Attack on RWBY!

by springcoffee

After retrieving a stolen device goes awry, Team RWBY lands in a world where humanity is seemingly on the brink of being driven extinct by giant monsters known as Titans. Plenty of their friends soon join them, and as they fight for their survival in yet another world where even the strongest can fall, they begin to learn just how cruel, while beautiful, this new world truly is.

1. Chapter 1 – History Repeats Unto Itself

Notice: Of course, I do not own either Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin or RWBY. However, I do own my OCs that will feature in this fic (though I think some of you may have probably expected as much), and any similarities they might have to another's OCs are purely coincidental unless I state it for the record. Four of my OCs that'll show up in this fic are ones I am planning to use in my Sent by Madoka series fics. On that note, I also don't own Bleach or Final Fantasy or any of those characters, except my OCs for those as well, but there are only two of them, one for Bleach and the other for FF. I say this as I'll likely include those characters (and the OCs) in this fic at some point. That being said, this will still be a mainly RWBY/AOT fic despite any temporary additions.

Update/Notice #2: I'm in the process of rewriting and improving the current chapters before I publish any more. I'll also be trying to find and fix any mistakes/typos I see along the way.
The story may start out a bit rough, so I apologise in advance. I'm going to be writing this as if this was animated, so please bear with me. However, I would advise you to at least give this story a chance. I hope my writing style and the quality of the chapters will get better as the fanfic progresses. But seriously, please bear with me.

Also, please do not accuse me of stealing this pilot chapter from Snowflames' Attack On! RWBY fic. I did take some inspiration from their fic – the pilot chapter in particular – since I wanted Team RWBY to enter the AOT storyline ASAP and get some introductions over with a lot sooner (if only to make writing this a bit easier on me), but that's all.
My fic not only takes place after RWBY Volume 2, but also takes hints from RWBY: The Official Manga (Torchwick's reputation as the most dangerous man in Vale, Dust also coming in liquid form, and characters being able to sense Aura, like Pyrrha did with Jaune in chapter three). This fic will also reference some of my other RWBY crossovers I've still got in draft. Additionally, one of my four OCs, the leader of my OC team SCAR, will be involved in this fic quite a bit, especially in this pilot chapter. I hope I wrote her well enough that her involvement won't really bother anyone.

Extra notes:
-Team SNTS (Squall, Noctis, Tidus, Star) is pronounced "Saints". Star is my OC for a FFX fic that I don't know if I'll ever publish. It'll be explained at some point what the team's deal is with them being on Remnant.

---

They'd been foolish to think their troubles – well, in regards to him, at least – were over.

Actually, since they probably should've expected that Roman Torchwick would, at some point, escape from his cell, perhaps 'foolish' wasn't the right word.

If anything, they'd been too... optimistic about the Atlas Military's ability to keep him locked up.

Torchwick, on the other hand, either didn't know when to give up, was too stubborn to give up, or perhaps simply escaped solely so he could thrive off of disrupting everyone's lives once again, more than he'd done before his arrest. Maybe this served to prove that the reason he'd been so calm upon arrest, even taking a sarcastic tone with his captors, had been because, even then, he'd already formed a plan of escape; or, at least, already had someone to help him achieve such a daring one. Especially an escape so perfect, if it'd been intentional to leave behind such an obvious clue proving he'd escaped, in an attempt to mock the Atlas Military as a whole.

Although pure speculation, the theories everyone had quickly formed so early on in the investigation sounded likely – more so given his notoriety and reputation as a criminal. Depending on how cleverly a person thought about the situation, or how much attention they paid to the news, anyone would see it as a predictable move on Torchwick's part.

…Had he been locked up in a regular prison, that is.

But, he'd been locked up on an Atlesian airship, security (presumably) tighter than every jail cell Torchwick had ever resided in combined. Few could've – would've – predicted he'd escape from the Atlas Military, too. And if anyone had seen it coming, they'd probably hoped it wouldn't have happened so soon after his arrest.

…Well, it'd only been a month since his arrest following the whole Grimm attack on Vale, but still.

Now, to be fair to General Ironwood, it wasn't like he'd been the only one not expecting this turn of events at all. Most of Vale's citizens, after finally feeling safe upon Torchwick's arrest, had believed the Atlas Military could handle him. Their belief in the Military – in General Ironwood – had allowed them to almost leave behind their lingering uneasiness, previously fuelled by Torchwick and his notoriety. Even the students of Beacon Academy had thought and hoped that Torchwick wouldn't be able to escape the Atlas Military's custody if he tried, with teams RWBY, SNTS, and SCAR, who'd all had a hand in his capture, being no exception.

(Still, escaping from a cell on an Atlesian airship seemed like quite a feat; even for Torchwick, given all the security measures in place. An unsettling feat, sure, but a bit impressive nonetheless, if anyone could honestly admit – though, not that anyone in General Ironwood's presence dared to.)

That said, while those who knew General Ironwood personally were quick to presume that he'd be quick to blame himself for not being vigilant enough to stop this, it was also those same people, those who knew him personally, who were among the first people he told of his suspicion: whoever had assisted Torchwick in escaping practically undetected (at least, until two soldiers on patrol found his cell empty, the door intentionally left open) had cleverly managed to find a way onto the airship, posing as one of the General's own men in order to learn where Torchwick's cell was located. Only a few security cameras set up across the airship had managed to catch a glimpse or two of the individual, but even so, the footage seemed to be enough to confirm his suspicion.

However, as if the news that suddenly broke on Tuesday night of Torchwick's escape wasn't bad enough, more news broke early on Wednesday morning: an especially important artefact had been stolen from a specially secured facility onboard an Atlesian dropship – one that'd been on its way to Beacon Academy.

Torchwick being the culprit responsible seemed obvious at first. Though, when people discovered that an expertly piloted Bullhead turned out to be the escape vehicle, some understandably still tried to keep open minds. Perhaps the events had been coincidental, or perhaps they were connected in some wild plot typically unthinkable to the mundane citizens of Vale.

And when Team RWBY found out – through accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation between General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch, when they thought no-one would be around to hear – about Professor Ozpin being on edge regarding the artefact's disappearance, it'd only been a matter of time before their suspicions led them to take action.

After all, none of them would've been able to sleep well at night without knowing anything about the artefact in question, much less why Torchwick would take it; and apparently with the assistance of the White Fang, too, from the sounds of it.

So, unsurprisingly, the team spent all of Friday and most of Saturday in the streets of Vale, scouting for any sign of the White Fang, Torchwick, or where their newest base of operations could be. Because, while Torchwick had skill and experience, he'd more than likely need somewhere to lay low and evade authorities – and perhaps keep any souvenirs from his crimes.

Despite having missed hours of sleep they could've (and should've) had, they ended up spending Saturday evening getting their dinner, with Yang mostly paying for a few meals at a café on the edge of the Industrial District. If their experiences at Mountain Glenn, Blake's past bout of sleepless nights, and their own common sense had taught them anything, they probably wouldn't fare so well against the White Fang if they neglected their health, especially for justice they weren't even supposed to pursue on their own just yet. Plus, Yang had noticed Weiss' habit of forgetting to eat, and so had decided to pay for a three-course meal and a classic Caesar salad to not only help improve Weiss' diet, but also keep up her energy and strength.

As soon as Weiss began eating her starter, a 'white onion and thyme velouté', as written on the menu, Ruby turned to Blake. "Find anything in the Industrial District?" she asked, trying to keep her voice relatively quiet, despite there being only a few other customers in the café. Grabbing her glass of strawberry milkshake, she began to sip through the straw.

Dropping the crust from the triangle slice of her tuna sandwich onto the plate, Blake rested her arms on the table. "I managed to spot an aircraft stationed outside the warehouses that the White Fang still apparently use for their recruitment meetings. It looked like one of those Bullheads they usually use."

Ruby paused her sipping. "Did you see them using it for anything? Or preparing to use it?"

"I... think so? I saw some of the White Fang members helping Torchwick load some container into it, but then they just... left it in there, and didn't put anything else in, as far as I saw. Plus, after that, they eventually took up posts around the Bullhead, like they were waiting to defend it from someone. Honestly, if anything, I'd say we might not want to wait until dark to get that artefact back unless we're really looking for a fight."

"What would they even do with that artefact, anyway? The only reason I'm currently seeing for them to steal it is if they want to draw out Huntsmen from Beacon." Weiss glanced at the other three girls before shovelling another spoonful of her starter into her mouth. Then, softly scraping what little was left from the bottom of the dish, she wolfed that down, too.

"You finished that already?" Yang blinked at Weiss' now-empty dish, her eyebrows raised. "You really must've been hungry."

"I guess so." Gently placing the spoon in the dish, Weiss raised her hand, beckoning a nearby waitress over to their table. She offered a kind smile as she handed her dish to the plain-looking waitress, before asking politely for her next course. Weiss then thanked her, and the waitress left their table to retrieve Weiss' next meal.

"Either way, that'd be a pretty bold move. Torchwick might still be the most dangerous man in Vale, but even he should know that the Huntsmen and Huntresses from Beacon aren't stupid. I doubt any Pros would fall for it," Ruby responded, shaking her head. She gently placed her milkshake down, pausing again when the waitress returned with Weiss' second course, 'battered haddock and chips'; then, once the waitress left again to serve someone else, she continued: "And anyway, I find it hard to believe that he'd risk his new freedom just to boast, especially to Beacon's finest. He'd get his butt kicked either way."

"Well, we clearly haven't done our homework." Weiss shrugged, shovelling several chips into her mouth. She gave herself a moment to eat, and once she was done, she continued: "Unless, any of you just-so-happened to find something that could provide another motive for Torchwick stealing that artefact. Or something that could help us figure out what he and the White Fang plan to do with it." She gave Ruby a pointedly knowing look.

"Ah—" Ruby's mouth fell open and she averted her eyes. An unimpressed look graced the faces of her teammates, who all turned to face her. She threw her hands up in defence. "Listen; after we found out Professor Ozpin was on edge about the artefact, I wanted to know why. I thought I could get answers if I listened in on General Ironwood and Miss Goodwitch some more. But, the thing is, if I did that on my own, they'd have sensed me and caught me, so I ended up asking Shaye for help. And, not to point fingers, but it was her idea to listen in on them when they went up to Ozpin's office."

Blake eyed her, her expression unreadable. "And you both just... hung outside Ozpin's office? Eavesdropping on him, Ironwood, and Miss Goodwitch?"

Ruby nodded. "Pretty much."

Yang grabbed her tall glass of orange juice as her eyes met Ruby's. "So, did they talk about the artefact at all?" she asked, before taking a swig of her orange juice.

"Yeah. In fact, one of the first things mentioned was that, apparently, there are actually two artefacts, and both of them have to be managed with 'extreme caution' – like, handled with things that aren't connected to or covered by a person's Aura. They... made the artefacts sound more like devices, really."

"Surely they're not so fragile that the slightest pressure from someone's Aura can break them?" Weiss piped up as she cut up her haddock.

"Why did we only hear about one, anyway?" Yang lowered her glass, only to blink, almost puzzled, at Ruby.

"General Ironwood only had the one we heard about on the news. Ozpin said that Torchwick probably managed to get his hands on the other one during a separate heist." Ruby took another sip of her strawberry milkshake. "They're not fragile, either. Miss Goodwitch said that they're incredibly durable because the technology they were built with could withstand as much as one of our own weapons, if not more."

Weiss rested her wrists against the side of the table. "Since Professor Ozpin has been so bothered about them, I'm assuming he knows more about them than General Ironwood does? It's starting to sound like Ironwood didn't even know there were two."

Ruby nodded and folded her arms, resting them on the table. "Pretty much. All Miss Goodwitch said was that the artefacts were found six years ago, when a group of Huntsmen were sent on a mission to a village sitting on the kingdom's border. Up north, somewhere along the coast. A place called... Everfair Village, I think?"

"You sure you don't mean Everfair Coast?" Yang asked, placing her now-empty glass back on the table. She gave Ruby a puzzled look. "I remember Uncle Qrow going up north to some place called Everfair around six or seven years ago, to help take out a nasty Leviathan Grimm that'd come all the way from the coastline. Is that the same story they were talking about?"

Ruby blinked. "Oh, yeah! I remember that! Now that I think about it, it does sound like it was the same incident."

Blake tilted her head. "So, how does Ozpin's story go, exactly?"

"Oh, right, yeah. Well it starts off with this massive Leviathan coming out of the water and making its way into the village. As soon as the villagers saw it approaching, most of them took to hiding in the basement of the local inventor – the same man that created the artefacts. Meanwhile, another group tried to fight off the Leviathan. Nine of the villagers in the basement were then sent out to escape the village and make their way here, to the city, in order to get help. Unfortunately, only five of those nine ended up making it to Vale, with two of them having been maimed. The daughter and the wife of the inventor were two of the three that actually managed to make it to Beacon almost unharmed."

"And I'm assuming they managed to make it back to the village with the Huntsmen that were sent to help?" Blake asked.

Ruby nodded again. "After the Grimm were cleared out, especially the one from the water, a Huntress from the group took the inventor's daughter back to her family's house to find her Dad and the other villagers, to let them know it was safe to come out. The daughter ran off at some point and was last seen heading down into the basement, but when the Huntress headed into the basement after her, the daughter had just... vanished, and all she found was a container left open in a corner of the room, which had the two artefacts in it, as well as a journal sitting on the floor, next to the container. And in the journal, there was a description of each artefact and an analysis of what both of them were – or should be – capable of.

"Apparently, the inventor's Clairvoyance Semblance had given him dreams, or visions, of the village in ruins and overrun with Grimm, with all the villagers being killed off one by one, including his family and then him last. And so, his fear of his dreams becoming a reality led him to make two teleportation devices in preparation for the day when they happened to lose their home to the Grimm. So, essentially, these two devices were made with the hope that they would allow any survivors of that village to just... teleport elsewhere as a way to escape a Grimm attack, and maybe even try to rebuild their home in some other location once things calmed down."

After finishing her sandwich, Blake drank from her glass of milk, setting it down when she'd drank half. Her eyes met Ruby's again. "Well, at least now we know what they do, and we have a start on how both of them are activated. That being said, considering the inventor's daughter disappeared along with the other villagers, there is a definite implication that they work, and I... don't know how I feel about that. Plus, even if Professor Ozpin sends Huntsmen out to get both of those devices back, I doubt he'll tell them exactly what he told Ironwood and Miss Goodwitch."

Weiss politely smiled as the waitress approached their table again. As she handed the waitress her plate, cleared of its haddock and chips, she paused to say "thank you" before asking for her next course. The waitress nodded and, with a little smile, swiftly twirled on her heel, heading back behind the counter. Weiss' eyes then met Ruby's. "I'm curious. Since the devices supposedly can't be touched by Aura, wasn't there any mention of some sort of gloves specially-made for those devices?"

"Ironwood asked something similar. Ozpin told him that, according to the journal, although the inventor did make gloves like that, they must've disappeared with the inventor and the other villagers, because even though there's record of him using them, both through the journal and his wife's recollection, the gloves he made have apparently never been found," Ruby divulged.

The waitress returned to their table again, holding a dish of vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips on both parts, for Weiss. After setting the dessert down in front of Weiss, who offered her thanks once more, the waitress briefly bowed her head and left, heading back to the counter.

"You know, Torchwick probably doesn't even know all of this," Blake decided to point out then. "He probably just thinks that as long as he's got that container, he'll be fine." Blake lifted a hand and planted her chin on her palm. She looked over at Ruby. "You said that the incident at Everfair Coast was the last time someone ever saw the inventor's daughter, right?"

"Yeah." Ruby nodded. "Same with the people who remained in the village during the Leviathan's attack. They've never been seen since. That said, Professor Ozpin did say that he thinks it's still a priority to find them."

"I don't think anyone would need to find them. I doubt the inventor's devices would've taken them off the face of Remnant altogether. They probably just had to learn how to survive outside the kingdoms, where they wouldn't have a CCT tower to easily communicate across continents." Weiss waved her hand dismissively. She had already eaten half of her ice cream. "And if he's as intelligent as he seems to be, given he made those devices, then I doubt that he wouldn't have found some way of surviving any kind of terrain outside the kingdoms. The only person I think anyone should actually be worrying about is the daughter. There's no guarantee she ended up wherever the others are."

Yang closed her eyes. "And if she's still alive, she's probably survived these past six years all alone, not knowing whether her family was okay. Something like that can really mess with a person's head."

"Well, I think I turned out alright."

Yang's and Ruby's eyes shot wide open. Weiss dropped her spoon on her empty dish, her hand coming up to clasp over her mouth. Blake deadpanned as she tilted her head, leaning towards Weiss. Ruby and Yang whirled in their seats.

Shaye sat in the seat behind Ruby's. Her empty table said she'd come here alone.

"Why can't you just appear like a normal person?" Blake sighed, her eyes falling shut. "How long have you been sat there?"

Shaye's deep, royal-purple eyes met Blake's. "I'm hard-pressed to believe you didn't at least hear me come in." She shot Blake a knowing look. "Still, I got here just-about when Ruby finished telling you about the Everfair incident. I was finishing my coffee." She held up her empty black coffee mug, exposing the bandages wrapped around her palm and backhand, and around her thumb. She placed her empty mug back down on the table and pulled her long sleeve further over her hand.

"Looks like training was a bit rough," Yang remarked, nodding at Shaye's hand.

"Celaena and Amara came at me hard and managed to break through my Aura without having to deplete it first. My hands and arms took the brunt of it, so right now I'm still waiting on them to heal. They broke some of my armour too." A glint shone in Shaye's eyes as she spoke. Perhaps it was still too early to call it 'pride', but it had to be something like that. She liked to see her team getting stronger and pushing themselves further, even if she was taking the brunt of their improvements and feats.

"Well, it's nice to hear they're doing well under your command," Weiss said. "I hope you're not too beat to help us, since I'm assuming that's what you're here for."

"I'm not beat. Plus, I have a plan to get the artefacts back." Shaye released her mug, resting her arm across her chair's backrest. "We should commence the recovery operation early in the morning. Around daybreak, specifically."

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all aimed a raised brow at one another.

"After the Mountain Glenn incident, I'd think Torchwick would be hard-pressed to find any remaining White Fang members interested in fighting for him, despite what we've seen so far. There's a good chance he may be limited in choosing people to guard the artefacts, let alone provide backup. And they'd have to rest at some point too, so the guards posted there to stop us from getting the devices likely won't put up much of a fight early in the morning, especially after standing vigilant all night," Shaye explained.

"Ohh," Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all realised.

"They'd also have night-vision too. You know, what with them being Faunus," Blake reminded them. "So, it'd be pretty distracting for them if we attack while the sun's coming up. Between the sun almost blinding them and their night-vision effectively being made useless, they probably wouldn't know what hit them."

---

Author's Note here, I'm really sorry: For Shaye's bowsword Lunar Gaze, just think of the Starseeker bowsword from Final Fantasy 13-2, except with a few differences; like the wires being gone from the bow form, the diamond being replaced by a Gravity Dust crystal, and the bowsword itself being a bit smaller.

So this is pretty much copy-and-pasted from a Bleach/RWBY crossover fic draft, but I wanted to add it here anyway:
I've... got some ideas about Aura, or at least the concept of it in RWBY, since it doesn't really seem to do much beyond physically protecting (some of) the characters.
Aura is supposed to be the power that comes from one's soul, sort of like Ki from DBZ and maybe the Chakra stuff from Naruto. With that in mind, I figured Aura would also be comparable to the concept of Spirit Energy from Bleach. Perhaps there could be Aura techniques similar to the Kidō spells that some of the Soul Reapers use. And what with Aura taking on a different element or colour depending on the person, I was thinking that people with an elemental-type Aura could learn techniques for their specific element (like Yang learning fire-based abilities), and that Auras could actually have different traits or something to them depending on the colour. As in, since red is an intense colour, red Auras could perhaps be more difficult to control, and so could make attack-based techniques more likely to self-destruct or just not work. Plus, those with a large Aura reserve, regardless of whether their Aura is elemental or not, could also practice healing others with their Aura and giving up bits of their Aura to replenish someone else's.
(Also: Dust could be used to either add an elemental touch to an Aura Spell, or for a purely elemental type of spell; just like how there are some Kidō spells that involve electricity or lightning or fiery explosions.)
If you guys like the concept, let me know. I've been meaning to use it in my fics ever since I developed the idea. I think it's a creative liberty, but at the end of the day, I just... don't want the concept of Aura to be wasted and just used more or less as plot armour taken to a literal extent, especially since it could be a much more solid concept.

---

The partially-shattered moon, hanging rather low in the dark skies of the early morning, shone its light across the quiet streets of Vale. Its moonlight bathed the back of Yang, her attire similar to her 'Hunter' getup, along with her motorbike, casting a shadow over the roads and pavements as she glided through each quiet street. Occasionally the moonlight would glint off each gold accent adorning the two crooked black belts wrapped around her hips, or reflect off the caps adorning her combat boots and her slim, bronze, metallic backpack, which could be seen under her hair.

She threw a glance over her shoulder, barely sparing a second to watch the moon as it slowly continued to descend down past the horizon.

Her eyes then flicked back to the road ahead of her, and she pressed on the accelerator.

She'd have to burn more rubber if she wanted to get there before the sun started rising. She could already see the tell-tale shades of orange starting to bleed into the dark sky from where it met the horizon up ahead of her.

Ruby and Blake had taken to hiding in a dark, narrow alley between two warehouses. A Bullhead stood opposite the warehouse behind Ruby. The tall, wide metal door of the warehouse stood directly facing the Bullhead's nose.

Blake stood with her back pressed to one wall, hoping the shadows hanging over the alleyway were swallowing her up enough to hide her form from view. And a few feet across from Blake, there Ruby stood, crouching almost on one knee, with her own back pressing against the opposite wall. Her hood was pulled up over her head, and her cape had been drawn around her front, wrapping around Ruby's upper body and hanging as far down as her hips, as if it was a cloak.

Neither of them dared to even utter a word, nor move beyond the shifting of their muscles as they breathed. In order for the first part of the plan to work, they had to make as little noise as possible, on the off chance any of the guards happened to have senses like Blake's and would hear them moving about even a little bit.

They'd been advised by Shaye not to move too much until Yang arrived; or, at the very least, not until the guard numbers started thinning and the gaps between each guard that made the rounds became more noticeable.

Speaking of Shaye, her current attire looked rather ideal for staying hidden in the shadows. However, she'd had to limit herself in regards to armour and equipment, taking only four of her spears, as well as her bowsword Lunar Gaze, and her knives Slicer and Dicer. Additionally, pouches carrying plenty of her Dust-infused throwing weapons, along with her Gravity Dust patches.

A form-fitting, jet-black jacket, zipped up to its turtleneck collar from where it reached her hips, covered a skin-tight black shirt, bearing long sleeves which stretched into fingerless gloves. Thick, round, royal-purple cuffs ended the jacket's almost-elbow-length sleeves. Lunar Gaze rested on her back, clipped onto a midnight-purple harness-belt attached to a wide, matching belt running through the belt-loops around the rim of her fitted black pants. The harness-belt wrapped over each shoulder, curling under each respective underarm, where an orchid-pink sheath hung at either side of her chest, Slicer and Dicer inside them. The belt carried seven stiff orchid-pink pouches, including a larger, rectangular pouch on the back. Two spears hung between the three pouches on either side, their compact forms akin to short wands. Four mostly-black pouches, two each stuck to a midnight-purple band around each thigh, rested on the outside of either thigh. And further down, a pair of slim, black, flat-heeled combat boots, silver metal lining the rims and capping the toes of the boots.

Meanwhile, a silver piece of metal adorned the front of the hood of a royal-purple cloak pinned to, and wrapped around, her shoulders. The silver metal gave the hood a beak-like hook, which sat near her eyes. Just as well, a pair of form-fitting greaves, made up of orchid-pink surrounded by silver piping, wrapped around the front of each boot leg. Matching vambraces surrounded the forearms, atop the sleeves.

In her peripheral, Shaye caught a few strands of her royal blonde, shoulder-length hair slip out of the hood, sweeping over her shoulders. The strands hanging next to the right side of her face almost hung over her right eye, the strands finely combed to a point that reached her chin. A strand, about as thick as the space between her eyebrows, hung between her eyes and down one side of her nose. Two more groups of strands had also been finely combed to two points, one falling over her left brow and cheekbone, reaching her jaw and framing the left side of her face, while the other remained as long as the rest of her hair.

Shaye's eyes flicked to the side, noticing a small, female White Fang member leaning her shoulder against the wall, her back facing Shaye. Her head appeared to drop every other second, seemingly trying not to fall asleep. A thick black hood blocked Shaye's view of her face, but she bore a brown monkey tail, though, apparently the only one in the group to have one.

Shaye's arm shot out and she pressed her index and middle fingers to the small of the girl's back, eyes glinting a more vibrant violet upon performing one of her more favourite Aura Spells.

Dark Art: Sleeping Blossoms.

It was more of an illusion-based spell, made to put a person to sleep, or at least make someone weary, muddled, disoriented, or confused. As an Assassin, Shaye had sometimes used this spell on assignments involving getting through guards or other forms of security, such as bodyguards. Used efficiently, it allowed gaps in defence systems and provided chances to get to the real targets. The spell would normally cause the target's vision to be overtaken by an apparently intense white light, save for flower petals falling around them, though the type of petal or flower depended on the person activating the spell – when Shaye performed it, the petals came from nightshades, hawthorns, gladiolas, and lavender flowers, with the flower often depending on what she used the spell for. And once the last of the petals fell, the white light would overcome the person, and they'd soon fall unconscious.

And all that occurred in five, maybe seven seconds.

The Faunus girl fell back, unconscious.

Shaye swiftly, soundlessly caught the girl in her arms. Then, moving carefully, she dragged the girl to the back of the alley between the warehouses, where two more guards laid. When Shaye reached them, she laid her down next to the male guards.

Her plan seemed to be working splendidly, and she hadn't even needed to use her weapons. Her spears, currently in their compact forms, their edges pointed down, as two spears hung in the spaces between the three pouches on either side – practically useless so far. And Lunar Gaze, which hung across her back, she'd decided to reserve for the Bullhead. And as for her two trusted knives Slicer and Dicer – Gods, she hoped to use them soon. Plus, she wasn't wearing the Gravity Dust patches on the palms of her glove-sleeves for the sake of decoration.

Well, whatever. The quicker this operation went, the better.

She quietly sighed through her nose, creeping back into place to wait for the next guard.

Atop the warehouse to the left of the one facing the Bullhead, Weiss softly stuck her landing and jogged towards the front. The tip of her boot met the curb lining the edge as she crouched. Dressed in the outfit she'd codenamed 'Snowpea' – if only to make the getup easier to refer to – she figured that someone would catch her out sooner or later due to her bright appearance. If not that, then perhaps due to the light from the low moon beaming across the back of her white jacket, where a slim, silver, metallic backpack sat, stuck to the fabric. Her grip on Myrtenaster's hilt tightened.

She counted nine White Fang guards on patrol. If her shadow happened to be projecting below, the guards didn't seem to notice.

Shaye had apparently been right, as the guards all appeared to move rather sluggishly. To lighten Yang's load, it seemed she'd even taken out a few already, as only a moment ago, Weiss had noticed Shaye's Aura flaring, barely, upon using an Aura Spell.

Weiss lowered her head, eyeing her small Scroll, which sat in the left chest pocket of her jacket. "There's nine left. They seem to be moving closer together. You might arrive to less, since Shaye's already got a few of them," she whispered into the call, hearing the faint buzz of Bumblebee's engine through her Scroll.

Meanwhile, Neopolitan – Neo for short – eyed Weiss from the shadows, toward the back of the central warehouse's rooftop.

She'd make quick work of the Heiress; she just had to move quicker and hit harder than Weiss. As long as she kept her plan that simple, Weiss wouldn't be an issue. The only thing she had to remember was to make sure no particularly serious damage was inflicted – with an emphasis on serious, which Neo assumed likely referred to injuries that would last and look worse than the scar on Weiss' left eye.

Team RWBY had been interfering with their plans for too long, and though she hardly understood the magnitude of what Cinder and her sidekicks were planning, she'd seen first-hand the kind of trouble Team RWBY and their friends had made for Roman. To kill them outright would bring too much attention and possibly provoke an investigation into Cinder's little operation, especially given the ties to authority each of the four girls had. So, they'd settled for transporting them... well, wherever the hell they'd end up. After all, the first people that used those devices had never been found. If their plan was successful, Team RWBY would suffer the same fate, wiped off the face of Remnant.

And maybe it was wishful thinking, but after all this, it'd be nice if she and Roman could still reap the benefits of the devices he'd stolen to bait and get rid of them. Anything Roman found good, Neo did too; even if she didn't really care how much someone would pay for those so-called 'artefacts', or what they'd do with them.

"You think you can take care of some, too?" Yang glanced at her Scroll, the device stuck to her upper belt. As she neared the warehouses, the buzzing of Bumblebee's engine grew louder.

"You can't handle them yourself?" Weiss answered, and although Yang couldn't see it, she smirked. A slight warmth began spreading across her back, neck, and head. With a twist, eyes narrowing as she frowned, she briefly watched a warm sunny glow shine over the horizon.

"Just thought I'd ask."

Yang rounded the last corner. Bumblebee's wheels skidded as she glided into the fray. She found herself facing three warehouses, nine drowsy White Fang guards, and one Bullhead, sitting stationary, facing the second warehouse. She stopped a few metres away from the cargo-bay door ahead of her, beneath the Bullhead's left wing. Slightly swerving with Bumblebee, she sped towards a clump of six guards gathered between the Bullhead's nose and the warehouse door.

She tilted Bumblebee to one side. Skidding nearly parallel to the ground, she pulled her legs up, leaping from the seat. Bumblebee hit three of the six simultaneously, tossing them into the air before dropping them on the ground. Yang performed a backflip, Ember Celica opening up over her fists and extending across her forearms. Her fists drowned in golden flames as she dived toward the ground, aiming for the space between the other three. The force of Yang's fist tore up the concrete around her gauntlet.

The blast sent the three flying back. They skidded on their backs across the concrete, stopping a few feet before the central warehouse door.

Three more still stood. She straightened back up.

Two recklessly charged at her, from her left. One wielded some kind of clear-bladed falchion sword, which bore a crimson grip as well as a curled guard along the hilt, from the cross-guard to the pommel. The other was dual-wielding two run-of-the-mill handguns.

Firing behind her, Yang launched toward the gun-wielder first. Her zigzagged sprint helped her dodge his rapid-fire shots. When she closed in, he made a swipe for her head with the barrels of both guns. She ducked, slamming one fist into his front, which rocketed him toward the warehouse. His back smacked the ground.

The second, a girl, charged at Yang. Yang bent left and dodged a lopsided swing, then right at an opposite swipe, before spinning on one foot. She swung her leg. The girl hopped over Yang's kick, responding with an overhead swing. Sparks flew as Yang parried using Ember Celica's backhand plate, and with a flick of her wrist and a flip of her hand, her fingers wrapped around the blade. Yang yanked the blade and girl down, as her other fist slammed into the girl's lightly armoured front. The girl's grip on her sword slipped when a shot from Ember Celica sent her flying into the last guy, who Yang barely noticed was heading toward her. The girl smacked into him and they both bowled over, his sword flying into the air. They landed in a heap, his sword dropping and piercing the ground beside them.

Yang glanced at the sword in her hand, which she was still holding by the blade. They're not all that outstanding. But why do I feel like they might be useful? Like my gut's telling me I'd be better off having them. Her gaze landed on the sword in the ground, and she moved to grab it, taking it by its handle. Well, I can just make them my own, anyway. I doubt the White Fang's gonna run out of weapons to use, she assured herself, tossing the first blade and catching it by its grip, so she could stop holding the blade.

Nodding to herself, Yang then looked around. Eyes quickly scouring the area, she found no-one else in sight. All the guards she'd encountered laid flattened across the ground.

A wide smile broke out across her face. Throwing her hand up, she waved her arm – and the sword in her hand – to gather their attention. "Alright, girls! You're up!"

The moment Neo caught Weiss' eyes lighting up, she dashed out from the shadows. Activating her Semblance, she cast an illusion over Weiss, so the Heiress wouldn't detect her, until...

Now!

Ruby and Blake raced from their hiding place.

Pulling Lunar Gaze off her back, Shaye sprang from the shadows.

Weiss launched from a glyph under her feet.

She barely saw the familiar umbrella swing into view before a whack to her torso promptly flung her back. Bouncing from her fingertips on another glyph, Weiss flew into a backflip and landed in a crouch, stabbing Myrtenaster into the concrete. Her feet skidded, dragging Myrtenaster with her. Taking a breath, Weiss lifted her head.

Neo landed on the front-side curb. Aiming a wicked grin at Weiss, she jerked her hand and her umbrella's now-open canopy spun, before it stopped and Neo rested it on her shoulder.

"Great..." Weiss scowled. Of all people—!

Hearing Weiss' troubled tone through her Scroll, Yang peered down at it. "You alright?"

Weiss dared to glance down at her own Scroll. "I really don't know," she answered, her eyes flicking back to meet Neo's. "You know Torchwick's new henchman? She's blocking me."

Yang grimaced, knowing exactly who Weiss meant. Yang's eyes darted to the rooftop of the first warehouse. She immediately caught sight of the small feminine figure stood at the edge, her back turned to everything going on down below, and the umbrella—parasol—whatever sitting on her shoulder. "Just your luck."

"On a scale from one to you on the train, how screwed do you think I am?" Weiss' eyes briefly met Neo's again. She was seeing through Weiss. The rather smug look on her face – although she was right to have it, as much as it pained Weiss to admit it – simply served to confirm she knew that Weiss knew how this fight would end. Of course, Weiss would still put up as best a fight as she could. She'd only get out of this if Neo found something more important than Weiss to deal with.

And besides, what else could she say? This was the same girl who, despite her size, had not only been able to take advantage of Yang's fighting style, Semblance, and quick temper, but also kicked Yang's ass and knocked her out, leaving her flat on her back. Weiss didn't know many people who could do that.

On Remnant, anyway.

Yang's brows drew together, a scowl worming its way onto her face. "Shaye in a fight against Miss Goodwitch. Shaye wouldn't win unless Miss Goodwitch couldn't use her Semblance."

"Good to know." A corner of Weiss' mouth twitched while she glanced at her Scroll. Her forefinger tapped the button to end the call and she closed her Scroll, zipping the pocket shut. A gentle warmth from the sunrise spilled onto the back of her head, dripping down her neck, shoulders, and back again.

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose off her belt. In the midst of a spin, it extended into scythe mode, and with a half-twirl, she aimed the muzzle at the ground. Firing, she launched herself at the Bullhead's nose. She landed smoothly but continued spinning, gliding toward the windows of the cockpit. Once close enough, she swung. The blade tore through both windows, along with the strip of metal between them, shattered glass following. Then, in the same swing, she angled the muzzle low behind her. Firing, she burst high above the roof.

Blake sprang from the ground, empty hand reaching out for Ruby. While the soles of Ruby's boots met the crescent-shaped scythe blade, she extended a hand toward Blake. Ruby's hand caught Blake's. Spinning with her scythe, she pulled Blake in a rotation with her. Approaching a second spin, Ruby then launched Blake feet-first at the broken windows.

Weiss' hand wrapped around Myrtenaster's grip. The Dust chamber spun, setting on Ice Dust. A sheet of ice spread out along the rooftop, starting from the blade, slipping under Neo's and Weiss' feet. The ice stopped at the curb along the edge. A glyph spawned under Weiss' feet as she tore Myrtenaster from the sheet of ice and stood up. Shifting it in her hand, she held the pommel to her right shoulder, the blade aimed at Neo. She dashed forward, gliding across the ice.

Neo twirled her umbrella in her hand and jabbed it in front of her. When Weiss came close, the canopy snapped shut. Myrtenaster's tip deflected off the blade poking out from within the centre of the pink cap. Weiss somersaulted over Neo's head. Swiftly recovering, she bounced from a down-tilted glyph and twirled. Her index and middle fingers skimmed the blade upon activating her Burn Dust. Swinging Myrtenaster in a horizontal arc, she cast a wave of fire.

Neo swung her open umbrella, the blade receding inward, and blocked the wave. The flames dissipated into embers around her. She laid the umbrella's tube on her shoulder, the canopy outstretched behind her head. Upon hearing a shimmering sound, she caught a glimpse of Weiss' Dust chamber revolving and settling on red, all while a red glyph spun, up behind her head. Burn Dust again.

Weiss shot down from the air. Stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground, she launched one—two—three fire pellets at Neo. Neo hopped two steps back, watching the first two pellets hit and melt the ice near her feet. Then, her gloved hand slid up the tube. Pointing her umbrella forward again, the canopy blocked the pellet. And while the embers dissipated around her once more, Neo snapped her umbrella shut and sped towards Weiss, the blade jutting from the pink cap again.

As she slid through the windows into the cockpit, Blake felt the remaining shards of glass, haphazardly bordering the metal, scrape her Aura. She crossed her arms a bit below her face, guarding against the glass she fell through. As soon as she'd flown inside, she dropped her arms, planting her hands on the border behind her. The soles of her boots slammed into the faces of the White Fang pilot and co-pilot. As their heads bounced against the back of their seats, Blake brought her legs back together and landed between their seats. Not wanting to take any chances, she followed up by grabbing their heads and cracking them together, and watched as they both slumped over the sides of their seats.

Weiss threw her right arm up to block Neo's roundhouse kick, earning an audible whack to her right side. Neo's smirk grew. Neo then backflipped, stabbing her blade into the ice. Swinging her body low, she aimed to swipe Weiss' legs out from under her, though Weiss hopped over her leg, bouncing from Neo's calf. Jumping up, she performed a backflip onto a glyph, and dashed across the ice. Her Dust chamber didn't spin. Neo couldn't predict her next move. At the last moment, Weiss spun. Neo raised her umbrella to block whatever was coming.

She shot a bit of her Aura through Myrtenaster's tip. As her blade struck Neo's umbrella, the impact knocked Neo backward, her feet skidding to a stop across the ice. Springing forward again, Weiss hopped into the air. She somersaulted, activating her Ice Dust, the length of the blade sparkling an icy blue. She sliced the air, a wave of ice sprouting from the blade. Then, bouncing from a glyph, Weiss twirled the opposite direction, casting another wave of ice.

Neo hopped backward to dodge the first wave, and with a twirl of her umbrella, soon vanished into thin air. The second ice wave crashed into the ice sheet, shattering upon impact.

Weiss paused, landing on the ice. Neo had her under some sort of illusion, she was sure of it. Worse was, she couldn't sense Neo's Aura anywhere, and simply looking around wouldn't work either. Has that girl really evolved her Illusion Semblance to the extent that I can't even sense her?

After a quiet moment, a swift kick hit Weiss' back. Stumbling forward, a high kick then slammed into her chin. The impact thrust her into the air.

These attacks feel too real to be an illusion. Weiss' eyes snapped wide open. Is she using her Semblance to hide herself? It'd make sense. If I don't know where she's coming from, I can't stop her attacks. Not unless I swing wildly and somehow get a lucky strike.

Another hit – a fist, probably – slammed into her abdomen. Thrust into the ice sheet below, her Aura pulsed simultaneously, across both her front and back, as the ice cracked around her. She swiftly rolled over, moving to one knee. Readying Myrtenaster, she chose Aero Dust.

Neo was faster. A foot dived into the back of Weiss head, shoving her face into the cold ground. The ice cracked around her.

She hopped off Weiss' head, feet softly hitting the ice. From the feet up, glass-like shards split from Neo, uncovering her previously unseen form.

Yang had barely managed to slip her Scroll into her backpack when the door of the first warehouse opened. Her head snapped toward the warehouse. The door rolled up, shuddering all the while. Once fully open, the door stopped shuddering. Instead, a chainsaw roared to life, echoing from the shadows.

One hand grabbing Weiss by her ponytail, Neo hauled her off the ground. She spun once, and again, before tossing Weiss toward the front of the rooftop.

Weiss smacked the roof, tumbling across it. Recovering, she sprang from one hand into a backflip, skidding across the ice on one knee, her right hand on the ground. Pulling her left arm and Myrtenaster back, she flexed her right index and middle fingers at Neo. Behind Neo, a black glyph opened up. Neo threw a glance over her shoulder, and Weiss took her chance, launching from a second glyph under her feet. She somersaulted onto another, bouncing from it with a twirl. Delivering an Aura-fuelled kick to Neo's face, she propelled Neo back through the glyph, which shattered like glass. Neo's figure shattered with it.

Yang tucked the swords into either side of her crooked belts and made a move for Bumblebee. She'd only just picked it up when another White Fang operative strolled out of the shadows. As she hopped on her bike, she noted his fairly muscled appearance, as well as his weapon: a chainsaw. He didn't appear to be another garden-variety goon – perhaps possessing a higher position in the organisation. Likely someone the White Fang would send out when anyone taking on the White Fang made light work of the lackeys lower down the chain.

"For my fallen brothers of the White Fang, I'll enjoy being the one to kill you," he bellowed from behind his mask, readying his chainsaw.

Yang tightened her grip on the throttle. Bumblebee's engine buzzed-buzzed-buzzed before growling.

Ruby hurried to the back of the Bullhead's roof and peered down. Shaye stood below, Lunar Gaze in hand, in sword form. Ruby smiled at Shaye once their eyes met. "Blake's in! The doors on this thing should be open soon."

"Ah, hell, which one of these opens the doors?" Blake whispered to herself, scratching her temple as she looked over the control panel. Her hands hovered over plenty of various switches, buttons, lights, and levers. Why didn't her wealth of unsavoury criminal knowledge include how to work a Bullhead? If she tried to work the wrong thing on this panel, she could end up firing any weapons packed on this thing, or end up starting the damn engines, and that'd really screw things up.

"Looks like you came up with a pretty good plan."

Torchwick.

Blake's eyes widened, almost every muscle in her body growing tense. That oh-so-familiar voice had originated a bit behind her. Pivoting in place, she found him stood in the middle of the entryway at the back of the cockpit.

"But the thing is, I have better cards up my sleeve," his voice rang out. Blake scowled when he aimed his cane at her. "And you and Little Red up there are just oh, so—" The crosshair cover flipped open—"predictable."

Blake pre-emptively jumped from one of her shadows. If he fired, not only would he have hit her, but he could also destroy the control panel. Still, Torchwick adjusted his aim and fired anyway. Though her arms covered her face and her Aura absorbed the resulting explosion, she launched through the broken windows.

Hearing an explosion, Ruby coursed back across the roof, leaping from the edge. Sticking her landing on the nose, she spun to face the broken windows, finding Blake flying towards her. Despite holding her Crescent Rose in one hand, Ruby steadied herself, and opened her arms. As Ruby caught her, Blake's back hit her front, though she wrapped her empty arm around Blake anyway and steadied her balance, planting a step forward to avoid the nose's edge.

Neo sprang from the tips of her fingers and spun. Her foot smacked the side of Weiss' head, knocking the Heiress left, across the rooftop. Then, planting the cap of her umbrella on the ground, she sprang towards Weiss, somersaulting over her before diving into a twirl, umbrella poised. She jabbed the bladeless umbrella cap into Weiss' front. Aura-enhancing her push, Neo thrust Weiss into the ice. Spiderweb fractures cracked open around the Heiress.

Neo grinned, smug. Landing beside Weiss, she spun her umbrella, resting it on her shoulder.

Weiss flipped Myrtenaster in her hand and blindly jabbed at Neo, releasing a whirlwind from the tip. As it blew Neo back, Weiss half-spun, rising to her feet. With a sharp swing of Myrtenaster, the whirlwind shifted, wind coursing along the length of her blade. She cast a crescent-shaped wave of sharpened wind at Neo. But, just as the wave appeared to hit her, the smaller girl's figure shattered again.

"Damn..." Weiss growled. That shattering-like-glass trick was getting annoying.

However, instead of disappearing, the glass-like shards began to swirl in the air. Once reaching directly above Weiss' head, they came together and Neo materialised, twirling, her umbrella poised to strike, the blade poking out of the tip.

Simultaneously, Neo dived and Weiss jumped, meeting each other halfway. Weiss' cyan vial of Hard-Light Dust spun and locked in place. The tips of each blade met with a clash. A pulsing cyan wave of hard light erupted from Myrtenaster's tip, whilst pink waves from Neo's Aura sparked and surrounded the tip of Neo's blade, cyan pressing against pink.

They struggled for a few moments. Each pushed the other back before the other would do the same. When Neo started to push Weiss further down, she placed a glyph under her feet. Leaping from it, she shoved Neo back, higher, and launched her even further as their blades disconnected. Both waves of energy dissipated into the sunrise.

The sunrise! Weiss' eyes shot wide open. Using her right fingertips, she sprang from a glyph spinning to life above her. She backflipped onto another glyph and bounced from it, directing herself forward. Neo landed in front of her, her back turned to the sunrise. Focusing her Aura into her blade, Weiss swung. Don't let her use it against you.

In response, Neo swung her umbrella. Myrtenaster clashed against the closed canopy.

Weiss began pushing Neo's umbrella to the left. Neo pushed Myrtenaster back, her grip tightening on her umbrella handle. When she shoved Myrtenaster away, their weapons disconnected. Switching hands, Neo swung back. She knocked Myrtenaster back the other way, throwing Weiss' arm high, though Weiss kept her grip firm on Myrtenaster's hilt.

She wouldn't get a chance to recover.

Neo backflipped and jutted her leg out. Her boot connected with Weiss' chin, kicking the Heiress' head back. Her feet left the ground. Then, with a mid-air twirl, Neo kicked Weiss in the abdomen. The impact blew Weiss back. Neo dropped to the ground and dashed toward Weiss. Leaping again, she somersaulted over Weiss' head. Her empty hand gripped Weiss' ponytail. Pulling Weiss with her, she twirled again, twice, and threw Weiss towards the front edge of the rooftop.

Yang set off, Bumblebee aimed at the White Fang Lieutenant. Her eyes narrowed when his chainsaw roared again. She watched him raise it, high above his head, his intention clear. The thought of him putting so much as a scratch on Bumblebee had her eyes flashing scarlet. She swerved to her right, leaping off the seat.

She dived towards him from his left, too fast for him to counter. Her fist hit the side of his face. The impact sent him flying across the ground. Skidding as she landed, she threw her fists up, moving into a fighting stance as he climbed to his feet.

Shaye stopped in front of the Bullhead's nose, looking up at Ruby and Blake. "What happened? Why's there a holdup?"

Ruby and Blake both blinked. As Blake slid out of Ruby's grasp, they turned and peered down at Shaye.

Blake answered first: "Torchwick's in there. Seems like he was waiting for us."

"Shit," Shaye muttered, her eyes flicking elsewhere, before her eyebrows then rose and she looked back up at Blake. "Which compartment was he in?"

"The bit between the cockpit and the interior. Why?"

"I have an idea."

Just then, they heard the firing of countless explosive rounds. Ruby, Blake, and Shaye all turned to see Yang, thrusting each fist forward, a barrage of fiery pellets bursting towards the White Fang Lieutenant. At the same time, he charged at her, almost entirely shrugging off her shots, running through the explosions blasting the various parts of his body. He raised his chainsaw as he closed in. Yang sidestepped one swing, and on the second swing, she hopped backward.

Then, in one swift motion, he swung his chainsaw up then down. Yang crossed her fists above her head. The chainsaw clashed against her gauntlets, the clash spitting out sparks from between them.

"I didn't think he would've come out of Mountain Glenn, after the explosion on the train..." Blake tensed. For the umpteenth time in her life, her instinct was to run. Run and hide, her insides screamed, and don't look back.

The White Fang Lieutenant had never liked her.

And of all people, he would have recognised her on the train. Even now, despite her wearing a bow over the cat ears she once left exposed. Despite no longer wearing the Adam-inspired mask she used to adorn on their "missions". After they'd come face to face a month ago, Blake would've been a fool to doubt that, unless he'd died on the train, he would've informed Adam of Blake now fighting on the same team as Weiss Schnee, not only one of the children of Jacques Schnee (the very man that'd implemented Faunus labour in the mines), but the Heiress of the SDC, and who, as far as most of them would think, had to be just as cruel and discriminatory as her father. But even if they didn't know Weiss like Blake did, it likely wouldn't matter – not to them. It was one thing for Blake to run away from them, to abandon the organisation her own father was once the High Leader of, but it was another thing entirely to turn on that same organisation she once belonged to – to fight against that which she used to call 'home'.

She stabbed them all in the back when she'd left. Now that she fought on the side of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, and on the same team as a Schnee, even though it happened by mere coincidence, she may as well have twisted the knife a full 180 degrees before using it again to carve up their spines, separating each disk by cutting up the space between them with damn-near surgical precision. To inflict that level of betrayal... Blake knew none of them would let her get away with it if they could help it.

Blake would be surprised if neither the Lieutenant or Adam ended up coming after her themselves at some point. She knew that, in their eyes, allying herself with a Schnee would be an even worse betrayal; of them and anyone else that'd had hope for her return after she deserted the White Fang. Sure, there could've been people left who might've sympathised with her fears of not only becoming a monster herself, but being unable to stop her mentor from becoming one, too. But now? Now that she'd apparently sided with the Humans and had a hand in the deaths of most of her brothers and sisters of the White Fang? Yeah, no, she'd be surprised if they weren't out for her blood now.

Hopefully they wouldn't take it out on her family – they hadn't so far, at least. She may have distanced herself from her Mom and Dad, but she still loved them. She... just didn't know if they would forgive her.

Ruby blinked and followed Blake's gaze. "He seems more important than the usual guys."

"He's supposed to be. He's the Lieutenant." Blake spared a glance at Ruby. "And for good reason. What he lacks in speed and finesse, he makes up for in brute force and durability. A weapon with secondary or tertiary functions, or any subtlety in his fighting style, is by all means unnecessary. His incredible strength and endurance works well enough with his chainsaw."

"And I'm assuming he's been in the White Fang long enough to know you?" Concern laced Ruby's voice, as her brows drew together with much the same sentiment.

Blake's eyes flicked to meet Ruby's again. "Yeah. He has an incredible loyalty to the White Fang. I wouldn't be surprised if he saw me as a traitor when I ran from them. What's worse is he saw me fighting alongside Weiss on the train. He'd have told the others about it. There's a good chance they'll get their payback, one way or another. They most likely feel that I've betrayed them."

Weiss' body smacked the ice. She tumbled and rolled, creating cracks every time she landed harshly. She found herself unable to gain much control of her own body at any point. The only thing she could do was tighten her grip on Myrtenaster – hell, without her Aura, her hand would have likely started bleeding just from holding it by now. Her side clipped the rooftop curb and she tumbled over the side. She reached out her free hand, reaching for the curb.

Yang was taking too long. Shaye sighed through her nose, unclipping the hind pouch on the outside of her right thigh. Inside were rows and layers of small, knuckle-sized, spear-shaped, arrowhead blades. Each one was mostly yellow, bordered in black, with a purple strip down the middle. Lightning Dust Darts. Picking one out, she grasped it between her index and middle fingers, and cast it at the Lieutenant's leg.

The electric arrowhead sparked, sending an electric shock through his leg. He careened onto the same leg, his chainsaw sliding off Yang's still unscathed gauntlets, protected by her Aura. The chainsaw sputtered as it hit the ground. Seeing her chance, Yang delivered a high kick to his head, and watched as he fell flat on his back.

The Gravity Dust patch on Shaye's palm lit up with a light purple glow, as did the purple strip down the middle of the arrowhead. With a curl of her index and middle fingers, the arrowhead drew back towards her, slipping between her fingers. The yellow had become dimmer. She could still use it once more before its Dust would be used up and it'd become useless. She placed it back inside its pouch, clipping it shut.

Planting her hands on her hips, Yang swivelled to face Shaye. "I could've handled that myself."

"And you did." Shaye dropped her arm by her side. "But I thought I'd hurry you up. Day's breaking already."

Yang blinked, tilting her head toward the sky. Shades of lighter blue and pink and warm yellow and orange bled into the darker blue of what remained of the night sky. A bright, fiery glow shone over the horizon, lighter pinks painting sparse clouds.

If only seeing the sunrise happened to be the reason Weiss would get up so early most mornings. Yang wouldn't mind if the Heiress just wanted an excuse to witness this kind of beautiful sight, since it was absolutely worth waking up extra early just to admire.

"We don't have much time left before people start waking up," Shaye called out, snapping Yang out of her thoughts. "We need to get this finished as soon as we can."

"Didn't you have an idea?" Ruby piped up. All eyes landed on her while she looked at Shaye.

"Right," Shaye said. Despite having only just remembered herself, she nodded. "I'm going to need you and Blake to help me, though."

Neo approached the edge, peering down at Weiss. As Weiss looked up, she blinked, and her eyes narrowed. She scowled at Neo's grin. Neo raised her foot, but Weiss let go, pushing off the side. With a spin, she bounced from one glyph to another, controlling her descent down the front of the warehouse. Neo gritted her teeth.

The other four girls were not too far away from her and Weiss. She'd be a moron to take Weiss to the Bullhead with them standing around. They'd notice her, and that would just cause more trouble than it was worth.

With a broad wave of her arm and umbrella, Neo cast an illusion on the four girls. Weiss wouldn't see it in front of her, but behind the other girls, a pink wave erased Weiss' figure as well as Neo's own, cloaking any sign of the situation at the warehouse – all while none of them were looking. For now, it would do. They wouldn't see, hear, or sense anything going on behind the cloak, and that was more than enough.

The blade slipped back into the umbrella. Before Weiss had a chance, Neo launched it with full force at Weiss' back. The umbrella hit the square of Weiss' back, the tip striking between her shoulder blades. Weiss bowled over as she began to fall. In a flash, Neo hopped from the roof, diving feet-first. Upon nearing Weiss, she knocked her umbrella aside, and following a somersault, rammed both feet into Weiss' back. The impact propelled Weiss into a face-first nosedive, and she slammed into the concrete, crashing at the foot of the warehouse door. The force massively cracked the ground around them. Neo watched as Weiss' legs slumped against the ground, with Weiss going limp.

Not one of those girls was the wiser.

Ruby unclipped the regular, Dustless ammunition magazine, detaching it from Crescent Rose. She shoved it into the large, stiff, rectangular, red-lined black pouch, sat central on the back of the wide, dark-grey belt wrapped around her hips, fitting it next to a second magazine. She then reached into another pouch, positioned back-right on her belt, the pouch similar to the back one and the three other pouches, although this pouch was marked with a white snowflake. Grabbing one of the two Ice Dust magazines stuffed inside the pouch, each magazine adorning the same snowflake symbol, she loaded it into Crescent Rose.

The sniper scope extended.

Crouching down on one knee, on the centre of the Bullhead's nose, Ruby peered through the scope. The crosshairs found Torchwick moving the unconscious pilot and co-pilot into the back corners of the cockpit. Shifting her aim, she locked onto the space leading from the cockpit into the interior.

Shaye reached into her front-left thigh pouch, where the same number of arrowhead blades were stocked, this time laced with Burn Dust. Where yellow had mostly covered her Electric Darts, red made up the same places on the Burn ones. She only needed one. Holding the Burn Dart between her fingers, she pulled it towards her opposite shoulder, readied and aiming at the door under the left wing.

Over the opposite side of the Bullhead, Yang cocked Ember Celica, ready to blast the door under the right wing.

Finally, Blake crouched atop the roof, unsheathing Gambol Shroud. She held the sharp blades of her katana and cleaver-like sheath poised at her sides, hovering only inches above the metal.

Glancing over her shoulder, Blake's eyes met Ruby's. Blake nodded.

Ruby fired.

The round's light-blue soft-point tip struck the floor, ice rapidly spreading from where it hit. Upon reaching the ends of the entryway, the ice sprouted upward to form a thick wall of ice, pre-emptively blocking Torchwick off from the interior.

Within her crosshairs, Ruby watched as Torchwick whipped round, half-off the pilot seat. When he found himself blocked off from the interior, he shot up from his seat, cane in hand, and spun, looking back through the windows. His eyes narrowed at her.

Ruby grinned, and with a tilt of her head, her eyes flicked up toward Blake. "Got it!"

Blake thrust her blades into the roof. "Now, you two!"

Yang fired a blast at the right door. Shaye cast her Burn Dart at the left door.

The resulting explosions rocked both sides of the Bullhead.

Meanwhile, Blake had set off across the roof, dragging her blades through the metal, all the way to the back end.

Shaye raised her arm, to block the burst of hot air billowing out from the explosion. Despite her attempt, it was that same burst of air which blew her hood down. She didn't particularly care to pull it back up, though. It was inconvenient, at the very least, given she could – could, not necessarily would – be recognised, if any security cameras happened to be watching. Or, if Neo or Torchwick happened to know of her.

Ruby sprang forward, sliding down the nose, her aim still locked on Torchwick. The darkness of the muzzle's interior adopted a scarlet glow as she channelled her Aura into Crescent Rose. She slowed, just outside the window, and stopped as she fired, point-blank. A scarlet burst bolted through the windows, slamming into Torchwick's centre. He crashed into the ice wall, the impact causing fractures to erupt across the surface.

Ruby hopped into the cockpit as Torchwick slumped to the floor. He made to move away from her, only for his back to press further into the ice. He huffed and held his hat, pulling the front down over his only visible eye. Ruby stilled, tense, when she managed to catch a smirk behind his hand.

Almost out of nowhere, Neo breezed past her.

Ruby barely caught Neo in her peripheral before reflexively backing away. The red recoil pad on Crescent Rose's handle split open, and she raised it defensively as the jagged blade, black, red, and silver, extended.

Weiss laid limp over Neo's shoulder.

Ruby blinked, her eyes widening.

Shit! How could they have been so stupid as to not offer Weiss any battle support? They'd left her to fight Neo alone!

Weiss had been acting primarily as the lookout, as well as their backup in case anything went wrong, such as the Bullhead trying to take off. But now, Neo had caught her, likely using her as a hostage – because what else could she want with Weiss?

Ruby's jaw went slack, as she watched Neo jab her bladeless umbrella tip into the centre of the fractures in the ice. Bright pink seeped through the cracks, into the ice—Neo's Aura soon shattering the block. As ice shards crashed to the floor, Ruby raised her arm, protecting her face from the burst of cold wind.

She caught Neo and Torchwick dashing into the interior.

Ruby gritted her teeth. Dropping her arm, she chased after them. Ice shards crunched under her boots.

As Ruby entered the interior, Neo appeared in front of her and spun, slamming a roundhouse kick into Ruby's side. Ruby careened into the wall to her right, beside the door, a bang resounding throughout the interior.

Torchwick hurried back into the cockpit.

The Bullhead's left-side door shifted, steadily folding upward as it opened. Activating her Gravity palm patch, Shaye drew the Burn Dart from the door. She caught it between her fingers and stuffed it back into its pouch, eyes narrowing while she watched the door reach the wing's underside. There, the door locked in place, directly under the wing root. Afterward, a thick sheet of metal protruded from the foot of the door. Shaye took a step back, watching it extend to make a platform.

Weiss sat slumped inside, in the far corner to Shaye's right. The opposite door, ahead of Shaye, hadn't yet opened. She found Ruby lifting herself up off the floor, near the closest corner to Shaye's left.

Shaye's eyes flicked upward. "Blake. Bring Yang over here."

Blake tore her katana and sheath from the roof. She blinked at Shaye, then saw the door raised to the wing. "Right!" she said, whirling round. Her katana folded onto the pistol-hilt while the ribbon on her wrist wrapped around the trigger and grip. Blake cast it over the right side of the roof, watching the chain-scythe fall out of sight toward Yang. Her fingers wrapped around the ribbon pulling against her palm.

Yang stepped back as she looked up. Seeing Blake's chain-scythe falling toward her, her hand shot out to grasp the hilt. Her right gauntlet closed into its bracelet form around her wrist as she caught the pistol-hilt, her forefinger wrapping around the trigger.

When Blake yanked the taut ribbon upward, Yang's feet launched off the ground, with enough force to crack the concrete below.

Blake's gaze followed Yang as she burst over the Bullhead, somersaulting high over Blake's head. Dropping beside the left wing, Yang released the pistol-hilt, throwing the end of the chain-scythe back up towards Blake. Her right gauntlet opened back up as she caught the side of the wing, near the wing root. She swung down from it to clasp the top of the door, before dropping onto the platform, turning to face the interior upon landing.

Ruby's back collided with Yang's chest.

Yang skidded backward as she caught Ruby. She dug her heels into the metal, stopping halfway down the platform.

"You alright?" Yang asked, placing Ruby down.

Ruby looked up, eyes on the interior. "I'm good. She just surprised me."

Yang followed her gaze just in time to catch Neo stepping into view. She almost blocked Yang's view of Weiss, unconscious and slumped over at the back, behind Neo and near the closed door.

A blade protruded from Neo's closed umbrella as a smirk spread across her face.

Standing over the rectangle she'd carved into the Bullhead's roof, Blake swung her leg up high.

Shaye somersaulted and landed soundlessly in front of Yang and Ruby, her hand tight around Lunar Gaze's stretchable silver grip.

Neo's smirk fell instantly. She blinked, a brief flash of shock shining in her eyes, directed at Shaye. All three girls noticed – especially Shaye herself.

Shaye's eyes narrowed. So, she does know who I am.

Blake's heel slammed into the metal. The force of her Aura launched the rectangular sheet into the interior. She hopped in after it, using it as a cover.

Neo sharply threw a look over her shoulder, wide eyes landing on the thin sheet of metal as it bounced off of one of its edges and barrelled directly toward her. With a swing of her umbrella, she knocked it toward the wall making up the back end of the interior.

Blake hopped and twirled toward Neo, katana poised and grip tight as she swung left.

Neo's eyes blinked wide open again. Gloved hands gripping either end, she hoisted her umbrella upright, to block Blake's katana. The black blade clanged against the frilly umbrella cover. Releasing the upper end, Neo swung her umbrella, knocking Blake back, before hopping toward the interior's back wall, to Blake's left.

"Blake and I will handle her," Shaye decided, glancing behind her at Ruby and Yang. "We'll get Neo out of the interior. One of you will get Weiss, the other will get the container."

The sisters both nodded. "Right!"

Shaye dashed into the interior, smoothly skidding to a halt beside Blake, as she snatched Lunar Gaze off her back. Her irises switched from violet to gold, eyes akin to those of a hawk.

Neo gritted her teeth upon seeing the colour of Shaye's eyes. If her knowledge of assassins served correctly, Shaye's gold hawk-like eyes had to mean she'd activated her Semblance, not that Neo knew its name. But even so, all that mattered about it right now would be the fact her Illusion Semblance wouldn't work on Shaye – she would only see right through it, and it wouldn't affect her at all. To the point where she wouldn't even see any of Neo's illusions. Her matchup against Shaye would be either one of the most exciting fights Neo had ever been involved in, or one of the most damaging.

Neo caught a glimpse of the hole in the interior's ceiling, leading up to the roof. Sparing a glance at the two girls, Neo then grasped the umbrella handle with only one hand and looked back up at the hole, before springing up to it. Her hand gripped the nearest side of the hole, and she used it to almost effortlessly swing and flip over and out of the interior, performing a smooth double backflip to create space between her and the hole.

Shaye sprang out of the hole after her, followed by Blake.

Ruby and Yang hurried into the interior.

Ruby crouched next to Weiss and briefly set Crescent Rose down. Upon lifting Weiss off the floor, she threw Weiss over her right shoulder, holding Weiss up using one hand while her other picked Crescent Rose back up – if she had to use Crescent Rose one-handed, she'd rather it be with her left hand. Despite having been trained to be ambidextrous, her left hand remained her more dominant hand, if only slightly.

Neo swung her umbrella just as Shaye swung Lunar Gaze, her bowsword clashing roughly against the umbrella. Neo held steady against her force, though. A smooth push-swing of the umbrella shoved Shaye away, and she skidded backward, only for Blake to dash past her at impressive speed.

Blake sprang and spun, an overhead swing of Gambol Shroud's full, completed sword form parried by Neo's underarm swing of her umbrella. Neo then returned with a backhand swing, and a burst of her Aura, to smack Blake away. Blake flexed her empty hand as she reached behind her, fingers sliding across metal, until she sprang from her fingertips, up into a backflip. Blake sharply swung her arm, casting a black ribbon, which led out from under a detached sleeve and reached her knuckles, at Neo.

Shaye launched soundlessly into the air and over Neo's head.

Neo swung her umbrella as if to swipe the ribbon away, only for the ribbon to wrap around the closed canopy and snap tightly against it. Blake's heels pressed into the roof, her grip tightening around her end of the ribbon, and she yanked on Neo's umbrella.

Neo blinked, before she tilted her head back, eyes darting upward.

Swinging her leg high, Shaye activated the Gravity Dust in both palm patches. A burst of tangible, midnight-purple pressure rained down, launching her toward Neo.

Shoving her arm straight up, Neo's open palm faced Shaye and the breaking dawn above her. Shaye's heel met Neo's palm with a swift snap. The pressure and impact slammed into the roof metal. A creaking crater opened up around Neo, though wasn't deep enough to open up the roof.

Yang pulled away the black curtain hanging at the back of the interior, covering the back wall. Lifting the cover over her head, she found a somewhat small box which had been sitting in the corner to her left. Faint vein-like streaks, perhaps technological wiring, decorated both the lid and body of the container. Two clasps sat high up the front, stuck between the lid and body, keeping the lid locked shut. In the centre of the lid's top, rested a handle, similar to one from a briefcase or suitcase.

"Think I found the container," Yang called out, grabbing the container's handle and gingerly pulling it from the corner. Once she dragged out the box, she dropped the cover. "We got what we came for, and Weiss is out cold. Let's just get back before we end up in some serious trouble." She threw Ruby a look over her shoulder.

Ruby's eyes met Yang's, uncertainty shining within them.

The Bullhead's jet engines began buzzing.

"Ah, hell," Yang muttered, her empty hand grasping a handle on the handrail above her.

"I think it's a bit too late to not get in trouble now," Ruby finally answered. Crescent Rose opened up, extending into its full, glorious form of a sniper-scythe. Stabbing the blade's tip into the floor, Crescent Rose's staff shifted to fit in line with the spine supporting the crescent-shaped scythe blade, transforming Crescent Rose into the scythe's secondary full form, the war-scythe. She removed her hand from Weiss' back, also reaching up to grab a handrail handle.

Shaye angled her foot to stand wholly on Neo's hand, and sprang away from Neo and the roof crater, back toward Blake. Closing the rest of her empty fist but flexing her index and middle fingers, her fingertips sparkled with the pulsing lilac energy of her Aura, and she cast a thick, light-violet chain-like rope at Neo. Neo hopped into the air to avoid it, but Blake yanked again on the ribbon wrapped around her umbrella, while the chain bounced off the metal and up toward Neo, only to wrap around her a few times.

Support Style, Capture Art: Ethereal Chains.

The chains snapped tightly into place, locking around Neo's upper body and keeping her arms securely pinned to her sides. Despite her restraints, Neo's grip tightened around her umbrella's handle.

The engines roared to life.

As they began to light up, the ends of each engine gained a cyan glow. They swivelled at the end of each wing, aligning themselves vertically. Slowly, the Bullhead left the ground, almost carefully lifting itself to the same height as the warehouse rooftop across from it.

Shaye dug her heels into the roof and crouched, tossing Lunar Gaze from her right hand to her left. As her left-hand fingers wrapped around the hilt, her empty right palm slammed down flat on the metal.

Almost instantly, a sudden increase in gravity thrusted the Bullhead back down. The bottom of each engine rocketed into the ground below. The concrete underneath shattered upon impact as the lower borders of either engine pierced the ground.

The shower of midnight-purple pressure shoved Blake and Neo down onto the roof. Blake crumpled, hardly able to prop herself up on the metal. Neo slammed down a few feet away, landing hard on her knees, her Aura pulsing around her legs as it absorbed the brunt of the harsh impact.

Inside, Ruby and Yang were struggling to even move of their own accord.

Shaye then deactivated the Gravity Dust, the pressure almost immediately vanishing.

Ruby and Yang simultaneously sighed with relief.

Ruby moved to stand on Crescent Rose's spine and blade. "We should take out the engines in order to ground this thing. We can't keep relying on Shaye's control over Gravity Dust if it starts flying again."

"I'll take the engines, then," Yang offered. She held the container out to Ruby. "But I'm gonna need you to hold onto the container."

Ruby looked down at herself. Carefully, she stood on Crescent Rose's neck, where the staff and barrel met the blade and spine. Her knees and ankles wrapped around the barrel and neck respectively. Removing her hand from Crescent Rose's staff handle, she reached her hand out and grabbed the box's handle, gingerly taking it out of Yang's hands. "Got it. Try not to get in the way of the fight up there." Ruby jerked her head at the hole in the ceiling.

Yang nodded, before letting go of the overhead handrail and taking off. She headed out the door and rushed across the platform. Sparing a brief second to charge and fire a dual-burst from Ember Celica, she launched from the end of the platform. Blasting up and over the wing, Yang propelled herself towards the engine ahead, while the platform rocked in her wake.

Neo pushed herself up off her knees. Standing upright, her gloved hand gripped her umbrella's handle so hard the handle creaked. The blade jutted halfway out of the closed canopy's pink cap. While the chains left her arms near-enough unusable, her hands and legs were still free.

She could still fight.

Taking to the air again, Shaye snatched her wand-like Electric Spear from her belt, the spear's blade a jagged, yellow-bordered black blade, akin in shape to the blade which extended from the end of Crescent Rose's staff. A yellow sheen coated the blade, crackling, as golden sparks sputtered around it. Then, with a wide wave of the wand, she cast a yellow, crackling rope directly at Neo.

Elemental Support Style, Electric Capture Art: Rope of Sparks and Paralysis.

Yang somersaulted above the engine. Aiming both fists above her head, she fired another dual-burst, diving down feet-first toward the cyan-glowing circular pad. She crashed into the pad's centre, shattering the glowing circle. Shards of the pad, as well as some Hard-Light Dust within it, blasted from the cracks littering the crater in the engine top, the pieces flying up and around Yang.

Then, aiming her fists downward, she charged up her power, channelling it through Ember Celica. Both gauntlets began glowing a warm yellow, sparkling with embers that swam around each gauntlet, and she fired.

She was launched into the air while a scorching stream of flames blazed straight through the engine. Explosions blasted out of several areas of the engine, before the beam burst through, destroying the glowing cyan pad at the bottom.

"That's one down," Yang breathed out, drained. The blast had somewhat depleted her Aura Reserve.

The engine sputtered before dying out.

Neo hopped aside, twirling away from the rope. Then, catching a glimpse of Yang, and the powered-up blast she'd destroyed the engine with, her eyes widened. Blake yanked on her umbrella then, snapping Neo's attention back to her own situation.

Neo yanked her umbrella back as her eyes flicked toward Blake. The canopy sprang open, a pink burst of her Aura blowing the ribbon off the umbrella. A couple quick steps away allowed her to notice the electric rope swinging at her again.

With a twirl to the left, the rope slipped past her, and when the rope swung her way again, she jumped into a mid-air cartwheel, springing over it. She expanded her senses as she hopped and landed upright again. She felt Shaye's Aura up behind her, falling from mid-air. As soon as Shaye dropped close enough, Neo bounced from her tiptoes, and spun, before giving a steady swing of her leg.

Shaye swung her forearm, Neo's kick hitting her left vambrace. She flipped Lunar Gaze over in her right hand, holding the sword downward. A translucent violet sheen lit up the blade.

Neo planted her free foot on Shaye's abdomen and sprang back just as Shaye swung – upward, diagonal, and almost a direct hit. The Aura-enhanced sharpness and width of the blade narrowly sliced open the violet chains wrapped around Neo's torso. The chains shattered to pieces before dissipating, the violet sparkles, flecks, and shards, remnants of the chains, simply vanishing.

Neo descended into a backflip, her arms outstretched and free to use again.

Leaping off the rim around the crater atop the engine, Yang somersaulted and fired a dual-burst behind her, launching across the wing. She flew feet-first towards the roof. Twirling and firing a second dual-burst, she soared at the three atop the roof.

The sole of Yang's foot slammed into Neo's side-profile. Neo's Aura pulsed across her face. Her back bent slightly backward, while Yang bent her own body forward.

Then, leaping off of Neo's face, Yang somersaulted over to the other side of the roof. Tilting and pushing a foot out as she landed, she skidded along the right wing.

Landing on the roof, Shaye cast her electric rope at Neo again. Meanwhile, Blake's hands gripped the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud's hilt. With a slight jerk of the fist nearest the hilt, she spun Gambol Shroud like a disc.

Neo blinked as she recovered, reaching a hand down toward the metal of the roof. She flipped backward onto her fingertips, and flicked her feet into the air, dodging the electric rope. Then, as Blake spun, swung, and threw the spinning sword at her, Neo hopped from her fingertips, flipping into a mid-air twirl. She landed on the tip of Gambol Shroud's blade, halting its spin. She sprang from the blade, flash-stepping before Blake in the blink of an eye. A swift twirl added momentum as she swung her left leg. Her shin whacked the side of Blake's head. Neo then burst into a spin, her kick launching Blake towards the right wing.

Blake hit the wing before swiftly bouncing from her fingertips. Flipping backward onto her feet, she dashed towards the roof again.

Meanwhile, with a tall leap and a dual-burst below her again, Yang propelled herself upward, launching higher than the cyan-glowing circular pad on the right engine. Spinning above it, she cocked her gauntlets, and swiftly plummeted. Her fist crashed into the pad's centre, a large crater blasting open as spiderweb fractures cracked across the entire cyan circle.

Her fist sparked alight – a warm-yellow, sparkling wave of flames encasing her gauntlet. After building up some force and power, Yang barrelled a single blast into the cyan glow, through the engine, using only half the power she'd given the first fiery, explosive beam. However, as explosions tore throughout the engine, several blasts erupting in several areas, while the beam burst through the bottom pad, Yang figured her attack had done more than enough damage.

"I can't believe what a pain you girls are," Torchwick's (surprisingly) calm and cool voice rang out, only a few feet behind Ruby.

As Ruby turned to look at him over her left shoulder, Torchwick's cane swung into view and hit her, knocking her off of Crescent Rose. She dropped the container only to grip her weapon instead, inadvertently yanking it from its place in the floor. She landed near the open door, harshly skidding on her side toward the platform, Weiss laying next to her.

Of all the times for Weiss to be out cold—!

Blake's bow twitched. She skidded to a halt at the root of the wing. She'd barely heard it, but a smack had originated from inside the Bullhead. Ruby and Weiss would still be in there; and Torchwick, too, since they'd...

…They'd left him in there with them...

Yang landed behind her. "Is something wrong, Blake?"

"Trying to fly this thing would be useless now that you've destroyed both engines. Torchwick's up and about by now, I'm sure. And I don't like that Ruby's all alone in there, trying to take care of both Weiss and the container."

"Shit, I didn't think that far ahead," Yang admitted. Running a hand through her hair, she nodded her head at the closed door. "I'll take this side." With obvious haste, she grabbed one of the swords from between her belts. "You take the other one. We'll just have to trust that Shaye can hopefully deal with Neo for now."

Blake nodded at Yang, wordlessly, before bouncing onto and scurrying across the Bullhead's side. She darted over and past the closed door. Then, somersaulting onto the Bullhead's nose, she landed, crouched, in front of the shattered windows.

Torchwick had left the cockpit. The pilot seat sat empty.

Wrapping an arm around Weiss' midriff, Ruby pushed herself to her feet, before stepping back. She then spun Crescent Rose, and stabbed the blade of the war-scythe into the platform, keeping an iron-clad grip on the handle. Swiftly, she hoisted Weiss up, holding Weiss securely under her arm.

Shaye let the electric rope sputter into sparks and fade away, since she wasn't getting anywhere with it. Clipping the still-compact, near-wand-like Electric Spear back onto her belt, she picked out her Cold Spear. Its blade was coloured silver, and was shaped akin to a tall, flat diamond. A black metal outline ran up to the left and right diamond edges on both faces of the blade, sitting atop the silver and leading a bit off the edge of the lower edges. A continuous light blue lining ran between the black pieces of metal on either side, the black and blue linings both stopping at the middle of the left and right edges.

The mostly-black staff of the spear extended in time to block a roundhouse kick from Neo. Swinging the 5'5" spear, its full length standing at just an inch taller than Shaye herself, she swiped the blade at Neo, prompting Neo to leap off the staff as she evaded it. Shaye twirled the spear in her hand, before she swung it horizontally, launching a frozen arc of sharp icicles at Neo.

Neo briefly landed before bouncing back again, dodging the frozen wave. The ice wave hit the roof, growing sharper as they rose into a row of spikes.

Yang hopped from the wing, toward the closed right-side door. She stabbed her sword into the metal above the border separating the door from the rest of the outside wall. Hanging from her sword with one hand, Yang pressed the soles of her boots against the bottom border.

Blake rounded the left side of the cockpit, racing along the side of the Bullhead and under the wing. Hopping from the wall, Blake landed on the platform, finding Ruby standing in the doorway, facing Torchwick, who stood in the interior. Ruby carried Weiss under one arm, as she gripped Crescent Rose's handle in her opposite hand.

The container sat in the interior.

Blake doubted that Ruby had simply left it in there.

Blake approached Ruby, placing a hand on her shoulder. With a glance behind her, Ruby met Blake's gaze. "You look like your hands are pretty full already. I'll take it from here."

Ruby gave her a grateful smile and nodded. She pulled Crescent Rose from the platform, before slipping past Blake, toward the end of the platform. "I'll provide some support from the background," she answered, tone indicating she wasn't negotiating. Crescent Rose's blade and spine shifted and set at an angle, neck snapping back to leave Crescent Rose in its primary scythe form. Reaching the platform's edge, she stabbed the scythe blade into the metal, crouching on one knee next to Crescent Rose's barrel, one eye gazing through the scope.

Blake dashed at Torchwick. Her first underarm swing was parried by his cane. She swiped at him again. He spun his cane, blocking her strike. He followed up with a push-swing, knocking her sword away. In response, she spun, swinging her sword overhead. However, instead of blocking again, the open muzzle of his cane pressed against her abdomen.

He fired and she jumped, leaving behind an earth statue, a fusion of her Shadow Semblance and Earth Dust. The blast destroyed the statue as her free hand caught a handle on the handrail.

The closed door tore from the wall and blasted into the interior. The remnants of an explosion followed it inside, waves of embers flying from one clearly-scorched side of the door.

Yang's hair, alit with raging, sunny flames, bright and golden, billowed and flowed around her, as she ripped her sword from the outside wall. Her empty hand grabbed the torn, rippled, and bent top edge of the open space, and she used it to swing into the interior.

Torchwick spun, cane muzzle hitting and halting the torn-off door. He fired a controlled burst from the muzzle, launching the door back toward Yang. Yang swung over towards one side of the doorframe. Meanwhile, Torchwick spun, aiming the muzzle at Blake again. He fired.

The blast propelled Blake towards and out of the left-side door. The back of her head hit the top edge of the doorway, an audible crack coming from her Aura. Still, her body almost folded, before she barrelled out onto the platform. Recovering, she rolled backward, propping herself up on her free palm and tip-toes, her blade poised.

Beside the opposite door, Yang quickly fitted her sword in-between her belts, hanging the sword at her side.

Atop the roof, a translucent lilac sheen shone across Lunar Gaze's blade. As Shaye swung at Neo again and again and again, bursts from her Aura kept knocking Neo's closed umbrella away every time Neo tried to parry her attacks. An underarm swipe collided with Neo's overhead swing. Neo's umbrella bounced back as her arm blew over her head again. Shaye jabbed the sole of her boot into Neo's abdomen, the kick, and a burst of her Aura, blasting Neo back.

Neo swiftly recovered, performing a backflip as she dropped into the hole in the roof. Neo's high heels hit the interior floor with a clack as she landed next to Roman.

"Nice to see you again," Torchwick swiftly greeted her, meeting Neo's gaze with a grin.

Shaye's eyes faded from gold, back to her natural violet. She hastily stepped over to the hole, crouching before the nearest edge. She peered over the edge, watching Neo and Torchwick from above. Her eyes landed on the container. It sat on the floor, a few feet away from the back of the interior.

If she tried dropping down to get the container, at least one of those two would notice her.

Yang moved her hands, gripping either side of the doorframe, before swinging into the interior. Her foot hit the floor and she charged at Neo, her eyes scarlet, and her fist pulled back.

Torchwick stepped back, into the shadows of the interior.

Neo grinned.

She sidestepped Yang's first punch. An uppercut followed. Neo bent backward. She sprang from her umbrella cap, hopping to evade Yang's spinning-kick. Neo's empty hand caught the handrail, and she flung into a spin, swinging her closed umbrella at Yang. Yang threw one arm up to block, her other hand holding her upper arm, for support. Still, Neo's umbrella smacked against Yang's arm. She knocked Yang toward the platform, though Yang only ended up skidding before she stopped, close to the door. In the blink of an eye, Neo burst toward Yang. Her umbrella cap slammed into Yang once—twice—three times across her torso, before a final strike launched Yang out the door.

Blake instantly sprang to her feet. She sprang forward, toward Yang, and caught her team-partner in open arms. The force of the impact shoved Blake toward the end of the platform. As she dug her heels into the metal, Blake slowed to a screeching halt next to Ruby.

The interior of Crescent Rose's muzzle shone red again, before a point-blank, crimson beam of her rose-red Aura bolted towards Neo. Neo's eyes blinked wide open as the beam barrelled into her. The blast launched Neo from the Bullhead, through the space where the other door had been. The Bullhead shuddered.

"Neo!" Torchwick paused his quiet unclasping of the lid on the box. Then, believing she would hopefully be alright, he flicked the lid open. One hand held the bottom of the box, while the other grabbed the handle.

Yang hopped out of Blake's arms and sighed. Grabbing Weiss and pulling her out of Ruby's hold, Yang placed Weiss under her own arm. "I've got her. Go."

Ruby nodded. Tearing Crescent Rose from the metal, she spun the scythe, and aimed the muzzle behind her. Firing a small burst behind her, Ruby took off toward the interior.

Torchwick stepped into the doorway, container in his hand, its lid open. He swung the box. The two devices flew from the box and toward Ruby.

One of them, a small black cube, looked no bigger than one of Ruby's hands. White veins decorated its surface while diamond-shaped Dust crystals of various colours acted as focal points for each face of the cube. A gold brace surrounded each crystal, securing them to the centre of each face carved to fit them. The veins seemed to be filled with Powdered Dust. Meanwhile, the rest of the cube – not including the veins or the crystals – had been built using some kind of technology, either designed or painted over in a matte black.

The other device, also small and made of the same apparent black-coated technology, bore an ovoid shape. Two thicker white veins stretched around its middle, with one vein above and one below a gold brace, which held the same types of Dust crystals as the ones seen on the cubed device – however, these Dust crystals had each been cut into a flat circle shape. Both the top and bottom of the device bore a light, circular dent. A protrusion stood attached to either dent, akin to the control stick on a controller from a video game console. The protrusions seemed to act as buttons to be pushed down to allow the device to activate, and would complete the ovoid shape if they were pressed.

Ruby skidded to a halt, scythe poised.

Shaye sprang to her feet and hopped off the roof, before flash-stepping across the left wing, all the way to the engine. She skidded to a crouch beside the engine, and peered down over the wing.

Just in time, apparently, as she watched Ruby act on pure reflex alone, spinning Crescent Rose before knocking away the cubed device.

The device flung over Ruby's head, only to fly toward Yang, Blake, and Weiss.

Shaye's expression fell into a deadpan stare at the scene, before her face landed in her empty palm.

The ovoid device barrelled toward Ruby next. With her eyes wide, and knowing she'd screwed up handling the last one, Ruby activated her Semblance in a panic. She spun on her heel and sped away, bursting past the other girls as she shot forth, sliding off the end of the platform. Yang and Blake both followed her, taking their own leaps of faith off the platform.

The cubed device then clipped the edge of the platform. It bounced out toward them before stopping, hovering in the air. Ruby, Yang, and Blake stopped falling too, as they soon found themselves stuck, suspended close to where the device hovered.

Ruby's legs twitched when she attempted to move them. Yang tried to move Weiss, only for her arm to look like it was trembling. Blake's hands quivered.

"Damn," Shaye cursed under her breath, gritting her teeth. She balled her hand up into a fist to test if she'd been affected, too. She found she could still move just as normal, so she pulled her hood back over her head. She'd have to be more careful now about reclaiming the devices and getting back into Beacon. Nothing would be able to stop the devices now – Shaye would only end up as stuck as Team RWBY. Someone needed to be the one to get the devices, get out of here, and find a way to help the girls next.

The Dust crystals decorating the cubed device began to glow, before emitting different rays of colours. The varying colours matched the crystals they were projected from – all except the black Gravity crystal, which projected a purple ray. The rays shone across the area, a few reflecting off the windows of the warehouses while the purple ray briefly shone into the Bullhead's interior.

Shaye sighed. For now, despite where they ended up, she hoped they'd take care of themselves – until she knew what to do, at least.

A white veil started from the veins and enveloped the cube. It expanded into a blindingly white light, which radiated from the cube, like a bulb without a lampshade to cover its light. The light sparkled with silver embers and miniature snowflakes, before the white veil morphed and curved and flashed brighter as it grew big enough to encompass all four members of Team RWBY within it. Yellow sparks of lightning crackled across the surface of the apparent sphere, before white wholly encompassed their vision.

---

Eren Jaeger

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"What?! The hell you mean you're joining the Scouts?!"

It was the last day of training for the 104th Cadet Corps, and a beautiful day, to boot. The sunny weather and clear skies was a treat for anyone on duty on the walls. Today, everyone that stood atop the wall had been tasked with cannon maintenance, though some were daringly shirking their duties in favour of making conversation with one another.

Eren himself had paused his routine cleaning of the cannon standing in front of him. He stared at the shorter boy beside him with widened eyes.

"What happened to the MP? That was your whole thing!" Eren was quick to put down the stick he'd been using to clean the inside of the cannon. He stepped out from behind it, figuring he'd get back to his task later, but for now he'd lost all interest in the cannon. He needed to know why the hell Connie had decided to join the Scouts too. He didn't recall Connie being as "suicidal" as himself. In fact, throughout the three years of training they'd endured since they met, Connie had been much on the opposite side. Still, despite that, he'd never really judged Eren about his own desire to join the Scouts, or treated him the same way Jean did because of it.

As it stood, only the top ten graduates from each Cadet Corps could join the Military Police. Connie had landed 8th in the top ten, while Eren himself had ended up in 5th place. On their first day of training, three years ago, Connie was one of the many Cadets who'd shamelessly admitted he wanted to join the MPs and live within the safety of the remaining two walls, Rose and Sina. Particularly Wall Sina, since that happened to be where most of the MPs were stationed. Wall Rose tended to be more-so the territory of the Garrison and Scout regiments.

And Connie just wanted to give that all up now? The hell was he thinking?!

"Don't worry about it. A guy's allowed to change his mind, okay?" Connie attempted to play off; as if switching his plans for the future wasn't that big of a deal – as if the Scouts didn't sustain a concerning number of casualties on every expedition they went on, and no-one, not even the best of the best, were guaranteed to survive even their first expedition outside the walls. Connie turned his face even further away from Eren.

"I think your speech yesterday lit a fire under him," Mina chirped in, approaching the two. She held her hands together behind her as she stopped behind Eren, to his right, a small smile on her face.

"Ain't nobody talking to you! His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it!" Connie whirled around, facing Eren and Mina. A light blush painted his cheeks.

Eren blinked, his brows shooting up. He didn't see that every day.

"Take it easy," Thomas called out, giving a slight chuckle, "it's not like you're the only one." He stopped beside Connie, his forefinger scratching his cheek. Pink dusted Thomas' cheeks as well. Beside Thomas, Samuel stood and stared at him, speechless.

"What? Are you serious?" Eren asked almost breathlessly. Why, just—why? Why would they listen to him? He'd earned the nickname Suicidal Bastard for good reason! Not true reason, but good reason, if he looked at it from everyone else's perspective. Some called him brave; some attested to his courage, but then also added words like reckless, crazy, and stupid into the mix; and then some people (read: Jean) straight-up accused him of having a death wish because they seriously thought his life's aspiration was really to end up as Titan food!

…Which he hoped would never happen. And he had to hope, because that was really all he could do, especially after Spring and Ymir had warned him against believing he'd have a better chance of survival just because his anger made up for his own lack of fear. A fear which damn-near everyone else seemed ruled by.

Eren didn't get a response, as Sasha approached the group. She stopped behind Thomas, Samuel, and Connie.

"Guys, can you keep a secret?"

Eren noted a bit of saliva at the corner of her lips. One hand held her jacket over something she was carrying in her other hand, close to her chest. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink – either due to what she was holding, or because she'd been exerting herself without her ODM Gear. Or, knowing Sasha, probably both. Hell, she'd probably experienced a bit of a high upon retrieving whatever she was holding, judging from the drool and look on her face. Maybe the high hadn't worn off yet.

"'Cause I totally just helped myself to the Officers' pantry." Sasha pulled back her jacket, unveiling a bundle of meat wrapped with string.

Shit.

Their jaws dropped and their eyes grew wide.

Meat was a bit of a delicacy, both inside the walls and as their meals during their time in the Cadet Corps. The Cadets were usually only allowed to eat meat during special occasions such as festivals; though, with Sasha as part of the 104th, Eren had come to find that they could also go hunting for it. Of course, that tended to involve anyone having enough free time on their hands to go hunting for animals in any woodland areas around the camp. Plus, it was often up to the hunter to make dinner for themselves, as well as the other Cadets, if they were feeling particularly giving. But, since Sasha tended to be the only one to go hunting, at least to Eren's knowledge, it wasn't too uncommon for most, if not all, of the Cadets to receive meals that included any meat Sasha had obtained.

But if someone – the Commandant especially – found out Sasha had stolen some meat from their supplies, then not only would she be in deep shit, but everyone else caught helping themselves to a bite along with her would also suffer similar punishments.

"Sasha! They could throw your butt in the clink for that!" Eren was the first to scold her. Shit, he hoped he wouldn't end up tempted to go along with Sasha.

Sure, Eren would freely admit Sasha had guts. That being said, she'd proven herself time and time again to be quite reckless and horrifyingly daring whenever food was involved. Ever since their first day, when she'd been caught eating a potato during introductions, she'd struck Eren as the type that lived by her own instincts and damned the consequences, and it'd often helped her get into trouble. And for the most part, especially on occasions like this, she really didn't help her case.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Samuel asked, seeming rather exasperated.

Connie rose to his feet, expression almost deadpan. "What isn't wrong with her?"

"It'll be fine. I'm willing to share," Sasha said. Eren swore he noticed a shiver travel through her. "Oh... can you imagine the sandwiches?" She giggled with euphoria, her hyper state causing her to tremble.

"Put it back!" Connie demanded as he edged forward.

"Yeah! Do you have any idea how rare meat's been since the Titans took Wall Maria?" Mina asked, sounding like she almost wanted to shout.

Mina was right. There really wasn't too much meat to go around – not since the Colossal and Armoured Titans first appeared five years ago and attacked Shiganshina District, Eren's former home. After the inner gate leading to the rest of Wall Maria had been run through to little more than rubble by the Armoured Titan, the whole wall had been left behind, as was everything and everyone that couldn't be saved. That included farms and cattle, as well as the entire stretch of land making up Wall Maria. There also weren't as many farms inside Wall Rose, let alone much space to keep them. Even less farms resided in Wall Sina for the same reason: the lack of space meant less farmland and areas for animals and crops to be developed, and thus, meat became somewhat of a rarity.

"Um, little bit, yeah." Sasha nodded, heading over to an ammunition crate that sat in-between two of the cannons. Crouching in front of the crate, she opened the lid, and carefully placed the bundle of fresh meat inside. "Just look at it this way: pretty soon, we'll take back all the room we need for livestock."

The rest of them were silent while Sasha closed the lid. Her hand patted the wood.

Then the air picked up around them, an unseen pressure seeming to weigh on them, rooting each Cadet to where they stood. It felt—no, it was constricting, Eren was quick to realise as he struggled to move. His tense muscles trembled and twitched as he tried to move his arms and hands.

His eyes drew to the others. Thomas' hands twitched. Sasha's legs, back, and arms trembled as she tried to push herself up to stand.

Above their heads, yellow bolts flickered in a sort of spherical pattern, followed by embers and flames akin in shape to string. As the bolts, embers, and flames spun a sphere, small snowflakes sparkled and formed a pattern on the surface that looked like lace, making the spherical shape more pronounced. More snowflakes appeared and joined the embers heading towards the centre, colliding endlessly, while a translucent black-and-purple sphere formed inside the lace-like sphere. The black-and-purple sphere flickered as it grew bigger. Rays of various other colours seeped through the outside patterns of snowflakes and flames and embers, seemingly random sequences of colours leaking across the top of Wall Rose. The rays shone in every direction – most notably on some of the Cadets, across the Trost District, and along the land and the Titans outside the walls.

Eren couldn't help but find himself amazed at the spectral sight. Curious and, to a lesser extent, unnerved, but mostly just... astounded.

"What the hell...?" Eren asked. His eyes narrowed as a warm scarlet ray passed over him. The sphere soon grew to the width of the wall, big enough to fit himself and the other Cadets currently with him in it, and still have enough room for a few more people.

He couldn't say what possessed him next, but he found himself working against the pressure. He reached his hand out, touching the sphere's lace-patterned surface. Surprisingly, his hand slipped through it, as if the surface didn't exist – yet, he could still feel the heat from the embers and the cold from the snowflakes. His hand also felt lighter, as if the pressure was lifting the closer he pushed toward the black-and-purple sphere. He paused briefly as a warm breeze graced his tan skin. Then, slowly pushing his hand into the black-and-purple sphere, he watched his fingertips disappear into the darkness, followed by the rest of his hand.

A smaller and more feminine hand grabbed his. Slim fingers – that also felt a bit calloused, he noted – interlocked with Eren's, prompting him to yank his hand all the way out of the sphere.

The hand holding onto his soon followed, leading a girl to drop out of the sphere, one of her gloved hands holding Eren's. Eren tried to catch her with his empty hand, only for her to crash into him. He toppled over, his back hitting the concrete, almost winding him.

"Ow!" Her voice sounded somewhat high-pitched, though not unpleasant.

His eyes squinted open. He managed to catch a glimpse of everyone staring at him; or rather, the girl laying on his chest.

Then three more feminine figures dropped out.

The girl atop him wasn't heavy – well, she didn't feel heavy to Eren, at least – but she turned out not to be as light as her somewhat small frame would've made Eren believe when he peered down at her.

He noted her rather short hair, jet-black with faint crimson streaks in some places. Her hair also contrasted her somewhat-pale complexion, he realised as he looked at the rosy-pale fingers intertwined with his. The crimson cape, adorned with a hood that laid over the back of her head, looked pretty cool, if only due to the cape being crimson – Eren couldn't remember if he'd ever seen such a distinctive, almost-vividly-crimson cape before, let alone one that bore a hood. Seemingly stuck to the square of her back, beneath the cape, laid a slim, metallic, strapless grey backpack, and below it, a rectangular, silver, metallic plate laid across the small of her back, its corners smooth and rounded. And even farther down, on the back of the belt around her hips, sat a red-lined black pouch, stiff and full, with a rectangular shape.

Sluggishly, she shuffled in place, before she paused. She mumbled something into the front of his shoulder, though the leather of Eren's jacket muffled whatever she'd said.

Using his only free hand, Eren tapped her shoulder. "Hey. You alright?" he asked, sounding a bit short of breath.

For a brief moment, she froze. Then, she lifted her head, blinking rapidly. Her gaze settled on his face and his eyes met hers.

…Silver eyes?

Eren knew maybe a few people who had eyes of a similar shade. There was Mikasa, for one, and maybe Captain Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier. Despite that, up until now, Eren had never actually met anyone who had eyes that were really, actually silver – like the silver akin to the anti-Titan blades currently sitting in the metal sheaths of his ODM Gear.

"U-Um..." She blinked and averted her eyes. As she began looking everywhere but at him, Eren quickly realised he'd been staring directly at her.

"Oh—!" Eren released her hand, rapidly pushing himself upright. "Sorry..."

A brief, airy, nervous laugh escaped her lips as she hurriedly shuffled off of him. Then, in a rather fluid motion, she moved into a crouching position in front of him and pushed herself a bit further backwards, only for her to roughly collapse on her rear, with her barely catching herself by propping herself up on her right hand.

Unintentionally, Eren followed, propping himself up on his own hands. And with his palms pressing against the concrete, he took a moment to note her bizarre attire.

Two small silver crosses pinned the crimson, hooded, hip-length cape to the shoulders of a form-fitting black jacket that'd been zipped up to the base of her neck. The cape wrapped around the outside of her shoulders. Crimson panelling ran down the jacket's sides, while the red cuffs – which looked like they were made of wool – at the ends of her long sleeves reached almost as far down as her knuckles, her thumbs poking through the thumb-hole in each cuff. Then, fastened securely around her hips, sat the dark-grey belt Eren had noticed earlier, with a silver brooch pinned to its front, its design depicting some type of rose. And sitting on each side of the belt were two more stiff and full-looking rectangular pouches, all black with red lining. And finally, starting from beneath the jacket's crimson hem, which looked much like the cuffs, a pair of fitted black pants covered both her legs and the legs of the red-soled and seemingly red-laced black combat boots that her feet were sitting in.

Her outfit certainly looked pretty outlandish. Seriously, who wore stuff like that? Not anyone he knew, that was for sure.

His eyes returned to her face. She was staring over her shoulder at the sphere she'd dropped from. He followed her gaze.

The sphere appeared to be losing control, though Eren didn't know for certain. The lace-like surface pattern spun and shifted quicker and quicker in varying directions. The rays of colours had disappeared – he'd apparently missed the moment they'd gone. He could say the same for the static sensation he'd felt before the sphere had first started forming. He just figured the girl had to be more important. Bright rays of light suddenly shone through the surface, rapidly gliding over everything around the sphere until it burst.

A blast of wind swirled around the group. Eren's fringe blew into his eyes, yellow bolts zapped and dissipated, and the snowflakes and embers burst outward, creating a sight reminiscent of a firework display, the snowflakes sparkling and the embers spreading in all directions, before they faded away too.

Eren took a moment to gather himself, using one of his hands to fix his now tousled hair.

The spectacle had disappeared, and now...

Eren's eyes wandered to the other cadets. The other three feminine figures he'd seen drop out had landed on Mina, Thomas, and Connie.

So now they had four outlandish-looking girls, one of them unconscious as far as Eren could see.

The unconscious girl appeared to be rather slim, judging from the sleeves of her white jacket, along with her legs, despite being mostly covered by her white thigh-high boots and the black lace trim of her white skirt. Her pale white complexion made Eren think she'd spent a good majority of her life living in a colder climate. And her white hair, tied into bun tail at the side, was still apparently as long as one of Mina's arms, if not a little longer.

He let his gaze drift away, noticing the large metal scythe laying on the ground to his right, in-between him and the girl. She had her back to him, her head turning as her eyes darted across her surroundings. Back to the scythe, the crescent-shaped blade bore an equally curved frame, coloured rose red and bearing black trimmings. It also seemed to be in pristine condition, as far as he could see. The scythe's shaft, however, appeared to be similar in shape to a long-barrel rifle, with the exception of the rest of the shaft, apparently one with the long barrel leading up to the muzzle on the scythe blade, as it led to a small, hook-like, double-pronged, jagged blade at the bottom.

"Yang, are you okay?" the girl called out, prompting Eren to look up from the weapon. Her eyes were trained on Thomas and a fair-skinned blonde girl sprawled on top of him, likely the one she'd called Yang.

Yang's eyes fluttered open, revealing a set of scarlet irises, which quickly faded to and stayed lilac. The fact her eyes could switch between lilac and red, both of them already being strange eye colours, automatically brought up questions (how can her eyes change? Why did her eyes just change? Is her sight okay? Does it affect her vision when the colours change?). Ignoring the questions, Eren then noticed her lilac eyes also nearly matched the purple pendant set in silver around her neck, along with a decorated violet piece hanging from the left rear-end of the lower of two crooked black belts slung around her hips. Gold accents adorned both belts, which carried a pair of identical swords hanging between them, a sword at either hip. Plus, a slim, bronze, strapless, metallic backpack sat stuck to her back.

Eren watched her lift her head off Thomas' forearm. Her bright, golden blonde hair – which she wore loose, letting it reach roughly hip-level, at least – drew across his chest and upper arm, cascading off one of her shoulders. As her fists propped up her upper body, Eren noticed a pair of yellow gauntlets, loaded with scarlet-coloured shotgun rounds surrounding her wrists, the gauntlets sitting over the black fingerless gloves on her hands, with one hand on Thomas' abdomen. Her eyes flicked over to Eren's briefly, before they drew toward the girl in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yang said, throwing up her hand and waving. Her eyes caught the gauntlets encased around her forearms, reaching the backs of her hands, and she blinked. Her gauntlets made a few clicking noises as the metal shifted and retracted, closing into yellow metal bracelets around her wrists. Both hands then rested on her thighs. "I'm just a little bit... confused, I guess." Yang shook her head. "How are Weiss and Blake?"

If Eren remembered correctly, 'Weiss' was supposed to mean 'white'. If that remained the same wherever they'd come from, then it made sense for Weiss to be the name of the unconscious white-haired girl on top of Mina. And by pure logic, that would leave the one called Blake to be the girl laid atop Connie, holding some sort of all-black sword which looked like a cleaver attached atop the barrel of a pistol. And, unlike the other girls, Blake wore a black bow atop her head.

The silver-eyed girl threw a concerned look each at Weiss and Blake, before looking back at Yang. "Let's just give them a minute – I'm sure they'll be fine." She waved a hand. Eren caught the concern lacing her voice.

Since she clearly cared about her friends, she had to be a decent person, right?

Eren's gaze drew back to the scythe. From an aesthetic standpoint, it would belong to her, but how would she wield it? Why would she need a scythe anyway, and one combined with a rifle at that? It looked as if it'd be bigger than her, maybe even bigger than himself. So, naturally, it'd be heavy to hold, and likely difficult to use too. Pushing himself to his feet, he dusted himself off before crouching and grabbing the scythe. One hand wrapped around the barrel while his other grabbed the staff-like black handle just below the trigger. He ended up correct, using a bit more effort than he would usually be willing to admit he needed in order to lift the scythe off the ground. His arms almost trembled with the weight as he pulled it up, onto the jagged blade on the end.

"Hey, did you drop this?" Eren called out to her. He sounded almost as awkward as he thought he looked. Bent forward slightly, his stance made him look reminiscent of an old man holding onto a stick to help himself stand and walk, but with a damn gun-scythe instead of a stick, and he's young and supposed to be stronger thanks to his youth. Yet despite the advantages his youth should give him, he can barely hold it.

She looked over her shoulder, her eyes meeting his again. She glanced at the scythe, then at him, then at the scythe again, before her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She finally looked back at him and nodded. "Yeah!" Scrambling to her feet, she easily took the scythe from Eren's hands. Now she stood upright, Eren found her to be around 5'2", roughly five inches shorter than him. "Yeah, this is—this is mine," she said, a slight, nervous chuckle escaping her lips. "Thanks—really. I thought something was missing. I didn't even realise I'd dropped it." She smiled. He noticed her voice didn't sound as high-pitched now, compared to when she'd first fallen on him. He made an effort to avoid focusing on how fondly she spoke of her weapon. "And I'm really sorry about landing on you and all. I didn't hurt you, did I? Besides almost crushing your ribs, I mean."

"Uh, no, not really," Eren answered, thankful she'd taken it – quite literally – out of his hands. Too long holding it and he might have ended up straining the muscles in his arms. He straightened his back. "What's your name, anyway? And what was that thing you came out of?"

"Oh, right!" The scythe suddenly transformed, retracting into itself just like the gauntlets had done. Upon closing into a red and black hunk of metal, she held it close to the silver plate on her back. The red hunk of metal appeared to stick itself to the plate, under her cape. "Well, for starters, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"And that thing we just came out of? Long story," Yang piped up with a grunt, prompting Eren and Ruby to look toward her. Only a few feet from where Eren and Ruby stood, Yang pushed herself to her feet with her hands on her thighs, half-covered by black thigh-high stockings attached via garter-belts to a short black skirt beneath the hem of a pale lavender vest with a deep V-neck collar. And emblazoned on the outside of each thigh, he saw a gold emblem reminiscent of a burning heart, similar in colour to her hair and gauntlets, as well as the gold cuffs adorning the elbow-length sleeves of the black shrug worn atop the vest.

"Yeah..." Ruby agreed as she lowered her head. "Anyway, uh," she started again, meeting his gaze, "what about you?"

Eren blinked, taking a moment to really register she was likely asking his name. His shoulders tensed as he answered and almost stumbled over his words, "Oh—Eren. My name's Eren Jaeger." He then shook his head: there were more pressing matters at hand than introducing himself. These girls, for starters – what circumstances had led them to drop out of the spectacle he'd just seen? If he didn't ask and try to gain information, he wouldn't find out. "I know your friend said it was a long story, but what happened before you ended up here? How'd you end up in that thing we just saw?"

Ruby gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged. "We were trying to get back two stolen artefacts – teleportation devices, pretty much. Our, uh, mission took a turn and the devices were thrown at me, one of them hit me and it set it off, and then my teammates and I all got stuck in its influence—" She cut herself off. She blinked, and her eyes shot wide open. She pivoted. Her eyes darted around and scoured the area again, before she looked toward Yang. "Hey, Yang. Looks like Shaye didn't end up here with us."

Yang was holding her hand out for Thomas, who'd barely managed to prop himself up on one hand, while he rubbed his head with the other. Meeting Ruby's gaze, she blinked, eyes widening, before her eyes darted in various directions. Then, looking back towards Ruby, she shrugged. "I don't see the Bullhead or the container for the devices. Or the actual devices, either. I guess none of them got caught in the reaction."

Ruby frowned. She glanced away, briefly eyeing the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" Eren cocked his head to the side. When Ruby didn't answer him, he stepped around her left side, stopping a bit behind her. Bending at the waist, he tried to get a good look at her face.

Her brows furrowed while her head slowly swivelled from left to right, and she seemed to notice more of her surroundings. She faced the Trost District, her thumb and forefinger cupping her chin, her other hand propping up her elbow. "How did we end up here? With borders like these walls, if this was a place on Remnant, we'd have known this kind of place at least existed and it'd look familiar, but it doesn't. I don't even think these are part of Remnant's past architectural structures. And given their uniform, the cannons, and the gear, some kind of military has to be residing here. I don't recognise the uniform though, nor the badges or the gear. If Weiss and Blake don't end up recognising anything either, then we'd know we might not be in Remnant anymore. But why would that artefact even send us here anyway? Unless—"

Eren planted a hand on her shoulder. "Hey."

Ruby blinked, her eyes snapping wide open. She whirled to face him, silver eyes meeting his teal-green.

He offered the softest smile he could manage, since he found himself feeling guilty for spooking her. "You... said you had a team, right? I'm assuming those three are your teammates?" he asked, releasing her shoulder.

"Oh! Sorry, yeah—Yang, Blake, and Weiss are my teammates. We make up Team RWBY, as in R-W-B-Y. I'm the leader of our team." As Ruby scratched the back of her head, she looked up at Eren through her eyelashes. "Was I talking out loud?"

"Yep."

Ruby's hands flew up to cover her face. However, he still caught her cheeks burning bright red between her fingers. "I'm sorry," she groaned, obviously embarrassed, "I promise I don't do that a lot." She hesitantly lowered her hands.

"Oh, it's no problem. You're not the only person that does it, no matter where we both come from." He waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, you were right about us being military. I'm a Cadet, as are the others. You can recognise us by the badge." With his forefinger, Eren tapped the badge on the front of his jacket, watching her eyes flick down to see the badge before meeting Eren's eyes again. He dropped his arm. "Today is supposed to be our last day as Cadets, though. We were up here on cannon maintenance duties before you showed up. And tomorrow we're supposed to be choosing which regiments we want to join, so the badges are sure to change."

"So I shouldn't get used to seeing them on you and your friends. Gotcha." Ruby nodded, offering a small, fairly cheerful smile that made Eren feel as if he didn't have to be wary of her.

She and Yang didn't seem to harbour any ill intent, nor want to cause him or the others any harm. And despite being in an entirely unfamiliar place, though they still had to be concerned about just where they'd ended up, neither girl had visibly panicked yet. And so far, at least on Eren's end, they'd actually been pleasant company. Sparing a glance at Thomas, he appeared to be having a pleasant time talking with Yang, albeit a bit awkward on his end.

Any of them could have attacked and likely overpowered the Cadets in an attempt to gain information they wanted, like in some of the books Armin tended to read. A lack of understanding, patience, and maybe a lot more, could've caused a fight by now; maybe even casualties, given the weapons these girls carried, at least one of which could easily slice and dice him and the others – Yang's gauntlets apparently the only exception, but that being said, she could still use them to beat someone to death.

Either way, he trusted his judgement of character. If Ruby didn't seem to pose a threat to him and the Cadets personally, and neither did her teammates, why outcast them? He didn't see any need to incite reasons for Ruby and him to distrust one another. The same could be said for their teammates and friends.

"Anyway, where are we?" Ruby asked, leaning on her tip-toes. She looked out at the area around them, only to turn back and face him again. "I mean, we're standing here on some really big wall with some old-timey looking cannons on it, and then there's the city below."

"Right, I should explain that. We have two of these walls: Wall Rose, the one we're standing on now, and Wall Sina, the innermost wall. That city is Trost District, and on the side with cannons is the land making up Wall Maria, which we had to abandon five years ago." Eren shook his head again, already ridding his mind of the usual snippets of memories all too ready to crop up. He shot a reassuring smile at Ruby and gestured past her, toward Trost. "If you want specifics, Trost is what we call an outlier district. There are districts like these along the outside of each wall. We use these outlier districts to keep security costs down by drawing the Titans to specific areas along the wall."

"So the defence against the Titans can be focused in these areas and make defending the walls easier and more effective, as having troops stationed all the way along the wall would be too costly for the military." Ruby's shoulders hunched as she gave a nervous but cheeky grin. Eren blinked, finding himself at a loss for words. Ruby scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, completely stole your thunder there. It's a pretty logical strategy that's based on efficiency, which I've managed to incorporate into my fighting style." Her arm fell as she briefly averted her eyes, offering a shrug of her shoulders. "I might as well ask you what Titans are, though. I mean, we're here now, so we should try and learn about the enemies and monsters you guys are up against, since I'm guessing your military's main purpose for being created was to fight these Titans. Which means these walls are supposed to keep them out because they're a threat to the people living within, right?"

Her genuine curiosity seemed obvious. "They're a threat alright. Here," he beckoned with a wave, turning on his heel. He headed to a space between two cannons and stopped near the outer edge of the wall. "The walls are fifty metres high and were designed to keep humanity safe and cooped up behind it, as well as keep the Titans outside." His eyes met Ruby's as she stopped at his left, before she peered down over the edge. He followed her gaze to the several humanoid giants strolling around the land below, more than a few scratching at the walls. "Those are Titans down there. They look small from up here, but once you see them up close, they're a terror to have to fight. I've heard of a few people pissing themselves in fear at just the thought of facing a Titan in battle, let alone seeing one the first time."

An awkward chuckle escaped Ruby's lips. "Anyway, what do the Titans do? Are there different forms of them? And how big are they?" she asked, leaning closer toward Eren as they turned to fully face one another. "Because on Remnant, the world where we come from, we have monsters we call the Creatures of Grimm. Grimm can live for decades, even centuries, and there are always new forms or types of them being discovered. And the older they're allowed to get, the bigger and smarter they usually get, too. Do Titans work like that?"

"Uh, not that we know of. If Titans grew bigger with every year they were allowed to live, a lot of the ones you see down there would probably be taller than the wall. But there's only been one documented case of that happening, and even then I doubt it's due to age. Actually, I hope it's not due to age." He'd rather not talk about it, since he'd only end up reminding himself of five years ago and probably get angry and cry again, but she'd asked, so he may as well provide her with the barest of answers: "We called it the Colossal Titan. It was sixty metres tall, its head a whole ten metres taller than the top of this wall. As for there being other types of Titans, we did encounter the Armoured Titan that appeared around the same time the Colossal Titan did. Five years ago, now."

…Well, shit, that'd been far from a bare answer. Now she was going to ask what happened when they appeared and—

"Must be tough trying to fight that thing with the equipment you've got. I mean, the cannons look ancient and I'm guessing those swords are only good enough to use against regular Titans, and even then, you wouldn't really need more than one or two swords if there wasn't the possibility of your swords breaking or going dull. And even then, that gear you're wearing has to be the only... high-tech equipment I've seen here so far. Shouldn't there be someone working on improving the equipment you guys have? Your cannons could really use a lot of upgrading, especially if you're gonna take on an armoured Titan, let alone a Titan at least as big as this wall."

"Huh?" Eren blinked, not expecting their conversation to take that turn. He was damn sure she would've asked about Wall Maria and what had happened when the two new Titans appeared five years ago! Well, either way, she'd brought up the military's equipment now, and he was inclined to listen on, since she seemed to know what she was talking about. Just like Spring, too, surprisingly—wait. "Oh! If you're interested in our equipment, then you might wanna talk to Spring. She's the daughter of an inventor and knows a lot about making new equipment. Especially stuff involving some different coloured crystals, for some reason, although I don't know how she ever gets her hands on them."

"Different coloured crystals? Sounds like what we call Dust," a sharper, more refined voice chirped in from behind Eren.

Ruby and Eren both swivelled in place.

A few feet away, the white-haired girl he'd assumed was Weiss pushed herself up from the ground, Yang and Mina supporting her on either side. Her hair slipped off of Mina's arm, falling behind Weiss herself and, much to Eren's surprise, barely reaching her hips. Striking blue eyes met Eren's own, reminding him of Armin, until he noticed a crooked scar running down her left eye, from her eyebrow to her cheekbone. Those eyes pierced through him; intimidated him; judged him for shit he didn't even remember if he'd done or not. And yet, he could tell she wasn't trying to do any of those things – not at the moment.

"Oh, Weiss! You're awake!" Ruby approached her with a spring in her step. Eren followed her, since it'd just be weird if he looked like he was watching them from afar.

"Glad to see you noticed," Weiss pulled her arms away from Mina and Yang and dusted herself off – particularly the back of her skirt. Her eyes met his as he stopped a bit behind Ruby, at her left side. "Who's your friend?" she asked, facing Ruby.

"Ah—this is Eren. Jaeger. Eren Jaeger." With her hand, Ruby gestured to Eren, sparing a few glances between him and Weiss. "He's a Cadet with the military here."

"Oh, you're just a Cadet. That puts me a bit at ease, since I already figured you guys would've been part of some military. The uniforms gave it away." Weiss glanced at Mina, whose shoulders hunched, before turning back to Eren. "Well, regardless, my name's Weiss Schnee. And I don't recognise this place whatsoever. Where'd we end up?"

A soft, gasping grunt cut Weiss off, originating from another few feet away from them. Everyone snapped their attention to where Blake laid sprawled flat atop Connie. Her hand loosened its grip on her sword, letting it clatter on the ground.

"Ow..." her mellow voice groaned into the leather covering Connie's shoulder. Each adorned with a black ribbon wrapped securely up to her knuckles, with the ribbons coming from under a pair of black detached sleeves spanning her arms, from her upper arms to her wrists, her hands twitched. She pressed her palms against the ground, on either side of Connie's head. Pushing herself up off him a little, she shook her head, closed eyes scrunching up, until she opened her eyes and realised the position she'd ended up in. Connie's face was shining scarlet. Her eyes fluttered wide open and she gasped, scrambling to her feet. After stumbling back a step or two, she held her hand out, face flushed with embarrassment. Her golden irises shone with a sympathetic apology. "I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?"

"N-No, no—it's—it's okay!" Connie stuttered helplessly. His face was practically glowing! He shakily took her hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet. "Not hurt at all!"

"Ah! That's good, then," Blake sighed, sounding relieved. Releasing Connie's hand, Blake's eyes flicked to the sword on the ground behind him, and she darted around Connie, crouching as she picked it up. She planted the sword on her back, atop a slim, silver, strapless metallic backpack stuck to the fabric of a sleeveless, skin-tight, matte-black cardigan, which was buttoned up, from the midnight-purple belt around her hips, up to her chest. Another, more calm sigh slipped from her nose, and she stood back up, turning to face Connie, who immediately tensed under her gaze. Her lips curled into a small, polite smile. "Sorry... about... that. Well, my name's Blake Belladonna. You are...?"

"Uh—Connie! My name's Connie Springer!" Connie bowed before her, which appeared to take her off-guard, as she took a step back and threw her hands up. Sasha chuckled at the sight, and Eren had to press his own lips together to stop himself from doing the same.

"Well, uh... nice to meet you, Connie..." Blake's eyes wandered away from Connie, gaze briefly meeting Eren's. Then sharing glances with Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, her smile widened, and she sent them a wave. Only Ruby and Yang returned it with waves of their own, as Blake then took a step toward them. "Are you guys okay? None of you were hurt too badly, right?" she called out.

"No! I think we're pretty good. Right?" Ruby looked between Weiss and Yang. Yang nodded, though Weiss could only offer a small shrug. All three of them turned back to Blake as Ruby asked, "What about you? You holding up okay?"

Blake's gaze lingered on Weiss momentarily, but she soon nodded back at Ruby. "Yeah. I think I'll be fine." Blake shrugged. She turned her focus to Sasha, who stood beside Connie while trying to stop herself from giggling, amused by the look still on Connie's face. "Do you guys know where we are?" Blake glanced between them.

Both Connie and Sasha stopped and abruptly faced Blake, jaws slack and brows raised. Sasha was the first to respond, though, suddenly shaking her head before she brightly grinned and held up her forefinger: "We're on Wall Rose! Stood on the fifty-metre outer wall of Trost District!"

"We're fifty metres high?" Blake blinked. She turned her head away again, observing her surroundings. Her gaze lingered on the Trost District behind Connie. Looking at Sasha again, she tilted her head. "How are you guys supposed to get up and down? I don't see any lifts."

"We usually just use our gear for that," Connie piped up, voice quieter than normal – nervous, most likely. His hands tapped his canisters. "We only really use lifts to bring equipment up here. Like ammunition for the cannons and stuff like that."

"Oh, I see. That must be what the crates are for, then." Blake threw a glance at the wooden crate behind her. Switching to Sasha, she offered a small smile and tilted her head. "By the way, I haven't asked your name yet."

"Oh! Sasha! I'm Sasha Braus. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Sasha nearly shouted, dipping in a sudden bow.

Blake threw her hands up again. "Please, relax. There's need to do that," she reassured. "Since we're introducing ourselves though, the other girls over there make up the team I belong to. Ruby is our team leader, Yang is her older sister and my team partner, and then there's Weiss."

"Hey!"

At Weiss' outburst, Ruby turned her head away, snickering into her hand.

Eren, meanwhile, was still wrapping his head around Ruby and Yang apparently being sisters.

Just... how? They looked so different! Maybe one of them took after one parent than the other?

"Uh, hey," Thomas quietly piped up, snatching Eren from his train of thought. Eren turned as Thomas came closer, leaning a little into Eren's personal space. "What do you think we should do about them?" he asked, voice hushed.

"What, the girls?" Eren crossed his arms, turning away and talking just as quietly to Thomas. He hoped Ruby wouldn't be listening, but upon sparing a glance over his shoulder, he found her talking to Weiss, relaying pretty much everything Eren had explained to her earlier. He faced Thomas again. "Well, they seem alright. And, at least with me, Ruby's been pretty open about her and her team's circumstances so far. All things considered, I'd say they've been pleasant company. I can't see any reason for us to antagonise them."

"So, you think it'd be a good idea to trust them?" Thomas looked a little hesitant, eyes darting to the ground as he seemed to consider their options.

"I think it'd be a good idea to try to learn more about them and the way they fight. For all we know, we and the rest of the military could learn from their experiences on the battlefield and what they know in general. I think the Scouts would be open to learning from them. They could help us to counter the Titans; maybe even wipe them out altogether." I just don't think keeping them around for that to happen will be simple. Hell, you already know that, don't you Thomas?

If Team RWBY ended up in the spotlight too much, the military would be bound to encounter trouble. He felt his stomach drop as a few scenarios filled his mind. What if some scumbag human traffickers kidnapped Yang or Weiss? What if Blake and Ruby were taken and tortured for information by the Military Police? He'd rather not know for certain what the MP would do in order to gain the information these girls had, but he'd never liked the MP or the feeling of 'bad news' some of those bastards gave him.

Besides, speaking of Team RWBY's circumstances, Eren was really beginning to realise these girls really were... well, otherworldly. No-one inside the walls, as far as Eren knew, would wear such attire, let alone carry such bizarre weaponry – especially without fear of it getting stolen. The fact that Ruby hadn't seemed to mind Eren holding her scythe definitely worried him. If they did, indeed, originate from this world, as much as Eren doubted that theory, he would've at least expected them to be... more subtle with their arsenal and accessories.

Plus, the remainder of humanity had been cooped away behind Wall Rose, Wall Sina, and down in the Underground for over a hundred years since the initial bloodbath following the sudden appearance of the Titans. The only people outside the walls were those who'd been sent outside them – the Scouts, currently – and the residents of Wall Maria who couldn't be saved, their corpses unrecoverable. And even then, the world outside Wall Maria was still believed to be populated with hordes of Titans, leaving a good majority of the rest of the world inaccessible (or so people said, since there evidently happened to be enough people remaining in the walls to keep the Titans stuck just outside, waiting to get into Wall Rose, so maybe they wouldn't have made it to other lands). Either way, the idea of these girls being from the outside world, perhaps some far-off land across the oceans, given Ruby's mention of a place called Remnant, was soon dismissed.

Still, there was another thing Eren didn't understand: why these girls dropped here. The most obvious answer would be some sort of connection between both worlds. But even then, Eren wasn't sure. What would connect this world to the one they called Remnant?

Thomas nodded, still unsure but apparently more confident than before. "Well, I trust your judgement. It's probably not too different to the way you often compliment and encourage Spring." Thomas gave Eren a soft, knowing look.

Why was Thomas looking at him like he knew something Eren didn't? Clueless, he gave Thomas a weird look. "I don't get what you mean." He folded his arms. "I just think she's cool."

"Who's cool?" Ruby and Weiss asked from behind him.

Eren blinked. Pivoting, he faced the two girls. "Oh, we were just talking about Spring, the girl I mentioned earlier."

"You mean the inventor's daughter you suggested I talk to," Ruby affirmed. Behind her, Weiss and Yang spared a curious look at each other. Expected, since he'd told only Ruby about Spring, despite Weiss seeming to overhear at least a bit of it. "Well, she does sound pretty cool."

"Wait," Blake called out as she jogged toward the group, "you mean there's an inventor's daughter in the military?" She stopped and stood between Yang, Ruby, and Thomas. Connie, Sasha, and Samuel (Eren felt bad for forgetting he was still here) stopped near her.

And the gathering felt crowded.

"Yeah. Her name's Spring. Her Dad's the inventor. He left for some job in Wall Sina a few days before the Colossal and Armoured Titans first appeared five years ago, and she hasn't seen him since." Eren shrugged. "She was also the only one aside from me who joined the Cadet Corps and was dead-set on joining the Scouts."

Thomas planted his hand on Eren's shoulder. "At first, Eren and Spring were the only two Cadets wanting to join the Scouts. Hell, Eren's so passionate about it that his temper tantrum at last night's dinner convinced Connie and I to follow him," Thomas mused with a hearty chuckle. "They made that clear, on our first day, no less. We called them suicidal because we all thought that anyone wanting to take the fight to the Titans wanted to be Titan chow."

"The Scouts are one of the regiments you were telling me about, right? When you said today was your last day as Cadets, and you were going to choose a regiment to join?" Ruby asked, shifting onto her tiptoes.

Eren nodded, finding himself pleased she remembered. "That's right! They're called the Scout Regiment, but they're also known as the Survey Corps, or the Scouts," he told her, a proud smile tugging at his lips. "They go on recon missions and expeditions to drive out the Titans inhabiting an area and reclaim it, but they often have equipment ready in case they decide to capture a Titan so they can study it and use it for experiments, since aside from trying to reclaim lands that were once ours, they're also responsible for gathering intelligence on the Titans, so that we can learn more about our enemies, and how to fight and kill them. They're the reason that Cadets like us can train to not only fight Titans, but kill them too."

"You weren't kidding when you said he was passionate," Yang said, brows high as her eyes flicked to Thomas.

"Speaking of Titans, you two haven't seen them yet, right?" Weiss asked, turning to Blake and Yang.

Yang and Blake shared a look and shrugged, Yang shooting Weiss a smile. "Can't say we have. But I'm sure they're not too scary, so what could it hurt to look?" Yang glanced at Blake, who tilted her head, offering a small, soft, almost affectionate smile at Yang.

"I can answer any questions you have about the Titans," Mina suggested, forefinger pointing to the sky.

"Sounds good. Thank you." Blake offered a more polite, but genuine, smile at Mina, and nodded. Her gaze landed on Weiss. "So? Shall we?"

After a wordless nod from Weiss, she, Blake, and Yang, headed over to the outer edge of the wall, followed by Mina, then Thomas. Ruby stayed with Eren, along with Sasha and Connie.

"Hey. We should get back to work," Connie then told Sasha. "It's not like we've got anything better to do, and we're in for it if we get caught just standing around."

Sasha nodded. "Good idea."

And now it was just Eren and Ruby.

"Guess if you've got any other questions, now's as good a time as any," Eren sighed. He dropped his arms and scratched the back of his head.

"I think I still have a few things to ask." Ruby's gaze flicked to the sky, then with a nod, she met Eren's gaze again. "Well, for starters, can you tell me more about the Titans? We talked about their size earlier a bit, and how you said they were a lot bigger up close, but I'm sure they aren't called Titans for nothing."

"Starting with the easy questions, huh?" Eren joked, letting his lips curl into a grin. With a small wave, Eren beckoned Ruby to follow him, heading to the wall's inner edge and stopping behind the rail tracks. "The Titans vary in sizes. Some are as tall as your average family home, if not taller. They usually reach up to fifteen metres – at least our run-of-the-mill ones, that is."

"So, pretty much all of them except the Colossal, right?" Ruby cocked her head at him, stepping towards the inner edge and stopping. Gazing over the landscape, her silver eyes widened, sparkling with wonder and awe. Then she shuddered, and her balance almost faltered as she stepped back.

Eren caught Ruby's shoulders, stabilising her frame. "You alright?" he asked, his almost-motherly tone surprising him.

"Yeah. Sorry," Ruby sheepishly apologised, eyes flicking to Eren.

"No need to apologise," Eren said upon releasing his hold on her. "Everyone that comes up here has to be careful with their footing, because it means certain death on both sides if anyone were to fall."

"Yeah, I gathered as much. It's a lot to take in from so high up, especially since every building looks so low in comparison."

"Like the buildings are hiding behind the wall, you think?" He had to ask, folding his arms again. He looked out over the horizon.

"I guess so," Ruby sounded unsure, and shrugged. "I don't think whoever built these houses was aiming for them to stand out. I get the feeling they were built more out of necessity, and comfort wasn't really a priority." Ruby shifted on the balls of her feet. She turned to Eren. "Fifteen metres for a Titan, though. That's bigger than most Grimm. Except maybe the Nevermore," she said, averting her eyes, "and definitely the Goliaths we saw at Mountain Glenn."

Another location Eren didn't recognise and was pretty sure he'd never heard of, but he could ask about that later. For now, his time would be better spent learning of the monsters inhabiting their world: "So, what are Grimm, if you don't mind me asking? Like the Nevermore and Goliaths you mentioned." He turned to face her.

Her eyes flicked to meet his. "Well, the Grimm are like the Titans here, in the sense that they're the monsters we fight on our world, hence why we carry weapons on us. The legends say they're born from darkness and don't have souls, meaning they don't have Aura, so they're pretty easy to kill most of the time. My team and I are only a few who train to fight them and anyone or anything disturbing the time of peace we've got going on Remnant right now. We develop abilities unique to each of us, and with them and our weapons, we protect the people of our world from the Grimm. We're called Huntsmen and Huntresses. If it's easier, think of it like if being a hero from a fairy tale was a real career. Actually, that's partly why I wanted to be a Huntress – to be just like one of those heroes."

A dry laugh escaped Eren's lips. "Sounds a lot like a heroic spirit is a requirement for the job."

"See, you'd think so, but after joining Beacon and meeting a lot of new people, I've started having my doubts."

"Uh, hey," Blake piped up behind them then. Eren and Ruby whirled to face her. She stood by herself, having slipped away from the Titan-observing group, which had apparently moved away to start talking with Connie and Sasha.

"Blake? You alright?" Ruby asked, and cocked her head, face contorted in concern.

"Yeah, don't worry. Just curious about something." Blake waved her hand reassuringly, gaze softening as her eyes briefly landed on Ruby. Her eyes then flicked toward Eren, and she turned further to face him. He blinked at the gently serious vibe she gave him. "Thomas mentioned two specifically abnormal Titans appeared five years ago. The Colossal and Armoured Titans? He said they were responsible for one of these walls, Wall Maria, the outermost wall, being abandoned five years ago. I asked him what happened, but he told me to talk to you. He said it wasn't his story to tell, since you were there and got to see them first-hand."

Oh.

Well... he couldn't say he hadn't been expecting this. He'd more-so expected Ruby to ask about it, but Blake gave off an air of being the frequently curious type, much like Eren himself – something he realised when he noticed Ruby's lack of surprise with Blake inquiring about Wall Maria.

"Well, where do I start?" Eren found his tone sounding dull, though had no desire to try and make himself sound more lively or okay, pretending as if the entire ordeal hadn't devastated him to the point where even remembering the things he'd seen ended up with him backtracking again to the second stage of grief: anger. Attention switching back to Blake, he started: "Shiganshina was a south-side district of Wall Maria, like Trost is a south-side district of this here Wall Rose. South-side districts are some of the least desirable places to live inside the walls, since they're at higher risk of a Titan invasion, given the most Titans come from the south. Shiganshina was also my hometown, despite all that.

"The Colossal Titan was the first one we saw. We saw the bastard's hand holding onto the wall before we even saw its head rise over the top. The only thing it did was kick in the outer gate. Then it just... disappeared. And once it was gone, the regular Titans flooded into Shiganshina. My..." Eren faltered, the words he wanted to say dying on his tongue. My Mom died to one of those Titans. "My home was destroyed. Crushed under the debris from the gate," he instead told them, his throat and lips feeling dry. "Mikasa and I couldn't save anything, so when we were rescued and carried off to the escape boats by Hannes, a soldier from the Garrison Regiment, the only thing we could do was sit with the other people allowed on. The only good thing about that day was the fact that our friend Armin hadn't died in the chaos, but it wasn't like we had any mind to think about that at the time.

"One we'd escaped by boat out of Shiganshina, that was when we saw the Armoured Titan. It barrelled through the inner gate that led into the rest of Wall Maria. We could only watch as the gate shattered into little more than rubble, and the Titan came out completely unscathed and in one piece, something no normal Titan could have ever done. And much like the Colossal, it opened the way for the Titans to further flood into Wall Maria, to the point we had to leave the entire wall behind, with all of the survivors having no choice but to either die or withdraw behind Wall Rose. And we've been living in fear ever since."

"I... didn't expect it to sound so devastating." Blake's expression morphed into one of apology and sympathy. Hell, she looked near-haunted just from Eren recounting the events. "I'm sorry for asking about it."

"No, it's alright. You don't have to apologise for being curious," Eren tried to comfort her, his tone softer than before, his voice having lost its previous intensity. "After all, you were probably gonna find out about some of our history sooner or later anyway."

"And at least it explains why you're so passionate too," Ruby pointed out with an understanding head tilt. For some reason, his gut kept telling him Ruby knew about his mother's death, or at least suspected it. She could've easily clocked the fact that he'd managed to stop himself from telling them he'd lost more than just his home – that he'd lost his mother, too, and with her, the ability to know if she'd hear him now, if he told her he loved her.

"I guess so." Eren couldn't stop the small smile that came to his face. She seemed to understand him. It comforted him. Still, he couldn't decide if he really liked Ruby being able to empathise with him, because that would mean she'd likely been through a similar experience, and she'd know all too well the pain he felt. And as nice as it felt, having someone who understood his pain, he really didn't like the idea of someone going through the same hell he'd undergone.

So, time to change the subject.

"You know, the size of the districts don't even compare to the land behind the inner gate," he started, gazing out over Trost. "And even then, the rest of Wall Rose is only second in size to Wall Maria. The districts stay relatively the same size no matter where you go along the walls. And the real kicker is, we'll have more land to call home soon. I plan on driving those Titans back to hell. And once they're gone, we'll be free to reclaim the land they stole from us, and then take back the rest of our world," he boldly declared, his voice quiet, yet intense. He caught Ruby tilting her head, and smacked his lips shut, before staring, deadpan, at her through half-lidded eyes. "What's that look for?"

"Here we go..." Blake sighed, her face holding a gentle knowing look. She softly glanced at Eren, before her gaze stuck to Ruby.

Ruby blinked, and then smiled, averting her eyes as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, I was just thinking. I'm not knocking you or your drive or anything. I actually admire it. Your gear just seems a bit... weird, is all. Although, that's coming from someone who's obsessed with weapons." She offered a small shrug of her shoulders, as if she was struggling with her words. She dropped her arm. "The Titans are threatening and deadly, so shouldn't you have better weaponry that's just as threatening and deadly in order to counter them? Your gear looks pretty impressive and maybe it looks awesome in action, but I can't help feeling that it would hinder your goal of killing the Titans. It looks like it's fiddly to equip, and somehow simple and complicated at the same time."

"I'm curious. How is it both simple and complicated?" Blake folded her arms, holding her elbows.

"Well first, it's got a bit too many connected variables. Like the canisters with that emission thing, and how both connect to those holder things that I'm assuming you use to hold the blades. That would make it complicated and equipping it would be a hassle, because you'd have to manually connect the parts together with the wires in order for everything to function, and if something were to happen to those wires, the gear likely wouldn't work. In fact, now that I said that, it actually seems more like a potential flaw. Sorry." Ruby's shoulders hunched. "The way it fits on the body is the part that's simplistic. I mean, those boxes are pretty long, and that's just in order to fit the blades in. But that's probably because the blades don't transform, do they?"

"No, they don't..." Eren shook his head. His confusion at how she'd figured all that out so fast must show, but more importantly, at least he understood what she was trying to say.

Ruby folded her arms. "I don't get why you would get complacent with what you have. If you put in the time and effort, you could've developed better equipment and made yourselves better off. Same goes for the cannons. You've spent over one hundred years behind walls and the most impressive thing you've managed to develop is probably that gear, while the cannons are, again, ancient and likely worn down by age. The cannons even look like they've lost their efficiency. They need upgrading with the same effort you put into maintaining your gear. I'll bet that's why the Armoured Titan wouldn't be affected by cannonfire, and I think the same can be said of your blades. If you need so many blades, that'd mean they get dull pretty quickly, right? And they probably break pretty easily as well. I'm surprised no-one's thought of forging them with a stronger material, if you have any." Ruby planted her hands on her hips.

"The blades are actually made from ultrahard steel... there's nothing stronger than that. That we've heard of, at least."

"Not the crystals that you said Spring uses? Crystals are generally supposed to be pretty hard and durable. Something may be called ultrahard, but that doesn't mean it's actually ultrahard," Ruby told him. Blake nodded.

"I don't think she's ever used those crystals for long blades. If she does, I've never seen them. I wouldn't even know how she could make blades out of crystals," Eren deadpanned.

"Doesn't mean it's not possible," Ruby pointed out, swinging onto the balls of her feet.

"I'd go with Ruby on this. She's pretty much the resident weapons expert on our team." Blake offered a small smile, shrugging her shoulders.

Her bow twitched then. As if she'd just been spooked, Blake whirled round, tension in her dancing irises as her eyes scoured the outer edge of the wall.

"Do either of you feel that?" she asked as she reached back, tightly gripping the hilt of the sword on her back.

"Feel what?" Ruby asked, confused but still quick to pull the hunk of painted metal sitting on the small of her back. A black staff handle extended from the back of the object, with a trigger mechanism on the underside, and a scope with a rose red frame sat on top of a metal plate painted the same shade. Ahead of the scope laid a bolt, the kind Eren would've found on a rifle of some sort. It'd been built in, with a bolt handle on the far end, all painted rose red as well. At the opposite end of the hunk of metal, on the front of a black-painted piece of metal between two red metal plates framing either side, sat a hole that Eren figured would probably just be the muzzle.

Ruby must trust Blake's senses a lot, Eren noted as he watched Ruby follow Blake toward the outer edge. Still, I wonder what she noticed. She looked pretty spooked.

Just as Eren made to follow them, a bright flash of familiar yellow lightning struck, only a few feet before Wall Rose.

Blake and Ruby instantly hoisted their arms up in defensive positions, both of Blake's arms raised and crossed in front of her, while Ruby simply lifted her arm to block her face. The impact of the lightning rocked the ground with enough force to travel up the wall and cruelly throw both girls off their feet. A shout escaped both girls as they launched backward, tumbling onto their backs.

Eren's own balance faltered, and he nearly fell. His legs briefly shook, and he decided to hold his knees as a way of stabilising his stance.

He knew that lightning. Knew it all too well.

Yang and Weiss whirled toward both girls before immediately rushing over. Yang stopped beside Ruby while Weiss crouched beside Blake. Ruby and Blake were barely in the process of lifting themselves up.

In mere seconds, the head of the largely-feared Colossal Titan peered over the top of the 50-metre wall.

Weiss and Yang looked toward the frighteningly giant head, only for their jaws to go slack. Ruby's and Blake's wide eyes stared dead ahead, unable to look away from the face, their mouths also hanging open. Shock, clearly written over all four of their faces.

The other Cadets were frozen to their spots, in their positions. Wide, fearful eyes stared at the Colossal.

The moment couldn't have gone by any slower.

No-one dared to utter a word; not even as each Cadet seemed to come to one horrifying realisation:

The Titans were back to drive humanity to extinction once again.