The Gray between Black and White

by Masterdude21

Driven by desperation, Beacon Academy joins a pact with Onyx, an ancient conspiracy that deals in war and blood. Their child soldiers are formidable, but utterly devoid of human morality. When team RWBY befriends a small group of them and unknowingly break their shackles, they discover that the Grimm are not the biggest monsters on Remnant... - Heavily AU, lemons, WhiteRose, OC's

47. Chapter 47

RedGOzilla: horny teenagers yes. Blackwood…not yet. Soon, not yet.

Solar Jarl The Cannon King 44K: 46's were taking place in the past. Roughly 4 years ago. It'll all become clear soon. Anyway, thanks for the compliment. I do love me some good details ;)

Cliffdiver: this chapter will be one half angst and one half fluff/ship-tease/happiness.

Tuutje07: I'd say reread it and see if it works. It's all very complicated and there isn't enough info to piece it all together yet.

---

"Testing. Operation Wallstorm is a success as well. The Implants have taken to the Subjects' bodies; as of now, Grimm-Semblance can be successfully implanted into human Aura. Unfortunately, this overrides whatever Semblance the soul may have had in store for the soldier, but that doesn't truly matter. It has been ten weeks since the Catalysts have been implanted and the results are still conflicting. On one side, they seem to be capable of assuming total control over their host-bodies, but their relatively pure mindset forbids them from doing this. If we are lucky, we won't have to worry about self-terminations at all. On the other side, the understandable confusion of the civilians has them constantly pushing their Operatives to find the location of their bodies. Eventide suggested implanting failsafes into the life-support, but he was voted against. One Catalyst is more important than an entire Combat School for Hunters.

At least they have been reported to have stopped screaming. The easiest part is over, it seems. Now comes the next phase: how will these girls adapt to a life of combat? Will their minds hold, or will they snap like those of the previous generation? Only time shall tell. In the meantime, we're testing two of our most successful kiddos. Let's see how they can fare against a camp of organized PMC's."

-FIELD RECORDING 7B, Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division.

---

Sitting on the padded seats of the luxurious version of the LRV W12 Puma, Special Operative Frost could be seen with a clear look of disgust on his face. The file he was reading frustrated him to a degree that was probably unknown to him. After the years of training, he had thought himself immune to all the nastiness and filth of the world. But as it turned out, he hadn't quite reached that point where nothing could catch him by surprise yet. Emotions…feelings…it was all still without the total control that training was supposed to bring.

In a way, he supposed it was ironic. Or whatever Civilian Bobs thought was ironic. He had seen the most messed-up shit in the world and simple employees disturbed him. Either it made him weak, or it made his superiors a bunch of bastards. But as usual, he couldn't really bring himself to care which of the two it was. He had his moments, his superiors had their moments, and that was it. But this…this was something else together.

Frost looked at the driver, knowing that the man wouldn't be cleared to even hear about it. Still, someone needed to explain some things to him.

"Hey," he said.

"Sir?"

Sir. He hated it when people called him that. He hated being near the people who called him that, actually. "You heard about Cyan Romero?"

"Yes sir. Beacon made a ruckus about it. Some psycho doctor who went rogue and experimented with kids, right?"

"Yes."

"You heard what they did to him?"

The All-Terrain Vehicle made a sharp right, towards a series of abandoned warehouses. "Sent him to the Hellgrounds. Serves him right."

Yeah…except not. Doctor Cyan Romero was back to happily working in the fields, doing research for Onyx. Sure, it was under extreme jurisdiction and he was watched over every second of the day, but he was alive. And he was probably content, the SOB.

It was such bullshit. He had personally taken the Doctor in after the Beacon teams had busted him. Dragged his broken body aboard the transport, punched a tooth out when he had resisted. Amber had opted to bite his throat out so that he would stop nagging and the only reason he had declined that, was because the man needed to pay for his crimes first.

He should have seen this coming, really. The ugly necessity of using all assets to fight the Grimm menace. Propaganda spoke about totally secured borders, Atlas controlling new theaters of war with their bots and Hunters slaying hundreds of Grimm without difficulty.

It was all lies. The creatures of Grimm were coming up with new tactics every single day and the old ideas of "kill the enemy" had taken a sour note with the defeat of not one, but two full Hunter teams belonging to Mistral. Torn apart by hundreds of angry monsters suddenly working together like well-trained soldiers instead of mindless animals. They had grown too used to the idea of jumping into a sea of Grimm and killing them all and as a result, they had lost. Four dead, two of each team. Partners of partners. The most efficient loss that would kill the morality and the future of the teams without fully slaughtering them. It was a psychological defeat.

But did that justify working with the likes of Romero? Perhaps. If humanity did not find a way to deal with the black menace soon, more cities would fall. Did that justify inflecting untold horrors on children? No, it did not. But it happened. The Schnee Dust Company, the White Fang, both of them were willing to do their absolute worst to the children of their foes and because of that, mercy was a luxury for the fools.

Stupid brat, he thought when he recalled his conversation with Weiss. What would you know? After the things her father had pulled –the things the old mad had done to her- she still stood squarely behind her family's name. While he had been crawling through the shit of four nations for most of his life now, fixing the problems that other people caused, she and the rest of her family just pranced on, making deals around the globe to increase their own power and wealth. She was Remnant's Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and he was Remnant's garbage-man. She could go to the prestigious Beacon Academy and train with people she could love and care about, while he got to take care of the world's most messed-up problems up-close and personal.

And now the SDC thought they could fuck Onyx over by demanding their Dust back and double-backing on their deals? Bunch of morons. When the call came, Frost would gladly be the one standing at the front-lines, wiping the Snowflakes' smug faces clean. It'd wipe his retarded moments of self-pity away, too. Even if the choice had been his, he wouldn't have chosen anything else. And at least the stuff he did led to something good; killing warlords and dictators and self-proclaimed kings wasn't only cut out for Operatives, and keeping an eye out on Amber was rewarding on its own.

And that was something that he had and the Schnee family couldn't have. The things he did led to an improvement in the world –for the greater good of mankind. And in the face of long-term survival, not even Beacon could say the same.

And had he still been capable of feeling pride for his own deeds, he would have been glowing. But for now, Frost flicked Romero's file away and opened the one regarding the Operatives they were supposed to be keeping an eye on. The Catalyst Program.

He grunted when he saw the amount of ink. For every word that wasn't covered up, another ten were hidden behind expunges and redactions. The only thing he was allowed to read with his security clearance –which rivalled that of Field Commander Yale- was a small paragraph about the doctors involved with the Program. A Doctor Azure, KIA by Blackwood, diagnosed with a mild case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which the good doctor had kept in line with her considerable intellect. More names covered in blank ink, then two Professors with mild pedophilic tendencies and antisocial personality disorder. Sadistic bastards, too. What had happened to those two?

When Frost opened their dossiers and read what had the status of the two was, he whistled through his teeth. He knew that Onyx had their moments of stupidly censoring things that couldn't be censored, but this?

Professor Taupe had fallen out of his chair while in his office, whereupon he had accidentally struck his head five times against the corner of his desk, fracturing his skull and breaking his neck between the second and third vertebrae.

And Frost sighed in frustration when he read the second part. Professor Jet's unfortunate death by a flying knife was the result of a "Nevermore breaching its enclosure, before being immediately caught and returned again, while never having left the view of the cameras." And underneath that was scribbled, 'Operative Greystone has been cleared of accusations on both accounts.'

He had no idea what to even think about this. The two eggheads had died about three years ago, and now he was supposed to be reading this? And what did all of this Catalyst bullshit have to do with the three Operatives, anyway? Mantis and Blackwood weren't even with Onyx anymore and Greystone was probably dying from some mental disease. Was it money? Power? Resources?

…and since when were pedophilic tendencies required for any sort of program?

---

Day 77, practice arena

Ruby watched Pyrrha's amazing handiwork with an awed expression, just like most of the students in the college-room did. Jaune was staring at her with his mouth so far open it might as well have hit thr ground and Lisa was sitting in the edge of her seat, eagerly hopping up and down with each struck blow. And Yang had to admit, it was hard not to be awed by the unfolding scene. Pyrrha Nikos was squaring off against the entirety of team CRDL in one of the many tests to see who would be fit to fight in the Vytal Tournament and they were pretty evenly matched. CRDL's problem was that they didn't work together; they stupidly attacked in turns and charged in like bulls, only to receive a stunning blow and get kicked out again.

But Yang couldn't really bring herself to enjoy the glorious butt-wooping that Pyrrha was opening up. While the redhead launching her shield in such a way that it hit both Cardin and Sky in the face was funny to see, Yang just couldn't care. On one sight she could see Blake, sitting one row below her, looking up old casefiles of the Police and on the other she could see Will, two rows below her, looking at schematics of battle-suits. She could a helmet with two spikes protruding from the back and she could see a piece of armour with hundreds of tiny fibers sticking out of it, but none of it was important for their current situation. Both the Faunus as the soldier were sticking their heads where they didn't belong and neither of the were the type to simply stop giving a damn in class.

It was frustrating! Why couldn't they just get over their obsessions and focus on the damn match? Blake was occasionally nodding off and Will was flicking back and forth between his boring images like his life depended on it. Damnit, why was it so hard for them to think about their friends for a change? The dance was this very night and neither of them was willing to come! Blake had blatantly blown them off by saying that she had more important things to do and when Ruby had asked the confused soldier if he was going to wear a tuxedo to the dance, he had gotten angry and nearly repeated Blake word for word.

"I've got better things to do than some civilian waste of time."

Yang grunted she recalled that particular tidbit. She had wanted to ask him to accompany her to the dance, but after that outburst two days ago, she hadn't been so sure. So Ruby had carefully pried and…well, she had been thoroughly disappointed.

And if the cranky PTSD-ing soldier wasn't going to accept an invite to chill out, the cranky PTSD-ing Faunus wasn't going to do so at all. After Roman Torchwick had escaped from the battle on the highway, Blake's obsession had grown from considerable to creepy-considerable. Now she was convinced that Onyx was after something that was important enough to let crime run loose in Vale. Some sort of big, evil weapon of mass destruction. It was depressing, really. Both of them were neglecting basically everything that made life tolerable, which included things like drinking, eating and sleeping. And while Will always said that he could go three days of total warfare without needing any of those, the same didn't go for Blake. She was on the verge of falling apart.

And Yang didn't know whether to focus all of her attention on Blake or Will, because splitting it up meant that neither would listen and then nothing would work.

Cardin knocked one of his teammates out with an errand swing and went in for one final assault on Pyrrha, who promptly deflected his strike and knocked him into the air. There, she found her way on his backside and pulled him into a backwards chokehold with her spear, before slamming him violently into the ground.

People cheered, yelled and shouted and neither Blake nor Will batted an eye.

Professor Goodwitch approached from behind Cardin, who was clutching his ribs, and said, "And that's the match."

Yang spotted Jaune waving at Pyrrha and boastfully glancing at some of the exchange students, who didn't seem to even react. They were probably too busy watching Pyrrha shyly step backwards.

"Well done Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament," the Professor then said. Yang didn't think that the Vytal Tournament was going to be any fun without Blake or Will, because both of them would surely think that it was a waste of time as well. "Alright, now I know that is a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." She looked around, her eyes landing on an eagerly-jumping Lisa. "Miss Adamant, would you-"

But the guy called "Mercury" raised his hand as well, something the brash girl had neglected to do. "I'll do it."

Goodwitch turned to look at the exchange-student. "Mercury, is it?"

"Oh for crying out loud!" Lisa exclaimed.

The Professor gave her a terrifying stare, after which the girl went quiet. "Well, let's find you a partner."

Lisa slowly raised her hand, keeping her face utterly neutral. She was a little bit too eager, it seemed. But it looked like Glynda was actually going to point her out, had it not been for Mercury's next move. "Actually," he said with a faint smile, "I wanna fight…him."

He pointed to Will, who immediately bashed a few buttons on his scroll and clicked the image of a series of hair-sized tubes away. But he kept quiet, choosing to only glare in response to the challenge.

The college-room grew silent, except for Lisa, who angrily cursed under her breath. Only a few other students dared to whisper with each other, pointing and discussing their thoughts. They, Yang included, seemed to be worried about the same thing; the Operatives fought to kill and only to kill. Will wasn't the type to enter a fight in some Tournament and that was exactly the reason why he didn't partake in practice-matches either. He could barely control his impulses; a fight triggered his killer-instinct like a poorly-defined trigger.

This wasn't a fight that was supposed to take place here and this Mercury guy had to know that. After all, the controversies around Onyx were internationally known.

So who was the biggest idiot here if they both agreed to a fight ?

Glynda Goodwitch visibly hesitated, thankfully. "I am afraid Greystone does not qualify for in-classroom matches," she said, carefully picking her words, "nor events surrounding the Tournament. Why don't you pick Miss Ada-"

"Fine," Will cut her off and slammed his scroll shut with a tad too much force, which was a bad sign for everyone who knew him. "I'll do it."

Yang was halfway through jumping up and telling him to sit down, when she thought otherwise. While he would most certainly obey her, it would look stupid in the eyes of everyone else and Professor Goodwitch would override that anyway. So she simply sighed and placed her elbows on the table, using them to support her head. For some reason, the little soldier sounded…not aggressive, but assertive. Like he was mad with Mercury for calling him out. Did this count as slowly growing more unstable? Because if it did, the pattern had officially reached global levels. Ever since the mental Grimm –officially named Tormentors by researchers- had nearly torn him in half, forcing him to use his Semblance, he had been bordering over some edge that should have stayed metaphorical.

"You sure you're up for this?" Ruby asked him.

He didn't respond. And neither did Professor Goodwitch bristle at the notion of having been cut off by a student, which was terrible unlike her. A bad omen?

The two guys faced each other down in the arena, with roughly half a dozen meters of stainless ground to separate them. Mercury with his boots, Will with his combat knife, which he calmly unsheathed. He was wearing that skin-tight suit, which seemed awkward, because it would rub against every part of the body during combat. It probably didn't bother him, but whether that was a positive thing or not, Yang didn't know.

There was something bad in his eyes. And Yang didn't think she needed to be Ruby to see that. It was something she had seen before though, and every single time had quickly been followed by a catastrophic breakdown, be it of the mind or of events. Was the Operative going to try and murder Mercury? He could have averted it, but…he didn't. He would only kill when pushed, or when facing a threat. Was Mercury a threat simply by wanting to fight him? Did that make him dangerous enough warrant being killed? With two dozen people watching?

Now that the two had safely made it to the arena itself without anybody dying gruesomely, people seemed to calm down somewhat, thinking that the worst was already over. That they were in for an awesome match.

"This ought to be good," Grace said.

"I wanted to kick his ass…" a pouting Lisa replied. "Payback for that which we do not talk about."

"Wait, if we talk about that which we do not talk about, don't we talk about it?"

"Hush."

Pyrrha joined Jaune, who extended an arm and placed it around her shoulders, subtly hugging her. There it was again: the first-years that had gone to the North had grown visibly closer to each other, as the saying "fire-forged friends" said. They had been through war and hell and they had stuck together throughout it all. So why didn't Blake remember that either?

The stare-off between the two fighters in the arena grew to a climax, whereupon Mercury charged in and jumped into a roundhouse-kick, bringing his metal greaves to bear. Will moved at the same time he did, charging in with his knife in a reverse grip. An overly-aggressive movement, which Yang thought befitted her fighting style the best. From what she had seen, little Greystone was the type to wait until the opponent reached him, make a few twisty twirly movements and end the fight without wasting energy.

So why, in the name of Ozpin's walking cane, did he charge in like he was made out of Grimm?

The two fighters collided with a metal boot impacting against a slicing knife. Mercury kicked Will's attack aside and chained several more attacks, the last one which broke through and hit him in the face.

Yang sharply winced, as did several other people. No Aura.

A thin trail of blood splattered across the ground and the soldier whirled around to dissipate most of the force. Mercury jumped back when the counterattack came too close and for a brief moment, the two disengaged.

The Aura-meter on the wall flickered. It went from full, to empty, then back to around halfway. And it didn't stop flickering, which did not go unnoticed by the students. Professor Goodwitch frowned and tapped a string of letters on her scroll, but nothing changed.

Will wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and subtly growled, like a frustrated Grimm might, before charging in again. Mercury allowed himself a brief grin, before he too joined the fray. This time, it was the soldier who pushed hard. He whirled his knife through the air with both hands, correctly deflected three strikes that were aimed at his head and struck Mercury with a double-handed blow, open palms to the sternum.

The exchange-student staggered backwards, but Will didn't let him. He aggressively strung a series of lightning-fast jabs and slashes together, forcing Mercury to cartwheel backwards several meters, after which he clutched his ribs and visibly heaved.

Yang knew from experience that a properly-placed strike could incapacitate a foe even with the full protection of their Aura. She had done it, and received it. Why didn't that happen here? Why was this fight still dragging on like it was?

Mercury wasn't grinning anymore. He looked pissed, while his opponent was coldly staring at him. Some people were cheering, Ruby and Nora included. Not all of the cheers were aimed at the exchange-student thankfully, but Yang couldn't bring herself to join in. It wouldn't mean anything to her friend and she just didn't feel like doing so. If Blake was willing to cheer, things might have been different.

Mercury and Will clashed for a third time, more aggressive and fast-paced than before. In the span it took most people to sneeze, the two unleashed an evenly-matched series of clashing blows, which cultivated in Will side-stepping Mercury's last kick and beating him in the face with his elbow. Before the grey-haired student could even clutch his face in pain, he got grabbed by his arm and violently thrown halfway across the arena.

Again, nothing indicated a finishing move. At least nobody was dying, but it wasn't exactly the friendly kind of competition that Pyrrha's spar had been, and she had been working off some frustration on the former bullies.

Mercury jumped back to his feet within a second of hitting the ground, facing his rapidly-approaching foe once more. He still had a few seconds, it seemed.

"Your friend is pretty good," Ruby told the girl that Mercury had come with, but her reply was lost in the following scene.

Mercury slowly raised his hands, the universal surrender-sign, and clearly said, "I forfeit-"

That was about as far as he got before the Operative reached him, placed two hands around his head and swung around him, violently dragging an unfortunate Mercury to the floor in the most unsafe position Yang had seen since she had had Junior by the balls.

Some people gasped, some people whistled, but only the first-years that really knew what was about to happen jumped to their feet to interfere.

But Yang knew they would never get there in time, even if Ruby used her Semblance to risk freeing Mercury. Will had one arm planted firmly against the left side of his neck, while the other gripped his jawbone. You didn't need to be a fighter to know what was going to happen –you just needed to be familiar with every movie, game or book ever made ever wherein one guy popped the neck of another guy like a poorly-made matchstick.

For three nerve-wrecking seconds, nothing happened. Then, much to the relief of at least four teams, CRDL included, Will let go. Mercury crashed to the ground again and clutched his neck, hopefully oblivious to how close he had been to becoming one more statistic in Onyx's death-count.

And now Professor Goodwitch got pissed. "You do NOT grapple your opponent when he is surrendering!" she snapped. Her cheeks were flushing and the muscles around her neck were visibly clenched. "Am I understood?"

Will didn't even bat an eye. He clasped his hands behind his back, looked down at the ground and said, "Yes Ma'am."

No excuses. No "I didn't hear it" like Yang had been hoping he would say, just a quiet acknowledgement. But hey! At least he hadn't violently murdered a student before the eyes of two dozen people, that was something!

"And you," Goodwitch then turned to the visibly-disturbed Mercury. "I do hope you pick a better time to forfeit, and not in the middle of your opponent's attack."

He waved a hand and walked away. "Next time."

With that averted, teams RWBY, JNPR, LACG and CRDL slowly eased themselves back into their seats again. Ruby had to awkwardly climb over two rows to get back to her place, which Glynda seemed to ignore.

Only Blake hadn't noticed a thing. She had nearly fallen asleep during the fight and only when Yang kicked the back of her seat did she start to pay attention. "Huh, what?" she looked around with wide-open eyes, before she lowered her head again.

So if the idea of an Onyx soldier murdering a student wasn't enough to rile her up, what was?

"That would be it," Professor Goodwitch then said. "Class dismissed. Mister Greystone, a word please."

"Well, crisis averted," Ruby later said as team RWBY left the main building. "Just what we needed."

"I could have sworn we'd have another incident on our hands," Weiss replied. "And did you see Cardin jump?"

"I did," Yang said. "Guess that they officially got that bully-thing beaten out of them, right Blake?"

No reply.

"Yep," Ruby replied for Blake, who didn't even look up from her scroll. "After Jaune and a saboteur kicked their collective bully-behinds, they sobered up."

"Think Goodwitch will be merciful?"

"Hardly," Weiss said.

"Think Will messed up that badly?"

Weiss smirked. "No, because Professor Goodwitch is hardly merciful. What he did…not such a big deal to us. To her? She might be flogging him as we speak."

Yang felt a shiver run down her spine. He had once mentioned the punishment that some Onyx personnel got for messing up and sometimes, flogging was really a thing. Fetishistic? Yes. Painful? Certainly. Weiss was joking of course, but the thought still counted.

"Hey, Blake!" The girls turned around to see Sun approaching them. He reached for Blake's shoulder with a smile that was just too happy to remain unbroken by the grumpy Faunus. "You uh, doing okay?"

Blake angrily put her scroll away. "I'm fine. What do you want?"

Ouch. Ruby shared a helpless glance with Yang, but Sun didn't give up so easily. "So I hear there's this dance going on this weekend, and it sounds pretty lame, but you and me I'm thinking, not as lame, right?"

Blake narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"The dance!" Oh, that happy smile. "This weekend! You wanna go, or what?"

The girl scowled. "I don't have time for a stupid dance. Of course you wouldn't understand."

And there it was. One heartbroken Sun, thank you very much Blake.

But if Blake thought that it was over, she had another thing coming at her.

"You what?"

Later in the dormitories, Blake's levels of amusement had dropped beyond the absolute zero. She was sitting with her arms crossed, looking like she was going to win the award for the world's angriest-looking sleepwalker.

"We want you to go to the dance," Ruby firmly told her.

"I –why?"

"Because you are starting to look like you work for Onyx," Yang commented.

That was a bull's-eye. Blake jumped to her feet and clenched her fists, glaring daggers. "Take that back!" she shouted.

Yang was not intimidated. She didn't even need to get up from the bed; Blake could barely walk straight, much less put up a catfight. "No, I won't. Weiss, comparison?"

Weiss scraped her throat and solemnly stood. "You hardly eat, you barely get any sleep, you work at this investigation like it's compulsory…any more of this and you will be talking about the greater good and sacrifices."

Blake clenched her teeth. "People's lives are at stake! I-" she halted, realizing that she wasn't adding much weight to het words. "This is more important than stupid things like…like…"

"Like not dying from dehydration or starvation?" Ruby suggested. "You know I spotted nutrient-packs and booster-shots with Cal's stuff, right? It's to stave off having to eat and drink for a few days, if something is more important than that."

The look of horror on Blake's face said enough. She took a few steps backwards and bumped into the bed, plagued by the comparisons between herself and those she despised. "That's not –I don't want-"

"Then don't," Ruby said, reaching out for her hand. "Just tell us what's going on. Remember that we can help you."

Blake averted her eyes and wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself in clear distress. "It's everything. I don't want Onyx to find Alice…and I want to stop the White Fang, and I am ready to fight, but I don't want them to be wiped out by Onyx either…I want…I…"

Yang could feel her stomach clenching painfully when she saw how hurt Blake was. For the first time since she had pulled her out of the fire that night–nearly literally- she understood that she still felt for her old group. Blake had belonged there for a while; she had had friends, brothers and sisters. She had been ready to murder Will when the truth about the killings had come to light and later, when her friend had been murdered by the White Fang, it had fueled her rage to a point that she had tagged up with Alice instead of her team.

And Onyx was looming above that all. Hunting down the one person she had identified with outside her team, slaughtering her former friends and doing things that virtually stood on the other side of her state of mind. It was like Vale had turned on Blake in its entirety.

She needed to see that it wasn't the case. "Blake, Torchwick is being hunted by people more capable than we are. Professors Adamant and Johnson are taking steps to locate him and Ruby said that this Granit guy she met is on our side, too."

"But the White Fang-"

"Won't be able to do a thing with Atlas and Onyx forces looming over them, as you said," Weiss butted in. "Just look at what happened last time, shall we? Aircraft destroyed mercenary groups, we destroyed Torchwick's robot and most civilians got out alright."

"But he has a partner," Blake feebly protested. "And for some reason, Onyx is more interested in her than in their own rogue Operative."

Alright, that came as a surprise, even to Yang. "I beg your pardon?"

Ruby and Weiss seemed equally surprised. They shared one of their infamous glances and then stared at Blake as she explained.

"When Torchwick got away on his plane, they weren't willing to risk shooting it down. Onyx! Not willing to risk the life of a criminal! All because of this "her" onboard. When Alice tried to back down, their soldiers just ran past her."

"Alright…that's odd, I have to give you that," Ruby said. Her scroll buzzed and distracted her for a few moments.

"Have you talked to Yale about this yet?" Weiss picked up without missing a beat. "Or Cal? Or even Will? There are enough people that are willing to help. Remember what Ruby said; we have more people on our side than you think."

Blake shook her head. "I just…I can't deal with all of this. It feels like my responsibility. Worse, like my fault. If I had visited Tukson more –or left the White Fang sooner-"

"You can't attain perfection," Ruby said without taking her eyes off of her scroll. "For perfection equals imperfection. Ever heard that saying? We're people, Blake. Students, teenagers, kids, whatever. Living people that make mistakes."

"Yeah," Yang added. "We're allowed to make mistakes."

Weiss opened her mouth to say something else, but Ruby cut her off too. It was becoming a habit of hers, it seemed. "Yang, I think you should take Blake out for a walk."

Both of them turned to look at the devious little redhead. "What?" Blake weakly said.

"Go to the CCT. It'll be fun. "

"Why the CCT?" Blake said, her voice thick with suspicion."

Weiss nodded. "Last time I went there, the place was occupied by Onyx."

"Don't make me pull rank young lady," Ruby jokingly said. "Go get some fresh air. Again."

Yang had no clue as to what Ruby was planning, but she trusted her sister to do the right thing. "Come on Blake, let's go."

"This is a waste of time," the Faunus weakly said.

"Not a waste of our time. You can leave this to the Professionals."

Many things were still left unsaid, but at least Blake was willing to listen to what they said. That was something.

"You can't just ask me to stop, Yang," she said after a minute of silence. "You can't do that to me."

"I'm not asking you to stop," Yang replied. "I just want you to slow down."

"But if I slow down-"

"Nothing will happen if you slow down, but do you honestly think you can outthink Onyx like you are now? Do things before they can? You'd be lying to yourself."

"Yang…"

"Don't Yang me. When we are all rested and ready, we're going to call in favors with everyone we know and gather a taskforce large enough to put Ironwood at shame. I'm talking LACG, JNPR, Alice and Will, Fireteam Lima, everyone. But first of all, you're going to listen."

Blake sighed. "Fine."

Gotcha. "I mentioned Ruby and I were born in the North, right?"

Blake nodded.

"Well, we didn't really grow up together. My father met my mother two years before they had me…and for a while, they were like, insanely happy. But that changed. They got into one fight after another and eventually, they left each other. My mother didn't want to hurt dad anymore. For some time, he and I traveled around the North. He met Ruby's mother there…Summer Rose. He was afraid to fall in love again, but you know how that goes, right? Love doesn't care who you pick. They got married…and they had Ruby."

"Why did your parents leave each other?" Blake quietly asked.

"It was like she had two personalities; one that loved me, and one that hated me. One that hated everything. I still visited her five years after their divorce though. Multiple times a week. But then…something went wrong…terribly wrong. When I came to…when my father found us…the house had been burnt down. And my mother was gone."

Blake took a wavering breath. "I'm sorry…what happened?"

Yang shrugged. They reached the staircase. "I don't know. I don't know what made her change, I don't know where she went or why she left us. She could have talked about it, right? Well, she didn't. But I'm not letting go."

"But this is different, Yang. I'm terribly sorry for what happened, but I used to be with the White Fang. I know how they work…what they do. Only I can do this."

Yang gently shoved Blake and she nearly crashed against a wall. "Yeah, I can see that. What, you think that you can do what entire governments can't? You think you can beat a man who has outsmarted Professor Adamant at one point? You know they used to be teammates."

"I know that…I just…I feel like I need to do something."

"We are going to do something. But only when we are ready. Even in the army, the soldiers need to rest end recuperate, so they can focus on the job. It's no different for us. Morale needs to be higher –and there enters the Beacon Dance. If you come, I'll save you a dance."

That caught Blake by surprise. "You would? Dance with me?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Blake hesitated. "I…I'm just not used to people-"

Her words stalled in her throat as soon as they exited the main building again, whereupon they saw the dark ship hovering near the CCT

"Yang…what is this?" she tentatively asked.

And Yang really hoped that Ruby knew what she was doing, because taking Blake to meet some more Onyx people would be a great way to completely destroy her trust in humanity. "Just keep going."

When the two of them reached the actual Tower, the ship had touched down. What timing. A large, tall soldier was standing with his back against a series of boxes, his arms crossed.

"Good evening young ladies," he said with a heavy voice, thickly-accented and muffled by his helmet. "We do not have much time. Beacon is high profile."

"Ehm…who are you?" Yang carefully asked.

"Right, forgive me my manners." The soldier took his helmet off and revealed a dark face with a hooked nose, yellow eyes and hair that gradually shifted over into feathers. A bird-Faunus. Great. "I am Granit. I contacted your sister."

"What do you want?" Blake asked with an angry expression, her hand going for the weapon on her back.

"To show you something," Granit replied, walking up to the hovering ship. He didn't appear awkward or intimidated in any way. "Or rather, someone." He bashed the metal door with a heavy fist and stepped back when the cargo-door opened.

"Wait…" Blake whispered. "What did you do…I recognize…"

She stopped talking when the door fully opened. It was dark inside of the ship, so Yang had no idea what the big picture was, but it had to be pretty important.

"That's not possible."

"What is it?" Yang asked, but her partner ignored her and entered the ship. "What did you do?"

Granit shrugged. "When Frost went around town, he spotted an insignificant little shop that seemed to remind him of something. So we took turns keeping an eye on it until we were actually ordered to do something useful. What do you call it? Stakeout?"

"So?"

Granit beckoned at the ship. "Take a look."

Feeling that she was being lured into some kind of trap, Yang nevertheless entered the ship, taking great care to avoid tripping any traps. She could see Blake, who was hugging someone she didn't immediately recognize.

"Who's that?"

"Someone who should stop WHINING," Granit said, raising his voice so that the people inside could hear him too.

"You people are keeping me a prisoner!" a heavy voice shouted back, oddly muffled as well.

Yang placed her hands on her hips. "Are you keeping prisoners now?"

Blake reappeared, holding a ragged-looking man by his hand. Arm, actually, as his hands were cuffed. The girl looked happier than she had looked since days. Who was this guy? Why did Granit contact Ruby with him?

"Yang," Blake said with a massive grin, "meet Tukson! My friend from the-" she stopped herself halfway through her sentence and shot an alarmed glance at Granit, who was only smirking like a professional Ruby. "Eh…where did you find him? His shop was destroyed."

"Yeah," the giant Faunus said, awkwardly rubbing the feathers in his neck. "My bad. I shouldn't have let Amber get involved, but I needed time. Frost cleared up though. It's his thing."

"You destroyed my shop?" the man called Tukson cried out.

"You still have your claws, chum."

"Bound is more like it."

"How did this happen?" Blake asked. "The White Fang attacked his store, they wanted to kill him."

"As I said, Frost and I watched over the shop until he got ambushed. At that point, I got Mister Tukson out of there. I guess Amber got overzealous. It's her thing."

"You saved Tukson from the White Fang?" she asked, sounding incredulous. "Why? How? Did you see who attacked him? Why did you take him hostage?"

Granit chuckled again. He seemed awkwardly…optimistic…for someone working with Onyx. "I took him out of there as soon as Amber noticed two irregulars entering the shop. If you want to know what they looked like, you should ask them. Word of advice: don't."

"Why shouldn't we-"

"As for your other questions: Tukson is a valuable source on White Fang movement-information-"

Didn't they simply keep an eye on his shop because this Frost guy wanted to do so? It had nothing to do with the White Fang.

"-which is why we cannot let him go." Granit stressed that last part. "Not until we have the information we need."

"At least the Fang won't find him again," Blake then said, showing a remarkable amount of restraint and calmness when faced with the idea of her friend being kept against his will. And Yang could understand; better be alive and kept in a base somewhere than to be dead and buried.

Tukson didn't seem to agree. "But I don't understand! Who are Frost and Amber? Why did they keep an eye on my store and who came after me?"

"Currently Vale's best cleaner of messes and cause of messes, respectively. The rest is confidential and trust me when I say you should leave it at that. The White Fang is hunting down its ex-members to tie up loose ends –makes sense- and you were close to bolting. Becoming an unknown. They couldn't have that…and neither could we."

"Hold on," Yang said. "You just happened to be there when White Fang members moved in to kill him? Somehow, I don't buy that."

"Then don't." The kind tone disappeared and he reached for his helmet again. "Just accept that the guy's alive, because we got lucky. Both of them got away and not just because further engagement would result in a bigger mess."

"So they're still out there?" Blake asked. "Still after ex-members?"

Right, ouch. Better keep an eye on Blake too.

"We got most of their movements pinned down to the letter. These two weren't direct members."

"You got them…pinned down? Wait, so you know why Torchwick joined the White Fang? What they want?"

Oh lord, the obsession was starting again.

"Depends on whether you are supposed to know about Torchwick," he patronizingly said, as if they were children. "Because if you don't, it would be a big security breach."

"Gosh, we wouldn't want that, would we?" Yang said, rolling her eyes. "Let me guess: you don't have a lot of time and you need to go soon?"

"Yep."

"Fine. Blake?"

Blake didn't seem bothered at all. On the contrary; she actually seemed happy about all of this. More secrets and riddles and she was happy? This Tukson guy really meant a lot to her. "I agree. Tukson? Can you stay in touch? Once this is over, we can provide you with shelter at Beacon. I guess."

Tukson ruffled her bow with his cuffed hands. "I promise I'll write. Word of advice; stay away from the White Fang. We didn't go through this mess to end up dead."

Blake nodded, but Granit ruined the moment. "Not making any promises, big guy. Now you behave, or I'll hand you over to Frost. He'd love to have a chat with an ex-Fang."

The two of them entered the vessel again, even as Yang and Blake shared a look.

"This guy really that bad?" Tukson asked.

"No. He's worse."

"So where does that leave me?"

"If you behave? With writing materials."

"Guess I should say thank you…"

And with that last remark, the gates of the ship closed and their engines started again. Silently, nearly invisible. Creepy stuff.

"Blake?" Yang cautiously asked. "You ehm…you alright?"

The girl flashed her a smile. "Actually, yes. Now I just have to find Sun. You still want to make good on that dance?"

"Uhm…" it took her a few moments to realize what Blake was saying, but when she did, she could feel her heart leap. "You'll go to the dance? Really? Oh, that's so awesome! We're going to have so much fun! Are you finally going to take it easy? Sleep, drink and eat?"

"Sure," she said. "You were right, you know? About our team?"

Yang smiled as well. "I know. So you're going with Sun as your partner?"

"I guess so. What about you? Still want to go for-?"

"Yep. I just have to be…persuasive."

---

The office was close-by and there wasn't anybody around. The students had all left, either to take a break, a next lesson or simply because of human reasons. Nobody to disturb them. Goodwitch was so preoccupied with his "shocking display of lack of ethics and values" that she had gone to discuss it with Ozpin, ever her standing pillar in the chaos of life. A predictable, human response to unimportant matters. Had he not seen how much the students valued life, he wouldn't even have attempted to distract them like that, and it was all the easier because of it.

One last checkup confirmed that he was ready to take this one last step. The soldier inside of him told him that there would be no going back after this. Either he'd be punished harsher than ever before, or they'd hunt him down. He wasn't going to let them. It was still too soon for death.

Will slowly opened the door, not even bothering to dampen his sounds. This wasn't going to be subtle.

Yale turned around and glanced at him. "Greystone. Whatever you want, I'm busy. Go bother someone else." And then he looked back down at the file he had been reading.

He closed the door behind him and advanced on the Field Commander, gear in hand. The office was small and simple; one desk, some pictures and a few rifles on the wall. There were tons of papers scattered around the various chairs and only one window.

One final step. "Tell me about the Catalyst Program."

A slight tremor ran through Yale's body. His muscles grew more rigid, tension set in in his jaw and his knuckles grew paler. But he didn't look up. "You aren't allowed to ask me that. General Eventide's orders forbade you, remember? Besides; I know even less than you do."

Will clicked the safety of his sidearm off and took aim at the head of the CO. "Don't LIE to me! Tell me what I want to know!"

The resulting silence left him exceedingly aware of how his voice sounded when he shouted. It sounded odd, distorted. But he felt it, so it must have been him.

Yale's head snapped up when he heard the familiar click and his eyes settled upon the barrel, perfectly aligned with his forehead. His eyes narrowed and he slightly raised his chin, arrogantly. Appraisingly. He still didn't let go of that paper. "Your reputation might work with the higher-ups, but this shit doesn't fly with me. Put that away or I'll throw you out of my office."

He didn't take him seriously. Why didn't he take him seriously? No matter, that would change soon. It wouldn't be smart to shoot him in his knees, because the shots would alert half the school. But there were other ways to make him understand that this wasn't the child speaking, but the person. The driving factor.

Will closed the distance between himself and his former officer with two quick strides and grabbed him by his throat. Perhaps Yale had not expected him to lash out at him like that. After all, they were supposed to have been rid of those thoughts more than ten years ago. But his response was still immediate and decisive; one arm moving down to prevent the choke-hold, the other one counter-attacking. He wasn't such a high-ranking officer for no reason; he had spent many years with Onyx, honing his skills and training every day of the week. He was disciplined, trained and very good. Perhaps he was even as good as a Huntsman.

But Yale was only human.

Counter the counter-attack, feint to the face and strike the stomach. Twist, circle around, bend hips and strike. The violence was without sound and without mercy. Once Yale had the knife at the edge of his throat, digging so deep into his skin that it bordered on breaching it, he fully understood the ramifications. It was visible in his eyes; the fear, the uncertainty. The knowledge that somewhere somehow, broken conditioning was more dangerous than the conditioning itself. Not for his own life, but the world he strove to protect.

Will wondered if there was even anything resembling a personality left in him to instill that fear, or if it was just the threat of another loaded gun. Another sharpened knife. Another Greystone-antic. "Tell me!" he repeated.

Yale grunted and tapped against the table with his hand. "You're aware that this will cause more problems than it will solve?"

Will drew the knife back to avoid accidentally slitting his throat and threw the man across the room, breaking one of the chairs and sending slides of paper everywhere. "There's nothing left for us to solve but this.""

Yale coughed and got to his feet, clutching his shoulder. "There is no "us" anymore. She's dead. It's over."

It's over. No, it was never over. The smell of death and blood, the screaming. The whispering. Never over." For you, yes! For Onyx! Not for us! Nothing's ever over, nothing! Everywhere we go, it's always the same!" He could feel his heartrate quickening –his temperature rising. Bottled-up pain and repression that had been whipped from the flesh many many years ago all came rising up like bile. "She's not dead. She's out there, somewhere. You know more about it."

The officer didn't fully rise, choosing to stay leaning against the wall he had landed against. "I don't know. And neither does Ironwood. And neither does Ozpin."

It wasn't important what Ozpin knew! Ironwood was a new factor, a small measure of hope. Ozpin wasn't even connected to Onyx. "Bullshit! You think her messing with me is FAKE? You think I don't feel the void she left behind?" his throat hurt, his mouth was dry and he couldn't help but feel like screaming. It was like the first years all over again.

"I'm not saying that," Yale calmly said. "I'm just saying that whatever's going on, you need to let it go."

"Let it go?" He repeated, momentarily lowering his weapon. "What do you mean?"

Yale shook his head. "What do I mean? Don't be a fool. Forget it, move on. Think of the bigger picture."

Will laughed without humor. How could he not, when he had been electrocuted for laughing aloud the first time? "Forget it? You think I can forget it? When I can't even hug Yang because when she touches me, I don't even know when she is an enemy and she's going to kill me? When I can't even sit easy in the canteen because there's only one exit?" His voice was getting louder and he didn't want it, but he couldn't control himself.

"You don't need to do any of those things. Just do your job-"

"Where did that job leave me, huh? Where I came from, killing was good! It was the only thing we knew! You pull the trigger, you get fed. You don't, you get the taser! When I got here, I had killed more human beings than half the Atlas military killed Grimm and that was wrong!"

"I don't know anything about your training, but that was where she was for –don't give me that look, I read the files. She was your mentor, your guardian! Many soldiers have gone through years of the same shit and they had to do it on their own. Think you had it the worst?"

"And God bless the file, right?" Will spat, lashing out at a nearby chair with his leg. The wooden piece of furniture shattered into three separate pieces and Yale shot an alarmed glance at one of the rifles on the wall, which wobbled dangerously. "Because…because…" his thoughts faded away as his knees buckled, nearly sending him falling against the table. Whatever he had wanted to say, it was lost. Lost as another fit of whispers and memories assaulted his senses, calling up images of places and events long since transpired. "Because…" a mirror reflecting the image of a pale girl braiding her equally-pale hair. The same mirror shattered to pieces in an abandoned room. Grimm, dozens of them, nibbling on bones. And the most heart-breaking sobbing and screaming he had ever heard in his entire life, followed by a stab of rage that had intertwined with his own. Rage at the monsters that had killed his parents –no, not his parents. Her parents. The hope had been hers, the pain as well. He had just been the conduit for that pain. The conduit for her exceedingly rare, unbridled hate and vengeance.

It was proof! Proof that she was still there and that Yale was lying and that it wasn't his fault and his head. Was. Killing him.

Why did the floor tremble?

Footsteps. An alarmed Yale glancing at the door, which flew open. A green-haired man barging inside, his spectacles reflecting the absolute chaos in the room.

"We heard yelling," the man said. "And objects breaking. Is everything in order?"

Gone was the chance. The shadow of secrecy he could have hidden in. Would people find out? Would Yale risk Onyx's security breach to get him back in line?

"Everything is quite alright," the officer said, dusting his shoulders off in a nonchalant manner. "Both of us lost our manners…and both of us have problems expressing the void that said manners leave behind."

"Both," the man who was probably a professor replied. "Both of you?"

Skepticism. Was there another exit? The window? No, too high. Hostage-taking? No, the Professor was in a bad position to be taken –and the man didn't deserve it. Nobody at Beacon did. He was badly out of place here.

"It's an Onyx thing. If you could give us another minute, we could clear things up."

"See to it. And then find a way to clean this before Glynda finds out. The food fight had her on edge."

The blurriness. It would not stop.

"We will."

The door closed again and Will tried to recall the lullabies that always them down after yet another bloodbath. Singing worked well…and his memories were vivid.

"You three were our greatest failures," Yale muttered.

No arguing there.

"But I would hate to see all the things going on here ending like this. You should probably take a look at Whitefire's suicide-"

Suicide? It was murder. Gas. Cassandra. Two days of war.

"-the dossier should be here in my office somewhere. I had it all organized…" he trailed off, staring in the distance. "Being a CO, you pick things up. Things you ignore, repress, write down. Things you aren't supposed to know or remember. You wouldn't understand."

Probably not. He understood that he was tired though, so he simply stood back and watched Yale search around for the bundle of papers. His legs were on the verge of giving away underneath him. Either it was the headache or the dizziness, but the room was slowly spinning. Emotional drain? Physical one? Two such outbursts in the same week…what would the others think?

"If this causes an incident," Yale started.

"I'll take the downfall."

"I won't be the one to tell them. Don't need to. The second you hit one of those buildings…"

"They'll know. And they'll try to stop me."

"Do you think you can get away with it? Do you really think you'll find her?"

"Either she's alive and I'll fulfill my promise…or Onyx gets to finish what the others couldn't and I finally get to sleep."

"You're a fool."

Will reached for the dossier that Yale was clutching in his right hand. "I know."

The CO was reluctant to let go, but he didn't truly resist. "You need to learn to move on. Everyone does."

He nearly missed the experience that lay hidden in that last part. First-hand. "Not everyone gets the chance. Time can't heal everything." With that, he turned around and left. There ought to be some empty classroom he could use to privately read this thing. The buildings that Yale had mentioned…they had to be complex structures. Designed like Penny –a synthetic unit designed to hold a soul. The Anker. Well-guarded? Probably. Comfortable? Probably not.

Two floors down, ground-level. One of the college-rooms was locked. Careful observation suggested it was devoid of occupants.

Will busted the lock and slowly opened the door, scanning the interior for any possible threats. There were none. He was alone.

A strange feeling unfolded itself in his chest. It was the anticipation he felt when the bullets started flying –when another war began. Like a moment where everything hinged on. It made him…tentative…to open the file. He was getting desperate for answers and that was dangerous. But he couldn't wait any longer – he needed to do this now.

Anticipation turned into annoyance when the file turned out to be heavily censored and redacted. Names and even coordinates were just blacked out and even the name "Catalyst" was turned into some string of numbers.

But Yale's clearance was still significant enough to warrant a full version of Whitefire's story. Apparently, her death at the hands of Cassandra was just a fabrication made up by Professor Greene. Operative Skyler Whitefire, only a few years older than Alice or him, had died by drowning. She had jumped into one of the more infamous rivers of Atlas's wild nature, in which she had made no attempt at survival. Suicide.

It wouldn't cut it for him. He didn't have an affinity with water and it wouldn't be useful.

Her body was taken to a "listening station" where she had been prepared for autopsy. The station itself had then sent the data to a "Biological Weapon Test Facility", but the reason was of course covered with ink.

There were other things, too. References to the first generation of Operatives, of which some were used as Subjects for the Implant. Whitefire was designated Delta-I…and she had attempted to go after Doctor Azure before, who had later been neutralized by Blackwood.

References to other Professors, like Jet, whom he had personally killed when Ancilla had regained some of her memories again.

There was so much stuff inside of his head…he couldn't remember this all. He couldn't puzzle it together. He needed help, but there wasn't anybody who could help him. Most of the people he had managed to associate to the program were already dead, or just untouchable. He knew just enough to understand the basic concept behind the girl referred to as a Catalyst and that had been enough for seven counts of insubordination, three weeks total of AWOL operations and five deaths of which he had been cleared.

Will turned around when he heard the soft scraping of fabric against wood, pushing the documents out of sight. The last thing he needed right now was someone trying to stop him from doing what he needed to do. He was about to yell at the intruder to go away when he saw who it was, whereupon he promptly shut his mouth and double-checked the position of the sensitive dossier. "What are you doing here?"

Yang crossed her arms and leant against the doorframe. "I could ask you the same thing."

This was a public classroom, abandoned and empty for the remainder of the day. There was no need for anyone but him to be there. Of course, that went both ways.

"I'm busy," he said, turning away from her again. There were easily a dozen buildings where Onyx could have stored her. He needed to find them all. But how? "Go away."

"Why? Don't you need help?"

"No. Just leave me alone."

Judging from the hasty footsteps that came closer and closer, Yang had set her mind to exceedingly stubborn today. "I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to be honest with me."

She sounded angry, impatient. Why-

"And I want you to look at me when I talk to you!" He felt a hand grabbing him by his shoulder and he immediately turned around to defend himself. Sudden touches, firm grips, all of them were aimed to hurt him.

Will whipped his hand to the side of her arm and pulled Yang around, pushing her against the table with enough force to shove both of them a foot backwards. It fazed her about as much as a simple pat on her head would.

"The past few days you've been worse than ever before!" she shouted, pushing back without effort. He let her force him back to a certain point, after which he shifted his weight and brought her closer again. Their arms interlocked, faces close, mere inches apart. He could feel the heat radiating off of her body, could feel the muscles in her arms contorting as she forced him back.

It wasn't his fault! He was what others had made of him, what others had forced onto him! "Leave me alone!" he shouted back, immediately feeling his throat ache again. Either he had neglected drinking, or he had neglected talking. At this point, he couldn't even bring himself to care anymore. "Stop blaming me!"

Yang was smarter than that, or he had lost his edge. Whatever it was, she was able to put an immediate end to his maneuver and pushed him against first row of chairs. One of them bent and cracked. "The hell I am, you're hurting people like this! You're hurting yourself like this!"

Couldn't she see that that didn't matter? That he wasn't important? That there was nothing to him now? "So? Why does that even matter?"

"It matters to me!"

He had been about to push back again when that statement struck. He halted, puzzled. What mattered to her? Other people? Him?

"We want to help you," she continued in a softer tone. Gentler. Calmer. Almost soothing. He didn't know how to react to that. "I want to help you. " Her face didn't look pleading, only sad. Pitying him? He didn't want that. He despised it.

"Well don't!" he snapped. "I don't want your help. I don't need your help. I –I can fix this on my own!"

That seemed to push her buttons. She growled and grabbed him by his arm again, both hands in an iron clasp. Pulling him away from the dented row of wooden chairs and pinning him. "What do you need to fix? What has you obsessing like this? This isn't war, Will! You're already home!"

Why didn't she understand that he couldn't have anyone caring? How was he going to let this all behind if there was a someone he was leaving behind? He couldn't do that! She had to understand and just let him go! "It's not your business," he replied, not knowing what else to say. What else to talk about. "It's not! Stop caring!" She pushed him and he stepped aside, before grabbing her by her waist and throwing her over his hips. The contact felt warm, odd.

Yang fell to the ground and immediately rolled back to her feet. "Stop caring? Really? Is that all you have to say? Are you that stupid?"

Apparently, he was. And as they clashed once more, Will could feel his own stupidity increasing. He had never been capable of matching Yang when it came to brute strength. In a fight, he could only match her by redirecting her movements and mass, but he didn't want to. Fighting Yang was the last thing he would want. His limbs were trembling and the girl had no problem throwing him around like a child, but she too kept back. No powerful blows, no fire, no pain. Something he could feel something breaking underneath their tangled bodies as they smashed through another fragile object, but neither of them willing to hurt the other.

Eventually, both of them were struggling to get upright in the middle of the ruined remains of what had once been the teacher's desk. "I'm not the one blindly trying to –to-"

-to do what, exactly? What was Yang trying to accomplish?

With a frustrated cry, the girl threw him to the ground, where she grabbed his arms and pinned them to the floor. Immobilized, stuck. Her body was warm and pressed down heavy on top of his torso. Perched down on him as she was she didn't let him escape.

"Damnit Yang!" One chance left. He couldn't do this –he couldn't do it to someone else. "I need to do this! You don't understand!"

"Don't understand? I spent years thinking that I was responsible for the death of my mother!" She shouted, effectively shutting him up. Her eyes had turned fully red and her whole body was now completely radiating heat. "Only one stupid, anonymous text gave me hope that she was still alive. Years later, somewhere. So don't start that bullshit! You want to obsess over something, don't get yourself killed!"

She wasn't going to let him go. Physically, or mentally. Did he want to? Did he want her to let go? It had been…been…he couldn't remember. Why couldn't he remember? Why couldn't he remember the last time someone else had cared for him?

No. No! Memories didn't matter, he needed to do this! It was all he had left to do and he had been pushing it away for months at an end, when he should have joined her at the very moment everything had fallen apart. He had suffered, he had fought, he had done everything he could and it hadn't been enough. It was never enough.

Will struggled with his arms, but they wouldn't move. Yang didn't budge an inch. "I…I can't…" everything stopped working. It all fell apart. Even his voice broke apart, finally. More cracks devastating the floodgate. "I can't do this. I can't keep going on."

"What do you mean?" she urged him. She looked honestly worried for him. Honestly cared for him. He didn't want her to leave. "What can't you do? Is this about your…your partner?"

What was he supposed to say? That the person who had been his best friend, mentor, teacher, sister and responsibility was dead? That he had failed to keep her safe and well, that she had died after spending her last years with the worst kind of nightmares and traumas possible? Stuck in a living hell, enough to drive others to suicide?

That he still felt her around everywhere? "I can't get it out of my head…I can't get it out…I keep thinking she's around…I keep remembering things I can't get out of my head again. Why? Why can't I get it out?" He couldn't control himself –he couldn't keep a straight face. He couldn't act like the fact that he knew nothing didn't disturb him deeper than any terror he witnessed on the battlefield. And he was tired. Emotionally depleted. "I can't function like this. She always told me what to do…how to act…kept me human. Without her…there's nothing left."

"But you've got us," Yang replied. "Just look around you. You've got Ruby…Weiss at times…and me. Even Blake. Just let us in…let us help. Your life doesn't need to be a war. Just stay home with us, at Beacon. You've given up more than enough for Onyx. Your…gesture…two nights ago proved that." She eased herself off of his body and sat down next to him, with her knees pulled up to her chest. "But what you need, is some rest. Something good in life, to make you see that you shouldn't give up. A little piece of hope."

Hope. "Hope is the dream of a waking child." How long had it been since he had felt pure, untainted hope? "That's something I admire in you," he muttered, still lying on his back. "You never give up. Even when Blackwood killed you, it just pissed you off." He closed his eyes. "How?"

"I don't know. If I hear what you saw before coming to Beacon…things you did and saw…doubt I would have dealt with it like you did."

He had had some help with those ones. "You say hope. How does that work? How does a person get more hope?"

Yang reached for his head and ruffled his hair. It was a gesture she seemed rather fond of, though he had no idea why. His hair was too long, messy and half of it was probably dead or split. "Ruby said that having hope is to see past the darkness and into the light. It's that thing inside of you that makes you wake up in the morning and fight for tomorrow. And if you lose sight of it…I'll be there bring you hope."

Will opened his eyes and looked at her. He didn't dare believe what he heard. "You will?"

"Sure. I'll always be there to keep you safe, remember? And we "civilians" are going to have some fun tomorrow-evening. You're still invited."

The Beacon Dance? Filled with students wearing dresses and formal suits, dancing and smiling? He had heard of soldiers turning to alcohol, drugs, medicines and books to get their minds out of the gutter and into the sun. He would prefer dancing above all of those. There was just a tiny problem though; amidst the dozens of methods of killing, maiming and destroying, he had never learned how to dance. Martial Arts had often been compared to dancing…and back during training, instructors would shoot at his feet, telling him to dance, but that was about it. And after the three of them had learned how to work together to get back at those instructors, those sessions had ceased as well.

He'd find a way. "I'd like that." So did this count as R&R? And didn't people at dances often wear dresses? "Do I need a dress?"

Yang giggled. "All you need to do is find something to make you look a little bit fancy. Like a tie or a pair of good shoes."

…so a combat-oriented visit to Professor Adamant it would be.

---

Day 78, evening of Beacon Dance, LACG dormitories, 17:17. Onyx teams Alpha through Charlie standing by for hostile incursion in CCT.

"Come on kiddo, it's going to be fun."

"But I don't think this fits."

"You don't need to think it doesn't fit, because it really doesn't fit."

"Not convincing, Adamant."

"Don't blame me. Blame Matt; it used to be his."

Grace took a good, long look at the little soldier standing in their dorms, chuckling quietly. "Ash isn't even that small; how come Matt's old tuxedo doesn't fit him?"

"It grew in the wash," Lisa told them.

"Wait," Alessa said, fiddling with a white glove. "How does something grow when washed? Don't clothes shrink?"

"Not in Adamant Manor. The point is: don't worry, you look fine."

Ash looked at the three girls of team LACG –Cho was still changing- and the pleading, nervous look on his face was barely too much for Lisa to take. Her little biscuit looked so cute! Even if he was drowning in Matt's old tuxedo! "Why can't I wear my helmet again?"

"Because a helmet doesn't work well with dancing," Grace told him. "People think that's weird. Do you want everyone to stare at you?"

"No…"

"Then be a good little boy and pull those sleeves up a bit."

The little soldier did as Grace told him, rolling up the sleeves that were hiding his hands. "Are you sure that Cal will come too?"

"I don't-"

"Sure," Lisa cut in, jabbing at her friend with her elbow to shut her up. "Actually, I expect him here in just a few minutes-"

No sooner had she opened her mouth, or the door to their room burst open and slammed against the wall.

"Ash," everyone's favorite fox-face snapped. "Why are you –what are you wearing? Damn, what did they do to you?"

"I'm going to a dance!" the boy happily replied. "And not with my helmet!"

Lisa couldn't help but grin. Everything was according to plans. Whether they were originally Ruby's plans or not didn't matter. People worked together. "Grace, see if Cho's ready. You need to get dressed as well."

"Sure. But don't forget our deal! You will be changing after me!"

"And Alessa then?"

"She changes extraordinary fast."

"Righty then."

"Hold up," the Faunus called. "Nobody's going anywhere until I know why you abducted my teammate. Ash seriously, why are you letting girls stick you in a suit? Actually, don't answer that."

Too late. While Grace knocked on the door of the bathroom and called for Cho, little Biscuit gave his reply. "Because I didn't like the supply drop."

Lisa could see Cal's ears twitching in agitation. It was so much fun to watch Faunus getting ticked off.

"What supply drop?"

"The ones that delivered the suits for you and Greystone."

"The drop that…I…what?"

And had stopped working. Cue . "You see fox-boy, seeing as Velvet and her team started this whole thing, I figured you'd come as well."

"You're bluffing. You can't hack our radios."

"Not hack, no. But we can be very convincing. Lily needed a lot of convincing, but in the end she agreed it would be for the best if her team…integrated…with the local student-body."

Cal pointed a gloved finger at her. "I don't like it when you say that. You make it sound nasty."

"Cry me a river. With fox-ears." She, racist? Whoever had come up with that idea? "So when Will and she plucked the three suits off the drop, Ash didn't like them. And I know just what he likes."

"Right. Because you are so empathic that you know what-" he glanced at his teammate "-what people with special needs have need off."

"Ooh! I know! Special needs!" Ash enthusiastically yelled.

"That wasn't a question," the grumpy Faunus replied between clenched teeth. "Adamant, you- "

"Yes it was. Ten-plus."

Cal took a deep breath and tried again. "Adamant, you're testing my patience. I don't need you messing with my team, alright? We have better things to do than some dance!"

Grumpy guy sounded like Blake. Was it a Faunus-thing to be grumpy when the fun stuff started? "Listen, we're all doing this as a favor to you guys. Lily agreed; the stress has been rising out of the pan lately. All this angst needs to stop."

Cho exited the bathroom, looking lovely and fancy and…kind of hot in a suit. He gestured at Grace, who curtsied in response and pulled the door close behind her. One down, three to go. Well, four in theory.

"The what?"

"You know, the angst! The brooding, sadness, chagrin and all that stuff. Negative shit that nobody needs."

"You are a peculiar girl." He paused, apprehension slowly becoming visible in his features. "Wait, you said three suits? Ash, Greystone-"

"-and you, fox-boy."

"No," he said with a deadpan voice. "And stop calling me that."

"Alessa, how disappointed would Velvet be if she heard that her favorite Lima didn't visit the party she set up with him in mind?"

"Very."

"That would be so sad. All this goodwill, lost because of one reluctant leader. So sad."

"I know what you're doing and it's not working."

"Come on Cal!" little Ash said. "It will be fun! There will parents!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Lots of pairings!"

..so cute.

"Ash, you…where is your necklace?"

Biscuit went for his neck and pulled the iron chain up. "Here it is. I like to keep it close; it reminds me of fresh air."

…a little creepy.

"And you are serious about going to this dance? You know there will be lots of civilian Bobs, right?"

"I know. But there will also be real people!"

"Ehm…Bobs?" Alessa asked the question that Lisa didn't want to ask for fear of looking retarded.

"It's a phrase we use."

"Well, colour me surprised," Lisa then said. "A phrase! How enlightening!"

"I am no stranger to sarcasm. We use the phrase to avoid insulting civilians or soldiers outside of Onyx. It was first used to describe the sort of people who'd be protesting our arrival and call us baby-killers, but it evolved and became a term on its own."

"So basically, ignorant people?" Alessa said.

"Yes. Which is why I don't want to have him running around there. He could get hurt, or hurt someone else, or get lost or…meet someone he didn't want to meet."

"Why don't you keep an eye on him then?" Cho suggested. Good little Mauve. "If you go as well, you'll assure his safety."

"Ignoring the other people, there will be team RWBY and team JNPR and us and Professors Adamant, Johnson and a Braunschweiger and lots of other people." She paused, letting her words sink in. "Our Operative-buddy will be there, as will Lily."

"Do you really want to stand in the way of his happiness?" Alessa said, crossing her arms. She didn't even need to try to look intimidating –she always looked as such.

"You people are making this really hard on us," Cal said with a weary sigh.

Cho opened the nearest closet, revealing a fancy, deep-blue suit. Totally fit for people with fox-ears with the same colour. "Not at all."

"Blackmailing little…fine. Do they serve alcohol there?"

"There will be alcoholic punch," Cho replied. "That count? You have an identification I can see?"

"No. Ash? If I catch you even looking at that punch, I'm going to drag you home by your ears, you got that?"

"Yes…"

"Lisa, the same thing goes for you."

"Damnit Cho! I do have an ID! I can show it!"

"I know. And I don't want to see you near alcohol either."

"Screw you and all the Police-things you like."

Grace exited the bathroom as well, sporting a pretty well-designed dress that stopped just below her knees. It had a light brown tint and, per LACG-subsection 19, paragraph D, didn't have any ribbons and other girlie decorations. And it was all the prettier because of it. "Alright Lisa, your turn."

"One moment. Little Biscuit? I am going to change into her fancy clothes. I want you to ask Lily how far they are with stealing that stash of bowties. Can you do that?"

He saluted her. "Yes ma'am!"

…so proud.

"Stash with bowties?" Cal asked, raising an eyebrow. "They?"

"Yeah, a secret operation to become fancy," Grace explained. "Nothing to worry about. Just grab this suit…and wait until everything kicks off."

"Right. Because nothing kicks off like a dance, does it?"

"Exactly."

---

Beacon Dance, 18:31

Weiss glanced around the ballroom and, for the first time since many hours, felt she could be satisfied with the amount of work they had put into the hall. Blue and pink balloons strapped to the ceiling, beautiful white roses resting in freshly-cleaned vases, streamers and other decorations draped over the various glass chandeliers, it was all fruit of their hard labor. The floor was polished so clean that you could see your own reflection smiling back at you and at the sides, there were enough chairs and tables to seat half Beacon.

Of course, that was hardly the result of just one person. Team CFVY had worked exceedingly hard to organize all the props, decorations and dinner-items for the Dance. But because of the delay in their mission, they had been unable to properly take care of things. That is where team RWBY had entered the picture, very successfully.

The large hall was slowly filling up with second-year and third-year students alike, clad in breathtaking dresses with a wide diversity of decorations and colours and magnificent tuxedos with enough bowties to make Professor Adamant lose his mind. There wasn't anybody Weiss knew yet and she didn't know how many people had agreed to come at all. She might have gotten nervous because of all these people with all their experience and their skills, had it not been for Yang standing a few meters away. Seeing her not reassured Weiss that she was nowhere near being alone again, but also that they, as a team, had gone through more ordeals than even a third-year student could say. After all, they had fought sociopathic child-soldiers that could kill with one hit, mad doctors who experimented on children and two types of Grimm that could use Semblance. They had survived snowstorms and ambushes and terrorist attacks and they had made friends out of people who had half the country running scared.

No. Not alone indeed.

"Who else do we expect?" Weiss asked her friend, who had just greeted another two students entering the hall.

"Lots of people," Yang cheerfully replied. She wore a short, white dress with black heels and white panties. Her long, golden hair flowed freely over her back and as always, that single strand on top her head had refused to lie down. It was good to see her sticking with her carefree attitude again, because seeing her worried and nearly-depressed had been very painful. "I hope Ruby and Blake won't take too long."

"Ruby had some difficulties donning her dress," Weiss said. Her "She should be here any second now."

"Yeah. Thanks for helping her with that though. She didn't want me to do it, for some reason."

Weiss felt her cheeks stinging with heat and she quickly averted her face. "S-sure…no problem."

"So how do you like it? Think the music fits?"

She huffed. "Of course the music fits. We picked it out."

"I meant the positioning. Don't the tables block it out?"

"They do not. We saw to that last night, when you placed the boxes."

"Alright then, now we just need to-"

The double doors to the hall opened again, revealing a small, tender girl in a gorgeous red-and-black dress. At that point, Yang flipped out.

"Ooohh, you look beautiful!" she exclaimed.

Ruby softly groaned with dissatisfaction, even though her lance, belt and pumps were all black. The only thing missing was her hood, which wasn't even that much of a deal. "Weiss, can we have a serious talk about how you fight in these things?"

Weiss smirked. "Walk slowly, and you'll be fine. Here, let me accompany you." She offered her arm to Ruby, which the little redhead gratefully took.

Yang only laughed at her sister's precarious steps. "You're not used to walking around in those shoes, are you?"

"Not my fault!" Ruby cried, desperately clinging to Weiss's side. "It was never needed!"

More and more people filed inside of the hall. Blake and Sun were next, walking hand in hand. Sun looked like he couldn't believe his luck, while Blake carried herself with a little more dignity. But of them were happy and that was important.

The monkey-Faunus was wearing a black jacket with a white tie hung around his neck, though he had it roped all wrong. All in all it wasn't that much of an improvement. Blake on the contrary looked more graceful than ever before; she had a dark, purple dress and thankfully she had replaced the bags underneath her eyes with violet eyeshadow. It was the bright bow on top of her head that caught Weiss's attention though; it was vastly different from the whole "dark" style that Blake had going on.

"Blake! You came!" Ruby happily said as she hobbled towards the cat-Faunus. Her gait had improved somewhat, but not that much. She needed someone to keep a close eye on her and Weiss already had the perfect partner in mind for her.

Oh how she loved dancing.

Team JNPR was the next to arrive. Ren and Jaune in typical suits, Pyrrha in an elegant red dress that reached to her ankles and Nora with a pink-and-white dress.

Somehow, it didn't surprise Weiss that Jaune and Pyrrha were walking hand-in-hand as well. They had grown remarkably close to each other over the course of the past few weeks. Perhaps it was because Jaune had taken several new levels in responsibility and leadership, or just because Pyrrha's standards had dramatically changed because of recent events, but Weiss had the feeling that the two of them might just be romantically involved with each other. The way their presence seemed to comfort each other…the way they looked at each other…it was similar to what she had with Ruby.

After that, Professor Port and Professor Oobleck appeared. There wasn't anything extraordinary about them apart from their presence, but Weiss supposed it was good enough as it was.

Team LACG was next. Lisa spearheaded their group, having finally changed her tank-top and cargo pants for something more elegant. A dark-green dress that was hardly as fancy as some of the senior students, but it would do. Jason wore almost the same dress as Ren did; black, with a white tie and black shoes. Ironically, Alessa seemed to be the most graceful one of their group. A long dress with a dark, deep shade of blue and a few ribbons on her back seemed to fit well with her. It was a true shame that Grace hadn't followed the same route; her dress was even simpler than Lisa's, if at all possible.

"LACG is in the house!" she proudly declared. "Where are our special guests?"

"Hey Lisa," Yang greeted her. "We've had zero contact with them, but they'll get here."

"I hope so. I've got laughing to do."

Yang jabbed her finger at the Adamant's chest. "You are not going to laugh at anyone!"

Lisa softly brushed it aside. "Not aloud, no. But in my heart, I'll be laughing at everyone. "

That was a bit of bad taste…but at least they were here.

The music became more noticeable as the two DJ's raised the volume and at that point, a total of thirty students were already present. Slowly, pairings started to form and people hit the dancefloor. Yang pulled Blake with her when a slow number started, Nora enthusiastically did the same with a pleased-looking Ren and Weiss tried to get Ruby into action as well.

"No!" the little redhead despaired. "Don't want any!"

"Ruby, come on! It'll be fun!"

"I can't dance on these shoes, Weiss! It'll be awful!"

Weiss smiled and gently tugged at her partner's arm. "I'll lead then."

Like that, she managed to coax Ruby onto the dancefloor. The music was perfect for a slow, calm beginning. It was the type of ballroom dancing that her father had often organized in his attempts to look like an official businessman. The most prestigious guests would come and simply stand there, not doing anything. More than a few times he had had her sing in front of those people, like a gatherer of rare objects showing off his collections. Back then, she hadn't dared to even think of going against his wishes. Not even when the terror against their family had grown out of control, because her father had always pretended like nothing was wrong at all. When her nephew had been abducted from his room at night, ten years ago, she hadn't even heard about if until weeks later. His body had never been found, but the White Fang confirmed his death about a month after his disappearance. A single picture of a bloodied shirt, attached to the security gate with a dagger.

In a way, this event brought those memories back. But this was different. Here she wasn't a bird stuck in a cage, longing for freedom. Here she was free –free to do whatever she wanted to. And right now, she wanted to be the one dancing. Dancing with her closest friend, who had been responsible for coaxing her out of that cage. What would her father think, seeing that his daughter had fallen for a redheaded girl from Patch? He would probably be furious, demanding her to break ties and return to home at once.

He could go jump in a Dust-canister if that was the case. That Frost had been right about one thing; her father didn't care about anyone but himself and his name. His ego. It was a real pity that her stay with Beacon had altered her loyalty to her family in such a negative way, but at least she could see matters how they were: not black and white, but gray. Blake and Ruby had taught her that much, while Onyx had burned that same message across all of their lives.

Weiss placed her right arm around Ruby's waist, while reaching for her hand with the left one. The girl hesitated for a split-second, before grabbing her hand as well. With their fingers intertwined, with their bodies pressed against each other and their faces dangerously close to each other, Weiss started moving. Guiding Ruby along. Slowly at first, as the music did not allow for missteps or fast movements. One step to the right, gently pull Ruby along, one step to the left, a small turn of the hips, repeat.

"When did you learn to dance?" Ruby asked her.

"My father preferred to live his life surrounded by people he could impress," she replied. "He wanted his daughters to be capable of showcasing his great standing."

"Daughters? Plural?"

"I have…an older sister. But we don't talk. Not often…we barely even see each other."

"I thought you didn't have siblings?"

"There isn't much difference. As I said, we rarely see each other."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I have you." She emphasized the "you" by spinning Ruby around, perhaps a second or two too soon. But nobody noticed it –nobody called her out on moving out of line. "And I'm happy for it."

"Really?" Ruby asked, gripping Weiss's fingers tighter.

"Is that doubt I hear?"

"No! Not at all! I just want to be sure you're really happy."

Weiss softly nudged Ruby's forehead with hers. "We're dancing, aren't we?"

Ruby nudged her right back. "If that's happy for you, you've got a wonderful evening ahead of yourself."

That sounded promising. "So you aren't just going to sit back and watch the fun?"

The music jumped a note and Ruby nearly sank through her knees when she tried to keep up with it. "N-no," she said, only managing to recover because she held on to Weiss's chest for dear life. "Wasn't planning on. But tonight would make for some cozy moments to sit back and share a few stories, right?"

Weiss smirked. "And who is going to be doing the story-telling?"

"We'll just have to see."

"Right. Do you think Johnson or Braunschweiger make good story-tellers?"

"Johnson? I dunno. I was looking for something a little bit…closer."

"As long as you stay good and near me, you can pester anybody you'd like."

Ruby hugged her closer. "I love you too."

---

When the music ended, Ruby stepped over the normal boundaries of her courage and kissed Weiss on her cheek. A small gesture, because people were looking, but she knew Weiss would like it nonetheless. Perhaps when this night had come to an end, they could spend a few more hours together?

She spotted Yang and Blake curtsying to each other and did the same to Weiss, making sure she didn't pull her dress up too much. She was very aware of the fact that there were people around her and she wasn't going to give anyone a good view of her panties. With the possible exception of her date.

Sun came up to Blake and Yang gestured for him to take her partner's hands, which he did. The three members of team RWBY then hung out at the back of the wall, closer to the entrance. Ruby for one could settle for watching Blake laugh and dance her troubles away.

"I told you she would come," Yang said.

"Objective complete," Weiss replied.

"Did you get Will to come as well?" Ruby asked.

"Yep."

"Objectives complete," Weiss rectified herself. "So where is he? I thought we had an army coming?"

"Not an army, Weiss," Yang said. "Just three soldiers and an Operative." She fell quiet and seemed to ponder her choice of words. "Yeah, guess that qualifies as an army."

Yang had informed the team about some of the things she had discussed last night, with both Blake as Will. The survival of Tukson the book-Faunus, Agent Granit's kind words and Blake's sudden acceptance of Onyx's antics on one side, and Will's fears and uncertainty on a continued life without his partner on the other."

How her sister had managed to get both of them onboard, Ruby didn't know. But she was grateful.

"So what was that thing with the exchange-student then?" Weiss asked. "Why did that happen?"

Yang shrugged. "Dunno. Didn't ask."

"Make an educated guess," Weiss pushed on.

"A guess? Fine. Either he didn't like Mercury, or he was too anxious about his coming breakdown. This has been going on for days now."

"Mercury was presumptuous about his fight. Both of them were idiots to push for it and the net-result was that nobody died."

Ruby was about to respond to that, when she heard the doors opening. "Yang, visitors."

Finally, the special guests arrived. Ash, Cal and Lily all walked through the double set of doors at the same time, with the smaller one at the front. Now that they didn't wear their combat suits, the two boys actually looked rather handsome. Cal's suit was military-tailored, Ruby could easily see it. Black, with white stripes on the sleeves and several golden buttons. Like a fancy officer, but without badges and medals. His black-blue hair was spiky as ever, though it could have been to hide the fox-ears on his head. Again, guys didn't wear bows. Nonetheless, she already spotted a few older students turning to look at them, though she supposed most of those glances were meant for Cal, because Ash…

…well, his tuxedo was too big. He didn't drown in it, but neither did it really fit him. The sleeves and pipes were folded inwards and the bowtie on his chest wasn't quite straight. It was also twenty centimeters too low, but only Matt would care for that.

Lily walked in the back, with her eyes directed at her feet and only her feet. Her dress was simple, but that didn't mean it wasn't pretty. It had roughly the same colour as Yang's eyes, but hopefully without the ability to shift to red. She seemed to have gathered her violet hair in a loose braid, but it hadn't been done very well. Ruby wondered if she had had any help with it, or if she had done it on her own.

"Welcome!" Yang greeted them, dutifully performing her role as the receptionist, though Ruby could see that she really enjoyed doing so. "Good to see you made it! Ash, your bowtie-"

Behind the little soldier, Cal made a swift cutting movement to his throat. His bowtie also hung quite a distance away from where it was supposed to be.

"Looks lovely. You might want to straighten it though."

Ash's unware, happy face didn't change one centimeter when he reached for the bow and tugged at it, pulling it completely around and causing it to hang to the other side. It would do.

"Did you know Ironwood is coming as well?" Cal said.

"What, the Atlas General?" Ruby asked. "No. Why?"

"I saw him and his group of soldiers on our way here. He got attacked by someone on Beacon just a few days ago and that has him pissed."

"Attacked?" Yang said, crossing her arms. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, but-"

"But accusations were made," Lily spoke up for the first time. It wasn't the happiest voice Ruby had ever heard in her life.

"Did he accuse you too?"

Cal chuckled and patted Ash on the back. "Look, chandeliers and chairs. Remember stealth-ops?"

He nodded like a happy little child. "I do. Can I talk to the cat-lady?"

Lily placed her hand on her forehead, while Yang and Ruby exchanged a glance. The two of them promptly burst into a fit of laughter. Somehow, Ruby managed to say, "Cat-lady is dancing. Go find Ice-lady!"

"And don't talk to strangers!" Cal said, but Ash already darted away and disappeared. "Ice-lady? You've got your own Frost?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind. Where were we? "

"Ironwood accusing you of attacking him? "

"Right, there. He said that he knew it was someone from Onyx, but…that's a little farfetched."

"Because he can't be sure of that?"

"Because Onyx or not, the only one crazy enough to willingly attack a General is not even a guy, and he reported a male voice."

Yang sighed. "Didn't believe that, did he?"

"Nope. But luckily, he didn't need to."

Alarm shot through Ruby's body and she inhaled sharply. "You killed him?"

Yang reached out with her left arm and pulled her closer, hugging her so tight that she could barely breathe. "Of course not silly. They just encountered the guy." In a quieter voice she probably think Ruby wouldn't hear, she asked, "you did let him live, right?"

"Ozpin stuck up for us," Lily said with a tone that suggested that she could barely believe it. "Said we would never do something like that."

Ruby made a noise that not even Yang could misinterpret as a delighted squeal and she was quickly released. Rubbing her neck, she muttered, "Guess we need to thank the Headmaster when he comes by, right?"

"I guess so too. Now if you will excuse us, we need to make sure that Ash doesn't think he can actually climb the chandeliers."

"If the fall doesn't kill him, Weiss sure will," Yang joked. "She spent hours fixing those."

When Lily and Cal slowly proceeded deeper into the hall, Yang turned her attention to the person who had quietly walked in after the trio of soldiers.

Her face lit up and she immediately ran a hand through her hair, which was a clear indicator as to who had just entered. "Hey, you made it!"

Ruby had to admit that Will looked…downright handsome. He seemed to have cut off parts of his hair, which made it seem less messy. Calmer. He wore the same military-tailored suit as Cal did, though his was a deep grey instead of black. An expression of his name? Rebellion against it? Suspiciously-simple oversight? Perhaps. Still, he was freshly-shaven and he carried himself with just a tad more confidence than Lily did. And he was smiling faintly, that was also important.

"Good evening," he said. Then he looked at Yang and added, "You look like an angel."

Ruby had to put her hands in front of her mouth to hide another giggling-fit. Yang had said she would be turning heads this evening, so…yeah. But Yang visibly blushed. She didn't even immediately respond to the compliment, while she normally had a response for everything said to her. Though it was easily one of the most clichéd compliments a boy could think off, it was still so heartening to hear it. As far as she knew, Will had probably cooked up the image of an angel while staggering through the desolate lands between Arcadia and Luna. That added a lot of meaningful weight to it.

…since when did Yang blush?

"I…well…thanks. Where did you even learn what an angel is?"

"You hear stories."

Strange tension between her sister and her Operative aside, Ruby was surprised that so many of their soldier-friends still came. This was a lot to take in, all of this. They could all try to put up a little poker-face and pretend it's not there, but not everyone could hide their things from her. Some people rubbed their necks when things got awkward, others plucked at their elbows or planted their hands firmly into their pockets. People from Onyx, apparently, looked like little bunnies caught into the headlights of a big jeep. With three wheels. Ruby nearly expected a subtle comment about the hall being too crowded or too bright or-

"This place is...big."

There it was. "We designed it," Ruby said, feeling a bit of her pride being insulted even though she had totally predicted it.

"It's lovely," Will quickly added. "But there's people. But that's good. But they're moving. On music-"

A part of her wanted to see how far he could take this in his attempt to get it right, while the rest of her wanted to escort the poor shell-shocked boy to the punch-table and give him a glass of juice to recover from all the terrible horrible dancing pairs.

Yang had a different idea though. She grabbed Will's hand and pulled him with her, beaming like the sun. "Don't mind the Bobs. Come on; I'll take you to some friends."

Will was aghast. "How did you-"

"You hear stories. Where did you get that bowtie?"

Ruby watched her sister take off with a weird feeling in her stomach. She was pretty sure of what she saw, but…Yang had problems with emotional regulations and Will had a deep-rooted case of PTSD at the very least. Were those two really suited to just spring off and dance together? Or different things?

…she shouldn't be the one complaining about odd pairings. Blake had a weak spot for Alice; the ex-Onyx Operative who had probably partaken in lots of killings herself.

And it was pretty clear that she and Weiss had…hooked up. Beacon was just the sort of place where odd pairings formed, whether they were platonic or not.

"Enjoying yourself?" a voice behind her said. One she recognized.

Ruby looked aside and saw Headmaster Ozpin standing next to her, leaning on his cane. She grew more aware of the fact she was wearing stilts and a dress, but she shouldn't let that get in the way of her being a professional teamleader. "I do. I just wanted to be here when the rest of our friends came."

"Well, I'm glad to see you prefer to think of them as your friends. You would be surprised how much good a little compassion and kindness could do for a soul."

"No," Ruby said, shaking her head a little. "I wouldn't be. I've seen the result of kindness…what it can bring." Like people jumping in front of enormous, mind-torturing Grimm when they were about to attack, or people willing to visit those places that could potentially serve as trigger-events. People that wanted to dance even when the circumstances of them actually learning how to dance were poor at best. "Is that why Professor Adamant listens to you and only you?"

The Headmaster chuckled. "And you like to think of yourself as an ordinary little girl. Yes, when Professor Adamant needed someone to offer him a hand, I was the one who stood there and gave it to him. And no doubt he has remembered that, though recent events might have dulled his memory somewhat. "

"He isn't the only one," Ruby softly commented. "Each day that passes by, something bad happens."

"Which is why it is important that we keep close to those we hold dear in life. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it is nights like these that can help keep them strong. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget."

Wise words. Ones she ought to keep in mind.

Everybody they cared about was now present. Team LACG had Lisa and Cho clumsily dancing together, apart from each other and badly synchronizing with the rest of the group. Alessa and Grace were more intimate together, sticking as close to each other as the dates of older years were. JNPR was busy in a similar make-up; Nora and Ren were also stepping about and around, while Jaune and Pyrrha were moving at a much slower pace. Ash was hanging around on the top floor, looking down at the dancing pairs, that didn't include Lily and Cal. The two soldiers were standing at the sidelines, rigidly watching the dancing pairs. It didn't look like they were going to be having much fun tonight, but at least Ash was having fun.

Everywhere Ruby looked, she saw people who might have been in love with each other. It was so endearing. Everybody seemed to find each other, whether they were Faunus or human, straight or not, everybody was accepted here. That must be why Beacon was often called "prestigious"; not because of its high standing, but because it offered everyone an equally-high standing.

Ruby approached her team and saw the dancers switched to a faster song. Blake and Sun separated from the group and sought out Neptune, who had come alone. Pyrrha hugged Jaune and then looked at Ash, who in turn had taken interest in a vase with flowers.

She chuckled. It seemed ironic that the cool-looking Neptune was on his own, while the somewhat creepy-looking Will was hanging around with arguably the coolest girl on Beacon. It was only made possible by the things that they had seen and done together, with the teams and individuals. The North, the battlefield, everything. Compared to all of those memories and experiences, Sun and Neptune were the newcomers to Beacon.

A shame that they hadn't been able to contact Alice, but that was only to be expected. On one side, she had Onyx hunting her down and on the other she was too paranoid to even think about going out in the civilian population.

Things were always so difficult. At least like this, they could keep some good memories.

As it turned out, the friends Yang was talking about were Weiss and Jaune. Not the best choice in friendliness, but at least Jaune was a gentle soul. Weiss was loveable and kind, but had a peculiar way of interacting with people. The reason that Ash hadn't sought her out like he had wanted with Blake –who had a lot more reasons to be mean and scary to him than Weiss- spoke volumes about the Heiress's: her attitude.

"Red Dust is the most volatile," said lovely Heiress stated. "Case closed. When Ruby arrived at Beacon, all she had to do was sneeze and it exploded."

They were having a conversation about her crater-moment? She needed to put a stop to this at once!

"You're not going to win against the Mistress of Dust," Yang said, holding a glass of punch. Or at least Ruby hoped it was punch. Yang and alcohol…not the best match.

"Onyx prevails," Will replied. "Black Dust is the most volatile."

"There's no such thing as Black Dust, you dunce," Weiss said. "Fiction doesn't count."

"It does exist. It's just extremely rare. Certain chemicals in nature will, when combined with the right treatment, excrete it."

Ruby sat down next to Jaune, who was eyeing the conversation with a mixture of interest and fear. Which was pretty much the way Will looked at the bowl of punch.

"Alright, I'll bite. How is that more unstable?"

"Yang," Weiss said with frustration, "there is no such thing as Black Dust! There isn't!"

Ruby snickered. "Hey Jaune."

"Ruby," Jaune replied. They were talking quietly, because neither of them wanted to miss what three next to them were talking about. "How are you?"

"Fine. We got everyone to the Dance, so that's points for RWBY."

"Yeah well, Lisa told us that they got Cal, Ash and Lily to the party. Not every point goes to your team."

Ruby smiled. "Still more points than your team though."

"Not really. Guess what happened last night?"

"What happened?"

Will tore his suspicious gaze away from the punch and said to Weiss, "Onyx used it in medical experiments. Black Dust expresses its effects in the human body. Enhances neural pathways, endocrine feedback-loops and reduces pain-feedback."

"And now so that we can understand it?" Yang replied, smirking like a little devil.

"It boosts the human body. Onyx used it for their Augmented Combat-suits or ACS in short. It didn't take."

Weiss crossed her arms, but she didn't really look frustrated. "Is this where the volatile traits come into play?"

"You could say that. Red Dust goes off with sneezing, Black goes off with thinking. The wrong movement, thought or signal could send the suits into overdrive. The ACS was scrubbed and replaced."

"What happened last night?" Ruby asked Jaune.

"Will visited our dorms. Pyrrha was showering and Ren and Nora were playing a game, so I answered the door. The guy stood there with his creepy suit and said "your file says you have multiple sisters"."

Ruby chuckled and reached for a platter of cupcakes. "I guess that's his way of saying hello."

"I thought the same thing. I said, "good evening. Can I help you?" but he didn't respond to that."

"What did he want?"

"Get this: he asked if I could dance. "

"And can you?"

Jaune stared at her with an incredulous expression and huffed with indignity. "Can I? I'll have you know that I am an expert in dancing. Seven sisters, Ruby."

"Didn't mean to doubt your awesome dancing skills. So what happened then?"

Yang downed her punch in one go and said, "That sounds really creepy. What use is biological Dust?"

"No idea. The Dust was put back on the shelf for future projects. So the SDC doesn't know about it?"

"No!" Weiss loudly exclaimed. "I did not even know that my family traded Dust with Onyx, let alone that there was another form of it!"

Jaune leaned back in his chair and looked at the dancefloor, where Pyrrha was starting a conversation with a very anxious Ash. The little soldier was a big fan of Pyrrha, so this was probably a golden chance for him. Even though the reasons for his fascination with her were rather disturbing, it was still cute to see the two of them having a talk together. "My first thought was that he was somehow threatening me. But then I remembered that he didn't think like that, and I asked him what he wanted. Know what he said?"

"What did he say?"

"He asked if could teach him how to dance."

Ruby opened her mouth for a response, came to the conclusion that she had no idea what to say, and closed it again. She had a really hard time picturing Will on the dancefloor as it was, let alone him asking Jaune for help. In a way it fitted, but it was so…so unlike him. The only way the Will she knew would dance was if someone ordered him to and even then, he could have a really loose interpretation of what dancing meant. "What did you say?"

Jaune poured himself a glass of juice and sat back again. "After a few hours practicing on the roof, I told him that he would be best off following whichever partner he had in mind."

"Wait, you actually went to practice dancing with him?"

Jaune shrugged. "Sure, why not? If every guy knew how to dance, there would probably be fewer problems in the world. A long shot, but still. Everyone deserves a chance."

But…dancing? Operative? Jaune teaching? Rooftop at night? "Jaune, that…you…did you seriously dance with him?"

"Sure. Why is that hard to believe? I am an excellent dancer!"

Ruby put up her hands. "I believe you. I'm just having a hard time believing you could actually teach him stuff. We all tried, and it barely worked out."

Jaune smiled. "What can I say? A gifted teacher, a motivated student…things work out just fine."

A motivated student huh? There could really be one reason for Will to try to learn how to dance. A reason with long, blonde hair and a cute white dress. If that wasn't proof of his affection for her, Ruby didn't know what else was.

Behind them, at the entrance of the hall, two more people walked inside. Just in time as well, because the event was done warming up.

What were their names again? They were both exchange-students. Oh, that's right, Emerald and Mercury. Ruby didn't know how much the two of them knew about Onyx or the White Fang, but they may or may not have some odd responses to current company.

Nah, it didn't even matter. Weiss was there, Yang was there and Blake was having fun. Everything was alright

---

"As predicted, all Catalysts have developed acute amnesia to deal with the intense amount of traumas that Procedure Vytal-042 caused. Of course, such amnesias are hardly absolute, and never permanent. In time, they will recover some of their memories of the ordeals and who were responsible. An estimation of personnel-loss has been made and accepted by the ethics-committee. What is important for now, is to keep a close eye on both of the Operatives. They are still young, and because of their new…companions…they will divert a huge amount of their attention to affairs that they should not bother with. Families, friends, cities, all places that the Catalysts will want to be assured are safe

The state of the world? Arcadia and Luna in Vale are growing unstable. Some people think they might be readying themselves for war. The first ACE's are being prepared for testing and Professor Cassandra has contacted the fugitive Subject Fall. Things could go either way from here."

-FIELD RECORDING 7B, Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division.

---

Next time: Cinder falls, ships are teased and the good days are over.