Author's Note: Here it is, finally.

Beta: GeneralMayhem, kpmh2001

"Again."

Pyrrha took a deep breath, lowering herself slightly before punching forward with her fist as a large burst of flames shot forth. Before the fire had even finished burning she drew her hand in, sliding her right foot back she braced for the impending pain. After another deep breath she swiped up with her arm in an arc, small pellets of ice being thrown at and around her target as they embedded themselves several inches into the metal of the drone.

She felt her core twist awkwardly at the contradicting elements and thought for a moment that she might throw up; it slowly subsided however and she took several deep breaths to compose herself before resetting her stance and starting over.

After another half-hour she finally stopped, feeling the sweat pour from her brow as her body ached.

"Very good Miss Nikos." Professor Goodwitch said, her expression was as stern as ever but her voice carrying a softer tone to it. "We will need to work on your aim, but you have begun to grasp the more archaic natures of magic."

Pyrrha looked back to the drone she had been attacking and, while it was indeed scorched, dented, and pierced from where she had hit it, the area around it had sustained more damage than the drone itself. She flushed slightly, looking back to the professor sheepishly. "I'll do better next time, I promise."

Professor Goodwitch stepped closer, resting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. "You have already made great strides." The professor removed her hand, stepping away and walking over to a nearby desk where she had been brewing tea for the last hour. "Not just with your magic either, I see that you are spending more time with team CFVY."

Pyrrha followed closely behind, taking a cup when offered. "We made plans for the summer break, or, well, Coco made plans. The rest of us are just going along."

"Hmm," The professor hummed in what Pyrrha would almost call amusement. "Miss Adel is quite persistent. I believe that you have made an excellent choice in friends."

Lifting the cup to her lips, Pyrrha realised the tea had gone cold. She thought about refusing it, but an idea came to mind. Subtly tapping into her power, she began to heat up the cup, and after a moment the tea was warmed up enough for her to enjoy and she slowly allowed the heat from her hands to fade so as to not burn her hands on the cup once she was no longer protected by it.

"Impressive. Subtle control like that can be just as difficult to master as what we were just practicing." Professor Goodwitch said.

"That was a test too?"

The Professor smiled back at her, raising her cup and taking a drink of her own. When she was done, she set her cup down next to the kettle she had used. "I take it that your staying with team CFVY last night was only a temporary solution?"

Pyrrha nearly choked on her tea. "H-how did you know about that?"

The Professor's smile grew in the closest sense of resemblance she had never seen between the older Huntress and Yang. "You'll find that very little goes on in this school without me knowing. A student stumbling into another team's dorm in the middle of the night, while drunk nonetheless, is hard to miss." Pyrrha's face began to burn in embarrassment. "And Miss Adel has been talking about it all day."

"Dammit Coco." Pyrrha mumbled under her breath. Waking up in their dorm had been embarrassing enough, having to sit through Coco's interrogation after the fact had been even worse. What had started as a means to figure out what she had been up to, it had quickly evolved into asking why she hadn't invited her friends.

All the while Pyrrha had been forced to speak through the worst migraine she had ever experienced, excluding the ones from her afterlife. By the time Coco had finished Velvet had even joined in on the 'fun', though she had seemed to be edging Coco on more than anything else. Thankfully Yatsuhashi had been there to defend her and had managed to drag Coco off long enough for Pyrrha to escape.

So far she'd managed to elude her, but that was unlikely to last. Pyrrha hadn't yet responded to any of the messages that Coco had sent her, the latest of which contained a number of threats in them if she didn't, and Pyrrha had no doubt that her friend was on the hunt at that very moment.

Hence why she had sought the Professor, partly for training but equally for protection.

"I'm afraid that this marks the end of our training for today however." The Professor gave her a partially sympathetic smile. "Your friends have been waiting in the hall for some time now as well."

Pyrrha looked up at the doorway in panic. No one was there of course, the room they used to practice her use of the Maiden powers in didn't have any windows and the single door was locked. That also meant there was no easy escape.

Turning back to the Professor, Pyrrha bowed her head slightly. "Thank you for the lesson, Miss Goodwitch."

"Thank you for the company." She replied with a small smile. "The month in between school years can all too often become boring, I have enjoyed instructing you."

Pyrrha gathered her things quickly, reattaching her sheath to her hip and moving in the direction of the door. She stopped, however, looking back over her shoulder. There was something that she had been meaning to get off of her chest during the lesson, but she'd been too busy focusing on her training to say it. "Thank you."

Miss Goodwitch chuckled softly. "I don't know that my teachings warrant-"

"Not for the lesson." Pyrrha interrupted her before she could finish. "For standing up to the Headmaster on my behalf. Qrow… told me what you said. I'm… sorry."

Miss Goodwitch stood there, fixing Pyrrha with a sympathetic gaze. "Miss Nikos, you have nothing to-"

"I'm sorry that I'm the one that came back." Pyrrha closed her eyes, looking away from the woman that she honestly looked up to. "I'm sorry it wasn't Amber."

The Professor remained totally, almost eerily silent. "I look forward to our next lesson."

Pyrrha rushed out the door, opening it and stepping through before the Professor could say anything in response. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and her stomach rolled uneasily. She could only hope that Miss Goodwitch wouldn't hold anything against her, although Pyrrha already knew that the Professor wasn't that kind of woman.

"There you are!" All of her concerns dried up in an instant, replaced with abject terror as Coco leapt out of the shadows like some kind of nocturnal predator. "You have some questions to answer."

"I-I..." Pyrrha stammered, Coco's determined glare driving away any attempt at composing herself. Before she could come up with an excuse to escape, her friend grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her along back to team CFVY's dorm room. All the while asking questions Pyrrha didn't have a good answer to.

"So there isn't anything going on between you two?" Coco asked the question again, Amber's blush somehow reached new levels as she furiously denied the question.

"Qrow and I were just celebrating the Headmaster's decision-"

"To not be a dick?" Coco offered.

"To let me stay at Beacon." Amber glared at her tormentor. "That's it, we did the same thing."

Coco lowered her sunglasses slightly, raising one finely kept eyebrow. The simple act seemed to drive Amber back before Coco even spoke. "We did no such thing. You didn't invite us out, you just decided to crash in our room." Coco threw a hand over her heart in exaggeration. "To be betrayed by our friend so soon."

Amber panicked, making to defend herself only for Velvet to butt in before the questioning could go any further. "I think that's enough. You two... honestly, I don't even see what the big deal is."

"The big deal?" Coco exasperated, turning on Velvet as the smaller girl shrunk back slightly. "Our dear Amber here went out to drink without me!" She paused for several seconds. "Us, without us."

"Uh huh, right." Fox sent, his voice managing to drip with sarcasm despite not being audible. "I'm sure that was the issue."

Coco turned on her partner, berating him on the merits of what it meant to be a good team member as she scolded him for not supporting her. With Coco thoroughly distracted, Velvet turned back to Amber.

"That'll keep her busy for at least ten minutes." Velvet assured her. "I recommend figuring something out by then, or having another way to distract her." The latter had been meant as a joke but, judging by the way Amber's face twisted and then lit up as if she had just found enlightenment, that had been the idea she latched on to.

Reaching over to grab her arm, Amber dragged Velvet behind her and out of their room. After a few seconds of being pulled Velvet managed to get her feet under herself and followed. Amber let go once it was clear she wasn't going to stop.

Judging by the shouting and heavy footsteps from behind their departure hadn't gone unnoticed and Coco was currently trying to close the gap between them. As Velvet looked back over her shoulder it became scarily clear that she was managing to do so; Velvet sped up slightly, urging Amber to do the same.

After a few minutes of running through the school, out one of the side doorways, and around one of the long walkways, they finally slowed to a halt next to one of the schools training rings. It was a surprisingly isolated area, the whole area obscured by the planted trees clearly meant for decoration and Velvet couldn't think of a time she had ever heard anybody talk about the secluded location, let alone seen anyone going towards it.

Exactly the kind of place she would expect Amber to know about, somewhere where one could go and train alone.

By the time Coco, Yatsu, and Fox made it to the area Amber had already stepped into the ring and drawn her weapon, Velvet moving forward to square off in front of her. Amber leveled her new sword and grinned, a shiver running down Velvet's spine at the almost predatory look.

The spar barely lasted three minutes; though Velvet was sure she could have gone longer in a real life scenario, especially one where she used her Semblance and weapon to its fullest potential, she had instead elected to tap out once her aura hit the yellow. That being said, she had been outclassed from the start. Amber had been incredibly skilled with the basic sword she had seen her using before, with her new weapon though? She was on another level.

Velvet had the speed advantage, something she had noted early on, but despite that, Amber had been able to block most of her strikes or retaliate quickly enough to make the few times she did land a hit irrelevant, as Amber would deliver an equally painful blow right away. She was out matched, she knew when to admit that. Amber was more skilled than her.

Coco was determined to put that to the test. The two had been going at it for far longer than Velvet had been willing. Her short spar seemed like nothing in comparison to the fight that was going on now. Laid out on the sidelines watching the two, Velvet couldn't help but smile as she watched.

"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself." Yatsuhashi spoke quietly, speaking so that only Fox and herself could hear him.

"Amber is skilled, we always knew that." Velvet pointed out. "She was just held back by her weapon."

"That's an interesting observation to make," Yatsuhashi spoke calmly, never taking his eyes off the fight. "But I was referring to how happy she looks."

Velvet turned back to the spar, this time focusing on Amber's face. She was smiling, brighter than she had ever seen before. More than that, she seemed excited, if a bit more exhausted than Velvet would have expected, and as the fight dragged on she only seemed to enjoy it more and more.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it is just unusual for her." Yatsuhashi explained. "Amber usually has an air of… sadness about her."

"I noticed that too." Fox sent.

"What do you mean?"

"Amber…" Yatsuhashi dragged on, struggling with what to say.

"She's always alone." Fox explained for him.

"Maybe she's just shy?" Velvet had noticed how quiet Amber was, usually not speaking unless someone directed the conversation to bring her in. That someone usually being Coco.

"It's more than that. She's almost dangerously bent on improving herself." Fox replied. "Didn't you think it was a little strange that someone like her didn't have a weapon of their own?"

Velvet hadn't put much thought into it. Amber's new weapon was magnificent, even if it didn't have the same flare as others. It's multiple forms gave its user a multitude of options, all of which Amber seemed very capable of using. It would have been incredibly difficult to design from scratch, and that was the strangest part.

"Maybe it's a replacement? People's weapons get damaged all the time."

"Why doesn't she have a team?" Fox's question caught her off guard.

"What happened to give her those scars?" Yatsuhashi finally rejoined them, finding his voice. "How did she know so much about the White Fang?"

"She said that her friend…" Velvet saw the problem.

"Her friend that isn't around anymore." Yatsuhashi added, his eyes still focused on the fight; his neutral expression cracking with a sign of subtle worry.

"You dont think…" Velvet didn't want to believe it, hoping that she was wrong for Amber's sake.

"Maybe that's how she got that scar, which is why she doesn't have a team, and didn't have a weapon."

"It would also explain why she distances herself from everyone." Yatsuhashi's voice was heavy. "As well as why she pushes herself so hard."

Velvet bit her lip at the concerning idea. Losing one's team was a terrifying premise, let alone so early in your career. She had grown to think of team CFVY as family and she shuddered to think what it would be like to lose any of them, let alone be the only one to survive something. Of course, Huntsmen or students dying wasn't anything new, it was only natural for such a dangerous profession; almost an entire team being wiped out was very rare indeed.

"W-we don't know that." In the end they could only speculate, Amber had always been hesitant to talk about her past with any real amount of details.

"It is possible we are over thinking things, but you must admit that there is clearly more to Amber than we know." Yatsuhashi said. "Coco has certainly taken notice."

"And here I thought it was just Coco being as flirtatious as ever." Fox chuckled lightly, the half-hearted attempt at humour betraying his real thoughts. "Makes you wonder though, how did Amber end up like how you two found her in the gym? Alone."

Velvet looked in between Fox and her partner before turning back to the fight, Coco had pushed Amber back to the edge of the ring; the girl's exhaustion finally getting the better of her and with a final under swing of her handbag that Amber was too slow to block, Coco sent their friend flying back. Velvet was worried for a moment but Amber sat up with possibly one of the brightest smiles she had ever seen from someone who had just lost a fight. She said something and Coco laughed, offering her hand to pull Amber up.

"Well… she isn't alone anymore." Velvet whispered quietly, determined to help her friend, but unsure of what exactly to do.

"Perhaps she'll tell us in time. For now, I believe it's best we don't press her on the issue." Yatsuhashi assured her, standing from where they sat on the grass and moved over to the ring.

Velvet stood slower, taking a moment to stretch before following closely behind, her eyes shifting to Amber as Coco and her talked about how they could improve. She couldn't help but notice the slight gleam in Amber's eye, nor could she miss how it seemed to slowly fade away.

"She's gotten better." Qrow remarked, watching the camera footage from Pyrrha's training with Glynda displayed on the screen of Ozpin's desk. "She's starting to get the more complex stuff down, a fair bit faster than Amber ever did."

"Likely a side effect of…" Ozpin didn't finish the sentence, he didn't have too. It wasn't something any of them would ever be able to forget and having it said out loud somehow felt disrespectful to the girls memory. "Her dedication is also a key factor."

"She gives it her all, I'll give her that." Qrow shook his head softly. "Maybe a bit too much sometimes, but I can't hold it against her. She's got some damn good motivation."

"Unfortunately, she still has a long way to go." Ozpin, as always, stated the obvious. "And I fear that we are running out of time."

Qrow sighed, taking a sip from his flask before stepping away from the desk. "Unless you've been holding out on time travel magic, I think we're out of options. Besides, we've still got until the festival."

"It's not enough, not if we are to hope that Miss Nikos is the solution to our problem." Ozpin steepled his hands in front of his face, clearly attempting to come up with a plan. "We need a plan."

Called it. Qrow rolled his eyes but didn't disagree. Pyrrha was skilled and she was getting stronger by the day, but if what she had said about Cinder was true then it wouldn't be enough. Maiden powers or not Ozpin wasn't an easy opponent, being able to defeat him in battle and then so effortlessly do the same to one of the best fighters of the younger generations?

Cinder was a monster.

"I'd offer ideas if I had any, but I'm not much of a thinker." It took Qrow a moment to realize what he had said.

Ozpin smirked. "That much we can be sure of."

Qrow glared at the wizard, contemplating the merit of turning into a bird and leaving a present on his desk before instead settling on his usually calming method. Sadly, his flask was beginning to empty, meaning that the meeting must have been coming to an end. The threat of sobriety reminded him of an issue they had yet to address.

"We still need to address the elephant in the room, or Lion, I suppose."

Ozpin sighed deeply, the closest thing Qrow had ever heard to a groan. "That has not eluded me. I don't know how they managed to forge their transcripts to gain access to Haven, but it is quite worrisome that Leonardo didn't catch it."

"Incompetence maybe?" Qrow hoped that was ture, it was far better than the alternative.

"An investigation will be needed." Ozpin again stated the obvious.

"He's not just going to let us question him, never mind that he's one of the most influential men in Mistral, but if he did have some part in it then that means he's involved with Salem." Qrow really hoped he was wrong.

"Leonardo wouldn't join Salem, he's far too smart for that. I've seen him face down hordes of grimm alone with not a crack in his courage." Ozpin was uncertain, a fact that did little for Qrow's confidence. "We can trust Leonardo to not have done this intentionally, he's earned that much. It's possible that they never actually attended Haven, but merely slipped in with the students during transit."

"So we're going with the incompetence angle." Qrow wasn't convinced. "I'm guessing you want me to go look into it?"

"If you aren't too busy." Ozpin smiled slightly, knowing damn well that Qrow was free.

"I want to take her with me." Qrow winced as Ozpin's smile died in an instant.

"Absolutely not."

"She knows who we're looking for better than anyone else." Qrow attempted to reason.

"Miss Nikos has given us an apt description of our foe." Ozpin didn't relent. "I'm sure you can piece together the rest."

"She's the only person who's ever seen them, I'm just as likely to accuse a normal student." Qrow walked over to the desk, leaning down to look Ozpin in the eyes.

Ozpin glared up at him defiantly. "It's too much of a risk, if Leonardo is behin-"

"I thought you said you trusted him?"

"I do!" Ozpin snapped back. "But I'm not willing to risk-"

"It's not your choice to make."

Ozpin's mouth clicked closed, his rebuttal dying in his throat.

"You said you wouldn't control what she does, are you going to go back on that so soon?" Ozpin remained silent. "We'll be careful, full shadow. She won't interact with anyone aside from me and Lionheart."

Ozpin stared at him, eyes ablaze as he no doubt tried to think of something to say to change his mind. In the end, the fire died. "I will not stop Miss Nikos from deciding, but I will remind her of the danger."

Qrow nodded softly. "That's all I wanted to hear. Pyrrha can choose for herself if the risk is worth it."

It was clear Ozpin didn't like the plan, but Qrow was grateful that he planned to do the right thing. Now he just hoped Pyrrha would be on board.

Author's Note: I got to this chapter with a plan, and then realized said plan was beyond my ability to write and have spent the last two weeks agonizing over what to do. I tried to get this chapter done by last Sunday but it just wasn't happening. Thankfully I gave that warning and was able to let it slide.

Unrelated but I'm loving the Mass Effect Remaster.

Hope you enjoyed it and as always, don't forget to review and let me know what I can do to improve.

Sincerely, SE