To Yang, the open area of the inmate visitor center was a welcomed change from her cramped cell in the hold of an Atlas frigate. She had never been fond of enclosed spaces, and the condition she was held in did nothing to sway her affection.

According to one of the two soldiers tasked with guarding her, it had been two days since the events at the colosseum. He'd been reluctant to give up any information regarding the status of the rest of her team, only adding to her ever increasing amounts of anxiety and desperation.

The fact that she sat alone before a glass partition in a room designed to allow high-risk prisoners to meet with loved ones took some of her worries off her shoulder, enough to make her believe that things might actually take a turn for the better. Ever since she had woken up in a room small enough to qualify as a closet, she had plenty of time to think about recent events; way too much time, she thought sourly. It had probably been the first time she had cried herself to sleep since the long past days of her childhood in Patch.

And it sure as hell won't be the last, she amended. How her friends and family would trust her after this, if at all, was beyond her; she couldn't even trust herself.

The door on the other side of the partition slid open with a silent hiss, revealing the figures behind it. Flanked by two faceless Atlas Navy robots, black bow sitting atop her head, Blake walked into the room and sat on the chair opposite to Yang's with a noncommittal sigh. The two bots, these painted a dark gray to differentiate them from their Army equivalents, stepped in immediately after and stood menacingly at either side of the door as it closed.

Relieved by the presence of her partner, Yang flashed her a quick smile. However, Blake's expression remained impassive, and instead of returning the gesture, she opted for leaning back and crossing her legs.

A small frown grew across Yang's face as she studied the Faunus on the other side of the bulletproof glass. This is gonna suck, she thought as her partner now crossed her arms, amber eyes burning into Yang's very being.

Hoping to steer things her way by taking the initiative, Yang spoke up, her voice struggling to come out as a result of over two days away from extended human interaction. "I-it's nice to see you, Blake," she stuttered. "Are Weiss and Ruby alright?"

"They're fine," Blake answered tonelessly, her posture unmoving.

Yang looked down at the dull gray floor of the chamber, injured by the emotionless response, as the silence left in the wake of her teammate's answer grew to a crushing degree of emptiness. Sighing again, Blake leaned forward while uncrossing both her arms and legs, wresting the control of the conversation away from her partner.

"I didn't come all the way up here to watch you stare at floor, Yang. Tell me what happened." Her tone raised slightly, yet her words slowed to accentuate her point.

"What? Isn't it obvious?" she followed up as she raised her head to meet her friend's cold gaze.

"The fact that you just killed a fellow huntsman in cold blood? Don't play coy with me. Practically all of Remnant knows."

Cold blood? She could already tell where their exchange was headed, and she didn't like it one bit.

"But he attacked me! I-I had to do something!"

Blake narrowed her eyes in disbelief as she leaned in even closer to the glass dividing them. After a few seconds of silent thought, Blake opened her mouth once again: "First you avoid the subject, and now you lie to me?" she said while packing inhuman amounts of scorn into the word.

"Y-you don't believe me?" Yang whimpered, her eyes and throat burning as she spoke.

Blake cast her gaze downwards attempting to regain her composure. Clearly, this was just as hard on her as it was on her blonde teammate, however much her expressions denied it. Taking a long breath, she looked up once more and answered quietly: "I want to believe you."

Of all the people Yang had hoped would guide her through this tragedy, Blake was always the first one that came to mind. Even though the Faunus was highly reserved, she considered her to be her closest friend. Any doubt or insecurity she might have, Blake was always quick to help. Now, however, one of her largest sources of confidence had ran dry; her best friend now against her.

"B-Blake?" It came out as barely a whisper, her sobs already beginning to drown out her words. Her vision blurred as tears ran freely from her lilac eyes, drawing long lines across her cheeks.

"I know what I saw, Yang, and so do millions more. After fully draining his aura, you simply walked away, turned heel, and killed him right where he stood," Blake retorted, her matter-of-factly tone now turning accusatory.

"No… No… Blake, he..." she sputtered, completely refusing to accept Blake's statement. She was confused, saddened, furious, at the fact that anyone could have possibly misinterpreted the incident, especially Blake, renowned for her excellent perception skills. Too much had occurred for all of this to have been some illusion, Yang reckoned.

No… I know what really happened.

Rising from her perch on the chair and setting both hands on the glass' metallic base, she erupted, her irises changing hue to blood-red. "He lunged at me! Attacked me! I couldn't possibly have dodged that in time. What was I supposed to do? Just… stand there and take it!?"

Blake appeared shocked by her sudden outburst, her eyes widening as she skillfully analyzed Yang's face for any minute detail that might give information away. "You're... not kidding…" she muttered, more to herself than to her enraged partner only about a meter away.

"Not kidding?! Why would I ever lie to you, Blake!?" Yang screamed as her vocal cords tensed within her throat. "Did you think this was all some sort of sick joke? Do they say I'm a murderer?!"

Blake's facade shattered under Yang's ranting. Her once-dominant, judgemental stare weakened as her posture shrank and her eyes began to shimmer.

"So what is it, huh? Answer me, you fucking animal!" Yang bellowed, slamming her left fist into the partition. The two robots near the door raised their rifles in warning; their lack of sentience would make them shoot Yang at the first sign of rebellious action, with none of the hesitation a regular human would have shown.

"Prisoner number 01928: Stand down," the two androids rumbled in unison, their unfeeling voices complementing their equally expressionless visors.

Her knees trembled and her eyes reverted to their normal color as she realized what she just had done. Before her sat Blake, her partner and best friend, recoiling from one of the worst possible insults a Faunus could receive.

No, no, no… How could I have… Her legs failed, causing her to tumble back into her chair as her tears returned in the absence of fury.

Her teammate across from her wasn't faring any better. She looked off to the side, biting her lip and shutting her eyes in a vain attempt to suppress her emotions. A single drop broke free, dragging itself down her face, hanging on her jawline for a brief second, and finally dropping to the metal below.

Eyes reddened with unshed tears, Blake turned to face Yang again, who was now weeping openly into her lap, the last of her energy spent on her unexpected tirade. "It's just… This is all too familiar," she said, her voice on the verge of cracking. "I've already lost someone like this. Someone dear to me has already gone down this path. I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

Yang looked up from her now-soaked thighs, her whimpers lessening rapidly at her teammate's sudden change in attitude.

Setting her right hand on the cold glass as if to reach out for her partner's shoulder, Blake continued: "Look, I'm sorry. I trust you, I always have. This is all just happening too quickly, and… and I want to make sure you're alright. I want to make sure my trust wasn't misplaced. That the Yang I know is still in there somewhere."

As she slowly regained control over herself with long, controlled breaths, Yang brought up a trembling left hand to meet Blake's on the other side of the partition. She was so close, yet so impossibly far. She couldn't avoid breaking down again.

"I just… need you to look me in the eye and tell me he really attacked you," Blake whispered reassuringly, her voice soothing Yang's panicking mind. "Please..."

Her blond haired teammate raised her head gently, facing her partner's desperate eyes. Her voice emerging as a stuttering wreck, she slowly formed the words she so hopelessly wanted to say, yet barely could against her aching throat: "He… He attacked me. I striked back. I-I never wanted to kill him. I swear, I… I… I'm sorry, I didn't..."

Leaving a cloudy mist on the surface before her with a satisfied sigh, Blake withdrew her hand and leaned back into her chair, smiling slightly. Yang followed her motions shortly thereafter, both girls simply glad they had reached a rudimentary understanding.

"We need you down there, Yang. I need you," the Faunus said into the drawn-out silence. Her partner wiped tears from her face with the back of her hand, a small, relieved grin replacing the frown on her lips.

On that note, she got up from her chair and turned towards the entrance she had come in from, the door parting as she approached it. Before she stepped out, she looked back over her shoulders towards a much more relaxed Yang, now looking back with confidence instead of despair.

"We'll get you out of here. I promise," she added before walking out into the hallway beyond, the two robots tailing her. The metallic door slid shut one more time, plunging the room into the same dull silence Yang had become so accustomed to.

"Thank you, Blake," Yang quietly whispered to herself as the presence of her partner was diminished to distant footsteps.


Beacon's library buzzed with the usual activity of an early Sunday afternoon. Students catching up on readings and studies, others furiously attempting to finish overdue assignments, and many more simply wishing to use the vast hall to relax or enjoy time with friends. The circumstances, however, could not have been more different.

Almost two days after the disaster at Amity colosseum, many were still reeling in the shock of the event. Those who had been present told the gruesome tale to those fortunate enough to have stayed behind, many breaking down in tears as they attempted to reopen the still-fresh wound.

Yet most students had chosen to cope alone. With classes and the tournament suspended by the Vale council, they certainly would have plenty of time to recover. Weiss Schnee was one of these, choosing the library as a quiet place in which to pass away the idle hours.

We could have saved them… We just weren't good enough. That sentiment had taken hold of most, if not all, of the huntsmen and huntresses who fought back at the arena, Ruby in particular. Her partner and leader had fallen into a depression so utterly unlike her cheerful nature, one so deep she rarely spoke and often asked to be left alone in their dorm. Any measures taken by Weiss and Blake seemed to have no effect whatsoever, even with the former reassuring her that she was not to blame and the latter fighting her way through Atlas military bureaucracy just to meet with the missing member of their team.

Letting out a long sigh, Weiss turned her head up to look at the holographic monitor before her, sitting atop one of the many tables that lined the bottom floor of the two-story building. Unlike most students around her, desperately trying to distract themselves from the crisis brewing around them, Weiss was fully dedicated to scraping up as much information on the fighting as she could; she was, after all, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, giving her special clearance to many reports that would never reach the public eye. With how the situation was spiraling out of control, the media had been suspiciously quiet on the matter. She was, however, determined to remain informed for the sake of those she aimed to protect.

The news feed on the browser window on the monitor in front of her, usually always buzzing with the latest events in Vale and the rest of Remnant, now remained conspicuously empty. Small text below the images accompanying the headlines proclaimed the last update had been three days ago. At least, that was the case for the public news channels.

Weiss extracted her scroll from her pocket and inserted it into a terminal to the right of the display. As soon as the device registered the identity of the scroll's owner, the hologram screen dimmed as bright lettering appeared over the window:

Hello, Ms. Schnee.

After the text dissapeared and the screen returned to its regular brightness, a small panel opened up on the desk in front of her, revealing a compact retinal scanner. She then hovered over the aperture, left eye peering into the small camera which began its scan. The device beneath her beeped for a few seconds, satisfied that it had matched the intricacies of Weiss's clear blue eyes with official SDC records. The same panel then closed, and the display on the screen now requested a lengthy passcode.

Inserting the required string of letters and numbers was the work of a few seconds and some deft strokes on the holographic keyboard. The Schnee Dust Company took security extremely seriously. Most fanaticallyEspecially so when it came to classified information.

Taking a deep breath, Weiss looked at the most recent documents on the display. Unlike the media the majority of Remnant's population was accustomed to, the intelligence sector of the SDC collected data through direct reports, with everything from monthly corporate statistics to military debriefs. In the absence of conventional media, the combined militaries of the four kingdoms now used this vast intel network to coordinate a war that now spanned the entirety of Remnant.

One that yesterday was just a rumor, Weiss thought to herself solemnly. Over the course of mankind's history, never before had conflicts ignited this quickly, and seldom had they reached global scale.

After taking a quick look over her shoulder to scan for any prying eyes, Weiss began to skim through the headlines, taking quick looks into documents with names such as "Southern Mistral trench line suffers heavy losses", "Paladins deployed on Atlas front", and "Heavy fighting in Vale's agricultural district". However, one of the many interesting stories sprinkled throughout the sea of monotony caught her eye: one that read "White Fang insurgents declare war on Vacuo Council; CCT Tower shelled".

She had to blink multiple times to ensure she was reading correctly. Clicking on the report, Weiss read as it described in painstaking detail how the terrorist organization had managed to ambush the Vacuo Militia in the center of the kingdom, as well as how they had begun to bombard the crucial communications tower and lay siege to the Vacuo Parliament. If the report from the undercover Atlas specialist was to be believed, the tower would collapse within the week, and the council overthrown just days later.

The document also contained a second segment, detailing a mass information leak from the Atlas Military, which the White Fang used as its excuse for its uprising. The organization's leader had made it abundantly clear that they would no longer tolerate the 'lies of the regimes', and that they vowed to 'liberate the rightful inheritors of the planet from their human oppressors'. Weiss scoffed as she read through the rest of the manifesto, containing many more poetic descriptions of the plight of the Faunus race, and the bloody justice that was ensured for the humans of Vacuo.

The report's text parted to reveal a blueprint, standard format of the Atlas Robotics Division, the main manufacturer of all the cybernetics currently employed by the kingdom. However, the android displayed was extremely different from all the models Weiss had seen previously.

The outline was that of a young, short-haired girl, a robotic skeleton much akin to a regular human's disguised beneath a layer of metallic alloy and complex wiring. Emblazoned on the image's top left corner were the letters P.E.N.N.Y; what appeared to be the designation for the robot.

Wait… Penny?

Weiss had expected to be worried by the contents of the report; the title alone sent shivers down her spine. Instead, what she got was much worse. The implications of a humanlike android roaming around like a regular huntress were immense, and for a small, fleeting moment, she sympathized with the Faunus extremists. Not only would this directly violate Atlas doctrine on keeping artificial intelligences restricted to utilitarian roles, but the fact that she had participated in the Vytal tournament meant Penny was capable of generating an Aura.

With each realization piling itself onto the last, Weiss became increasingly terrified. Only living beings with a soul possessed an Aura, she remembered, reciting it mentally like an article of faith. Except, Atlas scientists had clearly done the impossible, her reason retorted. Somehow defied nature itself.

There's no way her Aura could be generated from scratch… It must come from somewhere. Weiss mentally listed the possibilities, all of them sending rippling waves of terror across her being.

Or someone...

It was only now that she realized that this bastardization of technology and nature was one of Ruby's closest friends, and had been for almost a year now. If she were to stumble upon this on her own…

The consequences of such a possibility shook Weiss to her very core, yet filled her with determination. She has to find out eventually, Weiss reasoned, her mind just starting to calm from the startling news. Deeming it best to finish the report at a later time, she downloaded the file to her scroll, purged the computer's memory banks before ejecting her device from the terminal, and departed the quiet library with resolve in her stride.

Beacon's usually busy hallways were completely devoid of students or teachers, leaving the clacking of Weiss's heels to resonate in isolation against the walls that enveloped her. Walking in reflexive silence back to her dorm took merely a few minutes, her mind becoming distracted as she travelled the memorized route. Once upon the entrance of her dorm, she rapped lightly on the white wood of the door and called out to its single occupant.

"Hey, Ruby. Mind if I come in?" Weiss asked softly. Even through the wall that separated them, she would have no trouble hearing her request in the silence of the chamber beyond.

"Go ahead," Ruby mumbled in way of reply. Opening the door, Weiss saw her partner leaning on the bookshelf between their bunk beds, staring out the open window into a setting sun. As winter approached, sunset came earlier, painting the inner walls of the dorm room a light orange hours before it would have in the summer.

"So… How are you holding up?" Weiss asked, her tones begging her leader to follow up on her question.

"Alright, I guess," she answered with a shrug. "Could be better... We all could be," she continued mournfully, shifting her gaze to her boots.

Weiss opened her mouth to retort with yet another comment on how the deaths of the civilians on Amity weren't her fault, yet closed it as she reminded herself of her reasons for intruding on Ruby's depressive wallowing. She struggled to initiate the conversation, failing to think of a proper opening without worsening the already tense situation.

Ruby's patience running thin, she turned her head slightly towards her partner after twenty seconds of silence had passed. "So are you just gonna stand there or what?" she spat out, her partner wincing at the venom her words carried.

"It's… about Penny," the heiress stuttered. Caught off guard, Ruby's vice-like grip on the bookshelf loosened. Her posture straightened and her voice now took on a more inquisitive tone, sounding much more like the leader Weiss was so accustomed to.

"Wha– what about her?" Now she turned to fully face her white haired teammate, the golden arc of the sun framing her head in its center. "Is she alright?" Weiss detected small hints of worry in her words, and even though the glare of the sun obscured her face, she swore she saw her lips form a frown.

"No, no, she's alright. It's just…"

Once again, the report she read in the library came to mind. In that moment, she attempted to hastily gauge Ruby's current expression, her eyes narrowing as she attempted to block out the sun's piercing rays. Her teammate took immediate notice of this, causing her to tilt her head sideways in curiosity at her partner's behavior.

"Is it about the fighting out in the west?" Ruby prompted to the still speechless Weiss. "Don't worry, she can handle herself just fine. We both saw how well she did back in tournament, remember?"

"Not that, either," she replied with slight frustration beginning to form upon her words "She's a… a…"

"A robot?" Ruby offered, almost as if reading Weiss' thoughts. "Yeah, been there, done that. Now, how about you tell me something I don't already know?" A smile slowly grew across her face as she recognized her newly acquired, yet seldom present, mental superiority over her partner.

Weiss' eyes expanded in shock at her leader's revelation. For just how long has she been hiding this? she began to muse, yet quickly stopped herself as she reprioritized her concerns. This had been the first sign of recovery Ruby had made over the last few days, and Weiss wasn't prepared to ruin her potential recuperation by accusing her of withholding information. Especially not due to her own partaking in the very actions she was about to blame Ruby for. Instead, she returned a warm smile.

"Well, how about you teach me some things for a change? I reckon I've done too much of that to you in the past."

At this, her already wide grin only expanded further. Taking a few steps forward and rubbing her palms together in anticipation, she giggled as she began to speak once more, clearly appreciating the shift to a lighter mood: "Oh, Weiss, you and I have a lot to talk about."

Without any hesitation, Weiss stepped forth to meet her partner in the center of the amber-lit room. Maybe she isn't a lost cause just yet, she thought optimistically. Blake would most certainly be pleased to hear about her advances, especially considering her prior meeting with Yang. According to her testimony, the blonde haired girl was deteriorating rapidly, slowly retreating into the abyss of insanity from her isolation on the Atlas vessel.

Blake made a promise, after all, Weiss mentally reminded herself. One we will uphold as a team.

"We sure do, Ruby. We sure do".