Gliding a finger across her scroll, various students would cycle through listings of their year rankings at the academy. She eventually landed onto team CFVY and tapped the heads of Coco, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi. When she did, their heads would appear on the rightmost side of the training hall display. Their aura gauge would also appear below each of their heads, appearing full and green. Glynda would look back to her scroll and pull off of team CFVY to look for other students in the upperclassmen light up, finding one of a brown-haired man. She nodded and pressed its icon, the same face appearing on the leftmost screen with its own aura gauge.

"For this last fight, there will be a subtle exception to the normality of these sparring matches," the blonde professor would say aloud to grab the attention of the various students in the audience. "This fight is to demonstrate a possibility that may befall you in the tournament. It is possible your team members will be eliminated from the match, but leave you standing against the rest of the team- perhaps even all four opponents still being in play. This one versus three is to demonstrate a similar scenario taking place."

As she would explain the circumstances, that brown-haired man would be seen stepping up to the training ring. He adorned some sort of battle gear- steel-toed boots, tight pants, a pseudo-bandage-shirt, and a trench coat-like jacket cut around the midsection. He also looked somewhat tired.

Before he could step into the ring fully, Glynda would step to him and put a hand on his shoulder. His gaze shifted to her as she spoke softly to him. "If you feel as if you are overwhelmed, do not hesitate to forfeit the match. No one will judge you if you do." Her words carried concern and worry, even her facial expression indicated she was making sure this student of hers was comfortable. All the student did was give a blink and a soft grunt as he resumed his stride to his spot in the arena. He takes a battle-ready stance and so do his opponents. He takes a look at each one and begins to assess them. Carefully.

That rabbit Faunus was pretty fast and relied a lot more on her acrobatics, won't be easy to tire her out- I'll just have to do a ring-out. That fashionista has a chaingun and her purse- probably best to get in close and knock her off balance often. The big guy has that strong sword swing- best to just do hit-and-run as to not get in close quarters for super long.

His internal rambling ended as the bell rang to signify the beginning of the match. Velvet rushed ahead first while the two others walked towards the other side of the ring. The brown-haired man made a dash towards Velvet to meet her half-way, only to enter a slide to dodge her flying kick. He slid far enough to get in line with Coco, forcing him to pull out a dagger to stab the ground. His momentum would transfer as he kicked down with a foot to spin himself around, his legs sweeping under the purse wielder's feet to knock her to the ground. His dagger unplugged and sheathed as a kick was delivered to Coco to send her into the air, a flurry of punches and a swipe from the dagger to do some good damage to her. Each hit seemed to cause a ripple in the upperclassman's aura, a faint blue appearing along this man's arms upon contact. He felt the rabbit Faunus closing in with Yatsu swinging his blade downward, prompting him to dodge sideways as their weapons struck the floor to shatter it. His legs flashed with aura as he lunged forward with both daggers, swiping at the larger man's back before leaping over him as he swung sideways.

Within the stands, many students watched in varied anticipation and cheering for either side. Two of those students, a raven-haired woman and a white-haired woman watched together and were focused specifically on the one-sided fighter. This was their class, after all- they had to take mental and perhaps physical notes on the encounter in case either of them came into such a confrontation. The white-haired woman, specifically, was taking notes.

"This is absolutely barbaric to watch," she would audibly complain, continuing to watch as the singular man dodged and weaved almost every attack. "What kind of strategy is that?"

"Perhaps his aura is weaker than most," the ravenette would respond, actually watching to see this new student's fighting style.

"Maybe, but his aura hasn't gone down since the fight started. You can even see the glow from it in some of his attacks," the former retorted. She was continuing to scribble away at her notebook with various notes on how she would potentially combat the three occupants. "And not even focusing on one target. Does he have any shame?"

"It's probably better to keep them grouped up. Coco needs her space to get her ranged weapon to work, and keeping them together forces them to be careful with their close-ranged attacks."

"Once again, barbaric."

"Says the girl who uses a sword like the rest of us," the dark-haired student jeered with a smirk.

"Quiet, you." Her friend then jeered back, snark trailing her words.

Back in the fight, the brown-haired man was holding up Yatsuhashi's blade with his two daggers. Velvet was close behind and throwing kicks or punches in his back and legs to try and weaken his stance. The close-range fighter huffed as he squatted down, drew aura to his legs, and shot up into the air. The leverage allows him to push Fulcrum up with Yatsu's grasp. He pushed his feet against the bigger man's chest, and pushed off to knock him off balance while sending the latter airborne. Yastuhashi lost his footing and tripped backwards, having lost his weapon due to the two differently applied forces. Coco had managed to get far enough away to undo her purse and reveal her ranged weapon just as the rabbit Faunus would try to leap into the air. She was attempting to her opponent midair, but was caught off by the two daggers being flung into her. She hit the floor with a thud as her opponent came down, picking her up by her top and throwing her upwards. Coco was revving her minigun when she saw what was coming at her- a spinning sidekick had been delivered to Velvet's back upon her near return to the ground, causing her aura to flicker and fade as she tumbled towards the fashionista.

"Velvet!" she cried out in shock, worry, and anger- her attention having shifted onto her teammate. This, sadly, had stopped her revving and made her open to the next attack: a foot dive straight to the face. Her sunglasses broke upon the sudden and harsh contact with the steel-toed boots, sending her flying out of the arena itself as well. Within only five seconds, this single fighter took down two different opponents and had the third one disoriented and recovering from his fall.

The white-haired woman's point was only being proven: this was brutal.

The solo fighter huffed heavy breaths as he stood up, his attention shifting to his newest opponent. Yatsuhashi was breathing far less heavily as he picked up Fulcrum and met his enemy's gaze.

"Just me and you, big guy," the brown-haired man in a low and intimidating voice, strolling over to his daggers while eyeing daggers at his opponent. His blades would be picked up, spun around his fingers, and caught- readied in a fighting stance.

Yatsuhashi would make the first move, rushing in with a battlecry. His swung his sword upwards and delivered a diagonal slice. His more mobile opponent would backflip over the blade, landing on his feet and delivering several slashes to the larger man's right side. An elbow connected with his face, sending him sprawling backwards barely able to catch himself. Disoriented, he tried to right himself as if he was dizzy- trying to now prepare himself to jump over….Yatsu's…sword? What? Didn't he just-

Reality snapped back to him as the sword wielder delivered a downward strike, causing him to dive to the side as the ground crumbled beneath him. A piece of rubble to him in the back before he could tuck into a more organized roll. He simply fumbled it and slid across the ground, groaning as he stood back up with his knives. The nimble man groaned far more loudly as he threw both weapons at Yatsuhashi. He was able to easily move his head to one side to evade the thrown weapons, his focus lasered onto his opponent. This brown-haired fighter had kicked off with his aura, a blur of black appearing behind him before he was sent flying forward And flew he did- right into Yatsu's awaiting hand, grabbing onto his face and head. The larger man let out another cry with the shorter one letting out a muffled yell. And down he went, crumbling into the floor with stone plates chipping and turning to dust with a loud crush and thud.

The audience gasped in sequence, watching as the once dominating single had his aura dropped completely within just three different attacks. The world within the eyes of the quick-footed fighter began to blur, his opponent having removed his hand and stepped back as the buzzer blared out.

"And that's when the match was called."

Lance opened his eyes again, the world before him having faded into the dull black within his eyelids. A campfire sat with a small flame inside it, flickering and sending small embers here and there. On the other side sat the invincible girl, who had listened to all of her leader's ramblings about how the story went. She had taken off her metal leggings, leaving her chestplate and arm brace on. The skies had begun to turn a very dull light purple and orange, the sunset beginning its sequence only a few moments ago. There were scattered dishes around, leftovers from the previous night that the others kept sealed so they could dine on them later. It did beg the question of where the other three were…but it seemed that answer would come at a later time.

Pyrrha still had so many questions and needed confirmations.

"I remember hearing about it. You took quite the hit right in the end. Did he at least apologize once the match was over."

"He did. Said he went a little overboard when he slammed me." Lance replied, wincing a little as he felt the phantom pain enter his back. "I was beginning to black out when he pulled off of me. Oddly enough, I wasn't even sure how I got there. He told me afterwards that his semblance has some effect on people's perceptions, like it changes what they remember. He doesn't like using it, apparently- and he hates it when it goes off on its own. But it seemed to be different for me. Instead of remembering what happened moments ago….it changed them.

I remembered…fire."

The conversation stopped dead, the redhead's expression appearing far more worried than before. "F-fire?"

"Like the edges of the arena had been set ablaze. It obviously wasn't the case, but I remembered seeing it before. Before the fight. Long before It was only when I realized it, that…

…that's when the nightmares started."

Another beat settled between them, the faint crackle of fire and the soft whisper of a breeze being the only voices around them. Pyrrha had shifted in her seated position, moving herself closer to the brown-haired Faunus. "Do you…feel comfortable talking to me about it?" She asked cautiously, allowing her teammate to not share if he wasn't ready to talk. It took about twenty seconds for Lance to clear his head before managing to find his words.

"…it started with just the ring of fire, but the details become more clear to me every night afterwards. First a tree, then a small path of trees. Next was the clearing, then the house…then the screams. Grimm howling, people crying out in pain, the slash of blood…the sounds have been the worst. But every time I muster the strength to turn around…I see him."

Lance would pause, his body physically shaking. Pyrrha was hesitant at first to do anything, but her instincts kicked in as she moved closer and placed her hand on his shoulder to try and help him relax. It did work, but only made the shaking less violent instead of stopping them all together. When his dull blue eyes met with those vibrant emerald greens, his shaking slowed to a halt. Once he regained his composure after a strong breath, he began to speak again.

"I don't know him. I can't even see his face. But he's how the dream ends. A slash of his blade, a large flash of red, and a loud scream."

He paused again, not because he was shaking but because he wasn't even sure how to say it. Pyrrha would keep her eyes locked to his, even as his head turned back to the fire. "Do you think it's something from your past? Like you remembered something because of Yatsuhashi's semblance?" She would then ask, seeing if that was able to help him explain it better.

Lance didn't respond. He was silent again, his body shaking again- even with the Mistralian's touch.

"...I don't know. This place, these memories…it's all lining up to be mine. But the life I've lived…the things I've seen and done…how were these memories of peace meant to come before all of who I am now? Why is this my life now? Who am I supposed to be?

…why can't I decide that?"

Lance went completely silent as tears formed in his eyes, the fire in front of him able to make the balls of salty fluid appear like small crystal orbs. His shaking had gotten worse, brought back to the level it was at earlier on. He had crumbled into a ball, his arms around his knees and his head tucked in between his arms. Everything about him spoke out that he was having a bad emotional reaction to realizing how traumatized he was. This avian Faunus was in a struggle that no one else could even relate to.

Even Pyrrha, one of the most compassionate people at Beacon, wasn't sure of what to say or do now. Seeing her team leader shut down after expressing a part of their dark past…it really was all too familiar. They both were able to reach out and tell the crimson-haired warrior what was eating at them…but not as to how she could help. Jaune was determined to see himself succeed by his own rules, coming to the realization that he did need some assistance…even if he rejected it at first.

…those two were so alike, it even brought Pyrrha to tears when she saw it play out again.

The winged fighter felt the hand that was once on his shoulder reach to his arm, hooking his elbow and pulling his own hand free from his folded seat. Once it was open to the air and properly parallel with his torso, Pyrrha's digits interlocked with his. She squeezed gently, giving him a comforting smile to try and have him focus on her. Even if she was teary-eyed herself, she wanted to help him.

"I see how your outlook on life is, at least in a way," the Mistralian replied in a slow and steady tone. "To me, destiny feels like…a final goal that one achieves. But to you…it's a set-in-stone path that you can't break from. And while I don't necessarily believe in that, I can see why you do. Things have changed, and they are likely to continue changing. But you don't have to face them off alone. You have your team, here and now, to help you move past all this. To help brace yourself for your next big leap. We're here to help."

This was when Lance managed to bring himself to look over to Pyrrha, a dull gray-blue meeting with a brilliant emerald. That smile even made his heart rate quicken.

"I'm here to help."

An hour or more might have passed before Yang had shown up. She had swam her way here and went around the island they were setting up camp for a while ago, getting the finer details on their maps marked. There wasn't much to see besides a few docks and a small river riding down a section of the island. Funnily enough, there was even a waterfall pool on that smaller portion- making it quite the scenic area. There was even a defunct bathhouse resting next to it! Rather resourceful, these Amosians. So when the blonde did stumble upon the clearing, her immediate reaction was to call out to Pyrrha- but she quickly stopped herself from saying anything when her eyes caught onto who was with her. She could see the redhead along with her leader, with said avian fully asleep and his head resting on Pyrrha's legs. The redhead would wave back, smiling all the while. Yang did the same as she set down her bags by the tent and sat down next to her partner.

"Looks like he's out cold. Something happen?" Yang would ask, showing some concern that their leader might have been injured. The fresh bandaged cut on his forehead made her assume so.

"We had a pretty harsh run-in with the Grimm when we got to the island," Pyrrha would explain, her voice low like Yang's to hopefully not rouse the sleeping dove. "We had a little heart-to-heart, fought a strange Grimm, and came out here afterwards to relax. It took a while for him to open up, but…I think he's going to feel a lot better in the morning."

Yang looked back down, able to see Lance's face much clearer. He didn't seem to be even the slightest bit disturbed, his chest rising and falling slowly with each breath he drew. And her worry seemed to fade away. "Sleeping like a baby, no less. You're a good friend, Pyrrha."

The redhead would blush as a result of the compliment, showing she was still embarrassed to be the one holding up her leader's head with her legs. She had some seriously nice thighs- must be all the training she did to carry herself through the tournaments.

Yang would stand up again, this time going to her bag to sift through it for food. She pulled out another one of their metal cylinders and popped it open, causing an entire turkey on a platter to fall out. It was still lukewarm, so the blonde got the spit-turn set up and added more logs to the fire- letting the heat rise and warm up the large cooked bird. As the scent of its meat and herbs filled the area, the treeline would rustle again. This time, a pair of girls emerged- Ruby and Penny. They both quickly and quietly moved to the campfire and sat down, happy to see their partners again.

"It appears we are just in time for a late-evening feast," Penny would say, her voice holding the same cheery tone but the volume much lower.

"For four of us. I think Lance already had his fill," the ravenette would joke, snickering at how one of her leader's curls stuck out in a weird way. Pyrrha even took notice and moved it to settle in with the rest of his hair.

"Whatcha find out on the next island, sis?" the brawler asked, her mouth full of dark meat.

"Well…" Ruby replied hesitantly, pulling out her scroll and broadcasting her screen from it. She tapped into her image gallery, hit recents, and swiped to the close-up of the two men she had seen. "These guys. They were watching over the ravine when we got there. They had these crates with them, too." The rose-tinted girl scaled up the image to put further emphasis on the cargo boxes in the image.

"There is a strong likelihood that these people are the ones seen during the night at the docks," Penny would say in addition, giving further emphasis to how the two people were dressed.

"They look like those creeps who work for the White Fang," Yang added.

Pyrrha was the only one who didn't have real direct contact with members of the Faunus organization, making her feel left in the dark about a lot of it. "You think they're here trying to scavenge what remains of the Amosian civilization?"

"Those vultures…" the blonde cursed under her breath. "Why wouldn't they have done this sooner?"

"Yang, we don't know if these two were a part of the White Fang," Ruby would call to her sister in an attempt to calm her down. "Roman Torchwick didn't hire the White Fang at first- they were just normal people posing as those guys."

"Do you think these people are trying to frame the White Fang?" Pyrrha would further the idea, giving rise to the possibility of blame-shifting.

"That is a possibility," the ginger-haired girl responded. "But we cannot accurately deduce that any of them are related to crime in Vale until we obtain further evidence."

"Penny's right," Yang concurred. "If Blake and Mount Glenn have taught us anything, it's that there's a lot more going on underneath the surface- whether it be a person or a place."

"...then we should look into this more closely," Ruby chimed in while standing up. Her voice had that similar leader tone she held onto when commanding her own team. "If this group of people are part of a bigger militia, then it might be possible they're on the main island. We only have one more small island to check out, and we can search there for clues before we hit the main coast to know for sure."

"Shouldn't we let Lance do the planning?" Yang interjected, more than happy to support her sister's decision but still wanting to get input from their current leader. Everyone's eyes shifted to the sleeping Faunus, who grumbled out a snore and turned over in his sleep to lay on his left side.

Pyrrha would respond for him, a blush very much adorning her face. "I think it might be best for us to let him rest, not let the pressure of such a revelation get to him." The other three exchanged glances, eventually nodding in unison.

"Then I will act as our leader's partner for tomorrow morning," Penny chimed in. "I have yet to be fully acquainted with him and I am sure we will have plenty of topics to discuss while he relaxes."

"Sounds good," Yang replied, climbing to her feet and giving her back a stretch. "We should set up the rest of our tents and get some sleep."

The others gave each other nods, Ruby going with Yang to get their tent out as Penny unfurrowed her own bag to set up her own tent. The Mistralian, however, used her semblance on the metal parts of the tent behind her to move it closer to her. Once it was back on the ground and stabilized, she carefully dragged herself and her team leader into the tent. Lance was positioned into his own sleeping bag while Pyrrha changed out into her sleeping garb. She huddled into her own, leaving a hand out to keep their hands still interlocked. And before she could fall asleep, a few small words left her lips.

"Rest. I'll be here to watch over you. I'll guide you on your way…protect you on your path to your destiny…until you're ready to face it on your own."