Chapter 15: Dear Diary

Lavender checked over the penthouse suite of Junior's for the third time, the balcony was clear of anyone, as was the minibar, save for her brother's many glasses left out, but she wasn't concerned about him coming back up any time soon. There was some meeting he was attending that would take a while, he'd asked her to come along with him, but she'd feigned a headache and curled into bed until he left, leaving her with some painkillers and a promise to be back later. What the girl was looking for was any of his little friends, not that anyone else should have even been up with her, as aside from Steele and Verde, no one else but members of the Malachite and Xiong families were allowed in the penthouse, but that didn't stop her brother or the twins from bringing girls back up with them, and the last thing Lavender needed was to be eavesdropped on by some hussy her brother had spent the night with. Thankfully, she was alone as far as she could tell, which just left actually going through with the task itself. If she were being honest with herself, the repeated searches were only partly why she had repeatedly put off making the call to Henna's scroll. She'd texted her chosen sister a few times since landing in Vale, mostly to apologize and try to calm her understandably furious mentor, and while the texts had slowly simmered down from angry demands, for her to return, to just asking for regular updates so she could be sure she was safe, she was yet to actually call the woman due to the circumstances with her living situation, and she was more than a little worried that the anger from her rash actions hadn't so much subsided as been put to the side. But, she knew she couldn't put off talking to her forever, so once she was absolutely certain she was alone, she clicked the call button next to Henna's name on her scroll. It rang once, then twice, Lavender thought she heard a click from the other end, but before she could say anything, it rang a third time before cutting off mid-ring. Weird, maybe she was just hearing things? Regardless, she cleared her throat and tried not to sound nervous.

"Um, hi?" On the other side of the continent, Henna chuckled at how nervous Lavender sounded, it reminded her of a child trying to act casual while being caught red-handed in the cookie jar despite knowing very well they weren't allowed. In the woman's eyes, she sounded nothing short of adorable, making it hard to start off the conversation sternly, and besides, she'd already worked out her anger. With the phone still pressed to her ear, she stepped over the still warm body of a slain huntsman to get to his partner, a support beam having fallen onto him during the fight after she weakened his Aura. They'd been looking into her activities as of late, well, her's, Azrael's, and Echis's, but they hadn't found enough information to actually know that, and she was making sure it stayed that way. Straddling the broken man, she brought her dagger down to finish him, only for the persistent pest to put up one last fight, despite being so weak he required both of his arms to try and hold her off, even as she held the Scroll between her head and shoulder.

"Lavender." With a bit more pressure and a bit of aid from her Aura, Henna overpowered the man, her dagger stabbing into his chest, perfectly slotting between the fourth and fifth rib, and piercing his heart. While she could clearly hear the last gasps of air being forced from his lungs as they filled with blood and the wet scraping sound of her blade passing through bone, the sounds were just a bit too quiet to be picked up on the device in her hands, ensuring their conversation would continue without interruption. Withdrawing the blade, she spoke into the receiver with a warm voice. "It's good to finally hear your voice again."

"I had to wait until it was just me, we um… had to lay low." Relief flooded into Lavender at the woman's tone, actually jumping up with a smile as she explained herself. Or, at least, as much as she could without bringing up the fact that she had a small part in burning down a building. Abandoned or not, Henna didn't exactly share Romeo's love of putting on a show, quite the opposite in fact.

"Speaking of, how are you? You said you were staying at a nightclub, correct?" Henna asked. While the idea of Lavender staying in a place of such sin and debauchery made her stomach churn, the knowledge that she was safe helped her resist the urge to steal an airship and track her down just to drag her back home. As she waited for Lavender's response, she got to work covering her tracks, knocking over an oil lantern and tossing it across the room from the table it had been resting on, flaming fluid and metal haphazardly smashing against the opposite wall and landing on the bed. The flames had quickly spread across the room as she stepped out, leading to her throwing the hood of her robes over her head as she stepped out of the shack, the cloth protecting her from the sun's harsh rays and the growing inferno behind her.

"Yeah it's…" She glanced back to the center of the room, more specifically at the tacky and frankly distasteful pole atop a miniature stage, a rather crude reminder that the penthouse was mostly used by boys with far too much money, free time, and a very narrow set of interests. Walking away from the eyesore and heading up the stairs, she continued. "…an adjustment, but it's not too bad, aside from being unable to go anywhere."

"I can't imagine how you haven't gone crazy yet, I'd be mad spending one week cooped up like that, let alone a whole month." Henna chuckled casually, as if she wasn't walking away from a burning shack. Granted, the remote location didn't exactly make haste a priority, it would be days, if not weeks, before the interloper's absence was noticed, and even then, their disappearance would likely be chalked up to bandits. She made her way to the dirt bike that she'd ridden on, it was several hours from the nearest town, and she didn't want to spend any more time than she had to on the road.

"It's not so bad, I have Romeo here with me most of the time, and JJ and the twins stop by occasionally. Melodias even remembered that I used to paint and brought me some spare supplies so that I could practice again!" Lavender said, both the pitch and excitement in her voice rising as she went on about meeting with her old friends. As she told Henna about her past few weeks, she failed to notice that the older woman had gone fully silent.

"What about your plans for the betrayer's spawn?" Henna asked as soon as she had an opportunity to speak. Lavender stopped in her tracks, her mood immediately souring by the reminder of her failure and the fact that Scarlet still drew breath. She briefly debated coming up with an excuse, just this once to keep Henna happy, but before she could, the silence had lingered more than long enough, and with a sigh, she answered truthfully.

"I don't know, Romeo doesn't want to go after her, he says it'll be too loud." Henna had expected this, she had mixed thoughts on Romeo ever since she learned of his existence as a young girl. On one hand, he was as much Tyrian's child as she was, having been raised by him after her mentor and Neo left for Vale, which made him as much her brother as Lavender was her sister. But, the way he was raised went against everything she'd been raised to believe, serving only himself and his own hedonistic desires. On the other hand, despite whatever had happened in the past, he was protecting their little sister, and if nothing else, that earned him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Perhaps he wasn't beyond reaching after all, but regardless, she needed to know more about him before she came to a conclusion.

"Our brother, he doesn't want to avenge Tyrian?" Lavender opened her mouth to defend him, to tell Henna that he absolutely did, but she couldn't, not when she wasn't fully convinced herself. Just then, she realized his door had been left ajar. Strange, had she missed that? Stepping closer, she prodded the door further open with her stinger.

"Romeo's…" She hesitated, both in speaking and entering the room, but swallowing down her reluctance, she stepped inside. The room itself was oddly barren, just having his bed and a few dressers, which was a stark contrast to the flashy and colorful penthouse it lay within. "He's different."

"Has he hurt you?" Henna asked, her mind immediately jumping to the worst possible conclusion. Lavender found the question strange, she hadn't said anything that could be read as that, did she? She decided not to comment on it, instead going to leave the room but stopping as a stray thought crossed her mind. She hadn't been around him in years, maybe she'd find a reason he was acting strange if she looked around? That, and she remembered just how fun it was to poke around her big brother's room. Besides, he wouldn't mind, right?

"No, nothing like that, but it's like he doesn't even care." The memory of Romeo trying to convince her to just forget about Scarlet played in her head, filling her with anger. She started going through his drawers, finding nothing but clothes, mostly shirts and underwear. In fact, she didn't find anything until she reached the depths of the bottom-most drawer, coming across a pair of… handcuffs? Okay, she supposed she could understand why her brother might need those, career criminal and all, but why were they fuzzy? Tossing them over onto the bed, she shrugged and moved on.

"Do you believe he's genuinely unbothered by what you both lost?" Henna asked softly, trying to ease any pain the idea may have caused, but not dismissing it as a possibility. Again, Lavender didn't respond, trying to distract herself by snooping through her brother's things, this time coming across something that filled her with a sense of deja vu; a faded black bowler hat with a red fabric band and an eagle feather tucked inside. The fabric that ran across the edge of the brim had started to fray and peel off, the crimson band had lost its shape and color, it was barely more than a dull pink, and the eagle feather it carried was tattered, frayed, and bent at an extreme angle halfway along its length. It took her a moment, but she realized what this was. After all, just like his cane, Neo had never permitted her to touch it, it was being saved for Romeo, a relic that belonged to his perfect father… Despite the bitter memories of a cold home the object brought back, it also raised another question. If he just wanted to forget, why did he keep this decrepit old thing?

"No, I think he's pretending for me." She handled it with care, looking it over carefully as she stepped in front of the mirror, placing it atop her own head. It clashed horribly with the purple t-shirt and baggy pants she wore around the house, but then again, it's not like it would have matched her regular clothes anyway.

"Try to remember, he lost your father as well. Sometimes we bury our pain to try and move on, but instead it festers and bubbles." That made sense, more than should have been possible from a woman who had never met him. Was she right? Was he really just pretending? She didn't know for sure, but if that was the case, she needed to know.

"Do you think… maybe you could talk to him? I know he'd listen to you, you're a lot better at talking these things through than me." The woman on the other end took a short moment to drink some of her water as she thought it over. She would have loved to speak with him about this, if it really was the case, she could show him that he didn't need to hold it in, how rewarding letting his anger out towards those who deserved it felt, how he wasn't as alone as he thought with people like her and the rest of their congregation. But, she also knew that if there was anyone he'd listen to on this, it wasn't her, but their sister.

"Lavender, I can't fight your battles for you. Besides, do you really think he'd listen to me over you?" With a sigh, the youngest of the siblings walked out of the room, leaving the door just slightly cracked, just like she had found it.

"He still treats me like a kid, so yeah." she grumbled into the Scroll, Henna humming in response. It was understandable, even if Lavender legally wouldn't be a child for much longer, in fact, her birthday was just about a week away, she was lacking in experience. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers as an idea occurred to her.

"I know someone who may be able to help you. Mother Moon is in the city, she has experience with family being… difficult with our cause. Find Vermillion Port, and tell them I sent you." A smile broke out on the girl's face, that was just what she needed. If her brother was struggling and hiding it, she wanted to help him, the same way Henna helped her!

"Okay, thanks, I'll talk soon." With that, she hung up, putting her scroll in her pocket as she stood there, repeating the phrase 'Vermillion Port' under her breath.

"Were you in my room?" The sudden voice caught her off guard, making her heart race as she poised her tail to strike and spun on her heels, only to see her brother, leaning against the wall with a small smirk on his face, apparently finding her reaction amusing if the chuckle coming from him was any sign. Despite her irritation with him over sneaking up on her, she played innocent, falling into old habits as she lied through her teeth.

"No, why?" Without saying a word, her big brother reached over and plucked the bowler hat from her head, her cheeks going red as she realized she had forgotten to put it back. For a moment, she worried about what he'd say, if he'd yell or scold her. Instead, he looked down at the hat with a sense of… reverence? That might've been what she saw, but it looked strange on him. Eventually, he switched gears, starting to twirl the hat on one finger as he put on a smile that suddenly looked a lot more fake than it had before.

"I always did hate how I looked in this." Lavender tilted her head at that, a perplexed look on her face.

"Don't you look like your dad though?" As soon as it was mentioned, the smile dropped and he let the hat come to a gradual stop. He looked at it once more, and sighed tiredly.

"Exactly." Romeo said, walking past her back to his room, leaving Lavender standing there puzzled. She didn't understand, why would he think looking like his father was anything but a blessing? She may not understand him, but damn it, she was going to help him.


Belka desperately tried to block the strikes from the maniac in front of her, she'd known that she wasn't quite as skilled as her opponent, but she had thought the advantage of her weapon's length would give her some advantages, more range obviously, along with more space that could be used to block attacks. Unfortunately, she didn't account for the taller girl also figuring out her advantages, and playing around them. Goose had treated the sparring session as a game, even calling it 'fun', so Belka didn't expect her partner to put much thought into the fight, however, she was wrong, as Goose kept herself close, turning her reach advantage into a liability. It wasn't a fully one-sided bout, her partner left several openings that allowed Belka to not seem like a complete pushover, particularly when Goose tried to open fire, the half-second it took her partner to aim allowed her to strike Glücksfall and twirl Morgan's barrel right into Goose's face, and ironically, it wasn't even necessary, as she heard her partner's weapon misfire with a satisfying clunk. Belka couldn't believe her luck, a point blank shot with the gravity Dust she'd loaded into Morgan might just be enough for her to knock her partner past the threshold and gain her the victory! Such thoughts were short lived though, as Morgan sputtered and, rather than blasting her partner in the face with concentrated light infused with the crushing power of gravity, it powered down as the systems detected a jam somewhere. Well, suddenly she could believe her luck. The two stood there, letting the awkwardness of the situation hang in the air before Belka attempted to strike Goose with the now blunt edge of Morgan, but the girl reacted in time and ducked under the blow intended for her head, countering with an upward slash that knocked Belka back and caused the familiar buzzer to go off, signaling that she'd lost. The sting of defeat was eased by the fact that it was just her and her team in the training room, which also meant she could let herself lie on the stone floor and contemplate her defeat in peace. Or so she thought, as only a few moments later, Goose all but skipped over and reached down to help her up.

"You did really well today, Belka!" Well? That was what qualified as 'doing well' in her mind? Gods, she would have hated to see what a failure was in her eyes. On principle, she declined the hand extended to her, certainly not because she was bitter over her loss, but she did throw a half hearted 'thanks' the other girl's way, just to be polite.

"Are you kidding? I was on the backfoot that entire match." Belka pointed out as she dusted herself off and walked out of the section of arena she and Goose had been using with her partner in tow, looking over to her teammates. Lao and Elizabeth were nearing the end of their match, which she mentally noted was far more even, though her niece currently had a pair of Beowolves doing her fighting for her while she attacked from a distance, which, considering how close they both were to their allowed limit, gave her good reason to assume that the tiny woman would be victorious. Making her way over to the bench, Belka sat down and wiped the sweat from her brow, suddenly feeling parched, leaving her with the dilemma of getting up to get water, or letting her sore body rest a moment longer. However, before she could think on it more, the decision was made for her as a bottle of water was shoved into her face, Goose smiling as she lightly shook the plastic bottle in front of her leader. She was trying not to let her partner see just how desperate she was for the drink, but that was quickly forgotten as the cool liquid reached her lips and she chugged the water as fast as her throat would let her.

"Well yeah, I'm stronger than you, but you're getting better." Belka nearly choked on her water, her head snapped over to give Goose a piece of her mind, but she stopped herself. As much as it pained her to acknowledge it, Goose was the better fighter, not that she'd ever admit it out loud. Besides, she didn't have a way to argue yet, so she kept her mouth busy with getting more water into her system. She also chose not to read into how Goose patted her back with a smile that Belka swore at least bordered on condescending. "Besides, I got lucky with your gun jamming."

That's right, the girl's semblance was constantly at play, that's why her weapon had suddenly jammed! Well, that was certainly a point in favor of her Semblance being more of a hindrance than a boon, not that she'd been keeping a running tally, just that the bad her Semblance wrought seemed to be far more memorable than the good. At least she could hold onto the fact that, if it wasn't for factors outside of her control, she probably would have won.

"Well, I guess that's why they call you Lady Luck." As Belka looked away so that Goose knew for a fact that she wasn't bothered by the outcome and wasn't just being a sore loser, she almost missed how Goose's smile fell at the nickname. She did notice that the one that replaced it was forced though, especially with the weak laugh that followed it.

"Lady Luck?" The pair looked up to see the rest of their team walking over to join them, Lao's head tilted in what they assumed was at least mild curiosity, being the only one not in the loop and all. Reluctantly, Goose decided to fill him in since Liz was in glaring mode for some reason.

"It's uh, because of my Semblance, it's the luck of the draw all the time so… y'know." Lao nodded, getting the gist of what she was saying, and, judging from her reaction, it wasn't typically used when she ended up making their meals free due to being the hundredth customer as much as it was when they just so happened to walk through wet cement. Not concerned with the current conversation however, Elizabeth walked right up to their leader, a sneer directed at the woman.

"Wait a damn minute, that's our nickname for her, who told you it?" Belka was at a loss for words, the sudden hostility taking her off guard. Goose and Lao similarly went as quiet as their leader, who, not knowing how to react, just blurted out the truth.

"Ingrid did, why are you acting like this is such a big deal?" At the mention of her younger cousin's name, Elizabeth's face went red. Belka didn't know why, but her explanation only served to make Elizabeth angrier, as if she was somehow in the wrong for talking with one of the only people in her family who'd even give her the time of day.

"And just why exactly are you talking with my cousin?" Elizabeth's tone was starting to get Belka worked up now, standing up and looking down at her niece with balled fists. Normally, she thought of herself as being above petty arguments over what was effectively nothing, but she was already in a sour mood, having dealt with Alaska, being robbed of her victory by the whims of fate, and now being accosted for just talking to her own family.

"Why? What a stupid question, because she's my niece!" From the side, Lao and Goose watched, an almost inaudible sigh coming from the small ginger boy as he prepared himself for another round of yelling that, if the pattern continued, would just devolve into insults until someone's feelings were hurt. While the boy seemed to resign himself to what was about to come, Goose groaned, holding her head in her hands as she made a desperate and tired plea to her niece and partner.

"Seriously guys, it's been two months, can we just stop with this stuff?" Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm them down. In fact, Elizabeth turned and looked to her Aunt, deciding that, instead of giving her words any amount of thought, she'd instead try to pull Goose into the fight.

"Goose, she's going behind Weiss's back to talk with Ingrid! How are you just okay with that? Before Goose could tell them that at this point, she just didn't care about some dumb family drama they weren't even around for, Belka took the opportunity to butt in, poking Elizabeth in the shoulder as she shot back, much to Goose's dismay. Lao looked between them, he wanted to try and help her, but if they didn't listen to Goose, then what chance was there of them stopping because he asked?

"I never lied to anyone, my sister is fully aware I talk with Ingrid, because, unlike your bitter mother, she believes in letting her children make their own decisions." Rather than get red in the face and fly off the handle like Belka had expected, Elizabeth just scoffed. Oh, so Belka wanted to invoke Weiss? That was fine, they could talk about Weiss all day. She made a point to slap Belka's hand away before shooting back.

"Really? Is that why she goes out of her way to avoid you just like the rest of us?" Just as she had intended, the statement knocked the indignant look right off of Belka's face. In fact, she even took a step back in shock, her mouth floundered to recover and hide just how much the words stung at the same time.

"Sh-she's not avoiding me, we're almost two decades apart in age, what would we even talk about?" Despite her best attempt at a comeback, Elizabeth knew she'd already won the argument, and Belka knew it too. Seeing the way Belka tried to hold back the mixture of anger and sadness that was spilling out, Lao couldn't just watch, deciding to step forward and calmly clearing his throat so as to get their attention on him instead of each other.

"Elizabeth, stop. There's no reason to try and hurt her just to make a point." Elizabeth's jaw actually dropped upon hearing that, her own partner was turning against her? Belka was similarly stunned into silence, having assumed that he'd just sit back and watch.

"You're taking her side? She started it!" Elizabeth protested, only to be met with a raised hand as Lao tried to keep the peace, something that unfortunately just made her angrier as her face started to burn red once more.

"This isn't about taking sides, Goose is right, this is getting in the way of our-" Unfortunately, his partner was done listening, and she snapped at him, cutting him off.

"No, shut up, I'm sick of you acting like you're so above everything! Will you drop that damn monotone voice or just emote or react like a human instead of some robot for once?" She couldn't believe the boy, he was getting upset at her!? Everything else going on around them had, at most, caused him to flinch or make his lips move like a centimeter, but her rightfully calling Belka out for assuming that a woman who wanted nothing to do with her side of the family was just okay with one of her youngest children being around that man's daughter crossed the line? She wanted to tell off Ingrid as well, but seeing as the girl was back in Atlas, the long talk about why no one spoke to the Gele family could wait.

"Don't you speak to him that way, you're acting like a child!" Belka spoke up, coming to the aid of her teammate. She knew Elizabeth didn't like her, and at the moment there wasn't much love in her heart for the angry little lady either, but Lao had done nothing, and she wasn't going to let her tell him off for just trying to keep the peace. But Liz similarly wasn't going to just let Belka get away with telling her off, and so she snapped back, all pretenses gone as she just said whatever she thought would make Belka shut up.

"Shut the hell up you- you stupid little affair baby!" The words rang out like a shockwave silencing the room, Belka could feel herself choking on air as the words came from her mouth. 'Affair Baby', a painful reminder of what many in Atlas saw her as, not as a person, just the result of her Father and Mother getting together, a walking scandal. Deep down, she knew it was how Winter looked at her, and very possibly Weiss, considering that Whitley was the only one of her siblings to actively give her the time of day, to visit, and show up for big events despite the differences between him and Father. But a part of her, some stupid little piece, had hoped it wasn't what her nieces also thought, but it seemed that was the case. Seeing the pain on Belka's face, Elizabeth felt… guilty. She didn't know why she said what she did, it just came out because she knew it would hurt, that it would shut her up. So now that she got what she wanted, why did she regret it? Damn it, why couldn't Belka just shut up! Suddenly, there was a strong pull on her arm and Goose was now in front of her, furious.

"Elizabeth Ironwood!" Elizabeth reflexively went to argue back, maybe what she said was uncalled for, but she was already feeling cornered by her partner taking Belka's side, but she never got the chance, as Lao had seen more than enough. He quickly stomped his foot against the floor to gain their attention, however, he put a bit too much force into it and ended up cracking the tiles under his foot. His team flinched at the uncharacteristic display of anger, objectively, it wasn't much of an outburst, any Huntsmen or Huntress in training could have done the same with some basic Aura concentration, but coming from Lao, this might as well have been him yelling at the top of his lungs at them. The three girls had also noticed that his once dull pink irises had shifted to a vibrant red as he stomped. Seeing their shocked and startled faces, Lao closed his eyes, took a deep breath, mentally counted to five, then slowly exhaled and reopened his eyes, which had shifted back to their regular color, his face once again bearing its usual calm neutrality. With the girls silently trying to piece together just what exactly that had just seen, he spoke once more.

"You're taking it too far." he said, the same calm and polite tone he used regularly, like he didn't just get so mad his eyes turned blood red.

"I… why are you mad at me?" Liz stumbled over her words, looking around before landing on her Aunt Goose's face. The girl was still mad, something that, on its own, was shocking, but suddenly she remembered that, technically, both of her grandparents had still been married while her younger Aunts were conceived, meaning that not only had she just insulted Belka in an uncalled for way, but also Goose as well. "Look I didn't mean- after what her father did, Grandma Willow is hardly at fault!"

"Liz, I don't care about that crap, I'm mad because you're acting like a jerk!" The poor girl was ready to pull her own hair out at that explanation, what was so hard for them to understand? Why did they have to make everything about her Mom and Belka's dad!? Before Liz could counter, Belka finally spoke back up, sniffling.

"So, she's fine then?" Belka spat through a cracking and shaky voice, tears falling from her eyes faster than her hands could wipe them away, a bitter laugh escaping from her as she tried to hide her emotions. "Right, my father is the bad guy, so she's fine, she's the one everyone excuses when her Mother steps out of the marriage, but I don't even get a chance!"

"N-no, Belka! That's no-" Goose tried to reach out, to tell her that it wasn't true, but Belka just turned and glared, interrupting her.

"Don't. Don't you dare tell me that's not true when they all adore you!" Goose stood there stunned, the amount of anger in her partner's voice shocking her. Belka didn't wait for anyone to react, turning on her heels and walking towards the door. "I'm heading out."

"Belka where-" Before Lao could finish, the girl in question turned around, her eyes red and puffy, but a look of anger plastered across her face.

"Out!" Refusing to elaborate further, Belka slammed the door to the training room shut. She needed air, checking her watch, she decided she had enough time to go down to the city. She needed air, and to get the hell away from this place for a bit.


"I dunno about this man, what if we get caught?" Jin asked as he peered around the corner with Jet, his head just over the smaller boy's as they attempted to covertly keep an eye out for any teachers, which wasn't easy considering they were peering around a brightly lit hallway where they would immediately be spotted if anyone even so much as glanced in their direction. Their target: Assistant Headmistress Ruby Rose's personal quarters, or more specifically, the book they suspected was hidden away inside. Through the process of elimination, they'd slowly narrowed the locations down to here, Qrow's quarters, which, after the experience they'd endured with him in detention, they wanted to avoid unless absolutely necessary, or...

"Well if you're this nervous, we could always try sneaking into Headmistress Goodwitch's office instead." Jin paled at the suggestion, shaking his head at even the joking suggestion, much to his partner's amusement. "Don't worry, we'll call that plan B."

"Still, shouldn't I be the one going in? Or at least stay with you? I mean she's my Aunt, we could play it off better." the blond whispered as they snuck their way closer. They'd been over this already, and while the green haired boy appreciated his partner looking out for him, as good as Jin was as a cover, his size made stealth… well, difficult, and in a small room, his ability to silently float around wasn't as big a help as it could have been. So, he just got right to the point and explained why he needed to go into Ruby's office.

"I have to be in there, I need to be able to visualize exactly where the book is or I can't summon it, and you know she's not gonna have something like that just sitting out in the open." Jin sighed and nodded, taking his seat and opening the novel he'd been pretending to read while keeping a lookout.

"Just… be careful okay?" Jet tilted his head, it was weird seeing the usually confident and carefree Faunus so worried. It wasn't that he didn't understand, hell, he was nervous himself, but they had a plan, and a pretty decent one all things considered. So as long as Jin warned him, or better yet, stalled for time if Miss Rose showed up, they'd be fine.

"Jin, I trust you, so do me a favor and trust yourself." Thankfully, the encouragement seemed to work as Jin smiled, giving Jet a thumbs up before all but shoving his nose into the book. With confidence that his back was being watched, Jet casually made his way over to Miss Rose's room, placing his hand into his jacket pocket to hide the glow from his Semblance as he used it to pull forth the spare key to the Professor's room, which had been found in Professor Fuchsia's room of all places. Once inside, he closed the door and re-locked it, making a mental note to stash the spare key back in Miss Fuchsia's desk when no one was looking. The Assistant Headmistress's dwellings were in the same basic layout as the others they'd snuck into, but with some personal touches here and there, like the workbench along the far wall, a bookshelf next to the coat closet, and an older gaming system hooked up to the TV. Unfortunately, he wasn't here to rate his teacher's dome decor choices, so he made his way over to the bookshelf and started searching. He had dreaded this part of the operation, knowing that it would take a while at best, but thankfully, most of the books were in pristine or near condition, immediately eliminating the majority of the shelf's contents as he was apparently looking for an old worn journal. Out of the books that had been read enough to potentially have been his target, they all turned out to be fairy tales, such as The Girl Who Fell Through The World, The Four Maidens, The Story of the Seasons, and The Girl In The Tower, just to name a few. Not exactly the sort of literature he'd expected her to be into, but again, it wasn't why he was here. He was disappointed that none of them had been the journal, but he supposed it was probably just wishful thinking to think it would've been that easy to find.

He made his way deeper into the quarters, eventually working his way down the hall and finding his way into the woman's bedroom. To his surprise it looked just like Scarlet's back home on Patch. Really, it was uncanny. The bed was unmade, with covers haphazardly strewn about, action figures of Grimm and generic-looking Huntsmen stood posed in an epic battle atop a shelf, an older, less advanced looking version of her signature scythe was mounted on the wall, and various posters of action movies new and old were held up on the wall with tacks. He couldn't help but chuckle, the woman who'd seemed so professional and mature had a childish side. He wished Scarlet was with him, because there was no way she'd believe him when he told her. Getting to work, he started with the woman's desk, shifting paperwork about in case it had been hidden in plain sight or underneath a paper or two, but remaining careful enough as to not knock over any of the pictures. He stopped for a moment when he noticed a picture of what looked to be her and the rest of her team's families, likely taken a year or two ago. The amount of people there was frankly ridiculous, it looked to be some sort of family reunion, complete with Jin, Goose, Lumi, and even Lao's family, along with who he assumed was a few other family friends. He took a moment to gawk at the sheer amount of other children lined up with Lumi, seeing her sole brother alongside her ten sisters. Jet didn't know much about the boy, vaguely remembering from Lumi talking about her family that his name started with an 'N', but he felt for him, Lupin could be a handful, and that was just one little sister, he couldn't imagine having to deal with nine younger sisters while also having an older sister on top of it all. Focusing back on the task at hand, when the desktop yielded no results, he started to look through the drawers, office supplies, some old candy wrappers, and weirdly enough, what looked like an old burner scroll, again, something that was weird, but not noteworthy. He grumbled as he stepped away from the desk, he was running out of time with nothing to show for it, so he took a brief look in the closet and again ended up with nothing. Okay, think, it's clearly not anywhere he would think to look, he needed to think like Ruby, who, considering the similar states of their rooms, might think at least a little bit like Scarlet. Where would she hide a book? Well that was a no brainer, he already knew about her porn stash under the mattress, but where el-

No, no, it wasn't that easy, he refused to believe she'd just hide something there, but still, he had nothing to lose, so he made his way back towards the bed, raising the mattress up and away from the frame. And there, stashed between a stash of weapon and swimsuit magazines, was an old, dusty journal. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved that he had found it, or disappointed in its resting spot, but either way, he started making a mental note of the location, remembering its exact spot: middle of the room, underneath the mattress, in between the guns and softcore porn. With the location memorized, he carefully lowered the bed and made his way to the exit, stopping once he felt the buzzing of his scroll in his pants indicating he'd gotten a text. Before he could even check it though, the sound of the doorknob moving caused his heart to skip a beat. Thinking fast, he dove for the couch, using it as cover and hiding himself just in time as the door practically flew open. He couldn't see who came in, but there were two sets of feet hitting the floor, one normal sounding, the other heavier and metallic.

"Touko, please! I can ex-" The voice of Professor Rose was stopped as the metallic feet of who he assumed was Miss Fuchsia turned on their heels, and a moment later, her irate voice confirmed his suspicion.

"Oh I'm sure you can, everything's excusable when they have a sob story." It sounded like they'd been arguing for a while, yet he was certain he would have heard them coming if that were actually the case. Hearing more footsteps, he moved around to the foot of the couch and crawled forward, staying out of sight of the two teachers. Touko stormed towards the bedroom, only stopping once Ruby reformed after Petal Bursting past her, placing her hands on the cyborg's shoulders and looking into her fuchsia eyes, hoping the woman would just hear her out for a moment.

"Could you just calm down for one second? You're acting like I'm teaming up with a Grimm!" As much as Ruby had been dreading this argument, once Touko learned where she was getting her information from, she knew she couldn't hide it.

"A gangster who kills people for money isn't that much of an improvement Ruby!" Ruby flinched at her friend's anger and disappointment, she wished she could say it was the first time they'd fought over this, but it was far from it. The argument had really started back when she first met him as a fresh-faced young man, alone and angry at everything. She couldn't really keep it a secret even if she'd wanted to, seeing as she and Touko had been sharing a spare apartment whenever they weren't in Beacon. She'd been hesitant even then, but the fights didn't really start until she agreed to train the boy and, rather than turning his life around like she hoped, and thought he would, he doubled down on his criminal lifestyle. Ever since then, whenever Ruby had spoken with or let it slip that she'd met with Romeo, at best, they'd be in a more sour mood with each other, but at worst? They'd fight and not speak to each other for days.

"He's not some wanton murderer, Touko!" Ruby defended her friend as best as she could. Again, it was an argument that they'd both made their stance clear on, and were tired of hearing. Touko just didn't want to hear it again, it didn't matter to her if he 'never tried to hurt anyone innocent' or 'had a code', he knew he was hurting people, and he did it anyways when he could have very well done so many other things rather than be a career criminal with his skillset. She didn't know why Ruby put up with him, why she risked everything for someone who'd let her down so hard before, she was crushed when Romeo decided not to become a Huntsman and instead went back to the life he knew.

"According to who? Him?" Touko asked, shaking herself free from her friend's grasp and crossing her arms, giving her best stern look to the younger professor.

"I know how it sounds, but he's my friend, I trust him." Touko let out a groan of frustration and turned around to go back towards the living room, clutching her left arm by the bicep as a faint glow started to emit from it, visible even underneath her heavy coat. Hearing footsteps, Jet made the quick decision to hide in the coat closet, pressing his back against the wall in hopes of avoiding being spotted. He was completely lost, they were arguing over some guy, and a criminal at that? He didn't really know the context, but at least it was nice to know he wasn't the only one in a mess thanks to factors outside of his job. Touko held her head in her hands as Ruby carefully approached, clearly also growing irritated as Touko walked away. She just needed to think her words over before she got mad and said something stupid, or worse, something she'd regret.

"Look, I get it, you feel bad for him, hell, I feel bad for him, but that deal is ludicrous! You let a dangerous criminal loose for some information!" Touko said, trying to get the conversation back on track and away from this old argument. Unfortunately, Ruby was getting emotional, not really thinking past the main conflict, something that just frustrated Touko even more.

"People can change. I'm not apologizing for not giving up on my friend when he is nothing like the real monsters we fight!" From his spot in the closet, Jet's interest was officially peaked, while the argument itself wouldn't be out of place in one of those soap operas his and Scarlet's Moms claimed were 'just guilty pleasures', the fact that it was coming from members of Beacon's staff made the potential consequences feel a lot more real. Maybe this was something he and his teammates could look into later, but for the moment, he was just looking for a way to escape.

"Fine, just don't expect me to be there when it blows up in your face just like I said it would last time!" Ruby flinched at her friend's words, looking like she'd been slapped, and just like that, Touko knew she'd let herself get too worked up and said something stupid. Damn it, why did she throw that in her face? She knew it was a sore topic and that Ruby would be hurt. The worst part was that she didn't even mean it. Even if this all came crashing down, Touko knew damn well she'd be right there to back the woman up come hell or high water, but it was too late, Ruby masked the hurt on her face with anger as she spoke.

"I'm not doing this right now. Vermillion Port, something is happening there tonight." Ruby said, shoving the benefits of her deal in her friend's face as if to shut her up, something that didn't sit right with Touko, hating when she was shut out by her.

"Ruby- please, I didn't-" Touko stumbled over her own words to try and apologize, but the red reaper ignored her, walking off toward the bedroom in a huff.

"Touko, this isn't up for debate, there is an active threat in our city. Jaune's already got a stakeout prepared, and I would appreciate it if you were there as backup." Ruby said, her tone leaving no room for discussion, then it hit Touko that this was less of a suggestion, and more of an order. Was… was she pulling rank on her just to end the conversation?

"Can we please just talk?" There was a pause as Ruby stopped at the hallway. She considered looking back, but eventually decided against it, speaking with her back turned.

"I have nothing to say to you right now. If you're not going on the mission, just let me know now so I can get started early to do it myself." Feeling defeated, Touko sulked, looking down at her feet, and with nothing left to say, she relented.

"I'll go… I'm sorry." Touko said quietly, agreeing to the mission before turning to leave, taking one last apologetic look at her friend before walking out, closing the door behind her.

"Damn it." With that, Ruby walked back to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Jet let out the air he didn't know he'd been holding in, that was too close. But, if nothing else, he had some new information, Vermillion Pport,. While the erratic conversation didn't give him much to go on, Professor Rose had been adamant that something would be happening there tonight, and it was worth bringing up at the very least. Carefully, he exited the closet, listening for any signs that indicated either of them would come back into the living room. After about a minute, he made his way to the door, carefully closing it behind him. Sighing, he looked around as Jin turned to see him, waving his hands back and forth, probably still worried.

"Alright, I found it, now we just need t-"

"You found what exactly?" Jet felt his blood run cold at the voice, Jin similarly winced and rubbed the back of his head, stepping aside revealing Elena, standing there with her arms crossed.


Belka walked down the streets of Vale aimlessly, having spent most of the day just following wherever her interests took her. So far, she'd tried out a few restaurants, and while they may not have been to the standards of Atlas's cuisine, she found them adequate. Next, she stopped by a movie theater, but that just soured her mood as she saw a film playing that her friend Whiskey was excited to see, something about time travel and robots, a ridiculous plot combined with creepy automatons made it something she planned to avoid like the plague. She felt lonely once reminded of her friend, she would have made the day in the city a genuine adventure rather than just a distraction. She would have liked Vale, it was a refreshing change of pace from Atlas where all the snobby upper class were just fake smiles and platitudes, the constant requests for favors and promises of rewards for a simple introduction made her sick, putting on a facade of friendship while snickering about her being born a bastard when they thought she was out of earshot. If it wasn't for her Mother and Father teaching her how to navigate the politics of power, she'd have certainly been eaten alive. Mantle unfortunately wasn't much better, and while no one had actually had the guts to attack her, every trip down to the city had resulted in sneers and bombardments of their issues with her parents, as if she had a say in those matters, but she supposed that was the price of her being born to a councilwoman. But here, people treated her just as they would any other normal girl.

Looking down at her scroll, she frowned, it was nearly time to turn back. It would take at least an hour to get back to the transport to Beacon, and they closed not long after she'd get there. She was not looking forward to the tense mood that would no doubt persist when she returned, but it wasn't as if getting into an argument was a good excuse to not show up for class, so, ignoring the many missed calls and shutting off her Scroll, she turned around so that she could start to make her way back, but instead she bumped right into a young man around her own age.

"Oh, my mista-" As she went to apologize, she felt a hand very deliberately brush along her upper thigh, and immediately she jumped back, how dare he! She had planned to slap him right across his stupid face and call him out in front of the entire street, but then she realized that he had just so happened to touch the entrance of her pocket. Violet eyes locked with dark green as she reached down into her pocket, and it was just as she thought, he was no pervert, he had robbed her! Looking him up and down, she made sure to memorize key features, auburn hair, dark skin, and a red coat with black fluff along the collar. A moment later, just as she had expected, the young man turned and fled, leaving her to chase after him as she called out. "Stop! Thief!"

Unfortunately, no one stopped him, and thus she was forced to run after the man herself, and he made that quite the difficult task. He pushed through crowds, made far more turns than what was necessary, and he even threw a plate at her when they passed by a restaurant's patio. Eventually though, she managed to follow him into an alleyway, and as soon as she turned the corner, she grew tense. The little pickpocket was there, of course, but now he was accompanied by two others. The first of them was obviously the man's twin, the only difference between them being that his hair was black and he was dressed in a green and black set of combat gear, and the other man was a skinny, light skinned fish Faunus of some sort with visible gills on his neck. They both looked to Belka, then over to the new arrival for an explanation as he bent over and panted heavily.

"She followed me for three freakin' blocks!" The Faunus scoffed and walked forward, cracking his knuckles in a clear attempt to intimidate her. However, Belka had put up with more than enough things ruining her day, and she was not going to let this punk scare her into giving up what was hers! The moment he got into melee range, she reached back and pulled Morgan from the magnetic plate on her back, extending the weapon into its combat form, but not activating the Dust blade, leaving it a very fancy quarterstaff. These were just thugs after all, not Grimm, she didn't want to kill them. The weapon's suddenly extending form struck right into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. She then twirled the weapon, clocking him across the cheek, and sending him to the ground like a sack of dirt. The twins grew tense at this, clearly having expected the dainty looking girl to be a pushover, and it filled Belka with pride to see them react with shock when they realized that she actually could fight back. Yet, it didn't stop them as they each activated a set of gauntlets, the red twin's set sprouting a pair of blades and the green twin's knuckles starting to glow from Dust infused with his gloves. They didn't give her a moment to breathe as they rushed into her, using her weapon's length to keep them at bay as she searched for an opening. They were tough to keep pace with, especially as a pair, but they were no Goose. The red twin went to advance with a slash, but his brother still went for an attack of his own. Using this to her advantage, she struck the leg of the red twin, knocking him into his brother's fist, which in turn hit with far more force, sending him into the wall. As the man reacted in shock and turned to check on his sibling, she swiftly landed another strike on the inside of his knee, knocking him off balance, and opening him up for a follow up swing to the jaw that knocked him to the ground as well. She heard the other twin getting up behind her, and, feeling confident as well as a bit cheeky, she twirled Morgan without even turning to face him, striking him in the head as well. Now, with the thugs all knocked out on the floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. But, her plans of rummaging through their pockets and praying that no one would stumble upon the scene was suddenly interrupted by someone clapping at the entrance to the alleyway.

"Now that's what I call a show!" Nearly jumping out of her skin, Belka turned on her hips and pointed Morgan at the man who showed up behind her, but to her surprise, he was completely unfazed by her threatening him with her weapon, still clapping. He was eye-catching to say the least, not very tall, maybe the same height as Goose, clad in a white set of suit pants and a matching shirt with a pink overcoat resting on his shoulders. He didn't seem threatening, but with the three who just tried to jump her, she wasn't in the mood to take any chances.

"How long have you been standing there? Did you follow me?" The man actually laughed, holding his hands up in mock surrender as he slowly made his way closer, yet remaining far enough away for her to not consider him a threat.

"Of course I did, I couldn't return this if I just let you run off." With a flick of his wrist, he produced a white and gold Lien card, flashing the side that had her thundermark emblem.

"What!? But how-" Belka's eyes bulged as she broke from the man's mismatching eyes to what was unmistakably her card, then back to the pickpocket who'd snatched it from her, trying to piece together how he had gotten his hands on it. Slowly, he held out the card, and, despite his actions, the smile on his face gave away that he found the whole situation more amusing than anything else.

"Little thief bumped into me while he was running off, so I figured I'd do my good deed for the day and help you out." he said, almost as if he was reading her mind. While not fully satisfied with the answer, she figured he had proven he wasn't a threat, so she lowered Morgan and let it collapse back into its inactive state. She took back her card with an audible sigh of relief, tucking it deep into her pocket before turning back to the man and crossing her arms at him.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked with a huff, making a show of how annoyed she was with him. He could have saved her all that trouble if he just spoke up, but it was obviously half hearted, and she was sure he could tell.

"Well, I was going to, but honestly, I'm glad I didn't. That was quite the show." She should have been annoyed, but she couldn't really be mad at him, especially when she had clearly impressed him. It felt nice, even in just a small way, and after the week she'd been having, that small bit went a long way. Then, he reached his hand out, offering it for her to shake. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm Sherbet Malachite. And you are?"

"Belka. And please, it was nothing." she said, shaking his hand. Getting a better look at him, she couldn't help but notice that he didn't look half bad, flamboyant for sure, but for some reason, it worked for him, especially the hair, half pink before a stripe of white separated it from the other half, which was a more natural orange, at least so long as his eyebrows were natural. Despite not changing that smile of his, it seemed a lot nicer and more sincere than it had previously.

"Nothing? That was nothing short of amazing." Despite herself, Belka let her lips curl upwards into a small smile, it had been a while since she had received such praise, and she didn't think she'd ever get it from someone as cute as him.

"If you think that was good, you should see my team, they put me to shame. I'm more of a strategist if anything." Despite trying to downplay her abilities, he perked up even more, and a part of her wondered if most people were this impressed with what was, by all accounts, an average Huntress in training, but a louder part of her mind told her to shut up and take the compliment.

"All I'm hearing is that you've got brains, beauty, and brawn." That compliment caused her cheeks to heat up almost immediately. Gods, she hoped she didn't look as much of a mess as she felt, she had just stormed off after that mess in training, so she certainly couldn't have looked presentable. He didn't care however, at least, not to any extent where she could tell. "You mentioned a team, like Beacon, right?"

"Y-yes! I'm the leader of team BGEL… yes, like the food." They shared a chuckle at that, she'd never really thought about that before, but now that she thought about it, she couldn't deny that it was amusing, the goofy name certainly fit her band of misfits.

"Really? What's it like? I actually almost attended but… well, life had other plans." he said wistfully. That explained it, he hadn't been able to attend. A shame really, he looked about the same age as the fourth years. Suddenly, she grew curious as to why he didn't, but that was probably personal, so she chose not to pry, instead taking pride in the fact that someone who had wanted to be like her was impressed. "Maybe we could talk about it over dinner? My treat, you already put on quite the show after all."

That was a delightfully tempting offer, she'd only known Sherbet for a few minutes, but so far she wanted to know more, he had this disarming aura that made her feel comfortable, or at least like she could ignore her crappy day and just laugh about something silly like her team name. Glancing down at her scroll she frowned, it was getting late and soon there would be no more transports back to Beacon. Regrettably, this was where they parted ways… for today at least.

"That sounds nice… but I should get back to school, I have class in the morning. But, maybe some other time?" Sherbet nodded understandingly, pulling a business card out of his pocket and holding it out for her to take.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, just come and find me." Without a second thought, she took the card, glancing down to see the name 'Junior's' clearly labeled in thick black ink along with a listing of hours that ran rather late, 8PM to 4AM to be exact. A nightclub? Certainly not what she had expected, but it wasn't nearly as offputting as she'd expected. Pocketing the card, she gave him a small smile.

"I might just take you up on that. Goodbye for now, Sherbet." And with that, she left, a pep in her step as the man remained on her mind long after she left the alley.

Watching her leave, Romeo lifted a cigar to his mouth, lighting it with a match and taking a long, satisfying drag as he let the familiar burn of the smoke fill his lungs, exhaling a moment later. While not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he couldn't deny that that had been all too easy, just dressing up nice, saying some pretty words, and flashing a smile was all it took? Granted, that got him in the door with most women, but Belka was practically skipping away, the girl must have been either sheltered or going through a breakup and seeing him as a potential rebound. Either way, he was more than happy with the results.

"You can get up now." Hearing their friend, the Malachite twins sat up, Melodias groaned as he brushed the dirt out of his auburn hair.

"Ow, those Beacon kids don't pull any punches." The red-clad twin whined, getting little sympathy from Romeo. The Faunus goon hadn't complained much, granted that was because Belka had actually knocked him out cold, but still, he had taken it like a champ! Meanwhile, Maverick stood up, rolling his shoulder with a sneer. He was already pissy about the plan in general, yet he still accepted the money and went along with it.

"What was that? Because I know for a damn fact that you didn't have us take a fall just so you could get laid later." Romeo laughed, then paused, briefly considering it, before shaking his head. Mixing work with pleasure was always a fun experience, but the girl was Ruby's student, he had to be careful with her. Maybe if she didn't hate his guts when all this was over, he'd see if there was a chance for a night full of mistakes they could make together.

"Just an insurance policy, she has some friends I want to keep tabs on." Romeo said, walking over and helping Melodias wake up the grunt as the welt on his chin turned purple, making a mental note to double his pay if he was a good sport over it.


"Hey guys, did you find it?" Jet and Jin both froze at the sudden voice of Scarlet as they walked into the door, not expecting the girls to just be sitting around. They shared a look, Jet slowly reaching back and pushing the door back just a bit, not quite closing it as Jin coughed, stepping forward with a nervous grin.

"So uh, promise you won't get mad?" Jin asked meekly, the girls of SJJL sharing a glance at his nervous demeanor, and then shifting their attention to Jet who shuffled in place, looking away to avoid eye contact as he adjusted the bun he had his hair tied up in. The boys were acting as if they were in trouble, which didn't really bode well given that they had just come back from attempting to break into the room of the second most influential person on campus.

"Jin, last time something like that was said in this room, we told the others about a cult. Please tell me it's not on the same level." Scarlet asked, pleaded really. They had only just gotten finished with their month of detention recently, if they were in trouble again, she was going to cry.

"You guys really are chasing a cult!?" The sudden voice of Juliet asked from behind the cracked door, the woman's head peeking in a moment later. "Holy crap, Elena was right."

"You told them!?" Lumi shrieked, unable to believe the sight before her as Elena and Luna similarly poked their heads through the gap, Rosaria just skipping the games and opening the door as she walked in.

"Actually, uh, Elena caught Jet coming out of Professor Rose's room." Jin said, explaining the situation as JWEL all piled into the room, Luna closing the door behind them and giving a small wave that Scarlet returned.

"That's not any better!" Lumi almost yelled, stopping herself as she remembered they had other teams on both sides of their dorm, bringing down her volume and instead settling for staring down the other team with murderous intent. Scarlet felt uneasy, she liked JWEL, they were nice girls from what she had been through with them, but this was starting to look like one of those intervention things she'd seen on TV.

"So, why are you here? To convince us to stop?" The bovine Faunus asked, already thinking of arguments in her head as to why this was something she had to do, not just for herself, but for the school and the public's safety.

"No, just the opposite." Rosaria said, much to the surprise of the SJJL girls, who had already been preparing separate reasons as to why they couldn't and absolutely would not just set the case aside, all seemingly for nothing as Rosaria casually rendered them silent. Juliet joined her a moment later.

"Pfft, we wanna help you guys, duh." Juliet announced, speaking for her whole team, the other girls nodding in agreement.

"Why? You guys just heard about a crazy death cult, and you decided to drop everything to try and take them down?" Lumi asked, as though it was the most ridiculous thing she'd heard.

"Exactly like you guys are doing?" Lumi didn't have much of a comeback to Elena's point, given that it was, in fact, exactly what they had done. Even with their own personal reasons excluded, it wasn't too far off the mark, so she stayed quiet, making sure that her face made it clear that she didn't like her own motives being thrown back at her.

"Look, Jet and Jin already told us about the school looking into these guys, if they really are that dangerous, then it's our job to do something about them." Juliet said, unknowingly parroting SJJL's own feelings about the group posing a threat in Vale

"Hey, I won't say no, more hands on Operation Unveiling is a good thing, right?" Her hand was almost immediately clamped down on by Juliet's, and, while the other girl's hand was slightly smaller, her grip was twice as powerful, forcing Scarlet to try and hold back a wince as they shook on it.

"I thought we agreed not to call it that." Lumi complained, getting Juliet's attention, the muscled girl almost immediately taking Scarlet's side.

"What? Why not, that's such a cool name, can we put it to a vote?"

"Guys, focus." Elena said, forcing the conversation back on track. "Jet, if you wouldn't mind."

Taking a deep breath Jet concentrated, remembering the layout of his professor's room, focusing on the middle of the room in his mind's eye, underneath the mattress, in between the guns and porn. A moment later, the old, worn journal appeared in his hands, the faded ink on the front reading a simple name; Tyrian Callows. Elena's fists tightened at the name on the book, her knuckles turning white from the pressure, yet no one noticed as they opened the dead man's diary, only to be greeted with a poem about death and the beauty of destruction.

"You know, for a guy nuttier than squirrel shit, he's got amazing handwriting." Scarlet muttered as they flipped through the pages, paragraphs upon paragraphs devoted to how this monster had slain innocents for his Goddess. One entry made her blood run cold, she assumed it was made right after her Mom had defected from whatever foul organization she was once a part of, as it went into great detail about what the sick bastard planned to do with her. There was more than just her though, and, apparently it was a smaller world then she'd imagined, because this guy had been involved with everyone, not just her Mom. Emerald and Mercury were name dropped more than once, Jet flinching every time he read his parents' names in the pages. In between passages, she reached over, comfortingly placing her hand on top of his. They shared a small glance, but he still seemed uneasy. It wasn't much, but she hoped it helped, even if just a little. Returning to the journal, it turned out that he'd even encountered Professor Rose, along with Lao's parents, and the dads of both Lumi and Goose. The most prevalent names though were someone or something he called his 'Goddess', receiving pages and pages of psychotic devotion, and someone he'd nicknamed as 'the Little Minx', whom he seemed downright infatuated with.

"Stop!" Luna said, reaching out and placing her hand on the page as they went to turn it, specifically over a strange symbol surrounding a drawing of an eye. Silence filled the room as the others waited for her to speak up. She bit her lip, clearly contemplating her words but, now that she'd said it, there was no taking it back, so with a heavy sigh, she just said the truth. "I… I'm pretty sure I've seen that symbol before. I think, my Mom used it back when I was little, said it was the sign of 'The Goddess' or something like that, though I, um, might be misremembering things."

'The Goddess'? That certainly sounded similar to what the Journal's owner had written about, didn't it? She looked around the room, and saw that the sudden possibility that this psychopath and Luna's own mother belonged to the same group didn't sit well with anyone. No one knew what to say, the girl didn't speak much about her home life, even to her team, and if her family really was connected to this, it suddenly made a lot of sense why. As it happened, there was an entry on the page next to the symbol, and with everyone's attention already drawn to the book, she decided to continue reading.

January 8th, 82 AGW

Today, I am a father. Our daughter Lavender was born in the early hours of the morning. The Little Min

The words were still legible, but scribbled out before continuing.

Neo is still asleep, she's small, I don't imagine it was easy for her. But, both my lover and my child are alive and healthy, and I am overjoyed. While nothing could ever hope to match the beauty of Her Grace, I dare say that Lavender is the only living creature that even comes close in my eyes. That is what Arthur will never understand, he foolishly strives for perfection when the true beauty lies in the impurities of life, like the little mole on my darling daughter's back, or the light hues of violet in her tail making it just a bit different from the color of my own. I'm rambling again, Neo insists that Evernight is no place to raise a child, and now that I'm holding the delicate creature in my arms, I have to agree. She owns an estate in Vale and insists hiding in plain sight is the best option, but I see past that. The true reason she wants to go back is for her son, to have her family all together. A lesser man might feel intimidated by the prospect of becoming a stepfather, yet I can't wait to share what I know with the boy. While Henna is not mine biologically, seeing her grow and learn has been almost as great a privilege as serving Her Grace. Teaching my darling daughter, and a stepson? I can only imagine the pride I'll feel for them once they're grown. Surely Abdullah can manage the growth of our group without me for a few years, after all, if my own Goddess says I've earned the right to enjoy fatherhood, then who am I to argue?

"Lavender, that's the chick who tried to kill us." Scarlet said, mostly to herself as she processed the entry. Compared to the other entries raving about death, devotion, and usually went on tangents that were completely incomprehensible to the sane of mind, this one seemed to be written in some strange daze of clarity. It made sense to her, the little psycho wouldn't be so pissed about her father's death if he was only concerned with murder, and… as much as she hated to admit it, she understood, she loved her Mom and Dad, even after everything she'd been through, knowing what they'd done.

"More importantly that guy Abdl- Ababa… Adbuella." Luna almost bit her lip trying to pronounce the name, Rosaria eventually speaking up and pronouncing it properly.

"Abdullah." she said, getting a nod as Luna continued.

"Yeah, him, this Tyrian guy said he was in charge, and I'm guessing that this is their symbol." Luna said, tapping the weird eyeball looking drawing solemnly. Silently, Jin reached over and patted her back, her statement about her mother from a few weeks ago suddenly making a lot more sense.

"That's not a lot to go on, so now what?" Lumi muttered, scowling at the book. They were given practically nothing to go on, what were they to do? Go around asking people if they'd seen the symbol and hope they'd be stupid enough to say yes? All that risk, just to end up as lost as when Scarlet first brought up the group.

"Well I heard there's something going on in Vermillion Port, if no one else has any other ideas, we could search there." All the heads in the room turned towards Jet, curious as to this potential new lead, except for Juliet, who snapped her fingers as if suddenly remembering something.

"Oh! Jacinthe might know something about them!" Juliet spoke up, surprising the rest of the group with the name drop, as if they were expected to know who that was. After a moment of waiting for her to elaborate and just getting stared at in return, Jin raised his hand, asking the question that was on everyone's minds.

"And, uh, who's that exactly?" Juliet laughed, assuming it was a joke, but, soon realizing that almost none of the people in the room were actually from Vale, and that even less of them were part of the upper class, realized her mistake, clearing her throat and clarifying.

"Jacinthe, she's one of those high society class types who knows everyone, except she's not up her own ass. She's actually really cool, she even sponsored me so I could get into Beacon!"

"You know people in high society?" Lumi asked incredulously, looking the buff tomboy up and down. The girl frankly didn't look like she'd know what class was if it hit her in the face, and she would have said as much if she didn't catch the sideways glance from Jin that practically screamed 'please be nice', so she bit her tongue for the moment.

"Rosaria's dad introduced us. They're rich, not like you Schnees rich, but if she wanted, she could sit on her sweet ass all day and never have to work a day in her life ever again." Rosaria sighed and elbowed her friend in the ribs in silent retaliation, causing her to yelp and pout at her friend, Rosaria then turning and ignoring her partner's scowl.

"So this Jacinthe, she'll know who these guys are?" Jin asked, trying to get the conversation back on track, which Juliet nodded at.

"Trust me, if there's something going on in Vale, she knows it." Juliet said confidently, while at her side, Rosaria raised an eyebrow at the assertion, seeming to indicate a lack of confidence in the idea. Elena similarly wasn't exactly convinced by her leader, instead turning to Jet.

"Okay, but what about Vermillion Port, are we absolutely sure something's happening tonight?" At the line of questioning, the boy nodded before explaining.

"Miss Rose seemed pretty sure, apparently Professor Fuchsia and Mister Arc-Schnee are going on a stakeout tonight." This information didn't seem to please the Faunus, her face growing sour at the information.

"A stakeout? So they're not actually investigating, they're sitting around, hoping to just… spot the super secretive group?" Jet shrugged at Elena's question, not exactly having an answer, seeing as he didn't make this plan, only making her scowl harder. Everyone looked around surprised at Elena's hostility, SJJL's members looking to the remaining JWEL girls for answers, but only getting shrugs and confused looks in response. Before anyone could figure out her problem, Elena spoke up once more. "I'm going to the port."

"But we don't even know what's there." Lumi pointed out, already a bit defensive over the insinuation that her Father was going to just sit by and do nothing if he suspected anything out of the ordinary.

"Exactly, this lady Juliet knows is still gonna be there in a week, whatever's happening at Vermillion might not." Elena said, giving the group pause. They had to admit, there was a high possibility that if there was something to be found tonight and they ignored it, the teachers would find it first, rounding up any potential leads and keeping the information found to themselves, or worse, they'd be spotted and the group would clear out, leaving no one with information.

"I agree with Elena, besides, Miss Rose went as far as to go to a criminal for this information, so either it's really good, or the professors are probably gonna need backup." Jet said, making his position known, the bit about Ruby's informant getting his partner's attention.

"Wait, she did what?" Jin asked. That just didn't sound like his aunt at all, but at the same time, Jet wouldn't lie, right? Not now and certainly not about this. "I'm going too, I need to see what's down there."

"If anything, the less than reputable source means it's probably a wild goose chase." Rosaria pointed out, not liking the idea of the port. She noticed that a split seemed to be forming amongst the impromptu group, as so far, three of them wanted to just go off and investigate what, for all they knew, could be a warehouse rigged to explode once they stepped inside, an unnecessary and dangerous gamble. Scarlet noticed this as well, but she didn't see as much of an issue with the plan.

"Why don't we just split up? Four of us go to meet with Juliet's friend, and the other four go check out the warehouse." Scarlet said. Most in the room seemed fine with the idea, except for Rosaria and a hesitant looking Juliet, but before the tanned titan and her partner could say anything, Elena once again spoke up.

"Works for me, so, who else wants to come down to the docks with us?" At the girl's question, Luna stepped forward, looking down and fiddling with her sleeve, but remaining firm in her decision.

"I-I'll go." Luna said quietly. Despite obviously second guessing the decision, she stepped over with the others who planned to check out Vermillion Port. "E-Elena's right, even if there's just a small chance they're actually there, we can't let them just keep doing what they're doing and preying on vulnerable people."

"So it's a plan then. We head out in two teams of four, each check out our respective leads, then meet back up to share what we know, and find a place to crash in town. That good with everyone?" Scarlet asked the group as a whole, getting nods from just about everyone.

"I still think splitting up is a mistake, but it seems I'm outvoted." Rosaria said with a sigh, but seceding to the majority with a nod. With their roles decided, Scarlet pumped her fist into the air, declaring with a shout;

"Alright everyone, Operation Unveiling is officially underway!"