Lao sat stone still on his bed, slowly breathing in and out as he tried to meditate. He had been struggling to control himself as of late, first it had been when he cracked the floor during the argument between the girls, something he had thought to be a momentary lapse in his control, but then he lashed out at Jin in the heat of sparring. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, but it was a clear sign that he was slipping and needed to find his center once more, so he was dedicating more of his time to maintaining his self control. The sound of the shower running served as white noise that normally would have helped, if not for the distracting detail that Belka had just come from the showers, her hair still wet when she came in. She was also in a strange rush, grabbing up a change of clothes and asking in passing where Elizabeth and Goose were, not even reacting when he told her they'd just left to go to the arcade with Scarlet in an attempt to cheer the girl up. She was acting strange, and he couldn't quite shake that fact from his mind, resulting in a less than fruitful session. Eventually, the water shut off and his full attention was shifted to the door. Belka stepped out of the doorway wearing her nightgown, a decision she somewhat regretted as the texture rubbed against her sore skin. She'd scrubbed herself raw, long past the point of her skin turning red, unable to feel clean, no matter how much soap she used, or how hard she rubbed the loofah across her skin. Still, she needed to cover herself, and even if she was comfortable enough around Lao to get naked before him, she wouldn't want him to see how red her body was. Thankfully, she could play off her red lips and cheeks as the heat from the shower simply making her flushed. She ignored the boy as she made her way to her bed, unintentionally storming over to her bed, snatching a book off of her nightstand and glaring into the pages. Lao watched the whole display in contemplative silence. Something was wrong, that much was obvious, the only question was what, deciding a casual approach was best he adopted a more relaxed position and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Belka, how was your day?" It had proven to be a bad choice of words, Belka's pent up anger seemed to explode all at once as she turned to her teammate and started to yell.

"Oh it was just peachy!" Lao as usual didn't so much as flinch at the yell directed his way. In fact, if anything, he considered her actually speaking instead of grumbling under her breath to be progress, even if it manifested as her yelling full bore into his face. Vindicating that line of thinking, a moment later, the anger faded from her face and she dropped down onto her bed, the girl who normally carried herself confidently slumping forward, resting her elbows on her thighs as she held her face in her hands. "I… sorry, I shouldn't… Damn it, this is exactly what happened with Goose!"

The pair sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, Belka wallowing in her mistakes, overwhelmed by everything going on as it took all of her remaining energy not to break down and cry again. Lao meanwhile thought over his words carefully, he couldn't say that it wasn't the case, because that would just be a lie, and attempting to change the subject wouldn't solve anything for her. Before he could think of anything to say though, she spoke up.

"I'm tired Lao." Looking up, Belka didn't hide the miserable expression she wore from the boy. She looked even worse than she had yesterday, almost like she was sick from how miserable she had been over the last few days.

"Tired of what?" he asked hesitantly. He had a guess, several in fact, with SLVR being at the top, but he couldn't really be sure, and while he knew there was a chance she could lash out at him again, he couldn't even attempt to start properly talking her through it if he didn't know what the biggest issue was.

"Everything! This whole damn school!" Her mood again shifted to anger, though not directed at him at least. "I'm tired of falling behind all my friends, I'm tired of Goose's stupid Semblance, and I'm tired of Luni and Elizabeth treating me like I emerged from Grimm tar! Would you have ever assumed we were related if you weren't told?"

Well, that was a bit more than he had expected. A part of him had started to consider if maybe this was a task better put in the hands of Jaune, it wasn't that he wanted to just pawn her problems off on the man, it's just that he wasn't sure he was the one to help her considering he really didn't have an answer to any of that, he was far more familiar with internal struggles. Sure, he had been affected by other's actions before but… not like this. Not knowing how to move forward, he simply answered the question posed honestly. "No, I suppose not."

"You want to know something pathetic? They're the reason I came to Beacon instead of Atlas Academy." she confessed with an exhausted sounding chuckle, laughing as much at herself as she was the absurdity of that statement and how it must have sounded considering how that choice had turned out.

"You moved to a different continent to go to school with a family who doesn't like you?" The question wasn't asked with any judgment, the idea was just strange to him. Then again, he didn't really have any extended family to draw experience from, both of his parents were only children and orphans, the closest real comparison he had was the Arc-Schnee family, with Jaune being something of an honorary uncle, even if they didn't use the actual title. But even then, he couldn't remember a time when they didn't get along over anything serious. However, as he spoke in his usual expressionless way of talking, the nuance was lost on Belka, who cringed inwardly, realizing just how that sounded when spoken by someone else.

"I… okay that sounds bad on its own but I have good… never mind." Belka muttered, giving up on her explanation before it even began. At least this way, he'd simply look at her as a creepy stalker rather than some pathetic charity case. Unbeknownst to her, the blank faced boy wasn't judging her, in fact, he had been ready to hear her out. However, if she didn't want to tell him, then he wouldn't make her, after all he had his own secrets, ones he wasn't ready to speak about just yet. Then he thought about what Jin had said, about being there, even if it was just to listen. His leader had confided her reason for coming to Beacon, that was a sign right? Uncertain, but feeling as if he should at least try, he spoke up.

"I understand, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." The Atlesian girl looked up at him with a mixture of disbelief and hope. Had she heard him right? He really wanted to hear her sob story? He didn't look like he was lying, then again, she could never tell what he was thinking anyways, but she supposed he had no reason to lie. Biting her lip, she thought it over before nodding and taking a deep breath, knowing that this was going to take a while.

"Life in Atlas was lonely for me, I didn't have much family, you already know the situation with my Father's side of things, and when it came out that my Mother was together with him… she became an outcast from almost everyone she knew. It was just me, my parents, and my godmother most of the time, and even then, thanks to the responsibilities of their jobs, it was mostly just my Nana and me. And then there was that damn scandal!" She found herself standing up as she fumed over the sensationalism around her birth. Lao, meanwhile, tilted his head in confusion, an act that reminded Belka that he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "Oh, right, you're Mistralian. Well, to avoid the dirty details, they were both politicians when they had me… on opposing parties, so when my heritage came to light, it was nothing short of disastrous for them. They lost just about everything, power, status, even some of my Mother's closest friends refused to associate with her. Really, the only good thing to come from it was that they got together to support me."

"That sounds rough, I'm sure it was hard for you." the boy said, reaching over and giving her an awkward pat on the back, trying to be comforting in the same way he remembered his Mother and Father were, more so like his Father, as Mother had a tendency to be a strong mixture of forceful and affectionate that he doubted Belka would appreciate. It seemed to work though, as she didn't pull away.

"No, that was their plight, and they recovered. Outcasts or not, they're good at what they do. Mine was being hated by everyone just for my parents' mistakes, for years I couldn't even step foot in Mantle without being accosted unless I had security around me or a disguise on. I've actually had a brick thrown at me once! And Atlas is exactly the same, except they're too cowardly to say or do anything to your face. They'll smile, and wave, and act like your friend, but the moment you're out of ear shot, they change their tune entirely. Do you know how many friends I had back home? One. A girl named Whiskey." Belka took a deep breath, she hadn't realized that she'd gone on such a long rant, but breathlessness aside, it felt good, real good, just getting all of it off her chest, to just complain to someone about the crap she had been subjected to. She made a mental note to thank Lao later, this was cathartic. But for now, she wasn't finished, she had more to say, and damn it, she was going to speak her mind! "That was the main reason why I considered attending here, to have a fresh start where people wouldn't know me, where I'm not just a walking political scandal, and it worked, Scarlet, Juliet, you, hell, for as much stick as I give her, even Goose puts in effort."

"Why are you so harsh with her?" Again, Belka laughed, a dry and bitter sound that didn't quite suit her in his opinion. It sounded defeated, broken, the antithesis to the usually confident girl in front of him.

"Isn't it obvious? It's because I'm a jealous brat. I wanted to be a part of their family. I never knew Lumi or Elizabeth, not really, so I'd hoped if we spent more time together, that… that they'd give me more of a chance than my sisters, but then I found out Goose was already filling my role, and I lashed out because I couldn't handle it, because I can't stand that you'd all be better off without me." she said, sniffling as she was on the verge of tears, realizing just how big of a mistake this was. Not only had she made things harder on herself, but she'd forcefully inserted herself into their lives, making her problems theirs as well. Lao was stunned silent, was that really what she thought? No, that was the miserable state of mind she'd found herself in talking, she was focusing on everything that was going wrong, not that he and Goose genuinely cared about her, that they were slowly getting better as a team. He didn't know how to solve this, but he knew he couldn't just let such a way of thinking go unopposed.

"I don't think that's true. What about Scarlet? Who else would have felt so strongly about her situation as to stand up for her? And what about Goose? Would she feel so upset about you yelling at her if she didn't care about you? And I appreciate you being patient with my strange demeanor, I know I'm not the most normal of people. You're just going through a hard time, and I can't imagine that Team SLVR is making your time here any easier." Belka didn't respond, she did appreciate the words, even if he was just being nice, but the reality was that she'd done nothing but burn bridges and take her anger out on others. He did have a point however, SLVR had been a recurring thorn in her side, but she was going to handle them soon.

"SLVR? They won't be a problem for much longer. And you're fine Lao, honestly, it's nice to have someone with their head on straight around here." Despite her trying to sound casual, Lao did something rare, he actually reacted with a readable expression to her words, his brow furrowing with worry as she mentioned SLVR not being a problem in the future.

"What does that mean?" Realizing her mistake, Belka pursed her lips in an attempt to maintain a neutral expression. Drat, she'd slipped up!

"It's fine Lao, you know for someone so stoic, you're quite the worry wart."

"But-" Before he could even start she cut him off, grabbing his surprisingly soft cheek like an aunt with no grasp of personal space.

"No 'buts', as team leader of BGEL, I order you not to worry about me." she said in a forced haughty tone. She was already grateful that he'd been kind enough to let her rant to him, she didn't need to worry him with any more of her petty little problems, if everything went according to plan, she'd be perfectly capable of taking care of things on her own.

"Okay." For the first time since they'd met, Lao lied to her, his typical unflinching mask stopping his friend from suspecting anything was out of the ordinary.

"Thank you. I'll be fine, I promise." Belka said, trying to reassure him. She even put on her best smile and headed back over to their personal bathroom, grabbing her makeup kit, well, her basic makeup kit, there was no reason to use up her more expensive set when it was going to be ruined anyway. She just needed to put on a normal front for a few more hours, and it would probably help if she looked the part. As the door closed, Lao was left to sit in silence with a growing suspicion that Belka was going to try something, but confused as to why she would keep it a secret. It didn't sit right with him, not one bit.


Alaska watched closely as her girls sparred, Loyal and Vera against Aethelflad. To anyone else looking in on the match, it would have appeared completely unfair, it wasn't as if the red head was so skilled that the other two needed to challenge her at the same time to test herself, yet in the specific exercise they were taking part in, she was skating circles around them. It was a maneuver they'd used all the time on Grimm during training missions when faced with multiple stronger beasts, forcing one of them away from the group, and then pinning it down and exterminating it with the aid of one of their teammates, and it had proven plenty effective. The only problem was that assuming it worked perfectly when translated to people would be dumb, because people weren't dumb like Grimm, most of the time anyways, so it would obviously need some refinement, and what better way to adapt this strategy than by testing it on the slipperiest person in Beacon? Loyal was doing a good job of it so far, blocking off Aethel's escape routes with Shock Collar, her axe, and corralling her into position for Vera's whip, Grimm Killer. She still wasn't sure what on Remnant the girl was thinking when she decided on that name, of course it was a Grimm killer, all of their weapons were Grimm killers, you didn't need to openly state it. However, there, as Aethel entered Vera's range, came the issue, as Vera flicked her wrist just a moment too late. To the normal eye, it would have just looked like a simple timing mistake, however, under the watchful gaze provided by her Semblance, Alaska noticed a few things, particularly the way Vera's arm tensed up as she reeled her arm back and the pained microexpressions that would've otherwise gone undetected in the heat of battle. Rather than go for the legs in an attempt to ensnare Aethelflad in her whip and bring her down, Vera instead took a swing at her friend's torso, which the skating girl easily dodged, crouching down and letting her rollerblades glide along the smooth floor of the training arena, even cockily striking a pose as she passed under the arc of the metal whip. However, to her surprise, Vera hadn't just swung blindly, in fact, her attack had forced her more mobile opponent to change directions and redirect herself ever so slightly closer to Loyal, the Faunus springing into action and thrusting Shock Collar forward as the blades of the axehead suddenly shifted into a man-catcher and clamped down on Aethel's neck, the steel jaws crackling with lightning Dust ready to electrocute their prey if she even thought about escaping. Alaska swelled with pride as they captured Aethel, they weren't done by a long shot, next she'd have them try it while she was getting in the way and making it harder, but for now, they'd earned a break. Placing her index finger and thumb into her mouth, she blew hard, letting out a loud whistle that grabbed the attention of her team, each of them coming over after Loyal released the lock on her weapon, setting the redhead free.

"Alright! Y'all're doin' good, at this rate, we'll practically steal this tournament!" the bluenette announced gleefully, her voice going higher than usual as she was swept up in the excitement, her competitive side coming out as she imagined them kicking ass and taking names throughout the whole tournament. Oh it was gonna be marvelous, but before that, there was something more important to handle, one of her girls was struggling, and she couldn't have that. So, as Loyal and Aethelflad went over to rest, she motioned Vera over, putting her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "Vera, how's your arm girl? I saw you wincing."

"Still a bit stiff, and I still don't have as much control over my wrist as I used to." the tan woman said as she caressed her aching wrist. She suffered from chronic pain thanks to an injury she sustained a few months back on one of their training missions, apparently her Aura had healed the wound prematurely, causing the bone to reset weirdly. They'd had it rebroken and fixed, but as a result, some lingering pain had stayed with her. It was something she just didn't like to talk about, but then again, she was one of those girls who froze up if you asked them to talk about themselves, so it was probably just her not wanting to stand out and be a bother. "Look, you should just focus on Aethelflad and Loyal, I'm only going into the first match anyway."

"Hey now, none of that quitter talk, we're in this together, ya' just gotta work on it some more. Besides, if something goes wrong, you're my backup, so we can't just forget about ya'." It wasn't even an option in her eyes, Vera was one of her girls, which meant she was taking care of her, some little wrist injury didn't change that. Besides, aside from herself, Vera was probably their best fighter, and she deserved to shine just as much as the rest of them. As the two made their way back over to the others, Loyal happily bit into her peanut butter sandwich, her tail wagging happily as she bit into the delicious snack. Looking up at the taller girls, her tail wagged even faster as they came to sit.

"Are -ou excited to go -ack to Vacuo 'Laska?" Loyal asked, her mouth still full of peanut butter and bread. None of her teammates bothered trying to chastise her for speaking with her mouth full, by now, they knew she was just incorrigible in certain areas.

"You bet your tail I am. I'll admit Vale's grown on me a bit, but there's just no place like home, y'know?" SLVR's leader said nostalgically. It was hard to believe it had been over a year since she'd left home, she'd learned a lot since then, mostly about how city life annoyed the hell out of her. When she first showed up, she was so lost, she couldn't tell up from down, everyone was so loud and rude, no one could even be bothered to give her directions, it was honestly pretty scary. Thankfully, she'd end up meeting a certain little red head who helped her out. Really, if it wasn't for Aethel, she'd probably never have adapted to city life at all, and would still be that same naive farmgirl who got off the train from Vacuo. Now that was a scary thought, she'd have easily been eaten alive.

"So, are we finally gonna get to meet that pa' of yours?" Aethel asked somewhat teasingly, taking Alaska out of her thoughts with the exaggerated accent as she said 'pa'.

"Maybe, he's always busy around the Festival, it brings in more eyes on the ranch, so if he ain't on a mission, he'll be gettin' things ready.'' She wondered how her Pa was doing, she wrote home often enough, but still, he himself admitted that his better years were behind him, and it wasn't like she was around to help him out here and there. Oh, she hoped he had actually hired some help and hadn't gone the stubborn route and done it all himself… Oh who was she kidding, she knew that was exactly what he'd done.

"Is he hot? I bet he's hot." the freckled girl said, as if she was just making an innocent speculation, and not, y'know, imagining Alaska but a gruff, just past middle aged cowboy with stubble. The pleased face she made at her own imagination silenced Loyal and Vera, much like the question itself had surrendered her leader speechless. Shameless, that girl was completely shameless, not only was he her friend's father, but he was easily twice her age. Rather annoyed at the tactless comment, she crossed her arms and shot the daydreaming girl a very unamused look.

"Aeth, you know I love you, but you're hare's heartbeat away from gettin' knocked cross-eyed." Rather than shy away or apologize in the face of Alaska's threat, Aethelflad just laughed. It wasn't that she didn't believe Alaska would actually follow through with it, they'd come to blows over stupid stuff before, and they probably would again, she just wasn't afraid of the consequences. Still, there was a time and place to let her imagination run wild, mostly in the dorm room after the rest of SLVR had gone to sleep.

"Aww, I forgot you're a daddy's girl. That's actually real sweet." to which Alaska just responded with a huff. She could hide it all she wanted, but the girls all knew about her protectiveness, all of them had seen it first hand, and the fact that it extended to her dad was rather cute in their eyes. However, as the scene unfolded, Loyal noticed the faint scent of something flowery, not like actual flowers, but that obvious fake flower smell you got from shampoos and perfumes. It wasn't a member of SLVR either, Alaska didn't really use perfumes so she just smelled like the oils from her shampoo and body wash, Aethel preferred fruity smells, and it was impossible to smell anything on Vera aside from the chemicals in her hair and on her skin. Thinking she might be mistaken, she took a deep inhale, getting the attention of her team from how hard she breathed in. Nope, that was definitely flowers.

"Did one of you change your perfume?" The question took her leader off guard, the tall woman checking her own scent, lifting her armpit to see if maybe she'd grabbed the wrong deodorant or something, Aethel doing something similar with her shirt. Vera, however, looked around the room, noticing that something felt off, like they were being watched. Activating her Semblance, she quickly felt a very familiar Aura just behind the stands.

"Come on out Belka, I know it's you." From her spot, Belka swore. Out of all the things that could have given her away, it had been her perfume? If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought Goose was nearby, but that was unlikely, she'd made sure the others thought she was going into town for the day, after all, this mess was probably going to eat up her entire day. Double checking to make sure her scroll was in place and recording, she swallowed before stepping out for the girls to plainly see, her hands on her hips.

"Took you long enough. Honestly, I'm surprised it took you this long to spot me." she said confidently, stepping into the arena. SLVR clearly wasn't happy with her apparent eavesdropping.

"Well we weren't expecting company, and don't really want it either, so if you could piss off, that'd be great." Aethleflad said before turning back to her team, trying to draw the attention away from the intruder. Were… were they ignoring her? Oh that was rich, before they wouldn't leave her alone no matter what she tried, but now that she actually wanted their attention, they dismissed her entirely? That wasn't good, she needed them, or at the very least, Alaska, to be mad enough to try something. Okay, not a problem, Alaska hated her acting like an uppity rich girl, so she would probably lose it if she ended up getting played by that same prissy girl, right?

"No, we have business." she demanded, stomping right past the others and getting right into the ringleader's face, slamming her foot into the ground in her best impression of a child throwing a tantrum. "You're going to leave me the hell alone, I'm done with this stupid game of yours!"

"Oh really now missy?" Without hesitation, Alaska reached out and grabbed her up by the front of her blouse. She wasn't planning on actually hurting the girl, she just wanted to scare her a bit, show her who was boss and send her running. To her shock though, Belka didn't try to pull away or resist, instead, she grabbed her forearm, reaching under her sleeve and clenching down hard on her bare skin. "What the hell? Let go!"

In response to the sudden action, Alaska shook Belka like a ragdoll, thrashing the smaller girl about. But stubbornly, she held on, even digging her nails into the muscle of her arm to try and stay attached. The pain was superficial at best, she just wanted her off her arm, but suddenly, she felt some sort of connection between them start to form. Glancing down at her arm, she saw her pale blue Aura flowing into Belka's own, darkening until their skin met and transitioning into the violet shade of the other girl's Aura. For a brief moment, fear took over as it registered to her that this was likely Belka's Semblance, one she had never seen before. What in tarnation was wrong with this girl!? She was going to use her Semblance on her? Ah crap, she didn't even have her Aura up! Acting on fear and adrenaline, Alaska lashed out, landing a panicked hook right into the brunette's cheek, sending them both to the ground, Belka from the punch, and her from how hard she pulled away. She immediately checked her arm, and, aside from the fact that she'd punched Belka so hard her knuckles were bleeding, nothing seemed out of place, no burns, her bones weren't replaced with noodles or anything else weird, and her Aura didn't feel weird either. What the hell had that been about? Just a scare? As she tried to figure out what she just did, she heard Belka laugh, a strange noise to make as she held onto her bleeding face.

"What's so funny?" Alaska snarled, her anger rising at being toyed with, and only getting worse as Belka laughed harder.

"Oh nothing, I was just remembering what you said the other day about my family." Something was definitely wrong, the other day she'd broken down into tears over that comment, but now she was all smug over it. Belka smirked as Alaska looked confused, trying to piece things together. Were it anyone else, she'd have actually felt bad about what she was going to say next, but hey, Alaska crossed that line first. "Those were some bold words from someone who's own mother couldn't be bothered to stay in their life.".

Oh, it was more than satisfying to see the color drain from her tormentor's face. It had taken a lot of Aura to absorb as much as she did, but it was more than worth it. Now she just had to goad her a little more. As Belka mentally prepared herself to continue telling Alaska off, Alaska tried to get her breathing under control, the mental whiplash of her long absent Mother being thrown in her face had hit like a freight train. How did she know? She hadn't told anyone about that, not even her team, it was no one's godsdamn business whether her mom was around or not! Wait, her Semblance! Now it made sense, that little shit had looked through her mind! Suddenly, Aethel started laughing. For a moment, she thought it was a petty attempt to try and get under her friend's skin, but she was simply just unaware of just how big of a nerve had been hit until she turned and saw the conflicting emotions of shock, sadness, and hatred clashing on her beet red face. Loyal and Vera were looking at her too, the realization that her personal life was suddenly being dragged through the mud had her feeling more embarrassed than she had ever been in her life.

"What!? Tha- I didn- You little bi-" Alaska was actually speechless, just who the hell did she think she was!? Belka had almost forgotten what this felt like, to get even, to finally wipe the smirk off of someone's face after they'd looked down on her. Moreso, she'd forgotten how good it felt when it was someone who deserved it, this wasn't like Goose where she'd hurt someone innocent, Alaska deserved this. So, with that in mind, she kept going.

"Oh, but you have your pa, right? Well, for now at least, we both know he'd be ashamed of you if he knew the kind of person you really are."

"You don't know shit about my Pa!" Alaska was already close to losing control, and everyone could tell. Her voice was shaking, and raised several pitches as she yelled, hands trembling with latent fury as tears formed in her eyes.

"I know he raised a disappointment. Do you really think that Mr. Arkansas Starbuck would be fine with his little girl losing her virginity to some punk at a wild party?" There was a moment of silence as Belka revealed yet another personal detail Alaska had planned to never share, and again, to her best friends no less. She'd once again been stunned by this, but her face hadn't lost any of its anger, it just shifted from bubbling rage to a cold murderous glare. Despite things going according to plan, Belka began to feel her blood run cold as she realized she was about to get beaten within an inch of her life at the very least. What Belka didn't expect, however, was that Alaska wouldn't be the first one to act, it was Loyal.

"Stop it! Just go away!" The small Faunus demanded, yelling at the top of her lungs. Until now, she had just regarded the girl as one of Alaska's useful idiots, but it seemed that she had her limits too, as she came out of nowhere and shoved Belka back with a surprising amount of strength, nearly knocking her over in the process. Despite this, she wasn't deterred in the slightest, looking right past the angry girls and right into the cowgirl's furious eyes.

"What? You can dish it out, but you can't take it, even when it's your turn? Guess even I expected too much from an inbred hick like you." Alaska snapped at that, after having her secrets and insecurities dredged up, some petty name calling was all it took to send her over the edge. Closing the distance in just a few steps, Alaska pulled her fist back and punched the girl square in the jaw. Belka fell over like a bag of bricks, the strike disorienting her so much that her legs gave out instantly. Blinking the fuzz out of her vision, the first thing she saw was the fist of Alaska coming down, the force of the strike bouncing her skull off of the stone tile. Thankfully, she'd raised her Aura by that point, otherwise it was very possible the blow would have cracked her skull. Well past the point of caring, Alaska pulled the limp girl up by her shirt, forcing her to stand.

"I'm- going- to- beat- your- scrawny- little- ass!" Each word was punctuated with another punch from the Vacuan girl, and if that wasn't bad enough, the feeling of something hard striking her in the back came after the second hit, or maybe it was the third hit, she wasn't exactly keeping track. She soon realized that Aethelflad was now kicking her, and still had her rollerblades on, and it only devolved from there, Vera threw a few punches too, even Loyal joined in, even if it was just to slap her, meaning that all four of them had ganged up on her. Technically, this was good, it meant her plan had worked even better than she had expected, but on the other hand, she was being jumped four to one, and even with her Aura up, there was only so much punishment she could take, and at the very least, Alaska certainly wasn't pulling any of her punches. Still, being completely surrounded and currently being used as SLVR's punching bag, she had no choice but to take the abuse until their anger had been worked through.

"That's enough!" a voice shouted at the group. It was familiar, but with the ringing in her ears, Belka couldn't quite recognize who it was. Then, the blows to her body stopped long enough for her to focus in the direction the voice came from. They weren't very tall, just over five feet with long orange hair.

"Lao?" No, no, no, no! Why was he here? She'd gone out of her way to make sure she had been alone, she couldn't have him getting involved or, gods forbid, hurt over her! She blinked the tears out of her eyes, she didn't even know she'd started crying, but now that she could think about something other than the constant blows coming down on her, it quickly set in how much of a mess she was. A good few strikes during SLVR's frenzy had been enough to inflict cuts and bruises through her Aura, and that was just what she could feel, her makeup left running down her face with tears, interspersed with blood leaking from her nose and dripping down onto her blouse.

"I already called Counselor Arc, unless you want to make this worse for yourself, you should leave." He raised up his scroll, hoping this would be enough to deter them from trying anything more. He'd been afraid of this ever since she let her comment about not worrying about SLVR anymore slip. Whatever her plan was, it had to have backfired horribly for her to end up like this, and she was lucky that he'd followed his gut and decided to follow her. He'd actually lost her when she first entered the practice building, but, hearing the sound of something being hit, he stumbled across the scene. He could practically feel his blood pressure rise at the state of his friend, this was so far beyond just bullying. Focusing inwards, he took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, he had to stay calm, nothing good would come from him losing it, he had to remember Father's lessons.

"She- she started it!" Loyal protested, trying to come to her friend's defense. The members of SLVR looked to each other nervously, this was different from before, they'd been caught red handed and Belka's state spoke for itself. They found themselves looking towards Alaska for guidance, however, her mood hadn't changed one bit. If she was going down, she was going to get her licks in while she still could.

"Lao just go, I'll be fine." She tried desperately to get Lao to go, she didn't want him to see her in this state, but she feared the possibility of Alaska turning her attention on Lao even more. Thankfully, Alaska didn't look like she could focus on anything but her. Lao, meanwhile, was shocked, unable to believe what she'd just said. What was she doing by trying to protect them? Did they have some sort of dirt on her? Was she punishing herself for what happened? None of that sounded like her, but still, even as Alaska punched her yet again, she didn't look away from him, her eyes silently telling him to go. Was… was she trying to protect him? The thought triggered something in the boy, a memory, one that, despite his endless attempts to repress, he remembered all too well. He was covered in blood that didn't belong to him, chants of monster child and murderer ringing in his ears. He was confused, scared, and above all, remorseful for what he'd done. He couldn't remember the exact words said, but he knew that his Mother and Father had fought to convince the mob that he was innocent, that he was just a child who didn't know what he was capable of, pleas that fell on deaf ears. Eventually, Mother stepped forward with her hammer out, telling them to run for it while she kept them busy.

"Go, take Lao, I'll keep them busy." His Father had protested of course, but there really was no arguing with his Mother when her mind was made up, so reluctantly, he scooped the young boy up and ran. They kept moving and moving until Lao eventually passed out. When he came to his senses again, his Father was tending to his battered and bloody Mother. Despite her state, her weapon was completely clean save for some new dents in the metal, yet she wasn't concerned with any of the cuts and bruises along her body, instead just looking his way and making sure he was alright.

Just like Belka was doing now.

Alaska raised her fist once more to punch Belka, hoping to knock out a few of those pearly whites, see how well she talked shit without them, but suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back off of Belka, bringing her right to her feet. From the feel and strength of the grip, she thought it would have been Professor Rose or Fuchsia, maybe even Headmistress Goodwitch, but as she was forcibly turned around, she found herself looking not at one of her professors, but down at Lao, who… wait, were his eyes always red like that?

"I'm going to break your legs." To the considerable shock of everyone, Lao spoke with unmistakable hatred. The girls of SLVR were already speechless, not a single thing they'd done had proven capable of getting him to so much as flinch, to the point that they had begun to suspect that the boy was incapable of emoting, but Belka felt her blood run cold, nothing else even came close to making him that upset. Before any words were said, Lao twisted his wrist and Alaska's along with it, resulting in a loud crunch. Alaska screamed in agony and tried to pry her now limp hand from his grasp using her left hand, but nothing came of it, he was unmovable. Seeing her friend in pain, Aethel acted quickly, bringing her roller blades against the base of his skull with a high kick, a move which did little more than piss the boy off further. While he certainly felt the blow, the pain did nothing to deter him as he immediately responded by spinning his body and leaning into a kick of his own while keeping a hold of her leader's wrist. Once again, the sickening chorus of bones crunching and tendons snapping could be heard as his foot connected with her knee, shattering through her Aura with little resistance, and leaving her left leg bent off to the side. Aethelflad screamed in agony as her leg buckled under her own weight and she fell to the floor, landing on her side and starting to hyperventilate. Her Aura had always been on the weaker side when it came to protecting her, but to shatter it in one blow? Pain and terror kept her paralyzed on the floor next to Belka, both girls petrified by the sight. Lao went to turn his attention back to the woman he believed was responsible for his teammate's current state, only for a sharp pain to shoot up from his forearm, causing him to let go. Looking down as Alaska fell back, he saw Loyal with her teeth embedded in his skin, biting down desperately, just trying to hurt him enough for him to let her friend go, and while she had succeeded in her task, she was now the closest thing to Lao in his enraged state, and as a result, he made quick work of her. He took a hold of her head with his now free hand, and slammed her into the ground hard enough to break the stone tile underneath them, instantly breaking her Aura in a flash of pink, and leaving her unconscious on the floor. Belka scrambled to her feet, things had gotten out of control, at this point she actually feared for SLVR's safety. She had wanted to get rid of them, yes, but not like this, not in a way that would impact her friends as well.

"Stop! Lao!" Her words fell on deaf ears as Lao once again looked for Alaska. He didn't need to search long though, as she didn't even try to run, no one put their hands on her team and got away with it, she didn't care what freaky bullshit this was, she wasn't afraid of him! Throwing a haymaker from her left with all of her weight behind it, she actually managed to force him back a few feet, yet, just like Aethel's kick, it only seemed to anger him as he tried to close the distance and deliver an open palm strike to her solar plexus. However, he was stopped short as suddenly Grimm Killer wrapped and tightened around his torso as Vera tried to restrain him, having gone for the weapons when the fight started. She threw Shock Collar over at her leader, hoping they could restrain the out of control boy until help arrived, but unfortunately, that plan immediately fell apart as Alaska was suddenly knocked back. While his hand hadn't made direct contact with her, a small shockwave of pressurized Aura shot out from his palm, traveling from Lao and hitting Alaska with the same force she'd have expected from an Ursa, just concentrated into the area of his hand. As Alaska and Shock Collar hit the floor at the same time, Lao grabbed hold of Grimm Killer, and, ignoring how the metal cut into his palm, he pulled as hard as he could, pulling Vera off of her feet and over to him. The moment she was in range, he jumped up, driving his knee into her gut, the momentum combined with the strength of his blow sending her careening through the air and onto the floor, where she immediately vomited. Her stomach felt like it had been crushed like an empty soda can, leaving her nauseous as she tried to get back to her feet, throwing up once more before falling back into the puddle of bile.

Now it was just him and Alaska, and he didn't even think of giving her the chance to fight back this time. The moment she was back up, he started hitting a series of precise strikes in her stomach and chest. Belka watched, still unable to make her legs move as Lao worked the bluenette's body like a meaty punching bag, before finally ending his string of blows with a pair of punches that hit her chest and abdomen simultaneously. Stumbling back, the cowgirl fell to her knees, something was wrong, very wrong, none of those hits were even half as strong as the way he hit the others, but she felt weak, the only thing keeping her from keeling over like a sack of potatoes was her sheer force of will. However, a moment later, even that started to fail her as she immediately retched up her own blood, the warm and thick ichor spilling out onto her chest from her mouth as it suddenly felt like her insides had been put through a blender. Oh fuck, what had he done to her!? Despite the pain and growing sense of fear taking over her body, she was far too weak to move as he walked up to her, stopping right in front of her, his eyes carrying the same hatred he had used to threaten her with. Yet she didn't shy away, she wasn't gonna give him the satisfaction. Glaring up at him, she spat her own blood right into his face.

"You got it in you, killer?" Lao responded with actions, not words, reaching out and grabbing the Vacuan's throat, squeezing tighter and tighter until her Aura strained to keep his fingers from piercing into her flesh. Alaska coughed and wheezed, but she was simply too weak to even attempt to fight him off, so she just bared her teeth as long as she could, refusing to let him see her fear.

From her spot a few feet away, the cold reality set in for Belka that Lao had well and truly snapped. He was going to kill Alaska if she didn't do something, and, moving on instinct, she ran over and tried with all of her might to pull him off of the bully, screaming and pleading that it wasn't worth it, that they'd had more than enough, yet he didn't budge. She started to panic, she had to stop him, he couldn't ruin his life over her! Just as that thought entered her mind, she started to move, but not of her own volition, in fact, she wasn't certain she could have moved that fast no matter how hard she tried,. it wasn't like something had slammed into her, she didn't feel… anything now that she was thinking about it, it was like she didn't even have a body. Put simply, it was a very disorienting experience, one that wasn't made any easier by the fact that she was moving around the room in circles at speeds that would rival Morgan's beams, and why in the world were there rose petals all over the place?

As Belka tried to figure out just what the hell was happening, Ruby released the pair from her Semblance, all three of them reforming as Ruby slid to a graceful halt while Lao and Belka, both not ready for the sudden return to physicality, and thus, to momentum, were sent sprawling across the floor. Belka groaned and flailed about helplessly, never having had the experience of getting caught in Ruby's Petal Burst until now. Lao, on the other hand, while still heavily disoriented, managed to get to his feet, far more used to it. His focus was still solely on Alaska, the bluenette finally falling over and gasping for air as Ruby ran over to check her injuries. While Lao stumbled ever closer to his target, Belka tried to get her bearings. Looking around, she saw several Professors assessing the other members of SLVR. Professor Castleton was trying his best to calm Aethelflad down as Professor Fuchsia worked on trying to set her leg into a stable position, Professor Oobleck helped Vera to her feet, only to be rewarded with another volley of vomit spilling out onto his coffee-stained shirt, and the Headmistress herself was looking over Loyal, her brow furrowed, clearly furious about the state of her students. Lao marched forward to the best of his ability, he wasn't done, not yet, not until she felt as helpless as she'd made Belka feel all this time. But before he could get any further, a set of powerful arms wrapped around him, pulling him off the ground.

"That's enough!" Lao fought desperately to escape the grasp of his godfather, but soon the firm hug brought him back down to Remnant, and he realized what he was doing. He'd lost control, he could have killed one of them, he- he had tried to kill Alaska. The realization caused the small boy to break down, hyperventilating, Jaune holding him close as his gasps turned to sobs. He buried his face in the counselor's chest as he tried to comfort him. "They've had enough. Lao, it's me, you're okay, we're okay."

"Mr. Arc, I'll deal with him, attend to SLVR's injuries, and get Miss Vinayaki in here quickly!" Glynda, however, had no patience for his emotional state, this was all his doing after all, and in the wake of this borderline massacre, she could care less about coddling him. Despite being given a very direct order, Jaune didn't budge, glaring up at the Headmistress as he continued to hold Lao close. Belka watched the exchange, taking note of how the woman's glare was just as much directed at Lao. It was just as she feared, she blamed him for this… what would happen to him? Would he be punished? The thought made her sick to her stomach, no, no, no this was her fault, she had put this stupid plan into action and had made the mistake of not doing it somewhere they wouldn't be found. Seeing no other course of action, Belka got to her feet, adopting the same smug expression and tone she'd used on Alaska before making sure to speak as loudly as she could without it being overly obvious that she was acting.

"Did that hurt? Good, maybe next time you'll think twice before messing with your betters now, won't you?" The entire room fell silent as all eyes fell on her, even Alaska, who looked on in pure hatred, buying all the same as the rest of them, barring Lao, who was just confused. What was that supposed to mean? It wasn't as if she had planned for this, right? They shared a look, where his leader tried to tell him to just stay quiet with her eyes alone. She didn't know if he understood what she was trying to convey, but her plan worked, and with him no longer wearing a blank emotionless mask, his confusion was clear for all to see, including the Headmistress, who turned her attention over to Belka instead. Glynda walked right up to her, the woman's piercing green eyes seeming to be scrutinizing her very soul.

"And just what is that supposed to mean young lady?" Belka swallowed hard under the Headmistress's sharp gaze, she knew she was going to pay for what she'd caused, yet she didn't dare retract or amend her statement, this was her cross to bear, not Lao's.