...Wow, where to start? Important stuff:

I am alive.

I got a job, which I still go to every day.

I am so, so, so, sorry that you all had to wait this long.

Especially these days, I think we all need a little bit of an escape. The shackles of my new employment make this difficult for me, to say the least. But ironically, ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 I have found more purpose and desire to write. Not necessarily the time to do so, since I am healthy and not under quarantine. The only leg up I have on all this is that I am already partially insane.

I pray that all of you are safe as well, and not any more stressed than you need to be. More than that, I hope that I can continue to do my part and bring everyone some measure of relief from the troubles of reality. For those of you who will still accompany me on my descent into madness, you have my sincerest thanks.

All the best,

Gaetan


"Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

It was over, done. Any pretense of fairness or freedom was stripped away like the religious trappings of a church, leaving only bare-bones severity.

In a blink of the sun and moon the sky had fallen, stars running down like splattered egg yolk and stripping all the colors from their pastel landscape. Afterwards, a thick oil pencil then came along and framed them, caged them in like wood-block prints of birds in a Naturalist's field guide.

Then, when all the colors had settled like muddy water on the floor, their warden emerged from the murky darkness. At long last, the author of their fate appeared, sketched there in black and white.

"I don't get it. Why can't people make up their minds?" As the only one who could- as the only one with any real power, Jin had half a mind to turn around and walk out right then and there. Instead, he insisted on maintaining his place, and his ignorance. Irreverently, he scooped a finger into the non-existent wax in his ear, flicking it off into a fathomless corner. "I'm always being accused of either doing something or not doing something… which is it, huh?"

"You betrayed us."

Kokouo's expression served as evidence, the horse-dolphin looking long enough in the face to finally resemble his constituent creatures.

"How?" Jin growled up at his accusers as if he were the one deceived, alone in front of a hung jury. "I promised to reunite you, is it my fault you're not enjoying the family reunion?"

"Say that to me on this side of the bars, you little shit!" Matatabi slammed her head against said bars, eyes bulging on either side as if ready to leap out on their own if need be. "We could be having this conversation on the outside, if it weren't for you!"

"And how long do you think that would last beyond pleasantries, hm?" His voice mockingly pleasant, tails waggling in reminder of who held all the power. "Barring the fact that without me you'd still be too mindless to use words, do you really think the humans of this era would be any more likely to leave you alone? How long before they start hunting you down like common Grimm, eh, Neko-chan?"

"Oh, come on! We both know that wasn't me! My Chakra-"

"-Was just acting like a monster?!" Jin likewise threw himself at the cage, rattling the towering columns along with the Two-Tail's nerves. The other Tailed Beasts dwarfed their warden; however, it was all a matter of his mind. "Face it! That's all they'll ever see! This world for centuries has been stuck in a war against monsters like us! They've gotten so used to it that the creatures hardly scare them anymore. In boredom they've gone back picking fights amongst themselves! Atlas and the Schnees have already started trying to harness the Grimm's tainted Chakra as weapons, how long until they do the same to you?!"

"And what about you?" Matatabi skulked around the cage with pride wounded from flinching, turned around to snap at their 'caretaker' from the other side of Isobu's shell. "What makes you different from us- no, from them? You only want us for our power too, don't you?! How can you not be ashamed of yourself, using that accursed Sharingan to trick and manipulate us?"

"Well, I'm sorry if your 'habitat' wasn't to your liking," The apology was as false as their former surroundings. However, it couldn't be said that the stark cage and sneer leveled against them was any better. Jin had dissolved the illusion upon request, but that was the only concession he seemed willing to give them. "I did the best I could. And for the record, any power of yours that I used was given freely."

"-And now we're revoking it, freely." Making the decision for the rest, Matatabi missed the irony as she stalked back up to the front of their compact enclosure.

"Oh, so you want to make it harder for me to liberate your remaining siblings? By all means, take away my ability to fight them on even terms. I'm sure one of these baby warriors who're so eager for justice would be perfectly happy and capable of taking down a rampaging Eight-Tails."

"They would be… if you gave them our power."

Matatabi had only meant it to be insolent, but the blank stone walls reflected her suggestion, bounced it around their heads where it continued to accumulate seriousness like a layer of chalk.

"Sure, why not?" Jin scoffed, letting the idea blow away like a dust bunny. "After all, I clearly failed since you're still out of your mind! How in the Hell do you think that would work, huh? Think I can just puke you up and force-feed you to the vessel of your choosing? If it didn't kill them outright, what makes you think that they would even accept something like that- what makes you think they would accept you?"

"Didn't stop you, did it?" Never before had they known the Five-Tails to sound so vindictive. He had always advocated giving Jin the benefit of the doubt- but there was no doubt, no forgiveness in his voice as he stared down at their fellow monster as if he were nothing more than a rat. "You never asked us if we wanted to be in your seal, never gave us a choice. You kept us in the dark as to what was going on outside, forced your fanciful drama on us- forced yourself on that girl!-"

Kokouo was forced to stop, the grinding of his underbite sealing his jaw like a cave-in.

"…It's not too late to make things right," It was not in his habit to play moderator; Son Goku was likely even less forgiving than the Five-Tails when it came to Jin's abhorrent behavior, but he could see that someone needed to step up. He could see the shame Jin was carefully trying to hide in the shadows of the cavernous room- along with the opportunity this weakness provided. "I myself would like to make amends, to those two children who suffered because of my Cha- because of me. I doubt that either one would accept being my vessel, but maybe one of the others, their teammates might allow me to be by their side."

"Lie Ren was the boy's name, right? He seems like an intelligent, patient young man. I wouldn't mind him as a partner, if he would have me." Isobu stuck his head out of his shell and into the conversation for the first time, a gleam of hopefulness underneath the tired ridge of his brow.

"It might not be me whom Jaune Arc, needs an apology from," Between a growl came Kokouo's accented pronunciation, the Five-Tails pausing as he swallowed the scathing remarks which he knew would not help his case. "-But I believe I could help the young man. He has a brilliant mind that needs fostering- instead of constantly being cut down."

"Saiken likes everybody!" From where he was flattened into the floor, the Slug suddenly inflated along with the optimistic upwelling, pressing the others up to the edge of their pen with his excitement. "But who like Saiken? Maybe… Hairy-One not mind Saiken' slime!"

Once it clicked, the nickname for Yang earned a chuckle which Matatabi disguised as a scoff.

"Who else for me but the Neko Musume? She'd at least be quiet enough that I could get some sleep…"

"Ooh-ooh! Son, since you're not taking either of those two, can I have the orange girl with the huge hammer-"

"NO!"

"No, no, no, no!"

A rare moment of agreement when everyone shot down Shukaku's pick. But that bridge was broken before it could be mended, the endless atmosphere above caving in as Jin pounded the floor in childish tantrum, reality itself seemed to twist like clay as he wrung his ears in frustration.

"This is not happening! Don't you idiots understand? I'm the Jinchūriki! Me! And you are mine! I'm not the best choice- I'm the only Kami-forsaken one!"

The aftermath of his tirade was more awkward than awe-inspiring, the Half-Beast sucking his teeth to control his rage. With a bitter scowl Jin realized that while he could assert his dominion over the others, the claim was as empty as his side of the cage.

"Then… I choose Naruto."

In contrast, Kukouo had becalmed, sliding in this joker card with his regained poker-face.

"What the Hell kind of game are you playing at, horse-face?" Jin couldn't see it, blinking and even overlooking the mention of his predecessor.

"Let us agree, for a moment, that nothing has changed; we are the same Tailed Beasts as the Sage's children. Accepting that there is no place in this world for us; we are monsters and will always be regarded as such.

"Then the same must be true about you, no? Raised by humans, you might have rejected their appearance, yet you take on their bad habits. Still, you are not just a product of your environment; as much as you treat their names as anathema, your progenitors are a part of who you are.

"So far, I have seen the jealous, egotistical, monstrous behavior that is more aligned with that blackguard, Madara." While he sneered much like the haughty Uchiha, it seemed as if Jin was incapable of controlling this impulse. He should have been able to morph his appearance in the seal to suit whatever he wanted, but his right eye remained closed while the sole Sharingan glared back at the Five-Tails inconsequently. "-But where is Naruto Uzumaki? Wherever you have him locked away, let him speak! His ideals might be imperfect, but that doesn't make them irrelevant! Let them be tempered by experience- but never extinguished!"

It was painful hearing the desperation in their brother's voice, but the other Tailed Beasts didn't shy away from it. Not like Jin who clamped his eyes in denial. He looked all but ready to return them to the cardboard world, which was far more spacious than their current shoebox, but infinitely lonelier. At least here they could see the walls which entrapped them and even had a glimpse of an outside through cracks in Jin's mental state.

"…You think he's not here?" With contempt Jin cracked the lid over his right eye, showing the cold, blue diamond which had been there all along. "What the hell do you know about Naruto?"

The name had been a prickly subject- now as sharp as a knife in his hands as he brandished it at them.

"Well? What besides the stories Kurama told you do you really know? Naruto was your Jinchūriki for- what, less than a week? And that was enough time for you to see into his soul? Don't give me that crap!" Unable to give any excuse, the icy blue eye which continued to cast its scorn upon them was too familiar for them to say anything. "If you knew anything… you would know he had his darkness, too. Just as both Naruto and Madara are a part of me, that darkness was part of him. Did you ever consider that the good, selfless Naruto really died that day, just like he planned? Maybe all that's left is me. Like how all that's left are you, a bunch of useless relics."

"Naruto accepted his darkness," Son Goku accepted the challenge, ambled up to the barrier and gripped the bars which looked like twigs in his humanlike hands, groaning but never yielding. "Even if you are his darkness, you should know how horrible it feels to be alone."

"Oh, but I do," Both eyes snapped opened, Jin's Sharingan spinning proudly and driving the Tailed Beasts back like leaves in a whirlwind. "I remember a child who was alone for the first decade of his life, taught to accept simple acts of humanity as kindness, tricked into thinking table scraps were real food and that was all he deserved. They fattened him like a lamb to the slaughter on propaganda: 'Will of Fire', 'Child of Prophecy', Jinchūriki- the most apt title of all, 'Power of Human Sacrifice'- an accursed life sacrificed to that power, not for it!

"No, not for oneself, but for others. That's the only time people pay attention, when you're useful to them- or, a danger. Fear or blind faith- why is there never an in-between? Why can't I just exist?

"Yes, I remember battling every day for acceptance- only to be gypped out of it time and again. And, finally, when this humble goal was within reach, I had to give it all up to save an ungrateful world! And for what? For it all to happen again- and again and again!

"When do I get my chance to simply live? Where is my happy ending?!"

In the end, there was none. Someone was always inking in the missing parts like holes in his flesh. Only over his dead body would he allow someone else to step up and play the martyr.

"You don't deserve one." The sacrilegious comment arose from the dead silence, the Nekomata gaining her new life with a cruel grin. "What? After all this, you expect pity? Oh, boohoo, 'I had a bad childhood'. By the Sage, even the Uchiha wasn't this insufferable! Maybe he thought the world revolved around him like the sun, but at least he had a sense of obligation! Do you even hear to yourself when you talk, or is there just a black hole between those oversized ears of yours?"

"I don't have to listen to this."

"Oh, no, you certainly don't. Unlike us you can just walk away," Though it was as if Matatabi had reached through the bars with her paws and snagged Jin, stopping him by his tails which were as idle as loose threads. "-Like you always do. You walked away from your second chance at a childhood with Ozpin and Salem, even though you knew the pain of being alone. Why? Wanna know what I think- why would you still be here if you didn't?"

There was, as always, a duplicity. Growling passive-aggressively with his back turned, yet Jin made no move to or away from the cage.

"You're scared. It's not that you resent Madara and Naruto for being stupid, it's because you know they're better than you. Sure, they both failed in their own way, but you can't even make it that far! You're worried that you'll fuck everything up like you did trying to get Shukaku. Or if that's too far back, why don't we talk about how you tried to fuck Pyr-"

"Quiet!"

"NO!"The refusal was a spike causing the solid stone floor to ripple, forcing the bars to jump like a tuner and even Jin to take a step back. "Even if you shrink this cage to the size of thimble, even if you construct a hell to torture us for the rest of your miserable life, at least once during that time you will pay attention to someone else!"

No one else spoke, and Jin stood in solitary on the other side of the divide.

"No… no, there is nothing left to say," Coming to the crux of the matter, Matatabi realized they'd been there before. It had all been said and rehashed hundreds of times, and once more would make no difference. "Whatever we say won't reach you… your mind is a cage."

Doing what she did best, Matatabi turned her two tails with a fiery fleer, curled up in a corner and the silence she had cast.

"I'd curse you to live a lonely life, but you're doing well enough on your own. So, go ahead, leave us and lock the door behind you. You are not wanted here."

She dared kick him out of his own mind with only a cold shoulder and the stubborn immutability that sleeping cats are notorious for. If he'd been petty, Jin could have molded their container without corners, made it so small it would be impossible to move and left nowhere for her to hide.

"For the record," This wouldn't work for any of the other Tailed-Beasts as each confronted him with the same confidence with which Matatabi turned her back. "We knew our brother a lot longer than Naruto did. And I can tell you that Kurama would be ashamed."

Kokouo had finally settled on his words, let them settle on Jin like fine sediment until the truth was a slab of limestone trapping him. He might have looked like the Nine-Tailed Fox, but he was nothing but bones, a fossil, a negative photograph.

The lights flickered and dimmed as Jin dissolved, reminding the Tailed Beasts of all he was, really.

A shadow.


"You picked a seriously crappy time, Durama…"

Cowering in the shadows, team JNPR couldn't help but agree. It was bad enough that Jin seemed to be in an especially pissy mood, but the students themselves were officially crapped out; down to the last rounds in their magazines and to just dregs in their tanks. Worse than that, they were down a team member, whom the Grimm seemed keen on keeping the way a dog holds hostage its favorite chew toy.

"Greetings and Salutations!" On top of it all was the strange girl's smile, brilliant as a flare- ready to call down an artillery strike on their heads. "Hello again, Jinchῡriki!"

"What do we do?"

Jaune couldn't even decide whether to wave back as the girl sent them her creepily cheerful greetings. That she could address the Grimm so familiarly was already disturbing- that she had managed to injure him was terrifying.

Even wounded, Jin was still capable of taking charge. He took away the problem of having to choose, trading it for the huntsman's partner whom he handed over as if her blanket-wrapped form was an ancient mummy that would blow away in the slightest breeze.

Having his teammate in hand didn't reassure Jaune. If anything, her fragile state and the fact that Jin needed two hands for what was about to happen increased his stress.

"…You should've stayed extinct… UZUMAKI!"

Jaune tensed- If she'd still been in the Grimm's arms, Pyrrha would have been crushed. As it stood, the captain of JNPR could barely stand, could barely breathe under the mercuric weight of Jin's anger washing over him.

"Uh, Capin', you might want to take a step back…"

Already being pushed there, Jaune retreated and sought shelter among his team, together in an abandoned pharmacy under a green cross sign that hung askew by a single bolt. Sliding behind the rusted register, the huntsman gently set his partner down amongst the empty pill bottles and bandages which had become permanently adhered to the floor. Together, the rest of JNPR peaked their heads out over the peeling linoleum countertop, terrified and yet curious too curious to look away.

The new arrival also looked askance at Jin, appearing almost as lost as Jaune felt most of the time.

"Uzumaki… I have heard this before," Though she sounded somehow doubtful, as if Jin's anger was a fog which obscured the original brilliance of her purpose. "I believe it is a name, correct? Father mentioned my desig-*hic*… resemblance. However, I have yet to come across any records in either official or unofficial databases. Please, tell me, what does it mean?"

"It means I should have dismantled you the first time we crossed paths. Now I'm gonna have to be careful about taking you apart piece by piece until I find your maker-mark, use it to track down that so-called 'father' of yours and eradicate that name from this planet myself!"

The vehemence was like a slap of reality, freckles nearly being wiped from her cheeks along with the definition she had so painstakingly crafted.

Was this hatred? The Jinchῡriki had been right; it was strong. All her previous learning seemed pale in comparison- not just her knowledge about this specific emotion, but emotions in general. Information was nothing like experience- did she dare expose herself?

At this point, could she even stop the flood comprehension from drowning her? Where was its source? This feeling called 'hatred' was taking over her systems like a virus- no, it affected her soul, skipping logic entirely and corrupting her core.

An illogical input, returning error message 6518- FEAR.

System reset.

Retrieve last saved copy.


"Salutations Lt. Schnee!"

"-By the Brothers!"

Her body remained stationary as Winter's head whipped around, an audible crack as she looked to see who had barged in after a clinical knock- the hospital staff tended to approach her with more caution, so there was only one other person it could be.

"Penny, you scared the crap out of me." Invoking a new crick in her neck between the C1 and C3 vertebrae which Winter rubbed with a slender hand, anticipating the headache to come. "What is it? And don't call me Lieutenant… I'm on indefinite leave, remember?"

"My apologies, Lieu- Ms. Schnee," Was she angry? Irritated? Or just in pain? Faces like names were subtle and still a challenge for the gynoid; which was why Penny was here. "I came to check up on you. How are you feeling?"

The long-suffering sigh would have been enough for any organic being to understand. But this case, it allowed Winter to gather patience, recompose herself for a long and drawn-out explanation which she should have been used to by now.

"From the waist down, nothing." -Which didn't keep her from being blunt, frustrations taken out on the first person foolish enough to listen, "The rest of my body feels like it was used for a badminton game between two Beringals."

If nothing else, it must have reminded the huntress how she needed to circulate blood in her legs. Bending at the waist, she massaged her limbs which remained motionless as butcher's sausages under the paper-thin sheets.

"-And for the last time, Winter's fine," the snap of a cleaver.

"I- I'm sorry," At least, Penny was finally able to read the situation enough not to ask why two Grimm would be playing glorified tennis. "-But Father is coming to Vale for the Vytal festival, and he should be able to restore use of your legs! I might not have fulfilled my purpose yet, but my technology has led to many advances in biomechanics. In the meantime, I would be happy to alert the nursing staff about your discomfort. I have reviewed your records, and if the current level of pain medication is not enough-"

"-I'm not taking the damn meds."

Unable to take a clue, Penny didn't know where to go from there. Dare she risk (further) irritating the Lieu- Winter with her question? Either way, the woman was a captive audience. This seemed like as good a time as any.

"…Winter, what is Hate?"

It was vulgarity in an opera, Winter blinked as the lights started to come on.

"-Oh, Penny, please forgive me. I didn't mean to sound angry. Don't think I dislike you, I'm just- well, you can understand why I'm not in a good mood, right?"

"Your body is not functioning properly," Much like Penny herself felt, envious of the steady heart monitor in the corner whose job was more laid out than the pulse of a corpse. "But it should be fixed, shortly."

"True," Winter chuckled dryly, feeling parched as she hefted herself up into a more seated position in her bed and looked at the lukewarm glass of water on the side table next to her, wondering how long it had been there. "But short or long, the future doesn't really exist for us humans- or Faunus, for that matter.

"-I know what you're going to say; it's not rational, but that's just the point. Unlike robo- people like you, we can't quantify what's going to happen. So, what comes next is unknown- like, say, someone barging in and surprising us. And that sort of thing brings us anxiety."

"It does," Penny agreed, ironically one of the few things she did know.

"Yes, although…" The word actually appeared heavy as Winter sunk into the pillows she had piled behind herself. "So does the past. Mainly because it seems so clear, we think we might have changed it."

There was a subtle change in her heartbeat, in her blood pressure as she clenched and unclenched her fist slowly. Apart from her upper body, Winter also still had control over her faculties, her military discipline making her seem robotic at times- and yet still more human than Penny.

"…That's why it helps to have something to focus on. Something strong, like pain, keeps us grounded on what's real. You have pressure sensors, artificial nerves, don't you?"

Penny nodded, something more than these nerves prickling her as she didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Pain's not a pleasant sensation, is it?" The answer was written on the robot's face, though she neglected to notice. "But… its better than feeling nothing at all... And getting back to your question, Hate's similar."

Her hands began rubbing numb legs absently while Winter grew detached to the conversation, retreating to the place she had been before Penny had entered the room and staring at the smear of red-orange sky outside the window.

"Hate is not pleasant. But it can replace feelings that might be worse, like uncertainty, or emptiness. Imagine being locked in a room, alone, no connection to the outside world. A mind without a body."

There had been a brief, 7,182 millisecond period during Penny's initialization where her inner processes were active before her sensory systems. Objectively, it had been a short time. But without the outside world to give context, time was subjective. And it had been an abyssal eternity where she didn't know what was going to happen next.

Would she ever open her eyes? Would she ever move? Was she even alive back then?

"…Can you see why pain might be preferable?"

The nod was automatic, not even needing to cross her super-conducting synapses.

"But," When the signal finally went through, however, it came out the gynoid's voice box in the form of a question. "Wouldn't it be better to concentrate on something pleasant?"

There didn't seem to be any emotion or feeling in the woman as she stared blankly at Penny, and for an incalculable moment it felt like a glitch in the machine, a horrible sensation that something was wrong-

But then Winter giggled, a not-unpleasant sound from the serious woman.

"Well, I suppose it would. Although-"

"-Hey, hey, is this Gimpy's room? Sorry to barge in, but the nurse wouldn't tell me the number- some military procedure or something- so I had to sneak in."

"-Although, it's more common for discomfort to find you."

Arriving in the form of a familiar, dark and swarthy huntsman whom, if one added a pitchfork, horns and a tail, could probably pass for the Devil's caricature.

"Hey now, that's hardly the proper way to welcome a well-wisher," Qrow sauntered in through the open door and slipped in next to Penny, holding a brown paper bag above her head and rustling it as if it were a dog treat that might get the invalid to leap out of bed. "And anyway, that's why I choose to drown every second of discomfort. Can I interest you in a drab, Milady?"

"There's probably a reason the nurse didn't let you in. You reek of booze more than the barracks at Christmas." An unfortunate experience, worse even than the odor of disinfectant already permeating the air. "Besides, don't you know you're not supposed to mix alcohol and medication?"

"Meh, self-medication never did me any harm," Qrow replied before Penny could point out that Winter had neglected hers, "Come'on, I went through all this trouble just to smuggle you some liquid solace. Quit being such a stickler for the rules. And don't quote military doctrine about being drunk on duty, I heard from Oz that you're not on the clock now, right?"

Despite her previous doubts, Penny knew that this was not the right thing to say. She didn't need a thermometer to tell that Winter's internal temperature skyrocketed past the threshold for potential fever, her sickly-pale face now a shade of cough-syrup.

"So that's it? You just came here to gloat? Figures! Inebriation has probably atrophied your skills so much that you can only hope to win against a cripple!"

"-Seemed to be doing pretty good before…" Qrow's whisper seemed to be meant for her, an aside meant for the audience.

"What was that?!" Regardless, the remark slipped past Qrow's sloppily placed hand meant to guard it from Winter's ears. "You know, I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you!"

"Woah, hold up, I wasn't looking for a fight back then, and I sure as hell ain't now. I'll admit my part in what happened, but don't take it all out on me. There's someone else who should share the blame, right?" Winter's pain had a clear focus, Qrow wisely backing up from the bed with hand and bottle of booze raised in the air. "Besides, Ironwood won't just throw you away after a little crack or two. Worse comes to worse, I'm sure Ozzy will spring for a few repairs. Legs are easy enough these days- Well, I mean, I can understand if you're worried about not feeling anything 'down there' for the rest of your life. But it's not like it's that big of a change, right?"

Perhaps, 'wise' was not a word to describe the huntsman. Although, the android had to admire his ability to 'push all her buttons'.

"OUT!"

What happened next was as confusing as Penny's previous questions. She didn't grasp how Qrow had become a literal smoking dent in the wall- wasn't quite sure why she was kicked out with him, nor even why she didn't understand these things in the first place. But, Penny had more pressing matters.

"Mr. Branwen? Can I ask you something?"

"Look, kid, I'm really not the right person to ask about the Birds and the Bees. Why don't you go find a nurse or something? This is a hospital, ain't it?" Qrow looked around questioningly left and rate, took a step forward out of the hole in the wall but ended up simply sliding down to the floor. "…On second thought, I might have to ask you to get a nurse."

That said, Penny could read his vitals and see that the man's Aura was already healing him, scabbing his wounds and metabolizing the alcohol in his system. So, she wasn't worried when he popped the cork on his gift bottle (which was miraculously intact) and took a healthy swig. Rather, she was impressed at his rate of regeneration, taking a seat next to the man in order to collect more data on this phenomenon.

"Mr. Branwen, how would you describe the emotion of hate?"

Once detached from the bottle, the huntsman's head flopped over to stare at her blankly.

"Should I ask a nurse instead?"

With a gasp for air that sounded like a dismissal, Qrow tipped the bottle back up right and wiped a stray drop that had gotten caught between the branches of his stubble.

"Nah. But if I'm gonna get philosophical, I better be drunk first. Well, more drunk."

She didn't argue as he took another sip. Then another. And another.

Finally, as he raised the half-empty bottle to his lips a fourth time, he halted himself before she could, and stared down the spout like it was a loaded gun.

"Hate's a fickle thing." He sloshed the bottle, stared half-lidded at the tumultuous eddies and whirlpools forming behind the dark-green glass. "You know how many women I've slept with who've said they hate me? What am I saying, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about…"

"Sexual intercourse, right?"

Once again, it was as if he wasn't really talking to her, surprised by the answer and removing the bottle from his lips with a blink. Thankfully, he hadn't taken another swig.

"Um, yeah… Who are you, again?"

"I'm sorry, I guess we've never been formally introduced. I'm Penny, Penny Poledina! It's a pleasure to meet you!" However, the good feelings were blunted by the inebriated man who ignored her outstretched hand.

"Right, I remember. That explains a lot…" Unlike Winter, he didn't elaborate to her as he downed another healthy taste which left barely four finger-widths at the bottom of the bottle. "Anyway. Hate- real hate's not that common. People typically just use it when they don't know what they're really feeling. Take Ice Queen, for example. You seem pretty close to her. She's probably told you she hates people like me… or maybe me specifically. But ya know, I'm betting it's more of an annoyance/jealousy type thing. Probably."

Before he could change his mind and mull on it further, he drowned the questions like the next couple of seconds with the remainder of the wine, finishing the bottle with a pop.

"Right. So, people don't really hate each other all that often, yeah? Like most human emotions it's usually more complicated… and troublesome." Qrow sneezed, feeling something in the back of his mind that was older than the now empty vintage bottle he rolled down the hallway. "Hell, we even have a phrase. Ever hear of a 'Love-Hate relationship'? The two are supposed to be opposite, but they're so damn close you can taste them in the same breath *burp*!"

"Excuse you," Up until then Penny had been nodding along like the man was a venerated Sage. Although, even the burp didn't bother her that much, and she offered forgiveness without a blink. "But I am not sure I understand, how can two people both love and hate one another?"

"Trust me, they can," It was astounding how the man could be so free with his drinks and answers one second, and then clam up and appear so dour the next, hanging his head between his knees and looking like a professional slob. "Try having a family."

After a few minutes of Penny craning her head at him, Qrow eventually snapped himself out of the ennui and recalled who he was talking to.

"Uh, right. Well, in any case, try not to take someone saying they hate you too seriously, okay? In fact, don't take anything I say too seriously, either. I don't want to be responsible for saying something I'm probably not going to remember in a couple of hours."

"If you like, I can play a recording back for you."

"No thanks," The thought alone seemed troubling to Qrow as he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his usual flask, adding another tally to his drunken score. "I don't really enjoy hearing the sound of my own voice." Though after another shot, he added: "That, and some things deserve to stay in the past."

"With the tales I've heard of your galivanting, I imagine there are a few nights you'd prefer to forget, Branwen."

"Jimmy! What a pleasant surprise,"

Sarcasm was still a tricky thing for Penny. However, based on the way that Qrow grudgingly pushed himself up from his hole in the wall, it was likely neither of these things.

"I was just giving your subordinate my regards and condolences, since these unfortunate situations seem to keep happening to her. Would have made it here sooner, but I sort of got lost on the road of life- still, managed to beat you here, eh?"

"If you recall, I carried Lt. Schnee here in my own two hands," Ironwood stated, narrowing both eyes at the huntsman before his field of vision expanded to include the android. "Penny, I take it you are here to see Winter as well."

"Yes, Sir," Back to orders, familiar territory never feeling quite so tense. "And hello, Headmaster Ozpin."

"Hello, Ms. Polendina. It's a pleasure to finally meet. I've heard quite a bit about you, but such talk never does anyone justice." Objectively, whatever the headmaster had heard about her couldn't have been good. She'd failed her intended purpose, unable to defeat the Jinchῡriki Ozpin himself was harboring. "However, right now I am more interested in the fascinating conversation you seem to be having with my subordinate. I'd be curious to know how you arrived on the topic of Hate."

Ironwood's scoff seemed to be all the incentive Qrow needed to step in.

"Well, me and Ginger here were-"

"Actually, Qrow, since you are done checking up on Lt. Schnee, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind taking care of something else for me." Though his smile was implacable, the piece of paper Ozpin handed him and the way Qrow stiffened when he took it said enough. "Don't worry about Ms. Poledina, I am sure she will be perfectly fine in our company."

She was sure too. Right up until Qrow made a none-too-subtle glance back at her before leaving, shuffling down the hall with his hands shoved in his pockets and his half-cape swishing like the janitor's mop. Off to clean up another mess, Penny wondered.

"So, James, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

Ironwood stared at Ozpin like there was something the matter with his fellow headmaster, before he remembered whom he was talking to. Folding his arms, the General did not have to fake impatience with his friend's antics.

"What, Ozpin, are we really going to stand here and pontificate?" His answer was a subtle raise of the eyebrows and Beacon's Headmaster bringing his mug to his lips as if they had planned to stop there for afternoon tea. "I don't believe this. We're supposed to be debriefing the Lieutenant... Fine, Hate is a frivolous emotion, something a person like me who is responsible for thousands of lives hardly has room for!"

Impatiently, Ironwood then turned his back on them and barged into Winter's room, closing the sliding door so hard it bounced in its tracks. There was a commotion, longer than the one Penny had caused upon entering, the details of which were sealed when Ironwood's robotic hand came back and firmly closed the door again.

"James doesn't like when things don't go his way," Alone, Ozpin talked about his fellow headmaster the way one would a petulant child, which Penny had to agree wasn't inappropriate. "Although, it is entirely fair. Like me, he holds a lot of responsibility and a lot of peoples' lives on his shoulders. I dare say if there is one thing the General truly hates, it's not knowing something he feels he should."

"People hate the unknown,"

"Yes, exactly,"

Ozpin's acknowledgement was as automatic as the gynoid's while both stared unfocusedly at the occupied room, frosted glass blurring the forms inside until they were nothing more than vague ideas of people. Seconds blurred, slipped away as she waited for… something.

"Headmaster?"

"Hm?"

"What do you… What is your definition of hate?"

"Hm…" Penny was still not used to a lot of human subtleties, this change in tone like a heretofore unknown rule in chess where Ozpin switched out Penny's target for a walled castle. "I am not sure if I am qualified to answer that. Having been a target… as well as an offender, my answer might be biased. While I have never seen anything good come out of hate, it's hard to prove a negative, isn't it? I'd be much more interested to know your opinion as an outsider, per se."

"I- *hic*- I…" Anything she could come up with would be regurgitated from internet sources or printed words, so she had no choice but to borrow. "I heard that having something to hate can make you strong. Therefore… hate can be used as a weapon?"

"Why yes, I suppose it could," Ozpin chuckled with the concern of a master looking down at a child with a wooden sword. Though there also seemed to be regret, as if the sword were replaced by a gun. "I have seen hate used to turn the tide of battle, to spur forces to victory and to liberate people from oppression."

A temporary goodness, though, like the bitterly fleeting high of caffeine or the sugar rush of a sip as the headmaster had of his cocoa before continuing,

"In the long run, though… what happens to a weapon after it has outlived its usefulness?"

Languishing, Penny was relegated to stand there and slowly rust while she waited for the headmaster to give the answer. Maybe she ought to find someone else, or else come up with her own, but she decided to wait a bit longer. It came after another pause, about to take a sip and then aborting.

"I am afraid that I don't know exactly what Hate is. Is it a weapon? A double-edged sword? Or is it something as simple as a waste of time or distraction? I suspect that even if we were someday able to cast off all our weapons, relegate armies and huntsmen to the scrapheap, that Hate would still exist.

"Still, wouldn't it be nice? As swords and cannons can be melted back to iron for railways and wires to connect us, maybe we can someday find a way to repurpose that 'frivolous' emotion."

Apparently, Ozpin was done being frivolous with his time, moving towards the door where the terse whispered had petered off. He slid it open and paused with one foot over the transept, one eye cast in such sharp reflection in his glasses it could cut Penny to her core.

"I hope this helped. Have a good life, Ms. Poledina."


"…Yo, you in there? So, what, now you just going to shut down and give up?"

"Oh, no, sorry! I was just retriev-*hic*- remembering something," Though like she had forgotten the last few seconds, Penny rebooted with her face lit up like a power grid.

"Well, I hope it was a good one… because it's the last you'll have!"

It was a generous warning, obvious as a meteor streaking towards her from nothingness with tails ablaze in the night. Plenty of time to calculate the trajectory and not be there when it struck.

There'd been plenty of time for him to attack while she'd been offline, so why now? Why wait until she had a fighting chance- dodging the telegraphed the blow as if he'd literally called it ahead. His moves were obvious, yet his motives as unclear as the cloud of dust kicked up from his impact, and she considered simply asking-

"-I'm going to destroy you," She'd seen him go flying past her, but the creature's distinct voice came from behind as Penny skidded to a halt, chains digging in like icepicks to halt her evasive slide. "And I'm going to enjoy it!"

Such violent bloodlust surprised her almost as much as the flanking attack. Though it was again slow, as if the creature had to work himself up into this frenzy the way he hefted both claws in the air and tried to pound her into the sidewalk. Penny's feet left the ground as her chains sprung, launched her away and landing on their pointed tips like a multi-footed ballerina.

"Oh, are you willing to face me now?" He turned to her with a growl and fists still entrenched in the street, her countenance as unerring as graffiti on the wall. "I was under the impression that I had yet to meet your requirements… tell me, would you still like to hear my definition of Hate?"

"Now? I'm willing to give you a firsthand lesson!"

Jin ripped his clenched fists from the ground, taking up clumps of concrete with powerlines hanging loose like limp earthworms. He began chucking them at her much as a schoolyard bully would fling mud at an insect- two of his tails grabbing the gutted remains of a school bus and hurling it at her as she lazily dodged the other projectiles. But bigger didn't always mean better, and she let her tails shred the oncoming missile like it was a wet sticky note.

But the bus's parts were anything but flimsy to the team of huntsmen taking cover just a block away. Half a door tumbling corner over corner like a throwing star smashed into the rusted cash register, showering them with devalued Lien mixed with defenestrated glass. Jaune threw himself over his comatose partner, clamping his eyes shut as the fragments pelted his armor like rain off a tin roof. Some got snagged in his hood and wormed their way into his dirty blond hair which was currently more the former than the latter; he could really use a shower.

But that could come later. When he was relatively certain no more debris was coming their way, he brushed it off and joined the others in audience. More afraid than being collateral damage, they were afraid of missing a second.

Because something was wrong. The fight should have been over in seconds. If Jin was so dead set on killing this would-be assassin, why didn't he just eradicate her with one of those miniature black-holes they'd seen him sling about? Where was the hellfire, the briar of coral and blades of wind? That he didn't have so much as a smirk was chilling.

"I don't understand," Penny couldn't find him, the Grimm disappearing along with the last scraps of bus that fell like pollen. But her sensors were not as easily blocked as human senses; she hopped back as Jin sprouted from the ground in front of her and wrapped a chain around his arm before he could cut her, holding it as tight as kudzu. "Do you… hate me?"

"I can't stand the sight of you!" She stared at the cyclops, into the eye of the cyclone as it drew in spectrums invisible to the human eye and devoured them. "Your very existence offends me!"

Penny blinked in surprise as he spat at her and missed, the mailbox he hit dissolving like a popsicle in summer. It shrieked and capsized as his loogy ate away at the metal and boiled its peeling blue paint, silent, forgotten letters bleeding into the street.

"I hate everything about you! Your upbeat attitude, your blind faith in that so-called 'father'- those damned shackles-!"

Before she could get a word in on her defense, it crumbled, melted as acid oozed from his fingertips and turned her steel chain into mercury. His claws slid through the liquid metal, barely missing her but sending caustic droplets splattering across her freckled face which was stricken with what looked like grief and now, smallpox.

There was a follow-up strike that she halfheartedly tried to dodge, hopping back as his claw dragged across the bridge of her nose and stripped off a piece of her parchment-pale skin like a torn page from a newspaper whose headline sewed panic.

"Even the color of your hair is an insult. Although, most of all, that damned, phony smile…" She could no longer form a proper expression, but the patchwork lattice of artificial skin like a failed pie crust was unaccountably sad. "Where's it now, huh?!"

Penny didn't respond to his insults or assault. Defense wouldn't work, so she counterattacked, swiping at his legs as he galloped at her. But he skipped over the segmented whip like jump rope, ducked as the next came around at his head, then twisted like a pretzel out of the way as another came so close to his stomach as to scrape the salty sweat- if he'd had any.

"Aren't you having fun?!"

One of his own appendages wrapped around her weapon as it recoiled, dragging him down where he landed with one foot and one clawed hand on the ground like a game of hopscotch. With a skip and a hop, he was off again, flying, limbs getting as much contact with the surface as the hull of a hydrofoil.

She tried to swat him out of the air but found her strikes lagging, lacking in power when they did get close where he just batted them away as a hippo shoos flies without a second care. With each passing second he was getting closer, approaching the speed of sound and pulling away from her factory specs.

Penny was reaching her physical limits while he was just getting warmed up.

Although, there was something electric in the air- something between her shoulder blades that hummed with warmth and buzzed with energy as circuits connected pathways and sub-programs came online for the first time.

"Little fool, thought you could kill me…"

She couldn't even stop him, all the chains stretched across his path snapping like spider webs trying to catch a divebombing hawk. What was left of them she quickly retracted, unable to ensnare the Grimm who was blowing a corrosive bubble around himself. Then when it reached the size of a weather balloon, he smacked it at her like a volleyball.

The bubble's surface tension and Jin's lack of practice made it curve, striking the building behind her and causing a sprinkling of acid rain and effervescing concrete chunks. Taking a step back in avoidance, Penny was instead hit by inspiration as she turned on her heel and began battering the nearest structural support. More debris was shaken loose from up above, though she didn't need his mocking cackle to tell her it wasn't enough. Punching it again with her own two fists which were comparatively dainty yet shook the skyscraper like a piano's hammer striking a chord.

Chunks of debris large enough to crush a Bullhead cascaded like applause down in front of the charging Grimm and he screeched to a halt.

That was when he felt something digging up under his feet, disengaging his talons just in time for one of Penny's few undamaged chains to pry its chisel point through the stone steps in front of him. Hopping back just out of its reach, he watched the weapon come to the end of its tether, jerk to a stop and fall flaccid as a snake that had missed its meal.

"Ha! Close, but no-ach!"

Jin was cut off with an undignified squawk as the chain's pointed end opened like a bird-beak and shot him with a glowing green laser.

"You-!... well, that's new…"

Prying off the reflexively clutched paw like a band-aid, Jin looked down to appraise the new hole in his stomach. Bending over, he looked through it to see team JNPR's inverted and revulsed faces.

"-But not enough, never enough..."

Before their very eyes the wound was closing like a slow blink. He took a single slow step, then another, and then began closing the distance again, not looking back.

Penny analyzed his approach from atop the anthill she had created, her vantage allowing her to better calculate his likely paths and intercept with her newly armed barrage of lasers. No matter how fast he was, light was faster.

Though he hardly seemed bothered by this fact, barely inconvenienced by the through hole in his stomach as her chains like untethered firehoses spewed forth a lightshow worthy of the main drag in Vacuo's casino capitol.

In the meantime, however, she was healing too, the enfilade buying Penny enough time for her nanomachines to secrete new skin and for her parts to come crawling back. Severed links of chain came inching up the rubble slope like caterpillars, winding like snakes through the streets to her silent call-

The stomp was loud enough to put ache in the bones of the onlookers, one of Penny's loose pieces being crushed underfoot like a worm. The semi-conscious weapon writhed mutely while the humans' heads supplied a gut-wrenching squelch, Jin grinding his claws until it stopped moving.

The game halted with the grace of a disconnected server. And it was in the following stillness, the darkness of a suddenly blank screen where their eyes adjusted and saw the other dimly glowing red dots, an army of Jinchῡriki milling about the ruins with the restiveness of vultures.

"And that, is enough of that."

Acrid steam seeped up between his toes, the ground melting away as if it were snow that he'd just taken a piss on. Jin took a step forward and the street behind him started to cave in.

"Neat little trick, but it's been done before. And imitation's never near as good as the original. What you are is a fake… of a fake. You're not even a Durama doll, just a cheap knockoff sold to tourists." His hatred had been devalued as well, causing him to look at Penny as something frivolous, one of those embarrassingly detailed and scandalously expensive figurines that make visitors blush with their blameless expressions. "-And frankly, not even worth my scorn. Even if I were to break you down to the smallest bolt and ensure that you remained that way, it wouldn't keep new fools from cropping up. Killing you won't kill the legacy of Uzumaki- besides, can't even kill something that was never alive in the first place…"

His hatred had broken her down, caused Penny to bow her head and gaze forlornly at her scattered fragments. But with this petty dismissal, her determination solidified. She looked up, the skin on her face had not quite healed and shallow creases made what would erstwhile be a cute frown into something harsh and severe.

"Your Hate sounds very unsatisfying."

"-Don't knock it 'till you've tried it," Jin sneered like he'd already taken a bite of her and found it distasteful; "-Did you even try to do as I told you, understand what it is to hate? You'll never fill in that other eye, Durama, if you can't pluck out this one!"

The totem of his rage was spinning like a slipped clutch as it bared down on her, squealing, casting noxious fumes and going nowhere.

"Hatred is part of what it means to be human- though why you would want to be one, I can't fathom. Look at them! Cowering behind what's left of others who came before and failed! They know victory is impossible, but do you doubt there's any other reason for them to be here if not to see me get taken down a peg or two?"

Jaune was trying to duck back down behind cover when he was caught by the robot-girl's sterile attention. Stuck in an awkward squat, he was forced to meet her stare with a mix of timidity and temerity, his hand trembling as it curled against the countertop and nails peeling the veneer with a crinkle that could be heard across the no man's land.

Wind slowly blew a tumbleweed across the barren space between them, like a loading screen where both tried to determine what was going on behind the fleshy façade. Fear? Frustration? Defiance? Definitely. Directed to the backs of Grimm, all of whom were purposefully averting their handicapped gazes.

But, Hate?

"And they have every right to," Even Penny could see that there was something wrong, lopsided in the wretched creature's smirk which made it insincere. "If not now, then sooner or later they will... As soon as this is over, you know I'm going after your bastard 'father', right? He's the one I ought to be pissed at. And doesn't that thought boil your blood- motor oil or whatever? Or maybe you'd be grateful if he were gone. Which is it? Pick something- someone to blame for your travesty of an existence!"

"Is that what you do?"

It was so quiet that when the world blinked, it was like a clap of thunder.

"Kisama… you little, plastic, parrot-lipped-!"

"-I believe there has been a misunderstanding," Whether or not she understood the insult on his pared lips was irrelevant- she had interrupted him! -stopped the rain of words where most just sought shelter. Penny took a step closer, "I acknowledge that I- my… this body *hic* was designed for an intended purpose," Demonstrated by her ability to look him in the eye and not bow, "However, this was also the path I decided on, the one I chose."

Some chose to believe in a God or gods, others found proof in equations like . Out of a world of mathematical equivalencies, Penny had chosen the order of operations which worked for her, the one she found most elegant and… beautiful.

"Father had to justify the resources for my creation to the council, thus, assigned me a purpose. However, he never pressured me to do anything I did not wish. And… I genuinely want to help people. Fighting Grimm is simply what I am most well-suited for.

"Furthermore, I do not need antipathy towards you, or even Grimm in general to do this. I am not motivated by a need to alleviate pain of hatred. Rather, satisfaction is a moving target. I find joy in improvement, both to this world and myself. You are correct that I am ignorant, but with each experience I am learning, understanding more about what it is to live.

"Actually, I must thank you. Without your prompting, it is unlikely I would have had such fascinating interactions! I had no idea the scope of an emotion like hatred. From my observations, it seems seldom be confined to simple antagonism. Instead, it is more like… a bacterial culture, where it can have beneficial strains included within pathogens." All this said with a beatific smile, Penny's optimism was fully restored and perhaps even a tad infectious. "…Did that analogy work? Admittedly I need more practice with original creativity. Although, thanks to my studies of hatred, I believe that I now have a satisfactory grasp on a good portion of the spectrum of human emotions."

"Don't think that will make them accept you," Still an exception, the Grimm's façade held something that Penny's still couldn't identify- if, indeed, a Grimm was what Jinchῡriki was. "-Nor me. We're both monsters but of different circles of hell. Only reason I'm allowing you to walk away is 'cause you're so damned pathetic. But I promise, if you put so much as a detachable toe back into my sight again-"

"Oh, no, do not worry, I still aim to finish you here and now!" Answering to her sing-song voice, Penny's chains, now mostly restored, flicked up behind her and peeling back the shrouds covering their lasers like cobras. "Despite the difficulty, this confrontation has been most gratifying, not to mention enlightening."

"I'd almost pity you, if you weren't so annoying." The lasers' glow cast dark shadows on the Grimm's intent, "I'll still give you one more chance; walk away now, Durama, and keep that hollow life intact- for a little while longer, at least."

"Negative," A NOT gate closing irrefutably, "You have already sustained injuries which, regardless of your advanced healing, will slow you down. They also suggest that you are distracted. In conjunction with the data I have collected from the initial skirmish, I am unlikely to encounter a better opportunity."

"You might want to rethink those odds."

Even now Jaune was having second thoughts - not the least of which was his timing. He should have held his dramatic announcement until he was at least halfway. Now he had to cross the entire distance from his cover under the humbling stares of both parties, the combine weight of which caused his sneakers to clomp like wood and his tongue swell.

"Ah-ahem, as I was saying…"

"What in the hell do you think you are doing, boy? Don't you have something better to do with the remainder of your miserable life than to waste it here?"

Did he, though? Jaune stopped looking for the witty response he'd left behind the counter along with his bravery and listened to the question. It almost sounded like one- an actual question, that is, instead of the usual rhetoric used to erode Jaune's self-confidence.

"-What about your team, captain? Are you just going to abandon them to indulge in some half-baked heroics?"

-And shouldn't this sound more sarcastic? Instead, there was something that almost sounded… earnest. Jaune hesitated to say what- he hesitated to say anything at all, merely suggesting that Jin cared about someone else was a taboo not to be whispered in the seclusion of his mind.

Yet, there was a phrase knocking around in the back of his mind like a solicitor that refused to go away.

"Those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash…"

"-What did you say?"

"I also do not understand," However, it was Jaune the android assassin was staring at with textbook confusion, her spotless face wrung like a handkerchief in delicate hands- he vastly preferred this to the Grimm who looked like he wanted to wring the huntsman's throat. "From what you are saying… you are… defending the Jinchῡriki?"

"Yes," -But really, no. It was mostly covering his own ass; that, and making sure things didn't get any more out of hand. "It's the mission Ozpin gave us."

"Oh, please! You're nothing but glorified babysitters who can't keep an eye on a toddler, much less-"

"-I agree, this does not make sense," she had already learned not to let the darkly emotional beast get started, which was better than Jaune could do. "Frankly, I do not understand the headmaster's motivations. Surely, he doesn't think that Jinchῡriki can be controlled. And regardless, it is clear you are underqualified for this task."

"-Hey! Are you calling us weak?!"

It wouldn't do to find common ground with the enemy, and so Jin zippered his laugh behind a toothy smile. Jaune, though, made no such attempt, shamelessly accepting the intervention of his team with a sigh of relief. It didn't relieve him of his sense of guilt, however, being less a leader and more like bait.

"First you steal my character design and then you insult our skills?! Now I want to kill ya!"

She might have only been exaggerating; sometimes it was hard to tell with Nora. Although, it was clear enough to all of them that despite the visible similarities, the Valkyrie was a breed unto her own. Unlike the callous robot, there was no denying she felt intimidated by the veritable clash of Titans.

But sometimes a girl just needed to break a few legs- even if they healed right after.

"Again, this is highly unlikely-"

"-I think there might be a misunderstanding," The gynoid did not mistake the deliberate repetition, like a secret password shutting off any contention. Patiently she watched the young man work his way to the rest of his team, careful with choosing his words as he was stepping over the debris-strewn battlefield. "You say that it is our duty to eliminate Grimm wherever feasible. But we are huntsmen-" "-And women!-" "…not hunters. We are trained to defend life as we know from any threat,

"…Not to go looking for a fight."

Ren looked at her meaningfully and guilt forced the gynoid to avert her eyes- such a shame that she couldn't explore this novel emotion. But she didn't much feel like it, the results of her and the Grimm's selfish fight staring at her like the Jinchῡriki's listless clones.

"…I do not wish to harm you," The assurance sounded hesitant, as if the android were self-aware how little it meant. "However, I cannot speak for the Jinchῡriki."

"Damnit, I don't need anyone to-"

"Jin's not a threat!" Confidence quickly gave way to self-consciousness as Nora realized for the first time how silly she sounded. "…I mean, not to us… right now…"

"-But he is," Penny rebounded with the certainty of prior example, recounting Lt. Winter's experiences with the beast, each of which was worse than the last. "He is a Grimm; it is in his nature. His very existence incites conflict on a scale that endangers all intelligent life. Regardless of his own sentience, there is nothing to say that he experiences empathy as we understand it. Therefore, we cannot be guaranteed that he possesses a sense of guilt, nothing preventing him from giving in to baser instincts and harming innocents. Headmaster Ozpin's optimism that he can somehow control or curtail this, is misguided."

"Ozpin's not-!"

"She's right."

There were no more halfhearted denials and protests, a complete void of anger which sucked their attention back to the Grimm who gave a pessimistic snort at their surprise.

"What? You expect me to disagree with the Durama on principle- my principles are that I'm a selfish, stubborn asshole- never pretended to be anything else. But I'm not blind to the truth."

Though maybe he could turn a blind eye to it, his right eye permanently welded shut with a nasty scar- when had he gotten that? It was so obvious, yet as if they were seeing it for the first time. Maybe they had been under his illusion until now, making excuses for his lack of empathy like that missing eye, and were only now seeing the man behind the abhorrent behavior.

"I'm a monster. A Grimm. A tiger that doesn't change it's stripes- you'd have better luck teaching a lion to eat tofu." His expression twisted in disgust; even if he didn't consume humans like other Grimm, it couldn't be said they were certain he wouldn't do it just out of spite. "And you're killers- call yourselves whatever you will to sooth your egos, it doesn't change that we're enemies. Sure, I'll admit we've had some good times, but those won't last- even if I wanted to. You mortals are so fucking fragile; it's like using fine china for a breakfast set. No matter how careful you are, no matter how much you like that one floral print or need that caffeine fix- accidents happen. Cracks form that can't be plastered over or ignored. Someday I'll fuck up, slip up and drop you or just hold ya a bit too hard…

"And you know what? I won't shed a tear. It's that old saying: no sense in crying over curdled milk. That's right, that's all you are to me: consumables. Entertainment with an expiry date. Me and Ms. Plastic-Boots here will still be spittin' at each other long after your bodies' have been bled dry."

Throats dry at the prospect, they spent a long time contemplating that visceral image- practically a promise, each of their biological clocks ticking away while the seconds spun down in the Grimm's gaze. They would die, one day, one way or another.

"So what?"

'So what?'- so much a miserable excuse like 'why not?' and 'it seemed like a good idea at the time…'

But as time passed and the creature who might have killed for less said nothing, Nora continued.

"I mean, it's not like we didn't know what we were getting into. Okay, so maybe we didn't exactly 'know-know'… you know? Trainin' to be a huntsman when you're a kid is all about the cool weapons and badass moves, saving the Kingdom and battling the monster, blah, blah- but! We were still playing with weapons since like- I dunno, six? Ren'll know- eh, it doesn't matter 'cause we've also had to deal with Grimm all our lives! Everyone's known someone whose gotten hurt… or worse. And like you said: accidents happen. Even in spars when you're pulling your punches or using bean-bag rounds- that shit hurts! You slap a bandage on the scraped knee and move on. Sprains, broken bones, sometimes you can even get your feelings hurt… you know that I didn't mean to kick you in the nuts, right, Ren? I did say I was sorry, you might not've heard because I was laughin-er, nevermind…

"-Look, my point is that, maybe we underestimated how much more complicated things'd be. Yeah, they do kind of suck at times. And yeah, we still can't get rid of all that hopeful optimism… but so what? We die. Big deal, no use cryin' over it, right? If there's no way to win, there's no way to lose either."

"Nothing's changed; you're still children thinking of this as a game. Think, damn you! I'm giving y'all a chance to extend your deadline. Whatever you hope to accomplish with this 'heroic' intervention will come to naught- all it's doin' is pissin' me off."

"It doesn't help that you indulge her." While Ren might have been a tad put out with his captain for getting them roped into this mess, the glare he sent the Grimm was downright cross. "You've likely carried this little farce further than it would have gone on its own."

"Me? Isn't it the King's job to restrain his Queen's flights of fancy and keep her focused on earthly matters- or maybe you're just the consort, in which case you ought to be showing her earthly pleasures?"To his displeasure, Jin's double-entendre was not half as effective as he thought it would be. Ren accepted the scandalous accusation as if his waiter brought out his steak medium instead of medium-rare. And while he was willing to bet the allusion was lost on Nora, she surprised him with a victorious smirk. "-And anyway, what does it matter if I wile away my hours in delusions? Need I remind you that I don't have a term limit?"

"Actually, to me, that sounds even worse," Somehow even worse was the twinge of pity that wormed its way into her superior smirk. "Being immortal means that you've got to live with all your mistakes, right? In the end, we just get to laugh about it together whenever we get to where we're going."

"-Keep it up if you want to get there sooner than expected!"

Nora relished his reaction with the taste of Bitter-Almond; little surprise that out of life's box of chocolates she'd managed to find the poisonous one. Although, the look on Jin's face said that she might be gobbled up well before she could feel the effects.

"Insinuating bodily harm is one of the most common defensive strategies of an unsubstantiated argument," Summoning this factoid, Penny couldn't guess that the Grimm might see it as a personal attack, "It is the verbal equivalent of a cornered animal baring its teeth."

"-Shut up, Tin-Can!"

He snapped like a mousetrap, a mortal coil galvanized and wound-up in the form of a weapon that would never have a choice in its use.

"He has regressed to insults and fragment sentences. Abdication of higher brain function will give way to more animalistic behavior- I highly advise the rest of you to distance yourselves."

"Argh! It's 'cause you're-!"

He was losing- the same internal struggle as last time flared up in delirious fever. This much was clear as his right eye burned crimson and the left visibly squirmed under its lid like the feet of a sleepwalker under sheets.

Although, like the last time, the onlookers struggled to understand which side they stood on- or even who the warring factions were. Their careless treading had managed to set off landmines all up and down the front, kicking the hornet's nest and accidentally kicking off the fight that both sides had been itching for.

Whether or not it was the war to end all wars, to the mortals whose lives depended on it, and to the ghosts who would not rest until it was settled, it was the only one that really mattered.

"…You're dead. I'm gonna kill all of you."

Dissatisfied, the dead rose up.

"No, you won't."

"AND WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU THINK-?!"

What was a roar became the pathetic mewl of a cat reunited with its over-affectionate owner. The moment he saw her, blind anger was smothered like the cries of a child against a mother's breast.

The Grimm wetted his lips, throat as dry as a desert grave and stomach sunk just as deep.

"…What makes you so sure I won't?"

She didn't answer immediately, standing there, swaddled in that ancient blanket like a stillborn infant. She raised her head to look at him in the way that an army hoisted its colors, banishing his hatred.

"I won't let you."

Pyrrha walked towards him- feet practically crawling along the ground with the glacial pace of roots, her green eyes promising to consume Jin with the conviction of a forest. No matter how many times he cut her down she would regrow to take over the world, covering everything he had destroyed and everything humanity had poisoned.

He couldn't let that happen.

Jaune couldn't look away, transfixed by the unexpected return of his teammate. But then he felt something like a sneeze, a premonition that preluded the Grimm's clones disappearing in an all-obscuring smoke.

"-Pyrrha, look out!"

By the time his warning came out no one could see anything- no one but the Grimm with his eye and the gynoid with her supernatural sensors. It was an assault to the senses, the sound of Jin's clones being dispersed like fireworks at a concert. Pyrotechnics and a laser-light show were painted on the background of a fog machine gone haywire.

Amid this mosh-pit Jaune was knocked down while trying to make his way to the front. He couldn't do anything as concussive pounding all around him echoed in his head like a post-party hangover until, at last, it ended.

The live performance was over. Jaune couldn't get up fast enough from the broken bottles and cigarette butts, choking on bile, half anxious and half nervous to know what he'd find.

What he uncovered after knocking the dust from his eyes was halfway between a cheap action movie and an expensive Renaissance painting, and several sobering blinks did nothing to clarify it.

Jin was poised defensively, diffidently staring down one of Penny's chains that was breaths away from plunging into his eye. But no one was breathing. Jin's expression remained cool as the scene was frozen. Pyrrha herself was like a classic statue with all the vibrant paint peeled away, shroud slipping down around her bare, alabaster-colored shoulders. She extended a fragile arm towards the two enemies as if she could bring piece with but a gesture.

Unlike Jaune who felt the world slipping through his splayed fingers, he still believed she could.

But she couldn't hold it and Pyrrha's arm fell like a conductor's baton as the strength she had scraped up burned away. Next to thaw was Penny's chain which trembled before collapsing like a wet noodle on the ground. All her weapons were then slurped back up into the android's knapsack which sealed tight with a snap.

With an almost audible snap, Pyrrha's knees buckled.

Last to break free was Jin. But even he was faster than Jaune, with a lunge, scooping Pyrrha up like a lacrosse player with the ball. The huntsman didn't need the analogy to feel like she'd once again been stolen from him.

"I thought you were going to kill them."

Though as Penny stole the words from his mouth, Jaune couldn't decide whether it was a question or an accusation. Maybe it was an explanation- maybe the android had been the one to knock him out of the way when she saw what was about to happen.

"Not today."

As slow as morning was to come, Jin stood, not looking at Penny or the predawn glow behind her. The Grimm cradled the bundle of scratchy wool in the crook of his arm as if she were a cactus and he was afraid to break a single needle- to say nothing of his hide.

"I don't understand." Penny said.

For once, Jaune was not alone. His other teammates were in a similar state, Ren looking like he'd taken Nora down with him to avoid the lashings of scorch-marks that littered the ground by their feet- several had been worryingly close.

"Clearly," obviously halfhearted, there was no more hatred in the Grimm's voice- which begged the question, what was left? "So why don't you scram? Come back when you have more of a clue."

The heat had left Jin's curses, but exposure over the course of the night had caused his left eyelid to crack open like a pinecone in a forest fire. What lay inside was a seed that would sow doubt into Jaune's mind.

"Show's over."

The hall lights were fading in, showing Jin with his mix-matched eyes like a pair of 3D glasses. It was disorienting- the honesty in them, that is. It had to be fake. Special effects, an illusion- something. No one ever wanted to see their actor's without mask or makeup.

"…I agree," Penny declared with the integrity of a clock ringing out the time; five-thirty in the morning, to be precise, just after the darkest hour of the night. "It is obvious to me that I still have a lot to learn. I will not waste your time any longer."

"Brats!" Not even sparing them a second glance, Jin barked his command to the remainder of JNPR who jumped like good Pavlovian dogs. "Time to go home."

What? Just like that? Jaune couldn't make heads or tails of the exchange as the Grimm turned his back on the android and beckoned to each of them with a tail.

"You mean we get another ride?! Yes, score!"

Nora didn't seem to have any such trouble, throwing caution to the wind and herself to the Grimm's mercy (who nonetheless faithfully caught her).

"Joy…"

Ren was more representative, and probably more genuine about his reluctance to trust the Grimm again after all was said and done.

Yet, he mounted up all the same,

Leaving their leader in the dust. Jaune stood betwixt both sides as they retreated like the crumbling lips of cliffs, not knowing to which he should run.

"-Hey, uh, Penny, right? Wait up!" Jaune knew he had a duty to his team- also, that he wasn't currently fit for it. Joining them now would only add an upset stomach to his churning thoughts. "So… you got like a ride back, transport or something?"

The robotic girl obliged, turning to watch him jog up with a surprisingly warm smile that looked far less unsettling in the mounting light.

"No, I walked."

"Oh…"

Well, that complicated things. Or did it? Leaving no other options but the hard one didn't mean he could turn back.

"I-I was there," Another time when Jaune felt like the audience- like the poor fool standing outside the theater wondering which flick his friends were watching, and in doing so, missing the whole show. "At the hospital. You know, visiting Winter?"

"Were you?" The curious look Penny presented was somehow just as bad as the imagine Jaune had in his mind of Weiss if she ever found out. "Ah, you must have been the other heartbeat I sensed; I thought it was one of the civilian nurses based on its strength."

"W-did you just insult me?"

"Did I?"

"Y-yeah- I mean, no. What I meant was…" Jaune could hear the Grimm laughing in the background but shook it off, knowing that it was just a figment of his masochistic ego. "…I didn't know how bad the Lt. was hurt. I was actually going to ask her for some training- just some pointers, since- I know it's stupid- but I thought that since her sister was helping me out she might be… I don't know…"

"Winter is an excellent instructor," Penny helped him out, though that didn't make it any easier to meet her eyes. Offhand, they reminded Jaune of his partner's, with their depth of green and kindness. Although, while it was cruel to think so, he noticed that the andorid's gaze was a lot clearer. "It is a skill, making difficult topics understandable, and she often teaches at the officer's school."

"Huh, really? I didn't expect that- don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for Weiss's help. Just that, well, she often doesn't explain things well…"

Not that he was doing any better. He couldn't say why he wasn't afraid of this evidently killer bot, nor what exactly he was looking for.

"Mmhmm, the Lieutenant says it was good practice to teach me," Evidently, Penny had plenty of practice with humility as her smile morphed into a very believable look of shame. "When it comes to certain human emo-*hic*-… esoteric topics, I am a slow learner. She says that in turn, I taught her patience."

"Is that so…?" Agreeing with a wince, Jaune wondered if this was what it was like to talk to him- his friends must have had a lot of patience.

And Penny did as well, waiting ever so expectantly for him to get to the point.

"That whole thing about hate… that was because of Him, wasn't it?"

"Indeed," That's right. Jin was the petty god of their world, the avatar of death to whom they could direct their fury. "You seem to be very well acquainted with the Jinchῡriki."

"-I hate him."

And that was probably why he was so comfortable approaching the android despite her first threatening appearance. She was an ally, someone Jaune could commiserate with and perhaps even someday imagine fighting alongside-

"-No, you don't."

"Huh?"

She was so much stronger than him, able to spare Jaune a forgiving smile.

"I do not believe you hate the Jinchῡriki. It is my opinion, based on observations, that by in large, humans do not hate one another as easily as they say.

"Lt. Schnee has a substantially greater justification to hate the Tailed Grimm than I and perhaps even you do. Yet, I got the feeling from talking to her that what she resents most about her current predicament is her inability to protect her comrades. And though he was much sparser with his words, I believe the same is true of General Ironwood.

"Mr. Branwen was far more evasive than the Lt. seems to give him credit for. Any attempt to categorize him would be substantially more speculative… but if I were to 'hazard' a guess, he purposefully distracts himself with alcoholism, both because of the inebriants and because it is an obvious character flaw that prevents him from further introspection… I think."

Jaune noticed that there was no attempt to dissect the headmaster, his intentions being as murky as the cocoa he constantly sipped.

"And finally, in your case, you seem to resent your own superfluous when compared to the Jinchῡriki. He is physically stronger, and you see him as usurping your roll as your team's protector.

"In short, people tend to hate themselves more than anything else."

It felt to Jaune like a personal attack more than anything else- but wasn't that the point? Hate was selfish, turning oneself into a torch with which to burn the world, unable or afraid to elucidate the darkness.

"…At least, this is what I had decided. I am having to rethink my conclusion."

Though rather than be resentful of this conclusion, Penny seemed determined, stimulated by the challenge. Such a coup d'état of their world view for most people would be a crushing blow, but maybe the gynoid in her short life had gotten used to it. If only Jaune could do the same.

"What- was that why you agreed to… give him another chance?"

It only took a blink for the robotic girl to understand, to reverse the statement and decide that it was equivalent.

"Yes, I suppose so," Jaune believed it was the closest he'd seen her come to laughing, but it was still unclear if it was at, or with him. He said as much. "I don't understand." -And he said as little.

"Oh, it's simple," perhaps it was, and Jaune was looking for the imperfection in this angel which didn't exist. If only because she refused to acknowledge it.

"All Hate is, is the inability to love."

He could tell she was proud of her definition, like a scientist showing a panel of judges their latest invention. And as they didn't even know what they were looking at, Jaune felt lost among the implications.

"…Now, however, I am not so sure. Revising my definition of Hate has forced me to also reevaluate my condemnation of Jinchῡriki. While there are still behaviors I do not approve of, this new evidence means that it is no longer impossible for him to coexist with the rest of Remnant."

"So Glad you think so."

Any response, coherent or otherwise, was squeezed out of Jaune by the tail which had snuck up and wrapped itself tightly around his waist. Jin yanked him away from the gynoid who was grinning so clearly she must have known what he'd been about to do- was that a prank?

"-In fact, I think that Father might actually like to meet you," The regrown skin on her face was so fresh and tight that it was impossible to tell if she was being tongue-in-cheek. "Naturally, I expect you to be on your best behavior when he arrives at Beacon."

"Don't worry," The Grimm was back to his old behavior, cynicism in perfect form. "I'll make sure your 'Daddy' knows why he deserves my ire before I eviscerate him."

"Okay," And though she was returned to her factor-default obliviousness, some of Jin's sarcasm might have snuck into her script. "You will, of course, have to wait until he is able to assess and repair Lt. Winter… assuming it is possible."

"Of course."

Suspended at eye-level, Jaune could see something else in the Grimm's eye-roll. It was his first real good look at the monster's replacement peeper. Which, the huntsman had to admit, looked surprisingly human, bright and shiny to reflect its newness and none of the old blemishes which marred Jin's mask. It looked out of place- looked right at Jaune with a cold hostility that was every bit as intimidating as the firestorm he was accustomed to.

"Quit dragging your feet," which was a poor figure of speech considering Jaune was dancing in the air like a hangman. "I'm bored, which means it's time to get lost. And as entertaining as it would be to me to lose you in the wilderness and see how you'd fare, Ozpin would probably make me fill in the paperwork as punishment."

If that would irritate the Grimm as much as the look of disgust on his face said it would, Jaune might almost say it was worth it.

Almost.

For now he would settle with the mental image (and perhaps allow himself some juvenile humor at how the Grimm would manage to hold a pencil), but the conversation with the surprisingly astute android was taking all of Jaune's processing power to make itself at home.

"… Besides, this one wouldn't stop mumbling about you in her sleep."

-Had he actually heard this, or was it another whisper of his addled mind? Jaune looked blinkingly down at his swaddled partner who had a discontent frown on her unconscious face, lips parted with a silent name.

Somehow, Jaune still couldn't believe it was his.

"Come on! Let's go already!"

Somehow, Nora hadn't thrown a fit until now, still squirming in her restrains and wriggling her arms in a mockery of a breaststroke, as if that would get the show moving any faster.

"Bye, friends!"

Jaune wrenched his back trying to throw Penny an awkward wave. The only other one to respond was Jin who sent the gynoid a single-finger salute and several other flailing gestures with his spare tails which managed to look vaguely rude.

However, absence of proof was not proof of absence, and the lack of denial left Penny to walk away into the sunrise with a skip in her step.

Love and Hate were not mutually exclusive, after all.