Heir to the Crown

Chapter Three

89 AC(After Conflict)

Beacon, Kingdom of Vale

Logan Griseus.

Glynda Goodwitch has seen all manner of Huntsmen walk through Beacon's pearly gates. Adrenaline junkies, legacy bearers, and those few honest souls who took up the call to arms out of a sense of duty to their fellow man.

Under most circumstances, this boy would have barely received a second look into his background. Logan wasn't the first prospective Huntsmen to roam the Frontier for hands-on training with Grimm, nor was he the only one to be taken under the wing of a seasoned Hunter.

But his Mentor was the root issue that drew her undivided attention.

Hazel Reinhart was not a pleasant man, and his demeanor only worsened after Gretchen's passing. Glynda was just barely earning Ozpin's trust when Reinhart broke from the Headmaster's inner circle, promising retribution for his sister's death and vanishing into the Vacuan Frontier.

Hazel made his presence known all across the continent, popping up here and there in random villages before falling off the grid entirely. Qrow spent nearly half a year tracking Hazel's movements until Ozpin reassigned him to other priority missions.

The last addendum to Qrow's notes was that Hazel spent most of his time near the Grimmlands butchering every Grimm he could find with his bare hands. That was his presumed status quo for nearly two decades before he showed up in Vale unannounced with a grey-eyed boy in tow.

Hazel refused to step foot in Beacon and requested Ozpin meet him outside the Kingdom Walls in a town called Highford. Glynda had no idea what they discussed, but she could estimate it had something to do with the boy because a day after their meeting, Logan's name was added to the roster.

Now he was a member of Team GRAniTe when Glynda would have preferred any other aspiring Huntsman in his stead. Ozpin naturally disagreed with her demand to remove him from initiation, claiming that Hazel Reinhart was many things, but a fool wasn't one of them. If he personally mentored Logan throughout the years, he could be a valuable addition to their ranks. Glynda would have pleaded her case more if initiation wasn't a day later.

But that didn't mean this conversation was over.

She stepped into an ornate elevator leading to Ozpin's main office, where the man himself presided over the academy. Her breath settled as the elevator doors slid open, and she strode into a large circular office with various grinding gears and a curved desk.

"Ah, Glynda." The Headmaster nursed a steaming cup of coffee and gestured to the seat across from him. "What brings you here today?"

A single laminated folder with the name Logan Griseus imprinted across its face was slammed into his desk.

"Why is he in charge of Team GRAniTe?" Glynda was many things, but her best trait was undoubtedly her overtly direct nature, something Ozpin cherished above all.

Tonight was the one exception to that rule.

"The boy displayed exceptional leadership skills in a stressful situation, and his knowledge of Grimm is second to none. It would have been a waste of his talents not to put him in charge." The Headmaster explained while crossing his legs and leaning into his comfortable chair.

"If leadership and knowledge were the only benchmarks for selecting team leaders, then Ruby Rose should never have made the cut." Ozpin's mouth drew into a thin line, and he looked almost disappointed before defending his judgment.

"Ms. Rose is an exception to the rule, Glynda. You know that better than anyone."

"And yet my point stands." She contended, crossing her arms over her chest. "That boy hates you just as much as Hazel, and I can only imagine what Reinhart has told him."

"Logan knows everything, but much like his Mentor, they remain tight-lipped on the subject as they should." The brief conversation Ozpin had with Hazel was short and to the point, but the lingering tension was impossible to ignore. "We need not monitor the boy for fear of him spilling secrets."

"Then what about the safety of our students?" Glynda argued. "Kellen will have your head if he finds out you placed his daughter on the same team as Hazel's apprentice."

"Shortly followed by Hera Vanlith, so I suppose my days are numbered." The Headmaster's aloof expression shifted into a mirthful smile that earned him Glynda's ire.

She slammed her hands against his desk and shook its foundation. "This isn't a joke, Ozpin. That boy is dangerous."

"Logan…is one student amongst a school that teaches over a thousand," Ozpin spoke in a firm and matched her ironclad gaze with a calm disposition. "I have faith in you and our teachers to handle any issues that may occur. Now is there anything else of note to speak of?"

"No." Glynda knew when she pushed too hard, but this was a conversation she intended to keep alive over the semester.

"Then we are done with this discussion." Ozpin waved off his senior instructor and tabled Team GRAniTe's folder into a separate compartment. "Return to your duties. We have a long semester ahead of us."

"As you say, Headmaster." Glynda's heels reiterated her displeasure with each clacking step across the chamber.

This would not be the last time Ozpin heard of this.

She would make sure of it.


Beacon Dormitories, Kingdom of Vale

Logan was very rarely out of his depth, but this was one occasion where his years of isolation from society were biting him in the ass. Navigating the oddities of women wasn't too dissimilar to traversing an Atlesian minefield, and he'd just experienced stepping on a damned mine firsthand.

Now here he sat, a few feet away from his dorm room, waiting out the storm of an irate Artemis who didn't appreciate his 'wandering' eye.

Although she was probably more infuriated at the fact that he'd made a passing comment of seeing better, Thalia and Katarina seemed to enjoy his remarks if the shit-eating grins were anything to go by, but a flying heel quickly sent Logan into a hasty retreat.

He'd set up his side of the room as soon as Artemis calmed down.

"Fuck you, Thalia!"

This was going to take a while.

"Rough first day?" A shock of blue hair pocked out of the adjacent room.

"I'm learning how to live amongst a trio of headstrong women one mistake at a time." Logan relented, earning a bark of laughter from his neighbor. "Why did you come to Beacon, Leona?"

Cinder wasn't the only Acolyte in his mother's employ, and Logan was briefly surprised to see her amused grin amongst the rabble of Beacon teams at the end of initiation.

"Why do you think?" The navy-haired huntress sauntered closer, showing off her brilliant physique with her modesty covered by a simple yellow tank top and a pair of camouflaged cargo pants. She joined him on the floor, brushing their knees together and playfully jabbing her elbow into his side.

"I can take a guess." Logan hummed out. "Did anyone else come with you?"

"Baiken." His exhausted groan garnished a wry smile from the Acolyte. "Don't be so rude. That girl enjoys your presence more than you know."

"I believe the word you're looking for is obsession." Logan retorted, casting an eye up and down the hallway for the sapphire-haired woman. "She learned a lot from Tyrian least of all his exuberant passion for my mother."

"I think it's cute."

He stared at the blue-haired vixen with a poignant glare that graced him with another brilliant smile. Logan didn't doubt that her easygoing nature had taken a great many hearts, but Leona was a dangerous woman.

And he knew better than to make light of Salem's chosen.

"Just keep Baiken on a tight leash." He ordered the Acolyte. "I don't need her blowing my cover because of her eccentric nature."

"She knows better."

"Make. Sure." Leona raised her hands in mock salute and tucked her knee beneath her chin. A comfortable silence settled in for a few minutes before the Acolyte rose to her feet.

"Welp, I'm heading off to enjoy the nice soft bed in my room." Leona shot him a suggestive smile. "Care to join me? I'm sure Baiken would appreciate your presence."

"I'll pass." Logan shot down the faux offer without a second thought. "Goodnight, Leona."

"You as well, my Prince." The Acolyte returned to her room and softly closed the door behind her, leaving the Hybrid to wallow in his temporary exile alone.

It took another half hour of grating patience before the door to his room swung open, revealing Katarina dressed in a…liberal set of sleepwear.

He called it liberal because he doubted a set of black undergarments, and a form-fitting blacktop slid into the conservative category.

"Would you like a blanket?" Katarina whimsically stated while leaning her weight against the doorway. "I hear it gets cold out here at night."

"I'd like my room back." Logan retorted, rising to his feet and rolling his stiff shoulders.

"Well then, by all means." The temptress held the door open wide enough for him to squeeze through. "Come on in."

Logan brushed past the cerulean-eyed vixen and stepped into the room. His team had already started decorating their designated space with pictures of loved ones and other personal effects that would not be out of place for a university dorm room.

His isolated section remained…barren, which didn't escape his teammates notice.

"We were going to set up your side of the room, but…you didn't have anything besides clothes." Thalia hesitantly spoke out of shame which contrasted her otherwise self-confident disposition.

It was true, though, Logan didn't have any worldly possessions to speak of because he only carried essential items such as clothing and hygiene products.

No pictures of loved ones, for good reason, and no physical representation of having anyone close to him aside from his mother's pendant.

That seemed to have struck a chord with Artemis because she remained resolutely quiet in her corner of the toom, a rare if not improbable circumstance.

"Don't worry about it." Logan had little reason to scold his teammates for their lack of personal space. "Just avoid being nosy in the future. We're going to be spending the next four years together, so there's no reason to start off our…association on a sour note."

"You got it, boss." Katarina quipped as she fell into the soft confines of her bed. "No more snooping around. It's nothing but the straight and narrow for team GRAniTe from here on out."

Logan was pretty sure that was sarcasm.

"As always, Katarina, your input is greatly appreciated." Thalia matched the Vacuan's derision and received a one-finger salute in response. "But we get it, Logan. I can assure you that much."

"Now, step out of those grimy clothes." Artemis flashed a toothy smile. "You're stinking up the joint, and I already sprayed this place down with air freshener."

Logan caught a whiff of his less than pleasant odor and swiftly agreed to the exuberant twins' suggestion. What he failed to remember in his etiquette classes with Watts was that a male should never undress in front of females that whom he was barely acquainted with.

Apparently, that was frowned upon in society, and Logan would only vaguely recall this lesson mere seconds after shedding his hoodless combat jacket and compression shirt.

An appreciative whistle caught his attention as his fingers tucked into the waistband of his combat pants, freezing him in place and making him more than aware of three distinct gazes raking over his frame.

"Don't stop now." Katarina's eyes flashed with interest as a mischievous grin infected her smile. "The shows just getting good."

"Right. Modesty." Logan snatched his sleepwear and quickly made for the bathroom with an apology on his lips. "Sorry."

"I'm not." He barely caught Thalia's blunt response as he closed the door behind him.

The next four years we're going to be…interesting.


Katarina leaned her head into her pillow with a content smile as she vividly recalled the physical specimen that was their team leader. She'd seen plenty of built guys in her life, but Logan was the perfect embodiment of the human physique.

His corded muscles were neither grotesquely massive nor obscenely small, and a well-defined body that just screamed perfection.

It was almost…exotic at how flawless Logan was built, but she wasn't complaining, and neither were her teammates.

"Now that is staying in the memory banks for as long as I'm not senile." Artemis quipped from her side of the room. "You think if I asked him to share some body heat at night, he'd say yes?"

"That depends on if someone else doesn't snatch him up first. "Thalia remarked as she fished a paperback book from her bag. "Did you see that Baiken girl on the launch pad eyeing Logan like he was a god?"

"To be honest, I couldn't find a pair of eyes that weren't once we stepped onto the cliffs," Artemis replied with a pensive gleam. "Is it just me, or does he have this innate ability to draw people to him? Do you think it's his semblance?"

"Nah." Katarina dismissed the idea of a semblance like that affecting more than a dozen people without a teacher taking notice. "It's probably just hormones. You know how kids get at that age."

"Kids?" Thalia questioned with an incredulous tone. "We're barely a year older than most of these Hunters at best."

"And yet it still felt like a daycare in the auditorium." Katarina retorted, stretching out her arms and loosening the knots in her muscles. "I'm done with today. If anyone ruins my beauty sleep, I'll snap your femur."

Thalia shared an amused glance with Artemis as Katarina slid underneath her covers. The scarlet-haired twin bid her sibling good night and left her to read her latest novel in relative solitude.

But Thalia's mind was preoccupied with their first official day as students of Beacon Academy. Shortly after Dr. Oobleck's history class was Professor Goodwitch's combat application class, and no one wanted to begin their tenure on her shit list.

Although considering the reputation of their assigned mentors, Thalia wasn't sure if they weren't already predisposed to a fixed opinion.

It was just Team GRAT's luck to receive such recognized heroes as mentors.

Team RWBY is believed to be a collection of generational talent, and their involvement in the Battle of Beacon saved countless lives.

The twins and even Katarina were awe-struck to meet their mentors shortly after initiation.

But not Logan.

He just stared at them as if they were nothing more than obstacles in his path.

It was yet another mark to his growing list of oddities.

The next four years we're going to be…interesting.


"Hi, I'm Ruby!"

The exuberance. The endearment.

It overwhelmed the Prince of the Grimm as a cascade of warm water showered him from above.

Logan never anticipated Summer's spawn to be an almost mirror image of the now-deceased huntress. His team had just finished being inducted into Beacon when their mentors sought them out.

Thalia and Artemis were in a heated argument with Katarina over something he didn't bother to remember when the silver-eyed huntress stepped up to him.

The famous Huntresses approached with a myriad of expressions ranging from boredom to quiet elation. Summer's eldest child gravitated to Katarina's side and matched his partner's confident nature. Thalia and Artemis found similar souls within the presence of the Belladonna and Schnee, leaving Logan to contend with the one huntress in the entire world he didn't want to be anywhere near.

He didn't particularly hate Ruby Rose, but he absolutely despised how similar she was to Summer. There was little to no physical difference between the pair other than maturity.

It was…eerie.

And he needed to get away from her.

"It's nice to meet you!" Summer's spawn stuck her tiny hand out, beckoning him to respond in kind.

With great reluctance, Logan's palm easily engulfed her tiny hand, but she shrugged it off with a beaming smile.

"You as well, Ms. Rose. Your reputation precedes you." Ruby's pale visage reddened with embarrassment.

"Y-yeah." She awkwardly squeaked out, her hands falling to her side. "A-anyways. We just came over to invite your team to sit with us during lunch and answer any questions or solve any issues you might have."

It would have been far too audacious to ask Ruby to stay away from him without drawing more than a few pointed glares from his team, let alone hers.

Logan accepted her invitation and expertly navigated his way out of her presence by immediately announcing that his team needed to get settled in.

Ruby accepted the excuse at face value and allowed his team to depart but not before cheerfully waving them goodbye.

He would have given everything for that small encounter to be there last, but fate is rarely kind. The image of Ruby's dust-infused red cloak fluttering in the wind only served to remind him of Summer's bloodstained cape when his mother dragged her into the dungeons of Everknight castle, beaten and broken beyond repair.

The upcoming years would only bring more hardship upon himself and everyone who walked within his shadow.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.


"I don't trust him."

Amber orbs danced away from the enrapturing book and locked gazes with a blonde-haired huntress glaring holes into the marble-colored ceiling.

Blake knew Yang well enough to know that it was exceedingly difficult to…vex her. The blonde wore her emotions on her sleeve and communicated her issues through her knuckles rather than any verbal exchange.

So to have Yang speak out her chagrin even in the private confines of their room was out of character.

Blake closed her book with a resigned exhale. "Who are we talking about?"

"Logan," Yang emphasized. "The red-eyed bastard with a helluva right hook."

"A right hook that you openly admired not hours earlier, if I remember correctly."

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Blake." Lilac orbs blazed with a red hue. "You were right next to me when he started talking to Ruby, so don't sit there and tell me you didn't see it."

Blake would be lying out of her teeth if she said otherwise. Ruby had limitless energy that could come off as damn near overbearing whenever she stepped out of her social circle. Reactions to their team leader generally varied between awkwardness and endearment, but Logan's was…different.

"I saw something…." Blake struggled to find the correct terminology. "…Odd, but I wouldn't hold it against him, Yang. Some people just aren't used to Ruby's exuberant nature."

It wasn't like Blake to play devil's advocate for someone she didn't know, and while she did have her own reservations regarding Logan, she wasn't about to broadcast her doubts until she was absolutely certain.

Too many people had been put in harms way because she jumped the gun on a bad feeling.

Yang offered no verbal remark; instead, she unleashed an annoyed huff before turning on her side and ignoring the world around her. With their conversation coming to an erupt end, Blake tried to return her full attention to her novel, but her mind remained occupied with Team GRAniTe's leader.

Blake remembered glancing at Logan and Ruby while exchanging scrolls with Thalia. Her observation only lasted a few seconds, but she deduced his mannerisms all the same.

And they were…peculiar.

Metal grey orbs roamed over Ruby's frame even as she held their one-sided conversation with hyperactive noise. His posture was outwardly relaxed but bladed enough to anticipate any unwanted stimuli. Fingers rested against the surface of his bicep, but they were taunted and tightly gripped his muscle.

In every sense of the imagination, Logan was doing his best to entertain Ruby's eccentric nature, and in most cases, his discomfort went unnoticed by everyone but Yang and Blake.

Yang may have observed Logan's effort to withdraw from Ruby, but there was more to the story, and his eyes subtly gave away an emotion that Blake was taken aback by.

Sorrow.

Blake couldn't place the reasoning for such a sentiment, and she almost raised a question to his partner when she felt his gaze fall upon her.

Faunus are instinctively inclined to follow their animalistic nature when called upon. They weren't completely subservient to this feeling, but it served to be a natural alert apparatus to any potential predator.

And Logan Griseus was a predator in sheeps clothing.

The only question that remained unanswered in Blake's mind was who exactly his prey was.

Could it have been Grimm? Humans? Faunus?

Maybe.

But in Blake's mind, everyone was on that list.


"What is the value of a single Huntsman or Huntress?"

That question struck the mind of every student in Oobleck's class. Those that were staring off into space, drawing random pictures in their notebooks, or even staring intently at his lesson plan felt the same poignant uncertainty rushing through their veins.

When none of his students answered, Oobleck continued with his soliloquy. "Is it defined by the lien it costs to create a single Huntsmen or is it valued in the lives saved over their tenure? That is the question, and I will await an answer from all of you."

Logan watched a single dainty hand emerge from the mass of prospective Hunters.

"By all means, Ms. Schnee, you have the floor." Weiss departed her seat and strode down the wooden steps, and stood in a predetermined spot in front of her fellow classmates. Oobleck designed it to be an exercise in vulnerability when speaking in front of an audience, but she spoke with the confidence befitting her status.

"Both terms can define a Huntsman. The expended lien lay not only in their upbringing but also in their education and training. However, the lives each Huntsman saves in their service cannot be valued in the same manner. You cannot put a price on another living being's existence, let alone their potential."

Oobleck accepted the answer but immediately latched onto a single word in Weiss's statement.

"Potential." The Professor enunciated. "That is a dangerous notion to leave to chance because people are capable of great good but also great evil. I doubt anyone here would be happy to know that they saved the life of a future serial killer, but that is a debate for another day."

The Schnee returned to her seat, allowing the Professor to launch himself into another monologue. Logan pulled at his necktie with a tight grimace. He'd never worn such an article of clothing before, and he despised how constricted his neck felt.

Katarina and the twins took an unnatural amount of amusement at his discomfort if their knowing grins were anything to go by.

"If you keep squirming like that, you're liable to tear the-." The sound of tearing fabric stopped Katarina's words in their tracks. Logan took the shredded tie and jammed it into his book bag, never to be seen again if he had any say in it. "That's going to cost you."

"You can't put a price on oxygen," Logan remarked, rubbing the discomfort from the base of his neck.

"How does a tie give you more trouble than a fucking Beringel." Thalia pointed out with a disbelieving glimmer in her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense whatsoever."

"Should start giving out neckties to the Grimm." Artemis jested under her breath, and Oobleck's gaze traveled up and down the classroom. "Maybe they'd stand a chance next time."

Logan held his tongue and ignored his team's constant byplay that was always at his expense. It would have been exhausting to endure if he paid any real attention to their words alone, but Arthur always taught him to look beyond even the most mundane comment and focus on their intent.

Case in point, his team was trying to arouse some kind of outward reaction or even a verbal huff, but he always left nothing for them to see.

That didn't mean Logan wasn't annoyed by their constant antics. He just didn't show it because they'd be a million times more troublesome, and he might end up gluing their mouths shut to avoid severing their vocal cords altogether.

"Perhaps a scenario will help some of you find an answer," Oobleck stated, ingesting a mouthful of coffee and glancing over the class once more. "There is a small village outside of Vale that has called for a team of Huntsman to scour the local Grimm after a series of attacks on their perimeter wall. The village has a population of just under two hundred and it has no strategic value. Its only viable trade is agriculture, but they have enough lien to call upon a single team to help stem the tide of Grimm. However upon arrival, the Huntsmen discover that these Grimm are a part of a larger force moving towards Vale. The city itself can handle such an incursion, but the village cannot hope to fend them off even with their assistance, and the main horde is only an hour away…."

Oobleck's scenario was not a foreign concept but one that had been written out in history time and time again. Logan himself had seen the chaos firsthand while traveling alongside Hazel.

He never got used to seeing those villages torn apart by a mindless horde of Grimm outside his mother's control. At least that's what Hazel kept telling Logan over and over again while he took control of the horde and sent them away from the shattered village.

"…They are left with two choices," Oobleck continued. "Send the Bullhead back and call for reinforcements, the distance between the village and Vale is a two-hour trip, so relief will arrive in four hours. If you were the Huntsmen team, what decision would you make?"

It was an open-ended question that garnered a dozen different answers from his students.

Blake Belladonna chose subterfuge to draw off the Grimm Horde, using their superior speed and agility to buy time for the Bullhead to bring reinforcements.

Jaune Arc elected to erect a series of palisades and funnel the Grimm into a tightly packed sardine to take away their numbers.

One by one, they stood resolute and explained their chosen strategem to defend the village for as long as possible.

"…I would stand and fight." Logan watched Ruby's team roar their approval alongside her classmates. His team was also caught in the classroom's moshpit of whistles and clapping, expressing their encouragement with tempered smiles.

"Thank you, Ms. Rose." Oobleck nodded towards the glowing huntress, and she skipped back to her seat with a beaming smile.

She was the fourteenth student to leave her seat and echo the same sentiment spoken by thirteen other classmates. By the time Ruby had finished her declaration, Oobleck knew that most of his class had reached the same conclusion.

"It seems that all of you have come to the same conclusion." His students nodded their heads, and a handful made snide comments, Mr. Winchester in particular, such as 'what else would they have done.'

And yet when he glanced over the classroom, there was only one person not acknowledging Ruby's riveting statement or chosen strategy to protect the innocent.

Which was why he wasn't the least bit surprised at what came next.

"Does anyone disagree?" Scoffs and snorts of amusement echoed in the room as his class scanned up and down the auditorium for anyone stupid enough to say otherwise.

The classroom fell into complete silence when Logan raised his hand high in the air. There was a single caveat to Oobleck's scenario that most of the class ignored.

He only spoke into existence one conclusion.

He did not elaborate on the second determination that teams of Huntsmen had chosen time and again.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Katarina was the first to react, nudging her elbow into his side in a vain attempt to halt his madness.

"Making a point," Logan replied, batting her arm away and ignoring the questioning looks from everyone around him as he locked eyes with Oobleck.

"If you would, Mr. Griseus." The Professor pointed to the spot every prospective Huntsman had stood. The only difference between him and those that came before was the scrutinizing stares glued to the back of his head.

Every step Logan took echoed across the chamber, and as he passed team RWBY's row, Yang glanced at Blake with a knowing stare. The Faunus merely nodded in mild agreement and joined a chorus of other gazes staring at the Griseus.

Ruby was at a loss and unable to understand Logan's intent at face value. Why wouldn't he want to save as many people as possible? What strategy could he have devised that differed so drastically from the rest of them?

A shared glance with Weiss only seemed to increase her confusion. Further down their row sat team JNPR who visibly displayed varying degrees of bewilderment. Jaune turned toward his partner to garner her thoughts on the manner, but she was seemingly oblivious to the outside world.

"Pyrrha." Jaune gently nudged her shoulder, but her attention remained solely fixed on the Griseus.

"Pyrrha." He tried again, this time with more force, and garnered a visible reaction in the form of rapidly blinking eyes. Jaune steadied her balance and stared at her with concern. "Are you ok?"

"Y-Yes." The myrmidon stammered out, her breath elevated and out of sorts. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He frowned at sagging shoulders. "Do you wanna go see Ms. Tsune later?"

"No, no." Pyrrha sat up straight and assured her partner with an easy smile. "I'm just getting used to the…you know."

Jaune took her excuse at face value and did not question her further, turning away to the spectacle that threatened to break out. All the while, Pyrrha felt her body brimming with the Fall Maiden's potent energy, and her mind sang with a single unfamiliar word.

"Frater."She didn't understand its meaning, but it had some significance to the Fall Maiden. Perhaps she should ask Ozpin for-Argh!

"No!" Pyrrha could feel the Fall Maiden's ire grate against her mind. "Pater will kill, Frater!"

"Pyrrha?" She turned her grimace into a strained smile, but it did nothing to fool Nora. The bundle of chaotic energy was more perceptive than people gave her credit for.

When Pyrrha shook her head in silent dismissal, Nora nodded in understanding, but she still wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "It's ok, I get these painful headaches sometimes, but all I need is a comforting hug from my Renny. Isn't that right, Ren?"

"Yes, Nora." Ren's exhausted tone served to be the distraction Pyrrha needed to fight off the Fall Maiden's influence, but the question still rang inside her head.

Who was Logan Griseus to garner such a viral reaction from the Fall Maiden?

She wasn't sure if she wanted an answer.

Logan came to a resolute halt within the designated circle. All the while, a hundred different stares circled above him like vultures ready to pass judgment.

He'd give them a reality check to remember.

"Mr. Griseus." Proffesor Oobleck began with a pensive gaze. "Just to be clear, I shall repeat the question. In the aforementioned scenario, what would you do-."

"I'd take as many children aboard the bullhead and leave with my team."

Silence reigned, and Oobleck himself was momentarily mystified. It took some time for the complete answer to dawn on him, and by then, the entire classroom was in an uproar.

"WHAT?!" Weiss Schnee led the charge, standing on her heels and screaming to the heavens. The girl looked ready to give Logan a piece of her mind, but Oobleck raised his hand in a placating gesture.

"Miss Schnee."

"But, Doctor Oobleck I-"

"Find your seat, Ms. Schnee." The Professor did not possess a strong voice, but there was an authoritative power behind it nonetheless. Weiss shot Logan a venomous look before conceding to Oobleck's demand. "Why have you come to this conclusion, Mr. Griseus."

"Because it has no inherent value." He explained much to the chagrin of Weiss and many others. "This village is too far to be of any significance to Vale, and the only reason we are out here is because they paid the city to provide a team of Huntsmen, but a contract is only as viable as the value it upholds too. Vale would never send a relief force to the village because it is too far to risk any more Huntsmen. So the only real choice is to take the children and leave."

"You're wrong!" Ruby Rose, bless her heart, challenged Logan's words. "Vale would never-"

"Wouldn't they?" The Hybrid couldn't help but scoff at her naivety. "Vale is a state without an identity, easily influenced by the cultures of foreign kingdoms. Its council is nothing more than pencil pushers who can't be bothered to see the world outside of a ledger or even their own pockets. To believe they would dispatch a second team to assist is laughable."

Ruby felt the wind in her sails diminish, and not even Weiss could strum up an argument to his declaration. He did not spare a glance at anyone else, not even his own team, and stared back at a quiet Oobleck.

"It has often been spoken that Remnant has been at war with the Grimm since time immemorial. This notion cannot be denied. The names of more than ten thousand Huntsmen and Huntresses who graduated from Beacon are engraved into its auditorium, and every day a new name is carved into its surface…."

Ruby and a dozen other classmates flinched at the reminder, but Logan smelled blood in the water, and like a hungry shark, he tore into their naivety without mercy.

"…I would not trade the lives of any of my team on the hopeless chance that Vale would come to my aid. Many here disagree with my conclusion but let me ask you this…." Logan turned on his heel, and despite the impossibility of such a thing, his gaze penetrated the eyes of almost every student in the classroom. "…How many Huntsmen and Huntresses have been lost because they died for the glory of killing Grimm or the foolishness of sacrificing themselves for the perceived 'greater good?'"

Logan's metal orbs brimmed with a crimson hue as his rage boiled. He was furious with not only the governments of Remnant but also his mother at the body count their silent war had produced.

"…Too many by my count…." The crimson fury abated as Logan took a deep calming breath. "…So if you ask me if I'm willing to sacrifice my team to an almost certain death just to have our name carved into the ring of heroes, I will resolutely decline because…."

Logan paused; his gaze swarmed over each of his classmates, looking for some type of defiance, but he found only one.

Ruby Rose.

He shouldn't have been surprised that she was the only one with the strength of character to defy him.

"…Because this war has enough dead heroes…."

That was why he would one day regret ending his final statement by staring directly into Ruby's silver orbs.

"…Wouldn't you agree, Ms. Rose?"

The stunned and disheartened looks from his team would stay with him until his final day, but there was one image that would forever stick with him.

The tears of sorrow that stung at Ruby's eyes would forever engrave itself into the front of Logan's mind.

He had few regrets.

But this would forever be one of them.

Katarina, the Twins, Yang, Pyrrha, and a dozen others would echo the same statement time and again over the next few weeks.

"It takes a real bastard to break Ruby Rose's heart."

He never disagreed with them.