Unlike their sister team who were currently at a bar the members of RWBY hadn't chosen to stay up late, the life of a Huntsman didn't encourage much of a nightlife unless one was taking a break and that was a condition that did not apply to them right now. So they wished each other pleasant dreams, turned off the lights, settled into their beds, began drifting off, and they were collectively awakened by the sound of someone rudely knocking at their door.

"Who's there?" asked an irritated and sleepy Weiss to the rest of her team who were just in the dark as she was.

Mere moments ago there had been a knock on the door of their dorm room which by itself wasn't anything too unusual as they had the good fortune of having friends for neighbors but this time was different. For as rowdy as Team PRAN could be they always had the good mind to avoid any nighttime visit out of respect for the work that was demanded of a student of the top Huntsman Academy on Remnant. However, none of that applied right now since there was a far bigger reason why it wasn't Team PRAN knocking at their door at this time of the night; Team PRAN was currently at a bar in downtown Vale.

"Since you're already up, why don't you check?" suggested Ruby from beneath the cover of her blanket.

The heiress wanted to protest but couldn't really think of any good objections so she left her bed with minimal grumbling and started making her way toward the door. Whoever it was beginning to knock all over again much to everyone's irritation, "This better not be someone's idea of a practical joke," Weiss spoke out loud to herself. When she arrived at the door she decided to first look through the peephole but opened the door the moment she saw who it was. "Are you alright!?"

Velvet Scarlatina stood at the doorway making no attempt to hide the worry on her face, "I'm fine but I- um, can I come inside?"

"Of course come inside!"

"Thank you," Velvet quickly stepped inside and made her way to the center of the room, "I'm sorry to bother you all like this but, I have some information that I think you'll want to hear."

"Couldn't it have waited till morning?" Yang asked, trying her best not to sound too upset at having to wake herself up.

Velvet shook her head, "This has to do with the White Fang."

The name sent a bolt of energy straight into the veins of Team RWBY shocking them all out of their slumber and into focused alertness as they picked themselves out of their beds and began to barrage the poor Faunus with questions, "Did they hurt someone? Are they stealing more Dust? Where are they!? Is it Adam? Is it Rage?...," were just a few examples that Velvet had been able to make out and sadly she did not have an answer to any of them except for perhaps one.

"I know where they might be!" That one sentence worked like a magic spell creating silence where it once didn't exist and she took the opportunity to temper their expectations, "I haven't confirmed anything yet but it's urgent."

"Urgent!? Are they planning an attack?" asked Blake which put the rest of her team on edge.

"That was a poor choice of words on my part. What I mean is that the information is only good for a couple of days." She then reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll, "There are some rumors that the White Fang is going to be holding a recruitment drive in a few days and I have the address."

Thanks to her Semblance, Ruby was able to zoom over to Velvet's side in a blink of an eye and get a look at the screen of her scroll, "They're holding the meeting at the Dock but, why? The police upped their patrols after the robbery that Roman tried to pull there."

"Unless our theory is true and they do have friends within the force," Weiss pointed out.

"How did you even get this information?" asked Yang.

"Winchester told me," replied Velvet.

"WHAT!?"

"Team CRDL was volunteering at a homeless shelter that my teammate Yatsuhashi told them about and while they were working there they overheard some Faunus talking about an upcoming drive that they planned on attending. So Cardin and his team asked a few questions and called Yatsuhashi to tell him what they found and then he told me to tell you."

There was a brief moment of silence that was broken by a relieved sigh from the members of RWBY which in turn confused Velvet prompting Blake to explain their reaction, "Sorry about that, it's just that after the Docks and the Raid a simple recruitment drive sounds almost pleasant."

"That makes a lot of sense."

Weiss began stroking her chin while thinking about how they should handle this information, "Well to start with, we are going to need more information," she looked right at Blake, "Maybe you and Sun can go undercover to that shelter."

"I can but Sun would be recognized by anyone paying attention to the news."

Ruby then had a great idea, "Then Sun can volunteer at the kitchen with Neptune while you and Velvet go undercover and try to learn more!"

"Wait! Wait! Wait a moment!" Velvet was waving her arms in the air, "When did I get involved in any of this? All I wanted to do was tell you about something that I knew you'd want to know, please don't involve me any further than this," she began walking toward the door.

Blake got up from her bed and opened the door up for her friend, "Thank you for telling us and we're sorry for not taking your feelings into consideration."

Velvet paused just before walking through the doorway and for a moment they dared hoped that she had changed her mind, "Just be careful," she then resumed walking and kept walking until she reached her own dorm.

Meanwhile, Blake closed the door feeling just a little disappointed but not at all surprised, This is her choice and I need to respect that. For a brief moment, her mind went to someone that she thought Adam might have said about this, Cowards are more than happy to fall in line as long as it means they're the last one in line for the noose, they need a wake-up call before they'll stand with their brothers. She shook her head as she walked back to her bunk bed, I mustn't think like that.

Soon afterward the rest of Team RWBY went back to their beds with their tired sleepy heads full of plans and ideas of how they could act on the information that they've just received. Each one of them had their own ideas of what they should do as a group and what they could do on their own but they all agreed on three points: The first was that they needed more information, the second was that they needed help, and the third was that Velvet had great legs… they had perhaps underestimated how sleepy they were.

"So how do we want to tackle this?" Yang asked the rest of her team.

"I think we should sleep on it for now and ask the others what they think over breakfast," answered Ruby as she slid her sleep mask into place.

"Are sure that we should," Weiss asked, garnering everyone's attention. "They have just taken part in a police raid and now you want to drag them into something else?"

"All we're asking them is to help confirm what Velvet told us!"

"And then what? You know how they are, if they think we need help then they are going to try and help us regardless of how badly they need the rest."

"But all we're going to do is confirm what Velvet told us, what could possibly go wrong?"

Weiss let out an exasperated sigh, "You're only thinking about the short term but what are you going to do if we do learn something and they want to act on it? How are you going to tell them no?"

Ruby struggled to come up with a retort but she couldn't think of one, her partner was completely right and she knew it. Growing up in a family of Huntsmen meant that they had gone out of their way to make sure both she and her sister knew the two biggest slayers of Huntsmen: Overconfidence and Overwork.

"Maybe we shouldn't check this out," Yang suddenly suggested.

"What!?" Weiss couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Just because I don't want to get others involved doesn't mean that I think this isn't worth pursuing!"

Even Blake was shocked, "What are we supposed to do then!?" she asked her partner as anger began to creep into her voice.

"We tell Ozpin and let him decide what to do about it and that's it. I can see no reason for us to risk ourselves or anyone else to chase after a recruitment drive."

Blake was not satisfied with that answer, "You don't know that! None of us know that for sure and even if Velvet heard right and it was just a recruitment drive, we should check it out anyway just in case we learn something."

"Is that true?" Ruby quietly asked, "Is there something we could learn there?"

Now all eyes were on Blake who was carefully considering what she should say next because the truth was that she didn't know, Joining the White Fang is a massive commitment as well as a huge risk, and the kind people they want aren't the type to blindly join, in the past we'd have to give them an idea of how we planned to achieve our goals. But right now Adam can just remind people of Rage and imply he wants to hold the Kingdom accountable and thanks to his video, most would believe him…, "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Blake shook her head, "In the past, I would have said yes but… they've been acting strangely. The only thing that I know for sure is that something changed after I left."

Ruby took off the blindfold and looked right at her, "Do you think this is going to help you figure it out?"

"Yes... maybe? I-I don't know."

"Alright, then let's do it."

"That's it? I just told you that I don't really know if this will actually help."

"Yes it will," Ruby stated as though it was an obvious thing. "This is important to you which means it's important to all of us."

Weiss was more than happy to agree, "Besides if I am to undo the damage my father caused then I need to hear their complaints. Dr. Bartholomew's lessons on the subject are helpful but I cannot rely entirely on second-hand accounts."

"And if we learn that the recruitment drive is real?" Yang asked her sister.

"We'll tell Oz and figure out what to do after that," Ruby answered her and ending the conversation.

Beacon was home to many strange sights and the cafeteria was no exception to that rule, however, it must be understood that what constituted as "Strange," varied from person to person, for example, a 1st-year student might find it strange that anyone even a professor like Peter Port was allowed to keep live Grimm on campus grounds but that same student from their 2nd-year onward would think the practice perfectly natural and even view their past reaction as a bit silly. However, there were some things that virtually everyone would regard as being completely out of the ordinary and right now in the middle of breakfast Team PRAN found themselves looking at four such examples sitting across themselves.

Team RWBY was rightfully considered by many to be one of the most promising 1st-year teams Beacon has ever seen but right now they were a far cry from what their prodigious reputation would suggest. At this moment the entire team was a drowsy mess, their eyes were baggy, yawns kept escaping from their mouths, Ruby was wearing her prized cape backwards, Weiss's immaculately applied makeup was now completely absent, Blake's bow was crooked and in the wrong spot, Yang's hair was ever so slightly frizzled, and all four of them were chugging down coffee as though it was their new religion

"What's wrong with you guys?" Nora bluntly asked.

"I don't think they got any sleep last night, perhaps it has something to do with Penny's absence?" Ren asked looking at the empty spot where their mutual friend usually sat.

Jaune also glanced at the empty seat, She's usually so punctual but I'm sure she has a reason just like I'm sure there's a good reason why RWBY is so out of it today. Suddenly an unnerving thought popped into his head, Was there something that I had forgotten? I better ask them. "Were you guys up studying for an upcoming test or some homework that's due soon?" Please say no! It's hard keeping my grades up as high as they are!

Ruby answered without thinking due to her sleep-deprived state "Yes but also not really? We were about to go to sleep when Velvet suddenly showed up and-"

"And you couldn't go to sleep because you kept thinking about her legs? Can't say I blame you." Nora finished for the little reaper who nearly spat out her coffee.

"NO!?"

"You don't think she has great legs?"

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but at the last moment she was able to stop herself from doing so and instead glared at Nora for a second or two before asking accusingly, "You're baiting me, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged!"

Pyrrha gave the younger girl an empathic smile, "It's alright, even I've fallen for her trick a couple of times before I learned how to notice when she was trying to pull a fast one."

"It can be a bit of a pain but Nora means no harm and you have to admit that it was pretty funny," Jaune added.

Blake yawned, "Sorry but I'm too sleepy to appreciate the humor."

"What did Velvet want to talk about?" asked Ren.

Ruby thanks to her still sleepy mind was about to reveal everything despite the decision not to say anything, "Well she got a message from Car-! Ouch!" She glared at Weiss who had kicked her from underneath the table.

However, Weiss simply ignored her partner and instead confidently answered the question for her, "Velvet had a Dust related question for me."

Pyrrha frowned her brows as though she was having trouble understanding something and then asked the obvious question, "But why wouldn't she wait until morning to ask you?"

For a moment Heiress's eyes widened as she realized her mistake, Pyrrha's right! Velvet would never bother anyone in the middle of the night just to pester them with a question. How am I supposed to get out of this corner? She looked over to the Yang who just shrugged and kept drinking her coffee while Blake seemed to be almost amused, Traitors! She then glanced at her partner who just smiled likely out of some misguided sense of payback for the earlier kick to her shins.

Fortunately for her, a distraction walked up to the table and announced itself, "Hey, guys! We were hoping that we'd find you all here," Sun then noticed the empty seat, "Well almost everyone but I guess we can tell Penny later, either way, Neptune and I have something we've got to tell you!" Sun and his partner then set their trays down on the table and sat down to eat.

"It's always a pleasure to see you two," Weiss quickly answered back in an attempt to move away from Jaune's question, I hope I'm never again in such a sleep-deprived state.

Sun and Neptune sat down at the table with them and were about to start eating when Neptune looked at everyone and lingered on Team RWBY. For a moment it looked like he was going to ask about their appearance but then wisely decided not to kick the hornet's nest, "Have you heard about the recruitment drive that the White Fang is going to host?"

Goddammit! Weiss nearly sat up as she pointed an accusatory finger at the pair, "How on earth did you find out about that!?"

"Fox told us."

"Who?"

"He's one of Velvet's teammates and was at the Homeless Shelter, he helped CRDL find out about Drive and called us about what they had learned. So are you guys interested?"

"Interested in what?" asked Pyrrha who got some superseded looks from the people around her so she clarified. "Don't misunderstand me, I'm more than happy to help but I'd first like to know what I'd be helping with."

Sun was all too pleased to answer his fellow team leader, "It alright, you don't have to apologize for anything. In fact, it's more than fine, it's downright reasonable!" He then leaned in for seemingly no other reason than dramatic effect, "We go and volunteer and find out what's going on, and we-!"

"Go undercover and bust the perps!" Nora excitedly suggested

Yang quickly interjected a more reasonable suggestion, "Inform the authorities?"

Neptune was quick to agree with her, "Yes, we'd go and inform the police and the headmaster. Everything that happens afterward will be up to them which naturally includes whether we'd have a role to play from that point forward." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nora pouting so he gave her an apologetic, "Sorry but we got to do things by the book and frankly the chances of them sending us undercover are slim to none."

"But they had no problem putting us in the Raid," Jaune was quick to point out before adding, "Compared to that a rally seems almost laughable."

Ren was the one to answer him, "A police raid requires a certain skill set while going undercover requires a completely different one." But why send us at all? I know Glynda said we were uniquely qualified but what does that actually mean? Is it Pyrrha? No, she's without a doubt one of the strongest students here but there are quite a few upper years who'd be able to beat her… is it Jaune? There's no one else in the school with a Semblance like his but… why would that qualify us for a mission like that? He couldn't think of any answers and had no idea where to even begin looking, eventually, he pushed the question out of his mind to focus on the present.

"Exactly!" Said Sun while pointing at Ren for emphasis before expanding on what he said. "Besides the only ones who would be allowed inside the Drive are me and Blake which isn't going to work because I've been on TV recently."

At this moment Jaune was distracted by his scroll's alert going off, picking it up he found that he had an urgent message from Penny, "I need to tell you something." Included with the message was an attachment that he soon discovered was a map of the entire school, Beacon has a multi-story basement? That's just weird... Filing that thought away to be forgotten later, he then got up from his seat garnering the attention of his friends.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Pyrrha, looking a little concerned and surprised by his actions.

"Everythings fine, I just have something I want to check out before classes start."

Unsurprisingly his vague answer did little to assure her or anyone else but at the same time, none of them really had any reason to press him further on the subject. Even Pyrrha had little problem accepting his decision not to tell her anything, If he didn't tell me it's because it's not my business. "Alright, then, I'll save you a seat at class."

"Thanks!"

She watched as he walked away still unable to get rid of that feeling of unease and for a moment she recalled a bit of advice she received back home, Everything your subordinates do is your business. In hindsight it was rather obvious that much of the "advice," she had been given back home was borne out of some need for control even at the expense of others, Thank the Brothers I got out of there, I dread to think of living the rest of my life as a tool for someone else. With that last thought she turned her attention back onto breakfast and the ongoing conversation, before too long she completely forgot why she was ever worried.

Jaune, on the other hand, felt his worry grow with every step towards the meeting and nothing he said to himself could convince him that something wasn't wrong, Penny may be a strange girl but she'd never miss a chance to hang out if her friends or ask to meet like this unless it was important. The closer he got the more he thought about it and the more certain he became that something had indeed gone wrong which in turn made his next step come a little faster than the previous. Before long he was jogging down the hallway and would have doubtlessly broken into a sprint had he not arrived at his destination first, the class where she had first scanned him.

Not knowing what to expect he first knocked at the door and waited but heard no response, Did I get here before her, or is this the wrong room? He checked the directions on his scroll and found to his confusion that no mistake had been made, So either I got here first or for some reason, she's not answering. Seeing no other options he cautiously opened the door and saw that Penny was nervously pacing up and down the classroom floor while wringing her hands with her head down and mumbling something to herself that he couldn't quite make out. However, the thing that stuck out the most to him was how despite all her sensors, she didn't hear the knock on the door nor did she notice him enter. Somethings wrong.

"Penny?"

Her head suddenly snapped up and turned towards him and for a second neither said anything but then she began to tremble as she stammered out an unexpected apology, "I- I- I- I'M SO SORRY! Y- Y- You trusted me an- and I let you down!"

He took a step towards her intent on calming her down, "Penny, everything is fine. How could you have let me down?"

"My uncle… he knows."

"Huh?" A sick feeling began to grow in his stomach, "What are you talking about? Your uncle? What does he know?" Please don't be what I think it is.

She was quiet and took a step away from him, "I don't want you to hate me…"

"Hate? How could I hate you?" He tried to be outwardly calm but his mind began to run through all kinds of scenarios, each one worse than the last and serving to feed the ever-growing pit in his stomach.

"It was during a routine expectation of my drives and when my uncle looked over the report… he noticed that there was… a file saved on my drive that wasn't there before. He used his security clearance to access the file before saving a copy on his scroll."

"W- what kind of file was it?" A part of him already knew the answer and everything else was desperately hoping that it was wrong.

"It… was your file, the one I made when I scanned you."

It took a second for him to comprehend what he just heard and when he did… he wanted to throw up. His privacy had been violated and it made him sick to think that some unknown person now had that kind of information… What do I do now? What can I do?

"J- Jaune, you trusted me and I let you… down." She wasn't even looking at him anymore, "This never should have happened, this never would have happened if I hadn't been so stupid!"

"But you couldn't have-"

"BUT I DID!" She fell to her knees exhausted, "I knew that an inspection was coming up! I could have, should have deleted the data or at the very least moved it onto an external drive. But instead, I just assumed that Uncle wouldn't notice " At this point, she began sobbing or at least as close as she could get without the ability to produce tears and it was heartbreaking to watch.

Without thinking he walked over and sat right down next to her, I had planned to say something but couldn't find the words. He thought back to his numerous sisters and wondered how they would have handled this and settled on just being completely honest, "I'm not blaming you for anything."

"You should! You should be angry at me."

"I am angry," He noticed her tensing up and felt a pang of guilt so he clarified, "But not at you..."

"You're angry at my uncle…," She didn't even have to run the numbers to figure that one out but that still left her with a bigger problem, a conflict between her friends and her uncle was not a situation she wanted to think about. Calculating…. Suggestion: Appeal to their shared goals. She rejected that idea outright, I won't manipulate his sense of morals! Recalculating… Suggestion: Reveal partial information of what Ironwood knows…

"Penny? You're being awfully quiet, are you okay?"

"He already knew."

"What?"

She looked right at him with, "My uncle is a friend of Headmaster Ozpin and Dr. Gris, he already knew about your condition because they told him." Her sensors were quick to detect subtle movements on his face that suggested he felt a little better, emphasis on little.

At least it's someone who Ozpin trusts but… just how many people know? It's my secret and yet how many has he told? How many have they told? A sickenly familiar feeling of powerlessness crept over his skin, Maybe I'd feel better if I learned something about them? "Could you tell me your uncle's name?" Truth be told he didn't expect her to give it to him but figured it was worth asking anyway but he did not expect her to not say anything at all. "Penny?" There has to be a reason she isn't talking. "What's wrong?"

"What would you do if I told you?"

"I… I don't know what I'd do or if I could do anything at all... but I still want to know."

"Why?"

"They know so much about me, even more than I know about myself and yet I barely know anything about them. That feels so… depowering and I hate feeling like I have no control over my own life."

"I know how that feels…"

It was a barely audible whisper that he would have never noticed if they weren't sitting right next to each other and for a moment Jaune wondered if he had just heard something that was never meant for his ears. What does she mean by that? It wasn't too hard to imagine that it had something to do with her technological nature but imagination could only go so far when it came to truly understand someone else, I want to understand. "What do you mean?"

She didn't say anything, rather she stood up and took a step away from him which naturally made him worry that he had crossed a line by asking however she didn't walk away. "It would be far easier to show you." She bent forward and he watched in wonder as her backside opened up revealing a hollowed-out compartment where he could see a number of folded-up blades neatly stored inside.

"Your weapons? But why put them in here?"

"Because I was built to be a weapon."

"What!?"

"Atlas doesn't like the idea of people risking their lives to fight Grimm, not when there is a far less valuable and infinitely easier to replace option."

Everything clicked together, "The Atlesian Knights but that would mean…"

Her backside closed up and she turned to face him, "The Knights are physically strong, never misunderstand orders, never falter, cheap to make, easy to customize, and easier to replace but, they can't compete with a person."

"So they built you?"

"My Uncle-," This time she was emphasizing that word in a way that caught his attention, "-is very invested in the future defenders of Remnant and wanted a way to improve the Knights so he offered a military research contract. Many ideas were suggested but my father's project was chosen by my uncle because of the potential he thought it had." She paused to let him process everything she had said so far while analyzing his expressions to try and figure out what would be the best course of action.

Jaune furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about what he just heard, "Your uncle offered the contract and picked the winner!? But not even a Councilman has that kind of authority unless they were also… a general." Suddenly everything clicked together in a way that felt rather obvious in hindsight, Penny arrived with Ironwood who's also the Headmaster of his own Huntsman Academy making him a colleague of Ozpin. Ironwood has my file… I'm not sure how I feel about this and I don't think it's something I can talk to Riviera about.

She wasn't sure what his reaction was going to be when she dropped those hints of her uncle's identity. Sure the computer that served as her brain was capable of making startlingly accurate projections but people were more than variables on a spreadsheet. However, she could read his expression and body language to come to a reasonable assumption, and right now his was painfully clear. "Did I make a mistake?"

"What?"

"Your facial expression and body language suggested discomfort, doubt, fear, confusion, and other emotions that I have yet to identify… I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to disturb you like this."

"It's…," He wanted to tell her that it was alright, that he was fine, and that she shouldn't worry about him but that would be a lie. The truth was that he didn't know how he felt just yet, how could anyone process a revelation like that on the spot.

"Jaune?"

"Thank you, it couldn't have been easy to tell me and I hope you don't take this the wrong way but-"

"You need some time alone to sort your feelings?"

Had the situation been different he almost certainly would have chuckled at such a cliche and cheesy line being spoken with such sincerity but right now he couldn't and it was because she was right. He needed the time to sort his own feelings because this wasn't something he could do anything about, he couldn't confront Ironwood about this or any other subject, Ozpin was out since he was the one who obviously told Ironwood, Gris was a member of the same group and Riviera was his boyfriend, And I absolutely don't want to risk getting any of my friends in trouble… He was then snapped out of his thoughts by the feeling of Penny's hand touching his shoulder.

"You're going to be late for class."

"Oh! Um, I'm… not feeling it right now… I think I'm going to skip classes for the day."

"Would you like to be alone?" For a few seconds, he was completely silent as though he was struggling to say what was on the tip of his tongue but, she knew and wasn't going to force him to say it. "Would you like me to text your teammates so they won't be worried about you?"

"No, that's something I'll handle on my own. I'll also let my professors know that I'll be absent for the day. I got good grades so there shouldn't be a problem."

"That's good to hear…" What followed was a long and painfully awkward pause between the two as both knew that the conversation had reached the end but neither was sure just how to end it, "I... guess I'll leave you alone for now, I don't know what you plan to do Jaune but no one should be coming to this classroom."

"And you? What are you going to do?"

"I asked my Uncle for permission to go into Vale to do some shopping and he said yes, I'm going to have an escort but I'm looking forward to buying a souvenir for myself and a present for my dad."

"That's great, I hope you have fun."

"Thanks, um I guess I better go." She turned around and began walking towards the door.

"Penny."

She turned around and looked at him, "Yes?"

He fidgeted a bit and scratched his head trying to think of what he wanted to say and decided to just be honest, "Thank you, not just for telling me but also for trusting me enough to reveal that about yourself. It means a lot to me."

"Friendship is based on trust, I trust you."

"You can trust others too, my teammates and team RWBY don't know the whole truth about my condition but it doesn't change the fact that they have been there for me. I dread to think about where I would be right now if it wasn't for them."

Penny smiled for the first time in that whole conversation, "Thank you Friend Jaune! I'll be sure to keep that in mind!"

He watched her leave the classroom a good bit happier than she was at the start which in turn made him feel a little better as well but it wasn't enough, he was still far from perfectly okay and no amount of good vibes would ever be enough to make his feelings on the matter go away. Ironwood isn't going anywhere until the Vytal Festival is over… is he going to keep gathering data on me or was this a one-time thing? I can't confront him about it, there is absolutely no way that could end well for me or anyone else… And then there's Riviera and Gris, how much have they shared with Ozpin? How many people know about my condition? They asked me to keep a secret but then turned around and shared it freely behind my back.

He clenched his fists at that last thought and felt the anger beginning to rise, he didn't fight it. Fighting it would accomplish nothing except building up stress which could only come back to haunt him at the worst possible moment, it was far more desirable to allow himself to run through the emotion now in private and then spend the rest of the day thinking through it. Then when he was done, he could return to the dorm and give an excuse and an apology to his team who deserved far better, They deserve the truth but… it wasn't an easy thing to say and that became yet another emotion that he needed to work through.

Like always his eyes were the first thing to change, shifting from blue to a gradually redding copper as his sclera darkened going from white to ever blacker shades of gray. His finger and toenails thickened and lengthened, becoming stronger, sharper, and somewhat curved until they more closely resembled the talons of a bird of prey rather than anything that should belong to a person. The change wasn't just limited to the extremities of his body, just underneath his muscle another transformation was occurring as his bones began to grow and stretch out his skin as his legs, arms, spine, and neck became a little longer. Furthermore, protrusions began to emerge from his bones, they pressed against his skin as though it was trying to break through but lacked the ability to do so just yet.

The last time his body underwent such a radical change was when he had the nightmare that eventually led to a trip to the bar, back then he hadn't noticed anything wrong since he was asleep at the time. This time he was wide awake and stared at his hands with a bizarre sense of awe and fear but not for himself, Gris would tell me immediately if there was something wrong but, how much longer can I keep this a secret? Port has me scheduled for a fight with a Bicorn but I can avoid that and Glynda can keep me off the sparring roster for a while but what about the Vytal Festival? It would be really weird if Pyrrha didn't fight in it though I suppose I could find an out to that as well… it was beginning to dawn on him just how many opportunities this secret was costing him and for what? People are going to find out sooner or later… He knew what he had to do, he understood what a massive weight off of his shoulder it would be, intellectually he knew that they would accept him but, he hesitated. It's one thing to know it's all going to be alright but another to actually make a leap of faith.

"One thing at a time," he spoke to no one but himself as he sat down cross-legged on the floor in a position that Ren had taught him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and allowed the thoughts to come and go as they please. Meditation alone wasn't going to suddenly make him feel better, that wasn't the point as no single thing was ever going to make everything all okay. The point was to understand, accept, and then find a way forward and meditation was just a good first step in a process that would take as long as he needed it to.

Professor Thumbelina Peach leaned against the wall with a hot cup of tea in one hand and in the other she held a scroll that she occasionally glanced at. There wasn't a single person in the entirety of Vale who had any reason to think anything unusual about what she was doing and she knew that, she was counting on that. No one had any reason to think about why she was resting against the corner wall of a hallway whose sharp turn had been responsible for several harmless accidents in the past. Anyone who managed to get a peek at the screen of her scroll wouldn't have been able to identify what show she was watching and maybe one out of a hundred would walk away thinking that there was something oddly familiar about it but they couldn't quite put their finger on it. The truth was that she wasn't watching a tv show or a movie, she was viewing real-time security camera footage in order to keep track of Ironwood's mechanical abomination masquerading as a human girl, Disgusting little thing but hopefully I shan't have to watch you much longer. Checking the footage once again she found that the doll was almost at the turn so she quickly pocketed the scroll and then stepped forward while holding out the cup of tea.

Penny didn't see the professor coming until it was too late to avoid bumping into her and when they did, the woman's cup was knocked backward with the contents spill onto the professor's dress, "Apologies Professor! Are you alright?"

She faked a soft laugh and a smile before answering, "That's a question I should be asking you Miss Polendina but I answer it anyway, I'm fine."

"But your dress."

"Your concern is appreciated but unnecessary, I always have a spare prepared just in case of a situation like this however it looks like I lost my tea, I'll have to buy more when I get the chance."

Penny then got an idea, "Well I'm going to the market soon, I can buy you some tea!"

"Really? Well if it isn't too much trouble."

"It's no trouble at all!"

"Well if you insist." Peach then pulled out her scroll and texted an address to Penny along with an order number before explaining, "This particular tea shop just received a box of Atlesian herbs that I was supposed to pick up at my earliest convenience which sadly isn't today but that was before this happy little accident." Just saying that with a straight face makes me want to throw up.

Penny then gave the Professor a cute little salute, "I accept this mission!"

For the first Peach gave a sincere laugh, What a good little robot, "Well I won't take up any more of your time, just leave the box by my office when you return, bye!" She then walked away before the doll could answer back and when she felt she was far enough away wrote another text message, "Attached are directions to where your target will be later today, do what you must."

Author's Notes: Sorry about the brief delay but my schedule was a bit of a mess this month and then on top of that, I was without internet for a few days. However, this delay should have very little impact on my overall schedule. Furthermore, on the next chapter, I will attempt to challenge myself by seeing how long I can go without using any dialogue both internal and external.

Wish me luck and thanks for reading!