Chapter 25 – Choose a Side

In which Weiss Schnee and her team decide how to part ways, but in a manner most amicably.

Yang exited from Professor Roman Torchwick's office to find her team waiting there for her.

The professor who'd just interviewed came out with her, giving the three women a polite nod. "Huntresses."

His eyes briefly lingered on Ruby, and for a second Weiss thought he might actually say a word of apology if only to keep up the ruse, but nothing came of it. The mascara-clad huntsman merely did the hand-gesture thing he often did as a form of greeting or goodbye, the one where he pressed a palm to an open fist and bowed just a touch.

It's so precise. I genuinely believe that if I measure the angle of his back with a protractor, I'd find consistency between bows. He's good.

She had to believe that he was guilty. No investigation could truly take place if she allowed herself to drop those suspicions for even a second. It mattered less whether Torchwick was truly a cad and more that Weiss didn't second guess herself.

That said, I'm almost certain he's a fraud. I entertained thoughts otherwise for Ruby's sake, but I don't think she has any intention of continuing that trend after what he did to her.

Now, was that action legitimate? Weiss could certainly imagine this scoundrel inflicting pain on a student for his own sick amusement, but he never broke character before that. There was only a business card to Yang and some lingering eyes on Weiss' team during the first lecture.

And as for that business card…

"Yang, let us away. We're overdue to get started writing our essays for Doctor Oobleck's breakdown the White Fang's history."

There really was such an essay due, and it was quite a pleasant sensation to be able to look at a picture of the adults in her life in a real textbook. She didn't even feel the need to rub it in the faces of the other blander students; she simply could relish in her own powerful legacy.

"Ah, an essay writing study group," said Torchwick pleasantly, turning around from the door he was about to return through. "That sounds fun."

Blake nodded. "The assignment is not due for a week, but it's never too early to get a head start on our work."

The smile never wavered. "True, but it's also essential for a huntress to take personal time off to destress and unwind. Be sure you don't overwork yourselves, my friends."

"We won't," Yang said, nodding as a goodbye.

Torchwick smiled as he slowly closed the door to his office from within, shutting them out. "I'm sure."

This man. This vile man…there was no way that he was merely choosing to interact with their entire team the day they decided to probe his dubious background. He clearly knew…but what had they expected, sending Yang in with the business card from before and telling her to ask him about it?

I never really thought about it, but he gave her that card for a reason. Not only is it our only solid source of evidence that he isn't who he claims to be, but it's also a declaration of some sort. He chose to give it to Yang. He chose to reveal himself to her in the darker side of town in a blatant manner. Had our attention not already been on him, it would have drawn it his way like a lightning rod in a thunderstorm. For such a great risk, he must be planning something of a great reward.

Weiss had originally suspected that Torchwick was trying to con his way into a cushy professorial gig at Beacon, but now she was beginning to worry there was something more sinister going on behind the scenes with this unsavory character.

Beacon professors had access to highly privileged information, and all of her peers were being routinely interviewed. If he intended to sell these Valean secrets to a foreign actor or enemy state, it could provide him with a fortune.

That raised the question of who would buy them. This was an age of peace between the four kingdoms, and only scattered pockets of bandits and social dissidents were true threats in this day and age – assuming that the Grimm weren't his clients, of course. There was no one alive who would be willing to risk provoking Vale for the names, weapons, and semblances of the first years of Beacon. Rather, no one alive who had the means to pay for it and would want it.

It's too early to speculate. Let's hear what Yang has to say.

They had no idea if Torchwick was pressing his ear to the door and eavesdropping on their conversation (Weiss knew from experience that a plain wooden door was not a great muffler), so they retreated to their dormitory before breaking their silence. Weiss had specifically instructed Ruby to not get overeager and ask Yang how her spying went or something equally damning within earshot of Torchwick.

"The interview went well," Yang said from the safety of their private space. "He was a perfect gentleman. Even asked me to pass on apologies to Ruby for any, and I quote, 'unfortunate misunderstandings that may have disrupted the flow of your energies.' Or maybe it was the 'paths of your energies.' I don't quite remember."

Ruby's scowl could have frozen air for how icy cold it was. "Yeah, great. That makes it all better. Jerk…"

"Just focus on the goal, sis," said Yang, rubbing Ruby's back. "Getting him fired. Or putting him behind bars. Or in the ground. Not entirely sure what our plan is."

Weiss would be making the plan based on the results of Yang's inquiries, and she informed her teammates so. If Torchwick had given her any acknowledgement off of which to go, Weiss would need to take that into account.

"Alright," Yang said. "Grab yer popcorn, bitches. It went something like this…"

"Yellow," Yang said. "Obviously."

"I suppose I walked into that one. Red for Ruby, white for Weiss, Blake for black…er…I think you get the gist, my friend."

"About that," Yang asked. "Friend…"

"If you have any questions regarding our interview, my office hours would be the ideal point in time to raise them."

Yang shook her head. This wasn't about the interview she'd just had with this utterly disarming gentleman. This was about the contents of her left pocket.

"I was hoping to return this to you, friend. You know, now that I've read it cover to cover and don't need it anymore."

She took out the business card and handed it to Torchwick. The man blankly stared down at it, blinked exactly thrice, and returned it to Yang.

"I don't get it."

"Roman Torchwick," Yang recited from memory. "Professional son of a bitch? Not exactly a subtle greeting."

"Professional…my friend, if this is about your sister, I must assure you that I am utterly apologetic. If Miss Rose seeks counseling for any harm I may have caused her energies, I would be glad to recommend –"

"It's not about Ruby, bucko. It's about this."

Yang raised the card up again.

"Roman Torchwick," she said aloud.

The man in question nodded. "Roman Torchwick. Associate Professor of Beacon."

"That ain't what's written here."

The ever-present smile grew lopsided. "Um."

Yang wasn't sure how he was planning to weasel his way out of this one. He'd approached and intentionally identified himself, and she had the proof of it in her hands.

"Is everything alright, my friend Yang?" Torchwick's eyes awkwardly flicked away as her failed to meet her gaze. "I'm not entirely sure what's supposed to be transpiring at this moment."

"Read the card."

"I did. Roman Torchwick, Associate Pr–"

"No!" Yang pointed her finger to the card and looked at it. "Roman Torchwick, Professional Son of a Bitch."

Torchwick just stared at her as though she'd called him an Ursa in a tutu.

And for the first time since she'd come into Torchwick's office, she re-read the words on the small white slip of paper.

Roman Torchwick

Associate Professor of Beacon

Yang gazed down at the card, rereading it multiple times as she desperately tried and utterly failed to make sense of it.

It had said…

She had read it before…

Oh. She had read it before handing it to Torchwick.

"My apologies, professor. I think a friend must've played a prank on me using disappearing ink."

"Ah." His smile reinflated to its full breadth. "Well, no harm, no foul."

It was the perfect response from the 'cool' teacher to a student randomly accusing him of chicanery in a profane and insulting manner. Yang had to hand it to this guy – he certainly kept up the act at all times.

Weiss looked over the card. As Yang had said, the words were different.

"But…"

"It wasn't invisible ink," Yang said. "I don't know how, but he switched it on me right there in the office when I handed it to him. Sleight of hand is my guess, but it could also be a semblance or a fake card. Maybe it peeled off a top layer. I don't know how, but I do know that he changed it."

Weiss had seen Yang's card. She'd read the seemingly insulting words that the self-proclaimed bastard used to describe himself, and it was clear as day. There was no way of telling if this was the same card as before or a different one. The original had no marks, smudges, tears, or other distinguishing marks, nor did the one Weiss held in her hands.

"So, he's playing hardball," Blake noted. "Maintaining the ruse."

"Except he never needed to drop it," Weiss reminded them all. "He met Yang with that card printed out for a reason. He wanted her to see it and tell us."

"So we just need to reason out why," Ruby said, standing up and moving over to her backpack.

"It won't be so easy," Weiss said to her partner's turned back. "Our only evidence is gone, and it was flimsy as it was. Had we taken it to Ozpin or Goodwitch, Torchwick could have easily denied having printed it. We never had any proof, meaning we're going to need to acquire some if we're to expose this faker."

Ruby returned a moment later with a lien chip. Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"We gotta place bets on what his secret identity is, Weiss."

"Ruby, this is serious."

"It's team-building, Weiss. That makes it important. Also, I want to."

Yang shrugged her shoulders and began to rummage around in her own pants (but not in a lewd way). "It's harmless, Weiss-cream. What's the biggie?"

They were being immature, but Weiss had no true reason to deny them their little jocularities. "Fine. But no more than five lien per person. Gambling is a sin against Jesus, Ruby."

When their money was pooled together, Weiss collected it for safekeeping. As leader, no one was better suited for the role of caretaker and moderator of this little bet than her, after all. Blake upturned a pencil cup she'd been keeping on her desk and handed it to Weiss, who stored the prize cash in a desk drawer.

"Alright," Ruby said. "Time for our guesses. I think Torchwick is an alien who's come to Beacon to harvest our girl fluids. That's why he was being such a cool teacher before – he wanted to get everyone hot for him. As for the card, he knew that Yang wasn't into pretty boys in makeup, so he covered it in an aphrodisiac and –"

"I'll go next," Blake interrupted. Weiss nonverbally thanked her with a brief nod for stopping Ruby before she could go any further. "I think he's an anarchist who's trying to destabilize the academies. He establishes himself as a professor, enamoring the students by not assigning them homework, but it's all just to lower the average intelligence of a standard Beacon graduate. As for the card…I got nothing."

Weiss hadn't considered that he was simply doing this for a personal cause. She hadn't thought much of Ruby's little wager, but in hindsight, it was actually a rather suitable way to encourage brainstorming among the group.

"My money's on him looking for someone," offered Yang. "He's trying to find a huntsman or huntress that he knows is at Beacon, which is why he's done all this effort to get in and then ask every student those weird questions. Like, why bring up what career path we'd take if not hunting? I had to actually pass on that question. But I think he knows something about his target, and he's using his weird one-on-one sessions with the students to fish for who could give him the right answer."

"And the card?" Ruby asked.

"He literally played a wild card. Maybe he wants us to investigate him and flush out his guy in case his own investigation goes nowhere. It's too early to say."

"Ah-bab-bab!" Ruby made a T-shape with her hands "New rule: no changing answers once we start investigating."

Weiss nodded "That's fair enough."

Yang shifted back to lean against her pillow and the bed board. "So, supreme leader…what's your guess?"

"I think…" Weiss cleared her throat, but she found she didn't yet have a concrete answer.

What could Roman Torchwick, a huntsman with the ability to singlehandedly fight off an Atlesian paladin, want at Beacon Academy? The other girls had their theories, but none had taken into account his unique interest in their own team. It was Team RWBY that he looked at, and a member of Team RWBY that he'd chosen to approach.

Weiss' team was not a normal team. She was the daughter of the richest man in the world, and Blake was the heir apparent of the civil rights movement for the Faunus.

An assassin? But there would be no reason to approach Yang. He could have easily snuck into Weiss' dorm room and stabbed her in her sleep. As a professor, he could easily place poison in her food. Dust, he could have even fought and killed her instead of interviewing her.

If it wasn't violent, perhaps his poisonous purpose was more slow-acting. Was he to be an insidious influence, corrupting and/or gaslighting Weiss and her team into insanity? He'd already started with Yang on the card, and he'd nearly gotten Ruby under his thrall until his sudden choice to break her heart.

All-in-all, it was too early to venture any reasonable guesses on Torchwick's motives.

But Weiss didn't need twenty lien, and there was no rule about unreasonable guesses being put forth.

It took effort to not let her lips curl upwards into a grin, but a straight face was paramount to any good prank. "I think that Yang's on the right track – he's looking for someone. But not just anyone. Alright, let's think about it logically – what was the first thing he did upon arriving in Vale? He saw a paladin droid and immediately jumped into the fray to fight it with no thought for his own well-being. He always talks about energy, suggesting he has some sort of fetish for power sources and electrical current generation. He's what I'm thinking: he's from a darkened timeline where sentient robots have overthrown humans and Faunus due to rampant AI developing unchecked in online art forums, and he's travelled back to the past to protect the future savior of humanity, who he knows will come from Beacon. That's why he gave Yang that card – professional son of a bitch. He's used to introducing himself by reminding people he's the biologically formed child of a human female, due to the android infiltrators of the future who impersonate humans."

When Weiss finished the story, Yang was rolling her eyes, and Blake was just barely containing her giggles. Weiss supposed that those reactions meant she'd done something right.

"Oh my gosh, what if he is though?" Ruby squealed. "You guys, this could be big!"

"Ruby, it's the plot of a movie," Blake explained. "Weiss is taking the piss."

"But it all makes sense!"

Yang intervened before Ruby could reach critical density. "She's joking, sis."

"So? The logic makes sense. Who cares if she was joking if there's a very real possibility that it could be…" Ruby broke out into a fit of snorting laughter. "…I can't. I can't do it. You guys were actually going for it for a second there." She recovered with a sigh and wiped a tear from her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, you guys."

"Your theory wasn't exactly a high-IQ one," Weiss pointed out.

Ruby stuck out her tongue "Well, neither was yours."

Weiss could find no way to refute that.

"Alright, I think we've had our fun," Weiss declared. "Now it's time to get serious. It doesn't matter what goals he truly has if we can never figure them out. We need to start investigating him at once."

Weiss turned to Yang. "I believe Ruby said you had criminal contacts from your checkered past?"

"Oh my fuck," Yang muttered under her breath. "No, I do not. But I am on a last name basis with some folks at a club that're known for giving out information to those willing to pay. There's no guarantee they'll dig up any dirt or share what they do have, but it's worth a shot."

"It's a start," Weiss said. "I believe that the paladin must also be a critical clue to this. There's no way Atlas just happened to mishandle it into the clutches of an assassin like Mercury Black. My father knows quite a bit about Atlesian military structure and hardware, as he powers most if not all of it. He might be another alternative source of information."

"So which one do we ask?" Ruby asked.

Weiss took a second to decipher what exactly her partner was trying to say. "Which one do we…Ruby, we don't need to go to one or the other. If we split up, it'll save time and enable us to find information in both sources."

"Ooh ooh, partners!" Ruby raised her hand and waved her arm in the air, nearly shaking the limb out of its socket with such gusto. "We should do a partners thing! Me and my bestie Weiss, out searching for clues like a couple of detectives."

Weiss was honestly surprised that Ruby didn't call them a pair of dicks, given her penchant for dragging the average maturity of the room down to infancy by her sheer childishness. However, Weiss had to admit, she had no qualms with the proposal of partnering up with Ruby.

"Very well," she declared. "As leader, I…I…I'm afraid we cannot divide ourselves by partnerly ranks this time, Ruby."

Weiss had no qualms with going with Ruby. But to do so would be to force Blake to spend the full day with Yang, and it would be Weiss ordering her to do so for a mission. She'd specifically promised not to use her authority as leader for that purpose back when she'd been checking in with Blake.

"It's not you, Ruby," Weiss quickly added, seeing her partner's face fall. "Yang and I need to…spend more time together. It's –"

"Weiss, she knows." Yang's admission had no inflection. "About us."

"Very well. Ruby, Yang and I need to work out a few more details about our difference of opinion regarding her and my behavior during the first week of class. While it's not strictly required for me to go with her, it seems like a wasted opportunity if we're partnering up for me not to spend the day with her. Blake knows my father well enough to explain the situation to him."

Ruby seemed to accept this with no pushback. "Then I'll go with her! New second bestie achieved!"

At the mention of her name, Blake seemed to wake up to the conversation and realize what Weiss had moments prior: that partnering up within their team's partnerships would have forced her to go with Yang.

She also realized that meant that, bullshit to Ruby aside, her private request was essentially forcing Weiss to spend the rest of the day with her quasi-antagonist Yang.

"W-Weiss, you don't need to –"

Weiss held up a hand. "I've made my decision. I'm afraid I cannot accommodate requests."

"But I don't want to make you –"

"Enough. I am the leader, as you have so recently reminded me. It is my choice to make."

It made Weiss feel a little bit bad, using her authority to ensure Blake's comfort at the expense of her own, but she imagined the dismay of Blake knowing Weiss was with Yang was a lesser dismay than Blake having to spend the entire day with her herself.

Rather, the entire next day. We'll have to do this on a weekend, as it'll require us to fly into Vale.

"Okay. But let us know if either of you need help," Blake compromised. "Ruby and I'll be visiting the CCT, which we can do later if need be."

There was truly no need to beat around the bush here. Even Ruby knew the truth. "Blake, Yang isn't going to try anything. We really did agree not to fight, and it's not as though she's going to be able to murder me out in the city just because we're alone or something. If she does, she'd be the primary and only suspect."

A small laugh escaped Yang's lips. "Heh, I just realized that means I have to protect you from any muggers or assassins with my life, or they'll blame me for it!"

Weiss clasped her hands together. "Excellent. Then we're all agreed. Yang and I shall visit her former dealer, and Blake and Ruby will reach out to the SDC, and the White Fang too if they have anything to offer on the subject of Torchwick." She let out a light sigh. "This is good. Our first true extracurricular team-building activity. This is good."

Honestly, in addition to the civic duty of exposing a criminal, Weiss also felt the need to due this if only to fill the knowledge gap within her own mind. The curiosity of what he was up to burned her insides up to no end, and she knew she would never be able to sleep properly without having that gap filled. What was he up to?

"OH CRAP I JUST REMEMBERED!"

Weiss nearly tripped backwards as Yang suddenly exploded with an ear-splitting announcement. "Brother's sake, Xiao-Long!"

"Er, sorry. But I remembered. I spoke to Ozpin, and he asked me to let you gals know that he wants our team to host the Beacon school prom thing that's coming up in two weeks."

Yang spoke to…

Shit. I hope this wasn't about my request to have my position of leadership revoked. I almost forgot about that after I made the choice against it at the behest of my team. I'm probably going to have to do something about it.

"The dance?" asked Blake. "I didn't even know there was going to be one."

"You keep your nose so deep in your books all the time that it's no surprise you didn't see the posters," Yang chortled, moving her arm as though to slap Blake's back, but stopping before actually doing it. In a surprising turn, the blonde seemed to realize her own impending faux paus and took action to avoid it, lowering her arm.

She may be a brutish and unsophisticated blockhead, but she's a blockhead who's trying, at least.

Wait. Wait, prom?

Weiss suddenly realized that Yang was describing a social function. And not any social function – a theoretically romantic social function.

"Don't worry, bestie," Ruby said, cutting Weiss off before she could even frantically figure out what she was going to say. "Yang 'n' I don't have anything planned with any handsome gentlemen, so we can take care of it. You two love-nonspecific aerial creatures can have a special night."

"Ruby you can say lovebirds. It's a word, not a slur."

"Ozpin told me it'd only take three people to handle the planning," Yang said. "I'm sure that we can handle it if we try extra hard. I mean, I do count as two huntresses." Yang proudly placed her hands on her hips and beamed.

Weiss didn't want to foist this onto her teammates. "I'm the leader. I should help."

"You need a night off after all the shit we've put your through," said Yang. "And you also need your catgirl GF to have a night off. Honestly, Weiss, it's just a dance. Ozpin already bought the decorations. He just needs someone…two someone's to set them up and man the door the night of."

As much as Weiss wanted to push further, doing so would essentially be denying her own girlfriend a romantic evening at the school dance. Plus, Weiss had to admit, she really did want some time to breathe.

"If you're sure…"

The sisters nodded.

Weiss nodded their way, swallowed, and faced the only other Faunus in the room. "…then, Blake, would you care to go as a couple to the dance?"

"No."

"N-No?"

"No." Blake's cheeks flick upwards with a slight smile.

Weiss blinked. "You fucker. Say yes or I'll smother you with a pillow in your sleep."

"You can't just say 'wanna dance?' You have to ask me out more romantical-like, Weiss. It's our first prom, so you need to do this right proper. I expect an excessively creative and fanciful proposal, a rented limo ride from our dorm to the school auditorium…hell, I expect you to wear the finest tuxedo with wingholes that money can buy."

I know she'll go with me. She messing around, having a laugh, but …

It took Weiss embarrassingly long to realize that she could make her proposal embarrassingly embarrassing for Blake. A grin crept along her lips that made the one on Blake's face disappear.

"Very well, girlfriend. I shall endeavor to meet your exacting specifications with a properly planned proposal. Be on the alert for it, for I may spring it at you on any time."

The realization crept up on Blake too, from the sly way Weiss was wording things and smirking. "Uh, W-Weiss…"

"I've so many ideas for how to ask you out, Blake. Hmmm…I wonder if Arc is willing to loan me his guitar. And I'll have to ask your parents for advice; surely they'll know what to do to impress you."

"Weiss, I'm sorry for yanking your chain. Please don't publicly humiliate me with something tacky."

"We must do this right proper, Blake," Weiss cooed evilly. "You asked me to blow you away, and I have no intention but doing precisely that."

With the sides suitably drawn for both the planned activities during the prom and the fact-finding expedition into Torchwick's past, Weiss' leaderly duties for the day were officially done, and she could finally lie down, relax in bed, and reflect on her time at Beacon.

For a moment back there, she had given in to despair and admitted failure by passing along a request to Ozpin to relieve her of duty, but now she was back in the swing of things. It had taken her teammates spelling out to her in plain English that the problems she caused (or thought she caused) weren't as world-ending as she thought they were.

Weiss had briefly coopted Ruby's words and ideas about quitting, seeing every day as a bad day, but with the benefit of hindsight, it had been only a brief period of intense negativity that disguised itself and tricked her into thinking it was prolonged. There had been too much going on at once – Ruby's breakdown and mentions of suicide, Yang's little rebellion remaining half-solved, everything going on with Blake – and Weiss had snapped.

But she had restored her spirits by remembering that she had three women at her back who would support her just as she had supported them. Kali wanted Weiss to make sure that someone was looking out for her, but her worries were unfounded; three someone's were.

Now that she knew not to lose her head, Weiss started to ruminate on how to finalize Team RWBY. As far as she could tell, two issues remained.

One: Ruby was struggling fitting in. She had expressed concerns about having a learning impediment, and she was also so poor at socializing (Weiss' first interaction with her could attest) due to Yang's overprotective nature that she had no friends outside the team and dwindling chances of ever making them. There had been no mention of suicide since the initial reference, and Weiss was beginning to believe that Ruby's denial had been an earnest statement, not some veiled clue to her true intentions.

Two: Yang believed that assaulting others was okay as long as she felt justified, regardless of necessity or reasonable use of force. Upon hearing of the gruff huntress-in-training's history of using threats to ward off anyone who crossed her sister, Weiss now realized that this problem transcended her own relationship with Yang. As a huntress and as a person, this had to be a lesson that she learned, or she would go out into the world believing that her own might made her right.

Oh, and also Blake and Yang still argued over the bathroom. Weiss supposed that was problem two and a half.

To fix the first problem, Weiss would have to further subdivide it into three aspects. Firstly, Ruby's confidence needed a boost. She clearly thought worse of herself than she truly was, as Weiss had during her bout of insanity just the other day, and like Weiss, she needed someone to disabuse her of these false notions.

Secondly, the easiest issue of the three, came the scholastic issues. There was a chance that Ruby was experiencing some disability, but it was equally likely just low feelings of self-worth (the same thing Weiss experienced often) or the tribulations of effectively losing two years of education. Continuing her tutoring would likely solve this issue, as Ruby's grades were doing fine, but if she continued to exhibit stress over learning, Weiss could look into having her diagnosed by a professional.

Finally, Ruby needed to learn how to make friend. Weiss was mature enough to admit that she had no idea how to solve this and would likely need to do further research and preparation than some midnight thinking sessions before bed.

Hopefully she would be able to connect with Yang on their upcoming excursion into Vale and narrow down the list of problems slightly. If Weiss could just talk this out with her, she had no doubt that Yang would see that she was right. After all, they were already well on their way to such an epiphany, with Yang having half-realized the truth that Ruby wasn't benefitting from her overprotectiveness.

I think I can do this.

No. No more doubt. I CAN do this. I CAN be the leader Team RWBY needs.

Next Chapter: The Junior

In which Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao-Long go out in search of knowledge and, unfortunately for their peace of mind, find it.

Author's Notes

The month is September. A chapter has ended with Weiss Schnee finally vowing to become the leader her team needs. The month is October. A chapter has ended with Weiss Schnee finally vowing to become the leader her team needs. The month is November. A chapter has ended with Weiss Schnee finally vowing to become the leader her team needs.

Okay. Enough empty jokes. Here's the wholesomeness I can promise, on my honor as a rat (that means no subversion, tricks, ironic wording that only makes sense later on etc):

Weiss now has self-esteem and will not be losing it. No more 'I've failed the team and must seppuku with Myrtenaster.'

Weiss and Blake will not argue about their relationship for the rest of the fic. When they do have disagreements, the civilly debate one another and do not argue. Their ten seconds of rough patch ended two chapters ago, and they will be a happy couple the whole way through.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!