For the next several hours Coco walked aimlessly around Beacon, replaying the conversation in her head. At first, she thought of all the right comebacks she should have said to Yatsuhashi, wallowing in feelings of anger and vindication. But as she brooded, the comebacks fell flat and the rage sputtered out in the face of the truth. Memories of past victories made her spirits rise, but details she had conveniently overlooked—close calls and lucky wins—stirred doubt in her mind.

The rest of her thoughts were not so ambiguous. Looking back over the past weeks, every interaction with the rest of CFVY began and ended with how they would excel, how they would be the kings and queens of Beacon, how they would be the first team that people spoke of when they talked about the caliber of huntsmen the school produced. Even her conversations with students outside her team never strayed beyond school and training. Every moment had been about business and victory and glory, ostensibly for the greater good. In part, it was; but peel back the layers of rationalization, and at its core was a haughty girl trying to win back what she felt she deserved.

Although at that moment Coco felt what she deserved was a kick to the head. Morose, she wandered back towards the obstacle course from the previous day. It was as secluded as you could get without leaving campus, which sounded to Coco like exactly what she needed.

Only there was someone already there.

The beginning of the course was bordered by sheds that contained tools and spare equipment for the course. Someone had dragged out several training dummies, arranged them in a circle and was striking them rather quickly. Coco watched the figure spring back, turn in midair, and attack a dummy on the opposite side of the circle. She repeated this pattern, picking a random dummy across the circle each time. Whenever she leapt a pair of long ears trailed behind her head.

Coco smiled a bit, then the shame and guilt came rushing back. Isn't this what you wanted? She thought. Just go back to the dorms and relax. Velvet's getting with the program after all. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Coco took a step back, wanting nothing more than to distract herself from the pit in her stomach with an espresso and some sword sharpening. She clenched her fist.

Don't kid yourself, she thought. It's broken. Now do something about it.

Coco rolled her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked over to the circle of dummies. Velvet was so engrossed in her practice she didn't notice Coco, even after she had stopped to lean against a dummy to catch her breath.

"Nice job," Coco said. "I mean it." Coco was pleasantly surprised that was the truth. Velvet spun around in alarm, shrinking back like she wanted to hide behind one of the dummies.

"Thanks…"

"Heh. All this time you've been training and I thought you'd been hiding from—" Coco stopped when she saw Velvet trying to edge backwards. She sighed and held up her hands.

"Wait, everything's coming out wrong. Can we talk for a bit?"

"Talk?" Velvet said, hesitant.

"Just for a few minutes. After that, you do whatever you want."

Velvet bit her lip, then straightened up. "Okay. Can you help me pack up first?"

"Sure."

…

After storing the training equipment, the two girls walked back towards the center of campus, the sky turning orange. Despite her request, Coco found it hard to muster any words. Velvet waited, apparently unwilling to speak out of turn, so the two of them walked most of the way in an uncomfortable silence. As they neared the dormitories, Velvet took the initiative. She coughed.

"So, what did you want to talk ab—?"

"I'm sorry!" Coco said.

Velvet stopped, surprised. "Come again?" she said, tilting her head.

"I'm self-centered, mean, and tougher on you than the others. A lot of how I treat you is because I want the team to get better, but it's also because I didn't want you to be my partner and because I was taking my frustrations with Fox out on you. That was colossally unfair and I'm sorry. For all of it."

Coco looked up at Velvet, who looked like she was trying to decide if she had hallucinated everything Coco said. She scrunched her face, confused.

"Why?"

Coco returned her confusion. "Why what?"

"What prompted this? You're not exactly the type to admit you've made a mistake."

Coco sighed. "I had a fight with Yatsuhashi after sparring. He told me some things that I didn't want to hear about myself, and it made me realize how oblivious I've been to the effects of my actions. I focused so hard on making the team great, mostly for my own goals, that I forgot that a team is supposed to be about all of us, not just me. I saw everyone at Beacon as a burden or a stepping stone and I never took into consideration that how I act and speak might be interpreted differently if someone was…different."

Velvet gradually relaxed, rising out of her usual timid slouch. "So you don't care that I'm a faunus?"

Coco exhaled, relieved. "I only care if you can be a good huntsman. Seeing how much you've improved on your own, I don't think I have to worry about that anymore. You'll get there. You just need some support from your partner—if you'd like some, that is."

Coco held her hand out to Velvet. For a moment it was difficult to say who looked more nervous. Then Velvet reached out, took Coco's hand, and shook it, her grip gentle but firm.

"I would like that very much."

Coco felt herself relax, tension departing her body. "Thank you." She gave Velvet a perplexed look as they started walking again. "You accepted that a lot quicker than I thought you would."

"Honestly," said Velvet. "I'm feeling a lot of different things towards you now, most of them unflattering. Most of the other students don't hate faunus, but they have plenty of reasons not to be friends with one. Fox doesn't hate me like you did, but he's solitary and not very personable. Yatsuhashi is kind enough, but I've never been good at establishing close male friendships. So when my partner and leader, someone who should have been my main source of support, turned out like you, I felt isolated to say the least."

Coco's cheeks burned red. Velvet's hands clenched for a second, turning white, and then relaxed.

"But you're very transparent," Velvet continued. "You're direct, and about as subtle as a brick to the face, so I have faith your apology was sincere. If you only cared about being a better leader, you would have just adjusted your approach without admitting you did something wrong. But you swallowed that immense pride of yours and apologized. That takes guts for someone like you."

The corner of Coco's mouth turned up. "If I didn't know better, it sounds like you're saying we're square."

"We're not, but I've never been one for holding grudges. I think we'll be on good terms much sooner than you think. Even if it feels a little surreal right now."

Coco nodded in response. They had reached the main cluster of buildings and were walking by the statues bordering the courtyard, the setting sun reflecting off the marble. Looking at some of the great huntsmen of the past, a thought occurred to Coco.

"Velvet?"

"Yes?"

"My unkind opinions of you aside, I think we can both agree you've had to work a lot harder than the other first-years just to qualify for most of the practical and physical tests—that speaks volumes about you. I guess I'm just curious what makes you want to be a huntress so badly."

For the first time since Team CFVY had formed, Velvet smiled at Coco. "It's a long story, but the main thrust of it is that I'm filling a need. My family lives in a small faunus community outside of Vale. Because of our size and the proportion of faunus to humans, not many huntsmen protect us. The ones that do are typically nomadic ones that can't stay for long. We've become adequate at protecting ourselves but adequate isn't always enough with the grimm. Having reliable huntsmen around would make it much safer.

"Plus," she said, scratching the back of her head, "There aren't many prominent faunus huntsmen—or many at all for that matter. I thought maybe if more of us joined, it would help establish us as equals in the public eye."

The two girls paused in silence taking in one of the more impressive statues. After a while, Coco broke it, saying; "Those are some damn fine goals."

Velvet gave Coco an odd look. "I'm tempted to ask what yours are now."

Coco shrugged. "They're not nearly as noble as yours. That's a tough act to follow."

"Wow. Is Coco Adel, the Terror of Sanctum, scared to open up to her partner?"

Coco rounded on Velvet, only to find her struggling to keep from giggling. Coco smirked.

"How about we hit the dining hall before it closes? I'll tell you my story over dinner, and then you tell me the long version of yours. Deal?"

"Deal!"