Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.

*May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.

I wanted to make this longer but It would probably take me a lot longer to release it when I've got distractions everywhere.

Nora Valkyrie was seated with a plate stacked high with pancakes in front of her. The fluffy softness of the delectable round flat deliciousness was covered from top to bottom with a glistening red syrup that oozed a sweet fragrance which mixed well into the air with the heat coming off from the freshly cooked food.

For a moment, the sight before the girl had brought a tear in her eye and a slight drool on her lip.

The moment passed and so did the pancakes. The only traces of it were now plastered all over Nora's mouth as she smiled in satisfaction.

"More, please!" she shouted.

"Nora…" sighed Ren. "Please try to at least pace yourself."

Pyrrha and Jaune both chuckled at the two as they all sat together to enjoy their lunch time, hanging out in Vale. It was a pleasant reprieve after the disaster of their class field trip.

"I think we should just let her be for now, Ren," said Pyrrha. "All of us do deserve a well-earned break."

"Easy for you to say," answered Ren in a small voice. "You're not the one paying for our meal today."

"True, but I'm not the one who promised to do so."

Ren's shoulders sagged heavily on those true words. He looked over to their team leader for any sympathy for his plight. Unfortunately, Jaune also seemed to be well engrossed in his own lunch to notice.

"I can't really say I don't understand," said Jaune in between taking bites of his steak. "This place has really good stuff."

Seeing that he was not going to get it easy on today's meal at all, Ren decided to just at least enjoy his own food and worry about the bill later. "I still can't believe they have Forever Fall red sap here. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad about it for Nora, but this red sap is supposedly very hard to come by."

"Seeing as what happened to us while gathering it, I can understand why it would be a rare commodity," said Pyrrha.

"We're hardly the only ones who have it now though," answered a violet-haired maid, who came to lay down another stack of pancakes in front of Nora. "Our supplier is the only one who provides all of the city's red sap. It was quite fortunate for us that my sister managed to strike a deal with them and received a discount for our stock."

"Why, thank you, Sakura," smiled Nora. "Keep em' coming please."

Team JNPR had gotten to know Sakura, thanks to Blake introducing them when she went along with them. They had a very favorable impression of her because of how polite and kind she was.

"Do you know how they manage to gather so much in a Grimm infested area?" asked Pyrrha curiously." The female warrior was very interested in how someone could make a commercial business out of such a dangerous to obtain commodity.

"I'm sorry, but I believe they said it was a trade secret."

"That's too bad," said Jaune. "Maybe they have some Huntsmen or Huntresses working for them on the side."

Pyrrha shook her head against that. "Regardless of how delectable the sap is, I don't believe it would warrant such attention from Remnant's protectors when there are so many Grimm right now. Also, having a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses keep a constant protection on an area of the forest would most likely cost more than any profit a business could make."

"Who cares!" said Nora whose plate of pancakes were already half-missing. "As long as I get to eat my pancakes with the stuff, I'm a happy Valkyrie."

Seeing this, Sakura made haste to retrieve more pancakes for Nora before it ran out.

"Service is really good here, huh?" commented Jaune at watching the maids and butlers work around the café.

Pyrrha smiled at Jaune. "Yes. I can understand why Ruby and her team talk frequently about this place."

"Speaking of," said Ren. "Where is Team RWBY? Weren't they supposed to meet us here? Blake's the only one that came with us."

"Where is Blake by the way?" said Jaune looking around.

"She's upstairs with one of the maids, browsing for a few books," said Pyrrha. "It seems they have similar interests in genres, and had asked for some recommendations on what they have. Weiss and Yang took a detour shopping for clothes, while Ruby should be waking right about now and heading here soon, since she slept late finishing some of her homework last night."

Jaune furrowed his brows. "End of semester schoolwork. That's something I still need to do, but the semester break is so close now," he complained. "Preparations for the Vytal Festival is already going on too. They really shouldn't give us so much stuff to do."

"Think of it as the final sprint before the finish line," encouraged Pyrrha. "We'll get a break from school as soon as we power through the workload." A slight unscrupulous idea popped into the redheaded warrior's mind. "I-If you would like, I could also offer to teach you on our other school materials besides combat," she added in a casual tone, unable to look at Jaune as she did so.

"Really?!" said Jaune. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind? I mean, you're already helping me enough as it is already. I wouldn't want to bother you anymore than I already have."

Pyrrha was quick to reassure. "Of course not, Jaune. I'm already done with most the material myself. Having to teach someone else would actually help me with going over it once more to make sure."

"Thanks a lot, Pyrrha!"

Prryha calmly smiled in response to the gratitude, a small blush faintly appearing on her cheeks. To the side, Ren and Nora observed the two of them quietly while continuing to eat, both thinking about how Pyrrha was working her way towards Jaune's continued denseness at her feelings.

Blake was looking intently at the book she had in her hands. It was a red book with the title in big black and bold letters. Her hands were shaking slightly as she held on to it with slight awe. Fingers tracing the title of the book, she couldn't believe the truth before her.

"Pirates of Love…" she whispered.

"I assume you know of it then?"

Blake looked at the woman who had just given her one of her most sought after books she had ever wanted. "I wasn't really expecting you guys to actually have it, so I didn't even bother asking. This book was supposedly never sold publicly due to problems with publishing... but I did hear that a few limited prints of it had been available for a short time. How did you even get this, Medusa?"

Medusa smiled at her disbelief. "Mr. Tukson was, thankfully, not entirely exaggerating when he told us he had every book under the sun. I thought that, given our similar taste in novels, that you would quite enjoy reading this one."

Blake had gotten close with the maid a while ago during her team's visits when she started asking for some specific books to read. She found out that they had quite a lot in common in their preference in novels, specifically, the slightly embarrassing ones that she dared not talk about with others, even her own team mates. What started out as small talks about some books, turned into full-depth discussions on the plot and relationships with each of the characters.

"I-I… don't know what to say," she said.

"Just tell me what you think of it, once you've finished reading," said Medusa graciously.

"Thank you," said Blake.

Medusa made a small bow and curtsied. "As a maid, it is my pleasure to serve you, Miss Belladona," she said with a smile.

Blake understood that Medusa was just jesting a bit with her, but she still couldn't help feeling a little bit uneasy about her politeness. "You know, I do consider us friends, Medusa," she said. "You don't have to act so formal with me."

"I am a Servant and I shall do what my Master asks of me without complaint." Medusa noticed Blake pouting at her, so she stood up straight and gave a small laugh. "Forgive me, Blake. I couldn't help but tease you a little bit. It's not every day that I get an opportunity to joke around with someone."

"Really, now…" sighed Blake.

"Think of it as my charge for finding you that book, if you will."

"I guess a little bit of teasing would be a small price to pay for getting a book like this," responded Blake, whilst giving the book in her hand another happy look.

Medusa, not willing to give up on her teasing, asked her innocently, "With all the books you've been reading about love lately, I don't suppose you've finally landed yourself someone yet, have you?"

Blake immediately blushed at that. "W-What are you saying?! I-I don't have anyone like that at all!"

Medusa continued her attack, "Really? Being in a school designed to train fully fit and capable warriors, you would think there would at least be someone you would be interested in." She waited for Blake's abject denial, but only silence followed. She saw that Blake had a pained expression on her face.

"I'm deeply sorry, Blake," she quickly apologized. "I did not mean to offend. I went too far with my jest."

"No…" Blake shook her head. "There wasn't anything wrong with what you said." She tightened her grip on the book in her hand. "It's just… it's a bit hard for someone like me to get that close to someone. Especially since they wouldn't really know the real me."

Understanding dawned on Medusa's face as she realized what Blake meant. "I see…" she said. "I am surprised that even at your school they would judge one based on their appearances. It must be hard being a faunus."

A soft thump was heard as the book in Blake's hands fell on the wooden floor. Her face was slightly pale and seemed a bit shocked before she recomposed herself to pick up the dropped book.

"T-There have been cases of bullying among other discrimination against the faunus there, yes," she fumbled the words a bit. It took her a moment to realize that Medusa was most likely referring to the other faunus at the academy, rather than her specifically. "They have a lot of hardships to overcome, no matter where they go."

Blake noticed the puzzled look Medusa was giving her. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. It's just that... I find it strange that you would talk about them, as if you are not a faunus."

The book once more fell to the floor with a thud. A short silence fell between the two of them as Blake could only stare with shock and fear at the maid, whilst Medusa only looked worriedly at her friend.

"Blake… are you alright?" asked Medusa.

"I-I think you're mistaken," she said nervously. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The maid furrowed her brow in response. "Are those not animal ears under that ribbon on your head?" she asked.

Blake took a step back in disbelief. "E-Even my team mates don't know that about my ears or that I'm a faunus. How did you know?" she questioned desperately.

"I apologize," Medusa replied. "I had thought that it was obvious, considering they twitch a little every time I have seen you bite into the food we serve." What she said was only half true. It was true that she observed that cute little response of Blake's when eating, but Medusa's acute senses had already pointed her out as a faunus the moment she entered their café.

At that statement, said bow visibly twitched.

"I… don't know what to say," said Blake, who looked pained at having not known that she had long been found out. "You knew I was a faunus all this time?"

Medusa picked up the fallen book and gently placed it in Blake's hands, while laying her own hands comfortably over them. "If you are worried how I or anyone here would treat you over knowing that fact, you need only look at the way we treat our own staff to see that we have no ill will towards faunus kind."

Blake shifted her vision from the book in her hands to the gentle smile that Medusa gave her. "I guess I really should have understood that better, since I have been going here for a while. It's just that... I got so used to people treating me and the others of my kind as monsters that I started thinking that would be how everyone else would think, if they found out." Although she said that as if it was due to her being a faunus, what was really on her mind was her time growing up as part of the White Fang. Being feared and hated was natural, given the violent and bloody path the organization turned into.

Medusa narrowed her eyes in slight anger. "When people treat a person like a monster, they will find that a monster it is that will appear before them," she said in an even but harsh tone. The tale of her own history swirling around her memories.

"…Medusa?"

Being called out to had snapped the maid back into her normal demeanor. She was quick to recompose herself, before Blake could suspect that she was speaking more from experience than ideological morality.

"Please rest assured that your being a faunus will not be any sort of problems for anyone here," Medusa continued. "If you wish me not to speak of it to anyone else, I can promise you that no one will ever find out about it from me."

"Thank you," said Blake sheepishly. "I'm not exactly sure how my friends would react if they find out what I really am, even though I really want to just let it all out."

"You are their friend," declared Medusa strongly. "They will understand, and if they don't, then that just means that they were never really fit to be your friends in the first place."

Blake considered the advice carefully. She was mostly sure that Ruby and Yang would be fine with the truth, however Weiss would be another matter. The obvious distaste of the Schnee heiress against faunus was something Blake could not dismiss as misinformed. Plus, it wasn't just the fact that she was a faunus that she was hiding from them. That secret would be the most difficult to share.

"I'll think about it..." In the end, that was about as much commitment Blake could do for now.

"Good," nodded Medusa. "Now let's get you something to eat with the rest of your friends downstairs."

Before the two of them could leave, someone came up beside the two carrying a bag of tools in his hands.

"Hey, Medusa!" greeted a tall white-haired and tan skinned man in work clothes, who also gave a polite nod to Blake before returning his attention to the maid. "Can you tell me which table it was that Sakura said had a bad leg?"

"It's the far one on the right by the veranda, Shirou," she said.

Shirou nodded in response and made his way towards the problem. "Thanks, Medusa. Please keep up the good work," he said good-naturedly.

As Shirou moved away from them, Medusa's gaze lingered a little bit on the man's broad back. She only stopped when she realized that she still had work to do. Turning around, she found herself faced with Blake's smug smile aimed directly at her.

"Uhm… is there something the matter?" she questioned uneasily.

"No, No. Not really," answered Blake, pretending that nothing just happened. "It's just that, for someone so interested about my love life, you seem to have a lot more going on than I do."

"I-I believe you are mistaken," quickly denied Medusa. "There is nothing going on between me and Shirou. Please do not misunderstand that."

"Really?" questioned Blake intently, looking at her friend's face for any slight reaction.

"It would be really impolite to keep your friends waiting, and I should really be getting back to work," diverted the maid. However, the small blush on her face as she strode pass was enough confirmation for the cat faunus to know the answer to her question.

"Since you're keeping my secret, I suppose I can keep yours as well," teased Blake.

Medusa only kept silent as they both walked downstairs. The heat on her face having never really left yet, while Blake continued to stare behind her with a knowing smirk all the way.

At downtown Vale, a section of the street was cordoned off by the police. Shards of glass was scattered on the concrete pavement and various other damages could be seen on the store where the police were conducting their investigation.

Bystanders were watching the scene with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. The people of the city have heard all about the recent Dust shop robberies, and that had driven an uneasy weight on everyone's minds as to why this continued to happen.

Standing beside the crowd, Yang and Weiss were both observing the aftermath left behind by the thieves, whilst holding on to their shopping bags. They could hear the two police investigators discussing the crime from where they were.

"Looks like the robberies aren't stopping anytime soon."

"I still don't see why anyone would need that much Dust."

"Maybe it's for an army?"

"Could be the White Fang, you think?"

"I'm thinking we don't get paid enough for this."

As the two officers moved to check the other parts of the store, Weiss was gritting her teeth in anger after hearing what they had just said.

"The White Fang…" she said with venom in her voice. "What an awful bunch of lowly degenerates."

"Sounds like you've got a real bone to pick with them," said Yang after noticing the harsh tone in her friend.

"Those faunus are a bunch of scum who only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true..." said Yang. "You have to realize that some of them probably didn't have many options, considering how most faunus are discriminated against."

Weiss looked incredulously at Yang. "Are you trying to defend those criminally insane terrorists?!"

Yang sighed. "No, I'm just... trying to look at things objectively."

"Well, I've seen first-hand the consequences of the things they do," said Weiss while walking away from the scene, not giving Yang a chance to question what she had said.

Yang ran to catch up with the Schnee heiress. "You know, people make mistakes, Weiss. Would you really hold it against all of them for some of the things they do being misguided?"

Weiss turned around to face Yang. "Misguided?! They want to wipe humanity off the face of planet!"

"Look," said Yang. "I'm not saying all of them are victims of circumstances, I just want you to understand that not everything is just as black and white as you make them out to be."

"Why are we even talking about this?" asked Weiss in annoyance. "There is nothing wrong with hating a bunch of criminals." She stood and turned away from Yang.

"We do have classmates that are faunus, you know? There's Velvet from Team CFVY for example and more of them will arrive from the other kingdoms for the Vytal Festival. I just don't want you to be on bad terms with them just because of it."

"I'm not a bigot, Yang!" proclaimed Weiss. "I may not completely trust them but I have no problems with faunus in general. As long as they're not a part of a menacing group like the White Fang, I wouldn't really treat them that differently from anyone else." She once more walked away and her mood all but said that the conversation was over.

Yang slumped her shoulders in resignation. "Well at least our team doesn't have a faunus or a member of the White Fang…" she sighed.

"Hurry up, Yang! We're going to be late, if you keep stalling!"

Deciding that a hearty meal would sooth her day, Yang looked forward to arriving at their destination.

Running down the city streets of Vale, young Ruby Rose dashed quickly to avoid pedestrians and other obstacles while using her Semblance. Her hair was partially unkempt as she had used only the bare minimum amount of time to fix it when she woke up.

She had found that her team had already left without her to their usual weekend spot along with their friends of Team JNPR.

"I can't believe they left without me!" she whined. "Plus it's almost past lunch time. I'll miss out on the specials!" An old man walked out of a store right in front of her. She quickly walked on the store walls to avoid the bystander and continued on her way.

"Obstacle avoided!" she cheered, while looking back at the bewildered old man.

Unfortunately, on that split second she looked away, another innocent bystander walked out of an intersection right into her path.

"Ooof!"

The speed of the collision had dazed Ruby as she struggled to push herself off the ground. "Oh… wow. What did I hit?" she said as she rubbed a sore spot on her head.

"Salutations!" came a peppy voice under Ruby.

"Gaah!" Ruby picked herself quickly onto her feet as she stepped back from the person under her. She saw that a curly orange-haired girl was lying down in front of her. It dawned on her that she was the one she had ran into. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" she asked worriedly.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!" the girl replied cheerfully on the ground.

The oddly positive answer had caused Ruby to pause a bit. "Uuuhh… do you want to get up?" she said as she looked doubtfully at the girl.

The girl on the ground stopped to think for a moment before responding yes. She flipped herself on to her feet and stood in front of Ruby.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Uuhm… Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You… already said that," pointed out Ruby.

Penny tilted her head as if the statement was a question before saying, "So I did."

"Anyway…" Ruby tried to ignore the odd conversation. "I'm so sorry for running into you. I was in such a hurry that I wasn't looking where I was going," she said and continued on explaining rapidly. "I was up late last night finishing some homework and studying for a big test, so I woke up late to find out that my friends had left me behind. Then I remembered that the lunch specials for the café was almost over, so I started running, and I had to use my semblance to try and make it on time, and I had to avoid a bunch of people, and then there was this old man…"

The speed at which the explanation came out was enough for anyone to think that someone was playing Ruby's voice on fast-forward, but it seems that Penny had managed to get all of it with not much trouble.

"…and that was how I ended up crashing into you," finished Ruby in a huff. She took a moment to get her breath back. "But I guess it doesn't matter anymore since I won't be able to make it in time to get that special dessert item on this week's special," said Ruby hopelessly.

Penny could only look curiously at Ruby. "Are you talking about the crepe special at Radix Book Café, by any chance?"

"How do you know that?" said Ruby in surprise.

"My friend's family owns that place and she had invited me to try some," answered Penny. The girl looked carefully at Ruby and said, "I'm sure I can try and convince her to have them make one for you as well."

Ruby excitedly grabbed Penny's hands into her own. "Really?! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said gleefully. "I'll be your friend forever!"

Suddenly, Ruby found Penny's face a little bit too close to her's as her own hands were also now the one's in the peppy girl's iron grip.

"Really?! Am I really your friend?!" she asked seriously.

"Uhhhh…" Ruby's sudden elation was now crushed with hesitation at the serious question and the abrupt close proximity of the two. After a moment of indecision, she answered, "Sure… why not?"

Penny laughed in joy. "Sen-sational!" she shouted. "You're the second friend I've ever made. I guess this is what they meant by 'running into your friends.'" Penny then tilted her head in thought. "It seems like being run into by people is the fastest way I'm making friends… I should bump into people more often!" she declared.

"Please don't," thought Ruby as she remembered the pain she felt from running into her.

"Oooh! You have to meet Illya as well!" Penny grabbed Ruby's hand and started dragging her away towards the direction of the café. "I'm sure she'll want to be your friend too!"

Sounds of cutlery hitting plates rang out into the air from a table on the corner of Radix Book Café. Three young girls sat beside each other as they ate the desserts in front of them.

"Oh, this is soooo gooood!" moaned Ruby with a mouthful of food.

"You should try my big brother's melon bread with this next time. It really melts together well with the flavor."

"I don't think Ruby can hear you right now, Illya."

"Melon bread. Good flavor. Next time." Came the reply from in between the bites of crepe that Ruby ate.

"Hehehe," giggled the youngest looking girl. "It looks like she heard me just fine." She was incredibly content at observing her new friend eat with gusto.

Sakura came to the group's table and set down some glasses of water for them. "How is everyone doing? Are your desserts okay?"

"It's better than okay! It's absolutely heavenly!" said Ruby enthusiastically, to which the maid nodded positively in response.

"Thank you for serving us, Ms. Sakura," said Penny.

"Please think nothing of it," smiled Sakura. "We would always be glad to see any friends that Illya makes. Shirou himself couldn't stop smiling and talking about it when he found out that his little sister finally made a friend."

"W-What?!" shrieked Illya. "P-Please don't say such embarrassing things in front of my friends, Sakura!"

Sakura giggled at the cute flustered form of the short magus. "But it's true. Even sister had a dumbfounded look on her face when she found out. She was saying things like 'who would have thought that that violent little brat could actually make friends.'"

Illya growled and seethed in anger. "That money-grubbing jackal. I'll get her back for that."

"Violent?" questioned Ruby, who had stopped eating at the interesting discussion.

Quickly, Illya laughed it off while scratching the back of her head and said, "She was referring to when I was younger, of course. I was a little bit of handful for everyone back then."

Sakura made no mention of how it was actually only some time ago when Illya had been trying to kill everyone else with Berserker. "Yes. She was quite a lot of trouble to take care of for Shirou and my sister." Thoughts of the two being chased around and pummeled by the large dark mountain of a killing-machine entered her mind.

Illya began to pout at Sakura. "Geez. Please don't bring up anymore of the past, Sakura."

"Alright, Illya," agreed Sakura. "I won't bother you and your friends anymore. Just call on me if there is anything else I can help with. Shirou wanted me to make sure that everything goes well with your new friends, and that's why he made sure the crepes were extra special today."

"Really! Just go already!" complained the little girl.

Sakura left giggling all the way back to the kitchen.

Finally left alone, Illya slumped back on her chair in exhaustion.

"It's nice having a lot of family care about you like that," commented Ruby.

"Eh?" said Illya, then thought about it for a few moments before smiling. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

"They're really nice people," added Penny.

"So what about you, Ruby?" asked Illya, determined to learn more about her new friend. "What about your family?"

"Me?" said Ruby. "Well, my family is great! Actually, my sister, Yang and I were... supposed to..." She stood up so quickly that you would think her chair was on fire. "GAAAH!"

Penny and Illya both looked perturbed and surprised at the sudden action.

"I forgot I was supposed to meet them upstairs! Weiss will get so mad at me for being so late!"

Ruby grabbed her head with both hands in worry, before remembering that she was in the company of her new friends. "What am I saying?! I can't just ditch you guys."

"It's alright," smiled Illya and tried to reassure her friend. "You were supposed to meet with them first anyway. I'm just glad that we got to know each other and be friends right now." Even though Illya felt a bit sad saying so, she didn't want to keep her new friend from her obligations.

Meanwhile, even though she got encouraged to go, Ruby felt that doing so wouldn't make her a very good friend. It was then that she thought of a brilliant idea and said, "I know, why don't you two come with me?"

Illya was stunned at the unexpected invitation. She was not entirely sure about meeting new people, especially a whole group of them. "I don't know…"

Penny, ever excited to make new friends, said, "Oooh, I'd love to meet them!"

Both Penny and Ruby then smiled and focused on Illya, waiting for her to say yes. The new feeling of concentrated peer pressure was putting a strain on Illya's ability to refuse. She finally agreed after she could no longer bear the expecting gazes of her friends.

"Are you sure I won't be a bother?" said Illya sheepishly, as the three walked to the stairs. "They're all older than you, right? Maybe they won't like having a child like me around…" She was holding on to her skirt nervously as she said so.

"Don't worry," said Ruby with a smile. "I'm sure everyone will just love you!"

A/N:

Have been busy with Tree of Savior and other stuff lately. But I may start posting more soon since the beta is about to end. That is unless, I get in the Overwatch Beta.

As always, please read and review. It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.

You can check my profile for updates.