Location: Vale Cafe

One week later:

3rd Person

"One orange parfait please…" Cypher said to a waiter taking the entire tables order, him being the very last person to order, as he couldn't really make up his mind.

"And will that be all?" The waiter asked with a smile as he finished writing down Cypher's drink order. Cypher didn't say anything, but just nodded and looked back to his friends around the table. "Alright, it'll be ready soon."

A week had passed since the event at Mount Glenn, and being that AYZC, Rain, and even Celestia needed a mood pickup, they had all decided to head to a cafe in Vale to do just that. Over the past few days everyone had been struggling to keep it together and it showed widely.

Zinex had been acting more distant and secretive than usual ever since his fight with Ken. He seemed to be a lot more worried about a feeling that had begun creeping into his body. One of darkness and loss and basic emptiness that he hated feeling. He felt like everything around him was staying still but he was moving. He wasn't sure if it was what had happened in Mount Glenn or something else, but he knew something was wrong.

Yato had gotten noticeably more and more aggravated and it had slowly started to affect his health, school life, and his relationship with Yang. He slept and ate less than he usually would, his grades slowly started to deteriorate, he got into unnecessary fights more often, and he and Yang had slowly started to spend less and less time with each other. When anyone tried to either tried to help or talk to him about his state of being, he would either yell at them or just storm off angrily. It was a frightening sight to be seen, so most people decided to ignore it.

Cypher had gotten quieter yet noticeably distressed starting on the third day after he had returned. He felt terrified, thinking he couldn't be able to protect all that he cared about, as if he was a failure or a nuisance to everyone. Everyone, including Weiss tried to help, but all that did was make him feel even worse. He had tried his whole life to protect those around him, but it seemed he was just failing every time he tried.

And then there was their leader, Aura, who was by far the most broken out of the whole team. After witnessing his father getting murdered in front of him and finding out his mother was somewhere else still alive, his mental state had just crashed. Did his mother not want to see him? Did she even care that he existed? All these questions buried his mental state alive and kept him in a constant state of barely being able to breathe. His eyes were dulled grey and lifeless; his head, tails, and ears constantly hung low and dirty, as he had not properly cleaned them since. He barely ate anymore, and when he did, it was to keep everyone from force-feeding him. He was unresponsive since then too, barely showing any signs of emotion wherever he went, only making slight gestures to display awareness, barely even participating in combat class as well.

He had barely even physically moved either, he would only use his semblance to do his various day to day tasks, whether it be bathing, putting on his clothes and uniform, eating, or even writing. It was disheartening for his friends to see him in a state like this. As much as they tried to help him, there was very little they were able to do for him even when they came back Celestia was distraught to see Zinex, Cypher, Aura, and Yato in such broken states of being.

Rain was affected by this entire thing as well, even if she hadn't been directly involved. She was clearly more worried than anyone else, mainly about the wellbeing of the people she had just met a week ago, given her caring and sympathetic attitude. Out of everyone however, it was Aura she was most worried about, she too had experience with the brutal world that lay outside Vale. She could imagine the amount of pain that the fox was going through and wished she could make it disappear, but alas it was impossible.

The silence around the table kept that way for an inordinate amount of time, that is until the waiter came with their drink orders, and the food order only Zinex had ordered. The smell of ribs filled the whole table, but not a word was spoken, that is until it was forced.

"Could someone please pass the hot sauce." Zinex said awkwardly, scared to break the silence but really could barely taste the ribs.

"Yeah." Yato grunted and tossed him the hot sauce, without any emotion. Zinex caught it and sighed, looking around at everyone, who were keeping to themselves.

"Look guys, I get it, everyone is depressed as hell and the mood is down. We have to move on though, fight past the sad shit, and keep going. That's what will show our true strength, not explosion, lightning, psychic shit, or even fire." Zinex said aloud then took a bite out of the ribs that sat in front of him, then looked back at everyone.

"Zinex is right, we can't keep wallowing." Rain said looking at Aura, then to everyone else. "I don't want this to be it for us."

"Kinda hard when life keeps spitting in our faces." Yato grunted, leaning back in his chair.

"Not life, the White Fang keeps hitting us in the face." Cypher pointed out then took a drink of his parfait. Everyone nodded their heads, that point couldn't be argued.

"Exactly, it's not like anyone else is responsible besides them." Zinex stated then looked around at the group, taking yet another bite of the ribs, which he seemed to be enjoying quite viciously almost as if it were his last meal.

"Then what do you propose we do? You seem like you have all the answers huh?" Yato shot back to him, obviously still annoyed and irritated by life itself. Zinex sat back for a second, licking his fingers, then looked around.

"I'm honestly not sure, I'm really not sure of a lot right now." He said, his eyes seemingly lost. He was looking out to the port which didn't lie very far away.

"That's what I thought." Yato said in a huff, but this time Aura decided he had enough. He stood up and looked at the rest of his friends, and even though sadness engulfed his entire state of being, he had a plan.

"We will be participating in the tournament." Aura said in a matter of fact tone. "That is AYZC will be, I'm not sure Rain and Celestia qualify."

"I think that's a good idea." Cypher said finishing his drink rather quickly, standing up as well.

"Isn't the fair today?" Zinex asked, looking around at everyone. For a moment Aura paused, then immediately bolted down the path that would lead to Vale, the rest of the people following him except Zinex, who was still sitting at the table. Cypher turned around and looked at him with a urgent look on his face.

"Aren't you coming? We have to get their quickly!" Cypher said in an equally urgent tone, but Zinex just continued sitting back, and staring out into the water.

"I'll be there, just gimme some time." He said not meeting Cypher's eyes, Cypher nodded and ran after the rest of the group, disappearing from the area. Zinex then coughed heavily into his trench coat sleeve.

Zinex POV

"You don't sound well." A voice said across from me. I immediately looked up at whoever it was and sighed, it was Noris in front of me. She was wearing normal summer clothes, with her long hair let completely out. She appeared so real in front of me but I couldn't tell if I was just going crazy or not.

"Eh its nothing." I said waving her off, then laying down money on the table to pay for all of us.

"If you say so Zinex. I'm going to guess you let them go ahead just because you like the scenery." She asked and I glared at her, which just made her laugh.

"What are you doing here Noris?" I asked quickly, not really wanting her to be here.

"Zinex you silly fool, I'm always here." She leaned back, looking around at the small cafe we were sitting in front of.

"Then how about you go back to being a ghost." I said, standing up and feeling a pain in my chest. I grunted, then fully stood up, luckily the pain subsided a bit.

"As you wish." She said as I turned away from her, walking down the street. I coughed a bit more into my forearm and kept going down the street but everything seemed to be getting fuzzy and weird.

"What the hell is this?" I grunted, as everything got almost fully fuzzy, except what was all around me. I stumbled forward, the pain returning to my body but this time fully extending to every piece of it. I groaned in pain and stumbled forward, falling on the ground.

"Are you okay sir?" I heard a faint voice ask, but I couldn't find the energy to respond, I felt completely drained and weak. I faded for a second then felt myself being pulled somewhere. I heard whoever was pulling me was speaking but I just couldn't understand them, then I completely blacked out.

Aura's POV

"Where is Zinex?" I asked the rest of my team, and they all shook their shoulders. Cypher had said he was going to stay back a second but it had been an entire two hours of waiting for him. We had already signed up to the tournament, and I really wanted to talk battle strategy before it began tomorrow, but Zinex couldn't bother to show up on time.

"Calm down, furry brain." Cypher said giving me a smack on the back, then laughing as he looked around the festival, which was in the works and not yet completely done. "He'll be here any moment."

"Yeah try to enjoy yourself Aura." Rain smiled at me, raising my mood a lot. She always seemed to improve my mood, even in the worst of times. Without another word my scroll began ringing, and it was from Zinex. Finally. I picked up the the scroll and answered it immediately. "Where the heck are you?"

"Um, at the city." I heard him say, though he sounded sort of different but I couldn't place why. He almost sounded like he was hurt, or something along those lines.

"Alright meet us at the festival, it's right inside Beacon so you should be able to find it." I told him urgently, I really needed him here. There wasn't going to be a way to win if we didn't have everybody at the ready for this.

"Where's that again?" He asked in a confused tone.

"Zinex seriously, Beacon? The school? You know the one we go too?" I asked exasperatedly, facepalming a little. Sometimes his sarcasm got on my nerves. "Just call us when you get here, we'll meet you by the front doors."

With that I hung up, I really didn't want to hear another sarcastic comment.

"Where is Zinex?" Rain asked curiously, hearing the entire conversation I had with him.

"He's still in Vale for some reason. Cypher I thought he said he was only going to be a minute." I said a bit irritated but Cypher just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know Aura, I'm just telling you what he said." I just sighed and pocketed my scroll, he better get here soon, or so help me…

"You seem… better…" Celestia said cautiously yet roughly enough to shake me out from my irritated state.

"I need this to go well for once." I sighed kicking a stone on the ground, not really caring much about anything but what we were preparing for. This tournament had to go right...it just had too.

"Calm down, fur-bait…" Cypher said smacking the back of my head. "Zinex is stressed and nervous, just as much as we are. But the best thing we can do at the moment is just train for the tournament."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. After what we had experienced last week...it would make sense that he would be as stressed as us. Maybe I should lighten up a bit…

"Hello there!" I heard a familiar deep toned voice say from behind our group. I turned around and was greeted by the figure of Zinex but...different. He looked a bit pale, and seemed a bit nervous but otherwise fine.

"Well I didn't realize your princess ass needed a whole hour to finish your food." Yato laughed, walking to him then patting him on the shoulder.

"Hilarious." Zinex laughed looking at all of us, and I noticed a slightly pained look in his expression, but was quickly replaced with a smile that looked sort of forced.

"You're late." I said crossing my arms and tapping my foot irritatingly. He shook his head then let out a small laugh.

"Sorry Mom, I'll be sure to be on time next time. Please don't ground me." He mocked, which just made me sigh in irritation. Typical Zinex, always has to make a sarcastic comment.

"Alright Zinex, let's just get to the fields, we have some practice we need to get in before the Vytal festival begins officially. So come on, let's g-" I started to say, but was cut off.

"Hey guys!" I heard a familiar, high pitched voice yell from behind the group. I looked behind everyone to see team RWBY there. "Surprising seeing you all here"

"Hey guys, how are yo-" I began before a white and red blur dashed towards the group, making me jump from where I was standing and move next to Zinex. A second later I was greeted by the sight of Yato passionately kissing Yang on the lips; and although she was surprised at first, she soon melted into it. Nonetheless, this suddenness surprised most of us, minus Blake of course, but Zinex let out a semi loud cough into his elbow. "Uh…You okay over there?"

"Oh yeah totally fine buddy." Zinex said, patting me on the back then looking back to Yato and Yang. After a few seconds, Yato pulled away and faced me with a wide grin on his face.

(this is so Weiss, can we hit 5 dabs)(XD)"So anyway…" Weiss began, recovering from the surprising kiss. She then continued with what she was going to say, after recovering. "How come you're here? I thought you all wer-"

She almost would have finished that statement, if it were not for Cypher walking up to her and kissing passionately, almost as Yato did no less than ten seconds ago.

"Um…" I heard Rain say in awe as she watched this unfold. Heck, even I would have, but this was almost natural for them. Noting Blake by herself, I realized that Zinex hadn't kissed her yet. I looked towards Zinex, as he just stood there and watched.

"Um… Zinex…?" I asked glancing to Blake and then to him. I knew he had feelings for her, that was obvious, but I wondered if he was going to make those known.

"Huh?" He asked, obviously as confused as someone could be and I just sighed and shrugged my shoulders. I guess today wasn't going to be the day.

"Nevermind… So anyway…" I said trying to get everyone back on topic, it felt nice to have all of us just here. Like the dark times were moving behind us, like things were going to only get better from here. "What are you all up to?"

"Oh nothing, just trying to find something to do to pass the time before the tournament." Ruby admitted almost sounding bored. I mean it was about two weeks away from the tournament, and all the various attractions around the fair were just being set up, so there really wasn't anything to do, and the thought of helping build all of this stuff didn't really scream fun to me. "So what about you guys?"

"We were actually going to train for the tournament… As a matter of fact…" I began as I looked around our two teams. "What do you say to a sparring match? Team RWBY vs Team AYZC. We can find out who's really best."

"Hmm." Ruby tapped her chin, and looked up. Then looked at me with a determined gaze. "Bring! It! On!"