The coin flipped up in the air, glistening against the sun, as it spun in the air before gravity took it in its grasp and pulled it back down into a waiting hand. The hand shifted, moving the coin back into position so that it could be flipped again. The coin lifted off as the hand flipped it, making it spin in the air, shining against the sun.

The hand caught it again to the sound of a voice, "I knew I could find you up here."

Silver smiled, putting away the quarter. "Hello to you too, Ozpin."

"I'm curious as to why you're here, and not down there working," Ozpin said, sitting down next to Silver.

"For one thing, the view's still nice, and another is that Tom's put me and Kira on break until the end of the week. He said, and I quote, 'You kids need to experience the Vytal Festival at its fullest.'" Silver shrugged. "So that's why I'm up here."

"And Kira? Your girlfriend, I believe?"

"Hanging out with her sister. They need time to reconnect, since they've been away from each other for so long."

"And so you came out here to think."

"And I came out here to think." Silver confirmed. They fell into silence after that, watching the hustle and bustle of the Festival grounds and Beacon's campus beneath them. Humans and Faunus both traversed the land beneath the two of them, either visiting with friends or with strangers, they all were one mass.

"The end is coming, Ozpin," Silver spoke up. "I don't know what to do. Sure, I've made changes for the better; not letting the False Maiden get access to the General's Scroll is one, but is it enough? I'm not sure." Silver shook his head. "In honesty, I'm scared. I'm not sure that we'll make it through. Beacon might still fall. I don't see a future where it doesn't, now. It seems that it's meant to fall." Sighing, Silver looked towards a listening Ozpin, "I've told you of the vision, right? The one I had when I first realized my powers."

"The one with the decimation of Beacon, yes."

"It's probably going to come true. I didn't change things early enough to stop the fall of Beacon. I'm wondering what will become of the future, now that I've changed things."

"A long time ago, four women told me that focusing on the past will blind you to the now. And I say to you: focusing on the future will blind you to the here and now; don't focus too much on the future that will come, but focus on the relationships and friendships and experiences that are right in front of you." Suddenly, Ozpin stood up. "Come along, then. Let us explore the grounds. I'm sure that there's something you might find of interest there."

Silver stood, smirking, "This again? Well, it worked last time. I did find a few stands while I was walking around earlier that I found interesting." Ozpin smiled as he let Silver lead the way down.

"So this is your secret place?" Kira asked, sitting down.

"Yeah, I come up here when I need some peace and quiet," Blake answered, sitting down next to her.

"So, several times a day? I imagine that RWBY would be quite loud at times."

"Not that often, actually. After a while, they grow on you."

Kira started running her fingers through her sister's hair, humming.

"Could you-?" Blake asked.

"Set up an illusion? Sure." Kira concentrated for a bit- it had been a while since she actually used her Semblance- but she soon felt the familiar sensation of an illusion coming up. "There you go. You can now safely take off your bow."

Blake smiled sheepishly, taking off her bow, "Thanks."

"No problem, little sis." Running through Blake's hair again, Kira started twisting it into a braid. "So, how long do you think the twin thing will last?"

"For a while, I think. I don't think they'll look too closely at it, really."

"Yeah, RWBY definitely won't. I don't think Silver would care, honestly."

"Why not?"

"He's more focused right now on saving Beacon from disaster."

"Shouldn't he be focusing on you? You're his girlfriend, so." Blake trailed off.

"Nah." Kira shook her head. "When I first met him, he was without direction; lost. I think I helped him jumpstart back into the world, giving him a jolt of realization that there's things to do. I'm glad that he's actually taking a more active role in things now. And, to be honest, he looks cute when he's laser-focused on something."

"So, how'd you two meet?"

"Some racists decided to attack me, or at least beat me up a bit, before Silver showed up. He kinda just came in there and bantered before the lead thug tried to attack them; then he was just ruthless. He beat them down with one-liners before he messed up one and just knocked them all out. I would've helped, but I was extremely confused. It was a weird time before the festival, really."

Blake hummed. "I remember."

"Honestly, it was if some writer decided to throw in a character that didn't flow well with his outline, so he made do with what he had."

"Kira?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, Blake?"

"Stop trying to break the fourth wall."

"I'm not trying to!"

"It sounds like you are. I've read enough books to know what breaking the fourth wall sounds like, and it sounds like you're breaking it. So, please, stop before you create a paradox or something."

Kira sighed, "Fine. But when'd you stop reading smut?"

Jade's eye twitched as she slid through the crowds, looking for Silver. She was sure she had spotted him in the Fairgrounds- there was no mistaking the distinctive sword on his back for anyone other than him- when she was coming down for a landing. Ducking around another person, she looked around in the gap of people for him.

Even though she was paying careful attention to the people around her, she still jumped when someone laid their hand on her shoulder. Whipping around, she turned to face the assailant; which actually turned out to be her quarry. Silver held up her Scroll, "I got the new port installed easily and you now have the music from volumes one through five on there. Some of the songs are missing because for a few of the volumes I just bought certain songs."

Jade blinked as her scroll plopped into her open palm. Was something- she shook her head, no it must be her imagination. "Thanks, I was really worried that you might've forgotten about it for a bit, there."

He waved it off, "No worries, I was just hangin' with Oz for a bit."

'Something is different.'she thought confidently. "Still, thanks."

He nodded sharply. "Of course. I'll be wandering around down here for a bit more. Tell Kira that would'ja?"

"I'll tell her if I- wait, don't you have a scroll?"

"I left it in my apartment."

"Oh. Okay, I'll tell her if I see her."

"Thanks. I'll be seeing you." Silver disappeared into the crowd, blending seamlessly with the rest of the crowd. The back of her mind noted that it seemed almost unnatural at the ease which he had done so.

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she moved back into the crowd and went back to the docks.

If there was one anomaly that one could not figure out, it was Silver.

Oof. this was supposed to go up last week, but i was too busy to actually do it. ugh.

There might not be a chapter going up next week, as i'm just starting on the 24th chapter. Of course, if i get it done after that, it'll be on the usual Tuesday.

You might've noticed a new story thing; that's where i'll just shove stories that i'm working on in there if i finish a chapter, so /shrug.

i'm done now. Bai.