"Yang, it was amazing! We went to all the best weapon stores in the city! He knows so much about weapons, it's unreal!"

Ruby's voice drifted faintly out into the hallway, picked up by two sensitive pairs of ears – one human, one feline, both working in concert for ultimate eavesdropping potential.

"It's so great that you two have a shared hobby!" Yang replied, laughing. "I'm happy for you, Rubes, but come on, get to the good parts!

Yes, get to the good parts, Blake silently agreed. Still, it was already enough to get started. Her pen scratched at the paper of her notebook faster than she'd ever written before.

He stood shirtless in the morning light, a thin sheen of sweat causing his lean muscles to sparkle against the breaking dawn. His copper-red hair shone like the blood of the fifty Grimm he'd just single-handedly slain.

The girl looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, her petite frame still shaking – in fear or excitement? She couldn't tell. "Wow, you sure do know how to handle your weapon," she said in awe, biting her bottom lip.

He turned to face her, his golden eyes smoldering with passion, and he took a step towards her. "Heh," he laughed with a cocky smirk. "I could teach you a thing or two, if you want."

She gasped as he swept her up with one arm into a heated embrace. Her eyes shot down in surprise, and when they returned to his, they shone with exhilaration. "Now that's a longsword!" she whispered into his ear.

Uh oh, Blake had gotten caught up in the scene and missed part of the conversation. Something about ice cream. She hastily penned in a line break – she could always go back and finish the scene later. Besides, she had her Scroll recording the whole conversation, for later reference.

It seemed like the conversation was shifting again, but she had time to scribble down one or two more lines that she would develop later.

"What are we going to do with the ice cream?" She asked nervously.

Her question was answered a moment later, as the chilly treat dripped onto her. She shivered in pleasure as the cold, sugary droplets rolled down the sensitive skin of her bare neck, and then gasped loudly as his warm mouth descended over them–

"And Yang, you're not going to believe this, but somehow, he figured out Mom's secret cookie recipe!"

Yang paused, and when she responded, it was with hope and doubt in equal measure. "I-impossible. You probably just liked them a lot because you like him."

"No, I swear! It was the same! I've never forgotten that taste, Yang. You know that." Blake was honestly surprised at the raw passion present in the girl's voice.

Note to self, she wrote. Use the phrase 'raw passion' later. That was good stuff.

"The secret ingredient was Dust!" Ruby continued.

Second note to self. Dust can spice up baking – how can it spice up the bedroom?

Yang scoffed. "Ruby, that's ridiculous. Mom told me a million times the secret ingredient was love!"

Ruby growled. "Yes, Yang, I remember. I also remember you telling me that the entire recipe was just flour, eggs, chocolate, and love!"

"Is it… not?"

Blake suppressed a snort of laughter.

"No! It is not! There's so much more, which I know now thanks to Shirou!"

"There's so much more to love that I've never known – but now, thanks to you…" Blake's character apparently said, according to her furious writing.

"Aww! But Ruuuby," Yang teased in a sing-song voice. "You're missing the point! Were they made with looove?"

Ruby paused momentarily before answering.

"Y-yes," she mumbled, only barely audibly.

There was another brief silence that was quickly filled by Yang's squeal of excitement, which rapidly grew in pitch and volume.

"Shut up! It was magical and I hate you!" Ruby screamed over her sister. It only served to somehow, impossibly, make Yang squeal even louder.

Blake smiled. This was honestly adorable. That wouldn't stop her from writing smut about it, of course, but it was still really heartwarming. Pen touched paper once more.

She lay back, wearing only her brilliantly red cloak. He sat beside her on the edge of the bed, staring off into the distance mysteriously. She reached out with one delicate hand, tracing a line down the rock-hard muscles of his back. "It was magical," she purred.

Finally, the air-raid siren that was Yang Xiao Long ran out of breath, ending its merciless assault on Blake's ears.

"My little sister's growing up!" Yang said, chuckling slightly after gasping for air for a few moments before sobering up. "So, they… they really were Mom's recipe?"

"They really were!" Ruby responded happily.

"And you didn't…" Yang realized what she was asking mid-sentence and sighed. "Save me any? Never mind. Forgot who I was talking to for a second there."

"Actually~!" There was the sound of cloth and paper rustling.

Yang gasped.

"How could I forget my big sister? Of course I saved you one!" Ruby said. Blake could practically see the wide smile on the girl's face.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Ruby asked a few moments later. "You're supposed to eat it, not just stare at it!"

Yang huffed. "Well, you spent so much time hyping them up… I don't want to be disappointed if it's not the same. Or… worse, if it is the same, but it's not as good as it used to be, and it's my memories that were wrong? I'm not like you, Ruby – I couldn't just keep searching, disappointed every time. I haven't had a cookie in years because not a single one I've tasted since then compares to the last batch Mom made, before…"

Blake blinked. Wow, she'd honestly never heard her partner sound this vulnerable before. She felt a sudden spike of guilt – maybe this wasn't something she should be listening in on. But… she had come this far, hadn't she? Her curiosity waged war with her guilt, and won handily, demanding that she stay and listen for just a moment more. She had to know how the story ended – would the hero manage to satisfy the high expectations of the fair maiden's older sister?

"Just eat it, silly," Ruby said softly.

Blake twitched her ears, focusing even more intently, just in time to barely make out the sound of a bite, followed by chewing.

There was silence as the girl continued to eat.

Then there was a sniffle – and then another. "Yeah," Yang said quietly, before choking back a sob. "It's the same."

Blake smiled sadly – happy that her partner had reclaimed a piece of her childhood, and sorry for the loss in the first place. She stood silently and padded away on catlike feet. She'd let them have their moment. She had a… report, to write, after all.

Behind her, in the abandoned classroom, Ruby held Yang in a tight hug. "I know," she said soothingly, and rubbed her back as Yang continued to shake in huge, quiet sobs. "I know."

When Yang finally slipped back into her dorm room later, eyes still slightly puffy, Blake smiled at her, but didn't mention them, which earned her a nod of thanks.

Instead, Blake looked back to her Scroll, extended fully into its tablet mode, and continued to type, her smile growing wider. It was time to add in some other characters...

o-o-o-o-o

"Ooh, I'm so excited!" Ruby exclaimed. "Forever Fall is so much cooler than the Emerald Forest!"

"You're just saying that because you like the color red," Weiss noted, smirking.

"Well, duh!" Her team leader answered. "Red is the best! Plus, it's basically our team color! All four of us wear it, after all."

Shirou nodded thoughtfully. She did have a point. The four of them wore black, grey, white, and gold – all highlighted with the same bright crimson. "Are the Grimm here any different than we're used to?"

"They should be comparable to those in the Emerald Forest," Pyrrha answered with a smile. "In fact, considering how abnormally strong the Grimm we saw during initiation were, this should be a walk in the park."

Team RESN, alongside teams RVBY and CRDL, were all packed tightly into a single Bullhead, along with Professor Goodwitch. As the top three teams of their class, they were supposedly headed to a slightly more dangerous portion of the forest, while the other three teams in their year were led to a safer location by Professor Port. Their task, however, was all the same – to collect the bright red sap from the trees that grew here for the use of Professor Peach. Shirou knew the sap could be distilled down into the sweet purple syrup Nora was so fond of, but supposedly it had some medicinal properties as well.

"Easy or not, it will be nice to get out of the classroom for a change," Weiss said. Even in the Bullhead, she sat with perfect posture, legs daintily crossed and hands folded in her lap.

Ruby snorted. "You're just tired of getting beat up by Shirou every day," pointed out, slouching heavily in a picture of perfect contrast to her partner.

Weiss blushed. "N-not at all! I'll have you know that I've felt more progress in my training in the last few weeks than… well, than ever, honestly."

Ruby pouted and kicked her legs up and down. "I noticed. I think I'm getting better too, but you're just beating me even more lately."

"She's getting used to your style," Pyrrha said, laying a comforting hand on her leader's shoulder. "Your abilities are powerful, but Weiss has more tricks up her sleeve than you do. As you both grow more familiar with each other's fighting styles, it will grow ever harder to beat her. But, the more she pushes you, the faster you'll improve – and you'll truly feel that progress when you go up against someone who isn't Weiss."

Weiss smiled at Ruby. "And I think we all saw that last Friday. Russel's weapons are quite similar to mine, you know – and you wiped the floor with him."

It was something of a matter of fact by now that CRDL only held their position as the number three team because they could beat the lower half of the class easily – but the difference between CRDL and the top two was as great as that between them and number four. Not a one of them had yet managed to beat any member of RESN or RVBY in a one on one.

Ruby grinned happily. "Thanks, guys. I know, I'm doing way better than I thought I would be – it's just annoying still being the weakest member of the team, even though I know that probably won't change for… a while."

Shirou shook his head and smiled back. "You've got to stop thinking about it like that. Don't compare us to each other – we all have different strengths and weaknesses."

"Your value to the team is measured not in personal strength, especially not against your other team members," Pyrrha backed up her partner.

"Just wait until we start the team fights," Shirou nodded.

"What if we got a head start on those?" Ruby asked, eyes gleaming. "We could all train together, two on two!"

Weiss inclined her head thoughtfully. "Interesting. It would certainly give us a leg up over the competition."

"You know we're sitting right here, right?" Yang called over from a few seats away. "Hey, Team RVBY! I vote we start doing team fights too, so we don't fall behind!"

Ren, Nora, and Blake nodded along amicably.

"Well, now we have to do it," Pyrrha laughed lightly.

"Where, though?" Shirou asked. "I don't know if there's enough room on the rooftops for all four of us."

"Or all eight, if we wanted to do some inter-team training!" Ruby continued. "We could practice working together as a full unit!"

"The thought does have some merit," Weiss said with a demure but warm smile at her partner. Ruby beamed back at her – while she valued support from Shirou and Pyrrha immensely, approval from Weiss was rare enough that it was a special confidence boost all its own.

"I'm sure Professor Goodwitch would find some way to accommodate us," Pyrrha said. "She can't rightly complain if we essentially want to do extra work for her class."

As if in response to the mention of her name, their professor's voice echoed through the Bullhead's intercom. "Prepare for landing, students. We have arrived."

The aircraft touched down in a small clearing barely wide enough for even the compact VTOL to fit.

The three teams of trainees filed out of the vehicle dutifully. Ruby looked around in awe at the rich red foliage of all the trees, a color somehow shared by the thick, soft grass beneath their feet – though she was the only one of their team who had been here before, it was no less breathtaking a sight than it had been the first time.

"Follow me," Glynda called sternly before striding off towards where the woods were thickest. She flicked her riding crop idly, and a box soared out of the bullhead to levitate along behind her, filled with large glass jars.

They did so, walking for several minutes and chatting easily amongst themselves in a rough line. Glynda permitted it for a while, before speaking up loudly and instantly cutting off the chatter.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But – we are not here to sight-see! As you are all aware, this many Aura-users present in such a concentrated area will act as a beacon for the Grimm."

She came to a halt, and spun around to face them. The staggered line condensed into a rough blob of students as those furthest back caught up. Shirou's team found themselves in the middle, between CRDL and RVBY.

"You should all split up into your teams, so as to reduce this high concentration of Aura somewhat, as you each collect one full jar of sap from the trees here in the deep woods. I will be here to make sure that none of you die in the process – though let it be said, if I must step in to save your lives, it will reflect poorly on your grades. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock." She offered the class a smile – which was quite rare. "And perhaps most importantly, have fun – remember, the more positivity, the less Grimm. Now, come collect your jars."

Ren and Cardin stepped forward towards the box, which Glynda lowered to the ground. Ruby made to step forward as well, but Shirou waved her back and stepped forward in the small girl's stead.

He knelt beside the box and reached into it just as Cardin stood up, off to his right. Before the taller boy moved back towards his teammates, he paused, and then turned back towards the box and casually reached out an arm. Something glinted in his hand.

"Hrk–"

Shirou let out a small gasping choke as he felt a sharp pinching sensation from his right armpit, followed immediately by the agony of what he could tell was a punctured lung. In an instinctive reaction to the pain, he awkwardly threw himself to his left, crashing into Ren and falling to the ground.

As he pulled away, there was a sickening sucking noise as the bloodstained kitchen knife, still held in Cardin's hand, was pulled free from where it had been thrust into his unarmored armpit.

How? He hadn't sensed even the slightest hint of hostility from the boy, he thought blearily through the pain.

In fact, it was strange – he'd gotten used to a tension, an aggression that Cardin always held when he was near him – but apparently not used to it enough to have noticed when it was suddenly no longer there. Cardin had casually reached over and stabbed him with all the bloodlust of a wet dish-towel.

There was a brief moment where everyone, including Professor Goodwitch, stood frozen, eyes wide.

The only sound that could be heard was Cardin's laughter.

It wasn't manic. It wasn't sinister. It wasn't the laugh of a man who'd just attempted murder – no, it was the subdued chuckle of a man who had just been told a moderately amusing joke. Perhaps it was the incongruity of that laugh that left everyone so stunned – like they half expected Cardin to own up to the funny but harmless prank he'd just pulled.

Shirou pushed at the ground with his legs, scooting backward further away from Cardin, and let out a weak wheezing noise as he clutched at his armpit with his left hand. Blood spilled past it, dripping down to the like-colored grass. Cardin took a step towards him, still chuckling.

"SHIROU!"

A burnished golden disc wrapped in a roiling black nimbus collided with the side of Cardin's head like a runaway train, sending the boy flying. His body hit the ground meters away and flopped like a sack of potatoes, clearly out cold.

In the same instant, Pyrrha slid to the ground by Shirou's side, gathering him up into her arms and trying to apply pressure to the wound.

The dam broke, and the others all reacted as one.

Ruby fell forwards onto her knees and one hand, the other outstretched futilely towards Shirou's prone form, her face locked in a rictus of abject horror and fear. She didn't – couldn't – make a sound.

Weiss ran forward a few steps, and then froze again, unsure of what to do. Letting loose an uncharacteristic shriek of pure rage, she spun and flourished her rapier, encasing Cardin's body in a thick block of ice.

Yang ran towards her sister, sinking down next to her and pulling the girl's insensate form into a tight embrace as Ruby began to sob.

Ren, who had stumbled backwards from Shirou's initial impact with him, stepped forward and knelt beside Pyrrha, calmly beginning first aid – but Nora screamed. Anger, fear, sadness – it was some mix of those, certainly, though it was unclear in what proportion. It was raw and primal, and she spun on the remaining three members of Cardin's team. '

Blake flickered into existence next to the petite berserker, Gambol Shroud unsheathed and raised threateningly.

The other three boys present didn't even register the threat posed by the two girls, caught up in horror of their own. Russel stumbled back, falling to his rear and continuing to scramble backwards. "Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit oh shit…" he began to hyperventilate. Dove and Sky remained frozen in shock, utterly blindsided by their leader's actions.

Glynda shouted, but her voice was overwhelmed by the various other shouts and exclamations. Only Pyrrha and Ren, those closest to her, heard her plaintive cry. "Students! Stop at once! Control yourselves, or–"

A deep, echoing roar arose from the forest all around them. It came from no particular direction – or rather, it came from every direction, hundreds of monstrous throats roaring, howling, and shrieking in perfect unison.

"The Grimm…" Glynda finished in a whisper, horrified despite herself, before mustering her faux confidence once more. "Students! Fighting retreat! Back to the Bullhead!"

A few responded. Nora and Blake, who already had weapons drawn, turned towards the surrounding woods. Dove managed to shake himself out of his stupor and draw his sword, standing protectively over Russel.

Yang, however, was preoccupied with her sister, who was now trying to crawl towards Shirou, and Pyrrha refused to let go of her wheezing partner. Ren hesitated and reached for his weapons, shooting a questioning look at Glynda just as the first Grimm became visible through the trees.

No time. It was clear they would have to make their stand here. "Fight!" The clarion call of Glynda's voice demanded obedience.

That was the final impetus needed for Yang and Sky – the latter moved to stand beside Dove over Russel, and Yang rose and took up a stance beside the still shell-shocked Ruby.

Nora let out a fierce war cry, and knocked the head clean off the first Ursa stupid enough to charge at them – but it was only the beginning of a massive horde. Gunshots and battle-cries filled the air, merging with the wild howls and roars of the Grimm.

Yang punched out at a Beowolf mid-pounce, blasting away the beast before it reached her sister, and Weiss conjured an icy barrier along one of their flanks. Sky held back the attacking monsters with his long polearm while Dove knelt and fired his sword-gun into their ranks. Blake flickered about, making heavy use of her semblance, only appearing long enough to cut down a beast with a flick of her sword before vanishing once more.

Glynda telekinetically swatted away a lunging Ursa with a flick of her crop. "Miss Nikos! Defend your classmates! You are needed!"

"He's trying to say something!" Pyrrha screamed back urgently, ignoring her teacher. She lowered her ear closer to her partner's face. "Please, Shirou, please, stay with me…"

She did her best to make out the words he was trying to form.

Ruby, a short distance away, stared at the boy who had taken her on her first date as he struggled to utter what might have been his last words. It was agonizing. This couldn't be happening! And why did her eyes feel like they were burning? She felt a scream trying to bubble its way up and out of her – but she halted herself as Pyrrha raised her ear from Shirou's mouth, looking anguished – oh no–

"I think he's delirious!" Pyrrha shouted, distraught. "He thinks he's fine!"

His voice had come out weak, with an odd, metallic flanging effect to it. Pyrrha suddenly gasped, and withdrew her hand from Shirou's wound as something sharp sliced across her palm.

She looked down in horrified curiosity as she saw the hole in his armpit apparently stitching itself back together in a latticework of small blades.

"Up," he gasped out, his voice vibrating.

Had he patched up his own lung with… swords?

Shocked, she and Ren helped him unsteadily to his feet as Glynda repelled a small flock of swooping Nevermore with her Semblance.

For the first time, Pyrrha scanned the scene – it didn't look good. Russel had made his way to his feet, eventually, but he, Sky, and Dove were being slowly overrun. Yang and Weiss, who stood over Ruby, were faring only slightly better. Nora – well, she was Nora, and still hadn't stopped her blood-chilling scream for an instant. Any Grimm that got too close to her was flattened, and Blake was able to thin the horde enough around her that they weren't yet to the point of being overwhelming – but even she couldn't keep it up forever.

Shirou shook off their steadying arms as he took a deep, rattling breath – although he offered Pyrrha a thankful nod as he did so. His arm lit up with streaks of green as she called back Akoúo̱ to her own and drew Miló with the other. Ren readied Stormflower. She noticed Ruby staring at them with new hope dawning in her bright silver eyes, and their team leader finally scrambled to her feet and deployed her weapon.

Still. Could they really hope to defeat this many Grimm? The tide seemed endless.

As if in answer to her despairing thought, a huge, lumbering form pushed its way through the trees – an Ursa Major, the bearlike form covered in jagged spikes of bone. She'd thought the Ursa that Nora had ridden during initiation had been huge – and this thing was fully twice that size. Still, she made to step forward resolutely, to protect her wounded partner to the last–

But he beat her to it, staggering forward on his own. His favorite sword – a royal blue hilt inlaid with gold, and a shining silver blade – coalesced in his hands, and was quickly brought up in a two-handed grip in front of him. He closed his eyes.

"Golden Sword of the Victorious," he rattled harshly. She stepped up beside him. Was he… praying? At a time like this? Behind her, there was a clatter of machine-gun fire as Ren took out a small group of Beowolves that were trying to sneak up on Professor Goodwitch, while the teacher herself telekinetically used an Ursa as a wrecking ball to bat down Nevermore from the sky.

"Cleave the wicked," Shirou continued. His blade began to glow with a soft golden light, and for a brief moment, the Grimm seemed to falter in their attack – before they pushed forward once more with renewed aggression.

Pyrrha stepped forward and slung her shield off to one side, bisecting a Beowolf Alpha that had been preparing to pounce before recalling it to her arm, even as she stepped forward and stabbed a charging Ursa. Behind her, a Beowolf's head disintegrated as the retort of a high-caliber sniper rifle rang out, an instant before it would have been able to attack Shirou. What was he doing?

Shirou's eyes opened, and he stepped forward with his right foot. He sank into a low lunge as he thrust the sword held in both hands forward with a shout – "Caliburn!"

A thin beam of concentrated light shot upwards from the tip of the sword at an acute angle to the ground. Faster than the eye could follow, it reached an apex and then harshly arced downwards, piercing through the Ursa Major's chest like the massive Grimm wasn't even there and plunging on past it into the ground.

And then came the explosions. There was a chain reaction of golden bursts of light emanating from the beam's impact point, as though someone had set off a hundred brilliant grenades, all at once, along the perimeter of their impromptu battleground. Each explosion was filled with incredible concussive force, but something more than that – they also each cast sparkling golden motes of light into the air that slowly drifted down like gently falling stars.

The explosions somehow curved around the students, and reached nearly three quarters of the way around them. Any Grimm unlucky enough to be caught in them was instantly shredded, along with the trees, many of which burst into shrapnel that further thinned the Grimm ranks. That alone might have been enough to turn the tide, as the horde was decimated five times over – but there was more. As the golden motes rained down around them, Pyrrha was filled with Hope.

To call the attack 'inspiring' would be an insult. Each and every Huntsman and Huntress present – including Glynda – instantly found their second wind – and their third, fourth, and fifth at the same time. The formerly hard-pressed students charged forward with renewed energy and vigor, tearing into the already crippled horde as a single unit like a hot knife through butter, all thoughts of defeat forgotten.

All of them except for Pyrrha, who let her weapons fall to the ground and darted forward to catch her partner as he collapsed. He smiled up at her as their classmates ripped apart what was left of the Grimm.

She held him close, starting to sob in relief. Pure hope combined with the crystallization of victory, and filled the void that despair had left within her.

"I'm fine," he said with a wide smile, his voice still undulating with the vibration of metal, even as he coughed up some blood.

"You're an idiot," she said, and squeezed him tighter.

o-o-o-o-o

The Bullhead pulled in for a hot landing at the Beacon docks.

Glynda literally flew out of the pilot's seat, suspended by her Semblance, and rushed to the doors just as they opened. With a wave of her switch, two figures floated through aircraft's doors.

One Cardin Winchester, still out cold – literally, as he was still encased from toe to chin in a thick block of ice – and a loopy Emiya Shirou, who cartwheeled weightlessly through the door flanked by his three teammates. "Whee!" he weakly proclaimed, clearly deeply affected by blood loss and Aura depletion.

The three girls worked to steady his flight as Glynda strode off purposefully, the two levitating boys floating along behind her, and pulled out her Scroll.

A few rings later, her call was answered.

"Ah, Glynda. Back already? Perfect, I was just about to call you. Could you let Mr. Emiya know that I wish to speak to him in my office?"

"If you want to talk to him, you'll have to meet him in the infirmary," she snapped back uncharacteristically harshly.

"...Ah. Dare I ask how the field trip went?" Ozpin asked.

"He was attacked by another student in cold blood, Oz. Stabbed clean through the lung. The resulting negativity from the rest of the class brought down the biggest horde of Grimm I've seen since Mountain Glenn."

There was a pause, and then Ozpin let out a weary sigh. "I'm sorry, Glynda. I'm glad you made it out alive. How… how many casualties?"

"As in incapacitated?" she asked as she strode through the doors to the school. "Two. Emiya and the boy who stabbed him. As in dead? None, thankfully."

There was another long pause. "... How?"

She shot a glance backwards to see if the three girls were listening in, but they were still busy fussing over their friend, who seemed to be feebly asking why everyone was upside down. "Mr. Emiya has apparently been holding back in combat class, sir. Even suffering from a mortal wound, he pulled himself together long enough to take out over half the Grimm in a single attack, and it was enough to turn the tables."

"Ah. He created a veritable storm of blades, then?"

"W-what?" she said, confused. "No. He shot a beam of light out of a sword that caused a series of explosions throughout the ranks of the Grimm."

"Oh."

"Why… why did you think that other thing?"

"No reason. So, he's still alive?"

She sighed. "Yes, Oz." They were nearing the infirmary, now. "He somehow patched himself up, too. His Semblance is like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Yes, he is a strange one, isn't he? Well, if he's all patched up, then would you send him up to my office?"

"Ozpin, no!" she barked into her Scroll, momentarily gaining the attention of the boy's teammates. Luckily, they were quickly re-distracted when he began to babble out something about how he hadn't felt this tired since his little sister had enchanted him to sleep so that they could cuddle, which elicited a round of worried but tender "awws" from his audience.

"There is a difference between 'patched' and 'healed!'" she hissed more quietly into the receiver. "The boy is barely holding on as is!"

"Well, I'm afraid it's quite urgent."

Glynda repressed the urge to shatter her Scroll. "I'm hanging up," she growled as she stepped into the infirmary, collapsing the device and shoving it into a shallow pocket. "Peach!" she snapped.

A woman with tanned skin and peach colored hair, wearing a tight-fitting white lab coat and thigh high black boots, rose from behind her desk smoothly. "Glynda?"

"Blood transfusion!" Goodwitch barked, levitating Shirou into an empty bed, and the Cardicicle into another one as Professor Peach dashed off to fetch the necessary supplies.

"Miss Schnee. You may remove the ice, now," she suggested in the tone of a direct order. Startled, Weiss drew her rapier, and with a flourish, the ice cracked apart and fell to the floor.

Instantly, Glynda used her Semblance to grasp the various restraints attached to the hospital bed and deftly secured them around Winchester's limbs. They were heavily reinforced – even with Aura enhancing his body, the boy wouldn't be able to break free from these.

"I take it you don't have my sap?" Peach asked drily as she inserted an IV into Shirou's arm in a single practiced motion. The three girls hung back, looking on worriedly.

"Not in the mood, Peach," Glynda grumbled.

Peach nodded along in acceptance as she raised her patient's hand, and then paused and gasped. "Glynda… what is this?" she asked, staring down at the latticework of metal that held the boy together.

"Does it matter?" she shot back. "It kept him alive this long – now get it out of him and get to healing!"

"Oh, I can do that," the delirious boy chimed in with his oddly reverberating voice. "Should I?"

"Please do, Mr. Emiya," Glynda said after Peach nodded to her. In a flash of blue light, the framework of swords that held him together disappeared, and blood began to ooze out as the boy began to wheeze once more. His eyes rolled up as he finally slipped away from consciousness.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ruby demanded, taking a half step forward.

"Not to worry. He's in good hands," Glynda assured her as Peach lowered her hands to the boy's wound, whereupon they began to glow with Aura.

It wasn't even the woman's Semblance – she was just an incredibly skilled Aura manipulator. There was a reason she taught advanced Aura classes to the upper years in addition to being the school's resident head of medical staff. As the pinkish-orange light swept over Shirou's wound, the torn flesh slowly began to pull together.

"He'll make it," Professor Peach said, sounding confident. "What exactly happened to him?"

"The other idiot over there stabbed him," Glynda said bluntly with a gesture towards Cardin's bed.

Peach looked worried. "Why?"

"That would be the million-lien question, wouldn't it?" a new voice chimed in as Ozpin strode through the door to the infirmary, cane in one hand and mug of hot cocoa in the other.

"S-sir? What exactly is going on here?" Peach asked, sounding confused.

"That, Professor Peach, is what I am trying to find out," Ozpin responded. "Well, girls? Pull up some chairs. We may be here for quite some time."

The rest of team RESN, startled, shared a few looks with each other before walking off and grabbing seats from around the room.

Weiss dragged over a chair first, and Ozpin sat down heavily in it. She looked like she was about to scowl at him, and then she realized that he was the headmaster, so she went to grab a second chair without protest.

A few minutes passed in silence as Peach continued to slowly heal Shirou's wounds and his four guests simply watched.

"Um, professor Ozpin?"

"Yes, Miss Rose?"

"Uh, why are you here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it so unusual that I be concerned for an injured student?"

A hint of red graced her cheeks. "No, of course not! But, um, it still seems weird that you would just… sit here."

Ozpin nodded knowingly. "Ah, yes. Well, you see, I have reason to speak with him."

"Is it… about what happened?" Weiss asked.

"It very well might be," he answered noncommittally.

Weiss slumped a little and continued to stare at her friend. Her teammates did the same.

o-o-o-o-o

Of Shirou's four well-wishers, Ozpin was the first to fall asleep, which happened the moment his cup of hot chocolate was empty. He snored loudly, apparently.

Glynda had scowled at him and left the room, presumably to run the rest of the school in his absence, though she spared a more tender glance to the three worried girls before she left, as well as lifting the bed that still held Cardin's prone form and moving it off to a side room where it wouldn't offend his victims.

Pyrrha and Weiss had the discipline to stay awake over the hours that Shirou was out, and Ruby tried her damnedest, though her head repeatedly bobbed and fell before jerking back up.

After the first hour, Professor Peach had announced tiredly that he was stable, and that his own Aura would handle it from there. She'd also mentioned, slightly worriedly, that the golden energy seemed to be acting far more slowly that it had on the night of Roman's robbery.

The rest of Team RESN frowned at that. Wasn't Shirou's Aura more of a neon teal in color?

Regardless, Peach prescribed Aura boosters and then left to get some food and sleep – excessive Aura use was exhausting work.

A few hours after that, Shirou shot awake with a gasp. Ruby, who had been mid nod-off, jerked up as well with a startled squawk and fell back out of her chair, which was enough to rouse Ozpin from his slumber as well, albeit slightly more gracefully.

"Shirou!" Pyrrha exclaimed, smiling widely.

The injured boy noticed that it was a new smile – not the genuinely happy 'Hello again!' smile that she graced their team with every morning, nor the bashfully adorable 'I'm sorry!' smile she offered after every perceived slight. No, it was pure relief – the smile of a truly selfless person realizing that someone had been saved.

The closest thing he'd ever seen to it before had been Kiritsugu's, so many years before. The kind of smile he'd always thought one only encountered once in a lifetime – and yet, it was mirrored identically on Ruby and Weiss.

The three of them together was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, albeit somewhat bittersweet. It was the smile he'd been chasing ever since he first saw it, trying to find it for himself. Still, to find it again on his teammates was certainly the next best thing.

Oh, and Ozpin was there too, with a smile of his own, though it was more bemused than anything.

"You saved us," Ruby choked out as her eyes began to fill with tears.

Wait, that seemed wrong. Hadn't they saved him? "Huh?" he said, expressing his entire thought process eloquently with but a single word.

Pyrrha remained silent, although happy tears began to form in her eyes as well as she smiled.

Weiss, however, tried and failed to hide her own smile behind a scowl. "We thought you were dead, and then that we were all dead too! I swear, when you're better, I'm going to kill you for m-making us... w-worry like that…" Her voice trailed off as she got caught up in the shared emotions and started to tear up as well.

"Hey, hey, don't worry," he tried to reassure them. "I'm gonna be fine. I heal really fast, remember?"

"aWell, now. That may not be entirely true, Mr. Emiya," Ozpin spoke up for the first time.

"According to Professor Peach, whatever force you have protecting you seems to be nearly depleted, I'm afraid," he continued.

Ruby looked horrified. "You mean…"

"No, Miss Rose. I am not referring to Aura," Ozpin bullshitted with a smile that seemed to say that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

He was a fairly skilled cold reader and liar, after spending so many years interacting with people, and he'd seen the worried, secretive glances shared between the girls at Peach's earlier mention of Shirou's Aura. He'd found that oftentimes, making the correct guess at the right time was the best way to enhance his 'mysterious old man' image – after all, people were far more likely to be fully open with him when they thought he already knew everything there was to know.

"W-what?" Ruby responded. Her teammates looked equally confused.

Shit, he'd been so sure that would work. He easily fought down a grimace and decided to double down on his gamble.

"Ah. I see young Mr. Emiya has not been as forthcoming with you as I had assumed he might be," he said in a voice practically dripping with mysterious wisdom, looking towards the boy in question.

Shirou frowned subtly.

Jackpot.

"Where I come, we call it Prana. The energy of life," Shirou started to explain slowly. "But I don't think that's exactly what the headmaster is referring to, is it?"

Ozpin leaned back with a satisfied, knowing smile, still utterly confused, and shook his head. "No. It is not."

Shirou sighed. "I actually don't fully know myself what it is that heals me, to be honest," he admitted.

Shit. Ozpin gestured for the boy to continue without altering the expression on his face – he needed at least a little more to work with.

"I only started to notice it after I first met my last partner, Saber. Since then, no matter how wounded I was, I recovered fully and swiftly. I'm not sure why, but… it always feels like her Prana – or Aura – when I'm healing. I suppose with so much distance between us, whatever it was just… isn't working as well, anymore." He looked worried, but only slightly – like he was more worried about the deeper implications of what he'd just said instead of the fact that he was losing his ability to regenerate.

Ozpin leaned back and widened his smile slightly. "I had thought it might be something along those lines," he boldly lied.

The girls were silent, glancing between the two mysterious men. Shirou spoke up a moment later. "How?"

"You will find that I know a great many things, Mr. Emiya," he said confidently. It was about time for another probing gamble. "In fact, I happen to know that you're not from… around here, let us say." He put a subtle but noticeable stress on the two key words. An easy enough guess, especially given the differences in vocabulary, and he was hoping that he might learn where the boy actually had come from.

Shirou's eyes widened. "You… you're like him, aren't you?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow and continued to smile, wondering what kind of person the conversation had made the boy think he was.

"You're a Wizard," Shirou said softly.

Only literally millennia spent learning how to control himself perfectly stopped Ozpin from openly displaying his shock. Of all the things Shirou could have said… he certainly hadn't expected him to be right. He ignored the questioning stares from Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby.

It had been quite a long time since he'd felt like this – like he was uninformed, in the dark, opposite someone who seemed to hold all the answers. He took some solace in the fact that due to his own skilled acting, Shirou probably felt the same.

"Mr. Emiya. I do believe this conversation has strayed somewhat beyond the bounds of what might be appropriate for an infirmary, don't you?" he asked, desperately hoping the boy would take the easy out.

Shirou did, his visage growing stony. "Agreed," he said.

"Excellent. I expect you to make a full recovery, Mr. Emiya. Once you have, I would greatly enjoy a discussion with you in my office. Naturally, your teammates will be welcome as well."

Shirou took a moment to look at the girls – none of whom seemed to be against the proposition. In fact, if Weiss or Pyrrha's expressions were anything to go by, they'd be positively livid if he tried to exclude them. Ruby, for her part, just looked concerned.

He turned back towards Ozpin. "Yeah. See you then."

o-o-o-o-o

Hey, another chapter! Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing, it's what keeps me pumping these out so quickly. A little bit dark this time – I mean, nothing too bad compared to canon RWBY or Fate, but still. Hopefully there was enough humor, fluffiness, smut, and action to offset the fact that Shirou got, you know, stabbed. Don't worry, he'll be fine! Just with a little less Avalon to help him out from here on.

Wow, lotta flak from guest reviewers on that last chapter because it didn't focus on Shirou! All I can say is stick with it, I suppose. If you want a story that ends up cohesive in the end, I can't help but put in a few chapters that describe things happening in the background – otherwise, when stuff happens due to the butterfly effect of Grail-kun and Lancer being dropped into Remnant alongside Shirou, nobody will understand why, and the story won't make any sense.

Speaking of which, for those of you who forgot, I did explain why Lancer is here… I mean, considering it's actually canon that he hopped into the rocket, I don't see what all the complaints there are about. And for the record, this will not turn into a Grail War. First of all, if it did, I would have to make it as preposterous as Carnival Phantasm did, which wouldn't fit the semi-serious tone I'm going for, and second of all I'm as tired of those as everyone else is. Lancer is here because he's supposed to be – I'm not just going to throw in random Servants at will.

Alright, by this point I'm resigned to this being a pretty long Author's Note. For those of you who are still wondering whether this fic is crack or seriousness… yes, it is. To both of those. I strive to include a whole lot of humor and ridiculous stuff, not to mention innuendo, even in the middle of serious stuff, but I also want to have an actual plot. Plus, I'm as big a fan of Shirou using cool Noble Phantasms as anyone, which needs a little bit of seriousness to really shine through. Hope that clears things up a little.

Once more, thanks to everyone!