A meeting point in a dark, shaded part of the school wasn't at all creepy…or, at least, that's what new second year Velvet Scarlatina thought when she saw her team leader Coco Adel drinking from a cup of- ironically- hot chocolate whilst chatting silently with the gentle giant of their team, Yatsuhashi. Honestly the man was built like a concrete slab given human form and muscles bigger than a human's head. The sword he wielded was equally as ridiculous, what with it being the actual size of a human being but thinner than one…thankfully.

Coco still wore her beret-sunglasses combo, of which Velvet had to constantly ask how she managed to read and fight as well as she did with the shades blocking out light and the beret keeping her hair confined. The last was obvious to her, but the former, well…she couldn't get a handle on it to effectively pin down a reason. The most Velvet could come up with was that Coco's eyes were sensitive to light, or she just found them so stylish that she'd found a combat style that effectively worked around the disadvantage of wearing shades all the time.

Then there was Fox…actually, where is Fox? He wasn't there at all, not speaking to Coco nor Yatsuhashi, and not lurking in a corner. If he truly was here he'd be hiding behind her ready to make her jump out of her skin, as he seemed so inclined to do whenever given the chance. A quick glance behind her, over her shoulder, proved that to be incorrect as well. Perhaps he was late to arriving at Beacon? Took a different form of transport? Oh well, wasn't her problem. She'd chastise him- albeit while stuttering and silently wishing she'd crawl into a ball and die- when he got back from wherever it was he took a sabbatical to.

"Velv!" Velvet, due to the interruption into her thoughts, jumped before looking back to Coco; Yatsuhashi's gentle smile grew slightly when he spotted her while Coco's trademarked teasing grin exploded outwards onto her face. Lifting her hand over her head, hot chocolate encased within the other, she waved Velvet over who gladly accepted lest they gather attention and, god forbid, that was the last thing she wanted. So, she jogged her way over to her teammates, and one massive hug from Yatsuhashi that had both Velvet and Coco reeling and taking in deep breaths later they all got down to the reason Coco had asked them here.

"Fox dropped out."

…Velvet blinked. This was…news to her. Wouldn't Fox have let her know? Explained over scroll? He had her number, so why tell only Coco? The gentle giant of the trio spoke up and voiced her thoughts better than she could have, thankfully. "He…dropped out? With not a word to us first?"

Coco nodded, and by how she'd been avoiding their eyes she knew they were both understandably upset. Hell, she'd broken an entire wardrobe with just her fist when he told her over the scroll and gave some half-assed excuse that he was moving to Menagerie! As if the last year hadn't happened, as if they hadn't all grown together as friends, family, would. Nope, he up, gave a shitty reason, left, and wasn't coming back.

Needless to say she was pissed beyond belief, but also confused as to why Fox hadn't let her teammates know as well. So she explained it all to them- including the wardrobe incident- and the reactions were an upset-looking Velvet with an unhappy-looking Yatsuhashi.

"So…if Fox left…what are we doing?"

Answering Velvet's question was a bit difficult for Coco, but nevertheless she pushed it forward through gritted teeth.

The answer surprised both thirds of the trio, and opened a new door to a future they hadn't even realised existed until now.

(^^^^^^)

Arslan Altan was not having the best of days- and this was concerning her personal opinion, never mind the opinion of the multiple voices murmuring the exact same thing she was thinking. All around her she could pick up small groups of friends complaining about the heat of Vale, or one or two childhood sweethearts whispering to each other in how Beacon was far bigger than they had anticipated. Then came the whispers of 'this day just can't get any worse', and she turned her head from staring at the front of the auditorium in which their welcoming speech was to be given to look at the boy.

He was thin, lanky with barely any form of muscle on his body and a thin sheen of sweat coating his forehead and neck, indicating that the sun was getting to him. His hair was blonde, bright and rather scraggly, but clung to his head- most likely due to the heat and his lack of tolerance for it. Her, being from Haven, a place where heat was at least twice as scorching as this, barely began to feel it. Vale was a cool place to her- in the term of it being a place with breezes that swept past her every two minutes and a crisp scent of wildflowers and daises that she'd never had the pleasure of experiencing in Haven.

Oh she'd have loved to go to Mistral's Academy- rather uninspiringly named Haven Academy- but many small setbacks piled on top of one another and before she knew it Haven no longer became an option. So, she quite literally asked her mother which academy would suit her best, and five minutes after that conversation she was given a train ticket to Vale and told to meet someone by the name of 'Ruby Rose'. A family 'friend' her mother had called the girl- despite Arslan never actually meeting the girl before, and having no conscious memory of ever doing so. Her father, however, looked oddly quiet when his mother spoke of how 'polite' and 'nice' she was.

Little did either of the females know, Arslan's father had, when Ruby came around one day, pleaded with her not to steal anything. He could see it was killing her inside not to steal the large golden statue of a lion that sat in their living room but she'd managed.

She still stole his watch though, so at least she didn't walk out empty handed.

Sighing, Arslan was about to find a nice shaded spot to sleep in until the Headmaster came by- until she heard a commotion coming from the courtyard. Her curiosity was overwhelmed by her need for sleep, however, and she closed her eyes after finding that little shaded spot.

Unfortunately for her, the noise from the courtyard got louder and, with no other option, she sighed- leaning away from the wall, she turned her head to the noise and stalked out of the large room-hall she was supposed to get to in the first place.

After about a full minute of walking she'd come across a most peculiar sight- one Weiss Schnee, a figure many would have recognised from their sparklingly white- read: blinding white- hair and attitude that would put the taste of a raw lemon to shame. Arslan simply sighed once more- while not a lazy individual by nature, in fact far from it, she'd much rather to be indoors where she could catch some sleep before the speech her new headmaster was supposed to make.

That plan was shot when she saw the black turtleneck-wearing Ruby Rose of yore and yonder, and hurriedly sped over there. Her father said this girl was a girl that could make her stay possibly as easy as it could ever get, and while she'd rather things go her way naturally, sometimes a helping hand from an outside force could do wonders. Besides, her rather seemed to have mixed feelings of this Ruby character- a mix of trepidation relief, really. If she were to look further into it she'd notice the man she knew as her father felt a sense of worry overtake him when he realised just what kind of person Ruby Rose was and what her everyday profession was.

Honestly, if Ruby could back everything up, she'd say it was his fault for not noticing that stealing his watch gave sense of a professional thief.

"-Dust!? You know, lightning, ice, energy!?" In response to the conversation she'd just started listening in to, Arslan shook her head slightly to get rid of the annoying echo of the Schnee's voice- Read: Banshee-like screech- from her head. "Do you know anything?"

Then, her target decided to open her mouth after about two minutes of this, and crumble the entire Schnee's world around her with nought but a few words. In hindsight, Ruby had dealt with many professional thieves, crooked cops and more in her life she talking down to a Schnee wasn't even an accomplishment in her eyes- more of a…thing on her 'list of things to do before I'm old, grey, and a boring old codger'. Talking down to a Schnee was just behind, on her 'list', stealing from Vale's most tightly secured bank and explaining herself to Blake, hopefully making up in the process.

"I know you're truly, irrevocably, undoubtedly…the biggest bitch in all the land- way to go, princess." Ruby, seeing her words had profound effects on the way the human- or at least a Schnee's- brain worked, decided to speak down to people all the more often. If it shuts them up and provides her with the necessary peace and quiet, who was she to be nice when she could just do this and gain her wonderful silence?

A voice from behind her, startling Arslan and making Ruby's eyes go wide, cut in with the elegance it contained within the rather feline tone it had. It sent shivers of nostalgia down Ruby's back and made her neck hair stand on end. The voice made her mouth go numb and hands shake, tongue tie itself in knots upon knots.

"it's heiress, actually."

Ruby wasn't too sure what happened exactly because her mind had shut down at that point- Ozpin had promised her a steady flow of info on Blake's whereabouts, she wasn't told the feline Faunus was in Beacon! She'd been duped, played for a fool, taken advantage of in the worst way- to her- imaginable. She'd been, a professional liar like her, lied to by a professor at some two-bit Academy! Un-fucking-believable. Oh he'd get his, him and that slutty Harry Potter witch wannabe secretary of his. Ironwood too- Ruby had no idea how, but she knew the General of Atlas' military was part of this.

Plotting revenge later, Ruby spun on her heel to find Blake, the girl she'd hoped that voice did actually belong to, mirroring her facial expression of shock, glee and wonder.

"Ruby?"

"…Kitten?"

Where was Arslan?

She'd slunk off to a corner to sleep and leave them to their privacy- she rather liked the idea of finding Ruby later anyway, made things a little more fun than they had any right to be.

(^^^^^^)

Sorry it's a short chapter, but that's because this chapter is mainly a massive plot device. You might have a few ideas on what's going to happen, especially with the Fox incident, but I can tell you now that whatever it is you're all thinking…is probably right! Still! Let me know what you think!

Also, a recently made friend of mine, Erika The Witch, is in a bit of a rut with her stories right now. Please go and read them, give good comments! Oh, and, uh…she doesn't know I asked ya'll. Don't nobody go telling her, ya hear!?

Lastly, I'm gonna be writing a lot of one-shots because I got so many ideas flowing in and out that I can't get rid of them without effectively making myself braindead.

See ya'll.