If the Beacon Gym was a temple where adherents went to worship, then the Beacon Library was a monastery where practitioners shed their worldly burdens and immersed themselves in the discussion of the greater mysteries of reality. It was the atmosphere of the intellectual and it quietly, humbly promoted the research and debate of such noble questions as "Why are the Grimm?" "How can I summarize the Great War in 5000 words with at least 10 formatted and annotated citations?" and "Will Kimiko choose Bixig Huang or Daruka Mistirea in the next installment of Ninjas of Love?" Though discussion was passionate, diligent research was protected by the dutiful stewards of the library who quieted any overzealous debate, reducing their words to whispers to safeguard the focus of researchers.

It was through these hallowed and august halls that Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc wandered, heads on a swivel, looking for their final pair of friends/interrogation subjects. They had leapt without looking and were now horrifically lost in the maze of bookshelves, desks and chairs, archival areas, information desks, and all those other little things that comprise a modern sanctum of knowledge.

They wandered around, finding no better way to navigate, until they stumbled upon a directory.

"Oh hey, this says we're on… floor 2 – for uh, nonfiction?"

"Well, Blake wouldn't just read nonfiction, where's the fiction?"

"Uhhhh, that's on floor 4? I think? It just says Coffee house and leisure."

"Why the heck is there a coffee house in a library?"

"I don't know! But – ah, forget it, let's just find Blake and Ren."

They wandered up to Floor 4, staring out into an expansive level. There was indeed a coffee shop to their immediate left from the stairwell and it seemed to be staffed entirely by team CFVY (how unexpected). Rows and rows of tables and chairs interspersed between bookshelves stuffed full of precious literature took up the majority of the floorspace, and as Ruby and Jaune ventured forth, their footsteps were muted by the carpet that lined the whole floor.

Ruby and Jaune expeditioned through the maze of whimsical Young Adult fiction before they found themselves in the cursed wilds of the Romance section. They found salvation in a sudden transfer into the Science Fiction section and were awed by the breadth of work in Fantasy – especially the mix of the two in a Science-Fantasy section. Just as they felt they were being overwhelmed after mapping the Historical Fiction section, they came upon their quarry.

There was a single table with a handful of seats in a corner of the building. The little oasis almost seemed forgotten, the singular windowsill dusty and neglected, but there sat Blake Belladonna, her bow – and hidden ears – twitching from between her dark hair as the pair approached. The dusty window created a vibrant sunbeam and at the center of it sat Lie Ren, his legs folded under him and arms placed across his knees, slowly and quietly intoning what Jaune knew from experience was a meditative chant.

"Hey guys!" chirped Ruby, and golden and pink eyes shot up to land upon her. The intensity of Blake's and Ren's stares were enough to stop Ruby in her tracks – she was used to only dealing with this from one of them! She hadn't anticipated both of them staring at her so intensely!

With Ruby frozen in fear, it was Jaune's duty to step up. He had suffered the Stare of Judgement and Contempt far more than she, and so as he stepped forward and their intense gazes shifted to him, Jaune hardly reacted. He leaned into his oblivious nature, ignoring how clearly incensed they were at being disturbed, and powered through to his objective.

"So, uh, do you guys both have quests of righteous justice that you're pursuing, or is it just you, Blake?" he asked, heroically laying it all on the line to get down to the bottom of things.

Blake and Ren both stared at him, their features knitting similarly in confusion. They looked at him, confused. Then, they looked at Ruby, confused. Then, they looked at each other, confused.

"What's he talking about?" asked Blake to Ren, an undercurrent of consternation in her voice.

"I haven't the faintest," Ren replied with a minor shrug of his shoulders, his meditative pose otherwise undisturbed.

"I see," acknowledged Blake, and after the two shared another glance, they returned their gazes to Jaune. They seemed to share some sort of deeper conversation in that look than Jaune could fathom, and when Blake next spoke, he knew she spoke for them both. She commanded him, "Elaborate."

"Uhhh, well, uh, you know…" Jaune began lamely, his footing shaky under such a weighty order, but fortunately Ruby had recovered to pull his fat from the fire.

"You're both ninjas!" Ruby blurted out suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. For just a moment it looked like she'd clam up once more, but she grit her teeth and powered through her own awkwardness to salvage the situation, "You're both ninjas and Blake has a Quest of Justice and Vengeance™ against the White Fang and we wanted to know if Ren did, too!"

Once again, there was silence from the two quietest members of teams RWBY and JNPR. They looked to one another once again. Ren did not seem perturbed by the question, nor did he seem inclined to answer. Instead, it was Blake who broke the silence with a scoff.

"It's not a quest of anything, Ruby. Life doesn't work that way," began Blake. Her words were condescending and dismissive, but her tone warmed quickly, "I am only doing what has to be done to ensure that no one else can damage the Faunus cause the way I inadvertently did and the way the White Fang is continuing to do."

"Well said," supported Ren with the tone of familiarity. He didn't seem inclined to continue until he realized all pairs of eyes were now on him, "What is it?"

"Well, do you have a – er – necessary action to prevent future damage like Blake does?" asked Ruby, fumbling through Blake's new definition of it.

"Yes."

There was a beat of silence as the others considered his easy admission, but once again Blake surprised them by speaking up first.

"You can't be serious. Are you really humoring them?" she asked with a dismissive grunt.

"I am. They are correct," Ren retorted with an arch of his brow, tilting his head as he regarded Blake.

"What could you possibly have that would compare to that?" asked Blake. Though her words sounded arrogant, her interest was genuine.

"You know I am an orphan," Ren stated slowly, trailing off as if the answer was obvious.

"Yes, and? What does that have to do with anything?"

"How do you think I became an orphan? None are born as such, by definition," continued Ren, allowing Blake to slowly draw conclusions.

"I don't know, I didn't want to assume. The Grimm?"

"Not the Grimm – a Grimm."

"A Grimm? A single Grimm? Were your parents caught off-guard?"

"My entire village was caught off-guard. It was by pure luck I was able to activate my semblance and save Nora and myself."

"A single Grimm wiped out an entire village – and killed your parents and Nora's?"

"Nora was abandoned before she came to our village, but yes. I have pursued the path of a Huntsman in no small part due to my desire to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again."

"But if it's a Quest of Vengeance™ that must mean that Grimm's still out there, right?!" Ruby interrupted, latching onto the sudden connection between them that she identified. She shrunk back when Blake and Ren's eyes darted to lock onto her, even though they broke away a moment later.

Blake and Ren once again shared a look that neither Ruby nor Jaune could discern. Subtle twitches in their eyes and lips seemed to convey mountains of information between them, and shortly, they turned their attention to Ruby and Ren answered her.

"It is still out there, yes, the Nuckelavee. I will need to grow strong enough while here so that I can venture out and end it, such that it can never tear any families apart – or destroy any villages – ever again. But that will be just the beginning."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, leaning in slightly, hanging on the otherwise reserved boy's words.

"I sympathize with the White Fang" stated Ren, not addressing the question at all. Briefly, all three stared at him, expecting him to elaborate. The silence stretched on awkwardly when it was clear he had no intention of so doing.

"…You do?" Jaune asked haltingly.

"The Grimm are an evil with which we are all familiar. They are ravenous beasts that seek only our deaths. They do not eat, they do not sleep, they do not feel, and they think of nothing other than base survival or destruction. The Grimm have always threatened both Man and Faunus, but the Grimm were never our greatest threats."

"People have always been our greatest threats – that's what you're saying isn't it?" Blake interrupted, seeing the point Ren was making long before Ruby or Jaune did. She continued her revelation with an air of familiarity. "The Grimm may be more powerful, but we can unite to defeat them and become greater than the sum of our parts. But if some people don't wish to unite – even trying to work against some of us – then they're the greater threat to us all by far!"

Blake's conclusion inspired shock in Ruby and Jaune. They were both leaders, but to them leadership had meant cooperation and direction. If there was true, destructive resistance to a goal, just how much damage could be done to the cause before it was settled?

Blake seemed satisfied for a moment, but then her features pinched and she asked, "But how did people work against your village? Did you have many Faunus?"

"My Village was not perfect, and I can remember no Faunus in my childhood that were not transients," Ren began, his eyes misting over in recollection as he seemed to look back on those times. "Even so, Kuroyuri, like many villages, was left unprotected in favor of focusing Huntsman in the very well protected capital of Mistral. We were not as numerous nor as prosperous as the larger cities to be worth defending. And so, a single Grimm was able to kill everyone, man, woman, and child, save for myself and Nora."

"I never considered that humans could be as callous to humans as they are to Faunus," Blake bit.

"I am more than certain that if you examined all Faunus, you would find some that are just as callous to Faunus as they may be to humans. There is a Faunus Headmaster of Haven who presided over it when my village was attacked. He also controlled the deployment of Huntsmen – and yet there were none at Kuroyuri, nor anywhere near enough to respond in time."

"Headmaster Lionheart?" Blake asked in disbelief. "He didn't deploy Huntsmen to the minor villages? But he's known for his bravery and heroism! He's an example to Faunus everywhere that even in a horrid place like Mistral, one can still succeed."

"No, he did not," Ren replied bitterly. "Whether it was by his choice or others', it matters little. He was unable to safeguard my village – and that is why Nora and I came to Beacon rather than his farce of a school that was Haven."

"I will become a strong Huntsman," swore Ren, working himself up into as passionate a declaration as any of them had seen, though his volume was only marginally greater than normal. "I will defeat the Nuckelavee. I will do what it takes to gain followers and power, and I will protect the minor villages that powerful men – and Faunus – like Lionheart would otherwise ignore."

"You won't have to do it alone." Jaune interjected with a steel Ruby and Blake weren't expecting.

"What?"

"We'll be with you every step of the way, brother!" declared Jaune as he clasped a hand on Ren's shoulder. His grip was strong and fraternal, and his eyes burned blue with his eternal loyalty. "That's what Team JNPR is for! Me and Pyrrha and Nora and you – it'd take a Grimm horde – no, worse, a Grimm Dragon! – to separate any one of us! We'll be with you every step of the way!"

Ren could hardly react, staring dumbly at his Leader. Ren was taciturn and reserved, and he had never expected such a passionate declaration from anyone but Nora. But then, that was Jaune's point, wasn't it? Just as Nora was his family, so too would be Jaune and even Pyrrha. He didn't question Ren's motivations or decisions, he took his story at face value and valued his feelings on the matter. It pulled at a strange place in his chest that normally was silent. It was so simple, so earnest a declaration, and yet Ren felt his throat tighten and a tension behind his eyes that he couldn't describe. He raised a hand to clasp Jaune's forearm.

"Thank you… Brother," replied Ren, squeezing his Team Leader's forearm in an attempt to express with action what he could not with words.

Beside them, Ruby and Blake managed to coordinate an impressively dismissive eyeroll as the two boys had their moment. They rolled their whole bodies with their eyes, seeming to sway in place in a synchronicity that could only be attained from months of mutual training and close quarters living. They both sighed and looked to one another as if to mutually despair. Boys, right?

"Anyway, I guess that's vaguely similar to my conviction to defeat the White Fang" admitted Blake once the moment of shared misery passed. "It doesn't really match up with working for Faunus rights, but I guess wanting to protect underprivileged villages is at least class-based. If Ren said something like 'eat the rich,' it'd probably be closer to my struggle."

"Well, I mean, you know – it's like, parallel?" specified Ruby, excited that Blake seemed to see her point. "It's your natures that are the same!"

"Our natures?" Blake clarified with a raised brow.

"Yeah, you know: broody, quiet, stoic, silent, sneaky types!"

"Ugh," Blake sneered, her lips curling back, "Is this how you convinced Jaune of this silliness?"

"Well, yeah," blinked Ruby, "Isn't it convincing you?"

"No."

"Oh… …Why not?"

"Because it's unimportant," scoffed Blake, placing a hand on her hip and shaking her head. "It's like saying 'Everyone is the same except for what makes them different,' you see?"

"I guess that does sound kind of dumb when you put it that way," Ruby replied slowly, re-evaluating her words as she questions their worth.

"It's the same thing we Faunus have to deal with from humans," groused Blake with a bitter exhale.

"What do you mean?"

"They'll say things like 'We're all the same beneath the skin,' or 'We're all one people,' minimizing the things that make us different and ignoring what makes us unique," Blake continued, her fists clenching and features tightening. "Humans and Faunus are similar, sure, but no human has ever had to deal with morning blindness when the sun rises or sensory overload when there are too many cars in a traffic jam."

"There's a million tiny, almost insignificant differences and inconveniences in the way we have to live our lives, but they're still important and define our lived experiences," Blake all but spat, but her gaze was far away, in another place and time. "You don't get to take that away from me just because you were too close to a firework going off once or something."

"I-I'm sorry Blake, I didn't mean to say that!" Ruby scrambled for an apology, suddenly worried she had insulted her friend. Her words seemed to snap Blake out of her trance, who looked to Ruby with wide eyes.

"No, I know, Ruby. I didn't mean you specifically, sorry. It's just that sort of thinking that's caused me a lot of grief – even if it comes from a good place. I don't like it. It's better than actual mistreatment by far, but it's still frustrating to have to deal with on a regular basis."

"Well, er, I still didn't mean it! Everyone is unique and special – I just thought it was, you know, neat that you and Ren had so many similarities to begin with! And – you know, between our teams that we're all so similar. It almost feels like we were all meant to be friends sometimes, and I really liked that."

"All people can be more similar than not, Ruby – it is merely a manner of perspective," said Ren, rejoining the conversation. He and Jaune had extricated themselves from their embrace at some point, and while Jaune seemed pensive, Ren seemed lighter, as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Huh?"

"As Blake said, the differences in how we live are often insignificant. If we judge a person or a group of people from a far enough point, all are the same. We all must eat and drink and breathe to survive, for instance."

"But that's not what makes us who we are!" Blake protested hotly.

"No, but if we take our perspective far enough outwards, that is what we shall see regardless," Replied Ren smoothly, folding his arms as he stood beside Jaune. "It is important that we see people how they see themselves, or as close as we can, where the difference between what hour one wakes up in the morning compared to others is significant."

Blake didn't respond immediately, and Ruby and Jaune began to worry when they saw her eyes fall to the floor, fists clenched. She shook lightly in place, it seemed like an extreme reaction to something so simple as what Ren had said! Neither of them knew what to do, even as Ren stood by passively, when Blake's visage shot back up, glaring at Ren.

"I don't want someone thinking they understand me. You think someone could possibly understand? Everything I am, everything I've done?!" Blake all but spat, indignation in her eyes.

"It is what all people want, Blake, even if they're afraid of what those who understand may say," stated Ren simply, tilting his head almost imperceptibly.

"You – you don't know what you're talking about!" Blake stuttered, her lips curling up into a snarl.

"It isn't your fault, Blake. I would've done the same thing."

Blake stilled at Ren's statement. Once again, her eyes darted away from him. In a reversal of her previous mood, her arms came up defensively to hold herself, as if seeking comfort in her own grip. She couldn't seem to look at him and Ren stood idly by, waiting for her to act.

Ruby and Jaune glanced at one another at the exchange. They had completely lost the plot! Where did this sudden shift in energy come from? Neither of them was brave enough to interrupt the two least vocal members of their team however, and they merely watched on awkwardly.

"How – how can you say that?" asked Blake weakly, her voice gaining strength as she articulated her question. It wavered with the air. "How can you know?"

"Because I know you, Blake Belladonna – and you know me. I would not say this lightly. Were I in your place, with all the knowledge you possessed, and all the experiences you had lived, I would've done exactly as you had."

"You say that so… easily."

"You would say the same for me, were our positions reversed."

Somehow, that final claim from Ren broke something in Blake. She all but collapsed against him, shaking as she fought not to cry. It was a shocking sight for Ruby and Jaune as Ren merely held her, supporting her weight with his own. The sudden switch in gears had them reeling, unable to process the situation.

As the moment seemed to stretch on, only interrupted by Blake's strangled gasps, the two Leaders realized that they were intruding on something that was way over their heads. They glanced at one another, and Jaune twitched his head backwards, motioning for the entrance to the library. It was up to Ruby to get them an opening to escape!

"…Okay! So, er, thanks guys!" began Ruby, suddenly aware of the volume of her voice. When neither Ren nor Blake replied, she continued, exploiting the opportunity she was given, "You helped me and Jaune a lot and er, we're just gonna – um, go now! If you need anything, er, you know where to find us! That's the Team Leader Room ah-heh-heh – yeah."

Jaune and Ruby slowly edged away from Ren and Blake, keeping their stances square with them as if they were wild animals ready to attack. As they reached the edge of polite conversational distance, Ruby used the final tool at her disposal.

"Okay, bye!" she cried. She and Jaune turned on their heels and fled from the emotional display they understood none of, retreating to the safety of that which they knew.

Ren and Blake remained, together in silence, as Blake fought through the waves of emotion that had so overwhelmed her. Ren stood vigil until her shaking and shuddering slowly subsided. When her breathing evened out and she pulled away from his supporting grip, he let her go without complaint.

"…You have no idea what I actually did, do you?" asked Blake with a strange smirk, eyes still puffy from her outburst. Ren smiled in response.

"Not at all. It seemed like something you needed to hear, however. And if you wish to speak, I will listen."

"Heh, I can see why Nora likes you. …Thank you. No one's ever said that to me before."

"Perhaps that is only because you have not spoken of it to anyone before," Ren observed and Blake rolled her eyes mightily.

"Okay," frowned Blake, asserting her boundaries, "That's enough with the enlightenment stuff, I've had enough introspection for one day – where did Ruby and Jaune go?"

"They were confused, so I believe they fled."

"Of course they did. I swear, you and I are the only two responsible people among our teams."

"Believing in Ruby's 'silliness' now, are you?"

"Ha! Not even a little bit – but at least you didn't run away from a crisis. …Not like I did."

"I am standing here today solely because I ran away from a crisis. My semblance allows me to be particularly capable of so doing – at least against the Grimm."

"…Okay, now I'm starting to believe in Ruby's silliness. But let's go find them before the consequences of their actions do."

"That is probably a good idea. I shall follow your lead."

The two scouts of teams RWBY and JNPR followed the obvious, rushed tracks of their leaders back the way they had fled as easily as if they had posted signs. They did tell them where they were going, but it was more fun this way.