Hi~ Did you miss me?

Anyway, usual stuff, I want to kick my brother, he's bunking with me these days and he's unbearable, as I said usual stuff, let's move onto the chapter now, shall we?

"Here is Red 4. Repeat, this is Red 4. Gold 5 can you hear me?"

"Here is Gold 5. Yes, Red 4, I can hear you loud and clear. Are you in position?"

"Yes Gold 5, are Yellow 4 and Grey 3 in position too?"

"They are, Red 4. Grey 5, Black 4, Yellow 6 and Yellow 7 too, but they shall not intervene."

"Got it, Gold 5. Any signs of our target yet?"

"Negative. Anything on your side?"

"Negative as well, unfortunately. I will wait for signal."

Ruby cut off the communication and sighed. "And let's hope for the best…"

"Hey, come on, this is Ozpin's plan, of course it'll go just fine," Jaune reassured her, also turning off his earpiece, bringing her in a one-armed hug and deeply inhaling her shampoo's scent. "Also, Ruby, while chocolate cookies smell good, you shouldn't use chocolate-flavoured shampoo. Strawberry is better."

"Yang stole it two days ago and I still haven't been able to buy a new bottle," shrugged the girl. "I didn't think it'd be so important… do you don't like it?"

"I'd like it better with a scentless shampoo or a strawberry one," replied the boy. "Anyway, don't worry. We'll solve this just fine. The White Fang comes in, Blake shows up, we all fight, and if things go awry we have Ozpin, Auntie Glynda, Qrow and Taiyang ready to rush in."

"Those are Uncle Qrow and Dad for you!" Taiyang remind through the earpiece. "Don't you dare forget it, you are a Rose Xiao Long now!"

"…yeah, we have Ozpin, Auntie, Uncle and Dad ready to help us if things go awry," amended the boy, ignoring Sky's laughter in the earpiece as he turned it off. "So why worry?"

"I don't know, it's just…" Ruby also turned off the earpiece and brought her legs up to her chest. "Last time I fought, against Torchwick, I…"

She trailed off, but her companion well knew what she meant. "You died," he finished softly, and she flinched. He embraced her a little closer, not really knowing what else to do.

"It hurt, you know? I never told Yang or Dad or Uncle Qrow, but dying hurt so much," she recalled shakily. "One moment he threw this Dust crystal at me, and the next everything went red, and I hit the wall, and it hurt so very much. I wanted to scream but I couldn't, I couldn't even make a sound. I felt like all my body was on fire, and then everything went black, and next thing I knew, I was standing in front of you and Yang, in the forge, with the others gaping at me, in a corset quite a bit too small for me."

Jaune bit his lip at her tale, and nuzzled his nose in her hair, not caring for the chocolatey scent. "Ruby… do you want to stay away from the White Fang? Do you want us to take them on?"

"No!" Her sudden outburst surprised him, and she blushed slightly when she realized she had shouted. "I'm sorry Jaune, it's just… I don't want to risk losing any of you. I was so stupid to believe I could take on Torchwick, I don't want to make that same mistake twice." She blinked the tears away. "Luck saved me but I don't want to rely on luck to save you."

A soft clatter brought her gaze to the ground, where four dice laid all with the 6 face up. Looking up at Jaune, she found him smiling. "Come on, I told you before. Luck doesn't exist, we'll use skill and strength. And if the White Fang seems to be too strong, I'll challenge them at dice and get some money out of them while you all regain your energies."

Ruby giggled. "My knight in shining armour… saving the day by cheating at dice."

"Eh, you do what you can, right?" smiled the boy. "Maybe I can take one or two goons, but as sure as Dust I'm not going face-to-face with the White Fang as a whole. You are the juggernauts, I am the trickster with some aces up my sleeve."

"Like?"

"Have I ever told you dice is by far not the only thing I can cheat at?" grinned the boy. "Poker against me is suicide, I can assure you. Many other little games too."

"That's what you learned travelling around the world?" giggled Ruby.

"Well, yeah, of course. I mean, if the people are dumb enough to play against the young stranger, then I will welcome their money. Think of it as charity," joked Jaune, and immediately recognized his mistake when she stopped laughing.

"You tricked people like that?!" she exclaimed, staring at him in shock. "Jaune! That's a horrible thing to do!"

"No, no, wait, that's not what I meant!" the boy put his hands up in defence. "Well, yes, no, I mean… argh! It's complicated! I know it wasn't a nice thing to do, but I never took too much money, and most of the times I didn't even use for myself. I didn't ruin anyone's life, I swear!"

Ruby's glare didn't lessen much. "Jaune, that's still a very bad thing to do! You can't trick people like that, it's a crime!"

"Hey, sorry if my mom didn't have enough money to give me and I had to find my own ways to get it!" Jaune snapped back, irritated. "I bet you've never had problems with money, didn't you?!"

"Stealing is wrong no matter what!"

"I know, and honestly I think we needed that money more than they did. It's not like I tricked the ones who were desperate for a Lien!" Jaune backed away from her, putting a few feet between the two. "Yes, I stole money, and I would do it all again if I had the chance to re-live my life! Not everyone comes from a family like yours, Ruby, and not everyone can afford to waste money on weapon magazines and whatnot, just because they are interesting!"

Ruby flinched and looked away. "I know not everyone has money like we do," she replied heatedly. "But this does not make stealing any better."

"No, it doesn't, we can agree on that," huffed Jaune, returning to sit, even though he still kept a good foot between the two. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it again if I had to. Besides, you broke the law by fighting Torchwick."

"But I was doing that to help that poor shopkeeper!" exclaimed Ruby.

"And I was doing that for other reasons!" he shot back. "Look, I'm not saying that breaking the law is okay, but the point is that basically no one really follows every single law in the kingdom! There are far too many! Even right now, we're being vigilantes!"

Ruby crossed her arms and looked away. "Breaking the law for good and tricking people is not the same," she grumbled.

"And I'm not asking you to forgive me," he grumbled back. "We are here to help Blake, not to discuss of our crimes."

"Why did you do that anyway?! You wanted to become a Huntsman, that's not what a Huntsman does!"

"Look, you do many stupid things when you're young, and I was fourteen at the time, can we just drop it?" She continued to stare at him without any sign of stopping. "It was… ugh, fine, I wanted to buy Pumpkin Pete boxes to try and get the hoodie, but I never managed to get enough points. Plus, my mother threw the boxes out of the car every time she saw them."

Ruby stared at him. "You're joking."

"Unfortunately I am not," sighed the boy, running a hand through his hair. "I'm really serious. Besides, tricking people makes you far less money than you'd think. People are not that stupid. But by the time I managed to get fifty points, the company had stopped giving out the hoodies and instead gave out some stupid little trinket to put on a necklace."

Seeing his pout was too much. Ruby clamped a hand over her mouth and howled in laughter at the boy's tale, leaving him to sulk.

/-/

"Ms Rose and Mr Arc seem to be getting along fine," noted Ozpin, glancing at the two from above a nearby container. The old Headmaster was laying down on his belly, his cane beside him and his ever-present mug in his right hand. In his left, he was holding a pair of binoculars.

"Good to know," a blond replied from beside him, also eyeing the duo. The man was Taiyang Xiao Long, father of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long, the man who had attempted to adopt Jaune regardless of the boy's age and still living family. To tell the truth, he could've easily been mistaken for Jaune's father, as both had blond hair and blue eyes, although Taiyang's skin was far more tanned than Jaune's. "What about the others?"

"Ms Xiao Long and Mr Lark seem to have reached the unspoken agreement to try and make it impossible for Glynda and Qrow to keep track of them," sighed the older man, shaking his head in disapproval, although one could've also detected a small hint of amusement in his voice. "They seem to be constantly changing their hiding spot to try and find a better one. My guess is that they are searching for Ms Belladonna before the White Fang arrives to try and bring her back at Beacon without having to fight. I'm also almost sure the 'without having to fight' part was Mr Lark's addition. Without any offence, your daughter is truly a fan of combat."

"Heh, with an uncle like Qrow and Raven's genes in her blood, even my levelheadedness cannot win over her lust for adrenaline, so of course she's a fan of combat. Heck, her whole reason for being a Huntress is to feel the rush of fighting, though I can assure you she has a good heart." Taiyang sighed and laid his chin on his hands, still laid down on his belly beside Ozpin, who even laying down had his mug of coffee in his hand, somehow managing not to spill any of the precious liquid. "I can't remember just how many times I tried to teach her not to let the rush of battle take over her mind, but it's impossible. I mean, I love her dearly, but sometimes I don't think she's really ready to become a Huntress. She does not understand what kind of pressure she'll have to shoulder outside of combat, and if she doesn't, she'll risk to go rogue instead of facing the responsibility. She thinks that adrenaline is all what being a Huntress will be like. Bureaucracy is definitely not her forte."

"And you think Ms Rose or Mr Arc Rose Xiao Long could handle bureaucracy?" asked Ozpin, raising an eyebrow. "Again, I do not mean any offence to you nor to your family, but both seem a bit too naive, they think being a Hunter is just about rushing in and fighting the bad guys. While no student in my Academy really know how it will be like, I do not see how they can be any readier than Ms Xiao Long in that regard. So why are you singling out your eldest daughter? She's not the only one who's not ready."

"None of them is, but that's the point: Beacon is a school. Ozpin, you do not know Yang like I do. Ruby and Jaune are both naive, yes, but they are ready to learn… I think. They are ready to accept what your Professors teach them. Yang… she's a complicated matter. Just like during training with me." The two adults exchanged a glance. "She would take in everything she thought she would need, and disregard the rest. Oum only knows how many times I've told her that she does not use her legs enough, but has she learned? No. I taught her how to punch, and she learned it. I taught her how to tank a hit, and she learned. I taught her how to use a shotgun, and she learned. But when I taught her how to kick, or how to keep dodging, or how to be defensive? Little to nothing, that's what she learned."

"Not everyone has to have a very versatile fighting style, Tai," Ozpin reminded him, though he could see his friend's point. "Ms Xiao Long is among the top first years."

"That's not the point. Those are spars, you can't go too far. Plus, she's too impatient and quick to anger. And she relies on her Semblance too much. But she's too stubborn to get that without learning it in real life. No matter how many spars she loses because of that, she'll just chalk it off as her opponent being more skilled, and she'll train more, but never expanding her skillset." Taiyang sighed. "I love my daughter dearly, but she really should learn how to listen without having to suffer from her mistakes."

"Sometimes people have to learn the hard way, like Ms Belladonna… or like Ms Rose when she went against Torchwick," Ozpin remarked wisely. "Besides, I am sure Ms Xiao Long will handle the responsibility of being a Huntress just fine."

"Well, here's hoping you are right, old friend." Tai's gaze sharpened. "But anyway, speaking of my family… the adoption didn't go smoothly, did it?"

"I'm afraid you've been denied the right to adopt the boy. He is with family and he is seventeen." Ozpin pursued his lips and placed a hand on the blond's shoulder. "I am truly sorry, Tai, I am. I'd help you if I could, but I do not think I can change the law just like that."

"Then we find another way to add him to the family," grumbled the man. "I got it. Oz, do me a solid and find me some marriage papers. He'll marry Ruby."

Ozpin blinked at him in shock. "I… I've never seen a boy pass your exam and earn your approval, Tai, much less someone you barely know."

"This boy quite literally resurrected my daughter. Hadn't he done that, Ruby would've been dead now. That was a miracle. Plus I've talked with Yang and Glynda, the boy has a good heart. Maybe not too fond of the law, but that can be fixed." Taiyang shrugged. "Honestly, if I did not approve of him, I wouldn't approve of anyone. Plus Ruby is totally crushing on him, my dad instincts are going off nonstop, so that won't be a problem."

"Are you sure this is a wise idea? You'd have to go through Glynda…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…You know, maybe we should wait a little and see what happens. Better let them sort it out themselves, after all."

/-/

Ruby Rose was certain that the night could've gone worse, but for the life of hers she couldn't imagine how.

After the White Fang, and for some reason Roman Torchwick, had showed up, she had been on the verge of backing down. Only after Jaune offered her to stay back while the others fought she had gotten over her sudden fear and joined the fray, knocking out the White Fang grunt who had been trying to shoot at Jaune.

While Blake, after her little speech, fought against Torchwick, she and the rest quickly had reduced the White Fang to a heap of groaning bodies, piled up by Yang. But that wasn't what made the night so bad.

The point was that one of the White Fang goons' sword had broken while trying to parry Crescent Rose, and a steel splinter had gotten stuck in her beloved weapon's mechanisms.

She had removed it at once, of course, but her night had already been ruined. All the other White Fang members found no mercy in the young caped Huntress. She knew she could've protected the inner mechanisms more, like she did for Jaune's weapon, but then people wouldn't have been able to see just how cool and awesome Crescent Rose was, and she hadn't designed, built, lost and rebuilt it just to hide away how awesome her baby was! So she left the cool mechanisms in plain sight. And that was why she got so angry whenever someone or something managed to ruin them, or stop them for a while. Like that steel splinter.

And then, Blake had been defeated by Torchwick, alongside her new friend, and was being held at gunpoint by the criminal while the monkey Faunus stood a few yards away, unable to do anything to stop the execution.

That is, until Jaune decided to do a very dumb thing, and threw his shield like a frisbee at the criminal, who swatted it aside with his cane without even looking. The distraction was almost enough for Blake to get away. Almost. The moment she tried, Roman's cane hit the back of her knees, making her fall once again.

"Seems like the kitty cat doesn't like to play," snorted the criminal, aiming his cane back at her. "What a pity. Your little ninja with the shield maybe wanted you to play fetch."

Usually, Ruby would've used her Semblance to dart in and attack Torchwick to try and distract him from the girl. However, after her last run-in with the man, she hesitated, and that instant of hesitation allowed someone else to take her place.

"YOU BASTARD!" A flaming meteor known as Yang Xiao Long impacted against the criminal, sending him flying through a container and into the second. "You killed my sister, you motherfucker!"

Torchwick scrambled to his feet and glowered at the girl. "Ugh, it seems I was right, children can do a better job than those animals. Would any of you be interested in becoming thieves?"

Yang's shotguns unloading a volley of shells at him was the answer he got. Sighing, he blocked all the attacks and picked up a Fire Dust crystal from one of the crates in the container Yang had sent him through. "Let's light up the party!" he laughed as he threw the crystal at Yang, aiming to shoot it with his cane later, but Yang was a step ahead of him and shot it in mid-air, making it explode. "Ugh, stupid children."

"If you want to light up the party, well here I am!" shouted Yang, activating her Semblance and charging at the criminal, who merely sidestepped her. "Stay still!"

"And why should I?" he asked before a bullet impacted on his back, making him stumble right into Yang's reach.

"Thanks Rubes!" the blond shouted as she punched the criminal back into the container.

"No problem!" Ruby shouted back as she stood guard while Jaune and Sky helped up Blake and the monkey Faunus they now knew was called Sun. She turned to the two of them with a worried expression. "Are you two okay?"

"We are, but we can't let Torchwick get away!" exclaimed Blake, trying to walk and failing as her knee buckled. "…After we recover a bit," she conceded with a sigh before looking at her saviours. "But… why are you here?"

"Well, you're our teammate, where should we be?" asked Jaune as he switched his weapon into bow mode and formed an Aura arrow. "Besides, no one of us care if you're a Faunus! I mean, we'd have to be really dumb to discriminate because of that!"

"Err… yeah… really really dumb…" mumbled Sky, fidgeting with his halberd. "Only an idiot would do that…"

His mouth clicked shut as everyone looked at him.

"Yeah, we don't hate you for that!" exclaimed Ruby as the five of them watched Yang try to kill Torchwick, who was by now just running around while dodging shotgun shells. "We all miss you, Blake! Even if, you know, you don't exactly talk much…"

"What Ruby is trying to say, we don't care if you're a Faunus and we'd like to get you back," Sky cut in.

"But… you're human," Blake pointed out the obvious, and all her three present teammates raised an eyebrow at that. "I mean, why don't you hate me? I even lied to you!"

"Meh, I've done worse," shrugged Sky. "Ruby's the only one who could really judge you but she's too Ruby to do that."

"I…" Blake glanced at Sun, who grinned and shot her a double thumbs-up. "I was also part of the White Fang."

Jaune, Ruby and Sky blinked.

"I tricked people at cards and dice, and I forged my way into Beacon," shrugged Jaune.

"I am a former bully and vandal, plus I kind of sort of broke into private property when I was younger because my friends dared me to," added Sky, looking a little sheepish. "You do a lot of stupid stuff when you're younger."

Ruby bit her lip and looked away. "…At the robbery I stopped, I may have caused severe property damage and sent four people to the hospital in an excess of self-defence… Dad said he had to pay a few hundreds Lien because of those damages…" She sighed and slumped. "And Yang is responsible for unprovoked and provoked assault and severe damage property."

Sun whoa'd and looked at them in awe. "Blake, your team is awesome," he breathed in wonder before clearing his head and throat. "My name is Sun Wukong. I'm a Huntsman in training, and I am leader of my team, Team SSSN. As for my crimes, I'm a stowaway, and I ditched my team to get here faster. I also steal stuff sometimes, though mostly just food."

Blake glared at the four of them.

"Oh, also the only reason I'm even in Beacon is because Glynda Goodwitch, the deputy headmistress, is my aunt," Jaune added as an afterthought. "I'm guessing that counts as nepotism, right? And Ruby is in only because… well, because my Semblance kind of linked her to me, I think that too could be called nepotism?"

"I think it could, yeah," nodded Sky. "So, Blake, White Fang you say? Eh, this is new. We didn't have thief and terrorist yet in our list."

Blake hid her face in her hands. "I've always thought that the first human not to hate me for what I am and what I've done would've been a great hero or an incredibly wise person. I never thought I'd be accepted and understood by a bunch of criminals proud to be criminals…"

"Hey, he is a criminal!" exclaimed Ruby, pointing at Torchwick, who was still running from Yang, his hat long lost. "We are… err… rule breakers?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Yeah, she still has a hard time accepting the truth," sighed Sky, placing a hand on her shoulder, making her pout. "But anyway Blake, I'd say you shouldn't be too surprised. After all, who's better to understand a criminal than another criminal?"

"My team is just so weird…" Blake mumbled softly. "A resurrecter, an undead, a juggernaut, and… whatever Sky is. Why couldn't I get a more normal one?"

"A more normal team might not have supported you," Sun pointed out.

Blake stared doubtfully at her three teammates – the fourth still chasing the fleeing criminal all around the docks. "While I was in the White Fang, I stole," she informed them with suspicion in her voice.

"I forged my transcripts to get in Beacon," Jaune countered easily.

"And I knocked out people to do that," added Blake.

"Yang knocked out and injured dozens of people at that club of hers," Sky replied flatly.

"I caused untold amounts of property damage!"

"I caused property damage too while fighting Torchwick," Ruby piped up.

"I hijacked cargoes!"

The three glanced at each other before Jaune laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "We haven't done that… yet. Can you teach us? Just in case we need to, so that we don't end up caught unprepared."

Blake face-palmed. "I should've expected such an answer, honestly…" she sighed dejectedly. "I can't believe this. I was so worried you would've hated me for my crimes… that I never considered you might've been criminals too."

"Well, that's what friends are for!" exclaimed Sun, holding up a hand for a high-five he didn't receive.

Blake looked at her teammates and shook her head. "I… I'm sorry. I was so certain you would hate me… Maybe Ozpin was right. Maybe I do behave like I'm the only intelligent person in the world."

"Aww, no problem Blake! Now let's help Yang with fighting Torchwick!" cheered Ruby, pumping a fist in the air. "Let's split up to try and surround him!"

"Yeah! Sky, you are with Blake and Sun. Both have low Aura, keep them safe. Ruby is with me. Ruby, same thing as Sky. I'll be next to useless, don't let me die," Jaune commanded with a happy tone just before the roar of an engine was heard and a Bullhead passed over their heads.

A tired Yang came running from behind a container, shouting as loud as she could, "Come back you scumbag, I'm not done with you!" Pausing for breath, she panted as she glared at the five of them. "And you. You could've at least helped me!"

"Sorry Yang, we were checking on Blake," Ruby apologized meekly, shrinking into her hood with an embarrassed blush.

"For ten minutes straight?!" exclaimed the blonde brawler, shocked. "Just how long does it take for someone to say 'are you okay?' and for the other to reply yes or no?"

Jaune laughed nervously again and rubbed the back of his head. "Actually, we were also talking with Blake. You know, telling her we're not mad nor we hate her, and all of that."

Yang levelled him with a flat stare. "And you couldn't have done that after we captured Torchwick?!" she exclaimed. "Now he got away! He is the one who kil… the one who almost killed Ruby and he fucking got away!"

"Yang, calm down, we'll get him next time, okay?" Ruby collapsed her weapon back in compact form and hugged her sister. "Don't worry, we'll stop him next time, once and for all. I'm sorry for not helping you, I…"

"No. It's not your fault, you're not expected to rush in a fight with the guy who… almost killed you just a month or two ago," Blake spoke up, bowing her head and making everyone focus on her cat ears as it was the first time any of them saw them. "I should've fought better… it's my fault."

"No, Blake, it's not… we all could've fought him, and we all didn't," replied Ruby, detaching herself from her sister and looking at her friend. Then her gaze went a little higher. "And… Blake? Can I pet those?"

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this chapter. Like... it is supposed to be humour, but it is not funny, and I'm not sure it came out just right. Might be because I'm sick. Oh well, too late to go back now.

The codenames are basically their hair colour and how long their names are.

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh