Author's Notes:

Uh... Hi? Some of you may know me, some of you may not... Most of you probably don't give a shit but to introduce myself, I'm Nightlyy, sort of an adviser of this fic. My role is minimal but chief wanted me to introduce myself so here I am. Hopefully you enjoy this ride and speaking off ride, here is a small disclaimer.

I don't know much about this crossover section so I don't really know what is IN here but I'll be saying this right now, this tale will be different. It will be fast, different and brutal at times from what I know of the plot. For those of you who are not comfortable with, this is your chance and I hope you find something that fits to your liking, and for those who are still with me, buckle up and get ready for a roller-coaster. I'll pop up like a blue moon but since I'm here, might as well do the reviews.

Combine117: Violent inside joke.

Mr. Haziq: Pretty close but yes, they are from different timelines and all three of them are psychologically scarred from what you noted. As for the ultimate personas, you'll have to read and find out. Cheers.

thesneezingSOAB: Pretty sure P5 is set in 2016, going off by Rise being mentioned on TV. Dunno why ATLUS choose to stick to 20XX even after that.

EiNyx: you are badly missing the point of the story, as made clear in the last 3 chapters. if you haven't figured out the basic plot, theme and the eventual conclusion to this, you should stop reading as this is not for you.

OMNISENSE95: Well, you have to wait and find out and OC for what role? The cast with the inclusion of the three borderlines on being bloated.

Guest: Ding Ding... well, mostly ding ding... Cheers.

madmadMadshipper: I see all three of them huddling in the corner every now and them, tbh, until Yu pisses off Akira and all hell breaks loose. Correct, point to ponder is where exactly they failed? Have fun figuring that out and cheers!

Well, that's it for me. If you have questions, my inbox is open and with that, enjoy the ride!

Castle of Lies

A warm cup of coffee settled atop a long transparent desk of metallic gears, its heat slowly dissipating into the still morning air as puffs of steam rose into the upper atmosphere, being greeted by a metallic jungle of ancient clockwork.

A hand picked up the cup and took a small sip of the warm liquid. "So what you are saying, Mr. Narukami, is this all true?" Ozpin gave a skeptical eye, currently scrutinizing the truthfulness of the information and the two students standing before his desk.

"We really weren't in danger, Professor Ozpin." Yu pleaded with the headmaster, his words a jumbled mess. "I… I… it was my words that aggravated Akira into doing what he did." The grey-haired boy felt a rock-like weight press onto his chest and hinder his ability to breathe.

"No, Mr. Narukami… you shouldn't solely blame yourself." Glynda softened, her grip loosening on her clipboard, "As your role models at Beacon, we shouldn't have pressured your team so hastily with such a monumental task." Realizing that the blame was shared by not only Yu, but the two adults in the room as well because of their eagerness to further own agendas, they had inadvertently caused a rift in the team and a needed asset leave the academy. The blonde instructor could clearly recall a choking atmosphere between the group as they last left the room.

"For now, all we can do is search for him." Minato crossed his arms in frustration, a frown creasing his face, "Professor, can you do us a favor?" He silenced the entire room with his voice, briefly causing the others to forget about their problems, his piercing gaze burning into their irises.

"Yes? How can we help?" Ozpin inquired, becoming equally as serious.

"As much as I want to continue this counseling session, we need to clean up our mess before word gets out," the bluenette said through dark eyes and bitterness. The situation already looked bad as it was, but if people were to learn of a Faunus-attempted assassination of an Atlesian heir….

"Agreed, Mr. Arisato. I will cover up the incident as per usual and put all campus security and any other staff members involved under a permanent gag order. All accusations against Mr. Kurusu will be erased from the records." The headmaster of Beacon said without much hesitation, as if he had planned such actions in advance, then his eyes narrowed, "However, I cannot say the same for our student witnesses."

"Yu and I will take care of our guys. I'm sure we can explain what really happened. But can you say on paper that you'll still give Akira a punishment for potential assault? It would be strange to hear that he got off scott free. We don't want anyone knowing about our talks." Minato suggested while him and Ozpin both received subtle yet astonished faces from both Glynda and Yu.

"I might say Mr. Arisato, for a first-year student, that is quite observant of you." Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, watching the bluenette with a glint of suspicion in his ancient eyes.

"I could say the same for you, Professor. Sometimes, you're just not what you seem." A brief silence fell in the room with either side refusing to divulge any more information, followed by a palpable tension in the air.

"Perhaps we should call a truce for now." A faint smile started to spread across the old man's face, a certain sense of amusement rising from his voice.

"True, my team should get going, too. Searching for Akira will probably take a while." Minato patted Yu on the shoulder, signaling for the two to head for the office elevator. With a silent dismissal and faint sound of a small elevator arriving at the top floor, the two left without another word.

"Can we trust him…?" Glynda found herself musing out loud after the surreal exchange. Minato Arisato seemed less and less like the average student the more they interacted. One moment he appeared as a laid back kid, and another had him trading wits with Ozpin, even giving off a similar vibe.

"Mr. Arisato is certainly an interesting individual, but I wouldn't say we couldn't, Glynda…." The older man pulled up a file showing a familiar blue haired individual, eyes scanning the pale blue screen for any piece of curious information.

"Sir, this isn't his student file, is it?" Ozpin found his assistant peering over his shoulder to look at the screen. "You ordered a complete background check on Mr. Arisato?" Instead of averting her eyes, Glynda felt herself digging deeper and deeper into her student's history out of sheer curiosity. Scrolling past several sections of mundane filler, she stopped at a particular paragraph as she began to feel ill for even attempting to do so. "The poor boy… so that's why he so fiercely protected Ms. Rose…."

"It seemed he had a rough past..." After looking through several more tabs, Ozpin opened up the next file, this one being of Akira Kurusu. "I fully inspected the other two, but isn't this one in particular rather off?"

"How so?" Once again, Glynda read through the file, and yet this one still felt somewhat normal, compared to the bluenette's. Although there were a few instances of bad luck here and there, the dark-haired Faunus's life seemed rather plain for a huntsman-in-training. "Are you sure, Professor Ozpin? Apart from his training, he appears… rather normal, for a student."

"Normal, yes. However, don't you think it's a little too normal?" Ozpin mused out loud, "Although countless events in each individual's life may mirror similarities with their peers, doesn't this one seem to do this particularly well?"

"You mean it blends in with all the others?" The blonde felt a heavy presence on her chest.

"Precisely. A loosely scattered thread of mismatched stories, all sewn together by the hand of a master craftsman."

Yu quietly leaned against the cold elevator wall, his back hunched and his eyes in deep thought. He steadily watched the distant rings of white slowly descend from one floor to another as it highlighted their eventual destination in a bright luminous halo, followed by a faint bing and the opening of two sliding steel doors.

"Come on, let's go sort this out with the others while we can." Minato turned to him, a comforting smile appearing on his face. Stepping into a dimly-lit lobby containing a scarcely filled reception, the reflected light from the elevator quickly disappeared from his face, leaving a colorless plain of gray.

"Do you think they'll believe me…?" A tinge of pain clung at his chest. Everyone was still recovering from the shock, some taking it worse than others. What would he even say?

"We'll have to make them believe either way. There's no way around it this time." The somber bluenette took the lead, heading for the dorms. He stopped at a particular gray door on the side of a barren hallway. "If we don't, Akira will be in far more trouble than we could imagine."

"..."

Minato tilted his head in a silent gesture, as if asking if the other was ready, which was quickly met with a small nod. Then, in the span of a heartbeat, the door to their dorm instantly swung open, leading into a room populated with several concerned faces.

"Finally! I was wondering if the Professor had held you guys for a police interrogation, too." Weiss sat on the side of a neatly made bed, her arms firmly crossed in a childish pout.

"Weiss!" A low whisper came from an irate Ruby, condemning the heiress for her rude comment, as did several other faces.

"So what did Ozpin say?" Yang eyed them for an eager answer, her fists already curled in the ideal form for an attacking brawler, fire burning in her lilac gaze.

"Guys, guys… maybe it's best we don't jump to hasty conclusions here." Jaune gave a nervous smile, lifting both of his hands to do a pushing motion in the air.

"I'm with Jaune, it's best that we hear everything from Yu before judging Akira's actions. After having time to think about this, doesn't it seem odd to everyone that Akira would attack him out of the blue like this?" Although Pyrrha agreed to hear out the entire story, her face told an entirely different one in the form of a weary and troubled air hanging loosely from her fair visage.

"Thanks, Pyrrha." Yu stepped forward, feeling all of the group's heads turn to his a slow and deep breath, he began his explanation. "As I said before… Akira was only trying to help—" he was cut off by a few grunts from both Weiss and Yang, "Akira was trying to knock some sense into me for something I shouldn't have said…." He re-worded his statement to be more clear.

"Was that the reason why you two were on the roof?" Blake inquired in curiosity, there was oddly concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, it was for a personal matter. I was the one who asked him for help after all." Yu admitted with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Wait, you're telling me that you told the guy who pulled a knife on you to meet on the school roof?" Yang said in shock and disbelief, watching the other as if he were a mad man.

"Yang's right. Teammate or not, asking that Faunus after what he did to you was simply irresponsible." The snow-white heiress chided, her voice filled with a sharp, condescending air, looking down on her Atlesian counterpart.

"As if you were any better." Blake shot back, being reminded of how Weiss had treated Akira when they first met.

"What? No, from what I was told, he pointed that knife at him just based on the mere fact that he was from Atlas. If anything, my actions were completely justified!" Fearing an attack on her reputation as a Schnee, the heiress of the Dust company had no choice but to defend herself.

"Well, maybe if you didn't behave like such a brat, he wouldn't have thought to raise his weapon at a citizen of Atlas in the first place." Weiss reeled back, ready to flame the darkly-dressed girl.

"Weiss, Blake, please calm down!" Ruby stepped in between her two teammates, fearing another heated of argument would ensue. "We're not here to fight." The red-hooded huntress-in-training said in a firm voice, avoiding the death glares from her snowy teammate and the cold hostility of the other.

"If you both want to share anything with the group, you can." Minato made sure to pound in the humiliation, "Remember, we'll be here to remember this all later."

"Yu, please go on…." Pyrrha felt herself tiring out already. "Can you tell us why you believe Akira was innocent?"

After a moment of pause, the boy started up again, "Because Akira isn't the person you guys thought he was."

"He isn't?" Nora found herself leaning in to the conversation, wild imaginations of what Yu meant flooding her mind, none of which were close to the truth. Among the room of students, many had expressions ranging from light confusion to even heavy confirmations of their own suspicions.

"It's true, I can bear witness for him." Minato was met with several raised brows.

"Akira wasn't an assassin, nor was he a bad guy. To be fully honest, I trusted him enough to call him out onto the roof. I was the one who prompted him to attack me with my words."

"Before anyone comments something stupid, it was extremely private." Minato raised a sharp warning, preventing any idiotic comments.

"And you expect us to believe that?" Weiss's face creased.

"But that still gives us no solid proof—" Yang felt her sister cut her off. Ruby stood up and walked to the center of the crowd.

"Guys, I don't think we should pry any further." She gave Yu a sympathetic look before turning to the rest, spreading out her arms in a wide gesture. "I'm sure we all have stuff we wouldn't want to share openly with everyone else. If Yu felt so trusting of Akira that he was willing to talk to him about something so private, then they must have been good friends."

"You know what, guys? Ruby's got a point, I don't think I would be comfortable with sharing my secrets with just anyone." Jaune shrugged, supporting the small girl.

"I'm sure we can all relate…." For a split second, Blake eyed her bow.

"And for anyone who still has their doubts? You can," the bluenette approached his fiery childhood friend, "please give Akira a second chance."

Yang saw Minato reach out a hand, a pleading look crossing his face while a visage of frustration lined her own.

"I bet my own reputation as a leader on it." He felt the blonde scrutinize his every word, passing judgement on his every action in dead silence. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes seemed to stretch on to the end of time as he waited for an answer. And then it happened.

"Fine…" Yang sighed, admitting defeat to the bluenette. "But if you're wrong, then I'm going to beat him into oblivion." She took his hand, still unsure of what to think of the situation.

"So all we need to do now is search for him?" Yang said hesitantly, walking out of the room with the others, her younger sister and Minato by her side.

"Any idea where he might be?" Ruby didn't know the young man well enough to guess.

"Maybe try the local hotel chains?" Blake kept pace with everyone.

"He couldn't have ran far, it's only been a day." Pyrrha added.

"My guess would be that we should ask around the city first." Minato suggested, continuing to trade plans back and forth between the group. While the bluenette was having some success in organizing a search party, Yu wasn't so fortunate. Instead of meeting back up with any of the others, he found an annoyed Weiss blocking his path forward. And as the snowy princess kept her stubborn stance, tapping one foot on the floor, he heard the group ahead slowly growing more and more distanced until they were fully swallowed by the colorful chaos that was the Beacon campus.

"Um, can I help you?" Their meeting was starting to get awkward.

"We need to talk." she refused to move.

"About what? Look, you really need to take my word for it, he really wasn't doing anything wro—"

"No, not about that, you dolt. Why are you so fiercely defending the Faunus? You do realize what their kind has done to our respective families, right?" Without much hesitation, she again put her loathing of the Faunus race on full display, although it was more the face of a hurt child than any real anger towards the boy. His differing stance on Faunus-kind had been irking her for a while.

"There are no differences between Faunus and humans, as far as I'm concerned." Yu replied dryly. A frown had made its way onto his face.

"How can you say that? Humans aren't the ones targeting our aren't the ones killing off our family friends, or kidnapping our board members for ransom. Why do you continue to support these… these monsters?" Unlike her childish fits of rage from before, she looked genuinely frightened from being reminded of the savage actions of the animal-traited humanoids, her arms wrapping her body like a protective cocoon, followed by a serious rage in her icy-blue eyes. An intense cocktail of fear, anger, and morbid curiosity had prompted her to approach the heir for answers. Answers she would never get back home. "Weren't you targeted too, when you were a child…?"

"Yeah, I was." Yu said rather blunt, "But I'm not scared of them like the rest of Altas."

"Scared?" Weiss was about to go on another tantrum of pride. However, she was thankfully halted by his next words.

"Tell me, if you believe all Faunus to be evil, how many actual Faunus have you met in real life?"

"Why would I ever meet with a sav—"

"Just tell me!" It wasn't a question anymore, but rather a firm demand. "Think back to your entire life, how many Faunus have you actually met apart from those blasted rumors and stories?" Yu observed the troubled princess as she scrambled to form any coherent reply, her mind rattled by the revelation.

"N-none… at all." Weiss began to pale, "B-but still doesn't change that the fact that they rob and murder humans!" She became more flustered.

"And humans murder humans. Contracted huntsmen from the underground do just as much damage as some of the Faunus. Reason why I said there's no difference between the two. Evil isn't just a trait of one race, just as good isn't present in everyone we meet." The heir reasoned. In a way, he may never understand the harsh stand-off between the two races, due to his alien perspective as a foreigner of this world.

"Then what about the White Fang? They're nothing but animals that go around doing horrible things to people!" The heiress countered. To her, every Faunus must have been affiliated with or supported them in some way.

"Have you ever visited the Schnee mines in Mantle? Many have no choice but to join that radical group. Being severely maltreated, coupled with no real opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty, joining the White Fang was their only choice." His first time in Mantle had left him a horrible impression of the new world, and his times after had made him question the morality of the humans in Remnant.

"Ugh, are you implying that the Schnee Dust company is partly responsible for those scrooges in the White Fang?!" Although she tried to deny that thought, the poor treatment and injustice committed in that part of Remnant did lend credit to the theory. "I refuse to believe such outlandish jests—"

"Then how about you tell me why they do the things they do." Yu's eyes narrowed, his borrows becoming more furrowed as time went on.

"B-Because they want to wipe out humanity! They despise humans!" Weiss stomped on the floor, throwing down her fists from the air, seeming ready to go to war with the entire Faunus race.

"And why do you think they hate humanity?" Outraged and in denial, she tried to come up with a counter, but he started to walk away.

"H-hey!" Seeing that the heir was about to leave, Weiss attempted to intercept him again, only to be caught mid way by the arm, locking her in place while she felt bitter silver orbs leer into her own, causing the girl to take a few steps back while trying to shake herself free of the male's death grip. "L-let go!"

"Maybe it's the same reason you fear them as they fear you." She felt his hand tighten even more, forcing her to try even harder to break. And yet just as suddenly as the massive force had curled around her arm, it lifted, leaving her confused and broken form standing in the middle of the endless halls. "Don't believe everything the elites tell you…." Giving the girl one last look of brief understanding, he went on his way and faded from her world.

On that particular day and particular time, for reasons she could not describe, she was left entirely drained, in body, mind, and soul. Without the energy to do much else, she opened the door to her dorm and curled up in bed with a pillow in arms, exhausted and alone. And as her imaginary world of perfect idealism crumbled in the sea of her mind, a fairy tale castle built out of years of spotty stories and twisted lies shattered into a thousand icy shards, freeing her of her chilly prison.

"Ohhh, it's been days!" Ruby slumped her head on the cafe table, her legs aching from traversing through half of the city and her will to go on crushed by the lack of progress.

"Want me to get you another sundae? Minato casually sipped from a glass of iced tea, petting the girl on her head as if to comfort her. It was another fine day in the city of Vale, as cars hurriedly zoomed by the congested roads, creating large, elaborate displays of clogged traffic for miles to come, while a wave of constant murmurs settled in and around every corner of every business and every building in the metropolis. A group of chattering girls strolled by, immersed in the latest celebrity gossip, while a parade of businessmen each glued themselves to their scrolls, standing near a populated crosswalk, all desperately trying to beat the unrelenting city crowd.

"Don't you think that's a little much, Ruby?" Yang sat between the two, enjoying a frozen dessert of her own, eating the last of her ice cream.

"Lies, one can ever eat enough ice cream!" Childishly pouting and slamming her fist onto the table, Ruby made sure to hide her face from the blazing afternoon sun by closely hugging the shadow of the wide parasol stationed in the middle of the table.

"But still… this is a problem," Blake said in a low whisper, turning to the vast jungle of people before her, "Finding him in a population as large and dense as this will take a while." Despite their mad efforts to scour every available hotel, establishment, and business in Vale, none seem to have encountered the elusive frizzy-haired Faunus.

"His Semblance alone poses a huge problem." Having the ability to literally disappear from sight and hide his presence from pretty much anyone, Minato really wasn't surprised that Akira would use this against them in the harshest way possible. He inwardly sighed to himself. If only he had a Persona like her's. The ability of clairvoyance was extremely underrated.

"Not to mention how she labeled him a criminal…." Blake gazed at her own reflection in the glass, seeing a frown spread across her visage.

"Speaking of Weiss, I don't think I've seen her around lately." Yang's memory of the heiress was hazy at best, but the absence of her constant bickering had left the blonde feeling strange.

"Mmm, we should just leave her be, Yang, she doesn't look like she wants to help anyway…." Ruby groaned, shoving a big spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, making her resemble a grumpy chipmunk. Weiss's apathy and aloofness for the past week had made the optimistic huntress-in-training give up on her entirely.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Minato held his head to the sky. As of now, no response had come from the group chat.

Scraps of garbage laid across aged concrete streets and beaten alleyways. All places dirty and covered, overgrown and bare, robbed of their former complexions and function. Yet, the roads weren't any better, as fissures and pot holes of various lengths and sizes weaseled their way onto the battered cement that served and suffered through decades of neglect and disrepair. As though the inhabitants of the land had all gotten up one day and left this part of the city for years.

Crumbling and worn buildings stood side to side from one another, briefly conjuring up horrific images of monstrous Siamese twins with their surreal and warped appearance, from the blackened holes sealed tightly with rotting wood as if to keep some terrific entity on the other side from breaking out, to another that had been burned and gutted to the ground, leaving it a shell of its former self. Once again, it seemed as if all life had decided to leave this desolate place.

Weiss keenly inspected the area, concealing her rapier behind her oversized sleeve, as she stood beneath a malfunctioning street light that flickered in the afternoon light. Carefully, she matched the CCTV screencap of the street sign from her scroll to the one loosely hanging by a thread, slowly swaying in the wind. Hours ago, she had gotten the opportunity to inspect several days worth of CCTV footage from the Vale city police department due her vast connections as a Schnee, and now a particular hint from the cams had led her here.

"Excuse me!" She called out to a passing figure from the spotty area, who appeared to be a young deer Faunus. However, instead of getting the answers the heiress wanted, the figure's eyes widened at the sight of the well-dressed human and began to make a break for the closest alleyway. "H-Hey! Come back!" Sighing to herself, she tried a few more times with a few others, all ending up in complete failure, leaving her once again alone among the dead streets and broken neighbourhood. But then, it happened.

Suddenly, and without warning, she twisted around and swing her rapier, feeling a large gust of wind that was followed by a strong, blond blur colliding with her in the middle of the street, forcing the both of them to fall backwards to the ground.

"What in the world?!" Yet, before she could react, she saw a golden-haired male jolt up instantly from his position, yanking her by her arm and starting to dash away between several abandoned buildings while holding a bag of apples in his arms. "What are you doing?!" She struggled, trying to jab her blade into her assailant's head, swinging wildly only to miss each hit while they finally settled in an alley.

"Shhh, quiet!" the male gestured, putting a finger to his mouth, frantically turned back and forth to make sure they weren't being followed.

"And why should I listen to your demands, you filthy stree—!"

"The White Fang would kill you if they saw a human in these parts!" The reply had only served to rile up the girl even more, disgust in her enraged eyes.

"White Fang—?!" She was briefly hushed when a few hooded figures brandishing several high-powered firearms came rushing out from the darkness.

"Search the premises, they couldn't have run far!" A distant voice shouted, followed by countless pairs of footsteps treading the ground beneath them.

"Hey, what are you...?" The stranger said in a panicked whisper, trying to hold the girl back.

"I'm going to teach them a lesson. Let me go…!" Weiss felt her hands tighten on her rapier as a chilly wind swept through the alley, causing the other to shiver.

"Listen, those guys are freaks! Normally, even I could kick their asses, but they have something weird going on!" The golden-haired male begged, desperately trying to hold her back from what was the equilvant of a suicide misson.

"And how about you listen!" Weiss directed her blade at the male, forcing him to flinch, feeling her icy-cold gaze burn a hole through his head. However, they were interrupted by what could only be described as an abrupt shock wave spreading across earth, rocking the ground back and forth while a colossal tornado of green wind shot up into the atmosphere, instantly engulfing any buildings or debris in the surroundings of its hungry rampage.

"See?! That's what I mean!" The male pointed at the large spiraling object in utter shock, "Those freaks have some kind of new wacko Dust in their hands!"

"There he is!" Soon, another choir of shouts sounded, accompanied by a hail storm of bullets that broke through the low howls of the twisting wind, penetrating parts of the brittle concrete buildings that crumbled to the floor with a loud thud.

"What's going on...?" Stunned and beyond shaken, the heiress braced the sharp winds and hurried to the battlefield. There was no Dust combination that could produce such collateral damage in one go. Putting an arm in front of her face to shield herself from the litter now flying in the air, she hurried to gain a better vantage point between two gutted buildings and widened her eyes at what she could make out as a lone figure trapped in the vertical wind tunnel surrounded by a squad of White Fang members.

"Hahaha! Is that all you've got?! And here I was worried for a second!" A low, booming laughter bellowed out from the massive emerald tornado, shocking a few hooded Faunus that decided to take a few steps back, raise their guns, and become ready to shoot on command.

"No way! Is that guy still alive?!" Weiss could see the disbelief and awe in the golden male's eyes. Then they both saw what appeared to be the squad leader put a special cartridge in his rifle and shoot out a rushing torrent of solid ice the size of several city blocks, which ran through the tornado and the figure inside. "Oh shit!"

There was a moment of tense silence.

The White Fang lowered their guns.

A small smirk started to spread across each of their faces, only to be broken by another shout.

"You call that a Bufudyne?! Pathetic!" As if the Heavens and earth decided to completely disregard the laws of nature, the ever-strong winds started to expand and be forced apart until it exploded along with the ice, sending a brutal wave of diamond dust to all of the surroundings, knocking down the squad of White Fang and throwing them back into slates of concrete.

"I-is that?!" Weiss wanted to charge straight out of her hiding spot, but held herself back.

"Wait! You know him?!" The blond sounded equally freaked, closely clinging on the window frame.

There, standing in the middle of the ruined battlefield was single dark-hooded figure with a black mask on his face and menacing silver eyes covered in tufts of messy raven hair. His arm outstretched in wide showman like gesture, as he started to pace toward the remaining White Fang members.

"S-stay away, you m-monster!" A large, hooded male held up his gun, clearly terrified out of his mind of the freak before him.

"You scum already had your turn. I think it's only fair that I got mine." The masked figure twirled his hand, forming a pistol out of pure azure that spat out bullets of flaming blue, sending them flying into several idle Faunus and knocking them out in an instant. The lone figure was left standing among a pile of unconscious bodies as the dust cleared.

"Should we run—?!" A bullet rushed between the two bystanders.

"You both can come out now." The masked male didn't move, until he saw who it was that stood up from her hiding spot. "Schnee…" He said the name with all of the world's curses.

"W-wait! Akira! I was looking for you!" Weiss admitted honestly, making sure that her weapon was visible and on the floor, implying that she had no plans of attacking the other.

"Yeah! What she said!" Unlike the girl, the blond beside her sounded somewhat rattled.

He lowered his gun. "Let's go. This isn't a safe place to talk."

"So what were you doing in prime White Fang territory?" Akira sat parallel to the other two in a small secluded café, sipping on a cup of brown coffee.

"To look for you." Weiss adamantly repeated herself again, crossing her arms.

"Lies."

"I'm telling the truth!" The heiress slammed a palm on the table, lighty shaking the condiments.

Feeling the huntress-in-training's gaze shred into his being, Akira raised a brow, "And why would a Schnee like you be looking for a Faunus criminal such as myself?" He could see her face crease, but continued on "Don't tell you came to personally execute me yourself—!"

"NO!" No, no! When did I ever say that?!" Weiss's face became a hot tomato red, feeling a great urge to run her rapier through the other's face.

"Whoa there, man, she's clearly trying to help you here." The golden blond showed his monkey-like tail. "I'm a Faunus too, see? You can trust my word."

"Who exactly are you?"

"Sun Wukong! Just arrived from Mistral, you?" The friendly Faunus gave a cheery grin.

"Akira Kurusu." Akira greeted him with his signature frown, heavy bags under his eyes.

"Come on bro, not even a smile?" Sun was promptly ignored as the raven-haired male turned to Weiss.

"And you know him how?"

"I ran into him while looking for you." Weiss tried to shrug off their strange encounter, pointing at the blond Faunus.

"Look, she's really telling the truth, man. There's no way a girl like her would willingly wander into an area like that alone." What Sun thought was a good argument had earned him a jab from the snowy girl.

Akira watched the two bicker in a long, drawn out silence, carefully weighing his options. He gave a tired sigh, "Fine… let's say I believe you. Why have you come searching for me?"

"First, you have to tell me what you were doing in a prime White Fang hot spot." Instead of straight up giving him the answer, the heiress couldn't help but want an equal exchange of information. "And what were those strange types of Dust? How did you… survive?"

"I didn't agree to swap information, nor do you have anything I would want. I could leave whenever I want to, you know?" All of his words were filled with a degree of bitterness, his eyes narrowed and his voice cutting through the air like a piercing blade.

"F-fine! I came here to get you to go back to Beacon!"

"Absolutely not."

"W-what? Why?! Everyone's been worried sick about you! They've all been searching for you none stop!" Frustration, anger, and disbelief boiled equally in her system.

"Because I'm not wanted there, remember? I tried to murder an elite from Atlas." Every sound, every word stung him the more he recalled that memory.

"Yu explained the whole thing, it wasn't your fault…." Weiss's eyes drooped, a wave of guilt washing over her heart. "Professor Ozpin understands too… so please, you won't get in any trouble…." Her last words were a lie, or so it appeared.

"What gave you a change of heart?" Although Akira held his poker face, deep down he had a different reaction.

"N-nothing! Akira! ...I'm s-sorry for insulting you and your heritage…." All the years of unjustified hatred and blind zealous fury had hit her like a speeding train, completely obliterating any old sense of self. Her years in the Schnee manor had taught her to be apologizing and cold, but after experiencing the real world, her lessons with her father seemed to contrast with it as much as night and day. It made her wonder, just for a moment, exactly how many other callous behaviors her family installed into her while she was trapped in that prison.

In the midst of her apology, something familiar and warm trailed down her fair face. A drop of transparent liquid clung to the edge of her visage. Then, a gentle hand could be felt on her shoulder as she looked up to a softened Akira, a faint smile gracing his once solemn face.

"You wanted me back in Beacon, yes?"

"Guys! Guys! You won't believe this!" Jaune burst open the door to the JNPR dorm, gasping for air as he tried to relay the unexpected news, shocking everyone inside.

"Jaune, calm down. Can you tell us what's going on?" Yang was the first to get up from her seat.

"Oh! Is this a surprise?!" Nora jumped, giddy and excited for whatever was to come next.

"Did something happen?" Blake asked, curious.

"I-it's Akira! He's back! A-and you guys won't believe who he's with!" Finally breaking the suspense, the blond broke the news in one triumphant shout, which alerted the whole group.

"Who…?" Yu said in awe, treating the moment as if it were a surreal dream. Who could have convinced the boy to come back?

"Weiss!"

"WHAT?!" Without another word shared amongst the band of worried first-years, they all fumbled outside, dashing toward the campus entrance with several bodies almost colliding into one another upon reaching their destination. They saw three figures standing in the dusk of the brilliant sun. Two males and a girl; one with twitching obsidian cat ears, one with a long monkey tail, and finally, a short snowy-haired human girl.

"Akira! We were so worried about you!" Ruby shouted atop the chaos as everyone clustered together, forming a half circle around the three. "Weiss, how you were able to find him?"

"We looked all over the city for you." Yang couldn't help but be happy that there would be no more search parties in future, and maybe for the Faunus's return.

"You don't look so well." Blake observed the tiredness in his eyes.

"And who's the new guy?" Nora finally decided to address the third figure in the crowd, which was followed by a murmur of agreements.

"We should go discuss this in the dorms. It's a long story." Before anyone else could ask any more questions, Weiss promised to answer the endless stream of questions once everyone hurried back, quickly dispersing the small gathering as they all trailed back. She watched each and every one of her peers file back into the building, leaving only her and Yu.

"Hey… um..." She didn't know what to say, averting her eyes while feeling a wave of embarrassment.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Surprise and confusion laced her face, finding a kind smile on the boy's face. What she expected as another bitter lecture turned into a warm expression of gratitude. "F-for what…?" Her breathing halted, her movements ceased, and she felt a large knot in her throat preventing her from speaking any more words.

"Seeking your own truth." Yu replied softly.

She became even more perplexed, "Aren't you at least going to thank me for bringing him back? It was anything but easy, you know!" She pouted, sassily placing a hand on her hips, as if teaching the other a lesson. Then she heard him chuckle.

"That too..."

"What's so funny?" His laughter only grew louder as they started to walk back.

"N-nothing." He just kept going.

"Yu Narukami! I demand you to explain yourself!" Weiss followed closely behind, childishly praying for an answer, all the while feeling an odd fluffy sensation in her heart. Despite not knowing the mystery of the boy's sudden burst of laughter, deep down, she understood the meaning of his previous words. For one to seek their own truth, they must abandon all forms of established beliefs from the external world and instead, focus on the ongoings of the inner world, letting their own ideals and thoughts gently raise up to the surface, unspoiled by any outside influence.

"So I was running from these thugs, right?" Sun tried to imitate a sprinting motion in the dorm, while people either cheered him on or eagerly awaited for more of the story.

"Am I correct to assume that you are here for the Vytal Festival, Sun?" Pyrrha inferred based on the previous information, mainly that the blond was a student of Haven.

"You bet! Me and my team are gonna take this, no doubt about it!" Suddenly, there was a sense of fierce competition in the room, causing everyone to cluster into their own team groups.

"Yeah right! Team RWBY is going to obliterate the competition! Ruby jumped onto a chair, bursting into an exaggerated mean laughter while both Blake and Yang stood beside her in a mocking victory pose.

"Hmmm, I dunno about that." Minato had a sly smile, amused by the little display of power, laying on the floor while drinking a glass of orange juice.

"W-why do you say that?!"

The bluenette's face shifted to a silly evil grin. "Hue hue hue! You really believe you can beat your big bro in a match—ack!"

"Drink your damn orange juice." Yang grabbed the glass and forcefully shoved the orange liquid down his throat, causing a slight choking noise, followed by his body going limp.

"Nooooo, Yang! You killed him! How are we going to dispose of the body?!" Ruby cried large comical tears, grabbing all the snacks in the room to bury the damning evidence that was the bluenette's corpse.

"Hey, Yang, wasn't that a little too rough?" Jaune felt slightly worried and everyone agreed, each giving odd looks to the siblings.

Yet, instead of addressing the crowd, Yang held up three fingers, "Wait for it... 3…2..1!" As if by some ungodly force of the netherworld, when the blonde reached the last number, Minato instantly jolted up from his shallow grave of soft drinks and potato chips and went for a right hook that was swiftly blocked by the blonde, trapping the two in a stalemate while they leered into each other.

"Nice try, but it'll take much more than choking to get rid of me." Minato gave a savage smile that was matched with Yang's flaming red eyes as the two started trading blows inside the enclosed room that eventually lead them both to crash into the walls of the hallway outside.

"Yang… Minato?" For whatever reason, Weiss felt a playful yet deathy aura from the downed pair on the floor, each still wrestling for dominance.

"Oh, Weiss, Yu! There you are!" The golden brawler raised an arm and tried to sock her friend right in the face, but missed by an inch as the bluenette tried to do the same.

"Are you two alright?" Yu watched, puzzled and unsure of what to make of the scene.

"Eh, you two go on ahead, we'll decide on a winner eventually." Minato said rather casually, holding back another of Yang's deadly assaults.

"Ok, if you say so…" Weiss dragged Yu inside before quickly closing the door. "We should ignore them."

"Agreed."

"You were really brave to go into a gang-ridden territory like that, Weiss." Ruby chirped, obviously proud of her teammate.

"Oh, uh, really, Ruby? Yeah!" The snowy heiress was caught completely off guard by the comment.

"Using the CCTV like that was quite commendable." For the first time, Blake expressed a liking in the icy huntress-in-training.

"You guys should have totally seen how many thugs there were, it was crazy! One was fighting with this really weird gun and the other was like really agile and stuff." Sun did his best to paint as clear a picture of the battle as possible, including almost all of its participants. However, nowhere in his story were bizarre types of Dust or someone forming a magical azure gun.

"Really? What did these gang members look like?" The descriptions felt odd to Blake, as it reminded her of certain people from her past.

"Ummm, they were, uhh—"

"Mostly people in plain street clothing and sporting visible tattoos." Just as Sun was having trouble conjuring up a faux group of people, Akira stepped in to take control of the conversation.

"Sounds like an unwelcome bunch." Nora cracked her knuckles, "Hehe, I bet you guys broke their legs, didn't ya?"

"Well, I wouldn't say we were that uncivilized." Weiss mused out loud while feeling a certain dark-haired girl watch in silent suspicion.

"We broke their legs, we broke them hard." Akira said in a skilled deadpan, although there was a glimpse of mirth expressed in his eyes.

"I'm not sure who I should believe at this point." Ren sighed.

"Either way, we're glad to have you back, Akira." Yu reach out a hand.

"You're awfully happy today." A chuckle came from the other as he shook his hand.

"I'm sorry for what I said before."

"Me too."

"Hyaaaa! Take this!" Suddenly, and without much warning, a large blast of yellow fire split the two apart as Yang burst through the wall with an evil looking Minato catching her from behind.

"Ow!" Yu's body flew toward the hard concrete, slamming into it at full force, only to be caught by a black Gravity glyph. "Thanks…"

"Once again, you owe me." Weiss flicked her hair, only to have Akira drop on her form after losing his grip on the dorm ceiling.

"Get off!"

"Hahahahaha!" Just as the snowy heiress tried to shove the dead weight off of her, she could hear a red hooded, pint-sized girl bellow in unrelenting laughter at the ridiculous scene. Ruby's giggles eventually started infecting the other inhabitants in the room until half of the dorm was in a loud uproar, while the others started to brawl with each other. It was not until midnight did everyone drop and crash to the floor in deep slumber. Many fell asleep where they were, but some mustered the last of their energy to trudge back to their rooms.

Droplets of water ran down the drain in a steady river, subtly breaking into several smaller paths as it started to flow along to its eventual destination. Puffs of white steam covered the area in a cloudy ethereal reality as the figure turned off the shower faucet. Akira got dressed, draping a towel over his shoulder and stepped into the room, relaxing his stiff muscles. He closed his eyes, inhaling a deep breath. It had been a day.

"You done?" Minato sat next to a work desk along with Yu.

Akira dried his hair, cracking open a bottle of soda. "Yeah"

"Good, because we have a lot to talk about." The bluenette's face grew dark, pale, and deathly serious, holding a bright scroll in his hands.