I leaped between the branches of the trees, far above the ground. I made my boots myself and cobbled them together in such a way that they suppressed sound. Yang had disappeared and I couldn't find her anywhere in the clearing. People were still dancing and drinking by the light of torches. Weiss had long since gone and from the edge of the treeline I could see Blake. She had a way of blending into crowds and subtly moving through them. With her watching out for any commotion in the clearing, I thought that moving deeper into the forest to look for Yang would be a safe bet. Moving through the trees, I saw a trail of broken twigs. They looked as though they had been stepped on carelessly. Someone who was drunk had clearly moved through there and disturbed them. I had a few ideas as to who it could be.

Following the trail for quite some time, I came upon a dim light. A lantern had been set on the ground, Tyrian and Yang were sitting on the ground around the lantern and talking. What's even worse was that they were talking about me. "My sister has been such a mess lately," Yang complained, "thank you for agreeing to help me with her,"

"Of course," Tyrian's tail twitched. It was so unsettling when he moved his tail like that. I got closer to hear them more clearly.

"I just wanted to encourage her to leave our dorm sometimes. You know, maybe get her to enjoy her youth a little, but I take her out of the house once and she loses her mind. I would really appreciate it if you could try not to scare her," Yang put a hand on Tyrian's shoulder. The two of them were sitting down with the lantern placed between them. Ostensibly, they had been laid up that way for quite some time.

"I'll be on my best behavior," He said.

"Thank you. I really do mean that," she jostled him, "and by the way, I'm not sure how, but somewhere along the way my sister seems to have fallen for you. Though I do want you to be kind to her I would also appreciate it if you didn't fuck my sister, Tyrian."

"I'll try,"

"I appreciate the attempt, I really do. My sister also mentioned something to me about silver eyes. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"Eyes are windows into the soul, which is an endless inferno… Someone, quite some time ago, told me something to that effect," Tyrian stretched his legs a bit while he sat, "And I'm of the opinion that one can never have too many twin flames." Yang looked confused, skeptical, but I managed to get a clear look at Tyrian's face. Indeed, it was the clearest image of the man I had gotten up until that point. It would go on to be burned into the inside of mind and smolder forever more. The lantern's light had lit his face and in his amber-gold eyes were rings of silver. "Your sister and I will get along just fine I think. Same eye color 'n all, you know."

"They're not the same though. Hers are silver and your's are silver-gold. It doesn't really count does it?"

"It does as far as I'm concerned. Any amount of silver in the eyes is a thing worth celebrating. I heard it gives you magic powers. Could you imagine being able to shoot lightning out of your ass and fire out your eyes?" Tyrian joked. I had only known two people who had silver eyes: myself and my mother. She had disappeared when I was only three. Many people started to believe that she was dead, even my father. He built a grave for her on a cliff that overlooked the valley we called home. How ridiculous, what kind of fool builds a grave for a woman who still lives? They all said that she was dead and every time their words escaped their lips, everytime they told me how sorry they were or how hard losing her must be for us, I winced. I bit my tongue, clenched my jaw, and buried my anger down miles under the ground, far below the supposed grave they dug for her. My mother was not dead. She would never leave us so easily.

The existence of Tyrian complicated things though. Up until then, I had thought that my mother and I were the only people in the world with silver eyes. I thought of it as a unique bond between the two of us, but then I learned that what we had wasn't one of a kind. Apparently there were more people like us and Tyrian was one of them. 'Perhaps my mother was bound to come back to me because she and I had the same eyes,' I used to think. I thought we were special, so of course she would come back, but Tyrian disabused me of that notion.

I was almost prepared to despair, but then a thought dawned on me. What if Tyrian knew where my mother was? It would make sense. He was the only other person I had ever met with silver eyes. Perhaps I had been going about things the wrong way. Maybe Tyrian could be useful to have around, for now at least.

"I shoulda known. This is more of that supernatural horseshit you're always on about. Twin flames, and destiny, and all that crap," Yang groaned, "and from how it sounds, you believe in Silver-eyed warriors too,"

"Never did I say I believed they're real, I just think the mythology is fascinating. I've done a lot of reading on them. That's all."

"Yeah because that's all you can do. All you can do is read about them because none of it's real. It's all just stories."

"True, but I think we could all use a good story from time to time. Especially in a world like this," Tyrian shrugged. When he shrugged his tail moved back and knocked up against the tree I had been hiding in. His had a thick carapace and it smacked the tree with considerable force. It shook and swayed. Pretty soon, I found myself unable to maintain my balance. I fell from the tree and landed with a thud. Peeling myself off the ground, I greeted the two with a sheepish, apologetic smile.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?" Yang pulled me up from the ground and swatted the leaves and dirt from my cloak, "Were you spying on us?"

"N-no," I stammered

"Honestly, Ruby… What am I going to do with you?"

"I just wanted to know where you were. Then I saw you with Tyrian and I got worried. I couldn't help but eavesdrop,"

"Why?"

"Because he's creepy! He's a weird, creepy man who flies around on pixie dust and leads a troupe of rogues! How could I not be worried about your safety?"

"Ruby," Yang groaned, "you're starting to sound just like Blake, scared of everything that one."

"I am not!"

"No, that's not it," She talked past me, "You're starting to sound like our mom! You're just like her. Whenever you get an idea in your head you run with it and no one can convince you otherwise."

"Why are you bringing her into this?" I cocked my head and began to cross my arms.

"It doesn't matter. My point is-"

"No, don't dodge my question. Our mother was a great woman and she did everything for us. You have no right to talk about her as though she didn't have any sense,"

"I know. I'm sorry. You're clearly upset so let's try to work this out,"

"I'm not upset!"

"Ruby," she smirked, "You're one of the few people in this world that I care about. You're my sister. I've known you all my life and I know when you're upset," When she said that I realized how hot my face was. I was flushed with frustration and was probably bright red.

"Don't baby me! A lot's changed in the past year, I'm not that flighty little girl you once knew. I saw a potential threat and when I pointed it out to you, you ignored me. So of course I'm upset. Who wouldn't be?"

"Well you obviously overheard our conversation just now. Does he still seem so threatening?" Yang chuckled, gesturing to Tyrian who just stood there with a little smirk on his face like an idiot.

"Obviously I know that now, but how was I supposed to know that back then?"

"Trust, dear sister. It's a five letter word that makes a world of difference,"

"I can't take your word and just go trusting someone as suspicious as him,"

"You're starting to sound like Weiss! Just because he's a Faunus doesn't mean he's up to no good,"

"That's not what this is about,"

"Then what is it about?" Yang looked tired of all this. The time for dancing around the issue and ignoring it had passed, it seemed.

"How well do you remember our mother?"

"Pretty clearly,"

"Lucky you, I was too young when she left us so I don't remember much, but there is one thing about her that I can recall more clearly than any other-"

"I know where you're going with this. Please just drop it," She interrupted with such miserable pity in her eyes.

"She had silver eyes, Yang! Until tonight her and I were the only people with eyes like that, then he came along searching for me. He has to know something about her!"

"You're not making any sense… It's just a coincidence. Please just calm down and we can work this out,"

"Our mother attended this academy too, you know. It's no coincidence that everyone with silver eyes is connected to Beacon in some way. He HAS to know about what happened to her! He could help us find her!" I pleaded my case with battered breath, but Yang only stared at me. With each word her expression only grew sadder. Yang hugged me,

"She's gone, Ruby. I loved her too, but you have to understand that we aren't going to get her back." I had heard similar words before, but I never thought that they would be coming out of Yang's mouth. Hearing her say that made me start to cry. The tears flowed and I began to whimper.

Tyrian paced over to a wild bush and plucked a rose from it. Then he cut in, "Pardon me, Ms. Xiao Long," he said as he handed me a handkerchief to dry my face.

"We're half sisters," I told him, "I'm not a Xiao Long. I go by Rose."

"What A lovely Surname. So lovely, In fact I may just have to take it for myself!" He joked and offered me the rose he had just taken from the bush. However, that got me thinking. Why would he hand me a rose? It seemed like the set up for a joke that wouldn't make sense for him to tell. That is, if he truly didn't know that my surname was Rose. Another interesting coincidence. Indeed, happenstance seemed to be swarming in the air that night. I never put too much stock in dumb luck and I didn't take any of what Yang had said to heart. Coincidences don't just happen. My mother was alive somewhere and Tyrian no doubt knew about her disappearance. Perhaps, he even played a part in her disappearance. Clearly I couldn't voice those concerns now though. No one would believe me. I planned on keeping my true feelings about him in my back pocket. I would earn his trust, convince the others that I had forgotten about my suspicions, and wait for my time to strike. The act would begin now. I played along with his joke and feigned a loud, dramatic sob. "I take it you didn't find that funny. Anyways, there's going to be a foot race later."

"A foot race? At this hour?"

"Yes, Ms. Rose, a foot race from here all the way back to Beacon Academy. The two of you are more than welcome to join," Tyrian started to walk away from us, back towards the clearing, when Yang said:

"I don't think we'll be getting involved with that. My sister and I have had long night, I think we'll just be going home," Yang said

"Oh, is that so," Tyrian turned

"Yes, I couldn't imagine either of us running a foot race right now,"

"Well, it wouldn't be a standard race. It's a race between hunters. Aura, semblances, and all manner of trickery would all be on the table,"

"Let's do it!" I perked up. Yang looked surprised. She held me at arm's length and asked me if I was sure. "Nothing like a bit of sparring to lighten the mood," I forced a smile.