Ruby smiled at the green haired student who had ended up next to her. She smiled back at Ruby as the Grimm disappeared around them, their bony bodies already turning to dust and being swept away by the soft breeze. Roby looked around herself at the broken district on the edge of Vale. There was a lot of damage from all the Grimm that Roman had unleashed into the city, but students and teachers had been able to manage without too much trouble. Having an entire Atlesian fleet kicking around hadn't hurt either.

"You fought pretty well there!" Ruby turned to see that it was the green haired girl that had spoken to her.

"Thanks!" Ruby replied, her grin growing. She offered her hand for the other girl to shake. "I'm Ruby, I don't think I ever caught your name. You were in Professor Goodwitch's class, right?"

"Yeah, I've seen you around school a few times I think. I'm Emerald, one of the exchange students here from Haven. See the cocky looking guy in the gray track suit with the smirk over there?" The girl pointed at a young hunter in training with silver gray hair who was leaning against a wall with his leg kicked up against it. "That's my friend Mercury."

"Oh yeah! He's the one who fought Pyrrha right? You two are both really skilled. Your academy must be really good." Ruby saw the other girl smile at that.

"Yeah, you could say that. There's not a whole lot of room for failure where I come from."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," The girl said curtly with a smile on her face. Ruby saw the rest of her team coming towards her. Yang cocked her head over to where Goodwitch was standing. The teacher probably wanted to debrief them about what had happened.

"Maybe I'll see you around." Ruby called over her shoulder as she jogged towards her team.

"I'm sure you will." Emerald answered as Ruby dashed away, turning too soon to see the smile grow on the other girl's face.

/

"Those are so cool!" Ruby exclaimed as Emerald held out her weapon. She had only seen them briefly while they had been fighting in Vale a week or so ago, and she just couldn't resist asking to see them. She had not been disappointed. Up close the were so much more intricate, fascinating and beautiful. Pistols that extended into short scythes that were attached to chains? Perfect for fighting at any distance against virtually any opponent. They would be hard to get used to, but they looked efficient and deadly.

"Thanks, I made them myself when I was younger. I've always loved weapons." Emerald shrugged, grinning a bit. Ruby practically started buzzing with excitement. Though everyone had their weapons, very few people shared Ruby's enthusiasm for them. Most people took the classes they needed to design a weapon, then once they had made it, they forgot everything they learned. Ruby would never be able to forget it though, and from the sound of it, neither would Emerald.

/

Weiss stared at the smooth pavement below her feet, her hands tucked between her thighs as she did her best to hold back the tears. She didn't know why she felt like crying. She was a Schnee, she shouldn't be sitting on the front steps of Beacon crying like a little girl. It showed weakness, and it had been made clear to her early in her life that weakness was unacceptable.

"What's wrong, champ?" Weiss looked up to see Mercury walking towards her, his thumbs hooked through his belt loops. Great, she thought, The most sarcastic guy in Beacon is exactly who I want to see right now.

"I'm fine," Weiss said, but even to herself the words sounded weak.

"No, you're not." Mercury stated matter of factly. "It's alright not to be fine sometimes though. Happens to most people. Happens to the best people. Happens to people especially when the people they have a crush on have spent the past hour and a half hitting on someone else." Mercury raised an eyebrow at her, then sat down next to her. Though Weiss didn't feel like she knew Mercury in particular very well, he and his partner, Emerald, had spent a lot of time with team RWBY and team JNPR. It had been a year since they arrived, and Weiss felt perfectly comfortable around the duo.

"I-, I don't know what you're talking about." Weiss lied, turning away from him.

"Look, Neptune's a great guy, you should understand that. He likes you, too-"

"Didn't exactly look like it." Weiss snapped venomously. She blinked after speaking, surprised with the ferocity of her words. Mercury raised his hands placatingly.

"He does, trust me. The second you stormed out of there, he got really worried. He wanted to come after you, but Yang told him he had done enough for the night. She pretty much ordered him to sit down. Her eyes were red. Let's be honest, when Yang tells you to do something, you do it." Weiss laughed a bit, bringing her hand up to wipe a tear away from under her eye.

"If he likes me, what was he doing?" Weiss asked, entirely unsure of why she was talking. She hadn't exactly been the kind of girl to open up to others immediately, and this was very personal. It felt good though, like somehow telling someone else helped relieve the ache in her chest just a little bit.

"Well, he's a good guy, but Neptune's also an idiot." Mercury sighed, brushing his low hanging bang away from his eyes. "He's a guy who's had a suave move for every girl he's ever met. He's never really been concerned with one, singular, particular girl before. So, now that he likes you, he doesn't really know what to do. Falling back on what he used to do is easy, so he did. He just didn't realize how much it would hurt you."

Weiss looked at him in surprise. She was definitely going to give Neptune the cold shoulder for a few days, but Mercury's words sparked a little bit of hope in her chest. Neptune probably wasn't used to not hitting on girls, but the way Mercury spoke he sounded so convinced that Neptune liked her back. It made her chest flutter ever so slightly.

"Thanks," Was all Weiss managed to say, still thinking about Neptune. Maybe he really did like her after all, despite all the attention he had been giving girls that weren't her.

"Hey, what are friends for?" He shrugged and flashed her a smile. "Now come on, you don't want to miss Yang and Nora having a pancake eating contest, do you?"

/

Pyrrha eyed her opponent carefully. It was the first time that the two had volunteered to fight each other since the first time they had sparred two years ago, and this fight had dragged out much longer than the first. She watched his feet dancing back and forth for a moment before he planted a leg and kicked off it, spinning towards her. Pyrrha brought her shield up, deflecting the blow to the side. As the boot slid off her shield, Pyrrha brought Milos up underneath it, spinning Mercury. He landed deftly on his opposite foot, however, not pausing before bringing the boot she had just knocked to the side in a full circle towards her head. Pyrrha spun as she ducked, flipping Milos around her wrist so that when she finished turning, her weapon had become a rifle aimed at Mercury's chest. She fired three shots at him, but he dodged back and forth as he charged her, avoiding the dust rounds. Pyrrha brought her shield up once more as Mercury jumped into the air and landed three quick strikes against Akuo. As she blocked, she flipped Milos around once more, and swept at his feet as he landed with her spear. He squatted low and caught the shaft though, then spun Pyrrha around. She pulled the trigger on her weapon, and it fired against Mercury, but even as her spear hit his side, his boot caught Pyrrha in the hip. The two backed away from each other for a split second, then Pyrrha shifted her weight to lunge at her sparring partner.

There was a loud buzzing and light flared up all around Pyrrha, and she planted the leg she was about to lunge off of, freezing. A pace away from her, Mercury did the same.

"Miss Nikos, Mister Black, I apologize to interrupt, but it has been," Miss Goodwitch looked down at her scroll for a moment. "Fifteen minutes. We'll have to cut this match short, or the other students won't have a chance to fight." The professor turned away from them and spoke to the class, calling out the names of the next contestants. Pyrrha looked over at Mercury, and found him grinning back at her.

"We'll have to finish that some other day." He said, and Pyrrha nodded.

"I'd enjoy that."

Pyrrha hadn't used her semblance at all this time, but it didn't seem that Mercury had either. She had never felt so evenly matched with another person before. She had studied alongside Mercury for the two years since he had made the decision to stay at Beacon, and she had found that no other student had proven to be as capable as herself in combat other than Mercury and perhaps Ruby. If she had used her semblance to make small adjustments as they had fought, she likely could have overpowered him, but she had enjoyed the rush of combat against an opponent who could keep up with her. She smiled at Mercury as the two walked back into the stands.

/

"Is it my birthday?" Roman asked no one in particular, spinning his cane around on his index finger. "I mean, I get that I was locked up for a long time, but I think I would have remembered that it was my birthday." Torchwick laughed, looking at the eight students in front of him. "Not two weeks since my escape and I get to meet up with the four girls that got me locked up in the first place." The thief's voice suddenly dropped into a low, dangerous tone, and he planted his cane in front of him. "I've been looking forward to this." His henchmen looked at him, one of whom Weiss recognized. It was the massive, burly faunus with a thick accent she had met on the train last time they had stopped Torchwick. His heavy chainsaw was resting on his back, and Weiss eyed it carefully. He had bested her last time, but Weiss knew she was more than capable of taking him now. Torchwick looked at his cohorts and sighed.

"Step away from Emerald and Mercury, Torchwick." Ruby said, her scythe already fully extended and leveled behind her, primed to strike. He looked at her confusedly, then realization dawned on his face.

"She can't be serious." Mercury smirked, looking at Emerald and cocking his head as he kicked one foot up against the wall behind him.

"Oh come on Red! This is just too good." Roman said, chuckling to himself. "Don't you get it? I didn't bring them here, they came here, with me, on a dust plane." Weiss looked at Emerald and Mercury speculatively. They didn't have any binds on their hands, and Mercury seemed as relaxed and cocky as ever. They certainly didn't look like two people who had been taken hostage or otherwise been forced here against their will.

"Ruby," She warned her partner. "I don't think they're going to be helping us."

"Yeah, I got it." Ruby said, and Weiss didn't miss edge of hurt in her partner's voice. She didn't blame her leader. Weiss herself couldn't help but feel the betrayal clawing at her stomach, making her want to puke or just stare dumbly at the two people she had come to know so well over the past few years.

Or apparently not. A small voice nagged at her in the back of her mind.

"I gotta say," Mercury said, stepping forward as his boots clicked into place. "I am so glad that we don't have to play buddy buddy anymore. That was getting annoying."

"Tell me about it." Emerald said, rolling her eyes.

"I mean please, finding information out about the top teams at Beacon I get. Befriending them to really get to know the gritty details, I get too. But seriously, I didn't know one group of friends could be so..." Mercury paused and looked towards the ceiling, as though struggling to find a word. "Just so boring." He sneered.

Weiss' stomach twisted in anger as she looked at the pair. She had never been quick to trust, but with those two, she had gone out on a limb. She had let them into her world without the slightest idea who they were. She hadn't even ever found out which school they had claimed to attend before Beacon. She had been stupid. Her father was right; trust brought nothing but trouble. Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster, leveling it at the group of outlaws. Around her the rest of the party did the same, all weapons unsheathed.

"So it's going to be that way, huh? You know, after so long, I was hoping for a warmer welcome." Torchwick continued talking, but Weiss ignored him. Instead, she studied the other people in the room, trying to pick up on any flaw or weakness. "Well, what are you waiting for you ingrates? Get 'em!" Roman shouted, and the White Fang dashed at them. There were six of the faunus, plus Emerald, Mercury, Torchwick and Neo. The part of her mind that had been hardwired for combat shouted at her that they were outnumbered and that their opponents were probably just as skilled as they were. Weiss shut off that part of her mind though, tensing herself as the White Fang lieutenant she had fought so long ago charged her.

Weiss rolled under the first ridiculously long swing of his chainsaw, leaping away from him and summoning a sigil in front of herself. She landed of the white glyph, then dived off it to strike her adversary in the back. She landed the attack, and rolled to her feet as she hit the ground. Before she could turn to push her advantage though, she found herself face to face with a short, partially pink and partially brown haired girl. Neo. Without Weiss registering a movement from her new opponent, she saw umbrella stabbing towards her chest. Weiss managed to jerk away from the blow, but Neo pressed in, sweeping low at her legs. Weiss blocked the attack, then took a half step forward as she lunged at Neo, her sword extended. It was a well placed strike, quick and efficient, but Neo was faster. The other girl simply leaned to the side, twisting so the blade passed in front of her chest, then brought the handle of her umbrella up and hooked it into Myrtenaster's guard. Neo tugged on her umbrella and Weiss stumbled past. She turned around to see Yang engage the short thief, and two of the other White Fang members stepped in front of Weiss.

The first jumped at her, swinging for her neck. Weiss dropped low and brought her rapier above her at an angle. The other sword slid down the length of her own, and Weiss brought Myrtenaster around to land a quick rap on the faunus' back. The hit left her open to attack though, and pain exploded in Weiss' shoulder. She twisted to put distance between herself and her attacker, finding the second White Fang operative drawing his arm back to charge her. His friend was standing again. Weiss brought her hilt up next to her face, the blade pointing at her attackers, waiting for the cylinder under her guard to click into purple. She tensed herself, sunk a half inch lower in her stance, then readied herself to leap forward.

"Ice flower!" She heard the call from behind her, and Weiss stopped herself from attacking. Immediately, as if operating by itself, Weiss' opposite hand came up and three glyphs appeared in front of her. Weiss heard four shots sound off, and each of Ruby's bullets found a mark. Four crystals of ice blossomed from the joints of the two White Fang, and they fell to the ground, unable to move. All those hours working on team attacks had indeed been useful.

Weiss turned and jumped through the air, knowing that Ruby would have been left vulnerable while she shot and that surely one of their adversaries would try to take advantage of her. Sure enough, the faunus with the chainsaw was already sweeping his oversized weapon at her head. Weiss tensed herself to jump into action, but she knew it was futile. She was too far away.

"Ruby!" She shouted, trying to warn the girl, but Ruby seemed unfazed. The chainsaw was descending towards her neck, and Weiss' heart skipped a beat, sure that her leader, her partner, probably her best friend, was about to be killed.

There was a loud clang, and Weiss looked in shock as Jaune slid in from outside her field of view and raised his shield, the chainsaw ricocheting off the solid metal. Jaune whirled around, bringing his sword up into the neck of the lieutenant, but it didn't break the masked man's aura. Weiss turned away, confident that her partner was in good hands, and saw Blake attack Torchwick. Blake had always been a skilled fighter, and over the years, she had become almost masterful. Now though, she was missing her weapon, and it put her at a severe disadvantage. Weiss could tell that her friend was losing against the thief.

Weiss summoned a glyph on the ground below her and it glowed red, then black, launching her through the air. As she dropped, she saw Roman punch Blake in the face and her friend stumble backwards. Weiss twirled her sword around so it was pointing down, poised to dig into Torchwick's shoulder. The thief looked up as she flew towards the ground though, and managed to get his cane up in time. Nonetheless, the force of the blow knocked him back a step, and Blake hurdled over Weiss, bringing her sheath down towards Roman. He was on the defensive, and Weiss dashed up beside her teammate and slashed at Torchwick, who was busy blocking a strike from Blake. She hit his side, but his aura stopped her from doing any damage. Her next strike was blocked, but it allowed Blake to get a hit in on his knee. The thief grunted in pain and hopped back, trying to put distance between himself and the two girls. They didn't let him recover though, the both of them lunging forward simultaneously and slashing at him.

In the back of her head though, Weiss' mind was whirring. They continued pressing Torchwick back, but she was forgetting something. She and Ruby had incapacitated two of the White Fang, but she hadn't seen anyone else take out another member of the opposition. Weiss feigned a blow at Torchwick's knee, but came up short and spun backwards around Blake, scanning the room as she moved. Yang was currently punching the tar out of the chainsaw guy. Nora, Ren and Ruby were occupying the other White Fang and Pyrrha and Jaune were squaring off against Emerald and Mercury. Weiss cursed mentally. Despite no one having taken her out of the fight, Weiss couldn't see Neo anywhere. She finished her spin, coming up on the other side of Blake. Torchwick's chest was open, so Weiss lunged forward and stabbed him in the chest. His aura stopped her blade from piercing his heart, but he went flying backwards into the wall. Or what Weiss thought was the wall.

As Torchwick connected with what looked like solid stone, he crashed through it and the entire back wall seemed to shatter into glass shards, revealing that the real wall was another five feet or so behind where the image had been. It stood, exactly as it had looked before, except with twenty or so Atlesian Knights in front of it, all with long menacing guns held aloft. In the center of the reinforcements stood Neo, her umbrella clasped between her two hands, smiling warmly at Weiss and Blake. Torchwick stood up off the ground, groaning.

"I just had this suit pressed." He griped. The remainder of Torchwick's original troops broke off from their opponents behind Weiss, and she turned just in time to see them run past. The sounds of combat stopped as everyone realized what had happened. "Anyhow," Torchwick said slyly, "Having a henchm-ow!" Next to him Neo rapped her cane against his shin. "Alright, henchwom-ow! Come on! Fine, having a cohort," Roman stared pointedly at Neo who just grinned. "That can teleport comes in handy. Say hello to the Atlesian knight 200. A handful of them with these babies," The thief patted one of the guns that the drones were carrying. "Can mow down a horde of Grimm in seconds. I wonder how long your auras will hold up against them."

Weiss backed away until she was standing next to the rest of her party, tensed and ready to leap into action at a moment's notice.

"Don't bother," Jaune said beside her. "We could take the droids, but not with that many guns already pointed at our heads." He threw his sword and shield onto the ground, and the rest of them followed suit.

"So we understand each other then?" Roman asked theatrically. "Good. Now, I'm not just going to have them shoot you to death. That would be boring and hardly what I have in mind for those who put me in prison. Do you know how awful prison is? So bland and unexciting." He grinned at them. "No, I have a much, much better idea for the lot of you." He turned towards a few of the drones at that point. "Cuff them, and make sure they're tight. We're going to show our guests our new pets!"