Chapter Eleven: How To Make Amends Part Two:

September 25th 1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

After Grimm Studies had ended Greta had been called to stay behind and talk to the professor. Peter had of course listened to her unspoken order to go ahead and not wait for her. He had tried to keep an eye on Rapture but she had strode ahead of them all, practically shouldering other students out of her way and had then done her best to leave them as quickly as she could.

Now he felt a little lost. He looked at Aurora who gave him a look he assumed conveyed similar feelings. Team TEAL, who had left with them didn't look that different either though Tom and Lach seemed to be the only ones fully invested in the issue. Adelheid and Elizabeth simply sighed in frustration and switched to waiting for some kind of decision from their own teammates. Peter was sure that they would gladly do something else or accept being dismissed and left to their own business. Right now, he was quite sure he would do the same.

'I'm going to the music room,' Peter quickly said after letting out a small sigh. He saw Tom give him a shocked look.

'What are you talking about?' Tom shouted. 'What about Rapture? And Greta?'

'Greta's busy,' Peter replied. 'And as long as she's with the professor there's nothing we can do about Rapture. So I'm going to keep myself occupied until then. What about you Aurora?' he turned to his other teammate.

'There's some reading I need to do,' she replied. 'If Greta doesn't get out soon I'll probably try to catch Rapture myself.'

'You guys know she won't be that long right?' Lach asked. 'We could just wait for her here.'

Peter sighed softly and rubbed the bridge of his nose, exasperated with the issue. Two days of worrying about the issue had left him exhausted and by this point, with their original plan of attack in shambles, he just wanted to get in a little session of respite.

'I just want to get some time in for my practise,' Peter said.'There's no use hanging around waiting for Greta now that Rapture's gone. Anyway, we don't know how long she will be in there and we'll probably get in trouble if we wait here to long.'

He saw that Adelheid and Aurora agreed with him, neither of them fond of getting told off for loitering. Lach and Tom looked less pleased but nodded in agreement after a few seconds of silence and turned to leave. Elizabeth seemed to be completely uninterested and unconcerned, simply walking away with her team when it looked like Tom had decided to go somewhere else.

'I'll be heading to the library now,' Aurora said as they both watched TEAL go. 'I'll meet up with you at our next class.' With that she walked off in the direction of the library, leaving Peter alone in the corridor.

He gave one last glance at the classroom where he was sure he could faintly hear Greta and Professor Siog Senior talk and then headed off down the hall to the extracurricular classrooms. The department wasn't really one that was used for official lessons. It was more of a place where students and staff could practise hobbies or skills that might be more useful to a specific vocation. There were rooms set up to facilitate a wide variety of subjects from music to media and even electronics, all of which saw use from at least a couple of students a day.

The music room, like everything else in the academy, featured a bizarre combination of classical aesthetics and state of the art technology. The walls were decorated with old-fashioned wallpaper that was padded underneath so any noise in the room wouldn't disturb people outside. The ceiling, which was also insulated to muffle noise, had a plaster facade laid over it that evoked an opera house, though not a particularly lavish one. The room wasn't filled with instruments and equipment as there was still plenty of room to walk around and practise in but the collection was still considerable. String instruments, brass, woodwind, even electronic variants, Beacon Academy had stocked itself with a wide array of different musical instruments for any students needs though the budget to get more was supposedly not that high anymore.

Peter knew how to play most of them, at a very basic level anyway. When you sampled every form of instrument you rarely ended up specialising in one, especially when you have to devote your time to Huntsmen training. He never really knew why he kept switching his lessons but he had frustrated numerous tutors when they found out he had lost interest in playing what they were teaching him just after they had completed the foundation levels.

He headed over to a stack of woodwind instruments when he began to hear a series of chords. He recognised the sound as the tuning of a guitar and he immediately thought of Arthur Raconteur. It took barely a second for him to realise it couldn't possibly be the guitar-gunner from Team BAGE when he heard whoever was playing the instrument completely botch both the notes and the rhythm. Wincing, he resisted the urge to cover his ears and simply resorted to running his hands through his hair instead. Taking a deep breathe as the terrible rendition of some unrecognisable tune continued, he decided that confronting whoever was murdering that acoustic guitar would serve as a sufficient time-waster.

Peter strode across the room to a section that had been obscured by a tall piano and several racks of horns, trumpets and other brass instruments. As he rounded the corner he found himself in an alcove created by racks of guitars. There were acoustic, electronic and metal guitars of every kind laid out carefully on racks. In the centre of the alcove, sat on a stool was the cause of the disturbance.

A male student with broad shoulders and a noticeably muscular figure sat in the middle of the rather tight space. He was dressed in the school uniform as well, though he had loosened the tie, undone a couple of buttons and looked like he was trying to relax as he plucked at the acoustic guitar he held in his hands. What was most distinctive about him, however, was the mask he wore over the lower half of his face, covering his mouth and nose. It was box-like and black with straps wrapping around the back of his neck to secure it in place. Sections of the mask on either side of its bridge could be seen rhythmically rising and falling indicting that some kind of respirator was built into it. Peter swore he could actually hear the sound of heavy breathing coming from the mask whenever the other boy stumbled over the notes he was trying to play.

The boy looked up barely a second after Peter had entered the alcove. He continued to attempt to strum the guitar as he gave Peter a nod and grunt of acknowledgement before returning to his torturous playing.

'You know you're doing a terrible job,' Peter said, tired of listening to the excruciating rendition of whatever song the boy was trying to perform and too tired to try to be polite about it.

'I've heard that before,' the boy said in a deep, gruff voice that reverberated slightly thanks to the mask. He wasn't looking at Peter and continued plucking at the strings. Peter noticed the boy had very thick fingers with callouses that usually developed from those who primarily wielded guns. This was likely the reason why he was so slow and awkward in his playing.

'You know,' Peter began again, 'not to be rude but I don't think you've got the hands for that kind of guitar.'

'Oh I know,' the boy replied, making Peter pause. 'My brother dared me to have a go for at least a week though and I'm not going to back down to him.' The boy stopped playing, placed the guitar down in his lap and extended a hand. 'Jedd Nechten.'

'Peter,' Peter said as he stepped forward and shook Jedd's hand. 'Peter Hamlin.'

'Nice to meet you,' Jedd said amiably. 'I can't say I've seen you around though? Are you in the second year?'

'First year,' Peter replied. 'Are you in the second?'

'Yes I am,' Jedd said proudly, puffing up his chest as he did so. 'I'm the leader of Team JETT, the best of the sophomores.' Peter swore he could see the top of Jedd's cheeks rise under the mask in what he assumed was a smirk.

'Can't say I've heard of Team JETT,' Peter responded, smirking in response.

'Really?' Jedd asked, though his face revealed he wasn't really that surprised and was playing along. 'I guess we've just got to try harder then. The only thing worse than ruining a reputation is failing to broadcast it.'

'Huh,' Peter said, unsure of what to make of the older boy. 'Well,' he began, trying to get the conversation on some kind of track, 'I think you should invest in a pick. You haven't got the fingers for that kind of guitar.'

'Already have one,' Jedd immediately replied. 'Like I said, my brother talked me into trying this and I have to do it until the end of the week.'

'Oh, I see,' Peter said. He paused for a moment, looking around at the displays as Jedd returned to experimentally plucking at the strings again, trying harder to successfully carry whatever tune he was looking for.

'I've never really been a fan of guitars,' Peter began, getting Jedd's attention. 'I've always preferred woodwinds and brass more.'

'I've always been a strings-man,' Jedd said, resting the guitar back on his lap. 'It's been a hobby of mine since I was a kid.'

'Here's hoping it actually did you some good then,' Peter replied with a smirk. He was a little worried that he might offend the older boy with his choice of banter but he decided that it couldn't hurt. If he did upset him it wasn't likely they would ever run into one another again.

'You haven't heard me play my guitar,' Jedd shot back with what Peter assumed was a joking sneer. 'So what exactly do you play?'

'Flutes, mostly,' Peter answered. 'They've always been my favourite and I have the fingers for it.' He raised his hands up and flexed his fingers as if he were displaying them to Jedd.

'Interesting,' Jedd said in response. 'You don't see many other students who go for something so…,' he paused as he tried to find the right words, 'small. So weak-seeming.'

'Weak-seeming,' Peter said in a more dangerous tone, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

'Well I don't think many of the boys at this place admit that they like being a flautist,' Jedd explained. 'Most people I've talked to in this place say they either want to be rock-stars or play something a little more prestigious like a piano, or a violin.'

'Well some people don't appreciate a real classic,' Peter said. 'Then again,' Peter added, 'I never really stuck through my lessons. I would go back and forth between instruments all the time.'

'You're a man with talent then?' Jedd asked.

'Well I certainly like to think so,' Peter replied, puffing up his chest. Whilst he hadn't hidden his tastes in music he never really talked about it with his teammates and enjoyed having a conversation with one of Beacon's rare few musicians.

'So what brings you here right now?' Jedd suddenly asked. 'Most students usually wait until classes are over before they hit these rooms.'

'I'm just looking for something to fill my free-time,' Peter replied, skirting around the real reason. 'There wasn't much else for me to do. Why are you here?'

'Trying to get that bet out of the way,' Jedd immediately answered. 'The sooner it's done the better. I'm tired of listening to the terrible noises I'm making.'

"Well I can certainly appreciate that," Peter thought. He now felt slightly awkward as he had no idea where to take the conversation.

He had come to the music room expecting it to be empty and free for him to relax and let his worries be drowned in the soothing beauty of song. He felt the need to kick himself for investigating as he was now locked in conversation with an older boy and had exhausted the conversation topics that did not concern his team troubles.

'Jedd!' a new voice suddenly shouted out. 'Jedd, are you done? I'm not hearing any bad playing.'

Peter turned to see a girl enter the room and stride purposefully over to the alcove he and Jedd were in. she stood at an average height with a slender, hourglass figure, dark brown skin and long, purposefully dishevelled platinum blonde hair. She walked with a sway to her hips that made her appear to strut as she moved and had a naturally haughty expression on her face that broadcast confidence. A thin circlet was wrapped halfway around her head, leaving a silver line along the middle of her forehead that held up thin ringlets, one on either side of her head. The accessory looked bizarre and were anyone but the self-assured girl wearing it they would probably look ridiculous.

'Ah Egeria,' Jedd said. 'I didn't think you would come to pick me up.'

Egeria snorted derisively as she finished walking up to the boy and loomed over him. 'Combat classes start in half an hour and we both know it takes forever to squeeze your fat ass into your armour so lets go.'

Jedd sighed and lifted himself from his seat with a grunt of discomfort. He slung the guitar over his shoulder and brushed his trousers, clearing them of dust. Peter felt a little bit more comfortable for the new girl's interruption. It had certainly helped break the awkward atmosphere that had been developing.

'Well I guess my time is up,' Jedd said to Peter. He then turned to the girl. 'Egeria, this is Peter Hamlin, one of the new meat. Peter,' he turned to look at Peter again, 'this is my partner Egeria Patch.'

'Pleasure to meet you,' Egeria said in a much softer tone. She still sounded self-assured but the faux-anger that she had spoken to Jedd with was gone.

'Likewise,' Peter said.

'Well, come on,' Egeria then said, immediately turning back to regard Jedd. 'What are you standing around for?'

'See you, Peter,' Jedd said. 'I come here all the time. Chances are we'll run into one another.'

'Well, goodbye,' Peter said pleasantly. He watched as the pair strode out of the room, returning it to silence.

When the two second years were gone Peter found himself back in silence. Thanks to the insulation and the heavy doors the air in the room felt heavy and thick. Without any distractions he tried to pick an instrument from the vast collection. He reached out for one of the flutes he had been about to pick before he went to investigate Jedd's playing but suddenly hesitated.

He didn't know why but he didn't feel like playing anything anymore. He felt strangely depressed after watching the pair of second years talk to one another. Sighing, Peter walked away from the rack of musical instruments and sat down on one of the stools with a huff. He let out a quiet, exasperated groan and put his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes and cheeks.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' he muttered to himself. He hadn't felt this confused in years and the sensation was unpleasant. He tried to find something to think about but his thoughts kept cycling back to the problem that had been hanging over the team's head for over a week, Rapture.

Peter couldn't say that he was as torn up about their faunus teammate's disappearance as Greta, or even Aurora but the tense atmosphere that had settled on the group had still gotten through to him. Like the others he tried to be proactive about the whole affair but it was difficult. Greta was the team leader and somewhat responsible for Rapture's well being and Aurora was the faunus girl's partner. He on the other hand was the teammate with the least connection to her and found he sometimes felt less dedication to solving whatever issue had divided them. He helped out, he did what he could, but he always discovered that when he thought hard about the problem he just couldn't think of a solution. That, in itself, was disconcerting to him.

Sighing heavily, he picked up his scroll and saw the time flicker onto the device as he looked at it. It read ten twenty three. Peter was both surprised at how quickly time had passed and frustrated that there was still another half an hour before he had to go to the combat class that had been scheduled for the day.


Aurora strode towards the day's combat classes alone. She had spent the past hour or so continuing the reading she had been doing for the past week. Though she still focused on her actual studies she had devoted much of her free time to the topic of faunus violence. After so many hours she practically knew the history of human-faunus racial issues inside and out. It had admittedly been hard applying what she now knew to her team's problem but she was sure she had finally figured something out.

It was all as clear as day to her now. Rapture was angry because the Red Fang were building up resentment against faunus. She had likely come from one of the numerous ghettos scattered around the lower residential districts. Those areas existed because of racial tensions which had only gotten worse in Vale since the Witch War due to faunus terrorists in the past and all the way up to the present. Seeing the attack take place must have reminded her what was happening to her people and Greta's unwillingness likely came off as some kind of racist sentiment. Rapture likely felt discriminated against by her own teammates which was why she had run away.

Aurora was sure that confronting Rapture, telling her that she herself, at the very least, didn't hate or genuinely fear her because of her heritage, would help. Whilst they had only known each other for a few weeks Aurora had learnt that Rapture was not uncivilized or barbaric like so many other faunus seemed to be. There was no reason to disassociate herself from the faunus girl and so she was going to do what she could to make amends. If she could calm her partner down then the team could begin to heal.

With this newfound resolve she had gone to the changing rooms where she kept Dark Majesty and a spare set of her Huntress outfit in her locker. She had changed as quickly as her elaborate clothing would allow, her mind constantly focused on making sure she would catch Rapture and get her to talk to her.

Aurora strode into the room and was surprised to see none of her teammates were waiting for her. Though she had no idea where they had gone after their last class, being content to leave them to their own devices so she could go and pursue her own, she had expected one of them, Peter at the very least, to have arrived before her. Seats were already occupied by students, many of whom were being joined by their teammates as they arrived. After barely a few weeks the class had divided up the room and designated which seats belonged to them and their teams. Like at virtually every school this new informal seating plan was virtually inviolable and no-one was willing to contest it.

Aurora went and sat at the row her team had been sitting in since their first combat class and took out her scroll. Since none of her teammates were here yet she couldn't do much other than try to keep herself occupied. She flicked idly through the news after opening up an interlink tab, skimming the articles disinterestedly.

She remained focused on her browsing, ignoring everything that was going on around her until she saw someone sit down in the seat next to her. She looked up, shutting her scroll as she did so and saw Peter was in the seat, dressed in his own Huntsmen outfit. He looked confused and slightly irritated but he did nod in greeting to her.

'Aurora,' he said in acknowledgement, his voice sounding uncharacteristically gruff.

'Peter,' she said in response. 'Where have you been?' she then asked, trying to fill the awkward silence that had descended on them. The last thing she wanted was for the sentiment within the team to get worse.

'At the music room,' Peter said, his voice sounding more controlled and upbeat again. He slipped his friendly mask back on and gave Aurora his usual small smile. 'I was just trying to pass the time before class. I ran into a second year team who are apparently famous. Or they they try to be. What about you?'

'I've been reading,' Aurora replied. 'I've also been thinking about Rapture.' She saw Peter tense a little. He had never been averse to the topic but the whole affair seemed to be getting under his skin.

'Oh?' he said, the single word sounding like a question. 'And what have you thought?'

'I'm going to get her to talk to me,' Aurora declared with finality, receiving a raised eyebrow from Peter. 'One way or another.'

'Well I certainly wish you luck,' Peter said, sounding sincere, 'but how do you expect to do that?'

'If she showed up to our morning class then she's going to come here,' Aurora explained. 'And when she does, I'm going to challenge her.'

'Challenge her?' Peter asked skeptically, his eyebrows raised. 'Are you sure you can beat her.'

'Yes,' Aurora replied, ignoring the slight against her abilities. 'I can beat her. I have to beat her because this is never going to stop if I don't force her to stop and actually talk to us again.' As she spoke her tone became more and more bitter as she let her frustration show through.

'Hey guys,' Greta suddenly said. Aurora turned and saw she was standing in the door and walking towards them. Though she was smiling Aurora saw that she looked rather tired.

'So,' Peter said as Greta walked over to their seat, drawing the word out as their leader sat herself down in the seat next to him. 'How was the talk with the professor?'

Greta took a moment to register his words as she settled into her seat and then sighed. She then fixed him with a withering glare that spoke of frustration and exhaustion.

'Tiring,' Great then answered, her glare melting away to be replaced with a more placid expression. She still looked annoyed but no longer appeared angry as well. 'Professor Siog wanted to know if I was alright and if there were any problems in our team. Then she gave me the usual talk. You know, the one about how hard it is to be in this school and that leaders have a lot to deal with? As if I didn't already know that.' She huffed and threw herself back in her seat theatrically with a groan.

'Well I've got a plan to help with our problem,' Aurora declared.

'Really?' Greta said excitedly, nearly snapping at her teammate as she almost leapt out of her seat. 'What have you got?'

Aurora hadn't expected Greta to react in such an extreme fashion. Then again, whatever plans their leader had initially held had likely been ruined by her sudden visit to the teacher.

'Well I'm going to challenge her to a bout in this class,' Aurora explained. 'Then if I win I'm going tot ell her to stay where she is and actually listen to us.'

'How are you going to get her to agree to that?' Peter asked, still looking and sounding sceptical.

'It's a surprise,' Aurora said with a smirk. She had a plan and a small part of her felt very pleased with itself for deciding to follow it.

'Really Aurora?' Peter said in exasperation. 'You've come up with a plan to deal with Rapture and you're not going to tell us because "it's a surprise"?'

'Just trust me,' Aurora replied. 'The fewer people that know what it is, the easier it will be to catch Rapture off guard. I know what I'm doing.'

'But you're the only one who knows the plan,' Greta pointed out, still sounding optimistic but also slightly confused.

'Exactly,' Aurora said. 'And that's why its going to work. Rapture won't see it coming.' The sinister smirk returned to her face as she ran over the plan in her head again. Peter and Greta simply sighed in frustration at her response.

'Should we be worried?' Aurora heard Peter whisper. She glanced to her side to see her two other teammates had brought their heads close together conspiratorially.

'I think we should trust her,' Greta replied. 'Its not like either of us have anything to work with anyway. Lets see how it goes.'

'Hi everyone,' a new voice, that of Tom Underhill, said as Team TEAL walked up to them. The other team walked over to their seats across from GRAP and sat down in them, Tom taking the seat next to the aisle. He immediately hung out of the side and addressed Greta. 'How was the talk with the professor?'

'The usual thing about stress and how hard it is being a leader,' Greta replied with a sigh.

'Well I can sympathise with that,' Tom replied somewhat flippantly. He then paused and gave Greta a more concerned look. 'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine,' Greta replied with a forced smile. 'Just tried.'

'Rapture's here,' Lach Boucanier suddenly said. Aurora looked at the other boy to find he was turned towards the door and, judging by the way he had positioned himself on his seat, he had been watching the area for a short while.

All three members of Team GRAP turned in their seats to see their faunus teammate enter the room. Aurora noticed that Rapture didn't look as annoyed as she had been and simply appeared tired, almost resigned even. Rapture looked over at the team's usual spot in the classroom and gave them a look of forced indifference. She then walked away, trying to find a spot in another area of the room.

Aurora chuckled as she watched her partner try and fail to find somewhere else to sit. Whilst there were empty seats every team had at least one member in position to tell the faunus girl that they were saving the seats for their partners and rebuffed her attempts to sit in their places. Eventually Rapture gave up and walked over to her team, the frustrated scowl back on her face.

"Is she really being so immature about this?" Aurora thought as her partner sat down in the seat next to her and promptly began to ignore everyone around her. "By every god, above and below, this is childish."

The group remained quiet except for Greta who continued to chat with Tom, then Professor Smith walked in. The older man was still dressed in tweed though he now wore a dark red cravat instead of his usual bowtie. Aurora was always fascinated at how such a worn man could still express so much dignity, authority and, at times, energy.

'Alright class,' the professor said, 'we'll be moving on to the next stage of this class.' Murmurs echoed through the classroom, some nervous, some excited and some confused as he class processed what had just been said.

'You have all progressed very well,' Professor Smith continued, 'and you have all passed the early staged fights. I paired you all off by myself in order to assess your abilities but, whether through failure or success, you have all made it past that stage. Now I will call on only one of you and you will get to pick your opponent yourself.'

The murmurs returned as some students, usually the less capable ones, panicked at the prospect of being picked on by their stronger classmates. Aurora, on the other hand, grinned maliciously. She knew this was coming and had planned accordingly.

'Oh gods, I'm doomed,' Tom whispered loudly.

'Of course we're all aware that this system can be abused so I will still be monitoring your progress but this will still offer all of you a chance to get out of your comfort zones and test yourself as you see fit.' Professor Smith opened his scroll and flipped through several holographic screens. 'However,' his voice became very stern, 'if I do see any of you using this as a chance to bully anyone, I will see to it that you receive an appropriate punishment and I will get to choose what it will be.'

Aurora blanched at that declaration. She had expected the professor to do something to prevent abuse but she was worried how he might interpret her attempts to get Rapture to finally sit down and help fix the problem the team was going through. She hoped that she might get chances or something or an opportunity to explain herself after she was done. She couldn't give up the opportunity she had made for herself, she had planned too much on the fight she was going to stage.

'So its time to begin,' Professor Smith said. 'Aurora Basilikos please step onto the platform.'

"Okay, that is just too good to be true," Aurora thought as she got up, holding Dark Majesty ready. "Do they know? How could they know? And if they do, are they approving my plan?" She shook her head a little to clear it and stepped onto the raised stage at the centre of the room.

'Miss Basilikos,' Professor Smith said to her. 'Would you please pick an opponent.'

'I'd like to fight Rapture Brostein,' Aurora said immediately, fixing her partner with a stare. Rapture looked slightly surprised, then her a look of anger appeared on her face.

'A fight with your own teammate?' Professor Smith asked, sounding more intrigued than shocked. 'I can't say we see that many of those. Very well. Miss Brostein, please step onto the platform.'

Rapture got up from her seat and stalked down to the stage. Aurora glanced at her partner's wrists and saw she already had her bracelets on. Rapture flicked her wrists and the solid bands of silvery metal folded out into the familiar segmented gauntlets that Aurora knew Rapture was proficient in wielding. Not wasting any time, Rapture flexed her fingers and a trio of half-metre long knife-like claws shot out from the top of the gauntlets. Rapture then settled into a ready stance, her arms up in a guarded position and her legs spread out in a steady position.

'You fight until your Aura reaches the red,' Professor Smith reminded them. 'Begin when you're ready.'

'Rapture,' Aurora immediately said as the professor stepped back to let them start fighting.

'Yeah,' Rapture grunted out, bobbing on her feet, ready to leap forward but staying still. Aurora almost breathed a sigh of relief, glad that her partner had taken the bait.

'I want to make a deal with you,' Aurora said, her tone low. 'If I win I want you to stop running away from us, sit down and actually talk to us. I'm sick and tired of this spat dragging on like it has and I want it to end now. One way or another we are going to talk this out with one another.'

'And why should I agree to that?' Rapture replied, keeping her tone low. She looked confused and indignant and Aurora smirked as she prepared to level her ultimatum.

'Because if you don't,' Aurora began, 'I'm going to make your little tantrum public knowledge, to everyone. Classmates, older students, professors, I'll tell everyone. I mean I can't speak for you but I'm pretty sure you don't want everyone knowing the little details about the shouting last week. I do wonder what people would think of you after that.'

Aurora hoped that Rapture would give in to her bluff. She didn't want to have to actually go up to every person she could find and awkwardly detail the specifics of their fight. Aurora wasn't exactly sure she could even do it if she really had to.

'You're a real bitch, Aurora,' Rapture ground out through grit teeth. She then looked away and at the rest of the classroom who all looked rather confused that the fight hadn't begun yet. Rapture grimaced for a moment and then looked back at her partner, a disgusted expression on her face. 'Fine.'

'Excellent,' Aurora replied with a grin and then she span Dark Majesty around and aimed it at Rapture.

She began the battle immediately, firing a Dust-round at her partner. Rapture ducked to the side, dodging the round and rolling before jumping to her feet in a more loose stance. The Dust-round shot at the students across from Aurora and then detonated harmlessly on the invisible barrier that had come up shortly after the professor gave the order to begin fighting. The round went off with a loud bang and generated a relatively large cloud of fire and force for such a small shot. Rapture looked at the dissipating dust cloud with shock and then turned to Aurora, an incredulous expression on her face.

'What the hell was that?!' Rapture shouted.

High impact fire Dust-round,' Aurora replied. 'I used these on the Malecorn during Initiation.'

'And you're shooting me with those?' Rapture snapped. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'I just want to finish this quickly,' Aurora replied and then she lined up another shot and, in one swift movement, fired.

Rapture didn't move from her position and instead ran forward, her gauntlet's held up in front of her face. The shot impacted on her gauntlets and went off. The moment it hit her, the faunus girl braced herself, bowing her legs slightly and shutting her eyes. She slid back a little but kept her stance and weathered the small explosion. The second she had stopped sliding back she charged forward, her left arm raised to protect herself and her right swinging in a vicious hook.

Aurora panicked and jumped back just as Rapture reached her. The powerful hook clipped her and threw her off, causing her to stumble. Rapture leapt forward again, roaring viciously and slammed her left-hand fist into Aurora's stomach, winding her and sending her flying back to violently bounce off of the barrier. Aurora slammed onto the floor and tried to get back up only for Rapture to kick her hard in the stomach. The dark-skinned girl flew through the air a few feet and collided with the barrier again.

'Is this going quickly enough for you?' Rapture snarled as Aurora lay on the ground, forced into a sitting position by the barrier at her back.

Aurora sneered and readied Dark Majesty as Rapture closed in on her. With an angry screech Aurora swung the sniper rifle and smacked the barrel into the side of Rapture's head. Stunned, the faunus girl took a step back and in that moment Aurora aimed and shot a Dust-round into her partner's face. Rapture went flying as she failed to block or dodge the shot and took it in her gut. Aurora took a moment to see her Aura was still in the green but barely. She wasn't an endurance fighter and her opponent was. The fact that Rapture's own Aura was a much healthier green showed her that she would need to work much harder to defeat her.

Barely wasting a second, Aurora lined up her next shot and fired at her partner. Rapture, still stunned by the previous shot, tried to guard against it but still stumbled from the impact and detonation. Aurora knew she had to keep her distance from her partner. Whilst Dark Majesty was an efficient weapon in its glaive form Aurora knew she wasn't proficient enough in using it to face off against the melee oriented faunus girl.

"Come on," Aurora thought. "Stay down."

Rapture stood up on slightly shaky legs and brought her fists up again. Surprisingly Rapture didn't take a guard position, instead keeping her arms ready to strike. Aurora didn't waste the opportunity and fired at her partner. As the round shot at her, Rapture immediately swung her right fist forward and hit the round, detonating it just in front of her. The high impact round exploded but Rapture didn't move despite the force of the detonation.

Aurora prepared to line up her shot but a sudden, loud roar erupted from Rapture, dissipating the smoke of the Dust that had exploded in front of her. Aurora felt a blast of force hit her and, looking up despite the blast wave pressing against her, saw it was coming from Rapture. Her partner had her mouth wide open and was letting out a deafening noise that seemed to form a cone of translucent energy that was blasting into her. Aurora tried to brace herself but she was swept off her feet and fell to the floor, bouncing several times and then slamming into the barrier again.

Aurora tried to get back on her feet, using her sniper-rifle to help push herself back up only to find Rapture barrelling towards her. The crocodile faunus girl slammed a left hook into Aurora's stomach, following it with a right uppercut. Aurora was thrown back into the barrier and pinned as Rapture proceeded to pummel her over and over. Aurora couldn't see the screen but she knew her Aura was steadily trickling down as she received one vicious punch after another.

Panicking, Aurora prepared to use her semblance. She didn't like to use it, seeing it as her trumpcard, and was annoyed that the battle had gotten so out of hand. Struggling to concentrate as Rapture beat her, she began to stir the air. Her semblance was the ability to manipulate the currents of the air, moving or stilling them as she wished, increasing or decreasing pressure and even raising or reducing the temperature and humidity. At its strongest she had been able to conjure up small cyclones or spread frost over the ground in summer but it was a difficult ability to use. Right now, however, she just needed something more simple.

It took several seconds but they were painfully slow as she tried to compress the air and increase the pressure. Finally, just as Rapture was about to deliver another powerful right hook, an angry snarl on her face, Aurora released the burst of air. A wall of force struck Rapture and pushed her back. In a single fluid motion, Aurora put out her arm, directing her semblance in the gesture and cooled the moisture in the air. A patch of ice formed immediately behind Rapture and the moment she stepped on it she slipped. The faunus girl fell to the ground with a loud thud and a grunt of discomfort. Trying not to wobble, Aurora picked her weapon back up and fired.

Aurora was sure she saw the crowd of spectating students wince as she fired one shot after another at her downed partner. The only times she looked away from Rapture was when she was checking her Aura levels. Rapture's bar was dropping quickly as the Dust-rounds mercilessly hit her. Eventually the bar turned red and a loud buzzer sounded.

'Alright that's enough,' Professor Smith said.

Aurora stumbled forward, propping herself up with Dark Majesty. She sighed heavily and then straightened up again. She checked her Aura levels and saw it was in the lower yellow ribbon, barely just above the upper red level. Rapture, on the other hand, was struggling to lift herself off of the floor of the ring.

Sighing heavily, Aurora walked over to her partner and stood over her. She was tempted to loom over Rapture, maybe even throw in some unspoken gloating. It didn't even take her an instant to decide that such actions would only make the situation worse. Instead she leant forward and offered Rapture her hand.

'Are you alright?' she asked her partner.

'Fine,' Rapture grunted back.

'That's good to hear,' Aurora replied. 'We'll talk after class.'

Rapture scowled but nodded anyway and took Aurora's hand. With a grunt of exertion Aurora pulled her partner back onto her feet and then steadied herself. She felt quite exhausted and dishevelled by the fight. She had seen how her partner hit Grimm, targets and other students in class but this was the first time she had received hits from the faunus girl and they had been devastatingly powerful. The amount of times she had been winded by Rapture left her stomach and her lungs a little sore and she knew she would be taking a good, long rest after class.

'Now I warned you both beforehand about what I would do if I found either of you using these matches as an excuse to bully someone,' Professor Smith said as they walked off the stage. The two of them looked up at him, Aurora suddenly feeling very nervous. 'I don't know what you did but I'm not stupid. I'm well aware of your team's recent troubles and I want to say that, it. Stops. Now!' Aurora and Rapture both shrank back from a glare that held an immense amount of anger for such a controlled expression.

'I will not have your own fights and disagreements disrupt lessons,' the professor continued. 'If you want to squabble like children then you can do that in the training rings but not in my classes. Now I have half a mind to keep you behind and then have you attend a series of detentions for intentionally breaking the rules I set down but I'm going to give you one last chance. You get over whatever is causing this or I won't go so easy on you.'

'Yes sir,' Aurora said, hearing Rapture say the exact same thing. She let out a small sigh of relief at avoiding serious punishment but tried not to be too obvious about it.

'Alright then,' Professor Smith said, accepting their compliant replies. 'Get back to your seats.'

Aurora hurried back to her seat, sitting down with as much dignity as she could spare. The professor was already calling out the next student to pick their opponent. Rapture slumped back into her own seat, exhausted and slightly bruised from the fight. The faunus girl was scowling still but she seemed to be lacking the energy to maintain the angry sulk she had exhibited earlier.

'Peter,' Aurora whispered, leaning in to the boy next to her. 'Tell Greta to wait with us when class is over. I got Rapture to stay still and speak with us.'

'Right,' Peter said in understanding. He then leaned away to whisper the message to his partner.

Aurora settled down in her seat, trying not to smirk in victory. She had gambled, won and escaped the punishment that should have been given to her for her actions. Sure she had blackmailed and pummelled her partner to do so but her father had always said that "needs must when devils drive." with any luck Rapture would forgive her for what she had done after they had talked the horrendous debacle that had ruined their week out and returned to getting on with their lives. It would soothe everyone's nerves, even Rapture's, to sort this thing out and move on from it.


Author's Note: With any luck we'll be wrapping up the first phase of the second arc. One thing I've been trying to do is showcase that our characters are teenagers and, like teenagers, aren't really the most emotionally mature people. Combine that with general awkwardness, ingrained prejudices, neuroses and a cultural attitude that breeds warrior mentalities and you have an escalating emotional dilemma. With any luck the worst of it will soon be over but that doesn't mean this is the end of the issue. There is further to go.