"Roller skates?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Ugh, don't even get me started."

Blake looked unsure about the whole idea. "That's... very dangerous."

"Come on, guys! Did you even have a childhood?" There was an awkward silence from her two teammates, and Yang let out an exasperated groan. "Right, I forgot. Too busy being a revolutionary and a princess."

"Heiress, and I actually wanted to say something about that." Weiss waited until she was sure neither of the other two girls would interrupt her before continuing. "Did you guys not notice how we're like... not normal?"

"Uh, well, speak for yourself."

She shook her head, waving off Yang's comment. "I'm serious. We all knew from day one that I'm the daughter of the head of the Schnee Dust Company. That's a big deal, but we've had a while to come to terms with it. But..." She gestured toward Yang. "Your mother and uncle were chosen by an ancient demigod and magically turned into birds, and now your mom is the Spring Maiden." She moved over to Blake. "And your dad is the founder of the White Fang."

"What's your point." Blake said, her ears flattening out on top of her head. "That's all in the past. We're not our parents, and we're also not a part of their organizations, so what bearing does that have on us?"

"Maybe nothing, but I just mean to say that we are not just a bunch of little girls who wandered into saving the world one day. We were all a part of that side of the world, the side with bigger plans and bigger pieces, long before we found out about Salem or the Maidens." Weiss sat down, shaking her head. "It just makes me wonder if we ever really had a choice about being a part of all this."

"Skip rope!"

"What?" Weiss was startled by Yang's suddenly shout.

Blake smiled, though. "Of course!"

"There you go! I knew you'd be a skip rope girl, Blake."

Weiss looked from Blake to Yang and back again, confused. "What are you guys talking about?"

Yang shrugged. "The thing we were talking about before you came in with your edgy subject."

"Well I thought maybe it was important, so excuse me-"

"And I thought it was boring and bringing the mood down. Did you play with a skip rope when you were little or not, Weiss?"

"I didn't."

"Well, there you go. Blake had a deficient childhood, but a childhood. You did not." Yang crossed her arms, grinning teasingly.

"Wh- I-" She stopped, realizing that Yang was teasing her. "Oh, ha ha." Standing up again, Weiss headed for the door. "I'm going to see if I can find Ruby, for some company that's less immature."

"You looking to pick a fight or something?" Weiss stopped in her tracks and turned to Blake, wide-eyed. Blake smiled. "I'm joking. Listen, what you were talking about, we've all noticed. I know I've given it some thought, though not that much if I'm being completely honest, and Ruby and Yang have definitely thought about it too."

"I haven't."

Blake cringed at Yang's interjection. "Okay, well Ruby certainly has. But look at it this way. Does it really matter if we become worldwide heroes who just cropped up out of nowhere, or if we were raised already at the top, or near the people who were? Someone still had to do the things we did. If not us, then who? We broke up the White Fang, we restored Haven Academy, we prevented Salem from getting her hands on the Relic of Knowledge. We've accomplished things, fighting the most dangerous force on Remnant, and we're still here. All four of us are here, we're all together, we're all in one piece."

"I'm not."

"Three of us are in one piece." She corrected herself, then corrected again. "We're in five pieces, but for four kids who have been through what we have, that's pretty good shape."

Weiss had to agree there. In the end, regardless of where they came from, it was nothing short of a miracle, or several miracles, that they were all still alive. What they had gone through together, and apart, could have easily spelt the end for anyone. But it hadn't, and here they were. She gave Blake a genuine smile. "Thank you." She was about to reach out and give Blake a hug.

"Hopscotch."

"Okay, I'm going." Waving goodbye to her friends, Weiss stepped out of their room and into the hallway just in time to see Ruby approaching. "Oh, that was easy. Where have you been?"

Ruby stopped short of Weiss. She started rocking back and forth on her feet and swinging her arms innocently. Just like a happy child. She grinned. "I was just talking to General Ironwood. I have a good feeling."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby suspiciously. "You're hiding something."

"I'll tell you." Ruby skipped around Weiss and opened the door to their room, heading in. "Come on, I want to-"

Something caught Weiss' eye. "Ruby, where's the Relic?"

Turning back to Weiss as she walked backwards between Blake and Yang, Ruby threw her hands up in the air. "I gave it to the general! I got sick and tired of feeling like I was hiding something from the one person who could probably find a solution!" She quickly calmed down. "So, I chose to trust him, and I have a good feeling that he'll trust us in return."

"What? How can you know that?" Weiss let out a 'guh' and stepped back into the room, closing the door to give them privacy. "I thought you had misgivings about telling him there was still one question."

"I did, but then I gave up on those misgivings. And I didn't say I know he'll trust us, I said I have a good feeling. It's completely different."

"Yeah, and far less convincing." Blake added. "After everything we've gone through, you just handed it over? How did he respond to finding out you lied to him before?"

Ruby looked away from Blake, stepping back and rubbing the back of her head anxiously. "Oh, well... he didn't. Cause I didn't tell him. I kinda... told him that one of the questions had replenished some time in the past month or something."

Blake looked dismayed. "You're kidding. And he bought that?"

"Well, yeah. Or at least he acted like he did." She looked to Yang for help. "Either he believed me or he understood that I was trying to make things better because I felt bad about lying before. That makes sense, right?"

Yang squinted at Ruby skeptically. "You're awfully naïve, Ruby. If he figures out that you lied to him, we'll be lucky if he only kicks us out of the academy."

"Wait, really?" Weiss gave Yang a concerned look. "Would he actually do that?"

"He might." Blake answered instead. "But however tenuous this makes our position, I guess I have to agree with Ruby on this one. I think she did the right thing. Even if it doesn't work out the best for us, General Ironwood will be able to use the Relic to get one good answer. I just hope he asked a good question."

Yang stood up and faced Blake. "You've got to be joking. You think giving it to Ironwood is a good choice? After everything we've seen, you can just trust him? After everything you have been through, you're going to just trust General Ironwood?"

Blake frowned. "No, I'm trusting our leader. I'm trusting Ruby. Are you going to trust her, Yang?"

Ruby and Weiss stood in silence for several seconds as Blake and Yang stared each other down, Blake's arms crossed over her chest, Yang's hands firmly on her hips. Neither one was backing down, and the other two were completely stunned that such a display could come out of them so easily. As tight as the team had normally seemed, it was a sudden reminder that they were all very different people, and disagreement between them could quickly fracture their bonds if they didn't take care to keep strengthening them.

Finally, Yang half-turned away and rubbed her eyes like she was wiping tears. "I can't believe you'd just turn on me like that. I thought we were skip rope sisters."

Blake smiled and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, that's enough."

Taking a deep breath to release the tension built up from her short acting stint, Yang looked over to Ruby. "I don't think you know what you're doing, but of course I hope it works out. Let's just say I'm a little pessimistic, and leave it at that. You're still our leader, after all. I should let you make the big decisions."

Ruby snickered at her. "Skip rope sisters?"

"Well, yeah. You and Weiss wouldn't understand. You never played skip rope." She explained to her sister like it was a reasonable normal thing. "Don't worry, it'll be something to bond over that you and Weiss never got that experience."

"Wait, but I did. I totally did. I played it with you."

Lowering her voice and leaning in, Yang wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulders and turned her away from the others. "Don't say that out loud. You're supposed to be in solidarity with Weiss. Look how sad and depressed she is."

"Oh..." Ruby looked back over her shoulder. "Weiss..." She started budding fake tears. "I'm so sorry. Sniff."

"I can hurt you." Weiss deadpanned.

"See how quickly she resorts to violence, Ruby. A sure sign of someone who has had no joy in their life." Yang grabbed Ruby's shoulders and turned her back to face Weiss. "Go to her Ruby! She needs you!"

"Weiss!" Ruby ran to Weiss and tackled her in a big hug. "I'm so sorry! Waaaaaa!"

"Right. I forgot. You're all children." Weiss sighed heavily. She would have left, if not for the heavy anchor wrapped around her. She raised her hand like she was going to smack Ruby on the top of her head.

Yang came to her sister's rescue. "Hey, Weiss, you wanna ask Ruby about that thing now? That thing that you've been overthinking that you think Ruby has been too?"

"Right... sure." Really, Weiss was willing to take the out to escape this nonsense. Her mind had been put at ease by Blake already, but since it was really more of an academic concern in the first place, she wanted to get Ruby's take on it. "Hey, Ruby, you've noticed that we're all pretty well connected, right?"

Ruby stopped her fake crying and looked up at Weiss, though she didn't let go. "We're what?"

Sighing, Weiss pointed to herself. "My dad is the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company." She pointed to Blake. "Her dad founded the White Fang." She pointed to Yang. "Her mom is the leader of the Branwen tribe." She pointed down to Ruby. "And your mom was definitely part of Ozpin's inner circle because of her silver eyes."

Ruby was silent for a few moments, and then, "Yeah, so?"

"Come on, Ruby. I'm trying to say we're kinda special, aren't we?"

"I mean... I guess... but that doesn't matter. What we did... it could have been anyone, right?"

"Actually," Weiss corrected, "Now that I think about it, I'm not so sure. When Yang and I were at the Branwen tribe's base camp, things would have gone very different if I wasn't someone worth keeping as a hostage. Just about anyone else would have just been killed instead of taken like I was. Raven wouldn't have let just anyone waltz into their camp like Yang did either. And then she let Yang have the Relic of Knowledge? Who else could have achieved that? And there's no way anyone else could have just convinced Ghira Belladonna to rally the Faunus of Menagerie to defend Haven the way Blake did. And now everything Ruby's done with her silver eyes, both in Vale and Argus? We've made waves, specifically because of who we are. We've done things other people would never have been able to."

Ruby let go finally, backing off of Weiss. She was giving her words serious thought. "So what you're saying is basically that we are not like the average people. The people around us have always been separate from the rest of the world in some way or another, and so we have opportunities they couldn't get."

"Yes."

"Oh..." Blake looked like she regretted her earlier take on the subject. "I get it now. I wouldn't have been able to do what I did without everyone else helping me. My parents, Sun, Ilia... but they were my support. I'm the one who got it done, even if I didn't want to at first."

"Exactly." Weiss continued. "And it's not like just any rich girl befriending any random Faunus would be as significant as me and Blake being friends. Where we come from, we shouldn't just be enemies, we should be the worst enemies possible."

"It's not like my family is poor or anything." Blake quipped.

Yang relented as well. "Okay, yeah, I get it now. Our connections got us a lot farther than someone else could have gone. But on the other side of that, you have to realize that sooner or later, we're going to find ourselves in a situation where those connections don't help at all. Like, thinking about someone like Salem, what does she care about any of us? For sure the Schnee name means nothing to her, and I don't think-"

Someone knocked on the door to their room. Yang stopped talking, and Weiss stepped to the side, letting Ruby open the door. Standing just outside was Weiss' sister, Winter. Not the last person they'd expected to see today, but far from the first. She looked as business as usual, if a little bewildered, and slightly stressed out by the bundle of energy standing just behind her and to the side. The redhead bounced up and down excitedly, like she knew something was about to happen that would be very fun.

"Winter." Weiss was happy to see her sister, as usual.

"Penny!" Ruby was ecstatic to see their robotic friend, also as usual.

"Ruby!" Penny was just as happy right back.

"Nora!" And then Nora Valkyrie appeared in between the two groups.

Winter picked up Nora and casually tossed her aside. She turned her attention back to Weiss and Ruby. "Hello, Weiss. Weiss' friends. Ruby."

"Hey."

She ignored Ruby's protest and went on to explain why she was here. "The general has asked that I bring Ruby and Weiss to his office. He has a mission that he wants you to take part in." Seeing that they were all confused as to why it was only the two of them, she held up a hand to stall any questions. "Blake and Yang will be staying here. Putting all four of you on this mission would be too much, and Mantle still needs all the attention we can spare. Don't worry, we don't expect to encounter too many Grimm, and the Ace Ops will be accompanying us."

Ruby turned to her team. "Well, maybe Ironwood got an answer he liked." She turned back to Winter. "Since we're totally going to tell them everything after the mission, it should be fine if they come to the mission briefing with us, right?"

"I..." Winter wasn't sure how to answer that. "I suppose you are correct. Worst case, I guess, he'll make them wait outside." She turned on her heel and made to walk away. "Come on, then. We shouldn't keep him waiting."