"Hey Jaune, where's Pyrrha at?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you two were attached at the hip!" she grinned, Jaune chuckled bashfully as he scratched the back of his head.

"Pyrrha said that she have her own thing to go through," he sighed, "Though she wished that she could've came with us. Now, I don't know much but I think it's like some kind of family emergency…"

"Family emergency? Have any of you actually hear Pyrrha talk about her family?" Yang turned to the rest of the team, they all shook their heads, Ruby too, Pyrrha never talked about herself that much.

"Apparently it's her dad… she doesn't talk about him much…" Jaune rubbed his chin, "She said that she had to go to Vacuo, so that's a shame."

"Wait, Vacuo? She's a Vacuan?" everyone was surprised at this, "I thought she was from Mistral?"

"She's mixed, half Vacuan, half Mistralian," Jaune scratched his cheek, "Well, it's clear that she's more from Mistral than Vacuo though," he chuckled, "still, imagine it's funny to think that there's a world out there where she's called the 'Pride of Vacuo' instead!"

Ruby and her new team, including her sister Yang of course, walked warily through a seemingly abandoned village. There was an air of unease in the… air. Jaune had checked his map and reported back that this village was not marked on the map, how strange… A mystery was afoot!

…Aw man, if only Pyrrha was here, she's way smarter than her! Still, Ruby likes a good mystery!

"Oniyuri," Ren read out loud, causing the rest of team RNJRY to look at where he's looking, sure enough, there was a fallen town sign on the ground with the word written on it, "Hmm…"

"Oh cool, we know the name now at least," her sister Yang smirked, "Mark that down on the map, map marker."

"Yep, yep, got it," Jaune circled a section of the map and labelled it 'Oniyuri' for later, "Still don't know why it's unmarked though, the village looks pretty big to me."

"It's like… think of it like Anima's Mountain Glenn," Ren sighed, "Some rich folk in the Mistral council wasn't pleased with how things were being run, so they pooled their resources together and made this place."

"It prospered, for a while, they thought it'd become a new kingdom altogether, my parents did at least," he brushed some dirt off a stone wall to reveal large claw marks, "Then the Grimm happened," Ren clenched his fist, "but only one."

"One? Only one what?" Jaune asked, rolling up the map and stowing it away in his pocket.

Ren didn't say anything, Jaune looked around nervously before saying, "Well, if you won't tell us then that's fine, but we should really get going," the cawing of crows echoed through the abandoned town… spooky… "This place really gives me the creeps..." He shuddered.

The five continued on with their journey, making their way through the abandoned village, "It's like a haunted house," Yang snickered, nudging Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby held back a laugh too as the fog rolling in and the cawing crows made it feel like one of those haunted carnival attractions the two used to go in as kids. Suddenly, Ren stopped in his tracks, raising a hand to stop the other four behind him.

Footsteps, faint, the crinkling of leaves underneath a pair of boots, Ren took out his weapon and so did everyone else. Someone then leapt out from the distance, Ruby noticed as they aimed for her, she lined up her Crescent Rose and prepared a shot before Ren intervened, blocking the claws of the attacker with his own weapon.

Ren tried to kick the man away but he deftly dodged through his attacks, knocking Ren away to the side as he dashed towards Ruby again. The man was fast, entirely too fast. Ruby pulled the trigger of her Crescent Rose, the Scythe jerking back violently as it kicked into Ruby's shoulder, meanwhile, the man's face contorted into that of pain when he felt the specialized bullets dig into his Aura, launching him far away into the distance, causing the man to crash into a house, destroying it's supports and causing the entire thing to fall onto him.

"Whoops," Ruby hissed, rubbing her shoulder, Yang ran up to her side, "You alright, Ruby?"

"Yeah, ouch," she readied her weapon again, racking the bolt back, preparing another shot, looks like Mr. Courrier was right, these bullets do wonders against Aura, Ruby didn't like it though, hurting another person doesn't feel right to her; Jaune readied his shield, yelling out to the attacker.

"Wait! We're not looking for a fight!"

"Who are you?" Ren asked warily, holding out his weapon in gun form, pointing it at the man.

The attacker coughed as he pushed himself out of the rubble, wiping the dust off his clothes, he glared at the team as blood tricked down from his forehead, "You… YOU!" he grinned, cackling madly, "Does it matter, boy?" he turned to Ren before sweeping his gaze across everybody else, before focusing on Ruby, "I'm gonna get ya."

"I'm not gonna let you take my sister!" Yang snarled, "Beat it, ponytail! Before we beat you into submission!"

"Ooh, little dragon have claws, ooh," he laughed, "I'm so scared!" the man readied his claws again; the team watched as a large scorpion tail emerged from his back, "I wouldn't expect anything else!" he wiped some blood off of his forehead, flicking the liquid into the ground.

"You're a Faunus?" Yang raised an eyebrow, "You with the White Fang or something? How about Torchwick?"

"I'm offended that you think I'm with that merry band of cowards," he scowled, "No, I'm not working for those fools. No, my heart belongs only to my goddess!"

"Cinder?"

"No! Never in a million years!" he jumped towards the group again, with his claws braced for a slash. Ruby held up her Crescent Rose, primed for another shot. The man's scorpion tail then lashed forwards, knocking her Scythe to the ground. Keeping her grip on her weapon, she twisted the handle, making the blade face upwards as she leaned back, swinging it at the man's tail.

He clicked his tongue, ducking under a punch from Yang and kicking at Ren to knock him away. Nora came down from above as Yang used her gauntlets to blast herself out of the way, forcing the man to sidestep the hammer smash, grazing his clothes a bit. He slashed at Nora with his claws while his tail jerked itself towards Jaune, causing the boy to duck behind his shield as it slammed into the metal.

Yang grabbed the scorpion tail and yanked it away, allowing Jaune to slash at it with his sword. The man turned around and slashed at Jaune with his claws, bashing away his shield while the sharp edges dug into his Aura. Jaune yelped as he was pushed back. Yang let go of the tail and spun around, kicking him in the side. The man snarled, slashing at Yang while his tail kept Nora and Ren at bay.

Ruby lined up another shot and fired, the man's eyes widened as he felt another specialized bullet crashing into his Aura, it shimmered violently. Ruby mentally cheered, his Aura must be low by now! He coughed, spitting out some blood, "Ooh… the Rose has thorns…" he raised his head, the wide smile now gone from his face, "Where'd you get those toys, girl?"

"I'm not gonna tell you!"

"WHERE'D YOU GET THEM?!" the man yelled out this time, "WHERE?! WHERE?!" he jumped towards the team again, Ruby grabbed the bolt and pulled back, Jaune jumped in front of her as the man pulled back his arm for a slash.

The man swung his claws towards Jaune, ducking under the attack; Jaune winced as he felt the sharp blades graze his Aura. He circled his arm around the man's waist and bended his body around, carrying his body over Jaune's shoulder and slamming his head onto the ground. A textbook suplex, Mr. Courrier would be proud.

The attacker's tail lashed out, slashing at Jaune's arm, causing him to yelp and back away as he jumped up to his feet, dashing backwards just in time to avoid a slash from a… Scythe?! Uncle Qrow?! Her uncle's Scythe dug itself into the ground, causing a large crack as the attacker backed off.

"Looks like you kids need some help, although you did pretty well out there," Uncle Qrow turned towards the attacker, a scowl on his face while the attacker narrowed his eyes, "Hey."

Pyrrha sat inside the bullhead flying towards Vacuo alongside some people from Vale and Mistral, fidgeting nervously while her hand lingered on the wounds inflicted on her that day in Beacon. She came to Vacuo to find something out… something personal…

She glanced out of the window, weird, the bullhead's supposed to land by now, but it's just… hovering over the landing pad.

"Attention! Bullhead with the Valean markings!" she heard someone shout through a loudspeaker from below, the voice sounded familiar… "State your business here!"

"We're a civilian transport!" the pilot said through the bullhead's outside speaker, "Requesting landing access!"

A moment of silence passes by as the man on the loudspeaker grumbled something to another person, Pyrrha presumed, "Fine! Permission to land granted!"

"Understood!"

The bullhead lowered itself towards the landing pad; Pyrrha heard the engines shut off before the door opened, "Outsiders! Make your way out of the transport and stop at the front!" the loudspeaker man said again. Pyrrha furrowed her brows; she knew that Vacuo was a bit… hostile against people from outside the kingdom but not to this degree…

Everyone made their way out of the bullhead; Pyrrha stepped out too, seeing a group of Vacuans all stood around the landing pad, murmuring to one another, the loudspeaker man scowled, he had dark red hair and a goatee on his face, "Mistralians… Valeans… tch," he clicked his tongue, turning to the pilot, "What's the point of this?"

"Civilian transport, some refugees from Vale and a couple of tourists from Mistral," the pilot nodded, "Mistral's not accepting any more refugees from Vale anymore, neither is Atlas, and definitely not Mantle."

The loudspeaker man's eyes widened, "Really?" he grimaced, "Of course it's Mistral… Atlas too…" he spat, "What about the tourists? Why are they here?"

"They're tourists."

"Uh huh," the loudspeaker man turned to the group, "People with Vacuan heritage, whether it be mother, father, grandparents, or whatever please step forward!"

Pyrrha stepped forwards alongside a handful of Vale refugees, the loudspeaker man smiled, "Welcome home," he then turned to the rest, "Tourists and outsiders, stay right where you are for a while longer!" the man handed the loudspeaker to another person, motioning for the group to follow him, "Come with me, please."

The group followed the man; Pyrrha overhears some conversations in the crowd.

"So we're accepting mixed Vacuans now?"

"Don't be rude, no one's a hundred percent Vacuan…"

"My great-grandfather was!"

"Yeah? And your great-grandfather fucked an Atlesian so who are you to talk?"

"Tch…"

The loudspeaker man led the group towards a larger crowd, Pyrrha's eyes widened when she saw who was at the front, addressing the Vacuo public. Mr. Courrier was here?

"Attention all Vacuans!" he said into the microphone, "Atlas has yet to send us the workers that we agreed on so worry not about the group that just arrived today! They are not spies nor are they here to attack Vacuo!"

"I implore you, people of Vacuo, to accept the people of mixed heritage!" Mr. Courrier raised a fist up in the sky, "Does it really matter when they have Vacuan blood running through their veins?"

"How do we know that their Vacuan blood is stronger than Atlas or Mistral? Or even Vale?" a woman asked from the crowd, "If anything, they're no better than race traitors!"

"The fact that they came here is evident enough!" Mr. Courrier said through the microphone, "How many Vacuans out there, who are technically more 'Vacuan' than the people here I might add, decided to stay out of Vacuo indefinitely?"

"If anything, they're the race traitors, Vacuans who don't return to Vacuo when the kingdom's at its lowest! People who don't help their fellow kinsmen and decided to run away to another kingdom!"

The crowd murmured, most of them agreeing with Mr. Courrier, "Does it matter whether or not they're mixed? What matters is that these Vacuans are here now! To help us!"

The people nodded, agreeing with Mr. Courrier, "We must also discuss the situation regarding the outsiders! They came here, to the New Vacuan Republic, whether it is by choice or by circumstance!" he turned to the landing pad, where everyone else is being led towards the direction of Shade Academy, "They are not Vacuans, so they can stay in their own section, near that Academy that they praise so much."

"This speech is now over, everyone return to your duties!"

Mr. Courrier hopped off the box he was standing on and waded through the crowd towards the group; he grinned and shook the loudspeaker man's hand, "Good to see you off your ass and actually doing something Eryth," the man, Eryth, laughed, patting Mr. Courrier on the back.

"Yeah, well after years of doing nothing but dig sand, it's good to see Vacuo back on its feet," Eryth turned towards the small farms set up around a wide open intersection as many people walk by, "Never in my life did I think that Vacuo could look like this again."

"Uh huh," Mr. Courrier turned to the group, "They're all mixed Vacuans am I right?"

"That's what they say."

"Mm, good enough," he shrugged, "Alright, all of you can go do whatever now," the group slowly dispersed, Pyrrha was about to go too, "Not you Nikos, we have things to talk about."

She stiffened, Mr. Courrier continued, "What're you doing here? Where's your little boyfriend?"

"I- It's personal…" she managed out, "I uh…"

"Okay then, off you go."

"Wha- really?"

"Go deal with that 'personal' thing you were talking about," he raised both of his hands in a placating manner, "I'm not here to pry."

-x-

Eryth watched as Pyrrha walk away, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, Courrier turned to him with a neutral expression, "That's your kid?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Last name."

"Right, damn it," Eryth cursed under his breath, "Her mother must've told her about me…"

Courrier patted him on the back, "It's okay, I walked out on my own kid too."

Huh? "What?"

"Yup, twenty nine years ago, in Montana."

Montana? Eryth snorted, "I'm not in the mood for your jokes, Courrier."

"Haha, yeah," Courrier laughed nervously, "Uh… whether or not that's a joke is up in the air," he rubbed the back of his head, "There's probably a young man out there hunting me down 'cause I'm his father or something."

"Wait, how old are you?" Courrier can't be that old, he looks young… enough.

"Anywhere from forty to forty nine."

"…Oh man, that is a real possibility isn't it?" Eryth whistled.

"Yup."

The team name is pronounced 'injury' and Yang's there because she didn't get her arm cut off by Adam.

Speaking of Adam, he'll come back soon, maybe.

Also new OC, wowee! Instead of deadbeat mothers, we now have a deadbeat father! Move out of the way Marcus Black, there's a new absent father in town!

Thanks for reading!