Team RWBY and the rest of JNPR were having what Sera could only call a feast when she and Pyrrha arrived in the cafeteria. Food was piled high on the tables, and they were all digging in—especially Nora and Yang.
Once they were within a decent range, Sera grinned and put her hand on her hip. "Jeez, you guys. You act like you've never eaten before."
The seven of them looked over to her, their eyes widening slightly.
"Hello!" Pyrrha greeted in her usual demeanor.
"Sera?!" Ruby exclaimed. "We thought you weren't going to be back for another few days!"
She shrugged. "Guess I beat that Grimm faster than anyone expected."
"Wait, did that huntsman just do all the work while you sat back and watched?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Actually, it was the opposite," she chuckled.
"What?!"
She laughed, putting her hand on the back of her head. Still famished from not eating that day, she decided to dig in before telling her friends what happened with the Hydra Grimm. Ruby wouldn't wait, though, so she just recounted the story between bites. Once she was finished, the others were more than a little surprised.
"That Grimm sounds like it was dangerous," Blake noted.
"It was spitting acid and regrowing heads, of course it was dangerous!" Nora announced. "You know you could've just smashed its heads instead?"
"Maybe," Sera took a sip from her soda. "But what kind of fun would that be?"
Weiss scoffed. "You know she can't do anything the easy way, Nora."
"Hey!" she exclaimed.
The others laughed, and Sera could only sit back and take a bite of a sandwich, mumbling about stupid Hydras.
"Anyways," Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "It's good that you're back safe. Did you learn anything useful from that huntsman?"
"Yeah! Who even was the huntsman?" Ruby asked.
"Just some guy," Sera waved. "But I just learned a bit more about how to analyze and take down unknown Grimm. Like, that Hydra was afraid of fire, and I remembered about cauterizing wounds to stop bleeding and stuff. So, I figured that if I cauterized the Hydra's necks before they could grow more heads, it should stop the thing for good."
"Good thinking," Nora said with a mouthful of food.
"Better than just smashing it, huh?" she asked.
The hammer-wielder shrugged. "Not really."
Sera smiled. "Whatever you say, Sparkplug."
Nora rolled her eyes and groaned at the nickname. The rest of lunch went pretty smoothly, apart from Ruby asking who the mystery huntsman is. She wasn't sure if Qrow was okay with telling her and Yang, so she kept her mouth shut. When they were cleaning up the carnage of their meal, Sera realized with a sinking feeling that she still needed to tell them all about her amnesia and reason for being at Beacon. The cafeteria wasn't the right place to do that, so she decided to wait just a bit longer.
. . .
Finally, she was on the way back to RWBY's dorm. She'd almost forgotten that she now had a bed, so she didn't have to sleep on the floor anymore.
Sera fell face-first on her new bed and sank into its blankets. She was officially back home.
"Well, now what?" Ruby asked. "We still have the rest of the day off. What should we do?"
"I'm reading," Blake said from atop her bunk.
"Lame!" Yang threw a pillow at the Faunus. Blake shot her a glare in return, but Yang just grinned. "Sera? Any suggestions from the big bad Hydra killer?"
She just groaned into her pillow and rolled over. "Actually… There is something I need to tell you all."
Blake tilted her book down slightly and raised an eyebrow at the white-haired girl. She had a feeling she knew what she'd say.
"Well, out with it!" Yang said, thinking she was going to suggest something silly or outlandish like she usually would.
Sera sat up on her bed, swung her legs over the side, then rested her elbows on her knees as she sat forward. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at team RWBY. The others seemed to notice that she was being serious. They glanced at each other in confusion, apart from Blake.
Ruby cleared her throat. "Sera? What's wrong?"
"I don't think we've ever seen you this serious," Weiss noted.
"Yeah, well," she chuckled lightly and ran her hands through her hair. "Look, just please don't be mad? I know we had that whole thing with Blake, and we all said we'd be honest with each other about serious stuff…"
"Whatever it is, you can tell us," Yang said, putting on the kind big sister voice she uses with Ruby.
"Yeah, we're a team!" Ruby said.
Sera looked up at Blake atop her bunk, and the Faunus simply nodded. It was too late for her to change her mind, anyway.
"Okay…" she tapped her fingers against her legs. "For as long as you've known me, even a little before then, I've had amnesia. I don't know who I am, and everything I've told you about my life before coming to Beacon has been a lie."
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang took that in silence, processing her words carefully. Ruby blinked uncertainly, unsure of what to make of it all.
"You mean this whole time you've been struggling with memory loss?" Weiss asked quietly. "And keeping it to yourself?"
"Well… Kind of. Ozpin, Goodwitch, and some of the other professors know," she interlaced her fingers between her knees and rubbed her thumbs together. "That's why I'm even here. I woke up in Forever Fall Forest the day before initiation, a huntsman found me getting chased by Beowolves, then took me here. Ozpin gave me a deal—I could attend Beacon as a student so they can investigate who I am, and I'd try my best to become a huntress."
"That's a pretty damn good deal," Yang murmured.
"Right?" she scoffed. "If that huntsman hadn't found me and Ozpin hadn't taken me in, I'd probably be dead."
"Why keep it a secret?" Ruby asked. "I mean, I don't think any of us like, have a problem with it."
Sera shrugged. "I think I just didn't want you guys to think less of me somehow. Plus, I could still hardly believe that was happening to me."
"Guys, her reasons aren't important," Yang said. "It wasn't any of our business. And she's telling us now, so everything's cool."
The amnesiac's shoulders relaxed slightly. "Thanks, Yang." The blond nodded in response and gave a smile.
"Is Sera your real name?" Ruby asked, raising her hand like she was in class.
Sera knitted her eyebrows together and thought for a moment. Considering the realization she'd come to earlier about not caring for her past, there really was only one answer.
"It is now," she said.
"Why?" Blake asked, finally speaking up.
The huntress twiddled her thumbs. "It has recently come up that Ozpin won't be able to find out who I am."
"What? How?" Weiss blinked.
She chuckled nervously. "Apparently, I don't exist. No files, documents, or any sort of proof at all that. I don't think any of the other huntsman schools even have anything on me."
"That doesn't make any sense," Ruby said.
"Why not, Rubes?" Yang asked.
"Come on, you saw her during initiation! If she hasn't trained with any of the other schools, then how come she already knew how to fight?"
"I was really just winging it, to be honest," Sera said.
"I don't believe that," Ruby continued. "I know a fighter when I see one, and you knew how to fight!"
Sera shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to tell you, Ruby. If I did learn how to fight from somewhere, it couldn't have been from a training school."
Weiss stepped forward. "I'll have my people in Atlas look into it. I'm sure they'd be able to find something."
That stunned pretty much everyone in the room. Weiss trying to be nice? Impossible.
"Uh," Sera blinked, not really sure what to say. "Thanks, Weiss? Sorry, this is new—why are you offering to help?"
"You're our friend," she said simply. "Besides… I can't imagine what it'd be like to be in your position. It must be difficult to deal with amnesia every day."
She gave a half shrug. "I've kind of gotten used to it, to be honest."
"Still," the heiress said. "I can't promise that they'll find anything, but I'll try to get them to look into it."
"…Thanks," she said.
"You're welcome," Weiss said with a hint of her uppity voice.
"Wow, Weiss, look at you go!" Ruby said. "That's how a team treats its members!"
Weiss rolled her eyes and sat on her bunk. "So, now that you've gotten to this point where your past is essentially nonexistent, what's the plan now?"
"Oh," Sera tapped her knuckle. "I guess just to keep up with class and training. I mean, I still haven't even found out what my semblance is yet."
"That's right!" Ruby said. "You're not even fighting to your max potential! Imagine if you had a semblance like mine or Yang's! Or if you could fly! Or shoot fire out of your hands!" Her voice rose in both volume and excitement the longer she spoke.
"Whoa, Ruby," Sera laughed. "Chill out. I forgot to mention that something else happened on that mission," she smiled slyly.
"Really?" Blake asked. "What is it?"
"Well, you remember when I said I was wrapped up by that Grimm, and I had to punch it in the head to let me go?"
"Yeah, that sounded so cool!" Ruby said.
Sera smirked. Ruby's semi-childlike demeanor was always amusing to her. "Apparently while that was happening, I kinda lost it, and that huntsman said he saw my eyes turn red."
"What?" Yang said. "Does that mean you could have a semblance like mine?"
"I don't think so," she shrugged. "That'd just be lazy writing."
"What?" Yang asked.
"What?"
Weiss blinked. "I'll never understand why you say the weird things you say. But you were able to at least find something out about your potential semblance?"
"I guess?" she scratched her head. "All I know is that my eyes went red, Weiss."
"Do you think that maybe you were able punch that Grimm's head in because your eyes were red?" Yang asked. "That's how my semblance would work, anyway."
"Huh, I dunno," she said. "I mean, maybe?"
"We could test it!" Ruby said excitedly, jumping up and down.
"Not sure if that'll work, Ruby," Sera chuckled lightly.
"It wouldn't hurt to try!" she added. "What if we try a training match and something just happens!"
Sera got up and walked across the room, ruffling Ruby's hair as she headed for the door. "If you want to fight me, just say so, Rubes," she laughed.
"Hey, where are you going?" she stamped her foot.
"To tell JNPR what I just told you guys. Might as well get it over with now, right?" she opened the door. "Besides, I need to ask Pyrrha something."
"Why can't you ask us?" Ruby asked, her voice getting whiny.
"It's a secret," she grinned. She knew that would irritate the younger team leader. "So, I'll be back later, okay?"
Weiss rolled her eyes while Yang gave a small wave as she stepped out of the door. Blake gave her a curt nod, probably because of what she'd just revealed to them all. Then there was Ruby, who crossed her arms like a kid.
Just before Sera closed the door behind her, she poked her head back into the room and flashed a quick smile. "Hey. I missed you guys, by the way."
The four girls' expressions softened, then Sera closed the door.
As she walked to JNPR's room, she remembered back to when Blake had confronted her months ago, and she had to reveal the truth about herself. She was glad Blake was so good at keeping secrets.
When Sera got to JNPR's door, she didn't even bother knocking; she just used her scroll to unlock it and walked on in. Fortunately, nothing crazy was happening, but they did seem surprised to see the violet-eyed girl.
All in all, team JNPR took her confession rather well. Of course, they were surprised, but they supported her. Nora even thought it was cool, but Sera couldn't figure out why. Ultimately, everything was okay. They understood her situation and said that if there was anything she needed, she'd just need to let them know.
"Actually, there is one thing…" she looked over to Pyrrha.
Pyrrha blinked and tilted her head in response.
. . .
"You want to train even harder?" Pyrrha exclaimed. They were on top of the roof of the dorm—their usual training spot.
Sera stood with her arms crossed and a smug expression on her face. "That's right. The Vytal Tournament is coming up, and even if I won't be able to compete, I still want to get better. So, from here on out, no more holding back. I want you to go all out," she flexed her arm and held her bicep with her free hand.
"Uh…" Pyrrha laughed nervously. "Are you sure?"
"Totally! The only way I'll get stronger is if I can take it to the next level."
Pyrrha closed her eyes and smiled. "Well, okay. When would you be ready to start?"
Sera flashed a smile. "Now."
"Like, now now?" Pyrrha blinked.
"Now," she affirmed. "As soon as we get our gear, we fight until one of us gives up."
A smile spread across Pyrrha's face. When was the last time she got to go all-out on an opponent? "Well, all right. You seem confident, so why not?"
"Oh, I still think you'll kick my butt," Sera put her hands on her hips. "But I'll get better. And eventually, maybe I'll be the one that's kicking your butt."
The Invincible Girl laughed. "We shall see."
"You're damn right!" Sera pointed at the redhead. "One day, Nikos, your title as 'invincible' will be mine," she smiled.
"Maybe so," she laughed again. "Until then, you have some work to do."
"Believe me, I know," she said. "So, we better get started."
Pyrrha smiled, a fierce look in her eyes. "I won't make it easy on you, even if we are friends."
"I wouldn't want you to," Sera returned the fierce look. "I'll only accept the win if I actually earn it."
"Hm," she put her hand on her hip. "Better go grab your gear."
Sera grinned, "Yes, ma'am."