Everything was very still. It was like that moment in a theater when the lights dimmed but no one had gotten on stage yet. It was that kind of stillness that not even a needy child would dare break.

A soft hum was present. All three of them could hear it but not a single one of them could locate it. It was hard to explain but it seemed impossible for a such a subtle sound to be heard from as far away as it appeared to be. Like hearing someone rustle their sheets from across the street.

Finally, the feline faunus broke the long uninterrupted noise. "What's going on?"

Jaune strained his ears trying to find even the slightest chance in volume or pitch. There was nothing…nothing…nothing…nothing—something! "Move!" Jaune shouted to the girl whose name he still didn't know.

This time she didn't hesitant to follow orders as she leapt to the side just as something from the sky impacted the place where she had just been standing, sending a gravel wave flying in every direction.

Jaune hosted his shield to block the incoming projectiles while Emerald dropped to her stomach letting everything fly over her. Once he felt the gravel stop banging off his shield, Jaune lowered it just enough for his eyes to peek over.

Standing at the impact site was a creature that shared much in common with the spider-slug they had just killed. This one however was only a little over half the size of the original and had two transparent wings growing from its back.

The stillness had returned again as everyone tried to process their new situation. The new creature's wings twitched as it circled around its new environment, seemingly confused. Both of the girls picked themselves off the ground and backed away slowly. Spider-slug 2.0 didn't even register them as it continued to search for something.

Emerald made her way to Jaune's side. "What is that thing?" She whispered, guns trained and eyes focused on the creature looking for any signs of hostility.

"I don't know," Jaune replied. "There was nothing in the book about these things having wings."

"What's the matter?" the last, temporary, member of their group said. "If there's another one we just have to kill it too."

"The reason we have to deal with this one at all is because you went and killed the first one without thinking, kitty cat."

"I told you to call me Blake."

"And Jaune told you to wait. Looks like none of us are getting what we want tonight."

"Even if this is my fault, I don't see what the problem is. We just have to take care of one more monster. Do you know how many grimm we're expected to fight at once?"

"That isn't a grimm. We have no idea what it can do, and it only takes one surprise to end us, or did you already forget about the one-way beat down you were handed by one messily monster?"

"Both of you shut up!" Jaune said as loudly as he was comfortable with. "What's done is done. Our job got an extension and that's what we need to focus on." He might have sounded confident and commanding, but on the inside, he was barely able to keep his heart inside his chest. Emerald was right, they had no idea what this new creature could do. Even if it was just a different type of spider-slug, the wings alone would make it much harder to restrict it. Jaune didn't have any ranged option besides his etches and there was no way he could use them on something so fast.

Currently, spider-slug 2.0 was flying around it's fallen comrade like a hummingbird. It was almost like it was in a panic as it kept checking ever inch of the original spider-slug. Obviously, the triad of corpses had been used to summon this newcomer, but for what purpose?

Suddenly the flying creature latched onto the spider-slug, tightly gripping its fur between its claws and just stayed there. An entire minute passed and it still didn't move. "What is it doing?" Emerald asked the question on Jaune's mind.

"Hugging the corpse?" Blake said. "Almost like it's in mourning."

Jaune took another look. If he squinted really hard and used a generous amount of imagination, he could kind of see what Blake was getting it. Two lover caught in a tragic embrace. "Oh no," Jaune said as he came to a realization, "I think we just killed that things mate."

As if it had heard him, the flying creature pulled away from its counterpart, nudging its face against it like it was giving it a goodbye kiss, before turning to their group. Jaune didn't need to see its eyes to know that it was in a fury, and if none of the other signs gave it away the moment it dive-bombed them was solid confirmation. The gang was split apart as they all had to dodge in a different direction. The creature didn't seem to mind pounding itself into the ground because before the gravel settled, it was charging again. Of course, the unlucky target was Jaune.

His footing was too uneven after his last maneuver to dodge, so his only choice was to bring his shield up and hope for the best. The speeding project crashed into him. His shield arm trembled from the impact and it was a miracle he was able to stay standing.

Stuck in a shoving match with the creature, Jaune pushed his body into the shield, turning whenever he could feel it trying to move to the side. keeping the two of them locked in place. He could feel its claws scrapping against his shield. It didn't seem to be as strong as its larger counterpart, but what it was lacking there it was more than making up for with its speed and viciousness.

Knowing this couldn't go on forever, Jaune brought his sword around hoping to score at least a grazing strike on his foe from his awkward position. His sword would never make it, though, because at the same time the monster shot out one of its long tongues, wrapping it around Jaune's sword arm. The piece of flesh was surprisingly strong, easily bringing Jaune's swing to a halt, but worse than that was that part of his arm started to sting horribly. It didn't matter that he had aura or clothes between his skin and the creatures tongue. It felt like he had shoved his arm into a cactus.

The pain was enough to weaken his grip on his shield and the creature surly would have pushed through if a series of bullets didn't force it to retreat. It unwrapped its tongue from Jaune's arm and flew away as Blake chased it down.

The pain in his arm subsided immediately, but it was still very much there. Rolling up his sleeve revealed no signs of external damage, but Jaune felt he could take a marker and draw around the exact area where it still hurt.

"Damn it," he heard Emerald shout. He had to ignore the pain for now as he looked over to see what was going on only to see that nothing was going on.

The creature had disappeared.

Jaune echoed Emerald statement. It had the same trick as the original except this time it had the entire sky to hide in.

The stillness had returned as the three teenagers looked into the night sky. Coming together would only make it easier for them to be attacked so they stayed about an equal distance apart. At least that way if one was hit the other two could support. Not a great plan, making one of them a sacrificial pawn, but there weren't many other options. The buzzing of its wings could still be heard, but it sounded like it was coming from every direction, so that didn't help. The only thing they could do was wait.

It didn't take very long for something to happen, it just wasn't what Jaune expected. It was barely visible, a fist sized ball of a clear substance similar to what the spider-slug had used to stick to walls, but this was thicker which was the only reason Jaune noticed. It just appeared in the sky with no warning and started its descent towards Emerald. She didn't notice it, so it ended up being Jaune screaming at her to move.

Emerald took a second to verify who was talking to her before she moved, and that, along with how late Jaune's warning came, cost her. She avoided most of it, but when the ball hit the gravel it splashed the back of her legs. She stumbled and winced in a very similar way to what Jaune had probably done when his arm had gotten caught. Whatever substance this thing produced was more of a weapon than what the original produced. Made sense since being able to stick to things didn't really matter if you could fly. An advantage for it and a serious problem for them. If it could just fly around and drop that stuff on them, they would never be able to counterattack.

Jaune's theory was proven correct when Black had to dodge a ball of her own, and then another, and then another. Soon enough it felt like it was raining the stuff. Constantly moving was the only way to avoid them.

An occasional shot was fired as the girls tried to track the creature through its trail of falling slime, but so far none of them had found their mark. The creature wasn't so dumb that it was just following a straight line.

Jaune racked his brain for a plan. They could try waiting for it to exhaust itself but that was dangerous, time-consuming and unreliable, he didn't know if that thing could even get tired. There had to be another way.

Jaune darted around looking for an answer when his eyes landed on it. The etch he had made which was currently giving them their light. He had also made it to deal with this exact problem, so that even if the spider-slug was invisible when it approached it would still cast a nice defined shadow. Sadly, that plan become ineffective the moment their foe could leave the ground, but plans and etches could be adjusted.

Jaune worked as fast as he could to redraw the etch before the creature targeted him, and only barely finished before he had to roll away from the stinging rain. Now instead of light coming from the etch itself, an orb of light hovered high above them. Jaune had hoped this would cause the creature to cast a shadow on the ground, but it was far too dim to accomplish that goal. Jaune cursed, he knew that the farther an effect was from the etch the less power it had, but the loss in luminosity from making it hover twenty feet off the ground was absolutely ridiculous. It was barely enough for him to see anymore. None of his other etches had been this badly affected. He couldn't have screwed it up, or it wouldn't have worked at all. It had to be a problem with the etch itself, or could it be a problem with light in general. Now that he thought about it, the etch at Junior's club had been created with lights and that thing had been huge. It should have had enough power to burn down an entire city block, yet it had only been enough to cook burgers. If etches made of light produced weak effects than it was safe to assume the inverse was also true.

Great, just another problem to add to the list: etches don't play well with light. Who knew how many other little rules like that there were. Jaune really needed to invest in something a little less sporadic.

The bombardment never stopped as they ran around helplessly. The projectiles weren't that hard to dodge if you saw them coming, but they were hardly obvious. The substance also didn't just go away when it hit the ground. It formed little pools in the gravel causing it to splash onto you if you weren't paying attention and stepped in it too hard. Aura didn't do anything to stop it and only their shoes seemed thick enough to keep the substance from seeping through. In that regard, Jaune was lucky to have a shield to use an umbrella. Blake had her faunus eyes to help her see in the low light, curtsey of Jaune accidently dimming them down, but Emerald, with her semblance being ineffective, didn't have a single advantage, sadly something the creature seemed able to pick up on.

At first it was a just a drop on the shoulder, a splash on the finger, nothing the rest of them didn't have, but as she was evading another falling ball of goo she ran into something. Crashing into the monster was enough to knock it out of its invisibility, but it didn't matter. There was no time for Emerald to react before the creature opened its jaw and used both its tongues to lick her from the bottom of her knees all the way up to her forehead. It only took a second for the creature to completed its task, fly away and turn invisible again.

Emerald collapsed to her knees then to her side as she clutched her face. She didn't scream but it was clear she was in pure agony. She kicked that gravel and clenched her teeth as she went through what must have felt like a million thorns piercing her body, but her suffering wasn't over. Presented with an immobile target, the monster didn't waste any time dropping a ball of goo on her. It hit her dead on, covering her in a glossy shine.

This time she couldn't hold back the screams.

Jaune had already been running the moment Emerald collapsed, but he wasn't built for speed, unlike the other person there, and couldn't make it before the second attack struck. He vowed to not let there be a third as he pushed his legs even harder. Quickly, he scooped Emerald up, not caring that just being in contact with her was causing his chest and arms to burn.

He brought her behind a large pile of gravel which couldn't really be called safe but was better than anything else. He leaned her against it and watched the sweat build up on her forehead. There wasn't even so much as a reddish rash adorning her skin, but she clawed at it like she was going to rip it off. The only noticeable difference was the slight glossy glow she had thanks to that coat of goo. He went to work rubbing as much of it off as he could by ripping off a piece of his shirt with one hand while the other grabbed Emerald's weapon and fired wildly into the air to keep the creature from flying over them. His hand burned with pain as he did it until even the slightest movement made him whimper, but he didn't stop.

Sadly, whatever relief he was able to offer once he finished was minimal at best. Emerald's eyes were still scrunched in pain and here breathing rapid, but at least she wasn't trying to peel her skin from her body.

There was no time for him to rest, though. It was a miracle the creature hadn't hit them yet, and Jaune didn't have infinite ammo nor did Emerald have infinite time. There was no way to know if this stuff stopped at only severe pain, was fatal if enough got on you, or if Emerald was already suffering a slow, agonizing death. All Jaune knew was he had to end this fast.

Drawing an etch in record smashing time he erected a rocky dome around his partner. It wasn't anything that would protect against any sizeable force, but it would keep her safe from the goo bombs, he refused to recognize it as drool, and hopefully the monster would focus on the active targets.

Returning to the battlefield, Jaune caught up with Blake. "We need to do something," he said.

"If you have any ideas I'm happy to hear them," She replied.

"Not going to lie, I thought you would have one."

"And I thought you were the one claiming to be the professional. My plan is to keep swinging and shooting until I hit it."

Trying until they got lucky was not what Jaune wanted to hear, but that was really the crux of the problem. Jaune remembered reading somewhere that since the dawn of time the key to winning any fight was to get in a position where you could hit your enemy but they couldn't hit you, and right now they were on the losing side of that equation.

They needed a way to see their enemy, but the only way Jaune could think of accomplishing that was to get a bright light above the thing. If it cast a shadow on the ground they would have no problem finding it, but the little nightlight he had already put up wasn't cutting it and he couldn't draw an etch in the sky…or maybe he could.

"Blake, how far can you throw your weapon?"

Blake seemed unsure if should even answer the strange question. "Not as far as my bullets can reach."

"But far enough to reach the creature?"

"I guess."

"Give me you weapon."

"What! No, are you trying to get me killed?"

"It's fine, I've got plan. I'll lend you one of Emerald's weapons if it makes to feel better. They're pretty similar."

"I don't know how to use it. I'll be completely ineffective."

"Because you're doing so much damage with you own weapon right now." Despite that valid point, Black was still reluctant to release her weapon. Why did Oum curse him to always have to deal with stubborn girls? They just kept getting worse.

"What are you going to do to it?" Seriously, she wanted him to explain his plan while they were running around avoiding very painful projectiles? Was it too late to go back home and become a farmer or something. He could let his arm get hit, run away and claim injury leave.

No, Emerald was still suffering and he couldn't just leave her, so he explained his plan to Blake as fast as he possible could. "I'm going to draw an etch on it."

For some reason, she just clutched her weapon tighter. Oh, enough of this. Jaune finally reached over and forced the weapon from her grip. She pulled back at first but eventually let him have it.

Jaune split off after that hoping the creature would keep chasing Blake as he worked. Drawing an etch while running was difficult. Drawing one while also having to watch out for falling projectiles would have been next to impossible.

For the first time in a long time, he actually screwed up the first attempted and had to wipe it off, but he got it the second time. "Catch," Jaune yelled, tossing the sharp and deadly weapon to Blake. Hopefully he had given her enough time to react.

His worry was for not, though, as she caught the weapon without missing a beat, but she seemed kind of confused as she examined it like she didn't know what to make of the strange object she had been given. "Um…you made it glow-in-the-dark?" She questioned.

"It's a light! Throw it," Jaune yelled as he pointed towards the sky.

Realization dawned one the faunus face. She understood what she needed to do. She attached her weapon to the ribbon on her arm, and just as a ball of goo landed beside her, she tossed it as high as it could go. If Jaune's other etch was only the soft glow of a nightlight this new one was like a spotlight bathing the entire arena, and with it revealing patches of shadows.

A dark, solid outline of their target swam along the gravel floor as if it had been made for it. There was no more hiding and Blake didn't waste a second. Her weapon arced towards the creature acting more like a hammer than a blade. A creature lost its invisibility the moment its flesh was pierced and it was dragged back down to earth.

The monster beat its wings feverishly as it tried to dislodge the weapon from its skin. Blake wasn't having any of that, though. With a tug on her ribbon half a dozen rounds were sent right into the creatures back at point-blank range. That was enough to send it hurling to the ground. It was over after that. Blake's speed was enough to catch up to it and avoid the last of its desperate spit attacks. She gutted the thing in what felt like more than a hundred cuts.

Exhausted didn't even begin to describe how Jaune felt. He never done so much running in his life. His body was sore, his hands and arms stung like crazy and his legs felt like they would fall off. Still, he hobbled his way to Emerald's gravel hut. He only now realized his mistake, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. He hoped Emerald wouldn't be too mad.

Removing the etch caused the dome to collapse in on itself which just so happened to be right on top of his partner. A painful groan was heard as the falling gravel agitated Emerald's condition.

Jaune got her to her feet and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. He really needed to get her somewhere more comfortable. As he was thinking, Blake walk up to them, with an etch free weapon, and looking far better than either of them did. "It's done," she said, "but I'm guessing we can't just leave evidence of this little unknown world around for the workers to find in the morning."

Jaune let his head hang. "No, I guess we can't."

"How are we going to get rid of it?"

Jaune looked around at the mess they caused. Other than two dead monsters there wasn't really anything else except the disturbed gravel. "We'll burn it," he said.

"How are you planning to do that."

"My etches can make fire."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "If you could make fire, why didn't you use that when using regular light didn't work out instead of turning my weapon into a glow stick?"

There was a reason for that. Fire didn't give off an even spread of light, but more importantly it was much less controllable. Putting a big ball of fire in the sky would have just added flames to the list of things falling that could cause them harm.

Unfortunately, Jaune was too tired to remember that line of reasoning, and could only curse himself. "Damn it."

Break

The group of three found themselves in a hospital room. Jaune had gotten Emerald medical attention as fast as he possible he could. Blake and he were sat on two chairs while Emerald was tucked into the bed. Obviously, there wasn't any ointment for otherworldly, strange insect creature goo. Pain killers was all the hospital could do when they couldn't identify the acid that Jaune said had been thrown at them by some crazy guy. They worked well enough. Jaune's pain had subsided into irritating itchiness, and Emerald, despite being bedridden, looked much better. Her eyes were focused and her teeth weren't trying to bite through her lip.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" Emerald said, her words were ragged.

Blake looked up when Jaune didn't answer as if she thought the question had been addressed to him. "Apologize for what? We won."

Emerald huffed. "If this is what you think victory feels like than I'd hate to experience what a defeat is like."

"You're just mad because you were taken out."

"You think this is about pride. This was supposed to be a simple job, yet here we are, in a hospital, half dead, and it's all your fault."

"I feel fine."

Jaune had to jumped between them to keep Emerald from leaping out of bed in a ferocious frenzy. "Listen, it's been a long night. We're tired and saying things we don't really mean, so let's calm down."

They did although that probably had to do more with being reminded of their exhaustion than Jaune's words themselves. He hated getting involved in fights like this. Whenever his sisters argued he would usually hide away in his room until it was over. One look at Emerald's condition, however, and he knew he had to man up and say something. "Emerald's right, though, we told you to leave it to us and you ignored us."

"Why shouldn't I have?" Blake retorted getting heated up again as Jaune knew she would. "It's clear that you two are out of your element. If I hadn't been there you two probably would have died. Sure, you might have some strange powers, but what about her? She didn't do anything special. Anything she can do I can do better. I was even the one to kill both the monsters, so why does she get to come along?"

"Because she's my partner and my friend!" Jaune snapped and it grew very quiet. He didn't usually get angry. Growing up with seven sisters had tempered his patience's, but this wasn't something he would let slide. "Yes, without you we wouldn't have been able to kill that second creature, and I'm thankful for it, but it's also true that without you there would never have been a second creature."

Blake looked like see was about to argue, but he stooped her. "Before you say that there's no way I could possibly know that, I do. You killing the spider-slug, at that moment, in that way, caused the second one to appear. I can give you all the details if you want, but it's the truth."

Blake's unspoken words died as she switched to a calmer more thoughtful tone. "Fine, I'll believe you, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The second one needed to die. If I hadn't been there, it wouldn't have shown up and would be doing who knows what right now."

"It's not about if what happened was good or bad. It's that what happened wasn't what we intended to happen, and we paid for it."

"What's a little pain to all the lives we saved by killing those things. If I made a mistake then fine. I doubt you two have been prefect up till now."

Flashes of Bury played back in his mind. Most would say that hadn't been a mistake. The villagers had already been dead before he got there, but their memories weren't so easily forgotten. "Are you planning on joining us then?"

Blake was stunned by the strange question, and Emerald looked like she was about to explode. "No, this was a one-time thing."

"Then it was a one-time mistake. You came here not knowing anything and just assumed it would go your way because you're a huntress. If you decided to use this experience to become a caretaker I wouldn't be saying this because you're right everyone makes mistakes, but as it stands now, you're never going to have a chance to rectify it. From our point of view, you came in, messed up our job, and balled the moment it was over. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."

"I had to do this."

"If you really had to, you should have done it as huntress not a caretaker. You're from Beacon, aren't you. Don't you have a team—a partner—that could've helped you."

"This isn't there problem. They wouldn't understand!"

Jaune didn't respond. Blake's words had just proven his point, and she knew it. "I'm going back to Beacon," she said, "kept doing whatever you think it right."

She turned to leave, but Emerald just couldn't let her have the last word. "I don't believe you. This isn't going to be a one-time thing and probably already isn't. I can tell. You're never going to stop. You've probably gotten lucky so far with everyone else having to pay for your mistakes like we are now, but you can't be lucky forever. If you don't quit, one day, someone is going to come and collected your debt and you can bet they're going to demand interest."

Blake slammed the door on her way out.

Blake stumbled back into team BRYL's dorm room, the two sleepless nights getting to her. The plan was to sleep the entire day away, but the second she opened the door she was dragged in by a furious blonde.

Yang's eyes were solid red as she gripped her partner by her shoulders. Russel and Sky were off to the side, in their pajamas, gazing longingly at their beds. Blake suspected Yang had forced them to stay awake, waiting for her return. "You disappeared again."

"Sorry, it won't happen again, I promise."

"Sorry isn't good enough! You can't keep doing this. We're supposed to be a team." Tears were forming in the corner of Yang's eyes. "I'm trying to be a good partner. I'm doing everything I possibly can to get you to open up, but it's not working. I refuse to believe that it's just because you don't like us, so there must be a problem. What do you keep going out to do? Please just talk to us, we can help."

Yang was desperate, anyone could see that. Blake didn't want that. She really did want to get closer to her partner and her team. It was just things had interfered. She thought back to Emerald's parting words. Blake would prove her wrong. She had come to Beacon to start anew and she was committed to that goal.

Blake moved her hand to Yang's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "You're right. I've been neglecting this team. Something came up that I had to deal with. I didn't think it would be right to drag you into my personal problems, but it's over now. No more late night outings. Things change now."

Yang let go and wiped the tears from her eyes. "That's all I ask." Blake immediately found herself brought into a bone crushing hug. "Strange how things work out. I thought I was going to have to help Ruby connect with her partner, but here I am struggling with my own while she's been doing fine."

"She's a strong girl. A little awkward, but her partner doesn't seem to mind," Blake said patting Yang on the back in a silent plea for release. Yang, receiving the sign, pulled back with a bright smile that Blake hadn't seen for a while.

It was a good feeling, but there were still two other members of the team that Blake look to. Sky just looked happy and relieved that things were calming down, but Russel wasn't going to forgive that easily. "If your serious," he said, "don't kept hiding things from us. Tell us a secret about yourself. Prove you trust us."

"A secret?"

"It can be anything. Just something you'd only tell close friends."

Blake's mind immediately jumped to the extra appendages on her head. Should she tell them. It would certainly be better if she didn't have to hide her ears all the time, but how would they react. They would know she had been lying about her identity this entire time. That would break any trust they had left. Best to hold off on that secret until she got closer to her team. One day she would tell them, though, she promised.

Jaune walked into Emerald's hospital room with some food and drinks. "How you are feeling?"

"Better," Emerald huffed, "but I'm sick of just sitting here. It's so boring."

"Don't be like that. You were in rough shape. You deserve some rest. I even brought your favorite food, mac and cheese."

"That's not my favorite food."

"Well, it's the thought that counts." Jaune handed her the food and took a seat by her bed. "I got a newspaper from downstairs. The fire I set in the industrial district did its job. All they found were some pieces of burnt fur so the fire is being blamed on some animal getting in and chewing on some wires."

Emerald hummed and poked at her at food. She didn't really care. There were other things on her mind, and had been since last night. "Jaune, can I ask you a question?"

Jaune looked up. "What it this? Emerald being nervous. Did that goo affect your brain?"

"I'm being serious!"

"Fine, ask away. I've got something to tell you too."

"What is it?"

"You go first, I've got a feeling mine is going to be a little more impactful."

Emerald didn't know what that meant, but she could wait. This was something she should have said last night. "Did you really mean what you said, that I'm your friend?"

Jaune started at her for a second before breaking out in a goofy smile. "Is this what this is about? You afraid I was going to replace you?"

"It wouldn't be the first time someone left me," Emerald mumbled.

Jaune chuckled apparently still having heard her. The he stood up and walked right to her bedside, his light blue eyes looking into hers. "Remember when we had our "date" and agreed that we couldn't trust each other until we worked together for a bit and decided to only start a partnership. Well, that time has passed. I trust you completely now and I think you do too, so that makes us friends." Damn the heat rising to her cheeks. "So, no, I'm not going to leave you or replace you. In case you've forgotten, I wanted to do this job alone but you wouldn't have it and pushed yourself on me, so don't think you can leave that easily. We're in this together." Jaune reached his hand up to pat her head, but thought better of it and went back to his seat.

"So, what was it you were going to say?" Emerald asked hiding her expression under a sip of water.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "We're broke."

"What!" Emerald yelled nearly crushing her drink. "How?"

"Medical care is expensive."

"You should have demanded that the damn cat pay for us. It's her fault!"

"Yeah, it not in my nature to make a girl pay for me. I blame it on my sisters."

"You spineless, hypocritical, coward!"

"Hey, relax. I've got a solution." Jaune pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and held it up for Emerald to see. It was an article ripped from some magazine. From this distance, she could only read the heading. "Schnee Mansion Haunted? Third Maid Quits High-Paying Position This Week, Citing Ghostly Activity."

"How it this tabloid crap going to help us. I'm doubtful that the Schnee family believes their mansion is haunted."

"I'm sure of that too, but apparently enough people believe it. Jacques Schnee put out a calling asking for people to come to the mansion and remove whatever supernatural elements are there, and there's a reward to whoever proves successful."

"So, let me get this straight. Jacques, the head of SDC, is willing to react to claims that his mansion is haunted, but the endless amount of criticism he gets for his labor practices gets thrown in the dumpster."

"Don't ask me why he made this decision. Maybe this betters the SDC in some way, or he's just bored and is hoping to attract some nutballs to entrain him. What's matters is that if the mansion really is haunted we can do something about it and if it's not we claim we did and get the money anyways."

Emerald groaned. "How much money do we have left?"

"Enough to get two tickets to Atlas if we fly coach and we find a flight with a discount."

"And there's no other option."

"I could try finding a job as a cook again, and you could be a waitress or something."

"Atlas it is."

An old fairy tale of which no known copies still exist (part 2 of 2)

A human boy fell in love with a faunus girl, and her with him. They would do anything for each other, but there was one thing the couple couldn't do no matter how desperately they wanted to. They could not kiss because the girl had no lips. Instead her faunus trait was a black, stumpy bird beak. Even among other faunus she was a freak always being bullied and made fun of.

She tried to hide her pain from her lover, but he could always tell. The problem also put a strain on their relationship. A weeding kiss was essential for marriage and without it there could be no matrimony. No marriage meant no children less she want to be thrown out by the village for being a whore.

The couple's life was stuck in time unable to lawfully move forward and already become too public to turn back. The boy accepted this stagnation, happy to just be with the love of his life, but the girl wanted more. She wanted what everyone else had, so one day she set off to find the only person that could change her fate, Faunus.

The journey was long a brutal, and just before she gave up, believing the man to be nothing more than a legend, she found him, sitting in a meadow of death and decay. She begged him to lift the curse so that she could finally feel the warmth of her lover's lips.

He harshly denied her saying that he had forever lost the warmth of his wife's lips because of her ancestors. She pleaded with him. What had happened to him was centuries old. The people of today had nothing to do with it. Wasn't it time for forgiveness.

The wizard still refused to which the girl vowed to stay there as long as it took to convince him. For many days and many nights, she sat and talked to him although he never responded or moved after their initial meeting. Without anything else to do, she made it her job to revive the meadow from a despair ridden disease to a flowing field.

Blacks and greys were replaced with vibrant yellows and greens. Animals returned to graze, and finally, one day, the old wizard spoke. "Tell me about this boy you love so dearly." She did and after she was done the wizard called her over. "I've have been in vengeful mourning for too long. How the world must have changed. What I must have missed. It's time to end this, I will lift the curse."

With a wave of his hand the wizard dispelled the curse, but the girl's beak did not go away. Nothing changed at all. In essence the cures had been dispelled many years ago. The curse had been passed down through so many generations of faunus that it had stopped being a curse and instead evolved into a trait. Animal parts were now as natural as hands and feet.

A new spell would have to be crafted to reverse it, but Faunus no longer had such power. He wept knowing that his anger had caused him to make an enteral mistake. The girl wept too, her one wish not able to be granted.

Heartbroken the girl returned to her village only to find it destroyed. While she had been away a civil war had taken place between the human and faunus population, and they had destroyed each other. She found her lover's corpse, in the park they had first meet in, having been waiting for her return.

She buried him in a shallow grave before hanging herself.