Chapter 2: Why We Fight

Lance groaned as he limped forwards alongside his teammates, hand pressing the cold pack against his back, weaving around the other students wandering the fairgrounds outside Beacon Academy. "That's it. My job is done."

Oracle snorted. "Don't be a wuss."

"Says you, I was the only one on the team eliminated."

"Weren't you just moping about that?"

"Yeah. And now I'm over it and it's my excuse to be lazy."

"You didn't stretch, huh?"

Team SOUL turned on their heel to the staring eyes of Nash, a broad smile painted on his face.

"Short Stuff!" Lance called, mirror smile claiming his own visage.

"Yeah, Rainier always says that it's good to stretch before a fight, 'specially before a good one."

Oracle tipped her hat back. "Where's the rest of your team anyhow?"

The blonde boy disappeared in a blur around one of the stalls, before returning quickly, dragging Daria along by her hand. "I found them!"

"Nash, what-" The brunette huntress blinked at the sight of her friends. "Oh. Hey guys."

"'Ello."

"Hey girl."

"Hmph."

"Hn."

She followed the responses in turn before nodding awkwardly. "…Gail, we're over here."

After a moment, the aforementioned archer followed suit, standing next to her teammates and offering a tiny wave in greeting. "G… good fight."

"Thank you?" Lance asked, frowning slightly.

Oracle fiddled with the sunglasses cladding her face. "Where's the wolf?"

"Yeah, where's the- the what now?" Nash began, turned towards Daria, before casting a confused look back the gunslinger's way.

"Because he's a- where is he?"

"I dunno."

Daria shook her head. "Where do you think?"

Oracle stared at her. "… I really don't know."

"Oh. Yeah. I haven't told you yet."

That piqued the taller girl's interest. "Oh? Oh, please do."

"…Maybe later."

"Wait!" Nash called out. "I got it!" He sucked in a deep breath then- "RAINIER!" He cried out, making some of the passersby jump in shock.

There was a beat of silence before a silver blur came over one of the stalls, landing on the ground with an uproar of grass and dirt as silver claws cleaved through the soil. Rainier twirled around with wary yellow eyes. "WHAT, What- what, Nash?"

"Got him."

The faunus blinked and straightened up, finally taking in the seriousness- or lack thereof- of the situation. "Oh. It appears that I've been played."

"Where you been, buddy?" Lance asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah?" Oracle echoed eyes filled with a less than altruistic glint.

"I… was…"

"Looking for RWBY and JNPR." Daria finished.

He turned now suspicious yellow eyes to her. "Yes. That."

Oracle looked between the two teammates, eyes narrowing as she struggled to decipher the meaning. The DRGN team leader caught her look and mouthed 'later'.

Shinai cocked his head to the side wordlessly. All eyes followed his motion- to a small ramen shack stationed nearby. Sitting and eating happily was the aforementioned teams.

"Oh." Rainier said quietly.

The samurai said nothing, an eyebrow raising impassively.

"They've been there the entire time."

"Hm."

"Well… shall we?"

Daria shook her head and pushed past him playfully, throwing an arm around Nash's shoulders. The boy shimmied happily at the show of affection as the two teams followed her lead- all except Shinai, who had froze in place with wide eyes.

"Emerald?" He asked, getting his friends to turn to him.

The samurai's eyes were locked on the passing form of a dark-skinned, mint-haired girl and her silver haired companion.

Emerald turned to him on a dime with equally wide eyes. "I'm sorry, who-" She began with an edge to her voice before stopping in place as well. "Oh my god, Smoke?"

Mercury turned from her to the samurai. "I'm sorry, who?"

"Yea," Oracle began, crossing her arms. "Who?"

Shinai turned over his shoulders to his friends with a small smile. "Emerald Sustrai. We were… friends back in Patch."

"Friends, yeah," Emerald added. After a moment, she stepped forwards and threw her arms around Shinai, who returned the hug warmly. "Long time no see, Smoke-"

"Shinai. It's Shinai now."

"Ahkay? Shinai. Yeah, I like it. I thought you were at the Patch Temple?"

The samurai shrugged. "I was. Came to Beacon for my four years."

"That's super cool. I caught your fight earlier! I… didn't know that it was you, though."

"Of course. Are you and…" he turned his attention to Mercury. "Your team taking part?"

"Yeah. Our fight's gonna be tomorrow. You should come watch."

"Of course."

"So…"

"I'll let you go then."

Emerald smiled. "Nice talking to you, Sm- Shinai."

Shinai returned the look. "You as well, Emerald. Good luck in the tournament."

"You too!"

Without another word, the two Mistrali huntsmen turned and marched off with carefully even steps. But Emerald had barely turned around before Shinai's smile dropped, eyes going steely and blank. The others caught his look, frowning.

They watched the duo walk away for a few moments before Lance frowned. "Hey, captain. You good?"

Shinai didn't move. "Watch them."

"Dude, that answers nothing-"

"She is the last person I would expect to become a huntress. Just… trust me on this."

"…Aight."

Oracle nodded in return. "Emerald Sustrai. Got it."

Ulysses grunted.

"You guys are sooo weird." Nash added, teetering back and forth on his feet.

Rainier nodded, before gesturing back towards the now finishing their meals RWBY and JNPR. "Shall we?"

"If I barf, I'm blaming you."

"Ooh! Aim it at the enemy!"

"Nora! That's disgusting. But… if you feel the urge…"

"…Got it."

Jaune groggily turned over his shoulder as he gave Ren a thumbs up, catching a glimpse at his approaching forms of Team DRGN and SOUL, and waved weakly.

The other two teams turned as well. Pyrrha gave a more exuberant wave. "Hello, friends!"

Oracle frowned. "Is he… alright."

"So… much… ramen…" The blonde leader groaned out.

Rainier sat down at the counter. "Come now, it can't be that mu-" There was a sudden grinding sound as a bowl came sliding towards him, larger than his head and filled to the brim with noodles. "…Oh. Well… it's… not that bad."

Weiss shook her head as she lay against the counter. "Don't underestimate him…"

He watched her for a few moments before shaking his head. "It seems to affect you very little."

"Look. At. Me."

"I meant in terms of- forget it," He tossed some lien onto the counter and raised the bowl in thanks to the cook, rising to leave before said cook grunted disapprovingly, pointing at the bowl. Rainier stared at him for a few moments before tossing another few lien down, blinking questioningly.

The cook stared at him for a few moments before grunting in acquiescence, taking the lien and placing it in the register.

Oracle tipped her hat back. "No, no, I'm curious. In terms of what?"

"In terms of having a fight coming up shortly, of course- assuming that you are fighting in the duo rounds, correct."

"Of course." Weiss said, matter of factly.

"Splendid. Then my point stands."

Oracle nodded. "Ah-hm."

"Indeed."

Yang turned to the faunus and his team. "When do you guys fight?"

Rainier fished a piece of paper from his pocket. "…Ah, tomorrow. JNPR is the last fight of today."

Daria nodded. "It feels unfair, buuut…"

"There is no fairness in battle."

The duo high-fived.

Pyrrha turned down to her Scroll, humming to herself. "Well, we at least should be off. I'm sorry to leave as soon as you arrive, but our fight is coming up shortly and we still need to warm-up, don't we, team?"

Jaune groaned in response, and Ren nodded, rising to his feet.

Nora, for her part, giggled excitedly. "Of course! We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune- we trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh... Jaune!"

Ren turned to his team leader. "Are you gonna take that?

"She's not wrong." Jaune shot back with a sigh.

The ginger huntress waved at him. "I'm kidding, he knows I'm kidding. Don't be so nervous! The worst that can happen is we lose, that is just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures, our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status, we won't be able to show our faces in class, no one will sit with us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, we have no home left to go to, we'll be officially renamed Team Lose-iper!" She broke down into sobs and face planted onto the counter.

Ren nodded. "So, yeah, we're feeling pretty good."

"Don't fret. If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines, and not, well... murderers!" Pyrrha shot back.

Rainier and Blake nodded in unison. Yang shrugged. "See? We've faced worse."

"Grimm," The latter faunus started.

"Extremists," The former added.

"A sociopath,"

"Two sociopaths,"

"And that's while we're all still in training!" Ruby cried out, shooting to her feet giddily. "Imagine what it'll be like when we're all graduated!"

Weiss glowered at the shopkeeper. "Maybe then I'll be able to pay for food…"

"Oh cheer up, Miss Schnee," Rainier said. "There are worse things in life than being poor."

"First off, didn't you just buy the entire bowl from that guy? Secondly, how do you have enough money to just pay people off for stuff?"

The faunus shrugged as he munched happily away on his noodles.

"Sometimes, I don't understand you, Platina."

"Mmph, the feeling is mutual, Miss Schnee."

"Would Team JNPR please report to the Colosseum immediately?" Professor Port's voice echoed through the fairgrounds.

"Yes. Like they were scheduled to… SEVERAL MINUTES AGO!" Doctor Oobleck added.

Pyrrha sighed. "Well, this is it, friends."

The other three teams let out a chorus of well-wishes and words of encouragement as JNPR marched off back to the fight.

The three teams watched their friends go for a few moments.

"They're totally going to win." Oracle stated simply.

"No, yeah-"

"Absolutely-"

"Was there any doubt-"

"Come on-"

"Pyrrha's a cheat code-"

"Aaaaaaaah-"

All eyes turned to Nash. "Sorry. Everyone was talking. I didn' have anything to add so I just wanted to be a part of the group."

Rainier sighed, ruffling his teammate's head. "Fair enough, my diminutive friend. Fair enough. Shall we?"

Lance shook his head. "Look at them."

Yang turned to him. "It's not that-"

"No, they look capable enough, but I mean… a sniper? An electrical baton? This is a mismatch. Nora could do this by herself."

The other blonde nodded. "That's fair. But give them a shot. I mean… don't. We're rooting against them, but it might not be that bad of a beatdown."

"Oh, no," Rainier added. "It will. The differences in their veneer. Look at how they look at Pyrrha. Her very presence perturbs them. My father always said that winners focus on winning. Losers focus on the winners. Very applicable here, no?"

Shinai shook his head. "He's right."

The faunus nodded- pointedly, though. Slowly. But a nod nonetheless.

Weiss shook her head. "You are all nerds."

"Battle nerds, yes. I'm certain you're nearly as bad as we are." Rainier said, leaning forwards to look at her.

Daria cleared her throat. "Guys, it's starting."

"…BEGIN!" Port barked over the intercom.

The two teams- JNPR and BRNZ- stared off for a brief moment. JNPR's Vacuoan opponents' faces pulled up in deadly serious grimaces. The leader, a tall, muscular, and tanned man dressed in a purple tank top, with mechanical claws over his hands took the first steps forwards, away from the forest that stood behind them. The other three were dressed similarly- the aforementioned sniper a shorter girl in a long sleeve white and red jacket, her beanie pulled down over her left eye; the other two similarly sized teens to the leader, one dressed in a blue jean vest and black jacket holding a shock baton, and the other in a sleeveless green vest with two golden saw blades laying on his forearms.

Then, the two teams dashed forwards, meeting in the middle of the center platform- with the exception of the sniper girl, who quickly scrambled backwards to take refuge in the treetops.

Rainier shook his head. "Three brawlers and a sniper?"

"So it would seem." Shinai muttered back, purple eyes taking in the battlefield appraisingly.

Lance shot to his feet as Pyrrha parried a blow from the Team BRNZ leader. "YEAH, PYRRHA! GET HIM!"

The melee broke up quickly, however, as BRNZ's sniper began taking potshots from her vantage point. Jaune caught on just as quickly, ordering a hasty retreat as JNPR took shelter behind some of the massive boulders that made up their mountainous region.

The blonde leader of JNPR quickly barked some orders though, and the quartet came flying back out to the battle, zipping about quickly as they dodged and weaved around the sniper fire. Ren and the huntsman with the baton engaged quickly, throwing shots at each other for a moment, before a stray gunshot forced the ninja to leap into the air to avoid it- right into a swing from his opponent. Another few swipes was capped off with a jab from the baton, electricity streaking through Ren's body as he fell to the ground convulsing.

"REN!" Nora yelled out, charging over to the combatants, taking a swing with her hulking warhammer. The Vacuoan dodged it and then jabbed the baton into the ginger fighter's ribs.

She, however, simply burst out into giggles as the lightning seemed to amplify, her blue eyes lighting up with giddy malice.

Nash frowned. "Wha-"

"Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance!" Port called out, a warm satisfaction filling his voice.

The Vacuoan huntsman's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!" Oobleck finished, before taking an audible sip of coffee.

"WHAT?!"

Nora grinned as pink lightning raced over her form- and she took a swing with her hammer, smashing it into the Vacuoan's face and sending him hurtling across the battlefield, stopping only as he slammed into the trunk of a tree, falling to the ground with a groan, but still not eliminated.

Rainier tsked and shook his head. "Easy."

Yang sighed, leaning back and kicking her feet up onto the seat in front of her- to the irritation of its inhabitant. "God, you'd think that it wouldn't be that easy, huh? But it is."

Blake shook her head. "Can't you guys be serious? For a half second?"

"Oh, but we are serious, Miss Belladonna." Rainier said.

"Deadly." Yang added.

"Plus, it makes it so much more- NORA! NORA! NORA, LOOK!"

Though Lance didn't catch the girl's attention, Jaune did, pointing towards the top of the mountain and the dark clouds that were beginning to swirl around it.

Weiss shook her head. "Of course there's a storm in her fight."

Daria copied the Atlesian's motion. "This just isn't fair."

"Oh well. Another win for Vale."

Lance grinned smugly. "Schnee does it too."

"Oh hush."

Ren took off running as Jaune said a quick few words to him, JNPR's resident ninja dodging around the sniper fire as Jaune and Pyrrha engaged with the other two brawlers left standing, dancing around each other with practiced ease, Nora climbing the mountain quickly behind them.

Ruby shot to her feet like Lance had done before. "Yeah! Go get 'em, Jaune!"

Weiss leaned backwards. "He's certainly improved."

"But he ain't got nothin' on Pyrrha!" Oracle and Yang yelled out in unison as the huntress moved ahead of Jaune, the blonde retreating to call out a gameplan, proceeding to go hand to hand with BRNZ's last brawlers, dodging and spinning around them with ridiculous precision.

Ren expertly slid over to the still recovering form of the baton-guy, hefting him up and holding him between the Vale huntsman and the Vacuoan sniper. The shots quickly ceased at the sight of the body shield. Instead, the girl turned her attention to the rapidly climbing Nora. Pyrrha, however, vaulted into the air off of Jaune's shield, blocking the zooming bullet as the ginger huntress reached the top of the mountain.

Nora giggled and raised her hammer high into the air- and lo and behold, a lightning bolt struck down to hit it, energy coursing through her body as she began to simply tremble.

Rainier nodded. "Game."

"Set." Lance added.

And Yang: "Match."

Weiss shook her head. "You three are unbelievable."

Nash frowned. "I… don't get it."

Gail leaned towards him. "Nora uses lightning to get stronger."

"Oh. Oh! OH! OH, THAT'S SO COOL! NORAAAA! THAT'S SOOOO COOOOL!"

Ulysses simply shook his head, keeping his dutiful silence.

The aforementioned girl leapt from the mountain firing a volley of grenades from her now grenade launcher (the explosives, of course, coalescing into the loose shape of a heart) as she came soaring down. The shots ripped through the center platform, sending the rest of Team BRNZ tumbling towards their teammate, who had dropped from her vantage point, frowning.

Jaune grinned and called his teammates over, beaming with excitement. And…

The quartet stopped. And just…

Stood. Talking. Arguing, it looked like.

The other three Vale teams all cocked their heads in varying degrees of confusion, as the entire arena went quiet in befuddlement, a low murmur filling the air.

"No, silly, not a flower! Flour, like in baking!" Nora called out, elbowing Ren pointedly.

He frowned. "Why would I bring that?"

"Bring- what- no, it's your symbol!" Jaune called out desperatedly, his teammates looking at him, lost.

"So what are we?" Pyrrha asked.

"Pyrrha!"

"I'm sorry! I just want to make sure that it's clearly defined."

Jaune pinched his nose in frustration as BRNZ stared on, confused. "Pyrrha, honey, you and I are Arkos. It's that thing when we take our shields? Remember?"

"…'Arkos'?"

"Yeah! It's our names together!"

The redheaded huntress stared at him for a few moments before nodding slowly. "Right, no, I get it…"

"Do you not like it?"

"What? No, no, it's… good?"

"Mm, I sense hesitation." Nora hummed out.

The leader of Team BRNZ scowled. "HEY!"

Laughter echoed around the arena as the collective of JNPR turned to him in surprise.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Jaune scowled. "We are trying to have a team meeting, thank you very little!"

"Yeah!" Nora called back. "Team ears only!"

The leader threw his hands up in fury. "WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT-"

"AND WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION! WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THAT?!" Jaune yelled back.

"Um, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, tugging on his armor slightly pointedly.

He sighed. "Yes, Pyrrha?"

"I think that he means we are all in the middle of a fight."

The crowd burst out into laughter again as he looked around the arena with wide eyes, apparently just remembering where he was. He placed his sword against his forehead and sighed. "Nora, just… hit them with the hammer."

Nora grinned. "Got it."

"WHAT-" The BRNZ leader began.

He cut himself off as the ginger huntress appeared in front of them in a heartbeat, grinning in satisfaction as she swung hard, catching all four Vacuoan huntsmen with her hammer. They went soaring across the arena, far passed the edge of the ring, and hit the outside area, tumbling.

"And with that, it appears Team JNPR wins by knockout, literally!" Port called out.

Rainier now shook his head. "I am…"

"So confused." Ruby finished in a whisper.

Nash blinked, then rose to his feet, clapping hesitantly. "…Yeah!" He called out lamely, looking around at the bemused Vale students around him.

Lance rolled his eyes and joined him in standing up. "Ahem… SWEET JNPR, BA-BA-BA, GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD! I'VE BEEEN INCLINED, BA-BA-BA, TO BELIEVE THEY NEVER WOULD, OH NO, OH NO, NO- SWEEEET JNPR, BA-BA-BA-"

Then- some of the other Vale students, grinning at the blonde huntsmen's exuberance, began to join in.

Then some more.

Then some more, before most of the entire Vale section had joined in in the chant. Lance grinned with satisfaction, casting an eye around at his fellow students, a twinkle in his eyes.

Rainier leaned over to Daria. "What have they done?"

"Why?"

"Do they know what they've created?"

Her eyes widened. "…Oh god."

He nodded and leaned back, staring at her with sympathetic eyes.

The taller blonde huntsman sat back down with a satisfied, Cheshire grin planted onto his face. Oracle shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You've got no shame."

"No, ma'am."

Daria mirrored her gunslinger friend in shaking her head, fishing out her Scroll and checking the time. "We've got the rest of the day off. Anything anyone wants to get done? That… isn't training, fighting, or partying?"

Rainier, Lance, and Yang all stared blankly at her in turn.

Ruby, as well, stared off into the distance. "Uh… I dunno… we could-" She trailed off as ever so slowly, a hand raised above the heads of the triumvirate of teams.

Blushing profusely, face bright red, Gail raised a purple clad hand weakly. "…We could… just… hang out tonight? I mean… like…"

Nash gasped. "Like a sleepover?!"

"Well... no, but..." Gail shook her head, dropping it.

Oracle chuckled, tipping her hat back. "Yang?"

"Yeah, screw it, that sounds like fun. 'Specially since Ms. Rules over there won't let us do anything else."

The aforementioned Ms. Rules shrugged. "You guys do whatever you want. But we are gonna rest up for tomorrow."

"I mean… it actually kinda sounds like fun." Ruby offered.

"Very well then," Rainier sighed. "Shall we meet with the victors below? The night is young after all."

"Okay, your turn, Rain."

The faunus blinked himself out of his reverie. "I'm sorry, pardon?"

The four teams lounged around Team RWBY's dorm room, the students spread out haphazardly around the ill-placed furniture that seemed to run rampant in the four huntress' home.

The window outside was pitch black with the dead of night, noticeable even with the curtains drawn, and the only source of light in the room was one of the bedside lamps bathing the space in a warm, if not terribly well lit, glow.

Yang gave him a coy grin. "The Vacuoan faunus-"

"-Prince." Daria said between coughs.

Severak sets if eyes went wide, turning to him in various expressions of shock. The blonde brawler trained disbelieving lilac eyes onto the wolf. "You're a prince?!"

Weiss mirrored the image, with more… spite, though more spite from a place of humor rather than of malice. "Yeah, seriously? Is that how you just casually... buy stuff from people?"

"First off, I'm not a prince," He muttered, giving his leader a sour look. "Secondly, no- well, yes. But no."

Oracle shook her head. "Hon, you answered nothing."

Rainier watched his friends for a moment. "Very well, Daria. I come from an influential family in Vacuo. I have some… extra spending money if you will, but much of that is saved up by my own volition."

"In Vacuo, one's worth is determined by what and how much they can offer to their community, correct?" Pyrrha asked with curious eyes, tilting her head to the side.

"Correct, Ms. Nikos!"

Jaune leaned back. "So what does a guy like you do for a hobby? Child prodigy gladiator?"

"Well… yes. From time to time, though I suspect there are a few of us here who can relate to that as well-" And for a split moment, the faunus' eyes shot over to Shinai, before turning back to Jaune; missing entirely the flicker of the samurai's own eyes as he caught the look. "But, I played guitar quite often for my home town. Being a boy of well-renown, they tended to be liberal when deigning to give me tips."

Oracle's eyes lit up. "You play?"

"Quite well, if I do say so myself. But, enough about me-" The gunslinger pouted at the change in conversation. "… Lance. Any stories for us? I do recall a mention of… mercenary work?"

The blonde swordsman sighed, shaking his head. "Oh no, we're not going into that-"

He was interrupted by a chorus of dissent and even an attempted 'Do It' chant from Nash. Throughout the uproar, though, Weiss' eyes remained locked on the laughing face of Rainier; inquisitive and curious. His own pale yellow orbs flicked over to hers for a brief instant, and she immediately looked away, edging back into the conversation.

As if Daria hadn't caught the entire interaction, frowning in suspicion.

"No," Lance was saying. "I can't say that I had a lot of fun. I was cold, miserable, and lonely, surrounded by jaded dudes twice my age who shared a mutual hate boner for the world. I got out of there pretty quick and- lo and behold- here."

"So that's why you're such an awful person." Yang mused.

"Most of it. The rest of it's my cripplingly low self-esteem and mommy and daddy issues."

"Oh."

Oracle blinked. "Wow."

He nodded in pure seriousness for a half second before snickering. "Naw. Just kidding. Yeah. You get pretty garbage habits from spending time around guys like my old crew. Alright. Enough about me- ice queen?"

Weiss bristled. "Do not call me that!"

"Oh come on. Everyone does. Just accept it."

She shook her head. "Because of that, you goon. I'm not going to share."

Nora let out a mournful wail. "But Weeeeeiss, you're so preeetty and you're like a princeeeeess."

"Oh hush!"

Ren shrugged. "You do share very little about your past."

"Especially stuff that's not positive." Jaune added.

"You are very… hush-hush on your past. More than perhaps most here." Pyrrha offered softly.

Ruby frowned, though. "You don't have to share if you don't want to, Weiss."

"Yes- well… it's not something I like to talk about."

Yang nodded. "If y-"

"Why do you wear your hair like that?" Nash asked suddenly, hand shooting up into the air.

Weiss froze. "…Well…"

"Just curious. It's pretty."

"I… like the asymmetry."

Shinai frowned, leaning forwards from his position in the back of the room. "...Somewhat out of character."

"Well… it's not important."

"Signs of rebellion, no matter how small, can be some of the most empowering signs." Rainier muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

She stared at him with pale eyes. "…That's... very poignant of you."

He shrugged, leaning back against his own pillow wall.

"Alrighty mister psychoanalyst," Yang cut in, looking to Shinai. "Why don't you come out here and give us something about you then."

He sighed. "There's not much to know-"

"How do you know Emerald?" Daria asked with a frown. "And what's with 'Smoke'?"

The samurai… faltered, looking uncharacteristically unsure of himself for a moment. His eyes flit from member to member of his team, before finally landing on the dark orbs of Ulysses- who raised a curious eyebrow of his own. He sighed again.

"Long ago, in another life, I was… my parents left me when I was young. I… I don't know why. It doesn't matter. I lived on my own most of my life, and when-"

"You were a thief!" Ruby gasped out.

"…Yes. I was."

"I remember you- kinda, sorta!"

Yang's eyes widened. "You were the guy who kept breaking into buildings- 'Smoke' of course! That makes way too much sense."

"You... were a thief?" Pyrrha asked quietly, frowning.

He sighed, turning to her. "Yes. And I stole water. And food. I stole clothes, and blankets. And... yes. There were times that I did pull off larger heists, to get into places that others couldn't. And I was paid for it. I used that money to buy food, and water, and housing when I was so low that I just wanted to sleep under a roof; if I was feeling particularly frivolous, and wanted someone to be truly paid for something, I'd use the money to repay someone for the work they deserved to be paid for. So yes. I was a thief. But not because I wanted to be."

The red-headed huntress was silent for a moment. "...I'm sorry."

Shinai pursed his lips silently for a moment. "No. You're alright. I understand. To answer your question; I met Emerald in Patch; she was a thief as well. We worked together from time to time, but she preferred to work alone."

Rainier leaned forwards with utmost interest, gold orbs shining in the dim light like embers. "And how did you find your way to your Temple?"

"…Eventually, one of my... heists went sour. There was a well-dressed man with a beautiful dagger. I wanted to sell it to the local blacksmith, hope he could get better use of it than the samurai before me. The man I was trying to… pickpocket caught me in the act. Rather than report me to the authorities, he offered to give me a hand. I accepted. He adopted me into the Temple and trained me. That man was my master until his last breath."

"Shi En." Oracle nodded, looking over to the ornate black sheathe of Shinai's katana.

"Shi En. He gave me a name, a home. I owe everything to him… including all of you."

The room erupted into a chorus of adoring, and teasing, coos.

He shook his head, though his usually stony façade betrayed a look of bemusement. "That's all to share. Ebony. Would you like to share?"

"No."

"Cerulean?"

"N-no. No thank you."

The samurai turned purple eyes to Daria, in a silent question.

She sighed. "Maybe… okay, well… it's not that interesting of a story. I was born in Mistral. My parents are Teal and Rami Copper. I've wanted to be a huntress since I was born. I guess… you guys are my first real friends. Not much to tell."

"Not much that you want to tell." Pyrrha whispered with a startling tone of sadness.

Daria turned brown eyes to her countrywoman, swallowing hard. She nodded once shortly. "Anyways- we already know a little bit about Blake-"

"Blake-" Rainier cut in, face bright with realization. "Is your father Ghira Belladonna?"

She blinked confused, tired eyes at him. "…Yeah?"

He chuckled. "That makes so much sense! Your father and mine were friends, once upon a time! I've heard quite a few tales of the Panther!"

"Oh? Really?" The other faunus asked, turning towards him in surprise.

"In the original incarnation of the White Fang, when your father led, he knew mine in some way or another. He always talked highly about him."

Blake gave him a small, sad smile. "That... that sounds right."

Daria stared at him for another long moment out of the corner of her eye, daring him to interrupt her again. "Yang, Rubes, you guys got anything?"

"I mean..." Ruby said quietly.

"We could probably right you an essay about the weird stuff that's happened to us." Yang continued.

"Uh huh."

"But, I mean..."

"We'll keep that to ourselves."

Oracle grinned wolfishly. "How 'bout when Ruby almost burned-"

"Nope!" Ruby cut in

"Or how 'bout when Yang took-"

"Oracle, we are not doing this." The blonde

The gunslinger gave the rest of the group a wink. "Anyone wants a story, I've got dozens of them."

"Man you're the worst."

"Lovely," Lance said. "You two are almost as normal as me."

"Yuh huh… Pyrrha?"

The red headed warrior blinked. "Oh. Me? Well-"

"Her name is Pyrrha Nikos, she was born in the Mistrali port town of Argus. She trained most of her career in the Shelter academy and boasts an incredible professional record of 34 and 0. Ooh, now 35 and 0." Nash spat out quickly, blue eyes lighting up.

She blinked. "Y…es?"

"Sorry. Not stalkerish. 'Mma big fan a fightin'."

Lance hummed. "So you're a fight nerd."

"…Ye."

He chuckled and ruffled the younger blonde's hair. "Don't sweat it, Shortstuff. Shoulda heard Rainier, Yang and I today-" He froze, blue eyes lighting up as his mind whirred to life with a sudden, enlightening realization. He slowly turned to his shorter counterpart. "Hey, Nash?"

"Yesm?"

"How old are you?"

"How old am- ooooh. Oh, I'm fourteen."

"FOUR- what even?!"

"Yea."

The teams burst out into disbelieving laughter.

Jaune let out a groan. "Man, and I thought Ruby was a child prodigy."

"How did you even get in, hon?" Oracle asked.

"Oh, they had a… tryout? Like a tryout, I guess. Anywa', I showed up with Phalanx. They didn' even know what grade I was in. Don't ask- don't tell."

Rainier chuckled. "And I suppose you wiped the floor with your peers?"

Nash shifted bashfully at the attention shown his way. "…Ye."

"Never change, my little friend."

Daria turned towards Nora. "Nora? Ren? You guys got any good stories? I know you've known each other for a while."

The ginger huntress waved her off. "Oh, pssh, it's not like he's been my only friend and the only person I've known and cared for- haha, what? That's totally weird to say, not like he's the closest thing I have to family and I'd probably die if I lost him, haha, pssh."

Ren didn't even flinch. "So… yes."

"Ah… huh. Any… clarification?"

"Um… no."

"Alrighty then."

Pyrrha nudged Jaune's side. "Anything you'd like to share?"

The blonde jolted at her touch. "Oh, wha? Me? No, no. Nothing you like you guys. I mean… between the samurai, and the prince and princess, and the mercenary, and Ren and Nora, and the dang child prodigies and- and you, Pyrrha. Naw. I'm just… Jaune."

She sighed. "And I- we wouldn't have you any other way."

A blush crept across his cheeks. "Heheh… thanks, Pyrrha."

Lance lay back onto his sleeping bag. "My god, you can cut the sexual tension in this room with a bloody knife."

"And with that," Daria called out, shaking her head as she rose to her feet. "DRGN are bowing out."

"Oh come on," The blonde called at her. "It was funny!"

"Uh huh, sure thing. Gang?" There was a beat of hesitation before the rest of Daria's team rose as well, the quartet stretching as they prepared to depart.

Shinai nodded to his team as he pushed himself to his feet, holding his sword close to him. "I'd suggest we take our leave also. We may very well have to fight tomorrow."

Pyrrha gave Jaune a long, long expectant look, before the blonde caught it, jolting. "Ah, yeah! We should go! Yes! Leaving!"

A chorus of farewells echoed around the room as the three guest teams prepared to depart, gathering their things. They began to file out of the dorm, murmuring amongst themselves as they went, a discordant cacophony of yawns, groans and stretching following them out.

Rainier smiled at his friends as they passed, holding the door for them, until the last of the invading students had exited. He moved to step through the doorway after them- before faltering, turning slightly over his shoulder.

Weiss was standing amongst the mess of blankets and pillows, even as her teammates began to clean and settle in around her. Her eyes were locked onto his own, her expression surprised as he suddenly looked towards her.

"...Goodnight, Miss Schnee." He said quietly, a smile crossing his face.

"Goodnight, Rainier." Was her hushed response back, the barest traces of her own small grin pulling at her lips.

He closed the door softly behind him.

A/N: Long time no see, mes amis. Almost three months, dang.

Well, I'm not going to act like me getting back to writing is not an auspicious event, and I'm not going to act like it totally isn't reliant on the Volume 6 premiere igniting my trusty, old muse. Cause that would be lying.

Still, though. I can't complain. I do hit pretty frequent low points where I don't do much writing at all and, like clockwork, I've come to miss these rascals so here I am.

Real quick, this one kinda sorta feels incomplete considering it's more filler than anything else; this and the next chapter were originally one and the same, but this one's fluffy, gushiness kinda took on a life of its own and got out of hand real quick so...

More in-depth fighting next time.

Hopefully this fight doesn't take me two months.

Until next time,

Cheers,
Infernokota