Weiss was in shock at the sight before her. When she left earlier in the day, the dorm room was in acceptable shape. While it would never have passed inspections back home, the clutter had been isolated to Ruby's corner of the room and her desk. Now, it looked like the aftermath of one of Yang's bar visits. Blake's shelf of books had been knocked over, scattering her books on the floor. Weiss's desk had broken in the middle, one of the legs were lying on the floor near the door. One of the ropes hanging Ruby's deathtrap over her bed were fraying, imperiling Weiss's bed. While the group of four observed the room in horror, a pair of glowing eyes watched them from Blake's bed. Closer inspection revealed a small corgi lying on Blake's bed. "Zwei? What's my favorite fuzzy wuzzy furball doing here?" She kneltto the ground, arms stretched out as Zwei came bounding over to her.

"You're home, you're home!" the dog yelped. "I thought you'd never come home! I only had the kitty to play with, then she left!" He bounced to Weiss feet, but stopped a few feet away. She smelled different. In fact, all the mistresses smelled different. The biggest and the smallest ones smelled a bit like the mistress who liked to play games with him. He wondered where she went. She scratched some lines then disappeared. Greatest game ever! The one who fed him the most, she smelled like a rival. But she wasn't hostile. She must know she belonged to him. Maybe she could understand him better now. He could see two of the beloved mistress, but he's sure it would all work out. As long as he got his required cuddling time, his food on time, his walks, and his attention, she could have a second pet. The last person was weird. He couldn't smell anything from her. It would require further investigation. He cautiously stepped towards the stranger.

Weiss scooped the corgi into her arms and started to scratch the unofficial mascot of Team RWBY's belly. "Did you know Zwei could talk? Who's a good boy? You are, yes you are."

Yang and her two sisters exchanged a glance then Ruby shrugged. She joined Weiss in the time honored tradition of cuddling the team dog. Most curiously, Yang avoided contact with Zwei. Before they used the pen, Yang would have been the first to cuddle Zwei.

A slight frown crept onto Penny's face. She questioned Rutwo, "Is this the proper way to greet a dog? Is it normal for dogs to speak? I haven't found like that in father's records. He'll be so pleased I learned something new!"

Rutwo's eyes widened at the remark and whispered, "Penny, you can't tell anyone about this. Dogs shouldn't be able to talk and Weiss would be mortified if anyone heard her like this. Once we find Blake, we'll tell you what's happening." Rutwo cleared her throat as loudly as she could manage then said, "Weiss, other me? Maybe we can focus on finding Blake, then cuddle Zwei?"

Weiss's face burned a rather fetching shade of rose as stood up from the floor. Brushing the dust and dog hairs from her shirt and pants, she said, "Right. Blake. Does anyone see any clues?"

Without looking up, Ruby muttered, "She ran away. She'll be back." Unfortunately for her, the entire room possessed better than normal hearing, be it from faunus traits or robotic sensors. Weiss and Yang exchanged a glance, a worried glint in their eyes.

The crimsonette slipped next to her duplicate, whispering in her ear, "She's our friend and teammate. I know you still have the memories of our time before this change. Is that how we should react?"

"I don't understand. What change are you talking about? Is he like me?" Penny took three tentative steps towards Zwei.

Zwei noticed her hesitation, twisted away from Ruby, and bounced to the new stranger. "Hi, are you a new friend?" Penny reached a hand out to the corgi who sniffed at the offered hand. Undecided, he licked at her hand, then yelped, "Rub my ears!" Penny obliged the dog, though she was careful to avoid hurting him. Flesh could only take so much abuse. She found herself relaxing, her worries fading away. Ruby and her duplicate would be fine. She would determine how to best save her friend. It was the least she could do after all the protege had done for her.

Yang, at long last, stepped into the dorm, carefully keeping her distance from the spoiled dog. "Penny, it's a long story. We'll tell you after we find Blake."

Ruby rolled her eyes at the constant excuses. "Weiss found a way to change people. Blake turned her into a cat faunus, Weiss turned me and Yang into faunus."

Rutwo and Weiss interrupted, "Yang and I."

"Whatever. I used the pen to make a duplicate."

"Well, you didn't create a duplicate. We believe you split your soul and personalities in half." Weiss grinned madly. "I guess that makes you Yang's quarter sisters."

Rutwo froze at the comment, her eyes dimming. "I'm a half of Ruby?" she whispered, her words softly spoken to avoid unwanted ears.

"Time and a place, Weiss," Yang sighed. Weiss was trying to get better at sounding human, but timing still eluded her. One does not joke when a friend is in peril. You can relax once everyone was home and safe.

"Oh. Is that how the dog can talk?" Penny had moved onto the more advanced art of loving a dog; rubbing the belly of the beast.

"Yup. The fun one scratched some lines and then she could understand me! She's the best at hide and seek!" Zwei's eyes were half closed in pleasure, his hind legs twitching in the air.

"Zwei, could you start at the beginning? What happened here?" Rutwo asked, her concern for Blake pulling her from her fears.

"Well, master fed me, then asked 'who' sa good boy? I said I was, then he gave me a stick-"

Yang interrupted Zwei, commanding, "Could you start at when you got into the room? Where's Blake?"

"Blake? Is that the kitty?" Zwei bounded over to Weiss, proudly barking, "Kitty here. The fun one scratched something and disappeared. I miss the games." Zwei slouched a bit, his body screaming disappointment.

"'Scratched some lines?' She used the pen," Rutwo groaned. "Let's find her writing. Hopefully she didn't take it with her."

Weiss walked to the ruins of the team's shared desk, though they agreed it was Weiss's desk. In the broken desk, she found her journal, opened to a page dated the day of prom. She quickly flipped through the journal, looking for a sign of anything unusual. She did find another torn page from her journal, this one in the back. She never tore from the back of the journal; it led to an unkempt appearance. "She took a page from my journal, but I don't see the pen."

Yang climbed onto Weiss's bed, then jumped to Blake's bed. For some reason, Zwei made her uncomfortable despite having spent her entire life around the adorable mooch. She mentally tagged it as a side effect of being a faunus, but she had no experience in the matter. On the bed, she discovered the missing quill and a book of fairy tales. "Found the quill," she called out.

"The fun one was on the bed before her left. When will she come back? I wanna play!" Zwei ran away from Penny, trying to leap onto Blake's bed.

Yang opened the book, only to discover the missing page from Yang's journal. She said, "That feisty girl. Do you remember what she said the first day you got the pen? She retreated into this book."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked the designated mother of the team.

In response, Yang read the note aloud. "I wish I could escape into the book I am holding for one hour. Pretty sure."

Ruby chased down the family dog, picked him up, and walked over to Weiss's bed. "Which story did she enter?"

Yang glanced at the open book, a picture catching her eye. The image showed four women, one was dressed in blue. The second was green, the third in green. The last picture looked like Blake, if she was dressed in amber. "I think she's in a story called The Story of the Seasons. One of the pictures look like her."

The book began to shake and shiver as a pale hand reached through the picture. Yang pulled on the arm, pulling Blake from the book of fairy tales. Blake's eyes were wide, terrified, looking like she had stumbled across some deep dark secret. "You're back so soon? We have a problem. I think I know what the pen is. It has brothers in the world, somewhere."

A/N: I have one guest review to address today, then some updates on the rewrite. To answer the guest's question, I don't think I ever explained what type of faunus Winter became. I referred to her as an Avian faunus because I couldn't find an animal that would be able to fly with human proportions. I was thinking of her as a raven, if only because the ravens near my home look much better than the crows, but I'll fix it when I get to that chapter in the rewrite.

As of right now, I believe I have posted the rewrite up to chapter 5. It should help align the RWBY relationships closer to what has been shown in volume 3. I haven't changed too much, though chapter two did get a scene in which Ruby is taught how to use dust added in. It was always supposed to be in, but I was impatient. A few other scenes have been expanded in that chapter, as well as the tone of Weiss's first change has been altered.

Now the bad news. As of right now, I am putting the story on indefinite hiatus. I have no drive or passion to write this story right now. It has been more successful than I had ever imagined, especially when I read the original first chapter, but this isn't the type of story I can just go through the motions. The rewrite will continue. Hopefully that can ignite some passion to write this story again.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read, follow, favorite, and reviewing this story. Your comments have been a beacon of light on dark days. I hope I can post something soon.