Upon waking up, Adam had been surprised to find Velvet still asleep at his side. He had fully expected the older girl to beat him to the punch and potentially wake him in some rude fashion or other, but she seemed completely exhausted and remained still within the sleeping bag as Adam began to stir. Slowly and carefully, he exited the bag and then the tent, wearing only his boxers. The cave was surprisingly cold in the early morning, and it didn't take Adam long to decide to return to the tent and get dressed. He hadn't seen anyone wandering about the campsite in his short trip out of the shelter, and the fire pit had long since died. Both Porella and Alice's tents were gone, and all evidence of them had been removed from the area. If he hadn't known any better, Adam would've thought he and Velvet were completely alone.

Adam paused a moment to watch his companion sleep. Velvet's hair was an absolute mess, scattered about haphazardly around her face, neck, and shoulders. Her chest rose and fell softly beneath the rough fabric of the sleeping bag, and she let out tiny snores with each breath. Adam found it strangely cute- something he hadn't thought about any of his teammates, even though some of them were guilty of similar noises. Why it only seemed to apply to Velvet was a bit of a mystery, but it wasn't one that Adam was keen to explore in the moment.

What she had said the night before was still on his mind… and still causing cold knots in his stomach.

At a loss for what else to do, Adam decided to stand before the tent with one hand on his katana just in case. Several minutes passed in silence before he thought to check his scroll, only to find that he had absolutely no signal. Part of him wanted to flick through his contacts to see if anyone happened to be in range… but a bigger part of him didn't want a reminder of who was waiting for him up on the surface world. There was a job to be done, and it wasn't one Adam intended to walk away from.

Fortunately for the young faunus, Adam didn't have to wait long for Porella and Alice to return from parts unknown. The two women were armed and walking side by side, speaking in soft voices as though they were hiding some sort of juicy gossip. Upon seeing Adam awake, Alice was the first to speak in her usual boisterous, confident tone.

"Oi, there he is awake. Thought we'd have to go the whole damned day without you two lovebirds. Get any sleep, or did ya spend the night doing unspeakable things to each other?"

In truth, Adam hadn't gotten much sleep, though not for the reasons Alice had implied. He was indeed thinking about Velvet and watching her for much of the night… but he had other things on his mind. It wasn't as though he had never thought about Velvet in an impure way, but trying to make the distinction to Alice didn't seem worth it at all. She would simply spin his explanation into something else- something annoying.

"…we slept fine," was all the faunus said as he averted his eye.

"Not everyone's as mercilessly horny as you are," Porella said flatly as she put her hands on her hips. "Besides- they may be young, but they're professionals, so far as I can tell."

"Then they oughta be used to handling bad news," Alice considered as she shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. "The two of us did a little bit of scouting and mapping up ahead. There are more tunnels than we'd expected- a lot more that are clear and explorable, all stemming from this chamber. They're also a bit more hazardous than we'd expected this close to the surface. Lots of evidence of grimm presence, along with other things that require special preparations."

"Special preparations?" Adam asked. "Like… what? Do we need equipment we don't have?"

"Equipment we don't have with us at the moment, yes," Porella answered. "I do have most of it at the museum, though some of it might require a shopping trip. There are insects down here that could prove deadly, some traps, likely nests of grimm, poison fumes, and who knows what else. That leads to the next point- Adam, you and Velvet were fun to bring along and you may be able to help point us from the surface from time to time, but… this is where your journey below ground ends. The danger and time commitment are simply too great to ask you to continue on with us. Alice and I will take it from here."

Oddly enough, Adam was far more disappointed than seemed appropriate for the situation. The thrill of being on what amounted to a secret mission, the fact that he was finally off doing his own thing without the others watching his every move and silently judging him, and the fact that whatever it was they were looking for might be related to his people… it was all too good to pass up. He didn't care if it would take the entire vacation, or if it was dangerous. Adam wasn't about to back down so easily.

"What kind of time commitment?" he asked, standing up a bit straighter. "If it's a few days, I can make it work…"

"Could be," Alice considered. "Could be weeks. Months. These types of expeditions sometimes go for years, mate. There's a high likelihood you'd be tagging along for some of the most dangerous and experimental parts of delving into lower and lower chambers for none of the payoff. Makes no sense for you to come along, really. Just know when to fold and we'll escort you back up. Maybe send some video if we find anything interesting."

"But you need us," Adam tried. "Safety in numbers and all that…"

"It might be safer for us with you two," Porella considered. "Or we could end up getting you both killed. I know you both mean well, but you literally didn't sign up for this, and things tend to trend more dangerous the deeper you go beneath Vacuo. I wasn't expecting near vertical tunnels, but that's what we're dealing with in some of the branching paths. I appreciate your eagerness and I like having you around, Adam, but all things considered…"

"What if I make the time?" Adam asked, growing more desperate. "What if… what if I don't care if it's weeks or months? I could just… stay."

"…beyond your vacation?" Alice questioned.

The answer came more easily than Adam expected it to. It was something he had been thinking about the night before when his mind wasn't specifically on Velvet. After all… who could actually stop him from remaining in Vacuo if he felt that he needed to? What if he just didn't go back?

"…yeah," Adam answered. "Yeah, maybe…"

Willow Schnee sat on the couch in the living room of the beach house as the very structure seemed to come alive around her. She had gotten somewhat used to being around groups of people in various states of undress after spending a few months with her friends at Beacon, and even walked in on a few of them doing some rather private things. Acclimating took her quite some time, but by the end of the school year, Willow had thought she had it down. Her suspicions were confirmed by the fact that she was more or less totally unbothered by STRQ, OKRA, BASS, and Cerise walking throughout the house in underwear, robes, and regular clothes, getting food from the kitchen, using the facilities, and just generally making chaos in the early hours of the morning.

It was so different from life back in the mansion. So much louder, so much more distracting, and so much weirder. At the same time, though… it felt more like home to Willow than Atlas ever had.

"So, what I got from Fox is that everything's fucked," Cerise said while pouring a cup of coffee in the kitchen. "That about right?"

"I don't really know another way of putting it," Willow admitted as she turned her head to look at the newcomer. "I'm so sorry you got caught up in all of this, but we're happy to have you along all the same. Engaging with that Sienna Khan woman on our behalf was… more than we could ever have asked from you."

"Yeah, well," Cerise considered as she looked over the options of what else to add into the drink while staring into the refrigerator. "I quite like at least one of you foreigners. Maybe two. Three on a good day."

"I can feel the love," Taiyang commented. The blond was leaning back into the countertop with his own cup of coffee, freshly showered and still a bit damp. "Somewhat literally."

"You're alright," Cerise clarified. "Though I could see you getting on my nerves with your Semblance. I can also see myself getting on everyone's nerves with… myself."

Kali let out a small chuckle as she watched Cerise closely from another couch in the living room. Her expression was decidedly neutral, lending her intentions an air of mystery. Roman tried to read her face and failed, his own incredibly conflicted.

"Trust me, babe- we all get on each other's nerves from time to time," the faunus commented. "Nothing you do will be especially heinous compared to some of the shit some of us have pulled with the group. That includes Roman."

"Do we have to keep bringing that up?" Roman asked, his expression turning sour. "Yeah. We had sex. I wasn't exactly planning on dragging her into this whole shadow-war-save-the-world quest we're apparently on or whatever, and you and I weren't an official thing yet. Can we please just drop it from here on out, especially now that Cerise is working with us directly?"

"…Kali?" Cerise asked before taking a long sip. "I'm up for moving on from it all if you are."

"Considered it water under the bridge," Kali said with a shrug as the front door of the house opened. "Speaking of water, you're drenched…"

"It's hot in that tower," Fox explained away as he entered the beach house and wiped his forehead with the back of a hand. "Even at night. I miss anything?"

"Not really," Ghira answered. He was sitting next to Kali, with Raven on his other side. "A brief discussion about the plan for the day and our next steps."

Fox paused in the foyer, feeling for the auras present in the building. Everyone he expected to be there was there, save for Velvet and Adam. Qrow and Summer were up on the second floor, while the others were in various places around him on the ground level.

"…don't we have classes?" Fox asked uncertainly. "Or am I getting my days mixed up with all the stress and confusion of yesterday?"

"We do," Sage confirmed while casting a sidelong glance at Ghira. "But that hardly seems important right now. Speaking to Professor Gumo as a team- a full team- should take priority."

"Agreed," Ghira said with a nod. "Which is why we need to make sure Velvet gets back today and that we play our cards carefully moving forward. From speaking extensively with Summer last night and this morning, it is likely that our role in Professor Gumo's eyes with change because of the situation."

"Yeah," was all Fox said before moving into the living room and sitting on the carpet near the coffee table. "Yeah, that… makes sense."

"Stop blaming yourself already," Cerise ordered as she, too, entered the room. "No one's mad at you. This might end up being a good thing, overall. We've all got purpose, now. I'm gonna come with you to see the headmaster."

"Likely a good plan," Willow encouraged as Cerise sat down beside her. The heiress took her scroll out of her pocket to check the time as she spoke. "The headmaster is…"

There was an awkward pause as Willow's eyes widened and she continued to stare at her scroll.

"…yeah…?" Kali encouraged.

"…calling me," Willow finished before looking up at her friend. "Professor Ozpin is calling, right now."

"…are you going to pick up?" Raven asked.

"Should I?" Willow returned, sounding almost scared. "I-I don't know what to say without Professor Gumo or Professor Calavera. What do we even…"

"I'll get Summer and Qrow," Taiyang volunteered as he made for the staircase. "Just pick up and stall!"

Willow bit her bottom lip and did as she was told, connecting the call before setting the device on speakerphone and putting it on the table before her.

"…hello…?"

"Miss Schnee," came the familiar voice over the line. "I'm sorry I missed all of you yesterday. It sounds like we desperately need to talk about Salem."

Author's Note:

This should go well.

-RD