Alright, so here we are with another part to this story. I'll admit, I'm really happy I've gotten this far and with a sequel no less. I had always thought that each attempt I made at writing would end halfway through before I had to cancel it as I lost track of ideas. But that hasn't happened yet and I don't plan on letting it happen like failed attempts of yesteryear. This story and its characters, even if most of them aren't my own, have become too important to me for me to let it die and fade away into obscurity. So I hope you all enjoy this next part, and be sure to let me know if anything happens to confuse you or needs explanation/improvement (which I will try to do to the best of my ability without giving away spoilers be that the case).

Tensions were high for the majority of the ships passengers as they touched down outside the Rose-Xiao Long home on the island of Patch. While they knew they weren't likely to meet any opposition to their presence, save for most likely Emerald, recent events were still playing back in each of their minds in different ways. Many of them also needed a good stretch after spending as much time as they had aboard an airship without room to move around or really do much to occupy themselves. Though the travel time had been greatly decreased from the weeks it had taken Frost, Neo, and Emerald thanks to them flying over everything in a straight line at a much faster pace, it had still taken nearly a full day to arrive from them leaving the capital. Thankfully, it also meant that travelling to Mistral to catch up with the others wouldn't take more than a day or two either, and for that they were thankful.

Weiss stretched carefully as she got up from her seat at the front of the ship after meticulously checking to ensure that everything was at it should be. Her mind was still playing back her confrontation with her father as she switched off the engines and activated the door to the ship to allow them to disembark and walk the rest of the way to the cottage to meet up with Yang and her own father. To the outside eye, it may have seemed like she had been confident and in control even when facing down the barrels of over a dozen trained soldiers under her father's "orders", but inside she had been anything but. The years of being taught how to posture to those in other high ranking positions, as well as how to be diplomatic even if the face of adversity, had helped her immensely in standing against her oppressive father and eventually come out ahead. What still bothered her, however, was that it had been Winter in the end helping them against her father that had caused his own plans to fail and for the soldiers to turn against him at the climax of their encounter. All the time she had spent at Beacon as well as the progress she had made both in her abilities and with her friendships she had made with the rest of her team had made her believe that she had finally reached the point where she didn't have to rely on her sister anymore to win her battles. And it burned inside of her, knowing that she still had a ways to go before she was truly able to stand on her own in the metaphorical sense.

Emerald, meanwhile, was beyond nervous as she slowly got up from her seat with a straight-faced mask to stand just off to the side of the airship doors. Weiss had accepted her apology easily enough, but she knew that it had been mostly for show and because of how much she had needed assistance to leave Atlas without running into too much trouble. She still had a long ways to go before she would truly be trusted by some of the people she had wronged the most, even if Weiss hadn't been as affected by any of the schemes she had taken part in. Yang, however…she was not looking forward to telling the truth of what she had aided in the fight with Mercury during the Vytal Festival tournament. Yang's temper was known and feared by many, and she would be walking directly into the mouth of Hell with what she would be admitting. She knew it would come to blows if Yang acted as expected, but if it came to that she knew she wouldn't fight back. Personally, she felt she deserved to let the blonder vent her frustrations on her after everything she had done. It didn't help her nerves and fear, however.

As for Frost and Neo, while most of their thoughts were currently on making sure everyone was safe and making sure that nothing else bad happened, that didn't stop old thoughts from being drawn up every once in a while. For Neo that meant making sure to continue to apologize to those caught up in her actions wen allied with Cinder, even if most of those she apologized to had known in some way that she had been acting under duress and thus didn't blame her nearly as much for things that had happened. For Frost, that meant having to constantly watch over his shoulder in the figurative sense, as he knew that while it was currently silent the Grimm inside of him was quietly biding its time for the moment where it would take control and threaten everything he cared about.

With all of them half-focused on the thoughts currently going through their minds, only Penny was fully focused on their current whereabouts as they descended the ramp from the ship and walked towards the house. Two figures could be seen exiting the door at the front before closing it and turning to face the group strolling towards them. There was a brief moment of peace as Yang gave a small smile as she leaned against the house next to the door while Taiyang held his arms crossed as they waited patiently.

That is…until Yang caught sight of Emerald and her eyes flashed red.

With a rabid scream, the blonde sprang forward with her hair aflame even though she wasn't armed in any way, her mind completely focused on the green-haired girl in their midst. That same scream also acted as a means for the group approaching to be snapped out of their current thoughts, however, and Frost quickly stepped forward to meet Yang's blow with his good arm, catching her fist with a sharp intake of breath and a wince on his face as his feet slid through the dirt a few inches.

"Yang, stop!" Neo yelled over the sounds of the two combatants struggling against one another, even with Frost at a disadvantage since his other arm was still rather sore and unable to fight back even as Yang tried to struggle around him but not finding any ground.

"Hell, no!" The raging blonde screamed back even as she pushed harder against Frost's attempts to stop her. His arm was currently aglow with the power of his Semblance acting as a brace to keep him on par with the furious woman in front of him, as were both of his legs as he struggled to push back against her continued approach. They all knew it wouldn't last forever, however, as his Semblance could only build up so much power before it eventually depleted itself until he was able to get a proper rest. "You know what she did! What she helped cause! Why are you defending her?!"

"If you'd let us explain, then maybe you'd understand why!" Frost yelled back in a strained voice even as he slid back a couple inches more through the dirt. A wild swing from Yang came from his other side, and without much time to react he was left with no choice as he started to uncomfortably shift his weaker arm to attempt to deflect the blow, even if it meant injuring himself whilst still recovering from his encounter with Penny. The blow never met his arm in an uncomfortable collision however, as Frost felt his body shift from a force pushed against his back and side, causing him to stumble out of his lock with Yang. He turned his body to see who had pushed him, only for his eyes to widen with surprise as Emerald straightened her form and took the full of Yang's punch to the side of her abdomen, launching her through the air for a few feet before bouncing a few feet more and coming to a stop with one hand gripping her side painfully as she stood with a slight hunch and a grimace on her face.

"Emerald, stay back! We can talk her down and explain this!" Frost yelled even as he started sprinting to intercept Yang once again.

"No! She wants this, let her have it! It's what I deserve!" Emerald snapped back, even as she struggled to straighten herself, only to wince and hunch back over as she held her now bruised side as Yang continued to barrel ahead.

Frost ignored her demands as he continued to sprint forward to stop Yang, but he knew that he wouldn't reach them in time as things seemed to slow down for everyone. Emerald slowly started moving forward to meet Yang's assault, while Yang continued sprinting ahead with one arm cocking back to slam against the girl once again. Frost struggled against his wounds as he poured more of his Semblance into his legs to propel himself through larger strides to attempt to reach them sooner. Weiss stood by silently with her arms crossed while Taiyang stood with a disappointed look on his face as he stood witness to everything currently happening. Neo, meanwhile, reacted through the first instinct that came to mind.

With a quick burst of light as everything seemed to speed up to normal time, Neo rematerialized in between Yang and Emerald as she swung her weapon to deflect Yang's attack just as she had in their fight aboard the train when she had started truly falling to the Grimm essence inside of her at the time. With a deft strike and a quick flip, Yang stumbled backwards as the series of blows connected and threw off her balance. With a grunt of frustration, she rushed Neo in an effort to shove her out of the way only for the smaller girl to dance to the side as she used the hook of her parasol to swing Yang back around her and back in the direction she had come, using her own momentum against her.

"Stop this, both of you!" Emerald called out as she stood with a heavyset frown behind Neo as she stood guard over her. "I want her to do this just as much as she does! Why are you interfering?!"

"Because this doesn't solve anything." Neo stated calmly as she darted around another round of punches and kicks from Yang only for the blonde to once again get thrown back in the opposite direction without actually taking a hit. "Violence doesn't solve anything. She's just too mad to understand right now, so we need to wear her out and make her listen."

Frost, meanwhile, turned to the other person amongst their group. "Weiss, Penny, help us stop her! Try not to hurt her, but we need to tire her o-"

"No."

Weiss stood calm and resolute even as Frost and Neo looked over in surprise. Neo wasn't able to detract her focus for long however, as she was forced to refocus on Yang in her continued assault. Frost, however, whirled in sudden anger as he faced Weiss with a look of barely contained rage.

"What do you mean, no?" He asked through a tensed jaw and clenched teeth. "You're her teammate, get her to calm down already! She's the most likely to listen to you out of all of us, so just do something!"

"That would imply I want her to stop." Weiss replied calmly as she continued to patiently watch Neo continue to spin Yang around even as she continued her frenzied pursuit of Emerald. "Emerald did things that can't be excused, and she didn't try to fight back like you or Neo did. Why should I stop Yang from getting some justice for the things that have happened to her? You saw what happened to her arm. Could you even begin to imagine the pain she went through, even with the two of you visiting her to see how she was doing? She needs an outlet for some of that pain, and Emerald is the closest thing for her right now."

"But she'll kill her! I could see it in her eyes!" Frost snapped back as he began to march towards Weiss menacingly.

"And you suddenly know her so well? As compared to her own teammate?" Weiss snapped back just as quickly with a look of frustration now etched across her face.

"I don't need to! I've seen faces like that before and I now where it goes!"

"From whom, the faces of the White Fang? Or someone else that happened to work for Torchwick and Cinder when you were forced to do their dirty work? Is that what you base this on?"

"How dare you." Frost's face wrenched up in fury and disgust as his strides became longer and larger as his fists clenched, the dull pain in his arm now forgotten even as he felt his head begin to burn in pain. He didn't care about any of that anymore, however. He only cared about making Weiss understand, even if it meant he had to knock some sense into her. "Where do you get off, posturing to me about how I see things, when up until coming to Beacon you were likely just as arrogant and stuck up as the other nobles in Atlas! You have no right!" As he finished, he brought his arm back to slap her across the face, not realizing that his hand had balled into a fist in his rage.

Weiss noticed it, however, just as she noticed the white of his left eye turn black and his iris turn red. With a quick use of her Glyphs and a brief back step, she dodged the incoming strike as it made contact with a small outcropping of ice she had formed with her weapon before leaping back. As his hand connected, she used her glyphs again to reshape the buildup of ice into a grip that held him fast even as he grunted and struggled against his binding. His head whipped up to face her with a snarl as he continued to push and pull against the ice, his free arm smashing against the binding constantly despite the injuries he had sustained.

Weiss knew that if this kept up, Frost would likely injure himself in a worse way than he already was, and that was the last thing any of them needed right now. In truth, she did want to tell Yang to stop, but she knew that it was a bad idea at present. For them to be able to work together in the future, even slightly, she knew that Yang needed to work this out of her system now, or who knows when she would completely snap and become a hindrance to all of them when it truly mattered.

So she had chosen to stay out of it, despite how much she disliked the situation.

She had hoped that Yang would have been more calm, but that would have been akin to expecting a volcano to suddenly spout snow. She had known that the moment they landed would result in a skirmish of sorts. What she hadn't expected was for Frost to also turn practically rabid. What had happened since they had all been together at Beacon for him to have changed so suddenly? And why was it only showing now and not when they had been in Atlas? In the end, it didn't matter. What mattered at present was stopping him from doing something truly reckless and then intervene with Yang once she had let out enough of her anger.

"Penny! Stun him before he's able to break free! Enough to incapacitate!" Weiss turned and yelled out quickly to the ginger android who had silently watched everything as it had happened.

She turned to Weiss with a hesitant face as the orders were sent her way. "Are you sure, Weiss? I thought he was our friend and ally. Why would I stun him?"

"Because he is currently a threat to himself, Penny!" Weiss snapped without meaning to as Penny recoiled slightly from the outburst. She paused as she took a deep breath before facing Penny again with a more controlled tone. "He isn't paying attention to his own wellbeing anymore and risks injuring himself further than his current injuries already lie. We need to stop him as quickly as possible so that he isn't able to do anything worse."

The other girl's hesitation lasted only for a few moments before she nodded in recognition. "Right away." With that, she began to sprint in a wide circle even as Frost continued to practically snarl at Weiss as he struggled to rush her once again. As she came up behind him, she activated a pair of taser-like implants built into her hands and placed both hands against his back at the same time before delivering a sharp charge through her system and into his body.

"I'm sorry, friend Frost."

As he heard those words, his world went black with yells of pain fading into his ears even as everything seemed to fall away.

Neo's focus on Yang was broken for an instant when she heard Frost's yells echo across the clearing. Her head instinctively turned to face the sound even as she saw his body fall into a heap at the ground between Weiss and Penny, a block of ice now slowly melting away from his arm as the two stood silently around him. Her emotions flipped through shock, worry, and rage as she lost sight of Yang completely in her single-minded state at the sight of her friend unconscious on the ground next to what she considered to be her allies. Had they been lied to about Weiss being willing to help them and forgive what had happened? Were she and Emerald also at risk of being turned on, with Frost now out of commission seeing as he was effectively their own heavy-hitter?

While Neo had begun panicking her mind, Yang had whirled around from her most recently failed attempt to reach Emerald, and was now just as adamant in getting Neo out of her way as she was in hitting Emerald. Thankfully, Emerald was still paying attention to the fight, and was able to step forward and shove Neo out of the way even as an uppercut came swinging from Yang and knocked her into the air before she fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Neo turned back to face Emerald in shock as the green-haired girl pulled herself up into an awkward sitting position with one arm propping her up as the other massaged her jaw before moving back to hold her side. She then turned to face Weiss and Penny who silently watched the other fight as it panned out. No matter how she looked at it…she was outnumbered now. And had no idea how to get out of this situation.

Weiss turned to say something to Penny, who nodded before leaning down to carefully pick up Frost's body and carry it over to the house where Taiyang now moved to assist with a strained look of worry on his face. After watching the two carefully take him into the building before shutting the door, Weiss turned back to face the rest of the group as she walked forward slowly.

"Are you done now, Yang?" She spoke out sharply.

"Almost." The blonde replied as her posture changed from life-threatening to one more focused on intimidation. "I just need to ask one more question." She then turned to face Emerald with a look of confusion even as she held her current posture. "Why?"

"Why what?" Emerald asked while wincing with pain as she scoffed. "You're going to need to be more specific."

"Fine then." She turned to face Weiss for a brief moment and a quick smirk. "Two more questions in that case." Yang turned back to face Emerald before continuing, even as Weiss rolled her eyes at the comment. "Why did you keep trying to get in the way of their attempts to block me? And why did you help Cinder?"

"I'll answer the second question first." Emerald replied calmly. "Because I'm a coward."

"Considering you just took hits for people who basically turned on Cinder's plans, I think coward is an odd choice of words."

"I mean I'm a coward for not going against her plans just like the two of them did. I thought there was no way out from under her control, so I just went along with everything she did because it was safer for me that way. But then I saw the two of them stand against her in their own ways, but never completely act on it because they were afraid for the others wellbeing. But despite that…they never gave up hope. They never stopped trying to find the other and right what they had wronged. I never had anyone like that when I was younger. I was just alone on the streets when Cinder found me, and she pretended to care so that I would go along with her until it was too late to back out on my own without risking my life. And while that partially answers the first question, it's also because I'm the one responsible for what happened between yours and Mercury's fight during the last round of the tournament."

"How the heck did you manage that?" Yang asked with another look of confusion.

"Her Semblance." Weiss replied from behind Yang. "She manipulated what you saw to make it look like Mercury was doing something else entirely while he reached out to shake your hand."

"But…" Yang turned back to face Emerald with a look of surprise. "That means you broke your own teammates leg! Why the heck would he agree to that?!"

"Because everything from his knee down is robotic. You didn't actually break his leg, you just knocked it off its hinge and he had to reattach it properly later. I used my Semblance on the paramedics as well to make them see actual bone and skin instead of mechanical parts as they took him away."

"Well…that's a lot to take in, not gonna lie." Yang stated plainly as her posture lost its threatening pose. "You realize I'm still not going to completely trust you for a while, right?"

"The Ice Queen sure doesn't, and I don't blame either of you. I did a lot of bad things, and I may never do enough to deserve forgiveness. But I WANT to try. It's the least I can do after everything that's happened."

"Hey!" Weiss snapped from behind Yang, who only snorted as she reached out a hand to help Emerald up.

"Well, if you keep up with talking like that, I think we'll be good in no time. Just no more messing with my sight, got it?"

Emerald nodded her head as she continued to hold her side and massage her jaw once again. "If it means I take less hits like those, agreed."

Neo chose then to speak up with a sharp tone. "So the two of you are good then? Good." She then turned to face Weiss with a glare. "Now you can explain why you just attacked Frost before I hurt you like Yang hurt Emerald. Or worse."

"He attacked me when I tried explaining why I wasn't going to stop Yang yet. One moment we're talking about things and the next he's leaping like a wild animal at me, while one of his eyes change might I add, with his fist ready to hit me. Care to explain THAT?!" Weiss snapped back as she stepped forward with a menacing tone to face Neo.

"Wait…w-what was that about his e-eye?" Neo stumbled out as worry now etched itself across her face as it paled with fright.

"It changed just like Yang's eyes do, only it was on one side and his entire eye changed to black and red rather than it just changing to red for Yang. And something tells me you know something about that and chose not to tell me back in Atlas. What is going on?!"

Neo didn't even pay attention to Weiss as she turned and sprinted full-tilt towards the house before slamming the door open with a panicked look on her face before sprinting inside.

"Okay…that was…weird." Yang stated uneasily as they all stood there.

"Well, it was bound to happen eventually." Emerald stated with a sad tone as the other two turned to face her.

"You know about this as well?" Weiss asked with suspicion as she and Yang both patiently waited for Emerald to reply.

"Yep. And the long story is boring so I'm going to sum it up real quick. This also doesn't get spoken of to anyone else save for the old guy in there since he's likely suspicious after what just happened in his own yard." Emerald stated plainly.

"Excuse you, that's my dad." Yang retorted.

"Whatever." Emerald stated dismissively before getting serious again.

"The long and short of it is this…there's a Grimm inside Frost. And it's slowly taking over."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHAT?!"