I do not own anything.

Chapter 14: A Deadly or Innocent Promise?

The trip had started off with Ruby practically bouncing out of her seat at stepping off the airship and getting picked up in a limo. For Weiss's sake she tried to keep her excitement contained up until they arrived at the Schnee Tower. Her tongue almost literally fell out of her mouth when she and Weiss walked right through the front doors of the building. Everyone who spotted Weiss instantly stopped what they were doing, stood at point and bowed their head just a little as a show of respect. As Weiss walked by without giving the people a single glance Ruby couldn't help but stare in awe at what she'd just seen. She knew Weiss was important but even she didn't think it was 'drop everything you're doing and pay your respects' kind of importance. Judging by the way Weiss didn't even glance in any direction but the front Ruby wondered if she'd been going through this since she was a kid.

How did she ever get used to this without, well Weiss is Weiss. Taking a private elevator and walking through the hallways Ruby saw the same kind of treatment. Watching her partner she realized if this was how she'd been treated her whole life then she honestly couldn't blame Weiss for being the way she was. It took her five floors before she began to notice how some of the workers, rather they were wearing business suits or straight up workers and researchers, weren't just looking at Weiss with respect but with fear as well. One wrong word and she could have them fired. What little she saw of the Faunus population made Ruby seriously question how big the Schnee Company's racism ran.

All the Faunus bowed their heads much lower than the others when their group walked back. They were the ones who truly treated Weiss like royalty. Compared to the humans they were just one step away from getting on their knees. Ruby wasn't the only taking notice, their security detail were eying the Faunus like each of them were just waiting for the chance to attack. Doing her best to keep her face from screwing up she walked up just a little further until she was almost side by side with her partner. "Uh, hey Weiss are they-"

"Just keep walking and don't say a thing Ruby. I know what you want to do but please, for their sakes don't cause a scene." Her voice wasn't as sharp as she thought it was. She probably already figured out what Ruby was thinking and was just waiting for her to voice it. "That's why I came here."

Keeping her mouth shut Ruby stayed with Weiss. Up the almost never ending series of elevators, mile long corridors, and labs they passed. Coming set of silver doors she spun around then placed both her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Odds are I'm going to be in there for at least an hour or two." Her frowned deepened when Ruby got a pouty look on her face. "Don't tell me you expected this to be over just like that."

Casting a glance to the side Ruby countered, "Well judging from the way everyone's been treating you I kind of did."

"That's because my last name is Schnee." Weiss spoke quietly. "The other half of the reason I came here is because Ruby when they bow their heads, it has to be to me, not my last name. While I'm in there this badge will keep most of the staff off you. Until I come out find something to do, go down to the Dust labs, talk with the scientist about what we're working on, go to the employee lounge, do anything but get into trouble." The way she spoke those last words made it sound like Weiss was both threatening her and begging her.

While Ruby may not have understood much about the business world she was able to gather how important an event this was for Weiss. Not to mention she still remembered how she came here so the Faunus working in this place could actually be treated like people. With her friend's pride and that many lives weighing on her Ruby would do everything in her power to keep from screwing things up. "Got it." It was just like a stroll through a bookstore; look, grab, put back, and nothing more. "Make sure to knock them."

With one last smile the two broke apart leaving Ruby free to her own devices. With her Scroll projecting a map of the building a sly grin took up Ruby's face. "Let's see what the Schnee toy shop has to offer."

Not surprisingly Ruby looked extraordinary out of place among the other staff. After all what business did a red-headed goth girl have inside the Schnee Tower, sigh seeing some of its most secure levels like it was some tourist spot. More than once a few of the security guards made a move towards her until they saw the special security badge she wore on her chest. It was a giddy pleasure knowing she was able to get away with seeing Dust production and creation the general public could never dream of. One of the ever awesome bonuses of being friends with the heir to the Schnee Dust Company.

Behind the reinforced glass walls shards of Dust, some as big as a blitzball and others no bigger than her palm sat in steel plates or floated in glass containers while being zapped by bolts of electricity, pure energy, and what Ruby had a sneaking feeling was radiation. She watched in awe as the Dust changed shape right before her eyes, its color, texture, and even glow transforming as it either absorbed the energy or rejected it. Explosions where common in both cases, sending out multi-colored fire, ice, pieces of dart, lava, and countless other things over the testing area. To her surprise once the blast had worn off the remains of the Dust shards were collected and tested again. This process was repeated and expanded upon through three floors of research labs.

Even though Ruby knew full well there was no danger she could still feel the tremor whenever a piece of Dust did explode. Some of them didn't even have to explode, just watching some of the more strange effects they produced was enough to throw Ruby off.

A shard of Dust shaped like a diamond with a violet color so beautiful Ruby was totally mesmerized by it, was used to create two spheres of pulsating energy that seemed to suck up everything around them. It was gravity Dust, a rare type of Dust that was rumored to still be early development.

The twin spheres continued growing and growing, now stripping away pieces of the floor causing an alarm to sound. Cries to cut the Aura flow flew out over the intercoms. With a shuddering cry the spheres warped and turned before dissipating leaving no sign of any of the objects they'd sucked up.

"So that's why gravity Dust stays off the market." Her heart rate had spiked a little when the spheres started growing larger and the alarm went off. She could only imagine what would happen if it was used on the battlefield and there was a loss of control. I wonder if Izaak can do that with his Semblance.

"How'd you rate it?" A female scientist with blond hair pulled back into a bun asked Ruby. Judging by her looks Ruby had to place her in her mid-thirties. "Gravity-type Dust, ever since that little leak the whole Kingdom's been pining after us for more news about it; when's it coming into stores? When will it be ready for public shipping?"

"It looks pretty cool I can tell you that much." The redhead answered back watching the workers collect whatever fragments of the Dust crystal left. "But if you tried to use it in the middle of a battle and it malfunctioned like that then it'd be a nightmare."

"Which is exactly why you aren't seeing it loaded into trucks and shipped all over the kingdom or traded on the market." Slamming her head against the wall the woman released a frustrated groan. "We've been going at gravity type Dust for three months and still nothing!"

"How far have you gotten?" Ruby innocently asked. Surely all the company's attempts hadn't ended in failure.

Casting one leery eye at the young redhead the female researcher groaned. "You thought that was bad? During some of our testing we had actual people fueling the prototypes. Yeah, it wasn't pretty for any of us behind the glass." Seeing the sick look on her face brought back all the painful memories of the early days of testing, all the failures and disappointments. "Besides creating a gravitational field about five feet in diameter we haven't had much luck. Beyond that everything else keeps resulting in black holes, spatial disruptions, and in one case half a lab being sucked into oblivion."

"Now Lois what have I told you about scaring away guests? Especially Huntsmen and Huntresses in training?" A male voice broke up the conversation. Walking in from her right was a much older man in his mid to late fifties. His dark blonde hair was spiky and combed back, his dark green eyes rested on Ruby through a set of thin rimmed glasses. "I apologize if my assist scared you. While she's right about our gravity Dust going through a rocky development I can assure you miss…"

"Ruby, call me Ruby." She answered with a smile.

The blue eyed woman now identified as Lois crossed both her arms sizing her up. "So you're Miss Schnee's friend? The one everyone's been talking about? I was expecting you to be a little…older?"

Lois question only had one real impact on Ruby, one she quickly voiced. "People here have been talking about me?" her eyes lit up like stars. "How much? Are they talking about how good I am? Has my reputation finally started taking off?"

Both adults broke off into a small fit of laughter; given their reaction Ruby simply pouted since she couldn't tell if it was good or bad. "Well there has been talk of you Ruby." The older man started. "Miss Schnee has been making her name known more and more around the company for her activities as Beacon. Maybe that'll be enough for her father to start taking her seriously. Ah, where are my manners, I'm Professor Torres, one of the Schnee Tower's top Dust researchers."

"And one hell of a slave-driver boss." Lois pipped winking at Ruby.

Shrugging off his assistance's remark the researcher eyed Ruby like he'd just been given a new toy to play with. Frankly it made the redhead a little uncomfortable. "Ruby how would you like to see some of our more successful projects? I promise you won't be disappointed in what you'll see."

"Will there be explosions?"

"I don't think we can answer that properly without giving away too many secrets." Lois giggled.

For Ruby that was the only answer she needed.

Like the teachers at Beacon, specifically Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck Professor Torres enjoyed droning on and on about everything they passed. Every lab he gave a little explanation on its function and origin. After a while Ruby felt less like she was on a tower of a Dust laboratory and back in a classroom, all by her lonesome self. Luckily the flashing lights and magic of watching new Dust being created was enough to make the long walk worth it. That and Lois's quick remarks or dumbed down explanations helped too.

Arriving in a testing room she was presented with a chest filled with geometric shaped Dust crystals. A sword and a plus could be found in half of them, those that were a reddish-bronze color. The cyan-blue ones possessed a shield and a plus inside of them. "Let me guess the red ones increase attack power and the blue ones increase defense."

"Bingo." Torres nodded. "These," he held up one of the offensive boosters. "Are government issued. They've been making the company quite the profit lately on account of how successful they are. Go ahead, try one for yourself."

Testing out the attack boosters felt like being on a sugar rush, only better. The edge of Crescent Rose glowed with a magically light upon having the Dust infused with it. Four practice bots came at Ruby at once and in one swift swing she split each of them apart at the hip. Eight came next and in a three-sixty spin they met the same fate. More came and more pieces of robotic wreckage began to litter the testing room.

"More!" The redhead cried with excitement clear in her voice.

She got her wish in form of a small army of combat androids storming the room. With a wicked grin she ran forward twirling Crescent Rose with such grace and skill it left her spectators awe struck.

SLASH!

"Okay…either the A-Boosters have been working better than we thought or that girl has some serious skill." Lois muttered watching the redhead create mountain of robot parts in a matter of minutes. "Seriously look at this readings!" She pointed at her monitor which were showing both Ruby's Aura, the force behind her swings, and of course her vital signs. "Why don't we sell more of these things to Beacon or Signal?"

"Something about not giving too much sugar to a bunch of little bulldozers." Torres shrugged. "That and the after effects of using it tend to leave one slightly more winded, more so if their Aura control isn't exactly up to par."

After she'd created an eleven foot high mountain of robot parts Ruby planted her scythe in the ground, now feeling the after effects of the enhancer type Dust wearing off. A quick five minute break and she was ready to continue testing however her hopes were somewhat dashed when Torres informed her they wanted to try out the defense boosters.

"Don't worry we'll only be using rubber bullets, at worse all you might get is a bruise or two." He informed her coolly.

Checking the digital cloak on the wall Ruby was quite surprised to find she'd been in the testing room for over an hour and she'd barely broken a sweet. The only real exhaustion she faced was from the aftermath of the Dust which faded as she continued to use it; slowly her body was becoming accustomed to the power surges. As Torres and Lois had explained that was the key component of the enhancers; getting them to the point where the body wouldn't go into shock or severe pain once the Dust wore off. Even though she didn't understand the finer mechanics behind it when asked for her opinion Ruby had to say it was a success.

Lois offered her something to eat in one of the research lounges; having been fighting for the past hour and a half as well as still worried about Weiss she graciously accepted. I wonder how Weiss's doing. She's gotta be making head way right? She can down a pack of Beowolves so changing the opinion of a few old businessmen shouldn't be that hard for her right? Since she hadn't seen a kind of disruption in the staff she assumed nothing major had gone on. The problem was she couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"You're not good at hiding your emotions." Lois piped as they rode the elevator down with Torres. "You're worried about Miss Schnee aren't you?"

Did she make it that obvious? Sure she knew she could be somewhat of an airhead sometimes but was her concern for Weiss that plain to see.

Removing his glasses for a second to rub his eyes Ruby heard Torres mutter under his breath, "It's a waste of time, and over such a trivial matter. I can understand if Miss Weiss wants to assort herself over her sister but doing so over the help isn't a way to go about it."

Her noise wrinkled and her fists tightened a little. Growing up Ruby learned what 'the help' usually referred to. The same workers she'd seen all afternoon being treated as less than standard. She wanted to say something about it but her sense of self-control stopped her. "They work here too." That was all she said.

Both Torres and Lois shot her a glance before going back to their own devices. They took her to one of the employee lounges within a reasonable distance from the research labs.

No animals allowed during working hours.

She paused for a moment reading the sign on the lounge. It wasn't the first time she'd seen that warning painted onto the walls for everyone to see. Even as they chatted and ate their food her gaze kept returning to the big red letters. This was the thing Weiss wanted to change, the thing she was hoping she was busy changing.

Ruby was half through her third grilled cheese sandwich when she heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. Jumping out of her seat and racing down the hallway she saw a dog Faunus lying against the wall holding his head while a lab-coat wearing researcher stood above him waving his fist angrily.

"What does that sign say mut!" He screamed pointing his finger to the anti-Faunus sign. "Better yet why the hell are you dragging that stick cart through here where people are eating!" The man didn't wait for the researcher to answer, instead he raised his hand to strike again.

In just a few short strides Ruby was standing behind the man and holding his wrist with a deep-seated frown on her face. No matter who they were or what they were there for all eyes turned to the fifteen-year old redhead currently defending one of the many Faunus workers. Several of them started whispering and others took out their Scrolls to begin recording the incident. For all the eyes on her Ruby didn't much care. Sure she had her promise to Weiss but she could not just sit by and watch this man beat the crap out of this poor Faunus. Her stern frown as well as her tight grip made it all too clear she wasn't going to back down.

"Let go of me." The man grunted trying to pull his arm free.

The short amount of hand-to-hand training Yang had given her paid off in that moment. Even if this man had at least a foot on her she knew for a fact she was far more dangerous than he could ever hope to be. "As soon as you let him go." She directed her words towards the downed canine Faunus. Her eyes softened upon meeting his fearful brown orbs.

"He broke the rules." The researcher countered.

"Actually," One of the other researchers came out. She didn't like being in the center of this mess though like Ruby she couldn't just sit by and watch this injustice go on. "I…called him in here. We had a little bit of an accident and I called for sanitation."

Like a balloon with a hole punched in it the whole situation cooled down in rapid speed. When Ruby let go the man stormed off down the hallway cursing Faunus, her, and a whole list of other things she didn't bother to listen to. The Faunus muttered a quick thank one before being guided into the hands of the female researcher. Around her the other workers went back to their previous activities as if nothing had happened.

Quietly Ruby retook her seat by Lois. "I'm probably going to hear it from Weiss about that one." Seeing the freaked out look on Lois and Torres's faces gave her a reason to drop her soda. "What? What is it?" A familiar icy feeling took hold of Ruby; she knew exactly what it was because only one person could give it off. "Yeah, I know, I screwed up." she moaned turning around to find her partner glaring at her.

How Weiss had managed to sneak up on her without anyone noticing was a mystery as was the reason she took a seat right across from Ruby and asked for something to drink like they were seating in a dinner. Literally everyone blinked once at the oddity of the scene before she asked again, in a more cut voice. To her disappointment everyone kept their distance after that; moving to another table, making up an excuse to leave, or not even hiding it and just making a run for it. They couldn't be blamed, for all they knew Weiss was about to explode and start firing people left and right.

Maybe if Ruby hadn't met her all those months ago she would have thought the same but she knew her partner and friend better than that. Placing a hand over hers she gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't let this slow you down. Like I said, you've faced monsters bigger than those guys."

"No Ruby," she replied quietly keeping her eyes down. If only she knew the darker secrets of her family. On the flip side though she was thankful for the calming reassurance. "Those…idiots. At least now I was able to get some better pay for the Faunus workers and shorter working hours for some." Compared to what she wanted she'd barely gained anything at all. "All they see when they looked at me was a little girl trying to act like her father." The edge of anger in her voice was unlike anything Ruby had ever heard. It sounded like she wanted to go back into that board room with Myrtenaster at the ready to force her will upon the company. "Ruby do you ever have one of those days were you wish you could just hack away at a problem?"

"Of course I do. Some days when I'm bored I go to the training room and keep fighting until whatever's bothering me has gone away." She answered.

While it wasn't the answer she was looking for it did give Weiss an idea on how to vent her lingering frustration. She was never one for blowing off steam on practice droids but this time she'd make an exception. "I think that's just what I need to do right about now. So how'd you enjoy the Dust labs? See anything interesting?" With that Ruby launched into her long winded speech about how excited she was to get a tour of the Dust labs as well as serve as a tester. It filled Weiss's heart with a little bit of joy to know this trap hadn't been a complete and total waste of time. From the start she had a feeling Ruby would enjoy it more than her and that was why she offered to bring her along.

"Uh, I know you're still in a sour mood but is it okay if we take some souvenirs home for Yang and Blake, especially Blake since in two days it's her birthday?" The leader of team RWBY questioned fiddling with her fingers.

"Actually thanks for reminding me about that. While we're at it are you sure you're not forgetting anyone?" Seeing her confused face she couldn't help but smirk. "Like say a certain blond-haired dunce of a knight? The same one who's cooking abilities you're keeping all to yourself?"

For that entire time Weiss couldn't wipe the grin off her face nor could Ruby keep the blush out of her cheeks for the rest of the day. Yeah, the day may not have been a total loss after all.

"And you're sure Weiss doesn't mind you giving away ultra-rare still in development Dust to everyone?" Jaune questioned for the third time. "I mean she isn't going to be charging us for any of it is she?"

Sighing Ruby placed one hand on her hip. "I'm pretty sure she's too focused on her company than that. Besides she just said she wanted feedback from us."

After getting back Ruby made an almost immediate beeline to find Jaune practicing with Pyrrha. It didn't take much to convince her to let her have the blond knight and the next thing he knew he was being dragged into the kitchen by a chattering redheaded reaper. Even as they began she continued going on about the things she saw within Schnee Tower, good and bad. It both filled Jaune's heart with envy and a little bit of happiness to hear his friend had gotten to skip class for a day and spend it testing Dust. Her excitement took a slight blow when she realized she'd missed a whole day of work and would probably have to make it up; or at least she would have if Jaune didn't say he made an extra set of notes of the R and W of teams RWBY.

"Not to be rude but why didn't you just give them to her yourself instead of just asking me to pass them off to her?" She questioned took a small break.

"Well you see," Jaune started leaning against one of the counters. "I know she's not in the mood to deal with any one's crap. Not my lame flirting or even some prick messing with her for fun. Right about now Weiss probably has a lot on her mind." The reason he could tell all that was because he was able to catch sight of the two coming back. Even though he was far out of sight he could tell there was an aura of quiet rage and aggression inside of Weiss. Whatever attempts she'd made at standing up for Faunus had obviously ended in failure. Perhaps months ago he would have made the mistake of trying to comfort her. "Yang's with her in the training room right?"

"Yep. I hear she'd training for a way to take down Izaak in a rematch."

"That's good, Yang's better at dealing with people when they're in a bad mood." Both teenagers chuckled at the irony of Jaune's words. If said blond were with them they might have been driven out of the kitchen by a fire breathing dragon. "When it comes to girls I'm not all that good anyway."

Their cooking session resumed in silence though Ruby's mind was steadily picking apart the meaning behind Jaune's words. She'd hung around Velvet and listened to her talk about her psychology class as well as read enough thrillers to get her interested in sharpening her mind. It wasn't fun or easy; in fact she almost felt like she was violating Jaune's trust with taking apart his words bit by bit. "You're still bummed out about your fight with Olivia aren't you?" Okay it didn't take much skill there to figure that one out but it was enough. When Jaune didn't lose his focus on baking the cake, only nodding his head she waited until they took another break to continue. "How long are you going to stay hung up on that?"

Jaune kept biting his lips until he felt like he was close to drawing blood. Putting the cream dispenser down he placed both hands on the counter and lowered his head. "Ruby it's not the fight, it's Olivia herself. She…she scares me."

"What do you mean she scares you?"

"I mean she just…the way she looks at me. The way she took me down. She's like a combination of Pyrrha's skill and Weiss's ice queen, ya' know before she started defrosting a little. When I went down I don't know how but I think she was crushed that I wasn't able to put up a fight. She knows about my family." In the sparring sessions where he worked up the courage to ask Pyrrha about the female samurai her answers always left him feeling like he was mud. "She's like me Ruby, she comes from a family of warriors." There was no need to mention the one difference between them. "Even after the match I could tell she' always watching me."

He probably should have worded things better because Ruby's frown deepened. "What do you mean watching you? As in stalking?"

Shaking his head he ran his fingers through his hair, a cold chill running up his body. "No, more like just making a little note of every little thing I do. It's like she's trying to determine if when we fought I was just messing with her or if…" Shooting up his eyes were cloaked in fear. "What if she finds out? Oh God Ruby, what if she already knows!" With that the blond completely forgot about the birthday cake they were making and nearly went into full-blown hysterics.

At a loss on what to do to stop him Ruby began searching around for anything she could use to bring Jaune back to his senses. Why does he always jump to the worst case scenario? She internally questioned looking through the cans and pots around them. Her eyes settled on a bowl of left over flour. "Jaune…"

"Oh man once she tells the students all the professors will know! Professor Port! Doctor Oobleck! Professor Barnett! Professor Mulnix!" His voice nearly turned into a shriek as he stumbled back against a walk-in pantry. "Professor Goodwitch! She'll load my ass into a cannon then fire it into the Emerald Forest when she finds out!" Fueled by his mounting fear his mind conjured up the mental images of the headmaster followed by his family. "They'll disown me! I'll be out on the streets! No money, no family, no skills to get by! Nothing! I'll have to-!"

POOF!

"…Take ten deep breathes and relax." Ruby giggled. She reached into the bowl to scoop up another handful of flour. "Or was it five? I can't really remember."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"If it weren't for the smell I'd assume you kids were in here fooling around." A gruff male voiced sounded.

The blue and silver orbs turned to the left to see a six-foot three bearded man standing across from them with his arms crossed as well as an annoyed expression on his face.

Frozen to the spot Ruby took a minute to look over the scene. It really looked like they'd been cooking given the countless items laid out though the presence of flour on Jaune's face and in her raised hand was undeniable. Her first instinct was to drop the flour but for whatever reason it was she couldn't move her body; neither could Jaune who simply kept blinking at the man with his flour covered face.

Yep. The knight nodded mentally. My life at Beacon is over. It was good while it lasted, sorry mom, dad, grandpa, grandma. I did the best I could.

Scratching his head the man grunted before turning his back again. "Just make sure to clean up after yourselves. If you two want to get frisky save it for some place private. Or wait until you're old enough to get your own damn kitchen."

Even though a blush spread over both their cheeks the two remained frozen until the man was out of sight leaving them alone. Once he was gone Jaune turned to Ruby. "You can put the flour down now."

"I will as soon as you stop panicking." She countered holding up the greatly diminished flour in her hand.

"I have."

"Honest?"

"Knight's honor."

After wiping all the flour off his face and finishing up Blake's cake the duo sat back and ate their snacks in near silence. Neither could tell what was running through the others mind though they could guess. "You don't have to be so scared about anyone finding out. All we'll say is you just ranked in the lower numbers." The young reaper knew it would have been a blow to his pride but it was better than nothing. In her book it was better to be at the bottom of the top one hundred ranking than not on the list at all. She'd heard stories of kids getting heartbroken over not ending up on that graduation board. "Besides who else knows besides your team and me."

"Cardin knows." His answer was unexpected and quiet. He bit into his Snickers bar disregarding the look Ruby gave him. She must have forgotten Cardin was one of the primary reasons his secret ever got out in the first place. "But we don't have to worry about him. He's been…quiet about it."

"Fine but seriously you don't have to worry about Olivia or be scared of her. How bad can she be?" Jaune wanted to say something more but he kept his mouth shut. She wasn't going to pry the reasoning from his lips. "Look even if she tries to I won't let that happen."

Looking at her with wide eyes Jaune sturred in his response. "W-W-What? W-Why would you do that?"

"Simple," She smiled lightly tapping his noise. "Because we're friends."

Unbeknownst to Ruby her words had a dual effect on Jaune. On one hand he felt positively ecstatic that the scythe-wielding prodigy was willing to go that far for him yet…he also felt like he'd just signed her death warrant. The feeling in his stomach tasted like seaweed. It churned inside his stomach demanding release. Why did he feel like this? Seeing her smile at him like there was nothing wrong only furthered the sickness. Suddenly the soda and candy they'd been eating tasted bitter in his mouth. "T-Thanks Ruby. It's nice to know I can count on you." The nervousness in his voice flew right over her head. If that was a good thing or a bad thing he didn't know; what he did know was the next few weeks weren't going to be fun.

For any of them.

At the end of the next day everyone got to see Blake's face go ashen when they got the news about Sun and Neptune. The minute she heard the words Sun, broken, injuries, and hospital she was on her way towards the airships. If tone of Professor Oobleck's words weren't so grim someone might have made a joke about it instead of rushing after Blake. It was a good thing the school day was over because he knew teams RWBY probably would have been willing to cut class just to go see the two boys. Team IONC going with them was nothing more than them being just as concerned. To say Blake was tense the whole ride over was an understatement; Weiss was handling herself slightly better than her.

It was during the ride that Ruby envied her sister's maternal instinct even though Weiss kept telling her she was fine. That was a stone cold lie; just as Blake had Sun on the brain Weiss was worried about the two boys. No matter how idiotic she may have found them to be she still treasured them as friends, even Sun.

Jumping right off the airship and taking a bus to the hospital the seven teenagers were soon left in the dust by Blake. The first thing they saw when they entered Sun's room was Blake by his side, his right arm in a full blown caste and his abdomen almost completely covered up. Aside from that his right eye had a badge over it. It was the most jarring he'd ever looked to any of them. In the next room over Neptune wasn't much better; in fact he seemed worse. If it weren't for the steady rising and falling of their chests it might have been possible to confuse them for dead.

The doctors informed the eight of their conditions. Sun's was primarily in the fact a good number of the bones in his body were broken, especially his right arm. Apparently that was going to take some weeks to even a month to heal and then some before Sun could use it. In Neptune's case he'd suffered massive blood loss as well as lacerations all across his body; the largest one was over his chest. Just listening to the descriptions of the injuries told them the two had been involved in combat against someone of considerable skill. Who exactly was the question running through all six of their minds even as they watched over their two wounded comrades. Those questions couldn't be answered by any of the police officers on hand. If they wanted answers then they'd have to wait until Sun and Neptune awoke from their sleep just like everyone else.

Two hours after their arrival Sun was the first to stir. Blake was right there when his gray eyes opened even if it was just a little. He didn't say anything as his memories slowly started to come back to him. Shaking his head he laughed sadly, "Sorry we had to ruin your birthday like this."

Instead of reprimanding him the ninja simply threw both her arms around him gratefully he was finally conscious again. Everyone could hear the quiet sob that came from Blake as Sun did his best to comfort her. After the others expressed their joy at seeing Sun semi-active they left the two Faunus alone. Neptune however, still didn't show any signs of coming to.

With nothing to do many of them just started wondering the hospital, asking questions or just finding a quiet place to wait out the night.

Since Blake was staying by Sun's side Yang was left to wonder about the visitor's center. She wondered for about ten minutes before she noticed Izaak. At first glance she didn't realize he was fidgeting but by the third time she realized with a silent shock he was nervous.

Neil was peacefully napping in a seat though she knew at the first sign of trouble or change he'd be up and active. For Izaak it was little things that set her off towards him. His foot kept tapping against the floor, his hands shook as he read some ebook on his Scroll, his shoulders were tense, and the closer Yang got the more she could see his eyes were darting from one side of the room to the next. This wasn't the confident warrior she'd fought nor was it the nice guy she'd often run into at the academy.

The full extent of his unease was shown when he got up to go get himself a cup of coffee. His hands fumbled so much Yang couldn't hold herself back and rushed over. He'd spilled his coffee on the counter and was now frantically trying to clean it up. "Either you've been drinking too much caffeine or you're not big on hospitals."

For the first time the boxer saw Izaak nearly jump out of his skin. "AAHH!" He completely spilled the coffee all over the place. Meeting her eyes his shoulders loosed back a little but the sweat continued to roll down his forehead. "Ah…I'm sorry about that. I just…crap that was uncool."

With a little smile she helped him clean up the mess while getting something to drink for herself. "So I take it you don't do hospitals?"

"I'm not big on them." He groaned running his hand through his hair. "Especially when my friends are lying in a hospital bed."

Before she spoke her next words Yang knew she had to be careful. She prided herself on being at least a step or two above the average person in terms of intelligence. She despised the persona of 'dumb blondes' even though she often used it to her advantage. If she tried to use it on Izaak it would no doubt backfire. The first time she'd met Neil she'd openly displayed shock that the two boys were related until they revealed they were foster brothers. Adding that to what she was seeing in the Viking Yang was able to deduce whatever had happened to Izaak's parents involved hospitals. What had happened to them? Did they die in the operating room? She could count the number of times she'd let the question float in her head; that's where they belonged anyway, silent and unasked. "I take it bad memories?"

The tension came back into his body before he could stop it. "Y-Yeah. You could say that. I probably just lost all your respect didn't I?" His laugh was messily though Yang returned it, no doubt to humor him.

"That's a pity because I'm sure you'd be able to do some good work here." A smooth make voice sounded.

In a rather out of character moment Yang went almost totally still as the two doctors approached them. One of them had green hair and couldn't have been out of his early to mid-twenties while the other even Izaak had to admit was quite handsome. He must have been in his late thirties, his dirty blond hair was well cut framing his olive complex skin. His dark blue eyes drifted towards Izaak and stayed settled on him. There was a tickle of amusement in his eyes at the light blush on Yang's cheeks.

"We were one of the first ones to treat your friends when they came in." The green haired doctor spoke. "That guy, Sun, it's going to take about a month before his arm is fully healed though he'll be able to use it again. As for the other guy…"

"We had to treat him for extreme Aura drainage and he's probably going to have some scarring on his chest but otherwise both of them are no worse for wear." The other man finished stepping forward offering his hand. "This is Doctor Pasteur,"

"Call me Verde." He smiled winking at Yang.

"My name is Anthony Rax. One of the chief surgeons here. I'd like to say it's an honor to meet the son of Rikard Egilson, your father was one of the medical world's finest."

A rush of heat flew to Izaak's cheeks. Turning his head to the side he refused to meet Yang's gaze nor did he meet the look of the two doctors before him. This was partly why he'd done his best to avoid going near the hospital. "Thank you." That's what he always said. Normally right then and there would have been the time he'd leave, saying he had something else to get to but the violet eyed blond beside him was looking at him in a whole new light.

"Did your dad work here or something?" She asked. Her curiosity was getting the better of her; overriding her respect for Izaak's privacy was her desire to know why these two were talking about Izaak's dad like he was the Oum of medicine. "How come you didn't tell me your dad was such a big shot?"

"Big shot? Miss this guy's dad wasn't just a big shot he was one of the Ivory Three!" Verde exclaimed throwing back his head in laughter. "Rikard Egilson, Giovanni Yersinia, and Ascelepius Pierce; three of the greatest medical minds Remnant ever had! Cellular regeneration, gene-therapy, and biotechnology, all credited to those three."

As the younger doctor continued on about them Doctor Rax chuckled quietly to himself leaving Izaak to suffer under Yang's ever widening gaze. Once he was finished the boxer was looking at him in slight awe. "So your dad was the Oum of doctors." She grinned playfully hitting his shoulder. "How come you didn't tell me that?"

"He's one of them." Izaak quietly corrected.

Seeing the discomfort in his eyes Rax lightly tapped Verde on the shoulder to get his attention. "Regardless we simply stopped by to pay our respects. I worked with your father he was a great man and even though you didn't follow his career path I'm sure you'll grow into a fine man none the same. Goodnight."

Once the two had walked away Izaak fell back to his seat releasing a long held breath. He knew what was coming and Yang knew he knew. "I don't answer if I'm not asked. It's just what I do."

It's not like Yang was trying to piece Izaak's past together but, she was happy she'd learned just a little more about him. For all the limited time she'd known him she realized Izaak never opened up about his past. Granted no one had asked him but after seeing him fight and fighting him herself she wanted to learn more about him. "Did your dad want you to become a doctor too?"

"No." The sadness behind his smile was unmistakable. "When I was a kid he told me I didn't have to take after him; all he did was make me promise to become good at whatever I chose to do." He laughed recalling the memory and forgetting all his unease. "He said if I wanna become a janitor, become the best janitor ever, if I wanna become a chief, make a feast fit for the gods."

"I'd say you've kept your promise, after all you managed to hold your own against me." Yang laughed happy to see the old smiling Izaak return.

"You mean I beat you." He grinned.

Despite how threatening she tried to make herself look her words and expression still ricked of joy and amusement. "I mean you got lucky. Pyrrha told me you graduated in the top ten at Sanctum. I'd say you kept your promise to your dad."

"Thanks Yang."

A moment of silence passed between. Neither noticed a certain gray haired young knight smirking to himself. If they did said knight probably would have had two cups of water, or coffee poured all over his face.

"Soooooo," She started lightly tapping her fingers on the table. "How'd you get so good with your Semblance? The only other people I know that are that good are Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha, and she only uses hers as a last measure."

The questioned didn't surprise him. He must have been asked it often. "Practice. I discovered my Semblance when I was thirteen and I trained with my foster family all the time to control it. You want help in controlling your Semblance don't you?" For the first time in hours he laughed, once again at her frustrated face. Really he was starting to find it quite cute. "Lucky guess, honest. How about I promise to help you if you promise not to dismember Jaune."

"Really sticking yourself out for that guy aren't you?" She questioned with a sneer. Raising her hand she relented. "Fine. Deal."

Yang made another promise that night unknown to Izaak. One day she was going to one up him in a conversation. Rather it was in the next few months or by graduation she was going to beat him in a battle of words.

Jaune; *relaxes* I'm safe.

Comsic: For now. Please Rate and Review!