"Alright, you guys! My team!" Ruby called, standing up tall at the edge of the same training room that she and Yang always used. There wasn't a clear line between who the leadership on their team was, but it was exciting to be able to train as a group for once.

Especially now that her teammates were finally beginning to act like they belonged together.

"Yeah, yeah." Yang laughed, walking up to the edge of the arena of herself and looked down into it. They were still waiting on the fact that there was already a team using the space, but it was going to be a few minutes before they got to start doing things properly. "Hurry up!"

"We're coming!" A cheerful voice called, one that Ruby was able to recognize as Pyrrha Nikos'. "Sorry!"

Ruby bounced up beside Yang and stretched up onto the tips of her toes. It seemed like Team JNPR had gotten themselves wrapped up in something strange, based on the way that Lie Ren was doing his best to untangle his weapons away from Pyrrha's shield.

Whatever had happened, something was wrong. Ruby was sure that it made sense had she gotten to actually watch the match, but seeing the aftermath was fun enough.

"It's okay!" Ruby called back down, pausing before glancing over at Blake and Weiss who were both taking the chance before they stepped down into the arena to get ready. "I think we need a few minutes anyways!"

"Right!" Another voice called, this time coming from Jaune Arc. "It'll just be a few minutes... Team attack didn't go so well."

"That's putting it lightly." Nora Valkyrie muttered, sitting on top a rock in the arena space and swinging her legs. Her hammer was resting on its side beside her, the handle well within her reach.

Ruby smiled and waved before turning to face her teammates properly now so that they could get started. "Are you guys ready for a day of training?"

Weiss stared her down and sighed, shifting and twisting her feet in place like she was trying to check that she had a solid base in her heels. Ruby wasn't quite sure how Weiss was able to fight in the heels, but she always managed to do well enough.

And that was a good thing. Not that Ruby ever wanted to try it. Ever.

"I don't know." Weiss said finally, sighing and standing up tall, removing her weapon from her side.

Ruby was glad to see her friend acting like that. Weiss was seeming so relaxed compared to the last time that they'd gone in to train together, and that could only be good, right?

As for Blake, she was leaning coolly against the wall and reading something on her scroll. "We're going to be fine." Blake said calmly, not looking up from whatever she was looking at. "It's just a team training session. Nothing really special."

Yang shot Blake a look, pouting just slightly before turning properly. "Way to be a buzzkill."

"It's just a fact." Blake sighed, sounding just the little bit annoyed.

"It's going to be fun." Ruby said, squirming slightly and relaxing as much as possible while they waited. Her mind was absolutely racing with possibilities for their training session. The four of them hadn't really gotten a chance to see what they could do together yet. "Oh, Yang, do you think that we could-"

"We could what?" Another voice entered the room, and Ruby felt her heart jump when she realized how familiar it was. She looked over her shoulder and saw her uncle stepping into the room, looking tired and a little bit rough for the day, but he was there nonetheless.

"Uh, well.." Ruby let her voice trail off, feeling her face getting a little bit red and hot. "I was going to say that we could use the simulations maybe." She paused, looking back up at Qrow directly now. "What're you doing here Uncle Qrow? Did you come to see how cool we are?"

"Nah." Qrow shrugged. "Just making sure you don't get killed."

Ruby grinned widely and watched her uncle as he took a position on the balcony that overlooked the arena. He looked pleased, carrying a cup of coffee with him and looking a little bit tired. Ruby wanted to go ahead and ask how he was doing, but didn't go as far as to do so.

"You love us." She chirped happily, shifting about and grabbing Crescent Rose so that she could get to work immediately. "And we're going to have a really good session!"

"Yeah," Qrow scoffed, smiling softly. "Sure thing, kiddo."

He didn't say anything to the others members of the team, but that wasn't such a big deal. Once the training room floor opened up, all four of them were there and ready for whatever was to come.

That gave Ruby a thought, so she looked up at her uncle. "Can you pick a grimm for us?"

Qrow looked over at Yang, who just shrugged in response. Qrow pursed his lips slightly and nodded before moving over towards the control console and beginning to play with it. He was quiet for a moment before calling out to them. "Do you want me to pick something easy?" He was making fun of them, Ruby realized easily enough. "Or should I just pick something hard and see how it goes."

Weiss crept forward, positioning herself at Ruby's side and looking up at Qrow. "Are these simulations safe?" She asked.

"Sure are." Qrow said with a shrug. "Your aura drops too low and it'll cancel automatically."

"Not that we'll need it." Yang broke into the conversation, stretching her arms and smiling. "Surprise us, Uncle Qrow."

"Sure thing, firecracker."

He looked down at the four of them, and Ruby looked over at all of her teammates so that they could figure out how to start. There was a long moment of silence before they finally came to some decisions.

The four of them arranged themselves in a circle, all standing back to back. Ruby had Weiss on her right, and Weiss didn't look all too confident in that moment. She was probably afraid, Ruby reminded herself. Weiss had never been in a simulation fight like this one before.

On her other side was Yang, and that was a relief because Yang was sure of everything. She was going to be able to just jump right into things and everything was going to be fine- Ruby was sure that if any of them was going t make it to the end of this simulation, it would be Yang.

Lastly, there was Blake standing directly at Ruby's back, fully armed for anything and everything that could possibly come up. Ruby hoped that Blake was actually as impressive on the battlefield as she made herself look. If she wasn't, then there were going to probably be some problems down the line.

Up at the control, Qrow leaned in and reached for a small mic that was there. He activated it and smiled into it. "You kids ready?"

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "Surprise us, Uncle Qrow!"

Above her head, the large screen lit up with all four of their aura readings. Ruby looked up at it for just a second before reminding herself that she needed to concentrate on the fight.

The last thing that Ruby paid attention to as she prepared herself and crouched into position was the blare of an alarm to tell them that the simulation was starting.

The floor lit up, and Ruby let her eyes dart around the room in search of a target. Weiss, Blake, and Yang were doing the same and that had to mean that their enemy was either coming from above or...

"Behind you!" Weiss cried, practically swinging around and dancing into a new position as she waved her sword. A burst of light followed from it, darting towards whatever Weiss had seen.

Ruby listened fast, pushing off of the ground and launching herself off of it. She had to anchor Crescent Rose but it worked easily enough as she swung around the weapon before allowing herself to make contact with the ground.

Standing there between the four of them was just an Ursa Major. A part of Ruby wanted to think that this was just Qrow messing with them, but that couldn't be it. He was probably choosing something small to see what they could do with it.

The grimm raised itself high on its high legs, spreading its legs out and Ruby took the chance to place some distance between the grimm and herself before it could attack.

"Uh, Yang!" Ruby called, hoping that it would work to get this fight started. "Cover me!'

"On it!" Yang called back, jumping into action and running over towards Ruby. She made sure to move in close to the grimm, and it worked. The Ursa lashed out at Yang, and Ruby watched as a shard of ice jutted out towards the grimm, its spike brushing into the shoulder of the beast.

"What-" She looked over, pulling back on Crescent Rose and swinging it behind her so that she could rush in at the first chance. Weiss was doing her best to remove her sword from the ground and looked over at Ruby. "Did you-"

"Pay attention!" Weiss snapped back, not allowing Ruby the chance to be any more distracted. "It's-"

Ruby didn't get to hear what else Weiss had been meaning to say when the Ursa Major got close enough that Ruby would be able to move and attack. It took all of her power to make sure that she went fast enough, and Ruby swang Crescent Rose out to the side with both hands.

The grimm got close, and it was about to stop itself when the sound of multiple gunshots rang out, hitting the beast in the back and propelling it even closer.

Ruby made contact with the grimm, catching it with Crescent Rose but immediately realizing that she'd caught it mostly by the armor. That meant that it wasn't going to be enough to do any damage.

It took all of Ruby's momentum to swing around the grimm, where she landed beside Blake.

So that hadn't worked. That was a problem.

Ruby grit her teeth and let herself look over at Blake, who was switching the grip on her weapon and shifting its form from the pistol back to sword.

In front of her, Ruby watched as a volley of blows from Yang knocked the ursa away from her teammates, and she got an idea.

"Blake!" Ruby called. "Yang!"

Blake and Yang both looked at her in surprise, but they seemed to pick up on what she was asking for.

Yang lept back away from the grimm and at the same time Blake threw her weapon towards Yang, a loud bang going off as it both flew and fired, the gunshot making it move even faster than it had been before.

Ruby watched Yang catch the weapon and move, running so that the grimm could be in a somewhat direct line between herself and Blake.

"Wait!" Ruby called before looking at Weiss, who was already preparing an attack of her own. "Weiss, catch it!"

"Got it!" Weiss replied, taking an uneasy step forward and spinning before thrusting her sword into the ground and creating a glyph, just under the grimm's feet. Within moments, it burst into ice and the Ursa Major was captured.

"Yang!"

Ruby watched her sister tug on the ribbon as hard as she could. Blake understood and launched herself off against the ground, using the sheath of her weapon to slash into the grimm.

Blake landed just next to Yang, who passed off the other half of Blake's weapon wordlessly.

The ursa strained itself against its icy bonds, and Weiss seemed to be getting more and more worried about it. "Ruby!" The white haired girl called. "Can you-"

Ruby blinked. She needed to do something, that was clear.

She could try and do something like what Blake and Yang had done, or...

Well, Crescent Rose was a sniper rifle.

"Got it!" She cried, running back several feet away from the ursa and shifting Crescent Rose out of its scythe form and into the proper gun. It wasn't going to be the best, but it would be the easiest to handle that way.

Ruby breathed in slow and focused as she brought the Ursa Major into her sights before finally letting herself pull the trigger.

The bullet flew towards the grimm, and Ruby watched as it lodged itself in the back of its neck.

That should have killed it, Ruby thought. That meant that Qrow had chosen to up the settings so that it was well suited for four people. It made sense that he would have done something like that, Ruby thought.

But they could handle it.

Maybe the best way to do that was to get back in on the same side as her teammates.

Ruby focused all of her energy into her semblance and ran at them, feeling her aura form into petals behind her as she exerted herself.

She had to force herself to make a hard turn when the ice that had been around the grimm finally shattered into pieces.

But she fell in position among her teammates.

"Okay, so that kind of worked-" Yang commented, glaring the beast down. "I think we just need to hit it with everything we've got."

"Good idea." Blake said, sarcasm clearly tinting her voice. "We can't just-"

"Blake is right." Weiss added, holding her head high. "If we're going to beat this thing, we need to be smart about it."

"Right." Ruby said, staring at the grimm, as it began to advance. "Maybe we should start by staying out of its way-"

"Got it!" Weiss responded, jumping forward and raising a hand next to the hilt of her sword. Ruby watched as the dust chamber shifted and changed as Weiss found a new way to fight it.

In an almost-dance, Weiss twirled, moving her sword with her body and Ruby watched as a wall of ice formed around all of them.

Weiss stopped herself, breathing somewhat heavily. "It's not much, but it should hold it off."

The grimm collided with the wall with a loud sound, and Ruby watched as the barrier began to crack. At the very least, Weiss had bought them time.

"Right." Ruby said, turning to look between Blake and Yang. "Okay, so I have an idea."

"Do you?" Weiss asked, seeming nervous and almost even nervous. "Because if you do, we could really use it right now."

"Yeah." Ruby said, looking at Blake. "Can you get on top of the wall?"

"Yes." Blake replied, already readying herself to jump. "Why?"

"Because you and me are going up." Ruby replied, looking up at the top. She really hoped that it wasn't going to be slippery. "When it breaks the wall then we're going to-"

"Got it." Blake looked at Yang. "What will you do?"

"Stay behind and hit it with all I've got?" Yang asked, looking over at Ruby with eyes that were probably about to burst into bright red.

"Yeah!" Ruby cried before looking over at Weiss. She was going to be the last piece of this. "Can you stay back and make sure that we don't fall?"

Weiss hesitated, looking at the wall, then the grimm as it beat against the ice.

"I think so." She finally said. "It'll be hard but-"

"Alright!" Ruby called, not really giving Weiss much of a chance to finish. "Positions!"

They all understood, and Ruby forced herself up towards the top of the wall, landing on it uneasily. She slipped a little bit on her landing, but only found herself being steadied by Blake, who had decided to balance herself by thrusting her blade into the ice.

Yang was at the ready, and Weiss was behind her, keeping her eyes on all three of them as she waited for something to happen.

This was it.

There was a loud roar as the grimm beat against the wall and Ruby watched as it began to shatter.

"Weiss!"

"Get on the platforms!" Weiss yelled back, waving her sword and Ruby saw two glyphs appear in the air.

Good.

She lept towards one and found herself getting pulled in towards it, while Blake did the same.

When they made contact, the white glyph turned black, and Ruby watched Weiss.

They were all waiting for some sort of mark.

Someone just needed to be the one to give it.

She looked Blake in the eyes, not giving the other that much extra time. It wasn't necessary, Ruby knew for a fact that they were both fast.

"Yang, punch it!" Ruby yelled, and Yang just shouted her confirmation before leaping into action and delivering a flurry of blows into the beast's torso.

It was blasted back. "Blake, now!"

"How do you-"

"Across!" Ruby screeched as she launched herself off of Weiss' platform and towards the grimm. Just as her feet had been about to leave the glyph, she practically felt something doing its best to thrust her forward.

It took some effort to direct herself in the right direction, but her and Blake's blades landed in a perfect X.

Within seconds, the simulation grimm dissipated, and Ruby was rewarded with the sound of her uncle's slow clap.

Weiss was hunched over, leaning on her sword for support and looking utterly exhausted. Blake seemed to be doing her best to catch her breath, and even Yang looked a little bit tired.

Come to think of it, getting something to eat and going to bed didn't sound that bad.

"You guys okay?" Ruby asked, looking between her teammates. "Because-"

"Yeah." Yang said, bending over for just a second and resting her hands on her knees before standing up straight. "I'm good."

"Weiss?"

"Just... tired." The heiress answered, doing her best to stand up. Ruby didn't know why Weiss would be feeling so exhausted, but she also figured that it didn't do all that much. Maybe what all of them needed to do was to just take the time to get their things together and rest.

Of course, that was going to depend on Qrow.

Ruby turned and looked up at him. "How'd we do?"

"Pretty good." Qrow answered. He looked too comfortable up there on the balcony. Of course, Ruby figured that he'd seen so many simulation fights in his day that what they had just done was nothing. It hadn't been easy for any of them, but for Uncle Qrow?

The whole thing was probably a cake walk.

Ruby smiled up at Qrow thought, because she knew that he had to have something to say to her about how they'd done and what they could do to do better.

"So..."

"You kids need to work on your teamwork more." Qrow said calmly, reaching over to the control panel so that he could cancel the simulation and keep it from creating another monster for the to fight. "But I figure it was your first time fighting together for real."

Yang took two steps forward and placed herself in a direct line with Ruby. "Well, yeah. Kinda."

"That thing was nothing compared to what you're going to have to deal with." Qrow announced, looking between all four of them. "If you want to be huntresses, you need to be able take down more than just that."

Blake took a few steps forward, and in doing so she placed herself in the very front of their group, staring up at Qrow with a sort of challenge in her eyes. "Then what can we do?"

"Learn to work together." Qrow shrugged. "Learn to use your semblances together, find ways that you can train together and learn some pair attacks if you can." He leaned forward against the front of the balcony and looked between all four of them. "You've got good stuff to start with, but it needs to be refined."

"Right." Weiss said, still looking exhausted. Ruby looked over at her teammate, distinctly worried about how tired Weiss was. There had to be something wrong was all that Ruby could think. None of them were that tired, but...

Maybe it had something to do with Weiss' semblance?

She nudged Weiss gently with her elbow and thought fast before speaking up. "Can we get something to eat?"

Qrow scoffed, sounding actually playful. "Yeah, sure thing kiddo. C'mon, I think there's going to be food ready for you all soon anyways."

"Yes!" Ruby hissed. She folded Crescent Rose into itself and stored it at her back, already making her way over towards the stairs so that she could lead the way out. Yang followed directly after her, and Blake and Weiss lagged behind her a little bit.

Ruby waited for all of them to get their things together before they changed back into their uniforms and made their way out to get something to eat.

There was a lot that could be said for staying in an ancient cave, Watts thought to himself as he sat up late. While all of his teammates were doing their best to get some rest, he was up and doing his best to make himself comfortable and get some research done.

So far, he felt like he was piecing together parts of gibberish and doing his best to make sense of it all. It felt like he was looking at ancient versions of modern tales with significantly different details at work.

All in all, it was going to be exceptionally difficult for him to make any sense out of what he was reading.

If some of the others were still up, maybe he would have had an easier time of it.

Watts didn't exactly know either way. That was a big part of the problem. If anything felt like it was certain, it would have been easier.

But as things stood, there was nothing concrete and that was proving to be more than just a hassle to deal with.

He picked his head up, bringing his gaze away from his dossier book to see how the others were doing. Cinder was worse for the wear, in a pattern that had been continuing ever since they'd started working with her.

Tyrian was asleep, even if that was a fitful rest that he was in. The man was always twitching and whining, and that was something that managed to permeate every minute of every day. Watts refused to pretend that he didn't loathe him for it.

And then lastly there was Hazel. Strong, always steadfast Hazel. Hazel who probably knew more than anyone and wouldn't let any of them know it.

The fool.

Watts refused to act as though he did not resent Hazel for it. Not when the two of them had been working together for years, usually without any problem whatsoever. The fact of the matter was that Hazel chose not to share things when he had something that was possibly worth sharing.

And it was going to drive all of them into the ground. Of that, Watts was certain.

He heard the sound of rustling over on one of the other beds, and when Watts looked over he watched as Hazel pushed himself upright about halfway. In doing so he pushed his hair out of his face and grimaced before Watts decided to speak.

"I see you are up." Watts commented, putting on the most bored tone that he possibly could for the time being. "What could ever be the special occasion?"

"Nothing." Hazel grumbled. He looked around the cave, an expression on his face that was purely one of someone that didn't know how he wanted to make a situation make sense. Perhaps something had scared the brute awake, Watts thought. That would likely even be what the man expected.

But for now, the children were asleep, and so Watts was going to bring things up that needed to be discussed. "You know that they are asleep."

"I do." Hazel growled, sighing and looking down into his lap. "Just a dream."

"With Her?"

"No." Hazel replied, climbing out of his bedroll and stretching before making his way over to the mural. Watts watched as he reached out for one of the carvings on it, Hazel's thick fingers brushing against a girl surrounded in leaves. "Something else."

Whatever it was, Watts had doubts that Hazel would allow himself to say anything. However, the good thing was that whatever it was seemed to be personal.

The mural managed to be a good distraction, however. "Do you want to know what I've figured out based on that thing?"

Hazel paused, looking back at him over his shoulder with some surprise showing clear on his face. "You've found something?"

"Possibly." Watts answered. He snapped his dossier shut and tucked it away in his things before standing up and joining Hazel. "This is a case where the pieces are there that should make sense, but details are wrong."

Hazel grunted, blinking. Still tired. "Elaborate?"

"You know the story of the seasons the same way that I do, Hazel." Watts began to explain nonchalantly. "The old man in the hut hands out magic like candy to little girls that come to his doorstep."

Hazel stared him down, his brow furrowing. "That's not it."

"I'm well aware." Watts answered. "It's similar, but the details are incorrect. Perhaps a local variant of the story."

"Or an older one." Hazel muttered. "Considering."

"Yes." Watts paused, watching his old partner as he tried to think of anything that was worth bringing up. "Do you really believe that we're getting anywhere?"

Hazel went silent for a long time, his gaze and his attention still focused on the mural before he let out a quiet sigh. "I don't know." He finally said, sighing. "This isn't like how it was..."

"Twenty years ago." Watts finished, deciding that it was for the best that the two of them stop with any pauses and dancing around information. It was just for the best if the two of them dropped all of the pretenses and spoke honestly for a little while if they could. "This isn't how it was twenty years ago."

Hazel stared him down, his expression all but completely unreadable. Watts could have gone ahead and commented on it, but he knew Hazel. Eventually, the other man was going to ease himself into the conversation.

The quiet didn't end up lasting all that long before Hazel sighed and let himself speak. "It's not." He admitted. "But back then we had direct orders, not..." He shook his head. "Whatever this is that we're doing."

"But of course not." Watts replied with a roll of his eyes. "It's definitely not as though you and I are playing along with horrendously nonspecific directions."

Hazel swallowed. "You know that it isn't safe to talk about how we..."

"I'm well aware." Watts responded, with his eyes narrowed the entire while. "But I think that you are dodging the question for other reasons."

"Watts..."

"Guilt, perhaps?"

Hazel clamped his jaw shut and Watts watched the way that he seemed to force all of the tension in himself out as quickly as he possibly could.

"This conversation is over." Hazel responded, taking two steps away from Watts and turning so that he could leave the cave for a bit. "I'm going on patrol."

Watts grinned widely, his eyes focused on the centre of Hazel's back. He knew that just on the other side, the man's brand was there, and it was probably burning or serving as yet another harsh reminder of everything that Hazel had done.

Hazel and him both knew how this was. Sinners must bear their sins.

Neither him nor Hazel had apologized for their own sins, but they carried them on their bodies as any other man would.

It was for the better that way.