"Pancakes or waffles?"

Yang stared at Nora like she was challenging her. Which she was. She wanted to watch her squirm. Meanwhile, Nora sent the blonde a deadpan expression like that was the most idiotic question in the entire world.

"Pancakes, duh!" Nora beamed. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

Casually, Yang leaned against her locker with her arms crossed."I dunno. I kinda like waffles better."

When those words left Yang's mouth, it caught the attention of all her friends. Tension rose in the air from the opinion. Everyone knew Nora's strong feelings toward pancakes, so the fact that Yang was throwing them out the window caused them to stiffen.

Yang just wanted to see the giddy girl's reaction. For fun.

Nothing else in the halls mattered. No one mattered. Just the blonde's smirking lips.

Nora and Ren stared in disbelief at her, their jaws dropped. Ren more out of disbelief, and Nora just because of how wrong Yang was.

Gently, Weiss tugged on her girlfriend's orange scarf and whispered. "Are you trying to start a war?"

She could hear the shrapnel already.

"You gotta admit, it's fun to set people off," Yang said with a smug grin.

Ruby mumbled under her breath. "Maybe for you…"

It didn't take long for Nora to register Yang's words. Like that couldn't possibly be true. Like there was no way waffles could be better than pancakes, could there?!

Nora pointed accusingly at the blonde. "You take that back!"

Confidently, Yang rested a foot against the locker she was leaning on. "My correct opinion stands."

Before the volcano could erupt, there was thankfully, a distraction. A person was walking by the large group as she joined the sea of people. The girl happened to be Emerald, who was holding a large stack of papers.

"Hey, Em!" Yang waved cheerfully.

The call caused Emerald to stop in her tracks. She whirled around to meet multiple pairs of curious eyes. Without breaking stride, she joined them and got out of the way of the main flow of traffic in the hall.

"Hey guys. What's up?"

Yang put her hands on her hips. "We're havin' a little disagreement and need you to settle it."

"Oh great," Emerald rolled her eyes. She didn't look or sound amused. "What is it?"

Nora clapped her hands together. "Pancakes or waffles?"

Just after she asked the question, Nora sent her a daring glare. A glare that said 'if you pick waffles I'll paint the school red,' so Emerald felt like she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

There was silence as Emerald contemplated the question. Agree with the girl who had a strong opinion toward pancakes and live happily ever after, or disagree and feel her wrath?

Everyone stared at her in anticipation. Practically everyone was mouthing for her to pick 'pancakes,' except Ruby, who wanted to see Nora's possible reaction if she happened to disagree.

After Emerald heavily sighed, she answered.

"I'm going with pancakes so she doesn't go on a rampage."

"Hah!" Nora beamed triumphantly and pointed at Yang. "I win."

"That doesn't count and you know it," the blonde evenly replied.

"Ren thinks it does," Nora said confidently. "Right, Ren?"

Like Emerald, Ren heavily sighed. "Why do you always drag me into these things?" he asked in a whine.

Before things could escalate, Blake diffused the situation.

"How're you adjusting?"

The faunus was looking directly at Emerald when she asked the question. In response, Emerald took a moment to ponder and fixed the stack of papers in her grasp.

"Transferring's a bitch. Don't do it."

Of course, Emerald had to think of an excuse as to why she suddenly left school for a few weeks. It's not like she could tell normal people what the actual reason was...

Oh I left Beacon to help a half-demon named Cinder capture a relic that could turn her into a full demon. Too bad Cinder was purified and left a fire-breathing dragon she oh so graciously named Kevin behind. Not to mention my old friend Mercury ran away from the fight screaming like a little bitch. In the aftermath, Cinder betrayed and impaled me, so that was a doozy.

… that'd turn out well.

Ruby cringed, feeling sorry for her friend. "It's that bad?"

"Not really," Emerald reassured. "Just more work than I expected."

Naturally, Emerald couldn't just come back to Beacon and expect it to be all sunshines and rainbows. She had a few things to make up for. A few things she had to repent before life could go back to normal. At least for now.

In understanding, Blake nodded. "You might want to get going. Glyn gets scary when she's mad."

"Yeah, you're right," Emerald said. "See you guys later."

"Bye, Em!"

With that, Emerald went on her way. Her destination was the headmaster's office, and she didn't want to keep Goodwitch waiting for the paperwork.

As Emerald disappeared, Pyrrha gazed at her back. The wheels in her mind were turning. "I'm glad she's doing well. Why did she transfer again?"

The first time she was told the reason, it was hazy. Pyrrha didn't think she was given a clear explanation.

"She wasn't gone for long," Ren added evenly. "Transfering to a new school and then back sounds like a lot of work."

To ease their suspicions, Weiss cut in. "She didn't tell us much. It might be a personal reason. We should respect her space."

Ren shrugged in agreement. "That's a good point."

While the group conversed, Blake watched her friends. She was lost in her mind, thinking about how and why Emerald was here in the first place.

Ruby noticed that her girlfriend was pondering. Most likely about that and lovingly kissed her cheek.

"You're such a good person."

In return, Ruby received a sweet kiss on her cheek.


Flashback… a couple weeks ago…

After a deep breath, Blake placed her hand on the doorknob.

This is just Glyn. You can do this.

In the center of the double doors was a plate that read:

Headmaster's Office

Confidently, Blake swung open the doors and strolled inside.

There was a trail of green carpet that led from the doors to the large, glistening desk. The carpet wasn't there before. Probably a detail Goodwitch added after she took over.

Like a lioness strutting through her pride, Blake approached Headmaster Goodwitch without breaking stride. She was here for one thing. And one thing only.

When the doors opened, Glynda gave the student her full attention.

"Blake," Glynda greeted as she sat in her cozy chair. She sounded pleasantly surprised and intrigued based on the fact that she set her pen down. "Can I help you?"

"You can," Blake said sternly and set both of her hands on the mahogany desk. "I came here to talk."

"About?" Goodwitch asked, her interest piqued.

Normally, the faunus was straightforward and spoke passionately about what she cared for. This was definitely one of those times as the headmaster lent an attentive ear.

"It's about Emerald," Blake said, her golden orbs prying into green.

Goodwitch adjusted her glasses and crossed her arms. "What about her?"

Her tone almost switched to defensive. Something the faunus expected. Just Emerald's name caused Goodwitch to be on edge.

"I want her to be allowed to come back to Beacon," Blake finally said.

That caused Goodwitch to perk an amused brow. Blake was here on behalf of Emerald of all people?

"After everything she did to us? To you?" Glynda interrogated as she leaned forward on her desk and glared into those amber orbs. "Blake, she aided the half-demon. She made things so much harder for you. For your team. For Oz."

"I know," the faunus didn't deny. It's not like she could. "Em made bad decisions. Decisions I'd never agree with, but…"

The faunus dipped her head as she searched for the words she was trying to say. Glynda's word was law at Beacon now. And Blake had to convey how important this was. All Goodwitch could do was wait for Blake to continue as she gripped the edges of the table.

When the faunus knew what she wanted to say, her head whipped back up and met that stern gaze once more.

"She said she owed Cinder her life," Blake recalled. "Cinder betrayed that trust like Emerald was worthless. Like she wasn't even a person. Like she was just a pawn."

Somehow, Goodwitch could feel what Blake was feeling. How Emerald felt. Hurt.

"Emerald- she was around evil, but she wasn't evil," Blake explained. "She hesitated to kill me. She hesitated to hurt me. I truly believe that she always did."

Due to Blake speaking from the heart, Glynda was immensely proud of how far she'd come. In the past, the faunus closed off her emotions, and now she was laying them all out on the table.

To remind her, Glynda mentioned. "Blake, you were in horrible shape because of her. You had so many cuts…"

That was an image Goodwitch couldn't get rid of. Back then, it looked like Blake was a bloody tiger. Except the stripes were cuts that gushed blood.

"Everyone was hurt," Blake reasoned.

"The burn-"

"Was my decision," Blake finished for her. "I wanted to protect Emerald, so I did."

That was all Goodwitch wanted to mention. Obviously, the faunus had thought about this for some time now.

"If you hadn't protected her from the fireball, she would have died," Goodwitch acknowledged, solemness swimming in her eyes.

The faunus was willing to risk her own life to protect Emerald. Without hesitation. Even though they were supposed 'enemies.'

"Emerald owed her life to Cinder," Blake repeated, this time with a waver in her voice. "She wanted to repay her, so she did those horrible things…"

"Blake…" Goodwitch murmured.

"She deserves another chance. Let her come back."

Goodwitch saw the determination that sparked in those golden pools. Briefly, she broke eye contact and wondered what Ozpin would do.

The right thing.

"Fine, she can come back."

"Yes!" Blake blurted, and then closed her mouth. "I- I mean thank you."

From her reaction, Glynda cracked a smile. "However, she will receive punishment."

That caused Blake's cat ears to perk up. "What kind of punishment?"

"She'll help me out around the school for a few weeks. Nothing too harsh. Not as harsh as getting impaled, at least."

The faunus exhaled a large sigh of relief.

"Thank you."


Together, Klein and Weiss sat on the couch. In front of them, the T.V. was playing one of their favorite shows they liked to watch.

In their free time, their guilty pleasure was true crime.

"All these people on the run and receiving help from their families," Klein observed, unamused. He whipped his head to face his daughter and his mustache frowned. "If you commit a crime, I'm not covering your tracks. You're on your own."

Weiss sent him a betrayed expression. "Good to know you have my back."

A few chuckles.

Sadly, that's when the show ended. Unfortunately, Weiss had a few things to do before bed and stood.

"I'm going to study now. You know finals are coming up."

Klein nodded in understanding. "Tell the Mirrored I said hi."

"He has a name," Weiss said in amusement. "He still whines when he goes by the door. You can meet him when he's ready to leave my room. Although, you won't be able to see him."

"Regardless, I'm excited," Klein replied with a grin.

Now that the priestess' job was done, she had filled her father in on everything. Like Taiyang had been. Weiss figured that since she had one of the Mirrored hidden in her room, she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. Even if Klein couldn't see him.

As Weiss entered her room, Klein called after her. "Let me know if you want anything!"

"Will do!"

After Weiss shut the door, she whirled around to see the familiar visitor on her bed. The creature was white and adorned red markings. The ball of fluff was curled in a ball like he was sleeping.

Fondly, Weiss sat on the bed next to the pup. "Hello cutie~"

Since the grimm had disappeared, this pup had taken residence in her room. He appeared around the same time Salmon arrived at Ruby's house. The Mirrored could appear anywhere. It was just Weiss' luck that she had an adorable companion wait every day for her to come home. Maybe this was some kind of reward the New World wanted to offer her.

The pup awoke slowly and yawned, which caused Weiss to squeal. "Sorry I woke you. How are you so cute?" she asked, brushing his back.

He yipped in return and rested his snout on her palm.

Lovingly, Weiss picked up the pup and hugged him. The ball of fur happily nuzzled into her neck.

"Thank you for keeping me company, Oz."


SHE NAMED A MIRRORED AFTER OZPIN I'M NOT CRYING YOU ARE.

Stay dandy,

~Toto