Coco Adel had always been cursed with a moderate form of insomnia, in part due to her Semblance. Constantly fueling her body with caffeine, and often sugar as an unfortunate byproduct, kept her wired and ready to go at hours that most would consider obscene. Though she certainly appreciated the supernatural strength that the chemical afforded her, she wasn't quite a fan of the noticeable effects that it wreaked upon her body. Falling asleep took hours almost every night, and when she stopped to think about it, Coco had no idea who she thought she was kidding when she had tried to at least get a nap in with Argus burning not far from her.

Though she had gotten her somewhat facetious wish of bedding down next to two legendary huntsmen, Coco found Qrow and Taiyang's bodies to more of a trap than a comfort as she tried to slip out of her sleeping bag without waking them. Coco couldn't tell if the men were actually sleeping, but she tried her best to make a swift and silent exit from the tent regardless. After several minutes of sloth-like movement, she finally managed to break free and step her way out of the cloth flaps. What awaited her was an odd mixture of black and orange in the sky, as well as the sight of a massive leviathan-class grimm shaped like a whale hanging over the central tower of Argus.

"We are so fucked," Coco whispered to herself as she slowly approached the edge of the cliff overlooking the city. "So unbelievably fucked…"

Neopolitan turned around from her vigil over the city to face the other huntress. The diminutive woman nodded her agreement before turning back around and standing motionlessly once again. Coco couldn't tell if she had even moved since the rest of the party had gone to bed.

"You're… not planning on waking the others for their watch, are you?" Coco asked. All that she received was a shake of Neopolitan's head in response. "Why not? Because you know you won't get any sleep anyway?"

Neopolitan merely nodded, not bothering to look at Coco as she did so.

"…I don't get you," Coco admitted. "I don't think anyone does, except Roman. That's why he means so much to you, isn't it? He's got some insight that we don't."

Again, Neopolitan nodded her agreement, and again, she kept her eyes on the conflagration below. Coco felt a twinge of frustration at the other woman's disinterest until a spark of understanding went off in her mind.

"Taiyang might understand you, if you give him a chance. He could give you some advice and let you vent until we can reunite you with Roman."

Neopolitan stiffened, though she still didn't turn to look at Coco. If anything, she leaned forward slightly to get the huntress out of her peripheral vision as she narrowed her eyes.

"…fine. Whatever. Just trying to help… which is also what you're doing, in your own twisted little way," Coco said with a shrug. "I can't sleep for shit, either. I wish there was something productive we could get done while we wait on Blake, Neptune, and Daisuke…"

Finally, Neopolitan turned to Coco and took her scroll out of her pocket. After making sure she had the huntress' attention, Neopolitan pointed a finger into her chest, and then tapped it to her head. Coco raised a brow, doing her best to interpret the pantomime.

"…I've been thinking?"

Neopolitan nodded before lifting her scroll in front of herself. With her other hand, she flickered her fingers up and out of the device, spreading them through the air.

"The… signal? The problem with the signal," Coco said confidently. "You have an idea for something we could do to fix it?"

Again, Neopolitan bobbed her head. Finally, she pocketed her scroll and brought her hands together in front of herself before spreading them out vertically and wiggling the fingers of her top hand.

"…you lost me," Coco admitted. "You want to spread out the signal? That's the entire problem to begin with."

Neopolitan breathed a sigh and rolled her eyes skyward before drawing her device again and beginning to tap at the screen. Coco readied her own, awaiting the inevitable message from her unlikely companion.

"She's saying she found a signal tower," Qrow guessed as he shuffled slowly through the snow, his hands in his pockets and Taiyang in tow. Neopolitan nodded enthusiastically, putting her scroll away once again. "I've got a rough idea of where it is and how to get there. Checking it out might restore the local signal, but…"

"…it's probably crawling with grimm," Taiyang finished. "If they see anything suspicious, we might be inviting the entire horde down upon us. We can't put ourselves in danger like that, especially if we don't have a solid plan. We'd never survive, especially with that thing up in the sky."

"Yeah," Coco agreed with a sympathetic look. "It's a nice thought, Neo, but there's just… no…"

Coco trailed off as she watched Neopolitan's body begin to transform right before her eyes. Tiny triangular fragments all around her seemed to flip over, changing both Neopolitan's form as they went. Within seconds, a hulking beowulf alpha stood before the assembled hunters, its posture that of a small girl standing with its legs crossed.

"That… is one hell of a useful Semblance," Qrow remarked as he folded his arms across his chest. "Can you do that to other people…?"

Qrow remained still as the beowulf in Neopolitan's place extended a claw, and the same effect of rippling shards surrounded him. The older huntsman looked down at his body to find that despite the flipping tessellations all around him, he still appeared to be himself.

"…did that work, or…?"

"You look like a pretty damned convincing grimm to me," Taiyang said warily. "If you started moving like one, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Qrow blinked in surprise, double-checking his outfit and visible flesh once again before looking up at Coco.

"Is he messing with me, or…?"

"No, you look like a grimm," Coco insisted. "You're completely disguised, other than your stance. We could… literally just walk right through the hordes, looking like this…"

"…yeah, until we have to climb a radio tower," Taiyang pointed out. "Then, I get the feeling the grimm around it might take issue with our behavior. Still… we might be able to go down into Argus and evacuate survivors, or…"

"Too risky," Qrow said immediately. "As much as I'd like to, the second we're caught, we're done for. With the tower, we could at least scatter into the woods and draw attention away from Argus itself. We'd be helping more, indirectly, and very directly if we can somehow get the signal back up and running."

"Still… getting up that tower is nearly impossible," Coco added. "Taiyang's right, on that one. Climbing up is too suspicious."

"So… we don't climb," Qrow said simply. "I fly. Kid- can you change me into a sphinx, or a manticore? You know what those look like?"

Neo pulled a frown, looking rather upset. With a sigh, her illusion of a beowulf fell away, revealing her expression as she waved a hand across Qrow once again.

"What'd she turn me into?" Qrow asked.

"A gryphon," Coco said warily. "The same variety of grimm that was at Beacon… and supposedly killed Roman, according to Ruby…"

"…Coco," Taiyang called to catch the huntress' attention. "Take Qrow and… uh, well, help him get used to moving like a gryphon. Make sure he looks convincing while crawling around on all fours in the snow."

"I'm hating this more and more by the minute," Qrow griped as he waved Coco back toward the tent.

"I'm amused," Coco said with a mischievous grin. "C'mon, crawl for me, old man."

Taiyang couldn't help but allow himself a small chuckle as he watched the pair walk off. Despite the moment of mirth, however, he wasn't feeling joyful at all- he was feeling what Neopolitan was feeling, and he fully understood why his chest felt so heavy. Trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible, Taiyang approached Neopolitan with a grim smile.

"…I'm sorry that was your only option," the man consoled in the most disarming tone he could manage. "But… put it into perspective. Having that knowledge might allow us to restore the ability to broadcast in the area. Cordovin might be able to give evacuation orders to anyone still in the area and warn people away from Argus. We might be able to warn Ironwood about the grimm here, and he could send support. In the best-case scenario, it could turn the situation around and stop an invasion before it even starts. Worst-case… we can at least contact Blake, Neptune, and Daisuke to tell them to get here as fast as possible so we can hurry to Atlas. None of that would be possible without your help."

At first, Neopolitan had the urge to roll her eyes and shrug. The more Taiyang spoke, though, the more she felt both her posture and will to give the older man sass begin to relax. By the time he had finished, all she could do was sigh and pinch her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Against her better judgment, Neopolitan gave Taiyang a slow series of nods, her eyes closed.

"We don't have to talk about what you're feeling and why, but if you ever want to… all you have to do is shoot me a text," Taiyang offered as he held out a hand. "The others don't even have to know."

Neopolitan eyed the hand with a suspicious glare for a moment before shooting her own forward to take it. She gave Taiyang's digits a firm squeeze before pulling away, taking out her scroll, and beginning to compose a message. Taiyang was much slower to take out his own, as though he was trying not to startle the girl. By the time he got his device out and unlocked, a question was waiting for him.

Why? No one does anything out of pure selflessness. What are you getting out of this offer? Don't lie to me, and maybe I'll consider it.

Taiyang paused to consider the question. At first, he disagreed, believing wholeheartedly that his motivations were entirely altruistic. The more he reread the text, though, the more something tugged at the edge of his mind until he realized just what it was that was bothering him.

"I guess, if I'm being totally honest…" Taiyang began, finding it somewhat hard to admit to his feelings, "…I miss being able to be a 'dad'. Yang grew up too fast and Ruby left the house sooner than expected. Then, they both set out across the world to go and save it, and while I'm proud of them, raising them was what I was best at. It gave me purpose, after Team STRQ broke up. There's a small, selfish part of me that wants to help solve your problems because of that."

Neopolitan regarded the man with suspicion for a moment before tapping out another message.

I guess I understand. Following orders and carrying them out was what I was best at. When I was on my own, I was aimless other than having one ultimate goal, which may or may not have been killing your daughter. Don't worry about that part.

Taiyang looked up from his scroll with a sigh.

"…right. Because that's easy to do…" he muttered before returning his attention to the screen.

If this is some kind of fucked-up mutual therapy for you, then… fine, I guess. We'll make it work. Just don't get pushy.

"I'll see what I can do," Taiyang offered. "Thanks for taking a chance, at least. Come on, let's go check on those two. I'm expecting… complications."

Neopolitan nodded once again before walking forward and punching Taiyang in the shoulder. The man chuckled and turned to join her on the way back to the tent, where Qrow was on all fours in the snow while glaring up at Coco.

"C'mon, you've gotta put your ass up higher in the air!" Coco encouraged. "Gryphons don't move like that!"

"I'm old!" Qrow complained. "If I stick my ass up any higher, my back's gonna have a permanent curve to it!"

Taiyang brought a hand up to his face, wiping it slowly down to rest beneath his chin.

"…this is going to be a long night…"

Author's Note:

Next time, we'll begin working through what Sun's crew members are up to in the interim.

-RD