The cafeteria was bursting with the sounds of student conversing during lunch. Teams CODE and ROXA were sitting together, as per usual. The majority of the group was talking about their classes and what professors were giving them a hard time. The two leaders, on the other hand, were having a conversation of their own. "Are you sure I can't help you with your training? I don't mind."

Riliane 'looked' over to the other girl, "I'm fine snowflake. Don't worry."

Celeste looked back at her quickly, "Did you….just….call me snowflake?" She asked, voice low so the others couldn't hear.

A light chuckle could be heard from behind Riliane. Celeste looked over to see Nivens giving her a smug grin. She squinted her eyes in response and made a line across her neck with her thumb, before turning back to Riliane.

Riliane started to blush furiously, "I'm sorry. It just kinda came out. I won't do it again if you don't like it, though."

Celeste took hold of her hand, "No, it's fine." She spoke in an even lower tone and covered one side of her face with her hand. "I kinda like it. Just, don't let the others hear you call me that. I don't want them to think they can call me that."

Riliane giggled at the thought of the others calling Celeste by the pet name she had given her. "Sure thing," She leaned close to the other girl. "My special snowflake." Celeste cheeks burned red with the heavy blush spread across her face.

Having noticed Nivens laughing, Owen looked into his leader's mind and snickered, he spoke in a normal tone so to not attract attention of the two girls, "Y'know we should probably get to work on that project for that class."

"What're you talking ab-" D'art was elbowed by Eve and she nodded towards the two girls at the opposite end of the table. "Oh! Right, that project. Yeah, we should get started on that right away."

Nivens shook his head in disappointment, "You're terrible at lying."

Owen shrugged and they all got up without Celeste and Riliane even paying attention to them.

Once they had exited the cafeteria they all slowed to a stop. "I think I'm going to actually study," Eve said. "Anyone want to join me in the library?"

"I actually would like to get a head start on a paper for Professor Peach," Amelia replied.

"I'll come with then," Olive cheered. "You coming too, Nivy?"

Nivens looked her dead in the eyes, "Never call me that again. And no, I was planning on doing a few touch ups on Vena today."

"Oo! Can I watch?"

He sighed, "Just try not to ask too many questions."

They all walked away, leaving D'art and Owen by themselves in the hall. "Wanna play some Road Combatant?" D'art asked while hold his scroll up.

"Absolutely," Owen replied and they headed back to their dorm. As the two approached, they found Cerise waiting outside impatiently tapping her foot. "Hi Cerise." Owen said with a smile as they walked over to her. Cerise nodded back in reply, then looked at D'art and handed him a note wrapped in a seal and velvet print without a word.

"What's this?" He asked, confused. He unwrapped the letter and read attentively at every syllable. He dropped the note, shaking his head. 'D'artagnan Montaigne, by order of the Ridge, you must return to the Militia at once.' D'art stood shocked, dropping the letter to the floor. He finally gave a small chuckle and balled up the note and chucked it into the opposite corner. Owen sighed and opened the door to head inside, This would take a while.


D'art and Cerise's screaming echoed across the halls. Owen sat in the middle of the two, watching as they hurled insults and complaints at each other. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT COMING BACK?!" Cerise said, unwrapping the letter and shoving it in her coat pocket.

D'art waved his hands around at the room, "I've still got stuff to do here! Humanity is still out there and we've gotta fight it!"

Cerise stared back at D'art blankly, shaking herself out of her stupor. "You idiot, that's why you're coming back! We can't have one of our guardsmen in the middle of harm's way like this, working for another country! I was told to come back with you no matter what."

D'art sighed, looking around the room and back at Owen. "I just can't. I made a promise to my friends, to Eve."

Cerise scoffed, crossing her arms, "Oh. I see, it's that Eve girl huh? Whenever you're doing something stupid or dangerous she's always around. Convenient, eh D'art?"

D'art stood dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what Cerise had said. "What're you saying?" He finally blurred out.

Owen couldn't help but stifle a chuckle, catching a cold glare from Cerise. "What's up tin can, think this is funny?"

D'art's confusion turned to anger, stepping between Owen and Cerise, pointing a finger in cerise's face. "Hey, leave him out of this, huh? It's between you and me."

Cerise blew some hair out of her face, staring back at D'art with the same cold glare. "Big words from a battery with no juice." The argument shifted to their native tongue, the foreign language escalating the argument higher and higher.

Finally Owen cut in between the two, pushing them away. "Ok ok, everyone relax. Now, why don't we settle this like mature, semi responsible adults?"

Cerise and D'art sighed, looking at each other and saying in unison "You're on." The two rushed out and headed towards the training grounds.


Thankfully, class had been cut short, so the grounds were practically empty except for a few taking bets on the lover's quarrel in the stands. D'art took to the south of the arena while Cerise took the north. D'art put on his coat and brandished his rifle, waving sarcastically at Cerise.

Owen placed his hand on D'arts shoulder, trying to plead with him in his mind. D'art shrugged him off, kicking the dust off his shoes. "Sorry man, this is just something we gotta do."

Owen places his hands over his eyes. "What, fight your girlfriend?"

"Yes," D'art responded simply, moving into the ring standing opposite Cerise. Neither activated their Aura causing a concerned look to cross Owen's face.

"May the best win," She taunted. "Hopefully Eve can dress your wounds." D'art rolled his eyes, getting into a fighting stance. From the sidelines Owen started counting down from three to one. Before he could reach zero, Cerise launched forward with her knives, D'art barely able to raise his rifle to block in time. D'art shoved back, pushing Cerise far enough away to take a shot at her blades. One of the steel hunting knives clattered on the floor, a bullet hole present in the center of the blade. D'art cracked a smile, blowing the smoke from his rifle. Cerise winked back at him, ferociously chucking bolas at him. D'art smile went back to a face of concentration, attempting to shoot the bolas out of the air. He hit most, but two found their mark, tying his legs and hands together. D'art dropped the rifle and fell onto the ground, struggling to get loose. Cerise rushed over, laying her knee on his chest and stabbing a knife through the bola into the ground, pinning him. "Give up, sparky." She jeered, pushing her knee further into his chest. D'art grunted, grabbing ahold of the bola. Thankfully, it was metal, as was the majority of the knife. He began to shoot an electric pulse through his whole body and into Cerise. Cerise fell off, rolling back to her side of the ring. Cerise grunted in pain, holding her side. D'art grabbed his rifle, rushing over to Cerise on the ground. He held out a hand, shaking his head and frantically apologizing. Cerise rolled back to face him, sneering. She took huge sweep at his legs, tripping him and injuring his leg in the process. Both stayed on the ground, rolling in pain from the fight. Owen sighed, opening his scroll and calling Eve to help bring them both to the infirmary.


"-ke up...jeez these meds really knocked him out." A voice said as D'art shook his head, gaining awareness of where he was. Eve, Cerise, and Owen were standing over him.

"Ugh. My head's swimming. Did I win?"

Cerise shrugged, "In a way. Doc says he wants to keep you under watch for a while longer then you can go. Me and Eve talked when I woke up. While I was very...loud at times, she told me everything that's going on. I'm sorry, I should've…"

D'art waved his hand dismissively, "It's ok. I know." He grabbed Cerise's hand, holding it like he was falling off a cliff. "Look, I want to go home, trust me. But I can't leave until this threat is gone, so you and I can live in peace. I can't have you involved with this, it's just too dangerous. Heck, even I'm not completely sure I'll be safe. But knowing you're safe helps me get through it all."

Cerise smiled as she kissed D'art on the cheek. "I'll tell Dumas what's up." She said, leaving the infirmary.

Eve walked over to D'artagnan's side, smiling. "Thanks, D'art. I really appreciate it." D'art gave a big grin back, nursing his injuries.


After getting diner with CODE in the cafeteria, which took far longer than expected as D'art was over exaggerating his limp and they had the surprise guest of Cerise, team ROXA retired to their dorm for the night. Despite the threat of Humanity still lingering over them, they were all able to relax a little thanks to the safety of the school. Xanthic was just sitting down to finish up some notes when his scroll buzzed. It was a number that made his heart race, Vincent. He opened the message in a hurry, "I'm at the statue get out here."

"I'll be back!" Xanthic said, already scrambling out.

"What's so-" The rest of Riliane's question never came as the door was slammed shut behind him.

When Xanthic got outside the dorm building he slowed his pace to catch his breath, but he never stopped. As he approached the statue on the edge of Beacon's campus, Xanthic wasn't sure if this was better or worse. Standing there was not Vincent in his dark green suit, but Yukina, wearing her dingy pink hoodie. "What are you-" Before he could finish she lunged out at him. Xanthic barely avoided her blades as he ducked away.

"Orelon Picto's your father, right?" Yukina more insisted than asked.

"Wha- y-yes, he is!" He answered in a panic.

Taking a few steps forward, Yukina paused for a second seeming to argue with herself before pointing one pair of blades at Xanthic, "Where is he?"

"I… I d-don't know," He matched her paces backwards and held his hands up defensively.

As she continued to walk forward Yukina's words became more feverish, "Lying, lying, lying, he's lying, he knows…." The words did not seem directed towards him nor did she seem to be acknowledging them until she stopped again, "Or are you working with him? Lies upon lies."

"Wha- I- O-of course I'm n-not. I-I'd never. We can t-talk this through. Pl-please, just- just p-put your weapon down. I don't wa-want to fight."

Yukina looked down, seeming surprised when she saw her drawn weapon, "I… I didn't…" She took a few steps back towards the statue and leaned against it. Xanthic sighed in relief.

"Maybe her poetry wasn't too far off actually," Nivens pondered.

"What do you mean?" Xanthic asked him in a whisper.

"Nevermind, there's more important things to worry about right now."

"Ri-right…" Xanthic took a step closer to the statue and spoke in a quiet voice, "Yu-Yukina?" The girl looked up to him in response but offered no reply. "Um… A-are you alri-right? I mean… Wh-why are you here, a-at Beacon?"

Yukina pulled out a scroll and tossed it towards Xanthic, "I know... I know who your father is… he's who I've been looking for."

He barely caught it and fumble with the device for a moment before activating it. Xanthic knew there was only one way she'd be able to get this scroll and swallowed down his panic, "Wh-what do you mean? Who d-do you think he is?"

"Don't play dumb."

"I-I…" He sighed, figuring his chances of remaining alive were marginally better if he told her the truth. "I'm s-sorry, but please l-let me explain ev-verything." Again the only reply was silence. "W-well you see um…" Xanthic told her how his plan had been to help the kingdom form countermeasures to Humanity and that he was the one who let the others know about the mission in the woods. Reluctantly, he even confessed that the night they first met was when he was offered to work with Humanity, that he wasn't an actual prisoner.

As Xanthic spoke Yukina listened in mostly silence only occasionally speaking to herself, notably when he mentioned the time they met. When he finished she finally spoke to him after having another nonsensical conversation with herself, "Do you even know what your father has done?"

"I-I do…" Xanthic bowed his head. "I still don't understand why he's doing this though…"

"Clearly because he's a lunatic," Nivens said. "I mean really, that crap he said about doing this for Claire is just nonsense."

"Well with how he e-explained it…"

"Whether he's got a plan or not, murder is still murder."

"I know…"

As Xanthic was distracted with Nivens, Yukina suddenly stepped forward, "And you would just let him continue?" Now mere inches away from Xanthic, she repeated the question quietly to herself multiple times.

"You're being too indecisive," Nivens told him. "Let me handle this."

"But you'll…"

"My goal is to sleep in our bed tonight, not a coffin."

"A-alright," Xanthic swallowed again.

Nivens gave a short exhale, "I need you to just calm down and listen to me for a minute, Yukina." He tried to make his voice as soothing as possible, like he was talking to a frightened animal rather than a person. "Just because our method is different doesn't mean we don't want the same thing in the end. We both want Humanity stopped as soon as possible. The only difference is that you decided to destroy them and I just want them to dissolve."

"What's the difference? Gone is gone…" Yukina rambled quietly, "But you haven't made anyone gone… You're lying again… Stop lying to me!"

Nivens jumped back out of fear of being suddenly stabbed and muttered, "That delusional little…" He shook his head and spoke to her again, now struggling to keep his tone smooth, "I'm not lying, you just aren't accepting what I'm telling you."

"No! You're a liar! Liar, liar, just like- Just like them…"

"I'm not sure if it's because you're delusional or if you're actually an idiot…" Nivens sighed and let his annoyance show through, "People can't lie through your semblance can they? You know that I'm a faunus and you probably understand better than anyone else how I feel about Orelon. It's not that I'm doing nothing, I just need to be careful and subtle with what I do so I don't get caught and killed."

With that the conversation stalled again, the only sounds in the courtyard being the quiet mumbling of Yukina talking to herself. After a few minutes she stopped and sat in silence before quietly making a single demand, "Tell me where he is."

"No," Nivens said sternly. "If anyone is going to kill that man, it'll be me. Besides, wherever he is right now he's bound to be with Claire and I won't let you hurt her. She's a good person…"

"I just want him," Yukina replied stepping closer

"And I just want for as few people to die as possible, so how about we calm down and come to an agreement here?"

Pausing to think about his proposal, Yukina raised her weapon towards him, "No more talking, no more lying, where is he."

He grabbed one of the blades, "It's a shame I'm so-" He was abruptly cut off as the blades moved forward with unexpected force pushing him to the ground, making eye contact as he fell everything went dark.


All around him was nothing, not light or dark, hot or cold, just nothing. His heart raced and his breathing hastened, but there was no air. Nivens began to choke on the nothingness. Right before he was consumed there was a sharp pain on the back of his head, as his vision grew dim again he could faintly see a wide eyed Yukina slowly backing away from him.


"Hey, you alright?" A deep voice called out as a warm hand gently shook Xanthic awake. He winced from a sudden sharp pain in the back of his head and sat up as his aura sealed the small wound.

"Tigre..? Wh-what are you-" Xanthic remembered what happened and looked around frantically, "What time is it?"

"Almost 11."

"Di-did you- Um… Did you by chance see a girl wi-with pink hair?"

He paused and thought for a moment, "I don't think so. Did she attack you?"

"N-no, well… yes, but…" Xanthic sniffed the air, "What's that smell?"

Tigre pointed over him, "I'm guessing that girl left it."

Xanthic looked and saw the crushed form of a cupcake with greenish white fuzz coating the frosting. "Ugh, that's disgusting!" He jumped away from it. "Wh-why would she leave something like- like that here?"

"I was confused too."

"Um, n-not to be rude, but um, wha-what're you doing here, Tigre?"

"Dan lost his knives, we were all looking for them…"

"Oh, right, I um, I forgot to give him th-the two I bought because so much ha-happened."

"You bought him knives?"

"Yeah, th-they were going to be a ge-get well gift, b-but like I said a lot happened that ni-night. Um… Wh-why are you st-staring at me li-like that?" Xanthic's face got pink from embarrassment and he turned away.

"Your hat…"

"What a-about-" As he reached up to tug down on its brim, Xanthic realized what Tigre ment. He quickly got up and retrieved his hat from its place next to a small dark red stain and put it on. "Pl-please don't- don't tell anyone ab-bout this! I'll do wha-whatever you want, but keep this a secret, please!" Xanthic begged.

Tigre was taken back from how desperate Xanthic was. "Alright," He agreed despite his hatred of secrets.

"Th-thank you," Xanthic relaxed slightly and looked up to see the crumbled moon. "I, um, I should get back. Riliane is probably worried… I-I'll bring those knives over to-tomorrow. Um… Goo-goodnight and, uh, good lu-luck, I guess…" He rushed back to his dorm wondering why Nivens wasn't giving his usual commentary on situations like that.


"It's been over three hours," Riliane said with concern as he entered. "Where'd you go?"

"N-nowhere, I just, um, I just had to take care of something qui-quickly. S-sorry for worrying you…"

"If you didn't want me to worry, then why didn't you answer your scroll?"

"I, um, I didn't hear it, um…" Xanthic searched his pockets, getting more frantic with each one. "I must've dr-dropped it somewhere. Could I, um, cou-could I use yours quickly, Olive?"

"Hm? Oh, sure," She tossed the device to him and Xanthic dialed his own number.

He was surprised to hear a young woman answer, "Hello?"

"Y-you took my scroll? Wh-why would you- I need that."

"You weren't going to tell me anything. You don't care. I'll find him on my own."

"You can't fi-fight him alone! He'll k-ki-kill you!"

"I'll do it first."

"No, wait!" But she already hung up.

"Who was that Xan..?" Riliane asked cautiously.

He swallowed and slowly handed Olive her scroll, "Yu-Yukina…"


Xanthic jumped awake in a cold sweat. His breathing was panicked like it was trying to grasp something. Olive was the only one to wake up as it was the middle of the night, "Are you alright Xan?" She asked from her bed.

"H-how was I s-supposed t-t-to know?" He pleaded quietly.

"Xanthic?"

"Wh-what do you want m-me to do..?" Olive's eyes adjusted to the dim light enough to make out Xanthic's shaking figure. "N-no we-we can't!," He told himself in a whisper. "Wh-why would you ev-ven suggest th-that!?"

Olive used her semblance to be sat cross legged in front of him, making Xanthic jump again. "Is something bothering you, Xan?"

"Oh, um, n-no. I'm sorry if I w-woke you."

"Did Yukina give you another hallucination?"

"Wh-what're you- wh-why would you think that?"

"Because that was that reason for your last nightmare, wasn't it?" Xanthic flinched at the vivid memory, "Sorry, sensitive topic…" Olive grabbed her ankles and leaned back, "If it's a dream problem I could ask my cousin for one of her herbal remedies?"

"H-herbal remedies..? I thought your family were, well, I thought they were all huntsmen?"

"They are, but just as much as we don't let any enemies get away, we don't leave anyone behind. Everyone knows at the very least basic first aid in case their aura is depleted during a battle."

"Oh, that's very um, pr-practical. B-but no, um, no thank you, I'm fine, re-really."

"She says that the only reason people get nightmares is because there's something bothering them, but she says it like super fancy. She's kinda the poetic one in my family," Olive chuckled.

"Oh, we-well she might be onto s-something, but I re-really don't want to talk about it."

"Hmm, what if I guess it? Can you at least tell me if I'm right?"

"I, um, I'd really ra-rather just go to back t-to bed I think."

"Aren't you going to have trouble sleeping?"

It was too dark for her to see Xanthic smirk at whatever snide remark Nivens had this time. "I th-think it'd be better to talk in the morning. It's, well, it's something that I need to tell everyone…"

"So it is a Humanity thing, then?"

"Ye-yeah… D-don't worry though, I'll uh, we'll figure something out…"

"Alright then. Good morning Xanthic," Olive teleported back over to her bed and pulled the covers over herself.

"Ri-right, good morning…"