Hey everyone! Just a quick apology: We were running behind, but we're getting back on track! This chapter is shorter, so I hope you're alright with a light read. I also hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's Day, because I know Violet sure didn't!

It's a lovely Saturday morning. Team VNLA's first full week at Beacon went by rather well—Violet and Nero haven't argued with each other for twelve whole hours! Anna's still been rather quiet, and Lincoln…Well, he's still Lincoln. It seems like they just might make it through their freshman year without any trouble!

Oh, but the law catches up with Violet.

The team is on their way to the Combat Hall when a particular teacher suddenly cuts them off. Glynda Goodwitch.

Lincoln waves. "Hi professor!"

"Hello Mr. Forrest." Her eyes go straight to Violet. "Miss Argyle, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

The girl starts to sweat. "Uh…" Her shoulders drop as she looks at the ground, beginning to pass her weapons off to Anna. "No ma'am."

"Bring your weapons, Miss Argyle. You just might need them for our activity."

Uneasily, Violet turns back to Anna, taking her pistols back. She holsters them at either hip, looking back at her professor.

The woman nods with approval. "Good. Come with me, please." Glynda walks off, and Violet follows.

Lincoln scratches his head. "Where are they going?"

Nero glances at him. "Don't you remember? Violet broke the rules during initiation. Now Professor Goodwitch has her and Coco doing some boring chore."

"Aw man. Well I hope she gets back soon."

Anna looks off in the direction her partner had walked. Quietly, she murmurs her name in hopes that Coco doesn't get the best of her.

.

Violet walks behind Glynda silently. However, that doesn't stop her from fuming about Coco in her head. It's all her fault, she tells herself. She made first contact with me! She made me break the rule!

She continues to be angry, until they end up in the dorms. Glynda takes a very specific route, until they finally stop in front of a door. She knocks, and a few moments later a dark-skinned young man opens the door. Violet recognizes him from the freshman ceremony, and assumes that he is Fox. He has burnt orange hair, and his eyes are white. He also has a scar on the right side of his mouth, and on his arms. His lack of reaction convinces Violet that he's totally blind.

"Who is it?" He asks.

"Professor Goodwitch," Glynda replies. "Is your leader here?"

"Oh, hey professor! Coco's right over here." He opens the door wider, and Violet can see the girl trying to decide between two hats that look exactly the same. Then, however, Coco looks over at the doorway, immediately locking eyes with Violet.

She groans. "Oh great."

Glynda crosses her arms. "I hope you're ready for your chore, Miss Adel."

The girl grumbles, "Yes ma'am…" She picks a beret and tosses the other one onto her bed.

She's about to leave the room when Glynda points out, "Bring your handbag, Miss Adel." The girl furrows her eyebrows, before noticing Violet has her weapons too. She pauses for a moment before turning back around and equipping herself with her satchel, finally brushing past Fox.

He snickers. "Don't worry Coco, you're setting a great example for the rest of us."

"Shut up."

Glynda starts to walk off. "Come along, girls." Violet mopes as she and Coco fall behind their teacher. Violet can't help but wonder what in Remnant she did to warrant getting stuck with her nemesis. Hopefully, whatever Glynda has them do, they can get it done quickly and without any words spoken between them…

.

Glynda takes the students to an elevator, in which they descend down to the basement, also known as the Archives. As the metal doors slide open, the girls are greeted with the sight of a lot of green. Violet figures it's for the headmaster. The tiles are glossy, there are extremely tall columns at the entrance to every hallway that branches off from the main corridor, and at every intersection there's a large intricate symbol in dark green tile. There are torches placed along the walls, which are lit by a green flame, giving the room a very…green feel.

Glynda turns down the first hall on the left, and then starts to speak. "We've just received a shipment of armor, Dust, and ammunition from Vale. You two are being tasked with going down to Beacon's port and collecting it. Then you are to bring them to the elevator. When you're done, come to my office."

They've just reached a dead end when Violet raises her hand. "Um, professor? How are we supposed to get down there?" Glynda, without missing a beat, stops in her tracks, walks over to her right, pulls a lever down, and then what seemed like a dead end suddenly starts to open up. Large steel doors slide open, leading into some sort of cave system, lit by torches with the normal orange flame.

The teacher faces them. "This is how I expect you to get down there." As she turns around she adds, "Also be on the lookout for Grimm. Good luck, girls." Then, she leaves. Violet sighs and looks into the dimly lit abyss.

Without looking at Coco, she says, "Look, I know we have our differences, but neither of us want to be here. So let's just focus on getting this done fast, okay?" To her surprise, there's no sort of response. Violet looks over at her temporary coworker to see that Coco seems to be unnerved by the tunnel. Her eyes are wide, and her hands are shaking ever so slightly. Violet looks at her oddly before tapping her on the shoulder, causing the usually cool-headed leader to flinch.

"What?" Coco barks.

"Uh…are you okay?"

"Fine." Coco looks back into the cave. "Let's just get this over with…" Violet frowns, but doesn't push on the matter any more. She leads the way into the tunnel, and she can hear Coco walking behind her cautiously.

Once inside, it's rather dim. After making their first turn, it makes it even harder for Coco to see—Violet, of course, could see just fine, which is why she walks in front.

"How do they expect anyone to walk through here?" Coco complains.

Violet glances up. "I can see maintenance lights in the ceiling. It looks like they're not working, though. Maybe whatever Grimm is in here chewed through a cable or something."

"Shut up," Coco hisses. "Just shut up!"

Violet flinches. "Okay, okay!" They continue forward, Violet doing whatever she could to make things more bearable. However, she just couldn't help but fret over the negativity Coco was probably letting off. After a few minutes of building her courage up, Violet finally makes her move.

"Coco, I really think you should calm down. Your emotions are going to bring the Grimm to us."

The other girl scoffs. "What, are your doggy senses tingling?"

"Why are you such a jerk?"

"I'm not. I'm just putting you in your place."

"It's amazing how you have any friends."

"They aren't White Fang sympathizers."

"I'm not either!"

"How do I know that?!"

Suddenly, the tunnel rumbles, bringing both girls to a stop. Violet's faunus ears try to hone in on where it's coming from, but it's impossible to tell. A few moments pass…and then it's silent.

Violet takes a deep breath. "Okay. That's the Grimm. Whatever it is, it looks like it's burrowing underneath the school." Rubbing her chin, she adds, "Hopefully this hasn't been a problem for too long, otherwise I figure the structural integrity of the campus will be put into question. If we can just lure this thing out somehow, then maybe we'll have a chance of a fair fight." She looks to Coco in case she has any ideas, but instead the girl looks shaken. Even more so than before. She's visibly quaking with terror, frequently looking around as if the Grimm will attack them at any moment. Violet figures it will, with all of this fear radiating off of her tag-along.

"Coco," she says quietly. "You need to calm down."

"You calm down!" Coco's voice cracks again. "I wouldn't even be down here if it wasn't for you!"

"I just wanted you to leave me alone!"

"Well now what Violet?!"

Suddenly, there's a large crash from where they once came. Violet covers her face with her arms, and peeks through to see a large black segmented body cutting through the tunnel. It's like watching a train barreling down the tracks. She whips out her pistol and shoots at it a couple of times, but that seems to hardly do anything. She watches the end of it come and go, and before she can hurry down the tunnel after it, it suddenly caves in. She flinches, but no one's hurt.

She sighs. "Well, we're not going that way anymore…" She turns to keep walking, except Coco has fallen back onto her behind. Her sunglasses have come off of her face and are lying beside her, not yet broken. Her eyes are incredibly wide, her mouth is hanging agape, and all of the color has drained from her face. She's beginning to tear up.

Violet swallows nervously. "Coco?"

That ends up being the trigger. The tears start rolling down the fearless leader's cheeks as she angrily turns her head away, trying to conceal them.

She grits her teeth angrily, growling, "Don't look at me…!"

Violet looks at her gently. "It's okay to be scared."

"I'm not scared!" Coco whimpers. She turns her body to try and get back onto her feet, but she seems to get stuck on her hands and knees.

Violet sighs. "…You know, back when I was in Menagerie, my Mom used to sing me a song when I got scared."

"Oh Gods."

"But I was scared of something ridiculous." Violet huffs. "I didn't want to disappoint anyone, especially the people I look up to." Quietly, she adds, "People like you."

After a moment, Coco's posture starts to relax. She hunches over as she chuckles. "You were always such a showoff in school."

Violet crosses her arms. "I wanted to be just like you. Strong, confident—"

"Is that why you asked me out?"

Violet, quickly getting flustered, blurts, "Okay can we please not talk about that?!"

Coco smirks. "Cute."

Violet takes a deep breath. "We need to focus on the mission, okay?" She turns around, and Coco finally gets back onto her feet. Violet looks down sadly. "…Did something happen to you, Coco?" She glances back at her. "You look really shaken."

Coco, after a moment, grabs her shades and brushes them off, putting them back on her face. "When I was a kid, I liked to play games with my brothers. One day, we were playing hide-and-seek, and I thought I had the perfect hiding spot. I crammed inside a kitchen cabinet, and then I waited. It felt like I was in there forever…" Coco swallows nervously as Violet begins to notice her shaking again. "After a while, I figured I won. So, I pushed on the door to try and get out…I don't know what happened, but the door got stuck. I couldn't get out…!" Tearing up, she adds, "I was screaming and crying for help, but no one heard me…I don't know how long I was trapped in there but eventually my Dad heard me and let me out. My brothers were outside looking for me—I guess they were out there by the time I started shouting…" Coco takes a deep breath. "I…don't do great in small spaces like this. It reminds me of back then, and I can't help but get…nervous."

Violet, after a moment, responds. "Thank you, Coco. For telling me all of that."

"This doesn't make us friends." Coco glares at her threateningly. "I'm not going to forget what you did. You tricked your team into trusting you, but I know you, Argyle. You don't like humans and you never did. Not even your Aunt—"

Violet suddenly lurches forward, pinning Coco against the wall. With a feral glint in her eye, she growls, "Don't ever. Question my loyalty to my family, or my team."

Coco shoves her. "You're not scaring anybody." Suddenly, there's another rumble. The girls look around, and Violet notices Coco's hands shaking again.

Wordlessly, Violet starts walking down the tunnel. "We need to move." She doesn't mention the danger of getting trapped, as a way to try and ease her rival's nerves. Coco doesn't say anything and follows her. Violet continues to speak, "If we're going to fight this Grimm, then we need to get it out of here. There's no way we have any chance in here. Not to mention the more it digs, the more danger the school is in."

"This is its territory," Coco points out. "It won't exactly be easy to lure it out of here."

"Then we'll need to find a bigger space. It must have a nest or something, right? Most Grimm have a homebase of some sort."

"The only way we'll find that is if it drags us there…"

The girls look at one another, Violet with a knowing expression on her face.

Coco shakes her head. "Nope. No, no. Forget I said that."

"It's the only chance we have."

"I'm not going any deeper into these damn tunnels! I'll get the supplies, you follow the Grimm!"

"I thought you weren't scared?"

"I'm not!"

"Then help me!"

"For the last time, I am not—!"

There's another rumble. The girls freeze, and suddenly the Grimm bursts through the wall, tunneling through again. It's zooming right behind Coco. Quickly, Violet transforms one of her pistols into a sword, tackles Coco into the Grimm, and plunges her sword into it. She holds onto both tightly, refusing to let it get away. Hopefully, they'll arrive somewhere they can actually fight this thing. And, hopefully, Coco won't kill her the moment they stop…

.

Meanwhile, Glynda is walking into her office to contact Ozpin. She pulls out her scroll and calls him. His face appears on the screen with his signature smile.

"Hello, Glynda."

"Miss Argyle and Miss Adel are taking care of our issue with the Grimm as we speak."

"Ah, good. I'm surprised you went through with it."

"You mentioned that the issue was urgent. This is, how you put it, 'killing two Gryphons with one stone.'"

"You seem rather calm, Glynda."

"Of course. We sent two first-year students to venture underneath the school through a cave system where there is little room to move to fight a Grimm they have never seen before in order to save their entire campus from collapsing, killing thousands of students and faculty should they fail." Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, she adds, "Is there anything I'm missing?"

Ozpin hums in thought. "No, I think that just about covers it."

Glynda narrows her eyes at him. "You're reckless, Professor Ozpin."

"I prefer the term 'eccentric,' thank you." She growls at him, and he simply smiles back and picks up his coffee mug, holding it into frame. "I've got another call. Don't let those two destroy the school while I'm gone." He takes a sip before ending the call. Glynda sighs in frustration, but nothing can be done about it now. Who knows, maybe they've already done it.

.

Coco wails and panics as the walls of the tunnel zip by her face at a rapid pace. She wrestles with Violet's arm which refuses to lessen its hold on her.

"You're crazy!" Coco screams.

Violet shouts back, "We're fighting this thing, whether you like it or not!" While she was doing her best to put on a tough facade, she was very much panicking on the inside. There was a huge chance that this thing wasn't going to stop and she was making everything infinitely worse, but she was trying not to think about that and focuses on hanging on for dear life.

Finally, the thing barges into a larger portion of the cave system, similar to a large room. Violet releases Coco and pulls her sword out of the Grimm, and while Coco somehow manages to land on her feet, Violet lands on her back. She gasps for air, and her temporary partner stands over her.

"Huh. So you really are as graceful as a dog."

Violet grits her teeth. "I didn't hide in a freaking cabinet…!"

"Shut up!"

The Grimm suddenly intervenes by hissing fiercely at them. It looks like a giant centipede, with white bony plates on its face and down its back. Violet slowly gets back onto her feet, equipping herself with both of her swords.

"My guns won't do anything," she pants. "But maybe yours will do better."

"Let's hope." Coco, seemingly back to normal somehow, flawlessly swings her handbag around, transforming it and taking a wide stance with it. As she starts riddling it with bullets, Violet charges forward and also avoids the line of fire. Immediately, Coco's bullets seem to have some effect on it. It darts towards her, so Violet swings her swords around to slash its sides as it zooms past. Coco is forced to disengage and transform her gun back into a briefcase in order to roll out of the way.

"You need to keep that off of me!" She shouts.

Violet runs past her. "I have a better idea!" She starts charging at the Grimm, which has turned to face them. Coco growls and tries shooting at it again. The Grimm hisses at them, and Violet jumps into the air right for it. Coco stops shooting because now this purple beansprout is in her way.

"Would you get out of the way?!" She watches as the Grimm quickly burrows into the ground, forcing Violet to land into a roll. The two girls look around anxiously, waiting for it to pop out again…and then of course it re-emerges right under Violet. She panics as she is thrown into the air, before catching herself between two very large pincers. She grits her teeth as she tries to hold them open, using her semblance to summon more arms to try and help her out.

Coco rolls her eyes. "I better get an apology after this." She transforms her briefcase back into its lethal shape, before using her semblance Hype. Semi-explosive rounds come out from the barrels of her gun, doing an immense amount of damage to the Grimm. It hisses in pain, releasing Violet and causing her to fall to the ground. It tries to dart towards Coco from a different angle, but Violet with what little strength she has left grabs onto one of its clawed legs and gets pulled along. She stabs into it with her swords before unloading many, many bullets into it. She successfully severs the Grimm in half, and it slides across the ground, stopping beside Coco. It slowly begins to vanish into black smoke, and the two girls meet up again.

Coco crosses her arms expectantly. "I'm waiting."

Violet sighs. "Okay, okay, so maybe I should have listened to you…" Coco arches an eyebrow, causing Violet to groan. "I definitely should have listened to you…"

"I don't care about that. You need to listen, Violet, every plan doesn't have to be yours!" Coco shakes her head. "I don't know how your team deals with you, if you fight like that."

Violet lowers her head, and quietly, she agrees. "I don't know either." Coco glances at her, and the faunus covers half of her face with her hand. "I'm such a terrible leader. I just get on everyone's nerves! That's apparently all I'm good at. I mean, look at you!" Violet gestures to Coco. "You're getting along great with your team! I've made so many mistakes already…" She lowers her head. "Maybe I shouldn't have been the team leader after all…"

Coco sighs. "You're really going to make me work today, aren't you?" She takes her sunglasses off and looks at Violet firmly. "Ozpin made you the leader of your team for a reason. The only thing you're failing at is believing in yourself, and that's what causing you to let down your team. You can't lead if you don't take charge of yourself first." She puts her shades back on. "Now please get us out of here. The only thing I hate more than being in a cave is being in a cave with you." Violet blinks, before chuckling. Coco frowns. "What are you laughing at?"

She smiles. "Thank you." Coco crosses her arms and looks away wordlessly, and Violet leads them back towards the main passage. Eventually, they end up down at the Beacon Docks, and Coco immediately pulls out her scroll.

"I am not. Going back in there."

Violet crosses her arms. "We can't get back that way anyhow. The Grimm blocked off the way we came." She scratches her head. "What was that, anyway?"

"I'm not sure…" Coco looks it up on a search engine on her scroll, before showing it to Violet. "Something called a Centinel. It looks like they're native to Atlas, though."

"But that doesn't mean there aren't some here too."

Coco sighs. "I think we just witnessed that firsthand…"

Violet scratches her head. "Hey Coco, if it was so dark in there, how come you didn't just pull out your scroll? It has a flashlight, doesn't it?"

Coco freezes up completely. "Um…" In a mutter, she admits, "I didn't think of it…"

Violet smirks. "What?"

"I said I didn't need it, jerk." Violet smiles. It's very little, but there is progress between them.

.

Coco had contacted Professor Goodwitch, to tell her what had happened. The professor arranged for an airship to come pick them up, as well as the supplies down there. Once arriving back on campus, the students were greeted by Ozpin and Glynda themselves.

Ozpin, holding a cup of coffee, takes a sip and smiles. "Well hello, girls. It seems you've succeeded in procuring our things."

Coco bows respectfully. "And we took care of the Grimm, sir."

Professor Goodwitch nods and pushes some buttons on her tablet. "Very well. I've just given you both your extra credit. Consider yourselves ahead of your peers, for the time being. If you continue to do well, you'll both be head of your sections."

Violet nods. "We'll do our best, Professor Goodwitch."

Ozpin tilts his head. "I must admit, I'm rather surprised by you both. You seem to be getting along for once in your lives."

"The mission came first," Coco insists.

He smiles knowingly. "Very well then. Off with you, then. I'm sure you both had something planned for today. Give my apologies to your teams—I hope they've managed without their leaders." The girls glance at each other before walking into the dorms, where their teams probably were.

Violet, after a while, rubs her arm. "Coco?"

"What?"

"I just…wanted to say thanks. Again. And I'm sorry. I know I didn't pull my weight back there, but I—"

Coco suddenly stops in her tracks, silencing Violet by putting a hand in the air. "You did fine." Reluctantly, she crosses her arms and looks away from her. "I was the one who got scared…You managed to pull me back to my senses. We both have some work to do, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. But I will stay on top of you, Violet."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Are you done accusing me of being White Fang?"

Coco frowns. "Maybe."

All of a sudden, another voice cuts in. "Violet!" The girls look, and it's Violet's teammates. Anna was the one who had called for her, and was running towards them.

Violet smiles. "Hey Anna."

The shy girl's cheeks are pink, but she does her best to ignore whoever this stranger is next to her partner. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course!"

Nero and Lincoln walk up behind Anna, Lincoln being the first to wrap his arms around his leader and sob dramatically. "We thought you were deeeeeaaaaaaaad!"

"What?"

Nero crosses his arms. "Professor Goodwitch told us what she sent you and Coco to do. After it took you so long, these two started to get worried."

Lincoln pulls away and sniffles, snot dripping from his nose. "You're okay, right?"

Violet smiles. "Yeah, I'm fine." She looks over at Coco, who's got her eyes set on Anna. Without realizing it, Violet steps between them. "Do you believe me now?"

Coco frowns. "Yeah, move." She brushes by Violet and saunters up to Anna. "Hey."

Anna's heart starts beating a million miles a minute. "Oh—h-hi…"

"I'm Coco—Coco Adel." She holds her hand out to shake, and Anna grabs it delicately.

"I'm Anna."

Coco smirks. "Pretty." As Anna's entire face turns red with shock, Coco shakes her hand and walks off.

In utter disbelief, Anna hides her face behind her scarf. "What just happened…?!"

Nero places his hands in his pockets. "If I were going to guess, it sounds like she's into you, Anna."

Lincoln gasps excitedly, already miraculously cleaned up from a moment ago. Bouncing, he asks, "Really? Oh my gosh, Anna you're making so many friends!"

Nero shakes his head. "Oh brother."

Amidst all of this, no one notices Violet, who is staring off in the direction Coco had walked. The only emotion on her face was anger. For some reason, there was a fire rising in her gut, an urge to seize that girl by the throat and strangle her. Violet's hands ball unbelievably tight, her knuckles turning white. This means war.