I know I said I didn't think I would have time to write this week, but somehow I ended up… having more time? Or, not more time, but when I did eventually sit down to do this, it was a lot easier than usual. Not going to ask why, just hoping it sticks around for a little while longer.

So the Vol 6 Trailer dropped yesterday, and when I saw it I have to say I was excited. It looks filled to the brim with new locations and characters (That I might use in this) and all in all it's another volume. At least this time the trailer wasn't filled half full with nothing but character-shorts.

I'll go into this volume with a optimistic sort of caution.

Also… there looks like a scene where Team RWBY is ready to fight Oscar(Ozpin) and I'm really hoping for that.

Also that old lady. There've been a few theories going around but the one I like the sound of the most is that she might have silver eyes and could teach Ruby some things.

Here's hoping whatever it is is good.

Anyway, onto talking about this chapter, the first of Part 2 out of the prologue.

So, some with probably be irritated by the time-skip I'm opting to go for, understandable, but since a lot of time passed seemingly with nothing happening in Canon I thought I could either move the story along with bits and pieces referencing the passage of time. Or write some filler, and I'm not sure I could keep up any objectively competent levels of quality with that.

But hey, if you'd like to see stuff like that there's still a chance for now. Either way for it's the method where you don't have to sit through a recovery arc.

Honestly there's plenty of time. The time skip to Vol 4 was originally a year I think, but then M & K changed it to a few months, but since Vol3 ended with snow – so presumable winter – 4 started with no snow it realistically begins during spring.

Then there's the travelling which takes them a few months, what I'm assuming is until the middle of summer since Volume 5 is the two months before Haven's classes start up again. (In September I'm guessing?)

Honestly the lack of a timeline is what irritates me the most when writing about RWBY. No M & K you can't skip out on timelines. They help keep a plot together, not complicate it.

And while you're at it you should have included more history. What do we really know about Remnant before the Great War? As far as I can tell next to nothing.

Bah! I'm getting sidetracked, the imp[ortant thing to take away from this is that I realised canonically Ruby's nearly 17. So that's cool. By the end of Vol6 I would like them to address it, since it's the age she would have been if she joined the school without Opzin pulling strings.

Also the others are all 19 now, so… adults I guess?

We'll see how that works out.

Yang and Blake better have a long talk or so help me…

I guess we'll see next Saturday.

Also, I'd like to give a mention and a thank-you to JackTheSpades for helping with this chapter. He translated some sentences here and there into German, and you'll see a few more in upcoming chapters. He did a better job than what I could have hoped to, so I just wanted to make sure I got that out there.

…

…

Ruby struggled on as her body groaned in agony. Her lungs burned and her skin tingled. She grit her teeth, pushing past it with all her willpower, even as her limbs struggled to hold her up, and her right hang limply by her side she forced herself to stay determined.

She felt as if she was boiling, even as she knew it was just her body doing its best.

She was almost there, just a little more!

She pushed and pushed and pushed, and, as she reached it, let out a triumphant cry.

She fell onto her back a moment later, and raised a fist in victory.

Neo applauded animatedly.

Roman shot her a thumbs up from his sitting position on a tree stump outside her house. "Great work kid, ten push-ups complete."

"Yay."

She sounded sarcastic, but really she was ecstatic, considering it was the most she'd managed in the two months she'd had.

"Still though," the thief mused. "As entertaining as it is, five minutes for ten of them has a lot for potential improvement."

He let out a yelp as Neo thumped his arm and he shot her a glare as he rubbed it.

"It's true, I'm not saying it's bad but she'll need to work a lot more."

"Yeah, I get it." Ruby said, managing to sit up on the grass as she caught her breath. "But hey, it's an improvement."

Her throat was suddenly patched and Neo noticed, taking a waterskin and tossing it Ruby's way.

The teen reached out to catch it with her good hand.

She missed, and it fell onto her lap.

"It is," Roman said, watching her as she sighed, irritated at her failure. "If only a little."

The young huntress rolled her eyes, then winced as her body became less numb from the exertion and more aware of the earth beneath her. "You know, you don't have to be such a grouch Roman."

"Coming from you?" he shot back. "Considering how much of a pain in the ass this all is for you I'd think you'd be smiling a lot less."

"I'm getting better." she muttered, and she wasn't being contrary. Her body still hurt, badly. Sometimes she found it difficult to sleep, and sometimes she'd wake up because of it. Her right arm was still useless, and Ruby was having to come to terms that she might never be able to use it again… not the way it should. She still had spasms, she still felt weak and sometimes she'd drop something she was holding. There were a lot of broken plates thanks to that.

But that was the keyword, sometimes. She was managing to get a few nights sleep when she could just forget about the sensations, when her body was relaxed enough the spasms could be manageable and once or twice she'd even managed to catch the plates again before they hit the ground.

She could stand. By herself. Sure it took a while, her stiff and sore muscles almost made it an ordeal, but she could do it.

It was a minuscule, comically tiny step of progress.

But it was progress all the same.

"Yeah, relax Roman." Mercury snarked as he made his way over, a box of… something in his arms.

"What do you want kid? Can't you see we're busy?"

"No, Reds busy. All you've done for the last ten minutes is sit on your ass."

"You're point being?"

Mercury ignored him, turning to Ruby.

"Don't worry about your speed, you're doing fine. I'll tell ya it took me a whole three months before I could stand with my prosthetics, and all I did was lose them."

That… was technically encouragement, no matter how dark. "Um… thanks' Merc."

"Don't mention it, anything I can do to help."

Aaaaaand now she was suspicious. Ruby's eyes narrowed. "What's in the box?"

"…nothing."

"Mercury…. What's in the box?"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine."

Neo appeared beside him before he could realise she'd moved, and craned her head over the edge of the box. Her eyes widened a second later and she stared at Mercury.

Was that appreciation in her eyes?

Ruby assumed that was a bad thing.

"Mercury." She sighed. One word, but the teen slumped. "

Okay fine, I may or may not have caught some birds, tied them up and planned to release them in

Emeralds room for her when she gets back."

Ruby stared at him.

Roman stared at him.

Neo smiled at him.

"Why?"

"Em hates birds." He answered simply. "Apparently when she was scavenging for food in peoples trashcans as a kid she'd have to fight off birds going for the same food. She said they were the side of rats sometimes. I thought I'd give her a few friends to remind her."

"That's awful!"

"Correction, it's funny. Em'll only be mad for a while, besides it's payback for what she did last week."

Roman snickered. "You mean were she stuck magnets to your joints so you had to walk around like you had peg legs?"

"I don't even know how she found that many magnets."

Neo's casually whistling didn't do much to assure Ruby of her innocence.

She sighed. "Just, no. no birds to make fun of her life las a homeless orphan fighting for her life on the streets. Can't you think of something less harmful?"

"… is that a rhetorical question or…?

She just sighed again.

She didn't know how Cinder managed to deal with the both of them. If they weren't doing something for her or her dad the two of them were at each other's throats, either with things like this or a barrage of words Ruby could, but wasn't comfortable repeating, especially not in front of her dad.

At least she'd managed to dilute it down to pranks. Mercury was messed up, Ruby wasn't going to pretend otherwise, but he was willing to forgo skinning cats or something equally terrible as long as he could pull a practical joke on someone.

"Okay fine," he relented. "I'll think of something else. Hey Neo, wanna help me dye all of Emeralds clothes pink?"

The girls' wide grin was answer enough.

The walked off together, leaving her and Roman to shake their heads in exasperation.

"I swear, considering how many ways Neo planned on stabbing him just a few months ago it's weird how well they get on." Roman muttered.

"Isn't just that Neo though?"

"Yeah, I guess it is. What's that look for."

"Nothing." Ruby shivered."

"It's just that yesterday I asked Neo a question, and like, I obviously know she can't speak so I waited for her to sign it out to me but right before she did I knew what she was saying."

"You could understand what she was saying just by the mirage of looks she gave you?"

"YES!"

He laughed. "Don't worry about it kid, just means you're getting used to little old Neo. How do you think I talk to her? Same way. With all the time she spends around you, you'll be having full conversations with her in no time."

"But it's weird." She whimpered.

"You're right." He agreed. "Nobody should have that much power, nobody."

They held each other's stares for a moment, before spilling out laughter.

They could both agree:

Neo was a problem all of her own.

"So, where's your old man anyway? I saw him leave this morning after sending me the usual glare."

"Signal I think." Ruby shrugged. "Since it's right on the outskirts of the city it was hit badly. It's not infested with Grimm or anything but it has supplies like Dust they want to salvage in they can. Dad's going to help with it."

"You sure that's a good idea? With the Grimm being how they are it's dangerous for even pro huntsman if they're not serious."

"It's fine. "Dad's… well he's dad. He won't go into a situation too dangerous if he can help it. He's always determined to come back like mom didn't, that why he became a teacher at Signal instead of taking missions. Safer that way."

"Sure, sure okay." The thief waved off. "At least you know where he is. That's good."

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"So… want to go for another ten push-ups? I'm sure you're up for it oh-great-huntress."

"Oh harr-harr, you should have been a comedian."

"I know right?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, turning away from him to get back to her exercises.

Laboured breathing filled the air again.

"So," she grunted. "You've been looking at getting your contacts in order again right? How's that going?"

"Badly." He sighed, fishing out a cigar and lighting it. "You don't realise until it happens how much we relied on the CCT network. Now that it's gone it's almost impossible to get in contact with people, and on this island I can't even look for them. The best I got was from an old fence living on the coast of Vale when I went looking last week. Everybody's went underground and they don't intend on resurfacing until things blow over."

"But they won't blow over, not like they think they will."

"Yeah but they don't know that." He spat to the side. "You keep forgetting the little circle you're in Red. Most people don't know anything about the outside world now, at least we have a few leads."

"I guess so." She murmured, managing her fourth push up with a grunt. "Ugh, why is this so hard!"

"Relax will ya Red, it's not that bad, at least you can manage this after all you've been through."

"Easy for you to say," she glowered. "It's kind of hard not to hate this when I was training to be a huntress and now I can barely support my own bodyweight."

"And it'll get better." A new voice replied.

The duo turned as Cinder and Emerald approached. The green haired girl held a pretty big crate in her arms, full of stuff Ruby couldn't see from her position of the ground.

"Hey Cinder." She said, deciding that the work she'd done was probably enough for now. There was a noise behind her and Zwei suddenly zoomed past and up to Cinder, running circles around her legs as he barked happily.

The fire user gave an amused look down at the canine, reaching to scratch behind his ear as she spoke.

"We've managed to get a few things from in town that could be useful but I think we all need to discuss something. Emerald, could you go find Mercury wherever he is?"

"He's with Neo inside the house." Roman supplied.

"Sure." The younger thief shrugged, setting the boxes down before walking off.

Ruby sat up, crossing her legs beneath her as Cinder lay down of the grass, the little corgi quickly claiming his spot atop her.

"So what's in the box?" she asked curiously.

"Materials." She answered, still stroking the dog softly. "Fabrics and the little Dust I managed to scrounge together. I'm thinking of, well an outfit change."

"Really?"

Cinder nodded. "Yes. I was wondering if you wanted one too; your combat gear was… damaged during the fall. It would probably be best if you got something new. Not your cloak obviously;" she added before Ruby could protest. "But even that will probably need some extra stitching."

"Yeah that sounds good actually." Ruby nodded, resting her head on her good hand as her other dropped to the side. "I forgot you could sew actually."

She scoffed. "Considering how little you and Qrow seemed to care about maintenance when it wasn't a weapon I'd think it hard to forget. I was always looking after you two."

"Eh."

"What do you mean eh?!"

Roman snickered at Cinder's affronted face, resulting in her shooting him a glare. He ignored it.

"So that's what you've been doing then Cindy? Trying to make some pretty clothes?"

She scowled. "Of course you'd think that Roman, considering your gaudy fashion sense you probably don't even know how Dust weaving works."

"Oi!" he yelped. "I have great fashion sense thank you very much!"

Ruby frowned. "Dust weaving… what's that exactly?"

Cinder paused for a moment. "Well, do you remember back during the Beacon dance, when you discovered me in the CCT tower and I was wearing-"

"That back outfit." Ruby nodded. "Yeah you used it to infiltrate the school."

"Yes, but it had another function. You weren't supposed to be there obviously, and once I was done I planned on slipping back to the dance. For that purpose it could also become a dress."

Ruby made a noise of understanding. "So Dust weaving basically means manipulating clothes right?"

"Yes. I can infuse Dust for combat into it, but the more practical part for our situation is that it can be two outfits, preferable more sturdy travel gear for us."

"Cool. That would be-"

"I'll kill you both!"

The three of them turned in time to see Mercury and Neo dive through a window, clamber to their feet and keep running, as a very angry girl with very sharp blades chased after them.

Roman sighed. "Looks like they found some pink dye I guess."

Ruby blinked as Mercury and Neo spotted before and leapt behind her.

Emerald stopped as she came up, growling menacingly. "You two dyed my clothes."

It wasn't a question so much as a statement and the thief sounded more than a little murderous about the fact.

"You weren't supposed to catch us in the act!" Mercury yelled over Ruby's shoulder, not so much apologising as making it worse. It just made Emerald growl louder and tighten her grip on her weapons. She didn't move though.

That's when Ruby realised.

"You're using me as a human shield!"

"Damn right he is!" Emerald yelled, pointing her weapon at him and by proxy her. "Damn coward, hiding behind a crippled girl because you don't have any balls to face me properly!"

"What's the big deal it was just a little bit of pink!"

"I hate pink!"

"leave him alone Em." Ruby sighed.

She stared at her with a hint of betrayal. "What!? You're siding with him?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, there's just no point in hurting him over it. You can always just get him back. I'll help."

"Oh gods." Cinder shivered. "Please no."

Emerald blinked at Cinder's reaction before glancing at the younger girl suspiciously. "What can you do?"

"Please no," Cinder continued to mutter under her breath. "The flashbacks, oh gods the flashbacks."

"I may or may not have pulled a prank of Cinder once after she embarrassed me in front of my Uncle one time."

"It was an accident!"

"He confiscated Crescent Rose for a week Cinder!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Anyway," Ruby said, turning back to Emerald. "It's kind of a long story but it involved some duct tape, a zip line and a barrel of fish."

"You are not allowed to tell them that story!"

"Fine," she sighed. Though it wasn't too convincing when she leaned over to Emerald while promising. "I'll tell you the story later."

The thief was silent for a moment. "Alright, you can help me get Mercury and the mute back."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Anyway," Cinder suddenly stressed. "Now that we're all here I think there are a few things we need to go through, mainly our plans for the future."

"Plans?" the younger girl blinked.

"Yes, like what we're to do to help you find a way to fight."

"What do you mean?"

Cinder sighed as if explaining things to a child. "You can't use your right arm Ruby. How do you expect to wield Crescent Rose without it? As good a weapon as it is, it's far too heavy. Not to mention it limits both offensive and defensive capabilities with you having only one hand you can use."

Ruby looked away, and Cinder felt a pang of guilt. "Ruby I didn't mean-"

"it's fine." The reaper told her, shooting her a forced smile. "You're not wrong, Crescent Rose was only usable because of all the practice I put in. having to relearn with one hand would be impossible."

"Only if you stuck to what you know." Mercury argued.

They turned to him and Ruby tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well you said your scythe too heavy for you right? Well just make it lighter, reshape the shaft so you can use it with one hand, maybe a grove or something that rests over the shoulder, and refit the sniper rifle with something with even more kick so you don't have to use all your strength every time you have to swing it."

Ruby actually thought about it.

"It... could work, maybe. I might have to switch out the material. I'd have to replace the titanium for Aluminium though, or maybe a titanium weave? Or an alloy of the two somehow. The blade would have to be changed too. It'd need to be bigger to compensate for less reach, maybe with a Dust overlay? But then how would I change the sniper rifle? Would changing it from anti-personal to anti-armour be enough?"

Ruby continued to mutter to herself, clearly going over the statistics of it. Roman raised an eyebrow but Mercury just nodded along.

"Right, but you can't just rely on your weapon, you need to add something to your fighting style. If you can't use an arm then maybe I could teach you a few of my kicks."

Neo raised her hands as if to volunteer herself. The silver-haired teen nodded. "Right, and Neo can teach you too, thrown in a few grapples and make you more flexible. You can do that right?"

Neo nodded. 'I could teach her some high kicks, maybe she can learn how to use other parts of her body; knees, hips, stuff like that combined with her oversized garden hoe.'

Ruby blinked. Roman snicker but the rest seemed not to notice.

Her face paled suddenly as she and Neo locked eyes and the mute caught her look.

Oh gods, she was speaking Neo!

"Before we get to any of that though," Cinder rolled her eyes. "We need to get you back to form, and then we'll move for Haven."

"Um… actually." Ruby murmured.

"Yes?"

"I… before we go to Haven I want to find a way to Atlas. We should find Weiss."

The maiden frowned. "The Schnee? Why? Surely you know the waste of going to Atlas of all places for one person."

"It doesn't matter, she's my partner, if I can see her even to make sure she's alright I'll take it."

Cinder's face twitched minutely. Roman was the only one to catch it, and it made him frown. He hid it well though, and turned to Ruby. That was something he didn't want to think about. They'd burn that bridge when they came to it.

"Well I'll see what I can find Red. Maybe I can dig up some info on where exactly she is. Probably she's all cosied up at the Schnee mansion though, so that should make it easier.

Ruby smiled. "Great, well I guess we should get started then shouldn't we? Oh! We need a cool team name!"

"What you have in mind?" Emerald asked."

"Something with all our names… Oh I know, Team CRRMSN!"

The statement was followed by a number of groans.

"Crimson… but… that's just another word for red."

"And why am I the only one with my last name used?"

"It's not very original."

"Of course you would choose something like that."

"Hey my last team was named Team RWBY gimme a break!"

…

…

Long ago, the snow had been familiar to her.

Weiss was a Schnee, and for seventeen years Atlas was all she had known. The upper class, the parties, the concerts, the meetings, her home, all of it had been with the snows of Atlas as a constant part of her life.

And yet, as she stared at the snow through her tiny window to the outside world, Weiss didn't feel any familiarity.

In fact, all of Atlas felt wrong.

Or she did. She felt out of place here.

She wanted to be in Vale, with her team where she could actually feel at home, on a little cottage on Patch in the sun where a cool breeze could kiss her skin, and she could live out her life as a Huntress.

A bitter smile might have spread across her face, had she the energy for it. Instead, all she could manage was a vacant stare.

Oh sure she'd been defiant, something she probably should have felt proud of.

For the first few weeks.

But now, having seen nothing but this same room, sleeping, eating and sustaining in this one place for over two months now…

Weiss felt drained from it a little bit more every day.

The door hissed behind her and heavy metal footsteps let her know that a certain executioner had arrived.

"Hello Weiss!" Penny smiled. "It is the scheduled time for lunch, I have brought you food!"

She sighed, turning to face her.

She felt her lip twist down in disgust – something unexplainedly dark – as she looked at the thing with Penny's face.

It was awful, looking at it.

Weiss didn't know what it was, but there was just something fundamentally different about her.

Penny… she couldn't deny that she'd been a machine, even at Beacon, but she'd been different. She'd been human. When Weiss looked at the Penny before her she saw a smile that was exactly the same, in every way, and yet was different, plastic and soulless. It was like she was programmed to smile instead of actually wanting to.

She stood the same, and yet her posture felt static. There was no liveliness behind it, where the Penny she'd known had a sort of bounce in her step.

And finally there was the eyes. She'd noticed it the first time she'd seen them; empty, like glass or more likely camera lens instead of an actual pair of eyes with a soul behind them.

The thing in front of her was soulless, and every fibre of Weiss being reminded her of that fact when she looked at her.

All the same, she was something with the apparent power to kill Weiss.

Penny probably had that power at Beacon, any Huntsmen or Huntress could have, but they'd been friends. Weiss knew Penny would never have done it, no matter what. She'd died for her.

This would kill her, if she became a threat.

So she resigned, and resigned herself once again to a false mask of politeness.

"Thank you Penny. I'll be there right away."

Penny nodded. "Of course. How have you been feeling today Weiss? Any signs of illness, increased aggression?"

"I feel the same way I felt when you asked me yesterday Penny."

"That is good." It wasn't, but she didn't voice her opinion. "Vital signs read normal. Have there been any episodes with your anatomy?"

Weiss held out a hand and watched as fire dust sprouted from her arm.

Weiss watched it as she always did, with a keen eye. What was happening to her was maybe the only interesting thing in this damn tower.

There was a little bit of a tingle, but instead of Dust bursting through her body like she'd expected it seemed to grow from her skin. Weiss wasn't exactly sure how it worked other than the fact that it did. Crystals sprouted from crystals, wrapping around her wrist as she focused her Arua into it.

She let go suddenly, and the Dust crystals fractured, spouting small gouts of flames into the air.

"The same as before… no problems there."

"Noted."

Another sigh, and she sat down on her bed as a tray of food was placed on her lap.

It was excellent, probably the most expensive meal she's had since she' left Atlas a year ago. An example of how even as a prisoner she was afforeded luxuries fit of her status.

She'd have much rather had something cheap and greasy, like the time Yang had introduced her to a Valean cheeseburger.

She smiled at the memory. She remembered holding it in her hands uncertainly, sending it a suspicious look with no small amount of disgust. Yang had goaded her on, laughing about how a princess would never eat something like that.

So of course Weiss being Weiss she'd done it to prove her wrong.

It had probably been one of the best things she'd ever tasted.

Or… maybe that was because yang had been with her when she'd had it. The brute had acted like it was some great accomplishment, cheering her on the whole way.

It had been simple, stupid fun,. Something she looked back on fondly.

Weiss hadn't ever had that feeling at home.

If her mother hadn't been drunk out of her mind then her father had been away at a meeting.

She'd been what, ten when anything resembling a family dinner had stopped becoming the norm?

Weiss wondered if the reason the food before her tasted so… stale, was because of the memories associated with it? Was that why

Wishful thinking she was sure… she'd just have to get used to it now, it wasn't like anyone was-

"Another thing Weiss, your brother Whitely is here to see you."

"What!?" she choked. Coughing hard.

"Yes, I believe he is waiting in the visitation room on the twentieth floor."

"Why didn't you tell me straight away?"

"It was below the list of events I was required to inform you of." Irritation flared up, but was quickly snuffed out when she realised something.

"There's a visitation room in the tower?"

"Affirmative."

"Then…" Weiss frowned. "Why…Why is this the first thing I hear about? Why hasn't my sister visited me in these two months?"

"I am not aware. From what I can gather communication has been allowed but not approved by the eldest Schnee daughter."

"…I see."

"Weiss, I'm detecting emotional stress. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She snapped, standing up. "Come on, bring me to my brother."

The trip down was quick and uneventful. Weiss took an elevator down, but in the halls she noticed there were no windows. Everything was closed off, and the whole way down she spied cameras at every corner, watching her movements.

The visitation room was more like an interrogation room she noted as she entered.

Plain pristine white, no doors but the one she had just stepped through, and a table in the centre with a chair on either side.

There were cameras in each corner and Atlesian Knights armed to the teeth lining the walls.

Whitley sat at the other end of the table with a smile on his face, hands linked in a way that almost looked pleasant.

Almost…

There was something-

"Hello sister." he greeted gently.

She returned it with a nod, sitting down. "Whitely… I… wasn't expecting you here."

"I suppose not," he agreed. "But that would be my fault. So much has happened since your… incident that I have only now been able to schedule an appointment."

A reasonable excuse, and Weiss suddenly felt silly for doubting him. She was just so couped up in this place that it was grating at her nerves. "I'm sorry for that… things must be stressful."

"Oh they are, but I'm managing al the same. Father's been stressed, communications are down and Dust has been banned from being exported outside Kingdom borders."

"That sounds bad." She frowned. "How are people getting their Dust then?"

"They aren't as far as I can tell, tensions had risen to even greater highs since the attack on VAel. Mantel's representatives are calling for more to be done to protect them while the council pushes back. General Ironwoods called for a freeze on Dust related goods in the meantime as a precautionary measure."

A reasonable solution, but no less dangerous. "That makes it sound like he's coming down on people."

"Indeed it does. "I've heard from a few high-class associates of father accusing him of being a dictator, a tyrant, or in the makings of one."

"That's ridiculous!" Weiss gaped. "General Ironwwods a good man."

"Even though he put you here?"

Weiss' jaw clicked shut.

Whitley sighed. "I'm sorry Weiss, that was too harsh. Though, just so you know, father is deciding to back him for whatever reason. You'd think that sort of embargo would make them enemies, and I've heard them arguing, but publicly he's thrown in his support for Ironwood.

Another strange thing. Jacques Schnee was a shrewd businessman, an excellent one Weiss would reluctantly admit, but a supportive backer of Ironwood when he proposes and enforces a rule directly damaging profits? It didn't make sense.

"Strange… but I suppose that makes thing interesting at home."

"Among other things yes." He perked up suddenly. "Oh! I think you should know I was appointed the new heir of the company."

And that was what made Weiss still. "What?"

He nodded. "With you here and Winter unable to take up the duty due to military service it fell to me. It's certainly broadened my horizons I'll be making all sorts of changes."

"No." she whispered. "No, no, no!"

Weiss didn't care about the status, the money, the name or the power. But if she wasn't the heiress, she couldn't keep her promise. Her promise to change things.

Her promise to Blake.

Whitely suddenly smiled.

"Ah but that's a long while off I have plenty of time to plan thing out. Father is efficient with his workers, but he's missed so many opportunities by giving workers the chance to leave. "

Weiss stared.

"We should be crippling these scum with dept, force them to work day in and day out to pay us back… but that seems cruel to you doesn't it?"

Her brother leaned forward, close to her face with a twisted smile on his face. "I saw you in the Vytal festival sister, standing beside that Faunus so proud. Could you have turned traitor? Did she sink her claws in you? Or are you just that weak?"

"W-what?"

"Ah but of course you never thought of that. You're Weiss Schnee, talented, famous and have everything you could have ever wanted given to you. This little incident with Dust is perhaps ironic, considering your supposed mastery of it."

Weiss paled. "I-I-"

"Shhh," he whispered, laying a hand on hers. "It's okay. You may not be the heiress any longer, but you're still family. I'll try everything I can to bring you home."

'Er lügt dich an!'

Weiss' felt her head split, like something was screaming inside her mind, sending her spiralling, trying to break out. What… was that? A feeling wracked her body, something playing on her instincts.

"You're lying."

Her brother stopped moving. He didn't pause, or freeze or stiffen. He just stopped moving, as if time had suddenly stopped for him.

And then he grinned, a grin that stretched across his face in a way she'd never seen from her brother.

"Cleaver aren't you?" a chuckled escaped him. "How quaint, how… amusing that you could see through such a tiny lie and feel pride from it. Alright, I'll tell you the truth."

Weiss recoiled as Whitley slammed both hands down on the table, rattling it with a strength a civilian shouldn't have had.

But no, she didn't recoil at that, but at his eyes, where instead of white, they were black.

They were sickeningly familiar.

"You don't realise the power the Schnee blood possesses." He hissed. "You're weak, like your sister, like our mother and even like father. You're all fumbling a game without knowing the rules or the players but I do. I know the truth, the power I could be given."

"What are you talking about, you're not making sense."

"Magic my dear sister, actually, real, terrifying and magnificent magic. You just can't see it, the power we could have, the power I will have."

She shook her head. "Whitley listen to yourself, what you're saying is ridiculous. Magic? That's something for children."

"Is it?" he laughed. "Perhaps I thought too much of you, if you're that ignorant to what's around you, to have never questioned what was in front of you. I saw it with but one look; that pet Faunus of yours. Could you not see what she was? Did you not question how such a thing was possible?"

"I-"

"Or the brute, the cripple? Not flesh, not robotics, and yet you accepted it as just that!"

"Yang said a doctor gave those-"

"And you believed her? Are you really that dull? What am I saying? Of course you are, you the little naive princess who thinks her own ability is what got her this far." He chuckled. "I always thought it was amusing; how utterly pathetic you acted."

'Willst du so ein solches Vergehen gegen uns etwa durchgehen lassen?'

She shook her head, trying to clear the… something. She wasn't sure, every time it appeared it whipped to the back of her mind so fast she could catch it, couldn't even remember what it said. "Yang wouldn't lie to me like that. She wouldn't, I know that if nothing else!"

Whitley sneered.

"Do you? Well then perhaps the most ironic of them all then, that silver eyed witch!"

"R-Ruby?"

"You don't even know that of all things do you? You don't know the threat she is to our blood, to our power that you commune with her, refer to her so casually. Father knows of her, the General knows of her, how do you think that is? The secrets she keeps from you, the lies she told you."

"No-"

"Yes!" he pressed. "So many things she has deceived you with, so many dangers that could have been avoided if she had trusted you. She didn't though, did she? You didn't find out until after a knife was plunged into your shoulder!"

"NO!"

"Even now you don't know what you've awakened; you're so weak and childish that you are trapped in yourself, in this shell! I bet the witch is laughing at you even now, laughing at poor, little, mad Weiss!"

Weiss' chair scraped back as she stood. The knights surrounding her were alert instantly, raising their guns.

Whitely just smiled, as the darkness retreated from his eyes and he sat back down.

"The Black Dust you merged with is a perfect starting point for more power…. I do have to thank you for testing it out. I know how much is safe to use now."

"Why would you say all this?" she murmured. "If this could ever possibly be true how could you think it was wise to tell me about it?"

That smile again. "Who would ever believe you? Mad little Weiss locked away in her tower… no one else has come for you. Not father, not Winter. Both want nothing to do with you I'm sure."

Her hands clenched as something dark and angry threatened to rot her core.

'Beruhige dich Gefäß, er lügt wieder.'

For whatever reason, Weiss felt her heart slow, and her breathing soften.

She turned away from Whitley, to the door. "I'd like to leave."

She could still hear the smile in his voice. It made her sick.

"Very well, I'll signal someone to take you back to your… abode for your own safety of course. Oh, but one more thing Weiss."

She didn't turn back, but he knew she was listening.

"I'll enjoy it you know? Everything I do to destroy your dreams, all your work, I'll bring it crumbling down and I'll love every second of it… weak little Døkkálfr."

She blinked. "What did you say?"

She turned back.

But… somehow he was gone.

Without even a trace.

Weiss was escorted back to her room shortly after and the sight of it again did nothing to improve her mood.

"Are you alright Weiss?"

"Do I look alright to you?" Was the snapping response.

Penny shook her head. "you do not. I read increased levels of stress and aggression from you for an undetermined reason."

"Undetermined?" she stared. "It's not undetermined. Didn't you hear what Whitley said to me?"

"Did he say something wrong? I was not aware."

"I…" Weiss trailed off. "What?"

Camera and audio footage shows your brother speaking pleasantly to you. He informed you of how well your family was getting on and that you were missed. He spoke about doing what he could to make your stay here more comfortable." Penny tiled her heard. "And then you suddenly stood up. That was e=when your aggression spiked… is that not what you remember happening?"

"I-" she broke off. No, that wasn't what she remembered at all. Whitley had… he'd been off all the way up to his outburst. Was she seriously saying that Weiss had imagined all of that?

No, that wasn't possible, she refused to believe it!

But what could she say? Clearly facts were against her more than anything.

Penny noticed her inner turmoil it seemed.

"Are you alright Weiss? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Weiss felt her frustration surface. it had building for a while now, but that meeting with her brother… had pushed her patience just a little too far.

"By doing what?!" she snapped. "What could you possibly do? You're a machine, you're not even a person! You're just metal and wires. Worse, you were designed to kill me!"

"That's… not true."

"Isn't it?"

"I…" something flickered minutely behind those eyes of hers.

And then they dulled. "You are correct. That… is my designation."

The machine paused. "Excuse me Weiss. I have things I must monitor. If you require my assistance just call for me."

Penny bowed, before quickly turning, leaving Weiss alone.

…

…

The computer flared to life with a bright light illuminating the otherwise dark and empty room.

It's robotic, automated voice spoke.

"Greetings P.E.N.N.Y. Please state the purpose of using this terminal."

The machine looked up at the array of screens. This was a machine too, in a way, it was similar to her. it had a fiction, and it carried it out. It was empty, direct, efficient like her.

And yet, Penny had felt some blip in her code in her conversation with Weiss. She was unsure what it was. Diagnostic had come back with everything in order.

And yet…

Penny knew it wasn't the time for it, practically, it was unnecessary for her to do this, but she…

Machines did not want. So what could it be?

It… It was simply the solution with the best reward. Yes, that was it.

"I wish to download the memory files of P.E.N.N.Y. mark one to my own memory core."

"Affirmative. Verification is needed: please state the reason for transfer."

"Ability to interact with Weiss Schnee can be improved with memories of my predecessor. Better relations through shared experiences can benefit relations and possibly decrease the risk of volatile reactions in future situations."

There was a pause as the computer processed her words. It wasn't as advanced as her, it needed to verify her statement.

"Affirmative." All none-classified and declassified Memories are applicable for download. Standby for transfer."

"Affirmative."

Penny felt the data fill into her files, the equivalent of what a person might consider their mind.

She nodded to herself. Now she could perhaps fix things. She could start at the first day she arrived at Beacon."

"Initialising reading of data." She muttered.

It would play out like a movie, inside of her, yet she would experience it… it would take a while. Days, weeks, maybe even months depending on how much the previous Penny had deemed important.

And yet, right away, a single phrase formed in her memory.

"I have a soul."

What did her predecessor mean by that?

...

What indeed. Well we'll find out eventually wont we. Like I mentioned, a little bit of a time skip, and one or two more to come. But hey, that means new outfits right?... that I'll only be able to explain through words...

Damn I wish I could draw.

But anyway, We'll see how the rest of our girls are doing next chapter and get a move on. I'm looking forward to a very certain moment, one involving our favourite feathered Huntress and her tribe.

Until then I guess all I can do is ask you to follow and favourite if you want to be notified and keep up with this story and Review if you want to get involved.

Until the next one!