EDIT(1/19/16): Changed a name in one of the main protagonist's dialogues.

-Chapter 17-

Return

My teammates and I woke up little earlier this time around. Today is a day we choose to go on a mission given and assigned by the academy. Just like last year, but this time, we are going to do something that doesn't relate with the White Fang…hopefully.

My teammates and I walked down the corridor as we headed to the amphitheater.

"I can't wait for what mission we can do!" Ruby said giddily.

"Don't get too excited, Ruby. Since we are second-year students, the mission we can choose will be more difficult than what we did when we were first-year student." Weiss stated.

"Right." Blake nodded. "But, good news is it does not have to relate with the White Fang. We will do actual mission that does not involve saving City of Vale from an attack of Grimm."

"But, I loved that fight!" Yang told Blake. "It was so exciting last year!"

"I kind of agree with Yang there, but above all, I just can't wait!" Ruby said. As we walked down the hallway, Yang noticed I didn't speak at all as I was thinking to myself with unsure, worry face.

"Hey, Ellix, what's wrong?" She asked.

I snapped my thought as I noticed. "Oh sorry, what was that?"

"What were you thinking this time? You were thinking to yourself. Say it…if you want, that is." Yang demanded.

"I…I just feel like today something…horrible will happen today." I spoke.

My teammates began to look worry. "Ellix…do you saw something? The future…" Yang asked.

"Well, yes, but I am not quite sure if it is, and I am not positive if it will come true." I answered.

"Well, what was it? What did you see?" Weiss questioned.

"I…I don't want to say it. Let's get going anyway." I said as I walked ahead. My teammates watched me before I turned around over my shoulder. "Hey girls, are we going or what?"

They looked at each other for a moment before they decided to just ignore what we briefly discussed and followed me.

We arrived to the amphitheater. There were some students already choosing their mission. Team JNPR and Team SSSN were here, too.

"Hey, Team RWBYE! Over here!" Jaune called to us.

"Hi Jaune, and everybody." Ruby waved at them.

"Did you pick your mission yet?" He asked.

"Not yet. We just got here." She answered.

"Better pick now, or all of the good missions will go away." Nora said.

"What!? That won't be unacceptable!" Weiss stated as she ran over to check the mission board.

"Wait up, Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she chased after the heiress.

"So, what mission did you guys pick?" Blake asked.

"We, Team SSSN, are junior detectives!" Sun stated. "Just like last year, but we will do much better job! We are going to take down criminals, thief, drug dealers, and all the good stuff!"

"Right." She rolled her eyes.

"What about you guys, Team JNPR?" Yang asked.

"We will be doing some scouting mission near the outskirt of Vale." Pyrrha said.

"We will be wrecking up Grimm!" Nora said excitedly.

"Let's just hope we don't make too much mess. Well, at least one of us hopefully doesn't make too much mess." Ren eyed on his bubbly friend, which she giggled in return.

"Cool!" Yang nodded. "I hope Ruby and Weiss got a good mission for us."

Jaune noticed me, looking a bit worry. "Hey, are you OK, Ellix?"

"Hm. Oh, I am fine, Jaune." I said with assured grin. "Don't worry about me."

I walked away to check on Ruby and Weiss. Blake and Yang looked each other briefly, looking more worry and becoming suspicious to how I was behaving.

They walked behind me as we rejoined with our leader and heiress. They didn't look happy.

"Great. JUST perfect!" Weiss moaned.

"This really sucks." Ruby said in disappointing mood.

"What's wrong, sis?" Yang asked.

"There are barely any good missions left." Ruby explained. "We should've woke up little bit more early."

"Then, what other missions there are left?" Blake asked.

"See for yourself." Weiss stated. Yang, Blake, and I looked at the mission board, and there were three options; most of them are just regular jobs, which were garbage disposal plant, serving soup kitchen, and attending and maintaining bingo tournament at local retirement center.

"Seriously. This is all that is left." Yang said.

"Yeah. It really is." Ruby moaned sadly.

"If we didn't idly chat few moments ago, we wouldn't have got a better mission." Weiss said, crossing her arms.

Yang felt little bit offended. "Hey, are you saying it is Ellix's fault?"

"Yang, It's fine." I spoke before anything else happens. "Let's just pick a mission. How about…this one?"

I pressed the button without anyone saying anything. Weiss checked what mission I picked, and she looked very disagreeable.

"Hey! You just pick the garbage disposal plant!" Weiss pointed out.

"Mission is a mission. Let's go, girls!" I stated as I rushed out of the amphitheater. The girls just watched me go by, each with disbelieved face.

"I…can't believe it." Weiss said.

"I know right. We didn't even put in a vote." Ruby stated.

"Not that! Well, kind of, but most importantly, he just picked a mission without us saying about it first!" Weiss argued.

"Well, I guess we have no choice, but to…collect garbage or something." Blake said, not too enthusiastically.

"Ellix…" Yang whispered.

Despite Weiss' whiny complain, we arrived to our destination; Vale's Simple-And-Clean Co, one of the largest garbage deposit company in the entire kingdom. Although, their company name sounded like something very familiar, like a name for a song, but I digress. We met with the man in charge.

"I am glad that you young Hunters will take on an odd job like this one! I really appreciate!" The man said as he laughed whole-kindheartedly. He was little bit overweight with dirty orange beard and smudge on his dark grayish-green shirt with a smudge on his spandex.

"We are, happy to help, sir!" Ruby said, pulling a forceful smile. She didn't want to sound disappointed to upset the man.

"I am glad that you kids are really going to help around here!" The man said. "I know it may not the most interesting and very stinky job, but it is important, nonetheless. You might learn a thing or two. OK, so your first assignment is to…"

We began our work, much to some of us disagreed with it. I was working the hardest as I focused in the jobs. RWBY did their best. Weiss didn't like it at all as she tried to avoid getting her dress…sorry, her combat skirt dirty. Yang was little bit against this job at first, but she found a way to enjoy herself. She used her strength and weapon to push the crushed, cube-shaped of trashes from one place to another. Blake used her Gambol Shroud to tie up some trashes, picked them up, and untied them to a neat pile. Ruby used her Crescent Rose to slice and slash up trashes into several pieces, smaller enough to fit into the cargo crate.

We worked for several hours until 5:00 pm, but with a break in between.

"Good job, you guys! You really helped us a lot!" The man said joyfully.

"Your welcome, sir." I said.

"Well, I hope to see you all tomorrow! Garbage don't depose themselves you know." He chuckled.

As we arrived back at Beacon, some of the students looked unsavory at us. Once we arrived back at our dorm, Weiss released her rage.

"That. Was. The. Worse. Mission. EVER!" She yelled.

"I think it was not that bad, actually." Ruby said.

"Not bad, not bad!? Did you got hit by a can or something!? We worked at a garbage disposal! How was it even not bad you claims?" Weiss asked.

"Hey, if you've worked harder, you might have enjoyed yourself. Besides." Yang said as she took something out of her pocket. "Check this out, I found a necklace. Pretty cool, right?"

"Eww! That's disgusting! You better clean that crap!" Weiss stated.

"Hey, a garbage to one man or girl is a treasure to other. Deal with it." Yang replied as Weiss growled and took her towel.

"Well, I am going to take a shower in our bathroom! I don't want to go to the shower stalls with you three because you're all stinky smell!"

Weiss took a piercing glance at me for a second before she stormed out of the dorm room. She slammed the door hard.

"Geez. She doesn't have to get that mad." Ruby said.

"Well, she is a heiress, Ruby. She never and most likely never had work at a garbage disposal. She must be feeling shame of herself." I said. "Maybe I should've not picked this mission after all."

"Hey, it's not your fault, Ellix." Yang said as she padded on my shoulder. "But, I was wondering. Why did you pick this mission?"

"Well...a mission is a mission. I just…thought we could do something different that is all. Well, I am going to take a shower. Goodnight." I said as I escaped to my room and closed behind it.

The three stared at my door before Yang spoke. "He's hiding something. I just know it."

"You think so, Yang?" Ruby asked.

"I'm positive." She said.

"I have a feeling, too, but seriously…we should get clean up, don't you think?" Blake stated as Ruby and Yang checked themselves.

"Yeah, we should." Ruby said as they all got their respective towels and headed to the school's shower stalls.

After I washed my body for hour or so, I noticed my Scroll was blinking, indicating that I got a message. I checked the message, and it was from her again, "Cyan". I read the message, and looked dead serious at it.

"I hope the girls don't see this." I said. I opened my door slightly to check if the girls were still here. They weren't, and Weiss was still washing in the bathroom. I moved quietly as I take each of their Scrolls. For each of them, I inputted something, causing the Internet access locked or inaccessible.

"Sorry, girls, but this is for all of your own good." I said until I realized it something. As I putted back each of their Scroll to the original location where I found them, I noticed Ruby's Scroll was vibrating. I immidaitely checked it and it was from Jaune. I purposefully unaccepted it, ending his call. Just in time I putted it back, Weiss came out of the bathroom.

"What the heck are you doing!?" She yelled.

I jumped a little and turned around slowly.

"I…I was trying to find any leftover beef jerky that Yang has. That's all." I lied as I looked around the bag of jerky in her bed until I found it. "Oh, here it is! Want some?"

She glared at me. "No."

"Oh okay…well goodnight, then." I said as I slowly walked away to the room and closed the door.

Weiss looked at me suspiciously, but shrugged the thought away.

Another day, another works. We did pretty much the same routine; we disposed the garbage and washed ourselves on the same night. We did this for almost a week, and we pretty much got used to it. Weiss calmed down a bit, but she still didn't like the job.

"Man, I hate this mission." Weiss moaned as she was sitting on her bed and reading her fashion magazine.

"Hey, at least we don't have to fight Grimm or anything serious. Besides, this is like the easiest mission to do, and I think Ellix was right that he chose this for us." Ruby said.

"Yeah, I agree with you, Ruby. I was against the mission at first, but I find it to be fun." Yang stated.

"It is not bad, not too hard, smelly, but at least it is near our school, so we don't have to travel far." Blake said.

"Yeah, whatever. I just miss my Neptune." Weiss said as she daydreamed or night-dreamed in this case about her boyfriend.

"And, I bet Ruby misses her Rudy, too." Her older sister said playfully, causing her sister to blush.

"What!? He and I just friend!" Ruby retaliated.

"You sure about that?" She asked with half-lidded eyes.

"Yes, I am very sure!" Ruby answered as her face flushed.

Suddenly, Blake's Scroll was vibrating. She picked it up, and checked who it was. "It's that Manager guy from the garbage disposal."

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hi, hello! Hey, I need your help! My place is overrun by those crazy Fanus group! Anyway, you girls and him are Hunters, so come here fast or we will….Gaaaah!"

All she heard was just buzzing sound after that.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"It can't be!" Blake exclaimed. "I think the Simple-And-Clean is just attacked by them, the White Fang!"

"What!?" RWY yelled.

"We got to get there now!" Blake said.

RWY nodded as they rushed out of the dorm room.

"Wait, what about Ellix!?" Yang asked.

"Send him a message!" Ruby ordered. While they were running, Blake sent out a quick text message me.

Meanwhile….

"OK. This snack is for Ruby, this one for Weiss, Blake is that, Yang is…" Suddenly, my Scroll vibrated. I checked what it was, revealing to be a text message from Blake. I read the message as I dropped the entire snack I was holding. I didn't say any words as I went away.

I arrived there with my motorcycle. I noticed the gate was open. I went through and looked around.

"Ruby!" I yelled. "Weiss! Blake! Yang! Where are you girls!?"

I looked around as I ran around the maze of towers of trashes.

"Where are you guys!?" I yelled out more.

I felt something odd about this. Suddenly, spotlights shone at me as I covered my face.

"What the!?" I gasped. Once my vision cleared, I looked and found my teammates, tied together as they were dangling on a crane.

"Girls!" I yelled.

"Ellix!" They screamed.

"Ruby! Weiss! Blake! Yang! What happened to you guys!?" I yelled.

"Ellix! Get out of here!" Yang yelled. "It's a trap!"

"What!?" I asked.

"Well, well, well. Looks who finally show. The prince in shining armor has arrived." A familiar male voice said. I remembered that voice very well.

From my left, he showed up.

"Mercury." I snarled.

"You've grown taller since we saw you, Dude." From my right, Emerald showed up.

"Emerald."

From my back, the familiar girl in her pink, white, and brown dress with pink parasol appeared out of the shadows.

"Neo." She just curtsied me, speaking no words as she smirked.

"Yes, he did. And to add it all up, he has become a quite a handsome, mature lad." The sinister female voice stated.

I looked forward as I see a glowing red eye. She showed herself in that usual red dress, but the only difference is she had a new eye for her left eye; a cybernetic red eye.

"Cinder Fall…" I growled. She smirked evilly as her right eyes glowed in orange while my ears glowed in dark purple aura in response.

Author's Note: Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christma...wait, today is not Christmas and it's not even December...yet! Sorry, bad joke, but anyway, I got another chapter. Great news to tell you guys that I finished writing all of the main chapters, and as I upload this chapter, I am working on the epilogue. Right after that, I will be working on the special (or secret) ending for this story and a chapter full of bloopers. I can't wait to write them all, but they will be uploaded at later time. Also, look out for my final author's note in the epilogue like how I did with my prequel fanfiction for this fanfiction.

This may ruin fun of being patient (although patient is not fun sometimes), but I may upload all the chapters in one day because I am just that very anxious to upload all the chapters to get it over with if those chapters are already finished, but I will take my time to edit them beforehand and decide if I really want to upload it now or later.

Anyway, folks, I hope you understand and thank you for reading a chapter. Cinder Fall has returned and what does she want from Ellix? Next times in Tales of Ellix Knight 2, we will see what she wants! See you guys in the NEXT CHAPTER...and along with other chapters. See you guys then!