Seeking Direction: Revised Edition - Elbowsnapper (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Sanctum Combat School, Argus, Anima.

"Your individual results will be sent to your Scrolls on Friday, as long as there are no unforeseen delays." Professor Dart said, eyes flicking around the room to meet the eyes of the three who had groaned at the news. "You willalsohave the academy applications to look forward to filling out as well, which you should complete before your results arrive; I do hope I've managed to instil the habit of taking proactive action in at leastsomeof you."

There was another sad groan from the back of the room, followed by a thump of a head hitting a desk. A deluge of mumbled yes sirs rang out, and the severe man looked distinctly unimpressed by their lack of enthusiasm.

"Sir, sir. I still haven't decided which Academy to apply to." Cherrie said, visibly nervous. "How long do we have before we have to send them? What if they decline me? Sir—what if they decline me?"

Lima couldn't help but laugh at the girl's panic; he wasn't exactly sure about the odds, but he'd put it down as 'pretty f*cking unlikely' that any of the academies would turn down a combat-ready and willing Huntress before even evaluating them.

"I'm afraid that is out of my hands now, but if you are suddenly finding yourself worried—well, perhaps you should have worked harder," Professor Dart said with a self-satisfied nod. "To answer your other question, your applications must be submitted before the end of March; those very applications will be reviewed by the respective academy's instructors, and an acceptance or declination response will be returned to you within the week."

That felt almost as if it was an entire lifetime away, but it would leave him with more than enough free time to come to a decision. Lima didn't really have a preference on which to apply for—other than the fact that Shade Academy was probably hot as balls, and Atlas Academy was cold as nuts. Haven Academy was the closest in proximity and something of a default choice, but after four years of dealing with the elitist pricks at Sanctum, he wasn't sure he wanted to follow the same standard pipeline. Beacon Academy, on the other hand, he didn't know too much about, other than that it was located in Vale—so he'd call it the second choice, considering he'd heard the temperature was just about right.

#

Sage 's Home, Argus, Anima.

"You suck, your face sucks, and your mother sucks," Lima complained from flat on his back. "That's whatIthink, you old bastard."

"You never even met my mother, you little sh*t." Sage said, "Now get up, you pansy; you've still got some left in the tank."

"Pansy," Lima squawked, tilting from the ground all the way back up to his feet with a faint pulse of his Semblance. "I almosthadyou that time."

Lima dropped his Semblance as soon as he was back to his feet. It was something that had long since been banned during sparring or training sessions. Lima drew in a sharp breath, preparing his body for the oncoming rush of movement and then burst to the side. He stayed low to the ground and angled for a spiral inwards, circling the massive man as best he could—but Sage simply turned with him, keeping him in sight with a fraction of the effort.

"Clinging to my arm like a baby isn't going to be enough to take me down." Sage said, tracking him with ease. "You gonna hug all the Grimm to death, Lima?"

It was an outright taunt more than any kind of substantial advice because they both knew that Lima couldn't take him downwithoutusing grappling techniques. Sage's undamageable nature simply didn't allow for it—beingawarethat it was a taunt didn't help make it any less effective, though.

"It was anarmbar, you motherf*cker." Lima cried in outrage. "I'm going to break it next time, I swear to—"

Lima darted in towards him without warning, stopping just out of reach of the man's hand as it flashed by his head. He twisted with the momentum of his stop, forcing all of it into his leg and then launched a rising kick up at his face. It connected with a vicious crack that did absolutely nothing as the man's stupid Semblance reduced the impact to basically nothing and at just about zero aura-cost.

Lima was forced to duck backwards, twisting again in an attempt to deflect the man's massive hand away from his head as it tore past his cheek. He turned with the evasion, spinning low and bringing his heel around to crash—entirely ineffectively—into the back of the man's knee. Lima didn't stop, instead, he followed the spin around behind the man, twisting his foot until he was pressing down. Sage pretended to collapse, his knee striking the ground as if the force of Lima's attack had somehow made it through his Semblance—it was the most condescending thing he had ever seen.

"Learn how to turn your god damned Semblance off," Lima raged, slipping his arm up under the man's too-thick neck. "You asshole—"

"It's beensixtyyears," Sage said as he used his greater physical strength to start wrenching his way free. "If I haven't figured it out by now, it's never going to happen."

Lima gritted his teeth as he fought to keep the bear of a man contained, but despite his advancing age, none of his physical strength had lessened at all in the last decade. There was light at the end of the tunnel, though; the gap was closing the older they both became. Lima was seventeen now, only five months away from adulthood and all the joys that would bring—eventually, he'd be stronger than him,surely. Sage managed to break free of the lock, the mass of meat and muscle the man called a hand wrapped around his wrist—

"Got you," Sage cackled.

"You motherf*cker—" Lima cried out.

Sage dragged him off the ground into a circle and then smashed him down onto the dirt. Lima brought forth about twice the amount of aura that he thought was needed, but the impact still rocked him, and he heard his Scroll let out a beep as he dipped beneath the ten percent threshold.

"Another loss, huh?" Sage said, with a laugh, "Lima, you've got to be the world'sbestloser—why I've neverseensomeone with so many to his name."

"You cheating bitch." Lima complained.

He dragged himself back to his feet, only barely managing to snatch the water bottle Sage had tossed at his face in time.

"At some point, you gotta stop hugging the enemy and justfight, you know?" Sage said, shaking his head as if beset by a great sadness. "I raised a puss*."

"It was a f*cking sleeper hold." Lima cried in dismay.

"Does thislooklike bedtime, boy?" Sage demanded, "Are we here tofightor have acuddle?"

Lima just let out an incoherent cry of rage and attacked again.

#

Outer Wall, Argus, Anima.

Sneaking up onto the wall was a favoured past time for just about everyone in Argus; you weren't supposed to, of course, but as long as you kept out of the way and didn't make a nuisance of yourself, the guys on watch would often let it slide. Lima didn't spot any of the ones who would actually run him off, so he thought he was in the clear this time. He made a pillow out of his linked hands and lay back on the wall, almost groaning at finally getting to stop for the day. The old bastard was a slave driver, but he did appreciate the man, despite all their arguing.

The sky was bright with stars, and like always, the shattered moon hung in the sky, a testament to some unfathomable accident in an age long passed. He wondered what could have done it. There had been thousands of tales about it and a thousand more theories that made much more sense, but there was little evidence to support any of them. The most agreed-upon theory was that it was the result of a meteor, while another one had popped up recently that stated it had once been part of Remnant but split off somehow, which made absolutely no sense to him. How would the moon have gotten up into space?

Hell, there were other tales, more eldritch; A ancient dragon Grimm had done it, or the moon itself was the origin of the Grimm. In some stories, it was actually an immense Grimm whose face hid always within the shadow, evicted from the earth by the power of an ancient warrior. Lima wasn't sure that any of them were close to the truth, but you didn't need to know the origin of the Monsters of Grimm to kill them; you just needed a bow, an arrow, and a desire to wipe every last one from the face of Remnant. Coincidentally, he had all three of those things.

He wondered what the world would have been like without them. Would Atlas have conquered the stars? Overcome that no Dust works in space rule? Would people have even learned how to harness the light of their souls? Would they have ever needed to develop the martial skills and machine weapons needed to fight the Grimm off? Would their absence actually set humanity back—because if nothing else, the constant threat of death was a good motivation to grow and quickly. More personal to him, he'd have never met Sage or Midori—which was a thought he flinched back from, considering how much they'd done for him in the aftermath of his mother's death, not meeting them was something he couldn't even imagine.

It had been a big step to leave Midori behind in Mistral. The fact that Sage had come with him had left a veil of guilt in the back of his mind—like he'd taken her dad away from her, even if she, as a grown woman, had never been anything but supportive about the choice. That was one of the points that had put Haven above the other schools as well because he'd be able to go down into the city after class and see her. The fact that Sage would have to stay here in Argus was the icing on the cake, trapped as he was by his job at Sanctum and unable to further inflict the terrors of the P.A System upon him.

"Heh," Lima murmured. "Old bastard."

No more getting his ass kicked every day by the smug asshole—and no more random Huntsman and Huntresses lining up to try their foot at kicking the ass of 'Sage's Protégé.' He'd finally be free to slack off a bit, and then the moment he got his Huntsman License—no more staying inside the walls of Argus, no more sneaking off in the middle of the night to kill sh*tty Beowolves that got too close. He could head off to Oniyuri and hunt down every single Grimm that dared remain within a week's travel of the dismal place that still haunted his nightmares. Then once he'd wipedthatstain from his soul, there was an entire world filled to the brim with the monsters of Grimm—and as much as he'd encourage them to do it, they certainly weren't going to kill themselves.

"f*cking Grimm," Lima mumbled.

#

Sanctum Combat School, Argus, Anima.

"Stop," Lima said, staring at him. "Say what you just said again."

"Something wrong with your hearing, boy?" Sage said, "I applied as the first-year instructor at Haven Academy—that's why I called you in, thought I'd share the good news."

Everybody in the god damned school knew where he was right now because Sage had called him in using the school's P.A system—something that had happened far too many times in the past. Needless to say, the man was the biggest bastard that had ever roamed the face of the planet. Lima took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose in an attempt to realign himself with the crushing weight of the reality that had just been revealed to him.

"You are going to be the first-year combat instructor at Haven Academy," Lima repeated, "As in, Haven Academy, located in Mistral, on the continent of Anima."

"You got it," Sage said, preening. "What a shame that you already applied because now I'll be able to meet all your little friends and tell them about all the embarrassing stories I've been saving up."

Lima very carefully kept his face blank as he considered the piece of incredible fortune that had just fallen into his lap. He'd been inadvisably lazy and put off applying for an academy because he still had a few days to actually handle it, but Sage had been nagging him about it since Friday, so he'd just lied and told the man he'dalreadyapplied to Haven, just to get him off his back—destiny was calling, and it was saying 'we are getting the f*ck out of Anima.'

"Midori will be there as well, so I can start nagging her into finally making me some grandchildren before I'm dead and buried," Sage said, clapping his hands together in a way that was far too congratulatory. "I can't wait—and I can see that you'rejustas happy about it as I am."

Motherf*cker.

"I hate you with every fibre of my being," Lima managed, "How long were you planning this?"

"More than a month." Sage barked out a laugh, "I wasn't sure I'd get the job, but apparently, they lost a staff member during a routine mission a while back, poor bastard."

Lima stared at him for a long moment, the knowledge that an honoured warrior of humanity had been felled by the Grimm dowsing most of his internal glee at having pulled one over on the man.

"The Grimm got a combat instructor?" Lima said, frowning. "Damn—any idea how that happened?"

"Lionheart—the headmaster at Haven—told me he's been trying to get a straight answer on that since it happened," Sage said, linking his hands together for a moment. "I'm just as curious as to what went down, but it seems like there's nobody who really knows."

"Yeah," Lima said, shaking his head. "Listen—I'll be getting you back for this, you old bastard, mark my words."

"You'll try, you little sh*t." Sage said, "I hear they've got a great P.A System at Haven Academy—I'm going to give it a real workout."

Lima turned on his heel and strode out of the man's office, listening to the laughter echoing behind him. He needed a plan, and he needed one now; there was no way in hecking balls he was going to Haven if the old bastard was teaching there; he'd been through years of the man's nonsense here at Sanctum already. As much as he wanted to see Midori, he wanted to have a social life and one where Sage wasn't burying it head first in the cement at every opportunity. What did he need to do? He needed to apply for one of the other three schools, obviously, which he was going to go home and do immediately.

It didn't matter which one; ice, sand, or whatever the hell Vale had—he'd heard something about a red sap once; maybe that applied? Either way, any of it was better than four years of Sage being his teacher again. There was very little chance he wouldn't be accepted—it may have sounded arrogant, but he was easily the best fighter in his class—probably afewof the classes if he'd ever bothered to interact with any of them. His non-practical marks wouldn't have mattered either way, but he was sitting pretty in the top five easily for bookwork, and he'd passed all of the exams with good marks, so he was an ideal candidate for becoming a Huntsman.

He strode straight out of Sanctum's front gates. Screw sitting through a bunch of half-assed classes; the school year had mostly ended by now, and all that was left was waiting and revising. A streetcar was drifting on by, and he quickly realised what his biggest issue would be. Transport. All three of the other Academies were on different continents, so he would need to buy passage; money wasn't an issue for him; Sage was pretty well off and tended to throw money at him whenever he asked, so Lima had managed to put a lot of it away for the future—after a childhood of watching his mother desperately try and pull together enough money for them to live on, and the misfortune that had seemed to follow them when it became clear that it was never really enough, he had something of a leaning towards being frugal.

Each of the Academies opened its gates in April, less than a month away now. He would need to buy the tickets quickly because they would be neither cheap nor bountiful. The Sanctum graduates that ended up choosing Atlas Academy would be taking airships to get there. Shade Academy would mean a trip to Atlas as well, and then either a boat or another airship to Vacuo. Beacon would be a series of trains, one of which crossed the ocean between Anima and Sanus. Airships were more expensive, and boat tripscouldbe really, really f*cking long, depending on the destination. f*ck Vacuo because the heat was probably awful anyway, which left it as Atlas or Beacon.

Intercontinental travel was always expensive, at least from what he'd heard, although it was supposedly much cheaper when you were a Licensed Hunter. A perk of the job, seeing as you fought to protect everyone else, they rewarded you with a little discount—hard to kill any monsters if you couldn't afford the trip to where they were lurking. There was a subsidy for students, but he would need to fill out some paperwork for that, and he would probably need a signature from his guardian. It baffled him that he could sign up to fight monsters without a guardian's consent, but if he wanted a discount on transport, suddenly, the rules were ironclad. Obviously, the Academies needed a constant influx of new Hunters, given that a lot of them died on the job, so it made sense to ease the way, but still.

He was in a unique position where he couldn't let on to Sage about his impending vanishing act, so he would have to absorb the full cost without the subsidy to his bank account. How much would an Airship to Atlas cost? He would need to go check the airship terminal, he wasn't sure, but he vaguely remembered it being brought up in class once. They'd talked about that subsidy a few weeks ago; what had Professor Dart said? Argus to Atlas was two thousand Lien? Before the subsidy, with it coming down to only a thousand with it. Two thousand was nothing to sneeze at, but he could still just afford it.

Beacon would need three trains, Argus to Mistral, say three hundred Lien? Mistral to Port Line, that was the big one, probably five hundred at least. Then Port Line to Vale would be three hundred, maybe. An estimate of eleven hundred for Vale or two thousand for Atlas. He could tank either of them, but it would be painful either way. He would need to go confirm the prices just to make sure, but was there anything else he had missed? He'd have to look up a bunch of articles about the different academies and see if he couldn't get some idea of what the on-campus living was actually like, and if there were any big differences between them.

Atlas was supposed to be far more regimented and strict about conduct; he'd heard that much. The other schools were less known to him, but he could probably find some kind of online testimonies about them. Academy life was supposed to be about livingoncampus, which meant no rent or food costs. He would need to pay for equipment, but his spikes were built to be sturdy and recoverable by design, so he wouldn't be replacing them very often.

"f*cking Sage," Lima sighed.

#

Sage 's Home, Argus, Anima.

Lima stared at the man across the kitchen table, wondering if he somehow knew. He'd been growing more paranoid every day, and the man had said some things that may have indicated that he was secretly aware of his plan all along. Was Sage waiting until the last minute before pulling the rug out from under him? Had he somehow enrolled him into Haven already?Did he know?

"Stop glaring at me, you little sh*t," Sage said, "I haven't even done anything to deserve it, at least not today anyway."

Lima went over the man's words with a fine-tooth comb; was it some hidden reference to having already foiled his master plan? No, hecouldn'tknow. He didn't have access to any of the acceptance letters because they had only arrived half an hour ago. Sage didn't have access to Haven's systems yet to check his enrolment either—he would need to be on campus for that.

"Bastard," Lima muttered before shaking his head. "Have you spoken to Midori yet?"

"Last night, actually," Sage said as he scratched at the rough white stubble that covered his chin, "She sounded pretty happy that we were coming back; she said shemissesyou even—no idea why."

There was a pang of discomfort at the thought of disappointing her, and missing out on being able to see her every day—but he'd made his choice, and it was far too late to turn back now.

"Motherf*cker," Lima responded automatically, "It's because I'm the greatest sibling anyone could ever ask for, obviously."

"Midori is far too kind a soul to put up with your crap," Sage said, "You better behave yourself."

Lima stared at the man as if he'd just turned into a King Taijitu.

"Mycrap?" Lima cried, "You're the one who needs to calm their tit*—Midori was probably happy to get a break fromyoursh*t these last couple of years."

He'd been off on both prices; the Airship to Argus was actually only eighteen hundred, while the three trains would cost a total of just under thirteen hundred—still if the cost of his freedom was thirteen hundred Lien, then he'd gladly pay it. He'd managed to read through a bunch of forum posts about the different social environments at each academy—and of note was one particulararticlethat had sent Beacon Academy rocketing up to the top of his list. Atlas Academy had been moved down to second place after that, while Shade Academy was a very distant third—unfortunately, Haven Academy hadn't even made the list. This was the only way he was getting out of four years of embarrassment and social destruction—he just needed to keep the façade up, and he would be home free.

"I'd never do anything to make my dear Midori sad," Sage said, with a smile, "You, on the other hand,needto be supervised—too dumb for your own good, really."

"f*ck you," Lima said in disbelief.

"That reminds me," Sage said, snapping his fingers together. "You hear anything from theInvincible Girl? Because there's apparently some confusion about which academy she's headed to—Lionheart asked me about her."

Lima blinked at the question.

"Hell, if I know, I think I've spoken to her all ofoncesince we first came here," Lima said, squinting for a moment. "Professor Dart made us do this stupid questionnaire once, and I was supposed to get her to sign a sheet or something? I can't remember if weactuallysaid anything; I might have just waved it in her face—"

"Riveting," Sage said, rolling his eyes. "If you hear anything about it, pass it along, would you?"

"Bastard," Lima grunted. "If I do see her, I'll make sure to tell her how nice the sand is in Vacuo."

#

Outer Wall, Argus, Anima.

Tomorrow was the day, well, tomorrow was thenightanyway; at 9:00 PM exactly according to his scroll and the listed timetables for theArgus Limited. It was a four-day journey from Argus to Mistral, with a brief stopover at Wind Path along the way. That meant he should be arriving in Mistral on Wednesday, sometime in the afternoon. He would only have a couple of hours to visit Midori before his next train, but he would have to make do—there was a piercing cry of what could only be a Nevermore from directly southeast, and Lima turned his head to try and locate it amidst the dark. The personnel manning the wall were already on it, however, and he could see the hundreds of dust rounds flicking out into the darkness seconds before a massive spotlight caught the creature just as it was disintegrating.

"Idiot," Lima said, "Imagine attacking the wall head-on."

It wasn't exactly uncommon for flying Grimm to approach the walls, and it was almost always the smaller, younger ones that hadn't learned to avoid the mounted weapon placements. Lima sat back on his hands and stared out into the darkness, but no more Grimm tried their luck. Most of his paranoia had faded as the deadline approached, and Sage took no discernible actions to indicate that he had discovered his nefarious plot. Lima was pretty sure he was in the clear now, which meant that he would have to go through with it all. He wasn't sure he expected it to work out, but the idea of heading off on his own sounded exciting.

It had been four years since Sage had taken him from Mistral to Argus to attend Sanctum. It was almost six years beforethatwhen he had first met him. Sage had dragged him up from the remnants of the worst day of his life. He'd given Lima a loving home—and between him and Midori—they'd even managed to pull him most of the way free of the aimless, directionless hate he'd sunk into since his mother's death. Sage had trained him, fed him, clothed him, and had provided everything else in between. Lima wouldforeverbe thankful for everything Sage had done for him, and if the man ever called on him for anything, he'd have done it in a heartbeat—but the CCT existed for a reason, and Lima felt that he could be thankful from halfway across the planet because goddamnwas the man a complete bastard.

Lima turned around and looked out over the city skyline—as one of the largest non-capital cities in the world, Argus was a massive place. Home to something close to twelve million Humans and Faunus, all packed into two thousand square kilometres and hemmed in by defences on all sides—there was even an Atlesian military outpost just out of the city, sitting pretty in the shallows. Yet, from what he'd seen of the pictures, Vale made this place look like a hovel in comparison. Argus was barely under the cutoff for a 'megacity' classification, but Vale absolutely shattered it.

It was home to almost a hundred million people and sprawled over a great deal of the west coast of Sanus. The pictures he'd seen of Beacon Academy and Vale were interesting, and far different from what he'd come to expect of Anima's own architecture. It wasn't even the most populated city in the world either, as that honour went to the combination of Mantle and Atlas. Part of the reason why Argus was even as large as it was, could be placed at the foot of having access to so much trade with Mantle—another shrill cry rent the silence.

"Moving again, huh?" Lima murmured, watching as another Nevermore was torn apart in the crossfire. "I'm going to miss this."

#

Central Train Station, Argus, Anima.

Lima waited impatiently in the queue for the last guy to finish flirting and move the hell out of the way. The woman behind the counter looked strained, and once the loverboy finally flounced away, he stepped up to take his place.

"Hey, missy—that uniform looks great on you and all, but it would look much better off," Lima said, deepening his voice as much as he could. "Wanna hit the bars later?"

The woman gave a startled laugh at his terrible impression of the man whose best efforts to get her number had just been vanquished by her polite but rushed attempt to get him to move on.

"I thought he would never stop trying." She said, "Pleasetell me you have a ticket?"

Lima tugged it out of his pocket with two fingers before handing it over.

"My trains going to leave soon, so I was about to take drastic measures," Lima admitted, "Guy must have had a sixth sense—he avoided getting kicked up the ass bythismuch."

"As nice as that would have been to see, it would have dragged the situation out even further," The woman said, shaking her head with a smile, "It doesn't leave until five past nine, so you still have a few minutes—I wouldn't dawdle for too long."

Lima took the ticket back as she finished inspecting it.

"You sure you don't want me to hang around for a bit of a flirt?" Lima said, but the woman just shooed him on with clear amusem*nt. "We could have been great together—"

Lima took her advice and boarded theArgus Limitedwithout delay; there was no way his master plan was going to fall apart because he dicked about on the platform for too long. The train was wide, and the ceiling was at least two stories high; It also had enough cars that they vanished into the tunnel far beyond sight. A member of the train staff pointed him in the direction of his assigned sleeping quarters. When he reached the right car, there was a single thin corridor that ran the length of it, with rooms taking up the right-hand side. Each room had two bunk beds, and he tossed his bags on the top one.

There were private rooms, but they had cost almost twice the amount; they also had all been booked already. There were public cars all down the train as well, so if he wanted to get away from whoever he was boarding with, he would have plenty of options. Lima climbed up onto the top bunk and grinned to himself; he'd done it. Sanctum was closed for the next week or so, and Sage thought he was staying at a friend's house for the night and wouldn't expect him back until Monday afternoon for hand-to-hand practice. By the time he found the note he'd left the man under his pillow, he would be halfway to Mistral.

"I am the smartest man who ever lived." Lima breathed out in happiness, "Fear my brain, for it is mighty."

"Hey, mighty brain," A familiar voice said, "What are you doing here?"

Lima blinked and rolled over to study the girl who had just chucked her things on the bed beneath him.

"Cherrie?" Lima asked, "I thought you were going to Haven?"

"I am," Cherrie said before popping back up to her feet and meeting his eyes. "Thisisthe train to Mistral, you know?"

"I know it is," Lima rolled his eyes, "It takes like three days to get to Mistral; why are you leaving so early?"

"Oh." Cherrie smiled, "I'm going to stay with my older sister—she lives there; we planned out an entire week of things to do."

"Huh—common ground acquired," Lima said, "I've got a sister who lives there as well."

"Really?" Cherrie asked just as the train started to move. "Why areyouleaving so early—are you going shopping for dresses too?"

"It's on my list of things to do," Lima said, "I'm actually going to Beacon Academy—this is the first of many trains in my immediate future."

"You're not going to Haven?" Cherrie said, startled. "Why not?"

"They declined my application," Lima said, waving a hand in a 'what can you do' kind of way. "Apparently, I'm just too weak."

"You'relyingagain," Cherrie said, scrunching her face up. "You were the strongest person in our class."

"I failed all the written tests—twice?" Lima tried. "Apparently, it was the strength of my pencil that was lacking."

"The tests were electronic, so pencil strength had nothing to do with it," Cherrie said, pointing her finger at him in a warning. "Tell me therealreason."

"Sage got the job as the first-year combat instructor at Haven, so I applied for Beacon instead," Lima admitted, "I'm literallyfleeingthe country in an attempt to find a girlfriend—you're not taking applications, are you?"

"Wow, I thought for sure you'd be coming to Haven," Cherrie said before blinking. "How could I be your girlfriend if you'releavingthe country?"

"You're right, of course," Lima said, realising the issue. "I guess we'll have to settle for a brief but memorable fling?"

"Denied," Cherrie said.

"Disappointing," Lima said. "But understandable."

#

Argus Limited, Railway, Anima.

"That's what you get, you old bastard." Lima said with glee, "I told you I'd get you back—have fun teaching at Haven Academy forfouryears, Idiot."

"You little sh*t," Sage said, the sound crackling as the signal strength lessened. "I wasn't expecting it either, damn."

Lima laughed.

"It was hard keeping a straight face every time you told me about all the sh*t you were going to do," Lima admitted, "I almost cracked yesterday when you—"

"That's why you were smirking at breakfast," Sage said in sudden understanding. "I was checking everything in my office in case you'd done something."

"Yep," Lima said, "You're not anywhere near as mad as I thought you'd be—it kind of takes some of the fun out of it, you know?"

"Good, you don't deserve any credit," Sage said, "You better spend your time well, Lima; I didn't spend all these years teaching you just so you could die to some f*cking Beowolf—which one did you pick anyway?"

Cherrie stepped into the sleeping quarters, mouth open before she paused as she caught sight of the Scroll in his hand—he waved at her in greeting but kept his eyes on the screen.

"I applied for Beacon," Lima said, "I didn't want to go to a desert or freeze my ass off up in Atlas."

"Atlas isn't that bad—they've got a heating system setup even better than the one here in Argus," Sage reminded him, "I wouldn't have chosen Shade Academy either, though, f*ck all that sand."

Lima was in complete agreement.

"Any tips for the young hero setting out on his quest to woo the prettiest maidens in all the land?" Lima asked, waggling his eyebrows at Cherrie. "Before you suggest it, 'wear a condom' doesn't count."

Cherrie narrowed her eyes at him.

"You'll probably need to wear two of them if you ever manage to get a girl into the sack, you sensitive prick," Sage said with another crackling laugh. "Good luck—"

Lima's mouth fell open at the sudden critical hit.

"f*ck you." Lima cried out in an attempt to use sheer volume to reconnect the call. "Idiot.Bastard."

The Scroll beeped, and he stared down at it in disbelief as the line dropped off completely.

"Wow, that was a thing I just witnessed." Cherrie said, giggling, "He really gets under your skin, doesn't he?"

She didn't know thehalfof it.

#

Midori 's Home, Mistral, Anima.

"Hedidn't," Midori stifling a laugh with her hand. "Lima."

"Hedid, damn it," Lima complained before clearing his throat. "Hello, students of Sanctum Combat School; it has come to my attention that a student who goes by the name Lima Morta was seen crying over what could only be described as a third-degree boo-boo—if this poor sensitive soul is listening, please hang in there, champ."

Midori fell backward onto the couch, completely descending into giggles at his imitation of the old bastard and the horrors he'd inflicted upon him.

"It's not funny." Lima cried.

"It'ssuperfunny." Midori laughed.

"I had people coming up to me forweekssaying 'Hang in there, champ,'" Lima whined, "How did you even survive him raising you?"

Midori managed to recover after a brief struggle with another onset of giggles before she finally replied.

"He didn't do anything like that to me," Midori smiled, "Mum was still around back then, though, so it might have had something to do with it."

Lima just nodded; he'd never met Midori's mother; she had died long before he had even met Sage. They both spoke of her with great fondness, and he couldn't help but think he would have liked the woman had he met her.

"You better brace yourself for four years with him then," Lima said, huffing, "He was talking about bullying you into making him some grandkids before I left."

"Oh god," Midori laughed, "I have that to look forward to, do I? Maybe I'll come to Beacon with you—is thirty too old to become a Huntress?"

Lima grinned at the woman before glancing down at his scroll when it beeped; sh*t, he was running out of time.

"Trains leaving soon," Lima said, wincing. "It was good seeing you again, Midori; I'll try not to make you wait another four years this time."

Midori pulled him into a hug.

"You can always call me if you want to talk," Midori said, "Beacon has one of the transmit towers like Haven does, right?"

"Yeah," Lima nodded. "I'll make sure I keep in touch, be safe, okay?"

"I should be telling you that," Midori shook her head, "You're the one going off to fight monsters."

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Anima.

The landscape slipped away, framed by the window of the cabin, and he wondered at the mop of red hair he'd seen during the boarding at Mistral and again a few minutes ago when she'd passed by his cabin—it hadn't been Cherrie because she'd reached her destination already. Lima shifted a bit at the reminder of how much she'd cried—while they'd never been particularly close back at Sanctum, they'd been friendly enough. Apparently, the few short days spent in close proximity on the train together had been enough to build a connection between them—something that four years of being in the same class hadn't done.

Still, maybe he'd see her again whenever he came back to visit Sage and Midori in the future. He spotted the same flash of red a few hours later, and this time, he flagged her down before she could get too far away—it was the celebrity girl from Argus that Sage had been asking about. He couldn't for the life of him remember her actual name, and calling her by the lame title she had would mark him as some kind of fanboy, which he certainly was not. It wassomethingstarting with 'P', wasn't it?

"Hey, uh—" Lima tried. "Pepper."

Strike one, he assumed, considering the girl continued to stare at him expectantly—her hair was bright red, so it had to be something related to that,right?

"Sorry, I misspoke," Lima said, clearing his throat. "Hey, Pomegranate."

"Pomegranate?" The girl said, startled. "Are you talking tome?"

Oh, her eyes weregreen, like his, but hers were way darker—it wasobviousin hindsight.

"Sorry, I misspoke twice," Lima said without shame. "Hey Pawpaw, how's it hanging? Shouldn't you have been headed towards Haven Academy—it's kind of back that way."

Pawpaw looked entirely bemused at the question.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos—not Pepper, Pomegranate or Pawpaw," Pyrrha said, "I'm doing well, though, thank you; I applied for and was accepted by Beacon Academy, which I must assume you have done so as well Lima Morta."

Lima winced as she nailed his name on the first try—how the heck did she even know it?

"What the hell is aPyrrha? How was I supposed to guess that one?" Lima said, entirely indignant. "How doyouknow my name because we have never spoken before,ever—explain yourself this instant, Pawpaw."

"It was written on the top of the questionnaire you had me fill out in our first year at Sanctum," Pyrrha said, "Although I've heard it many times over the P.A system as well—did you ever get that third-degree boo-boo dealt with?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you reach Beacon Academy alive, Pawpaw," Lima said, staring at her in horror. "You know too much."

Pyrrha laughed.

"Do not worry; I will keep your terrible secret hidden, Lima," Pyrrha promised, smiling now. "Why did you choose Beacon?"

"Sage," Lima said, sighing at the question. "He was moving to Mistral to be the first-year combat instructor at Haven—I decided to escape while I could."

"I had assumed you were related, given everything," Pyrrha said, amused. "I always enjoyed his classes—I'm sorry to ask, but is he your father or grandfather? It wasn't ever very clear."

"We're not actually related; he just took me in when I was little, so he's my guardian," Lima said, rubbing his neck for a moment. "His classes are pretty tame compared to sparring with him at home—honestly, he's kicked my ass so many times by now that whenever I get a cold, I sneeze shoelaces."

Pyrrha shook her head at the terrible joke.

"We were never in the same class, were we?" Pyrrha said, eyeing him in consideration, "I can't recall seeing you participate in any of the voluntary combat simulations either."

"I do more than enough fighting at home to ever bother with signing up for the extracurricular stuff," Lima said, "Pawpaw, you were into all that tournament stuff back in Mistral, weren't you? Why areyoujumping continents?"

"I wanted to—take a step back from all the fame." Pyrrha said, a bit hesitant with her answer, "I thought that maybe I could find that by going somewhere else, where not everybody knows me on sight."

"Both of us are running away, huh? Well, go forth and enjoy your relative anonymity, Pawpaw." Lima said before tossing her a wave. "I'm in this cabin, so if you get bored, come find me, and we can hang out."

"I will," Pyrrha said, smiling. "It was nice speaking with you, Lima."

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

"Iheardthem talking about it," Malt whispered.

Lima cracked his eye open, glancing across at the opposite bunk to the guy who was speaking.

"That's impossible, right—we're moving so quickly; how can they even figure out where to go?" Salve said from the bottom bunk. "How many is a 'flock' exactly? Are we talking abouttwoof them?"

"Has anyoneevercalledtwoa flock before?" Malt said, frowning. "It's gotta be at least half a dozen, probably more—they did sound pretty worried about it."

"Did they say where they were?" Salve said, voice tight, "If it was a report from Vale, it has to be on the east coast somewhere. Right?"

"He said they were South of Port Line," Malt said, frowning, "So it would be the north-east part of Sanus andexactlywhere we are headed—keep your voice down, we don't want to scare anybody."

A flock ofsomethingoff the east coast of Sanus, and possibly crossing into the path of the train—it could be Nevermore, Giant Nevermore, Griffon, Lancers, or any number of flying Grimm. Aflockof Nevermore was usually anywhere from twenty to forty; eight to twenty for the Giant variety. Griffon was about the same, from ten to twenty—although flocks of that size were pretty rare unless something was actively drawing them in towards it.

Either way, there was no reason to worry; the trains all came with automated defences, and there was also a pair of Hunters on board for exactly this kind of reason; he'd seen them in the corridor yesterday—Jessie and Wedge—or so they'd introduced themselves as. Even if the Grimm did make a move, he had his equipment in his bag and on hand, so he could be ready to fight in less than a minute—but he doubted it would come to that. Sanus was abigplace, and 'south of Port Line' could mean literallyanywhereon the east coast.

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

By the time the glass from the window settled on the floor of his cabin, Lima was already dragging his bag out of the luggage compartment. The train shuddered again as a series of impacts rang out along the roof, and the tip of what looked like a bone spear stuck out from the ceiling above him. Salve had thrown himself under the bottom bunk, screaming his head off and generally being a primary contributor to the already existing chaos. Lima dragged his cloak on, the green material whipping around in the wind and making it a pain to manage. He hooked his black box quiver of expandable spikes onto the back of his belt and withdrew the solid black bar of his compacted bow. Lima stepped out of the shattered window without waiting, falling for a brief moment before his foot hit the side of the train.

His Semblance crawled outwards on contact, spreading across the exterior shell, and he began walking across it. He cleared the window before moving up towards the roof of the train—Giant Nevermore, two on top of the train and three in the air, possibly more judging from the screeching coming from the other side. He stepped up onto the roof like he was walking up a set of stairs, the world orientating itself before him without issue. The black bar in his hand expanded in an instant, transforming into his bow, and he snatched up one of the black spikes from the box quiver, expanding it with a flick of his wrist before setting it into place. It wasn't an ideal place for him to fight because there was nothing to stop his arrows from continuing on out of his recovery range, just open ocean. Shooting downwards at an angle would allow him to use the roof of the train as a backstop, but he was supposed to be protecting it, not damaging it further.

Lima brought the bow around as one of the Grimm spotted him, the massive thing adjusting its path in response. He waited until it was almost on him and then touched his Semblance—the spike disappeared from his hand with a crack, smashing into the mask of the Nevermore, sending white shards and black feathers scattering around it. The Nevermore fell backwards, rolling into a mess along the roof of the train, and he engaged the gravity dust connection between his quiver and the ammunition he'd just fired—the spike wrenched itself free just before the thing fell out of sight, and he caught it out of the air on its return. Jessie, the Huntress onboard, sprinted across the roof of the train, the tails of her red bandanna fluttering about in the wind.

The Huntsman, Wedge, was right up the front of the train, firing off a barrage of bullets from some kind of light machine gun. One of the Giant Nevermore spread its wings in challenge before unleashing a hail of white-tipped feathers at the train. They landed in a staccato of clanks, each one sinking into the roof of the train as the force of it rent the metal apart. Lima resigned himself to losing a few spikes as he lifted his bow up, taking aim at the creature—the spike vanished from his bow, and the Giant Nevermore tumbled out of the air, trailing feathers. He watched it hit the ocean far below, already turning to smoke as it evaporated, and his spike sank into the ocean, far outside of his range to retrieve it.

Jessie clipped the wings of another with her scimitars, and it spun down towards the water, unable to stay aloft with only a single wing. A flash of red in the corner of his eye drew his gaze as Pyrrha climbed up the side of the train. Lima fired off the third spike, but his aim was slightly off as the creature—having just caught sight of her—attempted to swerve towards Pyrrha at the last moment. Instead of hitting it dead on, the spike tore off its right wing, dragging it into a violent spiral that left it bouncing off the side of the train and out of sight. The frustration at losing another spike was buried beneath the laughter bubbling up inside of him—there was nothing so soothing to the soul than watching humanity's greatest enemy fall.

"Lima," Pyrrha called, the wind working hard to steal away her voice. "Are you—"

Lima watched as she spun beneath the wing of a Giant Nevermore as it attempted to use its bulk to smash her flat against the roof of the train. Its talons caught on the metal and left a trail of sparks behind as it tore the exterior roof of the train to pieces. Pyrrha's sword extended suddenly, and the arc of her swing caught the creature across the beak as its momentum ran out. It reared back with a screech, a trench carved across its mask from the attack, and then Pyrrha leapt backwards as it attempted to snap her up in its beak. Lima started forwards, eyes to the side as another of the Grimm kept even with them, off to one side of the train, watching. Pyrrha landed two more attacks, blinding the Nevermore but not quite shattering the mask enough to dispel it.

Lima sped up as the second Nevermore cut inwards, aiming to attack her just as she went for the killing strike. He intercepted it a moment before it could hit her, the tip of his spike touching the creature's beak—the Giant Nevermore smashed itself flat against his Semblance as he reversed the direction of its movement but left the momentum intact. The already fading remnants of the creature were flung backwards off the train, and Pyrrha wrenched her weapon out of her own victim's mask. It reared back with a screech of agony, unable to see but still fighting on through the half a dozen wounds, the sheer scale of its mask the only thing keeping it going. Pyrrha shielded the blind creature's attempt to swipe at her with its talons, sliding back across the train and leaving him standing there by himself.

Lima lifted his spike up to point at the creature's mask, his bow dangling from his left hand, no longer in use. Pyrrha's weapon shifted, turning from a javelin into a rifle, and then a series of bullets smashed into the creature's mask, bridging the gaps between the earlier damage she'd made—the mask shattered, and the creature fell backwards, suddenly unable to contest the wind with its dead weight. Lima watched it tumble off the back of the train, the massive feathers it left behind scattering around it. Pyrrha straightened up from her crouch, her rifle shifting back into a sword, and Lima turned to look past her towards the front of the train. Jessie and Wedge were already in the process of killing the last of the Grimm. All things accounted for, he'd lost two spikes, and the cut of gravity dust in each of them was gone along with it—that was going to be annoying to replace.

"Lima," Pyrrha said, her mass of red hair whipping about in the wind, her ponytail having broken free of its binding during the fight. "Is that all of them?"

"Yeah," Lima said, smiling. "How awesome was that—uh oh."

Jessie and Wedge were moving towards them, and judging by the look on their faces, it was going to be one of those 'thanks, but you broke the rules' kind of talks. Pyrrha turned to follow his line of sight, spotted them, and Lima used the moment of inattention to make his getaway.

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

Salve and Malt were both gone from the cabin when he returned to his room, and he stuffed his cloak away into the bottom of his bag before doing his best to hide the rest of his gear in case the Hunters came looking for him. While he felt a little bit bad about ditching Pyrrha, he was pretty sure she wouldn't get in too much trouble—being theInvincible Girlhad to come with some perks. Unfortunately, while the windows had all sealed themselves over with the retractable metal shielding, the holes in the roof left by the evaporating feathers had remained. The constant rush of air passing by the hole left a whistling noise filling the cabin, not terribly loud, but more than enough that it wasjustimpossible to ignore.

"f*cking Grimm," Lima complained.

He picked his way past the glass on the floor and ascended the ladder to his top bunk before dropping back to lay there. Did the train have a janitor or something? He assumed they hadsomekind of cleaning staff, so they would probably get to his room eventually. Was he going to have to deal with sh*tty whistling for another two days? If he did, he might actually go insane and become a serial killer that prowled the trains of Remnant—he'd need a cool nickname, though. A voice spoke up from out in the corridor, several cabins down, but just loud enough to make out some of the words.

"The rail tra—" Pyrrha said before the rest was lost.

The voice drew closer, evidently checking in on the occupants of the rooms to make sure nobody was hurt. The bright red mane of Pyrrha Nikos appeared outside his room, and she stepped inside, glancing around at all the glass—her position only allowed her the chance to see his legs dangling off the side of the bunk.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the heroine of the hour," Lima said, pulling himself up into a seated position to loom over her. "You save any trains lately?"

"The two hunters said thank you for the help," Pyrrha said, scrunching her face up. "But any further actions from unlicensedcivilianswill have to be reported—I'm supposed to pass that on toanyone elsewho might need to know."

"You got out of it without a punishment, huh?" Lima wondered, "Is this the true power of the infamous Pawpaw of Mistral?"

Pyrrha looked a bit maligned by the terrible nickname before shaking her head.

"You would have likely gone unpunished as well," Pyrrha said before hesitating a bit. "Lima, when we were fighting up there—you weresmiling."

Lima cleared his throat at the words and then laid out a sick beat to set the tone—

"The Grimm brought a warrighttoourdoor, but they never knew whattheywere headed for; the girl with fame, she does deplore," Lima said, flicking his hands out at her. "It's the one the fansalladore, the four-score, Pawpaw, tearing through both beakandclaw—she's making sure, the onesIabhor, those giantfeatheredf*cks, are nevermore."

"Oh mygod," Pyrrha managed, looking more than a bit embarrassed. "Please stop."

Lima just laughed.

#

Mistral Limited, Port Line, Sanus.

The train crawled into Port Line, wounded and several hours late due to the speed having to be cut back on account of all the damage—solate, in fact, that Lima had less than twenty minutes to board the last train to Vale. Most of the people who'd been on theMistral Limitedfollowed his example, moving straight on to theVale Limited, with perhaps twenty-odd ducks whose final destination was, in fact, Port Line itself.

The process of the changeover was far quicker than expected, with clear security checks being missed in order to get everyone moving. Between the late arrival and the fact that having a few hundred traumatised people stewing about in the station might end up drawing in evenmoreGrimm, it was probably for the best. Even so, theVale Limitedwasn't going to leave the station until fifteen past the hour, and once again, he spotted Pyrrha amongst those boarding, although this time, she was right at the front of the queue.

Once he'd finally made it to the front of the line, Lima boarded the train with a sigh—three trains in a row were a hell of a lot longer than a single airship to Atlas would have been. Despite the fun distraction of being able to fight off the Grimm attack, it was a relatively small part of the journey, and now he was going to be trapped inside this metal container foranotherfew days—how much could an airship possibly cost anyway? Maybe he should convince Sage to buy him one so he could come to visit without having to waste eight days of travel time. He could almost imagine it now, soaring through the air with a metal steed at his beck and call, crashing into every Grimm that so much as crossed into his line of sight—his mood lifted in response, and he set off down the train, looking for his cabin.

He hadn't seen Malt or Salve since they'd arrived at the station, but he doubted he'd have been given the same room as them a second time. He just hoped he wasn't going to be put in a cabin with one of the kids who had been crying in line for the last twenty minutes—scared or not, Lima had only just escaped the whistling noise, he didn't want to lose anymoresleep. Without a solid connection to the CCT network, he'd been forced to search his scroll for anything that might save him from the boredom—he'd even resorted to playingofflineScrollmonsters, of all things, which left him feeling a little bit ashamed, but typing out cusswords in the calculator app could only hold his attention for so long. Maybe he could hunt down Pyrrha again; if she had it installed, they might be able to dolocalbattle—

#

Vale Limited, Vale, Sanus.

Lima leaned against the window, his cheek smushed against the glass in order to get a good angle of the oncoming city of Vale. He shouldn't have bothered with the extra effort, though, because the moment they passed through the tunnel, the city spread out to the coast like a forest of steel and glass. It just kept on going as far as he could see, and then beyond even that, spilling out into the waterfront—he could even see Patch out past it all, sitting pretty in the ocean, a sprinkling of lights dotting its surface amidst the late afternoon sky.

Mistral was a big place, or so he'd thought, but actually,seeingVale in person—it was an absolute Goliath of a city, just without the tusks. The train angled back inwards, heading deeper into Vale, and during one of the more winding curves, he caught sight of an immense cliff in the distance. The face of the cliff had been built upon, from the base of it, where a shipping dock was placed, to the very top, where an Airship dock remained. Beacon was supposedly at the top of that cliff, but he couldn't see more than the tip of some massive structure on account of the low angle. A series of thin waterfalls drove straight off the edge of it, the endless streams of water passing down from the mountainous region beyond Beacon Academy and into the mass of water separating it from Vale.

"I am absolutely going base-jumping," Lima murmured, eyes glued to the cliff. "That ismassive."

He'd jumped off the wall in Argus a few dozen times, but it wasn't even a fifth of the size of that cliff—even Haven Academy, towering above Mistral Below, didn't have that kind of height. His view of it was swallowed entirely as the buildings rose up, growing taller the closer to the centre they became, to the point where even the raised train tracks couldn't contest them any longer. Lima moved to begin packing up his gear, recovering the stuff he'd strewn about on his side of the room before stuffing them into his bags—the P.A system rang out, and for a small, worrying moment he was sure he'd hear Sage's voice, announcing that it had all been a trick and that he'd actually been hired as the combat instructor forBeaconall along.

"We have arrived at Vale Central Station," The woman's said, "Before disembarking, please ensure you have all of your remaining luggage and personal belongings with you."

Lima gave the room another quick check-over before stepping out into the corridor—it took a bit of maneuvering to actually get his once tightly packed, but now much looser and, as a result, unwieldy bags through the door of his cabin. The train came to a complete stop a moment after he'd finally managed it, and the corridor began to fill with the rest of the passengers, blocking his way forward. He grunted as he fought through the crowd towards the closest doors and then out onto the platform when they finally opened. Lima was left adrift for a moment, not really sure where anything was, considering the entirely unfamiliar city—the Airship up to Beacon wasn't supposed to be running until tomorrow. It would run every hour, on the hour, but he wanted to get up there as soon as possible in case there were things he was supposed to deal with anything else before the exam—a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Lima," Pyrrha said, "This place—it's so big."

"Did you see the cliff?" Lima said as he turned, "It makes the Argus wall look like a wuss."

Pyrrha's bags were far more carefully packed than his own—and he regretted not doing a better job of his now that he was left to deal with it.

"I did," Pyrrha said, laughing. "Do you have someone coming to meet you?"

"Not a chance," Lima admitted, "I've got a room at some hotel; I just need to figure out where it is—what about you?"

"I'm in the same situation," Pyrrha said, "Although IthinkI know where it is from here."

"Well, don't let me keep you," Lima said, dropping one of his bags to free up his hand and then offering her a fist bump. "I'mprobablygoing to be on the Airship tomorrow at 9:00 am like the pamphlet told us, but if I don't see you then, I'll see you up at Beacon."

Pyrrha glanced down at his hand for a moment, bemused, before she obliged him—bumping her fist against his own.

"I will be there," Pyrrha said, smiling. "Good luck finding your hotel."

"I don't need luck, Pawpaw," Lima said, "I needdirections."

#

North Star Nights, Vale, Sanus.

In the end, he'd found the hotel with the help of a friendly woman who'd been waiting for someone at the station, and after that, he'd set right back out in an attempt to get lost amongst the mess that was Vale. He'd found out pretty quickly that there were probably more people walking around the streets at night than the entire population of Argus—which wasn't exactly a small feat by any measure. The people themselves seemed a little less concerned with one another as well, although he wondered if that was a cultural thing or simply because they were surrounded by so many strangers that it was just about impossible for an individual to hold enough warmth for everyone that met their eyes.

As it was, he spent most of the night just mingling with the masses, checking out the new and interesting storefronts, and making eyes at all the pretty girls that he'd probably never have a chance with—not the worst way to spend a night. He made it back to the hotel around midnight, riding the elevator up to his room, not feeling the slightest bit tired—probably because he'd spent the better part of the last eight days napping in an attempt to make the time pass by quicker. The room even had adouble bed, which was atleasttwice as awesome as the single bunk he'd been forced to endure during the trip over. Seriously, single beds could go straight to the wastelands for all he cared because so long as he could manage it, he was never sleeping in one again. It had probably been something of a space-saving measure for the trains, but still, coming from his own queen-sized bed to a single had been outrighttraumatizing.

He'd stayed out later than he had intended, but this place was f*cking gigantic, to put it bluntly. Lima folded his hands beneath his head and turned his mind to everything he'd seen of Vale—the nightlife was far more vibrant here. Nightclubs with their queues of sleek-dressed occupants spilling out onto the street, theatres with the more wisened demographics tittering at the youngsters passing by. There were brightly lit malls on almost every block, filled with shops of a million types, and twice fold that number of Humans and Faunus browsing through it all—four hours hadn't been nearly enough time for him to see even a sliver of the interesting things he was sure were hidden amongst the mess. Lima was certain he'd be sneaking off down here whenever he could find the time away from classes.

"Provided nothing more interesting is happening upthere," Lima murmured to himself, "Maybe I'll forget all about this when I get to Beacon."

Lima let out a jaw-cracking yawn as the events of his exploration finally caught up to him and turned his mind towards preparation for tomorrow. He was pretty sure he was ready for everything—his bags were all marked with his name and would be collected at the Airship terminal by some member of staff. If he passed the entrance exam, they would find their way up to whatever room they assigned to him, and if he failed, they'd be waiting for him to pick up at the terminal. The enrolment package that they'd sent to his scroll had been shy on the details of the exam, but there had been a hell of a lot of waivers for him to sign off on. He wouldn't be covered by the official stuff until he'd actually passed, so that told him the exam was probably going to be dangerous. Danger meant they'd be participating in combat—andcombatbrought with it a high chance of engaging withGrimm, something he was more than happy to throw himself into.

It was a small reflection of what Sage had told him about how the Huntsman and Huntresses of the kingdom's functioned—each mission you took brought with it the chance of grievous injury and, far more likely, death. Actually, attaining your Hunter's License would come with just as many waivers and a sombre acknowledgement that you might not come back fromanyof the missions. Training to kill humanity's oldest enemy would be no different because you couldn't learn to fight the Grimm without putting yourself against them and cutting them down.

The message contained within those waivers was crystal clear—youcouldbe killed while training or out in the field; in fact, it was a distinct possibility, and if you hadanyqualms about it, you weren't really the person for the job. Well, the wording had been abitmore subtle than that, but still, the end result was that you signed the papers, and they weren't liable for anything that happened to you outside of the scope listed within. It might have seemed a bit lopsided at first, but all of the instructors had to sign the exact same waivers, and they were all combat veterans, so they'd dealt with those same conditions sincetheyhad graduated. Lima didn't have any real compunctions about signing away his safety like that because if he did fall against the Grimm, then he'd be far too busy fighting the creatures in whatever hell actually existed to deal with any legalities up here.

"What are they going to have us do?" Lima wondered, closing his eyes. "It can't be more written tests—the waivers wouldn't make sense."

They'd already hadweeksto look over their applications, and he'd already sent on all of the transcripts already—more written tests wouldn't show them anything new. All that would be left was to see if they could actually keep up, so it wouldhaveto be a test of their physical capabilities. Would they put them in a room with a captured Grimm, maybe? That could be fun. There might not be any Grimm involved, though; maybe they would have to fight each other? Huntsman and Huntresses fighting one another was the premier way of testing their skills. Fighting one of the instructors would probably be a better method of discerning their individual skill levels, though, because they could at least account for the skill gap—it would be hard to know how well-matched each student was before seeing them actually fight. Hell, it could be a series of tests that included all of those things, he had no real way of knowing, and there was nothing to be found about it when he'd searched through his scroll—whatever it ended up being, Lima hoped it was exciting.

#

Central Airship Terminal, Vale, Sanus.

The Airship Terminal was far easier to find than the hotel had been, although, with dozens of Airships coming and going from the building, it was pretty much impossible for him to miss it. There were thousands of people in the building already, sitting on benches, waiting in queues, or speaking with the counter staff, and the only real reason they could fit was the sheer size of the interior. A dozen floors, with an open space in the middle, large half-domed sections carved out of every side of the building allowed all of the Airships in and out, the floors marked with individual landing pads. Lima had been let through right away, maybe because he was in full combat gear, his black box quiver noticeable enough as some kind of weapon to anyone that looked to peg him as a Huntsman—but the more reasonable assumption was that his name was written down on some database because the woman scanning their scrolls had known where to direct him before he'd even spoken a word about Beacon Academy.

Either way, he was about half an hour early, and the next scheduled Airship that was making the trip up to the Academy wasn't arriving until ten minutes before the hour. Still, rather than stand around waiting, he made his way to one of the many cafés built into the bottom floor. He lined up for the counter and scanned the room for anything interesting, spotting a small—and very mousy, on account of their very clear Faunus traits—uh, person? Lima couldn'tactuallytell if it was a boy or a girl. Large brown eyes and a small nose framed by a mess of beige hair and set into what was undeniably a face he would have called pretty. There was a thin sword leaning against his chair, settled inside a leather sheath with a strap that was currently hanging beside it, unbuckled. The androgynous being was cradling a mug that looked far too massive in their rather small hands. The Faunus looked up briefly and made eye contact with him before they straightened at the attention, looking visibly startled.

"What would you like today?" The barista asked.

The question knocked him back to alert, and he placed his order—considering he had plenty of time, he asked to dine in before setting off out of the queue. The Faunus looked up again at his approach, and Lima dropped down into the seat opposite with a smile.

"Beacon, right?" Lima guessed.

"Um—yes, I'm going to Beacon Academy," The Faunus said. "How did you know?"

The voice was soft but just enough for him to recognize that it was, in fact, a boy he was sitting across from.

"You're in the Airship terminal about half an hour before we're heading up," Lima said, nodding. "You are wearing combat gear, and you are also the same age as me—either you're the world's youngest Licensed Huntsman, or you applied for Beacon."

"Oh," The boy managed, "I suppose it was obvious, wasn't it?"

"Lima Morta," Lima said, sliding his hand across the table. "Mind if I sit with you until it's time to go?"

The boy rushed to place his mug down on the table in order to free up his hands and then reached out—god, his hands weretiny.

"It's nice to meet you, Lima; my name is Teak Fawn," Teak said, quickly shaking his hand as if he might snatch it away should he take too long. "You're more than welcome to sit here."

"Thanks," Lima said before sitting back up. "I was up half the night trying to figure out what this exam is supposed to be; you got any idea?"

"I was thinking about it too, but there's not enough information to pinpoint a specific task." Teak said, moving to pick up his mug again, "I think that it's something physical because we would need to sign more waivers if it was another written test."

"Yeah, I had the same thought," Lima said, humming. "They've got all our bookwork anyway; it's probably either fighting some kind of basic Grimm or a spar against an instructor."

"Would they really have us fighting Grimm before we are even enrolled?" Teak said, looking more than a bit nervous at the idea. "I don't think I can even pass something like that."

"You've gottenthisfar, man," Lima said without judgment, "You'll manage whatever it is they've got planned for us—have some faith in yourself."

"I—right," Teak managed, "I suppose."

Lima was picking up on some definite self-confidence issues, although he didn't know anywhere near enough about the guy to offer any kind of advice or even to know if it would be well received, so he pushed the conversation in a different direction.

"It's all good; we'll find out tomorrow, I suppose," Lima said, clicking his fingers together. "Alright then, what's your tragic backstory?"

"My what?" Teak said, blinking at the phrase. "I—don't think I have one?"

"Nonsense,everybodyhas a tragic backstory." Lima assured, "You just need to take something and put a little spin on it—here, I'll give you mine first."

Lima cleared his throat and then pushed his fringe upwards with his hand in an attempt to look like all the cool guys from the movies.

"Lima Morta was born in a city called Kuchinashi, but then—the Grimm happened," Lima said, feeling a small pang at his own words. "Lost and alone, he ended up in Mistral Below, where he met a monstrous being that wasshapedlike a human—my guardian, a man named Sage."

Lima glanced down at the other boy, his fringe still pushed high and half of his face shadowed by his hand.

"Ten long years the boy toiled under the iron rule, and before he knew it, he found himself in Argus, at a school called Sanctum—namedsolelyfor the sanctimonious and elitist nature of the pricks who run things in Anima," Lima said, breaking character for a moment toreallydrive that point home, "Lima applied for Beacon in an attempt to escape his fate, and now he'shere—life is suffering, and yet he does not die."

Teak was clearly impressed by the tragedy that was his existence, and Lima let his fringe flop back down.

"You're immortal?" Teak asked.

"Of course I am—it's where my good looks come from," Lima said, beaming. "Now, what'syourstory, Maple?"

Teak seemed bemused at being misnamed in such a confident way.

"Um, it's Teak, not Maple," Teak managed, "My tragic backstory would be; Teak was born in Vale, his father was a human, and his mother is a Faunus—but it's really just his mother now."

Lima nodded at the words, seeking to encourage him, but he was left with something of a question about whether or not his dad was actually dead or simply gone, like his own father.

"Teakdidn'tgo to a combat school, but he still managed to get a recommendation anyway because he got perfect marks on the NCS," Teak said, hesitating a bit. "He's not immortal at all, but heisreally worried about failing the entrance exam."

"A walking tragedy, for sure," Lima said, "I have two questions for you—what the hell is the NCS, and what the hell is the NCS?"

"That's onlyonequestion; you just said the same thing twice," Teak said, amused. "The NCS is an acronym for the Non-Combat School Test, which anyone can take before applying for an Academy—if you score above a certain percentage, you'll be shortlisted for an interview with the headmaster."

"I didn't know that was a thing," Lima said, blinking. "So you don't haveanykind of combat training?"

"None—well, that's not entirely true," Teak admitted, looking down at the table. "I've hadthreelessons with one of the instructors of Beacon to give me a basic understanding of what I should be doing, but I'm really not very good yet."

So he was coming into this almost entirely fresh and without the four years of training a combat school would have provided—that explained why he seemed so nervous about everything to come. Maybe it wasn't a self-confidence issue at all; instead, Teak might have been just working under an accurate assessment of his own skills in what would become a dangerous environment.

"You're kind of a badass, huh?" Lima said, impressed. "My written test scores were pretty good, but I doubt I would have been able to coast into Beacon Academy on those alone—just how big is your brain?"

Teak looked a bit flustered at the complimentary comparison between them and seemed to be struggling to lift his gaze back up.

"If you've never been to a combat school before—" Lima said, tilting his head. "Does that mean you're aura isn't unlocked?"

"The instructor unlocked it during our first lesson," Teak admitted, taking a moment to sip at his drink. "I'm still getting the hang of actually directing it—but it's not as hard as I thought it might be."

"You got it," Lima said in agreement, "If it was hard to use, humanity would have died before they ever figured out how to defend themselves—what about your Semblance?"

"I don't really know anything about it," Teak said, fiddling with his mug. "I've heard about them, but it's not really obvious—the instructor said I'd discover it in time."

"They were right; you'll figure it out eventually," Lima said, nodding. "So you're nervous about passing the entrance exam because you're not sure how to fight yet?"

"That's pretty much it," Teak murmured. "Lima—did it take you long to learn?"

Lima glanced up as the barista placed his coffee down on the table and then headed back towards the counter.

"Thanks—to learn how to fight?" Lima wondered, and when Teak nodded, he continued speaking. "Suppose that depends on what you consider fighting to be—I fought a lot as a kid; we were in a pretty rough neighbourhood, so I learned abitabout striking, blocking and evading then."

Teak looked far too interested in something that really wasn't much worth noting.

"If you're talking about more traditional fighting, then I'd say it took about a month or two of instruction to get the basics down, but probably around a year before I had a more rounded skillset," Lima admitted, sipping at his drink. "I was pretty motivated, so practising was all I really did—in your case, I'm certain you'll pick it up just as fast."

"Really?" Teak said, with far too much hope in his voice. "Do you think I can?"

"I'll tell you what," Lima said, giving him an upwards nod. "If we both pass the entrance exam, I'll give you an open invitation to come to find me, and I'll help you practice whenever you feel like it."

"Thankyou," Teak said with wide eyes. "That's—that is really, really kind of you."

"Don't worry about it," Lima said, "I'm going to need a regular sparring partner anyway since I left mine back in Argus—so I'm counting on you to pass, Willow."

Teak looked entirely overwhelmed by the words, but the continued misnaming seemed to keep him grounded.

"That's my mother's name," Teak said, alarmed. "You got it wrongagain."

"Sorry about that," Lima said with an awkward laugh. "I'll make sure to get your name right from now on—Mahogany."

"You'retotallydoing that on purpose," Teak accused, but he was smiling now. "You're going to run out of trees eventually."

#

Passenger Airship, Vale, Sanus.

Lima followed Teak onto the Airship, bracing against the incline of the ramp and glancing around with interest as the metal shell swallowed them whole. The interior was entirely unlike the other Airships he'd been in, and because it was a transport for moving large groups of people, there was far more space inside than the eight-seater he'd taken from Mistral to Argus way back when he'd first started at Sanctum. The windows were playing an advertisem*nt for a washing powder, projected straight onto the glass, and the speakers set into the base of it were quiet enough that he couldn't quite make out the words.

Far more interesting were the other occupants who were boarding alongside them, and his eyes darted around, the array of bright and unusual hair colours catching his attention. Lima's own black hair felt dull in comparison to some of them—a boy with a bright green mohawk and a girl with a massive mane of blonde hair stood out amongst them all. He spotted Pyrrha almost immediately; her vibrant red hair and her prodigious height left her towering over just about everyone. There was a final call from the P.A system ensuring that everyone on board was away from the ramp as it closed, and then the moment it had sealed itself shut, the Airship hummed to life.

"Well, we're locked in," Lima said, "No turning back now."

"Right," Teak said before swallowing. "Lima? Do you mind if I stay with you—it's just I don't really know anyone else."

"Did you think I was going to ditch you?" Lima said, bemused. "It's not like I know anyone else here either."

"Sorry," Teak said, "I remember that you said you came from Anima—how long have you been here?"

"In Vale? I only arrived yesterday afternoon," Lima said, "Eight days stuck on a train with no signal was torture—you didn't say where you were from, did you?"

"I'm from Vale; my mother owns a house down by the docks," Teak said. "We've lived there for most of my life, long enough that I can't really remember anywhere else."

"Yeah?" Lima wondered, coming to stand by one of the windows. "You must know the place pretty well."

He turned the news report off to clear the glass and eyed the inner walls of the terminal as they lifted off the ground. A moment later, they were in the open air, rising up as the massive sprawl of Vale fell away from them—Lima smiled at the sight.

"I guess I do," Teak said, smiling a bit. "It's been a while since I've seen the city from an Airship—it's pretty."

"You're not wrong; something about heights always gets me," Lima murmured. "I can't get enough of them, really."

The splash of vibrant red in his peripheral vision cut out as a pair of girls stepped past them to the next window up, talking quietly to themselves—one of them had an odd pattern of black on the side of her face, and when he glanced over, he saw that it was a blonde girl with a series of dark scales patterned across her temple. That made two Faunus amongst the applicants so far—he wondered how different Vale was from Mistral or Argus in that regard. The elitist pricks at Sanctum would have already been making their displeasure known if they'd had a Faunus in their group. The girl beside her was a fair bit shorter, with silver hair trailing down into a ponytail that hung between her shoulders—she seemed happy enough, her smile fixed well in place as she pointed something out to the taller blonde girl.

"Lima?" A familiar voice said from somewhere just behind him. "If you're here, then I suppose that means you found your map."

Lima turned, leaving Teak and Pyrrha to become the second and third points in the small triangle. Teak turned with him, already looking a bit nervous at being approached by a stranger—or perhaps it was the fact that she was at least two heads taller than him.

"Pawpaw," Lima said, "I like your flappy tail-skirt thing—you weren't wearing that on the train."

Pyrrha glanced down at the back of her hip to the piece of cloth in question, looking a bit surprised at the attention drawn to it.

"I didn't have time to put it on," Pyrrha said with a laugh. "But it's been part of my combat attire for a long time—you've never seen it before?"

"The only thing I remember you wearing is the Sanctum uniform," Lima admitted, "As far as I can tell, that was the only piece of clothing you've ever owned."

"I suppose we only ever saw each other in the halls," Pyrrha said, bemused. "You haven't seen any of my fights?"

"The tournament stuff?" Lima wondered, "Nope—Pawpaw, this is Teak, and from what I've heard, he's the strongest Faunus in Vale."

"Really?" Pyrrha said with interest. "It's nice to meet you, Teak; my name is Pyrrha Nikos."

"It's nice to meet you too, Pyrrha," Teak squeaked, "But please don't listen to him; I'mnotthe strongest at anything—I don't even knowhowto fight yet."

"Sorry, I meant thesmartestFaunus in Vale," Lima said, "He seeks a battle of wits, and should you choose to accept his challenge—"

"Lima," Teak tried, "I'm sorry about him—I'm really not seeking anything."

"Don't worry, Teak," Pyrrha said, laughing now. "I actually spent several days on a train with him—so I know exactly what he's like."

Lima raised an eyebrow at the glare Teak was now firing up at him and did his best to avoid smiling.

"You said you are unaccustomed to fighting," Pyrrha said, "Does that mean you applied through the NCS?"

"Yes, I did," Teak admitted, ducking his head. "I didn't think I wouldactuallybe selected, though—so this is all kind of, a lot, I guess."

"He left out the part where he got perfect marks on all the tests," Lima said, jerking his head down towards him. "Teak's going to help me cheat on all the exams in exchange for being his personal bodyguard."

"That's not true either." Teak protested, "He'slying."

Pyrrha's laughter was overtaken as each of the windows suddenly switched broadcast, a blonde woman appearing in each of them, her glasses high on her nose and her narrow eyes glinting in the light.

"Lima," Teak said, "That's the instructor who unlocked my Aura."

"Yeah?" Lima asked.

As far as instructors went, she was an absolute bombshell—maybe he should pretend he needed hisownaura unlocked.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon Academy; my name is Glynda Goodwitch." Glynda said, her voice smooth and unrushed, "You are among those who are privileged enough to have been selected to attend thisprestigiousacademy."

Lima turned more fully to face the window before Pyrrha took a step forward, putting herself between him and Teak.

"Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as you all hold the potential to become powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is yourdutyto uphold that peace," Glynda said, glancing around as if she could actually see them and that it wasn't just a prerecorded message. "Youhave all demonstrated the dedication, knowledge, and character needed for such a task, and now it isourturn to provide you with the training and skill to protect our world from those who would wish its destruction."

The projection winked out of existence without warning, the message apparently over, and then a tall blonde boy stumbled passed them, looking distinctly ill. He managed to make it to one of the bins barely two meters away from them, and then they were greeted with the sign of him throwing up his breakfast.

"Gross," Lima said, amused. "You alright, man?"

"I've been—hurk—" The boy heaved, "—better."

Lima pulled his string bag around and pulled the thread keeping it closed, snatching up a bottle of water he'd bought at the café earlier. He uncapped the lid and extended his arm, holding it up in front of his face—he took it after only a moment of hesitation.

"Thanks." The boy said, the sheer gratitude in his voice a bit sad, "How long will this flight take again?"

"Ten more minutes?" Lima guessed.

The boy just groaned.

#

Amphitheater, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The amphitheater was an interesting room and not one that Sanctum had really had an equivalent of. They had dojo's for sparring, but most of the combat happened outside, but this was pretty cool—anactualarena, with stands and all. There wasn't too much order to how the students filled in or in how they formed up beneath the stage, but it was high enough and well-lit enough that you could see it from just about anywhere in the room. Atop the stage stood two people; the first was the instructor that had made the announcement on the Airship, Glynda Goodwitch. The second was someone anyone would have recognized, considering just how famous the man was—the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. It was a bit hard to get a read on the man's age, given his stark white hair, but his face was smooth and without wrinkles, and his eyes were sharp as he surveyed them all.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin said, sweeping his gaze across the crowd, "You have all got your own motivations for coming here—for coming to Beacon. To hone your skills, to learn new ones, to find meaning in a purpose that is so integral to the functioning of our society, to dedicate your lives to protecting those who cannot save themselves."

The way the man spoke had an odd quality to it that he'd never really heard before—or perhaps it was the calm, unrushed pace he set as he spoke, delivering the words and hinting at a hidden weight behind them.

"While each of you has unique motivations for being here, I see two commonalities within you all." Ozpin said, "You are all filled with an abundance of wasted energy, and you are all in need of guidance—ofdirection."

The Faunus girl with the black scales on her temple mumbled something under her breath, and even though he was standing almost directly beside her, he couldn't quite make out what she had said over the general noise of the crowd.

"You assume that time or knowledge will free you of this curse, but I assure you all," Ozpin said, watching them with a sort of muted interest. "Your time here will prove that either of these things alone can only carry you so far—it is up toyouto take that first step."

Ozpin remained in place for a long moment, eyes passing over them, looking for something that Lima couldn't begin to guess at—and then he turned, stepping away from the podium without another word.

"Thank you," Glynda said, picking up where the man had left off. "You will all gather in the Ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation exam will begin, so gather your resolve. You are now free to explore the grounds, for those who choose to remain; I will be providing a tour. Consider yourselves dismissed."

Some of the more free-spirited students set off on their own, unwilling to be constrained by the barriers of a guided tour, but Lima stayed where he was, watching Ozpin as the man tapped his cane against the ground in a slow offbeat rhythm. Glynda moved to speak with the man as the students milled about, waiting for her to descend down to where they were waiting.

"Lima?" Teak asked, shifting around a bit. "Why'd you come all the way to Beacon?"

Pyrrha glanced over at him for a moment, something of a secret smile on her lips—she still knew far too much; he should have never allowed her to reach Beacon.

"Why? Don't you want me here?" Lima said, pushing his bottom lip out. "I thought we were friends, Teak—this betrayal, itstings."

Teak held his hands up, his entire body language decrying the words.

"It's not that," Teak tried, "It's just—Argus is so far away, so I was wondering why you chose Beacon when Haven was so much closer."

"My guardian is a total ass," Lima said, crossing his arms. "He's one of the combat instructors at Haven this year, so I decided to run away."

"Oh," Teak said, "Do you not get along with him?"

"They seemed to get along pretty well back at Sanctum," Pyrrha said, still smiling. "Isn't that right, Lima?"

How dare she evenhintat it—the absoluteballson this woman.

"Why'dyoucome here again, Pyrrha?" Lima said, squinting at her. "Too cool for dinky little Haven Academy?"

Pyrrha averted her eyes at the question before scratching at her cheek with a single finger.

#

Ballroom, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"I mean, if they've got beds waiting for us if we pass, they may as well let us sleep in them," Lima complained, "I don'twantto sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag—this kind of treatment is clearly student abuse."

"It's only for one night," Teak said, "They've even got a lot of padding in them—it's actually pretty nice."

"Who's side are you on?" Lima whined, "I'm going to sue Bestwitch and Beacon—I might even sueOzpin—"

"Will you twostopmaking so muchnoise?" A girl hissed, hands planted on her hips. "People are trying tosleep."

Lima turned to get a visual on her—and found the white-haired girl who'd traumatised Jaune after he'd attempted to shoot his shot.

"What the hell—Teak,look," Lima said, sucking in a surprised breath. "They actually let an old woman into Beacon."

"Lima," Teak managed, "That's not—"

"You're way toooldto be a Huntress, ma'am," Lima said, attempting to stand up. "Please, let me escort you back to Vale—"

"Oldwoman?" The girl squeaked, "I'm only seventeen."

"Ma'am, please don't lie to my face," Lima chastised, "Your hair is all grey—how'd you manage to hide your wrinkles, though?"

"What?" The girl strained. "I don'thaveany wrinkles—are youtryingto start a fight with me?"

"I'm not afraid to hit an old lady, you know?" Lima warned, "You'd best behave yourself, ma'am."

The girl swung her head around to stare at Teak, her gaze demanding some kind of explanation for the current situation—and Teak sunk in on himself, unwilling to meet her eyes.

"What is going on here?" Glynda said, approaching them. "There will benofighting outside of designated areas and times."

"Bestwitch, I'm so glad that you're here," Lima said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I've discovered an old woman attempting to infiltrate the entrance exam—I believe she's using her Semblance to hide her wrinkles."

The white-haired girl made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, unable to bring herself to even—at this point, he could only hope to drag them all down with him.

"What did you just call me?" Glynda said, startled. "That isnotmy name."

"It'snot? But I've been calling you that all day," Lima said, stunned. "I amsosorry, Excellentwitch—"

Teak groaned into his hands, looking like he wanted nothing more than for the nicely padded sleeping bag to rise up and consume him whole. Glynda looked like she had no idea how to handle the situation she'd stumbled into.

"Her name is GlyndaGoodwitch," The white-haired girl hissed, "Youabsolutebuffoon."

"Ma'am, please," Lima said, holding up a hand. "A woman of your obvious age and wisdom should at least try to behave with some decorum."

"That will be enough," Glynda said, reaching up to adjust her glasses. "I know you must be excited, but please try to conserve your energy—youwillneed it for the exam."

Glynda turned on her heel and strode away without another word, aiming to intercept a pillow fight that had broken out on the other side of the room and leaving the three of them alone once more.

"Wehaven'teven taken the exam yet," The white-haired girl muttered, "Yet you've already made a fool of us both in front of an instructor—what were youthinking?"

"Iwasn'tthinking," Lima said with audible triumph. "Now, let that be a lesson to you and be on your way, old crone."

The white-haired girl gave a hiss of frustration before flouncing off into the mess of sleeping bags; hands balled up at her hips.

"Lima," Teak managed, "Do you have any ideawhothat was?"

"Not even a little bit," Lima admitted, smiling. "But she seems pretty fun."

"That was Weiss Schnee," Teak said, searching his face for something. "You really don't know who that is?"

"Schnee," Lima said, stretching the name out, "That's the dust company, right? She's one of them?"

"Yes, she's theheiressof the Schnee Dust Company," Teak said, sighing. "You really shouldn't have antagonised her."

"I mean, she was looking for an argument, so she probably just wanted someone to yell at to get it out of her system," Lima said, shrugging. "Besides, she was givingyouthe evil eye for a minute there, even thoughIwas the one being a dickhe*d."

"That's probably because I'm a Faunus," Teak murmured, "There's some history there, so I can understand why she might not like me."

"The SDC is at war with theWhite Fang, which is what, a few thousand Faunus at most?" Lima said, shaking his head. "There must bemillionsof Faunus in Vale, so going around assumingevery single oneshe personally encounters is part of a terrorist group isinsane."

"I don't think it's that simple," Teak said, "Whenever I'm near a human that I don't know, I'm always a little bit wary of what might happen, at least at first—I don't mean to be, but I've heard so many stories about the things that have happened in the past."

Lima tilted his head at the words.

"My grandparents lived through some of the really bad stuff, and my father—" Teak trailed off, "The Schnee family has lost people too, so I can understandwhyshe might be wary about the Faunus she comes into contact with—I just wish it wasn't like this."

"Yeah, I hear you," Lima said, "But still, if you can empathize with her, there's no reason she shouldn't be capable of doing it for you as well."

"I guess so," Teak said, glancing over in the direction Weiss had gone. "Maybe we just caught her at a bad time."

Considering she'd approached them, it was more likeshehad caughtthem, at a time ofherchoosing, but the point was more or less correct. Lima slumped back down onto the sleeping bag and let his head hang back so he could stare up at the massive chandelier emerging from the ceiling like some crystal stalactite.

"This is just the beginning, Teak, and after we pass, there will be plenty of time for her to get used to you," Lima said, "Who knows, maybe you'll become friends—and then you can tell her not to go around giving everyone the Evil Eye of White Fang Detection."

"Lima," Teak chastised before hesitating a bit. "Are you really not nervous about the exam at all?"

He considered the question for a moment, wondering if the other boy was seeking some kind of comfort to help bolster him for the unknown future ahead of them.

"You want to know a secret, Teak?" Lima asked.

Teak gave a small, fractional nod in the low light of the room, and Lima tilted his head far enough to make eye contact with him.

"Despite this entirely confident and incredibly handsome exterior, I'm notactuallyimmune to the pressure of everything going on," Lima admitted, "I've just got a bad habit of upping the ante when I'm nervous—you wouldn't believe some of the holes I've dug myself into."

"So youareworried about the exam," Teak asked, turning to look down at his lap. "Ifyouare, then I'm never going to be able to do this."

"Teak, you don't even know what we're doing yet, so how can you be so confident that youcan'tdo it?" Lima said, reaching over to rap his knuckle against the other boy's ankle. "Instead of wasting all your energy worrying about a million different possibilities, come up with a general strategy and refine it as you get more information."

"Can you give me an example?" Teak managed.

"We talked about it earlier; we're probably going to be either fighting an instructor or killing some lame Grimm," Lima said, thinking about it. "That means Beowolves, Boarbatusks, or maybe an Ursa—you know what those are, right?"

"I'vereadabout them, and I know what they look like, but I don't know anything about actually fighting one," Teak said, swallowing. "If it's a test with those, how do I kill them?"

"Destroying the mask or cutting off the head works in ninety-nine percent of cases," Lima said, nodding. "Beowolves are probably the easiest to kill overall—the initial attack is almost always a straightforward lunge, so you just step to the side, and you've got a perfect opportunity to reach its neck."

Teak looked just about ready to start taking down notes.

"Beowolves can only really attack from the front, so getting behind them is a good way to reduce their attacking options to zero," Lima said, "You don't want to block or get locked into any kind of power struggle with a Grimm because most species are way bigger and stronger than we are—evasionalwaystakes priority over everything else, understand?"

"I think so," Teak said, "What about an Ursa?"

"Depends on the size because the young ones are about as large as a fully grown Beowolf, but the older ones aremuchbigger—the small ones can be treated like Beowolves for the most part," Lima said, "For the bigger ones, you can try either whittling down the mask while playing it safe, or an overhand strike with most of your body weight behind it to cut through its neck."

"Are Boarbatusks the same?" Teak asked.

"Not really," Lima said, shaking his head. "Ignore the mask entirely, and don't bother with the neck—they can't turn well, so get on its flank, and then aim for underneath its belly because there's no bone plating there."

"You knowsomuch already," Teak said, wilting a bit.

"Comparing yourself to others is a complete waste of time, Teak," Lima said, smacking him on the ankle again. "Figure out what you want foryourself, and then work towards it—everyone else can go hang."

"That's hard to do when everyone seems so far ahead," Teak murmured.

"You know what I think the real problem is, with comparing yourself to everyone around you?" Lima said, catching his eye. "It's that you end up modelling everyone else as some perfect, idealised form that isn't evencloseto reality."

"Like what?" Teak asked.

"A few minutes ago, you thought I existed in a state of perpetual confidence, or like I was some kind of embodiment of the trait," Lima said, amused. "You saw me showing off and thought—wow, Lima is nevernotconfident."

Teak lifted his head at the words, and Lima smiled again.

"You assigned that label of 'confident' to me like some kind of permanent thing, but that's not how people work," Lima said, "I'm just a guy who's confidentsomeof the time, and the rest of the time—well, fake it until you make it, right?"

They sat in silence for a moment as Teak furrowed his brow, and Lima was content to wait for him to process it.

"I think I understand," Teak said, tilting his head a bit. "You're saying my mental model of you is bad, and I'm comparing myself to an idealised version that doesn't really exist."

"Exactly, now scale that idea out toevery single personyou have ever compared yourself to—a network ofthousands of peoplewho you subconsciously view as an idealised form of their most prominent trait," Lima said, holding his palm up in front of him as if he could hold all of them there. "How could youeverbe good enough, Teak? There's a person who is better atthat thingyou're thinking ofright nowinevery directionyou look—you've lost the competition before it's even begun."

"That makes a scary amount of sense to me." Teak said, voice quiet, "Nobody is going to reveal that they aren't perfect either, so you only ever see the victories—it's almost like a blind spot."

Lima nodded in agreement before tapping him on the leg one final time to draw his attention back to him.

"So, the answer is pretty easy once you figure it out," Lima said, smiling, "Want to know what it is?"

"Yes," Teak admitted.

"Everyone around you is someone who is just trying to keep their head above the water," Lima said, "Just like you and me, they're just better at hiding it."

#

Ballroom, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima tugged the hood of his cloak down a bit to shield his eyes as he stepped out of the building and into the sunlight. The stream of students heading out was like a line of ants, and though he wasn't too sure about the direction they were supposed to be going, he simply resigned himself to following after the rest. His oath to never sleep in a single bed again was shaken after a night in the sleeping bag because 'well-padded' or not, it was still terrible.

He'd lost sight of Teak back at the locker rooms because they'd apparently been on opposite sides of the room, and trying to find the short boy amongst the mess of taller students was more than a challenge. Lima found himself fingering the space atop his box quiver where the two lost spikes used to be, the gap both interesting because it was new and annoying in that he no longer had the full set. A particularly young-looking girl bumped into him as she attempted not to be swallowed by the mass of bodies.

"Sorry," The girl said, flapping her hand at him in something approaching panic. "That wasn't my fault—oh, Iseeher."

Before Lima had a chance to respond, she surged forward into a gap and vanished—he saw the tall blonde girl with the massive mane of hair turn and look down with a smile.

"Ren, we're going to be late," A tiny ginger girl cried out. "Why aren't werunning?"

A tall boy with a mess of black hair—and a daring lock of pink amongst it—spoke up in response, seeming entirely unrushed.

"Nora," Ren said, "They aren't going to start the exam if none of the students have arrived."

Lima watched the pair for a minute as they had a rather lopsided conversation, marvelling at the offbeat nature in which one spoke with a rapid excitement and the other replied with no sense of haste whatsoever. They passed through the last of the buildings and found themselves in open grass, the unbroken vista ahead of them showcasing a sheer dropoff with a distant forest beyond it. Both Glynda and Ozpin were already there, standing beside a series of square metal platforms that seemed to be buried in the grass. A quick count of them made it clear that there were actually more platforms than students taking the exam—which left him wondering at those who had dropped out rather than going through with the test.

Lima searched the group for a moment, a small spark of unease when he didn't immediately find Teak—he spotted the boy eventually, nestled between Pyrrha and Jaune. Lima's smile came back at that, and he found himself moving towards the platforms alongside the rest of them at Glynda's directions. He stepped up onto it, and a spark of his Semblance gave him a better idea of what he was dealing with as it stretched out in an attempt to affect the object beneath him—some kind of complicated mechanism was directly below the sheet of metal. He couldn't really get a good idea of what it was—he bounced on the balls of his feet for a moment, just to see if it had any give, but it didn't move an inch.

Were they elevators? Or perhaps they had a cut of gravity dust beneath them, and they would float down to the base of the cliff—he couldn't see a counter-rail embedded in the cliff face, which would be needed for such a thing. Either way, it seemed clear enough to him that they would be heading down to the forest for the exam—considering the sheer mass of forestry stretched out further than he could see and far away from the borders of Beacon Academy, there was almost certainly going to be Grimm down there. Ozpin and Glynda continued to speak quietly to one another for a few more minutes as the entire mass of applicants finished placing themselves on the platforms before finally turning to address the students.

"Good morning," Ozpin said before clearing his throat. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, Hunters—today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"I'm sure that many of you have been hearing rumours, from family members or friends, about the formation and assignment of teams." Glynda said, speaking up in turn, "Well, allow us to put an end to your curiosity—each of you will indeed be given teammates today."

Ozpin spoke up once she had finished in a well-rehearsed sequence they had clearly performed before—likely many times, considering they were both long-term members of staff.

"The teams that you form today and the individual teammates will remain with you throughout your entire stay at Beacon." Ozpin said, "Thus, I am sure that you all realise that it is in your best interest to be paired with someone who you can workwellwith, someone who you can place yourtrustin."

Ozpin paused for a moment, eyes sliding from one of them to the next—Lima made eye contact with him for a brief moment.

"With that being said." Ozpin said, "The first person that you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years."

There was a wave of alarm from the other students as they digested the news; the short girl in the red cloak looked particularly overwhelmed. Lima wondered at the purpose of the selection being done like that because he doubted it was without reason. Maybe it was some lesson about learning to work alongside anyone, regardless of your differences or backgrounds.

"After you have found your partner, make your way to the Northern end of the forest—but beware, youwillencounter opposition along the way," Ozpin said, smiling now, "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Lima felt a smile bloom on his own face in response to the words. He wasn't even fully enrolled yet, and he was already getting to fight Grimm—maybe coming to Beacon Academy had been the right choice, after all.

"You will be monitored throughout your journey through the forest and graded based on your showing," Ozpin said, "Keep in mind that our instructors will not intervene underanycirc*mstances."

That was pretty ruthless, but this was a live fire simulation of what the rest of their lives was going to be like—the life of a Huntsman was fraught with danger.

"You will find an abandoned temple containing several relics," Ozpin said, "Each partnered pair must select a single relic to represent them and then return to the top of the cliff with it in your possession;thatis your only objective."

"Losing the relic will mean failure, so take care of it," Glynda said in warning, "We will be taking the chosen relics into consideration along with your actions within the forest during the grading phase—so do not choose blithely."

"Now then," Ozpin said, tapping his cane against the grass. "Are there any questions?"

Lima turned his head as Jaune called out from his place on the very first platform.

"Yeah." Jaune said, "Sir? I have a question—"

"Good," Ozpin said, completely ignoring the guy. "Now, make sure you're standing in the centre of the platforms—"

Lima lowered his stance, getting ready just to jump off the cliff to get a head start in the forest because screw taking some lame elevator when he could just—the platform dropped an inch and then surged upwards, sending him into the air at an angle. There was a series of alarmed cries as the entire group was sent hurtling over the edge of the cliff, and he couldn't help but laugh at it all. Teak had actually ended up a lot closer to his platform than he'd realised because the boy's terrified shout caught his ear.

Lima twisted until he was falling backwards, locating Teak's uncontrolled descent a moment later. The boy's arc was a bit higher than his own, and they would have diverged quite a bit without any course correction, so he pushed with his Semblance and shunted himself into an intercept course. Lima caught him around the waist as their two paths crossed and then sent another burst of his Semblance towards straightening out their fall. Lima slowed their fall until they dipped beneath the treeline and then touched down on the grass.

"Thank you." Teak managed, falling to his knees for a moment. "I thought I was going to die."

"Your aura would have taken a pretty bit hit, but I doubt it would have broken completely," Lima said, "Looks like we're partners now—and you thought you were finally rid of me, huh?"

"I wasn't trying to do that at all," Teak said, taking his extended hand. "I couldn't find you after I left the locker rooms—do you think the others are okay?"

"They'll be fine," Lima said, clapping him on the back. "I think I saw Pyrrha save Jaune before he could crash into a tree."

"That's good," Teak breathed. "I thought I—there's a snake."

Lima glanced over in the direction he was looking, squinting a bit in an attempt to actually make it out—it shifted slightly in the grass before slipping back into the mess of roots, and he caught sight of it for just a moment.

"My eyes haven't adjusted to the low light yet, so I couldn't even see it," Lima said, impressed. "I forgot that Faunus have night vision—this is all clear as day for you?"

"Kind of," Teak said, eyeing the spot with some wariness. "Do you think it's gone?"

"This aura stuff is really new to you, isn't it?" Lima said, amused. "You don't have to worry about things like that anymore, you know? A snake won't be able to even bite you now."

"Oh," Teak mumbled, "They're still scary, though."

Lima planted a hand on his shoulder and then steered him to the north, stepping through the trees. Teak kept his eye on the spot where the snake had been for a while longer, but eventually, he turned his attention back forward again. They cut through the mess for a few minutes before the ambient sound of the forest shifted slightly.

"You should get your sword out," Lima said, smiling a bit. "There's a Grimm nearby."

Teak fumbled to unsheath his sword at the words before holding it up in front of him, his eyes flittering about in the not-quite-dark. Lima placed his hand on his shoulder again, keeping him moving as he tried to come to a stop.

"Lima?" Teak said, "I can't see it?"

"It's somewhere over there," Lima said, nodding off to their left. "Can you hear how all of the insects stopped making noise?"

"Shouldn't you get your weapon out?" Teak tried. "I can't—I can see it now."

Lima nodded at the words but made no move to take out a weapon. Instead, he remained where he was, entirely unbothered, as the Beowolf slunk out from between two of the trees and spotted them—its gaze stopped on him for barely a moment before continuing on to Teak, who was radiating so much emotion that Lima probably barely even registered to the thing.

"You already know they're attracted to sources of emotions, negative emotions in particular," Lima said as the creature gave a full-body shiver. "You're panicking, so it's probably going to ignore me until it's done with you—"

"Lima," Teak managed as the Beowolf surged forward. "I don't—"

The thing leapt forwards, claws outstretched, and its jaw already unhinged in preparation—and Lima stepped forward, stomping down onto its back as it passed him by, pinning it to the forest floor. It attempted to turn its head around, but he simply pressed down harder—one of the white spires of bone shattered, and the creature shrieked.

"Come here," Lima said, jerking his head to the space behind it. "Go wide if you are worried about it swiping at you."

Teak stared at the snarling thing with apprehension, but the completely nonchalant way in which he was dealing with the situation seemed to dispel much of the panic. Lima watched as Teak followed his direction—although the shorter boy went behind Lima rather than the open space on the other side. The Beowolf attempted to follow Teak with its head but couldn't manage it and returned to its futile clawing at the dirt.

"Stand behind its right shoulder, so you can see where its neck is unprotected by the spike—right there," Lima said, nodding. "When they're hunched down, it can be hard to slip a strike between the gap without going through a few pieces of bone first—this one kind of broke off already, though."

Lima pressed down harder, and another crack rang out as more of the plating shattered beneath the force of it—Teak visibly flinched at the sound.

"Put your sword against its neck—perfect," Lima said, still unmoved. "That's what you're aiming for, and you're in the best position to hit it from where you are now; go ahead."

"Are you sure?" Teak said. "I don't want to hit you by accident—"

"Teak," Lima said, voice gentle. "Even if you did hit me, you're not going to get through my aura with a single hit—not unless you reallyarethe strongest Faunus in Vale."

The reference to the earlier conversation with Pyrrha and the levity of it seemed to bridge the gap. Teak swept his long, thin sword back over his head and paused for a moment as the Beowolf let out an enraged shriek—and then the sword was buried in the dirt beneath it.

"I'm really not," Teak breathed out.

Lima smiled as the thing stopped moving, and began to evaporate, the curling black smoke drifting upwards around his foot. Teak watched it with a sort of distant, muted interest, like he was watching something he wasn't quite sure he believed was actually happening.

"So, you've got a sword that's capable of killing the monsters of Grimm and more than enough strength to wield it," Lima said, feeling his foot begin to sink into the smoke until it touched down against the ground beneath. "What do you say, partner—want to go kill some more?"

Teak lifted his head from the spot where the Beowolf had once been—and maybe it was just in Lima's head, but he couldn't help but think that the longsword looked just thatlittlebit more steady than before.

#

Clearing, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

"Don't plant yourself in one place," Lima advised, kicking the Beowolf hard enough to send it tumbling backwards and off of Teak's hastily raised sword. "Evasion isalwayspriority one, so be ready to move to the side at every moment—it's going to leap again."

Teak twisted to the side this time, managing to evade the lunge, but his attempt to strike it on the back of the neck shattered the topmost bone spike instead—still, the creature was sent skidding forwards from the force of it, unable to shrug it off entirely.

"This isn't Scrollmonsters, Teak," Lima said, amused. "You don't need to wait for its turn to be over before you can attack again—if it's going to give its back to you for that long, punish it."

Teak surged forwards, but by the time he got there, the thing had already managed to find its feet again—still, the attack crashed into its raised claw and spun the thing over twice before it hit the ground. Teak didn't wait this time, and the tip of his sword carved a shallow line through the dirt as he put all of his weight into an upwards swing that tore the thing's head from its shoulders.

"I love the enthusiasm," Lima said, impressed. "That onemusthave hurt."

Teak panted for breath—not because it was that physically taxing, but because Lima had noticed the boy holding his breath for most of the short battle. He'd stop doing it on his own eventually, but Lima would warn him about it afterwards—he didn't want to dump too much on him at once.

"My arms hurt," Teak managed once he straightened up. "My hands, too—does it always feel like this?"

"Nah, you're just not used to swinging something heavy around," Lima said, "With enough work, little fights like these won't feel like anything—you just need to make sure you practice every day."

"I will," Teak breathed, "Lima—do you think we're getting close to the temple?"

"Uh—right, the temple," Lima said, glancing up at the sky for a moment. "I'm sure it's right on through here."

Lima completely ignored the look Teak gave him when he turned and started leading him back the way they'd come—and the cry of alarm when he started jogging. In his defence, there had been Grimm, and it was a Huntsman-in-training sworn duty to kill the things—it wasn'thisfault that the relics had slipped his mind entirely. Luckily for them, they hadn't gone too far off track, and after a few minutes, he managed to spot the tip of some crumbling stonework above the treeline.

"I can still smell smoke," Teak said, closing his eyes for a moment. "Do you think everyone else is okay?"

"I imagine everyone ran away the moment they noticed it," Lima said, "Hundred Lien says it was the ginger girl with the warhammer—she looks like the type to start a fire."

"I don't think I've seen her yet," Teak admitted, "Weiss had burn dust with her yesterday; maybe it was her?"

"Nah, she doesn't seem like the type to set a forest on fire," Lima said, waving it off. "Then again, maybe Jaune went down in flames again?"

"Lima," Teak chastised before turning back forward. "This must be the temple—but some of the relics are already gone."

"What's a temple doing all the way out here, anyway?" Lima wondered.

"It must have been an abandoned settlement," Teak said, reaching out to place his hand against the stonework. "It looks nothing like modern architecture, and the materials are really basic—it might have been here forthousandsof years."

"Yeah?" Lima said, eyeing the crumbling pillars. "Wonder what happened to the people who lived here—although I think I have a pretty good idea."

"I really like this kind of thing, and there's supposed to be anamazinglibrary at Beacon, so I'll look it up later," Teak promised, hand lingering on the stone for a moment longer. "If we end up passing, I mean."

Around the centre of the ruins was a series of pedestals, upon which sat large chess pieces—and like Teak had identified already, most of them were already missing.

"Aha," Lima said as if he'd discovered some great secret. "So that's the reason you came—your giant brain was hungry for knowledge, and so you've come here to feast upon the library."

Lima attempted to measure the size of his head using his fingers and then gave a grave nod at what he'd discovered—Teak pushed him away with both hands outstretched and a flush on his face.

"I have anormal-sized brain, and Idon'teat books," Teak said, watching him closely to make sure he didn't try anything else. "Lima—which one should we take?"

A glance around showed him that both Kings were already gone, which was kind of sad—there was a Black Queen left, though, and that was pretty much the strongest piece on the board, right?

"If we can't be treated like the kings we are," Lima said, snatching it up off the pedestal, "Then we'll just have to be queens instead—what do you say, Miss Fawn?"

Teak flinched back from the words—the reaction startling enough that Lima stilled for a moment, suddenly feeling as if he'd just done something terrible without actually knowing what it was. The shorter boy wrenched a smile back on his face, but it wasn't anywhere near as genuine as it had been a moment before.

"It's the best piece left, after all," Teak said, no longer looking directly at him. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Sorry if I upset you just now," Lima said, far more hesitant now. "I really didn't mean anything by that—"

"No," Teak said, shaking his head in a quick movement. "Can we just—if we take too long, we won't pass, right?"

"Right," Lima said, forcing himself to turn away. "We're headed for the cliff—there should be a way up, but if there isn't, I've got us covered."

"Mm," Teak noised. "Thanks."

Lima set off, taking point again, partially because he'd been doing that since they first landed in the forest but mostly because he didn't want to see the strained smile on the other boy's face. Considering everything else that had happened since the test began—being thrown off the cliff, fighting and killing his first Grimm, and then two more after that—somehow, he'd just done more to unsettle Teak with an offhand joke. Ithadbeen the 'Miss Fawn' that had caused it because there hadn't beenanyreal reaction before that—maybe that was something Teak dealt with a lot? Lima hadn't actually been able to tell Teak was a boy back at the terminal, not until he'd spoken up, and eventhathadn't made it a sure bet. Now, he was even less sure about his assumption than ever—but it seemed pretty clear that Teak hadn't wanted to talk about it, and pushing forward just to sate his own stupid curiosity wasn't something he'd be doing.

"Lima?" Teak said, breaking the silence. "Why did you show me how to kill those Grimm?"

Lima kept his eyes forward as the face of the cliff slowly rose to tower above them.

"I guess there's a bunch of reasons," Lima said, still trying to shake it all off. "The obvious one is that we're partners, which means our fates are tied together for this test—but even if that wasn't the case, Istillwould have shown you how."

"Even if weweren'tpartners?" Teak murmured. "Why?"

"Because you were worried about it, and yet youstillstuck around for the exam, even when a bunch of people who actuallywentto a combat school dropped out," Lima said, taking his time with his answer. "Because every single person who takes on the burden of fighting the Grimmdeservesa measure of respect—and because, if I showed you how to do it, there would beone more personon Remnant who was capable of killing them."

"That's important to you?" Teak asked.

"There'snothingin the world that's more important to me than wiping out the Grimm," Lima said, touching a finger to the end of one of his spikes. "But as much as I'd want to be the one topersonallyput each and every one of them down—I'm self-aware enough to realise that I can't do that on my own."

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

Beacon Cliff, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

They crested the last of the pathway they'd discovered, set into the wall of the cliff and stepped out onto the grass. The pathway curved back towards Beacon for about fifteen meters before it vanished behind the first of the buildings—Lima noted that there was absolutely nobody else around, and when he turned his attention towards the distant set of platforms that had been responsible for launching them down into the forest, he was greeted with more nothing.

"There's nobody here," Lima said. "Are we the first ones back?"

The sound of footsteps caught his attention, and when he turned back, he found Glynda Goodwitch striding towards them, her scroll sitting in her hand. He could just see a series of small panels showcasing a reversed image of the forest below from dozens of different angles—that would be how they were grading them then.

"That would be impossible, Mister Morta," Glynda said. "Given that you spent an entire hour hunting Grimm before you bothered to complete the objective."

Considering she'd been far out of earshot of him when he'd said that, he could only assume that the pathway had its own set of cameras and that they also included an audio feed—he spent a moment trying to remember if he'd said anything particularly egregious while in the forest and then winced.

"Uh," Lima prefaced, "When I said you were a complete bombshell, I was talking about your fighting prowess—it's really, um,explosive."

"Pleaseignore him, Professor," Teak said, grabbing the back of Lima's sleeve in an attempt to reel him in. "I'm sorry we took so long, but we managed to find a relic."

Lima plastered a bland smile on his face in an attempt to pretend as if he'd never spoken at all, and after a long moment, she peeled her narrowed-eyed stare off of him to address Teak.

"Yes—I can see that," Glynda said, "I must admit, I wasn't sure how well you would do during this test after our last lesson together, Mister Fawn, but you performed admirably given the situation."

"Thank you, Professor," Teak said, ducking her gaze. "I don't think I would have done as well if Lima hadn't helped me."

Lima waved off the words the moment they registered.

"Youwere the one swinging the sword, Teak, and youalreadyhad the ability to kill those things whether I was there or not," Lima said, shaking his head. "You were just never put into a position to find out that you could."

"Quite," Glynda said, nodding just once. "Your accomplishments are your own, Mister Fawn—you must learn to shoulder them yourself."

"I—I'll try," Teak managed before glancing back over the cliff. "Professor? There was a forest fire during the test. Did anyone get hurt?"

"A rather unfortunate event, but nobody was injured by the fire, and it's already been taken care of," Glynda said, "Now, as you are thelastremaining pair to complete the exam, we can finally move on to the grading phase—if you'd both kindly return to the ballroom."

"You got it, teach," Lima said, firing off a salute. "Don't forget to give us bonus marks for cleaning up the forest for you—"

Teak dragged him away before he could finish saying his piece, but they'd only made it a few feet before Glynda cleared her throat, and the shorter boy stopped to listen.

"Mister Morta," Glynda said in parting. "My fighting prowess has neveroncebeen described as explosive—and if you're going to lie to my face, you should at leasttryto make it believable."

Lima took point, breaking the grip Teak had on him with a simple twist of his wrist before dragging him behind in his wake. Teak let out a startled noise at the sudden speed increase, but Lima wasn't willing to dig himself even further into the hole he'd made.

"I can't believe you said that to her," Teak said, glancing back over his shoulder. "She's ateacher—"

"I was trying to do damage control," Lima defended, keeping his breathing even through the run. "I didn't realise they were listening into our conversations in the forest—stoplaughing,damn it."

Teak's breath, already stolen by the pace he was being forced to endure, was further ruined by the giggles that broke out, and they only seemed to grow louder. Lima cracked a moment later, laughing at his own misfortune, and when they turned the corner, he risked a look back—Glynda was watching them from the same spot on the path, and even with the distance, he could have sworn she was smiling. They ran almost the entire way back to the ballroom, with the last ten meters becoming something of a cooldown jog, and by the time they made it through the doors, Teak was outright panting for breath—from thehundredsof students that had been here last night, less than half of them remained—although the largest portion of eliminations had come from dropouts, there were definitely a few people missing that had been there for the test itself. There would likely be even less by the time the grading phase had been dealt with.

"Everyones looking at us," Teak managed. "I can't believe we were anhourlate, and now everyone probably thinks we're terrible—and Iamterrible, so it's evenworse."

"What didtheydo? Grab a chess piece and run back to the cliff?Anybodycould do that," Lima said, stepping further into the room. "Wespent a whole hour showcasing our ability to kill Grimm—we're practically overqualified."

Lima started forward without another word, moving towards the area he thought his assigned sleeping bag was located.

"Wait for me," Teak breathed.

He spotted Weiss staring at them from across the room, with her hands on her hips, and the short girl who'd bumped into him earlier standing beside her, beaming at everyone that came within a few meters of her general position.

"It's weird seeing everyone here with their combat gear on," Teak said, finally getting some of his composure back. "It was nicer when everyone was wearing their pyjamas; it was almost like a sleepover."

"World's biggest sleepover," Lima said, impressed. "Want me to go ask Weiss if she'll put her pyjamas back on for you?"

Lima made as if he was going to lunge in her direction, and Teak swung out at him in a panic, smacking him in the arm before he really knew what he was trying to do—it turned into a grab a moment later, in what was clearly a preventative measure in case he actually did attempt to go through with it.

"Lima," Teak squeaked, "That'snotfunny."

The sudden strain that had appeared in the forest seemed to have almost entirely vanished now, and Lima couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that he'd managed to bury whatever it had been beneath making a fool of himself in front of Glynda and all of the jokes that had followed.

"It's super funny, but mostly because you've gone all red," Lima said, smiling a bit. "Pyrrhadidend up saving Jaune after all, huh? Partners, too, by the looks of it."

Teak held onto his arm for a moment longer before finally letting go after he made no further attempt to go through with the threat of pyjamas.

"Oh," Teak said, "Yang and Blake are partners too."

"Who the heck is that?" Lima asked.

Lima moved to follow his line of sight towards the tall girl with the impressive mane of blonde hair and a shorter, dark-haired girl with amber eyes that he hadn't seen before.

"Tall blonde girl?" Lima prompted.

"Yang Xiao Long, and the girl with the black hair, is Blake Belladonna," Teak said, nodding. "Our temporary lockers were right near each other, so I had a chance to speak to them earlier."

"Gotcha," Lima said, "I overheard the names of those two earlier—Ren and Nora."

The two of them spent a while pointing out each of the people whose names they already knew for the benefit of the other and then started making up names for those they hadn't had the chance to meet.

"The ginger guy with the mace is obviously Nora's older brother," Lima said in consideration. "Gemrald."

"Lima," Teak said, "Gemrald isn't even a real name."

"Well, what would you call him?" Lima said, shrugging. "Go on, big brain."

"Caramel?" Teak tried. "That's a darker colour than his hair, but it's closer thanGemrald."

"Whatever," Lima said, brushing the criticism off. "What about her—the short girl with Weiss."

"That's easy," Teak said, "Silver—because that's the colour of her eyes."

"I already used that for the chick with silver hair," Lima complained.

"You never said we couldn't do double-ups," Teak said, crossing his arms. "What would you call her then?"

"Wheat," Lima said. "Because—"

"Because of her scythe," Teak said, cutting him off. "If weeverhave to name anything, I'm not letting you do it."

"What the heck?" Lima said with feigned outrage. "What if the two of us end up getting married—I want to name our firstborn Grimmkiller the Grimmkiller."

Teak gave a start at the words before opening his mouth and then closing it again.

"That's aterriblename," Teak said, more than a bit flustered. "You'redefinitelynever naming anything—and—and—we'renotgetting married."

"Isaidif," Lima said, leaning back on his hands. "Besides, I haven't decidedwhatwe're doing yet."

"It takestwo peopleto decide that," Teak squeaked, "Just—stopbeing the way you are—what'shisname?"

"So immature," Lima said, flapping a hand at the shorter boy. "The guy with the green mohawk—obviously, he's Sparkle."

"They're all terrible," Teak said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Allof them."

#

Ballroom, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The air was almost buzzing with the tension, and the almost candid atmosphere that had existed while in the ballroom had fled the moment every last applicant had received a simultaneous message on their scrolls. Lima checked the notification and found a simple set of directions with nothing else to indicate its purpose. A quick check of Teak's own scroll showed a matching set, and it was clear enough by the confusion sweeping across the room that everyone had received something similar.

"Think it's another test?" Lima wondered.

"I think it's the results," Teak said, voice quiet. "I don't know the grounds well enough to tell where this leads."

"Oh well," Lima said before tucking his scroll away. "No point in worrying about it when we can just find out—let's go, Teak."

"Just like that?" Teak said, a bit startled. "You're still not worried?"

"Worst case scenario, we challenge Ozpin to a duel for kicking us out," Lima said, "Between the two of us, I think we can take him—you hold his arms, I'll punch him."

"Something tells me that won't work," Teak said, "But Isupposewe have no real choice."

Lima steered the boy in the direction of the north door, and their movement seemed to set off a chain reaction as people moved to follow—it became clear that some of those present had received different directions because they moved towards the other set on the opposite side. The hallway was entirely empty as they stepped outside, and Lima regretted putting his scroll away because he'd already forgotten the way. Thankfully for him, Teak still had his own one out, and they set off in pursuit of an answer to the mystery. Halfway through the directions, he actually figured out where they were going because he'd been in that part of the school already—

"We're going to the Amphitheatre again," Teak said, voice quiet. "They must be splitting us up in order to help preserve the dignity of whichever group didn't get selected."

"You think they're bringing us in first to congratulate us or kick us out?" Lima wondered. "Hundred Lien says that we're in—"

"Lima," Teak said, eyes on the ground. "If we failed, it's because of me, and you'rereallygood, so it's not fair on you that you gotmeas your partner—I'm sorry if I'm the reason—"

Lima dragged the shorter boy into a headlock, choking off the rest of his words—Teak didn't even attempt to break free; he simply grabbed onto his forearm with both hands, grip tight.

"If we failed, it's because I dragged you off to go kill Grimm instead of completing the objective," Lima said, keeping him trapped as they entered the amphitheatre. "But wedidn'tfail—have some faith in us, Teak."

Ozpin and Glynda were both standing on the stage, watching the doors as the rest of the students filed in behind the two of them. Lima grinned up at them without fear—not because he was certain they'd passed, but because while his goal would be made a hell of a lot easier with itanda team by his side; it didn'treallyrequire it. If he couldn't get a Huntsman License, then he'd simply set out without it. Lima dragged Teak right up to the stage, intending to face whatever their decision was from the very front of the crowd. Ozpin looked down at them with an implacable expression, and Lima's smile settled more firmly on his face at the challenge—if anyone wanted tostophim from killing the monsters of Grimm, then they were more than welcome totry.

"We have reviewed your transcripts, we have studied the examination footage to measure your prowess, and perhaps most importantly, we have deliberated on your character, your actions, and your skill," Ozpin said, speaking at length with that same unhurried quality that seemed to enrich the man's words with somethingmore. "Those of you who are standing here right now—are those who have passed, and the others are already on their way back to Vale."

Teak's head snapped around to look at him, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes, and a spark raced down Lima's spine as the meaning of the words settled in—the headlock became something more like a one-armed hug as Teak scrubbed at his eyes in an attempt to hide his tears. Ozpin's gaze swept across the crowd, searching for someone in particular, and whoever it was received the faintest of smiles.

"Those that have failed—but whose goals haveperseveredin spite of it—will have an opportunity to reapply in a year, so you may yet meet those whom you have befriended once more." Ozpin said, "As the day grows long and your exhaustion builds, we will endeavour to make short work of the formalities to follow."

The monitors hanging above the room flickered from the Beacon insignia to the black silhouettes of four people before fading into colour—each of their names was spelled out in elegant font beneath each banner.

"Please join me on the stage as you recognise your team formation," Ozpin said, tapping his cane on the stage. "Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark—the four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Cardinalled by Cardin Winchester."

The four boys came to stand on the stage and basked in their success as the entire room applauded for them. They moved off at the headmaster's direction, leaving the stage as a group, and Lima couldn't help but clench his fist at the sight of it—the monsters of Grimm had no idea that a whole new generation of Huntsman and Huntresses were coming for them. The monitors flickered over to a new set of four, and the people in question moved from two separate places in the crowd to meet by the stairs before assembling before Ozpin.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie," Ozpin said, visibly lingering on Pyrrha for a moment before moving on, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Juniperled by Jaune Arc."

Nora took Ren almost entirely by surprise when she grabbed onto him in her excitement, and he managed to free one of his trapped arms in order to return the hug, no longer able to maintain his unmoved demeanour. Jaune, on the other hand, looked entirely stunned by the situation, almost like he couldn't really believe he'd made it into Beacon Academy, or perhaps it was simply that he'd been chosen to lead the entire team. Pyrrha looked the most comfortable up on the stage, clearly used to the attention they were getting, and she placed a supporting hand on Jaune's back, a bright smile on her face as they were applauded.

The moment Team Juniper stepped down off the stage, the monitors changed again, and this time, Lima found his own face amongst the four—light green eyes and a short-cut mess of black hair. Teak's smiling, androgynous face sat directly beside his own, the lighter colour palettes that had been chosen for the background in stark contrast to his own. The two other team members were a pair of girls that he'd seen several times in the last few days but never heard the name of—now that mystery had been solved for him. The silver-haired girl with green eyes, a shade darker than his own but not quite as dark as Pyrrha's, was namedClaire, and the blonde Faunus with the scales on her temple was apparently calledLux—which meant that his earlier guesses with Teak had been about as far off as he expected.

Lima found himself at the stairs alongside Teak as the other pair moved from the complete opposite side of the room to meet them there—the blonde girl gave him a challenging glance as she shouldered past them to climb the stairs first. Lima just laughed quietly to himself, content to wait until the other three had gone ahead of him. Teak glanced back as he reached the top, almost as if to make sure he was still, in fact, coming up and that he hadn't suddenly vanished in those few moments. Ozpin regarded the four of them over the top of his odd glasses, and once they'd come to a complete stop in front of him, he spoke up.

"Claire Diamond, Teak Fawn, Lux Fulbright, Lima Morta," Ozpin said, "The four of you retrieved the Black King and Black Queen pieces, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Malachiteled by Teak Fawn."

Teak looked horrified at the idea of having the mantle of leadership dropped on his shoulders, and Lux gave an annoyed grunt at the revelation.

"Uh, sir?" Lima said while the clapping was washing over them. "Is that even a real colour—you didn't just make that up, did you?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the words, apparently unaware that they were going to have a discussion up on the stage.

"I can assure you Malachite is, in fact, a real colour," Ozpin said, smiling. "Or rather, it is a green gemstone that is made up of copper carbonate."

"Awesome," Lima said, impressed. "Ozpin, do you think we can get our Licenses early—Teak, wait, I'm notdoneyet—hey—"

Teak dragged him away by his arm, aiming for the stairs where both Claire and Lux were already waiting, leaving Ozpin to watch them with a raised eyebrow. Lima allowed himself to be maneuvered down the stairs by Teak's efforts and then followed the pair of girls to the side of the crowd as the next team was called up.

"Why'dyouget to be captain?" Lux said, staring down at Teak without even an attempt at being tactful. "You don'tlookvery strong."

"Here we go again," Claire said, sighing.

"They shouldn't have picked me," Teak said, wringing his hands together. "I don't knowanythingabout being a leader—maybe we can change it?"

"I doubt it," Lima said, shrugging. "They decidedyouwere the best fit; that's all there is to it."

"Ishould be the leader," Lux said without reserve. "Thestrongestperson in the team should be the one making the rules—"

"Nah, that's stupid," Lima said, interjecting. "Besides, I don't really feel like being the leader—thanks, though."

"I wasn't talking aboutyou," Lux said, narrowing her eyes at him. "You were the last to finish the exam—that means you're both weak."

"That's a pretty bold assumption," Lima said without a care. "A hundred lien says I can kick your ass all over the school."

"Athousandlien," Lux said, leaning forward in an attempt to intimidate him. "Unless you'rescared."

"There's two of them," Claire sighed. "Why couldn't I have been on a team with Yang?"

"I'm sorry," Teak said as if her circ*mstance was somehow his fault. "Lima, we don't need to fight—"

"I don't evenhavea thousand," Lima complained, speaking straight over the top of him. "I spent most of my money on the trip to Vale—seven hundred and forty lien."

"Weakandpoor?" Lux said, tilting her head all the way back so she could better look down her nose at him. "I should have guessed—seven hundred and forty-onelien, or your a coward."

Savage.

"Teak, listen," Lima said, clearing his throat. "I'm going to need to borrow some money—"

"—Flora Powder, Savanna Ray, Squall Opal, Jupiter Wasp," Ozpin said as the four came to a stop in front of him. "The four of you retrieved two matching sets of opposing pawns, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Flowerled by Flora Powder."

Lima glanced up at the stage for a moment—Jupiter and Savanna were perhaps the tallest people in the entire group of applicants, leaving them to tower over their two teammates. Squall's poor posture left him hunched forward, with his arms almost dangling directly in front of him, almost as if the effort of pulling himself up onto the stage had been far too much. Flora stood out for two-fold reasons—the first was the two-toned hair, split down the middle in a pink versus blonde divide, and the second was the sheathed odachi that stuck out behind her, a constant threat of knocking her teammates down if she chose to turn to quickly.

"I'm not lending you money so you can fight each other," Teak said, "We'resupposedto be working together."

"Thank god," Claire said, a bit relieved. "At leastyou'renormal—hello, by the way, I'm Claire."

"Hi," Teak managed. "My name is Teak."

Lima cleared his throat again, interrupting their attempt to lance through the tension.

"Claire, listen," Lima said, trying again. "I'm going to need to borrow some money."

"Pathetic," Lux said, baring her teeth in a vicious smile. "If you can't afford it, maybe I'll do somecharity workand beat you up for free."

Theabsoluteaudaciousness of this woman—he loved it.

"Seven hundred and forty lien,andTeak will let you become captain if you win," Lima said, grinning. "Your move, brighteyes."

"Lima," Teak said, a bit hesitant. "I thought you said we couldn't change leaders?"

"We won't be," Lima said with complete confidence. "Trust me—this will be as easy as walking a dog."

Lux snatched hold of the front of his cloak at the words and dragged him forward a step—and he was annoyed to discover that she actually had about two inches on him in height.

"The second this crap is over," Lux said, "I'm going tocrushyou."

"As if," Lima said, "When you're on the ground, wondering how you lost—you better not start crying."

"—Crane Gravel, Ash Bell, Nox Cymbal, Gray Plains," Ozpin said, the man's voice putting another stop to their conversation. "The four of you also retrieved two matching sets of opposing pawns, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Canapeled by Crane Gravel."

Lux bared her teeth at him, using her grip on his shirt to shove him back a step before finally letting go.

"Well, this is going well," Claire said. "I can reallyfeelthe teamwork already—although, what makes you thinkeitherof you is the strongest?"

"You think it's you?" Lux said, eyeing her.

"Itmightbe," Claire said, "Instead of a duel, how about weallfight, and whoever wins can be the leader?"

"I don't want to be the leader," Lima said, "But I'll agree to that as long as Teak stays captain when I win—deal?"

"Fine by me," Claire said, smiling. "Teak?"

"I can't really fight well yet," Teak said, hesitating. "I'm not sure I should even be included in the first place—"

"Youwillbe fighting," Lux said without compromise. "I'm not going to let you back out now."

"I didn't even want to do it to start with," Teak defended.

"—Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," Ozpin said, "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces, and from this day forward, you will work together asTeam Ruby, led by Ruby Rose."

Ozpin pinched his cane between his elbow and hip before starting to applaud, leading the rest of the room to follow. Once the final team had moved off the stage entirely, Ozpin ceded the floor to Glynda, allowing her to take the reigns once more.

"With that, we have all of our first-year teams assembled, and the process of turning you into true Huntsman and Huntresses can finally begin in earnest," Glynda said, smiling out at them. "You will find that the dormitory building you were shown during the tour have now been adorned with the names of your teams—and that is where you will be sleeping for the next year."

There were some excited murmurs about the news. The corridor they'd been led through during the tour had revealed nothing of what may lay beyond the blank, unadorned doors, and Lima was more than curious to actually see theinsideof the rooms—and figure out if he was going to have to smuggle in a new bed or not.

"As fully accepted students of Beacon Academy, you have been enriched by all the rights and privileges that affords; in short, you may go wherever you wish on campus and use all of the facilities at your leisure, so long as there are no signs or rules prohibiting access," Glynda said, "First years have a ten O'clock curfew, and if youdoend up falling asleep in my classroom, you will find my response to be quite compelling—ensure you rest well, for tomorrow, your journey shalltrulybegin."

#

Amphitheater, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Ozpin and Glynda vanished soon after, leaving the room without interacting with them any further, and the newly formed teams seemed pretty excited to explore the school. Teak and Claire spoke quietly as the rest of the first years slowly vanished from the amphitheatre—while Lima stoically endured the intense stare Lux was giving him.

"What do you think the dorms are like?" Claire wondered. "There wasn't any information about it in the pamphlet."

"The doors were spaced pretty far apart, but I'm not sure there is enough space for four bedrooms," Teak said, pressing his knuckle against his lower lip in thought. "I wonder if we have a personal bathroom or if there's a public one near the dorms."

Pyrrha looked back at them for a moment as Nora pushed her team out into the hall, a flicker of curiosity in her expression as they made no attempt to leave.

"Who cares," Lux said, "Everyone is gone now—can we fight already?"

"In here?" Teak said as if he had just realised that's why they'd been waiting around for so long. "Are you sure we're allowed to use the stage—don't we need permission?"

"Eh, worst case scenario, we can blame Bestwitch for telling us we could use the facilities at our leisure," Lima said, shrugging. "This seems like it should count as something we can use."

"Just try not to break anything," Claire said, eyeing the monitor above the arena. "Maybe we should avoid using projectiles, though, so melee only—and no dust."

"Semblance use?" Lux demanded.

"It doesn't really matter to me," Lima said without a care. "I say use whatever you've got—because you're going to need it."

Lux turned around, already striding towards the stairs, clearly unwilling to listen to any more talk.

"If you'reactuallyterrible after all of this, I'm going to laugh at you," Claire said, hesitating a bit now that everything was coming to a head. "Fair warning, though—I saw her kill some Grimm in the forest, and she's definitely strong."

Claire started off towards the stairs and left the two of them on their own for a moment.

"Lima," Teak tried, staring up at where Lux was already impatiently waiting for them. "Are yousurewe have to do this?"

"It will be fine," Lima said, steering him forward. "Treat it like an impromptu spar—nobody is going to get hurt, I promise."

They crested the stairs a moment later, coming to stand in something of a rough rectangle, with each member of the team acting as a corner. Lux reached behind her, to the short, thick pole that was sheathed down her spine, and when her hand came forward, she twisted it—the pole extended in a blur as the machinery unfolded into a much longer weapon, and the tip of it burst outwards into what could only be a glaive.

"Elimination is when your aura drops below fifty percent, or you get knocked out of the arena," Lima said, taking a few steps away from Teak. "Just to make sure, does everyone have their scroll set up to alert for aura threshold?"

Claire fiddled with her scroll for a moment, and Lux leant her weapon against her shoulder to do the same.

"I think mine is set to the wrong percent," Teak said, quickly pulling it out to check. "How do I—oh, I see."

Lima took a moment to lift his own alert from the ten percent it had been sitting on since his last session with Sage—almost two weeks ago now, the realisation of which sent an odd pang through his chest.

"Damn," Lima muttered, "Has it really been that long already?"

"What was that?" Lux said, eyeing him. "Saying a prayer?"

"Sure," Lima said, tucking his scroll away again. "Praying that you'll last more than ten seconds against me."

The glaive spiralled around into a complicated set of movements before she hyper-extended it at the last moment, leaving it pointed directly at him and clearly marking him as her first target. Claire slipped both of the shortswords out of the sheaths at her hips, not bothering with any of the flare of her partner—he noted that she'd already turned slightly, more concerned with Lux's proximity than either of them. Teaks longsword came free of the sheath with far less confidence than either of them, and he'd moved even further back as if to remove himself from the immediate fighting.

"Take your weapon out," Lux insisted.

Lima just smiled before lowering his centre of gravity a bit in preparation for the fight, and Lux bristled at the absolute disrespect. The battle started a moment later, and surprising even him, Lux cut to the right, glaive swinging forward towards Claire—who suddenly vanished from the stage. Not with speed, or because she'd been struck, she'd simply disappeared without explanation. Even so, there was a clang as the very tip of the glaive struck something, and a shower of sparks scattered away from the impact.

"You can turninvisible?" Teak said, startled.

Lima straightened up, no longer needing to react to the threat of Lux, as she continued her attempts to catch her invisible partner—four blisteringly fast sweeps in, she managed to hit her again, and this time, she didn't give the invisible girl a chance to move away from the area. Lima remained where he was, content to allow them all to tire themselves out on each other—less work for him in the long run. The still-invisible Claire found herself hemmed in towards the corner, unable to escape the rapid series of circular strikes, and then with another shower of sparks, she reappeared on the floor beside the stage, pouting. Lux gave a satisfied nod at what she'd accomplished before turning back to face the two of them.

"Why do you hit sohard?" Claire sighed. "Geez—it's like getting smacked with a sledgehammer."

Teak's sword came up to point at Lux as she stepped towards him, and Lima pretended not to notice the shorter boy's silent plea for help—instead, he reached up to cover his mouth before letting out a yawn. His attempt to taunt Lux into attacking him again had absolutely zero effect, and it left him wondering if he'd actually misread her entirely—maybe she wasn't as hotheaded as he first assumed and instead had acted that way in order to trick them all.

"Wait—" Teak cried.

Teak shifted backwards as the glaive cut through the air towards him, but Lux spun with it, drawing the long weapon close to her as her footwork cut the distance between them in the blink of an eye—the glaive came out again, the tip almost scraping across the floor of the arena into a rising, angular slice. Teak's sword was in the completely wrong place to respond to it, but the short boy still tried, striking downwards with all of his force. The impact of the two weapons was framed by a shower of sparks, and then Teak's hands were all the way above his head, the longsword almost tearing its way free of his grip from the rebound. Lux spun into a tight, blisteringly fast circle and let the but of her weapon crash into his stomach—Teak's aura flared to life from the hit, and he was sent tumbling back over the edge of the arena with a startled cry.

"Now, I get todestroyyou without anyone getting in the way," Lux said, almost gleeful. "Let's see how long you last—"

Nope—he'd been entirely correct in his assessment of her; she was a total hothead and solely driven by her need to come out on top. Lima took a step backwards as she lunged at him—and then burst forward, using his extended leg to push himself towards her and enhancing the movement with a faint spark of his Semblance. The tip of her glaive went right over his shoulder, his left hand clamped down on the shaft of her weapon, inches from her own hand, and his right palm made contact with her shirt, right over the top of her belly. For a moment, both of their faces were inches apart, and he watched as her eyes grew wide—then she vanished over the edge of the arena, tumbling across the floor in a mess of limbs as she attempted to regain control of herself. Lux got her feet underneath her about halfway across the room, and with her hands flat on the ground, she managed to slide to a stop before she could crash into the wall beneath the stands.

"Whoa," Claire said, turning to look behind her at where Lux was rising to her feet. "What the hell wasthat?"

"Well, that was fun," Lima said, giving her glaive a bit of a twirl. "A bit short, though."

"I want a rematch," Lux demanded. "That wasn't—"

"Now that we've established that I am, in fact,thestrongest member ofTeam Malachite," Lima said, ignoring her entirely. "I hereby declare Teak as our overlord."

"Are you sure you don't want to be the leader?" Teak tried one last time. "I didn't even land a hit—onanybody."

"Stop ignoring me," Lux cried in outrage, "That wasn't even a real fight—hey—"

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"There is something wrong here," Lima said, eyeing the room. "I can feel it."

"I canseeit," Claire said, frowning. "We all have to share asingleroom—there's, like, zero privacy."

"The showers are the same," Teak said, peeking through the door. "It's just a set of four stalls—they kind of have doors, though."

"What the hell doeskind ofmean?" Lima said, striding over to check. "Oh—kind of."

The situation was essentially four stalls in the middle of the room with a path around it; four large, flat showerheads emerged from the ceiling above each of them. The dividers were only about as tall ashewas, and the doors were the kind you found at a public pool, with a large gap at the bottom. There was a bench on the inside of each and a series of hooks for towels or clothing—all in all, it was far more revealing than he'd have expected.

"Is it bad?" Claire said from out in the main room. "It'stotallybad, isn't it?"

"Beacon Academy called, and they said only short people deserve any kind of privacy while bathing," Lima said, scratching his cheek. "I think we're going to need some kind of shower schedule to make this work."

Claire turned sideways before carefully slipping past him into the room, and he made an effort to lean back against the doorframe to let her get past unmolested.

"Oh god," Claire said.

Lux pushed past him without any kind of consideration, forearm somehow finding the side of his neck in the process, and he took a swipe at her in response, but she ducked further into the shower room before tossing him back a superior look.

"It's not even that bad," Lux said, moving to peek over the top of one of the dividers, her natural height allowing it without any kind of adjustment being needed. "They don't have any soap—we'll have to buy some, I guess."

"We were told to bring ourownsoap to avoid any allergy stuff, jackass," Lima complained, rubbing at his neck as if his aura hadn't blocked it entirely. "Lima Rule, 1A; if anybody touches my shampoo or conditioner, I'm going to throw you off the cliff—it's vanilla and cocoa butter, and it smellsdelicious."

It was also super expensive, but he didn't think that they needed to know that part.

"You broughtshampoowith you?" Lux said, laughing outright. "Are you even a guy?"

"Unlike some people, I actually take my hair care routine seriously," Lima said, entirely offended. "What doyouuse to wash your hair—soap?"

There was a bit of a silence in the wake of his comment, in which Lux gave him a puzzled look—and he stared at her in disbelief.

"You don'tactually—" Lima tried.

"OfcourseI do," Lux said, frowning. "It's soap; that's what it'sfor."

"No, it's not—you've got all that beautiful hair, and you're usingsoap," Lima said in complete indignation. "Where the hell is your self-respect?"

"It's justhair," Lux said, turning to Claire for support. "Right?"

"I mean, I brought shampoo," Claire said, holding her hands up in defence. "I don't have any conditioner, though."

"Um," Teak said, speaking up. "I've always used soap as well—"

"Teak," Lima pleaded. "You can't do this to me, man."

Lima stepped back into the main room and then very deliberately shut the door to the showers, sealing them all away inside where he hoped to never encounter them again. Claire let out a protest at the finality of it all, and he turned away from the closed door in disgust, setting out across the room in an attempt to investigate the beds. They were doubles—thankfully, because if they were singles, he might have lost it entirely—but when he tested the mattress, he found it was prettymeh. The shower door opened up again as the three of them emerged from where he'd entombed them.

"We're going to need some dividers in here," Lima said, eyeing the gaps between the beds. "That should give us at least a little bit of privacy."

"Why bother?" Lux said, dropping down to sit on the second bed from the right. "We can get changed in the shower room or the bathroom."

"Because Iusuallysleep naked," Lima said, "Which isn't going to work at all, considering we're all in one room."

"I couldneversleep without clothes on," Teak said, sounding startled. "Aren't you worried that someone would walk in?"

"The only person I've lived with for the last four years is my guardian," Lima said, shaking his head. "I don't think he's ever entered my room evenonce."

"My parents come into my room whenever they want, so I usually wear pyjamas," Claire said, suddenly hesitant. "I didn't realise this was going to be so complicated—Lux, what do you wear?"

"Either nothing or just a shirt, but it's not as hot here," Lux said, plucking the front of her clothing in answer before pausing. "I didn't bring a towel either—was that on the list?"

"Yes, it was, but forget it for now; I have a spare one you can use," Lima said, shaking his head. "We need to go buy a bunch of stuff on the weekend—or maybe after classes tomorrow."

"Shopping is boring," Lux said, falling back onto her chosen bed. "I don't want to."

"Stay here then," Lima said without a care. "I'll have more than enough fun spending your money for you—seeing as you lost the bet and all."

Lux snapped back up into a sitting position, eyes bright as she glared at him—but he'd already turned away. It didn't really matter how they divided the room up, given how small it was, so he sat down on the bed second from the left. Teak snuck forward to sit down on the bed between Lima and the wall, leaving the last bed for Claire—and she took it with a quiet sigh.

"Maybe we could come up with some ground rules?" Teak said, with his hands in his lap. "That way, we can try to avoid getting on each other's nerves as much as possible."

"Like what?" Claire asked. "The shampoo thing Lima said?"

"Broader than that," Teak said, holding up some fingers before ticking them down. "No borrowing things without asking first, no yelling in the room, no playing music too loud, no disturbing the others while sleeping, no bringing people into the room without clearing it with everyone else first—that kind of thing."

"I'm fine with all of those," Claire admitted, "How about cleaning stuff—like don't leave messes or dirty clothing lying around."

"That's a good one," Teak said, impressed. "Do you guys have any you want?"

Nobody seemed too sure about what boundaries to set, and then Lux spoke up, breaking the silence.

"I exercise in the mornings," Lux muttered. "Do I have to leave the room if you're all still asleep?"

"I do that as well," Lima admitted, cracking an eye open to glance over at her. "What time—and what type of exercising?"

"Six," Lux said, eyeing him warily. "Yoga."

"I do flexibility stuff as well, but I'm usually up at five," Lima said, humming. "That stuff is pretty quiet, though, so I doubt we will wake anyone up."

Neither Teak nor Claire seemed to have a problem with it either.

"Do you—do you think I could join in?" Teak asked before glancing over at Claire. "Or maybe we could do it as a sort of team thing?"

"Team yoga?" Claire wondered. "I know alittlebit of it—I'm down if you guys want to."

Lima had spent the better part of the last decade doing morning flexibility routines with Sage, so he was pretty open to sharing the time with someone else.

"Nobody was ever up that early back in Vacuo—or interested in doing anything, either," Lux said, sounding a bit unsure. "Will youreallybe awake?"

"I'll set an alarm," Teak promised, pulling out his scroll to do just that. "That's earlier than I usually wake up, but I'm sure I'll get used to it."

"What time?" Claire asked, following his example. "Five or six?"

"Five," Lux said before he even had a chance to speak up. "We'll get up at five."

"Thanks," Lima said, glancing over at her at the consideration. "I don't know about any other rules, but we can always add to it if something comes up."

"Right," Teak said in agreement. "Lima? You said you would help me practice—do you still want to do that?"

"Yeah, man—we should probably try and do that daily," Lima said, opening his eyes again to look up at the ceiling. "What's our schedule look like? First class starts at eight-thirty, doesn't it?"

"Mm," Teak noised, "The last class ends at five in the afternoon."

"An hour of yoga puts us at six," Lima said, considering it. "What time do they stop serving breakfast?"

"Eight," Claire said, speaking up. "You can still eat or hang out in the cafeteria, apparently, but they start closing up around then."

"We could do some sparring and practice from six to seven every morning?" Lima said, "Say about half an hour to take a shower, put on our uniforms and then half an hour to get to the cafeteria for breakfast."

"That sounds amazing—and I know I asked," Teak said, hesitating a bit. "But are you sure you want to spend so much time helping me? I don't want to take up all of your free time."

"Nothing else to do in the mornings anyway," Lima said, shrugging. "I've already got my Saturdays planned out, though—I'm going to sneak off into the Emerald Forest."

"I'm pretty sure that's one of the things wedefinitelycan't do without permission," Claire said, tilting her head to see him from around Lux's shoulder. "There's nothing down there except Grimm and trees."

"Exactly," Lima said in agreement. "Isn't it great?"

"I'll help with practice," Lux said, clearly stuck on their previous topic. "Where are we doing the sparring?"

Lima was almost certain she just wanted another chance to fight them all—but he'd give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

"May as well make it a team thing as well," Claire said, dropping down onto her bed and propping her head up on her palm. "Besides, I've never really had a regular sparring partner—at least outside of class stuff; it sounds fun."

"That's great," Teak said, shifting a bit on his bed. "Thank you."

"Now," Lima said, "Have any of you got any pet peeves or berserk buttons we should avoid?"

There was a few moments of contemplative silence as they all considered it, and just when Lima thought nobody would be able to think of anything, Claire spoke up.

"Sometimes, when I'm having a bad day, I'll put my headphones on, and I won't really want to talk to anyone," Claire said, clearly unsure about revealing it to them. "If you could leave me alone if you notice it, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course," Teak said, "My mum does that sometimes too."

Claire gave a bit of an awkward laugh at the comment, but she was smiling now, and then Lux spoke up in turn.

"If you don't want to do something, just say so straight away," Lux said, eyes narrowing in distaste. "Ihateit when people say they want to do a thing, and then they make up ash*ttyexcuse at the last minute to avoid it."

Lima found it a bit funny that the mere mention of it was somehow enough to evoke an almost visible annoyance in her.

"That's a pretty good one," Claire admitted. "Lima—you brought it up, do you have one?"

"I crack a lot of jokes, even when I probably shouldn't, but none of it is supposed to be hurtful, you know?" Lima said, prefacing it, "Ireallydon't like mean-spirited stuff or bullying in general—Sanctum wasfullof elitist pricks, so I spent most of last four years in detention for getting into fights with them all."

"Oscuro was like that," Lux said, leaning back on her hands. "Not elitist or anything—just people looking foranyoneelse they could push down to make themselves look better in comparison."

"There was barelyanybullying at Signal," Claire said, frowning. "How come you spent all that time in detention, buttheydidn't get in trouble?"

"Because they'd either start sh*toutsideof school or in the halls when there were no teachers around to see it," Lima said, shrugging. "There was never any proof to really get them in trouble, so I just started kicking their asses every time I saw it—my guardian was an instructor, so most of my detentions ended up being with him."

"That's awful," Claire said, "Your guardian must have known what was happening—why didn't he do anything?"

"He knew about it, but Sage is pushing seventy now, and he grew up in the direct aftermath of the great war, so his perspective on that kind of thing iscompletelyout of date," Lima said, shaking his head. "Literally all of the adults in his life had spenttheirlives trying to kill each other over every little thing—so he doesn't really think any of this little school stuff is a big deal."

"Butyoudo," Claire said, watching him. "If you're willing to get into trouble in order to do something about it."

Lima just shrugged at the words—something like being stuck in detention wasn't enough to grind him down. Besides, some of these assholesneededto be dragged off their pedestals, and there was nothing like a righteous ass-kicking to make them realise that they'd beenwaytoo confident about their place within the world.

"Teak," Lux said, "You didn't say anything yet."

Lima glanced over and found that Teak was now staring down at his lap, hands clenched around the material of his pants.

"I guess I don't really have one," Teak said, trying for something approaching a smile. "Sorry."

Lux made a noise in the back of her throat, almost like she was disappointed that there hadn't been anything, but she said nothing in response.

"You don't need to apologise," Claire said, "It's not the end of the world or anything."

The others hadn't really caught it, but Lima had spent more time with him than they had, and he'd also seen what had happened in the forest, so maybe it was unfair to expect them to. Either way, Lima was absolutely certain that Teak had a boundary he wanted to set—he just wasn't ready to do it.

"Teak," Lima said before the conversation could move on. "If you don't have one to tell us now, you can always bring it up later—no need to rush, yeah?"

"I—okay," Teak said. "Thanks."

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima studied the dark shapes shifting about on the ceiling, the slight changes brought about by the ambient light of Beacon passing through the still-open window. While there was an air conditioner stationed above the dorm door, the temperature was pleasant enough that none of them had even considered using it. Lima plucked at the shirt he was wearing, the material grating against his skin and making it hard to find his way to anything approaching sleep. He'd considered dumping his clothing on the floor a few times already, but while he didn'treallycare if any of them saw him naked, he didn't want to make the situation any more uncomfortable for everyone—and from their responses earlier, Claire and Teak probably wouldn't appreciate that.

Beacon was far quieter at night than he was used to, the heaters that had kept the temperature from dipping too far into the cold weren't around, and the humming they'd made was stark in its absence. Hearing the breathing of three other people around him was just as odd, and while he'd experienced it on the train to some extent, there had been far more noise there to help mask it. The shifting pattern on the ceiling continued its endless movements, and he could almost imagine it as a writhing sea of Grimm, passing over and under one another—it made him want to set out for the Emerald Forest and burn off some of the remaining energy that was making it so difficult to fall asleep. Between all of the new and interesting things he'd seen since arriving, the people, the other teams,histeam, the academy itself, and the knowledge that in about eight hours' time, they'd be starting their very first class, he had a feeling he would be in for a long tiring night.

"Lima?" Teak murmured, voice barely audible even in the silence. "Are you still awake?"

Lima shifted his head until he could see the muddled outline of Teak's bed, and though he couldn't see him entirely, he wasprettysure the other boy was looking at him.

"I almost forgot you can see in the dark," Lima said, "You're lucky you spoke up because I was just about to start taking my clothes off."

"Lima," Teak warned.

Lima laughed quietly at the reproach in his voice and remained silent, content to wait for the other boy to say whatever it was he wanted—something that actually took a while, long enough that Lima almost thought there wasn't anything after all.

"I just wanted to say thank you for everything," Teak said, voice quiet again. "You've been really nice to me, even though we don't know each other all that well—and if you hadn't decided to speak to me or to become my partner, I probably wouldn't even be here."

"It's not like you haven't been nice tomeas well," Lima said, brushing off the gratitude as best he could manage. "Besides, I already decided that we were friends the moment I sat down in that café, so you can't get out of it anyway."

"That takestwopeople to decide," Teak said in weak protest. "But—I'd really like it if I could be your friend as well."

"You got it," Lima said.

"That's so wholesome," Claire said, voice bright amongst the darkness of the room. "You're bothadorable."

Lima felt a pang of alarm at the words and the knowledge that they'd been awake the entire time.

"You pronounced annoying wrong," Lux mumbled. "Are you going to start braiding friendship bracelets next—because I can go sleep outside if you want some privacy?"

"Oh mygod," Lima said, "Teak—we can't let them live."

"We can't kill our teammates, Lima," Teak said, but he sounded more than a bit embarrassed as well. "I'm pretty sure the instructors will notice if we turn up to class with a two-person team."

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima snapped awake to the cacophony of four simultaneous alarms from four different places across the room, all of which were playing an entirely different song—by beat, rhythm and perhaps most startling, by genre.

"You listen tocountry?" Lima said, slipping his legs out of bed and standing up with a bit of pep. "You can't be a real person, Lux; I just can'tfathomit."

Lux stared at him from her place, entirely upside down, and with one arm hanging off the edge of the bed closest to him—there were dark bags under her eyes, and while she had been the one to push for five o'clock, she looked far less enthusiastic now that the moment had arrived.

"Morningperson," Lux accused like it was some kind of terrible affliction. "Yuck."

"What theheck?" Lima demanded.

Claire actually got up into a seated position, although her eyes seemed to be stuck mostly shut.

"Thisis five?" Claire managed. "It's so much worse than the stories."

Teak finally managed to kill his alarm and then gave a tortured moan as a second one started up almost immediately after—he pulled the covers up over his head, seeking to flee instead of doing battle with it a second time.

"Teak, youhaveto get up," Lima tried, "Bestwitch said you have to redo all your tests because you put the wrong name down—it turns out that your mum accidentally wrote Maple on your birth certificate, and it's become awholemess."

"That's not true," Teak said, voice muffled by the blanket. "I know it's not because I've seen my birth certificate."

Lima scratched the back of his neck for a moment, eyeing the absolute state of disarray they were all in. He'd been like that once upon a time. Lux had been entirely wrong in her assessment of him because hewasn'ta morning person—at least, not a natural one. His status as amorning personhad been acquired, or rather, created through repetition and a few thousand five-o-clocks' in which Sage had banged on his door until he finally got up. Sage was therealmorning person; at least, he said as much, but Lima had a feeling that it had been instilled inhimin a rather similar manner.

"You were Maple all along," Lima insisted. "Also, dual wielding is now banned at Beacon—so you've been expelled, Claire."

"Isn't that going too far?" Claire complained. "I could just restrict myself to usingonesword."

Claire was the first one to escape the gravitational hold the beds seemed to have on each of them—although Lux seemed to be using gravity itself to spill herself out onto the floor in an attempt to force herself to action.

"I'm sorry, Claire, but it's not theswordsthat are the problem; it's in thementality," Lima said, voice a bit sad. "Reports are in, and dual wielders are justtooedgy for Beacon Academy—they want to address it before you all start wearing fedoras."

"You suck," Claire sighed. "There's not much room—should we push the two middle beds to the side?"

Teak remained entombed beneath his covers, and Lima set himself the task of grabbing at the little hill where the boy's feet were tenting the material. Each grab was met with a startled cry and a vicious shake of the blanket, but he seemed determined not to come out—thiswas the kind of willpower that could only be forged in Vale.

"May as well," Lux muttered, rolling over on the floor until she could push herself up to her knees. "Teak—get out of bed; we're doing yoga."

Teak emerged from the blankets in defeat, unwilling to oppose her in the same way—either because she was the more intimidating of them or because he'd given his word that he'd be awake to participate.

"Now, as a little history lesson for those of you not so familiar with the practice of Yoga—it is anancientart and one that has been passed down through the ages from teacher to student, but its actualoriginis something that isn't so well known," Lima said, clearing his throat. "You see, it wasn't a humanora Faunus who created it, and it wasn't even meant as an exercise routine to begin with; it was, in fact, aprayer—a way for us to practice our worship, for the creamiest of all the gods, Yogurt."

Lux made a strangled noise in the back of her throat as he abruptly sent them all into a mental nosedive—Claire clapped her hands together as if in prayer before taking a deep breath and drawing all of their attention towards her in the process.

"Yum," Claire said, the word resonating in the back of her throat. "A-yum."

Lima clapped his hands together a moment later, joining in on the worship. Teak stared at them all through his messy bed hair, visibly at a loss from what he was experiencing, before slowly moving to press his palms together in some kind of unhinged solidarity—and Lima was suddenly certain, more so than ever, that Beacon Academy had been the onlyrealchoice.

"Ignorethem, Teak," Lux demanded. "Noneof that was true, and Yoga doesn't haveanythingto do with Yogurt—just—will you stop praying."

#

Hallway, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The aftermath of their first team Yoga session was followed by a search through the campus map for the nearest dojo to their dorm room, so they could move to attempt the second part of their morning exercise. According to that map, there were at least a dozen locations immediately around the dorms themselves to function for that purpose; the proximity there allowed every year level easy accessibility. They chose the closet one and found a large room with a pair of double doors on two different sides, the floor almost entirely dominated by a padded mat. The doors themselves were unlocked, and when Lima popped his head further into the room, he found a couple of seniors on the far side, going through a set of warmups. Other than glancing over to check who was entering the room, they returned to their own business after only a moment of interest.

"Well would you look at that," Lima said, sliding into the room. "Pretty convenient, huh?"

"Mm," Teak said, hesitating a bit when he noticed the older students. "We're not going to disturb them, are we?"

"The room is gigantic, Teak," Claire said, testing out the padding on the floor with the tip of her shoe. "Think we should take our shoes off for this?"

"Yes," Lux said, already in the process of doing just that. "Hurry up—we've only got forty-five minutes left."

Lima pinned one of his shoes to the floor with his heel and then slipped out of it without much effort, kicking both of them towards the unpadded floor by the doors. He considered the other three for a moment as they did the same, trying to figure out how to best use the small amount of time they had most productively.

"I want to fight you again," Lux insisted, already moving onto the mat. "Let's do that first."

"Hold that thought," Lima said, waving her off. "We need to structure this properly, and the initial purpose was to help Teak get some experience with combat before classes."

Lima stepped out onto the mat, ignoring the way Lux's face scrunched up at her impatience. Claire stumbled onto the mat, struggling to get her last shoe off before tossing it back to join the others. Teak took his time removing both of his own, moving to sit on the floor as he did so.

"An hour isn't a lot of time, so we should try and break that up into sections—no need for a warmup since we all just did a flexibility routine before we even got here, so that saves us some time," Lima said, scratching his chin. "Teak, you and I can take twenty minutes at the start of each day to go over the basics of striking, evading, and footwork—after that, we can do a series of fast but low-intensity one-on-one spars, exchanging opponents each time until everyone has fought everyone else at least once."

"Low intensity?" Lux said, frowning a bit. "I want full force."

"You can do that withmeand Claire, I suppose, if she's up for it, but Teak isn't ready for that yet," Lima said without a care. "We can cap the end of the session off with some lopsided combat scenarios—two vs one, or three vs one, just to give everyone some practice dealing with multiple opponents."

"That's more like it," Lux said. "Claire?"

"We can do full force," Claire offered, "We're not doing that end part today, though, are we? We don't have enough time."

"Right, group combat stuff can wait until tomorrow, and if any of this doesn't end up working out, or we need to switch things up a bit, that's fine too," Lima said, nodding. "I'm going to start with Teak, so you guys should do some light sparring, practice some katas or work on whatever you've been doing most recently—reminder; we have a full day of unknown classes ahead of us, so don't tire yourselves out."

Lima waved Teak away from the other two and onto the corner of the mat; the shorter boy followed with a bit of hesitance.

"You're really good at this," Teak said, "They really should have made you the leader."

"You don't have a history with sparring or fighting, so this stuff is new to you," Lima said, shaking his head. "But I'm just regurgitating things that my guardian has been saying to me since I was younger—it doesn't have anything to do with leading a team, Teak."

"Maybe," Teak said.

Lima steered him away from the corner and then directed him into standing up straight with his hands up—Teak already had some of the basics down because the test punch he asked the boy to do was pretty close. It reminded him that the Faunus had already had a few lessons with Bestwitch, and he'd likely spent the weeks leading up to the entrance exam frantically looking up guides on how to fight.

"Keep going; I'll adjust you after each attempt," Lima said, standing just off his shoulder. "Step forward when you strike, your body is a conduit, and you want to maximize the amount of power flowing through you to the point of contact."

Lima showed him how to turn with the strike to funnel more of his body weight into it and then moved to stand in front of him, palm up to serve as a target. Teak had a bit of trouble striking with his offhand at first, but he seemed to get the change in balance under control after a little bit of practice.

"I'm going to start moving, and your target is now my upper body—chest or head," Lima said, sliding in front of him. "Follow me, step forward with each strike, and pivot to keep me in front of you, but make sure to pace yourself."

Teak was already breathing a bit heavily, and as he started to move forward, hands striking out in an alternating pattern, it started to grow worse. Lima continued leading him around in their corner of the mat, keeping just out of range of the attacks and giving him quiet advice on how to adjust himself.

"One of the most important things about fighting is breathing because if you can't maintain a steady pattern, you won't be able to continue," Lima said, reaching up to deflect one of the strikes to the side with his palm. "A common mistake for beginners is to hold your breath before attacking, so what you need to do is keep your breathing as even as possible—big breath in through your nose, then out through your mouth."

Teak lost some of the smoothness he'd managed to attain as he switched his focus from attacking to breathing, the movements becoming jerkier as he tried to fix the problem. Lima started adding more deflections into the mix, attempting to get him used to the idea that an opponent wouldn't simply evade an attack and that he'd have to recover in the aftermath of being pushed off balance or out of his rhythm.

"I—can't," Teak managed, bending over until his hands were on his knees. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize; you're doing great," Lima said, patting him on the shoulder. "Conditioning the body for combat isn't something that happens overnight, but you'll definitely get there so long as you work on it."

Teak breathed out something that he couldn't quite catch, but itsoundedlike an affirmation, so he just let it hang. Once the other boy had gotten his breath back, he coached him through some breathing to make sure he had some idea of what he was actually talking about and then set him into another chase around the mat.

"Changing your angle of attack is something we'll work on more next time, but for now, give yourself a one-step radius for each attack," Lima said, slipping one of the strikes before stepping out to the side and touching the tip of his fingers to Teak shoulder to show what he meant. "It doesn't have to be every single time, but make sure you're not limiting yourself to only a direct, frontal assault—we're fast enough to move around when we fight, so work it into your arsenal."

Teak tried his best, but with the additional focus on maintaining his breathing, he was straining to keep it all up. Lima caught him under the arm after the next missed strike sent him stumbling and helped him back upright while he regained his breath.

"We'll work on some basic kicks in a couple of days, but I'll probably have you practising the different types while standing still," Lima said, still steadying him. "Some of the higher kicks are difficult enough to learn on their own, but doing them while movingandwhile your target is evading isn't exactly beginner friendly."

Teak managed something approaching a 'that makes sense' if the standard mixture of breath versus sound that made up the words had been entirely flipped on its head. Lima glanced over at the other two for a moment, noting that Claire was sitting on the floor, attempting to catch her breath, while Lux was grinning with her hands planted firmly at her hips.

"They look like they're having fun," Lima said, bemused. "We should probably move on to sparring now because we kind of went over time a bit there—think you can take Lux out?"

Teak made a noise of disbelief in the back of his throat at the words, still not quite ready to talk. Lima steered him over towards the two of them before dropping down to sit a few meters away, and Teak followed with a sigh of relief.

"Sparring?" Lux demanded.

"Sure, but I think we've only got time for about two rounds before we need to leave," Lima said, rubbing the back of his head. "I just realised that if we're staggering our showers, we might end up missing breakfast—we should probably head back sooner than expected."

"I didn't think about that," Claire winced.

"I don'tcareabout that," Lux complained. "I want to fight, and you're wasting what time we have."

"Come on then," Lima sighed, pushing himself to his feet again. "Teak and Claire can be round two."

Lux perked up, already moving back a bit to give them some space to move around and not run into the other two. Lima came to a stop across from her, lowering his stance a bit in preparation to receive whatever attack she started with.

"Full contact sparring, elimination by aura threshold or surrender, no Semblance use," Lux insisted. "I don't want you to cheat this time."

Lima almost sighed at the words and wondered how it could be that Sage was somehow speakingthroughher from an entire continent away.

"Ready," Lux said, teeth showing in her excitement. "Fight."

Lux surged forwards before the word was completely out of her mouth, her foot passing above his head in a blisteringly fast kick—it hit nothing but air as he lunged downwards, snatching hold of her standing foot and ripping it up off the ground. The sudden change destabilised her completely as she lost her only point of contact, and then he burst forward, catching her around the hip before burying her back first into the mat with a thump. He slipped his knee over her thigh, coming into a full mount on top of her and then sent a series of strikes crashing down at her face—her aura sparked to life beneath the first hit, bright and vibrant.

Lux let out a cry of frustration as she found herself entirely on the defensive, swinging upwards in an effort to break through his third attack, but Lima twisted with it, popping up onto a half crouch, hooked his left leg around her arm, before falling off to the side. He used his foot to pin her left arm to the ground and then dragged her right arm down between his thighs, levered it back further, carefully extending it all the way—

"Wait," Lux said, panicked."I give up—"

Lima let go of her arm at the words, pulling backwards away from her and twisting back up to his feet. Lux stared up at him, her arm pulled close to her chest in an unconscious gesture to protect it from whatever had just occurred—then she let out a strangled noise in the back of her throat as he turned away from her to return to his previous place beside Teak.

"That was bullsh*t," Lux demanded, scrambling up to her feet. "I want a rematch."

"I thought thatwasthe rematch?" Claire wondered. "Itwasreally quick, though."

"Shut up," Lux said, horrified. "It doesn't count—hetrickedme."

"We can spar again in the morning, brighteyes," Lima offered, leaning back onto his hands. "You two are up; come on—I'm not missing breakfast, no matter what."

Claire slipped up to her feet with a few quick movements, pretty much recovered from her earlier efforts, but Teak seemed far more unenthusiastic about what was going to happen next. Lux stormed over to take their recently vacated place, still glaring at him.

"I'm really not sure about this," Teak said, looking worried. "Maybe we can do this another day?"

Claire took a few steps closer to the shorter boy and then stood up on her tippy toes to further accentuate the height disparity between them—given she was the second shortest member of the team, there wasn't actually that much of a difference to begin with.

"There are no other days," Claire said, affecting a bit of sadness in her voice. "Teak, this is the end for you."

"That's not funny," Teak managed. "Claire—wait—"

Claire had the decency to go easy on him, and instead of the full contact sparring of the last bout, she stuck to testing his defences—of which there really weren't any. Teak managed to pull up on what he'd learned so far, and attempted to go on the offensive, stepping forward into her next attack. Claire slapped it out of the air with a smile but let him push forward. When she started returning fire between deflections, Teak wasn't quite able to keep up with everything that was happening. In a startling display of misfortune, Teak stepped into one of the strikes, his own attempt to attack thrown completely off centre—and it was through that moment that he landed the only successful strike of the round.

"Teak," Claire squawked in outrage. "What are youdoing?"

"It was an accident," Teak cried out.

"Keep up the pressure, Teak," Lima said, laughing out loud. "Go for a palm strike this time; that's clearly her weak point—yikes."

"Claire," Lux said, snorting. "Groin attacks are illegal."

Teak attempted to turtle up in response to the foot glancing off his thigh, more than panicked now—and then Claire swept him off his feet with a low kick, sending him crashing to the ground. Claire loomed over him for a moment but lost a bit of her heat when Teak wilted beneath her.

"I really didn't mean to do that, Claire," Teak tried, guarding his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's—not that big of a deal, Teak," Claire said, sounding a bit off balance now. "That was actually pretty good for a first try."

Teak carefully sat up, now eyeing her like she was some dangerous creature that was moments away from devouring him for his unforgivable transgressions—it was just about the funniest thing Lima had ever seen.

"I'm pretty sure you've got the offence part of this down," Lima said, impressed. "The way you punched her in the tit wasinspired—you're an absolute barbarian, my guy."

Teak buried his face in his hands in an attempt to hide himself away from the world.

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

By the time each of them had finished having what might have been the shortest series of showers in the history of Remnant, dressed and then made a frantic dash down to the Dining Hall, they had exactly ten minutes before the kitchens were due to shut down. They passed through the queue, made an order from the menu provided, and were served in a few minutes by the kitchen staff working behind the counter. Lux led them over to one of the many tables that ran the length of the room, and Lima dropped down into a seat beside her, the tray clacking against the surface on contact.

"It felt like we were cutting it pretty close there," Lima said, already chewing on a strip of chicken. "Howarewe doing for time, anyway?"

"It's three past eight, and we need to be at Grimm Studies by eight thirty," Teak said, stabbing down into his own meal with his fork. "That's one of the classes we have every single day, it lasts until ten o'clock, and it's always in Lecture Hall, A4—unless otherwise specified."

Teak seemed far more in his element here, and Lima nodded along as the Faunus spoke.

"They madefourlecture halls?" Lima wondered.

"There's also a B, C, and D series as well," Claire said, "Even with all the other years and their classes—it kind of makes you wonder."

"They may be planning on training an even higher amount of Huntsman and Huntresses in the future," Teak said, "It would make sense to leave room for an upwards trend in population growth over time."

"Makes sense to me," Lux muttered, stirring her food without enthusiasm. "Whereisit?"

"There is a map display just outside the Dining Hall, and we've got one on our scrolls that we can use," Teak said, shifting his scroll out of his pocket to check. "Building A, first floor, west wing."

"Nice," Lima said, "Where the hell is Building A again?"

"We just walked past it on the way here," Teak said, almost impressed with how poor his sense of direction seemed to be. "There were signs above the door and everything."

"It's precisely as I suspected," Lima said, nodding once. "Thisis Building A."

"This is theDining Hall," Teak said, alarmed. "Are we having two different conversations right now?"

"What's after Grimm Studies?" Claire asked.

"Crafting and Upkeep, which takes place in Workshop A4," Teak said, apparently having memorised the entire schedule with his galaxy-sized brain. "It's in Building C, on the first floor, and it finishes at twelve."

That caught Lima's attention a bit because he'd been thinking about the two missing spikes since the attack on the train had concluded, and that would be the place he could get his hands on some actual equipment in order to replace them—although replacing the gravity dust was going to be a nightmare given how expensive it was. It took a single crystal for each one, precisely cut down to size and then inserted into the compacted form of each spike—andhe'd have to replace the anti-shock casing he'd made for them.

"Ugh," Lima groaned, dropping his fork onto his empty plate. "Why must everything cost money?"

"That's just, like, how the world works, dude," Claire said, bemused. "What made you say that?"

"Never you mind,Claire," Lima said, pouting a bit. "What's after that?"

"Lunch, which lasts for an hour and fifteen minutes," Teak said, "The kitchen opens at half past eleven, so if anything ends early, we can come back here."

Lux was now eyeing her fellow Faunus like he was the font of all knowledge, and Lima couldn't help but agree—Teak was coming in strong.

"Thirdperiod?" Lux asked.

"History, in Lecture Hall B4, it goes from one thirty until three in the afternoon," Teak said, furrowing his brow upon realising all three of them were staring at him now. "Why are you looking at me like that—didn't youreadthe schedule."

"Hell no," Lima said, aghast. "Now, tell me about the fourth periodimmediately—unless you don't actually know it."

"Fourth period isalwaysPractical Combat, no matter the day, from three until five, and it takes place in several different places," Teak said, scrunching his face up at the teasing. "It rotates through the Amphitheatre, the Emerald Forest, and several different Training Fields—depending on whatever we're supposed to be working on."

"There were other classes, weren't there?" Claire wondered. "I saw Stealth and Security on the list—Plant Studies too."

"Stealth and Security replaces Upkeep and Crafting every other day," Teak said, "Plant Studies does the same for History as well—but they're both in different buildings."

"We only got those schedules last night," Lux said, eyeing him. "You really memorised all of that in one day?"

"Of course I did," Teak said, crossing his arms. "I wasworriedabout it."

"So we're locked in from eight-thirty until five," Lima said, humming. "Suppose that gives us a couple of hours of free time."

Teak hesitated for a moment.

"There's also an optional fifth period right after Combat Studies; it's listed as Self-Directed Sparring and Exercise." Teak said, "I suppose that's there to guide us into doing stuff on our own."

"You guys want to move our hour of sparring to the afternoon or keep it in the morning?" Lima wondered. "That gives us a bit more time to shower and get dressed in the mornings—we can still do the Yoga and flexibility stuff."

"Whatever," Lux said before narrowing her eyes at him. "I'mstillgetting up at five."

Lima rolled his eyes at the words; she clearly thought they were engaged in some kind of competition now.

"That's probably a good idea," Claire admitted, "I don't think I could deal with a two-minute shower every day."

"I'm fine with that," Teak said before sitting up straight. "Oh no—we're going to be late."

#

Lecture Hall A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Apparently, Teak considered being ten minutes early to class as 'being late,' something which left them arriving ahead of the vast majority of the class. Lecture Hall A4 was a pretty interesting room, with detailed sketches of various Grimm pinned up across all of the walls and a series of bookshelves with all sorts of books with interesting titles—Grimm Anatomy, Behavioural Study of Lupine Grimm, Griffons And How To Avoid Dying. Peter Port, the Professor of the class, was a barrel-chested man with fine grey hair and a large bushy moustache. He stood straight-backed in front of his desk as they filed into the room, eyes closed, but with an unmistakable smile on his face. Lima followed Teak past the large open area that took up most of the room, eyeing the reinforced flooring that was at odds with the rest of the floorboards that made it up.

The first of the raised benches that made up the seating for the class was equally as reinforced, and he could see a series of scratches that hadn't quite been buffed out of the material—somekind of practical exercise, no doubt, although he wasn't sure what it could have been. Teak selected the front row of the left-hand side as their place to sit, and they slipped in beside him, taking the first four seats. The rest of the class began to trickle in a moment later, only a few seconds behind them—Pyrrha, Jaune, Nora and Ren passed through the doorway, and Lima wiggled his eyebrows at them when they made eye contact. Jaune came to a stop at the end of their row before turning sideways and shuffling down to take the seats beside them.

"Morning," Jaune said as he took the seat directly beside him. "Did you get put in a single room as well?"

"Hey—that'sexactlywhat they did to us," Lima admitted, "We just pushed all the beds together and slept in a big old cuddle pile."

Lux had practically melted onto the bench in front of them, chin resting on her crossed arms and with the look of someone who'd been thrown in a prison by which she'd never escape—the comment didn't so much as peak her interest, and she continued to stare blandly at the teacher from her place.

"What?" Nora said as she passed behind him. "That isamazing."

"If you thinkthatis cool," Lima said, beaming. "Justwaituntil I tell you about how we attempted to save water in the showers—"

"Dude," Jaune said, stunned. "What?"

Claire jolted him with her elbow in punishment, but he could tell that she was trying not to smile.

"None of that actually happened," Teak protested. "He'slying."

"Hello, Teak," Pyrrha said, amused. "I hope he hasn't been giving you too much trouble?"

"He'smostlybehaved himself," Teak said before pausing. "I—really like our team."

Lux grunted at the words before turning her head so she could get a better look at him—Teak scratched at his cheek for a moment, not quite willing to meet her gaze.

"What about you guys, huh?" Lima said, bumping into Jaune's shoulder as the boy pulled his seat in. "Everything going swimmingly?"

Jaune glanced down the row at the rest of his team as they took their seats beside him, and then he nodded once.

"Everything's really working out," Jaune said, sounding a bit surprised. "I think it's going to be okay."

"J-man and Pawpaw, the ultimate pair, partnered up in the forest while they were flying through the air, a tumbling descent and a javelin that dared," Lima said, flicking his fingers at the boy. "Anarcof a throw, and anArcin despair, almostpinnedhim to a tree, but itmissedby a hair—"

"Stop rapping," Claire tried, cringing. "Pleasestop?"

Jaune flushed at all the attention he was suddenly getting, perhaps having thought the moment had stayed unwitnessed by the other examinees. Pyrrha pressed a hand to her cheek as she got caught in the crossfire, letting out something of an embarrassed laugh.

"You actuallysawthat?" Jaune managed.

"Weallsaw that," Nora cheered. "It was awesome—I almost joined in."

"Nora," Ren wondered, "I don't think your weapon would have had the same effect if you'd thrown it at him."

"It would have workedbetter," Nora insisted, eyes bright. "Muchbetter."

Weiss swept into the doorway, looking a bit panicked as she caught sight of most of the class staring down at her—and then Yang, Blake and Ruby all came rushing in behind her.

"You made us late," Weiss said, horrified. "Ruby—"

"No, no," Port said, speaking up for the first time. "Though you may have been the last to arrive, you are still two minutes earlier—please, take a seat, girls."

Weiss's face was flushed as she cut across the room, seeking out a seat on the right-hand side. Ruby's posture was slumped as she followed, and all of the enthusiasm he'd seen in her before was now looking a bit contested. Yang smiled at the attention, crossing the room with her head up high, meeting all of their gazes, while Blake kept her eyes on her destination, seemingly unbothered by it all. The very moment they'd taken their seats, Port took a step forward, somehow straightening even further as his eyes opened up—the man had a presence that filled the room, even before he'd said much of anything.

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night," Port said, "Yes, the creatures of Grimm have been known by many names throughout the ages—butImerely refer to them as prey."

A single sentence had been all it had taken, but Professor Peter Port had just firmly cemented himself as Lima's favourite instructor—and even though he hadn't met any of the others, he doubted it would have changed a thing.

"You shall too, of course, upon graduating from this prestigious academy," Port said, "But our shared reality is that this planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you all to pieces."

Lima violently pushed away the imagery those words brought up within him, instead leaning forward to plant his elbows on the top of the bench, hands linked in front of his face.

"Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world, and the academies are the backbone of each," Port said, making an effort to find eye contact with each of them. "Through them, each of you shall fulfil your chosen path as Huntsman and Huntresses—asindividualswho have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

Port swept his arms out towards them.

"You have made a great sacrifice by choosing this life, and I will do my absolute best to honour it by teaching you toexcel," Port said, nodding once. "But first, before all of that, I would tell you a story, a tale of a young,handsomeman—a tale about me."

Lima found himself smiling at the not-so-subtle brag he'd attempted to shoehorn into his speech.

"It may come as a surprise to some of you, but I was once a boy, several years younger than you all are now, and at that time, I lived in a tiny little village on the southwestern coast of Sanus," Port said, "I was born there, I was raised there, and you certainly wouldn't have been able to find it on a map, even before its eventual fall to the Grimm—a history many villages that had once been bold enough to exist on the outskirts of society now share."

Port reached up, running his thumb and forefinger across his moustache, eyes seeking out the ceiling for a moment. Lima felt another flicker at the words, and a feeling of something that might have been kinship rose up. While Lima hadn't beenbornin Oniyuri, and the settlement hadn't really had a chance to come to fruition, he'd certainly been there when it had fallen. He felt some of the hairs on the back of his neck rise up at the direction his thoughts were headed, but once again, he managed to push it all away.

"Nevertheless, our village had grown quite accustomed to dealing with the smaller Grimm that had been common in the area, and once upon a time, we even had several Huntsman to deal with the rarer, more substantial threats that sometimes arose," Port said, "Unfortunately, they weren't present at the time this story took place, as they'd been called away to deal with a series of attacks in a nearby village."

Some of the good cheer that had been in Port's voice at the beginning of the speech began to fade away as he spoke, and Lima found himself studying the man's face in earnest.

"We thought nothing of it at the time, mainly because while the Grimm were attacking elsewhere, they hadn't touched our own village in what felt like an eternity. We were in something of an upswing; our good fortune bolstering us and, in turn, keeping all negative thoughts furthest from our minds," Port said, "Of course, the Grimm attacked almost as soon as the Huntsmen and Huntresses had left the area, and if they were capable of such a thing, I'd have labelled it as astartlingdisplay of strategy."

Lima pressed his linked hands further against his mouth, more thoughts rising up in response to the tale.

"Although my aura was unlocked back then, I wasn't a Huntsman, nor did I have any real experience in dealing with an attack of that magnitude," Port said, with an upward nod of his head. "I was working as a woodcutters apprentice at the time, so myweapon of choice, if you could have called it such a thing, was a simple axe."

Lima lifted his gaze to the weapon that was mounted on the wall above the sketches; a battle axe with a barrel on the other end—he glanced over to the left side of the room as Ruby let out a little snore, apparently not quite as engaged as he was or simply attempting to catch up on some sleep after all the excitement of the last few days. Weiss, on the other hand, was practically vibrating in her seat, her frustration with her leader building up and bringing a vibrant splash of colour to her pale cheeks.

"Despitesmelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man—something that comes with age and experience—'Peter, he told me, you've got to learn how tofightif you want to survive out here, wealldo.'" Professor Port said, finding something of a smile once more. "He'd been a staunch advocate for providing everyone in the village at leastsomekind of training at arms, and it's most likely because of his lifetime of concentrated effort alone that we came out of that day as well as we had."

Peter nodded at his own words as if reaffirming to himself once again that the thought was the truth of the matter.

"Twenty-three Beowolves attacked the village that day, and I'm thankful to this day that there wasn't an alpha-variant amongst the group because that would have likely spelled the end for us," Port said, "The men attempted to repel the attackers, while the women hid the children away as best they could—I stood amongst them, my axe in hand, and with only a novice's enthusiasm to carry me forward."

A shift to his right caught his attention as Nora leant in towards Ren's ear, speaking quietly to the boy—Lima couldn't hear the words, but the two of them now seemed to be lacking the easy air that had followed them into the room.

"The strangest thing occurred during that attack, and I still can't quite understand the behaviour, even now,decadeslater—and with a profession that deals with teaching exactly that," Port said, furrowing his brow. "One of the village girls had been outside of the wall when the attack began, picking wild berries, and had returned during the worst of it—one of the Beowolvestookher, jaws locked around her arm, and dragged her right back out of it."

Lima frowned at the words, gaze drawn back to the man and the look of puzzlement on his face.

"I gave chase, foolishly, perhaps, in an attempt to catch them before it could get too far away, bearing the brunt of trees, vines, and thorns in my rush to dosomething," Port said, clenching a fist in front of his chest. "With my axe in hand, I advanced into the forest, following those terrible sounds—"

Port shook his head at the memory, looking like he wasn't quite there with them in the classroom.

"As dangerous as the creatures of Grimm may be, they are—the younger ones, predominantly—simplethings. They aim tomenacetheir victims on approach because the fear they invoke is a siren call for them," Port said, "But once they have a victim in its grasp, they act in asingleway, universal amongst all of the species, and regardless of age."

Port let his fist drop down to hang beside his hip again, his voice a far bit softer.

"They tear the victim apart on the spot with complete disregard for what is happening around them, lost to a sea of instinctual violence—and yet I found the girl unharmed, except perhaps, for the result of being dragged through the forest," Port said, sounding puzzled. "Regardless, I struck at the beast the moment I made it out of the trees, and after that, it was something of a mess—I lost hold of my axe several times, and the only kind of determination I had at that moment was brought on by fear of my own life."

Lima rolled his shoulders, trying to dispel the tension that had seized him—but despite his best efforts, he couldn't push away the image of his mother reaching out towards him, her arm the only thing visible beneath the writhing mass of Grimm.

"In the end, the Beowulf was no match for my will to live and thought my aura was all but spent; I'd left the creature grievously wounded—enough so that it could not move at all," Port said, breathing out a rush of air. "I collected the girl and dragged the Grimm back to the village, my clothes torn, my axe shattered, but with my head held high."

Lima had spent far too many nights dreaming of a world in which his own tale had ended up anywhere near as triumphant as that.

"I was celebrated as a hero on my return," Professor Port said, and there was a tremor to his voice now, "For those of you who weren't paying attention, the moral of my story is that I wasincrediblylucky."

There was an immediate increase in volume as mutters broke out throughout the class, the man's words catching just about everyone off guard—Ruby startled back to the world of the living, swinging her head around in an attempt to figure out what was happening.

"If I hadn't had my aura unlocked, if I hadn't received some training on how to fight, if I hadn't caught the creature from behind at the very start of the fight, if I hadn't seen the girl being dragged away—by all rights, Ishouldhave died in that forest," Port said, stretching out a hand to all of them. "Listen to me now; A true Huntsman or Huntress must behonourable, they must bedependable, they needdetermination, they must have thedriveand thehard-earnedskillsto destroy those who would align themselves against humanity, they must bestrategic,well-educatedandwise."

The atmosphere in the classroom buzzed, a sort of electric charge rising up at his words, and Lima finally managed to resettle himself, pushing all thoughts of the past away. A check of his immediate surroundings revealed that Claire was watching him, brows pulled together—he tried for a smile, but it felt a bit pale on his face, and he turned away again before she had much of a chance to react.

"So, who amongst you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Professor Port said, closing his hand into a fist once more. "Now isn't the time to be shy—raise your hand at once."

Lima lifted his hand up into the air, and he wasn't the only one who had found the confidence to do so—Weiss, Pyrrha, Blake, and Cardin all raised their hands at the same time. The rest of the class began to follow their example until the vast majority of the class had their hand raised up above their heads. Weiss, perhaps in some kind of effort not to be lost amongst her peers, found her voice.

"Ido, sir," Weiss said, uncaring of the attention it had drawn on her. "I embodyallof those traits."

"Fantastic, then let's find out just how true that is," Professor Port said, starting forward into the middle of the room. "Come down here, and prepare to face your opponent."

Lima let his hand fall alongside the rest of the class, eyes tracking the man's progress across the room towards a large iron door to the far side of the room—and although he couldn'tfeelanything through it, he was suddenly certain what was waiting beyond. The scratches were worst near the base of the door, dispersing more with distance. Port placed his hand on the handle and turned, watching as Weiss stepped down onto the open, reinforced space.

"I suppose that explains why we were told to bring our weapons," Jaune said, sounding a bit nervous. "Exactly what's behind that door, though?"

Port swung the door open as if in response to the question, and iron bars were revealed, a towering cage beyond the door with a snarling Boarbatusk inside. Lima hadn't seen very many Grimm in captivity before, but this one was clearly small, young, and likely wasn't quite sure about its current predicament. Most Grimm simply dispersed after being subjected to long-term captivity, the older ones doing so faster as they realised the futility of the situation. This one must have been captured recently, either this morning or the night before, and prepared for the upcoming lesson.

"He's actuallybringingthem to us so we can kill them?" Lima said, more than impressed. "This guy is awesome."

"This—doesn't this seem really dangerous?" Teak managed. "Is Weiss really going to fight it in aclassroom?"

"A single Boarbatusk has zero chance of killing Weiss, mostly because it wouldn't be able to deal enough damage to her Aura before Port killed it," Lima said in answer. "But considering the fact that she passed the entrance exam, just like the rest of us, she wouldneverlose to something like this."

"I wasn't really thinking about it like that," Teak said, chewing on the tip of his thumb. "What if it destroys one of theshelves—"

"You're worried about thebooks?" Lux laughed.

Teak bristled at the words and then crossed his arms in protest, refusing to look at her anymore. Lux nudged the boy with her elbow in an attempt to get him to respond, but he outright ignored her, and she huffed.

"Lux," Claire wondered. "Why didn't you put your hand up before?"

"I'm barelyanyof the things he said," Lux said, without care. "The best I can do is fight—maybe I'll pick up the rest later."

Weiss slipped her rapier out, performing a flick that left it vertical in front of her before it slashed out to point at the still-locked cage. Lima was a bit sad that he didn't get the chance to kill it, but clearly, Weiss had wanted to destroy it more. He'd have to stop calling her old lady; she was actually way more relatable than he initially thought—

"Go Weiss," Yang called. "You've got this."

"Yeah." Ruby said, cheering out in support, "Get out there and representTeam Ruby—"

"Ruby, bequiet." Weiss snapped, "I'm trying to focus."

—or maybe she was still kind of an asshole, after all. Ruby slumped back down into her seat with a muttered apology, and Yang patted her on the back in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Now, I shall release our prey; ready yourself, Huntress," Port said, raising his voice. "The hunt will nowbegin."

The cage swung open, and the very moment the Boarbatusk found a place that wasn't covered by iron bars, it surged forward, cutting across the length of the room towards Weiss. Port moved to stand in front of the open cage; hands fisted behind his back as he watched with interest.

"They'refast," Teak said, staring down at it. "The Beowolves were nowhere near that quick."

"Beowolves trade-off linear speed for a range of mobility options," Lima said in answer. "Boarbatusks are fast in straight lines, but they can't do tight corners or quick turns without slowing right down."

Weiss slipped the initial attack, rolling back to her feet in a smooth, controlled manner and retaking her stance once more. The Boarbatusk hit the brakes, coming to a stop near the wall before turning, sweeping its four, glaring eyes across the students arrayed above it, before it settled back on Weiss once more.

"You're right; it came to a complete stop," Teak murmured, "How do they act in more open areas?"

"The same way, for the most part," Lux answered, "There's more room for wider turns out in a field, so they might try to curve around to maintain speed, but if you get behind them, they'll stop."

"Teak, are you taking notes? Oh, oh, do one for me too," Claire said, reaching up to twirl an invisible moustache. "If you were to target the underbelly of the prey, you could inflict quite a bit of damage because they don't have armour there—hah, hah, a critical hit is afoot."

"Don't make fun of him," Teak said, scandalised. "Besides, I don't need to write that down because Lima already told it to me during the exam."

"That's not fair," Claire complained, wagging a finger at him expectantly. "Write it down, or I'll totally be mad."

Ruby finally seemed to rally, cupping her hands around her mouth to help focus her voice.

"Hang in there, Weiss," Ruby called. "You can do it."

A bright light washed into existence beneath Weiss, and the moment she planted a foot on it, she blurred forward, moving at least twice as fast as before, rapier extended before her like a spear—but for all of the prodigal speed she suddenly possesses, it turned out she was facing theonlyBoarbatusk in the world that had been exclusively trained in disarming techniques. The creature twisted its head, catching the rapier between both of its tusks and locking her into a power struggle—a ripple of noise washed over the student body at the impossible sight.

"What theheck?" Lima said, slamming his hands down on the desk in alarm. "Who the hell taught that pig martial arts?"

"Forgetthat; what was that symbol on the ground?" Claire said, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"That wasn't any kind of dust effect, so it was probably her Semblance," Lux guessed, "She got faster when she stepped on it—she obviously creates boost pads, like inStreets of Remnant."

"But those only work oncars," Nora said, sucking in a sharp breath, "Unless—"

"Nora," Ren said, interjecting. "I don't think Weiss is a car."

"But it all fits," Nora protested.

"The Schnee family all has the exact same Semblance; it's one of the inheritable bloodlines," Jaune said, drawing all of the attention on himself. "The symbols are called Glyphs, and they do a bunch of different things—this is all public knowledge; I don't knowwhyyou're staring at me like that."

Weiss lost the power lock and was thrown halfway across the room, bouncing once before sliding back to her feet beside the wall. Teak attempted to stand up as her weapon bounced away in the opposite direction—Lux caught hold of his arm before dragging him back down into his seat.

"Lux," Teak tried. "She doesn't have a weapon."

"She'll be fine," Lux said, keeping him from getting up. "Sit."

"Bold new approach," Port said, stroking his moustache. "What will you do now, Miss Schnee?"

"Weiss is more than fast enough to get behind it—why is she attacking it head-on?" Lima said, staring at the gruelling battle with horror. "What ishappeninghere?"

Weiss dove to the side as the Boarbatusk took a run at her, avoiding it by scant inches and leaving the creature to crash headfirst into the reinforced wall with a crack, leaving all of the benches to rattle from the force. Before the monster could turn around again, Weiss had already retrieved her weapon with a sliding pass that left her back on her feet and ready to fight once more.

"See?" Lux murmured, fingers still wrapped around Teak's wrist. "Nothing to worry about."

"Weiss." Ruby called, "Go for itsbelly—there's no armour underneath."

Weiss snapped her head around at the words, visibly furious, and took her eyes completely off the Boarbatusk in the process.

"Stop telling me what to do." Weiss bit out.

The Boarbatusk took the chance afforded to it, tucking itself into a ball and rolling forward at a blistering pace—but this time, Weiss seemed to have it under control as a Glyph burst into existence right in front of its path. The monster crashed headlong into it and was repelled, slamming down onto its back at the abrupt nature of the stop, its belly now exposed.

"She really is kind of an asshole," Lima complained.

"Don't say that," Jaune tried, playing defence for the girl. "She's just stressed, that's all."

Weiss flipped backward, landing on another Glyph that appeared in midair—although this time it flickered from white to black—and then she rocketed off the face of it, propelled by some unseen force, the tip of her rapier slamming straight through the Grimm in a fatal blow.

"Bravo,bravo, it appears weare,indeed, in the presence of a true Huntress in training," Port said, clapping his hands together. "Well done, Miss Schnee, a fantastic showing; you are welcome to retake your seat once more."

For all that she had decimated her enemy and emerged the victor, she didn't seem at all ready to begin celebrations. Instead, Weiss stomped back over to her team and dropped into her seat, refusing to look at her teammates.

The Boarbatusk began to fade away, drifting up into the air as it evaporated, and Port clapped a few more times before moving to address the entirety of the class once more.

"This will be a situation you should all familiarise yourself with, as I will be bringing Grimm to each class, and you will all be taking turns eliminating them," Port said, "Adjacent to that, I would like to inform you all that every weekend I head up a small hunting expedition in the surrounding areas."

Port directed their attention to a small board on the wall beside the door, a stack of papers pinned in place, and a pen dangling from a string beneath it.

"My detailed schedule is available on request; please sign up on that sheet by the door—you'll find that many students from other classes and year levels like to participate," Port said, smiling now. "Those of you who showcase a certain level of skill may even earn the privilege to set off on your own, within the sanctioned areas, provided you possess the skills to take care of yourselves."

Lima knew exactly what he was doing this weekend—he wouldn't even need to sneak off to manage it.

"These missions will have no bearing on your grades, nor are they mandatory, but if you seek further experience, then please don't hesitate to speak with me," Port said with a final nod. "Now, while the exciting part of the lesson is most definitely over, we still have much more to do—now, the main book we will be using this year is the Grimm Compendium—"

#

Workshop A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Workshop A4 was larger than the Lecture Hall had been, with rows of floating benches filling up the middle of the room, each one stocked with a set of tools and with its own power supply. Two of the walls were entirely overtaken with shelves and hundreds of pull-out trays, each labelled with their contents and meticulously organised for ease of access. The third wall was lined with a series of large pieces of machinery, of which Lima only recognised about a third of them—Beacon Academy clearly had the funds to go all in with this. The only thing he couldn't seem to see anywhere wasdust, and his hopes for quietly palming off a gravity crystal or two were dashed.

The professor was busy at his own workbench when they first arrived, dissembling something that looked like an exterior panel of an Airship. Shoulder-length dark hair, a thin, ragged beard that hung around his neck and small eyes gave them something of a disinterested once-over as they filed into the room and began milling about the space in front of the door, unsure of where they should go. Lima found himself stuck between Claire and Lux, the latter of which was shoving him into the former—he caught her around the waist with one hand, fingers digging into her hip in an attempt to stop himself from completely ramming into her.

"Lima," Claire protested. "Hands to yourself, mister."

"Tell that to the girl who's pushing me into you," Lima defended, "That's it, everybody get the hell out of my way before I start kicking asses—"

"Pick a bench; there's one for each of you," The professor said, "Whichever one you choose is the one you're responsible for—keep it clean, put all the tools back when you're finished with them, and if something breaks, fix it, or tell me if you can't."

Lima finally got some headway into the room, and Claire stopped giving him the side-eye over her shoulder. He got some distance from her in case she was feeling a bit vengeful and then staked a claim over one of the benches near the front of the room. Lima messed about for a minute, checking out all of the gear at his disposal and looking for what he'd need to make the casing for the replacement spikes.

"My name is Harold Mulberry," Harold said once they'd all settled a bit. "Welcome to Crafting and Upkeep."

The man strode around to the front of his own bench to see them better over the mass of metal obstructing his view and then nodded.

"In battle, your weapons are your only friends, forge them well, and they won't let you down," Harold said, "Fail to maintain them to an adequate standard, and you'll only be around to regret it for a little while."

Ruby was practically vibrating at her bench, hands planted on the top of it as she leaned forward.

"You have two main responsibilities in this class, and I'll be available to assist you with either if you need the help," Harold said, "The first is to perform regular maintenance on your combat gear to make sure it's all in good condition for the combat classes—that means you should be bringing both your armour and your weapons with you."

Harold crossed his arms before leaning back against his bench, the metal panel shifting slightly.

"The second is a year-long project, where you'll be creating a piece of auxiliary equipment to assist you in your goals—and while it doesn't have to havedirectcombat potential, it had better be useful," Harold advised, "That means armour, weapons, gadgets, sensor equipment, robotics, and anything else you can dream up are permitted—but something like a hair curling iron, a card shuffling machine, or a toaster is going to get failed."

The expression on the man's face was enough for Lima to guess that someone had tried at leastoneof those things in the past.

"I don't really care what you choose to make, and it's not a problem if you pull from existing designs to make something custom for yourself, but the final design should be accompanied by a blueprint and all of the resources you used to get there," Harold said, "Don't worry too much about infringing on a patent, but don't copy anything wholesale either—and I wish I didn't have to say this, but if you do copy something,don't try to sell itafterwards."

Harold directed their attention to the walls of materials and then to the machinery.

"All of this is available for you to use at your discretion, but if you find yourself in need of something more specific or that isn't so readily available, we have requisition forms in those cabinets," Harold said, pointing them out. "Fill them out with your request, and give them to me; we have a budget for that kind of thing, but there are some things it doesn't cover—there isn't a specific structure to these lessons, and how you spend your time here is largely up to you."

Harold pushed off the desk and came to stand at the front row of benches for a moment.

"If you're not so familiar with this kind of thing, you don't know how to use something, or you're worried about something going forward, come ask me," Harold said, "My job here is to help you, so don't wait around wondering if it's something you should bother me with—just come find me immediately, understand?"

There was a response from most of the class, an overlapping affirmation that they'd do just that.

"Good," Harold said, turning back around. "Talking is fine, but make sure you get your maintenance out of the way first—that's all."

Lima cut around his bench, moving to speak with the man right away, and Harold caught sight of him as he rounded his own desk.

"What do you need?" Harold asked.

"I lost some ammunition on the trip to Vale; custom retractable spikes with a gravity crystal in each one," Lima said, jerking his head back to the black box that was sitting on his workbench. "There paired to the system in my quiver, so I can retrieve them after firing—does the budget here cover dust crystals, or do I need to buy those myself?"

"Out of luck there; they don't cover dust of any kind," Harold admitted, "We can requisition it for you, though, and they'll deliver it here if you front the cost—a week is about how long it takes for stuff to arrive."

"Damn," Lima sighed. "Probably faster for me to go buy it from Vale on the weekend—thanks, sir."

"Don't mention it," Harold said.

Lima returned to his desk in defeat, mind set on building the replacement casings—he could always add the dust at a later time.

"I've never had a class like this, but it's rather hands-off," Teak said from the bench adjacent to his own. "Do you guys have any ideas for what you're going to make for the project?"

Lux spoke up, having taken the bench on Teak's right-hand side.

"No idea," Lux said, "Something to disorientate the enemy maybe—not sure what that looks like, though."

"I've decided to use three swords instead of two—that way, they can't expel me for dual wielding," Claire said, speaking up. "What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?"

Lima glanced over to his left, at the bench she'd chosen, and found her smiling at him—at least she wasn't still mad at him for the accidental grab.

"Nice," Lima said, bolstered. "Ozpin definitely hasn't thought of that."

"I don't even know what would help me in combat." Teak tried, "Maybe we can ask about what previous students have made?"

"Mechanized chopsticks and a double-sided fork," Lux suggested, "You can't fight on an empty stomach."

"I think that falls squarely in the same place as the toaster," Teak sighed. "Lima? Do you know what you're going to make?"

"A grappling hook of some kind," Lima said, scratching his chin. "Wrist mounted, maybe? I want a really long cable, so I suppose it depends on how compact I can make it."

"That sounds really cool," Teak said. "Claire, are youreallymaking a third sword?"

Claire just laughed.

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Well," Claire said, clearing her throat. "Thoughts?"

"Carrots areprobablythe worst food in all of history, but they are alsoobjectivelythe best colour." Lima said, frowning, "It honestly makes no sense; nature is weird."

Lima weathered the three odd glances he got at the comment, but he ignored them entirely, too busy pushing the singular and entirely unfortunate carrot that had somehow ended up on his plate around with his fork.

"Um, okay?" Claire said, "I meant about the classes and the teachers."

"Port is an absolute unit," Lima said, "I doubt anybody is going to be able to top Grimm Studies—that story about the Beowulf, though,Ididn't even know that they did things like that."

"I didn't either," Lux admitted, "What do you think it was trying to do to that girl?"

"It's a bit terrible to say," Teak said, hesitating. "But maybe it was saving her for later?"

"The monsters of Grimm don't eat to survive; they kill things because they enjoy causing pain," Lima said, "Maybe it wanted to torment her first, make hermorescared before it killed her."

It wasn't a nice thought, but it was the only thing he could really think of that fit, and the group fell into a momentary silence as they considered it.

"Regardless, Port definitely seems to know what he's talking about," Teak said. "I wonder what the name of that town was, the one from his story—I'd like to look it up in the library."

"That reminds me," Lima said, "Did you find anything about those ruins in the forest?"

"I looked it up on my scroll last night, but it was hard to find much about the original ruins because they're old enough to be a part of our lost history," Teak admitted, "Therewasa much more recent company outpost built out there amongst the ruins, but they never managed to get it off the ground—instead the project was abandoned, and they went with Mountain Glenn instead."

"Mountain Glenn? Didn't that place get destroyed as well?" Claire said, blinking. "What was the name of the company?"

"Merlot Industries, a company that dealt with artificial intelligence and genetics research," Teak said, "There's not much information about it now, other than the company is now defunct."

"Can't say I blame them for giving up," Lima said, "Two locations down—they must have been hemorrhaging money."

"Doctor Merlot was the company's founder and its main financial backer," Teak said, nodding. "He apparently died during the fall of Mountain Glenn, so even if they wanted to continue, they wouldn't have been able to fund the expansion."

Two destroyed facilities, and then the man goes down himself? Talk about a case of bad luck. If the Grimm had any form of higher functioning, he could almost believe it was a concentrated attempt to get rid of the guy.

"Well, if there's no information on the ruins, we could always go out there and document them ourselves," Lima said, waggling his eyebrows at Teak. "What do you say—shall we have ourselves an expedition?"

"That sounds really fun," Teak said, eyes bright. "We could take pictures of them—did you know there's supposed to be more ruins out in Forever Fall?"

"Put it on the list," Lima said, nodding.

"Explorer Teak," Claire said, giggling a bit. "We'll have to buy you one of those helmets with the lamp in them."

Teak flushed a bit at the teasing.

"My boy Teak can see in the dark, but the mental imageispretty good," Lima said, "We might have to go shopping for cosmetics items, Explorer Teak."

"You can see in the dark?" Claire said before glancing over at Lux. "That makes two of you—I just had an idea."

"Are you going to share it with us?" Lux wondered.

"No way, it's a secret," Claire insisted. "Strategic topic change—Port does expeditions of his own; aren't you interested in those, Lima?"

As far as distractions went, that was a pretty good one, so he let her get away with it.

"You bet I am—every Saturday morning, I already signed up," Lima said, "Are you guys coming?"

"Lame, I'm signing up for the Dueling Tournament," Lux said, "That's on Saturdays as well."

"The duelling tournament?" Teak asked after an odd pause. "What's that, Lux?"

The bizarre nature of his response caught Lima's attention, and he furrowed his brow for a moment.

"When does the amphitheatre open up for public sparring?" Claire asked as if on cue. "It was midday, wasn't it?"

Lima turned to look at her, the interest she was showing entirely artificial.

"You can sign up for it on your scroll, and it's open all day," Lux said, teeth showing now. "You can even choose a timeslot and challenge other people who have signed up—you can pick random as well, which will pick people based on some kind of hidden win-loss ratio."

"Am I listening to anadvertisem*ntright now?" Lima said, blinking. "Whatever this is, I demand you stop it immediately."

"Lima could do both of those things then, couldn't he?" Claire said, outright pretending that he had never spoken. "The Expedition with Port in the morning and duelling with us, his precious teammates, when he gets back?"

"Lima—maybe we should do it?" Teak said, looking apologetic. "I could really use the experience."

"You all suck," Lima complained, "What did she threaten you with?"

"I didn'tthreatenthem with anything," Lux insisted before pausing. "I bribed them."

"Rich girl," Lima accused. "Disgusting."

"Shut up," Lux said, scrunching her face up at the word. "I want a rematch."

"Teak, we can no longer live a romantic life together, and thus I will be filing for divorce," Lima said, a bit sad. "I'm taking half of the squad; you can have the sh*t half."

Teak protested the nature of a divorce when there was no marriage to precede it, but Claire just laughed out loud.

"sh*t half?" Lux demanded. "Exactly which side is the sh*t half?"

#

Lecture Hall B4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Ninety years ago, a small conflict on the east coast of Sanus ignited the fuse that would lead to the world-spanning conflict colloquially known as the Great War of Remnant," Oobleck said, voice quick, but the words precise. "I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we do not want to see a second one start within our lifetimes."

Bartholomew Oobleck seemed to have an aversion to standing still for more than a few moments, the lecture taking him all across the room as he spoke—it was something of an effort to actually follow what the man was saying because if you lost focus for even a moment, you ran the risk of being left behind entirely.

"Mantle and Mistral had already developed something of a tight-knit alliance over the course of the better part of a decade, with those of Mantle having actively assisted the settlers in gaining a foothold within the hard environments of Northern Anima," Oobleck said, "There are a few settlements there now, but the one most well known is that of Argus, and the alliance has lasted the test of time, with an Atlesian military base being maintained right there in the bay."

Lima caught Pyrrha watching him from her bench, and she smiled when they made eye contact—hearing about Argus like it was something from a history book when they'd both lived there was a sort of strange thing to experience.

"There has been much good gained from it, and the heating technology that is embedded all over Argus actually originates from Atlas, as do the hard light shielding that makes up the city defensive perimeter," Oobleck said, "In fact, there are rumours that an engineered robotic defence system has been put into place there within recent years."

Lima had heard about that as well, and it had been a popular discussion a few years back. It had mostly fallen from the public discourse, though, after several years had gone by without it being used even once.

"Mistral, in its efforts to seek more resources for the growing empire, sent forth more settlers to the islands on the east coast of Sanus, at which point they found that Vale—the predominant inhabitants of that side of the continent—had already made some strides in doing the same," Oobleck said, waving his mug at them. "Most unfortunate, of course, because neither kingdom was particularly ready to give up on what they sought—they fought over the islands, and that simple dispute soon grew much, much larger."

Lima had heard most of this at Sanctum and from Sage, and both versions of the stories had been very different. Many of the older generation—elitist pricks or otherwise—still considered those who resided on the continent of Sanus as the enemy. Lima had heard the exact same kinds of arguments at Sanctum, the children of the older families having grown up listening to their parents and grandparents parrot the same rhetoric. Sage was one of the few of his generation who'd been entirely against Mistral's decision to attack.

"Mantle was quick to come to the 'defence' of Mistral, and together, they overwhelmed Vale's presence on the east coast of Sanus, at least for the first few years of what has been named the Ten-Year-War," Oobleck said, glasses glinting in the light. "Vacuo, of course, wanted to remain neutral to the conflict, as they had no stake in the war at that point—eventually that changed, after Mantle, through their coastal settlements, began making attempts to pressgang them into joining the alliance against Vale."

Lima found it a bit odd how differently the two schools had framed the events, and it left him wondering at the sheer disparity in how most people saw the war.

"Vacuo, showing a courage most still can't fathom to this day, decided to spurn Mantle and joined forces with Vale instead, and together they pushed the enemy out of Sanus entirely," Oobleck breathed, "These battles took place on both Sanus and Anima, and at times, the sea itself, but none of the fights touched the continent of Solitas—something that they have been criticised for ever since."

Criticised for in Vale, perhaps, the Argus version of this part simply framed it as Anima and Solitas managing to 'keep the fighting from spreading even further.'

"All of it came to a violent end after the King of Vale led his army alongside the men and women of Vacuo to decimate the enemy alliance entirely," Oobleck said, "It is said that the King personally laid waste to a large portion of the enemy forces by himself, although that's more than likely a partial exaggeration—history is written by the victors, after all."

Huntsman and Huntresses had existed for a long time, in some form or another, even back then, so Lima could see the mysterious King of Vale being a particularly strong hunter, perhaps with a Semblance that made him nigh-untouchable in combat. Even if the man had been witnessed fighting off a dozen enemies, that kind of thing could quickly spiral into the legend that would become 'The Warrior King.'

"Seventy-nine years ago, the four kingdoms met on neutral grounds,Vytal, and there they were unified, deciding as a group on what would later become known as theVytal Peace Accords," Oobleck nodded once and then smiled at them. "Now that you understand the fundamental structure of theGreat Warallow me to touch upon some of the prominent issues that we will be covering throughout the year in more depth."

The man took a moment to wet his throat, sipping at his drink.

"During theGreat War, many things notable changes occurred; a very prominent one was that the number of Grimm attacks increased tenfold. War begets negativity, and each battle that was wrought amongst the kingdoms was one in which the Grimm would make themselves known," Oobleck said, "I'm sure you've all heard the termthe enemy of my enemy is my friend—this is where it was first derived, both sides of the war front would halt their battles just long enough to deal with the threat of the Grimm."

Lima couldn't help but wonder how many soldiers were killed by surprise attacks during these pauses—he doubted it was as clean-cut as the books said.

"The Grimm attacks became even more frequent when food and dust rations were implemented; feeding an army is never an easy task, and a prolonged war only compounds those issues. The dust mines of Vacuo were at maximum production capacity for a very long time, but the needs of the war machine still weren't being met." Oobleck said, shaking his head, "Within a few years, Mantle had begun to show its technological superiority, and when that technology made it into the hands of Vale, a desperate arms race began—robotics, aircraft, mechanised armours, experimental dust weapons, hard light shielding, automated defence systems—they were all developed, or improved upon during the war."

Lima recalled having a similar thought once, although it had been in response to the threat of the Grimm and not the threat of human kingdoms drawing out war for want of resources.

"As you must have guessed, the rapid advancement of technology is our first issue, but there are others to consider—I'm sure that those of you whose grandparents are still alive have heard many stories of the past," Oobleck said, studying them. "Can anybody guess at some of the other facets of society that were caught within the winds of change during this rather turbulent time?"

Half a dozen people raised their hands, and Lima wasn't surprised to see Teak amongst them.

"Mister Fawn," Oobleck said.

"Conscription, slavery, and—" Teak said, hesitating for a moment. "Faunus rights."

"Welldone, Mister Fawn," Oobleck burst out, the millisecond he'd stopped talking. "All three of those topics will be covered, and it will become quite clear that they are all heavily intertwined with one another."

Teak ducked his head at the praise, visibly startled by how fast the man had addressed him.

"Suppression of art and culture, the origin of naming conventions, the politics that helped prolong the Great War, the creation of the Academies, the Vytal Festival, the redistribution of territories, and the reclamation of land through the building of new settlements," Oobleck listed off, one after another. "Women's rights, the gifting of Menagerie, the surviving myths and what is known of our lost history—we will touch upon all of these subjects, and if you have any questions about a topic that is not being covered in our curriculum, but you believe it is related, know that I am always available outside of class hours foranyquestions or assistance, you need only ask."

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Amphitheater, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Welcome to you all," Glynda said, smiling. "I trust you've had an engaging day so far."

There was a rumbling of halfhearted responses from half a dozen places amongst the stands, but Glynda didn't seem to mind the kind of unenthusiastic response—if anything, her smile seemed to become just a little bit more genuine.

"Every single day, from three to five, you will be undergoing a wide range of different combat scenarios which will push you in a variety of different areas," Glynda said, "Sometimes it will be as individuals, other times with your partners, your teams, or even with those from other teams—because you will need to learn how to work together with a wide range of individuals in the future."

"Other teams?" Claire murmured.

"On the days in which we are in this room, you can expect some kind of duelling to take place," Glynda said, sweeping a hand out to indicate the stage itself. "These will range from light sparring to full contact, with weapons, to without, melee only, range only and other variations—the win conditions for these may switch between single strike finish, aura threshold, out of bounds, or a combination of all three."

Lima glanced over as Lux leaned forward enough that she entered his peripheral vision—she was practically vibrating in her seat at the news.

"Other rules may be implemented in an effort to emulate certain mission requirements, so be prepared for odd or unusual limitations," Glynda warned, "On the days when we are not here, you can expect the day's events to almost certainly involve a much larger combat scenario to occur—obstacles courses, multiple teams competing for singular objectives, lopsided battles with strange rules, one verse many scenarios, and many more war games that have been designed over decades to put you through your paces."

"Alright," Claire admitted, voice quiet. "Those actually sound pretty fun."

"Your scrolls will play a pivotal role in these scenarios, and it is through them that you will receive your objectives, find information about the rules, as well as track the condition of your active team," Glynda said, "If you're not already logged into the network, please do so now—the details for that can be found in your congratulatory missive."

"We're not just using the local link feature?" Lima wondered.

As if responding to his query, the monitors above the stage flickered on, a series of icons appearing as each member of the class logged onto the network. It changed again a moment later as Glynda began using her own scroll, first sorting each into a team and then switching to a randomisation selection.

"Why sort it first if it's going to be random?" Claire asked.

"Maybe she wants to avoid having members of the same team fight each other in the first class?" Teak suggested, "That might be stressful this early in the year."

"Does it have to be random?" Lux said, "I want topickmy opponent."

"Today, we'll start with something more familiar to all of you, but keep in mind that it won't always be this—vanilla," Glynda said, smiling again. "A one-on-one duel, full contact, melee only, elimination by aura threshold to thirty percent or by out of bounds."

The randomisation began to flicker through each of the profile pictures—Lux's hand went up, and Lima wondered if she was about to beg the teacher for the first fight.

"Miss Fulbright," Glynda said, "You have a question?"

"Are the fights we win here tied to the ranking for the Sparring Tournament?" Lux asked.

"No, and the reason for that will become quite apparent the further we diverge from the standard ruleset that is used there," Glynda said, nodding. "In brief, the outcome of a duelhere—for instance,one wheretwo students fightone—cannot be weighted the same as a normal duel."

Lux had already dropped her hand pretty much the moment Glynda had started talking, but the more she expanded upon it, the more the Faunus seemed to accept the explanation.

"The Sparring Tournament is a good resource I encourage you all to familiarize yourselves with, it's available here, in the Amphitheatre, on weekends, and if you seek further experience in combat, it will certainly grant you that," Glynda said, "You can challenge a specific opponent, or place yourself into the automatic pool to be scheduled to fight against someone—keep in mind that all year levels are within that pool, so you may end up matched against a much more experienced foe."

The randomiser suddenly locked in, and two faces appeared, well-illuminated and unmistakable in identity—the timing of it was too perfect for it not to have been a result of Glynda's own actions.

"Mister Fawn and Mister Winchester," Glynda said, "Please make your way down to the stage."

"Teak," Lux accused.

"I didn't get a choice," Teak said in his own defence. "I don't evenwantto fight anyone today."

"That makes it even worse," Lux insisted. "If you're going to fight, you better do it properly."

Cardin's laughter reached them as he stepped past his own teammates and into the aisle that would lead downwards. Teak pushed himself up to his feet with a slow, careful movement that made it clear enough that he didn't really want anything to do with what was about to happen—Lima caught hold of his arm as he passed by, pulling the Faunus down so he could speak into his ear.

"I've never seen him fight before, but he's big, with a lot of reach and his weapon is built for impact damage, so avoid blocking his attacks because they might go straight through," Lima said, keeping his voice quiet. "Focus on evasion, keep on his left side, and chip away at his aura by targeting his wrists and feet—and don't look so serious, man,tryto have some fun with it."

"I—will," Teak said as he pulled back up. "Thanks, Lima."

Lima watched as he slipped out into the aisle with his eyes on the ground before he disappeared down the stairs behind Cardin. Teak stepped out onto the arena floor like a man walking to his execution, and Cardin, with his mace, looked about right to be the executioner. The monitors above the stage had already shifted to show the aura of both participants beneath their names, and there was now a countdown timer between the two. Cardin's mace came to rest against his shoulder as he watched his opponent ascend to the arena, his confidence unshakable. Teak drew his sword up in front of him as he reached his own spot, and the digitized voice that belonged to the system spoke, starting the match.

The two boys stood across from each other for a long moment, apparently talking quietly amongst themselves, but the noise didn't carry beyond the confines of the stage. Teak flinched back for a moment, turning his head to the side and then down to the ground between them. Cardin stalked forward, dragging the hunk of metal up off his shoulder and into the air. Teak remained in place, his sword raising to point forward—Cardin burst forward, swinging the mace straight down, and Teak scrambled to the side in an effort to avoid it. The mace struck the ground with a crack, and then both of the boys were moving.

"You saw that, right?" Claire said. "What do you think he said?"

"Not sure," Lima admitted. "I'll ask him afterwards."

Cardin's next attack came from the right, a wide arc that was fast enough that it only missed because Teak duckedtowardshim. Cardin's attempt to choke off the momentum of his own hit left him with Teak's sword pointed at his chest, and he shifted violently sideways in an effort to avoid the thrust—Teak turned, the edge of his sword catching against the inside of his elbow, and drawing a line across his aura as Cardin continued to pull back.

"Nice," Lux said before cupping her hands around her mouth. "Go for his neck this time."

Cardin's easy confidence was gone now, replaced by visible anger, and it became pretty clear to the rest of them that he was no longer holding back. Teak's attempt to replicate his successful dodge inwards was met by a foot to the chest, and then the boy was tumbling across the arena, his sword tracing an arc away from him as it skittered over the floor.

"sh*t," Lux grunted. "It's over."

Teak scrambled to his feet, already moving back towards his weapon, but Cardin intercepted him, the head of his mace crashing into his stomach and launching him back the other way—this time, Teak didn't have the space to slow down, and he went straight off the edge of the arena, his aura gauge dropping down about twenty percent from that strike alone.

"Elimination by out-of-bounds," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Cardin Winchester."

There was scattered applause in the aftermath of the fight, and Cardin seemed to shed his anger at the noise, basking in it all. Teak headed back towards the stage, climbing back up and moving towards his lost weapon.

"Well done, that was a fantastic start to the year," Glynda said, clapping herself. "Mister Winchester, you've got a lot of strength at your disposal, but you should learn not to put the full force behindeverysingle swing, as it will leave you out of position should you miss."

Cardin rubbed at the back of his hair, clearly unhappy with the public criticism but saying nothing in response.

"Mister Fawn, although youdidmanage to land the first strike, the gap in experience between you is quite noticeable," Glynda said, nodding. "But do not be discouraged because there is much to be learned from defeat—please continue to familiarize yourself with combat."

"I will, Professor," Teak murmured. "Thank you."

"Very well," Glynda said, lifting her scroll once more. "Please return to the stands, and we shall proceed with the next match."

The monitors above reacted to her ministrations, launching into a new randomization, and before the two boys had completely left the arena, the two new competitors were already moving—Sky Lark and Blake Belladonna.

"This sucks," Lux grunted, resting her chin on the backrest of the chair in front of her. "I want to fight."

"Good fight, Teak," Claire said as he appeared at the end of their row. "You did really well—seriously."

Teak managed something that bared a vague resemblance to a smile, and the small exchange of words that followed was about as shallow and bearing none of the genuine nature Lima had come to expect from him.

"Didn't you hear me yelling?" Lux demanded. "You weresupposedto go for the—"

"Give it a rest, Lux," Claire said, throwing her arm around the taller girl's shoulder. "You're so loud."

Lux's protest was further cut off as Claire leaned more of her weight on the girl, moving to whisper in her ear and pulling her into some kind of secret conversation that left the other two completely excluded—judging by the repeated glances they were both stealing at them, Lima was pretty sure they were planning something terrible. Lima leant sideways until he was close enough to Teak's shoulder to begin their own whispered conversation.

"Teak," Lima said, voice quiet. "What did he say to you down there?"

"It doesn't really matter," Teak murmured.

Lima remained where he was, leaning against the boy's shoulder, not quite willing to leave it at that. The two of them watched Blake and Sky appear in the pit below, climbing up onto the arena and facing each other. Teak shifted a bit in his seat, before carefully turning towards him, apparently in an effort to lower his voice further.

"He was probably just trying to psych me out for the fight," Teak mumbled, "But he said that Beacon Academy was crazy for letting in beasts like me."

While Lima probably shouldn't be surprised that there were people like that outside of Anima, it was the first time he'd really heard it since escaping to Sanus—there were pricks everywhere, apparently; he just wondered why they all used the exact same lines.

"Sounds to me like you're being a bit too charitable with him," Lima said, butting the side of his head against the other boy's temple. "I'll talk to him about it later."

Teak reached up to touch where the slight contact had been made, already shaking his head at the words.

"If you say something, it will only get worse," Teak said, sounding stressed at the idea. "Don't talk to him, please."

"Teak," Lima said.

"Don't say anything," Teak repeated.

"Fine," Lima said, in a sort of tenuous agreement, "But next time he says anything, I'm going to snap my foot off in his ass."

"Don't dothateither," Teak insisted, "You'll get in trouble, and it's not worth—"

"Stop whispering to each other," Lux complained.

"You two started it," Lima said, covering his mouth with his hand. "God, she's such a gigantic fight-obsessed jackass—I bet she dumped all her points into strength and forgot entirely about charisma."

"I can hear you," Lux hissed.

"Make up your damn mind," Lima accused, "Should I whisper or not?"

"No more whispering because it's starting to makemenervous," Claire decided, eyeing them both for a moment. "You two aredone, right?"

"You two aredone, right?" Lima parroted, still covering his mouth. "Just how smug can you get? Teak, you should punch her in the chest again—"

Teak straightened up in his seat, the mention of his earlier transgression dragging him out of his funk as he attempted to muffle him with his hand. Claire seemed like she was trying pretty hard to maintain her affected glare, but her lips were losing the battle.

"Idiot," Lux insisted, "Just shut up already; the fight is starting."

Lima surrendered to the group, hands held up in feigned exasperation, and Teak gave him a final shove to make sure his displeasure was known before turning back to the stage below—the first thing Lima noticed was that Sky Lark was already having some serious trouble with his opponent. Despite the range advantage that the boy's height and the massive glaive he was wielding gave him, he couldn't seem to keep Blake from closing on him. Part of it was because she was visibly much, much faster than Sky was, but her method of attack was also far less straightforward.

Lima watched as her foot twisted against the unyielding stage; she shifted her weight forward before bursting out at an angle that left the incoming attack to pass through empty air—her footwork put her parallel to the larger boy, and then she spun, the short black blade raking across both of his legs, one after another as she passed him by. The aura gauge hovering below Sky's smiling picture dropped significantly, the prolonged contact of the slash and the two consecutive points of impact causing something of a critical hit. Sky twisted violently, dragging his long weapon inwards before lashing out at her before she could land another strike, but once again, she shifted back out of his maximum range and continued her attempts to circle him.

"She'sgood," Lux said, leaning forward once more. "He's not bad, but he's being too timid now."

Sky's body languagewastense now, probably realising that his opponent was far more skilled than he'd originally assumed. Cardin called something out, but Lima couldn't quite hear it over the sounds of the surrounding cheers. Lima kept an eye on her footwork as she continued her wide arcs around the stage—it was all smooth, unhurried, and her pace remained unbroken.It wasn't a one-off strategy she'd just come up with to counter the boy's increased range; she wasusedto fighting in this way. There were some vague similarities he could see in how they fought, the attempts for her to come in at odd angles, the sudden shifts in approach to throw off her opponent—and how quickly she retreated when Sky tightened up his defences.

"She's not going in anymore?" Lux said, frowning. "She's better than him—what's she scared for?"

"It's not that she's scared—it's more like she's not used to fighting in a flat, empty area," Lima said, studying the stage for a moment. "See how she keeps widening her arc? She's moving in a way to break line of sight, but there's nothing touse."

"Yeah," Claire said, tilting her head. "She's searching for the perfect opportunity to attack, but because he's switched to complete defence, she can't approach without risking being punished."

"Does that mean she's going to lose?" Teak asked.

"No, one of them will switch things up eventually," Lima said, watching the ebb and flow of the fight. "Either Sky will realise that—scratch that, Blake will try a feint to lure out an attack and then counter."

The abrupt change in her footwork made it pretty obvious that Blake was going to attack, and when her arc suddenly cut inwards, Sky lunged forward, the blade of his weapon leading the way—Blake stopped on a dime, her own weapon swinging outwards, the black ribbon extending as she let more of it loose. Sky gave a cry of surprise as he found his own weapon outranged and barely managed to limbo underneath the arc of the blade-turned-kusarigama. Blake twisted underneath the now flailing glaive, the pole of the weapon brushing over her shoulder as she passed beneath it. Blake continued straight on past, tangling Sky in the black ribbon, yanking him up off the ground and off the edge of the stage.

"Awesome," Lux insisted.

"Elimination by out-of-bounds," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Blake Belladonna."

There was a series of cries from her teammates at the win, and most of the class clapped along with them—the notable exceptions being Cardin Winchester and Russel Thrush. Dove Bronzewing didn't seem to want to share in his teammate's jeers and demands for a rematch, instead simply clapping along with the rest of them.

"Wow," Teak said, raising his voice a little bit so they could actually hear him. "That was so sudden."

"She doesn't even look phased by it either," Claire said, "It's all easy for her, huh? Totally cool."

Lima waved a hand to get their attention before holding it up in front of his face.

"For Sky, it waseverything," Lima said, clenching his fist. "But forher, it was just a Lark."

Lima waggled his eyebrows at them, and there was a terrible, terrible pause as the other three let the pun wash over them—Teak carefully reached up and pressed his clenched fist back down, quietly shaking his head as if in pain.

"I hate you," Lux admitted. "I really do."

"Sobad," Claire agreed.

"You all suck," Lima complained. "Badly—all your future husbands have said so, terrible form."

"Lima," Teak protested. "You can'tsaythat."

Lima weathered the immediate chastisem*nt the comment brought from the three of them and rubbed at his arm where Claire had punched him—his aura had made it a nonfactor, but the theatricsmattered.

"A perfect duel, Miss Belladonna," Glynda said, raising her voice to address them. "Your footwork is exceptional, and your use of strategy here was quite impressive—you even managed to avoid taking any damage from your opponent."

"Thank you," Blake said with a faint smile. "Can I return to my seat?"

"Please do—Mister Lark, your switch to defencewasa good decision, and your skills there are quite refined," Glynda said, nodding. "However, remainingcompletelymotionless, and leaving your opponent entirely unpressured for a significant amount of time, gave them all the time they needed to solve the fight."

"I get it," Sky admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. "That was pretty stupid, I guess."

"I wouldn't consider it stupid, but something you can simply learn from," Glynda corrected, "Please return to the stands, and we can move on to the next fight."

Blake started to look a bit frazzled as Yang, Weiss, and Ruby crowded her once she'd reseated herself. The randomizer kicked into high gear again before locking in the next fight, and Lima began to wonder if it was really random at all because it was the third time in a row that a member of Team Cardinal had been called up to fight.

"Lie Ren and Dove Bronzewing," Glynda said, "If you'd please make your way down to the stage."

"Battle of the birds?" Claire wondered.

"It's about time we sorted out thepeckingorder around—hey," Lima cried as Teak attempted to muffle him again. "You can't just—"

"Shush," Teak said, eyeing him. "That's an order."

"That's more like it," Lux said, impressed. "Rough him up a bit, so he knows what happens if he resists."

Claire laughed out loud at the comment.

"Another successful arrest, Officer Teak," Claire said, joining in. "Expect the bonus payment to be wired straight to your account."

Lima crossed his arms before slumping down in his chair, outwardly deflating under the combination assault. The two fighters stepped up onto the stage at the same time, a quiet conversation occurring between them that the rest of the amphitheatre wasn't able to hear. The two boys were oddly matched in composure, both of them sharing an—at least outwardly—indisturbable calm. Ren had a pair of matching pistols in his hands, both of them bright green and with a large blade curving out from underneath each. The fact that he was retaining his firing grip on the pistols and that he wasn't attempting to shift them into a different configuration likely meant that it possessed no other melee form. Dove, on the other hand, had a dark-coloured sword that was split in the middle, a barrel poking out into view—the fight began without much build-up.

It became immediately clear that the two of them were both close-range combatants, they were highly skilled, and that they were far, far more evenly matched than the other two battles. Dove's sword struck out in a series of chest-level stabs, concentrating his attack on the one location and forcing Ren to slowly retreat from the assault. Ren showed no outward sign that he was being pressured, simply retreating without complaint, deflecting each of the attacks away—Lima couldn't help but notice that each time he did it, the barrel of the pistols was lining up perfectly with his opponent's head and chest.

Dove seemed to notice it because each of his own strikes was preceded by a shift in the sword to place it between the barrel and himself—it left Lima wondering how the fight would have progressed if they'd been able to use projectiles as well. In astartlingmovement, Ren slid his foot forward and to the side, intercepting Dove'sownstep and destabilising his footing entirely. Dove's attack went wide as Ren deflected it to the side with his left pistol, and then the right one came up, drawing a line across his aura from his right hip to his left shoulder.

"Nice," Lima said, sitting forward a bit. "That guy is the best fighter so far."

"What? There's nowayhe did that on purpose," Lux said, frowning. "He was just the first one to recover from the collision."

"Hard disagree," Lima said, keeping his eyes on them both. "He was movingbackwardsat an angle; that sudden change was completely out of sync with the pattern of his footwork—watch his feet for a second."

"Iamwatching it," Lux insisted.

Ren worked his way backwards, deflecting each strike and shifting to the side every couple of steps in order to avoid being pushed out of the centre of the stage. At no point did he move forward, but hewasattacking; each time Dove's sword was caught on his blade, Ren'sotherone would come in at an opposing angle and force him to pull back on his strike in order to deflect it.

"He can't follow through on anything," Claire said, miming out one of the exchanges with two knife hands. "Ren's only doing counters, though; he's not—oh."

Dove went to capitalise on what looked like a weakened position, and once again, he found his footwork interrupted—and this time, Ren struck out three times in quick succession, the first one deflected the sword out wide, the last two cut an evanescent cross in the middle of his chest.

"Damn it," Lux said, "Heactuallydid it on purpose?"

"Elimination by aura threshold," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Lie Ren."

"That wasamazing," Teak said. "They're both so good—I can't evenimaginefighting either of them."

"They both would have beaten me, for sure," Claire admitted in agreement. "I'm just not that fast."

In a display of impressive sportsmanship, Dove clapped Ren on the shoulder, and the two boys walked down the stairs together, apparently returning to their quiet conversation. Once they'd reached to the stands, Glynda addressed them both.

"That was a phenomenal display of close-quarters combat; you must have both worked exceedingly hard to have refined your skills to that level," Glynda said, visibly impressed. "I'd like to see both of you compete against another opponent before I offer any critique—well done."

Ren ducked his head in thanks for the praise while Dove actually spoke up.

"That whole fight wasexceedingly hardwork," Dove said, "Perhaps I can fight someone easier next time."

Glynda let out an amused hum at the words but said nothing in response as the two boys returned to their respective teams. The randomizer caught the attention of everyone in the room once more, flicking through the remaining competitors—

"Oh," Claire said, blinking. "It's my turn."

"We don't know if Teak told anyone about your weakness," Lima advised, "Keep your guard up; say about chest level—gah—"

Claire shoved his head back into the chair and held it there as she shifted past him, sliding her way to the aisle. Ruby popped up out of her seat to land on the railing, arms windmilling for a second as she caught her balance.

"Wish me luck, team," Ruby beamed before jumping straight down into the arena. "Let's go—"

The mixture of low-energy, high-energy, and outraged reproach she received from her teammates followed her down as the girl's scarf flapped against the railing before it was dragged out of sight.

"Good luck, Claire," Teak called, cupping his hands over his mouth. "You can do it."

Claire glanced over at them with a smile as she crested the stairs and then gave a little wave as she approached Ruby's position on the stage.

"They're both from Signal, aren't they?" Lima said, "Claire said something like that?"

"Yang and Claire were in the same year," Teak said, "But Ruby is two years younger than them both."

"Really," Lima said, tilting his head. "How did she get into Beacon Academy two years early?"

He hadn't even beenawarethat the four academies even allowed early enrollment—else he would have attempted to join up two years earlier, and then he'd have been pretty damn close to having his Huntsman License already.

"Twoyears?" Lux said, "I bet she's super strong."

Lima couldn't really get a read on whether or not that was true, at least not by just looking at her—she seemed almost entirely unable to stand still as she waited for the timer to tick down, bouncing up and down on her feet and flailing her massively disproportionately sized weapon around. Claire looked far more composed, standing across from her, the two swords out and her stance low—

"Elimination by out-of-bounds," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Ruby Rose."

Ruby reappeared in a burst of petals, sliding to a stop beside the very edge of the stage and almost toppling over the side as Claire managed to catch herself before she crashed into the wall below the stands.

"What was that?" Teak managed. "I didn't even see her move."

"That was a speed-based Semblance," Lux said, sounding a bit off. "One that leaves petals behind her as she moves? I—didn't catch the actual attack."

"A straight-line sprint to a double kick," Lima said, replaying it in his mind. "There was something off about that landing, though, like her momentum was still pulling her in the wrong direction—I wonder if she has trouble controlling herself at that speed."

Claire carefully pulled herself up off the ground, swords trailing after her as she straightened up—the look on her face equal parts stricken and unsure. Ruby leapt off the stage to land beside her, already happily chatting away with her defeated opponent, and Claire seemed to struggle to pull a visibly strained smile onto her face.

"Without forewarning, that would be almost impossible to avoid unless you were already moving," Lux said, chewing on the tip of her thumb. "Thenagain,if you went for a sideways evasion themomentyou saw petals, you'd have enough time to get out of the way andthencounter—"

"She looks upset," Teak said, shifting a bit in his seat. "I—don't think Ruby has noticed."

"Losing is never fun, but it is what it is," Lima offered, "Best not to let her dwell on it—you get it?"

There was a small pause—the sound of Lux's twelve-step-programme on how she was going to go about defeating Ruby if she was ever in the exact same scenario crashing over them both—before he replied.

"Distracting her—like what you both did with me?" Teak said after a moment. "That's what you mean."

"Caught me, huh?" Lima wondered.

"A rather unexpected end to the battle, but a well-executed ambush is certainly a valid tactic-please keep in mind that attempting such a thing again will likely result in limited success," Glynda said upon their return. "As this was supposed to be an assessment of your overall combat skills, starting off by revealing a trump card is—ill-advised, to say the least."

"Aha," Ruby said, wincing a bit. "I totally knew that—I was just—youknow."

"Of course," Glynda said as if it was the most reasonable explanation in the world. "I look forward to seeing a more—comprehensive—expression of what you can both do in the future."

"Sure," Claire said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "Next time."

Claire kind of slipped away from the Professor, moving back in their direction, and then Lux drew in a sudden sharp breath—Lima glanced back at her, then followed her gaze up to the monitors. Lux's face stared out at them from above, right beside the smiling face of one Pyrrha Nikos.

"Yes," Lux breathed. "Move, idiot."

Lima fended off her attempt to copy Claire's special face-palm technique, and he managed to trip her as she scrambled out into the aisle. Teak gave a squeak as Lux just about neutered him in the process of stopping her fall, but she was out into the aisle a moment later, and without even looking back, her eyes locked onto the back of Pyrrha's head as the tall girl stood up. Claire took the safest course of action in getting out of the way and waiting until she had passed before sliding into the row of seats. Lima moved down a seat to open up the one between him and Teak before kicking his legs up onto the back of the one ahead of him, blocking off the rest of the row.

"You're going to do something weird; I can tell by the look on your face," Claire said, dropping down into the seat between them. "Thank god this is the last class—I'msodone with today."

"Wow," Lima said, a bit impressed. "I hadn't even figured out what I was going to do yet."

"Claire," Teak said, "Are you okay?"

"Abort, abort," Lima advised, with a noise like a crackling radio. "We're trying todistracther—you're going completely off script, Officer Teak."

"It's fine," Claire sighed, "Yangtoldme her sister was strong, but—I thought we'd at least get to fight; she destroyed me."

"I don't think there's a person in this room that would have been prepared for that—except for Yang, obviously," Lima said, dropping his imaginary radio. "Want to hear a funny story?"

"That depends," Claire said, sagging in her seat. "Will it make me feel better about our entire class seeing me get one-tapped?"

"You bet it will," Lima said, watching as Pyrrha split off from her team to head for the stairs. "My guardian always used to bring people over after class finished—Huntsmen and Huntresses that he knew from work—and then have them spar with me."

Lux crested the stairs of the stage, her glaive already in hand and her teeth bared in an anticipatory smile.

"It was supposed to help me learn how to fight against different styles of combat because most of my experience came from fighting one person with a pretty particular style," Lima said, tilting his head from side to side. "Near the end of last year, he introduced me to a Huntress that I'd never seen before, and I was doing pretty well against my opponents at that point—so I went into it with the singular intention of kicking her ass to reclaim my honour, and heal myrepeatedlybruised ego."

Pyrrha made it to the stage and began climbing the stairs, adjusting her shield as she went.

"What happened?" Claire said, looking a little bit interested in where it was going. "It was a fully trained Huntress, right? So you got squashed?"

"I gotobliterated, but it wasn't because she was some kind of combat god or that I couldn't keep up with her," Lima said, trying to defend himself a bit. "I was beingsupercareful because I didn't know what she could do—and then I saw it, theperfectopportunity to take her down."

"Oh no," Teak said.

"It was a trap," Claire guessed.

Lima gave a kind of wounded breath at the word—it was like he wasbackthere, right now, experiencing the horror all over again.

"It was the single mostawesomeattack I'd ever pulled off in a live spar, but theexactmoment I landed it, I found myself paralysed from head to toe," Lima said, clutching at his own face. "So I'm lying there on the ground, in thisstupidposition, face down in the dirt with my ass stuck up in the air, and my arms fully extended like I'm diving off a god damnedspringboard—and then the old bastard startslaughing at me—"

Lima flushed a bit at the memory of it and then flapped a hand at Teak in an attempt to dispel the boys giggling—even Claire seemed to be having trouble keeping her composure.

"Anyway," Lima said, clearing his throat. "The moral of the story is that you can't plan for everything, and sometimes you're going to get ambushed by a soulless woman who has pretty hair—"

"That doesn't sound right," Claire asked, outright smiling now. "Are you sure the moral of the story wasn't 'be careful of sticking your ass up into the air?'"

"Yes, thank you for the insight,Claire," Lima accused, "But I think I know the moral of myownstory."

"I'm just saying," Claire said, covering her mouth with her hand. "It fits."

Lima turned his nose up at her, before swinging back around to face the arena, just in time for the countdown to hit zero—surprisingly enough,Pyrrhawas the first one to move. Lux started towards her a moment later, and the two of them clashed with a grinding noise of metal on metal as the blade of the glaive cut across the shield before it was deflected wide. Pyrrha struck twice, her sword striking the pole of the glaive as Lux desperately pulled it inwards for a block. The second slash barely missed its mark as the blonde girl dragged herself backwards and out of the way. Pyrrha dove forward to chase her target down as Lux sought to reestablish her preferred range of attack; the glaive curved inwards—the unfortunate angle of which looked like it had bled off most of the force—and was caught against the much shorter sword.

Despite Pyrrha having the far superior position to win the deflection again, the glaive pushed through it—and Lima realised that she was using her Semblance to increase the weight of the blade to make up for the poor positioning. Pyrrha reacted near instantly, twisting under the glaive's path, completing a blistering spin that brought her back up on the other side, and slammed her shield straight into the other girl's shoulder. Lux stumbled backwards with a bright laugh that carried all the way across the amphitheatre as she attempted a similar move, spinning as she retreated to build up momentum and then lashing out in a series of arcing strikes that Pyrrha had to evade, deflect, and then block respectively.

By the fourth consecutive attack, Pyrrha had figured out how to deal with it because she stepped into the next one, shifting under the first and catching the pole of the weapon on the edge of her shield—her sword struck forward and up at an angle, crashing into Lux's chest hard enough to lift her off her feet. Pyrrha's sword suddenly extended, hitting her a second time, and then her shield was thrown upwards a moment later, aiming to smash into the exact same spot—but Lux suddenly dropped out of the air without warning, hitting the stage feet first, and hard enough to crack the surface.

The shield continued on, unimpeded, hitting the ceiling of the arena and ricocheting off into the stands—Glynda flicked her wrist, the black riding crop whipping outwards, and the shield halted in mid-air about a foot from Weiss's desperately raised hands. Lux's instant recovery gave her a moment of opportunity in which she attempted to hit her opponent in the face with the butt of her weapon, but Pyrrha managed a last-moment block with her sword, bracing the flat of her blade with her other hand. Lux pressed forward, attempting to overwhelm her through her better position and what must have been the increasing weight of her glaive—and then Pyrrha shifted her block slightly before the sword extended into its javelin form. The hilt of the weapon smacked into Lux's face with an audible crack, her aura flaring up in response to the solid connection.

Pyrrha wasgood, and in a pure melee, he very much doubted there were many people their age that could hope to contest her there. While shewasfast, and her reflexes were clearly honed to a high degree, it wasn't really either that appeared to be her primary strength—it was thepaceshe set. Every exchange, every attack, every feint and counter were all linked together, flowing smoothly from one to the next, and there was no hesitation in her movements—it spoke of someone who'd practised those chainsthousandsof times. The changes in attack range that her sword-to-javelin form provided was just another layer on top of it all, a sudden shift that the opponent had to be ready to contend with at a moment's notice. Where a fighter like Ren was looking for the perfect moment to turn the tide in their favour, or Cardin who used his superior build and reach to dominate his opponent—Pyrrha had already decided how the fight would go, and the moment it started, shedraggedher opponent along that predetermined path, forcing them to follow her until they inevitably failed to keep up.

"Elimination by aura threshold," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Pyrrha Nikos."

Half the people in the room stood up, calling out and cheering the spectacle of it all, but even with the noise, he couldstillhear Lux's voice over it all.

"Damn it, damn it,damn it—" Lux cried out, "I want a rematch."

Whatever heropponent'sresponse to the outburst was, he couldn't quite hear it—but still, maybe Lux would start fixating on defeatinghernow and stop challenginghimto a fight every ten minutes. Pyrrha's errant shield was summarily hot-potatoed up to where Jaune, Nora and Ren were sitting, and when the two fighters actually returned to the stands, Glynda started another round of applause.

"Brilliant," Glynda said, visibly pleased. "A brilliant showcase of skill from you both—I'd like you both to stay after class is finished for a brief discussion; I'll offer my critique at that time."

"Thank you, Professor," Pyrrha said, smiling. "I'll make certain I stay behind."

Lux just gave an affirmative grunt, her face scrunched up at the outcome, but Glynda seemed to accept it for what it was. Lima gave a squawk of startled protest as Claire poked him in the ribcage, the slight pressure enough to send a spark of sensation up his spine—he smacked her hand away before covering the area with his own in an attempt to squash the feeling.

"What are you playing at?" Lima demanded. "That's mysecretspot."

"You're up next," Claire said, raising an eyebrow at his reaction. "To fight, I mean."

Lima glanced up at the monitors above and blinked as he recognized his own face up there. Right beside it was the grinning face of Nora Valkyrie, whose real-life counterpart jumped up to her feet to point at the picture in surprise.

"It'sme," Nora insisted. "Butbigger."

"Professor Bestwitch, I am humbly requesting permission to surrender," Lima tried, raising his voice so Glynda could hear it. "I do not even possess a melee weapon in which to engage in this most honourable of duels—I fear that my bowmayeven break when I smack my opponent over the head with it."

Teak let out a tortured sigh at the words, sinking down into his seat to avoid all the attention that had suddenly come upon them.

"Stopcallingher that." Weiss cried, "Youdisrespectful—"

"Then you'll have to fight without a weapon," Glynda said, not even looking up from her scroll. "I wish you the best of luck."

"Damn it," Lima complained. "Worth a try."

"Get up and fight, dumbass," Lux demanded, dragging him up out of his seat before pulling him in the direction of the stairs. "You're supposed to be taking this seriously—"

"But I don'twantto fight Nora," Lima whined, attempting to dig his heels into the smooth floor and finding no real purchase. "She's got a giant weapon, and I don'thaveone."

Lima yelped as she attempted to heave him straight down the stairs, but he managed to get a hand underneath himself, catching it flat on the fourth step, tipping backwards, and up to his feet on the seventh.

"You can use mine," Lux said, visibly annoyed. "Here—"

Lima made no attempt to take the offered weapon; instead, he twisted his face up into a picture of confusion.

"A pointystick?" Lima said, "I can't be seen using something likethat—it was a joke—ajoke."

Lima fled down the steps to avoid Lux's attempt to deplete his aura gauge before the fight even began. When he did make it down to the pit, he did a quick check to make sure she hadn't followed him down, but she was still standing at the top of the stairs, glaring at him—safe. Nora was already up on the stage, the long handle of her maul resting against her shoulder while the head of the massive weapon sat on top of her foot, balanced there as she swung it from side to side. Lima took his sweet time climbing the stairs to the stage itself, revelling in the boos and jeers that followed his ridiculously slow pace. He didn't really know much about Nora other than she was perhaps the most energetic person in their class—and by far the shortest, even when considering both Teak and Ruby.

Unlike the slender builds of the other two, she was stocky, and he couldseethe defined musculature through the uncovered sections of her outfit. If that wasn't enough to tell him that she was possessed by great strength, the ease by which she toyed with her massive weapon made up the difference. All the force of her attacks would be centred on the end of the hammer, and with the length of the handle, she would be able to capitalise on the artificial reach to generate even more force—by the time his foot touched the top step, he'd more or less worked out how he was going to deal with her.

"I finally made it," Lima panted. "I wasn't sure I could do it."

Nora kicked the head of her hammer up into the air, the weapon rotating around until she snatched it by the handle—it came to a stop, pointed directly at him.

"Exactly how many stairs do you think there are?" Nora accused. "It's almosttomorrow."

"I was hoping you would fall asleep," Lima said, "That way, I could roll you out of the ring without having to actually fight."

"I'd totally wake up," Nora bragged. "I'm a super light sleeper."

"That's a lie," Jaune called, his raised voice cutting through all the chatter. "A really,reallybig lie."

The timer was already halfway gone—apparently, Glynda had decided to start it the moment he'd stepped onto the stage rather than allow him to waste more time crawling over to the centre.

"Are you really not going to use a weapon?" Nora said, frowning a bit. "This kind of seems unfair."

"You could always surrender in protest?" Lima suggested. "Refusing to beat up a poor, unarmed boy would show a depth of character thatmighteven impress Bestwitch."

Nora glanced up as the timer hit zero, seemingly thinking about it for a moment.

"Nah," Nora decided, "I think I'll just mercy squash you instead."

"That's really kind of you," Lima sighed, "I'll try not to move around much—make it fast, would you?"

The jeers from the stands continued—most of which seemed to be coming from the odd combination of Team Cardinal, Yang, and Lux. Nora slipped her grip on the hammer until she was holding it near the end of the pole and then burst forward with a battle cry of 'honourable squash.' Lima remained where he was until she'd committed fully to the attack's massive swipe—and then he burst forward at the last moment. He caught hold of the handle—less than an inch away from her own grip—and then smashed his right palm flat against her belly. Nora stumbled backwards from the completely unexpected hit, but there wasn't even enough force behind it to really get a response from her aura. In an effort to regain her balance, her left leg swept out behind her and left her facing him from a side-on position. Lima let the head of the hammer swing downwards, shifted his grip on the handle, and then added to the force of its upswing, bringing it completely upright to rest on his shoulder in a mockery of Cardin's earlier pose.

"This thing is pretty heavy," Lima said, impressed. "You seriously carry this around with you?"

"You give thatbackthis instant," Nora said, aghast. "Wait a minute—Magnhild, no—"

The hammer slid across the stage with a grinding noise of metal on stone as he tossed it away, and Nora threw herself into a desperate dive in a last-ditch effort to catch hold of it before it could go over the edge. Nora landed flat on her belly by the edge of the stage, the very tip of the handle in her grasp—at which point, he planted his foot against her hip and rolled her off the edge.

"Elimination by out-of-bounds," The digitized voice spoke, "Winner, Lima Morta."

Lima hopped off the edge of the stage and then stumbled to the side as Nora shoved him out of the way on her way back to her feet.

"You rolled me off the edge," Nora accused. "I'll never,everforgive you for this, not for as long as I live."

"Ifyou give up on your lifetime of revenge," Lima said, holding up a finger. "I'll buy you anentirecake to eat at your complete discretion."

Nora seemed to be overcome with a terrible, terrible indecision, and then after a long moment, she cleared her throat.

"Chocolate?" Nora clarified.

"Doublechocolate," Lima said, upping the ante.

He knew exactly where he would be ordering it from as well because there had been an adorable little bakery near the hotel he'd stayed in when he first got to Vale—andthey did deliveries.

"You're evil," Nora observed.

"Ontologically," Lima agreed.

"I don't knowwhatthat means, but I accept your offer," Nora said, scrunching her face up. "Can I have chocolate chips on top?"

Hewouldhave a bit of money to spend when Lux finally got around to paying him for the bet they'd made—so why the heck not?

"Ofcourse,you can," Lima said, "It wouldn't be a cake without them."

Their return to the stands was met with far less applause than the previous match; in fact, the only person who seemed to be clapping was Nora, and he didn't really think that counted.

"Miss Valkyrie, I should stress that you should be far less trusting of your opponents in the future, but I believe you have already learned that lesson," Glynda said, raising an eyebrow. "I must say, you look remarkably chipper for someone who just experienced a rather unfortunate loss."

"A loss is just an opportunity to learn and improve," Nora said, nodding at her own words. "A wise girl once said that—it was me."

"It wasPyrrhathat said that," Jaune said, bemused. "That was like fifteen minutes ago at most."

"I wasthinkingit," Nora defended.

"Mister Morta—that was an impressively decisive counter," Glynda said, "Was that a spur-of-the-moment decision when you realised you couldn't talk her out of it, or something you intended from the start?"

There were far too many people watching for him to feel comfortable answering that truthfully, so he just reached up to scratch at his cheek.

"I wasgoingto let her knock me off the stage, but I started to panic when she actually got close," Lima said, "I guess she left herself open because I said I wasn't going to attack—pretty lucky, huh?"

"I suppose so," Glynda said, eyeing him for a moment. "Very well, you may both return to your seats."

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The Dining Hall was almost completely full by the time they actually started serving dinner, and the long queue of early birds stretched halfway across the room. Lima remained slumped down in his chosen seat, chin on his arm, and waited for the others to return. Claire sat across from him, eyes flittering about the room as she busied herself with investigating the many students of Beacon Academy. Lux and Teak had already lined up in their stead, a promise to bring a tray of food back for each of them.

"Everyone here is so pretty," Claire said, her palm pressed against her cheek as she leaned on the tabletop. "Look atthatgirl, geez—it's making me look average by comparison."

"Claire," Lima said, shaking his head against his arm. "There's no one in the world that would mistakeyoufor beingaverage—"

Claire straightened up a bit at the words, actually turning to look back at him in something like surprise.

"—because you're a median, at best," Lima said, waggling his eyebrows. "No?"

"No, you jackass," Claire snorted. "That was actually really sweet—right up until you ruined it."

"It's what I do," Lima agreed, "What do you think of Beacon so far?"

Claire brought both of her hands together in front of her, fingers interlocking with one another as she considered the question.

"I—love it already; there are just so manypeoplehere," Claire said, "Signal was nice, but it'swaysmaller in comparison."

Lima watched as she started to massage one specific spot on her hand, content to listen to her vocalise her thoughts.

"Everyone here is a Huntsman or a Huntress—in training, I suppose, for students like us—and there are no regular people," Claire said, "You can see it, just in the way they all walk, and the sheer confidence everyone seems to have—it makes me wonder what brought them all here."

It was obvious enough that she wasn't talking about the surface level—that they had decided to be a Huntress or a Huntsman and thus enrolled at Beacon Academy—but in more of anindividualsense.

"I suspect everyone here has a pretty good reason for being here, although it's probably pretty personal for each of them," Lima said, speaking up. "Are you going to start polling them?"

"Think they would answer if I did?" Claire wondered.

"Some of them might, but I suppose it would depend on who you actually asked," Lima guessed. "Wouldyouanswer a question like that?"

Claire said nothing to the question, returning to her people-watching, but he couldn't help but notice that her thumb was pressing deep into her hand now—an unconscious sign of discomfort, maybe? It left him wondering about her own reason for coming here, considering that was probably what was driving her curiosity about everyoneelse—a tray clacked down in front of his face, deposited without care as Lux dropped down into the seat beside him. Teak had already rounded the table, and with far more care, he placed the two trays he was carrying down onto the tabletop.

"What are we talking about?" Lux asked, already chewing on something. "Is it interesting?"

"We weretalkingabout our thoughts on the first day at Beacon Academy," Claire said, with what Lima was starting to think was a façade of a smile. "What do you guys think?"

"Bestwitch has the best class," Lux said, taking up the nickname in a show of solidarity. "The rest are boring—Port is less boring than the others."

"Wrong way around," Lima complained, staring at his food without much interest. "Port is the best by far."

"I really like Professor Oobleck," Teak admitted, "History was already my favourite class, though, so I think I'm biased towards him."

The three of them all turned to look at Claire, and the silver-haired girl hummed at the attention.

"Mulberry was pretty chill," Claire said, adding her own choice to the pile. "The whole hands-off thing is super cool."

"A four-way split, huh?" Lima wondered. "How are we going to decide which classes to skip?"

"We're not skipping any classes," Teak said, alarmed. "Lima."

"That was what you asked them to get, wasn't it?" Claire asked, nodding at his tray. "Not hungry anymore?"

"I have no energy left, thus, I cannot muster the will to eat." Lima admitted, "I'm stuck."

"You should try to eat," Teak said, furrowing his brow. "Come on—don't close your eyes; you'll fall asleep."

"I'm fading," Lima decided, "This is the end—stop—you're getting it on my face—Lux—"

"I can't fight a corpse," Lux said, continuing her attempts to push his head down towards the tray. "Eat."

Lima managed to find the energy to fight his way free, but when he considered laying his head back down, she made another attempt to get him. With a grunt of annoyance, he picked up his fork and then stabbed it into the largest strip of chicken on his plate before biting the end off it.

"Better," Lux said, "Chew."

He muttered something that didn't make much sense, even to himself, and went through the mechanical motions of chewing his food, his fork already seeking out its next target—that was enough to get Lux to turn her attention back to her own meal, and by then he was at least alittlebit invested in eating so he found the willpower to keep on going.

"History sounds like the hardest class," Claire said, the tip of her fork pressed against her bottom lip. "All those topics he listed off—do you think he's going to make us write essays on all of them?"

"Probably, there was an instructor at Oscuro that had afetishfor making us write persuasive essays—it was actually a pretty fun class," Lux said, "He didn't even really seem to care about the topic or the research itself, but youhadto convince him ofsomethingby the end of it."

Lima managed to sit up properly, wondering if the chicken had actually managed to bolster his energy so quickly or if it was simply a placebo effect of having consumed it.

"That sounds really cool," Teak said, impressed. "Did you like writing them?"

"We got to pick the topic sometimes," Lux said, sounding a bit cagey. "I liked writing essays forthoseones."

"Really?" Teak said, smiling with genuine interest. "What topics did you like to write about?"

A splash of red seemed to rise up her neck, and for the first time, Lux seemed to shy away from something.

"Essays are dumb," Lux insisted. "Let's talk about something else."

Teak visibly deflated at the rejection, and Lux kind of shrunk back in turn, moving her attention entirely to her food. Lima deduced that something was afoot—namely, that as the day grew long, each of them was flagging, and they were all starting to clash.

"I'm going to sleep as soon as I get back to the dorm," Lima said, affecting a yawn for good measure. "Lux—make sure to tell us all about your essay on boy love tomorrow."

"Idon't—" Lux said, startled. "You haven't finished eating—get back here."

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima came awake well before his alarm had a chance to go off, his early retirement the night before probably playing the largest part in it. He immediately noted how much more rested he actually felt as well, the distance between him and theVale Limited, along with the return to something approaching his normal routine, energising him. Claire's scroll dangled precariously off the side of her bed, about an inch off the floor, still tethered to the set of headphones that remained snugly on her sleeping head. He'd made true to his promise of going straight to sleep, so he hadn't really seen them come back in, but seeing the headphones she'd mentioned the day before made him wonder. Lux was once again in a bizarre position; her pillow clamped flat between both of her feet and her hands linked on her stomach, the entire thing looking like some kind of experimental perspective piece featuring a monk. Teak actually had his eyes open, and upon making eye contact, he managed to struggle up into a sitting position to rub at his face.

"Day two begins," Lima said in greeting. "You up for it?"

"I think so," Teak murmured. "Is it time to get up?"

"We've still got fifteen minutes, but now is as good a time as any," Lima said, slipping out of bed. "Want to start early and then tell Lux we used up all the yoga before she got there?"

"That's mean," Teak said. "Lima, did we decide to move sparring back to after Professor Goodwitch's class?"

"Ithinkthat was the general consensus," Lima admitted, "May as well use the time the instructors picked for it rather than overload the mornings and then look like slackers in the afternoon."

"That means I have to waitallday to do anything fun," Lux complained, apparently awake. "What a hassle."

"Lux, thankgod," Lima tried. "We used up all the yoga, and now we don't know how to—"

"I was awake," Lux interjected.

"Can't win them all, I guess," Lima shrugged. "We've got new classes today, don't we?"

"Stealth and Security for the second period, Plant Studies for the third," Teak said as he climbed out of bed. "Everything else is the same as yesterday."

"No Crafting or History," Lux said, sitting up. "There should be way more combat classes—atleastfive every day."

"That's all of them," Teak said, startled. "We'd never have any time for anything else."

"How are you all awake already?" Claire managed. "The alarm hasn't even gone off yet."

"We're training to wake up at one in the morning," Lima bragged, "Come on, two-swords, you can't sleep all day."

"That's a terrible nickname," Claire groaned, "Try again."

"Metal-head? Quicksilver?" Lima said, "Gem? Jewel?TheMond?"

"Rejected on all fronts," Claire said, fighting to get her headphones all the way off. "If youevercall me 'The Mond' in public, I'll probably have to kill you."

"Vale wasn't built in a day," Lima said, "I'll think of something good eventually."

Four simultaneous alarms went off, tearing apart the otherwise peaceful morning and sending them all into a frantic race to shut them all down—once they'd managed it, Lux ran her hand up her face, temporarily pinning the mess of dangling hair on top of her head, and revealing the black scales along each of her temples.

"Yoga?" Lux prompted.

#

Lecture Hall A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"I see that some of your names have already made their way into my extracurricular sessions." Professor Port said, pleased. "To see such diligence towards the cause is inspiring—I'm looking forward to the weekend already."

The iron door was already open, the bars of the cage the only thing between the three snarling Beowolves and the rest of the classroom.

"Now, as you can see, I've managed to snag these three—not a Boarbatusk to be seen, I'm afraid, despite my best efforts to stick to the week's theme," Port said, clapping the bottom of his fist down onto his palm in dismay. "Still, we will just have to make do with what we have—now, which three of you would like to test yourself today?"

Lima's hand had been raised almost since he'd begun to make the offer—rather than pick one of the people who had their hands up, the man seemed to pick from the group whodidn't.

"Mister Arc, Miss Rose, and—Mister Fawn," Port said, wagging a thick finger at each in turn. "Come on down, and we'll start with Mister Arc—you two can wait by my desk until it's your turn."

"Damn it," Lima complained. "I'm definitely leaving my hand down next time."

"Uh, Sir?" Jaune tried, "I didn't put my hand up."

"Precisely," Port beamed, "Come along, now; Miss Schnee, if you would please rouse Miss Rose—and don't forget your weapon, Mister Fawn."

Teak spun around, scuttling back up the last two steps to take hold of his sword from where he'd leant it against the inside of the desk. Weiss was in the process of shaking Ruby awake and then bullying her out into the aisle as the shorter girl attempted to regain her bearings.

"What ishappeningright now?" Ruby cried. "Is this a dream? Crescent Rose isn't forthrowing—"

Weiss stomped back to her seat, looking outraged at the spectacle of it all, before sitting back down with a huff. Jaune kind of lingered at the foot of the stairs as Pyrrha spoke quietly in his ear, the tall boy looking entirely uncomfortable with the situation. Pyrrha pushed him out into the middle of the room before returning to her team, smiling all the while.

"We're only doing one at a time, right?" Jaune managed, staring at the teeth latched around the bars of the cage. "You totally said that before."

"Just the one," Port agreed, "Ready yourself, young man—don't worry, I'll get the gate."

Jaune looked like he would have rathered the gate had stayed shut, but he pulled his shield up in preparation. Port unlatched the cage before kicking the Beowolf closest to the door in the face hard enough to send it crashing into the next one over—the third tore its way out of the door, surging across the room towards Jaune. Jaune wilted a bit as the thing leapt at him, but he was more than strong enough to weather the impact. The claws of the Grimm raked across the face of the shield with a terrible screech before its teeth snapped closed around the edge of it.

Jaune gave a shout and then stabbed upwards—the tip of his sword sinking into the thing's throat and eliciting a pained, gurgling howl. Jaune took a step backwards and spun, attempting to throw the injured beast off of him by swinging his shield out wide. It actually worked—for the most part—as the sword tore out of the side of its neck, and the force of its jaws, still locked tight on the shield, caused its bodyweight to pull it in two separate directions. The Grimm's neck failed to survive the force, and it's body tore free of its neck, before tumbling across the room to land in front of Port.

"Nice," Lima said, impressed.

The head of the Beowolf finally lost its grip on the shield and fell to the floor, black mist already starting to roll off its skin—Jaune kind of stared down at the head in a stupor, apparently having some trouble recognizing exactly what he was looking at.

"Well done, welldone," Port said, already clapping. "A strong defence and a positively vicious finish—I can't wait to see what you can bring to our Saturday morning sessions, Mister Arc."

"Right," Jaune said with a weak laugh. "Really—looking forward to it."

"Miss Rose, if you would," Port said, directing her down to the open area. "Please, show us what you are capable of."

#

Lecture Hall C4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Teak's effort to take the front bench had placed them directly beside Team Ruby, and with it, they had access to afront-row seatto Weiss Schnee's building tirade.

"This isridiculous," Weiss said, working herself into a frenzy. "I can't believe a Professor would be soirresponsible—it's been almost tenminutes."

"Maybe something happened?" Ruby suggested. "If nobody is here, something must have,right?"

"You'd think they would have sent someone to take over the class," Yang said, cheek resting on her palm. "Seems like a pretty big breakdown in communication, yeah?"

Lima tapped a finger against his chin in thought and wondered at the great potential the bizarre situation had afforded them all. He waited until Teak leaned forward to reply to Yang's comment and then slipped out into the aisle.

"If something happened right before the class started, there might not have been enough time to contact anyone," Teak said, "Maybe we should—Lima, what are you doing?"

"Uh oh," Claire said, sounding more amused than worried. "This can't be good."

Lima linked his hands behind the small of his back and stepped down onto the main floor of the lecture hall, posture ramrod straight. Weiss hissed something that was two parts disbelief and one part outrage as he strode straight up to the teacher's desk and spun around to face them all.

"Hello everybody—" Lima said before pausing. "Uh."

There was a slender, red-haired person standing behind the backmost row of seats, positioned completely out in the open but in a way that had left them entirely out of view of the class. Given that they hadn't been there ten minutes ago and that there was no way to enter the room other than the doors that were in clear view of the entire hall, Lima couldn't figure out how the person had gotten inside without being seen. It was very, very obviously the Professor for the class, given that they were wearing a tight black turtleneck sweater and the slim-fit dress pants—and not a uniform. Their hair was cut short, neat, and around the ears, while their face was covered in a smattering of freckles. Much like Teak, the Professor was completely androgynous, leaving him without a way to identify the person's gender by sight alone.

"Lima," Weiss hissed, "Stop fooling around."

Lima kind of stared at the Professor for a moment longer, but other than raising their eyebrows, they made no attempt to reveal their presence to the rest of the class—well, he was committed at this point, so he might as well go through with it.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today, but worry not, I'll be brief," Lima said, clearing his throat. "I would like to address the rumours that have been going around about me."

The fury on the face of Weiss Schnee was disturbed for the first time as she turned to look at the others in her row, as if to ascertain whether or not therehadbeen any rumours going around about him and if that leant some kind of legitimacy to his attempt to address them while he had the chance. The moment she spotted Teak with his face buried in his hands, her fury redoubled, and she snapped her head around, confident in his wrongdoing once more.

"As much as it pains me to admit to it," Lima said, taking a deep breath. "It's true—allof it."

"Rumours?" Ruby said, looking a bit hesitant. "I haven't heard anything."

The Professor was actually looking a bit concerned with the topic, but they weren't making any attempt to try and stop him—that was a good enough endorsem*nt for him to keep on going.

"That's kind of you to say, Red, but—it's just hard, you know? Now that everyoneknows," Lima said before lifting his eyebrows high. "But it's true—Iamthe best-looking guy at Beacon Academy, and Idobang like a cannon—"

There was a general uproar at the comment, some laughter, some disbelief, a few cries of outraged disagreement, and Jaune even had the audacity to call out a 'prove it'—although to which part of his claim he wasn't exactly certain.

"You—" Weiss squeaked.

"Okay, that will be more than enough ofthat," The Professor said. "You've all failed your first test; I've been here since the beginning of the period, and nobody has bothered to turn aroundonce—you, cannon-boy, back to your seat."

Lima quickly made his way back to his seat as the Professor began to descend from the back of the room, making sure to keep a healthy distance between Weiss and himself at all times—the way she leaned towards him with her fist clenched tight was more than a little worrying. Lima slipped back down into his seat, more than pleased with himself.

"If you knew she was there, why did you keeptalking?" Teak managed. "You'reluckyyou didn't get in trouble."

Lima just leaned far enough over to bump into the shorter boy, jostling him a bit but saying nothing in response. The Professor made it down to the desk before turning to address them all; hands clasped together.

"Let's start anew—my name is Anne Greene; you can call me Professor or Miss Greene," Anne said, "This class is Stealth and Security, and unfortunately for you all, about sixty percent of it is going to be complicated computer work."

Anne leaned back against the desk for a moment.

"The remaining forty percent will be made up of practical stealth exercises for use primarily in built-up, urban environments," Anne said, "Those will take place throughout the school, and they will be announced ahead of time—so unless I've warned you about it, expect to be in this room for the majority of classes."

#

Lecture Hall D4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Thumbelina Peach was perhaps the shortest person he'd ever seen, and considering there were quite a few of them running around, that was sayingsomething.

"I've been in the unenvious position of having to wait to finally meet you all, but I must say it's absolutely lovely," Thumbelina said, smiling up at them. "I've heard nothing but praise from Glynda—ah—from Professor Goodwitch."

"Teak," Lima whispered. "Teak."

Despite there being less than a foot between them, Teak seemed to have developed something of a hearing problem. He was clearly testing out a new tactic in ignoring him outright, but Lima wasn't quite ready to call it quits just yet.

"Teak, she'sshort," Lima insisted. "Reallyshort—Teak, are you looking?Teak."

"I have eyes," Teak said, doing his best to kick him in the shin beneath the table. "Can't you behave for one class—"

Lima accidentally smacked his knee into the underside of the desk in an effort to avoid the attack, and the resulting bang caused them both to wince.

"What on Remnant was that noise?" Professor Peach asked. "Is everything alright up there?"

"Sorry, miss," Lima said, sticking up his hand. "There was a bug—I took care of it."

"Oh, that's quite alright." Professor Peach said, smiling. "Now, Plant Studies is a class mostly dedicated to—as you might have already guessed—the properties, use, and history of plant life across remnant."

Not exactly something he was particularly interested in, and judging by the way Lux had laid her head down across her arms, it was something they had in common.Clairelooked sort of vaguely interested, although he couldn't imagine why.

"We will also be covering the various occurrences of dust found in nature and the interesting effects it can have on the surrounding plant life, along with some of its lesser-known uses," Thumbelina said, "I'm sure that you've all heard of the Floating Islands of Lake Matsu—located on the northern part of Anima—in which the natural dust deposits are responsible for keeping them afloat, something which humans and Faunus have both taken clear inspiration from."

Lima was forced to reassess his interest in the class because Lake Matsu had been something he had been interested in for a while now. He'd never actually had the chance to make the trip, mainly because Sanctum had kept thembothpretty busy, but he definitely wanted to go investigate it once he'd earned his Huntsman License—which was a requirement to actually enter the area, at least for those who weren't specifically cleared by the government. There was supposedly a massive Lancer population there—clearing Lake Matsu of all Grimm wasdefinitelyat the top of his bucket list.

"Can anyone name some of the marvels of engineering that were inspired by those islands?" Thumbelina said, leaning forward and clasping her hands in front of her chest. "It's not a pop quiz, but I'll certainly be impressed if you can name more than one."

Teak, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Weiss all raised their hands.

"Mister Ren," Thumbelina smiled.

"Amity Arena and Atlas City are the two which stand out to me," Ren said, closing his eyes for a moment. "The railways from Anima to Sanus also work by using a similar mechanism; the train cars actually float several feet off the ground by way of gravity dust."

Lux straightened up in her seat, suddenly looking far more energized about the lesson than she had a moment ago. Lima gave her an odd look, but she was staring at Ren like he was some kind of prophet.

"Well done, Mister Ren, those are all correct," Thumbelina said, clapping her hands. "Miss Schnee, I see you've seen got your hand raised—do you have another?"

"Airships of all kinds make use of gravity dust," Weiss said, "The battleships of the Atlesian Fleet make use of several massive Gravity Dust Generators to power their flight—I think it's safe to assume they were at least partly inspired by those islands."

The rest of the raised hands went down after that—with one notable exception.

"Fantastic answer, Miss Schnee," Thumbelina said, beaming now. "Mister Arc—you still have something?"

"Those hoverboards that came out a couple of years ago with the goofy shoe belts attached to them," Jaune said, scratching the back of his head. "Although, I'm pretty sure they don't make them anymore because they got hit with like a hundred lawsuits at once after kids started getting hurt."

"I remember those," Ruby said, startled. "They weresocool."

"Ruby, is thatreallythe hill you want to die on?" Yang said, shaking her head. "They looked like a pair of crocs stapled onto a piece of wood."

"Yes, yes, they were clearly derivative of the same technology used for the railways, which in turn—as Mister Ren indicated a moment ago—was inspired by the islands themselves," Thumbelina said, blinking. "A modern but obscure answer that I have certainly never heard before—marvellous."

#

Grounds, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"So we're going to Training Field A4," Lima said, "That means we'renotdoing duelling today?"

"It's way down near where the Emerald Forest is, almost right on the border," Teak said, "It's probably one of the exercises she was talking about—the war games, maybe."

"What's going on withyou?" Claire said, bemused. "No duelling should have you moping around, but you're practically skipping right now."

Lux bared her teeth in a smile that had far too much glee behind it, enough that it was actually starting to makehimnervous—she'dbeenlike that since right around the time Ren had spoken about the railways.

"That's because I remembered that the Vytal Festival Tournament is coming up soon," Lux said, linking her hands behind her back. "First years are allowed to sign up and fight—which means the four of us are absolutely doing that."

"I should have known it was something like that," Claire said, "Where is it being hosted this year?"

"It had better not be at Haven Academy," Lima said, interjecting. "Because if you think that I'm going to step foot in that school while Sage is teaching there, you've got another thing coming—it will take him all of a day to torpedo my carefully built reputation."

Lux popped up onto her tippy toes for a moment, practically radiating happiness.

"It's being hosted here, at Beacon, so you've got zero excuses to avoid fighting," Lux said, arching her back. "There's going to be so many students from other schools coming to stay here—I'm going to fightall of them."

"Oh mygod, what if Sage tries to come here with the first years?" Lima said in horrified realisation. "He can't do that right—Teak, what happens with the first-year instructors when all their students leave the country for months on end?What happens?"

Lima grabbed him by the shoulders and attempted to shake an answer out of him.

"I don't know anything about it," Teak protested, "I'm just a student—"

"Just astudent?" Lima tried. "But you're thecaptain."

"Captain Student doesn't know," Claire said, planting both of her arms on his shoulders from behind before steering him back onto the path. "Stop trying to turn around—we can ask Bestwitch when we get to class."

Lima gave up his struggles at the idea because she was right—Glynda taught the same class atBeaconas Sage got hired to do atHaven—if anyone knew what the instructors did, then it would be her.

"You'd really ditch the whole tournament just to avoid him?" Lux said, frowning. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"He's a gigantic ass, but I don't hate him atall," Lima defended. "I fled to Vale to avoid giving him a chance to destroy my street cred—going back there with myentire classisstupid."

"What street cred?" Claire laughed, still pushing him up the path. "You got up in front of the entire class and claimed to be the best-looking guy at Beacon—they already think your nuts."

"I'm not the best-looking guy at Beacon," Lima said, doubling down. "I'm the best-looking guy inall of Vale."

"The most delusional guy in Vale sounds more fitting," Lux said. "You should start using that instead."

"Says the loser who claimed to be the strongest person on our team," Lima cried, "Yet you can't seem to win asinglefight against anyone in our class—"

"Neither Teak nor I have managed that either," Claire said unhelpfully. "It's not really Lux-specific."

"Exactly," Lux said in mortification. "I wasliterallyfighting The Invincible Girl—that's a nameother people gave her."

"Whatever," Lima insisted, "It's clear that I'm the only one with any street cred left—I'm out here carrying Team Fawn on my back, and damn if it ain'theavy."

"Don't call it that," Teak protested. "That makes it sound like I'm some kind of ego-maniac—"

"TeamFawn, reporting for duty," Lima said the exact moment he spotted Glynda. "Bestwitch, I have a super important question for you—it's about the Vytal Festival Tournament."

Claire stumbled forward a step as Lima sped up, the resistance she'd been fighting the entire walk suddenly vanishing entirely. Lima came to a stop directly in from of the Professor, who finally looked up from her scroll.

"The Vytal Festival Tournament," Glynda said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you interested in participating?"

"Not even alittlebit, but Lux is making us do it because she's the worst," Lima said, throwing her under the bus. "I just need to know which instructors from Atlas Academy, Haven Academy and Shade Academy are comingherewith their students—is it the first-year ones?"

Glynda looked a bit puzzled by the question, and she took a moment to study each of his teammates before reaching up with a finger to fix her glasses.

"That is a rather odd and strangely specific question, but no—not every student chooses to go abroad for the festival, and that means the majority of instructors must remain at the Academy to continue working," Glynda said, "Traditionally, it is only the headmaster, or headmistress that accompanies the students internationally, although there have been some exceptions. We have yet to receive the list of who will be arriving, but if trends continue as they have, I would expect the only headmaster to make the journey to be General Ironwood."

"Lionmanisn'tcoming?" Lima pressed. "He—hewouldn'tsend a first-year instructor here as a joke, would he?"

"Headmaster Lionheartdoes not usually attend, and healwayssends the headmistress in his place," Glynda said, furrowing her brow. "You are talking around the issue—what exactly are you trying to discover?"

"My guardian got hired to be the first-year combat instructor at Haven this year, and I'm trying to avoid him," Lima said, feeling more than a bit relieved. "I'mprettysure he isn't the headmistress, though—thanks."

"You're—welcome, I suppose," Glynda said. "If the four of you do intend on participating in the tournament, I suggest you start preparing now because it will be upon us sooner than you may think."

"Absolutely," Lux said, beaming. "We're going to crusheveryoneand win the whole thing; just you watch."

"Ambitious, but I shall make certain I'm paying attention," Glynda said, raising an eyebrow. "Now, I believe everyone is here—please join the others, so we can begin."

Lima followed them over to where the rest of the class was milling about beside the forest, feeling as if a great burden had been lifted off his chest—Sage was a sneaky one, but he wasn't the type to ditch his responsibilities towards his first-years just to get one over on him, and if it wasn't an existing feature of the system to send a first-year instructor, then he wouldn't mess around with it. Training the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect humanity from the Grimm was something far too important for a gag like that.

Glynda directed them into forming up in front of her properly, organising them into their teams and in rows. Lima found himself being hemmed in on all sides as the teams attempted to crowd the space. He felt his Semblance stretching outwards, priming itself to react to the potential threat. Sparks of understanding came with it, the contact enough for him to get a direct sense of what was touching him as his aura fought to spread out, seeking to take control of the foreign object's direction. Yang shifted, her arm jostling Blake back into him, and his eyes flicked up to stare at the ribbon sitting on her head—and the pair of ears that were hiding underneath.

"Sorry," Blake muttered without turning around. "Yang, can you just—stop moving?"

"I'm too excited," Yang said, brushing it off. "We're finally getting to do something—I've been powering up for this all day."

"Whatareyou?" Blake complained, "Some kind of hero from a cartoon?"

"Maybe I'm thelone enigmafrom that book of yours," Yang cooed, "I don't have a big strongkatanato threaten anyone with, though."

"You—" Blake managed. "You went through my bag?"

"Iliterallyasked you if I could borrow your comb this morning," Yang defended, "You said, and I quote—get it yourself, I'm going back to bed."

Blake Belladonna was a Faunus? That made three of them in one class, but she appeared to be the only one activelyhiding her status—then again, Blake was the only one withWeiss Schneeon her team, so maybe that was more of a self-preservation kind of thing.

"Books like those will rot your brain, Miss Belladonna," Lima said, more than a little bit impressed that she'd had the audacity to bringp*rninto Beacon Academy. "Nobody has a katanathatbig—totally unrealistic."

Blake's head snapped back around to stare at him in horror before she turned back to look at Yang, seeking some kind of escape from it all—but Yang just scratched at her cheek, looking a bit sheepish at having been overheard.

"Yang," Blake said, voice strangled. "Yang."

"Uh," Yang tried, "Look, Goodwitch is trying to get our attention."

"—Hunters often find themselves in situations where not everything is going smoothly or where trade-offs must be made to complete an objective," Glynda said, tapping away at her scroll. "The variety of missions you will encounter in the field will put you into all kinds of odd and sometimes stressful configurations—this is going to simulate one of them, namely, an escort mission with an injured teammate."

A series of alerts washed over the crowd, each of their scrolls receiving a notification to join the assigned teams for way of aura tracking—and once he tapped on the accept icon, he found that out of the four names, only his was greyed out.

"By way of randomisation, your teams have had one member eliminated—those of you who were unlucky enough to be chosen will act as both the injured teammate and the person being escorted simultaneously," Glynda said, "For the duration of this test, you will not be able to take any offensive or defensive action, nor will you be allowed to move without at least one team member guiding you by hand."

"Miss?" Weiss asked. "Our team doesn't seem to have one."

"That, Miss Schnee, is because your team is part of the half that has been selected as the attackers in this exercise," Glynda said, smiling. "To be more precise, you will be paired with a defending team, and your job will be to eliminate all three defenders by way of aura threshold before taking control of the person being escorted."

"Oh," Weiss said.

"This is a live-fire exercise, and as such, real ammunition will be used, so ensure you do not target anyone who has already had their aura dropped below the limit—if you have been defeated, please raise your hand above your head, and return here immediately." Glynda said, "You will be monitored while inside the forest, so do not attempt to attack after you have already been eliminated—Iwillbe watching."

Another wave of alerts went out, the system switching configuration until they were looking at both their own team and their opponents side-by-side. At the very top was a number denoting the order by which they'd be doing the exercise. Lima stared at the bold '1' at the top and realised he'd most likely be doing absolutely nothing for the vast majority of the class.

"There are no boundary rules for this exercise, but there is a time limit of ten minutes before the defenders win by default," Glynda said, "I suggest you use the cover the forest provides to your advantage—Team Malachite, you will have a two-minute head start to hide, Team Juniper, prepare yourselves to give chase."

"Hah," Lima said, pushing through Team Ruby to get to the front. "Enjoy getting destroyed by Pawpaw, idiots—hey—"

Lux hooked an arm around his throat and then started bodily dragging him towards the forest. Teak and Claire broke free of the crowd a moment later, catching up to them just as they made it to the treeline.

"You suck," Lima complained, letting his feet drag a pair of tracks in the dirt. "In front of everyone—we just had a talk about street cred, didn't we?"

"How are we going to handle this?" Claire said. "They outnumber us, and our best fighter is unable to do anything—how do we stop them?"

Lima had a good view of Teak, trailing after the three of them, eyes on the floor of the forest, his bottom lip pulled into his teeth as he concentrated.

"Jaune is probably the weakest one; it shouldn't be too hard to take him down quickly," Lux said, still dragging him along. "Ren and Pyrrha are going to be the biggest problem—and we don't really know how Nora fights because ofthisidiot."

"If we try to mark each of them, then one of us is going to have to fight two at once," Claire said, "But I'm not sure we can beat Pyrrha, even if we fight her three on one—I don't know what to do."

Teak glanced up, his shoulders straightening a bit, he opened his mouth—and then fell silent again, apparently psyching himself out.

"I'll fight them all, and you guys run with our deadweight," Lux said, "I'll try to slow them down as much as I can—"

The pace by which she was dragging him slowed as she prepared to drop him, and he cleared his throat.

"Captain Student," Lima said, crossing his arms. "Tell us how to win."

"You have something?" Claire said, turning to him. "Teak?"

"I think I know how we can win," Teak said, a bit hesitant. "You might not like it, though."

#

Clearing, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

"You're heavier than you look, you know," Claire said. "We're almost the same height, but you weigh liketwiceas much."

Bridal style wasn't exactly the most dignified of ways to be carried, but she'd kind of scooped him up off the ground before giving him any kind of choice.

"It'sallmuscle," Lima bragged, kicking his legs in feigned delight. "Especially the parts that aren't."

"Then maybeyoushould be carrying me," Claire said.

"I'll give you a piggyback ride later to make up for it," Lima offered, "It's been three minutes—they're definitely in the forest already."

"If this actually works," Claire said, curving to the right. "I'm going to be amazed."

"It will probably only work once," Lima admitted, "Teak was right about that part—all the other teams are going to start leaving people to check for something like this."

Lima tapped her on the shoulder as they reached the treeline, but instead of letting him back down like they'd planned, she broke straight out into the training field at a jog—which meant that every single person in the class got to see him being carried around like a girl on her wedding day.

"This is a direct attack on my manliness." Lima complained, "I will not have it."

Claire laughed out loud, the run finally starting to steal away some of her breath as she cut across the field and back towards them all. The run slowed down to a jog as they reached the area where the rest of the class was sitting and waiting for their turns.

"Uh," Ruby said, "Did you get eliminated already?"

Claire finally let him down, and once he straightened up, he spent a moment dusting himself off.

"We just couldn't keep up with them, you know?" Lima said, dropping down onto the grass. "I mean, did youseehow stacked that team was?"

"I thoughthewas the one being escorted," Weiss said, frowning. "If you were eliminated, then the exercise should be over already—where is everyone else?"

"Did youpretendto be the injured teammate?" Yang wondered. "It couldn't have been Teak because he was walking on his own—Lux was dragging you, so it washer, right?"

"No, no, you were right the first time," Claire said, taking a seat beside the blonde girl with a smile. "Lima is the one being escorted."

"You haven't been eliminated yet," Blake said in understanding. "There are no boundary rules—they're looking for you in the forest, but you came back to hidehere."

"Well, I'm glad you're not on their team," Lima said, pretending to study his fingernails. "You might have actually had a chance against us."

"Isn't this cheating?" Ruby said, stumped. "This istotallycheating."

"It's not actually against the rules," Weiss said, sounding annoyed that she had to defend it. "But itisunderhanded—I should have expected it from someone likeyou."

"I wasn't the one who came up with the plan," Lima said without a care. "But go off, Queen."

A matching beep came from two different scrolls, and when they brought them out to check, they found that Teak's aura had just fallen beneath the threshold. Lux's aura was being shaved away, fraction by fraction, from what must have been a systematic series of shallow hits. The entire thing slowly drained down, moving in fits and spurts over the course of about thirty seconds until it gave a final beep.

"Why didn't they spread out to look for you?" Blake asked.

"Because they didn't think we were hiding," Claire said, smiling. "There's a pair of drag marks in the dirt leading from here all the way to where they are now—but they stopped belonging to Lima about thirty meters into the forest, which was when Lux switched over to dragging Teak instead."

"That's so mean," Weiss said, "You didn't even give them a chance at a fair fight—andyou abandoned your teammates."

"Technically, our teammates chose to sacrifice themselves for us," Lima corrected, "Lux was all like, 'let me fight them all at once, or I'll kill the hostage,'and Teak was like, 'sure, that's part of the plan now too, here do all of this so we can win.'"

Claire laughed at the terrible summarisation of their planning phase.

"It also wasn't fair to begin with because we only had three people that could fight, and they had four," Claire said, shaking her head. "Plus, they had a Pyrrha."

"Theydidhave one of those," Weiss said, pausing for a moment. "Teakcame up with this plan?"

"Huh," Yang said, "He's actually pretty cool."

"You better start putting some respect on my boy's name," Lima warned, "Teak is out in that forestrightnow putting in theworkand knocking downbossmonsters—"

"Don't call her that," Weiss said in outrage. "Pyrrha isn't a boss monster."

Lima opened his mouth to argue the point—because Pyrrha wasabsolutelya boss monster—but another wave of beeps rang out across the clearing as everyone scrolls picked up the end of the match. A delightful little victory jingle played as Team Juniper was stamped with a 'loss.'

"I canfeelthe EXP entering my body," Claire said, clapping her hands together. "This is it—I'mfinallylevelling up."

Yang cleared her throat, and when Claire cracked an eye open, she spoke.

"Can I get an invite to the party?" Yang asked before pausing. "We should probably go check for a loot drop, too."

"Yang," Weiss insisted. "It'snotfunny."

#

Training Field A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lux stepped out of the treeline with a bright smile, entirely covered from head to toe in a mess of sticks, leaves and other plant life. Teak appeared a moment later, in much the same condition, but he was actually making an attempt to tidy up his uniform as he went.

"That was awesome," Lux said, planting her hands on her hips. "You should haveseenthe look on their faces when they realised we'd tricked them—"

"You guys suck," Jaune groaned as he stepped out of the trees. "Why have you done this to me?"

"Sorry," Teak said, ducking his head a bit. "It was the only way we could win."

"No, no, you shouldn't apologise; it was a perfectly good strategy," Pyrrha said, looking a bit flushed at the loss. "I would have never thought you would come backhere—we'll have to be on guard from now on."

"I can't believe you ran away from the reckoning," Nora said, "I wanted to accidentally squash you."

"That sentence has allkindsof things wrong with it," Lima said, laughing. "But I'm sorry I deprived you of that."

"This scenario was much more difficult than I was expecting it to be," Ren said, "I'm not sure we could have found you in time, even if youhadremained within the forest."

"A challenging scenario is exactly what I hope to engage you all with," Glynda said, speaking up. "We'll do a breakdown of each match during the second half of the lesson; for now, you've earned a respite—well done to both teams; it's time to move on to the next set."

"Would youlookat that," Claire said, smiling. "When Team Fawn comes together—itreallycomes together, am I right?"

"Of course," Lima said in agreement. "But also—phrasing."

"Not likethat," Claire said, rolling her eyes. "Don't be gross."

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Iknewyour hair was lookingtoo—" Lima said, genuinely angry. "Itoldyou not to touch my stuff—what the hell is your problem?"

"I only used a little bit," Lux defended. "I wanted to see what you were going on about—"

"What kind of excuse is that?" Lima said, "Youwantedto? It'smyshampoo, damn it."

"We were getting along so well—guys," Claire tried for the second time. "Let's just chill out for a moment—"

"You have three bottles of it sitting on your stupid shelf," Lux said, raising her voice to be heard. "Stop getting so bent out of shape—I'll buy you a new one."

"I don't want you tobuyme anything," Lima gritted out, "Itoldyou not to touch it,specifically."

"You wouldn't have evennoticedif I hadn't told you," Lux snapped. "If I'd kept my mouth shut, you would be throwing out somestupidjokes right now and making a complete ass out of yourself—"

"Youf*ck," Lima said, grabbing her by the front of her uniform. "Are youtryingto piss me off?"

"You're having a breakdown over a bottle ofshampoo," Lux said, glaring at him. "It's completely unhinged."

"Lima, let her go," Teak said, voice quiet. "Please stop fighting in the dorms."

Lima shoved her backwards with a wordless cry of frustration and then slapped a hand flat against the window—he sent a burst of his Semblance into it, sending the frame rocketing upwards to crash into the stopper with a bang that rattled the wall. Within a second, he was outside, standing on the side of the building, storming up the side of it, fighting to keep his temper under control. Three different voices called out after him, but he ignored them all because he was certain if he stayed for a moment longer, everything was going to descend into a fight—which wasprobablywhat Lux had been hoping for since the beginning.

Lima crested the edge of the top floor, caught his balance and then took off across the balcony railing at a run. He ran out of railing after half a dozen steps and then angled up onto the peak of the actual roof, a rapid staccato of taps ringing out as he sped up. Lima planted his foot at the very end of the building and threw himself straight off the edge, cutting through the air on an arc towards the distant ground. For a moment, he could see the cliff and, beyond it, Vale, spreading out towards the ocean in a sparkling sea of lights. A new voice—rendered unrecognisable by the wind in his ears—called out from one of the windows behind him. Gravity began to take hold, but he didn't slow down.

Instead, he turned his gaze to the concrete path rapidly approaching, his knees already bending in preparation—he reached for his Semblance a second before impact, reversing the direction of his fall just enough to counteract his descent—and then burst forward across the path at a dead sprint. He left the path behind entirely, paying no heed to the sign that told him that walking on the grass was against the rules and kept on going. An airship began to rise up off the landing pad, taking to the air with a rush of noise.

Lima vaulted the railing just before the crossroads and then shot straight through the four-way intersection of paths—there was a fleeting moment where he caught sight of a man in the middle of the path to his direct right, wreathed in a green scarf and adorned with a mess of silver hair—and then he'd entered the landing zone proper. Lima cut across the middle of it, the elaborate light system built into the floor guiding his path forward, and then when the safety rail remained as the very last thing between him and open air, he gave another wordless shout. Lima planted his foot on the railing and leapt forward into the dark, arms spread out at his sides.

The crisscross of illuminated stairs, pathways, and elevators that were built into the side of the cliff revealed themselves to him—at the very bottom, the mass of water sparkled in the light of the docks. The shattered remains of the moon left a fractured and almost delirious mess of a reflection on the surface of it, recognisable only by the pale white light and its position. Lima laughed as he fell, the seconds crawling by—the sheer height of the cliff allowing for a duration of freefall that completelydominatedthat of the Argus wall—and the partially unbuttoned shirt of his uniform whipping about in the wind. As he rotated, he caught sight of the airship putting on the speed, growing smaller as it set off for Vale and as he fell even further away from it. Lima turned in the air again, watching the incoming water and waiting until the very last moment before he reached for his Semblance—for a half second, he hovered directly above the unbroken surface of the water, completely still.

"Oh mygod," Lima yelped, hands clawing at the water until he was able to keep himself afloat with his feet. "Why the hell is it socold—"

Still, being almost completely submerged meant that he had no real choice but to grow accustomed to it. Once he'd gotten his bearings, he drew himself into a precarious floating position, a halo of light from a lamp on the edge of the docks surrounding him. Lima floated there in the water for what must have been minutes, eyes closed and mind working hard to brace himself against the temperature. As the rush and adrenaline of the fall slowly fell away, he found himself in a state that was almost empty. The frustration he'd felt at the argument washed away with the cold as the time stretched on.

It felt a bit silly now to have reacted so poorly, even if shehadcrossed pretty much the only boundary he'd set. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, though, with four strangers having been squashed together into a single room. Teak, Lux and Claire wereprobablyhaving just as much trouble getting used to the situation as he was—he just couldn't see it, probably because he was too caught up in howhewas feeling.

"This sucks," Lima murmured.

"If the temperature of the water is as cold as I suspect it is, I could certainly believe it," Ozpin said, stepping into view of the lamplight. "Mister Morta, while there aretechnicallyno signs above to dissuade a person from diving headlong off the cliff—I'd assumed it was implied by the existence of the safety rail."

Lima kind of winced at the man's appearance.

"Hello, sir," Lima tried, tipping back upright in the water. "The railing wasn't very tall, so I thought it was more of an 'at your own peril' kind of thing."

"At your own peril? Yes, I suppose it is," Ozpin said in consideration. "Just not for the act itself, but for what comes afterwards."

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Detention?" Teak said, rubbing at his eyes. "Is it because you didn't come back to the dorm last night?"

Like hell he was going to come back after everything that had happened—he'd camped out on the rooftop balcony until the sun had risen. The whole wet clothing thing made the night pretty unpleasant, but it beat the idea of dealing with the issue like a responsible and emotionally mature teenager.

"Something like that," Lima said, resting his chin on his folded hands. "The point is, I won't be sticking around for the after-class training today—I'll be trapped in a room with Bestwitch."

Lux picked at her food with a sort of radiant sullenness, spending more of her time dealing damage to it than actually eating it—she'd said exactly nothing to him since he'd stepped out of the showers that morning and found her standing outside the door with her borrowed towel hanging from her hands. But eventhathad been a muttered, non-word, forced out of her by the surprise of finding out he had returned without her knowing.

"Detention on the second day," Claire said, "I doubt you're breaking any records, but it's competitive, at least."

"Sure," Lima said, "It's only an hour, so it's not like it really matters—suppose I'll be writing lines or something."

"Was Professor Goodwitch the one who caught you?" Teak asked.

"Ozpin," Lima admitted. "I guess he doesn't have time to handle his own detentions, so he fostered me off onto her."

"Knowing how to delegate is a quality of all good leaders," Claire said, flashing him a smile. "At least, that's what theleaderslike to say—I'm not sure if we can trust all the self-reporting."

By his estimate, Claire had cracked more jokes in the last two hours than the previous two days combined. Either she had been inspired to become a comedian practically overnight, or it was an over-correction because of the argument and an attempt to smooth everything over without actually addressing it. It didn't really seem to be working, but Lima had to admit that he didn't hate that she was smiling at him.

"What do you think, Teak?" Lima asked. "Did you remember to tune your delegator this morning?"

"I guess they ran out while they were deciding on the teams because I never got one," Teak said in answer. "Maybe I can put it a requisition order with Professor Mulberry."

"You'll just have to make do with telling everyone what to do and then expecting us to fall in line," Claire said, drumming her fingers along the tabletop. "You want to do some practice now, Captain Student?"

"Okay," Teak said, scrunching his face up at the name. "Let's start with erasing that nickname from common parlance—it's the absolute worst thing I've ever heard."

"Onsecondthought," Claire hedged, "Maybe weshouldwait until we see Mulberry."

Lima snorted at the exchange, and Claire's affected smile grew into something far more genuine.

#

Lecture Hall B4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Grande Rise was a household name during this period and known across most of Remnant—but it wouldn't be until three years after the end of the war that hiswife, Alloy Rise, had eclipsed his reputation," Oobleck said, hands linked behind his back as he stalked across the room. "If neither of these names sound familiar to you, then you should take it as a sign that you have not spent enough time reading the assigned chapters."

Lima hadn't read the chapters, mostly because he'd spent the night outside, but his indiscretions seemed to be lost amongst the crowd because he could pick out half a dozen of the others who looked visibly uncomfortable at the call out.

"The societal tensions were still running high in the aftermath of the war, despite the treatise and all of the active engagements coming to an end," Oobleck said, "The fear of a war reignited, the anger at all of the loss, and the growing distrust for the military leaders who had spearheaded the terrible decisions that started it in created an explosive potential for change, and through it a period of great transformation."

Lima glanced over and observed that Teak's hand was cutting across his notebook almost as fast as the Professor was speaking—unlike his own scribbled mess, his notes were tight, neat, and concise in a way that Lima knew he could never match.

"The vast majority of those who werenotin places of leadership, government or media sought to keep their heads down, to bury themselves in work—a problem, because the steering mechanism for the governance of our cities was clearly broken, and simply getting out of the way wasn't enough to fix the situation," Oobleck said, turning on his heel to face them all. "Alloy Rise, however, was not one of those people who were content to hide amongst the faceless mass and wait for the tried, tested, and failed leadership to send things further off course."

Lima gave up on his notes entirely, the partially finished sentence devolving into a mess of illegible squiggles.

"Despite her husband's stellar reputation, it conferred no real, concrete power to her in the form of governance or in voting power—so she forged another path, by way of sheer force of personality, charisma, and actualgroundwork," Oobleck said, "Alloy could have chosen any number of issues to deal with, and with her natural aptitude for bringing people to her side, I can't imagine she would have failed at any of them—instead, she chose a cause that had personally affected her for most of her life, and that she had an actual investment in changing the outcome of."

Oobleck raised both of his eyebrows at them for a moment, the expectation for them to provide an answer clear—a series of hands rose up in response to the now familiar look, scattered amongst the class.

"Miss Nikos?" Oobleck said.

"Alloy Rise wanted to deal with discrimination," Pyrrha said, "Her specific focus ended up being on the exclusion of women from leadership and government positions."

"Absolutely correct, Miss Nikos, a fine answer—she took it upon herself to challenge the existing paradigm," Oobleck said, pleased, "It became her primary goal to solve the systemic exclusion of women in society and then she even had theaudacityto follow through by spending her entire life working towards it."

Oobleck returned to pacing about the room as he spoke.

"Asremarkableof a person she was, it would be a dishonour to say she accomplished it alone. Many, many people joined her cause—men and women both, fromallwalks of life—war heroes, politicians, Huntresses, Huntsmen, teachers, bakers, warehouse workers, and more beyond," Oobleck said without pause. "Alloy Rise set out to change a wrongness within society, and she had become the catalysing force through which that change was effected across Remnant—I find it hard to express just how much courage it must have taken her to start that journey, or the sheer determination it would have required to follow it through to the end."

Oobleck came to a stop and once again turned to face them.

"That's not to say that she achieved a perfect victory or that there are no longer elements of discrimination surviving within our society today, but thestridesthat we have made over the last eighty years are truly vast, and none of it would have been possible without her contributions," Oobleck said, "As I said, her name was practically unknown before the end of the war, and at that time she wouldn't have had a single mention in any book, or document—she'd come from humble beginnings, like many of the young men and women I now see sitting before me."

Oobleck brought one of his hands out from behind his back for the first time, palm facing upwards, and waved it to indicate the entire class.

"She was a seamstress by trade, a job which, while complicated to master, conferred no intrinsic advantage towards the rising trajectory of her life. Alloy married well, certainly, but by word of Grande Risehimself, he played no integral part in her success beyond providing loving support of his wife in all of her endeavours," Oobleck said, "So how did a relative unknown, from the beaten, downtrodden mass of people amidst the post-war tension,riseup to cause such sweeping change to society? What was it that shefoundthat allowed her to commit all of her being to it?"

Once again, Oobleck paused, raising both eyebrows, but this time, the abstract nature of the question had left them all without the confidence to answer—only one person had their hand up.

"Miss Diamond?" Oobleck said.

"A purpose," Claire said, swallowing a bit. "She found something she could believe in enough to outweigh all the bad stuff—something that she felt was a good enough reason to fight for."

"Fantastic, Miss Diamond,absolutelyfantastic; you're the first student in several years to answer that correctly," Oobleck said, clapping his hands together. "A purpose isexactlywhat Alloy Rise found, and through it, she discovered meaning in something greater than herself, her circ*mstance, and the little cross-section of society she lived within."

Claire sat back in her chair as the Professor turned his attention back to the room at large, her head bowed slightly and her hair hanging in front of her face—Lima watched her out of the corner of his eye, wondering at why she'd been the only one to know the answer.

"Some of you might have heard this term before, but on the day that Alloy Rise set out to solve discrimination, she found self-actualization, and with it, shechanged the world," Oobleck said, making eye contact with each of them. "Each and every one of you has that exact same potential for change inside of you; I know this to be true. I should hope that you will all do your best to seek out and discover that purpose—and see what changesyoucan bring about."

As if the man had timed it down to the exact second, the bell that signalled the end of class rang out—and Oobleck spun away, returning to his desk without another word, moving to sort through some of the loose papers layered on top of it.

"That wasamazing," Teak said, pen hovering over his notepad as he scanned it, looking for something. "There was a lecture about Alloy Rise at my old school, but it wasn'thalfas interesting as this—Claire, did they talk about her at Signal? Is that how you knew the answer?"

Claire seemed to start a bit at the words, and she turned towards them, eyes flicking about to study their faces for something—Lima made eye contact with her for a moment before she quickly looked away again.

"I—don't remember if they did, but they must have, right?" Claire said, reaching up to touch the side of her throat. "Maybe you could ask Yang or Ruby if they remember."

"I will," Teak said, smiling. "Thanks."

"It's time for Combat Studies," Lux mumbled, pushing past them into the aisle. "I'm going ahead."

Teak's smile kind of shattered at that, the thin veneer of everything being back to normal torn away once more.

"I'm going to go talk to Lux," Teak said, clutching his book to his chest. "Don't take too long, okay?"

"We'll be right behind you," Lima offered.

Lima and Claire remained in their seat, watching as the class began to file out into the hall, silently packing up their things. Teak vanished, chasing after Lux, and then Lima spoke up.

"Are you alright?" Lima asked.

Claire seemed a bit taken aback at the sudden question.

"Why are you askingmethat?" Claire said, brushing it off. "You're the one who didn't come back last night."

"You looked like you were upset just now," Lima said, picking up his book with one hand. "Oobleck's question."

"Iwasn'tupset," Claire insisted, standing up. "Hurry up—are you trying to get another detention? You haven't even finished the first one."

Lima studied her before dragging his book off the desk with one hand, deciding to just accept it. If she didn't want to talk about it, he wasn't going to force her to. Two days in, and they were falling apart at the seams—this whole team thing was turning out to be far more difficult than he thought.

#

Training Field A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Today, you will be undergoing a survival-style combat simulation that will help familiarise each of you with the lopsided numerical advantage the monsters of Grimm will almost always have in your future engagements," Glynda said, "It will test your situational awareness, how adept you are at tracking multiple moving assailants, your ability to defend yourself and if you can continue to make strong strategic choices while under quickly rising pressure."

That was the case with a great deal of lesser Grimm—the younger ones weren't particularly dangerous to those with even a basic ability to harness their aura, but they made up for that by way of how many there were. Beowolves, Nevermore, and Lancers were the immediate standouts, but depending on how far from civilisation you were, you could be swarmed by just about any species.

"Yesterday you had a chance to see what it was like to fight against a team with a small numbers advantage over you, and while defending an injured person—today will be much, much more one-sided," Glynda warned them. "Therewillbe missions in your future in which there are no good options left, where you find yourself outnumbered and separated from your allies—situations where the only course of action available to you is to struggle to survive while everything around you falls to ruin."

Lima had personal experience with that, as had the rest of the people who'd attempted to flee from Oniyuri—he blew out a breath at the direction of his thoughts; the lack of decent sleep and the general negativity within the team was starting to really get to him—Lima caught sight of a tiny splash of red amidst the trees, and he found his eyes locked onto the spot, long after it had vanished.

"When you find yourself there, in a place without hope, and as those around you suffer, I want you to take what you have learned from this class and use it to make the very best decisions you can," Glynda said, "As to the structure of this scenario, I will ask that you look to your scrolls for the details—but in summary, each round will consist of nine participants, an individual on one side, and an opposition of two full teams."

"Two whole teams?" Jaune managed. "You can't be serious."

"I am entirely serious, and I would advise that you start coming up with a strategy now because we will be starting momentarily—as with most scenarios, a time limit will be imposed to allow everyone the chance to participate, and a randomiser will be used," Glynda said, "The rules are simple, the individual must survive for ten minutes, or somehow defeat the attackers, while the attackers must defeat the survivor—aura threshold will be the metric of defeat for both parties."

"What happens if all the attackers lose?" Yang asked. "Aren't we going to run out of participants?"

"You're planning on beating upeightpeople?" Jaune accused. "Eight?"

Another flicker of red, in the exact same spot, gone in an instant—he couldn'tfeelanything from it, but there was definitely something there.

"If that happens, we will shuffle the defeated teams based on aura remaining until everyone we run out of suitable participants," Glynda said, "If, by some twist of fate, all of the teams get wiped out consecutively, then we will halt the scenario, and pick up where we left off tomorrow."

Pick up where we left off, huh? That was perhaps the least realistic part about the scenario because there were no second chances when things went that badly, not for the people that deserved them most, not for the people of Oniyuri or for his mother. Fate ran a tight ship, and the second-chance budget forthatday only accounted for one miserable little kid.

"Lima?" Teak asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Lima murmured.

"—check your scroll for the order, and prepare yourselves," Glynda finished, "The teams for the first round will be Team Flower and Team Canape—the first survivor will be Lima Morta."

Lima forced himself to look away from the trees as the two teams moved to assemble in Glynda's direction. He'd spoken to basically none of them before, other than the odd greeting in the halls—but he'd seen each of them fight during the very first Combat Studies class. Not exactly a comprehensive breakdown of their skills, but it was all he had.

"Once again, there are no boundaries for this engagement, but do try to avoid going into the school proper, and be mindful of which direction you are firing in," Glynda advised, "I would rather not have to worry about intercepting any kind of stray attacks—Mister Morta, you have two minutes, if you intend to reposition yourself, I would do so now."

"You're the first person?" Teak said. "I wonder if that is because you didn't get to do any fighting yesterday—"

Lima stepped away from the rest of them without another word, eyes returning to the trees and the particular spot that kept on drawing his attention. He passed into the treeline, ignoring the comments of his classmates, and then slipped through the mess covering the ground. It took a little while to actually find the splash of red through the interstice of branches—and he came to a stop directly beneath it. A single red flower dangling high off the ground from the end of a vine that had wound itself around a tree in a seemingly endless sequence of tight loops.

"Just a flower," Lima mumbled, shaking his head. "I'm such an idiot."

Lima reached back and unclipped his compacted bow from its harness, the entire thing unfolding in his hand as he brought it around in front of him. He lifted a spike out of his box quiver and let it dangle from his fingers. Eight people with an assortment of weapons, various builds, and who probably hadn't really figured out how to work together properly—and certainly not with an entire second team. The loss condition was getting dog-piled. The obvious way to avoid that was to simply pick a direction and start running. Even without the headstart, he doubted any of them would have been able to catch up to him—but after the rather frustrating day, and the negativity that had been clinging to his mind, he didn't really feel like running away.

"Sorry, guys," Lima murmured. "But I think I'm going to vent a little."

The alert hit his scroll a few moments later, announcing to everyone that the match had officially begun—and he turned back towards the treeline, walking backwards up the side of the vine-strangled tree as he went. Lima changed the angle, rotating around the trunk until he'd placed it between him and where the class was waiting out on the field. The sound of low voices, loud footsteps, and sticks breaking shattered the silence as the two teams entered the forest in pursuit. Most of them had entered to his right, following the initial path he'd made inside, but at least three of them were closer to the tree he'd ended up at.

The girl with pink hair and the ridiculously long Odachi passed by the base of his tree—Flora, whose name he recalled from when the teams were being announced on stage—her head swinging around as she searched the area. The largest boy in their class—whose namemayhave been Jupiter—followed a few steps behind her, but rather than searching the environment for his target, his gaze seemed to be stuck firmly on his teammates behind.

"You're an absolute animal, dude," Lima said, "Completely baseline."

Jupiter twisted to look up at his voice, an expression of complete alarm on his face as the spike smashed into his chest with a crack—the boy's aura flashed twice in quick succession, the first from the impact of the projectile itself and the second when he crashed back first into the ground, pinning his still sheathed greatsword beneath him. Lima landed feet first on the boy's chest a second later, tanking the rest of his aura and leaving him well below the threshold.

"Jupiter Wasp has been eliminated," The digitized voice coming from each of their scrolls said in perfect unison. "Aura Threshold."

Lima glanced over at the sound, catching sight of the boy called Squall as he came in low at a full-on sprint, a pair of daggers held in reverse grip at the ready. The spike that had ricocheted away on impact halted in mid-air as he activated the dust-powered link between it and the quiver before it began spinning back towards him. Squall jaunted to the side in an attempt to avoid the projectile as it passed by his shoulder, cutting off his momentum almost entirely—and then Lima's foot crashed into him, pushing through the cross guard with a twist of his Semblance that sent the two weapons out wide.

His foot continued on to impact the centre of the boy's chest—and then Squall was upside down, his legs torn off the floor by a second pulse that violently adjusted their direction. Lima snatched the returning spike out of the air, and then spun, catching the thrust of Flora's weapon on the edge of it. His Semblance reached outwards, passing through the spike, into the odachi and then touching its wielder's hand—Flora let out a startled yelp as she was suddenly yanked two feet forward, her grip on the weapon faltering as it remained locked in place. Lima completed his spin, his elbow passing over the top of the frozen odachi and crashing into the back of her head. The blow sent her straight to the ground as she fought to regain her balance, the discarded odachi falling out of the air a moment later.

"What the hell is going on?" Jupiter managed as he sat up. "Flora, look out—"

Flora, now on her side on the forest floor, attempted to push herself up to her feet, but she was too slow to avoid his rising foot as it impacted her belly. She was lifted completely off the ground before smashing into the branch of the tree above them, shattering it into splinters as her aura washed back into existence.

"Flora Powder has been eliminated," The digitized voice repeated. "Aura Threshold."

Squall stabbed his dagger into the ground a moment before he could fall all the way down, using the strike to right himself and pulling himself into a crouch. Lima shifted back a step as the boy lunged forward, the daggers both passing by his face but not quite touching—two more strikes followed it in quick succession, forcing him back, away from the two on the ground. The fourth, fifth, and sixth strike came directly after, flowing perfectly from one attack to the next, seamlessly and without pause—Lima shifted forward amidst the seventh attack, the boy's wrist smacking into his own, and then he slid forward, swiping his leading leg out from under him. Lima's hand latched onto the boy's wrist, dragging him forward to add to the momentum—and Squall crashed down into the dirt, his shoulder and neck taking the brunt of the impact as his legs trailed behind him in the air. The base of the spike in his hand hit him in the forehead a moment later, the hammer blow funnelling all of his momenta into it.

"Squall Opal has been eliminated," The digitized voice said in a chorus that told him the others were almost upon him. "Aura Threshold."

"Ash, go wide, Nox, aim for behind; Gray, you take the front," Crane said as they surged into the clearing. "Savanna—"

Lima hopped backwards, swerving around the trunk of the vine-covered tree, picking his way through the shattered remains of the branch as he broke the line of sight. He went low, cutting left at full speed and intercepting Ash as she attempted to follow the order. Ash's sword came around the tree, point first—clearly reacting to the sound of his footsteps—but it was almost a foot too high to hit anything at all. Lima, well within her guard after the missed strike of opportunity, struck upwards, his fist smashing into her chin and sending her stumbling backwards.

He followed her around the tree, using it to keep himself out of sight of the others. Ash recovered and slashed outwards, this time, much more on target, but he was already too close, and her wrist kind of butted up against his shoulder. He stepped on her foot as she tried to backpedal, striking her in the sternum and then again in the cheek as she began to fall backwards. He ripped his head backwards as her sword came around in a final, desperate attempt to create some distance—the tip of her sword was close enough to an actual hit that his aura sparked into visibility at the contact—and then the danger had passed. Lima stomped down on her belly before surging forward, storming straight over the top of her with complete disregard to her wellbeing.

"Ash Bell has been eliminated," The digitized voice said once again. "Aura Threshold."

"He's over there—" Nox called out.

"I've got him," Gray said. "He's not getting past me—"

Lima sprinted straight past before the other boy could fully turn to intercept him, a series of bullets sending bark and wood out into the air behind him. He angled for the edge of the treeline, making sure to keep multiple trees between him and the pursuers—the three boys kept together in a tight group, which wasn't exactly ideal. Savanna, the last remaining member of Team Flower—and the tallest girl in their class by far—was actually keeping up with him to some extent. He could see her out to his left, working hard to maintain a position that would stop him from delving back into the forest.

Lima raked his eyes over the class, standing a little way out into the field, and at Glynda, who had just raised her head to look directly at him—apparently, the cameras didn't have the best angle for her to watch him. He passed by the bulk of them and then cut right, out into the open field—a series of shots came from the forest from the direction of the three behind him, but they stopped almost immediately as the firing angle put the class directly between them. Lima did almost a full lap around the group, ignoring the cries of surprise, admonishment, and outrage, before slipping straight through the middle of them back in the direction of the forest. Crane, Nox and Gray spread out, moving to circle the group, while Savanna stayed further back, doing her best to track his movements.

Lima slipped between Yang and Weiss at almost full speed, breaking free of the group and passing directly beside Glynda—Crane spun at the movement, raising his spear-turned-rifle, and paused as he realised he couldn't actually fire it without risking hitting the teacher—and then it was too late. He caught Crane while his weapon was in mid-transformation, the tip of his spike passing through the trigger—the entire process halted at the obstruction, leaving him with a deformed series of interconnected metal angles.

"Wait—" Crane tried.

Lima abandoned the spike, struck the boy across the face hard enough to stagger him, redirected his desperate haymaker, and then planted him face-first into the ground. Lima stomped on him twice to wipe his aura and then circled the class in the opposite direction as Savanna as she started towards him.

"Crane Gravel has been eliminated," The digitized voice spoke from two dozen scrolls in an orchestra of overlapping words. "Aura Threshold."

He found Nox a moment later, already coming back in his direction at the sound of Crane's shouting. Lima sped up to meet him, and then a moment before they crashed into one another, he stopped himself cold with his Semblance. Nox's prepared strike fell short by an entire foot, and because he'd put all of his weight behind it in an effort to brace himself against the expected resistance, he was left entirely off balance—Lima's snap kick crashed into his cheek with a crack, and Jaune gave a startled cry as Nox stumbled straight into him from the force of it.

Nox pushed off the much larger boy to make a second attempt at an attack, the sai in his right hand stabbing through the air. Lima slipped his head to the side of the very obvious attack and struck the boy full-on in the middle of the face with his closed fist, sending him straight back into Jaune a second time. He hit him twice more while he was struggling to stand back upright—

"Nox Cymbal has been eliminated," The choir spoke. "Aura Threshold."

Lima kept moving as the sound of Savanna's footsteps began to close in on him, rounding the class and finding Gray waiting for him with his longsword up and ready—Lima swerved inwards, passing behind Pyrrha, Cardin, and then Dove in succession, before using the gap between him and Russel to break free again. Gray had tracked him, the boy's weapon now pointed almost directly at his face as Lima came out on the other side. Savanna was forced to give up the pursuit as she found Gray standing almost directly in front of her.

Gray attempted to herd him back and away from the class with a series of precise, controlled thrusts, using the length of his weapon to good effect. Lima retreated carefully, passing by Glynda once more and forcing Gray into inadvertently blocking Savanna's continued attempts to join the fight. The moment Savanna stepped out wide in an attempt to remedy the situation, Lima activated the dust link between his abandoned spike—now lying directly behind him on the grass after Crane had removed it from his partially transformed weapon.

It smacked into his palm, and he brought it forward, intercepting Gray's next thrust—the boy's longsword was sent reeling outwards and into Savanna as she finally managed to get around him. Savanna gave a visceral cry of frustration as she was sent stumbling backwards, her aura bright from the impact. Gray looked shocked at what he'd done, and Lima lunged forward, catching him by the back of the head, wrenching him forward and down to meet his rising knee—two more strikes followed without pause.

"Gray Plains has been eliminated," The digitized voice said once again. "Aura Threshold."

Lima breathed out in preparation as Savanna came at him, fully unobstructed for the first time since the fighting had begun—he'd probably been lucky that she hadn't been with her teammates during the first engagement, because she was a clear step above the others in melee. Part of it was her prodigal height and the startling length of her limbs, but the rest of it was simple skill. The double-bladed staff twisted around her in a defensive swipe that forced him to abandon his step forward. He shifted backwards, to the side, and then back once more to avoid the blisteringly fast followups, eyes darting between her hands, feet and eyes, searching for the break in the pattern.

When he didn't immediately see it, he decided to engineer it instead—he tossed the spike at her face in an easy to track arc, and she reacted exactly as he'd intended, sweeping the staff upwards to knock it away. His hand snapped forward the second she'd committed to the deflection, catching hold of the haft of her weapon between her white-knuckled hand and the top-facing blade. He zeroed out the directions of the staff, locking it in place with a pulse of his Semblance, before reaching for her face with his right hand, fingers searching for the briefest moment of contact—

"Scenario over," The digitized voice said once again. "Attackers are defeated by failing to complete the objective within the time limit."

He let his hold on the staff lapse, and Savanna took a unexpected step backwards as the resistance suddenly faded, her eyes still locked on his hand. Lima pulled back as he straightened up, his still raised hand shifting out to the side—the spike finished its return arc, the last second adjustment causing it to pass by her head and land in the middle of his palm with a soft clap of noise.

#

Hallway, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

In the aftermath of the class, Lima found himself trailing along in the wake of one Glynda Goodwitch, attempting to figure out just what punishment he'd have to endure for his little thrill-seeking adventure. It was kind of hard to get a read on whether or not she was actually upset with him because she'd said roughly nothing about the incident—instead, she'd simply ended the class as normal and then indicated for him to follow her. Lima wasn't particularly gung-ho about diving into the frying pan either, so he took the safe bet and remained silent.

The building they entered wasn't one he'd been in before, and it hadn't been mentioned as part of the tour either, so he found himself staring around with some interest at the new place. The engraved plaques on the doors went a long way towards telling him that it was a building dedicated to housing the private office space of each instructor—oddly enough, it left him wondering if his guardian had a similar room at Haven. At which point, he found his mind turning towards thoughts of Mistral—and of Sage and Midori both. The brief stopover he'd taken there and the too-short visit in which he'd actually had the chance to speak to her in person—if he'd chosen to weather Sage's antics, he'd have probably seen them both every day. The thought sent a twist of something painful in his chest, the same pang of discomfort he'd felt when they'd left Midori behind in Mistral the first time, only now it was created by the absence of both of them—maybe he'd made a mistake by coming here after all.

"Mister Morta," Glynda said as she directed him into the now-open office. "I do hope I still have your attention."

"Sorry," Lima said, ducking through the doorway. "I was thinking about my family, I guess."

"Oh?" Glynda wondered. "Your guardian—the first-year instructor at Haven?"

Glynda silently directed him to take one of the four smaller and less ornate desks that sat in front of the much, much larger one that dominated the front half of the room.

"His daughter, too," Lima added, taking the one closest to the door. "I only got to see her for a couple of hours when I passed through Mistral—I kind of miss her."

"You've certainly travelled a long way to attend," Glynda said, sliding down into the seat behind her desk. "I'd certainly wonderedwhyyou had chosen to enrol here—even more so now that I am aware that you have family living so close to Haven Academy."

"We clash on a lot of things," Lima admitted, "Someone told me once that we bring out the worst in each other, and they were probably right."

"You fight?" Glynda asked.

"Only every single day, about everything we've ever talked about," Lima said, laughing. "I love him—I just can't go through another four years of schooling with him making me look like a complete dumbass to everyone my own age."

Glynda's prior look of genuine concern had morphed into something far more puzzled.

"It's—hard to explain, but it's also not really important," Lima hedged at the expression. "Sorry, miss, we're here to talk about my behaviour, not my home life—please, break out the thumbscrews whenever you're ready."

"You're far too comfortable with the current situation," Glynda said with some interest. "But given the transcripts I have received from Sanctum, I'm aware that you've spent more than a fair share of time in rooms like this."

"If I said I was completely innocent of all charges," Lima sighed. "Would you believe me?"

"Youweren'tinvolved inseventeeninstances of fighting outside of sanctioned matches?" Glynda asked for clarification. "That's certainly a large number ofmisappliedrulings."

"Innocent might not have been the correct term because Idefinitelygot into all of those fights," Lima said, backpedalling a bit. "What I meant to say was completelyjustifiedin all charges."

"In what way?" Glynda prompted.

Lima sat back in his chair at the question, wondering if the discussion he was being dragged into was the start of the detention or if his hour of punishment beganaftershe was satisfied.

"The kids at Sanctum fall into two groups," Lima said, deciding to just be honest. "Elitist pricks, with parents who would organise a repeat of theBlood Fields of Mistralif they could get away with it, and everyone else—I'm not really a fan of the former."

"I—see," Glynda said, furrowing her brow. "I wasn't aware it was quite so bad."

"It's noteveryone, but there's enough of them in high enough places that they get away with a lot of crap," Lima said, grunting. "I'd bet you a thousand lien that none of the 'victims' named in my infraction list has a single mark ontheirrecord, despite the fact thattheywere throwing punches too."

"Therearen'tany names associated with the incidents," Glynda said, "There are vague descriptions of events but no details to the cause or provocation."

"Guess I was fighting ghosts," Lima said without a care. "If you want the truth—most of those fights started the exact same way, and it was one of them saying or doing something I didn't like."

"Not exactly a glowing self-review," Glynda said.

"It is what it is," Lima offered. "Besides, you've had my transcripts for weeks, and as far as I can tell, I'm not in detention for beating someone up."

"Then perhaps you can enlighten me as to why exactly youarehere," Glynda said, sounding a bit annoyed. "Forsomereason, Ozpin decided toexcludethe exact infraction in the missive he sent to me."

"Oh," Lima said. "Does he usually do things like that?"

"I'd rather not say," Glynda said.

Well, that wasdefinitelya yes.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Lima tried, "I was donating all of my money to the orphanages all over Vale and then accidentally stayed out too late saving cats from trees."

"These things happen, I'm afraid," Glynda said, voice dry. "Now, what did youactuallydo?"

"I kind of went base jumping late last night," Lima admitted, "Ozpin found me swimming down by the docks before I could ride the elevator back up and do it all over again."

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Dormitory Rooftop, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The night sky was noticeably clearer here, when compared to Argus, despite the wash of lights from Vale polluting the sky—it probably had something to do with how high up they were, if he had to guess. Either way, the river of stars that crisscrossed the sky above made itself known to him in far more clarity than ever before, and he found himself tracing the familiar patterns—his eyes fell upon 'The Woodsman,' the seven-star link that made up the rough outline of a hatchet. Oddly enough, the cluster now reminded him of Professor Peter Port on account of his thrilling story he'd mentally labelled 'The Bizare Battle with the Baffling Beowolf.'

The quiet sound of breathing caught his attention, stopping just before the still-open roof-access door—he was content to ignore whoever it was as he sought out the next cluster. 'The Spinning Wheel' glimmered with ancient light, the twelve impossible stars nestled snugly between 'The Spool' and 'The Needle.' The person didn't seem put off by his presence as they crossed the threshold and made a path towards him—he glanced back over his shoulder in an attempt to discern who it actually was but found the space completely empty.

"Claire?" Lima asked.

"I'm supposed to be invisible, you know?" Claire said as she came to a stop directly behind him. "You could at leastpretendyou didn't hear me sneaking up on you."

"If you actually wanted to sneak up on me, you wouldn't have made so much noise," Lima said, "What are you doing up here anyway—you're intruding on my self-imposed exile."

"Don't worry," Claire said, "I'm feeling pretty down, too."

Lima let out a quiet laugh at the words—not really expecting her to be so direct about it; still, turnabout was fair play.

"I noticed that earlier," Lima said, "I've narrowed it down a bit since then; either you have a personal vendetta against Alloy Rise—or you are secretly a misogynist and hate the women's rights movement."

"Idiot," Claire snorted. "Wrong on both fronts—mind if I sit down?"

Lima just nodded his head without turning around—and then paused when she sat downrightbehind him, so close, in fact, that her legs were pressed against his back.

"You got pretty mad last night, not that I blame you or anything," Claire said, "You seemed a bit better this morning, but I think something happened later on—a little bit before you decided to destroy half the class?"

Lima was more than a bit startled at how close of an eye she'd kept on him throughout the day and how finely tuned her external assessment of his mood actually was. He was so caught off guard by it that he said nothing at all—suddenly worried at how much of himself he was really leaking out into the world. Claire slid forward a bit as she spoke until she was resting her chin on his shoulder, and he felt her arms snake around his chest in what was most assuredly ahug—her breath passing by his ear sent a shiver down his spine.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but if you do need someone to talk to about anything, I'll listen to you," Claire said, voice quiet. "We're teammates now, and part of that means supporting one another as best we can—on the battlefieldandoutside of it."

"You're totally giving me goosebumps right now," Lima managed. "This is an absolute crisis."

"Really?" Claire said with a quiet laugh. "That's a little bit embarrassing, isn't it?"

Lima tilted his head back for a moment to regain his unobstructed view of the sky and wondered if he'd everreallyopened up to anyone besides Sage or Midori before—he certainly couldn'tremembera time when he had.

"Okay, everything on the table," Lima decided, "I'm feeling homesick, and something Bestwitch said in class reminded me of the day my mother died—I probably shouldn't have done it, but I kind of took my anger out on the guys I got matched against."

Claire tightened her hold on him, her hands linking together more firmly as if to keep him from suddenly running away—or maybe he was just projecting what he felt like doing onto her.

"Can I ask—" Claire started before trailing off. "Maybe you don't want to talk about it; you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

There was a moment where he considered just agreeing with her, but honestly, he'd never had anyone ask about it—he wasn't even sure if he wanted to tell her because he needed or if he was simply responding to her interest.

"When I was six years old, my mother took an on-site contracting job as a builder for a frontier city project—a place called Oniyuri," Lima said after a long moment. "I went with her because my dad is a deadbeat lowlife who abandoned us when I was really little—the entire project lasted three whole months before everything went wrong."

"I've never heard of Oniyuri," Claire said. "What happened there?"

"A series of small problems with logistic stuff turned into arguments, the arguments turned into general negativity, and then the Grimm started to show up," Lima said, eyes on the stars. "The Huntsmen and Huntresses that had been hired to live on-site were overrun, and then the rest of the camp followed—every single person who was still there at the time of the attack died, except for one."

Claire said nothing to the comment, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

"My mother got us clear of Oniyuri, but we were followed by some of the Grimm. Both of us were beyond terrified, so they had no problem tracking us," Lima said, "I—don't really want to go into the details, but the short version is we got caught, my mother died, and I unlocked my aura."

Lima swallowed as she pulled him back against her, unsure about how to receive the comfort she was going out of her way to show him.

"All of that is—terrible," Claire murmured, "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"This is kind of weird for me," Lima said after a moment. "Apart from my guardian and his daughter, I've never told anyone more than a passing idea of what happened."

"Thank you for tellingme," Claire said.

"Sure," Lima said, shifting a bit in her grip. "It's your turn now—in case you thought you were getting out of it."

"Honestly, that makesmybad day feel kind of silly in comparison." Claire said, "Maybe I should save it for a day when you kick your toe or wake up on the wrong side of the bed."

Lima reached down and, after a long moment of indecision, laid his hand over the top of her own, still linked around him.

"First, it's goosebumps, and now you're holding my hand?" Claire said, "You're not building up to a confession, are you?"

"Your diversions aren't going to work onme, Claire," Lima said in an attempt to mask his embarrassment. "I can see right through you."

"Terrible," Claire mumbled. "I've been thinking about why I'm here, and that whole lecture kind of got to me a bit—sometimes I feel like I don't have a good enoughreasonto become a Huntress, and it makes me feel like I shouldn'tbehere."

"Why?" Lima wondered.

"Just look around at the people who've come here; Yang Xiao-Long. Weiss Schnee.Pyrrha Nikos," Claire said, tucking her face into his shoulder until her words were muffled by his shirt. "They're talented, they either come from families of respected Hunters or from enough wealth to divide a country, or they've forged a reputation that's respected across the entire world."

Lima slipped his fingers between her own, breaking the link and squeezing her hand properly.

"What amIcompared to that? What ismyorigin? What haveIdone to earn my place here? What has my family got to do with Huntresses or Huntsmen—myonly claim to any kind of fame is that mysisteris pretty successful, andthathas absolutely nothing to do withme," Claire said, shaking her head against his back. "Mypurpose, if I have one at all, is to try and stand out. To make my parents look at me like I've done something worthmentioning. It's apatheticfight to make sure I'm notsecond, so I'm not brought up in conversation, like some kind of—ofan afterthought—"

Claire choked off a sob and then sat back as if she intended to pull away from the situation entirely—Lima kept hold of her hand and turned around to face her, but she remained unseen, her Semblance working hard to keep her entirely out of view.

"God, it's so stupid, and I know I'm being dramatic about it," Claire managed, fighting to keep her voice even. "I know they love me, and they'd never actually treat me that way on purpose. I've never even said anything about it to them, so they probably don't evenknow, but it's just—itfeelsthat way sometimes, and I feel so—so—soselfishfor thinking like that."

Lima did a risky kind of search, using his Semblanceandhis hand to wrap his arm around her before pulling her into a kind of side-on hug.

"Slow down, Captain-cop-a-feel," Claire said with a shaky breath. "We've only just met."

"There's a limit of one comedian per team, Claire, and I'mwayfunnier," Lima said, not letting go of her. "I'm not going to tell you how to feel about it, but you did miss one thing—you earned your place here, just like Teak, just like Lux, and just like me."

"Teak beat outevery other studenton the NCS to get here; Lux is really, really talented—and apparently super rich," Claire said, still gunning for the funny-guy role. "I don't know what you did to get here, but I'veseenyou fight, and I'm never going to be able to match up tothat."

"You're wildly undervaluing what you've actually managed to accomplish because they don't just let anyone into Beacon Academy," Lima said, "If you can be impressed by Teak beating out all those kids on the NCS, then acknowledge the fact that you out-competed every other person that appliedhereand was rejected."

"That doesn't even matter," Claire murmured.

"Itdoesmatter because there werethousandsof combat school kids that applied to come here, and your record was good enough to outshine them all," Lima said, "You're at a premierCombat Academy, training to become a vaunteddefender of humanity, andthatis worthy of a level of respect the vast majority of the world won't ever deserve."

Lima pulled back for a moment and did his best to make eye contact with the invisible girl.

"You've done something amazing, Claire," Lima said, "Youshouldbe proud of yourself."

"I—" Claire managed before she washed back into visibility. "I want to be the funny one."

Lima sat back a bit, suddenly aware of just how close together they were sitting—it was far easier to abstract it when he couldn't actually see her.

"I'll let you cover my sick days," Lima said. "Best I can do."

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The hot water from the showerhead washed down over his body as he did his best to clear the diluted shampoo away from his eyes. The smell of vanilla and cocoa clung to him as he blindly placed the bottle down beside the three identical ones he'd long since loaded up on the shelf of his chosen cubicle. The team yoga session had been done in what was almost complete silence, with only Teak asking for advice when he was having trouble and receiving quiet corrections from all three others throughout. Claire had more or less returned to how she'd been before, bright, smiling, and in good cheer.

The rift between him and Lux seemed to be the only thing that had remained stubbornly unchanged, but as he scrubbed at his face, Lima couldn't help but wonder at how hard it was to keep it going. The discussion with Claire on the rooftop was stuck in his mind, and the words she'd said to him about teammates being there for each other, both on the battlefield and off of it, kept swimming back into focus. Lima already knew that he was feeling homesick and that the stress of coming all the way to Vale was pressing down on him. Vacuo was almost as far away from Vale as Mistral was. So he couldn't ignore the fact that Lux was probably stressed, lonely, and dealing with the exact same situation ashewas. While using even a single drop of his shampoo was acompletelyunforgivable and criminal act—he'd just have to forgive her anyway.

"I'm supposed to be the funny one, goddammit," Lima said with an aggrieved sigh. "Stop forcing me to be mature as well, you bastards."

Lima gave a final annoyed pass with his hand to wipe away the last of the white, soapy mess covering his hair and then snatched the bottle of shampoo back up off the shelf. He did a wet, naked and messy muscle-up onto the too-short divider between the cubicles and got eyes on Lux's entirely barren shelf. He reached down, placing the half-used bottle of shampoo on it, twisting it until the label faced the door, and then slipped back down to his own side with a huff. Lima finished washing up before towel drying himself and dragging on the uniform he'd hung up on the hooks adorning the outside of the cubicle.

"—it's stupid," Lux muttered, speaking quietly with Claire. "I don't want to."

"Shower's free, brighteyes," Lima said, mashing the towel into his hair in an attempt to dry it completely. "Better hurry up, or we'll be late for breakfast."

He walked straight past her without another word, balling up his towel and then going for the three-pointer—it twisted oddly in the air, catching on the outside edge of the shared washing basket before slumping into a wet mess on the floor beside it. Lima dropped down onto the middle of his bed without bothering to go pick it up, folding his hands behind his head—

"Don't leave it on the floor," Teak squawked. "Lima, it's stillwet—"

"I'm not sure you're allowed to be a Huntsman if you can't land a shot like that," Claire said, amused. "I mean, it was like three meters away at most—Lux, are you going to shower, or what?"

Lux, who'd been kind of idling beside her bed, seemed to come to life all at once.

"Yeah—I am," Lux said before snatching her borrowed towel up off her bed. "Don't rush me, Claire."

"Lima," Teak said again, "Are younapping? You have to pick it up—"

"But it's heavy and all the way over there," Lima complained. "I'mhere—can't you see the problem—ack—"

"Put it away properly," Teak insisted.

Lima reached up to peel the soggy towel off his face, already balling it up for a second attempt as Lux vanished into the shower room.

"Is that an order, Captain Student?" Lima asked. "Did the delegator finally come in?"

"I'm not even delegating right now; it'syourtowel," Teak said in disbelief. "Stopthrowingit, your sending water everywhere—"

"Swish," Lima said, impressed with himself. "It's all easy."

"We couldusean arm like yours on the force," Claire said, smiling. "Welcome to Beacon Academy, Mister Morta—"

The light-headed feeling that had followed him around on their first day as a team was returning. The strange anti-tension, like a comforting charge in the air that made it feel like the members of the group were all moving in a singular direction. It had absolutely been a false state of confidence on that first day, he now knew, and he doubted it had been long enough for it to have solidified into somethingtrue—but it felt a few steps more real now than it had before. It made him wonder if there was a future like that ahead of them, in which all four of them could feel likethisand have it be an accurate representation of shared reality. Where an unbreakable bond of camaraderie would link them all together, and they could support each other without reserve—when Lux finally returned from the shower, her hair was bright, and vibrant, something that was outmatched only by the smile on her face.

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"It's because there's so much stuff packed into each day," Claire said, balancing her fork on the top of her finger. "I'm surprised I'm not more exhausted, honestly, a day at Signal wasn't half as busy as this."

"My school wasn't like this at all," Teak admitted, "Were the other combat schools this bad?"

"Sanctum had a lot of mandatory non-combat classes, although there was a whole bunch of extracurricular stuff you could sign on for," Lima said, "I never really did any of that, though, because all my practical combat stuff was done at home with Sage—Pyrrha apparently did a lot of those, or so she says."

"I wonder what kind of things they did—I'll have to ask her later," Teak said, "Lux?"

"Oscuro was practical-heavy," Lux said after she'd swallowed. "Lots of survival exercises as well, ones that only really apply in the local terrain, so most of it feels useless right now."

"I bet Atlas Academy has something like that," Claire said, "Fighting in snowy terrain must be pretty different—and all of their gear is probably heavier on account of how cold it is."

"What about Signal?" Lima said, "They must specialise in fighting on top of islands—how are you dealing with the total upheaval of everything you've ever learned?"

"Idiot," Claire said, "Don't you know that a continent is just a really, really big island?"

"That's not—" Teak tried.

"So you actually gained some kind of conceptual power boost by coming to the mainland?" Lima said, impressed. "You know, now that I think about it—whatisa planet other than a mass of floating land?"

Claire laughed out loud.

"Clairedoesn'tscale to planetary," Teak insisted, "No matter how much you try to expand the concept of an island."

"I guess I'll just have to train the old fashion way." Claire said, "Speaking of training, have you all signed up for the extracurricular stuff—I'm still undecided as to whether I'm doing anything yet."

"My name is already down for Port's Hunting Missions," Lima said, nodding. "Saturday morning, six until twelve."

Lux scrunched her face up at the news.

"I'm going to the Amphitheatre for the Sparring Tournament on Saturday; it starts at six as well," Lux said, "Teak's coming with me—if you haven't figured out what you want to do, you should come with us."

"Maybe," Claire said, "Do I need to sign something for that?"

"No, but you need to log into the system with your scroll," Lux said, "I'll show you how—give."

Claire slid her scroll across the table before leaning forward to supervise what she was doing with it—Teak looked a little bit worried about the discussion or perhaps at the reminder of his inclusion.

"Lima?" Teak said, "You're really not coming?"

"I haven't gotten to kill asingleGrimm since the entrance exam, and Port seems to be pickingeveryonebut me in class," Lima said, shaking his head. "The whole sparring thing is open on Sundays as well, so youmightbe able to convince me to come then—are you worried about it?"

"A little bit," Teak admitted. "Do you think we could practice again this afternoon?"

"I don't have detention today, so that was the plan," Lima agreed. "We'll switch it around this time—I'll keep up a systematic attack, and you can work on dealing with that."

"Thank you," Teak said, smiling. "What was detention with Professor Goodwitch like?"

"It wasn'treallya detention, at least, not the kind I'm used to—which might have been because Bestwitch didn't even know what I'd actually done to earn it," Lima admitted, rubbing at his neck. "Even after I told her, she just went straight back to asking me questions, and that was pretty much how the whole hour went."

Lux spun the borrowed scroll around, and Claire snatched it back up to investigate whatever had been done to it.

"Questions about what?" Lux said.

"Sanctum, my family, and the places where I lived," Lima said, being a bit vague about it. "She seemed pretty interested in why I chose to comehereinstead of going to Haven—guess she's not too fond of troublemakers, huh?"

"That doesn't sound like a punishment at all," Teak said, furrowing his brow. "Does it?"

"An hour alone with Bestwitchandher riding crop? It's more like a reward," Claire said, a bit distracted by her scroll. "MaybeIshould try for a detention."

"Down, girl," Lux said. "You're going to make Teak blush."

"I'm not—" Teak protested.

#

Training Field A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"This exercise will be vastly different from the ones you've completed so far, and though it may not make much sense to you at first glance, itwillhelp you develop in a multitude of areas," Glynda said, addressing them all. "The only instructions you will receive directly from me regarding this scenario is that you will be working alone, and you must follow all of the orders you receive to the best of your ability."

A wave of alerts hit each of their scrolls, and when Lima looked down, he found himself looking at an aerial view of the Emerald Forest, marked by a white grid of intersecting letters and numbers. His target location—H6—was a solitary white dot amongst the dark blue gradient of the forest.

"The scenario begins now," Glynda said, "Go."

Lima started forward with a parting wave to the rest of his team, slipping into the tree line and managing to sneak a few glances at the scrolls of those nearby. Yang was going towards I7, Pyrrha was heading for L9, and Cardin was moving in the direction of A4. Lima could hear the sound of footsteps following his general path, but the angle of it told him they were slowly splitting off to a grid adjacent to his own. The map on his scroll seemed to adjust based on his position, the target location growing closer as he threaded his way through the trees—and then the moment he entered the assigned grid, a notification appeared.

"Find a red flower," Lima murmured.

The dot that had served as his guide was gone now, the map left entirely blank. He'd passed by at least half a dozen of the flowers on his way there; the tiny splashes of red amidst the trees were almost magnetic to him. There was nothing to indicate he was locked in place or that he couldn't leave the border of H6—Lima cut back the way he'd come launching himself up into the air, and catching hold of the bottom of a low-hanging branch, before swinging up into a crouch on top of it. He broke the long stem of the flower between his fingers, bringing it around to study—and a new alert appeared.

"Deliver the package to BB," Lima said, frowning. "That's—not a location."

The grid was an intersection of letters and numbers, one of each, and there weren't any that broke that pattern—which meant it wasn't a location, it was aperson. There was only one person participating in the exercise with those initials—Blake Belladonna. Blake had been angling towards the treeline somewhere to his left, which put her somewhere between the A1 and H12 columns. That was a massive area to search for a single girl and one that probably had her own objective, which could take her to any point within the forest. Instead of doing that, he'd just have to use his brain a bit—he found Teak's contact information on his scroll and then hit the call button.

"Lima?" Teak said, breathing heavily.

"Do you have Blake's number?" Lima asked. "It's kind of important."

"I—don't," Teak managed. "But I have Ruby's number; I'll send it to you in a minute—I have to go."

"Good luck," Lima said.

He caught a flash of orange passing through the trees—Nora, cutting an angular path deeper into the forest, a wide smile on her face. Half a minute later, his scroll beeped, so he opened the message and copied the number over before dialling it.

"Uh—who is this?" Ruby said, "I'm totally doing a thing right now; I can't buyanything—"

"I need Blake's number," Lima said, "For the assignment, Goodwitch ordered me to callRuby Roseand ask for it—It's Lima."

"Whoa, that'ssuperspecific," Ruby said, startled. "Mine just told me to find some kind of flower—do you have a pen?"

"Ruby—" Lima said, laughing. "Just send it to me by message, please."

"Oh, right," Ruby said. "How do I do that without hanging up—"

Lima ended the call before she could figure it out and then returned to waiting for a response. There was a chance that this was supposed to be a tracking exercise, in which case he'd probably end up getting marked down for contacting his target directly. But then again, he was transporting a package, andeverygood delivery man knew to make sure the recipient was aware of the incoming order—he'd have to save that line and use it if Bestwitch did dress him down for it. He renamed the unknown number to Ruby Rose and then did the same for the number she'd sent to him, filing it under Blake Belladonna.

"Whoare you?" Blake said, voice low. "How did you get this number?"

"I've got a lovely little package for you, Miss Belladonna—actually, that sounded way too much like I was coming onto you, didn't it?" Lima said, wincing. "Starting again; Mission requires delivery of package, requesting coordinates for drop off."

"Lima," Blake said, identifying him. "How do I know your mission isn't to hunt me down?"

Lima paused at the words because the thought had never even crossed his mind—but apparently, ithadcrossed hers. Was she being paranoid, or washercurrent objective to do exactly that?

"I could screenshot my orders, I guess?" Lima offered. "We could trade pictures to make sure it's all on the up and up?"

"You wouldn't have agreed to that if you were supposed to attack me," Blake said after a long moment. "I'm in B7."

"I'm at the border of H5 and H6," Lima said, "Save time and meet at E6?"

"Fine," Blake said. "Lima, how did you get my number—"

Lima hung up the call before she could finish the question, dropping down from the branch and heading west. He started keeping an active eye out for the other people in the forest, Blake's question helping him remember that this class was calledCombat Studiesfor a reason, and there was probably going to be some fighting involved at some point. The bright white hair of a figure that could only be Weiss passed by him with a frown, going in the complete opposite direction, with a small red flower in her hand.

"Weiss, Ruby and me—three different people with the exact same objective," Lima murmured, "I should have asked Teak what he was doing."

He cut an arc out wide, aiming to come into the agreed meeting place from anywhere other than where Blake expected him to be coming from—and he found her up in the trees, right at the border, watching for his approach. Her weapons were sheathed, and her scroll was in her hand, but he couldn't see any sign of a red flower on her person—he'd just have to risk it. Lima jumped down from his hiding place, landing on the ground behind her with more than enough noise to startle her into turning around.

"Just the girl I was looking for," Lima said, "I've got something for you."

Lima reached down to where he'd stashed the flower and held it up by the stem, giving it a little twirl by rolling his fingers. Blake eyed him for a long moment before dropping down onto the forest floor with a barely audible thump.

"Flowers?" Blake said.

"I know thislookslike a confession, but you're going to have to give me the benefit of the doubt here," Lima said, "Bestwitch totally set me up."

"You're breaking my heart here," Blake said, taking the flower from him. "Really."

Lima could almost feel the moisture being sucked out of the air by the sheer dryness of her tone.

"It would never have worked between us anyway," Lima said, laughing. "A lowborn human from the slums and a beautiful Faunus princess—we're just too different."

The fragile stem of the flower snapped in her hand, and the two pieces fell to the forest floor in an asymmetrically-weighted descent—a beep rang out from her scroll.

"Thatbetternot come out of my grade—" Lima started.

He paused when he found Blake staring straight at him, a twisted, strained look on her face; the expression was visceral enough that he actually had no idea what to say—she was looking at him like he'd juststabbedher or something. A beep rang out fromhisscroll, failing to unsettle the still-building tension, and when he glanced down to check, he found a single, short sentence had appeared above the map—Escape from Blake Belladonna.

"Oh," Lima said, taking a single step backwards. "Well, that's unfortunate—"

"Don't move," Blake snapped, voice tight. "You're not leaving this clearing until you tell me exactly how you—"

Lima's second step backwards broke the trembling house of cards—the sheer proximity, the suddenness of the attack and the fact that he was moving blindly backwards while she was moving forwards allowed her all the time she needed to reach him. Lima shifted to the side as her short black blade came up out of its sheath, cutting past his cheek and leaving a faint line across his aura. He was halfway through a retaliatory strike when he realised the orders had said nothing about fighting her—he might not even beallowedto attack her.

Blake stepped forward as he stepped backwards, maintaining the distance between them as she brought her blade back inwards for a second attack—a spike launched up out of the box-quiver through a pulse of his Semblance, and he redirected her attack to the side. He pushed forward, their shoulders grinding against each other, the sudden shift forcing her momentum to carry her forward before he surged past in the exact opposite direction.

"I won't let you—" Blake hissed.

Lima cut right the moment he had a tree between them and then forward again, forcing her to go around it to maintain pursuit—a line of jet black passed by to his left, the ribbon of her weapon winding around the trunk of a tree, and then a series of shots rang out from the other side as it pulled taunt, compressing the trigger and launching a sweeping arc of bullets across his position.

He was forced to cut right, his path forward erupting into a shower of splinters and fragments of bark. Blake herself came around the tree to his direct right a moment later, her sheath raised up in preparation for a strike—unable to go backwards because of the rain of fire almost upon him and with her momentum leading her to cut off his path, he did the only thing he could—Lima sped up, catching hold of her wrist, passing into her guard, and wrapping his hand around her waist. He wrenched her into a tight spin and then used the generated force to fling her into the wave of her own attack.

A second Blake appeared directly behind the first, hands raised up and held flat against the real one's back. The bullets tore through the fake, missing the real one by scant inches, and then cut out completely as Blake yanked on the end of the ribbon, reeling it back in towards her—but by then, Lima had crossed the clearing, and vanished into the trees. He'd been right about the flat expanse of the Amphitheatre arena hindering her ability to fight—in less than asecond, she'd come up with and then actually organised a series of layered attacks that had forced him back into the clearing.

That wholecloningthing was obviously her Semblance, but he had no real idea of how it functioned or how often she could use it. They were physical clones; that much was easy enough to see, considering she'd used it to halt her backward stumble—the clonehadn'tattempted to move out of the way of the attack, though. Lima sped up as he heard her pursuit grow closer, and when she started to go wide to get in front of him, he cut to the side, regaining a few more meters of distance before she could readjust her own path. Blake seemed completely at home in the chaotic, clustered environment of the forest, and his rapid changes in direction barely seemed to shake her for long—if he was going to actually fulfil the objective of escaping her, he'd have to try something far more unexpected.

He caught sight of a particularly tall tree and then angled towards it, speeding up as he went—he ran right up the side of it, arms crossed in front of his face as he broke through the foliage of the much shorter trees that surrounded it. He erupted from the canopy a moment later. When the trunk grew too thin and the branches too cluttered, he bent his knees, crouched down on the side of it, and then burst forward into the open air. He adjusted his direction with his Semblance, extending his forward momentum from a small arc into a straight-line shot.

Without the obstructions of the trees, roots, bushes and everything else slowing him down, he'd crossed at least three of the marked grids in a few short seconds before the canopy swallowed him once more. The landing was rougher than he'd hoped because he hadn't really had time to aim it properly, but he was soon running across the ground again, making good use of the distance he'd put between them. Almost a minute of running later, he received another beep from his scroll—but it wasn't a set of updated instructions like he'd assumed. Instead, it was a message from the contact he'd only just added to his scroll.

'I want to talk.'- Blake Belladonna.

Lima didn't stop running, but he did manage to tap out a return message as he went, and once he'd finished, he changed directions again, heading deeper into the forest.

'I'm not falling for that one, we're in the middle of a test, and my new objective is to literally run away from you—try again later, princess,'- Lima Morta.

The little taunt was probably too much—there was another beep, andthistime, it was an updated objective.

#

Training Field A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

By the time the exercise had actually concluded, he'd given flowers to a girl who'd then attempted to kill him, he'd stalked Ren through the forest while the boy had hidden a playing card inside the hollow of a tree, and even had a clandestine meeting with Weiss Schnee to exchange information about the last known locations of those they'd each interacted with. The walk back to the school was done in something of contemplative silence. Some of the objectives had pretty obvious real-world applications—communicating with people you might not know very well was something they'd need to do on just about every mission.

Tracking and delivering flowers was probably some kind of allusion to moving supplies to villages or outposts—or it could be about locating someone in an unfamiliar environment. Following people around without being noticed was probably a useful skill to refine as well—the whole hunting people down and being hunted was pretty self-explanatory.

"Well done, most of you have managed to complete the majority of your assignments to an adequate standard," Glynda said, "I will now be going through a thorough debriefing process with each of you individually, in which you will detail your experiences, and I will prompt you on your thought process for each task."

Lima couldn't help but notice that Blake seemed to have developed something of a laser focus on him since he'd stepped out of the forest—and considering the test was already pretty much over, it left him thinking that the exchange they'd had back in that clearing had been a little more then he'd first assumed.

"Miss Rose, I'll start with you," Glynda said, "The rest of you, please make good use of your time to exercise or engage in some light sparring."

"I have to go first?" Ruby said, waving her hands around in her panic. "I don't even know how tospelldebriefing—"

As Glynda strode away from the class, with Ruby slumping along after her, the rest of the class started to break off into little clusters. Teak, Claire and Lux found him pretty quickly, most of which were looking a bit worse for wear—Lux had twigs in her hair, and her uniform was smudged with dirt, but she was also the one who seemed most chipper.

"I found the flower," Teak sighed, "But when I tried to give it to Weiss, she ran away from me—I spent most of the test trying to catch up to her."

"Ouch," Claire said, laughing. "I gave mine to Yang, and then we had to team up to find Cardin and Nora."

"I had to steal Pyrrha's flower before she could give it to Jaune," Lux said, "I don't think she was allowed to fight back because she kept trying to run away—it ended up getting pretty messy, and we kind of both failed that one."

"Sounds about right," Lima said, "Well, I gave my flower to Blake, and then she tried to kill me."

"Whoa," Claire said, "She's totally glaring at you right now—what's that about?"

"I don't think she liked the colour," Lima said in jest. "Nah, I think her goal was to beat me up, but mine was to run away from her—I managed to get away."

"That would have pissed me off as well," Lux said in understanding. "I feel for her, I really do."

Maybe, but it really didn't explain the intensity by which she was still staring at him—it was actually starting to give him some serious serial killer vibes. He'd have to try and keep his distance for a while.

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima's resolution to keep his distance lasted exactly four hours, at which time he received another message from her.

'Meet me at the cliff where we took the entrance exam.'- Blake Belladonna.

Lima stared at it for a whole minute, just trying to figure out exactly what he'd gotten himself into—and wondering if he shouldn't just go back to trying to fall asleep. The others were already out of it, as best he could tell, tired from the long day and the hour of sparring they'd managed after Combat Studies had finally ended. He was tired too, but his mind was still flitting about, from topic to topic, too active for him to truly fall asleep. Still, he hadn't been making anyrealprogress towards sleeping before, and he certainly wouldn't be able to without knowing whether or not he was going to end up in some girl's freezer.

Lima slipped out of his bed—butt-naked—carefully retrieving his shoes, a pair of shorts, and a shirt before slipping out into the hall. He closed the door behind him with a quiet click and then got dressed out there. He'd half expected Blake to slip out of her own dorm room and shank him on the way past, but their door remained firmly locked. He did a quick search of the surrounding buildings for any headmasters standing in the shadows, gearing up to start handing out detentions, but he was entirely alone. The walk through the otherwise deserted school was nice enough, although it lacked most of the adrenaline that his other late-night trip had possessed—maybe that would change when he caught up to Blake.

Lima stopped beside the path that would lead out towards the cliff and did a scan of the area, but there were enough elevation changes in the grassy middle ground to obscure anyone hiding out there. He started off down the walkway, searching the area that would lead to the series of paths down the edge of the cliff—there was a small shift in the shadows there, at the edge of the turn that would lead downwards.

"Found you, freezer girl," Lima muttered, "What happens now?"

He kept moving, following the path towards the spot, searching for more changes as his eyes started to adjust to the low light. By the time he was a dozen meters away, he had her rough outline locked down in the dark—he could see that she was wearing her combat clothes, her weapon very much present.

"You brought a weapon with you, huh?" Lima said, coming to a stop in front of her. "That torches my theory about this being a late-night booty call."

There was a sort of tense pause between them, stretching on until—

"Did you tell anyone?" Blake asked.

"About my tragically debunked theory or that you're a Faunus?" Lima said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "The answer for both is the same—I haven't told anyone."

"No more games," Blake managed. "How long have you known about me?"

It was clear enough now that she wasn't happy with him discovering her secret—although, if he was being honest, he'd figuredthatpart out after she'd called him out in the middle of the night in full combat gear.

"Why does it matter?" Lima said, sighing. "Knowing at all is clearly the problem, notwhenI found out."

"Why do youthinkit matters? I came here to getawayfrom that life," Blake gritted out, fists clenched at her sides. "What are you, a sympathiser? Some kind ofinformant?"

Lima found himself adrift for a moment, the question throwing off his train of thought entirely because it made no sense within the context of their discussion. A sympathiser of what? The Faunus?Why was she saying it like sympathising with the Faunus would be abadthing when Blakeherselfwas a Faunus? Accusing him of being aninformantwas just outright disconnected from the rest and made no real sense to him.

"Well?" Blake said, stepping forward into the ambient light. "Answer me."

Despite the aggression, the demanding nature of her questions, and the kind of unhinged accusations—she lookedscared.

"Of course I sympathise with them, Blake," Lima tried, frowning. "I don't understand what's happening right now—doyouhate the Faunus or something?"

"That's not—that's notfair; I didn't leave because Ihatethe Faunus," Blake said, flinching back from the words. "Ileftbecause they'rehurtingpeople now;Adamis hurting people—"

"Blake," Lima tried, "You're not making any sense—"

"The White Fang used to be about reaching for equality, about speaking up for our kind, working towards making thingsbetter," Blake said, the words coming out shaky. "Now they've become radicalised; they're no longer reaching for violence as alastresort; they'rekillinginnocent people, just for being in the way—can't you see it?"

Lima stared at her, at the furious tears building in the corner of her eyes, feeling as if they were having two entirely different conversations.

"Blake, whatever this discussion is right now, it's not what you think it is," Lima said. "I only figured out you were a Faunusyesterday—"

"What?" Blake asked, crying now. "You said you were a White Fangsympathiser."

"I sympathise with the Faunus and how sh*tty they get treated by society," Lima said, "I don't know the first thing about the rest of that—you were part of theWhite Fang?"

"You—you called me aFaunus princess," Blake tried, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You were referencing my dad being theformer leaderwithout actually saying it because Goodwitch was listening in—"

"I was making ajoke—I didn't want you to think I was being racist if I said 'beautiful human prince' and 'Faunus from the slums,' so I flipped it around," Lima said, swallowing at the sound of her crying. "Blake, we've had, like,halfa conversation—I've never evenmetyour dad; how the hell would I know anything about him?"

"That doesn't—you can't be serious," Blake managed with a sort of choked sob. "Oh no."

Blake collapsed back against the rocky wall of the path, slumping down to sit against it with her hands in her hair. Lima wondered if an offhand joke had ever caused so much pain to someone else and if he'd just set some kind of horrible world record.

"Okay, hold on," Lima said, burying his face in his hand. "I can fix this."

Lima moved towards her, ignoring the way she curled her fingers around the hilt of her weapon and then dropped down to sit against the wall beside her. He closed his eyes for a moment, leaned his head back against the wall, and then turned his mind towards the task of figuring out exactly what he'd just done. Blake Belladonna was apparently the daughter of the leader of the White Fang—formerleader—there was some dude named Adam who was hurting people, and the White Fang was becoming more radicalised under whoever the new leader was.

Blake had decided to hang up her terrorist cap and become a Huntress because she was averse to the whole killing of innocent people who got in the way of the organisation's goals. His stupid joke had made it seem like he'd been blackmailing her or something and that he'd figured out her secret identity, even though the only thing he'd really discovered was that she'd been hiding the fact that she was a Faunus.

"You're worried I'm going to tell someone you used to be a terrorist, something which would probably ruin everything you've managed to do since you left," Lima said, in understanding. "That's why you tried to shank me in the forest and stick me in your freezer—and it's why you're so upset right now. "

Blake let out another choked-off sob, her face now buried entirely in her knees.

"I'm not going to do that, so you can stop freaking out, alright?" Lima said, "I don't care about whatever insane past you've had—uh—you didn't kill any innocent people, did you?"

"I didn't kill anyone," Blake managed, voice muffled. "I wouldn't do that."

"Then I stand by what I said," Lima said, "You stepped off the path to villainy and decided to become a Huntress—that's good enough for me."

"You don't even know if I'm telling the truth," Blake mumbled, "Why would you believe me?"

"No offence, but you seem like a really, really bad liar," Lima said, wincing a bit. "I mean, you just set your own cover story on fire over a random joke—I'm kind of surprised you haven't accidentally arrested yourself before stumbling into a locked jail cell."

Blake tightened her hold over her knees, another awful shudder wracking her body.

"Sorry," Lima said, "I seem to be developing a bad habit of making the people around me cry."

"I'm not crying," Blake managed.

"The worst liar in the world," Lima reiterated, "Blake, can I ask you something? Never mind, I'm going to do it anyway—why are you hiding the fact you're a Faunus?"

"I wasn't sure how I'd be treated here," Blake said, managing to lift her head a bit. "Then I was placed on a team with Weiss Schnee; the history is just—Ican'ttell her I'm a Faunus."

"Ah," Lima noised. "Is she the kind of person who associates all Faunus with the White Fang?"

He remembered talking about that exact subject with Teak in regard to the exact same girl—so it was a thought he'd kind of had prepared already.

"She's aSchnee," Blake muttered, rubbing at her face again. "How did you even find out?"

"You bumped into me in class when Yang was teasing you about your choice in reading materials, and my Semblance kind of made a grab at you—that's an automatic process that happens without my ability to really do anything about it," Lima said, "I felt your ears under the ribbon, although Iprobablycould have just made a random joke about cats, and you would have spilled the beans right there."

"It's not funny," Blake said, "Do you really not care?"

"Not even a little bit," Lima offered before bumping into her shoulder with his own. "I bet your team wouldn't care either—you going to tell them at any point?"

"I just told you I couldn't," Blake said, shaking her head. "Weiss would freak out if she knew I was a Faunus—I don't evenknowwhat she would do if I told her I used to be a member of the White Fang."

"What about Yang and Ruby?" Lima said.

"I can't risk it," Blake mumbled. "Normal people aren't going to react the way you are."

"Normalpeople?" Lima said, feigning offence. "I knew it;youwere the racist all along."

Blake bumped into him in what felt like one part apology, two parts chastisem*nt for deliberately taking it the wrong way, and he cracked a smile—at least she wasn't actively crying any more.

"You mentioned someone before," Lima asked. "Adam—is that your dad's name?"

"No," Blake managed, shaking her head. "He was my—mentor, I guess."

A mentor that was supposedly hurting people—killing them, maybe, judging by everything else she'd said.

"Ah," Lima said, "Do you actuallywantto be a Huntress—or did you only come here to escape a bad situation?"

"Iwantto help people; that'sallI've ever wanted," Blake murmured, "I thought that becoming a Huntress would let me do that—and I'm hoping that maybe I can make up for some of the mistakes I've made in the process."

#

Training Field D4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Yang dragged Weiss out of the mud to where the rest of her already eliminated team was waiting before crossing back into the mess to join them by the flagpole.

"We can still win," Ruby said, pulling herself back up again. "We just—wejust—this would be so much better if we just had ourweapons—"

"This is the most unfair thing I've ever seen," Teak managed, "The randomizer is broken—ithasto be."

Lima watched as Jaune hooked an arm under the much, much shorter boy and pulled him back to his feet.

"There is no fairness in love and war—some of you will find that sweet, sweet release; others will find only more mud," Lima said, grinning at them. "Pyrrha, you want to tag in for a bit? I'd like to get some of this out of my shoes."

"I suppose," Pyrrha said, laughing. "Yang, would you like to take over the defence?"

"I'm on it," Yang agreed.

Lima squished his way back through the mud, reaching their defensive line just as Yang placed her hand on the flagpole—an action that freed Pyrrha up to return to the field.

"Jaune," Ren said, hair dangling in front of his eyes. "It's difficult to see you struggling like this."

"Then get usoutof here, man," Jaune panted, "It's beenten minutes—you're keeping ushostage."

"Without an option to surrender or a time limit to constrain us, I'm afraid there is nothing I can do," Ren said, "I just wish there were another way."

"Yes, well, the class is rapidly coming to its conclusion," Glynda said with a sigh. "I'm amending the rules—you have one minute left to defeat the defenders and take the flag, or you will lose by default."

Jaune tripped forward as his foot got caught, barely catching himself before he could fall face-first into the mud—Teak, suddenly unsupported, didn't have half as much luck.

"One minute is all I need," Ruby cried, stumbling forwards in the mud. "This is the final rush."

Ruby, already knowing she could never contest Pyrrha in a unarmed melee, feinted a punch before tackling her around the waist—Pyrrha gave a startled laugh at the attempt, catching her around the shoulders and then pushing her down back first into the mud.

"Jaune," Ruby breathed, reaching for the sky. "I'm leaving everything to you—make it count."

Jaune pushed forward, trying to build up as much steam as he could and sending mud flying in every direction. Pyrrha braced herself to receive the charge—and then let out a cry as a fistful of mud smacked her in the chin from directly below, splashing up around her cheeks in a sparkling halo of filth. Jaune bulldozed right over the top of them both, crossing over the defensive line with a wordless battle cry, hand outstretched towards the distant flagpole.

"He's doing it," Teak said, kneeling in the mud. "He'sreallydoing it."

Yang stepped forward and then, without any kind of mercy, front-kicked him directly in the chest—Jaune rocked backwards from the force of it, mud scattering around him as he clawed at the air before he crashed down onto his back in the mud.

"All I ever wanted," Jaune managed as the mud slowly consumed him. "Was to make a difference."

"You did, Jaune," Ruby cried out. "Youdid—"

"The attackers are defeated by time limit," Glynda said, amused. "The defenders win—again."

"Four in a row, huh?" Lima said, "You'd think something was up with that."

The boos and jeers of the defeated teams washed over them—Lima couldn't help but laugh.

#

Beacon Tower, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Beacon Tower was an interesting feat of construction. Absurdly tall, cylindrical, and massive in scale—dozens of floors from top to bottom, housing all kinds of things, the CCT Center itself being just one of them. The topmost floor was where the headmaster's office was located, and somewhere below it, the publically available communications room—which was where he was headed right now. The woman behind the reception desk gave him a wary look as he stepped out of the elevator—not too far removed from the one he'd gotten on the first floor.

"How can I—helpyou?" The woman asked.

She said it in the same manner that someone might have asked, 'How may I get rid of you?' but he just smiled at her.

"I'm here to make a call to a man called Sage Jett at Haven Academy—one of the instructors," Lima said, "Intercontinental calls still work, right?"

"They certainly do," The woman said, rolling her shoulders a bit. "I'll direct you to cluster six, which already has a connection to Mistral—please swipe your ID when you sit down; you won't be able to make a call without it."

Lima flashed his ID to her as he stepped passed the counter and left with a parting thank you, heading towards the set of communication units she'd indicated. He tapped his card on the reader as he sat down before leaving it there—it took a moment before he was cleared to make the call, and then he put in the correct number. A few moments later, the call actually started, and Sage appeared on the screen, his scroll angled up on whatlookedlike Midori's kitchen table.

"You're covered in sh*t, Lima." Sage said, "Ever heard of a shower?"

Between the twelve days on the trains, and the week spent at Beacon Academy, it had been the better part of a month since he'd last heard the man's voice—and he could already feel his eye twitching.

"Hello to you too, you old bastard," Lima complained, "I just finished Combat Studies—I haven't had a chance to go back to my dorm yet."

"What the hell did they have you doing for you to look like that?" Sage asked, "You look like you've been rolling around in the mud."

"Capture the flag, muddy terrain edition," Lima said, confirming it. "We had an absolutely stacked team, so we fought four rounds back to back and won all of them—it was a total mess."

"That's one of the standard exercises here, but it's usually in the forest or on open ground," Sage said, scratching at the white stubble on his chin. "I heard one of those fancy trains got swarmed around the time you were still travelling—one of yours?"

"Yes,and it was awesome. There was a bunch of Giant Nevermore and a few little ones for good measure." Lima said, perking up. "There was a Huntress and a Huntsman on the train that did most of the work—Pyrrha Nikos was there as well."

"That's where she went, huh?" Sage said, "I was wondering why she wasn't with the rest of the first years here—we lost two of the best ones to Beacon, huh? God dammit, Lima."

"She must have heard you were going to be an instructor and jumped on the first train out of there," Lima said, flashing a satisfied smile. "I can totally relate."

"Heh," Sage said, "Did you hear about the Vytal Festival? It's being held in Mistral—"

"Nice try, jackass," Lima cried in triumph, "Ialreadychecked."

"Thought I'd get you with that one," Sage laughed, "You hate that kind of thing, so what made you check? Did you get volunteered to participate or something?"

"One of my teammates—Lux Fulbright—is obsessed with fighting other Hunters; it's literally all she wants to do, so of course, the tournament came up eventually, and she told me it was happening in Vale," Lima said, shaking his head. "I even checked with our combat instructor about who they send to chaperone the students, so don't eventry—"

Sage started laughing at the comment, and Lima trailed off, feeling pleased with himself. The tight feeling in his chest that had been hanging around for most of the week started to unwind, and he slumped back into his chair, relaxing for what felt like the first time.

"If this teammate of yours is fighting inclined, I bet she'll have her eye on actually competing," Sage said, taking a guess. "That means you'll be getting dragged along for the ride."

"I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I tried to opt out," Lima admitted, "Any standouts you think I need to worry about?"

"Haven's got a bunch of decent ones and a few with some serious talent; I'd like to see you have a go at one of them," Sage said in answer. "The girl has a very particular style that's highly effective against the rest of the kids in her year, and I've got a feeling you could both help each other grow a bit—are you coming back here for the break?"

"I was thinking about it," Lima admitted, "The train ride was brutal, but I'd be willing to suffer through it again."

"I don't know if the dates will match up with Haven's exactly, but whenever you find out, send me them, and I'll take care of the tickets," Sage said, "No point in you wasting your money."

"Thanks, Sage," Lima said.

"Tell me about the rest of your team," Sage said, waving him off. "Lux was the fighter—who else did they stick you with?"

#

Malachite's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima slipped out of bed a minute before his alarm could go off—he waited to see if any of the others had left theirs on, but it seemed like they'd intended to sleep in on the weekend. If that was the case, then he'd leave them to it. He grabbed everything he'd need for a shower and his combat gear to take with him to Port's little get-together. Lima winced as the edge of his quiver hit the door frame on his way into the shower—he fled inside before someone could wake up and scold him. He stacked most of his stuff outside the cubicle to pick up when he was done before hanging his towel up on the outside of his door. He glanced over as the door to the shower opened; Lux stepped in, rubbing at her face, tortured-looking towel dangling from her hand.

"I want a shower," Lux mumbled. "Do you care?"

"Go for it," Lima said, slipping into his cubicle and closing the door. "Sorry if I woke you up; I was trying to be quiet."

He tracked her progress by audio as she padded around to her own cubicle, the door opening and closing directly across from him—he glanced away as they made eye contact over the divider, everything from the bridge of her nose upwards visible. He turned his attention towards turning the water on, listening as she did the same. Lima glanced up as she tossed her singlet up onto the door behind her, the arc of cloth landing with an almost silent rustle—her shorts followed a moment later, and he stuck his head under the water in an attempt to ignore the noise. Despite his efforts, he felt a very dangerous stirring at the understanding that on the other side of the divider was a very naked, very wet and potentially very soapy—

"Yikes," Lima burbled, doing his best to drown himself in the downpour. "I've made a terrible mistake."

"What?" Lux mumbled.

"Nothing," Lima said, turning his mouth away from the water. "When are you headed out?"

"We're leaving at six thirty," Lux said, her own voice distorting a bit under the water. "Claire and Teak wouldn't agree to get up earlier than six."

That left about an hour before Lux started rolling people out of bed—not too bad considering they'd been getting up at five every day.

"I doubt you're losing out on too much there; the later it becomes, the more people will trickle into the Amphitheatre," Lima said, "Sorry, if I knew you were awake; we could have done the flexibility stuff first."

Lux didn't say anything in response, so he fell silent in turn, doing his best to keep his mind on the task at hand.

"Why did you give me this?" Lux murmured. "You got so mad when I used some of it the first time."

He couldn't exactly see what she was talking about, but given the context, it wasn't hard to figure it out.

"If you'daskedme if you could try some, I probably would have said yes," Lima said, eyeing the bottles on his shelf. "You looked pretty sad after we argued, and it was making me feel bad that I was playing a part in it—it was a peace offering."

"I wasn'tsad," Lux said.

"You were," Lima said, "I'm pretty sure you were about to startcrying."

"Shut up," Lux said, horrified. "Iwasn't."

"Claire kept telling me you were calling out in your sleep," Lima said, trying not to smile. "Lima, please, I'm so,sosorry for what I did—can't we be friends again,please—hey—"

Lima stared at where Lux had pushed herself up onto the divider, shampoo bottle raised high in the air like some kind of grenade—his eyes dropped down for a moment, unable to help himself. The shampoo bottle smacked into his face, bouncing off to impact against the side of the cubicle. He felt none of it, his aura washing into existence to defend against the attack.

"None of that happened," Lux said, glaring down at him. "I don't cry, and I didn'tcall out in my sleeptoanyone."

"Lux," Lima said, staring. "I can totally see your—"

"I don't give a sh*t," Lux insisted before dropping her gaze all the way down. "Hah."

"What the hell isthatsupposed to mean?" Lima squawked, attempting to push her off the divider. "Get down, youpervert—"

"Look who's talking," Lux said, fending him off with her superior position. "Onelittlelook was all it took—aren't you embarrassed?"

"Shut up," Lima cried out. "Shut up, shut up, shut up—"

#

Path, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

He'd been looking forward to this since his very first lesson at Beacon, but now, for the life of him, his mind was stuck in a loop. Lux and her stupid,soapy—

"Welcome, welcome; I'm glad to see how many of the new faces actually managed to drag yourselves out of bed," Port said, clapping his hands. "We often see more names on the list than those that actually end up attending and participating."

There were quite a few people here—about fifteen in total, most of whom were actually in the upper years, and of which he didn't recognise any of them. Interestingly enough, the entirety of Team Juniper was present, most of which seemed to be having trouble with the early hour.

"As always, I'd like to go over the structure and guidelines first to help our newcomers and as a refresher for those of you who've been here before," Port said, "Firstly, those of you who have yet to receive special dispensation to roam about on your own,mustremain within my sight for the duration of our adventure."

Port brought his scroll out for a moment, and a wave of alerts spread out to each of the ones present.

"There we are, those who have permission; you are connected and are free to do as you please—do report any unusual sightings or increased gatherings that you encounter," Port said, with a nod. "As this is our first hunt of the year, we'll make it a shorter one to knock off the rust, so return to the meeting zone at—let's say, eight."

Two hours wasn't exactly the all-day hunt he'd been hoping for, but it was far better than nothing. Most of the older students left, with the notable exception of a Faunus girl who had a pair of long rabbit ears sticking up out of her head. It was a bit lame that he'd have to stick with the group, but he'd just have to figure out how to get one of those special dispensations.

"Please bring your scrolls out, and accept the prompt that should appear—Mister Arc, turn on your connectivity; you're not showing up—there we are," Port said, nodding. "Now, the number of targets listed here is the speculated minimum required to keep the local population from becoming a serious threat."

Lima scanned the list with interest, noting the different species that could be found in the Emerald Forest.

"You are more than welcome to go beyond that quota; in fact, I would highly encourage you to exceed it." Port said, "The more practised you become, the better the future shall look—and the less of these beasts there are lingering around the area, the safer it will become for all of your peers."

This man was very quickly solidifying himself as the coolest adult at Beacon Academy—and it wasn't even a close contest.

"Your scrolls will be recording and tracking your own personal contributions; that information will be accessible in the future by all of the instructors as an aid to track how much experience each of you has," Port said, "Now, as you might have suspected, you can earn a special dispensation through which you will be granted the privilege of hunting in the Emerald Forest without supervision—although itislimited to the days and hours of our hunting sessions."

Lima stuck up his hand, unable to stop himself.

"Mister Morta," Port said, "Yes, yes, a question, go ahead."

"How can I fast-track that special dispensation?" Lima said, "I'll literally do anything."

"Enthusiasm, brilliant, yes," Port said, clapping his hands. "I have evaluated each of you already through a number of metrics; the last piece of the puzzle will be to see how you perform in the field—today—and should I decide you are ready, you will be granted that dispensation."

Jaune raised his hand.

"Mister Arc," Port said, "Please, go ahead."

"If we get the dispensation thingy," Jaune asked, "Can we still hang with—uh—the group?"

"Absolutely," Port said, beaming. "Miss Scarlatina, here, has proven herself an accomplished adept on many occasions, and yet she often chooses to stay with the group—an admirable attitude."

The girl with the rabbit ears flushed a bit at the sudden attention that fell on her, and she kind of held up her hands as if to hold it all back.

"To ensure each of you have sufficient time to showcase your skills, we will rotate through a leader for each engagement, and I should hope you will all cooperate to your best ability—Mister Morta, as you were the first to arrive, you will be our first," Port said, nodding. "The heatmap provided in the hunting group session shall reveal the hotspots for Grimm activity—you can draw on the map with the icons on the side—I will step back now and allow you to take the helm."

Port and the five students turned their attention to him—and he opened the session and found the heatmap in question. The largest congregation of Grimm was a nest of Beowolves, but it was also about thirty minutes away from their position—that would be something for when he could travel on his own; for now, he had to impress Port enough to earn that right.

"Check your scrolls; I'm marking out locations on the heatmap," Lima said, speaking up. "Ursa first—probably numbering from three to six in that area alone, given the local population size—we'll be heading in from—"

#

Ridge, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

Lima, Pyrrha, and the girl he now knew as Velvet Scarlatina spread out across the ridge, making sure they had a full view of the area—none of the Grimm seemed to be aware they were being watched, although their attention was getting drawn towards where he'd asked the rest of the group to post up—Jaune had been pretty nervous about it all, which was probably what was pulling at their attention.

"Four Ursa, all minor variants," Lima said over the connection. "Nora, please join the assault, marking the entry point on the heatmap—Pawpaw, Velvet, get ready; we'll move when she's in position."

"Understood," Velvet said.

"Ready to move," Pyrrha murmured.

"Coming," Nora said, sounding giddy. "This is so cool—it's like a special operation or something."

"Requesting position update, Secret Agent Valkyrie," Lima said, smiling a bit. "I've marked each of our targets; do you have a visual?"

"So cool," Nora whispered. "I'm in position—I see the target."

"Counting down to mission start," Lima said, bracing himself. "Three, two, one—go."

He dove off the edge of the ridge, twisting to push off the rocky wall and then bursting forward across the clearing. Lima pulled a spike up out of his quiver as he approached, and the Ursa started to turn as it noticed the movement at the very last second—the spike passed through its eye and out the back of its head. The Ursa rocked backwards on its feet from the force of the impact, and Lima ripped the spike out, carving a massive trench out of its mask in the process. There was a massive crack somewhere across the clearing, not quite in his line of sight, and the ground shook for a moment.

"Target down," Lima said. "Report?"

"Target down," Pyrrha said.

"Target is deceased," Velvet said.

"Totallysquished it," Nora said, "Ren, did you see that—it wentsplat."

"Nora," Ren said, "I didn't see it, but I definitely heard it."

"Operative Ren,stop; they canhearus," Nora said, giggling. "We should at least try to keep things professional—call me Special Agent Valkyrie when we're working."

"Requesting Special Agent Valkyrie and Operative Ren take this to a private line," Jaune sighed, "If you're going to start roleplaying, don't forcemeto listen to it."

"Area is cleared; let's regroup and move on to the next location as soon as possible," Lima said, watching the evaporating body of the Ursa for a moment. "We've only got two hours to play—let's make the most of it."

#

Path, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

The two hours seemed to pass in a blink of an eye, and to his dismay, they were soon leaving the Emerald Forest behind—still, it had easily been the most fun he'd had since the attack on the train.

"A fantastic showing, all of you; it's clear to me that we're in the presence of some very spirited Huntresses and Huntsmen," Port said, smiling. "The area had become quite congested during the break, so I'm glad to have the extra hands to help clean it up—I'm notquiteas young as I used to be, you know."

The man let out a laugh at his own words before holding a fist up in front of his chest.

"Even so, the work must go on now, do not be disheartened If I do not immediately release you out into the wild; some of you need atouchmore refining in some areas before I can truly sign off on that," Port said, wagging his finger at them. "Mister Morta, Mister Ren, and Miss Nikos; the three of you, I can safely grant you the special dispensation without any more consideration—congratulations."

Pyrrha and Ren both expressed their thanks, and Lima flashed his teeth in a smile of pure satisfaction—the next Saturday was going to beamazing.

"Too much squish?" Nora said, a bit sadly. "Notenoughsquish?"

"Sometimes, it's not the sheer amount of squish you can generate or the frequency by which you can bring it forth to crush your enemies, but the knowledge ofwhenyou should or should not squish that is most needed," Port said, nodding. "Your temperament lends you towards being a little bit too quick to use excessive force, but I'm certain this is something we can overcome with time—Special Agent Valkyrie."

"Heh," Nora said, beaming. "He said the thing."

"Mister Arc, you have the temperament, but your confidence, decisiveness and combat skills need some refinement—something that I'm sure will come as you progress through your studies," Port said, "By the end of this year, I'm certain you will have become a force to be reckoned with, you must only put in the work to get there."

"Thanks, sir," Jaune sighed, "I'll do my best."

"Now that our pick-up game is concluded, I shall let you all return to your weekend—I hope to see you all here again, but do not feel pressured to attend if you're not feeling up to it," Port said, "I'm in dire need of some caffeine, so this is where I shall bid you all farewell."

The man set off in the direction of the school, leaving the six of them kind of idling by the path—Lima eyed the Emerald Forest for a moment longer, considering sneaking back down there. Velvet seemed to hover in place, stuck between following after the man and approaching them, her camera cradled in her hand. Lima raised an eyebrow at the girl—and then she fled without another word.

"Huh," Lima said, and then as an afterthought. "Bye, Velvet."

The girl glanced back over her shoulder, and he wondered if she'd managed to hear him even with the distance—maybe there was some more utility to those ears of hers other than looking absolutely adorable.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha said, "Are you not coming?"

"I'll be there in a second," Jaune hedged, "I just want to talk to Lima for a second—go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Okay," Pyrrha said, sounding a bit puzzled. "We'll be—around."

"That's very—in the area—of you, Pawpaw." Lima teased. "A realnearbykind of girl, aren't you?Available, even."

Pyrrha flapped a hand at him—in a kind of flustered, shushing gesture—before moving on to join Ren and Nora. Lima watched her go with some amusem*nt before turning back to Jaune, who looked a bit confused a the exchange that had just occurred.

"Available?" Jaune wondered.

"Totally proximal and absolutely waiting for you to catch up," Lima agreed. "I've got places to be, J-dog—what's up?"

"I just wanted to ask you something, but now that I'm actually talking to you, I feel weird about asking," Jaune said, hesitating now. "Lima—how did you get so good at all of this?"

"Uh," Lima said, "Good at what, specifically?"

"Fighting, I guess," Jaune said, rubbing at his neck. "I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, so I think I'm just—looking for tips or something."

Jaune kind of trailed off at the end, sagging under the weight of his own words.

"The honest answer is that I'm good because I've been practising every single day since I was six years old," Lima admitted, "I don't think that's going to help you—what are you looking for, exactly?"

Jaune seemed to actually consider the question for a moment; eyes locked onto his own hands.

"Professor Port said I'd become a force to be reckoned with in a year," Jaune said, shaking his head. "That's not true—I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm not getting better."

Lima hummed at the words, wondering about why Jaune would come tohimfor answers—a literal no name—when he hadPyrrha Nikoson his team.

"Here's what we're going to do," Lima said, clearing his throat. "I'm going to ask you a whole bunch of invasive and embarrassing questions—and you're going to answer themimmediately, with one-word answers; by the end of it, I'll give you a rough outline on how not to suck."

"That sounds terrible," Jaune admitted. "I'm ready."

"What time do you wake up?" Lima said

"Seven," Jaune said.

"What time do you go to sleep?" Lima prompted.

"Ten," Jaune said before pausing. "Hey, this isn't so bad."

#

Path, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

"Which combat school did you go to?" Lima asked. "Signal is the one here, isn't it?"

"I—yes, that's right," Jaune said, swallowing. "That's the one."

Lima frowned at the sudden, bizarre change in his disposition—why was he being weirdnowwhen he'd answered all the other questions without issue?

"Okay—whatever, I've got enough to figure this out," Lima said, "Give me your scroll."

"Listen, IknowI watch a lot of movies, but you're not going to, like—break it or something, are you?" Jaune hesitated. "I kind of need it for class."

"Scroll, yours, in my hand," Lima said, raising his eyebrows. "Now."

Jaune handed it over with a wince, and Lima opened up the settings, flipping through it, searching for the right option. He found the alarm, deleted it, and then went about setting half a dozen different ones.

"Six, Jaune wakes up, puts on some pants, and then goes running." Lima said, "Seven, he showers and does whatever he normally does."

"Okay," Jaune said, "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Five in the afternoon, Jaune spars with Pyrrha right after Combat Studies," Lima said, labelling the alarm. "You obviously ask her to do daily sparring with you the next time you see her—don't spring it on her after classes."

"I—I'll ask her," Jaune managed, "I guess."

"Seven at night, the scroll goes away, and you spend the next hour doing whatever exercises you can do in your dorm to waste your excess energy," Lima said, "You can look like a dummy by trying to do whatever comes to mind, or you can ask Pyrrha to show you aproperroutine—she'll have a bunch of sets she does."

"Canyoushow me something?" Jaune tried. "I just—don't want to bother her."

"Why are you so worried about asking Pyrrha for help?" Lima wondered. "There's no way you actually think she wouldn't help you—are you embarrassed to ask her for help?"

Jaune looked about as flustered as he'd ever seen the boy.

"I—I don't want her toknowhow bad I really am," Jaune said, with an explosive sigh, "The more I have to ask for help, the more she's going torealise—that—that I'm not very good."

"Jaune, not to burst your bubble of unreality or anything, but I think sheknowsyou're not very good at fighting yet," Lima said, "It was obvious after your first duel—you'rereallynot giving her enough credit here."

"Soeveryoneknows?" Jaune managed. "Of course they do."

Lima rapped a knuckle against the front of the boy's chest plate, the metal letting out a thunk at the noise.

"You came to me because you wanted to know how to get stronger," Lima said, "Whether everyone knows or not doesn't matter—youstillneed to reach your goal, Jaune."

"Okay," Jaune said. "You're right—so—so I just have to ask her for help."

"It's not because she's a girl, is it?" Lima wondered. "I'd hate to have to kick your ass—"

"It's notthat," Jaune said, with a strangled noise of protest. "I just—she's been so nice to me, and I feel like I'm some kind ofleech,draggingher down andwastingher time."

"Then crush your pride, ask her for help, and take control of your life," Lima said, making sure he had eye contact. "In the very,veryunlikely circ*mstance where Pyrrha Nikos—theactualnicest girl in the world—laughs in your face and calls you a weeny, come find me, and we'll try something else."

#

Hallway, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima found himself wandering in the direction of the Amphitheater with what must have been a hundred disparate thoughts racing through his mind. Jaune coming to him for help, Blake having a meltdown over accidentally outing herself as a former terrorist, Claire sharing her quiet insecurity with him,himrevealing the details of the worst day of his life toher, Teak's request for him to ignore Cardin Winchester's bullying, the argument with Lux, the resolution, and the image of her very soapy, very naked body, perched on top of the divider as she laughed at his unfortunate, and entirely uncontrollable reaction.

"What thef*ck, Beacon?" Lima said, shaking his head. "It's been aweek."

"You're back early," Teak said, smiling. "Did something happen?"

"Not really," Lima said, dropping down into the seat beside him. "Port called it early because it was the first session back, or whatever—It was super fun, though; we killed a bunch of Ursa."

"Really?" Teak said. "I've just been sitting here for most of the day—Lux and Claire have both fought like three times each."

"Yeah?" Lima said, "Have you had a chance to beat anyone up?"

"Have I had a chance togetbeaten up, you mean," Teak corrected with a sigh, "Lux told me we would be fighting once they get back from the bathroom—do you have any advice to help me survive her?"

"Advice?" Lima said, scratching at his cheek. "Don't let her get above you, or it's all over."

"What does that even mean?" Teak said, puzzled. "The stage is completely flat."

The two of them turned as Lux and Claire both stepped back into the room—a moment later, they were coming down the stairs towards them.

"Why are you here?" Lux said, eyeing him. "You said you weren't coming."

"Port ended the session super early," Lima offered, "I can go back to the dorms if you want—a nap sounds pretty good right now."

"No way," Claire said, crossing her hands in front of her chest. "If I'm here under duress, then you have to be as well."

"Dragging me down with you, huh?" Lima asked. "Teak, make sure you use that super secret technique we talked about—remember, thesecondshe comes in close."

Teak stared at him as if he'd turned into a King Taijitu, but Lux was suddenly looking just a little bit wary.

"Whatever it is, I'llneverfall for it," Lux insisted, "Get up—we're fighting, Teak."

Claire dropped down beside him as Teak was hauled off down to the monitor embedded in the wall to schedule their fight for the next open spot.

"Where did you go last night?" Claire asked after they were alone. "I heard you leaving."

Lima couldn't exactly tell her he'd gone out for a midnight rendezvous with Blake Belladonna to discuss the White Fang—considering her Semblance allowed her to turn herself invisible; there was a chance that she'd actually followed him, wasn't there?

"The same thing I did the other night," Lima said, "I went base-jumping—but this time, Ididn'tget caught by Ozpin."

"Is that what you got in trouble for?" Claire said, turning to look at him. "Base-jumping off what—thecliff?"

"Straight off the landing zone," Lima said, smiling. "It wasawesome."

"That's insane—wait," Claire asked before pausing. "Was it really?"

"Oh yeah," Lima said with a nod. "Why, thinking about coming with me next time?"

"I don't think I've got alanding strategythat would work on something like that," Claire said, hesitating. "How didyoudo it without going splat?"

Lima folded his hands behind his head, closed his eyes, and then leaned back against the chair.

"I reversed the direction of my fall at the last moment," Lima said before cracking an eye open to peek at her. "Icould be your landing strategy—if you wanted to give it a try."

"Lima," Claire said, fighting hard not to smile. "I let myself be vulnerable with youonetime, and you're already putting the moves on me?"

"Don't get things twisted, Claire," Lima said, grinning. "I'm just making sure that when youdofinally fall—it's with me."

Claire laughed out loud at the line.

#

Malachite ' s Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"Today was awesome," Lux said, legs hanging off her bed and her arms spread wide. "Saturdays are the best."

"Agreed," Lima said.

"The Amphitheater is open on Sundays as well," Lux said, propping herself back up on her elbows. "We shoulddefinitelygo back again tomorrow—"

"No way," Claire said, "We did whatyouwanted today; tomorrow, we're doing what Teak and I want, got it?"

Lux gave a tortured groan at the rejection and then dropped back down onto her bed.

"We? That sounds more like something the three of you agreed to," Lima wondered. "I didn't drag either of you with me tomything—why do I have to suffer?"

"Because," Claire said, smiling. "We'll be going down to Vale—so youhaveto come."

"Vale?" Lima said after a pause. "I'm listening."

"We need to go shopping for a bunch of stuff," Claire said, "Dividers for the room, toiletries and a towel for Lux—I want something to decorate the walls with, too, because we have, like,nothinginteresting going on."

"I need to visit a store while we're down there," Teak said, smiling. "I ordered an old book like two months ago, and I got a message from the owner about an hour ago saying that itfinallycame in."

"Old book?" Lima wondered. "About what?"

"It's more like a journal," Teak admitted, "A first-hand account of a researcher from hundreds of years ago—a man called Ozymandias."

"Never heard of him," Lux said, "Why are you reading some guy's diary?"

"He's not just someguy, Lux—I've been following an old blog about our lost history for a while, and this series of journals was recommended to me by one of the people who post on its forum," Teak said, "Some of the passages I've seen posted are incredibly interesting. He writes about visiting a lot of old ruins, and even places that most people don't even believe exist in the first place."

"That's—kindof cool," Lux said, glancing away. "I guess."

"So, shopping and picking up Teak's journal," Lima wondered, "Anywhere else?"

"There's an old store that sells second-hand equipment that I want to check out," Claire admitted, "I was hoping to find something to use as a base for my project in Crafting and Upkeep."

The direction of the conversation reminded him that while he'd completed the replacement spikes, he was still lacking the last component.

"I suppose I could pick up the gravity dust I need while we're down there," Lima said, warming up to the idea. "Oh—I need to go find a cake as well."

"Huh?" Lux said. "Why the hell do you need acake?"

#

Passenger Airship, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Beacon Academy fell away from them as the airship continued to rise, the bipolar forests warring against one another in a vibrant vision of red and green. The Emerald Forest panned into view as the airship listed to the side, tall trees towering over the cliff face and stretching out of sight—more than a few breaks in the canopy became known the higher they went. Clearings, ridges, and dark grey stonework—

"More ruins?" Lima said. "Explorer Teak, requesting information."

Teak leaned forward, ducking his head a bit so as not to block Lima's view, and cupped his hands against the glass in an effort to narrow his field of view.

"That big stone disc was originally an observatory, but it was destroyed over a hundred years ago," Teak said before lifting one of his hands to tap on the glass a bit higher and to the right of it. "Further out, those tall stones are the original outer wall for one of the first planned settlements outside of Vale—people lived there up until about three hundred years ago."

The spot in question was halfway across the cliff—and midway between Beacon Academy and the furthest most edge of the cliff face looking down at Vale.

"Fragments of the original plans were found a while back; it was going to be a sort of second Vale, up on the cliff itself—but obviously, that didn't happen," Teak said, "The expansion guide for frontier settlements that Atlas came up with didn't exist back then, and the level of technology was still in the pre-war era."

"That's the whole efficient core thing," Lux said, crowding the window. "I think I remember that from last year—what were the steps again?"

Surprising them both, Lima was the one who spoke up.

"They send in a force of Huntsman and Huntresses, who wipe out all the local Grimm—then they airdrop the critical components—power generators, automated defences, production line equipment," Lima said, eyeing the ruins. "The contracted workforce comes next to assemble the permanent infrastructure—walls, warehouses, roads—after that, they surveil the local Grimm population to determine if the project can be sustained. If it can, it expands to include farms, livestock, and civilians."

Teak looked a bit puzzled that he actually had it memorised.

"What happens if it can't?" Lux said, "They abandoned it?"

"The Atlas Frontier Manual is aguide, not a law that must be followed, and most settlement projects are privately funded by people seeking out specific resources in the area they're attempting to tame," Lima said, "If you'd just spent tens of millions of Lien on a massive project like that, and your reputation and business relies on it working out—would you just pack up and go home?"

Lima could feel Claire's hand come to rest on his back, out of view of the others. He glanced back at her for a moment, but she made no effort to actually meet his gaze—Lima really wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Probably," Lux said, unbothered by the fact that it had been a pretty rhetorical question. "I could always start a new project somewhere else; no point crying over spilt milk."

"Millions of Lien is spilt milk?" Teak said, a bit alarmed. "Lux, just how much money do youhave?"

"Richgirl energy detected," Lima said, attempting to take a step back. "Yuck."

"So gross," Claire agreed, "You all heard her say she was paying for our shopping, though, right?"

"What the hell is this?" Lux said in disbelief. "I hate all of yousomuch."

#

Everett's Dust and Knick Knacks, Vale, Sanus.

"What the hell is this?" Lima said, stumped. "Where is all the Gravity Dust?"

"Please read the sign before you start complaining, kid," The man behind the counter grunted, "It's there for a reason."

"Everett's Dusty Knick Knacks?" Lima said, reading the name of the store aloud, "Yikes—are you trying to sell your nuts and bolts or what?"

"Everett'sDustand Knick Knacks," Everette protested, "Can't you read?"

"Lima, that's not even the rightsign," Teak said, smacking him on the shoulder. "There's a dust shortage, but it doesn't say anything about the cause."

"Our supplier's clammed up on the details, so I couldn't tell you," Everette said, giving them the stink eye now. "There'salsobeen a bunch of robberies around here lately, specifically targeting Dust retailers—keeping the stock low seemed like a good bet."

"Low stock or no stock?" Lima complained. "Ineedlike two crystals, man. Don't you have anything?"

"Listen to yourself, kid, you sound like a junkie—even if I did have them, I couldn't justify selling them to a tweaker likeyou," Everette said, doubling down. "Far as I know, you're going to crush them up and snort them."

"What the heck?" Lima cried, "Screw dustrobberies; there's about to be a string of dust-related assault and batteries—urk—"

Lima reached up in an attempt to break Claire's choke hold on him, but she'd already locked it down tight.

"I'm sorry about him," Claire said, dragging him towards the door. "Thanks for your time."

Lima shot Teak a look of pure betrayal as the boy picked up his legs in an attempt to help Claire evict him from the store—Lux glanced up as they made it outside, looking interested in the scuffle.

"Should I start hitting him?" Lux asked. "Because I can totally do that."

Teak let go of his legs before she could make good on the threat, and Claire kind of pulled him back to his feet, not quite releasing the hold.

"You're not going to try to go back in, are you?" Claire asked.

"I'll be good," Lima sighed. "This is bullsh*t, though; there's got to be another store nearby—"

There turned out to be two small dust shops in the area, but both of them had the exact same sign taped to their doors, apparently sharing the same supplier—and when he'd tried, neither of them had gravity dust on hand, only available by order.

"You know what? I'm not giving up until I find some," Lima said, "You guys go pick up the stuff we actually came down here for—I'm going to check every god damned dust retailer in Vale."

"On your own?" Teak said. "Are you sure—what if you get lost?"

"I have my scroll on me," Lima said, waving it off. "Better yet, when I'm done, we should meet up for lunch somewhere—I'll send you a message."

There were a few token protests at splitting up the squad, but they seemed pretty sick of the quest for gravity dust—he'd wasted too much of their time already. Lima set out on his own, using his scroll to check the location of every dust store and marking them out on his map application. Once he had a good half a dozen loaded up, he started working his way down the list—

#

Garnet's Goods, Vale, Sanus.

"Please, for the sake of my sanity," Lima said, bowing his head so low that it smacked into the countertop. "Tell me you haveuncutgravity dust crystals in stock."

"Just got a new order in yesterday," Garnet said, more than a bit amused. "You sound like you've had something of a rough day."

"I've been to eight different stores, and the closest I've gotten is a canister of the ground-up stuff," Lima said, affecting a bit of a sniffle. "You're not messing with me, are you? I can't take any more rejection."

Garnet laughed before slipping back out into the stock room without another word. Lima attempted to lean to the side to get eyes on what exactly she was doing and spotted her pulling an unopened package up onto the benchtop—a dozen or so dust crystals revealed themselves, shining bright in the artificial light of the stockroom.

"My quest is finally over," Lima said, breathing out. "Thank f*ck for that."

"You'll need a way to transport these through the city," Garnet said, poking her head out of the door. "You bring something—that's fine by me; you'll just have to buy one of our cases."

Lima watched her seat the crystals into the recyclable padded case, and he when he actually paid her, he made sure to tip generously. Stepping back out into Vale proper felt like a whole new day, the burden of his unholy quest finally lifting up off his shoulders.

"Next time," Lima said, feeling the sun on his face. "I'm just going to put in a f*cking requisition order."

Lima picked his way back the way he'd come, locating the restaurant he'd seen earlier with the open floor balcony that oversaw the streets below. He tapped out a message to the team chat, adding a private distress beacon at his current location that was titled 'Hungry, hurry up, losers' before sending it off. He'd made it all of three feet in the door before a waitress intercepted him just as he was slipping his scroll back into his pocket.

"Good morning," The woman said, smiling. "Will you be eating alone, or would you like a larger table?"

"Table for four, somewhere out on the—north corner of the balcony?" Lima said, letting his dust case smack against his hip. "That looked like it had the best view."

"Fantastic," The woman said, "Please, come this way."

Lima followed her through the interior room and then back out of the mirror-shine window panels that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, acting as a divider from the outside world. The sun returned with a vengeance, but the artificial canopy of dark canvas protected him from most of it. There were about two dozen tables arrayed across the balcony, and the corner he'd chosen seemed to be pretty popular—the most startling of those who were already present was a man in a pristine white suit, and a lick of bright purple hair, sitting across from a brunette girl with skinny jeans, and a tight button up shirt.

"Will you be ordering now or when the rest of your party arrives?" The waitress asked, still maintaining her well-practised and bright smile. "We can accommodate both, of course."

The table she'd chosen was the one right in the corner itself, something which placed him one table down and at the purple-haired man's back. He noticed that there was a cane—and perhaps even more bizarrely than that, a parasol—leaning against the accenting bar strip of decorative metal that ringed the table.

"I'll wait until they get here," Lima said with a nod of thanks. "Might be fifteen minutes or so; I think they're still finishing up their shopping."

"Perfect," The waitress said, "I'll direct them towards you once they arrive—what should I be on the lookout for?"

"Two girls and a boy, we're all the same age," Lima said, "If they ask for Lima, you'll know who they are."

"Very well," The waitress said, "Can I get you anything for your wait?"

"No thanks," Lima said.

The waitress vanished soon after, and he placed the case of dust up on top of the table before leaning over to the railing. He propped his cheek upon his palm and then turned his eyes to the street below. The series of dings that peppered his scroll forced him to slip the offending device out of his pocket.

'Don't call me a loser.' — Lux Fulbright.

'I'm going to kick your ass.' — Lux Fulbright.

'Dumbass' — Lux Fulbright.

'You're not supposed to use the distress beacon for something like this; it gets logged on the system back at Beacon.' — Teak Fawn.

'Oh, you're at that place—my mum loves going there with her friends.' — Claire Diamond.

'Hah, you have the same taste as someone's mother, pathetic.' — Lux Fulbright.

Lima scrunched his face up at the messages and then tossed his scroll up onto the dust case in annoyance. The man with the purple hair caught his attention again—it was just such a bright and artificial shade ofauberginethat he couldn't help but admire the confidence.

"—according to my source, they have a much larger stock than the last three combined," The man said, voice smooth. "Good for us, obviously, because it should help along the recovery from our little mishap—provided we can get ahold of a truck before Wednesday night."

The brunette girl hummed a bit at the words but said nothing in response.

"Without access to the bullhead, we'll have to figure out how to avoid the security systemproperlyand then plan out a good route for transport," The man said, resting his hand on his cane. "As much fun as the little frontal assault was, our—lady in red—wasn't exactly happy about having to come to bail me out."

Once again, the brunette let out another wordless noise, although this time, it was far more amused than before. The man paused for a moment, letting go of his cane and reaching up to touch his hair.

"Neo, was this really an appropriate choice?" The man said with a sigh. "It's not exactly—what do the kids say these days?Low key?"

Lima caught movement in the reflective glass of the window panel, and when he glanced over at it, he found the man with purple hair staring straight back at him—the man's eyes narrowed at the attention.

"You know, it'squiterude to eavesdrop," The man said, making no attempt to turn around. "Dangerous, too, depending on the topic being discussed."

"My bad, I was just so amazed to see an eggplant talking that I couldn't help but wonder what he actually had to say," Lima said, laughing out loud. "You're very well dressed for a vegetable, you know?"

The brunette girl, who'd been leaning to the side to get eyes on him, attempted to cover her smile with one hand. The man sighed at the comment before making an aborted motion to touch his hair again.

"Cute," The man said, voice dry. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it, I guess. What do you need a truck for, anyway—" Lima said before pausing. "Oh, you're the reason I had so much trouble buying dust today."

The man's reflection glanced down at the case sitting on Lima's table for a moment in consideration.

"Well, now, it does look like we've been discovered," The man said, turning his eyes up to the canvas for a moment. "This wassucha lovely spot, too—what a shame that we're going to have to make a mess of it."

"I mean, you're talking about stealing stuff in broad daylight," Lima said. "That's not exactly the pinnacle of operational security."

"You're way too confident for a normal kid," The man said before clearing his throat. "Lima."

The waitress had kind of inadvertently set him up, hadn't she? Although it wasn'treallyher fault because he doubted she'd known that the people he'd been seated beside were some kind of criminals.

"Damn, I only heardhername," Lima admitted before pausing. "Neo and—Aubergine?"

Neo sat back in her chair, a series of breathy noises fighting to make their way through her fingers.

"Not even close," The man said with another sigh. "You could at leastactlike this is a dangerous situation."

"I'm here to eat lunch with my team, not to start a fight with someone I just met in the middle of a restaurant over some missing dust," Lima said, still balancing on the two chair legs. "I don't really care what the two of you are up to—and I'd hate to have to find somewhere else to eat."

"Uh-huh," The man said, bemused. "How nonchalant of you—very well then, come along, Neo, we've got work to do."

Lima lifted a hand in response to the odd little wave Neo gave on their way back inside, wondering at the strange situations he seemed to be finding himself in—things hadn't beennearlyso weird before he'd come to Vale. Despite returning his attention to the flood of traffic below, he never actually caught sight of the pair leaving. It had probably been his mention of a team that had rebalanced the whole situation—between that and the container of dust, it was more than clear that he wasn't just some civilian. That left them in a situation where either they were outmatched because they didn't have their aura unlocked or in a situation where everyone did.

A fight between people who possessed aura wasn't a trivial thing; in fact, it was the kind of thing that drew massive amounts of attention, especially when it took place at peak hour in the middle of downtown Vale. Something like that would have drawn every Hunter within a four-block radius to the scene, which would have ended with all three of them in chains until the details had finally been sorted out—there was a reason that most of the city-based crime occurred at night when the vast majority of the population was at home, and unable to interfere. It was another five minutes before he spotted Claire as she stepped into the café, Teak and Lux following behind her—all three of them were absolutely loaded up with bags, and he made a silent but solemn vow to avoid carrying any of them. The same waitress led them over to him, leaving them with a set of menus and a promise to return.

"What's all of this?" Lima said, staring at the bags. "I thought we were only getting a couple of things?"

"We finished most of what we came to get in like the first hour after you ditched us," Claire said, "After that, we spent the rest of the time trying on clothes—Lux kept on buying things, so this is kind of the end result."

"You should see what he looks like in a summer dress," Lux said, yawning. "Ialsomade him try on a pair of matching—"

"Lima," Teak said, waving his hands around above the table in a panic. "I still haven't managed to pick up the journal—do you think we could go there after?"

Lux grunted, but seemed too bored with it all to muster much more of a response to the interruption.

"Sure thing—I hit the bakery after my sixth failed dust store, so all of my stuff is done as well." Lima said, "Did you find what you wanted at that second-hand equipment place?"

"Idid," Claire said, leaning forward. "My project is going to be awesome—but I'm not telling you what it is yet."

"Scammed," Lima complained. "Whatever—wait, isthatfor us? I'm pretty sure we haven't ordered yet."

The waitress reached for the middle of their table with a massive tray in hand, an assortment of complicated-looking foods arranged on top, in what was clearly some kind of in-house dessert platter.

"Those friends of yours purchased this for you on their way out," The waitress said, "A thank you, although they didn't say for what—if it's not to your liking, I'd be happy to take it back."

Lima blinked at the attention that suddenly fell upon him before letting his chair fall back forward onto all four legs with a clack—Neo and Aubergine? Had he just accidentally becomefriendswith a pair of criminals?

"Uh—" Lima managed.

"No, no, don't take it back; it's fine," Claire said, speaking up for him. "Thank you—it looksamazing."

Lux snatched one of the glistening sundaes off the tray without a comment, moving to stir it with the included spoon. Claire followed her example, selecting her own choice of dessert, before turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"This looksreallyexpensive," Claire said, visibly impressed. "Tasty, too."

"I didn't think you knew anyone in Vale," Teak said. "Was it someone visiting from Mistral or Argus?"

"I just met them, actually, so I couldn't tell you where they were from," Lima said, furrowing his brow. "I guess they were feeling—generous?"

#

Tukson ' s Book Trade, Vale, Sanus.

"What's it actually about, though?" Lux wondered. "You said he was a researcher—what was he researching?"

"Well, there's actually a dozen of these journals, numbered from one up to twelve—four of them are still missing. They all have a different focus, but Ozymandias seems to be researching different legends or places that appear in them," Teak said, "It's all from a perspective of a man who lived long before the Great War, so there's no Academies, no Accords, no easy form of intercontinental travel—Vale and Mantle were only fledgling settlements at that point, andAtlasdidn't even exist."

"What's the first one about?" Lux insisted.

"I haven't read it yet," Teak pointed out, "But it's supposed to cover his investigation into a forgotten religion that centred around two opposing gods and the source of their powers."

"The two brothers," Claire said, blinking. "I remember my dad reading that to me before bed."

Lima had also heard it before, one of the stories that had survived the passage of time by way of being verbally repeated from parents to children over the course of millennia—it was one of the few memories he had left of his mother.

"Hold on, you just called it a religion," Lux frowned, "The Two Brothersis a fairy tale."

"Perhaps there was some reason for them to believe it was real back then," Teak said, "We've lost a lot of our history since that time period; it's hard to really know."

Lux reached the door first, pushing it open and setting off the bell above in a loud, singular ding. The four of them filed into the store, one after another, and Lima raised his gaze to the tall man behind the counter.

"Welcome to Tukson's book trade," The man said, raising an eyebrow at them. "Home to every book under the sun—I'm Tukson. How may I help you?"

"Every book under the sun?" Lux said, "I know for afactthat Teak has a copy ofHistories Hottest Faunusstuffed under his mattress—you haven't gotthatbook."

"How do you—" Teak squeaked. "I do not."

Tukson reached up to scratch at one of his mutton chops, clearly considering the challenge in her words, before bending down behind the counter and rifling around—when he returned a moment later, it was with the offending book in hand.

"I may not havethatparticular copy," Tukson said, dropping it on the countertop. "But I do haveacopy."

"Damn it," Lux complained.

"Teak—as in,Teak Fawn," Tukson said, "The one who ordered in a copy of the first Ozymandias Journal?"

"Yes," Teak said, red-faced but attempting to recover. "You sent me a message yesterday saying it finally came in?"

"That I did," Tukson said, making a second dive beneath the counter. "Interesting choice of reading—you spend any time onRemnants of History?"

"I do," Teak said, brightening a bit. "I got the recommendation to read the journals from the forum there—it wasn't you, was it?"

"I had an inkling that's where you heard of them. Sorry, but no, I haven't been on there in a while now," Tukson admitted, "I tried to read through these once, but the prose is a bit too flowery for my liking—I made it to the third one before packing it in, and that was about a decade ago."

"Flowery?" Lux said with a sudden visible interest. "Poetic?"

"Yes, and while it's beautiful, the guy hints at a lot of things without actually saying them outright," Tukson said, sliding the tightly bound package across the counter towards them. "It kind of grates after a while, but that's just me, I guess; I'm more fond of directness."

Lux looked visibly interested in the book now, eyes tracking its progress into Teak's hands. Tukson seemed to study them for a moment longer before clearing his throat.

"You four are from Beacon, aren't you?" Tukson wondered.

"What gave us away?" Lima asked.

"There's four of you, you're about the right age, andthatone knows what's underhismattress," Tukson said, amused. "Call it an educated guess."

"We are from Beacon," Teak admitted, "But there'snothingunder my mattress."

"Not to waste your time or anything, but I don't see many of you kids down here, and even less that are Faunus," Tukson said, leaning his forearms down onto the countertop. "I'm a bit curious about how they treat our kind up there—mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Lux and Teak turned to look at each other for a moment, apparently not so sure about the sudden request—and then Claire hooked her arm around Lima's elbow, pulling him away from the counter.

"We'll be over here," Claire said, smiling. "Take your time, guys."

"Help me, I'm being abducted," Lima said, "Who knows what horrible, horrible things she's going to do to me behind the stacks—my beauty reallyisa curse."

"Come on, Lima," Claire said, patting him on the back. "Let's not turn this abduction into a murder."

#

Malachite ' s Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Just like that, an entire week had passed at Beacon Academy, and Lima was left to wonder just how representative it would be of his next four years. The same classes, taught by the same instructors. The same dormitory, filled with the same teammates. He knew that there'd be some variation within the mess and that he probably hadn'tsolvedhis complete future by any real degree—hell, when he actually looked back to the years he'd spent at Sanctum, it was a murky blur, punctuated by those standout variations.

Every day he'd spent there had probably been just as routine; it just didn't seem quite so daunting after he'd already escaped it. Those four years stretching ahead of him, in which he was locked down and into a fairly rigid schedule at Beacon, just seemed far more intimidating because they were looming large ahead of him. Despite the twisting of homesickness, the sometimes uncomfortable living arrangements of the dorm, and the unavoidable clashing of personalities that came downstream from it, he didn't exactly hate what the future held for him. It was like Sage had once told him—if the world was crushing you, and you couldn't find a way out, then you only really had one option left; lift your chin and keep walking tall.

"I'm kind of glad I came here, you know?" Lima said, eyes on the ceiling. "I'm sure the other academies are decent and all—but this justfeelslike where I'm supposed to be."

"I'm glad, too," Teak said. "I'm still not sure I'm going to be able to keep up with you all—but I've already made it further than I thought I could."

"That's because you're still underestimating yourself and overestimating the opposition," Lima said with a yawn. "You're more than a match for Beacon Academy, Teak."

"Lima," Teak murmured.

"Even if hewasn't," Lux muttered, "He's gettingdraggedacross the finish line—nobody ever heard of a three-person team graduating from Beacon."

"That's a little bit less inspiring," Teak managed, "But thanks, I think."

"It's only the first week anyway," Claire said, one of her headphones sitting snug behind her ear so she could follow the conversation. "A month or two of classes likethose, we're either going to be complete badasses—or dead, at which point we won't have to worry about it."

"I'malreadya badass," Lux corrected. "By the time a month passes, I'm going to be the most badass person here."

"Hard to imagine such a thing," Claire said, pausing for a moment. "Really hard."

"Claire—" Lux warned.

"Really,reallyhard," Lima agreed, "Lux has had her ass kicked so many times at this point that Pyrrha's footprint is pretty much engraved on the cheeks."

"You—" Lux managed. "You aredead."

Lima braced himself as her bed shifted hard enough that the legs squeaked against the floor—a moment later, she bulldozed into his bedframe, attempting to get on top of him.

"No fighting in the dorms," Teak protested. "Guys—"

"Fight, fight, fight," Claire jeered.

Lima managed to wrap his bedsheet around her head and then worked to tangle her flailing form up as best he could without getting hit too many times—a hard thing to accomplish in the darkness of the room.

"If you want me to add my footprint to the pile," Lima said, attempting to restrain her. "You should have waited for me to put my shoes on."

"This isn't going to end like this morning—" Lux raged, thrashing about in the mess. "Why the hell don't you have any clothes on?"

Claire gave something of a nervous laugh at the words.

"I told you I sleep in the—watch where you're grabbing—" Lima cried out. "Requesting immediate backup on my position—"

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Malachite 's Dormitory Shower, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima cracked an eye open as the door to the showers creaked, using one hand to block the water spray—and then went back to what he was doing as Teak padded into the room in search of his cubicle. Four weeks had done a lot for wearing down some of the initial boundaries they'd set up; part of it was the continued proximity and growing more comfortable with one another, but most of it was simply out of convenience. It was hard to maintain their ruling of one person in the shower room at a time, given how much time four consecutive showers stole from their mornings. The two-at-a-time policy that they'd voted on—split along gender lines and alternating first shower every day—was working better, but it was still pretty annoying having to wait on the off days.

"Lima?" Teak said. "It's okay, right?"

"It's fine, man," Lima said, scrubbing at his hair. "Lux is the one we need to worry about—she must have traded her understanding of boundaries in for starting gold."

Teak's cubicle opened up at the words before shutting again behind him, immediately followed by the sound of more water hitting the tiles.

"She had access to character customisation?" Teak murmured. "That must have been nice."

A glance to his left revealed absolutely nothing except the showerhead, the boy's height leaving him well below that of the divider.

"Thinking about adjusting some of your sliders, huh?" Lima said, "Do I want to know which ones?"

"I'm not telling," Teak managed.

"So mysterious," Lima said, "A bit of extra reach would be nice—also, I kind of hate that Lux is taller than me."

"Try having that problem with literallyeveryone," Teak said, sighing. "This is making me feel bad—can we talk about something else?"

"Are you sure?" Lima said, feigning hurt. "We didn't even get to the part where we compare ourspecialsliders."

"Absolutely not," Teak squeaked, banging a hand against the divider. "Did you—did you find the part you were looking for? The one for your project, I mean."

"I did, actually," Lima said, trying not to smile. "I'm not too sure it's going to fit the casing for the glove, though—the design I picked might need some changes."

"Is that something you can do in class?" Teak said.

"I suppose we'll find out," Lima offered, "What about you—did you decide on something yet?"

"I think so," Teak admitted, "I think I'm going to make a portable hard-light shield projector."

Lima perked up a bit at the words, his mind going towards Velvet Scarlatina's hard light projector—not exactly a shield, but certainly portable.

"What type of shield are we talking about?" Lima asked. "Buckler? Point defence?"

"I was thinking about a dome to lock down an area in case we ever need a place to retreat to," Teak hesitated. "I watched a video about how energy efficient they could be if you spun the shield in place and used the motion to help deflect the incoming force—does it sound stupid?"

"Not even a little bit," Lima said, trying to be encouraging. "Hell if I know how to make something like that, though—you find a guide or something?"

"There's a lot of publically available blueprints; most of them are Atlesian designs," Teak said, "I was going to try and pick out the best parts of each to make something new."

"That's pretty cool," Lima said, "There's a rabbit Faunus called Velvet Scarlatina from second year, who has a portable hard-light projector as her main weapon—it makes temporary hard light copies of weapons she's scanned with her camera."

"Really?" Teak said with interest. "How do you know her?"

"She turns up to Port's hunting sessions pretty much every Saturday morning," Lima said, "She's a bit shy, but she seems super nice—you could probably ask her for some direction on the whole projector thing."

"Thank you for telling me," Teak said, "Lima—do you think you could introduce me?"

"Next time I see her," Lima agreed.

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"When are you going to let me look at it?" Lux demanded, hands planted on the table to loom better. "It's beenweeks—stop lording it over me."

"I'm notlordingit over anyone," Teak managed. "I just hadn't finished reading it yet."

"Hadn't?" Lux pressed, leaning even further forward. "Pasttense?"

"You know he can seerightdown your shirt, don't you?" Claire said, "You missed a button, too."

"Shut up," Lux said, almost on reflex. "Well?"

"I only finished it last night," Teak said, flustered. "Lux, I'dliketo let you borrow it, but you're not very careful with your things—I don't want it to get damaged."

"I'll be careful with it," Lux insisted, maintaining eye contact. "Iwill."

"Okay," Teak said, "But you have to wait until we get back to the dorm—I didn't bring it with me today."

"Fine," Lux said, annoyed. "As soon as we get back."

"Screw that; I'm invested now," Lima said, "I'm not reading it, so you'll just have to tell me what happened."

"I wouldn't want to spoil it for her—" Teak hedged.

"I don't care about the story," Lux said, crossing her arms. "I just want to see the writing."

"See?" Lima said, "Spoil away."

"Okay, fine—Ozymandias is called a researcher, but it's pretty obvious that he's more like an explorer or a treasure hunter," Teak said, warming up to it. "I'm not sure exactly when he wrote the journal because he keeps referencing parts ofotherprojects and journeys that are supposed to be covered in the later journals."

"So it's a jumbled mess?" Claire wondered.

"It's not a mess; it's just not writtenashe's going through the events themselves, at least it doesn't seem so," Teak corrected, "This one is about the Two Brothers, or rather, theFountain of Life, and thePools of Grimm—which was either the source of the god's powers or simply the place where they each lived."

"He thinks they actually existed?" Lima asked.

"He seems absolutely positive that they do exist, and every time he mentions them, there is never any doubt about it," Teak admitted, "There are also countless mentions about his ancient ancestors and how they directly interacted with both locations on numerous occasions."

"Interacted how?" Claire asked.

"The people of the land would beseech the god for assistance and guidance or simply go to them in gratitude or worship," Teak said, "I'm not sure how he knew about something that happened so long ago, but I'm assuming they had their own verbal traditions, or there were surviving accounts at that point."

"So he absolutely believed they were real," Lux said, visibly impatient. "What did he want with the Fountain or the Pools?"

"His rationale for why he wants to visit them isn't actuallyexplicitlydescribed in the first journal," Teak admitted, "It also only covers the period in which he's preparing to set out on the journey itself and what he was thinking about at that time."

"Implicitly, then?" Lima prompted.

"There were two passages in the journal that reference some kind of vague but possibly cataclysmic event, and he has some complicated feelings about it—I think it ties into that," Teak said, furrowing his brow. "The first one was—A fools hope, perhaps, to believe I might find the answer there, but better a fool than to wait until the world turns no longer."

"Oh," Lux said, practically vibrating in her seat. "Is italllike that?"

Teak seemed visibly unsure of how to deal with the sheer intensity she was directing at him—Lima raised an eyebrow at Claire for a moment as if to elicit an answer to the bizarre nature of Lux's behaviour, but she seemed just as surprised.

"Ozymandias seems to fall into a lot of moments like that throughout, especially when he seems to be recalling his youth," Teak said, "There was a line that said;I often mourn for days long past, for people almost forgotten, where everything was so straightforward, and when magic hadn't yet seeped from the world—"

"This is bullsh*t," Lux said, breathing a burst of air out of her nose. "Go get the stupid book—"

"You said that first line was referencing a cataclysmic event," Lima said, speaking up. "I think I missed it?"

"Until the world turns no longer," Claire said. "That was it, right? The end of the world."

"That's how I interpreted it, and the context of that page made it seem like he wasactuallywaiting or expecting it to happen at some point," Teak said, smiling now. "Another reading of the line I've seen on the forum is that it's just more of his poetic bend; that he knows it's foolish to search for something that might not exist—the Fountain of Life and the Pools of Grimm—but that it's better tohopethan to do nothing at all."

"Literal interpretation, verses a more artistic one?" Lima guessed. "Tukson was right; this guy sounds like a jackass."

"Shutup, dumbass," Lux said, smacking her fist down on the table. "You said there weretwopassages—what was the other line?"

"I dream myself standing where a fountain should be, and yet only an ocean stretches before me. The land may have changed too greatly, and I fear for where my path may meet its end," Teak said, closing his eyes for a moment. "My hope is not yet lost. So long as the world turns, I will search for an answer."

Lux's eyes were sparkling, her hands linked together in a white-knuckled grip—the only time Lima had seen her as excited by something as she was now was the moment before a fight began.

"That's kind of tragic," Claire said, "Imagine spending all that time searching for something, only for it to not be there when you finally arrive."

Lima clicked his fingers together as if he'd just come to some great epiphany.

"Thefountainwas the friends he made along the way," Lima said, mangling the phrase, "The dream about the ocean also nails the guy down as a total bedwetter—cause youknowthat's why he was so traumatised by it."

Lux made a strangled noise in the back of her throat.

#

Amphitheater, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"To think you could have pushed me this far," Lima said, stretching his hand out, fingers splayed. "I thought I'd left my limits behind—but I guess there's one last limit to break."

Lima tore the messy bandage he'd wrapped around the glove off, shredding it and sending pieces of the too-thin fabric falling through the air. Teak suddenly found the strength to rebuild his guard, the boy's sword flashing up in front of him in clear panic.

"Don't youdare," Teak managed. "It doesn't even work properly—"

Lima took hold of the temporary manual release catch with a single finger—he hadn't managed to finish machining the parts for the internal system, but he was almost certain he'd have it down by the end of the next workshop. Teak looked horrified at the idea of being on the wrong side of the half-finished mess of a weapon.

"This is the final blow," Lima said. "Vanish."

Lima wrenched the release to the side, and there was an audible whirl of internal gears as the glove came to life. Teak dove to the floor of the stage, hands—and sword—crossed over his head to protect himself from what was to come. The metal screeched in protest, releasing a spiral of sparks out of the half-open casing on the back of it—the cable burst forth from the palm of his hand, crossing the room in an instant before the grappling hook buried itself into the wall below the stands the cable spooling outwards in an endless mess of iron loops.

"I can't believe it," Lima breathed, falling to his knees. "Youdodgedit."

"I didn't dodge anything," Teak cried in outrage, "It didn't even fire in the right direction."

Teak scrambled to his feet, clearly galvanised to action by the fact that Lima was entirely out of position. He rushed across the stage, sword drawn to counterattack—at which point, the glove ran out of cable, and the process suddenly reversed. It began reeling itself back in at a furious pace, eating the entire spool in about three seconds flat and then dragged Lima straight off the stage by his arm. It reconnected with the hook with a metal clunk, leaving him dangling by his glove well outside of the arena—the hook pulled free of the wall with a little spray of concrete dust, and he dropped down onto the floor.

"Elimination by out-of-bounds," The digitised voice spoke, "Winner, Teak Fawn."

The tip of the grappling hook dangled in the air below his hand, two inches of cable still emerging from the centre of his palm—it clearly wasn't sitting properly inside the casing, which was something else he'd have to get around to dealing with. Teak caught up to him just as he reached the bottom of the stairs that would lead back up to the stands; his face scrunched up in dismay.

"I can't believe you fired thatdeathtrapat me," Teak said, blowing a breath out of his nose. "Plus, I thoughtyouwere going to win the match."

Despite the words, Teak seemed far happier with the outcome ofthismatch than he had the last time—getting stabbed half a dozen times by Weiss Schnee had left him moping almost the entire day. He'd also managed to actually showcase some of the hard-earned skills he'd managed to pick up across the last couple of weeks—without getting instantly dumpstered by the usual, far more experienced opponents.

"I had a little bit of a mechanical misfunction at the end there," Lima admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I forgot that the design I used has the automated reel-in once it hits the max length—I'll have to disable that."

"Mister Morta, Mister Fawn," Glynda said as they crested the top of the stairs. "I cannot help but think that the two of you are not taking this seriously."

Teak wilted at the words, his previous good cheer vanishing in an instant.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Teak managed, "I—I really was trying my best."

"The reason we askbothparticipants to put in full effort right from the start of the bout is to simulate the level of intensity of live combat," Glynda said, furrowing her brow. "Whileyoumay have eventually workedupto that in the end, it was clear that your partner wasn't pressing you throughout the majority of the duel; in fact, Mister Morta, you haddozensof opportunities, and yet you acted on none of them."

Lima hadn't really expected to get raked over the coals for what had actually been a pretty stellar fight—Teak had managed to attack, deflect and defend more in this one duel than in the dozens of ones he'd had since the very first class.

"We spar likeevery single day, so we both already know how an all-out fight is going to go," Lima hedged, glancing away. "Besides, I don'twantto beat up my friend in front of everyone in our class—"

"That's not a considerationyouhave the standing to decide here, and by refusing to fight at the appropriate level, you are, in fact, doing your teammate a great disservice," Glynda said, interjecting. "Every single person here will experience the same situation—I expect you to bring the necessary intensity with you to these exercises, Mister Morta, regardless of your opponent."

Lima felt a spark of frustration at the words—the fight that had just occurred had given Teak a chance to fight at his maximum ability for at least a couple of minutes against an opponent that had fought around the same level. Lima knew that if he'd gone all out right from the start, Teak likely wouldn't have had a chance to make asecondattack—what dideitherof them get out of that?

"What does he evenget—" Lima tried.

"Lima—that's enough," Teak said, swallowing. "Professor Goodwitch is correct; we should do it properly next time."

Lima opened his mouth to argue and then caught sight of the worried look on Teak's face—he turned away in complete frustration at the reprimand and at not being able to actually argue his case.

"Sorry, Professor," Teak said again, "We'll just—sorry."

Lima ignored the looks he was getting from the peanut gallery—because he wassurewhatever he saw would annoy him, andthenhe'd mouth off, which would get them into troubleagain.

"Mister Winchester and Mister Arc," Glynda said after a long moment. "Please make your way down to the stage."

"That didn't look like it went well," Claire said, voice careful. "I thought the fight—"

"Are youstupid?" Lux cut in, more than a little heated. "Why the hell did you throw away your win streak for ajoke?"

Lima slumped down into his chair, annoyed and unwilling to engage with the question—the faces of Cardin and Jaune stared down from the twin monitors, smiling out at them all. He felt another pang of annoyance—they hadn't madePyrrhabeat the crap out ofJaunein front of everybody. Whatever happened to the randomiser avoiding matching teammates to each other? That had seemed like a pretty hard rule up until now, and there'd been nothing to suggest it was changing—he'd had all of the fifteen-second walk down to the arena to come up with a plan.

"He didn't do it on purpose," Teak said. "The grappling hook malfunctioned."

"Like hell it did," Lux insisted, "Are you ignoring me, idiot—"

Lima watched as Cardin took his spot in the middle of the stage and as Jaune kind of slumped his way up the stairs to join him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Lux demanded, "I wanted to be the one you lost it to."

"We're witnessing a confession," Claire said, laughing. "Cute."

"I didn't mean it like that," Lux raged. "Ididn't—"

"—to your question, Miss Rose, the Vytal Festival Tournament works on a system very similar to the standard duel ruleset," Glynda said, speaking up as the match began. "Though there are multiple rounds, with a varying number of participants on both teams, the officials that are monitoring the match will call it based on out-of-bounds, or aura threshold."

Jaune slid backwards across the stage; his shield held high and off balance from the massive impact of Cardin's mace. Three more followed, and Jaune couldn't seem to break out of being on the defensive as he was sent stumbling around in an attempt to keep his balance. It was a bit hard to tell, but he was definitely better than he had been in the first week. It was something that made Lima wonder if Jaune had actually managed to build up the courage to ask Pyrrha for help—Cardin's siege started to overwhelm Jaune's ability to defend, and the blonde boy's guard was wrenched open with a horizontal swing. Jaune couldn't quite bring his shield back in time to block the next hit, and then after that, his frantic defence fell apart entirely. A three-part combination brought him well below the limit by the second strike, and when the third came right behind it—

"Elimination by aura threshold," The digitised voice spoke, "Winner, Cardin Winchester."

Cardin's weapon came to a halt directly above the defenceless Jaune's head, a clear sign that there would have been nothing the blonde boy could have done to prevent it.

"The amount of Aura Mister Arc currently has left has opened him up to having an official call the match." Glynda said, "Which is why it is wise to keep a close eye on your aura levels during combat while also adjusting your strategy based on the changing situation—if you are low, and your defensive strategy is not bearing fruit, you may have to takeaction."

Lima watched as Jaune picked himself up off the stage, not looking particularly overjoyed at being used as a measuring device for the rest of the class or at the superior smirk Cardin was aiming down at him.

"Now, to speak more broadly, the Vytal Festivalisonly a few months away, taking place after the break concludes, and I'm certain it will be upon us before we know it." Glynda said, "As such, the other academies will be organising their transportation to Vale and will be arriving at Beacon Academy—they will, of course, be joining you all in classes."

Cardin crested the stairs; his weapon braced across his shoulder as he returned to his seat, and the cheers of congratulation from his teammates—Jaunes return was far more sluggish, and though his team attempted to console him, it was clear he wasn't feeling it.

"If you intend on competing in the Vytal Festival Tournament, then I should advise you all to keep an eye on one another—and on your international counterparts," Glynda said, sweeping her gaze across them. "Who can identify the reason? Miss Nikos."

"If we're going to be sharing classes with the other competitors, they will be present for each of our Combat Studies exercises," Pyrrha said, "That means they will have a chance to learn about our strengths, weaknesses and fighting styles—although, I suppose we will also have the same opportunity."

"Precisely, Miss Nikos, so please ensure you account for that—therewillbe some structural changes to the scenarios—" Glynda said as the bell rang. "Ah, we actually have some scheduled maintenance to be performed in the Amphitheatre tonight, so Self-Directed Sparring is cancelled for today, although you are welcome to engage with it elsewhere if you so desire."

Most of the students were already on their feet, and once she'd finished addressing them, the flood moved towards the doors.

"Shecancelledsparring," Lux said with an explosive sigh. "Are youkiddingme?"

Lima, still feeling a bit maligned after being called out, had some trouble actually finding the energy to get up and follow his team as they approached the end of the row. Teak attempted to step out into the aisle and found himself being shoulder checked by the passing Cardin. Claire caught him with one hand on his shoulder before he could really lose his balance.

"What's the big idea, Teak?" Claire said, having missed the exchange. "You beat up Lima, and now you're coming after me as well?"

"No," Teak managed. "I—was rebuffed. Sorry."

Lima let his head dangle backwards on the headrest, tracking the smirking boy as he pushed his way through to the hallway outside. Jaune's attempt to clear the doorway was assisted as Cardin gave him a thoughtless shove on his way past—Teak's request that he not start something was starting to stretch really,reallythin.

"Lima?" Claire said, "You coming?"

Lima sat forward and then pushed himself to his feet with what felt like a monumental force of will before trailing on after them towards the doors. Glynda, still standing pretty close by the aisle, seemed to be watching him, but Lima couldn't quite bring himself to look at her. Like a trail of crumbs, they followed the remnants of the class towards the Dining Hall—it was a bit early for dinner, but everybody seemed to have the same destination in mind. Many of the second and third years were already there or in the process of filing into the room. Lima slumped down beside Claire's chosen seat, laying his head down onto his crossed arms.

"So we're going to have a whole bunch of new faces hanging around after the break?" Claire said, tapping her fingernails against the table. "Bestwitch was telling us to avoid showing what we can do—but how are we going to actuallymanagethat?"

"Don't use our Semblances in class? Change up our fighting styles whenever we do an exercise?" Lux grunted, "That's pretty much impossible to maintain over a long period."

"She did say there would be some changes to the scenarios," Claire hummed, "Maybe they'll be something that helps—like, no more duelling ever."

"Don'tsaythat," Lux insisted. "It betternotbe something like that—don't laugh at me."

"Sorry," Teak managed, covering his mouth. "Maybe they'll lean into the obstacle course stuff or more adapting to random objectives? There wasn't much direct combat in those, and you couldn't really see the ones whowerefighting."

Lima watched the students continue to funnel into the room, spreading out to fill up all of the tables and did his best to ignore any attempts to drag him back into the conversation. Eventually, when his neck began to tell him that he couldn't continue angling his head in such a way, he settled his chin down on his forearms—and found himself looking across the table beside their own, at where Velvet Scarlatina was sitting on a bench seat, with her head bowed. Cardin was sprawled directly beside her, dominating the bench with his body and impinging on her personal space with his proximity. Russel stood on the other side, one foot planted on the seat and blocking the girl in between the two of them. Sky and Dove were seated across from them, facing the girl's back and laughing quietly to themselves.

"—but how does she do it?" Lux said, audibly frustrated. "She justturnsup in class with no explanation."

"We have to assume she has a Semblance, so maybe it's something like my invisibility?" Claire wondered, "You seem pretty invested in figuring it out, though—is it because Lima made fun of you for jumping?"

"I didn't jump," Lux insisted, the earlier argument suddenly refuelled once more. "There was no jumping—"

Lima watched as Cardin reached up and snatched hold of Velvet's ear, tugging on it until the girl half sat up on the seat in an attempt to find some kind of alleviation—for a second, he actually couldn't believe that Velvet wasn't already kicking his ass all over the cafeteria. Velvet was a second year, and he'dseenwhat she was capable of in Port's Hunting Sessions—

"—thathurts," Velvet protested, her voice carrying across the room. "Please, stop—"

"Uh oh," Claire said.

"Lima—" Teak tried.

Lima jumped the gap, the force of his leap sending the table skidding backwards, and a dozen cries of protest rang out as the people sitting there were forced to deal with the contents of the table being upended all over them. He used the next table over as a stepping stone before planting his foot squarely in the middle of Cardin's face—Lima kicked downwards, smashing Cardin back-first through the table and sending the two pieces of table sliding away from them. Cardin hit the floor, his already glowing aura brightening at the continued assault, and then Lima crashed down on top of him, knees on either side of his chest.

"Morta—" Cardin got out.

Lima struck him across the face and then twice more in quick succession—the boy's aura shattered the series of impacts more than enough to deplete it. Cardin finally seemed to regain some idea of what was happening, and he tried to force his way up—Lima locked his knees to the floor and then hit him in the face hard enough to flatten his nose with a crunch. He caught Russel's retaliatory front kick on his arm and rode the momentum back to his feet. Russel followed through, stepping over his friend in an attempt to reach him, but Lima was already moving back towards him. Russel blocked the leading punch—and accidentally stood on Cardin's shin as he was forced back a step. The exact moment he looked down, in an attempt to figure out where he could safely stand, Lima's foot crashed into the side of his head. Russel hit the half of the table that Sky was still attempting to fight his way free of, sending both of them down into the mess.

Dove yanked Cardin away by his arm, sending him sliding back across the floor and then seemed to hesitate on whether or not to actually join the fight. Lima made the decision for him, kicking a piece of broken table up off the floor—Dove swatted it out of mid-air and then stumbled backwards as Lima came up from underneath it, his foot passing by the other boy's chin, close enough that his aura lit up from the contact. Lima twisted, using his contact with the floor to send a burst of his Semblance across the surface and into the other boy's shoe. Dove's leg suddenly shifted out to the side, entirely outside of his control, ruining his attempt to recover, and Lima's foot smashed into—a large piece of the table that had suddenly lifted up off the ground and inserted itself between the two.

His Semblance spread outwards on contact, as it always did, and he could feel a counter-force attempting to resist him. It wasn't the first time he'd come into contact with something like it, but it wasn't the same kind of authority as his own, and it wasn'tnearlyenough. Dove's attempt to protect himself failed as the net of energy covering the makeshift shield was forced in a dozen different directions at once, tearing it apart in an instant, and the slab of wood was wrenched to the side. It buried itself in the wall to their right, and he lunged forward in pursuit of Dove—

"Enough," Glynda snapped, voice ringing out from somewhere behind him. "The next person to doanything at all—"

Dove stepped backwards again, apparently disregarding the order entirely as he worked to maintain some sort of distance. Lima shifted to get eyes on her and found the Professor standing between the broken table and the next one over, fire in her eyes, with her riding crop pointed in his direction—oh, that made way more sense than Dove suddenly developing a previously unknown Semblance.

"Ow," Cardin grunted as he finally managed to sit up. "I think you just broke my nose."

#

Headmaster's Lobby, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Glynda hadn't spoken to him a single time except to order them all out of the Dining Hall, and Lima had made no attempt to plead his case, even after Russel had divulged the entirety of what had happened about three times over—and withhimselfsquarely in the role of the hero. There was no point to it, he knew; it didn't matter who the instigator was or what justification you could muster up—the fact of the matter was, he'd attacked them relatively unprovoked. Lima was fine with taking on the role of the villain, at least for something like this—he'd certainly done it enough times before. Hedidfeel a bit bad about Velvet getting dragged along with them, but there wasn't much he could do about that.

Cardin—with some preliminary first aid applied—Sky, Dove, and Russel were inside the headmaster's office already and in the company of Glynda. Lima, on the other hand, had been left to sit by the elevator and pretend that Velvet hadn't been silently staring at him for the better part of fifteen minutes. He'd been getting a torrent of messages to his scroll throughout that time, but he'd made no attempt to read them. Lima wassurethat there would be something from Teak telling him that he'd done the exact opposite of what he'd promised. Lux's message wasprobablysafe to read, either an endorsem*nt of his sudden interest in battling other humans or some sort of reprimand because he hadn't invited her along. He wasn't really sure about what Claire's response would be, but maybe she would have understood why he'd done it.

"I just—" Velvet said, speaking suddenly. "Why did youdothat?"

"No one else was doing anything," Lima said, letting his head fall back against the wall. "I'm kind of surprisedyoudidn't beat the crap out of them before I even got there."

"People like that will get bored and leave you alone eventually," Velvet said, looking down for a moment. "Fighting them—it just ends up likethis."

"Thisisn't too bad, is it?" Lima said, closing his eyes. "I mean, it's got to be way better than some dumb boy pulling on your ears."

"Forme, maybe, butI'mnot the one in trouble," Velvet said, "I bet it's way scarier where you're sitting."

Lima cracked an eye open at the words, half-certain that she was joking—there were plenty of truly scary things out in the world, but having an adult tell him off for getting into afightcould never have made the list.

"Not really," Lima said, "Who cares about some nebulous future punishment when you've got someoneactivelyhurting you—you should really stand up for yourself."

"Even if it means getting in trouble?" Velvet said.

"Absolutely," Lima said without pause. "But I don't mind falling on a few more swords if you still need some time to work up the courage."

Velvet gave a disbelieving little shake of her head at the words.

"That's very kind of you," Velvet said, "But I don't think I should be encouraging something likethat."

"That's alright," Lima said, closing his eye. "I never needed much encouragement anyway."

Velvet blew a troubled breath out of her nose at the words, at which point, the elevator dinged before the doors slid open—Glynda stood at the very back, with her arms crossed over her chest and a visible frown on her face. Team Cardinal stood in front of her, the general despondent vibe that was emanating off of them at complete odds with their early vindictiveness.

"Fellas," Lima said in greeting. "Fancy meeting you here."

Dove stepped out of the elevator without waiting for any kind of direction, and Cardin moved to follow, which in turn spurred the rest of the team into action. Dove came to a stop beside Velvet, hands linked together behind him, his back straight.

"I apologise for laughing at you and for my part in condoning what happened today," Dove said without any kind of prompt. "I'll make sure something like that doesn't happen again."

"Okay," Velvet said, "Thank you."

Dove nodded and then continued on without another word, leaving his teammates behind to sort themselves out.

"Sorry, Velvet," Sky said, ducking his head. "None of it was funny."

"Yeah," Russel sighed. "We're stupid—sorry."

"It's okay," Velvet said, looking a bit pressed by all the apologies. "Really."

"Thanks," Russel said. "That's super nice of you—"

Cardin placed a hand on his teammate's back and then pushed him just hard enough to get him moving before he turned to face her.

"Velvet, everything I said was just me trying to upset you, and none of it was true," Cardin said, reaching up to touch his face for a second, "I shouldn't have grabbed you like that, it was crossing a line, and it won't happen again."

"Thank you," Velvet managed. "It's fine now—it didn't even hurt that much."

"That was definitely a lie," Cardin sighed. "Sorry."

Glynda waited just long enough for the four of them to disappear down the hallway before she cleared her throat.

"My turn, huh?" Lima said, rocking forward and then up to his feet. "Velvet was just telling me how you and the headmaster were going to take turns breaking my nose—"

"I didn't say that," Velvet protested. "Ididn't."

"A tempting suggestion," Glynda said, fixing her glasses "Miss Scarlatina, thank you for waiting—unless you've recalled anything else from the incident you would like to add, you are now free to go enjoy the remainder of your night."

"You don't need me to wait around?" Velvet said, looking a bit hesitant. "Just—in case?"

Lima spoke up in response before the question could be really addressed.

"I'll just give you my apology now, so you can go to bed," Lima said, pausing at the elevator. "Velvet, sorry I got you involved in something annoying—night."

Lima stepped backwards and to the side, breaking line of sight with her—Glynda let her riding crop drop from where she had been blocking the sensor with it, and the doors shut, sealing them both inside. The movement of the elevator was more than detectable, his Semblance feeding him a steady stream of information as they ascended. The office that greeted them on arrival was a strange one but beautiful in its own way. Large and circular, with a series of gigantic, multisized, and moving cogs intersecting with one another as they rotated in an endless, intricate dance.

A massive half-clock served as a window to the outside world, the glass transparent and showcasing the Academy below. The large numerals that served as a measurement of time were inverted, and oddly enough, he found himself bothered by it—the world outside the room could tell the time, but for those who sat within, its passage was far murkier. Lima trailed along behind Glynda as she crossed the room, his eyes searching and finding what must have been a hundred different clocks, subtle places within the interior decorations. The man's desk was uniquely curved, framed in sleek metal, and filled with some kind of patterned glass that looked like it was designed to project a hard light monitor.

"For all the movement going on in here," Lima said, turning to look up at the ceiling. "It's strangely quiet."

"I could hardly get anything done if it wasn't," Ozpin said from where he was watching the academy through the clock. "Mister Morta—it's been something of an evening, hasn't it?"

"Sure," Lima agreed.

Ozpin tapped his cane against the ground before turning around for the first time. Lima found himself studying the man's legs, but there really was no hint of a limp—which meant that the man had chosen the weapon for some other reason.

"I see you are in no hurry to excuse your actions," Ozpin said, a bit puzzled. "I wonder why that is—most people are rather quick to protest their innocence when faced with the opportunity."

"I'm not innocent," Lima said, "Cardin did a series of things I didn't like, so I kicked his ass."

Glynda breathed out a long, steadying breath from her nose, the sound of someone overcoming a great and visceral frustration.

"Aseriesof things," Ozpin said with some interest. "Notjust the singular incident involving Miss Scarlatina?"

Lima hadn't actually expected them to comment on it, his loose choice of words brought on by how little care most of the faculty at Sanctum had with regard to these kinds of incidents. Cardin had already been punished—by him and by the academy, if that apology had been anything to go by—shovelling more fuel onto the fire when the boy was already ablaze seemed a bit much.

"Just for clarification," Lima said rather than answer the question. "Even if that was theonlything he did, I would have still done it—why don't we just proceed with that in mind?"

"Mister Morta," Glynda pressed. "Whatotherthings has he done?"

Lima sighed.

"Cardin's been picking on Teak for a while now, but his most recent target seems to be Jaune—Velvet too, I suppose," Lima said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Look, usually I just kick someone's ass, and then I get yelled at for it—you're kind of making me feel like a tattletale now."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the accusation before the two adults shared a momentary glance—something which seemed to leave Glynda looking a bit uncomfortable.

"I suppose the randomiserhasmatched both Mister Fawn and Mister Arc against Mister Winchester several times a piece, and he certainly does seem to take pleasure in winning against them, but I've seen nothing carry onoutsideof the exercises themselves," Glynda said a length. "What kind of negative interactions has he had with them?"

"You'd have to ask Jaune about his experience," Lima hedged, "Cardin said something pretty messed up the first time he and Teak actually fought, though—something about letting animals into Beacon Academy."

"Inmyclass?" Glynda said. "Perhaps we should call for both Mister Fawn and—"

"Can wenot? Teak didn't want me to get involved in the first place," Lima tried. "He'salreadygoing to be angry at what I did today; dragging him into this, even more, is just going to make him—"

"Mister Morta, I'm afraid we are long past the point of keeping things under wraps," Glynda said, "Half of the student body has seen the altercation that preceded this meeting, and I suspect Mister Fawn has already come to the conclusion that he will be unable to avoid being included."

"The actions we take are not withoutreaction," Ozpin said, smiling a bit. "This has a rather direct link back to howyouchose to publically solve the situation—a lesson learned, perhaps?"

"You'resayingI should have beat Cardin up when no one was looking?" Lima asked, "That does make more sense, now that I think about it."

Ozpin seemed to blink at the words.

"You shouldn't have attempted to deal with the situation yourself," Glynda said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You should have come tome."

"That—has literally never worked for me in the past," Lima admitted, furrowing his brow. "But, even if you would have listened to me, I wasn't going to sit there like everyone else andwatch."

"Might I suggest a nonviolent attempt as a first resort?" Ozpin wondered. "Negotiations are often enough to solve most interpersonal—"

"Cardin,pleasestop pulling on Velvet's ears—I really don't think she likes it," Lima said, clapping his hands together. "Can't we all befriends?"

"MisterMorta," Glynda said.

"Cardin would have laughed in my face, and then, sensingweakness, he would have started something withme," Lima said, voice flat. "I would have kicked the sh*t out of him, and we'd be backexactlywhere we are now."

Ozpin didn't seem nearly as upset at his cheek; instead, he seemed to tilt his head to the side.

"You would have entered this discussion armed with the additional defence of having first asked him to stop," Ozpin said with some interest. "You don't think that's worthy of consideration?"

"No, because I'm not here trying to defendmyself," Lima said, shaking his head. "Velvetasked Cardin to stop, and hedidn't—negotiations had clearly failed."

"Are you certain that Velvet wished for your assistance?" Ozpin wondered.

"Velvet could have got away from them without my help, but instead of doing that, she sat there and let themhurt herbecauseshe didn't want to cause a scene," Lima said, "I think I can confidently state that shewouldn'thave wanted my assistance—and I already apologised to her for getting involved."

Ozpin leaned forward on his desk, linking his hands together in front of his mouth.

"Do you think she appreciated it in the aftermath?" Ozpin said.

"I turned an already uncomfortable situation into something even worse," Lima said, shaking his head. "I doubt she wanted that."

"Notquitewhat I was asking, but I suppose it answers enough," Ozpin said after a moment of thought. "What kind of punishment do you think would fit the crime, in this instance?"

Lima glanced over at Glynda for a moment, considering repeating what he'd joked about earlier—she narrowed her eyes at him in a way that told him that her Semblance must have also contained some method to read his mind.

"Unauthorised fighting in an area where it is forbidden. Destruction of school property. Inflicting lasting injury after aura break," Lima said, thinking about it. "Sanctum would have had me in detention for a month—at least."

"A month of detentions," Ozpin wondered. "Glynda?"

"Why does it feel as ifIam the one being punished?" Glynda said, before pausing. "You know, we could always just take turns breaking his nose."

Ozpin gave something of a startled laugh at the comment, clearly missing the context needed to truly process where it had come from, something which seemed to brightenherdisposition in return. Lima couldn'tbelieveshe'd just stolen his joke, and without any sort of accreditation—the absolute audacity.

#

Headmaster's Lobby, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima found himself sitting outside the elevator again, only this time, it was with the image of Teak's worried face burned into his mind—Jaune, somehow, had seemed even more on edge, his face pale, as ifhe'dbeen the one getting punished. Technically, he was free to go—encouraged to go would probably be a better description, considering the look Glynda had given him before the doors of the elevator had locked the three away—but the idea of going back to the dorm without getting the chance to actually speak with Teak twisted something in his chest.

He hadn't seemed angry—like Lima had first suspected—but that didn't mean there wasn't any anger there. Teak had asked him—several times over the course of the last few weeks—not to do anything in response to the situation or to take action against Cardin. There was a part of him that wanted to settle into the mountain of internal justifications he'd built up and argue that the situation couldn't have been allowed to continue—but the reality was, he hadn't acted because of those carefully chosen justifications. He'd done it because he was angry. The smirk on Cardin's face, the sound of Velvet's voice pleading for him to stop, and the laughter of his teammates—it had simply gotten to him. It wasn't fair to try to mask his actions under the banner of 'stopping an injustice' or 'saving a girl in distress'—like always, all he'd done was act to relieve his anger, his annoyance, and his stress.

"God damn it," Lima muttered, banging his head back against the wall. "I haven't changed a bit."

The elevator dinged a few moments later, and this time, it was just the two boys—and no Glynda to be seen. Jaune's paleness seemed to have vanished entirely, replaced by a sort of visible relief that Lima couldn't quite square away. Teak—absolutely dwarfed by his much taller, temporary companion—looked about as worried as he had when he first arrived.

"Looking good, boys," Lima said as they stepped out of the elevator entirely. "You know, it took me fifteen minutes just to work up the courage to sit down—how many smacks did she giveyoutwo?"

"What?" Jaune said in alarm. "We didn't getany—I mean, whywouldwe?"

"Way tonotsound disappointed, big guy," Lima said, "Totally nailed it."

Teak seemed to hover a bit away from them, apparently unsure of how to proceed—and Lima felt another twist.

"Sorry I got you both dragged up here," Lima said, rubbing at his neck. "Bestwitch started grilling me on what Cardin has been up to, and your names eventually came up—she forced it out of me, really."

"That's alright—I guess I'm just hoping he'll back off a bit," Jaune said, looking a bit anxious at the topic. "You kind of scared the crap out of everyone today."

"I bet," Lima admitted. "Any word about what they're going to do to Cardin now—they dragging him back up here again?"

"Probably," Teak murmured. "They were talking about it."

Jaune winced at the words.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going back," Jaune winced, raising a hand in parting. "Ireallydon't want to be here when Cardin comes back—night."

"Night," Lima said.

"Goodnight, Jaune," Teak said, watching the other boy vanish around the corner. "Lima? Can we go?"

Lima pushed himself up to his feet, moving to walk beside the shorter boy. Jaune was already turning the corner when they stepped into the hallway, his long strides eating up the distance as he fled from the potential encounter. The two of them walked in silence, making it out of the bottom of the building without exchanging a word between them. The cool night air began searching for gaps in his uniform as they stepped outside, and Lima turned his eyes up to the sky above.

"Teak," Lima said, seizing a momentary flare of courage. "I know you didn't want me to start anything with him, but—"

All of the excuses he'd been thinking about since they'd stuck him in the chair whirled about in his mind, a hundred different things within reach, each of them primed and ready for him to use to carve out a good position to argue from—and all of it kind of fell away, when Teak actually turned to look at him.

"—I guess I couldn't help myself." Lima said, "Sorry."

Teak seemed to take a moment to process the words, eyes returning to the path beneath their feet. Lima turned his eyes back to the stars, more than a bit uneasy about the other boy's silence. Eventually, Teak shook his head a bit and then breathed out a sigh of air.

"Cardin wasn't pulling onmyears, so it's not like I can even yell at you," Teak murmured before trailing off a bit. "I just—didn't want you to get in any trouble."

Lima couldn't remember ever feeling quite so relieved as he did right then—their friendship, as new as it was, hadn't been altered by the event, and their dynamic seemed to endure.

"It's not so bad," Lima said, nudging the shorter boy's shoulder with his own. "What's a month of detention, anyway?"

"A wholemonth?" Teak said, sucking in a breath. "Lima—"

"An hour a day, every day, from five until six in the afternoon," Lima admitted, "You guys are going to be doing sparring on your own for a while."

"Lux is going to lose her mind when she finds out," Teak said with a sigh. "No, we can just move the sparring back to the mornings or after dinner, maybe."

"Sodecisive," Lima said, "Look at you, being all leaderly."

"That's not a word—andI'm still a bit mad at you," Teak said, eyeing him. "No teasing."

Lima fired off a sloppy, one-handed salute at the words, keeping his silence in the interest of safety. They stepped into the bottom floor of the dormitory, following the now-familiar path back to their room, almost entirely on autopilot.

"Lima?" Teak asked after they'd made it to the right floor. "Professor Goodwitch said that Velvet was there for a while—was she okay?"

"She was a little embarrassed that everyone saw her getting bullied, but she was pretty okay other than that," Lima admitted, running a hand through his hair. "Dove, Cardin, Russel and Sky all came down and apologised to her after they got chewed out in Ozpin's office—they seemed pretty sincere about it too."

"Even Cardin?" Teak murmured.

"Even him," Lima said with a nod. "That wasbeforeyou and Jaune got brought into it, though, so I don't know how he's going to respond to that—you're totally glaring at me right now."

"I told you not to say anything," Teak huffed.

"I tried not to," Lima protested, reaching out towards him. "But Bestwitch and Ozpin were doing the good Huntsman, bad Huntress routine on me, and boy, was shebad—"

"No," Teak tried, smacking at his hands. "No—"

"—I couldn't handle the pressure. I cracked. Ibroke, okay?" Lima said, grabbing him by the shoulders. "I can't go back, Teak; I justcan't—that was a smile—"

"Stop trying to be funny," Teak accused, attempting to fend him off. "Lima—"

"A smile means you've forgiven me completely," Lima insisted, shaking him around a bit. "You've given up your life of being mad—I've won."

Teak's determined attempt to maintain the sombre mood cracked entirely as he let out a little laugh—the sound of his own laughter seemed to propel him into a state that was equal parts mad and amused.

"You're sodumb," Teak managed, pinning him back into the wall in an attempt to hold him at bay. "It's not even funny—"

The door to their dorm opened, revealing Lux standing there in her threadbare sleeping clothes, Ozymandias's Journal dangling from her hand—looking simultaneously interested in the fighting that was taking placeandannoyed that she'd been interrupted. Claire joined her a moment later, head appearing over the girl's shoulder.

"What are youdoing?" Claire asked. "Better yet, whathappenedearlier—did you get kicked out?"

Teak managed to shove him back and disengage at the same time, breathing a bit heavily from the wrestling and having some trouble actually getting his giggling under control. Lima straightened up against the wall a bit.

"Well," Lima said, still laughing a bit. "It's like this—"

#

Training Field A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima scanned the students trickling down towards the edge of the forest and confirmed that, yes, Cardinwas, in fact, missing from every single class of the day. Dove, Russel and Sky had made no attempt to dispel the rumours or really engage with anyone about the topic either. Lima doubted that the prevailing theory of him being expelled was really the case because, as much of a prick as the boy had been since the start of the year, something like that wasn'treallyenough to get anyone kicked out. In acivilianschool, itmighthave been, and Lima knew hisownactions would have netted him a suspension, at least in that kind of environment. But in an academy filled withtrained fighters, whose explicit job was to put their lives on the line for the rest of humanity—well, there was a little more wiggle room when it came to things getting wild or unruly. They probably had him holed up in his dorm, writing out a million-word essay on why being a prick got you popped in the snout and why he wouldn't do it again—a few days and Cardin would be back down here with the rest of them.

"—no weapons are permitted, and I should hope that each of you has your Scroll on your person at all times," Glynda said, "This isn't quite like your other scenarios, but some of the elements will be familiar to you. I suppose youcouldliken it to a more structured version of adaptive objectives."

Lima slipped his own scroll out of his pocket and accepted the prompt that had been sent out to all of them through the normal application.

"To wit, each of you will begin the exercise in a team of one and with a single point at your disposal—the strategy you use will inform how you spend it," Glynda said, "Anyone you come into contact with during the forest must be dealt with in one of two ways; you will deplete their aura below the threshold to earn a point, or you will recruit them by spending a point."

"Recruitingcostspoints?" Weiss asked.

"It certainly does, and while the initial cost of recruitment is a single point, it will increase by one with every additional ally," Glynda said, "The first ally is one point, the second is two points, and so on."

"Is there a limit on team size?" Ruby wondered.

"There is no limit to how many allies you recruit—outside of your ability to earn points being capped at the maximum number of participants," Glynda said, "The increase will make the cost of recruitment quite steep, so you will have to fight, eventually."

"What happens to the points when you join a team?" Jaune asked, holding up two fingers. "Two people at the start have one point each, but it only costs one to form a team—do you get to keep the spare?"

"Whoever sends the recruitment request will become the leader of the team, andtheywill be in charge of the points from then on," Glynda said, "In the case you just described, the leader would have one point leftover to spend—but it would cost two points to recruit a third member."

Lima thought he had a pretty good handle on the rules, and the optimal strategy was pretty obvious as well, namely, eliminating the weaker members he encountered while saving his points for the stronger ones—which meant that everyone would be doing the same thing.

"The quadrant in which each of you will enter the forest has been sent to your Scroll, so you should begin making your way there now," Glynda said, searching the crowd of students. "As always, I will be watching—so do not attempt to break any of the rules."

Despite his careful positioning, Glynda still managed to meet his gaze through the mess of students. His attempt to fade away and perhaps have her forget he existed had clearly failed—which meant he probably wasn't going to be getting out of the upcoming detention. Teak and Claire had kind of been shuffled out to one side of the crowd, too far away for him to speak to either, so he turned to Lux instead.

"Good luck, brighteyes," Lima sighed, moving towards his assigned quadrant. "No hard feelings if we meet, and I don't have enough points to recruit you—"

"Even if Ihavepoints, we're fighting," Lux warned. "What's your quadrant, anyway? I'll come right over."

"Hell if I'm going to tell you now," Lima said, rolling his eyes. "Go destroy yourself on the invincible walls of Fort Nikos."

He left Lux with an entirely conflicted look on her face as he began moving along the edge of the forest. Lima kept an eye over his shoulder to get some idea of where everyone was heading, information that would be good to know once things actually started off. He paid particular attention to the locations of each of the existing leaders—Ruby, Jaune, Teak, Flora and Crane. Cardin wasn't here, so one of his teammates might step up in his place. Ruby, Jaune and Teak were friendly enough to everyone in their class that there was a possibility of some kind of super team forming. Flora and Crane, he wasn't so sure about.

Even without the threat of a superteam, there were certain individuals that were going to be an issue—something that had been exasperated by the power shuffle that had been brought on by the lack of weapons. Pyrrha teaming up with anyone was going to be an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. Ren was highly skilled in close-quarters combat. Yang was probably the least hindered by the lack of weapons and a dominant in-fighter who could probably take down just about anyone in the class. Ren and Yang were still back at the area where everyone had pretty much started, while Pyrrha had gone in the complete opposite direction to the one he had. Lima was sure they would encounter a dozen other people before he ever had the chance to run into them—at that point, they might have multiple teammates—the worst-case scenario being a team with all three of them.

If he eliminatedeveryonehe came across before the teams had a chance to grow larger, he could start saving up points to try and recruit them. By the time they actually met up, he'd be attempting to recruit two or three people at once—something that would cost a lot of points—and there was always the chance that they simply refused to join forces with him. At which point, he'd be on his own and forced to fight multiple potentially dangerous opponents at once. He came to a stop at his assigned entry point and checked his immediate neighbours—Weiss Schnee on the right and Nox Cymbal on his left. He hadn't seen Nox fight without a weapon yet, but he had seen Weiss do it several times—she was decent, but she was far better with a weapon in hand, and for Lima, it was an easy enough point to earn.

"Risk it all on trying to join whatever superteam gets built on the other side and hope they don't say no," Lima muttered. "Or start building a team of my own and then try to squeak out the win by dogpiling the threats?"

A symphony of distant beeps rang out to match the one from his own Scroll, and then he was moving—still undecided about his long-term plan but with his short-term one locked in. Lima cut right, angling to intercept Weiss—a flash of white revealed his target moving forward at a full sprint, clearly trying to get as deep into the forest as she could manage. The colour of her clothing made it all but impossible to hide amidst the trees, but his muted green cloak was far more at home. Still, she caught him on approach, either by sound or by the fact that she seemed to be checking back in his direction every couple of meters.

Weiss hit the brakes, attempted to turn to face him, and lashed out with a kick just as he came within striking distance—he went straight underneath it, taking her leg out from under her and planting her back first into the dirt. Weiss let out a panicked yelp at the impact, more out of surprise than any kind of pain, her aura glowing bright on impact—she pulled her leg up towards her chest, clearly trying to get her foot on his shoulder to push him away. He pressed forwards, using his knee to pin the flailing leg at the thigh, and then slipped up on top of her, a knee on both sides of her hip, and his fist raised back for the first strike—

"Don't break my nose." Weiss cried out. "I'll pay you."

Lima paused for a moment, wondering if she was trying to buy time to come up with something—but she remained where she was, hands raised in a guard to protect her face.

"You'llpayme?" Lima said.

"I've seen you trying to make more ammunition in class," Weiss said, speaking quickly. "You need gravity dust—that'sexpensive, but I can get it for you."

Creepy that she had been watching him closely enough to notice, but mitigatedslightlyby the fact that she wasn't stalking him quite enough to know that he'd already solved that problem. Still, there was nothing stopping him from making a few more spare spikes—and he could probably use some in the glove, too, so he could pull them directly back to his hand.

"You sound like a drug dealer right now," Lima said, weighing the decision. "Free of charge, right?"

Weiss flushed, apparently not too fond of the comparison.

"Yes," Weiss managed. "It's free."

"You've got yourself a deal, dust-girl," Lima said, impressed. "You hook me up with two crystals, and I'll carry you through this test."

Without moving from his place, where he was still pinning her to the ground, he pulled out his Scroll and opened up the menu.

"Can you get off of me first?" Weiss complained.

"Not a chance," Lima said. "Stay."

"I'm not adog,you—" Weiss protested, glancing down towards her hip at the chime. "I can't reach it."

Lima pushed himself up, reasonably sure she wasn't going to try for any last-second betrayals.

"TheLima-Weiss Crime Family," Weiss said, startled. "Didyouname this?"

Weiss accepted the request without waiting for an answer, and he nodded as they officially became a team.

"Of course I did—I wasthisclose to calling it 'Back-alley deals,'" Lima said, offering a hand. "Coming up?"

Weiss snatched hold of his hand with a narrow-eyed glare, and he pulled her back to her feet—he spent a moment watching her attempts to brush the back of her skirt clean, but it really wasn't taking.

"Iknewyou were going to come after me," Weiss sighed, "If I had Myrtenaster, that would have goneverydifferently."

"Didn't you get disarmed by a pig?" Lima said, giving her a look of complete scepticism. "You'd probably have dropped your weapon by accident or something—"

"It wasn't a pig," Weiss cried. "Youinfuriating—"

A voice rang out from the trees, distant but rapidly approaching, and the two of them turned to look in the direction it was coming from—a blur of red burst through the shrubbery and landed directly between them, hands spread out in some kind of pose.

"Weiss, Ifoundyou," Ruby beamed. "Blake sent me ahead to scout, so we only have to find Yang now—she's back that way, I think."

If Ruby had already teamed up with Blake, then they only had one point, and since he'd just teamed up with Weiss,theyonly had one point—which meant that they only had a grand total oftwo pointsbetween both teams. The cost to recruit two people at once wasthree points, which meant they only had one option.

"Weiss," Lima said, "You hold her arms, and I'll punch her until her lunch money pops out."

"What?" Ruby said, horrified. "We're supposed to team up—Weiss,no—I am yourcaptain—"

It took them all of ten seconds to beat the stuffing out of her—or at least deplete her aura below the threshold—which was kind of baffling, considering how adept her older sister was in unarmed combat.

"You're an absolute menace with a weapon, but you can't throw hands atall," Lima said, crouching beside the defeated girl. "It's a total mystery."

"You both suck," Ruby said, kicking her legs around in some kind of teenage tantrum. "Just you wait untilBlakehears about this—this—thisbetrayal."

Ruby slowly dragged herself back to her feet and set off in the direction of the training field, posture slouched and entirely crestfallen. Weiss crossed her arms at the sight of it, but she clearly looked torn at how it had played out—he was pretty sure that if he hadn't made the decision to intercept her, they would have teamed up after all.

"Could we—weshouldteam up with Blake," Weiss asked, one arm cradling the other in discomfort. "Now that she's on her own again."

"We have the points, so we might as well try it," Lima admitted. "One point left over afterwards as well—thanks to Ruby."

"Alternatively, I could defeat you both," Blake said from up on one of the branches. "For the whole betrayal thing, or whatever."

"Blake," Weiss said, spinning around. "Where are—oh."

Lima turned until he could see her, barely peeking out from behind the trunk of the tree and eyeing them both with consideration. He remembered well enough how well she fought in the forest during their last fight; as far as potential recruits, she was a good choice. Outside of class, there had been little to no contact between them since the whole White Fang revelation, but he had caught her watching him about a hundred times since then. Lima had started to develop something of a sense for when it was happening—or, more pragmatically, that he simply had to walk into a room where she was present to know she was staring at him again. It had created a sort of odd tension, one that he was certain she was feeling far more keenly than he was. Lima hadtriedhis best to assure Blake that she had nothing to worry about from him and that he'd keep her secret—but it wasn't like they really had any kind of history that she could use to properly vet him.

"TheLima-Weiss Crime Familyis a force to be reckoned with,see?" Lima said, thumbing his nose at her. "Unless you want us to work you over like we did with your pal, you better start thinking about switching sides—ain't that right, baby-doll?"

Blake raised an eyebrow at the words while Weiss turned on him with her fist raised up in warning.

"Call me that again, and I'll workyouover,capisce?" Weiss threatened before turning back to Blake. "He is right, though; wehadto take Ruby out, but we have plenty of points now."

"There's even a bit ofcompensationto be had," Lima said, "Moneybags here is more than willing to grease the wheels—that's how she got me on retainer."

"Moneybags—" Weiss protested.

"Compensation," Blake said, leaning out from behind the trunk. "What's my cut of the pie?"

"Top-shelf, high-end restaurant of your choosing, with all expenses paid for—she's got you covered," Lima said, giving Weiss the finger guns. "Ain't that right, darling?"

"Don't call methateither," Weiss managed, hands balled up at her hips. "Since we're spendingmymoney—I'll take our whole team to that restaurant that Yang was talking about the other day."

"An offer I can't refuse, huh?" Blake said, sounding more than a bit interested. "I'm in."

Lima shot her a recruitment request, confirmed that she had actually joined, and then slipped his scroll away again.

"Youactuallynamed it theLima-Weiss Crime Family?" Blake said, furrowing her brow. "I thought you were—being weird, I guess."

"Heisbeing weird," Weiss muttered.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Lima said, "Listen, we have one point to spend, but recruitment cost is now three points—unless the next person we run into has two points, it's going to be a fight."

"Almost everyone is going to be in teams of two now, which means the recruitment cost is seven points for a pair—three for first, four for second," Weiss said, furrowing her brow. "Our best bet is to find a pair with someone we want to recruit and then defeat the weaker one."

"Coldblooded," Blake said, "Who's our target?"

"Pyrrha, Yang, and Ren are the top picks," Lima offered, "But the first two are somewhere between A1 and G1—I didn't see where Ren went."

"He was in that area as well," Blake offered, "We could try for Dove—if you two can stand to be on the same team together."

"Water under the bridge," Lima said, unbothered. "You guys see where he entered?"

A shuffle of glances occurred between the three—none of which seemed to indicate any idea of where the boy might have been.

"Our position means that it's unlikely that we will encounter any of them before they have teams of their own," Weiss said, "For now, we should focus on building up our own forces and then deal with them when we inevitably meet."

"Works for me," Blake agreed.

"I'll take point, so first contact will be me going in alone, and I'll work to keep the recruitment target contained," Lima said, "You two are going to work together since the teamwork is already built up—your job is to burn down the extra as quickly as possible."

Weiss seemed to straighten up a bit, relaxing for perhaps the first time since he'd run into her—a few months of existing together on a team had clearly worked to build up the trust between the two. It made him wonder if Blake had actually revealed anything to the girl about her status as a Faunus or if she was still completely underground.

"What if it's a group of three?" Blake asked.

"I'll try to hold aggro on two of them while you focus down the third and then move onto the second when you're done," Lima said, "The effectiveness of this is going to be dictated by the team composition—don't worry about looking stylish, just go for what works."

"Weiss," Blake said, catching her eye. "First strike from stealth, and then go from there?"

"That's fine by me," Weiss said with a nod. "Which direction are we going?"

"Let's clear J1 through Z1," Lima said, setting off in that direction as he spoke. "Weiss, who was on your right?"

"Jaune was beside me, Lux was beside him," Weiss said, "The big boy from Team Flower was after them both."

They were moving at a full jog now, slipping between the trees and scanning the area for colours that weren't supposed to be there.

"Jupiter Wasp," Blake said, unprompted. "Jaune is probably out already—unless the two of them teamed up."

"Lux won't team up with anyone, so she might have beaten them both already," Lima said, "She said she was coming after me as well, so I'd expect her to be the first one we encounter."

"We can't recruit her?" Weiss asked.

"I doubt it," Lima admitted. "Treat her like an enemy."

A splash of yellow amidst the trees, deeper into the forest, caught his eye, and he adjusted his path towards it—he lifted a hand, indicated for them both to wrap around the long way and then sped up. To high up to be Lux, and the pattern was wrong—the person shifted, and he caught sight of the side of Jaune's face.

"—understand?" Lux insisted. "You're going to be one of those things you throw that attracts all the enemies—sh*t—"

Lima came out from behind the nearest tree at full speed, using the exposed root of a tree to help adjust the angle of his attack. Jaune stumbled to the side as Lux shoved him out of the way, and Lima shifted his head to the side as her hand struck out into the space the other boy had just been standing in. Lima's elbow crashed into her unprotected chest, both of their auras surging to life under the force of it—she barely moved, her booted feet creating twin trenches in the dirt, suddenly far too heavy to move. Lima caught a flash of black and white in the upper corner of his vision, passing overhead before Jaune cried out in protest. Lux stepped forward, pushing off the ground in an effort to erase the distance between them, and he met her charge head-on.

The leading strike missed completely as he went beneath it, one hand catching her around the waist, the other slipping behind her back, linking up as if to lift her off the ground—Lux sank another inch into the ground as she ratcheted up the effect of her Semblance, bracing for the incoming grapple. Lima used his grip on her to drag himself up and behind her, abandoning the hold in favour of stepping on the back of her knee. Lux let out a startled cry as her knee smashed into the floor with all of the magnified weight of her own Semblance and the force of his kick. Lima brought his elbow down onto the back of her skull, and Lux's aura grew bright under the strain of it. He felt the shift in her body as she cut power to her Semblance in an attempt to escape, and then he bore down on her, knee against her back, hand gripping her hair—

"Lux Fulbright has been eliminated," The digitized voice spoke up from her scroll. "Aura Threshold."

"You suck," Lux said, muffled by having her face half buried in the dirt. "I wasn't ready."

"It's the long-awaited revenge for being a raging pervert," Lima said. "Consider us even, brighteyes."

"Shut the hell up," Lux managed, "Tonight, after your sh*tty detention, I'm going to—"

Lux's scroll beeped before reporting that Jaune had just met his own defeat at the hands of the others—no recruits, but on the upside, they did have three points to spend now.

"Would you look at that," Lima said, messing her hair up a bit as he got off her. "No losers in the forest—out, getout."

"You—" Lux said, attempting to snatch his leg as he danced past. "This isn't over."

Lima fled the scene of the crime before she could get up completely, catching the sight of a dirt-covered Jaune trying to bring Weiss down via an attack of the puppy dog eyes—something that didn't seem to be working very well.

"—thought I was going to die," Jaune sighed. "You didn't even give me achanceto fight back."

"You'll get them next time, J-dog," Lima said, raising a hand in passing. "Let's keep moving; we've got an army to assemble."

They broke off to follow him, and the trio continued on in the same direction, aiming to clear the rest of the quadrants along the forest's edge. They moved through the forest in silence, eyes searching for more targets, but by the time they crossed into W1, they still hadn't encountered another person.

"Anyone who started this far up would have started moving south already," Blake said, "Either they've eliminated each other, or they went deeper to avoid people like us."

"We haven't even managed to find a fourth member yet," Weiss said, furrowing her brow. "If the next team we encounter has a full team—"

A distant voice rang out through the trees, and the three of them turned to stare in the direction it had come from. Lima set off towards it, upping the pace when the other two caught up; the voice came again, louder because of the proximity.

"—the heck is everybody," Nora wailed. "This isterrible."

They came to a stop outside of the cluster of trees that Nora was pushing through, close enough to talk to one another.

"Well, that's definitely Nora," Weiss said, "She's alone as well, which means we should be able to recruit her."

"That's what itlookslike," Blake said, "There might be a teammate hiding in the trees waiting for us to approach."

"Gameplan," Lima said, "Weiss, go out to meet her and play it like you're a solo looking for a team—see what she says."

Weiss furrowed her brow at being given an order; she did move to follow them, though, only with much more care now that she was under the impression that she might be attacked by some hidden third party—almost the moment she was out of earshot, Blake spoke up.

"What was the deal with yesterday?" Blake asked, voice low. "That whole thing kind of came out of nowhere."

Lima glanced over at the question and found that her eyes were firmly glued on her teammate's back.

"It really didn't," Lima said, shaking his head. "Considering she was a Faunus, I'm surprised you didn't get in on the fun."

Weiss skirted around a tree to place her behind Nora before deliberately stepping on something that cracked audibly beneath her feet—Nora spun around at the noise, eyes locking onto the girl in white but making no move to attack.

"Iwantedto," Blake muttered, shifting at the words. "But there were a lot of people around, and something like that would have drawn a lot of attention to whyIwould interfere specifically."

Lima just nodded at the words, unbothered.

"Why didyoudo it?" Blake asked.

"Because Velvet could have kicked his ass, but shedidn't, and nobody was doing anything to stop it," Lima said, breathing out a sigh. "An entire roomfilledwith people like you and me—and he was just going to get away with doing something likethatright out in the open? At least the kids at Sanctum waited until nobody was watching."

A silence stretched between them, and he sighed again.

"Ishouldhave done something to help," Blake murmured, reaching up to touch her ribbon. "If all I do is just sit back and do nothing when it matters—I wonder if I'm really supposed to be here after all."

Without even really thinking about it, Lima reached out and pushed her, just enough to knock her out of her crouch—Blake caught her balance with an extended hand, flat against the ground, before she shot him a startled look.

"I'll let you take the next one," Lima said in answer to the unasked question. "I've got a month of detentions to burn through before I can play the hero again anyway."

"I'm covering you for a wholemonth?" Blake said, straightening up a bit. "I hope this is a paid role."

"Moneybags is the one with the money bags," Lima said, nodding his head in the direction Weiss had gone. "I've got nothing for you, Blake."

"Figures," Blake said, but she was smiling just a bit. "Eyes up; our mark is approaching."

Nora fought her way free of the brush, untouched and looking more relieved than Lima had ever seen her. Weiss followed close behind, hands pressed against her back and using the shorter girl as a battering ram to cut a path straight back towards them. Nora gave a cry of surprise as he and Blake stepped out from behind the tree to meet them.

"What's it going to be, wiseguy?" Lima said, shaking his fist at her. "You want a piece of the action—or should we get you a ride to the boneyard."

#

Clearing, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

They had just crossed back into J1 when all four of their scrolls beeped—Lima left it to the others to check and kept his eyes ahead of them. They hadn't come across a single person since Nora, and it had already been something of a graveyard before that.

"It's a notification," Weiss said, "There are only three teams remaining—we're one of them, so that means there are two others left."

"The question is, are they small teams or big ones," Blake said, "It would be ideal if they were both solos, but I don't think we're that lucky."

"Do you think Ren is in one of them?" Nora said, "If he is, we're going to have to run away."

"That would be against the rules," Lima said, "If he's still running around, we're going have to bury him."

"No way," Nora protested.

"Yes way," Weiss said, "Nora, what are you going to do if we do run into him?"

"I'll never let that happen," Nora insisted. "No matter what."

Lima glanced back, a bit curious about how she could possibly manage such a thing—and the slightest bit wary of a sudden betrayal.

"How would that even work?" Weiss said, exasperated. "Ren could walk out from behind that tree right now—how could you stop that from happening?"

"I'll break his legs," Nora said. "No, wait—I'd close my eyes; if we don't make eye contact, we don't have to fight."

Lima wasn't sure if he should be impressed by her dedication to avoiding a fight with her friend or confused at the idea of breaking someone's legs in order to avoid fighting them.

"This isn't Scrollmonsters, Nora," Weiss sighed. "If we encounter him, we're going to have to fight—there's no getting around it."

"I don't care," Nora said without compromise. "I'm not going to do it."

"I'll deal with Ren if we run into a team that he's on," Lima offered, "You three focus on clearing the others—if we can pick up three more points, we might even be able to recruit him."

Nora looked torn on whether the plan was something she was down for or against—the chance of bringing Ren over to their team seemed to be pulling her most of the way there, though. There was a distant sound, a sharp crack that seemed to cut through the silence and draw all of their attention.

"Nora," Blake said, "It's that, or we beat him up—you choose."

"Fine," Nora managed, "But I'm not fighting him."

"Good enough," Lima said, already moving. "Remember; Initiate from stealth, focus on one target, and don't hold back."

They cut around into a wide arc, moving deeper into the forest, and the sounds of fighting continued to grow louder—shouts, callouts, and the sound of dull impacts as strikes were exchanged between multiple parties. Lima caught a flash of bright blonde and vibrant red through the trees and immediately curved wider, using a hand signal to bring everyone away from where Pyrrha and Yang were duking it out. Less than a dozen steps had them coming across an odd combination of Teak and Savanna attempting to pincer Ren while Dove seemed to be fighting someone Lima could hear but couldn't see—Claire. That made Ren and Dove on the same team, with the third member being either Yang or Pyrrha. Lima sped up, using the trees to cover his approach—noted the way that Dove's back was now to him, with his guard up high, which meant that Claire was probably looking directly at him—

"Incoming," Claire called out. "Teak—"

Lima swerved at the last second, turned on his heel, and then smashed his foot into the middle of Savanna's back—the tall girl stumbled forward, fell, and then caught herself before she could hit the ground. Ren shifted, rotating around until Teak was between the two of them, and then started retreating towards Dove. Blake and Weiss passed into his line of sight, still circling around the clearing to get behind Dove. Teak switched targets the second he realised Savanna had gone down, charging forward with a battle cry in an attempt to intercept him. Lima twisted, hand catching the boy's wrist during the movement, and then used the momentum to kick the downed girl in the face. Her hand was already raised in a guard against it, but it wouldn't be enough to stop the impact—the hit slipped across the skin of her forearm entirely without resistance, clipping her shoulder and then continuing past her ear.

"Ren," Nora cried out. "Don't make eye contact."

Lima tightened his grip on Teak's arm, reached for his Semblance, and then reversed the direction of his kick, bringing his heel down between her shoulder blades—this time, the hit actually took, and she crashed the ground with a startled cry of surprise as her aura flared up.

"You're kidding me—" Savanna managed.

Teak twisted around as best he could and tried to sneak a hit over the top of his trapped arm, but Lima turned with him, bringing him down on top of the other girl, and pinned him there with his foot.

"Sorry, man," Lima said, "I'll make it up to you later."

"Lima," Teak warned. "Don't you dare—"

Lima stamped down, squishing the two together, and then gave them both another stomp for good measure—

"Savanna Ray has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

—Teak gave what sounded like a frantic apology to the girl he was belly-to-back against and attempted to push himself free, but all it got him was another stomp—

"Teak Fawn has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

"Three points," Lima called out. "Dove and Ren are together—"

He heard the footsteps, but there was nothing there when he checked, and the instant it took to actually make the connection was the exact moment Claire's fist struck him in the cheek. He zeroed his direction out with a burst of his Semblance, taking a bit of extra damage in order to maintain his balance, and then snatched hold of her arm before she could pull it back—his Semblance reached out on contact, outlining her body—and he shifted his head to the side as her free hand came around for a second attack.

"sh*t," Claire said as he snatched hold of her other arm. "How did you even know—wait—"

Lima checked the attempted knee to the crotch, twisted her arms above her head until he'd managed to get behind her, and then pulled her into a bear hug. He locked it in and lifted her off the ground before wrenching her sideways. Claire gave a yelp as she smacked into the ground with a thud and again when he sat down on the small of her back, pinning her arms as she reached behind her. The combination of Ren and Dove seemed to be too much for Blake and Weiss to crack open—mostly because Nora seemed to be avoiding coming anywhere near the fight, leaving her to orbit it like there was some kind of active forcefield surrounding the area.

"I've had to beat up allthreeof my teammates today," Lima sighed. "Bestwitch must be having the time of her life right about now—sorry, Claire, I'll owe you one."

Claire gave a last attempt to thrash her way free as he continued to strike her in the shoulder just enough to deplete her aura—

"Claire Diamond has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

"Youdefinitelyowe me more than one," Claire said. "Damn it."

"Who's team is Pyrrha on?" Lima asked.

"Ours," Claire said.

Lima patted her on the back on his way back to his feet and then started forward across the clearing—Nora shifted at his approach, looking like she was half a second away from switching teams.

"Nora, go help Pyrrha," Lima said, keeping his voice low. "If you can take out Yang, we can recruit Ren—but you need to be quick."

Nora passed by him in what was almost a dead sprint, energised by finally finding a way forward that didn't involve actively fighting Ren. Lima made as if to target Dove—who was already looking harried by being the focus of both Weiss and Blake for the last few minutes—Ren broke off from the group to intercept him, leaving the other boy to his fate in an effort to avoid a complete dogpile. Lima hit the brakes before they collided, checked the kick that Ren aimed at his leg, and then shifted to the side—Ren's knife hand passed by his chest, and Lima hopped back a step as the boy moved forward with it, turning the attack into an elbow strike at the new angle. Lima went low, feigning the tackle, and then caught the rising knee with his the flat of his hand—Ren's foot smashed back down into the ground, the direction suddenly reversed, and Lima surged forward, palming the other boy's face. Ren stumbled back a step, eyes wide, but without any real force to it, his aura remained pretty much untouched.

"We've got four points banked," Lima said, "How many do you three have left—"

Ren checked the surprise kick like he'd seen it coming from a mile away and then shifted back again, playing the defence rather than attempting to break through—given the boy was already breathing heavily when they first arrived; he couldn't blame him for trying to conserve his waning stamina.

"We have two points," Ren said, guard up. "It's not enough to combine forces."

"Not yet," Lima said, "But if you can survive the next few minutes—"

Lima surged forward again, and Ren tightened his guard—at which point, he changed direction, cutting straight towards Dove, who was steadily being overwhelmed under the combined assault. Ren called out in warning; Dove turned in an attempt to raise some kind of defence—and then Weiss landed a sliding tackle, taking out his legs. Blake came down on him a moment later, knee first, and pinned the boy flat against the ground.

"Dove Bronzewing has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

"Not how I was hoping this would go," Dove breathed.

Lima twisted on his heel, and Ren aborted his attempt to intercept him, realising he was now facing the three of them on his own.

"Seven points," Lima said, "Ren—tell me you're the leader?"

"You just beat our leader," Ren said, shaking his head. "I'd need to check my scroll to see who it fell to."

"If we're allowed to use the combined team points to recruit, we could take two at once," Weiss said, "Check if you're the leader."

Ren slipped his scroll out but didn't take his eyes off them other than for a quick glance down—at which point he tilted his head.

"Pyrrha is the leader," Ren said after a moment. "You'll have to send someone to ask her."

Pyrrha was ontheirteam? Lima tossed a glance back at where Claire's invisible body had been lying, but he couldn't tell if she was still there or not.

"Lima, you should go," Weiss said, "You'll need to—"

"Nora Valkryie has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

"The plan just changed," Lima said, "Yang, Pyrrha and Ren are now on the same team—take him down."

"What?" Weiss said, startled. "How do you—"

Blake was already moving, cutting around Weiss to get at the boy—Ren made an attempt to retreat, but Lima caught him from the other side before he could get out of the pincer. Ren deflected Blake's leading strike, checked Lima's leg sweep, and then folded as a second Blake kicked up into a handstand on the first's shoulder and then smashed a heel drop down onto his neck. Weiss finally caught up, her front kick landing on the tall boy's chest.

"Lie Ren has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

"Figures," Ren breathed.

"Out of the clearing—Blake is better with obstructions," Lima said, already moving for the tree line. "I'll send a recruitment request, but if it fails, you two are on Yang containment duty—"

"Come back here," Yang called out. "We only want to—uh—rough you up a bit, I guess."

Lima slipped out his scroll as they went and sent a recruitment prompt to Pyrrha—an attempt to see if they could get out of it without having to actually fight, but there was no response. A flash of red caught his eye—Pyrrha, coming in on their left, closer than Yang but not quite able to catch up due to the spread of trees in her path.

"Negotiations have failed," Lima said, cutting left. "Wish me luck."

Lima tried for a circular approach to keep the more distant Yang in his peripheral vision, but Pyrrha moved with him, heading out wide and causing both of them to be pulled further away from their respective teams. He feigned as if to head back towards them, and Pyrrha was forced to actually engage—the fact that she was avoiding it at all left him wondering just how costly her prolonged battle with Yang had actually been. Pyrrha slowed down as he cut back towards her, already settled into a stance to receive him—like hell he was going to get pulled intothattrap.

"Think fast," Lima said.

Two meters out, he sent a burst of his Semblance into the ground when his foot made contact, and a spray of dirt washed up into the air in front of him. Pyrrha adjusted her stance to cover her face with one hand, seeking to weather the attack without taking any evasive action—but Lima hadn't stopped moving, and he burst through the mess knee first and at twice the speed of its movement. It crashed into her raised hand, shoving it into her face—she was already moving before he actually impacted, spinning to the side to let him pass her by.

Lima twisted with her, keeping her in front of him as he hit the ground feet first, sliding back a step as she shot forward to capitalise on it. He drew in a deep breath and then let it out as she reached him. With a range-shifting weapon to lead her offence and a shield to cover half of her body, she was an unbreakable force of nature, butwithoutthem, she was forced to contend with the struggles of the body just like the rest of the mortals—and while her title had placed her as theInvincible Girl, he'd been fighting aninvincibleman for most of his life.

Lima stepped forward into her assault, sliding her leading strike off his forearm, extending his opposite hand to brush his fingers past her eyes—the moment of obstructed vision left her looking at the wrong place when he swayed under her follow-up and struck her in the cheek with his defending hand. The attack—that wouldn't have evenregisteredto Sage—sent her stumbling backwards a step, and he followed after her, keeping the distance short. Pyrrha changed tracks entirely, aiming low, seeking to whittle him down using her greater reach and destabilising his footing. Lima checked each hit in turn, the sequence of attacks leaving no space for him to counter—she repeated the start of the chain for the first time, and he shifted forward, caught the inside of her shin on his forearm, other hand extended, fingertips brushing against her ankle—she threw herself back into a handstand, her rising foot barely missing his face.

"Close one," Lima said, straightening up. "Careful though, I almost saw the invincible underwear."

Pyrrha might not have even registered the comment, for all that her expression changed—a blank slate, eyes narrowed in concentration and a glint of something else that was either challenge or a desire to crush him under her heel. Lima kept moving forward, unwilling to waste time when he wasn't sure how well his teammates were going to do against their opponent—Blake could probably extend the fight indefinitely on a battlefield like this, but he wasn't sure they could actually beat Yang without their weapons, even in an unfair fight. Pyrrha lowered her centre of gravity a fraction and then came forward to meet him, not at all shy even after he'd broken through her defences twice already.

Lima met each of her strikes with a deflection, deliberately failed one and then fell into a false retreat; Pyrrha fell upon him in an instant, seeking to take advantage of his faltering—his foot smashed into her thigh, her leg almost buckled, and then he was forcing her back again, eyes searching her body for indicators of where the next attack was coming from. Pyrrha attempted to shift to the side, but he moved with her, and when she met his leading strike with a deflection of her own, he twisted his hand around and latched onto her wrist. Pyrrha's eyes flashed over to the connection, visibly widening at the sight, and he let go in the same instant that she braced herself to pull against him, all of his weight transferring to his left leg—somehow,she actually managed to get her guard up in time as his right foot crashed into it, inches from her face. Still, the force was more than she could handle with such an unbraced block, and she was sent stumbling to the side—

"Weiss Schnee has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

The second he got his leg back on the ground, he spun into a second kick, a glancing hit that caught her in the hip just as she righted herself—then she was coming back at him again. Lima shifted to the side as she surged forward, her fingertips brushing across the crotch of his pants. The startling nature of having something moving so close to his junk ended with him barely managing to maintain his defence.

"What the hell was that?" Lima said, turtling up for a moment. "Did you just try to grab my—"

Pyrrha was speeding up now, falling into the familiar pace and taking control of the fight. Lima felt a suddenpullat his buckle, but this time he had both of her hands in clear view—Semblance, some kind of telekinetic control? Lima stopped retreating, riding the sudden—and far morevicious—pull at his belt buckle towards her and then caught her leading strike in the palm of his hand. His Semblance began crawling up her arm, and he used the contact to pull her off to the side, entirely off balance—her immediate retaliation was to push him away by her lock on his belt. He zeroed out the direction the instant it started to move, and then, using his grip on her arm as a lever, he planted a rising knee into her face—once again, she got her guard up in time to partially block it.

"Yang Xiao-Long has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

Lima slid one of his feet in between her own, sent a burst of his Semblance through the forest floor to rip her feet off the ground, and then shouldered her flat against the leaf litter covering it. Pyrrha fought to stop him from taking the mount and then fought even harder to stop him from crushing what was left of her already low aura. Her long limbs, height, and obscene musculature made it far more of a hassle than he would have expected—but for all of her prodigious skill in striking, she wasn't anywhere near as perfect when she was trapped, flat on her back on the ground.

"Pyrrha Nikos has been eliminated," The digitised voice spoke up. "Aura Threshold."

There was a beep from both of their scrolls before the voice spoke up again, announcing the end of the scenario—and requesting that they return to the training field for debriefing.

"The belt buckle—" Lima managed, fighting to catch his breath. "Really?"

Pyrrha let out a pant of a laugh, her back-to-back and prolonged battles leaving her in about as bad of a state—her hair tie seemed to have snapped at some point during the fight, the mess of countless red threads spreading out around her like some kind of horrific omen.

"I shouldn't have used it—but this hasn't happened in a long while," Pyrrha breathed once she found the ability. "At least, not with someone my own age."

Lima pushed his weight onto one knee and then tipped himself to the side, falling onto his back beside her to stare up at the flashes of blue sky through the leaves above.

"I never really fought a lot of people our age, to begin with," Lima said, chest still heaving. "At least I didn't before I came to Beacon—seems to be all we do here."

Pyrrha brought a fistful of dead leaves up and scattered them into the air above—some of them landed on him, but he thought he could give her a pass after everything that had just happened.

"You really don't fight like anyone else I've ever seen," Pyrrha wondered. "I kept thinking I'd found the path forward, and then you'd suddenly turn it around without warning."

"Everyone is good at something, Pawpaw; you're good at controlling the direction of the fight," Lima said, tossing a handful of leaves of his own up into the air. "I'm good at pretending I'm not."

#

Clearing, Emerald Forest, Sanus.

"She actually tripped over this exposed root, and then I totally managed to flatten her while she was looking the other way—I was hella lucky Yang got her as low as she did," Lima said, miming a surprise punch. "Now I get to take all the credit for defeating the boss monster when I barely did anything."

"You areshameless," Weiss accused.

"I won't deny it," Lima agreed. "What about you guys—you actually managed to down Yang?"

"She was already pretty tired, and her aura was low as well," Blake said, "Wewerewearing her down—at least until Weiss got caught out."

"Yang wasn't the only one that was tired," Weiss huffed. "Itfeelslike we've been out here all day."

"Big true," Lima agreed, "What happened after Weiss went for a dirt nap?"

Weiss crossed her arms at the term.

"I switched to pure hit-and-run tactics," Blake admitted, "I managed to whittle her down eventually, but I don't feel particularly good about it."

"A win's a win, and we were pretty lucky that everyone was already fighting when we arrived," Lima said, scratching his chin. "Going in fresh was a pretty big advantage—where the heck is Nora though?"

"WithRen, of course, because apparently, our bonds of comradery mean nothing to her," Weiss said, "For everything that could be said aboutyou, at least you stuck around."

"TheLima-Weiss Crime Familyhas dissolved, baby-doll," Lima said with a shrug. "Sorry to say it, but this was only a temporary arrangement, and I'mwaytoo busy to hang out with you outside of work."

"I wasn't asking you to," Weiss protested, glancing at Blake for some kind of support. "Iwasn't."

"Ceasefire," Blake requested, holding her hands up. "I didn't even say anything."

Weiss gave them both the evil eye for a moment longer before dismissing them entirely, leading the charge through the tree line and out onto the training field proper—almost immediately, he caught sight of Glynda, standing before the haphazard array of students, some sitting around like they'd been there for some time, while the rest stood, freshly bruised and battered.

"—that would be everyone, which leaves us only two minutes until you are free once more," Glynda said, "I'll spend tomorrow going over the rest of the accumulated footage, and the start of our next lesson will include athorough, written debrief on your decision-making process for this exercise."

There were a few groans at the words—mainly because it meant that they'd be in an actual classroom and doing bookwork for once, a rather rare occurrence for a mostly practical subject. Lux looked particularly dejected at the knowledge, the shining ray of hope pulling her through to the end of each day suddenly snuffed out.

"Yes, yes, it will be a theory lesson, and we will be staying inside for the entire time; at leasttryto show some enthusiasm for the process of learning," Glynda said, eyeing them over her glasses. "There isn't much to be done in the last few minutes, so I'll be letting you all go early—enjoy the rest of your night."

Lima hung back a bit as everyone started to collect their things from the field, doing his best to avoid acknowledging the fact that Glynda was staring straight at him—any hope he had of being forgotten fell to tatters and was whisked away by the late afternoon breeze.

"Thanks for the team-up," Lima said in passing. "Nora might have given us a bit of a hassle today, but you two were super reliable—night."

"Oh—you're welcome," Weiss said, sounding a bit off balance. "Goodnight."

"Night," Blake said.

Lima offered them a wave before moving towards where Glynda was still waiting, her scroll was held up in front of her chest, but she was clearly tracking his progress across the training field—maybe he never had a chance of escaping after all.

"Professor Bestwitch," Lima said, firing off a salute. "What tortures do you have for me tonight—it's not another pleasant conversation, is it? I'm not sure I could handle another one of those."

"I'm afraid the bulk of our time together is going to involve the two of us dealing with copious amounts of paperwork," Glynda said, shutting her scroll down. "I suspect neither you nor I are going to be up for much conversation by the time it's finally finished."

Lima winced at the news and moved to follow her when she turned around.

"Did I get you saddled with a month of someone else's job?" Lima asked, "Because that was totally not my goal."

Lima wriggled the fingers of his left hand in the direction of his team as they passed the three of them by—Lux's face and torso was still smudged with dirt, and Claire didn't look much better. Teak had been insulated from the cold, hard dirt by having Savanna underneath him, so the only thing onhisface was a promise of some cruel and unusual punishment that only the Galaxy Brain could manifest.

"No, this is something I would have had to deal with regardless," Glynda said, "This might be the first time I've actually had some assistance with it—I'm just not sure whether that will be a benefit or a detriment."

"I'm not here to mess you up or anything; I'll handle whatever you've got for me," Lima offered in his own defence. "What kind of paperwork are we talking about anyway?"

"I have roughly three hundred entry forms for the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament sitting in my office—a small portion of the total expected amount," Glynda said as they stepped into the building. "Over the next two weeks, that number will most likely double at a minimum."

"Entry forms," Lima wondered, folding his arms behind his head. "Am I sorting them or transferring the data onto a digital copy?"

"Both," Glynda said, glancing over at him. "You've done something like this before?"

"Sanctum had a bunch of festival days where the civilians got to come to check out the school, and the students were encouraged to set up little stalls, performances or games for everyone to mess around with," Lima admitted, "Sage got hit with all the paperwork when I was a second year, and then because he's a total bas—uh,badperson—he dumped the forms for it off on me."

"The Vytal Festival has many of the same student-driven exhibits, and I can only assume the forms are quite similar," Glynda admitted with a hum. "There will also be another stack of applications for food-related venues—the sale of consumables is something that is closely regulated, so you need to make sure each one is perfect."

"No problem," Lima said.

The door to her office loomed before him, and Lima made sure to enjoy his last breath of freedom before he followed her inside. There were a bunch of different-sized stacks on her desk, and a much smaller pile arrayed on the one he was pretty sure belonged to him. There was also one of the bulky—but still portable—computers set up on one side of it, the projected monitor sitting pretty in the air above it. Lima let the door swing shut behind him and slipped down into the chair without waiting for her to give him any further direction. The application was already up, and a few of the forms had clearly been entered already, so he had a pretty good idea of how to go about it—only the second one was missing a last name.

"There are some optional spaces that don't require any input, but the mandatory entries are as follows," Glynda said, taking her own seat. "First Name, Last Name, Birthday, Contact Number, Guardian's Contact Number, Year, Signature—for the last one, you will need to take a photo of the signature for the upload."

"What do you want me to do about the missing information?" Lima said, dragging the first of the forms over. "Sage had me running all over the school hunting people down—you're not going to make me do that, right? Beacon Academy probably has some amazing, sophisticated method to solve it—"

"I'm afraid not," Glynda said, a bit of amusem*nt in her voice. "I suggest you take notes on who you will be searching for, along with the missing entries—the year will get you to the right dorm building, and then you'll have to knock on doors from there—once you have a substantial amount built up, you can use one of your detentions to actually go out to find the students in question."

"Bestwitch," Lima sighed. "Please don't do this to me."

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Hallway, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"All I'm saying is that ifanyof you start coughing," Lima warned, "I'm moving to Vacuo—sand or otherwise."

"It's just a cold, Lima," Claire said, "Why are you freaking out?"

"Onlya cold?" Lima said, aghast. "You say thatnow, but the second you come down with something, you'll turn into a twisted and warped version of yourself—"

"What does that evenmean?" Claire said, furrowing her brow. "Are you scared of runny noses or something?"

"One sneeze," Lima insisted without answering her question. "If I even hearonesneeze, I'm—you're back, huh?"

Teak turned to follow his line of sight, clearly not quite able to make the connection in time, and found himself staring up at Cardin Winchester—he stepped backwards, bumping into Lux with a start. Lux hooked an arm around his neck as he tried to move further back, keeping the shorter boy trapped against her chest and forcing him to stand his ground. Dove, Sky and Russel all stood a few meters behind him, deliberately separating themselves from their leader's approach, far enough away for them to be within earshot but not close enough to offer any real kind of support.

"I'm back," Cardin agreed, reaching up to scratch at his cheek. "Look, I need to talk to you—Teak as well."

"Why?" Lux wondered, "If you're here to start anything, may as well do it now—could be fun."

"Lux," Teak managed.

"I'm not," Cardin said, "I just need a moment, please."

It was the first time Lima could remember the other boy ever using the word, at least in his presence—either way; it wasn't like he was going to try anything after getting tattled on by what the rumours were starting to make him believe was at leasthalfof the first year students.

"Sure," Lima said, "Boys only meeting, no icky girls allowed—get out of here."

"Are you sure?" Claire asked, lowering her voice a bit. "The rest of his team is right there."

Teak still hadn't removed himself from Lux's almost headlock, but he did seem to find his courage because he cleared his throat a bit.

"It will be okay," Teak said, seemingly unable to break her hold on him. "We'll meet you in Grimm Studies."

"If you get into a fight after I leave," Lux said, finally letting him go. "I'll never forgive you for leaving me out of it."

Claire moved to follow her, the two girls passing by the rest of Team Cardinal and posting up by the other side of the classroom door to wait. Teak looked far less secure now that he was no longer being forced to remain there.

"That's probably the best we're going to get," Lima said, jerking his head at where they stopped. "What's up, Cardin?"

"Right," Cardin agreed, "I've been put on good behaviour for the rest of the year, and if I step out of line too much, there's a good chance I'm going to get kicked out—I've also been on dorm lockdown for the past week, couldn't go anywhere, and classwork's all digital on my scroll."

"Damn, all I got was a month of detentions," Lima said, a bit caught off guard. "How much sh*t were you even doing for the threat of expulsion to even be on the table?"

"It was kind of a lot," Cardin admitted, sighing a bit. "They started pulling everyone up to the headmaster's office to ask them about their encounters with me—I've been a pretty big dickhe*d since I got here, and I guess I'm finally paying for it."

"Sorry," Teak mumbled. "I didn't want you to get in this much trouble."

"Don't apologise to me," Cardin said, shaking his head. "Some of the sh*t I said to you was messed up—I know you probably won't believe me, but I really don't believe any of it."

Lima glanced over at Teak for a moment and found him looking down at his own feet, not quite able to meet the much larger boy's eyes.

"I heard all that stuff from my parents, so it was something I had up here, sitting in the back of my head," Cardin said, tapping on his temple. "Idon'thate the Faunus—I've barely spent enough time with any of them to actually know what they're like in the first place—I think I was just looking for something to upset you."

Cardin sighed.

"Part of my punishment is to go around to everyone I messed with and apologize—but I want you to know that I'm not saying this because I was forced to," Cardin said, "Ishouldn'thave said any of that, it was completely out of line—"

"It's okay," Teak said, lifting his head. "I do believe you, so you know—and I won't hold it against you."

Cardin breathed out at the words, looking like he hadn't at all expected it to be that easy, and the guilt seemed to get to him because he reached across his chest to grip his own shoulder for a moment.

"Thanks, man," Cardin managed, rolling his shoulder in discomfort. "Listen, I can't go easy on you in Combat Studies or anything, but it won't be like before, okay?"

"I understand," Teak said, smiling a bit. "Thank you, Cardin."

Cardin nodded at the words and turned his attention on Lima—but he spoke up before the other boy could manage it.

"Sorry I broke your nose," Lima said, speaking up. "I saw you touching Velvet's ears, and I was overcome with an obscene jealousy—how soft were they?"

Teak smacked him in the arm for the comment, but Cardin just shook his head at the words before doing a quick check over his shoulder as if to make sure Bestwitch or Ozpin weren't standing right behind him with the expulsion papers signed and ready.

"Super soft," Cardin admitted, "Lima—we're good?"

"Clean slate," Lima said, nodding. "Hey, did we come to the wrong class, or what? Because I swear I'm seeing second years all up in our sh*t."

Cardin turned at the words, clearly curious about what was going on—Lima spotted the girl they'd just been talking about pass through the doors, surrounded by three others that might have been her teammates.

"This is going to be awkward," Cardin sighed, "Looks like it's time to go in—I'll see you two around."

"Take it easy," Lima said.

"Bye, Cardin," Teak said, somehow looking a bit embarrassed at his own words. "Lima—it's strange when he's being nice."

Lux and Claire slipped through the doorway the second Cardin moved away from them, and a moment after that, the entirety of Team Cardinal vanished inside.

"Better get used to it," Lima said, hooking an arm around his neck. "Come on, let's sort this out—they have an entire year on us, and they can't even find their way to the proper classroom."

"Maybe it's a shared class," Teak said, unable to break his hold. "Just—don't make a scene, okay?"

The second they stepped through the door, Lima realised that it was most definitely a shared class because he spotted Team Ruby already seated on the right side of the room, and almost the entire left half was filled with faces he was far less familiar with. Team Cardinal had moved to the furthest bench to the right side of the room in a clear attempt to avoid Velvet. Everyone else had shuffled around, something which left him with one big problem.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lima said, addressing the entire room. "Get out of here, second years; this ismyclass."

"You're making a scene—" Teak protested.

"It's not my fault these losers can't follow a schedule—look," Lima said, pointing directly at a girl who was wearing designer sunglasses. "Thatvilegirl has even taken my seat."

"Vile?" Coco said, titling her glasses down with her fingers. "Excuseme?"

"Lima," Weiss snapped, "You're embarrassing our class in front of the seniors."

"We've got maniacs out here stealing chairs in broad daylight, and you want to bring up the elderly?" Lima said, "I should have expected that fromyouof all people—"

Weiss smacked both of her hands flat against the desk as she rose to her feet.

"I swear to—" Weiss hissed.

"My word, whatisgoing on here, and why are you all blocking the doorway?" Oobleck said from just outside the room. "Come on now, in you go—Mister Morta, why are you standing there? Take your seat, please."

Some of the people who'd been stuck behind him, unable to pass while they were blocking the doorway, started to push forward, and he was forced to free Teak from the headlock lest they both be run down. Lima stepped to the side to let them pass, and Teak took the opportunity to flee in the direction of where Claire and Lux had planted themselves.

"But sir, we're in the middle of aninvasion," Lima squawked. "This is just like back in theGreat Warwhen the chairman stole the plans—"

"Not an invasion, Mister Morta, a gathering of allies," Oobleck said, clapping his hands. "Yes, yes, as you can see, we have combined the first and second-year classes for this period—I'm afraid several of the staff have come up with a rather unfortunate case of the flu."

Lima took a few rapid steps back from the man, his confidence fleeing in the face of what he'd just heard.

"Oh mygod," Lima said, "Sir—areyousick?"

"Not as of yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Hard to avoid, I'm afraid, given all the meetings we have throughout the week," Oobleck said, linking his hands behind his back. "It seems to be a particularly persistent one, too—could be, that I may be carrying it already."

Lima fled as the man took a step towards him, making haste to put as much distance between them as he could manage. Weiss glared at him all the way up the aisle, but he was far more concerned with getting the hell out of there. He hesitated at the seat that Claire had left open for him, even after she patted it to indicate he should take it—it wasn'thischair, and she'd put him right up against the aisle. Unable to really get around it, Lima slumped down into the seat with an aggrieved sigh. When he glanced over at the source of his misery, he found Velvet whispering something in the chair thief's ear—after which they both turned to look up at him. For a moment, he made eye contact with the girl over the top of her glasses before he slowly began to sink out of sight—maintaining eye contact the entire time—until his legs were bunched up beneath the desk.

"It's just not the same," Lima muttered, voice mangled from where his chin was compressed against his chest by the back of the seat. "What a bunch of lowlifes."

"Come on," Claire said with a quiet laugh. "It's only for one class."

Before he could muster an appropriate response, Oobleck cleared his throat and then spoke up, working to project his voice around the lecture hall.

"Now, this is something of a last-minute change, so the coursework I've prepared is not suited for a combined class of this specific makeup—in fact, it's likely something that you have already gone through during your first year," Oobleck said, "You'll have to bear with it, I'm afraid, at least until tomorrow; if the situation hasn't changed, I'll make sure to cover something relevant for both years."

While Lima couldn't actually see the man from his position, the way his voice was shifting made him certain that the man was going through the furious pacing that accompanied pretty much every lesson where the man was present.

"If you have your own coursework on you, feel free to use this lesson to read quietly or to perhaps complete some of your homework," Oobleck said, "As long as you're doing something productive, you are free to do as you please—if youdowish to participate, you are of course welcome to do so."

Claire reached over and poked him directly in the critical weakness she'd previously managed to uncover with the end of her pen—he slapped a hand onto his rib cage, before attempting to disarm her, but his position as a pile of human-shaped sludge melting into the space between the bench and the desk wasn't exactly great for fending her off.

"Now, we laid out a handful of topics at the beginning of the year, all of which fell under the overarching purview of discrimination—this will be a step away from the class divide and into more unsteady waters," Oobleck said, "Some of you will have heard it called by many names, but the two most familiar to you are most likely, theFaunus War—or with far more dignity, theFaunus Rights Revolution."

Lima managed to find the willpower to drag himself back up in his chair, somewhat because of the topic was actually pretty interesting but mostly because of the prolonged assault Claire was waging on him continued to involve her aiming for areas that were far too ticklish to deal with via pure stoicism.

"In order to understand the pressures involved, we will need to shift our gaze back to the period of the Great War once again," Oobleck said, "Yes, yes, I'm sure you are quite sick of hearing about it, but I assure you, this will not be the last time it's used as a frame of reference for our lessons."

Lima clawed his way back into a normal human posture, found his own pen, and then did his best to stealthily slip it under the table—Claire pinned his hand to the bench before he could manage to mark her uncovered thigh up with the tip, somehow knowing exactly what he'd intended to do.

"During the early years of the conflict, Faunus were far less commonly found on the warfronts, but this changed dramatically as time progressed, and by jumping to roughly the halfway point in the totality of the war, the breakdown wasverydifferent," Oobleck said, shaking his head. "As the losses began to grow, measures were soon taken to address the rapid loss of manpower."

His initial efforts to twist his hand free had resulted in her actually wrapping her hand around his wrist, and the pen that had been pinched between his fingers had ended up on the floor—Lima probably could have gotten his hand free without much effort on his part, but he'd found himself bizarrely fascinated by the prolonged contact as Claire made no effort to let go, even after the danger had passed.

"As with one of our most recent open discussion lessons, Miss Xiao Long was so astute as to note the discrepancy ineffectbetween offering a small sum of lien to a rich man and a poor one—the Faunus were beset by the very same factor—a small portion of impoverished humanswereeffected in a similar manner, but they were in the vast minority in this regard," Oobleck said, "Tell me, if you possess no shelter, no future, no safety, and unequal access tosocietyitself—are you not more likely to agree to tasks—ones ofgreat,and very present danger—that others would not in order to secure a future where youmightachieve those very things?"

Lima's eyes might have been on Oobleck, but almost the entirety of his focus was on the thumb that was shifting—a fractional movement that might have been nothing more than the result of his own chest moving with each breath—against the inside of his wrist. As insubstantial as it was, it set his thoughts racing as to what exactly it was supposed to mean—or if it meant anything at all—and what he was supposed todoabout it.

"Faunus were unable to own property during this period, and while marriage was not something that technically existed for them, they would not have been able to participate in such a ceremony if they had made a choice to," Oobleck said, scanning the room for a moment. "Any Faunus that should answer the call, who should fight to their best ability, and who would find renown on the battlefield, shall earn himself the right to purchase land—"

The lesson came to him, distorted through the lens of his slowly rising uncertainty—something he'd rarely felt, at least to this extent—had Claire forgotten that she was touching him? If he moved even an inch, would she realise her mistake and retrieve her hand? Did he evenwanther to? It brought thoughts of the night he'd spent sitting on the rooftop and the moments when the very same girl had wrapped her arms around him in the dark, seeking to comfort him as he spoke about his past—and the aftermath, in which he'd done the same for her.

"—cases of mistreatment recorded during this time. The traditions and culture of the Faunus were eroding beneath the lasting denigration, lost to time in the same way that Remnant's history has fallen to a place beyond our reach," Oobleck said, "How much of that was due to the hundreds of years of direct human enslavement, as opposed to Grimm wiping out ancient settlements, is not exactly understood—"

Claire turned to look at him—a movement that was completely normal, unrushed, and natural—somehow surpassing his ability to react. A monstrous pang of alarm erupted in his chest at the realisation that she'd just caught himlookingat her, whichmusthave meant that she had complete, unfettered access to every inch of his mind, his thoughts and all of the embarrassing uncertainty as well. Lima twisted his foot against the ground, painfully tensing a series of muscles in his leg in an attempt to shock himself into proper awareness—at which point shesmiledat him.

"—despite the methods available to them to join human society resting upon a rather shaky foundation, their increasing participation in the war led to a rather astonishing outcome—a comradery began to be curated within the military," Oobleck said, "Humans and Faunus working together, risking their lives, fighting, dying, saving each other in moments of terror—for the first time in our history, asignificantportion of the human population was developing a positive, and reciprocal relationship with the Faunus."

The smile was like just about every other one he'd ever seen on her face, but at that moment,somethingirrevocably changed in how he perceived it—the moment passed, and Claire turned her attention back towards the Professor below, and Lima, slowly being driven mad by the sheer unfamiliarity of what was taking place, dug deep inside himself for something that would give him some kind ofdirection—he found it, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the relentlessly honed system of reflexes, instincts, and reactions he'd built up over a decade of combat training. He shifted his wrist in a precise, practised movement, destabilising her gentle—and yet remarkably potent—hold on him before sliding his arm further beneath her own. He turned his hand until his knuckles were flat against the cushioned space between them—and then slipped his fingers between her own.

"—the problem, of course, came to fruition when the Great War finally reached its end, and those who had spent a significant amount of their lives fighting were integrated back into society," Oobleck said, "A society which was predominantly filled with civilian families—a section of the population that far exceeded that of the soldier classification—and those who didnotpossess the same refined comradery as the soldiers who had fought side by side with the Faunus."

Claire had glanced down the instant he'd started moving, the sharp motion triggering some internal reflex of her own, but her slight attempt to pull her arm back failed as he tightened his grip on her hand. Lima, feeling a little bit more in control now that he'd wiped away any chance there might have been that she was unaware of the contact, turned to look at her again—far more comfortable with the idea that she might simply tell him to let go, and that he could make some stupid joke in order to play it all off—

"—roughly twenty years following the end of the war resulted in a slow regression, as the soldiers who'd fought together went about the task of living out their lives, and the deeds of the Faunus heroes began to fade from circulation once more," Oobleck said, shaking his head. "It wasn't until 40AGW that societal conditions for the Faunus reached a breaking point, and it was around this time that Vale, Mistral and Mantle made a push to centralize the Faunus on Menagerie, something that was offered under the false banner of support, but in reality, it was a way toremoveFaunus from general society—"

Except she wasn't making any further move to retrieve her hand, which left him with an understanding that he was now actively holding her hand in a way that she couldn't have been unaware of—and the unspent joke he'd had primed and at the ready was left to dissolve.

"—47AGW was theofficialyear that theFaunus Rights Revolutionbegan, but the incident that is most widely recognized as the tipping point that rapidly catalysed the conditions that ignited the war occurred in 44AGW," Oobleck said, "Is there anyone here who can tell me what that incident was?"

A mess of hands all across the room raised up into the air, and Claire made as if to lift up her own, sending a spark of alarm through him. He tightened his grip again, stopping her from pulling their conjoined hands up into the air—and then weathered her quiet laughter with as much dignity as he could manage.

#

Glynda Goodwitch 's Office, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"How does the pile keep on getting bigger?" Lima said, slumping back in his chair. "Is this a war of attrition?"

"That is precisely what it is," Glynda admitted, "The bottom half of that pile are the first of the forms for the student-run stalls—there will be more of them appearing over the next two days, but expect it to taper off after that."

Lima reached out blindly and dragged a few of the forms over into the space beneath the projected monitor—he rocked forward until he could actually read it and then scanned the paper with what was, unfortunately, becoming practised ease.

"I'm not seeing anything particularly new," Lima said. "Seems easy enough."

"Most of them are nothing more than a summary proposal and a requisition list," Glynda said, "Most of them don't need a thorough review—other than to check whether or not they are requesting something unusual."

"What about the food stalls?" Lima wondered, "The ones I did back at Sanctum had a license attached—so they could sell food and stuff."

"Yes, every single stand that intends on selling or gifting consumablesmusthave an attached license request," Glynda said, "Once it's been approved, you'll be delivering them to the students in question—how many incomplete forms have you collected?"

"I've got about seventy of the ones for the tournament that have missing information," Lima admitted, "If we're moving onto stalls and stuff, I might use my next detention to go hunt everyone down."

"Perfect," Glynda said, sounding pleased. "Mister Morta, despite the rather unfortunate reason that brought you here, you've been a big help with this task."

"No problem," Lima said, "You thinking about enslaving some poor soul next time the Vytal Festival comes around?"

"I'm certainly considering it," Glynda wondered. "Perhaps I'll just extend your detention indefinitely—"

"Oh mygod," Lima said, alarmed. "Let's not say anything we can't take back."

Glynda let out a quiet laugh at the words—and he found his interest peeked a bit when he caught sight of her taking out her Scroll through the partial transparency of his monitor.

"Speaking of things we can't take back," Glynda said, humming. "I would like you to imagine my surprise when I got around to reviewing the written debriefings and the totality of the associated footage from the most recent team-building scenario."

"Why?" Lima said, blinking. "Did something happen?"

"Your written account was different from Miss Schnee, Miss Belladonna, Miss Valkyrie, and Miss Nikos—in fact, all five were at odds with one another," Glynda said, "The footage of the engagement, however, was rather clear."

Itwasan accusation of sorts, but it didn't sound like one that was going to lead to a serious punishment—but then again, he was already in trouble, and she'd already mentioned extending his existing detention indefinitely, so he couldn't be sure.

"I wrote that we had a small scuffle—but I told Weiss and Blake that I took Pyrrha out with a surprise attack when she wasn't ready," Lima said, in understanding. "No idea what Nora wrote, but I'm guessing the other two wrotethatin their debriefing?"

"Precisely," Glynda said, glancing up from her scroll. "Miss Nikos had a far more thorough breakdown on the battle itself—and it was a little more than ascuffle."

"I think there were like four or five actual hits that connected during the whole fight," Lima said, shaking his head, "Plus, she was already super low on auraandstamina after fighting off Yang for however long they were at it—our interaction was a scuffle."

"This was the first time you've been directly matched against her, isn't it?" Glynda wondered, "How do you believe a second engagement would end—one in which you are both fresh."

"That depends on a bunch of things," Lima hedged, "The rules of the match, the location, the equipment, our condition—"

"In the amphitheatre, no weapons, Semblance use permitted," Glynda said, clearly pressing for an actual answer. "Defeat by aura threshold or ring out."

"I specialise in unarmed combat, so no weapon useheavilyfavours me," Lima said, being honest. "I'd win."

"With weapons?" Glynda wondered.

"I'd still win," Lima shrugged. "I could use my Semblance to fling her out of the ring the moment she attempted to make contact with me."

Not that it was something specific to Pyrrha, he could probably ring out every single person in their class—Blake and Weiss might be able to use their respective Semblance to stop that from happening, but they were in the minority.

"That would be the same force you used to dispel my hold over the debris I was using to shield Mister Bronzewing," Glynda said, eyeing him. "A rather troublesome ability to deal with."

"I try to limit its use to just enhancing my melee or increasing the damage of my arrows, but when someone else starts pulling crazy abilities out, then it's fair game." Lima admitted, "Sorry about that, though; I actually thoughtDovewas the one doing it at the time—and in my defence, youdidtell me to stop holding back in my spars."

Glynda placed her scroll down onto her desk with an audible clack.

"Mister Morta," Glynda said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Theincidentin the Dining Hall was most definitelynota spar—"

Uh oh.

#

Clearing, Forever Fall, Sanus.

Forever Fall was a sea of red, made up of a million ruby leaves, while rusty brown bark covered the thick trunks that bore them. The almost permanently unseasonal forest stretched outwards to the north of Beacon Academy, continuing long out of sight and, if what he'd heard was true, all the way to the northern coastline. Like the Emerald Forest, it was dotted by man-built landmarks that had long since faded to ruin, a combination of time and the relentless aggression of the Grimm.

"I totally called it, by the way," Lima said, pleased with himself. "So this is my 'I told you so.'"

"Everybodyknew she was sick, Lima," Teak said, "Oobleck even said they would probably all catch it eventually."

"Everything has gone exactly as I envisioned," Lima said, ignoring him entirely. "Because I am the only one who could possibly have deduced this."

"She was a snotty mess in our last class," Lux said, "It was the most obvious thing in the world."

"Obvious to me, I agree," Lima said, intent on taking all of the credit. "My predictionsareunbelievably accurate;thankyou for saying so—"

"You're totally having a conversation with yourself right now," Claire pointed out. "Are you—can he even hear us anymore?"

Lima planted his hands on his hips and gave off a bout of unhinged, staccato laughter, drawing the attention of everyone else in the clearing. Glynda seemed to consider that as a good enough point to restart the lesson because she spoke up, projecting her voice around the clearing.

"Professor Peach was very much looking forward to accompanying you all today, but I'm sorry to say she can't make it in her current condition," Glynda said, "So, instead, I will be taking her place today."

Lima let his laughter fade away but took some amusem*nt in how the class formed up into the same type of cluster they usually did during the Combat Studies class—part of it was because everybody was dressed in their combat gear, something that was required when stepping out of the academy grounds and into any of the surrounding environs.

"Some of the fourth-year students were recruited for this task and have since spent several days preemptively clearing this portion of the forest of any hostile species—something which should help facilitate a more constructive learning environment," Glynda said, "That being said, migration is always possible, so ensure you keep an eye on your surroundings at all times."

The fourth-year students got to go out and clear the forest? What a bunch of absolutepricks.

"Now I've been informed that you are already aware of the general task you will be accomplishing, but to make sure everyone is on the same page, let's go over the basics," Glynda said, "Each of you is to take one of the supplied containers and use it to collect enough of the Red Sap to fill it entirely—the metal needle will be used to puncture the exterior of the trees and provided you do so at an appropriate angle, gravity should do the rest of the work for you."

Glynda took one of the containers in question from the top of the pile, moving towards the nearest tree, aligning the jar on a slight angle that had the needle pointing almost upwards before bracing herself to force it through the tough bark. Almost immediately, the thick sap began sliding down the needle and slopping down the inside wall of the container to pool at the bottom—the colour and consistency oddly reminiscent of blood.

"The sap has some unique properties, but it's most well-known for being sweet, nourishing, and completely edible," Glynda said, slipping the needle-free once the container had been filled. "If any of you have any further questions about its extended use, I suggest you ask them during your next session with Professor Peach—I'm sure she would appreciate your earnest engagement on the topic, especially after missing out on the excursion."

"Start thinking up questions, Teak, because we're gonna sweet talk her," Lima said, attempting a headlock on the boy. "Just you wait; by the end of the year, Professor Peaches might evenletyou be taller than her."

"Iamtaller than her," Teak insisted, not even trying to free himself. "Even if it's just a bit."

"We technically have two hours allotted for this task, but I'd like you to assemble after one to check on the group's overall progress; two containers per person are requisite, but therearefar more containers available," Glynda said, "The surplus can be donated to the catering staff to use over the coming weeks; there are menu recipes that make use of the sap, the most obvious one being sweets and pastries—you may begin when you are ready."

They collected a few containers each before Lima waved them to follow him out of the clearing—he sped up a bit so they couldn't quite close the gap, heading deeper into the trees and using the distant Beacon Tower as a guide to get the angle right.

"What does this stuff taste like?" Lux asked, furrowing her brow at an empty container. "It looks thick—I bet it's nasty."

"You've never had it before?" Claire said before tilting her head. "Wait—youdidhave it when Lima's friends brought us all those desserts."

"I don't remember there being any sap," Lux frowned.

"It was in the pastries with the jam and the white powder on top," Teak said, "Red Sap is one of the ingredients for the jam—it was also used as a sweetener in the smoothy."

"Galaxy brain," Lima said with interest. "Areallof the ingredients in the universe also under your purview?"

"I don't even know how to answer that," Teak said, scrunching his face up. "Sometimes my mother and I bake things—it's one of her favourite ingredients."

"I don't remember what it tastes like," Lux said, obstinate. "But if it comes out of a tree, it's probably gross."

"You don't even remember what the desserts tasted like?" Claire wondered. "It wasn'tthatlong ago."

"The only thing she can keep in her head are memories involving punching someone," Lima decided, "Everything else fell out."

"I'm about to punchyou," Lux muttered, "Idiot."

"Why don't you just try some?" Claire prompted. "We've gone way farther than we need to, so let's stop and collect some."

"Denied," Lima said, speaking up. "Keep moving, soldiers; we're on a secret mission."

There was a pause between the three of them as they realised that he wasn't just randomly walking through the forest without a real destination in mind. He made it almost fifteen meters before they actually decided they were coming along.

"Lima?" Teak said, "I don't think we should be walking off during the middle of a lesson."

"What are we even doing?" Claire asked, falling in step beside him. "You're not dragging us off to find Grimm, are you?"

Lima glanced over at her for a minute, feeling the side of her hand deliberately brush against his own, almost catching for a moment—and he cleared his throat in an attempt to drag his suddenly spiralling thoughts back on track.

"As fun as that sounds, that is not what we're doing," Lima said, "If you want to find out the details of the super secret mission—don't fall behind."

Lima ignored the trio of protests as he suddenly burst forward, scattering the carpet of red and rust leaves as he went. He had to pull out his scroll as he lost sight of the tower completely, using the map function to get them back on track. The premarked areas he'd spent most of last night working on weren't exactly close to where the Red Sap excursion was taking place, so they had a little bit of a journey ahead of them—the hour check-in worked as something of an upper limit as well, which exclude about ninety per cent of the locations he'd marked.

Two of them were pretty close, though, and that would have to do for now. Eventually, the dot that represented his position began to converge on the first of the locations, and he slowed down his approach. The three of them caught up to him at roughly the same time, although Teak was looking a little bit worse off than the others as he panted for breath.

"It's a bunch of trees," Lux complained, looking around. "Some secret mission."

Lima swept a hand out towards their left, through a particularly dense mess of trees, and drew all of their attention in the process. Lux moved forward without a word, slipping through and out of sight. Teak stumbled after her, still not fully recovered, and a moment later, he heard a surprised intake of breath. Claire stopped directly beside him rather than pass through the gap in the trees.

"You know if we get caught," Claire said, studying his face. "We're definitely going to get in trouble for this."

"Probably," Lima admitted, "You guys can just blame it on me—say that you couldn't let me go off on my own or something."

"What's through there?" Claire asked.

Lima just nodded his head at the trees, directing her to go check for herself, and she brushed past him, fingers trailing across his hand in a way that sent a series of sparks up his arm—he watched her vanish through the gap, and then brought his hand up. Lima had never really had someone attempt to make so much contact with him before, and it left him wondering about what he was actually supposed todoabout it—he needed to talk to someone who actually had some kind of experience with the whole thing.

Lima clenched his hand into a fist and then stepped through the gap in the trees—he almost ran straight into Claire as she had apparently waited for him on the other side. A series of stone platforms spread out, mixed up and in a losing battle against the root systems of the nearby trees. They were crumbling, covered in dirt, and clearly struggling against nature's attempt to wear them down. Atop the biggest of the platforms was a large stone block, sticking out of the middle of it and striking up into the air to tower over everything else.

"That's what you were doing last night," Claire said, stepping up onto the first platform. "Looking up this place?"

"I found about a dozen different ruins that were close enough to Beacon Academy to actually make it to, but most of them we can't get to and back in under an hour," Lima admitted, following them up. "This was the second most interesting one—about an hour to our northwest; there's a waterfall with a stone pagoda in the middle of the river it falls into."

"Sounds beautiful," Lux admitted before waving her hand at the centrepiece. "Thisis just a mossy rock."

"It's not a rock; it's amural," Teak said, already standing up on the first of the platforms. "This isamazing—look, you can see the lines they carved into it."

The mass of stone in question had been mostly taken by vines and moss, enough that only a small portion of the carving in the upper right was actually visible—a series of concentric lines that seemed to be radiating out from something that was obscured. Lima followed the broken steps up to the towering rock, going out of his way to place his hand on Claire's back as he passed her by. He eyed the vines and the moss obscuring most of it—the picture he'd seen online had shown it in pretty much the same state, but he was pretty sure he could do something about it.

Lima slipped his hand under the mess of vines, searching until he found the stone. His Semblance began branching out across the surface of it. He pushed until he had the entire surface of the thing mapped out—and then the mass of vines began to slowly fall to the ground. The moss was harder, but there was still a distinct difference between it and the stone, enough that he could target it. Large patches of it began to slough off, falling away to reveal the stained and aged stone beneath—the mural revealed itself in full, with only the bottom left corner being far too damaged to retain the surface carving.

"Lima," Teak managed.

Lima stepped back from it to get a better view of the entire thing and then was forced to squint in the dark in an attempt to actually understand what was happening with the sheer amount of concentric, overlapping lines that made up the pattern—it was messing with his eyes to even look at, like one of those pictures that started to shift around after you stared at it for too long.

"I regret everything," Lima complained, "Is this messing with anyone else's eyes?"

"No?" Lux wondered.

"It's kind of hard to pick out what the picture is supposed to be—it would be easier with more light," Claire said, tilting her head. "The two different-sized circles at the top, what are they supposed to be?"

"It's the sun and the moon," Lux said, apparently having no trouble seeing it in the low light. "I guess that means it was madebeforeit shattered?"

"It may just be a reference to how it looked before, but it was carved at some point far more recent," Teak said, "The sun dominates the carving, but that cracked line is the central focus—it's probably supposed to be a staff, which is a pretty common icon in ancient surviving art, it's associated with creation and light."

"I remember that—in theTale of the Two Brothers?" Claire said, a bit curious. "The staff was always linked to the older brother, wasn't it? The god of light."

"Well, I can't see anything," Lima said. "So he's not doing a very good job, is it?"

"Putting all of that together, what's the picture actually saying?" Lux said, still eyeing it. "The god of light created the sun? The sunisthe god of light?"

"The staff of lightisthe god of suns," Lima said, clicking his fingers as if in understanding. "He whoever shall hold my big staff shall command the sun—it's too hot today; let's turn it off for a few hours."

Claire laughed out loud at the stupid joke—and he found that he was bizarrely pleased with himself for managing to elicit the action.

"You're an idiot," Lux said. "It's the sun, not an air conditioner."

Lima flapped his hand at her as if shooing away someone beneath his attention—Lux narrowed her eyes at him in the low light, visibly offended by the sheer condescension dripping off of the gesture.

"That's a very literal interpretation, but it might be more abstract than that—it's possible that this is actually a representation of what they believed at the time," Teak said, slipping his Scroll out of his pocket. "It could mean that they believe creation drew its power from the sun, something like heat energy was responsible for life on Remnant—it may even be some kind of origin story for Humans and Faunus alike."

Lima watched as the boy began to take pictures of the mural, feeling more than satisfied that the little detour had gone as well as it had—even if they hadn't managed to make it to any of the other locations.

"That's pretty cool, too, Teak," Lima offered, stepping back to give him some more room. "But I prefer the interpretation where it's a staff that shoots suns at people."

#

Clearing, Forever Fall, Sanus.

They'd made it back before the check-in, although Glynda had seemed pretty suspicious that they'd only managed a single full container each—something they'd hastily remembered to do just outside of the main group's vision.

"I don't even like raspberries," Lux said, frowning at the jar in her hand. "What if I hate it?"

"What if it's thebestthing you've ever tasted?" Claire said, bumping into her. "You'll never know unless you try some—scaredy-cat."

Lux's head snapped around at the taunt, an explosive breath emerging from her nose.

"Wouldn't it be scaredy-snake?" Lima wondered, "Shaky-serpent—actually, that just sounds like a sex move; we'll table that one for now."

"Shut the hell up," Lux said, turning her attention back down to the jar. "I'mnotscared."

Lux twisted the cap off with far more force than necessary and then scooped some out onto her finger. The three of them watched as she brought her fingertip up to her mouth, hesitating for a final time, and then clenched her eyes shut as she closed her lips around it.

"That's—actually pretty good," Lux said, cracking a single eye open. "Now, I kind of wish we'd brought some more jars for ourselves."

"Figures," Lima said, "Are we allowed to come back out here with our own containers or is the forest private property?"

"It's technically the property of Vale, and you must be accompanied by a license holder in order to harvest the sap," Glynda said as she moved to check on them. "While we are out here, performing this task, each of you are under the umbrella of my license."

"How do I get a license for that?" Lima said, "I could totally stock up on Red Sap before the Vytal Festival and then spend a week seeling it all off at a stall."

"On the seventh floor of Beacon Tower, there is a department that can provide the forms for you to apply with—you can access the consumable license while you are there," Glynda said, "Should I expect to see an application form for a stall to pass over my desk in the next few days?"

"Absolutely not," Lux denied. "We're doing the tournament,nota food stall."

"Ugh," Lima complained before pausing. "Bestwitch—there isn't a monetary prize for winning the tournament, is there?"

"There is an award ceremony, but there is no prize money attached to it," Glynda said, "Itisa good opportunity to showcase your skills to the wider populace, which could be a good investment if you were looking for private or governmentally funded contracts in the future."

"Who cares about prize money or some dumb contracts—we don't need something like that," Lux insisted. "All that matters is making sure everyone knows that we're the strongest."

"Lux, you might not need to worry about something like that," Teak tried, "But it's a bit different for us."

"It's not," Lux said, in complete denial, before pausing. "Plus, I don't care."

"Rich girl," Lima accused.

"Nobody is going to think we're strong if we can't even afford to pay for shelter or for transport to where the missions are," Claire said, trying a different track. "Lima breaks down and stops moving entirely if he hasn't eaten in a couple of hours—"

"What theheck?" Lima said.

"—so we need to worry about food money as well," Claire said, ignoring him completely. "Teak definitely won't be able to afford the library fee without money either, so he'll start to starve—"

"I don't eat books," Teak protested.

"I'll keep a few magazines handy to feed him every now and then," Lux decided, reaching out to pat the boy on the head like some kind of pet. "Lima can just start a garden or eat wild berries—"

"Berries?" Lima cried.

Glynda let out a laugh at the argument, apparently unable to help herself, before reaching up to cover her mouth with her hand. It barely did anything to curb the noise, but she did manage to get a hold of herself.

"Whoa," Claire said, "I didn't know Bestwitch could laugh."

Lux grinned at the comment, teeth showing through, visibly pleased with herself.

"I'mquitecapable of laughing, thank you—we've got fifteen minutes left, so make sure you don't leave any of the containers behind," Glynda said, still covering her mouth to hide the smile. "Mister Fawn, if any booksdostart vanishing from the library in the near future, I'll know just where to look."

"Professor," Teak squeaked.

#

Workshop A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima adjusted the panel on the side of the bracer extension for what must have been the fiftieth time, wishing he'd made it slightly larger. The minor problems with the first version of the Grappling Gauntlet continued to make themselves known to him the more work he did on it—he made sure to keep a running notation of each one to avoid in the event that he ever made it to version two.

The basic design—a blueprint from Atlas that was perhaps a decade old—hadn't included the dust channels he'd decided to machine into it, which was pretty much the fractal point from where all the other problems had stemmed from. The series of angular grooves spiralled out from the protective plate that sat over the back of his hand, crossing under the palm and back up just before the segment that separated the hand from the base of the fingers. More than enough capacity—once he slotted the Dust tubing through it—to generate enough of a pull to bring any nearby spikes back to his hand.

He'd wanted an actual crystal for it, but there just wasn't enough space—overloading the thing with the ground-up stuff was just more cost-effective here. Between the spiral groove now blocking the back of his hand and needing his palm free to actually fire the cable, he'd needed to move the cable storage elsewhere—something which he just couldn't seem to figure out a good system for. His first attempt left a cylinder sticking up from the back of his arm; the cable wound up inside, but it was beyond obnoxious, obstructive and perhaps worst of all, made it look like crap. Widening the cylinder and planting it on the underside of his wrist made it look alittlebit better, but he honestly couldn't tolerate having it get in the way of his hands.

Attempt number three, and his best solution so far, had been to add a whole new extension to the gauntlet—a bracer that covered the better part of his forearm and through which the cable was wound inside, allowing him to get rid of the protruding cylinder entirely. The only problem was keeping the two segments secure while retaining the flexibility of being able to move his hand without pulling on the hidden cable threaded inside. A task that had required him to leave a very specific amount of slack inside the connecting tube, enough that it didn't resist his hand bending but not too much as to risk it somehow kinking up in the channel.

He finally managed to lock the panel down again, turned the bolt tight until it wasn't going anywhere, and then stuck his hand back inside of it. It slipped down over his hand, the internal layer of padding catching a bit until he'd worked his fingers into the gauntlet itself and twisted it tight on his wrist.

"Alright," Lima grunted. "Thistime?"

He wriggled his fingers to make sure he had it on properly and then began rotating his hand, checking for the thread of resistance linking the top of the bracer to the glove—and squinted a bit at the slight feeling of oddness. It wasn't anywhere near enough to actually impede his movements, but now that he knew it existed, it wassuperhard to stop thinking about it—

"I apologize for interrupting you while you're busy," Weiss said, clearing her throat. "But I need to speak with you."

"So you've come," Lima said, "My first moving target—you're earlier than I expected."

"After seeing that monstrosity in class, I want no part in being any kind of target for it,thankyou," Weiss denied, without any mercy. "I'm actually here for something else."

Lima tipped back on his chair until she passed into his line of sight—something that required him to hook his foot on the furthermost under-edge of the desk to accomplish. Weiss took a step closer and to the side, perhaps in an effort to accommodate his refusal to actually turn around like a normal person—she had a smooth black case in her hand, the letters 'SDC' stamped onto the surface of it with a slick white vinyl sticker.

"Something else?" Lima said, curious. "Is this a confession?"

"In yourdreams," Weiss said without pause. "This is a discharging of my debt to you, the payment you requested for my cooperation in the forest."

The way she said the last part almost made it sound as if he'd been the one to askherto team up—

"Oh," Lima said, clapping a fist down onto his palm. "That time I beat you up, and you were like; 'I'll pay you—'"

Weiss made a strangled noise in the back of her throat at his version of the recounting—or perhaps the high-pitched and panicked voice he'd affected in order to give it the drama it really deserved. Lima reached out to take the case from her before she could gather herself enough to throw it at him or something as equally punishing. He cracked the case open and found two rather large gravity dust crystals sitting snugly in the padded interior—the quality was visibly superior to just about anything he'd seen in recent memory.

"Thanks, Weiss," Lima said, impressed. "This is way better than the stuff they're selling bottom-side—perks of being the dust-girl, huh?"

"Of course it is," Weiss said, preening a bit. "I had them pull it out of an SDC delivery that just came into Vale yesterday."

He slid the open case over on the desk before slipping the gauntlet off his arm and placing it down next to it. Weiss leaned forward a bit, narrowing her eyes as she got a good look at the grooves machined into the face of it.

"Those are dust channels," Weiss said, frowning. "I thought you wanted crystals?"

"Not enough space for a large crystal, and if I cut them down enough to actually fit, they aren't going to have enough power," Lima admitted before scratching his chin. "I kind of don't want to shave these down, though; they look expensive."

"I suppose it doesn't really matter," Weiss said, straightening up a bit. "If that's what you're using them for, then you should go ahead."

Lima fired off a salute at receiving permission to destroy the pair of them before pulling his chair flat against the ground and spinning around to face her properly for the first time—the unexpected movement seemed to startle her a bit.

"I showed you mine," Lima said, giving her an upwards nod. "How's your own project going? I don't think I've seen what it is yet."

"Well, since you asked," Weiss said, clearing her throat. "I'm redesigning an old version of the autonomous drones that the SDC once used for mapping out unexplored tunnels."

"Adrone?" Lima prompted.

Weiss shifted a bit at the interest before lifting her hand up, her index finger about an inch away from her thumb—

"It's only small, and the AI is relatively simple, but it should be able to perform some basic tasks to assist during combat," Weiss said, fingers remaining posed in the same obscene shape. "The original test run of these was deemed a failure because the size didn't allow for much in the way of storage capacity, and it had a very limited run time, but there have beenmanyupgrades to battery technology since then."

Lima did a quick scout of the room to make sure nobody was paying enough attention to see Weiss making such a terriblelieof a gesture towards him and found Claire smirking at him from her own workbench.

"Ack," Lima managed. "Isn't that too small?"

Weiss tilted her head at the words before increasing the space between her fingers a few shades in consideration.

"I suppose it is relatively small compared to the conventional drone," Weiss said, humming. "Making it a little bit largerwouldallow for more storage."

Claire was practically laughing now, and he forced himself to ignore her entirely, less the heat that was crawling up his neck doom him.

"You said it could perform some basic tasks?" Lima said, clearing his throat. "What are we talking about here?"

"Its primary function was to map out difficult terrain, which was done with a form of echolocation, and I'm hoping to include a small hard light projector so it can render a map of the area," Weiss said, warming to the topic. "I also want to give it some kind of weapon that could act to interrupt an enemy—but I'm having some difficulty finding something suitable because it's too small for a conventional weapon."

"Rather than a weapon," Lima said, "You could go for something to launch a tracker, which would get you some extended use out of the projected map."

"That'sa good idea," Weiss said, reaching up to touch her chin. "If we marked a Grimm, we might be able to follow it back to the nest—that would help during extermination missions."

"Something that small is probably fragile, though," Lima wondered. "How are you going to save it from getting shot out of the air?"

"The original model had a shield to protect it from collisions and from a potential Grimm attack," Weiss said, "It only really lasted for a single hit, but I think I can upgrade it to survive quite a bit of damage with more modern technology."

"I'm kind of jealous, you know? That sounds super useful," Lima said, tilting his head. "Hey, if you ever mass produce them, make sure I'm first in line for a test model."

Weiss seemed kind of hesitant at the words, almost as if she thought he was making fun of her, but she couldn't figure out the punchline.

"Mass produce them?" Weiss said.

"Imagine every Huntsman and Huntress had something like that in their arsenal, like it was part of the standard equipment you take out on missions," Lima said, "If you added a high-definition camera and linked the controls up to work with a standard Scroll, you could probably market it to civilians as well."

"Do you—" Weiss started. "Do you really think people would buy something like that?"

"I'dbuy it," Lima said in answer. "Either way, it's a cool project, Weiss—you've got me hyped up to see it now, so you better not quit halfway through like Jaune did with his jetpack-slash-flamethrower."

"I—would never quit like that," Weiss said, glancing away. "I'll definitely complete it."

"You got it," Lima agreed. "Thanks again for the dust—I'll make good use of it."

"You're welcome," Weiss said, taking a step back. "If you need something else in the future, well, I'll listen to your requests, at least—goodbye for now."

Lima waved her off, a bit bemused by how pleasant the conversation had actually gone—outside of combat scenarios, they were usually prone to conflict or at least getting into silly arguments. Mostly that was because of his attempts to rile her up, succeeding more often than not, but he was surprised to find that he didn't mind having a normal conversation with her after all. He caught sight of Claire as he turned back towards his desk—and felt a pang of alarm as she lifted her hand up off the desk, her thumb and index finger held about an inch apart.

"God dammit," Lima managed. "Weiss."

#

Second-Year Dormitories, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Seventy-eight names—and one unknown person who'd filled in literally everything except for their name—that's how many people he had to track down. Seven of them were first years, twelve of them were second years, and it just got worse from there on up. That made him realise that the length of time you've spent at Beacon Academy was directly correlated to how much of a lazy ass you became when it was time to start filling out paperwork—further supported by the fact that Ozpin had probably been here the longest, and he was fine with fobbing off the forms to Bestwitch, who in turn had shaved off her own load by making Lima do it as punishment.

"Open up," Lima said, rapping on the door a few times. "It's the police."

There was absolutely no response, which was annoying because he'd most definitely heard a girl speaking less than five seconds ago. He started knocking out a steady rhythm on the door and then just kept on going—a technique borrowed from Sage that had never failed to piss him off to great effect.

"Who the hell knocks eleven times?" Sakura said, pulling the door open. "You're not even the police either."

Lima attempted to knock a twelfth time on the girl's forehead, but she smacked his hand out of the way before it could make contact.

"If you heard me say that, then you should have answered thefirsttime, jackass," Lima said, standing up on his tiptoes in an attempt to intimidate the much taller girl. "You and I are about to have a reckoning—MissI can't fill out a form properly."

He attempted to smack her with the rolled-up sheet of paper, but she snatched it out of his hand before it made contact—Sakura unfurled it with a look of clear curiosity on her face as she scanned the printout.

"A reckoning?" Sakura wondered. "What did I miss?"

"You're supposed to sign the bottom of it," Lima said, reaching under the sheet to tap his finger near the bottom. "I had to convince Bestwitch not to kick you all out of the tournament, so you can all put your heads on the floor and apologize to me—go on, get down there and grovel."

Sakura laughed out loud at the demand and attempted to pat him on the head like he was some kind of dog—dammit, why did she have to be so tall? Stupid second years.

"Oh really?" Sakura said, "Guys, thelittlefirst year that broke the cafeteria saved our asses—everybody say thank you."

There was something of a chorus of voices from out of sight in the room, lacking just about any kind of real gratitude and sounding like they'd been woken up from a late afternoon nap. Lima grunted at the sheer lack of enthusiasm and genuinely considered eating the form in front of her just to make sure they knew who they were dealing with.

"Bastards," Lima complained. "Hurry up and sign it; I've got a bunch of them to deal with."

"You got a pen?" Sakura asked.

Lima glanced down as he fished the pen out of his pocket and let out an aggrieved sigh as she took the moment to pat his head while he was distracted.

"Hurry up," Lima said, smacking the pen down into her hand. "I'm getting mad."

"Turn around," Sakura said, pushing his shoulder until he did just that. "I need something to write on."

Lima blew a breath out of his nose as she placed the form against his back, the nib of the pen a faint pressure that he could feel through the material of his uniform.

"I'd kick your ass if you weren't so pretty," Lima warned, "You better thank your mother for your good fortune."

"I'll get right on it," Sakura laughed, "All done—thanks, hero."

Lima suffered through another head pat with as much dignity as he could muster and then snatched the form back. He ignored her laughter as he put it in the satchel with the other ones he'd finished already.

"You know where—uh—CocoandYatsuhashiare?" Lima said, reading the unfamiliar names off the top of the next two sheets he'd stapled together. "They're my next victims."

"Right there," Sakura said, pointing past his shoulder. "Three doors down, opposite side."

Lima spun underneath her next attempt to mess up his hair again and skipped back out of range before looking down his nose at her to make sure she knew what she was getting herself into—the girl laughed a final time, waved, and then vanished inside, completely unintimidated.

"God dammit," Lima huffed. "My reputation sucks."

He moved up the hallway, eyeing the acronyms adorning each one without interest, and then came to a stop before the door she'd pointed out—rather than deal with the same nonsense again, he reached up and started knocking, aiming to defeat his previous high score. He only made it to eight before someone managed to open the door; he reached out and rapped a knuckle on their head before he'd really seen who it was—

"Oh," Lima said, blinking. "Sorry, Velvet—that was actually for someone else."

"That's okay," Velvet managed, reaching up to touch the spot on her forehead. "Hello again, Lima."

"Hey, I didn't realise this wasyourroom," Lima said, "I'm actually here because two of your uh—teammatesI guess—forgot to sign their tournament forms—whichmeansthe whole team would have been disqualified."

"Ohno," Velvet said, sounding more than a little distressed. "Is it too late to fix it?"

"Don't worry; I totally bullied Bestwitch into letting you guys off with a warning," Lima said, puffing his chest up. "You can start praising me now, but please keep in mind that I also accept gifts."

"Thank you so much for looking out for us," Velvet said, clapping her hands together and ducking her head. "I'll make sure to buy you something nice—"

A familiar girl stepped into view, apparently close enough to the door to have overheard the conversation—and despite the fact that she was inside, her designer sunglasses werestillon.

"Oh," The girl said, eyeing him for a moment. "It'syou."

"Vile girl," Lima retorted, pointing directly at her. "What the heck are you doing here?"

The two girls shared a glance for a moment before Velvet hesitantly spoke up.

"Thisisour room?" Velvet said, "That's Coco—and that's Yatsuhashi."

An absolute giant of a boy, who might have even been a match for Jupiter in sheer bulk, moved the door all the way open—it left him towering over the three of them, his dark hair just about brushing the top of the door frame.

"I should haveknown," Lima said before planting his hands on his hips. "I guess I couldn't recognise you without a stolen chair in your hand."

Coco shifted her glasses further down her nose, revealing her eyes and raising an eyebrow at him.

"Are you really that cut up about it?" Coco wondered.

"Thank you for speaking with Professor Goodwitch on our behalf; it would have been unfortunate if we had been excluded from participating," Yatsuhashi said, speaking up before he could fire something back at her. "I apologize if we have caused you any problems through our mistake."

"I was joking about that," Lima said, scratching his cheek at the apparent good nature of the guy. "It happens all the time, apparently, and Bestwitch always follows up with the mistakes anyway."

Velvet flushed at this new source of information and then puffed up her cheeks as she realised that he'd lied about being the cause of their survival.

"Bestwitch?" Coco said, tilting her head. "Why are you the one coming to speak with us?"

"It's part of my detention," Lima said, shrugging a bit. "Sort the forms, upload them all onto the computer, note down which ones weren't filled out correctly, and then go find everyone who messed up—that'syou, chair-thief,youmessed up, so embarrassing, foryou."

Coco hummed in the back of her throat at the words, apparently immune to his attempts to rile her up.

"I believe I have messed up as well," Yatsuhashi said in a clear attempt to take on his share of the blame. "I am also embarrassed."

"Don't even sweat it, big guy," Lima said, giving him the thumbs up. "Mistakes like this happen, man—don't beat yourself up over it."

"Uhuh," Coco said, amused at the completely one-sided nature of it all. "You brought the forms with you?"

Lima handed the two forms over and flipped the pen up into the air—Coco caught it almost without looking, using the wall beside the door jam as a backing to write against. Lima scrunched his face up as he realised that the pink-haired second-year could have done the same thing. He took the two forms back once they'd finished signing them, slipping each into the satchel.

"I've got about twenty more of these to get done," Lima said, tucking the pen into his pocket. "Wish me luck—"

"I saw the video of what happened in the cafeteria," Coco said before he could move away from the door. "Velvet also explained everything that happened and how you came to help—"

Lima wasn't willing to touch that subject with the hands of a chair thief, let alone his own—and the fact that Velvet looked visibly uncomfortable with the topic was more than enough for him to put a stop to it.

"How you canseeanything while wearing sunglasses indoors like a lunatic is a complete mystery to me—or maybe you can't, which would explain why you stolemychair," Lima said, interjecting. "Whatever, I'll let you off the hookthistime, Choo-choo, but don't let it happen again—any of you know where a guy called Onyx sleeps? He's supposed to be a second year."

The interruption seemed to throw her off entirely, and an expression of alarm came across her face.

"Choo-choo?" Coco managed, "Have I become a train, Yatsu?"

"Not yet," Yatsuhashi hedged, "Maybe soon?"

Velvet took the chance to speak up, more than happy to push the conversation as far away from the bullying incident as possible.

"Onyx is a girl," Velvet said, "Her room is actually right behind you."

"I would haveknownthat if she'd bothered to fill in the gender space on her form," Lima declared, nodding at the three of them. "Peace, losers."

Lima spun on his heel, took three steps forward, and then started knocking on the door, well aware that they were staring at him from the still-open doorway. Ten knocks in, the door finally opened, and a tired-looking girl appeared before him for judgment—

"Don't you know what time it is," Onyx sighed. "Can't you come back in the morning?"

Unable to believe the words coming out of her mouth, Lima took his time rolling up the form like it was a newspaper—and then smacked her over the head with it. Onyx let out a startled squawk at the sudden attack and then covered her head with her hands as he took another whack at her.

"Let me tell you the story of a girl named Onyx," Lima threatened, brandishing the form at her in a warning. "She wrote her name at the top of averyspecial form and then had theabsoluteaudacity to sign it at the bottom—after leaving the entire thing blank."

#

Grounds, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Sneaking out in the dead of night probably wasn't the best way to reduce the number of detentions he'd accumulated, but this time he wasn't the driving force behind it, so if they did get caught, he'd get the chance to dump all the blame on someone else for a change—he just wished he hadn't allowed his imagination to pull him in a million different directions, because the reality of Claire's request to 'sneak out together' fell pretty short of what he'd managed to dream up over the course of the day.

"What are you doing for the break?" Claire asked, voice low. "Are you staying here?"

"I'm heading back to Mistral to visit my family," Lima admitted, hands folded behind his head. "Sage already paid for my tickets, so I couldn't change my mind, even if you begged me."

"Who's begging?" Claire huffed, shifting the visor around on her head until it covered her eyes. "You're going to spend more time on the train than you do in Mistral—you know that, right?"

"Yeah," Lima sighed. "I'll finally get to catch up on my sleep, at least."

"It's going to be weird after being stuck with you three pretty much every hour of the day," Claire said, "I wonder what Lux is planning to do."

"Rich girl could probably fly back to Vacuo," Lima said, "Guess that depends—she doesn't really talk about her family, so I'm not sure if she actually wants to visit anyone."

"Mm," Claire said, "Teak is going down to Vale to stay with his mum."

"What about you? Is your fancy sister in town?" Lima asked, "This could be your big chance to beat her up in front of your parents—it's time to become the favourite byforce."

Claire let out a startled laugh at the words and then smacked him in the belly when he did as well—Lima curled up from the hit, unsure if she was going for a second strike in the dark.

"You'renotsupposed to joke about that," Claire warned, "It's not funny—"

"You're the one laughing," Lima protested, managing to block the second attack, but it deflected off his hip, a little bit too close for comfort. "Hey—that one was—I'll start fighting back—"

Claire pulled back after the third attempt, apparently content with the delivered punishment or with having gotten him to react. The fact that she was able to target him so accurately meant that the night-vision visor was working, at least to some degree.

"I'm going down to Vale as well," Claire admitted after she'd sat back onto her hands. "My sister lives here, so she'll probably come to see me as well—do you think Teak would want to meet my parents?"

"It'sTeak, so yes, he would," Lima said, "You should drag Lux down with you as well."

"Willshewant to?" Claire hesitated.

"Tell her I'll fight her as much as she wants when I get back," Lima said, "That should get her motivated."

Claire clapped her hands together in a soft thup of skin on skin, and he recognised the gesture by the noise alone.

"Your sacrifice will be remembered," Claire said in thanks. "What do you want to be written on your headstone?"

"How about," Lima said, humming. "'He killed so many Grimm that they eventually stopped coming back.'"

"You're going tobreakthe respawn point?" Claire said, impressed. "That seems like a lot."

"You bet," Lima asked. "Claire, what made you choose twin short swords—did you spend too much time reading Atlas comics as a kid?"

"Shutup," Claire protested, whacking him again. "It used to be just one, but my firepower at range kind of sucked—everyone else at Signal had something better."

"Yang was there, wasn't she? Ruby, too," Lima said, managing to catch her hand before she could pull it back. "I suppose her sniper rifle is stronger at range, but you definitely outrange Yang."

Claire gave something of a token resistance to his grip and then let him keep the hand—at which point he had no idea what to do with it, so he just let his arm fall back down, feeling vaguely disappointed that she'd given up.

"Yang has two-shot gauntlets, so she had twice the output," Claire said. "I just followed her example, I guess."

Lima glanced over at where she was sitting on the rooftop, but she might have well have been using her Semblance for all that he could see her—with the moon hidden by the clouds, all he had to go on was a slightly darker splotch amidst the black.

"Why did you choose abow?" Claire asked, shifting towards him a bit. "Don't lie either because I can see your face."

The words sent a pang of alarm through him, and he glanced down as she slipped her fingers between his own,but he couldn't see anything—the silence stretched, and he came to realise that he hadn't even answered the question she'd asked.

"They say that living a good life is the best revenge," Lima said, doing his best to pull himself together. "But there's no clause that says I can't do thatandhunt the Grimm down like the mindless animals they are—they don't deserve anything more than a bow."

The grip she had on his hand tightened a bit, and he looked away from where she was sitting, feeling a bit embarrassed by admitting it and by the fact that she could see him when he couldn't see her reaction.

"That might be taking the whole 'hunt' part of Huntsman a bit too literally," Claire said before pausing. "Are you sure it's not something lame, like the fact that you have bad aim?"

"What theheck?" Lima squawked. "My aim is impeccable—"

#

Glynda Goodwitch 's Office, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Despite the hasty shower, he spent the walk to detention with the lingering smell of rain, mud and grass following him—he'd probably need to take aproperone once he finished up, or his sheets were going to smell come morning. All in all, it was a pretty novel lesson—if only because of the fact that he'd had the distinctprivilegeof watching Weiss and Pyrrha wrestle in the mud over who would get to retain ownership of the flag during the final seconds of the battle. He pressed the door to Bestwitch's office open and offered her what had become a rather routine salute in greeting. The stack of forms on her desk was more or less gone, a small pile of faded blue leaflets resting beside her hand that he didn't recognise. He paused beside the desk he'd come to label as 'his' and then stared at it in confusion—the small stack of forms he'd had leftover from the last detention wasgone.

"Hey, where didminego—" Lima protested, tipping the desk up onto two legs in an attempt to check beneath it. "Stealing? Not setting a very good example,arewe, Bad—"

"If you eventhinkabout calling me Badwitch," Glynda said, in a clear warning. "I'm going to give you a practical demonstration about what the word defenestration means."

Lima gave a nervous laugh at the threat before carefully setting the desk back down.

"Moving past things that I never had any intention of saying out loud," Lima said, pressing both of his hands together in apology. "Where did my stack of forms go—I could have sworn I had like two dozen left."

"You did have a small amount left," Glynda said, raising a single eyebrow. "However, yesterday was your final day of detention, and so your punishment has concluded."

Lima opened his mouth on reflex, allowed the words to actually register, and then paused, entirely unsure about how to feel about it. On the one hand, it had been a pretty mindnumbing task overall, but on theother, he'd grown quite used to working quietly alongside her, and the idea that it was coming to an end actually twisted something in his chest in a way he didn't like at all.

"There will no doubt be some stragglers who come to me in the weeks following the break in a complete panic, but for now, the task has been successfully managed," Glynda said, patting a hand on the leaflets. "There are always one or two of them that have stuffed their form in a locker or in the back of a book before forgetting about it—it happens just about every time."

Lima had an existential moment of dread in which he wasn't certain as to whether or not he'd handed his own form in—which would prove catastrophic if Lux ever discovered the mistake.

"Uh," Lima said, "Totally unrelated to what you just said—but did I handmyform in?"

Glynda looked distinctly amused at the question, enough so that she sat back in her chair to meet his gaze across the top of the projected monitor once more.

"You handed it to me on the second day," Glynda said, smiling. "You don't remember?"

"Of course I do," Lima lied, "But if Ididn't—well, a memory of asinglesheet of paper is hard to find inside a forest of them."

"You know, if you hadn't just lied to my face," Glynda said, raising an eyebrow. "I'd have said that was almost poetic."

Lima reached up to thumb his nose before pulling a too-bright smile onto his face.

"I knowplentyof poems," Lima said, clearing his throat. "Thereoncewas a woman from Kuchinashiwho liked to show off her—"

"Lima," Glynda said, eyeing him. "If you finish that rhyme, I'm going to start handing out more detentions—go."

Lima fled the room before he could be overcome with the need to rise to the challenge and before she could make good on her threat in return. The smile on his face burned at his cheeks, but he couldn't manage to rid himself of it—it may have taken the better part of a month, but she'dfinallycalled him by name.

#

Workshop A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima shifted the gauntlet around until he could see the dust guard set into the surface of the metal, the clear sheet of durable material pinning the dust tubing in place within the groove. Despite the movement, he could barely see the gravity dust shifting around in the tube, so tightly compact that it was struggling to find any kind of space to move around—which is pretty much what he'd be going for overall. He spent a final moment making sure it was as well-fitted as he could manage before slipping the entire thing back over his arm.

The new padded sleeve on the inside of the glove felt soft against his skin, and he clenched his fist, feeling the material shift with the motion, the resistance practically non-existent. Lima turned his hand, spread out his fingers until he could see the glowing purple spiral of dust, and then activated the attraction mechanism—the spike sticking out of the holder at the edge of his desk pulled up into the air as he shifted his hand upwards. It scraped against the top edge, came free, and then spun into a blur—before smacking flat into the palm of his hand.

"Heh," Lima noised, teeth bared at the success. "No problem."

Lima deactivated the glove, twirled the spike around his fingers and then caught it again as he rose to his feet—rather than wait, he slipped out into the aisle before heading straight to the front of the room.

"Praise me, Mulberry," Lima declared as he came to a stop at the man's desk. "I am the greatest inventing man that ever lived."

Mulberry looked up from his own work, placing his tiny drill down onto the desk, and then scanned the Grapple Gauntlet on his arm. Lima twisted it around so the man could see the pattern on the back of his hand, dropped the spike, and then pulled it straight back to his hand before it could hit the floor. Mulberry hummed at the sight before planting his elbow on the desk and holding his palm out in expectation—Lima slipped it off his arm and handed it over without a word.

"Atlas design, but way heavier than expected," Mulberry said, turning it over to see the link between the glove and bracer. "You moved the cable from the canister to the bracer—how long is it?"

"Sixty metres," Lima said, "Number 7 cable on the requisition list."

"Thin enough to maximise the length, but also the most durable for the gauge," Mulberry noted, "The casing is decent; reinforced palm to help withstand the friction generated by pulling against the cable—can you open the socket on the palm without firing it?"

"Youcan, but you need to be wearing it," Lima admitted, "When the cover pulls back, the tip of the grapple arm is pretty much level with the socket."

"You went for powder instead of a crystal; space concerns, I'm guessing," Mulberry said, running a finger along the dust groove. "You could have added three or four reinforced sockets on either side of the back of the hand—it would have been raised up a bit, but it would have more attraction and repulsion."

Mulberry drew a finger along the back of the glove, marking out the four lines, knuckle to the wrist and raising his finger up about an inch to show where they could have been.

"I didn't even think about cutting a series of short crystals," Lima said, scrunching his face up. "I'm so used to cutting them long and thin for my arrows that I dismissed using crystals straight away."

"I'd say it would get you about thirty percent more power at a guess—you'd lose the aesthetic value, though." Mulberry wondered, "Something for next time when you redesign it."

The man said it as if it was a foregone conclusion that he would be making changes to it—and he was completely correct because now that Lima knew there was such an easy way to improve it just lying around like that, he couldn't just ignore it.

"You could go for a bigger hook mechanism as well, set a small amount of dust inside of it to help reduce the load on the motor," Mulberry said, tapping a finger on the palm. "Probably wouldn't get much out of it, but ten percent lighter is still an advantage."

"Damnit," Lima complained, smacking his palm into his forehead. "I should have asked you for ideas at the start—both of those are going in version two, for sure."

"Don't sweat it," Mulberry said, "Have you tested the grapple yet?"

"I tried it out in the forest last night, but it takes a bit of getting used to," Lima said, sliding his hand up to mess up his own hair. "I probably should have made two of them."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear the part about you sneaking into the forest at night—pretty solid work overall, so this is an easy pass, kid," Mulberry said, "You've got the rest of the year ahead of you, so unless you're going to sit around cleaning your gear every lesson, you might as well build out a second one."

Lima caught the Grapple Gauntlet out of the air as Mulberry underhanded it to him, already moving to slip it back over his arm.

"I'll do that," Lima said, pleased. "Thanks."

Mulberry waved him off, already returning to his own mess of metal panels, and Lima turned back around to face the class—he found Teak, Lux and Claire all watching him from their respective desks, matching looks of expectation on their faces. Lima flashed them a thumbs up, making sure to use the hand with the gauntlet.

#

Grounds, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"I've seen rotisserie chickens spin faster than this," Lima said, reaching out to poke it. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"I haven't even turned itonyet," Teak said, pushing his hand away. "Let me do a final check to make sure it's actually ready—"

"Didn't you say that about the last check?" Lima wondered.

Teak shushed him before moving back into a crouch and placing his scroll against the ground. The short boy glanced between the interface and polyhedron, the mess of glowing lines between the smooth white panels lighting up one after another.

"Okay—go back over where the marker is," Teak breathed. "It's going up."

Lima shuffled back behind the line, following the direction without question. All of the lines lit up at once, and then the panels shifted outwards slightly—a series of blue hard light panels appeared in a sphere, two meters out, surrounding the projector and Teak both, sealing him away inside.

"Okay, that's cool as hell," Lima admitted, reaching out to place his hand against the seamless curve of the hard-light projection. "Still not spinning though—whoa."

Lima pulled his hand back as the shield began to spin, and when he glanced down, he could see where it was cutting a perfectly circular groove into the well-manicured grass of the training field—so it wasn't a sphere that went underground, it actually a dome that stopped a few inches below the surface.

"That's more like it," Lima said, "Now—tell me what you want me to do again because I totally wasn't listening, like, at all."

"Lima—you're helping me test for weak spots and angles of attack that will cost more charge to deflect," Teak said, glaring at him through the shield. "I need you to keep hitting it with roughly the same amount of force each time, but from different sides and angles."

"You got it," Lima said, punching into his palm. "I was born to hit things."

Lima waited until Teak was ready and then rolled his shoulder for a moment—and then struck forward at a comfortable amount of force, hitting the dead centre of the shield. The brief contact was enough for the shield to start pulling his fist to the right and, off course, the motion working to disperse some of the force.

"That was good," Teak said, pleased. "You did four percent damage."

"Like hell I did," Lima cried, "I'm going for forty next—"

"You better not," Teak protested, "Keep it exactly the same as before."

Lima grunted, unable to believe he'd done so little damage to the damn thing—he aimed higher on the next hit, the angle slightly upwards. The spin pulled it up higher and to the side, dragging it off course, and he could tell, even before Teak said anything, that it only carried about half of the previous force.

"Two percent," Teak said, nodding. "That was the same strength, right?"

"Same strength," Lima confirmed, "Going low next—this could be a critical hit depending on the gender of this shield."

Lima struck out in what would have been an absolute monster of a dick-shot, and once again, the strike was dragged off course, the edge of his knuckles dragging a line across the hard light projection.

"One-point-five," Teak offered.

"It's a girl," Lima decided.

A strike to the left of the centre followed, and Lima could feel how he was fighting directly against the path of the shield, the rotation working harder to break straight through his attack.

"Five percent," Teak said. "I kind of expected that—attacks coming in against the rotation are more costly to block."

Lima waited until he was ready and then went for the right of centre—his fist glanced off the instant it made contact, the rotation carrying out wide.

"Point-five percent," Teak said, "That's—"

They kept going, mapping out the points of impact and then went on to redo it all with ranged weaponry to find out how much of a difference the size of the impact actually had on the drain. By the time the shield had been depleted, charged, and depleted again, they'd used up the remainder of the afternoon entirely.

"Thanks, Lima; I think I have a pretty good idea of how to use it now," Teak said, sitting on the grass. "Sorry if it was boring for you."

Lima dropped down beside him with a grunt of effort before leaning back onto his hands, not at all bothered—he made sure to push the other boy in an attempt to knock him off balance, but Teak was aware enough of the potential threat to brace himself.

"I can't believe you wouldn't let me try and one-shot it," Lima complained, "That would have been so cool."

"No way," Teak said, "You might have overloaded it."

"You're going to need a way to deploy it more quickly, though," Lima said, watching some of the older students crossing the path that led to the landing zone. "The Grimm aren't going to wait for you to do a system check beforehand."

Teak hummed in agreement, plucking at the grass between his legs without actually ripping it out—Lima caught a flash of white hair that might have been Weiss over the railing, but it was gone a few moments later.

"Claire said you're going home for the break," Teak said, eyes on the grass. "To see your family."

"I am," Lima said with a nod. "Did she tell you how much she wantedyouto meet her parents?"

Teak glanced over at him for a minute, searching his face for something—maybe some kind of tell that he was lying or just messing with him about it.

"She didn't," Teak said. "Isthattrue?"

"Very true," Lima said, unbothered by the doubt. "You should introduce them both to your mum as well."

"Bothof them?" Teak said, ducking his head. "Do you think they'd even want to?"

"Absolutely," Lima said. "Besides, it will be a solid revenge for the time they kept making all those weird noises while you were on that voice call—oh Teak, when are you coming back to bed—"

"Don't remind me of that," Teak said, waving his hands around in alarm. "My mum keeps saying howproudshe is that I've got so many girlfriends—"

Lima laughed out loud at the words.

"She sounds awesome—I want to meet your mum as soon as I get back," Lima decided, pumping a fist in the air. "Then I'm going to ask her to bemygirlfriend."

"Lima," Teak strangled out, "You—"

Teak tackled him down onto the grass, the shorter boy's initiative allowing him to take the full mount before he was really ready to contest him. Lima's laughter was muffled by the hand that was attempting to seal itself over his mouth, but he managed to turn his head to the side enough to speak.

"Meand your mother, Teak." Lima teased, pulling his arms up to guard his face. "We're going to go ondates—"

"No dates," Teak cried out, fighting to get through his guard. "You'rewaytoo young for her."

Teak, flustered that he couldn't manage it, dropped all of his weight down, and attempted to smother him instead. Lima wrapped his arms around the boy's back, shifted his weight, and then twisted, planting Teak on his back in the grass. Teak struggled to keep him from breaking free, managing to take hold of the collar of his uniform and then locking his feet behind Lima's back.

"Just think about it," Lima said, working to break the boy's hold on his collar. "You and I could mess around during the day, and me and yourmumcould mess around at night—I'm talking aboutsexTeak—"

Teak's outraged response was muffled by the flesh of Lima's forearm pushing against his face—and while the words were entirely incomprehensible, itsoundedpassionate enough that he couldn't help but believe him. Teak managed to roll them back over again, regaining the mount with a burst of energy as his fighting spirit was ignited. Lima snatched hold of Teak's hair and pulled the boy's head down until his face was smushed against the chest of his uniform, seeking to maintain some control of the now wild boy—Lima realised his mistake a moment later as Teak bit down on the front of his uniform, catching hold of a chunk of pectoral muscle as he went.

"Don't eat me," Lima cried in protest. "I'm not food—"

#

Library, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"I mean, it has to be some kind of joke," Lima said, leaning back until his chair was balancing on two legs. "Why wouldLuxwant to meet us in the library of all places—is this the obligatory bodyswap episode?"

"We better test it," Claire said, touching a finger to her chin in thought. "Teak—want to fight?"

"It's annoying that you automatically assume she swapped bodies withme," Teak said, scrunching his face up. "It could be literally anyone else."

"You were born in a library," Claire contested, "It makes sense that it's you."

"That's a good point," Lima said, impressed. "If Teak isinLux's body—"

"Excuseme?" Lux said, approaching the table. "What the hell doesin my bodymean?"

Claire lifted both of her hands into the air, made a tight loop with one, and then slowly pressed a finger inside in a gesture that couldn't possibly be misconstrued—Lima laughed out loud at the betrayed look on Teak's face.

"It'sthis, right?" Claire taunted. "Busted."

"Claire," Teak managed. "You're being gross, and people arelooking."

"Everybody shut the hell up," Lux said, slapping a plain paper-wrapped book down on the table directly in front of Teak. "I don't know what Lima infected you all with, butthisis what I wanted to show you—"

Lima made a pleased noise in the back of his throat at the facthewas the one getting the credit when he'd barely done anything at all.

"You found a book," Claire said, sucking in a breath. "In thelibrary?"

"I'm seriously going to start hitting people," Lux warned, lifting a fist up. "I've got enough for all of you."

"I didn'tdoanything," Teak protested. "Don't hitme."

"She's still violent," Lima wondered. "So it can't be a bodyswap episode—I'm going to fall—"

Lima flailed his arms around in an attempt to regain his balance as she booted the leg of his precarious balance chair before quickly sitting forward and using the table to settle once more.

"Lux," Teak tried, leaning forward to study the obvious but unmarked packaging. "What book did you get?"

Lux, who'd been impatiently waiting for someone to finally ask, seemed to preen at the words.

"Open it," Lux said, planting her hands on her hips. "Hurry up."

Teak appeared more than a bit startled at the knowledge that he was now the centre of attention.

"You bought him apresent?" Lima said, a bit taken aback. "Whoa."

"That's actually adorable," Claire admitted. "I'm totally cheering for you two."

Lux let out something of a nervous laugh at the words, clearly uncomfortable with how the situation was progressing and probably revisiting whatever had compelled her to do this while the entire team was present. Teak seemed to shift a bit as well, but his eyes remained glued to the package, apparently taken in by the mystery of it all.

"It's more like—ateamthing or something," Lux hedged, suddenly unable to look at any of them. "Teak can read it first, but I want to read it after."

Teak carefully reached down and pulled open the thread keeping the packaging shut. Lima watched with interest as the boy flipped it open, and carefully unwrapped the paper, making an effort not to tear it. A familiar-looking book was revealed, with the same golden lettering and the exact same title—except the number on the front was different.

"The second Ozymandias Journal," Teak said, stunned. "I already tried to order it, but there haven't been any copies for sale inmonths—where did you evengetthis?"

Lux seemed to regain some of her confidence at the positive reaction, her teeth showing through as a pleased smile took over her face.

"I called Tukson and made him put a buyer listing out for me," Lux said, flashing a smile. "I got annoyed when nobody answered it right away, so I made him double it a few times—someone finally sold one at the end of last week, and it just came in."

"Rich girl," Lima accused.

"That's where you went this morning," Claire said, clicking her fingers. "If you were going down to Vale, you should have taken us with you."

"That would have ruined the surprise," Lux said before glancing down at Teak. "Well—do you like it?"

Teak turned to look up at her, the journal cradled in his hands and his eyes practically shining.

"Ido," Teak said, "You're amazing, Lux."

Lux turned away from them for a moment, hands linked behind her back, and so obviously flustered with the praise that it was impossible for any of them to have missed it. Lima shook his head at the sight of the journal, still unable to believe there was something she appreciated other than beating the crap out of people—and that it waspoetic writing,of all things.

#

Workshop A4, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"This is so stupid," Lux said, fretting over her mostly assembled glove. "Does this evenlooklike it's sitting properly?"

"It'sfine," Lima insisted. "Exactly how many times are you going to unscrew it?"

"Until itsitsproperly, you—" Lux hissed before sucking in a breath. "I heard a click—there, it'sperfect."

"Are you sure?" Lima hedged, immediately flipping his position. "I could swear it's sticking up a couple of—"

"Shut up," Lux moaned, smacking her forehead against the desk. "Shut up, shut up, shut up—"

Lima laughed at the reaction—he'd already tried teasing her about making something that looked so similar to his own project—in that, it wasalsoa glove—but she didn't seem to care about the originality argument at all. Turns out that they actually had something in common after all, and it was that Lux could be just as fussy about these kinds of things as he was.

"I'm messing with you," Lima said, "It's definitely flush—now get it together before I accidentally eat your spare battery on purpose, but by mistake."

Lima scuffed his shoes on the ground as if he was going to go after it, and Lux shifted the battery pack in question all the way to the opposite side of her workbench in alarm—then, when she realised she'd reacted to such a stupid threat, she flushed.

"You'retryingto piss me off," Lux accused. "You must want to die."

"I may as well be dead ifyouwere the one who did me in—because I couldn't ever live it down," Lima taunted before pointing a finger directly at her face. "Lux, what are you doing for the break?"

Lux narrowed her eyes at the sudden change in topic, clearly expecting some kind of trap, but he leaned back against the edge of the desk, content to wait out her suspicion.

"I'm staying here," Lux said, "It would be a hassle to organise a trip back to Vacuo—andit would be completely boring because I'd have nobody good to fight."

"You don't want to see your family?" Lima asked.

"They'd make me do a whole bunch of annoying things as soon as I got back," Lux huffed, "I'd rather just stay here."

"What about seeing your old school buddies," Lima said, tilting his head. "You don't want to catch up with anyone?"

"Everyone at Oscuro was a total loser," Lux said without a care. "So I don't have anyone like that."

Lima just nodded at the words, half expecting it.

"Teak and Claire are going down to Vale—you should make sure they don't get lonely while I'm gone," Lima said, watching her. "They both want you to meet their parents, too, so you better say yes when they ask."

Lux looked unsettled at the words or maybe at the seriousness with which he said them.

"Why would they want me to do that?" Lux said, "I'll just—mess it up."

"Because you're their friend now, and that means you have to do annoying things," Lima said, "It's part of the rules, rich girl, and nobody cares if you mess it up."

"Why don'tyouhave to do it then?" Lux said, looking away. "You're running away like a coward."

"I'm going to make an effort to meet everybody's parents as soon as I get back," Lima said, "For those two, at least—not surewhenwe'll be able to catch a ride to Vacuo, but I want to meet yours as well."

"My parents wouldhateyou," Lux said, staring at him. "Completely."

"I can live with that," Lima said with an upwards nod. "I'll introduce you to Sage whenever we end up on Anima—he'll fight you as many times as you want, trust me."

Lux looked a bit torn at the idea, clearly stuck between the idea of actually meeting his guardian and her desire to test herself against the man.

"Icouldjust get us both an airship to Mistral," Lux said, "Teak and Claire can throw their parents at each other and come with us—"

"Denied," Lima said, shaking his head. "I want you to suffer, so you have to do it properly."

"You suck," Lux said, fiddling with the glove in her lap. "They won't even like me."

"Who cares?" Lima said, "Teak likes you, Claire likes you, andIlike you—that should be enough, brighteyes."

There was a long silence in the wake of his comment, in which Lux refused to take her eyes off the glove and risk making eye contact with him, but he remained in place, giving her the time she needed to come to a decision—he caught the moment she glanced over at the table where Claire and Teak were huddled up.

"Fine," Lux muttered. "I'll do it."

"Good," Lima said, nodding. "Now get up already—it's time to flash Mulberry."

"Don't say it like that," Lux said, scrunching her face up. "You idiot."

Despite the words, she rose to her feet without pause, the glove hanging from her fingers as she cut into the aisle. The movement seemed to attract the attention of their teammates, who both looked up with interest as she approached Mulberry's desk. The man took the glove from her, and the two had a quiet conversation that was far too faint for anybody to really make out. Eventually, the man lifted it up, turned it away from his face, and then set it off—a blinding flash of light illuminated the entire front wall, and despite it not being pointed at them, it still left Lima with a few odd spots in his vision.

Lux idled at the desk for a few moments longer, one of her shoes twisting impatiently on the floor before she took the glove back and turned towards them. Lima raised both of his eyebrows in expectation and lifted his head a fraction, the unspoken question clear. Lux pulled the glove onto her hand, the elastic material snapping tight against her palm—the smile on her face was answer enough.

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

"What's wrong with our normal table?" Lima complained, trying and failing to dig his heels into the smooth floor of the Dining Hall. "I don'twantto be social."

Claire continued to push him forward, her palms pressed flat against his back—he could have put a stop to it if he'd really wanted, but then she'd stop touching him, and he'd be forced to trail on behind them anyway, or else eat dinner by himself like a loser.

"Too bad," Claire said, "It's been ages since we've hung out with anyone else, and we won't really see any of them until after the break."

"We'll see them in class," Lima said, crossing his arms. "Every single day."

"One meal isn't going to kill you," Claire insisted, shoving him forward. "Stop being difficult."

He managed to catch his balance before he could fall entirely onto Yang, and then, as punishment for trying to bully him, he took the seat beside her so that Claire couldn't have it—the absolute look of betrayal on her face was almost enough to bring a tear to his eye. Yang, Ruby and Blake all straightened up a bit, while Weiss remained entirely unaware of their arrival, her exhausted, slumped-over posture leaving her cheek to rest flat against the table.

"Yang, Blake," Lima said in greeting. "Melted ice cube."

Ruby puffed up her cheeks at being completely overlooked, so he made a big show of suddenly noticing her, his expression the picture of surprise; he opened his mouth as if to greet her—and then turned away without saying anything at all.

"Hey," Ruby said in protest. "I'm here too."

"Hello Ruby," Teak said, taking the seat beside her. "Don't pay him any mind; he's just doing it to annoy you."

"I amnotan ice cube," Weiss managed.

"Not anymore, but that's because you melted," Lima said with great patience. "The question remains—who isresponsiblefor this monstrous act of defrosting?"

"Our dear,sweetWeiss decided it would be a good idea to stay upall nightin an attempt to finish her project," Yang said, tapping her fork on her empty plate. "Now we're spending the day learning about the importance of keeping proper sleep patterns—aren't we?"

Yang dragged the tip of her fork across the surface of her plate like an absolutely unhinged degenerate, sending a screeching, demented noise ringing out—just about everyone reacted to it with some degree of horror. Weiss couldn't seem to lift her head up, so she made a sluggish, blind grab in the direction of the sound, almost scattering her own untouched plate of food across the table in the process.

"You know I hate that—" Ruby cried, covering her ears. "Yang."

"Sorry, sorry," Yang said, grinning. "Accident."

Claire dropped down into the seat beside the still-moving corpse and leaned down next to her ear—whatever she was saying was too quiet for him to make out from across the table, but Weiss kind of flapped her hand in something approaching communication.

"Buzzing, thumping,grinding," Ruby said, anguished. "At one point, I could have sworn she set the room on fire."

Weiss managed to lift her head for the first time, giving her teammate what was perhaps the most muted expression of outrage Lima had ever seen from her.

"In her defence," Lima said, "Weiss only does that to forests, not dormitories."

"That'sinher defence?" Blake said, her cheek planted firmly on the palm of her hand. "Your Honor, sheisan arsonist—but onlykindof, sometimes."

Yang laughed out loud at the words before letting the fork in her hand dangle dangerously close to her plate again. Lima kept one eye on it, just in case, because he wasn't sure he could withstand another attack of that magnitude—surprising everybody at the table, Claire somehow managed to get Weiss to sit up properly.

"What brought you guys over here, anyway?" Yang said, twirling the fork between her fingers. "Something interesting going on?"

"Claire has beenbeggingus for weeks—" Lux started.

Claire's head snapped up in alarm, but Teak came to her rescue before she could be thrown entirely under the bus.

"—to ask you what you were doing for the break," Teak said, interjecting. "Claire, Lux and I are all staying here while Lima is going to Mistral."

Lux scrunched her face up at the interjection before folding her arms on the table and dropping her chin down on top of them.

"Have we even talked about that yet?" Yang wondered. "Ruby—whatarewe doing?"

"Dad will definitely want us to come home," Ruby said, furrowing her brow. "At least for a couple of weeks."

"We'll do that then," Yang decided. "He can come to visit us in the city during the last half—yeah?"

"Yeah," Ruby said, nodding. "Cool."

"Blake?" Yang asked, tilting her head. "You staying or going home—where are you even from, anyway?"

Lima caught the sudden odd shift in Blake's shoulders at the question, like she'd been bracing herself for it—her face, already angled away from the rest of the table, hiding her expression from view. All at once, he realised that shehadn'tconfided in her team at all, and now she was stuck between lying about where she was from and telling them that her family was from Menagerie—something which would immediately reveal her as a Faunus to everybody present.

"Hold on," Lima said, playing defence. "I'm still trying to picture a being that could spawn a beautiful, athletic, and powerful girl like Yang—andalso a Ruby."

Yang brushed off her shoulders as if she'd just done something particularly and impressively strenuous while Ruby let out a squawk of protest at the fact that he hadn't given her even asingledescriptor of her own.

"Lima," Claire warned, "Be nice."

"Oh,youknow, it could have beenanyone, really," Yang said, flapping a hand at them in an attempt to play coy. "Psych—I was pretty muchalwaysgoing to be the complete package; I mean, come on, it'sme."

Blake shifted, realigning her palm so she could see the rest of the table again.

"So humble," Blake said, "I'll be staying here as well—Weiss, what are you doing?"

The words carried none of the previous tension, and she wasted no time in passing the conversational ball straight onto to someone else, using the distraction to avoid answering Yang's original question—and from what best Lima could tell, nobody had managed to catch it. Weiss, on the other hand, looked as if she was trying to figure out how to sleep while sitting up, and Claire's arm was probably the only thing actually keeping her upright. The question took about twice as long to register with her as it should have, her tired, sluggish mind grappling with it as best she could.

"Staying," Weiss murmured. "Home—isn't very fun right now."

Lux rocked her head forward in agreement, chin still pressed against her arms and in a gesture that was vaguely reminiscent of a nod. There was a series of glances exchanged between the rest of the group, and the only thing Lima was sure of was that he didn't have the context to really understand what she was alluding to, something that didn't seem all that uncommon amongst the others—there was a shift in the lighting behind him, his shadow on the table abruptly changing direction, and informing him that someone had come to stand behind him.

"Lima?" Jaune said. "Can I borrow you for a few minutes?"

#

Training Room A9, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The training room was entirely unoccupied, and the sound of their footsteps seemed to carry oddly in the empty space. Lima had been entirely unsuccessful in goading the boy into revealing his intentions before they got there, but he was pretty sure he'd narrowed it down to a fight to the death or—

"You've fallen madly in love with me," Lima decided, "This is a confession, isn't it?"

"What?" Jaune said in alarm. "No, it's not—I just—kind of need your help with something."

"It's not about your project, or we'd be in the workshop," Lima wondered. "Well, that, and I don't really know anything about jetpacks in the first place."

"I gave up on the jetpack idea; it was way too complicated," Jaune said, shaking his head. "But it's not that either—it's about Pyrrha."

Lima tilted his head at the words—so this was a continuation of the conversation they'd had a while back.

"What's the problem?" Lima asked.

Jaune seemed to take a moment to figure out exactly how he was going to say it and then a few more to check on whether or not anybody else had managed to sneak into the empty room without either of them noticing.

"Look, no matter what I do, I can't beat Pyrrha—it's not even that I can'tbeather, really," Jaune said, stumbling a bit in his explanation. "I can't seem to—it's like, every single day she helps me practice, it's pretty much theexact same thing, and it feels like I'm not makinganyprogress at all—or, or like I'm gettingworse."

Lima leaned back against the wall for a moment, content to hear him out.

"Maybe Iamgetting better, but even if that's true, I can't evenseeit—because she's so far ahead of me that I can't even tell the difference," Jaune said, putting his face in his hand. "Any time I feel like I've managed to make a breakthrough, it doesabsolutely nothingto help me win."

Jaune stopped for a moment, looking flustered and as if he was about to shut down or attempt to steal back everything he'd said in an effort to contain his rising embarrassment.

"Keep going," Lima said, "I'm listening."

"I—I've tried fighting her with weapons. I've tried fighting herwithoutweapons. I've tried using my height advantage to keep her away. I've triedtrickingher and fighting dirty. I'vetriedoverwhelming her with brute force, butnone of it works." Jaune said, deflating with each one. "I went to Ren for advice, and he told me to be patient, that in time I'll grow to better match her—I made themistakeof asking Nora, and she spentthreedays smacking me around with her hammer to 'strengthen my body' like I'm some kind of hero from a book."

Lima was having some difficulty reconciling Jaune's general good nature with what was, at first glance, looking like a bizarre and unhinged desire to win against an opponent he outright knew was superior in just about every metric—it was an attitude far more appropriate for someone like Lux, then him.

"Why do youwantto beat her?" Lima asked.

Jaune flinched a bit at the question.

"To show that all of thishasn'tbeen a waste—I guess I'm still worried that if I don't start getting any better, then she really is just wasting her time on me," Jaune managed, struggling with it all. "If nothing ever changes, or it turns out I really am just useless after all, then she's going to be trapped helping me forever because she's too nice to ever say anything."

It was all of the same anxious thoughts he'd expressed the last time, only magnified by several months of getting the gap between them shoved in his face once a day, every day.

"Jaune, not to kick you while you're down or anything, man, but you're not going to beat her any time soon," Lima said without sugarcoating it. "Ren's advice is one-hundred-percent the truth here; you're going to need to be patient about this."

"That's what I was afraid of," Jaune murmured.

"I think you've been staring at the sun too long, and now you've become completely blind to how much you've grown since the start of the year," Lima said, "Do you even remember the first timewehad to duel each other in class? It wassobad that I was pretty sure you'd hadzeroexperience with fighting—"

"That's because Ididn'thave any experience," Jaune groaned, rubbing at his eyes in obvious frustration. "I know that rationally I must have gotten better since then, but—"

Lima paused, halfway towards making a joke about it, when the first half of what he said finally registered. Jaune had gone to Signal, at least; that's what Lima recalled from the conversation, which meant that he'd had at least four years of combat training—only, from what he remembered, Jaune hadalmostbeen as bad as Teak, a boy who hadn't gone to a combat school at all.

"Jaune," Lima said, interjecting. "Whydidn'tyou have any experience fighting when you went to Signal forfour years?"

It seemed to take a moment for him to register what the question actually meant, but the second he did, it was obvious something was wrong—his shoulders tightened up until he looked like he was about to collapse in on himself, his face paled, and he opened his mouth, but no words seemed to come out. It was such a sudden, visceral reaction that Lima almost wanted to rescind the question entirely and tell him not to worry about it.

"I did have experience," Jaune said after a very long moment. "I'm just not very good."

If it hadn't been for his pale face and the complete tonal transformation he'd just undergone, Lima might have actually believed such a casual answer. Therewerepeople like Ruby running around, after all, who had spent at least two years at a combat school and still couldn't throw a punch—but Ruby had a level of mastery over her chosen weapon that put her squarely at the top of their class, whereas Jaune seemed to be starting from just about zero on all fronts.

"You just lied to me," Lima said with rising interest. "Now, why would you go and do something likethat?"

"I'm not lying," Jaune tried.

"If I went back and asked Claire, Ruby or Yang if they ever saw you at Signal," Lima said, searching the boy's face. "What would they say?"

Jaune covered his face with his hand again, clearly struggling.

"They will say no because I didn'tgothere," Jaune managed after a long pause. "I didn't go to a combat school at all."

"So you're like Teak?" Lima said, furrowing his brow. "Why wouldn't you just say that?"

"I'm not like Teak," Jaune said, "I didn't take the NCS."

"That leaves the one-day recommendation exam for trained fighters that have never attended a combat school," Lima said, tilting his head. "You definitely didn't pass that—no offence."

"None taken," Jaune sighed.

"You didn't go to a combat school, you didn't take the NCS, and you didn't do the one-day recommendation exam," Lima said, summarising it. "Don't tell me you just wandered into the airship by mistake and then accidentally passed the entrance exam—are youactuallythe girl from theAccidental Huntress?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not a girl, and I'm definitely not a comic book heroine, so no," Jaune said, rubbing at his face. "I didn't do any of those things to get in, Lima—I cheated my way into Beacon Academy."

"How the heck did you do that?" Lima said.

"It's kind of a long story," Jaune said, swallowing. "The short answer is that I paid someone to forge my transcripts—"

"Paidsomeone?" Lima said, "You're skipping over way too much—give me the long version."

Jaune looked like he was unsure whether he wanted to do something like that, but Lima just crossed his arms in expectation.

"I tried to get into Signal when I was thirteen, but I failed the written exam," Jaune murmured, "I hadn't hit my growth spurt yet, so I was skinny and still only about as short as you are now—so I couldn't even make it to the end of the obstacle course either."

The long version was in need of someseriousimprovements, starting withfarfewer comparisons to his height—he was also overcome with the need to punch thirteen-year-old Jaune in the face for having the audacity to be sotall.

"I'd spent so much time running around and telling everyone that I was going to become a Huntsman, but I never really did anything to make it happen," Jaune said, shaking his head. "I didn't study. I didn't practice—I wasted all that time just sayingwordsand ended up doing nothing to make it real."

"I'd been so confident about getting in, and then I just—didn't," Jaune said, staring at the floor with a kind of distant but still present disbelief. "I stopped talking to everyone from school, and I enrolled at a civilian school on the other side of Vale to make sure I didn't run into any of my old friends—I felt so humiliated, and I couldn't stand the thought of them seeing me after I—"

Jaune trailed off, now scrubbing at his eyes with the side of his hand.

"But even after all of that, Istillwanted to be a Huntsman," Jaune said, "I kept going through periods where I'd start exercising, but it never seemed to last for more than a few months, and then I'd be back in my room, doing nothing at all."

Jaune gritted his teeth for a moment and then blew an explosive breath out of his nose.

"Before I knew it, four years had passed, and I was exactly where I'd been at the start of it all, with the burning desire to be a Huntsman and without having done any of the work to get there," Jaune said, with a tortured, self-deprecating laugh. "The enrollment for Beacon Academy was coming up; I didn't have transcripts from a Combat School, and I knew I couldn't pass the NCS or the one-day recommendation exam."

"So you paid for forged transcripts," Lima said, in understanding. "How did you figure that part out?"

"I had a friend at school who had some pretty shady relatives, and he gave me the name of someone who might be able to help me—I ended up having to go to this night club in downtown Vale," Jaune admitted, "I spoke with a man named Junior, and he told me he'd help, but that I'd have to pay a lot to make it happen."

"Where did you get the money?" Lima asked.

"My parents have a bank account for my sisters and me, one for each of us, with money they'd saved up to pay for our secondary education," Jaune said, turning to lean against the wall beside him. "I took everything out of mine without asking for permission and went back to the club—then I just handed it over to him."

"Holy—talk about a leap of faith," Lima said, "What would you have done if he'd just taken it and then kicked you out?"

"Nothing," Jaune admitted. "I was desperate."

"What did your parents do when they found out you took the money?" Lima asked. "I'd have given you a surprise, on-the-spot circumcision if you'd donemelike that, J-dog."

"Remind me never to steal from you," Jaune said, wincing at the words. "They didn't actually find out until I was already at Beacon—and I've kind of been avoiding their calls ever since."

"That can't last forever," Lima asked. "You going to go see them over the break?"

"I can't," Jaune said, furiously shaking his head. "They know I didn't go to Signal, and they know I'm not good enough to get in here on my own—I can't go home until I've actually earned my place here."

"I'm pretty sure parents can request to come uphereover the break," Lima warned, "What are you going to do if they show up at your door with a pair of little scissors?"

Jaune didn't seem to enjoy the mental image or his attempts to mime it out in all the horrific detail he could manage with his fingers—snip, snip,snip.

"I'm going to stay with one of my sisters," Jaune said, "She lives in Argus, so there's no way they could just turn uptherewithout me having some kind of warning first."

"Argus, huh?" Lima said, nodding. "You taking the train?"

"Yeah," Jaune said, "On the first day of break—Pyrrha is leaving on the same day as well, so she's coming with me."

"Looks like I'll have some company then, at least until I get off at Mistral," Lima said, reaching out and smacking his fist into the taller boy's bicep. "Jaune—you've already earned your place here, dumbass."

"You're talking about the entrance exam," Jaune said, covering the spot where he'd been struck. "I only passed because I had Pyrrha with me."

"The only reasonanyonepassed that exam was that they had somebody else with them," Lima said, rolling his eyes. "They designed it that way for a reason—and they were watching us through the security feed, so your own abilities were being judged as well."

"Then I got lucky," Jaune said, "Because I don't think I did anything except get in the way and look like a fool."

"Fine, scratch the entrance exam," Lima said, "How many Grimm do you think the average civilian has killed in their life?"

Jaune looked more than a bit off balance at the sudden change in direction the conversation was taking.

"Zero?" Jaune guessed. "One,maybe?"

"You've killed more Grimm in Port's lessons thananyoneelse in the class, with the singular exception of Teak," Lima said, "I know this to be true because Port's funnelling them towards the least experienced members of the class, which is why I've got to kill exactly zero of them since I got here."

"Anyone could—" Jaune started.

"If you're about to say thatanyonecould kill a few Grimm like they aren't dangerous or that it doesn't mean anything at all," Lima said, glancing up at the boy. "I'm going to kick the sh*t out of you, for real."

There was a long silence between them as Jaune took in the seriousness of the threat, and Lima attempted to push away the flash of anger that Jaune's words had caused within him.

"I didn't mean to say anyone," Jaune said with far more care. "It was more like—the people in our class can all do that."

"Youcan do it now as well, so don't forget that you're training to be a Huntsmanalongsidethe rest of us—you haven't failed any of the practicals yet,noneof us has," Lima said, "Besides if the instructors didn't think you were worthy to be here, you'd have been back in Vale by now."

"Maybe," Jaune said, still sounding a bit uncertain. "I just wish I wasn't so farbehind—ugh—sorry for dumping all of this on you, Lima."

"Don't be—if you ever want to talk about this stuff, you can always come to me, so don't worry about it," Lima said, shaking his head. "Whatever happens, keep working hard, and eventually, you'll be able to ride back home a hero—parents aren't allowed to stay angry if everything works out in the end; I'm pretty sure that's part of the rules."

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Library, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The first day of the break was rapidly approaching, and it seemed to have infected everyone with a spark of unruly energy—conversely, Lima found himself feeling tenser the closer it came, and an odd feeling of discomfort began to grow in his chest. The weight and complexity of the lessons hadn't been reduced in the slightest, and every day ended up being so busy that it left him without the time to figure out exactlywhathe was feeling.

"—don't get cranky, and even if I did, it wouldn't be about this," Lux insisted, "Because I finished reading it last night."

"Youdid?" Teak said, interjecting. "That means we can finally talk about it."

"We could have talked about it before," Lux said, "I already told you that I don't care about spoilers."

"Yeah," Lima said, "Buthecares enough for all four of us—give us the highlights, brighteyes."

Lux retrieved the journal from her bag, placed it on the table, and then flipped it open. She'd stuck about two dozen folded-up pieces of card inside as a series of bookmarks, not unlike what she'd done with the first journal.

"Which page is that?" Teak said, leaning forward to try and see. "Oh—I know the part; it's written using a sort of repetition of duality."

Lux made a pleased noise in the back of her throat at the description.

"Read it out loud so I don't have to do any work," Claire said, "But make sure it's in character—and do it withgravitas."

"Shutup," Lux said, scrunching her face up. "I'm not doing it like that—just listen."

Lux shifted the bookmark around for a moment before clearing her throat in preparation to read out the line.

"Two brothers, dark and light, evil and good, the pool and the fountain, immortality, and something far more twisted," Lux said, pronouncing the words with care. "Purpose drowns me, an unspeakable turmoil born of duty and desire, of decisions made in haste, and an eternity spare for regret."

Lima whistled at the passage, feeling a bit impressed with her choice, but he couldn't help but wonder at the oddity amidst the general pattern—he leant forward in an attempt to get eyes on the text, but she shifted it as if to protect it from him.

"I think I see what you meant about duality," Claire said, tilting her head. "Does he pair a lot of things like that?"

"It's more like a mirror than a standard pair, but he does use it several times," Teak said, nodding. "Dark and light, evil and good—it's one of the few times he makes such a stark distinction in morality."

"It's beautiful," Lux declared.

"There's a mistake in it, though," Lima said, craning his neck. "Can I see it for a minute?"

"A mistake?" Teak said, blinking. "Where?"

Lux hesitated for a moment before placing it down where they could all see it; the passage in question was floating on its own, detached from the surrounding text, and separated out by a pair of curvy lines above and below it. Lima scanned the words again, reading them in his head—

Two brothers, dark and light, evil and good, the pool and the fountain, immortality, and something far more twisted. Purpose drowns me, an unspeakable turmoil born of duty and desire, of decisions made in haste, and an eternity spare for regret.

—but it wasn't until he got to the end of the first line that he was sure.

"The end of the first passage is reversed;Immortality and something far more twisted," Lima said, "The rest of the line is bad first, good second—butthatone is good first, bad second."

Lux glanced down at the words and then back up at him, the motion quick enough that he doubted she'd had enough time to really confirm what he was saying.

"You noticed something likethat?" Claire said, "It's all word salad to me unless I'm looking directly at it."

"Did he flip it around because it flowed better?" Teak said, furrowing his brow. "Actually, maybe it's not a mistake—twisted doesn't necessarily meanworse; it could mean something closer to distorted or strange."

Lux sat back for a moment, watching them all with an expression Lima couldn't quite identify—but he was starting to wonder if he hadn't accidentally pissed her off by pointing it out.

"Immortality and something far moredistorted?" Claire said, "It doesn't have the same ring to it."

"If it'snota mistake, then that means he thinksimmortalityis the bad guy, andfar more distortedis the good guy," Lima pointed out, still watching Lux out of the corner of his eye. "Which doesn't really make sense, does it?"

"I don't think it translates well to personification because immortality isn'tgoodorbad, but the person who holds thattraitmight be either," Teak said with interest. "Maybe the second is a trait as well, but it's referencing a more distortedformof immortality, like a memory or a story that fades andtwistsaway from the truth over time—"

"I didn't think it would be like this," Lux said, voice quiet. "But you guys are actually pretty cool after all."

Lima felt a flash of something bright in his chest, and then when he reached for a response to her words, he couldn't quite find anything—but the strange, painful ache that had been steadily rising up in him vanished, temporarily dispelled.

"Whoa," Claire said, reeling back from the book until she was sitting up straight. "Did she actually say that, or did I just imagine it?"

"Lux," Teak managed. "Did something happen?"

"Stop looking at me likethat—you're making a big deal out of nothing," Lux said, turning her head away. "Go back to talking about the passage already."

#

Malachite 's Dormitory, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Lima sat up in bed, the early morning silence disturbed only by the quiet and familiar pattern of breathing. The uncomfortable feeling that had been plaguing him had finally coalesced into something he could actually recognise—an odd thread of sadness and a daunting realisation that the next few hours were the last time he'd actually get to see the three of them before the break played itself out. No more silly arguments, no more quiet smiles. No more loaded warnings, playful teasing, or friendly jostling. No more early morning Yoga, no more late afternoon team sparring, and no more sneaking out after dark to sit under the stars. No more moments like this, where he could just be alone with his thoughts while knowing that he wasn't reallyaloneat all.

It was funny just how attached he'd grown to the three of them in such a relatively short amount of time. Three monthswasn'ta particularly long time, but after being smashed together in a single room, it felt like he'd been with them for a lifetime. Even knowing that he would only be away for a few short weeks did nothing to dampen the discomfort. It was a reflection of his feelings towards Sage and how he hadn't quite realised how much he would miss the man until he'd fled the continent. Looking back now, with the clarity hindsight had afforded him, he'd felt the very same thing when they'd left Midori behind in Mistral when his enrollment at Sanctum had been finalised. Even earlier, he could recall muted flashes of the same thing when Danube had left him and his mother to rot in Kuchinashi.

It occurred to him now that he would be forever stuck missingsomebody—in Vale, he'd been thinking of Sage and Midori, but in Mistral, he'd be longing for this room and its sleeping occupants. He'd doomed himself by coming to Beacon Academy, but even knowing how uncomfortable the liminal space between the two groups was, he refused to ever think of it as a mistake. If he hadn't come here, then he'd have never met a small, nervous boy in the airship terminal coffee shop, the too-forward, too-aggressive, and too-sharp girl who'd stolen his shampoo, or the sometimes invisible but impossibly enthralling girl who'd wrapped her arms around him on the rooftop.

Eventually, he'd come to a point where he was stuck between his responsibility to his team and his love for his family—and he'd have to make a decision on which one would take the primary role in his life. It hadn't really caught his attention that the teams that were built in Academies often stuck together long after they graduated, for decades—or even sometimes for life—and if they were going to be one of those, then they'd have to prepare themselves for a life-changing compromise. Teak and Claire were citizens of Vale, whose families both lived in the same area. Lux was from Vacuo, more than half a continent away. While Lima himself hailed from Anima, a place where his family also resided.

Wherever the bulk of the missions took them would likely be where they planted their own roots as a team, and that meant that no matter what,someonewould be cut off from their family for long stretches of time. Constantly roaming the world wasn't exactly convenient for anyone, and they had a three-way continental split to consider. Eventually, they'd come to a moment where they had to make that decision, and someone would be asked to make the sacrifice. It was like a sheet of expectation, pulled across his heart, and stretching in far too many directions at once; he just wondered how long it would be until it tore under the strain—the sound of a bed shifting caught his attention.

Lima watched as Claire lifted her arm up to her face in a somewhat failed attempt to defeat the thin beam of light that was piercing through the window. He leaned against the headboard, the light that was trickling into the room making it possible to see for the first time—she'd kicked the sheets down at some point during the night, leaving her body mostly uncovered, and her shirt was now bunched up dangerously high on her chest. The uncovered skin of her belly had something of a magnetic hold over him, and despite trying, Lima couldn't seem to keep his gaze away.

"Lima," Teak murmured, "Are you awake?"

Teak shifted as he spoke, pushing himself up until he was sitting against the headboard. Lima felt an uncomfortable amount of relief that at least one of them had woken up before it was time for him to leave.

"No, darling, this is actually one of your super steamy dreams," Lima said. "Should I take my clothes off now—or do you want to studyfirst, so we can really set the mood?"

"I don't have dreams like that," Teak insisted, "Darling."

"Worth a try," Lima said, "Did you sleep much?"

"I feel like I was awake all night," Teak said, rubbing at his eyes. "This feels weird."

Lima nodded at the comment, weird was a good way to put it, and it seemed to encapsulate everything he was feeling pretty well. They sat in silence after that, the shifting of blankets and changes in breathing making it pretty clear that the other two were awake now, if unannounced. That same strange tension in the room seemed to spread out, lingering amongst the fading shadows.

"I've kind of gotten used to everyone's alarms going nuts," Lima said, deciding to just get everything out in one go, "I know the break is only six weeks, but I'm going to miss you guys, you know?"

"I'm going to miss you too," Teak murmured. "Can we work out a time to call you?"

"Pick a date, and I'll sneak into Haven," Lima said, "Shouldn't be too hard to make a long-distance call back here."

"Do youneedto sneak in?" Teak said, a bit concerned. "If your guardian works there, it should be really easy to request at one of the communication hubs."

"That wouldn't be anywhere near as fun," Lima said, "Besides, I want to get eyes on our competition for the Vytal Festival Tournament—what better way to do that than plan a full-scale invasion of Haven Academy?"

"Question," Claire asked, fingers resting on her still-exposed belly. "Do you think you'll miss us more when you're injail—or less?"

"Probably more, so make sure you imagine me crying in a cell all alone, trembling lip, a snotty nose, mascara running down my cheeks," Lima said, "That way, you'll get so worked up that the three of you willhaveto come break me out."

Claire turned on her side to watch him, palm holding her cheek up off the bed—and he felt more than a little bit disappointed that she'd fixed her shirt during the transition.

"You don't even wear mascara," Claire said. "But therestI can totally picture."

"If I'm going to throw myself into battle against the totality of Haven Academy, then I may as well do it while looking my best," Lima said, folding his hands behind his head. "Think I can pull it off—the mascara, not the invasion."

"I'll let you borrow mine when you get back so we can find out," Lux said, speaking up for the first time. "So hold off on the invasion, at least until we can come with you."

"You got it," Lima nodded.

"I'm not sure we should be attempting an invasion in the first place," Teak said, attempting to be the voice of reason amongst them. "Lima—you're comingbackto Beacon, aren't you?"

Lima closed his eyes for a moment, the ache in his chest growing a bit tough to ignore.

"The four of us are going to be known as the single best team that ever came out of this dinky old place," Lima said in answer. "I'mdefinitelycoming back—count on it."

#

Dining Hall, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

The Dining Hall was a relative ghost town compared to the number of students that were usually present for breakfast—ironically enough, the ones who were awake were those that were in the process of running down the clock until the airships arrived to take them away. Those who were staying at Beacon Academy or that were heading down to Vale weren't in nearly as much of a rush to get out of bed, something that left the totality of Team Malachite as something of an oddity.

"You guys don't have to hang around and wait with me," Lima said, "You may as well go back to bed."

"We're going to be waiting around until about eleven anyway, so we may as well see you off," Teak said, shaking his head. "There's no way I could go back to bed now either."

"You're going to leave your mum waiting all that time—Teak, for shame," Lima said, nudging the other boy in the arm. "What did you guys decide on doing anyway?"

"She is the one who suggested the time for all of us to meet up," Teak said, smiling. "We're going to that restaurant that you took us to—Claire's parents are coming as well."

"Yeah? Sounds like fun," Lima said, glancing over at the girl in question. "You bringing that troll of a sister along?"

The comment, which would usually have garnered a look, a laugh, or some kind of chastisem*nt, seemed to fall a bit flat—instead, Claire just kind of fiddled with the hem of her skirt.

"Astra said she was going to come," Claire said, not really looking at him. "But she might get called away at some point."

"Should I bring a gift?" Lux muttered, hands linked together in front of her mouth. "We're meeting them for the first time, but we haven't been invited to theirhome—"

"Just buy the group a dessert platter or something," Lima said, "They can pick what they each want from it, and you can watch them fight over the food."

"That's a good idea," Lux mumbled. "They won't be annoyed by having to carry something around with them afterwards."

Lima shook his head at the girl before leaning back against the table. The atmosphere was so muddled, and he was really starting to wish he didn't have to leave—their presence was making it even harder to manage.

"I'm supposed to go up to the headmaster's office before I leave, and I've only really got about an hour left before the airship gets here," Lima said, planting his hands on his knees and pushing himself up. "So I might ditch you guys now and get it all out of the way before I run out of time."

That seemed to startle the group into the present, and there was a wash of motion as they moved to stand up.

"Oh," Teak said, "Why are you getting called in?"

"I have no idea, honestly," Lima admitted, "I got a notification when I went to the bathroom earlier—my best guess is that it's some kind of follow-up on the Cardin stuff."

"So this is the last time we'll get to see you until you get back?" Teak said, hesitating. "You better make sure you call us at the right time—if you miss it, I'm going to be mad."

Lima spread his arms out towards the shorter boy, the expectation clear, and Teak stepped forward without a pause, allowing him to envelop him in a hug. Lima squeezed just long enough to make it awkward and then kept him trapped there for a bit longer for good measure.

"I never miss," Lima said, giving him a final squeeze. "Tell your mum I can't wait for the sleepover—I'm sure she can teach me a lot."

"Bastard," Teak mumbled. "Bye, Lima."

Lima pulled back, giving him a pat on the shoulder as he stepped back, turning his attention to the other two—Claire looked as if she was seconds away from cracking, her eyes fixed on his shirt, and her lips pressed tight together. Lima felt a pang rise up in response to her sheer concentration, a spark of feeling settling near the back of his eyes. He pushed it down as best he could and stepped forward, pulling her into a hug before she could really brace herself—almost immediately, her attempt at stoicism failed, and she started to shake.

"Don't be sad," Lima said, tightening his hold on her. "I'll be back in no time—then you'll be wishing I stayed away for longer."

"No," Claire managed.

Lima tucked his chin in, just above her ear, and pulled her head down into his shoulder, managing something of a smile towards the other two. Claire's hold on the front of his shirt grew tight, and she managed to even out her ragged breathing enough to speak.

"I'm going to send messages, even if it takes a few days to actually reach you," Claire managed, "Check your Scroll every day, okay?"

"I will," Lima promised, lips shifting against her hair. "Stay safe, Claire."

Lima carefully pulled back, but before he could create any real space between them, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against the side of his mouth. He turned to look at her, startled at what she'd just done, but she had already pulled back. Lima reached up and touched the corner of his mouth before he could really think much more about what he was doing and then flushed a bit when he remembered that they were all watching.

"Claire—gross," Lux said, glancing between them. "You don't know where he's been."

Teak—wide-eyed and apparently without words—found himself being used as a sort of shield as Claire dragged him around to stand in front of her. Lima cleared his throat in an attempt to bury everything he was feeling and then stepped forward, bullying Lux into a hug to complete the set—he could smell his own shampoo all over her hair.

"Great, now he's touching me," Lux said in protest. "If you think I'm kissing you too—"

Lima tightened his hold on her, squeezing until she started to choke a bit at the pressure—he weathered the punch to his ribs without comment, his aura mitigating the damage entirely.

"Youcan kiss myass, brighteyes," Lima said into her ear. "Make sure you take care of them while I'm gone—I'm counting on you, okay?"

He let her go, and she pressed her hand flat against his chest before shoving him back a step—but the expression on her face told him that she understood. The four of them seemed to hesitate at that, and he reached up to clap a hand over the back of his neck in an effort to weather the atmosphere.

"I'll see you guys soon," Lima said, managing a smile. "Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

#

Ozpin 's Office, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Riding the elevator up to Ozpin's office without having an escort made him feel as if he was breaking some kind of rule. He was half expecting the door to open a part way through the upwards journey and for Bestwitch to pry her way inside the metal container, a dozen detentions ready to beat him over the head with. The fact that he hadn't done anything in recent memory to even deserve a meeting like this left him a bit wary—at least before, he'd known exactly what he'd done to get in trouble, and it had served to bolster his confidence. This, on the other hand, felt like an unknowable but looming danger hanging right above his head.

The doors opened in the same instant that the elevator came to a stop. Lima stepped out into the office, eyes immediately searching out the moving mess of cogs and machinery above. He'd thought about it more than once since the last time he'd been up here. Ozpin was standing in the same place he'd been more than a month ago, almost as if he hadn't left the spot, and the man's only sense of continuation came from the moments when people stepped into this room.

"Mister Morta," Ozpin said, eyes still on the window. "I wasn't certain you would come, given how late I decided to send that message."

"It's fine," Lima said, unbothered. "Just so you know, I only have about half an hour before my transport arrives."

"Then I will do my very best to respect what little time you have—and I ask that you forgive me for being both blunt as well as cryptic," Ozpin said, turning around to face him. "I have found myself becoming aware of a situation that may pose a risk of unprecedented loss of life, and the details of which I currently know far too little."

Lima stepped forward, moving from the no man's land between the elevator and the desk to stand almost directly in front of it. His mind, unable to grasp exactly what kind of threat the man could be speaking about, instead turned towards why he was revealing it toLima—astudentwho was probably ranked first or second in the entire year for causing trouble—about it and not someone with more authority to act.

"In service of this issue, I am compelled by my fear to ask an entirely inappropriate, difficult, and potentially life-threatening request of you," Ozpin said, searching his face. "A request that must not be spoken about to another person or alluded to in any way and which I must require the most mindful of discretion in attempting—if you so choose to accept my impending proposal."

Half an hour before Lima started his journey outside of the city to a place halfway across the world, on another continent—the reason Ozpin was speaking to him specifically clicked into place within his mind.

"You want me to do something in Mistral," Lima said, in understanding. "While I'm there for the break."

"Astute of you to notice when I've yet to describe any of the details of my request to you—you are correct; there is an important series of tasks I need you to perform for me in Mistral," Ozpin said, taking a step towards the desk. "The details of this situation are far too muddied to describe to you in so short a time, and so I've carefully constructed a message that contains a more thoughtful breakdown, and you will find it on your Scroll before you leave Vale proper."

The way he said it made it pretty clear that he wasn't particularly inclined to disseminate the information to him in full before then—which is probably why he'd warned him about there being something cryptic coming up.

"In short, I am asking you to follow the instructions I will send to you, in full, to the best of your ability while also knowing that thereisa non-trivial probability that you may die," Ozpin said, watching him. "If, in the course of completing the task, you come to believe you have been discovered, I must encourage you to immediately stop the operation and take no further action on my behalf."

There probably wasn't a better reflection of the life of a Huntsman or Huntress than something likea non-trivial probability of dying.That was something they dealt with every time they placed themselves in front of the enemies of humanity, and it was something he was more than familiar with already—the only thing that remained to be seen here was whether or not there really was anunprecedented loss of lifein the first place, which wasn't something he could figure out without the full details.

"In return for your cooperation in this matter, you will have gained my gratitude, my trust, and the knowledge that should you ever find yourself in need of my aid in the future, Iwillavail myself to you in the matter to the best ofmyability," Ozpin said, folding his hands on the end of his cane. "I am aware that I've left you without time to think this over, and I apologise for the pressure I'm placing on you by even asking this—I should endeavour to make clear that you can most assuredly refuse and then leave without any fear of repercussion."

Ozpin fell silent after that, having said his piece, and Lima studied the man for a long while, turning the situation over in his mind. He'd be taking the man at his word that this was as important as he seemed to think it was—but the fact that he'd evenmade the askto someone so below his station felt like a powerful, ringing note.

"This is going to save lives?" Lima asked.

"Itcouldbe an instrumental step in savingalllives—or it could simply be a paranoid man, worrying at the shapes the shadows have made on the wall," Ozpin said, voice quiet. "While Isincerelyhope it's the latter, my intuition tells me to take action."

Waiting around for the shadows on the wall to start growing claws, fangs, and a mask of bone seemed like a monumentally stupid idea—if there was a chance he could do something to help save lives, then he couldn't hold back now.

"That's enough for me, sir." Lima nodded, firing off a two-fingered salute. "I'll take care of it."

#

Passenger Airship, Beacon Academy, Sanus.

Beacon Academy fell away from him, the airship slicing upwards at a smooth angle and the view in the window panning until all that was left was trees, a cliff, and an open blue sky. The glass felt cool against the skin of his forehead, and he closed his eyes as another pang of longing tried to rise up in him—less than an hour had passed, and he was already regretting leaving.

"I'm a mess," Lima muttered. "Come on, man, get it together."

The Scroll in his pocket vibrated in notification that he'd received a message, but he didn't risk taking it out to look now—Ozpin had asked for the highest level of discretion, and reading the details of the mission in plain sight of two dozen people was very muchnotthat. There was a chance that it wasn't from him, though, because Claire had made it known that she would be keeping in contact as well—he made an aborted motion to touch the corner of his mouth, the memory of her kissing him rising bright in his mind.

She'd done that in full view of everyone, which was embarrassing, but also kind of amazing—and it left him wondering, once again, what he was supposed todoabout it. It was obvious that she was interested in him, or at least hethoughtthat was what it was about—there was achanceit was just that she'd only done it because she was sad that he was leaving, or that it was some kind of too-friendly mistake she'd made in her heightened emotional state, or that she'dregrettedit the moment it had happened and now wished nothing more than to take it all back—

"Ugh," Lima moaned, smacking his forehead against the glass. "Why can't everything just bestraightforward—"

"If you break the airlock," Jaune managed, "We're all going to get sucked out and die."

"That's spaceships, jackass," Lima said without even thinking about it. "Also, when the hell did you get here?"

Lima turned, finding Jaune leaning heavily against the interior wall of the airship, partially bent over, and looking like he was a few sharp turns away from yakking all over the clean, polished floors. He watched as the boy carefully sat down on the bench seat with a moan of discomfort and a tightening of the hold he had on his belly.

"We barely made it on," Jaune said, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. "I accidentally left my Scroll in the library, and it tookforeverto find it."

Lima did a quick scan of everyone in the main passenger section, but he couldn't spot any sign of red hair.

"We, huh?" Lima said, "How's the whole mission to defeat theInvincible Girlgoing?"

"All systems have failed, the ship is falling out of the air, and I'm on fire," Jaune said, cracking an eye open to make sure she wasn't nearby. "She—didsay my form is looking better, though, so maybe it's not all bad."

"Incremental improvements add up," Lima agreed, "You might get some benefit out of running speed and reaction drills—the faster you are, the more you'll be able to notice just how much she's beating the sh*t out of you."

"Noted," Jaune said, looking like he was finally starting to get a foothold against his motion sickness. "Pyrrha's back."

Lima glanced up and then turned to follow the boy's line of sight—sure enough, Pyrrha was moving towards them, and a scan of the area told him that she'd just come from the bathroom.

"Sweater and jeans, huh?" Lima said in greeting. "Really stretching your wings, now that the uniform is off the table."

Jaune looked down at his own jeans before squinting his eyes at the sight of them, visibly unsure whether or not he was catching stray fire.

"I'll have you know thatNorasaid I looked adorable," Pyrrha said, smiling. "Hello, Lima—Jaune mentioned you were heading back to Mistral."

"I'm staying with Sage and Midori for the break," Lima said in answer. "Figure I can check out Haven Academy and our future competition while I'm there."

Pyrrha looked more than a little interested in the idea of scouting out their potential opponents—which was pretty much the reaction he'd been expecting.

"Ugh," Jaune said, taken by another wave of nausea. "How long is this ride going to take again?"

"Just long enough to make you two for two on messing up the floor," Lima said, "Jaune said he's going to stay with his sister—you're going to see your mum?"

"Yes," Pyrrha breathed, smiling bright. "I've missed her even more than I expected."

Lima nodded at the words, pinching the chest of his shirt between his fingers—he had a pretty good idea of what she was talking about. Pyrrha brushed some of the loose hair that had escaped her ponytail back out of her eyes and then spoke up again.

"I suppose this means we will have the chance to be travelling companions once again," Pyrrha said, tilting her head. "I'm sure you'll have a much harder time avoiding me, considering we'll be trapped on a train together."

Lima winced at the words and the confidence by which she'd just called him out.

"There must be afewgood hiding spots on the train," Lima said, "Surely."

"He's been avoiding you?" Jaune said, ruining his attempt to play it off entirely. "Why?"

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at the question as if in complete agreement with the words, and Lima rolled his eyes.

"Combat Studies, team sparring, daily conditioning, Lux trying to fight me atleastonce a day, and if that's not bad enough,youstart trying to goad me as well," Lima said, bringing his hands up into air quotes. "When theBeacon Academy Experiencewas first described to me, it had a lot more parties and way more cute girls being adorable—girls thatweren'ttrying to beat the sh*t out of me at every opportunity."

"I read that article too," Jaune said, squeezing his belly in discomfort. "It'sdefinitelyhigh-level recruitment propaganda."

Lima swung his arm around to point at the other boy's face—feeling as if he'd found abrotherwho understood just how outrageous those lies had really been. Pyrrha didn't seem to have any idea what they were talking about, but shedidseem flustered.

"I suppose Iwasbeing a bit insistent," Pyrrha said, flushing a bit. "But the only times I've had the chance to fight someone at our level are at the regionals—now that Iknow, I can't justignoreyou."

"You're being way too greedy," Lima accused, "You've alreadygota punching bag—hit him."

"I don't think she's looking for another punching bag; she's looking for an equal to test herself against," Jaune said, throwinghimunder the bus. "Can't you just fight her every now and then? It would make her really happy."

Pyrrha shot the boy a look ofsuchaffection, warmth and hope that Lima wanted to smack her upside the head—just whose side was this bastardon, anyway?

"J-dog, Jaune, mybrother," Lima said, "This isn't the Beacon we signed on for—but itcouldbe; we just need to reach out and take hold of ourfuture—"

"Ithinkwe need to come to terms with the fact thatwhoeverwrote that article," Jaune said, taking a deep breath as he successfully overcame another wave of nausea. "Is either the luckiest man on the planet, aliar—or literally Ozpin on an alt."

"Damn it, Jaune," Lima cried. "Don'tdothis to me."

"What is thisarticleyou keep talking about?" Pyrrha asked, glancing between them. "TheBeacon Academy Experience—was it something from an alumni?"

Lima just put his face in his hands and gave a tortured moan of despair.

#

Vale Limited, Vale, Sanus.

The Vale Limited pulled away from the station, and he kept one eye on the window, watching as the city began to shift. The cabin was set far further back in the train than the first time he'd been on it, and he was oddly pleased to find that he seemed to have the entire thing to himself. Of the two bunk beds that were present, three of them were neat, clean, and entirely unused—and his carry-on luggage was sitting on the fourth. There were fewer peopleleavingVale than he'd expected, probably because of the time of year, but after a bit of actual thought, he realised that his return journey wouldn't be anywhere near as quiet—the end of the break was right around the time that the other Academies would be sending their students off to Vale for the Vytal Festival.

He reached out and slid the door to the cabin shut, hitting the latch on the inside, and then ascended to the top bunk by way of a few well-chosen footholds—if there was someone running late to share the cabin with him, they'd have to knock first, but he didn't mind the possible confrontation that might have brought about. The real pull at his mind was the Scroll burning a hole in his pocket and the unknown message that was still lingering in a superposition of ownership. Now that nobody was around, the curtains were drawn, and the door was locked—he probably wouldn't find a better time to check. Driven by his immense curiosity, he moved to check the message—the sender's contact information was blank, the contact number simply missing, and the name of the sender a single, unremarkable 'O' that immediately cleared up the ambiguity.

The monsters of Grimm are considered the greatest threat to the citizens of Remnant, but they are not the only ones who walk its face. The four academies were designed and then built with the intention to train the Huntsman and Huntresses, who now safeguard the kingdoms in which they reside. The headmasters of those academies have, since the very beginning, worked together to ensure the continued protection of both humanity and the Faunus. The headmaster of Haven Academy, Leonardo Lionheart, has long been a personal friend of mine, and a trusted confidant, but I fear now that, without apparent cause, this is no longer the case.

Despite his attempts to maintain a strict adherence to the contrary, I have had multiple sources of outside corroboration that have punctured the fa çade. The sharing of information, the trading of reports, and the proposal of managing rising issues at a continental scale have been something the four academies have enjoyed, but now, the reports he sends to each of us are filled with inconsistencies, misleading numbers, vaguity, and in some cases, outright lies. This has become increasingly clear to me over the passing months, even as the series of trusted and previously hidden contacts that I have used to corroborate his information begin to go dark.

As of exactly three days ago, my final remaining contact has missed the meeting we had scheduled, and there has been no further attempt to rebuild a line of communication since. The last three of her reports have suggested a stark increase in the Grimm activity throughout Anima and, in turn, an alarming rise in the amount of Huntsmen and Huntresses dying through what appears to be misinformation and mislabelled missions. These deaths have been previously spread quite evenly across all of the frontier city of Anima, but more recently, there has been a marked change, and the unknown forces at work seem to have turned their focus directly on Mistral itself. Despite everything I have just revealed to you, Leonardo's own reporting has shown nothing to indicate the true extent of the steady loss of force Mistral is currently undergoing.

With this, we come to the task that I have most inappropriately commissioned your aid for, which is, in short, to ascertain the status of my contacts. You will find, appended at the bottom of this missive, the identities and the addresses of three otherwise unremarkable citizens of Mistral Below. The requirements of this task are threefold, first, to visit each of the locations and subtly attempt to determine if they are in some kind of duress. In service of that, if the occupants are missing, the premises are under watch, or you notice that something is off about the locations, you will have the opportunity to retreat with your gathered knowledge, or invite more danger upon yourself, by deepening your search.

The second requirement, if you decide to progress your investigation this far, is to search the premises for anything that may constitute a signal, message, or hint that they may have intentionally left behind for us to discover. Communication of this type will likely be extraordinarily subtle, and there is a possibility that they may not have left anything at all. The third requirement is circ*mstantial, but if the opportunity arises, I would appreciate it if you could make direct contact with Leonardo Lionheart and, using your best judgment, ascertain if there is anything out of place with the man himself. As unlikely as it may be, there are certain Semblances with the power to distort, warp, or control another's perceptions, and he may be under duress himself.

In the event that you do approach the headmaster of Haven Academy, you must exercise the utmost discretion. Do not, under any circ*mstances, reveal your true intentions to him or anyone who may confront him on your behalf, do not make mention of the loss of forces Anima is experiencing, and do not mention anything about the contacts or their identities. To make him aware of the task I have given you, in any way, may invite extreme risk to your life. To linger on the point of discretion for a moment longer, do not make any attempt to reach me through call, message, agent, or written post during your stay within Mistral.

I will receive your report in person, successful or otherwise, with gratitude upon your safe return to Beacon Academy, at the culmination of the break. If at any point you suspect that you have been discovered or that your life may be in danger, abort this mission immediately. Ensure that you have deleted this message and all of its attached files before you reach Anima, as the security of your device is not nearly enough to stop someone from reading the contents. I will endeavour to answer any and all questions you have about the task, and the surrounding circ*mstances, once you have returned.

Make no decision in haste, Lima Morta; I possess more than enough regret already.

Lima stared down at the message, a rising surge of something hot searing in his chest as he fully came to understand the situation. Somebody wasdeliberatelymislabelling extermination missions in order to get Huntsman and Huntresses killed in the line of duty—and at a massive enough scale that it was occurring all across Anima. Something like that had to be coming from somewhere high up, or else it was the ones reporting the Grimm sightings in the first place that were responsible. Leonardo Lionheart was actively hiding information from what was supposed to be some kind of secret headmasters club.

It made sense to keep the information from the public at large because something like that would only cause widespread negativity, which would increase the threat of the Grimm—but Huntsman and Huntresses weredying en massebecause ofbad mission information, and the man washiding the fact that the problem even existedfrom theonly peoplewho were in aposition to helpwithout setting off a continent-wide surge of panic. Lima felt himself developing a instantaneous and visceral hate for a man he'd never even met, in a way he hadn't felt for anything short of the Grimm.

The rest of the message was even hinting at the fact that the headmaster of Haven Academy may have actually found out about Ozpin's hidden contacts and then donesomethingto get rid of them. Had he simply found out who they were and shut down whatever information-gathering operation was going on? Theycouldbe in jail for spying on people, or had he just killed them off? Ozpin had warned him multiple times that there was an extreme risk to his life here—that didn'tsoundlike being jailed for being too nosey.

"Leonardo Lionheart," Lima managed. "What thehellare you doing?"

The identities of the contacts were easy enough to memorise—two men and a woman—and he'd spent enough time in Mistral Below as a kid to know the streets that were listed. In fact, all three of them were within walking distance of Midori's bar, which made him wonder just how much research Ozpin had done onhim. The man had picked a student who was visiting his family for the school break, a family that had been long since established in the community. With Sage being an instructor at Haven Academy, he even had a pretty easy way to naturally meet the headmaster—his guardian had already mentioned bringing him up to the school to meet some of his students, so getting an introduction to the headmaster wouldn't be any harder.

Lionheart was probably on the lookout for more spies, but as far as cover stories went, his was bothofnote andwithoutsuspicion. Lima found himself re-reading the message over and again, but each time, he found himself lingering on the final line—

Make no decision in haste, Lima Morta; I possess more than enough regret already.

—he was getting a note of odd familiarity from thewholething, but that last line had him verging on the precipice of understanding. Lima glanced up, mouth open, almost as if to ask Teak what he thought about it—and then flinched when he remembered that he was alone and his team wasn't there.

"Of decisions made in haste and an eternity spare for regret," Lima murmured as it finally clicked. "Ozpin writes like the bedwetter."

#

Vale Limited, Railway, Sanus.

The hum of the train quickly began to fade away, the hours of exposure making it slip away until it was entirely beneath his notice. The endless, grassy field that stretched outside of the window made him realise how much more he'd rather have been outside than stuck in the almost featureless room, with only his thoughts for company. Ozpin's message was gone now, erased but not forgotten, and the faces of the three contacts remained fresh in his mind, the product of an entire night staring at them more than enough that he could now see them whenever he closed his eyes—a shift in the silence drew his attention to the door of the cabin.

A moment later, the disturbance became a series of quiet knocks on the curtain-covered window set into the door. Lima slipped his arm off the top of the bunk, snagged his discarded shirt from where he'd tucked it beneath the mattress, and then whipped it out towards the door. The end of the fabric made contact with the metal, at which point he used the connection to send a burst of his Semblance up and into the lock mechanism—it unlocked with an audible click.

"It's unlocked," Lima said. "But be aware; youwillbe exposing yourself to thepeakmale form—the sight may come as a shock to you."

The door slid open far more carefully than he'd expected, and Pyrrha leaned forward inside the gap, one eye shut as if to protect herself from what she might witness.

"He's naked, isn't he?" Jaune sighed.

"Not quite," Pyrrha said, straightening up a bit when she realised it was only his shirt that was missing. "Good morning, Lima; we were wondering if you would like some company?"

"I was just about to die of boredom," Lima admitted, "So please, save me."

Pyrrha shifted the door all the way open and then stepped inside the cabin, Jaune following behind her a moment later. Lima flapped a hand at the room in general, the motion encompassing the empty bunk bed and the bench seat that ran the length of the cabin beneath the main window.

"Feel free to sit wherever you want," Lima offered, "I've got the entire cabin to myself—as befitting of someone with my great status."

The brag he'd snuck in at the end got a pair of rolled eyes from Pyrrha, but Jaune seemed pretty impressed.

"So lucky, I've got a pair of elderly men in mine," Jaune said, "They seem pretty cool—I think they were playing chest when I left."

Pyrrha sat down on the bench while Jaune took the edge of the bottom bunk opposite him. They'd both clearly taken his comment about jeans to heart because Jaune had switched to khakis, and Pyrrha was wearing a skirt that might have belonged to her uniform.

"Unfortunately, I seem to have the least amount of luck out of the three of us," Pyrrha said, crossing one of her legs over the other. "I have a young couple and their baby in my cabin, so I'm not sure how much sleep I'm going to be getting over the next couple of days."

"Damn," Lima winced, "Having children shouldprobablybe a criminal offence—taking them out inpublic? Straight to the electric chair."

"I don't think it's quite that dire," Pyrrha said, covering her smile with a hand. "Although, it's possible that I may reconsider that stance in a few days' time."

"Babies are cute," Jaune declared, staking his position out in the open. "My younger sisters didn't really cry all that much—so they aren'tallloud."

"I'm afraid I've already seen some evidence to the contrary," Pyrrha said, "At least in this particular case."

"If you get too sleep deprived, feel free to crash in here," Lima said, making the offer. "That goes for you too, J-dog—whoknowshow competitive that chess playing will get."

"Thank you," Pyrrha said, pleased. "I may take you up on that offer."

"That does sound a bit more fun," Jaune admitted, "You don't think we'd get in trouble for switching cabins?"

"What are they going to do, kick us off a moving train?" Lima said without a care. "Take a step back for a minute; you mentioned you were going to stay with your older sister, and just now, you said you had two younger sisters as well—just how many Arc kids are running around out here?"

"I have five older sisters and two younger ones," Jaune said like it was something completely normal. "Saffron, the one I'm going to stay with, is the second oldest—"

"Goodgod, man," Lima said, alarmed. "Seven sisters? Jaune, you don't have a family, you have aclan."

"It's not that strange," Jaune protested, "How many siblings doyouhave?"

"My guardian has an adult daughter, and Idocall her my sister, but we aren't related," Lima said, rocking his head to the side. "Midori was already in her early twenties when Sage took me in, so I didn't grow up with her in the way most families do—I love her, though; she's always been there for me, even when I was a stupid kid."

"That's cute," Pyrrha said, settling her hands in her lap. "She seems nice."

Lima scratched at his cheek for a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed by the focus of the discussion.

"What aboutyou, Pawpaw?" Lima said, clearing his throat. "Siblings?"

"I'm an only child as well," Pyrrha said, playing with the hem of her skirt. "I believe my mother wanted to have another child, but my father passed when I was very young—I don't remember much of him at all."

"That's a common thread, isn't it?" Lima wondered. "Remnant is a rough place for families."

There was a short silence following the comment, in which they all seemed a bit unsure of how to proceed, and then Jaune spoke up.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune said, "Whydoeshe call you Pawpaw?"

Pyrrha seemed a bit startled by the sudden direction of the conversation, but it was a far easier topic to handle.

"The two of us both attended Sanctum in Argus, but we'd never actually spoken to one another while there—except foroneoccasion, although he seems to have forgotten it entirely," Pyrrha said, laying some context. "The firstrealconversation we had, was during the train ride to Vale."

Lima eyed her for a moment, the topic verging dangerously close to his unfortunate reputation and Sage's attempts to torpedo it.

"I had heard his name several times before, so I addressed him as such, but he had no idea whoIwas or what my name could have been," Pyrrha said, covering her smile again. "He startedguessingat colour-related names in an attempt to figure it out—in the space of fifteen seconds, I went from Pepper, to Pomegranate and then Pawpaw."

"Pomegranate?" Jaune said, snorting. "You'rekidding."

"People name their kids after fruit all the time—and it's red," Lima said in his own defence, "What doesPyrrhaeven mean, huh? Defend yourself at once."

"My name was given to me for the expected colour of my hair—it was my father's choice, I believe," Pyrrha said, trying not to smile. "I'm not sure about his reasoning, but if I were to guess, it might have been derived from the wordpyre."

Lima scrunched his face up at the answer because there was no real way for him to guess that without already knowing what her name was in advance—he'd been doomed from the start.

"Pawpaw aregreen, though, aren't they?" Jaune said. "You didn't try for something like tomato?"

"Hereyesare green, jackass," Lima accused. "What the heck is aJaunesupposed to be, anyway?"

"I think it may be an old word for yellow," Pyrrha said, sneaking a glance at the boy out of the corner of her eye. "Is that right, Jaune?"

Lima didn't believe for asecondthat she didn't already know exactly what the word meant—she'd probably looked it up the moment she'd first heard it.

"More or less," Jaune admitted, entirely oblivious. "What about your name, Lima?"

"There is a colour calledLima, so that's probably where my parents got it," Lima said, rolling his eyes. "I never had the chance to ask them, though, so maybe they just misspelled the word lime."

#

Vale Limited, Railway, Sanus.

Lima pulled himself up into another hanging sit-up, his feet sealed flat against the roof of the cabin through Semblance-driven adherence; a bead of sweat rolled downwards from his chin, passing dangerously close to the corner of his eye. The inability to move around was starting to get to him a bit, enough that it had driven him into trying to burn off the excess energy through endless repetition of whatever basic exercises he could manage in the cabin. Therewasenough room to do star jumps between the two sets of bunk beds, but it felt a bit rude to be doing that directly next to where Pyrrha was pretending to sleep and Jaune was messing with his scroll. He let himself return to rest for a moment, his hair hanging about level with the top bunks.

"Aren't you getting dizzy?" Jaune asked. "Your face is super red right now."

"I'm just really embarrassed," Lima said, a bit out of breath. "I've never had such abig,strong boy like you watching me work out."

"Uhuh," Jaune said, "That's exactly what's happening."

Lima kept going, ignoring the rising pressure in his head and the burning in his core—maybe he could go out into the hallway and do his star jumps out there.

"Think they'd get upset," Lima managed, "If I climbed up onto the top of the train?"

"Most definitely," Pyrrha said, cracking open an eye. "Are you feeling that restless?"

Lima pulled himself up, fighting the increasing resistance as best he could manage, the entire process starting to become more difficult.

"Super restless," Lima breathed, "I can tolerate being inside for long periods so long as it'smy choice, but the idea that there's nowhere I can really go kind of gets to me eventually."

"Didn't youmakethe choice?" Jaune wondered. "To get on the train, I mean."

"It waspastme that made the decision," Lima grunted with the effort. "That guy is a complete bastard who doesn't treat me right at all—I'm thinking about leaving him."

"We could always do some light sparring," Pyrrha said with a leading tone. "That could help you use up your excess energy."

"You're a supervillain," Lima said, struggling to pull himself up a final time. "But I might take you up on that."

"Where do you even think you could spar on this train?" Jaune said, "Theres no space."

Lima caught hold of the top bunk, twisted, and then let go, falling onto the bed with a thump—his abdominals cried out at the relief, and he just kind of laid there for a while, trying to catch his breath.

"There's more than enough space in here," Pyrrha said, sounding far more awake than before. "It would have to be restricted to on-the-spot infighting, of course, and with care not to break anything, but it's certainly possible."

"What does that mean, though?" Jaune said, furrowing his brow. "You can't move around?"

"It would mean we would be restricted to the spacebetweenthe bunk beds, the bench, and the door," Pyrrha said, bed creaking beneath her as she sat upright. "I suppose the ceiling would be allowed as well, or at least treated as an extension of the floor—touching anything else would be considered out of bounds."

"You sound way too into this," Lima breathed, one leg dangling off the bed. "Jaune, soften her up for me, would you?"

"Me?" Jaune said in protest. "I don't even want to fight—"

"You going to let your punching bag speak to you like that?" Lima interjected. "Teach him a lesson, Pawpaw."

"Lima," Pyrrha chastised before pausing. "Jaune?"

"Fine," Jaune groaned. "You better not kick me out of the window or something."

"That would get you disqualified, J-dog," Lima said, "Make sure you stay inside."

Jaune gave a wordless noise of protest at having to take the blame for his own defenestration but rose to his feet nonetheless—for all that could be said for him, he was willing to suffer through the impromptu exercise without too much complaint. Lima pulled his leg up out of the way of the limited space they'd marked out for the spar and then shifted until he could watch them from above. Seeing them that close made it more clear that Jaune actually had a couple of inches on her in height, and his general body mass was actually a fair bit greater as well—he wasn't nearly as lean, toned or developed as Pyrrha was, but it was still a bit odd to really see the difference.

"This is weird," Jaune managed, kind of awkwardly putting up his guard. "I feel like there's no space to really do anything."

Pyrrha looked almost entirely at ease with the situation—he'd have even gone as far to say she lookedpleased, even—but her own hands were already up and in a far superior position for receiving any kind of attack.

"It certainly complicates the situation," Pyrrha said, smiling. "But I'm sure we can adjust."

"Stay in the rectangle, or it's out of bounds, aura threshold at—we'll say fifty percent until we can get an idea of how this actually works out," Lima said, offering up some structure. "Start slow; I'll call a tempo increase for you two to step up the pace, so when you hear it, add about twenty percent more force and speed each time—ready?"

"This is really going to suck," Jaune realised, "Isn't it?"

"Jaune, you'll do fine," Pyrrha said, trying not to smile. "I'm ready."

Lima called the start of the match, and Jaune took a hasty step backwards as Pyrrha took a very slow, very obvious strike his way. Jaune caught the next one on his forearm, seeming to grow a bit more confident now that he knew he wasn't going to get smeared across the cabin in the first few seconds of the fight. Pyrrha stepped forward, and Jaune attempted to scuttle around her, back towards the window, to avoid getting pinned against the door.

"This is hilarious," Lima said, more than a little amused. "Tempo up."

Jaune went on the attack, trying to stake out a little space for himself to live within, and found himself forced to start using both arms in an attempt to weather the still slow but increasing storm of strikes—the first one slipped through, smacking him in the chin with just enough force for a spark of his aura to flicker into existence. Pyrrha turned the single slip in the larger boy's defences into a trio of well place strikes, each one sneaking through his eroding guard, hidden within the pattern of two dozen attacks, feints and blocks.

"Tempo up," Lima said, grinning. "Dance, my minions,dance."

"Damn it," Jaune cried out. "Damn it, damn it, damn it—"

Jaune stepped forward, unwilling to crumple in the face of her superior offence, and took another four shots, completely unobstructed, in an attempt to drag her into a grapple. Pyrrha broke his grip and the next two subsequent attempts by way of disrupting him at the elbow and wrist and then sending a knee into the boy's thigh that staggard him. Jaune attempted a sudden upwards hook, and Pyrrha shifted her head out of the way without paying a hint of attention to it. Jaune stumbled back, off balance from the miss, and Pyrrha stepped forward, striking his thigh again, elbowing him in the chest, and then pressing her forearm into his face until he tripped back onto the bench.

"Bzzt," Lima said, "Out of bounds."

Jaune remained sprawled on the bench for a moment, looking harried but also far more alert, and engaged than Lima could remember seeing him outside of Combat Studies. Pyrrha was smiling brilliantly down at the boy, her hair a bit out of sorts but otherwise untouched.

"Crap," Jaune winced. "I can't believe I fell over."

"You over-committed just a little bit, but it was a very good attempt," Pyrrha said, offering him a hand. "I'm sure you'll do even better next time, Jaune."

Jaune looked a bit fired up at the words, but Lima wasn't quite sure if it was for the right reasons or not—Pyrrha was incredibly encouraging and humble in victory, but he wondered how those words might have felt after having his ass kicked for the five-hundredth time in a row. He also felt like her advice was a little off-centre to the actual problem because while it was true that Jaune had overcommitted to the strike—like it was some kind of last-ditch super move—it didn't address the real reason why it didn't have a chance at landing.

"Don't forget to rub his belly and call him a good boy, Pawpaw," Lima said, tilting his head. "Jaune, she'sleadingyou to target areas by moving her guard enough to draw your attention to the opening—that's why she avoided that last attack so easily; shebaitedyou into doing it in the first place."

Pyrrha flushed a bit at the first comment and then glanced over at Jaune at the second part, searching the boy's face for a moment—notably, to everyone present in the cabin, she didn't say anything to discredit it.

"Oh," Jaune said. "So if I see an opening like that, I shouldn't attack?"

"It's more likePyrrha Nikosisn't going to leave a big glaring hole in her defences for you to slip arising dragon uppercutthrough," Lima said, "Practical advice time—when you are sparring with her, make sure totake noticeof the openings you can identify in her guard, learn to understand what a trap looks like, and make an effort to not go after every single one of them on reflex."

"Notice the openings, learn what a trap looks like, and don't go after all of them on reflex," Jaune said, furrowing his brow. "I can do that."

Pyrrha was watching him now, an odd look on her face, but she still made no move to interrupt what had quickly become an impromptu lesson on how Jaune could go about improving his chances in a fight against her.

"Understanding your opponent is the only way to overcome them," Lima said, clapping his hands together like a monk. "Just going harder, shouting, and making a messhasits uses, my friend, but it's best to keep those strategies for the bedroom."

"—and you ruined it," Jaune said, shaking his head. "How didIend up having to go first anyway?"

"Noradidsay that your archetype was the sacrificial lamb," Pyrrha said, tugging the sleeves of her sweater up to her forearms. "Are you both finished conspiring against me, as if I'm not even in the room?"

Jaune winced at the words before moving to ascend the ladder to the top bunk, a clear retreat from the question, and expectant girl both.

"Sorry," Lima offered, "Boy talk, you know how it is."

"Yes, that article you told menotto read has certainly opened my eyes to it," Pyrrha said, eyeing him with consideration. "Are you coming down?"

Lima slipped down the ladder and onto the floor, feeling mostly recovered from his workout attempts—the space had looked pretty constrained from up top, but actually being down there, and with Pyrrha Nikos standing over him, made it feel even smaller. This close, the disparity in their height became crystal clear, and the fact that she had to tilt her head down to actually make eye contact with him was something he could have done without experiencing.

"Uh," Jaune said. "Are you guys ready?"

Lima's eyes remained fixed on her own, and he watched as a series of muscle groups in her neck shifted ever so slightly towards the sound of his voice—and then she actually looked away, eyes searching out Jaune above.

"Yes," Pyrrha said.

Pyrrha turned back, arms rising up until her palms her both up, and between the two of them—Lima remained at rest, hands by his sides, as he drew in a long breath, filling his lungs to their maximum capacity, chest expanding to the limit—and then he let it out, a long slow breath.

"Ready," Lima said.

Pyrrha shifted again, her shoulders lowering ever so slightly as she prepared herself for forward movement, her foot turned against the ground, the motion caught in the web of his Semblance and its natural inclination to stretch outwards to the things he was in contact with.

"Okay, don't break the room," Jaune warned, "Three, two, one—fight."

Pyrrha twisted violently, her neck and head pulling to one side as his hand slipped past her cheek—he checked her knee with his own, pressed his hand flat against her neck, and then kicked up off the ground. His knee slid against her own, pulled upwards, and then crashed into her forearm, pressing it up and into her face. Pyrrha shoved downwards, and he dropped back to the floor, letting his grip on her neck falter in an effort to bring his elbow down to block her strike at his centre mass. The connection of the strike and block sent their aura flaring to life with a crackle.

Pyrrha's right hand came in the same moment the impact occurred, reaching for his face—and her wrist landed snugly in the palm of his hand before his fingers sealed themselves shut around it. The feeling of her aura, a solid mass of force, shifted oddly as he compressed it flat against her skin with the strength of his grip. Pyrrha must have recognised it as the same technique he'd used on her during their brief engagement in the Emerald Forest, but this time, he had no intention of letting go. She attempted to retrieve the trapped limb by force, shifting her weight to her feet in what was the most common response of someone moving to brace themselves against a potential pull.

Her eyes flickered over to visually assess the grapple—he shifted forwards in the same moment, having been waiting for it. His leg passed between her own before he hooked his heel behind her right ankle and dragged her foot up off the ground. Pyrrha attempted to push her still-standing leg down to counteract the sudden lack of contact, but she was already falling, and the only real control she had left was his hand holding up her body weight. Pyrrha partially collapsed, her left knee dropping to the ground in an attempt to stop herself from falling onto the bunk bed. Lima used his foot to roll her right leg further out, hyper extending it, and pinning her to the floor of the train by her ankle.

For a moment, he stood over her, Pyrrha's wrist still trapped above her head. Even if she hadn't actually fallen out of bounds, the awkward fall had left her completely unprotected.

"Uh," Jaune managed. "Tempo?"

Pyrrha breathed a sharp breath out of her nose at the obvious but unacknowledged loss—then she was fighting back up to her feet, using her shoulder to push him back as she rose up. Lima stepped backwards, taking his foot off her ankle, but keeping his tight grip around her wrist locked down. Pyrrha attempted to wrest her arm free, and when that failed, he resisted her attempts to move him out of bounds with it, the advantage of having the superior leverage on the outside of her arm making it much easier to deal with.

The two of them did almost two full rotational position swaps, but he wouldn't allow her to get the angle to break the hold. He could feel the exact moment she decided to take more drastic action, her body weight shifting, her left leg rising up, knee pulling against her chest as she chambered the attack in an instant—he moved with her, pulling on her wrist and stepping past her in the same movement as the kick went out into the ether. Pyrrha abandoned the attack the moment she realised it wouldn't hit, the leg not even fully extended, but by then, Lima was mostly behind her.

His grip on her wrist pulled it up over her head, the inner crook of her elbow now pressed against her mouth and nose as she attempted to resist him pulling it down flush with her shoulder to choke her with. Pyrrha stomped back and downwards, aiming for his foot, and he used his own to shift the attack off course, outwards, before stepping on the back of her knee. Pyrrha dropped down about a foot as he slowly pressed down on it, and she began painfully arching her back in an attempt to lessen the strain on her neck.

"Am I supposed to call it?" Jaune said, sounding uneasy. "I don't think she can get out."

"Not yet—" Pyrrha managed.

Lima let go of her wrist willingly, and then stepped back—Pyrrha twisted upright, back to her feet in an instant, her face red from the strain, and now free hair in a monstrous mass of red hanging down between them—there was a flash of genuine outrage on her face as he removed any chance she had of finding a way to break free under her own power.

"Tempo?" Jaune tried. "Unless you guys are already—"

Lima deflected the furious deluge of strikes, eyes flashing around as he tracked it all—and Pyrrha made no further attempt to reenter his portion of the rectangle, seeking to use her reach to keep him back and wear him down through superior range. But she was flustered now, and her breathing was uneven from the extended partial choke. Lima stepped forward into the mess of attacks—her fist cut past his cheek in the same moment that his foot slammed full force into her thigh. Pyrrha staggered under the force of it, and then her assault abruptly doubled in speed, in a clear attempt to dominate him through sheer physicality—and this time without waiting for Jaune to call tempo.

Her technique was starting to grow blurry at the edges, eroding beneath her rush as she left the careful, trained and practiced pace behind. Lima shifted to the side, and then leant backwards as her next strike passed through the space where his head had just been—and then his fist struck upwards, connecting with her chin in a perfect mirror of Jaune's earlierrising dragon uppercut. Pyrrha stumbled, back fully arched in an attempt to keep herself from falling backwards, the toes of her shoes the only point of contact with the ground—

"Pyrrha," Jaune said, sounding like he couldn't quite understand what he was seeing. "You're out of bounds."

The pulled strike had done barely anything to her aura, but the sheer angle it had come from was enough to disrupt her balance. A real fight wouldn't have ended there for either of them, but that was the cost of layering on a ruleset that restricted things so heavily—and completely in his favour.

"I—yes," Pyrrha managed. "I'm out of bounds."

Pyrrha, her back pressing the curtain flat against the door of the cabin, blew out an explosive breath at the sound of her own words, the burst of air sending the mess of hair in front of her face shifting about—it was perhaps the most frustrated state he'd ever seen her in.

"Rematch?" Lima offered.

#

Lobby, Port Line Station, Sanus.

Port Line Station was practically empty, and those that were present were the very same passengers who had been on the previous train with them. The line for the check-in desk was barely a dozen people long, and it made Lima wonder just how many people actually lived in Port Line.

"We're going to have the entire train to ourselves this time," Lima said, impressed. "What's the bet that Pyrrha gets stuck babysitting again?"

"I have it on very good authority that this was their final destination," Pyrrha said, eyes searching theMistral Limited. "They've certainly done a good job repairing the damage; it's almost as if nothing happened at all."

"Damage?" Jaune said, turning to follow her line of sight. "What damage?"

"Did I forget to mention what happened on our way to Vale?" Pyrrha said, lowering her voice to avoid disturbing the other passengers."A flock of Giant Nevermore attacked us while we were over the ocean, and theMistral Limitedtook quite a bit of damage before the situation was addressed."

"Wait a minute, I think I heard the news report on that," Jaune said, "I didn't realiseyouguys were on the train—how did youforgetsomething like that?"

"I didn't forget," Lima said with a blissful sigh. "We got to kill a bunch of Grimm—and then the Huntsman and Huntress on board gavehera spanking for getting involved."

"Yes," Pyrrha said, voice dry. "I distinctly remember you vanishing the moment the danger had passed."

Jaune blinked at the information, and Lima cleared his throat before bringing his hands up in front of his chest.

"My name isLima, adreamer; killing Grimm is myschema—a problemsolver? I'm thedangerresolver," Lima rapped, flicking his fingers out at them both. "Weobliterate, theyevaporate—Pyrrha'sfate? Well,she'sin trouble, butIcan't relate—when thepunishmentarrives, I evacuate."

Pyrrha attempted to cover her face in what must have been the torturous clutches of second-hand embarrassment.

"I hadthoughtyou finally stopped doing that," Pyrrha managed, with a nervous laugh at the attention they had generated. "To think I would be so very mistaken."

"I'll never stop," Lima said, crossing his arms in satisfaction. "Suffer."

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

Lima stared up at the shadowed ceiling of the cabin, the hum of theMistral Limitedalmost lost beneath the sleeping breaths of his two temporary companions—after spending the previous trip almost exclusively in their company, Lima was starting to wonder if he wasn't setting himself up for even more heartache when they went there separate ways at the Mistral Station. The continued proximity of a shared cabin seemed like an even greater concentration of what had happened with the dormitory situation back at Beacon Academy—maybe it was just him and not the situations he kept finding himself in.

Maybe it was just some kind of intrinsic trait that he hadn't really known about himself, a trait that had him rapidly forming connections and attachments with those he spent even alittlebit of time with. It felt so new, though, like a new facet of himself that had remained untouched through all the time he'd spent at Sanctum—even when he thought that being trapped in a classroom should have had the very same effect. The fact that the specific class had been filled with people he hadn't liked and who hadn't liked him probably had a weigh-in on it as well, but still—his Scroll vibrated in a way he instantly recognised as a message. With a spark of intuition that he couldn't explain, he somehow knew that it was from Claire—although she had told him she was going to send him messages, so maybe he was cheating a bit.

He forced himself not to move, to keep his hands folded behind his chest, away from the device and its potentially volatile contents. He'd spent more than one night thinking about her, their interactions, and in particular, the striking moment when she'd pressed a kiss against the corner of his mouth. Lima had spent months trying to figure out exactly where they stood and if her interest actually existed or if he had imagined it in that too-hopeful but kind of pathetic way. He'd told her about the worst moment in his life—not as a passing comment or as vague fodder to make himself seem more mysterious—but in a moment of vulnerability.

He'd never gone to anyone other than Sage and, slightly more rarely, Midori when those types of thoughts had pulled too tightly at his mind. But he'd opened up to Claire, and she'd listened to him without judgement or apparent discomfort. The fact that she'd immediately opened up to him, in turn, with the same dazzling show of trust, had created alinkbetween them, a connection that he couldn't quite define. It might have been hindsight or just retroactively attempting to fit the pieces together—but it felt as if that moment had changed something between them. Shifted the still new and budding dynamic that all four of them were building together into something, just a few shades adjacent.

There were dozens of moments after that, little fleeting things where he'd find her making physical contact with him and when he'd find himself seeking out decent enough excuses to do the same. That moment in class together, where she'd taken a larger step and refused to let go of his hand—it made him wonder ifClairehad been looking for excuses, just like he had. The moment that had followed, when she hadsmiledat him in a way that had pierced the veil of whatever game they'd been playing—the one where they would take turnstryingfor just afew slivers morewhile trying to hide behind a carefully crafted layer of obfuscation.

Everything had shifted again, the veil starting to thin out, the connection growing and twisting, becoming something that turned a small curve of a smile, or a flash of accidental skin, into something he'd be left to shamefully deal with in the dead of night. But then she'd kissed him in a room full of people, and the veil had all but evaporated, just a few small curls of uncertainty stopping him from taking the leap.

"f*ck," Lima murmured.

He found himself going through the motions of unlocking his Scroll, navigating the menu, and opening up his inbox—unable to suffer another moment without knowing whether or not it was a full retraction of the kiss or a promise of something more.

Astra came to the big lunch with us after all; she 's going to be around until the middle of November, sometime after the Vytal Festival is over, so she'll be in the stands with my parents when we all fight in the tournament. It felt different this time, seeing them all together at once like that, and I'm not really sure why. Maybe getting the chance to actually talk about it with someone helped more than I expected.

Teak's mum is the sweetest person in the entire world, and she looks almost exactly like him, ears and all, only her hair is way longer. Lux was like a completely different person; seriously, it was like we accidentally took her from a strange mirror world. I tried to bully my dad into arm-wrestling her in order to make her normal again, but even that didn't work. I think she was trying to make a good impression or something, so I made sure to rile her up on your behalf. She tried to kick my ass after everyone went home, though, which I probably should have expected.

I convinced her to stay at my house for the rest of the break so we don't have to go pick her up every time. There were a bunch of questions about you since you were the only one not there, and Teak told everyone a story about how you looked after him in the entrance exam. Willow said that she couldn't wait to meet you in person, and Teak got super flustered about it, but he wouldn't say why. I'm going to ask him about it tomorrow. I told Astra about how we all pray to the god of yogurt every morning, and she thought it was hilarious.

I kept waiting for you to make a dumb joke about some of the things we were talking about, but then I'd look around and remember you weren't even there. It made me realise just how much time we spend together every day, and now it just feels wrong that you're the only one missing. It's only been three months, but it feels like a lot longer. I guess being crammed into a room with the three of you has something to do with that. I'm sorry I cried again. I don't like goodbyes, and you were pretending like you wanted us to go away or like you weren't even sad, but I know you were. You should probably just call off your break entirely and come back, so I can stop feeling so bad.

I bet you stayed up all night thinking about how I kissed you. Make sure you clean your bedsheets before someone notices that you made a mess.

"As if," Lima managed, face burning. "What a brat."

He pressed his finger against the reply button with a bit too much heat, feeling the instinctive need to defend himself while also knowing that she'd been right—in that he had stayed up thinking about it, not theotherpart. The fact that she hadn't called everything off or pretended like it hadn't happened left him with a rather worrying problem. He now had to move forward with the knowledge that if she wasn't trying to hide anymore, then he couldn't either. Lima typed out the message three times, deleting each iteration in turn until finally settling on one that didn't make him sound like a complete idiot.

Look at you, getting along with dinky little Astra. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better about your family and that everything played out well. I have no idea what made Teak flustered, and you should absolutely never ask him about it under any circ*mstances. I'm kind of sad that I didn't get to meet everyone with you guys, but I guess that's my own fault.

You're right about the whole proximity thing; it's something I've been thinking about for a while now. I didn't really have anyone like you guys back in Argus, but now I'm not sure I could go back to being a loner, at least not without self-destructing in the process. I've been a bit worried about what will happen when the four of us graduate, considering how diverse our team's backgrounds are. We have families in Vacuo, Mistral, and Vale. Does our team stick together long-term? If it does, which continent do we take the bulk of our missions within? Four years at Beacon Academy is a long time, but I guess I can't help but think about what will happen next.

Jaune and Pyrrha are travelling back to Argus on the same route as me, so I've got some company until I get off at Mistral. Pyrrha has singled me out as an eternal rival or something and seems to have made it her mission in life to kick my ass up and down this stupid train. I miss you guys already, and I may or may not have cried after you horrifically abandoned me in the dining hall.

Claire, if you want me to stay up all night thinking about you—instead of just the vast majority of it—then I'm going to need a little bit more than a kiss.

The message locked in as he finally built up the courage to send it off—they were slipping outside of the range of the Vale CCTS Tower now, so it wouldn'tactuallysend until they reached Anima and entered the range of the towers at Mistral—but it was primed and ready to fire the moment that happened, something which left him with plenty of time to second-guess everything he'd written, and worry about what her reaction might be.

#

Mistral Limited, Railway, Ocean.

"Sage?" Lima wondered. "He's been a Huntsman for decades at this point—I talk a lot of sh*t about him, but Haven Academy is lucky to have someone like him teaching the first years how to fight."

"I kind of want to meet him," Jaune admitted, "It's a shame we don't have any time spare between the change-over."

"Huntsmen and Huntresses travel all over the world, Jaune," Pyrrha said, "So perhaps we will return to Mistral in the future, and you will have the chance to meet him."

"Yeah," Jaune said, nodding. "I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

"What about you, Pawpaw?" Lima said, rolling over so he could peer down off the edge of the bed at them. "Is your mother a Huntress—and what's her name anyway?"

Jaune sat up a bit, looking interested in the question.

"My mother's name is Pan, and yes, sheisa Huntress," Pyrrha said, smiling. "You've probably guessed, but she is also the one who taught me how to fight."

"Which academy did she graduate from?" Jaune asked. "Haven?"

"Yes, she is a graduate of Haven Academy," Pyrrha confirmed, "Because our home is in Argus, most of her missions tend to be focused around that area, although she has travelled to Atlas fairly frequently as well."

"Can you beat her in a fight?" Lima wondered.

"In a straight melee fight? Most definitely not," Pyrrha said, shaking her head. "My techniques are a direct derivative of her own, and she has developed a level of mastery over them that I've yet to reach."

"You're still levelling up, huh?" Lima said, in understanding. "When you do beat her, will she finally bestow upon you the title ofInvincible Woman?"

Pyrrha laughed out loud.

"I'm not sure that's how titles work, Lima," Pyrrha managed, covering her smile with her hand. "I'll be sure to tell her that, though; I'm sure she'll find it quite endearing."

"What is she like?" Jaune asked. "I'm picturing you, but taller? I think my imagination is broken."

"I'm actually quite a bit taller than my mother; she's only about as high as my shoulders." Pyrrha said, "I look a lot like her. We share the same eye and hair colour, although she wears glasses, and her hair is only about this long."

Pyrrha reached up and tapped a single finger against her cheek.

"She's beautiful, intelligent, kind, and very patient," Pyrrha said, smiling. "She's not afraid to speak her mind, and she always takes the time to explain things properly."

"Huh," Jaune said, blinking. "She sounds a lot like you, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha flushed as the comment washed over her.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "That is the single smoothest thing I've ever heard you say."

"What?" Jaune said, startled.

He'd said it out of pocket, without any of the overblown confidence the guy regularly used in his doomed attempts to win over Weiss, and somehow he hadn't even realised what he'd done.

"Damn," Lima said again. "Pawpaw, you're blushing."

Pyrrha made an aborted motion to cover her face and then gave a nervous, embarrassed laugh.

"I'm feeling a little bit hot, is all," Pyrrha managed, quickly standing up. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom—I'll be right back."

Pyrrha vanished out of the door, fleeing the cabin with speed only a Huntress could hope to reach. Jaune stared at the partially open door for a long moment and then glanced up at him, looking lost.

"Lima?" Jaune said. "What just happened?"

Lima scratched at his cheek for a moment in consideration.

"Pyrrha listed off all the things she admires about someone that she loves and looks up to—and you just told her she was practically describing herself," Lima said, walking him through it. "Are you following yet, lady killer?"

Jaune turned to look at the door again, now looking a bit red in the face himself.

"But I wasn'ttryingto—" Jaune managed before cutting himself off. "Why was she blushing?"

#

Mistral Limited, Mistral, Anima.

Lima dragged his bag up onto his shoulder and then slipped off the top bunk to drop to the floor of the cabin. He drew himself upright, spun until his back was to the door and gave the cabin a quick look over for anything he might have left behind. The P.A system rang out for a second time, repeating the same message.

"We have now arrived in Mistral. Please ensure that you have all of your possessions when you leave," A pleasant voice said, "Thank you all for choosing theMistral Limitedfor your cross-continental needs. We hope to see all of you again soon."

Lima stepped backwards and used his heel to kick the door open—he turned as he crossed the threshold and had to immediately stop as he came face to face with Jaune, the boy's own bag tossed over his shoulder. There was a strained expression on his face that had nothing to do with the weight of his luggage, and his lip was caught between his teeth as he struggled with some internal emotional war. Pyrrha stood beside him, one hand rubbing the blonde boy's back in an attempt to help him along.

"Don't worry so much," Lima asked, pushing down hard against the pang behind his own eyes and the discomfort at the imminent separation. "We can catch up after the break is over."

"Right," Jaune said, scrubbing at his face. "We've got about five minutes to get over to theArgus Limited, so I guess this is goodbye."

"Come on," Lima said, nodding at the doors. "I'll see you guys off."

He followed after them on their path across the station and to the check-in station for theArgus Limited, standing by as they got squared away, and then rejoined them in an effort to say goodbye.

"This trip was way more fun with you two around," Lima said, clapping Jaune on the shoulder. "It was nice getting to hang out; we're all kind of team-centric back at Beacon, aren't we?"

Jaune, now sniffling like a big wuss, made an effort to drag him into a hug, and Lima laughed as he patted the guy on the back. The station's P.A system rang out with a preemptive departure message for theArgus Limited, and Jaune pulled back.

"We'll definitely change that after the break," Jaune said.

"You got it, big guy," Lima said, "Pawpaw—hug."

Pyrrha stepped forward at the request, the proximity once again showcasing just how much of a disparity in their height was present—it was like he'd spent the entire trip in the company of giants, damn it.

"Lima," Pyrrha murmured, "Make sure you return to Beacon safely."

"Same to you," Lima said, giving the end of her ponytail a playful tug. "I'd hate to have to win the Vytal Festival Tournament without a real challenge."

Pyrrha reached back in an effort to catch hold of it, and when she managed it, she swept it forward over her shoulder and pinned it there to protect it from any further attack. There was a glint of something competitive in her eyes as she tried and failed to pull back from the hug.

"I'll be sure to look forward to somerealsparring once the break is over," Pyrrha said in warning. "I don't think I'll be allowing you to run away anymore."

"I'll see if I can squeeze you in," Lima said before lowering his voice a bit, "If Jaune hasn't tried to stick his hand up your shirt at leastonceby the time the break is over, I'm going to tell everyone I caught the two of you with your pants around your ankles—"

"Lima," Pyrrha said, flushing as he let her go. "If you sayanythinglike that, you'llvery muchcome to regret it."

"Say anything likewhat?" Jaune said, suddenly a bit worried. "Pyrrha—what did he just say?"

Pyrrha looked like she wanted absolutely no part in answering the question, but she was saved from having to attempt it when the P.A system spoke up in another departure call. Lima watched the two of them scuttle into theArgus Limitedbefore the doors could shut them out, a splash of red and yellow hair passing by the windows—then they were entirely out of sight, and Lima was left to stand alone on the platform as the train pulled away.

"That was theInvincible Girl—a bit taller than she was back at Sanctum, isn't she?" Sage said from somewhere just behind him. "Who was the blonde kid?"

Lima blew a breath out of his nose at the sound of the man's voice and then turned around—Midori and Sage stood only a few feet away, smiling.

"Hey," Lima managed. "I didn't realise you were coming to meet me—"

Midori swept forward, dragging him into a hug, and he found himself far less capable of pushing away the stinging in his eyes. Lima reached up over her shoulder in an attempt to scrub at his face and did his best to ignore the way Sage was now laughing at him—goddamnit.

#

Midori 's Home, Mistral, Anima.

"There's this guy called Peter Port teaching Grimm Studies," Lima said, sitting cross-legged on the kitchen bench. "He is an absolutebeast."

"Think I've heard that name before," Sage said, knife working to cube some steak. "Can't recall where—young guy?"

"Old, he's probably somewhere in his fifties?" Lima said, "The first day of classes, he told us this story about the very first time he fought a Grimm—a Beowolf even tried to kidnap some girl from their village."

"I've seen the Grimm do some pretty strange things over the years, but abducting people is a new one," Sage said, frowning. "First-time encounter—did he have his aura unlocked?"

"Yeah, but he only had a bit of arms training from his father, so he ended up going after it with a woodcutters axe—managed to cut the thing up pretty bad, apparently," Lima said, leaning back on his hands. "Enough to drag it back to the village without it dissipating or being able to fight back, which is a pretty fine line."

"It must have thought it could still escape somehow if it played dead," Sage said, "I'm guessing it was an older Grimm—too many conflicting instincts, learned behaviours and heuristics clashing together to make it act so strange."

"That's what I figured," Lima admitted, "He runs these hunting sessions on the weekends, takes a bunch of students out into the Emerald Forest to help keep the Grimm population low."

"Perks of the landscape surrounding Beacon," Sage said, gesturing with the knife. "Couldn't pull that off here unless we could get Lionheart's go-ahead to take students on a day trip outside the city walls—which definitely isn't happening any time soon."

The name sparked his mind into high gear, with Ozpin's mission coming back to him all at once and leaving Lima with a burning urge to just tell the man everything. He barely managed to hold himself back from it, knowing that he couldn't risk Sage confronting Lionheart over it, and if he tried dropping breadcrumbs or being vague about it, the man would end up getting the whole story out of him in quick order.

"Lionheart," Lima said, closing his eyes against the mess of emotion he was feeling. "That was the headmaster at Haven Academy, wasn't it?"

"That's the one, Leonardo Lionheart," Sage said, "He's a good man and a stellar record of missions as a Huntsman under his belt—seems a bit jumpy these days, though."

Lima cracked an eye open at the words, trying to build a picture of the man he would eventually need to meet.

"Jumpy—shouldn't he be a killing machine?" Lima said, in question. "I kind of want to meet him now, if only just to see what the hell that even means."

"Lionheart's out of the city right now and won't be back for about a week, or so he says," Sage said, nodding. "I'll take you up to see the school when he gets back, and you can meet him then—I've thrown your name around a bit, so he's probably expecting it at some point."

If the guy wasn't in Mistralright now, then that made it the perfect time to get started on finding out what had happened to the three contacts that had up and vanished.

"Cool—our guy is kind of boring, honestly; he just walks around drinking hot chocolate all the time," Lima said, "Hedidcatch me base diving off the cliff, though."

"Of course he did," Sage said, shaking his head. "I remember meeting Ozpin once; it must have been a decade ago, at least—is he still dragging that cane around with him?"

"Yeah, what's that about anyway? The guy doesn't even have a limp," Lima said, "Someone needs to put a PI on his ass—I bet he's faking it for the health insurance payout."

Sage snorted at the words.

"It might be a family heirloom," Sage said, "I know a guy who was running around with his mum's weapon half a century later—well,knew, I guess; he actually got caught out on a mission about a month ago."

Caught out on a mission because he'd let down hisguardor because someone had lied about the expected level of Grimm? The direction the conversation was heading was starting to get to him again, and the urge to reveal it all crept up his neck.

"f*ckingGrimm," Lima managed.

"I don't know if it's just a rough patch, but the old crowd of Huntsmen and Huntresses has been dropping like flies this past six months," Sage said like he was talking about the weather. "I mentioned it to Lionheart the other day—he reckons it's the civvies not knowing how to accurately detail a Grimm sighting, so all the missions end up being more than they can handle."

Lima's fingernails bit into the palm of his hand, two facets of his Aura rolling against one another as the force exceeded the threshold needed to bring it up.

"I've been thinking up about ways to try and deal with it, but there isn't going to be a quick fix," Sage said, "Best I've got so far is start putting together some scout groups to investigate all the reports that are coming in before a full team gets sent in—although we might be able to start some free workshops for the civvies to learn how to be more accurate about the detailing."

"How public is all of this?" Lima asked. "Mistral will see even more Grimm attacks the second the civilian population finds out."

"That's why Lionheart has been keeping it under wraps, apparently, but it's impossible to hide from the Hunters," Sage said, "Too many of us know one another, so when people start dropping off, it's pretty clear that somethings going wrong—the biggest issue is keeping theirfamiliesfrom spreading the word."

"Sage," Lima said, voice quiet. "How badisit?"

"I've been doing some digging about that, reaching out to everyone I can to try and ballpark the numbers, but it's not entirely clear," Sage said, frowning now. "I'll take a stab in the dark here and say Anima has lost maybe fifteen percent of its active Huntsman and Huntresses over the last year—five percent of that is probablyhere, in Mistral alone."

"f*cking hell," Lima managed, and then before he could help himself. "Lionheart—is he doing anything about it?"

"That's why he's been gone," Sage said, nodding. "He didn'tsayit outright, but the way it sounded was like he was in the process of reaching out to the frontier cities in Anima—figure he's working with the Mistral Council to try and tackle it."

Ozpin's contacts vanishingrightbefore Lionheart sets out to start working on the problem seemed pretty f*cking suspicious as far as timing went. While getting a dozen or so cities to work together to start addressing the loss of manpower wasn't a bad idea by any stretch, it did leave him with the question of why Lionheart was only starting to do itnow—it also didn't address why he'd been lying to the other academy heads.

"The man is starting to look a bit ragged; honestly, the stress of the job is finally starting to get to him, and I'm starting to feel it a bit at times myself," Sage said, slowly reaching up to touch a hand to his own chest. "I mean, hereweare, training kids likeyouinto efficient killing machines, all in an effort to help protect everyoneelse'sway of life, and then we get to sit back,watching,as one after another, you burn yourselves up—I've got to admit, there's more than a bit of regret for my part in that."

The weight of the words caused the man to sag a bit, and the unwavering aura of strength that had always wreathed him seemed to shake—Sage was old and hadbeenold, even when they'd first met in the streets of Mistral Below, a decade and change ago. But looking at him now, Lima felt a terrible sense of disquiet as the man's sheer, unstoppable, and unflappable nature was revealed to be fading away beneath the slow erosion of time.

"Kids likeme," Lima said, voice quiet. "I'd have been nothing without everything you taught me—so you better not try and apologise for something like that."

"Better not," Sage said in quiet agreement. "Couldn't justify a thing like that anyway, could I? Because with the way things have been going lately, we need all the Huntsman and Huntresses we can get."

#

Mistral Below, Mistral, Anima.

Lima felt odd, walking around the streets of Mistral after being away for so long—everything was in roughly the same place as it had been before, but now there were so many new additions that it had almost blended the known away completely. New signs, new shops, new businesses, a thousand little changes that he couldn't have ever predicted. Haven Academy, high above, looked just as much a marvel as it had back then, perched atop the twin peaks—perhaps the only thing that had remained untouched across time. The same old thought that it all might come tumbling down on their heads pulled at the edge of his mind, reminding him of a hundred sleepless nights.

The seemingly endless series of stone steps still stretched upwards, weaving around the mountain in a winding path all the way to the top, and left the city bisected in a gradient of distinct levels. The massive elevator that bridged the bottom and top halves of the city ascended as he watched some unknown contingent heading for the academy above, perhaps in search of the communication towers. He could see the change occurring, from extravagant, large, and stylish architecture adorning the Mistral Above and the more grounded, spartan, and pragmatic shining in the Mistral Below. For all of the visible divide, Mistral, as a whole, remained protected, safely hemmed in behind walls, defences—and its apparently dwindling defenders.

Lima's hand touched the empty place in his pocket, where his Scroll might have been if Ozpin's warning about its lack of security hadn't driven him to paranoia. Lionheart might have been gone from the city, but he didn't want to leave a nice easy trail for the man to follow if hediddo his due diligence in looking into the whereabouts of a boy who'd come into his city from Beacon Academy. If messages were readable, then a GPS log might as well, so it was simply better not to risk it.

The first of the contact's fate was immediately clear, the very moment he stepped onto the street—or if not the man's fateprecisely, but the fate of his home. A blackened mess of charcoal, burned debris and faded yellow tape turned the air thick with smells that had no place being in the middle of the city. He had no way to determine how long the mess had been left there, but it was clear that no effort had been made to clear it away. Lima reached out and snagged a young boy by the collar before he could pass out of reach—the boy's hood fell back, revealing a pair of tall, thin ears that wouldn't have looked out of place on a fox.

"Oi," The kid cried out, struggling against the hold. "Let me go, you big dummy."

"Kid," Lima said, "Tell me what happened here—and I'll give you some lien."

"Whoa," He said, impressed. "Youwill?"

Lima jerked his head at the burned mess of a home to direct his attention toward it and the question he'd asked.

"It burned down," The kid said, nodding once. "Give me a lot, please and thank you."

Lima smacked the kid upside the head, just a little cuff for the cheek, and let him go in the process—the kid squawked in protest and pulled his hands up in front of him like he was ready to take him on right there in the street.

"I figured out that part already, genius," Lima said, crouching down. "How'd itgetburned down?"

"I heard it was the Spiders," The kid said, eyeing him from behind his still-raised guard. "They put his stove on all night—to teach him alesson, you know?"

Lima wasn't sure whether to smack the kid again or to take him at his word and put it down as arson by the most notable crime syndicate in Anima—he had a clear enough memory of what happened to those who messed with them, even all the way out in Kuchinashi. His mother stuffing him into the manhole in the ceiling while half a dozen men smashed their meagre belongings into splinters was a hard thing to forget.

"Sound about right," Lima said, "Know what that lesson was about—had to be pretty bad if they put it onallnight."

"Youbetit was," The kid said, hesitantly lowering his guard. "Red say's that guy got caught smelling their grass when he wasn't supposed to be doing it—dunnowhy, but that's the kinda thing that gets your stove put on round these parts."

Smelling their grass—either Ozpin's contact had some bizarre pastimes, or he was sniffing around on theirturf. Which begged the question of why would the man be doing something likethat? Were the Spiders working with Lionheart here, or was it just the contact getting into some shady business that was completely unrelated to the rest of it?

"No doubt about it," Lima said, trying not to wince. "They put anyoneelse'sstove on recently—that's a hundred Lien question, so you better be quick."

"Uh," The kid said, panicking a bit. "Red told me about another guy; he kept getting whacked with the sticky end—not sure what he did to deserve it, but his house is up for sale now, so he must have got sick of it happening and moved somewhere else."

Whacked with the sticky end?

"Kid—never mind," Lima sighed, handing over the agreed-upon payment. "Just tell me which street his house was on."

#

Mistral Below, Mistral, Anima.

Mister Sticky End just so happened to be the second contact, and the crossed-out For-Sale sign, along with the half a dozen people standing around near the front door, made it pretty clear that he wasn't getting inside that one any time soon—he'd have to try and find out when the house had been first listed for sale. The third and last location, on the other hand, was neither burned nor in the process of being moved into—all of the furniture was still present, from what he could see through the crack of the drawn curtain on the front window.

Lima slipped down the side of the house and hopped the fence before turning into the back patio area. The sliding glass door at the back of the house had a curtain of its own, so he was forced to press his ear to it in an attempt to figure out if anyone was inside. A minute of listening revealed that there were no discernible sounds, so he decided to just take the risk—he pressed a finger against the handle and used his Semblance to flip the latch on the inside. Lima carefully slid it open, listened once more, and then when he was certain it was empty, he stepped inside. The door clicked as he slid it shut behind him.

He took a single step inwards before planting his feet and scanning the area—almost immediately, he noticed the signs of a fight. A dozen or so gouges in the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the top of the kitchen table, and a single deep puncture mark on the backside of the front door, which he could just see from his position. The air inside the house was stale, without any scent of blood, but therewasa distinct and sharp chemical stench that seemed almost omnipresent. Lima stepped forward to stand in the liminal space between the kitchen and the lounge room.

Now that he had a better angle, he could see a large ornate dresser with a mirror backing pressed flat against the main wall. It was covered in picture frames, unlit candles in brass holders, and a million odd knick-knacks. In the middle of it sat a tiny wooden stand coated in dark lacquer; the section right at the top had a small, shaped basin, the receptacle for some kind of small orb—the item that had once sat there was entirely missing. At a glance and robbed of most of the details by the distance, the photos seemed to predominately feature a pair of women outside and in the sun. A few of them seemed to be taken indoors—perhaps in the same room house he was standing in.

He turned his attention back to the damage, slowly spinning in place in an attempt to take it all in at once—there was an odd flow to it all, with the mark at the door seeming to be the endpoint. The start of it seemed to originate from the kitchen table; a two-inch wide section of it had been sliced off and was now resting against the legs of the chair. There was a puncture mark on the seat of the chair that had been placed—at some time after the damage had been inflicted—neatly under the table as if to hide it from view. A messy oblong hole in the ceiling spoke of a foot trying to find purchase against the too-thin material and then having punched through from the force of the impact.

Lima turned towards the end of the divider wall that had a large thick chunk torn out of it, a shallow puncture mark on the floor—where the chemical smell was almost overpowering. A hole in the wall by the door, about the height of his knees, had been torn outward like someone had clawed at it with their hand. He turned towards the door, where the final puncture mark was, almost all the way through, and for a moment, Lima could almost imagine the smiling woman—Violet Rivera, the third contact and whose house he was currently sequestered within—sitting there, back against it, arm raised in an attempt to fend someone off. Lima let out a long, quiet breath in an attempt to dispel the unease pooling in his chest and turned away, eyes falling on the dresser again.

Lima carefully crossed over to it and reached down, taking hold of one of the pictures that had been taken inside the room he was standing in. Violet's bright smile twisted something in his chest, and his eyes, seeking relief, searched the dresser in the background of the image—the photo representation of the black-lacquered stand was in plain view, and atop it sat a small, bronze and silver object. An orb that appeared to have been made out of an intricate series of cogs, all interlocking in a display of careful and beautiful craftsmanship. It reminded him of the ceiling in Ozpin's office—perhaps shallowly, in that there were cogs involved in its assembly—but despite lifting his gaze and searching the dresser, he couldn't find the object anywhere in the vicinity.

It was very, very clear that something terrible had happened in this house, and recently—sometime between the day she was supposed to report to Ozpin and whenever she had sent the report before that. The locked house, all of the damage, the smell of chemicals that had most likely been used to wash away any evidence; there had been a fight here, and he had a very strong feeling that Violet hadn't come out of it alive.

He also had a suspicion that if he'd come back here a few weeks from now, he'd find the place either destroyed, sold, or otherwise without a single sign of damage—and perhaps, small Faunus boys would tell stories about a stove, a sticky end and a woman who moved away to escape it all. Lima carefully placed the picture back down on the dresser, in the exact spot he'd taken it from, gave the empty, black-lacquered stand a final lingering look, and then turned away.

Whether or not Lionheart had been involved, all three of Ozpin's contacts were gone and very likely dead.

#

Midori 's Bar, Mistral, Anima.

"Not a chance, Lima," Midori smiled.

"I'm seventeen," Lima tried, "If I'm old enough to go out and fight to the death against savage, man-eating monsters, Ishouldbe allowed to drink something."

"Nope," Midori said, her hair flipping about at the sheer assuredness of her head shake. "I've heard itallbefore, most especially from the boys up at Haven Academy; you're not breaking any new ground here, trust me."

It wasn't like he'd never gotten drunk before—Midori had been the one who'd caught him raiding Sage's stash at twelve years old and had then been the one to console him when he spent the next hour throwing up everything he'd had the audacity to consume. But he was seventeen now, practically a man—nay, hewasa man—he'd done things most civilian men couldn't have dreamed of, but somehow, he couldn't even convince her to let him sneak a sip. It was ludicrous. Lima let out a long, loud, and tortured moan, doing his level best to make sure she understood just how hard done by he was—the volume of it brought the noise to all corners of the bar and drew more than a bit of attention from the patrons. Midori flapped her hand at him in embarrassment, attempting to get him to quiet down.

"Oh mygod, Lima, everyone is looking at you now," Midori said before raising her voice to address the titters. "I'm sorry, everyone, he's my little brother—please ignore him."

"I'm so sad," Lima said, at the same increased volume making as much of a scene as he could manage in an attempt to bully her into giving in. "Can't youhearhowsadI am?"

"Stop being so loud," Midori said as she leaned over the bar to smack him on the back of the head. "I'll tell you what, next year—after your birthday—I'll take you out to all the best spots in Mistral Below."

"But Midori,yourbar is the best spot, and I'm alreadyhere," Lima said, trying hard to keep the one-sided debate alive. "A year is anentire lifetime away,and I'll be an entirely different person then—I might even have a beard."

"You haven't even got ascrapof stubble yet," Midori said without mercy. "It's going to be atleastthree or four years before you'll need to start shaving."

There were more titters from the table filled with old Huntsmen who were closest to the bar, overtly listening in on the argument.

"That's totally not true," Lima managed, pained. "You'll see, I'm going to have the best-looking beard in all of Mistral—Midori, you'relaughingat me—"

The Huntsmen were laughing at him too now, and Lima spun around on his stool to give them a warning look—but all that did was set the rest of the table off.

"Bastards," Lima accused before spinning back around. "Isee how it is."

"I'm sorry, Lima," Midori said, giggling now. "I'm sure you'll have a lovely beard."

"Whatever," Lima complained, "What's this about boys from Haven Academy? They better not be trying to chat you up."

"A few of them have definitely tried," Midori said, "I just tell them to come back in a few years—that's usually enough to shut them down."

"What?" Lima said, alarmed. "You're giving themhope, and that's thelastthing those nasty little degenerates need—you need to make itabsolutelyclear."

"Ohreally?" Midori said, smiling. "How do I go about doing that?"

"I'll buy you a gun," Lima decided. "That should be enough to get the message across."

#

Grounds, Haven Academy, Anima.

Haven Academy was large, expansive, and beyond all else, beautiful. The buildings were tall, and the ceilings were so high that Lima was left to wonder if they shouldn't just get rid of them entirely. Therewas,in fact, a forest up on top of the mountain, although calling it a forest was far too generous and didn't quite describe the artificial and man-made nature of it. No more than a thick strip of trees, carefully planted and kept well clear of any Grimm that may have tried to slip inside—not that the monsters would have much luck climbing all the way up the mountain, to begin with.

In the centre of the academy sat a large quad, framed by the looming threat of the CCTS Towers, staring ceaselessly at one another from opposite ends of the courtyard. The building that could only be the Grand Hall stretched across the peaks of both mountaintops, a singularly massive building that dominated the area and cast a thick shadow upon the rest of the campus—it was just as magnificent as Beacon Academy, albeit rendered with an architectural brush that was objectively different.

"So I'm fine to just run in and call my team," Lima said, "I'm not going to have to fight through the security or anything?

"You've got my lanyard, just flash it to the receptionist and tell her who you are—I already mentioned you were coming in, anyway," Sage said, waving him off. "I'll be in my office doing those forms I was telling you about—come find me when you're finished."

"I will," Lima agreed, "Thanks for this, Sage."

"You can thank me by working as my intern for the day," Sage said, rubbing his hands together. You've been lazing around since you got here—get ready for the pain."

"Bastard," Lima accused. "That wasn't part of the deal—hey—"

Sage tossed a wave over his shoulder as he left, apparently content to ignore his complaints as he strode off in the direction of the Grand Hall without another word. Lima scrunched his face up at the trickery of it and then turned back towards the nearest of the two towers. He immediately caught sight of a pair of older girls on the other side of the quad, standing close to one another and staring in his direction, watching him. Considering they were all up here during the middle of the break, they could only have been the Noras and Rens of Haven Academy. The uniform was interesting enough, grey-black in colour, with a checked skirt that he probably could have learned to appreciate.

They tracked his progress all the way to the entrance of the tower, his age and complete lack of uniform probably the cause of the increased attention, singling him out as either a rule breaker or someone who'd come up from Mistral. The doors slid open on his approach, and he felt the conditioned air pass over his skin as he stepped inside—he cut a straight line towards the elevator, slipped inside, and used the guide to pick out the correct floor. For all that the outside of the building looked different, the structure of the inside seemed almost universal across the CCTS towers. Stepping out on his chosen floor, he approached the counter at the lobby, lanyard dangling from his hand.

"Hi, my name's Lima Morta," Lima said, "I'm here to make a call to the tower in Vale."

"Sage's son," The receptionist said in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, Lima; please go ahead—the terminals marked with the sign are already configured with a Vale connection."

He didn't correct her about the whole guardianship situation, instead just smiling in thanks before setting off towards the indicated area and dropping down into one of the terminals closest to the window. He spent a moment flipping through the menu until it asked for the identification of the person he was attempting to contact, and then he settled in to wait for the other side to make a connection. Three minutes later, the black screen flashed and revealed Teak fidgeting in front of the screen.

"What have they beendoingto you?" Lima said in greeting. "My poor, sweet boy—tell meeverything."

Teak's too-pretty face seemed to light up—and Lima found himself relaxing at the sight of it. For all that he'd pretended to be unfazed, Limahadbeen more than a little bit worried that the time apart had punctured the dynamic they'd built up.

"It's nice to hear your voice again, Lima," Teak said, smiling. "Theyhaven't done anything to me—although I'm not quite sure who you're referring to."

Lima just nodded at the confusion.

"How was the big lunch with everyone's families?" Lima asked.

"It went really well," Teak said, leaning forward a bit and then checking over his shoulder as if to make sure nobody was listening. "Lux was kind of nervous about it; I've never seen her so quiet."

"I heard a little bit about that from Claire," Lima said, "Is your mother doing alright?"

Teak eyed him for a moment, apparently trying to determine if he had any kind of ulterior motive, but Lima just smiled.

"She's really happy that I'm back, but I think she's been lonely," Teak said, glancing down at his lap for a moment. "I'm going to try and come down more often, so I can see her when everything starts up again."

"Sounds like a good idea," Lima said in agreement. "What did she think about the other two?"

"She likes them a lot—she actually keeps inviting them to stay over," Teak said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "We had a big sleepover two nights ago, and we stayed up most of the night watching horror movies."

"Damn, that sounds pretty awesome," Lima said, raising a hand into view and then wiggling his pinky finger. "I wonder if I should go down when I get back and—"

"You'renothaving a sleepover with my mother," Teak said, scrunching his face up. "Stop wiggling it, idiot."

"Worth a try," Lima laughed. "I've been telling Midori and Sage about you guys—they both want to meet you."

"Really?" Teak said, shifting a bit at the words. "Are they doing okay?"

The memory of Sage's face, looking wrinkled and stressed, appeared in his mind—Lima reached up to touch a hand against the back of his neck and then pulled a bigger smile onto his face.

"They're doing great," Lima said before clearing his throat. "The little sh*ts from up here keep going down to the bar and hitting on Midori, so I've decided to buy her a weapon—I was thinking something like Nora's grenade launcher might do the trick."

"Oh no, I don't think she's allowed something likethat," Teak said, covering his mouth in an attempt to hide his smile. "Howisthe raid on Haven Academy going?"

"I infiltrated the building during the bright of day to make sure they knewexactlywho they were messing with," Lima said, thumbing his nose. "They haven't even mustered up the courage to try and repel me yet—cowards, the lot of them."

"Try not to get into any fights," Teak said before hesitating. "How haveyoubeen doing, Lima?"

Lima's reflex to blow straight on past it with a surface-level answer almost won out—then he forced himself to stop and actually consider the question because Teak deserved better than that.

"I felt like absolute garbage during the first week," Lima admitted, "It's kind of hard to get used to suddenly being on my own after we spent so much time together—I got to spend some time with Jaune and Pyrrha though, so it wasn't all bad."

"I'm sorry," Teak murmured as if it was somehowhisfault that Lima had decided to take the trip to Mistral. "I've been feeling really bad whenever I think about you being on your own—we're allhere—it's—"

"What are you sayingsorryfor, Teak? You didn't stuff me into the train by force; I made the choice," Lima said, "You don't need to worry so much about me—"

"Iamworried about you," Teak managed, looking down at his lap again. "I—you're my friend—maybe my first real one, and I don't like the idea of you being all alone."

Lima had to kind of brace himself against the pang the words caused—and when Teak reached up to brush a hand across his eyes, he swallowed.

"Thanks, man, I'm worried about you too," Lima said after he'd gathered himself. "Next time, I'll make sure to bring you with me."

"Sorry," Teak said again, scrubbing at his face. "I just—you said you got to see Jaune and Pyrrha?"

"Teak," Lima said, leaning forward. "Jaune pulled the mostludicrousline out on Pyrrha—Ialmost fell in love with him, and it wasn't even directed at me."

"Hedid?" Teak said, eyes bright once more. "What did he say?"

#

Haven Tower, Haven Academy, Anima.

"Lux," Lima said with great interest. "What was this about you hiding under the covers like a scared little girl?"

"Shut the hell up," Lux managed, flushing at the words. "Iwasn'thiding—I just don't like those kinds of movies very much."

"That's not whatTeaksaid," Lima said, flashing her a superior smile. "He even told me you tried to hold his hand like some smitten—"

"Those were at two completely separate times—and I wasn't even holding his hand," Lux said, narrowing her eyes. "I was trying to pull him in front of me after his mumhuggedme."

Thatdidmatch the story he'd been told way more closely, but his own interpretation of the tale was way funnier.

"Teak made it soundwaydifferent; seriously, it was like hearing him narrate a scene fromNinja's In Love," Lima hedged, "Heavy breathing, moaning, thefirsttouch—he even had this littletremblein his voice—"

"You're such a liar," Lux said, blowing out an explosive breath, "He never saidanyof that."

"Bet he wasthinkingabout it, though," Lima said, grinning. "I've heard about the lunch date with everyone from both of the others—you want a chance to defend yourself?"

Lux picked at the front of her shirt for a moment in consideration before speaking up.

"I've gone toplentyof dinner parties, but they weren't like, people I had to bother with—they were there for my parents, not me," Lux said, slumping down a bit. "Yousaid I was supposed to look after them, so I wastryingto make a good impression—and this waswaydifferent than the other times."

"Because you actually care about them?" Lima said, in understanding. "That's pretty sweet of you, Lux—"

"Shutup," Lux managed.

"—but Claire and Teak invited you along while knowingexactlywhat you were like," Lima said, ignoring the interruption. "That means theywantedtheir families to meet thenormalLux—the one who says exactly what she thinks and isn't scared of anything."

"I know thatnow, idiot," Lux muttered, still plucking at her shirt. "Claire explained it already."

"She totally stole my thunder," Lima complained.

"Have you fought anyone at Haven Academy yet?" Lux asked, clearly trying to escape from the topic. "Well?"

"Not yet, but Sage keeps telling me about this one first year he wants me to beat up—or get beaten up by, I suppose," Lima said, "No idea if she's any good yet."

"Are you stupid?" Lux said. "You should have calledafteryou fought her."

"That's how it is, huh? Well, how aboutthis," Lima said, "Take a guess whatIspent the entire trip to Mistral doing?"

"Playing with your dick, probably," Lux said, "Like a complete loser."

"f*ck you," Lima said, on reflex. "The answer is actually—sparring with Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc."

"f*ckyou," Lux accused. "Like hell you did."

"They were headed to Argus, so we ended up sharing a cabin until I got to Mistral," Lima said, pleased. "We must have foughtdozensof times—she's insatiable, really—even Jaune got in on the action."

"You're so full of sh*t," Lux insisted.

"I mean, you could ask either of our two teammates for confirmation," Lima said, studying his fingernails. "Teak heard some of it a few minutes ago—and I sent Claire a message about them before I even made land in Anima."

"You're the worst," Lux said with a groan of frustration. "You should have taken mewithyou—"

#

Haven Tower, Haven Academy, Anima.

The chair was still spinning when Claire finally stepped into the frame, and he watched as she caught it by the back, then dropped down into it—there was something different about her hair. Once she'd stopped moving, he got a better look at it; she had distinct bangs now, and it was cut about an inch shorter than when he'd last seen her, hanging around her chin in a feathered, silvery mess.

"Lima—" Claire said.

Claire seemed to grow flustered, glancing down at her hands for a moment as she struggled to find the words—then she vanished, activating her Semblance to remove herself entirely from view. Limaalmostlaughed out loud at the unexpectedness of it.

"New hair, huh? It looks really pretty on you," Lima said as if she hadn't just vanished. "Unfortunately, I was thinking about getting theexactsame one—so you should probably go back and get them to put it all back on."

"That's stupid," Claire managed, still invisible. "It wouldn't even match the shape of your face."

Likethatwas the problem with what he'd just said.

"What theheck?" Lima said in protest, "What's going on here—are you nervous?"

There was a long pause, in which he continued to study the chair, and then Claire seemed to find her voice again.

"I'm embarrassed—and it's your fault," Claire said, the chair shifting oddly for a moment. "Do something to fix it."

It was probablybothof their faults, considering some of the messages they'd been sending back and forth since he'd made it to Mistral proper, but he didn't particularly want to spend theentirecall studying the folds of the chair.

"It has come to my attention that you haveconvenientlyforgotten to mention a very notable event, an event that may or may not have occurred on the very same nightas thehorror movie marathon," Lima said, folding his hands in front of his face. "But my sources have told me a greatmanythings in the last half hour—enquiry; did youreallywet the bed? Because that's totally lame."

Claire washed into existence, her legs were bunched up on the chair now, and her chin was pressed against her knees—her face was visibly flushed, but rather than embarrassed, she seemed far more indignant at the accusation.

"I did not—who saidthat?" Claire demanded. "It was Lux,wasn'tit? Don't believe anything she says."

"I'm afraid it's been corroborated bybothof my unnamed sources and then substantiated by a little bit of—I made it the heck up," Lima said in agreement. "When did you get your hair cut anyway? Because you didn't say anything about it in your last message."

Claire slipped her arms around the front of her legs, pulling them tight against her chest and glaring at him from behind her knees.

"Don't make up stupid lies, or I'll hit you when you get back," Claire said in a clear warning. "I went and had it done this morning—shut up, it's not whatever you're thinking."

The timing of it was a little too convenient for him to have believed that it had nothing to do with the scheduled call—but it was possible that it just lined up by way of coincidence.

"I'm going to proceed as if itiswhat I'm thinking because the idea of you cutting your hair formeis adorable," Lima said, aiming for a state of unaffected confidence that he didn't at all feel. "It's nice being able to actually see you—don't get me wrong, the messages aresuperfun, but this is way better."

Claire flapped a hand at the monitor in a kind of panicked shushing gesture that was a clear sign for him to halt all mention of the messages in question, and he laughed this time for real.

"It's not funny," Claire said, searching the monitor for a moment. "At least we don't have to deal with the delay any more; having to wait so long for a single response was frustrating."

He agreed completely because it was a complete pain in the ass, and by the time he'd actually had a chance to read through the things that she'd planned to do, all of the events had already occurred—he'd started writing the messages from a kind of proto-future perspective, to try and get a head of it, but it never really worked out.

"Well, I kind of liked the thought of you nervously checking your Scroll every couple of minutes," Lima said, looking up for a moment. "Did he message me? Not yet? Howlongdo I have to wait?"

Claire flushed again, but this time she seemed to get a bit of a foothold against it.

"Isthatwhat you think I sound like?" Claire scoffed, visibly trying to play it off. "I think you're just—stopsmirkingat me."

Lima covered his mouth with the back of his hand, fighting hard but failing to keep the smile off his face. Claire seemed to watch him closely for a moment, no doubt trying to make sure that he'd actually shut it down completely—then she sat up a bit, her face fully visible from behind her knees for the first time.

"Now that you've actually seen what Haven Academy has to offer, do you regret coming to Vale?" Claire said, reaching up to play with the tip of her bang. "More importantly, should I start expecting you to accidentally miss the train back?"

The words came out as something of a joke, but she wasn't quite looking at the monitor anymore.

"Well, I was super hyped about coming back right up until I saw some fourth-year girls in a uniform, so now I'm just waiting for them to approve my transfer request," Lima said before smiling. "Claire, it's just a bunch of big empty buildings, and none ofyouguys are here; like hell I regret it—were you really worried about that?"

"No—or maybe a little bit," Claire said, turning her head away slightly. "I've just been thinking about what Teak said before you left, so you can blame him for putting the idea in my head."

"I could never blame him," Lima said, rejecting the idea out of hand. "Hey, I'm really glad I got to see you today—even if you tried to hide."

"Idiot," Claire managed, "I'm glad too."

#

Sage's Office, Haven Academy, Anima.

Sage's office looked as if it could have eaten one of the lecture halls back at Beacon Academy and still had room left over for seconds—the longer Lima spent here, the more he realised how ridiculously large the place really was.

"Why are you still smiling like a schoolgirl?" Sage said, peering over his reading glasses. "You're not still thinking about your little girlfriend, are you? Do you need me to find you somewhere private to crank one out?"

"What theheck?" Lima said in alarm. "I'm notcranking one outat Haven—and I don't even know if she's my girlfriend or not yet, jackass."

"You've brought her up four times in the last two hours," Sage said, "You spoke to her earlier, didn't you—why didn't youaskher, you little pansy?"

"I haven't spokentothem in weeks, so I'm allowed to talkaboutthem now that I have," Lima grunted, "Also, doing something like that over acallis totally lame."

"So you're going to do it in person?" Sage wondered.

"Undecided," Lima said, smacking his hand flat against the table for emphasis. "I might do it over a message, so it's way less embarrassing if she says no."

"Uhuh," Sage said, amused. "That'swayless pathetic."

"Get off my case, you old bastard," Lima complained, pulling the next form across the desk. "Ugh—you know what? Maybe going to Valewasa mistake."

"Is that right?" Sage said.

Lima searched the page for any sign of missing information; Sanctum Combat School, Beacon Academy and Haven Academy all seemed to have the same problem—none of the students knew how to fill out a goddamn form, which must have meant it was something like a universal trait. Still, it gave him a chance to get eyes on some of the competitors who were coming to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament—which was probably why Sage had asked him to help.

"When I'm in Vale, I miss you and Midori, but when I'm here, I miss my team," Lima said, slumping down in his chair for a moment. "I've trapped myself in a situation where I'm always feeling bad—it totally sucks."

"I remember the first time I split off from my team," Sage admitted, "It was a long time ago now, but I'm pretty sure I was feeling about the same as you are now."

Lima spotted a missing section before he moved to slip it into the pile with all of the missing genders—perhaps the easiest mistake to fix; he just had to ask Sage to confirm it with what their entry in the system had.

"Right, but I don't understand how I got socloseto them so quickly; well, I know it's because we're all living in the same room together, but it still feels so—so—I don't know," Lima said, with an explosive sigh. "I keep thinking that if I'd just come to Mistral, I wouldn't have todealwith it—"

"But then you start to think about a future where you never had the chance to meet your teammates," Sage said, tapping the end of his pen against the desk. "You've put yourself in a tough spot, Lima."

Lima dropped his pen down onto the next form without even taking a moment to look at the image attached to it.

"Exactly," Lima said, "What the hell am I supposed todoabout it?"

Sage patiently continued his work on his own stack in something like a thoughtful silence—and Lima didn't have nearly as much skill in the game of waiting. He fidgeted with the edge of the desk, unwilling to allow the untouched form to drag him back into the soul-crushing work.

"I think you already know what you have to do," Sage said, "You want me to say it for you?"

"Yes," Lima said, "At least then I can blameyouinstead of myself."

"Sounds about right," Sage said, amused. "Lima, the answer is simple—be miserable."

Lima sunk further down in his chair at the words, having half expected the answer to be something like that.

"You're supposed to miss us, and you're supposed to miss them," Sage said, marking something off the sheet in front of him. "So you'll be miserable, and when it becomes unbearable, you know whereweare, and you know where yourteamwill be."

"Why does it feel," Lima complained. "Like I'm going to spend all of my time travelling in the future?"

"Buy an airship," Sage suggested.

Lima grunted at the comment, not sure he could dismiss it entirely out of hand considering the distances involved and his growing weariness for long-form travelling by train. He slapped a hand down on the sheet and used the contact with the desk to pull himself back up—he found himself looking down at an incredibly familiar face. The eyes may have been the wrong colour, and the hair was completely black instead of half-and-half, but it was unmistakably the exact same girl.

"Huh," Lima said, dragging the blunt end of the pen around to circle the picture. "Huh?"

"I didn't break you, did I?" Sage wondered. "What's the problem?"

Lima frowned at the image, trying to understand the mechanics behind it; if this girl was a second-year student ofHaven Academy, in theKingdom of Mistral, on thecontinent of Anima. Then how could she have been sitting at acaféin theKingdom of Vale, on thecontinent of Sanus, during themiddle of the school year—eating tiny cakes with a purple vegetable namedAubergine?

"These are the Vytal Festival Tournament forms," Lima restated, already knowing the answer. "As in, students from Haven Academy who will be travelling to Vale to fight in the tournament.

"Yes, Lima," Sage said, turning to look at him with a strange look. "I told you that the moment you sat down—didn't I?"

Lima peeled the page up off the table, scanning the entire form for her information—Nori, Tan. Eighteen years old. A second-year student of Haven Academy. Team name; CNEM or Team Cinnamon. Each of her teammates was listed in the correct box, and she even had a passport listed as well. Lima reached over to the pile of unsorted forms, making a mess of them as he searched through the names of each of her teammates. Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Cinder Fall; all second-year students. Each form was meticulously filled out, with not a single missing piece of information—clearly the most suspicious part of it all—and all written in the same handwriting. They'd clearly designated one of the four to fill out all the forms and then dumped the task on them.

"Do you know this girl?" Lima asked, slapping it down. "Nori Tan—second year."

Sage, clearly interested in whatever had tipped him off balance, snagged it for a moment and frowned at the picture.

"Black hair, green eyes—she looks quite a bit like you, doesn't she?" Sage said, raising an eyebrow. "I only deal with the first-years, though, so she's not in any of my classes."

"Ever seen her around the school before?" Lima wondered.

"There are hundreds of kids here, Lima, and more than a fourth of them have black hair," Sage said, handing the page back. "You think she's some distant relative? Your old man might have sowed a few stray oats around, I suppose."

Lima snatched it back with a frown, immensely disliking the direction the conversation had just shifted towards and then losing basically all interest in the mystery in turn.

"I doubt it," Lima muttered. "Forget it."

#

Grand Hall, Haven Academy, Anima.

From the outside, the Grand Hall had felt almost like an ornamental topping for the mountains it rested upon, but walking inside of it made him feel about as small as an ant. Beyond that, he was beginning to feel as if he'd stepped into some giant's lair, and the absolutely massive statue only worked to enhance that feeling of foreboding. The statue itself was a work of art, a monstrously tall woman with her hands raised up high, almost as if she was keeping the sky from falling down on their heads. Golden chains trailed away from her wrists, and a belt made from the very same chain looped around her waist, hinting at a fate that was all but free.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "Everything'sbigat Haven, huh?"

The crude comment didn't even cause Sage to miss a step; the man was more than used to that kind of talk—and the primary source of where Lima himself had learned it from.

"Sure you don't need some alone time?" Sage said as they began to ascend the stairs behind the statue in question. "It's just a statue, so I'm sure your girlfriend will understand."

"f*ck you," Lima said, scrunching his face up. "You already made that joke—get some new material."

Sage gave a bark of a laugh at the cursing and clapped him on the back hard enough to send him tripping up the final few stairs. Lima caught himself with his hands before he could end up sprawled on the floor and then turned, ready to attempt to kick the bastard down the entire flight of stairs in punishment—but there was a girl standing a few feet away by the banister, watching them.

"Sir," The girl said just as Sage crested the stairs. "I didn't realise you were back already."

"Ahah, I was hoping I'd run into you while we were up here," Sage said, clapping his hands. "Lima, this is Arslan Altan."

The girl in question was roughly the same height as Lima was, dark-skinned, and with a tuft of wavy platinum blonde hair framing her head—the contrast was striking enough that he kind of got caught staring a bit.

"Lima," Arslan said, eyeing him. "That would make you Professor Jett's son."

That was the second time that someone had called him Sage's son today. For as long as he'd been in Sage's care, neither of them had so much as used a single instance of the word father or son when speaking to one another. For Sage, it was always 'boy,' 'the kid,' or simply 'Lima.' In Lima's case, it was the man's name, or when speaking to someone else, referring to the man as his guardian. The idea that Sage was actually talking about him like that to other people, and in what sounded like a pretty common way, kind of caught him off guard a bit.

"That's me," Lima said, scratching his cheek for a moment. "Whatever he's told you about me is a complete lie, though, seriously, you can't trustanythingthat comes out of this guy's mouth—"

Lima reached up to cradle the back of his head in the aftermath of Sage smacking him one with his open palm—it wasn't even hard enough to register against his aura, but Lima made sure to make a big show out of holding his head in an effort to make him look bad in front of his student.

"Ignore him; he spent a lot of time falling on his head as a kid," Sage said, "We're actually on our way to see Lionheart, but if you're still interested in that spar we were talking about, an hour from now would be a good bet."

Arslan turned to give him another look of consideration.

"Of course, sir," Arslan said, "I was actually about to go find Bolin and Reese—would you object if I brought them along?"

"Bring as many as you want," Sage said with a resounding clap of satisfaction. "Who else is up here right now—Shiko?"

"No sir, I believe he's returning in three days' time," The girl said, brushing a hand over her checked skirt in an attempt to flatten it down, "I did see Sun and Neptune earlier."

Lima glanced between the two at the absolute deluge of name drops—he was pretty sure he'd seen some of their pictures on the forms he'd sorted out earlier, but it was kind of a hassle to remember who was who without looking at them.

"Wukong's a bit flighty, so you'll probably have some trouble roping him into anything," Sage said, scratching at his chin. "Eh, tell them it's for extra credit, and see if they'll go for it—don't bother bringing any weapons or gear."

"I understand," Arslan said, bowing her head a few inches. "Excuse me, sir; I had best start looking."

Sage waved her off, and they watched the girl start down the stairs they'd just come up. Lima tugged on his ear for a moment, considering her unrushed and steady descent—she carried herself well, and judging by what he could see of her well-developed musculature, she looked dangerous enough.

"You're supposed to be helping yoursonwin the Vytal Festival Tournament," Lima said, "Why are you giving them a heads up on the competition?"

"You got a look at those forms earlier, didn't you?" Sage said, already moving again. "Besides, a spar goes both ways, so you'll get to see some of what they can do—you can't tell me you aren't a little bit excited."

"You're confusing me with my teammate—or maybe Pyrrha Nikos," Lima said in complete rejection. "If I wanted to beat up all your students, then I would have enrolled in your dinky little school."

Sage barked out a laugh as they came to a stop outside of a massive ornate door—engraved in the wood was a spread of lines that might have represented a set of wings—or perhaps a tuft of grass, he wasn't quite sure—but it was impressive, whatever the heck it was.

"I wouldn't say that in front of Lionheart," Sage said, knocking on the door. "He's pretty proud of this place, so he might end up giving you a lecture."

They heard a muffled voice call out, and although the words weren't exactly decipherable, the tone was enough to recognise that they were being granted entry—Lima's mind, however, was locked on the idea that he was about to come face to face with the person Ozpin had specifically warned him about. There was some wariness there, but the fact that Sage was standing next to him made it a lot less daunting than he might have been expecting. Whether he was ready or not, Sage had already moved to open the door, and the room beyond came into view.

The headmaster's office was surprisinglylessspacious than Ozpin's had been back at Beacon, which was odd considering just how wasteful the rest of Haven Academy's architecture seemed to be. A series of tall, thin windows kept the room bright, and a large wooden desk sat directly across from the door. Above it sat an odd platform, held aloft by two pillars, stacked high with hundreds of books, boxes and pictures.

The headmaster sat behind his desk, eyebrows raised in what looked like pleasant surprise. Even sitting down, it was clear that the man was tall and with broad shoulders. His head was covered in a neat mane of brown hair that was slowly edging into the territory of grey as the years seemed to be nibbling away at him. Lima had spent the trip to Mistral building up a dark, foreboding, and perhaps villainous figure to represent the man in his mind, but looking upon him now, Leonardo Lionheart looked almostordinary.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "That's the best beard I've ever seen."

Lionheart looked entirely amused by the comment, but he never got an opportunity to respond to it as Lima stumbled forward with a squawk as Sage pushed him fully into the room. By the time he'd righted himself, the door had clicked shut behind them.

"Stop pushing me over, you old bastard," Lima insisted, stabbing a finger at him. "The next time you do it, I'm going to kick your ass—hey—"

Sage strode past him without acknowledgement, and Lima scrunched his face up as he turned to follow.

"Lionheart, sorry to burst in on you," Sage said, "I've been giving the kid here a tour, and I thought I'd bring him up to see you—not every day you get to meet the headmaster of Haven Academy, you know?"

"I haven't been back nearly long enough to rebury myself under all of the work that must be done—so I'm happy for a chance to prolong it," Lionheart said with a good-natured smile. "Lima Morta, it's a pleasure to meet you—Sage certainly seems to believe that we suffered a great loss when you chose Beacon Academy."

Lima scratched at the back of his head as he approached the man's desk, coming to stand directly beside Sage. While he was more than aware that you couldn't just take everything at surface value, the man in front of him almost seemed toradiateharmlessness—it made him wonder, for a moment, if Ozpin could have been wrong, and that this was all some kind of bizarre misunderstanding.

"Yeah, I kind of ran away for a bit there," Lima admitted, looking around at the bookshelves. "I like your office better than Ozpin's—too many moving things there; I kept thinking everything was going to come crashing down on my head."

Lionheart raised an eyebrow at the comment, although Sage was the one to speak.

"I shouldn't be surprised that you know what Ozpin's office looks like already," Sage said, rolling his eyes. "What did you do to get called in there?"

It occurred to him that he probably shouldn't have mentioned Ozpin at all, and Lima gave an awkward laugh when he realised he'd drawn so much attention to it.

"There was a kid in our year that was bullying everyone, and I caught him yanking on a Faunus girl's rabbit ears," Lima said, "Imighthave kicked the crap out of him, and theymighthave put me in detention for a whole month."

"Same as usual then," Sage said. "Seems like we've got the same problems everywhere, huh?"

Lionheart looked a bit troubled at the story, and Lima wondered which side of the Faunus divide the man actually sat on—was he one of the elitists or one of those who pushed against it?

"I'm afraid so," Lionheart said with a sigh. "It's always hard to hear about the unfortunate state of relations between Human and Faunus—I've spent far too many years dealing with that myself."

He hadn't realised Lionheart was a Faunus, and though Lima gave him another look over—this time with far more care—he couldn't see any kind of discernible feature that might have given him away.

"Beacon's nowhere near as bad as Sanctum was," Lima said, "What's it like here?"

"There are a few bad eggs here, but I haven't caught any amongst the first years yet," Sage said, punching his hand into his palm. "I reckon some motivated training should be more than enough to sort them out."

Sage's openness on the topic seemed to catch Lionheart off guard, and the man quickly spoke up to address the question.

"Yes, well, we have a zero-tolerance policy for racism at Haven Academy, and the students are encouraged to report any incidents to the staff if they occur," Lionheart said, clearing his throat. "I make sure to deal with these incidents personally when they come up, but there have been far fewer in recent years."

Lima wasn't exactly sure which one was the better approach or if either of them would work to really change things. Almost all of them seemed to pick it all up from their older family members, so even if they got punished for it at school, the second they returned to the environment that spawned the behaviour, it would get reinforced all over again.

"I caught sight of theInvincible Girlat the train station when I went to pickthisone up," Sage said, nodding down at Lima. "Turns out she ended up going to Beacon in the end."

"Yes, I expected as much—I attempted to reach out to her mother at the start of the year when I realised I hadn't seen her enrolment pass over my desk, but we seem fated to miss one another," Lionheart said with a sigh, "Pyrrha Nikos has managed to acquire an impressively large amount of fame amongst the populace of Anima—a lot of people were very disappointed that she chose to take her talents elsewhere."

Lionheart actually looked a bit weary at the topic, and Lima couldn't help but wonder if he'd received some backlash for that—a Faunus headmaster in Mistral must have made him pretty unpopular amongst a lot of the older families.

"Yeah, she's in my class," Lima said, "It's pretty hilarious seeing her beat everyone else up during Combat Studies—they've got her fighting three people at once right now in an effort to keep the duels even—"

Lima's eyes settled on a too-familiar object, wedged between a paperweight and the raised-up divider that portioned off some of the man's desk—bronze and silver glinted in the light flooding in from the windows, the series of intricately placed gears, cogs, and glass refracting it into a sparkling mess.

"Yes, I imagine it's quite the spectacle," Lionheart said, nodding in understanding. "I've made sure to watch the regional tournaments to keep an eye out for unexpected talent, so I've seen firsthand the striking level of skill she possesses."

The smile on Lima's face suddenly felt hollow, almost as if he was holding up a sheet of paper with the word 'happy' stamped across it in vibrant red ink and expecting the world to ignore the way it was bleeding down the page. Sage's voice caught his ears, but the words were muffled like he'd spoken them underwater, and Lima found his eyes locked on the—

"Mister Morta?" Lionheart asked.

When Lima managed to lift his gaze back up, he found that Lionheart had followed his line of sight and was now staring at the orb with an odd expression on his face. A thrill of unease washed through him, and rather than let things spiral out of control, Lima did what he always did when he was feeling pressured.

"What the heck isthatthing?" Lima asked, leaning forward over the man's desk. "It's almost like a pocket watch banged a marble."

It was more than clear to everyone present that he was referring to the sparkling clockwork orb—Lionheart opened his mouth for a moment, paused, and then tried again.

"I picked it up in Argus, actually, about three days ago," Lionheart said, smiling now. "It was sitting on a shelf in a store."

There was a moment of terrible dissonance as he experienced somebody outright lying to his face—without any kind of tell or even the faintest hint of remorse—while simultaneously knowing that Lionheart had, in fact, taken it from a small, black-lacquered stand in Mistral Below.

"My teammate has a little gear necklace that's almost the same colour," Lima said, impressed. "Can I get a shop name—I think Pyrrha is still in Argus, so I can probably bully her into picking one up for me."

It occurred to him, about the exact second in which he'd committed to the comment, that he'd accidentally put Lionheart in an impossible spot. The shop didn't exist, and if he made up afakeone, then it would become obvious through Pyrrha's inability to locate it.

"Talking about your not-girlfriendagain?" Sage said, with a laugh, "Kid, you're in way too deep."

Lima managed to muster up a strangled note of frustration that he couldn't really feel, with all of his attention locked onto the murderer still sitting behind the desk. He forced himself to turn back and found himself fighting against that same absurd dissonance as he realised that there was asmileon the man's face.

"I'm afraid I didn't even think to take note of the name," Lionheart admitted, reaching over to pick up the orb before rolling it around between his fingertips. "I'm not quite sure why I even decided to pick it up if I'm being completely honest—here."

Lionheart's smile changed slightly as he spoke, a shade of something almost sad bleeding into it, before he flicked the orb up into the air—Lima snatched it out of pure reflex, almost before he'd even realised what had happened.

"You may keep it," Lionheart said, "I'm sure it will find a far more befitting use as a tool of courtship than by sitting on my desk without purpose."

Lionheart somehow looked relieved, almost as if passing off what could only be described as a trophy of murder to a teenager had lifted some great burden from his shoulders—Lima found himself stunned by the sheer audacity possessed by the smiling monster sitting behind the desk.

"Sir," Lima managed, not even sure of what he might say. "I—"

"Careful, Lima," Sage said, speaking up. "I don't want to get any calls about you knocking some girl up—teammate or not."

The words washed over him, and Lima found himself working harder than ever to generate the indignant mess thatshouldhave been rising up in his chest. After a long moment of struggle, he managed it, crying aloud in entirely feigned outrage—and through it all, Lionheart just smiled.

#

The Pit, Haven Academy, Anima.

Lima felt sick, or perhaps so beset by a visceral disgust that it was twisting something inside his stomach that felt close enough to count. Violet's smiling face was stuck in his mind, unable to be dispelled so long as the clockwork orb burned a hole in his pocket. The unsettling contradiction of seeing such a polite, pleasant, andgenerousman sitting in that well-lit office and knowing that it was a facade served to make his skin crawl. He wanted to pull Sage aside, shake the man, and then do his best to convince him to—Lima didn't even know what hewantedto convince him of at this point.

He didn't even understand the full extent of the headmaster's crimes to even make any type of call on it. The orb was proof that Lionheart had been in Violet Rivera's house and that he'd stolen from her—for Lima, it was a very, very slight step towards concluding that he'd murdered her and then vanished the body. From there, it was an even smaller step to accepting that Ozpin'ssuspicionsof Lionheart's nature were, in fact, all true, something which meant that he was playing some part in the systematic killing—through mislabelled missions—of Huntsmen and Huntresses all across Anima.

Sage had stood in that room as the clockwork orb had exchanged hands—and at that moment, it became clear to Lima—that unparalleled strength of body didnothingto reveal hidden knowledge. Sage didn't have access to Ozpin's suspicions or an understanding of what the clockwork orb really was. Sage didn'tknowthat Ozpin's contacts had each met some indeterminate but likely unpleasant end—by the Spiders, at best, or Lionheart himself, at worst. So when Leonardo Lionheart had told Sage that he was working on solutions to the widespread problem, the man had taken him at hisword, andrightfully so, because he was theheadmasteratHaven Academy, an institution built with the express intention ofsavingthe greatest amount of lives. But the reality was different from the perception, and whatever Leonardo Lionheart was doing, it wasn'tsavinglives.

Ozpin's warning rang in his mind, and Lima knew that if he peeled back the layer of obfuscation that Lionheart had weaved around his guardian, then the entire situation would explode. Sage would confront the man head-on, and in doing so, any chance of Lionheart spending the rest of his life rotting away in a cell would disappear. The only proof he had ofanythingwas the clockwork orb, and the only person who would reallyunderstandwhat it meant was Ozpin himself.

Lionheart—while a Faunus in what might be the most racist continent on Remnant—was still one of the most important and powerful people on the planet. The clockwork orbwouldn'tbury him, and the very moment he figured out that Limawasn'tjust some kid who'd come to Mistral to see his family over the break, thenanychance of ever finding more substantive evidence would vanish—yet even knowing all of that, when Sage clapped a hand on his shoulder, Lima almost told him anyway.

"You told me about the Amphitheatre—this is pretty much our version of that, and it's most affectionately calledthe Pit," Sage said, pushing him forward into the room. "Looks like we've got a few interested parties after all—let's go do some introductions."

Despite there being a set of benches against all five walls, they all seemed to have universally decided to sit on the floor. Arslan was closest to the door, her legs tucked up beside her and the skirt of her uniform splayed out. Beside her sat a boy he'd definitely seen mixed in amongst the forms, the bright blue hair making it hard to forget. Directly beside him was the only other person he'd seen who wasn't following the dress code—a muscular but lean boy with short, shaggy blond hair. Instead of a uniform, he wore a white, high-collared shirt that was notably unbuttoned, and a pair of light blue jeans rolled halfway up his shins—a golden furred tail swung out from behind him, placing him as a Faunus of some kind. Further down, a tall, broad-shouldered boy sat cross-legged, thick dark hair hanging down to his neck. The last member of the group was a girl with bright green hair, styled short in a pixie cut, with a long fringe that swept down past her chin—interestingly enough, she had a pair of tattoos lining her face, two thick black bars bisecting her cheeks.

"From left to right, Arslan Altan, who you've already met, Neptune Vasilias, Sun Wukong, Bolin Hori, and Reese Chloris," Sage said, gesturing to each in turn. "I'm surprised you actually came, Wukong."

"Arslan said we get extra credit if we beat up some kid," Sun said, impressed. "Is this our victim?"

"Right in one," Sage said, smiling. "But you're going to have to wait your turn—Arslan, ready to go?"

Arslan was already halfway to her feet, apparently expecting to be the first one to be called—Lima, on the other hand, had just about dismissed them all, hand still inside his pocket, feeling out all of the edges on the clockwork orb.

"Yes sir, I believe I am," Arslan said, "Shall we?"

"Hey," Lima said in warning. "Just so we're clear, this washisidea."

"Making excuses already?" Reese said, lips pulling up on one side. "Sounds like you already know how this is going to play out."

Lima shrugged at the words, making an effort to dump everything in his pockets out on the floor to avoid anything getting broken—the orb he left wedged between his wallet and scroll, feeling uneasy about letting it out of his sight for even a moment.

"If you do not wish to engage in a spar today," Arslan said, "I'm quite willing to wait until a more convenient time."

"Rejected," Sage said, speaking for him. "He's just cranky because he hasn't had a nap today—"

"f*ck you old man," Lima said, on reflex. "I don't even take naps."

Neptune started choking on his water which Sun immediately tried to deal with by smacking him on the back hard enough to almost knock the boy over. The rest of them seemed startled at him mouthing off to their instructor and expectant of some kind of reprimand, but Sage simply jerked his head at the slightly raised platform in the middle of the room—it was only about two feet off the ground, but more than large enough that it dominated the room. Lima kicked his shoes off to add to the pile and then stepped up onto the platform. Arslan followed him up a moment later, rotating around until she'd taken up position opposite him.

"Full contact, aura depletion at fifty percent, surrender, or ring out; I'll call it since he's not registered on the system," Sage said, "No weapons, equipment, aura strikes or Semblance use—none of your cuddling sh*t either, Lima."

Lima grunted at the absolute besmirchment of his fighting style but said nothing in response—after a decade in the man's care, he was more than accustomed to his rules.

"Aura strikes," Neptune said, "Was that a warning for Arslan or the new guy?"

"Better question," Sun said, sticking his hand up in the air. "What's all this about cuddling?"

The questions went entirely ignored by all parties as Sage moved to stand a bit closer to the platform. Arslan settled into place, eyes sharp as she rolled her shoulders around in an attempt to loosen herself up. Lima did his best to push all of his spiralling thoughts away and focus on the person in front of him.

"Ready," Sage said, giving them a few seconds to do just that, "Start."

Arslan remained in place, one arm held out in front of her, with her legs planted shoulder-width apart. Lima waited all of five seconds before he decided she wasn't going to move, and then he started forward, keeping to a walking pace as he shrunk the distance between them—he slipped to the side as she burst forward, her palm striking past his face in an arc. He tracked her wrist as she started to pull it back and barely managed to stop himself from latching onto it out of reflex. Arslan drew her arm back in, spun, and then swept her hand up into an arc above her head, gathering speed as she went—she struck out in a second attack, the entire motion, circular, continuous and smooth. Lima stepped backwards, glancing down at her feet as she shifted in a way that made it obvious she was going to continue the assault.

The third and fourth windmill strikes came next, each one faster than the last—her footwork shifted out of the pattern, and Lima worked his way backwards with a couple of quick steps. Arslan's foot cut past his face, the blistering roundhouse cashing in all of her generated momentum in an attack that probably would have sent him clear of the boundary if it had hit. Arslan brought her leg back down, twisted until she had good contact with the ground, and then surged forward again. The more she attacked, the more fluid she became, and it was pretty clear that her style made use of a tight set of combinations that each generated increasing momentum towards a final, much stronger hit.

Lima skipped backwards again, forcing her to break off the chain during the third strike, and this time, when she reached him, he met her on the first strike—because that's where she was weakest. Skirting the edges of the 'no cuddling' ruling, he moved into the arc of her palm strike, catching her wrist and shutting down any attempt to convert it into greater momentum. In the same movement, he crashed into her, forearm against her chest, a few inches above her breasts, and then hooked his heel behind her own. Arslan attempted to retrieve her trapped arm, and he let it go, using the moment of unbalance in which she pulled and found no resistance to deepen his position. Arslan fell backwards, unable to pull her foot back to catch herself, and he fought back on the almost overpowering urge to follow her down.

The moment her back hit the ground, he struck downwards from a weak standing position. The first hit sent her aura flaring into existence; the second made it bright—and then her foot crashed into his leg. Lima twisted with the motion, planting his hand flat against the floor and then coming back to his feet on the other side. He started forward again, reaching her just as she made it back to her feet. Arslan was forced to abandon the arcing chain of attacks she'd favoured, the distance too short for it to be effective, and instead attempted more conventional palm strikes, targeting his face and chest.

Lima worked through them all and then caught hold of her collar, twisting the material upwards until it pulled taut against her throat—she attempted to bring her hand up inside the grab, maybe to try and bring her elbow down to break it, but the moment she committed to it, he snaked a strike through her open guard, turning her face to the side—the moment she wasn't looking at him, he stepped out wide, using his grip on her collar as a point of leverage to shunt her sideways before kicking her in the back of the knee hard enough to drop her. He let her go as she fell, and then watched as Arslan managed to scramble back to her feet, the girl turning and backtracking to reenter her favoured range of attack.

It was clear that she was strongest when approached from the front, at a slight angle from the right—and in turn, weakest when approached from the left-hand side, where her back most often appeared unguarded at the start of each chain. Whether she knew those things about her style or not, she would instinctively feel more comfortable attacking from the front and at an angle. He kept moving, deliberately going wide and skirting the edge of that favoured zone. Just as he was approaching her effective striking range, she shifted slightly, muscle groups aligning to receive him.

Arslan shot forward just as he stepped into the critical spot, hand arcing high in the starting motion of her chain—and his foot smashed into her neck as he preemptively targeted the spot she was moving into. Arslan fell, her aura surging up in response to the massive impact, and Lima lifted his foot up, before driving it down—

"Match," Sage said.

Lima managed to shift his attempted stomp to the side at the last second, accidentally stepping on her shoulder and upper arm in the process. Arslan kind of stared up at him from under the dubious protection of her raised guard, looking ruffled but not yet ready to give up the fight.

"What the heck is going on right now?" Reese said, alarmed. "You're not avictimat all."

#

Sage's Workshop, Mistral, Anima.

"There are two things I can see that would make it more effective," Sage said, flipping the gauntlet over. "The first is to give it a permanent, quick, manual release—that gives you some new options."

"Like what?" Lima frowned.

"Using the cable as a whip without having to fire it first is the main one," Sage said, unspooling the cable. "It's a high-quality material, it's rated to withstand heavy impacts, and most of all—it's thin enough to deal some serious damage."

"That's not a bad idea," Lima said, frowning. "I should have thought of that already—damn it."

"Tunnel vision," Sage offered. "You were thinking about using it as a tool for mobility, not as a weapon."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Lima said, "What was the second thing?"

Sage reached down beside the bench and hefted the black quiver box up onto it before sliding out one of the spikes.

"You've been relying on the gravity dust to recover your ammunition, which means everything that's downstream from that is affected," Sage said, "You need to pull back on your use of force so they don't end up out of range, and you need to aim at angles that give you a backstop, or they keep on going until they do finally hit something."

"Yeah," Lima said, tilting his head. "I lost a few spikes to the ocean during the train ride to Vale—which was super annoying to replace."

"Then what you can do, is give yourself the option of selectively assigning a maximum range to them, and you can do that, by putting a quick-connect calliper on the end of each spike, and on the tip of the cable, before the grapple mechanism." Sage said, "Then when you're in a situation with no backstop, you can hook the spike to the tip of the cable and then fire it at full force—or at least a force below what the cable is rated to withstand."

"You are a god damned genius," Lima said, staring at the spike. "Damn—where is the nearest store that sells those?"

"There's a crate full of the standard ones up at the school," Sage said in answer. "I'll raid it in the morning, and you can use those—how many of these have you got?"

"Thirty-six in the quiver," Lima said, "I've got three bandoliers with a dozen in each one as well, but I never really wear it."

"You bring them all here?" Sage wondered.

"Just the quiver; the rest are at Beacon," Lima admitted, "But I can do those ones on my own when I get back, so I need thirty-seven to cover the spikes and the cable itself—are you sure you can take that many?"

"I'll put in a requisition order for replacements while I'm there," Sage said without a care. "Don't even think about trying to pay me back, you little sh*t."

Lima closed his mouth with a clack.

"You sure?" Lima said, a bit uncomfortable. "You already paid for my train ride."

"I've got a lifetime's worth of Lien saved up, and now that Midori's pretty much set up, it's sitting around doing nothing," Sage said, flipping the spike around in his hand. "You ever thought about detachable tips so you can start adding offensive dust rounds to your arsenal?"

"Youmight be made of Lien, old man, but I can't maintain something like that, not when the tips explode along with the dust—hell, I had to negotiate a deal with Weiss Schnee just to replace my gravity dust," Lima said shaking his head, "Either way, I'm not shooting money at those f*cking monsters, not when a simple spike does the same job."

"That's all they deserve, huh? Don't worry about it, kid; I'll pick some up for you as well," Sage said, twirling the spike in his fingers until it was a blurring mass of black lines. "Keep a few of them in your quiver for just-in-case moments—never use them if you want, but at least they're on hand when you do."

"Stop throwing money at me," Lima said, scrunching his face up. "I'm not one of your escorts."

Sage laughed out loud at the jab, and there was a minute of comfortable silence between them—that same miserable feeling was beginning to surface once more as the break started to come to a close, and he was forced to deal with leaving them behind in Mistral. For probably the hundredth time since Lionheart had given him the orb, Lima found himself on the edge of giving Sage some kind of cryptic warning, and for the hundredth time, he managed to overcome it. Ozpin knew what he was doing, and that meant trusting him to use what little information he'd managed to gather to push Lionheart's sh*t in. After that, he could tell Sage everything—

"You know," Sage said into the silence. "I didn't bring your old man up the other day for no reason, Lima."

The worries, concerns and anxiety vanished in an instant, the topic powerful enough to ruin even something as dire as the fate of Anima and the lives that had been lost there. Lima glanced up from where he was taking apart the first of the spikes in preparation for eventually adding the callipers.

"I had a few friends come back from Kuchinashi a couple of months back," Sage said, taking note of the expression, "There have been some rumours about a man called Danube running around; he seems to be wrapped up in the Spiders business."

"So nothing changed," Lima said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Figured that it was better for you to know that he's still around and kicking," Sage said, flipping the spike up into the air and then snatching it out of the spin without effort. "You can use that information, or you can ignore it, but at least you've got the option now, you know?"

Sage had always been big on giving him options, at least for the important things. The man had never forced him to do anything he hadn't agreed to do, even if Lima got his own kicks out of complaining the entire time—still, this was perhaps the one time Lima could reject the goodwill right out of hand.

"I doubt he's spent a single moment of his life thinking about me, so I'm not going to waste my time thinking about him," Lima said with complete certainty. "I've got a dad already, and it's not some loser in Kuchinashi."

The spike came to a halt at the words, now pinched between two of his fingers, before Sage reached over and dropped a hand on top of his head—he allowed the man to mess his hair up with protest, keeping his eyes locked on his own task.

"Spending all that time in Vale has turned you into a bit of a sap, huh?" Sage said, "You're a good kid, Lima."

"Whatever," Lima muttered.

#

Midori 's Bar, Mistral, Anima.

Lima twisted on his palm, catching his foot with his hand, and extended his leg into an awkward pose. Having never attempted to hold himself in such a bizarre position, he ended up overbalancing and then crashed down onto his back with a yelp—there were some titters from the patrons who'd come in early, but he ignored them all as he climbed back to his feet.

"Lima, I don't think that's the kind of dancing they'll be doing," Midori giggled, waving her hand at him in an attempt to get him to stop. "It's far more likely to be one where your feetstayon the floor."

"Lame," Lima complained. "I have no idea how to dance, but at least I could fake the acrobatic stuff—maybe."

"It's really not that complicated," Midori said, "Come here, and I'll show you some basics."

Midori slipped out from behind the bar and directed him to come toward her. Lima was bullied into facing the rest of the bar and scrunched his face up as one of the older Huntsmen tilted a drink toward him.

"Relax, you were throwing yourself around a second ago," Midori said, squeezing his shoulders, "Don't tell me you're embarrassednow."

"I'm not," Lima huffed. "Just—tell me what I'm supposed to do."

Midori laughed again and moved to stand beside him, the two of them now facing the same way. Lima glanced down as she patted the front of her jeans, indicating that he should take note of how she was standing.

"This is about as basic as it gets; it's called the box step," Midori said, gesturing to her leading foot. "Think of it as literally drawing a box with your feet—watch."

Midori stepped backwards with her right leg and then followed it with her left before sweeping it out to the side and pausing. Lima copied the movement, a simple 'L' shape that left him standing with his weight on his left foot before he resettled his balance.

"Perfect," Midori said, smiling, "Now keep your weight on your right foot, step forward with your left, and then sweep back into your original position."

Lima tracked the movement of her body like he was doing discovery on an opponent's fighting style, burning the simple movement into his mind. He stepped forward with her, planted his foot, and then drew his right foot forward and to the right, sliding it across the ground. Midori brought both of her feet back together again before settling her weight down onto her left foot.

"Do you need me to do it again?" Midori asked.

Lima followed in step with her as she did it again, but the movement was simple enough that he had no trouble keeping up. Midori stopped after the third repetition and then turned to watch him. Lima continued, doing it three more times before he came to a stop.

"Alright," Lima said, "I've got it."

"Perfect—that was actually the partner's step, but you'll most likely be leading," Midori said, demonstrating. "So your job is to follow that exact pattern but mirrored."

Lima watched her go through it once before jumping in to follow, moving forward, dropping his weight onto his leading foot before sweeping to the side. Midori had been right; it was bizarrely simple, just a simple series of weight changes and some basic footwork in a repeating pattern.

"Huh," Lima said, "Do you think this is the one they'll use?"

"I'm not certain exactly what kind of dance is most common in Vale, but the principles of this should be enough to carry you through it," Midori said, holding out her right hand to him. "Come here—we can practice doing it now so you can step on my feet instead of your girlfriends."

"Sage is a filthy liar," Lima said, blowing a breath out of his nose. "I haven't evenaskedher yet."

"Dad didn't say anything to me about a girlfriend," Midori said, smiling. "Your left hand, please, not the right."

Lima scrunched his face up at the words, feeling more than a little bit flustered at the comment. Midori directed him to put his right hand on her back, just under her shoulder, and then she rested her left arm on top of his own, hand on his shoulder.

"Like this?" Lima wondered. "I'm going forward, right?"

"Exactly, the same pattern as before," Midori said, squeezing his hand. "We can start at half speed."

Lima stepped towards her as she stepped backwards, a wash of reflex flicking at the edge of his mind as he found himself thinking about all the ways he could disrupt her footing. He swept his foot to the side, sliding it across the ground before drawing his feet together again. A few rotations in, a couple of the patrons started clapping and carrying on, and Midori laughed again.

"You really haven't done this before?" Midori said, smiling.

"I'm a kinaesthetic genius, the likes of which this world has never seen," Lima bragged, mind fully concentrated on the task. "I'll have this whole dancing thing mastered before lunchtime."

#

Sparkling Delights, Mistral, Anima.

"You should have seen him, Midori," Sage said, shaking his head. "Mouthing off in Lionheart's office like he was kicking it with his buddies—the little sh*t doesn't have a filter."

Lima grunted at the comment, too busy chewing to respond.

"Is that right?" Midori giggled. "What did the headmaster have to say—he wasn't upset, was he?"

"He seemed to find the whole thing funny," Sage said, "The man's probably happy Ozpin has to deal with all the trouble and not him."

Lima glared at him before swallowing the piece of chicken in his mouth, valiantly keeping himself from rising to the bait. The mention of Lionheart only worked to make him uneasy again, a constant reminder of the secret he'd been holding onto.

"Speaking of trouble, some little Faunus kid almost knocked me down when I was walking around Mistral Below the other day," Lima said, tapping his fork against his plate. "He kept mixing up what he was saying, but I think he wastryingto say that a house got burned down by the Spiders—you guys hear anything about that?"

"That was a few months ago, but I've heard two different stories, actually," Midori said, frowning a bit. "The first was that a stove was left on all night; the second was that the Spiders burned it down with the occupant inside."

That matched up closely with what the kid had been saying, and now he had corroboration from a far more discerning source.

"Any idea which of those is real?" Lima wondered.

"I've heard nothing since the week after it happened, and I'm not really sure," Midori admitted, "If there was an investigation, it wasn't made public—so all we really have is rumours to go on."

Lima listened as Midori recounted a different story about a scuffle between a couple of retired Huntsman and the Spiders that happened earlier in the year, but it didn't really have anything to do with Ozpin's contact. Sage was also eyeing him a bit at his sudden interest in the Spiders, which made him drop the topic completely. He grew increasingly restless as the break whittled away, his anxiety at leaving Midori and Sage behind and his growing desire to see his team clashing. As soon as the Mistral Limited left the city, he'd quickly find himself in an informational blackout again, unable to instantly receive and send messages, a problem that would grow worse until the delay was measured in days. Eight days spent in a cabin without anyone he knew—not even Pyrrha and Jaune because their schedules weren't going to line up so well this time—it was going to be a nightmare. By the time he'd pulled himself out of his spiralling thoughts, the topic of their discussion had changed once again.

"More of the first years are going than I expected, too." Sage grumbled, "My class is going to be a ghost town until the Vytal Festival is done."

"I'm sure you'll find something to do with all that free time," Midori said, smiling. "The ones who do stay will appreciate the attention, I'm sure."

"I'm not sure about that, but they'll be getting it regardless," Sage admitted before barking out a laugh. "Lima, I don't know what you said to that Wukong kid, but you're a bad influence—from what I've heard, he's already on his way to Vale."

"The madman actually did it?" Lima said, impressed. "How did he end up going—airship?"

"According to Vasilias, he stowed away on some cargo ship headed for Vale sometime in the last week," Sage said, shaking his head. "He must be at least halfway there by now, the little sh*t—he dipped out early on a test as well."

"Why areyoua bad influence?" Midori said, looking curious. "Did you tell him to leave?"

"We got into an argument about which academy was better," Lima said, scratching his cheek. "So I sent him this fake article about Beacon Academy—thatno onein their right mind would ever believe was true—and now he thinks the skirts at Beacon are three inches shorter."

Midori snorted, almost spilling her drink down the front of her dress in the process before she tried to catch the liquid in the palm of her hand.

"Yeah?" Sage said, barking out a laugh. "What are you going to do when he gets there beforeyoudo and steals your girlfriend out from under you?"

"Goddamnit, Sage," Lima cried in anguish. "I don't have a—"

#

Central Train Station, Mistral, Anima.

"It won't be until the end of the school year," Lima said, "But maybe I can convince them to come with me."

"That sounds fun," Midori said, squeezing his shoulder. "Make sure you tell them I'm looking forward to meeting them."

"The fighter girl," Sage said, scratching his chin. "She any good?"

"She's strong, fast, and seems to learn pretty quickly, but she's also straightforward," Lima said, thinking about it. "I can also promise you that she will hound you day and night to keep fighting her."

"Can't fault her enthusiasm," Sage said, nodding. "You could learn something from that."

"Iusedto be bright-eyed and enthusiastic, just like her," Lima said, grinning. "Then I met you."

Sage barked out a laugh at the words and opened his mouth to respond in kind, but Midori beat him to it.

"Behave, the both of you," Midori said, "We've only got a few minutes left—don't waste them bickering."

"Sorry," Lima said, clapping his hands together in apology. "I'll make sure to call you guys when I get back to Beacon—if I don't die of boredom along the way."

"A week in a tin can," Sage said, shaking his head. "Glad it's you and not me—maybe I'll look into picking up an airship after all; I can probably wranglesomeoneinto getting me a discount."

"It's your money," Lima hedged, "But if you save me from another eight days of travel at the end of the year, I promise I won't complain—for a little while."

"A brief reprieve," Sage said, amused. "Lima, make sure you spend your time well—not everyone lives as long and rich a life as I have."

Spend your time well—the man had said that to him half a dozen times over the last decade, and he'd always done his best to make sure he did just that. This time wouldn't be any different.

"I'll beat whatever your high score ends up being, you old fossil; you can count on that," Lima said with certainty. "Now hurry up and give me a hug while nobody is looking—it's embarrassing to be seen with either of you."

"That's a lie," Midori said. "You love us."

"I do," Lima admitted.

Sage pulled him into a one-armed hug and made sure to mess up his hair before he could escape—something that probably would have pissed him off if he'd bothered to brush it that morning. Midori leant in for her own hug next, longer, and with far less hair messing involved. He pulled back when the final call for the train departure came in and then slipped through the door before they could close. The doors of theMistral Limitedslid shut, a foot in front of his face, and he stepped to the side to look through the window.

Sage and Midori stood on the platform, still waving at him, and he swallowed when he realised that Midori was crying now. That same pain in his chest that he'd felt when he'd left his team behind arced through his chest, and he took a deep breath to steady himself against it. Lima reached up and placed his hand against the glass; fingers splayed in a wave as the train began to crawl forward out of the station. Sage's wrinkled, smiling face passed behind a pillar, and then they were gone, leaving him staring out at Mistral as the city slipped past the window. He stayed there for a long time, standing by the door with his hand on the glass, and when Mistral fell away entirely, he finally managed to turn away.

Sage was right; he needed to get his hands on an airship and fast—because being miserable sucked.

End Volume 1

It took a long time to rewrite this, so if you enjoyed yourself, please take a moment of your time to leave a review; I'd love to know what you think.
Elbowsnapper