"I really don't know if this is a good idea…" Sky said as Russell dug around in his toolbox for the right wrench.

"C'mon, it'll be funny," Russell grinned. "Can't you imagine Little Red's face when her 'precious baby' malfunctions?"

Sky scratched the back of his neck. Admittedly, Ruby's expression probably would be pretty funny. But still, it felt like their pranks were starting to go too far. "Wasn't stealing the Ice Queen's underpants bad enough?" Sky tried. "We could get in actual trouble for this."

"No way Weiss'll notice. Her nose is stuck up so high, I'd be shocked if she can even see the ground," Russell said, waving his hand dismissively. "She had like, ten suitcases stacked out in the hallway. Who does that, anyways? A rich girl like that, she's basically begging to have something stolen. Besides, I'll shove the underwear under Yang's pillow as soon as I get the chance. It'll be funny."

Truthfully, that joke didn't seem particularly funny to Sky. He had a sister back home and he knew he'd beat anyone up that pulled that on his sister.

"Can't you just let it go?" Sky said, deciding to put his foot down. "Classes are about to begin, and I'm pretty sure Yang didn't mean to hit us out of the sky during Initiation. It just doesn't feel right. This could get out of hand really quickly."

Russell scowled. "You're no fun," he said. "Imagine Yang's reaction when she's framed as a pervert. It's the perfect revenge."

"I really don't think she meant us harm," Sky reiterated. "Just stop. Promise me you won't go through with either of the pranks."

Russell paused, then huffed, not looking at him. "Fine."

He let out a small sigh of relief. "Good." Then he grinned. "Now, if you want to brainstorm how to sneak that Nora girl some triple-shot coffee, I'm all ears. I have a feeling it'd be quite the show."

To say Ren was in a bad mood was an understatement. He'd been wandering Beacon for over two hours looking for Pyrrha, but he'd found no sign of her anywhere. Everywhere he turned, there seemed to be random Beacon students talking about his team or one of the others also on probation. And somehow they all seemed to recognize him, and laugh. And point. And laugh.

He typically wasn't phased by stuff like this. He and Nora had encountered all types of bullies over the years across different orphanages. But this—this was different. Unlike his childhood, this situation actually was his fault. He was supposed to be a leader, and everything had already fallen to pieces. And Nora... his heart lurched. He wasn't sure where he stood with her right now. She'd really caused a lot of problems today. The Nora he knew wouldn't hit defenseless Huntresses. But now she was on another team and truth be told, he already missed her.

Ren turned a corner and found a giggling pack of older girls huddled together, watching something on one of their scrolls. Gritting his teeth, he walked up to them and asked: "Excuse me, but have you seen Pyrrha Nikos? The Mistral champion, member of team RYND?"

The laughter grew louder and none of them bothered to answer. Ren was just about to turn away when he caught sight of what was on their scroll.

It was a GIF of Yang and Nora, getting smacked together and levitated by their butts by Glynda Goodwitch. The caption: 'Posterior propulsion XD.'

"Give me that," Ren snapped, snatching the scroll.

"Hey!" one of the girls protested.

The GIF appeared to be a part of some larger student thread. To his horror, he realized the thread was about them! He quickly found another GIF of Pyrrha slamming Dove into the ceiling, dubbed 'Team Rocket's Blasting Off Again." He scrolled further. It was endless! A very badly autotuned video of Weiss screeching "you absolute vermin" was next. Then, a clip of Jaune's Compost King pieces getting scattered over the floor, followed by a hard cut to Kevin spilling the chili in the famous sitcom The Office—

"Give it back!" The girl wrenched the scroll back out of his hands, but Ren offered no resistance. He simply stood there, speechless, and felt himself go numb.

He wasn't sure how long he had stood there when a voice jerked him out of his daze. "Hey, you looking for Pyrrha?"

He snapped back to reality. "Yes," he said, turning to face—ugh, it was Cardin.

The orange-haired bully was grinning at him. "Well, I so happened to see her earlier… if only I could remember where?"

Ren clenched his fists. "What do you want," he said shortly.

"Simple," Cardin said, jerking his thumb towards the sparring gym down the hall. "I'll make you a deal. Beat me in the ring, and I'll tell you."

Oh, it was so on.

Cardin was angry.

He swung The Executioner wildly at that frustrating pink ninja boy—Ben, he thought his name was—and growled as his mace hit nothing but air. He then very quickly found himself on the backfoot, swinging his mace defensively to knock away the boy's bullets. Then the stupid ninja, instead of pushing his advantage, ran to the other side of the gym.

"You have the most cowardly fighting style I've ever seen," Cardin yelled at him.

Ben simply shrugged.

"Thanks for agreeing to this little beatdown, by the way," he taunted. "All I had to do was say that I'd seen your little teammate and you were ready to accept any offer I had to make. Not even one day and your team is already falling apart. You must be a pretty terrible leader, Bennie-boy" he leered.

Still, that stoic boy gave him nothing, simply twirling his knives in his hands at the opposite end of the room.

"Do you have a backbone?" Cardin speculated loudly. "Are you even a man under there?"

A pause. "Yes."

That. Was. It! Cardin charged across the room, mace high over his head, telegraphing his next move as much as he could. As the boy predictably jumped into the air to dodge once again, Cardin grinned—and instead of swinging, he activated the fire dust inside his mace while it was still over his head.

Ben was thrown violently backwards from the fiery explosion, slamming into the wall and collapsing in a heap. The explosion' shockwaves were music to his ears, and he admired the embers' glint as they drifted down through the air. One landed on his hand. He barely felt its burn.

Cardin dragged his mace along the ground to make a long, ugly scraping sound as he slowly approached the fallen boy. He checked the digital projection above and saw Ben's Aura was hovering just above 20%. He almost scoffed. Did the ninja truly have so little? One more hit and the fight would be his.

But he wasn't quite ready for the fight to end just yet. He was still stewing from his argument with his joke of a team earlier. He squatted down in front of Ben and flicked him on the nose. "Oi. Bennie-boy. Wake up. That all you got?"

Ben looked back at him neutrally. His stoicism was almost unnerving. Almost.

Cardin mustered up his best cocky grin. "Some leader you're supposed to be," he mocked. "Guess you'll never find out where Dove went."

Ben remained quiet.

"Man, you're no fun," Cardin sighed, stepping back and lifting his mace for the finishing blow.

"You talk too much," the boy finally said. As Cardin was standing up, Ben suddenly lashed out with his feet, knocking Cardin flat on his back. The Executioner tumbled out of his grip and Ben was on top of him in a flash, dagger pressed firmly into his neck. "Yield," Ben said coldly.

Cardin didn't say anything, stunned at the turn of events and at the raw rage that had suddenly transformed the boy's face. Where had that come from? The dagger began to press harder against his flesh, Ben's eyes glinting dangerously. Cardin gulped. "I yield," he said.

"Now tell me where you saw Pyrrha," Ben said, not removing his dagger.

"I saw her get into the elevator to Ozpin's office," Cardin said hurriedly. "I think she was going to withdraw."

Ben said nothing for a moment. Then, he sheathed his dagger and stood, that expressionless mask sliding back onto his face. "Also, my name's Ren," he said, and walked away.

Cardin remained on the floor, staring at the ceiling, head spinning. Nothing was going right for him: not the school, not his team, not even his own damned abilities. He hadn't felt this powerless since… back then. His fists clenched, that familiar anger inside of him threatening to burst out of his chest.

He was never going to get his revenge at this rate.

When Weiss arrived in Headmaster Ozpin's office to withdraw from the academy, she was shocked to find another student already there, doing the same thing. Even more shockingly, it was the only student in her year that she considered to be better than her—Pyrrha Nikos. The four-time Mistral Regional Tournament champion, quitting? It was unthinkable!

"What—Pyrrha, why are you leaving?" Weiss asked, mouth agape.

"I don't think I belong here," the girl said sadly, scanning the withdrawal form laid out on Ozpin's desk. The Headmaster said nothing, simply observing them.

"But you're… you're the Invincible Girl!"

Pyrrha let out a soft sigh. "You know, I really hate that nickname."

Weiss looked at the girl as if she'd just spoken Ancient Vacuan.

"All my life, all people have ever seen is my name," Pyrrha continued. "I was hoping to start anew here, learn how to work in a team with people who saw me for me. But unfortunately, it's become clear to me that that isn't going to happen."

Chills ran down Weiss's spine as Pyrrha's words triggered not only empathy but an awful sense of familiarity in her gut.

"But—" Weiss said, searching for words. "You can't just give up! Classes haven't even started yet," she said dully.

"Aren't you here to withdraw too?" Pyrrha asked.

All the energy left Weiss's body and her shoulders slumped. "I…" She thought back to that horrible scene in the hallway and shuddered. Faunus-loving Blake, useless Jaune, and that… vermin… no. Unless she got a new team, there was no way she could stay. "I… don't have a good team. I can't work with them. I didn't want it to end up like this," she said, fighting back her emotions. "I can't go back to my father. But I can't stay, either."

Pyrrha gave her a sympathetic smile. "I didn't want it to turn out like this, either." Then, the redhead turned her attention back to the form and quickly signed the bottom of the page, turning it back towards Ozpin. "There," Pyrrha said.

"Are you sure about this, Ms. Nikos?" Headmaster Ozpin said. "I'd hate to see a talented young huntress such as yourself give up so early."

She shook her head. "I'm sure. You saw what I did to my partner. There's some things I need to work out before I can become a huntress… things I need to work out on my own."

Something snapped in Weiss. "You can't solve all your problems on your own!" she blurted out.

Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow at her, but Weiss was on a roll. "Huntsmen academies… they're meant to teach us how to work together. How to protect people from villains and monsters alike." She thought of her long days in her father's mansion. Alone. "You can't get that anywhere else."

"Then what do you propose?" Pyrrha asked, studying her.

Her lifetime of business training from her father suddenly came in handy as she marched across the room and stuck out her hand towards a stunned Pyrrha. "Let's make a deal. You'll look out for me, and I'll look out for you. If by the end of the week things don't show signs of improvement… we can quit."

Weiss watched as Pyrrha's expression slowly morphed from disbelief to… gratitude? A tear formed in the girl's left eye, which she rubbed away quickly. Then, to Weiss's joy, she grabbed her hand and shook it.

"You have yourself a deal," Pyrrha smiled.

...

A/N: Weiss and Pyrrha get like zero screen time together after Episode 4 in canon. Their dynamic works surprisingly well when they're not being superficial. It was pretty fun to write.