That night, most of COVE went to bed as normal. Neve, however, felt kind of restless. He tossed and turned for a few minutes before getting up and slipping out.

He was only wearing a white T-shirt and black pajama bottoms, so he didn't intend on leaving the dorm. Instead, he had planned on just walking until he felt tired enough to go to bed.

However, not a few moments after he stepped out, he saw an interesting sight.

Jaune was sitting against the wall further down the hall, next to his dorm. He looked dejected, still in his armor and apparently not too keen on going inside.

Now, Neve hadn't communicated much with Jaune in the weeks they had been there. However, he felt some camaraderie with the man due to being one of the few boys in their class. At least, one of the few guys that wasn't CRDL. Guys had to stick together, and so Neve started over to see what was up with him.

Jaune had his knees pulled up to his chest, and his eyes were closed as his chin rested on his knees. As Neve approached, he noticed that Ruby was approaching from the opposite direction. They both looked at each other in surprise for a moment before smiling and reaching a mutual understanding.

Neve cleared his throat, getting Jaune to look up at him, before Ruby waved and said, "Hey Jaune." Both of them sat on opposite sides of him, Neve on his left and Ruby on his right. "Did you lock yourself out again?"

Jaune shook his head and took out his scroll, showing it off. "Nope, I've got it."

Ruby nodded and asked, "So… where've you been lately?"

Jaune stammered before finally saying, "I uh… I messed up." He lowered his gaze to the ground. "I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and…" He took a deep breath before deflating again. "I'm starting to think that coming to this school was a bad idea." He sighed. "I'm a failure."

To which, Ruby simply said, "Nope!" with a poppin' P.

Jaune looked at her in surprise. "Nope?"

Ruby nodded and repeated, "Nope!" with a poppin' P. "You're a leader now Jaune, you're not allowed to be a failure."

Neve added on to the conversation as he nodded and said, "Failure is when you've given up and stopped trying, and you're a leader. If you fail now, then your whole team fails with you." Jaune looked at him and opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated. Neve simply asked, "Do you want that, Jaune?"

Jaune sighed and looked away, muttering, "Nope." with a Poppin' P.

Ruby smiled at Neve before looking at Jaune. "It's just not about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We all do! It's like… the congregation of leaders out here!" She stood up and placed her hands on her hips while looking at Jaune. "Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." She started walking towards her dorm room. "Think about it."

Neve got up and looked at him. "She's right, Jaune. Whatever's going on, whatever trouble you've got—you need to work past it. Hold your head up high, even if the weight of the world is trying to drag your chin down to the ground." He grinned a lopsided grin. "It's what we owe our teams, and our friends."

Jaune smiled at him. "Thanks, Neve. I'll… I'll try."

Satisfied with that, Neve turned and headed back towards his dorm room, feeling like that talk had done enough to let him sleep in peace.

/-/

The next day, COVE along with RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL were, in place of combat class, told that Professor Peach needed them to collect Red Sap from the trees in Forever Fall for a project she was working on. So, led by Glynda Goodwitch and fully equipped with their weapons and Huntsmen gear, the teams headed out to the ever-autumnal forest.

Ebony's presence kept CRDL at a distance, in general they seemed afraid of COVE. Although that was probably entirely due to their affiliation with Ebony. After everyone was given their jars and the supplies they needed to draw sap from the tree, they all scattered.

CRDL, and Jaune for some strange reason, left somewhere else, while the remainder worked together while talking amongst themselves.

Orchid knelt next to Neve, who was similarly kneeling down as they drew sap and filled a jar. Orchid hummed, her eyes practically sparkled as she looked at the jar. "I wonder if we could get away with taking a couple of these jars back to our dorm…"

"Probably not," Neve responded while squinting at her suspiciously. "Since when were you the mischievous one?" Orchid wasn't the most responsible, but he was also used to Ebony being the one to cause problems.

"Since Red Sap got involved." Orchid smiled an all-too-innocent smile. "Have you ever had it before? It's delicious! It's super hard to get in Atlas too, since it comes from Vale and needs to be imported. It's almost always sold out before I can get it."

"I have," he smirked. "My family serves waffles with it, my mom makes the best ones. You can get them any way you want them, too. Chocolate, strawberry…" He shook his head, realizing he was getting off track, and then he looked at her. "Look, you have to set a good example for the other two! So no mischief."

Orchid snickered. "Ebony's been doing fine! I held off on getting up to anything fun because you were super stressed with her, but now that she's better, well…" She reached out for the jar. "I don't see what a little mischief would hurt."

He held the jar away from her and squinted. "Tell you what, if you behave yourself I'll stop by the cafe and get the ingredients to make some of the waffles at the dorm. Any kind you and the others want. Deal?"

Her eyes lit up, and her smile softened. "Deal." She grabbed one of the empty jars. "Guess we should keep going, there's more trees to tap!"

Neve nodded, and the two got up and left, passing Ebony and Violet as they did. Ebony was looking curiously as Violet tapped the tree and drew the sap. "So… syrup comes from trees?"

Violet nodded as she watched the sap slowly fill up the jar. "It's not syrup yet, it's sap. Afterward it usually gets mixed with some sugar and other stuff before being sold. Red Sap Syrup doesn't really get a lot of additives or anything put in it beforehand, since the sap is actually already tasty on its ow-" She looked to Ebony and her words died in her throat as she saw the other girl sitting there with a formerly full jar, now empty. She held it in her arms and smiled stupidly as she looked down at it.

Violet sighed and facepalmed. "Great… Now we've got to tap another tree. Do you know how unsafe it is to eat that stuff before it's been checked and cleaned?"

Ebony chuckled and shook her head. "Don't know, don't care. It tasted delicious."

Before anyone could do anything else, however, two members of CRDL, Russel and Sky, ran through the forest trail while Sky yelled, "Ursa, Ursa!"

Yang caught him and asked what it was about, and they found that there was an Ursa Major not far away, with Cardin and Jaune left to face it. Ruby said, "Yang, Blake! Go and tell Mrs. Goodwitch!"

Pyrrha looked at Ren and Nora. "You two go with them, there could be more!"

Neve, looking at everyone and realizing the situation, nodded to Ebony and Violet. "You two as well, I want any Grimm you see dead before they can even think about an after-dinner mint."

Violet and Ebony both grinned before nodding. Together they headed off with the others, while the remainder: Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, himself, and Orchid, looked amongst themselves. Pyrrha nodded and took off running, so everyone else followed suit while drawing their weapons.

They arrived just in time to see Jaune blocking the claws of a massive Ursa with his shield. Weiss and Neve prepared to attack, but Pyrrha held up her hand. "Wait."

Jaune pushed back and managed to stab outward towards the beast with his blade, causing it to pull away from him. Then, the fight began in earnest, with Jaune moving so the Ursa didn't suddenly change focus to Cardin before leaping out of the way of a powerful strike that sent grass and dirt flying into the air. He did this again, but on the third attempt the Ursa Major finally landed a hit squarely on his chest.

He got up and glanced at his shield, where his scroll was, before charging right at the beast again! He raised his shield, and it was clear to everyone that his form was off. The beast would land its claws on him, and then they would need to step in.

Except, that's not what happened.

Instead, Pyrrha lifted up her hand, holding it out as a black aura covered Jaune's shield. His shield lifted up, causing the claws to slide right off while he brought around his sword and decapitated it with one fell swing.

Ruby stared at Jaune as he sheathed his weapon and went to talk to Cardin. She then asked, "Uhm… what?"

Pyrrha smiled as she answered, "Well… you have your speed, Weiss has her glyphs, Neve has his cold, and Orchid has her music. I can manipulate polarity."

Orchid smirked. "So that's the Invincible Girl's secret weapon? No wonder you won so many fights without getting hit more than a few times."

Pyrrha's smile grew awkward. "Ah… yes, it's an important part of how I fight. I keep it a secret so none of my competitors can seek to find countermeasures…"

Neve shrugged. "You do what you have to do. Speaking of, should we tell him?" He nodded towards Jaune.

Pyrrha shook her head and turned away from the field Jaune was in. "Let's… keep this a secret." She then started walking away, and so the others followed.

Needless to say, Neve was glad to see his fellow leader had started to come into his own.

/-/

After that, everyone returned back to Beacon with several filled jars of Red Sap. They were all glad to have the matter behind them, and Glynda commended a job well done, in spite of the complications.

Things were uneventful after that, for quite a number of months. Things settled into a routine, with the team attending classes, studying, training, and occasionally going out into the city.

It was during one of these outings in late April, with only a few weeks left before break, that COVE decided to head out together.

The Vytal Festival was set to begin in September and go on for a few weeks. Although, preparations began well before that. Over the course of the year, students from other academies would begin to arrive at Beacon, attend Beacon classes, and from their arrival and until the end of the festival, basically entirely be students of Beacon.

The first set of students was set to be arriving from Shade, and while that wasn't why COVE decided to head out, Neve at least would readily admit to hoping they'd run into some new arrivals near the docks.

They were all dressed in their Huntsmen outfits as they walked through the streets looking at the various stores and other establishments that had 'Welcome to Vale!' and 'Discount if you show your Student ID' signs, Ebony wondered aloud, "Why is everyone making such a big deal about this? They're just students."

Violet waved her hand dismissively while frowning slightly. "It's just to get more money from tourists. They know students will drop more money if they're being catered to, so they roll out the red carpet."

Ebony shrugged and looked ahead. "I guess so."

Meanwhile, neither Orchid or Neve were exactly sure if Violet was right or not, but neither particularly cared enough to figure it out. At the end of the day, it was just another event for many people.

For at least one person, however, it seemed a lot more than 'just' an event.

Specifically, the person that rounded a corner and spotted them. She had neck-length orange hair, wore an off-white dress, and green eyes. She gasped and waved at the four while grinning and approaching them. "Sal-u-tations! You must be Beacon students! It's such a pleasure to meet all of you!"

The four students were different amounts of surprised at the sudden arrival of the girl. Neve was more surprised to see only one person, while Orchid wondered why the girl dressed in such an old-fashioned style. Violet's first thought on the girl immediately was simply, 'Girl Scout.'

Meanwhile, Ebony tilted her head slightly at the girl. She didn't understand why she felt the need to approach them so suddenly, but she also supposed that this was what they had been looking for. "Yeah. We came out here to see how the preparations were going for Vytal."

Neve recovered and nodded, slipping his hands in his pockets. "Yep, we're Team COVE. I'm Neve Cadere."

Orchid smiled and pointed at herself. "Orchid Grove."

Violet rubbed the back of her neck as the others looked at her. She huffed at the annoyance of having to introduce herself to some new person, but acquiesced nonetheless. "Violet Merino."

Finally, Ebony, while entirely neutral faced, held out her arms wide while declaring plainly. "And I'm Ebony Marzenie." She dropped the stance a moment later. "Are you from Shade?"

The girl shook her head and then gave a two-finger salute. "I'm Penny! Penny Polendina! It's such a pleasure to meet all of you!"

They looked between each other with confused expressions. Orchid pointed out, "You… already said that."

Penny blinked a few times. "So I did!" She didn't dwell on it, however. "It's so great to finally meet some Beacon students! Do you think you might be able to tell me more about your school?"

Normally, Orchid and Neve would have had no issues communicating with this girl. However, something about her was… off. They couldn't tell what, but Neve at least wanted to push past it. "Uhh, sure. Although we're only first years, so it's not like we know a ton more than what you could learn by just spending a day on campus."

"Oh, that's okay!" Penny grinned. "I would still love to hear your differing perspectives on life at such a prestigious academy! It's bound to be very different from Atlas!"

"Well…" Orchid began. "It's pretty relaxed in a lot of ways. Classes are stressful sometimes, but we have plenty of time to relax as well, so long as we don't fall too far behind."

"Or get caught up playing music." Neve crossed his arms. "Sometimes I think you hear the phrase 'notes' and immediately default to music notes instead of study material."

Orchid laughed awkwardly. "Sometimes! It's not as bad as it used to be! Sometimes I just get a song stuck in my head and I need to dedicate all afternoon to learning how to play it. That's not weird."

Ebony rolled her eyes at the exchange while crossing her arms. "You're a real busy bee, Orchid."

Penny gasped. "Oh! Because she's a Bee Faunus! That's a very clever play on words!" She smiled, all too proud of herself for having figured that one out.

Everyone stared at her for a moment before Ebony said, "Riightt… okay, pal…" Neve, Orchid, and Violet began to leave while Ebony jerked her thumb back towards them. "We're gonna leave, so…"

As she turned to leave, however, Penny was in front of her. Ebony practically jumped out of her skin, but mercifully that didn't happen. Penny stared at her with wide, hopeful eyes. "Did you just call me… pal? Another word for… friend?" Before Ebony could even respond, or any of the others could try to come to her rescue, Penny simply declared, "Oh, this is great! We can do so many friend things together, like-"

However, it was as if divine providence saw fit to deliver her from this torment, as in that moment, a blonde-haired boy with a monkey tail ran past them all. He was followed shortly by Team RWBY, who rounded the corner and promptly crashed into Ebony and Penny both.

The end-result was Weiss having apparently somehow landed on top of Penny, while Ebony pushed a disoriented Ruby off of her. Ruby stumbled to her feet. "Ugh… sorry, guys…" Then, she blinked a few times. "Hey, what are all of you doing out here?"

Neve shrugged. "We just thought we'd hit the town, go down to the docks, maybe welcome some of the students coming from Shade. I'm guessing it's the same for you guys?"

Blake, as she rose to her feet while dusting off her outfit, nodded. "More or less, except Weiss wanted to spy on them to see what they're capable of."

Weiss gasped as she stood up. "How dare you? I simply wanted to welcome them! It's not my fault that degenerate ran off." She then turned her attention to the others. "Did any of you happen to see a monkey-tailed… rapscallion?"

Penny was the one to speak up, causing Weiss to turn her attention to her. "The… who?"

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

Suddenly, Orchid and Blake spoke up at the same time.

"Stop that!"

"Shut up already!"

Weiss turned again and found both Blake and Orchid looking at her, arms crossed and both looking rather upset. Orchid looked at Blake out of the corner of her eye for a moment, but soon her attention was back on Weiss. Blake sounded fed up as she said, "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

Orchid sneered as she shook her head while glaring at Weiss. "I knew there was no way you'd gotten any better from back then, Ms. Schnee."

Weiss flinched and Blake looked at Orchid with an unsurprised expression. "What else has she done before?"

Weiss spoke up first, her voice betraying a mixture of sadness and anger. "Th-That's not fair! That was completely different!"

Orchid shook her head and turned away. "It's not worth getting into. I left it in the past for a reason."

Blake squinted at Weiss. "I don't know what you did, but no matter what, you're a judgemental little girl." She turned and began to leave as well.

"I-I am not!" Weiss responded while stomping her way up to them again. "He was a stowaway aboard that ship! He's a criminal, just a couple steps away from joining the White Fang!"

"Honestly the fact that you'd even think something like that shows you haven't changed! You're the same bitch you were years ago!"

While Orchid and Blake got into an argument with Weiss, the rest of the group was left awkwardly watching. It was well-known amongst the rest of her team that Orchid hated Weiss, but she never talked about why in any detail, at least, not with most of them.

Clearly, it had something to do with Faunus, and nobody could say they were particularly surprised about that. Everyone else was certainly surprised at the idea that there had been a point where Weiss apparently didn't have some massive amount of baggage with Faunus, based on what they could glean from what Orchid was saying.

Neither team wanted to interject in an argument they knew nothing about, but neither did they want to just leave their teammate while they were in a very heated argument.

…However, neither did either team want to stick around Penny any longer, who seemed at the same level of joy and curiosity she was at before. They told the strange girl that they needed to head back to their dorms and then quickly extricated themselves from the situation.

They hadn't anticipated this to last very long. Orchid was a very 'live and let live' kind of girl, and the rest of her team was certain she'd cool down pretty quickly.

However, as time went on, it became clear that that wasn't going to happen.

Though they made their way back to the dorms and hung out for a while, it was clear that Orchid, Blake, and Weiss were going to remain locked in this argument for some time to come.

At some point during all of this, the others had left Orchid and Blake to argue with Weiss in RWBY's dorm room while they gave them some privacy. However, they came back later, hoping to find things resolved, but it seemed that things had only gotten worse.

Weiss was standing near the window overlooking the courtyard, while Blake and Orchid were off on the other side. Weiss shook her head and turned to face the window. "I'm a victim! Orchid, you should know better than anyone how difficult life has been for me!" She sighed, her voice growing more distant. "Family friends disappeared, board members executed, entire train cars of Dust stolen." She turned around again and took a step towards the other two. "You wanna know why I hate Faunus so much? It's because they're a bunch of liars, murderers, and thieves!"

Before anything else could be said, Blake yelled back, "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Silence fell over the room, everyone looked at Blake in shock. "I… I…" She turned and fled, running out of the front door.

Orchid pursued her while yelling, "Blake, wait!"

Ruby and Neve both started to give chase, but Yang piped up. "Give them some space, guys."

Violet crossed her arms, tail swishing behind her as she scowled. "I fucking hate this garbage about race. Always, all the time…" She shook her head. "Whatever, I say. They'll figure everything out. We just need to give them space."

It didn't escape anyone's notice that Violet, the only other Faunus in the room, hadn't spoken up at all during the arguments. In fact, she seemed downright hostile towards the idea of getting involved at all, which just made everyone more confused.

However, Neve at least knew when it was best to leave well enough alone—for the time being. He sighed and relaxed his posture. "You're right. Let's just… give them some time."

Ebony, who had been tuned out this whole time and making a concerted effort to not absorb any information that had been developing, blinked a few times and looked around. Shen then looked at Neve and asked, "So… is it dinner time?"

Neve smiled awkwardly at Ebony while saying, "Ah, yeah." Before then speaking in Old Vacuan. "¿Puedes sacar la carne de la nevera?" ("Can you get the beef out of the fridge?") To which, the girl simply nodded and then left, returning to COVE's dorm.

Once she was gone, Neve ran his hand through his hair. "Man… I've never seen Orchid that worked up before. I feel like I should have stepped in, but… I didn't know what to say. Geez… some leader I am."

Ruby shook her head, her voice was soft as she approached him. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Neve… I wasn't any better." She looked around. "None of us were exactly trying to put ourselves between them. It just… it wasn't our fight. There's nothing wrong with that."

They were silent for almost a full minute. Neve looked at her as he processed her words, before he eventually took a deep breath and nodded, looking away as he said, "Yeah, you're right… how about this." He took out his scroll and checked the date. "It's Friday right now. If they're not back on Sunday, we'll go out and look for them. I'll even make a group chat for all of us, if it comes to it. For now, let's just… all get some rest."

Everyone was in agreement with that, and so the remainder of COVE returned to their dorm. After having dinner, everyone went to bed. While Violet seemed somewhat annoyed still and Ebony remained indifferent, Neve himself was incredibly worried.

He just hoped that everything would work out. Maybe they'd be back tomorrow?

/-/

Needless to say, they weren't back the next day.

In fact, come Sunday, there was still no sign of them. To say Neve was worried would be an understatement, and so he and Ruby created their group chat for the two teams before getting everyone to gather in COVE's (admittedly larger, much to Weiss' chagrin) dorm room.

It was decided that they would split into partner pairs, with the exception that Neve and Yang would search together due to both missing their partner. They would scour the city for any sign of them, ask around and try to learn anything they could, and meet back before the last Bullhead was set to leave for Beacon that night.

That was the circumstance that Neve found himself in as he walked down the streets of the commercial district with Yang. He had a picture of Orchid, and asked people if they had seen her, although frustratingly, nobody had seen hide nor hair of her. Neve had to restrain himself towards some of the more disrespectful comments.

He had never really understood why people had such an issue with Faunus, when they were really not that different from 'regular' humanity. He supposed humanity would always find a way to be discriminatory, as frustrating as it was. If it wasn't for wings or ears, it'd be for something else.

As they left yet another dead end, Neve sighed. "I swear… for a girl who loves to make herself seen, she sure can disappear when she really feels like it." He ran a hand through his hair, stress clear on his face as he let out a sigh, "I hope she's okay."

Yang, meanwhile, had seemed to be generally in better spirits, smiling and joking whenever she could, though she didn't let that hamper her efforts to find their friends. As Neve's stress showed, she patted his back and tried to lift his spirits. "Hey, chin up Snow Boy. We'll find them eventually, I doubt they plan to stay gone forever."

Neve sighed, his head hung low as he glanced at her. "How are you able to stay so… relaxed? They could be anywhere in the city, and with those robberies that have been going on… they could be in danger. What if they run into Torchwick? Or the White Fang? What about-"

"Neve, Neve." Yang interrupted him, squeezing his shoulder with a reassuring smile. "You're starting to spiral. They can look after themselves for a little while, and they have each other too." Her smile grew. "The reason I'm so relaxed is because I trust them, and I know that we'll find them eventually. Do you trust them?"

"I…" Neve started to respond before looking away and taking a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes again. "Yeah… I trust them. I'm still worried about them. It's… just the kind of person I am."

"A real worrywort." Yang teased, before looking around. "Look, we've been looking for a few hours already. How about we get something to eat? That should get your mind off them for a bit." She spotted a place and pointed at it with the hand she didn't have on his shoulder. "Hey, how about this place? It looks cozy."

Neve looked where she was pointing and felt an involuntary smile tug at his face. "That's my family's cafe. I dunno how I didn't recognize we were close…" He must have been really stressed. "Yeah, let's go say hi and get something to eat."

The Changing Seasons had a sign above the entrance, with its name displayed across said sign, with letters colorized like each season, from pink, to yellow, to burnt orange, to ice blue. There was a cup of coffee on the sign beneath the letters, the steam forming said letters above. The outside of it was wooden and understated as well, with windows that wouldn't look out of place on a house, rather than a business.

The floors on the inside were wooden as well, and there were booths both against the left and right walls when looking towards the counter. There was a jukebox in the back, playing some easy listening music, and a few round wooden tables in the middle of the area, providing more places to sit.

There were a few people, but overall the store was fairly quiet. It wasn't time for the lunch rush yet, so at least Neve knew they wouldn't be waiting at all.

At the front counter was a middle-aged woman with brunette hair tied in a ponytail that fell to her upper back. She had light blue eyes, which seemed to hone in on Neve as soon as he stepped inside. She wore a dark green T-shirt, a pair of jeans, a red apron, and black work shoes.

As Neve and Yang approached, the woman grinned as she leaned on the counter. "Hey! Didn't expect to see you back around here for a while. What brings you home, Neve?"

"Hey, Mom." Neve greeted with a smile before gesturing back to Yang as the two came to a stop. "Yang and I were in the neighborhood, and we felt like getting something to eat before we head back to Beacon." He caught the look in his mom's eyes, and was quick to head it off. "Before you say anything, no we're not dating. We're working on an inter-team project together. I'm working with Yang, my partner's working with her partner, that kind of thing."

The way he lied both by omission and just outright so easily and smoothly gave Yang whiplash. Yet, his mom bought it without a second thought as she smiled. "You're no fun, Neve. Go and take a booth, I'll be over to take your orders soon."

Neve thanked her, and the two went over to the booth closest to the front door. They sat on opposite ends, and Yang immediately asked, "What was that about?"

Neve bridged his hands as he responded rather casually. "What was what?"

"You know…" Yang nodded towards the counter. "You could have told her what we were actually doing, she might have been able to help. Maybe she's seen something. Besides, didn't I hear you say once that your mom was a Huntress?"

"She was, yeah." Neve responded, leaning back as he did so. "But I didn't want her worrying about me, or our teammates. If I told her about it, she'd want to get involved in finding them, and we can handle this without that. I'd rather she not worry anymore than she has to. She's already got to worry about my sister and our younger brother often enough."

Yang supposed that made sense, even if lying like that wasn't really something that sat right with her. She grabbed one of the menus from the side of the table and looked it over. "Yeah, you're probably right. We don't need anyone else getting in on this stuff when Blake's… you know." An ex-terrorist. "So… what's it like with your family?"

"Oh, pretty normal." Neve responded. "My sister's just a year and some change younger than me, my little brother's like… eight? Our dad died a few years back on a mission, it sucks but… that's life, as they say."

"Yeah, I know that pain." Yang softly sighed. "My mom ran off when I was still a baby, and my step-mom, Ruby's mom, died when I was seven. Ruby doesn't remember all that much about her, but she was amazing. I miss her, and I'm still trying to figure out where my mom is. That's part of what led to me becoming a Huntress, other than just wanting a good fight."

He listened intently, nodding along as he did, and once she was finished, he smiled. "I'm sure you'll find her eventually, you've got your whole team backing you up. Them and mine." He couldn't really speak for JNPR, but he assumed they'd help her if they were asked. "I'm not a betting man, but if I was, I'd like those odds."

Yang giggled and grinned a lopsided grin. "Thanks, Snow Boy. Glad to know I can count on you, but don't expect me to come calling. She's my mom, I'm gonna try my damndest to find her on my own before asking anyone else for help."

Neve chuckled and said, "Can't say I blame you."

Their conversation continued for a time, with them ordering their drinks and then eventually their food. After they'd had their fill, they left and returned to the mission at hand. All the while, Neve wondered how the others were doing.

/-/

Violet hadn't spent this long outside (excluding things relating to class) in years, and she was honestly starting to wonder if this was really such a big deal.

'I mean, really. Orchid and Blake can take care of themselves. Why should I be out here all day when I could be grinding for the new relic weapon?'

At least Ebony was with her, that made it a lot more bearable.

The other girl hadn't necessarily made it any easier—she had almost wandered off several times and just about got arrested when someone insulted Orchid for being a Faunus after she had shown a picture and subsequently broke their jaw—but more bearable for sure.

At the moment, they were wandering through a different part of the commercial district to the one Neve and Yang had taken. Vale was a big city, and the commercial district took up the majority of its midsection, which meant it seemed almost inevitable that, if anyone would have heard anything about Orchid or Blake, they'd have been there.

As they explored, Violet's thoughts wandered elsewhere, to something that had been in the back of her mind for the last few months. Maybe she was just suffering some serious brain rot that no story she'd read or written about had cleansed, but she swore she was on to something.

So, while they were walking together down one of the less busy streets of the district, Violet glanced at Ebony out of the corner of her eye before clearing her throat. "So, Ebony. What's your opinion on Neve?"

Ebony, meanwhile, hadn't exactly been thinking about much other than just getting Orchid back. She had proven quickly to be a good friend, although they hadn't done much together, what with the need to focus on school. Orchid had earned one of those rare spots in Ebony's mind that consisted of people she at least somewhat cared about. So to say that she was surprised by the sudden question was perhaps an understatement. She blinked a few times as she looked at Violet, the gears in her mind turned for a few moments while she tried to figure out what Violet's end-goal here was.

After finally deciding that it was probably nothing, Ebony responded with a curious and uncertain voice. "Heee'ss… cool? I mean, we're friends, he's been teaching me how to cook and we can go on for hours in Old Vacuan… why?"

Violet acted casual as she shrugged. "Oh, no reason really, just figured I'd ask." She waved a hand dismissively. "But uh…" She glanced at the other girl out of the corner of her eyes. "Do you think he's… cute?"

"Cute?" Ebony repeated back to her partner. "What exactly do you mean by 'cute'?"

A simple question, with what one might expect a simple answer. Violet, however, found complexity in such simplicity. "What do I mean? Well- I- It's…" She stumbled over herself trying to exactly define the word which she assumed needed no defining in the first place. "Do you think he's… attractive? I guess? God, I sound so clinical and proper saying that… do you think he's hot?" Her face burned in the face of the situation she had only herself to blame for. "And has a good personality? Think he's someone you'd be- ugh! Do you think you'd date him?!"

"Wha- I-" Ebony began to blush, but not for the reason Violet hoped. "Wh-What kind of question is that? No!" She shook her head. "Not that I think he's bad or anything, but-" She stopped as she struggled to come up with the right way to describe how she was feeling about him. Something was budding, but that something wasn't romantic. She didn't know much about emotions, but she knew that much. "He's a really good friend. It's… weird to think of him like that."

"Aww." Violet huffed. "You two would have made an adorable couple. I could see it!" The dreams she had been chasing thoroughly crushed, she tried to find some swift way to change the subject. She looked around before her vision settled on a veritable oasis of serenity to the otaku's eyes—a manga shop! "Hey, have you ever read manga before?"

Ebony blinked a few times at the sudden change of topic, but ultimately decided that this was a welcome change from the weirdness of the other subject. "I have, but not a lot." She looked away, averting her gaze to the sidewalk below. "It'd take me forever to read one page, even with how short the dialogue can be in some of them, and I'd end up getting frustrated and just looking at the art."

Violet almost immediately felt kind of bad for asking. Somehow, she'd momentarily forgotten about her partner's dyslexia. She cringed slightly, but then the constant aura shifted as Yuvi formed a charcoal colored lightbulb above her head as she gasped. "Ebony, I have an idea." She gestured to the store as the lightbulb vanished from above her head. "Come on."

While Ebony hadn't the slightest idea of what Violet was planning, she still followed as the other girl led her into the store. She might have complained that this was getting away from what they were supposed to be doing, but she was finding it difficult to not want a bit of a break after searching around for so long.

The store they entered was fairly standard for a bookstore, all things considered. Except it was very clearly oriented towards Mistrali products, like manga and various kinds of Mistrali paraphernalia. It didn't take long for Violet to scan the shelves and hone in on exactly what it was she wanted.

Finally, she found it.

She grabbed a collection off the shelf—Soul Eater. It was one of her favorite series, and she felt that it would be a good way to get Ebony into manga. "Here, I had a collection, but I uh… I lost it." The incident that led to the loss of her old collection was best left unspoken. "I don't mind buying it again, though, it's worth it." Normally Violet wasn't the first to suggest a group activity, but it was just her and Ebony, and Ebony was her partner.

Ebony, meanwhile, wasn't entirely sure how she was feeling about this gesture. She followed as Violet went to buy the collection and tried to reason it in her mind. It was a strange, warm feeling, similar to one she had felt around Shi, and to some extent with Neve and Orchid, but… different. Her chest tightened, and she felt strangely… flattered.

As Violet took the shopping bag containing the collection and started to leave, Ebony followed while trying to fight the flushing. She was able to successfully banish it when she remembered that they needed to find Orchid. "We should put that in our dorm, so you're not carrying it around." And so nobody stole it—Ebony knew how sticky peoples' fingers could be.

"Yeah, let's get back to the dorm before we keep looking around." Violet began to lead the way, while her own mind wandered. She certainly didn't care much at all about the argument Orchid and Blake were having with Weiss, but she did have to wonder if she should really have an opinion on it. What would her grandpa have wanted her to do?

'To look out for me and mine first.' Violet reasoned. 'Everything else comes second.

Nothing more, and nothing less.'

/-/

A tea shop near the docks in Outer Vale

Orchid wouldn't say she regretted getting into the argument, nor would she say she regretted running off after Blake.

She would, however, say she regretted making her team worry about her—as they almost surely were.

It was that regret that kept her nervously sipping the steaming hot tea in her cup while she, Blake, and the blonde monkey-tailed boy named Sun Wukong (who had joined them not long after Blake removed her bow and revealed she was a Faunus, something that Orchid kind of felt she had known in the back of her head but was never certain on) sat around.

Blake hadn't said anything for the past couple days, so it was mostly just Sun and Orchid doing the talking. Sun was from Haven, and had stowed away aboard the Vacuan ship in order to get to Beacon earlier. He didn't have some big reason for doing it, just 'I wanted to see Vale', which Orchid understood.

They were sitting in silence for a few minutes while Orchid tried to think of something to say, but luckily (and shockingly), Blake had something to say instead. "So…" Her gaze flicked between both Orchid and Sun. "You want to know more about me…"

Sun threw his hands up in a mixture of celebration and relief. "Finally, she speaks, after almost two days of nothing but small talk and weird looks!"

Orchid snickered, while Blake gave Sun a firm glare that prompted Sun to say, "Yeah, like that!"

Blake sighed, her bow folded down slightly, indicating her ears moving. "So… you wanted to know more about me. I think… I owe an explanation. Especially to you, Orchid." She looked at the other girl with a small smile. "You stuck with me through all those… stupid things that Weiss said, and afterward. That means a lot."

Orchid waved her hand dismissively. "Eh, it was no big deal. Weiss makes me angry like nothing else can, the fact that she's still like this after all these years…" She scoffed. "It's stupid."

Sun leaned back in his chair. "Well, it sounds like you've got a history there, but you haven't said anything about it. You wanna give an explanation too? Might as well, if we're airing out baggage."

"I don't think it's half as important as Blake's, though." Orchid huffed. "It's just some petty bullshit from when I was younger."

Blake shook her head, her gaze softening as she looked at Orchid. "Your problems are important too, Orchid. I'd like to know more about why you decided to stick with me. You can go first, my story's... Kinda long."

Orchid saw that she was outnumbered and sighed. "Fine, fine." She took another sip from her tea before looking out at the sky above, awash with the colors of the late afternoon. "So, I was actually born in Mantle, but I don't remember much about it. My dad was hired by Jacques Schnee to be his head groundskeeper, while my mom opened up a flower shop in the city."

Her hexagonally-shaped irises moved from the sky to her tea, looking at her reflection in the drink. "I was getting picked on by some kids at a playground I went to, my mom had gone into a store nearby to run some errands. I was just… trying to ignore it, when one of them picked up a rock. Before he could throw it though, a girl my age with white hair stepped between us and told him and his posse off, saying stuff like 'my daddy will fire your daddies!'." Orchid went as far as to do a fake, higher-pitched voice while saying the line, then her voice went back to normal as she continued. "That's how I met Weiss."

She took a sip from her tea and sighed once she was finished. "Obviously, we became friends. Hung out a lot and all that. I think I was really her only friend, back then. There were a couple others that she seemed interested in talking to, but she didn't stick around them. So… it was just us for a while."

Her eyes glistened at the memories, and it was clear that there was a lot of emotion behind her gaze. Anger and sadness, predominantly. "Eventually things… changed. We got older, we got closer… we never kissed, or anything like that. Weiss always said that her dad would kill her if we did and he found out. I said whatever, I was fine with things being the way they were, but then one day, when we were fourteen…"

She scoffed and shook her head as she continued to stare at the table. "I ran to her room, she was practicing her form. I called out to her, and she slipped up. Nobody got hurt, but she got angry. Really, really angry. She told me off, and said some…" her hands curled around her cup, the grip tight enough to whiten her knuckles. "Some very not nice things about me, about my race, about… who I am. The Garden Girl, she called me. My heart broke that day, but…"

She smirked, though it was more of a rueful sneer. "Something else sparked, and burned. A fire, a fire to prove her wrong. A fire to prove that my music can do more than she, or anyone, thinks. A fire to burn away the hateful looks and words… and leave smiles in their place. I'll show them how I smile, so they smile back, and they realize we're not so different."

She looked up at them as they watched her with wide-eyes and attentive stares. Her smile softened. "That's why I started training, I turned my guitar into something other than just an instrument. I turned it into Muse, and I used it along with some private lessons my dad was able to pay for so I could eventually qualify to get into Beacon."

She giggled a dry, unamused giggle. "I expected her to go to Atlas. I expected to never see her again, or at least not see her again until Vytal. Oh, how wrong I was…" She shook her head again. "Anyway… that's my story." She relaxed and shrugged, trying to play off the emotions in her core.

Blake thinned her lips as she looked down. "...So that's why you've always been so angry whenever Weiss was around. I always thought it was really strange, you don't seem the type to get angry over nothing. You kind of remind me of a friend of mine, well…" Blake frowned slightly. "She used to be a friend. She probably hates me now."

Orchid sighed and nodded. "Yeah, the only people who know other than you two are Neve and my parents." She had told Neve months ago, although not the whole team. She didn't want to drag them into her personal drama, but Neve eventually asked for her to tell him so he would stop worrying over her whenever they were around Weiss, and she relented. She still hadn't told the others though, and she doubted she would, unless she felt she had to.

Which, she figured that she might have to, given how long she was gone, but that was besides the point.

Blake began telling her own story, and Orchid was (in her opinion) correct to assume that she had the more interesting and important tale between the two of them. Born into the White Fang, raised learning to protest, but then her parents left the organization as they saw how it was changing. Blake stayed, until she had to rob a train and was almost made to kill innocents as a result. She fled and applied to Beacon, getting in thanks to her combat experience and high test scores.

By the time she was finished, the sun was starting to set, and so the three left the shop and started to walk. They headed down an alleyway while Blake looked lost in thought. Their silence was broken when Sun put his hands behind his head and asked, "So, what's the plan now?"

Blake rubbed her chin and contemplatively said, "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before…"

Sun's eyes widened after a moment, and Orchid could almost see the lightbulb above his head as he said, "What if they did?" He lowered his arms and paced in front of both girls while gesticulating wildly. "I mean… the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go if they were to do it, and not find them there! Right?"

Orchid's eyes widened and then she smiled. "I mean, he does have a point. The best proof of innocence is a lack of evidence. Sometimes, anyway."

Blake hummed and continued to think, muttering as she did, "The only thing is… I've no idea where that would be."

Sun smiled as he turned around. "Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas. It's huge, big SDC freighter." He gestured widely to demonstrate his point, turning around again as he did. "See?"

Blake hummed, seemingly still skeptical, but Orchid felt that Blake knew well that she wouldn't get a better chance to prove the White Fang wasn't involved. Sure enough, she asked, "Where?"

Sun smirked and then started to lead them towards it, the sun continuing to sink as they walked. Orchid had her locker deliver her guitar before sending it back to Beacon. If the White Fang were involved, she figured, things would get violent.

By the time they reached the docks, it was entirely dark. Luckily, all three of them could see perfectly fine, even without the lights and lamp posts that kept the docks somewhat illuminated. The three split up at first, scouting out different areas of the docks, but met back up on the roof of a warehouse. Blake had been laying on her stomach, but she shifted to a crouching position as the other two joined her. "See anything?"

Sun, who was carrying green apples, shook his head and took a bite out of one. "Nope, but I stole some apples for us." He held out one for Orchid and one for Blake.

Orchid had no qualms with taking one, while Blake rolled her eyes. "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

Before Sun could respond, however, the three heard the sound of Bullheads in the sky. The dock workers had long left by this point, so they were all on alert. They hid as they watched two Bullheads arrive and drop off a number of people, most of them dressed in White Fang garb. Sun was the one who said, "That's them… you really didn't think it was them, did you?"

Blake nodded as she looked down. "I think… deep down, I knew. I just didn't want to be right."

Their attention was drawn to a voice giving orders to the White Fang. Out stepped renowned criminal Roman Torchwick, who told them to hurry up while also calling them animals. All three of their eyes widened, and Blake muttered, "This isn't right… the White Fang would never work with a human, let alone one like that." She moved to jump off the warehouse before Orchid or Sun could stop her.

Sun swore under his breath before looking at Orchid. "Come on, we should stay low, but be ready to move when she does."

Orchid nodded, and so the two of them jumped off and found positions. Orchid stayed further back, behind some shipping containers, while Sun climbed to the top of some of them and remained there as Blake put her cleaver to Roman Torchwick's throat. She removed her bow and tried to reason with the White Fang, asking them why they would follow Torchwick.

Torchwick, however, just smugly remarked on him and the White Fang going into a joint business venture together, and not just a small one. Two Bullheads flew overhead, kicking up air and getting all three of their attention. Nobody saw Torchwick moving his cane until he blasted the ground and sent Blake flying backward.

Blake landed with a grunt, and scrambled to avoid several more powerful Dust rounds that Torchwick fired at her before finally managing to find cover behind a shipping container. He muttered, "Here kitty kitty…" as he started to walk towards where she had gone.

However, he was interrupted when the sound of an electric guitar sounded out through the docks, causing him to look towards the sound. He brought his arms up and shielded himself as the soundwaves crashed into him and made him skid backwards. He lowered his arms and tried to see what had caused the sound, but his vision was blocked as a banana landed in his face right before Sun drop kicked him and rolled across the ground before popping up and saying, "Leave her alone!"

Orchid remained standing a bit further back, watching as Torchwick stood up and grunted. The Bullheads from before flew overhead as he said, "You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?" He looked at Orchid. "Oh great. Now all we need is a bird and this joke will be complete!"

As more White Fang moved to jump out of the ship, Orchid strummed her guitar again and sent out more soundwaves, causing several of the White Fang to get knocked back and hit the ground hard. She grinned as Sun looked at her and said, "Let me handle these guys, you worry about him!"

Sun nodded and turned his attention to Torchwick, while more troops dropped from another Bullhead and Orchid prepared to sing another song. This Will Be the Day.

A mob of ten White Fang charged at her as she began to play the first few notes. Soundwaves were already emitting from Muse, laced with fire as they crashed into the front of the pack and sent most of them down, while more Fang joined in, jumping down from other airships to fight.

"They see you as small and helpless; They see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild."

A member of the White Fang charged up to her on her left, sword raised. She shot out a bolt of lightning from the head of her guitar, connecting with his chest and sending him flying back into some of his fellow goons.

"Prepare for your greatest moments; Prepare for your finest hour. The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower."

Orchid winced as some bullets slammed into her shoulder and chest, luckily her aura had blocked them. More waves of sound emitted from her guitar, along with a gust of wind powerful enough to knock over even those who jumped out of the way of her soundwaves.

"We are lightning… straying from the thunder, miracles of ancient wonder!"

More White Fang attacked her, and she managed to dodge and weave through most of them, although she took hits as time went on. She was, after all, not a close-range fighter at the end of the day, and CQC was easily her worst area of study.

It was at this time that Blake rejoined the fight. Roman had knocked Sun away only to be attacked by Blake, who tried using her semblance to dash around Torchwick while landing what hits she could. However, Torchwick was proving to be a more competent combatant than any of them had expected, blocking her attacks and landing hits with his cane while chuckling all the while.

Orchid, finding an opening, strummed out a soundwave towards Torchwick just as Blake got knocked back. That caused him to stagger, allowing Blake to lung forward and slash him with her cleaver, sending him flying backward.

"This will be the day we've waited for. This will be the day we open up the door. I don't wanna hear your absolution; Hope you're ready for a revolution. Welcome to a world of new solutions. Welcome to a world of bloody evolution-"

Orchid moved towards the center of the docks while continuing to sing and play, warding off White Fang as she did. However, during all of this, both she and Sun failed to account for the Dust crate above them. Torchwick fired a Dust round at the crane it was attached to, causing it to come loose and fly down towards them.

Orchid and Blake both managed to avoid getting crushed by it, just barely. Orchid swore under her breath, having lost her beat and her place in the song. By the time she recovered enough to see what was going on, Torchwick had the barrel of his cane-gun pointed at Sun.

However, he was distracted by a new voice that called out, "Heads up, jackass!" As he looked, he just barely managed to jump out of the way of a spinning boomerang made of two sickles.

Orchid sighed in relief as she saw Ebony and Violet running in, while at the same time Ruby called out from above, "Hey!"

Torchwick groaned. "So many kids out tonight! Isn't it a school night?" He fired a round at Ruby, one that crashed into her and sent her flying back.

More White Fang arrived from the Bullheads above, jumping down to join the fray as more combatants appeared. Penny jumped down and began to cut through them on her end, while on the other end, the White Fang found two angry short girls charging at them.

Violet fired with her rifle while her Chakram flew out and cut down any White Fang that got too close to her. Yuvi separated from her and began to punch out enemies that were further out.

Meanwhile, Ebony moved like a woman possessed. Light gray mist coated her arms as she caught Requiem and shifted it back into its dual-sickle form while not breaking pace. As she reached the first group of White Fang to face her, five wielding swords and five wielding guns, she ducked and dodged through their attempts to strike her while gritting her teeth. Her eyes burned with rage as she cut deep into one's side, while piercing another's with her other sickle, they either didn't have auras, or their aura control was incredibly weak, typical of fighters not trained in aura manipulation like Huntsmen were.

As the two men fell, they began to scream. Not merely screams of pain, though there was pain in their voices, but of fear. Guttural and primal fear as they screamed and cried out, pleading for whatever was happening to end.

Yet, it didn't end. Ebony cut into yet another close-range fighter, jammed her sickle into their side before yanking it forward, tearing into their skin and spilling blood on the ground and on both her and her opponent. They fell and began to scream as well, as did the next person to fight her, and the next.

Eventually, the terrorists stopped trying to fight her and began to flee. Between seeing their comrades screaming and bloody on the ground on one side, and their ships being cut in half and blown apart on the other by Penny, they knew they were beat.

Violet saw Ebony fight, eyes wide as she witnessed her partner's semblance in action for the first time. Only after the White Fang had fully retreated did she go over to her, however. Ebony was breathing heavily, coated in blood, and looking more like a wild animal than a person. Yet, she relaxed when she heard Violet ask over the still-ongoing screams, "Was that… your semblance?"

Ebony sighed and looked down, having been deliberately avoiding using it this whole time, and only now feeling it had been truly necessary to use. "Yeah. I call it Paranoia. Anyone I hurt, I can make see and hear their worst fears, anxieties, and regrets. Played out over and over again."

Violet smiled at her, seeing that she clearly didn't like her semblance that much and subsequently trying to assuage any worry her partner might have. "It's cool! A bit scary, but cool."

Ebony smiled back at Violet, grateful for the attempted reassurance but not one to let the spotlight remain on her for long. She looked over to where Orchid was, still sitting on the ground. "There she is…" She tried to think of what Neve would want her to do, and finally concluded with, "Let's get her and the others up, but let's wait for the others before we say anything about this."

And so they did, both Teams RWBY and COVE reunited not long after, as police arrived to both question the people who had been there and to take away the terrorists. Ambulances were needed for some of them, but nobody was going to complain about a terrorist being injured.

Neve had been fussing over Orchid ever since he arrived, in spite of her trying to assure him that she was fine. It was only after he had heard it the third time that he finally relented. "Well… if you're not hurt, then you've got some explaining to do." Neve frowned. "You could have called us."

Orchid smiled awkwardly. "I know… I'm sorry, I just… I didn't want to worry you guys, or drag you into something personal like that…"

Their attention was drawn to Weiss when the white haired girl approached Blake. Blake began to speak, but Weiss cut her off. "Ah-bahp-bahp-bahp! Do you know how long we've been searching for you?" Blake remained silent, and so Weiss answered her own question, "Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about how I feel about this, and I've decided… I don't care!" Blake looked shocked, but Weiss wasn't finished. "That's who you used to be, not who you are. Next time, just… make sure you come to us with your problems, okay? And not…" She glanced at Sun, who was sitting on a crate watching the conversation. "Someone else."

She then noticed COVE watching her and stammered out an addition. "Y-You can go to COVE, too! They're our friends, like our… sister team, along with JNPR. B-Besides." She glanced at Orchid quickly, who crossed her arms and looked away. Weiss then looked back at Blake. "I'm sure Orchid and Violet can relate to some things that… we can't."

It was clear that Orchid wasn't going to acknowledge Weiss, but after everything that happened, the rest of her team felt that was for the best. Neve smiled and echoed Weiss' words to Orchid. "You know you can come to any of us, right?"

Orchid nodded and sighed. "Yeah… sorry. I'll try not to worry you guys anymore." She smiled tiredly. "Now… Can we get back to the dorms?"

Neve smiled back. "Yeah, come on." He turned and started towards the street. "It's a bit late, but I can make us something quick for dinner. Then, we need to get to sleep, the semester's almost over, and I'm not about to let our grades slip because of this."

While Orchid lamented the idea of studying in preparation for the finals, she had to admit that she was glad to be going back to what she had come to consider a home away from home. She had no doubt they'd face more troubles in the future, but, come what may…

She knew they'd persevere.