Welcome to the fourth chapter of Bloodbound! Enjoy!

"That is the most single, unflattering picture of Roman I have ever seen in my entire life and I was there for your eighth birthday party."

"That's because it's a mugshot." Ruby rolled her eyes as Neo glared at the holoscreen of the ferry. "They're not supposed to be flattering. And that party was great! What are you talking about?"

"Dust is not a cake ingredient, Ruby!"

"Oh…that." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly as she looked out the crowd of other Beacon students in hopes of finding a new subject to breach, away from the memory of exploding cakes and crime lord-shaped holes in the ceiling. Thankfully, the news report detailing the robbery of one Roman Torchwick, and something about the White Fang being fanatical jerks, was replaced by the image of the same Huntress that Ruby encountered the other night. And conversation tuned silent as the introduction to the hopefuls crowded on the air-ferry sounded in its metal halls.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." And with that final promise, the image of Glynda Goodwitch faded back into the floor.

"No wonder Hunters always end up as such arrogant pricks." An amused voice sounded from beside them. Turning to the sound, Neo having to lean forward to see around Ruby, they were met with the grinning visage of Crimson Shard, their fellow teammate and private assassin. He gestured to where the image of Goodwitch had been moments before.

"Seriously, with a greeting like that, my head would probably inflate too." Crimson suddenly perked up, as if remembering something. "Oh, by the way, Snowball decided to Hells with your order about making friends and escaped somewhere over there." He gestured vaguely at the far end of the Bullhead. "Not sure where, he threatened to cut off my nose if I followed him."

"Fascinating, glad to see he's being friendly." Ruby rolled her eyes before leveling them at her teammate. "And Hunters always end up as arrogant pricks? That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

Crimson snorted, shaking his head negatively. "Nope. In my experience, if Hunters aren't arrogant, they're aggressors; if they aren't aggressors, they're corrupt; if they aren't corrupt, they're just so damn stupid." He actually pinched the bridge of his nose together at that. "Sometimes, I think it's a wonder the Grimm haven't eaten us all yet."

Neo snapped her fingers and pointed at Crimson. "That! That right there! Shard, maybe I won't hate you without reason after all."

A grin began to creep its way back up his face. "Come on, senseless hatred is so much more entertaining than run-of-the-mill loathing. Sure you can't find some inner rage to direct at me?"

Neo raised an eyebrow. What makes you think I even have inner rage or whatever?"

"Because you're short and short people always have inner rage, usually stemming from said shortness. Come on now, it's a known fact." Crimson's grin exploded into a wide smile as Neo sputtered with fury. "Oh, look! Now you have outer rage too!"

"Screw it, Shard, I'm hating you because you're an ass-"

"Not in front of the innocent students, Neo." Ruby patted her glaring friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure you can kill him later."

Crimson laughed while Neo fumed and Ruby wondered, not for the last time, if this is what she will have to put up with for the next four years. I sure hope not, my mental stability is ALREADY questionable as it is.

Further thought about that was delayed as the engines changed in their hum and the ferry began to lose altitude, the sunlight drifted across the windows.

"It would appear that we have arrived at the prestigious Beacon Academy." Crimson stood up straighter, Neo bristling as his elbow went on par with her forehead, and saluted Ruby. "Commander Rose, your orders?"

"Shut up and follow me." She and Neo joined the students as they all walked excitedly towards the opening ferry doors. Crimson sniggered as he matched his stride beside his teammates.

"Of course, undisputable and impolite leader."

"I thought I said to shut up?"

"You know," Ruby looked up in awe at the academy she was supposed to be infiltrating. "I would have been much more excited about coming here if I knew it was a freaking castle!"

"Meh, I don't see much in the way of battlements." Crimson viewed the school with a critical eye. "I'm giving it an eight out of ten. Maybe a nine because of the towers."

"Hey! This is a solid ten, no question about it." Ruby crossed her arms and frowned at Crimson, then at Neo, and then turned in a full circle, the frown still in place. "Okay, where on Remnant is Skyler?"

Neo shrugged. "Maybe he hasn't gotten off the ferry yet."

Crimson joined his impolite leader in surveying the crowd of students. "Maybe he got lost."

"Maybe he fell off the cliff."

"Maybe he's dead."

"Maybe he is just avoiding his teammates because they are all morbid and crazy," Skyler suggested as he emerged from the crowd to stand beside Ruby. "Except for you, Ms. Rose, I appreciate your concern over my whereabouts."

"I just needed to make sure you didn't bail." Ruby shrugged. "And don't call me 'Ms. Rose'. Ruby is fine."

"We could call her 'Red Leader'." Crimson offered as the group began to go with the flow of students towards Beacon. "Maybe even 'Supreme Leader'!"

"Call me any of those and I'll sic Neo on you," Ruby replied without looking. "And something tells me she will be more than happy to oblige me."

Neo locked eyes with Crimson and drew her finger slowly across her throat. He retorted with showing her his middle finger.

Both Skyler and Ruby ignored them.

"So, how do you want to go about this?" Skyler looked at Ruby. "The plan to infiltrate Beacon?"

"My plan is to not be stupid and gather as much information as we can about this place while not getting caught." Ruby frowned suddenly, remember the other command that Cinder sent them along with. "We also need to complete any assignments the client gives us."

"That sounds ominous." Crimson poked his head between them. "You know; I have never seen the new boss of the Torchwick Syndicate-"

"She's not the boss." Ruby interrupted, shooting Crimson a glare.

"Oookay," He tried again. "I have not seen the person sponsoring this little trip of-"

"She doesn't pay us squat, she just threatens our lives." Neo had a glare of her own she corrected Crimson. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I haven't seen this-"

"No one has." Skyler had a dark look on his face. "Mr. Torchwick does not allow any others besides Ruby and Ms. Neopolitan to accompany him when meeting Cinder Fall."

Crimson was silent for a moment. "Okay, the only thing I learned from this conversation is that the client or sorta-boss or whatever is named Cinder Fall and no one seems to like her. Which is kinda rude, in my opinion, she could be a lovely person once you got to know her."

"We're not being rude; she is a horrible excuse for a human being." Ruby growled while Neo, agreeingly, and Skyler, loyally, nodded. But Crimson just scoffed.

"You people just interrupted me three times and two out of those three were just to insult Fall. So yeah, I feel like you might be biased against her." He stood up straight, Neo once again frowning at the height difference, and crossed his arms across his chest. "I think Cinder Fall is actually a very nice person."

"Think it all you want, but don't ever say it to my face." Neo pointed the tip of Deadly Elegance at Crimson's chin. "This is you're only warning."

"Yeah, yeah, no mentioning your arch-nemesis." Crimson placed a finger on the parasol and moved it away from his face. "Really, if you hate Fall that much, it's remarkable you haven't tried to kill her yet."

"She's scary and powerful. If I tried to kill her, I might lose my arms."

"Just your arms?"

Ruby tuned out the sounds of Neo explaining to Crimson how she would finish the job with her teeth while Fall was busy gloating and settled on sorting through her own thoughts.

We're at Beacon, no one has tried to kill us yet, we haven't been exposed yet, and we have not gotten any illegal assignments…yet. Wow, I really need to stop adding on the yets, really negative thinking you got going on here, Ruby. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the more pleasant and mundane things that were happening around her.

Sun is shining, birds are singing, nothing is exploding, and nothing unexpected is happening at all!

And with that sentence, with those words full of doom and fate, Ruby Rose set into motion a series of events spanning the world and all of its hidden places. Events that contained wonder and misery, life and death, magic and Gods.

So wrapped up with her thoughts about how everything was fine, Ruby did not notice the person in front of her till it was too late to avoid ramming into her back, sending both of them sprawling to the ground.

"Gah! What the Hells?!" The stranger Ruby toppled over exclaimed as she hit the cobblestones, a dull thud sounding at their impact.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" Skyler reached down, Neo right beside him, and helped pull their unofficial leader off the other person. Crimson watched the entire scenario from the background, eyes curious as he picked out another student hurrying towards them. More specifically, running towards the fallen form of the person Ruby had barreled into, whose face was hidden by a shocking mane of golden hair.

"Yang, what happened?" The new student asked as she came to a stop beside them, her black eyes confused but not worried, as if this girl knew that it would take more than a fall to hurt her friend. "Why are you still on the ground?"

"I think I busted my lip." The girl on the ground, Yang, said in a voice muffled by stone. Her friend rolled her eyes.

"Oh no. That'll take at least five seconds to heal. You have aura, Yang, minor injuries kinda lose all consequence when that's a thing."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up." She pushed herself off the ground and turned to the undercover criminals. Despite the fact that Ruby had turned as red as her namesake implied and was currently hiding her face in the recesses of her hood, the girl she knocked over seemed to not mind.

"Hey, it's fine. It takes more than a little fall to get on my bad side." She offered her hand with a grin. "Yang Xiao Long, this is my friend Ebon Winters."

The girl with black eyes offered a two-fingered wave. "Yo."

With Ruby still indisposed by embarrassment, Crimson decided to take over matters and take the offered hand.

"Crimson Shard. My friends here are Skyler Snow, Neopolitan-prefers to be called Neo-, and the self-conscious wonder here is Ruby Rose." He pointed each of them out in turn. Skyler waved, Neo nodded, and Ruby just blushed harder and tried to pull her head deeper into her hood.

Ebon frowned. "Ruby Rose? Hey, aren't you the girl from the Dust shop from the other night?"

Ruby peaked out of her hood, the girl's words snatching her interest. "Are you the one who picked a fight with Roman Torchwick?"

"I'm pretty sure we both picked that fight, but yep." Ebon patted the hilt of the giant nodachi that rose above her shoulder. "I thought I did alright regardless."

You were thrown out a window and then outran, but okay. Ruby flipped her hood back, only to let the sunlight to shine upon her bi-colored hair, reflect off her silver eyes, and a shocked gasp to reach her ears.

Standing there as if the world had just crashed down around her head, was Yang Xiao Long. Her eyes a potent mix of disbelief, amazement, and joy so profound that Ruby felt it seize upon her heart even if the actions of this stranger were putting her on edge. Yang took a staggering step forward, her hands slightly outstretched.

"Ruby?" Her voice was choked with emotion, her eyes thick with it. It was because of the sheer amount of hope that nearly lit the air that Ruby did not take a step away from this stranger and whatever connection she thought she had with her.

"Yes, why? Do I know you?" Ruby moved her hands closer to the sling where Crescent Rose rested, an action that did escape the notice of her fellow infiltrators. Neo rested her parasol on her shoulders as Skyler pulled out his pocket watch as if to check the time (Though his eyes remained on the two huntresses-in-training before him even as he popped the watch open). Crimson just stretched, a part of his trench coat falling away to reveal twin metal handles shot through with crimson poking out of sheathes on his back. All of them were ready to fight and kill at a moment's notice.

Yang and Ebon, however, were too focused on the one person before them to even realize the existence of the others. Ruby's question had seemed to shatter something inside of Yang and her face crumbled like some ancient ruin.

"I-maybe." Yang looked at the ground, blinking rapidly. "It's just my sister…looked a lot like you. I'm sorry, you're obviously not her."

"Hey, it's okay." Ruby moved her hands out away from her scythe and made an awkward gesture. "It could happen to, you know, anyone."

"Yeah," Yang smiled, a fragile thing that looked like it was holding back raw emotion. "I guess it could."

The silence that followed made the word uncomfortable look weak.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around." Ruby waved before practically fleeing the scene, the rest of her teammates close behind her. Yang Xiao Long and Ebon Winters stared after them for a long moment.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ebon asked, moving closer to her friend. Yang let out a shuddering breath.

"Yeah, I-I think so." She closed her lilac eyes to hide the gems of tears welling up there. "It's just…I thought I had gotten past it, Ruby's death and everything it caused." She chuckled, a sound void of humor and full of bitter pain. "It looks like I was wrong."

Ebon pulled her into a hug almost instantly, holding the blonde warrior close. "Yang…"

"I'm okay, Ebon, I'll be okay." Yang took a deep breath and smiled, a smile still painful at the edges, but with true emotion showing behind it. She nodded at the retreating forms of the four 'students'. "I just hope that our next meeting with them goes a little bit better."

Ebon snorted. "After that fiasco? Things can only be uphill from here on."

"Well, that was awkward and weird," Crimson stated as the four infiltrators of Beacon stood in the crowed Entry Hall, the rest of the new student body standing all around them. "Let's avoid those two from here on out, yeah?"

"I second that."

"Agreed."

Neo and Skyler shared the same pain from the second-hand embarrassment the earlier meeting seemed to ooze in excess. Ruby, however, frowned at their words but stayed silent.

It was like Xiao Long saw a ghost instead of me. And she said something about her sister that was basically drenched in past tense. Definitely something bad happened in her past. But what?

"Red Leader? Helloooo, Remnant to our glorious leader."

Ruby snapped out of her thoughts at the sight of amused red eyes hairbreadths from her own. She reacted accordingly.

"Gah!" The sound of her strangled scream muffled the fleshy thud of her fist connecting with Crimson's nose. His head was thrown back and he stumbled away from Ruby.

"Okay, rude!" Crimson looked back down at the cloaked hitman and rubbed his nose, an affronted look on his face. "I was just trying to get your attention and you slug me?!"

"Don't get that close to me then, ya creep!" Ruby crossed her arms and tried to calm the rapid beating of her heart. "I am totally the victim here."

"As the one punched in the face, I think the right of victimhood should go to me!"

"Leader gets victimhood, lackey shuts up. That's an order." Ruby crossed her arms. "If you don't like it, you shouldn't have made me the leader."

Crimson looked at Ruby, then at Neo and Skyler who took up places on either side of her like bodyguards and sighed despairingly.

Damn Syndicate members. He flipped them all off.

Neo only had time to respond with her own bird before the whine of a microphone permeated the hall, causing a hush to fall upon the students. All of them looking to the front of the large room.

"I'll...keep this brief." Standing on a stage, high over the heads of the new students, Professor Ozpin greeted them with his welcoming speech. Skyler idly wished he could take notes; this could be important. However, the headmaster of Beacon continued before Skyler could even ask for a pen.

"All of you have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." Brown eyes scanned the crowd before them and grew hard. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose and direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

And with that, the professor walked off the stage and disappeared behind the curtain. His assistant, who Ruby recognized as the Huntress from the rooftop, Glynda Goodwitch, took his place addressing the students.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, Tomorrow morning, your initiation begins. Be ready."

As the other students began to exit the hall, Skyler stopped being aware of Crimson's grumpiness, Ruby's smugness, or Neo who had begun to mock Crimson in earnest. He stopped being aware of the rolling din of voices from the rest of the hunters-in-training. In fact, Skyler stopped being aware of the fact that he was even alive. He just stood as still as a cold marble statue while his mind boiled with vindictiveness.

Did that cane-wielding son of a Vacuoian whore just call MY LIFE WASTED ENERGY?!

The large ballroom of Beacon was filled with new students and buzzed with the sounds of many voices. Sleeping bags and pallets lead out in rows covered the floor and students chatted over and around the temporary beddings.

"For the last time, Snowball, get over it. It wasn't even that personal."

And in the case of the criminals masquerading as the righteous, trying to convince their resident thief to stop glaring at the floor and sit down ("Because for the Gods' sake, you're making me tired just by looking at you!"). And failing horribly.

"He called my life wasted energy! I've worked hard not to die; do you have any idea how arduous it was to get me where I am now?!" Granted, nothing I ever did was exactly legal or moral, but I can't very well bring that up in a crowded ballroom.

Crimson groaned in defeat and fell backward on the piece of the floor he claimed as his own for the night. Rubbing his head over his eyes, he muttered under his breath. "I wish Neo or Ruby was here, if they told you to stop being moody, you would listen to them."

"And I wish you would take a shower tonight!" Skyler snapped before rolling his eyes. "And I can't just snap my fingers and decide to stop feeling emotions, that's impossible and-"

"Snow, stop being grumpy or I'll hit you." Neo, her hair still wet from the showers, sit down with a huff. "I've had enough with people feeling emotion for today, so don't you even start."

Skyler, whose moodiness was indeed gone, replaced by burning curiosity, shared a look with Crimson. The tall criminal sat up, his eyes on the shortest criminal.

"Something happen in the showers that we should know about?" His leaned back, his hands propping himself up. "Was someone not keeping their hands to themselves? I can kill them if you got the money."

"Can you not pick up new clients while we are at Beacon?" Skyler gestured at the ballroom with a lazy hand. "Especially not when we're surrounded by people of a more law-abiding nature?"

"Shut up, the both of you." Neo rubbed her forehead, her eyes screwed closed. "I've had enough with LOUD people too. Ruby should be here soon…if she ever stops talking with that girl. Who even carries on a conversation while taking a shower?!"

"Um-" Neither Crimson nor Skyler had a chance to respond before Neo stalked to her feet and started pacing in a vicious circle, her hands articulating each word with a sharp gesture.

"I mean, the girl was so bubbly, I'm surprised that there weren't soap suds overflowing her shower stall! And Ruby was in the one next to her, then the bubbly girl started singing a song about pancakes-don't know what the Hells THAT was about-and after a minute, Ruby joined her! And after the song, they started talking-the fact that they were supposed to be bathing be damned-and they WOULDN'T stop! I got done showering and they were still talking! What the Hells?!"

With a sound like a groan, Neo fell back on her pink sleeping bag. Crimson and Skyler watching her in bewilderment.

"I'm…going to go take a quick shower now. Or maybe it will be a long one, who knows." Skyler picked his fine leather bag on the ground, received from the student baggage claim, and inched towards the bathrooms. "Ms. N-Uh, Crimson, save me a spot on the floor."

And with that command, he was gone in a flash of grey suit and an obvious desire to get as far away from the current situation as he possibly could. Leaving Crimson with a fuming Neopolitan.

Oh, damn THAT Syndicate member in particular!

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at the small, angry, person that was currently spread-eagle over her sleeping bag. The glare on her face threatening to burn a hole in the high ceiling.

"So, is this your first time with jealousy? I mean, you pretty much had Ruby to yourself for the past, what, eleven years? I can kinda understand why you are reacting this strongly. Still, it's weird that you never made your move for that long."

Neo shot up straight and turned to Crimson with a shocked expression, her wide eyes staring in disbelief at the assassin. He lifted his eyebrows in return.

"What?" He said mildly. "One only needs to catch all the looks you give her and the rests of the dots are easy to connect. Don't worry, I'm cool with it and I won't tell Ruby, but sheesh, calm down! Ruby talking to another girl is not the end of the world."

Neo's mouth, even though she had not used it to speak in years, tried to form the shapes of coherent words. Her eyes filling with a mix of emotions. Struggling to take back control, she took a deep breath and locked eyes with the figure across from her.

"Ruby was HARMONIZING with her! Badly, granted, but still harmonizing!"

Crimson threw up his arms. "Oh, come on! It's not like Ruby and pancake girl are going to be waltzing out of the shower arm-in-arm! They were just sing-oh, would you look at that."

Slowly, Neo turned her head to face the archway that led to the spacious Beacon bathrooms to see Ruby and a ginger girl walking out, arm-in-arm, giggling insanely at something that she was not privy to.

That bothered her to no end. She turned back to Crimson, a twitch starting in her right eye, and stared at him. Trying to covey as much murderous desire as she possibly could.

He grinned, a little too happily for Neo's liking. "Obviously…I was wrong. On the bright side, even you won't hurt me in front of dozens of witnesses."

Before Neo had a chance to hurt Crimson in front of dozens of witnesses, Ruby plopped down on her own black sleeping bag, the wide grin still in place. The ginger girl right beside her. Both were clad in pajamas.

Neo's veins visibly bulged out of her skin.

"Neo, Crimson, meet Nora Valkyrie." Ruby gestured to her new friend with a bright smile. The newly-introduced Nora Valkyrie waved at the both of them, a large smile of her own glowing out at the two.

"Hi! My name's Nora Valkyrie. Wait, Ruby already said that. It's fine if I say it too, right? I mean, it is my name. Oh! But you have to be Crimson because your hair is crimson and that means you are Neo, nice to meet you both!"

"Nice to meet you too, Nora. Heard you and Ruby had quite the duet in the shower." Crimson, initially surprised by the storm of words that Nora had spouted forth, decided that Neo was not over-exaggerating when she said that Ruby's new friend was bubbly. But by the Gods, she looked like fun!

"Yep! It was mostly about pancakes, though. Do you like pancakes?" Nora looked at Crimson seriously, as if her question was of the utmost importance. He shrugged.

"Eh, not really. More of a pastry man myself."

No one could have foreseen what those words would cause to happen. Moving like a bolt of lightning, the girl grabbed Crimson by the collar of his trench coat and hoisted him to his feet. The fact that he stood nearly three heads taller than her went ignored.

"What?!" Nora cried distraughtly. "How can you not like pancakes?! Don't you have a soul?!"

"Good evening, Ruby? I…what?" A perplexed Skyler Snow took in the scene before him. Ruby who looked like she was choking back disabling laughter, Neo who looked like she was about to explode from what Skyler could only assume to be burning rage, and Crimson who was being held hostage by an unknown girl in her pajamas who he could only assume to be Ruby's shower friend. "What did I miss?"

"Skyler Snow, Nora Valkyrie. Nora Valkyrie, Skyler Snow." Ruby introduced, waving her hand between the two. Nora nodded at Skyler, her expression distant and sad. Skyler frowned before turning a hard gaze towards the person she still held in a fast grip.

"Zombie Boy, what did you do?"

"Okay, first of all-wait, Zombie Boy?" He arched an eyebrow at his questioner. "Really?"

"Given the so-called creativity that went into my nickname, you are in no place to judge." He crossed his arms, the silk on his long-sleeved sleeping shirt rustling. "Now answer the question. What did you do to Ms. Valkyrie to make her look like she wants to cry?"

"I just said I like pastries better than pancakes." Crimson defended, but a gasp from Nora caused him to look down and sigh at the sight of her heartbroken eyes. "That's not fair at all, you know."

Whether it as just the sheer strength of emotions running through her or if she was actively trying to weaken Crimson's will, Nora's lip started to tremble, a slight motion that was all the more affecting.

"Oh, by the Gods, that will not work on me!" Crimson groaned, causing Nora to just try harder. "No! I refuse to trade in éclairs for pancakes! I don't care if that makes me a monster, I need chocolate in my breakfast!"

"Wait, there are pastries with chocolate in them?" Nora dropped the heartbroken act and looked suspiciously at her hostage. He shrugged.

"Sure. Well, in the case of éclairs, the chocolate is spread on top while the inside is-."

"But they have chocolate?" Nora watched as Crimson nodded, ignoring the roll of his eyes that her interruption brought forth. Watching him for a moment, she released her grip and stepped back, eye narrowed. "Do you know how to make those chocolate pastries?"

Crimson realized where she was going with this and smiled. "As a matter of fact, I do, and I promise to make some for you after initiation is finished. A small token of forgiveness for saying I don't like pancakes."

"Deal!" And like a rubber band, Nora snapped back to her bubbly self. "Don't fail though or I'll have to hunt you down to get my pastries. Anyways, good-night! I hope you all pass initiation!" And with that, she cheerfully skipped down the row of sleeping bags to wherever she had set up camp for the night.

"Well, that was odd." Skyler shook his head and began to unroll his own sleeping back beside Neo's and Ruby's. Ruby just smiled.

"Nora's just energetic and maybe slightly crazed. She's great once you get to know her!"

"Which you did in the showers?" Skyler was dubious at the unconventional meeting place, she just waved the incertitude aside.

"The best friends are the ones you meet in the weirdest places. Just look at me and Neo!" Ruby slung an arm across Neo's shoulders. "I punched her in the face the first time we met!"

The tension that Neo had been feeling ever since she stormed out of the showers began to drain away at Ruby's touch. Even as she tried to fight it, Neo could feel her irritation vanish.

Stop causing me to relax! I was supposed to be annoyed with you! Neo huffed, but it was an impossible task to try and feel anything except comfort and the familiar warmth blossoming up inside of her chest. She started to lean into Ruby's side.

"Adorable, that's what you two are," Crimson said as he fell back onto the bare floor, stretching out as if it was a down mattress. "But we have initiation tomorrow and I rather not be a sleep-deprived zombie when Ozpin unleashes whatever hellish test he has planned for us. So, good-night, sweet dreams, I sleep with my weapons."

And with that, he closed his eyes and drifted off, already fast asleep on the bare floor.

"Did he just threaten us?" Skyler looked distrustfully at Crimson's sleeping form as he sank into the warm comfort of his sleeping bag. "Or is that just another part of his insanity?"

"I am too tired to start figuring out the inner workings of Crimson's warped mind. I'm going to bed." Ruby moved off of Neo's sleeping bag and onto her own, the ballroom growing darker by the second as other students did the same. "Good-night, Neo!"

"Good-night, Ruby. Sleep well." Neo smiled softly as she watched Ruby burrow into her sleeping bag until only the top of her head peaked out. Sliding into the soft embrace of her own sleeping bag, Neo closed her eyes and felt sleep began to overtake her. One last thought running through her mind before she was lost to the waking world.

Maybe I can do it this time. Maybe I can get past everything that has been holding me back. Maybe, while I'm at this blasted school, I can admit my true feelings to Ruby.

And done! What did you think? And let me say, thank you so much to all the people who have been reviewing, following, and favoriting this story! You guys are truly awesome! I am sorry that I haven't been responding to reviews very much lately, but that should change in the coming week when I have more time on my hands. Anyways, I hope you are enjoying this story and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

Next update: 1/18/2019