Welcome to the next chapter of RWBY: Team DUSK, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:

Nameless: It does sound interesting since the two of them are mutes who don't communicate by using normal methods. I also find myself liking her character a lot, more so in the RWBY Chibi series. Those all sound like interesting ideas that'll add a lot to the series as more of a drama.

Clarent excalibur: That does sound interesting for different reasons, more so since I can see Sandra able to somewhat handle being around Neo since Hunter is a mute too. Both of them would also have different reasons for going after Cinder after what happened. Though, I don't think that Sandra would go along in whatever she planned, more so if it involves getting revenge on her friend group. But, Sandra would still be the one who threatens her maiden powers or not. Thanks for the suggestion, it gave me a lot to think about for the future.

Reviewer Requiem: Daniel does sound like the kind of person to make that kind of joke in a friendly way, but I don't think that Blake would be happy about that one.

Infinite Guest: And thanks for loving RWBY: Team DUSK. And me too, because Volume 2 is where things started getting insane in RWBY with all that was happening. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this many people to ship them, but I love it. It does sound like a cool idea since she did does infiltrate Beacon using her Overactive Imagination. I can see an interaction between two mutes being interesting and almost the slightest bit adorable.

An Awkward Dilemma

"I think that we should consider working on our teamwork."

Those were the first words that Daniel said at the table that he was sitting at with his teammates who all retrieved their breakfast the same as himself. As usual, the cafeteria was filled with the usual chatter that came from all the individual students conversing various topics. Neither of them has run into their usual friend group since leaving their dorm room.

"What are you talking about?"

Sandra asked, not seeming to listen in, instead of being more focused on drinking her coffee.

"We've been receiving the basic instructions and sparring sessions from Glynda," Daniel replied after taking a sip from his coffee too. "And she has been talking about working well with our teammates and finding out how all our semblances can be used together. If you think about it, both my Runes and Sandra's Phasing can work on others aside from us. Hunter's Orion and Alyssa's Pendragon based on how it's used can work well with ours."

"Daniel does have a point. Professor Goodwitch told us all the time that it might be some time before all of us go on missions. It might be a good idea to work on our teamwork like the time we fought against that Behemoth," a sigh of relief escaped from her mouth as Alyssa ate the hash brown. "Besides, we did work well together despite it being our first time together."

'But, would there be someplace where we can practice like that,' Hunter signed as he glanced toward his partner who read it. 'I think that it would be possible to reserve the practice room at some point. But, I think that we might need to ask the teachers about it.'

"Good idea, Hunter. Well, this is just something that we'll need to think about and do at some point."

"Well, I'm fine with it as long as you don't come up with some stupid attack names."

Sandra said before taking note of the look on Daniel's expression.

"Well, I promise they won't be stupid names."

"I should've said no attack names at all."

At Sandra's reaction, her three teammates laughed.

"Good morning, Team DUSK~!"

All four of them heard the energetic call of a familiar orange-haired girl as she sat near them with an ungodly amount of pancakes balanced on her plate. No matter how many times either of them saw it, neither of them was able to understand how she maintained her build eating like that. Ren seemed like the only person who wasn't at all surprised about her abnormal consumption of food, which leads to an apparently bottomless pit.

"Morning, Hunter."

Pyrrha interjected as she smiled toward her best friend, who signed 'good morning' back.

"Well, I see that Nora is still making women jealous."

Alyssa pointed out as she noticed Nora already basically sucking up all the pancakes that were stacked as a mini-tower on her plate. Since meeting her, Alyssa has seen the sheer amount of food that Nora has gorged herself in, but there hasn't even been the slightest hint of weight gain.

"Yea, it makes me kinda nervous to go out to ear with her."

Jaune said laughing nervously at the thought of paying for a meal with Nora involved.

"Well, it must've put a serious your expenses."

Alyssa pointed out glancing over toward Ren who picked out a normal breakfast.

"It wasn't that hard. All I only needed to do it rein her in whenever we ate and couldn't afford much," Ren replied a little bit stoically before noticing the amount that Nora was eating. "But, at Beacon, Nora can eat as much as she wants during breakfast and lunch."

"Wou gat what wright!"

Nora seemed to have started speaking despite her mouth being full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Nora."

Ren sighed as he gave a sideways glance toward his friend as Pyrrha laughed lightly after hearing that.

"It's funny thinking that we all met each other for a single day, but here we are being the best of friends."

"That's debatable."

Sandra said, but instead of her usual harsh tone, it was a little bit more lighthearted.

"See, I told you. Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

Jaune added confidently with Daniel recalling that he did say those words to him the first time that they made and met up with Pyrrha inside of the amphitheater.

"I guess that you were right. So, how is the leader of Team JNPR?"

Daniel asked that question to Jaune who looked surprised about that question.

"Well, I've been doing a good job as team leader, I think," Jaune didn't sound too sure about that after that based on the last part. "But, I'll be proving myself soon."

Daniel didn't know what to think based on what he heard from Jaune's tone, almost as if he even didn't believe it himself. From the moment that Daniel met him, Jaune has been nothing but friendly and easy to get along with in situations like this. But, he didn't sound too confident about being a team leader or student here. Although, there was also a moment where he didn't seem that knowledgeable in things students learn in their first years in basic combat school.

"Good morning, everyone!"

From the youngest team leader in the first years, Ruby greeted everyone as energetically as always, carrying her breakfast in her hands. Followed by Weiss who carried the lightest breakfast possible without it being something that would leave her malnourished. It was followed by Yang who had much more on her plate, which she placed on the table. And last, but not least, Blake who seemed more focused on the book on her hands, though placed her plate on the table.

"Morning, Team RWBY."

'Morning.'

"Hey."

"Yea."

Daniel returned the gesture using his hand, Hunter signed the greeting, Alyssa greeted smiling, and Sandra gave an impressive one.

"Morning guys. And good morning, Snow Angel."

"Good morning, all of you."

"Good morning."

"Mouning."

Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora all greeted them too. Weiss, however, after hearing that greeting from Jaune, wore an almost irritated expression on her face with Daniel looking a little irked.

After their entire group was formed, all of them started eating their breakfast and conversed with one another on different things. Amid the conversation, there was another student who approached them, no approached one of them, which was revealed to be Hunter. Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha all recognized her as being the female Faunus with rabbit ears inside of the same class as themselves.

"Good morning, Hunter."

All of them, but primarily, Pyrrha, Daniel, Alyssa, and Sandra about this.

'Good morning, Velvet.'

Hunter signed, but Velvet seemed to be able to understand the signs without needing assistance.

"I wanted to come here to thank you for helping me with the report that I had for Professor Oobleck," Velvet said in her usual accent, causing all Hunter's friends to stare on wearing an interesting look. "It helped me a lot to get an opinion of someone who came from Mistral."

'It was no trouble at all. I'm happy that I was able to help someone with something.'

Hunter replied smiling, which Velvet returned.

"Well, I'll see you all later."

Velvet said before heading off in another direction.

Hunter was oblivious about the current stares that he was receiving from his friends until the moment that he turned around to face them. He raised an eyebrow as turned over toward both Pyrrha and Daniel who were also wearing the same kind of smile on their face. It didn't take him long to realize what those smiles meant before he started signing to them.

'I know what those looks mean. And it's not what it looks like.'

Hunter seemed to sign seriously without showing a faltering expression.

"But, the two of you did look a little close for just meeting each other."

Pyrrha said as she smiled faintly.

"Wait, wasn't she the friend that you made in the library? And weren't you too a little too familiar with each other?"

Daniel sounded as if he were teasing him.

'Come on, Velvet and I are friends, nothing more nothing less.'

Hunter signed still in the same demeanor that he had before.

"Are you sure about that?"

Daniel once again teased.

'This is payback isn't it?'

Hunter signed, thinking back to the time that he joined Alyssa and Sandra in teasing him about Yang and Weiss.

"I have no idea what you're talking about?"

Daniel replied smirking knowingly, caused Hunter to realize that it was a part of it.

"Yep, this is definitely payback."

Hunter was reassured that it was the case.

"Well, I think that the two of you might make a great couple. Plus, she's also a second-year student?"

"Yea, being Faunus and all."

Alyssa and Sandra added as Hunter looked almost betrayed, but the two instead chuckled to themselves lightly.

His other friends also started laughing after watching that interaction between them, most of them all sharing a similar thought about them. Although Hunter knew that he didn't have those kinds of feelings for her, it was still a little embarrassing that his friends having a good time teasing him about it. During the group's fun in laughing at Hunter about his apparent 'relationship' with Velvet.

There was a moment that Ruby took a discreet look that was aimed in Daniel's direction, which appeared to be a little more nervous. Instead of the usual cheerfulness that would normally be radiating from her eyes, it looked as if she felt a little bit of guilt. After turning around at almost the same time, he caught Ruby staring in his direction.

"Hey, something wrong, Ruby?"

Daniel asked.

"N-No, there's nothing wrong?"

Ruby immediately replied as Daniel wondered what the sudden reaction was about, but her teammates seemed to have known what the reason behind it was.

'Doesn't Daniel and Weiss look a lot closer than before?'

"What about Daniel and Weiss?"

Pyrrha asked questioningly as Hunter seemed to have used that as a distraction, thus taking the attention off him about Velvet.

"W-What did he say about us?"

Weiss asked feeling embarrassed, as well as being unable to tell what Hunter signed.

"A clever distraction Hunter."

Daniel said under his breath.

Hunter's plan did work as it appeared to have distracted everyone around to move their attention away from both him and his apparent relationship. Although, among the group, Jaune seemed to be the most interested in them due to his previous attempts at flirting with Weiss.

"Wait, do you guys have that kind of relationship? Since when?"

Jaune asked.

"Ugh, I don't know why everyone is focused on someone else's relationships. Whether or not I'm seeing Daniel is my business and no one else's."

"Wouldn't it be my business too?"

Daniel asked.

"I guess."

Weiss replied nonchalantly causing Daniel to laugh nervously.

"So, I'm just there?"

"Yes," she answered before speaking jokingly wearing a rare slight smile on her face. "But, at the very least, you have the pleasure of dating me. So, you can at least be grateful for that."

"Lucky me."

It was in that interaction between them that caused most of them to, in fact, realize that Daniel and Weiss do look a little closer to one another than before. But, it was far more apparent to them that the two of them already were close to each other from Atlas. All of them knew that Weiss wasn't the kind to show off some of her emotions, more so positive ones, but she was doing that a lot more at least around Daniel.

However, outside of Team RWBY and DUSK wasn't aware that the two of them previously went on a date two days prior.

"You know, it's almost funny seeing you two bury yourselves deeper like this."

Sandra stated out loud, noting the fact that the two of them were proving Hunter's comment right.

Hunter's plan in distracting them did work, as everyone appeared more focused on Daniel and Weiss rather than being focused on him. Not all of them was doing this, one of them being Blake who appeared to be more focused on the book in her hands. And Ruby didn't appear to be focused on anything aside from messing around with the food on her plate using her fork. Although, her attention was more focused on what she heard from two days ago.

—Two Days Ago

Nearly minutes before Daniel and Weiss returned to their dorms after finishing their date, the remaining members of Team RWBY were inside their room dressed in their pajamas. Seeing nothing else to do, Ruby was lying down on her stomach reading her comic book, kicking her feet back and forth. Blake was sitting upright quiet in her bed dressed in her yukata and reading the book that she received from Daniel.

Though, unlike the black-haired duo, the lone blonde was finding it hard to pass the time as she was laying her head on one of the desks in the room. In her hands was a pencil as Yang seemed to have been doodling on the paper aimlessly in an attempt to satiate her boredom.

"Ugh, it's so boring," Yang groaned out loud as she leaned back on her chair, causing her long blonde hair to flow down. "In situations like this, I would just ride around town on Bumblebee."

"Bumblebee?"

It was the first time that Blake had heard that from Yang and was confused about the meaning until she received an answer from someone who knew about it.

"Yang's motorcycle and precious child."

Ruby replied from her bunk bed.

"Hey, Bumblebee is as important to me as Crescent Rose is important to you."

"Yea, I know. I remember that Yang worked so hard to convince dad into letting her buy it when she was close to driving age," Ruby replied. "She even had Bumblebee painted and tuned almost all the time. But…."

"But, I need to wait a little bit longer before I'm able to ride Bumblebee. Because, I have to follow the stupid rules saying that I have to wait since I had to store it here," Yang whined as she was unable to attend to her precious Bumblebee while leaning her head against the table. "Blake is there anything interesting in that book at least?"

"Well, I just started reading it, but his grandfather seemed to have been born in a nameless tribe that moved from place to place around Solitas," Blake replied. "But, it doesn't sound as if some of them were well-mannered most did nothing more than fight and survive the harsh winters. Although, something is interesting."

"What's that?"

Ruby said finding that last part interesting.

"Among all the people in his tribe, his grandfather was the only one with the same silver eyes as you and Daniel."

"Oh, really?"

"Huh, even his parents didn't have them. That's weird."

Yang pointed out since most would think their traits came from either of their parents, but Daniel's grandfather did not inherit them from either of his parents.

"Is there anything else about it?"

"No, but it seems that one day the tribe broke apart after Grimm attacked their bases, most of them broke apart. I haven't gotten there yet, but guess that at some point, his grandfather found his way to Atlas. I usually don't want to read someone's autobiography since most of them are overblown or pure fiction. But, I'm interested in hearing about the one who started the Norden Family."

"You know, you could just talk to Dani about it. He did say that he read the same book," Yang said before smiling towards her partner. "Who knows, it might be more fun talking to him."

"Well, I think that I'd be easier to read it myself."

Blake replied as she returned to reading the book.

"I couldn't do that. It's boring doing nothing but reading a book all the time," Yang said as she stretched her arms out before hearing something abruptly. "Hmm, what's that?"

The thing that Yang heard out of nowhere was the sound of footsteps near the door.

"What?"

Ruby asked moving her attention from her comic after hearing her sister speak out loud.

"I think that Weiss came back. But, she hasn't come back inside so, she's probably talking to Dani."

It was at that moment, a mischievous smile appeared on her face as she appeared to stand up from her seat and approached the door.

"Yang, what're you doing?"

Blake questioned taking her eyes from the book, but she already had an idea of what that was.

"I want to hear what they're going to do."

"Weiss isn't going to be happy about that."

Blake stated knowing the heiress' temper, as well as how much she'd hate being spied on.

"Come on, I'm just curious."

"Oh, can you hear them?"

Ruby said as she seemed to vanish into a trail of roses and appeared beside Yang, both sisters pressed their ear against the door. Blake rolled her eyes, chuckling amused knowing that there was going to result in an argument the moment that Weiss found out about this.

[Since this is the third request that you completed, then I guess that resolves all of it. If I were, to be honest, though, I did forget about it almost sometime after we met again.] Ruby and Yang could hear Weiss talking to him a little more honestly. [I also have to admit that the whole three requests were kinda childish on my part.]

"Well, Dani seems to be melting the Ice Queen's heart a little bit."

Yang said jokingly as she and Ruby continued listening.

[It's alright. Well, my leaving three years ago was more or less a selfish and personal thing that I needed to do. I didn't really give a proper explanation about that at all.]

"So, does this have something to do with 'making a move'?"

"Come on, Ruby. You're going to break your sister's heart if you grow up too…."

[…B-But, I should have realized the reason was related to everything that happened back then with your family. And that…you…were almost being killed four years ago.]

""Ehhh?!""

"W-What?"

Blake jumped after hearing both Ruby and Yang reacting to that, showing off more of a surprised reaction.

She didn't get an answer after seeing both sisters fall to the ground from survival, which was enough to cause her to closer the book in her hands from concern. Blake noticed for the first time the two sisters who would be full of optimism was shocked about whatever was heard.

"I misheard that right?"

Yang questioned herself still surprised about what she heard.

"D-Did Daniel really almost…?"

Ruby asked seemed visibly stunned about hearing those words.

"What exactly did you two hear?"

Blake asked confused about whatever they could have heard to make them react like that.

But, it went unanswered as their dorm room door was opened wide, revealing an angry-looking (more so than usual) Weiss, who was staring at her two teammates. Weiss started down at them wearing a crooked smile with a dark "aura" practically exuding from her. At that moment both sisters looked scared staring at the heiress nearly forgetting about what the two of them heard.

"Alright, you dolts," Weiss' tone didn't appear to be the slightest bit friendly as she approached the sisters. "There are several things that I'm wondering at the moment. But, the most relevant is, what did the two of you happen to overhear when we were talking?"

"Uh, Weiss?"

"What Ruby?"

Weiss stared coldly at her team leader and partner.

"Did someone really try to kill Daniel?"

Hearing that question from Ruby caused Blake, who hadn't heard Daniel's and Weiss' conversation to become a little more stunned.

"Someone tried to kill Daniel," if that was the cause, then Blake could understand the reason that Ruby and Yang reacted the way they did after overhearing their conversation. Based on previous conversations and interactions, he never gave off that kind of impression. "But, he should've still been in Atlas at the time. So, who would attempt to kill Daniel?"

At that moment, someone did come to mind, a certain man did cross her mind, which caused her to shudder at the thought of that being the case. In her past, there was someone who she previously mentioned to Weiss, who was and soon become a completely different person than she initially thought. Blake, then became concerned that the others noticed it, but they seemed to be a bit more focused on one another.

"Why was he the first person that I thought about? Calm down, think rationally about this, the timeline doesn't fit at all. So, there's no way that he could've been the one who tried to kill Daniel, even if he does have a vendetta for those from Atlas," Blake reassured herself as she calmed herself down. "But, if it wasn't Adam, then…."

"Haah, I swear you two can be sometimes too nosy about everything," Weiss sighed almost fazed about the face Ruby was making at the moment before placing her hand on her forehead and sighed. "Well, there's no point in lying about it since you already heard about it. Yes, someone did attempt to kill Daniel…whoever did come close to it actually."

"Did they ever find out who did it?"

Yang decided to ask curiously and worriedly.

"No, it was something that didn't really assist in what his family was going through at the time," Weiss said as she took a seat on her bed, sounding a little sadder. "He was really depressed for a while, but Daniel being Daniel, he bounced back up after some time. Or maybe that's what I thought, Daniel always keeps on his nonchalant face so it makes it difficult to see what's he's actually feeling about anything like that. It's really the only thing that I don't like about him. There are a lot of things that he never really shared about what happened."

Hearing Weiss' comment about that didn't spark the usual snarky response from Yang, who still appeared to be a little surprised after hearing that. Blake was still wondering about who could've attempted something like that on him when he was at the age of thirteen. And Ruby felt guilty that she overheard something that private and sad that it happened to Daniel.

"Hey, Ruby. Ya still there?"

"Wha—?"

Ruby made a surprised sound as she felt her older sister poking her suddenly.

It seemed that Daniel and Weiss were still fighting off the comments from their friends, so Ruby didn't really know how long she was rethinking about that moment.

"Are you still thinking about that thing from two days ago?"

Yang asked without revealing what that 'thing' was.

"Yea, kinda," she replied after noticing that she was still playing with her breakfast. "I kinda feel bad about spying on them and hearing something that private. I haven't been able to talk to or look at Daniel lately without feeling a little bit guilty about it."

"I understand that," Yang said resting her chin on one of her hands sharing the same feeling as Ruby. "I wasn't at all expecting to hear something like that. But, I don't think that Dani is the kind of person to get all hung up on us spying on him and Weiss. Well, it wouldn't be the first time that we did something like that, remember?"

Ruby knew what Yang was referring to, which was the time the three of them found Daniel and Weiss inside their dorm's student lounge. And did, in fact, end up spying on the two of them even though it wasn't purely intentional. However, even that didn't appear to alleviate the guilt that she was feeling at the moment.

"Yea, but…."

"Ruby," Yang interrupted in a much more comforting tone, which became the tone that always seemed to make a difference whenever she was sad. "Tonight, why don't we all just have a small talk with Dani about it since it'll be the easiest solution to all this. Come on, Ruby, you're a team leader aspiring to become the badass Huntress that you've always dreamed of becoming, so you can at least do something like this."

Hearing that advice from her older sister, who has supported and been there after losing their mother, causing a smile to appear on Ruby's face.

"Yes, let's do that. We'll all talk to Daniel about it."

"That's what I'm talking about."

Both sisters gave a genuine smirk toward one another as Daniel looked to see and wondering what both of them had been talking about specifically since they had been speaking in a low tone. Although, it was good seeing that Ruby wasn't in the same disheartened demeanor as before. It wasn't long until their breakfast period was done as all the students started heading toward their first-period classes.

Later on, inside of the classroom headed by Ann Green, a female professor who teaches Security and Stealth at Beacon. A beautiful young woman still in her prime with notable bright red hair that made it almost impossible not to notice her. Around the classroom, there seemed to be several building blueprints, some of them seemed to be merely for the lessons instead of being official ones. It was also one of the classes which Daniel and Blake shared without their other friends or teammates.

"Alright, class remember that sometimes as Huntsmen, you'll be also sometimes responsible for protecting very important officials on missions. Or course, also acting as security for important parties and events," Ann stated as she paced back and forth in front of them. "I want you all to always remember that it's important to know the ins and outs of the location you're guarding to ensure your success. No matter how strong or skilled you are, it won't matter if you aren't prepared for a sneak attack of some kind."

Most of the students listened intently as Professor Greene started explaining the basics of acting security guards for important officials. Some of the students weren't interested in that line of work, but others were interested in it as a possible area of focus. From the first class, she started going after teaching the students all about acting as security for important people before going onto stealth.

"It'll be quite sometime before either of you will be doing anything official like that even on the mission that will be assigned to you all. But, we professors would like to ensure that our students are well informed beforehand," she stated as she picked up her personal Scroll before dimming down the lights. "So, the first thing that we'll be doing is going over a simple scenario."

After saying those words, Ann started messing around with something on her scroll before placing it down on her table. Seconds later, a holographic projection expanded from it, which the students recognized as the blueprints of a building structure. But, none of the students could tell whether or not it was an actual building from in another kingdom or not based on the image alone.

"Uh, Professor Greene."

Daniel having a single question going through his head raised his hand.

"Yes, Mister Norden."

"Are those the blueprints of an actual building?"

"A good question," Ann replied smiling lightly. "It is an auto-generated structure created using a real building as a reference. However, the buildings used for this have already been labeled as being abandoned a long time ago. This will be the case for several future lessons like this since it wouldn't be a good idea to use blueprints from an official high-security building."

"That's actually a good idea. Since doing that would be irresponsible," Blake mentally agreed as she stared at the blueprint being projected. "If any of those were to get out, then it would just make it easier for people such as the White Fang to sneak into the building. Hahaha, well, me being here is too ironic."

Blake gave a humorless near-silent laugh as she thought of the irony of what she just thought.

"That's true. Sorry for the interruption."

"No, it was a good question," Ann stated as she started messing around with the controls of her Scroll, causing a total of three red dots to appear in the middle of the three-dimensional room with others around them. "Alright, so I sent a description of the scenario to all your Scrolls."

Seconds later, as Ann stated all their Scrolls received the message and let out the conjoined notification sound. It wouldn't normally be allowed for them to respond to messages while in class. But since it came directly from their teacher, there was nothing wrong with it this time.

"Well, this is interesting."

Daniel found himself uttering out loud.

To: Students

From: Professor Ann Green

Message: You're acting as the guard of two officials targeted by a terrorist group comprised of both humans and faunus. Your assignment is to ensure that all possible entrances have been properly secured to ensure that the two officials under your protection remain safe.

"This will be the writing assignment that all of you will give to me near the end of class."

After saying those last words, Ann didn't say anything else and merely stood there allowing her students to think of an appropriate response. A lot of the students, however, did find some difficulties in coming up with one since it wasn't something either of them was that adept at or well informed in. But, there were some, two, in particular, who were thinking about it in a much more thoughtful manner.

"There's isn't that much information added about the 'terrorists' in question," Daniel pointed out to himself as he retrieved some paper to write that report, then started spinning around the pen using his fingers. "Oh, leaving out details and simply giving out basic information. Out there in the real world, there'll sometimes be situations where we have no idea who'll be after the people we're guarding. So, we need to be prepared for whatever may end up coming in our direction. Considering that it might also be during an important event, we might also need to worry about the potential casualties. Well, looks like someone already has something in mind about the answer to this assignment."

Daniel noted that he glanced to see that Blake was already writing out her paper for the assignment without even pausing. Seeing that, he started writing his about the assignment, with the rest of the class soon following behind them. Ann could see that some of her students were confident about words being written out on their pages, but she could tell that some of them seemed unsure about it.

"Some of them appear almost unsure about their choices. Well, this is just to simply see what they think the best options are. I'm not expecting anything perfect on their first try," Ann thought before glancing over towards two of her students, in particular. "Well, those two seem to have a knack for it."

Ann's attention was directed more towards Daniel and Blake who didn't take their attention away from their own papers without showing the slightest bit of hesitance.

"It might be me speaking from personal experience, but I might say that those two might end up being one of my star students. I can see that others seem to have some talent in this class," she stated before glancing towards them lightly amused. "But both Mister Norden and also Miss Belladonna appears to have some experience in this area even if they attempt to hide it. Well, either way, I can't wait to see that how the first-year bunch handle the training and lessons that I have planned for them."

Anne appeared to be enjoying herself as she thought about all the things that she had planned for them all until it was time for them to graduate.

Soon enough, class ended with all the students placing their finished papers on their teacher's desk before giving her a final farewell for the day. As the students started heading towards their next class, Daniel and Blake walked beside one another down the school halls.

"So, what did you end up writing for that assignment?"

"It wasn't much aside from the usual possible measures against possible intruders. And things like that."

Blake replied being a little secretive about what she wrote, causing Daniel to wonder whether or not it was just an attempt at joke around with him.

"Fine, don't tell me, just leave me in the dark," Daniel replied dramatically as Blake playfully rolled her eyes. "But, on the subject of the dark. I said that I would remain close to the people I'm protecting in the end, while having all the additional guards watch out for the humans."

"Oh, why?"

Blake asked interested in that reason, but Daniel smirked lightly, which she caught on to.

"And why should I tell you what I wrote in mine? But, Miss Belladonna wouldn't talk about hers."

"Well, based on what I know about you and Yang. Neither of you can handle not talking about something that you really want to talk about," Blake said sending a light smile in his direction that Daniel almost found cute. "So, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"You see the funny thing is. I know, you're playing me, but you're right."

In response to that, both of them started laughing at that comment.

"So, what did you write?"

"I'd be warier of the Faunus aiding them," Daniel replied as Blake continued listening. "All Faunus can see in the dark. So, while you're putting all your focus on handling the human group, the faunus group might turn off the lights and take the people you're guarding."

"Right, I forgot that you said your father was a Faunus. So, of course, you'd know about that," Daniel was able to tell that Blake was simply joking. "But, that is a good idea. It'd be a mistake to focus on the attack group, but then ignoring the other group. I guess that's another lesson in being unable to handle everything alone."

"So, I take it that you added your teammates too."

"Well, Professor Greene never said that we couldn't add our teammates in that scenario."

In the scenario that Ann never stated that neither of them couldn't add in their teammates, which was something both Daniel and Blake took advantage of.

"It's more efficient working with people you're close to aside from some other random straitlaced guards without a mind of their own," Daniel replied. "So, are you enjoying the book so far?"

"Yes, well, reading about your grandfather's life and battles is interesting."

"Well, I didn't know much about gramps' life until reading that book. I didn't have that much interest in reading the book, but after taking some time reading it. I did realize that it was worth the read in the end," Daniel stated as he looked forward. "I'm not the kind of person to spoil things, so I'll just let you get near the end yourself."

"Thanks for the concern. I would have been disappointed if you spoiled me or gave some cryptic hint that I might end up figuring out."

Blake was against surprised that she was able to talk to someone else like this since it wasn't her main intention after deciding to enroll at Beacon. But, after having the encounter with Daniel, Ruby, Yang, and even Weiss, a Schnee of all people, she found herself able to talk openly like this.

"Right, Ruby and Yang wanted to talk to you about something tonight in our room."

"It wouldn't happen to be connected to what has gotten the little Red Hood all depressed."

"Yes."

"It also wouldn't happen to have anything to do with what they overheard when Weiss and I were talking after we returned to the dorm."

"…Yes."

Blake was more hesitant after recalling what she heard from Weiss almost two days ago.

"How can he act like this after someone almost killed him as if it was nothing," Blake asked herself as she stared at Daniel, who walked next to her nonchalantly. "Though, I guess that it did happen almost over four years ago, so he had a lot of time to overcome it. I don't even know how I'd react if that happened to me."

"Would it be alright if Hunter, Sandra, and Alyssa joined in? It wouldn't feel right if I left them out of it. The three of them was going to find about it at some point, so it might as well be now."

"I can understand that. I don't think that they would mind that at all. But, are you sure that…?"

Blake replied but was stopped as Daniel poked her cheek teasingly.

"Come on, do I look like a kid to you?"

Daniel asked jokingly.

"Back at you."

Blake replied as she brushed aside his finger, wearing a light smile on her face in response to that.

Both continued heading to their next class wearing that gentle air, then continued with this school day without their eventual meeting after school. Soon enough, the school for the day did end as the students returned to their dorms or went to perform other activities either alone or together.

As planned the members of Team RWBY and DUSK met one another inside of the latter's dorm room by them as well. So, all eight team members gathered inside the bedroom still dressed in their school uniform and still silent without a single person speaking. Not a single person showed even the slightest intention of even uttering a single word. Weiss remained silent sitting on her bed with her arms crossed and Ruby was beside her poking her fingers together. Even Daniel remained silent as he sat in-between them.

"Ugh, isn't anyone going to speak up," Sandra asked as she was getting tired of all the silence in the room as she sat down in one of the chairs she pulled from their desk. "If it was just going to be this silent, then why'd I bother coming here in the first place?"

"That's a good question," Alyssa teasingly answered as she turned towards her partner. "I don't even remember anyone forcing you to come here. Or did you not want to feel left out?"

"Sh-Shut up."

Sandra replied flustered as her partner brought up that point she'd feel left out of whatever they were going to talk about. In response to that, Alyssa found herself laughing at her reaction more and more until Yang brought up a good point toward Sandra.

"You know you can come over here if you don't want to feel left out."

Yang started after noticing that Sandra was sitting further away from all of them; aside from everyone else who all sat on the bottom bunks, Hunter was sitting legs crossed on the ground. No matter what either of them said to him, he didn't feel right sitting on their bed but still wanted to remain close enough to feel involved.

"I'm not sitting anywhere near those death traps."

Sandra plainly pointed out as she noticed the almost poor job that the members of Team RWBY did in turning all their beds into bunk beds.

"Oh, come on. It only looks unstable," Sandra replied to Yang who attempted to reassure Sandra about the safety of their beds. "It's really comfortable if you sit on it yourself."

"Yea yea."

Sandra replied unable to believe that for herself as she stared at how the beds were being held up using either a series of ropes or books.

"Well, since Sandra appears to be getting a little bit impatient right now. I think that it's about time that we get to the point of this meeting," Daniel said as he started getting things going. "So, I just want to make things clear. I'm blaming anyone for this, but there was something that was overheard during a conversation. I didn't want to leave my teammates out of it."

Hearing that from him caused Hunter, Sandra, and Alyssa to become curious about whatever Daniel was talking about right now. Yang, who already knew what he was talking about wasn't surprised, but she was more focused on what about not blaming anyone.

"Is he attempting to reassure us that he isn't mad about anything," Yang wondered based on the tone that he had been talking in regarding that before glancing over to Ruby. "Well, it might be a good thing for Ruby. Since she's still feeling a little guilty for overhearing something that private between him and Weiss."

"I'm not going to sugarcoat things much or make this more dramatic. So, I'll just come out and say it," Daniel said as he paused with his teammates. "Almost over four years ago someone to kill me."

There was a serious pause of those who hadn't already heard about it looked stunned about hearing those words from Daniel. Hunter and Alyssa were, of course, shocked, even Sandra was as her attention seemed to be a little more focused on the conversation than before. Similar to the members of Team RWBY aside from Weiss, who'd already been involved in the incident, all of them were surprised.

"Y-You're not kidding right now, right?"

Sandra asked wanting to be sure that she heard those words correctly.

"No, this isn't something that I'm kidding about at the moment. Not that I'm feeling upset that it was found out as it was already big news inside of Atlas when it happened. Besides, it's something that I already got past a long time ago, so it isn't something that's really hanging over my head anymore," Daniel tried reassuring the people in the room that there wasn't anything wrong. "So, if there's anything that any of you wants to know about it, then I don't want anyone to hesitate to ask. So, any questions on that matter?"

Almost all of them were stunned about how nonchalant Daniel was being about the fact that someone tried to kill him. And didn't even appear to have any trouble of talking about it to them in the slightest. The room was silent a second time since most of them seemed to be processing it, even Sandra didn't know what to say.

'Does this have something to do with those scars?'

Hunter found himself signing that question recalling all those scars that Daniel had on his upper torso after taking off his shirt. All of the scars looked healed, some being almost unnoticeable, but the ones on his chests seemed a little deeper than the rest.

"Yea, almost all of those scars aside from one of them came from the guy who tried to kill me. I really don't want to go all in to the details about it, but it kinda took me almost a year to recover after that."

"So, that's what you meant about talking about someone else's scars."

Weiss added recalling the time that the two of them were walking side by side sometime after the speech, which Ozpin gave in the amphitheater. She knew full well about the incident that Daniel was involved in, but she hadn't heard anything about scars from him. But, considering the injuries, then it wouldn't be odd if that was the case.

"So, how bad are the scars?"

Yang decided to bring that up since she wondered how bad they might look.

"Well, most of them healed up so it won't gross some people out," Daniel said before going a route that Yang the blonde might take. "But, if you really want to know, so badly, then I'll have to lift my shirt and show you."

"C-Come on, don't joke around like that, Dani. I'm trying to be a supportive friend here."

Yang found herself blushing at the sudden suggestion and almost laughing at that attempt to lighten things up. Though, this caused most of the people like Sandra to roll their eyes.

"Daniel, are you really okay with talking about this? I know there are some things that people don't want to talk to other people about. And this one seems like one of those things. I don't know most people who would be capable of talking about this without opening some old wounds."

Alyssa wanted to be sure that Daniel was fine talking about this. She didn't want to mention it out loud, but to her, she wondered if Daniel was putting up a strong front in front of them.

"I appreciate the concern, Alyssa, but I'm fine. If I let this one thing dictate my entire life, then I'll never be able to continue living and enjoying my life. But, at the same time, that doesn't mean that I'm going to let it slide. I had already planned on becoming a Huntsman before that happened, but that time further pushed my desire to want to become one. There are a lot of people in the world like that and the thought of there being someone else who goes through that doesn't sit right with me."

"So, who was the person who tried to kill you? I mean, I know that you wouldn't keep something like that hidden from Atlas unless you want to find them yourself."

Sandra asked becoming more invested in this than she thought.

"I'm not that reckless. I told the Atlas military almost all that happened, but it didn't help that I couldn't give them a real description of the guy. He took the effort of disguising himself."

"A disguise?"

Blake found herself uttering those words.

"A disguise that happens to be of one of the things that I hate most in Remnant."

Daniel uttered those words under his breath, but Weiss and Ruby, who were sitting beside him happened to hear what he said.

"Wait, was it…."

Weiss realized what the person might have been dressed up as, but didn't utter a single word knowing how much Daniel didn't like it. And it one of the main things that she wouldn't tease him about. After saying all those things to them, he found himself leaning backward and allowing a breath to escape from his mouth.

"Well, it's been a long time since I talked to someone about that. It's actually a relief."

"Well, is there anything that Dani would like to share?"

Yang asked curiously.

"Nah, not right now. So much happened in my life that it almost makes me want to write an autobiography a lot like gramps. I can already see the synopsis now, the tale of a boy who wants to grow up making wisecracks and fight as a huntsman, but finds himself dealing with a bunch of unusual and unnecessary nonsense. So how does it sound to you all?"

Daniel asked as he returned to his original position.

"That sounds terrible."

Sandra replied honestly, but there wasn't the usual amount of animosity in her voice.

"Yea, I thought so."

Daniel started laughing as others started joining in on the laughter, causing the dense atmosphere to become a little more lighthearted.

"Daniel," Weiss found herself speaking next to him among the laughter from the others, Daniel even felt her hand being discreetly placed on his. "If there's anything else that you want to talk about, then you know that you could talk to me about it at least, right?"

"Yea, I know. But, we still have four years of attending Beacon. So, there isn't a need to rush or anything, right?"

"Right."

Daniel once again found a genuine smile coming from Weiss, but where there was a smile on the heiress' face, a downed one still seemed to reside on the youngest Huntress-in-Training.

Later that night, Ruby found herself dressed in her pajamas, sitting on their dormitory's roof, hugging on her legs as she leaned against the walls. She excused herself from their dorm room after saying that she needed just a bit of fresh air and stared at the cracked moon.

"I never thought that Daniel would have gone through something like that. I know that he said that there anything wrong with it, but I can't help feeling a little bad."

Ruby couldn't help going through what was said and what led to it, no matter just how many times she heard that there were no hard feelings about it from Daniel.

"He wouldn't have needed to talk about it if it wasn't for Yang and I spying on him and Weiss."

"Mind a little company?"

Ruby jumped as she heard the door learning to the roof opening, then Daniel stood at the entrance holding what looks like a bag in his hand. She didn't expect Daniel to come to the roof, but she didn't reject the company and instead nodded her head softly. After walking onto the roof through the entrance, Daniel started walking towards Ruby and took a seat beside her.

"So, I have brought Beacon's youngest ever team leader what she requested a second time," Daniel stated as he presented a bag in front of Ruby, which contained cookies and strawberries. "For her, I bring a bundle of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and fresh strawberries."

"T-Thanks, Daniel."

Ruby said as she took the bad off his hands, but she didn't look too ecstatic about it like before.

Even after taking it from him, she didn't open the bag and started eating either of them, instead, she only placed it on the ground beside her.

"I tried going to your team's dorm room, but when I asked Yang, she said you came to the roof for some air."

"Yea, I kinda needed to get a little air and I wanted to come to the roof to calm down."

"I'm sorry if what I said to you all made you a little depressed."

"That's not it," Ruby found herself yelling a bit catching him by surprise. "You shouldn't have to apologize for that! If it wasn't for Yang and I eavesdropping then you wouldn't have needed to feel the need to share that with all of us in the first place. I-I didn't think that you went through something like that and…."

"Calm down, Ruby, I'm not mad or anything," Daniel said as he placed a comforting hand on her head. "I thought I made that clear during our conversation, but I can see that didn't help much. But, it shows that you care about people if you're feeling this bad about overhearing that by accident and thinking about what happened. If you're still a little bad about it, then how about I think of a little punishment."

"Uh, punishment. What kind would that be?"

Ruby asked worriedly and suspiciously.

"Just close your eyes. It won't be anything bad."

"A-Alright," Ruby said as she closed her eyes waiting for that 'punishment' that Daniel had in mind for her, but it didn't come even after waiting there for almost two minutes. "So, what're you doing to…mmmmm."

Ruby opened her eyes wide as she felt Daniel pulling her cheeks from both sides, stretching them out to the point of her mouth being opened.

"Wainel, waaht gar wou woing?!"

Ruby couldn't speak correctly since her cheeks were being pulled, then even started erratically waving around her arms.

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand you. I'm a little preoccupied here."

Daniel pretended that he couldn't understand her.

This continued for what seemed to be five minutes until he released her cheeks, causing Ruby to immediately rub both of them using her hands.

"Why did you do that?!"

Ruby whined.

"Your cheeks looked soft and I wanted to see for myself. But, at least it got you thinking about something else that isn't depressing."

Daniel gave her a nonchalant response as he shrugged his shoulders smirking, causing Ruby to pout.

But, before long, the two of them started laughing on the roof without the same dense atmosphere being around them. It was one of the first times in the short couple of days that Ruby has laughed like this around him without it sounding a little awkward.

"So, are you alright now?"

"Yea, I think so. Daniel, I really am sorry about it."

"I know, Ruby. But, you don't really have to feel bad about it since it wasn't something you can really control," he stated before wrapping his arms around Ruby in a comforting hug. "Besides, if you're not always smiling with all of that optimism of yours, then it almost feels like there's no justice in Remnant. So, if you're ever feeling down, a small conversation with a friend might make you feel better. I know talking to everyone like actually did make me feel a little more relieved. To be honest, I never really talked much about what happened to some people even in my own family."

"Well, you have friends that you can talk to now. So, if you ever want to talk I'm…I mean, we're there for you."

Ruby found herself blushing lightly as she said those words, as well as recalling that Daniel was still hugging her.

"Right."

"So, do you want to share?"

Ruby said as she held up the bag of cookies and strawberries in her hand.

"…!"

Daniel started looking around appearing more alert as he even started staring into the sky.

"Uh, what's wrong?"

"Oh, you suggested that we share some of those cookies and strawberries. So, I thought that either the moon or the sky was falling."

"Hey, I'll have to know that I'm a really sharing person."

Ruby once again pointed as Daniel started chuckling lightly at her reaching.

"I swear you're too easy."

"Whatever, do you want to share or not?"

"Yea, sure."

Daniel said as he leaned back against the wall as Ruby opened the bag, then handed him one of the treats inside of the plastic bag. Both of them continued sitting there for time-sharing the treats inside of the bag, but he couldn't help realizing that she ate more of them compared to him. Not that he had an issue with that since it was meant for her in the first place.

A/N: Well, this is the end of the next chapter of RWBY – Team DUSK, first off, I want to apologize for this late update, I was in the middle of moving into another place so I couldn't focus much on this.

Here, it was more or less a continuation of the previous one where Ruby and Yang overheard Daniel and Wiess talking to each other. First off, the members of Team DUSK were all conversing with one another about training more together as a team. Then it came down to Team RWBY's reaction to what happened to Daniel before leaving Atlas, but it appeared to have had more of an effect on Ruby who felt a little bit guilty about it.

Here it was one of the main things that I like about Yang is that she not only acts as a supportive older sister but also as a surrogate mother for Ruby, which I hope I showed here.

But, in the end, Daniel had a conversation with all of them including his teammates, in addition to making Ruby feel better about it. Well, this part here is going more into their first couple days at Beacon as students and will be moving forward into the next month.

Also, I wanted to start getting into more details about the allusions brought up in RWBY – Team DUSK in these author note sections.

First off the book that Blake is reading is named "Fateful Twilight", which Daniel's grandfather wrote. It is a reference to Ragnarök translates to the "Fate of the Gods" and "Twilight of the Gods". And dusk refers to the darkest stage of twilight.

A lot of the things here refer to different legends, but Norse is the primary focus. I thought it would be appropriate considering all of what is going on in the current volumes.