Disclaimer: I do not own World of Tanks or RWBY.

Creak...

Gladys opened her eyes quietly, having tried unsuccessfully to go to sleep and now hearing a noise. Silently, she sat up, her ears picking up the additional noises of low, quiet footsteps. The footsteps stopped suddenly, and Gladys squinted, then blinked a couple of times, at something that looked vaguely like it was detached from the wall. As the commander's eyes adapted to the low light, she heard Carney murmur, "My apologies."

"C-Carney," she murmured, then whispered, "Is Emma-"

"She's fast asleep," Ribbans answered, "In the wrong bloody bed, too."

Gladys stifled a yawn, her vision finally clearing enough to see that both Carney and Ribbans had come in the room- and, more concerningly, that Ribbans was approaching Emma. Quickly, she stopped, "She's aslee~ee-"

She shut her mouth quickly, enough so that it could almost be considered a biting motion, in order to stifle another yawn. Ribbans nodded, "Already getting her drool over my pillow!"

"You can sleep in another bed," Carney pointed out, and Ribbans retorted, "I'm not doing a swap to her see how soggy she's made hers."

"I-I'll take her bed tonight," Gladys said. With a sigh, she grabbed the sides of her bed, while Ribbans murmured, "Right, then, good enough."

Gladys stood up, a counterargument practically already on her lips, then stopped and blinked, having expected a little pushback, then continued, "I w-wanted to, ah, apologize, as well."

"In the morning?" Ribbans offered, already laying down in her bed. After a moment, Gladys nodded, "I... I suppose so, yes."

She finally let herself yawn, then stopped halfway through and glanced at Emma... who was still exactly as she was, having not been disturbed in the slightest. At that, the commander let out a sigh, and Carney murmured, "If I may pre-empt the morning discussion, I've already rather forgiven you."

Gladys sniffed slightly, then nodded, "Thank you."

Finally, with a sigh, she went around the bed Emma was in, then started to lay down in Emma's bed. She got all the way to having her shoulder touch the mattress, before the slightest touch of dampness against her hair caused her to immediately bolt up. Quietly, the commander extended her hand and poked the pillow, and paled at how wet and cold it felt. She silently glanced at Emma, noticing how the loader was drooling yet more and likely ruining another pillow, before setting the issue aside, and then setting the pillow on the floor and simply laying flat on the bed.

Boom!

She flinched, imagining a gunshot for some reason- then, upon hearing a scream, realized that she wasn't just imagining that.

Boom! Boom!

"Ihr habt euren Kommandanten im Stich gelassen, ihr unverschämten feigen Schlangen! Dass Sie es wagen würden, sich Männer zu nennen – nicht nur Männer, sondern Arier – ist eine Beleidigung des Reiches und eine Beleidigung für mich!"

And, with a sigh, she realized that it was just Hans' homecoming, loud enough to be heard from the other side of the building. Quietly, she set her head back down, squeezing her eyes shut to try and block it out. Several hours later, dawn broke over Beacon just as it did over Remnant, and an hour after that- enough time for the sun to be about an eight of its way through the sky ad not simply skulking about making the horizon pink- Gladys woke up, then quietly sat up. The world was almost entirely silent as she got out of bed, and the creaking of the door as she left the room was perhaps the only sound. A few minutes after that, Carney woke up, and let out a quiet sigh of disappointment, just loud enough to cause Ribbans to groan as he woke up. The gunner stared at the driver a moment, then guessed, "You were trying to beat her to wake up again, weren't you?"

Carney sighed and nodded, noting, "I'd thought it would have been rather nice for her."

"I'd thought a month of failing would've made you realize the commander's got something wrong with her alarm," Ribbans retorted, "And made you quit waking me up."

"I have given up, mostly," Carney answered, "I simply considered, given the accommodations our loader left for her, it would have been particularly nice today."

Ribbans sighed in exasperation, then murmured, "Least I'll be up while they're still warm."

The gunner shook his head quietly, then laid it back on the pillow, while Carney got up and headed over to the door, pressing his eye against the looking hole. A few moments later, he opened it seemingly for no reason, and a few moments after that, Gladys came along, now with a tin of biscuits and murmuring, "Thank you, Ribbans."

"Of course," the driver nodded. Quietly, the commander stepped inside, and the gunner shifted. Quickly, Gladys murmured, "I hadn't meant to wake you."

"Biscuits?" Ribbans murmured, pretending to still be sleepy despite having now been awake for about a full minute. Gladys nodded quietly, opening the tin as she noted, "I... r-rather meant to speak with both of you, actually."

Ribbans ignored her, making a motion that was less sitting down by the tin and more diving into a sitting position, grabbing a biscuit from it as he did. Carney, on the other hand, nodded, "I suppose this is the apology, then."

"I... I was a coward," Gladys admitted, while Carney sat quietly down. The commander continued, "A-And I should have fought with you. We're a crew, and we ought to stick together, and I ought to stand for what I tell you to. And for not doing that, I'm deeply ashamed."

"Alripe," Ribbans said, with a second biscuit already in his mouth. Gladys sighed, then murmured, "I... suppose, then, it is."

"I daresay we never truly thought you in the wrong," Carney noted. Gladys sighed, then nodded, "I guess it was just me, then."

She sighed one more time, and Carney asked, "Is your throat alright? You were laying rather oddly."

"Yes," Gladys quickly nodded, "Suppose my sighing so much was a bit dramatic."

Ribbans- who by this point had already consumed five biscuits- nodded, "Not much to it."

Gladys nodded quietly, then grabbed a biscuit, and Carney asked, "By the by, did we miss anything?"

Gladys' eyes widened, but she quickly shook her head, "J-Just another bit of melodrama with me and Emma. She stopped it quickly, too- I-I should be waking her up, actually."

"I'll get the loader," Carney said, and Gladys smiled, "Thanks."

As the loader got up, the commander finally took a pair of biscuits that seemed for herself... then simply set them aside on a small plate which Carney hadn't noticed her carrying. Patiently, she waited while Ribbans grabbed yet more from the tin of seemingly never-ending biscuits, then grabbed one and started eating it herself, looking almost as if she'd forgotten about the two she'd already gotten. But she hadn't, in fact; and when Emma, a minute or so later, finally came around and immediately tried to reach for the two plated biscuits, Gladys quickly stuck her hand over them as a shield. The loader merely groaned drearily, then grabbed from the tin as normal- the tin which Ribbans, for once, wasn't grabbing from himself, having stopped his eating to point out, "You weren't eating them."

"I... ah... was, uh, saving them," Gladys murmured, "That's all."

The gunner accepted the explanation with a shrug, and a few more minutes passed where it wasn't questioned, and the crew simply nibbled on their breakfast. Then Gladys made the mistake of not grabbing from the plate of biscuits she was apparently saving. Ribbans huffed, "You've got two already!"

He indicated the plate, while Carney noted, "They are getting rather cold, I should think."

"I was saving them f-for, ah, Otto," Gladys admitted. Ribbans raised an eyebrow at this, questioning, "You're what?"

"I-I was going to give some biscuits to Otto," Gladys reaffirmed, "W-We do still owe him, after-"

"No we bloody well don't!" Ribbans shot, and Emma agreed, "Anf pfey're our bifcuitf!"

"I... uh... I-I'm not, ah, backing down, th-this time," Gladys retorted, and Ribbans challenged, "You looking for a fight?"

"N-N-No," the commander quickly said, and Carney butt in, "Must you mutiny over such a small matter?"

"She's trying to feed a Kraut!" Ribbans bickered, "Hardly think any of 'em can count as small as it is!"

"I-I... i-it's final," Gladys said, "Otto d-did a service to us, and is... I-I would call him a friend-"

"You've lost your marbles," Ribbans shot, while Gladys continued, "So, I w-would only think it fair to, at the very least, give him some biscuits."

Ribbans glared silently at his commander, while Emma murmured, "Didn't you use the kit on him?"

Gladys paused a moment, then shook her head, "I... ah... h-had rather forgotten, u-until it was much too late."

Ribbans huffed, then noted, "Y'know what'll happen, I assume? He'll get the plate in his hand for a second, and then your fellow nutjob commander will smack it out his hands and throw a tantrum."

"You really think feeding Otto's as crazy as that wacko's sanest moments?" Emma questioned, "Really?"

"I thought we were agreed that she shouldn't do it!" Ribbans pointed out, and Emma bickered, "I care about getting my biscuits- if she doesn't take anymore, I'll be happy."

Gladys- who, by this point, had only had two biscuits, compared to Ribbans' dozen, Emma's five, and even Carney's four- nodded, "That, ah, does seem rational enough."

Her driver glanced at her in concern, while Ribbans grumbled, "Nothing rational about this."

-A little bit later

"I'm telling you guys, they'll all be back," Jaune insisted, to which Nora retorted, "I had a dream they were all dead."

"They were dead, in a sense," Ren pointed out, and Jaune said, "They weren't! It's just like the other time!"

"So they all have a resurrection Semblance?" Pyrrha questioned, and Jaune answered, "M-Maybe. Or maybe they're just weird. But the other guys have it too!"

"They're all dead," Nora bickered, and Jaune noted, "Y'know, dreaming about people being dead is kinda weird."

"Not really," Ren retorted, and Jaune shook his head, "Yeah really."

Ren shrugged, as if unsure himself, and Pyrrha murmured, "It would explain how they do those stunts in the arena."

"They aren't stunts, we've been over this!" Jaune insisted, and Ren nodded, "In one of your rants, yes."

"You've gotta believe me!" Jaune insisted. A few rows below, with team RWBY, roughly the same conversation was taking place, only Yang made herself smug rather than sounding like a conspiracy theorist as she insisted, "Come on, guys, you gotta believe me."

"That they just don't care about dying?" Blake questioned, and Yang nodded, "They didn't even seem angry with me."

"I mean... I guess they weren't..." Ruby murmured, and Weiss shot, "You can't truly be expecting us to believe that!"

Yang shrugged, noting, "Guess we'll find out in a few minutes."

Weiss huffed, "I suppose we will."

Silence still didn't fall, though- the conversations of JNPR and RWBY were not, after all, the only ones going on. The insistence of Jaune and Yang about every single tanker being alive had created an electric tension in the air, as 'hushed'- meaning not hushed at all- conversations ran between students, sometimes transcending the boundaries of teams to bicker about whether the tankers would show up. The credibility not only of the leadership of teams RWBY and JNPR, but also of the entirety of CRDL, was being called into question. The fact that the supposed killers had come and taken their usual seats without fanfare was what had really driven the entire class mad, though, so much so that Peaches had given up trying to go about her pre-class routine to instead glare at the disturbances.

The only quiet student in all of Professor Peaches' classroom was Velvet, sitting in the back without her team. Word of a mass-casualty brawl in the cafeteria had spread like wildfire, but there was no concurrent rumor about the Faunus discrimination that had started it. Still, nestled safely in a corner of the room, ears still on her head and only somewhat sore, Velvet couldn't help but be grateful that someone else had managed to do something so astounding that it was drawing the spotlight away from her. She felt terrible to be relieved- the fact that she was getting off better for someone else not merely suffering, but dying, made her sick to her stomach. And being able to see the killers, knowing they'd gotten away with it, made her terrified to wonder if they could get away with killing her, too.

And then, abruptly, the door opened. Immediately, the rabbit-girl winced, having to cover her ears due to the sheer volume- both in magnitude and in number- of surprised noises coming from everyone in the room, as the four red-coated tankers walked in, just as normal. Immediately, Peaches shot up, shouting, "QUIET! This is a normal day, I won't have you shouting!"

Quickly, the tankers rushed to their seats, sitting down without a glance or a word to the crowd of people who'd seemingly decided that they were the most important thing in the world. And while the yells and gasps and shouted questions eventually petered out from the professor's screeching for calm, the noise still didn't, as now everyone in the room had to turn to their peers and express that they were surprised, as if that wasn't obvious. Velvet sighed quietly, knowing she was going to have a headache from all the maddening noise, as she stared at the tankers, wondering just how they'd managed to die- for she had very much seen them do just that, in bloody fashion- and not die.

And then, things became even stranger, when Velvet's other bullies- the bullies whom she'd also seen die- walked in. No great crescendo of shock and awe followed Hans as he walked in, and though the self-proclaimed 'Ass der Panzerkampfwagen' would have been furious had he known the opportunity was there, he didn't. Instead, he simply walked to his seat with his crew like a normal day- save his loader, who headed over to the English crew and deposited shattered pieces of a plate, murmuring, "I saved what I could."

"I-It's fine," Gladys said, "I... j-just..."

She sighed, murmuring, "Th-This was a fine plate. R-Rather senseless, is all."

Otto nodded, then quietly left. After a few moments, Ribbans noted, "Told you so."

"This is a time for mourning," Emma shot, "We lost a plate!"

Ribbans nodded, sounding completely serious- for he was completely serious- as he apologized, "Of course, that'll come first."

Velvet raised an eyebrow at this, the fact that they were more disturbed by a destroyed ceramic plate than by their own deaths somewhat disconcerting-

Br-Ri-Ri-Ring!

-then dismissed it from mind, as class began.

-A few hours later

"Well, then."

Gladys glanced up from her tea to see Weiss standing just to the side- and then, further aside, the rest of RWBY. Catching the eye of Yang, the blonde waved, and Gladys quickly returned her gaze back to the heiress.

"Might I be the first to ask you how you managed to fake your deaths?" the heiress asked. Ruby pitched in, "Or are you guys ghosts?"

Gladys answered, "I-"

"Are you guys brain-eating zombies or worse zombies?"

Gladys turned around to see that her table was being sandwiched by team RWBY and JNPR, standing on either side. The fact that Nora had her hammer out also jumped out at the commander, and she quickly stammered, "P-Please don't-"

"Yeah guys, you gotta have tea if you want to join in their 'teatime chat'," Yang agreed, "C'mon, it's these guys."

"The tea has a zombie virus!" Nora yelled. Gladys' eyes widened as the girl started to swing her hammer down towards Emma- and at the last moment, was blocked by Ren smacking it to the side. Emma objected, "Are you looking for a fight?"

"Please, d-don't," Gladys mumbled, "W-We were just-"

"We gotta kill them before they eat our brains!" Nora insisted, and Jaune retorted, "We can't kill them, they've already won!"

"W-We were just h-having tea-" Gladys started, only to be cut off by Ribbans shooting, "Bugger off, the lot of you!"

"The ghost is angry!" Ruby shrieked, and Weiss bickered, "They aren't ghosts, they never really died."

"Guys!" Yang yelled. Gladys flushed, feeling adrenaline pump into her veins and a bit of liquid spill between her legs, then paled even more when she glanced at her tea cup and found that she hadn't spilt from it.

"Please, everyone, calm down," Pyrrha said. Her voice, finally, moved through everyone, calming them down as she asked, "May I sit with you?"

Gladys hesitated a moment, then murmured, "Y-Yes, o-o-of course. Th-Thank you, ah, for asking."

Quietly, Pyrrha sat down, beginning, "If I may-"

"Hush, I'll get your cup in a minute," Emma shot, grabbing the kettle. Nora huffed, "This is boring."

And with that, she left, followed shortly thereafter by Ren, while Jaune said, "I'll, uh, keep them out of trouble."

He then left, too, and Yang noted, "Yeah, they're kinda weird about the whole tea thing."

"If you aren't here to sit down then clear off," Ribbans grumbled, and Ruby 'realized', "It's a magical ghost thing!"

"They are not ghosts!" Weiss shot.

"Guys!" Yang yelled, "C'mon, we just did this!"

She huffed, and Ruby murmured, "Sorry."

"Alright, now Blake can go, since she's been the best behaved," Yang said, just as Emma was finally getting around to pouring Pyrrha a cup of tea. Weiss questioned, "Since when did you make those decisions?"

"Rubes?" Yang said, and Ruby stammered, "I-I... uh... y-yeah. Blake, uh, go ask them how they're alive and report back."

"Okay," Blake responded, raising her voice at the end as if questioning what she was saying. Quickly, RWBY left, and Blake sat down, beginning, "So-"

"I'll get to you too- bloody hell, why's everyone bothering with us today?" Emma said, and Carney noted, "It would be quite nice if they were less rude about it."

"Y-Yes, quite," Gladys murmured, still shaking a little. Pyrrha apologized, "We were surprised that any of you were in class today. Though Nora is always a bit..."

"Mental?" Ribbans put in, and Pyrrha finished, "Carried away."

Emma passed a cup to Blake, noting, "Why's it a surprise?"

"Uh... you died," Blake reminded, and Emma shot, "Those two did."

"It was still some of you dying," Pyrrha noted, "So we were still surprised."

"I believe this has happened before," Gladys noted, and Pyrrha nodded, "It has, but it was only in the arena before."

"And it was only one of you at a time," Blake added. Gladys sighed, seeing their points, and Ribbans questioned, "Why should that matter?"

"We thought it was a stretch to say you all came back," Blake answered, "Except Yang."

"Jaune's way of... obsessing over you all made it seem like he was just crazy, rather than right," Pyrrha agreed, then asked, "Besides... how do you all come back?"

"M-Might I, uh, just say that we simply do, and leave it at that?" Gladys requested, "R-Rather than us having to, ah, talk about being killed?"

"Of course," Pyrrha nodded, "I hadn't considered that that must be hard to go through."

"Not too bad," Ribbans said, "She's just a pansy about it. Happened a little too often, I think."

"So you all did this before Beacon?" Blake questioned. Gladys nodded, and Emma smiled, "Wish we were back to those days, not sitting 'round having to explain the basics."

"And since the other team came from the same place you did, they're the same way?" Pyrrha guessed. Gladys nodded, and Ribbans shot, "Unfortunately."

"That's... a lot," Blake noted, and Emma pointed out, "We don't die. Simple as."

Gladys nodded, "I can't quite see the reason for confusion, but I suppose we've simply grown used to it."

Pyrrha informed, "I'll go tell Nora, then. And... admit that Jaune was right..."

She cast a glance at her team, which consisted of Jaune, open-mouthed midway through an explanatory rant of complete insanity, Nora, petting her hammer and staring at them with clear malicious intent, and Ren, somehow the most insane one on the virtue of neither joining in nor objecting to the behavior. After a moment, she let out an awkward chuckle, and Gladys noted, "You're welcome to stay. We were just talking about... ah..."

"That we need a new plate," Carney informed. Gladys quickly nodded, as the driver continued, "I don't suppose either of you have one to spare?"

Pyrrha shook her head, and Blake informed, "You could steal one from Weiss."

"Good God, we're not burglars!" Ribbans objected. Gladys nodded again, then murmured, "Pardon me, but, ah- i-if that's all with the pressing matter, I really must use the ladies'."

"I can come with you," Pyrrha offered. Gladys' eyes widened in confusion for a moment, before stammering, "I-I'm, ah, p-perfectly capable on my own, thank you."

Quickly, she got up and headed away, and Blake asked, "Is she afraid of Yang?"

"I suppose if we're skipping past the plate now," Ribbans said, "And going to something ridiculous and off-topic... not so ridiculous to think she might be. Rather afraid of a lot when she's not in the tank, I've found."

"She got really pale when Yang yelled," Blake informed, "Is she doing something to her?"

"She's your teammate," Emma pointed out, "Don't you keep track?"

"No," she answered, and Pyrrha nodded, "You are rather odd for keeping so close together."

Ribbans murmured, "Hm."

"I suppose the commander might have developed a fear of Yang," Carney said, "Given she's abducted her twice now."

"Never did find out why she was so sappy when she came back the second time," Emma noted, "Reckon she did something to her then?"

"What second time?" Blake questioned. Ribbans shot, "Your team can't be that ill-focused."

Blake shrugged, and Ribbans said, "Not much of a team, then."

"If I may properly answer the question," Carney said, "There was the day when your miss Rose took over command of our tank."

"What?" Pyrrha questioned, "There's not something preventing that?"

"If not for the bloody loader here," Ribbans shot, "I'd have prevented it. But no, we just had to buy into 'Gladys said I could'."

"It seemed likely," Emma bickered, and Ribbans pointed out, "Gladys said a bloody child could take her tank while she rode off on a scooter, screaming the whole way?"

"There wasn't screaming," Emma shot, "And you could've done something anyways."

Ribbans huffed, and Blake murmured, "I didn't know that happened."

"Well ask miss kidnapper over there," Ribbans shot, "Or maybe we ought to ask ourselves?"

"I don't suppose you want to wait until the commander comes back herself and ask her?" Carney questioned, and Pyrrha pointed out, "We would just be making her remember it all."

Blake nodded, and Carney sighed, then informed, "I'll stay to make sure she knows where you've gone off to."

-A few moments later

"Oi!"

Ruby glanced up, then shrieked, "The ghosts are over here! We're getting haunted!"

"They're not ghosts!" Weiss retorted, and Yang agreed, "I thought horror with you would be fun, but I think we watched that movie a bit too much."

"They're not ghosts," Blake informed, "But they wanted to talk to Yang."

Yang turned, watching as the demure reader of the team quietly headed to her seat, leaving behind two angry redcoats. Ignoring this, Yang casually greeted, "'Sup?"

"Never got around to asking, but just what in the hell did you do to our commander once you bloody stole her?" Ribbans shot, and Weiss questioned, "You kidnapped someone?"

"Nah, it was more like... a forced hang-out," Yang answered, "We went downtown and had some fun."

"The city was always the place she hated most," Ribbans noted, and Emma shot, "We're going to need more about it than that."

"Hey," Yang shot, "It was like, months ago. Why do you guys need to know?"

"It's our bloody commander, and if you did something to her I'd like to know it and cave your bloody skull in!" Emma retorted, and Yang questioned, "And the time when I, y'know, did that to her?"

"You know what we're asking about, just tell us what you did!" Ribbans demanded, and Yang said, "Alright, alright. We went downtown, hung out-"

"You already said that!"

"-and beat up some bad guys," Yang finished, "I mean, I guess I didn't save any for her. But she kinda just hid in a corner every time, and the one time someone came at her she just kinda ran, and then cried for a while."

"You let someone attack her?" Emma balked, and Weiss noted, "You brought her into a fight she wasn't part of?"

"I-I encouraged you to do that?" Ruby said, eyes wide with realization. Yang pointed out, "It wasn't that bad. I mean, she kinda got scared when I got angry, but I thought we kinda bonded."

She glanced around at her team, murmuring, "Right guys?"

Silence was her answer, before Ribbans fumed, "You bloody Yankee-wannabe infantry wankers! If you brush a hair on our commander's head again, I'll bloody well string you up if it kills me!"

With that, he left, followed shortly thereafter by Emma. Yang murmured, "They're so weird, am I right?"

Again, silence, and then Ruby murmuring, "I-I think you should say sorry."

Yang's eyes widened, before she murmured, "I-I didn't do bad... I just got frustrated, and yelled a little..."

She sighed, and murmured, "R-Right?"

Silence, again, was her answer.

Author's Note: Hullo everyone. I know I said I'd shut up about the view number issue, and I intended to but you'll never believe it...

IT GOT FIXED! (*CELEBRATION NOISES!*)(BUT FOR REAL THIS TIME)

I kid you not, the day after I posted chapter sixteen and said I was going to shut up about the problem, it was miraculously fixed. I literally went on to check if someone had given me a review saying I shouldn't have brought up the issue in the first place, and there it was; a different number. A bigger number! I don't know if one of you saw my complaining and managed to fix the issue, or if it was just a coincidence, but if any of you were even remotely involved, I cannot thank you enough. I finally have my big happy-number back, and now the big number is getting bigger and making me more happy!

But, seriously, I cannot thank you enough. That anyone is even reading this is astounding to me, that people bothered to tell me that I actually am getting this out made me cry with joy, and the thought of someone wasting their time to help me makes me want to cry again. May RNGesus bless you all with accurate shots and competent teammates.