(A/N) PLOOOOOT! I hope you guys have been looking forward to this because I can promise you, you'll have as much fun reading this as I did writing it. There's plot this time! In both senses of the word! (wink).

On a more serious note, I understand that with Volume 5 officially out, and with the lore that Rooster Teeth is going to inevitably drop on us a few weeks down the line, that certain bits about this story are no longer going to be in line with many details of the anime. When that happens, we could consider this a slight AU. Just barely. I'm pretty sure Volume 5 is going to reveal more info about the Silver Eyes Ruby eyes, as well as Salem's past and overall nature, and Ozpin's master plan and the secrets he is trying to hide will be revealed. When that happens… well, screw me, am I right? However, that doesn't AT ALL mean that I will lose hope for this story, abandoned it, or even simply put in less effort. Granted, certain things may change a bit to keep more in line with the show, but the story will still be great, and I will do my best to make it the best possible for you.

Other than that, I realize this is a few days early, and that's because I'm going to be updating this chapter now and the next one at the normal time as a kind of "two for one deal" or a two parter because this one and the next one are linked so closely together. However, in literature like this one, I don't believe in doing a "part one and part two" between two chapters because it doesn't make any sense. If I was writing about a subplot spanning over multiple chapters, then maybe it would make sense, but considering these chapters are still part of the main plotline, even though I'm posting them back to back, I'm going to write them as their own chapters.

In short, you can consider this chapter and the one following to be riddled with plot throughout each of their 23 pages, but this chapter is the only with (ahem) "plot" so enjoy it while it lasts. After that, chapter 2.6 will be less about plot, and more of the after effects of these past two chapters where we will go back to that sweet, mushy, gooey, fluffy cute crap that we all love. Maybe. Chapter 2.5 is… kind of screwed up.

Good luck, Beautiful Hunters!

Act 2

Chapter 4

Defense. A punch to his jaw, a roundhouse to his inner thigh, and a spinning hook kick to his temple, all blocked. Grey was holding his own but quickly losing ground. The girl was just too strong for him despite her size. She was smaller, faster, more flexible, and had a wider array of moves. In no time flat, he was on the ground with blood spilling from a gash in forehead.

Rolling backwards, he put up a shield which his opponent managed to get around before it was fully formed, taking advantage of her more advanced agility. She rammed her shoulder into him hard. She spun, and her heel collided with his solar plexus and knocked the wind out of him. Stumbling back, he managed to stay on his feet. He gripped his stomach and tried to regain the breath he just lost but when he looked up, the girl was still pushing him. He didn't have time to think. He just moved. He jumped to the side, only for her to spin again and hit him in the jaw with a back fist. The effort it took to stand was getting harder and harder, but she wasn't going to knock him down again. She had him on the run. He was an expert at close combat, so the range put him at a disadvantage and she knew that. He kept moving. He had to find some kind of opening to escape because he wasn't going to win this fight.

He failed. His back hit a wall and the girl beat him down until he was put to his knees.

"Something on your mind, Grey?" Velvet asked as she put down her fists and helped him to his feet, "You seem distracted."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I guess," he grumbled, sitting on the bench and wiping the sweat off of his face as the medic bot in the training hall stitched him up, "Just girl troubles." Velvet stayed standing and shadow boxed for a while to perfect her muscle memory, trying to keep her heat up and train as hard as was necessary for Beacon Academy's elite standard.

"Is this about the dance?" she asked, "Because I'm free if you want to go together?" Grey glared at her tiredly and she smiled playfully at him. "Only teasing. You know I have Yatsuhashi."

"You guys are perfect together, by the way," Grey admitted, sipping an energy drink.

"Thank you! Now, to be serious, what about Coco? I think she'd be happy to go with you." Grey pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Velvet, please be serious."

"I am!"

"One, you and I both know that if I asked her, I would be nothing more than a fancy decoration, and two, she utterly terrifies me."

"OK, I can admit the first one is probably true, but she's not that scary."

Grey responded to the comment by just staring at her silently, his eyes narrowed.

"OK, I see your point," Velvet admitted. She was sporting a blue sports bra and white yoga pants to Grey's white sleeveless tee shirt and blue track pants. Deciding now would be a good time for a break, she wiped her brow and joined him on the bench where he handed her one of his drinks, and a power bar so the prey animal wouldn't tire out. Sure, her slender body made her more agile and nimble than most, but she needed to gain a bit more muscle. A lithe frame was good for infiltration, but real combat like they were training for would literally break her very quickly, not to mention how it lowered her stamina which was crucial for extended periods of conflict. She gratefully took the protein.

"Actually," Grey said after a period of rest and silence, "If you really want to know, this is about Ruby and Weiss."

"Really?!" Velvet asked happily, making Grey raise his eyebrow, "Have any of them actually confessed to you yet? Are you going to ask them to the dance? I've been waiting so long for this! You all would make such a great trio! You need to tell me what happened! How did they tell you?! What are you planning for your first dates?! How did..." Velvet realized she was rambling, and over excited. Grey watched her with pure confusion as she forced herself to relax, both her shoulders and ears drooping before he spoke again.

"You… seem awfully excited about this," Grey noticed. Velvet smirked coyly.

"You're not denying that anything happened," she pointed out, "You and those two are like Jaune and Pyrrha- everyone knows you love each other except you three. It was like you were all the last to know about it."

"I hate you," Grey said flatly, remembering his thoughts from last night, "I guess that would make Ren and Nora the 'we're not ready to admit our feelings for each other just yet and we've been denying them for years' kind of pair, then?"

"Yep," Velvet agreed before turning to Grey and grabbing his arm insistently, "But what happened with Weiss and Ruby?! Tell me!"

The bunny began slapping his arm rapid fire to try to get an answer. Reluctantly, but knowing he could trust his friend, evidently one of his best friends at Beacon but he wasn't sure how or when that happened, he told the story of the week prior and how he learned about his feelings for them. Velvet, though, wasn't having any of it, and wanted more info. She grilled Grey for as much information as possible. She wanted to know everything about how he figured out he liked them, what he specifically liked about them, a really uncomfortable two seconds talking about what he wanted to do to them, but Velvet quickly diverted the conversation to how he was going to confess to them, but that's when the conversation took a less cute, more complicated turn as they hit upon the idea. It left both of them scowling at the floor. Velvet hadn't realized the specific problem Grey was having until after he said it out loud.

"Maybe I'm not the best person to ask about monogamy," Velvet said, "Rabbit faunus are closer to our animal counterparts than most people would think, so when we… have a need… we tend to fill it with anyone willing. Especially with other rabbit faunus, and whether we're devoted to one person or not. We often shag with multiple people sometimes if our partners are willing. In fact, one time with Yatsuhashi, Coco-"

"I really don't want to hear this!" Grey squealed, jumping up and covering his ears. That was a mental image he desperately did not want or need. How did that even physically work for them? The man was a giant! Even when standing, Velvet was barely tall enough to stand over his… hips… Again, not a mental image Grey ever wanted to think about. Either way, Velvet's poor waist…

"Fine, fine!" the woman recovered, "What I'm saying is that…" Velvet bit her lip and broke eye contact. Grey raised his eyebrow one more time at her. She was acting oddly suspicious about this, and given the last topic of conversation, Grey was very curious. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to hear what she had to say anymore, but he did trust her, and that was a privilege she had earned. Unlike Yang or Blake, Velvet was the one he could come to for a non judgemental ear to talk to. Her advice always being spot didn't hurt either. Whatever she was withholding from him, whatever she wanted to say but was clearly avoiding, was something that Grey decided he wanted to hear after a bit of consideration. She wanted to help. It wasn't that he really needed it, but he wasn't going to turn her down like this.

"Velvet," Grey said gently, taking his seat next to her one more time and taking her hands tightly, "If you have any idea on how I could handle this love triangle, then tell me. I know you'll be able to help me." Velvet looked down for a second, then back up to him very intently, a more dangerous look than Grey ever thought he would see in her eyes laced in her features. Grey swiftly removed his hands. Seeing a prey animal look like she was about to drain him of all his blood was nightmare fuel

"Do you trust me?" she asked. Grey didn't even hesitate.

"With my life," he shot back with a righteous fury in his voice. It wasn't like he just went through an entire line of thought about that topic, damn. Velvet sighed in relief.

"Then… Why not date both of them? Sure, you'd have to ask them and make sure they're OK with sharing you, but there's really nothing stopping you from having them both. Polygamy is actually pretty common here in Vale anyway." Grey blinked at her. His heart absolutely halted at the idea, which probably wasn't healthy, and he was mute for a full minute before speaking.

"I'm from Mistral…" he whispered. Velvet dipped her head and looked at him dryly, her eyes narrowed and her lips in a pout, showing her disappointment very clearly.

"Dude…" she grunted, "That is the worst excuse I've ever heard."

"And we're done here!" Grey was wrong. He didn't want to hear that idea.

"You can silence me, but you can't silence the truth!" Velvet called after him as he began training again, "Seriously. They already like you. If you're honest with them and tell them that you just can't choose, then I'm sure they'll understand and at least try to-" Velvet shut her mouth. Grey was still giving her a dirty look, but he politely answered his ringing scroll, the bunny politely waiting to speak again at the side, but what she was about to say was lost when she saw Grey's scowl grow even darker. It didn't seem serious, but something was going on that made him upset.

"I've got to go Velvet," Grey groaned, putting on his collarless leather jacket and donning an upgraded version of Animus and Albatross for his most recent mission. Velvet eyed the weapons curiously. They used to be nothing more than slab of steel with explosives and other oddities strapped to it. Now, they looked like they were worthy of being called something more powerful than pea shooters, turning from bracers he slipped over his arms to armored gloves that looked more like robotic prosthetics than anything else. She couldn't see if there were any weapons on them, though. Maybe they had hidden latches? She would have to grill him a bit more once he got back to see if she could find out how they worked, but the real improvement to his weapon set were his new boots. They were just hunks of metal and piping over his shoes, but she knew what those did. They had rockets on all sides, shooting in every direction to rapidly change his momentum mid strike, but it looked like he had improved their firepower. He clicked them to life and launched into the air, the napalm burning the floor beneath him.

"Good luck Grey!" Velvet shouted after him after gathering her wits from the shock of seeing him fly, "We'll finish this conversation later!"

Grey could only wave back before he flew out of the sky light in the middle of the gymnasium that was left open for him. Willing his rockets to shut off, cutting off the flow of aura into them as a kind of power switch, he lightly landed on his feet on the roof where Glynda and Ozpin were waiting for him. He dug his hands into his pockets, grumbling. They promised him he could have the day off.

Subconsciously, he noticed a lot of negative emotions in the distance, but chose to ignore it.

"I'm assuming that you called me for something important?" Grey asked them sharply, pushing his boundaries around the school's dominatrix. He knew he was being rude, and that he was most likely going to receive a riding crop to the face in a second, but figured that would be better than dealing with the pervert one floor below him. Bunny faunus were weird. Fortunately, it seemed like Glynda hadn't heard him because she refused to look up from her scroll or acknowledge him, Ozpin taking the lead instead.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Arsen," the headmaster greeted, "I trust you've been keeping up with your studies?"

"Eh, they come and go," Grey said dismissively, referencing his grades, "The bigger issue lately has been about the dance. Basic high school drama, you know? 'You have to move fast or all the good ones will be taken,' if those cheesy rom-coms from two decades ago are anything to go by. I'm trying to figure out who to take." Grey narrowed his eyes at Glynda who he saw smile knowingly, eavesdropping on the conversation while lackadaisically searching her tablet. Even Ozpin gave a more playful smile than usual.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said fatherly, "A boy in your situation is bound to have a date soon with four options merely a toss of a hat away."

Grey's shoulders slumped at that. Even if Grey was one of the headmaster's contacts, it constantly surprised him how much Ozpin knew went on in his school. Most principals wouldn't care about the local drama, but even if Ozpin were one of those disinterested officials, Velvet made Grey aware that everyone in the school knew Weiss, Ruby and himself had some form of romantic tension between them, and mentioning the entire team? All four members? He was just being coy about his knowledge of the two specific girls on the team Grey was suffering over..

"Anyway, Ozpin and Glynda seem to think you can help us with something," said a rather commanding voice just outside of Grey's line of sight. He turned and saw a tall man in a stark white military uniform, gloves on each hand, a few strands of metal appearing to be surgically implanted into the side of his head, his cleft jaw set, worry lines etched on his face from years of stress, and a line of white creeping up to his black hair. Ozpin mentioned this guy would be coming. Grey kicked himself for being too distracted with his own personal problems to see the dozens of Atlas airships in Vale's airspace that should have tipped him off to this man's arrival.

"General Ironwood, I presume?" Grey greeted, holding his hand out which the officer grimly took, "It's a pleasure. What can I help you with?"

The trio of veterans stepped over to one side of the roof. Grey followed them, taking the time to listen and observe, surveying his surroundings instead of asking pointless questions he knew he was about to get the answers to. When the group stopped, Ironwood turned and looked to Grey expectantly, like a test, while Ozpin watched him with a sure pride. Grey tried to ignore them. He was half listening to Glynda's explanation of the scene before him as he bent down and lightly dragged his fingers over the pool of dried blood shaped in a perfect circle. It looked like it had been there awhile. Blood tends to dry pretty quickly, and this had been here so long it looked like it had completely fused with the stonework of this part of the roof. What didn't make sense was the shape. No matter the wound, no matter how clean the death, blood was never spilt in a shape that perfect unless it was specifically planted there for one reason or another. Grey wasn't sure how he could help with something like this until something Glynda said finally processed

"Wait, so this isn't blood?" Grey asked incredulously. Glynda put her hand on her hip.

"Not even close, Mr. Arsen," she intoned with her usual teacher's voice, "It's something we don't quite understand right now."

"That makes this much easier then." Grey stood up and without any hesitation or second guessing himself, he closed his eyes and focused. He tried to zero in on the energies laced within the blood, comparing him to things he already recognized, like Glynda's and Ozpin's signatures, and the dust in the armory a few yards away from the school. Given that last one, he could see precisely what the teachers were so worried about. Frowning, he returned to the physical world.

"You're right," Grey growled curiously, "This isn't blood. In fact, I wouldn't even consider this an organic substance to begin with. It's closer to…" Grey bit his tongue. He scoffed at the thought that had crossed his mind, but since he had already started the statement, Ironwood was intent on making him finish it, gesturing for him to continue. Grey knew it was stupid. Sighing and rolling his eyes just slightly, Grey leveled his gaze on his elder, his eyebrows furrowing into a serious scowl. "I would say this blood is closer to dust, General."

Ironwood laughed. It was the derisive kind of laughter one gives when they head something entirely unbelievable, and given that this particular general originated from the most militaristic nation in all of Remnant, Grey's declaration probably sounded that way. It made sense. Each of these huntsmen, having years of experience under their belts and one of them coming from the home of the world's foremost dust manufacturer, had probably forgotten more about the weapon than most huntsmen would ever know. As for Grey, having spent half a year with the heiress of the aforementioned corporation had at least given him the knowledge to know how ridiculous that statement was. Dust was nothing more than a weapon, an ammunition, or a tool to make both. It could even be used as a power source in emergency situations as a last resort. For lack of a better explanation, it wasn't organic, nor could it successfully be mixed with such. Weiss had mentioned something about what certain types of dust could do if mixed with the human or faunus nervous system, though, but Grey carefully left her theories out of his conversation given how secretive she had been when discussing them with him.

"Hey, you guys asked for my help," Grey said, crossing his arms, "If you didn't want it, you shouldn't have asked, and now that you know what I've discovered, you can take it or leave it James." General Ironwood narrowed his eyes at this upstart student before him. His scowl towards the more experienced huntsman was outright murderous, but it was overpowered by a challenge being issued, and Ironwood wasn't going to take it sitting down. He stepped forward, ready to retort, but Glynda's hand on his arm stopped him.

"Calm down boys, you can fight later," she chided, and then turned to Grey with a more serious look, "You think this is blood and dust mixed together? Are you sure?"

"Nope," Grey admitted readily, pulling out his scroll, "But I know someone who would be." He pulled up a holographic video screen out of view of the professors, the bright blue curtain playing a scene of three dots circling around each other as the call went through.

"Hey, Big Bro!" said a younger girl on the other end of the line, giving the brightest and warmest smile that actual angels would be jealous of, "It's good to finally hear from you! I've been wanting to hear about that naughty teacher you tell me everyone of your classmates fantasizes about. Do you have a picture and you can show me?"

Grey wasn't sure if the laughter from the older men made Grey's horrified face blush or the fact that it was pretty clear that the teacher in question was within ear shot. Glynda seemed to take the perversion pretty well, though. She hid her homicidal, somewhat sadistic glare at Grey behind a pleasant and genuinely embarrassed giggle. Regardless, Grey quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, good to see you too, Bloom," he interjected, shooting her a look that said he would talk to her about it later, "I actually had a question for you about some homework I've been struggling with. It's just your area of expertise." The girl's eyes went from an adorable flame of youth to a sharp glint of an almost arrogant pride. Her heart shaped pupils dilated against her blue irises surrounded by a dark and winged eyeliner in anticipation, and as a playful act she was putting up, she sassily swiped her braided pastel pink hair over shoulder.

"Step into my office Big Bro," she declared in a business like manner, but still unable to keep her excited smile down, "What can I help you with?" Grey smirked at her. There was something about her that always eased whatever tension or stress he was feeling. He needed to call her more often.

"So, I'm studying the effects of dust on biological entities like humans, faunus, and normal animals," Grey started, "So, since your biggest interest at Haven Academy just so happens to be dust, I was wondering if you could tell me if there was any particular way to successfully allow dust to travel through the bloodstream without the person dying. It doesn't have to ets useful or practical. As long as there is some kind of theory behind it, that could work just fine… Baby Sis?"

His little sister, normally bright and peppy, had taken a more serious turn, and suddenly Grey was filled with a bit of guilt. Her eyes had closed and her thin but dark lips had curved into a pout, her brow furrowing in thought, and having put the question into the girl's mind, Grey realized only too late just how badly this might bug her later on. Whenever she was faced with an insurmountable problem like this one, she would obsess over it for days, sometimes even weeks until her other studies, personal relationships, and even her basic hygiene suffered as a result. Fortunately, she answered almost immediately, seemingly having worked through this problem before. Grey still decided that asking her without thinking was a bad idea.

"Believe it or not, it actually is possible," all four of the other huntsmen jumped in surprise at this, completely focused on the thirteen year old girl's speech, "but only in theory. It kind of works on the same principles as AI functionality, but entirely based on gene splicing and chemistry instead of mechanical or electrical engineering. If someone could create a clone of someone entirely out of dust, then lacing their blood with dust would just be inevitable, let alone possible, but you have to successfully make the clone first. If you just injected dust into someone's bloodstream synthetically, it would kill them almost immediately, so the only way to do it and being able to survive is if the person had been born with dust already inside of them, and the only way to do that is to create a completely bioengineered person. Maybe not even a clone, but some kind of organic AI. The biggest problem with that is creating a form that can withstand the crippling qualities of dust, and then keeping that thing alive after you do." Bloom turned her head towards a voice off screen, then turned back to Grey with a smile. "Sorry, but I have to go. It's time for class. Love you, Bro!"

"Yeah, love you too," Grey said appreciatively. Bloom wiggled her fingers at him with a naturally mischievous smile and the screen went dark. When it did, Grey winced and reached up to rub his temple, glancing in the direction of where that negative energy from earlier was coming from, feeling how much it gotten worse during that phone call. He had been trying to keep it together for his sister, but it was like a having a nail hammered into your skull, every strike driving it deeper. If nothing else, it was extremely annoying, but it worried him. That much negative emotion doesn't come naturally except in a few rare circumstances. Another faunus rights protest, maybe? He decided he would have to check the news later after Team RWBY got back from their mission. Shaking his head, he returned to his current situation.

"There you have it, guys," Grey announced to the older huntsmen, "It may not be anything solid, since biological AI apparently isn't possible, but given what we already know about this peculiar substance…" Grey let the statement hang in the air. In truth, he didn't really know what to think, but he was trying to appear as if he knew more than he was letting on and having the professors fill in the blanks for him.

"It must be some kind of weapon," Ironwood offered, "Or a semblance even."

"I don't think so," Ozpin spoke up finally, "The molecular composition of the blood would dilute the weaponized properties of the dust which would make both useless to the huntsman, and aura cannot exist in this world for very long without a living being to attach to, so if this were as simple to explain away as a semblance, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

The three of them continued to deliberate their options and what may have caused this trail. Unfortunately, Grey knew that this would only create more work for him in his already hectic life since he would be expected to either find the host of this evidence or use it to find the spies in the school since they might have something to do with it. It had crossed his mind that this perfect circle of a stain may have been some kind of rust, pipe leak, or something that may have fallen from an airship, but he begrudgingly realized that if that were the case, then his instructors wouldn't have called him up to the roof. They had already figured out that it wasn't a natural compound.

He still couldn't get that sharp headache out his skull. What was that? What was with this pull that was drawing his attention towards Mountain Glenn? An area overwhelmed with grimm? Where Team RWBY were currently doing their mission…

"Oh, fu-!" Grey couldn't finish the complaint. An explosion boomed throughout the entire city, sending a shockwave hard enough to shake the foundations of even the school building floating a mile in the sky, knocking each of the four huntsmen off their feet. In a matter of seconds, Grey's mind was filled with the fear of thousands of civilians. On his knees, he gripped his hair tightly and screamed in blinding agony until the panic alarm had begun to blare, the white noise giving the people enough of a false sense of comfort to get Grey back on his feet. How that worked, Grey neither knew nor cared. Ironwood was already helping him into the aircraft that Professor Port had commandeered with Team CFVY, being the only team left in the school, already on board and waiting for him and the teachers.

"I've already called for backup. I have someone waiting in a nearby outpost for a routine inspection, so they're just within range to hurry to our aid," Ironwood said in the stoic voice worthy of a military commander.

"Back up?" Coco said with a cocky, maniacal grin, "I hope they can keep up!" Ironwood smiled wisely at her.

"I think she'll manage," he claimed, "Your friend over there might know her." he nodded over to Grey who wasn't even listening. He was clenching his fists repeatedly as if he were itching to kill something, and even Coco faltered at the look he was shooting towards the rising smoke.

I'm coming, girls, he thought to himself, hyperfocusing on the screams from the crash site, Don't disappoint me.

(...)

Ruby had never been in a battle before. Fighting the monsters of grimm was something she did on an almost daily basis, going hunting all the time with her sister and her father when they lived in Patch, but she had never been in a more dangerous situation than during Beacon's entrance exam in the Emerald Forest. Fighting a giant nevermore and a deathbringer were nothing compared to this.

Everything was too fast to process. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think, and she didn't know her shoulder was bleeding until she carried a small child over to her mother to see the girl's shirt come off painted a deep crimson. Ruby didn't even question it when she ripped off a strip of cloth from her cloak, the only memento she had of her mother, and used it as a bandage before wiping the sweat out of her eyes and jumping back into the fray. It was too hot to think anyway. All she could do was act.

She was currently perched on top of a bank. Selfishly, she knew the only reason she was there was to escape the battle so she could get a breather, but she still provided support using her sniper to try to take out as many grimm as possible. This should have been like shooting fish in a barrel for her, but her adrenaline made her shaky. Her breath was coming too quickly and her heart racing so hard that she couldn't stop trembling every time she aimed. She jumped off the roof before she recovered. Her friends, teammates, and the innocent people below had to come before her own well being, and she knew her scythe was better suited up close since she couldn't shoot.

Briefly, Yang jumped in her path and stole her kill against an ursa. Yang turned to Ruby, and unable to think of anything else to say, just yelled at her once and jumped off into battle again. The only evidence Blake was even there was when Ruby would turn around and find a group of grimm dissolving into ash. For a few seconds, she found herself fighting back to back with Weiss only to lose her again in the chaos. Weiss probably didn't even know Ruby was there.

Acting on instinct wasn't enough, though. It almost got her killed when she chased down a group of creepers next to the merchant boulevard, slayed them all, turned around and found herself trapped. She was killing everything she saw and was so blinded by her bloodlust that she didn't realize she was being hunted. Over a dozen griffins and twice as many beowolves had cornered her against the wall, and she wasn't able to maneuver around them or jump over them thanks to the deathstalker that was scuttling towards her. She readied her scythe. If she was going to go down, she wasn't going to make it easy. She was about to jump towards it and cut off its tail, but out of nowhere, something had fallen from the sky like a meteor and slammed the grimm's head into the ground, cracking its carapace. This new character roared and shot his arms out sideways, sending the other grimm flying in all directions. He turned to Ruby with a wry glint in his silver eyes.

"Ruby!" he called to her, "Are you alright?!" She didn't hesitate. She ran past him and decapitated a dwarf king taijitu that was about to bite him.

"I'm fine!" she shot at him, "We need to save the people!" Grey jumped to her side and threw a few punches at a pair of ursai, grabbing the mask of one and ripping it off to stab into the other.

"Save that for the knights," Grey challenged, "We're huntsmen. We hunt. Kill everything you see!"

Ruby couldn't help the chill that went down her spine at the way his voice snarled the command. She was acting on instinct alone, adrenaline fueling her every move and being mostly unaware of her actions, so she didn't question it when it happened. She gave into her animalistic cravings and gripped his shirt collar. She pulled him in and slammed her lips against his, not giving him a chance to respond and not really sure she wanted him to. Her body didn't allow it.

"You're mine after this!" she demanded, and running off into the battle again, Grey didn't have time to question what just happened. He was only barely able to avoid the boarbatusk that charged at him.

Coco just caught a glimpse of her favorite underclassmen from the airship. Yang Xiao-Long was surrounded by beowolves and fired shell after shotgun shell at them, not gaining any ground but not losing any either. She needed help so Coco jumped to the ground next to her and slapped her two hundred pound combat tote into everything in reach, clearing a path while her team went to work elsewhere. Glancing at a larger grimm, she dipped her sunglasses at it.

"You just destroyed my favorite clothing store," she noticed, "Prepare to die." She slapped it once, twice, then a third time with her bag until the thing was bowing at her feet. Bending over, sarcastically placing one hand on her knee and smiling flirtatiously at it, she swung and crushed its skull.

"You're nuts!" Yang shouted at the upperclassman since she had to cover her while she got her revenge, "Pay attention!"

"You want attention?! I'll give you attention!" Coco hissed, spitting on the ground then turning to the largest mass of enemies while her bag shifted to its minigun form, rapping while she peppered them with rounds, "Don't stop when I shoot, full auto is on! Your ass is grass and I'm mowing the lawn!"

"Yep, definitely crazy," Yang grumbled after having listened to that.

(...)

From the top of the communication tower, a person could see everything. The building had been evacuated thanks to the grimm attack, so if someone snuck in and had the proper equipment, they could easily survey the battlefield. It just so happened that two interlopers were doing just that.

"Hm…" said the taller man, his natural aura radiating off of him strongly enough to drain the light from the fluorescent bulbs hanging on the ceiling. His bright orange hair fell down to his shoulders in a nebula of literal flames, burning with the peaceful flow of a lazy creek, his skin ash grey, and his eyes a solid black without any iris or pupil. A clawed hand appeared from the black robe he wore and rubbed his scruffy chin in thought.

"It's just as I said, Master," reported the dark, assassin-type figure kneeling behind him.

"They both have silver eyes," the much more powerful monster of a man said to himself, ignoring the lesser being, "And the girl is getting close. Too close. But the boy?" he began biting the talon on his thumb, "What are you planning…?"

"Sir…?" the man at his feet asked. He wasn't sure if the last statement was directed at the boy in the city below them, or someone else.

"Hm? You're still here?" the dark figure turned finally to address his subordinate and lightly cupped the soldier's chin, his talons barely grazing the skin, "You know the rules. Go."

"As you command, My Lord!" with that, both of the observers of the battle left in a flash, the master in a vortex of darkness, returning the light to the room, and his minion in a flash of red, leaving a stain on the floor beneath him.

(...)

Weiss knew that fencing wasn't enough for battles like this, so she upgraded her saber with a dust cannon to create Myrtenaster when she was 12. Fire, ice, and lighting were flashing across the city like an apocalyptic light show. She was the daughter of a merchant of death, and she was going to use that expertise to bring that destruction to her enemies, the grimm, no matter how many canisters she had to go through or how many she had to kill. She would jump into a group of enemies, burn them all, run to the next, fry them, then impale yet another dozen, all in a few seconds, her body and the adrenaline powering it obeying her every command, her form flawless. She had acclimated to the battle like a natural- a true warrior.

Then, she saw Grey. She saw him throw his shields everywhere, crushing the grimm like bugs beneath his feet against walls, the ground, or each other, and unwaveringly diving into the most threatening area he could find just so he could decrease their numbers and save his friends. Weiss couldn't ignore the stirring in her loins and foolishly ran after him. When she saw the bestial snarl on his face, his anger and hatred towards the enemy creating the demon she knew and loved, her war-addled mind took over and took action to be close with him. Grey was hers, and she would kill anything that came near him. Except Ruby. If they weren't in immediate danger, Weiss would have shooed the junior away, but as things stood, they needed to catch their breath and had killed enough grimm to create the opportunity.

"Everyone's out," Grey said, "Body count?"

"Not enough," Ruby said, still seeing the grimm coming out of the tunnel, "Or too much," she followed up, grimacing at the limp bodies lining the streets. Professors Port and Oobleck were working with General Ironwood to close off the breach, but given the particular shape of the tunnel, there wasn't much they could until they created a barricade. They were in luck, though. Just as another wave of grimm began to emerge from the hole, a fancy ship with flags on the wings flew by, shooting the area around the cave and closing it off, killing the emerging grimm instantly.

"That must be Ironwood's reinforcements," Grey grinned joyously. Now they wouldn't have to deal with an endless loop of death. This fight would end soon.

"Winter!" Weiss cheered, grinning happily and waving at the ship. Grey turned her around roughly with a panicked look.

"That's your sister?!" he screamed. Weiss nodded at him, slightly in shock, then turned and waved at the ship once more. Grey bit his lip. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. He smiled to himself, though. If that was what he would have to deal with, or if the universe was trying to send him some kind of message about his love life, then he would gladly fight this next battle.

"AHHHH!" Ruby shrieked. She doubled over onto the ground, clawing at her eyes and being unable to do anything but wail. She even dropped Crescent Rose, a warrior's biggest dishonor to themselves.

"Ruby- Gah!" Grey faltered mid step when he went to check on her and collapsed onto his side, flailing his body every which way and shrieking just as loudly as his comrade. Unlike Ruby's claws, he pressed his hands to his eyes as if to crush them. Weiss looked between them. She panicked. She didn't know what to do for them, if there was anything she could do, so she just used her ice to hold their arms down and prevent them from hurting themselves. Was this a poison? A gas? Why wasn't it affecting her or anyone else?

Their screaming stopped just as fast as it started. Their silver eyes had this far off look to them, the spark of life in them drained to nonexistence. The lack of life in their eyes made them seem dead, or hypnotized, and with this trance they easily broke free of their bonds.

"Guys?" Weiss asked nervously. They didn't pay her any mind, only standing up and turning their heads with that zombie expression in the same direction. She turned to see what they were looking at.

There was a man. It didn't seem that he had any affiliation to the huntsmen in the battle, or the grimm. He didn't even seem real. The longer Weiss looked at him, the more and more he seemed to be drawing her into an alternate space, making the effects from the battle they were in the midst of disappear. Reality seemed to bend and warp around him. The area around her vision twisted into a mystical tunnel ending right where this man was standing. If Weiss got this effect just from looking at him, then she knew he had to be the one hurting her friends. In the man's right hand, she could see a saber glowing with red energy held at the ready, and if that wasn't scary enough, if the trench coat didn't cross the threshold of "creep," the demon mask around the lower half of his face definitely did the job. She didn't have any time to question what she would do. Ruby and Grey were already running after him.

She was filled with dread, but it wasn't from the battle or from this new enemy. Whoever he was, his arrival meant nothing good.

(A/N) Nothing is here. Check the end of 2.5 if you want an ending note. Besides that, don't forget to like, favorite, follow, review, start a flame war, overthrow a tyrannical government or learn to river dance. Have a good week, Beautiful Hunters! Don't forget, next chapter should be up at the normal time.

(A/N 2) On an unrelated note that has nothing to do with War of OA, for those of you who are waiting on another "Daily Life in the Hunter's Dream" for Bloodborne, I'm working on one. I've also officially decided what my next long term project will be, and will post the first chapter by the end of 2017 or very early in 2018 depending on how War of OA works out, but until War of OA is finished, that will update about as sporadically as Daily Life, but more frequently due to it having a plot. Once War of OA is finished, this new story will take over its update schedule. However, unless I start updating three times a month, that won't be for awhile. Check out my profile for more details!