Chapter 13

Well, this was a bit of a bust.

I sat at the desk in the school's weapon workshop, holding up the white monstrosity I'd managed to put together after a full morning's work. It was supposed to be a simple t-shirt, and it looked at me, mocking my efforts. Several pins were still sticking out of the piece as I went over my mistakes.

Not buying a pair of sewing scissors being the first of them. The not clean cuts in the thick fabric made a jagged mess of the neat pattern.

Not buying a sewing machine was the other problem, or at least not testing it. There was a sewing machine at the school, it had been in the laundry room during the destruction but managed to be salvaged because it was far enough away from the machine to not take any obvious damage. It still worked, but something in the damn thing was shaky as hell, even shakier than the heavy sewing table I was using back at home. Something had to be loose in this damn thing. I also had to stop several times because I forgot to string the bobbin, sew over needles.

I'd made simple things at home before, but this was a different set up. The fabric was unwieldy and the needles I used worse quality than I was used to as well. I guess that's what I got for assuming it would be the same.

Leaning back, I took a picture of my mess and sent it off to Miss Neopolitan. She'd probably get a laugh from it at least as I got up from the work desk. Rubbing my eyes, I leaned back to find I wasn't actually alone in the workshop.

Sitting at a table cleaning the barrel of her gun was Ruby Rose. Huh, I hadn't noticed her there, but then I was pretty engrossed in my own thing. I walked up behind her, a little curious as I took a look at her weapon. It was folded up now, but I knew that wasn't how big it could be. Honestly, her weapon was a curiosity in of itself. It was a bit like a swiss army knife, it certainly didn't look like it could actually unfold into the large scythe form she uses it as, but at the same time it was pretty thick and looked weighty on the table.

"It's really an interesting weapon."

Ruby shot out of her chair at the sound of my voice. She landed on the ground in a heap, her red hood flying up and going over her head. I held back my laughter, as I couldn't fault her extreme reaction. I'd done the same thing once or twice.

The black haired girl pulled the red fabric off her eyes and looked up at me.

"Oh, Ume. I didn't see you there."

"Well, I didn't see you come in." I said, reaching down with my right hand.

Ruby grabbed it and I helped pull her up, she paused to dust off her skirt before glancing around.

"Really, where were you?"

"Oh, I was in the corner doing some sewing." I replied.

"You sew?" She asked, glancing over towards the machine.

"Not really, not yet. I see you were cleaning your, scythe, right?" I glanced down at the weapon. "How does it fit into such a compact form like that?"

She looked at the weapon, beaming as fondness and interest washed off of her.

"The blade retracts into itself at an angle so when it's folded up it's flush, but when it's folded out it lines up to a single blade. It took forever to figure out the exact way to make the locking mechanism line-up without causing the blades to crash into each other, but I had my Uncle Qrow help me with the math."

I blinked for a moment, looking at the weapon and then her.

"Wait, you built that?"

"Of course!" She picked up the weapon, holding it close to her face. "Crescent Rose is my baby, I spent years designing, prototyping and testing materials before I could finally make the final product. But it was worth it."

"That seems like a lot of work for a scythe." I said. "Even a foldable one."

"Crescent Rose isn't just a scythe, he's also a high impact customizable sniper rifle with semi-automatic capabilities and high bullet feed mags." She picked it up and with a flick of her wrist unfolded it out to a form that she held out in front of her with a scope. "I can shoot a nevermore out of the sky from a kilometer and a half away."

That was impressive, both the capabilities and that she designed the weapon itself. I saw the others had gun forms to their weapons, much like Professor Port did, though I didn't think any of them had a sniper rifle on them.

"Wait, if you had a sniper rifle, why did you run straight at the deathstalker in scythe form instead of just sniping it's eye from a distance?"

The confidence and glow she got from talking about her weapon instantly faded as embarrassment set in. She actually pulled the weapon in and, looking down, she shuffled her booted feet.

"You didn't think of that at the time, did you?" I said, a little bemused.

"I mean, at the time it seemed like the best way to show off Crescent Rose's cutting potential." She pulled the weapon close to her chest.

"It also" She whispered. "Looks cooler in scythe form."

I let out a breath through my nose.

"If you have to choose between what's practical and what looks cooler, what do you think you should actually do?"

"I know, my uncle says I try to use fancy moves too much too. But the scythe form really is more versatile for handling multiple opponents, cause I can go BA-POW, and WOOSH and cut them to bits!"

She swung wide and her elbow scattered some tools that clanged on the floor.

"Oh, oops."

I let out a snort as I leaned down and started to gather the tools.

"Have to watch the BA-POW in the workshops, huh."

She set Crescent Rose down before helping to gather the tools.

"I guess, but my baby's razor sharp and my uncle helped me so I could use it effectively. Though it gets some strange looks sometimes, it's a great weapon even though people like some more traditional ones. Given, you use a classic design don't you?"

"A classic?" I said, glancing at her as I set the tools aside.

"Your sword, the one you used on the deathstalker. Not many people use classics anymore, not like you or Jaune." She replied as she sat down, enthralled and bouncing. "But I've seen lots of different weapons since I got here. Like Pyrrha's, did you see her spear and shield? It's definitely a transforming weapon, though we only saw the one form in combat. I can't wait to watch her fight again."

"Why don't you just ask her if you could see her weapon?" I said, leaning against the table. Sitting down Ruby wasn't much taller than me.

"You think she'd let me?" She looked at me with a starry gaze. "I mean, she's a champion fighter, her weapon must be top grade I bet it has at least three forms."

She was... well, that would explain how she was so experienced.

"I think she would, if you asked. Pyrrha's really nice and I don't think she'd mind talking to you about it, especially since you have a pretty impressive weapon yourself."

Well, it at least looked impressive, but it hadn't broken yet.

"Really?! Then I'll definitely ask."

She spun a little in her chair before glancing at me. Curiosity started to seep off of her for a few moments before she looked again. After the third glance on her spin around I let out a sigh.

"Okay, what is it?" I said.

"I what do you mean?" She asked.

"What do you want to ask?" I said, crossing my arms. "Cause you did a triple take like you don't know what to say, but I can tell you're curious."

She looked down, a little more nervous this time, before glancing down.

"Well, actually, I wanted to ask, if maybe, you'd show me your swords?"

"Okay sur…. Wait, swords? How do you know I have more than one?" I said as I reached into my sleeve.

"Well, you see the other night when you fell asleep at dinner... Well, I carried you back and Oobleck unclicked your, well, your.."

She looked down at my left arm and I blinked down at it.

"Oh, okay, well, that's fine." I said, reaching over. "Yeah, you can look at it. I mean, if you already know it's there, not much point in hiding it."

Taking my left hand out of my sleeve I paused before grabbing a chair and pulling up to the desk as well since I might as well be sitting for this. After clicking the mechanism on my false arm I removed the prosthesis with a twist and set it on the table, revealing the sword attached to the stump. It was comparable to my wakizashi, a thin and short blade that came to a sharper, more narrow edge, like a triangle. It was one of a set of many blades, but the former owner hadn't minded at the time when I'd taken it since it had already been broken off its hilt. It wasn't very long, but that wasn't what mattered. It was good metal and, more importantly, very naturally conductive.

"Wow, it looked really sharp." She picked up my prosthetic "Oh you have a sheath in here, though it has a lot of, are those wires? They're really thin. Does it run on electricity? Where is the battery?"

"It doesn't run on electricity, it runs on aura." I took the fake arm.

"Really? That's cool, I've never heard of a prosthesis that does that before."

"Well, this is actually a prototype, one of seven made so far."

"Ooooh, really? I love looking at prototypes for new technology. How did you get it?"

"My sister makes them, well, we both make them. I designed the chassis and she makes the seals that allow the aura to be channeled into impulses that mimic the impulses and movement of the fingers."

"Wow, that sounds like quite a project."

"It's a work in progress. We've managed to simulate movement, but it's not something everybody can use. Just testing it requires a lot of fine control of your aura that most people just don't have, even with a seal to act as a mechanism to streamline the process."

I held up the blade.

"The base blade acts as a conduit to move and evenly distribute the aura, because the further the end mechanism is from chakra the less responsive it is and we have yet to be able to condense the seal enough to be put on individual fingers. Nevermind that adds some problem with simultaneous movement. So far, using a central base seal seems to be best, but Minami has been working more and more with seals that are spread out but still connected. That bit usually goes over my head."

"Aren't the seals the things you use to hold things?" Ruby asked, curious.

"Well, yes, those are storage seals. Seals can do a lot of other things. This is a medical seal, an experimental one. It's why I'm the only one allowed to use it. It has to go through a lot of testing for safety and practical purposes before it can ever be released for civilian use. But that's the eventual plan, because a lot of people have suffered injuries that have caused loss of limb. It's been a major problem for those who had a physical based profession like carpentry."

"Or hunters." Ruby added a moment later.

"Well, yes" That was always a consideration. I was a warrior, after all. "But civilians who suffer such injuries are much, much more common. They don't have aura, after all."

"That's true." She paused for a few moments as the conversation trailed off to look at the blade, then how it ran up to my stump. "Does it, does it come off?"

I shook my head.

"Not unless something has gone seriously wrong. It's welded to the bone."

Ruby actually winced at that.

"Wouldn't that…"

"Hurt, yes, at the time it did in fact hurt, a lot. But so far the results have been worth it. It doesn't hurt now." I said, picking up my arm and setting it back on. "You wanted to see my other sword, right?"

She perked up at that as I reached into my sleeve and undid the seal to pull out my wakizashi. I set it on my lap and handed it over for her to see. She ran her fingers along the wood and pulled out the sword carefully.

"It's a single edged curved sword, I didn't notice before. Those are less common than straight blades."

"It's only a slight curve, but the emphasis for it is cutting and slicing as opposed to stabbing. That would be done with a rapier or a short blade. Though I am trained in short blade style as well, so I can use it for stabbing."

"I noticed, you stabbed the deathstalker after all. How did you know that would work?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't most grimm die if you stabbed them in the eye?"

"It depends on the grimm." She said as she picked the blade, probably testing the weight. "My dad says there are as many different grimm as there are stars in the sky and the less common they are, the more scary they are, because less people know how to deal with them."

"Monsters do come in all shapes and sizes." I said, holding out my hand.

She handed back my sword, which I stored away in my sleeve. She paused to look at the fabric.

"Do you have one of those seals you use for the laundry in your sleeve?" She glanced at it.

I smiled.

"Good catch, I do. I like keeping a lot of things on my person, though I can't store my scroll away." I said, pulling up my sleeve and rolling back where I had it tied to my arm.

"Don't you have any pockets?"

My outfit had no pockets, and honestly sewing a pocket into it probably wasn't a good idea. If I ever warped it for combat, my scroll would probably go flying.

"I've never needed them before, not with, well, the stuff I have. My scroll doesn't work if it's in the space where the things I seal go."

"Oh, what about an ammo pouch?"

"I was thinking of getting a thigh pouch for it, though I couldn't find any in my size at the mall." I stood up and started to stretch.

"Which is why I was trying to learn how to sew. I've been having some trouble wit…"

There was a buzz from my scroll as I picked it out. It was a series of laughing smilies in a row.

"One moment." I said, before texting back it wasn't that bad.

She replied back with a thumb downs, before I wrote back that she can actually send me text instead of smilies. There was a pause before she sent me a shrug smiley made of keyboard signs. I rolled my eyes before texting back what I should do then. Instead of a smiley she sent me a video on how to make a plush toy.

"Who was that?" Ruby asked, curious.

"Someone I met yesterday. I asked her for tips on making clothing, she's being less than helpful. I think she means I should try making a stuffed animal to practice." I said, holding up the texts for the other girl to see.

"Oh, that sounds like fun. You ever do that before?" She glanced at the screen.

"I've done some crafts before, mostly sketching and the like, though I know I'll need to get some more supplies from Vale if I want to try this." I paused. "Unless there's some courier service that'll just take it to me here."

"It'd probably be expensive. I heard from my dad couriers are really highly paid positions, especially outside the kingdom, because of the grimm." She said.

"Really? What if you want to send someone a letter?" I said, looking down.

"Most people only send digital mail on the codex, packages and letters delivered outside the kingdom proper is done by bullhead drops in crates. Frontier settlements will have people who specifically watch out for them and collect them in a group. Though sometimes they are lost because they fall so far off course."

Well, if I need to make some cash, I could probably do something like that. Provided I could get accurate enough maps to travel from settlement to settlement.

"Well, into the city I go then. Could probably get groceries while I'm out too."

Now that I'd tasted chocolate again I was craving some more sweets, probably get some ice cream as well.

"You're going to get groceries, why don't you just go to the cafeteria?" Ruby said, a little more anxious but excited this time.

"The cafeteria isn't always open, plus it's just nice to have snacks for between classes."

Plus, if I needed to ever leave in a hurry, it would do to have a stock of food on hand.

"I see, I wonder if Weiss would let me bring snacks to our room if they're vacuum sealed." The girl pondered.

I paused as I started to open the door to the workshop.

"That reminds me, I never gave you guys the joints for your beds."

"The, oh, I think Weiss said something about that." Ruby stood up.

"Well, I guess I can do that before I leave. Really, that set up you guys have is such a hazard."

I glanced up at the door, the slight shadow in the brighter hallway betraying the presence of the bucket on the ledge. With a bit of concentration, I moved chakra through the wood and to the ledge, sticking it to where it precariously hung otherwise and opened it. It held, water and all, as we stepped out.

Ruby put away her weapon, slipping it in a holster on the back of her belt under her cloak.

"It's seemed to hold so far, but I should probably help."

"Anything that holds your weight while you sleep shouldn't be made of books and sheets, Miss Ruby." I said as she walked through the door.

I closed it carefully, making sure the bucket pushed back on the ledge as we headed down the hallway. I could feel in the distance irritation mounting, but ignored it.

It took about fifteen minutes to put the joints Ume had brought to their room onto the bottom of the bed frames. Yang held the beds in place as the small girl screwed it in with Ruby and Weiss. Apparently, there was a screw you put on the end that you tightened on the joints that held the bottom and tops together. A bit of space was lost between the bunks, but it looked a little bit more like it was supposed to be held together like that.

"Are you certain those joints won't do anything to damage the beds?" Weiss said, looking at the beds.

"It might make an indentation on the wood, but that is certainly less damage than those things collapsing in the middle of the night." Ume answered.

Yang grabbed the end of the bed and started shaking it. The conjoined beds swayed with her strength, but didn't slip out of the joints. It seemed a little more shaky than the books, but then the books would probably slip if anyone pulled out a single one.

"Seems sturdy enough, plus we got those ropes back. I bet Blake will like that she got her books back when she sees."

"Well, at least they won't suffer any more damage than they've already had." Weiss said, looking at the pile of things they removed from their previously makeshift way to convert the four beds into bunkbeds.

"Thanks for getting those joints, and for helping us install them."

"It's not a problem." Ume said absently as she took out her scroll. "I'll be heading out then. I don't know when stores close on Sunday, but I know the bullheads go back early."

"Wait, you're heading into the city by yourself?"

Weiss asked this time, her concern visible on her face. Yang smiled just a little bit at the display. Despite her cold exterior, it was fairly evident that Weiss was showing some signs of being a bit of a mother hen. She wasn't as super fussy as she was at the start, but she slipped into it sometimes.

Ume looked up at the older girl.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, you're a little girl, what if something happens?" Weiss responded.

Ume actually seemed surprised at this, both eyebrows raising. Was she honestly surprised at Weiss's concern?

"What in the city would be any danger to me? Did you guys secretly put a hit out on me or something?"

The three girls actually looked at each other at the situation. Yang didn't think it that strange, the girl was fairly independent when it came to anything physical and nature. She would ask for help for mental things, but anything she could do for herself, she would. It was a bit like how Ruby was when she first entered Signal, she wanted to be a super cool hunter who could do everything, but that quickly bit her in the butt when she started getting lost around the campus and had trouble making friends.

"Well, maybe one of us should go with you, if only so you don't get lost." Weiss looked at the others.

Ume actually rolled her eyes.

"You sound like the professors." She held up her scroll "I have this in case something happens, you know it's n…"

She was interrupted as Blake spoke up.

"There you are, I have something of yours."

Everyone turned to see Blake holding the black tom who was comfortably sitting in her arms. Ruby walked forward, reaching out and petting the cat.

"Ah, he likes you."

"A little too much for my taste." Blake responded.

"Ah, did Blake finally get a boyfriend? I was starting to wonder."

Yang walked forward, looking teasingly at the girl who still had her face blank. Nope, no reaction, well, she'd have to work on that.

"Is that where he'd gotten to? Well, good to know he's well taken care of."

Ume said, stepping forward and holding out her hand. Danny paused to look at her before yawning, standing up and jumping onto her arm and running up to resume his resting position on her shoulders.

"He kept knocking my pens off the desk in the library until I fed him."

Yang let out a snort, imagining the scene. She'd never owned a cat but she had friends who did.

"So you're saying he's a paw-blem?" Yang said with a smile.

The rest of her team groaned, which made Yang smile. So they didn't appreciate her humor, it didn't matter much to her. Someone would su…

Her thoughts were cut off as a splash of water hit the side of her face.

"No"

It was a sharp short command in a high voice that made her raise an eyebrow as she saw the yellow spray bottle held out in the small redhead's right hand.

"Water you do…."

Another spray hit her face as the girl squeezed the trigger.

"Negative reinforcement, I've heard it works on most intelligent animals." Ume said in a deadpan.

"Huh, I hadn't considered that." Weiss said this time. "Do you have any extra ones of those?"

"What?" Yang looked at her teammate.

"I've seen it work before. I might want one too." Blake said.

"We did use to have a spray bottle for when Yang would catch fire in the house?" Ruby said.

"Traitor! I won't see..." Another squirt hit her face and Yang turned. "That wasn't even a pun."

"Ah, sorry, this language has far too many phononyms." The small girl responded.

"You mean homophones." Weiss corrected.

"Is that the word? It has bee…"

Yang cut her off by diving at the girl to wrestle the spray bottle out of her hand. She slid to the side and Yang almost missed her completely but grabbed a handful of her clothing to reel her in, a technique she used with Ruby often, she almost got a hand on the girl and...

Was empty when the girl discarded the cloth entirely.

Yang just stared at the pink cloth in her hand as Ume jumped away and onto the top bunk, looking down at her. She wasn't naked. In fact, without the dress she looked less like a little girl and more like a costume mummy wrapped entirely in the white cloth from the neck down.

"You're covered in bandages? Is this why you're always wound u…" The spray of water hit her from the top of the bed right on top of her head. "Why you!"

Yang discarded the pink cloth immediately as she started to scramble up the bunk bed after the girl. She jumped off the other end as soon as she was nearly up and dashed around the bed to grab her discarded clothing. The other three girls more or less got out of the way as Yang jumped down and blocked the doorway. Legs closed and ready to catch, Yang wasn't going to let the girl just get through, she was getting that spray bottle, she wa….

And then Ume jumped out the open window.

"What?" Yang looked at the others as Ruby ran to the window.

"But we're on the fourth floor!" Weiss said, following her as she looked out the window and scanning the grounds.

Yang followed quickly, peering out and trying to find the small crazy girl. Who the hell jumped out a window?

"I don't see her." Yang said, trying to see if and where the girl fell.

"That's because she hasn't landed yet." Blake said, pointing out to the distance.

The three girls followed their teammate's finger to see a puffed up pink shape floating gently down onto the campus. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was Ume, hands clutching her clothing that was puffed up into a makeshift parachute. The absurdity of it all made them stare for a few moments before Weiss spoke.

"Wait, we aren't high enough up that she'd be able to catch enough air for a parachute."

"Even if we were, the fact that her clothing is large enough or flat enough to act as one is pretty weird."

They watched the girl land in the distance before she wrapped the cloth around her.

"I can't believe she jumped out of a window to avoid Yang taking her spray bottle." Ruby said.

"Yeah, it's almost as if…." Weiss trailed off. "Wait, she did that to avoid having one of us escort her!"

Yang let out a short laugh at that. "Oh wow, now that's some stubbornness."

Ruby looked out with a frown on her face. "Ah, but I wanted to get some cookies."

The city of Vale was very large. In fact, it filled almost all the surrounding space of the valley it resided in. Sitting at the top of the wall I could see that fairly clearly. I could also see the armaments set every ten meters over said wall, as well as the soldiers who paced it. They were soldiers, not huntsmen, but they had awakened auras and guns, so I knew whenever one got close and hid accordingly. The wall of Vale covered all sides of it that faced inland on the east, only stopping when it hit the ports and open waterways of the west. I had gone there earlier, if you looked out past the port you saw there were seawalls under the waves enclosing the port with markers every hundred meters to act as points for ships to enter. This was likely a precaution in place to prevent aquatic grimm from getting too close to the city without making themselves known.

Unlike Beacon, Vale was designed to be heavily fortified. I counted at least a hundred different soldiers doing routes on the top of the wall acting as a garrison against outside invaders or grimm. It was this presence that made for the areas near the wall being a bit more middle class than other areas. Moving through the city I had found a trend very quickly: the further you got from Beacon, the less maintained and more impoverished it got. Especially near the docks, where buildings were more run down and warehouses housed dozens of people who moved not with purpose but the hurried panic that if they didn't get where they were going something bad was going to happen.

The wall was the only middle ground, likely because soldiers who worked it probably lived in nearby housing for convenience's sake. But it was a clear show of the disparity between classes in the city, though no matter where you went space was at a premium. There were no full size houses, townhouses, duplexes or walk up homes in Vale. No, I'd visited and gotten fliers for lots of different housing and no matter the area it was always one or two room apartments or smaller. If you had a big family, you either had to learn to live with a small living space or move out of the city, it seemed, because there was no other way. But that was apparently the cost of safety, because that's what every single housing project advertised.

Welcome to Vale, the guarded city of Vale, the protected city of Vale, be safe behind the walls of Vale. Over and over, the same message to compensate for cramped conditions and premium space.

It may be small, but you're less likely to die. At least from the grimm.

Honestly, it made the small four shared room at Beacon seem more practical as well. It was a way to prepare any hunters who might not have lived in the city before. Lack of space here was the norm, the standard, and there was no exception. Not for the rich, not for anyone. I suppose if you were wealthy you could lease multiple apartments or multiple floors to give yourself more living space, but still, compared to the ads I saw on Codex for the frontier, it was incredibly and ridiculously expensive.

Which also accounted for the large amount of homeless in the poorer districts.

I only saw it at a glance, but away from the clean busy shopping districts were alleys full of makeshift shanty towns and people begging for scraps on almost every corner. I'd used a henge to blend in a little more as I walked, a henge of a large well muscled young man in plain clothing. While I could likely handle anybody willing to try and mug a small young girl in the bad part of town, it was less trouble to look like I was more trouble than it was worth.

Still, a large amount of homeless meant that if I ever had to hide, I could quickly and easily blend in with them. Provided I brought just a little bit of food and proved I wasn't a nuisance, I could also probably gather information from them later. Though of course I'd have to spend some time to figure out who would be reliable, as you had to always do. When trying to find new assets, the homeless were usually a well of good information.

Like where to avoid being seen from the cops, where you can hide that no one would think to look that had relatively easy access to food and water, who do you avoid if you don't want to be snitched on and the like. It was all things you'd want to know if you are in a new strange place, because you never know when things will go wrong and you'll have to disappear.

Honestly, I didn't want that sort of thing to happen, I quite liked Beacon. The people there were friendly, I had a lot of freedom to do as I wished and so far they didn't seem terribly involved in anything super shady. Two of those three things I never see at Kirigakure. But I couldn't assume I'd have such things forever.

The headmaster had extended an olive branch to me, but that didn't mean he was on my side or had my best interests at heart. It just meant for the moment he saw me more as an asset or a future potential asset than a threat. That didn't mean that wouldn't be subject to change. Trying to predict human behavior was, after all, impossible and I needed an out in case things went south.

Nevermind I still needed a way to get home, and if I did find one I wasn't entirely sure they would let me leave. I didn't think they'd imprison me to make me stay, but I wasn't sure and it was better to plan for the bad and then not need it than for things to go bad and having no plan at all.

My mapping for the night was pretty much done as I headed back to the Beacon shuttles. I'd slipped back just under the time limit but I figured I should get back the way I came down to avoid suspicion. I probably made Team RWBY a bit suspicious with the way I ditched them, but the absurdity of my escape would probably distract them more than the fact that I did. I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to climb up the wall and didn't need to drag a bunch of students around to question why I was doing such things, and I was sure at least one of them would have tried to stop me.

Well, mostly Weiss.

Weiss, the Schnee dust heiress (wasn't hard to figure out once I got my scroll and did a quick search) was incredibly straight laced and a bit of a know it all. She was also generally well meaning, so not too bad. She certainly was fine explaining things instead of just looking down on someone because of their ignorance and knew her stuff, especially when it came to dust. Ruby was energetic and inquisitive, a bit immature, but she was fifteen in a much safer world. She, like Weiss, wasn't dumb either, at least not about things that interested her. Her scythe was impressive, after all. Blake was a bit of a nervous girl, and though she hid it well she also cared in her own way. Someone who didn't care wouldn't take a stranger to the infirmary, wait for her to wake, then help her get a meal. Yang, I actually had to test there for a moment when I was in their room. She seemed easy going but had a temper, so I had to test what she would do when faced with a minor annoyance. To her credit, she didn't come at me with any intent to harm, just to catch me.

They, like Team JNPR, were fairly nice, not very decisive but nice. They also mostly didn't talk down to me. Always a plus, given they were the only two teams who had even an inkling of what I was capable of, which was one of the reasons I didn't object to spending time with them. Well really, Team JNPR (well, actually Nora, who dragged her team along) was the one that initiated that. They had information on me, but it didn't seem to make them fear me or act like they needed to be guarded around me, which was pretty good.

It would probably be pretty lonely here otherwise.

As I sat on the bullhead that rose over the lit city I reached down into my top where Danny slept. He purred lightly at my touch.

"It seems we're probably going to be here a while, huh."

The tom looked up at me, blinking tiredly before yawning.

"Yeah, I know. All the information I've gathered suggests that if home is out there, it's in a place I can't access without significant planning or resources, and that's just searching for it. Trying to replicate Minami's seal is out of the question, even with her notes it would be too dangerous and put too many people at risk even in an isolated location."

Letting out a sigh, I looked at my hand and did the seals absently before biting my thumb and pressing it to the seat next to me. The ink spread but popped and all that came out was smoke. Still nothing.

Danny looked up, mildly curious at the display.

"I don't know, I just don't know."

Another mystery, another problem, another wall. A tall one, at that. Well, I'd run into walls before, sometimes I'd done so so fast that it knocked me out cold, but I could still get up. There was always a way through. I couldn't see it, didn't know what would and would not work, but that didn't mean I'd stop trying. If I had that type of attitude, where would I be?

Dead probably, because that's all that ever happens when you stop trying. It might not be instant, it might take a long time, but that's all it was when you gave up.

"Still, pretty interesting place all things considered. I hope."

I leaned onto the glass pane and looked at the city. It was a flawed city, a product of overpopulation and a lack of space, but still beautiful. Down there, people lived, people tried and they tried every day to get along in the world. Just like me, just like the students of Beacon, just like the shinobi of Kirigakure.

"I hope the others can come here someday and see this, they'd be amazed."

Danny just looked at me and meowed.

Sorry for missing updates, been so busy, and had other stuff to post. Will get back to the normal schedule next week. This is the end of the Welcome to Beacon arc.

Reviews would be nice.