A/N: I know this chapter took a while to make but I've been busy studying for my end of year exams as well as tweaking and experimenting with my characters to try and get them right in my eyes. Now without anymore rambling on my part... onto the story -CC

Chapter 21:An Unwanted Reunion. 3rd Person PoV:

As Simon stood up on stage with his team and their names were announced, all of the hushed chatter died instantly and Simon could feel every eye in the hall on him, and with good reason seeing as he was meant to be dead. Simon even heard his own teammates gasp at the revelation of who he was 'Guess this is going to lead to a lot of questions from them and just as many lies from me' Simon thought as he began to feel very exposed from the staring and at the first opportunity he exited the stage and the hall in the swiftest walk he could, not bothering to watch the three remaining teams Including Weiss' be formed. 'That was way more intense than I thought it would be' Simon thought frantically as he began to hyperventilate in response to the piercing gazes he had just endured, unaware that he was being watched, unaware that his return into Vale was about to go to a whole new level of complicated.

"Simon? Is that really you?" Came a choked up voice behind the young staff wielder. Simon turned on his heel, to be confronted with the one person he did not want to see at the current time with his head still overwhelmed by this all. A girl with bunny ears and long brown hair and brown eyes that were currently piercing Simon's very soul. "Velvet?" Was all Simon could manage, his mind going into total meltdown 'This is all way too much... too much' Simon's mind screamed as his knees began to wobble and he leaned against the wall of the building to support himself. Velvet moved in and propped him up, making sure he didn't fall over. The touch of his old friend sent shockwaves and a spine tingling feeling through his spine that both soothed, frightened and totally overwhelmed the boy. "Yes Simon, it's Velvet. Here take your time and calm yourself." Came her soothing voice, But Simon was anything but calm and his mind told him to just get out of there, get out of the light and return to the shadows of anonymity, even though that was no longer possible but that didn't stop him from trying. As soon as his legs stopped wobbling Simon sprinted off as fast as his legs could carry him. Leaving behind a very distraught Bunny 'Oh Simon... what has this horrible world done to you in these 5 years?' Velvet wondered to herself as she reflected upon the fact that many scars that marked just about every patch of visible skin as well as the slight limp that Simon ran with. Before Velvet could take off after Simon her team arrived "Velvet Where have you been? You ran off without any explanation and missed the rest of the ceremony, what's gotten into you?" Coco asked, always ensuring the welfare of her teammate. "It's nothing to worry about.. I' am fine Coco... The same cannot be said for my friend though" Velvet replied to her teammate, the end bit being muttered under her breath.

Simon's PoV:

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, away from those staring eyes and from the memories that seeing Velvet brought back, both the happy memories of a group of innocent kids and the torturous memories of having my family butchered and my childhood destroyed. Eventually I ended up the gardens near the Airship landing pads where I collapsed against a tree and slumped to the ground my mind melting down and everything I had spent years hiding away in the dark spots in my mind so I wouldn't need to confront them came crashing back 'I wasn't ready... I wasn't ready to come out of the shadows and back into the real world. It was a mistake coming here' I withdrew my canteen from my webbing and splashed some on my face. I sat there for what seemed like hours trying to build the courage to go back, but not being able to face the inevitable questions that would come from everyone, But I can't let anyone know of what I've been through... what I've done, no one except those who were there with me can understand why we did what we did and only Weiss would not judge me for what I was. No one else could find out... Not until I died and my Journal went public.

Then came the biggest problem, which was Blake and anyone else wanting me dead. 'If she is indeed here to kill me, Ozpin has just placed a giant bloody target on my back... from her, The white fang and the Fist. Though those two aren't a problem so long as I' am in the academy grounds, they wouldn't dare attack here.' My mind reasoned, but it did little to calm me down and I couldn't stop my hand shaking 'Ok, just breathe... get to the gym as soon as... fighting always keeps my mind off that which I don't want to think of.' I tried to stand, to go somewhere where I can just vent my feelings on something or someone and be focused on something rather than idle thinking. But my legs refused to obey my commands. I groaned in frustration and instead smacked the back of my head on the tree repeatedly until I felt blood run down the back of my neck, trying to bash away the memories and faces of those I'd killed assaulting my mind.. it was a horrible habit I knew but I couldn't help but try to make it all go away. Eventually all of the emotion spent I managed to calm myself down from my meltdown and stand back up, looking around I noticed it was nearly sunset 'Guess I should go and meet my team... ugh this is off to such a great start' I though sarcastically as I made my way towards the dorm areas, thinking up answers to any probing questions I maybe asked and thinking up a cover story for what I had been doing these past 5 years as I went.

Eventually I found the first year dorm area, my scroll had been updated with a lock code for our teams dorm as well as class schedules and other administrative files that had to do with being the team leader. When I found the door marked "TEAM SNST" I noted the door marked "TEAM CDRL" across from us before entering my code into our door and opening it. Entering the room I saw three people in the dorm bickering: "I' am not doubting his ability or bravery as a combatant Sienna... I' am just saying how can we depend on him if he cuts and runs the first moment when he is under any type of pressure or scrutiny!" Came the voice of Teal, the 2nd girl on SNST Who stood about 6cm shorter than I did with tanned skin and a more curvy build than the petite Sienna. Teal had blonde hair with tips coloured the same as her name. I cleared my throat to announce my arrival which caused Teal to become as white as a ghost I glared at Teal 'She has not made a good first impression by the sounds of it... but neither have I' I thought closing the door and leaning against the wall beside it.

"Ok, I know I may have ran out as soon as we were off the stage and I apologise for any worry that may have caused any of you. However Teal, you'll find that I' am very dependable in combat and under the pressures related to such activities." I said firmly but without malice, Teal was right about my inability to deal with pressure and problems I couldn't solve by simply killing the cause of it but no way in hell I was going to let her know that. Teal shook her head "Fine, whatever. I' am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But fail us again and you should think long and hard about whether you can handle the burden of being a leader." Teal shot at me, her tone filled with contempt. 'Well, guess that is one bitch in the team... this will be SUCH a fun 4 years' I thought as I turned to the sandy haired boy "Well Nyanza, I haven't heard anything from you... got something to say?" I asked, more like ordered him to give his thoughts. The sandy haired boy looked at me with a blackened eye, that I realised I had inflicted during the first nights scuffle "I Don't particularly care about the fact you're the leader, I' am sure you'd do it well, better than Teal certainly could. However one does have to wonder what a ghost such as yourself is doing here and what you've been doing for the last 5 years?" Came Nyanza's reply which made me instantly regret asking him to speak up.

All three of my teammates looked at me intently for my answer, so I proceeded with my pre-prepared semi-lie. "After what happened with the White Fang, I stowed away on an SDC cargo ship bound for Atlas. From there I found myself falling into a group of freelance mercenaries and Grimm hunters operating outside of the kingdom rendering our services to the colonies and villages in the Atlesian Highlands. Now please STOP calling me a ghost... or you may find yourself being the ghost" my voice flat, toneless as I read off the mental script I had prepared with a very serious threat at the end. Looking around I could see that my teammates, especially Sienna were sceptical of this story. Before anyone could ask any more questions I decided to take the initiative and change the subject "Ok enough about me. Weapons inspection, I want to see what I have to work with on this team." I barked my order just like Kruger and Sanderson used to whenever something was needed of us. Obviously this style of leadership was not going to go down well at all judging by the reactions I got: Teal scowled at me and flipped me off, Sienna shook her head and muttered something along the lines of 'You already know my weapon' and Nyanza just pointed and laughed "HA, he has been leader for like 5 minutes and he is already barking orders at us like we're his pet dogs... no offence Sienna" He said mockingly. Sienna seemed to have taken offence by the way she suddenly started snarling at Nyanza which caused him to throw his arms up in surrender.

I looked on at this sudden breakdown of relations amongst SNST and rubbed my temples "People, let's try NOT to kill each other on our first day as a team! Now please bring out your weapons and describe them to me." I asked of my team this time, but my tone was still the same commanding one I had used the first time. "Well now that you say please, I guess I can show you my bad boys." Nyanza said sarcastically as he drew back his sleeves to reveal a set of gauntlets, not unlike my own. "Well that was anti-climactic Nyanza, I got a pair of blade gauntlets as well" I said mockingly to the sandy haired kid. Nyanza poked his tongue at me "Yeah well can yours do this?" He said as he shot the blades out of the gauntlets and into a dartboard he had set up near his bed. Nyanza's gauntlets reloaded another blade and repeated the process, except this time the blades had a tether attached to them. That one made my eyes widen a bit "Well that was unexpected... interesting and unique weapon Nyanza." I said flatly, trying to work out exactly how Nyanza used his weapons in combat. "Wait till you see me use Taunting Gambit here to put that ghostly dart shooter you tout around to shame!" came the taunt from my teammate, once again insinuating I was a ghost, much to my annoyance.

But before I could arc up at him and maybe hit him, the sound of a whip cracking caught my attention. Teal had a large whip unfurled at her side that was obviously her preferred weapon. "Well then... I' am living with a ghost and a dominatrix, this is shaping up to be an epic 4 years" Came Nyanza's immediate witty remark which caused me to nearly double over in laughter 'There is always one witty asshole in every group... 2 In Rum Squad actually' I thought, my previous concerns about being found out temporarily vanishing as Nyanza took the attention off me. "Did you just call me a Dominatrix? you prick! I'am going to seriously kick your ass!" Teal snapped at her partner, clicking on the whips hilt so it glowed with Yellow electric dust. I chuckled, noting Teal's poor choice of words which Nyanza had also picked up on. "Kick my ass? Why... not going to use that whip on it?" Was the instant reply, Nyanza and I were choking on laughter, even Sienna chuckled a bit. However Teal was incensed and stormed towards Nyanza, I however got in between them and tried not to laugh as I defused the situation "Teal... Not here, not now... if you're going to beat him to a bloody pulp, do it in the arena during combat classes." I managed to say, without sniggering more than twice. Teal flipped off both Nyanza and myself before deactivating the dust and curling up her whip. "Right then... I' am off to clean myself up and go to sleep, I think we all need plenty of rest after initiation and classes begin tomorrow." Teal announced as she put her weapon down and began rummaging around in her luggage for what I could only assume to be toiletries and pyjamas.

I however had other plans. "Not so fast there... we still need to unpack and set our room up, so we don't have to rush around trying to find things tomorrow." I said firmly, still using a commanding tone like Kruger. This earned me more groans from everyone. "Simon, we're tired... and I know you are as well, I' am sure it can wait until after class tomorrow." Sienna said yawning. But I was not deterred "Fine... I'll give you all a choice seeing as you want to run this team like a democracy: 1/ we can set our stuff up now and be able to sleep in tomorrow morning before class or; 2/ You can sleep now and be awoken at my usual wake up time of 3:45am. Your choice?" I said evilly, fully intending on waking them up when I did. The three other members of SNST gawked at me grumbling and setting about unpacking their belongings and setting up their few personal possessions Not willing to test my resolve on the issue. I finished the quickest, having had nothing with me really apart from clothes and my scroll and my combat gear but that was all in my locker. I came to the last compartment of my field pack had a small code locked box: Containing my journal, the photo of Blake and Schwarzer as well as the Black Fist patches from my camo uniform I placed the lockbox under my pillow and I was done.

Having finished first, I took the time to take out my scroll and send a message off to Kruger... I' am going to need a serious crash course in leadership from him to deal with this.

Mon Capitaine, Rum Runner 1

Arrived Safely at the Beacon. However unforeseen developments have complicated my arrival: I have been given responsibility as a team leader. Responsible for the lives of three others. Requesting advice for how to deal with this new found responsibility before I get someone killed?

Secondary note: Have heard no word from Rum Runner 7, probable location: still in Atlas. Will begin search for Rum Runner 3 and Rum Runner 4 at earliest available opportunity. Send Rum Runner 2 my regards and congratulations for his continued success at Atlas-U.

-Rum Runner 8 Signing off.

As the coded message sent I locked my scroll, grabbed a towel and made my way off into the dorm's adjoining bathroom to scrub off the dirt and Grimm blood from the initiation and the dried blood from my head from my self-inflicted head bashing, but mainly I just needed to be alone for a moment away from the prying questions of my teammates and everyone else in this school. Exiting the shower after a good 5 minutes I may not have felt any better, but I looked much more normal... Well what counted for normal around here. Looking at myself in the mirror: other than the scars one would never know I'd seen much combat or death. Satisfied at my veil of normality I walked back out into the bedrooms to see that the girls had towels out and were obviously waiting for me to exit so they could get ready for bed.

I crashed onto my bed and tried to get comfortable, not used to sharing a sleeping area after having had private quarters for so long. Nyanza was hanging up posters for some superhero comic called: X-ray and Vav. 'Man, I never even heard of that comic before just now... Just how much have I missed in these last years? I' am going to have to look into what I've missed.' I thought as I tossed about.

"So what do you think of our partners? Sienna seems pretty good... Teal from what I've seen during initiation and tonight seems to be way too uptight and proud: She kept going on about how she comes from a big family of Huntresses including three older sisters who have attended and topped their classes at Beacon and were their team leaders. Something tells me she is pissed that you got the role." I heard Nyanza addressing me from his side of the room. I rolled over to face him and shrugged "She can be pissed all she wants so long as she follows my directives. You definitely got the short end of the stick when it comes to partners... though Sienna and I didn't exactly meet on best of terms, I may have accidentally mistaken her for a Grimm and unleashed a hail of flechettes at her." I replied, beginning to realise just how dysfunctional this team is going off first impressions.

I could hear Nyanza laughing at me "Wow, way to go... guess 5 years of shoot first, ask questions later gave you an itchy trigger finger. Or do you just compare Faunus to Grimm? Because your battle uniform looks a lot like those you see used by the Black Fist in Atlas?" Nyanza pointed out. I froze, lucky that Nyanza couldn't see my face at the time. As I turned to face him to reply the awkwardness of the situation was made worse when Sienna stormed into the room "Ok Who mentioned those filthy violent Faunus haters the Black Fist!" she snarled at the both of us. I already had planned for someone asking about my uniform as well "My group was not aligned with either the Black Fist or the White Fang. Our group however raided several Black Fist supply depots. I procured several sets of their woodland and snow uniforms for my personal use. I' am quite insulted you'd compare me to those destructive monsters!" I said, probably trying a little too hard to sound offended. But the my partner and Nyanza seemed to buy into my lie.

With that close call averted I only just noticed that Sienna was in nothing but a towel which caused my face to flush a deep crimson and only taking a fleeting glance at the girl I hid my eyes out of embarrassment as I'd never actually seen a girl naked or near naked like that before. 'This is going to take a while to get used to' I thought bashfully. As I looked up to see Sienna re entering the bathroom, Sighing in relief I laid back into my pillow and tried to sleep, which proved difficult with the noise of Sienna and Teal re entering the room talking and Nyanza playing games and listening to music on his scroll which I could still hear despite him wearing earphones. Sitting up I looked at the time on my watch that sat permanently resided on my wrist 2155."Ok Nyanza, 5 more minutes then it is time to shut off your scroll... If I can hear the sounds from it then Sienna is probably getting very annoyed at it by now with her ultra sensitive hearing." I said firmly, deciding 10pm was a reasonable time to get to sleep 'Heres hoping I' am able to sleep in later than 0345.' I thought as I laid back down, trying to shut out any noise from my teammates.

As I tried to sleep my mind wandered back to Velvet. Upon reflection, she seemed very sad and lonely.. Not at all the happy sociable bunny girl that I remembered. The world and those in it had obviously been unkind to her for no other reason than the ears upon her head. 'Guess It was very hard on her losing her friend and then all the violence and hate that followed. How could I have ever believed Sir's bullshit about her and her family being as bad as the Fang?! I mentally fumed at my own stupidity for having ever believed what I had been told while there. Eventually sleep found me, a shallow dreamless one but sleep nonetheless.

Velvet's PoV:

As I sat in my bed I stared out the window and to the stars as I wrote a text on my scroll to my parents informing them of Simon being alive, I just knew they would be amazed and relieved to hear it. But I was still troubled about my encounter with him today. 'Why did he run from me? He recognised me but he still ran. Why can't he face me?, but I' am not going to stop trying until I found out what's wrong and helped him get through it. I know my friend is still somewhere inside that shell of a person. Don't worry Simon I'am not giving up on you.' I resolved as I finished my letter and sent it off before finally trying to lay down bidding good night to my team I laid down and tried to sleep.

A/N: I hope you all like Team SNST. You're going to see plenty more of them from here on out as well as the rest of the RWBYcrew especially of course everyone's favourite Bunny Faunus. -CC Signing off.