A/N: Okay... so I know, it's been like... months since I said I'd try and post this, I am so sorry. I've been dealing with life and also some seriously sucky writer's block that has rendered me in an un-creative mood. Or, I guess I should say that I'm feeling creative, but I'm not in the writing groove and just can't get into it no matter what. BUT, hopefully with this I've vanquished it and can get to actually posting stories again! Heeeeere we are, the conclusion to Caffeine! (This was written to a soundtrack consisting of only Caffeine and I'm the One hhhaaah)

Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions, and not myself.

"Hmmm." Coco grunted, slumping over one of the many tables in Beacon's library and idly tapping her finger on the cover of a book. She took her shades off and sat up straight, sighing deeply.

"Well we've got the basic idea, but have either of you come up with anything more specific over the past half-hour? Cuz I've got nothing." She mumbled, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face. Fox shook his head, and Yatsuhashi scratched the back of his, face crinkled in concentration. The three of them had scurried off to the library after dinner to try and brainstorm anything that could be used as a scare-tactic against Cardin. The building was dimly lit and quiet, since many of the younger students had headed back to their dorm rooms for Study Hall. Only a few upperclassmen remained, haunting the AP Grimm studies and History sections, unkempt hair and bags under their eyes telling of the large amounts of stress they were under. The holo-monitors were glowing softly and casting strange, unidentifiable shadows into the nooks and crannies of the huge room. The upper reaches of the library were hidden in darkness, and through the windows the last fingers of sunlight slipped beneath the horizon. Coco glanced at her watch, painfully aware of a huge paper she still had yet to begin. With an angry sigh, she stood up.

"Well I can't think of anything, and I have far too much work to do to be sitting around. I'll keep trying to think of something good while I'm at it, though. Let me know if you come up with any ideas." Coco said, and with a frustrated huff she grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder, and took one last look around, "Getting pretty creepy in here, anyhow." And with that, she took her leave. Yatsuhashi carefully pushed in the chair she had occupied as soon as the clicks of her heeled boots had faded away.

"Well there's an idea." He rumbled, and Fox turned towards him curiously, "Library looks pretty creepy in the dark," he shrugged in answer, "not enough to go off of, though." Fox nodded thoughtfully. A few more minutes passed in silence. Finally, Fox stood and tapped Yatsu on the shoulder.

"It's getting late." He stated simply. Yatsuhashi glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, squinting to make out the time.

"You're right. Let's get going." He grunted. The two stood, a mutual dissatisfaction at being unable to come up with an answer hanging in the air.

...

In the two days that followed, Cardin's attention seemed to have been diverted from Velvet to another subject, one Jaune Arc. While this did look to be a step in a better direction, at least for Velvet, Coco was still bent on revenge. Both Yatsuhashi and Fox had to grab the strap of her handbag in fear of her leaping at the bully whenever they passed him in the halls. Velvet was still distant, though she was obviously making an effort to try and appear her usual, cheery self. Her teammates all gritted their teeth whenever she departed for Dr. Oobleck's class, and Coco, despite her immense workload, would stay up even after her work was finished for the night and read horror stories, hoping an idea would come to her. Velvet didn't seem to suspect anything, which they were all grateful for, however she always chided Coco for not getting enough sleep whenever their leader started to nod off in class. On the third day, all of the first years were taken on a field trip to the Forever Fall forest, leaving Velvet the only member of her history class. Doctor Oobleck had informed her that there was no need for her to attend class, since she would be the only one there and that seemed rather pointless, and in addition, had granted her a night of no homework.

Velvet let out a small sigh of relief as the bell rang, signaling the start of the next class. She packed away her books and stood up, blinking hard and stretching to banish the tiredness that always seemed to creep up on her whenever she had a class with Professor Port. His classes just… weren't quite as gripping as he led himself to believe. Then she grinned, realizing that she had an extra free period, and had gone a whole day without having to lay eyes on Cardin. She slung her bag over her shoulder, and practically skipped down the hall, wending her way through the mad stampede of students clogging the halls. Velvet decided to go back to the dorm and drop her bag off first. She normally had a free period after her history class, which was cancelled, meaning that she was done with classes for the day and had no obligations until dinner. Hence, no need for her books. With a spring in her step and head held high, she rushed back to the room, fumbling for her keys and throwing open the door. She shrugged her bag off her shoulders, and set it down neatly beside her desk. Then she kicked off her shoes and flopped on her bed, smiling and wondering what she was going to do with herself for the remainder of the day.

"Oh, hey! Glad to see you looking chipper!" A voice came from her left. The faunus nearly leapt out of her skin and spun around to see Coco sprawled across the bed on the other end of the room, grinning at her from over the top of a Vogue magazine.

"C-Coco! What're you doing here? Don't you have class right now?" Velvet squeaked. Her leader shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's Prof. Peach. She'll it slide. It's only one day, and besides, it's Battle Dress class. I get straight A's just for showing up." It was true, Coco was in the know about everything to do with dressing for battle. Or just dressing in general. Her fashion sense was unparalleled, and her skill in the field quite remarkable.

"Well… is there a reason you're ditching class? Or do you just need a break?" Velvet inquired.

"Oh, there's a reason alright," Coco said as she sat up, "It's you."

"Come again?"

"You're the reason, Velv. I'm worried about you. We all are. And as the leader of Team CFVY, I need to make sure my teammates are actually okay. Not just putting up a front to try and get me to drop the subject." She accentuated her statement with a stern look over the top of her shades. Velvet dropped to the bed with a sigh.

"To be perfectly honest, Cardin's been really getting to me this past week," She admitted, shoulders sinking in defeat, "I... already told you I didn't want you fighting him, that'll only make things worse. And… well, I guess I knew you all would try something if he kept bugging me. So I tried seeming cheery to stop you going after him…" She glanced back at Coco and noticed her hands curling into fists, "B-but don't worry! You're right, I am feeling good today! He's out with the rest of the first years, you know. A… a field trip, or something."

"He's been affecting you this much?" Coco said in a low growl, raw anger seeming to grip her when Velvet gave a tiny nod.

"I-I wish he didn't.. I wish I could shrug it off and not let it get to me. I wish I could just get him out of my head and ignore him, or.. or something! But I can't, and I think that's the worst thing about him. I can't get him out and I can't get him to stop. And like I said earlier, if you fight him, he'll never leave me alone! And to be honest, I'm- I'm scared. I'm so frustrated that he can scare me like this. He's just some… some ignorant bully that doesn't think about anything that comes out of his mouth, and yet… he terrifies me." Velvet bit her lip as it all came pouring out, eyes smarting with unshed tears. She hadn't quite grasped how Cardin made her feel until she had voiced it, finally been able to put words to everything. Coco got up, concern written all over, and quickly sat next to Velvet, throwing a comforting arm around her shaking shoulders and pulling her teammate into a hug.

"Velv… I didn't know it was this bad. If I had… I would've done something about him long ago." Coco murmured. Velvet immediately pulled away.

"Coco! I just told you, you can't fight him! Please, don't! I can ignore him, I can-"

"Hey now, who ever said I was gonna fight him?" Coco cut her off with a grim smile, "Don't you worry, I know you don't want me to take him out with force. So I won't. If I do anything to him, it'll be up here." The team leader tapped her head, and grinned.

"You can't insult him either! It won't work if that's what you're planning!" The faunus blurted, starting to breathe a little faster.

"That's not what I'm planning, don't worry. You had a lot of trust in me to tell me everything, now can I ask you to have just a little more? And also… will you promise to tell me if he ever does anything to you again?" Coco clasped Velvet's hands, staring her right in the eyes. She slowly nodded.

"I.. I do trust you. I trust you and Fox and Yatsu more than anyone, but-"

"Look, I know he's the absolute worst. And I know you're scared of him coming after you again and making fun of you for being weak or some crap-"

"I will look weak if I go to my teammates! If I can't just brush him off like his words mean nothing-"

"Velvet, listen to me. Asking for help is not weak. We want to help you, we want to protect you, our teammate. I speak for the three of us when I say that we can't stand that idiot messing with you any longer. Look, we're not going to beat him up, we're just going to… to scare him. Give 'im a taste of his own medicine. And I promise he won't come after you again after this. Velv, you don't have to keep up this front of being strong, we already know how strong you are! You don't need to prove anything to him, he's not worth it. As long as the ones that matter know, you don't need to play his game." Velvet was silent for a moment, then looked back up at Coco with swimming eyes.

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay," The faunus sighed, closing her eyes, "Okay, alright. You… get him back for me... please?"

"You bet. Thank you, Velvet." The leader smiled, and pulled her teammate into another hug.

"No, thank you. I'm… I was being stupid…"

"Nah, you were just forced to be strong for far too long. And… okay, you were being a little stupid too."

"Coco!"

"Haha! Kidding!"

"Coco…"

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't your next class start soon?"

"OH CRAP."

...

The first years returned that evening, just in time to grab a late dinner and chat a bit about the day's events before heading up to their dorms to do homework. They came in with even more noise and vigor than usual, and that was saying something, since this group was a particularly loud bunch. Fox would know. Especially those two girls, what were their names? Yang and Nora? They seemed to like yelling. A lot. In fact, they were doing it at that very moment. Nora was hooting and hollering her way across the dining hall, and from the sound of it was running along the table tops and bouncing on the benches. Fox sighed, hoping that quiet friend of hers would stop her. This was why he tended to leave meals early nowadays. He reached for his plate, intending to take it up and go find his teammates, and tried to decipher whatever it was the girl was screaming about.

"Can you BELIEVE it!? An Ursa Major! Not just an Ursa, and Ursa Major! Jaune, you killed an Ursa Major out there!"

"Yes Nora, I think he gets it." Came the voice of her partner, that Ren kid.

"Haha, thanks Nora." That was Jaune. Fox was duly impressed. He was under the impression that Jaune was somewhat of a wimp, and not very handy with a weapon. How he'd managed to become a team leader was beyond him.

"Still, I can't believe you sent me to find Goodwitch, I wanted to be there! Oh, I wish I could've seen the look on Cardin's face-" Fox's ears pricked at the sound of the hated name. What did Cardin have to do with all this…? Abandoning the plate, he maneuvered himself around the dining hall and towards team JNPR. He identified the next voice as the young leader of team RWBY, Ruby Rose.

"Yeah, you really should've seen him! Jaune did so well, he was like 'Raaahh!' and jumped at it, and totally deflected its claws and stuff with his shield, then sliced off its head!"

"Wish I'd been there! Honestly I'm having a hard time believing that this guy did all that!" Ruby's sister, Yang teased.

"Hey! I really did do it! If you don't believe me, ask Pyrrha! She was there! A-and Weiss!" Jaune again.

"I'm kidding! I know Ruby wouldn't lie about that!" Yang chuckled. Fox reached out a hand, touching the shoulder of Pyrrha Nikos. He figured she'd give him the straightest answers.

"Oh! Hello! Did you need something from me?" Said her surprised, cheery voice.

...

Velvet stretched, raising her arms above her head and letting out a sleepy groan as she cracked her back. After Coco had rushed off in a flurry to her next class, she had ultimately decided on taking a nap. It seemed like the most inviting course of action, and sleep came much easier after her reassuring talk with her leader. She felt as if some giant, pressing weight had been lifted from her chest and she could breathe again. Her teammates were there for her. They were going to stop Cardin once and for all, and he wouldn't come near her or say anything to her ever again. She really did have the best team in the world. She checked the alarm clock on the bedside table, and realized that dinner would be coming to an end soon. She would have to hurry if she wanted to grab a bite to eat. Grabbing her uniform blazer, she swung open the door and quickly paced down the hallways towards the mouthwatering smell of food.

Turning the corner, she saw that the first years had returned from the Forever Fall forest, and the majority were helping themselves to heaping plates of dinner and exchanging words and laughter. Out of habit, Velvet scanned the room for any sign of Cardin and his team, breathing a deep sigh of relief when she didn't see them. She slid into the buffet line, ears twitching at the yells of teams RWBY and JNPR. It was when she had taken a seat at her usual table with a nice salad that she saw him. He entered from the opposite side of the hall, face stormy, and looking surlier than she had ever seen him. Something had gotten him mad, and that never boded well for his usual victims. Immediately, a feeling of dread washed over her, and she put her head down, praying he wouldn't notice her. He did. Sometimes she really hated her ears, they were always a dead giveaway. One of his teammates, Russel, nudged his shoulder and he looked around, finding her gaze. Cardin scowled, and started towards her. Velvet felt her breathing speed up, and hated it. Hated every minute she lived in terror of this ignorant brute, putting up with his antics and not once finding the courage to stop him. She hated that she needed to lean on her teammates so heavily, but found herself wishing that for once… for once in her life somebody else could deal with the constant discrimination and hate being thrown her way. That somebody else would stand up for her and stop it all, that somebody would make her feel safe again.

"Hey, you-"

"Hey, you." Cardin's growl was cut off by the familiar rumble of Yatsuhashi. The younger boy's eyes went wide at the sight of the hulking upperclassman, and he stopped short, before seeming to regain his composure.

"What d'you want?" He asked Velvet's teammate, eyebrows knitting together in an scowl.

"I want to know why you won't leave my teammate alone." Yatsu said, placing one of his large hands on Velvet's shoulder.

"Who, that faunus? She's your teammate? What, and do you actually like being teamed up with her?" Cardin scoffed, and his three teammates let out an ugly cacophony of guffaws behind him.

"I reaaaally don't appreciate you talking to members of my team like that." Said a dangerously sweet voice. Coco sat herself on Velvet's other side.

"Well you can't control what I say." The bully said, crossing his arms and sneering.

"Bet you'd listen to me if I knocked your teeth out." Coco said calmly. Velvet was suddenly aware of Fox's presence behind her.

"You wouldn't dare." Cardin said.

"Just try me," Coco hissed, "in fact, why don't you? Midnight, in the library."

"Coco!" Velvet whispered in shock. Her leader glanced at her over the top of her shades, winked, and mouthed 'trust me.' The faunus lapsed into silence.

"What're you gonna do if I don't show? Whine to a teacher? That'd only get you in trouble." Cardin spat.

"Make sure all the upperclassmen know how that Jaune kid one-upped you in the forest, find you later, and knock your teeth out anyway. Win-win for me if you don't, honestly." Coco replied. The boy's lip curled at her quick response.

"W-well if you guys don't come, I get to tell the whole school how you're a bunch of cowards." He faltered slightly in the face of Coco's cool response, then he turned on his heel and left. Velvet found she could breathe again.

"Wow, what a loser. Even his comebacks suck." Coco said in distaste.

"C-Coco… you guys aren't… you're not going to…fight him…?" Velvet said shakily.

"Velv, I promised, didn't I? Don't worry." Her leader said with a genuine smile. The faunus suddenly found herself enveloped in a group hug, Fox and Coco pressed up against her while Yatsuhashi's huge arms encircled the three of them.

...

"Alright, and you're sure this'll work?" Coco asked, glancing up at Fox and Yatsuhashi over the tops of her shades.

"Based on what Fox overheard, we're pretty positive," Yatsuhashi nodded, "Do you think you can do it in this amount of time?"

"Oh please. Who do you think I am? If it's related to clothing, just leave everything to me." Coco snorted, and Fox chuckled.

"I'll get started on it right away. You guys just get everything else prepared, yeah?"

"Got it." Yatsuhashi and Fox turned towards the door of their room.

"Oh, where's Velvet?" Coco asked, and Yatsu paused.

"She'll be along soon. She told me she was going to go to bed early." He said. Fox nodded in confirmation.

"Okay. I'll take my work to Peach's classroom. Give her some space. Plus all the materials I need are in there. Midnight, got it? Have everything ready by then." Coco said, slipping to her feet and exchanging a grim smile with Yatsu and Fox. The three of them marched into the hallway together, before Coco split off. The other two began to make their way towards the library.

...

Beacon Library, 12:00 am.

Coco glanced at the barely illuminated clock hanging on the wall, shuddering slightly at the looming shadows splashed across the floors and bookshelves. A smirk spread across her face as she heard the unmistakable mutterings and shufflings of a group of uneasy teenage boys.

"Glad you could make it." She called out.

"Whoa!"

"Wh-who's that!?"

"Shut it, Dove."

"Ow, watch it Russel!"

"Who do you think it is?" Coco rolled her eyes.

"Oh, r-right. It's only you." Cardin gulped, his decidedly nervous face appearing out of the gloom. Coco gave him a devilish smile, knowing the lighting was in her favor, an intimidating glow of light playing across her face, courtesy of one of the holo-monitors that someone had neglected to turn off. He took a nearly undetectable step backwards, and raised his fists. She was very much enjoying watching him squirm.

"Where are your teammates?"

"In bed, snoring their heads off." Coco shrugged.

"They're not.. Here?" Cardin asked warily, his shifty eyes scanning the surroundings, as if Yatsu or Fox might leap out from in between the bookshelves.

"Nah, I figured it wouldn't take all of us to take you four on."

"You-" Cardin's face purpled, a ghastly sight in the dim light. Coco sat herself down on one of the tables, adopting a casual position.

"Yeah, in fact, I don't even need to be the one fighting you, as much as I'd love to sink my fist into your face."

"What're you talking about?" Russel growled.

"Well… I thought I'd just leave the fighting bit… to that guy." Coco jerked her thumb into the gaping darkness behind her. The boys shared puzzled glances that were quickly replaced with looks of horror as the unmistakable growl of an Ursa filled the room.

"Wh-wha… you don't… what are you playing at?!" Cardin said in a high pitched voice. The growl was joined by the sound of clanking chains, and a form began to emerge from the shadows. The members of team CRDL stood their ground for all of three seconds as a fully grown Ursa Major stepped out from behind Coco.

"Hey, meet-" But Coco never got the chance to finish. With undignified shrieks of terror, they turned on their heels and fled from the library.

"SUCK IT, FOOLS!" Coco yelled after them.

"That went even better than planned," Yatsuhashi rumbled, taking off the Ursa mask, "well done on this costume, Coco." Fox appeared, grinning and holding the length of chain he'd been rattling.

"Heh, that was perfect. Thanks guys! I doubt those chump's will be bothering our Velvs after this!"

"And who is going to believe them when they try and tell the school that team CFVY has a pet Ursa?" Yatsu shook with mirth.

"Yeaaah, might wanna get rid of that costume before anyone finds it though, Yatsu, and make sure to turn off those recorded Ursa growls." Coco grinned, throwing an arm around Fox's shoulder and grabbing for Yatsuhashi's elbow, "Alright then, let's go tell Velvet all about our midnight adventure!"

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I had fun writing the conclusion, even though I procrastinated on it for months.. ahhaha... Anyhoo, reviews are very much appreciated, and have a good rest of your day! Thank you for reading! :D