Neela and Eliana filed into the Great Hall as the rest of the first year students poured in around them and Neela started to feel her anxiety acting up again as her mind recalled a similar event where the White Fang had all been gathered together for a meeting and the Atlesian Army attacked. The army had bottlenecked the entire group and picked them off as they tried to escape, her parents had barely managed to pull her out of the incident alive. Or at least, it was the parents that had given her life and kept her safe. Everything that they had taught her was fear driven towards humans, and for a long time, she had been terrified of them for no reason. To the White Fang, the Atlas Army might as well have been the model for the standard human.

It was similar to how the world must have felt after the Fall of Beacon. Just because the White Fang had been the ones behind the attack, all of humanity was subconsciously programmed to assume that all Faunus meant them harm, but that wasn't the case at all. Neela had a hard time believing that she ever could have been so narrow-minded, but it really wasn't something that she could help. From her birth, until the time that she was rescued by her mothers, she had been taught that fearing the human race was nothing more than instinct. She chuckled at how quickly Yang had broken her of that fear, but Blake had told her time after time that Yang had a habit of driving a point home until it stuck.

Neela looked at Eliana who stood beside her, slowly taking in the sights and sounds of everything going on around her. The girl was in awe and it left Neela with a warm feeling inside of her that she didn't quite understand. Eliana Latherus, the daughter of a heroic police officer from Mistral who had given his life in the line of duty, barely seventeen but built like a woman where it counted, had stolen her heart. A human! Never could she ever had imagined that she would be madly in love with a human before leaving the White Fang. She owed so much to her mothers for saving her. She owed everything to them for saving her. Eliana caught Neela staring at her, clearly spacing out, her mind several hundreds of miles away.

"Hey," Eliana said tilting her head slightly. "Man, you are a little on the spacey side today Neela!" Neela smiled and gave her a playful shove.

"It's just so surreal, you know? It's almost like we're in a dream," Neela told her. "Ever since I was old enough to fight and train with Yang and Blake, they've told me how going to Beacon had an impact on the rest of their lives. Now we're here, and it's just as amazing as they described it. I really hope that we end up on the same team together." Eliana scoffed and shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course we'll be on the same team together!" Eliana declared. Eliana looked out around her again before gripping Neela's arm tight and quickly moving to the other side of her. "There!" Eliana pointed at the tall male student who was clearly a transfer from Atlas Academy.

"What about him?" Neela asked.

"He's the one that I ran into when you left me behind at the registration table!" Eliana exclaimed. Neela looked him over as he set his bag down for a moment and focused on the stage, looking over the papers he had been given and feeling the back of his pants, as though he was making sure that he still had his wallet or scroll on him.

"You want to go introduce yourself a little more properly?" Neela asked. Eliana pulled Neela around, turning her friend to face her.

"Are you nuts?!" Eliana asked. "I was super embarrassed! I think if I can just avoid him for the next four years that would be the best case scenario." Neela laughed at her friend and hugged her tight. Eliana struggled in her grip.

"You're too nervous. Try and relax a bit," Neela told her.

"I'm trying, but I'm not really sure if you're hugging me or trying to strangle me," Eliana breathed. She pushed back and Neela let go, causing Eliana to stumble away and into another student. He caught her by the shoulders and helped her keep her balance and she took a few deep breaths, refusing to look up at him. She was sure that she was a bright red, blushing from bumping into yet another stranger. Eliana wanted nothing more in that moment than to disappear… or maybe to wake up back in her bed at Patch and find out that she was just having an incredibly awkward dream! Had Neela done it on purpose? Eliana acknowledged the fact that she was still motionless, and he was still holding her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She trembled slightly, torn between keeping her face hidden and looking up at him. She tried to answer him, but couldn't get the words to come out. Neela finally approached the two of them, laughing hard. Eliana glanced up at her, her face bright red, and shook her head, shaking free and stepping away from the boy. Eliana moved back to her bags and sat on them, watching as Glynda took the stage and had a few final words with Blake. Neela stuck her hand out for the student to shake. He looked at it for a long moment.

"She's fine. I'm Neela Xiao Long. Nice to meet you," Neela told him. Eliana was far friendlier than Neela without a doubt, but for whatever reason, Eliana always locked up around new people, especially when she was embarrassed. Neela didn't care much for new people either, but she knew that there was a good chance she might have to work with him in the future and decided to make the most of the situation.

"Lykos," he replied without shaking her hand. He was barefoot and wore brown tanned hide pants. Despite not wearing a shirt which revealed that he was rather built, he wore a Beowolf pelt, the top jaw resting on top of his head, and the rest of its body flowing behind him. He had dark eyes that might as well had been black, and had red and black war paint smeared across his chest and face. Neela noted the hilt attached to his left hip, but it appeared to be missing its blade and Neela wondered just how his weapon worked exactly. "Lykos Asimi."

"So I have to ask… How did you get a Grimm pelt? Normally their bodies dissolve when…" He raised his hand slowly and placed a finger on her lips.

"Listen." Neela turned back to the stage to find that the headmistress was beginning her speech. "And who says I killed it?" Neela glanced back at him quickly, swallowing hard and quivering at what he suggested. He smirked, nodding towards the stage again.

"Welcome students. What is Beacon? What brings students of every kind to this school to train and become the future Huntsmen and Huntresses that Remnant will trust its existence with? What brings the rich, the poor, the human, the Faunus, the strong, and the stronger together under one institute and molds them into the best warriors that Remnant has ever seen? It's a common goal, a love of everyone and everything, and a want to protect everything that is dear. If you've made it this far it means that you're ready to take these first steps towards becoming something larger than yourself. It's not fame, or fortune, or acknowledgment that drives us forward. It's the idea that you know that you can make a difference in the world and then deciding to become that difference.

For me it's to look out and see all of you standing before me, young minds ready to be molded and shaped into a unified force for good. To know that my efforts to this point have had a part in making sure that some of you, if not all of you, are standing alive before me today. Some of you will know this feeling too someday. To walk through a village or a city and see the smiling faces and know that you're responsible for their safety and wellbeing is something that's hard to describe, but once you feel it, you'll know truly why you became Huntsmen and Huntresses. So once again, from myself, and the entire staff here at Beacon, we'd like to welcome you, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that you see this dream through to its fulfillment.

As a reminder, dorm rooms are assigned to you with your fellow teammates, who will be assigned to you tomorrow during initiation. Lockers and changing rooms are available down the corridor from the north end of the Great Hall. There will not be any ships traveling back to Vale tonight, so please make yourselves comfortable and get to know your classmates. All of you will be sleeping in the Great Hall tonight with lights out at 2300 hours. The morning bell will sound at 0700 hours and you will have two hours to prepare before we head out to the Emerald Forest for your initiation. Please enjoy the rest of your night." With that Glynda left the stage with Blake close behind her once again.

"Well that was exciting, wasn't it?" Neela asked Lykos. She turned to find that he had disappeared and she didn't spot him anywhere. She shrugged and returned to Eliana who seemed to be lost in her thoughts. "Well Elli, how did you feel about all of that?" Neela peeked over her shoulder to see that Eliana was playing some kind of game on her scroll. Neela shook her head as Eliana acknowledged her.

"What?" Eliana asked.

"Did you catch any of that?" Neela asked her.

"No," Eliana replied dejectedly. "I mean, the first couple of words I did, but then I got kind of bored and decided to play Black Fang Frenzy instead." Neela shook her head.

"You mean the game where you run around destroying a city as a Faunus," Neela asked. Eliana looked at her with wide eyes and looked back at the scroll.

"I thought the character was just supposed to be a ninja! They aren't very subtle in their titling, are they?" Eliana asked sounding dejected. Neela chuckled.

"Not really." Neela tugged on her arm. "Come on. Let's drop our stuff off in a locker for now and then head out to the cafeteria to get some food." Eliana leapt down from her bags and picked them up, heading towards the locker rooms.

"Actually, I was hoping to get a shower in before we did anything else tonight," Eliana told Neela causing her to pause for a moment. Shower?! No, get a hold of yourself Neela, it'll be fine. Neela shook off the thought and chased after Eliana into the locker rooms. They picked out lockers that were next to each other and placed their gear inside before they headed into the changing room and showers. Neela froze again as she discovered that her fear was true, the school's public shower was a large room with several shower heads, nothing separating the girls from one another.

"You know what Elli? I think that maybe we should come back and shower later," Neela called out to her, not quite sure where she had disappeared to. "There are so many other girls in here right now, it's almost going to be impossible to get any water. Not to mention I'm not sure where my shampoo is. I think it might be back in my locker, maybe I should get it…" Eliana came out around the corner, stark naked and Neela felt her entire body trembling. It was a horribly nauseating feeling, as though she had stumbled upon something she had been forbidden from ever viewing, but she couldn't pull herself to look away.

"Come on Neela, you don't have anything that any of these ladies haven't seen before. And if you're worried about water and shampoo, we can share one of the shower heads, right?" Eliana asked her. Neela felt like an animal, ready to throw herself at Eliana and show her what she really thought about that idea. Eliana walked over to her and examined her face as Neela tried to maintain eye contact, which was more of a struggle than she could have imagined, Eliana's breasts were right there! Completely exposed! "Neela, are you feeling okay? Your nose is bleeding." Neela reached her finger up and dabbed the blood, looking down at it for a moment.

"I… I'm going to go sit down in the other room for a moment," Neela told her.

"Do you want me to come with?" Eliana asked her.

Yes! Oum yes!

"No, I'll be fine after I sit down. You go ahead and shower. I'll just take one later when we come back after we get some food," Neela reassured her. Eliana looked at her thoughtfully before nodding and walking towards the shower.

"Okay, suit yourself." Neela watched as she walked away, her body on fire and wanting nothing more than to chase Eliana down and ravage her. She had always been told that men had worse hormones that needed to be kept in check, but at this very moment, Neela wasn't so sure that that was the truth. Perhaps it was the Faunus in her. Could Faunus go into heat?! She slowly retreated back to the locker room and pulled out her scroll, finding that she had a message from Yang on it. She closed the notification out and called Yang back without listening to it, sitting on the floor cross-legged in front of her locker.

"Hey mom," Neela answered as the ringing stopped.

"Neela! Hey kiddo, I'm glad you called! Did you get my message?" Yang asked.

"I did, but I haven't listened to it." Yang cleared her throat.

"Oh. Listen, hun, I just wanted to apologize for this morning. I didn't mean to cause you any stress when you were leaving, it's just that my mom is trying to contact me after all of these years, and I'm not even sure that I want anything to do with her. Ruby's mother, Summer, was the one who raised me, and so my birth mother has never been my real mother in my mind. It's kind of like your situation in a way. That's what was going on when you left the house, I'm sorry." Neela smirked.

"It's okay mom. I knew that you'd tell me what was going on when you were ready. So are you here on the campus tonight?" Neela asked.

"No, I checked in quickly and then I left, there's a lead in Vale that I needed to look into," Yang explained. "But I've got a moment now. Tell me how your day has been so far!" Neela laughed.

"Well, Eliana has made a few new acquaintances, and I got in a fight." Yang laughed.

"That's my girl! Blake's going to be pissed though! Does she know yet?" Neela laughed again.

"Yeah, she knows." Neela could hear her mother having a conversation with someone on the other end of the scroll before Yang's words became audible.

"Well, I'm glad you're having a great day. I love you my little bird. If you see Blake, tell her that I'll be home late tonight. I have to get going."

"Okay, mom. Love you. Goodbye." With that, the call was ended and Eliana stepped back into the locker room, fully clothed and drying her hair with a white towel.

"Feeling better?" Eliana asked her. Neela looked up at her, trying to shake the image her mind was superimposing over her clothes.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Neela stood up with Eliana's help and stretched. "Now, let's go get some food."

"Well, I'm glad you're having a great day. I love you my little bird. If you see Blake, tell her that I'll be home late tonight. I have to get going," Yang told Neela as she waited for her daughter to tell her goodbye and she hung up the scroll. "Who's ready for another round!?" Yang stood up in the middle of The Crow Bar and motioned for the bartender to come over and fill their glasses as she sat back down. Coco, Nora, and Pyrrha sat around the table with her, laughing as Yang sat back down, nearly falling out of her chair. "What happened next Coco?"

"Oh yes! Give us all of the juicy details!" Nora giggled. No sooner than her mug had been filled again she slammed it and placed the mug back down in front of her empty.

"Right! So then Velv comes out of the bathroom and tells me she may have had too much carrot cake. At first, I thought it was just supposed to be some kind of joke since she's part bunny, but she comes out, and she's missing her pants, and the fuzzy handcuffs that I had bought for the honeymoon were locked around her ears!" Coco exclaimed losing it as the entire table laughed again. Coco took a sip of her cocktail and laughed as she took off her hat and set in on the floor beside her on top of her purse. "She fell asleep before I was even able to get them unlocked."

"What about you Nora?" Pyrrha asked sipping her glass of wine. "Have you and Ren had any inconvenient romantic moments?"

"I could tell you about the time that Jaune walked in on us at the inn, but it'd be funnier if you ask him to tell the story when you get home tonight," Nora blurted out. Yang pointed at Nora feverishly as she set down her own mug, trying to keep up with Nora's count.

"Ruby told me this story. She said he ran out of there so fast and he looked horrified. When Ruby asked him what was wrong, all that Jaune could reply was 'They're booping!'" Yang shouted out. They exploded into a thunderous cackling once again. Pyrrha nudged Yang, gesturing over her shoulder with her head.

"Is that our guy?" Pyrrha asked her. Yang turned around to get a better look at the man, he wore a large shield on his back and Yang was just able to spot the tattoo on his chest. Yang looked back at Pyrrha and nodded. "Should I go and try to seduce him?" Yang and Nora looked at each other, muffling laughter in their hands as their faces twisted, trying to keep silent.

"Pyrrha, you've got the looks, but you aren't the seducing type honey," Coco told her. Coco mussed up her hair and walked over to the bar, sitting down next to him.

"Look at her. Such a pro," Yang told them. Coco twisted her straw in her glass for a moment before turning to look at Orion.

"You must have had a rough day today at work, hmm?" She asked him. "You've got to be one of those Huntsmen, right?" He glanced over at her before the bartender served him his whiskey. He looked down at the glass for a moment before taking a sip and setting it back down on the bar. He watched the ice float for a couple of seconds before he decided to acknowledge her again.

"What if I am?" He asked. She smiled as she took a sip of her drink from the straw, chuckling for a moment.

"I've never met a Huntsman before. It must get lonely though. All of those nights alone, fighting Grimm. Not a lot of time to know the warmth of a woman, is there?" Coco asked. He smirked, slamming the rest of his whiskey.

"What are you suggesting?" He asked. She looked at him over her glasses and leapt down from her stool, placing her hands on his chest, rubbing her hands all over him.

"I think you know what I'm suggesting," Coco told him. She pulled him in with her left hand, whispering in his ear as she motioned for Yang to come over with her right hand. "I want to see if you handle a woman as well as you handle a weapon."

"Perhaps that can be arranged." He jerked upright and an orb of light formed between him and Yang, exploding and throwing Yang back, causing her to stumble away and into the table. "But not with you." He pulled his head back and headbutted Coco who smiled, unfazed. She head butted him back and Pyrrha threw him back against the wall, pinning him there. Orion pointed at Yang. "Yang Xiao Long, well if I'm not just having one hell of a week. As luck would have it, I ran into your daughter last night! She's a spitfire, and she's got quite the body. Her friend wasn't half bad looking either."

"Listen here you pervert!" Yang yelled as her hair flared. Nora grabbed her and held her back, short of reaching Orion. Orion raised his eyebrows, licking his lips at Yang, causing her to become even more worked up.

"Yang, we need him alive!" Nora reminded her.

"Listen to your friend there Yang. Wouldn't want to damage the merchandise. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything I know," he told her with a smug grin on his face. "I guess you've caught me then. Going to take me back to the police station again? You already know who I work for, there's really no more information that I can give them." Coco chuckled as she splashed her cocktail on his chest and set the glass back on the counter, the bartender watching on as he cleaned the steins behind the bar. "Is this normal for you?"

"They come in here almost every Wednesday," the bartender replied. Orion shook his head.

"Take me away then," he told the women. "I'm sure the police will be able to hold me this time. It's not like I haven't been arrested on several occasions in the last year now." One of their scrolls rang and Nora jumped, running back around the table after dropping Yang and answering.

"Ruby! We've been waiting for a while now for your call! It's going great… It'd be better if Ren was here, but what can you do, right? Oh yeah! We've got one of the guys here from Merc's Gang! I think Yang was calling for permission to use the secret holding location… We can?! Great! Thanks, Ruby!" Nora hung up and Orion glanced around at them, he seemed more frantic than he had been a moment ago. "Ruby says we can use the 'secret location'."

"She pulled through once again!" Yang exclaimed.

"How's the council going to feel about that?" Coco asked.

"We'll tell them once we get the information," Yang told them.

"We can get it another way if we need to. We don't need Ruby to lose her seat…" Pyrrha offered before Orion interrupted them.

"Jail's fine! I'll take jail!" He shouted at them. Yang smiled as she cracked her knuckles.

"You aren't getting out of this that easily pal," Yang told him. "We're going to take you somewhere that no one else knows about, and you aren't going to leave until you tell us everything that we want to know."

"Can I use Magnhild?" Nora asked rubbing her hand together. Yang smiled at Nora and Coco nodded.

"Oh yeah," Coco told her. Nora's eyes became dark and filled Orion with terror.

"We're going to have a lot of fun together," Nora told him. Pyrrha pulled him off of the wall and floated him out of the building. He wasn't unable to slip his gauntlet on, which meant he wouldn't be able to take his light form to escape them, but it didn't matter. It would only be a matter of time before the Gemini Twins and Sirius came looking for him, and they had never failed at finding him before. Mercury wouldn't be happy, but Orion was determined to make the most out of being captured. He chuckled to himself as they stripped him of his weapons and Yang knocked him out.

Will Neela tell Elli how she feels? Will Orion give the Council any information on where Mercury is hiding? Will either of these questions be answered next week? Next week, Chapter 6 - Fear!

A special thanks once again to my co-creator OrganoidZero.

A big thank you to Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next week, have a happy and safe new year, and stay classy!