Rachel Alucard was distressed by her meeting with Noel Vermillion. It hadn't gone the way she envisioned it. She'd heard from Valkenhayn that Noel could potentially be a great asset, but how that could be she had no idea. Rachel sat and drank her tea, rose petals fluttering in the winds that she conjured out of annoyance. Noel Vermillion had been a disappointment.

"Madame Rachel, I know you trust Ragna to fulfill his role, but what of Noel? I did quite a bit of work finding out about her, and I'd be interested to know what you think, if I'm not being too impertinent," Valkenhayn said, bringing Rachel more tea. She gladly accepted it and sighed.

"I appreciate your efforts, but I am not impressed with the girl. As the wielder of the true Azure, Noel Vermillion has fallen short of my expectations. I know what I said to her back at the cemetery, but that was merely a feeble attempt to boost her confidence. It was not praise," she said bluntly. Valkenhayn nodded.

"I expected as much. May I ask why?"

"You may. My reasoning is this: Ragna, for all his faults, has strength. He does not lay down when he is beaten, he does not follow the rules pushed upon him by others. He knows no order but his own, no master but himself. His life is in his hands and his alone, and what he does is solely up to him and how he uses his strength. Noel Vermillion, on the other hand, is a pathetic weakling. She cannot act on her own will, as her will itself is too fragile. She has no purpose save for the purpose she is given. She follows her friends like a stray dog, doing only what they say in hope that she will be praised. She wants to be loved by others so that she can love herself. Her self-esteem is practically nonexistent, and she cannot find meaning in her life and herself. Instead, she relies on others to present that meaning to her. I do not believe that she has what it takes to break the cycle. Noel Vermillion is weak," Rachel said. Her speech was lengthy, but she wasn't out of breath. She looked at Valkenhayn calmly, waiting for his reaction.

"You may very well be right. Perhaps I have made a grave mistake in assuming that Noel Vermillion has what it takes to fulfill the position I have planned for her. However, I see in her a strength that she herself does not fully realize. Please allow her a chance, if I can be so rude as to ask you such a thing," was the response. Valkenhayn bowed low to the ground. It was now his turn to wait for a reaction. He got one.

"...Very well. I would be callous to refuse you, the man who has served my family for over 100 years. I will allow Noel Vermillion a chance to change my mind." Valkenhayn smiled.

"You will not be dissapointed, Madame Rachel." The vampire smiled and sipped her tea as Valkenhayn left. He felt truly blessed to serve not one, but two noble members of the Alucard bloodline.

"Noel and Ragna are coming back today...what say we throw a party?" Makoto asked, walking through Beacon's large but empty halls. It was after school hours and people were enjoying their freedom. However, Makoto and Tsubaki had their friends to tend to.

"I don't think they'd like that...I remember how Ragna almost destroyed his house when we threw that surprise party. He doesn't like surprises," Tsubaki told her friend. Makoto sighed and pouted, making a pleading face. It didn't work.

"Come on! If Noel made that face you'd be powerless," the fauna muttered. Tsubaki turned slightly red. She wouldn't deny her friend's accusation.

"Anyway, I wonder how things worked out. I hope that Ragna's learned to control himself, although I expect no changes that are too drastic," she said.

"You're taking this way too seriously, Tsubaki. No changes that are too drastic? They didn't have some life-changing epiphany or anything. They were just confronting their past. Let's just be glad they're back and worry about the rest later. Now, changing the subject, did you write down the classes so that they can be up to speed?" Makoto asked. Tsubaki sighed.

"Yes, but I would have appreciated your help in that endeavor, Makoto."

"You know my handwriting's practically unreadable!"

"Then use your phone."

"Yeah, use my phone in class. What, do you want me suspended?"

"Now it's my turn to say that you're taking this way too seriously."

"Hey, I took the rap for Ragna's temper tantrum. I'm treading on thin ice."

"Luckily for you, you're light on your feet."

"That I am," Makoto said mischievously.

The ship landed softly on Beacon's port, touching down in a gust of wind. The hum of the engine had put Ragna and Noel to sleep, the white-haired young man being the first to wake up as they landed and the hum stopped. He looked out the window and stared at the familiar, towering castle which was Beacon Academy. He shook Noel awake and she shot up, wiping drool from her mouth and looking embarrassed.

"I was drooling in my sleep again..." She sighed.

"And it was disgusting," Ragna said absentmindedly. She smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Did you really have to say that?" Noel moaned, rubbing her hands on her black coat. Ragna chuckled and walked out of the ship and into the crisp, cold air. It was getting dark; the sky was red and he could see the black seep in as the sun set. He rubbed his hands together and began to walk, followed by a shivering Noel, who held her arms close to her chest and hurried after her friend.

"Where are they?" Ragna muttered, Makoto and Tsubaki weren't around to greet them as they expected. Ragna and Noel were sure that Makoto would hurry over, even if Tsubaki was patient. They waited around the entrance to Beacon for a few seconds before spotting some red hair peek out in the distance.

"Tsubaki!" Noel shouted with glee. However, it was Pyrrha that stepped out.

"Hello! I'm sorry to disappoint you, it's only me. Tsubaki and Makoto should be here soon, though." Pyrrha was followed by Nora and Ren, the former of whom ran to embrace Noel in a hug that felt like it would shatter the blonde girl's ribs.

"Gah...ack...get off...please..." Noel gasped.

"No way! Hugs for everyone!" Nora sprinted to Ragna, who looked absolutely terrified.

"And I thought the damn Ursa was bad! What...what is it with you and breaking my bones?!" He cried out as she hugged him. Ren ran over to pry her off of Ragna, but then found himself being crushed as well.

"Nice...to see you again...help..." Ren muttered. Ragna and Noel got Nora off and she grinned like nothing had happened. By this time, Pyrrha had walked over, followed by Jaune.

"Hey. It's good to have you back! So, uh...stuff happened while you were gone...I have to do extra homework, and Nora may or may not have destroyed your and Weiss' lockers while playing with her hammer. It's been...exciting," Jaune said kindly, filling Ragna and Noel in as a way of saying hello. They sighed.

"Nora..." Ragna growled angrily. The carefree girl ignored him and played with the purple streak in Ren's hair.

"How was your trip? Did you...sort things out?" Pyrrha asked. Noel and Ragna grinned and stepped closer to team JNPR.

"Yeah, we did. We also met this strange little girl who claimed to be a vampire. Do you know a Rachel Alucard, by any chance?" Noel asked. The members of team JNPR shook their heads, and Ragna sighed,

"Why the hell would you think they'd know? Besides, do you actually wanna meet that rabbit bitch again?" He asked.

"...I'd like to know what she meant by some of her words..." Noel mused. In the distance, a voice interrupted her from her thoughts.

"Noellie! Ragna!" Makoto shouted. Pyrrha grinned.

"And now for the main attraction," she said. Noel blushed.

"W-We're really happy you came to greet us, too! It means a lot that you'd do that..." She said.

"No thanks needed. Makoto and Tsubaki brought us along," Jaune told her.

"Even so...thank you." The blonde boy grinned at her words.

"Anyway...should we leave?" Ren asked.

"No, you can stay. It's no trouble at all," Noel said. Ragna nodded. However, he didn't have time to do much else, as Makoto gave him a hug that almost rivaled the strength of Nora's.

"Goddammit! Ow ow ow! Shit!" Ragna cursed some more before Makoto sheepishly let him go.

"Sorry, but it's just been kind of...lonely, I guess, without you two around," she said. Tsubaki, meanwhile, gave Noel a much gentler embrace.

"I'm so glad to see you. How was...how was your trip?" She asked. Noel beamed.

"Great! I think we made got a lot done," she replied. Tsubaki gave her friend a warm smile.

"That's great." Tsubaki was about to say more to Noel, but Makoto interrupted her with another bear hug. Noel gagged, and Tsubaki walked over to Ragna.

"Do you...want a hug? Or have you had enough hugs for one day?" She asked.

"...Whatever. It's not like shaking hands feels right," Ragna replied. He and Tsubaki then embraced, a much gentler embrace than the one Makoto was giving Noel.

"I missed you so much, Noellie! There was a student who brought in his pet panda for a day, and you totally missed it! It was so cute!" She said. Noel's eyes widened and she began to feel tears well in her eyes.

"I...I missed the panda? I missed the panda?!" She cried out.

"Hey, Noel, now's not the time to cry! Snap out of it!" Makoto tried to wipe away her friend's tears, as she was too late to stop them.

"Panda..."

"I took pictures, Noel!"

"Really?!"

"Of course!" Jaune smiled and walked away as the four friends rejoiced. Pyrrha looked at him walk away and furrowed her brow in concern.

"Do you want this to be a team talk?" Ren asked as the redhead walked after Jaune.

"...No thank you," she said, continuing her walk. Ren sighed.

"Those two are totally in lo-oooove!" Nora exclaimed.

"Nora, don't follow them," Ren told her.

Jaune leaned against the wall outside his room. Seeing Ragna and Noel had given his spirits a boost, but he was still down. He'd told Pyrrha everything. He told her how he lied his way into Beacon and how he wanted nothing more than to be a hero, just like his father and grandfather before him. He told her how he never had any formal training or took any tests. He was just way, way, way over his head and he had no idea how to fix his problems. To make things worse, Cardin had overheard. As if he didn't get enough trouble from team CRDL. Jaune continued to think and get depressed, unable to bring himself to sleep. The guilt and fear and longing kept eating at him. He was guilty about how he treated Pyrrha, who was only trying to help, he was afraid of what he'd have to do to appease Cardin and keep his secret safe, and he was longing to get out of the situation, longing to skip to being a hero without the little things in between.

"Hey, Jaune. You alright?" Ragna asked. The white-haired young man was walking past when he noticed Jaune looking dejected when he should be sleeping. Jaune wanted to confide him badly, but knew that Ragna wasn't the best confidant, nor was Jaune himself ready to spill his secrets to anyone else today.

"I'm fine. You should get some sleep."

"Yeah, well so should you." There was an awkward pause before Ragna spoke again, trying to think of what to say.

"If you don't wanna talk to me, then at least talk to Pyrrha," he said, trying to sound comforting. Ragna didn't know why he was doing it or what Jaune would say in return. He just felt like he had to say something. Jaune was his friend, after all, and something about him reminded Ragna of another friend he wanted to help. It wasn't just his looks, but also his weakness and awkwardness at being thrust into a position he didn't think he was well-suited for. Ragna felt the same protectiveness for Jaune that he felt for Noel.

"I did," Jaune replied.

"And?"

"It didn't help. You know, I liked it better when you weren't trying to be the nice guy."

"Jeez, sorry I said anything. Whatever stick you crammed up your ass...you'd better get it out. You've got a team to lead." As Ragna spoke, he walked away to leave Jaune to his thoughts, not eager to be chewed out by him again. Jaune, for his part, looked after Ragna and sighed.

"And that's another person I snapped at..." He groaned.

ASTRAL FINISHED! GET IT? BECAUSE I FINISHED THE CHAPTER AND THIS IS A BLAZBLUE STORY? YEAH, I'M A MORON. ANYWAY, JAUNE HAS ONLY IMPROVED AS A CHARACTER SINCE THE NEWEST EPISODE, ALTHOUGH I REALLY WANT THE STORY TO FOCUS MORE ON TEAM RWBY, ESPECIALLY THE B PART. WHY MUST BLAKE TAUNT ME WITH HER AWESOMENESS? AS I WAS SAYING, I'M A BIT CONFUSED AS TO HOW I SHOULD HAVE JAUNE'S ISSUES EFFECT THE FOUR MAIN PROTAGONISTS OF MY STORY WHILE STILL PUTTING FOCUS ON TEAM RWBY. NEXT CHAPTER, I'M THINKING OF GIVING PYRRHA AND BLAKE A NICE MOMENT TOGETHER, NOT INVOLVING ANY BLAZBLUE CHARACTERS IN A SCENE FOR THE FIRST AND ONE OF THE ONLY TIMES...AND MAYBE HAVE ANOTHER SCENE WITH HAZAMA OR SOMETHING. ALSO, ANY SUGGESTIONS AND REVIEWS AS TO HOW I SHOULD HANDLE JAUNE'S SITUATION ARE WELCOME!

ALSO ALSO, I DISCOVERED SOMETHING ABOUT RWBY THAT MAKES ME VERY HAPPY. I FORGET WHERE I RED THIS (ANOTHER PUN BECAUSE RUBY'S MAIN COLOR IS RED AND THIS IS A RWBY STORY OF WHICH RUBY IS THE MAIN CHARACTER. I'M NO BARBARA PUNKELMAN, BUT WHATEVER.), BUT I LEARNED THAT THE FIRST SIXTEEN EPISODES OF RWBY ARE ONLY THE FIRST PART OF SEASON 1 AND THAT THERE WILL ONLY BE A TWO WEEK HIATUS BEFORE THE SECOND PART OF SEASON 1, CONSISTING OF SIXTEEN MORE EPISODES, AIRS. I COULD BE WRONG ABOUT THIS, BUT I THINK IREMEMBER READING IT SOMEWHERE AND I HOPE BEYOND HOPE THAT IT'S TRUE! GO ROOSTERTEETH! REPRESENT TEAM RWBY!

ALSO, NO GAVIN FREE REFREENCE (ANOTHER PUN! I'M A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING.) THIS CHAPTER. I FEEL BAD ABOUT THAT.