Pre-Chapter Author's Note: I have gotten a code for a free month of Hulu Plus that I would like to give out to anybody who wants it. If you do, send me a PM and I will give it to the first person who messages me.

Chapter 39: Hybrids

Lunas let the door swing closed behind him as he walked up to the desk.

"Hello again, Lunas. What information do you bring me this time?" Ozpin asked as Lunas sat down.

"First off, Roman Torchwick is in possession of Blake." Lunas responded.

"Go on."

"The Vespers have agreed to let him keep her for two reasons. First, testing. Apparently she can provide details about Grimm?"

Genuine confusion flickered into Ozpin's face, like a candle with a fresh flame. "How is this possible?"

"Well, you see. While you were gone, Roman actually contacted Sun using his Semblance. He gave us a single clue to throw us off: Blake is half Grimm."

Keeping in line with the candle metaphor, Ozpin now looked like a candle that been told it was a lamp. "...You're kidding me."

"Unfortunately, no. What other use does Blake have to the Vespers?"

Ozpin laid his head on his hands before answering.

"Manipulation. They believe that they can use Blake as a means of controlling us. And they would be right on some fronts. Yang is even more insane than before, and everyone else is almost as eager to get Blake back as her."
"Are you saying you don't care?"

"Not at all, I'm saying that I have no choice but to focus on the war right now."

"What war?"

"The Grimm. They are gathering in the roadways between the kingdoms, blocking all methods of ground transportation."

"They've never done that before."

"I know, and that's what worries me. But that's not something you should concern yourself with just yet. Focus on getting Blake back and then we can repurpose your crew. Is there anything else you would like to tell me before you are dismissed?"

"No, I think that's- wait, Ren's back."

"He is? I thought he abandoned."

"He did, kind of. I'll let him explain."

"He's here?"

"Yes, call him in."

"Could you send Ren in, please?" Ozpin asked, raising his voice to be heard from outside.

It was twenty seconds before Ren slipped through the door. He walked to the desk and sat down beside Lunas.

"You rang?"

"I did, where have you been?"

"Just, hanging around."

Ozpin gave a death glare at that and Ren finally broke.

"I heard about the meeting from you and wanted to go see for myself. I spent a few days scouting out the area around it, but when I tried to infiltrate I was caught."

"But why? You knew that I would send someone."

"I, uh, wanted to get back at them for Nora."

"You of all people should know that revenge isn't the answer to everything."

Ren just sat there, trying to keep his rising anger from showing on his face.

"I know, sir." He said through clenched teeth.

Ozpin looked hard at the seething student in front of him before laying off.

"Thank you both for coming, you are dismissed."

Lunas and Ren pushed through the door and found themselves face to face with Hailey again.

"Come with me." She said shortly.

"Why? What's going on?" Lunas asked as he was dragged through the halls with a still very angry Ren in tow.

"Sun's up, he'll explain everything."

"Ha, I see what you did-" A random student started before being smacked by Hailey on the way by.

Lunas looked back fearfully, making a mental note not to anger Hailey in the future. They quickly arrived at SCAR's room and Hailey knocked.

"It's open!" Sun called from the inside.

Lunas broke free from Hailey and led the way inside. Sun's expression lit up when he saw his brother, perfectly intact.

"Lunas! You're okay!" Sun rushed over and hugged him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I won't be if you don't let go." Lunas managed to choke out.

Sun smiled, releasing his brother from his grasp and taking a step back.

"So how did it go?"

"Overall, good. I was able to get some information about the Vespers… and I saved him." Lunas gestured backward to where Ren and Hailey were standing.

"Oh Ren, you're back! Funny how I didn't notice him until you brought it up."

"Yeah, I'm back." Ren replied.

Sun raised an eyebrow and turned his attention back to Lunas.

"Have you seen Ozpin yet?"

"Yes, he's alerted me to some of the goings on around here." Lunas replied, slightly sarcastic.

"So the main thing you need to be told now is our future plans. I have assembled a strike force to track Blake around the clock."

"Who all is on this 'strike force'?"

"You, Hailey, Blade, and Yang."

"Hmm, I can work with them. But I want Ren on it too."
"Why?"

"I liked working with him at the mansion."

Sun paused for a minute before answering.

"I'm sure I'll hear about what happened at some point. But to answer your question, sure."

"One question: What about the rest of you?"

"We need to stay in class and prepare for the Grimm War that is fast approaching."

"And we're expendable?"

"Well you're not enrolled here, Hailey doesn't have a team any more, Blade can be very useful to you, Yang refuses to do anything but look for Blake anyway, and Ren has pretty much gone rogue already."

"I'm right here, you know." Ren said, not amused.

"Sorry. The point is, you guys are not only expendable, but you have the best chance of finding Blake."

"I'm glad you thought of me, we'll find her."

"Thanks, I know I can count on you."

Sun hugged his brother again before watching as Lunas led the way out the door, Hailey and Ren close behind.

"Whew, that was close." Aurora rolled out from the bed, partially clothed.

Sun just rolled his eyes and threw her a pair of shorts and a shirt.

"Good to know you're good at acting like a dead body."

Aurora smiled ruefully and caught the clothing.

"I'm sure it'll come in handy at some point."

Yang woke up at exactly six the next morning and began the routine she had become accustomed to ever since Blake had been gone. Wake up, shower, get dressed, grab a Pop Tart from the cafeteria, hit some punching bags in the gym, and finally begin searching for Blake using her scroll. She was in the middle of the last one when Lunas walked up behind her.

"Hey." He said, laying his hand on Yang's shoulder.

Yang jumped and turned around, eyes turning red and hair becoming brighter.

"What?"

"Calm down, I just wanted to ask you about any information you may have gotten so far on Blake's whereabouts."

"Oh," Yang was taken aback, this wasn't the response she had expected. "I haven't gotten anything huge yet, but I do know the location of a high ranking White Fang officer."

"Hmm, do you think he would know anything about Blake?"

"First, 'he' is a girl. Second, I would bet a good amount on her knowing, she's also a member of the Vespers."

"What is her name?"

"Kaitel Rashuda."

"Where is she?"

"She will be at the Pashar al Damah, one of the most renowned casinos in Vale, all day tomorrow. Turns out she's quite a gambler."

"Well now she's gambling with her life."

"She better hope she's lucky."

"Luck is no factor for us, we'll get her no matter what."

"Hurry, we have to get to class." Krystal grabbed Colton's arm and pulled him through the hallways.

"Krystal?" Colton asked in between tripping.

"Yes?"

"We're heading the wrong way again."

Krystal stopped and facepalmed.

"I thought I could do it, I've been studying every night on how to understand direction."

"It's whatever, just follow me to class."

With Colton leading, they made it to Port's classroom in under thirty seconds. They sat down just as the bell rang, signaling the start of class.

"Glad you could make it, Mr. Canius and Ms. Rain. And welcome everyone to Grimm Studies, with your teacher, Professor Port." Port started. "That would be… me."

"I never would have guessed." One student sarcastically muttered.

"Today, we will be discussing multiple things, ending on hybrids."

Class went on as boringly as usual, with most students falling asleep at some point in the class. Finally, Port directed the conversation to hybrids.

"We will be talking about human/faunus hybrids, or as I like to call them, Hunus."

Boos echoed throughout the classroom, making Port rethink.

"Uh, bad joke. Anyways, these 'faumans' are more similar to the fauness than humans. They have the telling animal body parts, but they are not nearly as large. For instance, a fox faunus may have a thirty centimeter tail, but a fox fauman may have a fifteen centimeter tail. Aside from that, there is really not much of a difference. The reason this is is because humans and faunus don't really have too many differences to begin with. The sad thing about them is that they never seem to fit anywhere. The humans usually don't like them because they are part faunus and the fauness don't like them because they are part human. Because of this, they stand on the thin line between the two races, with only their immediate friends for comfort. A lot of them even hide that fact that they are faumans just to dodge the ridicule that could be thrown at them. Any questions?"

Colton raised his hand, nodding as Port called on him.

"What if, hypothetically of course, there was a Grimm that mated with either a human or faunus?" He asked.

Port seemed flustered by the idea but continued on valiantly. "That's preposterous."

"So there's no chance?" Colton leaned back and smiled.

"Well, there has been no record of any such thing happening, but I guess it could happen."

This marked the first time in Port's long teaching career that every student was awake and listening intently, as this was the first time they had seen Port deviate from the lesson plan.

"Grimm reproduce via a version of copying themselves. In short, one Grimm imagines an image of themself into existence. This is usually another Grimm that they see, so the child looks like them. I guess this could work with humans/fauness as well. The Grimm sees a human and imagines the child to look like them. This would mean that the child would look like the parent, shockingly so, in fact. They might even look like clones. The only problem would be internal organs. The Grimm can't see the insides of humans, so it would have no idea what organs there are and where they go. And so, this theory is debunked. Thank you for the question Colton, but it appears that what you described is an impossibility."

The bell went off and, in an amazing turn of events, everyone groaned as they were forced to leave.

"We will continue with this discussion next time. Class dismissed, and remember, stay vigilant." Port said as he sat down to think through the idea further.

Lunas led the way through the brush surrounding the casino, everyone else close behind. The night was cold, and the faint noise of shouting people blew past them on the wind.

"Come on, little ducklings, we have a ways to go yet." He whispered, much to the chagrin of the rest.

Many eye rolls later, the group set off again. They dodged between cars to get through the parking lot and found themselves beside the casino in no time. They split up, with Lunas and Ren running around to the other side of the building, Blade and Hailey staying, and Yang walking up to the front doors. They were trying a three pronged attack strategy, infiltrating from the front and both sides. They had planned exactly where they would be when the casino finally closed and they planned to grab the target while she was on her way back to her room.

"Everybody ready?" Lunas asked over his throat mic.

"Ready." They replied.

"Alright then, let's go."

Author's Note:
I am very proud of some of the jokes I was able to make in this chapter, and none of you can tell me differently. Again, if you want the Hulu Plus free month trial send me a PM. I would like to thank my editor Leviticus Wilkes for telling me that my original chapter was absolute crap and to fix it in no uncertain terms. It actually really helped the final build of this chapter in my view. As always if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881