Chapter Seven: Making new friends

"No. No. No. No. No," the man said, using a thick red marker to write large x's on the map of Vale pinned to the wall. "None of these will work," he cursed, angry at himself for having been so careless as to personally accompany the men he had hired to rob the dust store. It had been hard enough to plan the robberies when he had the ability to personally scope out the store's layout and security beforehand; to do so now that the police and store owners knew he was the one behind the string of robberies was unthinkable. Why did that huntress have to be there? he asked himself. Who buys dust so late at night?

There was a noise from behind him, and he turned to see one of the members of the White Fang bending over to pick up a box that she had dropped. "Animals," he thought to himself. She gave him a dirty look as she grabbed the box and stood. Oh, I guess I said it out lout. What do I care if she knows what I think about them? Why do I even bother with them? Now that was a question he had been asking himself on a constant basis for the last few weeks. It wasn't that they were useless, not exactly, but they were just so far removed from the professionals that he was more accustomed to dealing with that comparing them wasn't fair. If I ever need to throw a rally, I know who to call.

He returned his attention to the map of the city pinned to the wall and bit down on the marker held in his hand, furrowing his brow in thought. Finally, he circled a store that he had already robbed once, but one that was far enough removed from the police station that the low risk of capture justified the low reward. "We'll strike here next. They'll have to be happy enough with that, at least for now. Now that we've lost Schnee it's going to be even harder to get as much dust as we need, and now that the burden falls entirely on us we're going to have to be even more careful," he said to his silent companion. Maybe having the disposable labor the White Fang provides isn't all bad. He didn't particularly care about the head of the Schnee Dust Company having been killed; they had been distant colleagues at best, polite enemies at worst, and he always viewed the man as having a bit too much undeserved pride in himself. He sent the man a card each year on his birthday just to annoy him and that was about the extent of their relationship. Still, they had held a common goal, and his ability to waylay large shipments of dust before they were officially recorded had been a great help to the organization.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see his companion holding out her scroll, the bright screen displaying a picture of the huntress that had interfered earlier that night. He grabbed it roughly and scanned through the blocks of text below her picture, stopping when he read 'Occupation: Professor, Beacon Academy.' He gave the scroll back and smashed his fists onto the table. For a normal huntress, he could have written off her appearance as mere coincidence, but when Beacon Academy was concerned, there was no such thing as coincidence. What's your game, Ozpin? he asked himself. What is your game? He looked down at his companion and considered his next move.

"Call in our usual crew," he ordered her. "Tell them that we're heading out again tonight. We can't afford to be caught, but we can't afford to sit around twiddling our thumbs either."

The woman nodded and stepped away, leaving Roman alone in the room to stare at the map. He picked up his marker and drew a large question mark over Beacon Academy. What is your game, Ozpin?

"Is it still dinner if it's your first meal of the day? Or does that technically make it breakfast?" Ruby mumbled, her cheeks full of food. She swallowed and took a long drink from her glass of milk. "Or is the difference between them the type of food you eat? What do you think?" Sitting across from her was the boy she had seen earlier in the day, along with what she had learned was his assigned team. To her own right were the three other ladies that she was paired with. My team…it was still a strange thought, one that she was having trouble wrapping her head around. I have a team, and I'm the leader. This is not at all what I expected I'd be doing today.

The blond boy laid his head down on the table and let out a groan, not answering her question. "I don't feel so good," he said instead.

Ruby took another bite of food, relishing the surprisingly good taste. Apparently they take nutrition seriously here at Beacon…still, it's a shame they don't have more desserts. That had been one of the first things she had looked for upon entering the cafeteria, but apart from a few varieties of yogurt there wasn't anything with added sugar. "Do you need to go to the bathroom? You look a little green." He really did look unwell. She hoped he wouldn't vomit on her.

"No, I'll be fine. I've just had a rough day." His voice was muffled, since it was directed downward into his lap, and it sounded strained, but Ruby could understand it.

Ruby tried to speak, but her mouth was too full of food. "Uh huh huh, I can huh huh…" Ruby swallowed her food and repeated herself. "Uh huh, I can see that. What happened?"

Jaune groaned again. "You mean you didn't see? I thought everyone saw what happened in class today. It was so embarrassing."

The girl with the bronze armor sitting next to him reached over and patted his arm at this. "It's okay, Jaune," she said reassuringly. "It's only our second day here. We all need to improve. You'll get better soon, you'll see." She removed her hand and returned to her conversation with Weiss.

I don't know how much I should say about us. Ozpin didn't say we were a secret, but it was definitely implied that we shouldn't go around shouting it from the rooftops. "We actually missed class today. We uh, we had a long night. Weiss is really the only one of us who is even supposed to be here. Blake, Yang and I kinda just showed up yesterday, or rather very early this morning." That was all close enough to the truth at least, and maybe it would be enough to satisfy him. If not, Ruby figured that she could always try to distract him somehow.

Jaune raised his head from the table and looked at Ruby. "Really? That's…strange." He furrowed his brow. "That's strange, isn't it?" he asked again, clearly confused.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, we're probably a unique situation. But we're here now, and I guess that's what matters. Though between you and me," here Ruby lowered her voice and leaned across the table, "I'm not entirely sure that I should be the leader of this team. I don't feel prepared for it at all. How have you handled it?" There, Ruby thought to herself. Maybe a change in conversation will distract him from why we don't belong.

Her strategy seemed to work, because Jaune took a few seconds to think before answering. "Well, I'm not sure I'm the right one to ask about that. I don't really know what I'm doing either. I guess you just need to trust your teammates? The reason we're all here is to help others, so you have to trust that they'll help you."

Trust. That was a word that was being thrown around a lot, ever since she had first met Ozpin. 'What is trust?' he had asked me. And what was my reply? 'Trust is something that takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.' How can I trust my teammates when I've only known them a few hours? She looked down the table at her teammates. The only one that I've known for years is my sister, and I don't even know if I can trust her, or if she'll leave me again like she did last time. "I know I haven't been here long, but already I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea. I'm only here because I'm a failure."

"No."

Ruby looked up at that. She hadn't been expecting such a simple response, or for it to be delivered so adamantly. "No?" she asked the boy sitting across from her.

"No," he repeated for emphasis. "Look, Ruby, I've only known you for half an hour, so I'm not going to pretend to know your entire life history. But whatever it is, and whatever you were before you came here, you're a leader now. You're no longer allowed to be a failure. Do you know why?"

"No," Ruby said cautiously. "I have a feeling you're going to tell me, though."

"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Ruby. If you fail, you'll be bringing them down with you. Professor Ozpin, when he stood up yesterday and announced in front of everyone that I would lead team Juniper, I thought for sure that I had heard him wrong. 'What can I do that they couldn't?' I asked myself. 'Why would he name me as the leader instead of Pyrrha?' I don't know that I have what it takes; I don't know what he saw in me. But he's been doing this for a long time, so I'm going to have to trust his judgement. So will you."

Once again, there's that magic word. Trust. It seems to come so easy to him. Is that a good thing, or a bad? Should I try to be more like that? Should I try to be more trusting? Or will that just open me up to getting hurt? She looked at Weiss, sitting straight backed next to her, deep in her own conversation with Pyrrha. Aren't I already trusting her, though? I just slept in the same room as her, and wasn't worried that she would try to kill me. I turned my back on her during a fight, and wasn't worried that she would kill me…isn't that trust? Or at least a form of it? If so, I must admit, it felt good. Nice. Trusting Weiss, if that's what it was, felt…right.

"Ruby, did you hear me?"

"I heard you, Jaune, but it's going to take time to find out if you're right or-" Any further thoughts were interrupted.

"So, Pyrrha, I'm sure everyone here was eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual, such as yourself," Weiss said. "Though I don't know why you weren't named team leader."

"Well, I just decided to let the chips fall where they may. Everyone here at Beacon must have proved their worth already, so there wouldn't have been a bad outcome. It would be an honor to be partnered with any of my fellow students."

Weiss let the conversation lag momentarily as she looked down at the untouched tray of food before her before shooting a glance to either side, asking herself if the women she was now teammates with were exceptions to that rule or further proof of it. She had seen Ruby and Yang in action during their shared fight, though Blake's skill level remained an unknown quantity, and she had to admit that they seemed to be more than just capable. Is that all that matters, though? Is fighting strength alone the measure of someone's worth? She cleared her head and returned her attention to the champion fighter seated across from her, noticing as she did so that the gladiator was touching her leader's arm tenderly. She couldn't imagine doing something like that to Ruby…she looked once more to the woman sitting next to her and blushed slightly as a new series of thoughts struck her. Actually, I can imagine that, but I shouldn't. She didn't hear what Pyrrha had said to the blond boy, but judging by the way the warm smile on her face and the tenderness of the touch it was apparently something nice.

"That's a very positive outlook on things, Pyrrha," Weiss said, bringing the girl's attention back to their own conversation. "I'm always trying to be prepared, trying to take control. I don't like to leave things to chance. My father always taught me that victory lies in preparation."

"But you're not the one in control now, right? When you sat down, you introduced yourself as being part of team Ruby, led by Ruby." She let out a giggle that she tried and failed to cover with her hand. "You must have been the last team back. Professor Ozpin wasn't very creative with your name." She saw the scowl on Weiss' face and apologized quickly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be hurtful. How are you responding to having someone else in charge?"

What's gotten into you, Weiss? she wondered, as she began to explain that she had agreed early on to work with Ruby to the best of her ability. First you opened up to Ruby, your enemy, and now to this other stranger. When did you become an open book for others to read? When did you become so…trusting? It was a hard question for her to answer, so she put the thought aside for the moment. There would be time later for her to try to understand herself better. Hopefully, at least. I seem to have a lot to think about now. "And then we decided that whatever we do, we'd do it together," she finished telling Pyrrha. She frowned as she added a qualifier to her last statement. "It's still early in our relationship, though, so I'm sure we'll have a lot of wrinkles to iron out."

"Well, how do you view being a teammate?" the other girl asked. When she saw that Weiss didn't seem to understand her question she explained herself further. "I'm sorry. I wasn't very clear with what I meant. I remember it being explained to me once that being named the leader is a badge that must be worn constantly, at all times, and not just when you're going into battle together. It seems to me that being a teammate is the same thing. Do you see the need to be a good teammate constantly, or only when it suits you?"

Weiss stammered. "I guess I didn't look at it that way."

"This is a school, Weiss, and the purpose of a school is to teach. So, while you're here, hone your skills. Perfect your technique. Try to become, not the best leader, but the best person you can be."

"You make it sound so easy, though. Our situation is a little more…complicated than what yours is."

"Weiss, is that the truth, or is that just your opinion on it? We normally overthink things and all that does is make them more complicated than they need to be. I'd love to see you and Ruby fight together someday; I have a feeling you will work very well together. In the meantime, you just need to be supportive of her. Besides, do you really feel like you should have been named the leader?"

That's another thing to think about, she thought, adding that to her ever-growing list for self-reflection. If she had learned anything from their night together, it was that she needed Ruby's help in order to complete this assignment. Ruby had taken charge of their investigation, she had taken charge on the rooftop, she had taken charge when talking with both Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin…maybe she is the natural choice to be the leader. You yourself admitted on the airship that you needed her help. Do you really want that burden? "Thank you, Pyrrha. I'm going to-" Weiss' next words were cut off by her screaming in anger.

Blake nibbled absentmindedly on her food and focused on the book she held in front of her. She hadn't had the freedom to actually read in a very long time, and when she had been the first to wake up after their exhausting night she had dug through her bag to find the battered copy of one of her favorites, a story that she was now only a few pages away from finishing yet again. She had only had enough time to read a few pages before the other women woke up as well, but those few pages had been enough to ensnare her imagination once again, to arrest her attention and hold her captive to the narrative. She looked over the page at the quiet man sitting across from her and silently thanked him for understanding her need to be undisturbed. She was vaguely aware that the others were all engaged in conversation with varying levels of noise and enthusiasm, but Ren apparently didn't share that need, only occasionally speaking to fill in more details to the story Nora was regaling to Yang. It's nice, she decided, returning to the words before her. This is nice, being here. Having a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat. I could get used to this. For now, though, the food was an afterthought. Her attention was fixed firmly on the book she held in her left hand.

He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red tincture and added one of the powders. The mixture, which was at first of a reddish hue, began, in proportion as the crystals melted, to brighten in colour, to effervesce audibly, and to throw off small fumes of vapour. Suddenly and at the same moment, the ebullition ceased and the compound changed to a dark purple, which faded again more slowly to a watery green. My visitor, who had watched these metamorphoses with a keen eye, smiled, set down the glass upon the table, and then turned and looked upon me with an air of scrutiny.

"And now," said he, "to settle what remains. Will you be wise? will you be guided? will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house without further parley? Or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you? Think before you answer, for it shall be done as you decide. As you decide, you shall be left as you were before, and neither richer nor wiser, unless the sense of service rendered to a man in mortal distress may be counted as a kind of riches of the soul. Or, if you shall so prefer to choose, a new province of knowledge and new avenues to fame and power shall be laid open to you, here, in this room, upon the instant; and your sight shall be blasted by a prodigy to stagger the unbelief of Satan."

She stopped reading, some of the words having struck a chord with her. Will you be wise? Or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you? Those are both fair questions to ask myself right now, Blake thought. Had it been wise to reveal myself back at the nightclub? Had it been wise to come here? It seems nice now, but looks can be deceiving, and situations can quickly change for the worse. And as far as curiosity goes…well, the saying is it killed the cat…That was something Blake desperately wanted to avoid. She sighed and continued reading.

"Sir," said I, affecting a coolness that I was far from truly possessing, "you speak enigmas, and you will perhaps not wonder that I hear you with no very strong impression of belief. But I have gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end."

Unable to pause before I see the end. That's me, Blake thought. I've come too far in my pursuit of him to give up now. I will find him, and I will make him pay for all that he's done to hurt others. She formed her hands into fists, cutting into her own skin slightly with her fingernails, not noticing the pain as she vowed yet again to stop him. If I must work with a team to do that, then I guess that's the path that's laid out before me. I have gone too far to stop now. I can't, and I won't, rest until he has been found and brought to justice for causing so much pain to so many.

"It is well," replied my visitor. "Lanyon, you remember your vows: what follows is under the seal of our profession. And now, you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views, you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine, you who have derided your superiors-behold!"

Once again Blake paused in her reading, staring at the words but thinking about her present situation. Bound to the most narrow and material views. Perhaps this is something that I should share with Weiss and Ruby. It certainly fits right in with what Professor Ozpin was saying this morning. She spared a glance to the left to where the supposed ideological and physical enemies were sitting side by side. Though they don't seem to be so bound to their views right now. Or before they fell asleep. Blake had heard their entire conversation earlier that morning, after they had thought she had fallen asleep, her sensitive hears picking up their faint whispers from across the room. Part of her was ashamed at listening to what was clearly meant to be a private conversation between the two, but her curiosity had quickly won out over her sense of propriety and she had listened carefully to every word that the two had spoken. Can I help it if I have good hearing? she asked herself idly, before licking her finger to turn to the next page more easily.

He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp.

Suddenly, a scream from Weiss interrupted her reading. She dropped her book at the sudden noise and felt her ears twitch. She resisted the urge to reach up and cup them through her bow, sure that doing so would only draw more attention. Oh no, I hope no one noticed. She couldn't worry about that now, though, and turned to the white-haired girl to her left and tried not to let her mouth drop open in shock. Sitting there, her fists clenched, face covered with a pie, was Weiss.

And she did not look happy.

Yang was laughing loudly, loud enough that the entire dining hall was giving her dirty looks from the corners of their eyes. Across the table from her, Nora was being even louder than Yang, finishing a story that had to be more fiction than fact, judging at least from the number of times Ren had spoken up to correct her more outlandish claims.

"And that's why we're no longer welcome at A Simple Wok," Nora finished, slamming her glass down onto the table for emphasis and leaning forward to stare at Yang. "Can you imagine banning me?" She fell back into her chair and rested her hands on her belly, trying to contain her own laughter. "I mean, how was I supposed to know the noise I was making wasn't a sloth?"

Yang wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed, trying to catch her breath. The orange-haired girl across from her was a gifted storyteller. "That's terrible, Nora. I love that place. You ever want to get some good noodles, you let me know. I'll grab them for you."

The other girl blew her off with a combination of a dismissive noise and a hand wave. "Nah, that's fine. I send Ren out every once in a while since the shopkeeper didn't say anything about him not being welcome. I guess that's one time him being the strong silent type worked in his favor." She playfully bopped the man's nose with one of her fingers, while once more making the noise she had thought a sloth made.

"Nora," Ren said, clearly exasperated. "You have no one to blame but yourself. I told you that wasn't the noise a sloth made."

"No, you only said you didn't think that was the noise a sloth made. There was some clear doubt in your voice."

Yang grabbed a bunch of grapes off the table and threw one into the air, catching it in her hand and testing its weight, smiling at the bickering couple across the table from her. It was clear Ren was the straight man of the double act; he was long-suffering, patient and grounded. Nothing at all like Nora at least; that much was clear. She was excitable, hyperactive, outgoing. He was quiet, while she was loud. They'd apparently had years together to perfect their act, though Yang wasn't sure if Ren was a willing participant in it or not. Maybe Beacon isn't such a bad place, Yang thought. They had headed straight to the dining hall from their room after waking up, so team Juniper were the only four that they had met so far, but Yang had quickly taken a liking to them. Jaune seemed a little out of place, Pyrrha was overly nice, and Ren was strangely quiet, but overall they weren't a bad lot, and Nora at least was a kindred spirit to the fun-loving blonde girl. Time to get her banned from the school lunchroom too, she thought evilly, hefting the one grape and throwing it at Nora, who wasn't paying attention. It hit her in the ear, dropping to the ground and rolling away.

The girl immediately stopped her conversation and turned to Yang, a smile on her face and fire in her eyes. She grabbed the nearest piece of food and threw it at Yang in return, a small strawberry. Yang caught it in her mouth easily and chuckled, throwing another grape, which Nora dodged, allowing it to go past her head.

"You two would be Lie-ing if you said you didn't want this," Yang said, throwing another series of grapes, several of which hit Nora.

Ren looked from one girl to the other, quickly reading their facial expressions. "Ladies, let's think about this first," he said calmly, trying to prevent a food fight from breaking out between them.

"Oh, it's too late for that, Ren," Nora said excitedly. "I'm the queen of the castle, and she needs to learn that." Nora scooped up some mashed potatoes and flung them at Yang, hitting her squarely in her forehead. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle," she sang happily.

Yang threw the last of her grapes, most of them sailing over Nora's head and further into the room. She was briefly aware of a shout from one of the other students, but she ignored it as she was forced to duck down to avoid Nora spraying her with soda. This is going to be so much fun, she thought, a wide grin taking over her face. Her eyes went wide as she saw that behind Nora one of the other students, a giant of a man, was reaching for a pie. Yang shook her head no, not wanting things to escalate to that level. The man stood and threw, and Yang dodged out of reflex, listening for the sound of the pie sailing over her head. Instead, she heard a splat and a scream from the other end of the table. Standing, she saw her sister with her mouth open in shock, Weiss sitting with her face covered, and Blake with her book closed on the table in front of her. Across the table, team Juniper was turning in their seats, trying to see behind them to where the pie had been thrown from. The large man who had thrown it was trying to hide behind a much smaller rabbit Faunus, seemingly aware of the mistake he had just made.

"Nora, I think that man just challenged you for queen of the castle," Yang said, pointing her arm at the giant.

Nora grinned. "Let's break his legs," she said, grabbing a watermelon and turning around, drawing her arm back to throw.

Yang scowled as she paced back and forth, impatiently waiting for the airship to land. Blake sat on a nearby bench, her head still buried in her book. Weiss and Ruby were leaning against the lamppost, clutching their weapons in their hands. None of them were talking.

I can't believe they're still mad about that, Yang thought. The fight in the lunchroom hadn't lasted long before Professor Goodwitch showed up and put a stop to it, but in the short time it had Weiss had managed to become completely covered with different foods, Ruby was yelled at for not preventing her team from causing trouble, and Blake had had her reading interrupted. Apparently those are all unforgiveable offenses, she thought, sighing deeply and continuing to pace back and forth. Where the hell is that airship? It should be here by now.

After she had restored the dining hall to its pre-fight conditions, Professor Goodwitch had led the team to the docks to wait for the airship, passing out several pieces of paper once they had arrived.

"Read this," she had said. "Professor Ozpin contacted the Vale Police Department and requested any information they had on the White Fang. This is what they sent to us. Somewhere in these files is an address, a name, a picture, or something else that you can use to find Roman Torchwick. We've decided to leave your next step up to you. I hope, Miss Rose, that you prove yourself the leader of this team and return with positive and tangible results." She had then turned and walked away, leaving the four women alone.

Ruby hadn't wasted any time in coming up with their assignments. Yang smiled at the memory of her sister taking charge. It was good for her, she decided, it was good that she feels comfortable with us. The tension between Ruby and Weiss hadn't passed Yang's notice, but she was hoping that they could overcome whatever it was that seemed to be bothering them. Yang had immediately volunteered to work with Blake, hoping that forcing the other two to spend time together would encourage them to talk through their problems. It was a change for Yang; normally, she was a believer that one's fists were the best tools for holding a conversation.

Yang stopped pacing and looked down at the paper she clutched in her right hand, smoothing out some of the wrinkles slightly and trying to memorize the man's face. Ruby told her and Blake that they would need to go to his store and wait to see if anyone else arrived to pick up anything that seemed suspicious. Yang glanced over at Blake. The Faunus ran a book store, so she should be happy to spend time in it at least.

There was a rush of air as the airship landed a few years away, and the women waited for the people already on it to exit before jumping on, ready to reenter the city.

A/N: Yes, I shamelessly admit to copying directly from the great Robert Louis Stevenson for the book Blake was reading (same book, but previous page to what was seen in Volume 1 Episode 3). If you haven't read it yet, take a break from the amateur fan fiction and head over to your preferred search engine and search for "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" It's public domain, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a .pdf, .epub, .mobi or to simply find it put up on a webpage somewhere. It's comparatively short and has good themes relating to the duality of man and class divisions. I'd love to recommend a film adaption, but they all seem to fall short for one reason or another, so I can't. Oh well.