Volume 2, Chapter 1: Second Term

Vegas Gold rotated his shoulder, glaring through the dark at his opponent. "Come on then. Don't be shy!"

The nameless White Fang grunt hesitated, mouth gaping in abject horror, cat like ears pinning back against his head.

The golden criminal tapped the tip of his blade against the stone floor, grinning widely. "Heeere, kitty-kitty-"

The faunus let out a yell of anger, dashing forwards with his pistol raised high, firing shot after shot at his 'sparring partner'. Vegas simply raised his gold blade, the bullets bouncing off, face sharpening into a look of nearly manic glee. The White Fang reached him- and ate a solid boot to the chest, going flying across the empty warehouse floor to crash into the wall, falling with a groan.

Gold dashed forwards, swiping down with his blade and nearly making contact, before the man rolled away. He didn't get far though, Vegas' hand lashing out and catching him by his hood, dragging him back to the wall. A vicious knee strike greeted him, his white mask shattering with the impact, going limp with a low moan.

The killer reared back, blade held high. "Thanks for playing, kiddo!"

He brought his sword back down-

"Goldie."

Vegas went stock still, golden eyes widening, blade mere centimeters from the faunus' dazed face. He turned over his shoulder, to the platform high above, Cinder's burning eyes glowing in the dark. "Oh. Hey, Cin. You mind? I'm just finishing up here-"

"Let him go, Goldie," She purred, with a note of humor in her voice. "We need to treat our business partners like how we treat those from our own organization."

He blinked owlishly, before backing away from his would-be victim, the White Fang beginning to drag himself away. "And how is our benevolent Queen?"

The lift under Cinder's feet began to lower, taking her down to the ground level, sashaying forwards with a coy smirk on her face. "All is well, Goldie. All is well."

"Uh huh..." He said distractedly as she neared, one hand softly brushing against his arm as she passed.

And then she stopped, hand gripping his arm tightly, heat beginning to emanate from her grip as she turned now hard eyes to him. "But there are those who question your loyalty to the cause. After all... you've been away for quite some time."

His face twisted into a snarl of pain, twitching against her touch- but didn't make an attempt to pull away, instead growling out through grit teeth, "Well... that's what happens... when they send me to take care of business..." He turned his snarl towards her, gold eyes burning with a maelstrom of emotions. "I know where my allegiances lie."

The smirk found its way back to her face, and she released him, Vegas sucking in a breath through his teeth. Cinder reached up and patted his cheek familiarly. "Good. Then we're... understood." Her hand lingered on his skin for a moment as she continued to walk away, deeper into the warehouse, leaving the criminal standing alone.

He watched her go for a moment, before letting out a low growl, turning to the burned skin marking where she had held him.

"You're lucky it's to you." He muttered, before stalking off as well.

Rainier opened the Styrofoam box hesitantly, looking in at its contents, several cold, somewhat bland empanadas sitting inside. His expression soured as he closed it, holding it against his side as he continued on his way towards the grand hall of the cafeteria, humming to himself thoughtfully.

"If you bump into me, I will hurt you."

He blinked at the sudden new voice, turning- to watch as Weiss began come up parallel to him, her path similarly taking her to the hall, her own box held in hand. "Ah. Miss Schnee. A pleasure."

"Rainier."

The duo walked in step along their way, holding their meals silently. Finally, he looked down to her. "You look... simply radiant as always."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Platina."

"Ah, but tis worth a try," They went silent again, the air beginning to thicken with tension. The faunus shook his head. "Alright, Miss Schnee, I... I wish to... I wish to apol… apologize for the things I said about your family. They were... unbecoming of me."

She sniffed, nose sticking up into the air. "...And I'm sorry for judging you on the fact that you were a faunus before I even got to know you."

They nodded in unison, Rainier's jaw clenching tightly, looking sincerely uncomfortable. "...I am attempting to be a better person, and I am starting with you."

"Well... as am I. And I suppose that you will be a good starting point as well."

"...Truce?"

They stopped, the Vacuoan reaching out towards the Atlesian. She stared down at the offered limb, before rather daintily taking it in her own. "Truce. Do not kiss my knuckles."

"We are not there yet, I understand. We will be."

"You may be the most annoying person I've ever met, and I've had to fight off Jaune for the past several months."

"Yes, again, I am working on that. Also, you have my sincere apologies."

"I suppose we have one thing in common, then."

"...I hardly doubt that's true."

"...You're probably more correct than either of us want to admit."

"Truce it is!"

The two huntsmen went quiet as they stepped into the hall, peering up and over the heads of the students within, searching for their friends-

"I will stab you in the eyes." Daria hissed loudly, waving her fork at Nash's face. The, boy, surprised by the sudden motion, leapt backwards, crashing off of his feet to slam into the tile floor, his tray sent flying into the air.

Rainier and Weiss slowly met gazes, the former sighing. "...Those are mine."

"Hmph. Just wait until Ruby gives us the 'best day ever' pitch again."

"Oh, I cannot wait."

"MY FOOOD!" He cried mournfully from his position on the ground, desperately crawling towards the remains of his lunch, clutching two fistfuls of mashed potatoes tightly. He threw his head back and let out a mournful wail, the few other students occupying the cafeteria looking over to him in confusion.

The diminutive leader's look of mock fury slowly faded as she leaned forwards, peering over to her partner. "Nash," She said, the bite in her voice slowly fading. "...Nash?"

The boy slowly turned to her, with surprisingly real tears streaming down his face, expression twisted into one of grief. "How could you?" He whispered.

"...Nash, are you-"

"No!"

Rainier stepped between his two teammates, looking back and forth between them with a frown. "...Have I missed something!"

"Hey, Rainier." Daria said.

"Raini-e-e-r!" Nash sobbed, still grieving over his spilt meal.

Weiss rolled her eyes as she took a seat next to her teammates. Ruby jumped to attention, a massive binder held in hand, the words 'Best Day Ever' written in marker on its cover. "Friend Weiss, you have made it! Our meeting may begin!"

"Here we go..." The heiress muttered, picking at her food disinterestedly.

"Ahem! Sister. Friend. Weiss. Four score and earlier this morning, I had a dream!"

"This oughtta be good." Yang said, giving her sister an attentive glance.

The young huntress raised the binder high. " A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!"

"...Is that my binder?" Weiss said, perking up with a frown.

"I am not a crook."

Blake shook her head. "What are you talking about, Ruby?"

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today. "

Rainier leaned forwards, grinning broadly. "Fascinating! What are we doing then, Miss Rose?"

"Uh, well..." The aforementioned huntress said bashfully, slowly closing the over-stuffed binder in front of her. "I... only planned stuff for my team."

"Uh huh." The faunus continued on, unfazed.

"And, well... just my team."

"Yes, so you said."

"So... it was... just gonna be the four of us?"

"That's implied."

The short girl stared at him, apologetic look slowly melting into one of confusion. "Eh... I'm... lost."

"As am I."

"Oh, stop," Yang said, catching a thrown grape in her mouth. "You're gonna make her fry a circuit."

Rainier turned to the blonde with an amused grin. "Ah, but look at her expression! Priceless."

"I thought you were working on being a better person." Weiss said, giving the Vacuoan an unimpressed look.

He stared back at her owlishly, expression confused. "...This is me being a better person."

Nora threw another grape towards Yang- only for it to get snatched out of the air by a lightning fast Lance. "Hey!" The girls both cried in unison.

"Hey!" He shot back, popping the fruit into his mouth. "They were out of grapes when I got there, and I blame you! I've got a very small amount of foods I can eat at any given time and you will let me have this!"

Oracle slapped his shoulder. "Sit down, you're makin' a scene."

The blonde swordsman threw his hands up, gesturing wildly at the grieving Nash. "EH?!"

"Not my circus, not my clowns."

"Hey!" Nash cried back. "This is serious!"

"You'll be fine, darlin'." The cowgirl called back.

"Alright," Lance said, turning to look towards Shinai. "And what does our fearless leader have in store for us? Some sort of fun itinerary? A list of group activities we can all embark on? Do tell!"

The samurai slowly looked up to his teammate. "No."

"Cold as ice, Shin!" Oracle said.

"Firstly," He said. "Don't call me Shin. Secondly; it's your last day off. Enjoy it. Tomorrow, we get back to work. And if you want any chance of qualifying for the tournament, then our training exercises will only get more intense."

"Well... you just have a way of taking the mood out of the room, don't you?"

"I got it!" Nora cried.

Rainier raised an eyebrow as he slowly leaned backwards, watching with a raised eyebrow as the remnants of a pie flew in front of his face.

It continued to fly from one side of the table, soaring with a purpose, before colliding with Weiss' face, a small explosion of its contents spilling out in her spot.

Slowly- very, very slowly, she turned to Rainier, who raised his hands. "For once, this was not me."

At the other end of the table, Daria slowly leaned backwards, giving the heiress a crystal clear view of Nora, arm still outstretched, eyes wide with shock. She pointed at Ren, the quiet huntsman simply shaking his head.

"FOOD FIGHT!"

The teams of SOUL and DRGN continued to walk out of the cafeteria unabated, trailing behind the more panicked, scrambling denizens of the hall fleeing with much more urgency, Shinai leading the way, shaking his head in disappointment.

Rainier blinked as he caught the familiar gold mane of Sun Wukong, a grin splitting his face. "Mr. Wukong!"

The other faunus smiled back- before fading as he caught a glimpse of the events transpiring inside the cafeteria. "Hey... what is-"

"And I don't believe we've met!" The former Vacuoan continued on, turning to the foreigner's companion; a handsome teen, hair a bright blue and combed neatly to the side, dressed rather formally in a red suit jacket, white shirt, and matching black tie, pants, shoes, and fingerless gloves.

He quickly extended his hand to Rainier, giving him a gleaming smile. "Neptune Vasilias, at your service."

The faunus' yellow eyes lit up in interest, shaking the newcomer's hand with a matching, brilliant smile. "Rainier Platina of Vacuo, son of Leonardo and Camilla Platina, brother to the White Wolf. At your service."

The duo continued to shake each other's hand as the moment stretched on to awkward lengths.

Daria grabbed her friend by his hood, dragging him away. "Come on, you weirdo."

Lance stopped next to the duo, looking them up and down, face begrudging. He snorted and continued on.

"What a waste." Nash said quietly as he stared in at the dining hall, shaking his head. He marched after his friends without giving the Mistrali huntsmen a single look.

Sun and Neptune shared a look, the former shrugging. "Okay, so that was Rainier, the other guy from the shipyard. But he's super cool too!"

"You don't-"

They both froze as they entered the cafeteria, the faunus grinning brightly, while the latter teen's face fell in horror as they stared at the chaos that had consumed the cafeteria, Team JNPR and Team RWBY wildly brawling, food flying to soak every available surface in mess.

The airships roared in a crescendo of engines as they soared overhead to rest above the city of Vale; white in armor, and numbering in the dozens, three absolutely massive warships leading the charge. The logo of Atlas, painted in black, shone on the sides of the ships pointedly, banners flying off of some as they came to a stop, many citizens of the city stepping out into the streets to look up in awe and confusion at the fleet.

Rainier stared out at the Atlesian military with a barely disguised snarl, hands clenched into fists from his perch above his teammates, sitting atop a tree branch.

Daria looked up from her Scroll at him, frowning in concern. "...You okay, Rainier?"

He jerked out of his trance, blinking as he looked down to his leader. "...I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"You are looking at the same thing as I am, yes?"

"Yeah. It's kinda spooky, isn't it?"

"If that's the word you wish to use."

"Vacuo... and Atlas haven't... always been very... friendly." Gail cut in quietly.

Rainier snorted. "If that's the word you wish to use."

Daria pocketed her Scroll. "That's not it though, is it?"

The faunus looked down to her for a second, before turning his gaze back to the fleet, pale yellow eyes softening. "...A lot of Platinas died in the Great War."

"Oh."

He sighed as he dropped down to the ground. "In my family, family is everything. It's what you're taught from day one. Sometimes, wounds don't simply heal. But... nevertheless. I suppose not all Atlesians are bad."

"I mean... Weiss has her moments."

The Vacuoan hummed. "Indeed she does. Nevertheless. I am a faunus, after all. I have more than my share of reasons to dislike Atlas."

"Is it..." The diminutive huntress thought her words over for a moment. "Is it bad up there?"

"Atlas' industrial sector-" Gail stopped in her place as her teammates looked to her, beginning to blush. "...They, um... are renowned for their... poor treatment of... faunus workers."

Rainier gave his leader a pointed eyebrow raise, before turning to march away- stopping before Phalanx. "Nash, my short friend!" There was a clattering of metal on metal as the blonde huntsman popped up from behind his mech, fair skin smudged with grease.

"Ello!"

The faunus chuckled. "And what say you?"

"About wha?"

"A... about the military. Flying in?"

Nash stared at his friend with narrowed eyes for a moment. "I don't know wha-" His gaze shot to the skyline, widening in shock. "-OH MY GOSH! IS THAT ATLAS?!"

"I believe we'll call that an abstainment."

"OH I HOPE THEY BROUGHT COOL STUFF! DO YOU THINK IF I SHOW THEM PHALANX THEY'LL GIVE ME A GRANT?!"

Rainier turned back to his leader with a shrug.

Daria rolled her eyes. "Nash, stop fanboying and finish working on Phalanx. I'm not gonna be late to class because of you."

The boy, still buzzing excitedly, ducked back behind his mech, blowtorch firing back up. The faunus returned to his spot beside the tree, leaning up against it. "Mm... oh, yes, before I forget, Dearest," His leader turned to him. "The dance is arriving before too long, so... I had been wondering if you would- completely platonically, of course- go with me?"

She froze in her place, blank, confused stare washing over him, her mouth gaping open in shut, trying in vain to muster a response. "...Uh... what?"

He shrugged. "Well, I'm afraid if I did not take you, you would not go. Our Miss Cerulean won't be going either way," The archer nodded in agreement. "And Nash will do what Nash wishes, but... it would be a shame if you did not come join the festivities."

"I... I mean, that's... really nice of you, Rainier. I... completely platonically?"

"Completely platonically."

"Uh huh... you, uh... you're Rainier Platina. You sure there's no girls that would go with you not-platonically?"

"Oh, undoubtedly. However, taking a girl to such a... large event such as this dance, only to ditch them immediately afterwards, seems... a bit too morally bankrupt, even for myself. You, however, are a good friend, and even at the risk of depriving myself of... shall we say, intimacy, it would still be worth it to go with you."

"Oh... oh, wow..." She wiped at her face, trying to remove the budding smile from her face. She cleared her throat. "Well... I wasn't gonna go... but if you're really that sincere, then... yeah, sure. I'll go."

"Splendid! We'll go to the dance, perhaps grab dinner with the others afterwards... perhaps kiss-" Her look faded to stone, glaring evenly up to him. "Or perhaps not, understood. It will be a lovely night, trust me."

"...Yeah, sure, man! Uh..." Daria rubbed the back of her neck. "Thanks... I've never been... asked to a dance before. It feels... pretty dang good, actually."

"I'm honored to be your first... no pun intended, truly."

"Course. Yeah... cool... well... maybe now Lance'll stop asking me out. It's a win-win!"

Rainier nodded, gaze turning to the sky. "...That does remind me. I will see you lovely people later tonight. I have a game I must go play."

Rainier leaned against the tree nonchalantly, chomping noisily away on his apple, tail wagging lazily against the grass beneath him.

"Oh, gods, dude, I'm going to throw that thing if you don't stop." Lance muttered, turning from his own spot to glare at the faunus.

Said wolf simply smirked and winked, taking another pointed bite from the fruit.

The swordsman shook his head, turning his gaze back forwards for a few moments. "Alright... hey, what about Blake?"

Rainier swallowed his bite, raising an eyebrow. "What about Blake?"

"Add her to the list?"

The faunus sighed, looking back down to his snack. "...No."

"Oh come on, she's a hot ninja."

"I see that."

"But have you seen that?"

"Do you ever listen to the words that escape your lips?"

"If I did I'd be a dumber man."

Rainier turned back to him, shuffling forwards to sit beside him, looking down to the campus below. The aforementioned Belladonna was marching along the path by herself, a notebook clutched to her chest. Her shoulders, though, were slouched, dark bags hanging under her eyes, face drawn up in a tight expression belying her stress.

"No. Even if I had any interest? Look at her. It would be cruel and exploitative to try and win her over right now."

Lance snorted. "Is that a… surrender I hear?"

"Sometimes, I wonder why I play this game with you. There's no guile, no charm, no romance."

"Maybe why that's why I'm up three-to-one. You don't know how to play the game, man. You get too attached."

"Yes, well- have you considered that, perhaps, Blake is not only a friend, but also a member of our friend group? One which we see nearly everyday?"

"That sounds like a surrender."

Rainier rose to his feet, gesturing down to the girl. "By all means, Mr. Zaffre. Do what you will. But I don't accept this as a mission."

Lance though the faunus' words over for a moment, before sighing. "Fine. Not Belladonna."

"Perhaps there's hope for you yet, young Zaffre."

"Scoreboard, wolf!"

Rainier snickered as he marched back to his spot leaning against the tree, pulling another apple from his bag. "I may lose this game; but at least at the end of the year, I won't have an army of angry huntresses hunting me down."

"Might have an army of huntsmen though."

"...I resent that." The faunus muttered back with a frown.

Lance shrugged. "Just sayin', man. Maybe cut your Vacuoan winks down to a minimum."

Rainier mumbled derisively for a moment as the duo lapsed back into silence, the swordsman continuing to survey the campus observantly. After a moment, though, he turned back to his friend, face more serious. "Hey, man... you heard about anything about all that White Fang shit that went down?"

The Vacuoan sighed. "...Unfortunately, no. All our dear Professor Ozpin had to say was, and I quote, 'we are continuing to look into it, and will update you as we gain further information. Thank you for your work, bah, bah, bah...'"

"That was, like, a month ago, man."

"Yes, that was my exact thought. If our beloved academy is even looking into it... I doubt they have any intention of telling us. Such is life."

"...Maybe it's something we oughtta take into our own hands, if they're not gonna care."

Rainier's face went thoughtful, shaking his head. "...Perhaps, my friend, you're onto something."

Oracle pat her stomach, nodding. "Kyani, you are a saint amongst men."

The samurai looked up from his meditation, one eye open, eyebrow cocked. "Hm?"

She grinned. "Abs! For the first damn time in my life, I got abs!" Lance snorted, getting her to turn to glare at him. "What's so funny, blondie?" He sat up in his bed, parting his top- showing off his well-chiseled mid-section, a smug eyebrow raised. The gunslinger looked down to her own stomach, a scowl finding her face. "Alright, well, at least I can eat actual food other than that dry crap and rabbit food you eat."

"Uh huh, sure. I'll just be over here with my eight friends. Wanna know their names?"

"Yeah, you woulda named them, jackass."

"Do this somewhere else," Ulysses muttered. "Literally. Anywhere else."

The two fast-talkers of SOUL looked to the brooding, irritated huntsmen, rolling their eyes. Lance laid back in his bed, Scroll raised. "You're a buzzkill, big man."

"And you're annoying."

"Love you too."

Ulysses simply growled in response, the room fading back to its comfortable silence. Oracle looked back and forth between the partners, a smile spreading across her face. Her gaze landed onto Shinai, the samurai's expression satisfied. She turned back to Lance, face turning troubled, eyes casting downwards. "...Hey, Zaffre."

"Yuh huh?"

"What's with that patch you've got, hon?"

He stilled, blue orbs tilting from his screen down to the gunslinger. "...What patch?"

"The silver one, 'Legion or whatever it said,' had a horse on it."

"...Have you been going through my stuff, seriously?"

She snorted, shaking her head. "Whatever, it was on your pillow."

"On my... damn."

"Anyways, what is it?"

He shrugged non-commitally. "It's just a patch, Ulysses has like eighteen of them."

"No, his are a buncha rock bands, yours was, like, a military patch."

"Listen, Oracle, it's not that important."

"I thought we didn't have secrets on this team."

"No, we were all allies on this team, that doesn't mean I have to share anything with you guys."

She watched his face for a moment, his expression troubled and beginning to become irritated. "...You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna."

"...It's... it's just something from my past. It's not that big of a deal, really. Just a... little memento I like to keep around."

"Does it have somethin' to do with whatever Ozpin keeps meetin' with ya on?"

The swordsman sat up, looking across to his teammate. "Yeah. It's just something I got for some past work I did, before I came here. Drop it, alright?"

"...Aight. I'll drop it."

"...Thanks. It's just, uh... a part of my life I want to leave behind."

She said nothing, slowly turning back to her Scroll, a small sigh leaving her.

Shinai watched the interaction between the duo, a rare frown taking his face, before his eyes closed again, returning to his meditation, the room plunging back into silence.

Ruby stared out of her door with a confused expression, scratching the side of her head. "Why are... all of you here?"

"It's um..." Daria frowned, looking to her teammates behind her. "We... I mean it's a bit of a... we should all probably be here, this is..."

"Can we actually help you with something?" Weiss asked, an eyebrow raised.

"We want to help!" Nash said excitedly, cutting Daria off as he muscled between her and Rainier, broad grin painted across his face.

All eyes locked onto him in various states of confusion. "Uh... help with what?" Ruby finally asked, breaking the silence.

"It's..." Daria sighed again. "We heard that you guys were looking into the White Fang issues going on around here. With us having a bit of a vested interest... we want to help."

"Ah, jeez, guys," Ruby said, rubbing the back of her neck. "We don't want to drag anyone else into this than we need to. These guys are really dangerous."

Rainier cleared his throat, leaning against the door frame. "Now, now, I know as well as any of you do how dangerous these people are. I was there at the docks, if you've forgotten. Alongside that- they make my race look bad. No one here would like to see them taken care of as I do... do they?"

His gaze locked onto Blake's challengingly.

Ruby's eyes shot back to Blake as well, before turning forwards again. "I mean... I guess. We don't have a lot to go on right now. But... if you guys really want to help, I guess we can't say no."

Daria stepped forwards, placing a hand onto her shoulder. "We'll be fine. We want to see these go down just as much as you guys do, Rainier. Sides, what kind of friends would we be if we let you guys go fighting criminals by yourself?"

"...Really crummy friends." Ruby shot back, voice lightening.

"That's it. We just wanted to come and let you know that we're in, whether you guys want us too or not."

"Well... I guess-"

"Aha, one more thing," Rainier cut in. "Before we leave. Miss Belladonna," He added, getting the dark-haired girl to jolt in surprise. "A question. If I may."

She took a few steps forwards, arms crossed over her chest. "Yeah?"

"What exactly did you do before coming to Beacon? Please, spare no details."

The room seemed to chill with a sudden thick tension, their respective teams turning towards the two golden-eyed huntsmen- DRGN's in confusion, RWBY's in shock.

"I..." She began uncertainly, breaking eye contact with him. "It's... not important."

Daria nudged her teammate. "Rain, stop being nosy."

"What's the concern?" He asked, eyes not leaving Blake's. "I had thought it an innocent question. It should beckon an innocent answer, no? All of you could give a perfectly innocent answer."

"Rainier."

"Yes?"

"What's your deal?"

His smug expression slowly turned to stone, all mirth fading from it. "Ah, I don't blame you. I hadn't noticed it at first either, though I feel silly for not putting it together. It wasn't until that I met with that lovely barista that it all began to make sense."

"Rainier." Blake said warningly, finally meeting his cold gaze again.

"She's a faunus."

Daria blinked, looking back and forth between them. "...Oh. Okay?"

Nash gasped. "Is- is that- is that why you wear the super cute bow?!"

Blake didn't answer, hard eyes locked onto her fellow faunus'.

Rainier took his weight off of the doorframe, taking a step into the huntress' room, the rest of RWBY tensing in confusion, their gazes switching back and forth between the duo. "Why were you there at the docks that night? What personal interest brought you there? What did you say to those White Fang before Sun, Lance, and I saved you?"

"Hey, what exactly is your problem, dude?" Yang asked, crossing her arms over her chest with a disapproving frown.

Weiss nodded, eyebrows furrowing. "Agreed; you're doing a poor job of being a better person."

The dark-haired huntress sighed, turning towards her teammates. "Yang... it's okay," She turned back to the Vacuoan, taking another deep, steadying breath. "...A long time ago, I was a part of the White Fang."

The room went dead quiet, three quarters of DRGN stiffening in shock, mouths agape, looking back and forth between the two faunus.

Rainier's face, however, went through a lightning-fast series of emotions, lips momentarily curling up into a furious snarl, before fading in sadness, then finally settling back into its cool reservedness. "Well... there it is."

"I know," She said, stepping forwards to stand beside a befuddled Ruby. "And I realize what that means. It took me too long to figure out what the White Fang had become. But that's why I'm- we're doing this. They need to be stopped. I get that now."

The Vacuoan said nothing, normally jovial demeanor instead chiseled in stone; though his pale yellow eyes, emotive as ever, were boring into her more vivid golden orbs, dark with distrust.

Daria edged him out of the way. "Blake-" The faunus jolted out of her staredown, turning towards the shorter huntress. "It's okay."

"...Thanks." Blake said quietly, slowly backing away from the door, closer to Weiss and Yang, gaze not again meeting Rainier's.

Ruby sighed, patting Daria's shoulder, ushering both her and Rainier out. "...Okay. Good talk. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Goodnight."

The door closed without the other leader getting a chance to return the farewell.

"Oh. Alright," Daria muttered. "Goodnight."

"So many questions!" Nash suddenly cried out, getting Daria to hiss at him to be quiet.

She raised an eyebrow at the faunus in question. "No, but seriously, what was that about?"

Rainier shook his head. "It's not important."

"You sure?"

"Of course. Would I ever lie to you?"

Team RWBY stood, staring at the door for a long few moments.

"He's so strange." Weiss finally said, breaking the silence.

"If that's what you want to call him," Yang muttered, looking sidelong at her partner. "You good, Blake?"

"...Yeah." The faunus said after a moment.

"He got pretty intense there for a second."

"...Yeah. I'm going to bed."

"Hey," Yang said, cutting her off. "We've got your back, you know that, right?"

That brought a tiny smile to the girl's face. "...Thanks, Yang."

"And, if I need to, I'll totally kick his ass."

"I... don't think that's how it would go."

"I take it back, we're no longer friends and I'm kicking you off the team."

Blake chuckled as she laid back down. "...Thanks, Yang."

The other girls followed suit, the lights going out- but not before Weiss stepped up on her bed to look at Ruby. "Hey." She whispered.

"Yeah?" Her leader shot back.

"Do you think it was a good idea involving them?"

"...Well... Why not?"

"I like them... maybe not as much as you guys do, but nonetheless. Think about it; the more people we get involved, the more likely this is to get to Ozpin, and he's the only one who can really stop us."

"Oh, pssh. They ain't snitches."

Weiss shook her head as she lay down. "If you say so."

Vegas Gold craned his neck, popping it as he surveyed the scene, crouched high above the street. He hummed thoughtfully, putting a hand to his earpiece. "Oh, Cinder."

After a moment, her familiarly smooth voice called back, "Yes, Goldie?"

"Dunno the circumstances, but some more kids just got out with a meeting with yours and Roman's precious Red."

"Oh?"

"They were there for a hot minute."

"Have you maybe considered that maybe they're just kids being kids?"

"The wolf was there."

"Ah... now that is interesting."

"More pieces to add to the table?"

"Maybe... or... well, if they do get involved... it might make a good stress reliever for you."

"Ooh, I like that idea. Is Phase 2 started yet?"

"Not quite. Just a few last minute preparations from the good headmaster. We'll let you know when we are. Sleep tight, Goldie."

"Always." He muttered as the line went dead, turning his gaze from Beacon, to the shattered moon high above, sitting back down in his collapsible chair, munching nonchalantly on a bag of chips. "Sleep tight."