Hello everyone and all, Melody here with a new chapter. I hope people enjoyed the previous chapter. I meant to have this out yesterday but I've been absorbed in playing through Persona 3. Anyway, let's get to it.

Sincerely, Melody

Everyone had seen it; The day before someone had hacked into the CCT and live-streamed in everywhere. It was brutal truly, the live torture of a group of Atlassian Specialists. On the news that morning Lisa Lavender explained what had happened to the lucky people that missed it. The names of the soldiers were not disclosed but a group of three Beacon students recognized them. A key bit of information revealed to all was the existence of the Bonepickers.

Lothur had been catatonic the whole morning, he was excused from class. Fianna stayed behind with him but Emerald went to class. She had to keep her mind off of it, Six wasn't among the soldiers in the live stream. Her big brother wasn't there, no one knew where he was; She didn't know where he was. No matter how many times she tried calling him, no matter how many messages she sent, no matter how many emails she typed out; She got no response. For the first time in years, she was afraid. Class was something she could barely focus on and Soliel noticed but when he asked she lied and said she was fine. The bell rang once more signaling the end of class and she was gathering her things only to hear some say her name.

"Ms. Sustrai, I'd like you to stay after class," Leon spoke as he grabbed his cigarettes and lighter.

She nodded as she walked over, "Yes Professor Rivers?" She questioned but her mind wasn't fully there.

Once the rest of the students cleared out Leon pulled over a chair and motioned her to sit. "So given the look on your face and the fact Miss Chernyy and Mister Blutmond weren't in class, you have some form of connection to those soldiers. That correct?" He asked as he took out a cigarette and lit it. He also took out another and held it out to her.

Her eyes went wide. "I-I don't smoke…" She explained but in all honesty, she felt like she needed one. According to Fianna, they were great stress relievers. Shrugging, he was about to put the cigarette away only for her to quickly snatch it out of his hands.

"Here," He said as he handed her a lighter. Taking it she lit the cigarette and quickly inhaled only to cough violently. "Slow and don't breathe too deeply since you're new to it. You'll get used to it. So while I'm not a licensed psychologist I'm a hell of a listener. Talk about whatever you want to talk about to make yourself feel better." He told her which she nodded in response.

"C-can I ask a question?" Her voice was ever so slightly shaky. Leon nodded and she continued. "Have you ever lost a family member?"

Leon inhaled and sat back for about a minute before answering the question. "Yes, I have. When I was eighteen my Dad abandoned me to a group of people that attempted to take my life." He informed her which got a wide-eyed response. "Luckily they didn't kill me. Around seven years ago my wife was attacked by a Beowolf and is currently in a coma while missing a large portion of her stomach and intestines along with a literal arm and a leg… Well, she's practically dead but I don't have the heart to pull the plug when I might find something to fix her."

Emerald nodded. "Okay, so what did you do when your dad left?" Her question was marked by her inhaling her own cigarette as Leon instructed.

"I fought tooth and nail to escape the prison that was my childhood home. That was the first day I killed a man, I killed about a dozen people I think but that morning is a blur now. The woman I was with at the time called me a monster." His sardonic chuckle filled the room but Emerald noticed a hollow look in his eye.

"After that? What did you do?"

"I tracked down my bastard of a Dad. Asked him why he abandoned me. Now let me ask a question, why are you so curious?"

She looked down at her hands, the warm orange glow of the cherry on the cigarette greeted her. "My old brother worked with those men and women who were on that live stream… He wasn't there though… I don't know what happened to him…" Her voice was weak and shaky as she lifted the cigarette again to inhale. "He found me in an alleyway when I was a kid and he saved my life. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead by now… What do I do? Lothur's dad was the guy in the armour and currently, he's just lying in his bed, unable to accept what he saw while I'm going to class like everything is fine…"

The sigh she heard him let out was a long one and he sounded tired but not as if he was annoyed with what she was saying. "Personally if I was you, I'd take a couple days off of class to process everything. Let the information stick and think of the reasons why you haven't heard from him. Could he be on the run from the people that did this? They hacked the CCT so tracking down a single scroll shouldn't be difficult for them. Tell me about your brother."

A small, minuscule smile formed on her face. "He's amazing, always protected me since I was little, and lifted me up whenever I was down. When people would try to harass me in my hometown he'd step in and clean their clock. If someone asked me who my favourite superhero was, it'd be him. He even has one of those weird wrist computers like you." She explained as she pointed at his Pip-Boy.

Leon's lone eye widened ever so slightly and he nodded. "That's surprising, last person I saw with one of these is my friend Butch. He runs that Tunnel Snake barbershop in Vale. If you ever need a haircut go to him and let him know you're my student, he'll give you a discount."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, yeah, he's basically my role model." She explained and took another hit from her cigarette. It was starting to get smoother, she noticed.

"What's his name?" He asked, flicking the ash from the tip of his cigarette.

"While it may sound unusual, his name is Six like the number. When we met he actually didn't have a last name." She explained with a smile.

Leon closed his eye and nodded. "I thought your last name seemed familiar. What if I told you I met some of his old family recently?"

Slipping from her fingers, the cigarette dropped onto the desk as Emerald's eyes widened. "Are you saying he left? He went home? But why wouldn't he tell me?" Her questions were fast and her breathing faster. Staring down at her hands, she started to clench her fists into tight balls.

Shaking his head, Leon placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, he hasn't. The reason I know them is because they went to a friend of mine recently for information on how to find him. If you'd like, I could bring them here to meet you either tonight or tomorrow."

Emerald nodded quickly. "Please." And with that, the bell rang once more.

Leon gave his own nod before speaking up, "Don't worry about the cigarette cause I won't tell anyone and make sure to come over to the Bullhead docks later this evening."

She nodded once more before rushing to the cafeteria. Slipping in the room after her was Ozpin with a steaming mug of hot cocoa. Walking over he sat in the seat across from Leon.

"You need something?" Leon asked as he picked up the burning cigarette and put it out in the ashtray.

"I don't remember giving you permission to give tobacco products to students," Ozpin commented as he took a sip from his drink.

Leon rolled his eye, "Blow it out your ass. What do you want?"

"Have you thought more of my offer? You know she makes for a worthy candidate." Another sip punctuated his question which received a glare.

"And have Sally fight against that Salem bitch? No. I'd prefer her not to die because of your stupid decisions." Another cigarette lit, the thin trail of smoke wisping in the air between them.

"You can't protect her forever and you know with her Semblance she might stand a chance."

"Yes, but you also took a shine to Ms. Rose because of her Silver Eyes. So like I said before, blow it out your ass, you got that kid to work as a candidate. "

"Such aggression is needless you know."

"If I was being aggressive we both know I could lay waste to this whole planet. Remember I'm the one with the giant death ray in the sky." The finality in his tone and the dim red glow from behind his eyepatch showed he was barely containing his anger.

Ozpin nodded and took a sip from his mug once more, "True. I had another idea though, it involves that death ray you're talking about. Perhaps it could kill Salem?" He pondered aloud.

Leon sat back in his chair as he released a cloud of smoke. "I'd say we'd need something to destroy her atoms almost instantly. The death ray is simply a mass of plasma focused into a beam, a nuke would probably do her in though." Ash was flicked into the tray as he stared at the ceiling. "Though that would require me to get my hands on one and your planet's tech isn't advanced enough. While energy and basic technology between our worlds is vastly different, you all rely on Dust while we relied on nuclear power and fossil fuels. It also probably wouldn't be a good idea to bring one here from Earth, if Ironwood saw it he'd demand to know how it was made."

"Yes, it would be best to keep those weapons away from Remnant. It would surely spell the end of the planet." Ozpin agreed as he sat his mug down. "So you're going to invite random citizens to Beacon this evening? Are they trustworthy?"

"I'm not telling them about Amber or anything so it should be fine. I'll make sure they don't snoop around." With that, he snuffed out his cigarette and grabbed his flasks. "I have something I have to do. We'll talk more later if you need me."

Without listening to Ozpin's reply, Leon left the room while taking a sip from his red flask. Ozpin grabbed his mug and left shortly after.

While it was loud as usual the cafeteria held a somewhat unusual feeling as it was only the second day, fourth if you included the two days before they either became students or returned, people didn't quite know what to do. Of course, people got their food and sat at tables but given what had aired last night, they were confused in a sense. How could they continue their days as if they were normal after watching that live stream? Well, thoughts like that traveled through Lothur's mind once Fianna was finally able to convince him to go get something to eat.

As he walked to a table with Fianna he failed to notice as someone stuck their leg out in front of him. Within a few seconds, his trey went flying as he fell forward onto his face. A boisterous quartet of laughter filled the air beside him and looking up he saw Cardin with a smug look on his face. Reaching down, Cardin attempted to grab him by his tail only for Lothur to move out of the way and start to stand. The glare he gave Cardin seemingly caused the temperature in the cafeteria to drop a few degrees.

"What's that look for? I was just seeing if the tail was real, you animal." Cardin explained which caused his teammates to start laughing.

Lothur said nothing in response as the group continued to laugh. The next moment was a blur to everyone watching but Fianna saw as Lothur grabbed Cardin by the back of his head, then everyone else heard a loud bang, crash, and three dull thuds. The table had been cracked in half and once it registered for everyone they saw Lothur holding Cardin's head as he slammed his face repeatedly into the ground. Fianna rushed over and tried to stop him but the difference in size and strength made that kind of moot. Soleil and Drakon ran over, dragging him off of the dumb bastard. Looking at Lothur's eyes they noticed that they had shifted and gained an animalistic quality, they also noticed his muscles had started to enlarge. As they held him back Cardin looked up at Lothur, a mixture of anger and fear clear on his face as he spits out a bloody tooth.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Three little words, three simple, little words. That's all it took for Cardin and his team to back off and leave the wolf Faunus alone as they turned tail and ran out of the cafeteria. Funny thing was, it wasn't directed towards them but Drakon and Soleil instead.

Shoving the two off he just started to make his way out of the cafeteria. With a sigh, Fianna sat her tray down and chased after him. Once they were gone the whole of the cafeteria released a breath they didn't realize they were holding in. The two that stopped the beating returned to their seats and went back to eating. Mercury gave a sideways glance to the pair as they ate. Mindy chuckled lightly under her breath, the only person hearing her being Blake who looked over. She noticed part of Mindy's hair covering her left eye while her right was closed. When she opened them once more she was staring into Blake's, the spiraling void of dark grey boring into her. It made Blake's spine crawl and the wink delivered to her didn't help.

Soon she looked away and back towards her teammates to continue a conversation. Eventually, Nora's curiosity carried her over to the group as she started to ask numerous questions. Blake didn't really realize when it happened but the rest of JNPR along with Yang and Ruby made their way over to the group. That left her at a mostly empty table with Weiss being the only person to stay behind other than herself.

Mercury soon walked over with a half-empty tray and sat down across from them and spoke up. "Your teammates are loud." The offhand comment held a tone of annoyance which was also clear by the look on his face. "Sorry if I'm bothering you but I prefer to not eat with noisy people." Blake gave a curt nod while Weiss just rolled her eyes.

Setting her book aside Blake spoke up, "I have a question for you."

"That would be?" Mercury replied as he set his fork down.

"How did you meet Leon? He doesn't seem like the friendliest person."

With an absolutely straight face he answered the question, "He shot my dad in the head and adopted me." Both girls' eyes widened when he said that which caused Mercury to chuckle a bit, "Usual reaction."

"How can you sound so callous when talking about how he murdered your father!?" Weiss exclaimed while slamming her hands onto the table. While she didn't have the best relationship with her father, she wouldn't wish death upon him.

"Because he cut my legs off." His tone was calm, apathetic really but the look on his face was one of pure hatred and anger. "The bastard cut my legs off as a way to train me and better me so I could work as an assassin; I was eight. I was beaten daily and nearly murdered on multiple occasions. I'm glad the fucker is dead and was never buried, I hope the vultures ripped him apart slowly."

The pair grew quiet after that and Mercury went back to eating quietly. It was a jarring experience to hear about this. Weiss genuinely felt bad after her outburst, it was one of the few times she had. She honestly didn't know what she should do, he didn't seem to mind what had happened but the anger on his face deceived his words. She must've been staring at him because when he looked up from his food he looked towards her and raised an eyebrow.

"You got any questions for me? I don't mind answering any." He just looked at her with a bored gaze.

"What's wrong with you?" She hadn't meant to say that out loud, it was a thought that just bubbled to the surface. Her tone was quiet but they both heard.

Picking up his mostly empty tray, Mercury shrugged, "If you ever want to know we'll have to get to know each other better Ice Queen. You both have a good day." He walked off after he spoke and left the two in very uncomfortable silence. Soon the bell rang and everyone started to make their way to whatever class they had next.

The rest of the day went on as normal as it could considering what all had happened. Soon students returned to their dorms or went to the library or training room. When Emerald returned she walked into a dark dorm room, the figure of Fianna barely noticeable as she sat on a chair in the corner. It was clear that she and Lothur were asleep so she set her bag on her bed then left. Walking down the halls she wondered what Six's family was like, considering how he is, they're good people; She can just guarantee that. As she drew near she saw Leon talking to a group of three people. When she was only about a hundred and fifty feet away from them Leon turned to look at her. Motioning her over, he continued to talk to the group.

Once she was near them she stood beside Leon and introduced herself, "Um hi there… My name's Emerald."

The group introduced themselves and Ulysses was the first to speak up, "So you're his adopted sister? Nice to see he decided to take care of someone. He was on a downward spiral until the day he disappeared. What has he told you about where he's from?"

"Not alot to be honest, never really got around to talkin' about it. He told me he was from a different world though and I believed him." She explained as the group started to walk to Leon's classroom. "He said the planet was mostly destroyed though."

Veronica chuckled slightly and shook her head, "That's a bit of an understatement. It's a radiation filled clump of dirt with a huge Cazador infestation along with tunnelers. Getting water is even a difficult thing, it was effectively blasted about a hundred years into the past with the use of nuclear weapons."

"Well nuclear weapons, fossil fuels, Caesar's Legion, etcetera. There are many factors on how Earth was destroyed once and nearly destroyed a second time." Arcade chimed in as he looked over at the two.

"Cazadors?" Emerald asked in confusion.

"Giant hornets," Arcade replied swiftly.

"Ah, that sounds terrifying."

"They are."

"Sooooo… What was Six like when he was with you guys? It's been quite a few years since he was on Earth so I wonder what he was like before I met him." Emerald asked curiously.

The three grew quiet after she asked. It took a moment but Veronica answered, "He was helpful and cared about others; Always trying to find ways to better the lives of others for the most part."

The group continued to talk as they made their way to Leon's classroom. They talked throughout the evening and well into the night. Arcade, Veronica, and Ulysses left at around midnight but they planned to meet up with Emerald again. Soon she made her way back to her dorm and went to sleep.

And with that, the chapter is done. Again, sorry this took a while but I've been playing through Persona 3 recently and mixed with work that kinda left me without much time to type. Let's get to the review.

Kpmh2001: Yeah, it's weird but it'll be revealed in time so you are forgiven for not being able to guess that.

Not sure when I'll have the next chapter out but it'll probably be within a month. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and leave a review please because I'm curious about what y'all think of the story.