Sounds of crying and pain erupted from fires that threatened two girls. Their mother was helpless, unable to even lift her head. The woman cried and screamed for their release; her torturers would not answer.

The girls held onto each other, praying for a miracle. Praying that there would be some way to get out of the fiery cage that contained them. The elder of the two held the younger close, the younger gripping onto her elder sister, crying in her chest. She feared she would die. Her elder sister hushed her little sister's tears away. "I will protect you, don't you worry." She said this like a chant. Like a prayer for something to hold onto.

Soon, all that could be seen were the fires that consumed them.

X

Beep, Beep, Beep.

Groaning, a woman slowly rose from her temporary bed, slightly grateful for the alarm that woke her from the nightmare. She reached for the scroll close by and disabled its alarm feature. Most mornings she'd be less grateful to be woken - this woman was not much of a morning daylight person.

A knock on her door.

"Go away!" She groaned. She didn't even get the chance to try to dress before the door opened. She was only able to wrap herself with her blanket all around, looking like a little cocooning caterpillar. Unfortunately, the blanket she had in hand wasn't large enough to cover her entire body.

"Honestly, it's past noon and we're almost there." The door opened and a woman with her white hair pinned in a neat bun, excluding her bangs, nagged her.

"Winty, it's 12:01. It is noon." She nagged back to the captain of the ship, Winter Schnee. A specialist in the Atlesian Military Special Operations unit. She was also known to be a family member of the famous Schnee family of Atlas, known for the dust company of their family name. An inheritance that no longer belonged to Winter.

"If you were a part of the military you would've been up by now, Silver." Winter retorted

"Ah, but I'm not" Silver pointed out, pouting the entire time. "But since I'm now up, could you please leave my abode so that I may get dressed."

"Tsk, your abode, my foot. Are you dressing in your regular attire?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You're performing today, aren't you?"

She shook her head, "Tomorrow. Hitching a ride with you was a lot faster for me." She stuck her tongue out in a cutesy manner.

Silver was a professional, yet enigmatic, performer under the name of Silverstream. Nothing different from her name, yet it was once a nickname an old friend had given her. Her previous performance was in Atlas for her last Remnant tour, but now her final performance, and last performance for a very long time, was to be in Vale for the Vytal Festival. She could barely hold her excitement. She always loved the Vytal Festival. She followed it even when she graduated. But what excited her even more was going back to her alma mater, Beacon Academy, where the festival was officially being held.

"Glad I could be your chauffeur," Winter said sarcastically.

"Aww thank you!" Silver ignored the sarcasm in Winter's voice.

Winter rolled her eyes and left her room.

"Someday she's going to stab me," Silver joked to herself before changing into her usual attire. After dressing she put on her headpiece to cover the cat ears she usually hid. She, herself, was a Faunus. The species who share traits with animals. The species were considered inferior to the society they lived in. The species that fought for the same rights as the humans. But all of the Faunus were detested for the actions of a radical group called the White Fang. Because of this group's actions, many Faunus were hated even if they weren't in the group themselves. This caused the group to be hated by their own kind. It was a cycle of hatred that breaking seemed like a fairy tale.

Leaving the ship, she noticed a large number of people standing around, as if they were crowding something or someone. Examining what was going on she noticed that no one was in the center of it all. Had she missed something?

"Excuse me," she asked a female deer Faunus that stood close by her, "What was going on here?"

The Faunus was excitable, giggling throughout their short conversation. Silver almost regretted asking her, "A huge fight was going on between two huntsmen! It was sooo cool! But the Headmaster broke them up."

Silver wondered who the two aforementioned huntsmen could be. She knew that Winter was here due to work reasons, that's one suspect. But Winter was always calm and collected and kept her emotions in check. But Silver also knew that she could be hot-headed. So it was possible that Winter lost her cool. But she only did that around one type of person.

If he's here… then it would be more than possible.

She smiled to herself and continued moving on, looking around her alma mater. Nothing about the place had changed since she had last been there. Beacon Academy had brought her to her friends that had lasted up to this point. She even remembered where she resided in the dorms. She was tempted to go and see if they changed the dorm rooms, but she understood the importance of privacy more.

"What are you doing?" A familiar voice echoed the empty hallway.

Smiling, Silver turned around to see Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. "I could say the same thing to you, Ozzie." Silver gave these stupid nicknames to almost everyone she knew. To her, it was a sign of endearment and just how much she cares for them. They could hate their nickname, but they would never be able to escape from it. Not when Silver was concerned. And she loved her little nicknames for them, because they sounded so stupid sometimes.

Ozpin took a sip of his drink from the mug he held, "I was told that an unknown, non-student, was entering the student dormitories. I came to investigate it myself after an interesting affair went on in my office."

"You wanted to leave the awkward situation, huh?"

"You know me so well," Ozpin chuckled, then returned to the problem at hand. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I wanted to take a trip down memory lane," the memories surged through her. Her and her team chasing a runaway cat. Treating the scratch wounds. Some of them running down the hallways as the others followed behind. Her team and their rival team spending time together studying, fighting, laughing. Silver doing cartwheels in the middle of the hallway, just because she could.

Even coming back to her room alone.

"Well, how about I join you then?" Ozpin stood beside Silver, smiling.

She gracefully accepted the offer since it would be easier to access all areas of the school with its Headmaster with her. They walked together through different common areas of the dormitory. Seeing new vending machines with less than desirable choices just told her how long it'd been since she was here.

They went from the dorms to the classroom hallways, reliving her school days as she talked about the different classes she had. Training class in the gym with Shifu Li, Dust lessons with Professor Mer, History with Professor May. It didn't seem like anything had changed, its staff may have, but the building was too pristine and her mood lifted.

But as they exited into the courtyard, her mood declined slightly, despite hearing the sound of peace - birds chirping, water rushing and lively students running about.

"Oz, may I ask you something?"

"Hm?"
"Why is Ironass in charge of security? Better yet, why is his entire fleet here?" Her eyes narrowed and Ozpin knew she meant business. Silver wasn't in the military, but she was still a Huntress, she still cared about the safety of Remnant's citizens. She still protected them when they needed it.

"James… cares. I know you and he don't get along. But he's doing what he thinks is right."

"And that means putting him in charge of security? WIth that outside?" She was becoming furious. "Showing that much manpower is gonna frighten the citizens, the students. 'Who are we fighting?' Is what they'll think. James 'I-think-I'm-a-man' Ironass is going to interrupt the peace we have."

Ozpin looked at her with seriousness and dread," It's already being disturbed."

"What?!" Silver knew nothing of what was happening in Remnant, more importantly, in Vale. Her tour had taken her so much of her time that she barely had enough time to herself to ask, 'Is the peace being maintained?' She knew nothing of Torchwick, of the White Fang's movements. Nothing. As if she had been in a year-long coma.

So he filled her in about everything. Roman Torchwick had been getting help from the White Fang for obtaining dust. An infiltration of Beacon's main computer during the dance. A team of students taking it upon themselves to apprehend the criminal as well as their success in it. Roman being in Ironwood's custody. Silver was not amused or happy about that part. The Grimm invasion in a nearby town. And the recent discussion in his office not too long ago. The only part he left out was Qrow's arrival.

She took everything in, assessing the information that was given to her. Ozpin didn't go into detail as to who the team of students were, and she didn't care. What puzzled her was why the White Fang would allow a human like Torchwick to even be near them. It didn't make sense to her. And the one pulling the strings is here, in Beacon, for the festival. This really put a damper on things, and her mood pertaining to her favorite time of the year.

"Wait, why wasn't I invited to this meeting?" She asked. Ozpin smiled at her silliness.

"I didn't expect you to be here until tomorrow. Your manager told me that you would need a day to recover from exhaustion. But it seems to me that you're fine."

"I wanted to surprise you~" Silver winked. "Besides, I thought that if I had a day to myself, I would give a better performance for the festival."

Oz just smiled as he guided her to his office tower. She followed behind, curious as to what else he may want to say in the confines of his office. Silence loomed over the two in the elevator's walls, soaring to the highest point it could muster. Silver glided into the room, nothing new to her.

"Being a headmaster suits you, Ozzie." She watched him seat himself at his desk with the mug still in hand.

"You think so?"

The silver-haired woman nodded and looked out the large window that oversaw the school grounds. "You were always the type of person to guide others to the light. A natural-born leader. You never discriminate and are quite lively around students. Being a headmaster was what you were meant to do. At least, that's how I see it."

Ozpin was deeply moved by Silver's choice of words to describe the type of person he was. She tried to see the good in people, just as he had. But at times, it seemed that she couldn't do so when it came to Ironwood. They had been butting heads forever, seeing different views upon certain things. Just as Qrow and Winter had. Ozpin knew this well and said nothing of it. Simply say out of their way and let them deal with it themselves.

"That conflicts with the choices I made a long time ago…"

Silver fiddled with a thread of her own thick long hair, "yeah, well… We cannot change the past…"

He couldn't argue with that. They both knew that the other had been through so much on their own. Making their own mistakes, going through their own terrible troubles. The burden that they felt on their shoulders would always continue, possibly never-ending. They took solace in the knowledge that they were not alone in their despair.

Silver's bangs moved in front of her view, making her push them to the side. "Well, it was interesting seeing you again, Ozzie. And I'm really glad we got to catch up." She walked away from the window to be in front of Ozpin's desk. He smiled, deeply pleased with being able to talk to her like this again. It was refreshing to see a familiar face after all this time without the 'saving-Remnant' reason. She was here simply because she wanted to. Well that, and it was a part of her tour.

"It was really nice to see you as well. Thank you for the little… surprise"

She gave one last wink before leaving.