{Jocelyn's perspective}

I had been keeping myself hidden whenever possible so I could eavesdrop on other members of Salem's circle.

So far it has been real quiet with the occasional mention of the relic which Watts will be in charge of.

However today particularly caught my ear as Salem was talking to Tyrian.

Apparently she sent a Seer grimm to spy on Aaron's group, which Justin updated me on where they were.

She instructed Tyrian to follow them.

Which means something happened when she was watching.

I can only assume what had happened. One of which is Ruby unlocking her silver eyes for the first time.

I don't think I can tell Aaron or Justin. One of which is because he blocked me and thinks I'm a villain.

The other is that Watts put a dish above the base to spy on messages and calls and all of that technical stuff I'm not well versed in.

So calling or texting Justin is out of the question. That would put me on Watt's radar. Unless I can code it but I doubt Justin will be able to decipher it. He's smart academically, but he tends to lean more towards brute force for some reason.

I hope that Aaron can adapt quickly enough.

{Aaron's perspective}

Well… It happened. We were in the middle of a horde of Grimm. We were slightly outnumbered.

I made sure to keep Pyrrha behind me as I took out three grimm with three different strikes.

However by that point we were getting surrounded.

And there's not enough space to throw my knives accurately.

That's when I was flashbanged by Ruby's silver eye power.

My entire vision went white as a grimm jumped towards me.

As soon as we could see again all the grimm in front of us, including the one that was trying to kill me, were gone.

I turned around to Ruby who slumped over with her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

Yang immediately ran to her sister's side and caught her head before it hit the ground.

I looked around for a moment assessing the amount of carnage that Ruby made which even surprised JNPR. I then pulled the map out "Let's see… the nearest village is a couple of miles away towards the west… We can rest there."

We loaded Ruby up on the flatbed trailer and sped off. Which not much happened aside from the occasional Grimm. I threw a knife but that was about all I did. Yang put me on Ruby duty to make sure she didn't bang her head on anything.

I looked towards the sky lost in thought.

That move was bound to catch the attention of someone. That someone being Salem. I'm worried now…

If Tyrian is still following us like I suspect, now he has more reason to take her to Salem… for what reason I don't know.

I have my guesses, none of which are good.

{Weiss' perspective}

As I awoke from my slumber, the morning light shone through the window

I sat up to look out to see nothing but the ocean.

Which tells me we're between Solitas and Anima.

I glanced over at Achilles… Why I keep calling him that I'm not sure, especially with all of the memories I've seen during my time at Beacon.

I've been debating whether or not to confront him about all of it… but he hasn't wanted to talk to me since we were drugged. And all of that happened.

I fear he's trying to distance himself from me again.

He's going to have to try a lot harder if he thinks I'll let him drift away.

But… he looks so peaceful, even if he's somehow sleeping upright.

I can see drool waterfalling from his mouth.

It's sort of adorable…

I stood up and walked over to him. I was about to touch his head again when I remembered the warning that… thing threatened…

Next time I see you in his head, I will make you my puppet as well.

I have to wonder… What was that? And why did it look so much like him?

What does that mean to him?

Is he angry? Is he hiding something else from us?

…

I never did get to any of the memories that introduced him to us. That thing got in the way.

That's when I glanced down at his prosthetic left arm.

I was thinking of the way he acted in Beacon. How that man feels so much different than the man that's sleeping before me.

The man I met at Beacon seemed more energetic, hopeful, happy, and easygoing. With a very loud mouth and wasn't afraid to say what was exactly on his mind.

This man now seems more cold and distant. He was constantly stressed while staying at my manor. And he has been a lot more cynical, after hearing his rant at that 'karen' as he called her.

I do wonder what goes on in his head. But there's no way to know without what I can do at this moment.

…

I should respect his privacy.

I went to the flight deck to chat with the pilot.

He told me that everything has been going smoothly.

That's when we heard a radio transmission of a distress call. And Achilles came out during that call, rubbing his eye. Then stretching.

The pilot shut off the transmission and changed course.

"We're not going to help them?" I asked.

"Weiss, do you see any guns on this ship? It's a cargo ship. We wouldn't be able to help even if we wanted to." Achilles explained with his arms crossed.

"Exactly." The pilot agreed with Achilles.

"Also change that heading to 200" Achilles then said.

The pilot glanced at him confused.

"Lancers have made a home in the floating islands up ahead recently. I'd rather not deal with them nor do I wish to see this ship go down in flames with me in it." Achilles explained. Almost like he's already been through it.

The pilot then argued "It'll add minutes onto our flight."

"How are the fuel levels?" Achilles asked.

The pilot glanced at one of his instruments for a moment before returning his gaze to Achilles. "Enough that going around those islands will make us fall short of the target destination."

Achilles groaned "Great… just like-" He then glanced back at us then went back to quietly mumbling to himself before asking "Can we go to a different altitude then? The jetstreams above us might give us more than enough fuel leftover."

The pilot shook his head "I don't know what you've been reading, but this ship can't go higher than 25,000 feet."

"Because of the dust?" Achilles asked.

The pilot turned his head slowly, taken aback by Achilles' obvious question. "... Yes… I thought that was obvious."

"Right… dumb question. Sorry." Achilles mumbled.

Achilles then glanced out the window for a moment before he returned to the back.

The pilot asked me "What was that about?"

I shrugged "He's as much a mystery to me as he is to you" I replied with a sigh of annoyance.

One of these days he'll open up about his past. His true past, at least gives some context for some of the memories I saw. Like a greenhouse- wait I think he already talked about that.

Ok then one of the other times where he was just randomly hiking near a creek with some sort of gated tunnel that he slipped through without problem.

{Blake's perspective}

I sat there staring at the sea by the docks. I lost track of how long I was there for. After the speech yesterday and no one wanting to sign up to fight with us today I felt defeated. With the sun setting I felt as if everything was against me.

I told Sun to meet me back at my parents house. I needed time to think.

I started thinking about both Yang and Achilles. What would they do in this situation?

Let's find their hideout and kick their butts! A vision of Yang said.

That wouldn't work. That would only add fuel to the flames.

Burn that sucker to the ground? A vision of Achilles offered.

Arson is not a solution. As tempting as it is right now.

I groaned and dropped my head into my arms.

Why am I thinking about them right now? I should be more focused on my tasks at hand.

Earlier I shared my thoughts with Sun and Triton, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was considering searching for him Triton came out and lent on the railing next to me. It nearly made me jump. "Despite everything, you did great out there." He assured me.

I glared at him "And where were you while we were trying to get at least one signature?"

"Communing with the aquatic faunus." He answered.

"Did any of them want to sign up?"

He shook his head "Some had the excuse that they cannot spend more than a few minutes in the air before they start suffering. One was interested before his mother took him away."

He then sighed "I wish that faunus girl did not interrupt your speech yesterday, we would have rallied a lot more of these people to our cause. Now because of her there is not much we can do."

That reminded me of a question on my mind since yesterday. I turned to him "I've been meaning to ask… What was that language you shouted at Ilia?"

"Άφησα τα ελληνικά μου να γλιστρήσουν;" Triton mumbled under his breath. "My apologies, It is not something you would easily understand given the way your world works."

I raised an eyebrow at him "What do you mean by that?"

He waved off my question without a word.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Triton glanced around cautiously and warned "I have already said too much, any more info slips out and it could mean disaster for you psychologically."

I crossed my arms at him. "I think I can handle it."

He shook his head "I can assure you, you cannot."

I glared at him in silence. Just as I was about to say something, Sun came out announcing "What's up everyone?"

Triton and I stared at him with mal contempt.

I yelled "I thought I told you to go back to my parents house!"

Sun scratched the back of his head "Yeah… about that… You should really see this."

Triton and I glanced at each other before we all darted towards my parents house.

{Aaron's perspective}

We made it to a village. Thankfully Ruby is still alive no thanks to Yang's wreckless driving. (Shut it Yang, you could have not swerved around every rock. No I don't care you didn't want your sister to shift around too much SHE WAS ALREADY SHIFTING AROUND DUE TO YOU CONSTANTLY SWERVING! If it wasn't for me using my lap as a pillow, which I didn't think I had to do, she would probably be concussed.)

Shit I just wrote what I argued with Yang about didn't I? Oh well I'll put parentheses around it, to make it look somewhat presentable. Eat your heart out Justin.

Anyway where was I?

…

Right, so we settled in another hotel to let Ruby and the rest of us rest and recharge before the next trek.

Luckily Mistral is only a 5 mile drive north-by-north-east of us.

The rest of us have been silent aside from a few light conversations. Until this conversation struck me: "So why come with us? I'm sure that CFVY would have loved to have you."

I made a sharp inhale before answering "Well… I feel like you guys might need me more."

Yang raised an eyebrow "What made you feel that?"

I shrugged "Well… It's complicated. With all that you guys went through I made the decision to go with you guys. And besides that, this is the best way to meet back up with Achilles and the others."

They gave a nod and stayed silent. With only the holotv being heard. Even then, I was barely paying any attention.

Because Velvet texted me and asked how I was.

I told her a little bit about what had happened. Which took a while to describe which I won't mention here, for the interest of time.

Velvet responded Oh? Wow I didn't realize that Ruby was capable of that.

Yeah, imagine my surprise. I'm surprised I don't have tinnitus.

Velvet took a moment before responding What's tinnitus?

That took me by surprise. What do you mean?

I mean… What is tinnitus? Is that a disease?

That took me a moment to think. I mean technically yes it is but it's also the result after a very loud noise. Hence our world making flashbangs. It disorients you for a time and makes it so you can't hear when people run up.

Not to mention if unprotected gunfire can also instill tinnitus. So my response was How do you not know? None of our team wore hearing protection when Coco decided to unload all of her rounds from Gianduja into Cardin that one time. You mean to tell me you didn't hear any ringing?

She gave a shrug emoticon with bunny ears.

… Either you're messing with me, or you're actually serious.

She didn't respond for some time so I thought I may have made her upset. But before I could type my apology I saw that she was typing. So I waited.

She then replied Sorry, just had something come up! We were in the middle of a fight with Mole Crabs.

Mole crabs? I asked.

She then sent a selfie with herself and Yatsu covered in some sort of liquid. On top of a giant crab in some sort of cave.

She then added, Yatsu stinks real bad.

I laughed a little to myself and replied Yeah, I can smell him from here.

LMAO I'm going to tell him that XD

I glanced outside to realize it was dark, I double checked the clock. I texted Velvet I've got to get to sleep.

Ok. goodnight Aaron.

Goodnight Velvet.

I couldn't help but smile. I heard Yang and Ruby having a conversation so it's good to know she's now awake.

Christ we still have a while to go. At least we've avoided the Nuckelavee.

I routed us to go around the mountains through villages.

With how far we have to go I'm glad we're not further away from Mistral. Though I get a sneaking suspicion it won't be as easy as just getting there.