The sound of a heavy wood crate sliding on a concrete floor permeated the warehouse atmosphere. Two Faunus wearing White Fang uniforms pushed said crate into the last open space next to dozens of identical boxes, labeled in thick black paint, "Dust".

With the last box in place, a second pair of Faunus covered the stacks of heavy wooden crates with a noisy green tarp. All four White Fang grunts heaved out a collective sigh of relief and collapsed to the floor, happy to finally rest after twelve hours of hauling an illegally acquired Dust stockpile from a Bullhead.

"Well done you furry mongrels!" Roman Torchwick insultingly praised as he strutted from the warehouse offices, spinning his weaponized cane all the while. "Muts like you work so much faster when you're given a bone to chase." He then pulled a water bottle from his coat and tossed it to the ground.

The four masked Faunus exchanged hesitant glances before the grunt closest to the bottle reached out to take it. Just as his hand touched the plastic, it shattered into glass-like fragments.

"Woo-hoo-hoo! Aw, man! That never gets old!" Roman's howling laughter echoed around the warehouse. "Good one, Neo! We really had him going that whole time! He's a Camel Faunus! What use do they have for water, right!?"

In a flash of reforming glass-like shards, Neopolitan appeared at Roman's side, twirling her parasol and smirking down at the disappointed Faunus. He knew better than to start a confrontation against his racist boss, doubly so after seeing who was standing unamused behind them.

"Roman." She stated simply, and all noise inside the warehouse ceased for a brief second.

The man in question turned around with wide open arms with Neo following shortly after. "Ah, the illustrious Cinder Fall. It's not every day the world gets to see you without your lackeys trailing you like lost puppies. Speaking of, you're gracing us a full month early. What's the occasion?"

Cinder's eyes moved from Roman, to the four Faunus watching their exchange, to the crates of Dust, to Neopolitan's vaguely apprehensive gaze. Her head tilted slightly, and Neo's expression eased up.

"Complications have arisen and the plans will need to be changed." Cinder sauntered past Roman and grabbed him by the coat. "Let us discuss our next move in private and away from prying eyes. Neo, if you would, please."

Neopolitan smiled at the vague request and turned her attention to the four White Fang grunts. As soon as Roman was out of earshot, she made an exaggerated head-tilt toward the floor before skipping off to Cinder's meeting.

One unopened bottle of water appeared at each of the Faunus' feet.

"We're not taking down the bunk beds and that's final!"

"You don't understand! They're ugly and will give us a bad first impression!"

"Oh yeah!? Well I think our new teammate will like them! Bunk beds are voted cool by three out of four members of Team RWBY!"

"I only said they were efficient."

"Correction, three out of four wanted bunk beds! As a result, they will stay, leader's orders!"

"You insufferable little red… Fine! But don't blame me when they find your sleeping arrangements appalling!"

This was when the door to Team RWBY's room opened, revealing Weiss Schnee holding the door knob, Ruby Rose standing on top of a chair, Blake Belladonna reading a book in her bed, and Yang Xiao Long leaning back in another chair with her feet propped up on the only desk in the room. Four pairs of eyes turned to me, each with an expression of shock, excitement, boredom, and curiosity. I had my two academy uniforms draped over one arm and a bag of school supplies in the other.

"Sup Tenno." Yang waved. "Nice to see you again."

A burst of rose petals riding a gust of wind blew over me, and Ruby was now in between myself and Weiss in the doorway. "Oh my gosh! My older-looking-but-somehow-slightly-shorter-than-me doppelgänger is gonna be our new teammate! This is so cool but also really, really weird! Uh, oh! Beds! I don't know if there's enough room for a fifth bed. Ozpin never gave us a spare to use-"

"I don't need a bed." I cut her off as I walked inside.

The dorm room was a mess, as were the makeshift bunk beds. One bed was being held up by ropes nailed into the ceiling, the other was separated from the lower by four stacks of books holding up the legs. They looked unstable and about to fall at any moment. How did they manage to get beds up there in the first place?

"Does that have to do with what you said yesterday?" Blake asked as she bookmarked her page and closed the cover. "When you said you had a lot to tell us?"

I nodded at her inquiry, "Yes. Because of how I am, things like sleep and nutrition are not required for me to survive. Don't ask me how it's possible, as I don't entirely know myself."

"I've heard stories of people surviving for weeks without food or water in the deserts of Vacuo," Yang said, "Their Aura kept them going long enough to be rescued, but that's totally different from surviving exclusively off it."

"Aura doesn't sustain me," I responded, "Something else is."

Weiss' hand rested on the hilt of her rapier. "The Creatures of Grimm don't have Aura and survive by unknown means. What you're saying sounds very suspicious."

I balked at her assumption, quickly striding into her personal space. "I am not a Grimm, you polished Kubrow dropping!"

Ruby was soon between me and her, lightly pushing us apart, "Okay, okay, name calling is not nice, even though I don't know what a 'Kubrow' is. Let's apologize and move on, okay?"

I kept my eyes on Weiss as I backed off, but her gaze flipped between myself and Ruby. After an exasperated sigh, Weiss finally relented with an apology.

"Fine. I should not have voiced my assumption that you were a Creature of Grimm." As close to one as she would allow, anyway.

Ruby smiled at her partner's display of weakness. "Good. Tenno? What would you like to apologize for?"

I continued to glare at Weiss, never intending to follow Ruby's orders. "I've seen your kind before. The wealthy and powerful. Content to exploit the people around you for even just a chance to profit from their suffering, and I'm the one to pick up the pieces, to clean up your mess. The day I apologize to you is the day the very last star goes black."

I dropped my uniforms and school supplies in the middle of the dorm room to punctuate my stance with their thud. The room fell eerily silent as I awaited anyone's response.

"How… dare you!" Weiss ground out. "Accusing me of exploiting the weak for my own gains! You don't even know why I'm at Beacon! I'm here to protect the innocent, and you accuse me of doing the opposite!?"

"She's not wrong, by the way." Blake stood up from her bunk, leaving her book on the blankets.

"Excuse me!?" Weiss balked in exasperation at the challenger.

"The Schnee Dust Company has been widely known to use primarily Faunus labor to mine Dust, while none of the managers or executives are Faunus themselves. Multiple articles have been published detailing the appalling work environment within the Dust mines. Some rumors suggest the workers aren't even relocated to another mine once the current one is dried up, but are instead abandoned by the higher-ups and left to the Grimm. And you wonder why the White Fang exists."

Weiss was getting red as she pointed at Blake. "Those accusations are completely untrue! The Schnee Dust miners are treated exceptionally-"

"-At the few mines where public media is granted access to." Blake interrupted. "The mines denied media access are the ones that fail to meet workplace standards. Take it from those who managed to escape enslavement."

Weiss continued to become redder as she argued with the calm and collected Blake. "The workers there are not 'enslaved'! They are all given appropriate compensation for their service!"

Corporations, I muttered before I picked up my uniforms and supplies, moving to place them into the dresser drawer and onto the desk respectively. Blake and Weiss continued to go after each other while Ruby and Yang could only watch helplessly.

"The White Fang has made running the mines difficult! Security had to be upped!"

"The White Fang is a symptom of a much larger problem! The SDC treats its workers like animals rather than people, and just like humans, they will retaliate when pushed to their limit!"

"And you are pushing me to my limit, Blake Belladonna! Why do you care so much about a species of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Because we are tired of being labeled as monsters!"

The room fell silent as Blake's words sunk in. Her calm demeanor shifted into one of anxiety and fear. Before Ruby could stop her, Blake bolted out the door.