Taiyang ran a hand through his sweaty hair, the moisture slicking his fingerless leather glove as he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet.

"I know we're just sparring, but come on. You can do better than that, even in your old age."

Raven's nose wrinkled in a sneer as she sheathed her crimson katana and held the weapon partially behind her back while she sank into a ready stance once again.

"It's almost as though my heart's not in it, and I've got a lot on my mind, Tai," the woman spat back as she watched her former husband begin to circle her with his trident leveled at her chest.

"The less thinking we do, the better," Taiyang muttered. "Our supplies are prepped and ready, and I think I've more than proven that I can still hold my own, Raves."

"Don't," Raven warned through gritted teeth. "You're only making it worse with that."

"What? Don't feel like thinking about how things used to be?" Taiyang taunted. "Well, too bad for you. That's all I've been doing ever since you l-"

Raven dashed in with a sweeping strike, but Taiyang was ready for her. The man rotated his trident within his hands to orient the tines vertically and caught Raven's blade before bringing his weapon up and around in a small circular motion. Raven allowed herself and her sword to be swept to one side and used her free hand to swing out a vicious hook for Taiyang. The man bobbed backward and barely made it out of the way in time. As Raven spun off in the direction of her momentum, the tines of Taiyang's trident fired off from the weapon and sped through the air as projectiles. Raven dived into a roll to avoid the spiked implements, before rising to one knee and watching Taiyang reel them back in via the high-tension wires attached to the base of each tine.

"…not bad," the man commented. "But I know your tricks. Are we done yet? We should really be getting on… the…"

Taiyang trailed off as he watched a pair of angry, ethereal flames flicker at the edges of Raven's eyes. Suddenly, the leaves of the nearby trees began to jitter in the spontaneously swirling wind, and the branches soon groaned and creaked as they started to rock from side to side.

"You don't know anything about the way I fight," Raven cautioned as she stood up, her shoulders tense. "And as for leaving… we go when I say we go. If you're going to travel with me, then you're going to follow me. I have the power, here. I m-"

"…you're torn, aren't you?" Taiyang said simply as he stabbed his trident into the ground and rested his foot atop the back of the head. He locked his deep blue eyes upon Raven's glowing ones and did his best to appear composed as his hair was tossed about in the high winds. "That's it, isn't it? You're having second thoughts about going to Vacuo."

The wind picked up momentarily as Raven narrowed her eyes. A branch snapped clean from a nearby tree as the twisting flares on the edges of Raven's eyes grew brighter. Taiyang pulled his trident up from the grass and braced himself for another attack. Raven took a deep breath in through her nose and then closed her eyes, only for the ghostly flames to disappear entirely as she shook her head.

"…everything feels futile, right now," Raven said in a small voice. "For a while, I felt vindicated that no matter what else I've done, we would have ended up at this point anyway. Salem would still be bearing down upon the world, and we'd still be unprepared. Now, though? Now I'm feeling like even if that's true, I've made others unprepared for this, and once again, it ultimately won't matter what I do. The path I've taken opened the Vault in Mistral and put a relic in play. Nothing else I've done or will do will ever matter as much as that. That's my legacy, and no heroic final stand is going to have more impact."

"You don't know that," Taiyang insisted. "You don't know what we're capable of, especially with your new abilities… and even more so if we start working with others again. You're too strong to just give up now."

"So, what? You think we should head to Vacuo?" Raven asked as she opened her eyes.

"I think we need to consider all potential options carefully," Taiyang offered as he began to approach. "Vacuo does make sense… but so does taking back Beacon. With you on our side, we could get it done, and make the Academy safe again. You said she doesn't have the relic there, yet. It's also closer, so we could work faster. That puts three Academies on the board, instead of two."

"Beacon…" Raven repeated before sheathing her sword with a sigh. "I'd… rather not, but that does make sense."

"…there's also still Yang," Taiyang reminded. "We could even just go talk to her and see what she suggests. Or… we could try something really stupid. We could just put the relic right back in the Vault at Haven. It's the last place Salem would look, and she'd need you to open it again."

"That's…" Raven began, only to hesitate. "So stupid that it's almost worth considering…"

"Pretty sure that's what you told me when I first asked you out, too," Taiyang offered with a smirk before planting his hand upon Raven's shoulder. "But we need to decide, and soon. I don't see the harm in taking a few days, but any more than that, and we're taking an unnecessary risk. So… let's talk it out. Maybe even coordinate with the people defending Beacon, no matter what we decide? They could have insight that we don't."

Raven lifted her hand and rested it atop Taiyang's. Despite her original intention to brush the man's hand from her shoulder and head back to the house, she found herself hesitating before she gave his fingers a gentle squeeze.

"…alright. Let's figure this out."

Sun jerked awake as his scroll suddenly vibrated atop his stomach. The boy flailed ineffectually as he tried to prevent the brand-new device from hitting the floor, only to end up chasing it down to the carpet with his entire body and a heavy thud.

"…smooth," Jaune commented nonchalantly from his place on the perpendicular loveseat. "Wish I had the foresight to record that one."

"I'm nothing if not graceful," Sun replied as he rubbed at his nose and lifted his scroll from the floor. "I fell asleep?"

"Yeah. You passed out shortly after we got back from R&D," Jaune reminded. "I didn't want to wake you, given how stressful everything's been. You feeling alright?"

"…headache," Sun grumbled while he rubbed at his forehead with his palm and opened the message from Weiss.

"Still? That's probably not a good sign," Jaune offered as he stood up and headed for the bathroom.

Just a heads up- Robyn Hill, the woman from the docks who was arguing with Clover, wants to meet me down in Mantle tonight with "two of my own." If you're feeling up to it, I definitely think you should come along.

"Yeah, well… things are a little tense, right now," Sun explained as he turned to look toward the bathroom. "If I can just sleep in tomorrow, I should be alright."

"I hope so," Jaune replied as he walked back into the room with a paper cup in one hand and pills in the other. "You've done a lot for all of us, a-"

"We're all doing a lot, man," Sun denied as he gratefully accepted the cup with his tail, much to Jaune's confusion. He lifted the cup to his mouth and took a quick sip before popping the pills with his free hand and replying to Weiss' text with the other.

I'll be there! Who do you want as our third? I can grab Yang and meet you in the lobby if you want.

Jaune blinked several times as he watched Sun, his expression one of awe.

"Whoa."

"…huh?" Sun asked as he turned his attention to his friend, his own face twisted with confusion.

"…you make it all look so natural," Jaune pointed out. "I don't think I'd survive having a tail. I'd probably end up strangling myself with it in my sleep, or something."

"…you don't give yourself enough credit, Jaune," Sun replied as he crushed the cup in his tail while watching Weiss make a third attempt at composing her reply. "And that's what I was trying to say, actually- everyone here is pulling their weight, and doing great things for the team. I'm honestly starting to feel a little… frustrated, I guess, at all the praise I'm getting? I'm just making this all up as I go, same as you."

Jaune pulled a frown as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Sun, to be honest, I really don't think this is a good time for modesty or pulling the 'everyone is special in their own little way' card. I think we're all pretty scared and tense right now, and your willingness to just push through it and check in on everyone is what's keeping us going. Ruby- the girl, not the team- hasn't exactly been… inspiring, these last few months…"

Sun looked up from his scroll to see Jaune looking uncharacteristically serious, only for his attention to be pulled back down again as a reply finally came through.

…please keep this between us. I'm not sure how I feel about getting Yang involved with something that I think may become fairly significant, after seeing how she's been reacting to Penny. I think she's very close to snapping, and if such a thing needs to happen in order for her to clear her head, I think it would be better in a controlled environment. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I think there's more going on here than any of us know, and Yang isn't going to take to it well. She was making a lot of real progress, but a combination of reuniting with Blake and seeing her mother on Salem's side seems to have started a backward slide. I'm nervous, Sun.

"…Sun?" Jaune tried for the second time, only for the faunus to snap his attention upward to the other boy. "You're looking… really pale."

"…yeah, sorry. I…" Sun paused and brought his eyes back down to Weiss' words once again. "I had no idea that things were that bad in RWBY…"

"…'in' Ruby?" Jaune asked as he raised a brow. "You mean, like her mental health? From traveling with her on the road to Mistral, I can tell you that something's definitely bothering her. If you hadn't stepped up when you did and Ruby had to make decisions for us, I don't know what would've happened… but I don't think it would've been good."

Sun ground his teeth together as he mulled over the notion, before tapping out a reply to Weiss.

"Well, she's got Ren, who seems pretty stable to me, and Sage, who makes a good wall to talk to before coming back with surprisingly insightful advice. So… hopefully that all pans out."

Maybe just the two of us should go for this initial meeting? It sounds like we should talk in private. I'm worried, too, but if I'm being honest, I think I can rely on you the most out of anyone here to keep calm and help out. I love Ilia like a sister, but she's having trouble right now. I'm really still getting a feel for Jaune and Yang after being apart for so long.

"I hope you're right," Jaune said with a sigh as he deposited himself back onto the small couch. "Is something wrong? You look like you got bad news."

Sticking to the two of us right now might be a good idea. Meet me in the lobby.

"Weiss wants to talk," Sun said quickly as he snapped his scroll shut and stuffed it into his back pocket. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course," Jaune replied with a nod.

"Can you talk to Yang and Ilia, and come up with a time the five of us can meet tomorrow? Maybe we should do lunch or something. I want to talk to you guys about a few things and get ahead of any personal problems we might have going on before we get out into the field," Sun explained.

"Sure thing," Jaune confirmed as he stood up once again. "Mine will be pretty easy. I'm worried about the relic and keeping up with the Ace Ops. That's about it."

Sun offered a small smile and began to walk toward the door with Jaune in tow, before using his tail to toss his crushed cup into the trashcan outside of the kitchenette.

"…you've come a long way, even just in the past few weeks."

"Maybe. I'm… probably going to need your help with something soon, though," Jaune confessed. "Just you. I don't know, yet. It'll depend on how things go, from here."

"Oh… kay…?" Sun asked as he stepped out into the hall. "Uh, sure, I guess?"

"…don't worry about it," Jaune replied as he scratched at the back of his head and shrugged. "It's nothing big. See you soon."

"…yeah," Sun agreed. "See you soon."

The faunus paused and watched his friend walk in the direction of the girls' penthouse, before turning to make his way toward the central lobby.

"…huh…"

Author's Note:

Should be another chapter this week, covering Sun and Weiss' meeting with Robyn. Not too long before we get to the weapon upgrades… and training arc.

-RD