Author's note: New chapter, hopefully two back-to-back chapters being uploaded catches the attention of the original viewers who might have missed the email last week. I guess we'll see. Be sure to let me know what you think about the chapter in the reviews.

Pyrrha had broken the news about her imminent departure to Team CFVY the moment she arrived back in their dorm. Making it clear that she couldn't turn down the mission, not only because it was against Cinder, but because of her new responsibility.

"An Atlesian Specialist?" Coco rolled her eyes. "Sure, why not. You're already the Fall Maiden, Invincible Girl, and the first person to have Magic in like, ever. What's one more title?"

"It's like that one scene from that show with the dragons." Fox sent.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Velvet groaned. "That show was great… until it wasn't."

Pyrrha regarded them curiously. "What show is that?"

"Looks like we know what we're doing before you leave then." Coco stood from her bed and started moving towards the door. "I'll go get some snacks, Yatsu and Fox can get the beds in order. Velvet, find out where we can start watching it. Pyrrha, you're with me."

Everyone did as they were told, the room erupting into an organized chaos just as Pyrrha and Coco stepped back out into the halls.

"I'm sorry it's so short notice."

Coco waved her concern off with a flick of her hand. "It's pretty much par for the course at this point." She sighed heavily as she started walking down the hall in the direction of the common room where they usually got their movie night supplies. "Though, with that new job, I'm guessing you'll be gone more than ever now."

Pyrrha looked down at her chest where she had pinned the small symbol that showed her as a Specialist. To most, it meant nothing, but as she had made her way back towards their dorm room she had passed several Soldiers who had actually saluted her. Something she had exactly no idea what to do with. Thankfully, Winter had been there to explain the proper response. It was awkward, and she had assured her that the men stationed at Beacon would learn to avoid it in time, but until then, they would continue to act accordingly. Funnily enough, they even saluted Qrow, not that he returned the gesture.

"The General assured me that I could stay at Beacon." Pyrrha finally said, attempting to calm Coco's concerns. "I might have a few more missions, but Beacon is still my home."

"Good." Coco nodded as they finally reached their destination. "I think we've all gotten used to having a fifth member on the team. I-we, would hate to see you go."

Pyrrha handed over her credit card for Coco to use, the one linked to an Atlesian Military account, and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere… well, not permanently anyways." She blushed at the correction. "I promise I'll be back."

"Back from where?" Pyrrha jumped at the sudden question, having missed the fact that they weren't alone in the room. Ruby suddenly appearing in front of her, although whether that was through the use of her Semblance or because of how distracted Pyrrha was lately, she didn't know.

"I have another mission coming up." Pyrrha smiled for her friend.

Ruby looked up at her with a flat look. "Again?"

Coco snickered from behind her, but Pyrrha ignored it with practiced ease. "Unfortunately, but I'll be back soon."

"Will you be back for the break?" Ruby asked.

It took Pyrrha a moment to realize what she was referring to. The first quarter of the school year had already passed, and in between the next one was roughly a week long break. She hadn't even noticed it was nearly time. Though, to be fair, her own break had been preceded by the fight at the docks and all the drama that had been Team RWBY. An event that didn't have any reason to occur this time.

"I… don't know." Pyrrha answered hesitantly. They weren't set to leave until tomorrow, and even then, they had to stop in Atlas first to prepare for the operation. Only then could they travel to Vacuo to face Cinder. If everything went perfectly, she would be back halfway through the break. "I'll see what I can do though."

"Ruby, whe- there you are!" Weiss glared at her partner. "Why did you rush off? I thought you said you would need help carrying some of it."

Ruby blushed. "I saw Amber."

Shockingly, in stark contrast to only a short time ago, Weiss accepted that answer with a roll of her eyes and little else. "Of course you did. I apologize if she interrupted you."

Pyrrha smiled at the familiar sight. That was how she remembered them, not the argumentative and bickering pair she had seen since initiation, but the sarcastic and snippy partners who grew to trust each other. "It's no issue. We were just getting some things for movie night."

"Oh!" Ruby practically jumped as she seemed to remember something. "I totally forgot, Weiss are you stil-"

Weiss pulled out a card from… somewhere. Come to think of it, Pyrrha didn't see any pockets on the Heiress' combat skirt. "Help yourself, just remember that Pyrrha said she wanted something salty."

Ruby took the card and disappeared in a blur as she ran over to another one of the vending machines.

"Get her a grape soda, she seems like the type." Coco called after her, stepping over to hand Pyrrha an arm full of chips and drinks before following after Ruby.

Weiss didn't follow after her partner, instead speaking to her before she could start heading back towards the dorm. "Amber, do you have a moment?"

"Of course." Pyrrha smiled.

"I wanted to thank you for what you said before." Weiss said, quickly getting to the point, never having been one for wasting words. Even if she seemed uncertain about how she might respond. "You were right, about trust being important for teams."

"I hope it helped sort things out on your team." Pyrrha replied genuinely, there were few things she wanted more than her friends' happiness. Even if Weiss and her hadn't been the closest before, she still hated to see her the way she had when she had found her in the library.

"It did, I… apologized to Pyrrha and told her the truth." Weiss smiled softly. "We are actually trying to have a movie night of our own. Ruby's idea."

Pyrrha was thrilled to hear that, though she couldn't help the slight smirk that worked its way onto her face; speaking just loud enough for the younger huntress to hear her. "I wonder where she got that idea from."

"That's not fair! It's totally original!" Ruby yelled back. "You can't just claim movie night as your thing!"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, Rose." Coco replied. "That's a Team CFVY trademark."

Pyrrha laughed softly at Ruby's attempted growl, mostly because it sounded more like the sound a puppy might make if you took its favorite toy away. Weiss chuckled softly as well.

Despite how happy she was to learn that Weiss and Pyrrha were getting over their argument, she couldn't help but ask about her own partner. "I assume Jaune is thrilled as well?"

Weiss blushed as her laughter came to an end, likely embarrassed at having done something so un-Schnee like, and coughed into her fist. "You can ask him yourself, he should be on his way here to help-"

"Sorry!" Jaune came sprinting around the corner into the room, nearly colliding with the wall but managing to turn at the last second. "Training with Pyrrha ran over and I still wanted to take a shower."

"Yes well, I can't fault you for training." Weiss replied.

"Did you do that already?" Jaune asked vaguely, looking towards Weiss with an oddly familiar look that the Jaune of her time would have probably been berated for.

"Yes Jaune, I have thanked her. Well done making it seem like I was forced into it." Weiss rolled her eyes and turned towards Pyrrha once more. "I assure you this was my choice, he just… helped me see the need for gratitude."

"She didn't know how to thank you." Jaune explained. "I think she was gonna send you a gift basket or something."

"That is immaterial!" Weiss snapped quickly, blushing softly despite her best attempts not to. "Speaking of, isn't there something you wished to say?"

"I didn't forget." Jaune rubbed the back of his neck anxiously as he looked around the room. When it was clear they were alone aside from Ruby and Coco, he lowered his voice enough so they wouldn't hear. "I wanted to apologize for snubbing your offer for training. I was being dumb."

"Not quite how we practiced it, but close enough." Weiss sighed. "He also wanted to thank you for keeping his transcripts secret."

Pyrrha attempted to feign ignorance. "I don't know what you-"

"He's already told the team, and he also told me about what you said before." Weiss explained. "That whole 'tricks even a beginner could learn' wasn't very subtle." She seemed unimpressed, and Pyrrha could feel the heat in her face as she fought the urge to look away.

"Jaune proved himself in initiation." Pyrrha stated. "That is proof enough that he deserves to be here. I just wanted to help."

Weiss looked towards him expectantly, after a brief hesitation he nodded. "And I should have accepted that offer. You were just being kind, and I was a bit of a jerk about it."

Pyrrha smiled as she recalled hearing those words in her last life. It had taken Cardin being a bully, and Jaune nearly getting killed saving him, to get him to admit that before. Somehow it didn't surprise her that Weiss had managed to achieve the same result.

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Pyrrha froze. Months ago she had wanted nothing more than for him to realize how she felt about him, sadly he never had, and that life had ended before she could work up the nerve to make it happen herself. The last few months had been challenging and, though Pyrrha wasn't certain of it, she liked to think she had grown as a result. Life was too short, and far too easily ended, to wait for someone else to give you what you wanted.

With a deep breath, Pyrrha nodded her head. "There is one thing, actually."

Jaune smiled brightly. "Anything, just na-"

"A date." Pyrrha forced the words out before she could think better of it. Her face felt like it was on fire and, judging by the fact she could no longer hear Coco talking to Ruby, she'd said it far louder than she meant to. It took her a moment to reign in her embarrassment, but she forced on despite that fact. "A date would be perfect."

"A…date?" Jaune watched her with clear confusion on his face. "With who?"

"With you, you dense-" Coco called out from the nearby vending machine before, in a rare display of restraint, she realized that perhaps it was best to keep her comment to herself.

"Are… Are you sure?" Weiss asked for him, just as surprised as Jaune but at least still able to speak. It served as the kick he needed, however, and he quickly sputtered out a reply.

"I-I thought you'd ask for a favor or, maybe like, do some homework for you or-" Weiss elbowed him in the side, helping to snap him out of his confusion. "But yeah, no, uh, a date it is then." Pyrrha smiled brightly. "When are you free, I guess?"

Her smile fell slightly, and she could have sworn she heard Coco laugh behind her. "I'm leaving for a mission tomorrow, but I should be back towards the end of the break." Pyrrha hesitated, her courage slipping for just a second. "If you don't want to you do-" She felt a hand clamp down over her mouth before she could finish, Coco having moved over to stand behind her at some point.

"She's looking forward to it!" Coco said cheerily, with a smile that carried with it a thinly veiled threat. "Do you want to handle setting it up?"

Jaune looked towards Weiss for a moment, his eyes clearly pleading for her help. She sighed and nodded and he turned back to her. "Yeah, I'll take care of it." Weiss' silent mutterings about who would actually be planning the date went ignored. "I'll… see you when you get back?"

Coco removed her hand, letting Pyrrha speak once more.

"I can't wait."

"Jaune!" Ruby called as she tried to hold a team's worth of snacks and drinks. "Help!"

Jaune and Weiss quickly went over to assist and Pyrrha and Coco took that as their queue to leave, quickly rushing out of the room before Pyrrha could somehow ruin it. Her smile didn't go away however, and now she almost wished she had taken the General's offer of stepping back from missions, if only so she wouldn't have to wait. She didn't regret her choice, of course, but the excitement that was bubbling beneath the surface at least made her consider the idea.

A date with Jaune was something she had wanted for a long time. She wasn't the type to believe in love at first sight, nor would she ever claim that was what had happened. She had picked him out from everyone else simply because he didn't know her by name. Her reasons were shallow perhaps, but she had come to trust him in time and she liked to think that trust had grown in time. Was it love? She didn't know. That was a powerful word she hesitated to use, but she at least admired him.

"You finally worked up the courage huh?" Coco said, snapping her out of her own mind as they walked. "Good for you."

Pyrrha could only smile, a giggle threatening to escape her throat were she able to open her mouth. As it was, her mind was still racing. She would need to do something with her hair, that task benign something she had pushed off for far too long, and she would need to see if she could borrow one of Coco's dresses. It would all depend on where Jaune chose, though. Sadly, she would have to wait until after the mission to find out.

If there was any fear or doubt in her mind about her safe return before, it was gone now. Defeat wasn't an option. Now, she finally had someone to get back to.

Coco had watched Pyrrha leave for Atlas early the next day, slipping out of their team's dorm room as silently as she could so as to not wake her friends. They had stayed up late watching a show that they hadn't even gotten close to finishing. She had promised they would continue when she got back before they had all gone to bed.

Coco looked forward to it, if for no other reason than the fact that Pyrrha would be sorely disappointed with the ending of the show. The last season had been a dumpster fire that Coco wanted to see the former Champion attempt to defend. Sadly, that would be a ways away still.

The mission to Vacuo was going to be a tough one, and she could willingly admit to being a little concerned about what state her friend might return in. The thought had actually kept her up the night before, the worry being too much for her to restfully sleep. She'd gotten in enough to be alert, but she could feel the exhaustion fairly in the background.

Maybe it was for that reason that she had sought out the hidden garden Pyrrha so often trained at. She hadn't ever gotten the appeal, but with her worry for her friend, she thought she was starting to see why. It was quiet, even with it being mid-day, and it was one of those rare occasions that Coco enjoyed the quiet.

Coco wasn't one for drama, at least, not internal drama. She had her issues, as everyone did, but she liked to think she could work through them herself without getting all angsty about it, but lately things had started piling up. Learning about Salem's existence, learning what Pyrrha had gone through to get where she was now, learning that Salem couldn't be killed… and then having to see her usually driven friend struggle like she had. It had all been too much.

She'd been given the choice of helping her friend, or dealing with her own issues. Of course she had chosen to help Pyrrha first. With her gone now, however, on another mission no less, Coco could finally take a moment to help herself through the troubles she had buried. Something she knew she'd have to do eventually. There were just so many things she had to take care of, as she had told the Headmaster, she couldn't afford to fall apart.

Her current stressor was of a smaller nature thankfully. No life threatening disasters, eldritch gods, or forbidden secrets. Just the normal drama that circulated around the school every year around this time The dance was coming up, an admittedly small affair that meant the world to the student body of Beacon.

It was still a month or two out but even now people were talking about it. Team CFVY had been tasked with organizing it again, due to the stellar success the year before, and so it had been on Coco's mind for some time now.

She'd spent the better part of the last two months trying to subtly hint to Yatsuhashi and Velvet that they should go together but nothing had seemed to stick just yet. The two had good chemistry, if only they would see it. Sadly, they were both too content with their friendship to seek anything more than that, and it had started to wear on Coco's nerves by the end of last year. She understood the logic of not wanting to date within the team, but she felt that only really applied when people lacked the maturity to get over themselves. If they tried and it didn't work, so what? It might be awkward for a bit, but they would get past it. What if it did work though?

Coco knew they would be happy together if they just took the chance and tried. People did it all the time. Hell, Pyrrha had even managed to do it… It had taken her a literal lifetime, sure, but she had finally managed to do what Coco had started to think she never would and made a move on him. Though whether she ever would have done so by herself, Coco wasn't certain. Jaune trying to make up for being a jerk though? That had been just the opportunity that Pyrrha had been waiting for.

She couldn't help but wonder if that was a recent development or not. Had Pyrrha been waiting for something like that in her past life, or had she only recently found the courage to do so? Coco hadn't managed to find a date to the dance yet, though mostly for lack of trying. She had thought she knew of one good prospect, but she had waited too long. The irony was not lost on her.

If everything went as Pyrrha hoped it would, she would be going with Jaune to the dance. With a bit of luck the two might even manage to pull off a relationship, something that Coco felt she should have been hoping for. She wanted Pyrrha to be happy, to finally get what she'd been denied in her past life but… no, that's what she wanted, and that was all. If there were any feelings she had to the contrary, she could ignore them, for Pyrrha's sake. Her friend deserved it.

Author's Note: A shorter chapter I know, but I promise the next few are going to be good. Maybe not long per say, but good for sure. Next chapter, Atlas. I've teased going there before but now we are actually going to do it. Not for long, but there are a few things I really look forward to writing.

Hope you all enjoyed it, and as always, let me know what you think in the reviews.

Sincerely, SE