Author's Note: Hey guys, I took some advice from a fellow writer and took a break from writing for a bit. He said I may be posting too frequently and that I should give you guys some space so you aren't burnt out from reading. To be fair, he was right, I posted like four chapters in the span of four weeks, now I am back, and here is a new chapter.

On a completely different note, my beta-reader, Karaya 2 has a story that I beta-read for him. It is similar to mine as in a tank battalion gets transported to Atlas and is the reason for their military build up later on down the line. He has been a crucial part for the recent chapters. His story is called The Bloody Eighth, go check it out.

Beta-read by Karay 2

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.


Health

So, Beacon Academy doesn't operate that differently from other boarding schools: students have classes, they have homework, and they have downtime. For Grant, he found he had a lot of downtime, schoolwork turns out goes by quite fast if you don't procrastinate, and have a club to waste time at, this left him with quite a bit of free time.

Evan and Nathaneil split their time between work and their own ventures. Evan hangs out at either the hanger bay or the music room. Nathaniel, when he's not babysitting Penny, spends the majority of his time at the motor pool. Robert and Maxim find themselves running the gun ranges during the day, they sometimes even run classes on basic gun safety, marksmanship, and other things. Finally, there's Alex, who is almost always found hanging out with a group of friends, on occasion both him and Pyrrah would host sparring classes in the gym.

Grant found himself once again helping out at the school hospital. There usually weren't ever any serious situations and this often left Grant to deal with more….basic needs. Needs such as clearing people's physicals, dealing with students trying to dodge class, and the occasional sports injury. Today was one of those occasions.

"Okay, I know this hurts, but please try to keep calm…." Grant instructed Yang, "Deep breaths."

He began breathing and motioning his hand in an up and down pattern and Yang soon fell into his rhythm. Yang had found herself in the clinic that day with a dislocated hip….quite a painful situation, but one that can at least be fixed relatively easily.

"Holy shit it hurts," she gasps with tears leaking from her eyes.

"Believe me, I know now…." he warns, "I'm going to reset your hip, try to remain still."

Yang nods as she watches from her spot one the gurney. Grant moved to the side of the gunery next to her hip and placed his leg onto the gurney next to her. Her breathing quickens as he gently lifts the affected leg and flexes it over his thigh. He then firmly grasps the ankle and places his other hand under her knee, now he was in the basic starting stance of the Captain Morgan maneuver.

"On three," he says to Yang.

She slowly nods as he readies herself.

"One..."


Outside the waiting room to the clinic, Weiss sat there with her team as they patiently waited for Yang. Suddenly a blood-curdling scream emanates from the clinic making Ruby jump out of her seat. Weiss looks up from her magazine and turns her head to the door, and Blake's ear's curled as she winced in pain from the loud noise.


Back inside the clinic, Yang was slowly starting to relax..

"What happened to two and three?" he asks.

"Two and three," Grant replies while Yang shot him a death-glare.

"Alright, while your hip is indeed back in place," he continues on, "I'll still need to run some more checks just to make sure there aren't any other complications."

A few hours later, Yang was seen being wheeled out of the room in a wheelchair.

"So how long until she's back in action?" asks Ruby.

"She's going to need the cast for about a week before she can walk again," he replies.

"That long?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"She's actually lucky she has aura otherwise a full recovery could take two to three months," Grant informs her. "This is the paperwork necessary to excuse her from any physical assignments she may need to take. If the pain is too much to handle, these are some painkillers," he hands her a small bottle, "Have her take one," he states firmly. "Only one, if there's anything wrong, be sure to contact me right away, this is a list of things you should look out for."

Ruby gave it a read over before nodding and said thank you before they all walked out.

Blake quickly notices that Weiss wasn't following the group.

"Weiss you coming?" she asks.

"No, I'll catch up," she replies.

Blake nods and turns away while Weiss closes the door to the exam room.


As the others left, Weiss closes the door and faces Grant as he washes his hands.

"How did Yang dislocated her hip again?" he asks. "The report Ruby wrote only said it was a training accident."

"Max was showing us how to secure a building, you know, in case Grimm ever finds their way into an apartment," Weiss jokes. "Yang wanted to kick the door open."

"Oh, okay," Grant smiles, instantly knowing where this story was heading.

"Yeah, she planted her foot dead center thinking it would fly off its hinges like in the movies," Weiss rolls her eyes, "Instead it just went straight through like a thumbtack through paper."

"Well I hope she learned her lesson," Grant snorts, "You know she's lucky that it was only a dislocation. Had that door been reinforced, she could have easily broken her leg. Even with aura, a broken leg could have potentially put her out of commission for weeks. How is she supposed to fight in a cast, ask her opponents to stand still?"

"Well, better to learn now than later," Weiss reasons as she sits down onto the exam bed.

"How's your second time away from home working for you so far?" he asks.

"Well firstly, it is nowhere near as jarring as the bus ride to Fort Itter," she jokes, "And at least I have the ability to call my family if I need to….I didn't get that opportunity much back at Basic. Also, my teammates aren't nearly as much of a pain, still…." she breathes, "I can never shake this funny feeling, like every time I wake up I expect to be woken up by Klein."

"It's only three and a half more months until the end of the semester," Grant reassured her.

"I can only imagine how you feel," she murmurs empathetically.

Grant pauses for a moment and replies while filling out some papers "Hmm, let's see….no nine month long mobilizations, hot food, warm bed, showers…." he turns to her and chuckles, "Actual toilet paper." Weiss lets off a small chuckle in response. "As far as deployments go, its no where near my worst."

"I just hope I don't end up like my sister," she groans, "She's always complaining about not getting to spend more time at home."

"Oh, I haven't been home in years," Grants replies jokingly, but Weiss could detect a slight hint of buried grief.

"I'm sorry," Weiss says apologetically, afraid she had stirred up some old feelings.

"No," Grant objects, "No, no , no, it's fine….really. I have moved on a long time ago, it's just something I have to deal with."

He places the clipboard down and sits down in the chair. Weiss watches as he subconsciously reaches for his right ring finger.

"You must really miss her," Weiss comments.

Grant's eyes widened slightly before turning to Weiss.

"Whenever you're upset or sad," she points at his hand, "You always reach for your right hand. I always wondered why but never had the nerve to ask about it."

He opens up his hand and shows it to her revealing on his ring finger, a thing golden band confirming what she had thought.

"My job comes with a risk you know?" he tells her while moving his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "There's always a consequence."

"There's a way back right?" she blurts out, "I-I mean, you're trying to find a way back right?"

She stuttered slightly on those last words.

"No," he shook his head.

Her breath hitches as she asks"W-what do you mean?"

"There's no way back," he sadly explains. "The ones who sent us here told us that we are dead back in our universe ...so our fate here is final. It was either this or move on to the afterlife so ..." he then shrugs.

Weiss stops to process what she has been told and sympathetically looks over to Grant who now contemplatively looks out the window.

"It's a nice day today," Grant smiles, looking back at her. "You know?"

The question brokers her out of her thoughts as Gant points it out the window.

"Wouldn't be a bad day for a walk," he muses, he then tells her, "Don't worry about me, I've had a long time to come to terms with what has happened." He shows her the ring again, "This is more of a comforter for me, I may have moved on but habits aren't that easy to break," he smiles. "I think I'm gonna take a walk, you wanna come?"

Weiss nods, understanding Grant's wish to change the subject.

"Yes," she finally spoke after what seemed like an eternity.


Around the same time, Team RWBY minus the W, found themselves gathered in the music room around an exasperated Evan.

"No," he deadpans.

"Come on Evan," Yang pleaded "I'm injured."

She points at her leg brace for emphasis.

"Because of her own stupidity," Evan cringes.

While Yang pouts Ruby jumps in pleading "Please, Evan, just one song."

She even gave her best puppy eyes in an attempt to turn him over. Evan turns to Blake hoping for her to be the head of reason.

"For the record," Blake comments in her monotone voice, "You left the window open that night so we both heard you singing to Ruby."

Evan's shoulder's slump in defeat as he mutters "You too, Blake?"

She shrugs while turning back to her book.

"Hey Flyboy!" another voice joins in.

They all look to the door and see Coco standing there.

"Flyboy?" Yang asks, turning back to Evan, "You're a pilot?"

"I was there when he got his license," Coco notefully adds while walking into the room.

"Can we have a ride?" Yang asks as the three girls look over to him.

"Take a number," he replies passively.

"Looks like the rumors are true," she comments.

"Rumors?" he groans.

"Yeah, a giant, burly guy going into the music room, singing coming out," she smiles.

"Well I don't really try to hide it so," he shrugs. He turns to the others and notices their confused glances. "Oh, um guys that's Coco, a second-year student, Coco," he points to the others, "Ruby, Yang, and Blake."

"Yeah, I know you guys," Coco nods in affirmation, "You're the team that lopped off the head of the Nevermore during initiation." She points a finger gun at Ruby, "Like your style."

"Thanks," Ruby replies bashfully.

"What can I do for you?" Evan asks.

"Well, I was having issues with my weapon, and seeing as how you're a fellow automatics' user," she motions to the Confetti Maker near the piano, "I figured you could help out."

"Weapon?" Ruby murmurs.

"Oh no," Yang facepalms and readies herself with what's about to come.

Coco swings out her purse and with a push of a button, it transforms into a Gatling-gun.

Ruby starts to drool and Yang instinctively grabs her cloak laughing "Down girl!"

Evan was slightly impressed by Coco's packing abilities and he comments "Neat, what's the problem?"

"I need some better lubricant," she replies, "The dust based ones are a little too pricey and the last time I tried CLP, it started to gunk up."

"Hm," Evan cringed slightly, "Yeah, CLP might be great for your general firearms, but it's a rather poor choice for your heavier weapons," he starts rummaging through his bag muttering, "You're gonna want something with a much higher temperature tolerance…." he pulls out a fresh bottle signing in relief, "Here we go."

He hands the bottle to her.

"LSA-T," he reads off the label, "Guys in uniform like to call it Whale Cum because of how thick it is."

"*cough* Excuse me?" Blake coughs.

"Awesome!" Yang laughs while Ruby's face turns the color of her namesake.

"Lewd," snorts Coco.

"We use these on the Mk. 19s."

"Mk. 19s?" asks Ruby.

"It's a belt fed machine gun that shoots 40 mm grenades," he smiles, "And yes, it is awesome."

Ruby starts hyperventilating at the thought.

"We also use this on the M134 miniguns," he turns back to Coco, "If a car-battery powered, vehicle mounted, six-barreled, weapon that spits out rounds at 6,000 rounds a minute runs fine with this." He points at the bottle and glances style at a trembling Ruby, "A medium, hand-held sized firearm with, what is it, 6-700 rpm?"

"750," she clarifies.

"It should be fine."

"How much?" she asks.

"The bottles are actually only about 20 lien but since they haven't hit foreign markets yet, I have to import them in from Atlas so…." he does the math in his head, "22 to 23 for that bottle."

"Hm," Coco nods and pulls out her wallet and hands him the lien. She motions at the piano, "Here 25, extra two to watch you play."

Evan stares at her blankly and she just smiles confidently back.

"So you gonna play, or what?" she asks looking at the piano.

Evan sighs and looks at the piano before turning back to the group.

"Any particular requests?" he sighs, he's got a group against him and he ultimately decides that there's not really a way out of this one.

"Surprise me," she smiles confidently.

He turns to Ruby who nods expectantly and Blake who shrugs again.

Yang shakes her head and says "Nah man, we're not gonna mess with your style, just go with what you're comfortable with."

Evan let's off another sigh and mutters "Fine."

AU: If you're wondering, the song is "When the Night is Long," by Shelby Merry

He walks over to the piano, sits down at the bench and opens the piano cover. He starts off with a soft and slow stroke of the keys before he joins in with a soft and haunting voice.

"If only I could fix the sky to meet me

If only I could fix my heart to meet at dawn

It's got a way of knowing when to hurt me

Oh it's when the night is long"

Adam stops outside the music room and peaks in, it had been sometime since the train incident and he and Blake have barely talked to each other. She didn't take his lying well and while their relationship was still friendly, he still felt partly responsible for their new positions in life. He notices Blake who was politely listening to the performance and for a moment, contemplates walking over to her until he sees her and how happy she looked. He stares longly at her until her ears twitch and she turns her head this way. He quickly ducks back around the door and lets out a sad sigh before walking away.

"Backwards lullabies feel like a ghostly touch

Roots spread out all the way to godless times

And it's got a way of knowing when to haunt me

Oh it's when the night is long"

Robert exhales calmly as he piers into the scope of his rifle. In the flash of an instant, the human sized target transforms into the silhouette of a child simply playing in the street. He moves the scope to the right and sees another man, standing across the street wearing a backpack as the man begins to walk forward towards the courthouse. As the clouds clear and the sun rays light up the area, the figures fade away pulling Robert back into the present.

"And there's a young one sitting at the top of the world

Counting down a clock that nobody sees

And its got a way of knowing when to taunt me

It's singing oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh"

Alex lets out a boisterous laugh and slaps Jaune on the back making him lose his breath. Everyone laughs while he continues on with the story. Pyrrah and Ren politely listen while Penny and Nora are on the floor with their heads propped up by the arms, tentatively listening to his every detail. Nathaniel sitting next to Pyrrah, gets an alert on his phone, he opens it and stares at it for a moment before tapping Pyrrah on the shoulder and showing it to her. She takes a good long look before giving the phone back to Nathnial and nodding with satisfaction.

"Earthquakes break and shatter the perfect design

Ripped realities of broken minds

Towers rise to meet and yet its laughing

And then know it won't be long

And I know it won't be long"

"Did you have any kids?" asks Weiss as she and Grant walked down the path.

"Yep," he nods, "One girl, she would be 15 today..." he pauses for a moment as he thought abut it. "First year of high scool," he whispers.

Despite Grant's protest, Weiss couldn't help but feel distraught as she was hit with these mixed emotions, she could even feel tears threatening to fall. Grant quickly took notice of this and turned to face Weiss.

"Hey," he tells her, "She's going to be fine, she's a tough girl. There's no doubt that the past three years would have been tough on her, it would have definitely hurt, but she is strong. She gets it from her mother," he smiles pridefully.

"I wish I could have met them," Weiss sniffs, wiping a tear from her eye.

Grant quietly nods and places a comforting hand onto her shoulder, with a reassuring pat he let's go. Grant claims he's alright, but Weiss can see he was affected by the change. She decides to burry those thoughts for now and silently vows to be there for him should he need her.

At the moment, they manage to spot Max. Max is seen playing in the garden with the fox vixen cradling around his hand while the two eagles preen themselves on the branches above them. Max notices the two and waves over to them, which they wave back.

"And there's a young one sitting at the top of the world

Counting down a clock that nobody sees

And its got a way of knowing when to taunt me

And its got a way of knowing when to taunt me

And they're singing

(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)

(Oh-aoh-oh-aoh-oh)"

The music started to pick up into a crescendo as Evan neared the conclusion of the song.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

As the song neared the end, the piano started to fade and his voice grew softer as he finished the last chord. At the end, he silently closes the lid on the piano and turns to the group who by now has noticeably groaned much to his dismay. They immediately let out an applause with Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Coco in the forefront. He spots Yang who had her scroll in her hand and had been recording him. He lets out a groan as he stands up before taking a bow in front of the audience.

"So much for having this place to myself," he grumbles under his breath.


Author's Note: Hey guys, with that, we come to the end of another chapter. The songs aren't gonna be a common thread, but they will pop up from now and then. I wanted to explore more of the character's depth starting with Grant. You know, I feel that these stories don't always touch on the repercussions of being ripped from their home world. The main character's may have had three years prior to learn how to accept their new fates, but it is still something that is too big to not be addressed.

On a completely different note, there may be some that are against future threads and creative decisions in my story. I am of the mind that any opportunity I can get to expand on a character, may it be religion or romance, whatever, I will take it. There are not many, but I know there are gonna be people who disagree with what I choose to do with my characters so I am gonna say this now, and only once.

This story is mine. I may write this for you guys in mind, but this story is ultimately mine. I will take whatever you guys have to say into consideration. Hell, I might even add them in as I have done in the past, but I ultimately get to say what goes into my story. If not, then hey, there are a ton of other guys who are writing about the same topic.

Now to you other people, hey I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I am debating on making the Current State of the World chapter either the next one, or that whole Jaune debacle, it's probably the Current State of the World as at this point, this is gonna take a dive into the AU side of my story and we gotta a lot of ground to cover if we are gonna get to where I wanna be by the Fall of Beacon. I'll see you guys soon, hopefully soon as my midterms are next week and you know how those can be. Remember, Big Brother is Watching.