Recording #1

January, 22981 AEA

"Alright, intro time! Ahem. I've discovered the existence of an extra dimensional barrier, hanging over our reality. It's hard to observe, but it's definitely there, and it's obscuring something. I've decided to call it the 'Veil' for now, while we don't know much about it. The first step should be to find a better method of observation. It's taken a ton of energy just for me to look at the darn thing! After that, I'm planning on learning what it's made of, and if it can be manipulated. The end goal of all of this is to answer two questions: why does the Veil exist in the first place? And what exactly is it hiding from us? This could be the discovery of a millennium if I pull it off! I haven't been this excited in a long, long time…"


Beacon Academy

November, 78 AGW

In spite of everything, Blake Belladonna actually had a relatively peaceful night's sleep. Sure, Initiation was almost a complete disaster, and she had to confront the unfortunate truth that simply fighting alongside Weiss as teammates wouldn't magically fix all of her biases about the heiress, but there were bits of good news mixed in there somewhere.

The first was that at least two of her teammates were in prime position to take most of the heat for her in the public eye. Call her selfish, but Blake Atropos was more than content to fade into the background as Team SAPR's quietest member, especially with her status as a former White Fang member. But more than that, she was just tired of all the unwanted scrutiny; it was why she'd gone through such lengths to train her ears not to twitch so much, so that they'd be inconspicuous while under her bow and beanie combo.

There was also the situation with Ruby Rose, which in hindsight, Blake could now say she'd overreacted to. Weiss firmly believed she was a Faunus hiding her traits, but even without that, Blake had already found an answer to her odd behavior earlier.

It happened in a meeting with Ozpin yesterday, shortly after Pyrrha had left to get her arm treated. Weiss apparently had some choice questions to ask about the red cloaked girl, and she thought it necessary to drag Blake along to the Headmaster's office. While her partner had a slew of complaints ready that fit her Atlesian background like a glove, Ozpin had silenced them all with a few words of his own.

"I implore you to ignore some of Miss Rose's… eccentricities, and give her a chance."

The Headmaster had said, with an almost apologetic look on his face. It morphed into a sad smile as he continued.

"She's been alone for quite some time, you know. Up until a week ago, it was just her in the wilderness, far outside of any Kingdom."

The revelation still confounded her, even now. Roughing it out in the wilderness was something professional Hunters did, not orphaned teenagers. Blake was willing to write it off as a lie, if she didn't witness Ruby blowing that Nevermore to pieces, and shrugging off that attack she took during Initiation like it was nothing. They weren't sure how it was possible, but she was willing to bet it had something to do with her 'Professor's secret', as Weiss had dubbed it due to the way Professor Goodwitch seemed in on it.

"Oh, and one more thing, Miss Schnee, Miss Atropos. Try not to feed into her delusions too much, okay?"

Ozpin had ended the conversation quite cryptically with that remark, but there was nothing they could do about it as he unceremoniously booted them out of his office to prepare team formations. It was clear to both of them that he was omitting some crucial information about their teammate.

Still, Blake felt somewhat satisfied with the information she had. It was a little uncomfortable knowing that Ruby's quirks would probably attract the attention of racist bigots, if they ever found out, so she made a note to talk to her about it later. Privately, of course.

She sat up in her bed, stretching her arms and back, before grabbing her beanie off the post next to her pillow. It was 5:55 AM, according to her Scroll, and the soft light of dawn trickled through the window. Weiss and Pyrrha were both soundly asleep in their beds, and Ruby was sitting on the floor, her cloak facing them. Come to think of it, the way she was sitting was similar to the meditative stances that Adam used to do before missions.

'I guess now is as good a time as any.' Blake decided, seeing as they were the only ones awake.

She crawled out of bed and walked over to where the girl was meditating, which wasn't far given the size of their dorm. It was still better than some of the White Fang encampments, though.

"Ruby." She leaned over and shook her teammate's shoulder, knowing that quiet words wouldn't reach her.

"Hmm? Oh, hello Blake." The dark-red haired girl stood up and faced her, fully dressed in school uniform. "Did you need something? If I recall, class doesn't start for another three hours."

"How did you know that? Weiss was the one who got our schedules…"

Ruby shrugged. "Glynda took me aside to remind me earlier. I don't think she wants us to be late."

"Huh, interesting." Blake muttered. "Wait no, we're getting sidetracked. There's something I want to warn you about, before we head to class."

"What about?" Her inquisitive light grey eyes almost shone silver in low light settings.

"It's about your, um, race..."

The disguised Faunus trailed off awkwardly, but she didn't miss Ruby's puzzled expression. Gods, there was really no easy way to broach this topic in conversation, was there?

"I know you haven't lived in the Kingdoms for very long, but there are certain people who might judge you for being different. They'll… treat you rather harshly if they find out you aren't Human."

Ruby blinked innocently, crossing her arms. "But isn't the fact that I look like them enough? Your people really judge someone based on a simple title?"

"Not me, specifically!" Blake's eyes widened in alarm, and a twinge of guilt passed through her at the fact that her disguise was working so well. "But some people don't see that. They just see a difference, and they hate it. It's irrational, I know."

"Interesting. Still don't see how that's a problem, though. Can't I just ignore them?"

"But they won't ignore you!" Blake's voice hitched. "I've… seen it firsthand. It'll start with name-calling and insults, and sure, you could ignore that. But they never stop at just that. It almost always escalates past verbal abuse, and into, well…"

She searched her mind for a more moderate way of describing the various mistreatments and persecutions she had gone through in the past, but came up empty. Seeing Ruby's utterly confused expression, Blake forged onwards.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is: your time at Beacon will be significantly worse if people find out, and I don't want another—er, I mean, I don't want one of my teammates to suffer like that." Vale wasn't as bad as Atlas or Mistral, but that wasn't saying much.

Ruby unfolded her hands and cupped her chin thoughtfully.

"What do you suggest I do?"

"Just don't bring it up around strangers." Blake assumed her traits were less conspicuous than most, which only left her behavior. "For example, you called Weiss a 'Human' earlier. Don't do stuff like that."

Ruby flashed her a thumbs up. "You don't have to worry about that. I already promised Weiss I wouldn't use that word anymore."

Her eyes narrowed as she seemed to remember something.

"Though, if that's the case, I should also avoid bringing it up around the Faunus, too."

"I—um, sure?"

Blake was taken aback by the sudden extrapolation. She supposed that was one way to bridge the gap between the two races: by not acknowledging the difference. There was something off about her wording. Doubt started to form in her mind.

Ruby broke into a wide smile and clapped her hands together. "Guess my temporary name for all of you worked out for the best! Thanks for the advice, Blake!"

The former White Fang member felt like she was getting hit with conversational whiplash. Was this what Ozpin had warned them about? She wanted to know more, but froze at her teammate's next sentence.

"I guess you mortals aren't completely hopeless after all."


Oh no. Did she say something wrong? She'd assumed Blake would be comfortable with her race given how concerned she seemed...

Ruby's mind flashed back to when she'd accidentally revealed her true age to Qrow, and back again to her first conversation with Ozpin where she'd lost her composure and established her status as an Eternal to prove a point. They had both been relatively accepting of her afterwards, so she reasoned that these mortals were only afraid of her skeletal appearance. It made sense, as she'd learned: it was a grim reminder of their own mortality, and indicative of forbidden magic in some cultures she'd read about.

Since the cat was already out of the bag for the Beacon staff, Ruby hadn't bothered to draft up a Human personality to fit in, and it was too late to change her appearance to a Faunus, anyhow. Had that been a mistake? It was certainly causing problems with at least two of her teammates.

"Er, did I—"

"What do you mean by that, Ruby?"

"I'd like to know as well, if it's not too much of a bother." said Pyrrha, sitting up on her bed. When had she woken up?

Regardless, she might as well get them all up to speed, to eliminate any issues down the line. If Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda could handle it, so could they.

"Well, you're all mortals, correct?" Ruby began. "I haven't said anything objectively false, have I?"

"That's true, but you seem to be excluding yourself when you call other people 'mortals'." Blake replied with an apprehensive look. Pyrrha's expression was more curious, but there was a hint of concern there, too.

"That's because I'm not. Not mortal, that is."

Blake opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a sudden ringing noise coming from Weiss's bed. Everyone in the room, including the heiress herself, jumped in shock at the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Gah!" Weiss cried out, falling out of her bed, dragging her bedsheet with her. "What time is it?"

"6:00 A.M." Pyrrha helpfully supplied.

"Six—? Who set my alarm for six in the morning?"

"...You did." Blake replied, stony-faced.

The red-faced heiress untangled herself and got up. "R-right… It must have slipped my mind. My apologies. Anyways, what are you all doing this early?"

"Ruby was just telling us about herself. It's been… interesting." Pyrrha said, her expression neutral.

"Is that right? Well, I admit I have quite a few questions for you, but class starts in three hours, so we should at least spend some time getting prepared. We can talk and unpack at the same time" Weiss declared.

Ruby stepped out of their way and glanced around the room. She hadn't paid much attention to their belongings when she slipped back into their dorm last night, but it seemed they had a lot of belongings stuffed away in those suitcases. The Eternal once again marveled at the primitive nature of their paraphernalia. Couldn't they have at least slapped an auto-navigation system onto them?

"So," Blake continued, pulling some books out of her suitcase. "You were telling us about how you're apparently immortal?" Her voice and expression were laced with skepticism.

"You're what?" Weiss gasped. "That's preposterous!"

It was Ruby's turn to be confused. Ozpin and Qrow certainly didn't have the same reaction to her statements. Or were they just better at hiding their emotions?

"Is that a problem?"

"It's impossible, is what it is! Gods, is this what Headmaster Ozpin was talking about?" Weiss shouted, glancing at Blake for confirmation.

"Oh, that's right. You two visited the Headmaster yesterday." Pyrrha voiced Ruby's thoughts for her, deftly taking out what appeared to be a spare set of armor with one arm. She had been oddly quiet this whole time, in Ruby's opinion.

"I can prove it, if you'd like." She tilted her head back, and drew the tip of her thumb across her neck suggestively.

All three girls blanched in horror at her proposition.

"No! No no no—don't do that!" Pyrrha was the first to drop everything and run up to her, waving her good arm frantically in disapproval.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed at making yet another faux pas. "Oh, I suppose that would be a bit distressing to watch. Um, what about deadly poison? Or perhaps I could spend a few hours underwater?" She watched as their faces grew paler at each sentence.

"This part of the conversation is over!" Weiss screeched, face red with anger.

The heiress made her way over to the bathroom. "No more discussing different ways to die. As team leader, that's an order!" She slammed the door shut, leaving a dumbstruck Blake and Pyrrha behind.

Ugh. Mortal culture was so weird. Ruby had to admit she had been a bit insensitive, though. She supposed they didn't like to be reminded of their own mortality.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize this would make you all uncomfortable." She shifted in place awkwardly. There wasn't room left in the dorm to do much else.

"It's okay, Ruby." Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder. "We're just—as you've said—uncomfortable with the idea of you putting your life at risk like that. You don't need to prove your immortality to us, so there's no need to flagrantly place yourself in dangerous situations, alright?"

'At least someone gets it.' Ruby sighed with relief, not noticing the conspiratorial look Pyrrha shot Blake.

The two mortals continued unpacking their possessions in silence, with Ruby helping Pyrrha occasionally. She noticed that Blake had a lot of books—recreational by the looks of it—and not much else in terms of belongings outside the essentials. Pyrrha was similar, though instead of books, it was various tools for weapon maintenance. They both packed light, in stark contrast to Weiss, whose many, many suitcases were only partially opened and sorted.

The girl in question eventually opened the bathroom door, now fully dressed in school uniform.

"So, are we all calmed down now?"

"You were the one who was freaking out the most." Blake pointed out.

The heiress opened her mouth to argue, but was swiftly cut off by Pyrrha. "Yes! The issue has been resolved. Ruby's immortal, but she's agreed not to place herself in situations that would get a mortal person killed. Right, Ruby?"

The Eternal nodded. Honestly, what were they so panicked about? It wasn't like she was going to actively seek out 'dangerous situations', as Pyrrha put it. That would be a complete waste of time.

"May I use the bathroom?" Her partner asked Weiss.

"Go ahead."

The redhead stepped in and shut the door behind her, leaving the monochrome duo to face her. Weiss began sorting through her many, many suitcases, while Blake looked at her with an inquisitive expression.

"Got another question for me, Blake?"

The black-haired girl's face was tinted red. "You aren't actually a Faunus, are you?"

"Nope!"

Blake's face grew redder and she looked away. "It's just that, the talk we had earlier…" Her countenance grew pensive, and she waved her hand. "No, never mind."

"I arrived at the same conclusion as well." Weiss sniffed in disdain. "Not even the Faunus would be as crazy as you."

"Crazy or not, you're still stuck with me for at least a little while, so you better get used to it!" Ruby teased.

Internally however, she was worried. Why was it so hard for these people to accept the truth, when they didn't even entertain the idea of proving her wrong? Ruby supposed she could let it slide, for now, if only out of respect for their camaraderie during Initiation.

A few more minutes passed in silence, with Blake and Ruby opting to help out Weiss with her gear. Eventually, they managed to fit all of her miscellaneous belongings into the room in an organized fashion. When Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom, Weiss asked another question.

"Ruby… back in Initiation." She began, a bit of discomfort in her voice. "Do you remember that Grimm you fought?"

"Of course! What of it?"

"Well…" Weiss glanced worriedly at Pyrrha and Blake, who were both tense for some reason. "We all heard it, um, speak. You heard it too, right?"

Ah. So that's what this was about. Honestly, she could see where they were coming from.

"Yep! It was quite unnerving, at first."

"At first?" Blake repeated.

"But in retrospect," She broke into a grin. "It was quite exciting!"

"...What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked. The girl was trying to keep calm, but her expression was stiff and anxious.

"From what I've read of your history, there hasn't been a single recorded instance of a Grimm speaking. And yet, not only was that one capable of speaking, it knew my name, of all things. It called me a traitor! How incredible is that?"

"Incredibly creepy, maybe. So, you don't know anything more than that? Any idea why it was so focused on you?" Weiss questioned, as the three mortals shared a look of bewilderment at her sudden mood swing.

"Nope! But that's what makes it so intriguing, don't you think?"

Ruby was practically bouncing on her heels with enthusiasm. She just loved discussing the unknown: the groundbreaking discoveries that pushed their world forwards, and this odd Grimm was no exception. How did it know her name? Ruby hadn't betrayed any Grimm since waking up, so what was it talking about?

"I-i suppose that makes sense." Weiss conceded. "Well, it's dead now, so…"

The three of them relaxed a little bit. Ruby could tell they were still curious about many things, but the questioning was done, for now. Pyrrha and Weiss took the time to organize their gear, while Blake took a quick shower. Ruby had declined taking a shower on the basis that she'd done so earlier, but in actuality her cloak was laced with replicating nanomachines that did the job for her. Plus, she didn't exactly release any sweat or odors in her current state, though she didn't intend on sharing that fact with her teammates.

"Okay!" Weiss declared after Blake had returned, and they'd gotten fully settled in. "Our next order of business is…"

Her eyes widened in panic. "Shoot! We lost track of time. Classes start in ten minutes!"

Weiss bolted out of the room, with the rest of the team following suit. Ruby paused outside of their dorm room, sensing Jaune and Yang with her magic, behind the door across from theirs. She knocked on the door gently.

"Class starts in ten minutes." She called out, before dashing away.

As she rounded the corner, she briefly caught a glimpse of Yang and an orange-haired girl carrying their respective partners on their shoulders as they made their way down the hall. Ruby chuckled at the sight. These mortals really were quite strange! Perhaps they would fare better at handling her immortality? Decisions, decisions…


"Argh!"

Yang watched as a blue haired boy landed heavily on his back, his halberd clattering behind him. A buzzer sounded.

"That's the match. Sky Lark is out due to Aura loss." Professor Goodwitch declared. "Good work, Ms. Valkyrie."

Nora did a little twirl with Magnhild, glancing up at her team—well, mostly just Ren—with a wide grin. The cheerful girl was pretty strong, Yang had to admit, but nothing she couldn't handle, if they ever had to fight each other.

"And for our final match…" Professor Goodwitch glanced at her scroll.

Yang shifted in her seat anxiously. The professor had explained at the beginning of combat class that these first few sessions would be used to gauge everyone's relative skill level, meaning that the selection process was purely random. She had yet to be called, along with plenty of other people, including her partner, and most of Team SAPR. She frowned, eyeing Pyrrha's sling. It seemed she'd have to wait to fight her.

"Jaune Arc."

She patted her partner on the back—lighter, this time—and offered some words of encouragement.

"Go get 'em!"

He gave her a halfhearted thumbs up, before making his way down to the arena. Nora high-fived him as they passed each other.

"He seems… unconfident." Ren spoke up, next to her.

She had to agree with their quietest member. Jaune did a fine job leading them during Initiation, but it was clear to anyone watching that he didn't have much combat prowess. Still, he'd gotten into Beacon, so maybe it was nerves?

"And… Ruby Rose." Professor Goodwitch declared. Was it just her, or did the professor sound vaguely apprehensive when calling on the girl?

In contrast to her own team, Team SAPR's reaction was… odd, to say the least. Pyrrha at least gave a muted cheer, but Weiss and the black-haired girl simply said nothing, instead tensing up as if they expected something bad to happen. Just what had they gone through during Initiation?

Yang leaned forwards with renewed interest. Not only was this a chance to see what Jaune was made of, it was also an opportunity to learn what made Ruby so special, such that Ozpin had offered her a place here even before Initiation. The girl in question finally made her way down to the arena, and both combatants slotted their Scrolls into the terminal.

A large flashing error signal appeared over Ruby's Aura meter.

"Whoops! Forgot to align this with my 'Aura'. One second, please."

The red cloaked girl—still dressed in her school uniform, for some reason—yanked her Scroll out and began fiddling with it. A gold sheen rippled over her body as her Aura flared, and a quick reboot showed her meter was displaying properly.

"...Miss Rose, where is your weapon?"

"It ran out of charge and broke down, so I scrapped it. Plus, it was a rush job, so I'd already planned on making something better later." She replied curtly.

"I see. Need I remind you that—"

"Don't worry about it, Glynda. I'll be fine with just hand-to-hand."

Professor Goodwitch's expression was a mixture of disapproval and curiosity. "Are you certain?"

"Yep! I might have only six months of experience fighting Grimm, but I've got way more experience fighting other people."

Ruby's proclamation caused a stir amongst the rest of the students. Whispered rumors were being exchanged left and right, but Yang was far more focused on her partner's reaction. Jaune had Crocea Mors drawn, but his posture was stiff, and his hand was shaky. She had to do something.

"Silence! The match is about to begin." Professor Goodwitch cut off any chance of support from the peanut gallery.

She stepped back, signalling for the two students to begin.

With a battle cry, Jaune charged forwards, sword held high above his head, with his shield arm sloppily covering his lower body. Yang's eyes narrowed.

"What the hell is he doing?" She whispered to her teammates. "He's leaving his right side completely—"

As if to finish her sentence, Ruby slipped to Jaune's right as he approached, intercepting his charge with a swift kick to the side. She was fast, and strong, too, judging by the way Jaune was sent tumbling away. But instead of moving to follow up on her attack, Ruby just turned and looked at Jaune's Aura monitor.

Surprisingly, it was only down a few percentage points. Yang knew Jaune had a pretty substantial Aura, but this was good confirmation of that. The red cloaked girl's back was turned to Jaune as she began contemplating something, but Yang was too far away to hear her mutterings.

Her partner had gotten up, undeterred by the setback. He charged again, this time pointing Crocea Mors directly forward, while keeping his guard close to his chest. Well, at least it was a different strategy this time.

Unfortunately, his attack was once again easily dismantled as Ruby dodged the thrust, spun to his left and swept his legs out from under him, sending the knight rolling forwards.

"Damn it Jaune, think! You can't just keep charging at her like that…" Yang growled under her breath.

She had half a mind to jump down into the arena and start coaching him, but surprisingly, Ruby did her job for her.

"Keep your back straight and your stance lower as you approach. It's too easy to knock you over when you're running in like that." She lectured in an authoritative tone, a frown etched on her face.

Yang, along with many other students, gaped in surprise. Was she really giving advice during a match, to her opponent, no less?

"Shut up! I don't need your help!" Jaune growled.

Yang couldn't help but notice that his back was straighter, and stance was a bit lower, despite that. Closing the distance a bit more carefully this time, he began swinging, slicing, and stabbing in Ruby's direction. She avoided them all with a practiced ease, a bored expression upon her face, like she was watching the grass grow.

"Try and maintain your composure. Your footwork is all messed up again. Front foot pointed at me, please!"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. With a furious roar, Jaune gripped his sword with both hands, bringing them down with much greater speed and ferocity than before.

Yang leapt to her feet. Maybe he had potential after all?

In response, Ruby actually stopped playing around, and lowered into a defensive stance. Just as it looked like he was about to strike her, she reached up and blocked the sword in her hands.

Wait, what?

Her palms were laying flat against Crocea Mors' blade! Yang's eyes flicked up to the Aura monitor, which indicated that Ruby had lost a mere five percent of her Aura.

"Wow, were you actually trying there? That was much better than before!" Ruby remarked, before twisting the sword out of a shell-shocked Jaune's grip.

Having cast aside his shield before to perform the two-handed strike, Jaune was completely defenseless as Ruby knocked him aside with the flat of his own blade. A buzzer sounded, indicating he was out of bounds. The end score? 67% to 95%.

Professor Goodwitch had some choice words for both combatants, but Yang's mind was racing at the implications, so she didn't pay attention. She'd noticed that the techniques she'd used were fairly basic: Simple kicks and strikes were all that took out Jaune. What interested her most was the way she seemed almost familiar with Jaune's fighting style despite not having seen it before, and how she exploited it.

A thrill of excitement rushed through her, even though she knew she should be feeling sad at her partner's loss. She had to fight Ruby now, in addition to Pyrrha, of course. The feeling stayed with her as she left with her team to get lunch after Goodwitch's class.

Selecting a table near the center of the cafeteria, she sat down with Jaune, who was still looking a bit dejected from the loss. Ren and Nora were getting lunch, having been delayed by Nora's strange requests for food. Spotting Team SAPR entering the dining hall, she quickly waved them over, to Jaune's chagrin.

"Remember what I told you?" Yang cut in, before he could complain. "Ruby was invited by Headmaster Ozpin personally. You shouldn't feel bad losing to her."

"I agree." Ren plopped down in front of them, Nora following suit. "From what I've seen, she's quite the talented fighter."

"I know, I know. It's just, did she really have to start coaching me in the middle of our fight?" Jaune griped, not noticing Ruby approaching from behind.

She sat down next to him and slammed an empty food tray on the table, causing him to jump. "How could I not? Out of everyone we watched today, you were definitely the most untrained."

Yang nearly choked on her food at that remark, and by the looks of it, Jaune hadn't fared much better.

"Too blunt? Well, I would have offered some help after the match regardless. You reminded me of myself when I first started out with the ol' sword and board combo." She said as the rest of her team settled in next to them.

"Hello again! What are you all talking about?" Pyrrha interjected.

Ruby opened her mouth to answer, but Nora cut her off to spare their teammate some embarrassment.

"We were just talking about how great this food is!" She shouted bombastically. "I mean, just look how much stuff they have here!"

Nora gestured towards her own plate, which contained an assortment of foods haphazardly balanced on top of each other: from steak to fish to roast chicken, an entire head of broccoli, plus a pile of pancakes slathered in maple syrup. She'd even found a whole stuffed turkey somewhere along the way.

"Where on Remnant did you find all of that?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Jealous? Well, too bad! You can't have any!" Nora cackled before diving into her… food pile.

Beside her, Ren cracked a small smile. "Please forgive Nora. We haven't quite gotten used to Beacon's atmosphere yet."

"That's fair." Pyrrha replied evenly. "Where are you two from?"

Come to think of it, Yang didn't really know much about her other two teammates, aside from the fact that they were close. Then again, they'd only know each other for a day.

"Mistral." Ren replied. Nora was too busy devouring her lunch to answer properly, but a muffled sound of agreement confirmed his statement. It was really quite impressive how much she was eating.

Yang's attention turned away from the three after Pyrrha brought up that she was from Mistral as well, as if no one knew who she was. Weiss was all too eager to jump into the conversation from there, and it devolved into small talk about the Kingdom itself. She had to give Nora credit: it was quite the distraction.

The blonde bit into her sandwich as she observed the rest of their little group. The black-haired girl—Blake, as she'd learned from her team—was reading a small novel. Meanwhile, Jaune was picking at his food, obviously deep in thought from what Ruby had said. The girl in question had placed a large textbook over her empty tray, occasionally marking something down with a pen. Did she ever stop writing?

"So, Ruby." Yang began in a casual tone. "What're you reading?"

Wordlessly, and without taking her eyes off the page, she flipped up the book to reveal its cover.

"Eastern Sanus and the Kingdom of Vale: A Complete History by Bartholomew Oobleck?" Yang read aloud, confused.

"...Is there a problem?" Ruby glanced up and stared inquisitively. She noticed that everyone's attention was on them now.

"No, no! Just wasn't what I was expecting, that's all. Um, why are you reading that at lunchtime, anyways? Aren't you hungry?"

"I ate earlier, so I'm reading now. I don't exactly like to waste time, you know."

But wasn't that a lie? Yang wouldn't call herself a detective per se, but she had picked up a few basic habits in her search for Raven. The two teams had shared all three of their morning classes, meaning there was basically no time to squeeze a meal in between, and she knew for a fact that none of them had breakfast. Still, she supposed it wasn't any of her business if Ruby wanted to skip a meal or two.

It was Weiss's, though.

"What do you mean, you ate earlier? When?" Weiss interrogated.

"Whenever you weren't looking!" Ruby snarked back.

The conversation descended into petty squabbles, each dragging in their respective partners as they attempted to defend themselves. Even Ren and Nora got involved, citing several times she'd snuck in a snack under Ren's watch.

Something didn't sit right with Yang, the more she thought about it. Ruby's bout with Jaune was a one-sided stomp, sure, but it was actually decently lengthy, thanks to her impromptu training session. How could she not be at least a bit peckish afterwards? In addition to that, there were those rumors flying around, about how the red cloaked girl had entered and exited Initiation completely unscathed. Not to mention the offhand comment she'd made to Weiss when they'd first met, which Weiss herself seemed to have forgotten in all the chaos.

Was she just extremely talented? Intuition told her that wasn't the case.

Yang bit into her sandwich more forcefully as the conversation continued without her. One thing was for certain, she'd have to keep her eyes peeled around this strange girl, if she wanted to get to the bottom of her behavior.


A/N: A bit of an intermediary chapter while I get my shit together.

I got hit with a real nasty allergic reaction the other day, for the first time in literally years. Apparently standard protocol after an EpiPen injection is to go to the emergency room? It seemed a bit overkill at the time, but I left feeling absolutely terrible, so maybe not. They even gave me a whole bunch of steroids and antihistamines afterwards, which completely screwed my sleep schedule.

Let me know what I can improve upon. Thank you for reading.