Beacon Academy: Cafeteria

Several weeks have passed since the attack in Central Vale at the hands of an unstoppable train, crashed into a dead end on purpose by Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, with the purpose of leading hordes of grimm Vale. The proceeding events led to a full on attack in the City but luckily students and professional huntsmen and huntresses were present at the scene to stop this from escalating any further and no innocent lives were lost. Although Roman Torchwick was captured, all of his White Fang associates were either killed or arrested during their suicide mission. The enemies were not the only ones who suffered however, as General James Ironwood decided to rogue and attempt to capture of Atlas Military's biggest target, the Beacon Academy one person team, Link. When refusing to surrender, the plans to capture him changed to killing the boy but his closest friend Ruby Rose showed up in the nick of time to stop this heinous act. Unfortunately, she lost her life in the process and the general was able to get a glimpse at this 'demon' locked up within Link, nearly resulting in him almost losing his life too had Velvet Scarlatina not interfered. Luckily for everyone, Ruby miraculously made it, a massive mystery where only she and Link are aware of how she pulled through. In the end, it was a mission that ended in partial success with the capture of Torchwick but everything did not go back to normal as changes immediately transpired within Beacon. Specifically around the social lives of team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, even Sun and Neptune. They are all close friends and allies, it is business as usual for them but there is one name missing in that list. It is ONLY team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, Sun and Neptune spending time together whenever they can, there has been no sign of Link within those few weeks...

But why?

Where is he?

What has he been up to?

And lastly...

Why isn't he interacting with anybody?

...

"WAKE UP LAZY BUTTS!" Nora slams her open palms on the table to generate a loud slap. "It's a bright sunny day, a good time to go out and have some fun, or stay here and have a blast inside the school. But SOME of you still look like you're ready for another round of sleeping!"

"We're awake!" Jaune's head shoots up from the table. "Sort of."

"Nora, just let him sleep." Ren sighs. "He had a long training session with Pyrrha last night."

"Y-yeah, only with Pyrrha." Jaune mumbles. "She's been pushing me even harder because with the tournament getting closer and closer, then our other sparring partner disappeared after consistently showing up to train with us. What's up with Li-!"

"SO." Pyrrha swiftly cuts him off as she is the last to arrive and sit down at the large table, the red haired huntress sits next to her team and cross team RWBY, specifically Weiss. "How is everyone doing on this beautiful day?"

"Could be better." Ruby mumbles as she yawns and dramatically stretches. "But it's okay. Weiss woke up early for... Um, I guess I forgot already?"

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Weiss gasps. "I'm trying to implement a strict regimen for us to be strong physically AND mentally. We can be the strongest but what is the point if-!"

"Blah blah blah." Ruby snickers. "I was kidding, Weiss. How could I forget? I was there. I still don't understand how waking up early is good for our mentality."

"Because! You dunce!" Weiss crosses her arms. "Waking up early sharp us stay on edge and having sharp minds is good for our reflexes."

"Is that scientifically proven?" Blake frowns

"Of course!" Weiss grimaces, not sure of her own techniques. "It's what I did back home to always stay two steps ahead of everyone."

"WELLLLL, regardless of whether it works or not... I'm doing great!" Yang smiles and flashes a thumbs up. "I'm all ready for the tournament. I just need for it to start already to be completely honest with you. We already qualified so now we're playing the dreaded waiting game."

"We sure are." Weiss sighs. "I never thought receiving breaks would be worse than fighting Grimm and criminals."

"Excuse me?!" Ruby gasps. "Is Weiss enjoying fighting monsters and evil people? Even more than keeping good grades or having a high ranking?! We are making an impact on her after all! Awww-!"

"SHUT IT." Weiss reaches over and slaps Ruby on the back of the head. "Maybe you're right but I will not admit to anything! It will be good to compete against other schools or our own classmates rather than criminals."

"Speak for yourself, ice queen." Jaune yawns and slams his head on the table. "I'm so tired and don't even want to think about the tournament right now. But I guess if I had to answer, I'm just hoping we get easy opponents."

"The only non optimistic people sitting at this table... Are the leaders, go figure." Weiss shrugs. "You two are so childish and uninspiring that-!"

"Weiss!" Pyrrha speaks up. "Ruby and Jaune have been through a lot. I know you care and want them to do their best but sometimes, the best thing we can do as supportive teammates is give them the space they need to recover, whether it's mentally with Ruby or physically with Jaune."

"Hm, I guess you're right. You're usually always right." Weiss returns to her seat and crosses her arms. "How is your training going?"

"Y-you can tell her, Pyrrha." Jaune turns her head and yawns once more. "I don't even want to think about tournaments or fighting or sparring, any of that."

"Jeez." Yang chuckles. "How hard have you been pushing him?"

"It's really nothing he hasn't seen before." Pyrrha giggles. "I simply extended our lessons and Jaune insists on staying up so it is really more self inflicted damage on himself as opposed to effects from sparring."

"Hey!" Jaune grumbles. "A guy needs his own time to do what he has to do."

"Which is what?" Nora snickers. "Staying up late to eat chips and watch videos?"

"YOU WEAR HEADPHONES TO SLEEP!" Jaune's eyes shoot open

"I sure do but you don't even try to crunch quieter." Nora smiles. "Eventually I do go to sleep buuuuut."

"It doesn't bother the rest of you, right?" Jaune asks, hoping for positive feedback from Pyrrha and Ren

"Ummm..." Pyrrha struggles to think of a response. "I can... Sleep through it?"

"I'll take that!" Jaune sighs in relief. "Ren, what about you, bud?"

"Hm?" Ren shakes his head. "I honestly have no clue what you or Nora is talking about. I sleep perfectly fine at night."

"SEE?" Jaune laughs

"Ren can sleep through anything, it's some magical gift he has." Nora groans. "He meditates and can pass out perfectly as if he were a robot."

"Nora..." Ren sighs. "I've told you numerous times, it's good for the body and mind, plus it will help with your sleep. It certainly helps me when I get ready for bed."

"UGHHH!" Nora sighs in dramatic fashion. "Pyrrha is being too nice and Ren uses magic, I have to use headphones with blasting music!"

"You're just mad you didn't get a unanimous vote." Jaune giggles

"Hold on a second guys." Blake cuts the humorous conversation and brings the good vibes back down to reality. "Are we really still not going to ask the question that needs to be asked?"

"We can't cram motivation into Ruby or Jaune, all we can do is be supportive teammates, Blake." Weiss shakes her head. "Jaune's binge eating is a problem he'll have to solve on his own or risk not being at full strength if he were to do that the day before a match."

"It is not a problem!" Jaune shouts

"IS TOO." Weiss raises her voice even louder than the blonde's

"That's not what I was talking about, Weiss." Blake sighs. "Come on guys, please tell me we're not just playing dumb now, because I really do not want to deal with jokes and fooling around. Not today at least."

"Yes Blake, I know I need to sleep better and train harder." Jaune mumbles. "You don't need to rub it in. It's already hard enough when Weiss and Nora do it."

"I'm just being playful!" Nora giggles

"I am too." Weiss nods but receives stares from almost everyone within seconds. "O-okay, I could be more friendly about it!"

"It's not that either." Blake quietly growls. "You guys know what I'm talking about and if you're messing with me, I'm not talking to any of you for the rest of the day."

"You can also not be vague about it, Blake. What is it?" Yang asks as she snaps her fingers. "I GET IT! You're upset because like Ruby said we didn't find all the answers we were looking for during our mission. Don't tell you're going back to your phase of no sleep and non-stop researching?"

"N-no!" Blake balls up her hands. "I see you remember what Ruby said but not what I said in response? We didn't get all the answers we were looking for but we got a lot of dangerous people in General Ironwood's custody. The mission wasn't successful but there was a lot to be proud of-!"

"I get it, the mission could've gone better." Yang mumbles firmly. "I guess if we were as strong as we think we are, things would have gone better."

"YANG! There was nothing we could have done other than what we already did." Blake continues to shake her head until exhaling a sigh of disappointment. "Do I really have to say it? Nobody has a clue at all what I'm getting at? Is anybody going to say what needs to be said?"

"Say what?" Weiss frowns. "Why don't you just spit it out already? Nobody is pretending or playing dumb. We have no idea what you are referring to, Blake."

"I agree." Ruby looks down at the table as if she was moping around. "S-sorry I've been struggling to follow along entirely. But I know you're wondering why we aren't asking something."

"Honesty yeah, what gives, Blake?" Yang turns in confusion. "And I normally never want to agree with Weiss over my sister or best friend but, what's up?"

"You guys cannot be serious?" The faunus shakes her head. "This is about our friend who we haven't-!"

"Ahem!" Nora clears her throat. "I'LL DO IT!" She opens her mouth to speak loudly, silencing team RWBY instantaneously with her intentions. "Why won't Link hang out with us anymore?"

Immediate silence...

Awkward silence...

Even more silence...

"Welllll..." Yang shrugs, "You know how he is, very reserved and to himself at times. Like a male Blake."

"H-hey!" Blake shakes her head. "I don't mind the comparison, he's a good person but at least say it better."

"You're both gloomy, mysterious and then you're suddenly social and loving people." Yang chuckles. "Anyway, he's probably with team CFVY as we speak or sleeping in his dorm, we'll see him around."

"Nope! To the first one at least." Ruby shakes her head. "I asked Velvet yesterday if she's heard from him and nothing. Same with the rest of her team, they haven't spoken or seen him since the attack on Vale."

"Really?" Ren mumbles quieter than usual. "Interestingly enough, that has been the last time... Any of us have really seen him."

"He's right." Weiss clenches her jaw tightly. "That is very concerning behavior, almost as concerning as his behavior during our mission."

"What are you talking about?" Blake turns to her. "The way he was so eager to fight the enemies or his desire to protect Ruby while one-upping her?"

"Neither." The Schnee heiress shakes her head. "I should keep this to myself but it isn't as if Link confided with me or anything. When we lost Ruby initially, after she fell in the underground city. First we discussed things where we were camping. Then Link finally came back from wherever he was hiding and he seemed kind of... Off?"

"Off how?" Ruby asks as she was not there to witness it initially. "Because he was desperate to fight?"

"No no!" Weiss turns to face her leader. "He seemed... Drunk."

"DRUNK?!"

The shouting of that dreaded word comes from everybody except Jaune, Ren, and the original person who said it, Weiss

"You're just making this up now." Ruby laughs and brushes her off. "Link doesn't drink, if you're jealous of how good he's doing in school, you can always-!"

"I'm being serious." Weiss coldly speaks. "Trust me, I am imagining or making things up. Coming from an upbringing where my father would react in the worst ways possible when our company faced setbacks, I know what a drunk person looks, smells, and acts like."

"O-oh..." Ruby looks down in shock. "Is he the reason you have your scar-!"

"No." Weiss rolls her eyes. "He would never leave a permanent mark on me, it would raise a lot of suspicion and bring up so many questions he could not dance around."

"Ruby." Blake glances at her leader. "You're closer to Link than any of us. Has he ever discussed alcohol or smelled of alcohol? Is there any sort of sign that could point to that?"

"N-no, sorry guys." Ruby chuckles nervously. "Although, Yang and I know about alcohol from our uncle Qrow. He's always drunk even when he appears to be sober. Link did not look drunk, slur his words, or mention anything about drinking. Now that I think about it... He does always have a canteen on his desk, it looks neat and handmade, maybe he has something in there?"

"It definitely is a start." Weiss nods confidently. "Not that Link would ever directly tell us if he drinks or has a drinking problem but if it's true then maybe we can help him out?"

"Weiss wants to help Link? Aww." Ruby snickers

"Stop being a pest!" Weiss places both hands on her hips angrily. "You can joke around all you want but if Link is consuming alcohol, he needs help from us and then professional help to stop it."

"Hmmm." Pyrrha rubs her chin. "Weiss is correct. A good person like Link cannot and should not be having problems such as drinking, if he does then we need to act."

"IF Weiss is correct." Blake mutters. "There's no way of knowing if he-!"

"Guys." Yang shakes her head. "It's only been a few weeks, maybe he's busy or needs some time to himself before he comes around. Link doesn't have to be with us every day, right?"

"You're right." Pyrrha nods. "You make a great point but the problem is, he used to be with us every day until the attack on Vale. Now he hasn't had any contact with anybody, that does not sit well with me."

"That's right." Ren looks up. "Regardless, in my opinion I think Yang is correct. Link will come around eventually. He is probably busy training or thinking about the tournament."

"Yeah. Ren's right." Nora smiles and blushes "He's always right..."

"Uhhh." Ren shrugs. "Not always Nora, not always. I try my best, that's all."

"You sure do." She giggles in response

"Wait a minute!" Ruby picks up her head up and points a hand directly at Ren. "Yang didn't say anything about the tournament! ANNNND! Link only told me that he is entering the tournament... Well, not Link himself, but out of all of us here, only I knew he was entering!"

"You knew Link was entering the tournament?!" Yang scoffs in shock. "And didn't tell us?!"

"NOT THE POINT!" Ruby dramatically shouts

"Ruby is right." Jaune picks his head up from off the table. "You did respond awfully quick as well, Ren. So, what's up? Do you know what's going on with Link?"

All eyes move towards Ren now, he continues to calmly eat his food while keeping his head down and in no rush to answer

"Ren." Nora bumps into his shoulder with her head. "Have you been in contact with Link?"

"..." Ren says nothing as he finishes the last bite on his tray

"Well then pretty boy, spill it." Coco's voice is prominently heard as she and Velvet approach team RWBY and JNPR, with the former dropping her handbag on the table

THUMP!

"Coco! The table! You probably damaged it badly." Velvet gasps

"Whoaaa!" Nora squeals. "Can I use this to exercise?"

"I don't think so." Coco chuckles

"Hey guys." Yang waves. "Concerned about Link too?"

"We were just about to ask you guys if you've heard from him recently." Coco smiles as she sits next to Ren while Velvet sits beside Weiss. "But it seems like we got our meal ticket right here, give us all the answers Ren."

"Hmph!" Nora frowns and turns her head in pure jealousy

"Link asked me for help on his kicking, leg offense and defense more or less." Ren mumbles. "In return he is helping me with hand to hand combat and overall defense against mid and long ranged weapons. He sent me a message with his scroll and I replied yes, that's all there is to it."

"How long has this been going on?" Blake asks. "Surely not this entire time we've been worrying about him, right?"

"No. Just a week." Ren nods "Twice everyday, at dawn when nobody is awake and sometime around midnight, when everybody is still asleep."

"Aha!" Nora points at Ren with her finger. "I knew I heard the door open and close at night! You told me I was just imagining things!"

"My apologies." Ren smirks

"Wait wait... You're getting hand to hand training from Link?" Yang scoffs sarcastically. "He's pretty good, don't get me wrong, for a swordsman at least. But he's not the best either."

"Um..." Blake glares quizzically at Yang. "Didn't he go toe to toe with you the morning after the dance, in his dorm too? He wasn't even fully awake or in his gear."

"What?! Nah!" Yang shakes her head and brushes off her teammates. "That didn't happen and even if it did, I'd smoke him."

"No no, it did happen and Yang did no such thing." Weiss smirked evilly. "You even had Blake take away his weapons as a precaution because you were afraid he would-!"

"Grrr..." Yang's eyes go red briefly. "I was going easy on him, OKAY?!"

"Wait a minute! I never heard of this?" Ruby frowns. "Why were you guys bothering Link the day after the dance?! Did you guys harass him while I was talking to Professor Ozpin, Glynda and General Ironwood?"

"Precisely." Blake nods. "And to be honest... I don't really know why, we kind of just went there." The cat faunus shrugs her shoulders.

"What was our reason?" Weiss thinks and looks very confused. "Anyone?"

"Maybe to see if we could catch Ruby and them kissing or something?" Yang laughs. "I don't know either."

"Anyway then!" Ruby shouts

"Yes, let's get back on track." Blake mumbles as all eyes go back to Ren. "What do you two do during your training sessions with Link?"

"Hm?" Ren looks up at the ceiling before looking down and back at his friends. "We spend an hour training on hand to hand and footwork, then we work on evading and dodging... After that we briefly speak for a couple of minutes."

"Anything major?" Jaune asks. "Have you asked him about why he isn't interacting with us anymore?"

"I did not ask him, I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would tell me himself. Nothing of substance has been said to be completely honest with you all."

Ren attempts to get up and leave but is immediately grabbed by Nora and Coco, both girls grab onto his arms, and force him to sit back down

"Well, he's not lying. Ren and Link are probably the worst at small talk." Nora shakes her head. "Come on Ren, what did he really say?"

"My answers are as sincere as they can get. Right now they are just short conversations, he's dropped hints here and there but even those wouldn't help." Ren sighs

"Hmmm, so he's really being careful about what he says, even to someone like you." Pyrrha contemplates the situation. "It's clear he's not going to come out and say what he needs to say. There has to be another way to get through to him."

"Perhaps he's really focused on the tournament then. But if that were the case, he'd ask to train with us, so whatever ongoing issues he has..." Yang sighs. "...Probably isn't all about the tournament." The blonde huntress shakes her head. "This has to be a bigger problem than any of us can begin to even imagine. He has little motivation for many things, especially the tournament, something he was ninety-nine percent set on not competing in."

"She's right." Coco asks, "Ruby, is there any reason he suddenly changed his mind and qualified for the tournament despite showing little to no interest earlier in the semester? Something must have changed and considering it's Link... There's only a few people who would now." She nods her head at Velvet. "My teammate is one of them but she knows nothing."

"Ummm, not really no." Ruby shakes her head, despite having a slight idea as to why the 'one person team' entered the tournament

"What if it had to do with the Grimm attack on Vale?" Blake suggests. "Remember how we originally said he felt guilty because of... You know, what happened to Ruby? He failed to protect her but by some miracle, she made it."

"Huh? Why would he blame himself for that powerful Grimm that took Ruby to her limit?" Yang shakes her head. "We all eventually come up against opponents we cannot defeat and my baby sister embarrassingly almost died to Grimm."

"Y-yeah, silly me." Ruby chuckles nervously as she sinks her teeth into an apple. "Right, 'almost died' that is totally what happened."

"Grimm?" Coco shakes her head in disbelief. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Yeah, Grimm." Yang nods. "One that even Ruby couldn't handle, it's crazy to believe I know. And Ruby is STILL reluctant to tell us about it."

"She hasn't told them yet..." Coco frowns

"Why hasn't she-!" Velvet sighs. "She must have her reasons but... Ruby cannot keep up this lie."

"It's probably Link's protective nature that's dawned these hurt feelings on him." Blake speaks once again. "That's how Link is as a person. He wants to protect loved ones and cares for them more than even himself."

"What do you mean by that?" Jaune asks

"Link puts others over himself first and he's done it multiple times. An immediate example I can use is during the food fight not too long ago, he used that cloak of protective aura to aid me from soda cans launched by Pyrrha with her semblance."

"Hehehe..." Pyrrha chuckles. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Blake warmly smiles at her before turning back to Jaune. "But my point is, maybe Link was there and maybe couldn't do anything to stop that Grimm from hurting Ruby, after all he was already very injured and fatigued. Being unable to do anything while watching a friend get hurt is probably the worst feeling in the world. Hence what happened to her next and why Link is blaming himself."

"Precisely." Pyrrha nods. "That is likely what is happening with Link as we speak. If we can talk to him, maybe we can tell him everything is going to be okay and since Ruby is alive and healthy, there is no need to feel so guilty."

"There's a lot of maybe's in your guys' sentences." Weiss looks around, unsure of her friend's theories. "But if an issue like this is troubling all of us, then perhaps we should do something, like confront Link so that-!"

"So that what?" Sun Wukong's loud, broad voice is heard as he enters the cafeteria, with Neptune following closely behind him, the two of them approach the table seating the two teams. "Welllll, I probably shouldn't ask the ice queen. We all know you hate him the most anyway. So instead of asking you, I'll ask... Link's friends!" He chuckles as he points at everyone else except Weiss. "What's going on everybody? Is it finally time to get Link out of his little rut?"

"H-HEY!" Weiss frowns. "W-we're friends!"

"Sure you are." Sun rolls his eyes. "And Neptune here loves to swim-!"

"Of course I do! Whatever do you mean by that?!" Neptune frowns and elbows Sun in the midsection

"Well Sun we-!"

"HEY!" Weiss shouts over Blake due to being ignored, her outburst cuts off her faunus teammate before she even begins her sentence. "Link is my friend, I think?"

"You have a funny way of showing it." Sun smirks

"Idiot." Neptune sighs and shakes his head at his own leader. "Don't mind my foolish leader. Proceed, Blake."

"SOMETHING is wrong with Link." Blake turns to Sun directly despite Weiss scowling. "He has not spoken to any of us except the occasional small talk with Ren, but that's due to them training together. We have some speculation as to what's wrong with him but are not sure what to do next."

"Haha!" Sun laughs, "That's too simple for me Blake, I'm gonna go drop by Link's dorm and ask what's up." He nods to everyone and walks away, gesturing Neptune to follow him

"Wait!" Yang shouts. "You can't just do that!"

"Hm?" Sun turns around and heads back. "Why not?"

"What do you mean 'why not'? Why would you do that?" Yang scratches her head. "Link clearly doesn't want to be bothered. That's why he hasn't interacted with any of us in weeks, and the only person he talks to is the least social one in our group."

"Why would I go ask him what's up? One reason and one reason only." Sun says with a smile on his face "Sitting around and coming up with countless theories won't change a thing, so why not go and confront him now?" He laughs, turns back and jumps on the table, sitting down with both legs crossed. "If he opens up then great and if not then we give him some time."

"You know what?!" Yang stands up and grins. "I agree with Sun. Let's go and talk to Link right now, find out why he's been ignoring us and hopefully put an end to all of this. And if we can't help him with our words, then we'll just have to punch it into him." Her grin turns into a full smile as she pounds her fists together

"Or we can just go talk to him sis." Ruby sighs as she rises from her seat. "I don't want you guys fighting."

"Yeah I was just kidding, sis." Yang rolls her eyes

"Not sure if you could do that anyway." Coco chuckles. "Especially if he's matching your strength half asleep and in regular clothes."

"Grrr..." Yang looks at the team CFVY leader with fire in her eyes. "Take it back."

"What? Sure you may be stronger than Link physically... But he's a much superior fighter than you and maybe even all of us." Coco smirks as she stands up. "So who's joining us? Me, Yang, and the two goofballs are in."

"M-me!" Ruby exclaims as she finishes her big red apple. "I will definitely not sit this one out."

"Like the cool coffee girl said, I'm already in." Sun nods as he rolls back off the table and flips over to land on his feet perfectly. "You should all be jumping for joy at this opportunity guys, come on! Look if anyone's worried about overwhelming him, some of you can sit this out, no hard feelings."

"Velvet?" Coco asks

"I'm in." Velvet nods

"Pass." Nora shakes her head. "Sun has a point, some of us should this one out so he doesn't feel like we're forcing him into an intervention. Ooooh but please, do tell me all the juicy details when you get back."

"Pass." Ren nods. "For the same reasons Sun and Nora said but I would like to know what you guys find out."

"Pass." Jaune mumbles. "I hear your great point and volunteer to sit this one, because I need some sleep anyway."

"I'll go with you guys." Blake nods. "Link is a special person to me, if he needs help or anything of the sort, I want to be there to support him."

"Me too." Pyrrha stands up while nodding to everyone present. "I think we can all talk about how much of an impact Link has played in our lives. Apart from Jaune, he's one of the few people who didn't view me for my skills, grades, or reputation when I started here at Beacon. You don't come across people like him every day."

"Hmph! After Sun's awful words to me, I will go but not because I feel forced." Weiss reluctantly stands. "Although, I do think confronting him is a bad idea, what if he just needs more time and space?"

"I'm sure he does but the world doesn't revolve around Link. He does things his way and we do things our way. We deserve one conversation, minimum." Neptune nods and follows along

"Cool! Follow me then! I'll lead the way!" Sun sports two thumbs up as the monkey faunus leads the group to Link's dorm with normal walking before it quickly turns into a full sprint

"S-sun!"

Blake frowns and sprints after him now, behind the two faunus trail rest of team RWBY, the lone team JNPR member in Pyrrha, one half of team CFVY in Coco and Velvet, then lastly, Neptune

Beacon Academy: The Dormitories, Near Link's dorm

The normally short to moderate size trip from any point in Beacon to the dorms takes much longer as the entire group at last is at the hallway where Link's dorm is located... an entire thirty minutes after they began their 'quick trip' that has now turned into a journey

"UGH!" Yang comes to a complete stop in order to catch her breath. "You're the worst Sun! Why did we let you lead the way? You got us completely lost, not to mention it took us double the time to get here."

"Here's a better question." Ruby pants and looks at everyone. "Why did we follow Sun when we knew the correct direction?"

No response...

"Fair enough." Yang rolls her eyes. "One of us should've spoken up sooner."

"Oh well, that doesn't matter anymore. What does matter now is that we're here." Coco approaches the door and knocked gently

Knock Knock Knock

Silence

"Okay then..." Coco frowns and knocks harder

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"LINK!" Yang cups her mouth with both hands and shouts. "OPEN UP! IT'S YOUR FRIENDS!"

No response

"Link!" Coco begins pounding on the door with a closed fist

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"What if he's asleep?" Velvet asks. "Is he a heavy sleeper?"

"Nope! He isn't. Annnnd Link HATES it when he is interrupted during a nap or worse, sleep." Ruby chuckles. "He's not home right now, otherwise he would have thrown the door open by now."

"Yes Link definitely hates having his sleep interrupted, right Yang?" Weiss smirks. "She pounded on his door the morning after the dance."

"Ughhh." Ruby sighs

"Hey, I had to get his attention." Yang giggles

"Stay focused guys." Coco snaps her fingers. "What do we do now? Does anyone have any idea where he could be?"

"Yes but... There's too many locations to try, we'll be running around all day." Velvet shakes her head

"Let's just break into his dorm and wait for him." Sun shrugs. "He won't be gone all day, right?"

"Only one way to find out." Neptune paces back and forth as everyone except Pyrrha thinks of ways to get inside without actually 'breaking in'. "These doors only open with scrolls too, hmm..."

"That won't be necessary." Pyrrha approaches the door and executes one simple action. Her hand glows with a faint black aura, she turns the door knob and click, the door opens as if it were unlocked the entire time. "There we go."

"O-oh..." Velvet blushes with embarrassment clear as day on her face. "He left his door unlocked, we should have tried that first."

"Well then, that was easy." Coco snickers as she and Yang barge in, pushing past Pyrrha

"Did she use her polarity or did Link not lock his door?" Weiss thinks carefully but has to cut herself thinking short as everyone except Velvet enters Link's very dark room, with no signs of light even available

"I can see why you would think he's depressed or something." Coco walks around Link's dorm, "Time to let some light in!" She quickly pushes the curtains to one side to let a decent amount of sunlight in

"Guys, we really shouldn't be in here." Velvet nervously looks both ways, basically acting as a look out for the group. "We're invading his privacy."

"We really are invading his space." Weiss stands side by side with Velvet. "I don't feel comfortable partaking in this anymore."

"Yeah well, I can't stand around and watch my friend continue to feel hurt or guilty when they won't even say what's wrong to anybody." Yang continues to inspect the room. "Are you guys in or out? Because if you're, not then scurry on away from here. You're both sticking out like sore thumbs out there."

"O-Okay." Velvet sighs and walks inside

"If you insist on us entering or leaving entirely then... I suppose there's no other option." Weiss grumbles whilst entering the room

"They're right. We came here to find and talk to him, not snoop through all his stuff." Blake shakes her head but it is Link's bookshelf that catches her eye momentarily, a moment of realization hits her before she decides what to do next. "Call me a sore thumb all you want, I'm going to just wait outside until he gets back."

"She's got a point you know." Sun chuckles and follows Blake outside

"What-! It was your idea!" Yang face palms in frustration. "You led us here!"

"Did I? Nahhh." Sun laughs. "And was it really my idea? Never noticed!"

"Blake is right, we aren't getting anywhere here." Weiss puts down one of Link's pictures on his desk; it includes himself and Ruby fist bumping while posing in front of Beacon. "This is nice. I wonder if he'll add any more by the time the school year ends."

"Yes, snooping around his room won't get us many results, for this is simply Link's room with his belongings. I suppose we should listen to Blake." Pyrrha nods. "After all it could be anything: the tournament, the attack on vale, or personal issues that he wants to handle on his own."

"I guess now that I think about it, we really should be focusing on the tournament ourselves." Yang shakes her head. "Yet here we are, trying to figure out what's wrong with our friend. Of all the times for Link to get mad at us, it has to be when the tournament is around the corner. It'll be here in no time and we could be doing extra training to avoid getting creamed like before against a strong opponent such as Link."

"Hey!" Ruby frowns angrily and speaks with disgust. "Who said Link was mad at us specifically?"

"Nobody said it word for word but everyone's vibes and body language basically told the entire story." Neptune scoffs "If he's avoiding all of us then it's clearly something with him or something he has against us. Maybe he's got something hidden from us."

"Or maybe he does feel guilty." Weiss raises an eyebrow. "And again! Why would Link blame himself over not being able to take down a Grimm? It happens, our city got attacked by lots of Grimm and one of them happened to get Ruby, luckily she is okay and-!"

"Ya, hearing about my baby sister almost dying should be scarring but I'm so curious about this Grimm that was too powerful for you, sis. It really makes me want to see it!" Yang smirks and nods. "Come on Ruby, it's about time you tell us about it. Was it a giant Ursa? Or a Beowolf? No... Those are the weakest Grimm. ORRR! Was it a King Taijitu?"

"O-oh-! Right a Grimm." Ruby looks around awkwardly "It was a um..."

"I've heard enough already!" Coco raises her voice as she walks in between Ruby and Yang. "When are you going to tell them the truth, Ruby? At least tell your sister."

"Truth?" Yang raises an eyebrow "But she was just about t-!"

"It wasn't a Grimm." Coco shakes her head. "It wasn't even a monster."

"W-whaaaaat-! You've been drinking a little too much coffee." Ruby panics. "How do you know-!"

"We were there Ruby." Velvet speaks up as she walks up to them. "We just never told anyone because we thought that... You would have by now."

"So somebody tried to kill my baby sister on purpose?!" Yang growls, her excitement turns into anger immediately

"I'm only two years younger than you, Yang!" Ruby snaps

The two sisters begin to play fight immediately after Ruby's words as she throws the first 'punch', although it gets somewhat nasty with some real punches landing

"Hey hey, hey!" Coco walks in between them and with a simple extension of her arms, shoves Yang and Ruby away from each other. "We don't have time for games right now, so what if you're two years younger?"

"R-right, yes. Thanks Coco, gotta stay focused!" Yang pushes past Coco to grab Ruby by her shoulders and shake her relentlessly with no intention to let up. "Who did it? Who tried to kill you?!"

"Was it..." Weiss gasps. "Was it an Atlesian Knight? Knowing your reckless style, you probably ran into one while it was shooting."

"N-no, it wasn't one of Atlas' cool robots." Ruby shakes her head. "She's not too far off, actually."

"What's going on?" Blake's voice is heard again when she re-enters the room alongside Sun, all the screaming catches her and the monkey faunus' attention

"Turns out it wasn't a Grimm that almost killed Ruby." Weiss says whilst Yang is still trying to shake the answers out of her sister. "It wasn't even a monster either. Which leaves humans or robots."

"Was it Torchwick?" Blake asks. "He's been out to kill you ever since before you attended Beacon."

"Doubt it." Sun shakes his head. "We've all fought Torchwick before, he isn't the kind of person who acts silently. If he kills anybody, there will be a trail of explosions and fire behind him."

"Don't tell me..." Yang shakes her head. "WAS IT LINK?! Is that why he's been ignoring us? Is that why he's been feeling guilty?"

"N-no!"

Both Ruby and Velvet cry and scream out at the same time

"Then who was it?" Yang asks again. "Tell me Ruby, so I can punch their skull in!"

"I um... I can't..." Ruby nervously whispers. "I really shouldn't."

"Why not?" Yang frowns

"W-well because... nobody would believe-!"

Ruby words are cut short when a scroll begins to ring and vibrate, on Link's desk to be exact

"Who's scroll is that?" Yang asks around but everyone quickly their heads

Some even take out their own scroll to prove the one on the table is not theirs. They all turn to face the desk, where two devices are placed conveniently next to each other

"Link forgot his scroll." Pyrrha mumbles as they all get near it, they see Ren's face as the incoming caller but let it go to voicemail. "He is indeed getting a call right now."

"Looks like Ren left a voicemail too." Ruby hovers her head over the desk after breaking free from Yang's grip. "He was probably trying to tell Link we were onto him but silly him forgot his scroll."

"Hey! How come we never got these?" Yang picks up the tablet from the desk. "This looks like one of the devices Professor Ozpin or Glynda carried around."

"Looks stolen." Weiss crosses her arms and turns her head. "I wonder where he got it."

"There's the 'ice queen' we all know." Blake frowns upon Weiss' continued hate towards Link. "Now, why would you assume it was stolen?"

"No reason." Weiss shakes her head. "Just an idea."

"Hmph." The annoyed cat faunus narrows her eyes even more

"Don't worry about her." Sun places a hand on Blake's shoulder and leans into her for a side hug. "Just proves we were right about Weiss."

"I suppose." Blake turns away, blushing and slyly leaning into Sun's chest

The shared affection between the two faunus' goes seemingly unnoticed as everyone else is preoccupied with the mysterious tabled on Link's desk

"Ooooh, looks cool. Turn it on Yang." Ruby continues to speak, hoping to change the topic of the conversation as talks about Link will lead back to her and what happened on that fateful day. "Let's see what Link's doing with one of these."

"Okayyyy."

Yang nods and eagerly turns on the table, smiling happily as there is no pass code and any type of restrictions but instead of a home screen, it immediately begins playing a video, the familiar setting sends chills down Ruby's spine

"Oh no..." Ruby whispers, eyes widening when she realizes the video on the tablet was black and white or in other words, security camera footage from a store that captured what happened

"H-hey, that's Link." Blake looks closely as Link is limping whilst walking on an empty street. "So this is where he went? How is he even moving?"

"The better question is..." Weiss leans in and points at the far left side of the tablet. "'Why is General Ironwood there?"

"Grrr..." Ruby balls up her fists, quickly swipes the tablet out of Yang's hands and attempts to run away, making one crucial mistake. "Gotta go!"

"Oh no you don't!" Yang is able to grab onto Ruby's hood, the energetic girl has planted her feet, focused her aura and attempts to use her semblance to escape. "You're staying right here sis!"

"UGH! L-let g-go!" Ruby continues to move her legs but finds herself now kicking the air when her sister lifts her up

"Alright, I'll put you down. But on one condition." Yang slowly puts Ruby down and then swiftly retrieves the tablet from her sister's hands. "We hear it from you right now, or we watch this video and find out the truth ourselves."

"I... um... I c-can't, Yang. My words can't even begin to describe what happened." Ruby shakes her head. "And I'm being serious, it's difficult to think about and remember it all."

"Fair enough. Well then, gather around everybody." Yang nods her head at Pyrrha, who manipulates the doorknob, using her semblance's force to close the door shut

Yang sits down on the chair while everyone else gathers around her except for Coco and Velvet, who had already seen everything. The team CFVY leader is alert and fully intends on rewatching the incidents that transpired, but her rabbit faunus teammate is hesitant. The security footage plays and soon after Link's brief confrontation with General Ironwood, the injured student is now trying to fight off all of the Atlesian Knights commanded to kill him. Despite being below even fifty percent below healthy, Link fights off the incoming bullets to the best of his abilities. Suddenly everyone in the room gasps when Ironwood's bullet was inches away from killing Link before Ruby jumped in the frame to deflect it with her sniper rifle-scythe, 'Crescent Rose'

Security Camera Footage: The City of Vale, A few weeks ago (Preface: Only important lines have been taken from chapter 17 taken, to avoid using the entire scene.)

"You're full of crap Ironwood!" Link shouts as he gets up to both feet. "Don't believe a word he says Ruby, not about me at least. Do you know why he's doing this? He's only after me!"

"Why are you after Link?!" Ruby shouts. "He didn't do anything wrong!"

"Even when you're near your limit you still find a way to be clever." Ironwood scoffs. "Does she know your past, boy?"

"Your past?" Ruby asks. "O-oh right, the 'unclear past' as Professor Ozpin said."

"What Professor Ozpin didn't tell you is that your 'friend' Link here, was a mercenary for the White Fang and multiple criminal organizations." Ironwood speaks calmly

Present Time

"What?!" Blake backs away in shock, thinking back to all the time she spent in the White Fang and specifically around Adam. "The few mercenaries the white fang hired usually wore masks... But surely I would have recognized his hair, or his ears, or even his clothes in general."

"SHHHH!" Yang shushes Blake away as the group continues to watch

"He was one of them?" Weiss frowns and balls up her hands. "Just when I thought Link and I were starting to turn the page... Looks like I was right for doubting and casting judgment on him all those times I did."

"Oh boy..." Ruby sighs

"Link was a mercenary?" Pyrrha raises an eyebrow. "It's so hard to believe."

"Sort of, that isn't the craziest thing in the world." Sun chuckles

"Sun's right, with a 'past' like the general was describing, I was expecting the grand reveal to be something such as 'Link is a serial killer' or anything more dangerous than a mercenary." Neptune nods

Coco and Velvet remain and silent and continue watching

Security Camera Footage: The City of Vale, Weeks Ago

"You don't know what it's like to not have anything worth fighting for except money! To have countless people ripped away from you by criminals and your own army!" Link falls to one knee again, breathing heavily. "Besides, it's clear to me that you don't care about how much good I'm doing now, all you want to do is label me for who I WAS!" He rises back up to his feet, to the chagrin of the Atlas military general

"How much good are you really doing? Look around, does this look good?" Ironwood points at the partially destroyed city. "I must bring you in at once."

"All you want is to take me down. You don't even care about the destruction of the city or prioritizing the person who caused this... You. Only. Want. ME! So why don't you just take me out like you've been dreaming about?"

"Very well!" Ironwood does not command his Atlesian Knights to shoot, but instead sprints himself and charges at Link, reaching for him with his right hand

"Oh no you don't!" Ruby using her superior speed and perfect timing with their momentum, miraculously spins Ironwood around and sends him crashing into his Atlesian Knights, wiping two of them out with his weight and the ensuing crash

Present Time

Yang hits pause on the tablet and now all eyes are on Ruby, who can smile blush in embarrassment

"Call it cliche, I would understand. But I couldn't just stand back and watch." Ruby chuckles

"You did what many would do." Pyrrha nods with a smile on her face. "I am proud of you and your efforts Ruby."

"Y-yeah..." Weiss nods as well, despite her changing thoughts about Link. "You defended somebody you really care about. That's very valiant from you."

"Agreed." Coco smirks. "You're a crazy kid but with a heart everyone wishes they could have."

"Mhm." Velvet smiles warmly. "Seeing it happen in real time was terrifying. But watching it back now all I can feel is admiration for you, Ruby."

"You shouldn't." Ruby sighs and shakes her head. "Just hit play, there's a lot more to see."

With Sun, Neptune, and Blake not adding onto the conversation, Yang nods and waits for the rest of the separate short discussions to end before clicking play on the tablet once more

Returning to the Security Camera Footage

"Link!" Ruby frowns and pushes Link out of the way with a shoulder charge "Ah!" She cries out as her left leg was shot, directly in the calf area. She drops down to one knee, with a faint but visibly red color flowing across her body, indicating that her aura has met it's limit for the day

"Ruby!" Link quickly turns and crawls to his friend, but he is shot in the shoulder

The seven Knights continue to fire at them and all Link can do is continue playing defense, hoping something would change eventually. He continues to take hits, to the back, to the arm, leg, and so on. Until finally, the bullets stopped... And Link's aura nears its depletion as well. But the blonde student does make a crucial mistake though, by overlooking the situation, and thinking it was over but out of the twenty enemies in front and all around him... Only nineteen were stalled briefly. He looks up and notices Ironwood aiming his revolver right at him

The next portion of the footage is General Ironwood firing off his revolver right at Link who was on the brink of passing out, only for Ruby to jump in the way and take the shot to the chest, her eyes went wide briefly before realizing what had just happened to her

Present Time

Yang pauses the footage again and this time puts the tablet down

"Sis..." Yang stands up out of the chair and leans down to grab Ruby by the shoulders as her eyes well up. "W-why did you keep this from us?!"

"Now you can see why I waited all this time to tell any of you." Ruby puts a hand on her chest, directly where the wound once was. "This was the spot right here."

"So it is guilt that's been haunting Link after all." Blake mumbles. "That's really sad and he's combating it alone."

"Indeed." Weiss nods while sighs with relief that nobody died because of these events. "At least we might know the root of his issues now."

"There's still more." Coco mumbles as she walks over and picks up the tablet. "After what happened to Ruby..."

"What more do we need to see?" Ruby asks

"How was Ironwood stopped?" Coco looks at her with a neutral expression, but under her sunglasses is a frown. "As much as I want to say Ironwood has a heart... No, he doesn't. This man was still adamant on capturing-! No... Killing Link."

"S-so what happened?" Ruby asks. "I kind of wasn't around for it."

"Velvet." Coco nods. "This is your chance to improve your social skills around delivering bad news, what happened next?"

"O-okay..." Velvet mumbles nervously. "Link almost killed General Ironwood."

"WHAT?!"

Weiss, Blake, Sun, and Neptune all shout in complete surprise, Yang is not shocked, instead she nods in approval of Link's actions, knowing how much Link cared for Ruby before her 'death'. As for the others, Pyrrha is shocked but has no words, Ruby is also completely lost for words, while Velvet and Coco say nothing, knowing what is coming next that will be new unseen footage to everyone else involved

"This is probably something Link doesn't want any of us to see, hell he probably doesn't even want to see it himself. But it happened there on that day against General Ironwood, I say we watch it, we've already seen about seventy percent of it, may as well go all the way." Coco sits on the chair and turns on the tablet, her finger hovers over the play button. "Unless you all think it's a bad idea, we can stop here if that's the case."

"No no, you're right, Coco." Ruby nods "Besides, I need to see what happened, all I remember was waking up after it was all over."

Nobody opposes, leading Coco to nod and click play on the footage once again

Back to the Security Camera Footage

"You did it! Great job Ruby! How did you-!" Link cuts himself off upon realizing what really happened

There is a small pool of blood right under Ruby, leaking and falling down her chest. She bravely took Ironwood's bullet but surprisingly, the bullet did not go through her and come out of her back, it is still lodged inside. Ruby stands stiffly in front of Link while he is on his knees, struggling to rise up to his feet

"Y-you... Why did you do this? Why would you just jump in front of me? You knew you had no aura... I don't understand! Why?!"

"I guess if I had to come up with a reason now, I may not like you right now but you're still my... F-friend." Ruby slumps over and closes her eyes momentarily

"I still don't understand, Ruby." Link growls with anger as he slowly gets up with wobbly legs. "Why?! Why would you risk your life for me like that?" He balls up his fists when he does not get an immediate answer. "You should not have even jumped in here in the first place. Y-you could've ran off and found Glynda or another professor to expose General Ironwood's abuse of power!"

"I don't know why I did it. There, I said it. My body just kind of moved on on its own, you would call it natural instinct... S-s-s-s-silly!" Ruby winks at her, obviously mimicking Link's words, but her final word barely comes out and faintly as the huntress closes her eyes and falls backwards "I wanted to end all crime in the whole world... That's been my goal and was going to be official once I became a professional huntress which was my ultimate d-dream, but... D-dang it... Now I pass on my dreams and goals to you, L-link! So don't you dare not carry them out! O-okay?" Her eyes slowly close soon after these last words

The footage suddenly zooms in on it's own, right into Link and Ruby

Link's eyes widened to their fullest extent, hearing Ruby's last words and watching the hand that was just grabbing seconds ago weakly flop to the ground. The moment she closes her eyes, Link's eyes well up with tears as well, watching her head turn, neck go stiff and body now motionless makes the tears in Link's eyes trickle slowly down his cheeks

"She..."

Ironwood's voice was heard again as the footage zooms out

"Miss Rose plunged into what she knew was a trap, to protect you?" The older man opens his eyes and stands up straight. "I will give her all the credit and props in the world, she is a huntress worthy of respect." He turns his back to Link now. "This is the way of this cruel world that I am trying to fix, friends, allies, comrades, they die but it does not have to be that way if you would all just follow me and listen closely." The Atlas general walks away from Link, the seven Atlesian Knights originally around him follow to keep him shielded and guarded

The footage then immediately zooms back in on Link

"Shut... Up!" Link mumbles with a weak tone as he painfully forces himself to pull Ruby away from himself, he softly lays her down on the cracked concrete, and her hand flop once again. "Y-you sick Atlas monsters killed Ruby... the same way you killed my best friend!"

Link places his hands on Ruby's shoulders, feeling her lifeless body, he begins to shake uncontrollably until this bright golden aura disappears faster than it appeared. The one person team lifts his head, his eyes are visibly golden, a familiar sight, but he was not fully in control. This Is clear when the strange lining kicks in and spreads out of his eyes, trailing outwards and onto his cheeks first, then to the rest of his face; along with a pasty bright white color engulfing his complexion, making him look as if he were possessed. Link's eyes, while glowing with a magical golden color, are anything but magical... He has an evil look in his eyes, like he has the intention to take a life, the way a monster would

The closest possible zoom in occurs on Link's face as he raises his head

"I'm going to kill you... IRONWOOD!"

Present Time

Hearing those words a second time sends chills down Velvet's spine and makes her marches over and hit pause on the tablet herself

"..." Pyrrha stared at the screen in shock, and so did everyone else, even Velvet and Coco who saw it first hand were still shaken up.

"W-what..." Weiss blinks in disbelief. "W-what was that?"

"D-do we have to finish watching it?" Velvet asks. "You all know what happens next."

"It's like Coco said." Yang taps on the play button, speaking over the silence of the silence as Link and Ironwood stare each other down. "We've already gone this far, may as well finish."

Nobody turned their head to look away, instead, they all look on, more interested than ever before, watching Link's sudden surge of aura cause a huge difference in the 'fight' by blocking Ironwood's bullets, along with the wave of bullets from the twelve Atlesian Knights, him wiping the Knights out with singular attacks and no real struggle. Along with that, they witness Link's speed and power increase as he takes out Knight's with just one kick before finally getting his hands on Ironwood, unleashing a devastating knee to gut, following up by a powerful left straight left hand to the face and sending him flying through the air and smashing through the incoming four Atlesian Knights. The next thing they see is Link jumping up in the air with his sword in hand, the gold on his clothing, sword, sheath, shield and triforce on his left hand all light up as he dashed through the wind, pushing past the rain, ignoring the sounds of thunder, with his entire focus was on killing the man that just 'killed' his friend... but right as Link was about to execute the killing slash, Velvet appeared in front of Ironwood, her back turned towards the general whilst her front faces Link. The rabbit faunus has her arms extended and eyes closed, expecting Link not to hold back but hoping that with her full aura, she would survive the attack as well as save Ironwood. Despite his incredible speed and Ironwood's imminent demise, Link was able to stop, put his head down, growl and grunt in pain, and steadily, Link's golden eyes were gone. In addition, the same applies to the lining and bright white skin on his face, both retract away. The evil killing intent was gone and the rampage is over

"Velvet, I could have hurt-!"

Suddenly... The footage cuts out and turns into solely static. Yang hits the pause button and silence is heard throughout Link's room. Nobody can find a single word to say that will break the silence and it remains that way when the previously shut door is now open. The entire group is too busy watching the footage on the tablet, they do not notice that 'someone' has opened the door and is now hovering over the entrance. This 'someone' stands at the doorway, leaning against the wall... That someone is Link. His shadow could be seen within the room, the blonde boy initially leans on the wall before pushing off and standing tall, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face as he angrily glares at everyone inside his room

"Well well..." Link closes his eyes and let out a grunt of disgust, "It seems like I was not invited to movie night. What a shame really, but there seems to be a misunderstanding guys. I don't remember declaring MY dorm as the meetup spot." He opened his eyes, they shine with the golden color seen in the footage, and the angry blonde boy stared down his 'friends'

"L-link I-I..." Velvet panics. "I-I'm sorry-!"

"Save it." Link shakes his head. "I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here."

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Yang starts. "Where have you been the last few weeks? And what on earth was that-!"

"I could say the same to ALL of you." Link cuts her off. "Why are you in my room uninvited? Why has my room been raided? And lastly, about that tablet... Why are you going through my stuff?"

No answer..