A/N: Thank you everyone, for those who have read, Followed, Favourited and left Reviews. Those with accounts had been replied to by the PM with personal opinions. Guest reviews that need a reply will be at the end of chapter!

I might not reply to each and every review, but that's mostly because I don't want to bloat the writing with additional lines of "Thank you very much!" and nothing else. I prefer replying to Guest Reviews because I need to clarify something important (or if my inner FUN-TIME needs that review replied). I do read and appreciate each one, thus I thank everyone in my ANs.

No true reason why it was a 3-weeks wait. I write really slowly, as in I could stare at the computer/handphone screen for 4 hours in a writing day and write only 200 words or so. I apologise for that.

It's a Rin-focused and Blake-supplement chapter. Rin makes new friends! Albeit forced. And Blake...I'm sure you'll be fine.


Vale 02 - Cafeteria

Beacon Academy, Kingdom of Vale
Same day, 11:23pm

There was a chink on the plating. A single rust-red iris narrowed at the chink as a pointy, grooved rod was lowered slowly. Stopping just above the bronze coloured plating, the rod was adjusted by miniscule amounts of movement. Once aligned, the descent was resumed.

It fitted into the chink perfectly.

"Yes!"

The excitement proved to be the downfall of the fitted rod and half the plating. There was a snap and half of the rod was stuck halfway down the hole. The other half was crushed by the plier that held it, which then dented the plating when the resistance disappeared via shearing and the user slammed it onto the surface, denting it and ruining an hour's work.

"Nnnooooo!" The assembler whined, slumped onto the chair and let the plier free-fall onto the floor.

"Murasame! Handle the tools with care!" Someone yelled from across the workshop.

"Yikes! Sorry Professor Mulberry! It's just—" Rin grumbled as she reached down to her side and picked up the long-nose plier from the floor. She hoped she had not dented the thin tool as well. Holding by one handle, the plier flicked open when she lifted it, scattering the pulverised rod-joint around the leg of the chair. She growled in frustration. "—I heard how much work goes into making a functional mechashifting weapon, but I didn't expect it to be such a pain."

"That was when you consider portability into the build at the same time." Professor Mulberry approached the workbench Rin was at and looked at the organised mess she had it in. "You're trying to cram multiple types of weapons into a single holder. Of course it's going to be a pain. Not to mention delicate."

Indeed, laid out across the workbench were different weapons that Rin wanted to incorporate into her new weapon build, each a category used by the Revenants in Gaol: One-handed Sword, Two-Handed Sword, Polearm, Hammer and a ranged weapon. If she could get the transformative system to work the way she wanted it, she could finally take a step into picking back up her strength.

"Two Swords, a Halberd, a Hammer and a Rifle." The Beacon Professor scrutinised the blueprints she had laid out on the table. So far she had not made any of the pieces yet. She had been fiddling with the transformative mechanism in order to understand the how's and why's of it. She needed to complete it first before she could start working on the actual weaponries. "Why two swords?"

"One is a One-Handed Sword for speed and precision." Rin was using the category setup that Revenants used, although she was considering switching out the Bayonet template for a range weapon template that was from the outside world. She would have to ask her new weapon-enthusiast friend for a recommendation. "The other is a Two-Handed Sword for power."

Professor Mulberry nodded with a smile after hearing her short reasoning. This was starting to seem more like the Professor trying to make sure she knew what she was doing, rather than being confused. Given the look of her age, Rin was not too surprised or discouraged by the Professor's questioning. Her body was still sixteen, the age of her death, which was one year younger than the standard age to enter the Academy. 'Just gotta be patient.'

Professor Mulberry pulled up the schematics of all the Queenslayer-series and placed them next to each other. As a test-build, she was going to build the mass production version for each of the weapon categories, with the exception of the Hammer. "In that case, would it not be redundant for the Halberd?"

"Not at all. The Halberd has a farther reach than the Greatsword will have, as well as the option of doing Piercing attacks with the spearhead. The Axehead has precision made in mind as well. In contrast, the Greatsword is designed with tearing in mind, for shredding through armour. The Greatsword has size advantage as well, which I can use as a shield for blocking. The Halberd can't even do a quarter as well with blocking as the Greatsword can."

"Very good, you know your plans and reasoning well." Professor Mulberry looked at the Vulcanalia blueprint that she drew up one night at the infirmary, nodding with appreciation for what it represented. "And the War Hammer brings up the Blunt-force trauma and a secondary method of piercing through carapaces."

Now that she no longer had to worry about materials, Rin was going to build a real Vulcanalia. As cool as it was to swing around an anvil as a Hammer headpiece, it was not made or designed for such a use. Besides that, her anvil was meant for repairing equipment, not frontline action. The White Head of the King Taijitu would be the first and last kill her anvil will ever do.

"And finally, your range option." At this part, Professor Mulberry frowned. "This Rifle is rather archaic in design, isn't it? While I have nothing against classics, it doesn't seem like it will compliment your creation."

The Queenslayer Bayonet was not quite the weapon Rin would use. Because of the Drain system incorporated into weapons, there were little other methods for a Revenant to build and use a Rifle. There was the Burning Disaster—a heavy, flamethrower bayonet that constantly drained ichor as it spew gouts of flames—but the amount of ichor needed to power it was significant, not to mention the limited range on it.

That was her reasoning for thinking about the choice of dropping the Bayonet as a range option for her new build. "You're right, Professor. I'm actually considering asking Ruby for a suggestion."

Professor Mulberry nodded in agreement. "I'm certain she'll give you a laundry list of options to choose from." Rin giggled.

Rin first met the socially awkward little genius weapon specialist when Professor Mulberry brought her to this workshop after Headmaster Ozpin gave her his consent to use and build, provided that she assisted in repair jobs and maintenance work for the students. And it was a fun first meeting.

"Oh my gosh! I never thought I'd meet another person who loved weapons too!" The schoolgirl with black-with-red-tint hair and a non-regulation cloak jumped in excitement when Rin said that she enjoyed building equipment. The schoolgirl started to look around Rin. "Where are they? Are your weapons in the bag? Can I take a look? I promise I'll return them as good as new!"

Wow, this girl came on strong! Looking at the massively wide and excited eyes of the girl, there was only one reply. "Sure thing!" The words left her excited lips before she remembered an important detail and her own eyes widened in a panic. "Oh wait! Um, hahaha!" She scratched her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I don't have them with me…"

"It's okay! We can retrieve them at the lockers! Or better yet! Just call the lockers here!" The Beacon student completely misunderstood her meaning and grabbed the little rectangle block of metal-and-glass they called a Scroll. "The lockers are equipped with a rocket engine and they can—"

"Woah there, Ms Rose!" The Professor escorting her to the Armoury—Harold Mulberry, Weapon Crafting and Upkeep—caught the enthusiastic pupil's hand before she could do what she was planning to. "No launching rocket lockers indoors! Besides, the locker room is just two doors away!"

'Wait, hold up! Those lockers have rockets? That's awesome!' Rin wanted to open up one of them to see for herself now. If she could apply rocket systems to the weapons, they would have an easier time tearing through Horrors and Greater Losts!

Thinking about their weapons brought her back to the sudden predicament: How to explain the situation to Rose? Headmaster Ozpin had requested that they try to keep their statuses as a Revenant a secret for now. 'So how do I tell her they confiscated our gears because they thought we're a bunch of Monsters?'

Luckily for Rin, Professor Mulberry came to her rescue and answered Rose. "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, my star pupil, but Miss Murasame and her friends' equipment had been taken away by the Police. Professor Goodwitch is still negotiating with the Officers to transfer them under Beacon's care."

"What! Why?" The Star Pupil seemed shocked.

"Think back to your Primary training school." Wait, primary training school? "Signal, was it? What was the first thing your teacher hands you after you have the permission to take your gears out of school for the very first time?" Whoa! How young did these people start their training to take on those Horrors?! Are they Child Soldiers?

Rose took a few seconds to think back to her old school days before answering. "Err…A Provisional License?" Professor Mulberry nodded. Rose looked to Rin with a I-don't-fully-get-it look on her face. "But uuuhh…Mmm…Gah! Wouldn't she and her team already have it?"

It was the best explanation she could use. "We're from outside the walls. This is the first time I heard that we needed a License to carry our arms." Actually, that was true as well.

"Aw…"

"It can't be helped. The law is the law." Professor Mulberry cast a side glance to Rin and gave her a what-can-you-do shrug.

"I hope Professor Goodwitch can get them back." Wow, this girl really wanted to know Enduring Crimson and the gang.

'Oh!' Rin snapped her fingers 'I know how to get her back up.' "Well, I don't have the actual weapons with me, but how about the blueprints?"

Rose gasped, then grabbed Rin's hands and gave her the wide, excited eyes again. "Please! You got to show me! I want to know all about the other Kingdoms' builds as well, er…ah!" Realising what she was doing, the budding Reaper let go of her hands and jumped back. "S—sorry! What's your name again?"

Rin just smiled. "No problem!" The budding Reaper was adorable. The social awkwardness when she could not talk anything else but their craft made her all the more cuter. So, just like Mia, she would introduce herself to the Reaper first. "I'm Rin Murasame, Gaol's Armourer and soldier. You can call me Rin."

Rose perked up. "I'm Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RWBY! If I'm calling you 'Rin', then you should call me Ruby!"

"Sure thing, Ruby! Nice to meet you! Now feast your eyes on these blueprints!"

And then they spent that short afternoon talking shop until Ruby left to find her team for dinner. Most of it consisted of questions pertaining to the Drain System, which Rin had kind-of forgotten about at that moment and had no idea how to explain that without going against the Headmaster's request.

''Dust ReactionAry IgnitioN System…' What even is that? How did I even come up with this weird acronym? Who was the one with the bright idea to write the name in full capital letters?' Rin held her skull as a metaphorical headache started to form from the stress. Ruby was definitely skeptical about it, but she was happy to wait until Rin had their gears back then demonstrate how the 'DRAIN SYSTEM' worked. But until now, Rin still had no explanation for it. How was she going to explain the tube and needle that extended out from the hilt, used for powering weapon-arts and Gifts through the weapons?

"Hm, this blade has marked differences from the blueprint."

Rin was brought out of her thoughts. Professor Mulberry was handling a single-edged blade in his gloved hands, flipping it over to see the flats and back sides. She smiled. "That blade is for my friend. Her original blade was destroyed by a sea Grimm. I'm building a replacement for her."

The Queenslayer Blade had the simplest form that could be altered in ways she could take advantage of. The biggest change had been at the hilt, where it used to house the Drain system that was grafted into the Queen Steel. Rin had the bloated part sawn off and flattened that area on the new alloy, then drilled holes and cut grooves across the blade for the Drain system. She had not crafted the mechanisms yet—because that would involve Ruby asking her about the Drain system again—and had not yet finalised the 'cover' to be welded over the exposed parts.

She wanted to ask Shiva for her input about the 'cover' before completing her new sword. Rin's plan was to construct the Dust delivery system as the 'cover' and house it over the Drain. The delivery would have three pockets for slotting in Dust Crystals which, when activated, would coat the blade with elements based on the type of Dust used, including mixes, for up to seven types of configurations (Singles, Doubles and all Three). Best of all, Rin would not have to waste anymore precious, uncraftable Chromes for transforming the weapon.

Rin wondered how cool Shiva would think it would be when she could just switch the element types on the fly.

The new alloy she used to construct the unique Queenslayer was something she made from combining Beacon-provided Low-Carbon Steel and Queen Steel from a small ingot the remainder of Shiva's sword. The finished product might have been praised by Professor Mulberry for being a stronger alloy, but the result was dissatisfactory for Rin: A pure Queen Steel sword would have been stronger in every way. But it was all she could afford to make, as the Queen-series materials were no longer creatable. Once the new Queenslayer was fully completed, Rin would coat it with the single piece of Queen Tungsten she brought with her from Homebase, for increased strength and durability.

Rin took a sheet of white plastic and drew the Dust cover she was imagining using a piece of charcoal. "I'm going to ask her if she would like a Dust system on it. It's going to be a completely new weapon for her to learn."

"She is the one that fought the Sea Feilong, isn't it? The one that's still in a coma now." Rin raised her eyebrows at the Professor, mildly surprised at his knowledge of the event. "There are videos circulating on the Network that showed the fight. She is quite the reckless warrior."

Rin nodded, before making a grunt in agreement when she realised the Professor was not looking towards her. As far as she knew from Yakumo's accounts, Shiva had always been reckless.

Professor Mulberry placed down the work-in-progress blade, then turned to her. "It's about time for lunch now. Why don't you go ahead and meet with your friends?"

"Huh?" Rin looked to the clock, noticing that it was just past twelve in the noon now. "Wow, time flies." That meant it was time to head to the infirmary: She did not need to eat, after all. She slipped out of the chair and shed her workshop safety uniform, leaving herself in her own outfit. "Alright! Time to pack it up!"

"You will be returning here later, aren't you?" Rin nodded in confirmation. Professor Mulberry waved towards the door. "Just leave them here and go right ahead. I'll be locking up the place until I return, so no one will be entering this room without permission."

Rin tilted her head slightly. "Aren't you supposed to be watching me?" While it was not the first time he let her go without his supervision, those previous times were because Ruby was with her.

Professor Mulberry returned the head tilt. "Miss Murasame, are you implying that you will be up to no good if I'm not watching you?"

"Nope!" Rin stole that from Ruby. "I'm a good girl." And they shared a small laugh.

Professor Mulberry waved towards the door again, this time underhandedly. "Well then, don't let me keep you. Run along now."

Rin grabbed the plastic sheet with the sketch of the 'cover' from her workbench. "Okay Professor. I'll see you when I get back!"

"Enjoy your lunch!"

No one was along the corridor as she left the workshop. Once the door had shut, Rin started heading in the direction of the infirmary, letting her mind wonder as she looked around aimlessly. Two turns around the corners later, she would find herself walking on the main road that many students were using.

'Hmm, there's a lot of students in different uniforms today…

Rin had been seeing students with different uniforms since the second day, but that had usually been in twos or threes. In contrast for today, she was counting in teams of students instead. The most prominent groups of teams were the students in grey jackets over white long-sleeved clothings, though it was not their uniform that now kept her attention.

'Are they marching in formation? Yeah, they are. Wow, this is like a live performance parade.'

Rin stood with the other students, watching as the grey-uniformed students headed somewhere not in the direction of the infirmary. The only thing missing to make this all the more serious was an actual parade music. So, rather than having to listen to music, she paid attention to conversations that the other students were whispering to each other.

"—er the top, isn't—"

"No wonder we didn't see them—"

"—ether. Atlas really keeps to their schedules."

Atlas. The Grey-White themed students were from Atlas. The name caught Rin's attention because Louis had told them about Mantle's capital change from the information he gleaned. And it would seem that they had a military-focused Academy, if the discipline being shown was of any indication.

Now Rin knew two Academies' dress codes to identify students' place of origin. She already learned from Ruby's uniform that Beacon students wore black suits over white shirts plus neckties for the males, while females wore dark brown jackets plus ribbons with a red skirt. That meant that she had two more Academies' dress codes to find out: The ones with full jackets in black that had a tiny rectangular slit under the neck plus an armband accessory; And the other that she had not seen at all. She wondered if the last Academy was going to miss the Vytal Festival that Ruby had been hyping.

Rin waited with the bystanding students until the procession was over. She had no choice: She knew only one route to get to the infirmary and it was along the path the procession came from. She stood next to the group in casual clothings, blending in with the Beacon students that forwent with the uniforms. But just before she could take a step, she felt a light hand tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me, pretty miss!"

She turned back to reply to the person, only to blink when she saw red. Realising it was a jacket, she tilted her head up, looking above the upturned black collar, black necktie and white dress shirt to see the really tall boy's face. His blue, spike-like hair fell over his yellow-tinted goggles on his forehead as he looked down towards her with a smile. Rin returned it with her head-tilt-eyes-closed smile, feeling her day was getting better. "Hi there!" She cheerily replied. It was the first time she heard anyone complimenting her looks. "Can I help you?"

The boy lifted his hands—one to his cheat and one to his side—and began to speak. "My buddy and I—"

"Hey yo!" The sudden appearance of yellow and blue from the side surprised Rin to take a step backwards. The mismatched colour resolved into blond hair and blue eyes when she had the distance to make out the details. She was also able to see that he wore only an open-loose white jacket over his bare torso, plus a necklace of a coin with intricate carving. "Name's Sun! He's Neptune. What's yours?"

The blue-haired boy shoved his friend by his head, his eyebrows slanting inwards into a frown as he kept up his smile, albeit seemingly forced. "Sun, please." The blonde stood back, close to the wall, with his hands kept to his hip on the blue cargo pants. Rin noticed something waving from his back, then recognising that it was a tail! "Can you chill for, like, just one minute?"

'Animal feature. That means he's a Faunus, right?' Rin was still learning how many different features the Faunuskind could have. "It's okay!" She nodded at them, then introduced herself. "I'm Rin."

Sun gave Rin a thumbs-up before waving a hand in a come-on gesture at the blue-haired boy. "Come on, Neptune! I told you I know where we're going."

"Sun," Neptune double-finger-guns pointed at his friend, "you're cool and all, but you kinda ditched us?" He revealed the reason behind his concealed anger, but that smirk of his seemed to indicate otherwise. "So, right now, I like to have a local, showing us the way instead." At 'local', he winked towards his buddy.

'Uh oh.' Why would they not ask the ones in uniform? Rin watched as Sun made an 'O' with his mouth, raised a thumbs up, grinned, then stepped back. 'And what was that about?'

Neptune turned back to Rin. "My apologies for that, Cherry Princess. I was wondering if I can trouble you for a moment to lead our wayward selves towards the cafeteria? I will be eternally grateful if you can show us the way to our destination."

Rin did not know if she should be blushing from the compliment or embrassessment from the lack of knowledge regarding the direction. She had been to the cafeteria only once, when Professor Goodwitch gave them a tour of the Academy on Headmaster Ozpin's request. A whole ten days ago! She had forgotten the route to get there. "I believe your friend said he already knew the way?"

"Nope! I totally don't!" Sun denied what he said earlier.

"I wouldn't trust him for now, in any case." Neptune crossed his arms and glared at Sun. "My team leader willingly left my teammates and I to fend for ourselves in the forests of Mistral while he went revelling in the nightlife of Vale with the local populace."

"Dude," Sun interjected, sounding annoyed now, "it's just the training ground. You made it sound like I left all of you in a nest of Grimm."

Rin shook her head. "Anyway, I'm sorry for giving off the wrong impression, but I'm not a Beacon student." She finally clarified. "And I don't really know the way to the cafeteria. You'll have to ask someone else."

"Oh, my apologies about th—"

"That's fine!" Sun cut Neptune off. "It's lunchtime and you're heading in the right direction." He walked around Rin to stand beside her, a little bit to her back. Rin 's head turned to follow him. "Let's walk together!"

"I'm meeting my—"

"Sun! You can't just—"

"Too late!" Sun gently pushed Rin along the path the Altas students' procession had left on. "It's getting really late! Let's go!"

"Wait, what?" Rin had not resisted much of the Faunus' redirection, beyond keeping her balance. But how did she get coerced by these two people? 'Is it okay if I go with them?' Since it was usually Mia and/or her that stayed with Shiva in the infirmary at lunchtime, depending if Team BRNZ came to pick Mia up.

In truth, she was interested in knowing more people, but two things held her back from doing so: She had gone from interacting with familiar faces of a few hundreds of people in the same situation to seeing nearly a quadruple times more of closed off strangers that were staying within their own teams, which was fairly jarring experience different from Gaol; As well as her status as a Revenant, which had received a less-than receptive welcome from the locals since the dock. The latter reason had been the one to stop her from jumping in to socialising with them. Students visiting the workshop or armoury had mainly approached Professor Mulberry for guidance. Ruby had been the only exception to this, until now.

"I'm sorry about Sun." Neptune caught up with them. "You don't have to come with us if you have to meet with your team."

"She's still walking with us, Neptune." Indeed, she was. Sun had given Rin her personal space back after the initial push. She had just been walking along with them and thinking. "I got to ask: What's with the mask?"

"Health and safety while working in the Armoury." She answered automatically the question that had been inquired multiple times before. 'I should call Mia, at least.' It was to make sure that someone was at the infirmary to watch over their friend. She pulled out her Academy-provided Scroll and dialed the number from the contact list. "Let me call my friend first." She told them.

Four rings later, Mia picked up the call. "Hello, Rin?"

'Weird. She sounds tired. Did I just wake her up?' Rin moved the Scroll in front of her mask to speak. "Hey Mia. Sorry, did I wake you by accident?"

"No, I'm just exhausted." Did something happen to her? Revenants never fatigued…Not physically, at least. "Are you coming over to the infirmary?"

"Not immediately." Neptune and Sun had started to chat between the two of them in front of Rin as Sun led the way. And the team leader had brought them outside of the building towards another. "I don't know how it happened, but it seems that I've been coerced into going to the cafeteria by two transfer students."

"Oh, that sounds great…" A heartbeat later, Mia sounded much more alert after processing her message. "Oh! Do you need me to call Yakumo for help?"

Rin watched the two students she was following. Sun was describing something in great detail or exaggeration, if the flailing of his arms were of any indication. Neptune spared a glance back and blushed a little when his eyes met hers, before quickly turning back to Sun. "I should be fine. We're just going to the cafeteria for lunch. And they aren't really stopping me from leaving either."

Rin heard Mia giggled. "I understand. I know you really like to make new friends." Rin flushed in a bit of embarrassment.

"Sorry about that day. I was just really excited when I finally met someone of my age and wanted to make friends with you." Thinking about it, the day they first met had been so long ago.

"I'm glad you did. I really do." There was a lull for two footsteps. "So, you will be coming here after your food?"

"Yup!" Professor Mulberry would not be back at the workshop until three p.m., per usual. "Is BRNZ going to pick you up?" They visited almost daily after they learned of their problem and the infirmary stay. Mia would be the one to join them whenever they extended an invite.

"I'm not certain, but I'll be taking a raincheck with them for today." Mia still sounded tired.

They were walking along a two-stories high wall intersected with glass windows. She could see rows upon rows of tables, chairs and an indeterminable amount of students seated inside and eating. "Do you want me to get anything for you from the cafeteria?"

Mia hummed. "A cup of tea. I have yet to sample the Academy's brew."

"Okay. I'll see you later!"

"Have fun and enjoy your lunch."

Rin kept her Scroll away and picked up her pace, walking beside Neptune as he listened to Sun speaking with great enthusiasm. "—were fighting side by side. She was super fast and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome."

"Nice!" Neptune commented.

"Anything you can lay your hands on can be an effective weapon." Rin recalled tossing handfuls of sand or dirt right into Losts' faces, blinding them for a moment before dissipating them with fatal strikes. "Blinding your opponent with potassium is as good as using sand or dirt. It's even better if your opponent is allergic to it."

"Right?" Sun nodded, then crossed his arms. "I don't think Torchwick's allergic to it though. But the best part is," he suddenly pulled his arms apart as a show of great revelation, "she's a Faunus." He leaned forward, closing the distance between herself and Neptune, and whispered. "But that's a secret, okay?"

Rin tilted her head, lost with the context.

Neptune had no issues following Sun's words. "Got it."

"And not a 'I'm gonna go tell everyone the second Sun turns his back secret'." Sun gave Neptune and Rin a stare. "I'm talking secret secret."

"Whoa, chill out, man, okay? We got it." Neptune looked to Rin with a light elbow tap on her arm and stage-whispered. "We got it!"

Rin blinked, still lost. "Sure…?"

"You both better." Sun turned around, smiling wide and happy, and headed for the door, which was still a ways away.

Rin poked Neptune. "I missed the beginning. What exactly was that about?"

"My team leader had chosen to partake in an evening of vigilantism with a student of Beacon against the local terrorist group." Neptune explained. "Sun has fallen head-over-heels for the mystery lady that he helped."

"Like you're one to talk." For whatever reason, Sun glanced to Rin for a split moment for focusing on Neptune, who shuffled under the gaze. And they had stopped moving, two steps before the door into their destination.

'Is he blushing?'

"Look, I just don't want to screw this up, you know?" Sun admitted in an honest outburst. "The people here are the coolest! No offense to you guys." He retracted.

"None taken."

"Yup." Sun's two audiences replied respectively.

"They're just in here." He continued, pointing to the door with a backwards thumb. Then to Neptune, "I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?"

"Dude." Neptune said simply, giving his leader a smile that showed his pearly whites. Rin swore that she saw it sparkled, despite the lack of light in under the shade of the overhead shelter.

Sun nodded in appreciation. "Good point." When he looked to Rin, he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry about dragging you all the way here outta nowhere."

"It's fine." Rin smiled, emphasising her reply with an arm-pump. "I'm always happy to meet and make new friends!"

Sun returned the arm-pump. "That's the spirit! Let's go!" He turned to the door and opened it.

Rin was assaulted by a wave of unintelligible noise upon entering the cafeteria: The 'clings' and 'clangs' of utensils and plates; Words exchanged between multiple groups of people; Chairs shifting as students sat at or left the tables.

'This is…Normal. Yeah, normal.'

Rin could not recall the time she had been in a cafeteria. It had to have been prior to her Revenant life, when she was a living person and studying in a school or college like Louis had been. She could not even recall her old, past life, either not yet found her Vestige regarding her living life or had completely lost it. Her earliest recallable partake in a feast with a group had been…

'…with the squad.' Seated on a broken wall, high enough that she could see her newly assigned squad members, most of them chatting with each other and busying themselves with their gears, with only her Second-in-command and one other eating something, her food offered to her by the latter.

There was a tap on her shoulder, bringing Rin back to the present. "Are you alright?" It was Neptune.

Rin nodded. "Yup. Just recalling something."

"Are your teammates coming here?" Neptune looked over the cafeteria. "I believe the Vacuo students are gathering over there."

Rin shook her head. "They have their own prior engagements."

Yakumo should be patrolling the Academy at about this time. When Professor Ann Greene, security for the Academy came to the workshop with Oni-Bane in hand and Yakumo behind her one day, she learned that Yakumo would be working as a security until further notice. (Luckily for Rin, Ruby was not there when Oni-Bane came back to them.)

When Louis was not speaking to the Headmaster, he was spending time in the dorm studying, be it the Grimm, the four Kingdoms or the recent history. With their leave from Gaol, it would seem that they (mostly Louis) had discovered that there were certain things not adding up to what they had known in the PG's archives. If he had discovered anything, he had not shared any with them yet.

Rin stepped to the side and let a team of students pass. "I'll just be getting a cup of tea to go later." She looked up to Neptune. "Why did you think I was a Vacuo student?"

Neptune was surprised. "You're not?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Well, you're definitely not from Haven, otherwise we would've recognised you." Neptune gestured with his head towards the Atlas students, the group that had the marching procession earlier. "Atlas have a strict dress code, so I had no doubt that you aren't one. Beacon is loose with their dress code, with no rules about it during a non-school day. But you said you aren't local, and Shade is the only Academy without any dress code to reinforce…" Neptune hummed. "So, if you're not a student at all, what are you here in Beacon for?"

'Oh…So Vacuo students are those in casual wear…Oh no! I didn't think this through!' Rin's heartbeat accelerated as she tried to think of something. "Erm, well…"

Once again, it would seem that her luck shone through. Sun exclaimed "I see them, They're over there! Come on!" above the din of the cafeteria and started slipping between the rows of benches. Neptune flourished with an after-you wave of hands to Rin.

As Sun led them towards the table at the far end, Rin was able to see someone familiar: A girl stood at the end of the table, a large book opened in front of her on said table, as she gestured wildly and speaking to her audience with great enthusiasm. It was the red cloak clasped to the girl's back that clued her in on the identity of the person. "That's—"

"S'up, Team RWBY!" Sun shouted over Rin.

Apparently, Ruby was the person—and her team—that he was leading them to. Like every team she learned about, Ruby was in a team of four. Rin could easily see two of the three that Ruby told her she led as a Team Leader. And, with the exception of the younger Leader, the all-girl team had long hair of their own styles.

The first girl Rin saw of Team RWBY was seated on the left-side of the table. The girl with white hair had it styled into a ponytail and tied to the side. She seemed to be having an awful time, judging by the annoyed face she was wearing currently. She dismissed Sun the moment she laid eyes on him after his call, looking back to the tray of food in front of her.

"Heya, nice Sunny day it is today, eh?" The blond girl with pretty lilac eyes emphasised the word as she greeted Sun. Rin could hear the groans from the all-girl team. "Ah, puns! How wonderful that you're back!"

'Sun and Sunny…Oh, I get—ugh!'

Rin could only see a large black ribbon poorly camouflaged on top of the black haired girl from her angle, as Ruby was standing directly in-between the line of sight. But she could hear the black-haired girl clearly. "It's good to see you, Sun. Are they members of your Team?"

"Just the cool dude at the back." Rin moved to an empty space at the side, letting Neptune step forward. "As for—"

"Rin!" Ruby finally saw her and bounced up into a hug with her. "I thought I'd never see you in the cafeteria. Save me from Yang's horrible puns!"

"Hey, my puns are great!" The blond girl—Yang yelled in indignant. "Ya'all just don't have any apprec—"

Rin finally saw the black-haired girl with the ribbon and, in a split moment of disbelief, called out in recognition.

"Shiva?!" The scantily-dressed, scarlet-haired girl—apparently, Ruby's mystery Armoury friend, Rin—shouted in a panic as their eyes met, her voice distorted by the weird breather mask she wore. "What are—how are…"

While everyone was in a state of surprise—and Blake herself in confusion—Ruby shook her friend out of her state. "Eh, Rin?"

Said girl blinked rapidly for a moment, then shook her head. "S—sorry!" Rin stuttered out of embarrassment. She scratched the back of her head. "I thought you looked like my friend, who's in a coma. I apologise for that."

"It is fine." 'Shiva? Shiva…why does that sound so familiar?' Blake tried her best to cull her natural reaction to twitch her ears, masking it by standing up and offering a hand to Ruby's friend. "I'm Blake. It's nice to finally meet Ruby's mysterious Weapon Specialist friend."

Rin had taken her hand into a shake as she was speaking. "Nice to meet you too! I'm Rin. Ruby spoke highly of the three of you."

"Yeah! Team RWBY!" Her Leader and Sun cheered.

"I'm Yang! Rube's sister." Yang gave a thumbs up. "Not the first time I saw you though. But I rarely ever saw you outside of the workshop."

Rin blinked. "I…don't think I had actually seen you."

"Oh, that's because I secretly stalked my sister. Don't tell her though!" Yang faked a whisper, the back of one hand covering a side of her mouth as she did. That answered her own question in the morning. And she had done so while right in front of Ruby, who was fuming.

"Yang!" She screamed at her playful sister, who just grinned back. Rin laughed.

"Ahem!" Weiss staged a cough, gaining the attention of everyone. Like Blake, she stood up to properly greet the new girl. "My name is Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet you." She curtseyed.

Rin returned the gesture. "The pleasure is all mine, ." At first glance, Blake would never be able to tell that the girl knew of social high-class greetings. "I'm Rin Murasame, though you and your friends may call me Rin."

'Hmm, 'Autumn Rain'? 'Cold' and 'Severe' don't fit her personality. 'Dignified' it is.' Blake could not help but try and make sense of her name, after the high-class greeting came out.

"There's one more person I like you all to meet!" Sun suddenly interjected, then pulled the blue-haired, red-clothed boy in front of them. She had noticed the boy earlier when Rin stepped aside, who kept up his smile despite him having zero chances of coming into the conversation naturally after Ruby's outburst of recognition. "Neptune! My partner-in-crime and a cool member of Team SSSN!"

"Hello, ladies." Neptune said, following Sun's introduction. "First, let me thank all of you for looking out for my foolish team leader—"

The comment took away her focus on the present to the night of the docks, Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. Sun's barely heard "Hey!" was overlapped by Torchwick's yell of the same word.

"…Secondly," the word that differed from the sentence Torchwick had said brought Blake back from her flashback, "it's my pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Neptune Vasilias, his unfortunate partner."

Yang seemed less than impressed, but everyone of RWBY returned his greeting. Weiss was the only one who seemed to be further interested in him. "So Neptune, where are you from?"

"Haven, Snow Angel." Blake raised an eyebrow when she saw Weiss actually blushed by the same nickname Jaune had used on her unsuccessfully.

Weiss gestured at the empty space of the bench beside herself. "There's no need for us to remain standing whilst we learn about each other. Our Team!" She quickly added, before Yang could twist 'Snow Angel's' words into her own amusement. "Please take a seat, Neptune."

"I'll be delighted to." The obvious flirting was just barely bearable.

And Yang saved Blake the trouble of pointing it out—not that she ever would—by voicing it out loud. "Man, go get a room, you two. Just save us the juicy details."

"Ew!"

"How crude! Yang." Ruby's cry and Blake's budding Not-Safe-For-School thought were overwhelmed by Weiss's indignant shout. "I'm merely welcoming our fellow Huntsman-trainee from another Academy, that's all."

"Uh huh." Yang uh-huh'ed as she eyed the sea-themed boy. She took a hold of the tray of food—Ruby's—from the seat that Neptune took and dragged it to her side. "Sure—"

"I didn't think you'd ever have lunch at the cafeteria." Blake's hearing tuned to Ruby and her friend. "You always said 'No' when I asked, but then you came with Sun."

"I was accosted by Neptune and coerced by Sun!" Rin pulled the sheet of plastic she was carrying to her chest as she whined, but her eyes lacked the resentment for becoming the subject of forced obedience. In fact, she seemed and sounded happy. "But hey, I'm here now! Better late than never, right? And I might probably join you more often from now on."

"Yeah! And we should get your team to come too!" Sometimes, Blake was envious of Ruby's endless enthusiasm and energy. Her sight went from Ruby's sudden interest in that plastic Rin held to the fellow Faunus that was walking around the duo from the back. "So, what's with this leftover?"

"This? I drew an idea for the modified Queenslayer Sword I was building for Shiva—"

"Oh! Show me show me!"

"Hey Blake." Sun stopped by her side.

Blake nodded in greeting. "Sun. Thanks, for the other day."

"You're welcome." Sun replied. "Always happy to help knocking some sense to the bad guys."

Blake looked away from Sun's smile to the not-diary in her hand. "Misguided. They're misguided."

Something was going on with Adam's group. Blake knew how extreme he could get if it meant the death of one more Human, so for him to team up with Roman Torchwick and assist him by sending people for his Dust heists meant… '…exactly what? Him losing his mind? White Fang having a new goal and direction? Did Sienna know? Or approved? Or ordered him to?' So many questions that she had no answer to.

"—stop standing there until she comes back to Remnant." Blake heard Yang said. Next to her, the sound of a hand slapping on the wood erupted twice and Blake turned her head just in time to see her partner shifting away from her, while keeping eye contact with Sun. "Come on, take a seat."

"Thanks, Yang. I appreciate it."

"Actually, I think I'm done." Blake stood up, vacating the seat for Sun, book in hand. The more she thought about the White Fang, the more worrisome she got.

"You sure?" Yang pointedly looked at her almost-untouched tray of fish-dish. "You barely touched your food."

"Sun can have it." First time she had ever uttered those words regarding her favourite dish. She was just distressed by the happenings recently. "I'll be heading back to the dorm."

"Hey wait!" Blake ignored Sun's plea and continued walking towards the door. She could hear his footsteps as he chased after her. "Blake—hey!"

"Let her go for…" Blake heard Yang's voice just before the noise of the cafeteria drowned the rest of it. She owed one to Yang. She needed some time alone for now.

Yet alone time was not what Blake got right immediately. Just as she reached for the handle of the door—eyes fixated on the handle while her mind was working on what she knew—the door was pulled open by someone wearing armour with a golden bird insignia. With the entirety of her sight filled by the bird, Blake stopped in her track and had a change in thought. 'Oh no—'

"Hey, Kitty Kat." The voice of the owner of the armour easily penetrated through the cafeteria's noise in her ears and filled the Cat Faunus with fear. "Fancy seeing you here."

Blake forced herself to not look up, stepping right to the side immediately and out of the way of Cardin Winchester. "S—sorry." She said. "Excuse me." It might as well be a mumble with the setting. It was best to lose his attention as quickly as possible.

Cardin heard it all the same. "No problem. But what's the rush?" He followed her but moved just enough towards the frame of the door that Blake would have to push passed him to get out. "It's only halfway through lunch. Come on, join us."

Blake's hair stood right up, breaking into cold sweat. Her mind flew a kilometer a minute trying to think of something to say no. But nothing came to mind in her need to get away from him. "I—W-why are you calling me a c-cat?"

'Why did I ask that?!' Blake gave herself a mental kick. 'How did he know?!'

"Huh? Well…" The question seemed to have worked, despite her worst fear. Cardin took a step back, relenting a bit of her personal space and allowed her peripheral view to be filled with other, non-threatening sights. "During spars, you like to stay away and look for opportunities before committing to an attack. You kinda like keeping to yourself. And you could sneak away from everyone so silently and easily like it's your nature." He counted his fingers as he said the points, then finger-gun pointed at her with a frown and a grin, causing her a panic attack. "Hence, Kitty Kat, with a 'K' instead of a 'C'."

'…what?' Did that mean he did not know? Or was he teasing her with a threat? "I…"

"Or just maybe," her heart pounded when Cardin opened his palm and raised it above her head, her eyes tracking it, "you have a little something under those bow. 'Something' like that little bunny girl?"

'Move!' Blake's mind screamed, but her body had been rooted with fear. 'Damn it, move! I won't become like her. I won't end up like Velvet. Move!'

"Cardin/Blake!" Whatever spell that binded her broke when she heard her partner's and friend's voices. She finally took a step back, but tripped on her own gel-like legs and crashed into someone else.

"Whoa, careful th—"

"Cardin!" Yang yelled again, drawing her attention from her clumsy fall onto an innocent bystander. Cardin had already moved in front of her to face Yang and Sun. "You leave Blake alone, asshole."

"Blake!" Sun tried to make his way over to her. Tried. But the two of the three missing CRDLs, Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing, suddenly appeared in her view and stepped up in front of Sun and Yang respectively. "What the hell, move it!" Sun attempted to sidestep Russel, only to get blocked by him.

"Back off, monkey sperm."

"Sun!/Blake!/Yakumo!"

Ruby, Weiss, Neptune and Rin came up behind the other two. Sun pounced on Russel before Yang could stop him, landing a fist on the spiky-haired boy that snapped his head and body back. Russel almost went down, somehow stopping his fall midway and hopping on a leg once.

Then Russel swung back like a reversed pendulum, slamming a retaliation on Sun's jaw on the side and knocked the near-half-sized larger Faunus off his feet and back. Neptune and Rin caught the body before Sun hit the floor.

"Holy fuck! Sun!" Neptune held Sun's head up. His eyes were half-opened and rolled back. He was not moving. "Sun!"

Weiss was beside them in that instant, her scroll held in her hand. "His Aura's in the low yellow. He's fine, just unconscious."

Neptune stared at Russel in shock. "How?"

"It's concussion." Yang answered. "The chin is the furthest away from the brain. A good hit on the side can rattle the skull hard enough to cause concussion." She glared at Russel as well. "A bad hit can cause permanent damage and sometimes even lead to death."

Russel shrugged. "He struck first. Not my fault the ape-shit was weaker than he looks."

"You bastard!" Neptune would have joined Sun or worse if both Rin and Weiss had not caught his hands and stopped him. "Let me go!"

"Everyone, stop! Just stop!" Ruby was between Neptune and Russel now, her hands keeping the Haven student and Beacon student apart. She was only fighting against Neptune. Russel had not even bothered moving after attacking Sun.

And she was glaring at Russel. "Apologise." Russel snorted.

"Why should I?" Russel shrugged, then rubbed a hand on the side of his face where Sun struck him. "That chimpanzee attacked me first, but I'm in the wrong for self defense?"

"You should be the one apologising, Team RWBY." Cardin defended his teammate by getting in front of Russel to stare down at Ruby. Yang almost went up to pull her sister back, but Weiss stopped her with her other hand and some unheard words. "Teach your pet monkey better manners or put that rabid animal down."

Ruby did not back down. "Sun's a great team leader and a great friend."

"That's an even worser case for Fleabag, isn't it? Team Leader picking fights with other teams and losing. Russel wouldn't need to put that animal in its place if it was properly leashed."

"Enough!" Blake's ears rang when an unfamiliar voice yelled above her and over all of them. She reflexively cupped her hands to her ears. "All of you, break it up!"

"Yakumo, she's with us." Blake felt her shoulders gripped by a pair of rough hands firmly and guided towards Rin. Russel and Dove stepped behind Cardin while everyone else stayed next to Sun. Ruby and Yang stood in front of the group.

"You that new security guard the Headmaster hired?" Cardin asked. This 'Yakumo' let one hand go and gently nudged her towards Rin.

"Yeah." Blake turned around to see who the security guard was: A scar-faced Human with red hair tied into a ponytail plus bangs that fell to both sides of his face, with a two-handed sword that looked like two different blades attached on a pole-like shaft locked magnetically on his back and jacket. "Yakumo Shinonome. Rin, take the boy to the infirmary."

"Got it." Rin grabbed Sun's hand.

"Rin, let me—"

Rin ignored Neptune and simply pulled Sun into a fireman's carry, then stood up effortlessly. She tilted her head towards the door. "Neptune, the door."

"R-right."

Blake followed behind Rin as Neptune led them to the door. Behind them, Yakumo started to question them. "So, mind filling me in what you boys and girls were doing?"

"I was just inviting my classmate to join us for lunch." Cardin said. His words sent shivers up Blake's spine. "Then some jealous ani—" She stopped listening when Neptune opened the double door.

Sky Lark of CRDL was slouching forward at the entrance, hands raised and about to open the door. Blake's blood froze and she stopped in her tracks.

"Excuse me!"

"R-right! Sorry!"

The blue-haired boy pulled one side of the door as he moved aside, letting Neptune and Rin pass without any altercation. Blake followed tentatively, watching Sky warily as she moved through the door.

While she was not going to pity any member of CRDL, she had to admit that Sky looked terrible. He was visibly breathing hard, audibly sucking in air through a small slit of his lips. His face was paler than usual and there was a sheen of sweat. He looked at her in the eye, tilted his head to the retreating Rin, then headed into the cafeteria, closing the door behind him.

Sky's condition had been bad since the incident in the Emerald Forest. He 'failed to cover Jaune,' according to his own team's testimonies, and incurred permanent damage of his own. Despite his condition, he still proved that he could be a huntsman and was allowed to continue his studies here. And now he looked far worse than normal. Blake shook her head and turned away, leaving to chase after Neptune and Rin.

"—are they?" Blake heard the tail end of Neptune's question.

"I don't know either. Ruby had never told me about that team before." Rin's answer had the context of his question.

"That was CRDL, or Team Cardinal, freshmen." Blake answered. "They're a team of racists that goes out their way to antagonise innocent Faunus, going as far as causing harm."

Neptune stopped in his track suddenly. "Which way is towards the infirmary?"

"Left." Rin answered before Blake and overtook Neptune, leading the way.

Neptune fell in steps with Blake. "So why the heck aren't these assholes kicked out of Beacon yet?"

It was the question Blake asked herself once. "…They always managed to twist incidents to their favour." She looked down. "…A few students had already been targeted by them. And despite the crude ways of torturing the Faunus, it somehow always ended up with the Faunus being the aggressors and punished."

"That's the biggest rubbish I ever heard." He hit the nail on the head. "And the faculties just let them continue like that?"

Humans would always be Humans, protecting their own and leaving the Faunus to fend for themselves. Even Beacon. Blake was dispassionate by the entire system.

"Sun is some of the toughest freshmen I've seen from Haven." Neptune was looking at Blake, disbelief written all over his face. "Just how did someone half his size floored him in one hit?"

Blake looked to the comatosed Sun. "…The Team is the strongest Freshmen team…and the strongest Beacon trainee team currently."

They were the real monsters. In strength and in cruelty.

"Damn…" Neptune said no more and picked up his pace.

As Blake chased after Neptune and Rin, a thought occurred to her that made her stop in her tracks. 'Was our method really useless?' Her Father's White Fang symbol came to mind. Then a bloody three-claw mark cut through the symbol and drowned it in blood. 'Was their new method right all along?' She leaned on the wall, exhausted.

'Every time I see those unhappy families shunting us, I had thought we went backwards. Then I watched Velvet leave one day and never come back. And now I watch as Sun gets beaten down…'

She looked down the path, now devoid of the two that she was following. She stood up, turned the corner, and left.

'…

…dark…

…where…

…?'

Welcome back.

'…who…?'

"Hello…"

'Yellow eyes…

…Silver/Black hair…

…Shawl/Ear.'

…How are you feeling?

'…Up…

…Beautiful high buildings.

Fires sweeping over the earth.

Bodies laid on the streets…'

Don't worry, it's okay…

I don't/remember remember/it ei-/as -ther/well…

'…

…'

Over there.

'White…

…Snow…

Up…'

It's dry, isn't it?

'Sand…

!

…Lithe arms…

Half-torn cloth and a white half-gi…

We can go slowly.


A/N: I'm sure you noticed how much I changed Canon RWBY scenes in 'Best Day Ever':
1) No Food Fight, because JNPR ain't around.
2) RWBY have different seating arrangement. With Ruby standing at the head, Weiss sat on her left (with Ruby's tray of food beside her, partner sitting with partner), Blake on her immediate right with Yang next to Blake.
3) CRDL became bigger asshats, which led to...
4) Blake having really bad issues with their speciesism.
5) No Ozpin and no Glynda. I'll admit I forgot that they existed in this scene, so something will be supplemented in the next chapter (scene ended with Blake's leave, while Yakumo and rest of Team RWBY were still facing CRDL).

This chapter was also supposed to have other points: I meant to finish Mia's scene in this chapter as well, but by the time I wrote finish Rin's scene and started Blake's, it was already 6k words in. So Mia's reappearance will be pushed to the next chapter. Might be a short chapter.

One last thing, I don't think I had ever said anything about the Meshing of the Crossover Universes, until someone from AO3 pointed it out as a quick question. I'll repost what I replied to him from the Comment Section here, as well as editing Chapter 1 to better explain the thought process.

About RWBYverse: The history of RWBY is largely left untouched. I also won't go too deep into it (if at all, which is the main reason why it's untouched). Instead, it's the vague backstory of Code Vein that is meshed into it. Within the century and through fantasy science (as little 'It's Magic!' as I can).

However, there will be changes made to the canon RWBY (Volume 1-3). Vale 01 (Chapter 9) has spoken some of it, but it's not focused because the chapter was about the Revenants in Beacon, not the casts of RWBY. The sub-plots will start getting addressed with the next chapter, which will lead into the main plot.

pepaul (Guest): Some ideas you suggested were already part of the original plans (Rin/Ruby and Mia/BRNZ), but I'll admit that I hadn't actually thought to elaborate them or go into deep details about them, until I saw your review. Goodwitch's...Not so much. They're already capable fighters of their own, but she might have to showcase skills to and from them after (from Ch 09/Vale 01) Louis talks to both the girls about what Ozpin wanted, which should be, in the writing's context, this or the next day ('Best Day Ever' or 'Welcome to Beacon').

Guest (Guest): You'll just have to wait and see. I have already planned out a few things for the Gaol-Chapters (which will be quite far away). Subtle hints had already been dropped in the Vein-Chapters. They're all sub-plots that I'll explore in the future.