"Death is a natural thing, my boy. It will happen to all of us eventually, so do not fear it. Instead, use that head of yours to figure out how to make life better for those around you while you have it. I'm certain that one day, you'll do some incredible things. And I cannot wait to witness them."

~Village Elder Tanuk to Ichika about death.

How long did he wait there? How long did he sit amongst the ruins of his home, waiting?

What was he waiting for? Was he waiting for the rain to stop? For the cold, still bodies of the villagers, people he's known his whole life, to get up and laugh? To smile and tell him it was all a joke. Just a funny joke. Or...

Was he waiting to join them in their stillness? To let the shadow of death take him as well?

She didn't know so, without any choice, she waited with the little boy who sat staring, unblinking at the mound of bodies in front of him.

He looked like a nightmare. Dirty, pale, and covered in blood. The blood was not his, however. It belonged to the other still forms that weren't even close to resembling human. If the boy noticed them, he didn't acknowledge it. So they waited... and waited... and waited.

Was it an eternity, or only a few minutes when the thunderous sounds of many horses pounding the ground broke the silence?

The men were heavily armored from head to toe, bright silver breastplates inlaid with gold under dark brown cloaks to shield them from the elements. They finally came to a stop in the middle of the village ruins and dismounted. There was shouting and men began scrambling off to check for survivors.

The boy never moved. His unfocused eyes not even sparing them a glance. So still was he, that the commander might have mistook him for one of the dead had she not seen his chest moving, slowly.

"Over here! We have a live one! Hey, boy, can you hear me? What happened here? Are you alright?" She reached out to touch him but, when she made the slightest contact, he stumbled backwards as if he was burned.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! MONSTER! MONSTER! MONS- *thud*" He didn't make it far before he collapsed, panting and delirious. The commander grimaced and began barking orders to make for the nearest town to get the boy healthy again.

The men hesitated when they finally got a good look at him. Furry ears poking out from his dirty mop of black hair and fingers sharpened into claws. "Ma'am... are you sure? He's one of them, one of those... things-...!?" The solider who spoke up froze when she leveled a glare at him. "He. Is. A. Child." Each syllable was spoken with finality, daring any of them to dispute her. "You will pack up, shut up, and you will not question my orders again. Am I clear?" A chorus of "Yes Ma'am!" resounded and, satisfied that no one had anything else stupid to say, gathered the boy up into her arms and mounted her horse.

Something about the boy's cry had concerned her, however. He screamed 'monster' as in a singular entity. From what she could tell, there were as many as thirty dead demons strewn about the ground near him. Had he seen their commander? Putting it to the back of her mind, she urged her horse forward and Weiss could only watch as they all galloped awa-

THWACK!

"OW!?" The Heiress furiously scrubbed at the bump on her head courtesy of her servant, Ichika. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's not okay to hit girls!?" Seriously, as if this impromptu meditation session wasn't aggravating enough, she had to deal with constant visions of whatever keeps popping into her head. To make matters worse, if she showed even the slightest sign of daydreaming he would promptly flick her on the forehead, set off a small fireball spell right next to her, or drive his fist into the top of her head.

In response, the boy merely shrugged, "No, cause most of them could hit back just as hard as the boys. Some could hit harder. Besides, should someone who is training to fight monsters really be complaining about getting hit?" Taking his seat once again across from her, he began to explain the lesson again, "Now, close your eyes and empty your mind."

Grumbling under her breath, she did as she was told.

"Now, when you summoned your power before I doubt you were paying attention to it. That was why it got out of hand. You, despite not being aware of it, were relying purely on instinct. Try and feel around inside yourself for the current of magic. Then, follow it to its source." To prove a point, he expelled some power around him giving the effect of a breeze blowing through them. "Imagine a river... flowing endlessly inside of you. Then, follow it to its source."

Closing her eyes once again, Weiss tried to do as she was told. Just like before, however, all she could see was the darkness behind her eyelids and a slight red hue from the light pushing through the thin membranes (that's so weird to think about now that i've written it...). It wasn't like she didn't understand the concept. Using a mental image to focus your thoughts was the basic fundamentals that her sister Winter had ingrained in her when they had first begun her training in summoning. The irony of summoning a live, flesh and blood, servant but failing to conjure a simple familiar with her semblance was not lost on her. It was actually quite unfair really. She could do something that was, according to Ichika, so complex that you needed years of study to even attempt and yet-!?

'Wait... was that glimmer always there?' There, in the center of the darkness was a small sliver of light. It was different from the slight red tint she was used to seeing. The more she focused on it, the more it seemed to resemble a snowflake in the same design as the one engraved onto her clothing. It floated there in the center of the darkness and she felt a small tug from the center of her chest, almost as if it was beckoning her to it. As if in a trance, she slowly drifted closer to it, feeling a cold pressure building around her. She slowly reached out her hand to touch it...- "Woah woah woah! Hey snap out of it!"

Her eyes snapped open and she could only glance around dumbly as she appeared to be inside some sort of wintry vortex. A few seconds later, she became aware of the fact that she was no longer sitting on the ground, but floating a good twenty feet above it. However, in true stereotypical fashion, it all ended in an instant sending her falling ungracefully back to the ground. A small gasp was all she could manage before her reflexes took over and she shut her eyes tight, bracing for impact. She stopped falling, but the jarring sensation of hitting the ground wasn't what she felt. Instead, she felt... warm. Whatever she landed on was kinda soft, but firm at the same time. It was quite puzzling, until the object cleared his throat, "You know... as much as I enjoy getting knocked around by sudden bursts of freezing cold air, which is to say not at all, you really seem to have a habit of doing so." Again she opened her eyes, much slower this time, only to find herself face to face with her Servant who was currently holding her bridal style and looking slightly amused despite his grumbling.

"Two points to gravity, zero for you." He eyed the girl in his arms, who had grown considerably quiet. She sure was something to be feared if she ever got control of her power. He was nearly blown off the, from what she had told him earlier, floating island. It intrigued him, though he wondered what the trigger was. Usually power responds to the caster's emotions, proven by how the magic reacts when the intent of the spell changes. For example, a simple fire spell has many different uses and can react in just as many ways depending on how the caster decides to cast it. You could start a small fire, make a light, create warmth without burning, or simply incinerate a target all with the same spell. The possibilities were endless. This is partially why he wanted to make sure Weiss knew how to control herself, lest she end up impaling someone with a high level spell accidentally. Ice magic seemed to be her natural element however, and the thought brought a wry smile to his face. His own fire element and her ice were the perfect examples of their partnership. They could not st- *THWACK*

To those who do not know, it is never a good idea to space out while holding someone in your arms who tends to be... volatile. Both Ichika and Weiss crashed to the ground as she yelped and slapped him, finally realizing exactly what was going on (or what she thought was going on), Ichika landing on his rear and Weiss on her back. Both let out a hiss of pain before recovering enough to glower at each other,

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!?"

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH ME LIKE THAT! PERVERT!"

"WHY DO YOU INSIST ON CALLING ME A PERVERT!?"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE!"

"BECAUSE I CAUGHT YOU!?"

And so it went on until three sets of coughs brought their attention to the RBY of Weiss' team. Unsurprisingly, Yang was the first to speak up, "Alright love birds, while this is highly entertaining, Ozpin just sent all students a message on our scrolls. We need to 'Yang' out today." Her grin went from normal to face splitting with one bad pun, "That means you too Ice Queen."

Ichika, nursing his face, was almost too happy to take his leave. Until he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He closed his eyes, focusing on it. Pain like this meant that he was close to violating his contract and, as a servant, had the ability to review the contract at any time by focusing on it. The contract was the source of his connection to his master, so either of them could look at it. In his mindscape, he watched the worn paper unfurl and expand until it stretched before him.

"This servant must not leave their Masters side."

He frowned. He'd left her earlier this day and never felt a thing. Perhaps it was because he was still within a certain distance and, from what he could hear in the background over the sound of his Master's squawking about not being lovers, they intending on going into the town he could see from the edge of the school. His mindscape faded and, as not to seem rude, offered a short nod to Blake in greeting and a short wave and smile to Ruby who seemed too excited to notice. His Master was currently trying to strangle Yang, who took it all in stride with a large grin on her face.

Unable to contain herself anymore Ruby blew hard into a whistle, unaware of the strangled cry Ichika let out, and clapped her hands together, "Alright team! Plan: Become-closer-to-our-teammates-to-create-strong-bonds-that-will-make-us-super-awesome-friends-who-kick-butt-and-have-fun-by-going-to-Vale-and-making-small-talk-while-seeing-the-sights begins now!" How she managed that whole sentence without taking a single breath, only Oum knows. Finally acknowledging his presence, Ruby turned to Ichika, "With guest member!" She was still grateful to him for sticking up for her in the forest and didn't want him to feel left out... which wouldn't have bothered him anyway were it not for his contract. Weiss made to argue, but was silenced by Yang's arm wrapping around her shoulder and squeezing her face against her... assets... "Roger that, oh leader my leader! Let's go!" And with that, the four of them trudged towards the Bullheads that would take them to Vale proper. Ichika once more felt a buzz in the back of his head, different from the contract warning system. He would focus on that later though, as he needed to keep a close eye on his charge. Something was stirring, and it was making him uneasy.

Far away, deep in a warehouse on the Valean Docks, a tall lithe man was pacing back and forth with a lit cigar in his mouth. Before him was a large map with circles drawn on it and notes beside those circles. After that little red menace interrupted his heist a few days ago, his 'employer' decided that he needed double the amount of work to make up for it. He cursed himself for not seeing the viper behind the pretty face and poured over his map once more. Small stores, hardly worth anything in the grand scheme of things, but she had been clear in her orders. And Roman Torchwick was not one to bite the significantly dangerous hand that, metaphorically, fed him. Behind him, a short girl with pink and brown hair happily swung her legs back and forth as she sat on a crate of Dust crystals. He envied her carefree attitude, but then it wasn't her neck that would be on the chopping block if he failed. "Neo, round up the men. Her 'royal pain in my ass' wants us to hit one of these shops during the daytime. Guess she wants the people as spooked as possible..." He exhaled a thick cloud of smoke as the girl hopped off the box and gave his a silent salute before vanishing.

"All the same... I need to blow off some steam anyways." The light cast a shadow over half his face that did little to hide the vicious grin.

A/N: What's up peoples!? Now, I know it's been a while, but I had a sudden burst of creativity which resulted in... this...

Eh, not my best, but next chapter will have the group roaming vale and trying to bond. Key word, try. Also, Roman will be attacking a dust shop so we might see team RWBY+I taking on the fiend. Also, what is bothering Ichika? Is this buzzing in his head the presence of another servant? Or did he get a bee stuck in his ears?

Probably the latter.

Anyways, volume 4... well not 'hype' (for me anyways) but... dreaded anticipation? With how RWBY is progressing i feel like i'm going to have my heart ripped out again just like when *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER* Pyrrha died. RIP in pepperoni arkos...

Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for more chapters to come! Well, as long as I can stay motivated :/