomplished, she strut to the edge of the tower to watch the mass of first years struggling or excelling in the unorganized climb to the top, and she recalled watching numerous panicked races to safety or weaponry during White Fang raids before… "This is completely chaotic."

"I suppose that would be normal in a fight against Grimm." Pyrrha acknowledged, not looking forward to trying to pick her way down with other teams in the way. "We cannot possibly expect consistency in the field."

"Even still, this seems… extreme, and excessive and…" Blake sighed. It went a long way to explaining at least one of her teammates. As Blake watched for her team, Pyrrha and Nora began to descend.

Yang stared up at the path she assumed Blake had taken. Her climbing hadn't slowed in the slightest, but trying to keep up with her partner proved to be difficult. "Rassa frassa climbing…" Yang grunted to herself. Weiss and Ruby were still further below her. Weiss, as Ruby and Yang had both predicted, was not a climber, so Ruby was down there providing encouragement for the Schnee heiress.

Yang was by no means a climber either, being more heavily built and unable to press flat to the surface, but she wasn't a liability. She moved slower than her partner, that was for sure; Blake seemed in her element just shooting up the wall. It reminded Yang of those tree lizards she always tried to catch as a kid; blink once and they were gone, already around the corner or up in the branches. It had made for a fun bit of personal training trying to catch them, and it was remarkable thinking she used to struggle with it.

Yang could only chuckle a little before she jumped, grabbing the slats over a closed spot and hauling herself higher. Blake really was an amazing huntress. Watching her move, gently prying open that sarcastic personality of hers, Yang was enjoying herself. It certainly helped that Ruby and Weiss were both much more open themselves, giving Blake some pressure to join the conversation. Yang hoped she could get more out of Blake, to separate what Yang idealized from reality, and see who the black-haired huntress truly was.

Yang lifted a foot, taking a slow, steadying breath to ease the ache in her body, but flinched when something closed around her ankle. "Oh ha-ha, Ruby." Yang grunted, glancing down. Her smile slid away into disbelief, then into red-eyed anger as a cocky smile and a douchey red haircut peered back up at her.

"Hey babycakes." Cardin snarled, showing all of his teeth as he glared up at her.

"Cardin." Yang spoke warningly, her foot gearing up to plunge straight into his stupid, smug grin. "Let go of me right now or—"

"Or I'll get kicked in the face? Whatever, blondie." His fist tightened around her leg, and Yang thrust her foot out, just grazing his sweat-soaked hair. She tried to retract, but Cardin held fast, ensuring she couldn't move. "Y'know Yang, once upon a time, I tried to be a nice guy."

"And you nearly broke my sister's jaw." Yang growled, her fingers tensing, digging into the wooden slats. A disquieting crumble alerted them both…

"Uh oh, better be careful, babe. Get any angrier and you're gonna do my work for me." Cardin pulled, and Yang grit her teeth as her leg extended, and her body tightened up, trying to stay coiled and still on the wall. "Y'know… you still owe me a round. We had a pretty good two months at Signal, and all those times you put me in the nurse's office? I think I should get my chance to show you how good of a guy I can be."

"Piss. Off." Yang's other foot suddenly slid off the slat, and hammered into Cardin's forehead. Had Yang kept control, and not been focusing on her grip, it may have actually done some damage, but Cardin simply hissed, his amber aura spreading across his forehead.

"I took you to dinner, took you to the movies, bought you some jewelry, and I've heard you gave it up for a lot less than that. So drop the raging dyke act, maybe we can work this out..." Cardin crowed.

"Cardin…" Yang growled, barely able to keep the edge in her voice as he kept tugging, threatening her grip with each pull. "Y'know something?" Yang glanced down at him, her eyes red, her hair glowing gold. Cardin's smile grew, his brow furrowed in smug triumph. "I got all up in Evera's business." Her glare became prideful, and Cardin's grin turned soft. "Your 'darling little lady' had a lot to say about your bedroom technique." Yang chuckled darkly. "Must suck carrying just a pencil in your pan—" Yang felt her fingers slip.

Cardin let go of the blonde's ankle, and she fell, trying to murder him with her eyes. The two of them locked gazes, and a shared message of hate ran between them, as Yang plunged, screaming in rage. Up above, Cardin sneered, pulling himself towards the top with a look of enraged self-satisfaction.

"... Oh, hell no…" Blake whispered, her fingertips digging into the edge of the tower from where she watched. Her throat tightened and her eyebrows knit together, her teeth beginning to show. Where was this anger coming from? Yeah, the dude was being a dick and cheating, but she had a sudden flare of worry for her falling partner, who had been robbed of her chance to finish the course.

There was a splash from the pool, and Yang threw herself through the water's surface, gasping for air. Her mere presence caused the water to churn and bubble around her, and she let loose a skyward roar of fury, making a couple of the students above lock up in terror, one getting smacked right in the face by a T-shirt she had rightfully earned in that moment.

Yang jumped in surprise when Zwei hopped up into her arms, and Yang had to stop herself from throwing the panting corgi, then hugged him close. Despite all her anger–and venting heat–Zwei licked her chin and cheeks while Yang ranted. "When he gets his ass down here I'm sticking my foot—aww, Zwei, no, it's okay I'm just—going to kick a new hole in his groin and—no no, don't whine baby, I'm okay, just—utterly goddamned furious and I will—"

"... Ruby." Weiss spoke up while listening to the tirade of profanity-laden threats from below. Her eyes were locked on the long, strong legs of Yang's attacker, and the three boys that were following him to the top.

"Yes, Weiss?" Ruby's voice was tight with displeasure, partially from Yang's sudden loss, and partially because she realized they had been overtaken by Cardin. They were only six feet higher, but still higher than Ruby was able to retaliate from.

"Throw me." Weiss ordered.

"Huh?" Ruby looked back up, and Weiss stared down at her with a serious expression. "Th-throw you?" She squeaked.

"Trust me." Weiss ordered, her hand pressing against a small tube in her pocket as her mind worked out a plan of vengeance. Ruby's eyes went to the vial.

"B-but you can't, d-dad s-said-"

"I'll handle the repercussions in due time, Ruby." Weiss spoke logically, offering Ruby a small, if cruel smile. "For now, that ape needs to be taught that nobody messes with a Schnee or their friends and gets away with it."

Ruby wasn't sure what to think about that. She watched in quiet worry as Weiss suddenly hopped off the tower, falling for a brief moment before Ruby grasped Weiss's hand. Weiss squeezed the vial in her pocket, and a large, black glyph appeared beneath her feet.

Ruby pulled and the glyph spun, pouring its energy into Weiss. Ruby let go at the top of her reach, and Weiss was launched as if from a catapult as the glyph dissipated, having spent its energy.

The rush of wind through Weiss's hair felt… triumphant, like flying in for the kill against a now-disarmed opponent. Theoretically, it was the same situation–her target was off his guard, swamped in distracting thoughts, hands and feet occupied–so when Weiss flew up past Cardin, making the boy pause in surprise, then fell feet first onto Cardin's face to bounce off his head, it was well within her predictions that the surprise and shock of being used like a springboard would loosen his grip, and send him tumbling down the tower with a surprised yelp.

Airborne again, Weiss looked to the tower, scrambling to find a safe place to grab, but a hand caught her attention. She took ahold of the pale arm, and grinned in cold triumph up at Blake. The dark-haired girl held onto Weiss's elbow, staring the heiress in the eye. "Wow, Weiss." Blake said, not making a move. "That was ice-cold." The words made Weiss wince, and hesitate, second-guessing herself… but Blake simply smirked, and pulled Weiss to the top of the tower, letting the heiress collapse to her knees now that she had stable footing.

"He deserved it." Weiss insisted, looking to the bell behind Blake. It was right there, waiting to be rung, but… Weiss didn't deserve it. She sighed thickly. She got her vengeance, but it required her semblance. All-in-all, she had failed… but there was a certain righteousness to it, one that made her stomach get all worked up in conflicting pride and disappointment in herself.

"You aren't wrong." Blake leaned over the tower. The other three members of team CRDL were racing to the top, and just below them was Ruby. Though they weren't being graded for this, Weiss had disobeyed a hard-set rule for righteous vengeance. Blake felt an absurd amount of warmth fill her belly at the thought of Cardin being chewed up by the dog below, and she let the knot in her chest go loose.

Blake took Weiss by the arm, yanking her to the other side of the tower as Russel, Dove, and Sky pulled themselves to the top, one-by-one, and focused their glares on Weiss.

"Cool move, ice queen." Russel sneered, lurching forward a step, ducking his head and narrowing his eyes to put on an intimidating face, his cruel smile making Weiss tighten her lips. By her side, Blake entered a simplistic fighting stance, her golden eyes going from boy to boy.

Russel was walking around the left, his own fists raised. To the right, Sky was trying to sneak his way around, looking angry, but becoming unsure whenever Blake snapped her gaze to him. Weiss had her hands out, looking more ready for a slap-fight than a brawl on a ten-by-ten, forty-foot high platform.

And Dove… well, Dove rang the bell, bobbing his head in calm accomplishment.

"So, white and black… what, that's, like, Checkers, right?" Russel looked to Sky, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Chess." Dove and Weiss both corrected immediately.

"Checkers is white and black too! So we're gonna make you king us!" Russel's smile was filled with confidence and a promise of violence, and Blake simply grit her teeth.

"Checkers is red and black. Also, the order should be black and white." Dove corrected, arms crossed as he watched through slits formed by his eyelids. Russel shot him a quick glare. "It sounds better. If you want red and black, their leader is pulling herself up now." Dove stepped aside, and Ruby hopped onto the platform, immediately entering a low, amateurish fighting stance.

"Thank you for the entrance, good sir! A-also, it's red, b-black, a-and white now." Ruby spoke quickly, facing the other two boys as Dove simply nodded his acknowledgement.

"Like a newspaper." He surmised thoughtfully. Then, without another word, the rounded boy lunged with a straight punch, aimed for Ruby's solar plexus. The smaller girl jumped, flipping over his head and landing by the bell. Her fist lashed out and punched the bell, signalling her team's victory… as well as the start of a fist-fight on top of the tower.

On the ground below, Yang was wordless, surprised, and soaked through as she stared at the top of the tower. At her feet, Cardin laid face down on the ground, groaning in pain, a green shoeprint on the back of his running shorts. Behind her, Jaune and Ren slowed in drying Yang's curtain of blonde hair to just watch with her. Ruby was throwing a couple of punches based on Yang's style, but without the control or precision Yang practiced. Dove's slower fighting style tanked her weak blows as he tried to catch her off guard, but Ruby's speed lent well to dodging him. Blake and Russel were performing an intricate martial dance: sweeping kicks, driving palms, aggressive headbutts, and grapples that sent the two perilously close to the edge of the platform, but compared to actual martial artists, they looked like rank amateurs. Weiss and Sky were yelping as they slapped and kicked at each other while wheeling around the tower's edge, trying to not fall. "This is the greatest thing ever." Yang muttered.

"Your team sucks." Taiyang suddenly spoke up, watching with a mixture of amusement and annoyance as other teams tried to sneak in between the fighting to tag the bell, or worse, ended up joining it. "I really should have taught Ruby how to throw a punch…" The coach sighed thickly. Zwei plodded over and sat between the father and daughter, watching curiously. "Alright. I need to go break it up so everybody else can score. Zwei?" Taiyang knelt down, holding his open palm towards the dog. With a happy bark, Zwei leapt onto his hand, and was then lifted by the belly.

"What's your dad doing?" Jaune whispered to Yang, watching with worry as their teacher took a step forward, bent at the knees, and brought Zwei back over his shoulder, just like a javelin thrower.

"Breaking up the fight." Yang shrugged. Up above, Dove had Ruby in a headlock, and was trying to not get kicked in the back of his knee. Russel tossed Blake onto her back, only to get kicked square in the chest, nearly bowling him off the tower. Weiss slapped Sky, and the gray-haired boy yelped and lunged, trying to shove Weiss over.

Then, Taiyang threw Zwei. Jaune and Ren both blinked in disbelief as the hunting corgi flew like a rocket, trailing golden flames as he broke the brawl up top by rapidly releasing Taiyang's aura. A bright, sun-yellow explosion of concussive heat and fire stopped all activity in the PE grounds, shaking the tower's foundation as students simply stared in open-mouthed disbelief.

Six smoking figures fell from the structure, and with an intricate series of gestures, Weiss threw out six black glyphs under each and every one of them, slowing their fall to the ground. Zwei, meanwhile, sat at the top, bell in his mouth, offering it to each student that approached for a quick ring.

The trial, which had started with a whistle, ended with a cacophony of tired, pained, and relieved whimpers. There were still hunters-in-training reaching the bell, but on the ground below, team RWBY and team JNPR sat in a semi-circle around Taiyang, while Cardin had been dragged away by his team, leaving the eight alone.

"I'm gonna make this quick, since I gotta watch the other teams." Taiyang stood before them, hands on his hips, chest and chin pushed out to signify his authority. "Blake," he spoke her name, making golden eyes flick up to him curiously, "You raced ahead of your team, leaving them to blaze their own trail. You have talent, but frankly, this isn't about being a lone wolf. In future team activities, I expect you to work as a unit." Blake remained silent, and cast her eyes down. "... You did amazingly though, don't get me wrong, but keep in mind who's behind you." Blake nodded as Taiyang turned his attention to Weiss.

"Weiss," he said, getting the heiress's attention. He internally said Weiss's and Blake's name over and over in his head, wanting them to sound natural. They were his daughter's teammates, which meant he intended to be a friend to them. "I think it goes without saying you broke the rules." Weiss fidgeted, refusing to meet his eye. "I'm not grading this performance, so consider yourself lucky, but in the future, failure to follow instruction will result in not just you failing, but your partner as well. Remember, you're graded as a pair." At that, Weiss shot Ruby a very sorry look, and curled her knees to her chin. "... but, it was a hell of a move, and while, as a teacher, I am not allowed to say it was as cool as it was deserved, I can imply it. Good work slowing everyone else's fall too, heroism is what separates the hunters from the legends." He gave the girl a wink, making her blink slowly and suppress a small smile.

Tai looked down at Ruby, who aimed her face in his direction curiously, a bit of anxiousness in her posture. "... You did good, Ruby." Tai spoke gently, putting a hand on her head affectionately. "But as team leader, it is your job to keep your team in line. Cohesive unit, follow the rules. Okay?"

"Yes dad." Ruby nodded slowly, swallowed thickly, and squirmed in discomfort at her failure.

"There's my girl. And Yang?" Taiyang looked to his eldest. Yang sat silent and despondent, her eyes only briefly flicking up to him as he took a deep breath through his nose, and let it go. "I know that was not a good position to be in—"

"I know, dad."

"—but we trained for this sort of thing."

"I know, dad." Yang did not raise her voice, but her tone grew aggravated.

"Next time that ass is trying to bring you down, I expect you to do, not just know. I have faith in your sweetheart. Next time, blow me outta the water, got it?" Though his words were optimistic, his voice carried the edge of command. Not just as a teacher, but as a father. Yang nodded slowly, sighing.

Coach Tai turned to face team JNPR now, his eyes focusing immediately on Ren. Even if the boy had failed first, and frankly, the hardest, Tai wasn't about to lay into him since he hadn't known what to expect. "So, Lie Ren, next time…?"

"I'll keep my eyes open, and expect the unexpected." Ren nodded slowly. Tai liked that the kid met his eyes, even when he was discussing his failures.

"Good. And you, blondie?" Taiyang focused on Jaune. Jaune hesitated to meet the coach's gaze, but forced himself to look up, his breath caught in his throat. He still hurt, but he fully expected to be reprimanded for what he'd done. Or, rather, what he hadn't been able to do. Silently, Jaune wondered if the jig was up… "You made it far, so there's no shame in retreating to protect yourself. Half your team still reached the objective, so it counts as a win. Out in the wilds, sometimes that's all that can be done. Good job, kid, we'll get you up there before the end of the year." Taiyang nodded, and Jaune sat silently, stunned at the praise. "As for the girls…" Taiyang looked to Nora and Pyrrha with a lopsided grin, earning red-cheeked smiles and silent squirms of elation. "Good job, both of you. It might not feel like a total victory, but you both did all I asked for, without hurting your team. Everyone here deserves a water break, so get to it, I'm going to go throw more T-shirts."

"Yes, coach." The eight students replied collectively. Taiyang cast his gaze from the left to the right. Each of them showed promise, and according to Ruby's letter, kindness, a heroism that made hunting the noble profession that it was, not just dying to a ceaseless horde. Satisfied, Taiyang walked off to assault more teenagers with clothing.

Water in hand, the eight students rested and brooded.

For the most part, they were silent. They sipped at water bottles and relaxed under the midday sun. In spite of the day's excitement, the eight of them weren't in high spirits; Taiyang's dressing down still weighed on them, if not their own actions.

Weiss in particular was mulling over her decisions. She was a confident what she had done was, in some way or another, defendable. She took in Yang's form and expression beside her; the blonde was no less the near-peak of human beauty she had been since they first fought in the dining hall, but that relaxing warmth, daring smile, and her comforting words were replaced by annoyance and melancholy. It seemed strange to Weiss, it made her teammate no less beautiful, but less… approachable.

In its own way, that was more enticing than Yang's overt socialization. There was something entrancing about a beautiful girl wallowing in silence. It made Yang seem thoughtful, as if she was pondering the greater mysteries of the universe as opposed to teasing her sister, or her teammates.

Weiss had seen Yang angry before, and being the target of that anger hadn't been frightening until Weiss could see the way the blonde's lips curled in resentment, or the way those lavender eyes filled with red amidst her furious thoughts. Having gotten to see Yang in a more positive light, it was clear Yang wore her negativity as brazenly as her cheer.

With no prompt, Yang suddenly spoke. "Thanks." Weiss shook herself out of her contemplation, and blinked at Yang curiously. Yang looked her way, her face still slack with displeasure. "Is that why you're staring at me? Thanks for booting Cardin."

"W-well, I—" Weiss calmed herself, reminding herself she was not Yang's source of anger. She wanted to retreat and not subject herself to Yang's rage, but… she reminded herself that being antisocial helped no one. "I was more thinking about myself." Weiss admitted, only half-truthful. "Whether or not I did the right thing."

"Heh, yeah, you kinda did the one thing you weren't supposed to." Yang admitted with a small smirk, and Weiss groaned. "But… but y'know, I can't be mad; you kicked Cardin in the face, you did good by my count, Weiss." Yang wordlessly reached over and grabbed Weiss's upper arm. Weiss blinked as she was tugged close, and her cheeks bloomed with color as she was given a small peck on the temple.

"W-well then!" Weiss grunted, stroking the spot Yang had kissed as the blonde returned to her sitting position, now wearing a tired smirk as she watched Weiss bluster. "It-it was a matter of team honor! I couldn't let it go without reprisal! Who are you to lay your lips on me?! I am Weiss Schnee! Y-you can't just—ah! Ruby?!"

Weiss turned bright red as Ruby pulled the heiress into a tight, one-armed hug. Ruby stared down her older sister as Weiss was forcibly snuggled into Ruby's side. "Off limits." Ruby spoke tersely. Blake and team JNPR silently sat up to watch as an electric current sparked between Ruby and Yang's eyes, with a trembling Weiss heating up between them.

"Aww, c'mon Ruby, I'm just thanking her for avenging me." Yang snickered, her spirit returning at her little sister's fire. She quickly glanced down at Weiss, giving her an open, approving purr to get a growl out of Ruby.

"She's my p-partner! I had her f-first, so dibs." Ruby insisted, making Weiss let out a small, embarrassed whine as she was pulled closer.

"D-don't I get a say in this?!"

"Shut up Weiss." The two sisters spoke as one. Weiss just looked scandalized.

"We're all teammates here, you can share your partner." Yang's smile turned sly, prompting Weiss to give her a sharp glare, an unspoken command to end this train of thought. "I mean, we all sleep in the same room…"

"In separate beds!" Ruby pointed out with a bottom-lipped pout.

"We can change that." Yang purred.

"If a-anyone is sleeping with Weiss, it's me!" Ruby announced, making Weiss grow as stiff as ice as her face bloomed with heat.

"Excuse me?!" The pitch of her shriek made Zwei give a small, panicked whine from across the grounds.

Blake was doing everything in her power to keep her water in her mouth. Nora was wearing a wolfish grin, snuggling closer to Ren to watch the show, while Ren silently wondered how somebody as pale as Weiss could even get that red.

Yang's eyes were shimmering with mirth, and she spoke in a high, sing-song voice. "Aww, pwease Ruby? Can't you loan me Weiss for just one night? I'll keep her nice and warm—"

"No!" Ruby firmed her lips and her jaw, and held the currently flailing Weiss tighter. "She's my first friend, you d-don't get to put your icky fingers on her! She will remain p-pure and chaste and l-like me more than you!" Ruby's voice went somewhere north of 'brat' and stopped just short of 'possessive.'

"Okay, okay, I concede!" Yang snickered, one hand over her mouth as she watched Weiss try not to combust in embarrassment. "You get to be the first person to share a bed with Weiss."

With a smile of victory, Ruby cuddled Weiss closer, causing the latter to flail in terror. "H-hear that Weiss?! I'll be the first person to sleep with you!" Nora hid a laugh, Pyrrha began to tear up the grass as the tips of her ears heated up, almost overwhelmed with secondhand embarrassment. Ren simply sighed. Jaune watched in silent bewilderment.

"Oh my god." Weiss whimpered.

"It'll be like a-an adult sleepover!"

"Oh. My. God."

Ruby gasped. "W-we can bring Zwei!"

"OH-MY-GOD-RUBY-SHUT-UP-OR-I-WILL-SMOTHER-YOU-IN-YOUR-SLEEP-YOU-AIR-HEADED-MUNCHKIN!"

Blake failed, splashing her bare legs with water as she hacked, wheezed, and cackled painfully. Yang fell onto her back, howling with laughter. Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren just stared in complete silence. Jaune raised a finger as if to say something, but lowered it, shaking his head; Ozpin himself couldn't untangle this mess without making it worse.

Nora turned to Ren, her predatory smile stretched across her face. "Wanna bet who falls into bed with who first?"

Ren sipped from his water, pursing his lips in thought as he watched the three girls' squabbling turn into the wimpiest fist-fight he'd ever seen, with Weiss attacking both of the sisters as they snorted and giggled at her rage. Little ideas swam in and out of his head, but ultimately, he had no definitive answer. "Let them sort it out themselves." He said dryly, subtly avoiding losing any more lien to his lover.

---

"Hit me." Mercury ordered. His confident smile widened, his gray eyes narrowed, and the Faunus appraised him with an annoyed stare, reptilian pupils briefly disappearing under a second set of eyelids, his nictitating membrane masking an eyeroll.

"Are you ssure, ssir?" The tanned male asked, licking his lips with a forked tongue.

Mercury's smirk never wavered, he just stared at the Faunus with an unrepentantly smug look. "Sure as I've ever been." He answered, leaning forward to show he wasn't intimidated by the Faunus' unusual appearance.

The dealer, a hood-wearing snake-Faunus with a buzz cut and a limber build, tossed a card towards Mercury. It slid across the table and stopped just short of Mercury's other cards: a black queen of spades, and a red eight of hearts. Mercury took the card and flipped it over, revealing a red two of spades, a grand total of twenty. His smile grew wider, and he silently pumped his arm as the Faunus dealer rolled his eyes.

Next to Mercury, a smallish female with a long, hairless tail grunted in disinterest and leaned back, dismissively giving up on the stack of lien cards sitting in front of her pair of nines, while to the other side of her, a limber, fox-eared male chewed his thumb, looking from Mercury, to his nine and two. He drummed his fingers in idle thought, evaluating his chances, and with a sigh, looked up to the dealer. "Hit me."

The dealer tossed a card, and Mercury leaned back, closing his eyes with confidence. His smile grew thin as he heard the man give a cheer, and he glanced over to see the man showing the red jack of spades he'd drawn.

"I'm ordering so much pizza!" The man exclaimed as the dealer tossed him the pile of lien cards sitting in front of the three players, and Mercury narrowed his eyes sharply at the celebrating man. The fox Faunus glanced towards Mercury, his grin almost as cocky as the assassin's, and he asked in a smug voice, "Something wrong, human?"

"Nah, nah, you won, fair and square." Mercury stated with an unusual evenness in his voice, lifting his leg to rest on top of the table. There was a metallic thump as his leg banged against the wood, and the three Faunus immediately drew back, their expressions changing to slight panic in an instant. "You know, I wouldn't mind a pizza or two thrown my way." Mercury smiled maliciously, and the fox-Faunus defensively pulled the cards closer, his smile turning to a sneer.

"You're in the wrong place to be making threats, human." The rat-girl touched her thigh, a pair of nunchucks at her hip. Mercury snorted as the dealer wisely walked out of the sights of Mercury's foot, and the assassin slid up straight, affectionately stroking his leg.

"Oh, you animals are so paranoid!" Mercury rolled his eyes, the two Faunus by his side bristling, but with hesitation in their expressions. "I thought the White Fang was supposed to be the top predators in Vale! What, are you afraid of some vintage leather boots?" Mercury shook his foot tauntingly, lying further back into his chair.

"You can't trick us." The male insisted, standing slowly, a large pistol hanging at his hip. Mercury saw the fox's hand creep towards the handle, and the human suddenly glanced into the Faunus' eyes, his eyes wide, his pupils completely still as his gaze pierced the fox's, his smile almost manic.

"And why not? Will those fluffy ears of your save you?" A surge of aura down Mercury's leg caused a slug to load into the chamber of his boot, and the Faunus' hand lurched towards his pistol as Mercury stood, whipping his foot towards the Fox—

And the door clicked open. The small room, formerly a Janitorial closet, lit only by a hanging bulb, flooded with light as Emerald strode in, took one look, and groaned. Behind her, the snake Faunus slipped out of the room quickly, and Mercury lowered his foot from the fox's face, setting it on the table. The fox and the rat shot out of their seats and ran past Emerald as the green-haired girl strode in.

"What, he take your lunch money?" Emerald snorted, holding up the fox's winnings in one hand, making Mercury grin and smooth his hair back.

"You know I'm a bit of a sore loser, Emmy." He put on what could have been a thankful smile as he reached for the cards dangling between Emerald's fingers, only to grow a sharp frown when Emerald swiftly pocketed the lien. His voice fell to a low growl, "I'm getting sick of sitting around, playing games over petty cash here. Tell me you got something for us to go off of." He ordered, arms crossed over his chest.

Emerald rolled her eyes and turned away, heading back into the huge, open hangar of the portside warehouse. Mercury followed with a frown, arms crossed over his chest as they watched the activity. It would be slow until nightfall, and then the Faunus would be loading several crates full of stolen dust into cargo containers, which would be loaded onto the backs of legally registered trucks to be transported to an outlying town on the other side of Mt. Glenn. Once checked out by the disguised White Fang members, those containers would be taken to the long-destroyed city, where their leader was planning something big.

"So, do you?" Mercury asked insistently, following Emerald along the wall, watching her head towards the office in the back where the red-haired idiot was no doubt talking about what an amazing criminal he was to whatever poor soul had the misfortune of sharing breathing space with him.

"Jeez, you're extra annoying today." Emerald sighed, stopping just before the door to shoot Mercury a look. "Look, I spent all day tugging at people's heartstrings about how I needed to find the girl who 'saved my life', and somehow, someway, everybody in this town knows of a different short-haired, pale-skinned brunette who exclusively wears goggles and hoodies but not the one we want." Emerald waved her arms in front of herself wildly. "It's like trying to pick a needle out of a pile of needles! Could we get a more generic description?!"

"... Well the goggles are different." Mercury pointed out. Emerald's face fell, and she gave Mercury a look begging him to succumb to some fatal disease then and there.

"Do you have any idea how many female welders I shook hands with today?" Emerald hissed, wringing her hands unhappily. "I didn't even know there was a Female Welders Union! They all wear goggles!"

Mercury frowned at Emerald, and puffed up his chest as he took a deep breath. "Emerald, that doesn't answer the most important question though," Emerald snarled as he raised a finger, "were any of them cute? 'Cuz I dig burn scars."

"... I hate you." Was all Emerald managed before throwing the door open, almost roaring. "I couldn't find the stupid girl!" She shouted from the doorway, freezing in place almost immediately.

Roman didn't even look her way as he focused on the two girls before him. He stood to the side of the scavenged office desk to stare at Cinder's back as the woman stood before a girl. Pale skinned, brunette, thick goggles. Emerald looked between Cinder and their smirking target, and let out a distressed noise of pure hate.

"Whoa, you found her?" Mercury asked, cracking his knuckles as he stepped into the room. The short brunette stuck her tongue out at him, while Cinder shot him a glare that made him stop in his tracks.

"This isn't her." Cinder spoke calmly, though there was an apprehension to her expression. She'd worn that apprehension since she'd found out about the little Grimm-girl, who apparently wasn't standing in front of her, despite all logic saying otherwise. "You still haven't found her, Emerald? You told me it would be easy." Cinder said in a low, stern voice, which belied very real anger.

Emerald wilted, her hands balling in front of her chest as Mercury stepped back, out of their leader's sight. "Look, I don't have a lot to work with, Cinder. I've tried, I really have been, I was out all morning in the factory district. She wasn't in the shopping area, nobody saw her around the factories, nobody even knows who I'm talking about. Other, than, like, a bunch of women with blowtorches…"

The sound of crunching glass filled the air as Cinder swept towards Emerald with a furious expression, stopping just short of raising her hand to backhand her. Emerald cringed away from the implied strike, but Cinder shook her head. In her hand, shards of black glass formed, and the pale, gorgeous woman gently kneaded it between her fingers, the crunching and crackling bringing her a calmness. "We're going to be acting more overt then." Cinder let out a sigh, then crushed the glass in her hand loudly enough to make even Roman flinch.

"Yeah, great, 'more overt.'" Roman snarked, his brow tightening unhappily. "You're already pushing your luck here, Cindy." The name made Cinder go rigid, and she shot Roman a dark look that made him hesitate. "All I'm saying is you, your precious kids, and now my boys are working almost 'round the clock out there! The cops are getting the all the wrong ideas about my little charity organization here, they're starting to think we're a bunch of criminals or something!" He couldn't mask the sarcasm in his voice, and Cinder grunted.

She turned back to face the girl-that-wasn't-their-target, and slid her scroll out of a small handbag. Their faux-target stuck her tongue out and threw twin peace signs as her picture was taken, and Emerald and Mercury both checked their scrolls as they received the picture. "Use that picture to find her. Show as many people as you have to until we get answers. The sooner she's dealt with, the sooner she's no longer a problem. Do you understand? You will succeed, as she is very likely to disrupt everything if she is allowed to roam freely."

Emerald, Mercury, Roman, and their not-target stared sideways at each other as Cinder seethed, staring down a heavily marked map on the wall. Dozens of x's, soon to be joined by more as Cinder's fingertip burned with enough intensity to glow, were struck through the shops and buildings they had paid a visit to to find this goggled girl.

When this operation first started, when Emerald was given a home, Mercury a purpose, and Roman a promise of survival, Cinder had been calm and in control. She spoke almost soothingly, giving too-good-to-be-true promises and showing proof of her seriousness.

This was not that Cinder. Every piece of the plan had fit together like a puzzle, snapping into place with no hitches. There was a plan, and a back-up plan, and, as Cinder stated, they only needed time and resources, of which they had plenty. With their trail covered up thanks to media focus on the White Fang, and their deep and almost intimate access to Vale's private governmental and emergency networks, they knew who was suspicious of what and where certain interested parties were investigating.

It seemed ingenious—Roman had relied on police radios and counter-predicting their stings—but Cinder's resources made Roman feel near-omniscient about the going-ons of the city. Of course, all of this was before she showed up.

Just one little girl, whose shadow stretched and warped, who summoned the avatars of death to her command, turned all that on its head. He'd watched that sly, cold, and confident smile turn to panic and fury in just a few seconds. She'd ranted, raved, and just barely kept herself from burning the room to ashes in her anger, and now this? Roman was a survivor, and he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved with a lunatic who threw hissy fits over a little girl.

Almost as if she'd read his mind, Cinder turned, glaring at the four others in the room. "All of you, out, back on the streets." Cinder barked. Emerald and Mercury awkwardly showed themselves out, the not-target lifting a little parasol from the corner of the room to follow. Roman stared at her, judging her quietly, before he stepped out of the room with a shrug of his shoulders.

Gears turned in his mind as he strode towards the middle of the warehouse, idly watching the proceedings around him. The girl was young, school age, but nobody in their right mind would let her be a student… would they? Summoning Grimm would spook people… but also intrigue people, especially if there was even the possibility she could control them. Heck, he would have hired her on the spot if he could, that was some primo fear-power in making distractions and bargaining with the authorities.

However, getting close to the schools wasn't good for business. Too much protection, too many worried parents, and so much security… if he wanted to follow this hunch, he'd have to get a bit creative.

Some of his best places to push his 'products' were places popularly visited by students from Beacon and the intermediate schools. Put some extra eyes on the street and in the shops, make sure they knew to keep their ears open for anyone discussing a Grimm girl.

Maybe it was just a hunch, but Roman was running short on patience and options. He slapped a bell hanging near a meeting room door, and with some grumbling, several members of his gang, along with White Fang higher-ups, followed him in.

It was time to discuss a new strategy.