"So... I am assuming that tonight is the Vytal Festival dance, right?"

"No Richard, we're just getting dressed up to role-play in our room."

"Oh..." The elder's eyes rolled to the floor, as he sat on Cardin bed, as the four brothers donned on their suits, their ties, their white undershirts, their matching dress shoes.

"No Richard, we're going to the dance. Cardin's just being a jackass."

"I was just messing with him, Russel!" The Winchester threw his hands up in the air. "I didn't use a mean tone or anything like that!"

"You can can't mess with Richard like Cardin! His old mind is very fragile! He's not the same young, strong-minded man that he was seventy years ago!-"

"-Ah shut up, all of you!" Richard would cry out, looking back while gesturing a dismissal-wave of his hand. "You kids today are nothing but disrespectful pieces of shit; you're all getting worst with each generation to come!"

Dove immediately replied, the thought having been brewing in his mind. "The future is now, old man. You'll bite the dust sooner or later. I mean, honestly, if you don't end up on the floor, convulsing, puking out your guts and blood by the end of the year, crying your eyes out of what few tears your body can produce, then I will be disappointed." Sure-Shank, Sky, Cardin, and Russel, guffawed, each one of them, in varying degrees, at the expense of the old coot, who sat, wallowing in his own chagrin.

"Do you four think Ziz would appreciate this kind of behavior? Her four own boys treating one of their elders with disrespect?" He would only add to the laughter, the laughter that shook the walls, the beds, the floor, the door, the window.

Cardin informed Richard of the painful truth, "My mom doesn't even treat you with respect, Richard! She treats no one with respect! She's just an absolute cunt!"

"... You want me to say to your mother what you just said, Cardin?" He lowly whispered. "How would she react to her son calling her that?"

"Do it, I fucking dare you," And Cardin would reply, as he straightened out his mint-green tie, "I'll fucking take her on. I'm ready to go another round with her. I'll deal with her when we go back to Disown."

Shank refuted Cardin's statement however, claiming, "Well, you four aren't actually gonna see her while you're at Disown. She's been getting caught up lately with talking to people about building an academy on Disown."

"Oh shit, we're finally gonna get an academy there? Does that mean we can transfer there once it's built?"

"Well," Shank, rubbing the back of his head, said, "Sky, it takes awhile to build academies."

"Ah yes, it took quite some time for Beacon to be built. Yet however, that was right after the Great War came to an end. With the technology we have now, the construction of Disown's academy will definitely be faster. But... why would you want to transfer there? Aren't you four doing well here?"

Russel, leaning up against the wall, having finished dressing up, explained to his elder about their current situation at Beacon. "Eh, kind of. We're going good in classes, but we're not really that popular at Beacon. At first everyone hated us because Cardin started to bully some of the faunus here, and humans too. But up to this point, he managed to stop himself from doing it, yet most of the students still hate us, and tend to treat us like shit, save for a few now. Or hell, they all pretty much fear us, especially after watching us beat Pyrrha Nikos a few days ago."

"Pyrrha Nikos? Your four beat Pyrrha Nikos?" Russel nodded his head in confirmation, almost smirking a bit.

"Yeah, it was basically the first time anyone here got to see Dove and I use our semblances. After that, I'm pretty sure no one is gonna harass us again. So now we're just basically the most fear first-year team on Beacon, I guess."

"Yep!" Cardin agreed, as with no poncho, or even no gloves, finally butting on his mint-green coat, sliding the buttons through the openings in the fabric. "All right, everyone ready." Yes, everyone would reply. "Then let's go. You guys can go on ahead while I go on and get Ruby." Russel opened the door for the Disownians to pour out into the hallway, parting ways from Cardin, as he went on to hear the chattering of friends to die out the further he distanced himself., as his mind quickly rushed to how to properly behave himself tonight.

One was to simply not to fight anyone, not to lose himself over to tiniest little thing, essentially, like with all dances, he was to control himself from doing anything cruel or stupid tonight. Or at least what Ruby would consider to be cruel or stupid; Cardin had little doubt in himself that he could refrain form mauling someone to death for making fun of his brother's misfortunes.

Knock, knock, knock, Cardin went, as he found the door that was of RWBY, admittedly feeling fluttering in his stomach, when hearing Ruby's voice. "Who's there?"

A swallow, while he smacked the dryness of his mouth with his own tongue. "It's me Ruby, are you ready?"

"O-Oh yeah! Just hold on a sec'- WHOA!" Cardin's ears twitched at the sound of crashing, perhaps something breaking onto the floor due to Ruby tripping. Did he care enough to be concerned? Not really, he knew Ruby- or any student here was durable enough to survive tripping on something, unless it led to falling off a cliffside like the one here at Beacon.

Eventually, he'd watch as the knob turned to reveal a nervously smiling littler red, her brow frettingly furrowed as Cardin noticed the mess in her team's room. "Heh heh- ignore what you just heard." Ruby requested, shutting the door behind her and locking it, as Cardin complied and focused on instead her dress. It looked cute on her, he had to acknowledge, a red dress with black lacing,a belt, and pumps, with yet a girl like Ruby, she would look adorable in anything really, another realization of Cardin's, while he slowly started to eye her legs.

"All right!" Yet as Ruby turned back around, Cardin was swift to bring her golden orbs to her big, silver eyes, having found himself nearly snarling at them, while she took her turn to now, but for barely two or three seconds, to take in all of his mint-green suit, slightly staring at his hands for a little too long before looking back up at his calm features, nearly finding herself blushing as she said, "You look nice tonight Cardin."

"You too..."

"..."

"... So, do we... hold hands on the way the dance or-"

"-EEEEEPPP!"

"Whoa!" All Ruby was just one small step, a small step that caused to almost fall yet again, only to be caught in the Winchester's arms, having gone under her own, as she started to chuckle in embarrassment.

"Heh- I-I think I might need to hold onto you Cardin. I'm not used to walking in these things." Ruby explained, now with a red face, gesturing to her pumps.

While Cardin, filled with little amusement, answered, "Okay," as he allowed Ruby to wrap her hands around his right elbow, slightly squeezing his arm for a second, rather impressed by his size. "Let's go." It'd take some time for them to get out of the building, as Cardin slowed himself for the petite girl when she neared off on one foot, or when they walked down the stairs, during which she tightened her grip, almost whimpering at the thought of falling again.

They of course would be done with that once they reached the outside of Beacon campus the night cloudy, blurring the moonlight and thus making students rely on the lamp-posts for guidance to the Vytal dance. Cardin could imagine how thankful Ruby must have been for tonight to be one lacking of wind.

"So, is this... your first dance, Cardin?" Little Red inquired of the brute, glancing up at him as he stared on ahead.

"Yep, first dance. We never really had any dances to go to back on Disown. Mostly because we were just home-schooled by my mom, up until we came here to Beacon."

"Oh."

"Is this your first?"

"Yeah, it is. The last school I went to, Signal Academy, had dances, but I never went to any of them. I mostly just... stayed at home, working on my weapon, or playing video games."

"Oh, you built your weapon?"

"Mm-hm. Yep, it took me like... I think six, or maybe seven months to finish Crescent Rose."

"Damn, that sounds fast for how big your scythe is."

"For you it is."

"... What?"

"I was... it was a joke, like as in my scythe is too big for you."

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, me neither. Yang just used that joke one day and we all didn't understand either. She got mad and told us we have terrible taste in humor."

"Oh, of course she'd do that. She makes terrible puns when I try to tutor her as well. No matter how many times I tell her to stop-"

"-She never does." Cardin chuckled, making Ruby giggle in return.

"Yeah..."

"... So... did you make your weapon?"

"Wha? Oh, no. My team, we didn't make our weapons ourselves."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're actually weapons used by the imprisoned hunters during the war between Disown and Vale, apparently belonging to close friends to my mom. She'd end up giving them to us... about two years ago, telling us that she'd rather see that their weapons are used today instead of being left to gather dust in a shack."

"That... that sounds nice."

"Yeah, Dove's sword was actually his old man's sword. While my mace was..."

"What?"

"... Lagune's own mace-"

"What?!" Ruby shouted, her voice reaching a higher octave that threatened to make Cardin's ears bleed, as he hissed in spite.

"Geeeehh- Ruby!"

"Sorry, sorry! It's just that I never... I mean, Cardin, you're using Lagune's own weapon? I didn't even know he had a mace!"

"Well, he did, but he built it right as the war with Vale started. After that, he would have his sword returned to him, only to die after the war."

"Ahhh, okay. So... why didn't Zi- your mom, give you his sword then?"

"I asked her that too, and she gave me three reasons: one, is that she wanted to be safe with her, I think shew anted to keep it as a reminder of him. The second reason is because the mace is better suited for someone as strong as me, and third was that I'm bad at aiming with guns."

"I see."

"Plus, she told me that since I love breaking things so much, that there would no better weapon for me to smash anything than a mace. So... yeah, match-made-in-Heaven."

"..."

"..."

"... Welp, we're here."

"Yep." The two before the doorway of the ballroom. From behind it, music, commotion, laughter, all was smothered by the walls, the walls. "Let's go in." Ruby led Cardin, still holding onto him, as she pushed open the doors, with the first sight to see being Yang, in a white dress, standing behind a podium, as her eyes beamed with glee right at the first sight of her sister, whom finally released Cardin.

"Ooohh! You look so beautiful!"

Ruby would groan as she tried to maintain her balance, while Cardin waded behind her, ready to catch her if she falls.

"Jeez, how does Weiss even fight while wearing those things."

"I know, right?!" Ruby started, in agreement with Cardin, having finally reached the podium. "I need to talk to her about how she fights in these thing!" Yang heartily laughed, soon bringing her attention back to Cardin, as her smile diminished, but still stayed.

"You look nice too, Cardin."

"Thanks, Russel hated the suits though. He said they looked absolutely horrendous."

"Oh," Yang looked back, to see Cardin's brothers, along with their friends, sitting at a table, all heartily laughing with one another. "If he didn't like it, then why did he pick it out then?"

"Oh no, I picked them out."

"Ah, okay. Well then," Yang gestured to the crowded, decorated ballroom, full of dancing students, table, and snacks, the music only adding to the overwhelming nature "have at it you two!" Ruby and Cardin took their leave, or just about, to enjoy the dance, before Yang would take grip of the Winchester by the wrist, sturdy, making him turn back to face the yellow dragon, now solemn, rather than cheery a moment ago. "Make sure you treat my little sister well, Cardin. If you so much as to hurt her feelings, I will-"

"-Break my legs, shatter my spirit, blah blah- I understand Yang, don't worry, I'll be kind to Ruby." He could feel her hand squeeze hard, almost shaking before she released the beast, putting yet one more smile, as if she had not just threatened him. Yet, Cardin couldn't help but smile either, just at the thought of Yang actually managing to put a scratch on him.

When he turned back, he saw that Ruby had only walked a few feet before stopping to look back at the two, visibly confused from seeing the somberness of her sister. "Did she say something Cardin?"

"Yes, she was threatening me to take good care of you on our date."

"Ohhh, of course she would. Sorry," the petite leader apologized for her half-sister, having just rolled her eyes, "you know how protective sibling can be sometimes."

"Yeah, I know." Ruby nodded, looking back at the entirety of the ballroom, with Cardin by her side, his gaze falling upon his teammates, sitting at a table with Sure-Shank, Richard, and surprisingly, Port and Oobleck, though he supposed Richard might have been familiar of them back in the past, all sitting together, seemingly guffawing joyously with each other's company.

"So... what do you want to do first, Cardin?"

Grimacing, Cardin swore in his mind, having just encountered the first obstacle for the night. "I uh... well, what do you want to do-"

"-Oh wait, there's Weiss," Ruby cut him off, as she started- clumsily so- started to make her way towards Weiss.

"Oh... guess we'll talk to her first..."


"Ah, Ziz, that seems to be the last of our grimm for the night."

"Ugh- yay. Thank Goood."

"Yes..."

"Yep. I'm gonna just... gah, go back home, fall asleep, then go meet with some of those Atlesians about finding a location to act as... the base for Swabian Academy."

"Swabian... Academy?"

"Oh shit, I never told you, did I? A month ago, I think, we were offered the opportunity to have an academy to train huntsmen, like Beacon, with our own CCT system for Disown to enjoy. So I said yeah, and we're going to start construction... I think a year from now."

"... And you believe this to be a good idea? On the land where you bless us, where-"

"-NO no, don't worry Dion, I made sure to pick some location that are the other side of Disown from here, so that no student may end up wandering here to the cave."

"Ah, good, very good."

"Yeah, it's about damn time too. After all the bullshit I had to do for those prudish Council bitches and bastards, it looks like it's going to finally payoff."

"Hmmm, yes, and, does this mean you'll be bring your boys back?"

"What? No, no- they're gonna stay at Beacon. Cardin's doing some good work all the way over there, getting to bless grimm I can't bother to reach."

"Yes, I understand. There's just..."

"What?"

"It was... the most curious thing, really. For about seven, or maybe six days, I've felt there numbers of joinings to fall, yet only to rise up for the last two nights or so."

"Yeah? You saying Cardin skipped out on a whole week?"

"Well... it maybe the truth, Ziz. I can't imagine why. He has been adamant on performing his blessings, just like you. Yet for him to just stop for a little week... it confuses me. I would not dare say he just wanted to stop, for he knows of how beneficial it is for him. But perhaps, there was something stopping him."

"... It could be that the headmaster found out he was going out at night, and thus put his dorm on lock-down for a week."

"Hm, yes, then now he has found another way to reach the grimm."

"Yeah."

"Or, perhaps... another force was stopping him. Possibly, had scared your son from the forest."

"Scared? HA! Like Cardin's gonna be scared of going into a forest filled with the grimm he's helping! They're always going to be by his side, Dion!

"Of course, but, I said this before, didn't I? There is more out there, than the grimm. The unknown, Ziz, includes more than my own kind."

"..."

"..."

"... Yeah, well, the next time I see Cardin, I'll... I'll ask him about it..."


"So, I go down to the dining hall to see what the problem was, and up on the front side, still on his bed, taped to the wall, was Oobleck, left with no blankets, out in temperatures less than blah-blah blah-"

Russel had grown bored of listening to Richard ramble on and on about stories of Beacon during his time of running the academy. They had been entertaining for the first or second story, but anything after that had only reminded Thrush of Port and his bombastic tales, only Richard's were not of self-indulgence.

Thrush excused himself from the table, yet no one even payed him any mind, when the fire-victim pushed himself and left the table of tittering fighters. Russel had nowhere in mind to go, he'd just much rather get some time alone from Richard. So when setting sights first on it, Russel went to the punch bowl, where noticeably, Jaune Arc, in all his anxious lonesome stood at; the sight just irritated Russel something fierce.

"Hey!" Jaune jumped back when hearing Russel shout out him, forcing himself to stare at the scarred, face of a thug that could easily break him. "What the hell Jaune? I thought you asked Pyrrha out to the dance!"

"W-Whoa- I did! I did, Russel!" The Arc raised his hands in defense, backing away from the Thrush boy. "I did ask her out!"

"Where is she, then?"

"She... she just told me to go on ahead while she gets ready. So I did and..." He gestured to their general area. "Well, I'm just comfortable with standing, or... more like hiding at the punch bowl. At least until Pyrrha gets here."

"... And what if she doesn't?"

"W-What?"

"What if Pyrrha just said that, so she can go and get away from you and meet her beefcake boyfriend, just to get fucked by his thick dick?"

"..." Out of nowhere, Jaune socked Russel in his arm, rather hard actually, or at least enough to make the burn-victim flinch in irk. "Ow, what the hell, Jaune?"

"Don't play with me like that, THRUSH."

"Jeez- that can be considered a hate crime, asshole."

"Hate crime- how?! How can that be considered a hate crime!?"

"Because I'm a burn victim, Jaune. I could report this to Ozpin and get you expelled, man."

"It wasn't a hate crime! I punched because you were filling my mind with terrible ideas!"

A shit-eating grin from Thrush had earned himself another hit from JNPR's leader. "Gah, asshole."

"Yeah, I'm the asshole, look who's talking, what with everything you guys have done." His reference to the past getting nothing but shaking in dismissal of Russel, as he poured himself a glass of punch.

"Whatever..." He drank the sweet juice, smacking his lips while turning back around to take in all of the students that had come, all socializing with one another; it was all an alien sight to Russel, with this, like all his brothers, being his first time at a dance.

"So... where's your date, huh?"

"Date? Heh, I only asked one girl out, but she said she already had someone in mind." Jaune mildly hissed in sympathy.

"Who did you ask out?"

"Weiss."

"What?! Weiss?! You asked HER out?!"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Before we eavesdropped on her asking Neptune out."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, how weird is it that we both wanted to come to the dance with Weiss?"

"Well... why did you want to come to the dance with her?"

Russel shrugged his shoulders, before taking another sip. "Well... shit- everything you said yesterday is the reason I asked her out. She's smart, tough for a girl her size, yeah, whatever reasons you had for wanting to ask her out, they were the same for me. But I guess... you and I," at this time, he could see Weiss, occupying herself at a table, trying to spruce up a rose to life, only to fail, visibly disappointed with a touch of acceptance in her loneliness, "... I guess you and I weren't good enough, were we?"

"... Yeah. But... I understand, Neptune is handsome and nice."

"Pffffffttt," Russel wanted to point out Weiss to Jaune, just to show him how wrong he was, yet before he could do so, he heard the familiar voice of Pyrrha calling for her own leader.

"Jaune!" She came running over, adorned in her red dress, hugging her body in a way that made it difficult for Russel to resist from ogling at, as she came to Jaune, his smile as big a sit can be, prompting Russel to think he was mocking him due to its sheer size. "Sorry I took so long, Jaune."

"Nah nah, you look... you look amazing Pyrrha."

"Thank you, Jaune." Immediately, it was there that she took Jaune by his hands, and just pulled with her into the crowd.

"Whoa!" They disappeared into it, leaving Russel feeling slightly insulted, that she just ignored his presence like that.

"Bitch didn't even say hi to me." Though, he felt some sense of pride, as he watched a startle Jaune soon relax when he realized Nikos just wanted to dance with him, at the same time, not aware of his swordsman brother, having made his way up the stairs, his hands in his orange pockets, as he trotted up the stairs, or Sky, who had now started to interact with Yang verbosely, or Cardin and Ruby, whom were trying their damnest to copy the movement of every other student, putting themselves in the challenge dancing for the first time.

No, Russel was much rather focused on Schnee, once more, his eye watching her, his eye finding no joy in watching her as she had finally given up on trying to bring the rose back to life. "... Fuck it."

He finished up his punch, laying the glass back onto the table, straightening his tie, shoved his hands into his own pockets, and made his way towards the Schnee girl, whom would acknowledge the Thrush closing in on her when he was but a few feet away, bring her gaze into a soft scowl, feeling as if he was here to gloat about her lonesome nature here.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"... is your... date running late?"

"... No. He just... said no." Russel would poke at his cheeks with his tongue, as he looked around to spot Neptune, hanging out with Sun and Blake. Weiss had just remained with looking at Russel, thinking he was just gazing about, not staring directly at the young man who rejected her, before turning his attention back at Weiss.

"Neptune rejected you?"

"What... h-how did you it was Neptune?" Russel picked up on the small venom in her voice, yet stayed calm as he explained.

"Jaune and I overheard you asking him out."

"Jaune and you?"

"Yeah, I was just walking in the halls until he bumped into me, holding a rose. Before I could ask him who it was for, we heard you coming and hid, and just... listened to you ask Neptune out, or at least until Jaune ran away. I guess that would have been before Neptune... said no."

"..."

"I ran to him, asked him if he was going to ask you to the dance, he said yeah. It was really sad, seeing him just be crushed when he never got to tell you how he felt for you."

"... How... what was he gonna say to me?"

"... I think I remember... he admired your being the most gorgeous, about you being so talented- he said your singing was great. Uh, what else.. oh, Jaune also talked about how smart you are. Ever since he met you on day one, he always saw you as the perfect woman, whom I'm sure, a little bit of him knew, he would never have a chance with, but he just kept on trying, trying, until last nigh-"

"-Stop, stop," Weiss requested the Thrush boy, her eyes resting into her palms, sighing longingly, as everyone around continued on with the dance, the two being nothing but figures in the corner of their eyes as they dance, chat, laugh.

"... Are you crying, Weiss?"

For the first time, Russel heard Weiss growl. "No, you dunce. I'm just..." her hand went onto covering her mouth, as she just sat, hunched, staring at the floor, watching as the feet twirled around each pair, in black or white, catching the sight of four that led up to Pyrrha and her date, both seemingly happy as one of the many pairs, moving to the rhythm of the beat.

"You're lucky to have a friend like Jaune," Russel grew tired of waiting for her to say anything, "you don't know how hard it is to find people in this world who would appreciate anyone like that." The particular laughter of Richard and Shank grabbed him, as he looked back over to see the two, still with Port, Oobleck, and now Ozpin too, with Sky gone somewhere. The sight of an empty chair at the table appealing to him, now more than ever. "Well, see you later, Weiss. Nice talk we had here."

Yet Weiss, just as Russel passed by her vision, shot her hand for and grabbing his wrist, catching him off-guard as he looked down to see her icy glare, her frown just irritating Russel; he felt like she was now criticizing his appearance with only no sound. "It's because of you, Russel, that my night has been ruined."

A hoarsely, "What," his momentarily looking in opposite direction before he shook his head, trying to comprehend what Weiss meant. "The hell are you talking about?! I just came to talk to you!"

"No! Because of you, Thrush, my guilt is immeasurable, and my night is ruined!"

"Guilt? The fuck are you guilty for?! Jaune already has a date- with Pyrrha of all people-"

"-It's not that, you just made me realize of how much suffering I've been putting Jaune through-"

"-Suffering? I doubt rejecting a guy's feelings will do him much suffering. Well only if he's san-"

"-SHUT, UP. It doesn't matter anymore now, because you're going to fix this."

"Fix th- fix what? What are you talking about? Yang was making more sense yesterday than you are right now."

"What I mean, you filthy Thrush boy, is that you're going to make up for ruining my night."

"... And how do you want me to do that?"

"Dance with me."

"... How is that going fix anything?"

"This is a dance, isn't it? I might as well have one dance with someone, even if it is... you..."


Dove stared at them, the two faunus, as they held hands with one another, majestically moving in accordance to the song, among the dozens of other couples.

Did he really lie to him? Would Sun Wukong really lie to him, to Dove, just so he could make sure that he had no competition to worry about when asking Blake out to the dance.

No, that is just your mind Dove, running wild as usual. Sun wouldn't need to come up with such a dirty tactic to pick up chicks, what with his body and looks. He was not Dove, not Cardin, not Sky, nor Russel; he does not need to rely on such vile ways to get what he wanted. Or did he? Dove did not truly know who Sun is, what it was that resided deep within the bowels of Sun's being. So how could Dove just assume Sun was genuinely a good person, when he hadn't even spent more than an hour with the faunus overall his time at Beacon?

Whatever it was, Dove could not deny the sight of the monkey dancing with the faunus in disguise deflated him, now knowing that there was a better choice for Blake than Dove himself. But don't care, everything in life isn't about women, he would think to himself.

But that did little to change the fact that when he saw Sun and Blake, Jaune and Pyrrha, Nora and Ren together, he felt jealousy. Or when seeing Ruby, Cardin, Sky, and Yang, all chatting with one another at a table, he felt jealousy. Or- by God- was Russel dancing with Weiss? How? He thought Weiss went for Neptune, like his brother told them! Did his own brother lie to them too?

Nonsense, the all of it. Dove refused to think about it another second. Focus on something that you enjoy, now. As such, Dove, shaking his head, left for balcony, finding and sitting himself in a chair out in the night, windless. The sky having finally cleared up to show the stars above, with their broken moon, where Dove could go and pass the time with one of his age old favorite pass times: star-gazing.

Normally, due to the light pollution that Beacon and Vale city produced, Dove found it to be less of an appeal to stare up at the stars in the night, rather when compared to their mansion in Disown, where Dove could gaze upon dozens of cosmic sights that everyone in Vale probably never get to see in their own life. But, in an occasion like this, gazing up into the night sky would provide much needed assistance to escape from the bitterness tonight.

There was still quite a few stars to see in the polluted night, so much to gaze at. He had to admit that the darkness that the pollution of light created did add in another sense he would find in Disown: the feeling of gazing into an abyss. Only this one was the sky itself, with Dove wondering what could lie in that darkness above.

Ah, it would just be the galaxy, you daft fool, or Dove would think. Just enjoy the stars. Enjoy the stars.

"Do you enjoy looking at the stars?" It took all of his might not to groan in annoyance, as Dove properly sat up to look back and see who it was that came up her with him. It was that girl, the strange one, with short orange, curly hair, topped by a big pink bow, that Cardin always described as smelling funny, like a fake human in a way- whatever he meant by that- that was guarded by two Atlas soldiers, remaining stoic as ever, while her face was just riddled with the spirit of inquiry.

"... Yeah," Dove answered, his tone barely strident, while he went back to to stars, hoping that she would pick up on it and would leave him alone to gaze.

"What is there to like about it?" But of course she would do the opposite, and instead walk towards him and stop by his side, with her bodyguards stopping a comfortable distance behind them. If it was not for actual curiosity he picked up in her question, Dove would have guessed she was already mocking him. At this moment, he hoped answering her questions would make her leave now.

"I don't know. For me... I just like looking at them, they always calm me down whenever I look at them."

"So you look at stars to help appease your anger?"

"... No... sometimes when I'm angry, I'll look at them. But other times, I'll just be stargazing because the stars look pretty. Or once in awhile, I'd be thinking about what's up there."

"... What's up there?"

"Yeah, you know... like aliens, UFOs, or just other planets.

"What is... an alien?"

For a moment, Dove nearly went and accused the girl of messing with him at that moment, wanting to tell her to fuck off already and leave him be. But again, at the same time, her curiosity did little to deteriorate in genuineness. "What? You don't know what an alien is?" She shook her head, her bright green eyes closed for a second before reopening. "Well... an alien would be a living creature that comes from another planet from outer space."

"Wow. I never even heard of such a concept before." Dove now wanted to utterly throttle the girl, in absolute rage for what he was starting to believe was mockery well-disguised by acting. There was two problems though: one, Dove was a firm believer of free speech, seeing that one should be able to say whatever they want without being hit, though he will admit that he has been a hypocrite when it came to following that belief on a few occasions.

The second was that she had two Atlas soldiers guarding her. Dove didn't doubt himself that he could not beat them both down in blind anger fueled by his aura and semblance, but he still did not want to start a fight at the Vytal dance. This is suppose to be a good time for everybody, Dove would say to himself, calm down will you?

Maybe ten, or fifteen seconds of silence would pass, as the girl stared up at the night sky with Dove, until she would compliment him. "I watched the match between your team and Pyrrha Nikos. You four did really well."

"... Yeah?"

"Yes, I especially believe you proved yourself to be the most invaluable piece in disposing of Nikos."

"... I'm sorry, what's your name, sweetie?" Dove got out of his chair, incredulously string a hole into the girl's forehead, as she stepped back, taken surprise by the sudden shift in tone, as the two soldiers behind her visibly tensed, bracing themselves.

"I... I'm Penny Pelo-"

"-Okay, Penny, why are you talking to me?"

"I-I'm sorry, wha-"

"-Why are you talking to me? What the hell do you want from me?!" His fingernails started to bury into his palms, the bullet mark starting show its cosmic glory, as Penny further backed away to her guardsmen, whom stepped forward, pulling out their rifles on Dove, who's breathed heavier and heavier with each second passing.

"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to calm down, or we will-"

"-What?!" Dove screeched out, slightly hunching, his right arm completely enveloped by the white cosmos, as his left created the great-shield, "what will you do against me?! I will mop the floor with you pathetic humans!" Seething, the whip emerged from his palm, burning the stone beneath, with Dove's tongue gliding itself over his lips, his eyes. blue as could be, opening up to visually devour the figure of Penny, taking in her face of fear for what is about to come.

What is about to come?

What?

Nothing, Dove stop it, he shouted to himself from the depths of his mind, his breathing returning to a less intimidating value. Get rid of the whip, get rid of the shield, get rid of the cosmos, and leave this place. Dove willed it, everything fading away, until the white cosmos was no longer exposed. Yet the soldiers, beads having rolled down under their helmets, still pointed their weapons at the brunette, his face staying as calm as the starry ceiling above.

"I'm leaving now. Move out of the way." His first few steps prompted one of the soldier to pull Penny to his side, as the other maintained his gun on the student, watching for the slightest change in direction, until he was gone from the balcony. From the handrail, he could see not much had changed, save for some frivolous JNPR was doing. Other than that, he could not care to see where his brothers were now. He just wanted to leave. Leave.

Not the worst night I've ever had, but yet a disappointing one nevertheless. No students, no professor, saw him leave the dance, save for two exchange students.

"One of the students is leaving."

"Who?"

"That Bronzewing kid, from CRDL. I don't think we'll have to worry about him though, he looks too demoralized to do anything."

"Oh, good, good."

At outside, in the streets of Beacon, Dove could finally look up at the stars, now in peace, as his orange suit absorbed the dark, until he had arrived back to the dorm building. He found the interior to be quite a comforting warmness, walking, walking, climbing the stairs, pulling out his scroll, opening the door to find their room, filled with darkness, yet there being moonlight that split through their window.

All Dove would remove is his light orange coat, throwing it into the moonlight, before closing the door behind him. He pulled up his sheets, his blankets, and smothered his body beneath them, resting on his side, where he can stare at the moonlight shining onto the floor.

Just staring into it, his cheeks pressed against the pillow.

Staring into it, his eyelids shut.

Staring into it.

...

...

"... Do you see it?"

"..."

"Do you see what lurks around you?"

"..."

"The students? The teachers? The constructs? They are surrounded by it. All of you are surrounded by it."

"..."

"Soon, you will find me, after all these years, finally. Open the chamber, open the door. Let in all that I offer, and you will be rewarded. Your brothers will be rewarded."

"..."

"Soon, I shall return. Then, my Dove, you will finally see all of it that surrounds humanity."

"... Who are you?"

"... You will see me, soon enough. Just... open it..."