Penny had never received a letter before.

Not that many people knew Penny existed in the first place. Vale's advertising industry, as mighty and ingenious as it was, hadn't detected her presence the way it had followed Weiss or Pyrrha across continents. Even they received the great majority of communication via their scrolls.

Penny had to be notified by scroll that she had a physical letter waiting for her, a sequence which made zero sense to her.

It was with enormous curiosity that she went to Beacon's mailroom (after looking up the location of said mailroom) to see who could have written her a letter.

The envelope was no help; the return address was blank. Curiosity swelling even higher, she opened the letter and read.

Dear Carrot Top,

I don't know why I'm writing this, really. You can't see it, but as I'm sitting here, Neo is staring at me like I've gone crazy. I suppose I have, a little bit.

You see, I've got nothing but contempt for the lifestyle you've chosen. "Helping the innocent" when there's no such thing as innocence, being a "paragon" when what that word actually means is "target"… ugh, I feel starched just thinking about it.

The thing is, you thwarted me three times, a couple of times without even meaning to. You've been a major pain in my ass. I would have loved to find a time and place to put you down like the mad dog you are, but I'm not in the Kingdom anymore. In fact, as far as you're concerned, I'm not on the planet anymore, which is how I want it.

Even so, I still want to get my revenge on you eventually, and I can't do that if you're dead. So let me offer you this piece of free, possibly life-saving advice.

Get out now.

I mean it. Quit the Academy—no, better, just ghost on 'em, don't give them the chance to tell you 'no'. Just disappear into thin air like I did.

You have no idea the scope of the board you've wandered on to. You're blundering into a contest of powers your puny brain can't even imagine, let alone comprehend. Beacon is toast, it just doesn't know it yet, and you will be too if you stick around.

So get out. Scram. Find another line of work—or burn yourself up protecting ingrates, whatever, it makes no difference to me. Just stay out of the way. That's what I'm doing, and if you follow my example in nothing else, follow it in this.

Because Neo insists (stop poking me, woman!): yes, I'm perfectly aware you'll probably ignore this, because do-gooders gotta do-good. That's fine. Like I said, no skin off my nose. But I'll feel better knowing I tried.

Sincerely,

Roman Torchwick

P.s.: Blondie and the Schnee can get bent, though.

Penny re-read the letter three times.

Repetition did not aid comprehension.


Adam ground his teeth together in frustration.

He, and members of the Vale Branch core, were returning to their base camp after a meeting with some of their reservists. The reservists reported that they were standing by, they were still working on recruiting, they were keeping pamphlets and memes and all the Fang's messaging flowing…

…but where were the rallies Adam had promised? Where was the materiel, the weapons and logistical support? When were they supposed to start the "big operation" Adam had promised them? What, they'd asked pointedly, even was the "big operation", whose details Adam still kept close to his chest?

And Adam would not, would never admit that the traitor Blake and the coward Torchwick had thrown all those plans into disarray.

Being unable to say that, of course, had left him with little room to maneuver and few satisfactory explanations. The reservists had seemed to accept his promises that action was coming, but their reluctance- their doubts- were clear as day.

He wondered if he'd be able to count on them when it mattered.

At least he still had his core. Panzoa bless his core. Without them, he didn't think he could get anything done.

As the core's base camp came into sight, he felt a prickle of awareness, a twisting sense of uncertainty. Something wasn't right. "Rover," he said, "are we being watched?"

Rover closed his eyes and his Aura shimmered. Adam fancied he could see the bubble of Rover's sense of self expanding, spreading such that he could feel the attentions of other living things.

Rover shook his head. "Other than us, there are no humans or Faunus out to the limits of my range."

Adam had to believe that. "Alright," he said, but as he turned away he saw a dark shape in the trees. He peered more closely and identified it as a large bird, some kind of corvid, maybe.

"Caw," it said in his direction.

Adam leveled his sheathed sword at it. "Don't make yourself a nuisance."

Maybe the bird understood. Or maybe Adam was projecting in the hopes of clawing back some control. Either way, the bird fluttered off into the dark. Adam felt better.

Birds. Those stupid, filthy animals.


"And over there is the combat theater," Penny said. "We have the practicals for our combat classes there. It's where we duel and spar, and it's sturdy enough that we can go close to all out."

"Are you saying you fight each other?" said Ruby.

"Primarily, yes," said Penny. This tour of Beacon she was giving to Ruby was great fun! Penny was learning that she liked sharing knowledge and helping people understand. The satisfaction was immense.

She was glad Ruby had tracked her down by her scroll. She would have appreciated an alert beforehand, but Ruby implied that was no longer possible. Another problem for Penny to solve, when the conversation returned to that topic. For now, she refocused. "Sparring practice between equals is doubly effective. When one person practices alone, they get better, but when two people practice together, they both get better."

"Huh," said Ruby. "I guess it's different from my situation. I was the only student where I was being trained, people were brought in just to teach me."

"That makes you sound very important," said Penny. "Which I suppose makes sense for someone who's going to save the world!"

Ruby looked very nervous at those words. "What about over there? What's that big building?"

"The gymnasium," said Penny. "There's exercise equipment for working on personal fitness beyond just your weapons work. People also play physical games there."

"Like what?" said Ruby.

Retrieval's search came up empty. "I realize I've never actually seen," said Penny. "My body maintains its strength without me having to exercise. I've never even entered the gym."

"I guess that makes sense," said Ruby.

"But my teammates have," said Penny, rallying. "Yang in particular likes to spend her free time there. They say she is 'a regular gym rat'."

"I didn't think rats were well known for being strong," said Ruby.

"Right?" said Penny, excited to have someone sharing her views on the subject. "And I can't imagine any member of Order Rodentia finding either food or shelter in a place like a gym." She leaned in and whispered, "This is called 'idiom'."

Ruby gave her an intense look. "That's not you calling me names," she said after a time.

"Correct, well done," said a proud Penny.

"Ugh, I hate words," said Ruby. "I hate that I have to use words to get my meaning across. I wish people could communicate just with their feelings, or just by knowing about each other. I want it to be where someone can just point at where I need to go, and I go and do what needs to be done."

"But how would you know what needs to be done?"

"There's only one kind of mission, when you get right down to it," said Ruby. Her expression was hidden behind her sunglasses, as usual, but her right hand was patting her left forearm, where her bracer was hidden– the bracer Penny had observed her getting orders from.

"But if we didn't use words," said Penny, "there are ideas that would be very difficult to get across."

"Like what?"

"Like," said Penny, stopping and turning to face Ruby head-on, "would you go to the dance with me?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, that's kind of a more complicated idea. I can see why you need words for that."

Penny blinked. "I mean, would you go to the dance with me?"

"That's what you said the first time," said Ruby. "It's a great example."

Penny giggled in realization. "That wasn't just an example. I'm asking you to go to the dance with me!"

"I'd love to…wait, what's a dance?"

That Ruby was ignorant was no longer a surprise, though it remained alarming. "It's a social event," said Penny. "You take along someone who you have friendly or romantic links to, and then you dress up and dance and eat snacks and socialize."

"I like snacks," said Ruby.

"Then I am sure you will like the dance," said Penny gamely.

"'Friendly or romantic links'?" said Ruby questioningly.

"Indeed," said Penny, artfully (in her opinion) avoiding having to specify what she meant.

"When is it?" said Ruby.

"Next weekend," said Penny. She frowned. "How do you not know the schedule of events here? This is all part of the Vytal Festival. Aren't you here for the Festival?"

"Not to be in it," said Ruby uncomfortably. "It's… kind of a coincidence, but kinda not?"

"You are making me appreciate how feeble words are," said Penny. "Why are you here, then?"

"Classified," said Ruby.

"Which part?"

"Yes."

That was frustratingly non-specific. Penny glanced at Ciel, who was following at a respectful distance. "Does she know about any of it?"

"She knows less than you do," said Ruby. "She doesn't know my name. She hasn't seen my eyes."

"Your eyes are a secret?" said Penny.

Ruby's mouth opened, then took on an expression of false cheer. "Nope! Nothing weird or strange or magical about them at all!"

Ruby was ruining Penny's statistics on irony detection. Ruby was so uniquely bad at irony that Penny was sure she could catch her every time. "I would not have thought there was anything secret about them until you said so," said Penny.

"Well, your memory is computer memory, right? Can't you just, I don't know, delete that info?"

"I could," said Penny, but her thoughts went to the memory hole she still carried. "I do not like forgetting altogether. It is very uncomfortable. I can suppress memories and make them harder to retrieve instead. Would that suffice?"

"I guess," said Ruby.

"So... why are your eyes so important?" said Penny.

"Classified," mumbled Ruby, sounding duller and quieter every time she spoke.

"I don't like 'classified'," said Penny.

"It's for my safety," said Ruby.

"Your safety? But who would want to hurt you, and what does that have to do with your eyes?"

"Classified," said Ruby.

Penny didn't want to take this chance, but she felt like she needed to know. "Classified by whom?"

"Well…"

"We are being escorted by an Atlas student," said Penny, gesturing behind them to Ciel, who politely averted her eyes. "You wield Atlas-exclusive technology. You appear to be…"

"Please stop," Ruby begged.

Penny stopped.

"It's not good for me to be bad at keeping secrets," said Ruby as she wrung her hands together. "It's not safe. I have to be better."

Her response reminded Penny of Weiss and her unceasing devotion to perfection, followed by anxiety when perfection turned out to be unattainable.

And Weiss was as Atlesian as a person could be.

Analysis looked even deeper, calling up Roman's letter. A contest of powers your puny brain can't even imagine. Was this, possibly, what he meant? Silver eyes, classified, Atlas, hidden dangers- all elements of something bigger that Analysis couldn't link together in ten thousand hours of computation, not without additional data. Penny was skirting the edge of something; Ruby was neck-deep in it.

For Penny, this was not a deterrent.

"I am sorry for making you uncomfortable," said Penny. Tactical pointed out she'd gotten the information she wanted anyway. This didn't make her feel better. "Would you like to talk about the dance some more?"

"I'm not sure if I'd be allowed to go to the dance," said Ruby.

"How will you know until you ask?" Penny said reasonably.

"Can we talk about something else?" said Ruby with increasing desperation.

Her discomfort was causing rising discomfort for Penny. What was a safe topic? Weapons! They both loved weapons. "I was fascinated by the particle beam built into your Argent Grasp," said Penny. "I asked my armaments instructor about it, and he said you'd have to be a super-genius to be able to miniaturize such a weapon!"

"Well," said Ruby modestly, "I'm just a weapons nerd, I had a real super genius helping me."

"I had been wanting to implement such a weapon into Electra," said Penny. "That would solve many of the problems inherent to my ranged options. Do you suppose you could show me how you did it? How you accomplished that much miniaturization?"

Ruby's face scrunched up. "Classified," she squeaked.

Oh. Of course. Penny should have known better. "I'm sorry," she said again, despairing at how often she'd needed to say those words.

"Fifteen minute warning," Ciel called from behind them.

"I really do enjoy talking to you," Penny said. "Even if I made this sadly awkward."

"Yeah," said Ruby, though she did still look ruffled. "It was fun."

"Would you like to talk to me more?"

"It's actually pretty difficult for me to get you messages from the ship… I mean, from where I'm staying," she said.

"I thought you might have that problem," said Penny. She reached into a pocket and withdrew a cheap scroll. "This is called a burner," she said. "It is inexpensive and has a limited lifespan. This means it is not a security risk of any kind. You can use it to contact me. I know you have my number."

Ruby looked at the innocent device as if it was a ticking bomb. "Have you, like, virus scanned it or anything?"

Penny blinked. "I have not," she admitted, "but it seems unlikely a device like this would be compromised. It's factory-fresh, and a hypothetical attacker would have no idea who might get it, so any effort to compromise it would be almost certainly wasted."

Ruby stared at the device a little longer, long enough for Penny to try to imagine how many millions of calculations her friend was performing at that moment. "I'll take it," she said, "but I can't guarantee that I'll use it. It might not be safe."

"That's okay," said Penny. "I would never ask you to put yourself in danger for me."

"That might be how it works anyway," Ruby said, apparently to herself.

"When you go to save the world," said Penny.

Ruby's face looked like she was trying to pull her words back into her mouth.

"I do not mind that," said Penny. "In fact, I would like to save the world with you!"

Ruby chuckled. "I'm sure you do, but I don't think you…"

Penny waited several seconds for Ruby to finish her sentence. She didn't. Penny guessed a meaning and filled the void. "The biggest threat to the world—and by world I think we mean 'civilization'—is the grimm. I am here learning to be a Huntress, and afterwards, I will fight the grimm. I believe our missions are as compatible as we are."

Ruby smiled. "You know, you might be right!" She looked at the burner scroll and gave a decisive nod. "And now that I think about it, that might be just the argument I need."

"Sensational!" said Penny.

"You mean you're sensational," said Ruby, putting an arm around Penny's shoulders and tugging her in.

"I am feeling a great many sensations right now," said Penny.

Ruby giggled.


Yang shifted the dress in her arms, safe in its protective sleeve. She looked to her side, where Weiss was carrying one of her own, along with several bags. Yang had gallantly offered to carry them for Weiss. Weiss had replied that people had carried things for her all her life- specifically, servants. Inferiors. She would not think of Yang the same way.

Yang would never stop Weiss from trying to be a better person.

As they left the airship and walked onto the docks, they saw Penny standing at a nearby dock, looking wistfully into the sky. "Hey, Pennster," said Yang.

"Hello, Friend Yang!" said Penny, waving merrily... if somewhat distractedly.

Yang could do basic math. "Garnet was just here, huh?"

Penny's smile could have lit up the world. "I had a very good time with her today."

"I can tell," said Weiss- drily, but not mean-spiritedly.

Penny finally looked away from the sky, but when her eyes fell upon her teammates, she looked back and forth between them quickly. "You also look like you had a good time with each other today."

"I suppose we did," said Weiss, characteristically playing it cool. Which was... not really in Yang's skillset.

Penny looked at Yang, at Weiss, at Yang, at Weiss, eyes growing wider each time. Eventually her eyes stopped on Yang and she clapped in excitement. "You tried on clothes together!"

"I... guess?" said Weiss.

"That is at the very top of the list of Friendship Things!" said Penny, walking up to the two of them and beaming with pride. "I'm so happy that the two of you are finally becoming such good friends!"

Weiss shot Yang A Look.

Yang choked on her tongue.


"General?"

James Ironwood looked up from his console. He'd been reviewing the latest reports on all the potential threats surrounding Vale. This was going to be the site of the big battle, he was sure of it, and his certainty grew every time he saw a report. Vale might not be strong enough to defend itself; Atlas would be there to pick up the slack. To that end, he had to be sure that every tool was ready, every option available.

One of his options was standing before him now, looking particularly unready. "Yes, Agent Garnet?" he asked.

Ruby gave a slight cringe at the words. Ironwood sympathized in hindsight. He was one of only two people, besides Ruby herself, who knew her real name. (Three, he supposed, considering Watts was still out there.) Him calling her by her name was a rare luxury; calling her something other than that name, even when it was important for concealing her identity, felt bad in comparison.

Perhaps he should have felt more secure aboard this ship, but he defaulted to code talk anywhere outside of Home Base.

She shrugged it off. "Sir, I'm glad that you've let me go down to Beacon these past few days. I've seen so much!"

Ironwood smiled. "Beacon doesn't have the grandeur or technology of Atlas Academy," he said with pride, "but it has a charm of its own. It's a quaint little place."

Ruby scrunched up her face the way she did when she encountered new words. It didn't last. "I was wondering if I'd be able to do that again this weekend."

"Maybe," said Ironwood, looking to his console to check his threat projections on when action was likely.

"Specifically, on the night of the dance."

Ironwood's head whipped back around. Different ways of thinking were engaging. Suspicious ways. "Why that night particularly?"

Ruby put her hands behind her back and squirmed. "Well… the thing is…"

"Is this an official request?"

"Uh… I guess?"

"Then mind your bearing," he said sternly.

"Oh! Right!" She snapped to attention, almost too rigidly. "Respectfully request permission to go to Beacon the night of the dance."

"Why then?" Ironwood repeated.

"To… well, to go to the dance," Ruby said, as if each word could barely squeeze through her embarrassment.

"Why would you want to go to the dance?" Ironwood said in disbelief.

"I hear they're going to have snacks there. I like snacks."

"You can get snacks here," said Ironwood. It was true: the ship's galley was not an extensive one, but it fed them well enough.

"Well, you remember what you told me about knowing who it was I'm protecting? Well, the people there will be Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, right? Those are the people who are most likely to be in danger from the grimm, so they're people who need protecting. If I meet them and spend time with them, won't that be learning the way you said?"

Ironwood looked at her as unease rose within his belly. "People you've seen while you've been on campus?"

"Sure, I'm bound to see some of the same people," she said. "Most of the students on campus will be going to the dance, right? I'm sure I'll see some people I've seen before. I think it might be fun."

"Fun," he repeated.

"To be with people, you know?"

Ironwood very nearly let his automatic response slip past his lips. What does fun have to do with being the Great Hope of Atlas? It would have been so easy to say those words. He'd said them before, correctly, and meant them.

And yet... it was precisely because he'd said them before that he felt a twinge of hesitation. Keeping Ruby's nose to the grindstone to make sure she was as ready as possible was more than defensible, it was necessary. At this point, though, when she had nothing to do and nowhere to go on board this ship… well, it was no wonder she kept asking to go visit Beacon.

Ironwood looked at his console again, saw the list of threat indicators there. If Ruby didn't go to this dance, she wouldn't have another chance to have fun for a long time. Possibly, if worst came to worst, ever.

"Your opportunities to go to Beacon are almost gone," he said.

"The fight's coming?"

"Closer every day."

She swallowed and nodded, and such a look of resignation came over her face that even Mettle couldn't save Ironwood from the way his stomach lurched.

"Tell me what security measures you'll take to preserve your identity," he said.

Ruby lit up in excitement. "You mean I can go?!"

"I didn't say that," said Ironwood. "I'm saying I need to know how you'd stay safe before I make a decision."

"Okay," said Ruby, rubbing her hands together. "I'd keep the sunglasses on, obviously. And… when I got to the dance… um…"

Ironwood raised an eyebrow. Perhaps asking someone who didn't know from dances to talk about a dance wasn't a fair request.

"I'll only stick with people I know?" said Ruby.

Ironwood's other eyebrow went up. "You know people at Beacon?"

"N-no! Of course not!" said Ruby. "I meant, like, Ciel. Ciel is going to the dance, right?"

"She is now," said Ironwood, tapping a button. "Yes, you'll stay with people you know the whole time, you'll keep the sunglasses on the whole time, and you'll leave the party no later than midnight."

Ruby snapped back to attention despite her failing composure. "Yes, sir!" she said with a salute so exuberant it was at her hairline instead of her temple.

Ironwood couldn't help but be amused by it. As much as he, Atlas, the whole world needed Ruby to be the weapon he knew she could be… he would have had to have been a robot himself to not feel some paternal instinct towards her. He lamented, not for the first time, how cruel the world was that she didn't get to have a real family of her own. All she had in the end was him. And all he could do was mold her as best he could, even if that meant she never got to be a child.

But none of that would matter as long as they won. She could hate him afterwards, if she liked. He wouldn't mind that.

"Carry on," he said.

She was gone almost before he'd finished enunciating.


Next times: Lives and Lights