Hey, there! I'm really sorry it's been so long since I updated last. Writing 5k+ word chapters is hard enough and, with life being as busy as it has been, focusing on writing is sometimes even harder. I appreciate the patience, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Ilex Jae stood in front of the dorm room door, using the mirror hung on the back to comb his hair. Carmine called it "preening", but he was an asshole, so the faunus didn't pay much attention to what his partner said. Besides, there was nothing wrong in wanting to give a good first impression, particularly when there was a girl joining their team.

Behind the white-haired teen, a shorter faunus made a few quick motions with his hands: pointing at Ilex, tapping the side of his head, running his fist along his jaw. |How do you know it's a girl?|

Ilex smirked at the signed question. "I went through her stuff," he answered, staying focused on maneuvering his hair around the pair of lemur ears atop his head; Rhys could read his lips in the mirror.

"You did what?" Carmine growled to his left. The red-haired human was busy tidying up his personal desk-slash-workbench. As much as he had yelled at the pair of quote-unquote "filthy faunus" for messing up his things, they always seemed to be in more of a mess after he'd finished working.

Ilex ignored the reaction, snapping the comb back into his right bracer, Miss Cuerta. Adjusting the weapon on his arm, he gave himself one final inspection. Handsome as ever. "Relax, Embry." The way Carmine's face twisted up at being called by his last name was worth it every time. "I didn't touch anything I shouldn't." The faunus dropped onto his bed with a grin. "Then again, that depends on how you define 'shouldn't.' "

As expected, the human's scowl only deepened. "Disgusting," he muttered under his breath, turning back to his toys.

Ilex rolled his eyes. "Haven't heard that one before," he said sarcastically before tilting his head toward the other half of the room. The area around Rhys's—and their new teammate's—side of the room was, unsurprisingly, a disaster zone. The otter faunus may have been deaf, but he more than made up for his disability with unbridled energy, and it showed. Sitting back up, Ilex swung his arm to get Rhys's attention. "Hey!" he said loudly—perhaps unnecessarily so—gesturing toward the next bunk over. "Get your shit off her bed!"

Rhys scrambled to comply, snatching up the mess of tattered brown cloth from atop the unknown girl's pillows. He stood for several seconds, tail swinging restlessly as he looked between the robes and his own bed. Eventually, he made a decision and draped it over himself, covering the marginally more presentable blue-gray wetsuit he was wearing.

Ilex scoffed in annoyance. "No, man! I told you, you can't wear that!" The brown-haired teen just looked at him in confusion. "We're supposed to look good for the new girl!"

"And who the hell said you get to make decisions like that?" Carmine asked, stepping away from his workbench with arms crossed. The human really wasn't much better himself, wearing a red-and-green pullover jacket with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and combat boots. It was just a stripped down version of his combat gear but, as much as Ilex hated to admit it, he somehow managed to pull it off.

"Because I'm apparently the only one on this team with any fashion sense," the faunus answered, gesturing toward his own clothes. Like Rhys, he had opted to wear his full combat attire—it was his best outfit, really—so in addition to the gray dress shirt, purple vest and pants, and black dress boots, he wore his armor as well. In his opinion, the silver cuisses on his thighs and the spaulders over his shoulders and chest tied the whole ensemble together, making sure Miss Jwai and Miss Cuerta didn't look out of place on his forearms. "Besides," he added, standing up, "with Bren gone, we don't have a leader, and I'm clearly the best choice."

Carmine looked as if he was about to argue—which, knowing him, he definitely was—but a knocking sound stopped him. Rushing to the door, Ilex checked his appearance one last time before opening it with a suave smile. "Heyyyyyyuuuuuuhhhhhhh…." he trailed off, finding himself looking not at a girl his own age, but a man around ten years older. Judging by his gear—complete with an actual duster and floppy leather hat—he was a Hunter, and one who was probably a little too into the old tales of the "cowboys" of Vacuo at that. "...what?"

Ilex was suddenly shoved aside as Rhys barged into the doorway. The look of excitement on his face quickly turned to confusion as he saw the Hunter. |I thought you said it was a girl?| he signed, looking at his teammate.

"Yep, this is the right room," the man drawled, stepping back as he waved to someone off to the side. Ilex perked up as the person he'd been expecting stepped into view. Violet eyes made a practiced scan of the girl, talking in as much detail as they could in a single pass.

She was tall, just shy of six feet, and had to be a C-Cup at least. She had long black hair, red eyes, and pale skin, a combination that caused the hairs on the back of Ilex's neck to stand on end for some reason. He ignored the feeling and examined her outfit. It was rather simple, consisting of a black hoodie zipped up over a white shirt of some kind, a pair of jeans like Carmine's and sneakers. In one hand she held a replica Beowolf mask, which Ilex wasn't really sure what to think of. What he found most odd, though, were the cuts and holes all over her clothes.

The girl's Aura should have protected her clothes as well as her body. Maybe she had run out during her initiation? Many of the holes in her outfit were backed by what looked like scabs, and Ilex hadn't missed the slight limp in her step. Still he found it hard to believe that Beacon's administration would let a test for a single girl reach a point where she'd be hurt this badly. On top of that, some of the wounds seemed too big to have healed as much as they had, and there wasn't even any blood visible. Maybe she had extremely tight control over her Aura? Or maybe her Semblance let her heal extremely quickly?

Ilex pushed the thoughts away; they weren't important. What was important was introducing himself and finding out this girl's name—she wasn't what he normally looked for, but that wasn't enough to make him pass up the opportunity. Subtly forcing Rhys out of the way, he took her left hand and lifted it up. Curiously, her fingers were discolored—almost black—and had a slightly different texture to them. "Hey," he said smoothly, ignoring the peculiarity while giving her his most charming smile. "My name's Ilex Jae. What's yours?"

Remarkably, the girl looked completely unfazed by his advances, looking down at his hand with a slight furrow in her brow. "Aspen Gray," she answered, pulling her hand from his grip and dropping it back to her side. It wasn't a quick or disgusted pull, though, so that was a win—not that Ilex would have let that stop him anyway.

"Aspen, hm?" the faunus mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "How appropriately beau—" He was interrupted as Rhys again forcefully inserted himself between the two. The brown-haired teen pointed at Aspen before quickly drawing two circles perpendicular to his body with his index fingers. Ilex's ears twitched in annoyance, but he did his best to salvage the situation. "Ah, sorry. This is Rhys Bauril, and I guess he's going to be your partner now," he explained, placing his hands on the shorter teen's shoulders and moving him back off to the side. "He's deaf, but he can read lips and talk through sign language. If you need a translator, I'd be more than willing to offer my services." As he spoke, Rhys continued repeating the two signs, clearly ignorant of what was going on. Ilex cuffed the shorter faunus's head, getting his attention. "Stop it! Clearly she doesn't sign!"

The otter faunus's face fell somewhat, but he turned as Aspen slowly raised one hand. Almost hesitantly, she looked the teen in the eyes and nodded her head and fist in unison. |Yes.|

Rhys turned on Ilex with a grin, letting out a breathy sound that could almost be interpreted as a "ha!" The white-haired teen rolled his eyes and waved it off. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "Laugh it up…"

Without any further word or gesture, Aspen stepped around the two faunus and into the room. It was only at that point that Ilex noticed the other woman standing outside the door. She was around the same age as the man—meaning they were probably partners—but that didn't make her any less attractive. She had orange eyes and hair, the latter of which was pulled back into a short ponytail. Like the man, she seemed to be a fan of the Vacuan stories, if her orange-and-yellow poncho was anything to go by. While the garment partially obscured her torso, the rest of her outfit showed plenty of skin. Whatever she wore beneath the poncho was sleeveless, while a pair of white chino shorts and orange-and-white tennis shoes showed off her fit, tanned legs. Ilex had to admit that he was a little jealous of the man in the duster, but the faunus was smart enough to know that she was well beyond his reach.

The faunus turned back into the room to see Carmine staring down his—their new teammate, arms crossed. To her credit, Aspen seemed to be staring back just as hard. Shaking his head, Ilex stepped up next to the girl. " Last—and most certainly least—we have my partner, Carmine Embry. He's an ass, though, so you can ignore him."

The redhead turned his glare on Ilex, who smiled simply in return. With one last look at Aspen, Carmine said, "Nice to have another human on the team," before walking back to his workbench.

The lemur faunus smirked at his victory. "Like I said, he's an ass."

Aspen didn't seem to pay any attention to him, though, and simply walked over to the unoccupied bunk, which only had bedding and a small suitcase on it now that Rhys had removed his ragged tunic. "This is mine?" she asked, looking toward the two Hunters still standing in the doorway.

Ilex intercepted the question, wanting to take every advantage he could to increase his chances with the girl. "Yep!" Again, she barely acknowledged him, tossing the Beowolf mask on the bed before beginning to remove her hoodie. Ilex frowned. He'd understandably struck out with women on occasion, but he'd never been ignored like this before. It almost didn't seem worth it but, at the same time, he didn't want to give up so easily. Moving over, he picked up the faux Grimm mask. "Nice replica," he commented, inspecting the details. Whoever had made it certainly chose their material well, but the surface quality was amateurish. The inside was pitted in several areas, particularly near the top, and the outside was rough and scratched. "It almost seems real."

Aspen didn't so much as glance at him while she pulled her arms out of her sleeves. "It is real."

The faunus chuckled. "You don't expect me to believe that, do you?" Finally, he got a reaction out of the girl. She looked at him, head cocked and eyes narrowed, as if she actually did expect him to believe her. "Everyone knows that Grimm dissolve when they die. That includes all their bones and plates."

"That wasn't attached when it died."

It took Ilex a good two seconds to figure out what she had meant. He looked down at the red and white mask. Does that mean she…? "…Oh." He hadn't even been aware that that was possible. His surprise at the answer didn't last long as, in his peripheral vision, he saw something that surprised him even more. Having removed her hoodie, Aspen continued to strip, now pulling her shirt over her head. The faunus quickly glanced around the room, seeing that all the others had almost the exact same look of shock on their faces before quickly looking back at the girl.

From where he stood, Ilex was able to get a glimpse of the front of her torso. Of course, she was wearing a sports bra—Dammit!—but that didn't deter him from absorbing all the detail that he could. She was fit, as could be expected for a Huntress-in-training, and her pale skin was smooth, only marred by the various scabs and pockmarks from her wounds. Actually, that wasn't entirely true; there was a single, medium gray scar over her stomach. It was large—probably six or seven inches long and an inch wide near the bottom—but clean, meaning she had more likely been stabbed than cut and that whatever had done the stabbing was quite large and sharp. He leaned over to look at her back. His suspicions were confirmed by the matching scar less than an inch away from her spine. How the hell did that not paralyze her? Ilex mused before giving a small shake of his head. Better question: How did she survive that?

The faunus never got an answer to his question as the poncho-woman rushed over to Aspen just as she was about to take off her pants. "Why don't we find somewhere else for you to change?" she suggested quickly, even as Ilex screamed internally for her to let things take their course. The woman glanced at him disapprovingly before adding, "And put the shirt back on." Aspen complied with a single nod, crushing Ilex's hopes. The woman grabbed the suitcase from the bed and led the girl out of the room.

With a sigh, Ilex tossed the Grimm mask on the girl's pillow. "So close," he lamented quietly. On the other side of the bed, Rhys scurried over to inspect the bony plate.

"So who are you supposed to be?" Carmine asked, snapping Ilex out of his funk. The faunus looked up to see that he was addressing the Hunter and tapped Rhys's shoulder to get his attention.

"Oliver Cyprus," the man said, stepping into the room. "From now on, though, you're going to call me Mantis." Ilex rolled his eyes; he was one of those Hunters. "The woman is my partner, Laurel Tawn. Call her Tawny. The two of us are going to serve as your handlers for the remainder of the semester."

Rhys hopped over the bed. Bringing his fingers to his forehead, he dropped them down into a "y" before putting both fists in front of himself and moving them back and forth. "Why do we need handling?" Ilex translated, agreeing with the question.

Carmine scoffed. "Probably because the two of you are so close to dropping out like Bren."

Ilex glared at the human, prepared to defend himself, but "Mantis" spoke first. "Because all of you are in danger of dropping out. You're lucky Aspen is even here to fill your team back up. Not that what I've seen of you even resembles a team." The man paused to cross his arms. "To be honest, I don't give a shit about the three of you. I care about Aspen, and she wants to be a Huntress, so if any of you do anything to jeopardize that, I will not hesitate to make your lives even more of a hell than I'm already going to make it, understand?"

If the man was expecting them to nod in fear or something like that, he clearly didn't understand them that well. Carmine scoffed and went back to his workbench, while Rhys just shrugged. Ilex tapped at his chin in thought, having latched onto something the Hunter had said. "You know Aspen pretty well, then? What's her story? Is she related to you?"

Mantis looked at him, though he didn't show any sign of being caught off-guard. Then there was a small crack in his façade. It was just a slight tightening of the lips, but Ilex saw it. "No, we're not related," he answered flatly. "She's just… the daughter of a friend—" That was a lie. "—and she's been through a lot to get here."

|Like what happened with Team RWBY?| Rhys signed quickly.

Ilex looked at him in confusion. "Wait, what happened with Team RWBY?"

"It's—"

"Aspen jumped into the arena after their match and attacked them," Carmine answered, interrupting Mantis. "Where the hell were you?"

Ilex thought back. What was I doing during that fight… "I think I was talking with one of those girls from Team NDGO. Nebula, I think."

His partner shook his head. "Figures."

"Look," Mantis said, cutting back in. "What happened in the arena isn't important. Classes don't start again until after the tournament, so tomorrow morning we're going to work on improving your combat scores. Room five. Don't be late." The man turned and began closing the door behind him.

"Wait, what time tomorrow morning?"

The Hunter stared directly at Ilex. "Don't be late."

(-)

Silence dominated Team RWBY's dorm room, only broken by the occasional turning of pages from Weiss or Blake and scratching of brush bristles on metal as Ruby tended to Crescent Rose. Sitting up on her bed, Yang was trying to distract herself with a game on her scroll—key word, trying. She sighed. It had been a whole day since the whole thing with that Aspen girl, and even though they'd "talked" about it, they had yet to actually talk about it, and that was bothering her.

Closing her scroll, the blonde leaned over the side of her bunk to look down at her partner. The faunus had absorbed herself in a book, though Yang couldn't make out a title on the cover. She had pulled her legs up close to her chest, almost to the point of being curled up into a ball. "Hey, Blake?" The black-haired girl gave a hum of acknowledgement, not looking up from her book. "Are you, y'know, feeling okay?"

Blake put her book down and gave her a curious look. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Yang frowned and glanced up at the bottom of her own bed. "I dunno. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were alright after what happened yesterday."

The faunus smiled reassuringly. "Yang, we talked about this. She didn't have the ribbon around my neck long enough to do any permanent damage. I'm fine." Yang sighed quietly, envious of her partner's ability to just… move on from what had happened to her, to ignore the fact that the other girl had been trying to kill her. Blake began to turn back to her book, but stopped to address the blonde again. "Are you okay?"

Yang pursed her lips. She knew that a part of her had been hoping Blake would ask—to actually initiate a discussion—but answering wasn't as easy as she had anticipated. "I'm not sure," she finally said, sitting back up on her bed. She caught a glimpse of Weiss turning in her seat, away from the book she'd been studying and toward her teammates. Ruby briefly stopped brushing her scythe in the corner, but she never looked away from her work.

Yang took a breath and continued, looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, other than being a little sore, I feel fine. It's just… when I think about the fight…"

"You wonder how we could possibly win the tournament if we could barely beat just one person?" Weiss finished, wearing her own look of confliction. Apparently, she'd been having similar thoughts.

"It's not just the tournament; it's everything," Yang explained, shaking her head. Self-conscious, she looked down at her hands. "Ever since I was a girl, I've relied on my strength and my Semblance to get through fights, but I don't know if it's enough anymore. This is the second time I couldn't even get a hit in. It's the second time I've had to be rescued because I let my temper get out of control, except this time it almost got you all killed too."

Weiss frowned, and Yang could practically feel Blake doing the same thing beneath her. "It's true you can be a bit... short-tempered at times," the heiress finally said, clearly trying to choose her words delicately, "but that doesn't mean you can't lean on your strengths. That's why we're a team, so we can cover each other's weaknesses."

"Yeah, but you guys won't always be here."

"No, we won't." Leave it to Blake to be blunt with her honesty. "In three years we'll graduate and go our separate ways. Until then, we help each other learn to cover our own weaknesses."

"Exactly," Weiss agreed. "And as far as you almost getting us killed, if you remember, she attacked us." She crossed her arms authoritatively. "So here's what's going to happen: You and I are going to go into the doubles round and beat whoever they put us against. Then you are going to go into the finals and beat everyone there, and we'll be with you every step of the way, right Ruby?"

All eyes turned to the younger girl sitting in the corner, still scrubbing away at Crescent Rose. She didn't answer, and Yang's instincts immediately told her that something was off. Ruby's strokes were more forceful than usual, almost frantic. "Ruby?" The girl's brushing reached a peak, and a strangled cry escaped from her throat. Yang was out of her bed and grabbing hold of her sister before the others could even react, her own troubles forgotten. "Ruby, what's wrong?!"

The girl's silver eyes were welling up with tears as she spoke. "I can't… I can't get the blood out!" The room fell into a stunned silence as Yang hugged her sister, who returned the embrace as she began crying freely. Sparing a glance at the scythe, Yang saw that Ruby had been scrubbing at the red paint, taking off small flakes and chips here and there.

Yang felt incredibly guilty as she held her sister's shaking form. Weiss had told her and Blake what had happened between Ruby and Aspen and, from the sounds of it, it hadn't been pretty. She had seemed better after talking with Ozpin the day before and had even told them that Aspen was somehow going to be okay, so Yang hadn't pushed the issue. Her own insecurities were nothing compared to what Ruby was clearly going through. I should have talked to her!

A knock on the door interrupted the silence, and Weiss went over to answer it. "I'm sorry, but this isn't—" She took a sharp breath, evidently surprised by whoever was at the door. "I... How...? What are you doing here?!"

"Laurel told me to come apologize."

Ruby tensed in Yang's arms. That voice. The blonde looked up to see a familiar girl standing passively in the doorway. Aspen. She wanted to get up and give the girl a piece of her mind, but there was no way she could leave her sister in the state she was in. "We don't need your apology," she growled.

Aspen clenched her fists as if holding herself back, but whatever emotion she was feeling gave way to uncertainty, her mouth opening and closing several times without any words. "I don't understand…" she finally said.

Yang would have ripped into her then and there, but Weiss spoke up first. "You don't understand what you're apologizing for," she asked, her tone biting as ever, "or you don't understand why we wouldn't want your apology?"

The black-haired girl stared unblinking at the heiress. "I don't understand what apologizing is."

The stunned silence in the room was broken by Yang's scoff. "Of course you don't," she derided. "Just get out of here and stay away from us." With a look down at her, Aspen nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait."

She stopped at the softly spoken word. Yang looked down at her sister as she pulled away. "Ruby?"

Rubbing her eyes on her sleeve, the younger teen shakily stood up and turned around. When she saw Aspen, she inhaled sharply. "Y—You're alright. How?"

Yang's anger faded as she remembered what Ruby had supposedly done to the girl. From what she'd heard, Crescent Rose had severed Aspen's spine, or at least come close. Ruby had said the medical crews had been able to save her life, but she should have been paralyzed at the very least, to say nothing of being active a day later. As much as she disliked the mysterious girl, Yang was admittedly curious.

Once again, though, Aspen didn't seem to know how to respond. "I… I heal fast." She cocked her head. "Is that not normal?"

"Our Auras will heal minor injuries fairly quickly, but no, that's not normal," Blake explained with a hint of skepticism as Yang stood up to join her team.

Aspen looked down, furrowing her brow as she absorbed the information, and the blonde matched the expression. The girl may have been strong and a good fighter, but she had to be incredibly naïve to think that was normal. Wait, does she even have an Aura, then? Is she really just that strong on her own?

Ruby took a step toward the black-haired girl in the doorway, triggering Yang's protective instincts and snapping her out of her thoughts. "Can… Can I see?" Ruby asked, pointing a shaky hand toward Aspen's abdomen. The girl hesitated for a moment, but nodded slowly. With one hand, she reached up and unzipped her hoodie in one motion. Ruby flinched on seeing the Beowolf mask on the girl's shirt, but continued anyway. Reaching forward, she carefully lifted the shirt until she could see the entire scar. Yang's stomach knotted at the sight.

The vertical mark was an ashen gray, a striking contrast with the pale skin surrounding. It was roughly triangular in shape and easily half a foot long; in other words, it was a prefect cross-section of Crescent Rose's blade. There was an eerie quality to it, and Yang found it difficult convincing herself that it had only happened the day before. There were several other dark patches of what almost looked like fibrous scabs. Judging by what Yang knew to be an older scar, she guessed these were much fresher, but she had no idea how she could have gotten them.

Ruby's fingertips brushed the discolored flesh and Aspen tensed, causing the younger girl to flinch away. Yang took a half step forward as the shirt fell back down. "Does it hurt?" Ruby asked, sounding as though she were afraid she had hurt her again.

"No, it doesn't," Aspen answered. She seemed to have relaxed, looking down as she lifted her left hand to her stomach. Yang hadn't seen it before, but the fingers on that hand had a ragged discoloration to them, darker than the scar Ruby had given her. Just what had she done to herself?

Ruby studied the other girl for several seconds before she spoke. "You won't do it again, will you?" Aspen's brow furrowed at the question. "Promise me you won't attack anyone like that again!" Ruby's voice was louder, and she was on the brink of tears again. Yang wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around her sister again, but she could tell her intervention wouldn't help anything.

There was a moment of silence before Aspen nodded. "I promise."

Ruby returned the nod with a small smile. "Apology accepted." Yang shared a skeptical look with Weiss and Blake. Ruby could forgive her all she wanted, but they would still keep an eye on her.

Without warning, Ruby proceeded to throw her arms around the girl. Yang winced sympathetically; while Aspen had said the scar hadn't hurt, Ruby was currently pressing herself up against at least three of her fresher wounds. If Aspen felt any discomfort, however, she didn't show it, merely looking around uncertainly as Ruby hugged her. "I still don't know what that means."

(-)

The statue that stood in front of Beacon Academy meant different things to different people. To some, it was a symbol of hope and triumph, Mankind standing tall over the monsters that sought to wipe them out. To others, it was a reminder that no matter how far they came, there would always be a need for protection from the beasts waiting just outside their borders. To Emerald Sustrai, it was a piece of art that was impossible to capitalize on.

The teen sighed and looked up at the darkened sky. After she'd heard about the new student being inducted into the academy, Cinder had had her and Mercury watch the initiation and evaluate her. Despite his initial protests, Merc had actually refused to give up the scroll once the girl had jumped off the cliff, and things had only escalated from there. Fighting with her bare hands, tearing bone plates from live Grimm, actively seeking them out… Emerald could understand her partner's interest in the girl; they had the same type of crazy.

What had simply seemed like an overzealous student had quickly become something much more noteworthy when the girl attacked—actually attacked—a herd of Goliaths. Not only did she manage to kill two of them and partially blind a third, she'd also managed to escape despite having been impaled on the Grimm's spikes and with what must have been multiple broken bones. The pair had immediately told their boss about the incident, and she hadn't even hesitated to arrange a meeting. A meeting Emerald and Mercury also had to attend.

"I've been waiting for you."

She's here. Using her Semblance to blind the new arrival to her and Mercury's presence, Emerald peered around the statue. The girl lacked any sign of her earlier injuries and was wearing the same outfit she'd been wearing during initiation, though judging by the lack of blood or holes, she'd changed the individual articles of clothing. Why do some people seem to only ever have one outfit? Emerald could understand having a certain level of attachment to combat gear, but there were limits.

"I had to talk to people," the girl said flatly, keeping her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "Why did you want to meet me here?"

That was a good question, one Mercury had asked after Cinder had sent the message. They were beyond the point where they needed anyone else's help, and the team she was being placed on wasn't even eligible to compete in the Vytal Tournament. As Cinder had noted, however, she was still an unknown and potentially dangerous variable; better to have her on their side than risk her interfering at a crucial moment.

"It's 'Aspen', isn't it?" Cinder asked, and the girl nodded. "I simply want to be friends, Aspen. Is there something wrong with that?"

Aspen didn't answer immediately, mouthing something to herself. Eventually, she looked back up at Cinder. "I don't need a 'friend'," she said, turning to walk away.

"Then what do you want? I'm certain we can come to some arrangement."

The girl stopped before turning just enough to look back. "I want to kill Grimm." The answer was cold, unaffected by the morbidity of the statement.

Emerald shivered involuntarily. There was just something about the girl that made her feel uneasy. She and Merc were made for each other.

"Of course you do," Cinder replied with false sympathy, taking several steps closer. "That's why you came to Beacon. You think they can teach you to be stronger, but I can see that you are already beyond anything they could teach you here." Aspen looked up at the woman, who ran the back of her hand along the side of the girl's face, though her red eyes held the same impassivity she'd had since the two had started speaking. "Come with me and I can show you true power; the kind that will let you kill anything you want."

The words were familiar in Emerald's ears, and she recalled Cinder saying something similar to her. Only this time, she's bluffing. There was no way Cinder would allow anyone to become more powerful than herself, but by the time Aspen figured that out, it would be too la—

"No."

Emerald arched an eyebrow in surprise. The offer had been tempting, even for her. This girl seemed to want nothing more than to kill, so what reason would she have to turn Cinder down? "Take some time to consider the offer," the woman started, still trying to sound civil. "Perhaps you'll—"

"I don't need you to make me stronger," Aspen interrupted, turning away again. "I can do it on my own."

Cinder's fists tightened and began to glow as she drew on her powers. Emerald glanced over at Mercury on the opposite side of the statue, and he looked back at her with an eyebrow raised. Cinder was mad, and that meant it was time for them to step in.

"Shame," the woman crooned, her voice cloyingly sweet. That was the signal. Emerald gave her partner a nod to indicate that she was ready, and Mercury gave a dramatic—though thankfully silent—sigh in return before moving around to the front of the statue. Keeping her focus on affecting Aspen's senses, Emerald barely perceived Mercury advancing on the girl and aiming a kick at her head. So long as the thief was doing her job right—and, of course, she was—the girl would never see it coming.

Aspen moved impossibly fast, spinning around to catch the blow on her forearms. By the look of it, she was acting on instinct, grabbing Merc's leg with one hand while pulling back the other for a punch at his knee. The boy acted quickly, kicking upward with his other leg in an attempt to catch the girl under the chin, but Aspen jumped away to avoid the kick, forced to release the other leg in the process. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, looking straight through her attacker. She couldn't have seen or heard him, so how could she have known he was coming?

Cinder held up her hand, and Mercury backed away from Aspen. Disengaging her Semblance, Emerald walked around the statue to join them. The girl's eyes soon locked onto the gray haired teen before flitting to Emerald and finally back to Cinder. She snarled at the trio, but held off attacking. "Do you even know what you are?" Cinder asked unexpectedly. Emerald looked at her out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing. There was always more going on than she and Merc were allowed to know, and this seemed to be one of those moments. Aspen didn't respond to the question, continuing to bare her teeth defiantly. "I'll give you one last chance. If you are what I think you are, then you're already on the wrong side."

I don't think I want to know what she's talking about.

Aspen straightened up, though her stance showed she was still ready for a fight if one came. "I don't care." With a growl, she pivoted one final time and left.

Emerald brought her hand to one of the revolvers holstered on her back, looking to Cinder for the signal to go after the girl. It never came. "Keep an eye on her," the woman instructed instead, a glow of anger in her eyes. The green-haired girl looked at her partner, who gave her a smirk and raised his eyebrows suggestively. With a scoff, Emerald let her hand drop and began walking toward the school.

The finals round of the tournament couldn't come soon enough.


Plots are moving and people are scheming...

I finally get to introduce more characters! Writing for them—at least, for Ilex so far—is a lot of fun because they're so different from what I'm used to writing. For the most part, all I've really written in my stories are characters who are either basically good or, for lack of a better phrase, emotionally dead. Now I have characters who are just straight up bad people (not evil, just kind of scummy). It's interesting, though, because they're actually worse than I had initially planned them out to be, and with Ilex it's to the point where I actually feel a little uncomfortable with some of the stuff I'm planning. Exactly what I was going for, I guess.

Speaking of the new characters, full disclaimer: as much as I enjoy having a deaf character, I do not know sign language. I'm aware that the sentence structure isn't like conventional English, and I'm looking up actual signs to try and get it as right as possible, but that doesn't mean I know what I'm doing. Just wanted to put that out there.

So, remember when I said a plate of cookies wasn't going to magically fix everything for Ruby? Yeaaaaaaaah… this was what I was talking about. To be honest, that entire scene was originally just an excuse to include that moment, but it actually evolved beyond that. Events are going to be changing even more because of Aspen's actions—some for the better, some arguably for the worse—and that scene was just the start of it.

And now I get to talk about the last scene. I initially had it from Cinder's perspective, but I found it difficult to write in her "voice," and things didn't really come together to my liking. If anything, I felt like having it from her perspective gave away and hinted at too much, so having the scene be from another character's point of view—one who knows enough but not too much—was really the better option. Emerald seemed like the best fit for the scene, and I actually managed to rewrite the entire scene in just a few hours.

Well, that about does it. Unfortunately, it might be a while before the next chapter (I'm trying to work out a solution to my writing issues), but feel free to let me know what you thought about this one. Au revoir!