Blake didn't sleep at all the first night after Initiation. As soon as Weiss had quit the team, she'd retreated to her bed in the far corner of the room and buried herself in her scroll. As much as she had wanted to read Ninjas of Love, she hadn't trusted Cardin to not peek over her shoulder and start bullying her for it.

Jaune was the first one to go to sleep that evening. Blake noticed he'd decided to skip the dining hall—she could hear his stomach rumbling from the other side of the room. That problem, at least, she was sympathetic to. She didn't particularly want to leave the room either. What she was not sympathetic to, however, was the fact that the boy reeked.

Jaune hadn't seen fit to take a shower before climbing into bed. Heck, he hadn't even taken off his armor! Not only did he smell like the mud and gore from their failed Initiation, he also still reeked of his own puke! Truly, Blake was baffled—if the smell was so bad for her on the opposite side of the room, surely the air by his bed was virtually unbreathable. Then again, she was a Faunus, so maybe she was more sensitive to his lack of hygiene than he was.

For hours, they were the only two in the room, Blake painfully awake and Jaune peacefully asleep, unaware of the havoc he was unleashing on her sinuses. She surfed the CTnet to keep herself distracted. A few hours in, she found a very unfortunate Beacon Academy thread that made fun of the students on probation through a variety of badly-edited GIFs, memes, and videos. She scrolled through it for a while, and to her relief, very few users were talking about her specifically, and no one was speculating that she was a Faunus. Blake let out a relieved sigh. She readjusted the bow on her head that concealed her cat ears.

Around eleven, Cardin finally came back to the room. His hair was ruffled and he smelled like dried sweat—if Blake had to guess, he'd probably been in yet another fight a few hours earlier. Luckily, the room's lights were off and she'd switched off her scroll as Cardin had walked in, so the auburn-haired boy had no idea that she was still awake. She watched him carefully in the dark with her night vision.

Cardin set down his mace by his bed, which was directly next to Blake's. He seemed to squint at Blake for a few moments before deciding she was asleep. Then, he turned in Jaune's direction and froze. A few moments later, he abruptly reopened the door and left the room.

Confusion and trepidation filled Blake. Whatever the boy was up to at this hour could not possibly be good.

Her suspicions were confirmed ten minutes later when Cardin returned with a bucket full of warm water. The boy placed it next to Jaune's bed and carefully lowered Jaune's sleeping hand into it. Blake saw Cardin's face light into a grin when it became clear Jaune wasn't going to wake up, and a bolt of fury lanced through her stomach.

Inwardly, she debated what to do. Get up, confront Cardin, start another round of arguing? Or let Jaune be made a fool of once again? Truthfully, she really did not want to argue with Cardin again… and even more so, she was terrified of accidentally exposing her Faunus heritage in front of a man like that. Blake just knew that Cardin would become violent towards her.

She kept stewing as Cardin climbed into his bed, also without showering or removing his armor. Somehow, Cardin smelled worse than Jaune even without the puke. Worse yet, Cardin was two beds closer to Blake than Jaune was.

Of course, infuriatingly, Cardin fell immediately into a deep and blissful sleep.

Blake still wasn't sure what to do about Jaune when the door suddenly opened again just after midnight. To Blake's absolute shock, it was Weiss. Hadn't the girl decided to quit? What had changed her mind?

The Schnee heiress was freshly showered and changed. Wherever she had done so, Blake wasn't sure. Her small frame illuminated by the light coming in from the hallway, Blake silently watched the heiress survey her mostly-asleep teammates. Then Weiss froze, her gaze set on Jaune and the bowl of warm water his hand was submerged in. Blake watched with bated breath to see what she was going to do.

The heiress approached Jaune carefully, studying the sleeping boy. After a moment, her two small hands reached down and enveloped his large one. She gently lifted his hand out of the water bowl and tucked it back under his covers.

Blake was stunned. Everything she'd heard about the Schnees, everything she'd seen herself today… her act of kindness seemed contradictory to everything she thought she knew about the girl.

Weiss climbed into her own bed. Blake watched as the girl took the rapier with her under the covers, directly positioned between her body and Cardin's bed. Then, a few minutes later, she was asleep.

Blake remained awake the entire night, mulling over the events of the day and evening. Jaune was pretty useless, sure, but it was still early. She could tell his heart was in the right place. Weiss… after the way she'd talked to Jaune and their team today, the last thing Blake had expected was for the girl to take mercy on their leader. Much less return to them after saying she was going to quit. Maybe Weiss could change for the better. If it was just Weiss and Jaune, staying at Beacon wouldn't even be a question. But Cardin… she shivered.

Frankly, the boy terrified her. She'd seen his type before. That domineering attitude, that righteous, terrifying temper… suddenly, she saw an entirely different redheaded man in her mind's eye.

Should she try to stay? Or should she run away—again?

Blake was still painfully awake, debating herself internally, when Glynda pounded on their door to wake them up at 6 a.m. for their first remediation exercise.

…

"Alright team!" Ruby declared as soon as the Bullhead let them off at their drop point. It was early… painfully early. Ruby stifled a yawn. The unenthusiastic faces of her team—Nora, Sky, and Russell—stared back at her. She summoned all the enthusiasm she could muster, which was admittedly, not much. "This mission is uh… easy. Really easy. It's remediation… remedial! Which means we're supposed to pass. Our first of three missions to get off of promotion… er, probation! So uh… fight hard, and stay close to me. Any questions?"

Sky raised his hand.

"Yes!" Ruby said.

"Um, who's going to carry the egg?"

Oh. Right. The egg. Their most important of cargo on this venture. They had been charged by Glynda to transport the egg through a short section of the Forever Fall forest back to Beacon without breaking it. Truly, their mission couldn't be any simpler. It would be beyond embarrassing if they failed.

"Just leave it to your fearless leader," she said confidently. She patted her skirt pocket. Man, combat skirts were simply the best. "I'm the fastest, so I'll be able to avoid taking any heavy hits that might break it."

Sky shrugged, and no one else said anything, leaving a brief moment of awkward silence.

"Right!" Ruby said. "Follow me," she said, turning on a heel and walking into the forest. After she walked a few feet she peeked over her shoulder and to her relief, her team was really following her. For a moment she had been worried. They really were a quiet bunch.

Well, it was a leader's job to bring the team together, right? "So… wanna tell me about your weapons?" she tried.

"I got this halberd," Sky said, shrugging the weapon off his shoulder and twirling it in his hands as they walked. "It has a gun on the end of it."

"Ooo," Ruby said. "Very cool. How about you, Russell?"

The boy didn't move to draw his weapons. "Oh, just a couple of daggers."

"Cool! What do they do?"

"They use dust."

"Er… nice," Ruby said, unsure how to pry more out of the boy. Russell gave no inclination of continuing the conversation, so she turned towards her partner. "Nora..?"

The pink girl ignored her entirely.

She sighed. "Figures…" she muttered under her breath, turning her attention back towards the trees, scanning for any sign of the Grimm. If she couldn't get her team to talk, she could at least keep them safe. With her precious baby stowed away on her back, she knew she could take on any threat.

"AWOOOO!"

Ruby froze and held up a hand to stop. In the clearing in front of them, five lesser Beowolves emerged from the treeline, their black maws dripping with saliva at the sight of them. "Okay everyone, battle positions!"

And then Nora ran straight towards the Grimm by herself.

Swinging her hammer, Nora immediately blew the first Beowolf to smithereens. Her hammer detonated with an earth-shaking blast, rocketing her towards the next two. She spun like lightning, sending three more flying. But suddenly, the last Beowolf was in perfect position to sink its claws into her partner's back!

Without thinking, Ruby activated her Semblance and was across the clearing in a flash, rose petals flying in her wake. Standing between the Beowolf and her partner, she unfurled her scythe—

—and Crescent Rose immediately fell into pieces.

"Wha—" she managed to say before the massive paw of the Grimm slammed into her chest and sent her skidding, facedown, across the clearing.

Distantly, she heard the sound of an explosion and the roar of a dying Grimm. Ruby groaned and rolled over. Why was the sky spinning?

"Ruby, oh my Gods, are you okay?!" Nora exclaimed, running to her side.

"Heh, knew you cared," Ruby said, still in a daze.

Relief spread across Nora's face. "You saved me." Then the pink girl's gaze slid downwards. "Ruby… the egg."

As her head gradually stopped spinning, Ruby sat up and saw the yellow remnants of the egg running all down her skirt and tights. "No…" she said. How had she failed? What had happened? Then, her head turned and she saw the remains of Crescent Rose.

The scythe had come apart in two different pieces. The handle lay on the forest floor while the blade lay embedded into the dirt several feet away.

"Dude, I told you not to do that!" Sky roared at Russell. "You could've gotten her killed!"

Russell raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't know we were going on a mission today!"

Nora's expression turned murderous. "You did this to her weapon?"

"He did," Sky said coldly.

Before anyone could react, Nora rocketed across the clearing and smashed her hammer into Russell, rocketing him into a tree and immediately knocking him unconscious. Then, she turned to Sky, her eyes squinted suspiciously. "And how did you know about this?"

The boy raised his hands in surrender, his face ashen at the sight of the unconscious Russell. "I didn't think he was being serious. I told him not to do it, I swear!"

As the two argued, Ruby walked slowly over to Crescent Rose. She picked up the remains of her scythe and studied them for a long moment. It was only when she noticed the egg yolk on her fingertips dripping onto the handle did she begin to cry.

Nora was at her side in an instant. "It'll be okay," the pink girl told her. "I'm so sorry for ignoring you, I was so caught up over Ren and Yang that I couldn't think of anything else. I've been a terrible partner, but you—you saved me anyways."

Dimly, Ruby was aware of the Bullhead that had dropped them off only a scant number of minutes before landing nearby. Nora guided her to the ship, while Sky carried Russell over his shoulders. Glynda took one look at Ruby and, for the first time, didn't reprimand them for their failure. Somehow that made Ruby feel even worse.

As the Bullhead set off for Beacon, Ruby could hardly hear Nora's words of comfort. She kept staring at the broken pieces of Crescent Rose in her arms and wondered if she was really cut out for Beacon after all.

…

When Ren, Dove, and Yang were loudly awoken in their dorm at 5:30am, Ren certainly hadn't expected to see Glynda standing outside his door—much less Pyrrha.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't still sleeping. He'd searched for the girl for so long the previous night. After Cardin had told him she'd gone to Ozpin's office, Ren had immediately gone to the Headmaster's tower only to be told it was too late to visit him.

"You're… back?" Yang said through a yawn.

"She has decided to stay at Beacon and rejoin your team," Glynda said. "I expect you all to get along in the coming weeks and work together in a manner that befits huntsmen and huntresses in training."

"I'm deeply sorry for my behavior," Pyrrha said, one of her hands held tightly to her chest. She couldn't seem to lift her eyes off the floor. "I promise I'll be a better teammate, and partner, from now on."

"It's not a problem," Ren said diplomatically. "Welcome back. I will—"

"What's her punishment?" Dove cut in coldly. His sword, Hallshott, lay across his lap and the boy's gaze burned directly at Pyrrha.

"Excuse me?" Glynda raised an eyebrow.

"She not only abandoned me Auraless in the middle of the forest, she also slammed me into the ceiling immediately after the formation of our team," Dove growled. "How can I be expected to trust her and this institution, especially if she goes unpunished?"

"Pyrrha's actions were far from appropriate. But the Academy believes that having her serve probation with her team is punishment enough," Glynda said.

The words seemed to set something off in Dove. "That's it?!" Dove laughed. "Welcome her back like nothing happened? Protecting your precious star pupil, I see." His expression morphed into something ugly.

"Enough," Glynda said sternly. "This is the last time I will humor this line of questioning. Do you understand me?"

Pyrrha stepped forward, clearly nervous and crestfallen. "I… I truly am sorry, Dove," she said. "I just… I didn't want to be known for my name here… but my actions were inexcusable. I'm prepared to work hard to re-earn your trust, no matter how long it takes."

"It doesn't just work like that!" Dove screamed, suddenly on the verge of tears. "You were my hero, and you left me to die!" He stood from his bed suddenly, grip on his sword tightened, and Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"ENOUGH!" Glynda bellowed. "Behave like the huntsmen and huntresses you are, or I will be forced to intervene!" She flexed her riding crop.

"Man, that's no fair, I didn't even do anything this time…" Yang muttered.

Glynda spared the girl a withering glare. "The reason I have woken you up at this ungodly hour is to send you on your first remediation exercise before your first class begins," she said. "Now, the lot of you will follow me to the Bullhead launching area, and I don't want to hear another word from any of you until we begin the mission briefing."

Yang opened her mouth to speak, but then immediately thought better of it. Ren was relieved the girl had at least some sense of restraint, which he couldn't recall her ever displaying the capability for before.

When they arrived at the Bullhead launching area, Ren didn't expect to see anyone else. After all, who else could possibly be awake at this hour? Well, as it turned out, RVST had already attempted—and failed—their first remediation mission.

Ren's mouth fell open as he watched the team hobble off the Bullhead at the other end of the launch site. Ruby's weapon appeared to be broken in two. Nora was at her side, arm around her. Sky followed the pair, an unconscious Russell thrown over his shoulders.

Surely a remediation mission could not be that difficult, Ren thought as they approached. Yang quickly rushed past him and Dove and went right up to Ruby.

"Ruby, what happened, are you okay? Oh my Gods, Crescent Rose!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"

Ruby said nothing. Yang's gaze turned to Nora accusingly. "What happened out there?" she demanded.

Nora's gaze narrowed. "It wasn't me. That jerk over there messed with her weapon last night. It fell apart right when she unfurled her scythe."

"WHAT?!" Yang yelled, stomping over to Sky, activating her shotgun gauntlets.

"Nonono," Sky said hurriedly, "it was him." He gestured with his head at the unconscious Russell. "Don't worry, Nora already got him pretty good with her hammer."

"You hit somebody again?!" Ren blurted out before he could stop himself.

Nora seemed to fold in on herself, her gaze fixed at the ground.

Yang snorted. "Well, at least this time it was deserved."

"Move along, RVST," Glynda said sternly. "I expect you all to attend your first class in three hours despite the… results… of this mission. And please, someone get that boy to the medbay."

"I'm on it, ma'am," Sky said, immediately departing with Russell, seemingly glad to have any excuse to leave.

Ren was jealous.

Yang turned on Professor Goodwitch. "What in the world is the mission we're going on, anyways? Based on what happened to RVST, it seems wayyy too dangerous for first years."

The professor dug into her purse and pulled out a small white egg. "I am going to give you this egg. Your job is to transport it from one end of the forest to the other without breaking it," she said flatly.

They waited for a long moment for additional instructions, but there were none. Ren squinted at the egg. He didn't see anything abnormal about it. Was the assignment truly that simple?

"What, that's it?" Yang said aloud, before noticing Ruby's expression turn positively catatonic. "No, I'm sorry Rubes, I didn't mean it like that. It's not your fault."

"What happens if we fail?" Dove asked suddenly.

Ren turned towards the boy nervously, who'd been silent since his blowup in the room. He noticed he wasn't alone—all of team RVST and RYND were staring at the boy.

Glynda was unintimidated. "Your probation will be extended, and you will continue to have additional assignments to complete at very early and very late times of day."

"And if we keep on failing?"

Glynda sighed. "Well, if all else truly fails, the Academy will be forced to either expel you, or reassign teams—"

In a flash, Dove brought up his weapon and fired several quick shots directly at Glynda. Their professor's Aura glowed a menacing shade of purple as the first few bullets bounced off it. Then, the blonde woman, faster than Ren could see, waved her riding crop to block the rest of Dove's attack.

But the boy hadn't been aiming at her body. He'd been aiming at her right hand.

The egg yolk dripped through Glynda's fingertips. The stunned professor opened her fingers, letting the runny remains of the egg drip onto the ground.

Dove silently put away his weapon. No one said a word. Dove's gaze surveyed his stunned professor and classmates, before finally settling on Pyrrha.

"I don't care how sorry you are," he said. "You will never be my partner."

No one stopped him as he turned his back on them and walked back towards Beacon.

...

A/N: One step forwards, two steps back. Hopefully the quality and energy of the story is holding up as the drama deepens. Also, my stated plan of ten chapters was definitely an underestimate lol. I'm not going to put a number on it anymore and just continue with my vision.