{Keoth's perspective}

Flynt took Keoth on a shopping trip to a nearby weapons shop. He couldn't stand to see his friend look so miserable. And with him being cleared from the hospital Flynt took it upon himself to help Keoth out of his funk.

"Where are we?" Keoth asked.

"A weapon's store, I had a little money saved up to make a new weapon for you since your old one broke during the Battle of Beacon."

"And I became blind." Keoth added.

Flynt sucked air between his teeth "I wasn't gonna mention that part."

Keoth shrugged "Meh, it's fine. I'm just plotting revenge on the woman who did it. So what did you order anyway?"

Flynt shrugged "Well you seem to like the color blue and black right? So in the hilt I made sure the hilt was blue and black with a fox motif to it."

Keoth raised an eyebrow in Flynt's general direction.

"Alright, I may have taken a few creative liberties with its design. But I swear I had nothing but good intentions." Flynt promised.

"And here's the weapons you ordered, Flynt." The blacksmith said over his machinery.

"Thanks man, I can always count on you." Flynt picked up Keoth's new weapons.

One was a katana with a blue handle over a black leather. The pommel had the head of a fox carved into the underside and the guard had the kanji for fox. The sheathe was a brilliant blue with a design of a fox resting in an open field.

The other weapon was a wakazashi that was stored sheathed with a barrel of a handgun as its guard. While it is in blade mode at the moment, the barrel is covered with a thick piece of metal and the safety automatically switched on. The hilt had a black wrapping over a blue leather.

Flynt handed Keoth the weapons.

Keoth inspected it with his fingers before thanking Flynt.

"Anytime man. Now let's go. We have more things that need to be done."

Keoth glanced at Flynt puzzled "Like what?"

Flynt shrugged "Ironwood wasn't specific. He just said he needed you. And as your leader and friend, I feel like I should at least walk with you."

Keoth nodded. "Fine, but just so we're clear I don't need to be led around. I can get around just fine on my own." Keoth said as he waved his stick towards Flynt's general direction.

Flynt put his hands up. "I wasn't saying that."

The two headed towards Atlas Academy. Eventually ending up in front of Ironwood's office.

Flynt decided to wait outside "I'll see you in a bit."

Keoth gave a nod and entered Ironwood's office.

Once inside Ironwood greeted him from behind his desk "Good to see you up and about Keoth." Ironwood greeted.

"Yeah it's difficult, but it's getting easier. Just got a new weapon."

Ironwood smiled, "I'm glad to hear you're getting closer to being able to attend Atlas Academy again."

"Wait, you're still letting me attend?"

"Of course, you know our world better than even I or Ozpin. Don't worry, I didn't disclose too much information with him other than you being from another world."

Keoth raised a brow at Ironwood "Um… why would you do that?"

Ironwood shrugged "Well it's not everyday we hear of a person who dies in their world and gets transported to our planet. It's almost unheard of."

"Aside from anime." Keoth mumbled.

"What was that?" Ironwood asked.

"Nothing." Keoth backtracked.

Ironwood stroked his five o' clock as he continued "Anyway, all things considered, you're clear to go back with your teammates."

Keoth bowed politely "Thank you General Ironwood."

Ironwood laughed, "Please, call me James."

Keoth, though confused, agreed "Alright, thank you James."

"Anytime, I may even have something special if you can earn it." Ironwood told Keoth in a stern tone.

"And that would be?" Keoth asked.

Ironwood leaned forward as he told Keoth "A chance to become an AceOp."

Keoth was shocked to hear that. "Um… Yeah, let me think about that."

"That's all I ask." Ironwood said just as the doors shut.


Schnee Manor

{Justin/Achilles' perspective}

The fundraiser event seems to have been moved forward by a few weeks. So my guess is that Jacques is planning something. And I am not exactly a singer.

And yet he's ordered his butlers to fashion me a coat much like my trench coat. Only there's a huge black fur collar and the bottom looks almost like fire.

He said he didn't like the jacket my suit came with so he had a tailor make this for him. And his butlers have been busy for the past hour measuring me out and making sure everything fits.

But my god my arms are getting tired "Can I please put my arms down?"

"Don't you have prosthetics?" Jauques asked.

"Yes but that's only one half of my left arm. I still get fatigued."

He sighed in annoyed grimace "Let's take a break so Achilles here can rest his weary arms."

The butlers took a huge step back as I put my arms down. I then took a step off the stool they had me on.

"So Achilles." Jacques started "Why don't we have a stroll around the manor and have a chat?"

I don't like where this is going. "Why should I?"

"We hardly know each other. I just want to get acquainted with you." He said with a tinge of disdain.

"Like how you're a greedy capitalist who takes advantage of your workforce despite them being unable to afford basic necessities like food and clean drinking water?"

He strolled out of the room with me in tow. Why did I enable this? I'll be honest I don't know why I did. But I guess my curiosity got the better of me. Maybe there might be a man under all of that greed.

Jacques answered "I provide homes to those who aren't able to afford one."

"With bare minimum housing standards." I retorted.

He gave me a sort of glare that made it look like he wasn't actually not. He then continued "I also make it quite affordable so really I don't see how they think I'm the bad guy."

"And like I stated previously, there's just the bare minimum. There's no insulin, no kitchen, hell they barely have any sort of working bath or shower."

He sharply turned to me and shoved a finger in my face and cautioned me "If they weren't so lazy, they could get better housing for themselves if they really wanted it." He then continued down the hall as I followed "Anyways We're getting off track."

"Was there a track to begin with?"

Jacques gave a half-hearted laugh "Always so quick with that tongue. Has anyone told you that you would make a wonderful public speaker?"

"Many times, one time a person said I should be on the radio."

We reached a part of the mansion I had never seen before. My guess was it was where Weiss fought that Arma Gigis in the White trailer.

Glancing down at it I could see Weiss practicing with Myrtynaster. Thrusting at an invisible enemy.

Jacques placed his hands behind his back as we watched Weiss attack the air with all of the focus of a warrior.

"My daughter is quite something isn't she?" Jacques asked.

"Yes, she is. However, I only see her as a friend. And I have told you this multiple times. I'm not ok with anything more." I firmly stated.

He turned to me with a look in his eye I have seen too many times on TV. The look of him questioning how he's going to manipulate me.

He then looked back down at Weiss and told me "All I want is what's best for her and for you."

"For me? And what's best for me?"

"Why to continue the Vermilion legacy of course!" Jacques said with his arms outstretched. "After all, You don't want your family to disappear, do you?"

There's that feeling in my chest again. The white hot anger I've held in ever since I started working retail. Though it did leave everlasting pain in my chest when I was on Earth. Glad to know my younger body hasn't experienced that.

I kept my fist from accelerating towards Jacques face as I stated "Perhaps Mr Schnee… But I will only do it on my terms."

I then walked out of that hall making my statement very clear.

I'm sure Jacques won't get the hint but at this point I don't care.

{Weiss' perspective}

I was snapped out of my training when I heard Achilles above me next to my father.

I followed where he was going with my eyes before setting them upon my father.

Jacques adjusted his clip-on tie while giving me that look again and walked out of the opposite door.

Later that night I spoke to Achilles after dinner "What did you say to my father?"

He sighed as he put his glasses on the desk "I told him I'm not into the arranged marriage he's planning between us."

"The what?!" I yelled.

Achilles stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it around while he told me "Keep it down, I already have a headache."

"Sorry… But what did you say? An arranged marriage?"

He nodded as he crossed his arms "Yeah, he wants there to be Schnee/Vermillion babies or something. And I've told him multiple times I don't."

"And he's still pushing it?"

He nodded again. "It's getting rather annoying."

I sighed and groaned out of sheer annoyance. "This is ridiculous! What is his plan here?"

He raised and lowered his shoulders "Your guess is as good as mine. My guess is that he wants some sort of deal with the Vermilions if there's any left."

Just then he received a notification from his scroll.

He opened it and gave a look of shock and horror.

"What's going on?"

He glanced up at me and told me "Pyrrha's been poisoned."


Vermilion's house

{Aaron's perspective}

I should have just stuck by Pyrrha that entire time. This wouldn't have happened if I was there.

Jaune's been using his semblance on her to ill effect. She isn't moving.

Victoria went down to mix the antidote. She told me it was a process that took time. She ordered Ruby to go get a specific mushroom that grows nearby and Yang went with her.

Ren and Nora exchanged nervous glances at each other.

I sat down and buried my face in my hands.

Nora tapped my shoulder "Are you ok Aaron?"

I shook my head. "I could have stopped this if I had paid more attention." I then groaned "Why does this have to happen to me!"

Nora gave me a concerned and confused look.

Ren stepped in "None of us could have suspected this. At least Victoria is able to make an antidote."

"Yeah, but Pyrrha is constantly under threat of being killed!" I retorted.

"How?" Jaune asked sternly.

I sighed "For the past couple of weeks I've been knocking things, pushing her, and even teleporting things away from her that were aiming directly at her."

Jaune looked back at me and asked "So what, the world's trying to kill her or something?"

I couldn't look him in the eye. If I gave the answer that would out me. And unfortunately Justin had to make it seem like we were born in Remnant.

So just straight up saying that Pyrrha's supposed to die would probably result badly.

Victoria, Ruby, and Yang rushed into the room. With Yang and Ruby joining my side.

"Alright, I'll take things from here. Thanks Jaune." Victoria told the group.

"I want to stay." Jaune told her sternly.

She shook her head "Sorry but this one needs to be in private."

"Why?" Jaune asked.

Victoria sighed "Do you really need to know?"

We stayed silent

"Kids these days…" She mumbled. "Some parts of the procedure require skin contact like at the wrist or the abdomen. She can ingest it like normal but it'll take a week for her to come back to us. And something tells me you don't have a week to lose."

"So how long will it take with the other stuff?" I asked.

"Three to five days at most. That'll be enough to get her on her feet. And to put her at full strength again I'll give y'all some medicine for her to ingest once every 12 hours."

Jaune was going to protest so I stepped in. "Alright, if you think it's best, we'll leave the room for you to do your thing."

So we let Victoria do her medicine thing with Pyrrha as we waited in the living room. Jaune was pacing back and forth like an expecting father. So I assured him "Victoria did say she knows they can pull tricks like this. She'll be fine."

"Can you be sure? Can you tell me if she'll be alright?" Jaune asked.

I soberly shook my head "If only it were that easy. Achilles and I are only accurate when it comes to important events… Other than that it's blank." Besides we're so far off cannon I wonder if we'll be able to predict anything from here on out.

Jaune turned his head away while gritting his teeth.

"Jaune?" Ruby approached Jaune with a tap on his shoulder "Why don't we talk about this outside?"

Jaune nodded and headed out the door with Ruby shortly behind him.

I sighed in relief as I flopped down on the couch.

"You good?" Yang asked.

"No… But thanks for asking." I answered through my hands.

She sat next to me and said "look we're all going through a lot of emotions right now. Maybe it's best if we all go into different rooms to cool off."

Ren and Nora silently walked out of the living room and upstairs to the guest rooms.

Yang rubbed my back and assured me "Everything is going to be alright. You just gotta have hope."

"... Right."

Victoria came downstairs a moment later "Alright your friend should be good in three days. Though she'll be up, she won't be combat ready for another 4 days. So you'll need to make sure she eats this once a day" She handed me a small pill bottle "Put it in her food, blend it into a smoothie, it doesn't matter as long as she eats it."

I nodded with her instructions "Alright, So we're gonna be here for another two days." I stuffed the bag of herbs into my jacket pocket "Anything you need done around here?"

She gave me a smile "Yes, as a matter of fact I have something for both you and Yang there."

Yang raised a brow at me then returned her attention to Victoria "What do you need?"

"Oh it's rather simple. Y'all know how to fix an engine?"

Yang shot up immediately. "Of Course, I own a motorcycle."

"Excellent, follow me."

Granted I know the basics of how engines work. Justin's dad is a mechanic and has taught him more. I'll video call him if he's not in the middle of something.

We ended up at a shack just a small walk away from the house. "Alright, she's in there. My Phoenix. Unfortunately she's been stuck here ever since I got here. I haven't been able to fix her up like I normally do. I think it might be a problem with the accelerator since every time I rev it up it sounds like something's loose."

Yang corrected her "Then it might be one of the pistons or the motorhead itself. Might have to take it apart in order to fix it properly."

Victoria nodded "that's fine, so long as I can get her working before you folks leave."

She opened up the large double doors to reveal racks of tools and a bike that was primarily black with red phoenix wings on the sides. Admittedly it looks cool.

Yang seems to think the same.

"I'll come get you when I have dinner ready." Victoria told us as she walked back in the house. "Have fun!"

And so we began by first taking the panels off the side so we could access the engine. Yang told me to start the bike to figure out where the problem is.

Found the keys and started it. And there were a lot of clanking noises. I revved it and that made the problem worse.

Yang gave me the signal to power it down. "Alright, so that sounds… bad. Makes me wonder how she jerry rigged it."

I held up a finger as I went into my contacts "Achilles might know how to fix that."

So I called him through video chat.

He answered right away Oh hey dude, didn't expect you to use video call.

Weiss was right behind him, peering over his shoulder Oh hi Aaron! Hi Yang!

Yang smiled sweetly "Hey Weiss, how is it back at Atlas?"

Justin gave an annoyed grunt Where do we even start?

Weiss confirmed Father is hosting a fundraiser to help those at Beacon. Though I suspect it's more to fill his own pockets.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Anywho, he wants me and Weiss to duet on stage.

"That's a bad idea." I stated "Gonna make everyone's ears bleed"

Try telling Jacques that. Justin retorted.

What about Pyrrha? Weiss asked as she shoved her way into the camera's view.

"She's fine, she's gonna be bed ridden for three days and then we have to give her meds to get her strength back." I answered quickly.

Good, we wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Weiss said with a firm nod.

Alright you useless lesbian, let me have my scroll back. Justin demanded as he pushed Weiss off of him with his left arm.

Who are you calling- AAH! Weiss fell off the bed they were on with a loud thud.

"Arm looks good man." I complimented my best friend.

Yeah… I wish it were black and red but there is nothing I can do about it now. Justin deadpanned.

"I could paint it for you." Yang offered.

Thanks Yang, maybe next time we meet I'll take you up on that offer.

"Anyway, I called because we're stumped. The engine is clanking loudly."

Hm… Can I get a demonstration? He asked.

"Turn your volume down, it'll hurt your sensitive ears."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

We started the engine again, as it was running Justin was nodding.

We shut it off again and as soon as the noise died down he said Well I'll be honest I'm wondering how it hasn't exploded yet. He commented.

"So smartass, what could be the problem?"

Well igneous, There are 4 probable causes for that noise. He held up his robotic fingers as he counted off The first is premature detonation. Caused by either a spark plug timing or spark delay, running lean, or just dirty.

Yang gave a nod "Yeah sounds about right, what about the other three then Achilles?"

Justin adjusted his glasses The other reasons can be a warped cylinder wall, which is caused by an overheated engine, valve tapping, which is on older model motorcycles or If it's a bottom end knock the berrings might just be sideways.

Yang was impressed. "I'm definitely surprised you know all this."

Well of course, my dad's a mechanic. He's had to fix all sorts of engines. Justin said with the confidence of an olympic swimmer in a speedo.

"Alright, thanks man. Appreciate it." I said as I reached for the hangup button.

Take care of yourselves ok? We'll meet up someday.

"We will dad." Yang said with an eye roll.

Don't you take that tone with me young lady. Justin deadpanned Anywho, bye. Justin retorted with a slightly longer emphasis on the last word.

After hanging up I clapped my hands "Alright, we know some of the sources then?"

Yang nodded "Yep, and luckily they're pretty easy to fix."

"Let's get to work then."

So we removed the engine and found out it was the second thing he listed, the walls of the piston housing were warped and needed to be replaced.

"How the fuck did she manage to make it here then?" I asked out loud.

"You'd be surprised how long a damaged bike can run before it can't anymore." Yang told me.

"I know that, but still. If this bike was a person, I'd shoot it in the face."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that analogy work better on a computer? Because, you know… virus'?"

I glared at Yang. "Don't you dare make a pun."

She gave a mischievous grin "Wasn't planning on it… but since you said something."

Oh no.

She laughed, "Relax, I won't ratchet you like that." She said as she picked up a ratchet.

I picked up a nearby Philips head screwdriver and threw it at her. "I already have to deal with my friends making puns. Don't make it worse!"

"Aw… sounds like you need to take a break." I swear she had her rendition of the troll face.

I groaned "Please stop…"

She continued. "Alright alright, I'll re-tire the puns now."

"Yang Xiao Long I will end your life here and now!"

Yang couldn't stop laughing for a good minute before she actually calmed down enough to help out. We eventually found the part needed and replaced it. So we put it back on the bike and tested it. It still made some mild clunking noise.

"Maybe there's a second problem too." Yang speculated.

"Yeah maybe…"

Just before we could figure it out Victoria yelled for us.

"Looks like we'll continue after dinner."

I gave a nod. "Yeah, let's go wash our hands."