AN/ I have been informed that the deletion of the news update chapters may result in an inability to leave a review on this chapter if you left one on the original 'News Update' That used to occupy the chapter 8 slot. This may also be true for the next, as I had two 'News Updates' to delete. I did not foresee this issue, and I apologize to my regular reviewers. I hope to still see you the next time you're able to leave reviews!

- Vengfulfate

In another cabin of the ship, the three member of the former team JNPR resided in silence. Nora was sitting on the bed, no longer crying but not doing anything else either. Pyrrha sat beside her, not speaking but keeping a hand on her friend's shoulder, keeping her company. Jaune figured three would be a crowd, and Nora didn't need two people trying to comfort her. The blond knight stood against the opposite wall, leaning near the door.

Knock knock

Jaune's eyes turned to the door.

"Who's come to visit us?" Pyrrha asked.

"Maybe we're using a cabin that already belonged to someone," Jaune theorized, reaching to open the door.

They almost didn't recognize who was on the other side. With a tattered cape, dirty clothing, and blanket of fresh burn scars, Reaper looked a far cry from how she was just days before. The dark woman's eyes were screwed shut, and she was trying hard to control her breathing. She was holding something in her hand hard enough for her entire arm to shake. Neo was standing behind her, staring at her in worry.

"Reaper?" Jaune was too taken aback by the sight in front of him to be immediately angry.

Nora had no such reservations. No sooner had the name left Jaune's lips, than a flash of pink sent Reaper to the ground with a loaded fist to her jaw. "Who the hell do you think you are!" Nora shouted, eyes red from having already cried all her tears. "What right do you have to come here!? I should… I should…!"

Reaper struggled to her knees. The entire walk here, she had to fight back the flashbacks. It was half the reason the dark woman was doing this in the first place. She figured if she confronted her condition directly, she could finally put it to bed. They were still there, scratching at the back of her mind. And she hated it.

Reaper spit. A cheek-full of blood stained the pristine floor. "Good punch…"

"Why are you here?" Nora ask, her fist raised once more. Reaper didn't respond. "Answer me!" There was still no response. "Reaper…?" Nora's voice was a little softer. The dark woman seemed to have taken leave of her mind. The pink terror followed her blank stare to an object on the ground nearby. The green barrel and blade of Ren's pistol was poking out of a cloth wrap.

The inside of Reaper's mind was turmoil. It seemed Ash's precaution had been appropriate. One look at the weapon had broken the last of Reaper's defenses against herself. In her mind, she was no longer on the Atlas ship. She was back in Beacon, at the bottom of Ozpin's elevator.

Tell me how it feels… The darkness… the cold… let me hear it all…

I'm sorry, Reaper… I tried… my best…

I think I'll give you a chance to see your friends again.Their hope at seeing you… then realizing they can do nothing but watch as you fade away…

"R-Reaper?" Nora lowered her fist.

This is what Neo was afraid of. She knelt down next to her dark lover, wrapping her arms around her and doing everything in her power to bring Reaper back. The physical contact was enough for Reaper to begin singing softly to herself. It took about a minute for the dark woman to close her eyes and take a deep breath, the flashbacks successfully staved off.

Reaper stood slowly, using the wall across from JNPR's cabin for support. She ran her free hand down her face. When these panic attacks started, she was confused. Then, she had become angry at them. At this point, now, she was just tired. They didn't seem to be getting any less intense, let alone going away entirely.

"To answer your question," Reaper addressed Nora without turning to face her, "I came here to return that," she gestured behind her, vaguely in the direction of Ren's pistol. After which she began to walk away.

"That's it?" Jaune shouted after her, "That's all you have to say!?"

Reaper stopped walking, but didn't turn around. "Can words change your mind? Change what's happened?"

"So you don't have anything to say…" Jaune clenched his fist. "You're not even going to try?"

"The past few years may have put a lot of blood on my hands." Reaper finally turned her head to bring her glare to the blond knight, "But if you really think that I would ever hurt a friend on purpose, then fuck you. Hate me all you want if it makes you feel better, Vomit Boy. I don't care what you think about me."

Reaper resumed walking away. Jaune's anger rose, and he reached for his sword. "Jaune!" Pyrrha quickly clasped her hands around the blond knights, holding them on his sheathed blade and keeping it from being drawn.

"She just gets to walk away?" Jaune growled. Pyrrha shoved Jaune back into the cabin, trying to calm him down and keep him from going after Reaper.

Nora was left in the corridor, staring at the green pistol on the ground. She slowly bent down to pick it up, feeling the familiar metal in her hands. Her mind thought over the situation that had just transpired, and her gaze fell down the hallway Reaper had exited.

Neo followed Reaper around the corner and watched the dark woman slump against the wall and slide down until she was sitting. She looked over her dark lover in concern. "Go ahead, Neo," Reaper gestured down the hall with her head, "I'll catch up. I just need to take a break. It's been a long week…"

Neo frowned and sat down next to Reaper. "I'll be fine, Neo, I promise. I'll be right behind you." Neo only shook her head. Reaper sighed, leaning her head back against the wall.

Nora appeared from around the corner, holding Ren's pistol in one hand. Reaper immediately averted her eyes from the weapon. Nora noticed, and her expression softened. "Are... are you okay?"

The question surprised Reaper. After everything, she expected Nora to shoot her before she ever talked to her again. "When have I ever been okay?" The dark woman tried to deflect.

Nora wasn't having it. "What happened back there?"

Neo looked to Reaper expectantly. She had been hoping for an answer since the panic attack after the nevermore.

Reaper rested her head in her hand. How am I going to get through this without another episode? Almost like she could sense Reaper's strife, Neo placed her hand on her dark lover's shoulder and gave a reassuring nod.

Reaper sighed, resigning to this fate. "I didn't kill Ren," she began, "but… it was my hands that… did."

Nora's grip on Ren's pistol tightened.

"I can't explain how," Reaper continued, "not without dragging you into a giant mess of bullshit you'd be better off staying far away from. I wasn't in control. I saw everything through my own eyes, f-felt it… all…" Reaper screwed her eyes shut. If it wasn't for Neo's contact, she would have already been lost to the flashbacks. "And I can't get the image out of my head. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I t-try…" Reaper's breathing had gotten heavy, and she had to stop and fight to stay in the present.

Nora didn't know what she expected out of this confrontation, but it certainly wasn't seeing Reaper shed tears. The pink girl sat against the wall opposite the dark woman, making sure she put the pistol away out of sight. There she stayed silent until Reaper managed to recover. "I don't know if I can believe that something you can't explain killed Ren using you," she admitted, "but I do believe that you would never hurt someone you consider your friend."

That was much nicer to hear than Reaper would ever admit to another living person. "Thanks…"

They sat in silence a moment longer before Nora stood up. "I better get back to my team before they start to worry."

Reaper nodded.

Nora took a few steps to the corner and turned back. "I don't know what you and your team are up to… but good luck." With that soft confirmation of a hatchet buried, Nora left for her team.

Reaper leaned her head back against the wall again, closing her eyes. She felt Neo settle in next to her. Reaper felt as though she hadn't had a decent break since Ash woke her in the sewers. Even what rest she got in the asylum did not feel peaceful. Perhaps, finally, after all this bullshit, she could finally get some-

"Reaper?" Another voice called out to the dark woman.

"Can't get a second to myself…" Reaper muttered under her breath, "Not one single second…"

"Is this a bad time?" The voice asked.

"It's a time, Ash. It's a time…" Reaper opened her eyes to level them at her asylum companion. "What's up?"

"I, um…" She shifted uncomfortably, "I heard something… More like, overheard something… I tried to forget, but I can't get it out of my head…"

"Get to the point already," Reaper deadpanned, "I'm tired."

"I just had to ask… Is it all true?" Ash questioned.

"Is what all true?" Reaper sighed.

"Everything your team talked about…" Ash explained, "About grimm queens and magic relics…"

"You!"

The three womens' gazes shot down the hallway where yet another voice originated. Weiss was standing there, having come from just around a corner. And she did not look happy. "I asked you if you heard anything!"

"Technically, you asked how long I had been there," Ash pointed out, speaking faster than she could think. Reaper noted how calm her voice stayed even in this sudden situation.

"You still lied to me!" Weiss shouted.

"What are you even doing here?" Reaper asked the heiress.

"Trying to keep an eye on you like I said I would," Weiss answered, "Now quiet! She still needs to explain!" Icy blue eyes refocused on their homeless straggler.

"I mean, would you have admitted to… any of that?" Ash reasoned.

Weiss frowned, but she didn't argue. "We need to talk," she told Ash instead. "Back in the cabin. Maybe this time we won't get eavesdropped on…"

Ash grimaced. She did not like the sound of where things were headed.

The next half an hour were tense, to put things lightly. A fair few things had developed separately that everyone needed to be brought up to speed on. After all was said and done Reaper, Neo, Ash, Chamillia, Weiss, Blake, Amber, Winter, and Qrow were all seated in a small dining area they sectioned off to accommodate all of them. There was barely a single smile in the room.

"How close are we to Atlas?" Blake asked, concerned about the mood of the room.

"It won't be much longer," Winter informed them, "Though we will not be disembarking with the general public. We are all going straight to Atlas Headquarters." She glared at Reaper, Chamillia and Ash, "Whether we like it or not."

Reaper and Chamillia brushed Winter off with similar eye-rolls. Ash was noticeably more uneasy. One minute she was just concerned she was going crazy. Then she learned that not only she wasn't crazy, but just learning these things may drag her into something she wasn't prepared for.

Weiss was in complete disbelief of the series of events that led to this assemblage. Even her excitement at working with Winter was overshadowed by the fresh drama with Ash. Not knowing what else to do, the homeless woman had continued to follow the group like a lost puppy.

Neo was hoping she could do anything to change the mood of the room. Being without a voice or main hand left her, for lack of a better word, handicapped to help at all.

Amber was the 'barely' in the smile department. She had been in Ozpin's organization long enough that things like this were not as surprising as one might hope, and the years had taught her to accept humor wherever she found it. She found the fact that this group were supposed to work closely together definitely humorous.

Qrow was rubbing his head, gripping his empty flask. This was his so-called 'tight group of specialists'? We're all screwed…

When the airship finally arrived in Atlas it first stopped off at an impromptu dock set up for this event. As people filed off the ship, they were guided into various checkpoints. An entire kingdom's worth of recordkeeping had been lost, and here they would begin the lengthy process of recovering their identities. Among that crowd were team JNPR, who were ushered closer to the front. Pyrrha and Jaune had records outside of Vale, and their processing time was considerably shorter. Nora did have to endure a recovery process because records from before she entered Beacon were scarce, given how she and Ren grew up.

They were on the other side much sooner than most of the refugees, and decided to wait up. Jaune and Pyrrha were in no hurry to go anywhere with their families already on their way to Atlas. Nora didn't know what she would do, but there was no hurry to figure that out. They decided to stay together, for the moment, and wait for their friends. Nora and Pyrrha had forgiven Reaper by now, and even though Jaune wouldn't be quick to say he felt the same, he was a lot calmer about the situation.

The longer they waited, the more they traded curious and concerned looks. Weiss and Blake both had records from outside Vale, and they wouldn't be surprised if Reaper and Neo escaped to process and forgo any official ID. Even if Reaper and Neo did decide to be good citizens and stay in line, they should have come out by now.

"Waiting for someone?"

The three's attention turned to the teen standing next to them. He had brown hair, brown-green eyes, and an overall rough appearance. "Yeah," Jaune answered, "You?"

"Yup," The rough boy nodded. "You, uh, wouldn't happen to know if Qrow Branwen was on board?"

"That name doesn't sound familiar," Jaune admitted.

"What about… Weiss Schnee, or Blake Belladonna?" The boy continued questioning.

"Yeah, they were on board," Nora nodded, "Or at least, they should have been."

"Should have been?"

"They should be out here by now," Jaune clarified,

"Right…" The boy seemed to think to himself.

They all waited a little while longer. As soon as the last civilian disembarked, the airship began to take off again. There was still plenty of people waiting to begin identity recovery, but there was no reason to keep the flagship there while they waited.

"It seems in a bit of a hurry!" Pyrrha pointed out, shouting over the sounds of the engine.

The airship left earshot in the direction of Atlas HQ. Jaune peeked back over the crowd, taking note of something. "Did either of you spot them get off? I still don't see them in the crowd…"

"I don't either…" Nora admitted. "Do yo-you?" she tried to ask the rough boy, but he seemed to have vanished.

Down the street the boy argued with the voice in his head. "Coming to Atlas was one thing, but sneaking into the military complex?"

Come now, Oscar. I know what I'm doing.

"I'm still not sure I believe that…"